#it's such a split situation in my mind because yes I wanted to Brainy to go full feral on Lex in that scene

[owl-with-a-pen]

so I was thinking about Supergirl season 5 again and I remembered that some people were upset with Brainy in the second half of season 5 because they didn't think he was as smart as he's supposed to be, and should have been ahead of Lex mentally/had a plan to defeat him. But maybe him being a step behind Lex would have been more understandable/more angsty if Lex was literally mind-controlling him? Like maybe he borrowed Lena's technology to keep him in line, inhibiting him again by cruel irony.

CONT: and meanwhile either Brainy is completely aware of what's going on with him, and it's terrible, or it's a more subtle control by Lex and he makes excuses for something feeling wrong with him. So either way, at the end of the season in this scenario I would still have Brainy do the thing with the bottle, but have it be more an act of defiance/rebellion against Lex, probably with Brainy laughing in his face as Lex is gloating in that scene and taking the pin that kept Lex safe from the radiation.

See this is super interesting, because I've always thought that Brainy struggling to keep up with Lex/outright failing to felt very in character for him as of where he was at that point in the show. I feel like we seem to forget that although Brainy was uninhibited while working for Lex and, therefore, theoretically mentally superior to him, Brainy was also in no sound mind to actually be able to embrace the full extent of his intellect.

While working for Lex, Brainy had to spend all of his time pretending to be someone else. He had to hold up a very stiff and unemotional front to try and convince everyone around him that this was what removing his inhibitors had made him, otherwise his whole plan would fall apart. We know from season 6 that Brainy was absolutely not okay when it came to dealing with his emotions, especially his rage against Lex, and this was becoming very clear through all the interactions we saw between Brainy and Lex in the second half of season 5. Brainy was barely holding it together, and Lex knew that, which was why he knew he had the room to play with his food for a bit and make Brainy think he'd actually achieved the upper hand.

Brainy spent so much of his time with Lex questioning his own actions, feeling guilty every step of the way, hating himself for crawling closer to the evil alignment the rest of his family had wanted for him and (I'm gonna assume here) not sleeping very much, if at all. So, failing to see Lex's whole plan always made sense to me. Brainy was not in a fit mental state to do any better than he did and, to be honest, with all said and done his plan actually was still very ingenious. Incorporating an aspect of the Brainiac line he hated so much by bottling Leviathan was also extremely satisfying, especially considering he went into it knowing he was likely going to die and so reclaiming that ability for good was one hell of a way to go out.

This being said, I do love the ideas you've brought to the table, especially with regards to giving Brainy a proper moment to rebel against Lex. Lex using some form of mind control on Brainy would have definitely upped the angst to insanely delicious proportions. Maybe not from the very start of their partnership, but the more Brainy resisted Lex's plans, or the more obvious it became that he was clearly interfering with them where he could, maybe Lex starts to set something in motion then. Maybe Brainy notices because of how freshly released from being inhibited he is, or, maybe worse, he doesn't realise for those exact same reasons. Either way, it would give Brainy even more fuel to the fire when it came to his final face off with Lex.

Brainy never really gets the closure he sorely needs for everything Lex put him through, and I really do love imagining an alternate version to the scene where Brainy does have the upper hand in that Leviathan ship, maybe he rips Lex's pin from his lapel when Lex underestimates how much energy Brainy has left when he tries to take the bottle from him. Just something that gives Brainy a bit more power over the situation. It'd also make Lex realise that pushing the emotionally unstable Coluan to the limit maybe wasn't the genius plan he thought it was, especially when all of Brainy's anger surges out with Lex as his sole target.

I am overall glad that the end of season 5 left Brainy in a position where his anger towards Lex was unresolved, because that gave us some excellent scenes in season 6. It's no secret that I love Brainy and Lena's dynamic and the scene where Brainy starts detailing exactly how he's planned to kill Lex in the most horrific way possible is up there on my list of favourite scenes ever. So, I suppose, yes it would have been satisfying to see Brainy defy Lex, but also what we got from Brainy failing gave us so much more angst where his unresolved anger was left to stagnate.

[noneatnonedotcom]

the impossible boy chapter 2

@weatherman667​ here’s the second chapter you inspired and a third on the way. because apparently someone mentioning kilts offhandedly is enough to kick my muse into gear >:( i hope you all enjoy

________________________________________________________________

Jaune looked at his battalion. 300 men all under his command. One company devoted entirely to infantry. 150 men all ready for battle. The other 150 were support. Three troupes of 50 divided up for various jobs. One for artillery. With five men to a gun. Rail guns required less crewmen to operate with their sliding block breech system but that was still three men to work the gun with one acting as sights and the other acting as commander.

Ten big guns to control an entire battle field.

Then you had the other troupe. Another fifty men for ammo supplies and food. While each regiment could forage and hunt for it’s own food and each fireteam was expected to do so. They still kept a supply of rations for times when foraging was simply impossible. Not to mention the ammo supplies and various tools they would need and the medical supplies. The quarter masters troupe mainly acted as go-fors. Ferrying ammo and medical supplies to wherever they needed them.

Finally they had the brainy bastards themselves the specialists.

The engineers, medics, and not less than ten huntresses. Just in case. And the color guard. Two men with the standards, eight pipers, six drummers.

He’d trained with these men and women

He’d fought with these soldiers

He’d grown up with them as brothers and sisters in the clann as they fought to protect their family.

Even now from his perch on the roof of beacon he could see what they were doing in his mind's eye clear as day.

His sister would step out holding his scepter. They all snapped to attention riffles on the ground beside them.

She would explain that he wasn’t coming back with them and give the orders he’d left her with.  No one would make a fuss; they're too disciplined for that but no one would be happy the clann should be with it’s own. That was how they lived their entire lives.

But they would complete their missions.

