#the worldbuilding is so thoughtful as well i liked seeing different characters with different worldviews interact

[riacte]

so hey guys i finished dungeon meshi yesterday and i'm still thinking about it

[honorarycassowary]

I’m in the middle of writing a different long post to which this subject is only tangentially relevant, but the single greatest flaw in several big rationalist fanfics is an unwillingness to engage with the actual text of canon and instead pre-rationalistizing it. What I mean by this is the canon, whatever it may be, contains some Thing, a premise or character or design, that doesn’t fit with Rationalism TM, so it’s discarded and the fanfic precedes without engaging with how a rationalist philosophy would need to address or adapt to this Thing.

1) Animorphs: The Reckoning is intensely concerned with hard(er) scifi-ing up the books. The Andalites’ centaur body layout doesn’t really make sense, so it needs to be redesigned. And so does their culture and psychology, since they’re a psychic species. And that has knock-on effects on Elfangor and Ax’s characterization. And Yeerks live in massive collective pools and possess, so that has to effect their psychology as well. Do these changes make more sense (from a scientific and/or internal consistency point)? Sure, I guess. I’ve been enthusiastic about some weird Andalite redesigns myself, and the ones The Reckoning proposes are genuinely neat. But all this is a significant worldbuilding project that needs to happen in addition to retelling the general plot of the books and on top of communicating some rationalist worldview, and it involves fundamentally altering the characterization of several key players. Which is IMO kinda defeating the point of writing fanfiction instead of plain old fiction.

And that’s really the sticking point here - the author describes the project as "Visser Three is competent, the Yeerks are moving rapidly, and the Animorphs are actually trying to win“. But wait. Visser Three is competent?

You see, I think it’s actually a serious misreading of the series to think that Visser Three is incompetent purely for children’s book villain reasons. (Though that is a bit of it.) Applegate clearly had serious thoughts on war going on, and I think it is important thematically that Visser Three sabotages everything by being a huge asshole. Primarily, it establishes that the Yeerk Empire devaluing host species has infected their views towards fellow Yeerks. Visser Three is someone who thinks he is more important than anyone else and will use force to make sure that everyone obeys him; literally the personification of empire. There’s also the skewering of real-life bureaucracies that value people with cool showy military victories like having a morph-capable Andalite body over people who can actually lead, how infighting among people at the same level is crippling for any large organization, how cruelty to your subordinates can be exploited to your disadvantage. (I also don’t think he’s inherently incompetent, he’s just a total asshole promoted well above his competency level.) It is not necessary for a rationalist retelling of this story to fix this, because it is not a problem. There is no conflict between exploring rationalist philosophy and showing how irrational assholes with way too much power are an obstacle. That’s an incredibly relevant lesson!

And the Animorphs, trying to win? What does it mean to win a war? Applegate wrote a whole letter to fans about this after the series ended. Her message is, flatly, “Wars don’t end happily. Not ever.” What do the Animorphs want? Why do they want it? It’s majorly thematically important that they are kids who want this whole thing to be over, and have to grapple with the reasons why they can’t back out. In rationalist terms, what are we trying to optimize for here? The fastest end to the war? The best end for humanity? The best end for all sapient species involved? The end that is most likely to lead to the longest period of peace? How do these options conflict? How do we balance competing needs between species? In smaller and less fantastical scale, this is a problem that people deal with all the time, and it’s hard! The power fantasy of ultimate rationalist effectiveness is in conflict here with philosophical exploration of rationalism in practice in the chaotic system of real irrational people.

(Anyways, if you want a story that talks about the Animorphs making effective use of resources and making hard decisions and trying to figure out the best and most effective choice to make among many, many parties who all have different goals, go read Daemorphing. It is much better in terms of smoothly integrating worldbuilding and seriously thinking about morality and how to practically achieve outcomes that satisfy people.)

2) One of the major messages of HPMOR is resisting death. If you want to do worldbuilding in regards to the afterlife and immortality, there’s some actually fairly interesting stuff about what’s going on with death in the actual Harry Potter books. Ghosts have their own culture (death-day parties! the Headless Hunt!) - how did it develop? Muggles can’t see or become ghosts - does that mean only wizards have souls? How do ghosts resist going to the afterlife? Can they move on? Why don’t spirits like being brought back via the Resurrection Stone? Can they tell us about the content of the afterlife? What’s up with the spirits who come out of Voldemort’s wand? How does the Veil in the Department of Mysteries work, and why don’t wizards have a Health and Safety Executive equivalent?

But Eliezer Yudkowsky doesn’t believe in the afterlife, so Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality can’t talk about any of that. He wants to end death, but ghosts are just “afterimages” so they can be discarded despite the very obvious parallels between afterimages and brain uploading and simulation in a transhumanist context. He knows the afterlife is fake, so he doesn’t even need to see the Veil in person to know it’s a fake, and he’s not interested in comprehensively debunking it for a public audience either. He’s a cryogenics enthusiast, though, so Harry can espouse cryonics as a method to preserve loved ones, instead of looking into enchanted glass coffins or transfiguring your loved ones into a magic music box that plays a song that sounds like heartache or sticking them in the Mirror of Erised. (Really just CRTL+F “HPMOR 39“ on this review website for a more thorough discussion.)

3) There’s almost certainly a whole section to be added here about Worm fic/fandom that really, really doesn’t want to deal with the whole “being actively sabotaged by extradimensional brain worms” but by the power of refusing to ever make a Spacebattles or SV account I have avoided so much of the fandom that it’s really a Plato’s cave situation here. I have no chapter and verse to cite so uhhh send post

[aplaceofstone]

AO3: faceofstone

(with treats enabled!)

Dear Yuletide Writer,

All prompts and ideas are just suggestions, if you are the kind of Yuletide writer who likes to follow them. If not, cool, they are certainly not the end-all of what I love about these fandoms and characters.

If you like visual prompts, this entire blog is 20% recipes and 80% aesthetics that mostly fit my requested fandoms…

I like found families, oddball friendships, sympathy toward outcasts, characters who fully embrace being outcasts, melancholy, a sense of place, bittersweet accomplishments, and a stubborn flicker of hope in an overall bleak world. Dreamlike atmospheres that aren’t necessarily scary, some sort of reassurance that can be found in the weird and the profoundly unnatural.

My only ship in these three fandoms is Atrus/Catherine. DNW CW/Farley and Margot/Turner.

Myst: any (Atrus, Catherine, Yeesha, Worldbuilding)

30th anniversary! 🥳🍉 how about "30 years later" as a prompt? Counting from whenever you want. 30 years after Myst 1? After Yeesha left Tomahna? After Atrus (or either other nominated character) first made contact with the people of an Age he wrote? After the ice cream expedition first brought cones to the Cavern? Or "celebration" or anything with a celebratory twist. Atrus and Yeesha reuniting after End of Ages? Catherine having a nice day? Yeesha in Chiso Preniv?

I love the whole cast, so feel free to set the fic in any era of canon, following pretty much anyone along with the worldbuilding or nominated characters. If you want to play with, idk, Ri'neref or the Watcher or Gehn or Esher or Zandi or Nelah or some schmuck on Releeshahn or whatever, go for it! I am not particularly well-versed in pre-Fall D'ni shenanigans - I’d be interested in reading something set anywhere in those millennia, just please write it assuming that your reader may not be already up to speed on what was going on historically at the time.

Obduction: any (Farley, CW, Josef, Worldbuilding)

What’s your favorite spot on Hunrath, dear author? What’s your favorite odd item (is it RIUM+’s Myst book or the Unwritten manual)? Tell me a story about it. Or tell me about how it’s like to live in that new world, humans, villein, arai and so very few mofang, and Farley’s plan was what got them there for better and for worse. Or a night at that cute little pub they added with the patch. Tell me about the differences between Farley’s worldview, since Hunrath is all she knows, and CW who misses his life on Earth so much. What’s Josef’s story in this regard? Or focus on any aspect of Earth culture that got lost on Hunrath, or one that got preserved, or how the 19th century habits of some obductees clash with their neighbors who come from a few centuries later, and how it all eventually becomes Hunrath’s unique culture. Or what are your favorite character’s feelings on the Sorian sky hanging on their head? Is there someone in Hunrath who insists on calling the seeds #spacepinecones, to everyone else's dismay? What's the smallest recorded obduction, a tiny seed that barely got the person from hair to toes, and what's the largest?

I don’t ship any combination of main characters but I am interested in all platonic interactions between the main trio (as well as actually seeing them forced to act like a trio. What would it take?). I am also interested in seeing any of the characters who are only mentioned in the various journals getting fleshed out a little: if your story needs an additional character or two, you could see if anyone there suits your needs! (and if nobody there does, actual OCs are welcome)

Firmament: Margot | The Mentor, Worldbuilding

Journals? Got any journals, dear author? Notes? Codes? Anything to make the Realms feel more lived-in, from the perspective of Margot or any Keeper? Or what do they find after the end, how do they settle?

I'm not necessarily looking for a fix-it for Margot, but if you've thought of something, I'm listening. Or at least, is it possible for the survivors to know what she's done for them, and to understand who she was as a person, what she went through? (which I suppose brings us back to "journals?" ;^; ) In general, has anyone ever tried to hack the memory loss situation through the written word? Were songs composed and shared from Keeper to Keeper until at last they made it back to the ears of their author?

While I didn't request Turner, and I'm not interested in fic about his character pre-amnesia, I'd be good with any worldbuilding idea that features him freshly post-canon coming to terms with being a blank slate with such a weighted past.

If you're into any of the irl Founders, I'd also love a deep dive in-universe on what their angle was in sponsoring the expedition. Like, Marx, I have Some Questions, and I'm sure there's plenty to say about the others as well! What they hoped for, which of their ideals were pivotal to the eventual success of the expedition VS which ones could've been thought through a bit better maybe…

[tallysgreatestfan]

Alchemical Androids and a Rebellion - "Criers War" by Nina Varela

As a human, Ayla is treated as barely a person by the ruling androids created from alchemy, the Automatae. Her family was killed in one of their raids, and now she seeks revenge. As she manages to become handmaiden to Lady Crier, daughter of the King, her plan seems clear: Kill Crier. But then she gets to know her closer…

Crier believes that her father treats the humans well, since he is telling that to her all the time. Soon to be married to the powerful Kinok, her life seems perfect on the surface, but there are cracks. Why doesn’t her father let her speak in the council? Why are her human servants afraid of her? What exactly did Junn, the Mad Queen, do? As she meets Ayla, her worldview begins to shake, and as she starts to fall in love with her, she has to be afraid that she was made wrongly.

This was sold to me as a dystopia with a queer romance, which it isn’t. Oh, it absolutely is queer, and I love seeing this kind of story play out between two women, but its more fantasy with the rebellion and sci-fi undertone of a dystopia. A bit like Red Queen.

But as I was over that confusion, the book was gripping and easy to read. It read it quite fast, which is a compliment for me with my neurodiversity induced problems with reading sometimes. It alternates between Ayla and Criers point of view, and the author manages to use that quite well, holding up the tension, but also contrasting their different views on the world and their different status and upbringing. Their romance was slow and felt believable, and again, it’s so refreshing to have these enemies to lovers fantasy tropes play out between two women.

The worldbuilding felt detailed and solid too, and the idea of androids, but created through alchemy, is quite interesting. Oh, also most characters are black, and that is a nice change in medieval fantasy too. Other than that, the typical monarchy and horses and castles are a bit cliché though.

I enjoyed the characters too, even if other than Crier and Ayla none of them are particularly fleshed out, but enough to still be fun. However, both Ayla with her desperate fear of dependence and hardened, cynical worldview, and Crier, idealistic and wanting to change something but just don’t having the power despite being a princess, felt like real people, and seeing them interact was always fascinating.

There were also no deeper thoughts or analysis on oppression and resistance other than the usual very superficial “wealth inequality and monarchy is bad”, but since the book read so fastly, it was not really a problem, just something I wished for because I had expected an dystopia. Still, the understanding and solidarity but also the differences between the two women was a nice commentary on solidarity between women in the face of oppression.

However, and that is a mild spoiler, my queer heart suffered with Crier as she thought about falling in love with Ayla as something she should not be able to and a fundamental flaw of her. That part felt real and relatable, even though it was through a metaphor about the columns (traits) she was made with.

The ending feels a bit too quick and sudden, and is quite open. I will definitely buy the second part, though.

[ot3]

What's the core appeal of orv? I know the premise but why does it make you so hyped up?

OH BOY OH BOY....... i will try to be as concise as possible here but i could write without exaggeration thousands of words about why orv is good. But I guess here's the big stuff.

- Its funny, for starters. it is extremely funny, which is very high up on my media priority list. in orv, there will be incredibly grim things that make you laugh, and incredibly cringe and silly anime bullshit that will hurt you as heavily as any other media you’ve seen. 

- it executes it’s thematic arcs with pinpoint precision the likes of which i’ve hardly ever seen anything else manage to do. regardless of whether or not the themes themselves are the sort of themes you go bonkers for in media, it’s always just delightful to see something perfectly stick it’s landing in terms of the big concepts its trying to grapple with, and orv does

- it’s got fun and fascinating worldbuilding mechanics. the core concept being ‘reality now operates on the rules of a shitty novel’ means that the worldbuilding doesn’t have to function logically, it functions thematically. it’s explicitly stated in orv canon that some of the internal rules governing this new reality are objectively really stupid and illogical, but they just have to roll with it because that’s what was in the book, and i think it’s a really enjoyable way to do it. This may at first sound like a copout, where the writer is trying to excuse their own bad worldbuilding, but it isn’t. The world building is actually incredibly deeply thought out, but it doesn’t exist for the sake of rational function, it exists for the sake of, once again, furthering orv’s thematic arcs. the rules by which this universe operate do a magnificent job of strengthening the core concepts the authors are exploring. 

- it deals with morality in a really wonderful and nuanced way. there are almost no characters in orv’s extremely large cast of characters who are just explicitly morally condemnable, and almost every conflict allows you to understand exactly why the antagonists believe they’re in the right by opposing the actions of our protagonists. the central conflicts are never pure right and pure wrong; they’re always about contrasting goals, conflicting worldviews, and different priorities between ends and means. this makes the conflicts all feel so much more dynamic and engaging than those where the only stakes are physical harm. 

- the characters interpersonal relationships are some of the most interesting ive ever seen. orv is very slow burn and it takes a long time for a lot of these to come out of the woodwork, by design, but by god once they do they fucking hit. similar to the plot conflicts, the interpersonal conflicts also almost never occur where there’s one side clearly in the wrong. the characters are almost all genuinely attempting to do their best by each other, and the tension comes from the ways in which human communication is fundamentally imperfect and part of our feelings and intentions get lost in translation. it’s very heartwrenching and heartwarming to see unfold, in equal measure. 

- following from that, it’s a narrative that really meaningfully prioritizes non-romantic relationships over romantic ones as the central focus. obviously there’s shipbait and the ot3 is real and good and my friend but if you’re looking for deep complex platonic, (found or otherwise) familial, and antagonistic relationships that never get ruined with forced romantic arcs, we got em baby!

- the pacing is unlike anything i’ve ever seen before. from a purely technical standpoint, it is genuinely a fascinating case study in how to execute a narrative that is almost constantly escalating without exception. there is very little downtime or breathing room in orv, which is insane for something that clocks in at over a million words, and somehow, it still works. i’ve never felt more like a frog in a pot of slowly boiling water than i did when i was reading orv and i can’t believe they pulled it off. it’s so interesting to read something like that.

- it is a tragedy without resorting to cynicism and a very adult narrative that’s really steeped in childlike wonder. i’m a big fan of cartoons made for children cartoons made for children are my favorite things to watch because i like media that is uplifting and encouraging. but of course children’s media will always be simplified and not very relatable to an adult. orv is very much a serious and heavy adult narrative, and a deeply tragic one at that, but this is never tragedy for tragedy’s sake. it’s a very compassionate piece of media over all, that holds a lot of reverence and sympathy for the ‘naive’ optimism of children that gets stripped down over time. if you, like me, feel more like a grown up child than an adult someday, i think it’ll hit for you. 

