#of all the character relationships and how they interconnected and what each of the backstories were for the formation of the relationships
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playing ttrpgs and creating beautiful worlds and stories with your friends is all fun and games until you want to share with people how beautiful the worlds and stories you made are but they require 20+ hours of "you had to be there" context
#i'm goin post!#when i GMed a thirsty sword lesbians campaign i literally made like a huge web-like chart#of all the character relationships and how they interconnected and what each of the backstories were for the formation of the relationships#and i tried to share it in a group chat that did not include any of my players#and the general consensus was 'danny we love you but this is so complicated. we love that you're having such a great time tho'#anyway society if i could beam the plot of ghost town into the brains of all interested parties not present in the game
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Who are your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters each from Jujutsu Kaisen and Boku no Hero Academia? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments each from both series? Thx :D
My top 5 characters from Jujutsu kaisen are :
1)yuji itadori. I already kinda answered why I love yuji in my last post but Iam a big fan of his character arc and I absolutely love his cog ideology. There is so much that is still a mystery to yuji and I think he will probably be one of my top favourite MCs really soon I do hope that his story ends up breaking the cycle.
2) Geto suguru. I love how he is a parallel to yuji, how close he was with both Gojo and shoko, how he realised that the system was broken but chose the wrong way to deal with it.
3) Yuki tsumoko. I love how she was basically a riko who got a chance at defying fate and living. How she studied the soul and probably had better understanding of all of this than anyone in the Jujutsu world. I think she deserved more screentime and moments before getting destroyed by kenjaku. I also believe that she was simply a catalyst to Getos downfall and not what caused it.
4) Mechamaru. I love robots Imma be honest this is bias. I also loved how much he cared for the Kyoto students, how he was basically being selfish not letting them go into shibuya being afraid that they would get hurt, I loved how he became the traitor for both his own selfish reasons and to protect the ones he cared about.
5) maki zenin. Her character breaking the cycle that the zenins created is absolutely beautiful. She is basically a toji who broke the cycle and is someone who is ultimately interconnected with mai through the use of the sword.
My top 3 favourite moments in jjk are:
1) yuji Vs mahito in shibuya. The build up to this was amazing the "Iam you" moments was also fantastic. The slow understanding that yuji and mahito are two sides of the same coin is just so beautifully done. The wolf and rabbit imagery throughout the fight how mahito went from being cocky confident to being terrified (a feeling that a curse like him never knew of) is just a masterpiece.
2) higumara Vs itadori. This fight really just have us insight to both characters. We really get to see how much guilt itadori truly feels and is burdend with after shibuya. However, with higumara we also see him and his backstory how he spiraled out of control always being confronted by liars and sometimes failing to help as a lawyer, failing to protect the innocent. His domain being blinded by only justice and what people say is something really cool especially when we see yuji break that and how higumara reassures yuji telling him that the shibuya incident was not his fault was a really good moment
3) Gojo Vs kenjaku. Short but I think it said a lot about both characters relationships. How Gojos only weakness was the one that he used to share the title of the strongest with or how even after death geto would still not want any harm done to Gojo so he physically takes control over his own body and tries to cause himself harm just to try and stop kenjaku from sealing Gojo.
For MHA my top 5 favourite characters are:
1) izuku midoriya. The potential he had as a character is insane he definitely breaks the regular shonen protagonist type as we see him overthinking, actually analyse stuff and he is a very emotionally intelligent character as a whole. I talk a lot about how many ways horikoshi could of used him in my blog
2) momo Yaoyorozu. My favourite female character she had a lot of wasted potential which I talked about I think she had a great character arc ahead of her she just lacked the manga time for it which is sad.
3) tenya iida. PROBABLY one of the best developed characters in the series (if not for some of the ooc things he does from time to time) a character who wanted to only be a hero because of a loved one and then going in a full murder hunt when that loved one is injured just to be met with ideological thoughts like what is a hero and if he is worthy of such a title.
4) toga Himiko. I think she had a lot of potential as a humanised villain. I don't like his she was redeemed and I also made a post about how much wasted potential she has int he series.
5) shoji mezou. He actually kinda carries the series on his back because a lot of characters would be dead if it weren't for him. It's such a shame he got his character "arc" last minute and we didn't get a more fleshed out version of him. Him being a victim of discrimination and hiding behind a mask is never talked about just how it's never talked about how he takes of the mask and gains the confidence to show his face without feeling ashamed.
My top 3 favourite moments in MHA are:
1) Stain Vs the trio (izuku, iida and todoroki).The stain arc realky put all the characters through some serious thought process and questions. I love how stain actually ends up logically questioning idea and having a point in those questions. I love how todoroki just got a message from izuku and was like "oh thats not how you text so I came" I love how the moment izuku realised he was in hosu he started to think of iida was ok or how stain thought and regarded izuku as a true hero.
2) Izuku Vs lady nagant. This was supposed to be a fight where both parties realise how wrong they are and for izuku to realise how messed up the HC is. Lady nagant and izuku have a lot of parallels him wanting to save her and not having the heart to kill her says a lot. The way she highly respects him is something I really like. I guess I mainly like this for the wasted potential it has🤷♀️
3) togas fight in MVA arc with curious. Her fight with curious really got a lot out of her character. We got a backstory and how she kept hiding her true self, how her quirk made her the way she is. We also got a good breakdown of both curious and Toga's characters I wish we had more but yeah.
#MHA#mha#bnha#jjk#Jujutsu kaisen#midoriya izuku#mezo shoji#toga himiko#momo yaoyozoru#geto suguru#yuji itadori#yuki tsukumo#iida tenya#maki zenin#mechamaru#ask#anon#anon ask
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for the grishaverse asks- kingdom, king, djerholm, the unsea and the true sea!!
kingdom | pick a character and give them a theme song
ugh I have playlists for so many characters I can't choose 😭 but I'm going to say nikolai and “dear reader” by taylor swift bc I'm writing a whole fic based on that concept!
king | what’s your favorite idea for a new series in the grishaverse?
ooooh, if it were an all new series with new characters I'd love something set on the wandering isle! I have so many headcanons about their culture and what life would be like there, including life for grisha, and I'd love that to be explored
if we're thinking a continuation featuring the current grishaverse characters, I'd want a series focused on the aftermath of rule of wolves - nina and zoya both running countries (with a subplot of them healing their relationship bc I find their dynamic so fascinating), plus potentially a zoyalai subplot as well (I have Thoughts™ about zoyalai post-RoW but that's a separate post)
djerholm | what pair of characters would you kill to see interact with each other?
honestly the grishaverse is so interconnected that it's difficult to think of two characters who haven't interacted at all, particularly if you count the show! but I saw this one headcanon that wylan and nikolai would have met as children (and that nikolai would be protective over wylan bc of their age difference and similar upbringings) and I think it's the cutest shit ever and it's canon in my head
the unsea | what type of grisha powers would you want to have? or what crow’s skills would you want to steal?
if I were a grisha I'd want to be a heartrender! so I guess that answers both questions bc I'd be stealing nina's (original) powers lmao
the true sea | rant about whatever grishaverse thing you want to (a hot take, something that bothers you, something you love, etc)
weirdly enough despite talking about my hot takes 24/7 normally I can't actually think of anything rn so yk what I absolutely LOVE? that every character has their own backstory and they're all so unique and fitting! idk we talk a lot about how leigh writes trauma and its impacts but I think the way she writes about people's pasts in general is soooo good because literally every single character has their own story, some more detailed than others but they're still all THERE and it's just so brilliant idk
grishaverse asks
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hi Radley. do you have any advice for methods of plotting? not really structure advice, but literally *how* one might go about settiing out to plot a novel? 😅😅😅
I can! With the caveat that I am not a plotter. Not a good one, at least.
Oh, I think I am. Every time, I lay out my beat-by-beat structure for a book. Every time, I get soooo confident that it weaves together into a perfectly balanced narrative where every action has a clear cause and effect, snowballing into one beautiful avalanche of a finale that will duct-tape my readers' eyeballs to the page.
Every time, I get a quarter through and - wait, who is this character why are they killing the big bad before we even hit the Call To Action?????
So, uh. With that in mind, as well as the usual disclaimer (what works for me may not work for you, all writing advice is subjective, etcetera)...
My n#1 plotting method =
1 x big bit of paper
4-5 x colourful pens
1 x vague idea
First off, you gotta figure out what sort of story you want to tell. My mind is the equivalent of paint water swirling down the drain after art class. I am clinically incapable of forming a single coherent thought; it's all just swooshy. I need to write stuff down in order to wrangle my brain into order!
So, I just splooge out a billion vaguely interconnected ideas that shoot off in all sorts of whacky directions (the adhd helps, I suspect).
I scribble them all over a big sheet. Character concepts. Conflict concepts. Worldbuilding. Dramatic betrayal scenes. Moods. Tones. Themes. Literally anything. I follow any tangent I want - the important part is getting all down in a (somewhat) legible fashion.
Then you edit that shit into coherence.
I usually go over these sheets the next day and copy out the good parts, grouping them into clumps (so, all the character concepts together, all the worldbuilding ideas together....). I cut out A LOT of dross on the way. My writing process is similar (overwriters and overthinkers unite!) and I've found that it's easier to let loose restraint and edit later, rather than trying to nail anything on the first try!
So, I have several lists of cool shit I want to shoehorn into my book. By this point, we're usually talking a dramatic finale, some sort of 'mood' that I want the story to end on, the overall vibes, some rudimentary worldbuilding, and at least the skeletal structure of my main characters.
Then it's time to flesh out, baby!
I still have my notes from Dressage Dragons and (edited a little for clarity) they look something like this:
Two main characters, one rich, one poor; one very feminine, one gnc butch. Both love their dragons more than anything else and have only one or two significant relationships with other humans. THEY HATE EACH OTHER [why? BACKSTORY HERE]
Themes of: rivalry developing into crushes, perfectionism and ambition, class conflicts, the different ways that loneliness, depression and grief manifest...
Gay gay very gay
Explorations of the Not Like Other Girls attitude in relation to gnc women who have been bullied their entire lives by the 'other girls'
Big competition for entry into [??? dragon riding school? worldbuild this shit... what’s the history of dragon riding in this world?]
Main characters almost ruin each other's chances in the competition but gradually grow to respect each other [how???? Why??? Some sort of threat makes them work together - but what?]
AH WHAT IF DRAGONS ARE BEING STOLEN AND THEY ALSO HAVE TO STOP IT AND THIS SUBPLOT BECOMES THE CENTRAL PLOT
EPIC BIG FINAL SCENE WHERE [spoilers]
should finish on a hook for book 2, with a sense of [spoilers]
did I mention gay
While deceptively simple, I had to toss out a lot of other ideas to hit this point! But this was the wire frame over which the messy papier mache sculpture grew.
As you can see, there’s a lot of blank space still to fill in! Don’t be afraid to ask yourself questions and come back to them later.
Once I had this collection of ideas, I could dig deeper into the characters, the specific beats and moments of growth I wanted them to hit, the development of their relationship throughout the book, and how that would feed into the plot - all building towards an awesome finale.
Best of luck, sweet nonnie!
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Creator Spotlight #20: worldsofdreamers
Welcome back to the TWW Author Spotlight! For every spotlight, we’ll ask each featured author the same ten questions (as well as questions you submitted on Twitter!). This week we’re sitting down with @worldsofdreamers (worldsofdreamers on ao3)!
1) What are your top 5 desert island fics by other authors?
Healthcare Reform by hufflepuffhermione This fic is one of those that had me itching to read each update as soon as the notification hit my inbox. Absolutely everything I could have wanted in a season six au and more. The angst and romance are perfectly balanced and the transition from marriage of convenience to more had me tossing my phone across the couch more than I care to admit. Captures the magic of Josh and Donna beautifully and truly just how much of a dumbass that man is when it comes to his feelings.
just stay this little by mikaylawrites a sweet fluffy filled post canon josh and donna and their babies fic. So sweet and heartwarming I cry every time I read it. Happy families are my weakness and my oh my are they happy here. The perfect pick me up fic.
