#plotting methods

[arhvste]

“this is killing me.” kuroo mumbled as he tossed his phone to his side. “just trust me bro,” his best friend-turned roommate bokuto grinned. “this works everytime for me i swear!”

kuroo sighed before grabbing phone again to refresh his instagram story views once more. several people had already viewed the post-gym mirror selfie he’d taken in attempts to garner attention from one particular follower of his; you. “maybe it’s too cringe…” he muttered while over analysing the photo that had already gained a couple of likes within the twenty minutes it had already been up for. “nah.” bokuto reassured him and pat his friend on the shoulder. “you look sexy.” kuroo stared back at the two-toned haired boy. “… thanks bro.”

this isn’t something kuroo would typically post but times were tough and he was desperate. he’d seen you around campus but luck was not on his side when it came to scheduling and the two of you barely had class time together. yet the little class time you did share, kuroo hung onto it tightly and would let scenes of these weekly one hour classes replay in his head more often than he’d like to admit.

“i feel like a modern jay gatsby,” the ex volleyball captain huffed. “my selfie is the equivalent of the wild parties he’d throw in hopes to get daisy’s attention except i don’t want to post every night, i’ve already made myself cringe with this one post.” bokuto stared back at his friend blankly. “yeah… whatever that means.” kuroo frowned back “it’s a classic, you should know what i mean!”

how much longer was he going to have to wait? bokuto had promised him quick results with this method and so far he’d felt deceived and lied to. if talking to you when he got the chance wasn’t enough to get a conversation going outside the classroom, then social media seemed like the next best attempt to start interacting more.

what were you doing? why weren’t you viewing his story? could you even see his story? did he accidentally block you?

these questions ran through his mind as he quickly rushed to check to make sure he hadn’t for some reason blocked you from seeing his story. he half wished he did because then at least he’d know what on earth was taking you so damn long to see the photo he was increasingly starting to hate more the longer it was posted.

“this is stupid.” he stated as he faced bokuto who had zero concerns in his method in gaining someone’s attention. “it works you just have to wait, trust me.”

kuroo frowned as the little red hearts of others who weren’t you fluttered from the bottom corner of the photo. “look!” his best friend grinned as he leaned over kuroo’s shoulder and pointed to the screen of his phone. “you’re getting likes on it!”

“what’s the point if they’re not likes from the person i posted this for in the first place.” kuroo grumbled back in response. he couldn’t believe he’d been subjected to such an attempt to gain some attention from you. it was ridiculous.

it had been about forty five minutes since he’d posted it and he was slowly losing his mind. sure, the post was going to be up for twenty four hours (if he didn’t give into the voices in his head telling him to delete it) so forty five minutes was nothing, but the minutes were beginning to feel like hours and he was dying inside. why weren’t you viewing it already and what could possibly be keeping you off your phone right now?

“this is stupid.” he decided as notifications from his old team mates started to flash up on his screen. the last thing he needed was lev replying with ‘looksmaxing’ to a post that was secretly dedicated to you. “no, it’s barely been up!” bokuto whined. “you look hot so you should get some replies anyway what’s the big deal?”

pinching the bridge of his nose, kuroo huffed. “the big deal is the person i posted this for hasn’t replied!” what was the point in making sure to go to the gym during a rest day just to take this photo if he wasn’t going to at least make his existence more known to you? he’d even worked his legs enough to the point of managing to achieve the sweaty but sexy look. the muscles in his legs were dying, but his dignity sure as hell wouldn’t.

the college student opened up his phone with the intention to end the mental war inside his head once and for all by deleting the post altogether. bokuto watched his friend in defeat but his eyes flashed. “yes they did!” he yelled and pointed to the screen as your name flashed at the top of his screen.

kuroo’s heart jumped at the sight of your profile picture he’d made a daily routine of staring at and the now blue dot indicating a message from your profile in his inbox. to think he was going to delete this post just a second too, what were the chances?

psyching himself up, kuroo took a few quiet deep breathes before letting the time next to your message pass for a few minutes. he wasn’t an instagram warrior by any means, but he knew enough about general rules in order to not look desperate online.

bokuto watched over his friends shoulders as the two stared in anticipation awaiting the message kuroo had been dying for. this was it. leg day two times in a row was gruelling and he’d regret it for the next few days but it would have been worth it. the countless messages from his old teammates mocking his attempts at a thirst trap could be looked past now that you had finally given into the bait he’d so carefully laid. this is what he’d been waiting for. days of preparing and deciding how to gain your attention had finally paid off and he was about to reap the rewards he’d sown.

clicking the message with baited breath, his heart raced as bokuto’s grip of his shoulder tightened. finally.

‘the label on your shirt is sticking out, make sure to cut it’

“a wins a win.” bokuto filled the silence between the pair as kuroo stared at his phone with a blank expression. “… a wins a win…”

[shepscapades]

Thanks to artfight, I’ve finally finished a detailed, official dbhc cub reference! :D

(I’ve put his Artifight description below the cut, which has a more detailed explanation of his timeline, lore, and aesthetics! >:3)

-ˋˏ ༻ ❁  OVERVIEW ❁ ༺ ˎˊ-

Name: C.B.F.N.4000 (Cub) Pronouns: He/Him Species: Android Height: 5’9’’ Associated Visual Themes: vex, ghosts, explosions, mischief, scientist aesthetic, potions, potionmaking, sleepy/tired aesthetic, conspiracies

-ˋˏ ༻ ❁  ABOUT ❁ ༺ ˎˊ-

CBFN4000 is an au version of MCYT Hermitcraft’s Cubfan, set in my DBHC (or Detroit Become Hermitcraft) AU! This au is inspired by the 2018 game Detroit Become Human, but not because it really has anything to do with DBH—I simply yoinked the android mechanics and incorporated them into the world of Hermitcraft. It began as a S8 au, and has roughly followed the hermitcraft timeline up to the present! 

