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tennessoui · 2 years

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Could u rec some more (obikin) fics please?

sure! to shake things up a bit, here's a list of wips I'm really excited for (for a variety of reasons, but mostly because i want more people to read wips)

(i've tried to include a mix of ratings and tags, but i just went through my history for these, so if there's a lot of a specific tag, i had a micro-obsession and no shame):

Passion by why-is-my-nose-a-carrot (updates to this story and their previous one literally make my day, I'm obsessed with their writing style and story choices and i could literally go on and on this is probably the wip i'm most hyped about)

Taking Care by @ragnarlothcat (always obsessed with a good mission fic paired with a feelings realization that then blends seamlessly into 'i did not just have that feelings realization what are you talking about don't be silly.')

earthshine by posthumous_vigor (deaged obi-wan and emperor vader and baby twins who just want their uncle ben back while vaderkin misses his master but appreciates the younger version, but really, really misses his master's kisses)

do you know the name faith by heian (padawan obi-wan & master anakin, force dyad, so promising, huge love and huge anticipation)

How Hondo Ohnaka Accidentally Saved the Galaxy by DontCallMeShirley (super funny, love the concept, love Hondo's voice--he drugs obikin so that they don't interfere with his plans. they don't. they get married instead. Just. So good.)

Νόστος by NFx (I love a Hades/Persephone fic, I mean--I did write one myself but I'm just so excited to read one. I never get tired of these! This is just chef's kiss on my favorite sort of possessive and protective tropes.)

Blindfold me (I'm the only witness) by @lilredghost (jeez i love this, very explicitly porn very 'speaking to the id'. consensual somno so as to sidestep obi-wan's massive guilt complex)

Any Other World by @mysticmjolnir (I was so excited to see this update!! it's been one of my favorite Post-Kenobi show release fics. Like. Just the angst! the hurt! the longing! an anakin and an obi-wan who want their anakin and obi-wan but also want each other because they're the closest they may ever come to the their obi-wan and anakin again)

Welcome Surprises by nephilimswitchlight (such a sweet fic, where anakin surprises obi-wan with his presence on his birthday)

soft, warm, mine by lovbaby (oof. salivating at this fic concept, cannot wait for a second chapter. i can already tell the misunderstandings will be BEAUTIFUL)

if this isn't nice, what is? by anonymous (anakin learns how to jerk off with his new mechno hand. he also learns how to jerk off while thinking about obi-wan. delicious. cannot wait for more)

this land is mine, but i'll let you rule by travellingcircus (i would follow travellingcircus wherever they lead; i love their fics and have probably reread them constantly. in this one, anakin buys a slave to help him on his moisture farm but like. obi-wan's definitely a jedi. right? right??)

bodies (& the celestial reimagination) by @noona96n (i just found this fic last night but it's absolutely darling, i love any fic that starts with anakin as a baby padawan and him hero-worshipping obi-wan im a weak gal i have simple needs. i cannot wait to see how this story develops going forward!)

we're swimming with the sharks (until we drown) by @coldwaughtered (another fic I found just last night, but in love! high-powered, put together lawyer and smitten anakin with probably equally smitten obi-wan but the pov is anakin's so that comes off stronger at first + fake marriage for more money which i guess means obi-wan was like if this twunk marries someone else i'll stop being distracted and NOT fall into a consensual workplace relationship only for that to majorly backfire! love the playing with the timeline as well)

The Other Half of My Soul by RedMetalWitch (It took a few months to convince myself to read this as I wasn't quite sure on how absolved of his sins/darkness Anakin would be--my greatest fear unless i'm in a particular once a year sort of mood is a uwu darth vader--but i absolutely adore this fic. i don't know who isn't already following it, but worth the read!)

Shutting the eye of reason by anonymous (another guilty pleasure fic, where anakin is extremely jealous of qui-gon for taking up all of his master's time, and decides to do something about it. mainly by seducing him.)

and of course to round off the list, my beautiful and constant obsession and pipedream that one day it will update if only i keep the faith:

Open Circle by Calyss (my absolute favorite take on sith obi-wan i've ever read. I cannot explain more. It's just so good.)

#asks #obikin #fic recs #support your local wips #i haven't had much time to read lately #but these are some of my subscribed stories #there's a ton of talent in obikin fandom though so i know im missing some up and coming fics that i know are gonna rock my world :D #long post #also if you see your fic here and have a tumblr you want me to tag pls lemme know

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idyat · 1 year

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Sanford x Bartender reader

The room spinning around you

Summary: He was a regular at your bar. Naturally, you became good "friends".

WARNINGS: Alcohol, mentions of corpses and smoking

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It was yet another ordinary night at the bar. Clients rushing in after a good day of murder and destruction. It seems like alcohol is one of the few things nevadeans wanted to leave intact. You couldn't blame them, it was one way to forget about one's shitty life, despite destroying their body in the process.

But there's no time to dwell on thoughts! This is the busy hours! So get to work!

And you did. Serving up all the toxic beverages needed until the already strong smell of booze and cigarettes was just straight up harassing the nostrils of anyone nearby.

But even with the huge charge of work on your shoulders, your mind still found the ability to focus on when a particular client was going to cross the doors of your shop. One you've found yourself chatting with almost everytime he came, which was quite a lot since he was a common customer of yours.

You heard the bars doors open.

There he was. The arsonist himself.

"Hey Sanford, getting the usual tonight?"

"Yep!"

You quickly passed him his glass. He often arrived a bit late, but that wasn't a problem, as it meant you had less customers on your throat and therefore more time for talking.

"Thanks for the drink! Here, that's extra for another." He said while passing you some cash, at which you grinned and leaned over to whisper.

"Is this money yours?"

"Can't be the corpse I took it from's!"

You laughed "Yup, guess that makes sense!"

The rest of the night was like this. You serving glasses of cheap booze to Sanford while laughing and talking about whatever was going on in this shitty state (you were serving your other clients of course).

But the thing is, when someone binge-drinks alcohol no one bothered to check for ethanol levels, they most likely get very drunk or drop dead right there. Thankfully, the mass-murderer in front of you could survive being stabbed like 127 times, so after everyone else left, it was just you and the incoherent babblings of this man in the bar.

"You should-*hic!* You should have seen their face!" Sanford's loud laughter echoed through the room as he told you about yet another dumb ennemy's death. "His aim was worse than Hank's...caba...capatylipy at being a good person!" This was at least the fourth time he said the same thing about that agent's aim and failed to correctly say "capability", but it wasn't a problem.

"They really got that stormtrooper aim huh?"

"*hic!* Hehe yeah!"

There was an akward silence between you yoo before the drunkard rested his head on his hand (he missed, by the way) and spoke up.

"Y'know...You're really nice..." It was probably the alcohol, but it felt like his face got redder.

You smiled with a hum "Thank you, I return the compliment."

