#ill add a transcript later maybe

[mansion-of-haunts]

inspired by a text post from @the-most-powerful-ruler

human professor is so much easier to draw than littol creetur professor

[pen-the-second]

imagine getting a gender from minecraft

[kitthenameless]

I made this other post about the Emperor and Ansur once, but I had more things I wanted to say and couldn't quite fit in without muddying my point.

This is perhaps a bit of a reach, but this is not the first time I've found a portrayal of turning into a monster that I relate to as a chronically ill / disabled person who became ill later in life. It has nothing to do with feeling monstrous (I don't feel monstrous) or even body horror, and everything to do with how disabled people are treated by society and even those closest to us.

Obviously disabled people don't go around eating brains. We are not dangerous any more than abled people are. But becoming a mindflayer (or whatever monster) is comparable in the sense that, it can happen suddenly, and then your whole life is different, your body is not what it used to be (maybe visually, maybe the way it works or doesn't work now), and you need certain accommodations in order to thrive or even just survive. But people treat you differently now, you're not really given any help, and truthfully a lot of people would rather you just be dead. You're abandoned by society to figure out your new life and all its difficulties on your own. If you're lucky, you have some people who care enough to help you. If you're not lucky, you do the best you can in your desperation.

And that's why it feels so messed up to me that Ansur just gave up on Balduran/Emperor once he couldn't cure him. He clearly believes this is still Balduran, as shown by how he speaks to him when you meet him. So in his mind, he wasn't even trying to kill some creature that just had Balduran's memories. He was trying to kill Balduran. Who forcibly underwent a change to his body and accepted it and decided he still wanted a chance at living.

Edit to add: I'm pretty sure the Emperor even says it wasn't easy at first, so he didn't immediately embrace being a mindflayer. He came to accept it with some time, and that feels even more significant to me.

Like I said, I know becoming a mindflayer is not exactly the same as becoming disabled because mindflayers are dangerous. But also like I said, in my other post, the game shows us there are options to living ethically as a mindflayer. It's just that no one even helped the Emperor try to find them. And even so, he did his best on his own by eating criminals (which there is proof of, in a transcript).

I don't even blame him for disguising himself to the player at first. Look at how society treats freed mindflayers. Look at how the Emperor's own best friend and lover treated him. It makes perfect sense to assume we would hurt him or refuse to help him too.

Some people are so quick to forgive the companions for all the messed up things they've done because they have trauma. The Emperor has been through shit too though. He wouldn't admit to having trauma, but he was kidnapped, had his body forcibly changed, had his mind enslaved, had his lover try to kill him, had to kill his lover in self-defense, and was enslaved a second time. Sounds pretty traumatic to me.

Anyway. It's probably random to end this by talking about books, but that's what I do (literally, I also have a book blog), so. The other stories I also related to in this way were Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman (vampires) and Bored Gay Werewolf by Tony Santorella (werewolves). Maybe look 'em up, if you like that sorta thing.

[danandphilplay]

i know dnp said creative content and video essays might be more for their solo channels but i wanted to add them into the dapg discussion in case theres people who would want to see that as joint content instead

here is what they said so poll answers are exactly that but ill be honest im not 100% sure the meaning of some of them (the mystery thing? do they mean like watcher/buzzfeed unsolved or am i missing something? or more literal like No format its mystery random content?)

also feel free to expand your answer if something doesnt quite fit. ive done variations of this same poll multiple times but dnp opened an actual discussion for this with the vid so yay lets go again

transcript below:

d: here’s the thing, this little dan and phil gaming experiment, here we are six months later

p: yes

d: where is this going? because we’ve been making these casual gaming videos like sat in front of the table playing cards or some shit

p: some gaming some not

d: and like that’s gone well

p: yeah

d: but now it’s like, ok, people want us to come back to do something, what is,,,

p: what is it

d: what is this content, what do people want

p: yeah

d: they want full on series mystery hunting, like a format where we’re doing some kind of show, lifestyle, cooking, real life, domestic

p: maybe they just want this, mukbang channel

d: i’m not, i’m not doing a food channel i can’t

p: get a dog and vlog the dog

d: they want us to go full parasocial

p: dog vlog

d: domestic

d: i mean phil, we said this was gonna be authentic, this new era, how open is the door gonna be?

[cakepoppresent]

Pranks and Lists!

Transcripts Under The Cut~

Previous - Next

Xavier: The classes are easier here than in Windenburg. Maybe I won't fail all my classes

Wayne: Really? That's great then. Does that mean you don't need my help anymore?

Xavier: No way! I said it was just a little easier. It's still hard for me

Wayne: Okay! I feel like now that you're here school is going much more fun

Xavier: Exactly! I'll make sure we have the best fun. We should make a list of gun things we should do in school

Wayne: Oh! I've never thought about that. What should go on the list?

Xavier: Hm...I'm not sure. Lemme think about it

Xavier: I got it! Let's prank a locker! or a toilet!

Wayne: Omg! Is that really a good idea? What if we get in trouble?

Xavier: That's the point! It's supposed to be exciting. I'm really smooth we won't get caught

Wayne: hahahahaha I know who we should prank! They keep bothering me we can mess with their locker!

Xavier: Oh yeah? Whose been nothing you?

Wayne: They aren't important just some kids that won't leave me alone

Xavier: Perfect! They can be our targets. After that, we can add more to the list later

Xavier: Who are the dudes that have been bothering you? Are they older?

Wayne: No...They are in the same grade but they keep perstering me. They made fun of my hearing aids once

Xavier: Oh what the hell? They must be losers

Wayne: Yeah you could say that. It was a whole thing with our parents last year. I don't like talking about it

Xavier: They sound like dicks! Don't worry I'll make sure to mess with their lockers almost every day

Wayne: Haha okay! I wanna help too!

Xavier: I need the washroom! Once I'm back we'll get back to working on what pranks to play on those losers okay?

Wayne: Don't take too long! Our break is almost over

Xavier: Yea...Yea don't worry ill be back before you know it!

Wayne: Okay...

[goodfellowe]

I hope you don't mind me asking, but what originally got you into Hatstache? (If you ever answered this before, I am so sorry)

anon firstly i'm so sorry according to tumblr this ask has been sitting here since october 6th. i keep looking at it trying to word my thoughts and then telling myself ill answer it later and then... not doing that. lol

i got into ahit waaayyy back in 2019, when the fandom was mostly saturated with snatcher content at the time (people who have been following me since then probably remember that i hated him for like a solid two years just because he was everywhere lol). i remember very distinctly feeling very dissatisfied with how the game treated and wrote off mu after seeing her storybook, and i couldn't really find any postgame content that gave her a happy ending that i felt personally satisfied with. i ended up finding the hatstache tag on ao3 completely by chance trying to find that postgame content i wanted only to find that there were exactly two fics (neither of which i will not mention out of respect/not wanting that tied to my blog) that did not appeal to me for reasons lol.

the concept of it really stuck with me, though, even if i didn't find anything to fuel it with at the time. i like relationships where people who are hurting/have hurt each other work through it. and i am someone who looks way too into every little detail of everything, ever, and its always felt like mu both holds hk in a very high regard+was very hurt by her actions throughout the same. (see: dialogue+cut dialogue, graffiti around the game, the finale+mu's dialogue before it, the paintings, hk's 'betrayal', etc). paired with what little official content we did get of them being friends (postgame? maybe?) and it was a natural progression ehe

but even then i didn't actually feel super strong about it for a while. it was mostly just thoughts like 'damn, wish we got more content of them interacting' and 'it would be cute if mu had a little crush on hk without realizing'. i didn't actually get super passionate about it until i started writing the original version of twtt that summer/autumn (known as a crack in time at that point), and i only really wrote the ship in because 1.) i thought it would add some flavor and 2.) it made me really sad that there weren't too many options for people who wanted to read a hatstache fic at the time. and even then...

