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bookshelf-in-progress · 10 months

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🖊🖊 I would LOVE to hear about your time traveler OCs.

I'm going to tell you about Sallie and Jeremiah.

When Sallie was four years old, an explosive space station disaster pushed her outside the normal flow of time. She has a few faint memories of a childhood in a far-future space colony, but otherwise, she considers herself a native of the world of time travel.

She was rescued by members of a time travel organization that helps people like her. She was placed in a series of foster homes in stable time periods to be raised by other time travelers, but doesn't consider any one place or time period her home.

She never wanted to do anything with her life except to join this time travel organization. She started working with them as soon as she could, and by the time she's in her mid-twenties, she has several years of experience. She has an intuitive understanding of time travel methods and rules, but also an instinctive sense of just how far those rules can be bent if necessary.

Sallie is a five-foot-nothing wisp of a girl with short blonde hair, and a bubbly personality that makes her seem even younger than she actually is, but when it comes to time travel, she's one of the most dedicated and knowledgeable people they have.

She works within the rescue division of the organization, often being stationed in certain times and places where time-displaced people tend to "wash ashore". She monitors detection equipment to find lost people, introduces them to the world of time travel, and helps them get started in a new life.

Jeremiah's a burly, bearded, 6-foot-plus railroad worker from 1860s America. An explosive accident while building a tunnel pushed him outside the flow of time. He was in his 40s at the time and left behind a beloved wife and several children.

It kills him that the rules of time travel in this universe keep him from coming within several decades of his family. For lack of any other purpose in life, and to distract himself from his loss, he joins up with this time travel organization. The mechanics of time travel make his head spin, but he's got a good head for technology, and after a bit of training, can figure out how to maintain the detection equipment for the rescue operations.

Sallie was among the team that rescued Jeremiah when he first fell outside of time. Though these two couldn't be more different in appearance or personality, they got along well together and eventually became partners in this work.

Sallie might be half Jeremiah's size and age, but she's by far the more experienced time traveler, and Jeremiah's shocked by how much he relies on her. She's very much in charge when it comes to the day-to-day operations--somehow no outsiders ever assume that Jeremiah's the leader of this team. Yet Jeremiah's got a boatload of common sense that keeps Sallie grounded. Sallie sometimes forgets how strange time travel can be to people who haven't grown up around it, so Jeremiah can be an important bridge between her and the ordinary, frightened people they help to rescue.

#answered asks #time travel #incomingalbatross

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francisofgotham1 · 9 months

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Catholic Bat Family Brainstorm 3 (inspired by @incomingalbatross)

Alright, alright, alright, let's do this.

So, for those that don't know, this is inspired by @incomingalbatross's posts about a Catholic Bat Family, and since I really enjoyed it, I decided to make my own posts about it. I already made two posts about it, one giving a synopsis and the other talking about Cass, Steph, the Rows, Duke, and Tim's evolution on all of this.

Now, here's something that we haven't thought about yet: How would Bruce's faith make impact on his travels through the time stream?

First, lets break down the time periods:

Stone Age

American Witch Trials

Golden Age of Piracy

Post-Civil War/Wild West

1930s Noire

Time Masters' HQ

Present

So, personally, I don't think the Stone Age affects him as much. Sure, he kind of becomes a god to this one tribe, but it's not something he has direct control over. However, this time around, while he might not all of his memories, he stays a lot more sane during everything because in his very soul, he still believes.

He definitely has a lot stronger opinions during the Witch Trials, though. While he fights the devil-worshipping witches, he never uses anger. He pities them, in fact. Also, seeing his ancestor kill a woman for "witchcraft" will definitely stick with him (and definitely something to talk to Father Brown about), he does not let it define him. He uses as a reminder of what happens when we let go of reason and grasp solely faith: it gives way to blinding rage with no control. (Also, Puritans discriminated heavily against Catholics, Jews, and Quakers in the early days, so that definitely affected how Bruce interacted with them).

I don't think anything big would change in the Piracy Era, Wild West, or the 1930s (except for a few strong opinions on satanists), but if anyone has something, please feel free to share.

However, he does come home slightly rattled, not in faith, but in spirit. For anyone who ever visited a place of suffering (concentration camps, refugee camps, genocide memorials, extreme poverty, Hiroshima, etc), it's that feeling. Speaking with a certain Father Brown definitely helps settle him, and he gets up wanting to be God's force of good in the world, as he's always done.

He also proceeds to hug the heck out of all the kids and Selina, starting with Tim and Jason.

Alright, I think that's gonna be it for today. Not my best work, I know. Maybe y’all can help it make it better. Again, go check out @incomingalbatross and her posts on it, they're awesome.

God bless and have a good one!!

#batman #dc comics #batfamily #bruce wayne #catholic #christianity #jason todd #batfam #tim drake #jonah hex #simon hurt #thomas wayne #alan wayne #incomingalbatross #father brown #headcanon #selina kyle #bruce x selina

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eruanna1875 · 6 months

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An Entirely New Kind of Lost (OTGW x BTTF)

Chapter One: The Photograph

For @incomingalbatross :)

~~*~~

Marty gasped, clutching at his chest, and swayed. Memories wavered in his mind—his own hand, vanishing before his very eyes; his heartbeat, fading into silence; the world around him, turning to mist, as the tick of time flatlined.

But his heart at least was beating now. In fact, it was what had startled him so when his eyes flew open. The pounding of it, as sharp in his chest as if it had never been there before. As if it didn't belong there.

Still, a pulse was a good sign. So was solid fingers, which (he doublechecked) he also had. His breathing was the only thing still a little unsteady.