"Like...*hic!*The whole rooms blurry and spinny right now but I can still see your prettyness aalll fiiine..!"

...Not taking any risks. He is absolutely wasted after all. "You're drunk Sanford."

Even if you were a rather calm person, you definitely couldn't stop your heart from skipping a beat when he put his hand on yours, resting on the counter. Looking up at his eyes, they looked serious; he wasn't smiling anymore.

"Then ask me when I'm not, I'll tell you I love you the exact same way."

And then he passed out.

...

Well damn. How were you supposed to react to this. Sure, you might secretly have had a small thing for Sanford for a while now. But did you expect him to reciprocate? No, absolutely not. It was unrealistic to think this "heartless monster" could feel any affection at all, let alone romantic. And yet here you were, contemplating your existence and feelings in front of a dead asleep majorly wanted criminal.

After what seemed like an eternity, you finally picked up the phone peeking out his pocket to call one of his friends to pick him up.

...What? It's not like you were going to look at anything else on there! How else were you supposed to bring him home? It's not like you could just keep him here for the night!

Internal monologuing aside, you sent a text to his best friend Deimos explaining Sanford was asleep and all that stuff. You knew Deimos decently well, Sanford very often brings him to the bar. You knew you could trust this man with bringing his best friend home. Not sure about not drawing on his face while he's asleep.

Welp, now all you had to do is wait. Wait right next to the sleeping man who drunkenly said he loved you...

...Probably won't remember it either...

......They often say you admit how you truly feel when you're drunk, right..?

.........It'll just be one...One little kiss to his cheek he will not know anything about as you whisper your words.

"I love you too Sanford."

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Hooolyy shit I procrastinated on this story for so long. But here it is, Sanford finally gets laid.

#madness combat #madcom #madcom x reader #madness combat x reader #mc sanford #madcom sanford #madness combat sanford #madcom sanford x reader #sanford x reader #madness combat sanford x reader #MC Sanford x reader

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id0ntkn0w0101 · 1 year

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How to Plan a Book for Spontaneous Overthinkers - Basic Planning

Greetings readers and writers, in this post I will go over how I am planning my current novel. As always, please note that I am not a published author, just someone who has been writing for as long as I can remember and has both autism and a very short attention span. This means that my 'tism needs me to plan or I get overwhelmed, but my attention span hates the long process of planning and gets bored writing something that's already planned. So this is how I do my basic planning.

As mentioned in the previous post, this is the mindmap I use in OneNote for my planning. It's divided into steps, so I have markers for what needs to be done but is vague enough that I don't feel like I'm writing an essay about my idea. Here's how it works:

Genre Expectations: What are the expectations a reader will have if they look up your genre at the bookstore and find your book? If you're wanting to make money off of it, what will people want to read in that genre? For more information on this particular step, please see my previous post in this little series, found on my page.

The second step technically depends on preference. Sometimes I plan my setting first and other times I plan my characters. 2A: What is the status quo? This means what is the norm in this world. In order for their to be conflict, something needs to have changed. What disrupts the status quo? This could be a dragon attacking a medieval city or something as simple as a character getting broken up with. 2B: Who are your characters? I recommend 3 positive MCs at most, because any more than that will be hard to write AND hard to read. Which characters are the protagonists and which are the antagonists. Some characters may not be positive or negative, or they could change sides throughout the story. But the important thing to know is that you need at least 1 positive main character and at least 1 negative main character. I like to think of it as the antagonist pushing the story forward and the protagonist pulling the story back to normalcy. To tie it in to 2A, the protagonist is pulling the world back to the status quo.

What plot points do you know happen? Don't push yourself to plot map everything all at once if you don't know everything yet. Simply write down what you do know in chronological order. As a vague example: 1)Main character gets broken up with right as a major catastrophe occurs, 2)Main character slowly heals and meets someone new, 3)Main character discovers that their new lover was the one who caused the catastrophe. Ideally you'll have 5 plot points: 2 for the introduction/rising action, 1 for the climax, 1 for the falling action, and 1 for the conclusion. However, the more you plan everything else, the easier it will be to figure out the rest of the plot, so only write down what you already know. It's worth mentioning that this planning method will likely be used mostly for the first draft, and your plot points can majorly change once you write more and finish your first draft.

Where does all of this take place? I like to do this step now because by now I usually have a good idea of where everything is taking place. I recommend having a setting for each of the major plot points from the previous step, plus a general idea for the world this takes place in as a whole. Even if your book takes place in our own world, you still need to establish a general setting.

Themes! I love having this as my final step, because I usually know what my themes are by the end of the other planning steps. However, I am not an expert in themes, so if you aren't sure what themes your own work has, I recommend researching and figuring out what sticks. The theme is essentially the last piece of a puzzle: Sure it can exist without the last piece, but it will never be complete without it.

I hope you all enjoyed this post! I most likely won't be continuing the daily guide posts like this until I finish plot planning my own work in progress, but I might do a bit of a "writing diary" where I recap the work I do on my planning on the days where I work on it. If you have any questions and aren't an ass, please comment!

#writers #writing advice #creative writing #writeblr #writing #writers block #on writing #writer

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jazzytrait · 2 years

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So... I'm just gonna come out and say it because it will probably be obvious in my posts over time: I'm not a fan of kids. If you wanna go down this rat hole with me, keep reading.

In most people's minds that makes me some kind of asshole, but really. I just do not have the energy or patience for children. This is coming form someone who used to babysit, work in daycares and initially enrolled in school as an elementary education major. (That changed SO QUICK after the daycare job)

I don't have anything against them individually. I love my 8 yr old nephew (he's kooky af), but I can only deal with him for about an hour before I'm like "Ok someone please come get this kid."

I'm not a mother. At one point I intended to be, but life had its own ideas and it turns out that without some majorly expensive medical help that was not going to happen for me. I was also young and from a poverty home, so there was no money for such things. At first it was sad, but as I got older I saw all my friends having kids and watching them struggle. Their marriages fell apart because of the shift in focus and the stress, they had no more time for their interests or hobbies, they were no longer the same people I knew... they became "Mommy". It was kinda scary, honestly. I did a lot of research and found some studies showing that having a baby can often decrease happiness in a marriage by over 60% and it only ever recovers by like 10% on average. Couple that with the general "loss of identity" that many mothers experience, risks of health complications, things like post-partum depression and not to mention the financial implications of a child. I felt like I dodged a bullet in a lot of ways by being unable to have children. I've been able to travel, move to some great cities, enjoy some awesome experiences that would have otherwise been MUCH harder or more expensive with a child. I indulge in my hobbies and interests and give my attention and care (that would have been focused on a child) to my significant other. We focus on making our lives better just for us. It may seem selfish, but we get to exist and enjoy ourselves however we want and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

So, how does this relate to The Sims 4 and my gameplay style? I'm just not very kid-focused. My sims have kids to advance a legacy and that's really the only reason. The babies are just annoying little alarms that go off every so often that you have to hit snooze on (though that baby anim from the Behind the Sims Summit looks interesting) and the toddlers are SO MUCH WORK. They need near constant monitoring! It's stressful and annoying. For a long time I would just age up babies and toddlers immediately and move on. I find the interesting part of a sim's life really begins as a teen and everything else is just foundational.

