#like ok don’t make the doctor love this person too much because everyone’s equally important etc

[warlenys]

4.5 billion is so excessive. i love how excessive it is. if it was 4.5 million we’d be like fucking hell man that is crazy crazy love but 4.5 billion?? Billion????? BILLION??????? for no reason. insane

[pokedash55]

ULTRA LONG TIME TWIN HEADCANNONS

@sippin-on-waterfalls your post is ready

From Pokedash and Purplefern

Ooooooookay here we go.

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-Krux perceives time slower than others so he is easily late to events (plus he gets distracted and way into projects so he can easily lose track of time, ironically) so he could end up missing a lot of Elemental Alliance meetings

-Acronix made sure he informed Krux it was time to go (whenever he remembers, anyway) otherwise he’d be uber late all the time. Good thing they always go together

-Acronix is super early all the time because of his powers and he and Griffon Turner’s grandfather got along really well

-All the same, between lack of attention span, focusing on other things, and not caring for the meetings in general, Krux and Acronix miss a LOT of meetings 

-Before alliance meetings Wu is training little Morro and the Twins and the Master of Speed just waltz in the monastery doors an hour early

-Acronix teaches Morro some sick fighting moves (some rather underhanded)

-Krux advises him to never let people get away with harm cause you are the most important thing in your life. (Revenge!)

-Wu be like plz stop encouraging my kid into violence and dishonorable tactics.

-Krux brought refreshments to an EA party exactly once. It was pickled beet tea and nobody liked it. He took it very personally. 

-Back during the war, the love triangle with Misako was actually a love rectangle. Krux had a crush on her too but he literally had no idea how to act on it so his part of the rectangle was staring at her longingly from afar and not saying anything. 

-Yes Acronix teased him immensely about this. And tried to act as a wingman several times but Krux swore if he did he would murder him 

-Pre-series, Misako would do work for the museum a lot, so she ended up working with Sanders Saunders quite often. Despite her relationship to Wu and Garmadon and their “history”, he did like working with her ok

-They both also worked with the Explorer’s Club a lot, and have equal disdain for Cecil Putnam and Clutch Powers 

-Krux hates Cecil’s stuffy rules (even though he couldn’t show it while being Dr Saunders) and Clutch’s….everything

-Krux’s doctorate is real, and he has a doctorate in History and and Master’s degree in Museum Studies 

-He’s the Curator of History at the museum, and the other curator is the curator of natural sciences 

-Acronix is a big nicknames guy. He doesn’t usually call people by their actual names. Only the people he actually cares about or that he super hates. 

-But he also generally despises nicknames given TO him. The only people allowed to call him Nix/Nixie are  his brother and mother (and later Shannon). 

-Krux only calls Acronix "Nix" if he's feeling particularly vulnerable/scared/etc (so like, when being the older twin isn't feeling that fun and he decides to ignore those 3 minutes and be more like the "younger" twin.) So this becomes a lot less as he becomes more arrogant. 

-(Based on how he describes Dareth getting beat up by the Vermillion warrior) Krux likes watching wrestling. It’s a guilty pleasure of his 

-And of course Acronix loves it once he learns about it, so the two watch it together 

-Krux occasionally plays strategy board games. He tried to get Acronix into them but he found them boring. 

-(Sometimes he’ll suck it up and play with him anyway, though.) 

-Both are sass masters

-Both also like science

-But like completely different facets of science. 

-Krux of course likes the more stable and earthy sciences. Biology and geology, ecology. Those elemental science that have always existed but we just haven’t yet understood them

-Krux is also a total history nerd. Things like paleontology and anthropology are also really interesting to him 

-Yes he was a dinosaur kid. (Especially since dinosaurs had just started to be discovered back in his day.) 

-Acronix of course likes advancement and the otherworldly sciences. Technology, Astronomy. Sure we build upon the discoveries of the past but what about creating something new for the future? 

-Acronix does like bioengeneering since it is a new advancement but he knows saying so would make Krux grin with “I told you bio was cool” vibes

-Krux can engulf himself into his work or his schemes for days. As he is very patient. 

-Acronix is less so. He sees time constantly moving forward so sitting idle to “Plan” seems a ridiculous waste of time. 

-He jumps from activities quickly as the novelty of it wears off and he is always on a quest for what's new and what may work, not really what has been confirmed to work

-Krux of course sees this as a fool's errand. We need to respect the knowledge we have and use it and plan with it. 

-But when they are in sync you should be SCARED

-Both thinking in the Present can make them in perfect harmony, Both in fighting and talking.

-Their different planning methods can help eachother get things done. So yes, when they work together you should be scared 

-Krux can get really fixated on an idea, and get into major creative blocks. Acronix helps propose out of the box solutions that keep his ideas moving forwards that he wouldn’t have thought of himself. 

-But as we see they can also be reeeeallly different and fight over the miniscule things.  

-Krux lingers on Grudges easily as he physically cannot not put value to the events of the past.

-Acronix’s main grudge with the alliance came from his ego and arrogance, not his element. I think he feels very internally about wrongs to him in the moment but if he sees nothing really changed a couple of days later he loses interest in holding such a grudge easily

-Each of them have the ability to not be affected by the other’s powers

-Acronix has no patience to listen to anything he doesn’t want to hear. Back when he had his powers he COULD and WOULD just “skip” peoples’ dialogue if he got bored of it. 

-Krux has a bad habit of “freezing” people if he feels like they’re interrupting him. Like, he will freeze people who are trying to get him to stop working on something while he’s trying to get something done, and then get back to them when he feels like it. Everyone has to work on his time. (Annoyingly, this does not affect his brother, which is why Acronix is the only one who can actually get him to stop working on his projects.) 

-Whenever Krux & Acronix would hang out with Chen, Acronix loved messing with Clouse. Clouse reminds him of his brother, but even more stuffy and annoyed somehow, so he just has an instinctual urge to annoy him as much as possible. 

-(Clouse does not appreciate this, but Master Chen says they’re “important” to his plan so Clouse just suffers quietly.) 

-Acronix likes the Master of Speed, but also finds it annoying that he can resist his slo-mo powers by going really fast. (On the bright side, though, this does make him the closest thing to an equal he’ll get for a sparring partner, if Krux doesn’t want to train with him for whatever reason.) 

-Because of his element, Sound is one of the rare people who doesn’t really mind Krux but REALLY dislikes Acronix. Acronix is just so loud all the time and it physically pains him because he is so sensitive to vibrations and volume. Krux is generally pretty quiet so doesn’t bug him as much. 

-Acronix is an Entrepreneur (ESTP)  and Krux is an Architect (INTJ) 

-They have no Feeling whatsoever

-Otherwise, they are complete opposites

-Both of these personality types hate rules, regulations, and micromanaging restricting authority figures (hmm, wonder why they broke away from the alliance…)

-Acronix is arrogant in the way that he doesn’t care about his flaws, because obviously he is awesome and everyone else is just jelly, Krux is arrogant in the way that he hates people pointing out his flaws, because shut up he doesn’t have any 

-Their mother is Polaris, they take after her physically 

-Father is Kronos, they got their powers and ego from him 

-Their father actively encouraged them to have immense pride in their element -- being the former master of time himself 

-Ordered them the sweet matching armor

-He was a samurai back in his day, which is why the Twims wore samurai helmets.

-Between their two loving parents, the Twims were nearly spoiled 

-Krux and Acronix grew up pretty rich, Kronos was pretty much high society and Polaris was too 

-They went to a fairly fancy private school growing up

-But everyone there were snobs so they didn’t get along well with their classmates (what a surprise)

-Their parents died in a skirmish with Serpentine, leading the Twims to join the alliance full of vengeance. 

-Acronix has a battle scar from being grazed by an anacondrai sword on his left pec cause I said so

-Also a lot of misc snake bit scars and a burn scar from that one time (Ray’s got a bad temper and Acronix likes pressing people’s buttons, so that went super well)

-Acronix super cares about his looks so has a ton of, like, haircare and beauty products. Krux has a single bottle of 3-in-1 and a bar of soap and says that that’s sufficient. 

-Back in the day Acronix had a bunch of oils and whatever for his hair, and when he’s in the present he’s got a bunch of fancy shampoos and such.  He’s definitely the vain one of the two twins

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A collection of Neurodivergent Twims HCs

-Acronix has ADHD and Krux is autisitc

-Acronix is early, but only to things he remembers. He often forgets dates. And Krux will get involved with something else, and has a warped sense of time. Together, the two miss a lot of EM meetings 

-And when they’re at them, neither of them are good at conversations. Acronix talks a mile a minute and doesn’t let anyone get a word in edgewise. Krux either doesn’t talk to anyone or similarly dominates conversation and doesn’t let anyone else talk. 

-The two also get sent on solo missions alot

-They don’t focus well in a group setting (Acronix generally ignoring the plan for what he prioritizes as the better option and krux simply not being popular with the others and only really battling well beside his brother)

-They are generally strong enough to protect a village by themselves

-The other EM work better with them out of the way since they are “annoying” and no one really likes their arrogance, pride, or entire personhood

-They seem to be happier working only together than with the whole group

-Once during a group charge on a collection of Serpentine races Acronix notices a horde heading in a different direction and follows them impulsive

-All of these things together make them especially unpopular with the other EMs

-Especially with the Master of Ice, who considers their actions disrespectful and often scolds them on their behavior 

-Krux and Acronix can BOTH get hyperfixated on things they are interested in, and can also forget to eat and sleep.

-Acronix struggles with insomnia a lot because his brain doesn’t shut up. Luckily his brother never really sleeps either. They spend a lot of long nights talking about nonsense 

-Acronix tries to use time skip powers to not waste time while sleeping. He skips the night, but he still didn’t get sleep. He crashes after a few days of this and Krux tells him that he’s a moron 

-Acronix has a fidget spinner, which he got for the memes but ended up finding unironically helpful, and gives Krux a fidget cube (which Krux reluctantly accepts and actually does use pretty often.) 

-Before learning what a fidget spinner was he would flip his phone a lot. It was both an easily accessible stim and assurance he knew where it was cause he tended to leave things around at random. 

-Krux used nail-biting as a stim, mostly because it can appear pretty neurotypical 

-Acronix is “annoying” around the ninja during his lil redemption arc, but instead of reacting like the elemental masters, the Ninja actually do research and come to an understanding (especially Zane, who is perceptive, understanding, and has an instantaneous link to the internet). 

-Altogether he’s a little surprised when they actually put effort into tolerating and understanding his differences. Huh. How’s bout that? 

-Jay is also pretty understanding, he’s got a lot of nd cousins and has ADHD himself so it’s kinda just *shrugs*

-Modern dyes and preservatives really trigger Acronix’s ADHD to be even worse than usual. 

-Zane picks up on this, and like the mother hen that he is starts to put in a special effort to keep dyes away from Acronix (or to keep Acronix away from dyes, as the case may be)

-Jay has a similar problem with dyes (which Edna let the Ninja know about, thanks a lot ma ) so Zane works double time to keep them both away from dyes

-Makes special dishes that are “ADHD safe” 

-Neither appreciate it (well Jay does but will complain openly at every chance he gets)

-Acronix got into a lot of trouble with their dad when he was a kid, because he just couldn’t pay attention 

-Has bursts of anger a lot, oftentimes this happens during things like parties or pre-meeting conversations. (which easily leads to him getting a label of “aggressive” or “hotheaded” by the EMs) 

-DEFINITELY struggles with Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria

-Ninjago history is Krux’s special interest 

-Krux freezes people around him when he needs a sec to destim

-Krux is pretty high-functioning, but is on the borderline. He's high-functioning enough to be aware of himself and mask, but not enough to avoid things like shut/melt downs 

-Acronix is fiercely protective of his brother whenever he shuts down. Messing with Krux while he's like that (whether the antagonist is aware or not) is a one way ticket to his wrath as well as physical punishment. 

-Whenever things got too intense at a meeting/party type thing, Acronix would ditch and sneak them both out whenever Krux was heading towards a shut down. Being the awesome supportive twin that he is, he learned to pick up on the signs of one and was certain to prevent them pretty much whenever possible. 

-Acronix failed in his efforts only once (he was kind of sick that day and wasn’t at the top of his game to be keeping a watchful eye on his bro), and Krux kind of ended up time freezing a few of the EMs in the process. It was something the elemental masters (or Krux himself)  did not soon forget or forgive. 

-He'll go nonverbal sometimes, to the minor aggravation of the alliance. Sign language isn't a thing yet so anyone trying to understand him when he's like this are pretty much reliant on Acronix and his twin sense to translate. 

-When their parents died Krux went nonverbal for a little over a month. 

-Krux was pretty delayed in learning to speak, he didn’t say his first word until he was 3 ¼ 

-Even during his redemption arc, Acronix does not tell the Ninja about Krux's autism, from a built in fear that the knowledge would be used against him in possible future battles. (Also because he knows Krux wouldn't want them to know.) 

-Krux doesn't just hate phones because “ugh technology”, he also just hates talking on the phone because it’s super difficult

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OK there are way more that we have but... did you know there is actually a word limit on Tumblr? Heh heh... If you want more Twim goodness you can read our extensive fanfic collection... or maybe we’ll make a part two (That’ll probably consist of Home life pre-war stuff, post-canon AU junk, Vermillion family nonsense, and more random stuff)

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #368

“whatever doesn’t kill you, is gonna leave a scar”

Have you ever bought a YouTuber’s merch? My favorite shirt is the Day of the Dead design by Cloak, which is Markiplier's and jacksepticeye's clothing brand. Mom's friend/former co-worker also got me a Ninja Sex Party shirt because she knew I liked them. There are SO MANY YouTubers I wanna support by buying shirts. Do you think oatmeal tastes better when made with water or milk? Milk, 110%. Have you ever left a note in a library book? No. What time of day do you prefer to wash your hair? Morning. Has anyone ever spread lies about you? Yes. Have you ever taken a photograph with a celebrity? If so, did it turn out the way you wanted, or do you wish you could retake it? No. If you could move out of your home country permanently, would you? If so, where would you go? If it didn't mean being so very far from my family, I would love to move to Canada. Is there a celebrity that everyone else seems to love, but you find totally overrated? Why is it that you don’t like them? I legit don't know who's considered currently popular, and I especially don't know who they are as people. If you could volunteer for any charity, which one would you choose? Do you think it’s more important to help humans, or are animal and environmental charities equally important? Something relating to animals, and I think they're both equally important. Do you prefer holidays where you relax, or actually do things? I like a mix. Something chill, but you still do some stuff as a family. Do you think that after we die our spirit is still alive? Yes. Has anybody ever told you that you could be a model? Someone has mistaken me for a model in a picture I once took. It was one of the most flattering things I've ever heard, haha. Do you use different kinds of moisturizer for different body parts? ie. hand lotion for your hands, face cream for your face. Or do you just use one moisturizer for all body parts? Yes. Have you ever felt like you were someone’s rebound? No. Has anybody ever broken up with you over something really pathetic? What was it? Have you ever been dumped in a disrespectful way? (eg. through text, through a friend..) I have 100% been dumped in a very cowardly and disrespectful way; after dating Jason for nearly four years and being very serious, he broke up with me very abruptly over Facebook Messenger. His reason was valid, but at the same time, he NEVER talked to me about it. Apparently my depression was dragging him down. If he'd fucking communicated it, I would have explored new treatment options so goddamn fast. But no, he decided to snap his fingers and disappear. That's exactly WHY it was so traumatic, I think: it was so unexpected and sudden. Did you have a lot of role models as a kid? Animal enthusiasts like Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin for sure. Do you feel like anyone looks up to you? Why or why not? God no. I'm just... not someone to aspire to be like. What was the last thing you found offensive? I'm not sure. Who is the nicest person you know? My mom. Do you feel safe in your country? I feel safe in NC, rather. Like I don't expect an atom bomb or terrorist attack or something in this obscure area. In the U.S.A. itself, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. America is definitely not loved by every other country. Do you feel safe where you live? Not in this city, no. Have you been falsely diagnosed with something by a bad doctor? Yup. Did y'all know I apparently have ADHD? I know, shocking. Have you ever had a doctor refuse to treat you? No. Name the strangest game you’ve ever played (video game or real game): The first Silent Hill, probably. It took a lot of reading to get it. Do you know anyone who has been struck by lightning before? No. Which cartoon character would you want to keep as a pet? Does Stitch count? Or a Pokemon. Do you like marshmallows? Yes. What is your favorite flavor of candy cane? I really like the Jolly Rancher candy canes, I think they are? Have you ever fostered an animal? No. Do you still take hot showers when it’s hot out? Not as hot, but not cold except on very extreme occasions. When writing $ sign, do you draw one line through the S or two? Two. What animal have you always wanted as a pet but couldn’t have? I'm thankful that my parents were pretty open-minded to what pets I really wanted, but one I was never allowed to have was a ferret because of how messy and smelly they are. List three people you’ve had crushes on: Jason, Sara, and Sebastian were probably my biggest crushes. Have you ever thrown up from cramps? No, but god have I felt close. List three people you had a hard time forgiving. Jason, Colleen, and my dad. Who is the most spiritual person you know? Probably my sister's mother-in-law. Would you ever start a vlog? God no, I'd bore people to tears. Are your dreams coming true yet? I mean, I guess in some ways with my mental health. In my deepest depression, what I have now was a dream, even though current me is very discontent with it. Most of my dreams, though? No. Do you struggle with depression? I've been diagnosed with severe depression since 7th grade. Are you haunted by your past? A few things won't leave me alone. What medical conditions do you have? Just a lot. There are even more that are up for debate. I've talked about my diagnosed conditions enough. Do you use a Magic Bullet? No. What does your apron look like? I don’t have one. What are your favorite spicy foods? Hot Cheetos, Takis, hot wings, jalapeno pizza... Man, I love spicy food. Which do you like better: being an adult or being a kid? Being a kid. Were you excited to be a teenager on your thirteenth birthday? I had very mixed feelings. Did you feel insecure in high school? Shit, I still do. Would you ever be friends with someone who was suicidal? What the FUCK is this question? No fucking shit I would be. Someone being suicidal in no way affects who they are as a person. Who was the biggest bully in high school? I don't think there really was one. What was your favorite class in high school? Art. Would you rather have a daughter or a son? If I wanted kids, a daughter. Have you ever written to an advice columnist? No. Have you ever had a doctor not believe what you told him? Maybe? I did however have an employee at the ER the first time I went try to pry out of me that my self-mutilation was for attention, and it wasn't until I insisted about a dozen times that it wasn't that he believed me. It's odd looking back that I got REALLY attached to him during that stay, knowing now that it was absolutely horrible and extremely unhelpful for him to do that. If you’re female, would you feel uncomfortable having a male gynecologist? I would absolutely refuse to have a male one. Do you like Lisa Frank? Yeah, like can you talk about aesthetic. What gives you nightmares? Boy, I wish I could tell you, given how much I have them. Were you ever hospitalized as a child? No. Did you get senior pictures taken? No. What color is your bicycle? I don’t have one. Did you ever have to take home a fake baby in health class? No, thank fuck. Would you rather wear ivory or white on your wedding day? What color will your bridesmaids wear? I'd rather wear black. I think red will be the bridesmaids' color. Would you rather have a swimming pool or trampoline? I want a swimming pool so damn badly so I could exercise my legs without worrying about sweating, and I can stop and rest whenever I want, unlike going walking or something. I don't think my knees could handle a trampoline. Do you think babies are cute? Some, sure. But a lot, not really. Do you dream about the future a lot? Yeah. Do you think about your past a lot? Way too frequently. How good are you at living in the moment? I'm trying to get better at it. Have you ever questioned God’s existence? Yeah. Vanilla frosting or chocolate? Chocolate. What’s your favorite foreign cuisine? I've actually been exploring Italian pasta lately. I'm not a big fan of foreign food that I've tried, though. Have you ever moved to another state? No. Did you do anything productive today? No. .-. Can you say the alphabet backwards? No, actually. Do you like flowers? Of course; does anyone not? Have you ever thought you were gonna die? I didn't care if I did or didn't. What kind of mood are you in today? I was honestly really depressed through most of it. Just health stuff was really getting to me. I just woke up from what was honestly like a four-hour nap and I feel all right, I guess. What are you craving right now? I REALLY want Domino's jalapeno pizza. Is there anyone you would seriously punch right now if you had the chance? No. What is worse, physical or emotional pain? Definitely emotional. Have you ever walked in on somebody doing something… questionable? When Dad still lived with us, I think he might have been watching... you know... on TV when I came into my parents' room for something. Idk for sure though. I didn't ask, and I don't want to know. If you were to make videos on YouTube, what would they be of? Oh god, idk. I don't want to make any. What I'd have most fun with would be reptile education, but I 1.) have literally one snake, 2.) am not extremely educated on a good number of them and don't want to be misleading, and 3.) I would run outta content fast. So, leave it to Snake Discovery, haha. Posting pictures of yourself in a bathing suit on the internet - ok or not? Yes, it's okay????? If you're talking about me personally though, you won't see me dead in a bathing suit picture. Do you typically laugh when somebody falls down? No, I gasp and see if they're okay. What is the most disturbing movie you’ve ever watched? Paranormal Entity. The ending is... a lot. Your opinion of Katy Perry, please? I like a couple of her songs. If you could say anything to your Mom right now… what would it be? "Thank you for absolutely everything."