A dream, he told himself, rubbing sleep and nightmare from his eye. Yeah. Yeah, that’s all it is. The whole thing was just…

His bleary vision cleared. And the truth shocked theory from his thoughts.

He wasn’t in his room in 1985. He wasn’t at Doc’s. He wasn’t in his grandparents’ house in 1955. He wasn’t even lying down. No, Marty was standing upright, dressed in this old zoot suit, in the middle of a dark wood. And he had no idea where he was.

“Doc?”

His voice sounded feeble, dwarfed in the midst of these huge, silent trees.

“Da—” He cleared his throat. “Uh, G-George? George, you here? Lorraine?”

The only reply was a distant echo. Of what, he didn’t know.

Marty shook his head, putting a hand to its side. How’d he get here? What, did Biff and his cronies knock him out, drag him into the middle of nowhere? But it didn’t make sense! It was only a minute ago he was at the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance! In fact, he was just playing the guitar, up on the stage, watching his parents as they…

As they…

“No.”

He fumbled around inside his jacket. He searched every pocket, in it or his pants. Then he searched for more pockets. His hunt came up more and more empty. His hands grew more and more frantic.

Marty’s eyes happened to glance up. And there it was. Lying on the ground, face down by the roots of a tree. He must have dropped it.

Plunging to his knees, he snatched the familiar photograph from amidst the leaves. He brushed off the specks of dirt that had dared soil it. Then, holding his breath, Marty turned it over.

It was empty.

The only thing in the picture was the little well at his aunt’s house.

No Dave. No Linda.

No him.

“No.” He folded and unfolded it. “Oh, no.” His out-of-place pulse almost stopped. “No, no, no, please, God, not—”

His voice cracked. Giving up words, he turned over, his back against damp dirt and damp tree, and buried his head in his hands. He felt the photo film against his forehead. He didn’t care.

George and Lorraine had walked away from each other. He saw it. It was the last thing he’d seen before everything faded. All his plans to get them back together, George decking Biff, him playing at the dance, all of it failed. He failed. And now, because of him, his family never came to be.

If any nightmare could’ve been worse than what happened at the mall that night, it was this.

“The Doc was right,” he murmured, voice close to failing too as his hands dropped. “I screwed up, I busted the timeline, and… now we’re all gone. My brother, my sister, me, we’re all…” His head thumped back against the tree trunk. “Geez, we’re not even dead, are we? We’re just…”

Marty opened his eyes.

Lifted his head.

Glanced around.

“Where am I?”

Uncertain, he pulled himself up. He had to brush off a vine or two first (he must’ve sat right down in a bunch of them), but he scrambled to his feet, peering at the landscape surrounding him. And… it didn’t make sense.

“Doesn’t look like Heaven or Hell,” he muttered, running through every description he’d heard, on every Sunday morning of his life. Then, a question asked itself. “Where do people go if they never existed?”

A noise, making him jolt. That didn’t sound like something that existed either. Heck, was it even human? Or would that be worse?

Heart thumping, Marty darted his glance round. No one in sight. No thing either—the noise wasn’t nearly far enough away, but it wasn’t close either. He was… safe? Or not in direct danger, at least.

But he didn’t feel safe. The trees were dark and thick about him. The faint wind tasted like no autumn he’d ever known. This place, wherever it was, didn’t look or sound or feel like anything even close to his hometown.

Everything was strange, and nothing was familiar.

“Okay,” he groaned, running a hand through his hair, “no family, no Hill Valley, no Doc. Totally new.”

A hesitance.

“What now?”

The woods didn’t answer.

Marty sighed sharply and started pacing, marching clockwise. It wasn’t right. It was even less right than spending a whole week in the wrong year. Sure, he’d gotten stranded in the past. Sure, he’d been punched by Biff and given weird looks by everybody else in town. Sure, he’d met his parents and messed up everything for them (and everybody else in his family). But at least he’d known…

His pace slowed like a clock winding down.

At least he’d known.

At least they’d been his town, his parents. At least something had belonged.

His feet almost clicked to a stop.

Now his heartbeat didn’t even belong in his chest.

“What kind of lost is this?” Marty murmured, shaking his head hopelessly. The knots in his throat refused to let him answer.

Blinking back grief, he stared at the photograph. His mind filled it with memories, the ghosts of everything lost to him. They chilled like winter down his collar. They drifted like mist in his eyes. There. Gone, forever. Ghosts.

And suddenly, one ghost came close enough to touch.

“If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.”

Marty’s eyes widened before he even realized he’d said the words aloud. He froze. Then, a breath slipped out, almost smiling as it escaped.

The Doc had told him that. Doc told him. And, heck, Marty said it to George, too. To his dad.

Doc. Dad.

The names made his heart rise.

“I think this qualifies as anything.”

Fists clenched, Marty took off in what seemed the best direction, with stumbling steps and blind hope. What exactly he was doing, even he didn’t know. But he would do it. Or at least, now he could believe he could.

The photograph never left his hand.

~~*~~

Inspired by this post (and its reblog as well):

Not sure when I'll continue, or directly how, but I hope you liked it, my friend!

#writing #my fanfiction #over the garden wall #back to the future #marty mcfly #An Entirely New Kind of Lost #written gifts #@incomingalbatross

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aslanscompass · 2 years

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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Original Child(ren) of Aphrodite (Percy Jackson), Jenkins | Galahad (The Librarians) Series: Part 7 of Eros in Absentia Summary:

All Mandy wanted was somewhere safe. Now she's stuck outside, in the pouring rain, without food, extra clothes, or blankets. Could things possibly get any worse? Then the monsters find her.