Cub was the last android made during Season 8. While many of the hermit androids were made at the beginning of season 8 and a few were made for season 9, Cub was finished and activated mid-late Season 8, around the time when Hermits started noticing the Big Moon. Cub’s model ended up being a sloppy experiment in deviation, as Doc suggested they try to transfer deviancy to an android upon activation to try and avoid traumatic situations that might cause an android to deviate violently or upsettingly, such as Etho’s, Tango’s, or Mumbo’s experiences. While this went relatively well initially, it clearly wasn’t very thoroughly thought out, as Xisuma (who is normally so adamant and detail-oriented when it comes to assuring the androids’ safety with experiments like this) wasn’t truly himself due to external manipulation and mostly left a relatively young-deviant Doc to carry out the project himself. 

Cub, though adjusting to sentience rather well at first, very quickly became wrapped up in the Big Moon happenings on the server, new personality and inexperience to emotions like fear and ignorance completely overwhelming his young system. He became obsessive over the implications and consequences of the Season 8 Moon Apocalypse, joining the Mooners and spreading his conspiracy theories religiously throughout the server as he descended into madness. The insanity was like a virus to his programming, pervasive and all-engulfing, and Cub’s final attempt to free himself from the Moon’s impact with the Earth—to launch himself on a llama into space via potion-powered TNT(insane btw)— left his hands and feet singed and cracked to ruin.

The experiment, considered a horrific failure by a deeply shameful—and more awake—S9 Xisuma, left Doc and Xisuma with the decision to reset him for the new season, and they ended up pairing him with a hermit like they had done with the other androids, to give him a chance to find deviancy on his own terms. So, at the start of season 9 and fresh after a reset, Cub was paired with Scar. Naturally, because Scar is… Scar, Cub deviated almost instantly after being given to him, and very quickly adopted the iconic lazy, stoic, amused attributes normally associated with Cubfan. Scar’s tendency towards mischief and general shenanigans grew instantly on Cub, and the two were an immediate inseparable pair. So much so that when Scar began rambling one day about his Season 5 Hermitcraft Shenanigans (where deals with the Vex may or may not have been involved), Cub immediately stated he was interested in being in on it. Whatever “it” means. It’s unclear if Cub also made a deal with the vex or became connected to them in some other way, but… well, he got Doc’s help to trick out his eyes, hair, and back to best fit the part. Scar is very jealous that he can't magically make himself have the same features to match.

Cub is closest with Scar (there's something there, I think), but he gets along just as well with any of the other hermits! He’s close with Jevin and many of the other redstoners like Etho and Doc, who are the other two androids I’ve put on artfight!

-ˋˏ ༻ ❁  EXTRAS ❁ ༺ ˎˊ-

Cub's eyes can light up in the dark, and he’s the only android who has edited his programming so that the default state of his LED is white, not blue. It still will go yellow and red if his processors are working particularly hard, but he’s replaced the blue setting on his LED with white to better match the Vex vibe. Cub has all of the vibes of a fae. If that’s anything <3

[rednightmare18]

It's not even about the vindication of calling a ship, okay. It's that the supposedly anti woke studio wrote about 3 million words of medieval fiction centering the relationship of the two main characters who are in most ways (or in all ways if you follow the obvious canon momentum of the story) meant for each other, as counterparts who help each other survive the great travails of their lives and who challenge/complete the other to become fuller, braver, kinder people. It's so clear these two people are soulmates, platonically or romantically, something observed consistently by the world around them and by themselves.

Except their society (feudalism, Catholicism) dictates that they are intended to be completely incompatible by nature and divine law. Not just for the obvious fact they are both men, but they are separated by what is arguably an even steeper chasm of social class. Their existence even as friends utterly spites, interrupts, and threatens feudal order right down to its theological and philosophical roots. They should not see each other as human and yet.

It's the fact that they do. The fact that the entire story has been about this--that these two protagonists fit together, undeniably, and grow to love each other fiercely (a love that deepens superbly from their knee-jerk playful puppy-friend-love in kcd1 to something selfless and mature by the end of kcd2). And they do so despite the immense opposition by their world, their social circles, their faith, and indeed their fandom.

And yes, it really does fucking matter that all of this culminates into a deep onscreen romantic love (if you get out of the way and allow it to) between two fandom-beloved male main characters (not just side characters rammed in for an optional gay romance but THE main characters of the duology; the "you" as in the player character and your erstwhile dick-jokes bro you have perhaps grudgingly at first been invited as the audience to love) in a historical fiction story that has been wrongly touted by the worst of our contemporaries as the holy grail of cultural conservatism.

Holy shit. Warhorse -- y'all. I'm sorry I doubted you. So few game writers understand how love works and indeed how people work, let alone translate it so well onto the screen.

