#i change my ideas or scrap them completely all the time disclaimer
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my jj carey cinematic universe kinda chronological idea posting its still super rough GO
elephant wrote in the Carey chapter of lesson plans that peppa and jj were pen pals :3 i think they have an age gap of like 9 years lmao -looks away- (((((chakotay and janeway have the same gap leave me alone lmao)))))) but theyd be like 5 and 14 i think? i figured thatd be how they communicate through their earlier life,,,
maybe peppa would accompany her mother during the Widow’s Walk lil short story about kathryn meeting Joe’s wife and their two sons to bestow the medal of honor or whatever and gives JJ his father’s model of voyager :)
i figure theyd remain distant for a while after that for a variety of reasons like hes grieving his father, probably enters the academy as a promising cadet, idk when hed drop out/leave tbh but it comes as a shock to everyone. anyway also peppa’s mom dies and they go space for several years. i figure theyre both busy being in school/living life to interact much. i thought like maaaaaybeeeee he and patrick (or just jj) would reach out to the triplets when their mother died but i dont think philippa especially would receive it well. shes bad with her feelings and her papa left or was in the process of leaving also lol WHOOPS
might be some time inbetween when they connect but its always brief and very platonic just friends catching up in vibe. put a pin in that one lolllll,,,,,, otherwise:
i was thiiiiinking theyd reconvene at a voyager 20 year reunion? (the 10 year i think lands when theyre out in space!) so shed be around 25 and hed be 34? 🤔 when theyre both adults by that point i think, reconnect out by a fountain. theyd get to talk about what all has happened in their lives, its a little bit of an escape for philippa from the party, shes surprised hes even here considering. very likely his mother and brother didnt come. maybe hed ask about her scar, OR NOT, maybe she brings it up hehe,,,,,, is vulnerable about how insecure she feels about her appearance and hed say something sweet back. :) maybe be a little cheeky about how he loves seeing her patterns more visibly in that revealing of a dress shes wearing!!! 🙈 in a polite way. shed maybe finally have the time to ask why he dropped out of starfleet, shed talk about her own career (idk if 25 is still academy age…) stuff like that!!! but i figure they pick up pen paling each other again after this!!!! bc shes on starships now and hes either home or visiting planets for work.
figure they hang out sometimes while she has time inbetween missions. hes a bit of a geek/nerd combo, she complains about her family a lot with him, she asks him about his projects, stuff she doesnt understand but he lights up about it in a way she maybe envies she wishes she had his passion about something. she visits his house in ireland a lot and has a foundation of fondness toward the country ingrained in her from her mother. ummmm maybe she has an apartment in san Francisco, but she stays over there sometimes to get away from her work. potentially hes the one she confides in about what shes seen and done. 🤷
next thing that happens thats kinda Altering the norm for them is that philippa’s captain betrays starfleet and shes ordered into extended medical leave after being forcefully augmented by her captain. i gotta mention like, philippa and captain sh'eraz have been working together for a bit, their last mission as a captain and XO was to retrieve this lost/dead warship aka the Vesuvius that was stolen by augments early on into starfleet's history and subsequently altered/enhanced. it's kinda a lost relic of a ship, but its augmentations have been a quiet looming threat that starfleet has wanted to obtain and CONTAIN.
but captain sh'eraz augments philippa before escaping capture. (shes either like, with some augments or romulans or something idk yet lol) ANYWAY philippa cant go to Jace during this time bc her augmented and in general thoughts are exceptionally difficult to be around as a telepath, her family isnt an option for her (stubborn?? theyre overwhelmjng to her and shes like, augmented and lashes out and keeps crying all the time, she doesnt want anyone to see her in this state tbh) i think shed end up going to JJ’s for a bit and he offers to take her off world to the planet he’s doing engineering work on. its swampy kinda similar to the planet she was born on. it takes her some time to come to terms with her circumstances, she may never get better, she may be stuck like this and never be allowed back into starfleet, and i think jj would help her with maybe seeing a bigger picture of helping people or something idk. her augmented brain for a while kinda has a knack for equations and blue printing and problem solving so they work on engineering jobs together that shed never have been able to have helped on prior to the augmentation. i figure she gradually learns to relax and let her body heal, eventuslly she starts regressing both mentally and physically back into her old state. like to think she picks up swimming as a hobby, something she never indulged all too frequently before, but shes getting more in touch with her amphibious tendencies while here. eventually they finish their work on the planet and go back, and philippa continues her recovery on earth.
for a time she’s still not 100% back to recovery but shes calmed down and she sees her family and can manage seeing jace now without being mentally A LOT for her betazoid friend. i figure around this time, kathryn is sticking her nose in the revival project for the Vesuvius (or maybe overseeing it?) which is the ancient starship philippa retrieved. thought that she might discreetly recruit JJ to work on the project, not disclosing anything to philippa though. reasoning behind why he gets involved being his experience working with older dated systems and starships, theyre trying to figure out how to deal with the augmentations built into the old ship.
EVENTUALLY, revival project finishes, peppa's probably tried to squeeze information out of her mother and friend for a while but it hasnt worked. Philippa returns to starfleet after her extended medical leave and gets promoted to captain and given the Vesuvius as a new experimental ship, the Legacy.
JJ is given a field commission for a bit, im thinking lieutenant? 🤔 aboard the Legacy to make sure the transition is seamless and nothing breaks, so him and philippa get some time to actually work together in starfleet. :) their overarching goal is to find and aprehend captain sh’eraz but as is the case with most starfleet things, they get caught up in side quests along the way lol. one thing of note for me during this time is like, the Legacy is full of surprises, things missed in its inspection and revival process. philippa had a weeeird intuitive knack for dealing with the augmented stuff on the ship, likely a phantom limb type vibe from her augmentation. she tries to play it down how instinctively she knows how things should work, likely confides in JJ that its something shes dealing with and playing down. as the chief engineer(?) he can kinda go with it, but theyre very “need to know” with each other about the augment stuff. i can imagine a lot of their adventures involve the Legacy doing something augmented and weird and unpredictable and them trying to figure out what its trying to do or tell them.
i dont know if hed still be around by the time philippa is confronting/pursuing her ex-captain, maybe they get the hang of the Legacy eventually and he goes home, new chief engineer comes on in his stead. i kinda want ummmm philippa alone and a little wet cat a and a little obsessed with her mission without much support surrounding her. :3c i also just think theyd pick up writing to each other again and shed miss having him around, so it gives room for THAT. but moidrah sh’eraz gets either captured or killed (idk whats more poignant yet lol) and i think its be traumatic and shes return home to earth and MAYBE see jj and be defeated and cry about it lalala its vague in my head rn.
lifes goes on, hes still doing civil engineer things, shes still captaining the Legacy,,,,, ummmmmm they maybe sleep together one time and MAYBE she gets pregnant…… im still so iffy on that one lmao go read this post for this mess of an idea involving how philipp maybe gets TWO kids 🙈
figurrreeeee not long after THAT ^^^^^ she passes on the Legacy to a new captain and is given command of a galaxy class ship (maybe the Elysium??????) which she never thought shed see herself captaining lmao. idk if those classes are still around for families,,,,,, but i figure shed do something way less dangerous and slower while shes ummmmm maybe pregnant and raising a weird moth alien baby. with jj maybe hahaha. theyre figuring it out THIS AREAS STILL ROUGH FOR ME GET BACK TO ME ON IT LOLOLOL. whether or not hes field commissioned again idk!!! maybe hes training engineers 🤷
but thats all i got so far hahaha :)
#i change my ideas or scrap them completely all the time disclaimer#enjoy the word vomit lmao#threshold au
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For even more context, ACOTAR, ACOTAR 2, and half of ACOTAR 3 were all written consecutively in 2014. That series was very different than the actual published series as SJM said Rhys was initially a villain and there would’ve been a love triangle between Tamlin, Feyre, and Rhys (which many readers speculate would’ve ended with Feylin endgame regardless of whether Feyre and Rhys were mates in that original). Later before publishing, she went back to tweak ACOTAR. This is where many of us speculate she rewrote the second half (starting with Calanmai, onward) since it’s so vastly different from the first half and also added in the whole painted dresser thing but forgot to change… well everything else. To further this speculation, in SJM’s own words, she said she had to add Rhys in earlier. (She never specified if earlier meant earlier in the first book or earlier as in adding him into the first book where in the original he would’ve appeared in the second, maybe even third book, but many of us assume it’s the latter since you can take him out of his scenes in ACOTAR and they would work just fine with other characters in his place.) She scrapped ACOTAR 2 and that half ACOTAR 3 to write ACOMAF and ACOWAR.
(Disclaimer: SJM does like to always say she had always planned on Feyre and Rhys, probably because it sounds cooler and more soulmatey, but not only does canon (aka book 1) completely contradict that, many of her earlier interviews (that have suspiciously become difficult to find) tell a very different story about her writing. Like the fact that she’s mentioned many times that she doesn’t outline and she “lets her characters taker her where they feel like it” but that she has vague beginnings and endings and musical outlines. Or that she’s mentioned while writing the published version of her first series, while writing what was supposed to be the third and final book in the series she changed her mind about the endgame and having to change the ending of the series, multiple times, in order to make that endgame possible as it didn’t work with what she originally set up, thereby extending the series. She also mentioned that in that very same book two characters just walked into her head while writing it, meaning she didn’t plan on having them, so there was no way to foreshadow them in the previous two books as fans like to claim. So…)
Oh god it makes my head hurt.
It is so disorganized and vague that it makes it impossible to judge the characters without considering Maas’s clumsy handling of her narrative. Whenever I try to approach the issue I’m constantly thinking “How seriously should I take this characterization? How much weight should I give to this information that is contradicted later on?” because Maas is so fickle with her characters and narrative. Like you said, there are many readers that claim that Maas had a plan all along and seem to hold the belief that they alone can comprehend the complexities of her writing when really the writing in question is just…bad.
Her foreshadowing (if you can even call it that) is merely what she wrote when she had her first idea of what the story would be and her follow-through is her retroactively modifying her narrative to make it fit. To put it plainly, any foreshadowing Maas does is weak and feeble because it is consistently overpowered by her poor planning and conflicting ideas. All of her contradictory additions exist for one reason: to disguise the fact that she has plan and makes narrative decision on whims. Most notably, Rhysand and Tamlin are great examples of this because of how obvious Maas is in her defanging and rehabilitation of Rhysand coupled with her questionable writing decisions for Tamlin. She changes her mind by partway through her story and veers off in an entirely different direction, resulting in her readers being subjected to chapters and chapters of inane explanations and retroactive continuity. Hence, why Maas frames certain character decisions as sudden “realizations” and “epiphanies” meant to recontextualize previous events but are really just her scrambling to make her favourite pairing endgame as quickly as possible. It’s lazy, choppy and insulting to the reader.
It makes ACOMAF an extremely tiresome book because of how insistent Maas is with her newly decided characterizations. Suddenly Rhysand’s is a righteous and noble prince who only ever wanted to protect people and loses any edge he had in ACOTAR. Suddenly Tamlin is obsessed with respecting tradition and customs despite his stated aversion to it previously. While I can see what Maas was trying to do with the two of them, her lack of foreshadowing ruins my suspension of disbelief and creates a jarring shift in the story that never truly feels earned. To claim that Maas thoroughly planned these books would be generous.
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Hermitopia AU Masterpost 2 [COMPLETE]
Ah yes, the most magical time of any community AU - the time when the first masterpost (here) gets so long that Tumblr crashes my device when I try to edit it. Therefore: Masterpost number two! The asks will continue where the first post left off, and all helpful links from the first one (including art and writing links and the discord invite) will be copied over.
Please read before submitting:
Premise and rules
Summary post 1 - Starting positions and powers (based on Day 1 submissions)
Summary post 2 - Interpersonal connections (based on Day 1 and 2 submissions)
Conclusion
(Disclaimer/PSA: All points are asks contributed by the community, the mods take no credit for the ideas within them)
If you would like specific credit in the masterpost, please sign within the text of the ask! (A dash and a signature at the end should do.) Asks not signed will be treated as anonymous.
Asks:
- (copied ask) [summarized mod comment]
- hermitopia xisuma is employed as a Superpower Janitor. he cleans up any mess (debris, rubbles, magical materials, broken weapons) made as a result from fights between the superpowers. he might be the head of the damage control crew, or just simply part of the cleaning team! [That's why Void chose him as a host: he's close enough to superpowered events to know some useful information, but not close enough to raise suspicion. All it took was posing as a part of the damage and waiting for someone to try and clean up the puddle of nothingness gathered on the ground...and Void was bonded. Xisuma barely remembers the day, one of many jobs in a long and strangely tiring week. He has no idea that that single decision changed everything.]
- Maybe Ren and Stress were friends before. Maybe when Ren, Stress, and Iskall were walking through the woods to visit their small meadow filled with wild flowers, the group was attacked. Maybe as the wolf turned Ren, something turned Stress to Stress Monster. Maybe this is why Ren thinks Stress is dead, as a rampaging monster chased after him and Iskall. Maybe Stress and Ren meet again, at the meadow in the woods. Maybe it's where Ren lives now, as a hippie, to calm the wolf within. [Maybe that little peaceful cabin is where Ren had taken up residence, before he ran out of supplies and got the nerve to return to the city. Maybe, with luck...he can return to it and still be happy, after this is all over.]
- (hermitopia) The last Grian clone made was never finished, and was kept in stasis. Keyword being was. After the success of the animal communication project, Concorp decided to try fungi next. Needless to say, that project was scrapped. And now there is another Grian clone on the loose, being piloted by sentient fungi and with revolution on the mind. - SilverWolf53 [codenamed Mother Spore]
- VEX is probably started as a passion project Cub begged the higher ups to let him run. He knows it can do good things, and it does do good things, it's just... it's not that easy, it's hard and complicated and it should work but it doesn't and its hurt people, he gets it, he'd be angry if he were them too, but they can't just take that anger out on the city. Its fixable right? Or at least it can be made more manageable? He can help, he's got to.
- [long note inspired by general lack of Cub content] The failures are an outlier. That's what he told his superiors, and for the first few reports, it was the truth! The accidents were few, crime rates were near nonexistent, all of his achingly long nights of research had payed off and finally, finally, his dream was becoming a reality. Cub was saving the world with science, just as he always knew he would. He doesn't know how it could have all gone so wrong, so quickly...but his mind is still fresh with the sweetness of those early successes, and no matter how many experiments fail, he cannot let his life's work crumble around him, not after how far he's come, how high humanity has risen above their limitations due to his contributions. He HAS to keep holding it together. He can't lose funding from his superiors, not now, not when he's come so far. The failures are still an outlier if they never go on record, if they can be explained away. The successes are still the majority if he highlights them, pushes them to the forefront. Project VEX is working. He is making this city a better place. He is making the world a better place. He has to be. He has to keep hoping. To lose hope in a better future, hope in humanity...to him, it would be worse than death. So, he. Will. Make. It. Work. He must.
- After Keralis had kicked the ass of the low life villain who was terrorizing his friends shop, the cashier on duty gave him a quarter priced drink and two free cake pops because of his help. Keralis didn't understand what the big deal was, he just knew that the idiot was messing with his friend and he's a hero. It's his job to help!
- The magic rocks the grian clones have gotten hold of aren't actually magic or rocks- they were recovered from a crash site a little way out of the city- the limited examination concorp managed prior to their theft revealed that they were acting as power sources prior to the crash. Closer examination would have told them the power sources were more than a little unstable [Whether that instability transferred to the clones when the rocks were used in the experiment, or whether Grian just naturally is That Chaotic...well, they're not sure. Either way, the Grian clones are quite the handful!]
- Lots of groups are in contact with Etho. Few if any know that Etho is more then the single masked guy the speak with.When dealing with others, Etho gets a new costume (any masked character will do) for that contact. He even switches up his body language to make his true nature harder to pin down. This means any one of him can put themselves in ridiculous situations without being traced back to the Hive.(Kakashi is the costume for directly challenging concorp. It's the one that has bounty. An Etho with unbleached hair, meanwhile, can team up with those same bounty hunters and leave them none the wiser.)~DragonKay
- Dead Ringer - Joe Hills' covert shift into action
- I’m not sure if you watch if you watch Stress’s streams, but I propose the Stress Monster looks like the ‘stream starting’ icon. Horns, fluffy pink fur, an underbite with sharp teeth, the works. If she wasn’t a villain ConCorp would be releasing her as a marketable plushie
- Xisuma hasn't been getting much rest lately. He's been sleeping, sure, but he doesn't feel rested. Some mornings he wakes up feeling like he's just run a marathon. He's pretty sure his job isn't that intensive [Xisuma assumes he is just more stressed than he thought and tries to combat the effect by doubling down on his already extensive self care and wellness routine]
- For Beef, the thing that convinces him Impulse can be trusted is a series of quiet moments between team ZIT. The soft humanity of those scenes shows Impulse's true values -- he's not for Concorp.Those moments are incredibly personal. Impulse wouldn't be happy to know someone outside his squad had heard about them, let alone seen them~DragonKay
- More Vinedubs
- Cleo isn't often allowed to cook anymore, overhealing can either go really right or really wrong when surrounded by animal products (it went really badly)
- Cleo's thoughts on Dead Ringer
- hermitopia - I think it'd be funny if mumbo didn't have any (big) powers at all . he's literally just some guy, but rumours got out that he has some kind of electricity- or metal-based power, considering his prowess with impossible machines in reality, he's just a bit of a nerd - before the grian escape debacle, they'd design machines n stuff together, so some of his more off-topic ideas are old memories coming to the surface. he can never remember why, but he finds himself fascinated by birds in flight (the higher-ups who remember grian aren't big on the similarities, so they almost always get scrapped. however, every now and then a 'lost' design shows up on mumbos work area, along with a feather)-gin
- Hermitopia!Stress once had a battle with a villain near a university that was having finals week. It took Cleo three hours to calm her down enough to turn her back to normal after absorbing all that stress. -lechairpourriedegrianri
- inspired by the wormman ask: “worm” is short for “wormhole”. it’s part of zedaph’s skill set, something he later retired because of its limited practical uses. - @guster-animations [The wormholes are a consequence of high gravity similar to that of a black hole, but Zed's uncertainty as to whether or not he can find his way out of one has kept him from using the power in recent years (probably for the best)]
- Xisuma has been having nightmares lately. Horrible ones, vaguely bloody and ones where he isn’t in control of his body. Occasionally he’ll see faces like Keralis or Impulse, but they’re blurry and smudged, and Xisuma barely recognizes them through the dreamlike haze of hatred he feels. He wakes up exhausted, sheets thrown across the bed- and occasionally he wakes standing in the doorway.
- X wears one of those fitness watches that tell you your heart rate- he’s very confused by the fact his heart rate is at a running pace when he’s sleeping. It would maybe explain his strange nightmares he’s been getting... [Xisuma is still largely considering this to be a health issue, but he is beginning to worry in the back of his mind about possible unnatural sources related to his line of work]
- Jessassin was given enhanced senses by concorp and was supposed to be a last case scenario for ‘disposing’ of failed experiments. A couple of years ago he escaped though, he became sick of being trained and going over different ways he could kill different hero’s should they go rouge and he disappeared off the map. Nobody is quite sure where he is, most assume he left the city completely, but there are days when you might see a flash of black fabric but it couldn’t be, right?
- (paraphrased to avoid formatting issues) what if the unnamed bakery owner that Keralis saved is a former Hermit, maybe even one from season 1?
- Fluffy bits and pieces from various points in the timeline
- hermitopia au: helsknight has tried a bit of cloning science in an attempt to replicate some of the hermits powers. so far, he has only tried this with xisuma, but the void's powers were too chaotic to ever clone. it seems he'll have to try again some other time, but not for a while.
- soft zit time) every once in a while, team zit gets a couple of days off to let the ungraduated heroes have some practice on real criminals since they usually do most of the crime-fighting. they usually go camping. they pitch a tent and play board games, tango makes s’mores, it’s an all-around fun time - @guster-animations
- Doc cant go out in the streets. The civilian streets. But theres a whole underground of those wronged by concorp, the doors to this are hidden and it looks like a sewer at first. People would obviously report a giant scary monster but thosw with more shady dealings would go under. [The underground is in tunnels below the sewers that connect the whole city. Doc made a conspiracy about monsters in the sewers to keep unwanted hands away.]
- Team ZIT sometimes stop to sign autographs for starstruck kiddos during quieter patrols
- One time, Impulse volunteered to go on a field trip into some unstable mines with students. And, as mines are, they kinda...collapsed. Impulse spent hours using his powers to make barriers to hold the rocks up so they wouldn't crush the kids and teachers. Us went almost 24 hours without rest, and had a teacher use his communicator to call Zed and Tango. He definetly was coddled afterwards, and this was a testimate to what Impulse is truly capable of if he really puts his mind to it.
- Others occasionally question why Wels relies on technology rather than getting a superpower; well it turns out that for some reason his DNA just does not agree with the mutant technology and the process went horribly wrong. ConCorp’s lucky that he participated in the cloning program before going through the procedure. Convincing the clone that he was the original Welsknight was the easy part; making sure that Cub doesn’t find out about what happened is the hard part. Whether the original Welsknight is dead or being held for testing elsewhere is unknown. -lechairpourriedegrianri [So Welsknight is the clone, and the original was corrupted by a later experiment and transformed into Helsknight...who must have escaped from wherever they were holding him, and is now roaming the streets. Cub assigned Wels to hunt him down or at least protect the public from him, but Cub still thinks Wels is the original, having no idea the extent of his subordinates' failure on the project...so the important question then is...who DOES know?]
- (paraphrased) Joe and xB end up friends, method of meeting currently unknown but soon to be submitted
- Iskall had two hits on Grian. The first had Iskall fall into Grian's lava trap, which he had to admit was pretty smart, was the closest Mumbo has ever gotten to figuring out what Iskall was doing. The second had Grian laying out another trap. Iskall was humiliated throughout the company, and he took a month-long leave. Good thing Iskall's lavaproof, or he would have been toast. [The damage to Iskall's prosthesis was too extensive for the explanation given to Mumbo, who is now beginning to suspect that Iskall's case is more than it appears to be]
- Occasionally, Bdubs and Cleo will team up. It's not massively common, because Cleo tends to butt heads with Doc while Bdubs is extremely loyal to the NHO, but when left to their own devices together they'll get the job done. As it turns out, overhealed vines? Are terrifying. Effective. But terrifying. [The technique is dangerous if uncontrolled, and Doc made them both promise to stop using it for their own safety, but neither of them really plan on stopping]
- Beetlejhost is from an alternate timeline (not to be confused with an alternate dimension or universe) where Team ZIT went rogue sometime during their VEX training. They never graduated, and Wormman never evolved. As such, Joe was able to copy his ability to create wormholes and travel to different timelines of his universe, taking on a mischievous, ghost-like persona. - @guster-animations
- When Hypno modifies people's vision, their perception of the world has the slightest color shift. It's not noticeable to the naked eye; but enough times affected while wearing a helmet made to notice the smallest changes in the world around you, one might start to notice a pattern. Impulse keeps the glass from his old suit over his eyes at all times, fearful that his vision will turn ever so slightly more yellow, and this time, he won't notice. -color anon [Impulse has created a pair of yellow tinted glasses to wear while in civilian clothes, in addition to keeping his regular suit for battles. He is hesitant or unable to go long without wearing either for fear of further illusion trickery.]
- Biffa
- (paraphrased) Xisuma knows that Biffa is an escaped Concorp AI, or at the very least that he's not human. They are friends. It is unclear yet how X (who is still a civilian as far as he's aware) came to know this information.
- Cub thinks that he doesn’t have powers, but he does. After years of being surrounded by these chemicals and mutations, you can’t just escape them. [Cub is a catalyst. After so many years of being adjacent to the development of superhumans, his body has adjusted to the strange and unpredictable factors that surround it constantly. He's built up a defensive reaction that absorbs those frequencies, learning to detect them like an immune system would a virus, before passing that low-level energy back to its source even stronger than before. This passive ability means that when heroes are around Cub, their powers are noticably more reliable, stronger, more effective and less risky to use than ever before.... ....But Cub hasn't realized that yet. Maybe, this is why he believes so strongly in his little project. Why he continues to believe the results are steadily improving...even when it all goes haywire more often than not. Because during his inspections, during all of his testing, all of the evidence suggests that his dream IS working...but it all goes wrong as soon as he leaves the room....]