[elfdyke]

HAHA OK UM. ivy exposition time hehe… come read my thoughts i put down in text for you all to read about what i perceive this fictional woman’s backstory to be (this is a lil more cohesive than my harley one but. YEA)

smal cw for VERY brief mentions of abuse (ivys dad + the joker r mentioned)

Ivy grew up in an emotionally vacant house. Her father was very emotionally abusive + occasionally physically. Her mother was hardly around. This caused her to have to take on a lot of responsibility for herself and basically grow up way sooner than she should have

She put a lot of effort into her schoolwork. She had a very caring and helpful science (either biology or environmental science) teacher, she nurtured Ivy’s love of botany

She got a scholarship to acclaimed college and essentially got a free ride? she worked on the side to pay for any spare expenses.

Woodrue was one of her teachers, he was academically lauded for his work in botany but hadn’t been very relevant in the recent scientific discoveries, essentially he was a big shot who got kind of washed up, but Ivy had studied his research extensively and found him incredibly inspiring.

They end up fostering a very intense relationship STRICTLY focused on their scientific research. (SHES LESBIAN.) They’re trying to prove a hypothesis Ivy’s presented about idfk.. accelerating plant growth. Harnessing toxins certain plants create for their healing properties…IDK I DON’T KNOW SCIENCE <3</p>

Their entire work relationship and all the shit they do feels like going 120 mph down a road the wrong way and she loves it. This is truly the first time she’s had full control over her own life and has someone who actually (as she believes) sees her as an equal and recognizes her intellect.

They end up escalating things because they’re both so desperate to prove Ivy’s hypothesis, and Ivy volunteers her own body for them to test their work on. She refuses Woodrue’s offer because its her theory, so she should be the one to suffer if things go wrong…

WHICH THEY DO. Shit goes sideways and Ivy experiences adverse reactions which cause her to become bed stricken (she refuses to go to the hospital because she’s afraid that the toxins could be extremely dangerous, and doesn’t want anyone to suffer because of her science).

She also tells Woodrue to keep his distance, because she wants him to be safe from it too, and he essentially just ghosts her. She’s upset about it but first blames herself because she feels like she’s done nothing but prove everyone right about what a failure she is.

She starts noticing changes affecting her, and its all kinds of fucked up. I can elaborate on this later <3. But essentially her physiology starts warping due to the green encompassing her, growing up from her hands and feet. I think the green parts of her body are cool to the touch, have a plant like texture, and MAYBE? Have plant cell structure ingrained in them vs animal cells.</p>

Also, the green initially starts slowly spreading up her body but she’s able to halt its progression, in order to lose herself completely (think of the kinda deal in annihilation, instead of sexy green plant lady ivy).

She catches wind that Woodrue had HER research published and is taking full credit for her hypothesis, without naming her whatsoever, and it essentially breaks any semblance of humanity she had left.

At this point she’s kind of crazy powerful and can control plantlife as we all know and love <3 She figures out that Woodrue is having a conference where he’s holding some kind of really important lecture on ‘his’ hypothesis, and plans to unmask his deceit in front of the entire scientific community. </p>

She also discovers that he’s warped her discovery from something she wanted to benefit humanity and the environment, to something to gain profit from, essentially going against everything she believed in.

She bursts into the conference and when she sees Woodrue, she essentially blacks out and next thing she knows she’s essentially pulled a Carrie…. NOT EVERYONE DIES!!!! But its brutal and fucked up and she 100% absolutely slaughters Woodrue and makes an example out of him. This is the point in her story where she officially loses any chance she had of her past life as Doctor Pamela Isley.

She uses his desecrated corpse to warn everyone in Gotham, in the world, that the green has woken and will no longer stand by and be desecrated by humanity.

Ivy does a lot of work trying to collapse industries that harm the environment across the world for a while but it’s also hard for her to much alone, and she almost gets bested a few times @_@ She’s absolutely a formidable threat, but she’s also one person with a massive weakness to fire

She ends up slinking back to Gotham to recover after a particularly nasty encounter

Something abhorrent happening in Gotham catches her eye and she can’t stop herself from making an appearance and attempts to wreak havoc before ultimately getting caught and shipped to Arkham for her “extremist beliefs”

Dr Harleen Quinzel is paired with her for weekly meetings.

Harley realizes very quickly Ivy is most certainly Not insane and repeatedly tries to get it appealed, but no one will listen to her. (Ivy was locked up in Arkham specifically bc of her environmental activism/terrorism)

Ivy’s very snide at Harley at first, looking down on her for being so bright eyed and bushy tailed about everything. She’s very much bitter about how she’s repeatedly been wronged, and always cast as a villain despite her believing she’s doing what she can to save the earth.

Ivy and Harley argue about if women can ever achieve anything in this world, the way its built. Harley says she’s sad ivy feels that way but knows she’s going to make a difference. She’s different and she’ll change things.

Ivy doesn’t entirely believe her but seeing someone so downright full of life and hope really does spark something in Ivy that never really dies down.

Eventually Harley gets reassigned and taken off Ivy’s case. They didn’t have a lot of time together but I think that Harley makes a worthy impact on Ivy. This is also before Harley has interacted much, if at all with the Joker

Time passes, Joker’s manipulation ensues, Harleen becomes Harley.

Ivy sees Harley Quinn during a run in with the Joker but doesn’t recognize her at first.

Until she speaks.

Ivy gets hit with a wave of nausea upon realizing how Harley’s fallen from the proud and bright girl who was sitting across from her in Arkham.

After that she uses the green to try and keep tabs on Harley and one night after a particularly bad beating, Joker kicks Harley out and Ivy manages to swoop in and rescue her from near death.

ALSO, IMPORTANT! Ivy struggles a lot with her disgust toward humanity vs her desire to protect Harley. It’s the reason it takes her a while to actively seek a hurt and broken Harley out and rescue her. (she resents herself a lot for not acting sooner, when she realizes how extensive Harley’s injuries are)

TOSSING THIS HERE . about Ivy’s sexuality. I can’t see her ever really opening herself up to any romantic relationships any time during her school life. She’s very driven and focused on her studies and her research. She never really gave her attraction to anyone much thought, so I think that she just expected she would never feel attracted to anyone? Until she meets Harley. I think that meeting Harley kind of opens her eyes like. Wait I can feel this? I deserve this kind of love? With a woman?… she has to work through some shit but she is a big lesbian in love with her weird little clown girlfriend

um i think thats all hehe…. i have more but i kinda wana write a fic about harls and ivy getting together from my interpretation so…… TUNE IN NEXT TIME <3</p>

[thegreenerartist]

Uh hi guys I wanted to make this post since it’s kinda been plaguing me

Assigning the “asshole-y characters” to white people and assigning the “kinder, gentler characters” to poc (especially when people make hcs of characters that don’t have a pre-assigned nationality)

By a Filipino

I get it. I really do. I appreciate that you hc nice people to poc. And Im not denying that poc can be friendly.

But Im always a little bit bothered whenever, let’s say, there are 2 characters. Person A is 50% mean, 50% kind. Person B is 25% mean, 75% kind (sorry I can’t make any better propositions it’s night rn). Most likely, fans will say that Person A is white while Person B is a poc. I know a lot of you mean well when you make a naive, kind, nice, all around good person a poc. I know that you wouldn’t mean any harm. But whenever someone does this, it feels like we are being infantilized.

Im in a third world country and Im privileged enough to be writing this out for all of you to see. I know that you don’t mean to infantalize us. But that’s what it feels like. We are always assigned, again, to naive characters. And it kinda sucks, yanno? So many of us here (Im speaking on what I see in the Philippines and I know it happens elsewhere too) are poor. So many of us had to see the real world before we were able to really enjoy being a child. We were already taught so early not to get lost in a crowd. Why? The chances of a little child dissapearing into a trafficking ring are so so high. Children of color (especially women of color) are forced to grow up so early. Sometimes, we can’t think about when a new album of our favorite artist will come out. We have to think about if our family will be able to survive this day. This week. This month, this year. I know this happens to white people too. But it’s so much more severe when you live in a third world country. I am so so privileged to even be typing this. Kids as young as 7 go to the wet market on their own here because they take care of their younger siblings. They were forced to grow up. We were forced to grow up. Even as young as I was before, I was already sure that I will become a successful doctor. So I wouldn’t have to let people close to me grow in poverty.

Im sorry that I spilled so much there. But I still hope you all got the point.

It’s nice to make characters who are kind and naive, colored. Because that’s what all people, especially kids and women, of color would have wanted to be. We wished. I wished that I didn’t have to think about this much while Im growing up. Im still young (my age is confidential sorry,,,) but I had to learn so much about politics. So early. Everyone heard of the Marawi Siege right? No. Probably not. It’s not “important” enough ig. But that news was on everything. Newspapers. TVs. Pictures of killers plastered everywhere for every child to see. We can’t look away. This was happening in our country.

Ig that’s why Im a lil frustrated whenever I see someone going “oh [blank] is an asshole and is very mature and angry. Probably white” and “oh [blank] is kind and is very caring and naive”

Naive naive naive

As soon as a character is shown in their source material to be naive and people say that “oh insert [race that’s not white] is very caring and kind, so Ill make [insert character] a poc :)”

I appreciate it. I know (I cannot speak for every other race) that Filipinos are considered caring, kind, welcoming. And that’s ok. Im happy my country people are considered good people. But if you equal kind, caring, welcoming to naive,,, please please please reconsider. We show the kindness that was never given to us. We are not naive. So do not assign us characters who are kind just because you think we are only kind.

Proper representation is giving characters who are layered a race. Don’t just give us characters like “Character A is kind therefore Character A is Filipino :)”. Give us characters that we can relate to. We ARE kind but I would prefer to be given “Character A is kind but occasionally very petty. Can have bursts of anger because they are burnt out sometimes but will always try to make up for it”

We don’t want to be a box to be ticked “made a hc on a character’s race and made them poc because they’re kind n naive”. We want a character that is like us. That is human

(Thank you @satanic-foxhole-court, @dil-aakhir-tu-kyun-rota-hai and @foxlolpop for spurring me to post this :D this was a lot longer than I anticipated but I had Feelings. It’s late rn so Im sleeping. Have a lovely day to whoever reads this! :)

[in-flagrante]

Michelle Dockery reveals how Anatomy of a Scandal is being filmed in the pandemic

Michelle Dockery isn’t going to lie. “I’ve watched more television in the last six months than I have in my whole life!” she says with a laugh.

Same here, Lady Mary. Also just like the rest of us, the actor is having to become accustomed to new ways of working. After twiddling her thumbs for most of the year, the actor best known as Downtown Abbey’s heiress-apparent is, finally, once again gainfully employed, filming London-set thriller Anatomy of a Scandal.

The Netflix drama is adapted from the 2017 bestseller by former political journalist Sarah Vaughan, and is being co-showrun by Big Little Lies series creator David E. Kelley. Rupert Friend plays a married politician accused of raping his aide; Sienna Miller is his faithfully disbelieving wife. Dockery is the ambitious and tough young barrister determined to prove his guilt.

It is a story with powerful contemporary resonance, of the abuse of patriarchal power and how instances of sexual assault are not believed and/or not pursued.

“Certainly there are themes of privilege at the heart of this tale about dark goings-on at Westminster, the underbelly,” says Dockery. “So, yeah, of course, it’s a timely piece and a very important story to tell. So I’m excited to get deeper into it. It’s still early days, but it’s great that we’ve started – and we can keep going!” she laughs again.

Cast and crew are only three weeks into filming, and so far the bulk of her scenes have involved only two actors, helping make the rigorous pandemic protocols easier to follow: Covid tests every other day; daily temperature checks on arrival at the set; everyone masked; 10-hour days, which are shorter than the filming norm.  

“It’ll be interesting to see how they’ll shoot the court-room scenes to make it look as though it’s full,” says Dockery. “They can do one shot and you can see a certain amount of people behind the actors, but you don’t have to have the room entirely full.”

She continues: “It’s a really wonderful cast and I’m excited to get into the real heart of it. And I’m very happy to be in London. My last few jobs have been in the States, so it’s lovely to be [working] at home.”

Dockery is back working in other ways, too. The 38-year-old is the face of a new campaign for Scotch whisky brand Glenfiddich, for which she’s been photographed by Misan Harriman.

The Anglo-Nigerian’s imagery of the summer’s Black Lives Matter protests in London reverberated around the world. That led to him being commissioned to shoot Vogue’s September cover, a triple-fold out activist-themed story – an achievement that, made Harriman the first Black man to shoot a cover for the hundred-year-old fashion title.

“He’s the photographer of the moment,” says Dockery. “What he did this year, I just think he’s extraordinary. And more than ever, this is a time for change. And Misan is really at the helm of that. His Vogue cover is historic, and it’s a real moment.”

And how is her own industry harnessing the positive energies catalysed by BLM? Dockery – who was nominated for three consecutive Emmys for Downtown Abbey and received a fourth for Netflix’s 2017 Western series Godless – says she’s seeing it already. “There’s definitely a change in casting, and behind the camera.”

Personally, too, she recognises the need to question the status quo.

“When you’re reading a script, if there’s no definition over where the character is necessarily from, then it should be open to [actors from] all backgrounds. And I think that is being challenged much more in our industry. That is something that needs to be constantly looked at.”

Dockery spent lockdown at home in northeast London “close by” Stoke Newington. She was snapped on her doorstep in late May with Jasper Waller-Bridge, talent agent brother of Phoebe, as the couple joined in with the weekly Clap For Carers.

“In lockdown, Thursday was the day of the week, wasn’t it?” she reflects. “We really looked forward to it, and it was an opportunity for everybody to come together and applaud what the NHS and keyworkers were doing. It was an important time.”

Equally, it was a boost for blocks of flats, and streets, and neighbourhoods. At a time when we were all necessarily isolated, London, I suggest, never felt closer.

“Yeah, because you weren’t seeing anyone other than the people you were living with,” she agrees, “so it was a time to come out and see everybody else in the street. I got to know my neighbours much more. It was something I’ll never forget.” In fact, she adds, “I still feel like we should be doing it, shouldn’t we?”

That sentiment, of unstinting support for our health professionals and carers, may be born of personal experiences. In 2015 Dockery’s fiancé, John Dineen, died of cancer after a long illness. In her childhood, her mother worked as a care home assistant. I ask if that gave her extra insight into how gruelling it’s been inside the country’s care homes during the pandemic.

“Of course, that was the thing that used to play on my mind: how are people managing? I used to go with my mum when I was a little girl, I’d help her take the food in.

“It’s been a really challenging time for people,” she continues, “and I’m just in awe of the work that’s had to be put in to make sure everybody’s safe, with doctors, nurses and carers doing what they can to make the system still work during a time like this.”

All of which means that our next trip to the 1920s can’t come soon enough. After 2019’s first Downton Abbey movie proved more successful than even seasoned Crawley watchers anticipated (it grossed almost $200 million worldwide, over 10 times its reported budget), a second feature is due to go into production in spring.

