#where? what kind of job? ah well.. solve my riddles three and you might find out.. or not.. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jujumin-translates · 5 months

Text

Sakuya Sakuma | [SSR] An Oni Protecting The People | Spirit・Snow Demon - Part 2

Kazunari: So that’s what that was all about…

Izumi: You scared us…

Sakuya: Sorry I startled you. I just want to experience what it’s like to be in a place like that so I can better understand how the snow demon felt…

Kazunari: I getcha. I wonder if they’re still doing that one thing this time of year~.

Sakuya: ? What are you looking up?

Kazunari: Found it! What about something like this?

Sakuya: A mid-winter test of courage…?

Izumi: Huh, I didn’t know they even had tests of courage around this time of year. Ooh, and it’s got a story and everything.

Kazunari: Yeah, yeah! Right now it seems like it’s a story about the spirit of a person who died alone in a cabin on the mountain and wasn’t able to move on to the afterlife.

Kazunari: I know you’re not technically playing a spirit, SakuSaku, but aren’t the situations like totes similar? Y’know, like being in a cabin on a mountain in the dead of winter?

Kazunari: So I think if you do the test of courage and go through the story ‘n stuff, you might be able to relate to the feelings of the role you’re playing better!

Izumi: No way, maybe you can be calm like that because you’re you, Kazunari-kun…! Any normal person wouldn’t be able to analyze things that much in a situation like that!

Sakuya: But I wanna go! I might be able to get something out of it if I do.

Kazunari: That’s our SakuSaku! That settles it, us three are SO going. When are you both free, SakuSaku and Director-chan?

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Sakuya: --We made it!

Izumi: It was kind of a hike to get here…

Kazunari: And it’s still cold as ever~.

Tsuzuru: Well, it’s both night and the middle of winter, so of course it is. By the way, how’d you even find out about this test of courage?

Sakuya: Kazunari-san looked into it! Thank you so much for tagging along, Tsuzuru-kun!

Tsuzuru: I told you I’d do whatever I could to help, didn’t I?

Tsuzuru: So this test of courage is the kind where people go around in pairs and solve the riddles together, right?

Tsuzuru: I had a part-time job at a haunted house once, so I have some experience that I can maybe put to use.

Kazunari: That’s my man! MPV Tsuzurun over here!

Sakuya: That’s reassuring!

Izumi: Fufu, let’s all do our best. Well then, here goes.

Staff: I’m going to give you each an item now. It is up to you to decide where and how you’ll use the items.

Staff: You should work with your partner and share your ideas in order to reach the goal.

Kazunari: Well then, let me and Tsuzurun kick this thing off ♪

Tsuzuru: Got it. Well, let’s go.

Izumi: Good luck, you two!

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Kazunari: Hmm… maybe put this here?

Tsuzuru: Ah! Maybe don’t use that one just yet…

Sakuya: Huh, that light…

Izumi: Eh?

Tsuzuru: UWAGH!!

Kazunari: Eh!? Tsuzurun, where’d you go!?

Izumi: (Just how scary is this test of courage? If someone who has a high tolerance for horror, like Kazunari-kun, is making a sound like that, I can’t help but wonder…)

Sakuya: Director, are you okay?

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Choose!

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Option 1: I’m okay.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Izumi: I’m okay. Kazunari-kun and Tsuzuru-kun’s voices just surprised me a little bit.

Sakuya: It startled me too. I wonder what that was about.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Option 2: I’m kind of scared.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Izumi: To be honest, I guess I’m a little scared. I can’t help but wonder after hearing those reactions come from Tsuzuru-kun and Kazunari-kun.

Sakuya: Yeah. It makes you wonder what else there is if it’s that scary so early on…

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Izumi: Anyway, let’s go and see what’s going on. Just standing here and listening to them scream is only going to make me more unsettled.

Sakuya: Right. It’s about time for us to get going too. Let’s do our best, Director!

Izumi: Yeah!

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Izumi: …I can’t see Kazunari-kun or Tsuzuru-kun anywhere.

Sakuya: Yeah. Maybe they’re up further ahead than we thought they’d be?

Sakuya: That light… I wonder if I was just imagining it…

Izumi: Oh yeah, you did mention something like that earlier. What was that ab--?

Ghost: It’s so dark… and lonely… I need the light…

Izumi: AHH!?

Sakuya: UWAAH!

