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zoros-bandana · 11 months

Note

Ok ima be specific about this zoro x a science/inventor reader where she used to nice and clumsy with her inventions and hang around zoro until he got mad at her after thriller bark when she was caring for her and then timeskip then once they get back he wonders why she doesn't talk to him and itll be like a steven and connie scenario where there a big party as the others try to make them talk again but take the wrong way until they forgive each other

Hi lovely, I haven't seen Steven Universe so I had to do some research and I'm hoping you were referring to Kevin's Party? hopefully so since that is what I found to pull inspiration from x This was also really fun to write, putting in little bits from various crew-mates POV so thank you for this request

The Banquet

SFW

Zoro x fem reader

Multiple crew POV

Warning: slight Thriller Bark spoilers, slight Sabaody spoilers, slight Fisherman Island spoilers, mentions of threats (usual Zoro/Sanji banter)

Summary: The crews reunion turned sour once you and Zoro shared the same space. There was obvious tension from when you last spoke, hindering on the bitter tone of his words to you. With the crew sick of the avoidance, Nami and Usopp lead a plan to have you reconnect at the King's Banquet, hopeful the uncomfortable avoidance will be resolved.

Word Count: 3,400

"So you think this is going to work?"

"It has to" Nami insisted, turning her head in search of Usopp. She had strategically put a plan into place, sharing the news with everyone except for you or Zoro; giving the best chance of success. "If I have to watch them both ignore one another for one second longer I'm going to lose it! They can only sulk for so long before it gets under my skin!"

"I think it's making its way under everyone's skin; including theirs"

"Which is why this is going to work"

"Shh" Robin laughed, nudging her friend gently. "She's coming over"

———————

"Y/n" Robin waved, shuffling over to make space for you to sit down. You had gone in search of something to drink, the night still very occupied for the King's Banquet in celebration of your crews assistance to defend Fisherman Island. Along your way you kept a weary eye out for Zoro, shifting ignoring every green coloured object in your way.

"There you are... I thought I lost my way for a while trying to come back over here"

You gracefully sat beside your friend, huddling close as the music throbbed to your right. You held the glass in your hands, keeping it close to act as support, knowing the tension in the air that loomed over you. It was obvious since the crews return of the awkwardness between you and Zoro, almost deafening in a room full of obnoxious activities.

"Uh huh" Nami smiled, taking a sip from her wine. "That sounds like a certain person we know. Say, Y/n, have you had a chance to speak to Zoro tonight?"

You scoffed. "Absolutely not"

"Why not?" Robin question, her tone soft as usual. She didn't pry on such events, her usual kindness and concern for her friends making it easy to succumb to her questions.

"I don't particularly want to talk to him after what he said to me, and how he said it. I know he was hurt but there was still no excuse in how he put me down like that"

"What if he apologised?"

"Now we all know that thick headed idiot doesn't even know how to spell that word, let alone know how to make one"

"Y/n, answer the question"

You sighed, glancing quickly over in his direction, walled behind a few of your friends. You had always thought about it, approaching him first even just to get him to talk to you, but you never saw the point. How would he know he was in the wrong if he didn't initiate conversation first?

"I'm not sure" you looked back over to the girls. They shared the same hopeful face, smiling sweetly, making you feel safe in their company. "Maybe?"

"That's good enough for me..." Nami mumbled under her breath, covering her voice up as she took another sip, her attention shifting to Usopp.

———————

"Wait, what's the plan again?" Luffy scratched his head, tilting to one side.

"I already told you!" Usopp snapped, annoyed having to repeat himself for the sixth time in the last hour. "We get Zoro over to Y/n so they can talk it out and stop ignoring one another"

"Oh yeah!" Luffy laughed, "I remember now"

"Yeah, but for how long..." Usopp mumbled, noting Zoro as he sat in the corner; still from when you had all entered hours ago. He was occupied from the bottles of alcohol that surrounded him, clearly intoxicated by the way he moved, his eyes shutting in show motions.

Continuing his search, Usopp caught the eye of Nami, waving her down with a sly signal, letting her know the operation was in place. She returned the signal, turning back towards yourself and Robin to execute her end of the plan.

"Sanji?"

"Mmm?"

"You sure you want to be the one to do this?"

Sanji clapped his hands together, drunk on the thought of Nami. "Anything to please my sweet Nami-Swan!"

"Alright, sorry I asked..."

Usopp swiftly pushed Sanji into Zoro's direction, bracing himself for a clash to unfold. He was surprised when Sanji had volunteered to help, however, now understanding his willingness to help Nami, it became clear he would set aside his pride to be in her good book for a while.

———————

"Oi, Marimo"

"What the hell do you want, curly brow?" Zoro snapped, opening his eye. As he looked up it was if he had sobered up immediately, not wishing to be caught off guard by someone like Sanji.

Kicking the bottle aimlessly, Sanji ignored looking directly at Zoro, disgusted to be in his presence; but determined to obey Nami's wish. "I can't believe you're still just as drunk and useless as before. Or maybe I can, it is you after all... and I expect nothing but disgusting behaviour from you"

"What the hell did you say?"

"Oh, and you're deaf now too? A wonderful addition for the greatest swordsman you so wish to become"

"You better watch what you say stupid cook or the next thing that will be flying out of your mouth is those teeth"

Sanji laughed, amused by Zoro's attempt to sound tough; knowing he couldn't kick his ass if he was even sober. Lighting up a cigarette Sanji let room for a dramatic pause, building Zoro's anger all the more painful. He wanted to let him sweat, bath in his fury in a wish to escape, hoping the rest of his friends were sticking to their end of the plan; not screwing it up for his beloved navigator.

Taking a long drawn out puff, Sanji soothed the smoke around him, clouding Zoro's view. He was prepared to fight back if things turned sour, Zoro obvious to the script given, widening his stance just a bit more than usual.

"Not if I end up knocking you on your ass first, moss head"

———————

Looking up from your drink you noticed a comfortable laugh, meeting Luffy as he sat opposite you; Usopp sitting to his left. In one hand, Luffy had gathered a flowing bowl of food, unusual to the group as food services has ceased mere hours ago. They easily slid into conversation, Nami and Usopp counteracting off one another as usual; Luffy too busy with the food to chime in.

As Robin's eye slid from the group she noticed a commotion caused by Sanji, drifting her attention to where Zoro sat. She half nudged to you, although spoke loud enough for Luffy to hear.

"Zoro looks rather uncomfortable"

You followed her gaze, alongside Luffy, finding the tufts of green behind the stack of bottles and Sanji's tall figure. It was obvious the two were bickering - as usual - their body language intense and stubborn.

Amused by his friends, Luffy took a moment to finish eating, swallowing the chunk of meat wedged in his mouth. His body turned, already forgetting his mission but proceeding out of the goodness of his heart.

"Oi, Zoro!" Luffy called.

The group shifted their attention, looking over to where Zoro sat, apart from you, the grimace on his face a clear indicator of what everyone was looking for; a clear way for him to come over. Everyone around you exchanged a look, proud as Luffy waved his arms around, catching Zoro's attention.

All it took was Luffy's instructions, a simple obedience from the captains right hand man, and the plan would continue the smooth sailing in place.

"Come over here!"

———————

Intruded by the inviting idea of separation, Zoro quickly left from his spot. He ignored the wobble in his legs, grasping his swords tight as he shoved past Sanji, making his way over to where his captain sat.

From his angle there looked to be four of his friends, laughing and having a better time than what he was experiencing currently. He didn't mind if he had to listen to the nagging voice of Nami as she spoke, mindlessly chatting to Robin, who as usual, looked deep in thought. He would be happy to engage with Luffy when he could, making the top of his list for favourite people in a heartbeat, enjoying the pleasant conversation as he joked with Usopp.

As he crashed down into the circle he caught sight of something he hadn't noticed before, sitting to his left, hidden by the figures of his friends. A crushing stutter caught him in a choke, punching the air from his lungs. His heartbeat was horrifically loud, pounding in his ears, not expecting you to be here, so close to him; smelling so inviting.

"Y/n?"

———————

You could feel the group grow quiet, half expecting you to say something, surprised Zoro even spoke to you at all. It had been years since he attempted any form of conversation, the last time ending a lot differently than his current tone now.

"Hi?" you shrugged, looking away from him back to Robin, ignoring the blistering heat of embarrassment across your face.

Zoro grumbled something, half attempting to get up but remembered Sanji, looking over his shoulder as if to keep him in place. He refused to engage in any looming conversation, as much as they tried to include him, keeping to himself as he fidgeted, agitated of this current predicament.

He was trapped.

Once again Robin nudged you, laughing as you rolled your eyes at her now obvious attempt to get you to talk to Zoro. Her face continued to remain hopeful, even attempting to bring Zoro to join in; which he quickly rejected.

"Stop trying to make it happen..." you mumbled to her, leaning in close so nobody would overhear. "He is clearly not going to make things better between us so there is no point in trying to get us to talk"

Grinning innocently she took a sip from her wine. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Y/n"

"Robin, please!" you begged, hoping someone would back you up here. Everyone knew how much he hurt you, unable to hide your raw emotions after the fight, turning cold and almost frightened at his mere presence. And it stung, seeing all your friends ignorant to your feelings, pushing you to do something uncomfortable.

How come Zoro wasn't getting this treatment?

Why wasn't he being pushed to speak to you?

You stood up, unable to take any more of the growing intolerance between you and Zoro. If something was to happen moving forward you were not going to be the one to break first. "I'm going to grab another drink"

———————

Robin watched as you walked away, an added annoyance in your strut as you quickly chugged the remainder of your drink. She sighed, turning to Nami, afraid the plan was getting out of hand. "Nami..."

Nami held her finger up, stopping Robin from counting further, knowing what she was referring to. "I've got this"

She had noticed Zoro's dazed state, realising your disappearance may have unnoticed to him. Thinking quickly she drunk the remainder of her drink, pinching Robin's out of her hand, before finishing that as well.

"Oi, Zoro, go get us some more drinks" Nami extended her arm out in his direction, drinking glasses twisted through her fingers.

Zoro scoffed. "Why would I want to do that?"

"Because you would do anything to get some alcohol in that empty hand of yours, and I told you to" Nami pressed her lips into a thin line, handing her glass over to him. "Now go!"

———————

Mumbling under his breath, Zoro trudged back over to the drink table, slamming the glasses down. The table was still flowing with bottles of various alcohol and barrels of beer, which Zoro was sure to swipe of mug off on his quest.

As he fumbled around the bottles of wine he caught a whiff of you, transporting back to moments ago sat by your side. Actually, he never noticed you leave your spot. He wondered where you went, both as of now and after Sabaody. He missed you terribly, forcing his memory of you to be pushed to the back of his mind, too focused to worry about the addition of his friends. He missed everyone - even the presence of Sanji - but nothing hurt him as much as returning to silence.

Zoro missed your chatter, your laughter, having you accompany him with stupid experiments. He missed how you would annoy him with help, both to rest and to assist with various things in the name of science. He enjoyed your stories, babbling on with terms he didn't understand, but the joy in your eyes was enough to get him through.

He missed having you around.

He would do anything to have you back.

As his hand came over to the barrel, there was a slight touch, gentle and cautious, pulling away as soon as you both touched hands. The voice sung a swat apology, Zoro looking over to grunt at the person, annoyed of their close proximity.

Looking up he was quick to meet your eye, looking away just as fast, embarrassed he didn't see you there. Again.

It was a common theme for him tonight, almost overlooking you like a shadow without means. He was confused, hurt, but knew if something were to happen now would be the time to ask. He needed to know why you were ignoring him.

Maybe attempting to smooth things over wouldn't be so bad?

———————

"Beer, huh?"

"Hmm?" you stopped pouring, setting the mug down onto the table; grasping it firmly for comfort. You refused to look over in his direct, feeling his body do the same, unable to meet each other in an eye lock.

"I didn't think you drank that stuff"

"Well, there's a lot you don't know about me. A lot can change in two years, you know"

He went quiet to that, skipping a beat.

"You still... doing those experiments?"

You turned your body towards him, cocking an eyebrow at his attempt to small talk; wondering what your friends had said to him. Surely Nami had got to him, assuming Robin was too polite to be forceful and direct him your way.

"Is this your attempt to say sorry to me?"

"What?"

"Are you trying to apologise for your behaviour, Zoro? How you treated me? Or are just going to pretend like that never happened?"

"I-" Zoro fumbled, not entirely sure what to say. "What would I apologise for?"

Zoro could see his response hurt, your face dropping, a slight quiver in your lip. Your hand let go of the mug, balling at your side in rage, turning your knuckles a ghostly shade of white. An inconvenient swear parted your lips, furious he had the nerve to even say that to you.

How could he still be so blind and ignorant?

Brushing past him you made sure to hit him on the way, cementing your frustrations. It wasn't enough to let him mentally paint the picture anymore, waiting for some half-ass apology that had no value to his words; only to stop you behaving in such a sour way. It was tiring, exhausting, wondering if maybe you would come back to him the same as he always used to be, forgetting about how he treated you, resuming your friendship, or if he would take the plunge and own up to his mistake.

And unfortunately neither was an option.

Zoro's head followed you, looking over his shoulder as you walked away from him. There was a drop in his stomach, realising why exactly now you were ignoring him; hurt by his actions. But Zoro had no idea why. Until he remembered the fight.

Your face held a familiar look to how you looked before, back in Sabaody; back when he snapped at you. He could clearly remember the whimper and shake of your lip, almost frightened by how he raised his voice at you.

You were scared of him.

He made you retreat from him - afraid to get hurt again.

Swearing under his breath Zoro realised what he had done, realising there was a reason for your blunt behaviour that he hadn't thought about before. He was so blind to his own selfish goal over the two years it never occurred his actions had consequences on you; or anyone else for that matter.

Leaving the glasses on the table, Zoro followed you, struggling to keep up as you darted out of the banquet. He picked up to a steady jog, the only indicator of you the linger scent that curled his toes to think about. A wash of blame fell over him, never understanding why it took him this long to piece together what he did. He had time. 2 years. 2 years to think about everything but somehow this slipped his mind.

He hoped he could repair what he broke.

"Y/n, wait..."

Zoro continued to follow you outside, a deep hazy blue surrounding you as you stood by the doors of the palace. It was quiet, still, the loss of people still hoarding in the banquet giving an almost apocalyptic feel.

As he lunched to you, Zoro's hand gripped your arm stopping you in your tracks, the amount of force made you turn on your heels, allowing him to face you properly. "Is this why you've been avoiding me?"

You struggled to look up at him, knowing if you did you would cry. His grip was strong, although you knew it would be easy to break away from him if you wanted to, giving you the freedom to disappear again. He just wanted an answer.

"I wasn't trying to ignore you. I was going to speak to you... I thought about it, but it didn't make any sense. I wasn't making any sense. I thought, if we are going to talk then I need to get an apology; something sincere from you. And so I came back and I saw you and you said nothing, and any time we were together, you said nothing. And now we're here and you're still not saying anything to me"

Zoro continued to stay silent, hoping you would explain deeper.

"What you said to me back then, how you handled your emotions and lashed out at me for helping you, it wasn't fair. And now I don't know how to act around you and it isn't fair. I don't know how to feel. I'm angry. I miss you. I feel like I'm out of my mind!"

"No, you're not! I snapped at you when you were just trying to help me, care for me, and you didn't need me doing that to you. I was cruel. And I came back and tried to act like it was no big deal, but it was a big deal! I couldn't stand the thought of you not speaking to me ever again, but then I was also doing it to you! I made a promise to myself and it got in the way of how I treated you, and so I'm sorry! Nakamas?"

