#edit: i edited a lot of things! I'm also planning on doing another short story where they find out that r.amon is biologically theirs

[sapphire-heart-tippy]

(The old description is at the very bottom of the story)

Edit: I have decided that, to make this even more bizarre, Ramón is biologically Vanilla's and Tippy's. But he's from another universe. The other universe was crumbling because of another stand user. AU Vanilla and Tippy were both badly wounded and knew they were going to die. They took their son, found a new universe with a set date and time where their alternate selves would find him... But before they could place him in a good enough spot, that's when the portal closed and everything in that universe was destroyed. Everything except Ramón...

Ramón

(story under the cut! some things have been slightly altered)

"Sweetie, make sure you put on sunscreen," Vanilla called to his husband from the bathroom. "There won't be any clouds today, and I don't want you to burn!"

"I know, I know!" Tippy laughs and puts on a black crop top. Vanilla gently places in dangly heart earrings and smiles at himself in the mirror. The brunette happily puts his hair up into a bun with a sparkly purple scrunchy and clips it up with a little golden heart pin. Ice brushes his short right bang behind his ear and lets the longer one flow over his collar bone.

"Vans, hurry up! I'm so hungry I could eat Hol Horse!" Tip playfully whines. Ice chuckles and rubs his beloved's head, tousling the royal blue hair.

"Are you sure you're ready, termite? Isn't there something you're forgetting?" Vanilla points to Tippy's feet.

"Oh, right. Shoes." He rushes to put on some black and blue basketball shoes and comes back, pulling on Vanilla's arm to head out the door, "S'go, s'go, s'gooooo!"

Ice and Tip head out of their quaint little one story house. Ice is holding a bottle of pink champagne while Tip is carrying the picnic basket.

"It's kind of chilly today." Vanilla checks his phone and smirks at Tippy.

"H- wh- It's 91 degrees, you dork!" Tippy playfully shoves Vanilla's shoulder with a Giggle. (32.8°C)

"I know, it's freezing out here." Ice grins and teases Tip. He plants a delicate kiss on his partner's forehead and they walk to the park.

"It's funny, a guy named Ice like you should be melting right now, eh?" Tip looks up at Vanilla as they saunter down the sidewalk.

"Ha ha never heard that one before, termite." Ice says sarcastically as he rolls his eyes with a smile. They hear rushing water near the trees, see very few people are out today due to the intense heat.

"Dude, I totally want to jump in that river right now." Tip sighs and wipes his brow.

"I mean, I could just pick you up and toss you in if you want me to." Ice nods.

"I know you're joking but I'm legit considering it, babe." Tippy tells his husband while looking up at the sky with exhaustion.

Soon the couple find a nice shady spot for their picnic. The trees are covering them both nicely, the wind actually blows a little bit creating a nice gentle breeze, there are animals making little noises. Everything is going well for the two this summer. Vanilla opens up the champagne bottle and pulls out two glasses from the picnic basket,

"Here's to our new lives, my love."

"To our new lives!" Tippy clinks his glass with Vanilla and they both drink. Ice looks at his glass and swirls it around...

"Hey... Tippy. Listen."

The couple are silent and still for a while. There are a few chirps, some rustling of leaves, and a more animal noises. Vanilla turns his head to the left and stays staring in that direction.

"What kind of bird is that?" Tippy asks while taking a bite of his sandwich. Vanilla doesn't answer and just keeps listening. Quickly, his back straightens up.

"That's not a bird." Ice swiftly leaps up and hastily sprints over to where the noise is coming from.

"Wait! Vanilla!! Where are you going?!" Tippy hurriedly follows behind Vanilla. The brunette is super fast, too fast for Tippy to completely keep up.

Ice skids to a halt as soon as he finds where the noise is coming from. At an old small bridge, he peeks beneath it. Ice sharply gasps and covers his mouth, he cannot believe what he sees.

There's a small, frail looking infant covered in dirt and leaves. Ice trembles and gently scoops the child up, wiping off the dirt from their body. The tall man cannot believe what he's just come across. He cradles the child in his arms and shooshes them. Tippy jogs up to Vanilla finally,

"Hey *pant* what gives? What ha- *pant* happened?"

Vanilla shakes his head. Tears sting his eyes as he shows his partner what's being held in his arms. Tippy looks horrified,

"What the hell?! Why would anyone... Just... Leave a baby here?"

Ice shakes his head, his lip quivering. He holds the child close to his chest. Soon the baby slowly stops crying.

"H-hey, I think they like you, Vans. We should probably get in contact with a-"

"What is it, Vans?" Tippy makes his way next to his husband to look over at the infant.

"NO." Vanilla speaks abruptly and sternly at Tippy. He swallows,"I'm sorry... I mean, no. No... We can't do that. We need to help them. We have to take care of them. I am thoroughly prepared to take full responsibility for this child. I am not going to allow anyone to hurt this poor baby anymore. They... Don't deserve it." Ice speaks softly as he looks down at the infant. He notices something around the child's neck. It's a necklace with a golden cursive "R",

"Hm..." Ice touches the jewelry softly. The gold letter glimmers in the sunlight between the leaves of the trees over the head.

"I suppose this could be a clue to what their name is." Vanilla looks closer and closer at the jewelry,"Ngh?!" Suddenly his mind is bombarded with memories he's never had.

"Vanilla?! Are you okay?!" Tippy touches Ice's shoulder.

"I'm... alright. I think..." Ice looks back and forth between his beloved and the child. Tippy curiously and cautiously looks closer at the golden letter. Soon, flashes of a life he's never lived are racing through his head. Vanilla looks over at Tippy breathlessly,

"So you felt it too...?"

"Uh huh, w-what...?" Tippy gulps and stares at the baby. The child has their eyes closed peacefully while in Vanilla's arms. "What does it mean?"

The couple have been taking care of the child well. Vanilla and Tippy have been trying to come up with a name to call him so they decided on "Ramón". They're not sure why this name fits him so well, they didn't even try any other names that start with the letter "R". They also decided that the day they found him is his birthday.

A few years later

Ice is giving Ramón a bubble bath, gently washing his hair and laughing with his child. Tippy walks in and smiles at the sight,

"I didn't know your voice could even go that high, Lucky Charms."

"Agh!" Vanilla turns around, blushing and grimacing,"Don't scare me like that, Termite! I was just trying to make Ramón laugh."

"Well, you did a good job because both he and I are laughing at you!" Tippy and Ramón both giggle at Vanilla.

"Oh, shush." Ice gently splashes Ramón, making the child squeal.

After everyone gets ready for bed, Vanilla carries Ramón to his room. The brunette lays his baby down, tickles him a little, then kisses his forehead. Tippy gives Ramón a kiss on the forehead as well and hugs him gently. Vanilla happily plants kisses all over Ramón's face.

"Waaauugh! Stop iiiit!" Ramón squeaks and playfully pushes Vanilla's face away.

"Okay, okay," Ice rubs his baby's head,"You have a good night, my little angel."

"Have sweet dreams, little dude." Tippy smiles and turns off the light.

The couple head to their room and happily lie down on the bed.

"So do you think he'll ever get a stand?" Tippy flops his leg over Vanilla,

"I'm not sure. Something tells me he might once he gets older."

"Would that something be the plot?" Tippy smirks.

"What?"

"Do you remember when we first got him?" Tip lays on Ice's chest.

"Yeah, sweetie, I do..." Vanilla rubs his partner's back. "He was so tiny. I couldn't just leave him there... He reminded me of where I once was."

Tip hugs Vanilla gently and listens to his heartbeat. The brunette sighs,

"I felt like I had a responsibility...a second chance. You were my second chance to begin with, but I feel like this is yet another happy thing life decided to grace me with. I feel that I was blessed to not only be able to marry you, but also adopt that boy." Ice kisses Tippy's forehead,

"Back then at 19, if somebody were to tell me that I would be happily married to my true love with a child... I would've gotten angry. I would have thought it was a sick joke. However, I see now that this is my life. I couldn't be happier." Ice smiles warmly and tenderly snuggles up with his beloved.

"I love you, Vanilla."

"I love you too, Tippy."

To be continued...?

Old description in case you're curious (I've changed and made up my mind): I know I already have a backstory for Ramón in the Sapphire-Sugiliteverse, but I was thinking about something. I kind of want Ramón to be adopted by Vanilla and Tippy instead. Everything about him will be the same, except his origins.

This will be canon in the Sapphire Heartverse! (The Sapphire-Sugiliteverse will be the one where Tippy and Vanilla have him biologically maybe? I might just scrap that idea entirely, I'm not sure!) Anyway, enjoy this brief story of how Vanilla and Tippy adopted Ramón.

[jalenay]

Nothing's Wrong with Dale - Publishing Update May 4 2024

So my work work is starting to relax - it'll be 'normal' working hours after May 15, but i'm manifesting some early additional free time (by ignoring some of the things i still have left to do) and i thought i'd give an update on my current NWWD plan to fill you guys in (if anyone wants to know) and to motivate myself to, you know, do it.

let me know what you think and if you have any questions! or if there's anything else you want to know!

So the overall plan is as follows:

First Rough Edit - this is basically just changing the POV from 2nd POV to 3rd POV. This is very tedious and currently what I'm doing right now. I'm also making a list as I go for high level updates/changes i want to make. Just thinking about the story as a whole and what tweaks i want to make now that the whole thing is finally done (primarily moving exposition around, if there's anything extra i can remove, timing of when certain things are discussed, and so on).

