#mostly dialogue because this is still half formed

[hellokatzchen]

Day 1: Midnight at the library

Anthony quite literally stumbled over her in the library. "Shit, sorry–" He realized who it was huddled in a ball. "Kate?"

"Bridgerton," she choked out. Her breathing was shallow and there were tears running down her face. It was obvious to Anthony that she was having a panic attack.

He crouched beside her, a hand reaching toward her before he froze. "Can I touch you?" He winced at how that sounded. "Nothing weird! Just– my sister Eloise found it comforting."

Eloise was the one with their father when he died of anaphylaxis almost five years earlier. She'd been five and nearly inconsolable for weeks. The panic attacks started a couple of months later and Anthony, dutiful older brother just trying to lessen his mom's burden, learned everything he could about how to support her.

Kate nodded shakily and Anthony dropped down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and rubbing her arm in a comforting pattern. She leaned into him heavily, breathing ragged. After a moment, she spoke again, "Can you talk to me? Please?" Her voice was hesitant and so small– not right for her at all.

"I never wanted to date your sister," Anthony blurted out. In his defense, it was the first thing that came to mind. He dropped his head back against the bookshelves hard but kept talking. "You were acting so unaffected and ignoring me and I wanted–" What? Her attention? His neck and ears heated with embarrassment. "I don't know, to get a response, I guess, but I took it too far and I'm sorry.

There was a long moment between them where the only sound was her breathing. "I'm sorry too," Kate admitted, voice still quiet but stronger. "I know I overreacted. You're not even Eddy's type."

"Please, I'm everyone's type."

"Trust me, you're not." She snuggled a little closer. "Tell me about your family."

"Well, I have seven younger siblings. My mom has an event planning business we all help with on weekends."

"What about your dad?"

"He died when I was thirteen. It was really sudden."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Mine died a couple years ago too. Cancer."

"Sucks."

"Yeah." The grief was palpable. Suffocating. Thankfully Kate broke it, "What was your dad like?"

"He was the best. He loved us all so much. He worked hard but also made time for each of us individually. I didn't mention but there's two sets of twins in the family and he would always make sure each got their own time and attention." Anthony closed his eyes. "I hate that Hyacinth, she's the youngest, never got to meet him. It's so unfair."

"It is," Kate agreed, "but at least she has the rest of you. When you never knew a parent… you don't miss them like we miss our dads. It's more like being told a story you can never truly understand. If they loved horses, you wonder if you would've done equestrian or if you might've vacationed at a dude ranch instead of the beach." It was as if she could sense the silent question Anthony didn't dare ask. "My mum died when I was three. Car accident during a storm– I was in the backseat. Mary, Eddy's mum, is my guardian now."

"I, uh… I didn't know that."

Kate shrugged a little self-consciously. "Why would you? Mary's the best, though. She's basically my mom."

Her breathing seemed to be back to normal, so Anthony untangled himself from her. "Here, let me just–" He went to the librarian desk and grabbed several tissues.

He handed them to Kate when he returned and she wiped her face. "How do I look?"

Her eyes were still red and her eyeliner was smeared but the only word that came to mind was striking and Anthony knew better than to say that. "Maybe wash your face before next period," he suggested with a lopsided smile. He offered her a hand to help her off the floor.

Kate accepted his help with a small thanks. He tried to shrug it off but she shook her head. "No, seriously– thank you. You didn't have to be so nice."

And all he could think was that it'd never occurred to him to do anything else.

[occasionallyprosie]

Just randomly curious

Why do you call Legend, the scholar instead of the veteran like what's mostly used?

Ohhh I've been waiting for someone to ask this kind of question! Ok ok ok, this is a bit long, so!

I call him Veteran a lot too but it depends on context and who is addressing him. Warriors, for example, sometimes *hates* to even think of Legend as a hardened veteran because he's a kid. So even if he will actively acknowledge Legend's experience and skill, he will avoid to only address him for that. He also avoids it because he thinks that maybe Legend would rather not be only known for his hero work (like Warriors would not want to only be known for his looks or for his warfaring past). He will call him "Vet" or "Veteran" still because it's easier to say, or because he's outwardly and directly acknowledging Legend's experience without having to directly reference the fact that he is experienced even if he's young.

Why? So I'm pretty sure it's been said that in the canon our boys don’t call each other "Twilight" or "Warriors" or their hero titles, partially because of spoilers with their own adventures that they're all basically keeping secret from each other. I'm certain Jojo said that at one point and referenced Twilight specifically as being a nickname that would cause spoilers/reveal his past prematurely.

They have nicknames then, like "Veteran," or "Sailor" and "Smithy." In certain situations they'll call each other "Link" if they think they need to, be it a moment where they need the other hero to pay attention or to ground them.

For me, I think "Veteran" is almost a spoiler because it reveals that Legend has been on over half a dozen adventures, but that the Chain would find that out before they ever hear/use hero names, and that's when Legend gets that nickname on top of "Scholar" and "Collector". But when they first meet? He doesn't want to tell them anything about his adventures, he doesn't trust them, not even how many he's been on, so how would they know he's a veteran at this?

"Collector" is obvious. "Scholar" comes from the idea that Legend's a very information curious person. That kind of person who is asking "why" just because they're curious and want to know, Vio would've been the same but Four is keeping splitting secret, so Legend gets "Scholar" as a nickname from Vio. He eventually gets "Veteran" when the group has been together and he trusts them enough to tell them that, yeah, this has been his entire life.

Lately, I've used their names (Legend, Warriors, Time) outside of dialogue because that's easiest to read and understand. But in dialogue it's been other nicknames only. That doesn't apply to all my fics, some were written before I made that decision and thus won't reflect that.

The only exceptions really are Sky and Hyrule. Sky is still called Sky as a shortened form of "Sky Knight" and "Skyloftian." However, Sky and Hyrule both also made the mistake of mentioning their titles when the group was suggesting nicknames. So they (at first) were teasingly called "Chosen" and "Hyrule," before "Chosen" just became one of Sky's nicknames and "Hyrule" became "Rule" became "Rulie." Legend, Wild, and Sky are the only ones who call Hyrule that though.

That was long, I hope that explains it! I'd be happy to clarify anything about anything.

[olderthannetfic]

ONTF, you're older than I am, you're highly media literate, maybe you'll know: what was the appeal of the Joss Whedon style of writing to begin with? Everyone whateverishly wording their phrasey bits in that very Whedon-y way never did anything for me, positive or negative, and the constant need to have comedy during serious moments or interrupt a serious moment with either snark or a remark that nods towards tropes diffuses the tension to the point where I can't get invested. None of his characters ever felt capable of having sincere moments like most characters in other things I watch, and the few moments of that they did have would get undermined by one of the aforementioned flaws.

I do think the "omg worst writer EVER!" crowd is a bit much, because I've seen things so bad that Whedon looks like Shakespeare by comparison. But my half-sister, who is 25 years older than me and thus in her late 40's, swears Joss' style is revolutionary and deep. And frankly I've been wrong about a lot of media I used to hate and I'm open to the idea I'm missing something. It's super likely given my limited media exposure, though I am admittedly trying to work on that and branch out into more genres of media and more formats so I don't become that 'guy who has only seen Boss Baby thinks every movie has Boss Baby vibes' meme.

So. What am I missing? What's the context I'm missing and the key here that will allow me to appreciate the appeal of and enduring fandom for Whedon's work? I am admittedly a fandom baby but I am willing to learn.

--

I mean... I despised him from the get go, other than the Buffy movie, which I still quote that death scene from regularly, so I'm probably not the best person to describe what's appealing about his style.

But one-liners during action are a common taste even if I'm fonder of the sorts of homoerotic 80s trash Ruthless Reviews used to cover.

Ironic distance is also popular and easier to swallow than earnestness for a lot of people.

However, I do think Buffy's original audience was connecting with it emotionally. Look at the part where Buffy's all upset after the most clownishly 1980s take on loss of virginity and heavyhanded metaphors for guys being jerks that just made every writer involved seem excessively middle-aged and out of touch Giles asks if she has any idea what could have happened to Angel. For people who weren't going to high school in 90s California, that bilge was apparently very moving. Certainly, there are parts of Buffy where the quips die down for some actual emotional moments.

People like style. Something that commits to being aggressively stylized will often stand out from the bland clones that surround it. Look at Wes Anderson (another creator I don't particularly like). Whedon's godawful faux-witty dialogue did sound different from other things on TV at the time. He also lets women say some of the one-liners, which is sorely missing from most media.

But mostly, he was formative for a lot of people, and I had to live through many, many years of them earnestly entreating me to give his shitty writing another chance because this time I would somehow connect with this sex-negative parasite and his casting aesthetic that I didn't find hot or interesting.

(I like dumb and campy things. I just like them to star a bunch of body builders from New Zealand, not waifs.)

People always hold up the things they imprinted on as more revolutionary and deep than they seem in retrospect. In Whedon's case, his already obnoxious style suffers from having been copied so much since, but even if he weren't famous or popular, if you were talking to that one person whose adolescence was defined by their love of him, they'd say all this same nonsense your sister does.

[iuciferic]

Oh my god I was just thinking about asks the other day and then it wasn't available so I'm gonna use this. I found you through Armored Core and I've stayed for the OC art because the SUN GOD??? Immaculate. I've been dying to know, is there like, a post on here with more information on the lore of these characters you've created? I'm so invested.

Hi and thank you for asking

I'm admittedly the WORST person to ask their OCs about because i have dozens of different AUs where those OCs doesn't even have the same names, relationships, ages, status, powers, etc because i really use them as barbie dolls

And even the lore of main universe (sol invictus) keeps changing (hence why i keep deleting the webcomic). But I promise I'm gonna try to make a definitive artbook.

However the main thing about the story that mostly doesn't change and you can read it under here:

Apologies, i write badly, english is not my native language and my friends usually proofread my comics to make the dialogues sound more natural

Basically gods are aliens, they're space entities such as planets, stars, black holes, etc or even phenomenon like wind, thunder... and are more or less sentient. Once there was a huge star called Paragon that imploded into a black hole. When it imploded, its light (called Hyperion) was ejected and what remained was a black hole called Exodus (which will later become the main antagonist). Basically Paragon's consciousness was split in half between Exodus and Hyperion.

Hyperion, gathering dust and debris left by supernovae created the original sun god "Sennacherib" (this guy). After that, Hyperion created the planet on which the story takes place and the rest of its solar system (hence, the other deities).

Now comes the problem that Exodus is not happy about being left into a literal corpse state and it thinks that if it can absorb Hyperion back, it will become the star it was once before (but it's too late there's no coming back from being a black hole). Therefore Exodus desperately tries to reach the solar system Hyperion created (in the form of dark particles called Miasma that corrupt (rot or turn into monsters) and eat away everything they touch). To defend itself, Hyperion creates beings of lights (an army of angels) whose job is to destroy anything that's been contaminated by that darkness. Hyperion itself turns is busy keep up a barrier that stops Exodus from sending even more miasma (but like, things slip in, and its the angels job to kill those things).

Hyperion especially has ONE angel whose role is not only to manage mortals (like humans and other sentient races) but also to absorb the Miasma inside himself because you cannot get rid of Miasma, you have to put it somewhere. That angel is Lucifer. Lucifer is the strongest of angels, it's said his light was even brighter than the sun itself. And Sennacherib, the sun god, loved him. They were involved romantically.

Unfortunately, after thousands of years, Hyperion senses that Lucifer is reaching its limits and it's going to be problematic if they don't get rid of him soon and send him into the void where he'll cease to exist. He's going to become another Exodus with how much Miasma he's absorbed.

So Hyperion asks Sennacherib to help create a new replacement for Lucifer, one that will be less powerful, easy to kill if things go wrong but still able to absorb as much Miasma. So Sennacherib creates Adramelekh from one of his 6 arms.

