#things i'm doing behind the scenes

[animasola86]

Nebbia's Origin Story

You might have seen and/or read about my HL MC Nebbia DeLuca, who I kinda revived for my HL playthroughs. But this very OC has been in my brain and in several attempts at writing her story for almost a decade now.

She's also been a shotgun/blood magic wielding Templar in The Secret World/Secret World Legends, or a necromancer with a greatsword and a staff in Guild Wars 2, and a car collecting maniac world explorer in GTA Online. So having "just" a wand was quite the adjustment for her!

But enough about her alter egos, how did she come to be?

She's been in my brain ever since I came into contact with The Last of Us. That game had a serious impact on me and the stories whirling through my head. I've always been a storyteller, have written stories since an early age. I've created a lot of original characters, fleshed out, with detailed backstories, but I was never able to finish their respective stories.

The themes were always pretty similar: younger woman, older man, size difference, gruff but protective male, innocent but feisty female. Side characters were always of the jealous, dangerous kind. I've always loved taboos and kinks, and the above-mentioned dynamic is one of my favorites to write (and read) stories about.

So, inspired by Joel and Ellie's relationship, I wanted to create characters that were similar, but different. My main motive for writing was always: Something's missing in those stories, let's write it myself! It started with adding romance to a thriller, love to a murder mystery, or found family/forbidden feelings to otherwise "innocent" scenarios.

For example, I've written a story about a young woman falling in love with the married father of the kid she's supposed to babysit (I swear there's more to that story than the porn clichés, it ends up turning into a psychological drama about jealousy and domination, mental illness, murder, abduction, what's real, what's not kinda scenes; unfortunately I've never finished my first proper original work that's sitting on a USB-stick somewhere since 2011. One day I'll get to finish your story, Tasja, don't worry. You'll get your happy ending!).

And then, someday in the year 2017, I started writing a story (though the idea is much older) about a post-apocalyptic world, based on an island near my hometown. I've thrown ideas around and around, researching, visiting places, creating characters, always changing something, but the basic idea that stuck was this (I suck at summaries, btw, sorry!):

Twenty years ago, there was a black-out and society collapsed. The people on that island live in groups, as far away from each other as possible to avoid conflict, as they are all stuck there, with no way to leave the island.

Enter Nebbia, born after the End, who is a girl living in an all-female village run by a group of older women called the Elders, whose daughters (creatively named the Daughters) do all their "dirty work". Nebbia is classified as a Motherless, you guessed it, lives without a mother.

And the backstory of that, in short, is: her mother was pregnant when she was found by one of the Daughters and brought to the village, gave birth, and fled the place after she discovered their dark secret (because what's a post-apocalyptic community without a dark secret, eh?), but she left Nebbia there because she knew she would have a safe home in spite of it, that is until she turns 18, when things go really dark.

In short: there's a strange little celebration, all the girls of age are dressed in their best dresses, and then leave the village on their way to another village nearby that is run by the Men... and, uh, well, yeah, society collapsed, so they try to rebuild it, it's a breeding station, oops, you get the idea.

And that is when our male protagonist comes in: Ben, in his late thirties, a gruff, lonesome smuggler/outsider/person who doesn't have a village/group, but works between them. And he is hired by none other than Nebbia's mother, Kira, to get Nebbia and save her from the horrible fate of being bred helping society grow again.

But something happens (there's a mysterious fog that keeps the people from leaving the island, but never mind that, although that is why Nebbia is called Nebbia, because fog=nebbia in Italian, because her mother is half-Italian - also, hey, off-topic, but there's a fitness clothes store called Nebbia in the Slovak Republic, isn't that cool?) and Ben loses his memories, and when he sees Nebbia, he thinks she's Kira... and kinda falls for her, because, of course, him and her were sweethearts before the End (but they had a falling out, but he doesn't remember that yet).

And Nebbia is this innocent girl, who basically worked as a slave her whole life, can't read, can't swim, is treated very poorly, can't exist outside her village, really. (And to have such a character and let her explore the world and learn stuff and blossom would have been so interesting to write!)

So Ben saves kidnaps Nebbia from the village, and they try to find their way back to Kira... and somehow this is where my ideas froze. I wanted to show their journey through the post-apocalyptic world, how their life is, what they do to survive, who they meet, that he slowly regains his memories and realizes his feelings for this girl, and once they get to where they want to go, they find out that Kira is gone/dead/I don't know, something, aaaand their journey continues? I have no idea. I never came to those parts.