Ghost: The light… give me the light…

Izumi: What does it mean by “light”...?

*Rustling*

Sakuya: Director, could it be talking about this?

Izumi: Ah, a candle! Is that one of the items we got at the entrance?

Sakuya: Yeah! Now where to put it… Ah, there’s an indent in the wall of the entranceway. Maybe it goes in there…

Izumi: But it looks like there are two indents… I know. What if I use my candle too and we put them in together?

Sakuya: Okay. On the count of three. One, two, three…

*Lights flick on*

Sakuya: Ah, that sound… seems like the front door unlocked.

Ghost: …I didn’t have to split you two apart like the last two.

Sakuya: Eh!?

Kazunari: Ah, there you are, Tsuzurun!

Tsuzuru: Jeez, that scared me… I can’t believe I was dragged off into the dark like that when I put one of the lights in…

Izumi: …I guess it was the right choice to put them in at the same time.

Sakuya: Seems like it.

Ghost: Aah, I can feel the warmth of humans through the lights. I had forgotten this warmth…

Ghost: Please melt my lonely, frozen heart.

Sakuya: …Got it. Leave it to us.

Sakuya: I’m sure there are a lot more riddles to be solved around here somewhere. Director, let’s go save everyone!

Izumi: Yeah, let’s do it.

Izumi: (It’s like his urge to save everyone outweighs his fear.)

Izumi: (I can’t wait to see how today’s experience will affect Sakuya-kun’s performance.)

[ ⇠ Previous Part ] • [ Next Part ⇢ ]

#a3!#a3! translation #sakuya sakuma #kazunari miyoshi #tsuzuru minagi #// this backstage was made for the keysmash poly enjoyers (me and like one other person)#‘what the hell is keysmash poly’ so glad you asked *pulls out my powerpoint* so— (i am dragged off stage)

31 notes · View notes

whoistheasshole · 3 years

Text

How do I get out of this unsatisfying life I’m living?

Anonymous asks: So the thing is that I feel incredibly stuck - I have all the basics of life which I'm grateful for but also that was my BIG dream as a kid, to get tf out of my parents' house - but now I have that and idk what to do for the rest of my life. Like, if I try those "visualize your future" things I'm just like, "I'd like to sleep for a month, maybe longer" & it feels like I don't really WANT anything so I can't plan, you know? Just flailing here honestly. Pretty tired of it.

I wrote back: I got your question. To pinpoint my answer a little better, can you tell me about your current situation, like how long has it been since you moved out? Which are the things you have in order to your satisfaction? Some vague idea of your age range would also be helpful, but I can work without it too if you’d rather not share.

Anonymous answered: Ah, sorry. I was trying to fit in the character limit & also whenever I think about this my mind just goes flbbbbth. It's been about 5 years? That's about the only thing I'm truly HAPPY about, I'm not thrilled with my social/love life, career, etc & have pretty much been just coasting tbh. I'm almost 30. Thanks for entertaining this.

Alright, thanks for adding some background. I will come at this from different angles and you can pretty much pick and choose what sounds helpful and leave the rest, okay?

First, while there are people who have it all figured out, methodically planning their next career step or fully certain that there is no greater joy than raising a child, there are tons of other people who just, to quote, go „ flbbbbth“ when asked about their next steps or, god forbid, their life plan. I would say I fall in the latter camp, but I don’t mind because I think there is nothing wrong with that. I let myself be guided by the things I need to be happy (more on that later) and by current necessities – if my job becomes shit, I need to find a new job. If a friendship goes sour, I need to end it respectfully. But I couldn’t tell you specific career or personal goals, except...

... let’s talk about the „later“ now.

I’m an organizer, maybe even a worrier, and therefore I like lists. And for that reason I made a list a while ago that I still have and expect to keep for a long time. It is a list of everything that I need to be satisfied with my life. It consists of 29 entries and has three of them checked, though several others could be counted as half-checked. I wrote down everything that came to mind, paying no attention whether it was reasonable or feasible to want. That wasn’t the question.

It covers stuff like a clean flat (not checked), restful sleep (not checked), friends that I see regularly (checked) or a job with purpose (not checked). This list is my guide. Well, generally my needs are my guide, but it can be hard to be aware of your needs sometimes, so I got this list. And if I wonder what I need or want to focus on, I can turn to it and choose one of the entries and see what I can do about it. I can also look over the list every few years and see if things have developed in the right direction. Little progress is no reason to chastise myself, but helpful information to see whether I need to re-direct my focus.