My Main Edit - this will be more time consuming but probably more fun as i do my main revise and edit of the story as a whole. i'll likely print the entire story out, make edits on hard copy, and then type up all the edits. I will also probably be sending the updated chapters to my main beta, for her opinion. (this would be the person i first texted about Dale in Dec 2021, she deserves first look lol)

Editor - After I'm happy with what I've done, i'll send the entire thing over to my editors, the main ones who worked on DSM. This will likely take a good amount of time (DSM took one month) but in many ways involves less effort from me lol. Just nerves.

Cover, Self-publishing Details - while my editors have the manuscript, I'll be narrowing down what I want the cover to look like and hiring a cover artist. (i've got a short list of artists right now, but i'll probably continue to refine that). I'm bad a visualizing covers and so this will be hard for me, although i have some basic ideas. i'll need to gather reference photos too and then work with the artist. I also want to publish more widely than just Amazon and will hopefully get DSM out to other places as well as a test run before NWWD. Look into more marketing? This is the most miscellaneous of the steps.

Process Edits - actually go through all the edits and notes given to me by my editor. This takes a lot of time (and is mentally taxing - no one likes to read pages of people telling you what you need to fix about what you wrote even if its overall extremely helpful and necessary)

Finalizing - I'll send the edited version to my first beta and another ARC reader/friend. I'll work on the formatting for the book. Coordinating where it will be published and when.

Publishing!

This is a loose list of steps that I mostly defined right now, but are similar to what i did with DSM. As i said, I'm in step one, currently just finished Chapter 25 of 36 of that rough edit.

I'll try to provide some updates on the process at it moves along, if people are interested in hearing about that. I'll most likely keep those updates on this blog, along with any other publishing specific commentary. if any one has any questions or thoughts on the whole thing, please feel free to send them to this blog or comment on this post.

I'm very excited to really dig into publishing NWWD and looking forward to sharing it with you!

Thanks to everyone for all their support - I wouldn't even be considering this (i probably wouldn't have even had a finished draft) with you!

[marvelseries19]

SURPRISE!

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x GN!reader

Genre: Fluff/Comfort

Summary: Based on this request. A relaxing day with your girlfriend ends up with a surprise.

A/N: Here it is finally. I kind of rushed it a bit just to make sure it came out before I start with tests and stuff so, if there's any mistake on pronouns or something please let me know so I can edit it, also is the first time I have written for a gender neutral character so, have that in mind. Please enjoy.

Warnings: None that I'm aware of.

Word count: 1085

[You don't have permission to repost or translate any of my stories or claim them as yours]

(This picture is from Pinterest)

You loved your job. 

It was the one change you had to leave the environment you were born in and actually do something that mattered in your eyes. But, you were also tired, everyone was. Fury had the team working nonstop for weeks now and finally, he grew a conscience and gave you a week off. 

This brings you to now, laying on the couch with your girlfriend on top of you. She had a thing for resting her head on your chest, her ear being directly on top of your heart and you absolutely loved it. It gave you the perfect opportunity to thread your fingers through her hair. 

Moments like this made you love the fact that you kept your apartment away from the compound. You loved your found family but, they could be a lot, especially after weeks of being almost attached to the hip, and the added privacy was a plus. 

You had been dating for a few months now and you felt that you had met your whole life, and to be honest with the way you two acted with each other, the others thought so too. It only took a look before you both climbed into your car and went to your apartment. 

You and Wanda had a simple plan. 

Order takeout, put on some sitcoms, and then just cuddle until bedtime. It was the perfect plan for two introverts such as yourselves and it was doing wonders for both of your moods.

That was until Wanda’s phone started ringing. “Nooooo,” You said, hugging her, preventing her from reaching for it. 

“Baby, at least let me see who it is,” She said, to which you let her just take a pick at her screen. Once she saw who it was she realized she really needed to answer it. “Honey, I need to answer that. It’ll just be a minute, I promise” 

You huffed “Fine, but I’ll be waiting, I still haven’t reached my cuddles quota” The witch nodded and got up from you leaving a short peck on your lips. 

Unbeknownst to you, weeks ago Wanda had been looking to adopt a puppy for you, you had talked about it for a while having been told that it could help to maintain your anxiety at bay and secretly because you and Wanda didn’t have a chance to have one when you were little so, all in all, it was a win-win to get you one in the brunette’s eyes.

The call was about the lady at the adoption center telling her that she was parked outside with the puppy. As it turns out, Wanda had forgotten all about it since it had been a few very hectic weeks and her mind was on the missions. She just hoped you would enjoy the surprise. 

“Okay so… I have a surprise for you,” Your girlfriend said, going into the living room again.

"A surprise?" You replied confused, "Wait… did I forget something?" You got up in an instant at the thought of forgetting an important event.

"No, no, no. It's just something I wanted to do for you for a while and it’s finally here” She grabbed your keys from the coffee table where you had tossed them when you arrived. You gave her a confused look but ultimately decided to just let her be and eventually find out what this was all about. “I’ll be right back, baby” She gave you another peck and left the apartment.

A few minutes passed and you were starting to get nervous, debating whether you should go find her or not but before you could make any decision you heard the giggle of the keys. 

You watched intently toward the front door waiting to find out what she was doing and what the surprise was. Wanda walked in with her back turned to you, which you assume it’s to hide her hands and whatever she was holding. 

“Okay, I need you to close your eyes,” She said, looking at you from over her shoulder. You did as she said and patiently waited for whatever she meant to do. You heard her quiet steps getting closer and right before she was able to tell you to open your eyes you heard a cute little bark. You immediately opened your eyes at the intrusion to be face to face with a black and white husky puppy, looking at you with its big blue eyes. 

“I guess someone was excited to meet you,” Wanda said petting the puppy’s head. “This is Atlas… your new companion” 

“You got me a puppy?” You were still shocked, never expecting Wanda to actually get you one. 

“Yeah… I hope that’s okay,” She shifted her weight on her leg. “It’s just… you told me you had been thinking about getting one and then I read about dogs being really helpful with stress and stuff,” 

You were seriously about to cry right now, no one in your life had ever put that much attention to you, they were just loose comments on a few conversations that you thought no one was paying attention and Wanda actually thinking about the positive impact that a pet could have on you were just one of many signs that she loved you and were having troubles expressing her much this meant to you.

“I love this… I don’t what to say” You ran to her and buried your face in her neck, being aware of little Atlas in between you. 

“Oh honey, you don’t have to say anything” Her free hand was gently caressing the back of your neck.

“I love you, Wanda,” You said under your breath, if you had been farther away she wouldn’t have been able to hear it. It was the first time you said it, any of you. You both clearly felt it but neither of you really said it, you just showed it with actions. 

“I love you too, Y/N” 

You both relished the newly said words, feeling the ease of it all. Petting Atlas and playing with him, making a list of the things you were going to have to get for him. It was the warmest place you had ever felt, this was home, this was everything you needed and had never even thought of, and more and all thanks to the young witch that held your heart.

Every day that passed you were becoming more sure about Wanda being your soulmate and you wouldn’t change it for the world.

[moonshine-nightlight]

2024 Writing - Plans

similar to last year, i wanted to post a little look forward at my plans for writing this year are. the necessary disclaimer: this is 100% high level, optimistic, ideal situation and subject to change but i still like thinking about it and posting for anyone who's interested. see this post for last years!

so, i like separating things out it mini goals/sections so see below:

Nothing's Wrong with Dale: with DSM self-published under my belt, I'd like to focus on the NWWD publishing journey next! The main obstacles/costs are time and money. Hiring an editor and a cover artist are the pricey-est part of the process but my own edit (first to convert everything from 2nd POV to 3rd POV and then another high-level edit/revise once i've got it in the right POV) will take the most time and needs to be done before i hand it over to an editor. Then after the editor takes their time (and NWWD is much longer than DSM), and finally i need to process all of their edits as well. And i need to do all of this while i do my day job lol.

i've already converted the first 11 chapters to 3rd POV (i hav some IRL friends/betas who only read that version, so if u feel like the tumblr version took a lot of time lol). the timing of being able to publish this year will all end up depending on how quickly i can do all that and kick off the part of the process that depends on outside parties. Even if i manage to self-publish in this year, i don't expect it to come out until lik December and even that's ideal, super best case scenario.

Long Stories: I want to outline both A Perfectly Ordinary Research Position and Shadow Diplomacy and then pick one to be the new long story on here. I do what i call a chapter outline and a scene outline, which is confusing to not!me because the scene = a chapter on here. i should probably rename that process lol. (NWWD was 11 'chapters' and 35 'scenes' for reference).

once i pick a project, i just hope to post as many chapters as i can. Since this will be new, long, and likely just building steam, i actually think it'll be my lower priority after the Short Stories and NWWD publishing, but we'll see. i'd like to start putting that up in June, according to my tentative 2024 schedule.

Short Stories: Since i didn't get as many of these done in 2023 and they've been haunting my brain longer, i want to for sure get some of these shorter stories done. learning from last years overestimation lol, i plan to post 3 short stories: Courtship Confusion, Feral, and finish Free Piano: Haunted, in that order. i'm excited about all these stories and will let me cover 3 different types of pairings (although technically all are Reader) which is fun. All have been outlined and have parts and pieces written. I wish Feral and FPH could both happen in the fall but the timing just doesnt work out so summers gonna b a little spooky lol.