I've written so many versions of that story, in German to start with (because the island it's set on is a German island), then tried recreating it in English without the local color, but it never really worked. I didn't know where it would end.

But the characters remained inside my head, I've had so many scenarios for them because I loved their dynamic, but I've never written any of them because back then I thought I needed a full story, something with beginning and end, the whole deal. I've never written one-shots before, or even short stories. I was fixated on the whole "novel" thing, that was my goal, my dream.

But now, after having written sooo many one-shots for a fandom, just snippets of people's lives and what they do in the moment, I feel confident enough to tackle it. To create little short stories centered around those very characters: Ben and Nebbia.

I've also read so many original works on AO3 lately, and seeing how people just put their own ideas out there, for everyone to see, did something to me. I always wanted to keep my ideas to myself, because, maybe, someday, I'll finish a story and could send it to a publisher and one day have my own work in book-form, but honestly, it is such a daunting idea, when all I wanna do is tell stories.

And so now I will just tell stories. I've started by writing for these characters everyone knows and loves (and I'll keep writing Sebastian smut, don't worry!), but now it's time to branch out, give those people inside my head their story, or at least snippets of their lives, and share it with the world.

And as I write this, I am working on an AU of those characters, with a completely different setting, but the same dynamic: older man, younger woman, gruff/protective vs. innocent/feisty, love in dangerous environments. Of course, it's gonna have my usual smut elements, but also world building, side characters, character development, etc. and new things to research!

(Lemme throw in some words I learned that may give a hint to where the story is set: withers, spats, stirrup. As for the time, well, it's actually an era I've already written for, but the place is a lot more... west, way west.)

I feel very inspired, and I hope I can one day (hopefully very soon*) share their story with you.

(I've made a side blog @animasolaoriginal where I'll post it once it's done or I grow too impatient to wait! I'll also post moodboards and inspirations there - eventually! If you'd like to follow me there too, I'd very much appreciate it!)

Thank you for letting me get this out. These characters are very dear to me, and I hope, once I start uploading my original work, I might catch your interest with it, and you will start to like them too!

Edit: *I did it, I posted the first chapter! 🤠

[minhosblr]

Lee Know ☆ GUCCI for W Korea

[sysig]

You're still standing off to the side. Somehow, center stage has shifted from under your feet without you realizing, and you're standing in the wings, performing to no one.

Starring Role (Patreon)

[royalarchivist]

Phil: [Titling stream] QSMP... Mi huevos... cansada, jefe.

Phil: "MY BALLS ARE TIRED, JEFE." [Laughs] My balls are tired, boss. [Cracks up] Nah, it's probably– [Laughs again] I'm just gonna– I'm just gonna title it that anyway.

Phil: Yeah, "Estoy cansado, jefe." I'll do "estoy cons–" yeah.

[brittlebutch]

btw Still thinking about the moment where Tula first realizes she's literally, mechanically unable to keep up with / catch Jaysohn when he bolts and runs his full speed. That revelation that she's not fast enough to stop him, or get alongside him, much less get in front of him to protect him if he needed it. The dread terror of it. :(

[johnslittlespoon]

hii happy pride month, have a little 'you're a dog (i'm your man)' chapter four snippet as an apology for radio silence <33

“Did I wake you?” Gale asks, glancing at John apologetically, but John looks up from his effort to avoid muddy puddles to shake his head. Gale supposes it’s a silly question; John sleeps like a rock, dead to disturbances made by anything other than his own brain.

“Just my sixth sense,” John says, shrugging and shooting him a small smile. Gale snorts.

“You got a radar for me?” He teases, and John smiles wider, eyes crinkling.

“Built in,” he answers matter–of–factly, raising a hand and making a fist over the center of his chest before dropping it, returning his vigilant gaze to the uneven ground. Gale stares for a moment longer, floored not for the first time by John’s apparent obliviousness to the weight of his sentimentality.

Even knowing John how he does, it’s always unexpected coming from someone who a stranger might assume to be brazen and surface–level; John’s loud mouth and wandering hands do him no favours in that regard.