(screenshot from august 3rd, 2019. transcript in alt)

... it wasn't actually endgame. woah woah if you follow me for twtt please for the love of god put the pitchforks down they're endgame now and that's what matters. the story to twtt was significantly more different than it was now, but by the time i had actually wrote hatstache in, the ending i had planned for it was pretty bittersweet. it was just something i wanted to explore in my own self-indulgent way (as i always do ehe), and i was working through some stuff with my own sexuality and relationships at the time, so... yeah. threw it in for spice :D

then i started actually writing it and i just instantly fell in love with their dynamic and just how well their characterization worked with each other. i tend to write them as characters who come off as opposites at first interaction but are very similar at the core and that just makes them bounce off of each other really well. i got attached really fast, and as the story went down a totally different path than i originally expected, i was incapable of letting it go. it really just kind of worked its way into my heart. and the more i analyzed things and learned about the game and all of the little stuff hidden within/cut out, the more it seared itself into my brain until i was like... damn. i understand why they call it an otp now because i would go down with it. even when i trashed acit and took my year-and-a-half break from the fandom, hatstache was just a dynamic that lived in my head rent free.

it has a really special place in my heart because it is, in a way, what pushed me to start writing again and really exploring what i was capable of with my writing, too. and again its just a dynamic that i think can be explored in so many different wonderful ways. despite it all i want them to be happy and by god they will be... eventually :)

i guess basically to answer your question i just kind of wrote myself into it... but i hope you enjoyed my little trip down memory lane+some history behind the creation of twtt (there's a lot of it)

thank you for asking <3

[betawooper]

[ID: Three screenshots of Discord messages sent by the user AAAAAA Battery (who is me). Transcript:

ough im still thinking about orv, this is exactly what happened with mp100 honestly, where it makes you think about the message its sending and how its messages are being sent through the "unexpected" actions the characters are taking like showing compassion to enemies and never losing that core even as the plot progresses and starts getting more complicated

[10:48 PM]bc its a story about how temperamental humans can be once youve taken away their comforts and luxuries, they become "as ruthless as klingons" as star trek said, friends and family turn on each other to survive, they throw each other under the bus, they kill each other, they sabotage, they assault, they do all these horrible things when maybe they once promised they would never try to hurt you

[10:48 PM]very squid games

[10:52 PM]but then you got to other end of the spectrum where people will band together and keep a strong moral core, this wish to help others even when your own situation is bleak, that even those that were deemed irredeemable could use their second chance to help those they originally stepped on, that those deemed lost causes or burdens end up being irreplacable allies

[10:52 PM]very mp100

[10:58 PM]at no point have i ever felt that orv lost sight of the focus on human psychology or get bogged down with debates about redemption and whether someone "deserved" the fate they received (which is a very christianity-heavy subject might i add), but whether or not the person/character in the scenario has chosen to help them or abandon them completely

[11:04 PM]and the thing with dokja is that hes not your typical "yeah ill help you out of the good of my heart and bc im a nice person! ill always do that for any person in need no matter who it may be!"

[11:05 PM]kind of person

[11:05 PM]thats sangah's job

[11:07 PM]so hes free to pick and choose who he wants to ally with and it wont be such an internal struggle to leave them behind when they act all superior or think they dont need him

[11:08 PM]he even has this whole thing with huiwon later

[11:11 PM]huiwon is this lady who he saved from poisonous gas and later becomes one of his companions/friends, and he was like "do you want to be companions?" she was all "what? did you not consider me one this entire time?" and he was all "no, i actually have. i was just thinking that you might not have reciprocated the sentiment"

[11:16 PM]he wont leave behind someone who needs his help, but when someone clearly doesnt want to be his friend or just wants to manipulate him hes like "yeah ok bye" and later they get cursed by their own hubris, or not, he dont care, thats none of his business hes just a background character after all /j

well there is one exception which is junghyeok but that guy is literally THE main character of the story within orv, dokja knows literally every single little detail about this guy and he cant afford to have the dude die prematurely bc the plot isnt going his way in his current life/groundhogs day scenario

[11:28 PM]but also junghyeok is very quick to murder people he doesnt trust which is Not Ideal when dokja, once again, knows every detail of every one of his lives, past present and future

[11:30 PM]so he does kinda have to force junghyeok to work with him even though they both hate every second of it

[11:35 PM]its so interesting and i keep having to hold myself back from saying that its not a typical trait for dokja, or even a main protagonist to have bc hes literally stated multiple times that hes not the main character, hes a reader, a background character, Just Some Guy, hes not confined to whats typical of his genre at all bc he was never supposed to fill that role in the first place which makes his whole existence a paradox within the narrative since yknow, from our perspective he is the main protagonist while junghyeok is a side character

[11:39 PM]and i think thats where having one of his skills, being able to break the fourth wall within his own world, is such an integral part of his whole thing, i actually thought that he was breaking the fourth wall in our world, but no hes breaking the fourth wall in his world

End ID.]

an analysis from a month ago when i caught up to the comic

[icharchivist]

i got super emo today and was rereading a transcript of the winter chapters and actually properly absorbed the whole mentions of hisoka saying sorry to august, and there being the "im watching you, december" - apr. and ive got my thinking goggles ON. more points added to the chikage hisoka assassin cult each day. is hisoka december???? is chikage wearing his jacket??? is chikage april??? after all he SPECIFICALLY appeared in the my masters mesmerized by mystery event.... which is the winter troupe one where hisokas the lead..... like clearly hes not just itarus buddy showin up to support. anyways i realize that you're unable to answer any of what i say up here, its mostly just there to demonstrate ive got my thinking cap on SO. ill have to add something that u actually can reply to. i've been fiddling with this concept lately of tenma and yuki ending up at the same university bc i think like. these two are children with other passions than simply theatre and at some point they are gonna yknow. go off and do other things. i think itll be at a point where its good for them to do so and everything, so like, its not like theyll have left mankai completely but yknow. mb a more infrequent presence? and tenma will end up there around the same time as yuki bc he is a world famous movie star who maybe doesnt go to uni at the normal time. but he also does want to be normal i think. i 1) think itd be hilarious because you have this dynamic of yuki being like. why is this hack here. i am starting my cool fashion life at college... why is he here. its kinda weird that someone who knows me so well is here. and tenma is also like wow its also really weird that my roommate is here. yknow. and then everyone else is like "wow you two are besties aren't you" which they hate. but ALSO i think its abt like, you think you have to "grow up" and leave your found family but actually they are always going to find you back in some weird way. and everything in a3 is abt blooming with each other so like making your way Back There... its not a bad thing. something like that. ok that was my point 2) and however many # of points i had there as well lol... ALSO ALSO lately i have been thinking abt how the color of yukis eyes is the same as tenmas hair (i love juzas eyes as they are but if they were orange then he tenma and yuki would make a perfect secondary color trio....). anyways i think yuki would absolutely rebel against this. are u kidding me tenmas hair is the color of an anemic tangerine. me i have brilliant sunset eyes. we are nothing alike muku how dare you (and then muku apologizes so much that yuki relents but he is still internally furious and randomly threatens to dye tenma's hair later that week, to much confusion) but eventually its like... so they are the same color. so we are the same color in one way or another. so very many years down the line that is not gonna be an insult but a comfort. or something like that, im rambling, haha.