“Right shoulder, ARMS” as one they brought their weapons up resting them on their shoulder butt in hand “sling, ARMS” once again as one they did as commanded readying their weapons for travel. “Salute at sling, arms!” they brought their left hand over to hold the sling as they brought their right hands up in salute. He returned the gesture they were facing each other. He could see them and they him but it was too far away.

He should be down there with them

“Order, arms”  the salute dropped and they stood ready. His sister gave him one last look goodbye. No one was happy about this, it was clear. But it had to be done “right, face” they turned away from him “forward, march!” as one they stepped forward. Once they were away from the eyes of the city they would march at ease. But for now it was time to show some discipline

Eight pipers played at the front of the line his sister having taken his scepter earlier was leading them out. Behind those eight pipers were six drummers behind them the color guard holding the standards of the army then the various troups with the specialists first. Then the infantry then the quarter masters with their waggons. Then the artillery pulled by horses they’d unlocked the aura for.

The people of vale marveled at their disiplin as they stepped in time. Huntresses were the only military they’d seen for a long time and they weren’t exactly what he’d call a cohesive unit. Effective maybe but not easy to control.

He watched them as they paraded out of the city. He watched as they went over the hill.

He wanted desperately to go with them.

He turned away, finally, and walked towards beacon. the deal was that his clann got the help they needed if he stayed here, he’d given his word he would

An Arc never goes back on their word

________________________________________________________________

Weiss hurried along the mostly empty halls, the heels of her shoes making satisfying clicks that kept rhythm with her pounding heart. She was sure she had nothing to worry about. She was excelling at every subject, as was her norm. It was just annerving to be called to Salem's office. Just as she rounded the corner she caught sight of a flash of white.

Weiss let out a pained groan at the same time as a much deeper and definitely deeper grunt of pain.

Without thought she began to apologise. "Forgive me. I was rushing and not looking where I was going." It was only polite, though every idiot knew when walking into the hall to traffic stayed to the right and from traffic maintained the left.

"It certainly isnae. aam jist as much tae blame if nae mair. see Ah was distracted by th' cealin'. i've ne'er seen th' loch. sae much detail in somethin' sae high abune. mebbe it's a way ay remindin' us mere mortals 'at sic' lofty heights ur abune us."

Weiss blinked as the male in front of her came into focus. The brilliant white of his ruffled shirt was the first thing she noticed, followed by the blue and green...battle skirt? Then his words penetrated her head. He was gazing at the ceiling? Her eyes involuntarily lifted to the masterpiece that was beacons exalted ceilings.

"I'm sorry, did I hear you say you were admiring the art?"

A huge grin split across the man's face wrinkling the corners of his celestial blue eyes. "Aye. 'at Ah was lass. ur ye steady? ur dae ye need a bit mair time loongin' against me chest? nae 'at Ah min'. names jaune arc. an' eh'd ask fur yer nam but aiblins angels dornt hae names only beautiful faces."

Heat crept up Weiss's face as she pulled herself away from him. She ran sweaty palms over the front of her dress. "Yes. Well..." What was wrong with her? Surely it wasn't because she was attracted to a man simply because he had an appreciation for art and good taste to notice some most never did.

She cleared her throat and steadied herself before lifting her chin and looking him squarely in the eyes. "I hope you enjoy your time gazing at the art. I'd offer to show you the gallery but I'm needed for a meeting with headmistress Salem."

His golden brows rose. "Ah 'en mebbe ye can help me thaur. aam supposed tae see th' quine myself though th' ceilin' fair distracted me."

Weiss bit the inside of her cheek so as not to return the easy smile of this....man. she'd do well to remember that men were little more than decorations themselves.

Offering her arm as Manors dictated she was only affected minutely when she felt his hand wrap around her arm. His hands were calloused and rough against her bare skin and it for whatever reason sent chills racing down her spine.

"It would be my pleasure to escort you headmistress Salem's offices,"she said stiffly.

The walk back was fairly quiet not for lack of trying on his part though. He’d made conversation about just about every piece of art he’d seen. He wouldn’t say he was a conoscere but his lessons included a lot. He was knowledgeable enough to hold conversation and in his areas of expertise, namely the manuscripts they had kept in the castle library, he was more than just a bit informed.

Nothing seemed to help though every time he thought he was making progress the girl would clam up. The sight of the headmistress standing outside the elevator with a very stern looking woman was almost a relief if not for the almost undisguised glare she leveled at him, the head mistress though seemed to smirk

“Lord Arc” she said with a small curtsy.

Well that was interesting she knew his title and the proper way to greet him according to highlander customs. Big bows were only for mocking people. It implied that their egos are so fragile that you had to be over the top to keep them happy. And for a people whose entire culture revolves around ability and resilience, well being called fragile was a very big insult.

But still she’d shown courtesy in only giving a small bow he would have to show courtesy as well. Now the question was elaborate bow or small nod

Jaune ran out of time and panicked as he came face to face with the headmistress

He stuck out his right hand for a hand shake

What the fuck jaune!

She seemed to study him after that and jaune was truly thankful to the lord that losing to his sisters and clansmen had given him an excellent poker face after all this time

“Quine salem yer skale is brammer th' art is inspirin' an' th' groonds weel kept. Ah thenk ye fur th' opportunity tae see them” he said keeping his best commander face on he’d just greeted her as one military leader to another it wasn’t a breach of conduct for either culture but to people who knew of highlander ways it implied that he would not take orders, that he was outside her control and the etiquette that should bind him.

It made it seem like he was refusing to be a hostage

“I saw your men marched out of the city today, they were truly something to behold” she said taking his offered hand “how long were you with them for?”

“Thes is th' first time in mah life Ah hae bin awa' frae them.” he said carefully. Where was she going with this? “Ye seem tae ken much ay mah fowk.”

“I spent some time amongst clan Mac Arthur in my youth”

“Sae only puckle days ago 'en?”