But Gale does know John, like an extension of himself half the time, and still he manages to render him speechless. The way his heart flutters as the sentiment hangs in the air makes Gale want to reach down his throat and squeeze it until it never beats again.

[bambi-slxt]

when i made this account i decided i wasn't going to allow negativity on my page in any form, regardless of what shape it took.

i've now decided to amend that for one reason and one reason only.

making fun of my moots, or even just other sturniolo writers on tumblr, is pretty shitty behavior, ngl.

context:

imagine having nothing better to talk about, so you feel the need to go to a brand new app (as if tiktok, instagram, youtube, snapchat, and reddit aren't enough), look up triplet content, and grasp your pearls in horror because we have the audacity to write about chris selling drugs (oh the humanity, someone kill me now).

or, rather, let me use your words: "like, the reader was dating one of them [the triplets] and they all had covid, so she came over and made them all soup-"

leave us alone 🥰

"ok but like what happened to just like normal boyfriend, like why are they all drug dealers-" omg girlie lemme show u how much sweet fluff fanfiction we have on here! oh, what's that? ur not interested? ohhhh is that bc it won't make good content for your knockoff podcast? weird.

"it's always such a 180 from their real personality, like what do you mean, you watch them all the time and you don't know them?" omg girlie! it's almost like it's called fanfiction for a reason!

"lemme write this shit!" go ahead, you'll probably like it, just like the rest of us! writing about the triplets is really fun, and having your moots reblog and comment and like your shit is so super cool. this is a more supposrtive community within the fandom than any i've found on any of the other platforms, and we got that way because we don't judge each other!

i need to go lay down jesus christ

[bigboobshaunt]

Cutting the scene that explains ressurrections in the setting from the anime did incalculable damage not only to the worldbuilding but to the whole reason Shuro was pissed off at Laios and the party's flippancy at using dark magic to bring Falin back.

[cephalog0d]

Okay, but like. There's the whole joke about Bruce recruiting children to be his sidekicks, but honestly there's only really one that fits that.

And it's Jason. And the whole story there is, frankly, unhinged. Aaaaand then he died.

(I'm specifically talking about "first post-crisis origin stories" here because Jason and Dick, in particular, have both had multiple major retcons and revisions over the years, and some of them dramatically change how things happened.)

Like okay. Going backwards, you've got Duke who joined/led a whole Robin-based gang at a time when Bruce wasn't even Batman. You've got Damian and Cass, who were both literally born into the world of masks and capes and heroes and villains, so they weren't ever really not going to be part of it. Steph might have taken inspiration from previous heroes but she made her own identity and repeatedly refused to stop involving herself in the vigilante lifestyle. Tim, obviously, basically strong-armed Batman into letting him be Robin, despite Batman's protests.

Dick's a little more complicated just because there's so many versions, because that's what 80 years of comics and multiple universe reboots will do, and there's kind of a general trend that earlier pre-crisis versions were more of Batman being like "hello, child, would you like to be my sidekick" and later versions have leaned harder and harder into the idea that Dick was absolutely going to do this anyway, regardless of what Batman had to say about it. But even in the first post-crisis version, the flashback in Batman Year 3, Dick says he wants to find a way to keep people like that from hurting others again. When Alfred questions Bruce's offer to train him, Bruce says that Dick should learn to do things the right way if he's going to do it. It's not hard to extrapolate that, much like later versions of the origin story, Dick was going to get himself into this one way or another. (Batman (1940) #437)

And then there's Jason. Whose backstory has also had a lot of (sometimes major) revisions over the years (remember when his adoption was, like, some kind of Joker-originated long con? Fucken Nu52, man). But the original post-crisis version is pretty straightforward. Steals Batman's tires, gets caught and sent to Ma Gunn's Secret Criminal School, intervenes when Batman goes to investigate, immediately gets offered the chance to be Robin based entirely on that.

Which is itself kind of unhinged. That Bruce saw this kid who was living on his own stealing tires and went "Hey you would make a good Robin" as his very first instinct.

But if you've never read Jason's post-crisis origin, or it's been a while, it's honestly even more unhinged than that because that arc starts with Dick getting "fired" as Robin specifically for the reason that he got shot by Joker and Bruce freaked out about how the Robin identity has too many enemies and therefore Dick, a legal adult with approximately a decade of training and experience, should not use the identity anymore.

