#because his side of things is explored so little (and even less in the novel than in the show) except in bursts of emotion
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The Crawl
Part 2 of 5
Part 1 here AO3
WC: 2773
-Edd!e-
Eddie retreated into the trees once Will was finally out of sight and on his way to safety on the other side of the fence.
He hoped he’d done the right thing. The kid had survived his original stay in the Upside Down without Eddie’s help, obviously, but when he had found Castle Byers in the middle of the woods and discovered the boy hiding within it, he couldn't just walk away.
The idea had come to him shortly after he ‘woke up’.
Whenever Eddie thought about his unholy resurrection it was always in terms of sleeping and waking. Of course, he knew the truth.
He remembered everything.
Seeing Dustin to safety. Cutting the Rope. Leading the bats away, and ultimately fighting them to the death. He remembered how one of the little fuckers had wrapped it’s tail around his throat, and exactly what their small sharp teeth had felt like as they tore into his skin.
He remembered dying.
But if he allowed himself to think about it too hard, he’d have to face other harsh truths that he was even less prepared to deal with.
Like the fact that he was probably not human anymore, and though he was able to resist it, he could feel Vecna’s call. That he would most likely never get out of this place, never see Uncle Wayne again, or any of his friends, or the kids, or Steve, who he’d grown inexplicably close to and fond of over the short time they’d spent together during the most hellish week of his life.
So instead of worrying about the what, how, and why of his current existence, he focused on another mystery that had been plaguing him since the first time he’d set foot in the Upside Down. Why was this place stuck in 1983 on the day Will went missing? And could that mean there were other time related anomalies?
Since he had nothing better to do than wander around and try to avoid Vecna, as well as the other creatures of the Upside Down, he decided to explore the possibility and found he was on to something.
His first theory once he found Baby Byers, was that time in the Upside Down was absolutely fucked.
He didn’t know if it was moving backwards, or forwards, or everywhere at once, and frankly the implications of the whole thing made his head spin.
His second theory, and the only way he could even remotely make some sense of things, was that maybe each gate into and out of this place was somehow tied to the time in which it was used.
It was why when he’d decided to step in and get the young boy out of there he hadn’t taken him back to the trailer park, even though that gate was closer. He was too afraid of what might happen if he was right and he wound up sending a 12 year old Will Byers through his ceiling and right into the future.
Eddie didn’t know everything that had happened to the party relating to the Upside Down, in fact he was sure he only knew a very small fraction of the story, but he did remember being told that Will’s mom and Hopper had somehow retrieved him through the lab way back when, so it seemed like a safe bet to take the boy there.
He only interfered in the first place because the poor kid had looked minutes from death. He hadn't planned on doing anything more than getting Will out. He was well aware that messing with past events could have disastrous consequences, he’d read enough sci-fi novels to know that much, but he figured, what harm could it do to help the young boy escape this nightmare realm a little bit sooner?
As long as he didn’t tell the kid anything, it would be okay. His biggest fear was that somehow he would make things worse. In his own time, he’d managed to lead the bats away and save Dustin. If he did something wrong here and anything happened to the little shit as a result, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself.
If living was the word for it.
But, then they’d been talking, and his big mouth had run away with him, as it usually did. He mentioned Mike and called Will by his D&D moniker, all of which only stoked the kid’s curiosity more.
And Eddie started thinking, could it actually get any worse?
They hadn’t defeated Vecna for one thing, he knew that for a fact. The guy was still alive and traipsing around down here like he owned the fucking place. Yes, Eddie had saved Dustin but what had become of everyone else? Steve, Robin, and Nancy? Red and the others? The town as a whole?
And, sure, maybe he didn’t know everything, but he knew a little. Would it be enough to change the outcome for the better?
Only one way to find out.
So, he’d gone and told Will anything he could recall that might help. It was erratic at best, his usual storytelling abilities all but non-existent in the wake of everything he’d been through. He forgot a lot and didn’t provide enough context for any of it, but he did what he could and hoped it would be good enough.
Given that time was fucked, Eddie wasted none of it in making his way over to Lover’s Lake, content to watch and wait for as long as he had to.
The bitch of it was, if he had changed things enough Steve might never get pulled down here through the underwater gate. In some ways it was the ideal outcome, even if it meant that Eddie would never truly know what was happening in the Right-Side-Up until Vecna either did or didn’t die.
But if Steve did get pulled through the lake’s depths and into the Upside Down as he had before, whether because Eddie hadn’t done enough or because fate was just that cruel a mistress, he would be right there to help him.
Eddie sat, and watched, and waited for an indeterminate amount of time.
He had no concept of it passing anymore, no way to gauge it. He didn’t get cold, or hungry, or thirsty. He didn’t even feel the need to fidget anymore.
He just existed.
The only thing that plagued him outside of his own thoughts was a little nudge at the back of his mind. He knew it was Vecna. Mostly it was a dormant awareness of the asshole but every now and then Henry would flex his power, urging Eddie to find him and join him. It was easy enough to ignore, at least for now.
He knew it was coming a few moments before Steve came bursting up through the hole in the dry lake bed. The vines around the small opening that had previously been lying completely still, had suddenly come to life, and he raced to the gate from his nearby hiding spot.
Eddie, oar already in hand, beat at the vine that had a hold on Steve's ankle until it let him go. The other boy stared up at him, eyes wide and chest heaving as he worked to catch his breath.
“Holy shit.” Steve gasped out between breaths. “It is you. You’re… really here.”
“Sure am, big boy.” Eddie smiled. That answered the question of whether Will had told the others about him or not. It was so good to see a familiar face, and Steve’s in particular if he was honest. A bit weird, knowing this wasn’t exactly the same boy he had once known, but good.
He offered Steve a hand up and he took it, allowing Eddie to haul him to his feet. Steve still looked a little dazed, but that was understandable. He also couldn’t seem to stop staring.
“Come on.” Eddie said, tugging on Steve’s hand and urging him to move. “We’ve only got a minute or two before Nancy, Robin, and the other me are going to come popping out of that hole, assuming they were with you on the boat?”
He glanced back to see Steve nodding in confirmation.
“I don’t know what happens if he and I get too close to each other,” Eddie continued. “And I don't particularly want to find out.”
Once they made it to the tree line Eddie stopped, turning to fully face Steve. He had this horrible urge to embrace the other boy. It’d been so long since he’d had contact with another person, let alone hugged them, but there was no time to indulge in that kind of comfort and no reason to think that Steve would welcome more of his touch.
He had so many questions, too many for one short stolen moment. The bats would attack soon and the others would be coming through any minute and…
“Eds, I'm so sorry.” Steve whispered, voice trembling as he squeezed Eddie’s hand. Neither of them had let go yet.
Eds? That was new…
“For what?”
Steve gestured at him from head to toe, struggling for words.
In fairness Eddie hadn’t looked in a mirror in a while, so he only had a vague idea of how bad he must look, but judging by Steve's pained expression, it… wasn’t good.
“I guess I don't really know, but obviously something goes wrong, er, went wrong, and I didn’t…”
Eddie cut him off. “No, this wasn’t…” He trailed off looking down at his own dirty, torn, and bloody shirt. “You weren’t there when this happened. It wasn't your fault.”
“Maybe, maybe not, but it’s my responsibility to keep everyone safe. Everyone. And you… god. I can’t believe I wasn’t there.” Steve looked like he was genuinely fighting off tears.
Eddie was a little taken aback. He hadn’t thought Steve cared about him that much, at least not at this point in their getting-to-know-you journey. It was true that they had grown close towards the end, shared trauma and a heart to heart in the middle of the dark and twisted woods will do that to you, but none of that had happened yet for the Steve in front of him. It made him wonder just how well this Steve and his Eddie knew each other.
“Stevie, don’t do that to yourself.” The nickname rolled off of his tongue like it was second nature though he was pretty sure it was the first time he’d ever said it.
Steve had finally looked away, eyes on the horizon where a small grouping of demobats was quickly making its way towards them, but at those words his gaze snapped back to Eddie’s again. He stepped closer, reaching out like he meant to touch him, but stopped just short of it.
Eddie’s stomach flipped and suddenly he wished he’d thought to clean himself up somehow before coming here. He probably still had dried blood on his face, of course Steve wouldn’t want to touch him.
He shook his head at himself.
There wasn’t time for this. None of it mattered, he wasn’t important. What mattered was the future, and making sure that Steve and everyone else had one.
“Listen, I don’t know what might have changed between what I remember and your timeline, or if I made any difference at all. I don’t know if any of this will make sense to you yet but I can tell you what we did.”
It looked like Steve wanted to say something else, but he nodded and let Eddie move the conversation along. The bats were getting closer and it seemed even he could sense they were almost out of time.
“Vecna got Nancy. She snapped out of it but he gave her these terrifying visions and basically told her his whole evil villain backstory about killing his parents, winding up at the lab, becoming a number, and his vendetta against Eleven for sending him here. We already knew that gates are formed anywhere he makes a kill right? But after that we figured out that he needed four kills to complete the set, kicking off his end of the world plot, or whatever. So we came down here, tried to beat him on his own turf. You, Nancy, and Robin went after him, while me and Dustin caused a distraction to keep those bats away. On the other side, Max, Lucas, and Erica were baiting him, like a different kind of distraction. Keeping his mind busy while you three went after his body.”
Steve was staring at him again, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. They were standing in the middle of a hellscape on the precipice of the end of the world, and Steve Harrington was smiling at him with a soft look in his eyes that Eddie didn’t think had ever been aimed at him before.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Eddie asked shyly.
“Sorry, you’re just so… you.”
Eddie was pretty sure if he could still blush he would be doing so, furiously.
Steve cleared his throat, looking a little pink in the cheeks himself. “It sounds like a decent strategy, more of a plan that we usually have anyway.”
“Maybe, but we still failed. I don’t even know what happened to the rest of you.”
“What about you?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.” Steve insisted, pleading with his eyes. “Eddie, if there's any chance it could help me save you, I need to know. Please, just tell me what happened.”
Eddie stared at the ground as he spoke. “Me and Dustin were on the roof of my trailer, here in the Upside Down. I played my guitar to lure those flying fuckers away from Vecna’s house, where you were headed. It worked phenomenally well, they came in droves. We reinforced the trailer as best we could, but they were too strong, and there were too many of them. They started to come through the air vents, man. We had this rope rigged up through the gate in the ceiling. I sent Dustin up and out first, but I realized the bats might follow us through, or worse turn around and attack you guys. I cut the rope so Dustin couldn’t follow me, and then I led the bats away…” He trailed off, unwilling to finish the story. It didn’t need to be said anyway. His fate was obvious.
This time when Steve reached out, he didn’t stop himself. He cupped the side of Eddie’s face, running his thumb back and forth over his cheek. Before Eddie could stop it he found himself nuzzling into the touch.