- if you are a person who has ever gotten deeply involved in media to ignore bad things happening in the real world, which i know you are because you are reading my tumblr blog, then there is going to be a lot about orv which resonates for you. a lot of metanarrative has attempted to comment on the voyeuristic nature of media obsession and storytelling, but a lot of it does so in a bizarre way that almost seems to shame the audience for having the audacity to... enjoy the product the creators have produced for them. orv is what i can only describe as a love-letter to its own audience, and it’s really a manifesto about how engagement with media can foster genuine human intimacy, even if initially it’s something you’re using as a crutch to replace that intimacy. the closest thing to orv’s metanarrative i can think of would be undertale. if undertale made you Feel some Things, orv is gonna make you Feel some Things as well. 

- it is extremely cathartic and meaningful. i am not exaggerating at all when i say that reading it gave me the closest thing i have ever felt to any sort of spiritual breakthrough. it helped unfuck my head a ton during some very grim times and i think the perspective it offers on the value of human life is a really really good one

- its really funny i promise

- its cringe in a way that’s hype

- please read orv please not even for me do it for yourself i want you to experience what i experienced for YOUR sake not mine

[interact-if]

Day 6 of Pride Month interviews! Up next we’ve got the wonderful Nyehilism!

Nyehilism, author of Sentinel

Pride Month Featured Author

You’re frozen, unable to move as you meet bloodshot eyes.

You can’t breathe, can’t think. There’s an awful familiarity, and for just a moment, you feel like you’re looking in a mirror, your warped reflection snarling back at you.

Then there’s a crack, loud enough to break the spell, and the monster s c r e a m s.

A brutal murder rocks the balance of your life. An old friend is lying to you, and a stranger knows more than he’s telling. You dream of people and places you’ve never seen, of flowers and buildings and vast strange skies - and during the day, you’re hunted by a creature like nothing you’ve seen before. We all have demons, but you hadn’t expected yours to follow you through death.

Your past has caught up with you, and it has teeth.

Demo: Sentinel, Project Hadea

Tags for Sentinel: urban fantasy, horror

Tags for Project Hadea: sci-fi, +18

(INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE CUT!)

Q1: Tell us a little bit about your project(s)!

Sentinel is an exploration into the idea of reincarnation & past lives – persistent consciousness is a big point of interest for me, and the idea of exploring past identities and decisions, and how those affect apparently unrelated events is something I love seeing explored in other fiction.

Project Hadea is more of an exploration of ability and self-worth – what happens when the foundation you’ve built your life on is lost? If this all makes me sound pretentious, it’s probably because I am. To be honest, as a relatively new project, I’m still waiting for the themes of Hadea to come through, but I’m looking forward to them presenting themselves to me.

Beyond that, both projects are excuses for me to mess with worldbuilding and character interactions, as well as dipping into different styles and genres.

Q2: Why interactive fiction? What drew you to the medium?

Like a lot of other IF authors, I’m a huge fan of interactive storytelling – things like D&D, Pathfinder, etc – and as a character-driven writer, I really enjoy the challenge that comes with what is, essentially, telling multiple stories in one, where a single character can drastically alter the direction of the plot. That, in combination with the inclusivity within these types of media – where the customizability of characters inherently lends itself to the creation of non-standard protagonists – really caught my attention.

Q3: Are your characters influenced by your identity? How?

My characters are almost entirely bisexual, and the ones that aren’t are some flavour of LGBT+. I don’t know how much more I can say, honestly: I’m so far gone at this point I tend to forget it’s possible to create heterosexual characters. I think in more general terms, a lot of my characters tend to take very... pragmatic? Approaches to gender and sexuality, as influenced by my own experience: I’ve always known I’m not straight, and while it’s an inherent part of my identity, I don’t think about it much.

Q4: What would you like to see more of in LGBT+ fiction?

Honestly, any and everything. More wlw, more nblw/m, more interracial non-cishet relationships, more open acknowledgement of character’s sexuality. In particular, I’d like to see more bisexual characters who are openly bisexual, without using cutsey little phrases to dance around the word. Bisexual characters in both different- and same-gender relationships, where their bisexuality is still knowledged and accepted.

Also, more non-binary characters, characters exploring and changing their identities throughout the course of the story and it not being a big deal.

Q5: What or who are some of your biggest inspirations?

I went a long time writing nothing at all – as a kid I wrote almost constantly, then for a good ten years, I wrote nothing at all. It wasn’t until I was getting into D&D (as well as a couple of live-play shows like TAZ and CR) that I started writing again, and thinking about characters and stories as something I could really control, so I think Wizards of the Coast can be directly blamed for all the writing I wave at people almost constantly now.

I can’t talk about my influences without mentioning Lord of the Rings – I was, and still am, very much one of Those people – and especially as a child I was always very into high fantasy. I’ve branched out from that now, but it definitely remains a strong influence in my work, which is always distanced in many ways from the ‘real world’; I’m also still a sucker for some good historical worldbuilding.

I try to read a lot, and in a lot of genres; I read a lot of horror, a lot of fantasy and sci-fi, and I’m very impressionable in terms of style and my approach to writing. Another childhood obsession was (and again, still dormant, occasionally awoken) Terry Pratchett & the Discworld books. A lot of my sense of humour, and honestly I think a lot of my worldview aligns with his writing, whether that’s because I read too much as a child and internalised it, or I just happened to grow up as a person who loves his writing – I think I owe a lot of my thoughts and feelings on writing to him. In particular, the importance of humour and of personal stakes in stories.

Q6: What’s a super vague spoiler for your current project?

Be careful what you wish for.

Q7: Lastly, what advice would you give to your readers?

Nothing stays the same: life won’t go the way you expect, but that’s not a bad thing. Go for the moments when you see them – whether its job or education applications, starting new projects, learning new skills – just go for it. You can get away with more than you’d think, especially if you do it with confidence.

[guiltybystanders]

Beastars has ended! Two days ago, but I didn’t realize until today... And that ending... I have thoughts about it. Mostly that Beastars was a great story that completely lost its way in the last arc.

Warning for spoilers for the whole series, though this is focused more on a few big picture problems instead of individual characters and plotlines that got shafted.

I still really like Beastars, even if I'm no longer as gung-ho about recommending it to people after the last arc. The characters (when being paid adequate attention) were complex people with compelling flaws and fascinating worldviews. The worldbuilding (apart from a few bits of weirdness and the end) was some of the most interesting and thought-out I've read this past year, especially for something that starts as a slice of life story. And the commentary on gender (because this is definitely a story about gender) was nuanced and explored from many angles, and honestly a very thoughtful take on (non-toxic but still distinctly masculine) masculinity. Tho, for a story about gender and forbidden love, the fact there was next to no acknowledgment of LGBT themes was strange and actually made it a weaker story. Louis should have been gay tbh. Overall, there's a lot there to recommend.

Unfortunately, the best parts of the series (the complicated worldbuilding and how that society affected the characters, and the psychology of those characters) were less focused on than external forces and fighting towards the end, as the pacing rocketed up and many subplots were dropped to speed to the ending as soon as possible. Beastars was never super realistic in its drama (Haru was captured by the fucking mafia back when it was still mostly slice of life) but before the last arc, it still mostly felt internally-focused—it was a character-focused drama despite crazy action subplots. For instance, Legosi's training arc was undeniably an anime training arc, but more so it was about him struggling to be strong without eating meat, culminating in the scene where he does take a life by eating a bug. Even when shit got shonen, it was still a story of masculinity and finding your place in society, and I didn't mind the crazier aspects of that because it still felt mostly dedicated to the characters' emotional states (and the crazy shit was often sick as hell tbh.) I didn't feel the same way later on—Legosi still thought about what he was feeling, but almost always through dramatic monologues (often during fights) instead of moments of true self-reflection, and many of the supporting characters were sidelined with their potential wasted (such as Haru, who not only was never given her own storyline like she deserved, but also was still treated as Legosi's main motivation and yet was barely shown in his life.) The plot wasn't what drew me to Beastars—the characters and world were—but the plot is what got the focus in the end. And with the ending and the worldbuilding; the complete destruction of the Back Alley Market after one single moment felt pretty antithetical to a lot of other parts of the series—the Back Alley Market was challenged throughout the whole series as something to change and overcome, but we were also shown it was not so simple to completely end carnivore urges. To wrap it up in one big dramatic moment kind of destroys a lot of the best aspects of the worldbuilding, which was so horribly morally complicated.

There are parts of the last arc I did like, or at least think had potential if done differently, but none are enough to justify the last part of the manga. I liked Melon, at first. I think he brought some fascinating ideas to the story, ones that would have really shined had his arc been better written and paced. As it was, he became less compelling to me as time went on and the story became about defeating him instead of who the characters were as people, and his own character became more melodramatic. I liked the story of Legosi's mom, which only came after Melon's introduction. But then the part with Gosha's wife's suicide didn't really make much sense and felt shoehorned in to me. I liked Yahya’s introduction and his dynamic with Gosha. But I feel like his character was never fully unpacked, and his past with Gosha (while fun) sometimes overshadowed learning about his ideals or what it meant to actually be the Beastar. I loved seeing the "world of adults" in the city, and all of Legosi's neighbors. But they were largely written out as well, just as surely as most of the Cherryton students were. And the Cherryton characters were written out, even ones that seemed important, like Juno and Bill. The most egregious example of a character being written out was Haru: she started out as one of the three main characters with her own complex problems and worldview—and it was Legosi's feelings about her that motivated him throughout the entire story—but by the end, she was barely even a character, her own problems inconsistently addressed and glossed over, mostly showing up just for Legosi to Feel A Thing He Needs To For Plot. As it is... I can't help but think that it would have been best to end the story when Legosi caught the killer and left school, when things were relatively tied up, even if that would have come at the expense of some parts I really did like.

The ending dropped the ball on a lot of accounts—forgetting subplots, sidelining characters, oversimplifying the worldbuilding, bizarre pacing—and that really is a damn shame. However, I still like the beginning and the middle enough that I like this series overall, and in the end I'm glad I read it.

[mustlovemustypages]

Yuletide 2020 Letter

Dear potential writer,

I truly hope all is well with you and yours. No matter what state you find yourself in, my wish is that Yuletide boosts your spirits and gives you the extra jolt we all could use to usher in the new year. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter and thank you in advance if you decide to write anything for me!

Below are my desired fandoms and pairings along with story ideas that I would love to see written. Please don’t feel stifled by my prompts; I’ve also listed my general likes and dislikes at the very bottom of this letter if you decide to go a different route.

Little Women (2019):

Characters: Amy March and Theodore “Laurie” Laurence”

The main reason I adore this adaptation is because it made me see why Amy and Laurie ended up together. They had very similar worldviews and fit so well what the other needed. Both deserved to be with someone that valued them for who they are. With Laurie, Amy was not just financially secure but with someone who encouraged her to express herself creatively, politically, or however she chose. With Amy, while she grounded Laurie in reality and challenged him to be the best version of himself, he didn't have to fundamentally change to make her happy.

Story ideas:

These quotes really show how Amy's perspective on life was different than her sister's: "You are your family's hope." (Aunt March) "I’ve always known I would marry rich." (Amy March) That's a lot of pressure on someone so young. We heard some of Laurie's thoughts, mostly that he didn't think Amy should feel ashamed for wanting that. How would some of that pressure continue even after she got married, and what would Laurie say to make her realize they were in life together as a team and she didn’t have to suffer the weight of the world alone?

The conversation between Amy and Laurie in the painting studio showed just how level-headed and intelligent she was. Laurie, while not wholly agreeing, was respectful and didn't discount her thoughts. It would be interesting to see the impact on their story if Vaughn hadn't arrived, and this had played out more. Would the proposal have happened earlier and/or how would later scenes be altered as a result of further conversation?

What did the other characters think of Amy and Laurie's relationship, and how did it change after seeing them interact more as a couple? It would be interesting to read about Meg, Marmee, John, or some of the other characters realizing they were genuinely a good match for each other.

Post-canon, I'd love to get a glimpse of what kinds of conversations they had. Did Amy encourage Laurie to pursue a career and find what he was passionate about (music perhaps as Laurie mentioned writing an opera)? And similarly, did Laurie encourage Amy to pursue her art? Did they continue to have in-depth conversations about societal pressures and expectations of gender in certain economic classes?

Tenet:

Characters: The Protagonist, Kat, and Neil

Tenet is the first movie I've seen in theaters since Star Wars IX. There have been some mixed reviews, but my love for Christopher Nolan sci-fi films combined with the experience of stepping foot in a theater again made it a wonderful experience for me. Sure, the plot could be confusing at times, but it was fun trying to fit certain puzzle pieces together and oh so thrilling when things just clicked into place in the most satisfying ways.

I adored the dynamic between Neil and the Protagonist. The easy friendship, the banter, the suits... everything. I also loved the relationship between the Protagonist and Kat. It started off as each using the other but transformed into one of genuine care on both sides. Ever the romantic, I definitely saw something more than just friendship between the two and was slightly disappointed the movie didn't explore that aspect more.  

For pairings, I’m interested in friendships between all of the characters. I’d be interested in seeing a romantic relationship between Kat and the Protagonist if you’re up for that, but not between Neil and Kat, nor Neil and the Protagonist. If you really want to give a romantic partner to Neil, I'd be fine with Laura (or an original female character if she’s not the focus of the story), but please, no slash. While I’d be ecstatic to see all three characters together, if you can only find a way to fit in two, that’s wonderful as well!

Story ideas:

Even though Andrei Sator is gone, there are still other players in the game, some like Priya, who want to eliminate Kat or even abduct her with the delusional idea she can continue her husband's work. The Protagonist (and Neil, if you so choose) ensures no harm comes to her, and he realizes that keeping her at a distance may not have been the best idea.

I personally don't buy into the fan theory that Neil is Kat's son Max; however, I do find the idea intriguing and would be up for reading about how that worked. The Protagonist breaks his rule and sees Kat, helping to raise her son Max/Neil and eventually teaching him about inversion.

The Protagonist doesn't have to wait quite as long as he'd thought to see Neil again. It can be the Neil who had already met him and knows about Tenet or the Neil who knows nothing about inversion.

What conversations did Neil and Kat have while the Protagonist was asleep after almost freezing to death? Maybe Neil explained the finer workings of Tenet and inversion more in-depth. Perhaps they discussed the Protagonist. 

Clueless:

Characters: Cher Horowitz and Josh Lucas

This movie set the bar high for teen romantic comedies. How can anyone ever beat 90s Alicia Silverstone and Paul Rudd? Plus, the relationship between their two characters is fantastic. Josh and Cher just bring out the best in each other. Cher shows Josh that he doesn't need to be so serious all of the time and that people are more than their outer appearances. Josh makes Cher want to be a better person, and he believes that she's not just a pretty face. Their banter and playful moments always make me smile.

Story ideas:

Knowing Josh and Cher end up together, this brings a heightened awareness to rewatches. They have so many casual touches and exchanged glances (when did Paul Rudd's eyes get so blue?) that it's hard to miss their natural chemistry. It may take quite some time for Cher's dad to notice anything has changed because they don't act all that different from before. Is there something that makes him finally take notice? How does he react?

Sort of related to the last prompt, there's a moment where Josh decides to go to the dance to keep an eye on Cher and Christian, and you can tell by Mel Horowitz’s smirk he realizes Josh has a crush on Cher. Does he do anything to push it along or play matchmaker just like his daughter?