The schedule i worked out makes it so all this will be possible, but also basically has no breaks in sunday postings after my haitus which is beyond optimistic but i lik to start overly confident lol

Hiatus: this is also your reminder that my work has a specific Busy Season which honestly started already (lucky me) and i will b beyond busy Jan-March at a minimum. i hav more projects than ever with my promotion, a lot to learn, and a lot to juggle so minimum 6 day work weeks will be the name of the game - but hopefully all goes well and i'll get a nice bonus i can feed directly to my editors lol

anyway, that's where i'm at right now and I'm looking forward to all the exciting writing and publishing to come in 2024!

Feel free to send in any asks about upcoming/current stories!

Thanks again for all your support in 2023 and Happy New Year!

[amethystina]

Chapter 38 could have been the beginning of the end of Who Holds the Devil

(Slight spoilers for the chapter below)

The other day, as I was editing the chapter, my wife asked me if I was having another existential crisis (I was apparently making very worrying noises) and while I said no at first, I had to change my answer a split second later.

Yes, I was having an existential crisis.

Because I had just realised that if I deviated from my original plan for chapter 38, I could cut the rest of Who Holds the Devil in half. Or even cut so much as three fourths, if I felt like it. Sure, that would require scrapping the overarching storyline I've been building, throwing out a lot of the character development I've planned, as well as rushing through a lot of the healing/trauma work required for my original storyline, but it was possible.

Basically, if Ga On had opened that door, everything would be different. Or, for that matter, if Yo Han had heard him crying (which he didn't — sorry to those of you who hoped that he did). Because even if they had argued and Yo Han was hurt, he would go to Ga On without hesitation if he heard him crying outside his door. Because he loves him too much not to.

Point being, if they had actually talked there at the end of chapter 38, everything I have built towards would have toppled like one of Yo Han's card houses. Because Ga On would have said just about anything to right the mistakes he'd just made. And while that might sound like a good thing, it's not. Because Yo Han wouldn't take that as Ga On expressing genuine feelings for him, but Ga On panicking due to his abandonment issues. He'd think Ga On was just doing whatever he could think of in order to make Yo Han stay, including lying or gaslighting himself into thinking he's in love with Yo Han.

It wouldn't actually have helped all that much, is what I'm saying, because that's not a good foundation for a relationship.

But I COULD have done it. I could have cut down the amount of time I have left to spend on this fic so drastically that, yes, it gave me an existential crisis xD

Partly because this fic has become a huge part of my life in general — to the point where I'm not quite sure who I would be without it — but also because I realised that I was tempted. A part of me wanted to do it. Because every chapter takes everything between 10 to 30 hours to finish when you count all the writing and editing — though several times I've ended up closer to 40 (which is a lot while juggling a full-time job and long Covid). I've written 38 chapters so far and it has taken over two years. And I can't say how much further I will have to go — how many more chapters or years I'm going to have to dedicate to this fic in order to actually finish it.

So, if only for one evening, the thought of cutting it short was VERY tempting.

But, clearly, I didn't in the end. Partly because I still love this fic so incredibly much and I want to write it as it's meant to be written. Also, it would have felt like such a waste to throw away all those plot threads I've been weaving because of... idk, laziness? And I would have to force Ga On and Yo Han together before either of them are ready for it, which would result in a much more fragile relationship in general.

So, long story short, that's why Ga On didn't open the door. I know it may have seemed cruel of me not to let him while you were reading it but, if I had done it, everything would have changed — and not necessarily for the better. Not to mention that you would have gotten a whole lot less fic in the end xD

So yeah. I made the choice to stick to my original plan but, hopefully, it will be worth it in the end.

Thank you for your patience :)

[sothischickshe]

I was tagged by @bourbon-ontherocks (ty! 💛💛💛) to answer 20 questions for writers:

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

21!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

278,245

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The only fandom I've ever published fic for is good girls

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Bringing down the neighbourhood

waiting for someone who needs me🧞

What a sight to see🧛🏻

(a) time to kill

yourself and others

I'm not sure the middle 3 would def be there were it not for the anon kudos bombing but w/e it's nice having some single chapter fics in the top 5 🤘

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! 🥺🥺🥺

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

A time to refrain (from embracing) methinks!

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Both installments of the Are you afraid or is it true series are pretty fluffy. Maybe the second part (Through the park and by the tree) wins out? 🤔

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not generally. There was someone in the gg fandom leaving mean bookmark notes tho 🙄🗑️

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes. What are the kinds? 👀

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven't, and I don't imagine I would?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, not that I'm aware of. It could be interesting to see how it would go!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes actually, as kids me and a friend co-wrote a tortall 'verse crackfic.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Ooof. Maybe spuffy? That met me at a very formative time of my life, and I didn't expect it to become so canon (as opposed to like under a spell etc) and I think that experience really reshaped my brain 🤯🤯🤯 but fundamentally faves questions are immoral thus this is a very rude question.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I hope I'll finish all of them, and do intend to! I'm not sure I'll ever write the hilarious abortion fic tho.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Mm, a love of language/interesting prose. A love of brevity/somewhat chiselled sentences. A love of editing/willingness to improve. Interesting stories. Dialogue, tho brio get little bc theyre annoying. Characterisation!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Well I violently dislike plot. I don't feel super strong on creating original characters. I'm slow! I'd rather let things be confusing than beat readers over the head with info, which I think can be detrimental. I wouldnt say my descriptions are super strong, though I think they've improved a lil. Sometimes there's too much internal monologue at a go which breaks up the pacing of an eg dialogue scene (though again think that's improved somewhat). My love of planning and love of pantsing are at constant war lol, I get grumpiest abt stuff not having been established earlier and thus needing to state things which couldve been well demonstrated. Blocking, sometimes. I love short stories and oneshots but I'm apparently prone to writing long fics & continuing things into series which I consider a real weakness, lol.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I'm not against it in principle, I've read a lot of books which contain a lot of eg French or Spanish (often untranslated). We've got access to Google translate or w/e right? I do appreciate it when translations are provided bc lazy (and I think Ao3 does poss let you do hyperlinked superscript?). I feel the same way abt it in fic as in other media I think -- if you're happy for it to be a bonus to those that understand and everyone else needs to work to figure it out, I concur. If you think it needs to be understood, then providing translations (even if just as notes @ the end) makes sense.

But I also think pls don't write it via Google translate... If u don't speak the language/don't have someone who can help u translate it, don't write dodgy shite Spanish or w/e 🙈 not everything needs to be literal dialogue u can just say 'he explained to his grandmother abt the change in plans' or w/e I swear

...o wait I'm guessing the q meant me as a writer not reader 🤦 I don't think I've done much of it? Altho I do always seem to imply that every character speaks French, a language I don't really speak so who the hell knows 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Published for: good girls. Wrote for hmmm I guess tortall books maybe? 🧓🤷🏼‍♀️

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Ooof, immoral question! Let's say upon your ignorance (and the gray despair) of your ugly life tho bc every time I remember I wrote a fic where rio & Dean swap bodies I giggle 😂 there's so much abt this fic which is very funny to specifically me teehee

Tagging🔖🔖🔖🔖🔖: @hereliesbb @nakedmonkey @nottonyharrison @inyoursheets @bensonstablers @blizabrth @delicatelingon & U right in the middle of your forehead if u wanna play 😚🎯

[two-reflections]

What is your take on the best reading order for Salamanders-stuff?

I starteed with the first half of the Heresy, jumped to Vulkan's Primarch-novel after Unremembered Empire, read the "let's bring him back"-arc of the Heresy, Read the 40k Omnibus, returned to the Heresy ... and that was NOT ideal!

So, what would you recommend? And, what aditional 40k-books besides the Omnibus do you think are esential?

TL;DR - I'm not the best person to ask because there's a lot I haven't read, but imo, if you're not invested in the Horus Heresy, go straight to Nick Kyme's series. Salamander Omnibus, or better, pick up the Lords of Nocturne set that includes Rebirth. (Coming out this Spring!) Alternatively, read Forge Master first and then go to Tome of Fire. If you are invested in the Horus Heresy already, maybe starting there is better, but again, I'm not the best person to ask about that.

Long answer below!

To be honest, I'm not sure I have a good answer for this because any time anyone discusses reading orders, I always think "Whatever order keeps you interested and reading is the best." 😅

Also, I know this is pretty much a crime, but I haven't finished the Salamander-focused Heresy-era books. I... Really struggle with the Heresy, tbh. I fell in love with 40k through a tabletop RPG set in the 41st millennium, and I still tend to think of the Heresy as a quasi-mythical thing that happened in the distant past. Currently, I use the Heresy-era books I have as reference material, but I recognize that not completing them leaves huge gaps in my knowledge. I plan to get through the Salamanders ones (and a few other 30k books, including Josh Reynolds’ ones!) this year.

I read the Tome of Fire series around 2019 and have gone back to various parts since, but I haven't fully reread it. I should do that. I've reread Rebirth a few times, including recently, because it hits juuust right for me. Also, I have a physical copy. 😅

I don't feel super qualified to answer because of all that, but I suppose my recommendation would depend on whether the reader jives with Nick Kyme's writing or not.

If they already like 40k and don't mind Nick Kyme's style, (like you and me, yay!) the available choices are either the 40k Salamanders books or the Horus Heresy. Unless a reader is already invested in the Heresy series, I'd say pick up the Lords of Nocturne collection that's coming out this April, as that will contain the whole of his Salamanders series, several short stories and Rebirth. (Finally! Maybe people will actually read my favourite Salamanders novel now.) Alternatively, the old Salamanders Omnibus has most of the same material, but without Rebirth.