Steve opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated when they saw Robin, Nancy, and the other Eddie climbing up out of the gate off in the distance. The trio was looking around panicked, shouting Steve’s name, and the bats were already starting to swarm. Nancy picked up the oar that Eddie left behind, and was already brandishing it against the onslaught.
Time’s up, Eddie thought as he pulled away from Steve and ducked around a tree to keep hidden.
Steve's eyes darted back and forth between the Eddie in front of him and his friends behind him. “What about everyone else?” He asked quickly. “You didn’t mention El or Hopper, Joyce, Jonathan, Will, Mike.” Steve paled. “Did something happen to them all?”
“I don’t know, Hopper was dead and the rest were in California. You guys kept trying to call but-”
“California?” Steve said, confused.
Finally it clicked. “Oh shit, Hopper’s alive and the Byers didn’t move?! I guess I did some good after all.” Eddie said, feeling a sudden surge of hope. They had so much more help this time if everyone was in the same place. They had El!
He wished he knew how that had all come to pass. He would have loved to sit with Steve for hours and find out all the little differences between his past and Steve’s present, but he could settle for not knowing as long as the people he cared about made it out of this mess alive.
“Take them to my place, the trailer. You’ll be able to get out there.”
“I don’t want to leave you here alone.” Steve said, even as his eyes strayed back to the others.
“You have to. They need you. Your Eddie needs you.”
Steve let out a pained sound, but finally turned away and ran back to where he belonged, leaving Eddie behind as he rushed off to help the others finish off the demobats.
Part 3
Thanks forever to @penny00dreadful for being the best friend, cheerleader, and beta in the whole fucking world 💜 truly could not do it without you.
I'm going to tag anyone who interacted with part 1 but feel free to tell me to fuck off (🤣) and let me know if you want to be removed from the list!!
@hissunflowers @sadisticaltarts @gutterflower77 @epiclazershark @yeahhhh-suga @soapyscoobert @thetrueghostqueen @guppynuggets @reh-hateshumans @katdeerly @kolorzapster @useless-nb-bisexual
#steddie fanfic#stranger things#time fuckery#steve harrington#eddie munson#steddie#steve harrington/eddie munson#steve x eddie#fanfic#steddie fic#ao3#the crawl#undead eddie munson
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Flightless Bird, Fat House Cat: The Wrong Way Anniversary
The Wrong Way Universe
Title taken from a song on the playlist, Flightless Bird American Mouth by Iron and Wine.
ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF WHEN I FIRST POSTED THE WRONG WAY!!!!
I could never comprehend the love I got from this series.
Due to everything happening and the targeted harassment, I can't celebrate the way I want to but I couldn't pass up an opprituniety to celebrate this story.
Three POV's, Tommy, Lorenzo and Jack. I know Jack got v little play in TWW as he was just on the side in case I needed him (and I did end up needing him!) But through talking to Clem, Mary, Kate about the universe in this last year, he also has a special place in my heart and in Stolen Lullaby, aka my reworking of this story into a dark novell, he will have more of a roll. IDK if I ever mentioned it, but his faceclaim to me is Garrett Hedlund in his most yeehaw looks.
Because of everything, reblogs are disabled because I don't want attention to this blog and I'm taking a risk posting this but I want to be brave for this story. After this, I'll be gone for a bit so check out romana_rose for updates until this is over. If you enjoyed this, please leave a commnt. I need it right now.
I can never thank you guys enough for all the love you'e given the wrong way and the sequel series, Ghost of You and Going Under. This series was so important to me to explore my own trauma, family, friendship, motherhood, fatherhood, brotherhood, siblings, found family, morality, manhood, victimhood, etc.
You are all so important to me, every like, comment, reblog ive gotten i've looked at and loved.
Here we go.
Very little Joel, but I promise we'll have more for the celebration of the finale in a few months when i hope I can celebrate properly. But, seeing as Joel is the bad guy, I thought more exploration of the side characters would be interesting.
*****************
If Tommy closed his eyes, he could imagine it was her.
Things had gotten better in the raiding house for her, even if Tommy had lost a lot of her attention. Since Zach had tried to take her away, her brother she thought was dead until that night, the girl had been… less than pleased with him. It was understandable, he knew. From her perspective, Tommy had known her only family left that hadn’t abused her was a still alive and he had kept it from her… but from Tommy’s perspective he was protecting her. She had said to him to him, the day thought fought, that the only person that can protect her from Joel, is Joel, and she was right. He couldn’t protect her if she left again. Last time she tried, strong thing she was, she was burned and humiliated.
Thing were better for her now.
Refusing to escape with Zach, which confused Lorenzo to no end, had made Joel trust her more, and now she had more freedom. She’d started cooking, which she seemed to like, and Joel had taken to finding items for her she needed. Lorenzo watched her when Tommy was busy. Jack even made her a birdfeeder, and she liked watching the birds fly in and out. Sometimes he wondered if she longed for the freedom they had.
Flightless bird, wings clipped her whole life, subject to the whims of men.
Sometimes he watched them too, Blue Jay’s and Robins and other kinds he didn’t know shit about. He thought next time he saw Maria, to ask if Jackson had any bird watching books… maybe the girl would like them, help pass her time. He wanted to fly away too, he wanted to leave, leave everything and take her with him… but he wasn’t a bird. He wasn’t a bird whose wings had been clipped, he didn’t have his freedom stolen away by cruel men wanting to possess and break down something less powerful than them.
Tommy had given up his freedom to follow Joel, his brother, the only thing he had now. Tommy knew he was a cat, once a stray and free to follow his fancy but had grown complacent and comfortable and lazy. He was a fat house cat pretending to be a lion.
Instead of saving her, he was getting his dick sucked as he listened to her moan.
It wasn’t all that loud, you really had to listen to it to hear it and God… god did he listen. Tommy was sat on his chair, legs spread, Lorenzo on his knees sucking his cock. Everyone knew Lorenzo was gay, that’s why he was allowed to watch the girl. Jack, they couldn’t figure out yet. What Tommy did know is sometimes Jack and Lorenzo fooled around with each other, and after a few weeks he got in on the action. Tommy wasn’t gay, but a mouth was a mouth. Tommy couldn’t sneak out to Maria as often as he wanted and the girl wasn’t making things easier. Joel had taken to finding dresses for her and god, did she look cute. Happier too. Smiles and laughs and fresh air did him good. From what she had told him, she’d never known peace a day in her life. Between her dads physical and sexual abuse and selling her out to man after man, just letting them beat her for money… this was comparatively peaceful now that Joel had relaxed. Still, she wore that brand on her thigh, and constant reminder that his love was conditional. Tommy wasn’t sure the reminder was working.
He tried to focus on Lorenzo, his mouth taking him deeply inside… but most importantly, her voice. In the next room, Joel was fucking her and whatever he was doing it was making her go crazy. How was Tommy supposed to know what her pussy felt like and not think about it? Not remember what it was like sliding in? Not think of her beautiful smile, still gentle and tender and patient after everything she’d been through? Everytime Joel made her moan those sweet, sweet sounds he pictured it was him, and his hips buckled up a little.
He could pretend it was her pussy if he concentrated.
*
Lorenzo knew something was up.
He loved sucking dick, would rub himself through him pants until he came every time if he knew he wasn’t getting action back, and with Tommy he didn’t. Lorenzo knew Tommy was picturing a girl when he closed his eyes, that death grip on his chair so he didn’t touch Lorenzo’s head. The shaved head would throw him off, ruin the bit for him. Still, Lorenzo opened his eyes. Tommy was focused, teetering on that edge, that wide, barrel chest of his panting and panting… He really was handsome, as was Joel, the prick. If Lorenzo was in that girls position, and he wouldn’t be because he’d fucking leave, he would run away with Tommy before spending another day with Joel. What was Tommy waiting on? He had a pretty girl that clearly loved him, that he clearly loved even if he was a man whore.
Lorenzo didn’t really have room to talk, honestly.
It wasn’t like he was cheating on Zach. They weren’t dating; Lorenzo didn’t date point blank. They were just fucking. And cuddling after. And hanging out whenever they could both sneak away… So they watched shooting stars together and talked about their moms and sisters, so what? It was just sex. He was fooling himself and he knew it, but letting go of the delusion was too painful. They’d never have a normal life so what was the point.
Tommy came in his mouth, saltier than Zach but not as strong as Jack; that strong, musky taste that was so masculine Lorenzo couldn’t help but swallow down. Even subduing himself, Tommy was loud.
When he died down, that’s when Lornzo heard it.
The girl in Joel’s room, the next one over. She was moaning.
Lorenzo didn’t mind Tommy picturing a girl. He didn’t even mind that maybe he was picturing her. But something about the fact that Tommy was getting off to the sound of that girl’s moans, a private moment, a moment which although she was clearly enjoying now, had been brought about by kidnapping and violence, disgusted him. She was just a kid to him, and yeah he could be a dick but he didn’t want to think about the horrible shit she’d been through.
“You’re fucking pathetic, Tommy!” Lorenzo stood, flustered and embarrassed and fucking angry, he headed to the door.
Dumbfounded, Tommy blinked up at him. “What? You offered!”
Lorenzo whipped around, stormed back to Tommy who had stood up and stuffed his dick back into his pants and Lorenzo fisted his hand up in Tommy’s white shirt.
“You’d rather listen to you brother fuck that terrified child than be a fucking man and take her away. You got all these excuses but the fact of the matter is Joel matters more to you than an innocent life. When she’s dead in the ground, remember this is how you spent your time.”
He was about to let go and walk away when Tommy had to open his big mouth. “I don’t see you do’n anything to help her.”
It wasn’t rational. Lorenzo really should care this much. He wasn’t supposed to be making friends or attachments, but here he was, he cared about Zach, he cared about Jack, he cared about the girl.
Lorenzo punched Tommy square in the jaw.
*
Jack found Lorenzo outside smoking a joint. He didn’t smoke weed but he pulled out his cigarette and joined him. “What’d you do to Tommy? The girls there icing his face.” Unfortunately, Jack knew their routine. Sex, bath, sleep. When Joel carried her, wrapped up in a towel and laughing at something Joel said or falling asleep in his arms, Jack always turned away. It didn’t matter much considering he’d seen her completely nude when Joel violently took her after charring her flesh. Sometimes he swore he could still smell it. Still, he wanted to offer a bit of dignity.
Jack didn’t pretend to be a hero like Tommy, but he didn’t put on that fake asshole defense machanism Lorenzo did. He felt for the girl, he just wasn’t going to risk his skin to help her leave. So, unlike Lorenzo he didn’t tell her she was dumb for staying, and he tried to make little things for her here and there. He was working on whittling some dominos. Unlike Tommy, he didn’t promise to whisk her away. Middle ground.
