okay i don't know if the hyperfixation will hold long enough for me to actually write this but au where everything is the same but the waylon house is just a bit more structurally sound. max doesn't die and is like 'thanks for this guys, is that the whole party or?' and everyone just sort of looks at each other like. well we don't want to anger him so what can we say but yes. and so the nerds and max end up hanging out for a night in the waylon house and the worst thing that happens is grace chastity is tempted to have a beer for the first time (she doesn't though. but with max offering it's very hard for her to refuse. or focus lol) max keeps giving them weird backhanded compliments like 'wow you guys are way cooler than you look, how'd that happen' which is not the best but it's way better than being beat up for daring to be in his line of sight, so they'll take it.

so they all hang out for the night, max is like weirdly chill and friendly, eventually he leaves and they're left standing outside the waylon house like. ?? what the fuck??? did we just befriend max jagerman???? the nerds are still apprehensive considering pete still has a black eye, grace is still boiling with religious zeal and repressed lust, and steph still doesn't really like him, but they can't help but remember how he said that trying to prank him was the nicest thing someone's ever done for him. and that just can't be true, considering he's literally the star quarterback and the main character of hatchetfield high, but.... the fact that he felt like it enough says a lot, doesn't it?

so they decide to leave the prank footage to gather dust and figure this was probably the best outcome they could have hoped for. who knows what they'll walk into at school tomorrow? maybe max will become a friend.

Okay so I recently, finally, watched Wish and I have some thoughts. Overall, not as bad as everyone makes it out to be, but still has a lot of fundamental story problems and I've got to get them off of my chest. I'll mostly be focused on Magnifico because I think his motivations and arc largely represent the problem with the overall theme.

Okay so my biggest problem with Magnifico is his motivation. His tragic backstory. How on earth does he go from losing his whole family to thinking, the only way he can prevent that from happening again is to grant wishes? The logic doesn't track. It almost makes sense in his creating a kingdom where he protects everyone and "doesn't even charge rent," but it does not make sense with his wish granting. Having a great need to be control to make sure he doesn't lose anyone ever again can be a compelling motivation for a villain, where we see lines crossed that don't justify the intent, but in the movie, he's too self-absorbed to seem to have any actual care for the people of Rosas.

I think if the motivation was changed to something like Magnifico had once been a bright-eyed, enthusiastic wish granter who blindly believed all wishes were good but learned the hard way that that wasn't true could have been a better fit for the overall goal of the movie. Imagine that he granted a wish for a wicked person who used that wish to hurt others, or if Magnifico granted a wish but that wish ended up ruining the person's life because what they wanted wasn't what they needed (i.e. Remember The Princess and the Frog? Dig a little deeper) and that person could have went after Magnifico and blamed him for their troubles (harkening back to We Don't Talk about Bruno). This would be an understandable tragic backstory for Magnifico, and better explain why he's so careful about the wishes he grants. And, perhaps the reason he keeps the wishes he doesn't want to grant is to keep the people in his kingdom docile. No one will be angry with him for not granting their wishes if he makes them forget them and lose that drive and motivation, which makes more sense than the unexplained hording them like he does in the movie? Why does he keep them in the movie other than admiring the wishes? It doesn't make sense to me.

This would give Asha more of a reason to oppose him, if it's shown how his desire to not get hurt or to inadvertently cause hurt turned into a paranoia where he drains people of wishes to fly or play music that inspires others. And, as a side note, we need to see more of how Rosas is a kingdom of people who lack drive and motivation, where only those younger than 18 have that special part of them that inspires them to chase after a dream (something that Astor Rhymemaster touched on). Because that's the point of wishes, right? That's the point of the entire Disney canon. A dream is a wish your heart makes. That star can only get you so far, it takes hard work and determination. It's wanting something better in life, it's dreaming of leaving behind all you know to chase after a tangible light. It's finding a new dream, it's finding a new wish as you grow and learn about yourself and the world.