After that, they have three choices: Dive into the Horus Heresy, go for David Annandale’s Primarch novel and/or his Space Marine Battles Book Forge Master, or follow me into the sad world of scrounging for snippets in codexes and White Dwarf. 😭

That being said, I honestly think the 8th Edition Codex: Salamanders is worth a look for readers, despite being game-focused. There are lots of fiction snippets in there. Would be fun to see fanfic authors expand some of them... FFG's Deathwatch RPG sourcebook also does a good job at setting the vibe, though it's older and a little out of date.

There are some solid short stories out there too. I love Burden of Angels, but the two by Graham NcNeill in Shattered Legions are pretty good. (Shattered Legions might be another good way in, hmm.) Artefacts was an interesting read, I really liked Vulkan's voice in it.

For people who struggle with Nick Kyme's style, reading David Annandale’s Vulkan: Lord of Drakes and/or Forge Master might be the best way in. Personally, I found Vulkan: Lord of Drakes a bit strange and didn't finish it, but although I've only just started Forge Master, I'm enjoying it so far. It's from the PoV of a techmarine and the first Chapter contains a description of Nihilan's forces besieging Heliosa. If someone read that book first and then moved onto the Tome of Fire, they might be a bit better primed to roll with the story. I think Overfiend also has a Salamander in it, but I haven't read that one yet. Also, Annandale’s debut The Death of Antagonis was Black Dragons-focused, but I haven't read that one either.

One more thing a reader could do is find media relevant to conflicts the Salamanders were involved in. For example, there isn't (as far as I'm aware) a Salamanders-focused novel set during the 3rd War for Armageddon. However, by reading about that conflict in general, a fan would come to understand a bit more of their favourite Chapter's history. (This is why I was asking for material related to the Talledus War recently!)

Sorry I couldn't give a better informed answer! Maybe I'll have a more fleshed out opinion later this year. 😊

[evelhak]

🔹2023 Wrap Up🔹

I've never really done an end of the year type of post, but I got inspired somehow. Maybe because this year has been in many ways slower and filled with rest more than any other year in my life so far (which is a good thing), but I started looking back, wondering if I'd really done "anything" this year, and I can see there's still a decent amount of things I've accomplished that are meaningful to me. So, this is almost diary type self-reflection. But I'll post it because I would like to see other people do this type of thing too. ✨

This is mostly work and hobbies related.

Original writing published

Rummuttaja (Drummer)

My third published novel and the first book in my first fantasy series. I'll talk about it more in its own post but it's about an island where people can control earthquakes with music, and musically gifted children are brought up as heroes to be. I spent about half of 2023 editing this book and I'm probably more proud of it than anything else I've published.

Sydäntekniikkaa (Heart Techniques)

A short story, or a novella, with a spin on the innocent girl meets heartless boy trope. Discusses politics, environment, prejudice, ignorance and disability in a fantastical setting. It was published in a steampunk anthology Rautasilmä ja muita steampunk-kertomuksia (Iron eye and other steampunk stories) with three other stories. Here's a drawing of my main character.

A book review I wrote on Sankareita ja shakkinappuloita (Heroes and chess pieces) by Heidi Torn, appeared in a Finnish SFF magazine Kosmoskynä. I very rarely make time to help with this magazine I've subscribed to for many years, so I'm glad I did. The book was about Greek gods in modern day Finland, so as a Percy Jackson fan I was obviously intrigued.

Original works written

2023 wasn't the most active writing year since I spent so much time editing, but I managed to write

about a half of a fantastical murder mystery in a ballet school told from the perspective of seven students with very different views on the school and the people in it

a short story about a magical doll maker student attempting to manipulate another guy to be less full of himself

Editing work

I've just started as one of three editors for a magic school story anthology. It is my first time so I'm learning from the other two who are more experienced and actually have their university degrees in Finnish language which I don't. I was asked along as more of the magic school expert since most of my published work so far is set in them. We are only just starting to go through the submissions since the deadline was the end of the year, so I haven't done much yet but I really love helping other people make the most of their writing, so I'm very excited. ✨

Fan fiction

Words published: 225 239

Words written: 263 315

Not including a few 100 word drabbles, and fake chats which are actually from past fics anyway just in visual form.

My fics were mostly KagaKuro, as they usually are, but I also wrote one AoMomo. My plans for 2024 have more diverse focus characters, though!

Illustration/Graphic design

I got more work for cover design than before this year. I'm still such a newbie on this, but I'm fairly happy with many of them, and I've discovered such passion for this art. Only writing books is more satisfying than getting to be the one to bring out the book's core in a visual form. And some of the authors have really loved the covers and felt like I got them, which of course feels amazing. I always wanted to do my own covers but now that I get to do other people's too I just want to do it more and more.

Drawings/Paintings

This was definitely a KnB heavy year! Which I enjoyed a lot. I didn't do that many original things but I was really happy to get back to traditional art after several years now that I think my digital art skills have improved to pretty much the same level.

Comics

I didn't really complete anything but in June I got about half way through this KagaKuro comic (with female Kuroko) based on my own fic Kuroko's Fairytale.

This is definitely one of the things I want to finish the most in 2024! I felt so high drawing it. It was such a strange experience because female Kuroko was not supposed to be a thing for me... (it was supposed to be just one funky fic that happens in a dream, never to be revisited again, because my brain is so much work it beats itself up about even the most minuscule changes I might like to make on existing characters, like, my brain just has no chill about fiction, everything is death serious, it's fucking annoying even to me) But. BUT. B U T. When I was drawing this comic. Oh. My. God. I have no words for how good it felt. Like, I obviously knew you can experience love on behalf of fictional characters (hello, shipping) but I had never before experienced gender euphoria on behalf of a fictional character. There's no other way to describe it, girl Kuroko absolutely destroyed me in the best of ways. So she's here to stay, I can't push her back anymore.

Anyway, have a sneak peek. I still struggle a lot with consistent anatomy as I have my whole life, but there are a few frames I love already, my favourite probably being the one which is also my icon.

Not that I'm not also in love with stupid prince Kagami, but I was never fighting that so it's a little different.

Books read

Not an especially good reading year in quantity. In quality it was, though. I don't think there was one book that I disliked. My problem these days is that every time I try to take time to read a book, about a half an hour into it my brain goes like... You know what? You could be working on your own writing. But it's also very important for a writer to read, so I have to retrain my brain to stop feeling like it's wasting time when I read.

Total: 29 (or 35 if you count KnB as two volumes each since it's double edition)

New books: 17

Rereads: 12(/18)

Several of these are books I did covers for, and I started a KnB reread to check for ideas I haven't covered in my fics yet, so if you take these "business" reads out of the equation, I didn't read that much for just pleasure. That's something I want to improve in 2024.

The most memorable book was probably The Song of Achilles (a damn difficult read since I saw so many of my own relationships patterns in Patroclus to a painful detail, ugh. And yeah Achilles definitely reminded me of some specific people too. Kind of destroyed all my blissful surrealist separation with this story and made me disillusioned with it, but in the end it might have been good for me).

Fics read

Ok, this is downright shameful to me. I read so little. But go give some love to these fics I've read which were obviously made with love.

Reap What You Sow (one-sided (??) AoMomo) by @vespersposts

summer drabble (Kagami) by cempasuchil_03

Noodle Kiss (KagaKuro) by @myndless88

The Art of Self-Pillage (Haizaki, OC) by @lylakoi

Let's Have a War (Kise, Kasamatsu, OC) by @lylakoi

Tastes of Cinnamon (KagaKuro) by @lilypheria

Nail art

A new hobby for me! I hadn't even owned nail polish before. And couldn't stand long nails either. I have no clue what inspired this, to be honest. I'm very new to it, but here are my favourites.

The text print on blue nails was definitely the most me, but I think I particularly enjoy prints in general. I made the star ones for Christmas.

I bet I've forgotten something obvious but this post is pretty long already and it looks like a pretty good summary. Definitely helped me sort out my thoughts on what I want to do in 2024 and what priorities I should have.

Good luck to everyone on all your future plans. ✨💙

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Breaking down the comics: Doing good (Issue 34)

Moon Knight, Issue # 34: Primal Scream

Written by Tony Isabella and drawn by Bo Hampton. 

And Bonus short: The Vault of Knight

Written by Tony Isabella and drawn by Richard Howell.

Let's stop for a second. Take a little comic history lesson tour. 

This is not written by the usual Moon Knight team. 

Let's get into a little Moench history here and why he left. 

He did not really get along well with the then Marvel Chief editor James Shooter. Understandable. Here’s why: 

James Shooter got his start writing for DC then moved to Marvel. During the 70s and 80s, Marvel was experiencing a huge boom in content and new titles (like Moon Knight!) 

Further more, Stan Lee stepped away from monitoring comics to heading the animation works in LA right when Shooter became the cheif, leaving him fully in charge. 

Many felt that Shooter ran the place like a dictator, but there had been a huge influx of missed deadlines and Shooter put a stop to that. 

Despite keeping things running and overseeing a lot of new and important titles, he also alienated a LOT of long-time Marvel creators. 

Many of the long-time creators, like Moench, left Marvel to join with DC, who had a new editor. (He got to write for Batman!) 

NOTE: Shooter also enforced a policy forbidding the portrayal of Gay Characters in the Marvel Universe. In fact, the ONLY and first portrayal of a gay themed comic was of gay men attempting to rape Bruce Banner in the YMCA (which Shooter himself wrote), thus making Marvel to be widely considered Homophobic throughout Shooter's reign. (You should look into the history of LGBTQ+ in comics. It's a ride.)

I would like to point out that Moench's last issue during this time was about a reporter that was obsessed with making her deadlines and who wrote shitty pieces that were praised but awful and caused harm and eventual death in one character she wrote about. HMMMMM. 