OWOWOWOWO HI HI HI

of course i can say nothing, i'm keeping my mouth shut. You have hhh, 5 events left to finally start act 2 main story so. so we'll see when we get there. You're closer to it than ever but. yeah.

And oooh i love the concept! Technically as the year pass you do see more characters go to uni and stuff (like on the JPN server the timeline is that 3 years has passed since the begining of the story, so…..) I could see the two of them go to the art university a lot of the gang is going to tbh, like, Yuki for fashion and Tenma for further acting…

"1) think itd be hilarious because you have this dynamic of yuki being like. why is this hack here. i am starting my cool fashion life at college… why is he here." this is so funny bc with Tenma being older, Yuki being like "why are you here" would just have Tenma going "??? I WAS GOING HERE FIRST????" but yes everyone can see they're besties. and i do love the idea of them "making their way back there" sobs

on 2) THIS IS SO FUNNY. Yuki rebelling about the colors is killing me. Poor Muku just pointing it out and Yuki having to conceed.. it's so much.

This is really funny, thank you for sharing :3c

[mirmidones]

well you can't

[qualquercoisa945]

okay so in mag106, "a matter of perspective", it's revealed that ivy meadows, first introduced in mag36, "taken ill", was the care home in which melanie's father was staying.

TWs: fire, illnesses, death, corpses, and as always feel free to ask me to add warnings if i'm missing anything

now for those that don't recall, ivy meadows was attacked, for lack of a better term, by the corruption, its residents slowly becoming infected by a disease that would slowly kill them, a yellow rash that would eat at the flesh. The exact wording of the episode is the following:

[Image ID: A screenshot of a section of the transcript from episode 36 of The Magnus Archives, Taken Ill. After the second sentence, the text is highlighted, turning it from blue text with beige background to white text with grey background. It reads: "Based on the colour of those sections of skin still whole and unblemished, Mr. Miller couldn't have been dead for more than a few hours, half a day at most. You wouldn't have known, though. Large sections of his body were covered in a wet, creamy yellow rash, which... I'm not a doctor, so describing exactly what it did to the flesh it touched would serve no purpose except to start me having the nightmares again. Let us just say that it gave a plentiful home for the flies that swarmed around his body." End ID]

now this is the first part of what i wanna talk about, which is: did elias show melanie the fire? or did he show her the disease?

to be entirely honest i think the implication is that he showed her the disease but it did take me a reread of this episode to realize the possibility so i'm bringing it up here regardless

the second point i want to make, is that, later in the episode, the statement giver, nicole baxter, returns to ivy meadows only to discover the disease has spread even further. she's then intercepted by two people, and i'll just let the transcript do the talking:

[Image ID: A screenshot of a section of the transcript from episode 36 of The Magnus Archives, Taken Ill, with blue text on beige background. It reads: "I turned and began to sprint back towards my car. I had to get away, to get out. Then, without warning, I felt something heavy hit me in the side and I lost my footing, falling to the ground. I looked up to see an old man pinning me to the ground, his long, white beard matted and filthy. I screamed and tried to escape, but his age seemed to have done nothing to diminish his strength, and he kept his grip easily.

Then he spoke in a thick Mancunian accent and told me to keep my voice down. I noticed that his skin was unblemished pink, and behind him stood a young woman, tall and lean with close-cropped hair and a deep scar over her right eye. She carried a large canvas bag, and was shaking her head, telling the old man to leave me alone. After a few suspicious glances, he got up. I could swear I recognised him from somewhere, but when I asked the two of them who they were, they just shook their heads and told me to leave. I asked them what was going on, and the old man looked at his companion, as if asking permission, said something about knowledge being a good defence here. She shook her head and said that leaving quickly was a better one. I didn’t need to be told a third time." End ID]

now that alone, with further knowledge of the series, would let us suspect that this is trevor herbert and julia montauk, but the episode itself implies it, with jon saying, and i quote, "And the old man and his companion… who does that remind me of? If he wasn’t dead, I’d think it might have been Trevor –" before being interrupted by tim.

now the exact thing i want to talk about is the fact that like, ivy meadows was burnt down right, by trevor and julia. and idk!! maybe i just have brainrot for this girl but i just think julia and melanie interactions would be nifty and even more so with this added context ya know

[sparklinpixiedust]

Never

I've recently seen some old posts talking about how Ben and Gwen trusted Kevin too quickly and it was stupid. Apparently it's something they both would've never done. It's the word never that struck me.

So I just want to add my opinion and say it wasn't a stupid move. I agree Gwen and Kevin falling in love seemed rushed but the trust thing isn't as bad as people have made it out to be.

I'm going to talk about Ben and Gwen separately.

Ben

In Forge of Creation Paradox says to child Ben But one day, you'll remember it dimly and trust Kevin when you shouldn't, and he'll respond to that trust and help save the universe.

So Ben trusting Kevin wasn't out of nowhere. Paradox literally mentions that Ben will trust Kevin when he shouldn't. " shouldn't " most likely refers to when they met 5 years later. Ben shouldn't have asked Kevin to join the team but he does because Ben subconsciously knows Kevin's importance.

The show does acknowledge that Ben included Kevin in the team too quickly but also gives us a reason, though it was later on.

But even then , in Kevin's Big Score , Ben also says Still not buying the "nice guy" act, Kevin.

Again, while a part of Ben gives Kevin a chance, he still isn't too sure about his decision.

So we do have the conflict of interest shown from Ben's side so he's clear from his side.

But even if Kevin didnt save the universe Ben still would've given him a chance, maybe not that soon but eventually because thats who he is anyway. He helps Vilgax with his planet and isn't hostile against the Reiny when they were trapped. So why wouldn't he have asked Kevin to join him?

Gwen

Okay with Gwen I'm probably reaching but hear me out.

In What Little Girls Are Made Of she mentions how she feels like and outsider and then says that's what she thinks high-school is anyway to try to make herself better.

[ I couldn't get transcripts for the episode and was too lazy to type out word for word ]

Also Gwen doesn't have many friends. I dont know if the writers have ever mentioned her having friends besides Emily, because I guess Ben having lots of friends before the omnitrix in Alien Force has been mentioned.

Yes I know in OS Gwen [because she had invitations ready for her birthday] had friends but its natural over time that people drift away.

My point is Gwen feels alone. I dont think she was bullied but her being different in a magic-alien sense made her feel out of place.

I guess somewhere she knew where Kevin was coming from , though not completely.

Ben would've told her about Kevin, about how he lived in New York and what he knew of his situation, so I guess in a way she put the pieces together and could relate to being different from others.

Ben has the omnitrix but he's still a human. He's still like other people, but Gwen is inherently different.

She can't just turn off her powers, they are part of her.

So Gwen placing full trust in Kevin? probably not. But she understood enough to give him a chance.

Also I've read a few old posts about how Gwen would never be with Kevin because he tried to kill her.