I've always been curious about whether or not Josh believes Cher's story about being assaulted in the car by Elton and then held at gunpoint. We skip over Josh pulling up to the phone booth and go straight to Cher already being in the car. How did Josh react when she reiterated the story, and does he instantly believe her, or does it take some convincing? I'd like to see if he comforts her and if they both go together to tell Cher's dad what happened.

Cher is obviously very intelligent socially, if not always so much academically. When it comes time to apply for college, what does she major in? And how is Josh a positive influence in Cher's life, encouraging her to be ambitious and not letting negative comments from guidance counselors or teachers dissuade her?

Things I don’t like:

Alternate Universes – For the specific fandoms that I picked, I really like the universes as they are. I’m definitely okay with deviations from canon, but please don’t make Little Women into a supernatural werewolf story or have Tenet take place in a mundane coffee shop setting. (I don’t mind Soulmate AUs or something similar because those can be incorporated into canon with little change to worldbuilding).

Non-Con/Rape/BDSM/Sexual Violence/Graphic Sex – I like my characters to be happy and everything within ships to be 100% consensual, no question about it (mentions of non-con if it occurred in canon is fine). I also prefer plot over porn, especially with one-shots.

OT3s – Two people per romantic relationship, please. Any more than that makes me uncomfortable.

Character Bashing - Unless a character is a bad guy in canon, I don’t want to read hundreds of words about how awful they are, especially if they are one of the characters that I requested. Don’t take it out on the characters. If you hate my pairings, just write gen.

Things I love:

Hurt/Comfort – There is nothing I love more than one character comforting another. The hurt can be physical, psychological, or both.  

Happy Endings – I’m all for the realistic endings… but if they could be plausible AND at least happy-ish, that would be amazing.

Expanded Scenes/Contorting Canon – Feel free to expand scenes and change up the canon to your heart’s content as long as it makes logical sense.

Humor/Banter/Snark – I thrive on this stuff.

Bonding/Building Relationships – Whether it be a friendship or a romantic relationship, I adore reading about two people growing closer together. When characters know each other so well that they can have conversations with just their eyes or anticipate the person’s next move (especially if it’s to the surprise/confusion of everyone around them), my shipper heart is thrilled.

Dark to Light – Seeing a character come out of a bad mindset or situation and get better is so satisfying.

Happy writing and I hope you get the Yuletide gift of your dreams!

- Maddy @mustlovemustypages (on Tumblr, Ao3, and FF.net)

[synecdochereads]

Six of Crows – review

Someone said, “heist movie but it’s a fantasy setting,” and I’ve been on the lookout for this book ever since. I finally found it in the clearance section of Half Price Books, and then—couldn’t read it. I got through the first chapter, I started the second, I put it down, and I didn’t pick it up again. Not sure why, but frankly this has less to do with the book than with me. I’ve been erratic about reading for, oh, years now – either I can’t focus for more than a few pages at a time, or I spend every waking moment with my nose in the book. There’s no middle ground. There’s no telling which way the cards will fall.

All of this to say, it’s not the book’s fault that it took me so long. But then the show came out, I watched it gleefully with my mom, and somehow having seen the characters onscreen made it easier to slip into their heads on the page. Two days later, I’ve inhaled the entire book as fast as I could get away with, and I’m in love.

This isn’t a regular book review – I’m terrible at ranking things, and the five-star system gives me anxiety. It’s mostly just some Thoughts™ neatly sorted for clarity, and hopefully reading over them will help you decide if you should pick this book up and fall in love with it like I did.

Mind the cut!

Characters

I am in love with them.

It probably helps that I’ve been looking forward to this book for ages, I’ve seen lots of gifsets and the occasional meta post, and of course I did watch three out of six crows swan about being fantastic for an entire season of a show that’s not even about them. But it’s not just that. There are a lot of technical literary ways you can analyze characters – arcs, themes, etc – but quite apart from all of that there’s just…are they compelling? They don’t have to be, for a book to be good, but it sure does help. And these six characters are so compelling.

(Also really likeable, which is even less necessary for a good story but which I do personally value. And I like these kids, I really do. Even Kaz “I commit atrocities without shame or remorse” Brekker. Wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley, or even a well-lit avenue! But I care about him and want him to succeed.)

It’s hard to devote equal time to six character arcs while also running a fantasy heist. Bardugo doesn’t try, but even the crows who get less screen time have complexity and depth. They’re all well fleshed-out, with full and distinct personalities and all that – on a technical level, these are really well-crafted characters. Top notch. Plus everyone struggles with different traumas and goals, and handles them in different ways, which gives us wonderfully varied arcs as they each move toward a deeper understanding of themselves, for better or for worse.

It also gives us really varied dynamics – some of them hate each other, some of them love each other, some manage to do both at once, some are just along for the ride. It’s as they pull at each other’s ragged edges that the story forms, in their different desperate needs and in what they can and cannot be for each other.

The show smoothed over a lot of the sharp edges and grey morality, most notably in Kaz. Kaz Brekker is a bad person. He does bad things for selfish reasons. His arc isn’t Learning To Be Good, it’s an ongoing question of whether he might, for the sake of the first person he has (quite accidentally) let himself love, consider maybe perhaps being slightly less of an amoral monster. I’ve seen this book described as “fantasy Leverage episode” but it’s really more Ocean’s Eleven, if Danny Ocean was a vicious bastard and everyone was seventeen.

And that’s great. I love that so much! Especially because the other crows run the gamut from shining idealism to casual self-interest (with a fun detour into “shining idealism but the ideal is violent bigotry”), so we really do get a morally complex story, without any easy black-and-white answers. One of the most kind-hearted people in the whole story has committed multiple murders and dreams of becoming a pirate. Kaz Brekker may do bad things for selfish reasons, but a lot of those selfish reasons boil down to “survive.” It’s complicated! It’s compelling!

Plot

It’s a fantasy heist, what more do you need?

Plots and counter-plots, double-crosses and last-minute improvisations. Magic, though it’s used as just another tool, as impressive and as prosaic as the gunslinger’s pistols. Dramatic climbs, elaborate disguises, cunning grifts, and some good old-fashioned sleight-of-hand. Six wildly competent teenagers, one impossible job, and four million fantasy dollars waiting for them if they can pull it off.

Well, okay, that’s just half of the story – maybe two thirds. The rest is flashbacks, showing us how these characters met and how they came to be the people they are; and stolen moments in between the action beats, where we see how they’re changing each other. It’s woven in really deftly. Our knowledge of the characters expands in time with the forward momentum of the plot, so that both parts of the story – the sorrows of the past and the edge-of-your-seat excitement of the present – get their hooks in you in tandem.

Worldbuilding

There are two settings in this book: Ketterdam, where we begin, and the Ice Court, where the bulk of the action takes place. The wider world outside these two cities is sketched in, alluded to in offhand comments and minor details of backstory. In theory, reading the Grisha trilogy would fill in those sketches, but I suspect it doesn’t matter. This is a heist story, after all: one entrance, one exit, and all the traps laid firmly between the two.

You know that thing authors do sometimes where they use the aesthetic of a real time and place, in the names and the architecture and so on, as a sort of worldbuilding shorthand? I’m a big fan of that. Ketterdam is clearly based on post-medieval Holland, perhaps in the late 17th century or so – a city of canals and commerce, with a ruling merchant class and a thriving criminal underworld, and a stock exchange at the heart of the wealthier district. The similarities feel like they’re just skin-deep – I don’t know that much about post-medieval Holland, but I’m pretty sure Bardugo has her own plans for the political situation in the wider world, which I assume is relevant in the Grisha trilogy. Here it’s not, and we have just enough detail to get a quick feel for the city, with extra importance granted to the politics of the various criminal gangs Kaz needs to worry about.

If I’m honest, I would have enjoyed a bit more detail in the worldbuilding. Ketterdam is vibrant and crowded, but it feels shallow; the only information we get is what relates directly to the characters’ actions. We’re told that it’s a big and complex city, but I don’t really have any idea what goes on there beyond, vaguely, “trade, gambling, and tourism.” But that’s probably just me. I’m unreasonably invested in worldbuilding. And anyway, we do get everything we need to understand the actual story.

The same is true in the Ice Court, the frozen capital of the Fjerdans. It’s a beautiful place, white and gleaming, and the parts that we see are incredibly vivid. We get scant glimpses of history and religion, the faintest suggestion of politics, and exactly enough of the city layout to understand the heist. We do, however, get a much deeper understanding of Fjerdan culture than we did of Ketterdam’s, because one of the crows defines himself utterly by the Fjerdan worldview, and his arc is largely about the difficulty of losing his place in that world and not knowing if or how he can ever get it back.

So yeah, we really do get everything we need to appreciate the story and the characters. I would have liked more, because I like worldbuilding, but what we do get is varied and satisfying.

Themes

I can’t really go in depth here without spoilers, so this’ll be a pretty vague section. I haven’t gone full lit-major on this book and I don’t especially plan to, but at a glance, the central theme is the tension between, in short, love and vengeance.

In long, several of the crows have the choice to embrace love as a force for healing and joy, or instead hold onto the (often violent) goals that have driven and defined them for so long. If they embrace love, it’ll mean letting go of the driving purpose that has kept them alive, and risking their whole identity (and possibly their lives) on a new purpose. It’s scary! It might ruin them! And it’s really not as easy as “love conquers all.”

(Big advantage of an ensemble cast: you can explore the same theme in different ways, with different outcomes, without having to settle for a single “answer” to the question posed by the theme. I really love it when that happens, honestly.)

It’s also not just romantic love! I mean it mostly is, but one of the crows has an arc that’s really about self-love, about learning to trust and prioritize not just your survival, but your happiness, your goals, and your ideals. About putting yourself first, not in a selfish way, but in a healthy, loving way. It’s really lovely, and although it has no bearing on the plot (it’s an internal moment of revelation), it’s one of my favorite things about the whole story.

[elaz-ivero]

The Worldbuilding Diaries- Chapter Two; Your Main Character

Main characters are the crux of a story and they can carry it well or sink it in seconds. As I began constructing and developing my main character for my fantasy series I realized that there are lot of things a main character can be and how the way we, as writers navigate creating our main characters can be super influential in the outcome of our stories. 

This post is going to delve into a couple points 

1. What are main characters and what’s their purpose? 

2. How the rest of the cast can effect the mc

2. ...and how to make your mc memorable 

Main characters are the vessels that the events of our stories pass through and their opinions, perceptions and interpretations of events can change depending on who they are, their purpose is to tell the story the way you want it told and to experience as many of the inciting incidents or main events as they can. Sometimes our desires for our main character are incompatable with the plans for our stories for example as I began drafting Project Sun Ballad I realized my main character was stupid...frustratingly stupid and a scaredy cat which was not intentional. He lost all the stubbornness and brute anger I initially intended and as a result the events of the opening chapter felt underwhelming and childish less adult fantasy and more scary Dr.Seuss book. This was because of his new personality and all the softer language I used in my first drafts, so I aged him up into his early twenties and made him slightly more cynical. 

Your main characters personalities should help communicate or add to how your story is relayed. Their voice (the thoughts they add in) should help drive the story forward. Their actions should either have consequences or improve/propell them toward their goal. Your main character can care about everybody or nobody and still make decisions that help or hurt people. Figuring out those consequences or how they are going to learn about a secret meeting via non-coincidental means can help spur your creativity and can lead to some really interesting plot points or scenes. When making your main character imagine that they are the blurb of your story and details about them, their name, where they live and their personality should give the reader information and a basic idea of what they are about to read. 

So you have a main character, they could be a lone-wolf ranger in the wild south with a trusty dog by her side or a glamourous prince suddenly trapped in a heavenly domain but whats just as important is their side kicks, the antagonist in the story, the wise mentor etc Your stories cast, whether that be a handful of small secondary characters or a full set of royal families and servants to suit are important and their engagement with the main character helps support your mc’s narrative and story. Compatability within your cast helps add life to dying scenes, banter, encouragement, calculated insults and emotive decisions are so much stronger and memorable than a main character with some sweet monologues. Whenever I read a book and the main characters and side characters, interact and remember each other and think about each other before they act???? It’s great and I live for it. In my book every three of the four main cast come from different cultural backgrounds, with differen’t patrons and goals, their differences helps them connect with each other and help my mc grow and establish his worldview and moral beliefs. 

I like to place my main character in a room with every character even if they could never reasonably come into contact and forcing them to have a conversation, will they talk about similar things, will one apologize to the other it helps me identify whether certain characters are too similar or if my main character is terrible and has nothing to add or nothing to say to anyone. 

There are billions of characters out there with varying physical descriptions and personalities and sometimes it can feel impossible for your main character to feel anything but another carbon copy of the usual main voice in your chosen genre. For my fantasy novel I took the time to step back and reflect on my main character and the tropes associated with the genre, young boy, small town, magical abilities, simple features, mentor figure he leaves behind. So I took him and pretended that he in my minds eye had levelled up like he would in a video game to level 20. I dropped the simple features and gave him violet eyes and made violet eyes as common as blue eyes normalizing it within my world but still giving my character a memorable physical description. I was also inspired by a lot of my favourite main characters, specifically Aang from Avatar and slapped a symbolic geometric shape on my mc’s face, an upside down triangle painted with black liquid chalk. It helped clarify his appearance in my mind and hopefully the readers mind. You can create memorability in an array of things simply by deviating from the carbon copy, cookie cutter mold and in order to do that I encourage you to actively look out media and stories no matter how short that feature unique and rarely seen main characters, voices and setting. By diversifying your reading you reduce the risk of seeing a simple pale unexciting cast as a normal background to prose perfected by watching writing tip youtube videos. One of the best ways is to treat your characters like people, humans have disabilities or simple issues, I’m a writer with inflammatory arthritis, vertigo and stunted fine motor skills from a bad birth, people have these issues today and people had those issues throughout history. Here are some other ways...

- Embrace culture, face paint is prevelenant in many cultures and a character that embraces their culture and/or wears it regularly can make them distinctively unique. Interesting clothing, jewellery, hair etc can make characters more recognizable and provide a good point of departure in a scene to explore some characters culture. 

- Make their body unique in ways that can lightly impact them and show them growing to learn ways around it, an extra finger, deafness in one air, a physiological limp, rosacea, port-wine stains and other cosmetic things (I love giving characters who can shapeshift unique details that can subtly give them away like missing fingers, scars and/or birthmarks.

Overall how you decide to go about the construction of your main character and cast and whether you decide to change their designs or personalities is up to you!

Till next time, stay creative

[myheartisafish]

2021 january reads roundup

it’s a new month! and a perfect time to ✨reflect✨on the month’s reads! this january, i finished 5 books:

1. Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

2. A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge

3. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

4. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (reread) 

5. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami 

thoughts below the cut~

Assassin’s Apprentice:

This read was definitely a surprise for me- I love buying 80s and 90s fantasy paperbacks from the used bookstore and I usually don’t expect very much from them. It’s definitely a childhood book that’s setting up a huge fantasy series, which is why some people find it slow- I would go into it expecting a lot of focus on the inner world of the main character, and not a lot of focus on action-packed plotting. For me, it ended up being surprisingly emotional, and had profound themes of grief and loss. The character building of the two main characters, Fitz and his mentor-figure Burrich, was so, so impressive, as well as the character building for Fitz’s dead father, Chivalry, who is never onscreen yet still affects every plot beat of the book. Give this book a try if you like atmospheric, introspective, character focused fantasy. 

A Skinful of Shadows

I read this book because two of my friends are big fans of the author and I don’t like to be left out of things. I did enjoy it, though! The historical setting of the 1640s English Civil War is perfectly chosen and expressed, and is married so perfectly with the themes of the book that it doesn’t seem like it could take place at any other historical moment. The supernatural element of the plot is a perfect lens for discussing questions of power, control, belief, selfhood, and the afterlife. Do you believe in Puritan ideology? Do you believe in the power of the king? Or do you just believe in your own superiority? Read this if you like atmospheric, dark fantasy, ghosts, unlikeable characters, and bears. 