So, I will probably never focus on kids. There probably won't be any adorable posed photos with the toddlers and my overall attitude to my sims having babies/toddlers is somewhere along the lines of "Please make it stop". I have so much respect for mothers who have more patience and grace than I. It's just not me.

There was really no purpose to this rant other than to just vent my frustration about it because... my sim is pregnant again and I'm already preemptively annoyed! But it's ok. There are all kinds of people and all kinds of simmers with all kinds of play-styles. Whether you're a family simmer and just can't get enough of them babies or someone who focuses solely on adults or any other measure in the spectrum of styles in-between... It's cool. Be you, play you, don't feel like any one way is the right way to play. Yadda yadda yadda... [insert platitudes]... ✌️👽

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annie-blackhill · 3 years

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Aight, I know that I've been away for awhile but now I'm back and I have ideas babes!

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Warnings:

Depression

Anxiety

Past panic attacks

Mentions of past domestic violence

Abusive childhood

Post traumatic events unconscious coping mechanisms

Unconscious flinching out of instinct

Sudden panic when hearing fighting between a man and a woman screaming very near

Loss of breath

Domestic violence

Blood

Panic attack

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Dazai Osamu

________________

Safe and Sound

________________

Dazai and (Y/N) have been in a relationship for two years now. They're so in love with each other that everyone at the ADA are questioning the fact as to why they weren't married yet.

Dazai really loves (Y/N) and she loves him just as much back. They both really love each other and they both understand each other the most too.

But there were still some things that Dazai didn't know.

The main reason why (Y/N) and Dazai weren't married yet was because Dazai wanted to get her parents' blessings first. He was so excited to get their blessings, to meet the people who brought his perfectly imperfect lover into this cruel, tainted world.

He was eternally grateful to them for bringing her into this world, although the cruel world had tainted her and made her the broken person she is now, he still loves her for her. She's the only reason he has to live now. And he loves her for that.

Whenever Dazai asked (Y/N) about her family, she would tell him stories about when she was a child and how her dad would bring them to the beach every weekend because they lived near to the beach or when they went back to school shopping together.

But that was it. Her dad never really appeared in her other stories much. He would pop in at some point of the tale and then disappear. Her mum, was mostly the one to witness her achievements.

But (Y/N) has never described her parents' proud expressions whenever she achieved something.

At times, when Dazai did pry lightly, she would turn the story somewhere else, mostly to her friends.

He knew that she didn't really have a good primary school life, seeing as she's told him before that she's been bullied at that time. She's described them as the loneliest years of her life and how much she's hated herself those times.

Whenever (Y/N) talked about friends, it would be about her friends from her high school life. Her high school was much more on the better side.

She had been a prefect in her high school years, since her first year to her last year.

The only bad memories she had was when she realized that being in the first class and being the top of the class meant the other students would sabotage her and the two times in her senior years where she had to fight back as self-defense when she tried to break up a fight and they started to hit her too.

Dazai wasn't daft. Of course, he picked up on all the signs she showed that she wasn't really fond of her parents.

At first, he thought that it was just because of a small fight they had. But two years have passed in their relationship and (Y/N) hasn't cracked even the least to tell him why her childhood stories are only until a certain age or why she's never told him how proud her parents were of her.

Dazai was worried. In the end, he decided that maybe her parents just have a slightly tight relationship with each other.

Dazai decided to not ask. He let it slide and slip past them. He never touched the subject of her parents for the half of the second year of their relationship.

As the other half year of their relationship rolled in, Dazai and (Y/N) had saved enough money to buy a cozy little apartment near the ADA and move out of the ADA's hostel.

The day they were moving in, the couple were greeted by the middle aged woman who lived next door with her husband and 4 year old daughter.

She had been a very sweet auntie that welcome the sweet couple to the apartment complex with open arms and a sweet smile.

More than once had she cooked good food for the duo since they always returned late from work.

"You two kinda remind me of how my husband and I used to be when we were younger and so in love," the auntie would say to the duo all the time.

The little 4 year old would also come by and play around with the loving couple whenever they were on leave.

Auntie would always try persuade her daughter from "disturbing the lovely young couple" as she would always say to her daughter.

"It's alright, auntie! I love kids! (N/N)-chan and I are planning to have a few little munchkins like this when we're married too!" Dazai would assure her, while playing with the little girl.

But there was always something about how (Y/N) would send the auntie knowing looks as though she knew something that he didn't all the time, so he decided to pay more attention too.

When Dazai did start to notice more, he noticed the dark bags under the auntie's eyes and he noticed how tired she always was.

The more he noticed the more concerning she looked to him day by day.

"Auntie, would you like to join us for tea, today? Osamu and I wanted to play with that sweet little angel," (Y/N) invited the auntie.

"WHO'S THAT AT THE DOOR???!!!" the booming voice of the male from inside the auntie's house shook (Y/N) to the core and it ignited old memories that she didn't have to remember.

"Auntie, you really should come. Osamu insists! You know how he gets when he doesn't get what he wants! He'll be whining all day long like a little baby!" (Y/N) tried to convince the auntie discreetly.

"I ASKED 'WHO'S THAT AT THE DOOR'! ANSWER ME YOU USELESS WOMAN!!!" the man shouted from the bedroom again.

(Y/N) flinched. She was regretting sending Dazai to the store now. They had been running low on groceries and she had sent Dazai to the store, as she would say "please contribute you're lazy arse to do something in this household, my love" and he had carried his lazy arse to the store near the apartment complex.

After Dazai had left was when she started to hear the shouts and yells from the next door auntie's house.

Even as the bad memories plunged her being, she had forced herself to go and at least try to save the auntie before anything bad happened to either her or her daughter.

But even then, if you looked closely at (Y/N) you could see that she was trembling badly and that she could barely stand on her two feet.

"Auntie, come on please!" (Y/N) begged in a mutter exclamation.

"I'm sorry," the auntie murmured before closing the door on her with an apologetic smile.

"Auntie, no!" (Y/N) exclaimed.

And that was when she heard the terrible screams and the yell. The cries of the little 4 year old teared her soul apart into the smallest of pieces.

"NO, NO, NO!!!!" (Y/N) yelled as her mind turned blank and the memories flooded her brain.

Her mind turned so blank that she forgot that she was slamming her fists onto the door and that she had an ability.

The memories of how her father would come home drunk and lay on the sofa. Of how her mother had found out that he was having an affair. Of how, he would beat the living daylights out of her mother.