Please note that I wrote „satisfied“, not „happy“. Being happy is a passing emotional state. It is completely normal and okay not to be happy all the time. But quiet satisfaction with where you are or where you are going, that is pretty achievable. It certainly is a process, but an enjoyable one.

This list is not a race and it is not really a to-do list because most of the things I wrote down aren’t easy to accomplish with a single action. They take months and years and, for some items, I can only try and hope it works out some day (see anybody who ever purposely looked for a partner).

So maybe this kind of list could be an exercise for you. Maybe it provides you with some insight, maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it’s not the right point in your life. But if you sit down and the only thing you can come up with is „cry forever“ or „sleep forever“ then, you know, that’s a sign.

Which brings me to my next point: Journaling or automatic writing. This method is especially helpful for those „I feel some kind of way and I couldn’t even tell you how“ moments – so maybe exactly where you are right now. Captain Akward has introduced me to a website called „750 words“ and I’ve used the principle of „morning pages“, though not the website, since then whenever I felt like some emotions were starting to boil over.

I sit down, ideally in the morning, and just barf it all on the (digital) page. There are only two rules: 1) Don’t edit or judge yourself, write everything as it comes to mind (that’s the automatic writing part) and 2) Don’t stop before you’ve reached 750 words. You are not looking to write anything readable or clever or lyrical, you’re looking to get all the weirdness out so you can move on. Repeat this as many days as you feel queasy or weird or confused or angry or sad. Each day, as soon as you’ve reached the 750 words, you can walk away. Heck, you could even delete/burn the document if that feels right. It’s just about giving your thoughts the room they need so you can continue with your day, hopefully feeling somewhat relieved.

While we’re at writing, I also have a question for you: Where is the pressure coming from to „do something with your life“? Is it truly coming from inside you or are there outside factors? Are people in your life asking you when you’ll have kids? Do you live in a culture where it’s expected that everybody does something of note, works certain prestigious jobs? Do you compare yourself to the people around you and feel like you’re „late“?

Maybe mull this over on a leisurely walk or write about it, using the method above. No matter where it’s coming from, the feeling of pressure won’t go away just by knowing its origin, but the knowledge can help you keep it under control. And if you find it is truly your own wish, you will have tools to shape your life according to your needs.

So, next, sleep: Maybe do that?

You wrote "I'd like to sleep for a month, maybe longer". I understand this was half a joke, but also … it was probably more than a joke.

How are your energy levels? How does life feel? Are you trying to jog through jello most of these days?

If we’ve been overachievers or had a tough home life or needed to take care of ourselves pretty early, we can become accustomed to everything being difficult. This feeling and behavior can become a way of life, even when circumstances change and we have a chance to act differently.

Do you feel rested? Do you have regular moments of quiet in your life that let you breathe? If not, this is where I would start. Forget about lists, though morning pages might be a helpful accompanying tool (if they don’t become a task to punish yourself with if you don’t find the energy).

Take some weeks or months, maybe even a year to make rest your priority. You will have to find a way that works for you. Yes there is a lot of clinically proven stuff out there, but you will not see me do yoga or meditate. Though feel free if that’s up your alley. If you love cycling or taking photos or drawing or just plain lying on your bed and staring at the wall, see where you can add more of that to your day. Whatever brings you closer to yourself and makes you feel like you can exhale and stand still for a moment, that’s the way to go. Do this as long as sleeping seems like a fine choice. And for good measure maybe a month longer. You are ready to stop when you cannot wait to do something else goddamnit I’m bored!!! (you might say)

If you are in this picture, please start here. Any kind of life plan, next steps, strategizing, solving of riddles would set you back and perpetuate your exhaustion. Rest is not time wasted, rest is how you get your life back.

If you are in this picture, you will likely find that if you really pull through, if you truly rest, as long and boring or even scary as it may be, the other questions will probably have an intuitive answer afterwards. Not like „this is my 20-year career plan“, but „I feel like doing x this week“. And that is enough. Because you won’t need to strain to hear your needs through the fog of exhaustion anymore.

Finally, some practical information and links for when you do have the energy and inclination to tackle your job and social life. I am not saying you need to change anything if that’s not what you want to focus on. These are just some tips, in case they become relevant.