Lorenzo rolled his eyes. “He’s a dick. Joel’s probably gonna clock me.”
But Jack waved him off. “I doubt it. He ain’t running to Joel to fight his battles. If he wanted you hurt, he’d’ve hit you back.”
Lorenzo sighed, but nodded and took a fat hit. “Which being logical, it’s annoying.”
Jack just chuckled. When they were done, they walk back inside the girl was icing Tommy’s face. After she’d exited the bath with Joel, cuddled up in a ratty towel, she saw Tommy exiting his room with a swollen eye and tapped Joel. Clearly he’d dressed her, and let her tend to him while he stood, arms crossed and glaring. He tried to get Tommy to tell him who did it, but Tommy insisted it was just a small beef with one of the men, but they’d handled it.
When Jack and Lorenzo entered the living room, the girl gave Lorenzo a death glare.
That child had been beaten within an inch of her life again and again and again, forced to suffer the worst thing imaginable and yet she still managed to be so uniquely her. Bravery despite it all.
Brave little bird.
*************
thank you, thank you, a million times thank you.
and thank you to everyone whose reached out in this trying time.
Tagging people who were active reachng TWW or who still talk to me about it. If you want to be tagged for the finale celebration, lmk!
If you liked, this series, Rooms on Fire has similar vibes.
@my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction @milla-frenchy @pimosworld @miraclesabound @not-a-unique-snowflake-blog @the-fox-den @lunar-ghoulie @foggymoonbanana @dinsbaby @pedge-page @koshkaj-blog @rubyfruitjungle @gogh-with-the-flow @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin @justagalwhowrites
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How do you fall in love with side characters? I spend so much time with my protagonists that I don’t really care much about my other characters. I want to learn to be more flexible and tell a good story by connecting with all my characters to breathe life into them.
unfortunately side characters are a double-edged sword. on one hand, developing them can improve the story. on the other hand, falling in love with them risks the story you're trying to tell (she says, having had multiple side characters take over entire stories).
what might be helpful is to reframe your perspective of main and side characters. in Aspects of the Novel, Forster defines two types of characters: flat characters and round characters. flat characters aren't poorly written or underdeveloped characters and aren't inherently worse than round characters. in fact, all stories need flat characters. he means "flat" and "round" in a nearly literal sense. round characters are affected or changed by the events of the story; flat characters are not.
Forster goes on a little rant about how Dickens is overrated because he writes only flat yet iconic characters, and Austen is underrated because she writes nuanced, round characters. (note that Aspects was published in 1927.)
flat/round isn't so different than main/side, but it does allow you to forego the implication that side characters are less developed. flat characters are everywhere and sometimes they're really well written. nearly every superhero is a flat character, and due to their medium, they're required to be. Captain America is a round character in The First Avenger when he physically transforms, but becomes a flat character in subsequent films, where his role is to lead the Avengers. he may experience conflict and hardship, but fundamentally he doesn't change. conversely, Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games is one of the roundest characters i can think of. the events of the story fundamentally change her and nearly destroy her. many people regard Anakin Skywalker as a poorly written character (i disagree but can acknowledge it's a popular opinion) but he's also very round in that the prequel trilogy allows us to witness his transformation into Darth Vader.
so to fall in love with side characters, i think you have to acknowledge that in the story you're trying to tell, they may be flat characters, but as the protagonist of their own story, they're round. they've experienced things in their lives that have changed them. those things may not be part of the story you're trying to tell, but it may be important for you to know so that even if they're flat they can still be interesting and nuanced. ask yourself, who did they used to be and who are they now? what changed them? what tragedies have they faced? what successes have they achieved?
once you answer these questions for yourself, i think interesting things will begin happening in terms of the way your side characters interact with the narrative. even though my side characters always threaten to take over the story, knowing their motivations and backgrounds usually help complicate the main conflict in ways that are fun to explore.
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What is Shui's opinion on a certain "Albino Witch" wandering in the mortal realm? xD (Aka: Yeva shdhsjjd-)
Also, do they have any hobbies? :0
Ayayayaya you are tickling my writers brain I see-
Let’s say in this scenario Shui and Yeva probably met via Redson dragging her along to his lessons with Arthur because uh yeah he is kinda his teacher-
And in that case congrats she is now part of the family and no rejecting this is not an option.
Of course a friend of redson is a friend of hers! But for Yeva specifically I can see Shui would probably mother hen after her a lot, I feel like her more quiet nature and lack of emotion remind her a lot of one of her own daughters.
And a bonus for if she would have known her in her younger years, while Shui was a lot less terrifying than she was in her celestial warrior years she was still not the most approachable person however when Yeva decided to become her problem she would probably become the unpaid babysitter because „I guess I won’t let you die from stupidity.“ meant affectionately of course XD
She definitely would have made Yeva babysit her little brats once they came into the world as revenge :>
Well as for hobbies they all have something going on :0
But this is already way to long so have a quick list-
Shui: One of her favorite pastimes is researching marine biology and the underwater world in general, as an aquatic type demon it is pretty easy for her to just dive into a body of water and explore to her hearts content after all. On these trips she also looks for shiny knickknacks for her ever growing collection but besides that she also works out.
Arthur: Honestly if you were to just ask him then he would probably just answer "work." And to be fair almost blowing the roof of your house is a fun pass time but what he also likes doing is cooking which he is quite good at. Does adopting everything that breaths in your general direction also count as a hobby?-
Adrien: He's pretty into books but Adrien doesn't just like reading he also likes to write them himself. (definitely wrote a lot of fanfic in his teen years)
Klara: Oh she definitely is the type of kid that would do millions of activities and hobbies all the time and would leave nothing untouched, does everything from sports to researching physics for fun-
Katie: She likes to draw and dabbles in fashion design, really wants to learn how to actually make clothes, also a pretty big theater kid.
—
Jú: Dancing and singing were her main ones but she definitely doesn't do those a lot anymore, another one where the answer would just be "work." If asked. Volunteers at animal shelter's in her free time.
Băoshí: Also pretty big into working out but also likes to craft, everything from cute little bird houses to full on furniture if bro can make it himself then he won't buy it. He to has a collection of shiny things stashed somewhere and it's only growing. He does some gardening on the side.
Yúnlü: Her passion lies in music, she is on a mission to try and learn as many instruments as possible. Besides that I picture her to be really into video games, definitely gets way too competitive when playing Mario party.
—
Ming: I guess the closest thing he had to a hobby after his death was etching a line into his gravestone to keep track of the days, though eventually he couldn't even do that.
Baí: Sleeping, he doesn't need it anymore but it's a nice break from reality. Other than that he isn't exactly allowed to do anything that isn't serving or training.
—
Mengtao: Gardening is her main one, even if it is technically her duty she still enjoys it. Other than that she also likes to annoy Nezha and Lao tzu-
Amia: She likes to knit! Her webs make for surprisingly comfy sweaters. Amia is also into crappy romance novels as well as making candy and baked goods.
Wanna know who you can ask a question? Click here!
Of course Yeva belongs to @chuitu
#lmk oc#lmk#lego monkie kid#doppel answers#lego monkey kid oc#klara allard#kathrin allard#shui liu#arthur allard#adrien allard#amia widow#jin băoshí#jin yünlú#jin jú#gāuguí ming#gāuguí baí#mengtao#oc;yeva moon#this turned into a oc interaction post#im not mad about it#yeva is fun to draw :D
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The Ghost King (of Miscommunication) Ch.18
Part 1-12,Part 13,Part 14,Part 15, Part 16, Part 17
Part 18!
***
Jason stops not three steps into the library, pausing to take it all in.
The room is clearly built for a flight-capable species. The room has an impressive width and length, but the height is where most of the size comes from, ceiling stretching up at least a dozen stories with no ladders in sight to help guests access the higher books lining the walls.
There are normally-sized shelves scattered about the room between paper lanterns, high-tech reading lights, armchairs, and beanbags - all of which range anywhere from normal to large-enough-to-fit-five yetis in size.
Everything but the walls of the room hung in the air at varying heights, a constellation of unmoving furniture seemingly held in place by nothing more than inertia.
Thinking back, he can’t recall seeing anything inanimate floating before - everything at the Far Frozen and the castle had seemed to obey gravity thus far.
Well, everything but the islands themselves. But there was no way to know if there was a landmass below the floating isles or if they were more like planets in space. He was betting on the latter.
A gentle test-nudge against the nearest chair has it bobbing gently back into place like a jostled punching bag. There is no string or stand to merit the stability.
Jason mentally chalks it up to fairy physics; exploring is more important now.
He flies around to try and get a sense for the organization system.
He feels more grounded, now - ironically - after seeing his family, acquiring some bladed weapons, and now being given a gun and meeting someone who could - quite possibly - be an ally. The new (old) body still throws him off, but flight is becoming more familiar.
He feels less scattered.
And he finally has access to the resource he’d been lacking thus far: information.
He’d deemed it best to stick to observation, those first few days. He’d been ordered around with little choice in where he went - it was obvious that his obedience was assumed, so he played into what was expected - only half from how disoriented he was.
After that, things had been changing too fast. There was no time to think, really, and by the time he’d been ready to ask questions he’d thought he was being taken back to Gotham.
Now it was clear that he was expected to remain in the castle indefinitely.
It was also clear that, aside from the presence of Wulf, his ‘security’ was surprisingly lax.
Maybe it was because the guy could no-sell Superman by turning him into a meat suit and completely ignore Martian Manhunter’s psychic attacks - not that the latter was too surprising, given MM also stated he couldn’t sense Jason.
(Jason had heartily blamed it on magic when Flash brought the possibility up. Jason was fine. Magic was the issue, and when Shazam or Zatanna or even Constantine got there they would have confirmed it, Jason is sure.)
But he’d been allowed to go to Gotham. He’d been allowed to go wherever he wanted in the castle - not that he’d gone many places thus far.
And given that Wulf was currently reading - Jason squinted - some kind of graphic novel? He knew the guy could be distracted.
Wulf had never left his side during the visit to Gotham and the Watchtower. Meaning it is still entirely possible that if he can both ditch Wulf and find a portal home, he might be able to hide out long enough to work out what had been happening and how to avoid being re-kidnapped.
Being placed in a library in a dimension(?) whose inhabitants seem to make heavy use of portals, Jason figures there should be at least a book or two on the topic.
He highly doubts he can make portals, but that isn’t what he wants. He wants to know how to find them.
Fairy circles are naturally occuring in the mythos, meaning that there should be portals that just pop up of their own volition. If he can figure out how to find them, then maybe he can find his way home.
-----------------------
The library doesn’t have a classification system.
The library. Does not have. A classification system.