- Okay, with Cub's ability to make near by hero powers more reliable, stronger, more effective and less risky to use, does that mean if a hero attempts to attack, capture, or kill him, would they have an easier time doing so cause he's giving them a free boost? [Ironically, yes, but he is also unintentionally boosting any Concorp heroes guarding him. In order to properly exploit this advantage, he would have to be attacked at a time and place where backup is unavailable - a difficult corner to work the head of the VEX project itself into, but not an impossible one. He is his own best defense, and his own greatest weakness. Poetic, really.]
- Team ZIT fluff
- Ooh the way you described Cub's ability made me wonder if he's actually immune to any powers like obviously he's not immune to StressMonster punching him through 7 buildings, but powers like Cleo's which directly affect the target's body would he just filter out the energy flowing through him and not be affected [The basic answer is, if the power user chooses to stop trying when it doesn't work after a few seconds, Cub is effectively immune. If they don't give up, it turns into one big feedback loop which just gathers momentum until one of them gives, and the result of that give will not be insignificant. The more in depth answer is here.]
- Void thinks he and the Stress Monster could be the best of friends! Perhaps the situation is a little different, but they’re both creatures that take over the body, both rage fueled, both absolutely adorable; why wouldn’t they end up as friends?!
- Back with the Jevin headcanons (idk why but here we are) anyways so eventually Jevin fully turns into the blue slime thing and spends a lot of time alone getting used to his new body. Sticking to things, accidentally absorbing stuff, as well as the issue of actually living. He doesn't really have organs anymore now, so he's pretty clueless. Curiosity gets the better of him and he seeks out the mutant goop to see if he can do some research. All while staying "off the grid". - Starseeker [I can totally see him adopting the mutant gloop, like some sort of a weird goldfish. A little bit resentful of it for kick starting his weird turn in life, but connected to it, all the same. I think he'll take good care of it.]
- Tango fluff and angst
- What xB wants most of all is to be human. That's it, plain and simple. He has the sentience, he just lacks the capacity to feel emotions. It's one night when he's particularly unsure of his standing in the world that he realizes what he can do--online, with another alias, nobody will ever know that he's not human. Nobody will treat him like a machine. And it's there, online, anonymous, that he meets Joe, who's trying to learn more about each hero's powers in order to replicate them. [They meet on a superhero fan forum, Joe notices that xB's way of speaking is a little odd but accepts it as a quirk of an internet stranger instead of a sign of artificial intelligence]
- Zedaph has really only ever interacted with Grian once. It wasn't really an interaction though. They saw eachother and Grian sprinted before ether could get a word out.
- False keeps her mercenary and personal lives very very separate, so that none who track the mercenary discover her family. But she does have some family and friends, they just don't know she's False the mercenary. Civilian!False is friends with Cleo, Stress, Xisuma, and Ren, and is somewhere between friends and friendly rivals with Tango. Cleo and Stress are her closest friends, with Xisuma in a close second, and Ren is a new acquaintance. False still isn't particularly close to any of them tho [Civilian!False is a lawyer. It gives her an excuse to be "out of town" on cases most of the time, as well as explaining the good amount of extra income she sometimes has kicking around.]
- So xB has contact with Joe and keeps him updated on the powers of the new heroes... But while xB does that there's one part of it?him? that's questioning if this contact should be extended to first hand access (possible since xB is basically the only security system concorp has) or if it should find out where Joe is and tell the superiors... Whatever it's trying to do it's going to keep this contact like it is for now [xB is now locked in an infinite moral dilemma in the background of his processes]
- With being superheros, Team zit would feel pretty achy and tired a lot so it makes it pretty hard for them to tell that one of falling ill until it gets bad like, "oh its a headache thats fine, cant let a headache stop me from saving people" to "oh, i cant get out of bed because everything hurts and i feel nauseous? still gonna get up" they all do this so its pretty hypocritical for them to scold another for getting ill and not taking a break. They're pretty pressured to fight evil when they are some of the few employed by the government. With tangos capabilities to black out under stress or strain and some illness limiting his power it might make it pretty difficult and he has to be dragged out of the fight before he gets hurt. This does queue the sick team member to get lots of rest and cared by the rest of the team. And i feel like even rouge impulse would come to see a sick tango or zed. It's worth the risk to make sure they're gonna be okay and recover and have some of his lovely soup! But also get told off because he could have hit one of them :(
- For someone trying to avoid a lot of stress, Stress should not be working in retail during civilian hours. Cleo holds a favor from Etho, though, and several of the hivemind are out job scouting for Stress now
- What if, Hypno himself was....hypnotized? Like, it could exsplain his namesake, as it could just be a code for a project or exsperiment? Maybe Hypno himself is stuck mentally, that way Scar and Cub always have him....... [I think he sort of did it to himself, in a way, without noticing it. Just a few small illusions here and there to make his work more enjoyable - making the break room more comfortable, the tone of voice of his orders slightly more friendly, erasing the fear from the eyes of the people Cub and Scar confront when it starts to bother him.... He loves his job. He always has, and probably, he always will. ....He just doesn't quite have the same job he's convinced himself he does anymore.]
- Poultry Man isn't a clone. It really is Grian. When you're a vigilante that does very strange things, it's easy to gather info about your clone's whereabouts. No-one really questions you. Plus, it's fun splatting villains with eggs until they get annoyed and leave. The citizens of Hermitopia know the mysterious masked figure well, sometimes bringing umbrellas around in case he shows up.
- when in monster form, stress will chase cars like a cat chasing a lazer beam. its rather terrifying for the people involved, but stress loves it!
- Aesthetic headcanon Cleo's powers start from a sickly green glow from her hands and then follows the targets veins and arteries lighting them up as they commit body horror throughout the body
- xB’s job is to retrieve and relay information as quickly as possible. Joe wants all the information he can get. There are many things xB can’t tell him, of course, due to the files being classified, but xB isn’t about to abandon what he does just because Joe isn’t a ConCorp employee. What could go wrong?
- Xisuma hadn’t been getting a lot of sleep lately. He was getting called out for his day job more and more often, getting more tired by the day, but he could never get himself to fall asleep. One night, way past his usual bedtime, he recieves a text from Keralis, reading “we need to talk evil shishwammy”. Imagine his confusion, not knowing if Keralis is texting the wrong person. Is he drunk? He’s probably drunk. || ...Xisuma somehow can’t believe that. [Wrong number? ....In a way. More like, right number, wrong time. Keralis assumed that X would be asleep by now and Void would be roaming free, but now that that assumption is proven wrong...Keralis has a lot of explaining to do.]
- the idea of iskall and ren meeting after all those years after iskall's been assigned to kill ren sounds so interesting... like, would iskall remember ren from when they were kids? did concorp brainwash him? does iskall even know that he's been assigned to kill his best friend from childhood? there's so many questions!! [I don't think Concorp did anything to his memory, at least not outright. They probably just assume that Iskall will want vengeance on Ren for what he did all those years ago, when Iskall finally figures out who his target really is, but that assumption would be wrong. It's been a long time, and they've both changed a lot...but when Iskall finally gets close enough to Ren, I think he'll recognise him. And that should make for a very interesting conversation indeed....]
- (fic summary) Mumbo now knows that Iskall is a mercenary as a byproduct of an encounter with Etho
- xB values informational accuracy above most other things, so he won’t lie unless specifically directed to. Joe could get a lot out of him, that way, especially in asking about files—just because xB can’t tell him the information contained in a file doesn’t mean that just knowing that a file exists or has been changed can’t be useful, too. Beef’s file, for example. If Joe had a hunch that it had been edited, all he’d have to do would be to ask xB if he had access to previous versions of the file. xB would answer that he did, but they were classified, and then Joe would know for sure that Beef’s file had been deliberately changed. - Slimetek
- Heroes have their own code for sleep deprived impulse. Why? Well....the opposite of light is darkness. Nooo totally not implying impulses powers could drain and turn dark based when he's up too long. [I'm not entirely sure how this would work mechanics-wise, but that's a really cool idea!]
- Further leak thoughts: TFC has earthbent a vault and is trying to secure the leak within it. He doesn't want it in the wild and he doesn't fully trust concorp with it. Etho, being unique in that his existence completely depends on powers while others simply include them, feels like he has a ‘right’ to the contents of the leak. There's only so much experimenting you can do on yourself, even with a collection of spare bodies. ~DragonKay [Every agent at Concorp thinks that another employee finished the job on cleaning up the leak, that it's stored away somewhere above their clearance level - but TFC knows better. He knows that some things are best put to rest, if they can't be left untouched in the first place. Etho and whoever else wants to get their hands on it may be sharp, but TFC's picked up more than his fair share of tricks in his day, and he doesn't intend to let anyone anywhere near this thing he's entrusted to the rocks. ]
- I feel like Ren would have made a little shrine in his cabin dedicated to all of the friends he lost on that day when they were teenagers. Maybe he has photos, videos, perhaps even personal items from each of them. Perhaps on important days (like one of their birthdays or the anniversary of that day where he thought he killed Iskall), he adds some new things to it, like when some people leave gift offerings for dead loved ones on Day of the Dead, if they celebrate it. He'd also probably mourn more on those days, given he loved his friends so much. He's so alone out there in that cabin, and all he has are the horrible feelings of guilt and regret to keep him company.
- Jevin acting as a snuggle buddy for Ren. That's it, that's the post.
- How Xisuma found out who Biffa is? Keralis once took him to Biffas bakery for a coffee break and Biffa slipped up and called him Xisuma when he wasnt supposed to know him. One long explanation later, Biffa and X are newly reunited friends again!
- The reason Grian doesn't try to re find NPG and RG? They slightly terrify him. Easier to lock them away than to face his fear, right? Yeah. He'll have a lot of explaining to to to whoever fonds them next [To be fair, they aren't exactly fully sentient! ....He thinks. He hopes. If they are, he might be in some trouble...but that's a problem for later. Hopefully much later.]
- Cleo once tried to hold Scar as hostage in order to get to Cub. He was safely delivered back to the town hall in under three hours, with a beaming grin and no visible injuries. Cleo can deal with a lot (she did used to be friends with Joe), but listening to a guy talk about baby yoda for hours made her feel like the hostage instead. She’ll find another way to get to ConCorp.
- Dunno if this was submitted already, because it was discussed in the Discord, but after xB and Joe become friends (xB does not know that Joe is Joe), he and Cleo get together to find Joe [Ironically, they meet on the same message board where xB met Joe. Cleo and Joe have been frequenting it completely independently for months, totally missing each other in the sea of aliases and thousands of active posters. All it takes is for xB to realize that his two new friends know each other...it hasn't happened yet, but he's so close....]
- There is a group of ConCorp executives so high up that even Cub is terrified of them. They sent the team that discovered the alien wreck, started the VEX program, and funded Mayor Scar’s campaign. There’s rumors that they were going to try grooming Grian into becoming one of them before he went rogue. Only bad things happen when one of them shows up. Strangest of all is their title. They aren’t called CEOs, or Chief Officers, or stockholders, or board members. They’re merely called The Watchers. -lechairpourriedegrianri [The Watchers aren't evil...but their intimidation is in the sheer scale of what they are in charge of, the sheer impact of the decisions they must make. They work with the impartiality of a group that has the fate of the world and its future lying loose in their palms, and to a man like Cub, struggling to keep a failing project afloat, that glass-smooth unshakable air makes him feel utterly terrified...and very, very disposable.]
- xB has a crucial breakthrough
- Conclusion
Writing:
- Wels, Hels, TFC, and Grumbot
- Bdubs Concorp promotion and desertion
- Joe Hills in his time dilation hideout
- Etho clones, ZIT, and the nHo
- Keralis and Void
- [ALTERNATE] Reveal of Impulse's situation with the nHo
- Scar briefly tries to win Impulse back after he goes rogue
- A job for False
- Etho has a nice meeting with Mumbo
- A take on Void's backstory and motivations
- Zed patches up Tango
- xB meets Joe
- Impulse experiences a strange side effect of his VEX procedure
- Assorted 500-ish word minifics
- Bdubs gets his powers
Art:
- Impulse suit design
- Tango suit design
- Zedaph suit design
- Zedaph patching up Tango
- Impulse and Tango doodles
- Mercenary False design
- More ZIT designs
- An Impulse in action
- An Impulse jukebox night
- Team ZIT "Die For You" music video
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Berry Blast
Berry Blast
Fandom: My Hero Academia
Pairing: TodoMomo
Summary: TodoMomo Positivity Week Day 3 Prompt Fill: Direct partner piece for my previous day fill [here] but can be read as a stand alone. After agreeing to an anniversary picnic, Momo begins stressing about what she should bring along. She isn’t exactly the most domestic of women, after all. Thankfully, she has a little bit of help of her own to get things sorted out.
Standard Disclaimer: If you read and enjoy this, please give it a like/ reblog so I know if I should write more.
When Shoto had first suggested to Momo that they spend their first anniversary having a little picnic together, she’d been delighted. The idea of the two of them settling in for a homemade lunch together was something straight out of one of the shojo mangas Mina and Tooru had gotten her hooked on! And to think that Shoto had insisted on preparing all the food himself? Well, that had her swooning all over again. After all, what could possibly be sweeter than a boyfriend preparing a humble lunch for his girlfriend?
And then the thought struck her; shouldn’t she bring something as well?
Drinks seemed simple enough, so she made a note in the back of her mind to pick some up on her way. That, however, seemed far too simple. And impersonal. She wanted to do something just as sincere and thoughtful as what Shoto was doing for her! Then, her mind jumped over to the idea of sweets. They were the most frequently offered gift when a young lady was interested in a young man. That thought then led her to the conclusion of dessert. Why, she could surely bake something to bring along! A homemade dessert would be a perfect partner to a homemade picnic lunch!
And so, she got to work!... And very quickly hit a few roadblocks.
Her initial thought was to make something like a strawberry shortcake. She remembered that Shoto enjoyed that strawberries were a mix of sweet and tart. He liked sweet things on occasion, but he had expressed that too much tended to give him an upset stomach. She had picked up the ingredients but then read another article online that expressed that the one-year mark was something that warranted going that extra little bit to make it even more spectacular, that often times this anniversary could make or break a relationship.
So she cast that idea aside and decided to try something different.
Upon looking into things more, she selected macarons, as they could be various flavors and colors, meaning she could customize them as she wanted. She encountered trouble with separating the egg whites and then with consistency issues. She scrapped that and then moved on to making chocolate souffles. She tried two separate batches but couldn’t get them to rise properly, regardless of what she tried. Momo changed gears at that point and decided to pick a treat that was a testament to her partner; baked Alaska! She had figured that he could be able to safely set the treat on fire once they were actually ready for it. However, when she tried to bake in the ice cream, it completely melted. And that wasn’t even covering the problems she encountered trying to prepare the meringue for the dish!
So, then she decided to try a lemon meringue pie instead. That, she reasoned, would also be a bit more Shoto’s style, as it was a better blend of sweetness and tartness. She had heard that pies could be incredibly tricky to an untrained hand, but she wasn’t worried. After all, it couldn’t be half as hard as fighting villains or training under Aizawa-Sensei! She had done those things with the greatest of ease so she could rise to this occasion!
Or so she’d thought when she started. Instead, she ended up hunched over the counter, on the verge of frustrated tears, unable to miss the whispers of the kitchen staff just outside the kitchen proper.
“Should we be concerned?”
“That’s, what, the fourth attempt she’s made?”
“Well, at least this time she didn’t set anything on fire?”
“No, instead she just managed to under cook it to the point it’s more liquid than anything else. Like, it is as runny and drippy as my son’s nose gets when he’s got a cold,”
“Oh, hush! The young miss is trying her best!”
She squeezed her eyes shut tighter, taking a deep breath to calm herself and try to block out the commentary. Yes, she didn’t have a lot of experience with baking, but it couldn’t be that hard! Sato-Kun at school baked all the time and never had nearly as much trouble as all this! He made treats like these for their peers all the time! That was many more people than she was aiming for! So… Why? Why couldn’t she get this right?
She jumped when there was a gentle hand patting at her head, followed by a familiar voice asking, “Now, what’s all this, Momochi?”
Momo pushed herself up and looked at the older man beside her in shock. “Father… I thought you and Mother were going to be away for four days,” she said in lieu of a proper greeting.
He chuckled, shifting to lean more heavily on the cane in his other hand. “Ah, well, you know how your mother can be. She tends to push projects along to a more streamlined process,” he said before reaching out and brushing a thumb under her eye to wipe away the tears threatening to spill. “Now, what’s got you so distressed?”
She felt heat creep up along her cheeks. “I-I was… Well, uh, you see-!”
“Honestly, Momo,” Another voice chimed in, “what is all of this fuss about? And this mess! If you wanted to have some kind of exotic snack you should have asked one of the chefs. We hired them for a reason.”
Momo averted her gaze to her hands, fingers fiddling with the edge of the messy apron she was adorning. Of course Mother had opinions about this. “I was… Trying to prepare something on my own,” she mumbled.
“What for?” she asked with a raised brow.
“My boyfriend and I are having our one year anniversary tomorrow,” she explained, her fidgeting getting worse as she spoke, “So I wanted to make something myself to share with him.”
Mother’s face screwed up in confusion, her head tilting slightly. “Boyfriend?”
“Yes, dear! Shoto-Kun, remember?” Father said, already moving to and fro in the kitchen as best as he could with the cane. He was rummaging through one of the pantries in search of something but perked back up as he closed the door. “Well, I suppose you wouldn’t. We only know of him from Momochi’s stories and the sports festival footage. We really should work to fix that. If you two are committed enough to be together for a year, it only makes sense we have a dinner at some point to meet him properly.” He nodded to himself at that before opening another drawer and plucking out the matryoshka doll-inspired measuring cups he’d bought shortly after Momo’s Quirk had manifested.
Back then, before Father fell ill, Momo remembered spending afternoons in the kitchen with him while he prepared all manner of snacks for her to choose from. Those measuring cups had been selected specifically to be used for her treats and her treats alone.
“Ah, that’s right… Endeavor-Sama’s boy,” Mother said, clearly remembering at least one conversation they’d had about it before. She then scowled as she watched Father continued rummaging through the cabinets and drawers. “Umeo… What are you doing? You are supposed to be resting.”
“And I’ll rest after helping Momo with this, Mikan,” he said with a small smile as he set the measuring cups down on the counter in front of Momo. He turned to face her with a bright smile on his face. “Our daughter will only get to celebrate her first year anniversary with her boyfriend once, you know.”
Some of the harshness in Mother’s expression dwindled at that, some of her sharper edges dulling. Father always seemed to have a way about drawing that expression from her. “... Very well. But I am going to have someone here to monitor that you do not overdo it,”
“Of course, of course! Now, let’s see… I know I left the recipe book around here somewhere,” he grumbled, moving to open another drawer.
Mother shook her head, a small smile turned up on her lips as Father released a satisfied cry and held the book up appraisingly. Her gaze shifted back to her only daughter, maintaining that same delicacy that Father had brought out. “And, Momo?” She nodded tentatively at being addressed. “Congratulations on reaching such a significant milestone in your relationship.” With that, Mother squared her shoulders and walked back out of the kitchen, pausing briefly to nudge one of the eavesdropping chefs in to monitor things.
“Thank you, Mother,” she called after her. When she turned back around, Father had replaced the cook book she’d been using with his own and was flipping pages. “Ah, Father! I’m going to be doing this on my own!”
“Oh, my apologies! I promise I’m not trying to step on your toes or take charge; just getting the section pulled up for you, Momochi,” he said before carefully moving to a chair the assisting chef hurriedly dragged over. Sometimes she was astounded at how a man so ill could still be so spry.
She instead turned her attention to which section in his recipe book he’d opened to, tilting her head slightly. “Hmm? These are… So simple,”
“Simple, yes, but always a crowd pleaser,” he chuckled.
“But… I wanted to do something… bigger, I suppose? These are just… incredibly basic,” she said, unable to mask the disappointment in her tone.
“There’s nothing wrong with something simpler, dear,” he said, motioning her to approach him. When she was close enough, he took her hands and gave a small squeeze, smiling widely up at her. “Love isn’t always about grand, sweeping gestures or flashy gifts. Sometimes, the most significant shows of love are in the simple, in the basics.” There was something in his smile as he glanced from her to the entryway where Mother had left through. The gleam in his eyes was one of pure adoration, she knew, and couldn’t help but feel a small smile turn up on her own lips as he turned back to face her. Of all the things Momo knew in this world, the love between her parents was the most comforting to her. “When you’re young and inexperienced, love always seems like something that’ll solve everything, make every day good. That’s what movies and books and everything else tells you, after all. And… That’s only true to some extent. Sometimes, Momo, love is about comfort and familiarity. After all, when you love someone, you know them as well as yourself. Sometimes the best shows of love are in remembering little things, like how they take their coffee.”
She blinked before squeezing his hands in return gently. “Shoto-Kun likes strawberries, so… I want to make something with those in them,”
“Ah, I think I know something that’ll be perfect for you then. I believe it’s on page 53,”
She did as he said, lighting up at the recipe she found, before scurrying over the the fridge to make sure she had all the necessary ingredients to get started.
……………………………………………………………..
Momo let out a small, contented sigh as she took a small sip from her lemonade. “Thank you so much for the lovely lunch, Shoto-Kun,” she hummed happily, placing her empty bento in his waiting hands.
“To be honest,” he said, a faint blush to his cheeks as he started putting their things away, “it wasn’t all me. I had help from Fuyumi-Nee and Nezumi-San. I wanted to make sure the food was actually… Well, edible.”
“I’m sure it would have been fine, regardless,” she argued politely.
He flashed her one of his signature dead-pan stares. “You have too much faith in me, Momo,”
She giggled a bit before turning to rummage through her own bag of goodies. “Well, if we’re being honest… Father helped me with the cookies. Or, rather, Father helped me decide what to make and then assured I followed the proper process to make them,” she said as she pulled out the tupperware container and peeled the lead off. She held it towards him, her heart fluttering nervously in her chest. “Here, please try one.”
“Thank you,” he said, taking one and looking it over. She saw how his eyes lit up when he noticed the strawberry chunks sticking out. The recipe wasn’t anything revolutionary - just a simple strawberry shortcake cookie with cream cheese filling - but she hoped that the care she’d taken in their preparation would make up for that. For as much as Father had reassured her about the gesture not needing to be extravagant, she still couldn’t completely quell her nervousness. She watched as he took a bite, eyes widening as he chewed, before tossing the rest of the cookie into his mouth eagerly. “These are delicious. Really delicious.”
“You like them?”
“Very much, yes. The combination of strawberries and cream cheese is just sweet enough,” he said while grabbing to take out two more cookies, taking a bite out of one the second the words left his mouth. He swallowed his bite and smiled at her. “Thank you for preparing these, Momo.”
“My pleasure, Shoto-Kun,” she hummed, plucking a cookie out for herself and resting her head against his shoulder. As she took a bite, she sent a silent thanks to Father for both the recipe and his advice.
#My Hero Academia#TodoMomo#Yaoyorozu Momo#Todoroki Shoto#TodoMomo Positivity Week#my fics#I gave Momo's parents names that are also fruits#Because I fookin can#Fun fact: This was the hardest prompt to figure out for me lmao
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TFA: CyL? _ Finale
I think it’s about time that I close this unfinished project that I so unfortunately lost the will to continue. The reasons why I can no longer continue this project is listed at the end of the synopsis of how the story is supposed to end.
From personal experiences I know that being left with an incomplete comic/story is rather annoying, especially because you might want to know “What happens to the characters? What happens to the story?”
So I have collected the courage to write down HOW THE STORY WOULD HAVE GONE immediately after the appearance of Tarn!
(A little disclaimer: English is not my first language, I make a lot of typing errors and, while I did my best, I’m really not used to write complicated text in English so there’s probably plenty of errors in here. If you find them you are very welcome to notice me and I’ll be happy to add the needed corrections.)
We are left here with Tarn, Strika, Sockwave and Red Alert in the control room of Sentinel’s space ship. -> www.deviantart.com/elis97/art/…
Shockwave cleverly pretends that Red Alert is an Autobot who have defected and that is now on the Decepticon’s side. Red Alert plays along with Shockwave’s lies and Tarn puts her down.
While Shockwave is trying to find a good excuse to leave the spaceship with Red Alert, Waspinator makes his entrance with Jetfire and Jetstorm captive.
Tarn wants to kill them, but Red Alert is able to save the twins by telling the Decepticons that the two were implemented with the unique flight mode ability that only the Decepticons posses, making them very close to an actual Decepticon.
This convinces Strika to pick a side and claim the young boys also adding that it would be nice to have youngsters around again (as almost all Decepticons are now very old).
Tarn is suspicious thought, and asks Red Alert to tell him where the AllSpark is being kept on the ship, which surprises Shockwave to a whole new level.