For your social life, I recommend what others have recommended before me: Pick an activity that you do with other people and stick with it long enough to become a familiar face, see also here and here (yes, meeting gay people is similar to meeting other people). If you try out new stuff, go there at least 5 or 6 times before you decide it’s not for you – of course assuming nothing bad is coming up like racist or abusive people in the group. Shop around if the first group/activity doesn’t work for you until you find something that you’d like to do permanently. Maybe you’ll gain some friends, maybe you’ll find a romantic opportunity. In any case, if it’s something fun that you like to do anyway, you will have found an outlet with a social group attached. It is absolutely not as easy right now, with Covid and all, but if nothing outdoors-y comes to mind, you could also use this time to brainstorm what sounds like fun for when things are safer again.

Of course you can also look at opportunities online, like Discord servers, online interest groups etc but I do understand if that’s just not appealing right now. I am certainly over sitting in front of a screen.

To round this up, don’t sneeze at contacts that you already have. Are there acquaintances, friends of friends, colleagues, family members who you would like to get to know better? Then go do that! Suggest a time and place to meet up and see how they react. Say yes to the potential friends.

Speaking of which...

The Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes might also be interesting. Sure, it’s a little pop culture positive thinking kinda stuff, but I did like the impulse it gave me to consider when I say no to opportunities out of anxiety or worry. It made me accept some social invitations from colleagues (… in the before times) that I would not have otherwise considered. I did not gain life-long friends, but I did learn another valuable info: That my FOMO wasn’t justified for these events ;)

It also lead me to the decision to do one new thing every month – visit a new place or try a new activity or cook a new food. If the concept sounds appealing, just think about what sounds interesting and achievable to you.

And finally, the advice blog recommendations that I’ll always have. For social life, love life, and general life planning turmoil: Captain Awkward. For everything job-related, including how to write a good cover letter or interview well and, of course, how to get out of the dreaded current job you have: Ask A Manager.

To sum it up:

1) Figure out if you even have the energy to tackle any of this right now.

2) Figure out your pillars for a satisfying life – nothing big and shiny, just … basic needs, wishes, social needs.

3) When you feel like it, pick what you want to tackle next and see where it leads you.

4) Stay flexible. This is your life and it’s okay to go where it takes you, even if it doesn’t look „cool“ or „impressive“ from the outside. All you need is to make it your own.

And if you want to, let me know how it goes some time. :)

#post #questions #advice #WHO IS THE ASSHOLE #life advice #rest #recovery

20 notes · View notes

maeglinyedi · 4 years

Text

The Serpent That Devours Us, 2

The Serpent That Devours Us

Pairing: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle

Rating: Mature

Read it here on AO3:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22132261/

Chapter 2

“What?” Harry gaped at the basilisk, mouth hanging open. He knew he must look the fool but he was too shocked to care.

“How thick are you?” the basilisk – Tom! – asked him. “I’m a wizard. I need your help.”

“No, I got that part. Just...how did this happen? Is it an animagus transfiguration gone wrong? I’m an animagus, so I might be able to help you.”

The basilisk – Tom – shook his massive head. “I’m an animagus as well, but I became one years before this happened and my form is not a basilisk.” Tom looked away from Harry. “I performed a ritual, but...I was betrayed. The sorceress who gave me the ritual knew this would happen. She wanted this to happen.”

“What kind of ritual? I’m really not well-versed in rituals, to be honest.” Harry shrugged helplessly. Of course he wanted to help this wizard, but his expertise was magical creatures, not magical catastrophes.

Tom ducked his head, his coils tightening for a second. “It was a ritual of longevity. Do the ritual, have a guaranteed 1000-year-long lifespan, that sort of thing.”

Harry couldn’t help himself. He snorted. “So the ritual did work. Basilisks do live that long.”

“Yes, thank you,” Tom snapped. “I had realized that a time or two or five hundred since I got stuck like this. Wait, what year is it?”

“It’s 2013.”

Tom visibly recoiled, his yellow eyes widening. “It’s 2013? I knew some decades had passed but I thought it might be the eighties.”

“When did you get stuck like this then?” Harry asked, his heart aching for this guy. No wonder he got cranky sometimes and tore up the forest. “How old are you?”

“I was born December 31st, 1926. I performed the ritual on midsummer’s eve, 1953,” Tom whispered.

“Wow. You have been stuck here for a long time.” Harry considered the situation and knew at once what to do. “Come with me.”