An hour in Jason is about to lose it; the placement of the books don’t make any sense. He found a treatise on crop rotation next to a manual on some kind of hologram wrist watch that’s barely legible.
He could almost believe one of them is misplaced if not for the fact that the entire shelf is like that.
There’s a guidebook to trapping, an introduction to quantum color theory - whatever that means - and some kind of vegetarian cookbook. Everything on that shelf is equally disjointed. They’re all labeled ‘O.’
There are books by the same author on completely different shelves with other seemingly meaningless labels. He finds part 2 and 3 of a series on a different shelf - in an entirely different section - than part 1, but the letters on their spines indicate that’s where they’re meant to be.
Nothing makes any sense.
There is no librarian here, just him and Wulf.
He doesn’t want to risk tipping him off by outright asking where the portal books are, but asking how the place is organized shouldn’t be too much of a risk.
He hates the answer.
They’re organized by emotion.
O is for obsession (Jason was under the impression that was more of an adjective than an emotion), S is for Sadness but M is for Melancholy - Wulf goes on a detailed monologue about the differences between the two when Jason asks “isn’t that the same as sadness?” - and so on and so forth.
It’s a nightmare. Whose emotions? Caused by what part of a book? Just the ending? Books can be roller coasters. Emotions are complex. Possibly the most beautiful library he’s ever seen and the way it's organized makes no. sense.
“It’s all about the vibes,” the answer to his unasked questions comes from behind him. He whips around Wrist-Ray first, finding himself ray-to-face with Danny.
He doesn’t blink, smiling bright-as-you-please despite the weapon in his face. Then the smile turns a bit remorseful.
“I’m sorry for ditching you so quickly after we got back. I’m…not great at delegating things. But Jazz is right; she can handle a bit of party-planning and idiot-stalling, and if the other thing has waited this long it can wait a bit longer! So!” Danny grinned warm and open as he held out a hand, “How about a proper tour of the place?”
The library might have what Jason needs, but finding it would be an exercise in patience (or lack thereof) assuming it was even present. But knowing the layout of the place would definitely come in handy - for future escape attempts and for avoiding any unfortunate surprises.
He also might just want to get out of the library before he gives in to the urge to put the whole thing in a more sensible order.
He lowers the wrist ray and takes Danny’s hand.
***
@kyrianclawraith, @do3y, @someonebored0100 @omegasmileyface
#This AU has the protection/space dual obsession#Danny's not great at asking for help because of the protection obsession#He gets too in his head:#“what if I ask for help and something goes wrong?”#“what if they get hurt because I'm not there?” “why risk xyz when I can do it myself?”#He catastrophizes even just for paperwork sometimes#and boy is there a lot of paperwork since Pariah was out for so long#Luckily Sam/Tucker/Jazz/Spike/Dani and occasionally other allies are there to help knock him out of his spirals/logic him up#<3 support networks#dpxdc#danny phantom#jason todd#wulf
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Hello and welcome to Day 4 of "Let's Explore My Plot Bunnies"
Since yesterday's post was Long™️ I decided that the fic idea I wanna put forward today should be more on the short side (like a one-shot or less than 10 chapters short fic) just so I can claim that my brain isn't torturing me with fics ideas of the length and detail like yesterday's (which is a total lie on my part but claiming otherwise makes me feel better)
So, I present to you:
Unwilling cat!Shen Qingqiu and Very exited owner!Shen Yuan (feat. Panicking! Shang Qinghua because the Plot has gone off the rails and the System is having an... aneurysm?)
Edit: As of February 6th, this fic has a title:
"Dogs are dogs, but cats are people"
When Shen Yuan woke up (after he died) he did not expect to see himself in the body of a 12 years old child, all alone in the middle of nowhere. After a very much needed freak out given his circumstances, Shen Yuan did what he always did best: chose one direction and started walking in that direction in search of civilization. When he came across a village, it was not the way the people were dressed nor the way they spoke that surprised him; instead it was the name of the village. A name that he had only read once, in a specific stallion novel that he hated with a passion.
"Well," Shen Yuan thinks sarcastically, "this is fantastic, isn't it?" (At least he can be happy he was reborn as a non-essential character and not someone like the Scum Villain, right?)
With the amount of knowledge accumulated from the stallion novel, Shen Yuan managed to form a golden core in a couple of years and currently roams the lands as a rogue cultivator. He feels way healthier than in his previous life and prefers to stay out of the drama that is the main story line of "Proud Immortal Demon Way."" Why, you ask? Because he already died because he choked. All the deaths in PIDW are 100% worse and more painful. So, no, thank you. He is gonna avoid the Cang Qiong Sect (and all other sects) like the plague.
Two years after he transmigrated in this world, Shen Yuan finds a little white kitty with green eyes that hisses at him like the small little thing is ready to spew poison.
Shen Yuan thinks the little thing - it's a boy - is very much adorable.
Taking the little kitty in his hands, not minding how his claws are piercing through the skin of his palms, Shen Yuan looks at him with a big grin on his face. "Spicy little thing, aren't you?"
The kitten looks at him and lets out a very grumpy "Mrow" before bitting the finger that was massaging under the kitten's chin.
Seems Shen Yuan found himself a new travel companion.
----------------
Shen Qingqiu is having a bad day. Scratch that - his day is so awful, it is worthy of being put in his "Top Five Most Awful Days".
It started with that idiot Yue Qingyuan calling him "Xiao Jiu" - a name which he hates with his entire being - and telling him he is needed for a mission. Which, fine. It's not that bad.
But then the partner for this mission turned out to be none other than that Bai Zhan Brute of a Man, Liu Qingge. A man with whom he can never get along. But they have been through other missions together even if they have butted heads mid-way through the mission. So, again, nothing really new here.
What was new about his situation is that he is currently stuck as a four legged small animal. Like actually a small animal. And he has no sword anymore... or clothes. And he can't even feel his cultivation.
"Fantastic" he thinks sarcastically as he moves slowly through the crowd of people in search for that Bai Zhan Brute. (Liu Qingge has to be able to recognize him, right? Right?)
He never expected to be picked up by a child no older than that little beast of a desciple he has. He also never expected that, despite all the hissing, bitting, clawing and wiggling he used in order to escape from the kid's hold, the idiotic child (cause there is no way this kid has all mental faculties intact) would just laugh and seem... pleased?.
"This child, Shen Yuan, is weird." Shen Qingqiu concludes in his mind as he looks at the little idiot grinning despite Shen Qingqiu's fangs holding his finger hostage. "And this day is still awful."
(At least he won't starve tonight.)
------------------
Liu Qingge is not panicking. He really is not.
If that little spoiled young master of a scolar decided to up and leave mid-way through their mission, it's not his problem.
(Shen Qingqiu wouldn't leave during a mission however. That man is way too prideful for that. And he wouldn't leave his sword and clothes behind in the forest either.)
Liu Qingge checks the Warm Red Pavillion anyway; just to be sure that Shen Qingqiu isn't up to his nefarious deeds like before when he caught him sneaking out to drown himself in carnal pleasures.
(Shen Qingqiu is not there. Liu Qingge check the perimeter three times. Still no sign of that spoiled young master. He is getting worried.)
When Liu Qingge comes back to the inn they are staying at, Shen Qingqiu isn't there either. Nor is he there the next day or the day after that.
Liu Qingge is not panicking. (He is panicking)
He is not going to keep looking for that asshole. (He still checks the entire village for his fellow Peak Lord. There is no trace of him anywhere.)
A heavy sigh escapes from him as the Bai Zhan Peak Lord, the so called God of War, hides his face with the palms of his hands.
"Yue-zhangmen is going to kill me."
---------------
In the An Ding Peak Lord office, the current Peak Lord Shang Qinghua looks at the scattered papers on his desk with growing horror.
Not because there are a lot of papers for him to write or check.
Nor is it because some of them have splashes of ink on them which means he has to re-write them from scratch again.
The reason behind the horror in his eyes lies in the floating screen that glows red intermittently, as if it is a piece of wood in a see of fire. The words on the floating screen read as follows:
"SYSTEM ERROR! SYSTEM ERROR!
THE PLOT OF THE NOVEL "PROUD IMMORTAL DEMON WAY" HAS DIVERTED FROM ITS INTENTED COURSE.
OOC BEHAVIOUR DETECTED FROM SEVERAL CHARACTERS!"
Shang Qinghua's eyes are still wide with horror as he faintly wispers, more to himself than the System.
"What the fuck is going on here?"
--------
Luo Binghe doesn't know what to do. Liu-Shifu returned a month ago from a mission with his Shizun (his very mean Shizun; the Shizun that he still wants to be acknowledged by, be praised by) without well,... his Shizun.
Everything went downhill from there.
He, together with Ming Fan and Ning Yingying, are still taking part in the search parties for his Shizun. But the search still yields no result.
No one seems to have seen his Shizun at all. It's like the man was swallowed by the earth itself.
While searching around, Luo Binghe comes across a rogue cultivator by the name of Shen Yuan. He seems to be his age and is a very nice person. (Luo Binghe really likes this rogue cultivator. He is very kind to him and Luo Binghe can count the people that were nice to him in his life on one hand)
The only problem is that Shen Yuan's little white cat doesn't seem to like him - or anyone, besides maybe Shen Yuan - all that much.
Still maybe asking Shen Yuan to help them find Shizun is a good idea. (Plus he gets to spend more time with Shen Yuan too. That's a bonus.)
So what do you guys think?
Also here:
Cat!Shen Jiu towards everybody:
Cat!Shen Jiu waiting for his supposed fellow "Peak Lords" and "desciples" to realize that he is the cat (and they still don't):
Shen Jiu, throughout this whole fic: I am surrounded by idiots....
This idea was both fun to come up with and hilarious to boot too. I might actually take a shot at writing this, given that my brain doesn't make it an over 10 chapter long fic. I do have a question though: if you were to give this fic a title, what title it would be? (I need all the help to chose titles cause I am BAD at them)
Regardless, I hope you had fun reading this and that the rest of your day will nice as well (and good night to those that read this post just before bed).
I will see you guys tomorrow,
- TooManyPlotBunnies-Send Help
P.S.: This was low-key, the inspiration behind the idea of this fic
#shen qingqiu#poor shen jiu#cat shen jiu#shen yuan#svsss#fic ideas#i am sorry Shang Qinghua#i love you I promise#I just love you freaking out over the plot derailing even more#liu qingge is panicking right about now#shen jiu is losing braincells#and those braincells can never be recovered#spicy kitty shen jiu#shen yuan loves him#(even if he doesn't know it's shen jiu)#i swear this was supposed to be an one-shot but my brain said “Make it a multi chapter”#Me: How many chapters? Brain: Numbers are irrelevant. Me: Fuck you.#bingyuan#i guess
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I've grown way too unhinged with these "asks", but I've been meaning to send you this one for a while, so please indulge me!