Red Alert with a perfect poker-face tells him that she was not made aware of the presence of the AllSpark and that she was surprised as well when Sentinel, in order to scare away the Decepticons, told them that he had it and was going to use it.
Tarn gets way too close to Red and Shockwave puts himself between the two trying to calm his friend down, only to realize that, despite having known Tarn since he was Glitch, the but he now sees is a chilling monster.
In the end Waspinator convinces Tarn that it would be quicker to hunt down Sentinel rather than wasting time with them.
The scene changes to the infirmary of the spaceship with Red Alert trying to take care of the jet-twins that are now accusing her to be a traitor like Shockwave.
Shokwave asks her if the AllSpark is actually aboard the ship, Red simply tells him that while she is not sure, the Sentinel could be that stupid.
Shockwave beliving to be able to convert the doctor to his faction, turns into Longarm and thanks Red for letting him go thus giving him a chance to live further his life.
Red Alert jams a bestiary in Longarm’s aye that makes him scream and quickly turn into his real form.
Red Alert is furious, screaming at Shockwave to have some respect for her and stop mocking her.
To Shockwave’s pain, confusion and horror, Red Alert’s eyes turn purple.
A Tarn shaped shadow gets closer to the infirmary door.
Shockwave scared to ask Red Alert if the purple eyes are a result of the truth about Longarm’s identity, but she starts laughing.
Red tells Shockwave that she got the purple eyes during the war against the Decepticons, so many years ago. During a time where she believed she could make a difference, use her abilities to save as many lives as possible, she quickly realised that she was forced to put down way more bots that she was actually saving. That horrible realization, the feeling to be helpless and sacrificable (because all cogs in the big Autobots machines are replaceable like actual charges are) made her desperate, insanely desperate.
Because Cybertron doesn’t have an institution for mental help and support, she was unable to ”heal” from the stress and the trauma of the war and the purple eyes cronicised; all she could do was hitting them with medicines and, sometimes, electronic-paint.
Shockwave realises how much damaged Red Alert actually is as he starts feeling guilty. He tries to hug Red to comfort her, but she back away right into Tarn’s arms.
Shockwave stops dead in terror as he fears that Tarn might have realized the truth about the Autobot, but Tarn is thinking something completely different.
Tarn cuddles and comforts a very freaked out Red Alert, revealing to her that he as well was left scarred and insane by the Autobots and the Decepticons’ war.
He asks with sweet, but insanely purple eyes if she doesn’t have a good idea of where the Allspark might be. Shockwave tries to talk to Tarn but is struck by a kick from the giant Decepticon. Wasp quickly comes by and immobilize Shockwave on the ground. Asking for help is useless, because everyone else is away looking for Sentinel.
Red Alert asks Tarn what he intends to do once he gets to the AllSpark. A soft look from the murderous boy accompanies his words, he wants to kill every Cybertronian in the galaxy, and will use the AllSpark to do so in one single big strike.
Red Alert looks at Shockwave and tells Tarn that the Allspark is in the hangar.
Red Alert and Tarn are walking tours the hangar with Shockwave and Waspinator behind them. Shockwvae tries to talk Tarn out of his madness, but he warns him to shut up or his vocal box will be removed.
Red Alert gently asks Tarn how he will deal with the other Decepticons as they discover what he’s trying to do, but Tarn is not worried, as soon as he gets the Allspark it will be over. That gives Shokwave an idea: opening a transmission between himself and the other Decepticons aboard the ship, he hopes that Tarn will say something that will make Strika and the rest of the team to realize what is going on.
Red Alert continues her conversation with Tarn who starts telling her the story of how he lost his sanity during “The battle of Kaon”, a battle against the Autobots. He explains that all the Decepticons forces were holding their ground inside the fortress of Kaon, trying to fend off the Autobots from entering inside. They were using energy cannons that were running out of steam.
Since the cannons were taking power from a main furnace Megatron ordered to throw inside every scrap of Energon in order to keep them running. Tarn tell that he and Lugnut were in charge of keeping the furnace lit, but when every last battery of Energon finished Megatron ordered the wounded Decepticons to be thrown in.
Tarn didn’t want to do it, but Megatron made it clear that if had he refused the order he was going to be thrown inside as well.
After every single screaming wounded Decepticon was tossed inside the furnace the attack was not over, and so Megatron ordered Tarn e Lugnut to get the weakest Decepticons and use them as well.
For every single soul that got devoured by the flames Tarn lost a bit of his mind, for every time Lugnut precede the death of his comrades as the greatest honor of all, Tarn had to stop himself from screaming in agony.
Shockwave listen in horror and remembers that durung that faitfull day he was at the command of one of the cannons that keept shooting away the Autobots. Deep down, he knew what had appened to those missing decepticons that day, but refused to actually believe at his own tought.
To the other corner of the transmition Strika starts sobbing incapable to believa that his Lugnut could have been part of something so heinous.
After that Tarn continuously revisited that event in his dreams. Endless nightmares of him jamming bolts into the furnace, unable to free himself from the nightmares he became addicted to that horror. Incapable to put his mind to rest, he started to feel the urge to kill.
Tarn is sure that Red Alert can understand how he feels and that’s why he will let her live after having turned her into something similar to Waspinator, as by doing so she will not be hurt by his attack.
Not receiving feedbacks from the other Decepticons aboard the ship, Shockwave is close to panic now that he’s aware of how far Tarn is willing to go, but a glance from Red Alert makes him realise that she has something in mind.
Red Alert tells Tarn that, if she was hesitant to follow his plan at the beginning, she now realises that there is no saving for her specie, that even the younger generation will be corrupted and destined to suffer, so, now that they are in the hangar, the AllSpark is in that box, near the hatch opening.
As Tarn approaches the point with blood thirsty eyes Shockwave realises the plan and with a martial art like move, takes by surprise Waspinator and makes a run for the controls of the opening of the hatches.
Tarn realizes the trick a second too late and the doors opens.
The wasp is blown away immediately as Shockwave grabs onto something to avoid the same end.
He quickly starch out an arm to Red Alert, but not before Tarn is able to catch her free arm.
As Red Alert realizes that Tarn is not going out that easily, she gives a last look at Shockwave who begs her not to do it. Before Tarn is able to get a better hold she lets go of Shockwave’s hand and jams a syringe in Tarn’s arm. They both disappear out of the hangar.
As Shockwave is slowly loosing his grip, Oil Slick has arrived just in time to shut the hatches close.
The two rush to the control room of the spaceship, meeting along the way the rest of the Decepticons that had rushed to help them.
Shockwave directs the ship towards the direction where Red Alert was blown away, saying that Red Alert probably injected the fake death zero into the Tarn and that she’s probably unhurt because the zero takes effect in seconds. Oil Slick grudgingly tells him that a second is more than enough for Tarns to kill someone.
As the headlights find the targets the horror takes shape.
Tarn is frozen and gray, with eyes glaring at the void, her head in his fist, surrounded by spilling Energon that floats around them in a macabre dance.
Shockwave falls on the ground, unable to lie to himself anymore.
The story moves forward a year and several months later, Shockwave is laying on a bed. He talks about when he and Oil Slick got inside Red Alert’s body that, while still had its colors on, the head was squished to a point that the facial features were no longer recognizable. Had he been able to warn her that the other Decepticons were coming to the rescue, maybe things would have gone differently.
His invisible interlocutor answers him that, despite everything, Red Alert still survived even if her memories and a good portion of her personality were wiped away.
He jokes about the fact that the AllSpark was never aboard the ship, but the Sentinel was arrested for violating major protocols, putting in danger his crew and causing the death of Safetrap. -> www.deviantart.com/elis97/art/…
Shockwave becomes sad again, saying that while he’s no longer hurting so much he still wishes thatsRed could remember the good times they had together. While the interactions between Autobots and Decepticons have improved, he still feels lonely and lone like when he was undercover as Longarm.
After a minute of silence the voice reminds him that he’s not lonely and that he will go for a walk with his friend that evening.
The voice reassures Shockwave that every person need his own time to cope with traumatic events and that, despite how he feels, he’s doing a good job.
The session reaches its conclusion and Shockwave says goodbye to his therapist, a tiny human with round glasses.
On his way out a guard checks Shockwave’s documents and, reading that has been authorized to leave the asylum for the evening, lets him out. Oil Slick is waiting for him and happily greets him.
As they walk in the street of Cybertron Oil Slick asks Shockwave how he’s been doing, but Shockwave is quick to change the subject and asks instead how he and his team are doing now that they are back on Cybertron.
Oil Slick tells him that after the accident with Tarn, Strika was furious and wanted to hear the truth about The battle of Kaon from Lugnut and flew the Autobot ship back on Cybertron. He and the rest of the team weren’t allowed to go inside the prison, but Strika went in escorted by Optimus Prime and got her confirmation from Lugnut him. When she got out she was heartbroken and struck a truce with Optimus Prime. From then on there were lots of commotion between the Decepticons lines, some wanted to return to Cybertron and were positive about the new leadership of Optimus Prime, some others weren’t happy and riots rose in all Decepticon’s outposts.
The two get in line to enter into an amusement park, guards at the entrance are making sure that no weapons are introduced inside.
Oil Slick asks Shockwave if he feels weird about the fact that a human was put in charge of his reformation.
His friend answers that it’s called therapy, not reformation, and that since it never existed on Cybertron a system to give boys psychological support, it was only logical to call a species more expert in the field.
Suddenly a familiar voice captures Shockwave’s attention.
A peculiar femmebot is talking to the her friends about the many things that the new Magnus, Optimus Prime is putting in action: amusement parks, innovative distributions of powers, unheard institution were tiny aliens take care of bots with problems, inviting other species to visit Cybertron…
Altought she no longer looks the same, Shockwave recongises Redalert’s voice and way of talking.
He spies her talking some meters in front of them, she’s with Arcee, Ratchet and Ironhide. She looks happy, carefree, full of life.
Oil Slick seems to understand the situation and asks his friend if he wants to go to talk to her, but Shockwave refuses.
At the entrance of the amusement park the guards look at Shockwave with suspicious, asking for his documents again. Not finding anything wrong, they let him in.
Shockwave tells his friend that Red Alert got her memory wiped away and, as a result, the purple eyes disappeared an she became a happier but, he doesn’t want to be part of her new life, not yet and maybe not ever again.
Oil SLick notices that Shockwave’s eye is now purple and realises why he was housed in a mental asylum rather that in a prison. He asks him if Redalert was the reason he got purple eye.
While departing from the rest of the crowd, Shockwave reveals to his friend that after the accident with Tarn he chose to personally bring both Red Alert and Tarn to the hospital, fearing that the Autobots would have been too incompetent to help them without his lead.
As a result, he got arrested and sent to prison. The voice of him being affiliated to an Autobot and a traitor spreads truth the prison, and from that moment, every single Decepticon inside the prison started hating on him.
Oil Slick incredulous asks why Megatron didn’t take his side, considering that he was his most loyal servant.
The fact is that Strika’s intervention put in a bad light Megatron’s leadership. When Shockwave tried to explain to his leader the whole story, Megatron directed his follower’s attention away from his own horrible actions and focussed them over the fact that Shockwave wasn’t able to keep vital information away from the Autobots. So while not directly calling him a traitor he was still accused of such.
Similar to Wasp, after months of being lonely, hated, humiliated and ignored when trying to explain himself, Shockwave developed purple eye. But unlike what had happened to Wasp, Optimus ordered his displacement and had an expert take care of his condition before the purple eye becomes chronic.
Because of this Shockwave is in debt with the Autobots and believes that, leaving Red Aler alone, is a way to pay back the Autobots.
Oil Slick has a different way to see the thing, in his opinion, it’s the Autobots that are paying back Shockwave for having him tortured by Lockdown.
Shockwave doesn’t answer, instead looks back at a now very far away Red Alert.
Turning back again, he tells Oil Slick that he will never forget his gesture of friendship. Oil Slick smiles then, pointing to a stall with his finger, tells Shockwave he hadn’t had cotton-Energon since he was a sparkling. Shockwave giggles saying that he as well, hasn’t had cotton-Energon in a long time.
Red Alert turns her head around to see Shockwave and Oil Slick having cotton-Energon, she smiles tenderly, then returns her attention to her friends.
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Now that the story was told I would like to take a moment to simply talk about why I could no longer continue the comic. There are a couple of reasons, one of them is the amount of time that would have taken to finish the bloody thing! And I swear to you that I tried my best to keep it at its bare essential exactly for the fear of it becoming too long.
Another reason is that I didn’t enjoy drawing the characters. As surprising as it might be, I started this project believing that once familiar with the design I would have been able to draw them with ease, which didn't happen. Aside from Shockwave I don’t particularly enjoy drawing TFA style and I bloody hate to color the character because I was always feeling bored and frustrated every time I forgot a particular. That created some major inconsistency in the pages. (and yes, that bothers me a lot)
I believe that the most important reason that prevented me to finish the opera as I wanted is the fact that this story kept changing every time! Aside from the first Chapter the rest kept evolving, changing direction, changing the ending and I was never happy. In the end the biggest problem was simple: I just couldn’t make a happy ending. I really wanted Red Alert and Shockwave to be together, but I simply couldn’t do it, no matter how much I kept changing the story I was never able to make it work, and I have only myself to blame.
In the end, I could never finish the story because I never knew how it was supposed to end, and I passed so much time in between that I simply grow interested in other things, other fandoms, other stories in general.
Life in general was also in the way… as always.
Anyway, while I will never be able to put this story in comic pages I’m happy to be able to tell you how I decided to end it. I am very thankful to all the people who follow the story and left a nice comment under every page and for those people I’m truly sad that I was unable to deliver the whole story in comic format.
Since I know many things were left out in this synopsis, if you have any questions or clarifications, feel free to ask me and I will do my best to answer it.
#tfa#transformers animated#shockwave#tfa shockwave#tarn#Red Alert#TFA Red Alert#autobots#decepticons
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The last time I wrote something like this was probably two years ago, so I thought that I would give an updated overview of how I organize my bullet journal. I wonder how much my system has changed, but also I don't think it's changed that much because the way I set it up worked for me hm. You can find my first one here.
Once again, disclaimer, there are multiple ways to set up your bujo!! This is just what works for me, so I hope I can share some inspiration, but honestly the best system is the one that works for you !!
Here's v.02 of how I set up my bullet journal at the start of each month, college edition (but honestly not much has changed I just have less structure because college is definitely a lot LESS structured than high school).
Tumblr has also changed a lot in the six years I've been on the platform, but it's a nice record of my growth I guess.
Color Scheme
My months usually have two shades in a certain color. Flipping through my old spreads, they're usually a cool tone, I switch between blue, purple, and pastels. If I'm feeling adventurous, I might opt for a green or orange theme, but that depends on what the theme is. Previous ideas include: clouds, lavender, leaves, berries, flowers, etc.
Quote Typography
I usually grab a short and sweet inspiration phrase or lyric, most definitely by BTS. That hasn't changed. Before writing it out in my actual bujo, I test out a few different styles on a scrap piece of paper and scroll through Pinterest or IG if I need some inspiration. This page usually ends up having some washi tape, mini doodles based on the month's theme, and stickers (I have way too many from that one Japan trip).
Title
Just like for the quote, I'll test out a style on a scrap paper, add a few doodles, and also include a mini calendar on the lower half of the page. The calendar has important dates (birthdays, exams, breaks) circled in with one of the two accent shades. Pretty straightforward, but sometimes this page ends up taking the longest, as I try to doodle something fancy (my drawing skills are still very subpar).
Habits
I got these super convenient calendar washi tapes from Japan, so I've just been cutting them and using them to fill in my habits. I use to have WAY TOO MANY habits to track, including sleep. It started to feel overwhelming to maintain, and I did not have that much motivation in me. I narrowed down to eight habits that are pretty basic and essential for taking care of my mind and body. I'll switch out a habit if I realize it's not relevant or important anymore. For example, I removed taking Chinese meds when I finished my prescribed batch. Right now, my habits include: eat healthy, workout, read, save money, self-study finance, study Chinese, poop, and exercises for my scoliosis).
Favorites
Usually leave three or four shapes, based on the month's theme, blank, for me to eventually fill out throughout the month. Nothing too fancy about this page.
Intentions
Instead of goals, I "rebranded" this spread because I wanted it to represent something more long-lasting. In other words, practices and actions that I can hopefully incorporate and evolve into a part of my lifestyle. During quarantine, I know I shouldn't be too hard on myself, so a few of my intentions include:
Listening to my body and practicing intuitive eating
Staying in contact with friends. Don't shut yourself out and fall into a too well-known hole
Move your body when you feel like it! Take a walk in nature! Play badminton with the fam!
Read those books you've been forever putting aside because you were busy
Thoughts
Completely blank at the start of the month, this page is essentially a place for my rants/journal entries. It's nice for me to know that I have a designated space when I have a strong urge to just pour out how I'm feeling or what I've experienced. Cathartic.
Sentences
I write down a sentence each day, usually two lines per day in my notebook. I love rereading my sentences in my old bullet journal, it really transports me back to another era of my life. It's always nice to record whatever made me smile or memorable event on a certain day–I know I would definitely forget later down the road.
Eats
I basically record what I eat every day. I have two columns on each page, and each day has four lines: breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack. This routine helps keep me accountable and conscious of what I'm putting in my body, which is especially difficult when we're cramped up at home all day...
Weekly Spread
So I don't actually set this up at the start of each month. I might paste in a few printed pictures or polaroids to spice up the week, but since I don't really have any foresight on what's to come in the following week, on a day to day basis, I let the spread develop as I check in with my bullet journal every day.
That doesn't mean I don't have another method of keeping track of events and assignments. For that, I use my computer, since it lets me adjust and modify if needed. I am a very dedicated advocate for Google Calendar to track my day's events, and for Notion to track my upcoming deadlines. Honestly love Notion–great and free for all students!! All you need is plug in your .edu email.
And that about sums it up. Since I'm in the engineering school, I haven't actually written properly in so long. I feel like I don't know how to write anymore LOL. Hope this was helpful!!
#study#studyblr#studyspo#mine#bujo#bullet journal#inspo#studyspiration#stationery#college#college studyblr#college tips#university#bujo setup#how to start a bullet journal#bullet journaling#gracelearns#tbhstudying#studyquill#studyplants#gloomstudy#notesworthtea#eintsein#how to bullet journal#bullet journalling
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Ahsoka/Feral development bible. (Disclaimer: IT'S CRACK)
Their ship name is Fireworks. Because it's a one time, brilliant passion, but it wouldn't last. Violence is a gentle expression. It's also where they meet.
Ahsoka is Ojouuchan change. my. mind.
Her cat hates him
Feral drinks Respect Women™ Juice
I may write that TCW trio vs Sith Trio matsuri rivalry just to flesh out
Like, this is basically a high-school au
In a completely unorigianl way, Feral finally saved up money/get bullied enough to take up self-defense classes and Ahsoka is the sensei's DAUGHTER that cliche trope and proceed to captivate him in a new angle he's never seen before (She craves violence) [still dancing on this origin story/second meeting]
Ahsoka likes him because he builds up his confidence little by little around her, and she learns a little more about him every day, but mostly because he has that spark of courage (and a loyal brother)
For Feral is love at first sight (because I too, would propse to Ahsoka in a kimono on sight), but he couldn't quite word his feelings. So Ahsoka would be taking the initiative to tease him playfully (to befriend that lonely, hard-working boy at first). But once Feral is sure of something, he is unstoppably fiery. His favourite trait of Ahsoka is her laughter. He would so make her little crafts and trinkets from scrap metal on his 11 part-time jobs, hesistant and only flattered when Ahsoka likes it all the same.
I just… so fucking soft?? It's a puppy love and a summer daydream.
Them sparring 👀👀👀 pencak silat
Omg their first date = beat the shit out of each other… that's a fucking good idea… that i give myself maybe one more day to come up…
Hmmm I should shove that first kiss in the same fic just to cut some work but i think it'd happen a little later after several more dates.
Meeting extended family… yes… delicious comedy
The idea of Ahsoka pretending to be civil in front of Maul for Feral's sake while Savage looks left and right like he hates the Jedi too but also want Feral to be happy and Murder NOT happen at the dinner table, sends
The Jedi absolutely despises the Sith clan and by extension thinks little of this weird Nightbrother trio on the edge of town. Mostly they just ignore them if Maul stay out of trouble. They have all the wrong assumptions about Feral, who is patient to answer their interrogation enquiries and masking panic at his best for Ahsoka's sake. But don't you talk shit about 90% of his clan on the narrow and straight
I just realize it's practically Romeo and Juliet too?? Not where I was going but oh god. (of all things my brain said Anakin vs. Savage brawl first)
I used to think they're like, 20 and 18 here. (now I need them to celebrate a sweet birthday!) They could be older but age isn't really relevant in this case.
Their break-up in the (fake) rain. The last make-up kiss before they go fight (each other) in the War™ BIG KRIFFING YES
That cliched open ending with them rekindling as military cadets… 😏
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Season Part. 2.
I think I definitely model their relationship after somebody i couldn't pinpoint, but from muliple pairs and characters, when they are in different situations. For example, t r a i n i n g is synonymous to Yumi and Ulrich for me, so yeah, I be copying the entire scene for them.
I did went back to watch Feral's one episode and he's so off from fanon it's bewildering. He had six lines. Well, he had Finn Abernathy vibes in this. I wrote him to be home-loving, incredibly loyal and determined. (maybe the last two traits are where they coincide, hmmm) His flaw would be his reservation. He is not shy by nature (lol supported by canon dialogue) but semi-aware of his fragility from trusting too easily. You just don't wanna open up after you've been through too much. Ah yes, so everything will be too late except that time he took the leap. He probably weren't a favourite child being the shortest and weakest compared to his big bros. He is not as gifted as them but he can certainly fight when he puts his heart in it. He just doesn't believe in casual violence as a convenience.
Ahsoka is the wildcard here because how do I juggle Ojouuchan and her canon snippyness? For one thing she'd be a full fledge Jedi Knight here—
…and that's about the only thing I kept from canon lmao.
In this au, the Jedi could be a little lax with dating and stuff but i don't think they're that strict and swift to shut down in canon as well. Most likely due to its short-livedness and multiple people covering for her the high council won't find out haha.
I think they both know it wouldn't be a long-term thing (when you're young three months sounds an incredulously long time already), sometimes you just need to make a stupid decision and run with it. So it wouldn't really be an issue, Ahsoka leaving the Order and all. They both know they just weren't this exclusive* thing and they will both choose their clan/faith/family over each other. (Re: Dark Disciple)
I avoided so far but they have to get into arguments. Not the taylor brb crying kind… (because they ARE adults), but the 'well if you don't trust me maybe you should send me back kind' haha. Well I don't know what adult arguments look like but they be having so many little brawls and make up immediately the next day? i seriously don't know.
They shared this fundamental patriotism but to different allegiance. They are both determined and comapssionate, but in different ways. And it is this diverged p.o.v. that stem from a mutual care that sparks their arguments. I don't have concrete debates yet but as a healthy story little bits of disagreement need to be sprinkled before the catalyst of war finally drives them apart.
Some songs:
Uchiage Hanabi duh.
Long Live how could i write romance without taylor swift?
Mine too, maybe, and I do think of Wildest Dreams.
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Part 3.
This is really what the original Part 2 is. The reunion. I want to write the angsty part of it, but i kind of already did with the dialogues… idk there are flashes of frames in me head but to novelize it ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) i'm lazy and i don't want to do the work ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
essentially this is a forever clone wars au, or the war would have to drag on longer than three years at least. Palpatine won but Order 66 happened on a much smaller scale? or just Sith!soka? ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯
Damn I will jump at any chance to write Sithsoka…
But really both Rebel!Feral and Sith!Feral has potential. On one hand, I could give him what he always pursued, in a convoluted way, that he found a new home, just in time for it to be taken away, so he must continue fighting. On the other hand, Sith!Feral finally accomplished what was expected for him, claimed his "bloodline" and he can't deny the creeping pride it has to fully embrace his heritage. He would like to be more powerful to protect, but there's always a more efficient method than mass killings. He's more interested in building a Sith Empire…
#posting this to FORGET#crackship fireworks#i don't watch K-drama but i'm fluent in all its tropes and more#damn developing OCs is fun#adventures in fic writing#going to bed
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Dangerous Minds
The Edge of the World: Chapter 10
Perfect Match AU
Pairing: Damien x MC
Perma-note: Dames’ name is Dexter in this series.