“My, aren’t you a charmer?” she said with a small smile “glynda i have some affairs to handle with Lord Arc, please wait for miss nikos here with miss schnee i will be with them momentarily” the woman glynda, seemed ready to argue when the headmistress cut her off with a glare “i am aware of the propriety of the situation but i assure you it is utterly necessary.” a moment passed between them that seemed to stretch into an hour

“Understood headmistress” glynda said finally “though I fail to understand the purpose”

“I will thank you to keep personal opinions from affecting your decision making skills”

They stepped into the elevator, it seemed there was dissension amongst the ranks

“If you’d rather we can speak in Gaelic here” she said simply, she was superb almost like she’d spoken it for a lifetime

“Very well, lets” he said simply

“Glynda will come around”

“I have no intention of changing her mind, headmistress. I am here to fulfill a treaty, nothing more.” shit he shouldn’t have said it like that

“Oh? And here i heard you came looking for adventure” she knew a lot but he had no time to figure out how she knew it

“I’ve found that what value it has to offer seems to be very limited,” he said, still not looking to the side of him. Years of standing at attention having a great effect on his ability to let nothing he was feeling slip out. Good thing too because he felt like screaming and ripping his own hair out,

What the fuck was he saying?

“I’m sorry to hear that. The highlanders would make a great ally”

“You’ve enemies enough that you seek allies?” he asked, letting a little surprise into his voice “is there to be another war then?”

“There’s always another war” she said simply

“Yes,” he said looking forward “good thing too, I've got job security”

“I’ve found that war gets very little, lord Arc, only heart ache”

“I’ve found that the only way to get what you want is war, headmistress” jaune what the fuck are you doing? “But then again I've never really seen peace so i may be biased” okay that’s good keep going in that direction “i have to wonder if it truly exists, or if it’s not just a brief armistice in an endless war”

She looked over at him now “you’ll have to forgive me,” she said sounding curious “I forgot I was dealing with a highlander, not some puffed up girl with dreams of heroism” she smiled “you’ve seen war have you not? What was your impression of it?”

“A natural reaction to lack” he said honestly, “the opposite of war is not peace, but creation” he looked at her now “war is destruction in an attempt to preserve” he thought back to the clansmen he’d buried

“I think that is the wisest thing I've ever heard said about war,” she said as the doors opened okay good they were on the right track and the atmosphere had clearly lightened. “What would you say to helping me create something new here?” the hall they walked down was filled with portraits, former head mistresses. He noticed something though. Most of the portraits looked like the current head mistress

No they were the current head mistress. Every other painting was her. Sometimes there’d be gaps where others were put in charge but it would always go back to her

“My family has a history of leading this school you see”

He did see “impressive, you look like them”

“Are my looks that impressive to you?” she asked not looking back

“I” he squeaked, he cleared his throat quickly “I did not mean that” she was hot though he meant what he said earlier she seemed young “I mean that your line was impressive”

“Thank you, we’ve accomplished much all together but I fear it pales in comparison to your clan” she said opening the door to her office.

It looked like a throne room with gold and white marble abounding banners of various houses hung with the coat of arms for the beacon school being directly behind the throne. Her desk was at the base of the stairs leading up to the throne.

“But in the time we’ve had we’ve created much” she said walking forward and sitting behind her desk as she motioned him to sit. She leaned forward

“I suspect you’re here because you seek to create something great as well am i right?”

Don’t say anything jaune “yes” god damn it jaune!

“Then let’s discuss your classes for the year,” she said with a smile

________________________________________________________________

so lemme here your thoughts on the world I've build and what you think of the plot line so far. and what you think of the adjusted characters

[brainy-storm]

S415 - Where you at, bro? (½)

General Thoughts:

ahahaha I knew Eve was bad but dang she had no regrets, wow. Unapologetically a bad guy. Nice.

I found the storyline with Manchester a bit odd, hmm. And the way he died was very...unceremonious. I’m hoping he’s not actually dead, hm.

LEX LUTHOR. But I’ll have a section on him later.

I think that the CW writes family dynamics, really well in this episode. Especially all the sibling dynamics, just good.  (which is why my next sections will be split in families)

The Danvers:

I like how Alex is so concerned over James, because yeah they’re all friends and she’s also just like ‘where are you’ Kara because she’s worried their friend is about to die and Kara isn’t around

And it just shows ooooof this mind wipe thing is even more painful

But Kara is also trying to help J’onn, who is torn over his family

And he can’t bear to lose Kara or Alex because that would be like losing his family all over again i cri

And then Kara telling J’onn he’s important to her and Alex no matter what

And then Alex and Kara hugging it out

I LOVE THIS FAMILY

J’onn and Manchester:

Just before moving onto the other families, I just find it very weird for J’onn to go from 0 of no violence to the 100 of killing.

There must have been a way to apprehend Manchester. unless, again he’s not actually dead which would be good

But I am glad that if he did kill Manchester, he’s already reflecting on it and there might be repercussions.

why do I also feel like idk...Manchester might have recorded the whole thing to see an ‘alien’ kill a ‘human’ and then it would cause more tension and have a war. But maybe I just watch too many dramatic shows haha

The OIsens:

I mean James was mostly asleep but it was interesting to learn a bit more about him. Like how he had to run away from home before. And how he’s been to the hospital like 12 times cause of stuff like wow James. So this must date pre-Guardian stuff, like dang.

Anyway, I liked Kelly’s introduction

I give her my good-sister stamp of approval for not agreeing to go with Lena’s solution right away because yeah, she didn’t know Lena through anyone but James, and they hadn’t met so it makes sense. It seems like a realistic kind of reaction and I can see myself doing the same in that situation 

But she also wanted to take the chance to save her brother when things seemed bleak and saw that she should trust in her brother’s friends (or chosen family, as she called it which got meeee)

Oof she needs

Also leaving James with the phone to talk to his mum - YEP. SIBLINGS. 