I don't think the movie Wish understood what makes wishes so important in Disney stories. You know what wishes do? They ignite change. It's not about getting what you want, it's about finding the courage to chase after something better. Ariel wants to be where the people are, but really she wants to be somewhere where others are willing to understand her and in the end, she finds that and makes amends with her father, who finally is willing to see her for who she is. Rapunzel wants to see the lights, and that desire pushes her to leave a tower she's been trapped in her whole life, learning that the world is not as cruel and cold as her abusive mother told her. Cinderella wants to go to the ball, to dance with people who treat her as a person and not a servant of cinders and ash. That wish is granted by a fairy godmother and gives her a hope that is worth fighting for, a hope that helps her reclaim what is rightfully hers; a glass slipper that fits only her and the love that comes with it.

Wishes inspire change. The movie should have been about that. Magnifico could have been right, that some wishes inspire negative change that can drag down multiple people. The kingdom of Rosas could have been so placid because change is scary. Maybe Magnifico could have convinced people, after taking their wish, that it wasn't worth it. Maybe the wish ceremonies could have changed so it wasn't portrayed as some sort of lottery everyone looks forward to, but Magnifico would grant wishes on the spot if he decided they were good and worthwhile, and he would lock away the wishes that would cause trouble and tribulations. 18 year olds could be enthusiastic to give him their wishes, thinking they were surely good and worth granting, only to forget their wish and be told that their wish would have only brought about their unhappiness, this would have justified a more solemn tone in the kingdom, setting up a world where people are mostly downtrodden, thinking their wishes are bad and pointless and they're better off without them. Imagine Cinderella or Rapunzel being told their wishes weren't good, reinforcing all the things their abusive families tell them, taking away that hope and courage to find something better for themselves.

Here's where the true conflict could come in. Asha could be onto this from the beginning, and her opening song could have been about this concern that the people who didn't get their wishes granted aren't willing to try at all. (Because, after all, why doesn't Sabino play music at all? Having that taken from him would take so much joy and creative expression from his life!) But why does Asha know something is amiss?

Simon.

Imagine that Magnifico has a strict rule not to ever share your wish with another person because then it wouldn't come true. It makes sense with our own superstitions, and then makes it so that no one knows anyone else's wishes. Maybe your best friend changes so drastically after giving up their wish, but you believe, like everyone else, that their wish would have only caused suffering. What can you do about it? Well what if Simon told Asha about his wish? What if Asha knew his wish wasn't dangerous and couldn't imagine a way that it could go wrong? That would give her a reason to doubt Magnifico and put more emphasis on how Simon has lost his drive like all the other adults in the kingdom. And it can also emphasize in the end that sharing your wishes and dreams with others can be a powerful thing. Just the act of sharing your dreams can inspire others to go after their own, and they can give you the encouragement to chase your wish too. Wishes inspire change, love gives you the courage to make it happen.

Imagine if the star boy used to be a human, who wished to help others and lost his humanity to do it. Imagine his wish confirms Magnifico's belief, that wishes cause suffering because star boy lost his tether to earth and is separated from the people he loves. Imagine how he foils Asha who also wants to grant everyone's wishes. Imagine him ensuring she doesn't make the same mistake he did while she gives him a reason to change again, to anchor himself to humanity again because he loves her enough not to leave for forever.

Imagine the movie confirming that, yes, change is scary. Chasing your dreams won't always make things better. You might fail more than you succeed and some wishes cannot coincide with each other, leading to grief and strife. But some wishes are worth it. Sometimes, chasing after something better and failing is worth leaving a worse situation. Sometimes taking that chance is worth it, and, like in all fairy tales, if you are kind and generous and act with love, that will make all the difference in the end.