Calling this an "optional romance" is not technically incorrect, I suppose, because it's true you can opt out and choose to remain platonic friends. But this language feels like a disservice, as if Henry & Hans's romance is a typical RPG wham-bam fanservice makeout with a minor fan fave character who never interacts meaningfully with the player again. Or as if it's a Bioware-style "give this NPC the right gift and do their side quest and you get to see a jankly ugly-bumpin' montage" situation.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is so very much not that. The "main, optional" romance scene in question is just one consummation event of two people who have been growing up and falling in love in front of us over the course of some 200-300 (or god knows how many) hours. The fact these protagonists openly love each other is very much not optional.

This is, sincerely, groundbreaking storytelling in this medium and this genre. How fucking cool that we all got to see it now.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

"What do you mean their name isn't Beef?"

(for @moondal514)

[acowardinmordor]

I think when Steve gets Vecna'd, Eddie adds together what he knows about the situation and comes to a logical conclusion. To him at least. He knows that Steve came here asking for heavy drugs and high quantities. He knows that Steve was sounding a hell of a lot like 'sleep' meant something worse.

He knows that Steve is X, and that means all of the horrible things that Eddie knows X thinks about himself, the guy in front of him thinks that too. He knows that Steve, ever since the letters stopped, has been upsetting the freshmen by being distant and cold.

The only assumption he can come up with is that Steve already took something, and it's hit. Or it's causing a reaction. Or its a bad trip.

He has no hesitation about touching him, immediately checks his breathing and his heart rate. It sorta, kinda seems like an overdose, a little bit could be an allergic reaction, but Steve is trembling like he's scared, and his body is stiff. Those explanations don't make perfect sense, so he watches for something that would mean it IS medical, and heads towards his better guess.

Bad Trip.

Steve is high, and is in a bad brain place, and that means he needs to be grounded. Music helps, right? When he was on that bad trip with Rick after his first senior year, Rick put on one of Eddie's tapes, and talked to him. Calm shit. Encouraging shit.

Eddie fully ignores the flickering lights - electrical gets weird in the trailer sometimes - and grabs the mixtape he made for X, and shoves it into his sorta fucky boombox. It's a mix of X's favorite songs, and the ones he mentioned in his own letters. He doesn't know if Steve ever listened to them, but that tape is the only thought he has.

Gets it playing, and grabs hold of Steve's arms. He knows that Steve stopped talking to him. Since Steve knew who he was, and Eddie didn't know who X was, it means Steve probably doesn't care if Eddie wants him to be okay.

Eddie talks about how everyone else feels.

He tells him about how protective Dustin is. How angry Lucas gets anytime anyone says a bad word about Steve. How Eddie has never seen Robin smile so much. How no one judges him for needing to repeat a year. Everyone knows about how hurt he got, and everyone gets it. No one thinks worse of him for it.

He knows his voice isn't exactly calm and soothing, but the longer this insane eye-flutter, non responsive thing goes, the more terrified Eddie is.

"Steve, please, please, it's okay. Just find your way back. try to breathe, try to feel your body, and you'll be okay. I know - I know I've been an asshole to you. I know, okay. But the boys, Robin, shit, fuck, Steve, I need to apologize for shit, so you gotta slow down your breathing. Whatever you're seeing, it isn't real. I promise it's not real, okay? Come back to the real world and I can get you feeling better, I promise. Steve? Steve?"

He doesn't notice at first that Steve is starting to float. He's too focused on his face, the way his eyes are still rolled back. He lets go before he can notice his own hands rising with him. Shits too real, this isn't just a bad trip, he needs help, he needs an ambulance, a cop, anyone that can actually help Steve.

He has the phone in hand, and is about to dial when he turns back, needing to keep looking at him while he begs someone to come fast. He sees Steve in the air.

One step closer, then another. He keeps trying, another whispered sentence or three. But the lights are going crazy, and the music is staticky, the dialtone is screaming, and suddenly Steve is flattened to the ceiling, arms pulling slowly to the sides.

Eddie runs.

Leaves the door swung open as he throws himself into his van. His hands are shaking and he's hyperventilating too hard to notice Max Mayfield sprinting across the road, up the stairs and into the trailer. He's pulling away, when Max screams as Steve falls.

He hears the scream, he hears and feels the heavy thump of a weight hitting the ground. He knows what that sound must mean.

Eddie runs.

Behind him with the tape still playing, Max holds onto a terrified Steve, who has trickles of blood on his cheeks, and bruises blooming on his arms.

Steve, alive, cursed, who immediately asks if Eddie is safe.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: 10-Step Snowflake Method

by Randy Ingermanson

1-sentence summary (1 hour)

15 words or fewer

No character names

Tie big picture to “personal picture” - what does the character have to lose and what do they want to win?

Read NYT bestseller blurbs for inspiration

Expand sentence to full paragraph summary (1 hour)

Approx. 5 sentences

Story setup

(Three) Major disasters

Ending

One page summary for each character (1 hour each)

Character’s…

Name

One-sentence storyline

Motivation (what do they want abstractly?)

Goal (what do they want concretely?)

Conflict (what prevents them from reaching goal?)

Epiphany (what they learn, how they change)

One-paragraph storyline

Expand each sentence in summary (#2) to full paragraphs (several hours)

All paragraphs end in disaster, except…

Final paragraph shows how the book ends.

1 page description of each major character (1-2 days)

Tell story from POV of each character.

Expand each paragraph from #4 into full page synopses. (1 week)

High level logic & strategic decisions

Expand character descriptions from #3 into full character charts (1 week)

Birthdate

Description

History

Motivation

Goal

Epiphany, etc.