(And it's specifically about the Robin identity, in this version, because when Dick says he's not going to stop the crime fighting thing Bruce's response is basically "I know and I didn't expect you to". Honestly I could also say a lot about this version of the Robin/Nightwing transition vs. later ones and how this one definitely feels like the Heavy Hand of DC Editorial in the fact that they had no contact for so long afterwards, because the interaction really doesn't feel like it warrants that in this case compared to some later versions, but that's a whole other too-long ramble.) (Batman (1940) #408)

And then a few weeks later Bruce turns around and picks up a random kid, a literal child, and goes "Hey you would make a good Robin!"

And I think a lot about how fucking wild that is. And it's not like the people writing just didn't notice. Dick's big argument with Bruce when he finally comes back to Gotham and meets Jason isn't about the fact that Bruce took in another kid, or even necessarily about Dick feeling proprietary over the Robin identity, the thing he's angry about is that Bruce said it was too dangerous for him, an adult, someone who has trained with Batman for a decade and was already highly physically trained before that for his whole life, to be Robin, and now Bruce has turned around and painted that target onto some random new kid. He pushes, repeatedly, trying to get Bruce to justify himself and this absolutely irresponsible decision, and Bruce gives a lot of answers about how Jason was on a bad path and needed this outlet and eventually just admits that he missed having a partner. (Batman (1940) #416)

And like. Dick's right, is the thing. He is 1000% in the right in this argument. If he can't be Robin anymore because of the danger, how in the hell is it anything like a good idea to hand it over to someone way younger, way less trained, way less experienced, and expect that that wouldn't end in tragedy?

And then it did.

And yeah, Bruce, it is kinda a lot of your fault.

[charlesemersonwinchesteriii]

Hawkeye Roommate Quadrant 

[thedawningofthehour]

Oh by the way, when I said this is a long chapter

I wasn't joking.

[unpretty]

accountant thoughts:

so there's a certain amount of fixed costs associated with water systems and wastewater treatment, right? like. sewage. making human shit less toxic. keeping water clean and then getting that water into houses. there are ways that costs increase the more the system gets used, but it would also cost money if it just sat there. it might even cost more money, because the systems aren't designed to shut down and just sit there. if the whole city were abandoned except for one house, and it became the only house served by the water department and the sewer system, there would still be all that base cost associated with the various systems and plants and so on. i'm simplifying because i don't actually know how all that works.

anyway. so from a financial perspective, water and wastewater treatment get cheaper the more people you have being served by the system. because that's more people you can divide the cost up by. that's how the fixed cost works. the fixed cost is less per person the more people there are.

a lot of prisons in the usa are in small towns and rural areas. that's how prison gerrymandering works. you take people out of the cities where they actually live, and you stick them in a prison in bumfuck, and then you say "i represent the 5,000 residents of bumfuck" while ignoring that 4,000 of those residents are in a prison and can't vote.

prisons use a lot of water!

so when they're doing the budgets in a small town, if they say, "here is how much we think it's going to cost to run for the next year, here is how many gallons of water we estimate being used, we will divide the cost by thousands of gallons and that's what we're going to charge", what impact does a prison have? what if a prison represents half of all water usage? how much higher would residential bills be without the prison there? is it a private prison, or is it the state that's paying for that prison's water usage? at what point can it be said that in certain rural areas infrastructure is subsidized by the state through the imprisonment of people primarily from urban areas where infrastructure is allowed to fail

[katierosefun]

actually as much as i love mike and harvey together. i feel so sad for rachel zane because imagine falling in love with your coworker and then you learn that your coworker is a fake lawyer but not only that, your coworker is a fake lawyer who would literally do anything for his boss. he'll literally leave you at the altar to go to prison for his boss. he'll try to quit his job multiple times but keep coming back because his boss asked him to come back. he'll move to seattle with you, and you'll breathe a sigh of relief because it means that it can finally just be the two of you, but then you learn that he's inviting his stupid former boss to join them. and his stupid former boss agrees. you smile because your husband is so stupid happy at the idea of working with his former boss again, but you've seen this film one too many times before, and you are going to be subject to watching your husband choose his stupid former boss-slash-friend over you again and again and again and again and again and ag

[lacunafiction]

TFS Book Two: Sneak Peek, An Unexpected Sight

In the final photo, R isn't looking directly at the camera despite knowing how to take perfect pictures as a Verner. Instead, they are frozen, watching you with a weak smile that seems lonely. You have studied their expression before; now isn't the time to dwell on it…  

Was R. Verner caught on camera missing the MC? 😳

The Polaroid picture at the end of Book One will be coming up in Book Two. It even changes based on romance route/bestie, revealing new insight for MCs and shedding light on the final moments before the ‘departure’ from Fernweh.