My thoughts on this? Gwens mature enough to know while Kevin was bad, he was also 11 years old.

He was a child. If he was older, then I would agree that the things he did were maybe unredeemable and Gwen would never.

But they were kids. He was kid with a huge troubled past, any sensible person could see that he wasnt evil, just really angry at the world. Ben just happened to be his punching bag. He mentions people laugh at him and call him a freak. He wanted revenge for that.

Gwen has shown to give people the benefit of doubt throughout the series too e.g. with P'andor.

She even tried to patch things up with Charmcaster , though she shouldn't have right? Charmcaster was just a big a threat to them as Kevin was in the OS. That post also mentioned Charmcaster being redeemed makes more sense than Kevin's. But you're reasoning Kevin shouldn't have a redemption because he tried to kill them , then charmcasters redemption also shouldn't work because she too tried to kill them.

Having a preference for her over Kevin I can get but your reasoning should make sense.

[ chamrcasters arc is a whole other train wreck so won't be going into that ]

So teaming up with Kevin being a never isn't in the picture, atleast not for me.

Also why wouldn't Gwen like him? He's good looking , he's got charm , he's smart, and got that boy thing going.

She's still a teenage girl, crushes happen.

Though I will agree leaning into him and the whole "ill follow you anywhere moment " was too much too soon, but Gwevin being a possibility isn't so far fetched as some people claim.

I read a post on tumblr a while back and someone mentioned that even the rushing made a little sense. Because what they said was that Gwen and Kevin had a crush on each other and the reason they got together so quickly was because of it. They weren't expecting to actually fall in love with each other, however once they got together the casual-ness of the relationship became more serious.

[theradioghost]

Do you have any podcast recs that are super easy for those of us with audio processing problems? For me specifically that means one voice (or maybe two if they’re very distinct) and minimal complexity in the soundscaping, though if you have recs that don’t fit those that you think might apply to other people w/ different audio processing issues you can talk about those too! :)

I can certainly try! I feel as though I should put it out there that I often have a difficult time gauging where a podcast sits re: audio processing/HOH listeners; the literal entirety of my day job is being good at telling what people are saying in audio, and my own audio processing problems mostly just result in my near-inability to keep up with actual plays, so if any of these are misjudgements on those terms I apologize in advance.

* means that I know there are also transcripts available for the podcast in question!

SAYER: scifi dark comedy/horror. In a morally questionable tech corporation’s moonbase facilities, advanced artificial intelligence SAYER directs employees about their daily routines; this then turns over time into possibly the best story about AI I’ve ever heard. Especially in the first three seasons, virtually all speaking is done by one voice. (Caveat that a few other characters come in later, and they’re actually all voiced by one guy with different filters, but the filters are pretty distinct and characters tend to identify themselves by default at the beginning of every conversation.)

*The Cryptonaturalist: comforting supernatural folksiness. The titular expert on all things strange and wonderful reads poetry, admires nature, and talks about wonderful creatures like foxes that live within library shelves, stick insects that camouflage themselves as whole trees, salamanders that swim in parking lot asphalt, and Owls.

*The Hidden Almanac: comforting supernatural weirdness. Hagiographer, avid gardener, and Mysterious Dude In Plague Doctor Getup known as Reverend Mord gives tidbits of the history of his strange and fantastical world, along with gardening advice. Sometimes his tequila-swigging accidental necromancer best friend coworker Pastor Drom shows up. Written by fantasy author Ursula Vernon and mostly voiced by her husband Kevin. Extremely relaxing to listen to; the show ended last year but they put out five-minute episodes three times a week for eight years so there’s plenty of it. The first year or so actually doesn’t appear on most podcatchers so maybe check out the website.

Everything Is Alive: poignant, heartfelt interviews with inanimate objects. While there’s a different object featured each episode, it’s mostly just them and the interviewer, plus occasional phone calls with an expert on some subject brought up during the interview. Hits so much harder than you could possibly imagine given the summary. You WILL be upset about a can of off-brand cola.

*Quid Pro Euro: bizarre comedy mockumentary. A satire of the European Union in the style of a set of instructional tapes for EU employees made in the ‘90s, predicting what the EU would look like in the 21st century. Their predictions are somewhat off. Only one voice and delightfully it is Felix Trench. I don’t know anything about the EU but I still think it’s hilarious.

*Glasgow Ghost Stories: spooky supernatural. A resident of Glasgow is unexpectedly able to see the many ghosts that reside in the city -- but the ghosts have started to notice her too, and not all of them are friendly. A beautiful and atmospheric single-voice show; plus the feed also contains the very good miniseries Tracks.

*Palimpsest: poetic and haunting. An anthology series about young women experiencing supernatural happenings, each 10-episode season tells a different story in monologue (I think there are literally two episodes with other voices in them). Poignant, gorgeous, and sometimes heartbreakingly sad in the best way. In season one Anneliese wonders about the strange neighbors at her new apartment. In season two, Ellen takes a new job as companion to a supposed fairy princess imprisoned in a strange showroom in turn of the century America. In season three, former codebreaker Josie begins to see the spirits of the dead on the streets of London during the Blitz.

*Within the Wires: alternate history scifi found footage. From a world where a calamitous global war resulted in the installation of a new Society where nations and family ties are banned, an anthology of voices telling their stories. Each season is a single voice. Season one, a set of relaxation tapes deliver unexpected instructions to a government prisoner in a strange medical facility. In sSeason two, a series of museum exhibit guides spin out the mystery of two artists and their work. In season three, a government employee dictates notes to his secretary and begins to suspect a plot. In season four, the traveling leader of a secretive cultlike commune leaves sermons for her followers, and instructions for her daughter.

*Alice Isn’t Dead: lesbian americana roadtrip weird horror. Keisha’s wife Alice was missing, presumed dead. Now Keisha is a trucker, traveling the vast American emptiness to seek her out; but she’s about to become embroiled in the same vast secret war that may have drawn away her wife, and she’s not alone on the roads. Starts with one voice, adds a new one each season for a total of three. Also is finished.

*Station Blue: psychological horror. Matthew takes a job as the lone caretaker of an Antarctic research station for several months. This goes about as well as you’d predict. Very much a slow burn, strange, brooding horror of isolation. Heavy themes of mental illness based on the creator’s experiences of bipolar disorder. 

*Mabel: dark, poetic faerietale horror. Live-in caretaker Anna attempts to contact the absent granddaughter of her elderly employer, the lone resident of a strange and ancient house in Ireland. A love story, a haunted house story, a fairy tale with teeth. This one might be hit or miss; it sometimes tends to the abstract a bit, and there’s more soundscaping and some other occasional voices besides the main two protagonists. Definitely worth trying out, though, this is absolutely an underappreciated gem.

*Janus Descending: tragic scifi horror. Two researchers, Peter and Chell, travel alone to a distant planet to survey the ruins of its extinct civilization. Unfortunately, they discover exactly how that civilization died out. Excellent if you like movies like Alien, and also being extremely sad. Only two voices. Really unique story structure: it’s told via the two protagonists’ logs of the events, but you hear Chell’s logs in order, and Peter’s logs in reverse, with their perspectives alternating. The result is a tragedy where technically you know the ending from the start, but it’s told so cleverly that just what happened and how remains a tantalizing, tense, heartbreaking mystery right until the end.