“I can’t tell you that much, except that there is potentially a second film. We’ve got that far!” prevaricates Dockery with an audible smile. “It’s exciting to think that we can do another one. It felt like after the first film there was immediately an appetite for a second one.

“I’d be thrilled to get back together with the gang and do it all over again. We have so much fun doing it. But that’s all I can tell you, really!”

OK, but please tell us that granny – the Dowager Countess of Grantham, played by Dame Maggie Smith – doesn’t die.

“Ha ha ha!” hoots Dockery in a cheerfully un-ladylike manner. “I’m not giving any story away to you! You’ll just have to see.”

Michelle Dockery fronts the new Glenfiddich Grand Cru campaign "reimagining a contemporary future for whisky"

https://www.standard.co.uk/insider/michelle-dockery-downton-b78950.html

[writingonjorvik]

The New Gang Pitch

Following my narrative arc pitch, I wanted to outline a pitch for the new central character unit around the MC to go with it, since characters can make or break a story.

The Self-Taught Vessel, Allacia Clair

One of the first characters part of this group I would imagine has a bit of a rivalry with the MC about their powers. While she’s also a Vessel (my name for the Aideen’s champion role from my narrative pitch), she didn’t have anyone like the Keepers to teach her about her powers. She has a strong grasp on the “Avatar State” power/connecting to Aideen, her other powers she can’t really control and doesn’t have a good foundation for using her other core abilities. Her arc with the MC includes them learning to work together, possibly coming to a head at some point when it seems to this character that the MC is having no trouble with learning about the “Aideen State” powers.

She should be reckless, her powers manifesting in bursts, kinda like an unbridled Lightning Circle Alex, to show she never learned basic control over her powers. She’s stubborn and resilient, with a bitter sense of respect for the MC. She should be funny in a dry humor sort of way, but heart of gold trope, all the way. Points for her being in her mid to late 20′s, so a little older than the “about to start college” MC to add to that “how can you do this thing I struggled with” arc. Extra, extra points if she’s a POC, because, you know, cannon POC badasses are great.

The Valley Girl Hacker, Brittany Bellwinter

We need a diva in the party, and there’s nothing I love more than the idea of a full blown, bubble gum popping, gag me with a spoon, Silicon Valley girl for that. None of the “I don’t get people” hacker trope. This girl gets people, but is also Elle Woods smart with computers. “You took down entire network of G.E.D. encrypted asset logs.” “What, like it’s hard?” She takes no shit for being the pretty blonde girl, and she works her ass off to pull off her chic cyberpunk style while she takes down an entire DC facility’s security system from the Stablebucks down the street.

She’s open, honest, and direct. Her self-confidence is through the roof, to the point of initial conflict. Her being a vigilante when she meets the MC is a great arc to have them working together, and also establishing people outside the Keepers having an issue with Dark Core. She’s hungry for knowledge though, and her handiness with gadgets can provide SSO with a lot of tools for having ruins being destroyed in story beats without losing the information. But also a problem as she risks her life to get those pictures.

The Heart, Kadin Fairwind

This is the one character I think whose gender is most important to be kept the same. Kadin needs to be masc-presenting, either as an enby person who uses he/him pronouns, or just simply as a male presenting person. This is first and foremost because of the message Kadin can send. If SSO wants to be a story about gender equality, then it needs to also talk about how men relate to “feminine” topics, in particular, being the heart of the group. The Heart of the 5 man band is exclusively reserved for a female in the party, which is why it’s important to have a character like Kadin, who is masc-presenting, be the heart, to subvert that and show other masc-presenting players that you can be masculine and also be an empathetic person that tries to keep your friends together.

Kadin is a big sweetie, possibly physically, who just has a soft-spot for people. But when I say he’s big, I don’t mean Kadin is this doofy gentle giant or some himbo. No, he’s physically built, like a quarterback built, but he’s also very intelligent. Kadin needs to be outwardly very masculine, with an awareness of his strength and how it impacts people around him. He’s smart and observant and is really good on picking up on people’s emotions. He wants to help people, with a passion for being either a counselor or a nurse (specifically a nurse, not a doctor). Possibly with friends who were assholes when they were in school who bullied people, until Kadin decided he didn’t want to do that and wanted to be better aware of how he hurt people and how to make things better.

As much as I’m an advocate for queer & POC rep, I think the best way to do Kadin is just have him as this straight, white guy. I think him just being a hetero-cis dude and becoming aware of his privilege can be such an impactful message, even if the why isn’t ever explicitly said.

The Magic Enthusiast, Nakai “Xen” Seiko

If Kadin is cis, then Xen is one hundred percent they/them non-binary. But also, if Brittany is the tech wiz, then Xen simply wants to be an actual wizard. And not just wishes magic was real kinda wants to be a wizard, legit knows magic is real and can’t figure it out/can’t use it wants to be a wizard. Xen consumes all things magic, which makes them an amazing outside asset to the MC and Allacia, who both can use magic, but don’t always understand magic. Xen gets magic fundamentally as a study, but not always as a practice, which is why they struggle to actually use it. And while I do think they should learn how to use magic, they should by the kind of character who wants to multi-class wizard over and over so they can get every school of magic, not so they can actually get better. It’s Xen’s craving for understanding magic that will be a great tool in learning more about other planes of reality and how they relate to magic.

Xen’s personality is fundamentally at odds. While they come from a very traditional Japanese immigrant family and have a high respect for their culture, they obviously struggle with who they are and how that fits into what they want to do with their life. This is import in particular to me because so many cultures gender magic, with feminine and masculine sources of magic. Xen as a non-binary magic user, like myself, has to struggle with figuring out where those legends come from and breaking down how to feel about that in their own practice, particularly when Aideen is shown has being a very feminine entity. Much like the points before, I don’t think this has to be explicit, but I do think it can be very clearly coded to say that gendering things is often forced. While there are gendered things in nature, like things surrounding baby-making, most things aren’t and just because something is gendered, like Aideen, it doesn’t designate that all things need to be. I think the best way to balance this message is to have Xen has a very comedic person, always telling jokes, even when the timing isn’t always right. They should have an issue with hyperfixating, and I think having them being someone with ADD/ADHD is a great match for their other struggles, getting consumed in their pursuit of magic to the point of it being a hazard too.

The Gentle Giant, Bogga Norsdóttir

If anyone is going to be the brute of this party, it’s going to be Bogga. Bogga is a “I’m going to deadlift a Shire” kinda girl, but she won’t, cause it’s a horse, and why would she scare a horse like that? She’s honestly the simplest concept I have. She’s a gentle giant, though I don’t think she should be “stupid.” I think she should have a simple code of ethics, a very black and white version of right and wrong. It’s simple, you hurt her friends, she fucks you up. I would love too if she’s part Kalter. But yeah, Bogga is kinda the constant rock of the party, and that’s not just cause she’s a solid unit. She’s just reliable, and for that she’s kinda a sounding board for everyone else’s more complicated arcs. The point is that Bogga will always be there to support the party, and she doesn’t really need to grow. She’s got her life figured out, and so she’s just there to help everyone else figure out theirs.

The Returning Soul Rider

If there’s any of these members I’m ok with dropping, it’s this one. Not just cause I can’t decide which one, but also the whole point of the above group is establishing a friend group that the MC chooses through the story and actively recruits, not an existing friend group like the Soul Riders are. Even with the new intro to the Soul Riders they added, there’s never going to be a point where the MC isn’t a fifth wheel to their group, at least for me and I know for a lot of you, particularly as SSL gets more and more removed. The only reason they could even effectively establish their friend group before was because only two of them were friends when Lisa got to Jorvik, and it was Lisa that brought the four of them together. And honestly, I think staying on their story makes if feel more and more to me like we’re cleaning up their mess and undermines the Soul Riders defeating Garnok in SSL. Which ruins their abilities, and it’s just yet another reason we need to move away from them narratively.

Still, that doesn’t mean I think the Soul Riders need to be cut out entirely, but I think we need to relook at the angle that the MC is relating to the Soul Riders. And that means the Soul Riders relooking at themselves, particularly post Garnok, which is also why I think this arc needs to end.

In any case, I’m tied between Alex and Anne. On the one hand, Alex is a fighter and suddenly having no big bad to fight is a hell of a good arc to pitch. I also think her in contrast to Bogga is a great square off. Alex not being ready to be done fighting is a good arc, because she’s always been a fighter. What is she without something to go after now? I think her being afraid of falling back into her old ways now that she doesn’t have a target to hunt down is such an interesting arc to follow.

Anne is another interesting one, because I think with everyone expecting Anne to be consumed with vengeance before Garnok is defeated and her to come out of that, people would expect that after he’s gone, she would be ready to be done and just go back to being a normal girl. But I think that even if Anne gets over her vengeance, she’s the Soul Rider of the Sun Circle. Her powers are to open portals, she’s destined to travel. Anne isn’t going to want to go back. Whether it’s being a dressage master or traveling between planes of reality, Anne is the portal master of the druids. Worse, she was an imprisoned portal master. She’s shouldn’t want to be still ever again.

I’m honestly up in the air on them, and I’m not opposed to both, but I think it should just be one in the main group and another with a side arc we touch in on when we touch base with the other Soul Riders.

And yeah, that’s the pitch.

[wennjunhui]

seventeen hospital au

im back at it again with another random seventeen post bc nurse!jun is ruining me :)))))

disclaimer: the most i know about hospitals and how they work is from chicago med so dont expect this to be accurate 

seungcheol

attending physician in the ed

kinda intimidating but is really a huge softie

but don’t make him angry bc that is not a good idea at all

always seen with a protein shake

tends to hover over the new med students a lot

partially because it’s important to evaluate them and their knowledge

but most because he thinks its funny when they freak out around him

always asks for a psych consult even when he knows its not necessary

bc its totally in the best interest in the patient and not because hes bored and wants to talk with his bff nahhh

has a long term girlfriend that works as a software developer

everyone in the ed tryna get him to propose bc ITS BEEN 9 YEARS DAMMIT WIFE HER ALREADY

jeonghan

psychiatry fellow

usually works night shifts because hes sleeps schedule is fucked 

functions on coffee and coffee alone

is constantly Tired

catch him napping in the break rooms whenever he has time

originally wanted to go into psychology, but he gets too invested and thought it would be better to maintain short term relationships

bffs with seungcheol, but bffls with joshua

by the off chance he’s not tried, he’ll go around the ed and tease the doctors and nurses

hes in the ed a lot tho bc someone keeps calling him even tho “he literally just sprained his ankle seungcheol why am i here”

joshua

plastics fellow

fucking loaded

pulls up to the ed in a fucking gold ferrari and just shrugs when people ask about

‘yeah i got it as a birthday gift, treat yourself ya know?’

born and raised in the us, but went to south korea to further his studies

bffls with jeonghan

by GOD the chance theyre in the same room, its game over for everyone

his surgery playlist is fucking wild 

did a heartbreaking ballad just finish playing? oh thats sad but move over its britney bitch 

always brings a guitar to work parties

‘if you sing sunday morning one more fucking time-’ proceeds to sing sunday morning ‘GODDAMMIT JOSHUA’

is seeing the cute hotel concierge that works a few blocks away 

junhui

the Hot Nurse

literally all the patients fucking swoon 

kinda makes patients nervous bc of how handsome he is

ok i’ll stop now

occasionally scrubs in as a surgical nurse for minghao

he pretends to be all cool and hot shit in front of patients, but when hes around staff he turns into a giant bright ball of excitable fluff 

will always be asked to be assigned to kid patients bc he loves kids

studied abroad in korea and decided he loved it there so he stayed

may or may not have a crush on someone in the hospital but shh no one knows except jeonghan and minghao

has no problem calculating correct dosages but cant do basic math for the life of him

‘no junhui, 7+8 does not equal 17′

soonyoung

senior resident in the ed

HYPEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!111!!!!111

works night shifts bc otherwise the ed would be dead without him

probably drinks too much redbull for his own health

his favorite treatment room is treatment room five because “that’s where a patient peed on me on my first day here”

“ok soonyoung good to kno”

“no problem”

not very tech savvy 

always manages to fuck up the tablets somehow every shift

for the love of GOD dont let him near an xray machine

also never assign him and seungkwan on the same patient they will accomplish nothing 

has taken chan under his wing

wonwoo

neurology resident

blind as fuck

harry potter glasses for days

looks really cold on the outside but is really just a huge fucking dork

like actually he laughs and jokes about anything and everything

neurology can be dark sometimes yo and humor is a great way to cope with it

that and gaming

half the reason why he cant see is bc he spent too much time playing video games growing up

still kinda does but he gets away with it

accompanies soonyoung on the night shift bc he knows soonyoung gets lonely sometimes

plays ballads in the surgery rooms because it helps him keep calm

jihoon

pathology resident

‘forget working with humans hAVE YOU SEEN THIS BLOOD CULTURE ITS COOL AS FUCK’

that being said, he hangs around the break rooms a lot because being cooped up in pathology is just tiring sometimes and he needs actual people to talk to

but mostly its so he can draw on jeonghans sleeping face

shares a flat with soonyoung bc rent is expensive yo

usually has the best tunes down in pathology 

originally wanted to go into music, but school kinda killed his enjoyment of it for a long time

is slowly getting back into and finding his joy in it again

he knows too many stories about the ed that hes forced to listen to

“for the last fucking time soonyoung i dont care about how your patient threw up on seungkwan”

“okokok but`”

“no”

seokmin

ed resident wanting to specialize in pediatrics

SUNSHINE AND HAPPINESS AND SMILES EVERYWHERE

wow literally everyone in the ed is in love with him a teeny tiny bit

because he has such a bright and positive aura around him that its hard not to feel happy 

sings to the smol children if they get scared 

everyone always asks him to sing at work parties and he kills it every time despite being initially shy

“wait wait wait you were in a rock band in high school???”

has a crush on the ed secretary out front

its so fucking cute the rest of the ed ships them so much

sometimes he doubts himself and his skills and that makes his day very sad

but everyone in the ed is in love with him and will constantly be there to remind seokmin about how amazing his is and how much he deserves to be here

and thatll make his day better c:

mingyu

ed resident

the Hot Doctor

wow everyone has a crush on him even if you dont you do

pray for the patients that get assigned to both mingyu and jun your in for a visual attack

tho the facade for mingyu usually breaks after a minute of meeting him

clumsy af yo

once knocked over the patients entire tray of food because his limbs were longer than he remembered

sometimes forgets to put on hand sanitizer and seungcheol always yells at him about

from the other side of the ed “MINGYU, HANDS”

“THANKS HYUNG”

always brings his own lunch bc hospital foods shit and he makes better food at home 

sometimes brings in cookies for the staff in the break room

theyre usually gone within an hour

minghao

trauma and emergency medicine fellow

TALENTED

was personally scouted by hospital officials in china

really young to be such an expert in his field

also his hands are really sensitive to abnormalities in the human body so he feels out the situation and catches the situation really early

is kinda intimidating because of his rbf and takes no shit approach

but is really super soft and fluffy once not in a work environment

relied on jun a lot in terms of adjustment here in korea, and he’s probably closest to him in the ed 

has jun scrub in with him for surgeries sometimes

objectively has the best surgery playlists

from pink floyd, to an obscure japanese indie rock

bickers with mingyu a lot of proper treatment of patients

usually theyre both right tho they just cant communicate effectively

is secretly seeing another chinese surgeon from plastics, but they hide it really well except from jun ofc

seungkwan

nurse

a really loud and mouthy one at that

nags everyone in the ed a lot despite not being the charge nurse

tho hes getting there and everyone knows it 

despite that, hes really sweet and caring towards patients 

is also really weak for kids, but he cant ever be assigned to them because he’ll freak out if something happens to them

always earns high marks on nurse feedback forms because he does his job AND is entertaining 

even tho he nags everyone else, sometimes hes too selfless and forgets to take care of himself

“did you forget your lunch? aiii how could you do that? here take mine”

“seungkwan you need to eat to”

“i said take it, now eat and make your mom proud”

cries and often laments how much he loves his staff when hes had a little too much to drink at work parties

hansol

a new nurse

really chill, vibin through life

is really a much appreciated presence to have around the ed, especially when things can become hectic really quickly

often acts as a translator between english and korean 

will laugh at pretty much anything (which wonwoo appreciates alot because at least someone likes his jokes)

one thing that always gets his blood boiling is the blatant ignorance some patients have

like the offhanded racism against him or his coworkers, or comments about lgbtq+ people 

and there have been times when he hasnt been able to control how he responds because wow he Dislikes ignorant people

so whenever he gets a patient like that, he often asks to switch with another nurse because “if i have to listen to karen say something racist about jun or minghao again im gonna lose my fucking mind”

med students usually hang around him bc of how approachable he is

shower thoughts

“do you ever wonder this would taste like”

“hansol dont-”

chan

med student in his final year

is really eager to learn and get started on things!

ed is his first choice for match day

soonyoung has taken him under his wing so he mainly just shadows him

and its always a fun and great time chan has learned so much from him 

the entire ed staff has adopted him and will riot if he doesnt get accepted on match day

“chan, whos baby are you?”

“for the last time hyung IM TWENTY SEVEN”

if hes not shadowing soonyoung, hes probably studying in the break rooms with hansol throwing popcorn at him

“hyung stop im tryna study”

“ok but catch this in your mouth first”

still has a lot to learn, but hes out there conquering the world of medicine yall better watch out

[thevagueambition]

I was tagged by @antirococoreaction to talk about five male characters I love

(God, only five? However will I choose between my boys >_< ?!)

This is most certainly not going to be a literary as your offerings, lmao. When it comes to literary fiction I mostly like Kafka and Kafka, by the nature of his writing, writes thoroughly unlikable characters.

This got way too long bc I’m incapable of not gushing about my faves when given the chance lol 

Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender

It is my enduring opinion that if you want to see a redemption arc done right, look at Zuko’s arc in The Last Airbender. He’s a scared, abused kid who managed to build up personal morals in a system that discouraged them, and was harshly punished for daring to voice them. He’s someone who always wanted to be good, but struggles with defining what good is, given that his culture and upbringing has taught him one thing, but his heart (and his uncle) tells him another, and his new experiences reinforces that. After he figures out what “good” looks like, he’s always held accountable for his past actions. He makes amends, and he accepts it, for the most part, when people aren’t ready to receive them. His anger issues, as well as how he sees himself as someone who had to be hardworking because he isn’t talented (however far from the truth that may or may not be in reality) are also aspects of him that appeal to me and indeed that I relate to. 

Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars

My love for Anakin is not dissimilar to my love for Zuko, though the quality of the writing in question certainly is. I love an edgy boy, is what I’m getting at, I guess :’D More seriously, Anakin’s story is ultimately one about control, which is a subject that interests me quite a bit. Anakin is never, at any point, really in control of his own life. He’s never really truly free. He’s born a slave, he joins the Jedi Order and he becomes Palpatine’s apprentice. He always exists within rigid systems of control, until his very lasts moments with Luke before he dies. With how Palpatine essentially groomed him, thinking of Anakin as equally a victim of Palpatine and a perpetuator of his (metaphorically speaking) abuse is also interesting to me. Certainly his clearly distorted thinking (eg convincing himself he can’t trust Obi-Wan, for instance) is also hugely important to his appeal to me. Also? He’s SO EXTRA I can’t with him lol 

(That’s your LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM you turned off, Anakin!!! I know you’re depressed and dissociated and also The Drama but damn!!!!!!)

Nicodemus Ravens from The Shamer Chronicles (Skammerens børn)

The Shamer Chronicles is a series of Danish fantasy books for kids, and probably the most popular books of that type (particularly the first book, The Shamer’s Daughter). Nico is a major character, though never a POV one. 

Nico was, essentially, abused by his father for not living up to the male gender role. He didn’t want to learn to use a sword, he didn’t want to kill, and his father hated him for it. As a result, he’s a teenage alcoholic and profoundly at war with himself. He constantly have other people telling him narratives about who he is/should be: first, he’s the younger son who should bring his father glory, then he’s the heir unfit for the throne, then he’s, depending on the political position of the character in question, either a monstrous murderer who must be killed by the glorious leader or the rightful heir to throne, a hero ready to bring war to his enemy and liberate his people, then rule them in benevolence.

Nico doesn’t want to be any of those things. He knows who he is, is stubborn about it, but also can’t shake the belief that his relative pacifism is really just cowardice. I’m just going to quote one of my favourite scenes here (forgive the translation, it’s my own, I don’t have the official one at hand):

“[...] They want a hero, I think.”

“Is that so bad? It’s better than being a monster, at any rate.”

“You think? Have you noticed how often heroes die in battle? Of course everyone mourns them afterwards and write beautiful ballads about them, but the heroes remain dead. Stone-dead. And I’m in no hurry to get on my white steed and start slaughtering people until someone better or luckier than I sticks a sword in me. No, thank you.”

He looked both obstinate and shameful, as if he thought he really should get on his white steed and all of that. I could understand why he didn’t want to die, and yet… Well, I think I’d always expected him to return to the Lowlands to fight Drakan at some point.

“What do you want, then?” [...]

“I just want to be me,” he whispered. “Is that so terrible? I just want to be Nico and not a lot of other people’s hero or monster.”

Anyway there are Two Crimes when it comes to Nico: the fact he isn’t gay in canon and how so many adaptations turns him into the Generic Fantasy Hero he’s a very conscious subversion of in the books (the other principle male character is essentially someone who’s hurt by toxic masculinity as someone who buys into it, while Nico ofc is hurt by it because he doesn’t/can’t, so the series certainly had an opinion about it). 

Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter

Dumbledore is, to me, someone who chose what was good for the world over his own happiness. He chose to be the one to dirty his hands, the one two make the terrible decisions, do the terrible things, that were necessary in the battle against facism. There is something very brave and admirable about that to me. It’s not that he never did anything wrong, he certainly did, but again, I think he was very aware of the terrible things he was doing, and part of the reason he keeps everything so close to his chest is because he doesn’t want anyone else to have to make those decisions, to have to feel that blood stain their hands. Dumbledore loves the people in his care profoundly, he loves Harry profoundly. And it kills him to have, as Snape puts it, “brought him up like a pig for slaughter”. 

Whether something is morally justified and whether it’s necessary to prevent evil are two different questions, and I don’t think Dumbledore feels particularly justified, but I do think he does what he perceives to be necessary to prevent facism. And hates himself for the decisions he takes along the way. And all of that comes back to, to some extent, his survivor’s guilt over the death of Arianna and the profound wake up call that was Grindelwald 1) turning on his family 2) being a very violent fascist, rather than just a theoretical one like teenage!Dumbledore was. In his mind, Dumbledore is already condemned for what happened when he was 18, so it’s better that it be he who takes the terrible things upon himself than an “innocent.” It’s better that he try to atone. Dumbledore is working towards a redemption he never (to his mind) arrives at. 

In regards to his sexuality, Dumbledore was certainly written with the trope of a “tragic old closeted gay” in mind, but of course JKR never made anything much canon aside from his “flamboyant” sense of style (that the movies have ROBBED us of >:( ) and hobbies, so to a certain extent, I get to ignore that homophobic intent. In the books themselves, the only thing you can really read between the lines is that Dumbledore was in love with Grindelwald, not whether it was 1) reciprocated 2) acted upon, so with only the canon, we also get to mitigate some of the Implications of “Dumbledore dated Wizard Hitler for a while”.... 

I mean I do Love Mess(tm) so Dumbledore having that terrible wake up call is certainly also part of the appeal for me. Personally I enjoy the interpretation that Grindelwald deliberately manipulated Dumbledore’s feelings. 

Captain Flint/James McGraw from Black Sails

BE GAY DO CRIME BE GAY DO CRIME BE GAY DO CRIME BE-- *coughs*

As you might guess from my description of Dumbledore, a lot of the reasons I love Flint are similar to why I love Dumbledore (and Solas, but we won’t go in to Solas rn lol). Flint is also someone who chooses to do the terrible, necessary things, who chooses the fight over his personal moral cleanliness. In a more obvious and extreme way than Dumbledore, certainly, but the principle is essentially the same. Of course, Flint’s fight is personal in a completely different way from how Dumbledore’s is. Flint’s fight is simoultaneously his revenge, a fight against the corrupt system that ruined his life and a fight for something better. Dumbledore is defensive, Flint is offensive. 

The self-integrity he has is truly amazing. He’s cast aside by everyone but Miranda, and yet he never starts thinking he has anything to apologise for. To ask for a pardon would be to ask for forgiveness, and he doesn’t think he needs to be forgiven. Not for loving Thomas, not for anything he did while he was still English. He perceives the reality of the situation, he sees what is right and what is wrong, and he knows that he is the wronged party. He stares at the behemoth of the entire social structure of his world and says: No. You move. I am not in the wrong. England should apologise to me.

Flint is my angry gay dad and I love him. 

I tag (as always, completely optional ^^ ): @teddy-stonehill​ @thebearmuse​ @andvaka​ @solitarelee​ @gallifreyanathearts​ @sinni-ok-sessi​ @melle93​ @papanden​ @seimsisk​

I feel a bit dishonest leaving Grantaire off of this list, lmao, but I talk about him enough as it is. 

Other honorables mentions go to: Enjolras (Les Mis), Captain Jack Harkness (Doctor Who/Torchwood), Solas (Dragon Age), Fitzwilliam Darcy (Pride and Prejudice), Kim Kitsuragi (Disco Elysium), Harry Potter, Remus Lupin (Harry Potter) and my soap boys Robert Sugden (Emmerdale), Richard “Ringo” Beckmann (Unter Uns) and Ben Mitchell (Eastenders). 

[lilacsos]

Day 1: doctor!au

A/N: I’m really excited to post the first instalment of the doctor series. I’ve had a lot of fun planning this out and I hope you all really like this! Let me know if you want to be tagged or fill out the form.

*Warnings*: mentions of childhood cancer, mentions of a car crash, drinking, language

Word Count: 4628

Masterlist  Character Info  Taglist

Day 1

The interns fill the atrium in Sacred Heart Hospital, all of them preparing for the first day. It was a tradition in Sacred Heart for all interns to meet in the atrium as they met their residents and attendings before getting their assignment. With wide eyes and hearts full of hope, the interns took in their surroundings, watching the hustle and bustle of the hospital. Doctors and nurses walked, or in some cases, jogged off to do their job. Every person in this hospital was doing their part in trying to save someone’s life and for the new interns, this was the first day that they would get the chance to do the same. Every single person had a dream that they would save lives, cure cancer, and create a radical new treatment plan. Too bad those dreams would be crushed in a matter of hours. One of the surgical interns, Dr. Awsten Knight, smirked as he took in the chaos. This is exactly what he expected the hospital to be like; people everywhere.

“Welcome to Sacred Heart interns!” The voice of a cheery woman broke out from the muddled conversations and caused the large group to turn and look at her. “This is a very exciting day for you all and we can’t wait for you to join this team! This hospital is amazing and you all have the chance to save lives and work in an amazing environment. This job will build amazing character and give you all the chance to become wonderful people.” This woman had a pretty great speech and some interns took this small speech to heart and it caused a sparkle in their eyes. However, interns like Dr. Knight only rolled their eyes.

“Alright Dr. Buchanan, you can cut the shit.” Another woman spoke up, standing next to the previous woman.

“Holy shit,” Awsten mumbled and turned to the girl next to him. “That’s Dr. Rosario. She’s like the best fucking surgeon at this hospital. They say she’s on the path to becoming head of the surgical department in less than ten years. I’m going to work with her.”

A snort came from a young woman standing behind Awsten. “What makes you think you’ll get to work with Dr. Rosario? She’s amazing and you’re an intern.”

“Well, I graduated best in my class so that has to count for something. And I always get what I want and so if you think I won’t get to work with Rosario, you’re fucking dead wrong.”

“I’m sorry but are we interrupting your conversation?” Rosario's voice caused all sounds in the atrium to cease. Once the other doctors saw it was just Leah yelling at an intern, they went back to their business while Awsten stared at her with wide eyes.

“No ma’am.”

“Good, now as I was saying, this hospital will make or break you. So yes, this could be the start of a wonderful career for you but half of you will leave because it gets too hard and a third of that surviving half will get kicked out because you’re stupid. Don’t be stupid.” Leah took an extra second to glare at Awsten before she continued. “Each of you will meet your resident and throughout the day you’ll meet your attendings and maybe the head of your department. Alright, surgeons go to the third floor, neurologists you go to floor two east wing, oncology is on level five, cardiology you’re on level two west wing, the birthing ward is on the seventh floor, mental health ward is on the eighth floor, and ER, well you’re already here. Go, your resident will meet you there.”

At her dismissal, the crowd broke off, each going to their respective floor.

Day 1: Surgical Interns

Awsten and the rest of the crew made their way to the third floor and at the top of the stairs, they were met with three residents, all who began yelling at the same time. In the chaos and bustle, interns strained to hear their name among the noise. “Knight, Peterson, Williams, Davis, French. You’re with me! Let’s go!” A stern man yelled over the crowd before he began walking away. With a sprint, Awsten ran ahead of the group and reached his resident.

“Hi, I’m Awsten Knight. I just want to let you know that I graduated top of my class and I’m going to be the best intern you have.”

The resident stopped, causing Awsten to crash into his back. “Alright listen up Rookie, I don’t give a shit where you came from or what you did. You and everyone else here are equals. Now, if you want to be cocky, back up your claims.” Once the rest of the group caught up, the man continued. “I’m Dr. Stevens. Now let’s get a few things straight, I’m not your friend. I don’t care about your personal problems. All I care about is that you do not screw up. I’m in charge of you and if you make a mistake it all comes back to me. You do what you’re told and you’ll learn and you’ll thrive. Don’t be cocky, don’t be an ass. Follow me.”

Awsten nodded along with everyone else and followed Dr. Stevens. “No one likes a cocky intern.” The same girl from before whispered as she walked next to Awsten.

“Who the hell are you?” Awsten didn’t care about this girl. She was just another person that doubted him and his talents. She knew nothing about him and he was sick of her already.

“Dr. Peterson. And I think you deserve to be knocked down a few pegs. Just because you graduated top of your class doesn’t mean anything.” She smirked and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Just you wait. I’m gonna prove that I’m the best and I’m going to work with Rosario as her equal one day.” Awsten said with a snort before he sped up his pace so he left Peterson behind.

Day 1: Neurology

Calum slipped through the crowd of interns, waving as his attendings and residents pointed him out. Normally Calum would love to stop and share how amazing he is but he was on a mission. Day one of the intern year has it’s traditions for everyone, including heads of the departments. Calum slipped into the elevator and pressed the button for the fifth floor, winking at the nurses around him. Calum was stellar at his job and everyone knew it. He was also really hot and so it was no surprise that everyone loved him. With a couple of goodbyes, Calum hopped off the elevator and made a beeline to Dr. Buchanan’s office. Without bothering to knock, Calum strolled into the office and flung himself into one of the chairs.

“Hey there Rosie Posie.”

Rosie rolled her eyes and dropped her folder on her desk. “To what do I owe the honorCal Pal?”

Calum laughed and leaned his elbows on the desk. “Today is day one and you know what that means. We have a tradition. All of Sacred Heart has a tradition and you remember ours don't you?”

Rosie rolled her eyes and picked up her file once again. “Listen here Hood, every head of department makes the same bet every single time. There’s no point.”

“Ok so everyone makes a bet that Hemmings and Webb will get together but we can make an addition to the bet. Let’s bring in everyone from all the departments. Not just department heads and attendings. Let’s throw in the interns and residents from all the floors. Come on Rosie, let’s make this interesting. We can get the other attendings and departments heads in on this too.” Calum grabbed the file out of her hands, easily avoiding Rosie as she tried to take her file back. After a few moments, she gave up her fight and relaxed into her chair. “Think about it. We can even team up this year.”

Rosie sighed and shrugged. “Will this get you to shut up?”

“You have my word.”

“I’ll do this only if we go to Kenny’s Pub and watch the interns get trashed.” Calum and Rosie shared a knowing smirk and shook hands.

“Great, now I have to go crack some skulls so I’ll talk to you later.”

Day 1: Emergency Room

“Alright listen up! My name is Dr. Olivia Mercer and I’ll be your resident. For some odd reason, you all chose to intern in the ER and while that’s amazing for you wanting to be in the thick of it, you’re dumb. This is going to be one of the hardest places you’ll work. You’re here to save lives but the truth is, you can’t save everyone.” The woman said, taking in the hard faces of her interns. “This is difficult and I know but no one said being a doctor was going to be easy. Now, I assume that all of you know what you’re doing?” Without waiting for any answers, Olivia continued. “Good because there was a car crash ten minutes ago and they’re bringing in the victims now.”

Michael stared at Olivia with wide eyes before he quickly snapped into action and followed the other interns to wash up. “What happened?”

Olivia sighed and looked Michael over, taking a mental note that he was the only intern that asked that question. It’s important to know what’s going on so you aren’t going in too blind. “There was a head on collision with a drunk driver. There was a family of five in the van the driver hit. That’s all we know right now. What’s your name?”

“Michael. Michael Clifford.”

“Everyone take note of what Dr. Clifford did. It’s important to try and get as much information as you can.” Olivia smiled at him but her smile faded when the emergency room doors flew open and paramedics wheeled in patients. “Everyone, pair off and take a patient. Dr. Clifford, you’re with me.” Michael nodded and stuck by her side as the other interns made their way to the stretchers. One paramedic brought over a young man in his late twenties and Olivia quickly got to work. “What do we have?”

“Dean Sheppard, 28. He was the drunk driver. We discovered a few broken ribs and a broken wrist on the ride over. But he’s bleeding from his head.”

“Alright, what first Clifford?”

“We need to locate the bleeding from his head to make sure it isn’t too serious.”

“Good. Let’s get to work. Welcome to the ER.”

Day 1: Psych Ward

Vanessa jogged through the halls, searching for room 1068 but the room was nowhere to be found. She just met her resident and while he seemed like a very sweet guy, she couldn’t bother him to tell him she can’t find a room. Besides, it’s not like she could find him in the first place anyway. Vanessa was quickly pulled aside by her resident, Dr. Peter Wong, and told that she won’t be getting any special treatment just because Dr. Irwin was the one who accepted her application. He doesn’t accept many people because while he may be incredibly sweet, he wants the best on his team. Vanessa made the cut while everyone else was here simply because they asked the right people. Everyone knows that you won’t make it in if you apply to Irwin first. He likes recommendations. So not only will she receive no special treatment, she won’t be given any second chances. With a huff and a darting glance to the other end of the hall, Vanessa quickly turned the corner but was stopped by a man. A man who she ran into. Papers flew out of her hand and floated to the floor while Vanessa crashed down, much less gracefully. “I’m so sorry.” She mumbled as she crawled around the floor, gathering all her papers. “I should have been looking where I was going and so this is all my fault.”

“Are you lost?” The man asked as he handed her a stack of papers he had grabbed.

“Is it that easy to tell?” She laughed awkwardly before she sighed. “It’s my first day here and I have no idea where I’m going. My first day as an intern and I’m already messing up.”

“What’s your name?”

“Vanessa Calhoun.” She stated before finally looking up at the man with her hand held out. When she caught sight of his face she thought her heart stopped. This was Dr. Ashton Irwin and not only did she run into him and fall onto her butt in front of him, she admitted she was lost. He was head of the department and he was the one that accepted her application and she just told him what a mess she is. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry Dr. Irwin. I didn’t know it was you and if I had I would have- I would have, I don’t know.”

“Would have hit me harder?” He asked with a laugh as he took her outstretched hand and pulled her to her feet. “Don’t worry Vanessa. It’s completely fine. Every intern gets a little lost on their first day. What room are you looking for?”

Vanessa blinked quickly as she listened to him speak. “Uh, room 1068, Dr. Irwin.”

“Ah, Elizabeth has been with us for a long time. I can take you to her. And please, call me Ashton.” Vanessa opened her mouth to thank him but he began walking in the opposite direction she had been going the whole time. With a shake of her head and a short pep talk to herself, she ran after Ashton.