The problem is Adramelekh is a body without a soul. It's literally just a pile of light. He asks Lucifer to give him a piece of his soul so he can start from it and create a full person. But he explains that Adramelekh will replace Lucifer as the light bringer. At first Lucifer is perplexed because he doesn't know what will happen to him once Adra replaces him. But he also sees it as creating a child who is the fruit of their love and accepts. The first incarnation of Adramalekh is created. She's mortal but she's not allowed to reincarnate like everyone else due to how much Miasma she absorbs, she will corrupt all the other souls. Instead she's reborn from her ashes like a phoenix every time she dies.

Meanwhile Exodus decides to launch another attack on Hyperion by creating a being of darkness called Death. Death will infiltrate the planet, live there and slowly corrupt everything as to force Hyperion to leave. The plan is to basically plant 3 seeds of chaos into powerful beings that will force weaken Hyperion.

Death plants the first seed, Pestilence, inside Lucifer during a battle. The seed drives Lucifer crazy, he starts questioning everything and eventually finds out Hyperion planned to get rid of him as soon as Adra was ready to replace him and cast him into the void. So he rebels against Hyperion, beings corrupting everything around him, but loses the war. [I have to keep brainstorming what happens to him, but he doesn't die, he's just incapacitated for like 3000 years]. The saddest part was Lucifer didn't become evil of his own, but mostly because he found out he had been betrayed by his loved ones. he still had the mental capacity to fight the seed if it wasn't for that

Later, Death plants War into a character. But that's spoiler and tbh some people who know the story probably know who. War's job is to plunge the world into chaos with constant wars.

But death's ultimate plan is to plant Famine inside Adramelekh and turn her into a black hole that will absorb everything Hyperion created.

In the future the old Sun god is badly injured and he's forced to merge with Adramelekh who then takes his place. The problem is she also loses her sense of identity because her consciousness is confused with his and the many corrupted souls she's absorbed through the millennia.

Now to Anamelekh (who doesn't have human ears like in this pic, i made a mistake).

Ana is a golem created to protect Adramelekh or execute her if she ever becomes evil. I am still brainstorming weather or not Ana used to be human. But basically Anamelekh has known dozens of Adras. They all died young for various reasons (there's one guy who keeps making sure Adramelekh dies as soon as she's reborn). All of them had different personalities, but Ana loved all of them (Well... those that survived long enough).

Except the current one (at first) who seems immature, stubborn and selfish.

Ana will also have to merge with the old moon god and become one too later in the story.

[hippielittlemetalhead]

So season 3. Let's do this!

This took so so so long and is not quite where/what I wanted it to be soooo... I am so sorry 😅🥲 this will most likely be 2 parts cause... Yeah, just life man.

Actually some dialogue in this one? Sure, a line or two, as a treat.

(Part1) (part2)

Steve had been working at Scoops Ahoy for a few weeks now and he feels like he's built a decent rapport with his coworker Robin. She's witty and snarky and opinionated and when Steve wears a more tinted lipgloss than he intended resulting in a customer clocking it and saying something rude that he can't help but smile his dead-eyed customer service smile at, she clocks out for her lunch early (and takes an extra 15 minutes) and comes back with a full face of makeup and shoos him into the back with the mascara she bought from the shop a couple stores over. They both start coming to work with at least mascara, eyeliner and lipstick and Steve loves it. He compliments the hand-drawn designs on her shoes and she asks where he got his rainbow heart pin. They mostly disagree on music they listen to -she still lets him drag her to a couple live music nights at The Hideout with him and Billy every now and then anyway- but their politics and basic life philosophies line up pretty well.

He could do without the 'You Rule / You Suck' board, especially when Billy gets in on it and adds tallies from a little notebook he starts keeping when he and Steve hang out outside of kids and work. And the jokes about his kids (and occasionally Billy) when they come through for free passage to the movies. And the jabs about his parents' money like he still has access to that or their house.

He doesn't tell her that he was cut off and disowned and kicked out. He doesn't tell her that he had to get a job to help pay for his community college courses because he was a disappointment that couldn't get into a pre-approved 4-year university and that meant no college fund and he was still a few years away from being 21 and having access to the trust fund his grandparents set up for him when he was still just a lump of forming cells. And even then anything in that will probably be blown on buying himself his own permanent place instead of just a hand-me-down trailer in the middle of the woods so he needs to save for things like bills and a mortgage.

He doesn't tell her that the reason he lets the kids get away with so much is because they're *his* and they've already seen more fucked up shit than the cops in this town (save Hop) and he'll be damned if they don't get to just be kids. He'll be damned if they decide he's someone they need to hide from and sneak around like they hide and sneak from Joyce and Hop cause that's how they didn't know about half the shit the kids got up to while the adults were doing their best to take care of things themselves. He doesn't tell her that he's paying "rent" to the chief of police (it's way less than he should be but it's all Hop would take).

He doesn't tell Robin a lot of things.

Then sometime after Robin finally warmed up to him but before Dustin comes back from camp, Eddie Munson walks into Scoops Ahoy, his metalhead nerdy entourage in tow. He orders a plain scoop of vanilla with sprinkles in a cup and one of the others also orders something small and simple (while longingly eyeing their diabetes-inducing, horribly artificial tasting, bubblegum flavor when Munson turns away) before all of them are squeezing into one of the largest booths, emptying out messenger bags and backpacks of overstuffed binders and scuffed up versions of very familiar looking textbooks. It's like looking at an older -slightly grungier- version of his kids.

"Gentlemen, now that 🎶school's out for summer🎶-" There's a musical lilt as he says it that sounds vaguely familiar to Steve, "-and it has been confirmed that I will in fact be held captive for yet another stint in the hell they call Hawkins High School it is time we confer and conspire for the next year of Hellfire and the little sheep that will be joining our flock." He kinda loses track of it after that because then his kids are rushing in demanding tasters of everything and edging towards the lifting part of the counter with a look in their eyes that speaks of mischief. He puts up the initial fuss about them only visiting him for his backrooms access and that they promised to only come over when there were no customers around. He lets them through anyway.

He notices Munson eyeing him as he puts the partition back in place shaking his head and Robin laughing at him as she washed their ice cream scoops. The one that's vaguely more familiar looking than the rest and reminds him of a taller, angrier, Dustin with a better hair regimen isn't quite glaring at him but is definitely paying more attention than the rest of Munson's posse and seems more suspicious than Eddie's curious.

The metalheads are still there when Billy shows up stinking of chlorine in clothes that are damp where they cling to his frame. The group loosens up a little when he shoots Steve his signature smug smirk as he shrugs on his denim jacket that -like Steve's own jacket hanging out of sight in the staffroom- had begun accumulating patches and pins since Neil's incarceration. Unlike Steve's, Billy's has homages to bands like Mötley Crue, Deff Leppard, Twisted Sister and Guns N' Roses with little trails of shakily embroidered flowers and constellations on the collar and hems and filling the spaces between the patches and pins. Billy also has a small pink triangle on the lapel where Steve has a rainbow. Steve pretends not to notice the way the group goes a little quiet as Billy starts his usual routine of sunnily demanding tasters of all the available flavors and then again with sprinkles to "-really get an idea of their ✨nuance✨, prettyboy" before deciding on a scoop of double chocolate with a scoop of raspberry vanilla in a cup with sprinkles and one of their fresh waffle cones on top. Like always.

"Really branching out there aren't ya, tough guy?" Steve keeps his face as stoney as possible but he can't help the humored edge to his voice.

Billy just winks at him running his tongue over his teeth as he gives Steve an exaggerated leer, "Gotta keep you on your toes, handsome." Robin fake gags and Steve laughs and Eddie Munson turns red as he stares at the two joking jocks. Billy goes quiet as he stares at his ice cream and Steve recognizes the look on his face, tells the blonde to go sit down in their usual booth and he'd be taking his break soon and they can talk about whatever's bothering him.

What's bothering him is Neill getting parole for 'good behavior', Jim only telling the Mayfield-Hargroves almost a week after he was let out because that was actually the same day he himself found out. Billy found out just before a summer basketball practice session and thinks he snapped at an underclassmen he's been trying to get to open up about what Billy is 90% certain is going on in the kid's home, but he knows that cops can't do much if the victim(s) refuse to trust in those trying to help them. He's worried about the kid he snapped at. Worried about Susan and Max. Worried that even with the restraining order Neill will try something. Billy tells Steve he had thought he saw Neill around the outskirts of town during errands or during his turn to haul the kids around a couple of times before Hop told them and now he's sure it wasn't just paranoia. Steve tells him they'll figure it out, reminds him he's not alone in this

That makes Billy smile, small and tired but real and grateful. His shoulders are still tense and there's still a wariness in the smallest crease between his eyebrows that makes Steve ask if there's anything else. They talk about some of the weird dreams Billy's been having that makes Steve encourage him to talk to El. Just to make sure Billy isn't going through what happened to Will the last alternate-dimension-go-around.

They make plans to head out to see the two Hoppers after Steve's shift. Come up with a basic timeline of when and where Billy thinks he saw Neil so they have something to start with for Hop. Put together an idea of how involved Billy wants to be in whatever plan Hop comes up with. They're interrupted by a group of girls swanning into the shop and Steve being yelled at by Robin to get himself back to work. As he gets up from the table Steve levels Billy with a look that makes the blond think about the way Max and the kids described Steve when they talked about how he fought off the pack of demodogs in the junkyard, planting himself between them and snarling snapping danger like Galahad himself.

Steve looks him in the eyes and says "I swear Billy, we're going to get through this, we'll take care of it and keep you and the girls safe. Hop knows what's going on and even Callahan can't get away with letting that piece of shit fall through the cracks after what he pulled." He leans in close and bites out probably louder than he should for the amount of people in the shop, "And if that fucker gets near any of you I've got Darling in Baby's trunk and I am not afraid to use her on a human shaped monster instead."

Author's (rambler's) Notes:

So, that's all I have for season 3 rn I am so sorry. 😭 I'm working on the next bit but I am so burnt out recently and now I'm unemployed cause of the ceiling at my job caving in which does not help the stress. So I unfortunately do not have a timeframe for you. 🥲 A couple of folks asked to be tagged so... Here you are? To be fair I'm not making any promises in regards to the taglist in the future, I will do my damnedest and y'all will have to bear with me.

I'm glad people are liking this and tbh this has gotten more attention than I expected so thanks? I appreciate the appreciation of my ramblings. Feel free to scream at/with me about this au in my asks box and I'll respond when/as I can. I'm just glad people are enjoying this. 🙃

@heartsong18

@knightofthieves

[omorimodreverie]

August Development Update

Overview

August started out similarly to the last couple months, with progress being on the slow side and contributions being made in base asset development. However, progress began ramping up towards the end of the month, and we’re now at a place where we’re making some decent progress towards a test build. We’re only just beginning, of course; and it’ll still take a lot of time before anything is ready for the playtesters. But still, progress is progress.

This month is an important milestone in that we finally started to implement the assets we have into the RPGMV engine. At this point in time, we now have the beginnings of a playable city in the works, and we hope to refine it into a state where we can give you some sneak peeks sometime soon. All I can say for now is that I’m personally very excited with how the city looks, even now at this primitive stage: I can’t wait for you all to see it.

Progress

As mentioned previously, the most noteworthy progress made in August was that our base assets are being implemented into RPGmaker. However, this in no way means that other areas of development weren’t touched upon: in fact, quite the opposite. Everything we’ve worked on during the past month includes, but is not limited to:

With a few exceptions, maps for the city that will be shown in chapter 3 has been implemented into RPGmaker

Basic map events have been put in place that allow map movement, door accessibility, functioning stairs and elevators, etc

A number of cutscenes, as well as NPCs, have been mostly implemented into the game and fleshed out

A number of additional pixel artwork for NPCs and map objects were completed and added into spritesheets

Organization for various songs and the music department in general has seen significant progress

Progress was made on the writing for cutscenes and various flavor text/NPC dialogue

The game files in general were reorganized, as well as optimized

What’s In Plan For The City

Going into development for chapter 3, a very important and rather difficult challenge was posed to us in the form of the chapter’s playable area, the real world city. Of the two areas we worked on so far, Fallen World was based off of a preexisting area in the base game, and therefore much easier to develop; and the Neural Network, while original, was still a part of dreamworld, allowing us to conceptualize much of it based on our major interpretations of headspace.