From what I've noticed, a lot of the Royai fan artists I follow tend to prefer drawing Riza, when they're not portraying her with Roy. But I've noticed that a number of your pieces focused on Roy only, which I find very interesting! Would you say that his character inspires you more than Riza, artistically/creatively speaking? If so, in what ways?
Please tell us more! And thank you, as always <3
Lol not unhinged at all I love to receive asks, I just always forget to reply 🥲🥲 sorry 🥲 so, first, thank you very much for asking ! 🥰❤️
And lol yeah, sometimes I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb among the Royai people. But eh, healthy ecosystems need biodiversity 🤣
I hope my answer isn't too long.
I do have a preference for Roy in drawing, for a number of reasons.
I precise in drawing, because I do love writing Riza, not more than I do writing Roy, but they're relatively even for me - even if, yes, I tend to favour Roy because he's easier for me, there, too.
I like to draw him, because I like his face, expressions and postures, and I like to explore them. He's a fun little guy to draw, when I think Riza is cool AF (and I have a lot to say about her character, too!) but she's not as fun to draw for me (once again I love her and she's in fact the female character I have drawn the most I think, because I have a hard time drawing women, but still, if I'm looking for a quick doodle, I'll go towards Roy).
But yes, they're more or less indissociable for me, and for proof my first fan art for FMA was indeed Royai (here!).
Anyway. While Royai is my favourite ship and I love Riza to bits, my favourite character in FMA is Roy. Roy first. (And my husband has understood that well, he's calling me when we do a rewatch and Roy appears on screen and I'm not watching. Like HURRY ROY IS THERE).
Now, if anyone who knows me from earlier than my FMA obsession reads this, and I describe the utter mess that is Roy, they'll understand that it couldn't have gone any other way. Here's a man in a position of power, who hides everything behind a façade, who's a nerd and highly intelligent (I admit I'm often irked by some posts in the royai fandom. This guy is smart. He's goofy, he's a dork, but he's smart. Book smart, he's a fine tactician, and he can command. Erasing that is erasing part of his identity, and I'm sure part of why Riza loves him, too), has a weird sense of humour even though he can also be intense af, is crushed by unbelievable guilt from his past actions (I admit Roy and Roza both beat all of my previous fixations in that, good job being war criminals, guys 🙃) and intends to repair what he's done as much as he can, one way or another, whose sole goal is to make things better for others/his place/his country, whatever he has to give up for it to work, who inspires others doing that, and who gets badly injured/disabled during the story and keeps going and fighting teeth and nails through it and beyond?
WELL. There is no question I will fall for this dude instantly. This is like. Checking all the boxes for me to be instantly in love with this guy. Like. I think he's actually the only one who checks ALL of my boxes.
I do think however that Roy isn't complete without Riza, and that it's the same on her side (like. I've only tagged my current fic with "codependency" but that's how I write them whatever I write). I'm just fixating on him first, but I still find Riza an awesome character, there's no debate there 😊
Here you go! I've written a novel again lol but I hope I've replied to all your questions. I can talk more about how I see Roy and Riza, I always have more to tell, but really that would just make this even more unpalatable 😅 thank you again for asking 😊
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Fanon vs. Canon #1: All Might is insecure about his appearance
Been doing some musing about fanon and canon in the MHA universe, and was convinced to put it online, so here you are.
A lot of people make fanworks because the source material feels incomplete in some way. They explore things that they feel could’ve been fleshed out more, or interesting alternate character interpretations, or AU scenarios. Sometimes, I spend so much time playing around in the fandom side that I forget what was actually in the show... I go back to rewatch and am shocked to realize that the character I got to know so well in fanfic is actually very different in the source material.
So, since I find it fun to think about this stuff, I figured I’d go through a few really popular fan assumptions about my current obsession, All Might, that actually seem to clash pretty hard with the source material. The first one I want to tackle: the well-worn idea that All Might is insecure about his appearance... that he never wants anyone to see his scar, that he thinks he's ugly and is constantly self-conscious about his failing body.
This interpretation is all over, and it’s not hard to understand why. I would be insecure too.
The whole show kicks off because of his injury and its effects. He spends most of the story trying to hide his frail body. His central conflict revolves around his failing strength and how that changes his abilities and identity. So it makes perfect logical sense that he would be horribly self-conscious about his sick and injured body when he spent so long building an image of perfection. It makes sense that he would hate his true form, that he’d be embarrassed by it, that he’d be ashamed.
And yet... that’s not how he seems to act in canon.
He definitely tries to hide his true form, because it would damage the perfect image he’s built around the Symbol of Peace. He jokingly calls himself “old man,” and he is very frustrated with his body’s physical limits. But there’s very little indication of shame or self-consciousness about his appearance. Overall, he acts incredibly nonchalant about how he looks. A few examples:
In the very first episode, he shows off his scar to a complete stranger. There were other ways to get his point across, but he went right for the grisly one.
He does not seem very concerned about covering up his scar in general. He keeps wearing shirts that ride up and show it... get an undershirt, you’re going to catch a cold!
In the first movie, he spends an entire scene cavorting around in his underwear in front of his boyfriend while getting a medical examination. Even after he’s presumably done with the exam, he still spends most of the scene wandering around half-naked instead of trying to find a towel or something. His body language does not seem hesitant or embarrassed at all.
In one of the light novels, it’s implied that he bathes in the communal bath at the same time as Cementoss. It seems like he’d try to bathe alone if he were self-conscious about people seeing his scar.
In a Team-Up Missions comic, he is asked to play a zombie in a class film, and seems to delight in it to the point that he creeps around the office trying to scare Aizawa with his stage makeup. (He fails.) This doesn’t seem like something he’d do if he were actually sensitive about his appearance... it takes self-confidence to poke fun at yourself this way.
This part during the Stain confrontation in chapter 326 is the only example I could find of him saying something that could be interpreted as ragging on his own appearance, and that’s during a time when he’s consumed with self-loathing in general. In Japanese, it seems much less sarcastic and more matter-of-fact ("You wouldn't recognize me in this form.")
Aside from that, his overall demeanor and body language throughout the series just... does not come off to me as the behavior of someone who’s bashful about his looks. Yes, he spent a lot of time trying to keep his true form a secret. But it was always framed in a practical way. To me, it came across like someone covering up a tattoo when they go to work because they know their boss will throw a fit. They aren’t ashamed of themselves, but they know that being totally open will damage their reputation, thanks to societal pickiness.
Just... his entire attitude seems to be missing the tells one would expect from someone insecure. He’s polite and deferential around other adults, but of course he tries to be humble when he’s the biggest deal in any given room. One would think that if he were self-conscious, he wouldn’t unapologetically run around in eye-searing banana-colored pinstripe, or garish ties (which the anime needs to quit editing out). He’s constantly flinging out dramatic, over-the-top poses that look absurd in his true form, but he doesn’t seem to care. We never saw him being flustered when first integrating with the other U.A. faculty, or trying to explain himself after Kamino. He just owned it.
To me, it makes sense that he wouldn’t be a self-conscious person in general. He’s a wildly famous public media figure who seems perfectly comfortable showing off his butt in promotional material; you don’t get that popular without learning to tune out people’s opinions. And as Stain said in chapter 326, his real influence doesn't come from powers or quirks: it comes from his pure, driven force of will. He never needed any justification beyond “run ahead at full speed.” He never cared what other people thought; he actively left them behind to achieve his goals. Living that kind of life requires astonishing conviction and inner strength, and it’s poignant to see that inner strength demonstrated with a casual indifference about his true form even when most people would be insecure. It goes to show: even without his powers, he is anything but ordinary.
Another thing that could explain his ease with his true form is chapter 92 of the Vigilantes spinoff. Here, it’s shown (along with... several dubious things like “Might Ears”) that he’s always had a “true form,” even before his injury. It would be much less jarring to cope with a less-impressive alternate self if he always had a less-impressive alternate self.
Of course, his confident act could be just that: an act. He could be secretly dying on the inside. People can keep their discomfort and low self-esteem to themselves, especially people like him who are concerned with projecting an inspiring image. But we never see him touch on the topic in his inner monologues, so there’s no way to know for sure.
(One caveat: a lot of fanworks that have him act insecure about his body are romance stories. In that context, self-consciousness makes a lot more sense. Of course a person’s appearance will be more high-stakes in a relationship based on physical attraction. He could very well be more shy than we normally see him if he were in a situation like that. It’s interesting to explore!)
But to me, the single most surprising part about this topic isn’t his own canon behavior... it’s everyone else’s. Nobody seems to bat an eye at his shocking secret. To the point that it feels bizarre. It’s mind-boggling how little anyone else brings up his looks:
Izuku does freak out when first seeing him... but after the initial shock, he never brings up All Might’s appearance again.
When Tsukauchi learns his identity in Vigilantes chapter 6+ Beta, he just starts harping about All Might’s paperwork. Nothing about how the #1 hero has suddenly deflated into a bag of bones.
None of the U.A. teachers comment on his appearance or seem to try and coddle him, besides showing concern for his time limit.
None of the students react to his true form, either, once they learn about it. There’s a bit in the Training of the Dead OVA where he’s assumed to be a zombie, but it’s brief and played for laughs.
In the Kamino fight, AFO goes on and on about how devastating it will be now that everyone has seen his true form... but the only person we see give any negative reaction at all is Endeavor. The public goes on cheering for him, the heroes keep fighting alongside him. Afterwards, the main fallout seems to be, once again, the issue of him being unable to fight. Nobody seems upset that he was deceiving them.
After Kamino, we get an entire episode about a newspaper reporter stalking the class and All Might, and yet all we hear is admiration of him. The reporter decides not to reveal any juicy gossip on him, and the newspaper is instead delighted to run some pictures of all Might eating meat buns in his true form.
There also seems to be very little media sensationalism after Kamino. There is a little section in red at the bottom-left of this newspaper that starts off asking “What is this zombie!?” but the main focus of the page is his hero form, and the end of the blurb concludes that it’s heartbreaking to see the comparison between his hero form and what he looks like now. Not exactly bloodthirsty journalism. (One note: apparently, in Japan, you can be sued for defamation even if the claims are true. So perhaps this is part of why the news acted so tame.)
This is the only thing I could find where a member of the public actually said something mean about his appearance, and it seems like she blurts it out before she realizes who he is:
Also, look how he responds: pretty much exactly the same way he responded on the beach way back at the beginning of the story, when someone recognized him and he didn’t want to draw attention to himself and Izuku spending undue time together. More about wanting to avoid publicity than any kind of self-conscious or offended reaction.