Tom’s head snapped up. “Are you mad? I’m a basilisk, in case you haven’t noticed. I go beyond this forest and the whole world will hunt me down.”

Harry’s smile was wide as he slipped off his backpack and pulled out his suitcase. “Oh mate, the world won’t know you’re with me.” He placed the suitcase on the floor and flipped open the lid. “Just follow me. You’ll fit, don’t worry.”

And Harry quickly climbed down the stairs into the main area of the suitcase. Newt had charmed it, much like his own suitcase, to have a main holding area with many habitats bordering it, with a small apartment off to the side. Harry heard scales sliding above him and he watched quietly as Tom lowered the bulk of his body inside the holding area, forked tongue flicking in and out of his mouth.

“This is quite impressive,” Tom said, carefully sliding along the floor as he checked out all the different habitats.

“Plenty of space for you to move around in until we can reverse the ritual.” Harry crossed his arms, leaning his hip against a support beam as he watched Tom get familiar with the place. “I don’t have any animals with me now. My owl, Hedwig, always travelled with me but she died a few years ago. I use the habitats for sick creatures or ones that need relocating. I’m a magical zoologist,” he added, not sure if he’d told Tom that yet or not.

“And a Gryffindor,” Tom said with a sigh as he poked his head inside Harry’s living quarters where Harry kept a Gryffindor flag above the sofa. “Of course you had to be a Gryffindor, blundering your way inside a basilisk’s lair as you did.”

“What’s wrong with Gryffindor?” Harry asked with a grin and then realized something. “Wait, are you British? Did you go to Hogwarts?”

Tom gave him a disbelieving look before rolling his eyes. “Born and raised in London. I’m a Slytherin. Prefect. Head boy, even. I had the highest NEWTs score, at least until then.”

Harry chuckled. “You sound like the boy my friend Hermione complained about after she went through Hogwarts’ student records. She wanted to be the best and she was determined to beat your scores but she couldn’t quite manage it.”

“Well,” Tom said with a smug look. “It’s nice to know I left some kind of legacy behind.”

“So, what do you think?” Harry gestured around the space. “This way we can take our time getting you back to yourself, and in the meantime you get out of the forest and I can do my job.”

Tom stared at him for a moment. “I suppose that is acceptable. It’s not like I’ve got anything better to do.”

“Great,” Harry said, but he sobered after a moment of excitement. “Just promise me you’ll be careful with your gaze. I might be immune but the rest of the world isn’t.”

“I can shield my gaze with my third eyelid temporarily.” Tom demonstrated by raising an opaque lid over his bright yellow eyes. “But perhaps it’s wise to not let anyone else down here.”

Harry nodded. “The suitcase is warded. No one can enter without my express invitation.”

“Good. There is one thing left to do.” And with that, Tom raised himself up and slid out of the suitcase. Harry jumped up the ladder and followed him out. Tom led him deeper inside the cave to a part where it was almost too dark to see. “You’ll need to bring this for me.” Tom nudged his nose against a small rocky ledge.

Harry leaned closer to see what was on it. “Is that your wand?” he asked after he managed to identify the object in the near darkness.

“Yes. If you could grab that for me I would be much obliged.”

Harry did and the moment his fingers closed around the pale wood an almost familiar warmth shot up his arm. “What’s it made of? It feels almost like my own wand.”

“Yew and phoenix feather.”

“Ah.” Harry reached for the holster in his sleeve and pulled out his own wand. “Holly and phoenix feather.”

“Might be from the same phoenix if they are that similar,” Tom suggested.

“Might be,” Harry agreed. He placed both wands inside the holster. “I’ll take good care of it until you can hold it again, I promise.”

Tom was quiet for a moment before he whispered, “Thank you. That wand is what has kept me sane over the years. Knowing it was there, that it was mine, that I was a wizard, it kept me from giving up.”

Harry placed a hand on Tom’s scaly side in comfort. “We’ll get you sorted out, Tom. I know a lot of brilliant people. They’ll help.”

Tom nodded his head and without saying anything else he slid back to the suitcase. Harry followed him with a sense of purpose brewing in his chest. He would help Tom get back to himself and in the meantime he had a companion for his travels.

Before Harry climbed down in the suitcase he aimed his wand at the cave. “Accio shed basilisk skin.”

Three long almost translucent skins came flying towards him. One, the oldest, was too far gone to be of any use, but the other two were still in good shape. Harry folded them with a wave of his wand and ignored Tom’s amused look as he carefully stored them in an empty trunk.