Convenience Store Woman

This was a different choice for me as I don’t usually stray very far out of the genre fiction world, but I’m trying to broaden my horizons. I’m also currently interested in reading translated works, so this was a good start! This book was short and sweet and absolutely dead on in its portrayal of the rigidity of society and the way that other people are hostile to people that don’t fit in to their preestablished narratives about what a person should be. Read this if you’re frustrated with the assumptions people make about you and your life based on absolutely nothing. 

Ancillary Justice (reread)

This was my fourth read of Ancillary Justice. It’s my favorite sci-fi trilogy and the urge to reread comes around about once a year in my mind. (It all goes around, the planet goes around the sun). This read I was fascinated by the way the book presents choice. We all believe that we would make the right choice in any given situation, and we judge others freely based on our assumption that we would have done better in their place. But it’s not that simple, and it’s not that simple to know in the moment when your choice will make a difference, and when it won’t. The main character Breq is tormented by her past- she initially believes that as an A.I. there were turning points in which she had no choice in her actions, but she begins to realize she may have been more complicit than she originally believed. She resolves to make things right- but is it possible to know when her actions will make a difference? Which gambles will lead her closer to her goal, and which ones could end her journey, and her life? Read this book (and reread it, and reread it) if you love character-focused sci fi with complex worldbuilding, stories about spaceships with feelings, and portrayals of evil empires from within the evil empire. 

Battle Royale

Continued my trend of translated fiction with this one! I watched the movie a few years ago and enjoyed it a lot, and since then have been courting this book every time I see it in the bookstore. Overall I’d say I had a lot of fun reading it, as a gory, fast-paced thriller. I did get a little tired of it by the end, and there was a lot of description of guns, baseball, and other sort of boring stuff that I hardcore skimmed. My biggest gripe with the book was the overall infantilizing treatment of female characters by the narration- how dare this game force a sweet, innocent girl to kill? How dare this game ruin a beautiful girl’s beautiful face! Mitsuko Souma’s backstory was also both out of left field in how over-the-top horrific it was and completely unnecessary. Of course, people who were abused become murderous sociopaths. Of course, a female character can’t just have one bad thing happen to her, it has to be violence on top of violence for the entirety of her miserable life until she dies. 

Re: The Hunger Games, after reading this book I don’t think THG was actually copping Battle Royale at all. THG is a dystopia that’s focused on the dystopia- the corruption of the rich, the element of the media in both keeping people happy and twisting their worldview, the ways in which people fall through the cracks. Battle Royale is focused more on the inner world of the characters- it wants to know what could actually drive a child to kill someone. What level of fear, what level of danger, when does someone actually snap? The author said he was inspired by Stephen King’s The Long Walk, which tracks- The Long Walk is about the limit of a human mind and body in a similar way. In what conditions could someone decide to push their body past the limit of horror? Read Battle Royale if you have a stomach for gore and like fast paced thrillers, video game plots, and seeing innocent children get mown down by a sociopath with a machine gun.

And that’s all! See you next month? And try not get kidnapped and put on an island where you are forced to kill your classmates. 

[hoe-doroki]

ana reads bnha ch31

previous chapter here first chapter here next chapter here

🤣 I almost forgot that the first thing this boy says is something that only Todoroki would ever say. It’s his intelligence combined with his denseness combined with his life informing his whole worldview. Guysssss, this post is gonna be so looooong. I’m so excited! I’m panting. Okay, let’s go.

Once again, Ana squeals: My boy is so smart!! I like to think I’m smart, but, in this situation (between Midoriya’s rambling) I’m not sure I would have picked up on that. Shouto is so sharp. But then he doesn’t pursue it. He doesn’t try to squeeze the info out of Midoriya. Not because he doesn’t think he could—if I were Shouto, I would look at Midoriya and figure there was a way to get him to talk. He already gave a hint by accident. I just think he has confidence that he’ll be able to figure it out if he’s patient.

I wonder if he does, though? I mean, after their battle, Shouto stops caring about this...doesn’t he? I think he does. Which is interesting, right? He only cares right now because he sees it as a threat. But once he doesn’t care about the threat anymore, he only cares about Midoriya as a person. Not any of this All Might nonsense. Ugh, Todoroki <333

Of all time??????? Guys, that’s very different from being the current number two hero. Like, where is this GOAT ranking? I mean, we know that All Might is the greatest of all time. But, surely, someone from, 50, 100 years ago could be the second greatest of all time. But no, Shouto’s telling us that out of everyone who’s ever been a hero (in Japan) Endeavor is the number two guy. Wowza.

My question about Endeavor is always: what’s your awareness level, bro? Like, it’s evident here that he doesn’t think what he’s doing as a whole is wrong. But does he think that he’s messed up at all? Because, look, him saying, “You think I’d tell you anything?” That’s could easily be him just telling All Might to eff off, no further motive. But I also think that it’s a shame response. He knows some of his “success” with Shouto is fucked, stuff that he definitely wouldn’t share with All Might even if he didn’t kind of hate him. So he hides that shame under his prickly attitude, so he has no reason to talk. Or he’s just an ass, idk.

(Yeah, in the dub he says: “Are you implying something?” Fishy indeed.)

That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? Why is Shouto telling Midoriya this? @a-bnha-shoutorealm​ and I have talked our faces blue trying to figure out exactly this.

Obviously it’s triggered by the fact that he used his left side without thinking. And because he as the initial questions about All Might. And then he starts off this conversation by trash talking Endeavor which, at some point between his mother being put away and now, he has become comfortable with without fear of retribution (something Kim and I have also talked about ad nauseam).

But in two pages, he goes from this, to telling the story of his scar. Which I don’t think he’s ever told anyone before. Shouto doesn’t strike me as the type to need to keep things secret (judging by how he’s willing to blab off about Endeavor--while Endeavor’s there!--to the little kids during his and Bakugou’s remedial provisional license class). I think he’s just never had anyone he would consider talking to before. He’s been totally isolated by Endeavor--I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he’s been homeschooled, actually--and clearly doesn’t have any friends. Not that he sees Midoriya as a friend yet, but he is the only person he sees as a near equal.

The most likely solution I can come up with is that he feel like he needs someone to understand, so that he can justify why he’s not using his left side. That he felt like Midoriya was judging him and he wanted to explain his motivations to the only person he thinks is worthy of knowing. Of defending himself to. Shouto’s not the sort to just get carried away, so I think it must be something more like this. Something he feels compelled to do.

Wow, it’s so interesting seeing this juxtaposed against everyone else getting to be normal teenagers, have normal childhoods. Goddd, it breaks my heart, Shouto! We’re seeing Mineta and Kaminari talk about going after some cheerleaders—of course Mineta needs to make an appearance in my blessed chapter about Shouto—while Shouto’s talking about the quirk marriages. I wonder if it’s supposed to juxtapose any more than those two things, though. Is it also showing that Shouto doesn’t take part in those activities? That he has difficulty believing in love and romance due to the sham quirk marriage of his parents’?

And look how heavily drawn his speech bubbles are now? What exactly is that meant to represent? Is it an audio cue about what his voice might sound like or is it just to represent that what he’s talking about is dark and heavy or is it for drama? Him getting carried away as he tells more and more personal details? I don’t read enough manga to know 🤣

Separately, here we also get a hint that Todoroki’s mother isn’t in the picture. “As I remember…”

Okay, this we need to talk about, because that’s the other question people have. Why is Bakugou eavesdropping? To me, it’s always been pretty simple. We have the two people in the class Bakugou cares the most about. The strongest guy in the class—who just won the thing Bakugou was supposed to win—and the pebble in his shoe who’s growing larger and larger every day. He must have seen the two of them split off and, legit, I think he has FOMO. Like, if these two are doing something, he has to know about it. I think a part of him fears they’re laughing about him. Assumes they’re teaming up against him. He’s definitely assuming it’s going to be something about him or that interests him.

He doesn’t expect this.

He knows he shouldn’t have stayed once Shouto starts getting really personal. Bakugou might suck at human interaction, but that’s voluntary. He knows what he’s “doing wrong” socially—he just doesn’t give a crap. It’s a combination of preferring to be the way he is and being too deep down the rabbit hole of  assholery to know the way back. He’s frozen here. Shouto’s story is captivating—so painful you can’t not listen to it. That close-up face of his. That’s someone whose world has been rocked. I remember the first times I became aware of real abuse, times when I realized just how bad things could be for people and it shakes your worldview, freezes you as you struggle to comprehend. Bakugou thought he knew what families were like, since his mom is rougher with him. He didn’t know that something like this could happen to a person via their parent’s hand. I think this is one of the only times he purely feels bad about what he’s doing, what he’s done. But the horror of Shouto’s story has him stuck, unable to walk away.

“Sorry for wasting your time.” What is that?

Does he realize that he said a bit more than he was really intending to? That he troubled someone else with his personal life when he doesn’t want anything done about it? Or is this because he realized that Midoriya isn’t going to say anything about All Might and because of that the conversation was a waste of time.

You know what, knowing our dense little Shouto, I bet it’s that last one.

And if Bakugou’s shaken, then Midoriya is only more so. God, I’m 9 years older than Midoriya and if someone told me something like this out of the blue today, I’d be panicking. This is a delicate situation. He’s just become aware of serious abuse, and someone has confided in him their deepest traumas regarding that. What the hell do you say not to make it worse?

I think he handles it as best he can. Really, I think what he says here is just about the best thing he could have. Because Todoroki is not in a place mentally to accept help. Not even close. But even just sharing his story, that he accepts help from others, is vital. This introduces the idea to Todoroki that he can get help. That working with others is okay. It hasn’t penetrated yet, but it’s the seed planted.

Overall: 1.7K. Over 3 pages. Sorry, all.

Well, guys, this is the peak for me (until Shoto Todoroki: Origin!!!!). I know it’s not the scene with the most action or plot, but I live for character backstory and boys having sensitive moments. This scene in the anime is what made me start to fall in love with Todoroki and the show as a whole. It took me weeks to get to the end of season four after this episode. All the ones before this? Six months.

Todoroki’s story is harrowing, yes. At the same time, we’re getting more worldbuilding. So far, our image of heroes is All Might and the U.A. faculty. We haven’t yet seen any hero that’s corrupt or abusive. But suddenly we meet Endeavor, both through Todoroki, and a couple interactions with All Might. We learn a little bit more about how quirks have affected society and changed since their first appeared. This chapter isn’t one dimensionsal.

And we get our first panels of our main three. I think maybe part of the thing is that Midoriya’s world thus far has been loud, fast, intense. But this chapter is quiet. Nothing but Todoroki’s low, quiet voice. You could hear a pin drop. Barely a movement. Even Bakugou is still. It’s such a change of pace. And when you’re barely expecting it—it hits hard.

Also, every time I double check to see if something in the manga happened in the anime, it always did 😅 My memory may be fallible, but that adaptation sure isn’t! (joke, please don’t come at me)

If anyone has anything to add, obviously I’m dying to talk about it.

[hoursofreading]

Given any claim about the world, i.e. "Guns Germs and Steel explains history," it's really easy to use the Internet to look for takedowns or rival schools of thought. Seek out the complicating information, the debunking information, the truth beyond the easily replicated and transmitted meme. Instead of just describing a world directly, you know, 'world building', I try to let the reader learn about the world through the eyes and mind of characters. Yes, that sounds completely inane, but what I mean is: there are no pat facts like "The people of the southern steppes are fierce, yet loyal." You can't just say that in narrative and treat it as true. You have to anchor that statement in a particular character's worldview. Let's say Sir Bob thinks "the people of the southern steppes are fierce, yet loyal." Why does Bob know about people on the southern steppes? Well, he's part of a feudal military caste who enforces the king's law; and 'people of the southern steppes' is a category in the king's census. So that's how Bob thinks of them. But if you go and talk to the people in the south, they wouldn't agree they're one people—there are a bunch of different language groups, half of which just moved in last century. And what is 'the southern steppes'? You can't seriously suggest this is all one steppe, one big grassy field, that's absurd. And what do you mean, fierce yet loyal? Loyal to who? Half the people here are matrilocal and therefore 'loyalty' is to your marriage family; others are patrilineal, others practice walking marriage, nobody agrees on the correct definition of 'loyal.' And what about 'fierce'? We didn't start raiding until that kingdom up north started trying to enforce taxation on us; is that 'ferocity'? Or maybe you're talking about the religious struggles when sun worship moved in and we stopped doing ancestor worship. Or — anyway, you get the point. I think most worldbuilding is done wrong. It's done in an attempt to establish certain facts about the world. It's done in such a way as to render the world legible and orderly and logical (c.f. Seeing Like A State). But we don't experience the world as a collection of facts; we experience it as a set of habits and beliefs which we might not always understand; we don't agree on how the world works or what its rules are. So if you can sell a created world with the same uncertainty—it seems a lot smarter, more true.

I'm Seth Dickinson, author of Destiny lore and THE TRAITOR BARU CORMORANT—'a mic drop for epic fantasy.' AMA! : books

[unidentified-flying-sparrow]

I still love Harry Potter - but not JKR

Warning: This gets wordy. I really just rambled and let my thoughts take me where they will. And these are only my personal rambles - they aren’t meant to be a deep political statement or super eloquent or anything. They’ll be messy and meandering and mainly for my own benefit.  I just...needed to think. And remember. And feel.  You have been warned.

JKR has been in the news a lot lately. And not in a good way. To put it bluntly, she’s basically revealed herself as a TERF and is rightly being called out.  It hurts, because Harry Potter made a large impact on my life. But the author has shown herself to be flawed and I had put her on a pedestal for years of my life. I admired her “rags-to-riches” (sorta) story. Her success. Her talent with writing. I wanted to be her in some ways. She was living my life’s dream!

And now she is making hurtful remarks about a marginalized group of people who have done nothing except demand equality and recognition.

I first heard about the books through my mom. She was a substitute teacher at the time, and in the class she was covering, the teacher had just started reading The Sorceror’s Stone. Mom went out and got a copy, read it, and loaned it to me. She also griped about how no one knew how to pronounce the name “Hermione” - the kids she was reading to kept ‘correcting’ her with ‘Hermy-own-knee” as the pronunciation. It drove her nuts. I remember bragging to my friends when I figured out what the Mirror of Erised actually said. I was in junior high - eighth grade. I was reading a kids’ book that wasn’t hugely popular yet, and trying to lure people in.  I remember seeing more and more people I knew picking up the books. In high school, when we had free days in band (aka the teacher was sick and the sub didn’t know music), my friends and I would talk Harry Potter.  I was giddy when I got my own copies - hardback copies - of the first three books by saving my money and shopping the second-hand bookstores. It’s not that my parents wouldn’t have gotten them for me, but I wanted to buy them for myself. My original, paperback copy of Sorceror’s Stone was battered and tattered and well-loved.  Mom kept loaning out our copies to people. Sometimes, they didn’t come back. In that, it was like when she would loan out copies of The Lord of The Rings when I was a kid (which is why there are probably 4 or 5 copies of that in my parents’ house today). She knew the books were special. I put up Harry Potter posters. I glommed onto Hermione as a favorite character - a bookish girl who could still stand up for herself and have great friends? It was everything I had wanted for myself when I was eleven and struggled hard to have. So I adored her. And I shipped Harry/Hermione. Still do, but now days, I prefer just having an OT3 of the Golden Trio and an OT3 of the Silver Trio (or Sub Trio or whatever name the fandom uses now).  I sometimes had trouble sleeping and would pop the audiobook of Sorceror’s Stone into my cassette player on those nights. It helped me relax. When the first film came out, my parents and I were there to see it. I was amazed. I remember griping about minor tweaks, like Harry’s eyes (until I read about the contacts issues). Oh, what little I knew of how the books and films would splinter more. But still be fun. Goblet of Fire the book was released 4 days before my 15th birthday. I made the mistake of telling my parents I could hold off on reading my copy until then. After I saw my mom sobbing -for reasons she couldn’t tell me - at the end of the book...I never made that particular error again. When Order of the Phoenix came out, we went to the Barnes and Noble midnight release to get our pre-ordered copies. During the long wait, a guy wandered up and down selling Little Caesar's pizzas. Another guy had visited Wal-Mart, purchased every copy of the book they had, and was selling them for only a couple of bucks over what he’d paid to anyone in line who was desperate for an extra copy. My parents bought one and I spent the rest of the waiting period crouched under a parking lot light, reading, until my parents got the copies we’d actually come for.  I lost sleep reading all of the books as they came out. I was always done within a few days, at most. I just couldn’t put them down. I got T-shirts. Bought dolls/pillows/bedding. Got myself a T-shirt, a poster, and Quidditch Through The Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them when I visited the UK in high school. I saw the latter films at midnight releases with my friends. Half-Blood Prince the book came out during my first summer as a camp counselor. Almost all of us - camper and staff alike - were reading it or talking about it. Spoilers were forbidden but there would still be hushed conversations during bedtime hours or “me-time” after lunch (rest period).  Deathly Hallows - both book and film - came out after my mother passed. I got my copy of the book, quietly, at a Kroger at midnight. 