You smiled up at him, ignoring the stream of tears that clouded your vision. There was only thing you truely wanted when the crew reunited and now you had it, an apology, a genuine apology from Zoro.

"Nakamas"

Your arms flew around Zoro's middle, pulling yourself to him in an embrace, feeling his body stiffen at the contact. You were aware of his strict dismissal of affection, however you didn't care, leaning into the idea everything was okay between you two. And it was.

Zoro reciprocated the hug, keeping you close, his face leaning down to bury into the tuft go hair atop of your head. His body relaxed, engulfing you tighter into his body, pressing the smell of musk and steel against your skin.

He was happy. For the first time in a long time he was happy. It felt so good, so right to have you like this; speaking to him again. It was if the moment he snapped a part of him went missing, your presence dissolving from his life and also a part of him he wasn't sure he could ever get back. But here he was, completely whole, and he refused to let something like that come between you two again.

"I'm so glad I have you back, Y/n"

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my-rose-tinted-glasses · 4 months

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Rose Recaps Rose Tinted Glasses It's been three months since I made a post thanking this community for being a place for me to share my love of BL.

And since then, every day I feel a little bit more comfortable here.

This place is so special to me for so many reasons and the fact that I found it is a small miracle. I was talking with my friend Neely about something BL related and they told me that they think I'm doing much better since I came here. So thanks again.

I was never a part of any online fandom. And before BL I never really felt like I was missing something. Maybe because I always found someone irl that I could freak out about whatever I was watching I never really felt the need to go look.

And the people here are exceptionally kind. Before, I made a point to never engage much online, except for certain support groups, because of the hate that sometimes exists in certain spaces. So I was very much surprised by the kind humans that exist in this bl fandom in this corner of the internet.

Also. There is some serious brilliant people here. Look giffing is not easy, it takes a long time, sometimes you spend so much time with a set only to hate it by the end and never posting it. And sometimes you post something and you're really proud and crickets. And sometimes you post it just so it doesn't go to waste and all of a sudden it explodes. It's all part of the magic.

I keep my sets pretty simple so I'm in awe of how some people make these beautiful art pieces with layers and colouring and typography. It's incredible and I applaud your creativity and patience.

Speaking of brilliance, I'm constantly in awe of the meta writers. That shit is not easy.

It takes way longer than we think, to make it neat and readable, adding gifs or shots to illustrated a point, sometimes wasting so much time finding the gif you want in the mess that is the gif search (I understand it now, cause yesterday I was on the hunt and it would've been quicker to make the damn gifs), and reviewing it before posting, changing it in the process, sometimes leaving it in drafts because the idea is not completed. I'm tired just thinking about this. I'm not able to do that. Sure I can talk for hours about this stuff but actually organize my ideas into a coherent point of view and writing it down. Nope. Not me. So bravo meta writers. I applaud you.

And of course all the people that share the stuff that really matters. Like the colours, the wardrobe, the places we see, the news about what's coming, language nuances, pictures of the pretty people in sometimes ridiculous or beautiful outfits, sometimes the pretty people before shirts were invented, and some of the funniest commentary I ever encountered.

I don't wanna single people out by tagging them because truly there are way too many. So I just want to thank some people that helped me navigate this place and made this time so enjoyable. First and foremost. @twig-tea You were the first person I talked to here and you were so kind and patient with me and my awkwardness and lack of knowledge of how this place works. She also writes great meta and is brilliant and everyone should be following her. @lurkingshan because of the Sahara-Sensei post that you tagged me in and made me feel so seen. @pharawee because IFYLITA just wouldn't have been the same without your sets. @respectthepetty because she helped get the colour coded subs right and she appreciates the bokeh in all its glory. @itsallaboutbl for screaming with me in portuguese. @mikuni14 Because she's been so incredible kind to me. @iguessitsjustme because of many reasons. And If I ever reblogged anything from you, consider yourself tagged in this post. All of you are amazing. And finally...

@blmpff for a lot but mostly for the most unexpected and incredible moment I experienced in this short time. The day that a bird took over my dash. Khun Feathers was such a treat and this masterpiece was the highlight of the day.

image by @blmpff It's been a wonderful year and I look forward to see what happens tomorrow. Wishing you all a happy new year!💜

#rose rambles #rose recaps 2023

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sardonic-the-writer · 5 months

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You van now marry me because I am interested in your tf2 headcanons

Tell me more please

so happy someone asked for this. giving your forhead a big fat smooch. also, i would habe included tracker in these, but i feel like that would have been a bit self pretentious

scout

• good artist. has drawn tom jones fanart before

• knows a little bit of french; his mom made him learn. also knows a few french songs because of this

• bisexual but battles with it a lot

• really appreciates his teammates and conciders all of them—except for maybe spy—to be his best friends

• terrified of medical procedures and terrible at hiding it

soldier

• brightest blue eyes you've ever seen

• wears underwear with the pattern of the american flag on them

• doesn't know it's not normal to have gay thoughts. literally would kiss a man sloppy style and then not understand why everyones looking at him. probably straight, but makes exceptions

• has had his hands cut off at least five times before. it's getting concerning at this point

pryo

• uses asl with their team and teaches those who don't know. they'll still use muffled sounds to communicate though

• has no gender actually. not trans, not cis, but a secret third thing

• aroace! latches so strongly onto platonic relationships though its actually insane

• attends bonfires with enigneer sometimes

• has a pair of onsie pajamas that they wear over their suit to bed at night

heavy

• is definitely in love with medic, no doubts to be had

• has a PHD in russian literature! a very smart fella, he just has trouble speaking his mind in english

• gay. so so gay. mlm all day

• the only merc to regularly check out books from teuforts library sans soldier. although he doesn't really check out books, he just yells at the librarian for not carrying sun tzu's the art of war

• sings little songs to sasha in russian

demomam

• has scars all over his chest from an accident with a grenade he had as a kid

• sends lots of post cards and souvenirs to his mom when he's on the job. he really loves her

• actually used to style his hair in dreads when he was a little bit younger, but just doesn't have time to do much with his hair anymore

• so casually bisexual; especially considering it's the sixties and seventies. takes interest in both men and women

• best friends with both his and the other teams soldier!

sniper

• his camper is such a mess all of the time. only ever cleans if he knows someone's going to be visiting, and even then there's a few stray piss bottles laying around

• plays poker & other card games with scout all the time. when they can't bet money, they'll end up using other things to play, like bullets or stray snacks

• thinks he likes both men and women. tries not to dwell on it too much since he gets anxious about it, but at the end of the day can't deny that he finds men attractive as well

• has a mug that says world's number one best sniper that miss pauling got him

engineer

• shortest mercenary r.i.p

• parental figure to pyro

• one of the only good cooks at the base. often ends up making dinner for everyone even if it's someone else's turn to cook that night

• has a prosthetic arm that he built from scratch & spends a lot of his time adding to/upgrading

• probably straight, but the biggest ally you'd ever meet

spy

• genderfluid. has a few lady disguises he's had to use before, and is just as comfortable in them as any other one of his disguises. definitely had gay sex with scouts mom before

• reverts to straight french when he gets irritated or upset

• heavily bisexual and very open about it with any of his partners. a man/womanizer

• the only merc with a sense of fashion to be frank. have you seen everyone else. soldier thinks being naked and covered in honey is the epitome of fashion for fucks sake

medic

• probably knows more about the medical field than any other doctor at the time. is actively dropping some medical talk & procedures that won't even be invented until a few decades later. he's fun like that

• owns one pair of regular clothes. everything else is lab coats and black pants. maybe a turtleneck or two if you're lucky

• super mega über gay for heavy. see what i did there

• also, i'd like to headcanon that he needs glasses because he's nearsighted of all things. it makes performing surgery hard without them

#tf2 #tf2 headcanons #medic #demoman #sniper #spy #scout #heavy #pyro #soldier #engineer #headcanons #sardonics moots #sardonic rambles

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apersonwholikeslotus · 4 months

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do you have any fluffy aushun headcanons? (we need more loving content of aushun, I feel like there are so little of it😔❤️)

BOY DO I and I completely agree!! I feel like there’s so much angst and not enough fluff 😭

Erzsébet is a terrible piano player, just absolutely cannot get a hang of it, Roderich writes simple duet parts to songs so they can play together <3

Erzsí can speak German with a perfect Viennese accent but purposefully exaggerates his Hungarian accent anyway to annoy Roderich (jokes on her he thinks her accent is adorable).

opposite way except Roderich couldn't speak Hungarian sounding like a native speaker if his life depended on it, honestly he borders unintelligible, so he's very self conscious about speaking it. (jokes on him they think his accent is adorable)

they have so many pet names its not even funny, you think you've heard them all you are wrong and fool for thinking so.

On a similar note usually they call each other pet names in their own languages but Erzsí will call him süße or he'll call her szívem and u can just watch both of them melt over it <3

the whole thing sometime in the late fifties where they had to decide to love each other is really soft, like the shift in their relationship from being forced into proximity, and then the technically arranged marriage to the "I want you as a person, not you as a nation"

they refer to each other as if they're still married to the point that other nations have started referring to them as if they're still married.

they are the couple that gets into serious arguments in public but then you actually listen and realize they're fighting over like,,, idk the best type of cake frosting.

Roderich's response to Erzsébet being sad is to bake for them, Erzsí's response to Roderich being sad is to cook for him.

They realize the other is sad and make food for them. That's it. That's the hc.

They go to balls still and Roderich can't dance for very long (and as much as she'll deny is Erzsí's age is catching up too) but even then they'll stay all night just to watch everyone else because it reminds them of when they were younger.

Also to show everyone else up by being the best waltzers there.

Also also Erzsí literally thinks Roderich will never look more handsome then when he's in a tux so :\

They both actually HATE snobby art museums but will spend all day at small local art shows

idk what they're snobby about and what they're not is kinda funny bc they do still have date nights thats shit like going to opera's and to see symphony orchestras.

music nerds of the highest degree named both their sons after composers

Roderich hates horse riding with every ounce of his being, simply despises it, cars are his favorite invention ever bc they insured he would never have to ride a horse again.

he'll go horseback riding with Erzsí because it makes her happy.

i ended up rambling i'm sorry but yeah i love them <3

#hws austria #hws hungary #aushun #hetalia #i know a lot of these are music related idk i just think music is such an insanely important part of their relationship

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riverofmolecules · 4 months

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i didn't post about scavengers reign after finishing the series, i guess because it felt so big (as @budcortofficial can attest to my long texts)

but:

imminently everything i love. i think a lot of biopunk-y things tend to run in the direction of a hivemind or collective consciousness, which i don't think there weren't threads of a holism (more below), but i appreciated how the series actually showed ecosystems of flora-fauna, things feeding on each other and feeding each other.

how both human and robot were changing from the moment they were on the planet.

i think a very technical definition of biopunk is simply sci-fi dealing with biotechnology (e.g., genetic engineering) that highlights class division and the downsides of this future. a more traditional example, i think, would be like gattaca, as a sci-fi movie about the implications of gene selection and genetic determinism. the life sciences version of cyberpunk, except cyberpunk already always involves biotechnology, like what cyberpunk do we see now that doesn't involve pharmaceuticals and gene splicing and so on?

when i use 'biopunk', i think much more in terms of like ecological sciences and reckoning with how little we understand life. it's more monster movie plus romance. it's the thing and monsters (2010) and annihilation.

it's why i think paper mario games have a biopunk element to them, because everything (living and dead) is made of paper and they dance back and forth on how conscious they are of it. in the newest game, when you walk into the castle and see princess peach unfolded and folded into this beautiful wall display, so very this is my design, is there anything that better reminds the paper mario and paper toads and paper koopas that their flesh is the same as the confetti enemies explode into is the same as the earth and clouds and plants around them?

i am rambling but my point is: i think of cyberpunk as being about how to be human in an uncaring, disconnected world. cyberpunk is about beauty hiding horror beneath. cyberpunk is about how much you can change while still being yourself, about how you can build relationships when everything pushes you further apart.

while biopunk is about how to be human in a caring, connected world, about horror hiding beauty beneath, about how you are forever changing faster than you know, about how you can push others away but you are those relationships

more show-specific stuff below that includes spoilers

it was really strange how...intuitive everyone felt. yes, ursula demonstrated unique levels of attentiveness and intuition, but everyone knew how to work the land in ways that i do not think are apparent, interacting with animals in multistep paths that approach like the invention of cooking where there are so many mechanisms that don't feel like they should be intuitive

which is part of what makes me think the world was already subtly integrating them into its ecosystems. even without the super obvious transformations, like with levi.

i am also so interested to know how conscious the old woman was. she was infected in the years it took her to finish that sculpture, but she kept at it. in mindlessness, or was she still active some?

#scavengers reign #biopunk dystopia

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abbinurmel · 11 months

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I had an interesting Bee and Puppycat "Lazy In Space" theory just pop up in my head...🐝🐢💫🤡🐱

So. At one point in the show the audience sees a flashback scene, where Bee's dad is watching Bee as a toddler at the beach with Puppycat.

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Bee's dad says at some point here: "She's really full of energy!...she really likes you. Sorry your ship isn't done yet, I'll let you know when it's fixed."

...remember that birthday song that was sung by Bee's music box/power charger from her dad? The song that when taken at face value sounds like a normal sweet b-day greeting, but in full knowledge of her robot origins, we know has a more deeper meaning to its lyrics?

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...what if he wasn't in this flashback commentating on the way the toddler Bee was behaving here. What if like the birthday song was doing before we realized Bee's cyborg anatomy in the Donut Planet episode, Bee's dad is saying an entirely different secret meaning that we as uninformed viewers are only meant to take at face value? What if he is commenting on the fact that bee IS LITERALLY GETTING CHARGED FULL OF ENERGY. Like she is a robot. Or to be specific, battery power cell.

He helped Team Puppycat aka Violet/The Space Outlaw aboard their ship with his inventions in early childhood to harvest "candy", and inside those candies (which supposedly earn mysterious 'prizes') is what is described as pure cosmic energy. In the future, Bee's dad for every birthday sends Bee a piece of that strange energy candy to eat thru her repair/recharge box. The box which HE seems to currently be residing in (or at least some avatar or replica or spiritual essence of him, we do not quite know yet how that works out.)

We also see something else that gained a lot of fan theories in this flashback: Baby Bee is trying to stick a fork in a wall socket at some point and Puppycat stops her. We may at first assume this is just human Bee doing what all innocent babies do. A lot of folks speculate that current grownup Bee is either a cyborg who was resurrected or some mechanical doppleganger to replace the Inventor's lost daughter, when she perished. A lot of people assume if she died her death is due to drowning, thanks to her phobia towards water. But what if...Bee is NOT a doppleganger, or even someone that was ever organically fully human for most of her life, if any? What if she wasn't poking the wall out of infantile dumbness but by pure instinct to seek and fill her body up with electricity. With ENERGY. And what if her fears of the ocean and getting wet are not due to a suppressed trauma due to drowning but because since she KNOWS she is a machine, she KNOWS as a living device that it is not good for her circuitry to get wet?? Not only does being a type of AstroBoy / Skydoll/ CP30 type of android explain Bee's oddball nature, why she says things like 'everyone feels ticklish on the roofs of their mouths, except me...' it also explains WHY SHE DOESN'T AGE NORMAL. She might not physically or mentally ever age at all because she literally doesn't, she CAN'T until she receives new physical upgrades directly given to her by her father.