Even the villains seem to go easy on him! (Aside from AFO, but he’s AFO.) The only non-AFO villains I can recall who specifically mock his appearance are two henchmen in chapter 313, who act smug and haughty for exactly 1 panel before cowering in terror once he starts yelling at them. Seriously, am I missing something? If anyone has other examples, please chime in.
My best guess, besides “the author didn’t want to deal with this rabbit hole,” is that it’s a narrative decision done to reinforce just how much influence he has. He’s so universally loved that even his ghastly appearance doesn’t dent people’s admiration. They still respect him no matter what he looks like. (But then they go and put “I am not here” signs on his statue... hmm.)
Anyway, the point of this whole post is: in canon, his physical appearance is overwhelmingly a non-issue. He doesn’t fret about it, and neither does anyone else. And, ironically, this goes a long way towards explaining why he’s characterized as the complete opposite in so many fanworks. Fan creations are often made to fill in things that feel like frustrating missing gaps in the source material, and it is extremely weird how utterly this whole issue is glossed over. It feels like a huge letdown, considering we spent the whole beginning of the series biting our nails wondering what kind of horrible consequences he might face after being found out. It makes sense why fans would want to explore a more plausible-feeling world in which there are consequences for not looking like a physical ideal, where the media is cruel and people are judgmental, where wounds can injure your heart and not just your body.
But it can also be valuable to look at why canon approached things this way. To me, it’s an inspiring thing, to think that he can exist unapologetically, not caring about what he looks like, just caring about what he can do to serve those around him. That, to me, is exactly what All Might is all about.
I'm always forgetting the things that happen in this show, so if you have counterpoints, I'd love to hear them. These are just my thoughts, I'm no authority. We're all here to have fun and be creative!
(Thanks to @journalxxx for lots of help and input on this post)
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in a scenario when christopher and lorelai did end up getting married at 16, and raised rory in the high society of hartford, how do you think her relationship with jess would have been?
Ooh, interesting question! Well, first I need to talk about Rory. If Lorelai and Christopher got married at 16 it would have only been because of the pregnancy. I would be willing to bet money that the marriage would probably have been an unhappy one, and given how things were on the show, I'm guessing that Rory would STILL feel like a "mistake," and would feel like her parents might have been happier if they hadn't gotten pregnant with her. No one would say this to her face, of course, but everyone would know why her parents got married at 16, I'm sure Emily and Richard would continue to bring it up from time to time, and Rory might have even overheard her parents fighting about the reason they got married instead of leading different lives. With all of this, I absolutely still think she'd be a people-pleaser who feels compelled to excell in order to "make up for" her own existence (Paris also grew up in a rich family and felt a tremendous deal of pressure to perform well academically). I still think she'd love to escape into the world of books (and it's something she shares with her grandfather), but travel would have been more accessible to her (less of a far-off dream) and she'd obviously be more polished and sophisticated (though Lorelai IS still her mother).
Where would Jess fit into all this? I'm not sure! The biggest question here is how would they even MEET? And how would Jess's life have changed without her in Stars Hollow? Would he have crashed and burned and run away from Luke much sooner? I don't know. I've read a few fanfics that explored different possibilities... In one, Jess was hired as a pool boy and they became acquainted that way (chatting about books if she happened to be around when he was cleaning the pool. He's not supposed to talk to her, but when is Jess good at following the rules? She's beautiful and is reading something he likes! She's a little shocked by his impertinence at first, but also intrigued, and a forbidden friendship forms pretty quickly). In another fic I read, Jess became friends with Lane and the band in Rory's absence, and in that story, he's working as Hep Alien's manager (while ALSO working at Luke's and working on his novel on the side, because boy's a workaholic) and he and Rory meet when Hep Alien is hired to play at Logan Huntzberger's big 21st birthday party, haha (that one is here, and I really recommend it! It's good!). Most versions I've seen of this scenario involve some sort of secrecy or scandal or "forbidden romance" element at some point, because of the definite cross-class situation, but my favorite game as a child was making my Barbies run away with the stableboy in the middle of the night, so I have to confess I don't hate that! 😂
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Hi, hope you’re having a good day! I was wondering, if you are in the right mood for it, if you might talk about your feelings about Damian. I have such mixed feelings about him (and Stephanie tbh) and you’ve done some really cool meta. Thank you either way. Oh and I loved your little Tim snippets you put out a while ago
Thank you! Kind of you to say.
Damian... oh, Damian. I'm very much in the same boat regarding mixed feelings towards him. There are some aspects of him I really enjoy. He takes the lead in some of my favorite fanfics, especially the ones that really dig into his relationship with Tim and explore how working through that conflict (rather than avoiding it, like most people do, including canon) could really help Damian grow as a person and mature into a true hero.
And I think he's got a lot of potential for fun stories. I enjoy him as a character whose whole concept could not exist anywhere but superhero comics. When played right, his unique balance of absurd hypercompetence, Troubling Unchildlike Behavior, archaic chivalry, snobbish brattiness and rare-but-achingly-sincere vulnerability can be a lot of fun.
It's just a shame that so much of his content is anything but that.
At this point, canon Damian is, more often than not, little more than a misplaced chuunibyou light novel protagonist, complete with no less than three Big Titty Goth Girlfriends and the overall narrative aesthetic of an angsty 13-year-old's DeviantArt gallery. I cannot take any of his stories seriously because he's trying so damn hard to be edgy and important and he just looks like a dumbass kid. Lighten up, small child. Goddamn.
The most interesting thing about him lately is that all his male friends keep coming out of the closet. I doubt this will actually lead to a future where Damian is acknowledged as asexual but hey, an enby can dream.
But my big Damian hot take?
I want to know when he's finally going to grow up and admit that he doesn't want to be Robin.
It makes no goddamn sense that his current book is called Robin. He doesn't look like a Robin, he doesn't act like a Robin, and he's not telling Robin stories. Literally the only things in that stupid book that have anything to do with Robin are Connor Hawke (who was Tim's friend first) and that one stupid issue that was clearly inserted in by editorial mandate where the other Robins showed up purely so Damian could beat three of them up and get his ego stroked by Dick, yet again.
It wouldn't have been a huge major change or anything, but I think the story would've made just a little more sense if, instead of insisting on the Robin branding after his big dramatic storm-off, Damian went off to wear the exact same costume and tell the exact same story, but did it under the title Son of Batman or In the Shadow of the Bat and registered for that tournament under the "fake name" of Ibn al'Xuffasch. That would be a clever continuity shout-out, deepen the themes of him reconnecting with the al'Ghul side of his lineage and struggling against Bruce's expectations, and as a bonus, make way more sense, given that Tim is clearly in Gotham being Robin while Damian is doing nothing of the sort.
But somebody coughStephaniecoughJasonStanscough turned Robin from "a job" into "a participation trophy" to coddle widdle baby egos and so it's now considered some horrible offense to not acknowledge Da Holy Blood Son as the One Twue Robin even when he clearly has no interest in actually being Robin, he just feels entitled to it and to the respect that comes with it. So we're stuck with it, for now, I guess.
So those are my rambling thoughts on Damian. I hope he gets better writers someday. I hear he's good in the animated movies.
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For Rufus: 👠 and 💪?
Essay Asks thank :D
👠 Describe your ship starting with the phrase " In a way, every romance is a Cinderella story."
In a way, every romance is a Cinderella story. You can spend years shuffled to the side, trying to get through every day while being mistreated by the people around you.
And then suddenly your prince appears and whisks you off your feet, in a way that does read exactly like a bad romance novel.
In my case, I made the mistake of criticizing Scarlet for taking credit for my work, which led to becoming Cinderella in the first place. She was the ugly step mom, and the manager and coworkers I worked with were the stepsisters.
I didn't know it, but my prince was already looking after me then. Rufus transferred me to a new department, so I guess that made my new manager my fairy godmother? ...close enough.
And then...Rufus became President, and that was when I got my happy ending with the Prince. Sure, we went through a lot after that too, but that's just part of love and relationships, probably. Okay, maybe not dealing directly with an impending planet-destroying crisis for most people but, well...every relationship is unique, right?
💪 Describe a theme or other element of the original source material that you feel is strengthened or reinforced by the presence of your ship.
UGH ff7 has so many incredible themes. One that I think is particularly apropos is life, and the inevitability of pain and loss, and the way that we can grow and heal and move forward from it, and more generally how it changes us.
Rufus has gone through a lot, but we don't see most of his journey. I hc that the loss of his mother was a wound he never really succeeded in addressing, as well as the absence of a visible love from his father. And how could he, without a safe space, a safe person, to discuss those things with? Aura provides those things for him. He didn't even know he needed them. He brought Aura into his life out of selfish desire to a large degree. And yet that turned out to be what he needed to be able to begin his own healing. Especially after the end of FF7 main game. Even in canon he does come to his own realizations about the part Shinra played - but I think that comes even easier with Aura there.
I think there's also something to be said for Aura. Aura has loss at many stages in their life - Scarlet takes the credit for their scientific achievements, and as a result through various means they end up shunted to the side doing fairly meaningless work. They lose friends during the sector 7 plate collapse, which is a grief they don't really get to fully process because suddenly so much is happening (Rufus becomes President and promotes them and asks them out fduhafkdsa). Seeing their grief makes Rufus consider things in a different light - a little less selfishly, starting to realize the impact Shinra's actions have.
But all of those Aura handles with a certain level of resignation and acceptance. They are immutable and cannot be changed, even as they are painful.
But then we come to Rufus being kidnapped prior to AC. And that is what has a lasting, obvious change on Aura. They become more than willing to get their hands dirty, to shed all of their morals, in order to rescue Rufus. And once they find him, these things do not revert. Rufus and the Turks can see the change in them, and Rufus finds it does not sit well with him - while he appreciates the love inherent in the actions they took and were willing to take, it isn't what he wanted for them. But for Aura, becoming willing to do dirty their hands and centering Rufus in their life, is how they end up coping with this. And that can't be changed, no matter how much Rufus wants them to go back to letting him (and the Turks) do all the dirty work. Grief leaves a mark, even once time has passed.
Ahhhh I wouldn't mind exploring some of the other themes too but this is probably good for now.
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First library sale of the year! Their bag sale, specifically. I initially went on the first night but I was so exhausted from work that I legitimately did not enjoy myself; I found no proper treasure and only bought 2 things, not least because I was surprised to find hardcovers were $2 instead of $1. So instead, I hatched a plan to come back for the $5 bag sale on Sunday, because I had a lot of fun with those in 2021 and didn’t really go to any in 2022 because I was already way over capacity with my regular buying. This time I had a great excuse!
My bag sale objectives are twofold: one, scoop up pretty books to dump in my HPB “sale fodder” bag (left side pic) -- I do not feel bad about this as long as I’ve given people who might genuinely want them at least a full weekend day plus a bag sale hour to pick them up first -- and two, grab whatever even mildly catches my eye once the bulk has been picked over, because hey, $5 whether I take two books or twenty-five, and *slaps reinforced paper sack* this bad boy can fit so many books.