#the librarians #percy jackson #eros in absentia #@incomingalbatross #this the oc I've been telling you about.#and her first meeting with Jenkins.#aroace character #though it isnt relevant in this story

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likea-black-widow-baby · 6 months

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as social media quotes series part 33/? This edition brought to you by @incomingalbatross and contributors!

The rest of the series

#fuck it made this in a public library #who gives a shit anymore #agents of shield as social media quotes series #agents of shield #marvel memes #phil coulson #leo fitz #jemma simmons #melinda may #alphonso mackenzie #bobbi morse #lance hunter

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yumeka-sxf · 9 months

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An analysis on Anya (an Anya-lysis!)

As promised in my Twiyor season 1 wrap up post, it's time for me to give Anya time in the analysis spotlight – an "Anya-lysis" if you will! (yes, I've been waiting to make that pun!)

*I apologize in advance for the length of this post. I felt that splitting it into two would have hindered the flow of the analysis, so I kept it as one long post. But I promise it's not as long as it seems...the high number of images make it seem longer!*

Before I get into my analysis, I wanted to preface this post with a fantastic quote from @incomingalbatross, who perfectly describes the unique role Anya has in the series.

"Realizing that Spy X Family really is The Anya Show to me, and not just because "oh look, cute baby child" but because Anya is the center of the story. She has so many secrets resting on those tiny shoulders. She is juggling so many agendas. She's the one who knows everything and her choices drive the plot—she chose Twilight, she chose Yor, she chose Bond—and even when you look at the other characters and their relationships she IS the star they orbit around! Twilight and Yor's relationship is built on their shared care for Anya! And more than that, at the core of it all, Anya's goals are the ones we're invested in.

The center of this story isn't the superspy trying to do his job, or the assassin trying to do hers. It's the little girl who said "FAMILY" and pulled the building-blocks of one close around her with all her tiny strength, and everyone else in this story keeps being moved and changed and redirected by the force of Anya's attachments to her family.

And at the same time she is SO SMALL"

While Twilight may be the protagonist, and Yor the deuteragonist, Anya is definitely the main character in Spy x Family. Not only would there be no "family" without her bringing Twilight and Yor together, but her status as the main character is quite unique among shonen series, or even media in general.

Typically in stories where a little kid (like, below the age of 10) is the main character, either the majority of other major characters are also little kids, or the kid's main purpose is to be a cute comic-relief foil for the adults. But while there are kids Anya's age in SxF, the other important characters in the plot, namely Twilight and Yor, are not. So rather than the typical scenario of the main kid character constantly being surrounded by and working off their fellow kid characters, Anya is more often interacting with her adult parents. And it's not just for cutesy moments and comic relief – the true heart of SxF is about a fake family that could any minute be destroyed, with only little Anya being aware of this grim reality and doing everything she can to keep things together...all without the ability to be truthful with anyone, not with the adults or her fellow kids. While her parents are each secretly fighting for their own vision of world peace, Anya is too…the "world peace" of the family she doesn't want to lose. It really is a one-of-a-kind scenario for a little kid character.

But having such a special main character role doesn't necessitate a well-written character. But in Anya's case, she definitely is. In fact, I think she's the most well-written little kid character I've ever seen.

Too often in media little kids are portrayed as being overly cutesy, overly bratty/whiny, and/or act much older than they should. A key factor in making a little kid character believable is that you can't just make them cute and/or emotionally immature...they have to also be weird. Anyone who's spent time with little kids knows all the weird stuff they say and do because of their less restricted child brains and ignorance about the world. A good example of this is Lilo from Lilo and Stitch (another well-portrayed kid character). The movie does a good job showing all the weird habits Lilo has, like the bizarre origins of her favorite doll, the freaky voodoo stuff she does to the local bullies, and how she totally buys the fact that Stitch is a dog. Likewise, Anya has tons of little endearing weirdnesses, starting with her wanting a spy dad and assassin mom simply because she thinks it's "cool," to the funny lingo she develops like "ooting" (odekeke) and "ohayou-masu" ("happy morning," a.k.a, an adorably incorrect way of saying "good morning"), to thinking it's acceptable to give George a leaf as a parting gift (then wanting it back later), to her comical remarks whenever she thinks Loid and Yor are being "flirty."

Another realistic aspect of Anya's character is the fact that she's not super-smiley and overly cheerful/bubbly like many other main character kids. Not that she doesn't smile and can't be cheerful, but her default expression is a look of uncertainty or wide-eyed cluelessness, which makes sense considering her upbringing (I'm talking about her default expression in canon, not in merch or other marketing as characters tend to always smile in these even if that's not their usual expression – just look at Yuri's merch!) Most of the time when other characters are talking, she looks perplexed, like she isn't sure what's going on but she's really trying to learn/understand.

These expressions make more sense to me than a child who smiles all the time, because she's at an age where she still doesn't understand the right emotions to feel at the right time. A fantastic example of this is when she punches Damian – her face is totally blank! No anger, no fear, no embarrassment...because she still hasn't learned the proper emotions to feel in a situation like this.

All she knew was what Yor told her and that she was bothered by Damian's attitude. In fact, the iconic smug smile that she shows in that scene is the result of her not knowing how to properly react when faced with bullying (cry, get angry, etc).