Harry Potter got me heavily into fandom. I was there for The Draco Trilogy and Pawn to Queen. My Immortal and The Shoebox Project. Squickfics that made it onto GodAwfulFanfiction and its successor, Why God Why. LiveJournal communities. Fandom wank. And so much more. Reading updates on MuggleNet and The Leaky Cauldron and watching fanvids. Listening to music uploaded from Draco and the Malfoy and other fanbands. Roleplaying communities that were being hosted on Proboards message boards. Countless Sorting quizzes.  I made sure to visit Universal Studios on my honeymoon with @lechevaliermalfet​ and want to go back one day, as only Hogsmeade existed when we went. I also remember how grumpy I was that @lechevaliermalfet​ had resisted my urging to read the books - he read them after they were recommended by an unlikely source. In hindsight, it makes sense. I was a solid fan. The person who recommended the books was not. I celebrated the release of Cursed Child with my family at a day-long celebration in Naperville, IL. I have a T-shirt to commemorate it, and a wand that I made with the help of my niece.  Just this year, @lechevaliermalfet​ and I did a date night - dinner and the first Potter movie on the big screen.

I’m rambling, I know, but the point is, Harry Potter got me involved. I made online friends and honed writing skills by writing fanfiction. I learned to have a thicker skin because of some of the feedback I got. I made at least one fanvid (I’m reasonably certain it’s been lost to the ether and good riddance). Sure, I participated in other fandoms (especially Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew and Witch Hunter Robin). But this was a fandom I shared with more of my family and friends than any other. And I could even - and did - read it to kids I babysat. Now, I know Harry Potter isn’t perfect. Lord knows, Cursed Child reads like a bad fanfiction, and I have seen those ideas executed in ways that fired up my imagination and emotions more effectively. Repeatedly. Then there’s the issue of worldbuilding. The not-so-great aspects/implications of much of what has come out of Pottermore aside, Harry Potter’s wizarding world has always been a shaky society. Others have touched on this far more eloquently, so I’ll just say that it was interesting that we only had a few token “good” Slytherins - who were still shown to have ambition that overruled their better judgement at times.

I always saw the films as a different interpretation of the same story, so I wouldn’t go nuts over the stuff that was altered, so that stays. They have flaws of their own. Sometimes they exacerbate what is in the books - sometimes not.

I can’t speak to the more recent Fantastic Beasts stuff as I haven’t gotten involved. Maybe eventually. But I never realized that the poor representation in JKR’s world might reflect her worldview more wholly. I honestly figured it was a more innocent ignorance or reluctance to risk upsetting the market at the time. But the more she tweets and posts...the more obvious it is that no, she just really is that biased.  I guess, at this point, I’m going to have to follow the Death of the Author route. I used to live for the engagement Rowling had with fans, and the tidbits she’d dole out. Now, I cringe every time I see one.   For the books themselves, I think I’m going to have to take the Death of the Author approach from now on. Because JKR cannot take away the positive things Harry Potter gave me and other fans. I won’t let her. And I am grateful that there are Potter cast members stepping up to denounce her. I love Harry Potter. JKR can go jump in a lake. 

[worldviewcast]

Finch - Part 1 (Roleplay with @worldviewfinch/@Little-Noko)

Okay...so this is finally getting rolling...I would first like to start with a reminder that the Roleplays are NOT 100% canon - they are scenarios that myself and Little-Noko come up with to explore the characters and world, but I've been deeply influenced by the events of our RP's before.

They are ALSO VERY LONG- there most likely WILL be some mis-edits. Please just bear with us, myself and my RP editor are doing our best to catch everything we can, but there are literally hundreds upon hundreds of pages of text from our worldbuilding and character development pieces, and we want to be able to get content out in a timely manner.

I've been Roleplaying Worldview scenarios with Little-Noko/Finch for the past year. There is much to dig through and look at.

This particular roleplay has been available in my $10 tier on Patreon since April. I plan on having more things like this posted for patrons in advance, so if that’s something you’re interested in it’s there. :) 

WARNING: Most of these RP's WILL deal with MUCH more sensitive topics than some people will be comfortable with! I will DO MY BEST to put the proper content warnings before each posting but I don't know if I'll be able to cover everything - some parts, depending on content, might even have to be skipped entirely. Noko and I really like to push the envelope when it comes to character exploration and development...and we honestly try to be thorough. But, that's what makes a good character, I like to think.

There is no set schedule on these.

And now I'll be quiet so you can enjoy the content.

Special thanks to my editor for helping with these!   Content Warnings: Teen death, descriptive torture

Finch – Part 1 Necromancers

Noko: The teenager was making his way home, his school bag hanging on one side of his body while one of his hands rubbed the dark area under his eyes in order to soothe the pain, he wasn't subject to bullying, neither was he a bully, but one thing was sure is that he was a troublemaker, always bothering and teasing people in order to get some attention... he definitely tried to find how he would explain to his parents how he managed to get punched in the face. As he walked in a sparse area to be left alone with his thoughts, he heard something meowing. He looked up and saw a cat, visibly stuck on a third-floor balcony above him. The cat clearly belonged to someone since there was a collar around his neck. The teenager dropped his bag on the side and grabbed the metal ladder that led to the many balconies from the apartments. Many people would have left it alone, but... he couldn't just let this cat be all scared up there. Without any hesitation, he started to climb the building. He had never been scared of heights, and he was pretty confident that he could help up the cat to get off. As he reached the third floor, the teen moved over the metal fence to stretch a leg at the window's border. There wasn't much room to lay his feet on but there was enough grip for him to assure himself that he wouldn't slip. "Kitty, kitty, come here..."

The cat meowed in distress, the teen getting slowly closer to it. "It's okay... I'm here... just..." He felt his entire body work in order to stay balanceed as he tried to crouch down to reach the cat... it took one second... only one, and one of his foot slip away from the ledge, his body soon following. Hitting the dark asphalt.

Alaina: The street was quiet, despite being after school, the alleyway that the small body had managed to slip into was left... unspotted until a young man scouring through the dumpsters nearly tripped over it. He frowned, not expecting to come across such a... specimen. He looked around. No witnesses... being a rather built man he had no problem picking up the heavy cadaver and slinging it over his shoulder, slinking back into the shadows. Any untrained eye would have said the man simply disappeared, but those who looked closer could see they pressed against a dark, alley doorway - sealing back up right as he left. The man hauled the body down to the rotten-smelling sewers, alone. There was a hideaway about a mile walk underground, away from the city - that's where he liked to practice his arts. He sighed, exhausted from the long trip as he laid the body on his examination table, looking it over. The soul was still intact, but definitely ready to leave...it must not have been collected yet. He grinned. That was lucky. He rarely got the chance to practice with such a fresh body....

Noko: A woman drapped in dark clothes was collecting samples from cadavers that her partner in crime had been attempting to reanimate for months now. They were experimenting the limits of the dark art at their greatest extent, wondering if it would be possible to merge a dying soul to an inanimate body, trying passionately to find the answer to eternal life in one a way or another. So far, all attempts had ended in failure... The soul never managing to stay more than a few minutes in an unfamiliar body.

Alaina: He looked over the teen's body, pleased with its condition before thoughtfully looking over the few other bodies he had collected - one stood out, a skeleton race body that had been recently cleaned. He pondered a moment. The one in front of him was Masic... for some reason, Masic souls didn't last as long as any others, but maybe there was a missing connection? He hadn't tried this particular mix yet, but the goal was to practice handling the soul itself. He really didn't expect anything out of the experiment, and slowly, started to summon magic to his hands to build the small encapsulated cushion that would be used to transfer the soul. He had to draw all the magic from the body, absolutely all of it, and make sure that the being as a whole was fully transferred before starting to arduous process of re-distributing the soul into the new body. He called his assistant over- he needed to make sure nothing was overlooked.

Noko: The assistant noticed her partner came back with another sample, her eyebrow rose a moment as she observed him select a young skeleton body that would be perfect for the transfer, it was missing a leg but honestly a limb missing or not wouldn't make a big difference for an experiment. She remained serious, her expression cold as she walked over with a few instruments installed on a rolling table. She observed the corpse starting to move as the magic coursed out of the body, her own palms moving over the body to make sure that every residual magic wouldn't be wasted in the procedure. She took her recorder and spoke. "Experiment ST52.1 We got a new body, freshly dead, Masic, 5feet2, visibly a teenager. Body of transfer, skeleton, younger and smaller, missing left tibias. Preparing for the transfer."

Alaina: "Thank you my dear." The man stated plainly, a pleased look on his face. This was his favorite part! He watched as the soul was slowly drawn up from the body, still pulsing steadily and increasing in its 'beat' as he drew up all the magic he could, color swirling in his own clear encasing, the lightest hints of yellow spreading from his own hands. The energy swirled, the cadaver he was drawing from getting more stiff and hollow looking as the magic was drawn, and he smiled in satisfaction when the soul beat heavily, surrounded by its own life force. "Hmm. Strong soul. Might be an interesting one."

Noko: She smiled back at him, using her own hands to guide the magic as the corpse progressively stopped moving, only to reveal a green, strong and healthy soul. She felt as thrilled as his partner as she registered her voice once more. "Subject A is extremely healthy, magic levels are high, preparing the transfer of the soul on subject B in a second." She felt excited as she was preparing herself mentally to stabilize the magic of the fresh soul in the new body. They would probably manage to keep it alive for a while this time, long enough to see how it would react.

Alaina: "All righty -" The man grinned excitedly, carefully moving his small capsule over the skeleton body. This had to be done with precision, and practice makes perfect. He let the residual magic flow in first, carefully watching the flow as it was preparing the body for revival. It was a slow, careful process, one that he had repeated many times, but it was fun regulating and distributing and re-distributing the excess to make sure he had it just right. Revival was a form of art, really, in his mind, as how well the body was prepared affected how well the body would wake up. He smiled, happy to see the tiny, involuntary movements of the skeleton as he went about his slow and careful work, building up to the point where he could put the final piece in place.

Noko: The woman loved the preparation as she slowly guided the magic inside of the skeleton bones, it was like a massage, following the flow slowly as if they were imitating a bloodstream to acclimate the body to the revival. They were precise and meticulate, taking their time to make sure that the body and the soul wouldn't suffer much from the procedure. Not that she cared about the subject's comfort it was more about the success the experiment. She was thrilled to make further tests, to understand the new being they would create together. To know if the conscience of the soul would remain intact.

Alaina: He waited, patient as anything, wanting everything to be just perfect. The last bit of residual green trickled, working its way into the new bodies system. It was like building a new being, or painting a picture, the strokes having to be in just the right place - he smiled, thrilled with how evenly the magic spread despite being in a body that asked more of it to use, but it was a good, strong, positive flow, and he finally moved to press the soul behind the skeletons ribcage, being oh so careful to 'install' it properly, before manually encouraging the beating magical organ to connect to the various systems it would now be responsible for.

Noko: The assistant helped to encourage the magic to keep moving, impatient to reanimate the skeleton body, a few unwanted spasms happened as most of the residual magic was finally sinking into the system, she gave his partner more space so that this one could install the soul inside of the ribcage. It didn't take long for the soul to connect to the magic stream, the skeleton body arching all of sudden without any warning as it was getting reanimated, the woman forcing the body down as much as possible to not disturb her partner's work. She observed his fists clench, the subject trembling a moment before becoming motionless all of sudden.

Alaina: He raised a brow at the reaction, carefully moving to connect the last few streams of magic that needed it, stroking them carefully so they would start to flow on their own. Slowly, he finished his 'job' looking over the body for any unnatural reaction as he took mental note of what was happening.

Noko: As her partner was connecting the last streams, the woman stepped aside, recording the whole process. The first steps seemed to have been a success, the magic had spread without much resistance inside of subject B, it already showing some motor sign. She waited a moment, impatient to see if the transfer was a success. It only took a minutes for the body's chest to start moving as it took it's first breath. The process was a success, experiment ST52.2 starting once subject C show more sign of life.

Alaina: "This is looking rather hopeful..." The male muttered excitedly, as soon as his hands were free he practically ran to grab a clipboard, jotting down his own personal thoughts and taking note of every intricate detail, his hands moving to jot furiously. "He's breathing - just wait...." He stared over his clipboard with a broad grin, waiting to see if the body was going to move at all.

Noko: The assistant was just as excited as the man, waiting for more signs that their experiment was a success... she just hoped it would stay alive long enough. The skeleton body started to shift faintly, his brow furrowing a moment as it slowly opened it's eyesockets, the eyelights, his expression empty and probably still unconscious of his own existence yet. He seemed relaxed before it finally opened his eyes really wide as he took a deep gasp, as if he had held his breath for hours, his arms moving close to his chest, trembling as it struggled to move, clearly disoriented and lost.

Alaina: "Ahehhee!! Strong reaction!!" He gleed, not hesitating to look over and immediately try to check the skeletons vital signs for recording. "Strong movement, eyelights lit properly - the connection itself seems perfect!!" He shouted in triumph, proud of his handiwork as he kept jogging down notes, smile wide. He snapped his fingers in front of the skeletons face, trying to focus his attention. "Hey. Hey you. Can you hear me?"

Noko: It looked around his vision disoriented as it adjusted to the light and the movements, he was hyperventilating as he tried to understand what was going on... his mind trying to grasp what was in front of him as all he could recall was the impression of falling... His attention quickly moved over the sound of fingers snapping in front of his face, his vision blurred. "Hear.... you?" He repeated without really understanding anything of what he heard or said.

The assistant couldn't help but to beam at the result of their experiments. "It's responding!!!"

Alaina: "Consciously!!" He added, his voice loud and excited. His brow furrowed, his face lit up with pride over his own handiwork. "....I don't see any sign of decay in the magic...not yet anyway. This is definitely an improvement..." He muttered, and snapped his fingers happily. "Get the restraints! I want a full examination -" He smiled like a kid at Christmas thoroughly impressed and pleasantly surprised at the strength of the soul he had happened to find- it must have been his lucky day!

Noko: The subject kept looking around, still panicked as messages in his mind told him that something was clearly wrong... that he was too light... he felt sore... something was missing... there was voice talking... like echoes... but his mind was too confused to even wonder who they were and were he was.

"Alright!" She quickly took the restraints and grabbed one of his wrists to place it against the table, he was so weak that he didn't put any resistance as she attached the other's arms against the table. Progressively attaching the subject to make herself sure that it wouldn't hurt itself.