Day 1: P.I.C.U

Luke smiled at the Leigh family before he backed out of the room, closing the door behind him. James Leigh was ten and he had come in because of some stomach pain. After a pretty quick look, they discovered that James had swallowed the head of one of his sister’s dolls. It wasn’t passing through his system and so they needed to do a surgical procedure to remove the doll part. Luke was just happy that he didn’t have to tell another parent that their child has cancer.

“Dr. Hemmings!” A young woman yelled, catching his attention. It was one of the nurses on the floor and he hated to admit but her name escaped him.

“Hey, what can I do for you?” Luke asked, deciding it would be best not to guess her name and get it wrong.

“Well, I was wondering if you were free tonight? I know it’s against the rules for an attending to go on a date with any of his employees but I was thinking we could go to Kenny’s Pub. The whole hospital will be there so it won’t really look like a date if anyone sees us.” She smiled and leaned against the wall, her eyes full of hope.

“I’m so sorry but rules are rules. It wouldn’t be right of me to go on a date with you. I hope you understand. Besides, I’m working late tonight so I won’t make it to the bar anyway.” Luke waved her off before he made an escape to his office. He lied to her but really, what was he going to do? He was planning on going to the bar but he wanted to go with Marjorie. She was his best friend and after the day he had, he needed to be cheered up and she was the best at that. He slipped into his office and leaned against his closed door, shutting his eyes as he did.

“Karen try asking you out again?” He jumped at the voice but quickly relaxed as he saw Dr. Webb.

“That’s her name?” He sighed and plopped down in the seat next to her.

“Luke, this girl has been asking you out for like a year and you can’t remember her name? That’s quite rude of you.” Luke only rolled his eyes and laid his head on her shoulder. “Hard case?”

“A three year old has terminal cancer. There’s nothing I can do for him or the family. I feel so shitty knowing that I can’t fix this. And what sucks even more is that I know I’ll have more cases like this and the day only just started.” Luke closed his eyes as Marjorie’s fingers began threading through his hair.

“I know bubs but it’s life. You know what will cheer you up? Calum and Rosie have added a few rules to the bet. They’re including the whole hospital. And they’ll be at Kenny’s tonight. You know how dumb Calum is when he drinks.”

Luke chuckled but it left as soon as it came. “Karen wanted to take me to Kenny’s. I can’t go now. I told her I was working late.”

“You can still go. We just need to disguise you. I think I have a wig I can give you.”

Luke tugged away from her and snorted. “You’re very funny. I don’t need a wig.”

“So, you’ll accompany me to Kenny’s and watch the interns get drunk out of their mind?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Drunk interns are the best interns.”

Word about the addition to the bet that Calum made quickly spread through the hospital and soon enough, everyone knew the bet. Well, every attending and department head. However, all of the interns now knew that it was a tradition for them to all go to Kenny’s Pub after their first shift. A few interns always make the mistake of getting completely wasted and then have to show up the next morning for work hungover but no one bothers to stop them. Every other person in the hospital that was in the intern program has done it and so it’s fun for them to watch it happen to others.

The bar was packed to the brim with doctors, nurses, and everyone in between. Kenny, the owner, had to pull out some tables to set up out in the front and the back to make room for everyone. For the moment, most of the people in the room were interns with a few attendings and residents scattered here and there.

“This is so dumb. You talk a big game and apparently, you can back it up too? What surgery did you even get to do today?” Vanessa asked Awsten with a snort as she took a sip from her drink.

“I told everyone that I’m amazing and it’s your fault if you didn’t believe me. I got to take a babydoll head out of some kid. On my first day! Do you know how many people get to say that? Not many.” Awsten yelled and threw his arms in the air. “I’m incredible!”

Michael laughed and rolled his eyes. “Dude, just because you have a horn doesn’t mean you have to toot it. I’m sure everyone had a fun day today. What did you do Nessa?”

Vanessa sighed and ran her finger around the rim of her glass. “I ran into Dr. Irwin. Like body slammed him in the hallway. Do you know who he is? He’s head of the psych department and my boss.”

“I heard that Irwin doesn’t ever take applications unless they have a good recommendation. But he let you in without one? That’s pretty cool though so he must have a lot of faith in you.” Michael shrugged, trying his best to cheer Vanessa’s mood. “Was he mad?”

“No! He was beyond nice and he told me to call him Ashton! How can this guy be nice, successful, and handsome?”

“Talking about me?” Awsten piped up, earning him a gentle smack on the arm. “Look, if Irwin didn’t shit on you for running into him then you’re fine.”

Before Vanessa could express her worries, the door to the bar opened, catching her attention. Calum Hood was the first person that came in, followed by Rosie, Leah, Luke, and Marjorie. The five made their way over to a booth behind Vanessa and the boys, all of them wrapped up in a conversation. Without much thought, Awsten spun around and climbed onto his knees, coming face to face with Leah.

“Dr. Rosario, I just want to say sorry for talking at the same time as you earlier. I was just so excited to have the chance to possibly work with you that I couldn’t keep my mouth shut.” Awsten chuckled, hoping that he could win Leah’s favor.

“Don’t do it again Knight. I’ll end your career. Stop talking to me.” She huffed and rolled her eyes, turning her attention to Marjorie.

Awsten sat back in his seat without another word and stared down at his table. Michael couldn’t help but laugh a little at Awsten’s saddened expression. “Nice try buddy.” He mumbled as he looked back at the door, seeing a few more people come in. Olivia, Ashton, and some random blonde came in next. Ashton slipped his arm around the blonde girl and Michael elbowed Vanessa in the side. “Nessa, look.” He whispered, keeping his voice down in a hope to make sure his bosses couldn’t hear him. “I heard from one of the P.I.C.U interns that she’s Irwin’s girlfriend. But I heard Hemmings fucking hates her because she’s been cheating on Irwin. Crazy right?”

Vanessa sighed and looked at Michael with a frown. “Did you think this was going to cheer me up?”

Defeated, Michael laid his head on the table and watched Olivia and Ashton make their way to the other table. Luke stood up from his seat and let Olivia scoot in so she could sit next to the girls. Once she was comfortable, Luke sat back down while Ashton sat across from him. “Chloe already ditch you?”

“Shut up Luke. She’s a good person. Leave my girlfriend out of this.” Michael could hear the frustration in his voice and he could only assume that this topic has come up before. “Besides, at least I have a girlfriend. Do you know what all the interns are calling you?”

Marjorie laughed as she answered his question. “Lu, the girls are calling you Dr. Hunky.” At this, Luke groaned and Michael stood, preparing to go to the bar to get more drinks but he was stopped by Olivia.

“Dr. Clifford. Glad to see you here. Ladies and gents, this is Dr. Michael Clifford. He was partnered up with me during the crash victims and he did an amazing job. I think I have the best intern.” Olivia smiled brightly as Michael’s cheeks flushed a bright red.

“Thank you Dr. Mercer.” He muttered before he ran off to the bar.

“I think you scared him.” Calum chuckled and wrapped his arm around Rosie and Leah’s shoulders. However, Leah quickly tore his arm off of her and downed her drink. “You gonna try to get with the intern?”

“God no! Calum, I can’t do that. He’s an intern and I have a boyfriend.” Olivia huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

“A shitty boyfriend,” Marjorie grumbled into her drink, ignoring the glare she received from Olivia.

“Look, let’s get back to you thinking your intern is the best. Clearly, you’re wrong Olivia.” Ashton piped up, which caused Vanessa to look at Awsten with wide eyes, wondering if he was going to talk about her. “Vanessa Calhoun is incredible. She’s amazing with her patients and she knows her shit.” Vanessa’s cheeks burned bright red as she sunk down into her seat. The praise would be great if it wasn’t happening now. She was a little tipsy and she was almost certain that Ashton didn’t know that she was there, listening to him.

“She ran into you right?” Luke asked, laughing as Ashton nodded. “Well, at least she’s good with the patients. You accepted her without a letter of rec yeah?” With another nod from Ashton, Luke continued. “So she either must show a ton of promise or she’s shit but can be taught. And with the way you talked about her, I think you found a genius. What about you Leah? Any fun interns?”

“I haven’t dealt with many today and I don’t want to deal with them ever again.” Awsten could feel her eyes burning a hole in the back of his head and he too began to sink down in his seat. “Let’s just say I always get the cocky interns.”

“That’s what you get for going into surgery,” Marjorie said with a shrug, her head coming to rest on Luke’s shoulder.

Michael returned from the bar and noticed the tops of his friends’ heads peeking above the table. “Is there any reason why you both are on the floor?” There was no verbal answer from either of them but Vanessa did point behind her. Michael followed her direction and nodded in understanding. “Bosses talking about you?”

“Yep.” Leah snorted as she grabbed the drink sitting in front of Ashton. At his annoyed expression, Leah sighed and took a sip. “You’re DD, shut up.”

Michael took a seat next to Awsten and handed him a drink. “To be fair Awsten, you did interrupt her.” With a groan of embarrassment, Awsten took a sip of his drink and glared at his newfound friend.

“Fuck you pal. I hope you get a crazy dude in the ER tomorrow.”

The rest of the evening for the three interns was spent trying to listen in on their boss’ conversation without being too obvious. There wasn’t much the interns learned about their attendings, residents, and heads of departments. They really only talked about their cases and while that is very interesting, this wasn’t what they wanted to hear about. Just before the three of them decided to call it a night, there was the sound of rustling behind them. The other doctors were all gathering their things and preparing to leave.

“Dr. Calhoun, I didn’t know you were here. You did an amazing job today.” Ashton smiled as he caught sight of Vanessa. However, Vanessa sat there with her mouth wide open as she looked at her boss. She couldn’t find the words to answer him but luckily for her, Michael was happy to answer for her.

“Please excuse Nessa, she gets a little nervous.” Michael chuckled and dodged the punch Vanessa tried to land.

“Nessa? That’s cute. Ashton, intern or not, we like her and she’s cute.”

“Alright, Jorie it’s time for you to go., Ashton mumbled and blushed darkly, pushing his friends out of the bar. Michael smiled at his friends, helping both of them stand on their feet.

“That could have been much worse. Besides, it’s getting late and if we’re planning to be the only interns without a hangover, it’s time we get going.” Michael threw his arms around Vanessa’s and Awsten’s shoulders, carefully leading them out to the front of the bar so they could each get a cab ride home. “You know, they say this intern year could really break us and make us go home, crying and working somewhere easier. They also say that the friends you make this year will be your friends for life.”

“So I’m stuck with him?” Vanessa sighed and looked past Michael and right at Awsten.

“You love me.” He said with a smirk, leaning against the wall behind him. His smirk quickly fell as he dove into his thoughts. “Do you really think we’ll survive the year?” As if realizing he said all of this outloud, awsten quickly added, “I mean I know I will but what about you two?”

Michael and Vanessa shared a knowing look before Michael answered, “We have each other. I think we’re gonna be just fine.”

Tags: (still tagging my normal taglist hit me up if you don’t wanna be tagged)

@thew0rldneedsmcreycghurt @emilyxvalentyne  @lustingfor5sos @mycollectionofnuts @ohhmuke @softboycal @norawashere @who-do-you-love-5sos @aftermidnightclifford @astrosashton @katiaw2 @littlesinnersins @bbyboyycal @rosecoloredash  @buggy-blogs​

[jq37]

so...... thoughts on the first ep?

**spoilers for start spreading the news**

What is UP you guys? The new season of Dimension 20 is out and your girl is back (implies I left, which is false) with only the hottest of takes.

Usually I vomit up my opinions with little rhyme or reason and, don't worry, I'm not changing that format any time soon. But, because of the structure of the episode, I think it'll be easier to use headings and go through each character/element of this. So let's do this y'all!

The Setting

I think the best thing you can do as a writer or a creative person in general is the make something that only you could make, you know? Like, make the thing that only someone with your specific life experiences and weird brain could have come up with. And I really think that this is that for Brennan. I already talked about this in other posts, but the version of NYC that Brennan created for this game is that to me. Like, magical NY has been done, but the specific details? Who else could have written, "The annual SantaCon is actually Santa dumping all of his defective clones into NYC where the magic barrier that keeps normals from seeing magic will disguise them and the protectors of the city will be able to deal with them"? That's so specific and so wild and so New York and so Brennan.

And I haven't lived in NY for so long but I've had one winter here and the way he describes what it's like to walk down the street during winter in the city is so real. Like smelling garbage then laundry detergent then sugared nuts from those corner stands and you're freezing and then baking in the subway in your coat. That was so so real. (I will be saying this phrase a lot so get used to it now)

And I like that he didn't make the obvious choices, you know? Like we've had three, like, magical figureheads across D20 and those are usually classic old, white, possibly British roles, you know? Like a Gandalf or a Dumbledore. But he had Aguefort in FH and now Esther and Alejandro in TUS. I just think it's cool that we're getting some different archetypes to fill these roles instead of the same dude c.p'd in again, you know?

Also, the fantasy NYC map is so dope. I wanna go back and try to read everything on it when I have the chance. 

Pete

Ally is a DRUG DEALER. I thought Pete was gonna be a stripper but he's a DRUG DEALER. Honestly, I could have figured this out sooner if I'd just checked Urban Dictionary like I did just now and found out that "plug" means "someone who is a resource for obtaining something valuable that would otherwise be difficult to obtain" or, more simply, "drug dealer". But I'm glad I didn't because it was much more fun to find out in real time.

Ally makes some character choices sometimes that are too specific to not be rooted in life experience and that whole microwave cheese monologue was one of them.

Pete's official diagnosis is that he has "a lot going on."

Ally almost won MVP line of the episode with, "Shot my tits off." Murph losing it in the background killed me almost more than the actual line.

I really, really want Pete's doctor to be a recurring character because he is wild in how wild he isn't. He has so much wild stuff happening around him and he is in a wild line of work but he seems like a relatively stable guy. I love him. Also, the completely wrong cadence he used to say, "lgbt ally" was gold.

Is Ally ever gonna have a character with a good relationship with their parents? One time? Ever?

I literally don't even know how to begin to address the wild magic trip Pete went on. Like, I don't think Ally knew what they were doing when they decided to be a wild magic sorcerer. I don't think they knew what kind of challenge they were issuing to Brennan. And after seeing the wild nonsense Brennan consistently came up with for Jer'ih'meh in Bloodkeep, I can't want to see the insanity he spits out for Pete.

"You're the one who they they wanted to play a wild magic sorcerer."

Also, Brennan just using lyrics from "New York, New York" for whatever dream demon or whatever was going on in that trip was, like, equal parts clever and hilarious. Sidenote, do you think all the ep titles are gonna be from songs about NY? I mean, there are enough songs I bet.

Pete has this thing where he constantly lands on the exact wrong part of the situation to focus on. Like later when he gets stuffed in the magic closet at the hospital and he's like, "Hospitals are so advanced, also go much is this gonna cost?" Ally's comic timing on that is always perfect.

WILD that that was the first intro. Like, way to kick off the new season with a bang.  I really wonder what this episode would have felt like if this was the last intro or if the intro for the two normal people hadn’t been right at the top. Actually now that I’m editing, I feel like we almost got the intros from least experienced w/ this stuff to most experienced. Because Pete is a total noob. Sophia is also a noob but she has met Kugrash at least once. Then you have Ricky who’s only been in this for about a year. Then Kingston who probably has more experience than Kug by years but Kug has been a rat man his whole life (presumably). Finally Misty who is probably like a BS amount of years old and steeped in this stuff. Honestly,  if I was DM’ing, I might have fudged the die rolls to look exactly like how it turned out. 

Sophia

Emily describing her character and slipping into her character voice gradually as she went on was so pro.

"Like if Fran Dresher went on an Amy Winehouse bender." I love her.

"Did you not want baby bangs?"

"She's a WHOO-OAR."

I'm gonna die if Brennan make than woman an actual succubus because of an offhanded comment.

My favorite thing is when Emily is saying some nonsense and she can barely even get through it without breaking. Also, Murph is so visibly amused by Emily's entire intro. It's great.

I love that both of the "normal" characters spent most of this episode intoxicated in one way or another.

So Emily absolutely won the episode in my eyes for coming up with one of the sickest burns I've heard and in real time. A dude tells her to read his dick and she, after only a momentary pause, says, "No I'm not gonna read your dick (beat) because I don't read short stories!" Brennan doesn't even make her roll. He just narrates her success. The table goes wild. The bar she's at goes wild. Zac specifically is cracking up. Like, I feel like this is gonna be a little bit of a deep cut reference but did any of you ever play the Monkey Island games and do the insult swordfighting? That's what that scene was. Amazing.

Murph's, like, entire posture and expression (@ 1:24ish) when Emily is saying Sophia thinks she saw a giant rat man who gave her an egg sandwich and Gatorade is total gold.

"Gotta kill some brain cells to kill the ones with the memory of Dale in them."

OK so funny story (funny to me at least) at the Fantasy High live show, I was talking to some other girls who were there and we ended up talking about how the small of a woman's back is basically the worst place you can casually touch them outside of the really bad places and how viscerally terrible it is so when Brennan said one of the trolls touched one of the girls there and Sophie/Emily was like BIG NOPE, I had a That's So Raven flashback to that conversation immediately.

Emily leaps into action...and rolls a nat 1 to fight a bunch of trolls. She actually does really well in the rest of the fight though so that's good.  

Oh, also Siobhan made everyone dope themed dice boxes!

Ricky

I hope Dimension 20 runs for the next 10 years and I hope Zac plays a good, big, doofus in every single season.

"He's basically like Superman if Superman were Japanese." Love.

Also, I love the distinction that he's 5' 8" but buff.

Ricky surrounded by a raging fire: First of all, that's a cool bear.

I like the way that Brennan skinned the cleric and paladin powers for this game so they're more about values than deities. I was wondering how it was gonna work in this setting and I think this was such a cool way to handle it.  

I really think Brennan has a great handle of presenting certain things in such a way that it's interesting for the players as well as the audience. Like, when Ricky is trying to escape the burning apartment, he puts an obstacle in his way that forces him to use his Paladin powers (to create water specifically). It's not really a hard "puzzle" or something he has to roll for, but it introduces to the audiences that he's not just a firefighter. I just think it's really cool that he's able to pull off narrative things like that without actually controlling the characters. (And, props to the players too, of course, for being so consistently entertaining).