The city is different in that this is a place entirely separate from Sunny’s imagination or even Faraway Town. This means that we have virtually nothing from the base game to draw inspiration from, and have to build it from the ground up almost completely by ourselves. This is partially the reason why chapter 3 is taking so long to complete: from a development perspective, we’re having to blaze our own trails. For a team of voluntary, part-time, amateurs, this has proven to be somewhat of a hurdle.

Our main goal with the city was to make an area that felt ‘dynamic’: basically, for it to feel like a real city. Faraway Town in base OMORI is a tiny suburban community: to that end, the buildings are sparse and short, with identical houses lining the streets. Combined with a general lack of large-scale activity and mostly static NPCs, it gives off an atmosphere of relative sleepiness, an aura of quiet. We wanted our city to provide a sharp contrast to Faraway in this aspect: we wanted it to be rambunctious, packed, and bustling.

Creating a ‘Dynamic’ City

So what makes a city ‘dynamic’? During the course of the last few months, we’ve been able to come up with a map of the city that’s filled with tall buildings tightly nestled together, in the backdrop of a tightly urbanized network of uniformly gray streets and sidewalks. All this combines to create an impression of crowdedness: however, it still falls short of being ‘dynamic’. That’s because the map itself is one half of a whole, the other half being the map’s inhabitants, NPCs.

Even with the most packed and busy city of all time, it doesn’t exhibit any life until actual people are living in it. And this is our real challenge surrounding the creation of this city: to populate the map we have with NPCs that can successfully convey the impression of bustling, busy and lively city people. There’s a few methods we can use to achieve this, such as:

Power in numbers: simply have many, many NPCs in the city

Passage of time: as the time of day changes, have NPCs move from place to place, with different NPCs being present at different times and etc

Literal movement: have NPCs literally move around, such as walking through the streets, wander through a shop, etc

While all three methods are important, and they’ll all be used for the creation of chapter 3, the third and last method of allowing NPCs to literally move around is arguably the most important. This is because NPCs moving around with the player are the most visually distinct: a room where everyone but the player stands around doing nothing is static as soon as the player stops moving, but a room where an NPC goes around doing something always has something going on, looking much more lively.

Take a look at this shot of the cafe, for instance. The player is mostly standing still, but two NPCs (the brunette waitress and the blonde waiter) are constantly in action: cleaning tables, washing dishes, entering and exiting doors, etc. This, combined with the map of the cafe itself and the patron NPCs sitting on the chairs, is what creates a ‘dynamic’ atmosphere.

While we’re just getting started with the NPCs, we want to eventually finish the entire map out that radiates the feeling of being ‘dynamic’, as described above. We’ll be putting up periodic updates on how we’re doing on that front with the dev updates in the future, so please stay tuned.

End of Summer Break?

It’s September now, and everyone’s summer breaks have mostly come to a close. For our team, this year’s summer break period was characterized by a time of generally slow progress. Now that it’s over, things have indeed started to speed up: while early August still had little activity, things gradually picked up as the month progressed. The last week of the month marked the zenith of this growth, with considerable progress being made in all sectors.

Still, it would be rather naive to think that this fast progress will continue on for the rest of the semester. Midterms are still very much a thing, and right now is just a short period between summer break and exam period. Still, we want to use the opportunity we have right now as efficiently as possible.

September looks to be a promising month in terms of progress. We won’t take that for granted, though. We’ll see you next month, with hopefully lots of news. Thanks for reading this far, and thanks as always for your interest in Reverie!

[shiro-luvs-victor]

Alright! So I'm done with Xeno and I'm surprised. It's a good route but there are some issues.

👇👇👇Spoilers 👇👇👇

Xeno's route isn't too complicated as say, Gilbert's route. The story is good enough to make me wanna keep reading it. I like that from the very start, we get a clear idea of Xeno's personality. A perfectionist.

Xeno is the center of exeCreed and probably also the lead vocalist. Although he's not the actual leader of the group, the members mostly follow him. Xeno is pretty hardworking and I mean VERY HARDWORKING. He always has a plan on how the members perform their stage shows, he's always the one directing everything and everyone listens to him because his ideas and strategies are very good. In short all the members really respect him. But the problem is, if something goes not according to the plan, Xeno will start throwing tantrums. He would scold his members for not going according to the plan. For example, during one of their stage performance, Finn did a dance routine in front of the crowd which was not according to the group's plan. This led to Xeno and the members fighting. Xeno doesn't like it when something, even if its the smallest thing, doesn't go according to the pre-determined plan. Although the other members are frustrated, they still respect Xeno because he's very talented and hardworking. They do raise their voices but in the end, they would just move on like always.

Xeno's personality is greatly influenced by his past and his current mission in life. The reason why Xeno is such a perfectionist and why he's so cold to others? is what we learn from his story.

Xeno or should I say Rio Seika (his real name), his main goal is to find out about his parents' death and take revenge on their killer. Believe it or not, Xeno comes from a very well-off family. His father was the former president of a very big media company. While he was in New York (for his studies, I assume) he received the news that his parents died in a car accident. Xeno was then adopted by his uncle but his uncle didn't treat him well. Xeno also felt very fishy about the way his parents died. This is where Xeno's story arc starts. He decides to run away from his uncle and started living on his own. He decided to be singer and dancer and polish his skills as each day went by. He wasn't a prodigy or anything. Nor did he had dreams of becoming one. He polished his singing and dancing skills everyday so that one day he could become very popular and powerful singer who could then challenge the current president of his father's media company, his uncle. Who is also the killer of his parents.

Xeno's real reason for being an idol is just so because he can be powerful enough to bring down his uncle. But even so, in a way he did end up liking it because when he sings, he still puts whatever emotions he feel into his singing. It's not half-baked. People still feel mesmerised listening to his voice. Even his members.

Xeno simply only sees his members as just co-workers and not as friends at first. In the story, he suffers an injury in the leg which led to his dancing being awkward. Yet he never revealed the injury to his members because of his pride and wanting to be a perfectionist in every way. But the members were smart enough to notice his injury because they have spend together quite some time to know each other very well. This leads to the members forming a bond of understanding each other, and the ice walls around Xeno also starts to slowly melt. We can see Xeno thanking his members and trying to get closer to him. It's really sweet scene.

I hate to say this, but the story does have some cringy dialogues similar to Ikemen Prince. Here, it's like "Thank you for melting the ice in my heart and turning me into a human." There are lot dialogues like that and I'm sure this isn't how people actually talk. If you talk like that, I suggest you get therapy. I'm being serious.

Another thing I'd like to shed some light on is, how Xeno and Rina (MC) relationship develops. It moves very slowly but we can actually see their relationship improving from the way how Xeno addresses her. Xeno at the start of the story calls her by her company name - 'Aegis'. Later when they get a little bit closer, he calls her by her last name - 'Kawanaga'. Soon, the tone in which he calls her starts to sound more caring and we see him approaching her first rather than other way around. In addition, helping her with her commercial planning and stuff. But the part where I think looked awkward is when Rina out of no where confessed her love for Xeno in Chapter 20. I was surprised seeing the sudden confession out of blue because I felt it was a little too rushed. I can see these two moving closer and having a nice friendship. But for them to fall in love, I would say maybe give them 3 or more chapters and some nice sexual tension scenes to make it seem like there is something romantically going on between them.

But that doesn't matter because the very next chapter Xeno accepts her heart and kisses her. Also he calls her by her first name from then on. I actually loved it when he called her by her first name, Rina.

Honestly though, I like Xeno AFTER he fell in love with Rina, because before he was very strict and unapproachable also a little bit annoying. But after he fell in love, he becomes the most passionate lover I've ever seen. He went from being:

Xeno: "Aegis! You better do your work properly or I'll kick you out immediately!!"

To:

Xeno: "Rina....I love you so much *kiss kiss kiss* I wanna melt you with my warmth....do you also want too?"

The route is fairly good for a first play but I have a feeling I'm gonna end up liking Jace's route more because his personality is winning my heart (also he has long hair which he ties up). I'd give Xeno's route a 7/10.

[livingfast04]

In the Monster AU:

How much control does Steve have over his appearance?

Does he actually have brown eyes, or did he pick them because they're the most common?

Did he try on features from TV and other kids trying to find out which ones he likes best?

Did his parents help guide him in picking his faces? Like did they put little Steve in the counter of in front of their massive bathroom mirror and coach him "Okay honey, your nose should be a little bit longer. Do you see how Daddy has a bump at the end of his 'Outside Face' nose? Try and put one on the end of yours."

Can Steve change his gender? And if so does he see himself as non-binary?

If Steve changes his appearance enough, does he want to be called by a completely different name? For example, if he comes down the stairs one morning as a covered in freckles redhead with a gap in his teeth, is that the signal that he's actually Charlie today and not Steve?

Hullo!! Steve's got a pretty good grasp on his appearance! Shapeshifters don't let their kids out of the house (backyard is apart of the house, close family homes- things like that) until they can control it! It's both to protect the kid and to protect the secret!

He does actually have brown eyes!! I don't really know how to explain it- but at one point yes, shapeshifters where an eldritch horror- but then marrying, having kids with Humans- either under "disguise", or the human knowing. They adopted human traits into their "shapeless form" So Steve's parents have generational traits! That just get passed down! So, Steve looks far more like his Mom, Brown eyes, beauty marks, and freckles! The color of brown hair, Steve gets from his Dad!

His parents did sort of half to coach him to "find his face" some traits don't get passed down, so they have to pick and choose genetics for their kids to get. So your little dialogue piece is mostly correct!

Steve can change his gender! The plan is/was to make him Non-binary, (because I make it a mission to commit theft of all my comfort character's genders at least once.) I'm still working that portion into the fic fully! But! Steve's Dad does refer to him as "his child" instead of his son when they come back to the house and they run the Party off. So it's already out there??

If Steve changes his appearance he wouldn't go by another name. He's still Steve. Sure for the sake of confusing the hell out of people, or getting away with a crime- maybe then? but He's still Steve, not matter what shape he happens to be, no matter what he looks like. He wouldn't be another person just because he looks different.

[sednonamoris]

working for the knife

Pairing: John Marston x gn!reader

Summary: You and John return to camp, where an unexpected crisis awaits.

Warnings: Strong language, canon-typical injuries/aftermath of torture, references to gun violence, arguments, toxic family dynamics (Dutch being Dutch), lots and lots of dialogue, brief overtures of Christianity

Word count: 2,128

A/N: just a quick one before we get into the whirlwind chain of events that takes the gang from clemens point to shady belle… 👀❤️‍🔥

Series masterlist • AO3

—

You and John drag your feet the rest of the way to camp, and still your week’s-end arrival comes too soon. Out on the open road it’s so easy to feel like you’re the only two people in the world. You catch yourself staring at him with a lovestruck look enough that it should be embarrassing. It would be, if you didn’t catch him staring back just as often.

“What?” you ask this time with that sappy smile that hasn’t left your face.

“Nothin’,” John shrugs past a matching grin, but the creases at the corners of his eyes say that he loves you.

You love him too.

Always. Forever. You haven’t talked about what that night in the storm meant - not really - but mostly because there’s no need. The only thing that was ever waiting for the two of you were twin graves; together to the very end. As far as you’re concerned that hasn’t changed, and so there’s nothing to say. You’ve always understood one another’s silences, anyhow.

A companionable one stretches between you now, nearing camp on that wide dirt road that leads to Rhodes. The sun is a vivid orange, hung low in the early evening sky. It paints the lush landscape in a warm glow and colors the rich brown dirt beneath your horse’s hooves almost red. Creeping vines hang from tree branches bathed in gold. The crickets have started their choruses, ushering in the long shadows and pigmented sunset to come. This place is beautiful, you have to admit. Too humid, still, but beautiful.