When did he leave? Sources say the end of 1982, but those that understand the publishing timeline will note comic publish dates don't match the date they reach the shelves. 

So what is the official last Moon Knight Comic Moench worked on?

Let me put it this way... We aren't going to see Moench anymore for the 1980s run. 

He DOES come back for a bit later on, but it's short lived for a couple of limited run editions.

(And this is all new knowledge for me, who thought he originally finished the 1980s run and now I'm looking at an earlier review I did out of order because I'm an idiot and realize I've made a grave mistake.... Oh joy.) 

Farewell my sweet writer Doug Moench. Hats off to you. 

Now! That out of the way, let’s take a look at the first step we truly take away from Mr. Moench. 

For some reason, any time a guest writer sits in for early Moon Knight, they feel the need to over explain the character and introduce his past. Almost as if they were trying to explain who they are writing or getting a grasp on it for themselves. 

This is also a special double large edition. Another cause for writers to try to over explain characters as Marvel expects a bigger issue to draw in new fans. 

However, this is an odd story to push on the hopes of new fans. 

Let’s get into it! 

Yep. We open with a fast recap on who these characters are. 

It leaves me wondering what happened when Moench left. Did he have a script written out? Did he have to give notice and they knew he was leaving and this writer was already on the backburner? Or was this done in a hurry to get a planned comic deadline out on time? 

I would ALSO like to point out that when Bill left, he got a send off. Moench did not get a send off. He just disappears from the credits. It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. 

"He was born Marc Spector and Spector wasn't a very nice man...Not so much evil as callous...A mercenary whose concern was reserved solely for himself and his Bankbook. 

That man could never have come to this deserted industrial wasteland on a mission made of equal parts mercy and vengeance." 

I disagree. Marc would be all over vengeance in a deserted wasteland. 

"Steven Grant could have. You've read about Grant... The committed millionaire about town...A pretty defendable guy as the upper crust goes. Still... 

Grant couldn't have found this place without Jake Lockley. Jake is the eyes and ears of Grant and Spector...A cabbie whose heart pulses to the beat of the city." 

Putting a bit on Steven, but he'd want to do good. But a gritty back alley is not really his style. 

"Ready for the kicker? Spector, Grant, and Lockley are all the same man...A man you know better as..." 

(A side note... We see Moon Knight running through a warehouse complaining it smells like a sewer. HE WOULD KNOW. And then he's startled by a cat. This is hilarious to me for so many reasons.) 

And that leads us to the title page where a young man is leaking off the crates above to tackle Moon Knight. 

"Frank? Hate to do this to a hopped-up kid, but the quicker I put him down...the less chance of his getting hurt! Though when I think of what he did to Gena..." 

He tosses Frank across the warehouse. 

Moon Knight again alludes to the damage this kid did to Gena's diner after getting high on some new 'junk'. 

Moon Knight is about to call in to Frenchie to get the medics out to take care of the hopped-up kid when the kid takes off. 

He isn't worried. The fight has been knocked out of him and the police shouldn't have an issue. 

Now we head back to the diner where we find Jake having a cuppa wihth Gena and Crawley. 

Crawley is talking about "The Raiders" which is a young men's social club (read 'Gang'). They are known to be brutal and even the police are afraid of them. 

Gena mentions about how she never raised her boys to run in gangs. Out back, we see Frank leading a group of gang members up to the back door of the diner. 

The gang busts in and attacks the patrons, demanding food. 

Jake isn't about to lay down and let it slide. 

He clocks one of the kids and worries about his friends. 

"Gotta get over to Crawley and Gena fast! They're not used to this kind of action!" 

Jake's heart is made of gold. 

One of the kids jumps Jake, growling and snarling. 

"A for effort, punko, but I've seen a real werewolf up close--And all you've got in common with him are lousy table manners!" And Jake flips the man off. 

Frank jumps on Genna while Jake is preoccupied. He cries out that he's hungry and he bites into her arm. 

Her cries distract Jake and someone bashes him on the back of the head, knocking him out. 

On waking up, Jake immediately asks how Gena is. He finds Gena loading up into an ambulance. 

"His name is Frank... So much for my perfect record. Find him before the police do, Jake." 

"I...Understand. I'll make sure the boy isn't harmed." 

"You don't understand! I want that ungrateful little maggot harmed! I want him harmed so badly he won't ever be able to walk upright again! I treated that boy like family! He treated me like today's hot lunch special! Get him for me, Jake! Bring me his stinkin' head on a platter!" 

Jake's pretty irked about Gena getting hurt, but... 

"But that's not what Moon Knight stands for, is it? I'm the agent of vengeance, not vengeance itself." 

That’s an interesting thought for Jake to have. Jake who so often slips out to let the others handle the Moon Knight mission. He trusts that they can handle things. But what is the difference between being an agent of vengeance and vengeance itself? Perhaps, looking to another comic is where we see that line and the difference between Moon Knight and the Punisher. 

He sets out to find Frank and his gang. He hopes having Frank brought in will help Gena. 

"Because I never want to look into the eyes of someone I care for and see so much hatred and despair there. I've seen it too many times before... Within myself." 

So this issue I’m just going to be crying over Jake the whole time. Okay. Good to know. 

Back at the diner, Gena is out of the hospital and facing her fears. 

Moon Knight is searching the hideout of the Raiders. He fllows the smell till he comes across a delirious woman with some sort of chemical burn blotches all over her. 

Looking around, he realizes, Steven Grant has been here before. An old factory he had been trying to save to create jobs has fallen into ruin. 

The factory is left to rot and all the chemicals inside are left there as well. 

He radios to Frenchie to make sure medical is on standby. These kids have been living in the toxic waste too long. 

He asks if the police got anything out of Frank when they grabbed him. 

Yeah... they didn't get him. He got away. 

And he's still looking for food from Gena. 

Back at the diner, we see Gena trying to clean up on her own. 

She is skittish as she cleans but tries to tell herself that no one's coming for her. 

"Besides, I'm not gonna let anybody or anything chase me away from what's mine!" 

And that's when Frank breaks back into Genas’.

Moon Knight finds one of the kids conscious enough to talk. Alcaide, their leader, didn't let them leave the hideout. He found drums full of a top secret toxic waste that drove people wild and crazy. 

Moon Knight recalls that Grant had learned that the factory used to work for the government. 

"Grant saw that in their public records. But the Spector part of me can't help but wonder if they didn't also do some more discreet research for the feds." 

Bingo bango. He finds the drums, filled with "Primal Project" chemicals. 

Oh! time for a Marc Spector flashback! 

"Spector was working for the feds at the time, escorting a man named Wenzel through a south American jungle..." 

They were heading to meet up with a professor in Manaus (that’s in Brazil!) to shut down the Primal Project. 

"It was supposed to slow a man's thinking process...Make him docile...Easy to handle. Something went wrong." Wenzel talks about the project. 

Marc stops them in their tracks. He hears something stalking them from the trees above. 

A creature leaps at them and Marc fires his gun. 

The beast is hit and lays dead. Deformed and animalistic. 

Marc asks if this is the work of the professor they're heading to see. 

"Spector...That IS the professor." 

They reach the campsite to find men dead across the site and more creatures running around. 

They are attacked adn have to fend off the beasts. They ended up blowing up the site to get rid of the beasts and the remaining chemicals. 

Apparently not all the chemical was destroyed. 

Now, Alcaide, the gang leader, approaches, fully a beast now. 

Back in the diner, Gena fights for her life. 

The cops have arrived at the factory and the paramedics are working on the gang. 

Moon Knight still battles the crazed beast and so does Gena. 

The next day, Jake stops in to see Gena. 

Most of the kids will make a recovery and their lawyers claim they were unter the influence of the Primal toxin. 

Gena is still shaken deeply. 

"I trusted Frank like he was one of my own, Jake...And every time I come in here all the pain comes back. Maybe it wasn't all his fault, but nobody forced him to join that gang. And is it right that I can't walk into my own diner without getting sick?" 

Jake tries to comfort her. Or perhaps, he reaches out to her in a way that he wishes he could with himself and with Marc. Because he knows that it does eat them up. It eats Marc up every day. He isn’t sure if it will ever stop eating them up.

"No. But you're too good a lady to let this eat you up forever." 

"Yeah... I'll work it out."

Poor Gena. 

She shoos them away. She needs to lock up for the night. 

This story is beautiful. This one time special guest writer, Tony Isabella and artist Bo Hampton really did a beautiful job here. 

They manage to keep the usual Moon Knight pace and story feel. We have Jake trying to protect his people. We have Gena facing a kid she helped to raise up, despite him not being her own, joining a violent gang and hurting her, we have Governmental neglect to clean up their mess and doing experimental biochemical weapons on unsuspecting people (a thing that really did happen in ‘Nam), we have economic failure for the factory that lead to the failure to clean up the toxic chemicals, and then we go back to Gena who is now facing trauma. 

No one in this story won. No one goes home feeling good about the day. They just have to pick themselves up again and move on. And they shouldn’t have to. Yet here they are, facing it all alone. 

This moves us to the short story afterwards. "The Vault of Knight." 

This is a weird one. Stranger still is that the short is written by the same person who wrote the main line. That’s pretty rare. Usually the short is done as a commission to be filler or bonus issues. 

Weirder still is the way it’s presented. A commentary on the main storyline! I've seen it done before. It's sort of like the Watcher to the audience. 

We have a strange looking character that addresses the audience. He's dressed like a baseball catcher with a Cubs cap on. Fitting. 

He calls himself "The Score-Keeper". 