A/N: Sorry this took so long! I hit a huge snag with this latest plot twist and had to revisit my outline. It was so confusing, I ended up scrapping an entire scene and rewriting the first half of the chapter. Huge thanks to @lizeboredom for bouncing off ideas with me as always!
The supporting lyrics are from the song Dangerous Mind, by Within Temptation
If you need to catch up, Chapters 1-9 is in my Masterlist
If you want to be tagged, let me know!
Link to the Choices Fanfic Archive version:
http://choicesfanfic.com/content/dangerous-minds/
Summary: Someone has intercepted Hayden and his friends! Can they trust him? Meanwhile, Damien has something that Eros wants . . .
Disclaimer: Characters/canon belong to Pixelberry
I’m searching for answers
‘Cause something’s not right
I follow the signs, I’m close to the fire
I fear that soon you’ll reveal your dangerous mind
“What the- hey, get off me!” The impostor struggled in Hayden’s grip as the two wrestled each other, before Hayden managed to lock his arms behind his back. “Guys, it’s me, Damien!”
“The hell it is!” Steve growled. “You can drop the act, ‘Damien’! Or should I say Dexter? Or some other name that starts with D?”
“What the hell makes you think I’m-” Before he could say anything else, Steve pressed a certain spot on his shoulder and watched as the panel slid open. The revealed circuitry cast an unearthly blue glow masking The Match’s instantly paled face. “I . . . how . . .” He stammered. “I don’t understand- these wires-”
“Drop the act, Dexter,” Hayden said coldly. “We’re not falling for this again. You either take us to Maya and Damien or we have a handler right here who can make that happen.”
As if to prove his point, Sloane stood straight, her lips pulled in a thin line. “We don’t want to fight you,” she implored. “The way I do things, Matches are always afforded a choice, but now, we don’t have the luxury of time. Please just cooperate with us.”
For some reason, he only seemed more and more bewildered at the things they were saying to him. But noting Hayden’s furious expression and the tears in Nadia’s fearful eyes, he started to back down. “Look, let’s just calm down here,” he said softly. “I need to get a few things straight. First off, I genuinely have no idea why I have wires in me and I’d really appreciate some answers on that. Second, my name is not Dexter. That has got to be the dumbest name I’ve ever heard of.” He scowled. “And if someone’s legally changed my name without asking me, I need to have words with them.”
“Listen, you-” Hayden was cut off by Steve, who motioned frantically towards the corner. Sure enough, the shadows of patrolling guards were growing longer, indicating that they were approaching the area now.
The Match took advantage of the distraction to wrench free of Hayden. Then to everyone’s surprise, he beckoned them in another direction. “This way!” he whispered. “Hurry!” Seeing no other choice, everyone followed him through another path until he reached a certain cargo container. After making sure no one else was in there, he led them inside and secured the door closed, keeping them safely hidden from anyone passing by.
A few awkward moments passed as everyone gauged him, trying to process this sudden turn of events, until Nadia finally spoke. “Guys, I think he’s telling us the truth.”
“Nadia, we still need to be careful here.” Hayden said. “How do we know he’s not going to lead us straight to Cecile? You know what happened to Maya after she trusted him.”
“But that’s exactly what I’m trying to prevent here!” The Match protested as Sloane frowned and stepped forward to examine his panel, pulling out her tablet from her small bag. She went relatively unnoticed while the others continued their exchange. “I just got out of my prison and I’ve been trying to find Maya. I think I know where they are and we need to get out of here right now!”
“I don’t know,” Hayden was watching him skeptically. “Something’s still not right about this.
“Guys, wait.” Sloane’s eyes were wide, she tinkered with the Match’s panel until the desperation in his eyes suddenly went blank and his body became completely still, prompting everyone to take a cautious step back.
“Uh . . . Sloane, did you just break his brain?” Nadia tilted her head curiously, rapping her knuckles against his head.
“No, I put him in maintenance mode to do a scan. This way, Matches function as robots – detached from personality, emotions and basically everything that makes him . . . well . . . human.”
“How can you scan a Match when he’s conscious?” Hayden asked.
“He’s not conscious, at the moment. Maintenance mode, remember?” When Sloane noticed everyone’s stunned expressions, she just shrugged. “I’ve hacked confidential files from a corporation and overrode their prison’s entire security system in the North Pole and turned their entire factory of Matches against them. I don’t see what’s so surprising about this. Anyway,” she took a deep breath, gesturing to the Match. “He’s definitely telling us the truth. He’s not Damien, but he isn’t Dexter either.
“So he’s a . . . clone of a clone?”
“Perhaps. His first recorded memory is only timestamped to just a few hours ago. In fact, his interface is scheduled to record and upload video logs to Eros’ mainframe in this location. But his long-term memory includes footage of the events from before, including the events at the Louvre. But the only difference is that the footage being recorded here is in real-time, which makes his presence here more specific to whatever the agenda is at this particular place and not from before.”
When Sloane looked up, everyone was staring at her with completely confused expressions. She cleared her throat, realizing she needed to simplify her word choice. “Whatever his purpose is, it’s only meant to be carried out here.”
“Well we’re about to find out.” And with that, Sloane switched the Match back to normal mode.
He blinked several times before facing everyone, taking in their grim expressions. When Sloane opened her mouth to speak, he raised a hand, cutting her off. “Wait. You don’t have to say it,” he said sadly. “I saw it for myself and then whatever you just did . . .” He looked at his hands, frowning. “I’m like Hayden and Steve, aren’t I?”
“Yes,” Sloane replied. “I’m sorry that we don’t have a gentler and gradual way to tell you, but we’re completely pressed for time.”
The Match nodded in understanding, swallowing hard as he closed his fists. “I know,” he said. “I’m starting to remember everything now.”
Hayden blinked in surprise. Well that was quick. “How exactly is your memory at the moment?” He asked. “What do you remember?”
“Not much,” The Match squinted, trying to think back. “I know who you guys are . . . I remember Maya, our friendship, the fact that we’re together now, my mother and sisters. I know what all these people mean to me, though the details are a little hazy. But I do remember today more clearly. All I know is that I’m supposed to get to Maya and escape.”
“Ugh,” Nadia shuddered. “Why do I have a feeling this is somehow related to what Harley was going to do to Maya back at the Arctic?” Everyone exchanged uncomfortable glances, knowing that was what was likely going to happen here, given the Match’s obvious cluelessness to the situation and where he’d been headed had they not intercepted him. This guy would barge into her cell, make her believe they were getting out of here, then lead her to either Cecile or Rowan, who would then reveal the truth; staging the ultimate heartbreak for her in order to suit whatever nefarious agenda they had in mind.
It was then that everyone had reached the same conclusion. Trusting this Match was a huge risk. But it was one they had to take if they had any hope of getting their friends out relatively unscathed. So they proceeded to fill him in on everything that had happened to them, up to and including Cecile’s deal. Even that there were other Damiens out there – the real one, and another fake. When they were done, he was pacing, running his fingers through his hair.
“Like we said,” Steve chimed in awkwardly. “We’re kind of on a time crunch-”
“No, no, I get it- it’s just . . . a lot of information.” He stopped in one place, his expression changing as everything seemed to become clearer to him. “So they’re gonna use me-him-us to hurt her . . .”
Nadia chewed her lip, struggling to hold back tears. “Technically, they already did in a way. And they’re planning to do it again. And I’ll bet you anything they have something in store for Damien. What with their weird obsession with ‘love’ . . .”
He picked up on the implication and swallowed hard, shaking his head rapidly. “No. I can’t let this happen.” He looked up at them, his earlier desperation returning, though with a completely different meaning now. “What can I do to help?”
“Since you were on your way there, do you know where she is? Can you get to her?”
“I could’ve . . . but if you say I’m uploading logs to Eros and they can look into my head, I’m not confident I’ll get past the guards, Harley and Dexter before the jig’s up. It’s really risky – speaking of which, we need to find a better place to hide. Someone’s bound to need this cargo container at some point and then we’ll be discovered.”
“Upload logs . . . look into your head . . .” Sloane suddenly perked up. “I have an idea! It’s crazy, but it might work!” She looked to her tablet and scrolled through the diagnostics she’d gotten on him. “You and Dexter are both clones of Damien, meant for Eros’ temporary use- no offense!” She continued when he waved her off. “You’re obviously of the same model. Maybe there’s a way to see what’s going on there through Dexter’s eyes! With you as our means of communication!”
Nadia raised an eyebrow. “So you want to have him make some sort of mind-melding telepathic connection to Dexter and use his brain as surveillance?”
“And to see how his mind works if possible! Maybe there’s more going on than we think! Something to turn the scales in our favor?”
“Oh god,” Hayden groaned. “Now my mind’s gonna explode.”
“Maybe literally in my case,” The Match said, wryly. “But if it’ll get us the intel we need, let’s do it.” He watched as Sloane reopened his panel, then typed away at her tablet, starting programs and windows that none of them could decipher while Steve kept watch at the entrance. Once she was done, she took a deep breath.
“All right, here’s what’s going to happen.” she explained. “I’ve hacked into Eros’ surveillance program and am going to replace it with an update that will synchronize your software with Dexter’s and essentially override-”
“Uh, in English, please?”
“I’m going to link your mind with Dexter’s so that he can see everything that you can see. And only him; not anyone else at Eros.”
The Match nodded and then took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and concentrated. As Sloane completed her update, he began flinching, shuddering and jerking in place for a few moments while Nadia and Hayden kept their hands on his arms, supporting him. Several minutes passed by with everyone both giddy with anticipation as something could finally be working in their favor, and also anxiously waiting for the other shoe to drop – such as a random trojan horse or something that would alert Cecile to their location.
Once the update completed the Match’s eyes opened; a blank, faraway look in his eyes now as he started searching for Dexter. “Found him,” he said. Everyone sighed in relief.
“What’s he doing now?” Hayden asked.
“Pacing back and forth outside the cargo container. He just got done taking food to Maya and Alana – he also had a really heated exchange with Maya.”
“Heated exchange?” Hayden tensed. “Did he hurt them?”
“No, they just . . . argued a lot.” The Match pressed his fingers over his temples and tried tapping further into Dexter’s memories. “Maya confronted him over lying to her at the Louvre and causing all the awful stuff that happened today and he insisted he was just doing his job, but . . .” Then his eyes widened.
“But what?”
“Maya mentioned him suddenly deciding to protect her when Harley was hurting her and he basically let it slip that it’s hard for him to see her suffer and the extra feelings he’s been having about her are real, but he’s insisting there’s nothing he can do, that she brought that on herself but he still doesn’t want her to be harmed- good lord, he’s going back and forth.”
“Uh- whoa, back up. Extra feelings?!” Nadia’s jaw dropped. Hayden didn’t know whether to be furious at the revelation that his own look-alike had hurt Maya or strangely disturbed yet intrigued by the fact that Dexter had clearly developed a soft corner for Maya.
“He’s struggling,” The Match explained to the stunned group. “He was in on the whole thing at first, but something’s changed now. He has memories of Damien and Maya – they’re vague, but clear enough that it’s had an impact. Now he doesn’t want to hurt her. At this point, he’s likely hoping there’s a way for her to be unharmed without anyone finding out his feelings.”
“So . . . he knows this is wrong, but is hesitating to do the right thing!”
The Match nodded. “He needs more of a push to understand the bigger picture. Damien’s memories that Dexter and I have are hazy enough as it is. His, more so than mine. ”
“Because he was never meant to stick around for the long run” Hayden finished for him. “He’s just a distraction meant to get her here. After Eros is finished with us, he’ll probably be of no use to them.”
“But if he didn’t have those memories, how exactly did the extra feelings come around?” Nadia asked.
“Maybe all that time he’s been with her is reminding him of them?” Sloane contemplated. “Dexter is made from Damien, after all. He has his feelings and personality. The part of him that’s ‘Damien’ is likely keeping him from going all out with Eros’ cruelty the way Harley is and is trying to fight it.”
“Then maybe we can help him make that choice.”
“We will, but not here,” The Match said firmly.
“Then where?”
———————————-
Sometime later . . .
After taking a few deep breaths, Dexter felt his earlier annoyance dissipate at last. Satisfied that he could now think clearly, he decided that it was time to report back to Cecile. Technically this was supposed to be a quick food run. It was in his best interest not to be gone too long-
A sudden flash of white halted him in his tracks.
What the hell? Dexter stopped, blinking repeatedly until his vision became clear again. After waiting a few moments to make sure everything was fine, he started walking again only to feel a sharp sting poking through his head. “Gah-!” He stumbled forward, clutching his head as his vision started swimming with multiple images.
They flashed back and forth at light speed for a few seconds, then slowed down to a more clear picture as his mainframe seemed to process this new information.
A cargo container filled with about five people, Nadia Park’s tear-filled eyes, Hayden’s anger, Steve’s suspicion, Sloane . . . then came the background of a small office- what he recognized as the control room at the center of these docks . . . Populated by those same four people.
There were several voices, one of which sounded suspiciously like his own . . .
“He knows this is wrong, but is hesitating to do the right thing!”
“They don’t intend to keep him around for long. He’s just a distraction meant to get her here. After Eros is finished with us, he’ll be of no use to them.”
The image of the control room became clearer at that point. A video was playing on the screen, showing a facility lined with blue screens and machinery. He could only assume this was a manufacturing facility for Matches.
It was all crystal clear for him to see, as if he was actually there.
“Who is that?” Hayden was pointing to a young-looking gentleman, dressed in a blue polo and a simple green sweater, as he stood stiffly in front of Rowan with blank eyes.
In the video, Rowan folded his fingers in his lap. “Power core status,” he commanded.
The Match opened his mouth and spoke tonelessly. “Core frequency stable in standby mode. Temperature nominal.”
“Emotional check in.”
“Anticipation laced with nervousness. Positive emotions detected, including but not limited to joy and optimism.”
“Good.” Rowan nodded, satisfied. “Last but not least, do you know who I am?”
“. . . Yes, Father.”
And just like that, the anger was back. “Maya,” Dexter snarled. “You’ve really done it this time.”
——————————–
Damien’s head was pounding when he finally opened his eyes. He blinked several times against the brightly lit bulb hanging in front of him, recoiling from the uncomfortable prodding against his side.
Wincing, he reached to clutch a spot where Harley had hit him before, only to find that he couldn’t. Damien looked above him to find that his hands were separately handcuffed, to opposite ends of a metal bar against the wall.
He sighed. So it’s gonna be one of those times, huh? He took in the dark, metal walls of the cargo container locking him in. It shouldn’t have surprised him, considering he already knew they were at the docks, but it certainly didn’t make him feel any better about the circumstances.
On that note, Damien suddenly remembered that Maya and Alana were locked up somewhere else – probably tied up like this too – and a strong urgency came over him. He began twisting at the cuffs, hissing at the sharp sting in his wrists.
Come on, Nazario! Keep trying!
He tried recalling the old days at the precinct when he and his colleagues would practice getting themselves out of handcuffs. Though they were in a chair, not chained against the wall like some goddamn medieval prison. Still, there had to be something in there that would get him out of-
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Damien looked up to find Cecile and Harley standing in front of him, both of them wearing smug grins. “Cecile.”
“Damien.” She nodded condescendingly. “Glad to see you’re making yourself at home. You’re-”
“-going to be here for a while” He rolled his eyes. “Is there anything you can say that won’t make you sound like a TV show villain?”
“Show all the attitude you want, Damien. Fact of the matter is, we have the upper hand right now. You might as well cooperate and this could be all over.”
“Yeah, that’s a little hard to believe,” Damien said, pulling at his handcuffs to make his point. “Given the situation.”
“We’re not taking chances with you this time,” Harley replied. “After that stunt your crazy girlfriend pulled at the Arctic, don’t expect Father to go easy on you now.”
“That was nothing compared to what I’ll do to you if you touch her again,” Damien growled venomously. Harley’s fist swiftly connected with his jaw and he recoiled, biting back a groan when the jerking movement yanked the cuffs against his wrists. He let out a dark chuckle. “Someone’s a little salty.”
Harley looked as if he would attack again, but Cecile held out a hand, halting him. “As fun as this banter is, we have things to discuss.” Her eyes flicked to his bindings and she smirked. “You should really take it easy, detective. Wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself.”
“How kind of you,” He drawled.
“Funny enough, I’m actually feeling pretty generous. Now, there’s something here you might like to see.” She pulled out a tablet from her pocket, tapped on it a few times and then turned it around to show him.
A window popped up on the screen to display security footage. It was an empty hallway consisting of several rooms. The time was displayed on the bottom of the screen, the seconds counting away.
Damien was already feeling a little uneasy as he searched every detail of the image playing on the screen; not that he was about to let it on. There was clearly a purpose for this. So he just raised an eyebrow. “This supposed to be a rerun of Paranormal Activity or something?” That earned a chuckle from Harley. “I appreciate the home movie but I prefer comedies.”
“We’ll see if you’re laughing after this.” Cecile forwarded to a certain point on the video and played at a point where the inside of what appeared to be a warehouse was showing.
He first saw Nadia and Steve in the video, piling boxes into a makeshift bed, then Alana who was sifting through a small fridge, and Maya who was just coming back inside, shivering in spite of the thick uniform she was wearing.
Damien instantly realized that this was old footage from the warehouse at the Arctic HQ, where they’d been hiding the night before their escape. Then the screen paused at a shot of him, hunched over and typing away at one of Eros’ company laptops. “What exactly am I supposed to be seeing here?”
“As you can see, before you left the Arctic you’d already been snooping around our facilities for a while.” Cecile replied. “What were doing with that laptop that night?
Damien shrugged. “How else do you think we got to Paris in the first place? Booked some tickets online.”
“I can see you’re going to be difficult about this. Not that I’d expect anything less at this point. But I’ll humor you.” She shook her head, chuckling as she stepped back and crossed her arms. “We’ve been searching for someone very important to us and happened to receive some vital information on him the night before our headquarters were destroyed. But the next day, all of those memos were missing.”
Damien could feel Cecile and Harley watching him, trying to gauge his reaction. So he kept his face neutral, not wanting to give away that he vaguely knew who they were talking about.
That night, he’d been looking through the laptop to see if there was anything he could find that could be used as evidence. Along the way, he’d stumbled onto a few emails detailing someone they were looking for . . . some guy under the alias ‘Richard Cummings’, which apparently warranted ridiculous jokes about it. Based on what it said, this man had already been found by them once, only to have disappeared again to San Francisco. These were brand new memos addressed to Cecile, which Damien had taken the liberty of deleting before they could be read.
At the time, he’d thought it was just some random employee, so he hadn’t been able to look into it too deeply yet. Though he’d started to do it at some point during their excursion in Paris to maybe get some more information and get them one step closer to bringing down Eros. That was when more names had popped up. Names of people who’d disappeared soon after their projects gained popularity.
Now, Damien was beginning to think that maybe this man was more important to Eros than Damien had first realized. Perhaps deleting those emails to slow Eros down was the right call after all . . .
With that thought, he took a deep breath. “Maybe it’s because your laptops were one of the things that blew up.”
“Or maybe it’s because you deleted them first.” Harley countered. “Trying to keep the information for yourself.”
“Assuming I have this information, which I don’t,” Damien chose his words carefully as he spoke, knowing that anything Eros gave away could potentially benefit him. “Why would some random person even matter to us? You know as well as I do that with those files gone, we have no evidence against you.”
“He’s not just some random guy,” Harley insisted. “Father’s project-” Cecile placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.
Bingo.
“You let us worry about that, Damien.” She said coolly. “Also, you should keep in mind that if you don’t say anything, we could always ask Alana or Maya.”
He shook his head. “Not possible. If I don’t know, they don’t know.”
“Are you saying that to protect them? Or because you kept it from them?”
Damien met her smug look with an unyielding glare. Sneaky witch.
“Now to get back to our original point, I want you to tell us what you know about Khaan Mousavi,” She said point-blank. “Whatever you’ve dug up on him in Paris – which I know you’ve been trying to do. And while we’re at it, whatever you found out about Eros when you were back in New York.”
He maintained his neutral expression and relaxed his body as much as possible. Damien had been in these situations enough times to know how important it was to keep his mouth shut.
“One of the memos we lost was one that contained his last known alias and potential locations. I want that information.”
He wasn’t sure if revealing anything was going to hurt him and his friends in any way. But it was certainly not going to help them. Eros was never planning on letting them go to begin with. It wasn’t as though he would be buying anyone’s freedom. At best, it may guarantee a temporary safety.
“All you need do is cooperate. Maybe we could work something out. It would be to your advantage considering your . . . attachments?” Harley suggested. He was pointing in the direction of the tablet where the footage was focusing on Maya, who was apparently tending to some minor injuries.
No. Do not say a damn thing.
Damien willed himself not to look at it again, keeping his steely gaze on the Match. “I would remind you again that Alana made a similar deal with you involving me.” He pointed out. “You didn’t hold your end of the bargain and she had no prior connection with all this. Why should I expect anything different?”
“For one thing, it’d save your girl a lot of trouble,” Harley snipped. “We’re gonna find this guy one way or another. Doesn’t matter who we have to break in order to do it.”
“Not if we break you first,” Damien fired back, only to receive another punch in the gut.
“Careful,” Cecile warned, gesturing at the recorded footage on her tablet once before turning it off completely. “Wouldn’t want someone to get hurt because you made a bad call now, would we?”
Damien was leaning forward, breathing heavily, slightly winded from that punch. He knew all too well what she was referencing and she was clearly enjoying it. You’re damn lucky these handcuffs are holding me back.
“Come on Damien, you’ve worked in law enforcement.” She sneered. “Surely you’ve seen what usually happens in situations like this. Just cooperate and you won’t be harmed.”
If it weren’t for his heavy leather jacket, one would’ve been able to see Damien’s heart beating erratically. He knew exactly what she was implying and it was killing him to take this risk. He didn’t give a damn about himself; Maya’s safety was more important to him than anything.
But on the other hand, this information was potentially the key to everything they were fighting for. Now that he knew he’d been onto something, Damien wasn’t about to let go of the only advantage they could soon have. All he needed was more time to dig deeper – time they would never get if he gave this up, if he couldn’t escape.
This was an impossible choice and the only two people he could turn to for help with this were the very ones in danger if he didn’t make up his mind. And fast. Damien couldn’t stand the thought of Maya getting hurt - he would do anything to prevent that . . . even if it meant keeping their attention on him, however sinister their intentions.
Before he could say anything else, the door opened and a guard stepped in, walking toward them with purpose.
“I warned you,” Cecile said, un-phased by his defiance. “Don’t blame us for being cruel from here on out.”
I’m searching for answers not questioned before
The curse of awareness, there’s no peace of mind
As your true colors show a dangerous sign . . .
--------------------------------
@simplyaiden-blog @damienazarios @scalpeljockeybrycelahela @desiree-0816 @burnsoslow @cynicalworlds @choiceslife @flowerpowell @gardeningourmet @walkerduchess @brightpinkpeppercorn @princess-andromeda-nazario @moonlightgem7 @aworldoffandoms @rainbowsinthestorm @mfackenthal @eileendannie @mysteli @musicalnerd98 @thecordoniandiaries @lady-kato @kinda-iconic @ab1901 @universallypizzataco @jlpplays1 @sawyeroakleyscowboyhat @itsraleighcarrera @walkerismychoice @boneandfur @odetomars @okchoices @client-327 @mrsnazariowalker @queen-among-writers @noeschoices @pilitella @bobasheebaby @the-everlasting-dream @darley1101 @lizeboredom
#perfect match#damien x mc#damien nazario#pm dames#perfect match fanfic#harley doyle#cecile contreras#nadia park#hayden young#sloane washington#steve tennyson#perfect match au#alana kusuma#the edge of the world#mrsnazariowritesagain#mrsnazariowrites fics
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My speculation/theories on LOONA’s next comeback.
Oh boy, oh boy… As we’ve been waiting for LOONA’s next comeback, we’ve had plenty of time to speculate on what the concept for what said comeback will be like. And it seems like the girls are just as excited as us, as they seem to be dropping hints as to what it’s going to be.
We’re going to look at some possibilities based on the hints we’ve been given so far, as well as some speculation as to what else we could see coming from LOONA in the near future.
Flowers and nature
As soon as promotions for “So What” ended, LOONA wasted no time dropping subtle references to flowers and nature, leading many fans to believe their next concept could be flowers or nature related.