I wonder what yours will look like?

The first alpha content drop is coming to TFS Patreon 🌲 on May 13th.  

[statementlou]

i’m sorry to bring this up again, but i wanted to ask how are you making sense of harry having his former girlfriend’s name tattooed on his thigh if you don’t think they were really together? i’m not a larrie and i follow you for your louis content, but i respect your opinions, so i guess i’m coming more from a place of curiosity rather than seeking reassurance. do you not even entertain for one second the idea that you might’ve been wrong about things? that harry was really in a relationship with olivia? that he might actually be attracted to women? that he might’ve been with louis once upon a time but not anymore? have you ever challenged your confirmation bias? again, i’m not trying to attack you, i really just want to understand where you stand. i hope u don’t take this the wrong way.

well first of all you bring up the very good point that there are actually multiple Qs at play and not just one, despite the fandom's (and my) attempts to simplify things. I personally am open to the possibility that Harry and Louis are no longer together- we don't have enough info to say for sure either way about that, and I am constantly recalibrating and considering and I'm going to be totally honest, getting flat out ANNOYED at how often I find myself being like oh damn they ARE still (or again) together ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? Because it seems so improbable and illogical! You think I don't KNOW I sound fucking crazy?! Absolutely infuriating, and yet there are just all these little Things all the time. Plus ofc the fact that they both constantly wink wink larrie stuff to the fandom which could just be playing to the crowd... except then they both continually take it that little extra way that makes me go oh but... you really didn't NEED to go THERE that seems VERY pointed?? But also sometimes I go well. Okay, maybe not. Since they both seem super happy at this point, it doesn't stress me out to think they might have split, the way it would if they seemed miserable and were still churning out heartbreak songs, but it's schrodingers relationship and with all the savvy they've acquired around this stuff and all the balls they're keeping in the air wrt to fandom etc that's unlikely to change in favor of us knowing anything for sure for a very long time, if ever. But I do not doubt that they WERE together, it's simply not realistic. The evidence of it is overwhelming and imo undeniable when taken all together. And the thing is that knowing one thing with certainty (that they were together back when), having really looked at the things that happened during that time, does actually have a lot of bearing on the rest of it even if they aren't together anymore. Because knowing that and having seen the way fake relationships to make them seem straight were managed back then means that when I see the EXACT SAME things being done in the current day, like they are working from a fucking blueprint, no, I don't look at that and think it might be real. I know that Louis and Eleanor wasn't real in... whenever they allegedly got together lol, that story still isn't even quite straight, so why would I believe they were together in 2020? And if I know Louis has a tattoo for a fake girlfriend why would it change my mind about a million things I can see with my own eyes if Harry did the same (if indeed he even has who tf knows)? So despite what I said at the beginning, in the end it kind of does just come down to the one question people are always asking, are you a larrie? Because when you've actually been down the rabbit hole of details that ends up with you saying yes to that question, it's like acquiring a rosetta stone that unlocks the ability to read everything else, like putting on xray glasses, and I look at what is so obviously a publicity relationship (holivia) and whether H and L are still together has nothing to do with why I don't think it's real. Like could a celeb relationship be both used in typical ways for publicity and be or become real on some level (looking at you Liam, heyyy), sure, but for this question the fact that I have never seen Harry show the slightest sign of attraction to a woman in his whole life and he so clearly embraces and identifies so strongly with gay male culture in every possible way and never shuts up about how much he loves cock does play into my thinking; I simply do not think he is attracted to women, no, and I have yet to see him do anything that doesn't seem consistent with things a closeted pop star might chose to do. So in conclusion yes I have challenged my bias and decided I'm right lol! But for real- all the time I consider that they perhaps aren't together but that isn't really the point when it comes to believing they are gay.

[shikai-the-storyteller]

Hmm