Yichud by Lily_Padd_23 a short lovely Sam and Josh fic that takes place after they get married. One of the first fics I read with this pairing as I was exploring the archive in this fandom, long before I ever considered writing fanfic again or for this fandom. I really love how it captures their dynamic and the jokey, easy-going nature of their love. The way it’s clear that they are best friends and lovers is something special and reminds me so much of my own relationship. They are absolute dorks and I love them so much it hurts.
brothers in arms by hufflepuffhermione A character study of Josh that is so unbelievably gorgeous it rips your heart out and knits you back together. I reread it recently and it’s just as poignant and impactful as the first time. In my book it’s required reading for anyone who loves Josh, found family, and interconnected stories. I could go on and on about how much I love chosen family but I’ll refrain if y’all just go read this fic as soon as possible. Have tissues nearby because you’ll need them.
for every year’s a souvenir by crossingdelancey A CJ and Toby fic with some background Josh and Donna. It has everything I love in a story from The West Wing universe, chosen family, Josh being CJ’s annoying little brother, plus a second chance romance for CJ and Toby with a family to boot, and a happy ending for all of them. What more could you possibly want? Other than more that is, an absolutely stunning fic all around.
2) Do you have a favorite character to write? Favorite ship(s) to write? Are there characters or ships you'd like to write more of?
I like writing Sam a lot, he is on-screen a lot but we don’t always see into his head like we do with some of the others. He’s a good canvas to play with and create a backstory that serves for whatever story you want to tell. Plus the information we do have about him creates touchstones to build from. His complex family structure and background as a writer are something that all my narrators typically share across original and fan works so he’s very easy for me to fall into writing. The typical advice is write what you know after all (even if I don’t particularly think that’s great advice all the time).
Currently I only write Sam/Josh and that’s really fun for me but once this story cycle reaches a logical conclusion I’m open to writing other pairings if the right idea comes along. I find the dynamic between Toby and Congresswoman Wyatt fascinating, especially in my current watch through of the series.
3) Tell us about your writing process (setup/location? Night or day? Snacks/beverages? Computer/phone/notebook? Music or silence? Anything else you want to share is welcome!)
Generally my ideal writing circumstances are the same when it comes to original fiction or fanfiction. Block out all the noise around me with noise canceling headphones and a character playlist. As someone with ADHD it’s vital to be able to tune into what I'm doing with as little outside distraction as possible. I use google docs for the actual story because I can write and edit on multiple devices without having to worry about flash drives and then physical notes in a designated book depending on the project. I have to have music, at least two beverages, usually one that’s caffeinated, and if at all possible a blank wall ahead of me.
My process for West Wing fics specifically starts with watching the source material that overlaps with wherever the AU is headed and cherry picking the moments that are relevant in the larger context of this universe as well as backrought things going on in the administration. Typically this also serves as a way back to a Sorkin-esque style from my original fiction. I also make a point of tracking Sam/Josh and any other relevant characters, specifically the interactions they have with each other. I also love researching moments of real world politics both of the time the story occurs and present day and leaving them around as easter eggs for the government dorks of the world like me.
Typically there are also a few songs from my obnoxiously large music library that become the soundtrack of a piece and that’s how the “title track” comes out. With my most recent fic Secrets (Just to keep you) the title track was Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift. The whole time I was writing this story I was listening to a lot of the unreleased tracks as well as Adore You from Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson’s album Walls, and Taylor Swift’s reputation which just beautifully fit the feeling of a secret love that you’re desperately trying to keep under wraps, the heat and tension that bubbles over when you’re finally alone with that person and the secrets we all carry around.
4) What writing advice do you have for others who may be reading this?
You can’t force inspiration or at least I can’t. She sort of just comes to you, I've found the more I read, listen to, and watch the more she finds me.
At least that’s what happened when I considered writing in this fandom. I’d just watched Season 1 episode 19 Let Bartlet Be Bartlet the night before and was in the car on the way to get groceries or something and was listening to the Harry Styles and the line “Kiss her and don’t tell” from his song Keep Driving got stuck and all through the store I was thinking about that episode and what would change if we as the audience knew Sam was bisexual and had this unexplored history of allyship? Why was he the one in the room with the guys from the DOD taking the meeting about DADT? It sort of snowballed from there into a character study in my notes app and then a fic of the same name came out.
5) From where do you usually draw your inspiration? (Other forms of media, music, tropes, etc?)
Usually fleeting moments in the canon mixed with a song lyric and the question what if?
Sam and Josh having a cat that Josh is at odds with in my universe came from the line about Josh yelling at Donna’s roommate’s cats. It made my partner laugh the first time we watched the series together and now every time the line comes up he brings it up.
The whole idea of exploring a long term relationship between Josh and Sam has been ping ponging around for years in my mind because of the interactions they have at Gage-Whitney and on the street outside.
I’ve been a fan of the show for nearly two decades so I have a lot of history with the characters and there are sometimes when a song just clicks for them or a moment in the show.
6) What is the fic you've written that you're most proud of and why?
Probably Secrets (just to keep you). It’s my longest fanwork to date and I really enjoyed writing a summer romance over the summer. I’m a sucker for romances that are equal parts tender and spicy and while there are things I’d change about the process I’m proud of the fact I actually put it out in the world.
7) What's the fic trope/concept/AU you'd read 1000 of? What's the fic trope/concept/AU you'd write 1000 of?
I’m a sucker for a friends to lovers arc and a clandestine romance. I will watch or read the “oh shit… I love them” moment over and over again.
I love a second chance romance and will read or write them until the end of my days. I love exploring how you find your way back to someone who hurt you and who you also hurt. The negotiations of it and the exercise in trust it takes to open yourself up to the potential of being hurt again.
When it comes to writing I’m a big fan of stories that deep dive into the small moments in canon and attempt to bring more depth to characters.
8) Is there anything you'd like to try writing-wise that you haven't yet?
I don’t typically write m/f main pairings in anything I do but I’d love to write something about Toby and Andy pre-canon. I think if the right idea came along it could be a really interesting character study. It would also give me the opportunity to humanize and flesh out the grumpy men of The West Wing which is one of my favorite things to do. Also I love Andy so much she always steals the scene for me.
9) What's your go-to Starbucks/coffee shop/other drink order?
Always the largest available size of cold brew or iced coffee, with one or two packets of sweet and low. If I'm feeling fancy I add a splash of oat milk and a pump or two of cinnamon syrup.
Whenever possible, Dunkin or a mom and pop shop over Starbucks. I have chronically bad luck with Starbucks beans being burnt or my drink being undrinkable in some other way like getting dairy milk instead of plant milk. I've stopped risking it.
10) Do you have any current projects you'd like to promote or anything upcoming you'd like to tell us about?
My ongoing AU series Love of my life has five entries currently with at least two more on the way. Whichever tumbles out faster will be the next update tentatively scheduled sometime before Valentine’s.
The first one, Holy Orange Bottles, a multi-chapter post-rosslyn recovery story through the eyes of Donna, Sam, and Josh’s mom. It explores the sheer amount of tragedy that has hit the Lyman family and how the four of them (and Harry the cat) work together towards a new normal. It’s pretty emotionally taxing for obvious reasons so I’ve been tackling it in small chunks.The title comes from the Taylor Swift song Soon You’ll Get Better and the chapter titles come from The Mountain Goats song Matthew 25:21
I also have a one-shot that covers the portland trip in season two titled A Clock That’s Ticking. It’s the first one I’m writing from Josh’s Pov and covers the meeting with Congressman Skinner and what would change if he knew about the election night conversation between the President and Dr. Jacobs. I also wondered what would change if after hearing the display of period/party typical allyship how Josh would address the assignment. And without giving too much away what would happen if Josh revealed his identity to Leo and the president. The title for this one comes from Holding onto Heartache by Louis Tomlinson which from the first listen hit me as such a Josh song and instantly became the title track to the piece despite the fic being nothing more than a series of scribbled notes when that album dropped in November.
Submitted questions:
From @S4MWILS0N: fave ep ? fave season ? fave plot arc ? fave character ? fave character duo (platonic and romantic) ? actor you’d most like to meet irl ? plot line you wish you could get rid of ? funniest and most poignant one liner ?
Episode: Five Votes Down (Season 1 Episode 4) Ultimate comfort episode and I watched it so much during the 2020 election cycle after hard campaign vol days that I can still quote it word for word.
Season: Season 2 without question.
Plot Arc: It’s tied between the MS storyline and the post-in the shadow of two gunmen PTSD arc.
Favorite character: When it comes to a favorite character it feels nearly impossible to pick just one. It fluctuates so much depending on where I am in the series or if someone is asking senior staff/assistant level or recurring character. Right now though it’s probably CJ, but I will always be a Josh fan with all that I am. From the first episode I watched nearly two decades ago he’s always been a forever favorite. I love that disaster of a man so much.
Romantic Duo: I think it’s nearly impossible to walk away from a viewing of The West Wing without a deep affection for Josh and Donna, even as someone who strictly writes in an alternate timeline where they never were or will be together.
Platonic Duo: Currently it’s Margaret and Leo, it changes a lot but I love watching them so much.
Actor: Allison, I would probably collapse to be fair but Allison.
As much as it would be cool meeting Bradley or Richard would be way too much for me.
Plot line you’d get rid of: Toby and the leak, because what the hell was that.
One liner: either “There’s literally no one in the world I don’t hate right now” or “I’m so sick of congress I could vomit”.
Infinitely applicable to modern American politics, especially recently with the speaker vote. Also the grumpy nature of Toby Ziegler in that episode speaks to my soul on such a deep level.
From the editors (borrowed from a past Q&A, originally asked by @donnamossburner): what’s a fic that’s been sitting in the back of your mind forever and you hope one day you can finally write it?
A somebody’s going to emergency, somebody’s going to jail Sam/Josh alternating pov deep dive because the scene where Leo tells Sam to go home and that Josh told Leo about Sam’s parents haunts me. I can just imagine Josh telling Leo as a last effort of trying to reach Sam. It’s well documented throughout the series that Josh looks at Leo as a sort of father figure so I see him going to him for advice and it all comes tumbling out, his fears and doubts and how he just wants to help but can’t. In my mind it parallels The Crackpots and these women with the N.S.C. card and the conversations Josh has with various folks about it and how lost he is.
Thanks again to worldsofdreamers!! And thanks to everyone who submitted questions. If you’d like to be featured in a future Creator Spotlight, message us here, email [email protected] or DM us on Twitter!
xx,
What’s next?
#the west wing#west wing#tww#tww fic#tww fandom#creator spotlight#fic authors#sam seaborn#josh lyman#samjosh#sam x josh#toby ziegler#andy wyatt#leo mcgarry#cj cregg#tww fic rec
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AMICY
the mystery of what goes on behind the scenes of your social life
It’s comforting to imagine that conspiracies run our world. To think there is some hidden order to things, a superstructure held high over our heads by a shadowy cabal of insiders. Of course, there’s no hidden order—but then again, of course there is. It’s all of us. We’re all insiders, managing an intricate web of relationships, deploying hundreds of unseen gestures and soft power plays, soaking up gossip with all the urgency of counterintelligence. It’s at once mundane, and yet no less chilling than any other conspiracy, because it leaves you questioning the very fabric of reality, wondering what you don’t know.
Ask yourself—how many cover-ups have you taken part in? How many times have you heard something you weren’t supposed to hear, withheld certain details to make your case, deftly changed the subject, or tried to steer someone’s behavior without them knowing? If you can do all that without a second thought, everyone around you must be doing it, too.
Of course, you’d like to think you’ve got a clear view of the broader social landscape, but it’s possible you don’t have a clue. There are so many backstories that people keep to themselves, so many back channels you don’t even know exist. Random clusters of friends might be carrying on parallel conversations in another group text, or meeting up regularly at events you’re not invited to. People know far more about you than you think, holding on to secrets and rumors they use to inform your character but never mention in your presence. Some of your friends are vastly different people when they’re one-on-one with each other, such that both would seem unrecognizable. Even now an unexpected pair of them might be helping each other through a crisis, or carrying on a silent feud, or having a fling that you won’t hear about until years later. There might be a big dramatic event going on that bends the course of our lives, except for certain people left out of the loop, who’ll always have to wonder. And even if everything was open and honest, you’d still have to confront the ever-shifting labyrinth of interconnected relationships and personas and levels of intimacy you could scarcely even begin to fathom.
It’s enough to make you crazy, never knowing if you’re living in an alternate reality being constructed around you. But perhaps there’s some comfort in that uncertainty. After all, cui bono? Who benefits?
For all you know, it might be you. Who knows how many colleagues called in favors to get you an interview or lobbied hard to save your job? How many little crises were happening on your wedding day that were deliberately hidden from your view? Protectors all around you might be sheltering you from looming dangers, so you never have to lose sleep knowing how at risk you really were. Your family might spend hours discussing where your life is going, comparing notes to figure out what you need the most right now. Sometimes your friends will wait until you leave the table before they all start singing your praises, only to change the subject just before you return. It’s not a crazy thought. It happens all the time.