References made to flowers:
Chuu participating in King of Masked Singer as “Spring Girl”
Using flowers and nature related emojis (i.e. rainbow) in social media posts
Yves and Chuu Frequency of the Moon topic was “spring”
Heejin being called “a goddess among the flowers” in the post promoting her appearance in Ben’s “Bad” MV (Source)
ViVi, Jinsoul, and Chuu Frequency of the Moon topic was “flower”
Gowon, Yves, and Jinsoul took a photo with a tulip in behind the scenes photos of a magazine shoot (Sources: 1, 2, 3)
Yves posting a photo of her with roses (Source)
Mentioning “blooming” and other flower/nature related phrases
In a post celebrating Choerry and Olivia’s coming of age: “Things will get better with that rose” (Source)
Yves mentioning flowers blooming in different seasons in her fancafe letter on her birthday and saying she’ll bloom more vibrantly each year (Source)
Kim Lip saying “keep walking flower paths only with us” in her Orbit 2.0 anniversary fancafe letter (Source)
Gowon saying “photosynthesis time” (Source)
We’ve already had it all but officially confirmed that LOONA’s upcoming comeback is happening in August (Yves told Nature they were planning on an August comeback during filming on Fact in Star back in June.) (Source)
With it being the summer season, I could see them either doing a bright, fun concept with an energetic sound, or they could go for a dreamy concept with beautiful visuals and emotional vocals.
Royalty and elegance
Another concept the group has been dropping hints about is a royal concept.
Firstly, we’ve been seeing several recent instances of the girls wearing these fancy black dresses.
These outfits were first seen during promotion for the group’s premier greeting “Meet & Up” event. Since then, we’ve seen them on the official Japanese fan club website, the post commemorating one million subscribers on Youtube (Source), the celebration of Orbits’ 2nd anniversary (Source), and even during LOONA the TAM Season 2.
There’s also their official light stick, which is designed like a crown.
Not only that, but they come with a golden cape that you can wear. We also got a photo of the girls in these capes and white dresses in what appear to be a palace.
There’s also their cover performance of “Love Battery” on Immortal Songs 2, which took a very jazzy and theatrical spin on the song, adding their own LOONA flair to it. The members have stated in the past (Yves specifically I believe) that their covers were hints to their next comeback, since their boy group dance covers prior to the release of [#] hinted at the style “So What” would be like.
This could just be a general group concept rather than just a comeback concept, but if they do go for a royal or elegant concept, there’s honestly a bunch of possibilities for what it could sound like. It could range from an elegant, ethereal vibe, a fun yet powerful dance number, a big band jazzy style song, or even a pop-ballad.
And speaking of ballad…
Return of LOONA the Ballad?
It has been over half a year since it was announced that LOONA the Ballad, or La Maison LOONA, a ballad album that had been teased since 2018 was cancelled. I only very recently became an Orbit, but was nonetheless disappointed when I heard an entire album they had planned to release had been scrapped for release.
...Or was it? Because recently, the girls have been hinting that maybe LOONA the Ballad isn’t completely gone.
Now I’m not sure whether this is true or not, but supposedly during a fansign event, a fan asked Chuu if there was a possibility that the album could still be released, and she just smiled and said “Soon!”
But then we had the moment during Yves’ birthday VLive where we heard what sounded like a snippet of “Stay with me babe (aka “Hyper Ballad”)” playing. (Source)
If BBC didn’t have backup files for the original planned album, there’s probably a chance they had to re-record the album altogether. It might even be possible they’re going to repurpose the songs they planned to release on LOONA the Ballad for something entirely new.
Japanese debut?
LOONA’s Japanese debut was another delayed project I learned about after becoming a fan. And since we recently got the launch of their official Japanese fan club, I think they have had plans on releasing their Japanese debut soon.
Now, these plans might have changed with what’s going on in the world right now, but I think it’s possible that we will get more news regarding this some time this year.
The only question is, what would they do? Would the royalty concept be utilized here while the Korean comeback focuses on the floral/nature concept? Could it be possible that the tracks that were meant to be for LOONA the Ballad were repurposed to become a Japanese release? Will the Japanese debut be a new song or just a translated version of a song they already released like “Hi High” or “Butterfly”?
Again, there’s several possibilities and until we hear more from the staff or the girls themselves, we’ll just have to wait and see.
“Day and Night” official release?
This is something I’ve been curious about for a while. We’ve gotten hints that we’re going to get something related to “Day and Night”, the hidden track released on the CD only version of [#].
Digipedi posted a video on their Instagram of them listening to “Day and Night” in the car. Now, this can simply be that they really like the song and nothing more. But what if it means there’s a music video for “Day and Night”?
Also, in a LOONA Kick where Olivia was filming herself with a moon face filter, we hear the girls singing “Day and Night” in the background. (Source)
Personally, I thought this meant they would be performing “Day and Night” at KCON:TACT 2020, but that ended up not being the case. Still, I can’t help but wonder if we’ll actually get to see a performance of it in the future, or at least a dance practice video.
I also wonder if they would do an official release of the song, either as a digital single or have it included as an official track if they decide to do a repackage of [#] for the next comeback. Whatever the case, it feels like the girls are planning something related to it.
What will the album be called?
Aside from the concept and sound of the comeback, one of the big things fans have speculated on is what the name of the album is going to be. The album names for the OT12 releases have had significant meanings; [+ +] is about how the girls and units combine into the full group (addition), [X X] is about that power being amplified (multiplication), and [#] is about realizing their strengths and what they can accomplish when they are together.
The most common guesses I’ve seen for the album title are [*] and [O]. Before I give my thoughts on which one it could be, let’s look at what each of the symbols could mean if used.
First, we have the asterisk symbol (*). This symbol is used to call attention to a footnote, indicate an omission, point to disclaimers, and dress up company logos. Basically, it’s meant to draw attention to an otherwise minor detail.
This seems to match up with LOONA as a group, as the girls always work their hardest to perfect even the slightest details of their dancing or singing in order to put out a quality performance for their fans. And in the context of the LOONAverse, it could mean that even the smallest detail can become significant.
The symbol has also been pointed out to resemble a star or flower. If they really are going with a flower concept, it would be a clever choice if they went with this.
Now for the “O”. This isn’t really a symbol; it’s a letter. But there are quite a few reasons why it can become a meaningful symbol should they name the album [O].
Firstly, most frankly, the letter “O” resembles a full moon, and we know LOONA is all about the moon.
Secondly, in “So What” there’s a line that references the “O or X” in tic-tac-toe. One way fans have interpreted that line is that it’s them talking about how most girl groups in K-pop fall into either a cute concept or a girl crush concept, and the song as a whole is about not being restricted by anyone or anything.
We’ve already had the “X” in [X X], so it would make sense if they did “O” next.
Also, if you replace the “#” in “B#RN” with an “O”, it becomes “BORN”, which plays into the idea that the next concept could be about rebirth. Again, this would fit into the flower concept as flowers always bloom again as the seasons come and go.
I already theorized that [#] and “So What” would be about the destruction and rebirth of LOONA and the LOONAverse, so maybe the next comeback will continue from that.
“So What” was specifically about the “destruction” part of this; the girls are breaking out from their old image and everything that held them back. Olivia quite literally sets the moon on fire to symbolize this action. And at the end, we see the bird feathers being revived after being burnt.
So this next comeback could possibly focus on the “rebirth” part, showing just how much stronger LOONA have become as a whole.
As for which one I think the title of the album would be, I’m leaning more towards the asterisk symbol, since it lines itself up with the potential flower/nature concept and the meaning and usage of the symbol can become significant to LOONA when put in the right context.
My thoughts
As of right now, it feels like a flower/nature concept focused on rebirth is most likely what we’re going to get. Sound-wise, if their cover of “Love Battery” really is a hint for what the song will be like, I could totally see it working with LOONA.
However, if they are in fact repurposing the LOONA the Ballad tracks for a new comeback, I could see them actually using both the flower and royal concepts. In my mind, “Daydream” would be the flower/nature concept with an ethereal dreamlike look and feel, while “Stay with me babe” would be the royal/elegant concept and be more mature. Not straight up sexy, but more like an alluring feel.
I also think it’s possible that they would use the royal concept for their Japanese debut, with a new style that’s not something we’ve seen in their previous releases but also feels familiar to LOONA’s overall concept and style.
Also, while I don’t think they plan on doing this for their next comeback, I think it would be nice to see the group do solos and units again. Not just for pre-existing units, but new units as well. The members have talked about the possibility of them doing new units in the past, and fans have speculated on things such as the “day and night” units (which are basically the tall line and short line lol), but we don’t know if those plans were also postponed or cancelled.
With everything that’s going on in the world, we may not know just yet, so for now it’s all a matter of if and when. Regardless, I’m so excited for what this next concept will be like.
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this discussion! Feel free to share your own thoughts on what you think the comeback will be like!
Until then... Stan LOONA! 🌙💖
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Some Core Issues of this World
Before we dive into the execution of a revolution we should probably address why change is necessary and why it is so important that it happens soon.
The issue that has always bothered me personally the most is that of the exploitation of the worker. To think that the t-shirt I was wearing was sewn by a girl my age or younger, in a run-down factory, breathing in poisonous gases, continuously working her hands bloody (literally) because she has no real choice but to let companies exploit her, just to ensure that her family can afford the barest necessities of life. It is one of the most disgusting things I can think of. She doesn’t have the option of doing something with her life that fulfils her. She has to sell her labour at a wage that is no where near enough to provide for her loved ones. And to top this off employers could not care less for their employees’ safety and thus the working conditions are often insecure and endanger the workers. Phew, all the topics that come to my mind when thinking about this. Apart from endangering their workers, big companies and employers take away people’s means of living by for example pressuring them to sell their farmland which has been their main source of food and income for generations or buying up a vital fresh water source, bottling it up and selling the water these people used to get for free straight from nature for money which they simply do not have (not to mention the pollution created during the process if plastic bottle-making and then the shipping of the goods (I tip my hat to you if you also immediately thought of companies like Nestlé who are one of these monsters)). Or, which I might find even worse, such factories polluting their environment with chemicals either out of self-servitude or ignorance. Excuse me, I get carried away. Awful things that we let happen.
Now, as for the reason why this is an issue that could and needs to be ended by a system change is that this exploitation is the absolute base on which capitalism is built. Capitalism relies on the means of production getting cheaper and cheaper and the market to continue expanding. And seeing as we as consumer ship expect less expensive products the money we do not want to pay needs to be taken from somewhere. I can guarantee you that CEO’s will not part with a single penny which means that labourers (this includes office workers as well nowadays, contrary to Karl Marx’ time where this particular class struggle was first properly studied and where Marx’ oppressed class, the Proletariat, was made up by all workers (meaning factory and manual labourers) of the world) will have to deal with worsening working conditions and even less pay.
Instead of having only a handful of people in a company call the shots, make most of the money and not care about the people doing the actual work, anarcho-syndicalists as well as communists suggest self organisation and the complete abolishment of hierarchies, as well as a reconnecting with the work we are doing. The people working in a factory deciding how, when, and what they want to do that is, however, just a small part of that change.
While we are on the topic of exploitation, something else that is grossly being exploited is our earth and her resources. I don’t know where or when people got the idea that the earth is a 24 hours unlimited all you can eat buffet but it isn’t. Get that idiocy out of your heads. On the bright side, not all people are completely unaware. So there have been multiple trends in recent years such as a ban of plastic bags in supermarket chains all over the world and the most recent trend of refusing plastic straws. While it is admirable that some people are doing something it is hardly enough. What needs to change is again the system. 100 companies are responsible for 70% of emissions and although I do not know the numbers for the responsibility of ocean pollution I’d wager our plastic sins, while despicable and under all costs needs to be reduced, if not stopped, are nowhere near as harmful as that of big companies. Now, more important than continuing to reduce the harmful ways in which we impact our planet as individuals, is that we pressure big companies to either do the same or make sure they disappear forever. Aside from harmful emissions and plastic, in order to make profit, companies destroy enormous amounts of forest (especially in South America) for mono cultures of plants such as soy and palm trees. I have to admit geography is not my area of expertise, however, if I’m not mistaken then the hummus layer (which is the layer with most nutrients) in the ground in the rain forests is rather thin and can only be used for a short amount of time before yield is close to non existent without massive fertilisation. As though removing a big chunk of our planet’s lungs, our oxygen provider, wasn’t bad enough, using such amounts of fertiliser is incredibly harmful. And eventually these big stretches of land will have to be abandoned and by then the ground is so exhausted of nutrients that the forest struggles to reclaim the land. I can not even express my disdain for such reckless and stupid actions. And again we have only scratched the surface of these atrocities. We have yet to address the massive loss of life and habitat during deforestation. But I’ll leave that to organisations such as WWF and Green Peace.
Another topic close to my heart is discrimination. This will take me some time to cover as we are talking about discrimination against different ethnicities, people in the LGBTQ community, women, and, tied to the discrimination against ethnicities, xenophobia, and I’ll scrape the topic of the absolute brainlessness of borders and keeping people out of a country.
As a foreigner who grew up in the central European country I quickly learnt how normal discrimination is. As a child I got harassed and called slurs due to my origins. I wasn’t alone in this. If you didn’t absolutely adapt to the predominant culture you would have a though life. While this can be rather traumatising it is nothing compared to what prejudices for example black people in Europe as well as the US have had to live with. Shot at, killed, unjustly taken into custody, wrongly imprisoned. To name a few. I can’t believe that I am explaining this because the only right thing, on which I will not argue with anyone, is to judge a person based not on their skin colour, clothes, physical appearance, piercings, tattoos, hair colour, headscarf, burka, or anything like that, but on their actions and their capacity to show kindness. Back to the topic at hand. While there may be a lot of minorities, such as black people who live in poverty, which in no way represents their laziness or inferiority, they are not given the same opportunities as other people because of their skin colour. Prejudice and decades of oppression has forced them into impossible situations, where for many survival is their biggest concern. Being denied access to education or having to “sit with the brown kids” at lunch is what keeps them imprisoned in a lower class. This struggle is exceptionally painful as black people freed themselves of slavery mere decades ago just to be continuously mistreated.
Unfortunately, discrimination is not limited to people of colour. Modern women’s rights movements, which have been going on for over 100 years also still struggle and have to fight for each scrap of equality. I will not delve too deep into the topic. I will say though. My body. My choice. You can fuck the hell off if you tell any woman who did not specifically ask for your opinion how she should live her life. This is regarding clothing choices, choices regarding children, or how many or few sexual partners she has. Aside from that, many people see equality between men and women as achieved when plain and simple it has not been. The pay gaps being the smallest issue. Women are denied jobs for which they would be the perfect candidate for the reason of being female. The annoying thing about this is that many are not aware of their own prejudices, which makes it that much harder to battle. Women are naturally assumed to be the stay-at-home parent and are pressured into the “right” gender role. This applies to both men and women of course and the issue of bigenderism will be another point of discussion in the future. DISCLAIMER: Just because you do not do one of these things that does not automatically make you a non-sexist. It just makes you not quite such a sexist. Treat women as equals and there you go. Now actively say or do something for equal rights for women and you’ll be a feminist. This includes all women; white, black, Muslim, Christian, trans, etc. (We will discuss feminism and the fears connected to it at a later point as well.)
Speaking of trans (great TRANSition). Acceptance towards the lgbtq community is lacking as well. Not only is there a lack of acceptance but people actively hinder lgbtq members from being happy and living their lives the way they want to. I will try to make this very clear: they are not harming you by loving who they love and fucking who they want as you are. Who do you think you are, attacking them when they do nothing to harm you. Instead of complaining or hating queer people you might want to judge people based on their morals, as I have said before. A gay guy that’s rude is just as much of an unlikable person as a straight guy. He is, however, not an unlikable person because he’s gay. Never. Let people do what they want as long as they don’t harm anyone. And no one has a right to harm them for being who they are. Not civilians, not police. We just passed pride month, which, apart from reminding us to love who we love, should remind us of those who have fought for the rights of lgbtq members. It should remind us of those who were crushed and prohibited from loving and those who were suppressed by their governments and their police. Hatred will not stand against love.
And it is in these times, I believe, that we need love for one another more than ever before. We have reached a certain standard of living in western society that we do not have to fear for our lives. Unfortunately, not all people are that lucky. People flee from their home countries, whether it’s because it’s at war, or they can’t provide for their families. For whatever reason they flee, they are looking for a better life for their families and themselves and they need to be given a chance. Of course the problems in their countries need to be solved, but until they are these people need a home. Instead of pretending that they are all evil you could get over yourself and get to know some of them. Yes, there may be a cultural difference but it might be interesting to get to know it, broaden your horizon. Everyone is a human as you are. Some where just more or less fortunate in where they were born and how their country has been or is being governed. They have worries enough. Be kind to them. There is no need to put them in concentration camps, build walls to keep them out, separate children from their families, or be scared of them altogether.
Speaking of concentration camps (aka ICE). Many anarchists will agree that we hold no love for the police. I only briefly mentioned police brutality in the paragraphs about discrimination. I did not even scratch the surface of the disgusting things they do. They have been given the power and the right, by their government, to use force when they deem it necessary. Keep in mind they choose when they want to use force. It is no coincident that there are more black people being shot than white people by police, or that more lgbtq members are beat up than cis men. There is an imbalance in the distribution of power. We are governed from the top down and it is all we can do not to submit and accept this injustice.
If you take anything from this, let it be that we are all human beings, who deserve to live our lives as we choose, without fear for survival. Assuming we are different from one another because we are born in different places marked only by an imaginary line, or the colour of our skin, sexuality, or gender (which is also an ide constructed by our society).
It is not a coincidence either that all the oppressed are not white, straight, old men who sit in positions of power and assure that these few named injustices continue. It is our duty to ensure that no innocent is harmed and every moment we fail to do just that, is one moment too much. We need to fight this. Now.
#anarchism#anarchy#anarchocommunism#anarcho syndicalism#communism#anarchist#antifa#anticapitalism#antifascism#police brutality#antistate#freedom#no borders#no nations#no borders no nations#xenophobia#racism#lgbtq#lgbtq community#human#humanity#kindness#morals#morality#love#the better world#revolution#anarchist revolution#acab
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"i feel like being bitter and listing off all the things that the 90s show changed about the original stories" as a relative newcomer to moomin-related stuff, i'm curious... what *did* the 90s show change??
*rubs hands because I love being insufferable*
(Minor disclaimer that this is mostly done in good nature. I understand almost every show that is adapted from existing content is gonna change stuff to suit their story-telling needs. But I am annoyed that some who praise the 90s anime think the new series is bad simply for doing things differently when that show, and nearly every one prior to it, has also put their own spin on things.)
There are 24 episodes of Tanoshii Moomin Ikka (plus a movie) based on the books by Tove Jansson, and I think 11 based on the comic strips she wrote. It would take a long time to cover every single detail in every single episode, so I am mainly going to discuss those that have changes I find more significant, disappointing, personally distressing, or just plain baffling.
(A second disclaimer: I have not read any entire comic stories past the point where Tove stopped working on them. There are some episodes based on strips created exclusively by her brother Lars, The Vampire and Artists in Moominvalley being two examples. I will be skipping those, as well as Bouken Nikki episodes, as I have yet to thoroughly watch each one on account of so few being based on Tove’s work and the headaches they induce lmao. Nitpicks from fans who have read Lars’ strips in full are welcome.)
Now without further ado, let the fussing begin~
01 Spring in Moominvalley: This follows the basic storyline from the first two chapters of Finn Family, but with some notable changes. Snufkin at this point woke up from hibernation along with the rest of the family, Little My had yet to be introduced, and Snork - a child like the rest of the main cast - lived with his sister and the rest of the kids in the Moominhouse. The entire subplot of him being an inventor is merely an invention of the anime.
Moomintroll, in the book, spends a lot more time in transformed body. As he believes his friends are playing a new game when they fail to recognize him, he makes up a story about being “The King of California”. He repeatedly pretends to insult Moomin (himself), and in a touching display of devotion his own friends beat him up to defend his honour.
02 The Magic Hat: Continuing on with a scene based on the later half of chapter 2, we see Moomin rescue Snorkmaiden from the Ant Lion, and along with Snufkin, decide to trap him in the magical hat. In the original story however, Moomin and Snork trap the him. This was rather unprovoked, though Moomin cites a moment from a previous book (read all about it in The Moomins and the Great Flood!) where the Ant Lion allegedly kicked sand in Mamma’s eyes. The gang then takes the hat back inside for more “experiments”, and after making a mess, the adults decide it best to dispose of the hat in the river.
Much like in the story, the hat is soon recovered by Moomin and Snufkin, though a chapter where they hide it in a cave and and end up frightening the Muskrat (who uses it as a shelf for his dentures) is absent. It then continues to the scene where Moominhouse is briefly overgrown with plants. Aside from this happening sooner than it did in the book, and the premature appearance of the Hobgoblin, and the missing Mameluke hunt, and the part where all the children play in the jungle, I think it’s pretty true to that chapter!
03 Discovery of a Wrecked Ship: First off, I wanna say I’m mostly including this episode on my list just to make it clear that Snufkin’s random sexist comments towards Snorkmaiden and Little My are missing from the book. There is a chapter where him and Moomin go ambling up some rocks, but “the girls” are thankfully absent from this scene.
So then they discover an abandoned boat and the rest of the episode is padded with scenes where they repair it. A charming spectacle, I’m sure, but also absent from the book as the boat they find is already in pristine condition. Shame that Snufkin never got to share his idea for the ship’s name, (it was Lurking Wolf aha ha ha) but that might be for the best.
07 The Suitcase: As seen in episode 06, Thingumy and Bob arrived in Moominvalley. They bring with them stolen goods and and the mother of Grimace, who seeks to recover said goods. Snufkin, once again letting everyone down, decides that a gentle female should speak to them about the contents of their suitcase and soon Snorkmaiden is assigned to the task. Instead the book features a trial sequence, which really helps hammer in the metaphor. Everyone takes part and Sniff acts as prosecutor of behalf of the Groke, who appears and is willing to trade the treasure in exchange for the magical top hat (NOT a pretty scallop).
08 The Hobgoblin’s Magic: Moomin hears that his wondrous wooden woman has washed up on the shores of Moominvalley. But when he rushes to the beach, he finds nothing but sand and disappointment waiting for him. This sends him spiraling into a brief yet no less deep depression which is cured only when Thingumy and Bob share their contents of their secret suitcase. The novel was much more reasonable however. He was saddened by the loss of Snufkin who had skipped the valley for the first time, promising (as we all know) to return on the first day of Spring.
And then there is a fabulous summer party thrown by the family after the recovery of Moominmamma’s handbag. This part is true to the story, at the very least. But the party in the book is much more fantastical, with dancing, music (from America of all places), punch served in darling sea shells, and everyone - right down to the tiniest forest critter - is invited, and gets to make a wish when the magic man arrives.
09 An Invisible Friend / 10 The Invisible Child: I wouldn’t say that these episodes, featuring the famous character from Tales of Moominvalley, have any life-ruining changes from the original story. But since no episode is complete without a bit of drama, or a pointless cameo from Snufkin, a scene where Stinky traps Ninny with the intention of having her assist in his robberies has been written in. And Little My’s comment regarding the aunt in the English dub, where she states “I hope you told her she hurt Ninny’s feelings!” seems uncharacteristically gentle in comparison to her asking if Too-Ticky “bashed her head in”.
13 The Last Dragon on Earth: As mentioned in the entry above, some episodes will include new subplots or elements for the sake of drama and action. This episode is another example of that, but otherwise it has only minor tweaks. Snufkin states that “the cards” have told him he should leave Moominvalley early if he catches x number of such-and-such a fish, but that storyline is exclusive to this show.
14 Our Neighbor is a Touch Teacher: This episode is based on snippets of the comic strip “Moominmamma’s Maid”, but scraps the storyline containing the titular character from the strip, which is nearly all of it. Instead, it is entirely focused on the Moomin’s new neighbor, Mrs Fillyjonk, a strict and uptight mother of three.
After the Moomin’s welcome party leaves Mrs Fillyjonk fearing for her life, she forbids her children from playing with the Moomin brood. They sneak away anyway. A bunch of death defying stunts happen, courtesy of Stinky. Mrs Fillyjonk plans to leave the valley, but the kids have none of that. This is almost an original story, save for the existence of a party.
16 A Close Encounter with Aliens: Once again we have an episode based on the comics. It follows the basic plotline of the Moomins caring for a stranded Martian child. But a lot of wackiness was cut for time, including invisible Moomins pranking valley residents, a flying fire brigade, and Moomin shrinking down with Mamma, who later bites a Fillyjonk child. Time used for an inserted chase scene with Stinky (one of many across the tv series) feels could’ve been better spent on some of the fun stuff mentioned in my previous sentence.