Turn 4-page summary from #6 into a scene spreadsheet

One line per scene

Columns for: (a) POV character (b) What happens (c) Page numbers

(optional) Expand each scene from spreadsheet into multi-paragraph description

Add dialogue

General workings of conflict

Start writing first draft

Source ⚜ More: The Snowflake Method ⚜ Plot ⚜ Character ⚜ Worldbuilding

[princessofghosts-posts]

Nico's Powers and Rick way of writing them.

Honestly,I've been wainting to write this.

We all know Nico powers:

Can manipulate the shadows and travel in them (Umbra-kinesis);

Can sense someone's death and soul;

Can summon ghosts and talk to them;

Can summon skeletons that obey to his orders and fight for him;

Can use dreams to send messages;

Can unconsciously split the ground and create cracks or Underworld's openings;

Can turn someone into a ghost and make them forgot their life and ability to speak;

Can turn someone into a skeleton;

Has influence on the dead and can evade them when he has to;

Can create earthquakes (not major ones like Percy);

Technically has Geo-kinesis powers too (like Hazel);

Can summon zombies to serve him;

Can conditionate the CJ's lares speaking ability by forcing them to shut up;

Can influence the dead ones with his mood;

Death-touch;

(If I missed some feel free to add)

Other than this,you need to remember that his title as Ghost King give him some more leverage,and his sword is an uniqueness in the world that give him the ability to suck someone's soul in it.

By only this list you can tell that Nico is extremely powerful,and he is still younger than Percy,with a weak physical body (depression and ED do some wonders to you-) and wasn't never "officially trained" like him since he wasn't around camp much. But he still pulled insane acts even without being 100% ok most of the time.

Nico powers,differently from Percy and Thalia,are extremely versatile. While those two can use whatever source or form of water/lightning to fight,they can't do much outside of their fathers's domains. And then you have Nico. Nico that can use his powers to travel around the world and sending messages with a mental link,other than use them to fight. People always talks about Percy controll over all types of liquid (even poison or the Underworld's rivers),but there is still water in them,so it's normal for him to do so. Thalia can use lightnings because it's normal for her to do so since those are Zeus's main sources of power. But Nico's powers are more than just controlling the dead,he can manipulate dreams (something that only the Hypnos cabin can do if I remember correctly) and can use geo-kinesis too,even tho not as much good or frequent as Hazel (before she started to work with her mist affinity). He can do it all.

I'm not trying to pull the "Nico is more powerful than Percy" argument here,but more focusing on Nico's versatility usage of his powers. And Rick made a mistake here with him,that he realized later and tried to minimize.

You see,when you have a powerscaling system,you usually take the main character as the "default": it's from them that you start to build it so other people can understand where others characters stand,compared to the MC,on the scale. Most of the time,people want their MC to grow stronger after every fight,starting from the bottom,untill they are the most powerful character in the story. It's a format done everywhere (anime,movie,comics,fanfic,books,ecc...) and Rick Riordan also used it with Percy. And when you have as MC the "most powerful character ever" (in this case the most powerful demigod since Heracles times),you need to be careful with your side characters,especially when the author doesn't want them to outshine the MC. For this reason,most of the time,they are either weaker than them or have extremely excessive drowbacks. A good example of this is Jason: Rick introduced him to us as the roman counterpart for Percy,but made us understand that he wasn't never at Percy level of power. And when you have a "side" character as Nico,adding to the fact that he's most of the time the wild card for their victories and always know everything,you have a big problem.

Riordan made it clear that no one (for now) can surpass Percy in term of abilities. But he still went out of his way making Nico's powers more versatile than the others. Logically,he should have been stronger than Percy,especially because death cannot be stoped and it's part of everyone life,but canonically it wasn't going to happen since the MC is Percy. Riordan realized in a second moment that his powers were too much and decided to make sure Nico was always held back by something from going full out (like Jason).

Nico is the only child of the big 3 that,if he use so much of his powers,has extremely horrible drowbacks even when he shouldn't. I could understand during MoA-BoO events in HoO,he was either dying or disappearing into the shadows because of his kidnapping and Tartarus,and still had an extremely draining task to finish. But from HoO to ToA there is a big timeskip (I think 6 months or more but I'm not so sure) where he should had all the time in the world to heal and having back full controll over his powers. But he doesn't. Nico still faint after shadow-travelling,even tho after his trip with the statue he should have been stronger and not having problems for a normal trip. Which sucks,especially when Rick most of the time make him pull some jaw-dropping power-play that give you the full picture on how strong he really is.

I don't think Percy had so many downgrades with his powers,I never saw him almost fainting from controlling the waters. He get tired,yes,but that's it. Thalia has more restrictions because of her fear,but I also never saw her having so many problems after using her powers (after she went with the Hunters we never see her in general anymore). Neither did Hazel with her geo-kinesis powers (before Rick decided to make her learn mist manipulation). Jason is a whole mess because he faint every day when he gets hit by a brick,even when he isn't fighting or using his powers (Rick didn't do him justice either). It's only Nico that has so many negative effects.