"Mr. March."

Ricky in the middle of the winter: I'm not as tan as I used to be.

Ricky rooftop runs like a freaking superhero.

OK, this is barely related to what I'm talking about right now but it's important to me that you all know this. I commented in an earlier post that Ricky clearly had circus music playing in his head at all times and then I was like, "Hmm, I wonder what that one circus song is called." You know, the song that you think about immediately when you hear the phrase "circus music" so I looked it up and APPARENTLY it is a CZECH MILITARY MARCH known alternately as (brace yourselves) ENTRY OF THE GLADIATORS and THUNDER AND BLAZES. I kid you not. That's actually what that song is called. I called my brother and told him immediately. OK, back on topic.

Is a questing blade a thing? I feel like it's a Thing from legend or fairy tales or something but, when I Google it, I come up with basically nothing.

Does Ricky have a thing for Esther or is he just a super awkward texter and nice guy who does not want to be set up by his sister for a different reason?

I need Brennan to explain how the Santa Question works in this world. The question being, "Why don't parents freak about the gifts they're not buying?" and, side question, "Why don't poor kids get presents?" My go-to answers are always, "He Jedi Mind Tricks into thinking they bought them," and, "He has to work within each family's socio-economic means in order to not be obvious." So there are def plausible answers. But, like, this is something I like to see addressed when we're doing the "Santa is real," thing.  

"I grew up with twins and one of them was worse than the others so that makes sense."

"Is Santa good?"/"The ethics of it are alarming, I won't lie."

So, my paranoid thought for this episode is I'm a little Concerned that someone down the line (maybe Esther, but hopefully not) is going to take advantage of Ricky's Big Dumb energy and his "It's the right thing to do," mentality and manipulate him into doing something Not Great. Like, it's not based on anything besides mainlining a ton of media over the past 24 years but I'm just gonna keep an eye out.

Re the Santa/Peppermint Zombification: Hey Brennan, turn your location on. I just wanna talk.

I have to say, from the bottom of my heart, what the hell?

That creeped me out in the same way that episode of Adventure time where Princess Bubblegum (infused with the primal elemental candy energy or whatever) turned everyone into Candy people and everyone started singing Let Me Call You Sweetheart. What a weirdly specific body horror thing for me to encounter more than once. That one peppermint tooth thing is gonna haunt me. 

Kingston

I gotta say, props to Lou for pulling a complete 180 on the kind of character he picked this time around. He went from playing this super extra rich pretty boy to this salt of the Earth quasi patriarch and he's just as comfortable with it. Kingston is so real. I went to church with like 50 guys like him back home.

Why are you fighting so hard about free food Kingston? Take the free homecooked food Kingston!

The intensity of his, "I will be here until I die," was hysterical.

Mentioned this before but I love the flavoring of the cleric class where instead of being attuned to a deity Kingston is basically attuned to the entire city. Also, the perks are excellent. Bus service anywhere for free. Sign me up.

I like that Ricky's sister works at the hospital. It's a really cool potential connection for later.

"We're gonna take the thing outchyo butt. We're not gonna deny you medical services."

"Aint nothing wrong with being a freak." --Kingston Brown

Fantasy creatures having to deal with updated tech (like the Toll bridge trolls talking about EZ-passes) is one of my fave urban fantasy tropes.

"I've got a really sweet smelling man here!"

"Yeah, my tooth fell out and now it's a candy. Hey, how much is this gonna cost?" This is what I’m talking about. Priorities my dude.

I love that Kingston knows Pete's weird mob doctor. It seems like part of his deal is that he just knows everything about everyone in the city (within whatever parameters).

Pete says, in quick succession about Ricky, "I feel like he would bully me," and, "He seems like a golden retriever," which I feel are almost mutually exclusive statements.

Kugrash

Well, I asked what kind of druid nonsense was happening in Central Park and the answer is Murph apparently.

I really wish I could have been there when Murph announced he wanted to play a literal rat.

"I am the shit that feeds the flies. A dumpster druid."

"Wherever you are rat Jesus, I love you." You're killing me Brennan.

Aww Kugrash goes around feeding the homeless and stuff. He's like this grumpy ass rat man who really cares about the community.

"Santa you fucking bum." --Kugrash

"I'm sorry are you a rat?"

The idea of a roach with a hobo sack pisses me off because it's adorable but roaches are the worst.

"Is Santa dead?"/"I don't know. I'm not religious."

"Santa Claus is real and he's DEAD."

Brennan loves to use the modifiers "full" and "fully" and I have picked it up irl and in my writing.

"Let's get a little fucked up and go see if Santa's dead!"

Just that whole squirrel interaction.

The sixth borough huh? Interesting. I see you Brennan.

Also, the detail that Kug's clothes are made from old MTA vests is great.

Misty

Siobahn is playing basically exactly the character I thought she'd be playing but she's doing it so much better and more extra than I could have imagined.

"A lady would never say her age, so I won't."

Is her pianist magic or something too? I have my suspicions.

So Misty gets some kind of bard and/or fairy high from praise and adoration which is interesting.

What kind of weird, morally dubious and/or unpleasant fae thing is Misty gonna have to do soonish? It's not gonna be good. Fae stuff never is.

DON CONFETTI

"I don't study magic. I just *am* magic."

So many of these intro vignettes end with, "You don't know that...but you do know who does." Like I said before, I really love the weaving together of all the story threads to get everyone in the same place at the same time in an organic feeling way.

Also he makes all these transitions sound cinematic, like he's writing the description parts of a movie script and not narrating in person.

Public Library! I knew we'd end up here eventually but I didn't know it'd be pretty much immediately. Like, if you're going w/ the "NY is magic" premise, the library has to figure in, you know?

Emily immediately having Sophia recognize Ricky as Mr. March was such a funny and on point character decision. I love how one-off, spur of the moment lines end up being running jokes because other players pick on them and drop them an hour later.

"Are you a rat?"/"Yeah, I'm a rat man!"/"I'm sorry if that was rude."

Brennan: The lions are alive and they're boyfriends.

Misty and Siobhan both are genre savvy enough to want to nip a knights/knave door puzzle situation in the bud.

Ricky on escape rooms: I'm not very good at them but I can definitely try my hardest. (Guys, I love him so much.)

Love me some MC Escher steps.

Underrated Misty line: It's all infernal to me.

Misty's little, "Ugh" at learning they have to go to Times Square is the real NY experience.

Is this Alejandro dude gonna die? What's the over under on this dude eating it very soon?

Misty encouraging Pete to shoot Alejandro is so needlessly chaotic which is a common fae trait and I really hope this escalates.

I dunno what Murph rolled for initiative but he looks like he just shamed his entire family line.

And we’re fighting an army of crazed Santa clones next week! We have literally just started and we are already fully off the rails.  I cannot *wait* to see where we go from here if this is the *starting point*. 

[tender-history]

Fic Plotting 101: How I Start from an Idea.

Hullo, hi, welcome! It’s Plotting 101 with Dee: Part One!

 Before we get started, here’s why I made this post:

 1) I get a lot of CCs asking how to approach plotting, pacing and especially story flow, and I wanted to link them all to something useful,

2) I see a lot of people wanting to write plot but unsure how to approach it because it can be overwhelming,

3) Google Searching ‘how to plot’ can be EXTREMELY scary.

 Let’s take Number 3 first. If you’re going to Google ‘how to plot’, you’re going to end up with advice on everything ranging from ‘don’t plot’ to six sheet spreadsheets with fifty columns each that wants you to put down everything from your character’s eye color to what exactly they think of instant noodles. You’ll end up with diagrams, beat sheets, templates, storyboards, and find guides that range from six-step plotting techniques to fifty-steps. And I’m not saying you shouldn’t follow that method - sometimes, if you’re a person who likes character design and questionnaires a lot, you’ll love that method. But I’m not like that, and a lot of writers I know aren’t like that either. There’s nothing I hate more than some spreadsheet asking me my character’s weight and height. And if you go down that road, chances are that you’ll just go down the rabbit hole of intricately designing your characters and settings for AGES instead of actually writing anything at all.

 So - if not through spreadsheets or beat-sheets, how DO you plot?

 If you ask me, the best plotting method is to do WHAT WORKS FOR YOU.

 How do you find what works for you? You try things. I tried many different ways of plotting before I decided what worked for me. So this is going to be less a guide on how to plot and more an explanation of the ways I plot, with the hope that maybe you can find something in here to help you.

 > For me, step ONE is the IDEA.

 This is your big shiny nugget. Your driving force. This is EXTREMELY important, because no one idea is equal to another.  Some ideas are better, because they can help you do something unique, something only you can do, which makes you stand out. For the sake of demonstrating this whole thing, let’s take The Tender History of Tides. Tender History lived on my Ideas folder in my Notes app for months before I began writing it. This was my one-line quick jot-down: ‘what if I wrote non-royalty historical fantasy set in Joseon Korea?’

 Done before? Yeah. Can be done in a unique way? Heck yeah.

 Your idea is very very important because it’s the axis on which you’ll pivot your entire plot. It’ll grow and develop and change if you just give it some thought.

 So, plotting suggestion #1 right here: Keep an Ideas folder. You WILL forget your idea, however shiny it is. Keeping it all in one place helps in more than one way: 1) You know it won’t disappear from your mind, 2) Sometimes ideas can overlap, come together, and turn into a whole new story.

 For Tender History, the historical fantasy set in Joseon Korea idea very, very quickly merged with another idea I’d had: taegi dark-fic with sea-monster Tae and monster-hunter Yoongi. They were disparate thoughts, things I thought of at different times, things I then put together to create something more unique than what they would have been individually.

 I often generate ideas this way. I’ll consult my Ideas folder for thoughts I’ve had in the past, then see if they can be combined with something else to make a better shiny.

 Few examples:

 1) vhope magic shop au + but what if the whole thing is set in a game arcade?

2) taegi vampire au + but what if this was set in the fashion world?

3) vmin library au + but what if they went to a magical school?

 Combination is one way of idea generation. Other ways of idea generation that I sometimes use:

 > Use images. Go on Pinterest, check out some aesthetics, let your imagination run wild.

> Use online prompters. There are so many prompt generators floating around! For Fantasy, I use Seventh Sanctum sometimes (they have hundreds of different sort of prompt generators, and some are really good if you’re stuck on banal things like naming, or a quick character design). For fan fiction, there are prompt bots on Twitter. You can even google writing prompts, there are several websites that offer one per day, which you can then use to kick start your imagination.

 > Now you have your idea. Step TWO, for me, is developing the idea.

 This is the step where you can really stand out in the crowd when it comes to plotting. It’s great having a unique idea, but this is the part where you flesh it out.

 Here’s how I do that:

> Scribble down a skeleton of what you think the story will be: In my case, for this Taegi fic, the skeleton looked something like this:

taegi, yoongi is a detective, tae is a supernatural being of some sort, setting is joseon korea, time period is (???), wintry, monsters and murders, dark, atmospheric, there’s a romance and it’s both soft and dangerous, side: noble seokjin, scholar namjoon, doctor jimin (?). they’re in a village and there are these murders and everyone is keeping secrets. 

This, as you see, is a ramble. It’s just whatever’s in my head, being committed to paper. Now, plotting is WORK. Putting what’s up there - that ramble, that mess of ideas - into a functioning, well-paced, structured, organized plot requires you to put work into it. It’s not easy. But it’s a lot of fun. And when it starts coming together, you really feel very good about your writing and your story!

So, moving on to the actual work now:

> Write a 250 word pitch of the story. Organize your ramble into something coherent, meaningful and easy to absorb. Imagine that this is exactly like the back blurb on a book. The back blurb on a book is meant to entice you to read it. IF it’s enticing enough for you to read, then you can imagine that it might be enticing to a reader. But first - you have to make it enticing for YOU. As the writer, YOU have to feel like, ok, this is gonna be a killer story if I tackle it.

 The objective of this pitch is two-fold:

1) You have to be able to tell three things from it: the idea, the characters, and the main conflict.

2) A complete STRANGER - i.e., someone who has no idea about your story - should be able to look at this pitch and tell what exactly the story is about.

 I can’t stress the importance of this step. Often times, it’s not until you force yourself to explain your plot in 250 words that you find possible issues with it.

 Here’s how I explained Tender History in 250 words or less:

 “In late 1700s Joseon Korea, a string of strange murders sends Inspector Kim Seokjin to a frozen northern province. Accompanying him is Min Yoongi, once a scholar of the supernatural, now an indentured laborer until a debt for his crimes against the palace can be paid. Quickly taking on eccentric artist Kim Taehyung as his assistant, Yoongi sets out to find the monster that’s terrorizing the land. But there’s more to both the icy lakes and the people here. More to Taehyung and his unflinching ease at drawing scenes of death. Yoongi just needs to figure out what.”

 Note a couple of things here.

A) You as the writer knows who the important characters are, because they are named.

B) You know the setting: 1700s, Joseon Korea, icy, winter.

C) You know the characterization and how they play into this world: inspector Seokjin, indentured worker Yoongi, artist Taehyung.

D) You know the conflict: murders, monsters, secrets.

E) You ALSO, if you look deeply enough, know the inner character conflict - Yoongi has debts, he has no free will until he pays them.

 If I show this to you, a stranger, you should ALSO be able to glean these basic details from this 250 word pitch.

 It’s not easy. It just looks easy. I spent hours putting this down in a way that was completely right: precise, simple, yet very explanatory. This pitch will force you to confront what is the story, its actual plot and actual characters, and what is only set dressing. You can’t ramble about it anymore for hours. You can’t have a bunch of disconnected ideas anymore. You HAVE to fit it into something concise, something easily absorbed - not just by you, but by a reader who can’t see into your mind. 

You will also know, by putting this down, if the characters aren’t developed enough inside your head. Because why would anyone go to a wintry frozen land to catch a monster? You can’t answer that unless you know, by forcing your thoughts into coherency, that oh, Yoongi has no real free-will here.

 > Step THREE, marry external and internal conflict.

 Or this is step 1.5, actually. You cannot plot a story without both external and internal conflict. Or, you can, but then you won’t touch your readers as much as you would want to.

 What do I mean by this?

 Your external conflict is something that exists outside of your characters - your regular villain, say. This is your Darth Vader, your Voldemort, your Capitol.

 Your internal conflict is what your character feels. This is HARDER. In Hunger Games, Katniss ponders and combats her own ruthlessness. In Harry Potter, Harry’s desire to fit into the world and live a normal life continuously contrasts with his own fame and the symbol of hope he becomes.

 In Tender History, my external conflict is very fancy: murder, monsters, scary villages, etc. Internal conflict is a lot less so: Yoongi in this fic continuously has to wrestle with feelings of guilt and unfairness, with wanting to do good but feeling too burned by the system. If you’ve read Murmuration, the external conflict is the Scarab, but the internal conflict is their own ambition, their guilt over what they had to do to survive, their (terrifying) loyalty to each other.

 Internal conflict is where you find your character voice. If I’d set Tender History Yoongi in a celebrated position at his job, he’d be a much different character. His voice would be much different. He has power! He has resources! Versus this Yoongi, who has nothing, and hence has to trust the people he’s allowed to work with to tell him the truth.

 Think of it like peeling the layers:

 1) The Idea,

2) Develop the Idea,

3) Fill in the External Conflict,

4) Fill in the Internal Conflict.

 I have a few major rules I follow at this point of plotting. They’re like this:

 1) Are these the right characters for my story? - This means I do a round of thinking about whether these people are the perfect vehicle to tell this story I want to tell. Great, I want to tell a story about wintry Joseon Korea, and monster-fighting. But. Is indentured-worker Yoongi the best person to carry this? What if I make him a village leader instead? What if he’s a runaway prince? What if he’s the monster? Depending on what you want your story to be, you have to think of your character to fit the telling. In Romance of Old Clothes, I chose Tae POV for the whole thing because I wanted to illustrate his reading of people vs. other people’s reading of him. Taehyung’s internal conflict in that fic was that he lies to himself extensively. He’s got this idea of who he is, which is untrue, which is then broken down in a climactic moment. He’s my perfect character to tell that story, because of his obliviousness. Similarly, in Tender History, Yoongi’s the perfect character to tell this story, because of who he is in society, his internal troubles, and his monster-hunting experience.

 2)What are some details I would add to this world? - I have a basic idea of the conflict, the world, and the characters now. This is where I take out a chart or a notebook and get to work. I do this like a mindmap: I jot down anything I can think of - say, okay, Joseon Korea: food, art, paintings, caste system, civil examinations, scholars, winter, roads, Confucianism, shrines, religion, music, monsters, gender roles. Then I begin detailing it. ‘Food’ for example: royals eat different food from commoners eat different food from untouchable castes or peasants. Summer food is different from spring food is different from winter food. When I read about food for this fic, I read about the ‘barley gap’ or the gap between barley and rice cultivation during winter. People historically starved during this time. If my story is set in winter, this is an important detail.

 Let’s take something more contemporary. I’m writing about a vintage clothes store. Details I would need - clothes, brands, size of the shop, layout of the shop, how do they procure clothes, how do they test authenticity, what are their customers like, who do they interact with, where is their shop in the city, what does being in that locality mean, what seasons are busy for them.

 A mindmap is just a page full of words, questions, things you know, things you don’t know. Filling it up is the next major step.

 3) What is character development going to be? - This is very important. Okay, you have an external and internal conflict. Now, start of the story being point A, and end being point B, what exactly is A and B for my character? What do I want them to become? In Romance of Old Clothes, Taehyung at Point A is lying to himself about his own nature. By Point B, he’s able to identify that he needs to let people in, open up more. In Wonder Woman, Diana at the beginning of the story is rather naive, believing that if only she could destroy the God of War, the whole war will end. By the end, she understands and admits that things are not that black and white - that people sometimes fight wars because they want to, not due to some external influence.

 You have to know this to continue.

 Step 4, in how I plot, is to put down a starting scene, a few story beats, and the rough idea of an ending.

  But I’ll get into that - and more, including pacing - in Series 2 of this series of posts! Please let me know here or on twitter if these are helpful, or if I’m just rambling too much.