(Y/N) never told Dazai any of that. She felt ashamed to tell him that her childhood was the most terrible thing to ever happen to her.

A blood curdling screamed pierced the air along with a loud cry and that was enough for (Y/N) to snap out of her traumas and remember that there were lives on the stake right now.

She finally regained her senses fully and remembered that she has an ability.

Using her elemental abilities, she bent the wooden front door so much that it broke it half and broke off of it's hinges. The lower half flew to the side of the corridor almost hitting her while the other half flew into the house and hit the middle aged aggressive man that was about to beat his wife over the head with a glass flower vase.

The auntie stood in shock as the younger woman ran to her and hugged her.

"Auntie! Are you alright?! Are you bleeding anywhere?! Do you have any fatal injuries?!" (Y/N) questioned quickly as she held the shorter's woman's face in her hands and looked her over, making sure that she wasn bleeding anywhere majorly.

"Why you little freak show! You must one of those freak shows that are born with those little abilities! How dare you interfere with someone else's family problems?! Youngsters these days don't know how to respect their elders! Let me teach you then!" the man yelled at (Y/N) as she stood in front of the trembling woman, making sure that the older woman was perfectly hidden behind her.

(Y/N) slipped a hand into the back pocket of her jeans. She clutched the holster of her gun.

"Step away, right now before I seriously hurt you," (Y/N) warned as she held her left hand out to stop him from coming any nearer to them.

The man took off his belt and folded it into two, straightening it out with a snap, which caused both women to flinch as more dark memories flooded into (Y/N)'s mind.

"I said STOP RIGHT THERE!" (Y/N) warned yet again. It was against the law for her to shoot him and she couldn't even use her abilities against him as he was a normal civilian.

She was trying her best to not hurt anyone here and let the civilian authorities handle the ruthless man.

The moment the man raised his arm was the same time (Y/N) slipped her gun out of her back pocket and shot his arm.

The man let out a cry of pain and fell back from the sudden pain. He looked at the younger woman, wide eyed as she held the gun tight and pointed the barrel to his forehead.

"Armed Detective Agency member, (L/N) (Y/N)," (Y/N) announced as she showed him her ADA card.

The man backed away more at that. His eyes wide as he realized that she was a member of the authorities.

"(Y/N)?!" Dazai shouted as he entered only to see the bloodied situation of the man and the two trembling women.

"Where's the child?!" Dazai asked immediately.

"Sh-she's in her room," the auntie answered meekly.

Dazai nodded. He looked down at the man, disgust, venom and a desire to kill clear on his face.

The man even then, still tried to gain Dazai's pity as Dazai was a fellow man too.

"S-sir! All I was trying to do was educate my wife to be more better and obedient! I wasn't trying to do anything other than that! I swear!" the man said.

That only made Dazai even more disgusted as he spat on the man's face in disgust. He stomped his foot harshly on the man's hand that was holding the belt.

"You disgust me you old fool! You're an utter disgrace of a human being! I'm disgusted to see people like you are still alive! Terrorizing women's lives! Making them only feel like obedient dolls that should only do whatever you say!

I'd rather kill you then let you go to jail and then get back out after a few months! People like you shouldn't exist at all in the first place!

Your wife is supposed to be your life partner! Not some maid or toy that would do everything you say! You're supposed to live life and do everything together!

I can't believe you even had a child with her only to state your dominance over her and make her unable to run away from you!

You disgust me!" Dazai yelled at the man as he twisted his foot on the man's hand more and stomped it over and over and over again, intent on breaking it.

(Y/N) shielded the auntie's sight form her lover's rage as he broke the man's hand and rendered it completely shattered under his shoe.

"Osamu..." (Y/N) called out for him.

Dazai raised his head to look at his lover, tears streaming from his eyes from utter pure white hot rage.

"Are you alright? Are the two of you alright? Is that little angel injured?" Dazai's voice turned so soft that (Y/N)'s heart broke at the mere sound of it. He sounded as scared as she was feeling.

Dazai went over to the two women and squeezed them into a light hug, he buried his face into the crook of (Y/N)'s neck. (Y/N) hugged his waist, her arm practically limp, but her hand still clutching the gun tight just in case the man tried anything, her ear was placed against his frantically beating heart.

The older woman had wrapped her arm over his back and was hugging him tight, scared out of her life and grateful for the presence of the two youngsters at the moment.

"Osamu... We need to call the police and the ADA, specifically Kunikida-san. We need to explain a hell load to them all," (Y/N) murmured lightly to the shaken man.

Dazai nodded lightly at her statement before pressing a light kiss to the crook of her neck and removing himself from the hold of the two women.

"Auntie, do get your little girl and wait outside of the house. (Y/N) and I will call the police and our co-worker to handle the mess here," Dazai informed the older woman.

She merely nodded, not trusting her voice to be strong enough to answer him as she went to the little girl's bedroom to get her out of the house.

Once the child and woman were safely out of the house, Dazai dialed Kunikida while (Y/N) dialed the police station.

Both at had arrived at the house. The man was brought away on a stretcher by the paramedics as (Y/N) was explaining to the police as to why she had used her gun.

Kunikida and Dazai, both standing on either side of her, trying to justify the reason as to why she did so and the police accepted the reasons in the end.

Dazai said his end of the story and then they moved on to ask the wife and the child about their ends of the story.

"(Y/N), you know you shouldn't have used your gun. I'll have to confiscate it for now. You'll only be allowed to use it on missions. I'm sorry but those are the rules that you need to follow after that little act of 'misusage' as the police says," Kunikida sighed as he took the gun lightly from her slightly slackened grasp on it now.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I was scared and he raised the belt above me, ready to hit at any moment---" her voice cracked and she couldn't continue the sentence anymore.

Kunikida held her hand softly as Dazai brought (Y/N) into a soft side hug, holding her softly and rubbing her shoulders.

"I know and that's why I'm the one that's supposed to be saying sorry for taking away your gun, (Y/N)," Kunikida said.

"Hey, hey. It's alright, the both of you. I'll pull some strings here and there and make sure, (Y/N) gets her gun back, alright? Easy peasy!" Dazai lightened the mood up a little.

"Sigh, thank you, Dazai. For making this easier for all of us," Kunikida said before excusing himself, saying that he needs to fill out a few more forms at the police station and make sure that neither Dazai or (Y/N) get accused for anything that they didn't do.

Dazai proceeded to lead (Y/N) back to their little home as the auntie and her daughter were led to the second ambulance by the new paramedics.

(Y/N) leaned into Dazai as she curled up onto him. He held her close and tight, knowing full well that she was shaken up from the encounter.

"Osamu... Remember how you always asked for the truth about my childhood... What you witnessed today that was happening to that auntie and her daughter? That's the real truth to my childhood.