*I Am In Eskew: poetic, surreal horror. Only two voices and few sound effects. David is a man trapped in the twisting, malevolent city of Eskew, where the rain always falls, streets seem to lead the same way twice, and nothing can be trusted. Riyo is an investigator, making her way through rumors and questions in search of a man long missing and a place that seems not to exist. Maybe my favorite horror media ever? Deeply disturbing and yet even the most awful things are somehow beautiful. Like if Lynch, Escher and Mieville had a terrible, wonderful baby.

*Tides: contemplative hard scifi. When biologist Dr. Eurus is wrecked alone on a distant alien world shaped by deadly tidal forces, her struggle to survive also becomes a meditative exploration of the ecosystem around her, and a recognition that here, she is the alien. Mostly it’s Dr. Eurus; sometimes you hear from her coworkers. It’s got Julia Schifini, what’s not to love?

*Midnight Radio: ghost story/romance. A 1950s radio host who broadcasts a late-night show to her small hometown begins to receive letters from a listener and respond to them on air. I wrote this! It has a total of three voice actors and virtually no soundscaping. I promise it’s good.

[jawritter]

You and Me...

Chapter 11

***SERIES WARNINGS**** Rape, non-con, male!rape, injury, violence, description of injury caused by rape, nightmares, self-harm, panic attacks, implied female non-con, language, ass hole Jensen, hurt!Jensen, dark fic, smut. If there is anything else I will add it as I go.

***Chapter Warnings*** Talk of nightmares/night terrors, light description of injury, language, I think that’s pretty much it for this chapter.

Pairing: Jensen Ackles x Reader, Jared x Reader

Word Count: 1777

A/N: Anyway, all mistakes are mine, please don’t copy my work, Feedback is golden. If you want to be added to the series tag list, or my tag list just let me know! I hope you enjoy this one. This is something I actually did and witness, and I realize this one might be hard to read because it is a little heavy.

Summary: It’s funny how one choice you made can change your whole life. One mistake can alter your course, and set you on a path that forever will haunt you. Two people find themselves getting through one of the hardest trials of Jensen’s life, on just one small promise. You and Me. We’ll get through it together…

Want more? Check out my Masterlist!!

***MASTERLIST***

***YOU AND ME MASTERLIST***

It had been roughly two weeks since Jensen was released from the hospital. 

Physically he's doing a lot better. 

He gets around pretty good now, normally even. It would be hard for anyone on the street to see that there was ever anything wrong with him when he walked by you. He'd become pretty self-sufficient pretty quickly. The bruises had mostly faded, only leaving the worst ones still a sickening yellow color. Most of the scratches and lacerations on his body had healed or were almost healed. Most of his strength returned to him. 

On the outside, he looked fine, but it wasn’t the outside that had become the problem. As much as he tried to hide it. Even though the physical aspect of his attack had almost faded completely, it was the battle of the mind that was beginning now. 

When you looked into his eyes something was still dead in there. 

You learned pretty quickly that Jensen had a pretty passive-aggressive way of dealing with things. It was just what he hid behind, and you knew that, but still, it didn't lessen your concern for him.

You noticed him drinking more, and you were afraid that would become a very unhealthy coping mechanism.

The nightmares had gotten worse. 

To be honest you would have characterized them as night terrors. Except they didn't just happen at night. You had learned just from watching him that these “flashbacks” could be triggered by a sound, or a smell, or even something someone says. 

It wasn't something he could control.

He had started to go to his own house during the day some, but at night he always ended up right back with you. You were secretly glad. You didn't like the thought of his nightmares starting, and him beginning there all alone. Most of the time when he had one he’d either wake up violently ill or hysterical, there was no in-between. 

He had taken his kids to the local zoo with Jared the other day on one of his visitation days with his kids. Because of his usual nightly problems he thought it was best that they didn't stay the night with him. Not something you really want you kids to see.

He had been back to the studio, using it you think as a distraction. That's not uncommon though, people use music all the time as an escape from reality. 

The only good thing that had happened really over the past two weeks was that you had gotten a contract writing for a local publishing company reviewing transcripts, and technically you could work full time from home now. You did tell Steve and Jensen that you would finish Jensen's project through before you left. You were there when he started it, and you wanted to see the finished product.

This morning started much like all other mornings since Jensen had moved in with you.

You were sitting in the living room drinking your coffee. It was still very, very early. It was the weekend, so neither yourself nor Jensen had to work today. Still, your body is used to waking up so early, it had developed its own alarm clock. Therefore you were up at 5 am regardless of what you did or how late you went to bed.

Jensen was still sleeping soundly in the room the two of you now awkwardly, kinda shared. You were honestly afraid to touch him. Afraid it would trigger one of his flashbacks. So you slept as far away from him as you could in your king-sized bed, usually putting a pillow between the two of you so that you wouldn't accidentally roll over to him in the middle of the night.

It wasn't that you didn't want to be close to him. You wanted nothing more than to feel his arms wrapped around you as you slept, but you were pretty sure that he was not capable of doing that. He had told you in the hospital that there were some things that he wouldn't be able to do. Physical contact was one of them.

Not thinking about what you were doing a day after he moved in with you, you walked up behind him when he was standing at the sink and put your hand on his shoulder, throwing him into a violent flashback, that took almost an hour for him to come back from. That’s when you learned touching him probably wasn’t the best idea.

Sometimes he would reach over and grab your hand when the nightmares were really bad, he would let you sit next to him and run your fingers through his hair until he went back to sleep, other than that though that was it.

You were sitting lost in thought, the house pretty much dark, only the light from above the stove lightly lit the room. When your phone lit up next to you. It was Jared.

"Hello?" you say quietly careful not to wake up Jensen. 

"Y/N? I didn't wake you did I?" he asked.

 "No, I've been up," you tell, him running your hand down your face. Wondering why in the hell he was calling this early.

"Okay listen they caught Jensen's attackers. There were four of them... Plus Jennifer," 

That last part struck you hard. 

"Jennifer? Really? Are they sure?" you asked, shock radiating through your body. 

"Yeah. She was there through all of it according to her confession. Apparently, she gets her kicks off watching Jensen being raped and tortured, claiming that he owed her that much after what he did to her, when, come to find out the whole thing was a set up from the beginning. She thought she’d go on a date with him, get him drunk, maybe fuck him, get some side cash, and leave, but apparently, things didn't go the way she planned, and she got her family involved to “pay him back” for what the did to her." Jared Said through gritted teeth.

Your stomach churned. You didn't like talking about what they did to Jensen. Your heart just couldn't handle it. Especially seeing the reproductions that he was still dealing with from the whole ordeal. 

"Did they all confess?" you asked, hoping and praying Jensen wasn't going to have to testify in front of a room full of strangers plus his attackers.

"Yeah, they all confessed. From what I understand there was so much evidence from the pictures that the hospital had taken, plus the doctor's reports, and DNA evidence that they really had no choice but to confess," he said, sounding just as sick about all of this as you were. 

"He's not gonna have to testify will he?" you asked, holding your breath. 

"No, not unless he just wants to confront them. Which I doubt he does. These perverts are going to jail for a very long time. The amount of evidence against them is overwhelming, and the police believe this isn't the first time they’ve done this to someone," Jared said.

It made you sick to think about there being monsters like this out there in the real world. People like Jennifer, who you’d never expect to be involved in something like this.

“Thanks for letting me know Jared, now I just have to figure out how to tell Jensen.”