Since I am now struggling a lot to balance writing with work, and if you want to help me keep on writing posts like this, please consider donating to my ko-fi.

I also made a post on how I world-build, the tools and templates I use for the same: it’s over here!

 https://tender-history.tumblr.com/post/185910085044/on-research-worldbuilding-and-culture

[chuffyfan87]

Hiding. Part 77c

"This isn't a dream?"

“No honey, it’s not a dream.”

She smiled softly, clearly exhausted. "I love you."

“I love you too.” He kissed her tenderly.

Each time she blinked her eyes were staying closed for longer, she was trying to fight against it but the urge to sleep was overwhelming.

“You should sleep. Get your rest, you’re going to need it.” He said gently.

"What if I don't wake up?" She mumbled.

“You will.” He reassured, “I know you will.”

"I'm scared."

“Of what, baby?” He asked.

"That something bad will happen while I'm sleeping."

“You’ve just got to have faith that it doesn’t.” He kissed her tenderly.

"Stay here with me?"

“Of course. I’m not planning on going anywhere.”

Somewhat reassured she finally gave in to her exhaustion and allowed herself to drift off to sleep.

As promised he stayed by her side.

After a few minutes Megan cautiously popped her head around the door. As she wasn't family the staff hadn't told her anything about what was going on.

Charlie looked up and gestured for Megan to come over to them.

"Is everything OK?" She whispered as she approached.

“Everything’s perfect.” He smiled brightly, a solitary tear rolling down his cheek.

Megan placed her hand on Charlie's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, looking down at the sleeping infant in his arms. "They wouldn't tell me anything." She explained softly.

“He was born by c-section. Duffy lost more blood that average but nothing like she has the last times so she’s stable. She’s on obs every thirty minutes for the next twenty four hours.” Another tear rolled down her cheek. “The perfect delivery. Just what she always wanted.”

"She had me worried for a while there." Megan admitted. "He's a bonny little thing." She smiled, stroking a finger across the baby's cheek.

“That makes both of us.”

"She's too stubborn for her own good!"

“Hmm, god help Tilly’s partner if she's half aa bad as her mum!" He replied with a laugh.

"She's her mother's daughter for sure that one!"

“Oh she certainly is!”

"You should probably call the kids and let them know." Megan smiled.

“I want to surprise them.”

"How are you planning to do that? Won't they notice that their mum has been kept in hospital overnight and start to wonder?"

“I haven’t thought that far.” He admitted. “But they’ll be worried about Duffy.”

"Of course they will. Maybe wait til she's a bit more awake and let her call them?" Megan suggested.

“Good idea.” He smiled, “Would you like to hold him? There’s someone I need to go and thank.”

"Of course. I'll stay here with them both."

“Thank you.” He smiled. He kissed Megan's cheek and handed the baby over to her.

Megan took hold of the little boy with much practised ease.

The baby stirred a little but remained asleep in Megan’s arms.

Charlie kissed Duffy’s forehead and went to find Maggie.

After updating Duffy's notes Maggie had gone to the staffroom for a much needed cup of tea and a couple of biscuits, the adrenaline still pumping through her veins.

Charlie lent against the door frame, “Hi.”

Maggie jumped, not expecting anyone to enter the room.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

"Is everything OK?" She asked, getting up from the sofa.

“Yes thanks to you.” He stepped towards her, “I wanted to say thank you.”

"I was just doing my job." She shrugged, blushing slightly.

When he was close enough, he kissed her cheek. “You saved them both. Thank you.”

"I'm just glad everything turned out OK. You're usually so calm and unflappable, it was unnerving seeing you so scared."

“She terrifies me.” He admitted.

"So I've discovered the gap in the Charlie Fairhead facade?" She laughed.

“Yes something like that.” He smiled shyly.

"I promise not to tell anyone." She whispered conspiratorially.

“Thank you.” He whispered back.

"She's a lucky lady."

“I’m the lucky one.”

"Yeh, I don't know your wife that well but she seems nice." Maggie agreed.

“She’s lovely, got a heart of gold.” He told her with a smile.

"We should all be so lucky to find that special someone." Maggie sighed.

“There’s someone out there for everyone. Duffy and I were just lucky to find it together.”

"What if that person is already taken by someone else?"

He smiled sadly, “I’m not sure.”

"Do you go for it or leave well alone?"

“Depends on the person.” He shrugged, “Test the water? See what happens?”

"OK." She replied, giving him a dazzling smile.

He smiled back, holding her gaze for a second longer than necessary. “I should probably go back to Duffy and the baby, make sure she’s not causing trouble.”

"Yeh. I'll catch up with you during your next shift." She squeezed his arm. "Congratulations." She smiled, leaning in to give him a hug.

He hugged her back, “Thank you.”

"You know where I am if ever you need anything." She whispered as she lingered in his embrace.

“I know. Same goes to you too.” He smiled before he pulled out of the embrace and left her to it. He headed back to see Duffy, Megan and his son.

When he arrived back in resus Duffy was awake again and becoming increasingly agitated. Megan was attempting to calm her down with little success.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Charlie asked.

"Where the hell did you go? You said you'd stay with me!" Duffy replied, her tone angry despite her still being weak and tired from the birth.

“I was gone for five minutes.” He replied, “I was thanking the woman who saved yours and the baby’s life. It’s the least I could do.”

"Saying thank you takes a few seconds. What were you doing the rest of the time?"

“I was talking.”

"Talking to her was more important than being here was it?" Duffy spat back.

"Duffy, pet, calm down. You're not going to do your blood pressure any good if you don't." Megan attempted to calm her.

“Don’t start taking his side!” Duffy answered back.

Charlie sighed, “Duffy I was talking. I was gone five minutes that’s all.” He stepped towards her and stroked her cheek.

Duffy pulled her face away from his touch, reaching out towards Megan to take her son back.

“Darling?” He sighed.

Duffy relaxed slightly after Megan handed the baby back to her.

"I'm going to give you both a few minutes." Megan sighed.

“Thank you Megan.” Charlie watched as Megan left the room and sat down by the bed. He watched Duffy with their son.

Duffy attempted to sit up as the baby began to fuss, clearly hungry.

He helped her to sit up, “Are you going to breast feed or...?”

"I can manage by myself!" She muttered angrily though she was forced to accept his assistance as the anesthesia hadn't yet fully worn off.

“Will you please stop arguing with me?” He asked sadly as he kissed her forehead.

It took a few minutes for Duffy to get her son settled but once he was feeding happily she spoke again, though she didn't look up. "I don't trust her." She stated firmly.

“Don’t trust who? Maggie?”

"Not as far as I could chuck her!"

“Duffy!”

"What?"

“Why don’t you trust her?”

"She's got that look about her."

"What look?"

"Don't tell me you can't see it?!"

“See what?” He was clueless.

"Remind you of anyone does she?" She retorted sarcastically.

“Duffy! I have no idea what you’re going on about.”

"I'm not surprised she caught your eye, she's very much your type afterall." She replied bitterly.

“You think I fancy her?” He laughed before he realised she was deadly serious. “You’re actually been serious aren’t you?”

"Oh now why would I think that you'd be attracted to a dark haired, slender doctor..?"

“You honestly think I’m attracted to Maggie?”

"She's a much better option that what you currently come home to so why wouldn't you?"

“You’re my wife. And you’re sexy as hell, why would I want anyone else?”

"I'm not stupid, I've seen the way she looks at you."

“So she fancies me? Doesn’t mean I fancy her.”

"Oh so you knew she fancies you?"

“No but I’m guessing that’s why you’re so jealous.”

"I am not jealous!"

“Ok.” He caught her gaze, “She isn’t you, Duffy.”

"No - she's young, free, single and slim whereas I'm the fat and frumpy middle aged drudge you're stuck married to." She replied, starting to cry.

He pulled her into a hug, sensing hormones were playing a huge role here. “Duffy Fairhead, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever met who in twenty odd years, still insists on getting me rock hard. You are not fat! Or old. You have just given me another son, another child, and I love your body for the amazing things it constantly does. You are still just as beautiful as the day I set eyes on you, yes after you chucked coffee all over my shirt.” He kissed the top of her head, “I don’t want anyone other than you. I don’t want someone I can just fuck because it feels good. I want someone I can make love to and fuck in equal measure. Someone like you who makes me a better husband, father and man.”

The tears continued to stream down her face. "I'm... I'm... Sorry..." She mumbled as she lent against his chest, their son held tightly in her arms.

“You don’t have to apologise. It’s nice that you’re awake and talking.” He replied quietly. “You can talk to me about anything that’s on your mind, you know?”

"She reminds me too much of Baz." Duffy whispered.

“So you think my head’s going to be turned?”

Duffy nodded. "I keep thinking that one day you'll wake up and realise I'm not the girl you fell for anymore."

“Oh sweetheart.” He moved to look her in the eye. “You’ll never stop being the girl I fell in love with.”

"I hate feeling like this."

“It’s your hormones. They’ll settle down.”

"You haven't given her any kind of signals? That would make her think you're interested?"

“I may have said something.” He sighed, “I swear I didn’t know until we were talking just now that she fancied me!”

"What did you say?"

[ifeelbetterer]

thoughts on Avengers: Endgame

The only spoiler above the cut is: I loved it. I know. I am shocked too. 

Also, hit me up to chat about this film. I really didn’t expect it to be so good!

I’m gonna organize my thoughts by character because otherwise geeeeez louise would I start really rambling. 

Tony:

I love him as a dad. 

Like. So. Much. 

I love that this movie FINALLY retconned civil war and made it into an argument that makes sense. YES. That is absolutely something the two of them would fight about, you’ve FINALLY listened to me. 

I love love love that he was allowed to evolve in this film. Like....I haaaated how INfinity War handled him mostly because it was like trying to spray paint the Tony from the first Iron Man movie onto who he had become. No bueno. 

Like. TONY, our baby, our darling boy, for the FIRST time was fighting to LIVE. That’s progress, bay-bee. That’s growth. 

Steve:

Look, I’m as sad to see him go as anyone else. 

And I’m not gonna lie, I wanted canon Stucky this whole time, all the way down deep in my shriveled, cynical heart. 

But Steggy is Steggy, ok? I will always have time for Steggy. 

And that was so goddamned in character. We all knew he was just gonna pop from the pain at some point and *I* knew he was gonna pop in some way where he didn’t bleed on anyone else. So he just hijacked the past. You do you, you angry patriotic bunny.  

Also, MUST I point out that having an elderly cap around to heckle Sam!Cap and Bucky is one of the more ideal ways this could end? 

And also the version most in line with how Sam became Cap in the comics?

I’m not gonna lie, I was expecting MUCH worse for him as an ending. 

Nat:

I have not always loved ScarJo, but I have always (and will always) love Natasha. 

This was everything I wanted for her. 

She died the goddamn hero. 

She died fighting for love.

She died for her family. 

And there are like a ZILLION plot workarounds available if a future movie decides to bring her back. It was much harder to force Coulson to still be alive, you know? This one would be easy. I could think of six different plot ways to bring her back right now. 

Also, I know a lot of you wanted Clintasha from way back when. 

I am ace (I think you all know this) and as such I am alwaaaays looking for rep of relationships that are non-couple-y that mean as much as the couple-y kinds. 

I cannot tell you how much I cried to have it just baldly stated that: Clint and Natasha’s are each other’s most important, most loved person. And there was never a moment of “Oh, but actually I was in love with YOU, not Laura” or some bullshit. It just was absolutely equal, and it wasn’t romantic or sexual. 

I really needed that, okay? Please don’t anybody get angry about that. I felt really, truly SEEN for a hot minute in the middle of this stupid action movie. 

Clint:

I wish Joss hadn’t ruined Clint by rejecting the Fraction!Clint as much as everyone else

Joss is a villain and I hope he knows it

BUT that being said, I love a Hawkeye who is just as steeped in red as Nat

and I think everyone needed a darker Clint storyline to remember that

I love them being equals I just do okay

I love that she got a chance to save him back

and I love that he was in the same position she was in when he saved her way back when

like he had done lots of evil and was at a point where death seemed no biggie

and nat just saved the hell out of him instead

because love

Thor:

I could have done without the fat jokes

BUT they were actually very rare

his storyline was about major depression and i loved that

and we know that valkyrie has had centuries of a depressive episode before thor finds her in ragnaork

so it makes sense to me that she’s acting basically as his sponsor

Not trying to pull him out herself because she knows that doesn’t work

he has to pull himself out

and i’m glad she’s king now

and I REALLY hope thor is in the next GotG movie, please GOD get him in that movie

Some other notes:

this movie took to time travel like a doctor who episode

in that everything was very hand wave-y and “because timey wimey” and “does stuff”

if people are angry about that then i don’t know what to tell you

you can’t be all, “BUT THE TIME TRAVEL RUUUULES” about....this fictional time travel. Every fictional time travel makes its own rules. These are dumb rules, but there we are. I’d rather the movie time was spent on character rather than building an explanation for that, thanks.

i’m actually legit shocked it took ten years, but somebody finally devoted screen time to building relationships. now if only they had been doing that along....

I liked the ladied of kickass moment. It was super stage-y and unnatural, but whatever. KICK ASS, LADIES. 

man, I’m really glad I never watched Doctor Strange. It sounds like a shit movie. 

this movie was like 75% the stuff of dreams. If only they had done this in 2012 when we ASKED for it. 

I mean, I think if they had, I would have stayed as enthusiastic about the franchise as I was then. But it’s actually kinda too late?

Like, there’s been a lot of bad blood since then. I’m not sure I can sign back on to being a Marvel fan?

But this movie makes me think they’re capable of growth. Maybe they’ve learned from their shitty, shitty mistakes. 

Maybe Phase 3 will actually be good. 

Maybe. 

[drowningcomicart]

time to wrestle with the pigs i guess, because this has got to end right the fuck now

content warnings for this post include pedophilia mentions, abuse mentions, suicide/suicide baiting, and csa mentions, and to everyone not involved hi, this has been my life for almost a year, it’s a lot of bullshit so tread with caution i guess. (and no i’m not putting it under a read more because this is important.)

with that out of the way, i want to make it very explicitly clear that i’m not writing this post as an apology, nor am i going to ‘justify’ myself because there’s nothing to fucking justify. but i’m addressing it because we’ve officially hit november, and that means that for nine fucking months, i have heard every disingenuous opinion on this mess there is to hear, whether i wanted it or not. and i am tired, and i am done, but y’all wanna keep beating this horse, so here i am.

for those who are unaware, in february of this year someone in the fantroll circle--or at least the one i’m part of--was being unjustly harassed by some dumbass teenagers with a chip on their shoulders and nothing better to do. and because no one else was saying or doing anything, i made a post calling out the stupidity of bothering someone over an art style and if they were blown, they should just block and move on. i never mentioned the harasser’s usernames, not even in the tags. but i guess the ringleader’s guilty conscience took over, because they came crytyping at me in a dm to take the post down and how it wasn’t faaaaiiirrr. and when i gave no sympathy, saying i had not mentioned them by name and if they felt guilty, maybe they shouldn’t be a vicious asshole to people, magically they weren’t sad and anxious about how people would treat them (ha) anymore; they got mad. mad enough that they started a smear campaign against me under the guise of Protecting The Community and horribly twisting one of my characters into something he’s not so they could call me a pedophile.

he is a csa survivor. he has bad coping mechanisms for that trauma, and yes, it is dark. it is uhealthy and sad and tragic and awful. but it is still part of his story, and i am not going to shy away from telling it. and since that entire blog always had nsfw tagged, and unless tumblr was fucking around should not have been accessible to anyone under 18 in the first place, the abusive little shits who made it their personal goal to drive me out of the community, off of tumblr, and apparently hopefully into killing myself, should not have been able to see that content at all. unless they chose to, and again as mentioned above, it was definitely a choice. a choice born of spite and violence, because it was ONLY to have “dirt” on me when i called them on their shit behavior. because, i cannot stress this enough, it was never ever about pedophilia. it was about a power struggle. a made up stupid power struggle they felt the need to ‘win’ at any and all costs, including making a wildly serious accusation with no substance, altering screenshots to serve their purpose, and taking everything out of context to suit their narrative. and this is how it is for literally every single anti-based argument out there.

now we all know how i feel about the purity crusade happening on this dumpsterfire of a website, but in case you don’t THERE IS NO CASE WHATSOEVER IN WHICH DARKFIC IS THE SAME THING AS REAL LIFE CRIMES. if you disagree with that, please block me. please. literally right now. block me. block me and go away and i only pray you learn to separate fiction from reality and don’t turn into what these demons are. because i don’t care how much you disagree with someone, i don’t care how much you don’t like them, i do not care about any of it. your presence in those spaces is your choice. because despite what antis will have you believe, people writing and drawing this stuff always--and i will say always knowing you’re smart enough to not give me The One Exception as your airtight strawman to render every other argument invalid--tag it, keep it in adult-only spaces, and are responsible enough to know what ‘i understand and wish to continue’ buttons mean.

and so, knowing that fiction does not equal reality, and that the spaces these fictions are written in are inherently designed to make it so only people who say yes i wanna see it can access it, or hell even knowing basic fucking human decency, there is NO reason to suicide bait someone. ever. period. do not tell people to die you actual fucking monsters. people HAVE killed themselves. and if you’re okay with that, if you are really seriously willing to say someone deserved to die over fiction, block me. i don’t want to see anything from you until you find your humanity again. and yet here i am, again 9 months after the fact, and people are STILL messaging me about it. even my would be supporters, the ones who claim they’re only concerned for my reputation or whatever, are being disingenuous and victim blaming. all i have heard is “you should prove your innocence cos you’re making people uncomfortable otherwise”. it belies their stance on these things; that they secretly agree it’s ok to harass content creators so long as they can pretend to themselves it’s justified in some small way. that if someone doesn’t want to give their abusers--and internet harassment IS abuse do not @ me on this one--a platform, it’s the same as admitting they’re correct, no matter how absurd the lie. Yet they do nothing to show support for people being harassed because they’re too concerned with living in their comfortable bubble to make even the smallest effort to oust abusive jackasses from their own community, and then go on to bellyache that the fandom “isn’t what it used to be” and wonder “where everyone went”.

with any luck, they’re like me and they “went” to doctors and got medicated for the depression and anxiety this sort of shit exacerbates, and blocked all involved for their own sanity and because they don’t owe anyone shit. but more likely, from what i’ve seen? they’re dead. and if that makes you sick, if that makes you uncomfortable, it fucking should. people are fucking dead because of fictional characters, from a source that in and of itself deals with very upsetting and adult themes using child protagonists. regardless if they’re survivors of abuse themselves, or just like to explore anxieties and fears in the very VERY safe environment of fiction, where there are no real life consequences, it doesn’t matter. there’s no such thing as people who are “allowed” to write these subjects and people who are not. no one needs to put their life and vulnerabilities on the table for complete strangers to judge and deem worthy or unworthy of basic decency. to say otherwise is despicably transparent in their motives to exploit already vulnerable people for their personal entertainment or self gratification, and yet people fall for it every goddamned time.

i’m not going to make an argument that i’m not a pedophile because i shouldn’t have to. y’all should be able to use your fucking brains well enough to know that someone drawing fictional scenarios is not the same as a real adult abusing real children with very real world consequences. if it is personally upsetting to you, or makes you feel uncomfortable, or even triggers ptsd please for the love of god leave the blog.  why would you put yourself through that? why would you, if you are so against it, actively seek it out and harass people who make it? i would never call people outright liars about what does and does not trigger them. but it seems to me the only people who would behave in this way are either not as bothered as they have convinced themselves and everyone else they are, or they have some seriously bad coping mechanisms for their own trauma that are in no way the fault of the authors and artists at the receiving end of their vitriol. but as someone who was horribly abused, emotionally and psychologically, for the majority of my life, i know an abusive power trip when i see one.

if y’all have been supporting these people without thinking about it, i don’t want your apologies and shame, and likely no one else you’ve let get trampled with no help does either. but you have to do better. WE have to do better. even something as small as blocking people you know to be abusive jerks in the community can make a world of difference because they can’t have power if you don’t let them have a platform.

and as for the people in the community who started this mess, cos i know you still look up my posts in the tags--i’m not afraid of you. i’m not fucking going anywhere. i am here to enjoy my characters, enjoy my writing, enjoy making art and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. you are not going to silence me because you got mad that i called you out for being an abusive asshole. and anyone who listens to your bullshit deserves better than to be manipulated and frightened of you. fucking grow up and get some help, because lying about wanting to protect people by causing active harm to others is more morally bankrupt than any darkfic could ever be.