None of us knows the full picture of what’s really going on. All we know for sure is that some mysterious force is working behind the scenes to keep our communities intact and our relationships running—sometimes smoothly, sometimes not. But we all sleep a little better, knowing some sort of conspiracy is afoot. Otherwise we’d be tossing and turning all night, haunted by the notion that we’re all just acting alone.
#jiannaeloise#jiannaeloisereads#tumblr diary#online diary#personal diary#my diary#daily diary#diary entry#dear diary#book recommendations#book of the month#book quotes#quotes of books
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Gonna Rant a bit
I think the problem with this fandom is that everyone keeps arguing about headcanons. Gwynriel headcanons have become so ingrained in their collective psyche that they cannot take an interaction between characters and not treat it as either what they call 'foreshadowing' or as 'romantic'. The need to make Gwynriel a thing and 'real' has completely overridden the ability to have a coherent argument. Because how do you argue with headcanons? You can debate canon, or even theories based on canon, but headcanons?
Case in point is the ridiculous debate about Gwyn's 'readiness for sex'. Arguing about it is pointless. Because neither party knows the answer. One sides wants her to have sex with Azriel. The other, doesn't. But the inane and frankly absurd accusation of 'well, you hate people who experienced SA! You think people who experienced it can't have sex!' are just that--absurd. You are arguing a headcanon. We don't know anything about Gwyn and her sexuality at all, because she is not coded as a romantic character. She is coded as a friend to the MC. Anything you 'assume' about her and her sexuality is just that--an assumption based on headcanons.
Canon is--she returned to the library. Canon is, throughout the book, she never once mentioned any sexual interest for herself, has not made any statements about her sexual preference, never said that she wants a relationship. That's it. That's SJM's creation and how she chose to posit Gwyn.
Canon is--Azriel and Elain are sexually attracted to each other. Azriel is consumed by the thoughts of Elain, at least for a year. It might be lust, it might be love, it might be a mate bond, it might be just a hook up. We don't know how SJM will go forward with the relationship.
At the end of the bonus chapter, he saw that glowing image of Gwyn. Is it a hint at something? Maybe. We don't know. Because we have 4 months following that incident and there's been no progression in their relationship.
Same with Elain. There's been no progression in the relationship, following Solstice.
Another case in point--the whole 'Illyrian plot' thing that was argued about for a YEAR. Reasonable people said -- there is NO CANON EVIDENCE for it. NONE. But for a year people were screaming and arguing over someone's headcanon. Then HOSAB came out. It's crystal clear that SJM has a specific path that she is taking with the books, interconnecting them and there will never be any 'Illyrain plot'. We might (hopefully) get a backstory of who they are, where they came from and I bet there will be an explanation to many things, and then a 'redemption' (if you want to call it that) which would be led and caused by the Illyrians themselves. Not Gwyn. But an entire year was wasted debating something that could and would never come to pass.
Think about it.
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The Voyage So Far: Water Seven
east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)
i’ve mentioned several times before that the davy back fight is one of my least favorite arcs, mostly because i found it very dragging and tedious when i was reading it, but there are a couple things i really like in it, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, most of them have to do with zoro. i really like his moment here with chopper, and it also showcases his ability to act as more of an authority figure to the crew, which is something that makes a substantial return after enies lobby with the matter of usopp’s return.
zoro and sanji’s match in the davy back fight is far and away my favorite part of the entire arc. it’s just really fun.
like i said, this arc isn’t a favorite of mine, but i do definitely understand why it’s important to the saga and greater story in a couple different ways. one of them is that it’s just an easy, lighthearted detour that both gives the audience a chance to breathe and the strawhats a chance to showcase just how much they love each other and work well together- which turns into a fucking sledgehammer to the skull in the next arc when that unity is directly threatened. and the other reason this arc is important...
...is because of aokiji.
aokiji’s introductory scene is a brutal showcase of absolute power, and a very clear reminder that the strawhats are still very much little fish in a very, very big pond. all of the strawhats are impacted by this to some degree- it’s how badly they get curb-stomped here that leads luffy to come up with his gears as a way of closing the huge power gap he’s just learned about.
most important, though, are robin and usopp. for robin, this is a stark reminder of the fact that the government will never stop hunting her down; for usopp, who’s less obvious, it’s the seeds of the full-blown inferiority crisis that will later explode with the news about merry. both of their arcs throughout water 7 and enies lobby, essentially the twin emotional backbones of the saga, start right here.
i really like that the other strawhats all fell asleep waiting for robin and luffy to wake up. it calls back to them doing the same when nami was sick before drum, and also it’s just so fucking sweet.
water seven is my favorite island, full stop. if i was going to live anywhere in one piece’s world, i’d want to live on water seven. it’s just so creatively designed and visually great, with the canals and the tiered city and the massive fountain in the middle. the supporting cast are still one of my favorites, and the culture feels very real and authentic. i just love water seven a lot.
i just said it but it bears repeating- the water seven supporting cast is really good. iceburg, the galley-la shipwrights, franky and his family, kokoro and chimney are all really memorable, and most of them are really likable, too- and cp9, with all their eccentricities, fit in perfectly. water seven’s cast is very interconnected, as well, and their relationships all feel very believable.
all of which, of course, only makes the later treachery hurt all the more.
the atmosphere of water seven is really, really well done. the bad starts slow, with the news that merry is unfixable, and then continues into an accelerating downwards spiral of hopelessness: usopp and luffy’s fight and usopp leaving the crew, robin’s seeming betrayal, the assassination attempt on iceburg, the city and galley-la turning on them as a result, and the agua laguna- it just gets worse and worse and worse.
and then, after they’ve been stomped down about as far as they can go and come out alive anyways, they pick themselves back up again and go to save their friend, because that’s what the strawhat pirates do.
i just really like getting to see these four going feral on the franky family, it’s one of my favorite scenes in this whole arc. in general, i tend to love the moments where luffy specifically gets properly angry, and we get a lot of them in this arc.
even though the fight between luffy and usopp is genuinely very tense and fast-paced and would probably be exciting if it were any other two characters fighting, it never really feels anything other than melancholy. i think that’s a testament to just how good oda is at setting the mood of the scene. it’s made very clear, especially through the reactions of the other characters- merry ‘crying’ is fucking heartbreaking- that this is nothing less than a tragedy.
:(
i think it’s kind of interesting we aren’t shown franky’s face until about halfway into water seven. prior to this, we’re given pretty much only reasons to hate him, with his theft of the strawhats’ money and the franky family beating usopp to shit. but just after this point is when we start getting our first humanizing and sympathetic moments for him, starting when he gets worried and a little frantic when he hears about the attempt on iceburg’s life.
i just really, really like the way some of these water seven action sequences are depicted. they feel very tense and desperate, which matches the general mood of this part of the arc perfectly.
this panel of usopp working on merry always reminds me of the shots of the klabautermann doing the same during skypiea. i’m not sure if it’s even intentional, honestly, but it’s an extra little bit of heartbreak either way.
one piece has a lot of amazing spreads, but this might be one of my favorites for sheer impact. cp9, watching as the city they’ve lived and worked in for years burns down in a fire they set, satisfied by a job well done. it’s almost all in black and white with very little grey, which creates some fantastic contrast, and their pitch-black silhouettes against the nighttime inferno are just striking.
this entire scene between usopp and franky, as usopp works on the merry and franky gives him advice and tries to make him see its hopeless and they kind of awkwardly, accidentally bond, is probably my favorite in the whole of water seven. it was also the scene that singlehandedly made me love franky as a character.
they have a really good, really enjoyable dynamic, and at the same time the conflict between them is real and understandable, and brought about because they’re both trying to do the right thing.
tom’s workers are one of my favorite little groups of characters in the whole of one piece’s story, and they deserve more appreciation. they’re family!! a little family of broken pieces who worked together to build something really, really amazing. and they still care about each other in the present, even though they got shattered apart so badly and none of them ever really recovered.
this is a tremendously under-appreciated chopper moment. not only did he carry two full-grown men out of a fire, he even managed to get zoro’s sword and iceburg’s hamster. extremely cool of him.
this is also the exact moment the strawhats’ collective luck begins to turn: chopper saves the day, and nami learns that robin did what she did to protect them, and sanji gets aboard the sea train, and from there it’s a no-brakes train from their very lowest low straight to the triumph at enies lobby.
i love all the shenanigans sanji gets up to with the sea train, i think the whole sequence is absolutely one of his shining moments. it’s always a delight to see sanji get up to Sneaky Bastard Bullshit, and the whole thing is just so fun, which is a dearly needed breath of fresh air after how relentless this arc has been until this point.
robin’s little smile when thinking of luffy and when she joined the strawhats... :( i’ve noticed it’s a recurring trend for strawhats who try to leave the crew to flash back to when they joined as they do. usopp has it earlier this same arc just before leaving, and sanji does it in whole cake island in the sanji vs. luffy chapter.
i really like how much everyone comes together at the end of water seven leading into enies lobby. after how fractured and fraught things have been throughout the arc, both within and without the strawhat crew, it’s great to see them not only all united again for a common goal, but with a huge group of allies at their backs.
these three are SUCH a hilarious team, and i would love to see them work together again like this sometime. they’re literally just clowning on the marines all the way up the train, it’s fantastic.
factually i understand sanji’s aversion to fighting with his hands and his fighting style is very unique and cool and also meaningful to him because he learned from zeff, and also if i remember right it’s implied he learned how to swordfight from the vinsmokes which makes it very reasonable he would want absolutely nothing to do with that skillset
but speaking purely in terms of stupid idiot lizard brain i think sanji should fight with knives more
this is another of my absolute favorite spreads, and i think what makes it for me is the casual confidence- luffy tells zoro to cut the train, and zoro does, both of them with no doubts at all about zoro’s ability to do so. it really goes to show how far they’ve come from back in east blue when zoro couldn’t even cut luffy out of a metal cage.
there’s something very impactful about the fact that of all the strawhats, robin gets this speech from usopp. usopp, who’s had the worst falling-out with luffy in the series to date, is the one who tells robin: you haven’t left the crew yet, you can’t leave the crew yet, luffy is coming to get you. believe in him.
franky’s “existing is not a crime” line is one of the most memorable and iconic lines from this entire saga, and for good reason. it sums up one of the main themes of not just this arc but also the series as a whole- the very same idea will come up again for ace during marineford, and in law’s backstory as well. it’s never a crime to just exist, and people should not never be persecuted for their blood or heritage. one piece doesn’t fuck around with its theming, it really doesn’t.
to be continued next time, with enies lobby!
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Vintage Shows to Watch While You Wait for the Next Episode of WandaVision - The 60s
So the 60s is the era that Wandavision pulls most heavily from for it’s inspiration. So much so that one could make the argument that each of the first three episodes are all set in the 1960s. Episode one pulls from the early 60s with multiple Dick Van Dyke refences, episode two is very Bewitched inspired, and episode three is aesthetically very similar to The Brady Bunch which started in ‘69. As such it was hard to narrow down the list for this decade and I had to get creative in some ways.
1. The Andy Griffith Show (1960 - 1968)
The Andy Griffith Show gets kind of a bad rap now a days for being, supposedly, a conservative’s wet dream. People claiming it as such have apparently never actually seen the series. Oh yes, it’s very much set in white rural 60s America and will occasionally present the obliviously outdated joke, but the story of a widowed sheriff being the only sane man in a small town full of lovable lunatics, who prefers to solve his and others problems with negotiation and hair brained schemes as opposed to violence has far more in common with modern day Steven Universe than whatever genocidal fantasy fake rednecks have in their heads.
As the gif above shows Andy Griffith was very subtlety progressive for its time. Andy was a stanch pacifist, pro-gun control, treated drug addicts and prisoners with respect, and all the women he would date had careers, ect. and so on. It’s not a satire making any sort of grand political statements but the series had a moral center that was far more left than many realize.
But if it’s not a satire, then what type of comedy is it?
The Andy Griffith Show excels in what I like to call, ‘awkward comedy’. See everyone in Mayberry is far too nice to just come out and tell a character they’re making an ass of themselves, so therefore whoever is the idiot punching bag of the episode’s focus must slowly unravel as everyone looks on in helpless pity until said character realizes the folly of their ways and the townsfolk come together to make them feel happy and accepted once more. Wandavision takes this polite idyllic awkwardness and plays it up for horror instead of laughs.