Similarly, she has a very bored expression when all the kids are upset about George's plight, as if she doesn't really get what all the to-do is about. This also creates good contrast to how the other Eden kids from their rich families were probably forced to grow up fast, and thus act more like 8-10-year olds than the 6-year olds they're supposed to be. Meanwhile Anya, who's supposedly younger than them, stands out with her more childlike mannerisms.

This all makes sense not just because she's still a little kid, but because her view of emotions has been skewed by the fact that she can read people's minds. So she has to not only learn the socially proper way to react to people's actions and words, but also when she should, or should not, react to what's on their mind. I believe this is why she has such a wide variety of expressions compared to the other characters – her mind reading has forced her to experience way more emotions at such an impressionable age, though not always with enough context and guidance to identify when they're socially acceptable to express.

There are way too many examples of Anya's incredible range of expressions, so I'll just have to pick a few!

Put all this together – her childlike reactions to situations, but with a twist because she can read minds, plus her endless array of comical faces, and you have one of the funniest characters I've ever seen.

Because Anya has such a wide variety of expressions, and her default expression is that of uncertainty, there's a lot more meaning when she does smile. The shining smile she has when Loid praises her for getting a stella, when she plays with Bond for the first time, and when she meets up with Becky after their shopping trip, have a lot more significance because that's not an emotion she expresses all the time. Since happy/cheerful isn't her default mood, the emotional impact of scenes where she does smile is all the more stronger.

Likewise, considering her age, Anya isn't much of a crier either. Having a kid character burst into tears and throw temper tantrums is common, but the amount of notable times Anya has exhibited this behavior is relatively few. She did have a tantrum early on when Loid stopped her from going into his room and when she demanded that Bond be her dog…but those are the only notable cases in my opinion. She has shed tears here and there, but again, not a significant number of times. Similar to the scenes where she smiles, when she does cry (in a non-comical way), like when she's reminded about her mother at the Eden interview or when she's finally reunited with Yor after the bus hijacking, it has a lot more meaning.

Another common trait for little kid characters is that they're usually a representation of total purity and innocence. While Anya doesn't have the same dark ulterior motives and immoral occupations that the adults have, she's not shown to be a complete angel either. Even though good intentions are what drive her, she can be a manipulator, mischievous, and even cocky at times, like when she insists on being called' "Starlight Anya" after getting her first stella, when she was being overly competitive with Damian after the bus hijacking, when she was joking around on the bus after finding out the bombs were fake, and when she almost attacked Bond after he chewed up Penguinman. But all of these examples only serve to make her a more fleshed out character as opposed to just being the cutesy, happy series mascot all time.

Obviously because of her mind reading powers, she manipulates the adults around her all the time, but again, there's never any malice involved…it's clearly the result of a little kid doing everything in her power to keep the happy family she's created. And due to her mind reading ability, she's learned to be much more proactive than reactive – she knows what people are going to do before they do it, and what their intentions are without them saying it. This has allowed her to become resourceful way beyond her years, which has led to her saving the lives of both Twilight and Yor on more than one occasion.

One emotion Anya does have an abundance of is empathy. Typically children don't start to develop empathy – the ability to understand and relate to the intentions and feelings of others – until a bit past Anya's age. But because of Anya's ability to read minds, it makes sense that this part of her development would take priority over something like proper speech and school smarts. Her empathy extends to all the adults around her, her fellow kids, and even animals. While a lot of her empathetic actions stem from her need to help keep Twilight's and Yor's identities secret and thus maintain the peace of the Forger family, there are many examples where this isn't the case and she's simply acting out of nothing but concern for others: comforting the Eden cow because she understood it was scared, worrying about the well being of the Project Apple dogs, leaping into action when she heard someone drowning, and comforting Damian when she knew he was scared during the bus hijacking.

Even when identity reveals aren't at stake, she still comforts Twilight and Yor when they need it, like when she thought Twilight had a nightmare after his backstory reveal, and when she knew Yor was concerned about Loid's relationship with Fiona.

The bus hijacking was a prime example of Anya being empathetic, but not to an unrealistic degree. She empathized with Billy enough to diffuse the situation, but not on a deeper level because, again, she's a little kid. She understood he was upset, but she didn't have outpouring sympathy or deep, introspective thoughts about his situation – that's something an adult would do, not a little kid who's still learning what emotions to feel at what times. What she eventually does is something that makes perfect sense both for her personality and age. With some great resourcefulness on her part, she was able to figure out what she had to say to manipulate Billy the right way, but at the same time she was playing it by ear and basically clueless as to the depth of the matter, yet mustered up all the courage she could…typical Anya.

There are a lot more examples like this of Anya's sense of empathy, too many to list. But the bottom line is, although Anya does use her powers to manipulate people to benefit her own situation and those she cares about (who can blame her?) it's clear that even at such a young age, she's a genuinely good girl who wants to help others and do good in the world, even if she's too young to realize it yet. Not unlike her parents, really. I think we'll be searching a long time before we find another 1st-grade aged character as awesome as Anya.

#spy x family #spy family #sxf #spyxfamily #anya forger #sxf analysis #sxf spoilers #sxf manga spoilers

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canyourfavesurvivecastledracula · 3 months

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Could Will Treaty (from Ranger's Apprentice) survive Castle Dracula? possible advantages:

-Master of silent movement and climbing

-Excellent intuition and quick decision-making

-Near perfect shot w/longbow (though he might not have access to it) -Absolutely willing to kill if needed

-Good with a lute mandola, Dracula would probably keep him alive longer if he put up his jongleur persona the whole time

-Trained to recognize deception

-Taught to not jump to the conclusion of sorcery (from a no-magic setting), but also to be open-minded

-He would likely accept the crucifix since he's a very nice young man

@incomingalbatross mind if I kick this one over to you?