And the fandom can explain it,in a canon logic,with: "He's s still young,he will have time to grow stronger." (I agree) ;"He wasn't never in a good physical condition so it's normal that he has this many negative effects." (Even dying he was still able to curse someone to literally becoming a ghost) ; "He was malnourished and depressed,since he didn't take care of himself before he still have problems,wait for him to be healthy." (Again,even in those conditions he still pulled insane stunts). But,outside of the narrative,Riordan totally nerfed him because he realized that he wrote his powers too powerful and useful compared to Percy's,and since he couldn't have his MC outshined,he made sure to slow Nico in any way possible.

In BotL and TLO there are 2 scenes that,for a long time,I thought I was the only one to ever have read them since no one talked about them.

In the end of BotL when Percy get out of the Labyrinth and went with Rachel to see the coffin,Nico created an earth barrier (or something closer to it) to help them escape form Kronos's attack. He never did that after it,and I never saw people acknowledge that scene so I legitimately thought that I was imaginating it. Which was strange since it came right after the famous "Did you just throw a blue brush in the eye of the Titan Lord?" scene,but no. It really happened and Nico did use the earth at his liking. After that Riordan decided to never bought it up and Nico never manipulated the earth in that way (he still split the ground a couple of times) again.

In TLO after Nico went to free Percy from the dungeons,they escaped the palace and went to the Styx. During their escaping Nico glared at the guards,while growing weaker and weaker with each one,and they ignored them. Again,since I never saw someone talk about it I genuinely thought I was remembering things wrong. Especially because it was part of the whole "Betrayal" plot that everyone know. But again,it wasn't the case,Rick just decided to never bring it up again. It was the only time Nico did something like that. Someone can say "Well,those are the royal guards and their boss is his dad they would never go against him." but the guards were against Nico,if he didn't do whatever the fuck he did,they were going to tell Hades about their escape. So,again,Rick realized he gave him a powerful trick and then hoped that one one would remember it after he used it one time.

All of this shows that,even if he is good at writing certain things,when it comes to others topics (like power-scaling,Tartarus's trauma and many more) he just can't write well and try to put patches on the holes,without having success. But that's for another post that I will do.

Rick lack of continuation in his work,and he needs to decide what the hell he is going to do with Nico,because the guy himself is a contradiction that needs to be solved. And if I see someone else say that he is weak because he continue to faint,I'm gonna crash out very very very bad since it's Rick's fault. Nico has grown enough in his power to stand tall and use them without having majors problems (if he abuse them,then of course he is in big troubles). He isn't anymore the 13 years old kid that was dying during a world-ending trip after days of being captive by the enemy,and Riordan needs to acknowledge it and move on from that.

[mollysunder]

The Medarda arc of s2 struggled to be good, because the plot viciously smothered it. You can argue that Arcane was never about politics but you cannot say the Medardas were never explicitly a family defined by politics. So when the show shifted it's priorities from a drama steeped in political conflict where even though the setting was fantastical the stakes were grounded to a shift where magic is the end all be all threat to humanity, the Medardas are rendered largely irrelevant.

In s2 Mel's agency over her own story is both largely stripped from her and poorly communicated. Arcane has Mel abducted from the plot to be the Black Rose's captive. Even when Mel manages to free herself it's not through the traits the audience understands are her strengths, her cunning and social intelligence, it's through an innate instinct that natural to her and indecipherable to the audience.

Ambessa as a character is more or less a villain of convenience, which would be fine if she wasn't immediately following Silco's act. Once Mel is removed from the story Ambessa is largely disconnected from any emotional tension fuels conflict between the characters and previously drove the plot in s1. She's there to play the worse bad guy for Caitlyn and then give Viktor the man power for the Glorious Evolution.

It's frustrating to see the Medardas used the way they are in s2 because when they're together I can see how it could be good. When they're together Mel forces emotion out of Ambessa. In Act 1, Ambessa proved she could do circles around Piltover's court, which could actually put Mel in a tight spot.

Their final scene on paper sounds like a good idea where the true resolution to Mel and Ambessa's story was that Ambessa saw Mel's own ruthless behavior as she not only betrayed Ambessa to the Black Rose, but used her as BAIT to double cross LeBlanc. Ambessa died proud that her daughter killed her the way she did, and that's so cool and tragic, but the execution was a flop.

One, their final fight is completely unimportant to the actual Glorious Evolution, Mel's grief can't even be a highlight because it's interrupted by Viktor's mind trap. Two, their fight didn't rely on any of Mel's actual strengths, just magic and the poorly explained MacGuffin LeBlanc gave her. How did Mel even know it would do that?

It's like the writers had the bones for a great story for the Medardas, but then they're like the world's worst archeologists and fit those bones together in the worst way possible because they were convinced the bones made a stegasaurus instead of a T-rex or something.

[tk-duveraun]

Thanks to airplane's interventions (small, meaningless comments it things said under his breath) YQY is a little bit more yandere than in PIDW. He doesn't necessarily encroach on sqq but he did make a soul lamp for him.

On the day of the svsss!fatal qi deviation, yqy sees the lamp, always with him, dim dangerously.

As it turns out, SY isn't the only one who thinks self-destructing is a great way to save someone you love from qi deviation.

:)

SQQ decides to take over the underworld if he has to bite out the throats of the Yama kings himself

[notapradagurl7]

method man again soon ?

Let Me In.

Black!OC x Method ManWerewolf!

Summary: On a snowy night, you discover that your old flame has transformed into a werewolf, you rescue him from the storm.