2. The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961 - 1966)
The creators of Wandavision actually met with Dick Van Dyke himself to pick his brain and learn how sitcoms were made back then. Paul Bentley also took inspiration from Van Dyke in his performance of the sitcom version of Vision, while Olsen stated Mary Tylor Moore had a heavy influence on her character of Wanda. But more than just being a point of homage, The Dick Van Dyke Show was hugely influential in modernizing the family sitcom and breaking a lot of the unspoken traditions and ‘rules’ of the 50s television era. It’s also just really, really funny.
3.The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962 - 1965)
Bit of a cheat here. Alfred Hitchcock Presents actually started in 1955 as a half hour anthology show, but in ‘62 the show got a revamp and was extended into a full hour tv series. I knew I wanted The Twilight Zone to be covered in my episode one recap, but ‘The Master of Suspense’ couldn’t be forgotten. While The Twilight Zone reveled in the surreal and supernatural, Alfred Hitchcock pioneered the thriller genre and made real life seem dangerous, horrifying, and other worldly.
4. Doctor Who (1963 - present day) vs Star Trek (1966 - present day)
Just like how westerns dominated the air waves during the 50s, science fiction was the center of the cultural zeitgeist of the 60s. From Lost in Space to My Favorite Martian, space aliens and robots were everywhere. So naturally I had to name drop the two sci-fi juggernauts that still air to this today. If you thought that the rivalry between Star Wars and Star Trek was bad then you’ve never seen a chat full of Whovians and Trekkies duking it out over who is the better monster, the Borg or the Cyberman. But which one has the more influence over Wandavision?
Well Star Trek owes it’s existence to sitcoms. As with The Twilight Zone before it, Star Trek was produced by Desilu Productions and it’s co-founder and CEO, Lucille Ball, was the series biggest supporter behind the scenes, lobbying for it when it faced early cancelation. As with all things sitcomy, everything ties back to I Love Lucy in the end. However despite that little backstory, it would seem that the series has very little to do with Wandavision itself beyond being quintessentially American.
I would argue that Wandavision owes much to Doctor Who though. Arguably more so than any show mentioned in this retrospective. Time travel, alternate realities, trouble in quite suburbia, brainwashing, people coming back from the dead, ect... just about every trope you can find in Wandavision has also appeared in Doctor Who at some point. As a series that can go anywhere and do anything, Doctor Who was a pioneer of marrying genres in new and interesting ways.
5. Bewitched (1964 - 1972) and I Dream of Jeannie (1965 - 1970)
It’s hard to pick one series over another because they’re essentially the same show. A mortal man falls in love with a magical girl who upends their lives with magic filled hijinks as they try their best not to have their secret discovered by the rest of the world. And both have their fingerprints all over the DNA of Wandavision.
There’s only two core differences; Samantha and Jeannie have completely different personalities, with Sam being confident and knowledgeable and Jeannie being naïve and oblivious, along with their relationships with their respective men, Sam and Darrin being married and in love at the start of the series and Jeannie chasing after Tony in the beginning in a will they/won’t they affair, finally only getting together in the last season.
6. The Munsters (1964 - 1966) vs The Adams Family (1964 - 1966)
Fans of these two shows are forever sadden that there never was a crossover between them. Because they’d fit perfectly together. Both shows are about a surreal and macabre family living in American suburbia and disrupting the lives of their neighbors with their otherworldly hijinks. Sound familiar?
The main difference between the two shows is the way the characters viewed their placement in the world they inhabit.
The Munsters were always oblivious to the fact that didn’t fit in. They just automatically assumed everyone had the same personal tastes as them. Whenever they encountered anyone who behaved strangely around them they would write that person off as being the odd one rather than questioning themselves. As such the main cast was structured like a stereotypical sitcom family who just happened to be classic movie monsters.
The Addams were well aware that they were abnormal and they loved it! They lived life with in their own little world and didn’t care what anyone thought of them. As such the characters were far more colorful and quirky as individuals but there was little in the way of refences to other horror franchises beyond just a general love of the twisted and strange.
7. Green Acres (1965 - 1971) and the Rual-verse (1962 - 1971)
So the MCU is not the first franchise to bring viewers an interconnected universe to the small screen. Far from it, as sitcoms had been doing this for decades, starting with the ‘rualverse’. Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres were all produced by the same company and were treated as spinoffs of each other, complete with crossovers and shared characters and sets.
Of the three, the last show, Green Acres, has the most in common with Wandavision. A well to do businessman and his lovely socialite wife settle down in small town America on a farm in order to get away from the stresses of city life, only to find new stresses in the country. Eva Gabor, herself a natural Hungarian, plays the character of Lisa as Hungarian making her one of the few non-native born Americans on tv screens during the cold war. Despite her posh nature and original protests to the move, Lisa assimilates to the rural life far easier than her husband, Oliver. Who, as the main comedic thread, can’t comprehend his new quirky neighbors’ odd and often illogical behavior.
8. Hogan’s Heroes (1965 - 1971) and Get Smart (1965 - 1969)
So as comic fans have been quick to point out, it’s looking like both A.I.M. (Hydra) and Sword (Shield) will be players in the story of Wandavision. To commemorate that here’s two shows to represent those opposing sides. Although in truth, neither series has anything else in common with each other but I need to condense things down someway.
In Hydra’s corner we got Hogan’s Heroes. A show all about taking down Nazis from within.
I love, love, love, ‘robin hood’ comedies where a group of con artists try week after to week to pull one over the establishment. The Phil Silvers Show, Mchale's Navy, and Top Cat, just to name a few examples are all childhood favorites of mine. However while those shows had a lot of morally ambiguous characters, Hogan’s Heroes has very clear cut good guys and bad guys, cause the bad guys are Nazis and the show relentless makes fun of the third reich as should we all. In fact I was watching Hogan’s Heroes while waiting for the GA run off election results. Fortunately my home state decided to kick out our own brand of Nazis this year.
For Shield, we got the ultimate spy spoof, Get Smart. Starring, Inspector Gadget himself, Don Adams, as the bumbling Maxwell Smart. Get Smart, is a hilarious send up of Cold War espionage but the real selling point of the show, imho, is Max and his co-worker 99′s relationship. You can cut the sexual tension in the air with a knife all while laughing your ass off.
9. Batman (1966 - 1968)
First was Superman and then came Batman. Yet while Superman was a serious action show, Batman was a straight up comedy. Showcasing that superheroes could indeed be funny.
Also shout out for Batman being the only show on this list to have an actual crossover with it’s competitor, The Green Hornet.
10. Julia (1968 - 1971)
Since episode two features the first appearances of Herb and Monica, let’s highlight the first black led sitcom since the cancelation of Amos ‘n Andy over a decade earlier. The show focuses on single mother and military nurse, Julia, as she tries to live her life without her recently decease husband, who was killed in Vietnam, as she tries to raise their six year old son on her own.
The series is cute. It’s more of a throw back to earlier family sitcoms where there’s no fantasy and life lessons are the name of the game. It’s the fact that the main character is a single black woman is what made the show so subversive and important at the time.
Runner Ups
There’s much good stuff in the 60s, so here’s some others that didn’t make the cut but I would recommend anyways.
Car 54, Where Are You? (1961 - 1963)
I call this the Brooklynn 99 of the 1960s. Bumbling but well meaning Officer Toody longs to do good in the world and help anyone in need, but often screws things up with his ill thought out schemes. He often drags his best friend and partner, the competent but anxiety riddled, Muldoon into his escapades.
Mr. Ed (1961 - 1966)
The grandfather of the sarcastic talking pet trope.
The Jetsons (1962 - 1963 and 1985 - 1987)
Hanna-Barbera often took popular sitcoms and just repackaged them as cartoons with a fantasy theme to them. The Jetsons has no singular show that it rips-off but is rather more a grab bag of sitcom tropes that feature, robots, computers, and flying cars.
The Outer Limits (1963 - 1965)
The Outer Limits was The Twilight Zone’s biggest competitor in terms of being a sic-fi/horror anthology series.
Gillian’s Island (1964 - 1967)
The only comparison to WandaVision I could think of was that this is a sitcom about people being trapped in one place. But by that point I was running out of room on the list. Still it’s one of the funniest shows on here.
So yeah, this took longer than expected cause there’s a lot, here. Hopefully the 70s will be easier. Which I’ll post on Friday.
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CSAU :: Moonie Jericho and the Mysterious Case of the Moon-Jumper Mask - Alternate Ending
Or: “The extremely self indulgent 7 page fic were Nell gets to be more helpful and has some actual characterization”
Yeahhhh this isn’t canon to the fic, but I wanted to write it because I can, at LAST give ya’ll Nell’s backstory for how they came to live in Subcon in the CSAU
Per usual, the “Coffee Shop AU” belongs to the ever wonderful @doodledrawsthings
Also, note: Both MJ and Nell use “they/them” pronouns, with MJ being “He/They” and Nell being “She/They” To keep things from getting too confusing, Nell will be “They” and MJ will be “He”
Enjoy!
--
Nell was honestly a bit surprised when MJ came to their home the morning after Halloween, sheepishly stating that the mask seemed ... stuck.
“Really?”
He nodded.
“Huh.. Come on in then. I’ll get some tea going and see about helping you out, hm?”
He walked into their house, taking a moment to actually look about the place- as he didn’t get much of a chance before- and took a seat in their small living room.
The ambiance of the outside followed inside, with the walls painted chestnut brown with warm yet bright pops of color on the windowsill and the various picture frames full of people he didn’t know. The curtain over the wide window was patterned with little pumpkins, which he found cute, and hanging from a few ceiling hooks were what Clover would call “Low-maintenance” plants. The dark colors match well with the room, making it feel a bit comfier than it otherwise might.
The couch he sat on was across from an armchair, and both were colored a warm orange, with an espresso-colored coffee table. On said table were some envelopes and a copy of “Better Homes and Gardens”
Huh, he didn’t peg them as a reader of those types of magazines. Then again, Clover was the one that knew Nell, not him.
They came back with two mugs - one was purple with the “Snatcher” face on it, and the other had a little grumpy ghost on it, with “I’m spooky before my coffee” written above the drawing.
They handed him the Snatcher mug
“Can I ask where you get all of this Snatcher merch?”
“My best friend is an Etsy fiend. Despite him living all the way in Nyakoto, he ships me Snatcher merch whenever he finds something fun. He’s a real character” they chuckled.
“Huh” MJ acknowledged as Nell walked around the coffee table and sat next to him
“Do you feel the mask?”
He nodded, his hand up at the edge, right where he felt it “When I pull, it just… doesn’t move”
“Hm..” they sipped. “When you try to take it off, how does it feel?”
“Like… it’s like a thousand little… things? Pulling at my face, I think?” MJ pulled up their mug and sipped the tea.
“Like… string? Thread?”
MJ nodded. “I think that's the right word, thread”
Nell puts down the mug as MJ takes another sip. “Let me see” they scooted closer to him, and he put his mug down and turned his head.
Their hands seemed to glow green as they raised it “There we go…” They muttered, hand immediately finding the mask’s edge, and seeing what he was talking about “... Huh, the threads… well, that's the right word. They’re… criss-crossed…”
Before he could ask if they could remove them, he felt a slight burning at the edge of his face and jumped
“Ah!”
“Sorry, sorry, but, that did work… Though, it means you might be here a while” they admit “I’ll need you to stay still, okay?”
“Oh.. okay”
It was... Not Okay.
A few minutes into Nell’s attempt at getting the mask off, they let out a huff.
“You can’t keep squirming”
“I- I’m sorry” He muttered “It's just, you know, hard to stay still”
“I understand that, but I don’t want to mess this up. I’d like to see your actual eyes” They muttered.
“I know, it just.. Weird feeling” He tried to explain.
“Moon” They pressed, but sighed “... You seem still enough when I’m talking to you, need a distraction?”
“I mean, I guess…?”
Nell sighed “Hm… How about I tell you how I came to live in Subcon? That’s a long-ass story”
“Oh uh, if you’re okay with sharing!” MJ tried to be polite. He knew that even Clover wasn’t completely sure why Nell came to live in the town, she just knew that “something happened” back at the coast where they were from.
“Nah. It’s been 5 years. That’s more than long enough” The nurse stayed focused on the magic threads, their magic seeming to thrum in his ears- sounding almost like the hum of a fan in the dead heat of summer..
There was a pause, before they took in a breath.
“When I was 19, I took a job in Nyakoto, and left my hometown as fast as the train could take me. I had a scholarship to a little nursing school there, and before my 21st birthday, I’d gotten a nice, decent paying job as an ER nurse for a hospital in the East Side” They started “The hospitals were all interconnected, so I ended up meeting different doctors and nurses while I worked, and sometimes was called to assist in other hospitals.