Alaina: He smiled happily, pulling on a pair of gloves as he tugged a medical trolley up towards him, helping himself to secure his projects head with a restraining leather strap before grabbing a flashlight, checking the subject's responses by shining the light in the newly formed eyelights, and prodding a finger against the inside of the socket to see just how strong the magic was flowing. He didn't stop there, working his way slowly down to poke at every major connective area, curious to see just how well he had installed the soul, rattling off comments for his assistant to jot down in their notes.

Noko: The skeleton tried to free himself, the sudden strain only making him feel more distressed. He shifted his head to the side letting out a grunt as he felt scared and disoriented about what was going on, before geying forced to keep his head straight, as he slowly became immobilized. He couldn't move anymore, only making him even more panicked, his soul thrumming really fast at the traumatic event as one of the two persons moved a flashlight over his eyes, closing them as the light burned him only to get forced to keep them open. Every touch making him react strongly in response. Jolting and hyperventilating as he tried to understand what was going on. "W-w...what?"

Alaina: "Subject is... aware." The male's voice rang in surprise, tapping at the table with a raised brow. He still didn't expect his subject to live very long, but this was a rare chance to test to see just how the transfer process affected the adrenaline in the new body. It was clear the skeleton was panicking, but that just made him more excited. "Lets get some samples! I want to see if he's got any elevated chemicals - this soul is good for endurance." He chattered happily, grabbing a syringe and vials from his cart before reaching over to handle the quickly thrumming soul, none too gently either, looking for a good spot where the magic was especially concentrated with all the new mixtures of body fluids from the revived body. He shoved the syringe deep into the thrumming heart shaped organ, eager to get a mixture of samples from his new creation as he wanted to analyze every bit of what he had made, clearly proud of himself.

Noko: The assistant smiled at the high response coming from the experiment. She started to record once more while his partner was taking samples from the subject. "Subject C respond really well to the soul transfer, it seems that his body moved properly to the new implanted magic. Subject C is conscious, it suffers clearly from disorientation, further tests will be needed to know the state of his mind." It started to yell as her partner sank a syringe straight into it's soul. "Subject C respond to pain. It's soul is clearly attached properly to the body and is in perfect synchronisation to it. We are still uncertain it will last."

The skeleton started to groan while tears came out from his eyesockets as it kept struggling in fear. "N-no.... no..."

Alaina: "This is uncanny." The male started, practically giggling in his excitement. He drew at least five whole vials of pure magic and bodily fluids from the soul before yanking out the syringe, wanting to hurry before the whole process potentially gave out. He made sure the precious samples were secure enough to not be endangered before grabbing a clamp from his table, affixing the device his test subjects arm as he talked. "Test #36, stability. The subject is of skeleton race and the most important part is proper magical distribution! Let's see how well we did!" He beamed, securing one part of the clamp to the table so it wouldn't move, the other pressing his subjects arm in between two metal plates - the whole thing controlled by a screw that would slowly press the plates together, testing how much pressure the bones could take before they snapped, and he carefully started to turn the metal, eyes fixed on the arm he was working on to see just how long it would take before it started to crack.

Noko: The woman blinked of surprise as well, herself extremely excited to push forward the tests and push out the limits of it's subject, this was the first time they had an experiment so aware of themselves. She quickly took the samples to the fridge to secure the vials. Before getting back to the subject as her partner installed the instrument over the skeleton's arm. It still couldn't see properly as his magic was still adjusting to his body. But he was clearly stressed by what was going on, not understanding what was around him until he felt a weird pressure on his arm. It didn't take him long for a sharp pain to made him scream when the bone snapped. The magic keeping the two parts linked.

Alaina: "It's...fully functional." The male stated dumbly, astounded as he stared at the shattered arm. His brow furrowed. He had honestly not expected that, especially from a Masic soul, and there wasnt much else they could study other than seeing how the subject progressed. He removed the clamp, getting out of the way to roll his experiment slightly, just enough to look at his back and get a good look at his still adjusting, but fully functional main magic line. "Hmmm...get it cleaned up, I guess? See if it eats. It... seems completely intact!" He exclaimed, pleased but floored at the discovery - he didn't ACTUALLY expect this to WORK. "It could still just die off, but - let's see how long it takes. I'm curious to know if it starts functioning normally."

Noko: She was extremely impressed by how well the body synchronization with the brand new soul. She didn't hesitate to take care of their experiment, determined to keep it alive for as long as he could as all she wanted to get answers from him. She quickly replaced the other's arm with no softness. Using plastered bandages to fix his arm temporary after her partner was looking at the magic line. They had been extremely lucky on this one and she hoped that she could find crucial information about how the transfer work. Using a smaller container and a strong soul seem to have helped for a stable transfer. She snapped her fingers in front of the experiment as the pain seemed to make him lose consciousness. She registered her voice once more. "Subject C's body seems to react properly to pain. It fainted when it's limb snapped." She looked at her partner, thrilled. A large smile drawing on her face. They will proceed with Experiment ST52.3 once said subject wakes up.

Alaina: "Thank you my dear, it was all in days work!!" He beamed proudly, watching as the soul was still beating heavily under the ribcage. "Passed out but alive...fascinating! We'll proceed to take regular samples until the subject fades. I'm not much interested in keeping a... pet, if it happens to turn out that way - which I'd be surprised if it did." He smiled at his assistant, pleased to see how happy she was. "Perfect step in the right direction! Maybe the secret is magic to relatability...? Skeletons are rumored to be a subspecies of Masic in the past at least - hmmmm...very interesting..."

Noko: "The pleasure is mine." She was so thrilled! This was the first time a subject showed so much awareness and reacted to that much! She hoped it would be coherent enough later... would it remember who it used to be? She started to clean off the bones with water to get rid of any trace of blood and residue over it's body. She didn't care about the experiment well being, she only wanted to make sure that it would last long enough. Only time will tell. "The transition between two races wouldn't be easy... there are so many questions without answers..."

Alaina: "Ahehehe, well - we'll get a few good ones out of this, I'm sure! I'm going to start running the samples, make sure it stays active!" He said with a grin, then yawned deeply. "Ah - he was heavy. I may need to take a nap before we continue - I don't want to miss any of its consciousness!" He called, moving to collect the samples from their cold fridge before ducking out of the dark experimentation room. "Call me if you need anything."

Noko: The woman smiled and waved her hand as if it was not a big deal. "Go sleep, I'll take care of it and tell you if there's any change, just like with the other's, just because he is a promising case doesn't mean that you shouldn't sleep." She kept cleaning its bones before throwing the filthy towel away. "It will be transferred to the cell until it wakes up, I'll keep a good watch on his vitals until then." She said before finally walking away, bringing their experiment along.

Many hours later, the skeleton woke up, opening its eyes before looking around at its surroundings. The room was dark... and it smelled pretty bad... He still felt a sore pain at the level of his arm, only remembering way too well what caused it, which made him soon start to struggle. Being conscious that their subject was awake, the assistant walked in her partner's office. "Subject C is awake."

Alaina: "Really!" The male leaned back from his desk, going over the results that they had gathered previously, before turning to face his assistant with a broad smile. "I can't believe he's lasted so long - lets see how he's holding up!" He popped out of his chair, making his way eagerly back to the test room. He didn't bother with gloves this time, he didn't expect to be doing too much extensively dirty work, and instead directly approached his waking subject. "Well would ya look at that..."

Noko: "I'm as surprised as you are! I was about to see if he got some primary needs, I thought that you would like to see how he behaves." She smiled almost cruelly, she would love to do some tests, especially now that her subject was so responsive. She opened the door of the room that confined him. Finding him struggling as it tried to free himself from the restraints that kept him immobilized him, jolting in fear as he noticed the two persons walking in.. "N-no ! No!"

Alaina: "So responsive..." He muttered, not hesitating in the least as he strode over to his subjects immobilized head. He was already curiously looking down straight at the skeletons eyelights, pushing a finger inside the skull to poke at the sensitive veins of magic that kept it lit, looking to see how steady it was now that the magic had had plenty of time to settle into its new home. "I can hardly believe it - but it seems well enough. Hey... " He poked at the skeletons forehead, his face showing nothing but pure curiosity. "Are you hungry?"

Noko: He grimaced when he felt man approach... and felt surprised and confused as this one sank his finger in his eye... or at least were his eye should be. His confused and lost mind for earlier was getting more precise about how wrong he felt. His eyesockets opened really wide, alert as this one poked his forehead until the man spoke once more... asking him if he was hungry which he replied fearfully in faint nods.

The woman smiled brightly at the response only to bring a nutritious pudding on a moving tray. "It can understand us! Wonderful!" She dipped a spoon in the cup of pudding before showing it to the skeleton. "Don't be scared. Be good and we won't hurt you today."

Alaina: "Right. REASONING!" The man tilted his head in honest confusion. He wasn't accustomed to working with - living things. It was a shift he wasn't sure he could handle. He shifted awkwardly, looking down at the skeleton before tapping at his own face thoughtfully. "Hm. It'd be better if you could talk. Can you talk?" He asked, his eyes suddenly wide with curiosity. He had heard the subject mutter protests earlier, but if he could form a conversation - it would be a good test to the mental state, anyway, and he kept staring at the other, an eager smile spreading over his face.

Noko: She was so excited! She loved to work with dead and reanimate it, but this was even better! They could study their experiment, see how he would adapt to his body despite the drastically different nature of his soul. And she was even more pleased to see her partner further the experiment along as he asked if he could talk.

The skeleton frowned faintly as he tried to gather his thoughts before nodding nervously, clearly scared at the idea of getting hurt. "Y-yes... w-where-" Before he could ask further, the woman shoved a spoonful of pudding in his mouth, he swallowed quickly before coughing. This was wrong, something felt wrong.

"Good boy."

Alaina: "...Interesting..." He raised a brow, pleased to watch the skeleton while his assistant took care of it, looking for any signs of weakness or abnormal reactions - the boy seemed to be adapting at an incredible rate, which was making him giddy and proud with just how well he had done. He walked around the room a moment, watching to see if the eyelights were going to follow him or remained focused on the woman feeding him - he couldn't help but chuckle, she was kind of cute, so excited to 'care' for the little experiment. "He definitely looks strong - should we... see if he can move? I'd like to at least test his reflexes."

Noko: Surprisingly, the subject kept following the man's movements, alert and scared about what they would do next, after all, he was one that had hurt him. "how long? Where...? Who? What?" He closed his eyesockets, frowning as he was on the verge of panic, all he could recall for now was that impression of falling before he woke up... He opened his eyes once more as this one proposed to free him... or at least that's what he understood. He still felt wrong...

"Well... now that you say it... it's not like it can run with one leg missing." She put the cup of pudding on the side and loosened the straps that were straining the subject. The first thing the Skelton did was to sit up, grimacing before it froze at the sight of his bones... he... was sure it wasn't supposed to look like that. He stared at his hands, moving them, completely lost in his mind, a fascinated, yet scared expression on his face as it felt so light... they were not his...

Alaina: "Oh this oughta be interesting." The male interjected, turning to stand right beside his subject as he watched the skeleton move, definitely taking in his new body. "Pretty good, right?!" He stated proudly, looking the skeleton up and down. "The key to soul transfers is making sure the magic is JUST right! Building the whole system from the ground up! It's got to be PERFECT or nothing works. I must say I've totally outdone myself this time, I can't believe you're even awake - ahahha!" He laughed heartily, clearly proud of himself and his own work as he tended to ramble about his own accomplishments,turning to his assistant. "I've had plenty of practice, but this is a success definitely worthy of the record books if I do say so myself."

Noko: His hands ran over his bones as if he was looking for something that wasn't there, grimacing as his broken arm was hurting really bad whenever he was moving it... He barely registered what the others were saying as he tried to assimilate what he was supposed to be... trying to picture what he was supposed to look like, but failing no matter how hard he tried to remember. He barely had time to think that the woman distracted him. Poking his forehead to get his attention. "I need to see your motor skills." She offered him another spoonful of pudding. "Take it."

He started to shake, clearly due to the mental shock more then because his body had trouble to stay stable. He closed his fingers over the utensil before taking another bite of pudding, famished.

"Good boy."

Alaina: The male started to jot down notes, frowning as his subjects mental state was affecting his results - he wasn't too pleased about that, but he supposed there wasn't much helping it. Transferring bodies was sure to leave some sort of effect - it would be interesting to see if the subject could handle it. "Ehh... I'd like to see improvement over the next few hours." He said blandly with a shrug, tapping at his notes with a pen. "Not a bad start though. You - uh. C." He started, pointing at the skeleton. "Tell me - do you actually feel hunger, or are you just eating to eat?"

Noko: The assistant observed with attention how the subject was reacting... there was signs of trauma, which she expected from a soul that hadn't been revived in the 'proper' form of their art, she didn't care much for their experiment, but she definitely seemed more enthusiastic than her partner, using soft words to play with the 'child's mind. The more docile, the better.

And it was working, her encouragement, almost working like a maternal figure, seemed enough to keep the subject calm despite his clear confusion. As the man called him "C", this one looked at him, unsure... was it his name? It didn't feel like it. He hesitated a moment, nervous to reply. "I-I'm hungry... feels... empty." He moved one hand over his stomach... as if something was supposed there.

Alaina: "Hmmmm.... good, very good!" His smile returned, pleased as he started to return to his notes happily - jotting quickly. "Makes sense, after all - now... do you remember anything? I'm very curious to know how your memory has retained - if at all." He explained simply, flatly as he kept looking over the skeleton.

Noko: Memories... uh... He frowned, his mind more and more alert at the other words while he tried to reply to the question properly. "I r-remember... falling? That my body isn't.... like that... I... I don't know... I don't know!!!" He repeated, holding his skull on the verge of panic. The assistant quickly reacting by taking his hand, a serious expression on her face as she tried to be as sweet as possible despite her lack of practice.

"It's alright, it might take time for it to come back, you went through a lot of shock. We're just asking you a question, alright? Nothing to be scared about. You're doing good..." She took the spoon away from his hand to dip it in the pudding again and feed him. Here. Eat, you need it.

The skeleton obeyed meekly, fighting his weirded out mind.

Alaina: "Mmm...." The male quieted himself, withdrawing thoughtfully as he let his assistant handle the subject - he would like to get as much info as possible before something possibly happened. Either way, he took a step back, putting a sterile smile on. "Well, take your time then. Eat something. We'd like to keep a careful eye on you, of course...." He stated, voice starting to trail as he was more just trying to judge the skeletons reactions than purposeful prod at his unstable mentality.

Noko: She offered him the rest of the cup, stroking the top of his skull as she placed the spoon back in it. "Did you hear him? Eat as much as you can. You went through a lot, and you need to build strength. Alright?"

The skeleton nodded faintly before keep eating, his appetite growing as he ate more, he was famished, and it was enough to distract his unstable mentality. The assistant was disappointed… but she hoped that this one would start to remember who he used to be, even a little. She didn't let herself get discouraged, however glad that she had managed to make him docile for now, she looked at her partner. "Perhaps we could test his reflex and mind? I mean, he still pretty confused, but I want to see if only the memories have been affected."

Alaina: "Hmm.... I think I have just the thing." The male stated brightly, coming up with an idea as he ran out of the room for a moment. He returned shortly with a couple books and a pen - one was a dusty old workbook and the other was a simple word puzzle book. "Here - see if he can't work that brain of his just a little. Some focused thought might help him... stabilize." He gave an awkward look as he passed over the objects, not used to having to be 'delicate' as he was now minding what he was saying. They had trained themselves to not think of their subjects as people, it was easier that way - but this... thing was clearly scared and confused and he needed a calm mind to see just how effective his work had been. "I can go over his reflexes in a moment, maybe?" He offered as almost an afterthought.