A/N: Yes, here you go! it’s been a minute since I wrote for this fine man, I do love black fantasy and hope to see more, Don't forget to leave comments, likes and reblogs are welcome to support, drop a request if you like, they're always open! ❤️🫡

Warnings: fluff, smut, wolf transformation, piv, heavy dirty talk, angst, filth, biting, breeding kink, fictional, not real, kinda like a blurb.

Taglist: @megamindsecretlair @satoruya @planetblaque @playgurlxoxo @becauseimswagman1

@pocketsizedpanther @beenathembo @brattyfics

@hxneyclouds @kaylalb

@yassbishimvintage @blackgrlmagic

@nahimjustfeelingit-writes @nayaesworld @ovohanna24

@novahreign @writingsbytee @avoidthings @kimuzostar @slippinninque @keyera-jackson @theblacklewinsky

@euphorichappiness10 @life-in-the-slut-house @miguelspvssy @liatreads @kaylaahisthebestest-@tforpresz

@uniqueoutlierblog

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@enchantedillumination

 ———-

Sitting cross-legged on the suede red couch, your brown pupils on the Garamond font printed on the white pages of the book in your right hand with the soft sound of jazz playing from the jet-black television across the room. Using the same remote to lower the volume, you sat surrounded by vintage red floral wallpaper, in the medium-sized living room where you were relaxed and at ease, chilling like a villain in your little sanctuary.

The small flakes of white snow descended from the thick,  cumulus clouds without a shade of blue showing up above, December arrived quicker than she thought every time of the year, she wanted to stay in your relaxed home where it was warm and safe.

The scent of mint filled the air while she had just finished placing a few candles in the room. Curling up with a cherry red blanket and a red mug of hot chocolate in her hand, tiny marshmallows floating at the of the brown beverage, she snuggled deeper into the couch.

Simone closed the book with a gentle snap, her gaze caught something outside the window in the white snow. Putting her mug and book down on the coffee table, she made her way toward the window, her palms pressed against the cold glass.

Tightening her gaze, she tried to make out the figure from the distance, it was a raven-haired werewolf. "Oh, Is that a wolf? I gotta go save it." she muttered to herself, feeling a twinge of sympathy. Without a second thought, she rushed towards the front door.

Why was there a werewolf in a snowstorm all alone without anyone noticing or saving it?

Clothed in a bright red coat, matching pants, her raven box braids swayed with her movement and snow boots as she crept toward the werewolf. With each step, the crunch of her boots mixed with the creature's growls echoing through the chilly air.

Simone slowly approached the werewolf, and blood dripped from its wounded arm. Simone spoke in a soft tone, her eyes on the creature's slow movements. "It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you," she reassured, cautious not to frighten the beast or become its next prey.

The melanated woman gently caressed the wolf's head, its golden eyes fixed on her hand as she hears a soft whine. Moving her thumb back and forth in a soothing motion, She comforted, "You're safe with me, don't worry." The wolf was just the right size to be lifted by Simone - not too big, not too small.

After entering her home, Simone secured the door behind her pushing it with her clothed back. The wolf, still cradled in her arms, was gently placed onto the plush, brown chocolate-colored carpet. "I'll be back okay?" she reassured the animal, before getting a First Aid Kit from underneath her sink in the white cabinet.

Carefully treating his wound using peroxide and white bandage tape, locking eyes with the wolf's eyes again. "You did a great job, you're quite familiar—What's your name?" Simone asked him, raising her brow.

She remembers seeing the same wolf in the woods while she was outside gathering firewood for her house, is the wolf an old flame of hers? Clifford.

Cliff and Simone were dating a few years ago until he began acting strange, the irises of his eyes changed to golden, and his teeth were sharper, she remembers that day when he told her he was changing but she didn't think he would be a werewolf. Maybe that's why he ran away, he didn't want anyone especially her to see him as a monster or be heckled and shunned by the townsfolk.

Simone listened closely, a voice suddenly spoke to her in her thoughts. "Hello, Simone. It's me Cliff," the voice said. The wolf's ears perked up at the sound of his deep, masculine tone through Simone's mind like an echo. She knew without a doubt that it was him.

"Cliff what happened to you? I thought you were dead or—wait can you change back to a human?" She asked him, needing to see if it was really him.

A crimson-red glow, its thick tendrils swirling before her eyes. When the light scattered, a naked and vulnerable man sat before her. She quickly grabbed a large navy blue towel from the nearby suede couch, draping it over his shoulders to cover him. Her face turned red as she buried her face into the towel. Cliff chuckled at her reaction, grateful for the warmth of the towel.

"What's wrong baby girl?" Cliff asked, raising a brow, his voice still deep yet more human-like. Good thing he couldn't see her blushed face with the towel around him and her chin resting on his shoulder. "You're naked Cliff, I'm gonna get you some clothes okay?..." she told him, the closeness between their bodies made her heart thump out of her chest, she missed him so much.

Cliff chuckled, "Yeah, that would be a great idea." He turned around to face her with their eyes meeting, their bodies still close. "I missed you," he softly told her, his eyes locking onto hers intensely.

She felt shivers run down her spine at his words, her heart racing even faster. "I missed you too," she replied with a warm smile, blushing again.

As she stood up from the plush brown chocolate carpet, she sauntered through the cramped hallway and loomed into the exposed doorway of the medium-sized room with the vintage red floral wallpaper. With a faint blush, she gingerly opened the closet door and rummage through the hangers of clothes, finding the perfect outfit for him.