Also, I know everyone wished for a Magnifico and Amaya evil power couple, but imagine if Magnifico was truly in love with Amaya, as he is in the movie, but that love is eventually his undoing. Like Amaya leaps in front of Asha, and Magnifico stops or redirects his attack because she's the one thing he loves more than himself and that is the weakness that Asha and co can take advantage of. Imagine Amaya keeping Magnifico in the mirror and he gets to dote on her from his imprisonment for forever. I'm just saying. At least 30 sickos like me would be into that. Imagine the depth it would give to the themes of love and change and wishing and how acts of love make all the difference.

Alright, I'll get off my soap box. I just really wish Wish could have been stronger because these fairy tales Disney is famous for matter. They really do. But the movie feels too stale and shallow and too much of a cash grab that knows the outline of a disney musical, but is unable to understand the heart of why they work.

Yesterday I was replaying Deltarune and I was going really insane about it picking up on things I missed on my first playthrough and something that fucked me up hard was this line here

The little ellipsis at the end, almost like you can hear the regret on their voice. Voice of an ad who is realizing maybe they fucked up on this one. But it also made me think of... The possibility of this being a reaction to Spamton's actions.

Because I don't think this was an automatic thing, I feel like their drifting off was gradual. Sure, their jealousy had won them over (I'd have killed the guy or myself if I was them so I don't even blame them) but Spamton was too getting busier and busier the more famous he got, and as they say, that never stopped. He only kept getting bigger, until it all came crashing down. And when it did it was one of them who tried to go find him, after all that.

But I digress, let's focus on the original quote from my favorite sigma enby themselves, Pink Addison. There's obviously not only the regret to it, but feeling like they were abandoned too. Both parties lost a lot and the real tragedy is just how easily it could've have been avoided! Or rather, how beyond their control it was...

But I'll get off topic if I keep speaking so I'll leave it at that. The sheer tragedy that there is to everyone involved just makes me insane. Like I said in a post previous to this; you cannot trace down a good guy or a bad guy in this tale, it's just desperate people taking awful decisions and living to regret their actions.

it's been a hot sec since I watched both action and all-stars but bear with me here.

I don't rlly mind action's finale too much (which might be surprising to most of the fandom) and all-stars finalists were meh (except for the spotlight on the newer gens during an all-star season, but whatever). but here's the vision I randomly came up with two hours ago:

action's finalists: (trustin 😶) or beth and lindsay or smth similar--all-girls finale would've been cool plus the besties vs. besties drama. nothing more needs to be said, I think y'all understand the gist, I don't think I need to explain that any further...

duncan's time to shine should've been during all-stars' finale against mal. og contestant vs. newer contestant (made more highlighted due to mal being dormant until the beginning of tdas). it would've been interesting and impactful imo to see duncan, one of the characters to get the most development in that season, war against his own moral beliefs (or lack thereof) while facing off against his former juvie pal who's way more chaotically evil/chaotically neutral than he has been during this season. like imagine a duncan who's already teetering bc he got dropped into the 'heroes team' and ppl keep thinking he's 'gone soft' and all he wants to do is prove them wrong, but here he is, somehow at the finale, facing someone he knows personally is worse than anything he can ever be, and a side of him does admire that, ofc, but also there's the million dollars to think abt. imagine imagine...everything abt that finale being one big irony, they both trade barbs back and forth bc they know each other from juvie so they know each other's ticks, the entire episode is just easter eggs of their individual pasts under the guise of certain things being said/done to mess with the other. so many internal dilemmas. and smth smth happens, mike fronts again in the middle of the finale, mal ends up relinquishing control of the host, no reset button involved, some sort of 'truce' between them occurs beforehand, mike's naturally confused but is rolling with it all, zoey could've still been one of the helpers, same with alejandro and heather, maybe chris's "cottage" does get blown up somehow, yada yada

Hi Clam. Question about CoGR. I know you didn't have the fic finished when you first started posting. Did you make an outline for the whole fic or did you just wing it?

I'm struggling to keep my longfic together and could use some pointers.