Bee speaks fondly about her father. And he seems gentle in mannerisms. But we do not at this point truly know what his motives are or what the connection with his daughter really is. Bee's dad seems to never write or text or send any video calls- DESPITE BEING A SUPER GENIUS with the obvious tech brilliance to easily do so. We never see him actually praise her or teach her human life skills. This explains why she keeps food in a toilet and lacks often basic social cues. Bee has a wistful, bittersweet way of talking about her father. What if she misses him, purely because she wants to have a relationship of any kind in the first place? What if she longs for him, not because she was loved so dearly as a child, but because she wants ANY type of a parent/child or scientist creator/robot creation bond at all? Why is Bee's dad biding his time in that box of hers? Is it because he is a distant parent, or is he aware of some dangers she physically presents? Bee has massive strength, but I think we have only just scratched the surface of her powers. Because why else does she have a self destruction sequence deliberately programmed onto her charging station? Why does it count down every birthday to destroy her, unless she reports back? Is it because she is like a walking talking nuclear fuel rod, and if she were to go rogue somehow, or disobey her programming, it might result in a devastating meltdown chain reaction? Or she might glitch and go on a mindless Terminator style rampage?

Why else would Bee's father act so jovial yet distant toward her, if all he ever saw her was as a successful other invention of his? He might be proud of her existence, but not enough to treat her with paternal care. This is why *Puppycat* aka The Space Outlaw only acts as her caregiver nanny in the flashbacks. Not him! What if she was only ever built to sustain or become a physical part of Team Puppycats' ship, perhaps to even just exist as an AI system with a sentient consciousness, similar to the Improbability Engine in the Douglas Adams books, or animes like "Outlaw Star?"

My final point to make: now, in the present day, back on the island, there is a soft drink company that seems to be everywhere called ENERGY FOR WORK. There is a thumbs up logo on the branding, and that icon appears not just on the drink cans that Cass always fuels herself up on, but it can be also found on merchandise all over the island and on the clothes of island residents in the background. Know where else this icon shows up?...Right back where we started! In the flashback, aboard Team Puppycats' spaceship. Look closely and you will find it there in the background screens. Near code work that looks almost exactly like what Cass was typing up! 🤯

Yes yes I know this a long essay and all is wildly speculative. It could be just all a coincidence... but I was there, being a very early guesser long before the whole Pink Diamond affair. So I doubt it. 🤓

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vampkomori · 9 months

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im watching The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady and it makes me go insane so i have to write about my feelings on it and twts dead and the character limit is not enough so im doing it here

im going insane. it is that good. heres why 1. its yuri (literally) and 2. ITS A GOOD ISEKAI.

i watch a lot of isekais (unfortunately. i enjoy the concept bc a lot can be done with it Very many Interesting things can be done with it but all of them are shitty harems or a carbon copy of one another and. its tough out here.) and this is like one of . a handful. that actually. LIKE. ITS GOOD. ITS A GOOD ISEKAI YOU DONT GET MANY OF THOSE

i still havent explained why its good. basically heres a lesson on current isekai culture(?) (<- guy that cant get to the point)

theres exactly 2 kinds: one is the male fantasy where a guy reincarnates into a fantasy world and gets all the waifus. the second is the relevant one, the Reincarnated Villainess Trope which is SOO LOADED YOU DONT GET ITTT

the reincarnated villainess, to my knowledge, started with My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom aka hamefura (the jp abbreviation, henceforth refered to as such) and summarized, its about a girl that reincarnates into a fantasy otome game as the games villainess and bc the girl is a weirdgirl she basically derails the plot by being weird funny and endearing and everyone falls in love with her and she has a harem consisting of boys AND girls (in the first season. the girls side is unfortunately not taken seriously afterwards)

and magirevo (The Magical Revolution of the Reincar- you get the gist. isekai names are long) is very similar in that the protag is a #weirdgirl but theres no harem this time and its gay for real.

where was i. basically hamefuras Thing is that its a “subversion” of the “villainess is put on trial by the crown prince who publicly annulls their engagement and accuses her of wronging the otome protagonist and also sometimes shes either killed or exiled” trope except its not a real trope. bare with me this is hilarious. its not a real trope but everyones feels like it is bc it feels familiar but there isnt a single existing example of this trope, its like a fake trope. theres certainly villainesses especially in older animes, but otome games very rarely ever even had a rival and this specific situation has literally never happened. just a fun fact. this is irrelevant to the discussion. but ill call it the fake villainess trope bc its not real but every villainess isekai “subverts” it. theyre subverting a fake trope. thats great. i could write an essay about this (already has)

anyway2.0 the point is there are literally so many. SOOOO MANY manhwas/mangas that base their story off this fake trope. some subvert the subversion some kinda follow it some deviate a lot more etc. but there always tends to be some flavour of “villainess is put on trial by the crown prince who publicly annulls their engagement and accuses her of wronging the otome protagonist (and also sometimes shes either killed or exiled)"

magirevo does this as well but in such a roundabout way you dont realize its doing the trope until its happening bc the protag, the crown prince’s elder sister, entirely does her own thing. she invents magic technology and tries to fly and tries to gain magic bc she doesnt have magic etc. so she Literally crash lands into the villainess’ trial and, in a fit of writing brilliance which i can only describe as bordering on genius, only vaguely implies that she knew it was going to happen (aka that the world shes in is a game) and literally whisks the villainess away on a whim (which in this case isnt even a villainess, shes never portrayed as one and shes not misunderstood, but as previously mentioned this is a common trope and euphy would be in the position of the villainess here) and now come the insane parts

euphy (stand-in “villainess”) is shown to have the worries/anxieties/issues that, logically, the villainess in the trope would have. i have to derail again for context on why its brilliant, the fake villainess trial trope in its most pure form is that the villainess was for real bullying the FL (the “female lead” of the otome game) and the FL/crown prince reveal this in public for revenge, in this the FL/prince are in love and portrayed as the side thats in the “right”. in the subversion of this, its literally flipped. the villainess is Wrongfully accused by the prince and “FL” (who at this point is no longer the protag of the story, but still is the protag in the original otome game which the reincarnated person.. knows about.. its getting complicated) who team up to, for never explained reasons, publicly ruin the “villainesses” image (my personal input would be that its so the engagement can be annulled more easily, its kinda like divorce where its easier if you can prove the other person was cheating. sort of. also palimony. there is technically one specific subversion that has the reincarnated person be a lawyer who helps the villainess get palimony- im getting carried away. i read a lot of these)

lost my train of thought. um. so the FL/prince are sometimes portrayed as antagonists in opposition to the “villainess”. who the reincarnated person even is kind of varies, sometimes its the villainess, and even then it depends on When in time she reincarnates (its not always since childhood) since some reincarnate during the moment of the trial, and in those the villainess was Actually a villainess, and the now-reincarnated-villainess (a wholly new person) takes this as an opportunity to do her own thing and rebuilds her life (whether in exile or not) but sometimes the reincarnated person is someone entirely unrelated to the trope, and in those cases the villainess in the trope is intead portrayed as a proper royal lady who follows etiquette very very closely. her “bullying” is mostly just telling the FL that it is inappropriate for her to spend a lot of time with the crown prince since Shes his fiance, and seeing him with another girl is very bad for his image. ultimately, the villainess is a kind person and is wrongfully humiliated/accused. magirevo does this, euphy is the perfect rule-abiding proper royal lady who only ever wanted to do right by her family and do what her father said (due to this her and her fathers relationships is strained, the anime actually touches on it . and parents are not given depth or show remorse in these things usually) so once shes whisked away by anis (magirevo protag) she suddenly doesnt have to fulfill any responsibility, has any expectations to fulfill, and is just told to do what she likes and what makes her happy, and she is not handling it well. once youre used to being ordered around and have etiquette ingrained into you its hard to just do what you Want to do and it becomes even more difficult to be able to Tell what you want to do. its very good.

anis is also an incredible protag but her whole deal isnt based on any sort of trope, so i wont go into it this time (also bc im only 5 episodes in and her thing is definitely going to span over the whole 12 eps so. refraining from commenting too early) but her BROTHER??? LETS GO TALK ABOUT HER BROTHER

as ive so eloquently and elaborately x paragraphs before (making fun of myself), the crown prince is portrayed as either the good side or the antagonistic side depending on writer, but ultimately tends to be a very paper thin one-note cardboard character that only exists for villainess angst and to hate him. which is a real shame bc theres clearly a lot of room for elaboration on motivation and just general. Potential. for a good arc. like, for real. the basic trope is just about the crown prince disgarding his fiancé for the (commoner) FL and thats it, but nobody??? sees the actions for what they are??? and magirevo does . its that the crown prince goes against his fathers wishes, against the rules imposed upon him by his royal blood and Does What He Wants and wants to be with the person he loves regardless of their status or his. thats good. thats insane. how has nobody banked on this. stocks are rising. so algard (magirevos crown prince) is that. he disregards the royal familys rules and wants to defy his fate, wants to be with the commoner girl he loves and is generally a very self-righteous person, which is used as the explanation for Why he accuses euphy in public, he thinks hes in the right for it (theoretically, bad means for good goals) and basically its portrayed as a sort of naiveté, bc hes the younger brother of anis, and still thinks the world revolves around him. zero consideration for others, doesnt think of consequences, gets manipulated by older nobles who use his self centric thinking against him, that sort of thing. plus hes a FOIL!!!! TO THE VILLAINESS!!! where the villainess is forcibly ripped from her responsibilities and now gets to live a life where she can do whatever she likes despite not having wished for it, the prince is forced to stay in his role as the crown prince and actively tries to go against the expectations placed upon him and cannot leave Despite Wishing For It (the “leave” in this case meaning the societal expectations, though its unclear if he still wants to inherit the throne at this point) and even Better, his actions and personality were entirely shaped by his sister, the protagonist, they used to be close as children with similar interests, but once anis invented magical technology (due to her knowledge from reincarnation) theres a growing rift between them bc shes heralded as a genius for her talents, and hes considered talentless. and even ! though ! anis is aware of this, and even revokes her right to the throne so that he can become ruler instead. theres so many misunderstandings in this royal family its insane. its the good kind of messy family drama. nobody knows how to talk to each other.

so im going insane bc isekais arent usually good or give any depth to characters and i feel like ive been given catnip. watch magirevo if you like weirdgirls and lesbians and like to see the fake villainess trope be explored in depth w motivations. yahoo

#k.txt #talkative. once i get going i keep going.#90% is just context explanation bc even though my thoughts are not broadcasted live to anyone. i have to explain things #brain flaw. idk if this is even coherent. im excited about something being good for once #<-enjoyer of otome isekais

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lilacwineandthesinkingsun · 2 years

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Kickstart my heart

AN: I came to love this character and now i cant stop...

Pairing: None yet

Hawkings High was a school much like Hawkins itself... Everyone knew everyone. So when your parents told you that you'll move there in a week's time, cause your father got a job at the police station, and the week after tomorrow you'd be just in time for the start of the school year... well let's just say you already felt like hiding in your hoodie from the bullies. There's no way they wouldn't bully the new girl from Boston. At least that was your experience with new schools, which you had a lot of.. Since you were 6, you moved around every year cause of your fathers work, so you didn't have any friends. YOu kept to your books, and your casetteplayer.

The move was rather smooth, the town seemed positively empty except for a few kids hanging around in a parking lot.

You sighed as you dropped the first box of your things in the middle of your room. I just need to survive this year, then we'll probably leave again, but then i'll get to settle down for college. Just this year.. you thought to yourself as you put on your favourite casette mix, and got to unpack with the music blasting. All the neighbours windows suddenly closed. They were already afraid of satanists, and in their mind metal music was an indicator that you, or your family were indeed satanists. It always went like this, so you couldn't care. You loved this music, and let's be real.. Satan was invented by the catholics.. that says more about them then the so called satanists.

You were okay with being the girl noone talked to, you perfected being unnoticable for people. You knew they would forget about you in a week's time if not immediately after the introductions.

First class was History, at least you loved that. It always fascinated you.

-Class, we have a new classmate, her family just moved here, please make her feel welcomed here. - the teacher smiled at you, before motioning you to stand up. You rolled your eyes, you hated this part. You zipped up your hoodie so they couldn't see the Mötley Crew tee underneath. They don't have to know.

-I'm (Y/n), um.. hi. - was all you said before awkwardly plopping down your seat.

A few eyes stayed on you, mainly three. A girl and the guy next to her. Nancy and Steve as you gathered, and a metalhead on the other side of the back. For the rest of the morning you managed to be somewhat invisible until Nancy approached you at lunch.

-Hey, (Y/n) right? I'm Nancy. - she smiled as she held out her hand for you to shake.

-Hi! - you said awkwardly.

-I know it's hard being new here, if you want to you can join us over there? - she pointed at a rather large group. There were juniors and seniors alike.

-The juniors are my brother and his friends, then there's Steve, and Jonathan and me, the seniors. Sometimes Eddie joins as well. - she smiled, and you just nod. She seemed nice enough and maybe if you stay around them, you won't be bullied as much. You were in for another round of introductions, or so you thought.

-Guys, this is (Y/n), she's in our class, be nice. - she stated as she sat down, leaving you standing there, before smiling a bit, sitting down next to her.

One of the juniors looked at the part of your t-shirt that was visible.

-Is.. is that a Mötley Crew shirt? - he asked with wide eyes and you braced yourself for the upcoming satanist talk. But then another one of them, Nancy's little brother as you gathered interjected.

-That's like his all time favoruite band.

You smiled and pulled the zipper down, showing your tshirt.

-Yea its Mötley. I got this last year in Boston when my dad took me to their concert.

The little guy stared at you in awe, mouth open.

-A...awesome. - he said still staring, earning a giggle from you and Nancy.

-Don't mind them, since they joined the Hellfire Club, they've been listening to a lot of metal, so now you're kinda like a god for them. God forbid you like D'n'D too...

Your eyes widened before you flashed her a smirk.

-Noo, you too? - she asked laughing, bumping into your shoulders.

The guys looked at eachother.

-She's really a god - Lucas whispered in awe.

-Do you wanna join us? We're just about to start a new story this week. - asked Dustin.

-I'm not sure, i'll have to ask. Anyways, thank you guys for the company. Nice to meet you. - you said as you walked to the library before your next class.

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-She's awesome! - Lucas noted happily.

-Yea, i hope she comes to Hellfire.. Maybe we can even like share music and stuff. - said Dustin with a big smile on his face.

-They are so in love.. - whispered Jonathan making Nancy giggle.

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You spent the next few lunch breaks with them, getting to know them. Maybe this year won't be so bad. You thought to yourself. They managed to convince you to play d'n'd, so you entered the drama room around 15 minutes early. Nobody was here yet, so you took your time to look around. Suddenly the metalhead from class entered with crossed arms.

-You're not in the club. - he said dissmissively.

-Yea, i know, i was invited here to play. - you stuttered. Gosh he was intimidating.

-Well i sure didn't invite you.. - he said as he cornered you. - and as the head of the club i say you won't be playing here honey.. - he said almost in your face. Well maybe this will be a shitty year. You came here, hoping to have a good game with your newfound friends, but well, looks like you got a bully instead. You looked him in the eyes, before walking away, shutting the door. Basically you sprinted home, using the sleeves of your hoodie to wipe your tears. You didn't noticed the guys cycling to the school. But they saw you.

-What the hell happened? - Dustin asked, looking at you.

-Did you tell Eddie we invited her? -Will asked looking at him questioningly.

-Shit.. - whispered Lucas holding his head.

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The next day they hoped you'd still join at lunchbreak. Today Eddie was there too, not having found a girl for today.. You walked towards them but as you locked eyes with the cocky looking metalhead you turned around and sat under a tree.

-Guys, what did you do? - asked Nancy. She grew quite fond of you. You were kind and intelligent, she didn't understand how could anyone bully such a sweet person like you.