She gave him some baggy clothes that fit him perfectly, The black sweatpants and plain sweatshirt once belonged to her older brother. Cliff quickly changed into the clothing, feeling more at ease and less exposed. "Thank you, Simone," he thanked her. Grateful to be saved by her from the snowstorm.

Simone smiled warmly at him, feeling a sense of comfort in his presence. "It's no problem, baby. I'm just glad I could help," she replied, patting his shoulder gently. "But we need to talk about what happened to you. How did you became a werewolf?"

Cliff sighed deeply, his eyes darkened as he remembered the night that had changed his life forever. "It was a full moon night, and I was out in then woods walking with some friends. We stumbled upon a pack of werewolves, we tried to run away but every single of them attacked us baby," he said, taking a seat on the couch.

He paused, taking a deep breath. "I thought I was going to die, but then something strange started happening to my body. I felt my bones shifting, my muscles bulging, and my senses becoming stronger and then I transformed into this." his hands gripped the fabric of the sweatshirt so tightly that he trembled uncontrollably.

Simone's heart softened as she saw the pain in his eyes. She decided to comfort him. "Come here, Cliff," she said in a soft tone, gesturing him to her embrace. He leaned in, burying his face into the crook of her neck, inhaling the sweet scent of her mint perfume.

Their hearts flutter in sync, Despite his werewolf senses, he resisted the urge to take control and simply snuggled into her warmth. a feeling he hadn't experienced in a long time, and a sense of peace washed over him.

Cliff regretted leaving her behind when he transformed into a werewolf yet here they were in her living room, why couldn't he have told her? He was too scared. Simone held him close, rubbing soothing circles on his back as he let out a few quiet sobs.

Her black sweatshirt absorbed his tears one by one, "You're not a monster, baby," she whispered, her words giving him a glint of hope.

The old flames sat in silence, the only sounds were the crackling of the fireplace, he quickly pulled away from her embrace as he wiped his tears away, "Thank you..I'm sorry for leaving you Simone.." Cliff apologized, his voice laced with regret. His thumb traced her jawline lovingly.

Her palm cupped his breaded face with her brown pupils on his dark brown ones, "It's okay, you had to leave. I understand."

Cliff nuzzled his nose against her palm, gently kissing her handprint while letting out a low growl of contentment, "No it's not, I promise i won't leave again baby.." he calmed, hearing the sincerity in his tone.

She pulled him in by his shoulders to bring his face in, making him into her brown eyes. "Then don't leave...stay here." She replied to him with a soft tone, He leaned in closer, his lips against brushing hers.

His lips pressed onto hers in a steamy kiss. It was like they were making up for lost time, their bodies pressed together as they deepened the kiss, quickly undressing and preparing for their sensual act.

Her naked back rested against the plush, brown chocolate-colored carpet with his big hands latched on her hips as he rested her legs on top of his broad shoulders, giving her every inch of thick dick, he was much bigger this time that she felt every vein of his dick pulsating inside of her wet walls.

Clenching around him so perfectly, stretching her out after each jagged stroke, His fingers dug into her skin, leaving marks while he pulled her closer to him. Simone squirmed beneath him, their low eyes locked with his forehead pressed against hers.

Her arms draped his neck pulling him in closer with their bodies pressed against each other while he lowers his head to suckle on her neck and his sharp teeth grazing on her melanated skin earning a moan from his lover, Cliff plunges deeper into her, "Oh fuck! Cliff!! Deeper!!" Simone chanted out, her fingernails leaving bloody scratches on the delicate skin of his shoulder blades which made him hiss through his teeth.

Cliff quickly stood up from the carpet with him quickly pulled out of her as he carries her to the grey suede couch with her hands on the headrest of the couch while he gripped the back of her thighs hiking them up to his slender hips as he slipped back into her from behind with a soft moan leaving her lips, "Is that deep enough for you baby?" he groaned lowly, ramming into her causing her dainty hands gripped the headrest for dear life.

His low eyes fixated on her face twisting up in pleasure with her fingernails gripping the carpet and her toes curling into a ball from his animalistic thrusts sending her over the edge while her vision became dotty with tears cascading down her rosy red cheeks, he was making up for the lost time, the distance between them that crushed them, he couldn't run away from her again, "You're so beautiful.." he told her, his teeth sunk underneath his lips.

Their melanated bodies were covered in sweat and glistening from the dim lighting above the chandelier adding to the wet squelching noises and the skin-to-skin slapping aired out in the living room, "Y-yesss! Y-you're so deep!!" she cried out to him, throwing her ass back on him while he throw his head back from her clenching and creaming on his length, "Fuckk..you feel so good." Cliff groaned raspily, kissing up her arch passionately.

His dick twitched inside of her walls with her legs shaking weakly in his clutch feeling the shockwaves of pleasure flowing through her body, giving her more than a few sloppy strokes seeing her wetness trickle down in between her thighs as he dug her out, "I-i'm cumming...c-cum in me please.." she moaned lowly in between his strokes, by her request.

Her essence gushed on his dick completely, He unleashed his huge load of his nut through her walls, he grunted lowly, filling her up. Moaning at the same time.

Cliff caught her body in his arms while he seated her on his lap with the lovers breathing heavily, "i love you.." he told you, his hands gently caressing her thighs lovingly as he pecked her forehead.

Enjoying the silence between them, "I love you too.." she replied back, smiling with heat creeping on her cheeks.