Oh worm! Coming to me for planning tips is a dangerous game considering I change it up with every fic hdKJH

But in the case of CoGR specifically, yes, the entire fic was outlined before I started writing! Every chapter had a very basic concept attached to it so I understood what was meant to happen + how his Thought Processes had formed. And at the very top of the doc I had the entire Zote History written out so I could keep it in mind as I wrote

I also color-coded chapters based on where they were taking place, unless something important was discussed in that chapter, in which case they were color-coded with red text (hence my author notes referring to certain chapters as "colored red"!)

actually i went digging thru my files and I found the old planning doc, so if u were wondering how the cogr plan looked, well. here u go,

and yes it's in chronological precept order, meaning my plan was backwards. i only figured out that I wanted to go in reverse precept order After I wrote down the initial plan, lmao

But even with an established outline far in advance, stuff was constantly getting tweaked and messed around with as I wrote. Really big plot points stayed relatively the same (such as Chapter 47 - the plan for that stayed pretty cut and dry from start to finish) but some things ended up being added or changed as I went along (for instance, the entire grub arc was a sort of last minute decision; I got the idea a few chapters in advance and went 'hey fuck it that'd be fun to add' so I Did, and I found it made the chapters where the grub was included far more interesting than if they were never there!)

So my advice would be to make an outline but not be too hard on yourself when it comes to sticking to it. I find an outline to be SUPER helpful, as if I don't plan something well in advance I just end up writing myself into a hole (R.I.P Tinnitus), but adding little things as I write can make it all the better. So make a plan, yeas, but give yourself breathing room for changing things/adding stuff!

Hope that helps at all!!

MORE "SPIDEYKAIBA", "more kaibabros garabage" and "puffship"

HEHEHE. OK I'm gonna put the spideykaiba stuff in a separate post, but HUZZAH I'm so stoked for some

puffship

The story behind this one is actually my favourite classical composer story of all time: Rachmaninoff desperately wanted to become friends with his fellow composer Stravinsky, but wasn't quite sure how to break the ice. He heard Stravinsky liked a certain type of expensive honey, and just randomly showed up at Stravinsky's house in the middle of the night with a big ol' jar of honey. It worked. They became friends.

BUT ALSO THIS IS LIKE, PEAK BAKURA BEHAVIOUR, ISN'T IT?! (as I am rapidly adding more red yarn and thumbtacks to my 'tenuous connections between YGO and classical music' corkboard, a large hook comes to drag me off stage)

Hence this excerpt but with a more Jounouchi-esque food substituted:

When the buzzer in Jounouchi’s flat goes off at midnight, he’s not sure what to expect. The only people who ever drop by unannounced are Honda and Anzu. Anzu has a key and has never once in her life bothered with the buzzer, and Honda only comes at ungodly hours of the morning to clean his apartment and lecture him the entire time while Jounouchi watches TV in a half-awake stupor. “Hello?” Jounouchi says into the receiver. “Hello,” a soft voice returns. A pause. “Bakura? The hell are you doing here at midnight?” Bakura is silent for a moment, and then: “Do you like shrimp?”

I'll put the next one under a cut 'cause this is getting long, but it's a YGODM rewrite where Seto's mind crush goes. Very differently lol

Anyone who knows me probably remembers this one 'cause I've been poking away at this for actual years 💀 but very roughly (??!) it's a YGODM rewrite where Mokuba is Seto's half-brother and they don't grow up together. So when Seto gets mind-crushed he doesn't have any reason to 'put the pieces back together.' He's in his mind crush coma for two full years, and then Isono manages to find Mokuba in foster care. Yuugi & Atem's relationship is really different in this one too! It's a much slower burn to Friendship™️and there's more 'oh god an arson obsessed ghost is in my body' fear and paranoia. Basically just me enjoying dark freaky Season 0 vibes for way longer and easing into the whole plot later on when the kids are college-aged.