-We did nothing, she ran away crying just as we arrived.. You should ask Eddie.. - said Will pointing at him with a slight anger, as the rest of them huffed.

-Eddie? - Nancy looked at him while she crossed her arms.

-What? She's not a member. - he shrugged.

-She arrived a fucking week ago. And if you'd pull your head out of your ass you'd see that she fits your little club just as much as them if not more. - she motioned towards the guys, before pincing her bag up, walking towards you under the tree. She were a bully not even that long ago, she felt bad that you had to go through that here too.

-Why would she fit in more... She's nothing more than the pretty new girl in town. Not having friends cause you don't know anyone doesn't make you a member... - he huffed.

Lucas sighed, shaking his head.

-She has like a collection of metal casettes, and tshirts and stuff, she went to a ton of concerts, as well as she loves anything D'n'd and lovecraft. She even has tattooes and shit.. - Dustin stated as he looked towards you and Nancy.

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It was Saturday, so you had the day to yourself. You decided you'll go on a hike. There was a forest near, so why not. So you were currently walking along a trail when you found a small lake. You sat laid down in the grass, soaking in the sunshine, while you listened to Psycho killer by the Talking Heads, smoking a joint. When you opened your eyes, to lit the joint again, you were met by the metalhead, smirking down at you. You rolled your eyes, not bothering to pull your headphones down, you shoved your backpack on your back and turned to leave. He caugh you by the wrist, as he took off the headphone with the other, listening in.

-Give it back. - you asked.

-I love the Talking Heads. - he said, handing it back to you.

-Great. Bye. - you said as you turned to leave again.

-(Y/n) wait.. I'm sorry for the other day. - he smiled at you softly. Ha.. as you'd believe that. You have literally years of experience with bullies, so you just scoffed. He held out his hand towards you, but you refused to take it.

-Eddie... Eddie Munson.

You still didn't say a word, earning a sigh from him, as you took another drag from the joint, keeping it down before exhaling, straight to his face. He smiled as he sniffed the weed.

-If you ever need stuff like that i can help - he smirked.

-As if i'd need anything from you.. You'd probably just call my dad, telling that im an addict. Not as if being marked a satanist freak isn't enough. - you said rolling your eyes again.

-Yea and i'd go to jail for having this on me. - he picked out a jar nearly full of it, making your eyes go wild.

-Look, we got off on the wrong foot and thats on me. Don't worry i got my share of bullying from the guys, they literally whorship you, you know?! - he told you as he started to roll one of his own. - I think Lucas is in love with you already. - he smiled as he sat down in the grass, taking you with him. That earned a laugh from you.

-Is he now? ... -you laughed and he thought it was the prettiest sound in the world.

-Oh c'mon, band t-shirts, metal music and d'n'd and i heard you even have tatts.. God bless him when he finds out he has a dick. - now you laughed even more, throwing your head back. He lit the joint and handed it to you.

-God i hope he wont think of me when he does find out. - you giggled.

Over the next few minutes you just sit there with him in silence. Suddenly he stands up, rids himself of his clothes except his underwear, and jumps in the water.

-It's nice you know... - he tries to get you in.

-Yea, and i bet you don't have any freak friends hiding out with a camera. - you said still not trusting him.

-Noone here just me, and i don't have a camera. Also i'm not that shitty person. Cmon, the water's awesome, i'll even turn around if you want. - he smirked.

You motioned him to do so, as you undressed so you only had your black lacy bra and panties on. His smile widened as he heard the water splashing, indicating that you got in the water. You still didn't get close to him, just swam around the lake by yourself. He caught a glimpse of your tattoo. It was Lovecraft themed, and it went from your collarbone, to your shoulder as it wrapped around your upper arm.

-Shit you really do have tattooes. - he said, and it made you smile to yourself.

-Yeah i do. - you said as he sawm up to you, wanting to take a better look at it. He grabbed your arm, tracing the delicate linework and shading of it.

-Thats so fucking cool. - he whispered.

You smirked, and splashed water to his face, freeing your hand and swimming away laughing.

-Why did you do that? - he asked as he slowly swam after you.

-You were too close. - you shrugged your shoulders as you laid on top of the water, just floating with closed eyes.

He quietly swam up to you, grabbing you by the waist, making you go underwater. When you both got up, you met his dark brown orbs, as he smirked at you, still holding you by the waist.

-What the fuck man? - you asked. He just shrugged, holding you even closer by your waist. The words died in your throat. The water was cold, but where his skin touched yours it was like molten lava... You both lost in eachothers eyes as you heard shouting, and bicycle bells from not too far. You basically jumped out of his arms swimming away.

-Eddie, Will found another book we could use for the game - Dustin shouted as they stopped at the edge of the lake. Lucas was the first to notice you in the water.

-Thats awesome bud, i'll get out and we can take a look at it, but first i'll have to ask you all to turn around so the lady can get out too. - he smirked. They did turn around, and there was a faint blush on Lucas's cheeks. Eddie shamelessly watched you walk out of the water, taking in your form, and your perfect ass. There was another tattoo, high on the back of your right thigh, basically just under your buttcheek, it was Cthulhu, almost as if some of his tentacles were reaching towards your cunt. He couldn't help but bit his lips. He soon followed you, getting dressed as well. You were already talking with the guys, looking through the pages of the book.

-Yea, i got this one too. I can lend it to you if you want me to. - you smiled at them. Dustin's smile widened.

-Jesus (Y/n) i could hug you right now. - he said, earning a laugh.

-I'll go and find it for you, you can come by later for it. - you said before saying your goodbye's, sending a small nod towards Eddie. Then you left.

The boys looked at Eddie with crossed arms and questioning looks.

-What? I apologized as you wanted me to. - he said smiling.

-Man, if you fuck this up, and she'll hate us too, i'll have your head.. She's not one of your cheerleaders.. - said Lucas fuming.

-Hold your horses. We just smoked and swam. Nothing happened.. But isn't she a little old for you bud? - he asked smirking, making Lucas get embarassed and leave. The other's just shook their head.

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From that moment on, you all spent your lunchbreaks together, and you were invited to join the club as well. When Eddie asked if you'd wanna be a member, he gave you one of his shirts. You would never admit, but you loved that it smelled like him.

You spent a lot of time together.. You were basically a shy version of him with boobs. You would never admit but you felt a bit more than friendship towards him, but he doesn't have to know that. Of course Nancy noticed the little looks, and smiles you two shared. So when the whole team were sitting together at lunch, she mentioned the upcoming school party out on the baseball field.

-Eddie, why don't you take (Y/n), you could show her around.. I mean.. you were here the longest. - she smiled, trying to hide her plan.

-Nah, Henderson got it. - he shrugged, making Steve look up. as Eddie turned to him.

-Don'tcha, big boy?

You felt a pang in your chest, as Steve said he didn't plan to come. It was so awkward.

-Nah its alright, i hate school parties. I think i'll go camping instead. - you said as you finished your sandwhich, and went to the library.

You were hurt, but not surprised. Why would he want to take you to the party, that was like a couple-y thing to do, and you were most certainly not that.. Of course he would want to go with Chrissy.

Nancy just looked at them, shaking her head.

That night, Steve came over to hang out. Your parents liked him, so of course you could go up to your room.

-Sorry for today, i just hate those parties. But we can go if you want to.. - he said, stepping closer and snaking a hand around your waist. It was unfamiliar, but again, he sometimes flirted with you too. YOu were fed up with your unrecruited love towards Eddie, so you might as well.. that's how you spent the night making out, before he went home.

The next morning, he was outside your door, standing next to his car.

-Hey pretty girl, - he kissed you again, opening the door for you. The looks you got when you two appeared together, his hand over your shoulder.

Steve was a great guy okay, but he wasn't famous for being loyal and settling down. He saw an opening and took it.

Dustin looked over the rest of them and muttered a small that's not good shaking his head. They had to prepare to lose you once Steve got what he wanted.

Guys, do we want another part/s of this? Let me know. <3

#stranger things #fanfic #eddie munson #steve harrington #hawkins

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sagaofstardustmkg · 1 year

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the judge watched him. was it always your idea, he said, that if you did not speak you would not be recognized? | arianna | trial 6.6

The rattling starts again.

Janelle has been quiet as her classmates chip away at the block that’s been placed in front of them, first chiseling it into a rough human shape and then carving out fine details that suggest specificity, motion, personality. She has little to contribute. Everyone knows there are no faeries in America.

(Savageland, ironland, veined with magic and blood and gold.)

But Rya’s tongue flicked out to taste the air that carried the phrase Sonoran sandshadow. And Rya drew herself up into a seething figure-eight when Bo looked Janelle in the eye and laid out his accusation in neat, thorough bullet points.

(There’s something of a surgeon about him, isn’t there? He is quite willing to take his knife to all the softest parts of a person but seldom wishes genuine harm in doing it. There is a distance there, even now, not just from his target but from himself. He is there but not-there. For all that he can see, for all that he can pierce into the raw pink inside of a person, there are things that remain closed to him. Holding a heart and knowing a heart are different things.

Not that she has permitted herself to have an interest in either thing. Being held or being known. These are not for her. She gave up on them a long time ago.)

Janelle met his eye. She meets Fumie’s, too, flinty. Her face is otherwise motionless except for a slight upward tilt of the chin when Fumie begins to read.

But Rya’s rattle rasps into motion.

It sounds like the rustle of starving plants. Locust wings at sunset. The voice of an ancient desert where sane and reasoned men have screamed themselves to death for thousands of years.

“My sister has a name.”

Janelle says it evenly as she says everything else. Her eyes are half-lidded.

The rattle continues.

“It’s Adelaide, and I’ll thank you to use it.”

One of her hands stretches out to rest on Rya’s coils, and the scales whisper against her palm. Her tone is patient but impenetrable.

“It’s true she ran away a long time ago. And it’s true she liked fairy stories. We both did. Every mixed-up little no-name girl likes a story where it turns out a mixed-up little no-name girl is the most special person in the world. I imagine you’re familiar with the feeling, Miss Fumie.“

Her fellow fanfiction conneisseur should understand that sentiment, she thinks.

“’This world’s been bad to you, but there’s another world where everyone will love you. Your family that did wrong by you isn’t your real family. The people who don’t understand you don’t matter. There’s something so special inside you that its light would blind them if they saw. The longer you have to wait for it, the better it’ll be when it finally happens.’”

Her eyes drop briefly to her hands, toughened and scarred by years of horse-handling and weed-pulling and playing banjo. She has one joint that never healed right after she slammed it in a stable door. She damn near peeled the tip of every finger with her pocket-knife when she was learning to woodwork.

“Nice story for a pair of foster kids without a mite of magic or social grace to split between them. We’d pretend ourselves into all the books, all the movies. We even made up our own story, after a while. Where we were stolen princesses from magic kingdoms, and we had secret powers, and once we found our way back home, we’d get ‘em back and everything would be right again. Forever.”

And she looks back up.

“It’s a good story. And what you all are saying is a good story, too. I mean that. But it’s got holes you could snap an ankle steppin’ in.”

Her gaze alights on Nevros first.

“One, what exactly makes you think the sandshadows are faeries? Tell me. ‘cause if it’s just that they’re known to take people, I got bad news about near every boogieman across the globe, real or invented. They all take people.”

Then Fumie.

“Two, if the gate to Faerieland was so easy to find that Adelaide could do it at sixteen with no magic at all, why would I need to come here to get in? That old diary says the Sun Gate was trees. English trees, which would be non-native in the desert and stand out sore to anyone who knew anything about the environment. If she could just find it and walk through, why couldn’t I?”

Then Bo.

“Three.”

A pause. Something shifts in her eyes, but just for a second.

“Why haven’t you considered I just don’t have the feelings a person is supposed to? What if I’ve been fakin’ it this entire time, same as Miss Xueman, and all you saw is all there is? Why can’t that be true?”

#endgame #trial #arianna #submission

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parasitescholar · 8 months

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Weekly Recommendation: The Soulless Series

So listen. When I first looked into Rem's past career I found some stuff. Most of it I was not really interested in. However Soulless grabbed my attention and didn't let it go. I read the graphic novels and shortly after I read the books they were based on. And the sequel series. And then I read the graphic novels several more times until I decided to buy them on Ebay. These books were out of print before I discovered them, and the copies I have are from libraries, you can see the crossed out bar codes.

If you want to read them you can find them on Libby, the app that gives you access to so so many books. (Literally the library but in your phone fuck audible this shit is free and has waaaay more selection) or on free manga site of your choice. The art is just fantastic. Rem really knows how to do black and white. The balance of tones makes it feel rich, deep blacks and grays contrasting in a way that brings real depth. As a manga style adaptation there is a little aside at the end of the books and my favorite is the one where they make Biffy all spiffy (listen its technically spoilers but it's so cute looook)

Okay I have made my feral admiration clear. What is this actually about? Victorian London except vampires and werewolves are real, and have adapted to the delicate play of manners that is so important to British society. The world building on this point is honestly fantastic. Our main character has the ability to nullify any supernatural abilities with her touch, and she is over everyone's nonsense. Pragmatism rules her every move, but she keeps getting caught up in nonsense anyway. Okay I'm not selling this. Woman in fancy dresses solves the disputes of: foppish vampires, frequently naked werewolves, scheming steampunk scientists, a lesbian in a suit who keeps flirting with her (which she is arguably down for), her truly awful family, the most badass Scottish woman who leads a pack of werewolves despite being human and also old, and the vampires living along the Nile.

The world building in this series is just wonderful. Why does every British building have a coat room? Because werewolves are coming in and out, and they need a place to change! My favorite is the vampires. Vampires come in hives, centered around a queen, and with humans acting as drones. Only the queen can make new vampires, and her and her small group of turned are surrounded by hopefuls, who provide blood in exchange for the social clout being associated with the vampires gives and the possibility to one day become immortal. Also they swarm when in distress!! And it is great! The way all the supernatural stuff works is just so fun and well thought out. I haven't even mentioned the second series really, which is all about Alexia's daughter, who not only nullifies the powers of supernaturals but takes them for herself. Sorry dad, shouldn't have touched me I am now a baby wolf running around causing havoc. I love the Custard Protocol books as well (with that name you've gotta), though I've never gotten through the last one. I guess after the high of a comphet lesbian getting together with her lioness (she turns into a lion!!! And then is just so cool and casual about the fact her tits are out when she turns back) love, I couldn't bring myself to care about the affairs of awkward heterosexuals. But it does take place in Japan so you might like it. This is too long, but I could talk about this series for days. If you read it please please tell me so we can chat about our favorite parts. In summary: Soulless is a series full of humor, romance, Victorian London and supernatural creatures. The graphic novels are exquisite and the series continues past them in increasingly inventive and fascinating ways. Go read both!! In either order tbh. Okay byeeeee.

#weekly recommendation

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shallicomparetheetolagrenouille · 10 months

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2023 in books n. 17

The last book read in June!

And a great disappontment it was!

Though, to be fair, I had a suspicion it would be a superficial read by the synopsis, but I had hopes that it would be a pleasant silly read, that I would be able to enjoy but in which I could not expect to find great research or a groundbreaking character or plot machination or anything of the like. I had complete expectations to find a fun adventure in Georgian London loosely related to archeology and magpies. Something I’d want to reread in the future as a comfort book - but no, this was downright irritating.