But no one saved us. And as I grew and my dad lived his other life with his little affair, he would come and go to let off steam on my mother and my mother started to blame me for how miserable our lives were.

That's why I never had a past occupation like everyone else. I had been working with the ADA ever since I was 18 and I ran away from her.

The president helped me. He helped my mother by providing her safety and a new home.

My father is still out there, somewhere with that other woman.

And I... I've never seen my mother since the day I ran away. She must be happier now," (Y/N) said, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Dazai hugged her closer and kissed her forehead.

"It's alright, love. You have me and the other ADA members for you as well now. Hell, even the Port Mafia is with you right now after how much you helped them out when we were all having trouble with The Guild and Fyodor. You have all of us here for you.

Most importantly, my love, you have me. I won't let anyone so much as hurt you even a little bit and go off the hook.

I swear," Dazai murmured softly into her ear and she snuggled closer to him, their feets touching and their hands interwined with each other's.

____________________________________

"Port Mafia strikes again as a man who was arrested yesterday due to commiting domestic violence was murdered by them brutally in his own jail cell much to the surprise of all the police officers present.

Police officers were considering requesting the Armed Detective Agency to further an investigation at first, but has now decided against it as the chief of the police station has deemed it as a waste since the man was a criminal," the news reporter announced on the morning news as (Y/N) sipped her (bitter/sweet/neutral) (coffee/tea) and Dazai adorable chewed his crab sandwich.

"Who did you ask to do it?" (Y/N) asked immediately as soon as Dazai swallowed.

"Chuuya was more than willing after I told him the story. I didn't even have to tell him which police station and cell that scum was in, he ran off and figured it all out himself and finished the job," Dazai answered before continuing to adorably eat his crab sandwich.

"That scum deserved it," (Y/N) agreed as she continue sipping her (coffee/tea).

____________________________________

Awareness Note:

Stop domestic violence. The pain lingers on even after the relationship has ended. No one should have to be bounded to a spouse that only views them as an object and an inferior instead of a human being and an equal. No one has to go through physical and mental pain with a monster that prefers to take control of everything. No one has to go through such pain.

Marriage isn't pain! Marriage is a bond of two people who love each other!

If it hurts both physically and mentally, then it's not love.

Know the difference.

#stopdomesticviolence #dazai osamu #bsd dazai #bungou stray dogs #dazai osamu x reader #dazai x y/n #dazai x you #dazaibsd #dazai oneshot #dazai x reader #dazai x reader fluff #comfort

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your-brilliant-lady-m · 3 years

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Part 1 - Basic Concepts of Miraculous Ladybug: Miraculous Jewels

Alright! I promised you meta and now I deliver!

I feel like people mostly watch Miraculous for the romance these days. Shipping is all everyone cares about. I wonder why? Probably because writers themselves don't take their worldbuilding very seriously and because they don't put much effort into making the audience care about something other than Love Square, like the mythology behind the Miraculous, or motivations of the main villain, or some pretty heavy topics for a kid's show that they bring up and then refuse to touch again. You know, all the good things. And this is coming from someone who is a passionate multishipper. I have lived through several shipping wars in different fandoms and came out victorious after all.

I am probably the only person out there who cares about the big picture, the overall storyline and the worldbuilding of Miraculous in addition to all details and implications that could develop into fascinating plotlines relevant to the main story. It is a rather lonely fandom experience, I must confess. But, hey? Who cares? I am here to have fun and bring to the table discussions no one wants to have.

So, let's talk about the basics.

If you, as the writing team, are capable of keeping only 1 thing consistent, then please, I beg you, let it be the basic concepts of your universe. Because in this case, one has to actively put effort into writing characters and conflict resolutions badly. And also because nothing can save bad worldbuilding.

I don't have high worldbuilding standards for Miraculous. They certainly aren't as high as the ones I had for Legend of Korra (which was a badly written trainwreck, that ATLA doesn't deserve as a sequel) or the ones I currently have for Dragon Prince. Therefore I won't be too harsh in my criticisms. Granted, I think that Miraculous has better worldbuilding and lore consistency than Winx Club for example (I haven't seen the reboot yet, so writers might have fixed their worldbuilding at least a little bit). Even though I enjoyed Winx when I was younger and some elements of this story still attract me.

Both serialised and episodic shows as well as movies to the lesser extent must have some flexibility in worldbuilding and plot because you can never be 100% sure where your story is going. Maybe, you'll get money for more seasons, maybe not. However, you must never lose sight of your basic concepts. They have to stay the same no matter what, because rewriting lore and retconning major developments every new season is not and never will be called good writing.

Forgive me for using architectural metaphors, but you need a solid foundation to build any kind of structure. Otherwise, everything falls apart.

I like to apply this logic to writing as well. When designing a world where your story takes place, you must lay a few ground rules. It's especially important if you have a magic system. What kind of ideas absolutely must exist? What kind of conclusion do you want your story to have? Does your magic system has limitations? Where is the grey area? Could you introduce new elements later on?

And I feel like the writing team of Miraculous Ladybug did not ask these questions. This may feel like I am nit-picking canon material and looking for problems that simply aren't there, but I promise that I am not. You see, things that I am about to point out only seem small at first glance. But these details are actually the source of the largest plotholes in the series. And their presence negatively affects character development, conflicts and resolutions of said conflicts.

That doesn't mean that I have nothing good to say about the magic system of the show and its elements. There are a lot of great ideas and concepts. And some of them have the potential to contribute to the delightful story.

Let's dive right into it, shall we?

Camouflage

I have to give credit where it's due because the idea of camouflage and shapeshifting for Miraculouses is brilliant. It seems like Miraculous can't fundamentally change its type of jewellery or accessory. The ring will always be the ring but with a different ornament, colour or shape. This is true most of the time (Monkey Miraculous is an exception since it transformed into earplugs/headphones/headband/circlet) It makes sense and avoids plotholes. Grimoire doesn't have the pictures of each Miraculous in disguise for identity protection. That was very neat too. I have no comments. This concept was very good.

Also, since Marinette wore a nose ring of the Ox in "Kwamibuster" without any problem and Adrien wore Ladybug's earrings in "Reflekdoll", we can assume that you don't need to have piercings to wear a Miraculous. Miraculous just magically passes through your skin.

I'm interested to know the following. Can Kwamis recognise a camouflaged Miraculous on a person? Can the holder order them to confess the identity of this person? This shouldn't be possible for identity protection just like with Kwamis sensing each other. But more on that in later posts.

Power Levels

For a long time, we assume that there are only 7 Miraculouses. Turtle belongs to Master Fu, Gabriel has Butterfly and Peacock, Marinette and Adrien have Ladybug and Black Cat. Everything is pretty straightforward. Then it's revealed that there are more jewels and more boxes. It makes the worldbuilding interesting, but it also majorly complicates things, making them inconsistent.