The Luthors:

The whole time I was screaming LENA HE TRYIN TO TRICK YOU.

I mean she kinda knew but also kinda fell for it a bit.

I feel bad for her cause she thought her brother was dying, even though he’s an evil person, she still cares for him as a brother. And then he told her about her mother which is WOW but  yeah after getting her whole backstory with her mother, I see why he got to her like that

And his acknowledgement of her achievements was good too. She deserved that, at the very least from her family.

The Luthor dynamic was really good, like just how I wanted it to be. Excellent.

ALSO OTIS. WAs alive daNG. Mate. I thought maybe Mercy might have been alive but it was Otis wowow. That reveal also got me cause I was like good that guard can drop that water cause he knows Lex is a SHIT. But it was Otis like well done dude I actually 0% saw that coming.

Eve just changing her outfit to be typical bad-guy was lol but also perfect.

Poor Lena’s face, though when she saw Eve betrayed her.

Lex freakin Luthor:

AHAHAHA

YESSSS. I like it. I love that they just made him like ‘I’m a bad guy, and I know it.’ Like he knows people see him as a villain and he’s like ‘yeah I do what I want’

Straight up just murders everyone.

Idk I just like villains where it’s a clear cut ‘aha, yes, BAD MAN IS BAD’. But also smart. so like Supergirl can just try and fight him without constraint, cause he’s LEX LUTHOR who murders people seemingly for fun (or at least just with complete disregard)

Also, I love how he calls James ‘Jimmy’ to mock him, and like I bet he already disapproved of the relationship with Lena because he’s like public friends with Superman (signal watch ahem), and then ofc got him shot like yeaaah.

They probs won’t try and get Supes down cause it’s Supergirl’s show but I hope that someone tells him all about this later.

Or we get like a space-text with a ‘Good job Kara :) ‘( I missed those cute texts from season 1)

Nia:

I like how Nia is shown to be integrated to their group, like even though she hasn’t been part of it for long, she has been there for the game nights and James is her first boss (yes?) (or one of her first boss’), and he’s given her advice and actually she came out to James before she did to Kara so I feel like the emotional bond is there for her to be really upset over this. 

I also see why she jumps to saying she should have predicted this, because she already predicted and failed to save her mother, and - though the show doesn’t say this - maybe she thought that since becoming a superhero and getting her powers she should’ve been able to predict things like this. Maybe the show will say it later (hopefully)

In a way, she’s also with her chosen family, after what happened with her sister. which hopefully we’ll follow up on, one day

Brainy:

Okay so, like you know how I love Brainy? (whaat? brainy-storm? You love BRAINY? REALLY? ok ok shh)

Firstly, him blaming himself was on point for this, because he has so much pride and expectation on himself and feels responsible, he thought he should have been able to predict this all and should have been able to fly into CatCo and do this before it happened arghhh.

It’s also in line with his character from s3 where he was frustrated about not being able to get the signal to space, or in 4x04 where he was upset he couldn’t think of anything to help Supergirl --- which he does bring up

HE FINALLY MENTIONED HIS FAMILY. AND THEY’RE ALL EVIL. BOO YAH. 

I mean, poor Brainy.

But seriously, so from that I’m taking O.G Brainy [which hasn’t happened yet because if Brainiac came to Earth I feel like they would knowww  soo...future storyline?] But also Brainy’s evil mum from reboot so yessss. And more too probs.

And Mon-El being dismissive - I wonder if this is in like a general sometimes the legion is harsh/dismissive or is this in a threeboot like leadership battle with Cosmic Boy kind of way. 

Both the ancestry and the Mon-El mention I feel deserve to have longer explanations and I wishhhhh he could have elaborated.

And then him saying he had to move his whole existence MY POOR BRAINY

HE JUST WANTS A CHOCO

Anyway, I just want to say Jesse Rath freaking smashed it. Like seriously, his scenes were not going to affect the main storyline of this episode but he was like THIS IS MY CHARACTER PIECE AND I WILL PERFORM THE HELL OUT OF IT.

If you click on this link you can see a tweet that shows that Jesse Rath bled after punching that vending machine. 1. I hope he takes care of himself 2. but I appreciate this effort like wow 

Era? I think a mix of all eras were channelled here well.   

shipper thoughts, as usual, will be on 2/2 but yeah I ship kara x brainy so pfft this episode was not great for me in that aspect but that, firmly  aside I thought it was very good 

[sweatersexual]

Hearts Keep Racing

Starting a new relationship right now can't be a good idea. But then, Ed always did have the worst timing.

Written for @edweenweek Day 5: AU

It really wasn't much of a coincidence that Winry should run into one of her clients in the Ouroboros Clinic's waiting room. It was one of the best used providers in their network, after all. And it was nice to see Ed again.

Winry had long since lost contact with her grade-school pal, only to reconnect when she’d fitted him with a new prosthetic about a year ago. They'd friended each other on Facebook since then and commented on each other's posts a few times, though Ed wasn't on Facebook all that much. Still, he was just as bold and brainy as Winry had remembered him.

Winry waved him over as he walked into the waiting room. Ed waved back with a casted right arm. Winry was sure the story behind that cast would be entertaining.

“Hey Winry,” he greeted her, with a glance to Winry's baby bump. “Wow, I guess congratulations are in order?”

At six months pregnant, Winry was starting to get tired of that being the first thing people brought up. Still, she tried to be gracious about it. “Thanks, Ed.”

“Is it weird if I touch your belly?” Ed asked as he took the seat next to her. “I mean, if it's okay with you . . .”

“Yeah, here.” She took his uncasted hand and laid it just above her belly button. “It's sweet of you to ask. Most people just grab me.”

“Ugh, people are jerks.” And then, as the baby kicked, “Wow, there's really a baby in there!”