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inkys-anime-blog · 2 months

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One Piece Surfer AU

This was a long ramble session put together by myself and my friends Jordon, @fashionable-hamster , @incomingalbatross , and @thehappybaker .

If anyone wants to draw these or muse around in this AU, please feel free (and tag me!) We had so much fun coming up with these!

Things that are the Same

Devil Fruits are still a thing (mostly because it's really funny if they're surfers and can barely swim. They all wear inner tubes and water wings.)

Crew Compositions are also the same! They are now teams.

Sea Kings and assorted monsters are still here. They are, in fact, more common. The job of Life Guard is not only to keep people from drowning, but to fight monsters so your friends can surf in peace.

World Changes

Almost every dead character you can think of is alive. Because this is a fun, low stakes AU.

"King of the Pirates" is now "King of the Waves", you become a Yonko by being an Olympic Gold Medalist, you become "King of the Waves" by beating all of the Yonkos in a competition.

The goal of "World's Greatest Swordsman" has been changed to "World's Greatest Lifeguard." The way you move up in ranks for it is by competing in underwater feats of power (holding your breath, underwater wrestling, spotting and saving drowning people, performing rescue maneuvers.) It is all incredibly competitive and intense.

Doctors tend to pool supplies and set up a single medical tent, but more intense competitions mean they'll stay apart.

The Celestial Dragons have bought up most of the local public beaches. Surfing on them is considered illegal, but that doesn't stop any of the crews/teams.

The Marines are now local police who are trying to keep the surfers from the private beaches. Sometimes it escalates to fighting, but not too often. It's more like a race to surf before the police show up, it adds time and tension to competitions.

The Revolutionaries are a skateboarding gang who are committing actual crimes trying to bankrupt the city. They are treated with less attention than the surfers, somehow.

Strawhat Headcanons

The Thousand Sunny is a massive surfboard that all the team can fit on. They don't use it super often, but Franky made it for fun one day and they have a good time zipping around together.

Luffy is almost unchanged. He wants to be King of the Waves, he goes around recruiting buds to help that happen. He is more than willing to solve these problems by beating people up. It's Luffy.

Zoro is training to be the World's Greatest Lifeguard. He mostly focuses on paddling around and killing monsters that try to attack his friends, he's group protector in any AU. His backstory is similar as well, Kuina dying and leaving him her family life preserver. He and Sanji sit on the edge of the group surfboard, they're both very worried about their friends falling in.

Nami and Nojiko were illegally taken in by Bellemere. Nami has a supernatural sixth sense for when storms and strong waves are coming in, which was noticed by Arlong. Arlong threatened to reveal the illegal adoption to the police if she didn't come work for him and his team. Nami agreed, but once Luffy finds out, he contacts Whitebeard and get into a fierce legal battle to keep Nami and her family safe and away from Arlong. She's now living out the childhood she always wanted, spending time with friends and surfing instead of being under Arlong's control. Bellemere is running her tangerine orchard and shows up to their competitions a lot, mostly to cheer on her kid and hand out orange slices like a soccer mom.

Ussop runs a kid's swimming school! He's really popular because he's great with kids. People want to get their kids in love with swimming so they're less likely to impulsively eat devil fruits lolol. He's always wanted to be a surfer, and he jumps at the chance when Luffy comes their way. Kaya buys them fancy new surfboards and she's one of their most dedicated sponsors.

Sanji used to work in a five star restaurant, but ended up shifting to make his own top-class food truck so he can be with the crew and go to different competitions. Zeff sponsors the Strawhats so that Nami stops stealing the rival team's wallets to pay for gas money. (She still does, but less often now.)

Chopper is still a reindeer boy, and he wasn't able to go to normal school because of it. He was homeschooled by his parents, who are both doctors. He's enjoying his first taste of a real childhood with the Strawhats, and Hiriluk and Kureha come to what competitions they can.

Robin is a former CIA agent turned lawyer. She has gotten the Strawhats and teams they're friendly with out of SO many legal issues. She wears water wings on All of her Arms when she goes out to surf. She still does archeology on the side as a fun hobby.

Brook's backstory is mostly unchanged. He used to be on a great group of surfers, but when they were on a boat trip, their drinks were poisoned by a rival team. He washed up a skeleton by the Strawhat's van. He had made friends with Laboon, but since Laboon has faced some issues in the wild, he was moved by a wildlife conservation center. Brook is traveling the coast with the Strawhats to try to find him again, checking with every wildlife center they pass.

Jinbe is tired. He was a city council member, and left when it became horribly corrupt. He's reliving his old days of surfing with the Strawhats, and he's specifically helping Zoro be a better swimmer.

Non Strawhat Headcanons

Shanks and his crew run a nice little bar. They're renowned for their surfing skills, but they're holding back from competitions for awhile so the kids get their chance to shine. Shanks is known as "that guy who once surfed a tsunami so well he reversed it. Somehow."

Whitebeard is a CPS worker. He has worked at this tirelessly for decades, and ends up fighting a fierce legal battle for Nami, and then later Ace, both of which he wins!

Ace (which was actually how this entire thing started for me) is super competitive and travels around almost as much as the Strawhats do. He wears his hat surfing because of course he does. He's got to be very careful using his Devil Fruit, but he's pulled off some crazy stunts with it.

Buggy the Clown runs a water show with super talented performers; water aerialists, dolphins, even some surfing like the others! He is a terrible surfer but manages to fail upwards into winning an Olympic medal. Whoops!