Their position in the Miracle Box implies their power levels. Creation and destruction are the most powerful forces in existence, therefore they are at the top. Moreover, it makes this Box the most important, the most powerful out of all others. Su Han in "Furious Fu" calls it "Mother Miracle Box". Fox, Turtle, Bee, Butterfly and Peacock have less power than the main pair, but more than the Miraculous of the lower Zodiac tier (since they correspond with animals of the Chinese Zodiac).

1. Ladybug can create anything out of nothing (Lucky Charm, which gives what you need the most at the moment). This Miraculous can resurrect the dead, reverse the effects of the Cataclysm. The power of Miraculous Cure or Miraculous Ladybug can work in several ways:

it simply repairs the damage (puts stuff back together, heals injuries and so on)

it reverses time for the matter, restoring things back to the state they were before the destruction occurred (however, the Cure doesn't erase people's memories of everything that happened unless they were mind-controlled, frozen in place or transformed by Akuma into something else - this is an important point that I'll discuss some other time)

How does Miraculous Cure work when there are no supervillians? In NY Special Marinette just says this.

Excuse me, what? What was that? You can't do anything when the villain is gone? What the hell?

*insert here every scene where Ladybug fixed Paris after destroying akumatized/amokized object (this action causes the Akuma victim to detransform/sentimonster to disappear - villain is gone) and purifying butterfly and feather*

It was such cheap angst. I couldn't even be upset when Adrien gave up his Miraculous, because that whole situation is just stupid. But, never mind. We aren't talking about that today.

Apparently, Lucky Charm and Miraculous Cure only work when summoned to battle a specific villain. What is the point then? Huh? You can't tell me that Ladybug has the power of unlimited creation and then say that she can't repair the damage without a special Lucky Charm that was magically synchronised with specific big bad of the week.

Ladybug also can purify Akumas. It makes sense for Ladybug to have the ability to reverse the magic of less powerful Miraculous. But this power can't be applied universally. How does this power of reversal apply to different situations where there is no evil Butterfly holder? Can Ladybug reverse the magic of any Miraculous?

The unlimited power of creation introduced in season 4 ("Mr. Pidgeon 72") is another fascinating thing. On one hand, it's logical and proves the status of this Miraculous as the most powerful. On the other hand, by introducing this power, you have created a plothole. Look, Marinette can create the charm which repels Akumas. If Ladybug can create anything then what stops her from creating a tool for finding Hawkmoth (like special glasses for discovering identities or a compass)? I mean, the show says that the power of creation is unlimited, it means that the creation of such tool is possible.

2. Black Cat can destroy anything with Cataclysm, even other Miraculous. He can kill living things and turn them into ash, but not himself. This Miraculous is supposed to have other special abilities that we don't see. And they should be equal to powers of Ladybug, both in number and in potency. Unfortunately, after 3 seasons writers didn't give us anything. It makes laughable the idea of balance between Ladybug and Black Cat.

Now, to the second tier. These Miraculouses have a singular ability, but they need a second one to keep the power balanced between Zodiac and the main pair.

3. Butterfly creates champions with different superpowers. But how does the time limit of children work for Butterfly? In theory, the countdown should start right after the creation of the Akuma since for Ladybug and Chat Noir countdown starts after activation of their powers even if they don't use them. However, if the countdown of the Butterfly begins after Akuma creation then there's no point because the holder has to stay transformed to guide their champion. The charged butterfly won't have time to even grant powers before the transformation of the child-holder drops. This issue is never explored because Gabriel doesn't have a time limit. However, I feel like it should be addressed in flashbacks of past Butterfly holders for example.

This Miraculous should be less powerful than Ladybug and Black Cat. It's often not. Some Akumas are too overpowered. Stormy Weather can move the Earth away from the Sun, Timetagger can send people through time and jump through time as well, Chat Blanc destroyed the world with a single energy blast, Miraculer could steal powers of those more powerful than her by default. These are the most notable examples. One could argue that Chat Blanc was a different case. Hawkmoth simply gave the most powerful Miraculous a boost. However, we know that even without a holder (the wildest and the most powerful form of uncontrolled Miraculous magic) Plagg's Cataclysm can't destroy the universe just like that (he presumably wiped out dinosaurs and sunk Atlantis on his own without a holder). I think that the less powerful Miraculous (Butterfly) shouldn't be able to increase the power of destruction to such a degree and give Black Cat the power to destroy celestial bodies and galaxies.

Writers want us to see Hawkmoth as the formidable villain. But it's not easy because he is less powerful than your main heroes by default of your worldbuilding. Sometimes writers make the Butterfly more powerful than creation and destruction to raise the stakes, breaking the laws of their magic system. So, how do you solve this? Let Ladybug and Black Cat keep their status as the most powerful and instead of giving Hawkmoth more magical power, make him smarter, more cunning, inventive. Gabriel is a fashion designer, whose creativity makes him a very good Butterfly holder. He has a life full of experience, he knows much more about things than the main teenage characters. Catalyst was very interesting for this very reason. Gabriel sort of discovered a cheat code to boost his powers. Show us how he experiments with his powers, how he analyses his past Akumas and tries to find the most effective ones. Maybe Gabriel tries to design Akumas that can specifically neutralise Ladybug and Chat Noir. This exploration could also give writers an opportunity to explain how the powers of Butterfly work. Can he control the type of powers he grants? Can he control the appearance of Akumas? There are many things to be explored.

4. Peacock creates sentimonsters. I remember that fans were very disappointed when the power of the Peacock was revealed at the end of season 2. I was one of them. The concept of Amoks is far too similar to akumatized butterflies. Other Miraculouses have unique abilities and keywords for their powers, while Peacock just looks like Butterfly 2.0. That glowing mask effect just adds insult to injury.

You have to start by figuring out the powers of the Peacock in a normal situation. If a holder is a good person, then how does their power work? For example, make them related to sight (because of the "eye" pattern on feathers). Maybe, Peacock grants the ability to see the several possibilities of the future, but only a few minutes ahead. Maybe, this Miraculous gives you the ability to see through someone's eyes for a few minutes (and the victim is completely unaware of the intrusion). Perhaps, Peacock allows the holder to use feathers (or tiny peacocks) as cameras one at a time and be all-seeing. These feather-spies can be destroyed by the holder or disappear on their own after some time. Such power could be devastating when used against heroes in canon.

5. Bee can paralyze. This power is pretty straightforward. Once I read a fanfiction focused on very vell done Chloe Redemption, where she fights alongside Ladybug and Chat Noir. Eventually, she grows and becomes a better person. This fic ends with an Akuma battle, where LB and CN are trapped and Akuma is ready to kill them. But Chloe uses a second power of the Bee on the villain - Miraculous Stinger. It's deadly both for the holder and for the victim (because bees die when they sting someone). Chloe kills the Akuma with a Stinger before it can get LB and CN, but she too dies making the ultimate irreversible sacrifice. I will add a link if I find it again.