Winry laughed. “You don't say?”

“Sorry, I'm not trying to be a complete dweeb. I just think the whole pregnancy-new-life thing is really cool. Like, there's a whole other person inside you. That you made. It's fucking incredible.”

“Aw.” Winry hadn't been expecting this behavior from Ed of all people. It was refreshing to see such a brash personality gush over the miracle of life. “You’re terrible at convincing me you're not a dweeb.”

Ed rolled his eyes. “Whatever. You got any names for this tiny fucking miracle?”

“I'm still mulling over my options.”

“You should call it something kickass, like Puma or Diesel.”

“Oh god. Promise me you'll never have children, Ed.”

“Never say never.”

“So what's with the cast?” asked Winry.

“Oh yeah. Would you believe I broke my wrist fighting a dragon?”

“What?”

“Yeah, you know those Chinese costumes with like ten people inside it? I thought my brother was hiding in there.”

“So you tried to beat up the whole dragon?”

“Nah, I tried to tackle what I thought were his legs. Which was really kind of stupid, but my impulse control sucks sometimes. So I tripped up the dragon and one of the guys fell on my arm. As far as wrist-breaking stories go, there are definitely more embarrassing ones.”

“I guess so.”

“I'd ask you to sign my cast, but I came here to get it off, so I guess there's not much point.”

It didn't look like there was any room left on the cast to sign it, covered as it was with red and black signatures, doodles, and even a few chemical equations. “Eh,” said Winry. “I already signed your leg anyway.”

“True, true,” Ed said with a laugh.

Winry's doctor was ready to see her before Ed's was to see him. When her checkup was finished, she briefly took a seat to check her email. She had just finished writing a reply to Garfiel when Ed sat next to her.

"Yech," he said. "I hate how gross your skin feels after a cast comes off." He rubbed his right arm.

"Don't pick at it," said Winry. "You'll irritate the skin."

"I'm not. I'm just trying to relax these muscles. It's so stiff."

"Your doctor showed you wrist exercises to build up your strength, right?"

"Yeah. They hurt, though."

She shrugged. "They'll hurt less the more you do them."

He snorted. "You know, for a healthcare provider, you're pretty indifferent to my pain."

"What do I get for kissing every little boo boo?" Winry asked with a smirk. She and Ed both knew that he only liked to whine about the little things. If he were really hurt, he'd pretend he was completely fine. "You're not my client right now."

"You're such a mercenary," Ed grumbled. "So how'd the checkup go?"

"Good," said Winry. "We're both healthy and hitting all the milestones. Doctor Briggs just prescribed me some folic acid."

"Nice," Ed said. "Hey, you wanna get lunch or something? I've got some time to kill before Al comes to pick me up. Doctor Knox says I'm still not good to drive for a few more days."

"You haven't been allowed to drive?" asked Winry. "You must be hating that." He was such an independent person, it had to be driving him crazy.

"You have no idea," Ed groaned. "Public transportation sucks and Al won't let me bend the rules. He hid my car keys!"

Winry laughed. "Sounds like Al."

They ended up going to the Applebee's around the corner. Winry had been eating there more since she got pregnant than she had in her entire life. She'd been craving ribs and Applebee's had a good deal on them.

"Doesn't baby daddy know how to work a grill?" asked Ed. "That's the best way to eat ribs."

Winry shook her head. "Baby daddy's not in the picture."

"Oh. Sorry. That sucks."

She shrugged. "It is what it is."

"I don't need to knock some sense into him, do I?"

"What? No! He's not around because I don't want him to be. I don't need him, and I don't need you to stick your nose where it doesn't belong."

Ed raised his palms apologetically. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to - I know you can take care of yourself, Winry. I guess I'm just projecting. You know, since my dad walked out on me."

Winry didn't know the entire situation with Ed's father, but Ed had complained about him so many times over the years that Winry could read between the lines. "Yeah, okay," she said. "Thanks for apologizing."

"Of course. I know I can shoot off my mouth sometimes. That's why I hang around people who call me out on my shit."

And then, because Winry's mind was still on the subject, and it was nice to have another listening ear, she kept talking about her baby's father. "His name's Russell. The dad. We were never serious. When I got pregnant, I figured I was in a good enough place, financially, to keep it. And I always wanted to be a mom. But I didn't want Russell to be a permanent part of my life. He probably would've stepped up if I'd told him about the baby, but I just didn't want to coparent with him. So I broke up with him. He doesn't know about the baby, and I want to keep it that way."

Ed nodded. "I guess that makes sense."

But she could tell he was holding something back. "Whatever it is you're thinking, you should say it."

"You probably don't want to hear it."

"Ed, come on."

"Fine. I'm not saying you have to do things my way, but . . . if it were me, I'd at least want him to know he had a kid."

"I get why you'd say that," said Winry. "I just think it's more trouble than it's worth."

"I guess. Hey, you want to see this picture of Al at Pet Barn?"

Winry welcomed the subject change, and the rest of their lunch passed with little incident. Ed had tried to cut his food himself, only to wince as the muscles in his right hand spasmed. She teased him as she took his knife and fork. "Guess I better get used to doing this now," she said.

"Yeah, yeah. Hey, you don't have to make the pieces that tiny. I'm not gonna choke."

It had been nice to catch up with her old friend. They'd only kept in touch peripherally since he'd become her client, and it was nice to confirm that he was still the rough-and-tumble personality she remembered. She also couldn't deny that puberty had been kind to Edward Elric. She tried not to think about that too much, though. Her second trimester was a horrible time to start a new relationship, let alone with a client.

However, they were in touch much more than peripherally now. Ed had started messaging her regularly. He liked taunting her with pictures of well-cooked ribs. She teased him back with reminders that he couldn't drive, and she quickly found more material once he was allowed behind the wheel again.