Vivi is a mayor's daughter and is constantly campaigning for better protection for the local beaches. She's managed to get her hometown safe for the teams to compete at, but she doesn't have a lot of sway outside them, and she had to fight against a certain local business to get that far. She's studying abroad in Europe after she helped, and they miss her a lot :(

Crocodile (mentioned above with Vivi) owns a casino near the beach. Luffy hit him with a supersoaker of ocean water once for putting a hit out on Vivi. I have nothing else for him except "he makes crazy sandcastles"

Mihawk is the World's Greatest Lifeguard, and most of the time people practice perfect water safety around him because he's SCARY to be rescued by. Those eyes....

Most of the first mates (Zoro, Bepo, Killer) are training to be lifeguards. Their captains have devil fruits, they have to.

Corozon is the Heart Pirate's biggest supporter. He loves watching them compete. He's working with Bellemere in her orchard, they know each other from their old police days.

Blackbeard's favorite activity is snitching on other surfers so they get interrupted by the police. He also likes knocking people off their boards. He's never invited to these things, he just shows up.

Uta showed up once to cheer on Luffy, but Blackbeard dropped her location online. The beach got swarmed by fans and they had to cancel :( But she still comments on Nami's social media posts about the competitions and voices her support!

Gecko Moria owns a terrible "haunted water ride" experience and it's terrible and rundown. Kuma, who works for OSCHA, shows up to shut it down but the crew has already beaten up everyone there because someone was being a creep to Nami.

That's all for now! Might add more later as they come up!

Please please reblog <3 I want to hear people's ideas!

#one piece #one piece au #one piece surfer au #monkey d luffy #roronoa zoro #nami #ussop #black leg sanji #tony tony chopper #nico robin #soul king brook #cyborg franky #jinbe #whitebeard one piece

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fictionadventurer · 11 months

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Reverse unpopular opinion on Moffat Who?

Oh, gosh. I've been undergoing an internal Moffat Who renaissance lately--I haven't watched any, but it's been coming to mind so often, and it's really driving home just how formative those stories were to me--so I'm not sure I'll be able to arrange my thoughts coherently, but I'll try for a few bullet points.

There is so much writing skill on display in his episodes. The plots are so tight--set-up and payoff on a detailed level that you rarely see in television. The word-smithing is wonderful--he has a gift for a turn of phrase that sticks in your head, can make something poetic or pithy or just plain hilarious. The way he can grapple with big ideas and themes and still make a small, concrete story with characters you care about is just wonderful.

The style! His stuff has such a specific voice to it--certain rhythms to the dialogue, certain themes he returns to, certain things he thinks are funny. It's most obvious in the RTD era--when you hit a Moffat episode, everyone suddenly talks twice as fast. Some people might see such a distinctive style as a detriment, but in an entertainment landscape where everything can get sanded down into bland homogeny, it's refreshing to see work that is so personal and specific.

I love how his era understand that Doctor Who is a fairy tale. The fantastical entering into the ordinary. But the fantastical isn't there to save us from the boring drudgery of everyday life, but to make us appreciate just how wonderful the world--especially ordinary life--can be.

That fairy tale focus also makes his era the most explicitly Catholic of any era of Who. It understands a sacramental worldview where the ordinary and the extraordinary intertwine.

I've got major problems with how he can handle romance and sexual stuff, but when it comes to marriage, there is no one in the entertainment industry who does it better. The wedding isn't the end of the adventure, but the beginning of it. Fidelity is a grand adventure; love can get you through anything. It is beautiful.

He understands that the Doctor is a legendary heroic figure, something out of myth whose actions have saved the universe countless times--but he's also an idiot who makes colossal mistakes and wears stupid clothes. Neither side of that characterization undercuts the other one. It neither deifies nor deconstructs the Doctor.

I love how so many stories in his era build off of ideas from earlier eras. Sort of like a second draft or a remake. Digging deep into concepts that were only shallowly glanced at before. It's the fandom instinct toward meta applied to episodes that actually got on-screen.

As a showrunner, I like how he gives other writers a bit more leeway to write the episodes with their style. And I loved the arcs in Series 5 and 6 especially--a significant thread that weaves through multiple episodes, but also doesn't take away from the standalone nature of the individual stories.

He gave the Doctor a family! The Eleven-Amy-Rory-River family is about as good as it gets for companion groups, to my mind. Rory especially is one of the greatest characters in the show--showing the heroism of the ordinary, faithful man and how that can be even better than the showy heroism of the Doctor. And River is the rare companion that I can actually ship with the Doctor, because her life is as strange and time-twisted as his is.

I love that his era focuses on time travel as more than a way to get to the setting of the episode. We get to dive deep into time travel mechanics, twisting back and forth across time in a single episode, delving into time loops and cause-and-effect and out-of-order relationships, and the very human effects all this timey-wimey nonsense can have on people.

It's funny! There is so much humor while never devolving into parody. So quick-witted and clever.

It's a show run by the best kind of fan--one who likes diving in to all those nerdy details, but understands at the end of the day that it's just a show and we can have fun with it. One of my favorite Moffat moments comes in the commentary track for the Series 5 Weeping Angels two-parter. There's a point where he's just riffing mercilessly on how silly the Weeping Angels when you think about it. They can't move when they're seen--makes them kind of weak, doesn't it? Like, he imagines a group of them running into trouble: "Why didn't you invade that planet?" "Oh, sorry, we couldn't. There was an insect." This is one of his greatest creations, basically the only New Who monster (as opposed to friendly alien) deemed worthy of repeat appearances, yet instead of being arrogant over it, he's willing to poke fun at it like any other element of the show. It's just so fun.