6. Turtle can create a shield. I don't have much to say on this either. It feels underpowered compared to others in the second tier. Maybe Turtle can also slow down opponents (because turtles aren't the fasters animals out there).

7. Fox creates illusions and acts as their puppeteer. In order to create a balance between other powers, these illusions must hold for as long as the holder needs them to. I propose this mostly because we see that Venom of the Bee lasts very long, the shield of the Turtle lasts either until it's destroyed or the holder wants to remove it, same goes for Akumas and sentimonsters who disappear only when the holder wants them to or their affected object is destroyed.

Let's talk about Zodiac tier. Miraculous of the third tier shouldn't have the second ability like more powerful ones. These powers are the most inconsistent. Even if we haven't seen all of them yet.

8. Mouse can create many small clones of the holder. It is unclear how these clones communicate with each other and how many of them this Miraculous can create. The holder can control the number of clones. This power was very convenient in "Kwamibuster" and it makes sense symbolically for the mouse. What activates the time-limit for children? Marinette didn't have any problems with it when she became Multimouse.

9. Snake can create a 5-minute time loop and has the ability to come back in time. This Miraculous feels a bit overpowered for the Miraculous of the Zodiac Tier. The holder can reset the time as many times as he/she needs to. It's was a good source of drama and trauma in "Desperada". I was honestly surprised that Adrien was capable of fighting after spending months in a loop. But this doesn't change the fact that Snake is overpowered. You can give this Miraculous the power to hypnotise or keep the time ability but place a limit on the number of resets. How does the lyre work as a weapon? Who knows? No one!

10. Dragon can shapeshift into elements: water, wind and lightning. It has the coolest transformation words hands down (Bring the Storm and Open Sky). Apparently this Miraculous doesn't have the time limit.

11. Rabbit can time travel or jump through alternative realities, even writers aren't sure. Time-travel in this show is so badly written it gives me a headache. This Miraculous shouldn't exist just like its powers. Snake belongs to the same tier, but 5 minutes and whole centuries of time jumps aren't comparable in power levels. They are not and this is the hill I will die on. Give the Rabbit powers related to its symbolism in China like an ability to de-age people, heal them or give them a speed boost in contrast with Turtle who might have the ability to slow down.

This Miraculous is so special that its Kwami - Fluff can live separately from his Miraculous in a Miracle Box for millennia (Fluff lives in the Box in "Sandboy", but his Miraculous, pocket watch, was passed down for generations in Alix's family). This is a discussion for a separate post, however. There's a lot to unpack. We'll do that some other time. You will suffer with me but at a later date.

12. Horse can create portals. They could lead anywhere, which is pretty cool. On the other hand, this power is not very useful in direct combat, especially when it's used by a child since we can have only one portal per transformation.

13. Monkey can cause a malfunction in powers of other people. What is the point of this? This power was specifically created by writers to defeat Akuma in "Party Crasher". That's it. What if your target is not magical? How does this Miraculous work in different circumstances?

14. Pig shows people their greatest desire. Both the holder and the recipient of this power can see this desire. Chat Noir wasn't impressed in "Guiltrip" and neither was I. It's underpowered compared to other Miraculous in this tier. Also, why does the tambourine can shoot energy beams? Why?

That's all I have to say on the matter. I'll update the power analysis as needed.

#miraculous ladybug #ml #miraculous analysis #miraculous meta #ml meta #ml analysis #miraculous transformations #miraculous critical #miraculous ladybug critical #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #mt of lb and cn #miraculous jewels

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gaychoices-stories-you-pay · 4 years

Text

Theory: Annalisa's Not Awake And Neither Are We

I'm probably way off the mark here but there are some things that just really bothered me in this chapter and they can't just be a coincidence (or maybe they are and I need to sleep, but whatever) and I need to organize my thoughts, so...here they are.

1. How many times did Vasco tell us we HAD to stay awake? Like, at least 2, right? And the text was a different color? So then why did he insist on us getting some rest and let us go to sleep (for hours??) if, as he said, sleeping accelerates the effects of the Cantarella? At first, I shrugged it off because (if you don't do the Oracle tea party diamond scene) Vasco says it's ok to sleep once the antidote is in our system but...is it really? I mean, that acid-trip-adjacent thing with our fox/wolf/bear cub and the oracles happened after ingesting that dose of antidote, so clearly the symptoms are still very much present, so wouldn't sleeping still accelerate them? Or am I just overanalyzing? It just seems odd that they would so heavily emphasize not being able to sleep if they were gonna make it safe to sleep a couple scenes later.

2. Idk about Hunter because I haven't don't a playthrough with them yet, but at least for Kayden (I'm just gonna assume it's the same for both), when they come to our balcony, they never actually tell us what brought them there, do they? They just kinda show up and the MC kinda steers the beginning of the conversation. And like, if you choose the last dialogue option for the first choice on the balcony (something like "I dreamed you'd come"), Kayden (again, idk about Hunter) says something like "And how do you know you aren’t still dreaming?" and then that's that. They never say anything like "hey I just wanted to check on you" or "I came to profess my undying love" they kinda just roll with it after MC says I love you/kiss me/strip. And yes, I know MC thought it was a hallucination and then decided it wasn't, but what if her symptoms just got so much worse after sleeping that she can't tell the difference between hallucination and reality anymore because the hallucinations have gotten so much stronger? Or she never woke up at all, and she's having a hyper-realistic dream?

3. Which leads to number three. After we "go back to sleep" yet again, Vasco barges in and says he has the cure, but there's not a single dialogue or narration box that says that we actually used the cure. Vasco says he's got the cure, we smile, and then suddenly we're waking up again, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with a narration box saying the cure has worked? How would we actually know if it worked? When did we go back to sleep? Why are we waking up alone? Especially since, if you don't do Kayden's diamond seen, they say they'll come to see MC when the sun rises?

4. Annalisa was (most likely) poisoned by a different type of poison than us. Now, because Annalisa said in chapter 1 that she had to meet with someone potentially important before meeting with Queen Kendra and we never found out who it was, there is a chance that person was Renza and that Renza slowly poisoned her with the Cantarella like she did to us and it was activated In the throne room, but for right now, I'm going to assume that's not the case and that Annalisa was poisoned with a FAST-ACTING poison in the throne room, unlike Cantarella, which we know to be slow-acting. Now, if this is in fact the case, then what are the chances that Vasco would have been able to create an antidote for us and for whatever poison Annalisa was suffering from using only our antidote?

5. Not only did we "wake up" alone, but Annalisa came in the room alone. Idk, it just seems too...casual for the situation. How much time has passed exactly since the masquerade ball? Because it really rubs me the wrong way that Vasco would somehow wake up Annalisa and then she'd be like "sweet, thanks bro" and just stroll into our room without anyone else (Vasco, Kayden, Hunter, even our pet?) coming with her either to make sure she's alright walking by herself (again idk how long it's been but muscle atrophy in coma patients is a legit thing) OR to check on us?