As you admire it, movement catches your eye near the turn-off for camp; a horse and rider. You shade your eyes to see better. That big painted bay can only mean it’s Arthur, but something strikes you strange. He isn’t upright in the saddle, and his horse is flagging.

“John, somethin’ ain’t right,” you say.

The carefree mood dies in an instant. He pulls out his binoculars and clicks them in to get a closer look, cursing at what he sees.

That’s all it takes for you to spur your horses on, cantering up beside Arthur’s slumped form and cursing all over again. It’s not pretty. Dressed in nothing but his longjohns and a stolen bandolier, Arthur is half-conscious and hunched over like he’s got cracked ribs. Broken, maybe. And that says nothing about the bullet holes in his leg and shoulder. His skin is sallow and fevered. Eyes bleary. Blood is crusted across his hands and clothes.

“Jesus, Morgan, what happened to you?!” John says.

Arthur only groans in response.

You spare a furtive glance toward the road - empty, thankfully - and snag his horse’s reins. John tells you he’s going to track Arthur’s trail back a ways to make sure that whoever did this didn’t follow. If he finds them, they won't be following anyone for much longer.

Without further delay you take Arthur the rest of the way to camp, wincing in sympathy with every jostle and jerk of his saddle.

“Aw, shit,” Karen says from her post on watch when she sees you pass by. Her eyes go wide and she scrambles to follow you up.

Arthur falls from his saddle when you make it to the edge of camp, boneless, and you curse and jump down to get him. “I need some goddamn help here!”

Everyone comes running.

Karen and Mary-Beth and Dutch are the first to arrive, murmuring Arthur’s name in disbelief.

“I told you it was a set-up, Dutch,” Arthur wheezes from where he lies prone, eyes blinking sightless. “They got me, but I got away.”

“Miss Grimshaw, I need help!” Dutch shouts over Pearson’s wide-eyed apologies. “Swanson!”

More bodies rush in.

“Help me get him up,” you say, hoisting him upright in spite of his protests. Dutch takes his other side and Pearson supports his back.

“Let’s get him to bed…”

“Has anyone told Abigail?”

“Clear a path!”

The crowd moves with you, ready to catch him should he fall. He limps heavy between you and Dutch, feet stumbling and breath whinging past his cracked lips.

“You are safe now, Arthur,” Dutch promises as you set him down on his cot. It’s hard to tell which of them he’s comforting. “You’re safe now.”

Arthur laughs a wheezing laugh past his broken ribs and smiles stupidly at the tent canvas above him. “That’s pretty, Dutch. That’s real pretty.”

Your own chest constricts. This fever has him bad. You’ve seen folk die from less.

Dutch asks Ms. Grimshaw to sit with him while Reverend Swanson administers the morphine. Mary-Beth fetches Jack away so Abigail can stay by his side. Her eyes shine glassy with tears. You ask if they need you to hold him down while they cut away the bad flesh from his leg and shoulder, but they usher you away.

“What the hell happened?” you ask Dutch. He paces in front of his tent. “John and I been gone barely two weeks.”

“Where is he?” he asks instead.

“Scouting. Wanted to make sure Arthur wasn’t followed by whoever did this to him. What did he mean about a set-up?”

Dutch explains Pearson’s lead and his meeting with Colm and his boys. How Arthur was supposed to meet him and Micah back at the crossroads when things went south, but he never showed and they couldn’t stick around.

“And you never thought to look when he didn’t show up a few days later?” Having to run you can understand, but leaving one of your own behind? That’s never been the Van der Linde way. If it was, so many of you would be rotting in jailhouses right now.

“We might’ve,” Dutch says with a pointed stare, “if we weren’t missing two of our best guns. I got mouths to feed here, Ghost. Folk to protect. You should know that.”

“You think I don’t? John and I were out makin’ sure you could feed them!” you say. “I got us hundreds more on those horses than that fence would’ve. How was I s’posed to know you and Micah were back here trying to get Arthur killed in the meantime?”

Dutch stops his pacing all at once. His voice gets low and velvet-soft and dangerous. “Everything I do, I do to keep us all alive. Do you understand me?”

His change in demeanor alone is usually enough to have you begging his forgiveness, but nothing about this is usual. Arthur might die - your brother might die - because no one bothered to look for him. Family first, you’ve always been told. No one helps us but we damn well help each other. Dutch taught you that from the time you first joined up, some lost kid without a cause. He made you who you are, gave you that cause and that purpose you lacked in the family he collected over years and hardships, and now he throws it all back in your face.

“Sure,” you say venomously. “Sure. You’d better take this.”

You shove the camp’s share of cash into his chest and walk away. If he calls after you, you can’t hear it over the rush of blood and anger in your ears.

—

By the time John rides back into camp night has fully fallen. The stars shine in a blue-black sky, and the moon gazes, sly and wane, on your camp full of criminals. He slips silently past the flap of your tent and starts kicking his boots off.

“How is he?” he asks.

“Alive,” you say, seated on the edge of your cot. “At least for now. You find anyone?”

“Not a soul. He say who it was?”

“Colm.”

John’s brows lift in surprise. “Colm?”

You fill him in on the details while he strips down to his underthings and joins you on the cot, sitting close enough that his shoulders brush against yours. You lean into the contact and let your voice break when you explain your confrontation with Dutch. He reaches an arm around you to pull you close. The steady beat of his heart soothes the fresh ache in your chest.

“He didn’t mean all that,” he tells you. “Arthur’s like a son to him. He was just… lashin’ out. Tough to be that scared.”

“Okay,” you say, because that’s what you want to believe. “Okay.”

You hold him tighter.

—

That first week is rough, but Arthur recovers. The whole of camp - with very few exceptions - take turns at his bedside. On your watches you try to cheer him up any way that you can. You even break out your impression of John, which has been a sure way to get Arthur going since you were kids. He cusses you out for making him laugh with his ribs, but the smile on his face is infectious.

You send up a prayer to a silent God when you learn his wounds aren’t.

—

The girls tell you what you missed at camp while you were away. Javier sang. Grimshaw yelled. Dutch made pretty speeches. Bill made a fool of himself. Nothing much. They smile coyly when you insist that nothing much happened on your trip, either. John blushes as he passes by and they laugh.

Sean fills you in on what happened leading up to the O’Driscoll incident, gap-toothed grinning while he reminisces about the smell of burning tobacco fields. Them Grays never knew what hit ‘em, he tells you, preening. Even made off with their payroll. You have to hand it to the kid, he’s got spunk. Nevermind the fact that Hosea says he had to step on his toes in warning more than once during his game of cribbage with the Braithwaites.

Having played both families against the other, this feud business is little more than a waiting game now. Gold is about the only reason you can think to stick around, and Hosea says he’s close. He’s always had a nose for these things.

So you wait.

You busy yourself with chores around camp, careful to be present and helpful after your argument with Dutch. Neither of you apologizes, but when he nods at you chopping wood just a few days later you know things are alright. They always are, in the end.

You only ask Arthur about what happened with him and the O’Driscoll boys after he takes his first weak, wobbling steps to one of the logs along the shoreline. He sits down unassisted - just barely - and sighs. Tells you it’s a long story. Squints his eyes up at the gulls flying overhead and the shimmer of the early morning water. Sunrise reflected in blue-grey-greens.

You tell him you’ve got all day.

“Pearson called it peace,” he says after a long pause, “and Dutch, he kept goin’ on about Annabelle and his daddy and some kind of payback.”

“And you told them you’re not in the revenge business.”

He snorts his affirmation. “Whole lotta good that did. You know it really did seem like Colm was gonna stand down ‘til he brought her up again? Turns out he was after me, anyway, so peace weren’t much of an option all along. Still…”

He lets the unfinished thought hang between you.

“I’m convinced he loves them more now than he ever did when they were alive,” you say softly, shaking your head. “It’s easier, sometimes, when they’re gone. Death has made a lot of normal people into saints or martyrs - somethin’ more, now that they’re past all the annoying and betraying and disappointing us alive folk can’t seem to help.”

When your parents were alive you must have fought with them sometimes, but the few memories left to you are of golden summertimes learning to swim, grooming horses, wrapped in a loving embrace. Alive, Jenny must have annoyed you some. Dead you can’t help but miss her endless talking, always something clever to say. And the Callander boys. A meaner pair of bastards never walked this earth, but what wouldn’t you give to see their faces ‘round the fire one last time? A laughing, smiling bunch of killers.

People say only the good die young, but after seeing so much of death you’re convinced it’s about the only way people can be good.

“You might be right,” Arthur runs a hand down his face. “But either way it ain’t an excuse to keep this useless fight up. The law is after us all just the same. Dutch should know that as much as anyone.”

You shrug, and sigh. “Dutch ain’t the kind of man you can change. Some people lead and other people follow, and I reckon you and I will follow him to the very end.”

Whatever that end may be.

Arthur frowns, but he doesn’t disagree. The rest of the morning passes in thoughtful silence.

[wigglebox]

NYCC The Winchesters - 1x01 screening, panel

Good morning/afternoon/evening people! 

So I had to take a break from art in order to write down my first impressions on things for the prequel pilot and the subsequent panel after. 

Note that I haven’t had any time to watch any interviews the folks did before the screening/panel, so this is just me writing what I experienced in ~*the room where it happened*~. The bulk will be behind a read more! 

** Note, I try to avoid mega spoilers but I do go into my impressions of the pilot and my emotions with it, AND I do outline the characters. I try not to get into the nitty gritty since y’all will mostly be seeing it tomorrow anyway, but if you don’t want even a HINT of a spoiler, just don’t read it lol. 

The tldr; I loved it, it has so much to expand on, and I can’t wait to start speculating with y’all again on something SPN based. 

—

I won’t lie, I was nervous.

Not because I didn’t think this show wouldn’t do a good job, because it’s made it this far — which is a lot considering the last two attempts at a spin-off were dead in the water. I was more or less nervous of the audience reception.

Living in one's own head as a Supernatural fan makes you and your goldfish bowl of friends in your Twitter GC and Discord servers, have a set of parameters of what makes a good Supernatural episode or not. But not everyone else shares those parameters that you have convinced yourself are right.

And I was nervous because, given those parameters, I had to keep reminding myself that this isn’t Supernatural. It is its own thing. It’s its own form, own show, with a connection to the main show. These are new characters, even if we knew the older versions of two of them already. Everything is still basically brand new.

My nerves came from a mixture of anticipation, fearing audience reception after the year and a half wait we had to think about this show, and not knowing if I or the audience can see this show as its own individual self and not just another Supernatural episode.

Suffice to say after like, the first five minutes those nerves were gone.

The Pilot

I’m going to get this out of the way before I continue. Pilots aren’t ever perfect. Even Supernatural’s pilot, which is a pilot that I consider to be top-tier, has some clunkiness. 

Pilots can drag, or pilots can speed — there’s rarely an inbetween. The Winchesters pilot seemed to be a little fast paced, trying to introduce the premise of the show a little too quick. The pacing of events and understanding and dialogue kind of felt like this should have been a two hour episode and not the 40 minute one we’re going to get. 

And, some of the dialogue, just like in its predecessor, was indeed clunky exposition. 

But I’m saying this as someone who yes, understands that’s what that was — but also someone who doesn’t take this into account when it comes to what makes a pilot successful. In fact, I never expect perfection in pilots. 

The Winchesters pilot has a lot riding on it. Not only is it the third attempt at a spin off, but it’s having to perform two duties where the original Supernatural pilot only had to do one.

The Winchesters pilot has to both grab old fans, and intrigue new ones. The original Supernatural pilot just had to attract new fans and build up a new world.

So, given that The Winchesters has to do a little extra work, and given that it’s a network pilot, a pilot in general — for me — the fast-paced nature of the episode doesn’t really affect it negatively for me. I expected it, and I’m sure others did as well.