Noko: As the man left the room, the assistant praised their experiment as it seemed to enjoy the taste of the pudding as he ate it faster at each new bite, stroking his head as if she was praising a dog. That's a good boy, keep eating as much as you can. She was actually really fascinated at how well this subject was doing as he was the first one to ever have an appetite. As her partner came back with books, this one smiled cheerfully. "Perfect! I think it's just what he needs." She took the empty cup and the spoon before looking at it. "Be good and there will be more for you... Understood?"

The skeleton nodded faintly as his attention moved over his bones once more. Why didn't he have any clothes? Who were these people? What happened to him? "Is....it going.... to hurt again?"

Alaina: The man looked thoughtful a moment - he definitely thought his assistant had the right idea about bribing the little 'pet' - and he offered a plastic smile. "I'm done with my extreme testing - I WOULD like to get some more samples as you stabilize but it will go a lot easier if you behave. Promise." He was not a warm person by any means, but there was definitely an edge of truth to his words - and he certainly gave off the impression that he was going to get what he wanted, one way or another. He noted the arm he had shattered the previous day, nodding towards it with the smallest smidgen of understanding. "There won't be any more of that, if that's what you're worried about."

Noko: She was glad to see that her partner played along to manipulate their experiment. As long they would give him a good reason to behave, it would make things easier if their experiment was stable enough for their numerous tests. She smiled as she saw subject C nod in agreement while his hand rested on his hurt arm. "O-okay..." There were so many questions... like where he came from and who was he and what happened to him... yet... he somehow didn't think that he was allowed to ask for an answer.

"Perfect! We will put you through a number of tests now, just do your best, we want to see what you are capable of." She looked at her partner, amused and thrilled to discover more.

Alaina: "Okay - now..." He paused momentarily, an idea coming to mind as he turned to his assistant. "My dear, maybe he would work a little better in some clothes? It is kind of cold down here. Here, my assistant will fetch you something to put on if you can show me how comprehensive you are." He said with a smile, pushing a book into the skeletons lap. "Just read and complete some of the puzzles if you can." He asked eagerly, a curious grin crossing his face as he pulled up a chair to sit in.

Noko: The assistant blinked in surprise as her partner proposed some clothes in exchange of a few puzzles... she didn't understand the point of giving the subject clothes but she shrugged before heading out, the skeleton following her with his eyes before the man placed a book over his lap. He stared at the book a moment before opening it.... finding the texture under his fingers different then what he was used to. "Uhm... I-I need a pen..." He said as he was looking at the puzzles in front of his eyes, some seemed really hard... but he honestly didn't know what else he could do aside from obeying.

Alaina: "All right." He waited just a moment before digging the required tool out of his pocket, holding it out for the skeleton. He purposefully held it a little further away, waiting to see if the subject had the coordination and strength to lean forward and reach for it. He continued giving a plastic smile, holding it just out of immediate arms reach. "Here ya go."

Noko: The skeleton blinked when the man handed him the pen... but too far away for him to reach it... was it another test... again? He shifted himself to sit on the border of the table to stretch his healthy arm and grab it. "Thanks..." He then reinstalled himself properly, as he started to solve the simple

crossword puzzles. Curiously, the words came easy in his mind as he actually... knew without really knowing where he had learned all that.

The assistant came back with a shirt. "This is the only clothes I have found that aren't covered in mold."

Alaina: "It'll do." The male nodded in satisfaction, watching his subject move and think naturally - he really had adapted to his body almost perfectly without even realizing it, only his mind was confused and lost. It became almost a game, watching the skeletons face when he got stumped only to see realization lit up his features - just like any other person, and he started to smile at his own accomplishments, so absorbed in just studying the other he barely acknowledged anything else happening in the room for quite some time, just...staring at the experiment like an animal in a zoo.

Noko: She noticed how well the experiment was doing with the crosswords... it was so goodbye to see how his cognitive mind seemed to work really well despite the lack of memories. "I'll have to test its memories some more since it seems to remember information from its past life... Mmmh..." She thought while stroking her chin, she would have brought memory games to test his vision even have a 'therapy' session. "I need to see how it thinks... Wait!" She looked at her partner. "Where is its old body?"

The skeleton raised his head as he listened to the woman. A confused yet worried expression on his face. "My... old body ?"

Alaina: "Oh, I haven't cleaned it up yet." The male replied, shrugging with a touch of disinterest. "We've been distracted, so its probably still on the examination table." His attention turned towards his little pet project, and he started to beam proudly. "Oh yeah, it was pretty beat up - still not sure what it was doing just lying in the alley though."

Noko: The woman smiled, please, the corpse was probably rotting, she had no intention to show it to their experiement, the shock would probably cause his mind to lose the little stability they had with him... at least for now. She wanted however, to stimulate it's long-term memories. "Perfect! I won't be long!" She walked away, far from caring about the experiment as the skeleton seemed to realize something.

The skeleton frowned as the man described his old body... "So... that feeling... that body.... it's not mine"? He moved his fingers slowly, clearly starting to depersonalize.

Alaina: "Correct." The man said with a pleased smile, gesturing towards his little experiment with a great deal of pride- he was happy to talk about how great he was, obviously very excited over his 'art'. "You were quite dead, but soul intact. I saved you." He emphasized with an excited grin, leaning over slightly to watch his subject. "Wasn't sure if it was going to work, but I must be more talented than I thought -"

Noko: Quite dead... then that impression of falling that he had when he woke up, the first memories that were in his mind... was it the moment he died? Did he really die? Who was this body he was in? His expression became empty for a moment before he looked up at the man. "You.... saved me?" It didn't feel like he had been saved... they called him subject C... this place didn't look like a hospital. "Y-you broke my arm..."

The woman came back, a set of clothes in her arms. I'm back, sorry to take so long, you were right. That guy is heavy!

Alaina: "Ahaha, sorry - " He stated emptily, waving his hand in front of his face dismissively. "I wasn't sure you were going to wake up! You're the first success we've had that's remained conscious - I test every new experiment for stability to see what I did right, what I did wrong...but you...you're my greatest MASTERPIECE!" He said with a grin, his face lighting up to ridiculous levels before his assistant's voice drew his attention, his head spinning around to watch her - and he quickly caught on to what she was doing. "OOOH brilliant my dear!! You never cease to impress - "

Noko: The skeleton looked away when the male apologized... it felt cold and empty... and he honestly didn't like it... He was so scared from the moment he had woken up... The man was talking about him like he wasn't even human. Like he was just some kind of object that he was studying... and nothing more. He started to distract his confused mind with more puzzles, at least they wouldn't hurt him more if he did good or bad, when the woman suddenly came back with something... familiar? Without really thinking, the skeleton slid off the table to walk toward her, but he only found himself falling into a faceplant as he attempted to walk on his missing leg. The woman couldn't help herself but chuckle at the result as she went over to help it stand up. "You're missing a leg, what were you thinking?" She looked down at the clothes as she found it grabbing at the fabric.

Alaina: The man let out a light laugh as well, almost smirking at him. "Well, he moved well despite it." He commented naturally, cocking a brow as they tried to stand from the floor, and he reached down to help pick up their subject, wondering lightly if he had managed to injure himself. "Still, that was a good effort."

Noko: She managed to help him stand up slowly and sat on the table once more. "Really good, it seems to remember all his motricity... or perhaps it's the body that recalls it, either way, they were pretty good." She looked at how the skeleton was holding at the clothes, staring at it. "Does it remind you something?"

He didn't say a word, his thumbs stroking the fabric, it felt like... he had worn that... that someone used to complain about how often he wore it. "It's my shirt?" But why couldn't he recall anything further than that...? What was his name?

"Yes! It's your shirt C. That's really great!"

Alaina: He also smiled, impressed with the progress. "Yes, your clothes." He pondered, his thoughts wondering if he should push it any further or not... helping to encourage the subjects thought process at all. "I found you face down in an alley, you looked like you had fallen from one of the apartments. That's all I saw though." He explained simply, looking down at the clothes. "Is that the kind of thing you like?"

Noko: The skeleton stared at his clothes silently, frowning as he listened to him and tried to remember what he had been doing. "I fell... I was... trying to do... something..." When the man asked him if he liked it... "I think... I wear that a lot..."

The woman rubbed her chin before looking at her partner. "Do you think it's a general amnesia or that its soul has trouble to dissociate from his current body?" She didn't care much about the young subject, only trying to understand why his thought process was so blurred when it came from its memories.

Alaina: "It could also be the trauma of the procedure." He stated with a shrug, tilting his head in thought himself. "Something about the mind tries to keep things... intact, when stuff gets too hard to 'handle'." He scratched at his own head in mild frustration - he wished that wasn't the case, it would make things a lot easier. "But it could also be a combination of everything, it's too soon to tell really. If it gets better with time, it's probably dissociation, if it isn't... could be the soul protecting itself, or amnesia is just a side affect... I'm not sure." He stated honestly, frowning at his lack of understanding.

Noko: As she saw her partner's frustration, she offered him an amused smirk, patting his shoulders. "There, there. It's why I'm here for, after all, I'll just keep doing more tests until we got the answers. If it's just his soul adjusting, some of his memories might just come back as time pass." She loved these kinds of puzzles, it was different than those mindless subjects that she had to handle every day at their lab. She looked at their experiment, a larger smile on her face. "There, how about we put your clothes on, mmmh? The woman slowly took the shirt from him. "Raise your arms."

He obeyed before raising his arms, grimacing at the pain coming from the fracture.

"Mgh...."

Alaina: "Well...if that's the case. I'll keep running tests - oh. I would like a sample, now that he's calmed down." He reminded, looking more at his assistant than the subject, as if searching out her approval to retrieve what he wanted. This was simply not his area of expertise, but he definitely wanted to see how the magic was acting now that it was given time to even out.

Noko: She waved her hand as she clearly didn't mind it. "Let me dress it up and you'll be able to take as many samples as you want." She helped the experiment to dress up as he visibly had trouble to move his arm because of the injury.

The skeleton moved down his arms down stretching the shirt in incomprehension. "Bigger than I.... remember..."

"Your new body is younger. And without muscles, you definitely need smaller clothes." She stated as she put his pants on before looking at him with a serious expression on her face. "Now be a good boy, we need magic samples to see how your body adapted. Then you'll rest."

The skeleton remained silent before nodding, sure that he had no choice.

Alaina: "Now lay back and stay calm." The man instructed clearly, his voice cold and sterile as he moved to retrieve his trolley of supplies, pulling it over as he glanced over his instruments. He definitely wanted a soul sample... and maybe a main line sample? He pondered a moment before snapping on a pair of latex gloves, reaching for a large syringe as he gestured towards the subject. "Soul first."

Noko: The skeleton was about to lay back on his table when he froze as the man put his gloves on, his own hand pressing against his chest when the man requested his soul, the large syringe scaring him... recalling way too much what happened a while ago. He shook his head slowly. "N-no... Please... that h-hurt a lot..." He admitted, terrified about the idea of feeling the syringe sink into his soul again.

The woman frowned, disappointed before pressing him down against the table. "I said, be good. So no complaining."

"N-no..." He started to struggle, terrified.

Alaina: "Would you rather I tie you down again?" The man stated warningly, narrowing his gaze at his subject a moment. "It'll hurt less if you cooperate, but you need to relax ." He frowned down at the other, displeasure hardening his features. "Soul. Now." He stated sternly, a certain level of threat holding in his tone - nobody was going to keep him from HIS research.

Noko: He froze as the man menaced to tie him to the table again. He was breathing heavily, still terrified by the idea a syringe would sink into his soul. "B-but..." He started, tears feeling up his eyesockets before trying his best to obey and relax just like the man said... it would be worse if he didn't. Without any hesitation, and far from delicate as well, she grabbed the subject's soul by force and handed it over to her partner. "Here." She looked at it with a cold gaze. "Now don't move and relax."

Alaina: "Thank you, my dear. See, being cooperative helps a lot." The man stated in partial encouragement, running over the small organ to look for a good spot - it was unfortunate for the skeleton but his most active, most concentrated magic was deep in the magical heart, and he looked over it like a puzzle before squeezing lightly to get a good grip, shoving the needle almost carelessly into the spot he needed.

Noko: He held his breath, tensing up as the woman held his soul, shivering and crying in response. That wasn't cooperation! Not at all! He was forced to do things he didn't want... It felt wrong... and when then man manipulated his soul. It felt even worse... it hurt, it made him twitch and shift of discomfort, near to lose the little calm he had left as he was close to panicking again. The skeleton started crying when he felt the needle sink deep into his thrumming soul. The woman sighed out of annoyance, keeping him in place as he started to struggle.

"Stop complaining. It's nothing."

Alaina: The male ignored him, fully focused on getting what he needed - several heavy samples from the small soul. He filled vial after vial, before finally he had enough to be satisfied, his face twitched in annoyance as the child continued to struggle. It was distracting, which was making the whole process less fun. He yanked the syringe when he was done, his movements a little more harsh as he was slowly growing frustrated. "Put him on his side." He instructed harshly, securing the samples before reaching over for a new instrument, the sound of metal clattering against the each other as he moved.

Noko: The woman obeyed without caring much about her struggling subject, only too start using the straps, becoming just as annoyed as her partner. "Stop moving! The more you will the more unpleasant it will get for you !"

The subject didn't listen, the sound of the metal instrument only create more fear out of him. "W-what are you doing ?! Please.... s-stop..." He sobbed. "Stop... no more pain... please..." He didn't like this... He wanted this to end. He didn't know what else was waiting for him... but being restrained made it worse.

"Manipulation doesn't seem to work... It isn't cooperative." She said with a frown.

Alaina: "Leave it then, don't tire yourself out." He returned with a sigh, pausing his work to help secure their struggling subject. "It doesn't matter anyway, it's clear the mind is mostly intact - I think we can consider this a full success, just make sure we note the deficiencies." He mentioned before setting himself in a chair next to the table, dragging his trolley over to settle in for some deeper experimentation. So long as he was here, he might as well do a little more, and with the subject restrained it was already much more enjoyable. The spread his tools out in front of him carefully, choosing a special scalpel made for skeletons first before choosing a vertebrae to cut into - no sense in wasting his time with a needle, and a closer look of how the magic line was looking would be nice anyway. He dug the tool deep into a middle bone, using his free hand to grasp at it while he did so, using deep, strong strokes to split the area so he could expose the delicate magic flowing underneath.

Noko: The skeleton kept crying, begging them to stop, what they were doing... it felt wrong and terrifying, like a nightmare of both confusion and pain and that since he woke up... He wanted answers, about who he was... what happened to him... what he had become and what would happen to him. The man said that he had saved him... but it didn't feel like it.

The woman attached it really tight so that it wouldn't move, the little warmth gone for good as she immobilized it. She nodded as her partner said to forget about making the experiment more docile. "Subject C ready." She ignored the experiment that was struggling, only amused by it's scream when the man cut into his vertebrae to expose the main magic line. "Try to avoid damage it. I still need to run some cognitive test later."

The skeleton closed his eyes, sobbing as he felt the instruments sink in his exposed magic.

Alaina: "No promises. I've never had an opportunity like this before..." The man muttered, poking at the line curiously. He spent a good few hours taking samples and poking at the area, surgically exploring it by cutting it open and peeling back the layers, in a couple different places, curious to see just how perfectly he had 'built' his little project. It wasn't until he felt tired that he even realized how long he had sat there, letting out a deep yawn before staring at his hands, a messy mix of blood and magic staining his work area, and he slowly stood to clean himself and his area up, whisking the samples away for analysis. "Do what you like. I'll be back in the morning." He shrugged, nodding towards his assistant tiredly before preparing himself to turn in for the evening.

Noko: The woman kept observing her partner's work, taking notes as if their experiments was nothing but a bunch of bones inert, ignoring the screams and cry coming out from it. At some point, all it managed to do at the end was shaking while whimpering faint noises of protest. His face damped with his own tears. He couldn't yell anymore, the pain too great to even make a proper sound. "Alright. I'll clean your mess." She started to clean the table, applying a rough bandage over the spine. She recorded vocal notes. Tossing the instruments on the rolling table before sending it out of the room. She installed their experiment on its back, too weak to fight back. "Rest. You'll have a rough day tomorrow." She turned off the light before leaving it alone in the dark.