They'd been messaging for about a week and a half when Ed invited her over for dinner at his place. Winry said yes because she knew Al would be there, so it wouldn't be a date exactly, and anyway she couldn't say no to free ribs. So she knocked on Ed's door that evening with a fresh-baked apple pie in hand.

He opened the door wearing a bright red apron with his hair up in a messy bun. Winry couldn't tell if he was seriously rocking the barbecue chef look or she was just hormonal, but damn did he look good.

"Hey!" he greeted her brightly. "Um, Al had to bail. His girlfriend surprised him with concert tickets."

Double damn. This was starting to turn into an actual date. No, she couldn't read into it more than there was. They were just doing this as friends. He probably didn't find pregnant women attractive anyway. She tried to forget how much he gushed over how cool he thought pregnancy was.

Ed invited her out to the patio, where the grill was. "You should probably keep your distance though," he told her. "I don't think the fumes are good for the baby."

"It's sweet of you to worry," said Winry. She noticed how well he handled the spatula and tongs and said, "Your wrist's looking a lot better."

"Thanks," said Ed. "It still gets sore easy, but at least I can use it." He shut the grill. "Sorry, these are taking longer to cook than I thought. How hungry are you?"

Pretty hungry. Pregnancy had a way of kicking a girl's appetite into gear. "Why don't we switch it up and do dessert first?" Winry suggested, holding up her apple pie.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Ed approved. "That thing smells amazing."

They didn't even bother with plates, just split the pie down the middle and ate right out of the tin. Ed groaned when he took the first bite.

"Holy shit, Winry, that's fantastic. Why didn't you tell me you could bake like this?"

"I'm a woman of many talents," said Winry.

"I'm pretty sure pie isn't allowed to taste this good. Did you make a deal with the devil or something?"

"The only devil I've seen lately is you." The remark was out of her mouth before she could think.

His grin widened. "You think I'm the devil? You haven't even seen my naughty side yet."

Shit, shit, they were totally flirting! She had to deescalate the situation. "I don't think it gets much naughtier than the pillbug incident back in third grade."

Ed laughed. "I totally forgot about that! And you put those bugs down my shirt, too!"

"You looked like you were having a seizure," Winry said, chortling.

Their conversation after that was more friendly than flirtatious. By the time the pie had been reduced to mere crumbs, the meat was finally ready. Ed had always had a large appetite and Winry was not ashamed to match him. They both had room for a couple racks of ribs along with potato salad and coleslaw. When they were done, Winry insisted on helping with the dishes. After a few protests, Ed finally relented.

So far, doing that chore together had been the quietest part of the evening. That is, until Ed cried out and dropped the pie tin back in the sink. "Hand cramp," he explained.

"Lemme see." Winry took his hand and started massaging it. She felt along his wrist for strained muscle and rubbed it too. After a moment she started feeling Ed's eyes on her.

She looked up to see him standing closer than he had before, his flushed face closer to hers than it had ever been. Winry's heart picked up, and so did the baby's kicking. But she didn't notice that so much as she noticed his eyes on her mouth.

Ed leaned in first, and Winry closed the gap. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had a kiss like this, soft yet unyielding. Ed's left hand wrapped around her back, drawing circles down her spine. Winry traced her own hand up Ed's right arm and clutched his bicep. When the kiss finished, it took Winry a minute to remember that this was not how she had wanted this dinner to turn out.

Intellectually, anyway. Physically, it was clear her libido had other priorities.

Winry shook her head. She said, "Ed, this is crazy."

Ed's fingers drummed on her back. "Is it?" he asked.

"Yes, Ed, I'm about to have a baby."

"I noticed," he said, his left hand tracing around her waist and resting on her belly.

"Ed!"

"Come on, Winry, babies are awesome. I want to get to know the baby too."

Winry supposed that was a good way to put it. It was far too early for Ed to even consider being a father to the baby. On the other hand, impending motherhood was Winry's main focus and anyone she dated would need to be on board with that. Ed had accepted that he'd be spending time with both her and the baby. But still . . . "You're my client."

"What was it you said? When you didn't care about my pain? I'm not your client right now?"

He wasn't wrong. It had been a year since she'd treated him, so it wasn't an offense she could lose her license over. Still, they were cutting it close.

"If we do this," she said, "and your leg breaks in the next year, you wouldn't be able to go to me. You'd have to go to someone else."

"You said it would last me three years, right? Don't you trust your own work?"

He was such a smart alleck. She wanted to smack him. His smirk was obnoxious and alluring at the same time. She wanted to make out with him. He had such a tender look in his eyes. She wanted to hold him tight and never let go.

Winry said, "You're going to be the death of me, Edward Elric."

Ed said, "Yeah, I get that a lot." Then he kissed her again. This one was more fervid than before. Hands wandered down backsides and lips caressed the most sensitive spots of their faces and necks. Winry was pressed close enough to Ed that she was sure he could feel the baby kicking too.

"I think the dishes just need to soak for awhile," Winry murmured in Ed's ear.

"Hell yeah," he agreed. Then he picked Winry up and carried her to the couch, where they could sink into the supportive cushions and feel as close to each other as they possibly could.

They stayed on the couch for a very long time.

[emptymanuscript]

Sleuthing Writer’s Block

Orson Scott Card said to me in a workshop that writer’s block is a gift because it tells you there is a problem. The trick is simply solving that problem. But that’s quite a trick, isn’t it. Because writer’s block only tells you that there IS a problem, not what the problem is. 

This is like a murder mystery. You come in on the body, no explanation, and you as the writer/detective must solve who has left the corpus of your writing on the floor, what they did it with, why they did it, and then how to right the scales of justice. It’s a big task. And all you’ve got to work with is that body.