A successful pilot for me is 1) am I interested in this world/characters 2) did you make me ask enough questions to come back next week?

And, The Winchesters scored on both of those accounts!

The episode opens up with its standard cold open where you mostly see a character you have no idea who they are, doing something that’s going to launch you into the next 45 minutes of adventure with the main characters. But, this cold open also has to launch us into the entire season. It’s the first-ever cold open for The Winchesters and it worked very well.

I’m not going to get too much into plot, to keep this spoiler free, however I will say in my head I described it as the Scooby Doo Avengers. When I say Scooby Doo I don’t mean campy, zoinks, goofy monsters of the week — but that there is this team, that is clearly already close, willing to do what it takes to figure something out. And... they have a van lol. 

In the group there is tension already from the get go, which I love. By group, I mean Lata [Latika but Lata is her nickname], Mary, and Carlos have already known each other.

Small spoiler, but at once point Lata tells, not asks, Mary “You’re still mad at me.” Carlos and Mary have tension and unresolved past things that they gotta talk about at some point probably. And John blends in with them rather effortlessly. I will say I’ll be keeping my eyes on John and Lata right now.

But all four of them had a chemistry that already worked. Not like “Oh we all love each other here, no problems at all!” kind of chemistry, but chemistry where you can tell that interactions aren’t being forced. Almost like they’ve been acting together for years by that point, even though they hadn’t.

That was another thing I enjoyed about this core four, the fact that they’re each their own characters but they’re also not standing out too much from each other. That they both don’t blend into each other, but also they’re not so over the top it feels like a caricature.

Here are my first impressions of the characters:

Lata is a book nerd, clearly the “brains” but she’s also rather timid, nervous about hunts, and finds her satisfying success when it comes to what she’s learned on the page rather than hunting down a monster. She’s softer-spoken, and I can see her being the more level-headed grounded one of the group. However, I can also see where her self doubt can get the better of her, and her fear, and given a conversation she has with Mary in the van — I have to wonder if something bad happened in the recent past that made her like this.

Mary is the kind of Mary I felt like we got with Sam Smith. Marching forward, doing what she has to do, almost “going through the motions” of being a Hunter. She already voices her desire to walk away from this, and it’s hinted in that conversation with Lata, something went wrong recently that caused a big upheaval in her life. But that’s kind of a plot point that can be saved for when you watch it Tuesday. Of all four of the characters, it felt like I knew Mary the most because we got later-seasons Mary for a hot second. However, you can see how Meg Donnelly brings her own understanding of the character to the table. I am so very interested to see where she goes throughout this series.

Carlos will be the problem child (affectionate). When the role was first cast, and you got his description, you saw JoJo getting cast, and then seeing him in the trailer, folks already pinged on him being the fandom favorite and I can see that. He’s sharp, witty, already has some one-liners, and I can easily see him causing but also solving problems for the group. One thing that gets me is that he comes across as almost stubborn, not willing to admit when he’s wrong, so I can imagine that comes back into play. That indication comes with a small conversation with Lata over something that happened in the past. It’s played off as a “ha ha,” but if you think about it deeper, you’re seeing someone who knows what he wants and likely will do what he has to do to get it. There are definitely two Alphas in this group, Carlos and Mary, and I can see them butting heads at some point.

And now we’re at John.

When this prequel was first leaked onto Deadline in June 2021, folks (save for myself and a few others that were on my timeline and Discord) immediately rocketed to their feet to voice their displeasure at John being a focal point.

Accusations of trying to twist the narrative and make excuses for John’s behavior in Supernatural-Prime (neglect, child abuse, etc.), or that the constant reminder that John and Mary’s love story was manufactured so how on earth could you have a story about it — or just the attitude in fandom that’s been in there since I’VE started, back in 2013, that John Winchester is an Asshole.

But, a few pointed out that indeed we don’t actually know anything about John aside from his father, Henry, “walking out” on him and his mother, and… that was it. The flashback episodes we had with Matt Cohen’s John were that of a story that we kinda already figured. “In the Beginning” was more about Mary and showing Dean how that deal was made, and “The Song Remains the Same” served as a lesson for Dean and Sam to understand that they “can’t escape fate” with their bloodline. 

Nothing’s really known about John at all, especially before 1973. 

That being said, I really have to spend this portion completely cheering Drake’s John on because holy moly. 

Drake has, and will continue to have, an uphill battle trying to get the most hardened Anti-John folk on board (a struggle Matt Cohen didn’t have to have as much I think). But, given the life that he’s brought to John in this pilot alone, I don’t think it’ll be too much of a struggle. 

I joked that with them casting Drake that “it’s almost like they want us to love and adore him” but I’m not even joking anymore. I adore him. 

Indeed, it’s important to note that this John is not the John we wind up with in the main show. And the cast and everyone involved knows that and have stated as such in interviews. They’re not erasing or rewriting anything. 

The truth, for me, is far more tragic:

The John in the pilot is likable with an almost puppy-like innocence, looking to get answers but also someone dealing with trauma himself as someone who went into the Vietnam War way too early and suffered the consequences of that. I won’t get into specifics, but there’s a touching moment when he’s describing what he saw and what happened to a dear friend and I almost cried. 

You have a kid, and yes I’m calling him a kid, suffering from this trauma in a way that you see twice in the episode, while also someone keeping his head held high while following orders and the motions from his new group of Scooby Doo hunters that he stumbled into. 

When asked how he found someone so fast, John remarks that’s what he does because he was in the Marines. So we get little glimpses of that. 

His ending moment after the final climax of the action was so adorable I wanted to squish his cheeks and yes, I know that’s weird, but he was so proud of himself. 

But, in my opinion, it also demonstrated something that I think may or may not come back — and that’s that he did what he did down there in the tomb almost a little too easily and without freaking out. And was excited to tell his new friends about it.

John in this show I think will become someone that even the most reluctant watchers may come to find they really like. 

And to me, that’s making him automatically, from episode one, one of the most tragic characters. 

Already in the pilot, I was mentally screaming for John to turn back, don’t investigate, don’t do any of this, because we know what’s waiting for him down this path.

I have to mentally make a line in the sand to separate Drake from Matt from JDM because there’s no way I can continue going with The Winchesters and not completely support and adore John and his efforts to understand the Men of Letters and also being with his friends.

With characters out of the way, I’ll mention we don’t get much with Ada or Millie, however I can’t wait to see more of them in the future and what they have to offer. Millie seemingly already knew about the Men of Letters and Ada — in my head when she was first announced as a character I saw her as a Bobby character, just the know it all that can be their “save us because we don’t know what else to do!” character. However it feels like she can, and likely will be, more than that. 

As for the plot of the episode, this is where my “Is a pilot successful” requirement is filled for “Are there enough questions to keep me coming back.”

The answer is, holy shit yes. 

Particularly two things, which I can’t wait to speculate on when the episode airs. One involves John and his letter with the Men of Letters star on it, and the other of who the big bad is for the entire season. I’m so excited to speculate with people on that.

But also, this hunters world in the 1970s is so different to me than what we were first introduced to in 2005. They don’t have cell phones, they don’t have GPS, they don’t have computers, they don’t have quick ways of communicating with each other. They will have a network, sure, but its the 70s. They also don’t have access to THEE Men of Letters bunker, at least for now, which holds a lot of information as well. 

So I have questions about those too. 

I didn’t want this show to just be about “hey let’s do a case study on John” and it doesn’t feel like it’s going to be that. I don’t mind that, but I also wanted this show to stand on its own.

And it’s clear that they’re looking at it in a way that will provide an actual story that can get folded back into Supernatural-Prime.

The Panel

After the pilot screening, there was a 30 minute panel with Danneel, Jensen, Meg, Drake, and Robbie and holy wow.

I wish I could convey to anyone reading this, especially anyone who had any doubts over anything, just how much this group cares. 

Like, it’s not even just in their words saying it, but you can feel it, and I wasn’t even in the front row. It was this like, almost electrical current in the air that could reach you and make you truly, fully, 100% understand that they’re not doing this just for kicks. 

They’re not just tossing aside whatever they want, that they’re not just doing this as a cash grab or anything — but that they’re a team of creatives that really truly wholly believe in this world that the main show created and wanted to explore that more. 

They do treat the existing material with respect, and that they’re not going to just throw all those 15 years of blood sweat and tears down the drain.

I remember in the months following the Deadline leak, folks online kept stamping their feet about canon this and canon that. We haven’t had much press until just recently about it therefore come comments that would be made at a Supernatural convention by Jackles from time to time would have to suffice, but still didn’t convince many.

I think at the time also, when the Deadline leak happened, a lot of opposition I saw came from younger fans, or newer fans, who started season 12 and onward (or even after the show ended) and didn’t quite understand just how monumental it was that Robbie was brought on board.

Robbie stopped writing for the show in season 11 and I wanted to take an informal survey of fandom asking them if they truly understood the word that he did. Some folks don’t pay attention to who writes what.

His episodes I find tend to be some of the most gif’ed episodes on Tumblr or most talked about episodes in general. Any one of his episodes you’d likely find up in any fan’s top 10 list. He’s given us Charlie, Eileen, and even had a hand in bringing Chuck back both in Fan Fiction and in Don’t Call Me Shurely.

For many folks who were in fandom before Andrew Dabb took over some time in season 11, Robbie was easily one of the top three writers for many people.

And there’s a good reason for that. Between writing snappy dialogue and getting characterizations down really well, he’s also seemingly a master at these unconventional episodes. He’s had more normal ones like Goodbye Stranger, 8x17, and First Born (9x11) among others, but he’s also done Baby, Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo, LARP and the Real Girl, Bitten, Fan Fiction, Meta Fiction and the like.

He’s written episodes that were great for character showcasing while also having unconventional storytelling apparatuses as well. My favorite one of his episodes was Time After Time, 7x12.

Suffice it to say, them grabbing Robbie for this project really stood out to me, which is probably why when Deadline first leaked the project, I wasn’t upset. To me, if Robbie was involved, then that’s really all I needed to feel secure in knowing that whatever, or however, they were going to tell this story, he’ll have fun figuring it out.

And I can’t even begin to describe how much it really does come across how much Jackles cares. 

It’s very very easy for someone with that amount of talent to just peace out from a 15-year show that ended, a show that likely made taking other roles nearly impossible, and just go on to do bigger things. 

But the fact that he stuck around and that even before the show wrapped in Sept. 2020 (due to the pandemic) he was already starting on this? That means a lot to me. Like, no matter what he does, he seems to want to keep one hand on his roots and that can only benefit us because you don’t do that unless you really believe in it and care about it.

It’s also hilarious to me that in these press interviews, he’s basically being outed as THEE biggest SPN brain rot stan and, he’s not alone there. We have jackets, dude!

So yes, up on stage, with them answering questions and describing the process, how they’re viewing this — you can tell there’s a reverence they have for the material and understand truly how much time, energy, blood, sweat, tears, smiles, sadness, chaos had gone into the main show.

--

The pilot was good, it was something that would keep me interested with the characters they presented and the premise of the rest of the season to come. It established that we’re not in 2005-2020 anymore, it established a kind of big bad that we’re not used to seeing*, and it had enough easter eggs that satisfied my little Supernatural heart but not over doing it.

*This is something I can’t wait to speculate about.

On a personal note, I’ve been excited since that night, and had felt almost like I was in limbo for the last year and a half waiting for this moment and it was so satisfying seeing the pilot and understanding that my excitement and enthusiasm wasn’t misplaced in the slightest. 

I went into this with the question of “Will I be disappointed in all of this hype that I’ve helped build up for this, both in my head and outwardly?” And the screening and panel shot back: “Nah you’re good.” 

So I can’t wait to rewatch this Tuesday night, and then I can’t wait to watch it the following Tuesday, and again, and again. 

I’m excited for The Winchesters to grow its wings and fly! 