“You can do it Y/N, he trusts you,” Jared said.

With that, the two of you got off the phone. Jensen would be waking up soon as you wanted to have this breakfast ready like you did every morning. You didn't know how you were going to tell him that they had caught his attackers. You hated even bringing up his situation with him. He would get so distant and quiet.

Not fifteen minutes later you heard the bedroom door open and Jensen made his way over to the small bar and sat down. You knew he had because you heard the chair slide across the tile. Your back was to him plating up his breakfast. When you turned around what you saw nearly made you drop the plate.

He was sitting there, pale, and crying silently; looking at his hands that were shaking on the bar. You sat the plate down and carefully walked over to him, surprisingly he reached for you. You wrapped your arms around him and pulled him tightly to you. The two of you sat like that for the longest time before he finally spoke.

"I'm not well," was all he said, so quiet that you barely even heard him. 

"What hurts? Are you sick?" you asked. Immediately thinking it had something to do with his physical injuries.

"No, not that," he said, then pointed at his head. "I'm not well." 

That made your heart sink. This was the first time he’d admitted that he was struggling, even though you knew that he was, and honestly it scared you.

Had he gotten worse? 

You had been trying to figure out a good time to bring up seeing a therapist, now seemed like a good time as any. 

"Maybe we should make that appointment with that therapist that your doctor suggested to you," you suggested gently, afraid he would get angry.

"Will you come with me?" was all his said, no more fight in him at all. 

"Yeah, I'll be there the whole time. Remember what I said in the hospital. We're gonna get through this. You and Me."

Jensen nodded his head and buried his face in your neck, wet tears streaking down his face, and onto your skin made your heart feel like it just wanted to stop beating. 

You knew that suggesting a therapist may sound harsh to some people, but there was no manual on how to deal with something like it. No material to read to figure out a normal healing process, especially for man, and there was no way to know that you were doing this right or wrong, 

All you could do was make small steps together, in hopes that you were both stumbling in the right direction in getting him better, and right now you had to go with what logically could help him, and maybe someone who was trained to deal with this sort of trauma. 

Even though you knew this was probably going to be one of the hardest things Jensen ever had to do, he couldn’t keep all this bottled up, he needed a safe space, and a trained professional to help him.

Squeezing him as tight to you as you could you tried your best to ground him in this mess that he was going through, you promised you’d be right there with him, and you were going to keep that promise, no matter what you’d do it together.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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[donspitch]

DONALD TRUMP INVENTED THE AUTOMOBILE, AIRPLANE, PENICILLIN, AND THE CURE FOR COVID-19. AND BUILT THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE.

Don’t laugh. Cry. Of course, you know he won the election last year. Those are consistent with his 30,000 plus lies during his four years in office. You could say everyone lies a little. It helps getting through the day. Everyone isn’t President. And the President’s lies can and do have an enormous impact on your life and mine. We’ll get to that.

He also created an image of being tough and uncompromising. A brave patriot. He desperately wanted to serve during Vietnam. But his father intervened and made an arrangement with a doctor to provide a medical report making him 4F. Of course, before he became president, he wrote his own medical report, which his internist signed. He then had three goons raid the doctor’s office to take all his medical records. The doctor was quoted as saying he felt raped. Tough, right? Or maybe something else? Coward?

He claimed to be an outstanding scholar in both high school and college. Didn’t want to flaunt it, so he threatened his schools to prevent them from releasing his transcripts. Picture a little clearer now?

Later on he attacked John McCain, one of our bravest, with getting captured. You could understand Trump’s position, an unparalleled unspoken hero. Tear down a hero and you look good?

A class act?  At least 25 women have claimed he sexually abused them. Should we mention Stormy Daniels, the porn star and Karen McDougal, the Playboy model both claiming an affair with him after he was married? Loyalty is one of his special demands. Would you love to have your sister or daughter involved with him?

He was also a pleasure to do business with. A record to be proud of.  Five bankruptcies. Over 4,000 lawsuits. Putting many small business people in dire financial straits.  A failed football team. Failed airline.  A vodka you wouldn’t even put tonic in.  A university that got failing grades. Snake eyes with his casinos.

A critical skill of a successful business person/executive is to surround himself with the most qualified people. Trump has a stunning record as president. His closest associates have been a revolving door. Many who got through the door ended up in another Federal facility. Jail. Speaking of jail, it seems apparent that all his outrageous recommendations, misstatements, and outright lies have one primary purpose. To keep people’s attention diverted from what he is terrified about. Being prosecuted. He knows the handcuffs are out there sized for his wrists.

After repeating his fantasies over and over again, the scary thing is that he acts like he has sold himself on these unbelievable tales.  For example, Robert Mueller exonerated him. And he won the 2020 election.

We know a coward is known to do one thing, in particular. LIE. A coward will make things up. Take credit for things he didn’t do. He’ll criticize people who are accomplished, to make himself appear bigger and more significant.

Obama is a prime candidate.  In his last State of the Union, Trump claimed his administration was responsible for seven million new jobs in his first 35 months in office.  We “reversed the failed economic policies” of the Obama administration. That number was also cited during the Republican convention.

It turns out that 6.7 million jobs were created during his first 35 months in office. Almost eight million were created during Obama’s final 35 months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 16% difference between the two.

Futhermore,  he said that we’ve had 110 months of job growth. Most were under Obama.  About 2/3. He went on to say  his administration was responsible for adding 12,000 new factories during his time in office. He went right by December. A month or so before the State of the Union, 12,000 manufacturing jobs were lost. A majority of the 12,000 factories he talked about were small operations employing fewer than five people.

Trump complained bitterly about the ACA for years. He was going to offer a solution. Have you seen it? It’s in sick bay with his ironclad pledge not to mess with pre-exiting conditions. And his promise to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Those three also were at the chopping block. The savings probably going to some of those rich dudes.

Perhaps his biggest gaffe was Covid-19. His lack of taking it seriously has had to cause hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions more ill. Think about the cost in so many ways to Americans.

As if all that is not enough damage, what he’s done to the environment can truly cause the end of life as it is. Take a deep breath and smell the roses. Feels good, right?  With Trump’s policies you’d be wearing a mask 24 hours a day. Without having Covid.  

Shouldn’t an executive bring people together? Build things, not tear them down. Not attract a bunch of jailbirds whose photos can be found in Rogues Gallery. A Grand Jury may now add a new face to that Gallery.

Reality is knocking at America’s door.  It’s wide open. We’re looking for honest, decent and caring people, regardless of race, religion, background. It looks like we’re getting it. That’s the truth. No bridge in Brooklyn for sale today.

[meterteller4-blog]

Zubac Flashes Talent, Upside in Starts

When the Lakers young core is discussed, four names are typically mentioned: Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart.

But if you’d just watched the Lakers play for the last week and change, you may have noticed a 7-foot-1 behemoth with soft hands and quicker-than-expected feet patrolling the paint on both ends.

Ivica Zubac was drafted No. 32 overall in 2016, 30 spots after Ingram. Like Ingram and Ball, he’s just 21. As a rookie, Zubac had some nice moments, including a 25-point, 11-rebound gem against Denver in March. His sophomore year was less notable, and he entered the 2018 offseason determined to improve his body, and thus, his game.