And this... Let me tell you....

"Aloha, Adventure-addicts! Was twenty-four pages of gratuitous Do-Gooding enough for you...Or does your Hero-Habit demand even more of (yawn) Moon Knight's exciting escapades? I'm your sinister statistician, The Score-Keeper, and what I wanna know is... 

What is this Turkey in his cowled skivvies accomplishing? Does he really make a difference? Let's add it up. You can't lie to a Scorecard!" 

Interesting. A common question that pops up in Moon Knight comics. 

"Take last story for example. Sure he put ONE gang of teen terrors out of commission, but what's he doing about the rest of the anti-social adolescents in this city?" 

We see Moon Knight on a stakeout, waiting where someone's been hitting the same place for a week. 

The someone is two punks that dress up like werewolves and rob the shops in the area. In fact, they've hit five places in the past week alone! 

They hit a store where an old man cowers in fear....Until Moon Knight swoops in and knocks the thugs out. 

"You...You're that Moon Mensch fella! And you came into MY shop to save me from those Gonifs." 

"It's sort of my job." Moon Knight pauses. 

"Nu? To you, it's maybe a job. To me, if my store gets robbed, maybe I don't eat that night. So I thank you a lot, you and your job." 

"Friend, it was a mechaieh." 

Oh boy oh boy oh boy you have no idea how happy I am to hear Moon Knight say THAT. 

Back to the score-keeper, he's not impressed. "Why can't these heroes ever save Bloomingdales?" 

And the score-keeper starts talking about Gena and the previous issue. 

"What about Gena? One of Moon Knight's own team and he couldn't prevent what happened to her in this issue's other story. I don't think she's over it yet." 

We see Gena's boys Ray and Ricky head into the diner. 

"What did you want to talk to us about?" 

"I...I was talkin' to your uncle Rollie today, the one with the big restaurant out in Houston and he...Well, he kinda offered...I mean..." 

Score-Keeper scoffs. 

"Way to go M.K. While you're brushin' up on your Yiddish, one of your closest friends is bookin' this urban paradise. Maybe we should ask the rest of your little outfit what they think of you..." 

And this cracks me up because we get Frenchie, Marlene, and Crawley. Each one speaks of a different altar. And Frenchie is just SO pissy about it and so protective of Marc... He calls him his friend. Marc could always count on Frenchie back in the day. 

I’m…Not going to get into the “Faces of Eve” thing. It’s… A lot. But it was the big DID story and eventual movie that came out around this time that somewhat inspired a loose input into the creation of Moon Knight having DID. 

"You ask me, you care more about these guys than you care about Moon Knight." 

A misnomer. These people are what makes Moon Knight and keeps him going. In his adventures, helping him, and even when he fails them, they stay with him. 

Score guy jabs at it, noting that Moon Knight hasn't protected any of them. 

Frenchie's girlfriend, Marlene's brother, Crawley's son... 

He moves on to Detective Flint. 

Flint waits for him in a back alley. 

"Something happened --Didn't want you to read about it in the papers first. That Alaide kid you brought in was found dead in his cell an hour ago." 

"Yeah, that would've ruined my Breakfast all right." 

(Honestly, Jake is the one that reads the morning paper and eats breakfast. Jake would have been upset.) 

"Wasn't anybody's fault, guy. You know how crazed the kid was --He strangled himself before anyone could get to him." 

"That supposed to make me feel better?" 

"No...This is. It's the room number of the officer that was injured that night." 

Moon Knight pays the officer a visit. The officer is surprised to see him, thinking that he might not come. 

"Flint tells me that storage drum busted three ribs. I'm sorry. Maybe if I'd moved a little faster..." 

"It's all part of the job. But I don't have to tell you that...

You know, I figure you're pretty much a regular guy under that mask. Weird clothes, but no special 'powers'. I'll be honest... This job scares me a lot, like all the time. I was shaking when I went into that warehouse." 

Sometimes he doesn't see the good he does. 

Sometimes all he can see is the pain he leaves behind. Blaming himself for the pain of his friends. 

Maybe he doesn't really understand why this Daniels is thankful for him. But maybe in this moment he thinks it might be worth it. It might be why he is still trying. 

Back to Score-Keeper. It's time to add up the score. 

"Is Moon Knight doing any good or is he just swinging against the wind?" 

He looks at the results and seems surprised. Ripping up the scorecard, he tells us to figure it out for ourselves and leaves. 

A weird story, but I'm not mad at it. It ties into the main story line, shows the aftermath of what happened, and still shows their friends standing by them. 

It also lets Moon Knight take a moment to feel appreciated. 

And it does ask a question that Moon Knight has asked time and time again. “Am I doing good?” 

Is he causing the harm or is he just shouldering the blame because of his past traumas? The question remains over the years as things become more and more broken for them, and the answer has always been there. It’s just that sometimes it’s hard for them to see it… or accept it. 

[gren-arlio]

Puyo Fans are in a drought. I'm here to give a bottle of water to them all. Or at least, I plan to.

All jokes aside, hello there. First time poster here, but I want to explain myself for that header. Currently, as a mere Puyo fan myself, we're going through a real bad drought, like we're rhinos who haven't seen rain in a decade. Besides alts from Quest, we really don't get much things nowadays when it comes to stuff, and a majority of the Madou Monogatari games are sadly not translated, besides Madou Saturn and maybe 2 other games I'm forgetting. Even the Puyo Nexus is running a little dry with that sort of stuff.

So why don't we change that?

I have a very specific game in mind: Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Dungeon. From my findings from both online and on this site, there doesn't seem to be a translation for the entire game. For small sections? Yeah, I've seen them, and I'm happy they're there, but we can do more than sections. How about...a majority of the main story?

...At least for Schezo's route.

For those unaware, the game has 3 stories, the protagonist varying, but it's the ARS Trio from COMPILE, Arle, Rulue, and Schezo.

AKA: These Guys.

And I plan to translate a good amount of Schezo's story for the time being. This is mostly for the main story, as mentioned before, and some stuff mentioned in the in-game Bulletin Board. If you wish to try to do the other two, by all means, go ahead, the more the merrier. I've done some bits already before even making this post, and some parts range from Schezo calling Rulue a bitch to him giving Serilly therapy (Trust me, it makes sense.) It's a chaotic ride and I'm all for it.

So how will I do this, you may ask.

Unfortunately, I have a severe case of I'm Broke As Hell and cannot afford a SEGA Saturn, let alone the game itself. Thankfully, I do have what other people gave back then, especially on more niche YouTube Videos, Niconico, list goes on. If someone has the game and is willing to help just a bit, please let me know! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

This is one of the videos in question. It's the opening to Schezo's story, probably the best story out of the main ARS Trio. It shows off a bit of the gameplay as well as bits of story. As of posting this, I'm only about halfway through the video itself (When you fight Skeleton-T) and trust me, doing this takes a lot of time.

I also just want to mention that Schezo swears. A lot, actually, no one is truly safe from his way of words. On one hand, if we want to stick to the kid friendly Puyo stuff we're mostly used to, I could edit them out...But on the other, he does so often that I just want to keep them to show how funny he is with this stuff.

A few more things before I conclude:

I do NOT speak fluent Japanese, at most I can do a few phrases. This is mostly being done with stuff like translators, context clues, and some help from friends.

Translating takes time. A lot of it. Please do not expect me to do full videos within a day or two. These can take as long as a few weeks, or about as short as three or so days. Also, I have school, so there's that. However, if you wish me to translate a few bits of lines to see what they mean, that's fine!

Some of the translations might not be correct, and if they don't seem correct, or flat out aren't, let me know! I won't take any offense to it and it'll help out a lot!

Credit is something that might get brought up. If someone uses this to make let's say...a English Patch, then yeah, I'd like to be noted for that. Otherwise, it's for everyone.

If you wish to do your own translation, or do another storyline, by all means, go ahead! I'd love to see what others see, and it'll make the workload a lot better for everyone.

With that, that'll be all. Thanks for reading!

[writernopal]

Author Ask Tag

Tagged by a few peeps for this one!

@eponymoussquared here

@writeblr-of-my-own here

@gummybugg here

Thank you all so much! 💙

Tagging (gently): @sam-glade @theroseempress @squarebracket-trick @writingmaidenwarrior @writinglittlebeasts @mysticstarlightduck @elshells @tabswrites

1. What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

To be compassionate of one another. We're all different for so many reasons but we're more alike than you might think and at the end of the day we're all people doing our best and trying to get by. It's important to remember that and to know that we're all dealing with our own things along the way.

I chose it because it truly saddens me how much we as people hold each other back due to in-fighting and othering one another. I wanted a way to examine that and hopefully communicate to anyone reading AASOAF how harmful something like that is. It's no coincidence that the art and humanities have all but come to a standstill in Oepus and that's just part of it...

In short, be kind to your fellow man, dammit.

2. What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

Lizards for sure haha. But a lot of my inspiration comes from nature, human history, music, movies, and foley design! Also, I have an intense curiosity about all sorts of different things so Google deep dives are very inspiring!

3. What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

My MCs are trying to find their places in the world. They all kind of get confronted with some pretty harsh truths about their respective situations and are kind of forced to decide if they're going to keep going down their current path or if they are going to do something to change it.

As far as what I'm trying to achieve, I think I really want to drive the point that familiar =/= safe or "good". It can, but not always. I also really want to demonstrate that no matter who you are or where you come from, introspection, questioning the world around you, and deriving meaning to 'life and purpose', are something we should all engage in. I sincerely hope that it gives my readers the courage to do those things for themselves and grow into the versions of themselves I know they can be!