[hellokatzchen]

Day 4: "It does not matter what I want."

"You left. You. I wanted to talk! I wanted to work it out. You left, and you didn't seem to want to come back, so I let you go. Why are you being such a jackass? I gave you what you wanted!"

"You think this is what I wanted? I asked you for time but no. Impatient Kate always has to have it her way–"

"Over. The. Line." She took a long deep breath through her nose. "Anthony. I was not about to wait around for a guy who didn't love me to maybe come home."

He recoiled visibly. "What?"

"We were literally a lusty cliche, getting married while shitfaced in Vegas. I get that you didn't want the annulment scandal, and, honestly, I thought I'd be okay with your whole deal, but I'm not like you. I can't compartmentalize and act like I love someone and not have it mean anything. All the flowers and kindness and the press eating it up one day, then cold silence and mocking looks the next. It was suffocating. And then you left when you promised you would be there. 'It can't be love but I'll always take care of you.' Remember? I felt so fucking stupid. How could I stay?"

"I came back," he argued weakly. "I came back to tell you…" He looked at her standing tall, eyebrows high on her forehead. Then he saw her lip wobble ever so slightly– a chink in her armor.

On instinct he stepped toward her, wrapping one hand around the back of her neck. His other hand rested on her waist, holding her gently. When their lips were a hair's breadth away, she stilled. "I need to hear you say it, Anthony. Please."

"I–" The words caught in his throat.

The silence stretched between them and Kate tensed. She stepped back. Her eyes were shining as she looked at him. "Good-bye, Anthony."

At least this time she said it to his face. Maybe that would be enough.

[hamofjustice]

very slight teal mask and indigo disc story spoilers (the kind that'll probably help decide if you want them or not instead of ruin it for you, probably?) and very long commentary about it. mostly about how they've chosen to advertise it

gonna hit you with my longest run-on sentence yet, here we go.

the fact that we had to datamine the teal mask, a DLC whose only returning character is jacq and does not add a line to or scene of anyone else (well, mentions of heath and clavell, i guess?) due to being available to do at any badge count, the fact that we had to dig and pry in unintended ways, just to finally prove that our implied greatest treasures nemona arven and penny would at least be available to hang out with in the indigo disc...

with no new images footage or mentions of the friend trio of in any of the six months since the DLCs were announced, and ten months after these kids opened their hearts and dorm rooms to us, saying we could hang out any time from now on, and turned out to be statues with one line of dialogue after we had already gone on an adventure with them following us around, helping us in battle, and getting to know each other as we walked, and our rival promised to keep up with our strength forever, then never got any stronger...

and now, in the narrative's timeline, we run off to another country to transfer away from our rival for life's school to one she would fit into perfectly the MOMENT she opens up to us about her problems and how she's so much happier now that we're the first person she can actually connect with and be herself around, and shows clear signs of worry that you're going to leave if she doesn't make you promise not to...

and also shortly after Arven became effectively a high school orphan, who's still treated as kind of a butt monkey dumbass for some reason, when he was putting everything he had into researching how to save his dog, his only dependable family, instead of going to class (i guess he's not telling anybody what he's going through, as usual with these kids)...

because TPC did not think these characters being present in the second DLC in any form and not actually having their newfound, hard-earned sense of belonging ruined by the basic premise of said transfer-student DLC was worth advertising at any point, and only showed off gym leaders Katy and Kofu... and that was only if you even bothered to look at the website to notice the feature at all, because hanging out with, battling, and trading with all of the past characters who aren't present in Paldea anymore is now actually a feature, but wasn't in the trailer...

is fucking mind boggling to me.

why is it a secret that they're in the DLC. why would they not just. tell people that as soon as they revealed the DLC. why is it still supposed to be a secret now, half a year later. why weren't they in the first half. why did they not think we'd be worried that they aren't in the second half.

silly me, why would you want to advertise giving people more of the story and main plot-driving characters, the main thing people defend the rushed game for, or that they might get some resolution, or reassure them that the vaguely happy ending to their sad stories isn't going to be ruined like they've implied it will be? that'd be silly. the only way anyone is going to find that out is through hacking

but at least we were finally able to pry that basic fucking information out of them against their will, the only thing I wanted to know about the DLC before I'd buy it, because they left in placeholder stubs for it by accident. oops. wouldn't want to tell people who were on the fence about getting the DLC this information on purpose or anything. need to keep it a secret

we were able to confirm through our own digging that nemona (and many others) are at least allowed to hang out with us, but the thing that would make both her as a character and me as a Pokemon player happier than we've ever been is if she actually got to enroll with us. why wouldn't she go, right? what do a school and society that don't respect her and an empty home where her parents should be have to offer, compared to living her dream with her favorite person, surrounded by people just like her? who can stop a champion from going wherever she wants? but for that to be the case, one of the "club rooms" we found references to would have to be hers. only us kieran and carmine clearly have what are marked as dorm room objects.

i'm glad we're getting what we're getting, but it's still no guarantee that nemona arven and penny will continue to be important to the story that they were the driving forces of, or get the true resolutions and healthier happy endings that they deserve, or that our "true equal" will ever be any stronger or more important to our character than our home ec teacher, or that they'll ever actually get to be a friend group on screen without life or death situations or harrowing grief being involved

oops! accidentally wrote decent character arcs and relationships in a pokemon game! they're going to spend time together in the postgame! abort abort abort quick shove them off into different countries before they hug

okay that's just me being cynical, they will almost certainly be important to the story, but... TPC has the power to make me not cynical and they keep choosing not to do that. but they do keep making really sappy recap videos using previous cutscene footage, like this attachment and uncertainty is something they're milking on purpose

maybe stringing people along with how much they miss the funny, cute, loving, strong characters, or are worried about these three lonely and isolated kids dealing with parental neglect, ptsd and self loathing, autism and motor impairments, identity issues, and more, whose problems are clearly not resolved yet if they can be at all, will... help sell more plushies and gacha pulls, and get people consuming more spinoffs, or something? idk, maybe

love to stop and helplessly gaze upon penny's depression pile every day before i go do tera raids / link battles with strangers (i don't actually do this but i might if poke portal worked indoors)

that all being said! it's pretty damn cool that hanging out with NPCs in a meaningful way and staging selfies with them and stuff is actually a game feature at all. that much is reassuring. it's a step in the right direction considering 90% of pokemon gameplay for a lot of people takes place after the credits roll and everyone normally despawns or becomes a one liner / repeating boss fight statue, or maybe if you're lucky a Multi Battle partner. it was just implied this game would be different, is all. i just don't know why they've chosen to string their audience along this way. wanting to have friends shouldn't throw up a $35 tollgate right as you go to talk to them that takes a year to open, and over six months to find out if it'll kill them when it opens.

i'd like to see pokemon postgame feel more like an animal crossing life sim type game in the future, personally, and this feature is a step toward that. i'd love if it one of your rewards for completing indigo disc was being able to take anyone you like as a follower as you go about your business and have them get on miraidon/koraidon with you as needed so your movement isn't impeded by it, even if there was no dialogue for it or anything. it's 2023, i shouldn't have to imagine something happening in a video game, or have to fill in my own fanfic to make a story satisfying, it should just be happening, on the screen. dammit. having a follower that goes with you everywhere even if you drive or have a following pokemon already was a feature in teal mask, so why not utilize it permanently?

(is the obvious player arven nemona penny 4v1 battle being saved for the final boss or something, is that why tera raids with them aren't a thing you can just do normally?)

Long story short: The basic transfer-student premise of The Indigo Disc implies that we ruin Nemona's happy ending and rub the one she really wants in her face to go enjoy it with Carmine instead for being more marketable, and I don't think they're even aware of why that would be a problem. Why have we not been reassured to the contrary in the last 6 months? I think a lot of us are waiting for this DLC anxiously instead of eagerly, especially after the first half.

[bro-atz]

1024UB CHAPTER SIXTEEN: WE'RE NOT IN HIGH SCHOOL ANYMORE

word count: 3k

table of contents ♤ previous chapter ♤ next chapter

There was one thing everyone in the group was worried about for this ROD party: whether or not Seonghwa would bring Bora. They all waited in Mingi and Jongho’s apartment with bated breaths until Seonghwa arrived sans Bora. A collective sigh swept around the apartment, and they were able to eat and drink in peace.

San had a lot on his mind that night. He barely looked at anyone and stayed mostly quiet. He drank a lot more than he usually did, which may have been a mistake after he heard Wooyoung start to whine.

“Guys! Let’s play a game,” he pouted like a little kid.

His words went ignored. He tried again, “Guys! Let’s play a game!”

The more people ignored him, the more he chanted the same dialogue with increasing volume. Finally Gyuri clamped a hand over his mouth and caved, “Okay, Woo! What game do you want to play?”

Gyuri’s hand was still over his mouth, so his words came out muffled. He said it a second time after Gyuri removed her hand from his face, “Spin-the-bottle.”

A chorus of groans and the word no echoed in the apartment loudly. “Absolutely not,” Hongjoong formally rejected the idea.

“Then, uh, spin-the-bottle-truth-or-dare?”

“What the hell? Woo, we’re not high schoolers anymore. Try again,” Seonghwa shook his head disapprovingly.

“Spin-the-bottle…truth-or-drink?”

That seemed to do the trick for everyone. They put it to a vote, and the outcome was six to four in favor of the game. The ones who were still skeptical of the game, Gyuri, Hongjoong, Seonghwa, and San, all stood near each other as they all formed a circle. San made sure to have Hongjoong and Seonghwa in between him and Gyuri because he was still feeling weird about the night Gyuri got absolutely plastered. She didn’t do anything wrong, and they did talk it through, but every time he looked at her, his heart would clench up, and it made him feel all sorts of ways. He needed time to figure it out.

For some reason, there were only soju bottles and beer cans at Mingi and Jongho’s place. In order for them to play spin the bottle, someone had to finish a soju bottle. So, they played the finger game, and Jongho was tasked with finishing a soju bottle. To up the ante, Wooyoung was able to convince everyone to having to chug a whole soju bottle if there was a question they refused to answer, and then they’d be out of the game.

“If we did beer, then no one will answer a question all night,” he reasoned. “Oh, and no yes or no questions because those are easy to get out of.”

“Wow, for once you have a brain,” Yeosang said in complete wonderment.

“I will beat your ass.”

“I dare you.”

San questioned why there was more than 9 bottles of soju in the apartment, but then he remembered that half of the group were heavyweights, so they needed that much alcohol. After everyone had gotten their bottle, the game began. Jongho, being the lucky soul who had to finish a bottle for the sake of the game, got to spin the bottle first, and it landed on Yunho.

“Who was the last person you fought with?”

“Iseul.”

“I meant physically,” Jongho clarified.

“Yeah, Iseul.”

“Yes, and I won. You’re cleaning beakers for a month,” Iseul crossed her arms over her chest.

San kept looking at the two of them and wondering if anything was going on there. They bickered like an old married couple, but they fought like siblings. What was their relationship?

Yunho’s spin landed on Hongjoong. “What do you wear when you’re hoping to go home with someone?”

“New clothes. Always new clothes.”

“New clothes?”

“Yep. From my shirt to my socks and everything else in between.”

“Wait… That’s actually smart. Let me write this down,” Wooyoung was amazed.

Hongjoong asked Gyuri the next question, “What’s a secret you’ve never told anyone?”

Gyuri seemed to be deep in thought for a good several seconds. San wondered what she was going to do. He wouldn’t be surprised if she decided to tap out right at that question, but if she didn’t, would she say anything about their relationship? Probably not, right?

“I almost slept with a professor to get a higher grade,” she finally answered.

Everyone in the group reacted to her statement with either gasps of shock or covering their faces. San blinked at her several times because, uh, what the fuck?! He had so many questions. Apparently, so did Seonghwa. “Which professor?! What class?! Why almost?!”