more kaibros garbage

Anzu had completely forgotten herself, and was examining Kaiba with open fascination - and revulsion. She moved closer to him hesitantly. “Can he...can he hear us?” she asked, her voice small. The maid Okazaki was already nodding enthusiastically, but Isono slowly shook his head. “There’s really no way to know, Mazaki-san.” Yuugi knew that the answer was more complicated than the question had been. Kaiba could hear and respond to noise, certainly; the whole reason he wasn’t hooked up to a mess of tubes in a hospital bed was because he could eat with assistance, and raise and lower his arms obediently when asked to in order to facilitate clothes-changes and cleaning. The question was whether he understood any of those noises in a meaningful way, and whether he ever would again. It had already been two years. The outlook didn’t seem so good, these days. Anzu gingerly sat down in the chair closest to Kaiba. She took another long, hard look at his vacant face. Her expression slowly began to shift. Pity. An emotion that Yuugi couldn’t allow himself to feel towards Kaiba. To pity the frail, twisted boy before him was to condescend to him, to disrespect their relationship. Yuugi had done this to him, and so he owed it to Kaiba to remember him as he had been - tall and powerful with a loud, strident voice - vicious, calculating, eyes shining like the cruelly sharp edge of a diamond - alive. Anzu reached out and gently, gently laid her hand on top of Kaiba’s. “Hi, Kaiba-kun,” she said softly. “We brought your diploma.”

❝ you know, it's good of you to come visit. it's all my mom's talked about for the last week, i think. sayu, too. ❞ he flips through the pages of a magazine, looking up to observe his cousin after a brief pause. yagami is not pleased to share his room (in fact, it's quite a hindrance), but he'll adapt. he always does. we're not little kids anymore. ❝ so, have you settled in yet? ❞ // * @antinomos liked for a starter !!

The cons of this fandom and how old as fuck it is is that sometimes I don’t think it can handle massive shaking up of the characters. Like we have to address all the character changes in the work of the fic but why not just fucking???? Make a new one and yeet them into that spot???

like I could create a platonic ideal xander but if I just started off the story in media res with an Elite Chad Xander and act as if this is just the Xander we always had bc we all have issues with the canon one I feel like I’d get shit about it even from people who hate canon xander.

Tl;dr: Mohawk weed skateboard adhd xander is a superior xander but if I ever used him in my fics I would likely be hunted like an animal and that’s honestly a failing of society and not me

Spotfur and Sorrelstripe could maybe be the kittens of Smoky and Floss, we know Floss was expecting kits at some point in time and maybe during the period of Daisy's novella when she goes to help Coriander out Sorrel and Spot are about warrior age. Daisy tells them about the clans and all about how they've helped her and they decide to leave with her. Irc that novella takes place around the time they're warriors so i think it'd work out.

That could absolutely work if you're looking to really give the family tree a deep cleaning. I do want to make sure to preserve some pernicious aspects of clan culture though, including the fact that they strongly emphasize bloodlines to the detriment of their society.

So I want to make sure to add just enough fresh blood that the "tree" isn't a "tumbleweed" without having 8 whole ex outsiders permanently join ThunderClan (Daisy, Millie, Purdy, Fernsong, Stormcloud, Jesse, plus Spotfur and Sorrelstripe)

Those kits could end up secretly, anonymously siring someone's litter though. I'm ferociously keeping the idea that a queen does not have to disclose the father of her kits, and it was born from the Mapleshade debacle.

But... personally, I deeply HC that Floss' kits did not have a happy fate, since the book mentions they were taken away when they were faaar too young to have been weaned. Having your children taken away is a cost of living with twolegs, and I want to approach kittypets and barn cats as having a different sort of lifestyle that comes with safety, but also a loss of autonomy. The Clans aren't just a cult in the woods, but they're not a utopian society either.

@dciisy​ liked for a starter!