4. How many chapters is your story going to have?

As many as it takes.

5. Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

Original! AASOAF 3 will join AASOAF 1 & 2 on Wattpad when it's all finished! I have considered moving platforms recently but I'm not sure where yet.

6. When and why did you start writing?

My writing journey kind of comes in two parts. I started writing back when I was a teenager but only did it for about a year. I can't really remember why I stopped and I definitely don't have anything from that time, mostly because I didn't think to save it. I really wish I had though.

After that, I didn't get back into writing until late 2019 at the encouragement of my therapist that I journal my feelings. So I did that, but then somewhere along the way I remembered how much I liked stories and I started writing for fun!

7. Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

Just write, bro. Seriously. I think people get bogged down in a deluge of advice, technique, the "right" way to do things, etc, etc that they quite literally lose the plot. They forget why they started writing in the first place or build it up to be this thing they're afraid to engage with or even forget that under all of that they are just trying to tell a story. SO TELL IT. Stop putting up imaginary walls for yourself dude. WRITE. THE. DAMN. THING. You're not going to nail it on the first try, THAT'S FINE (and kind of the point, hello editing!) and you will get better over time. It's like jumping into a swimming pool and getting upset when you discover that you're not an Olympic level swimmer. Give yourself some grace and write the damn thing.

As far as other writers, I follow so many lovely peeps that this post would be longer than a CVS receipt if I listed them all LOL so instead, have some of my darling moots who have made being on this little corner of Tumblr that much sweeter 💙

@outpost51

@sam-glade

@elshells

@writingmaidenwarrior

@tabswrites

@crowandmoonwriting

@acertainmoshke

@captain-kraken (not around so much anymore but you had such a positive impact on me, dear captain, that it cannot be overstated)

[oreoambitions]

Hey there^^ I absolutely love your writing and discovered it a few years ago, now I've been rereading a lot of your work!

And it is soo amazing! I just wanted to ask respectfully (as another writer with too many stories to finish) if you still plan on continuing the "Falling, yes I'm falling" fanfic or if you have layed it to rest.

I hope you have an amazing day!☺️

Short answer: yes, but over on Falling Slowly which is the more current version Long answer: Omg areyoflight this fic haunts me and if I don't complete it I'll die but I made the silly mistake of starting the fic without a) watching that scene in the show or b) knowing anything about how pleading the 5th works, and when I realized that I'd messed up by making Kara do smth that was plot driven rather than character driven and ALSO there is a MAJOR LEGAL PLOT HOLE I couldn't get myself to finish the first draft. I know the fandom doesn't really care about the plot hole or the out of character angst, and I tried really hard to just forge ahead and Give The People What They Want, but it turns out *I* care and I had to walk it back. So there's a second draft of a few chapters on Ao3. But the thing IS the more I worked on it the more I had to go back and keep editing the chapters I'd already posted and that was frustrating because I know you don't get an update if something gets edited on Ao3 and I didn't want to keep reposting it but I also didn't want anyone to go ahead to the new content without reading the corrected earlier content SO. I would like to finish it. I am actively working on finishing it. But I've broken the plot down into a Part I and Part II and I can't post any of Part I until I've finished *all* of Part I or I'll be stuck in an editing loop f o r e v e r. Also hi thank you so much for the kind words and the encouragement, and I hope you have an amazing day too!

[winterinhimring]

1, 5, and 6 for the latest ask game

Thanks for sending this!

1: Tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

The current project that's most consistently under construction is The Right Question, a fix-it for The Amazing Spider-man 2 (NOT something I ever expected to write fic for) which could very well be subtitled "Gwen Stacy and Aunt May Fix Everything (Harry Helps A Bit)". It's making pretty good progress and most of the main conflict has already been solved, so really what's left now is cleaning up loose ends and revelling in the fix-it a bit before I wrap things up. I think what I love most about it is the dynamic that's developing between Harry, Peter, and Gwen. Harry and Peter have spent most of the fic trying to express friendship for each other by mutually going 'I will sacrifice myself for you. Let me sacrifice myself for you PLEASE. I AM GOING TO JUMP IN FRONT OF THIS BOLT OF LIGHTNING FOR YOU DON'T YOU DARE TACKLE ME OUT OF THE WAY WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE SAVING ME I AM SUPPOSED TO BE SAVING YOU'. Gwen, meanwhile, has the brain cell, and has spent most of the fic trying to get them to actually TALK about all the things they sorely need to talk about, but crises keep happening and the boys keep running off into the blue before she can sit them down and sort them out properly. It honestly cracks me up laughing.

I'm also planning to add another arc to A Lot Can Happen In Twenty Years, a collection of short stories set after my rewrite of Spider-man: No Way Home in A Far, Far Better Thing (a series that started life as 'let's fix the post-Endgame MCU' and ended up spanning the entire live-action Spider-man multiverse). So far, entries to that have included lots of Osborn family bonding and a Raimi-verse edition of Electro; the next arc, if I ever actually write it, will be about the Raimi-verse Vulture, whose existence I've teased in previous fics, but who has never actually shown up on screen. So far, it's just in the planning stage, because I'm trying to get The Right Question written before I start it. However, I can already tell that it's going to be chock full of father-son feels and bonding between Norman and Harry, which is one of my favourite things, so I'm really looking forward to when it's written. (I don't want to have to WRITE it but alas, such is life.)

Finally, there is my oldest and least consistently worked-on project, aka That Pesky Original Novel, aka The Finding. It's about a pair of college students who stumble across what I can probably most easily describe as a magical artifact (though magic is really a bit of a misnomer for the way I've set up this world, and in-universe everyone would insist, correctly, that it's NOT magic), find themselves in the sights of quite a lot of interested parties, and have to figure out who to trust and what to do. It has been nominally in the process of being rewritten ever since I first drafted it in high school, but it has actually made some progress lately. It might get finished this year or it might take me another decade; who knows?

5: What character that you're writing do you most identify with?

This is a tough one! I tend to write characters that are similar to me in some crucial ways (I don't think I've ever written someone who's naturally open with their emotions, because that is simply baffling to me on a fundamental psychological level), but very different in others. It's not quite a case of opposites attract, but it's pretty rare for me to look at a character I write and strongly identify with him or her. I can find bits or pieces of myself in most of the characters I write (my sense of morality in Peter, my determination in Gwen, my dislike of emotional vulnerability in Norman, my snark in just about everyone, etc.), but I don't see my whole self in any of them.

6: What character do you have the most fun writing?

It depends on a lot of things! Right now, though, probably Harry Osborn, because he's (a) ridiculously dramatic and can always be relied upon to take a plot in new and interesting (by which I mean supremely angsty) directions, and (b) SUCH a snarky little dude who WILL unleash it on anyone he considers deserving at the slightest provocation. He considers quite a lot of people deserving and I love writing snark, so it's a writer and character partnership made in heaven.

Thank you for sending this question! I had lots of fun answering it.

Ask game is here.

[thatscarletflycatcher]

Hiya!! So I think I asked you this a long time ago, so I'm sorry if it's repetitive, but I was wondering if you could recommend me a Elizabeth Gaskell novel? :) In your opinion, which one should I start off with? Hope u don't mind this ask haha

I'm really sorry, lately it's taking me a while to answer asks :(

I want to make a full guide on Gaskell at some point... when I have finished reading her work. The fact that I haven't read, for example, Mary Barton or Sylvia's Lovers yet influences my recommendations (but of course anyone who has read them can chime in!)

A lot of people, I daresay most, begin Gaskell by North and South, mostly because the 2004 series is very famous and beloved, so they watch it and go for the book. And probably don't read anything by her again because they are disappointed.

I don't think it's the absolute worst place to begin (Ruth would probably be it; it's a very heavy, tragic, sad novel, a blunt social commentary with some reminiscences of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, but not with the dexterity that one has), but it's not a good one; the whole process of writing the book and finishing it was plagued by Dickens being jealous and bothersome, which ended up producing some uneven pacing and dei ex machina. Besides that, it sits in a weird spot where it is too bleak for The Austen ReaderTM but not Gothic enough for The Brontë ReaderTM.

The thing with Gaskell is that she was a prolific author who tried her hand at different genres and subgenres, ad who wrote short stories, novellas, and novels. Where to start will depend a lot on what are you the most interested in reading.

If you want something sort of like Austen, the best bet to get an idea of her style and the tone of her lighter work is Mr Harrison's Confessions. It's a fun, cliche story. If you want to commit to a novel, Wives and Daughters is also light and "austenesque", and vastly considered her best work. It is unfinished, but unfinished very, very close to the end (only the last wrap up of the wrap up is missing, but even then most editions carry an editor's note with an explanation of the general idea of what Gaskell had planned for that before she died).

Six Weeks at Happenheim is a bucolic story set in Germany, about a man recovering from illness.

Cranford is more of a bridge novel, also short-ish, between the lighter and the more melancholy, mournful type of story (such as My Lady Ludlow or Cousin Phillis) of reminiscence she used to write.

The 2007 Cranford series is a mash up of Cranford, My Lady Ludlow, and Mr Harrison's Confessions.

Gaskell also wrote several Gothic stories; I haven't read many of those, but I can recommend The Doom of the Griffiths and Lois the Witch as good examples.

She also wrote what I think was the first biography of Charlotte Brontë, titled The Life of Charlotte Brontë. I got this one as a present this Christmas and it is the next work of hers I intend to read!