I’m including the stack on the left just for general interest if anyone’s curious what kind of things I found. I don’t know any of these titles and am not interested in reading them. EXCEPT “Sold,” which I don't need a physical copy of but do love, and am probably going to buy as an e-book at some point because the writing is so profoundly moving. Might even just put that one in a Little Free Library, so strongly do I believe in its literary value to portray a harsh topic in teen-appropriate ways.
Below the cut, photos exclusively of the much-less-pretty, mostly-ex-library books’ covers from the stack on the right, along with extremely and unnecessarily long winded commentary.
(hmmm, I did not arrange these in the same order I wanted to talk about them, but I guess I’d better follow the pics)
Adult Fiction & Nonfiction
1. Spill Simmer Falter Wither - Sara Baume (2015): Will I love it, IDK. Will I keep it...even less sure. But it’s about a solitary older man who adopts an unwanted dog, and it seems very introspective and beautifully written without being too heavily literary. This is almost always a trap in literary fiction, but what if it wasn’t.
2. The Distance Home - Orly Konig (2017): Ooh! on my TBR for like 5 years now, because horses + women’s fiction, everything in the summary appeals to me. Grabbed partly to ensure I have access in case the last copy gets weeded after this, and partly because there’s a good chance I’ll want to keep it.
3. The Escape - Lisa Harris (2020): would not have paid for this on its own, but on bag sale day I grabbed it for convenience just to read because “two air marshals transporting a dangerous prisoner crash-land in the mountains and everyone except them dies and now they need to catch the bad guy on the loose” really ticks all my law-enforcement-character-loving + wilderness setting + thriller preferences. [edit: it was exactly what I expected, nothin’ special. but to my delight, the library stickers actually peeled beautifully off this one so now it’s going in the sale pile]
4. Cold Day in the Sun - Sara Biren (2019): Oops, this one’s YA. Anyway, still haven’t read her books but I suspect I might like them, and they are so unpopular here that the library only has 1 copy left; it won’t last much longer. So, convenience again.
5. Wanderer - Sara Leon (2016): I skimmed through this last year when I was looking for pianist/composer characters and it wasn’t quite what I was in the mood for, but it’s slim and at some point I will be in the mood for “a novel that explores the stifled, unspoken feelings of a music teacher and his former student, and the damage done by their years of silence.” And the library weeded BOTH of its remaining copies at once in this sale so yeah, tucking this safely aside for later.
6. Leaving the Pink House - Ladette Randolph (2014): university press published memoir, I don’t know if I will really like her but there are no local library copies left and I love houses so much that this immediately grabbed my attention: on September 12, 2001, Randolph and her husband bought a dilapidated farmhouse on twenty acres outside Lincoln, Nebraska, and set about gutting and rebuilding the house themselves. They had nine months to complete the work. The project, undertaken at a time of national unrest and uncertainty, led Randolph to reflect on the houses of her past and the stages of her life that played out in each, both painful and joyful.
Children’s & YA (mostly)
7. My Friend Flicka - Mary O’Hara: One of two I bought on Thursday. Not the most beautiful copy but not a bad one either, 1960s ex-school-library and fairly clean pages. Because I was just thinking about how odd it is that I neither own a copy of this very famous novel, nor ever see copies of it at these sales, despite owning the latter two books in the trilogy. I’d like to reread it, and haven’t since childhood.
8. I Tell A Lie Every So Often - Bruce Clements (1974): OH HEY, one of the long-weeded-from-local-libraries titles from Lost Masterworks of Young Adult Lit?? Instant snag! I’m always interested in reading those for myself, even though this one does not look nearly as exciting as hoped. Will probably read & release.
9. Vinyl Princess -- Yvonne Prinz (2009): I don’t remember this title well but I remember it fondly, and every time I look at it on Goodreads I think about rereading it, not least because she was really ahead of the curve in writing about a modern day teen who thinks music sounds better on records. I always promised myself I’d buy it if the library ever weeded its last copy, and that day has come.
10. King of the Screwups - K.L. Going (2009): actually, nah, this one’s going in the sale bag as originally planned. While sorting them I caught enough in the jacket summary about a complicated father/son relationship to make me wonder “Loki vibes?” and consider trying it, but upon further examination this just looks like an awful time. Trashy teen boys are not where it’s at for me.
11. More Tales for the Midnight Hour - J.B. Stamper (1992): I bought Still More Tales for the Midnight Hour as a teen and have loved it ever since; with this one I think I might finally have the full set o’ spook.
12. Both Sides of Time - Caroline B. Cooney (1995): I read so many of her books in high school, but I remember this one being one of the best. Mass market paperback is a very convenient way to store access. Plus, Laurel Leaf imprint is my favorite paperback imprint. very nostalgia/comfort.
13. Call it Courage - Armstrong Sperry: an elementary school fave I’ve almost forgotten, bought to revisit briefly and then I’ll release because holy hell is this cover ugly, and the too-stiff binding basically made to crack and dump the pages out.
14. Vacancy - K.R. Alexander (2021): THE children’s horror author of the modern day. I’ve actually read a couple of his books recently because the covers alone were so creepy, and had a blast, so I’d like to read this one too and then I’ll let it go. Much better in print than as an e-book, but library only has it on Libby.
15. Nop’s Trials - Donald McCraig (1985): Ending where we began, with an adult-fiction dog book set in nearly the same region... Except this is much better. It’s the other one I bought Thursday, and the closest to treasure in the set, because I read this in high school and 5-star loved it and have been looking out for a cheap copy ever since, but only ever saw it in a huge and heavy oversized hardcover. At last, the mass market paperback of my dreams/same as the one I originally read is mine.
BONUS FUN FACTS:
(because I love to talk books and literally cannot shut up about them)
1. I spent an hour walking around and it was honestly fascinating to watch the number of books shrink in real time, circulating volunteers constantly consolidating sections and folding up/removing emptied tables. Practically a time lapse vid.
2. I donated a full grocery bag of books to this sale myself, and I was so excited by how many I saw on Thursday that were gone by Sunday. I also took back 3 of them (not pictured above) that had not been taken by an hour before sale ending time, because I was Personally Offended about it -- one of them was a horse book! i just accidentally had two copies of it -- and went, “fine, I’ll bring them somewhere they’re appreciated!”
(joke, but I really do plan to donate them to another sale and hope they have better luck in a new county. I don’t know for sure what the Friends do with unsold stock after these sales and I don’t want to, but I’d rather not risk ones I like being thrown out / donated anywhere that will pulp stock en masse if I don’t have to.)
#these pictures are v. low quality and ugly and they still took me so so much effort to take AND upload#I made it a photo post but truly this is a text post SO MUCH TEXT oh my god#but i've been wanting to post about book sale adventures here for over a year and i finally did!#library sale#oh shoot! forgot I also grabbed 1 picture book because The Puppy Who Wanted A Boy is so so cute and now I can keep it
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One final note (I swear. For now) on the V6 fight: I dig Blake. Her civil rights struggle's compelling, her ability to kick people in the head is neat, and the power of Mutual Yearning did at least as much in the Haven skirmish as Maidenbowl 1. All that noted...her writer(s) picked a funny time for crucial evil ex semblance exposition. Kinda wish that had been worked into the spooky barn convo, possibly with a side of 'I should've warned you all (but you especially) about him back at Beacon'.
I feel like the Semblance exposition bit actually would have fit just fine in a traditional anime, where talking is a free action and characters regularly explain how their powers work (or how someone else's powers work). Bleach or Naruto would've had a whole episode dedicated to Adam's Semblance and probably worked his tragic backstory in along with it. RWBY, though, does things a little differently.
This show is not big on explanation or exposition, especially during fights. It's great because it makes the fights fluid, with few breaks in the action, but it can make it hard to tell what's going on at times. RWBY's not inclined to feed the viewer information and does not like to nail down details at all (we still don't even have a concrete timeline, for example. I've seen multiple posts trying to figure out when Beacon's school year starts, they've all come to different conclusions, and all of those conclusions have been reasonably supported by evidence in the show. Apparently this avoids plotholes, somehow). RWBY does a lot of the detail work it does give us in the background, like the way we see the headlines in Volume 7 that are very easy to miss and yet give us important context about the situation the protagonists are involved in. I think that when you engage in this kind of storytelling, you have to walk the line between assuming your audience is smart enough to figure out what you want them to know and putting the burden on them to tell your story for you.
To give you an idea of what I mean, let's talk about FromSoft games for a bit. Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Elden Ring, etc. all like to convey their story primarily through item descriptions, dialogue with NPCs, and environmental details. The player characters don't take an active role in the setting's plot so much as wander into it, kill the things that are trying to kill them, steal lunch money from gods, and somehow ascend to unimaginable power. The FromSoft style of storytelling locks information crucial to understanding either the setting as a whole or a given aspect of it behind an item hidden in the ass end of an optional zone that the player may not ever even find, much less thoroughly explore, and it's such a commonly-acknowledged aspect of Soulsborne games that "I'll just wait for the Vaati video" has become a meme among the playerbase. To elaborate, the lore's so damn complicated and ambiguous that much of the playerbase doesn't think they'll be able to absorb it without the assistance of a YouTuber who's built a specific niche around making FromSoft lore accessible to the studio's audience.
Arknights is another good example. There's nothing wrong with asking the audience to put some thought into the story, to read between the lines a little, but Arknights writes a whole damn novel between every line and then expects you to spend half a day just figuring out what the hell is going on in a given cutscene. We run into the same situation as we do with Soulsborne, where the Tumblr Loremasters wind up explaining story events to the people having trouble following it, something I saw just recently with the Invitation to Wine event (it does not help that the physical design of Arknights's storytelling interface is ass. The text is so small you need glasses to read it, the interface is often dark and dingy, and rarely does anything pop. Fate Grand Order is dogshit in almost every possible way, but at least I can read the fucking story without straining my eyes. I may not know what the hell is going on sometimes, because Nasu is a lunatic, but I can at least read the words he puts on the page without undue effort. That makes a big difference).
As you may have gathered, I don't like this method of storytelling. I think it's lazy and places too much of a burden on the audience. It feels to me like I'm expected to do the work of coming up with and justifying the story instead of the people who are getting paid actual money to do it.
I'll admit that this is at least partially personal preference. I'm generally uncomfortable with ambiguity, and while I love coming up with anything from stupid daydreams to full-blown fictional universes, I don't consume media with the expectation that I need to be developing the story myself. I expect the writer(s) to have already done that, which is why I have such a love-hate relationship with FromSoft games. Great lore, interesting world, terrible way of conveying it.