[ladyofmind]

October Wrap Up

Hey everyone! Sorry for the silence... been busier than even I can keep up with, and also found out that the last Music Monday I had a few weeks back- well it didn’t post so I was quieter than I intended to be...

But it is NaNoWriMo time now, so there should be time to settle in and post like mad to update you all, and write my 50k! After all, I have no plans to be anywhere this November. Fingers crossed nothing else goes crazy on me.

Without further chatter, game answers after the jump.

#CharactersHell

1- Rooms for rent above an active and lively bar, for as long as you like* (*Mgmt not responsible for any damage from the cat or other beings if you leave your door open/unlocked.)

2- Not in the expected way. Most of the monsters are the human Antags. The antags are motivated by jealousy and obsession. Other characters have their own personal demons, or else they aren’t really human...

3- Not real monsters, not really. The Antags are over the top in their issues, but they are rarer. Everybody has some kind of issue though.

4- Frost? That grumpy man is actually a bit of a softy inside… If not, Sly mixes up some ugly looking boozy milkshakes that are pretty tasty!

5- That would be the Antag. Tim is a sort of threat in waiting, one that slips around a bit like the snake he is. The incidents he is involved in are hard to figure out until after it happens...

6- My world is no different than our world. There is divinity in the form of God etc, but it really plays no part in my story.

7- Same world, same dire predictions. Only difference is, it’s a brothel, so one can assume they may already be in hell…

8- Most interesting job? That’s a toss up… It’s an interesting place to work in general, but I’m torn between Woods being in a band, or Tweety, the one in somewhat charge of all the other looney tunes….

9- Best Co-worker award goes to Malta. There is no one else likely to push, prod, and sometimes accidentally beat ya up to have a good time, while respecting limits. Unlike the constant party pusher Bebe, Malta can tell when you need the push, and when you just need a cuppa tea.

10- Most of the time, the networking person is Tweety, as everyone knows her and gets connected by her. But for this, I have to give it to the guys. Nira has a lot of connections from before bar life, music man Martin is always networking and improving his career, and Frost? Well the giant makes friends thru fights. Might not be a lot, but they are the best connections…

11- This is a little bit of everyone really. Malta, Frost, and others don’t do it intentionally, it’s more of a language barrier. Sly is the master of deflection to the point you still don’t know very much. That may be why Tweety sees him as an equal, as everyone assumes they know her, but they never know a thing. She doesn’t lie, just turns things around on ya.

12- Woods is about/has turned professional famous musician, depending on which book you read… Tweet is just really good at talking to people and getting everywhere from it.

13- Antags- Sofia has some fans yes. She’s a strange boss with a back story & has some loyal workers until she does things to mess that up (her MO). Tim on the other hand? Well, he’s liked for what his skills & the more unstable/broken sorts love him to obsession.

14- The Antags are good for backstabbing! Tim and Sophia work together for the mostly common goal, but in places there’s differences. For instance, a rigged auction is supposed to end in Tim’s favor. Doesn’t mean S can’t make more money off of him if he wants it that badly…

15- Tim gives me the creeps. There’s this thing he does that makes me feel violated too, so I know it will be good in the end… I just need recovery time after him.

16- Tweet isn’t monstrous… but it is a pain sometimes, writing for an always happy sort, even if you want to have her fight back against things.

17- Tim is as direct as a blunt log to the face can be. He’s more bull in the china shop. Sophia is the mastermind, making her puppets dance in that web way. You can 100% assume she’s behind something, but you’re hard pressed to prove it…

18- With Tim, smarts is the easy part. It’s Sophia you match wits with, if you have to at all…

19- Woods isn't really vicious… maybe some biting comments while holding a grudge. Tweet is always the “kill 'em with kindness” type

20- I think the side chars are very active in their own ways to push this story forward. Some are even pushy as hell!

21- Ok, so Frost isn't exactly wrathful towards the MC so much as ornery and wrathful at everyone… but he does blame Tweety for flaring his ulcer with her ideas.

22- Not all that hard for me, as I don’t force my characters into doing things they wouldn’t do anyway. I try to learn who they are first and go from there.

23- I don’t really use red herrings, not intentionally. There may be one or two accidentally...

24- So zen! I throw on some earphones blaring my playlist and forget that people exist. The absolute worst is when you’re writing so well, and then someone scares you by interrupting you!

25- I’m not really into the sweets. Once in a while, but mostly my writing runs off potato chips or pretzels. Crunchy and salty balances the romance writing well!

26- #FF #followfriday with interesting stories by: @nomdejillian @TGNeal @SkeptiCybrarian @marshawritesit

27- Halloween was fun when I was a kid. Now I enjoy making Halloween-y cookies and giving them out to people I like, since we never have trick or treaters where I live. One year per the Halloween cookie costume rules, I dressed in all grey with a bell on… Jingle bell rock ya’ll!

28- Not a prankster, so not very wrathful at all. Halloween isn’t a big deal near me.

29- Oh I think I did that already! False arrest of the sweet one anyone?

30- So this is a boost for our Co-Host @manual_arbanassi! His amazing, well rounded character work in #Tiogair is great. Plus he totally shares that character building with all of us with both this game and #CharactersTell!

31- After work where I have to avoid a kids book sale while having a bills closing day? Relax and maybe watch a Halloween-y movie. Really, I am more excited about #NaNoWriMo starting at midnight.

#SciFiNaNoPrep

1- Hi, Nicole here. I was fairly certain for #NaNo I would continue my #RedLetters #series, but this Mars idea won’t let go. It has an outline, so maybe this prep will help me change course?

2- For this Mars idea? 50K or whatever it takes to finish this idea. Definitely looking to start it.

3- It’s very similar in that it’s our Earth, and an exploration of the Mars planet we think we know.

4- The not so very distant future. My research says I need at least 4 years, so mid to late 2020’s

5- Planet Mars for about 90% of it. There’s a little Earth training time, and possibly other planet flash backs.

6- Both generally advanced Earth tech, and some stuff for Mars that feels like #spoilers (plus I need to sort that out –Note to self on more #prep!)

7- Haven’t quite named them… but I do know there’s some diversity and a female MC/narrator

8- That’s definitely a #spoiler! I can say that it’s a “greet the way you’re greeted” thing…

9- Oh, I’m showing my age here for sure… but like Sailor Mercury from Sailor Moon or the original Power Rangers Billy the blue ranger come to mind… for their smarts and calmness.

10- There are both Earth “children” and adults, plus some Martian life.

11- Earth customs, sure, all the standard ones. Martian customs fall into “show you, you decide what happens” things. Because the message/meanings are important sometimes.

12- #FF #followfriday with #scifi writers: @RagingCyclone @authorASMcGowan @mae_mckinnon and a bunch of people at #wipworldbuilders

13- I would say somewhere in between, as it largely depends on which side you see it from. Just because it’s Utopia to one may be dystopia to another. Similar to the grass being greener on the other side theory.

14- Earth politics are the same. Mars doesn’t have politics in the same way. They have more rule, order and understanding.

15- Mars is more science and study, so they are more guardians less lawyers in that sense. They have systems for everything, but mostly they do not have crime within their own ranks. Outsiders are a different story.

16- Oh lots! I am taking some of the known things about planets and life and tying it together to give credible conspiracy theory if you will. Might even include Nikola Telsa…

17- As Mars is a drier planet- with more wind storm, less water, the idea of hydro anything doesn’t work. Plus they have a better greenhouse process that makes planting in the ground useless.

18- There is really no focus on currency in this idea, as shooting for different themes, money being the root of trouble not one of them.

19- ATV type things above ground, underground tunnels with everything from walking to hovering transports.

20- I enjoy a reasonable time travel story. Not the type that appear there just to be there, or where the tech that travels person is hokey. More like Timeless, Krypton, or Doctor Who on good days.

21- On Mars there is advanced tech where medicine as we know it is obsolete. A little more nanites and lasers a lot less oral pills and rectal anythings.

22- Mars is a dry windy planet without water, in comparison to Earth’s visible habitats.

23- Mars grows things without name at the moment, but it is edible, like all things people make do with.

24- Standard Martian wear is something of a lab coat but resistant to its environmental elements.

25- Anything can be a weapon in untrained hands…

26- #FF upcoming writers

27- Earthlings go to school and are trained for space exploration. Martians learn by doing.

#RomanceNaNoPrep

1- Hi, Nicole here. Library worker by day/night/weekend, writer every other chance. Currently two and a half books into my #RedLetters series. So far all I’ve ever written falls into womens fiction category.

2- For Red Letters? 50K is just going to start it. They end up being easily 80-100K, even if its more like 200K words that have to be split into two different books...

3- Romance is my sub genre, as it reads more like womans fiction first. But the other books in the series cover more of the slice of life/journey stuff. This one would have a heavier romantic tone.

4- I love a good believable romance. Whether it starts off as a one night stand or getting to know each other first, the characters have to be real and well rounded. Funny is a plus but not cartoony or asks me to assume too much.

5- Depends on the mood. If I need a little escape, a sweet romance will do the trick. But if I need to be reminded of what it’s like to be human outside of working too much or need a serious escape, steamy tends to have a better grip on me.

6- #RedLetters started as an RP… don’t know where the 💜 of romance came from, but I’ve been writing about it as long as I can remember. Helps that hubs & I have been together 10+ yrs & we’re good friends first. Learned lots about relationships from that alone.

7- The main characters in #RedLetters has always been Naomi, better known as Tweety and the musician Woods. There is a whole host of other characters that are important, and Greg may become an MC… if he stays Greg of course.

8- Well, it’s not really a special meaning, so much as an inside joke. Tweety got her nickname from an outfit she wore, and a drunk-ish Cockney woman. The rest as they say is history…

9- Honestly? Kind of a fan of Emma Stone. Looks sweet and innocent, but can be sassy and a bit sexy too. All around package, inside and out I think.

10- I might have the Evil Other Woman cliche… At least on the surface. Hoping the history fleshes this out to be a full story not just a mad woman scorned thing...

11- Big fan of sassy heroines (aka no weak and fainty unrealistic women) and maybe a touch of the second chance at love thing…

12- #FF #followfriday  @MaeBaumWriter @klimov_author  have been #prepping with me since day one... plus I like the stuff @K_A_Grayson  does in her rockstar #romance...

13- When they first met, Tweety was about 21/22. Woods was 24/25. When they meet again about 5 years later, Woods is 30, Tweety will have a birthday in that book.

14- The characters are struggling 20's. Woods is higher in class while trying to do it himself. Tweety's poorer & finding herself. Inside the bar/club, social status doesn’t matter, & in some cases, makes you less important the more important you assume you are.

15- Woods sister approves, eventually. Tweety doesn’t talk to her parents, instead relying on Frost the manager to be her father figure. After a good bit of threatening during a chat with Woods, Frost approved too.

16- In this book? Friendly enemies. Tweety is not happy to see him, but she is never a rude sort, more the kill with kindness type. Woods is more eager to charm her into regretting her choices and occasionally bringing up the past, even if facts are distorted...

17- What brings Tweet and Woods together? A certain book… you know when you get that déjà vu feeling? Except you have proof from your side of the tale too. Trouble is that the truth has its own version…

18- What’s keeping them apart? Lots of hurt pride, broken hearts, completely different lifestyles… But even with all that past, the thing that made them unique is still there.

19- Remember yesterday, when I said different lifestyles? Yeah. West coast musician with a wildly successful touring band vs an East coast wildly famous bar/nightclub owner. One is always on the go, the other is happily rooted to one spot. Plus the same problems as last time- other people.

20- Woods can be a bit too thick headed or obtuse for Tweet’s liking. Woods isn’t exactly annoyed by her running off tendency, but it isn’t making his days any better either.

21- Well, this pair have been together before, and neither were all that innocent then. But since then… One has gone full on flavor of the month style, while the other is much more cautious about their reputation.

22- Woods & Tweet = the infamous Ghostbusters “don’t cross the streams” thing. It’s a peppy flirt who makes you question if she’s as naïve as she sounds vs a rogue with all the manners of that bad boy you need to leave with. Their game is holding out the longest & upping the stakes…

23- Their first kiss? Very steamy yet semi polite in front of the crowd… You see, it was Halloween, and there were sexy costumes… someone didn't speak, just acted, and the rest is... in the book!

24- In this series, I love that Tweet and Woods flirt at the level of chess moves sometimes. Tweety makes a man play on her level or the game is over. If you use tired lines or give the answer she expects when giving you enough rope to hang yourself… well she’s already over it.

29- Favorite quality about-

Tweety- She’s amazing at making people feel welcome and free to be themselves.

Woods- He’s got an awesome amount of patience and tolerance. The not being jealous adds to his charms.

30- Least favorite quality about-

Tweety- Always with the bright, happy side even if it hurts…

Woods- He picks up a ghost nickname for a reason you know.

31- This has been fun, and I’m totally ready for #NaNoWriMo! (Sits and waits for the clock to strike 12…)

#CharactersTell

1/10- “Oh, it’s my favorite month! Halloween weekend parties are our best buiness, and the most fun! Of course I have to come chat about #RedLetters with you all. You all know me as miss Tweety...”

2/10- Tweety- “Why i’m your hostess with the most-ess! I run the front of house at Soulful, in addition to being a co-owner.”

3/10- Tweety- “It’s only lonely in the sense of responsibility. Otherwise, I have a ton of staff and regulars around at any given time.”

4/10-Tweety- “I guess? I’m great with a lot of things, but Nira is best with the finances, so I leave that to him. Since I started being a waitress, I had him investing & asked for what I needed to buy clothes with. Best way to pay him back for the couch surfing.”

5/10- Tweety- “My time off is usually when I sleep. Now there is some help so I can leave before I start falling asleep, but other than writing, I wouldn’t know what to do with time off.”

6/10- Tweety- “Adventure happens all around the club. You never know what Bebe will do when bored, at least my job and the respect given to me, keeps the place from falling down around it all.”

7/10- Tweety- “Well, I would hope that my kindness keeps me in high esteem… Why else would we be so packed all the time? I know there are those against me, because I built a following from scratch.”

#CharactersTell

8/10- “I'm Greg, Gus’ grandson and recent college grad with a degree in business.”

9/10- Greg- “I had a few odds jobs, some for the experience more than the money, but yeah I work a lot.”

10/10- Greg- “I'm not nefarious. Just a regular guy with an inheritance that apparently affects others…”

11/10- Greg- “That's what I'm trying to decide! A piece of a prosperous club or a life on my own…”

12/10- Greg- “Trying not to do that with this choice. You know, this isn't really helping me decide, not when you're highlighting the downsides…”

13/10- Greg- “Progressive. Smart, firm when I have to be. Not overly nice, you will know I'm the boss.”

14/10- Greg- “If I decided to take the ownership, it's really like a slow raise. Or I sell it and make a windfall quick…”

#CharactersTell

15/10- Rolls in on those shoes with wheels inside “Duranta at your service, but everyone calls me Runta! Soul’s not so resident clothing designer and somewhat personal shopping friend to Tweet, if you must know.

16/10- Runta- laughs “Of course not! It takes money and patronage to become a designer who makes money. They wanted me to have a different sort of full time boring work.”

17/10- Runta- “I’ve made a few fashion week shows, and have some amazingly supportive fans who basically are fashion influencers in their own rights...” #spoilers

18/10- Runta- “Sure, I mean clothes and fashion is how you see a person, so of course people have stereotypes based on looks, but I don’t play that game.”

19/10- Runta- “Absolutely! Networking is a big part of what I do! Connections get me everywhere.”

20/10- Runta- “Total workaholic! A friend of mine says that if you love what you do, it’s not working, but living. And I am living for this life!”

21/10- Runta- “I learned a few things from the place I got my start. Hire people good at what they do, and that you can stand being around constantly. So yeah, the people who work for me become a family, since we’re together that much.”