“Hey, hey, hey, it was Hongjoong’s turn, and you only get to ask one question!” Gyuri smiled confidently. She left everyone curious as hell. San was impressed— she played the game well.

Gyuri asked Seonghwa, “What’s your biggest pet peeve?”

Seonghwa stared Hongjoong down as he responded without missing a beat, “When people don’t clean up after themselves.”

Whistling, Hongjoong ignored Seonghwa and looked anywhere but at him. It was Seonghwa’s turn to spin the bottle after that, and it landed back on Yunho. “Why do you live in the lab?”

“Because Iseul and I mess up our experiments all the time,” Yunho admitted sadly.

“I’ve visited them at the lab a couple times. They do mess up a lot,” Wooyoung confirmed.

“Not as much as you, Woo,” Iseul shot back. “At least our data is the only thing we mess up. You keep causing explosions.”

Like a dog with its tail in between its legs, Wooyoung backed off. San watched as Iseul smiled triumphantly, and he paused. What was going on with him? He usually felt his face get a little warm whenever he saw her smile or laugh, but that wasn’t happening this time around. Was he losing it? Was he drunk already and his face was already warm?

“Where is the craziest place you’ve done the deed?” Yunho’s question to Jongho snapped San out of his thoughts.

“The football field.”

“That’s so fitting…”

Jongho was apparently out for blood that night because when the bottle landed on Hongjoong, he said, “Name someone you pretend to like but actually can’t stand.”

The room grew a little stiff at that moment. Everyone (well, mostly everyone) knew about Hongjoong’s distaste in Bora, and Jongho was intentionally backing Hongjoong into a corner with that question, knowing that Hongjoong would drink; and he did. Jongho cackled evilly as Hongjoong moved away from the circle now that he was out of the game.

“Most embarrassing hook up?” Jongho asked Mingi; was Mingi going to back out of this question as well?

“I slept over at her place, but turns out she was still living with her mom. I had to abandon my clothes, climb out the window, and run away only wearing my boxers.”

Everyone in the room, although they were sitting, fell to the ground in fits. San was holding his stomach— he was laughing so hard that he got a cramp. Hongjoong and Wooyoung were slapping the floor, Seonghwa and Yeosang were slapping their thighs, Yunho was literally laughing in Mingi’s face, Gyuri and Iseul kept trying to calm down but would look at each other from across the circle and burst out laughing again, and Jongho laughed so hard he started crying. Mingi sat with a stoic face. As everyone continued to laugh, he spun the bottle.

“Wooyoung, what’s the dirtiest text you’ve sent?” Mingi seemed to be hellbent on embarrassing someone else in the group.

“Uh, let me see,” Wooyoung opened his phone and scrolled through a specific conversation before he read out loud, “I want to cover you with whipped cream and eat you up all night long.”

“Wait, you sent that to me!” Yeosang screamed.

Wooyoung winked at his roommate, only to receive a glare in return.

San was starting to wonder if the bottle was ever going to land on him as it landed on Gyuri for the second time. “Tell us about a time you embarrassed yourself in front of a crush.”

That did it for Gyuri. San guessed it was because if she recited the incident, then she would out her crush on Seonghwa. She finished her bottle and got out of the circle, joining Hongjoong on the loser’s couch.

Finally, the bottle landed on San, and that’s when he realized Wooyoung was going to ask him the question. San prayed in his head that Wooyoung would not ask something utterly ridiculous so that he could stay in the game and not drink the whole bottle of soju.

“Who do you have a crush on?”

San froze. Why? Why did Wooyoung have to ask that question out of all the goddamn questions in the world. “It’s me, right? It has to be me,” Wooyoung said.

While maintaining eye contact, San opened his bottle of soju and chugged to the best of his abilities. He left the circle, but he didn’t join the loser’s couch just yet. He needed water with that soju because Jesus Christ he could feel himself getting drunker. He stayed in the kitchen and watched from afar as he drank water and munched on some snacks.

Wooyoung’s reign continued.

“What kind of porn do you search for?” Yunho: out.

“When was the last tie you had a wet dream?” Yeosang: out.

“Fuck, marry, kill: Gyuri, Iseul, Bora.” Mingi: out.

The bottle landed on Seonghwa, and Wooyoung was finally unable to crack someone. “If you could have sex with one of the guys, who would it be?”

“Hongjoong.”

“Hell no! Choose someone else!” Hongjoong hollered at the boy before he shuddered.

San, who had joined the couch once Yunho, Yeosang, and Mingi were eliminated, patted Hongjoong’s shoulder, Hongjoong immediately recoiling from his touch. Gyuri ended up patting his shoulder instead, and he calmed down. San would have been offended had the game not resumed and gone to the next person: Iseul.

“What movie always turns you on?”

“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” Iseul said definitively.

The room froze. San just stared at Iseul in complete and utter confusion. He thought she would say something like… Okay, he didn’t know that many sexy movies, but anything would be better than Harry Potter. San continued to stare at Iseul as Gyuri said to her, “You’re insane, Iseul.”

Iseul could only laugh in response, causing the rest of the room to question Iseul’s sanity both to themselves and out loud to her. Still, the game had to go on, and Iseul got to ask Jongho a question. “What was the last lie you told?”

Jongho shook his head and opted to drink instead. San wondered if his lie was to someone in the group, and if so, if it was a lie that would get him in trouble. Regardless, Jongho drank, which meant that there were only two warriors left: Seonghwa and Iseul. Iseul got to ask the next question. “What is it about Bora that you like?”

Everyone on the sofa stared at each other in complete shock— Seonghwa’s back was to them, so he couldn’t see them quietly panicking amongst themselves. Seonghwa was definitely going to answer this question, but the fact that they could find out was incredibly interesting. San glanced over at Gyuri to see her reaction as Seonghwa answered, “She’s really sweet and pretty. She has a cute laugh and this habit of flipping her hair off her shoulder that I absolutely love. Also, she’s great in bed—”

“Full stop! I don’t want to hear about you and Bora in bed!” Hongjoong screamed at Seonghwa while hitting him with a pillow.

As for Gyuri’s reaction, San saw her face twist into disappointment and anger. She didn’t look at him, though. Instead, she got up and went to the kitchen to grab another soju bottle. San watched her chug it from the corner of his eye as Seonghwa asked Iseul, “What’s the weirdest role play you’ve ever done?”

“Oh, that’s easy. Live-action Warrior Cats.”

The boys looked at each other in confusion. What the hell was a Warrior Cat? Was that a movie they missed or a girl’s toy game or something? As the boys tried to figure out what Iseul was talking about, Gyuri roared with laughter from the kitchen, “Oh my God! I remember that guy! I remember hearing him asking you to meow louder! I can’t believe you actually did that!”

“Well, I’m never going to do it again. That shit was so weird… It was like being a furry but without the costumes? I threw out my sheets right after he left and blocked his number,” Iseul laughed.

San no longer wished to know what Iseul was talking about.

“Okay,” Iseul cleared her throat and returned to the game. “Who in the group have you had a dirty dream about?”

Just like that, Seonghwa was out. Chaos ensued after he threw back his own soju, some people celebrating with Iseul while others tried questioning Seonghwa further now that the game was over. San couldn’t bring himself to join in on the festivities. He felt off in that moment. He couldn’t tell if it was the soju, Seonghwa’s answer about Bora, or Yunho and Iseul jumping up and down in happiness. He had half a mind to tell Gyuri to meet him out in the hall, but he saw her talking to Mingi and Jongho, all three of them talking animatedly. San decided that it would be best for him to just go out into the hall and be alone for a bit.

He exited the apartment quietly and felt compelled to go to the staircase. He didn’t know if he wanted to go home or to the roof, so he sat down on one of the steps and just thought to himself. He sighed deeply, hoping that the sigh would clear up some of the thoughts rampaging through his head, but he was wrong. So, he decided to focus on one thought at a time. He fixated on his wonderments of Iseul. It was as if he had magically summoned her or something because she walked into the stairwell.

“Hey, San.”

“Oh, hey Iseul. What’s up?”

“Are you okay?”

She approached him, and San immediately scooted away slightly. She sat down next to him, and he leaned away the tiniest bit. What was happening to him? Why wasn’t he excited to see this girl he had been crushing on for months? Why did he move away from her? The questions consumed him as Iseul asked, “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, you didn’t.”

She got closer, he moved away again slightly. His body seemed to have a mind of its own in that moment, because his head was telling him to stop avoiding the girl, but his body just wouldn’t listen.

“Why are you avoiding me?” she sounded hurt.

“I’m not… I’m really not,” he wished she would believe him because that was the truth.

Iseul looked down and sighed. San felt really bad. Here was the girl he liked sitting next to him and he was brushing her off. He couldn’t believe his own actions. Iseul got up and was about to walk away when San’s mind finally allowed him control over his body. He grabbed her wrist and said, “Wait.”

He sat Iseul back down and gazed into her eyes. His heart didn’t beat faster, and there were no butterflies in his stomach. Something wasn’t right. He was getting frustrated with himself, and he finally decided to tell her how he felt, hoping that the confession would stir something within him.

“I like you, Iseul.”

A silence settled between them. He could hear the ruckus from the ROD party faintly as he waited for Iseul to say something. He honestly couldn’t believe that he actually confessed to her. It took him so long, and his heart still was not racing the same way it was when he saw her just the other day. Something was definitely wrong with him. Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe he should have done this sober.

She leaned into San and gave him a hug. San hugged her back, but the way she fit into his chest just… didn’t feel right. He would have killed for this hug last week. She was hugging him, and still… nothing.

“Thank you for telling me,” she whispered into his chest.

Here comes the rejection. San had been expecting her to reject him from day one because he thought there was something between her and Yunho, but at this moment, he didn’t seem to care what she said. He just wanted to tell her he liked her to get it over with; at least that’s what it seemed like to him. He had never had so much conflict within himself until today. He should take a break from drinking. That might clear up his mind.

Iseul let go of him and leaned back slowly, San mirroring her actions. They looked at each other once more, San studying her face. He didn’t know what he looked like at that moment. He couldn’t tell if his face was pink, if his ears were burning red, or if he had the dumbest look on his face. He braced himself for the her verbal response, only to feel her lean in and kiss him.

San didn’t have many feelings about the kiss. Objectively the kiss was good, nay, the kiss was great. Her lips were soft, and the kiss was non-intrusive. It was great first kiss. Still, San didn’t feel anything. No butterflies, no rapidly beating heart, zip, zero, nada, goose egg. His hands didn’t reach for her. His body didn’t lean into hers. He was stuck there, his body taking control once more.

It’s the alcohol, he kept telling himself. He never drank that quickly ever, so it had to be that he was inebriated. He didn’t know if he was kidding himself or if that was the truth, but that didn’t stop him from leaning back from the kiss and telling Iseul quietly, “Let’s go on a date.”

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[make-me-imagine]

Altered Perception

Trope: Forced alliance leads to friendship (and then more); a.k.a Enemies to Lovers

Pairing: Legolas Greenleaf x GN!Reader

Warnings: Mentions of violence/fighting.

Words: 1.6k

A/N's: Rhovanion is the area of Middle-Earth where Mirkwood resides. This is mostly in flashback thought style, and there isn't very much dialogue until the end.

-

Things were so different now, thinking back on it. On how your journey started. How different your feelings were now, you felt like an entirely different person.

It had been ingrained in you, how selfish and pious the Woodland King and his son were. Years of bias and hate forced onto you from a young age. And you fell for it. Just as the young Prince had done.

He was told you were just as arrogant and self-centered as your parents. A child with no skill or intelligence outside of riches and war.

When you met that day, at the council, one from each family gathered. Including the woodland prince. When you learned who each other were, you barely looked at one another, though, stole a glance every now and then.

You weren't sure what came over you, to join the company of the Hobbit to destroy the ring, but you knew it was more important than anything else. Even if you had to join with a decided enemy of your family.