The characters are as deep as puddles, at the end of the book I did not care about any of them, because I had not gotten to know any of them

Funnily enpugh, the only ones I had a grain of sympanthy for were the former prostitute and the brothers who retireve the vase - all helpers of the antagonist for most of the book, and characters who are not at all explored, but at least the feelings and opinions they showed, their actions, said something and I could base myself on them to have a picture of them as fully-fledged beings in my head

This did not happen with the main characters, who are just a collection of traumatising moments, clichés and not much else

A “fascinating love story” is mentioned in the description of the book: ignore that part, it’s useless, I felt nothing for or between them the whole time

This could have been set in any century and in any place, because the city and the time period are totally absent from the novel, you do not get a feel for what the characters are wearing, you don’t know what the political situation is, everyone lives in a bubble in which they know 3-4 people max and nothing else happens around them, some things are mentioned that do not at all make sense (buying a second hand dress? a magpie eating breadcrumbs? a shop owner mistreating his employees so badly that they die and get dumped in the Thames?? people carbon-dating Greek vases?? what??)

And all this is nothing compared to the construction of the plot:

The main event is the antagonist retrieving a precious ancient Greek vase from a sunken ship - the whole idea is that Pandora was an actual person and that the story of her vase was linked to actual non-magical events surrounding her - and there are things to note about the vase:

It is completely undamaged by time, excavation or sinking

It depicts Pandora’s tale (why would Pandora’s vase, given to Pandora by Zeus, spoil the whole myth on itself??)

It is carbon-dated at a certain point *sighs* by “The Society” and is found to be “older than time itself” which is the least scientifically sound description I’ve ever heard and also: the technique was not! invented! yet!

Is it actually magical? Its retrieval starts a whole series of misfortunes: the brothers who physically retrieve the vase start getting sick in various ways and the antagonist gets an injury that turns gangrenous

A mysterious old man appears at a certain point to let the male interest know where to find Dora (guess what it is short for) because in her shop he can find an item of interest to study and it is suggested towards the end that he might be Zeus (so Pandora was a real woman and the events about her tale were explicable in real-word terms but also.. ancient gods walking about?)

There are voices of sad women and mysterious flutterings of candles whenever it is moved or opened

The magpie does not like it

And the book tries to make you think that there might actually be something mythical happening in this story, except it is just so ill-constructed that the only effect is annoiance: because if it is a mythical vase containing all the evils of the world plus hope, what is the purpose of finding it now? The only consequences it has is gangrene for a sad, envious, lecherous uncle and a random girl marrying a random guy and finding the good artifacts excavated by her dead parents as an unexpected inheritance

A great vase from myth reappears! To be let as party decoration and be gawked at in an antiquity shop

The most irritating thing about it all, though, is in the acknowledgments, in which the author candidly says that she knows nothing about the historical period she chose or archeology or jewel-making or even magpies, clearly, she just had an idea about a girl wanting to become a jewel designer and fit all the other elements around it after a suggestion from her editor - and also tweaked historical events around her plot to make it more plausible (which backfired horribly because those things stuck out like a sore thumb).

This is just a mediocre read and the only thing I’ll regret when I inevitably donate it will be the pretty cover.

#2023 in books #pandora #susan stokes-chapman #UGH

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recurring-polynya · 3 years

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Do I mind if I ask how you approach writing longer fic? I've always struggled to write anything more than maybe two chapters long and I'm curious if you have a particular method to how you approach such stories.

Thank you so much for this ask! I absolutely love it when people ask me for writing advice because it makes me feel like a Smart Person Who Knows Things.

Before we start, here is one grain of salt to take all of this with: I have a naturally long-form brain. It is very hard for me to write something less than 1k. Short fiction is great, and there is nothing wrong with sticking to short things if that's what your brain likes to do.

So. You have decided to write a story. This is going to focus on "stories". Some people write fic that's more freeform or whatever, I am not going to cover that. What I mean by a story is this:

It starts

Some stuff happens

It ends

It is highly probable that your story contains a change of state, which could be that a villain is defeated, or a goal is reached, but it could also be that character falls in love with another, or someone learns to like broccoli.

I like to start out by completing the sentence, "This is a story where _______". This is basically like coming up with a summary for an ao3 post, except that it doesn't need to be catchy. Lots of different kinds of things could go in that blank! It could literally be what happens: This is a story where Ichigo goes back in time and punches young Aizen in the nose. It could be about what you want to explore: This is a story where Hitsugaya gets a better understanding of his zanpakutou. It could be about the vibe you want to achieve: This is an AU where everyone is in a punk rock band and has cool hair and outfits. The idea of this is to clearly define what you, the author, is interested in writing. Make sure it feels right! Maybe you pick the first one, but when you say it out loud, you say, "You know, I really just want Ichigo to go back in time so he can horse around with young Renji and Rukia and punching Aizen in the nose is just an excuse for that." That may sound dumb, but it's fine, actually! Most people don't read stories strictly for the plot, they read stories for the implications of those plots! Will my favorite two characters kiss? Will there be funny interactions between these two groups of characters? Will there be sick fights? Stories are excuses to have scenes. Sometimes, you will have a story where the interesting sequence of events is the draw, but the point is to know what you're about.

Once you feel happy with your "mission statement", you need to decide the bounds of your story: where it starts and where it ends. It may be easier to start with the end. In some cases, it may be obvious from your mission statement: everyone gets home, a villain is defeated, Kenpachi realizes the meaning of friendship. On the other hand, let's look at that punk rock AU. You've picked a vibe, but you don't really have a natural story arc. It has to have a destination, though, otherwise, it's not really a story, it's a recipe for 3 chapters of an abandoned fanfic. So brainstorm a little: Maybe they get a record deal? Maybe they win a Battle of the Bands? Maybe Byakuya accepts that the band is actually good and tells Rukia he is proud of her. Do not settle for a plot just because it works. Pick something that makes you excited! You're the one who is gonna have to write it!

I said that we needed to pick a beginning point, too, but I'm actually going to skip that for now. The next thing I do is think of all the Big Scenes I want to write, the ones you are hype to write, the ones that pop in your head as you think about the premise. Make a bullet list. They don't need to be in order. The descriptions don't need to be super detailed, but write down anything about it that is important to you. If there's a mood or a snippet of dialogue or a joke you want to make, go ahead and jot that down so you don't forget it later. What you're doing now is putting broad blotches of color on a canvas, filling in space and leaving the detail for later.

Once you are pretty happy with what you have down, try to arrange it in chronological order. Put your end at the end (if it wasn't one of your big scenes, add it now). The next task is figuring out how to traverse your scenes. You've already picked out where you want to spend the majority of your energy. The rest, I regret to tell you, is your slog writing. Now, it often happens that you will find joy in some of these scenes and your best writing may occur there, but that's serendipity. These are the scenes that you are gonna have to make yourself sit down and write, so you honestly want to limit them to just the ones you need.

So how do we do this? Look at the first thing on the list. Can you start there? If so, congrats, that's your beginning. If you can't, what needs to happen to get to there? Where can you start so that you can get to your first fun scene as soon as possible? There. That’s it. You’ve picked your beginning, good job! Now, go through the rest of your list, and add in things that must happen, even if you don’t particularly look forward to writing them. The characters need to travel from geographic point A to point B. Shuuhei needs to say something that Izuru hears and misinterprets. The Central 46 makes a new law. If you have a good idea of how these things happen, go ahead and write them down, but it’s okay if you don’t know yet. Fill in all the blanks so that if you think of each bullet list as a scene, you could read it as a story, start to end. Once you get writing, you might add more scenes, or move things around or whatever, but you should have a thing that functions as a story.

If you struggle with this, an alternative is a story with a very strong structure that is going to guide you though what you have to write.Here are two examples from my own stories Hold On, Hold On (which is only one chapter, but the principle is the same) is structured around the 5 stages of grief. Not Broken, Just Bent takes place over roughly a week, and I just decided what happened every day of the week. See You on the Other Side takes place in the middle of a bunch of canon events, which worked at mile markers.

Congratulations. You’ve just made a rough outline!

Special note for avoiding burnout!: I am a slogger. I will drag myself through the broken glass of an interminable plot to get to a single thirsty scene. That's why, at this stage, I try to look at the ratio of what I want to write to what I must write. It's gonna vary for everyone, but this is a hobby, and if looking at this proto-outline makes you feel deeply tired, maybe this isn't a good story to be devoting your time to! Can you carve it down? Can you chuck two scenes you really want to write and get rid of 80% of the slog? Or maybe you can't! In that case, just write that thirsty scene as a standalone drabble! Or just go work on something else! Maybe in the future, this one will come back to you and you’ll have a fresh idea or a renewed enthusiasm for it.

Another thing I sometimes like to do at this point is to write out some notes about my characters and their motivations and moods. Character A is homesick. Character B is so determined to defeat the enemy that they are having a hard time being sympathetic to Character A. Character C cares for both A and B and is trying to support them both. This is sort of background info that you want to keep in your head as you are writing. Depending on the type of story you are writing, this might actually be the main plot, or it might be happening subtly, but adding to the emotional impact of the story. It’s very easy for me to write these sorts of emotional arcs, but if you struggle with that, you may wish to go ahead and made a more detailed outline for that, too.

Now, it’s time to start writing! I am great at beginnings-- it is very often the case for me that the opening scene was one of my Big Tentpole Scenes. (Before you hate me too much, I make up for this by being double horrible at endings; just let me have this) Usually, I will start at the beginning and write linearly for as long as I can until I get stuck. Then, I will look forward on my outline and do the next chronological scene that I feel like writing. In general, if I sit down to write and there is something I have an urge to write, that trumps everything else. Inspiration is a precious commodity, and you should embrace it when it hits! You can slog any day. I will occasionally hold off writing a scene that I really want to, because I am saving it, like a prize for myself for getting that far. This is a very personal process of figuring out what motivates your brain and then giving your brain what it needs to be its most productive.

Eventually, you will run out of things you are excited to write, but the good news is, you’ve got a bunch of story now! Odds are that what’s left is going to be a lot of those connective tissue scenes, and you’re just going to have to do them, except that now, because you’re connecting two concrete points instead of two abstract points, it will be a lot easier. You can continue running jokes you’ve started. Maybe you invented a cafe in an earlier scene where your characters hang out and you can have them return there. Try to think of ways to make these scenes more fun, both for yourself to write and for your reader to read.

Around this time, I like to start refining that rough strokes outline into what I will call an “as-built” outline. (This is an engineering term where you update your plans or models for something to reflect any changes that had to be made along the way). This is a great activity to do at times when you feel like you have writers block. I write down every scene I have written as a 2-3 word blurb, in order. I break the scenes into what I think makes logical chapters, and I will do a word count on those prospective chapters and write it down. As you do this, you will realize that maybe you can move a scene from here to there, which will make it 1000% easier to write. Things may be happening too much, or you’ve got the characters eating three times in the same chapter. If you have subplots and dangling threads, this is where you make sure they get closure. I know this sounds very headache-y, but you are so far along in the story at this point that it’s really not-- it’s a way to look at the problems you have left. Use some sort of formatting (I like to bold things I haven’t done and sometimes I put them in red) and it gives you a very visual to-do list.

You specifically mentioned multi-chapter fanfics and I admit that I don’t tend to think in chapters, I tend to think of the story as a whole and just break it up where it feels natural. The as-built outlining I described is very helpful in making sure that my chapters feel balanced. They don’t necessarily need to be the same length, but I like them to have the same amount of stuff in them. One chapter may basically contain one long scene, and other may contain many short ones. I don’t tend to, but you can certainly have a fanfic that varies between short and long chapters, that can actually be an interesting effect. But like I said, I always like to know what I am doing, and so having it mapped out, you can say “welp, this is what I’ve done, how do I feel about that?”

Polynya, you may be saying at this point, do you write the whole fanfic before you post any of it? and I regret to inform you, the answer is yes. A lot of people write as they go, and I have made one attempt at this and I didn’t like it. I don’t like locking myself in, I just need to be able write out of order and go back and change things. Here is the story of a little in love: someone gave me an AU prompt and I got mildly obsessed with it, and wrote 5 snapshots drabbles in that universe, ending with a slight cliffhanger ending. I probably should have stopped there, but I decided to keep going. I wrote out an outline of 5 acts where the first act was detailed to the degree of each chapter being specified. The chapters here were much smaller than I usually make chapters: 1-2k. I wrote act i and ii and it was actually great, and then I hit act iii which required a lot of set up for misunderstandings and a mini romance arc. I couldn’t wing it, but nor could I figure it all out with outlining. I write dialogue in almost sort of an improv “Yes, and...?” style, so until I do it, I don’t know what’s going to happen. So, what I did was treat the second half of act iii as a complete story in the process I describe above, wrote the entire rest of it, and then posted it. One might notice that the chapter lengths grew to 3-5k each. I have two more acts to go, and I haven’t decided how I am going to do them yet, but I suspect I will treat each of them as their own mini-stories.

(I will admit that in Heart is a Muscle, I tend toward chapters that are about 10k long, and this is honestly too long, someone should smack me. If you like punchy chapters, 1-2k is good. I think 3-6k is probably an ideal chapter length. Is this how long the chapters are in my latest fanfic? Absolutely not.)

Okay, so there’s one more step, which is quality control. I am habitual re-reader-- I read my fanfics-in-progress over and over and over while I am working on them. I understand that not everyone does this, but I am usually the primary audience for my own writing, and this is the actual fun part for me. Nevertheless, you should re-read your work at least once, to make sure it hangs together.

This is purely optional, but I recommend it: get a writing friend (if you don’t like re-reading your work, I recommend this even more strongly). If you can get a full-service beta reader, that’s great, but if you can’t find someone, or if receiving that level of critique stresses you out, it’s perfectly valid to just find a friend who will read your stuff and a) shower you with compliments, b) reassure you about parts you aren’t sure about (or suggest ways to help) and c) point out any huge problems you missed. When I am writing a long fanfic, it is a huge motivational factor for me to be able to send my beta chapters as I finish them. If you are already an established writer, and you have people who consistently comment on your fic, they might be overjoyed to get a sneak peak at your work.

And that’s it! That’s the way I do it, anyway! Some people are able to sit down and write a very detailed outline and the write it start-to-finish. Good for them, I say! I have tried this and it doesn’t work great for me. I will admit that some of my fics (especially my early ones) I just sat down and banged out whole-cloth like an insane person and they are generally better than the ones I actually plan out, but that’s not a reproducible process.

As one final mechanical note, I usually write in Google Docs, which I can access on multiple devices (I used to write a lot on my phone), has convenient sharing functionality, and I use the ao3 html formatting script add-in. I generally have two documents for a single story-- one is the outline, and any other notes I want to have handy. I’ll usually put a trashcan space at the bottom for scenes that got cut but I don’t want to lose. The other is the fanfic itself.

I hope this is helpful! Please feel free to follow up with other questions and good luck with your writing!