“The rent doesn’t pay itself,” Harry said, closing the trunk. “I’ve got to sell things I find to fund this operation.”

“You should milk some of my venom. That should earn you a nice pile of Galleons.” Tom briefly opened his mouth to show off his enormous fangs. “If you dare,” he added with a hissed laugh.

“If you let me I’ll dare.” Harry offered him his cockiest grin. “Gryffindor, remember.”

“How could I forget. Though what the Sorting Hat was thinking in placing a parselmouth in Gryffindor, I’ll never understand.” Tom stretched his coils out before getting more comfortable.

“Well, it hadn’t seen a parselmouth in a long time,” Harry offered. “Dumbledore told me I was the first parselmouth in Britain in centuries.”

Tom reared his head up with a terrifying hiss. “Dumbledore is full of shit. I’m a parselmouth, which I told him when he came to give me my letter when I was eleven. He never trusted me afterwards. And now he’s erasing my existence altogether.” Tom’s eyes positively glowed as he glared at Harry.

Not knowing how to respond to that, but slightly cowed in the face of a basilisk’s fury, former human or not, Harry lowered his gaze. “I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

Tom seemed to deflate slightly. “I realize it’s not your fault. It just angers me beyond belief that Dumbledore would do such a thing. That man has never given me a fair chance.”

“So I guess asking Dumbledore for help is out of the question? Because he’s at the top of my list to go to, if I’m being honest,” Harry said carefully.

Tom’s eyes started glowing again. “That man is still alive? And yes, going to him is definitely out of the question. I’d rather remain this way than ask him for anything.”

“Okay, point made,” Harry said, meanwhile wondering what the hell Dumbledore had done to this man to make him hate the headmaster that much. To be honest, Harry had never had much to do with Dumbledore. His parents were friendly with him, his dad had business with him through his work from time to time, and his mother, who worked as a healer in St Mungo’s, had called upon the headmaster for his expertise in transfiguration in a few difficult cases. But Harry himself, especially after he became a zoologist had never garnered much of the headmaster’s attention. Then again, he’d never been an exceptional student outside his interest in creatures and his talent on a broom.

Harry had figured out years ago, after a few nights drinking wine or whiskey with Severus and listening to some of his stories about his time at Hogwarts, that Dumbledore was the kind of man who surrounded himself with talented people who could solve his problems for him. Severus wasn’t overly fond of the man for his abysmal treatment of Slytherins, and Blaise had always had lots to complain about the headmaster as well, and Harry realized Tom might very well have similar experiences as those two when it came to the headmaster and Slytherins.

Best to respect his grievances and find help elsewhere.

“I’m getting a sandwich. Do you need to eat?” Harry moved inside his small apartment, amused when Tom stuck his head inside the door to see what he was doing.

“No, I ate two deer just the other week. I don’t require much sustenance.”

“Let me know when you get hungry. There’s plenty of deer and wild boar in the world.” Harry prepared himself a simple roast beef sandwich and a cup of tea and flopped down on the sofa to eat it.

Tom flicked his tongue in and out. “I miss tea,” he sighed.

“I think I would, too,” Harry said between bites. “What possessed you to do such a ritual in the first place?”

“Stupidity,” Tom replied with a bitter laugh. “Arrogance. Ambition. Immortality.”

“Immortality? Really? That sounds a bit...much.”

“I have, since being stuck like this for sixty years, come to the conclusion that immortality is overrated, yes.” Tom’s gaze was miles away. “I wonder if this was the sorceress’ goal when she gave me the ritual. I’d spent so many years trying to lose my humanity and yet, now I would do almost anything to be human again.” And with that Tom pulled his head back and disappeared into the holding area, leaving a baffled Harry behind.

#my fics #tomarry #harry potter/tom riddle #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter #tom riddle #the serpent that devours us

4 notes · View notes

jbrentonparker · 5 years

Text

Plotting Method #4: The Protagonist Fucks It Up

Ah, the “Protagonist Fucks It Up” Method.

I have to start this post that way, you see, because I’ve just realized that I started two of the three previous posts in this plotting method installment that way, so now I guess I’ve made it a pattern. Can you guess what one of my biggest weaknesses as a writer is? Yes, it’s repetition of phrases and expression, oftentimes multiple times in the same paragraph, because I immediately forget I’ve already used a sentence only a few lines before. I’m afraid all of my novels and short stories are just different arrangements of the same three sentences.