17 A Change of Air: And yet another comic-based episode, this one taken from “Moomin and Family Life”, which happens to be my personal favourite comic so this analysis may sound bitterer than others. The episode cuts the beginning of the strip, where we see a lonely parent-less Moomin contemplate suicide before being reunited with his long lost Moominmamma and Moominpappa. The comic is a completely different entity from the books and adjustments must be made, so this decision is understandable. But the following choice? Less so.
The episode instead starts with Pappa complaining that nothing exciting ever happens, and I won’t remind him of the events from episode 16 because everyone brings that up. Stinky overhears plans of doing something to entertain him, and during the night makes a set of giant footprints leading to the sea. Whereas in the comic strip, the “giant” prints are innocently left by Snufkin who was wearing boot too big for he gotdamn feet. He nearly perishes for this grave mistake.
Strips where Moominmamma and Moominpappa hang out in a cave, Moomin sheds a few tears tears, and Snufkin offers some half hearted words of comfort provide a basis for following scenes in the episode. But antics with Moomin and friends trying to foil Aunt Jane, who angrily travelled to the Moominhouse after being pranked by Pappa, are sadly missing.
24 Hurry Up Snufkin: The part where Snufkin meets and later names the forest creature Teetywoo, is based on the short story “The Spring Tune”. There are many potential gripes one can have about such a brief scene.
A lot of the dialogue between the two characters reflects what is said in the short story, but what the episode sorely lacks are Snufkin’s feelings. Gone are his shouts and snaps, his grumpiness about being disturbed, his regret when he lashes out, his desperation to find Teetywoo again. His famous line “I’ll come when it suits me” is “cried violently”, making me wonder how it ever became an inspirational quote (oh wait I know). In favour of portraying Snufkin as cool and chill, the anime sometimes ends up making him look more like an emotionless bump on a log.
The plotline of Snufkin being late to return because he is trying to compose a new song has been cut, on account of either his lack of talent or lack of music budgeting.
25 The Lighthouse / 26 The Day the Lighthouse Lit Up: These episodes actually combine elements of two different stories: the comic strip “Moomin and the Sea”, and the similarly titled novel “Moominpappa at Sea”. Lacking most of the typical shenanigans from the strips, or bleak themes from the book, these episodes feel more like a slightly above-average family outing.
The episodes seems to lean more towards the comic, where Moominpappa takes on the job of lighthouse keeper as inspiration for his writing, and Moomin is terrorised by an equally frightened ghost. Too-Ticky unfortunately is missing from the episodes, alone with the scenes where she shares some spooky suggestions with the spectre, and where Snorkmaiden fakes her own drowning to help Moomin feel brave.
Borrowing from the books, we meet both the former lighthouse keeper and a little boy named Toft, who apparently got very lost on his way to auditions for a “Moominvalley in November” episode. The episode scraps the element from the book of Moominpappa making the entire family miserable because he has some deluded fantasy about protecting and providing for them on his own, as well as a heart wrenching subplot involving the Groke, which I will not spoil for those considering reading it. But know this: there will be tears.
28 The Floating Theatre / 29 The Lost Children / 30 Midsummer: This three-parter is based on “Moominsummer Madness”, which is kind of an interesting book. Taking place smack dab in the middle of the series, we see it move away from the more lighthearted tones of the early stories, and begin the shift towards the less fantastical and more serious themes of the later books. But it isn’t quite there yet. And being written around the time Tove still worked on the comic series, some parts of the book would not seem out of place if drawn in her strips.
The most noticeably difference between the original story and anime episodes is the change of the cast. With the number of characters and subplots happening at once in the book, it was inevitable that some unlucky sod would get scrapped from the story - three sods in fact, by the names of Mymble, Misabel, and Whomper. Sniff is inserted into the story, and references to Mr Fillyjonk, the stage manager and Emma’s late husband, are removed.
Snufkin and My’s subplot is changed and cut quite short, beginning with the element of the two not knowing each other. His assault on the park keeper seems to be done for the sake of rescuing the children more or less imprisoned in the park, but book Snufkin simply took joy in breaking the law. The episode lacks great scenes of him trying to take care of the 24 little children; doing things like making silly noises, threatening to drown himself, and exposing them to second hand smoke.
With a small handful of characters missing, the plot of the play Moominpappa writes greatly differs from the book. And say goodbye to the ending chapter, where the reunited Moomin family flees the police and gets chased all the way back to Moominvalley.
45 Moomin Builds a House: This episode is based on the comic of the same title. Although it cuts the story quite short, what is left in is relatively close to the original. Except for the insertion of Snufkin, but I am not offended because that adorable laugh made his appearance worthwhile.
59, 63, 68 Adventures of Moominpappa: And here we get to the episodes based on “The Exploits of Moominpappa”. The first few changes I’d like to point out are a little less notable. As Mrs Fillyjonk was already more established in the show, the Hemulen aunt becomes a Fillyjonk. Edward is a silent character, the Nibling child that Pappa and co look after is absent, and everyone gets real ugly colour palettes.
Next, as you may know, the original books don’t really follow a solid timeline and canon changes in between stories. So in an attempt to make more sense, the young Mymble that Moomin meets is Little My’s mother, rather than her sister. But strangely, Moominpappa’s other friends are no longer the parents of Sniff and Snufkin. Why those two were still so enraptured by listening to his story is unclear.
Comet in Moominland: Finishing off the list is a movie based on the story of the same name. Being the first in what is considered the “main” book series, there are bound to be differences in how characters are written. But there is no difference here more worth talking about than Snufkin.
As I’ve already mentioned before, he is portrayed in the anime as more relaxed. He is the older and most mature member of Moomin’s group of friends, and tends to be reserved in expressing his emotions. For the sake of presenting Snufkin as a responsible figure, he never teaches the gang his favourite game: rolling boulders down cliffs, an activity which almost results in multiple casualties. We never hear his story about disrespecting a police officer, and his subsequent prison break.
But Snufkin in the earlier books is very much a child like the rest of the main cast. He is playful and talkative, being described as bringing “gaiety” to their adventure, and is always thrilling his friends with epic tales from his travels. He is not shy about expressing himself, he is shown to have some sadness about having no parents and cries his wee heart out upon sees the dried up ocean.
Other changes may seem more innocuous by comparison, snipping a party scene and river raft ride, and including Little My. But with the lack of a noticeable personality for a key character, and some of the action scenes, much of the movie just feels like a boring hike home.
~
In short, yeah. As you can see I’m pretty passionate on this subject, especially when it comes to Snufkin’s characterisation. Anyone who wishes to discourse Moomins with me is welcome.
#ok most of this was meant to be written funny and it was fun for me#but you can probably tell which points i got more carried away#there were a few episodes i wouldve covered ex aunt jane but i dont enjoy them as much and couldnt make their entries funny#moomin#mine#Anonymous
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(!IMPORTANT EDIT: This has been revised since it was posted, making this version out-of-date. All content presented herein should be considered unbalanced/unfinished!)
(Disclaimer: I’m really tired right now so forgive me if I ramble)
Aight, now we're getting into some of the heavier rules additions I've made. Let me preface this by saying I love wizards. I think they're just as versatile as clerics while having much more characterization flexibility. That said, I really dislike wizards in 5th ed. They just feel boring, with nothing that really projects that classic wizard feel. School specialization is much less of an impactful choice than in previous editions, and the bonuses granted by your chosen school are generally boring or require silly, exploitative combos to make use of.
After finally getting around to playing one and being thoroughly underwhelmed, I decided to take a crack at actually making this class fun to play
NOTE: NONE of this content has been playtested yet. Between two seperate campaings, None of my players have chosen to play arcane spell casters, so I've yet to have a chance to see it in action. I can only image some of these
options are overpowered, so it may have to be adjusted on the fly to adjust for player shenanigans.
Let me start by saying this was a major process. I went into 4th and 3/3.5 to find inspiration for the direction I wanted to take the various schools and new rules, and I think I found several ways to make the class and its options feel much more unique. Characterization is always the most important part of creating and playing characters, at least for me, and I feel like every option should strive to push that idea. Starting at the very beginning with implement masteries, you're already seperating your character from other wizards. Down with same-y
features, up with options. I'm just going to kind of skim over all of the school and give my basic thoughts and process on the overhaul, even though I'm tempted to gush about all of them because, honestly, I think there's a lot to love here.
Of special note, SAVANT FEATURES NO LONGER EXIST. Cutting the time and cost to copy spells is so contrived and inconsequential that I see their inclusion as more of an insult than a gift. These have all been replaced with something that directly powers up the schools theme because that is way more fun. Also, these are meant to be mixed and matched with the schools as they exist in the PHB. These features all list which feature they replace so you can choose which one you prefer between the two of them when you reach a level that grants you a new feature.
- Abjuration: I think that, of all the schools, 5e did the best with abjuration. The base features fit the theme nicely and it's actually a viable way to build a defensive wizard. A bit of a power boost and push 'em out the door
with a pat on the bottom.
- Conjuration: Lets face it: Summoning in 5e sucks. At lower levels you can summon creatures so rarely it that it doesn't properly lend flavor to the class, and at higher levels its completely outshined by massive, reality altering spells like wish and meteor storm or whatever. This set of features includes a once per day cantrip-level summoning ability and a direct upgrade to the weak level 14 feature from the PHB. Summoning spells are admitedly pretty one dimensional, so if you choose a large number of them to prepare you may come up short on versatility. I was looking for a way to circumvent that issue, and figured that a wizard specialized in summoning would know the spells well
enough that they could spontaneously cast them.
- Divination: I really like this one, specifically because of how flavorful it is. As you can see, there is no level 2 talent to replace portent because portent is just that good. It's powerful, it's fun, it's flavorful, I just can't see another talent that could be a viable contender for portent. I think expert divination is far to situational and makes little sense for the school, so I present prescience as an option I think it potentially equal in power but way more fitting. And finally, diviner's sight is, in my opinion, the most interesting roleplay option in 5th ed
at this time. Imagine a wizard who has looked to far and seen too much, whose vision has been seared away by things no one was meant to see. UGH. So cool. The 60ft of blindsight is awesome and gets around some tricky tricks.
- Enchantment: Enchantment already has some cool stuff going on, so I just wanted to make the spells harder to save against because casting something like command and then having the target save is the biggest waste of a turn
in this edition of D&D.
- Evocation: The biggest change here is elemental affinity, the almost surely broken way to play a real fire or ice or thunder or whatever mage. I think it's fine, but I can see it really causing issues if a player is specifically trying to exploit it.
- Illusion: THIS ONE IS COOL GUYS. WOW. This suite of features straight up turns your wizard into a shadow caster. How cool is that?! Balanced from what I can tell as well, but it'll need to see play before I can be sure.
- Necromancy: This is the one where I know I done messed up. I love necromancers. Love love love them. I'm an edgy preteen for them. I've also got a lot of thoughts on how they work, and I wanted to highlight some of that here.
Necromancers don't so much command death magic as their magic simply manipulates life force. I feel that for a wizard so inclined, it wouldn't be difficult to simply turn that process around. What I'm trying to say is white necromancy and wizards with healing spells. I also added an option that gives the wizard a permanent hunter-style undead companion. Very, very cool but PROBABLY a bit too strong.
- Transmutation: Transmutation is cool, and I really like the flavor of changing yourself to be the ultimate jack of all trades. As with everything else, the savant trait has been replaced.
- Generalist: I really like the idea of this one, and it has a very classic wizard feel. More focus on the focus, a neat pet, and stronger spells? Yee.
- Battle Mage: I'm not so sure about this one. I made these a while back before any of the other combat caster classes came out, so I honestly might end up just scrapping it.
Anyway, I'll probably be dropping some actual setting material next time, most likely the other section on arcane magic. It's blood magic all the way down, kids...
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Sway Pt.2 - Danny Rayburn x Reader (Bloodline)
Part 1 / Here / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10
Author’s Note: Well, well. Here we are. 1 season and 4 episodes of Bloodline down. And a bunch of canon that has killed several story ideas. But I’m likely to just scrap canon in favour of... When we get there. Sorry not sorry
I was going to set this story much closer to the TV show, now I’m thinking like a 2 or 3 (or more...) year gap between this and the beginning of the show... (which I know goes against the canon of his restaurant, but c’est la vie... )
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OCs! I have given your parents names just for story points I’m working on.... FYI...I will explain your heritage eventually!!
It’s never explicitly stated if Danny actually turned up to the Keys a bunch of times before the show. Buuut Robert mentioned he came back for money, he at least had contact with John so... Essentially I think this is plausible.
Premise: It’s been a few weeks since your encounter with Danny in his restaurant, your parents decided to take you on a weekend away to the Keys to see family friends...
Word Count: 7159
Warnings: It’s Bloodline, so swearing... I think that’s it this part... Rayburn family Drama?
The Rhumba is a vertical expression of a horizontal wish. You have to hold her, like the skin on her thigh is your reason for living. Let her go, like your heart’s being ripped from your chest. Pull her back, like you’re gonna have your way with her… Right here on the dance floor. And then finish… Like she’s ruined you for life. ~ Shall We Dance, 2004
I wanna love you inside out
Show me what your inside 'bout
I don't wanna know no word of mouth
'Cause I wanna love you inside out
Grew up in south South Miami
That's where I was when you found me, yeah
Thought you could go on without me
Now you can't see you without me
Friday, AM – Overseas Highway, the Keys.
Since you had called him and gone out for drinks, things between you and Danny had been casual to say the least. You hadn’t hooked up again, yet, and you’d done drinks here and there… But… It wasn’t moving anywhere any time soon. Part of you felt that was because he wasn’t looking to move too fast; you’d been hesitant on calling him, what was to stop you being hesitant over everything else… Part of you, however, was scared that you might end up getting your wish of loving him and leaving him. Only, you wouldn’t be doing the leaving.
So this weekend, when your parents had invited you down to the Keys with them as they were seeing old family friends of theirs you were reluctant with going… If there was one weekend Danny could slip out of your fingers, it was this one;
“So, my parents want me to go on holiday with them… I mean, it’s like a long weekend, but I’ll be back on Tuesday…”
“No, no. That’s cool, I’ve got a busy weekend coming up anyway…”
“OH!” you were taken aback, with another girl?, the fear was always at the back of your mind. It wasn’t that Danny seemed like the type… it was that he didn’t seem like NOT the type
“Yeah, family stuff… A little like you I guess.”
You’d thought that was odd, Danny never talked about his family in a way that made you think he particularly liked them. So you wondered why he’d want to be doing things with them... But here you were, almost to your destination, on Islamorada. Your phone was resting in your lap; even one text from that number now would be a blessing. Anything to let you know he was thinking about you… Even though, you’d sworn to yourself you weren’t going to think about Danny for the whole weekend. But he was a whole lot to try and keep out of your head for four whole days.
You had rolled down the windows of your parents’ car, hand out the window, and the warm breeze pulled through your hair playfully. It was a lot more peaceful than Miami, and with a deep breath of that sea air you had to admit, you could already feel your cares rolling away.
Friday, AM - Rayburn House.
You stared at the sign in disbelief. Your parents were chatting away excitedly in the front seats; they had clearly been here before, you had not. You cursed yourself twice. Last time you’d done this you’d ended up at his restaurant and now….!
“You’re going to LOVE it sweetheart.”
“Massive house… Family still live there! Straight onto the beach… They even take boating trips Estrellita.”
Essentially, your dad was trying to convince you that it would be the equivalent of taking your family yacht out. You weren’t sure of that. First you had to address the name issue.
“Rayburn house? So… the family is…”
“Sally and Robert Rayburn. Yes.” DAMMIT.
“And I’ve never met them because?”
“We’ve known them probably 12-ish years… You were far too cool to come on holiday with us at that point in your life.”
“Oh, how times change…!” It could be completely coincidental – and you could prey that it was. Only, as you knew, Danny’s accent was very Keys. AND he’d already told you he was doing family related things this weekend.
You only half-reluctantly followed your parents around the porch to the back of the house, where (you presumed) Sally greeted them;
“Jack! Maria! Oh my goodness it’s so good to see you!”
You were scanning the beach quickly, but got caught up in the view almost instantly. “Likewise! Robert out kayaking? Oh- Of course, this is our daughter Y/N!”
“OH! Y/N! My goodness We’ve heard so much about you!” You accepted her hug, with a smile;
“It’s nice to meet you…” you turned back to the view “This place is… gorgeous… I can’t believe I’ve never actually come here!”
“Aw, Thank you! You can make up for it now!” Sally beamed as you glanced to your parents,
“Clearly you two were going to keep this to yourselves!”
Your dad simply laughed “Well you’re here! Aren’t you?!”
“And not a second too soon…” You looked back to the sunlight sparkling on the clear water and the white sugar sand… Not even your beloved Miami skyline could beat this one…
“Well, Come, I’ll take you to your cabin…” Your father tugged your case away from you as your mother and Sally went off chatting, catching up on the past year at least. Your parents were always taking breaks by the Keys. This could only have been why…
“Go, enjoy it. I’ve got this.”
“…Gracias, Papa.” He gave you a gentle wink, and followed the two women to the cabin.
You slid your feet out of your sandals and walked tentatively down the steps into the sand. It wasn’t too hot yet, you knew that would change… You took another breath of that sea air and almost laughed to yourself. Keeping your eyes on the horizon as you walked across the sand to what looked like a beach bar. That seemed like it was you sorted for the next four days… You perched yourself on a stool and continued to look out to sea… It had always really fascinated you. But, this time it was like you’d finally got the perfect view of it…
It could have been 10 minutes, could have been an hour. But suddenly you felt a presence next to you;
“What is it about you and nautical stripes!?” You visibly jumped at the sound of his voice, and turned to see another kind of blue entirely. He was of course referring to your dress today; denim blue with thin white stripes at irregular intervals.
“Aw, crumbs! I KNEW IT!” You put your hand over your heart to calm yourself down “As soon as I saw Rayburn House I knew it!”
“Oh, well, it’s good to see you too Y/N… I appreciate that.” Danny Rayburn leant against the bar with a smile and obvious sarcasm;
“Look, I’m not stalking you across Florida I swear!”
“Oh, well I wouldn’t mind that either… I mean I CAN understand…” He slid a drink across to you “Now, If I’ve memorized your drink order correctly, I’ve got that right.”
“…Wait… How long have you been watching me?!” If he’d made you a drink you realised he hadn’t just seen you and walked over.
“Not as long as you’ve been stalking me all the way out to the Keys, I imagine. What are you doing here anyway!?”
You folded your arms and narrowed your eyes at him “My parents know your parents. Apparently!”
“OH! Family friends! Well, my weekend just got better!” He hopped up onto the chair next to yours and leant towards you; “Maybe we were meant to meet…”
You pondered this for a second whilst you were taking a sip; it was 5 o’clock somewhere, you supposed. He’d got it surprisingly accurate but you weren’t about to tell him that; “…Wait, what are YOU doing here.”
“Uh, sometimes I come down here to help out… Sometimes I just…” he hesitated and looked away from you for a minute “…The restaurant doesn’t exactly pay all the bills…”
“Hence why you said, Family stuff.”
“Yeah, but see, you never told me you were coming to the Keys! So we can actually DO something this weekend!! Cuz you’ll be here!”
You were about to mention taking out a boat when someone else approached you;
“Still into flirting with girls half your age, Danny!?” You turned to see a younger man, though still a few years older than you, blonde, built slightly bigger but with the same blue eyes as Danny.
“Kevin.” The exchange wasn’t friendly “No that’s not-”
Kevin cut across him, this time addressing you “I’m sorry about this, it’s typical of my brother to be THIS unprofessional.” And then to Danny “She’s a guest, isn’t she!? Geez, I don’t know why mom lets you within 100 miles of this place! It’s always the Fuckin’ same!”
“Kevin – hold the fuck up – this isn’t a problem! There’s no problem here!” Danny motioned between the two of you
“Of course there fucking is! Wait until Dad comes back!”
“Oh, using dad as a threat, that’s so fucking mature.” You were looking between the two of them wondering what you had got yourself into, their argument getting steadily louder when a third man showed up.
“Will you two quiet down! For Godsake, there are other people around besides you!” Then he looked to you; “God, I’m so sorry! About BOTH my brothers.”
“…That’s… Ok?” Good to see you had finally found a voice; he glared at both Kevin and Danny, before coming back to you; “I’m John, Rayburn…You alright?”
“Yeah. Fine!” You recognised his name immediately “Oh! You’re the cop.” He looked at least a little surprised; making you turn to Kevin “So you’re Kevin, who owns the marina, repair shop… thing…” you were sure that you’d got them the right way around. You turned back to John, seen as he’d been the first one to introduce himself;
“I’m Y/N Ervin.”
“OH! Jack and Maria’s daughter! Yeah, I just came from over there!” He took your hand and shook it, “It’s great to meet you, I’ve seen your parents around here many a time. Well, welcome to Islamorada!” He pointed to Danny, “This one is trouble, by the way! I’m sure your parents probably told you that.”
“Oh no…! They never mentioned you guys, Danny is how I know who YOU two are.”
“I told you there wasn’t a problem.” Danny turned back to Kevin
“Wait, you know her!?”
“Yeah, MAN, that’s what I’ve been trying to fuckin’ tell ya!”
“Woah, woah, woah, okay…!” John moved himself strategically between the two, and attempted to steer Kevin away “Just, careful Danny, alright?!”
“He started it!”
John sighed, and looked to you, as if to prove his point; “You know each other from Miami.”
“Yes.” you answered in unison
“Alright, good, finally nice to meet one of Danny’s Miami friends…”
“HA! Friends!” Kevin didn’t say it quite loud enough through his laugh, but you could tell Danny was thinking about retaliating. John could sense it too and pushed Kevin down the beach “Geez, Kevin, shut up!...I’ll take this one of your hands! Nice to meet you Y/N! See you later!
You watched them both go, quite unsure of what exactly had just happened, before turning back to Danny and his gorgeous blue eyes; “So are you?”
“Am I what?”
“Trouble?” You smirked, taking another sip of your drink
“Shouldn’t you know?”
You tipped your head and gave him big innocent eyes, “I don’t know. I could go for a bit of trouble…”
And the smirk he gave you back let you know you were in for one hell of a weekend.
*
You were more than just a little impressed with the complex his parents owned and before the day was out you’d explored the surrounding area completely on foot. After Danny had seen to it that you’d finished the drink he made you, with that triumphant little smirk on his face that it must have been at least decent, he reluctantly headed off to do more work. You guessed that he wasn’t paid to do nothing! You’d been invited to dinner with the whole family on your final night here before your drive back. You were at least somewhat looking forward to that; but wondered if it would be as tense as the argument that had occurred earlier in the day. You and your parents decided to get dinner in the restaurant that night, although you knew they would head off to the market in the morning – your mom was like Danny in that she would rather cook than eat out. You only knew this because if you suggested dinner he’d always push it back to drinks or forward to lunch so you’d be forced to go to his restaurant. You wondered if there were any restaurants besides his own he’d actually frequent. Maybe you’d never know… And you didn’t dare suggest he come to your place and you cook for him.
Dinner was fine, and your parents were already completely absorbed in where they would take you whilst they had you down here and all their long weekend plans. You knew they were excited about you sharing a place they loved. You knew your weekend was mapped out, and that didn’t leave so much time for Danny… Only, there was to be a party on the beach Saturday.
From time to time another group of long-time holiday makers who knew your parents would stop by their table to greet them, and it was during one of these such stops that you felt someone staring at you… You could only guess who, looking up to see Danny eyeing you suspiciously from the dining room door. He leant across to pick up a menu from the holder and scanned it quickly – drumming his fingers absentmindedly against the door frame. He frowned for a second and gave a small shrug, before catching your eyes again. What, is he judging what I’m eating now!? He gave a chuckle before disappearing again; Oh come ON Danny!
This continued throughout the meal, he’d walk past your table almost nonchalantly. Pretending he was ignoring you, even though he was blatantly staring you down the entire walk over. Once you turned as he passed to catch him turning back to look at you and you received a wink. Ignoring him was harder once you knew he was here, and you didn’t want to do it on purpose like you had at his restaurant, you wanted his eyes on you. When you knew they were you’d play him at his own game, sweeping your hair out of your face and tangling it in your fingers to expose more of your skin, you’d bite your lip shyly, smile a little more and laugh a little more; pulling at the dress you were wearing so it seemed to hug you tighter. You wanted to hold his attention here, and you got a little jealous every time something would pull his gaze from you.
Every time your eyes did meet his, his stare was so intense you couldn’t hold it. It made you wish you were here alone. It made you wish you were back in Miami, back on a dance floor in his arms… back in his apartment… or yours… He made you bite your lip for an entirely different reason. You can’t LOOK at me like that! Not here!