#writing advice #longform writing

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aerequets · 3 years

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hello I am obsessed with you and your mind, and I must ask you for recommendations of miraculous comics/fanfics/artist/etc because I trust your opinions and I am in love with you okay thanks

the way this made me laugh SDKLHSLHFW if i was not on my computer right now i would spam with the sparkly eye emoji (pleading emoji? idk what its called but its like O_O but less. creepy. okay im done)

i made this mini rec list a short while ago for some of my favorite fics off the top of my head. i would dig through my bookmarks on ao3, except i made it really recently and i only have like 7. rip

as for fancomics:

@hamsternamedmarinette invented comedy. literally so funny like.... how does her brain work? if you want a good laugh (like a full on belly laugh, wheezing laugh, painful laugh) this is the blog. every comic is just whiplash in the best way

@anna-scribbles draws them so soft???? AGAIN if i could use emojis YOU KNOW THE EMOJI IM TALKING ABOUT.... LIKE THE o_o CUTE ONE? her art is the personification of that. and its also so funny and the punchline always hits just righttt

@zoe-oneesama i think pretty much everyone knows about her Scarlet Lady AU, but just in case you don’t, it’s a reimagining of the show where chloe steals the ladybug miraculous from marinette and becomes a superpowered pain in the butt. it’s,,, so well done and really funny and lots of things that bother me from the show bother the author too so she fixes them LMAO

@buggachat again, i think everyone knows about this blog but just. top tier comedy. such funniness. but also hella angst sometimes. they’ve got a baker enemies AU going on rn and its DELICIOUS. basically hawkmoth has been defeated, everyone knows it was gabriel agreste, and adrien (who was chat noir, but never revealed his identity to mari/LB) is suspected by everyone and ostracized :( this “everyone” is namely MARINETTE who thinks he’s after her bc he found out she’s the guardian and. it is a lot so i won’t try to explain it all but hopefully that gives you the gist of it LOL

@carpisuns was debating whether to put this blog under fancomics or fanart BECAUSE SHE DOES BOTH AND SHE DOES BOTH AT THE SAME TIME AND SHE DOES THEM SO WELL !!!! FULLY COLORED COMICS? SONG LYRIC COMICS?? AND THE FEELS.... the feels hit you hard here. but the fluffy feels too so dw

now FANART

@rosekasa CUTE. SO CUTE. LIKE U JUST WANNA KISS THE ARTS LIKE MWAH they’re so cUUUUTEEEEE her style is like a marshmallow, it’s so fluffy and sweet and. its just so cute oh my god i have no other vocabulary for it

@jjuuppiter artwork? ON POINT. aus? ON POINT. ANIMATIONS? SO ON POINT !!!!! THE ANIMATIONS BLOW ME AWAY you might have seen one where it was like an anime opening as miraculous? like i didnt know the anime but i cant tell you how many times i’ve rewatched that animation BECAUSE IT IS JUST SO COOL. i love it sm its crazy good

@lc-holy this is another one of the fancomic/fanart crosses because ALL HER COMICS ARE COLORED AND SO BEAUTIFUL... i put carpisuns in comics so im putting this blog under fanart, that is the only reason LOL but PLEASE CHECK THIS OUT the work she puts into the comics is amazing and you can just see it ....... so good. such good food

@picayunearts (for some reason tumblr wasnt linking this blog so i manually did it and hopefully i did not mess it up) literally jaw dropping. their use of colors and mood setting is GORGEOUS and as a chicken-scratch artist who never colors i am so envious LMAO. it’s just like... u can just stare it at for at least six minutes straight. at least i did

now for headcanons and stuff (there’s only 2 but i had to mention them)

@gale-gentlepenguin amazing AUs, amazing headcanons, you get the whole package, angst, comedy, fluff, NAME IT. (also amazing april fools jokes LOL)

@sariahsue lots of incorrect quotes!!! was lowkey stalking the blog to see if i could draw any LMAOOO (i think they write fics too, and im pretty sure i have read them before i had an ao3, but because im 99.9% sure and not 100% this is not under fics)

okay this got super long and i just KNOW im missing so many blogs. these are the ones i could think of off the top of my head while im in english class (oops). i will definitely add on more when i remember them, but theres just so much TALENT IN THIS FANDOM this post could be miles long and still not include everyone

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miraculouscontent · 3 years

Photo

*rubs hands together*

The first thing to talk about with this episode is the pacing, and I think this might contribute to why people think it’s the best/least bad of Season 4 (personally, I’d rather watch “Furious Fu” but that’s just me; also, this isn’t the only contributing factor as to why I think people might feel this way, but I’ll get there later).

The episode has a very serious pacing issue, particularly with its more intense scenes. There’s only one minute of time dedicated to Ladybug landing on her bed, de-transforming, and her snapping at her friends plus them leaving. More time was spent on Chat Noir and Ladybug in the movie theater and Ladybug storming out.

I particularly remember watching the episode and getting eighteen minutes in, at which point I had the realization of, “It feels like nothing’s happened?”

This episode is supposed to be a big gut punch, but the season has been going by at the speed of sound, like they’re trying desperately to play all their cards at once (Lukanette break-up, Adrimi break-up, then Alya is told Marinette’s secret identity). Instead of letting things build and play out for a while in the interest of suspense, the show just throws whatever will get a big reaction out of the fandom (whether positive or negative) and it doesn’t care how shoddily put together everything is. The first two episodes feel like hastily put together drafts, and while this one is technically more put together, it still feels like a draft.

Let’s just start with Chat Noir, who feels completely out of place in the episode. Not only does he imply that he intentionally calls Ladybug “Bugaboo” (which she has told him to stop doing) in order to get a reaction out of her, but when Ladybug insists that she doesn’t want to talk, he tricks her into thinking that he has a good location to do so (and my heart breaks a little at how readily she trusts him) only to then take her to a romantic movie, then shush her when she calls him out for it because she “said she didn’t want to talk.”

Gee, and people wonder why she didn’t tell him her secret (even outside of “Chat Blanc” existing)?

And... look, I know it’s a joke, but I do not find it funny. The “joke” is basically that Chat Noir is taking advantage of the situation to flirt with Ladybug, and though I find it at least mildly cathartic that Ladybug is unaffected by all the people staring at them while Chat Noir is embarrassed, this episode is coming right after the one where Kagami broke up with Adrien, and here Chat Noir is getting his flirt game on. I already talked about all my problems with “Lies” so I won’t do it again, but I’ll just say that it’s not a mystery why Ladybug doesn’t want to talk to him and would rather avoid her problems.

(Not to mention that Ladybug knows that Chat Noir likes her, so talking about her romantic problems with him is awkward to say the least and would come off as insensitive.)

Honestly, at this point I feel like they must be building to something with Chat, like Ladybug finally going off of him with no mercy and that forces him to give up/fall out of love for her because reverse love square, but if that’s what they intend to go for, then that means Marinette is going to fall for this guy who’s repeatedly disrespected her feelings for multiple seasons, almost abandoned her and let Paris drown because she wouldn’t tell him a secret that wasn’t hers to tell, and just generally all the other things he did????

Ugh, I don’t wanna think about it. Let’s just move on.

Talking about Ladybug and her rant next, it basically summarizes the whole show in a nutshell, but simultaneously casts a shadow of sorts over “Truth” for people who maybe missed the episode entirely (which is also sort of the show in a nutshell). I mean, Ladybug confirming to the audience that she was genuinely in love and happy with Luka (you can’t watch how depressed she was over the break-up and not think that) was great, but Ladybug’s dialog implies that Luka “hated secrets” and that’s why they broke up, when Luka was more just... hurt that she couldn’t be honest with him, and he didn’t actively hate secrets. Marinette broke up with him because she felt like she had to; because she had to keep ditching and lie to him.

In addition, what she says also hints to the audience that they’ve both held and kissed each other, which not only indicates cowardice on the part of the staff (”yeah this happened but--um--off-screen; we’d still like credit tho plz”), but may perhaps go back to the theory I had about how Adrimi and Lukanette were supposed to last longer in Season 4 but their arcs got cut (based on the Adrimi kiss having supposed to have gone off). This could mean that Ladybug’s statement was originally accurate to canon but the scenes got cut and the scriptwriters just awkwardly left it in, which is made more awkward by the cinema scene in “Truth” that felt like Luka and Marinette were kissing for the first time (again, alluding to the whole, “this entire season has been a draft” thing).

Also, if you think about what that actually means - that Luka and Marinette did have successful dates and kisses but they were off-screen - then all it adds up to is that showing Marinette happy and comfortable was something that the series didn’t deem as “interesting/fun enough” to show, because Marinette being happy isn’t something they want to see; only watching her be miserable, which is exactly what Ladybug says, along with how everything was “almost too simple, too easy,” because Marinette isn’t allowed to have nice things without being jammed through the wringer first.

And... sure, let’s say that Chat Noir thought the movie was genuinely a good idea; let’s assume that it could be a joke, him wanting to flirt, and him believing that it’d make her feel better somehow.

If that’s the case, then where’s the apology when it fails miserably? Ladybug goes from her semi-anxious state at the start of the episode (a little scatterbrained but ultimately just looking for a distraction), to outright enraged by the movie, and then to this upon leaving the cinema.

She just got her heart broken from being forced to break up with a boy she genuinely wanted to be with and there’s not a single, “Okay, maybe coming here was a bad idea, I’m sorry,” (which could’ve been seen as another joke with the audience like “lol no duh Chat Noir” so there’s no excuse not to have it) or, “My bad, that was insensitive of me. I really thought this would’ve helped but I wasn’t thinking about what you would’ve wanted.”

No. The only people Chat apologizes to are the other people at the theater because he’s embarrassed by Ladybug’s reactions, yet he himself feels no remorse for taking her there and has the gall to go on now about how he’s “there for her if she wants to talk.”

Again, it’s no wonder Ladybug doesn’t want to open up to him.

And I’m sorry, I just don’t buy that Marinette suddenly has all this free time. It’s one thing for her to have a little more time now that she’s broken up with her boyfriend (likely avoiding spending time with him altogether now), but “Truth” went out of its way to talk about all of the emergencies she had to deal with and how she doesn’t have any spare time. which is causing her to become forgetful and lose track of certain events (patrols with Chat, dates with Luka, etcetera), yet Marinette spends most of “Gang of Secrets” simply sulking on her bed. It’s so jarring to go from “Truth” where she was doing “too much” (which I called them out on for not describing what the “too much” she was doing was) and now “Gang of Secrets” where she’s not doing anything.

It’s almost like they invented that plot point to break Lukanette up and it served no purpose outside of it.

Furthermore, the scenes of her finally talking to Tikki and then deciding to live as Ladybug does nothing outside of making the plot more predictable, the latter because of the “Alya almost sees Ladybug” moment (an obvious indicator that Marinette is losing control and is struggling to maintain her secret identity due to her emotionally breaking down) and the former because of Tikki herself and what she doesn’t say.

Because, really, think about what actually goes on in the scene. Marinette (eyes rimmed red and filled with unshed tears, as she is for a good chunk of the episode) is venting to Tikki about - yes - her love life, but also that she has to lie to everyone in order to keep her identity a secret. The fact that Tikki focuses solely on the note of Marinette’s love life and not say a word about the identity/lying issue or even consider telling Marinette, “hey, this is clearly too much for you, you should tell someone, I think the benefits outweigh the risks right now,” really proves that the episode tried to avoid the topic altogether to try and make the ending more shocking (which ironically made it more predictable).

So yeah, not only does Tikki’s dialog with Marinette provide nothing except for a line about how she can’t help Marinette with love issues due to kwami not falling in love (alright, I guess aros can’t give good love advice then or have any input whatsoever), but Marinette’s line about lying to everyone being why she can’t pursue Adrien nor Luka is repeated in the very last scene of the episode. The only reason that scene and the scene after exist is because the writers needed Marinette to be emotionally devastated enough to leave for her balcony as Ladybug for the almost-reveal to Alya and so Rose would get close enough to the dollhouse to have an almost-reveal with the Miracle Box, making the scene feel further contrived because the emotional punch of Marinette wanting to live as Ladybug lasts for barely any time at all.

And it could’ve served a purpose, like if Ladybug had genuinely left and Alya finds her goggles and towel, recognizing them from a news story about how Ladybug had gone to the swimming pool after losing her temper at the cinema, which could’ve led to Shadow Moth making the girls believe that Ladybug was no longer heroic and had kidnapped Marinette, or... heck, Ladybug coming back inside would’ve been so much less jarring if she came back because she heard the girls’ voices talking about the dollhouse and had to hurry (but of course, then they’d have to point out the ridiculousness of Ladybug not hearing Alya calling her and the girls not hearing Ladybug literally shouting for Shadow Moth to come fight her, even though the kwami heard the girls calling for Marinette from the balcony).

But instead, the entire scene feels off and unnatural, forcing every part of it in order to get to where Marinette has to snap at the girls to make them leave.

(Oh, by the way, just a little detail to add to the annoyance: they bothered putting Tom and Sabine in the episode when the girls are leaving, clearly saddened by something that happened, and neither parent even bothers to go and check on Marinette to see if she’s upset or just to see what might’ve happened. They’re such a “blink-and-you’ll-miss it” moment in the episode and it’s not like I’m surprised because they’ve done this multiple times by now but really?)

As for the girls themselves... oof, where do I even begin?

Alright, first off is the annoyance that they assume Marinette’s problems relate only to lovesickness. Marinette has been an anxiety-prone mess throughout the entire series, and suddenly now the girls care about Marinette’s love problems on an emotional level rather than “we’ll meddle sometimes unless we don’t feel like it and be wholly inconsistent on how much we push for it.”? It’s not that I don’t see how they came to the conclusion (hearing that Luka and Marinette broke up and now seeing Marinette is depressed, it checks out), but considering they bothered noting that Marinette hadn’t told them anything, one would think they’d come to the conclusion of, “okay, we haven’t talked to her, we have no idea of what’s going on, maybe we don’t know her as well as we thought then and shouldn’t make guesses.”

Secondly is the “eternal friendship bracelet,” which comes off as a copy of the “Secrets” game from “Syren” extremely manipulative. Mylene goes on to explain that one is supposed to give a secret to the pearl “mentally,” yet when the girls actually show up to see Marinette, they expect to be told the secret directly. I’ve already talked at length about peer pressure and the mental stress Marinette goes through when they mock her and/or meddle for her, but this idea of, “well we all used this friendship bracelet after we mutually agreed to it so now it’s your turn because we said so!” just comes off really bad. I know the episode is going for this idea that their hearts are in the right place, but they’re really not. It feels like they’re the ones in denial and are trying to compensate by forcing Marinette to prove that they’re friends, unable to handle the idea that they might not be as close to her as they thought.

Thirdly, the show acts as if the girl squad are her only friends when we know that’s not true because we’ve seen episodes like “Befana” (the guys in the class), “Reverser” (Marc), “Ikari Gozen” (Kagami), and “Silencer” (Ivan) that all established Marinette having more friends than just them, but for the sake of “drama” and the depressing line of, “at least I don’t have any more friends to lie to,” the episode just pretends like Marinette’s friends are limited to Luka (who she had to break up with) and the girl squad (who she forced to leave and refuse the friendship of).

Fourthly is the actual set-up and the sheer grossness of it all. The girls call Marinette and leave a message about how they much they love her and how she can talk to them “where and when” she wants, and then - immediately afterwards - decide that they’re going to go straight to Marinette’s house completely unannounced, go into her room completely unannounced (not even knocking, by the way), and when Marinette begs them to leave, Alya basically tells her that she’s overreacting. When Marinette demands that they leave, Alya refuses and makes demands right back that they won’t leave until she tells them what’s wrong.

So much for “where and when” she wanted, right? It’s already one thing for the girls to invade Marinette’s privacy and demand/guilt-trip answers out of her, but it’s another thing to give the illusion of respecting her feelings and personal space only to actively plan to go back on it. I can’t tell if it’s a bad draft that they didn’t catch in quality check (you know, the quality check that they definitely don’t have) or just an intentional way to make them seem more sympathetic so Marinette looks worse for driving them out, but either way, it’s awful and I hate it. I would’ve rather had them be all in on invading Marinette’s privacy and learn a lesson in the end than outright contradict themselves.

There are also little nitpicks I could make (like Juleka’s constant mumbling despite Luka’s crush on Marinette playing a role in the episode, Horrificator getting sidelined due to being mute, and the girls’ akumatization ultimately being for spectacle and nothing else, serving no purpose to the plot and being furthered by the fact that Timebreaker goes after Marinette despite it being a bad idea and Reflekta’s power clearly not lining up with any sort of plan), but the real issue issue here comes down to the fact that these are Marinette’s so-called “friends” and the episode refuses to address their actual issues.