“I was.. 25, when I met him” They recalled, something in their voice seeming heavy. “We’ll call him Chris
“He was in residency at a hospital down in the Wesservale neighborhood. We met at a medical appreciation gala… He had something about him I couldn't place. . . A charisma, almost. A kindness. He seemed so eager for the future, so excited for what the next day might bring him. I’d never been like that. His optimism drew me in.
“We started dating the year after. Like with most relationships, everything seemed great. He was funny, kind, thoughtful, all of that stuff. He even went with me to pride stuff, which was pretty cool at the time.”
“Pride?” MJ chimed in. Nell couldn’t hide a chuckle.
“Yes. You’ve heard of the Nyakoto Annual Pride Bonanza, haven’t you? One of the biggest in the country”
“I have, yes”
“Good. Back to the story” Nell redirected “When I was 27, about a year and a half into the relationship, I realized, quite unhappily, that we weren’t actually very different, and didn’t really get along as well as we thought.. It's not that we argued, but.. We didn’t really… talk. I never spoke to him about my problems, I didn’t feel like I could, and that really made me realize that we weren’t actually all that comfortable around each other. So, when he came over to my place that night for dinner, I spoke to him, and tried to tell him that we weren’t compatible, and that I thought perhaps we’d be better off as friends.
“He convinced me that we just needed work, going on and on about all these plans he had for us. Trips, dates, things to look forward to, always looking toward the future, Chris did”
Nell paused again
“.. I really should have noticed how little he cared about happiness in the present.” They commented “Not a traditional red flag, but it was a warning nonetheless”
“Well, I mean, that’s not so bad”
“In a way, no” Nell replied “But when you think about the future so much, you forget the present, you forget to live, and your past just.. Ends up a horrible haze. Even the happy stuff is hard to recall”
MJ hadn’t thought of it like that
“But hindsight is 2020, and in the moment, I believed him. I wanted to believe those bright dreams of the future, and I let go of the fact that I did not even like to talk to him very much.
“... I tried to break up with him 4 more times in the 8 years we were together.”
Okay, MJ hadn’t been expecting that much time passing.
“By the time I was 34, we were living together, but barely seeing each other. From the outside it must have seemed perfect to everyone else. I think only Daph knew about my.. Issues, with Chris. I still never talked to him about anything that wasn’t the future, or how the day was, or.. Just, absolute nonsense.
“One night, after one more attempt to break up, I’d gone to bed defeated, and woke up at 3 in the morning while he was on the night shift in Wesservale.. I came to this… realization
“If I didn’t leave right then and there, I’d marry him…. and I’d …. I’d be stuck. He’d have me, and I’d be stuck for the rest of my life..
“So I grabbed everything I had in the apartment, sent a resignation email to the East side hospital I still worked at, left him a note telling him I was leaving, took my car and just… started driving”
“.. Did he call you?”
“I blocked his number.” They answered curtly. “Drove for days until I came across Subcon.”
MJ didn’t comment.
“I stayed at the Alpine Motel for a few nights, and when I was at the diner, overheard that there was an open position for the school nurse at the elementary” They continued. “I applied for it, and 3 months later cashed in my savings to put a down payment on this little place” They made a motion with their hand briefly “The rest is history”
“Well… If it's any consolation, I think that's a good reason to get out of the city”
Nell couldn’t hold back a laugh. There was something a little… sad, in it, but the laugh was genuine.
“Yeah, then again, every reason is a good one to get out of the city” They commented, and MJ had only just realized that their hands were now on the other side of his face. Nell worked quickly, it seemed. “Hm.. okay. On the count of three, I'm going to try to take it off, alright?”
“Oh, uh, wow, okay!” He replied eagerly, closing his eyes.
“One…” They slowly started, both hands on either side, their nails right at the edge of the mask.
“Three!”
MJ startled as Nell pulled, and a cold, sharp feeling spread over his body before it abruptly ended. When he opened his eyes. He looked at Nell, who had, in their hands, that damned mask.
His hands went up to his face, and he let out a relieved laugh as he felt his skin, glasses and hair “hah! Hahah! I’m human again! No more magic!” He raised his hands and leaned back on the couch “Sweet relief”
Nell let out a chuckle, putting the mask down gently “Finish your tea, I’m gonna grab you a damp towel. You have… paint? On your face”
His brow was furrowed, but he reached for the still-warm mug anyway as Nell got up and went down a short hallway.
He took the few moments that Nell was done to think over the story he’d been told, the exhaustion in the nurse’s voice as she told it. Was he really the first one to learn? It gave him a weird feeling right in his chest.
When Nell returned, she offered a small, damp towel… that had the “Snatcher” smile on it
“... How many of these do you have?” He almost laughed again, and they just answered with an amused smile and grabbed their own coffee cup.
MJ cleaned his face, seeing a candy-red color coming off on the purple towel. “Hm..”
“What?”
“Well uh, the color looks like the magic strings I was able to summon”
Nell Blinked “... Well uh, bring that up with Tim when he’s back in town. That’s a little out of my wheelhouse”
“Noted”
The two fell into silence, sipping their warm drinks and giving them some time to unwind
“Will you need a ride home?” they asked him, putting their mug down.
He hadn’t actually thought of that.
“Oh, uh, it’s fine”
They raised an eyebrow at him
“You live 20 minutes away and Luka isn’t here to … fly you home, per se” They laid out “I’ve got a car, I’ll drive you home”
He turned a little red to the ears “Oh.. Thank you”
“No problem, Moon” They smiled back at him. “I’m going to change real quick, then we’ll leave”
And with that, they left back into the short hallway, to what Moon assumed was their bedroom.
Nell returned a few minutes later, dressed in a loose blouse and skirt that went down to their ankles, a far cry from the tank top and sweatpants that he’d seen them in before. He supposed that it was more so not wanting to go out in Pajamas than anything else. She picked up the mask, wrapping it in a handkerchief before holding it out to him
“It’s chosen you. You have to keep it”
He just nodded, and gingerly took the troublesome thing into his hands.
The two got in their truck (Nell owned a truck??) and drove into town.
MJ took in a breath as they turned onto a main street, passing The Horizon. “So uh, Nell..”
“Hm?”
“About your uh, the story you told me.. I won’t tell anyone”
“I don’t mind if you do” they answered, eyes on the road
“What, really?”
“Like I said before. Five years feels long enough”
MJ’s brow furrowed “I’m still not going to say anything.. That’s a personal story. It’s not mine to tell”
Nell glanced over at him with an unreadable expression, before moving to turn on the radio. Lo-fi started, and it seemed they were right in the middle of a Billie Eilish song.
“.. Thank you” They ended up responding as the song picked up
”I know supposedly I'm lonely now.
Know I’m supposed to be unhappy without someone.
But aren’t I someone?”
MJ didn’t say much of anything else once until they got to his apartment building
“Thank you, Nell. For everything”
“Don’t mention it” They gave him a small, but sincere smile “Get some rest, hm? The bags under your eyes are aging you”
MJ just laughed “I will. Don’t be a stranger, Mx. Buonacci”
The nurse gave him a lazy salute with a soft smile, before the window rolled up, and they drove off
Exhaling, he looked down at the covered mask, wrapped in a…. Snatcher-patterned handkerchief.
He couldn’t help but laugh.
#ahit#ahit coffee shop au#coffee shop au#moonjumper#ahit moonjumper#ahit oc#nell#ahit nell#backstory#antonia writes#this was fun
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Trying to fix RWBY is hard lol. You'd think 'just give the girls more agency or motivations'. And a lot of small edits could do that. But would they still turn on Ozpin in a horrifying way? You'd have to rewrite vol. 7 so they A) trust Ironwood, or B) explain why they don't trust him. But then you have to decide what Qrow's relationship to Ironwood is, and why he lies/doesn't lie. RWBY is clearly broken but to fix it you have to fix the Ozluminati first. So you'd need a totally new story.
It really is a rabbit hole of, “In order to fix X I need to change Y, and if I change Y that also changes Z, and if Z changes that’s definitely helpful, but it highlights the problem with A we have to tackle now too...” Shockingly, the pieces of a story all interconnect, which is why RWBY’s half-hearted attempts to make changes without tackling the root of the problem - like separating the group but keeping their focus on the same characters, or having Ren give his speech only for others to immediately dismiss his points, etc. - not only fail on their own, but likewise continue to hurt other aspects of the story. Cinder’s backstory doesn’t just have the problem of arriving years too late, but also that its plot is situated within vague, confusing world building. The announcement of Salem’s motivation doesn’t just have the problem of contradicting other parts of the story dealing with said motivations, it also implies unfortunate things about Ozpin and the group’s understanding of their enemy. It all feeds back on itself. RWBY has enough problems at this point that it needs an overhaul, not a piecemeal revision.
Which means I think it’s straight up impossible to have a story now where everything works. Without that revision across the whole series, it’s always going to be a mess looking at RWBY as a “unified” tale. That’s inevitable. BUT it could be a whole lot better moving forward if RT has planned the rest of their story a decent amount, thought through the impact of those choices, and stick to the rules/character arcs they’ve established. Settle Salem’s motivations and stick to it, provide the group with a clear means of undermining her insane power, stick to the core characters without introducing a host of new ones each volume, define what their arcs are and follow them, start a journey of growth for everyone set after Atlas’ (presumed) destruction... As bad as the writing is right now, there’s an incredible amount of potential in the corner our heroes have been backed into. Salem, according to all logic, should win here and decimate them all, though of course from a meta perspective we know the group isn’t going to be killed and the story concluded. So there’s this opportunity to radically change the story after such a catastrophe. Create a clean slate of sorts by giving us a second Fall and writing a different version of RWBY after that horror, much like we did after Volume 3: Here’s the new tone, the new rules, the new character dynamics/journeys... now let’s move forward with those things consistently. It would by no means change how all of this would connect back to (and even create more) problems in past seasons, but at least what we’re getting in the future would be good. I’d love that. Series can go on for a long time, so it would be great if someday we were able to look back say, “Volumes 1-3 were a fun action show that didn’t take itself too seriously. Volumes 4-5 had some neat ideas about how to deepen the story that the writers didn’t quite manage to execute, but there was still a lot of potential. The series took a series dive in Volumes 6-8 BUT the end of 8 really pulled things back together. Volumes 9-X? Fantastic. Love where they took the series in the end. It sucks that it all couldn’t be at that level, but still.”
I’m not claiming that’s going to happen (lol), but it’s possible given the stakes right now and the part of me that first fell in love with RWBY still hopes for it.
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How do you feel about the Korean twinyards hc?
i like it fine, certainly more than white minyards, and i think it would establish a deeper layer of conflict between andrew and riko that could be interesting to explore
Uneasy Subconscious by maydaykevin on ao3 has the twins as korean. it's one of the few fics i've read that really uses the idea of the foxes as POC and delves into racial dynamics. i especially appreciate that each chapter follows a different fox, and they all get their own storyline as part of an interconnected plot. it's a good fic and i highly recommend checking it out, though cw for alcohol, some kissing/heavy petting, some internalized homophobia, and racist language (ch.6, racist gets knocked out cold)
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that being said, korean isn't really my favorite headcanon for the twins.
(this first bit is gonna be purely my personal opinions and take on the character. i'm not getting into any systematic analysis yet.)
to be clear, i don't see kpop idols as representative of all koreans. HOWEVER i do think there's a pretty good chance that a korean interpretation of the twins (especially written by a white person) would take a lot of inspiration from kpop idols, considering their worldwide popularity makes them accessible touchstones of Korean culture to most people, and because they often have bleach blond hair. so while i don't necessarily have anything against the twins as Korean, i just don’t imagine andrew looking anything like an idol. i see him as fat and muscular and not conventionally attractive, and that’s just not the way big name idols look.
one of my favorite andrew FCs is Toshiyuki “Harold” Sakata, an olympic weightlifter and professional wrestler most famous for playing Oddjob in the James Bond movie Goldfinger.
now to me, Sakata is basically the perfect andrew, (although i don't hc andrew as Japanese). in terms of presence and physicality, he's boxy, powerful, blank, and intimidating. i also do think he's handsome, but not in a conventional way, if that makes sense
idk i just want to establish a concrete reference point for when i discuss people's appearances, and i absolutely love Sakata
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now for the bits that aren't entirely my personal taste
this would be very different coming from a korean person, or really any asian person in general, because then it would come from a place of personal experience and understanding. however, i am white, and with that i need to do a lot of research and introspection if i want to write characters of color meaningfully
some of that is addressing internal biases about the ethnicity that you're headcanoning a character, like whether or not there are overt or harmful stereotypes you're playing into by writing andrew as korean. (i don't really think there are). but another thing to consider is 'why korean?' specifically 'why korean?' over any other asian ethnicity
it's a bit tricky to describe because by no means is any asian ethnicity overrepresented in western media, but what is represented focuses largely on light skinned east asians, mostly Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. asia is a massive and incredibly diverse continent, and i think for white people (especially, though not exclusively) looking to diversify your writing, it’s a good idea to do a little more general research first. Ethnicities from South, South-East, and Central Asia are all wildly underrepresented as well.