Idk, the end of that chapter just seemed to casual and too convenient for there not to be something going on.

Long story short my theory is this: because MC slept while still under the effects of the Cantarella, she's slipped into a coma-like state, similar to Annalisa, and now we're on the same...plane, I guess? as Annalisa, and the beginning of the next chapter is gonna be her being like, "so they got you, too, huh?"

Also The Oracle of the Present implied there will be another betrayal, so my money's on either Vasco or (if she actually is awake and this whole post was BS) Annalisa.

Idk, I’m probably majorly overanalyzing since this is pb, but...

#playchoices #the royal masquerade #kayden vescovi #choices stories you play #hunter fierro #trm #long post #okay listen this is way longer than I meant it to be #but i CAN'T STOP thinking about it #either we're not awake yet #or we're being betrayed again already #or both #or I'm just majorly overthinking this #considering this is pb we're talking about that's very possible #let me know what y'all think #hoooo boy #delete later probably #I haven't slept in 2 days because of work can y'all tell?

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heck-yeck-deck-tech · 5 years

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Hey! I'm a high school tech person, asm/build crew/run crew, and im one of the most dedicated people in our tech class (there s a group of like 5 of us who pour our heart and soul into this) point is I really love tech, want to go into it as a field, and recently just majorly fucked up on my current build, meaning that we have to rip the luon off the platform and recut it, wasting both time and luon. I'm feeling really guilty about this because i know its a mistake we can't afford 1/2

2/2 (the mistake was the luon wasnt square to the frame because its hard to cut straight for 8ft using a circle saw). Anyway I’m feeling hella guilty about it, feel like it’s a mistake that wouldn’t fly in a professional setting, and obviously im gonna work my ass off to correct it but I guess what I’m getting at is how do you deal with build/before opening mistakes? What mistakes are unforgivable? How do you apologize to your SM/designer for fucking up?

–

Hello, dear anon -

First off, no mistakes are unforgivable. (That it’s difficult to cut 8′ in a straight line with a circle saw is one of the biggest moods, I gotta say.)

Some mistakes are what we in the industry might colloquially call “really fucking inconvenient” but nothing is unfixable. Sure, you mis-cutting a sheet of luan costs your theatre time and money, but it’s not likely to be the end of the world, even if in the moment it may well feel like it, because of the time and budgetary constraints you’re under.

But here is a secret: no theatre has enough money, and no theatre has enough time. That is why they hire technicians like you and everybody else you work with now or will ever work with in the future, to make the best use of the time and material the theatre does have.

The fact that you are there, dedicating time and energy and attention to detail to your work means that your theatre is already much better off than they would otherwise be. Your guilt will make you careful in the future and means that you have high standards now, and to that end it’s useful. But beyond that, if it’s keeping you from trusting in your own ability the way you used to, or affecting the way you talk to your boss, then it is no longer helpful to carry it around with you.

And yes, perhaps a mistake like this is less likely to occur in a professional setting. It is likely though, that this is only because they have had decades of experience doing the thing you’re doing now. And, I have to say, I’ve worked with professionals (for this, I’m defining it as someone who makes money doing theatre) and they have made mistakes. They have attached things upside down, painted things the wrong color, loaded in bits of the set in a really stupid order, and they have yelled at their underling technicians. There have been some weird, weird fixes that really didn’t look like the set model we were given. And that’s just how theatre is: we (or our bosses) plan as much as possible, and try to solve problems in advance as much as possible, but sometimes it comes down to solving problems in the moment, and that is not worse.

You will never not make mistakes. A million times in your career, you will do something that will cause you grief and cost your theatre something. A million times in my theatrical career (such as it is), I have made mistakes that have cost my theatre time and money. That is, unfortunately, just how it be sometimes. We are people and there are some things we do better than machines, and some things machines do better than us. Of course, just because it will happen doesn’t mean it’s something we as technicians have to be okay with, and the attitude I’m finding that helps me handle mistakes, anywhere in the production process, goes something like this:

Yes, I made a mistake, and yes it seems like a very large mistake right now. But I will work to fix this mistake as cleverly as I can, to the best of my ability. And hopefully I will fix it so excellently the audience thinks it’s an artistic choice (because in fact, this is something audiences do, and go home to talk to their friends about). And then I will do my best to remember or find out why this happened, and endeavor not to make this same mistake again.

It is long and full of commas. Sometimes I paraphrase for efficiency: Fuckity fuck, I done fucked up. Let me not fuck up this specific thing again, fuck!

In regards to apologizing to your designer or stage manager for fucking up, I think that is a fine thing to do. I find that it is helpful not to beat oneself up during the apology, even if that feels necessary, because then it puts the other person in the often uncomfortable position of having to put their own emotions on hold to handle those of the person apologizing, and that isn’t necessarily fair.

The most recent time I messed up a cut, I was cutting facing for the side of a staircase with a jig saw the Friday before tech. I was very nervous the whole time, and as careful as I was capable of being at the time. When I finished, a couple of the stair sides weren’t straight lines, and I was quite devastated. I went to my TD and said something like this, “Hello. I have cut some of the edges on this stair facing not as well as I would have liked, and I apologize. What is it that I could do to fix this?”

I have gotten quite good at apologizing for things like this, and I tend to do it the above way because the person you’re reporting to will likely have a better understanding of the big picture than you will, and will be able to prioritize the things most correct for the production when making choices about how to fix this. In your case, it is in fact possible to re-cut the luan and reattach it. This is very good. While the other 8′ piece won’t work for this build, it’s definitely large enough to save and be used in other shows.

You also mention that you’re in high school; this is also very good. This means that the people you are working under know that you’re still studying this craft, and framing part of the apology as wanting to learn how to solve the problem helps your designer or SM approach the situation (because almost certainly your instructor has, over the course of their career, encountered a mistake like this before. And if they haven’t, then it becomes what I consider the essence of technical theatre - problem-solving under pressure.)

In the end, a clever solution is almost better than not messing up to begin with. Your theatre might lose time or money or a seamless join in a wall, but you working for them and making mistakes while doing that is a side effect of them investing in you. They might lose money and time now, but they now have you, Smarter and Improved from this whole endeavor.

I hope this was useful. As always, if any other theatre folks have something to add, by all means, please do it.

With much affection, Ky

P.S. I hope this is not too much to ask, but it would be helpful if you let me know if this was useful to you (if you’re comfortable), mostly because I’m winging this whole advice thing and I really hope I’m not leading folks astray.

#ky answers asks #ky gives questionable life advice #theater #theatre #tech theater #tech theatre #techblr #sceneblr #anonymous ask #luan anon #ky speaks #hydt originals

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