Now, luckily, like with a murder mystery, there are basic facts and logical steps we can use. In a cozy, the detective is locked up with the body and all the possible suspects. The same is true for you and your story. There are only a few suspects or classes of suspect. Your eight suspects are: 

Milieu/Setting/Worldbuilding 

Ideas/Concept/Genre

Character/Characterization 

Event/Plot/Structure

Theme/Metaphor

Voice/Style

Scene Execution

Boredom / Disbelief / Poor Development

Chances are that scene execution, voice/style, and Theme/Metaphor are most likely innocent. But we’ll still cover them just in case. You’ll also note that the first four suspects match up with Orson Scott Card’s MICE Quotient, there really is a reason I’m so into it ;) 

So let’s interrogate. 

1) Suspect number 1 defines a lot of your choices. Yes, Milieu declares if there are spaceships or dragons but it is just as important if you are writing a slice of life set in the here and now. There are rules to it. Things that say one thing must occur while another cannot possibly occur. Is the scene you are trying to write attempting to violate one of the rules of your world? Or has a scene you recently wrote violated them? Is one of the rules of the world that you need in order to move on missing from earlier in the work? What about just a detail? Details are almost always something that needs to be fixed earlier in the work, rather than right where you are, in order for you to hang later developments on that detail. Are there vampires but you’re balking right as you are about to have them fly in? Then it might be that you need a hint of vampiric possibility earlier in the text to make yourself ok with it. 

2) The Ideas / Concept / Genre suspect is a lot like Milieu. It sets a lot of rules. Most importantly, this class sets the rule of consistency. Everything that occurs inside a text must match the idea that dictates the text. What if a vampire fell in love with a UFO? If that’s the idea you’re running with, then everything that happens inside your text must either support, contrast, or complicate the vampire falling in love with a UFO. Which means if a werewolf shows up to fight the vampire over their deforestation investments... that scene probably needs to be cut. That may be an extreme example but suppose you are just writing a normal woman coming of age and discovering she’s a lesbian story. That is also a confining idea. The werewolf would be just as out of place. So, most likely, would be her struggles with her POS first car because that’s harder to feed in to the idea of “What if Shelly was a lesbian?” Is what you are trying to write consistent with your what if statement? If you are having trouble early on, do you have a working what if statement? Do you feel like you need to contrast the statement in order to give it a starker definition? Do you feel like your what if statement has given you enough conflict? We’ll come back to conflict because it is a major issue over and over. But in this case, your idea needs to give you several moments of tension over whether the goal of the character can be accomplished or not. If the vampire falls in love with the UFO then how, literally on Earth, is the Vampire going to meet up with it? That’s a problem that grows out of the idea. If Shelly is a lesbian, then how is she going to come to suspect it? Etc. Do you need that sort of problem work to go on? 

3) I’m going to be honest, Character is one of your likelier suspects. Especially if you have filled out twenty character questionnaires of 300 questions each and know every little thing about them including which hand they hold their toothbrush with. Much more important than knowing every little thing about your character is being able to predict your character. Because if you just don’t know what your character is going to do, that is likely to give you block because your brain can’t use the instructions you have given it. Do you know what your character wants in the situation you are blocked about? Do you know what your character is afraid of at this time? Do you know how your character is going to approach getting what they want and avoiding what they are afraid of? Are they brainy? Are they aggressive? Are they avoidant? Etc. How will your character know they have succeeded/failed with their current goal? How have they been defined by their backstory in relation to your idea? Contrariwise, suppose you do know the answer to those questions. Then the question might be, has the character deviated from what should be their predictable behavior? Have they gone someplace or done some thing that doesn’t fit with what you need to say about them? Finally, does your character have a good reason to participate in their conflict? Or does your character have a good reason to feel incapable of avoiding it? If your character doesn’t, then they may simply be refusing until you tailor your conflict more closely to their heart. 

4) Even more likely than Character, your plot / structure has the scent of manuscript murder all over it. Plot is usually the vaguest thing a writer goes into a manuscript with. You often have a point A and a point Z and maybe, maybe some notion of an M. The rest of the alphabet we are determined to wing. Which means all too often we’re left with ok, what next? In which case the question to ask is: what has to happen? What dramatic event needs to occur? In some ways you can rely on your genre for this. In horror, the characters split up. The heroine is abducted by the monster. These are tropes that have often turned into clichés but see Cabin in the Woods, it plays with it but the event still happens, right where it is supposed to. You can ask yourself, what trope should go here, and then play with it to see what new you can create. You can also rely on structural dictates such as the monomyth. Certain things, such as refusing to participate in the story that is about to occur, are expected and can be just the right thing to do, even if only as a place holder. The other question to ask is if your plot meshes with all of your other choices. Do the events of your plot, especially where you are blocked, illustrate and play out your What If? Does the plot fit the genre expectations? Would this part of your plot happen in the world you have so far described? Or is your plot to linear? Is it all too easy for your character? Can you see the ending from the starting line? In which case the question might be how to move to a parallel course, how can you change the path so it still gets you approximately where you want to go but does so in a different way?

5) Theme / Metaphor is an unlikely suspect because it’s polished into a story far more often than it is built into a story from the get go. There is a reason every lousy writer who is really a failure alcoholic depicted on the silver screen talks about what their story is ‘really about.’ All the screenwriters know that is mostly bs. Mostly. But our minds are playing with such things and they are deeply powerful. And when it goes awry, that power can derail everything. The real question to ask yourself here is what deeper meaning are you trying to put into your story? And this does need to be somewhat nebulous, you are playing with metaphor. If it requires an essay to talk about it, it isn’t going to work. And you’re going to need to get comfortable with imprecision. Because it doesn’t communicate very well in words. My book is about family... but it clearly isn’t. Mad Max: Fury Road is about something like women deserving to be free. But the actual literal words for it are lost, you just... feel it in the middle of all the action which is all connected by that nebulous feeling or rebellion and righteousness. The Da Vinci code is about organized belief as a deceitful authority. It’s more obvious in the Da Vinci code but the depth of it also runs into where that deceitful authority isn’t the obvious villain of Christianity existing for the power of a few men. What is your theme? Have you been playing it out, or have you diverged from it and so need to go back and change direction? Is what you think you want to write in conflict with it? Does it just feel like things aren’t connecting correctly? And finally are any of the metaphors you are using conflicting with your theme?