Is there something particular about Korean culture or Korean history that you feel resonates with the twins’ story? then i'd love to see them interpreted as korean!! but if not then consider learning more about other asian cultures, especially if (like me) you're deliberately looking to write meaningful diversity of underrepresented people.
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and then there’s the question of how to actually write the twins as korean. we know enough about their family that it doesn’t work to just make a quick change and include some Korean cultural reference points. there are a lot of things to consider. (i’m using Korean here because it’s the ask, but these questions and considerations apply for writing the twins as any ethnicity)
first off. who’s korean? i’m assuming for most people it would be the twins’ dad while tilda is white, making the twins mixed. did aaron have a relationship with his father at all? does he even know who his father is? does he even know he’s Korean? culture is built and taught and experienced, it’s not something you’re born knowing. you need to have a backstory for aaron and the twins’ parents to figure out the amount of Korean influence aaron would have. can he speak the language? did he grow up eating the food? does he celebrate the holidays? did he grow up around other Korean people? deciding yes or no to any of these doesn’t make him any more or less Korean, but it does influence his characterization and his story. culture goes hand and hand with community. if aaron was a mixed kid raised completely by a white mother then it doesn’t make sense for him to speak the language or any of the other traditional hallmarks of Korean identity. he’s still Korean, but what that means to him - if it means anything to him - is very different
but what if it’s not just the twins’ father? names like ‘Hemmick’ and ‘Minyard’ obviously aren’t traditionally Korean names, but it may be worth figuring out a backstory for them anyway. there could still be a Korean story there to be told
and then there’s andrew. andrew given up at birth and raised from day 1 in the foster care system would have absolutely no conception of his ethnicity at all. he wouldn’t even know he was Korean. there are a lot of decisions you have to make to write this. is andrew white passing? in which case he wouldn’t even know he’s asian until aaron tells him so, which could be a huge shock to him. if he’s not white passing then what does he look like? this could affect the way he was treated growing up. a lot of mixed asian kids look very ethnically ambiguous. if so, andrew could have been treated similarly ambiguously, and could form an identity that is more fluid and based heavily on the person perceiving him. if he looks like his asian parent(s) then he could have been treated as an asian person, but he would have no connections to a specific ethnic culture, and this would be very apparent to a kid who is treated as an asian person. there is no pan-asian culture in the way that there’s a Black culture or a Latino culture. National and ethnic identities are more separate and defined because asia wasn’t displaced by european colonialism in the same way that Africa and the Americas were. if andrew sees himself as asian this lack of a specific connection could be very obvious to him. if he doesn’t see himself as asian this could be less so. but any way you write andrew, as any ethnicity, you’re going to have to consider this lack of knowledge about himself as being hugely influential on the development of his identity.
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edit: i got an anon informing me that some of my wording up above comes off as rather dismissive and generalizing of Black and Latino culture. it wasn't my intention but it's badly worded and can certainly be read that way, and for that i'm sorry. i go more in depth on the problem and what i actually meant in the post
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OUAT AND ME: SEASON 4
Story - The story for the first half of the season is the Frozen Saga and the story for the second half is the Operation Mongoose Saga. The Frozen Saga is about Elsa from Arendelle crossing over into Storybrooke in search of her sister Anna, bonding with Emma in the process and helping her face another Snow Queen who has a secret connection to both of them, while the Operation Mongoose Saga is about heroes and villains alike searching for the elusive author of Henry's storybook so that he can give them their happy endings.
The Frozen Saga is noteworthy for being the last time that OUAT was big in the mainstream, due to the ubiquitous nature of the Disney phenomenon it was capitalizing on not even a year after its release in theaters. And despite the initial apprehension of many, it's actually the Frozen elements that are the strongest part of this story. The flashbacks tell an interconnecting tale serving as the backstory of the present-day events much like the flashbacks of the Dark Curse Saga did, making excellent use of both Frozen and OUAT's established mythology. And the present-day story is all about the unexpected yet perfectly natural bond between Emma and Elsa, and it's honestly one of the strongest depicted friendships the show has ever had. The way the two of them are further linked through the Big Bad is also ingenious, bringing about a great feeling of cohesion to the narrative.
In fact, rewatching this arc after Frozen 2, it's kind of funny how I actually prefer it as a sequel to the original movie than the actual sequel! Like Frozen 2, this arc deals with why Elsa and Anna's parents left on their fateful voyage, the discovery of a secret from their mother's side of the family, a revelation of what the source of Elsa's power is, Elsa making peace with herself while Anna learns to be more independent and ends up marrying Kristoff, and a location called the Enchanted Forest. But it does so in a way that feels more true to the characters from the original film and avoids all of the pratfalls that Frozen 2 stumbled into. There's no over-its-head political message, no sisterly separation ending, and no Olaf.
Unfortunately, there are two subplots that put a damper on things. The first subplot starts off well enough, with Rumpelstiltskin returning to his former villainous glory as he sneaks and schemes and manipulates his way through a plan to obtain the power of the Sorcerer's Hat of Fantasia fame, but it sadly fails to stick the landing in a way that matches the build-up and there end up being no lingering consequences to it when there really should have been. The second subplot is horrendous, focusing on the increasingly skeevy romance between Regina and Robin Hood while also pushing Regina forward on a ridiculous quest to find the Author of Henry's storybook. Why? She believes some cosmic rule is preventing her from having a happy ending because she was written as a villain in the book (and not because, y'know, she was actually a villain in the past), and if she's rewritten as a hero she thinks that will change. Yes, that is the absurd idea that this whole subplot is founded upon, and the fact that everyone goes along with it as if there is an ounce of logic behind it is cringe-inducing.
Sadly, that subplot ends up becoming the plot of the Operation Mongoose Saga, which on the one hand gives Season 4 more connection between its two arcs than Season 3 had, but on the other hand it's so fucking stupid. Now, whenever it's Rumple leading around his villainous team, "the Queens of Darkness", to find the Author before the heroes can, things are fun and watchable in spite of the plot's stupidity. But whenever it's Regina and Robin's continued relationship angst or a horrendous new subplot about Snow and Charming having secretly been villains in the past by causing Maleficent to lose her child, it's tiresome and insulting. The finale, a two-parter actually named "Operation Mongoose", is highly enjoyable, but it can't fully wash away the taste of what came before it....or what it sets up to come after it.
Characters - Heroes and villains everywhere, and not always where you expect.
* Remember how in Season 3, Emma had a great character arc in the Neverland Saga but then it came to a halt in the Wicked Saga until the two-part season finale finally picked it up and resolved it? And that the Wicked Saga did her dirty by building her up as the only one who could defeat Zelena only for Regina to defeat her instead? Season 4 does kind of a repeating of these problems, except this time around they are a lot more glaring.
For most of the Frozen Saga, Emma has a great arc that's essentially her and Elsa's shared journey toward self-love; learning from each other to accept themselves and their innate powers without having to always rely on the approval of a loved one. But then, after a huge broo-ha-ha is made about how Emma must be the one to defeat the Snow Queen....she doesn't, and Anna barges in to help the Snow Queen see the error of her ways before Emma can lift a finger. She isn't even the one to save her own boyfriend from Rumple afterward, Belle does it instead. It makes Emma look like the definition of a Boring Failure Heroine.
And things don't improve for her in the Operation Mongoose Saga. Her roles are being subservient to Regina in spite of the abuse Regina had thrown her way in the previous arc, being unreasonably angry at her parents for keeping a secret from her, being vilified for daring to kill a heinous villain in defense of her son, going back and forth between being a friend or an enemy to her "dark half" Lily, and being hyped as the key to restoring reality to the way it was in the season finale...only for Regina, yet again, to end up taking that role away from her. I think it was Disney's insistence that Emma be tied to Elsa and have that arc in the Frozen Saga, because Adam and Eddy clearly couldn't care less about her.
* Snow and Charming....SIGH. In the Frozen Saga, Snow is the new mayor of Storybrooke...until the Operation Mongoose Saga, where she suddenly isn't anymore and Regina takes up the mantle again. Through both arcs, Snow reaches new levels of bad motherhood toward Emma while continuing to coddle Regina, which is not touching, it's creepy. Charming, meanwhile, is revealed to have been a long-haired coward during his shepherd days and owes his bravery and swordsman skills to Anna, which neuters just about any coolness he ever had. And then, of course, there's the egg-napping subplot from the Operation Mongoose Saga, where Snow and Charming are revealed to have stolen the egg containing Maleficent's baby, transferred Emma's darkness into it while Emma was still in Snow's womb, and then sent it away in a portal. All because of some nebulous prophesizing and interference from Isaac. And this revelation means, according to the show, that they were villains all along and thus all this time have been pious hypocrites who just do things the easy way rather than the right way. Doesn't Regina look so much better in comparison to them now? Because that's clearly the intent behind this fucking writing decision. Character assassination at its finest.
* Henry sucks, Henry sucks, Henry.....doesn't suck? Yes, for most of the season Henry is lamer than he's ever been, still being treated like a precocious kid character even though Jared Gilmore has clearly entered puberty. But then he ends up as the leading character of the season finale, and shockingly rises to the occasion. It concludes with him becoming the new Author, and this marks a turning point in Henry's character that has been a long time coming, which I will go more into detail about when I talk about the next two seasons.
* This is the season where Regina officially crossed the line into Mary Sue territory. She decides that Marian's reappearance means that she is being punished for being a villain...not because she actually was a villain, but because some Author dared to write her as a villain in a storybook, and that he needs to rewrite her into a hero so that she can get the happy ending that she's entitled to. And in true Mary Sue fashion, she warps the plot and characters around her so that nobody objects to this idea and instead whole-heartedly embrace it.
Every good guy in Storybrooke fights to help Regina get her happy ending, constantly repeating that she "deserves it" and has "come so far" even as she continues to act in ways contradicting that notion. In the end, she doesn't even need the Author since she gets Robin Hood back, gets the adulation of being a "Light Savior" who restores reality back to normal, and has Emma sacrifice herself to the Dark One curse in order to save Regina and her "hard-earned" happy ending. I think the scene that best displays the problem is in the flashback of the episode "Mother", where we see Regina in the past remorselessly murder a groom on his wedding day for no good reason, then immediately go cry over Daniel's grave since this is the anniversary of his death, and then we cut to present-day Regina mention how life always "kicks her in the teeth". Yeah, I kinda think life kicked that groom in the teeth WAY more. So where the Hell is the Author who's gonna give his poor widowed bride her happy ending?
* Rumple, for the most part, is great in this season. In the Frozen Saga, we see him going back to his Dark Curse Saga roots as he plays the role of the true villainous mastermind behind the female Big Bad, dealing and manipulating his way toward one single objective - in this case being to use the power of the Sorcerer's Hat to "cleave" himself from the Dark One dagger. And in the Operation Mongoose Saga, he steps up as the direct Big Bad who leads a team of other villains in pursuit of the Author, under the promise that he can give them their happy endings. It helps that Robert Carlyle is clearly enjoying himself; that fun is infectious.
Unfortunately, there is a problem: Rumple fails to stick the landing in his last three episodes of both arcs. In the Frozen Saga, his failure to absorb Emma into the Sorcerer's Hat seems to drive him bonkers because he then rips out Hook's heart, relying solely on commanding him to do his dirty work all while ranting and raving repetitively about how when the stars in the sky and the stars in the hat are aligned, he will cleave himself of the dagger and he will kill Hook to do so, and that Hook better enjoy so-and-so because it'll be his last and blah blah blah. It's boring and silly, and Rumple's arrogance as he keeps saying it just makes his failure that much more pathetic. And in the Operation Mongoose Saga, his suddenly revealed heart condition ends up taking its toll on him and he is ultimately unable to mount a final assault against the heroes on his own, requiring the far less impressive Isaac to do so instead. The "Light One" version of him that Isaac overwrites him with manages to put up a fight, but that's not nearly as good. Rumple as the Big Bad should have gone out with a bang, not a whimper.