Even if the rest of his era had been garbage, I would have loved this era for The Day of the Doctor alone. What a triumph of an anniversary special. Beautifully, intricately plotted along several timelines. Set-up and payoff in layers upon layers. Plot resolutions hidden in jokes. A way to bring back Rose that wasn't just inane fan-service but was central to the entire story. Bringing in all the Doctors in a way that didn't clutter up the episode. But best of all, it healed the wound that the Time War had wrought upon the show. The Time War had served its purpose in restarting New Who and giving new depths to the character; the episode didn't erase that. But it challenged the idea that the Doctor had to end Gallifrey for the greater good. For such an idealistic show, it had always been odd for it to argue that the ends justified the means. This episode, at last, destroyed that argument. The Doctor doesn't have to justify the way he ended the war because it can't be justified! It was horrible! So he shouldn't do it! He can be clever and kind and find a better way to save everyone! It's so wonderfully Tolkien-esque and means so, so much to me.

#answered asks #reverse unpopular opinions #doctor who #steven moffat #incomingalbatross

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isfjmel-phleg · 9 months

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Tagged for a last sentence written by @incomingalbatross. Thank you!

I was working on the TSG paper last night, so this is an informational remark. Citation will be added at a later stage in drafting.

Similarly, Amber A. Logan’s The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn (2022) features an adult heroine who takes a position at an old Japanese inn where she grapples with grief after her mother’s death and rediscovers buried sorrows from her childhood. Logan says that she feels that Mary in Burnett’s novel “wasn’t dealing with enough grief” and thus Logan “wanted to really pull that grief out and delve into it on a much deeper level” (CITE).

#tagged #incomingalbatross #I've read and watched interviews with this author #and I want to argue with her so much because...that's not the point!#also why is it so hard to respect the original text instead of acting like you're doing the world a favor by 'fixing' it #anyone can write a character being generically sad and angsty #but not everyone can pull off Burnett's levels of characterization

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bookshelf-in-progress · 2 years

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1 and 20 for the ask meme?

Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

It's the time of year for pre-revolutionary Arateph, specifically, my retelling of "The Princess and the Pea." It's set about six years or so before the revolution, when a recent assassination attempt has forced Auren and his mother to go into hiding at an obscure royal property. After a storm takes down the palace's security measures and communications, an intruder approaches, who claims to be the daughter of a Great Lord and in need of shelter. If they turn her away, they risk destroying a tenuous political relationship. If they let her in, they risk letting in another assassin. So they have to approach this very delicately while finding a way to verify her claims.

I had multiple versions of roughly four chapters roughed out before, from the POV of the queen and the intruder. I'm editing those right now, and it's going well because I'm cutting it down to what I always wanted the story to be, and where I wanted it to start, before I started tacking on extra backstory. I think I've got a pretty good idea of how I want to update the old stuff, and a better notion of where to go after that, but we'll see if when we get there.

I'm really excited to retell this fairy tale in particular, because there's so much potential for drama. It's really focused on three people learning about each other, clearing up lies and dispelling misconceptions. But I'm also excited because one of the breakthroughs I had for how to fix some of the plotting problems was that I need to give the servants personality, and get them involved with the intruder. I don't have much yet, but just the idea is fleshing out the story and the world in a way that it desperately needed.

I'm also working on adapting one event from Marastel and Jemrauth's courtship into an actual short story. I've got a solid outline roughed out, and I'm excited to see if I can pull off the climactic moment in an interesting and believable way.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

I'm going to talk about the development of the relationship between Auren's parents, Jemrauth and Marastel. In the one line of "Out of the Tomb" where Marastel's mentioned, all I say is that she miscarried nine babies before Auren. When I started digging deeper into this universe, it struck me just how ridiculously sad that is. Especially for a queen who's expected to continue a dynasty.

When it came to their marriage, I had assumed, based on how the royals are discussed, that perhaps Marastel was a decent person, but the king was a self-centered tyrant who lived up to the reputation for royal decadence, and he was a jerk to Marastel about the failed pregnancies. But then I realized that nine is a rather large number, and implies a long struggle. If the king stuck with her through that many failures, without casting her off for another wife, that implies intense devotion. He stuck to her even when it looked like the royal line was going to fall. And that becomes much more interesting than a stereotypical Decadent King. Especially since I added in some influence of the story of Franz Ferdinand and his wife--he fell in love with a noblewoman's lady-in-waiting, his father forbid the marriage for years, but he refused to marry anyone else until the emperor was forced to relent. Their struggle to conceive is much more painful when it comes after fighting the entire world just to be able to get married, and it gives that much more intensity to their loyalty and love. Jemrauth went from Terrible Husband to the World's Most Loving Husband, and I love it so much that I can't believe I considered anything else.

#adventures in writing #answered asks #arateph #incomingalbatross

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iamfitzwilliamdarcy · 10 months

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Shawn just goes absolutely off the rails in the s7 opener after Henry’s been shot and I wanna talk about it!! It’s so interesting because we really genuinely haven’t seen him like this before - even Jules says as much — “I’ve never seen you like this! … you’re acting impulsively in a very dangerous way, you don’t see this behavior is erratic?!” — and it made me think

Of course we haven’t seen Shawn like this— this is the Worst Thing* that’s ever happened to him and he can’t deal! But you know who has seen him like this before?? Henry. Because the last Worst Thing* that ever happened to Shawn was the Divorce, and baby 18 year old Shawn…. Goes absolutely off the rails. Shawn remembers absolutely nothing of his senior year and apparently Gus has zero idea how bad Shawn has gotten at this time (I wanted to link @incomingalbatross here bc we had a whole post conversation on this last night but apparently you can’t hyperlink on the app??? This is why I once more must say I miss my laptop) — so we know he’s just spiraling. A lot here is inferencing but I think it’s a safe guess to say Shawn wants revenge— he wants to hurt his father the way he feels hurt, and he finally pushes his father to the edge and gets himself arrested and ends the Cop Dream. It’s reckless and self-destructive, but he succeeds in hurting his father and himself and apparently alienates himself from… pretty much everyone (I think we can safely presume Gus included).