After working out hard with Lakers Director of Strength and Endurance Training Gunnar Peterson … and then playing very well for the Croatian National Team in FIBA Qualifiers over the summer in games that Lakers GM Rob Pelinka made sure to stay up very late, or get up very early, to watch … Zubac thought he was poised for a breakout season.

Then on the flight back from Croatia to Los Angeles, Zubac got really sick just three days before training camp, which really set him back. Luke Walton used him for a total of just seven minutes in October, and 40 minutes in November, with vets JaVale McGee and Tyson Chandler playing well and splitting minutes at center. But when McGee fell ill recently, Walton decided to start Zubac, and over a three-game span, was heavily rewarded.

Against New Orleans, Memphis and Golden State, Zubac averaged 17.7 points on 25 of 32 FG’s (78.1%), plus 8.3 rebounds and 2.7 blocks in 32 minutes per game. He played only 20 minutes in Thursday’s loss at Sacramento, and wasn’t getting the benefit of the whistle at the rim before finishing with six points and five boards.

“He’s been really good for us,” said Walton before L.A.’s Thursday’s game. “We’re going to need him to continue to be really good for us. He’s done a nice job of staying ready, working really hard and taking advantage of the opportunity when it came to him. He’s very young, he’s got a long way to go still, but his body is already starting to slowly change from a young man to a grown man, and as you go in this league, especially bigs, the speed of the game and how it’s played today, it takes longer sometimes. But for only being 21 years old, he’s made a lot of really nice progress.”

We sat down with Zubac to detail his offseason training, his preseason illness, his breakout stretch as a starter and how important and helpful his vets have been to his progress. Below is a transcription of our conversation:

MT: Did you add anything to your offseason routine last summer after your second season didn’t go exactly as you’d hoped for? Zubac: I did work out harder especially in the weight room with Gunnar, I did work on my conditioning and my explosiveness and my lateral movement and stuff like that more. The first summer, I worked a lot on just lifting, but the second summer, we focused more on the running, jumping, moving and everything. I think that made a difference.

MT: When you weren’t at the Lakers facility over the summer, you went to Europe to play for your National Team; how did you feel that went? Zubac: Really good. I was in the starting five, and we won two and lost two, but I played pretty good.

MT: Were you a better player, or a different player, after your summer? Zubac: I wouldn’t say different. I just felt like everything I did before, I can do better now. Rob (Pelinka) Magic were watching the games for my National Team, and Rob was calling me after those games saying how much better I look, how much more athletic. Throughout the whole summer, the coaches and front office were saying that I was looking great, when we played some pickup games. But when I came back from my National Team for the second time, I got sick right before training camp, and that changed everything.

MT: Tell us more about that. Zubac: So, I was on the plane from Croatia to L.A. – 14 hours – and I was sleeping for most of the flight, and by the time we were landing, I started feeling cold and that I was getting sick. I landed three days before training camp, and I had a fever for four or five days that wouldn’t go down. My throat was bad, I was coughing so bad, waking up in the middle of the night and it wouldn’t stop. I somehow got the fever down for the first day of training camp, but my energy was terrible. I couldn’t do anything. I don’t know how I got through the first couple of days. But I couldn’t show anything that I worked on this summer, and that’s the part of why I think I was not in the rotation since Day 1.

MT: How long did it take you to get back to where you were before you got sick? Zubac: It took me three or four weeks. I started doing much better in practices, and in some practices I would dominate, and that’s when I was like, ‘OK this is it, this is how I felt all summer.’

MT: And that was around the time Tyson Chandler arrived, right? Zubac: That was the time when J3 (Johnathan Williams) was playing backup minutes, and right before we got Chandler, I got to play in the Portland game*, and we won and I played pretty good. After that game, we got Chandler and I was back on the bench. But that’s when I was starting to feel really good. *Zubac played 20 minutes, and hit 4 of 5 FG’s for nine points with eight rebounds in a 114-110 win.

MT: You’ve said multiple times that Chandler and JaVale McGee have been really good vets to you… Zubac: Yes, for sure. JaVale, at the beginning of the season when I was not playing and we were not doing good, told me ‘I know you’re not happy with being on the bench, but you gotta work, you gotta stay ready because we’re gonna need you.’ JaVale was on me every day, and even when his conditioning was not really good at the beginning of the season, he would call me and be like, ‘Let’s run together after practice.’ We did a bunch of stuff for our conditioning with Gunnar, and then Tyson got here, and we have the same agent* and he was like, ‘Tyson is an amazing guy, he is going to help you a lot.’ And since Day 1, Tyson has been sitting next to me on the plane, and after every game whether I played or not, we talk about the game, go over everything that happened. We think similar, and some stuff I didn’t usually see before, now I can see. When I don’t see it, he explains it to me, and now I’m seeing some different stuff that I didn’t see before. *Jeff Schwartz

MT: What’s an example of that? Zubac: Angles of setting screens. I always thought, you only have to hit a guy, but he explained to me about angles, so that helps. Then a lot of stuff on defense. Positioning of the guards on screens, or where I should be on pick and rolls. Who can I help off, and stuff like that.

MT: Have you found a renewed sense of confidence with your recent play as a starter? Zubac: I’m feeling really confident right now. Especially because I had those kind of games before, but I was never consistent. I would have one good game, then a few bad games. So after the I figured after the first game (against New Orleans), I was like, ‘I gotta forget about that game.’ I gotta focus on the next one. My only goal is to be consistent to help the team, and that’s the only way. People are going to forget about that game two days after that. If I play bad that next game, nobody is going to care what I did (earlier). I gotta be consistent. I knew with guys like (Rajon) Rondo and LeBron (James), I have to go straight up every time. That’s what I worked on a lot this summer with Mad Dog (asst. coach Mark Madsen), about planting on dunks and how should I go around defenders when I’m dunking. That really helped me, and that was my mindset from the first start this season. I knew I had to go hard, because last year I was trying to shoot floaters and a hook shot, and didn’t have much success with it, so I knew (getting all the way to the rim) was going to help my game.

MT: That’s a good point; last year, you were often getting in no man’s land there in the middle of the paint where you weren’t close enough to dunk. How have you changed that around to consistently getting all the way to the rim? Zubac: I’m more athletic than the year before. I’m physically much stronger. More explosive. That helps me with contact. When I jump and when I bump into someone, I’m the guy who bumps the guy, not the guy who’s being bumped. So that helps a lot when you’re finishing, and with your confidence. But it’s not that I’m doing something else, I just worked on footwork with Mad Dog, so when I get the ball in pick and roll, what’s the first step? How should I plant it?

MT: You’ve always been a guy who lifts his knees when he dunks, which I think of as a Shaq move. Maybe we’ve just been seeing you dunk more often lately and it’s standing out … Zubac: Yeah I’ve been doing that for a long time. I knew a couple of big guys in Croatia that were dunking, but they’d leave their legs straight and be hanging, and it didn’t look cool at all. I’m a tall guy. If I dunk like that, it doesn’t look cool because I’m a couple of inches from the ground. When I lift my knees up it looks cooler, and Shaq did it, so that’s another plus.