These seductive looks from both of you were unrelenting until your family left. But even then Danny wasn’t done, catching you all by the door;
“Have a good night Mr & Mrs Ervin!” Then he put his eyes back on you and ran his tongue over his bottom lip, “…Y/N…” You felt yourself grow hot again as Evelyn’s deduction of the way Danny would undress you with his eyes popped back into your head. Only this time he was making it more than obvious to you that that was what he was doing. It almost juxtaposed your parent’s cheerful goodnight back. You stepped off the porch still locked in his hungry gaze… And you wanted it right there, you wanted him to come down here and relieve you of your dress and push you down into the sand and do whatever he damn well wanted to you.
You’d never wanted a man as much as you wanted him right then. And it scared you.
Saturday, AM – Islamorada, Rayburn House, Beach.
You loved the sea, sun, that tangy salt air, and you loved driving, and you loved walking, dancing, running… All these things connected you to music. Music was your most treasured thing. From very young music was an association to everything you loved. Your parents had been competition dancers and your mother had not stopped when she had you. Some of your very earliest memories were of them dancing together to the most exquisite musical pieces. All you had ever wanted to find someone who was made for you as perfectly as they were made for each other; someone who would match you the way they always looked so flawless together on that dance floor. When you had decided to take yourself into the more corporate world, you figured that would always be a dream. You weren’t sure if that was still the case.
It was still early when you were crossing the sand again, it was still cool from the night before. You weren’t paying much attention to your surroundings, and even if you were, you had turned your music up so loud… Every song just made you want to get out on the dancefloor again. And that just made you yearn for tonight. Eventually as one song faded into another you heard someone yelling at you, and pulling out an ear piece you turned in the direction of none other than Danny, cigarette to his lips.
“ARE YOU DEAF OR WHAT!?!”
You pointed at your ear phones “I have much better things to listen to than your voice.”
He scoffed at that; clearly all that confidence and sass you had currently meant you were a morning person. In contrast to the deer-in-the-headlights innocence on your face last night at the way he had looked at you because he knew you knew damn well what he was doing. He knew you could play the game, but the second he had you right where he wanted you he realised you couldn’t actually resist him. And he already knew from the way your eyes betrayed you the way YOU felt about him.
“What are you doing!? Do you know what time it is!”
“I’m walking…! You’re working?” You put your hands on your hips, eyeing him suspiciously… was he working, or was he simply coming to act on last night?
“Well, yeah, I was finished until you walked on through it.”
You looked down “OH! SHIT!” You looked back the way you had come, your footprints now a good portion of the way into the beach he’d spent his waking hours raking. “OH! GOD! Danny! I’m so sorry!”
“Yeah yeah, well, I’m going to have to do it again now, aren’t I.”
You looked around, now stuck “Uh! How do I get out! I guess I could just… Walk through my own footprints…” You were about to move when he held his hands out;
“OH! God! NO don’t make it worse!! Hold on!” He put his half-finished cigarette out and strode towards you, around the outskirts of the area of the beach he’d finished, with a few large steps he crossed to you. Then without warning, scooped you up into his arms; causing you to shriek;
“DANNY! OH! GOD!”
“Try not to wake EVERY guest up Y/N!!!” You started laughing along with him “Now hold on tight and I’ll try to get you across with minimal damage to the rest of my hard work, OK?” You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, clinging tightly to him, to which he made a satisfied hum;
“Y/N - if you’re going to hold me like this I might stand here all day…!” He surveyed the area “Ok… Hang on…” He tried his very best to follow his footprints back, and by the time he’d put you safely down on the soft sand again you were both nearly in stitches;
“Oh! I feel terrible! Do you need any help!” You didn’t let him go as your feet touched the dunes
“No! No! I wouldn’t make our guests do anything like that. You owe me a smoke, though! Also don’t want you taking any cuts of my pay check do I!?” His arms were also still around you, and he took advantage of this to attempt tickling you playfully, only making you laugh harder as you squirmed in his arms.
“O-Kay! I get it!!!! I don’t want bruises before the party! Get off!”
“OH-! Are you coming to that?!” He raised an eyebrow “Will I need to keep all the men on this island away from you, I wonder?!”
“Oh come on. My parents are here…!”
“And?” He smirked again and lowered his voice, dark and husky “Didn’t stop you last night…”
You squinted “…Didn’t stop you either… Besides, of all the men on this island, I only want one of them.”
“Oh, Darlin’, after your little display, I know that…” His eyes looked you over again, “Luckily for me, you are powerless to resist.”
That only set you laughing again “Oh, Really, Mr.Rayburn?”
“Why deny it to yourself?”
“DANNY.” You both turned, and he instantly let you go. Both John and his father were standing on the porch. Both with nigh on unreadable expressions… Danny took a few steps away from you, creating a gap that forced you to let him go. He cleared his throat;
“Well… Enjoy the rest of your day Miss.Ervin…” and with that he walked back to the house. Before he even got to the steps John was tugging his arm and hurriedly muttering something at him. You watched him go, a little hurt. What was that about? You knew Kevin had some kind of problem with him being around you that was at least kind of cleared up… But… did the rest of his family have a problem with it too? And, if so, why?
*
You caught John whilst they were setting up for the party, the sun was just on its decent – but nearly the whole family were already here to help;
“John!”
“Y/N!” He had this warm instantly trustworthy smile, you put a different kind of trust in him than you did Danny. No doubt you trusted the man you were intent on seeing.
“…What’s up with you and Danny…?”
“Nothin’… Why?”
“Well, it’s just earlier…??”
“Oh.” It clicked “No, it’s nothin’ don’t worry about it. How good friends are you guys?”
“I guess I haven’t really known him that long…” weeks? It couldn’t have been any longer than around a month “He’s a good guy from what I can tell.”
“No, yeah… Is it… friends?” His amused smile let you know what he really meant;
You looked to the sand with a smile “Well, I guess you are the cop…” you made a shrug “…I don’t know. Yet.”
“Well. I wasn’t wrong. Be careful. But…” He folded his arms “You seem like a smart girl. Just put some of those smarts into my brother, please, would ya?” He grinned “God knows he needs it!”
Saturday, PM – Rayburn House Beach.
Once night fell and the music came up the party on the beach really started. You wondered if this was what your parents had really come for, as they were busy socialising with nearly everyone. That left you to make your own friends, as Danny seemed absent or at least elusive… It didn’t bother you once you’d met Meg, the Rayburn’s daughter – probably somewhere around your age - and her long-term boyfriend Marco; both of whom you instantly clicked with. Marco took instant interest in your heritage, and when Meg was off talking to others, he kept you company; lost in something else entirely in quick Spanish dialogue. You were playing it safe (and inkeeping with theme!) with Sangria, but a few glasses in allowed you to get a buzz. When Meg came back, she chided Marco for keeping you from meeting others and she dragged you off to some of her friends.
That was the first time you noticed Danny, he was on the outskirts of the party – trying to look like he was a part of something he really wasn’t. He was watching everyone and sipping from his drink very occasionally. You were conscious that you were stuck between two different worlds right now. The Rayburns, this party, their family, the world they lived in down here in the Keys. And His… You finally caught his eye, and he offered you a smile to match the one you were giving him. You attempted to wave him over; hand still firmly in Meg’s as she kept you locked in a conversation with other young women. He seemed hesitant, but at your insistence he downed the rest of his drink, and began to make his way through the crowd. He was about half way over before he stopped; he hesitated again, and then backed up, and took another route but not towards you.
You turned, both Kevin and Robert were around the party behind you… as was John and his family. Something was certainly going on…
Suddenly the DJ switched the tracks up and in unison you and Meg both yelled “Oh my God! I love this song!”
She laughed “Alright, Miami girl, let’s see whatcha got!” She dragged you into the middle of the crowd and began dancing. You laughed suddenly; in the middle of all these people you didn’t know!? With your parents here!? Well, what was the difference between this and your ventures in Little Havana…? You picked up the rhythm on the next beat and suddenly you were right back in Miami, they didn’t know you in Islamorada – but they soon would.
Song after song you gained confidence, the group of people at the party had almost completely stopped dancing around you and Meg, and those that were left were still watching the way that both of you moved. The music seemed to classically edge on the Spanish beats, it suited you and her (you guessed Marco’s influence) but you were wrapped up in your own movements. Still shy…
The problem was you knew what you wanted, and you knew he was here. Now you knew you finally had a King… You were lost without him. Still, you kept the attention of everyone else. The sway of your hips, the travel of your hands, every movement of your head – it all told a story. Or one half of a story; you were still searching desperately for him somewhere on this beach. You were a whole now, it might only have been one night but you realised you could never go back to dancing without him… Even with what you were doing now it was half-hearted…
The song switched up again and you had to literally face the music. It was the same one that had begun this crazy journey. And he wasn’t here. You were on the verge of giving up entirely, not this song. You could dance to anything but this song. You did in fact, pull out of the beat; but it didn’t last.
He didn’t shock you. The familiarity of his embrace was instantly comforting. One hand on your waist he pulled you just close enough to be respectful in a dance that demanded him to be physical. His other hand took yours as he matched you step for step. You didn’t look at him right away; because you weren’t sure what you would see. If only you knew what he was really risking to hold you like this, but he couldn’t see you out on this floor alone, how you moved so beautifully but you were so sad – you were demanding to be held, but not just by anyone. By him. He sensed that, and compelled by his Queen he moved to you. This time, you knew he would let you lead him – he would respect your body, your boundaries, your parents. But he would do as the dance asked of him and hold you closer than he had ever held anyone, romance you on this dancefloor like you had been lovers for decades, Danny Rayburn knew you were everywhere and he liked you all over him – but he liked you in his heart more.
You moved effortlessly across the sand as if it was the polished wood of a studio. The others had evacuated the dancefloor pretty swiftly upon his entrance, and the ring around you afforded space Havana didn’t. He rocked his hips with yours, and you led him as if he’d never done this before; Danny was almost submissive to it, but every movement you made he copied flawlessly, like he knew your head; you felt he knew every movement you would make before you made it. He twisted you to face him and you were locked once again in his intense gaze; his hands running from your shoulders down your back, he was flirting dangerously on the edge of inappropriate and he didn’t care as you pulled yourself closer to him. The look in your eyes he wanted upon him for the rest of his life and as you locked one arm across his shoulders, you held him as strong as he held you. Still taken by his eyes you ran your other hand up from his stomach, to his chest – his heart was fast but steady enough to keep control – up his neck and through his hair. You were close enough to close that gap and kiss; but you would keep your power and deny that, this dance conveyed more than a kiss ever could. You embraced him as if he was your very heart and soul, and the look in his eyes let you know he was making love to you on this dancefloor. You could see nothing else but him. And you didn’t WANT to see anything else. However he saw himself, however his family saw him. Out on the dancefloor he was your King, and that was all that mattered.
The music wound down to quiet. To nothing. And both of you were breathing heavily. But you refused to let him go. He was smiling, and then he was laughing as the majority of those around you were applauding what they didn’t know they had just witnessed. So much more than just a dance, but admittance of how you both really felt… You didn’t have to say anything, both of you had clearly stated your position, betraying your feelings to each other as if you hadn’t already. But you had to voice it. “King and Queen of Little Havana… of a beach in the Keys…. Where next, Danny?”
Sunday, Early AM – Islamorada.
You woke from the night before in a way you had many a time. Though, you had to admit, not for a while. You didn’t think you’d crashed at your parents’ house after a party since your early 20s.
“You don’t have to say anything. Just, drink this and take two of these!”
“Ugh. Dad, I’m not that bad..!!”
“Well, I remember many a time when…”
“Yeah okay!” You sat up and took the glass of water with thanks and two tablets. When you both left the room, your mother was already cooking breakfast - and she gave you this knowing smile.
“What?” She simply shook her head and turned to your father. They shared another look, you folded your arms, taking another sip of water and looking between them; “What?!” They did it again and then laughed. “Oh! Papa! Mama! Come on!”
“Oh! Dios Mio Niña!” Your mother looked heavenward “what do you think!” She pointed the spoon at you “You have much to tell us!”
You looked to your dad, who lent against the kitchenette counter with an expectant look.
“...This is about Danny isn’t it.”
Your father turned to your mother “Danny...!” He repeated with a heavy Argentine accent he often used in mocking “I knew it was the oldest Rayburn child!”
She nodded “How did you meet?”
You weren’t sure if they were quizzing you because they were interested or... something else... “He lives in Miami... I, urm, met him on a dancefloor in Little Havana...” This raised eyebrows.
“Should I be concerned? What’s going on between you and the Rayburn man?” Your father folded his arms and leant towards you.
You shook your head “He’s good to me. I don’t know what it is. But when we dance it’s just… magic… I know he’s older and… according to his family problematic but he treats me well…” You thought on it for another second “... he’s a good person... Danny’s a good person. I know it. I just don’t know him all that well yet... what do you know about him?!” As soon as you said that both your parents burst out laughing;
“You hear that? She doesn’t know him!”
“Ah! Dancing like that and she doesn’t know him?!”
You felt yourself get embarrassed as your father turned back to you to answer you seriously; “Danny Rayburn, aside from being the eldest son of Sally and Robert? Not a whole lot. If you didn’t know he existed... well, you likely wouldn’t know he existed.”
“So...? You’re not...” mad..?
“Is it a serious thing?”
“I haven’t worked that one out yet…” You were at least honest, you didn’t know what you and Danny really were, although now you were fairly confident you both felt the same way.
“Well it SHOULD be. The way you danced together last night. That is not the dance of two people who do not have chemistry… You can’t teach chemistry.”
“W-wait, you, didn’t think it was…?!”
“What I saw out there reminded me of your mother and I in our youth. We met on the dancefloor too you know. With a bit more precision, the two of you would own any floor you walked onto professional or no. He is a good partner, and you should make him more than that.”
“…I thought you’d ask me not to… see him…” you felt guilty just thinking that, and looked to the tiled floor.
“Should I be warning you to stay away from him?” Your father titled his head “with the chemistry you clearly have? Don’t get stupid thoughts into your head. You’re old enough to take care of yourself, your mother raised a smart daughter-”
“Damn right I did.”
“-if you want to make something with this man. Then I want you to know that we both support it. On the professional dancing circuit... well, that’s a different conversation!” He laughed at his own joke.
“Anyway. We only wanted to ask you about him because we wanted to know if he would like to join us for dinner this evening?”
You stared at your mother in disbelief. “Sorry!?”
“You heard me. Clear your head!!” She waved her spoon at you again.
“You NEVER want to meet the boys I date!”
“Aha-! They are dating!” Your father turned back to your mother and they shared another significant look before she hushed him; “Those corporates have nothing between their ears but facts and figures. And no rhythm... Look at this one though. Danny has much more about him! We would very much like to get to know him.”
“What about his family? They don’t seem to like it...”
“I will talk to his parents. You’re both adults, his family shouldn’t be getting involved. As for my name, eh. Press is press.” Your father shrugged, he seemed almost blasé about this.
“Are you sure? I mean, he’s a chef. He owns a restaurant, so God knows if he will say yes...” It was like you were trying to prepare them for disappointment.
“He cooks! AH! Even better! I will have to make sure I am up to scratch!” Your mother beamed “Anyway! You haven’t answered! Will you ask him?”
You felt yourself smile, and nod “Yes! Yes!! I... thank you!” You ran to them both and embraced them “I think he needs this... I really think Danny needs this!”
“No doubt... that man needs a family Estrellita... give him one...” Your father kissed your forehead “You have always had a big heart. We only wanted you to find the right man to share it with...”
“Danny Rayburn..?”
“Trust me from experience, a work in progress is much more worthy of your time.” Your father turned to your mother with a warning look;
“There is nothing wrong with being a late bloomer!”
You edged away from the conversation with a laugh “...I guess I should ask him as soon as possible... if things didn’t go awry after last night...”
“Ask him right now.” You father pointed to the window “he’s been out there a while.” You turned, and sure enough he was working on the beach, as he had been the previous day.
“Y/N. I will talk to the Rayburn’s. I promise you. Now go invite him already!”
You turned back to both your parents and bowed in thankfulness before running to open the door and sprint down the beach.
Your mother tutted “That man will be trouble. Good trouble. He will shake her perfect world up.”
“She needs a little bit of danger... she needs someone who can give her in life what he gave her last night on the floor. Right now, at this point in her life, he is the only man she’s met who can give her what she doesn’t know she’s been craving all along...” he smiled proudly as he watched his daughter approach the older man “... she needs Danny Rayburn.”
“Danny!” You called him from across the sand, careful this morning not to walk on any sand he had carefully smoothed out. He didn’t turn to you, in fact he more seemed to turn away. “Danny!” You weren’t deterred from saying it again. He was hesitant about it; glancing back at you over his shoulder, but once he realised you weren’t going anywhere, he sighed.
“... You know I’ve been told to stay away from you? I’m not supposed to talk to you... Hell, I so much as look at you it’ll start a riot. I’m surprised your parents didn’t say the same thing.”
“...What!?”
“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised Ms. JJ Harrison Ervin, biggest property developer and estate agent in Miami... guess MY family just think I’m going to tarnish that name too...”
“Danny!!” You gasped “My father built that business from NOTHING - like YOU have!” You scoffed at the thought of Danny Rayburn being the one to tarnish your family name, considering your reputation on the dancefloor and your Dad’s reputation in business from time to time... He was a bit of a badass taking no names...
You rounded the sand to get as close as possible to him without ruining his work; “How can you say that about yourself!? Did your family even take me into account!? What I want...!? Danny... Please... Look at me...” He took another breath, and reluctantly looked at you “I don’t care what your family say. I care what MY family say. And my dad told me he hasn’t seen two people dance together with that much chemistry since the professional circuit...” He didn’t ask, but he raised a questioning eyebrow, so you went for it; “Danny, my parents REALLY want to meet you...” you smiled “...So they asked if you would please come to dinner, tonight?”
He stared hard at you for a minute, like he hadn’t just heard that, he looked away and you saw the smile appear before he began laughing; “They do KNOW my profession, right? I’m the WORST person to cook for!”
“I explained that.” You weren’t sure if it was a yes, and after what he’d just said you were unwilling to take anything less than acceptance of your parents’ invitation. He nodded, looking back to you;
“If your parents want to meet me. And that’s very kind of them. Then sure. I’ll… be glad to come over to your cabin for dinner tonight.”
You lit up, and he loved the smile that crossed your face. “Thank you!” He waved off your thanks before you looked to the expanse of beach he had yet to clear “I uh… better let you get on…”
Danny had to be honest, with you standing here he didn’t want to get on… But he was equally conscious of not screwing this up now. So he let you say goodbye to him and wander back to your holiday home. He watched you leave, telling himself he just wanted to watch you get back okay, before you stopped. You had something you really had to say, and after last night there was no time like the present.
You turned back; “Danny… I was thinking… when we get back to Miami… We should… start seeing each other. Properly…”
He raised an eyebrow, learning further forward on the beach rake “Isn’t that what we’re doing!?”
You couldn’t keep the expression of surprise off your face “Oh.” You looked to the sand for a minute, at least you could blame the sun for the heat of your cheeks. “Well, I thought it was too casual to be… serious.”
Then he leant back and shook his head with a sigh; “This IS serious. You sounded like you wanted to take it slow. God, am I TOO slow for you now!?” He smiled and pointed at you “You’re the one that DIDN’T want to call me. If I had it the way I wanted it, you’d have moved in with me by now!”
“…WHAT!? NO! If you think I’d be moving into THAT apartment you have another thing coming! FAR too small!” You were too preoccupied with thinking about how it looked too small for him to realise what you were saying… He grinned and looked out to sea,
“GOD! JOHN! SHE’S THINKING ABOUT IT! Wait, do you want me to meet your parents so we can tell them you’re moving in!?” He mocked yelling for his brother and laughed as you turned bright red again and tripped over your words.
“I hope you know I say these things to watch you blush like that… It makes you look even cuter.” You covered your face with your hands as you knew he’d sent you several shades deeper; he laughed again;
“Aw, naw, don’t do that!” He dropped the rake and crossed to you, taking your hands in his “What are you depriving me of your face for!?”
“Danny! Stop it!!”
“Well, you’re depriving the whole beach too, I mean that’s just… rude.”
You bit your lip, trying to surpress your smile and looked back into his blue eyes “…I’m sorry I just thought… Maybe…” You shook the thought away; it was stupid, you realised that now.
“Ah, no. I’m one for exclusivity… That’s the only GOOD deal about being single. Playing the field… Though, I’ve made my fair share of bad plays. You’re NOT one of them, in fact, if I play my cards right… You might just be the best play I’ve ever made.” He tipped his head “…I’m not seeing anyone else. I’m waiting right here for you.”
“Well, I’m here now.”
He nodded his agreement, winding his arms around you, he touched his forehead to yours; “You’re here now.”
---
@stcphstrange - For you! ❤
#Bloodline#Danny Rayburn#danny rayburn x reader#danny x reader#ben mendelsohn#Aiming for 9 and above notes so come on people#PRAISE BE WE HAVE AN ACTUAL COUPLE / RELATIONSHIP NOW!#I'm prepared for this to have many many parts...#danny rayburn x you#Linzi Writes#Liliana#2
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(1/2) I have a story I started long before finding this blog, where two characters are being tortured for info - one under threat of rape, the other under threat of dissection w/o anesthetic. The (incorrect) idea at the time had been for character #1 to hold out until they actually start to rape him, then give up a generic but accurate tip to get them to stop, in exchange for a promise that they won't harm his sister, which they give. The sister was going to hold out until right before they cut
(2/2) cut her open, then do the same thing - give a generic tip off for finding the third member of their party (who left them both behind to be tortured - a point that the torturers emphasize to her) so they won't actually follow through. The turnover time for the torturers getting the info was unfortunately very short, and I had been hoping for both prisoners to escape the situation with minimal harm. Is there a way to salvage this story as is? Or would it be best to scrap it and start over?
Idon’t think you need to scrap it but I do think some changes wouldbe necessary. And for reference, dissection without anaesthetic isusually called vivisection (if you want more information on itspractice it occurred throughout Japanese occupied territory duringWorld War 2).
You’vegot a few options here depending on what’s important to thestory.
Thesmallest change to the torture scene itself would be to have thecharacters either lie, give out garbled useless information or giveout inaccurate information. But it might be important to your storythat these people get some kind of accurate information. And ifthey’re routinely torturing people they probably don’t have muchof a chance of finding the information elsewhere.
Youcould take out the torture entirely and havethe interrogators approach the characters in a way that’s morelikely to be effective.
ButI get the impression that you feel at least the threat of torture isimportant to the story and the scenes generally. It’s your storyand you’re the best person to judge whether it’s necessary ornot. If you feel it is then I think it’s best to try and work out away to keep it.
I’veonly thought of two solutions that balance both.
Thecharacters are separated. That’s fairly standard practice and it’sthe beginning of most effective interrogations too. I think a simpleand realistic solution would be to have onecharacter go through a pretty standard, effective interrogation withone group of captors while the other is threatened.
Thisis perfectly possible. Just because there are torturers in anorganisation does not mean every one in it is a torturer. Oftenthere’s a sort of fracturing effect, a conflict betweentorturers/torture apologists and ‘by the book’ law/rule abidingmembers of the organisation.
Luckof the draw couldlandone of your characters with torturers and another with a genuineinvestigator.
Thatlets you keep both the threat element of the story and the captorsgetting accurate information without using any torture apologiatropes. It also creates an opportunity for you to show the readersmore about the captors.
Ifthere are divisions inside this group then this would be a brilliantway to show them.
Itwould mean picking between the two threats you've come up with ratherthan applying both. If you strongly feel that one of them fits thestory better keep that one. If you feel you could write one of thesethreats better then go with that. If you’d struggle to choosebetween them, rape is certainly the more common of the two. Thatmeans it’s more likely and more plausible but it also means it maybe what audiences expect.
Itwould mean extending the time this takes place over, but that’sactually not unusual for torture situations. I think you could usethis to show how quick genuine interviews are in comparison by havingthese running more or less alongside each other.
I’dsuggest taking time to build up rapport between the genuineinvestigator and the captured character. That doesn’t necessarilymean having them in the same room for hours, just giving them spacein the narrative to have a productive conversation.
Rememberthat people do wantto talk. Not necessarily on topic and not necessarily in a way thathelps the interrogator but generally it takes far more effort to sitin silence then respond to ordinary conversation.
Andan ordinary conversation, without ‘traps’ is really all you needto get things going. Especially if the only information you reallyneed this group to have is surface level, ‘simple’ stuff.