And now in s7, a Bad Thing happens again and Shawn can’t deal, again. He is going on a reckless, destructive, revenge rampage. But the difference this time is he has a support network. He has people who love him. Gus is with him most of the way, he never actually takes the Out. Lassiter helps Shawn out and is even empathetic. And when Shawn DOES end up alone, facing down another barrel of a gun, when it seems like he’s blown it again— Jules saves him.

Jules saves him. i cannot stress how much I love this. I’ve been thinking about it all day. She saves him!! She loves him!!! And she’s been worried all episode and SHE SHOWS UP AND SAVES HIM.

He doesn’t have to be alone in this one. And then one step more— this time he does get to go home to his dad. What’s more!!! — it’s not JUST that he gets to go home to his dad— it’s that Henry’s grown too!! He is so furious by the time of the arrest— he’s worried about Shawn’s future and what kind of stuff he’s getting into! But instead of saying any of that out loud— he arrests him and tries to teach him a lesson. At the end, in the hospital too Henry starts in on criticizing— you’re an idiot, it was stupid to go after them— but STOPS— and says what he really means— “I’m glad you’re ok” — because that’s what he means!! He’s been worried!!

*I don’t think any of the serial killer episodes are the Worst Moment of Shawn’s Life because he Wins. No one he loves gets hurt. Here, he doesn’t win. He’s too late. Henry’s shot and almost dies.

#i was going to save this til tomorrow but i just had to get it out #Katie watches psych #psych #shawn spencer #once more i want my meta post to be better and maybe I’ll edit it in the morning but……..must be content w/ what i have #edited now lol #Henry’s love language is criticism <3 #Shawns is being Annoying

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inklings-challenge · 7 months

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Team Lewis 2023

Announcing the 2023 Inklings Challenge team assignments!

Members of Team Lewis are challenged to write a science fiction or fantasy story within the Christian worldview that fits into one of these two genres:

Portal Fantasy: Stories where someone from the real world explores a new world

Space Travel: Stories about traveling through space or exploring other planets

These genres are open to interpretation, and creativity is encouraged. You can use either or both of the prompts within your story, or if you’re feeling ambitious, you can write multiple stories.

Members of Team Lewis are also asked to use at least one of the following seven Christian themes to inspire some part of their story.

Feed the hungry

Give drink to the thirsty

Clothe the naked

Shelter the homeless

Visit the sick

Visit the imprisoned

Bury the dead

Writers are challenged to complete and post their story to a tumblr blog by October 21, 2022, though they are encouraged to post earlier if they finish their story before that date. There is no maximum or minimum word limit. Writers who have not completed their stories before the deadline are encouraged to post whatever they have written by October 21st and post the remainder at a later date.

Posting the Stories

All stories will be reblogged and archived on the main Inklings Challenge blog. To assist with organization, writers should tag their posts as follows:

Mention the main Challenge blog @inklings-challenge somewhere within the body of the post (which will hopefully alert the Challenge blog).

Tag the story #inklingschallenge, to ensure it shows up in the Challenge tag, and make it more likely that the Challenge blog will find it.

Tag the team that the author is writing for: #team lewis, #team tolkien, or #team chesterton.

Tag the genre the story falls under: #genre: portal fantasy, #genre: space travel, #genre: secondary world, #genre: time travel, #genre: intrusive fantasy, #genre: adventure

Tag any themes that were used within the story: #theme: food, #theme: drink, #theme: clothing, #theme: shelter, #theme: visit the sick, #theme: visit the imprisoned, #theme: burial

Tag the completion status of the story: #story: complete or #story: unfinished

Team Members

The writers assigned to Team Lewis are:

@aparticularbandit

@ashknife

@batmantaking-hobbits2gallifrey

@butterflies-and-bumble-bees

@bytes-and-blessings

@casa-anachar

@confetti-cat

@cuppatealove

@cygnascrimbles

@dimsilver

@f1ve-more-minutes

@freenarnian

@glassheadcanon

@heniareth

@incomingalbatross

@kanerallels

@ladygobpire

@ladyphlogiston

@larissa-the-scribe

@lemonduckisnowawake

@lydia-hosek

@madamescarlette

@mademoiseli

@magpie-trove

@mels-library

@mrgartist

@muse-write

@phoebeamorryce

@poetry-vs-depression

@rockinlibrarian

@rosesnvines

@saxifrage-wreath

@secret--psalms--saturn

@secretariatess

@swinging-stars-from-satellites

@thatsastepladder

@thebirdandhersong

@west-toasty

@wildlyironicbee

Writing resources, including the Challenge overview, FAQ, writing prompts, and discussions of the genres are available at the Inklings Challenge Directory. Any writers with further questions can contact the Inklings Challenge blog for guidance.

Welcome to the Inklings Challenge, everyone! Now go forth and create!

#inklingschallenge #inklings challenge 2023 #team lewis

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