The beginning of your journey was a mess of subtle insults, jabs and silence. Between you, the woodland prince, and the dwarf, tension was high. But you befriended the rest easily and quickly, expecting nothing to come of your time with the prince except a growing hatred.

But sure enough, you found that you could pick apart your families biased opinions fairly quickly. He was not selfish, not pious. At times he was arrogant, but never more than you. Silently you altered your opinion of him, wondering how your parents got it so wrong.

Legolas, on his own, was doing the same. You were not self-centered, nor nearly as half-witted as he had been made to believe. You were intelligent, clever, and skilled.

Slowly, your conversations involved more discussion than insult, questions before assumptions, and even shared stories of your youth. Slowly, the bias faded, and you no longer saw the Prince as anything other than Legolas, a loyal companion, just as you saw Gimli.

You decided that when you returned from your journey, you would not hide the truth from your parents. You would right their wrong opinions, and no longer share their hate. Because soon enough, Legolas was your friend. And even sooner than you were expecting, he felt like something more.

As you fought side by side in ever battle that came your way, you found yourself trusting him more and more. Never afraid to turn your back on him, never afraid to turn away from an enemy. Because he was always there to cover you, to help you, just as you were for him.

You both took blows meant for the other, both warned each other of oncoming danger. You became a team, and formed a bond before you knew it was ever there.

And at times of peace, when your journey was nothing but walking, traveling, sitting, resting, you found yourself watching him. Admiring his hair, his eyes, his voice. Smiling at his stories and jokes. Wanting him to tell you more about the forest of Mirkwood you were never allowed to see.

And Legolas, found himself always watching you. When you would run up a hill to check the view. Watch a bird fly over head. Talk to Gandalf about something in soft voices. He always wanted to know what you were thinking, what you were seeing. What did you see when you looked at him? What did you think of him, truly?

His eyes always sought you out first, he always made sure he knew where you were. That you were still there. And when your eyes met at the same time, they lingered, in a silent language you both seemed to understand, Words that remained unspoken, un-whispered, to either of you. He wondered what would happen when this journey was over. If both of you made it out alive, what would happen then? Would he ever see you again? Of course he would, he would make sure of it. In the days leading up to the final battle, he kept thinking what he would do.

And suddenly, before any of you knew it, the final battle was among you. You faced your enemy at their door, ready to fight to the death if need be.

During much of the battle, neither you or Legolas were far out of sight. But somewhere along the way, you looked around him, and saw him nowhere. You felt a rush of panic flow through you as you looked around, your eyes darting to every body on the grass, to every moving figure.

As more enemies charged forward, you knew you had to keep fighting. If Legolas was out there, he was alive, and you would see him again, at the end of all of this. And maybe then you would not be so afraid of your feelings.

Legolas felt his strength faltering as the battle raged on. And his fears where heavy on his mind ever since you vanished from his sight. He spotted Aragorn, and even Gimli amongst the battle, but you he did not see. His heart ached at the idea of losing you, of failing to see you fall. Guilt rampaged through him as the horrible though of failing to save you crossed his mind.

But suddenly, a face came into view. A figure swinging wildly at the orcs, taking them down. Your familiar eyes met his and he felt a heavy weight lift off of him.

Relief washed over you at the sight of his familiar face. Eyes locked, emotion and relief present, you continued to fight the enemies around you, while gradually getting closer to each other.

Slicing down one enemy, another appeared, but he was sliced down in front of you, revealing Legolas right beside you. Your eyes locked again, a silent greeting, lips quirking up in a relieved smile. As you continued your battle, you felt more courage than before, knowing you were side by side once again. Your past enemy, now your greatest ally.

But quickly, things changed. You were outnumbered, surrounded. You watched in horror as Aragorn fell, the giant standing over him. Legolas began to fight his war towards him as you sliced through enemies trying to help.

Suddenly a loud roar echoed through the sky. Your eyes shot up, spotting the Eye of Sauron glowing brighter, shaking violently. A chill seemed to run through the swarm of orcs. You watched in awe as the foundation of Saurons tower began to crack and crumble. As the tower fell, so did Saurons forces. Fleeing from the fight, leaving you all left, watching.

Relief washed over you as you understood. Frodo and Sam had made it. The ring was destroyed. But soon, the mountain was too. You watched, tears filling your eyes, falling in step beside Legolas, as you watched the mountain erupt.

Reaching out, you took Legolas's hand, his gripped yours tightly in return. It couldn't end like this. You had to hope beyond hope that they somehow made it out, made it to a safe distance.

You waited impatiently as time seemed to move so slowly. The battle was over, you would not know if Frodo or Sam made it out until Gandalf returned.

Your only comfort was riding alongside you, as you trekked back to safety. Everyone was quiet. A mixture of joy and sorrow sat over the company. You and Legolas shared glances every now and then, wondering silently what would happen next.

You would not have the chance to fully discus it until you made it back to Rivendell. Frodo and Sam were safe and healing. The company resting after their long ordeal.

You looked out at the mountains as Legolas sat beside you, leg pressed against yours. You weren't sure when you stopped staying at a distance from one another, and instead always seemed to be so close. As if you had slowly been puled together over time.

"What now?" You finally asked, breaking the silence.

Legolas looked over at you, studying your profile until you looked over at him. He shook his head softly. "I'm not sure."

You nodded, looking back out at the view. "I thought after so long I would be ready to go home, but...I'm not."

"Me either." Legolas admitted.

"But I'm not sure where to go." You added on.

Legolas felt his chest tighten as he looked back over at you. His heart was beating heavily in his chest. Taking a breath he spoke softly, but with certainty. "You can come with me."

You looked back at him, finding his gaze intently meeting yours. "Where?" You asked softly.

He smiled and he shrugged his shoulder. "I don't know. Anywhere. Everywhere. We can explore the places we have never seen. I can show you Rhovanion."

You felt a smile spread across your face, as sense of excitement washed over you. "It's a long journey back, are you sure your not tired of my company yet?" You asked with a joking tone.

You saw for a single moment, his eyes flick to your lips before he met our eyes again. His own smile grew. "Not yet."

You felt your neck grow hot as you stared at each other. You nodded softly. "Alright. I think I could do with another adventure."

Legolas smiled, reaching over, he placed his hand on top of yours. "A much easier one this time."

You let out a soft laugh as you looked down at his hand on yours. Turning your and over, you laced your fingers through his. Meeting his eyes, you smiled at each other, excited and ready for whatever came next.

xx End xx

Not sure how I feel about this, but I hope you enjoyed!

General Taglist: @criminaly-supernatural, @caswinchester2000, @imaginesfire, @rexit-mo

Lotr/Legolas Taglists: @ta-ka-shi-ma, @whimsical-daydreams

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Hello! I love your Eleutherophobia fics and as I was reading them, I couldn't help but notice the similarities between the themes with Tom/ex-hosts and the themes in The Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes from marvel. Out of curiosity, have you ever thought about the comparison between those two characters in their respective fandoms?

Hell yes. I mentioned in a different post that Infinite Coffee and Protection Detail by Owlet is one of the fics that most influenced my own writing. That series is narrated (un-narrated?) by Bucky Barnes, and it has the coolest use of experimental writing I've ever seen in a fic series.

What I mean by un-narrated: there are almost no personal pronouns at all in the first ~70% of the first story. It's almost all passive voice. So, for example

Mission imperative pounds in the Asset’s chest, takes the form of increased pulse rate and respiration, a tightening of the throat. Backup is required to protect the objective’s lungs.

as a way of conveying "I got Steve out of the river but now he's dry-drowning and I'm freaking out." Like half the sentences in the fic have no subject at all, and most of the other half have these super-detached ways of referring to Bucky ("The Asset", "mission head"). By all logic it shouldn't work — presumably Owlet learned in school not to use passive voice, just like the rest of us — and yet it goddamn well does.

Because the most important rule of creative writing isn't "show don't tell"; it's "form follows function." If your character's out of breath, use short-sharp sentences. If your character's in a dream state, use long flowing ones. If your character's making love then tell us with highfalutin enchantment; if your character's fucking then use smutty cheek. If your character is experiencing something totally fictional — they got put into a sci fi machine that took out their identity — then why not convey that with a jarring lack of self-reference in their thought stream.

The early chapters' lack of self-reference gradually starts to change, as The Asset formerly known as Bucky discovers through the power of coffee and protection (as promised!) that his old identity is gone but he can still forge a new one. One of my favorite details is that the narration gradually starts calling him Barnes, but the narrator himself remains indifferent on the subject — Steve calls him "Bucky," Jarvis calls him "Sergeant," Nat calls him "James," his neighbors call him "Jimmy" — and he only freezes up when people ask him what he prefers to be called, because he doesn't want to decide.

Anyway, I don't do anything that extreme in my own fic. But I do play around with breaking the rules. (E.g. I know it's ungrammatical to use phrases like "my eyes searched" or "my arm reached" — but if it'd be inaccurate to say "I reached" then form follows function.) And I'm a lot more comfortable putting experimental writing into fic than I would be if I hadn't read Owlet's work. Ascribing agency to limbs is probably my most consistent rule-break, but I also have a whopper of a run-on sentence in "How I Live Now" and a bunch of deliberately-unclear dialogue in "Ladybird, Ladybird." And you're not wrong, nonny: I owe a ton of that to Bucky, but mostly to Owlet's interpretation of the character.

[wolfjackle-creates]

Heya, Wolfjackle!!!

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗

Ooh!!! Such a fun question. So, first off, I love pretty much everything I've written and I'm not afraid to say it. I will say I did a better job executing some than others though.

First, I have to open with my Good Omens fic The Demon Piper. This is the fic that got me back into writing. It is the first story I wrote to completion and was happy enough with to share. I was inspired to write it by someone I was crushing on at the time who helped motivate me and let me brainstorm at them. It's a story that features Crowley as the Pied Piper of Hamlin. I still kinda wished I'd called it the Pied Demon, but, well, the adjective pied is archaic and most people don't know it anymore. So, demon Piper it was. (Also, it's based on a really fun song called The Pied Piper by Heather Dale.)

Next, I'm gonna mention Bring Me Home which is still only on Tumblr. I love this one so much. It keeps expanding on me, but it was my first dpxdc fic. In the process of writing it, I learned so much about DC, so much about Tim and Kon and Bart and Cassie. I made new friends and found a home in a new fandom and found the attraction of crossovers for the first time.

I also have to mention my other long dpxdc fic, Ghost!Robin (which still needs an actual name). I love this one because it was my first time writing such a large cast. I got to learn how to juggle characters and tag dialogue when every line needs some indication of who's speaking. I love how the story expanded so far beyond what I originally planned and I'm excited to get back to it because y'all, my plans for Jason and Robin? I think they're gonna be epic.

Fourth is gonna have to be another Good Omens fic, An Evening In. It was my first attempt at writing smut. The working title of the doc on my laptop is "attempt at E" because I didn't expect to do more than write something for myself. But then I kinda liked it? And showed it to a friend who had written smut before (and she read it over in her cult-church service which thrills me). And she gave me so much advice. The end result was honestly really good and practically every comment has some form of "this is your first smut???"

Fifth... this one will change based on when you ask me. Right now I'm gonna say my newest fic Remember, Remember. It was my first time writing a fic with minimal dialogue that's mostly introspection and covers multiple years of time in 1.3k words. I'm generally a writer who takes her time with a story. Ghost!Robin is currently 16k and covers a single meal, for example. An Evening In is a pwp and 18k and covers a single evening. But this one? Years of time in 1.3k. And it worked. And that's pretty cool.

The theme for what I like the most that I've done? When I try something new and it works. I get really proud when I try something I've never done before and I manage to pull it off. It often takes a few drafts, but I have seen my own improvement and it's amazing.

And again, just because it's not on this list doesn't mean I don't like it. Once I get a bit further into it, I think Carry Your Heart will dethrone one of these and so might Answer My Call.

Edit: half the links I made got removed before posting. I'll fix them on desktop in an hour or so.

Edit 2: Fixed the links!