So... where to start with Gaskell? Another important thing to keep in mind is that, as a writer, she takes her time to set the mood. She likes her purple prose, and you need to slow down to her pace, specially in her novels. So if you had a hard time with, for example, the rhythm of Jane Eyre, perhaps trying a shorter story first to see how you jive with her style of writing can be a good idea.

In short: if you want more of a Austen-y mood, try either Mr Harrison's Confessions or Wives and Daughters.

If you want more of a mix of humor and melancholy, like a distant cousin to the tone of Sense and Sensibility, try Cranford. Also try Cranford if you think stories about old ladies matter!

If you want to read her most famous work at this point, do try North and South. Just don't take it as completely representative of all her work or her talent as a writer. It is a good representation of the social aspect of her novels, and I have heard very often that it is an interesting complement/contrast with Mary Barton (which was her first novel).

If you want some Gothic goodness, start by The Doom of the Griffiths.

[valeriehalla]

Once you've completed the creation of your in-browser VN software, are there any plans to sell or otherwise share it for others to utilize for their own creations as well? If you've decided not to do so, why not? Or, is it simply something you have not yet decided one way or another (or haven't decided the details on) yet?

i absolutely would not sell it. for one thing, if i were to sell it, people would rightfully expect "support" or "for it to work". at some point when it feels like it's feature complete enough and i've tested it by making one or two little things in it, i'll release the code in a big .tar.gz for free.

i wanna stress that i'm designing this tool to complement exactly my particular skillset and use case. so, there's no GUI, for example, on the developer's end. you'll have to know how to install python and run a few scripts to work with the preprocessor, and you'll have to know basic html and css to edit the default slide templates, and things like that. also, SlideVN can't, by design, do some of the things you might expect a VN engine to do. there is no formal syntax for creating a VN-style scene out of layered character sprites on top of a background, for example (because that involves a lot of preproduction and i'm more interested in other paradigms for combining text with images). there's also no way to set game variables or have branching paths via choices (because my focus is on short serialized storytelling where a branching story doesn't make sense).

cutting out all of the stuff i, specifically, don't need is how i'm able to be most of the way finished this engine instead of it taking me the better part of a year, so for me this is all a compromise-free win-win. for you? i dunno!! you'll just have to download the tar.gz when it comes and find out??

[calliethetrekkie]

Star Trek TOS S01EP15-16: The Menagerie

I decided to review both parts in the same review. It's the same story, so I'd rather be able to go over it all at once. Plus at least half of it when put together is footage from the first pilot, The Cage. I also want to note that, at the time of writing, I have NOT watched Strange New Worlds yet, so I won't be mentioning/considering anything from it or its portrayal of Pike and crew for this review. Anyway, that should do it for window dressing, let us get underway.

Original Thoughts

I'm not even going to try and copy/paste and re-edit both of them to add onto here. This is going to be long enough. You can read my old watchthrough here, but the short version is I liked Part 1, didn't like Part 2 as much, and overall I liked it for the Spock content but it was meh otherwise.

Rewatch Thoughts

God, this took me way too long to get done...

So this episode is the first and only two-parter in TOS. We wouldn't get another one in Star Trek until TNG. One thing kind of weird about this episode is that it's more or less Spock on court martial... after we'd just done a court martial episode for Kirk. When I watched these in the airing order, I think one reason I didn't care for Court Martial is because it felt like we'd 'been there, done that' with The Menagerie, a feeling that didn't repeat in production order which let me enjoy that episode a lot more.

I thought long and hard about how I wanted to organize this. How much I wanted to go into regarding both the actual episode and The Cage footage. It's part of why this review took so long. So after thinking it over... there's not much about the pilot footage that I have to say. It's there to give context for why Spock is doing what he's doing and that's really it. I think I'd rather wait to talk about Pike and maybe the pilot itself in-depth after I've seen SNW, which from what I've heard, adds some additional context. But I'm not there yet, so all I'll say is that the pilot footage really made things drag on what would have otherwise been Court Martial: Spock Edition otherwise hey ST people, if you ever do TOS again, give us the McCoy court martial episode please.

The most I have to say about the pilot footage is that it made the episode a chore to sit through. It's not bad, it's even kind of fun to see the early stuff and cast like Pike, Una, and a younger Spock. Seriously look at Spock's reaction when he and Pike look at the alien plants, its adorable! But it goes on for so long, especially in Part 2, that I lost complete interest in paying attention until it went back to the court martial. At that point we just want to know why Spock chose Talos IV to go to, not to watch an episode within an episode. I know they did it most likely as a cost-saving maneuver, but that doesn't change the fact that it just drags when they could have just... you know, had Spock explaining himself or whatever. It's the only reason that this is a two-parter at all. Again, I get it, but I kept tuning out during those scenes until we finally got to the end of it and we finally understood Spock's plan.

The present-day parts, however, were very much able to keep my attention. We're here at about the mid-way point of the first season, and to say that Spock's actions are a shock is putting it lightly. Spock has been nothing but loyal and by the book the whole series. Just last episode, he defended Kirk despite the evidence to the contrary and did everything possible to find the evidence to clear his name. We already questioned his loyalty in Balance of Terror, but the vast majority of the cast never questioned it, and any possible doubt was brought to a close at the end of it. But in fairness, this is very much a different dilemma as it concerns his former captain. One that he'd been as loyal to as he is to Kirk now. It brings a very unique problem for our favorite Vulcan.

Personally, I find Spock's whole plan... well, convoluted as Hell. I know it's to justify using the pilot footage, and it does add stuff to make it make some sense like Talos IV being forbidden to all ships. But it still feels ridiculous that Spock had to go to these extreme lengths to take Pike to Talos. Honestly, I'm iffy about having Pike taking to Talos at all. I mean... it's just an illusion. He's pretty much been put in a guided cage where he can pretend that he's still physically well, even though that's very much not the case. I guess it's better than his fate of being confined to that chair and only able to blink a light to communicate. But... I don't know, I keep thinking about it and I just don't like it. It feels messed up. But I guess Spock felt that it was the best place for Pike, where he could at least have some kind of happiness.

That said, it says a lot about Spock. The man put absolutely everything on the line just to help his former captain. He outright said at the start that he knew that it was mutiny and that he would be facing the death penalty if caught. But he doesn't care what becomes of him. All that matters is completing the task and getting Pike to Talos IV. Even regarding Kirk, he clearly didn't like going against his back and was not at all happy that his actions inadvertently convicted Kirk as well. Something that I believe that he wanted to avoid... unfortunately for him, Kirk doesn't take having his ship/command taken over from him well no matter who does it or why. Whoops. But still, for all the 'unfeeling, logical Vulcan' bravado, he sure as Hell had no problem dropping all of that here.

Kirk is angry and upset that his First Officer and friend would do this. As I said, he hates it when anyone threatens or endangers his command. Especially at this point in the series. We saw him get mad when Spock pried into him in The Conscience of the King, but this is even worse. As soon as he's back on the Enterprise, he hates it because it means court martialing Spock, which he doesn't want to do. He's willing to give Spock the chance to clear up everything, but he's also angry that Spock is holding things back from him and even lied to him. The last scene of Part 1 is him having Spock thrown in the brig because he won't just tell him why he's done what he's done. I don't even think that he cares too much about his own possible fate. He's certainly unhappy about it, but moreso about Spock because he can't make sense of it and Spock won't talk, only pleading guilty to everything. Why? Why won't his First Officer talk to him? Why go through all of this behind his back? Why allow himself to risk death? He doesn't know, and he can't stand it but can do nothing about it. He can do nothing but let the answer reveal itself, everything out of his control. Sure once it all comes together he's glad and clearly forgives Spock, but I'd imagine that he had a loooot to say when they had that talk later.

McCoy is really only relevant in Part 1, but what he got was so freakin' good. Spock fabricating orders is just impossible in his mind. He is steadfast in his belief that Spock would never lie or deceive them. Sure he ended up being wrong, and about why (Vulcans not being able to lie is the biggest lie in this whole show) but the fact that he doesn't doubt Spock at all and is the one to tell Jim this when he's questioning as he did in The Conscience of the King is so freakin' good. When he realizes that Spock did commit mutiny? And when Spock tells him to have him arrested? You can tell that he doesn't want to do it, let alone believe it. It really sucks that McCoy has no part after that because I can only imagine how much he would have had to say and try to make sense of, especially with also reasoning it with Kirk. But for what we did get, it's good stuff. And especially after The Galileo Seven, it's good to see that McCoy is still loyal to Spock and believes in him despite all the tension in that episode (and even after Court Martial where he got mad at Spock for seeming to not care about the situation, even though it was brief).

Aside from that... I really don't have a lot to say. The episode is okay. Really, everything in the first half of Part One I really enjoyed. It was tense and made me want to keep watching just to make sense of it all. It's when the pilot footage starts that things begin to bog down. Part Two is even more guilty of this until around the last few minutes, and like I said I'm pretty uncomfortable with the ending. It does a lot for Spock's character, adding more depth and showcasing his loyalty to both his old captain and his current one, as well as some nice bits for Kirk and McCoy. Heck, even bits like Uhura being in disbelief by all of this are really good. The episode's weakness is just going for far too long when this could have all been resolved in a few minutes and feels contrived to begin with. I'd still pick this episode over ones like Mudd's Women and the vast majority of Miri, but like with Miri I'd only want to watch it for certain parts (though unlike Miri it's because I'm bored, not squicked out). It's fine, and that's all I've got left to say about it.

Original Ratings: 4/5 (P1), 3/5 (P2), 3.5/5 (Both) Rewatch Ratings: 7/10 (P1), 5/10 (P2), 6/10 (Both)

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