* Hook remains one of the best characters in the ensemble, forced to reconcile his pirate past with his heroic present in both the Frozen Saga and the Operation Mongoose Saga. In the former, his fears of regressing allow Rumple to manipulate him into servitude, which Hook ends up fighting against until Rumple rips out his heart. In the latter, he contends with the way in which he'd wronged Ursula in the past, and with the help of Ariel (whom he also finally does right by), he is able to rectify his mistake and grant Ursula her true happy ending. I'm not really a big fan of his new modern leather jacket, though. The pirate coat was iconic!
* Following such a good Season 3 performance, Belle looks like she's on track to become even better at the end of the Frozen Saga when she finally sees Rumple for who he is and dumps his ass all the way across the town line. It was a powerful scene with some great lines from Belle, and by all logic it should have been the end of her and Rumple as a romantic pairing. They needed to be done after that, with Belle now being free to develop her character entirely apart from Rumple. But of course, Adam and Eddy would never allow that, so all she does in the Operation Mongoose Saga is date a man she doesn't actually love to soothe her heartbreak, fall passed out on the floor, have her heart stolen by Regina and then have it recovered by Rumple which causes her to inevitably crawl back to him at the end of the finale. As the next seasons will show, this damaged Belle's character beyond repair, turning her into the very Stockholm Syndrome-afflicted abuse victim that stupid detractors of the Disney version always claimed she was. This isn't a love story anymore. It's a horror story.
* Robin Hood is a regular for this season in all but title, being present for many episodes in the Frozen Saga and even getting his own focus episode in the Operation Mongoose Saga. If there was any chance of salvaging this horrendously misused character, it died the moment it showed that he still desired a relationship with Regina even after learning that she was the one who killed Marian, which would have stuck if not for Emma and Hook's time travel adventure. I'm sorry, who does that!? That is not realistic human behavior! And it only gets worse when he ends up deliberately and vocally throwing away his honor code by cheating on Marian with Regina while Marian is frozen solid and could possibly die! Oh, but Marian ends up being Zelena anyway, so all's cool. No! All's not cool! Why did this show make Robin Hood into such a lame character!? It's especially a disservice to Sean Maguire, who's a smooth and funny guy in real life and the Robin Hood he plays utilizes none of his charm.
* And then we have the regular in title only, Robin's former associate Will Scarlet, carried over from Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. Of all the screwed-over regulars the show has had, none can compare with Will Scarlet. He does little of interest in the Frozen Saga except for enticing viewers with various mysteries about who he is, why he's here and what's he up to...and those mysteries get absolutely no pay-off in the Operation Mongoose Saga, where he barely shows up and when he does is mainly just Belle's new boyfriend (whom she scarcely interacts with directly!) so that Rumple can get jealous and more determined to find the Author. In the end, Will Scarlet is a nuisance who has fuck-all to do with anything that's going on in the season, leaving viewers scratching their heads as to why he was included to begin with. I can't believe that in his last speaking appearance, the show actually has him deliver the line "I warn ya, I'm scrappy", to which Rumple replies "All right, Scrappy." It's funny because Scrappy, in the TV Tropes usage of the word, perfectly describes Will here.
So, what went wrong? Well, originally the Wonderland spin-off was meant to take place during Season 2 of the main show, with the originally filmed pilot making this explicit. So Will in Season 4 was to be the Will we have after the Wonderland Saga's conclusion, meaning somehow he'd gone back to Storybrooke and regressed back into a selfish, self-esteem lacking, seemingly heartless thief separated from his true love Anastasia / the Red Queen. Highly unoriginal of Adam and Eddy, but whatever, there were still plans to move forward with him as a character on the main show. But those plans failed to materialize and Michael Socha spent a lot of time on set doing nothing, a miserable experience which he was very vocal about afterward. And what was Adam and Eddy's excuse? "It’s just, you know, there’s just so many…there’s just so many people that it’s like, it’s sometimes hard to do that story and sacrifice Regina’s story. That’s just showbiz." It all comes down to Regina. Of course.
In the end it's for the best that the confirmation of the Wonderland Saga as taking place in Season 2 never happened in the pilot we actually got, since Will's existence in this season only makes sense now if it was happening before the Wonderland Saga rather than after, thus my headcanon will always be that Will's fateful break-in to Granny's was after it closed up on the night "Operation Mongoose" ended on rather than the night of the wraith attack.
* Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Sven, Hans, Grand Pabbie, Oaken, the Duke of Weselton, and the former King and Queen of Arendelle are all lifted from Frozen to OUAT, and for every character that required an actor they got an actor who perfectly brought the animated movie character to life. They are also written accurately as well, with Elsa naturally being the stand-out given how much she gets to do and the bond she forges with Emma. And then there are the new Frozen characters invented for the show: Elsa and Anna's aunts - the deceased Helga and the icy-powered Ingrid, who is also the Frozen Saga's Big Bad, the Snow Queen. Ingrid, played beautifully by Elizabeth Mitchell, is essentially what Elsa might have become if Anna hadn't been so unconditionally loving toward her - her mind warped by her past pain and trauma, embittered toward all normal people, and willing to cross any moral boundary to find a family and place to belong to. Her connection to Elsa and Anna is perfectly exploited, her interactions with characters like Emma and Rumple are fascinating, and her ending where she realizes the error of her ways and sacrifices her life to reverse the damage she's done is the show's most beautiful, emotional send-offs for a villain since Rumple's death.
* The Queens of Darkness are Rumple's cohorts in the Operation Mongoose Saga who also desire the Author to write them a happy ending. The initial group is the trio of Maleficent, Ursula and Cruella De Vil, and it's later revealed that not-so-dead Zelena is also a member.
Maleficent, in spite of being played competently by Kristen Bauer van Straten and having great fashion sense in both worlds, is the weakest of the initial trio, since she is saddled with the mind-bogglingly stupid eggnapping subplot. Ursula isn't actually reflective of the Disney version of the character (Regina already did that in Season 3) and is more like a dark version of Ariel in regards to her backstory. She also isn't nearly as villainous as her peers and naturally she is redeemed rather quickly and easily as a result. And then there's Cruella De Vil, who is not a fairy tale character so everyone feared how she'd come off. Well, she's not only the best of the trio but one of the show's best villains, period. Victoria Smurfit looks, sounds and moves like the cartoon character made flesh, backed up by strong writing that makes her both funny and menacing - especially the latter when it comes to her backstory, a twisted little tale that subverts the show's usual "evil isn't born, it's made" mantra HARD.
Zelena.....SIGH. Like I said before, Adam and Eddy were dropping obvious clues that she wasn't really dead at the end of Season 3, which begged the question why they did a fake-out death to begin with. Apparently, it's because of this season's twist where, with almost no foreshadowing whatsoever, Marian is revealed to actually be Zelena in disguise, having traveled back in time with Emma and Hook and then killed the real Marian in order to take her place. She's revealed to then be pregnant with Robin Hood's child (since he slept with her thinking she was Marian...therefore, she raped him) before being hauled right on back to Storybrooke prison again. It's awful writing, salvaged only by Rebecca Mader's performance.
* We get some welcome returning characters this season, including Sydney Glass, Blackbeard, Ariel, Cora, and against all expectations August Booth. There are some interesting new side characters introduced as well, such as warlord Bo Peep (yes, really), Ursula's father Poseidon played by the great Ernie Hudson, and the Sorcerer's Apprentice, keeper of the Sorcerer's Hat and the Author's boss, meaning he naturally plays a major role throughout the season. The Author himself is Isaac Heller, played by Patrick Fischler, and he turns out to be a surprise villain who abuses his powers to influence events, which an Author is not supposed to do. While I wish he didn't take over the Big Bad position to such a degree in the finale, Isaac is still a very entertaining villain, especially when he's playing off of Regina and Rumple. His sardonic and cynical attitude also make him the perfect foil to Henry.
And then there's this season's biggest waste of a new character: Lilith "Lily" Page. There are three major problems with Lily. First of all, her origin - she's Maleficent's child that Snow and Charming kidnapped, passed all of Emma's natural-born darkness onto, and sent through a portal when she was still in an egg. It's so utterly stupid. Second, she is played by a Latino actress as a child only to have a white actress playing her as an adult. How does that work!? Finally, for all of the build-up she receives, she and her story go absolutely nowhere after she is reunited with her mother. They even make a point of giving her a scene toward the end about wanting to find who her father is, and that never gets followed up on. Even worse, the next story arc is all about Emma going dark, which Rumple had been trying to make happen throughout this arc and Lily was linked to, and yet Lily, her literal dark half, ISN'T involved!? Honestly, Mal from Descendants made a better "daughter of Maleficent" character! MAL!
Atmosphere - The Frozen Saga's atmosphere is very...Frozen-y; I don't really know another word to describe it. At least whenever it's focused on the Frozen characters. The Rumple subplot gets progressively darker to the point of becoming unpleasant, while the Regina subplot is just romantic and existential angst 24/7. These atmospheres don't fit in with the Frozen one at all, which is a testament to how Adam and Eddy are going the wrong direction with this show. Once the Operation Mongoose Saga happens, the atmosphere of the show goes insane, flip-flopping back and forth between family fairy tale wholesomeness to dark and disturbing and depressing to campiness on a level that feels off even for this show.
Episode Quality - For the most part, the Frozen Saga's episodes are perfectly fine and entertaining, although stretching out the 8th episode, "Smash the Mirror", into a two-parter was a horrible idea that cost the show terribly in the ratings. The only two standouts of badness are the 5th episode, "Breaking Glass", which introduces Lily in the flashback story while the present day story is all about Emma just having to sit back and take Regina's verbal abuse in spite of doing nothing to deserve it, and the final episode, "Heroes and Villains", whose only redeeming quality is the scene with Rumple and Belle at the town line, which doesn't even have lasting consequences. For the rest of the episode, we either spend time giving the Frozen cast a rushed, underwhelming send-off, having Rumple continue to abuse Hook while none of the idiot heroes catch on, fixating even more on Regina's angst as she has to let Robin Hood leave town in order to "save" "Marian", and watching a stupid Rumbelle-based flashback introducing the Queen of Darkness trio. In short, the episode is more the start of the Operation Mongoose Saga than it is the end of the Frozen Saga, which feels like a slap in the face to the last thing that made this show relevant to the mainstream.
And the Operation Mongoose Saga's episodes....actually got a lot better on a rewatch!? Don't get me wrong, this story arc is BAD. But when you detach yourself emotionally from the show and its characters, it becomes So Bad It's Good. It's as if the entire saga is Isaac's fanfiction; after all, it truly got started in "Heroes and Villains", and that's the name of Isaac's book in the "Operation Mongoose" two-part finale. Some episodes are unironically fun: "Darkness on the Edge of Town", "Poor Unfortunate Soul" and "Sympathy For the De Vil", but the other episodes are also fun when you just embrace how batshit crazy this whole story is and just enjoy watching how these poor actors are struggling to make something out of the material, and it's just as much fun when they fail as it is when they succeed. "Heart of Gold", the Robin Hood focus episode that reveals the Marian = Zelena twist, is one I have a soft spot for, because between Mader and Carlyle's acting, the scene of that reveal is hilarious.
Overall - Season 4 is basically the inverse of Season 2. Whereas Season 2 was horribly structured but a lot of strong material in either writing or acting was able to make it stronger than the sum of its parts. Season 4, on the other hand, has a solid structure with two inter-connected story arcs, but the material gets so increasingly shoddy that it doesn't matter. Until Seasons 6 and 7 came along, this was definitely the weakest season the show had to offer. If you don't mind a So Bad It's Good quality, then you should stick with the entire thing. But if you only want something that's actually good, then just watch all of the Frozen material.
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sugar bowl gen fic recs
this got a big long so i’m putting it under the cut
all fics on this list are safe for work, i’ll probably be making another list for the not safe for work ones
enjoy!
call me from the road by @deweysdenouement ; snickets & denouements & beatrice & bertrand
a story of interconnected scenes about of how these friends, family, lovers, and sometimes enemies grew up in vfd, from those (comparatively) innocent childhood years to when they’re all grown up, to when they lost so many people but they’re gathering together, the remaining survivors, to create a new beginning. very many emotional moments and just such a overwhelming amount of love between all of them that makes my heart ache and also made me cry.
beatrice by @whoslaurapalmer ; beatrice/lemony, also ft. kit, r, bertrand, olaf
lemony investigates the murder of beatrice - or so he thought he was doing. canon divergence au in a noir setting. absolutely in love with the whole atmosphere and vibes of this one, detective noir and murder investigation that isn’t what it looks like in the surface. all the character dynamics, platonic or more, friends or enemies, are so good and a deep look into lemony’s feelings and reflections of what happened at the end of atwq. amazing plot and very tight knitted, one of the first fics i’ve read in this fandom and i still think about it a lot.
place daturas on my grave by @ceruleanvulpine ; kit & quigley
a conversation between kit and quigley, with a lot of kit’s inner thoughts, especially about losing her brothers. there’s a quiet yet overwhelming kind of sadness in her here and it absolutely breaks my heart. very very good kit characterization.
close encounters of the sibling kind by @deweysdenouement ; jacques & kit
5 times jacques and kit almost ran into each other in the city, and the one time they did. lots of snicket siblings feels, small details of what kit remembered about jacques that she would recognize anywhere, a cameo of dewey, and j&k talking about lemony.