Alix, who is known for making rude comments at Marinette (”Gigantitan,” “Chat Blanc,” “Miraculous New York”) and then gives mixed messages by going along with meddling anyway.

Mylene, who is the closest thing to a background character in the girl squad but nevertheless finds her way into being definite voice against Marinette in “Chameleon.”

Juleka, who blamed Marinette for things she didn’t do in “Reflekdoll” and got huffy with her until Marinette apologized for said things.

Rose, who outright screamed at Marinette in “Chat Blanc” over a freaking stuffed animal, which pressured Marinette enough that she snuck into Adrien’s room to deliver her gift which nearly led to the end of the world.

And, of course, Alya; freaking Alya. I don’t even have to go into every single thing she’s ever done because I have a history of giving her absolutely no mercy.

...But let’s go through some anyway because I want to.

“Copycat” - Alya gives Marinette a script and tells her to memorize it, then immediately pushes the “call” button when Marinette hesitates after Marinette had just told Alya that she’s awful at improv.

“Darkblade” - Alya takes a jab at Marinette when Marinette says that she’s too busy to be class representative, implying that Alya thinks that Marinette does absolutely nothing with her time.

“Gamer” - Alya is busy recording the gaming competition when she and Marinette were supposed to be researching for a term paper. Alya then scolds Marinette for wanting to use the competition to get close to Adrien only to do a 180 and put up a fight about it when Marinette decides to quit.

“Animan” and how “The Puppeteer 2″ follows up on it - oh, I’m not going to touch that particular point right now, but keep those in the back of your mind, because I am going to absolutely go off later

“Simon Says” - Similarly to Marinette’s parents, Alya gives zero damns about whatever might be going on in Marinette’s life that's causing her to miss classes.

"Despair Bear” - Alya laughs at Marinette being forced to kiss Chloe’s cheek and then outright compares Marinette to Chloe after knocking Chloe multiple times during the episode (sure, just compare your “best friend” to her multi-year bully, how "hilarious” of you).

“Gigantitan” - Alya has no qualms about mocking Marinette’s over her failures, even if it embarrasses her and she’s been through enough already.

“Frozer” - Alya tries to find ways for Marinette to prevent herself from third-wheeling for Adrien, but when Marinette tries to show character growth by wanting to go, Alya gets into a shouting match with the other girls over how Marinette has “liked Adrien forever and isn’t going to give up now”.

“Catalyst” - Alya claims that Marinette is only salty over Lila out of jealousy when “Frozer” exists and literally is the prime evidence of Adrien liking another girl and Marinette telling Alya outright and very genuinely that she’s not jealous.

“Chameleon” - Alya doesn’t care about her best friend sitting in the back by herself while Alya herself get to sit next to her boyfriend and everyone else in general gets to sit where they want (Alya even acting confused at the mere suggestion that she’d tried to engineer things to let Marinette sit next to Adrien), then not only believes Lila over Marinette but contradicts herself twice (asking Marinette for proof when she has none herself, then claiming that she wouldn’t let her best friend sit by herself).

“Christmaster” - Alya leaves Marinette to babysit so she and Nino can go out on a date.

“Desperada” - Alya suddenly is for Lukanette for literally one episode and doesn’t know how/doesn’t even try to cover for Marinette’s Adrien blindness despite mocking her for multiple seasons over it.

“Reflekdoll” - Alya invites Adrien to something that’s crucial for Marinette to focus on after Marinette has already told her not to and continues meddling to the point where it gets Juleka akumatized (she also doesn’t get punished for it and the blame gets thrown onto Marinette).

“The Puppeteer 2″ - Alya pushes her luck with Nathalie to try and get Marinette to come with her, Nino, Adrien, and Manon to the museum, then traps Marinette in a room with Adrien to force her to spent alone time with him, even abandoning and forgetting about the child that she offered to watch for Marinette so she and her boyfriend can go off alone.

“Miraculous New York” - Alya is told directly by Marinette that she needs help seeing Adrien as a friend, which leads Alya to do the exact opposite throughout the entire special, at one point shouting at Marinette and pressuring her to chase after a car, in the rain, while there’s a supervillain rampaging through Paris, and all of this right after the scheme that Alya had set up caused both Marinette and Adrien to go missing.

And just saying, as Marinette’s supposed “best friend,” Alya sure doesn’t know how to handle her. It was acceptable back in “The Bubbler” when she asked Marinette about signing the gift too late and the same goes for “Dark Cupid,” but by the time we get to late Season 2/3 and Alya refuses to learn Marinette’s weak spots (unless it’s to mock her) and adjust accordingly (like if she’d already made sure the gift was signed in “Chat Blanc,” which would’ve prevented Adrien seeing Ladybug at all due to the time difference), it starts getting infuriating.

A best friend is supposed to cover for their friend’s weaknesses. Alya doesn’t do that; she meddles and often drives Marinette’s anxiety even further up a wall with absolutely no consideration for Marinette’s feelings (”Dark Cupid,” “The Puppeteer 2,” “Reflekdoll,” “Miraculous New York”).

And here, she and the other girls are rewarded for it. Luka actively resisted his akumatization whereas the girls gave in immediately, yet Marinette still opens up to them in the end, likely because they had pressured her and made her feel bad for the secrets she was keeping while Luka was willing to actually wait for her to be ready to talk to him. I can’t put into words how frustrating it is watching these girls trample all over Marinette’s feelings, not have their worst actions called out, and then jump cut post-deakumatization to Marinette telling them exactly what they wanted to know about her love life.

You know what this entire episode is really missing, outside of a coherent plot, properly-paced development, and a basic understanding of rewarding a character for things they’ve held firmly to?

It’s missing the apology. Chat Noir apologizes to a bunch of moviegoers and Rose apologizes for the broken dollhouse, but no one apologizes to Marinette for how they treated her, especially not the “friends” who got rewarded in the end.

“Sorry, we shouldn’t have told you that we’d respect your feelings and then showed up unannounced to make you talk about them.”

“We’re sorry we came into your room and invaded your privacy. You were right to be mad at us.”

“Oh my gosh, Marinette, we got akumatized and we’re so sorry for literally all five of us going after you and probably scaring the living daylights out of you.”

And as if that wasn’t enough, guess what else this is missing? It’s kind of important and brought up directly in the episode, yet the episode simultaneously goes out of its way not to bring it up again.

It’s the reason why Marinette didn’t tell the girls about her relationship with Luka. It’s not there - it’s missing - and the girls never try to pursue the subject. They talk about how Marinette didn’t tell them but don’t think for a second that maybe it’s them who have failed as friends. Instead, they don’t guess anything about why Marinette wouldn’t tell them (which is already strange considering how much they already assume about her) and jump straight to, “well clearly we just need to push for her to talk to us.”

Gonna just go out on a limb here and say that maybe - just maybe - Marinette didn’t tell them because they are habitually pushy in everything they do.

Because they would’ve teased her relentlessly about, “ohhhh you’ve got eyes for Luka? what about Aaaaaadrien~? aren’t you sooo tooorn between both of these cute guys?”

Because they would’ve meddled to force her and Luka together and gotten on her case when/if she ever had to bail on him.

Because their intrusion on her feelings for Adrien had caused her nothing but problems and she just wanted to be with Luka in peace without them forcing their way into things.

Because--hey, wild thought--maybe they’re not really friends???

But the episode completely avoids it, because that would’ve meant addressing it; it would’ve meant acknowledging that they messed up, which - fun fact - they actually don’t do in the episode.

They invaded Marinette’s privacy, insisted that she tell them how she feels (not about them of course because that would imply that they felt like they screwed up), and in the end it’s Marinette who gives them exactly what they asked of her, and the closest thing we get to acknowledging anything is Alix telling her/joking with her that they’ll help her confess to whoever she likes as soon as she tells them she’s ready.

That’s not an apology. That’s not an acknowledgment of wrongdoing. Even when the five of them are about to get akumatized, it’s not a circle of them saying, “here’s how I screwed up, I could’ve done better but I didn’t and I lost Marinette because of it.”

No. It’s just them talking about how sad the situation is. Mylene has the closest thing to remorse in saying, “I hoped it would work,” but where does it go? A grand total of nowhere, especially because Marinette still takes the bracelet in the end instead of the girls mutually deciding, “okay, maybe the bracelet was a bad idea; how about we all agree on making something together instead, no requirements attached?”

And then the episode has the gall to act as if Alya has gone through character growth when all they did was put Alya through the same thing that Chloe did. I’ll explain that last bit momentarily, but first let’s talk about the whole “growth” thing.

Because there’s no apology or acknowledgement of wrongdoing, all Alya does when she’s finally alone with Marinette is do a 180 from where she was at the start of the episode, going from, “friends have to tell each other everything,” to, “hey, if you don’t want to tell me, then that’s your right.”

The crucial part that’s supposed to go in the middle is missing. Instead of acknowledging her failures, Alya just cuts straight to “””being a better friend,”““ but storytelling doesn’t work that way.

It literally would have taken zero effort to fit an acknowledgement into that scene. “You don’t have to tell me everything, I get that now. All my meddling’s done is hurt you and I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t trust me.”

In a world where Marinette has to apologize for everything, has to learn lessons and suffer because the narrative says so, I will not accept anything less from other characters who are trying to develop and improve. That’s not fair to Marinette, nor has it ever been.

Instead of properly developing Alya, the show does whatever it can to get its audience to root for her as Marinette’s “best friend” (ugh) without having to put in the effort of admitting that Alya hasn’t been Marinette’s “best” friend.

Remember when I brought up Chloe? Yeah, “Malediktator” did a similar thing, showing Chloe doing something awful, then being sad (while not actually acknowledging the thing she did wrong), and in the end she was rewarded with a miraculous prematurely.

One show of character from Chloe and Marinette gave her a miraculous. One show of character from Alya and Marinette told her that she was Ladybug.

(Also, for the record, I think Chloe is far worse than Alya character-wise and I’m not comparing their characters; this is just the simplest comparison I can draw here from a narrative standpoint.)

“Miraculer” is another apt comparison, perhaps even more so. Chloe got Hawk Moth in her head after an akuma landed in her photo of her and Ladybug, but Chloe resisted and fought back, ultimately forcing the akuma out of her and freeing herself from Hawk Moth’s control.

But it wasn’t to develop her character; no, it was to convince the audience of Chloe and Sabrina’s friendship so they’d feel something during Sabrina’s happy flashbacks, then lay the foundation of tricking viewers into believing that Chloe might not go to Hawk Moth’s side.

At the end of the day, it was doing something that’s “never been done before” in order for the character to earn brownie points for something that the writers can just have them do because willpower is an easy thing to just write in. “Gang of Secrets” does the exact same thing when Lady Wifi breaks free from Shadow Moth, with Ladybug even hammering it home by talking about how no one’s ever done it before.

And the pacing is - again - awful. Not only is Ladybug banking on this working when she herself says that it’s never been done, but the conversation between her and Lady Wifi where Ladybug tries to convince her doesn’t even take a minute.

It also has nothing to do with Marinette herself; Ladybug relies on Alya’s adoration/friendship with her as Ladybug (you know, after Alya took a photo of LadyNoir kissing and posted it online without Ladybug’s consent, betrayed her by putting information on the LadyBlog that Hawk Moth was able to take advantage of, and is the only hero outside of Chloe to resist returning a miraculous) in order to break from Hawk Moth’s control, because talking about Marinette with Lady Wifi didn’t even work.

(Ladybug also uses her yoyo as a portal to the Miracle Box when this has never been pre-established to be a thing despite Ladybug acting as if she knew it was; further proof that this episode was rushed.)

And of course talking about Marinette didn’t work, because that would’ve meant convincing Alya that her reason for getting akumatized was “wrong” and the episode didn’t want to do that. It didn’t want someone else actually learning something and feeling bad; surely, this is just Alya being manipulated by Shadow Moth and having the power to break free because Ladybug “needs Rena Rouge” and not because Lady Wifi and her friends are chasing after their supposed best friend and that’s--you know--wrong???

Rena Rouge’s reappearance is also yet another thing the episode refuses to address because it avoids the topic of “but my identity--”. At least “Heart Hunter” had the tact to have Kagami question why Ladybug was giving her the dragon again, but “Gang of Secrets” treads as lightly as possible on any discussion of identities outside of Marinette saying that she can’t, as if it were Marinette who made the choice of concealing her identity and not the basic idea of heroing that has been stressed over and over for the whole show.

Even Plagg of all kwami stated back in “Origins” that no one is supposed to know about secret identities, a rule that continues becoming flaky and muddled with each passing season, almost like they kept attempting to retcon and make the audience dulled to the idea so that the reveal in “Gang of Secrets” would be more acceptable.

But now, with the way they did it and how they don’t even have Tikki comment on the matter, it once again has it look like they’re making it - say it with me, everyone - Marinette’s fault.

Alya says that Marinette has a choice in telling her secret, Marinette insists that she doesn’t and goes on and on about how it’ll change everything, and then just... tells Alya her secret in the end.

And remember all the way back in Season 2? “Sapotis”?

Alya: What were you saying about her secret identity?

Marinette: Ladybug needs it to protect her family and friends. Otherwise the villains could use them to get to her.

Alya: Well, if I knew who Ladybug really was, I'd keep it a secret. I would even help her! Like say, if you were Ladybug, I'd cover for you — when you needed to transform in school, go fight the "baddies", you know?

Marinette: Oh yeah? Well, if I was Ladybug I wouldn't even tell you, to protect you from the "baddies", you know?

Alya: You serious? If I was Ladybug, I'd totally tell you! Because I tell my best friend everything.

And now here we are in “Gang of Secrets,” as if the narrative is saying, “See, Marinette? Alya was right all along, you were just being ridiculous and making yourself suffer for no reason!”

Yet Marinette had a right to keep her secrets. When Alya and Nino learned each other’s identities, Alya took a hit for Nino in “Catalyst” and both of them fell to Scarlet Moth’s akumas. Chloe was a mess and a half because of Hawk Moth knowing her identity. Fu had told Marinette that her miraculous would get taken if she and Chat Noir learned each other’s identities.

The only ones who received no consequences due to someone knowing their identity were Pegase (who Chat Noir and Markov knew), Ryuko (who Chat Noir, Ikari Gozen, and Hawk Moth knew), and Viperion (who Adrien knew). “Chat Blanc” also exists where Marinette got the impression that people discovering her identity would be a disaster, and even all the way back in “Lady Wifi” insisted that not telling anyone her identity was “listening to her head and not her heart,” and the narrative has relentlessly humiliated her for going with her heart, so yeah, probably for the best.

I hate that the episode avoids talking about anything identity-related outside of what comes out of Marinette’s mouth to make it appear like it was her choice all along. I hate that they had Tikki fixate on Marinette’s love problems instead of having her actually support Marinette and admit that Marinette should tell someone before she has a mental breakdown. I hate that the episode inserts Rena Rouge into the plot as if to brush all identity issues away so as to make Marinette’s identity reveal seem less jarring.

Now, of course I’m glad Marinette told someone. Of course I want her to get love and support from someone. Of course I think the benefits outweigh the risks, or I wouldn’t have written multiple fix-its where her identity gets revealed in some way or someone already knows.

But I didn’t want it to be Alya, because I knew how they’d do it. I knew they’d do it wrong and I knew that they wouldn’t have the courage to address Alya’s issues properly.

Those familiar with my blog will know that I’d been taking negative predictions for future seasons for a while and adding them to cards whenever they were proven right. Does anyone remember the Season 4 predictions that were proven correct for “Gang of Secrets,” specifically these ones?