MT: Some young bigs from your area of Europe like Nikola Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic have been getting more praise of late, and deservedly so. Is there a part of you that’s thinking, ‘Don’t forget about me’? Zubac: They deserve it, and to be honest, I didn’t do much this season to be in that same conversation. Even though I know I can be, I didn’t do anything to be there. I guarded them when I was younger back home and I know I can play against them … and I’ve done good against all of them. It’s just a matter of opportunity. I know if I’m playing, I’m going to be in that conversation. And if I’m not and they are, it’s fair for them to be in that conversation, and not me. I knew since my first year when I had some success, and in my second year not really, and I know a lot of people gave up on me. But I always knew what I can do, and no one can see what happens in a practice and I was always really good in practices. And I knew if I can do it in practice, when I get my chance in a game I’m gonna do it again. I think I can be consistent and do this on a day-to-day basis.

Source: https://www.nba.com/lakers/news/181228-zubac-flashes-talent-upside-in-starts

[fontasticcrablettes]

Hey. I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you have any tips on how you usually get from the "broad idea" stage of a story to actually figuring out the events and how things go from point a to b to c? I get ideas all the time and I want to try actually writing some of them, but I always get stuck at actually going from "wouldn't this be cool" to "how does this plot actually go down as a story"...

Ok so this got pretty dang long because I am forever loquacious and suck at brevity.  And it’s 4am so excuse typos, lol.  And also, writing is very personal and everyone has different methods and things that work for them, so this isn’t like the One True Way to block out a story.  It’s just how I do things.  

Part One is about narrowing your broad idea and defining the shape of the story.

So, the most important things to keep in mind when trying to figure out how the story actually goes are A) Who are my characters? and B) What is the message?  

The first thing is characters.  Who are you characters and what do they want?  The very simplest plot outline is that you have a protagonist who wants something, and an antagonist who stands in the way of the character getting that thing.  

When you know what your characters want, and you know their personality, think about what they woud logically do to achieve that.  What is your main character trying to do? That’s your story.      

Second, the message.  Almost every story I write has a message.  The ones that don’t are some of the self-indulgent Goretober ones, or really quick fluffy ones.  These aren’t grand, life-changing messages or things I’m trying to change the world with, but just a basic theme.  I’m sure you’ve all learned about themes in your literature class so I’m sorry to turn this into school, but themes are important.  The theme defines the basic voice of the story.  It’s what it’s about.  For Want of a Nail is about evil twins and a serial killer, but it’s about how circumstances and environment can alter a personality and that goodness is a choice, not a trait.    

Knowing what your story is about helps to give it a cohesive shape.  When deciding what direction the plot should go, the overall theme gives you direction.  If you know your story is ultimate about “enforcing one’s justice”, you’ll choose your plot points based on “how does this contirbute to the idea of enforcing one’s justice?”.   Not every single thing, but enough to give it that structure.  Like, I knew For Want of a Nail was about choice, so I knew that the strongest ending would be giving Alter-Flynn a choice rather than just killing him.

It doesn’t have to be a positive moral, or even a clear message, though.  Still is about sanity and how fragile it can be - no message there, just exploring the concept.  As the Sparks Fly is about religion and faith, and 3 different conclusions are reached by the end.  Heck, at its core, Under the Ice was based around a song lyric from Into the Woods (”Sometimes people leave you/halfway through the woods.”)  If you’re stumped, focus in on what the most important aspect fo the story is (maybe it’s a relationship, maybe it’s a characters personal growth, maybe it’s an existential idea like death or lonliness).  Sometimes, a moral-style theme will naturally come through while you’re writing and you can pretend you’re a genius who thought of it.  

So when trying to narrow down your story from a broad idea, answer these questions: Who is my protagonist?  What do they want?  Who is standing in the way of them getting that?  What is this story ultimately about?

Once you know these things, you should have some structure to the story.  The trick thing now is to fill in all the blanks.  So Part 2 is about how to fill in all that empty space that appears once you have the vague shape of a story defined.   

I find it helpful to talk it over with someone.  Often, ideas will be stagnant until I start typing them out, and once it gets flowing it’s easier to keep that momentum going.  Explaining ideas to someone else is good for this, because it gives you an excuse to type it out, you’ll find yourself adding more details on the spot as you realize your friend is going to ask about that plothole, and depending on where you have the conversation, you’ll probably have a transcript of all your ideas to look back on.  It’s even better if the friend is also interested in the idea, and can throw ideas back at you.  A lot of my stories came to form through conversations with Daffy, Hoskky, Nurse Friend, or Lynx.  

And if you don’t have a friend to talk to, I seriously love talking about stories with people.  There are few things I enjoy more than plotting stories so I am 100% up to talk to anyone about their fic ideas. 

But other than just sitting down and throwing ideas around, here are some things I do.  I am a big history fan and I base a lot of my stories on history, either explicitly inspirationally.  Like, N’oubliez pas is clearly based on the French Revolution, but there are aspects of history in a lot of my stories.  For Want of a Nail was partly based on Jack the Ripper, for example.  So when I have a broad idea of something, I start doing research and read about similar scenarios in real life.  Like, right now I’m plotting a sequel to The Uninvited, so I’ve been watching documentaries and reading up on real-life victims of kidnap.    I’ve talked about this before when asked about research, but research and inspriation gathering is often the same.  Bits and pieces of real life get added to my list of “scenes that would be interesting.”  

I’ll look at other fiction, too.  Other stories with a similar premise.  What has already been done effectively, and why did it work?  How can I twist that in mine? I pick up plot elements from my older, abandoned ideas, too.  I often try to combine a bunch of rejected ideas into one big one, to get them all taken care of at once.  

Think about the characters.  Like I said in the beginning, think about what your characters want and what they would do to achieve that.  The antagonist has something they want, so they make a move to reach it.  Then the protagonist reacts to that and makes a move in response to them.  Then the protagonist makes a move toward what they want, and the antagonist reacts to them (try not to have your antagonist to all the proactive things; entirely reactive protagonists tend to be boring).  Plotting becomes a chain of figuring out what each character would do in reaction to the others, or independantly toward their goal.

The goal here is to create a list of scenes or plot points you want in your story.  These are all pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and now your task is to try to put them together.  Start listing the scenes in chronological order.  Look for connections between plot points, which things could lead to which other events.  If you have a good idea, don’t worry about whether you know how to get there yet.  Quite often, during the explaining to a friend stage, the conversation is like

Me: And then THIS happens!

Friend: But how?

Me: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Magic.  I’ll figure it out later.  

Jump around.  Throw in conclusions you want and trust that you’ll find the connection to get there eventually.  You might not, but don’t disregard it until you try.  Just start shuffling things around until the connect-the-dots start forming a cohesive picture.  I find I work better with pencil and paper at this stage, and draw lots of arrows and circles and squiggly lines to connect points and add notes.  The danger in this messy part of planning is you might change something near the beginning that makes what you planned for the end impossible, so stay aware of that and try to catch this issues before you start writing.  

And when you’re stumped and don’t know how to get from a to b, I don’t have anything to suggest but to lie face down on your bed and think.  I can’t really help you there; ultimately you’ve just gotta fish them from your brain.  If it’s a bland or dumb idea, just go with it for now and hopefully something more inspiring will come to you later.  At least you have the foundation down for now.  

Ok that’s all I can think of for now.  It’s really late so I hope my sleepy rambling made sense.  The best TL;DR I can give is that working out a story is like gradually whittling down a piece of wood and giving shape to the creation beneath.  It’s gonna be blobby and ill-formed for a while, and there will be mis-steps and bad ideas you’ll eventually drop, but just keep the core of the story you’re trying to find and the characters moving it in mind and chip away at it until it takes form.