Alaina: The male rose early the next day, eager to get back to work - but he checked on his running samples first, a faint frown on his face as he ran over the results. The soul was not what he wanted to see, the trait something rather unique, not something he expected to come across... it dampened his mood considerably, and he sat down to file at his findings a moment, looking extremely dejected the whole while before he debated on going back to his subject... well, he could get a few more good readings out of him, at least understand what they were looking for to accomplish. But his interest was quickly banished from keeping the so-called 'masterpiece' around...

Noko: The skeleton didn't sleep well, the pain too great for his body to manage, this one was suffering from a light and unpleasant fever, his breath uneven... The only time he dreamt was really terrifying, filled with fear and... the moment he died.

The man's assistant woken up much earlier. Filing some paper work, she didn't wait for her partner to wake up to disturb the subject's poor sleep to take a look at its condition. Despite the test from yesterday, subject C remained responsive to light, touch and pain... this was a little disappointing too, she was pretty sure that its cognition would be affected by the pain he was under... oh well... All she could do was work with was she had. "So, Sleepyhead. Still hungry? Hey, you." She tapped the boy's cheek as he was losing focus.

"Mgh... n-no... no more pain... please..."

Alaina: The male practically burst into the room, striding with heavy steps as he was clearly disappointed. "How is C responding?" He asked, sounding extremely bored. He let his own papers fall onto a nearby desk heavily, trying to distract himself by re-organizing his instruments. He was so bored. I wanted to make a masterpiece, a true one - this thing in front of him was nothing but another failure - he could only learn at this point.

Noko: "Still in shock from the procedure of last night. But still good enough for more test I assume." She paused, noticing the disappointed look on her partner's face... that was a bad news. And when this one dropped his papers on the table, she blinked out of confusion. "What's going on? How's the result from the simple? Not satisfying?" She moved her attention on the subject, snapping her fingers in front of its face. "Hey. Stay awake here."

The skeleton frowned as he started to cry, scared of what would come really soon. Thanks to the sound of the metal clicking on the platter. "P-Please... n-no more test... please..."

"Shut your mouth. I want you to respond to more test. I don't care if you don't want to. It's that or we hurt you more."

Alaina: "My dear I know how excited you were over this, but..." He sighed, passing over some of his findings. "His soul is endurance based - he probably only survived the procedure because of this specific soul trait - I have no doubt that it was a major attributing factor.... regardless, I have no interest in keeping it. I'd much rather harvest what I can and just.... send for a teleport. ...I want to move on." He sighed, definitely disappointed and discouraged - the subject was nothing but a husk to him now, and he wanted to CREATE - he couldn't do that working on a ruined project, and he reached over for his gloves. "Bring him here."

Noko: The woman's expression quickly flattered, clearly disappointed herself as she learned that the soul only survived because of its trait... She took a deep breath, trying to see the good out of it. "At least... We know that it IS possible... right? We just need to right formula, to make sure any soul could be as endurant as this one for a soul transfer..." She grimaced a moment before sighing. "Can we at least learn more about his mental state? I was just about to work on that. I want to know if that amnesia is permanent or not..." She wasn't trying to buy time with the experiment, but she wanted to make sure everything was properly done before they throw it away. She slides the weak, struggling and sobbing body near of her partner, disappointed. "All I would need is a memory, a clear one that would make it possible to transfert a consciousness in another body..."

Alaina: He looked over, but nodded. "Do what you want. I just want to make a few more extractions. I'll go ahead and schedule the teleporter while you... have your moment." He stated, clearly discouraged and lack of any enthusiasm. He didn't even really want to look at the thing, it was just a reminder that he hadn't been able to prefect his craft as perfectly as he wanted, and he turned to leave the room. "Take your time, I'll get what I want when you're done." He rambled as he waved a good bye, clearly done with the whole thing.

Noko: The skeleton listened to them... were they talking to get rid of him? Would they leave him for dead? He couldn't ask... he was too scared, especially since the woman told him to shut up.

"Perfect." The woman was now left alone, playing with the instrument herself before gathering her own documents. She took a deep breath before turning back to the subject. "You WILL cooperate, do your best and I MIGHT convince him to be gentle with you. Now, Remember anything about your past? A smell, a sound? Anything?"

The child shook his head a moment frowning as he did his best to remain calm and try to remember. "I... I fell from the building... I think I tried to... save something... a... a cat? And my foot slipped? I think... I-I don't know... I... dreamed about it..."

"Mmmh..." She seemed disappointed before making him do a few tests to play with his memories. But after a while, she simply gave up. The subject was too stressed to give proper results.

Alaina: After awhile, the man returned, still clearly having a bit of a loss of interest at the project, but he made sure that his assistant was at least mostly satisfied before he instructed her aid of his final extractions. He dug into the small soul, cutting out a small piece for himself with a biopsy tool to keep, something of a 'souvenir' as it was, that could easily be used for more readings later. He poked at the skeletons systems, snapping a lower rib just to watch the magic and marrow flow, gathering some of the fluids before setting his little experiment back on his side, cutting open no less than three more of the vertebrae, all in vital places to get a good idea of the more important junctions of the magic system. He was nearly done when a third person showed up, rolling his eyes around the room boredly and knocking.

"Yo. Ya called for a bug out?" The new person was Metazoan, mouse-like animal traits formed his features, and he glanced at the broken body lying on the table, his face cocking into a grin.

"Whoa."

"Ah, yes! Nearly done here, just need to...grab this..." The male stated simply, pulling away his final extraction before rising, moving his tools so he could enjoy to properly clean them himself. "We just need him away, of course."

"Aight...any place in particular?"

"Just not here." The man stated, nodding. "Nowhere near here."

Noko: At first the child responded to pain like before, screaming every time the man cut through his bones, sobbing heavily as he begged him to stop, his body trembling as it was going under a lot of stress and torture. Without any painkillers, the instruments were burning him, and the restraints stopped him from moving like he wanted. But when then men snapped one of his bones, the child almost immediately lost consciousness, from both the pain and the lack of blood he was going through.

The woman only gave it a few hours before it would die without the proper care, it was already feverish,

it's breath irregular and loud... what a disappointment. Another failure...

Alaina: "Not our problem." The man stated, nodding toward the teleporter who just shrugged, grabbing at his 'assignment' with little care or reason before vanishing in a blink. He had meant to just dump the body on the outskirts of a town somewhere, off the side a road in a ditch where he could just let the sand naturally cover the victim - but somewhere along the line his calculations messed up, and he smacked into a hard wall, groaning as he dropped his 'package' in an alleyway. They were definitely hundreds of miles from their origin, but not quite as far as he had hoped - frowning when a scream alerted him - he wasn't alone. He stared dead at the woman who had seen him appear, horrified by the mangled body that had slumped to the ground - he blinked once before disappearing on reflex, trained to be seen as little as possible. The woman scrambled to call the emergency number after attempts to rouse the young, abandoned skeleton were a total failure... and it was clear he was getting sick, his fever starting to pitch high.

Once in medical hands, the emergency team that he had happened to fall under care of just grimaced - his bones had been methodically torn, he was losing blood and magic all over the place, and was rushed almost immediately into the ER surgery. With no ID and nothing to identify him, calls went out all over the place...but nobody seemed to be missing a young skeleton child in the area, and even as the calls went further and further out...nobody seemed to know anything... and he matched no missing persons record...

The surgery took hours, the on hand staff spending meticulous, careful time to rebuild the split and broken vertebrae, as many of them were almost damaged beyond repair, but with the help of good practice and a healer they managed to restore it almost perfectly. He was lucky the rib was an easy fix, but the surgeon was so exhausted he didn't have time to fix the arm - it was so shattered it would need to be taken care of separately at a later time. The John Doe skeleton was set up carefully in bed to lay on his side, propped gently with pillows and his arm suspended from the ceiling so that it was comfortable, his body too wracked to lay him down properly without causing more soreness. It was clear he would be in pain, even with a heavy dose of painkillers and antibiotics running through him. The nurse assigned to him settled him in a room, carefully reading his condition. They couldn't even write his name down... she was an attentive person though, and at one point, after waiting long enough to get accustomed to the mystery patient, she carefully sat at his bedside and start to clean his face and body tenderly, hoping that he would wake in at least a bit of comfort....

[catescher]

Common mistakes in Worldbuilding (Part 1)

Okay, first off: This is advice and personal. With that, I mean that this isn’t ironclad and it’s stuff that annoys me. Furthermore, this is geared to Fantasy, simply because it’s the genre I’m most familiar with. Some of it is also applicable to Sci-Fi, but I won’t guarantee everything. And please keep in mind - I was, am and will be guilty of all those points.

Alright. Mistakes in Worldbuilding. I won’t say that those grievances I will present you in the following entry are the devil but you should know what you’re doing when you’re doing something. Just saying.

Also, some of these complaints/rants/thoughts/whatever you might call them sometimes contradict each other. Sue me.

This is a two-parter, because, as it turns out, I have a lot to say on some topics. More will follow early next week.

Rules and Research

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A) DID NOT DO THEIR RESEARCH

Sorry. Major pet peeve incoming.

Also, please sit down and listen, especially those who say research is not necessary because Fantasy World.

For God’s sake, research is important. Even in Fantasy.

But why?

Say, you have a monarchy and a lot of political stuff going on. You know, fun stuff: assassination, rebellions, revolts, revolutions, and so on. But, and here is the question: How would that influence the king/queen/emperor for example? Is there an heir already lined up? Is there a council, does the monarch actually have power and is not a figurehead? How is the monarch legitimated? Mandate of the Heavens (Chinese Emperors), a descendant of a god (Japanese Tenno, founding date isn’t correct by the way), elected (Germanic Tribes or certain persons of influence in the Holy Roman Empire who voted for the Emperor) or simple power (tyrannis)? Absolute power for the monarch or is he kept in check by a constitution, the people or a parliament? How is it decided who inherits the throne?

And all of that above, as well as politicians, monarch’s parents, and even more people and offices would play a part in a plot about a rebellion against a monarch. But for all those nuances to feel real, whether the rebellion, the monarch or even both are justified in their actions, you need to do a bloody lot of research. Not to mention things like race, gender, and everything you (hopefully) haven’t experienced such as war, a specific sickness, mental sickness, and so on.

I mean, it’s not just worldbuilding. Research makes for a better story overall, even if it is only some minor detail.

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B) MAGIC AND WHATNOT

So… Magic. Fantasy world. Goes together like peanut butter and chocolate.

Or at least it should.

I mean, does magic influence your world somehow? You have magic floating around, so how is it making life easier or harder or different?

Consider magic-based transportation methods, teleportation for example. Why bother using airplanes or cars if you can just click your heels and be wherever you want to be? So you need to think about it in terms of economy and practicality: Is it a service that costs a shit ton of money? Can only few beings/persons use it? Does it have limits when it comes to distance? Why doesn’t everyone use it? You’ll need to keep that in mind when not only building your world but also while writing your story as in “Why wouldn’t the Big Bad simply teleport to the McGuffin’s location and destroy it before it destroys him?”.

On a related note: Magic should have rules. Brandon Sanderson wrote about it for example. How it looks like in his books I can’t say, I have yet to read any of his books.

But still: Do your characters only need to snap their fingers and can break reality? If they can, why haven’t they revived everyone the Dark Lord killed? This is why you need rules for your magic, to not resurrect someone if you want to - or, at least, not without an appropriate price to pay.

Let’s call it a drama-preserving handicap. Otherwise, your book would be over in a paragraph with a powerful wizard.

But overall from my experience in writing? Restricting magic from becoming too overpowered it feels better or more real- as much as a world with magic can be.

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C) THE WORLD’S RULES AND MORALITIES

On a related note: What kind of rules do your world/society have? Do they have any, for example, morality? Sure they do.

What I mean with this is that outside of magic, your world has specific rules or phenomena. I mentioned resurrection above and to continue this line of thought, are there rules and laws against it? Why are they in place?

An example for not only resurrection but also against using powers to create gold, is in the manga Fullmetal Alchemist in which it is forbidden to use alchemy to turn other stuff into gold. Why? Because it would crash the economy because gold would become worthless if too much of it would exist. A rule that makes sense when someone just has to clap his hands to have some gold on his hands.

How about societal rules? Political Rules? Unspoken laws everyone adheres to because of immense social or religious repercussions?

On a related note: Even if you based your world on a medieval European One (wherever you may choose exactly) does not mean it should inherit its rules completely. With that I mean that a sexist culture can exist in your world but making a reboot of what we commonly view the Middle Ages as so it’s basically an alternative history version of it? Come on, guys, we are writers! We are supposed to be creative!

As for a slightly different topic: What do you call a French Braid if there are no French in your world? Serious question - how do you describe it or how do you call it otherwise? Same thing with other similar named concepts or objects. I mean, do you still call it Braille if it is in another world with no Mister Braille to create it? How do you describe it? Calling it Braille still sounds weird to me.

Perfection and Flaws

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A) UTOPIAS

Of course, your world can be perfect. No bad things ever happen, no racism, sexism, or xenophobia, no wars and if there is a war it’s against someone who deserves it. The king is just, it has a stable economy and everyone lives happily ever after.

Sounds great. Utopian.

Seriously, give me a break. This is boring. A utopian society won’t exist, for fuck’s sake. Humans are too flawed for that. I’m not running around screaming realism all the time (I hope) but this won’t fly for me. Also, it takes a lot out of the conflict - why would there be conflict if the world is so great? No matter the world, the political system or the society - for someone there is going to be a flaw in it. There will be injustice. There will be bitterness. There will be rebels. There will be people who defend the status quo.

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B) A PERFECT HISTORY

History seems pretty clear-cut if you open a history book at times. But in truth, it is a mess. Take school books about WWII for example - depending on the country the book is from it might tell a completely different story with a different focus on certain events. Some Japanese schoolbooks at times, for example, leave out or whitewash certain events during WWII which are barely in use. With certain events, I refer to the hideous war crimes Japan committed to make it clear. Germans, however… let’s just say I had about one school year worth of learning about the Third Reich in history alone, not to mention other subjects. Still seems like a miracle they haven’t managed to cover it in Maths as well.

In any case, how history is represented can be vastly different, it’s not always clear-cut and one true version. Sometimes, three people have six different opinions about one historical event.

This is for the retrospect. Now for the actual happening history and events.

Take one event - be it a new law being introduced or a conflict happening - and people will have different opinions on it depending on their personal worldviews, religion and who they are. They will comment on it, protest it if they want to or full-heartedly support it for a reason or another. Furthermore, event A does not necessarily lead to event B and then to War Z. It’s not linear or single-minded.

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C) DETAILS MATTER

Details such as a nomadic tribe living in wooden huts in the desert. I hope you see what I mean.

To spell it out:

1) They are nomads. Nomads don’t settle for long, so they don’t need stationary buildings.

2) It’s a desert. No wood, or at least not enough to justify building wooden huts.

Okay, this what it is: It doesn’t make sense. Nomads are more likely to have a tent or something easy to move around than a “normal” building. You need to keep a lot of details in mind, how they live. You need to pay attention to this kinda stuff.

Another detail that is often missed out on relates to stuff like basic economy or infrastructure. Who makes the food they eat? Why does it seem that everyone eats the same no matter if they are in a desert or on top of a mountain? Details like that matter a lot because the reader can suspend their disbelieves only for so long.

On a side note, conservation of detail is annoying but it’s important. If you established a rule in your world - such as revenants being killed by nailing them with silver in the heart - you can’t just go ahead and use iron or behead them. If you need to break established rules, you need to know your rules and then break them consciously.