- “Alya will suddenly be portrayed as a good/worthy friend to Marinette in/if there's an episode where Marinette tells her that she's Ladybug”

- “Alya resisting Shadow Moth/fighting back against him will be used to excuse telling Alya Marinette's secret identity“

- “Alya will know that Marinette is Ladybug first because "BFFs" despite being one of the worst candidates for it“

- “The secret that broke Lukanette up will be resolved in episode 3 when Marinette tells Alya“

Each and every one of those were mine, because I knew that whether Season 4 had a proper chronological order or not, the writers would not have the guts to develop Alya first and then have Marinette tell her in a future episode after Alya has properly earned it.

I knew that they wouldn’t take time to develop Alya. I knew that they would have Alya resist Shadow Moth to make Alya look “worthy” of the secret. I knew that Alya would swoop in during the last minute and a half of an episode, insisting that Marinette “didn’t have to tell her anything” when Alya had been pushy and insistent for the entire rest of the episode and the whole series in general, and would ultimately be rewarded with the big secret simply because she’s “the best friend” and that’s it.

The Alya at the end of the episode isn’t the Alya I’ve known for the entire rest of the series before this, or at the very least they turned her into an Alya I don’t recognize.

Alya claims during the ending scene that she knows that Marinette is hiding something beyond her love problems because she - as a reporter and “her best friend” - can sense such things, and all I’m left wondering is

w h e r e ?

Where and when has Alya been suspicious or worried about Marinette keeping a secret from her? What, back in “The Pharoah” where she didn’t immediately disregard Marinette for the role of Ladybug, or “Simon Says” where she vaguely teased Marinette about having a double life, both Season 1 episodes?

Where was Alya in “Truth” saying that she didn’t know Marinette’s secret but knew that she was keeping one? Where was Alya anywhere in Season 3 being concerned that Marinette hasn’t told her something? Where was this “supposedly very observant” Alya when Marinette needed her to out Lila because Lila got her expelled--oh wait, Alya “observed” that Lila did nothing and Marinette was just jealous.

What, is it only now that Alya suddenly “knows” that Marinette is hiding something else? Now, after Alya has already not known that Marinette was literally dating someone, even when Alya had multiples pictures of Marinette and said someone giving each other heart eyes and saw Marinette leaving school with said someone riding on the same bike together, you know, like normal, typical, average friends would?

Where’s the line where Alya acknowledges the problem? Where’s Alya sitting down with Marinette and admitting, “hey, I’m sorry I haven’t noticed this stuff, but I promise I’ll do better starting right now, and that’s how I know now that you’re hiding something else, and I’m sorry it took me so long to realize that it’s been hurting you”?

I can’t tell you where it is, but I can say that it’s certainly not in this episode. 60% of the episode features the Alya we knew from the rest of the series and then switches her out the second she’s de-akumatized for another Alya who hasn’t done anything that the old one has because she pretends like it didn’t happen.

You know how I know? Because of this absolute gut punch of a line that showed that the series wanted to handwave everything away.

“I know how to keep a secret.”

...Really? Does she now? Well, I hope everyone remembered my point about “Animan” and “The Puppeteer 2,” because I’m bringing it right back.

Considering that “Truth” has been burned into all of our memories, we all definitely remember when Truth shoots Alya and questions her on Marinette’s secret, to which Alya states that Marinette’s secret is, “She’s in love with Adrien Agreste.” Now, at the time of Season 4′s airing, this is very much not a secret, as most characters already knew about Marinette’s crush, to the point where it’d been broadcast on television during Season 2.

But do you know when it was actually a secret? Back in Season 1, specifically in the episode “Animan” where Alya told Nino.

And not only did she tell Nino, but she lied to Marinette by claiming that she didn’t, acting as if Nino knew that Marinette had a crush but didn’t know who she was crushing on, which is then directly proven false as Nino accidentally implies that he does know who it is. This is also after Alya had gotten on Marinette’s case for trying to set her up with Nino, and then she had the gall to say that she wouldn’t spill Marinette’s secret because she, and I quote, “doesn't go around making decisions for other people,“ a statement that is directly contradicted by this little thing known as everything Alya has ever said and done in the entire series.

And while Marinette meddling in Alya’s love life actually ended up working out for Alya, Alya meddling in Marinette’s by telling Nino who Marinette is crushing on comes back to bite Marinette - not Alya (because of course) - in the infamous episode of “The Puppeteer 2,” where Marinette realizes that Alya really did tell Nino that she was crushing on Adrien.

Marinette: You told me you wouldn't tell Nino!

Alya: I haven't told him. Right, Nino? I didn't tell you anything. (elbows him)

Nino: She didn't tell me. And besides, I told her I wouldn't tell.

Then, when she’s called out on it, Alya lies again, and shamelessly so.

Marinette: Why did you tell Nino everything? You promised you wouldn't!

Alya: I didn't, I swear! Besides, even if I had told him everything, he would still be clueless. Ugh, who cares anyway? I've set everything up with Nino, who doesn't know a thing, so you can finally pour your heart out to Adrien, girl!

And now, here we are one season later - and not even half of a season if you go by production code order - and Alya claims that she knows how to keep a secret.

No. No, she does not. In fact, she does even worse because she won’t even admit when she’s spilled said secret. I absolutely refuse to accept that Alya is “worthy” or “deserving” of learning that Marinette is Ladybug when she couldn’t even keep a basic secret like who her friend was crushing on.

And no, it didn’t matter that Nino was her boyfriend, or that maybe she thought it would work out because Nino was friends with Adrien. By that logic, Alya would tell Adrien that Marinette is Ladybug if she heard that Ladybug is who Adrien was crushing on and we all know how that would’ve gone.

Marinette has a right to tell her secret to whoever she wants and I’m glad that a burden has been lifted from her, but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy that it’s Alya. That doesn’t mean I have to be happy that, after so many moments of Alya disrespecting Marinette’s feelings, she is the one who gets to hear the big secret that the fandom has been waiting for someone to find out about since the very start of the series.

Luka said it best in “Truth” that the truth is meant to be shared, not taken by force, but Marinette was forced to tell Alya by the narrative because Alya is her supposed “best friend.” It pushed Marinette to her breaking point, forced her to break up with the guy who has respected her agency and feelings since the day they met, and gave her a version of her “best friend” with the same name and face but with none of the responsibility from previous events so that said version was there at the right time and the right place to hear what had to be heard.

And in the end, I end up feeling nothing. Marinette doesn’t even have a “Marinette” reaction to saying it as one would expect; for her to blurt it out and then immediately start panicking until Alya hugs her to calm her down. Instead, Marinette just says it and stares silently at Alya - after blabbing this huge, very big deal of a secret - until Alya goes in for a hug (the “happy/hopeful” ending of which is why I feel like this episode also gets less flak, as the previous two ended off rather depressing/upsetting).

It’s off. Everything is off. The pacing, the delivery, and the logic that the episode uses. The emotion in Marinette’s voice when she’s rambling about how hard it is to keep her secret is so powerful, but then the ending hits and she just says it, breaking the momentum they had going. They pulled the card of Alya walking away too soon when they could’ve saved it, having Marinette go quiet and letting Alya take a few steps away in order to let the moment build before Marinette finally blurts out the secret she’s been painfully holding in.

But they didn’t, and I’m so many levels of dissatisfied. I wasn’t against the idea of Alya learning Marinette’s secret at some point (though honestly, Alix would’ve been a better pick considering that Bunnyx will know eventually anyway, and I say that not even liking Alix!), but not now; not when Alya had so much to work towards.

And now what? What happens now? Now Alya will turn against Lila, not because she learned to have faith and believe in Marinette, but because Marinette is Ladybug, which disproves Lila’s ultimate lie that got Alya’s attention in the first place? Now Alya will be supportive and less teasing/mocking whenever Marinette will be late, not because she understands that Marinette isn’t perfect and has so many other things on her mind, but because she’s Ladybug and has “hero stuff” to take care of? Now Alya will be careful about what she puts on the LadyBlog, not because she respected Ladybug and what Ladybug would want, but because Ladybug is now her best friend and that changes everything?

Because now, Alya has a free pass to all of that, the show making her spontaneously “developed” now so they won’t have to develop her later, and disappointing doesn’t even begin to describe it.

#category: salt #episode: Gang of Secrets #other: ml spoilers #category: long post #word count: over 7000 #other: ask and answer #((I know this is long so I did what I did in ''The Puppeteer 2'' where I had pictures to break it up.))

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permafusion-stevonnie · 3 years

Photo

So this idea isn’t leaving my head. While I’m not going to get it started for now, since I want to concentrate on my current Stevonnie comic, ideas are still ticking away and I just really wanted to draw this cover for the idea.

Maybe I’ll get its own page started in time. I’ll let you know if I do. But even if I did, I wouldn’t expect regular updates to it, not while I’m working on Together Forever.

I want to quickly say something that I think some people may have gotten confused about when I was talking about the Fallout Universe before:

Crystal Gems are still called Crystal Gems, but their role is similar, but not the same as the Brotherhood of Steel. In that they are isolationists, who will try to protect humanity from dangerous gem technology, and corrupted gems. they aren’t bothered with human mutants, human problems, or human technology. But I feel that, ove time, Steven will help their character growth away from this and help them, at least, start opening up to the local comminuty and helping where they can.

Homeworld Authority is still called Homeworld, or The Authority, but take on a similar role to the Enclave. They view themselves as the rightful masters of earth and they’re automatically more superior to any other lifeform by birthright.

I have been thinking over what could have occurred to create this world, how’s this for a (work in progress) backstory: (ended up a lot longer than I thought it would, so I’m space saving by putting in this break)

The Gem colonisation of earth happened later than it did in canon. A couple of thousand years, maybe. Unlike the 6000 years ago in canon, it was perhaps 5000, or maybe 4000 years ago. Enough for a bigger human civilisation to take part in the gem war for earth.

Pink still gets her colony started, still changes her mind about it, and finally chooses to become Rose Quartz to lead the rebellion. I think the human zoo will still be made, because I like the idea of that being around to give a mash-up of the human zoo and the mother ship zeta dlc from Fallout 3.

What really diverges from the timeline is when the rebellion starts fighting back with larger groups of human allies. 4000 (or 5000) years ago we are talking some good military strategies, chariots, bows and arrows, cavalries and tactics, etc. Some research will be needed to really flesh out the lore.

Homeworld, facing a bigger threat than a hundred or so rebels, puts a little more effort into research and development of newer technologies to counteract the human strategies. Nothing develops technologies quite like war.

Rose and the others start capturing some technologies from Homeworld and start studying them to not only understand them, but even attempting to reverse engineer them. They obviously won’t be able to replicate the weapons in form, but hope to do so in function.

This is where Scribes would come in for the Crystal Gems are the replacement for the Brotherhood of Steel that I’ve talked about before. Some Gems and some clever humans, would dedicate themselves to trying to understand the newer Gem technology they’re starting to see.

With inventive people like Bismuth to build their own version of it.

The actual Gem Technology will be locked away in the temple- or whatever name I may give it- but the remake versions that the Crystal Gems turn out will be spread far and wide.

I’m just thinking off the top of my head, but it’d be like- if they tried to make their own version of the gem destabiliser, it would be like a giant tuning fork hooked up to something similar to a large Baghdad Battery (google it, it’s kinda cool) that they would carry in a backpack.

The war would carry on like that, with Homeworld making new tech to combat the threat, sooner or later the rebellion captures some, they make their own version of it, and Homeworld makes new tech to combat the threat.

This drain on resources does take its toll on Homeworld though, and their war against earth is perhaps much shorter, between 300 and 800 years, I haven’t decided yet.

Things do play out similar to canon though. Homeworld decides to abandon earth as a lost cause, implant the Cluster so they’ll get something out of the deal and the three Diamonds blast the earth with their powers as a final middle finger to the rebels.

Gems are destroyed, except for the original Crystal Gems, and Bismuth! Canon Bismuth made a lot of regular weapons and armour and the rebellion was still losing. She was driven to making the Breaking Point because she didn’t think they had a chance of winning any other way. In this new canon, however, because Bismuth was working on newer and newer weapons all the time, each one she was confident would help turn the tide of the war, she never had chance to work on the ultimate weapon of the Breaking Point. She may have designed it, or may have the idea kicking around the back of her mind, but never got around to building it.

Rose does her thing of finding somewhere isolated to live in both peace and regret for the war. This is where the Crystal Gems become isolationists

With the Gems gone, humans are left to their own devices with all this more advanced technology than they should have in this point in history. Tech continues to develop with this head start.

Fast forward to the year 1929 and people are living lives as you’d see in the Fallout universe in the 2070′s. Nuclear fulled cars, robot assistants, laser rifles and power armour and all that other stuff.

The reason I chose 1929 is two-fold. The first Fallout game was set 84 years after the nuclear war, and 84 years after 1929 is the year 2013; the year Steven Universe first aired.

The failing of the world is the same reason the Fallout universe failed. Resources started to become scarce, wars started over what remained and the whole thing was escalated by a race that may have been too young to fully understand the forces they were really dealing with, having come a long way, but still too fast, thanks to the ancient interference.

Nuclear hellfire rained down and some people took their shelter in the vaults, while everyone else had to find ways to survive outside.

Rose and the Gems stick to their isolation as humanity all but wipes itself out. Rose is heartbroken to see the beautiful world that she fought so hard for, so easily destroyed. There can be a lot to explore there. Maybe Rose will leave the group, maybe she’ll just wander off and be alone a lot but still return to the temple eventually. I haven’t decided yet.

Perhaps all the gems will have some additional guilt, knowing that their old tech is what pushed humanity so far so fast.

Fast forward 70 years and Rose meets a travelling wastelander named Greg. They fall in love. I’m not going to go into a lot of detail here mostly because I haven’t really thought too much about it, but partly because I know I want it to be explored within the story itself to show how different from canon it would be. Not just the flashback elements from “Story for Steven,” and "We Need to Talk," with a Fallout flair. I want to work out some other nice adventures to bring them together.

Rose and Greg come back to Beach City with Rose expecting their baby.

Steven is born and the Gems immediately take custody, with the logic that their secure base is a better place for Steven to grow up than the harsh wasteland. Greg is allowed to visit as often as he likes, but not stay there. Nor is Steven allowed off the base. They want to protect the legacy of their leader, Rose.

I’m going to say that Steven starts showing hints of Gem powers around 10 years old. Nothing he can control. Perhaps his Gem glows when he’s really happy, if he falls down some steps his bubble forms but immediately pops so it’s just enough to save him from injury. Little things like that.

But this serves as a point where The Gems start “encouraging” Greg to visit less and leave the raising of Steven to them, as his upbringing has now become “Gem Business”

Steven may have snuck off the base once or twice to see the world beyond the base, but after this he’ll do it a lot more often to see his dad and the Beach City settlement.

I think Bismuth suspects he sneaks off but both can’t prove it, and doesn’t want to try and prove it, Garnet knows but says nothing, both of them are letting Steven have his fun, and Pearl has no idea he does it.

Amethyst is not part of the group in the beginning, she’s out as part of a raider gang somewhere. Thank you to theyarheeguy for giving me that idea, and many others, to work with.

A total of 84 years after the bombs dropped, Steven is now 12 years old, sneaking off the base for another visit to town, when he spots a pretty young girl dressed in a strange blue jumpsuit, emerging from a hidden trapdoor that was underneath the old Beach City water-tower.

Steven is 12 because I believe that’s how old he was when the show started. Based on the timeline, the passing of the seasons and so on, he has to have a 13th birthday that we don’t see on screen, before we do see his 14th birthday.

#art #my art #cover #fallout #Fallout AU #Steven Universe AU #long post #lore dump #work in progress #wip

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