Anyway, RWBY sometimes struggles with this as well. There are a lot of things in the show that I can come up with reasonable explanations for when someone raises the point, but... those explanations aren't provided in the show. Hell, we frequently have basic worldbuilding stuck in side materials like the official guidebook or World of Remnant. A lot of what we know about how Dust works, what the Kingdoms are like, the CCT, etc. is found in a series of short expository videos instead of the actual show. It ultimately feels like doing homework is necessary to get a real understanding of basic elements of the show. I'm not asking for RWBY to drop an infodump in every single episode, but I'd very much like the show to have put in a bit more work in building up the setting (we've still learned next to nothing about Vacuo in the show proper, for example. Most of what we know comes from the CFVY books, as far as I'm aware, and who knows how canon those will be once the show reaches Vacuo?). I really think we would've benefitted from one more Volume at Beacon fleshing out both the setting and the relationships between the characters before the genre shift in the Maya era.
Yeah, maybe more information about how Adam fights could've been worked into the barn conversation, but Blake is more focused on reassuring Yang than preparing her to fight Adam again and then fumbles the ball by suggesting Yang needs to be protected, at which point Yang isn't interested in listening anymore. Sure, the writers could've written it differently, but I'm not sure they really needed to, since I think what they're going for here is that neither of the Bees are really ready to confront Adam again. They will be, but they're not there yet.
I don't really think saying "I should've warned you about him back at Beacon" really fits what the narrative has been giving us, though. Think about the way Blake behaves in the Beacon era. During Volume 1, she (thinks she) is free of him. There's no reason for her to tell her teammates about Adam because he's not part of her life anymore. She's made a fresh start. She's goofing off with her teammates and enjoying her new life as a Huntress. By the time she realizes Adam's still a threat, it's too late. She doesn't seem to have any idea how deep his obsession with her would run until he actually shows up on her doorstep, maiming her partner/future girlfriend and threatening to destroy everything and everyone she loves. She isn't going to tell her teammates about him because without any real reason to believe he'd go after her, she's just sharing her tragic backstory for no reason.
Also yeah I love Blake, she deserves all the hugs and people who love her enough to build her up instead of tearing her down and a goddamn choreographer who cares about getting the most out of her kit.
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One of the big flaws of early Stephen King works (I am mostly thinking about Shining and IT and the like) is tied to his tackling of psychology.
Every time you get the full psychology of the character. Every important memory, every trauma, every trait of their personality will be presented. Their process of thoughts, their growth and evolution in character, their flaws and qualities and failures will all be given in details. The effect of every event on their mind will be given, and you will both get their own inside perception of the world and themselves AND an objective outsider view of what they are and what they do.
On one side it does help create complex and deep characters, and it does bring a lot of humanity - and it feels like the character is solid and working. But on the other hand, it makes for a very long, very tedious and sometimes quite boring read as you get every little friggin detail of the inner workings of the characters - and sometimes King insists so much he’ll repeat or rephrase the same things two or three times in a row, really hitting the hammer on the nail until the plank breaks. In fact, it is something Kubrick himself pointed out and noted when he decided to adapt The Shining: he noted that while the story was good, the book was over-psychologized to the point that everything was somehow explained, and ultimately the fall into madness of Jack lost its charm ; it became almost less of a ghost story and more of a psychological report on a family, and we discovered exactly why each tactic and each trap of the Overlook worked on Jack. As I said before, on one side it is nice to explain things and show that you have a solid building here - but on the otherhand, it also removes any kind of subtletly, of subtext, of implication or imagination, as everything is given a reason or a connection or a correlation. When you’ve got a fully detailled map, you’ve got nothing more to explore. Kubrick decided to drop the over-explanation of the psychology of the characters, relying a bit more on the audience’s imagination and the implicit and the disturbing subtext - and we know the masterpiece of a movie we got today.
I know I am not the first one to point out this big flaw King had in his early works, but I still want to talk a bit about it.
I also want to point out one thing: it is precisely because of this over-explanation, drowning of details and hyper-answering of the main characters, of the human characters, that in contrast King’s antagonists work so well. Because King loves to leave mysteries and unanswered questions and secrets when it comes to the antagonists or the supernatural forces, and by contrast, it makes them work so damn well. We will never know what the Deadlights are, and we might have a full history of Pennywise’s misdeeds, we still don’t know why Beverly talking about his true name made him freak out (well... her but you got the idea). We have the backstory of almost every ghost of the Overlook hotel, but we will never know what caused the hauntings/curse and what is the nature of the main evil driving force of the hotel. And this bits of mystery and unexplained in an over-explained world just makes them even more eerie and out-of-place.
Similarly, it is also why in King’s first “era” so to speak, his short stories work much better than his novels in terms of efficacity. Due to being short stories by nature, King is forced to drop all the over-explanation and hyper-worldbuilding, and as a result he relies only and exclusively on his forte: striking imagery, human perversion, mysterious supernatural ; resurrection of primal or children fear ; and all of this flows so well.
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Writing ask meme - 22, 41, 74
22. describe your writing process from scratch to finish
Oh, man! So much depends upon the story. For short stuff, say, 3k or less, I generally get the idea and pretty much immediately set out to write. I write it in a single session or two, editing as I go along. Every time I get stuck, I go back up a few paragraphs and reread, while fixing typos, adjusting word choices, etc.
I do another editing pass as I actually upload the story, since I need to reread any to add in html tags for italics and such. Ideally a little time has passed since I finished writing, so that I have slightly fresher eyes to catch stuff.
For longer things, say 5-20k, the process is pretty similar except that I'll start taking notes for things I want to happen later on because otherwise I'll forget before I get to actually writing that part. The notes tend to be super vague, because they're just reminders of ideas I've had, and aren't actually meant to be a guide. Here's two examples from different stories:
Ironically, both of these scenes, once I came to write them, ended up very different than these notes and included almost none of the same ideas. But sometimes the notes end up being pretty accurate! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
For stuff that is full novella or novel-length, I work from an outline. I might write a few opening scenes to get the feel for the story before I write the outline, or I might start with the outline; it just depends. I also take notes as I go along of things that it can be easy to forget: what color eyes did I say this side-character has? what season is it? how much time has passed?
A lot of times I get about halfway through a story and have to go back and re-outline the first half but with a particular focus on a theme, or a character's motivations, or something like that, so I can see shape of it more clearly and making sure it's moving forward and not just repeating the same beats over and over again. Here's an example of the re-outlining the early chapters of lay me down with a specific focus on what's going on in Stede's head:
Re-outlining like that also tends to really help me with deciding what to write next and what sort of things I want to include in the story.
If I get really, really stuck, I take a notebook and go somewhere without internet access – usually a park if the weather's nice, or a museum large enough to have rooms where you can just commander a bench and stare at a wall for a while – to just sit with my thoughts and let my mind drift until it finally agrees to start focusing on the story again and figuring out where I want to go. Then I take notes by hand that look pretty much like the above examples, though if it's working well enough I may start to write actual dialogue or description.
Whew, that was a long answer, sorry!
41. what is the weirdest story idea you’ve ever had.
I don't really think of my ideas as weird, particularly! Like, once you commit to it and figure out how the characters would react, it no longer feels weird, even if it was weird in the abstract. "Stede wears a harem costume" is weird, but once you've explored his motivations and Ed's reaction, it's just another thing they might do.
74. are you a planner, pantser, or planster?
Hmmm, a planster, I suppose! I do usually make an outline, but it's pretty vague compared to some people's outlines. This is an outline I wrote for a story I never finished, as an example of what mine typically look like:
Clearly I don't do intricate outlines with dialogue and themes and such. I'm sure this is basically incoherent to anyone else, but it's just enough of a reminder for myself of what's going on. But I do like writing to some sort of plan and not just letting anything happen.
Thank you for the questions! <3
(The meme, if anyone else wants to ask a question)
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@tenkoseiensei said (inbox):
' hmph, how asinine. you there, pharaoh! ' a striped, frilly cuff raises and points directly at the other. hans, or at least what impeccably seems to be him, grins and smiles from behind his squarish glasses and a massive mountain of assorted novels. ' come to stake it out in the library for a moment? i don't blame you, it's less noisy than that god-forsaken cafeteria, but as this place's permanent troll, don't think you can just barge in here without answering at least one question! stories that feature love and divinity and the loss of it, what do you think of them? i'm asking whether or not you think it's absurd or despicable for a god to be so in love that they give up their godhood! immortality, unimaginable power, infinite knowledge, poof! all gone for the sake of a single person! would someone like you ever be able to manage it? i doubt it, but just in case, tell me why! tell me everything! ' he's already got an empty manuscript and quill in his hands.
AH, THE LITTLE MAN-CHILD sage. Despite the other’s usual scathing, no nonsense personality, they were rather interesting to talk to. There was almost something refreshing about their sharp wit and even sharper tongue, but that might have been because no matter who stood in front of Hans, he would still act as he always did be they god, king, or some ancient hero from a bygone era. ❝It IS very lively today. It makes me wonder if something is about to transpire that I am not aware of.❞ Some big event that shook Chaldea itself as the chaos spread and he observed from a comfortable distance (unless the chaos itself tempted him – which was a very real possibility)… He paused, lips quirking slightly in amusement as he shrugged his shoulders a little in reply to their next words. ❝So even a king must pay a toll to explore the vastness of this library, hm? Very well! I accept!❞ Arms crossing over his chest, he glanced off to the side, pondering what kind of response he could give. What an intriguing question… He should have known this tiny sage would know just what to ask to have the wheels in his brain turning.
❝Giving up one’s godhood… If a god loved that much that they would even ponder this fate, then who am I to say it is despicable? What a beautiful and intense love that must be, to forsake your immortality to live out a mortal life with someone who made you feel something in your heart…❞ He would have pondered that as well had he been among their ranks. If the one he loved could not join him in godhood, then he would not want it at all. What was the point of that immortality if he had to be constantly reminded of his loss? Of how he gave up the person that meant the world to him for vast power and knowledge? He thought of Nefertari, and that alone helped him make his choice without further thought. ❝You should not make assumptions, Sage. If there is one thing you should know from the many tales of demigods, is that their love is often intense in nature. When they feel it, you would be hard pressed in crushing that emotion. Hatred, rage, love, pride, and so forth – we all feel so deeply that such things seep into our very bones.❞
But that was hard to explain to someone who was not like himself. Hans was a human and had always been one. Tales of monsters, ancient beasts, and the like were mere fairy tales to him rather than potential lived experiences. This explanation might not be enough for them to fully grasp the meaning of his words for all he knew, yet still Ozymandias answered regardless. ❝Gods are like this too to an extent, even more so whether some will acknowledge that or not. There have been those that have willingly given up many things for the one they loved, and gladly so at that.❞
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