Thingslike that can slip out in conversation without people realising it.
They’relooking for the third member of this party. It would be natural toask something like ‘So can you tell me how you met?’ and if ithappened years ago that seems like harmless information. But talkingabout things they did with this person years ago could easily help tobuild up an impression of the places they go to frequently, the kindof things they enjoy or do regularly-
Andthat can be used to help narrow down a search.
Whenit comes to saving the other character from torture here’s what I’dsuggest: have the investigator stop the torturers.
Fromthe investigator’s point of view it can go something like this: Twoprisoners have been brought in and locked up in separate places. Theinvestigator hears this soon after they’re brought in and givesinstructions to bring one to the investigator and makesurethat such-and-such (ie one of the investigator’s mates) talks tothe other one before anyone else.
Thefirst prisoner is brought to the investigator. They’re in a prettyemotionally fraught state but that can actually be used to get theconversation going.
Theinvestigator starts by confirming basic things like the character’sname and gets little bits of simple information they can put togetherlater. The investigator thinks things are going well and prettyquickly so they grab an assistant to check how their friend is doingwith the other prisoner.
Whichis when they find out the torturers have the other prisoner.
Cuerage and indignation: ‘I orderedyou not to let them have the prisoner!’
Thisresponse doesn’t have to be based on concern for the victim oranything sympathetic. It can be as simple and self-centred as ‘Iftheyget to the prisoner first then I’llnever get anything out of them! My job will be harder! And messier!And grosser! Those bastards are trying to undermine my authority!’
Theinvestigator marches off in a rage and bursts in before the torturersdo any serious damage, rescuing the second prisoner. All of this cantake something in the region of 20-30 minutes after the prisoners arebrought in.
Ifthe investigator thenbrings the threatened prisoner back to the interview room (becausethey can’t trust anyone to handle this properly or not hand theprisoner back to the torturers-) then that would effectively killtheir chance of getting any more accurate information that day.
Thecaptors end up with a similar level of accurate, useful but low levelinformation. The information didn’tcome from torture. And you get a chance to show the readers a littlebit more about the captors; both as a group and as individuals.
Letme stress again that you can have a bad guy ‘save’ othercharacters from rape and torture without them having a ‘good’motivation for it. It can be because they know torture doesn’twork, rather then any care for the potential victims. It can also bebecause they just really don’t likethe torturers as individuals and want to spite them. Or something assimple as not wanting to deal with the mess if they get the prisonersecond.
Ifthat last one doesn’t seem like much of a motivation take a momentto consider what it would be like spending hours in a small roomtrying to talk to a survivor shortly after they’ve been tortured.Imagine how powerful the smell of vomit, faeces and/or blood islikely to be in that confined space. Even a character completelywithout moral qualms could object to torture on those grounds; no onewants to deal with the mess.
Aless plausible but still possible scenario could be to play thetorture scenes as you originally planned and have both charactersrescued by a genuine investigator both they’re hurt and beforeyou’d planned on having them ‘talk’.
It’sextremely hard to get any accurate information from someone afterthey’ve been threatened like that. The effects on memory are stillvery much in play beforea victim is hurt, though the effect is less pronounced then in avictim who was physically hurt. The threats also serve to undermineany attempt at building rapport and conversation. Theyalso make captives less willing to give out information and morelikely to refuse or rebuff attempts at conversation.
Thatsaid- some investigators havehad success interviewing survivors afterthey’ve been taken away from torturers and allowed to recover.
Thecaptors are only getting a very low level of information in theoriginal scenario. So I think this could work, but it depends on howmuch characterisation and space you’re willing to give an‘investigator’. For this scenario to be plausible you’d need tohave this person interacting with the victims for a longer period,probably several days with appropriate breaks for sleep, meals and soforth.
Ifyou think the story has narrative space to show a captor spend daystrying to win the survivors’ trust and only getting a few scraps oninformation in return- then this could be an answer.
Thisis far from irredeemable. You’ve got a few options for how to takethis scenario and which is ‘best’ is going to depend on how muchtime you want to spend on this section of the story.
Ihope this helps. :)
Disclaimer
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P-P-P-Play that shit: ptv analysis - Part 2
Hi what’s up everyone and welcome to this week’s pew news. This is a continuation of my last post where I pretty much summed up Pierce The Veil’s career from the beginning to present and gave an overview of their rise and downfall. You can check it out here, but if you already know about everything or have read it already then feel free to ignore it. In any case, I was originally gonna make these two posts as one but ran out of room bc who the hell would read that much text in a blog post (me) so here you go - part two of this fucking conspiracy theory because I didn’t even get to share any of my thoughts in the last one. (I also forgot to put headers with each new topic smh apologies to the English language)
Edit: it’s been fucking eons since I wrote the last one/started writing this one like legit I even changed my user. The reason why this has been put off for so long will be explained later but yh smh
Gigantic obligatory disclaimer: Everything that I will discuss whether it be in this post or my last, or any future posts that relate to this subject IS NOT going to touch on the subject of the “sexual relations with a minor” incident in itself. I will not go into detail about my own views on this specific matter as there is literally no way to win because whatever I say could be taken out of context by literally anyone. That being said, I do not condone pedophilia, I do not condone sexual harassment or rape, and I do not undermine the importance of consent. I respect the laws of different states, as I know they vary with time and place, and I understand that everyone has their own opinions and I do not wish to impose my own onto others.
In regards to this, however, I do have to acknowledge that I, first and foremost, do not think that Mike Fuentes is innocent, and I strongly believe that how the band handled this situation was just plain terrible, but I do also have to acknowledge the fact that this situation is to stay between the accuser and the victim, as well as their respective legal teams and that I should not go nosedive headfirst into anything like this when it does not directly affect or require my judgement as a necessity, lest I face any legalities or blacklash as a result. Furthermore, everything that I will be talking about are conspiracies only and I do not in any way assume or imply that any of this is true.
In other words, I don’t mean to offend anyone but if you end up getting offended then that’s on you, not me. Let’s begin.
Introduction
The points that I am trying to highlight in this essay post is, in simple words, that Pierce The Veil’s... well, everything, comes off as kind of a conspiracy, almost, to me. I have had these thoughts for a long-ish time, and so this post is basically me finally making a post that covers all things that I have been thinking of in the past. Unlike my previous post, this one is a lot less fact-based and a lot more opinionated, so if you’re not into that, then that’s fair. Otherwise, I will be discussing the following things (in this order): the topic of kellic, Misadventures, and the accusation + response.
When Life Gives You Lemons, You Ship Them Together And Call It Lemonade
I refer to my last post and assume that everyone understands how “kellic” came to be and what it means. To summarise to the bare minimum best of my abilities, it’s the ship name of Vic Fuentes and Kellin Quinn, aka what people call it when someone wants or is keen on the idea of these two frontmen having an affair with each other in a (typically) fictional setting. It happens all the time, especially in this day and age where you can easily just find someone with the same obsession as you with a click of a button. That’s why King For A Day, and inadvertently Collide With The Sky, became such a huge success. It appealed to the right demographic of teenagers and tweens who were ecstatic at the prospect of shipping, and went on to achieve even more impressive feats following that. How you ask? Well, by going on a tour around the world of course. Together. Playing shows every night that ends with one of them literally carrying the other off the stage. Gotta give the people what they want, hey?
I have a strong belief that the key to success is through beating the system at its own game. In this case, the game is simple - get fans, get money. Unfortunately, as we all know, getting fame isn’t as easy as simply earning it through grit and determination. To achieve fame, one must find a way to do something at the right time in the right way so that people will notice. If one person does, and your fire doesn’t die out right away, then you’ve got yourself a forest fire. Then later on, all you gotta do is keep this forrest fire going, but assuming that there isn’t someone standing on the other side with the whole fire department’s resources in tow, then the only thing stopping this fire is itself, because with all things in life, fire dies out, and fame stops accumulating after a while if nothing is done about it. Humans need entertainment. If something starts to fail to pique their interests, then they move on. That’s why YouTubers are required to change up their content every now and again in order to try and relight that spark they once had, and even then there’s a good chance that they won’t.
I was originally going to write another blog essay about this whole YouTube analogy thing but quickly realised that for one, I don’t have time bc I’m getting my ass fucked by university on a daily basis; and that for another, there’s most likely a billion other videos or essays about this topic as is, so I’ll just link one or two of them here. I haven’t watched them all yet or I don’t remember much of them, but all they do is pretty much summarise up stuff like how YouTubers become successful and their downfalls and all that, and even though they kinda focus on a specific person or group of people, I feel like it could be generalised.
Even without the YouTube metaphor, we know shipping works. It is evident in multiple works across various media that giving the fans what they want is often what gives these people their continued success, such as Dan Howell and Phil Lester, who have all but stopped trying to create their own individual branding (save for their separate merch stores that are probably there just to get more people to buy their overpriced clothing), and who at this point have become such an overused example that I actually hesitated writing that. Why do you think movies and shows and cartoons mostly have a romantic subplot? Romance is an essential trope in literature and easily one of the most popular genre out there for various reasons. According to a Bustle article written in 2016, romance often gives the readers a sense of hope or gives them a way to live out their fantasies in the easiest way possible, and while this may not apply to everyone, (personally I’m not a romance fan much at all but I can appreciate good literature), it’s hard to deny the phrase “sex sells”.
Given that, you’d think that any company with half a brain would learn to exploit it, but for some reason this wasn’t the case in Pierce The Veil’s management, and no matter how I look at it, I can’t really see the reason why. It’s not like the band members are uncomfortable with the ship - Jaime Preciado has been seen kissing Vic Fuentes on stage (not on the lips guys chill) (I had forgotten how fucking difficult it takes to find this one specific clip so here’s a couple different fuenciado pictures instead to make up for it smfh), and Vic Fuentes has mentioned kellic in a live stream once jokingly - and Kellin Quinn is notoriously known for being completely okay with it (so long as he doesn’t have to look at it), so just what is the reason?
This Ain’t A Hiatus, It’s A Goddamned Arms Race
I’d be lying if I didn’t miss all the memes that all stemmed from the Pierce The Veil boys not being able to release an album when they’d promised, before postponing said album yet again and disappearing off of the face of the earth digitally for another year or two, giving them a total of four years as their unofficial, unannounced hiatus. For this, I have several questions.
We all know Vic Fuentes loves taking his sweet ass time releasing music - he’s admitted to remaking his first album a second time before releasing it, as stated an interview a couple years back - but you can’t honestly tell me their management just let them get away with it. Sure, through this time they’ve been pushing out new merch to no end, but something tells me that this giant gap they’ve wedged between the new album and Collide With The Sky isn’t gonna be good publicity, despite all the memes that’ve sprouted from it. There’s been fans who stopped taking interest in this band because of it, as well as fans who have just gotten fed up with having to wait so long. They scrapped a whole completed album in the process of creating Misadventures too, and while it’s not uncommon for bands to throw away near-completed ideas at whim, it’s also not unlikely for there to be some external factors or reasoning behind why they did it. Could it be that the album they threw away stayed too close to their roots and management or some other person told the band to start again, so that they can create something more appealing to this day and age? Or could it be something else that is hard to see at face-value?
You’ll Never Get Ahold Of Me Now
Finally, I’m gonna address the overdue elephant in the room. If you want to read the full thing, here it is because I’m tired of having to reiterate what happened. Mike Fuentes received a sexual allegation by some girl(s) and the band released a shitty statement that has since gotten deleted - that’s the general gist of it.
Like I said, it’s been literal months (or weeks idk my perception of time is severely fucked) since I actually started making this post so literally no one cares anymore, but regardless of what past me has promised or written down, I’m not going to be discussing the allegation in itself, but rather what and/or how the band and their subsequent management has handled it, in that they handled it so bad that I honestly can’t believe they did it like that.
Edit: I wasn’t gonna bother finding another copy of the statement bc no one’s gonna give a shit but then I’d be doing some baseless shit and I honestly can’t stand people who half ass these things, despite my growing urge to do the same thing, so here’s the statement.
For starters, who the hell waits one whole month before releasing a statement? From what I can remember, their excuse was allegedly that pretty much management forbade them to talk or make a statement about it earlier for... reasons? (Just realised I don’t actually have the source for this so idk take it with a grain of salt I guess because I was sure I had read this somewhere but I can’t back it up.)
That’s not even the worst part, either. The statement itself gave zero closure to literally everything. Yes, they acknowledged the allegation, but that’s just about as far as they went. The whole point of a statement is to clear things up, whether the accuser was right or wrong, and what steps will be taken from there, whether an apology is to be issued or not. No shit you know about the incident, who in the fandom wouldn’t? Instead pointing out the straight up obvious, what they should’ve done was 1) not waited an entire fucking month before talking about it, most likely hoping the whole thing to blow over by then and 2) actually talked about the incident in their statement instead of tiptoeing around the subject like some sort of time bomb ready to go off. There is no right or wrong answer, because literally all they had to do was tell the truth - as in write down a statement from Mike (not the whole fucking band mind you) about his take on the whole thing or get him to say what had happened from his point of view. Then resolve it privately with your legal team and whatnot if they really feel the need. Hell, all he needed to do was apologise. Whether something like that classifies as assault or rape or whatever is up to you but the fact of the matter is that she’s underaged at that point in time. Even if she was fully aware of the risks and whatnot and gave legitimate consent, under the eyes of the law and pretty much 80% of the people reacting to this incident, it will be deemed illegal and inappropriate behaviour. All these people had to do was literally just be open and honest about it regardless of whatever the hell happened, because this is all happening on a public platform where everyone can see/read it to their hearts’ content. Viewers can’t judge or make a decision to support or not support you if you don’t tell them your side of the story, so for the love of god, why the hell didn’t they?
The statement was filled with bullshit about how they love the fans and all that shit, and honestly my thoughts can be accurately summed up in this video right here. So much backlash could have potentially been avoided had they just told it as it is, because now all we have is a vague ass response that gives no closure and tell us nothing as to whether Mike actually did it or not, because in the statement he manage to spout some bullshit about how he’s “never intentionally manipulated or abused anyone in [his] life” and that he’s just a ball of empathy which at first glance could suggest he at least thinks he’s innocent, but then they go on to say how Mike’s taking a temporary leave from the band for, you guessed it, absolutely no reason. At least, no reason that they’ve given us (what else is new) (I’m becoming more petty as the night drags on it’s literally 1am). Honestly, .@piercetheveil, please tell me why the honest to god fuck did you have him leave just after suggesting that he might be innocent? I know the world isn’t black and white but when you’re making a stance and defending yourself or admitting to something, it really is - black and white that is. Either you’re innocent or believe that you’re innocent and stand your ground by not leaving the band, or you admit that you are guilty, in which case your leaving of the band would actually feel justified, because now it’s like you’re gonna come back as well, so what does that even mean? Mike isn’t gone indefinitely, he hasn’t pleaded guilty or innocent, and now the band is telling us they love us? Fuck out of here with that bullshit.
Yes, I support the band’s decision to pull out of the All Time Low tour and to not have Mike out there in case fans feel threatened or unsafe or whatnot, but if you’re pleading innocent, then honestly the whole band should’ve just said “hey we’re gonna go on hiatus for a while until our legal team’s finished with taking care of everything”, and not just said hey guys we’re gonna kick him out because he may or may not have done something that we’re not gonna tell you because we’re shady fuckers like that. I know they are on hiatus right now, but at the “start”, they only said that Mike would be withdrawing temporarily or whatever so it’s kind of like, okay? Sure? It’s a right mess I assure you. Honestly, throughout this whole incident, it was this statement part that made me really fed up with this band. My interest in them had died down significantly from since I hit fifteen all those three years ago, and right now when I dug up an old iPod shuffle to bring with me to university to save my phone battery throughout the day, I can honestly say that I won’t be adding any Pierce The Veil songs onto it anytime soon unless I get peer pressured to. Personally, I feel like that’s kind of the mentality of a lot of had-been Pierce The Veil fans, too.
That’s Great And All But What’s Your Point?
Pierce The Veil’s management sucks ass.
There’s no easy, lawsuit-prone way for me to say it but, and this is just a conspiracy theory I swear to god if I get the fucking ASIS kicking down my door in the middle of the night you better read the fucking disclaimer, there’s obviously some shady shit going on in there no matter what way you slice it. Either they’re sabotaging Pierce The Veil’s success or whether it’s all some big confusion or misunderstanding, or if they’re just plain dumb, we can all agree that this whole thing - the kellic fan service, album making, allegations and subsequent statements - should’ve and could’ve been handled a hell of a lot more gracefully and professionally. Believe it or not, waiting until things blow over is frankly just childish and solves literally nothing, so either they can pull their act together quickly with this next “special secret” album to redeem what little quality/dignity they have left, or they can just fade away into irrelevancy and become a band that no one cares about anymore.
History repeats itself. This band is quickly becoming just another Leafyishere, and as ominous as that sounds, it’s honestly not unlikely at this point. I am intrigued as to where they go from here, because if they manage to breakthrough again, then I would be very surprised given their current situation. I want to know how they choose to handle this - whether it’ll be the same or not, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Thank you so much if you read through this honestly like I am beyond happy that this is fucking over because I have a bunch of non-band related post essays I’ve been meaning to post but this one’s been nagging at the back of my mind for the past few months or however long it’s been. I’ve clocked in at around past 3k words for this one, and none of this is edited because I’m honestly so done with this you don’t understand. Like I said before, this took ages because I was gonna make another post talking about other shit that relates to this before realising that there’s way too many people that’ve addressed the whole YouTube thing so me doing it would literally be pointless, and even though no one really reads this shit, as big of a nerd as I am, I do enjoy writing bullshit because maybe then I’ll stop ranting to my friends and family about topics they don’t care about.
Regardless, that’s it for this two parter thing, and until next time or whatever.
Catch’ya x
#pierce the veil#ptv#vic fuentes#mike fuentes#jaime preciado#Tony perry#kellic#kellin quinn#fuenciado#bands#music#emo#misadventures#collide with the sky#selfish machines#a flair for the dramatic#alternative press#rocksound#kerrang#altpress#perrentes#snatched#essays#rants and whatnot#shit talking
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Walt Disney is undoubtably one of the most famous figures in modern history, which is most likely why about 90% of people on Tumblr and other websites (that I know of so far) think that he is an expy of Joey Drew.
I understand that- both are entreprenurs who started their careers in the 1930s and went on to be famous lead animators. However, there’s something about this connection that doesn’t add up.
Anyone who has read Walt’s reputation section on wikipedia would find that Walt’s percieved personality was nothing like Joey. He is instead described as shy, bashful, self-deprecating and embarrased in public. Now, I want you to be all honest here, does this look like an accurate description of Joey to you?
Okay, admit it. If any of you said yes, you’re either being sarcastic or have never played the game before. Joey is the complete opposite of this description! Every audio log which ever mentioned him in any form whatsoever was pointing out every one of his personality flaws, from his obsession with the ink machine to his fixation on ‘appeasing the gods’ and immortality.
But aside from their polar opposite personalities, there is one more point seperating Walt and Joey. I understand that there are a large proportion of people today who complain that all the film industeries care about today is making money. By this, they say things about cutting costs and making as many sequels to something as possible, without really going for a creative path for fear of losing money. I’ve seen critics accuse Disney studios of this before, but here’s where it gets interesting.
When Walt was still around, he had a thing about style. I read a few articles about what it was like for his animators in the studio, it’s true that he had high expectations but he also really cared about style. Cool fact- when the first colour film they ever produced, Snow White, was still in production, Walt was so determined to make sure that the movement of the animals was realistic that he brought in a bunch of deer and things into the studio so that his animators could learn realistic movement. Years later, the guys who made Jurassic Park took a trip to the zoo to study giraffes and elephants to make the most realistic CGI dinosaurs. Walt was certainly ahead of his time.
Now, think about what Thomas talked about from his tape from chapter 3. He was complaining about the elevator, right? What else? He mentioned that Joey *kept cutting corners*. Walt does not cut corners. Walt made sure the company never cut corners. Joey isn’t really doing this for the sake of creativity, he’s trying to leach out as much money from it as he can. What other evidence?
Any of you who have been following the lore closely and keeping up to date with merchandise announcements may be familiar with the Hot Topic takeover, when clothing was arriving in the shops. One event made this special- for about an hour before the merchandise went online, Hot Topic twitter went and roleplayed as Sammy Lawrence, answering the questions of fans and raising quite a few more in the process.
At one point, a fan asked Sammy where he speculated Joey had gone. Sammy’s reply was that Joey was most likely ‘raising his salary’. This can be taken as an indication that Joey was a greedy individual who had a constant want for profit.
As I have stated before, this is not like Walt at all.
Most of you are probably wondering- “If he’s not Walt, then who is he? Walt’s the only guy we know!” Now, what if I told you that there’s someone else who fits the description of Joey Drew perfectly? Minus the ink machine, sacrifices and satanic stuff, and you’ll find yourself with an almost perfect match with another, lesser known person.
His name is…
…Charles Mintz!
I’ll give credit to yunisverse here, had I never read her(?) post I would have never even heard of him. Yuni was so ticked off at Charles that she actually dug out her old lecture notes just so that she could go off on a rant on what a terrible person he was, Jim Sterling style.
Disclaimer: The following recount is what I’ve gathered from several sources, but I think what Yuni wrote is probably more accurate.
Walt’s first ever animated series was a thing called the Alice Comedies, but Charles wasn’t happy with how much money it made so he told them to scrap the show’s budget and do a bunch of really expensive stuff to it so that they could get more money from it. Problem- Walt and his brother Roy were working on the lowest of budgets and couldn’t afford to make those changes. The result was that they had to work a lot harder for less pay- the series was increasing in popularity which was the only real reason Walt was still working for him.
Eventually they moved into an actual building, but Charles’ demands for better quality pictures and more money meant that eventually they started to lose money for every film they produced. As a result, Walt and his studio had to start from scratch.
This was the time when Walt developed a character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Charles was annoyed that Walt was still going at it, but once the films got started it became a big success. Walt’s company decided to keep on going at it, and they got some pretty good ratings.
Don’t ask me what Charles was thinking, but this was the time when his evil buisnessman side took over. Charles saw how popular Oswald had become, so he pretty much went like 'That’s a nice character, MINE!’ and then he literally fired Walt and stole the rights to make cartoons from him.
So, yeah, that’s the story of Charles the evil buisnessman.
After I read through this, I suddenly felt that Walt actually had a part to play in Bendy’s universe after all. Expect that his side of the story didn’t turn out as great.
Remember that description of his personality I wrote above? I’m pretty sure you can all think of a very certain Player Character who fits that description and has had similar events happen to his pre-game.
Henry.
He doesn’t talk much during the game at all, especially when faced with monsters and things. Matches up with how shy Walt was in public places. We even get a hint at the degree of involvement back when he worked in the studio, in chapter 3 when he talks about a 'new character’ that he believes that people are going to love. Also, Walt was known for basing his cartoons off himself.
Now people are going to tell me: “Walt was the really successful buisnessman! Henry doesn’t seem to be well known at all! What happened?”
Bit of history for you- after Walt was fired there was literally only one person who was supporting him. That was his best friend, Ub Iwerks, seeing as Charles forced all the other animators from Walt’s company to work for him instead. Ub is literally the only thing that stopped Disney Studios from dying. Walt called him 'the greatest animator in the world’ once, and for good reason. Ub drew the entire ’Plane Crazy’ episode in the matter of two weeks- ALL BY HIMSELF. I did a double take when I read that. I mean, he had to draw 700 frames each day to do that! EVERYTHING!! I’ve only animated once in my life, it took two months to finish my assignment and it was half the time of that episode, with two cats and no background. How he managed it I had no idea. If only Ub were alive today- imagine what would happen if he got his hands on a drawing pad and an animating program…
It’s thanks to Ub that the entire company existed, but from what I can tell from our limited experience with Bendy’s universe, Henry didn’t go off to fame and fortune after Joey’s studio shut down. Chances are, while Ub existed in ours, there wasn’t any expy of him in Bendy’s. We don’t know what happened to Henry during the time he left the studio, but it didn’t seem like anything special happened to him.
So, that’s it for now. I’d suggest that you take this theory with a grain of salt, seeing as I’m not the one behind BATIM, but if anything happens in chapter 4 that supports this, maybe we can look into it further! Later on I might reblog this to add on stuff, but this is my theory for now. Also, Dober, I’m so sorry that this was pushed back 9 hours. This will never happen again, I hope it’s good enough. T.T
Homework now…
#a very interesting comparison indeed#bendy and the ink machine#it must have been something serious enough to make henry leave#or he just got really tired of working with joey#lol#submissions#theoscout#submission#long post
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