“Do you have some sort of code name? Like-like, oh! Like Eagle or-or... Eagle 2?” Yeah, they werent the best, but they were codenames. Bess let out a chuckle before shrugging. “I think bird ones are cool; I was apparently Magpie to some people.”

rewrite erik isn’t like most phantoms. he’s a gentle, awkward soul who would never hurt anyone. he’s even purer than cherik!

but then... the red death scene

OH BOY THE RED DEATH SCENE

as his new persona, erik talks in a sophisticated, slightly menacing voice, moving down the stairs with cold elegance, his presence striking fear in all who see him... and all will comply to his desires, lest they wish for death.

this is the erik everyone loves. no longer is he a gawky stringbean who makes carrot spaghetti soup and forgets what a bathroom is. no longer is he a sarah bernhardt stan or a demiboy who longs to be a woman or even a fab opera ghost!

he’s the phantom of the opera

Here's some answers to your questions. 1, “Aikosha” contains the kanjis '愛' (ai) meaning love, '好' (ko) meaning good, and '者' (sha) meaning person. And in short, they make the word '愛好者' or 'Aikosha', meaning 'fan'. 2, in the AU, Joey and Gigi aren't actually siblings. They're actually half-siblings.

1] I see~ Thanks for the breakdown. That being the case though, I still feel weird about it. It's nice that it's no longer a negative term, but now it's just a word.

To be blunt: I just don't think it's "clever."

I think you're in the right direction trying to make these "reference" names, but they're not being "punched up" enough. There's a lack of *aesthetic* to your name choices.

Like, let's look at the name you borrowed, "Nimbasa". It incorporates the word "nimbus" to reference clouds, but it isn't literally "Nimbus." It invokes the imagery while making the name itself aesthetically pleasing. I can imagine themes of airiness, and phrases like "walking on air" or "head in the clouds." This is likely a carefree place that might occasionally have "storms" or negative occurrences.

For a canon example, I know that "Natura" literally just means "nature," but I think most people can agree that "nature" as a concept is "poetic" on its own. People name things after nature and plants all the time because we find those things beautiful and meaningful. I can already just imagine a place flush with greenery and plants. It's probably a calm place with a dignified air.

Like, I don't have the same problem with the "Deepsea" district, because likewise, the sea by itself is poetic. The deep sea specifically brings to mind images of mystery and coolness. I can imagine a place that looks serene, but beneath it all something dangerous is lurking in the shadows. There's something for me to work with there.

Maybe it's just me, but words like "fan" and phrases like "cutting edge" just aren't poetic to me in a way that says someone would live in a place named after these things. Like, "fan" itself is kinda generic on its own. A fan of what? All of these artists have "fans." It's just not a word/concept which has well established poetic imagery, and what imagery I do have for it is generally pretty negative to neutral. It's not a place where I can imagine being.

And it doesn't have to be as "flowery" as the earlier examples. To look at the other canon names, "Cast Tech" invokes the words "broadcast" or "telecast" and "technology," so we already know that it's a place where technology is prevalent. It doesn't really have any space themes as far as I'm aware, but the technology theme still works since it's "smart people stuff," which generally describes DJSS's "smarter than you" attitude and his history as a professor.

The "Metro Division" is similar in that "Metro" invokes modern themes. When I hear "metro," I think bustling city, which describes the nightlife of that district pretty well, while the "Division" could refer to a military unit, which suits the militaristic themes of that district too.

I just feel like your district names should be more than just "things." They should invoke a "feeling" too, ya know? Something that either tells me what this place is like or what the charter who runs it is like. I'm just not getting that from "Aikosha," "Edge Cut," or "Melayu Baju."

2] Half-siblings are still siblings, ya know XP. But I suppose that might add another layer to their conflict.

Thanks for answering a couple of my concerns~

...... If I went on a hiatus for who knows how long again would y'all hate me....... 👉👈

getting someone else who is a degree removed from your work experience and has practice writing or reviewing resumes to help write your resume is so important i cant stress that enough. not just proofread which most people can probably do. i mean take an hour and sit down and actually write it with you. best $35 i ever spent was asking an old peach mutual to help me rewrite and format/style my resume. the changes were subtle but extremely impactful. i have carried those lessons with me for almost ten years now and share them whenever i can