6) Voice / Style isn’t guilty. Ok, maybe. But it is unlikely. Does it feel like the flow of your writing has changed? Is the way you are saying things feeling forced instead of natural to you? That actually is the most likely reason that style will block you, if you don’t really like the way you are writing and want to write a different way instead. You’re much better off writing in a way you are comfortable. The block here comes from writing being just too difficult and not resonating with your writer’s soul. Some people love flowing beautiful prose. Some of us do not. And whether we enjoy writing it can be an entirely different spectrum than our enjoyment. Write the way you want to write. This does mean, sometimes, that you can’t write the exact plot you want to write. My writing style does mean I can’t write high literature, my choices and comforts don’t mesh with the genre expectations for it. And this may be true of you as well. If this is actually your block it is about taking a long hard look in the mirror and going with the flow of your personality instead of against it. Because you are going to have substantial problems as long as you are working against yourself. 

7) Scene execution is about the actual how of how you deliver your story. Have you delivered the story expositions you need up to this point to move on? Are you delivering the information you need to deliver to the reader at this point? What action on the part of the character will deliver that information? Do you need to just state the information and move on, maybe restate it more eloquently later? Every scene has a job. It is to show a particular set of actions that move a character toward or away from their goals. Do you know the goal?  While the scene does its job, it must also do the job well, which means it must also convey information necessary to the greater story as a whole. Do you know what overarching goal this particular scene goal relates to? Do you know what you want the reader to know in the context of the greater story by having this scene play out? Has the scene that this scene relies on provided the information it needs to move forward? Do you know what forward means in this particular case? If this is your block, then you are looking for something relatively small and concrete. The problem will be where you are or in a scene related to where you are. It’s not an overarching story problem. It’s just getting this scene to do its job and making sure it has all the tools it needs to do it.

8) And here, unfortunately, is where we get to the real problems. Ones where there aren’t simple answers no matter how many questions you ask. These are actually derived from questions, which I also got from Orson Scott Card: Huh? I don’t get it. Oh yeah? I don’t believe it. So What? I don’t care. In all these cases it is about truly going back to the drawing board.

Huh, I don’t get it = poor development. There is a point at which you may just not have any idea about your story. You don’t know where to go. You don’t know what to do. You’re not even sure what you were doing. What this is not understanding your own story to the point that your brain balks and refuses to go any farther until you do the underlying work. This is writer’s block because you don’t have the materials to work with. Which means you need to develop a story. All of that stuff above can help. Just use it as a means to develop your story instead of question it. Work out your MICE Quotient and figure out your what ifs. Who is your character for story purposes? How do you want to challenge them? Where would that conflict be most powerful for you?

Oh yeah, I don’t believe it = disbelief. I know, really complex. But belief actually is a fairly complex system and suspension of disbelief doubly so. If you’ve stopped believing in your story all together then the problem most likely orbits around the various elements of your story not supporting each other well enough. Or you may have too many gimmes. My example of a vampire falling in love with a UFO is a lot of gimmes right on the face of it. Attempting to put anything else nonstandard in is going to throw most readers. I might not be able to make myself believe it. So, sometimes you need to step back and ask if your elements are working against each other? Might it be better just to have a human fall in love with a UFO or a vampire fall in love with a more mundane vehicle? And does it all just seem too ridiculous. The thing is, for each element you are going to have to give it the smell test. Can you believe what you have put together? And if not, what can you change to make it more believable?

So what, I don’t care = boredom. Sometimes you are just bored with a story. Sometimes you don’t like it anymore. Sometimes it is just time to put it down and go on to try something else. It is a hard truth but it happens. I’m not saying you have to give up just because you’re bored but it is something to consider. If you want to keep at it then it is time to treat the story almost as if it is new. Large changes are probably in order. Ask yourself honestly which elements bore you. And scrap them in favor of something new. Shelly may need to be relegated to a minor character in the story about the actually interesting girl she has a crush on. Instead of a coming of age realizing it is a Lesbian story, it may need to be a drag racing story that happens to star a teenage lesbian and her fearlessness behind the wheel is echoed by her fearlessness in her identity. Maybe you hate that story. It might also be worth asking what elements you like and simply taking those and reworking the rest around it. If none of that sounds good, put your story in a drawer and work on something else for a while and come back to it in six months or so. In six months the story will look very different and problems will be more obvious. 

9) Wait a minute, nine? There were only eight suspects. Well every so often someone gets the brilliant idea that the detective did it. It generally doesn’t work but it is a possibility. You may be “the problem” and not your story. In which case it is definitely time to put the manuscript away. I once heard Stephen King say in a speech that he saw himself as a father first, a husband second, and a writer as a distant distant third. He may have even put it lower on the list. Life comes first. The truth that many writers and writing advice givers don’t want to acknowledge is that you can’t write every day. As someone who did write close enough to every day for government work for five years before I started harming myself because of it, I am telling you that it isn’t a good idea. And your brain is going to let you know. If you are giving too much energy to writing, your brain is going to go all out to try and stop you. Writer’s block can be an early-ish symptom of this. I cannot tell you the number of times I said I don’t have any ideas. I should have stopped then. The way that writer’s block felt to me was like a well gone dry. Like it was eating my life. Like I would rather cut off my hands than put them on the keyboard. Let it go. Life comes first. Take care of yourself first. You will get infinitely more writing done if you get yourself healthy and in a good space than you will trying to kill yourself doing it.