Moving on. This plotting method is really a variation of the Three Act Structure, but with a little more character agency added. If you don’t like the purely reactionary aspect of the beginning of the three act structure method for the main character, then this might be a good alternative. Here’s the quick-and-dirty (which I believe is a phrase I used in the previous post as well. Case and point.):

The Protagonist Fucks It Up Method:

I can’t remember where I first learned this method, so I am afraid I can’t credit the creator. It more or less plays out like the 3 Act Structure method, but with more of a character-oriented focus. An Inciting Incident occurs, which will forever change the protagonist’s life. In this event, they are passive: something has happened to them. First Reaction: the protag reacts to the inciting incident. Whatever they do, they make the situation worse. They make a new enemy, they wind up in a dangerous place, they fail in a way that leaves them with more problems than they had before. Second Reaction: the protag tries to clean up the mess they have just gotten themselves into. They, of course, fail, and wind up in even more trouble. Harry and Hermione send Norbert on his way without Malfoy getting Hagrid in trouble–but end up getting themselves and Neville detention instead. Third Reaction: In serious trouble now, the protag has a choice to make. Get the hell out of Dodge, or face the consequences of their actions, and try for one last desperate attempt at fixing everything. This leads to them confronting the antagonist and leads into the… Climax, in which everything they have messed up comes crashing down around their head in a dramatic fashion. This is the moment in a RomCom when the main character has driven away all her friends, got into a huge seemingly irreparable fight with the love interest, and is in imminent danger of losing or has already lost her apartment/job/dog/whatever. The movie Bridesmaids is a great example of this story structure.

Now in a little more detail. The key here is that everytime something happens, the protagonist, your main character, is proactive. They come up with a solution and take action--and in doing so, they only make their problem worse.

This type of story can be particularly emotional for readers, in either a good way or a not so good way, in watching the protagonist make attempt after attempt to improve their situation and inevitably backfire, and it’s all their own fault. This can frustrate readers, so it’s important to strike a balance between “misinformed” and “stupid” in your protag’s mistakes.

Another difference with this method is that each time the protag is faced with a conflict, they take an action that makes the situation worse and raises the stakes, thereby driving the plot forward. This method is a good one for stories of political intrigue, and a variation of it can be seen in pretty much all the Song of Ice and Fire novels. Almost every major plot point arises out of one of the characters making a choice in response to a conflict they’ve been faced with--and that choice resulting in terrible consequences.

In my example above, I used three reactions, but you could add in any amount. Again, looking at Game of Thrones, there are about a half dozen different character arts and plot threads reaching different peaks as different times in each novel, and at any given point, each of those characters is making about five decisions that will come back to bite them in the ass later. If you personally want to go with something a bit less convoluted, stick to two of three reactions that worsen the conflict of your novel.

Before I sign off, I’ll give a couple of concrete examples of how a character is faced with a conflict, and their choices put them in a worse situation, raising the stakes. The best example I can think of is the movie Bridesmaids. Literally every single choice Kristen Wiig’s character makes makes the situation go from bad to worse. She picks a restaurant that gives everyone food poisoning. The entire flight to Vegas, while not exactly her fault, still arises from a series of choices she made rather than events happening to her outside her control (her booking a seat in economy, then taking the pills Helen offers, then having several drinks). Wiig reacts negatively to a kind gesture made by her sort-of-boyfriend and drives him away. Wiig is rude to a customer and gets fired from her job, and then gets kicked out of her apartment. She has a meltdown at the bridal shower and ends up at her lowest point with no friends, no job, no boyfriend, and it is all because of actions that she took.

Another obvious example, and a more literary one, is Bilbo’s meeting with the Trolls in “The Hobbit”. He and the dwarves are presented with a conflict: they are cold, tired, and hungry, with nothing to eat and no comfortable place to sleep. Bilbo observes the trolls, and is faces with a choice: go back to the dwarves and warn them to keep their distance, or try to steal a coin purse to prove his worth a burglar. He of course chooses the latter, and that action he takes (not a reaction, mind you--he isn’t reacting to anything that has happened to him, he is actively pursuing a goal) puts him and the dwarves in an even worse situation than they were in originally when he and they are captured by the trolls.