————-

[yallthemwitches]

“Finding time was hard enough before we took up shagging each other like mad—people will start to talk if we don’t show up to any of our classes.”

Almost predictably, he laughs, pressing his lips against a patch of red on her collar where she is almost certain an imprint of his teeth will appear. 

“Let them,” he says simply as the arm wrapped around her waist tightens. “I’ve wasted too much time not shagging you. Now that I can, I don’t plan to give it up for anything.”

The NSFW oneshot set in the Method Acting Universe! (though you ABSOLUTELY do not need to read the other installments to read this one).

Rated E for explicit sexual content. Read on AO3

[mielwriting]

"Inazuma is poorly written" meaning the worldbuilding's great but the plot needs a rewrite. "Natlan is poorly written" meaning the worldbuilding needs a redesign but the plot is great.

[eggsistential-breakdown]

just hanging out and watching the sky

click for higher quality and closeups under the cut

[yashley]

arlo black: *shows up. acts bizarre. wanders off.*

[greenerteacups]

not asking for spoilers but just wanted to let you know I am SO excited to see whether you'll be including any aspect of the golden trio's van life™ treasure hunting in the woods segment of DH in your story. I know you've talked about how silly and irrelevant it is for them to be off and away from all the other characters and action for so much of the last book, so I'm looking forward to seeing the changes you make and what kinds of new experiences they'll have if they remain more tethered to the plot. but c'mon. neverending geocashing group camping trip from hell. it's kind of hilarious.

RV TRIP DEATHLY HALLOWS they will never make me love you RV trip deathly hallows... tho you are right and I fully grant it is the funniest thing that book could have done... it's like. The Two Towers if you're reading Sam and Frodo's trip to Mordor and you don't know what fuck all else is going on while they're doing it. And also none of the stuff with Aragorn or the actual war for the ring is on the page. And there are Hallows there, for some reason.

[it-crowd-unexpected-reboot]

Update #2: A New Outlining Method, Dropdown Plotter

I've been having a hard time conceptualizing how to plan out a novel lately. It used to come so easy to me. Now that I'm a real adult, it feels like there isn't enough space in my brain anymore for me to have my story all in my head without writing my ideas down somewhere.

So, good outlining methods, which can be hard to come by, are crucial for my writing process.

But, a lot of traditional methods don't work for me.

In my opinion, it's extremely important to have an outlining method that doesn't overwhelm you, and which feels creatively freeing. And when do I need to be more creatively free, than when writing an IT Crowd fanfiction?

So I've come up with a new outlining method that I'd love to share with you all! I call it Dropdown Plotter.

Dropdown Plotter uses the dropdown menu feature, which can be found in both Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel, to help you better visualize (and, most importantly, easily reorganize) the major aspects of each chapter of your story.

Basically, it's a spreadsheet that includes, at minimum, 8 columns.

Chapter Title

Plotlines

Included Character(s)

Perspective Character(s)

Location(s)

Chapter Story Description

Writing Stage

Due Date

Why keep track of these things? Balance. Basically, making sure your characters, plotlines, POVs, and important locations all get adequate page time.

It's a lot easier to conceptualize these things when you have it on a color-coded spreadsheet, zoomed out really far, and can see in a big picture way. For example, you might see that the red color indicating "Legolas" is in a scene, drops off after Chapter 17. You might see that the green-coded plot about his missing shoe is only important for 5 chapters in the middle of the story, or that we're spending almost the entire story in the bathroom and never in the evil lair.

So, how do you use the Dropdown Plotter?

First, you go into the dropdown menu, and you can see all the plots you've selected. There's a handy "search feature" for those writing the next Game of Thrones. You want to click the little pencil icon in the bottom right, which is the "edit" button.

On the right-hand side of your screen, a column will pop up called "Data Validation Rules." From here, you can edit the names and colors of each item in the dropdown menu, and add or delete things as you'd like.

Make sure to click "allow multiple selections" on the bottom of the data validation rules pop-up. This will allow you to select multiple characters, multiple locations, and multiple plots when you're in the dropdown menus.

Don't forget to click "Done" at the bottom!

On top of the dropdown menus, the nice thing about working in a spreadsheet is that you can always drag and drop the rows and columns. This makes it extremely easy to change the order of scenes around, in a way that feels very impermanent and easy.

Here is what my Dropdown Plotter looked like for the first three chapters of The Grant: An IT Crowd Fanfiction.

Looks pretty, right? And pretty outlines build confidence! Not only that, but what I like most about this outlining method is that it encourages me to be less precious with my ideas.

It's way less intimidating to overhaul major aspects of your story, such as the dominant POV, the main plot, etc., when all you have to do is click a little button in the dropdown menu to change everything. When I'm editing a little blurb in a spreadsheet versus an entire step outline, it reminds me that no writing problem is insurmountable, and nothing is ever really set in stone.

Again, it builds confidence.

Unfortunately, I've only built a Dropdown Plotter in Google Sheets, but I've provided a blank version to share with you all. The nice thing about spreadsheets is that you can add and delete things as you see fit. For example, some people might want to add...

More columns indicating multiple scenes within the same chapter!

A "Story Beat" column, to mark the specific plot beats each chapter follows (as in the Hero's Journey or the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet).

An "Important Info" column, to mark any worldbuilding or character details discussed or introduced in a certain chapter.

Literally anything your little heart desires!

Happy outlining and I hope you enjoy the Dropdown Plotter!