Uninvited by @parsleysoda1984 ; beatrice/esme
esme shows up at beatrice’s wedding reception. very good snicketverse narrating style and also excellent dialogue between beatrice and esme, including monologues from both sides and commenting on each other’s choices of language, and also revelations of certain backstories. absolutely love the tension between them.
Double Edged by @lyeekha ; lemony/ernest
a card that read “the manager requests your presence” brings lemony to a particular room at hotel denouement, and back and forth conversations of trying to obtain and obscure information ensues. very fun character dynamics and great characterizations, and the lemony-voice is excellent and very on point.
An Eye For An Eye by @ladynoblesong ; beatrice/esme
beatrice and esme, through the years, featuring longing and want mixed with bitterness and hatred, grief, thievery, and vengeance. a deep insight into esme’s thoughts and feelings with regards to beatrice that makes me feel for her. amazing characterizations.
The Unpleasant Arrival of Dramatic Irony by @parsleysoda1984 ; jacques/jerome, also ft. esme
jacques visits jerome and tries to warn him about certain things and people. all the unsaid feelings and unspoken secrets, small details about jacques that kept stealing jerome’s attention, physical touches such as a hand on his shoulder that made jerome stay still. also features the animosity between esme and jacques, and just in general very good dynamics study of the three of them.
slow dancing in a burning room by @littlesnickets ; beatrice/lemony, beatrice/bertrand
in depth character study of beatrice, from her childhood to motherhood to the very end, all the glamorous glory and all the flaws, and the growth that comes with it. amazing insight into different relationships of her lives. very good characterization and very vivid description, i can feel her emotions throughout reading. beautiful and makes my heart ache.
Lonely Souls by @virtualfindingsdocumented ; kit/ellington
kit and ellington, through the years, from their first meeting to years years after kit died and ellington meeting her daughter, from reluctant allies who had to work together to friends to lovers to friends again. exploring the complicated relationship they had, tangled with kit’s involvement in vfd and all the work she was trying to do. also features interesting occasional insights into vfd politics
and i've written pages upon pages trying to rid you from my bones by @whoslaurapalmer ; beatrice/bertrand/lemony
the famous 200 paged breakup letter (just not 200 paged). featuring talks of younger and happier days, and all the shared moments and all the small details they know about each other, but also the heartwrenching part about how this isn’t going to work out, the hard decisions that needed to be made, and how sometime love isn’t enough. a mixture of moments that delight me and the ones that break my heart and very very good characterizations of all of them.
Charles Remembers by @gellavonhamster-remade ; kit & charles
backstory for how charles got into vfd. very very interesting and i absolutely love the dynamics between them here, charles’ impression of kit and him remembering their first interaction, and also some insight into the snickets from how kit talked about her brothers. reading this makes me feel like i’m watching an old movie, probably black and white, with all the vintage vibes .... exquisite
Rattle by @lesbianscieszka ; kit & jacques
a rattle in the taxi led to kit trying to figure out the issue, untangle ratchet straps, and think about jacques. she remembered the things she said as she worked on it, and how safe he used to drive, and how that didn’t help in the end. very many snicket twins feels and insightful looks into their characters. a quiet kind of sadness.
An attempt to help a friend correct a passive moment by @littlestsnicket ; lemony & daniel
a conversation between lemony snicket and daniel handler about lemony wanting a pair of bright red shoes, which led to daniel buying the said pair of shoes. very fun and enjoyable to see daniel handler in fics - we know he is canonically a character in the snicketverse and the agent for lemony - and i love the general tone and vibes of this, feels very them.
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Vanya Reviews — Dead Wishes (Steam, Itch.io)
In this chaotic world, you must adapt - either to forgive or survive. A thriller-romance indie visual novel/dating simulator.
STORY
Stricken with long-term depression over the death of your parents, you are on the verge of eviction and bankruptcy. Without any prospects for the future, you're desperate, so much so that you might even...... join the mafia and uncover a heated love affair gone terribly wrong.... become a criminal allied with a team of murderers.... suck it up and make an honest person of yourself.... serve as the caretaker for two dysfunctional sisters.... end up destitute on the streets.... or join the church and repent your sin. But mostly, you're either going to find love and happiness or die a terrible death.Dead Wishes features various subplots that are woven between character routes. In order to experience all of what the game has to offer, the player must read through every route and piece the stories together.
FEATURES
12 character routes: 6 men and 6 women
250,000+ words of in-game text
Partial character voicing
They/them player pronouns
350+ Choices and 35+ Endings
36 CGS
Developers can be found at @violetstudiogames.
MINI REVIEW
I’d like to thank @ddarker-dreams for encouraging me to finally play the game! It’s everything I want in a dark otome and more. Anyone that enjoyed the dark aspects of BTD 1+2 and TDDUP will love this, though I’ll warn that not all routes are dark and not every character is necessarily yandere. Be sure to check out the strategy guide made by the developers; it explains route order and gives pretty in-depth analysis of each character and their line of thinking.
Overall rating: 7/10 (I honestly wish more of the routes were dark, but a certain route kind of... ahem, made up for that tenfold)
Estimated playtime: 10 hours including the backstories (unlocked after you finish all routes) and afterstories.
Personal takes on the characters: Slight spoilers below! ♡ to ♡♡♡♡♡ represent my enjoyment of each route and character.
Non yandere routes:
Clement ♡♡♡♡♡
Y’all, this guy’s route is fluff city. He loves his dog and little sister so much, and he’s honestly just an ideal guy and family man. His route made me laugh so many times since he’s such an awkward and cute flirt. I suggest saving him for some much needed therapy after Mateo’s route. If I had to make him yandere, I can see him as a protective and possessive.
Eira ♡♡
Eira isn’t my type of woman, so I didn’t enjoy her route as much as I would’ve liked. But, she is a woman of color like myself and I really appreciate seeing that come into play in her route. Still, it felt like she was fuel to further the story rather than another love interest. I could easily see her as a lucid and protective yandere.
Nanako ♡
I hate women like Nanako -- childish, indignant, and immature. She has the same problem as Eira: being fodder for the story. I rushed through her route, so I don’t have much to say, but there’s a strongly hinted relationship between her and Eira and I live for it. Although she’s a tsundere, I could easily write her as a protective and possessive (though I don’t particularly want to).
Sergio ♡♡♡♡♡
This boy isn’t yandere in the slightest, but I could easily make him yandere considering his circumstances (mafia don) -- but... that would defeat the point of his entire route. He is a broken boy that wants to be loved, that wants to heal. Although he never hurts MC and would likely never hurt them, I can see him being protective and very reluctant.
Festus ♡♡♡♡♡
Another one I’m biased to since he’s my ideal guy. Flirty, sometimes obnoxious, and uses his trickster persona to hide his hurt, suffering, and intellect. He pulls through when he can, and his aspirations in life are wonderful because he wants to help everyone he possible can; but god did my heart feel for him in his backstory. Such a devout man...he’d easily make for a submissive and obsessive yandere.
Lucien ♡♡♡♡
The character I was most excited to play -- and he failed, until I read his backstory (so I gave him an extra heart...). His route raises more questions than it answers, and it’s only through playing interconnected routes (namely Sergio and Ophelia) that those questions are answered. I think he could be something great, especially as a yandere, but he feels like such a static character through his own route. After reading his backstory, I’m certain this was the developer’s intention, but I can’t help but feel unsatisfied with his route, even his good end. He is a man that could drop his lover at any moment, nor does he seem to feel or understand love; although his route isn’t yandere, I could write him as a reluctant, possessive, and manipulative yandere. He’s... not an easy one to categorize.
Yandere routes: in order of least to most
Allegra ♡♡♡♡♡
Yo, girl hot indeed. I’m not fond of her name, but Allegra is a nicely fleshed out character, to my genuine surprise. I didn’t have much hope for the female characterization in this game, but playing Allegra as my first really struck a chord. She’s not my ideal girl by any means, even under the slight yandere tendencies, but I can appreciate her character and desire to be a better person. A protective and reluctant yandere.
Ophelia ♡♡♡♡♡
I love this girl and her girlfriend. She comes across as a tsundere, but she’s far more sinister than that underneath her cute looks and princess personality. In her backstory, it’s actually hinted that she may be royalty, so that explains that, but be ready for lots of verbal abuse coupled by some touching scenes. An obsessive yandere with sadistic tendencies.
Vincent ♡♡♡♡
A true delusional yandere, though he does show symptoms of other ‘types’ -- as all yanderes should. He’s one of my favorites because of his unique way of thinking, and his backstory is so terribly sad because it hints at the sometimes oppressive way Indian households are run. I feel for him deeply, and he was the first character I encountered (+ I got his good end pretty easily) so I’m not sure what that means for me. Oops?
Kazue ♡♡♡
A manipulative and deeply delusional yandere suffering from Lupus and what I can only gather as dependent personality disorder. Like Mateo, you could say that her delusion is a direct result of a certain other character, but I think Kazue is prone to delusional despite that considering her dependency and sorrow. Just let her be a good and loving housewife, no matter how wrong something seems...just be careful, though. Her delusionals are scarily real.
Mateo ♡♡♡♡
Heavy trigger warnings, not for the faint of heart at all. The most unhinged yandere I’ve ever seen, and despite it all, he’s such a sad character. His route slashes any sympathy you might initially feel for him, but his character as a whole is interesting. -1 heart because he threatens noncon on the kids to make MC compliant. This boy is devoid of morals unless it has to do with the environment, and you’ll learn why in his backstory. MC will go through a lot of inescapable mental turmoil and abuse throughout this route. I’d label him a sadistic and delusional.
Special character (unlocked after completing all other routes):
Anise ♡♡♡
Not so much a route as a philosophy lesson, but I enjoyed Anise’s interlapping role in the story. She provides some much needed backstory to the characters, world, and to life in general. I liked her mostly because of her ending lines, something along the lines of: live life to such a full point that your wishes become dead. A good message, even if it’s from a morally-void character. I’d categorize her as a yandere if she could feel love.
#vanya reviews#dead wishes#dead wishes vn#this probably wont be a consistent series but ill try#playing dark nights next!
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Lexi since you're legit slamming out the best au's ever left and write (seriously I'm having a blast godbless you), do you have any tips on how to plan and build them? I have a magic au that I am very!! excited about!!! but I can't get to the damn story bc I,,,,,,, have no story,,,,,,, or backstories,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, or anything other than species and names..................... help💕
first off shakes you’re literally a sweetheart and I love you
second, I literally always save plot for last (and I’m sure that’s......apparent), but my main piece of advice there is take what you know about your characters and their world, imagine what’s most important to them, and put it in danger.
For instance!! A world of forest-based characters who thrive in a cute lil village and meet up with their friends from other villages all the time - what’s most important to them? Friends? Oh no, their friends are suddenly missing and they gotta travel through a dark part of the forest to save em. Is it freedom? Oh look, a new leader is taking over and enforcing borders between the villages, and now the characters have to find their ways to each other and then overthrow the ruler. Etc.
As for backstories, the most basic piece of advice I have is give them different levels of good in their past - for instance, one of them has great parents and a stable life, another person hasn’t seen their family in years but is living well on their own, the next person has volatile relationships with their parents and is barely making it, etc etc - but no matter how good their life is, give them each one moment (or a few interconnected moments) that motivates them still.
Character one has that good life, but when they were young their best friend was ripped away from them by the powers that be and they’re determined to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else. Character two is doing okay but one thing they remember from childhood is feeling lost, alone, incomplete, so they’ve spent their life trying to find what was missing or making up for it now. Character three is determined to tear away from the caricature their parents made of them to tear them down, and even if they’re barely making it, at least they’re alive on their own. Character one could be the well-meaning but overzealous hero, two is reckless but vulnerable when the others get to know them, three is tough and sharp but clever and adaptable and selfless.
I hope that helps a little :p
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