Now, this scene is inherently different than the next time they get into serious trouble, when the crack in the cave opens in the night and Bilbo and the Dwarves find themselves in the underground realm of the Goblins. That is an example of the protagonists reacting to conflict that has been thrust upon them. They got into this new trouble through no fault of their own, and they are merely reacting to it.

The scene with Bilbo and Golem is of another style as well: Bilbo is more proactive, taking action rather than reacting to events thrust upon him, but it ends positively. His actions solve the conflict, they have a positive outcome.

The final third of “The Hobbit”, however, more or less follows the “Protagonist Fucks It Up” method I’ve outline above, as long as you include the dwarves as our protagonists. Bilbo wakes a sleeping dragon--never a good idea at the best of times. Their ponies are chased away, their supplies lost. Then, he tries to be clever with his riddles, but accidentally gives Smaug a clue that results in the dragon wreaking havoc upon Laketown. Whoops. He and the dwarves are forced to hole themselves up at the risk of starvation in Thorin’s ancestral halls.

Eventually, the threat of the dragon is gone, but now the wood elves and the men of Laketown have come for their due. The wood elves are already their enemies, due not in small part by Thorin’s bad attitude. The dwarves refuse their demands, and under the threat of a siege, Bilbo makes another choice: he barters with his one-fourteenth share of the treasure via the Arkenstone. This choice results in his ostrication from the dwarves’ party, and the loss of his new friends.

And then, as if that isn’t enough, all the trouble he and the dwarves got into during the rest of the book comes back to bite them in the butts with the return of the Goblins and Wargs. The entire climax of the novel is a series of decisions that cause the conflict to go from bad to worse (though the part with Bilbo bartering the Arkenstone is debatable on this point, since really the situation went from “worse” to “still bad, but not quite as bad”, as the conflict goes from imminent war to his friends kicking him out). In general, however, I’m sure you get my point.

#writing advice #writing tips #plotting methods #plotting

1 note · View note

zeroeffortenvironment · 6 years

Text

voyager

Do you know how far Voyager 1 is from earth at this moment? It's 13 Billion miles. That's with a B. We as a species made something with our own hands and then put it in interstellar space! I'm not sure what's more inconcievable, the sheer fact of it, or that it got to where it is because we hurled it there at a rate of 38,000 miles per hour, using machinery and knowhow that came from under those same hands. that's almost 50 times the speed of sound. certainly not the fastest thing we've ever threw in the air but this one also sends picture postcards from where he at!! this is with a setup that was bolted in place in 1977. That not only predates your stupid hashtag-riddled instagram feed, but predates instagram altogether, it predates quad band phones, GSM, CDMA, digital light sensor, internet, and based on the fact that you're reading this blog, it probably predated you too...

Anyway. pictures from Voyager reach us in about 20 hours. that's from what? 13 billion miles away. So assuming that I post something here every day (which of COURSE I do), I am happy to report that I am floating in the vacuum so far up the universe's Yeah that by comparison to me the voyager just got the memo and started packing for his trip. to be precise the reason why it's been 682 days is because I'm 1.86 light years away, which, in cubic inches and football fields is 1.0984153e+13 miles out. I'd type it out but I trust google on it. this figure has more places than I have neurons within my skull.

And that, your honour, is why it may SEEEM that I've been slacking on this blog for the last ahem.. 2 years.

It's 10 am, on December 23rd, 2017. I'm on a couch, Roxanna is asleep. It's properly chilly, but I'm not wearing socks, otherwise it wouldn't even be worth mentioning. A great big factory-like window graces a concrete wall to my left, deligently trying to keep out the sounds of a noxious hvac system of a shopping center across the street. For its size it's doing a pretty respectable job. Meanwhile to the right of me the dishwasher is having a deep-tech warehouse rave. the air is a mixture of coffee that's getting cold, and that indescribable but not necessarily unpleasant smell of a place on a cold day when you just wake up. I'm surrounded by plants, plants, some plants, pictures, paper, wires, a bicycle ominously hangs off the wall on a redwood shelf quietly waiting like a panther on a tree for the perfect moment to fall onto its victim. Ahead of me is the door into the bedroom. An ages-old ikea lamp curiously sticks its head out where my desk is, beyond that, more wires, more plants, our DIY plywood bed, graced by a pile of blankets, cats, and potentially roxanna, and an 8' closet door mirror. All of this aligned like planets on Voyager's journey with a reflection of my face at its end 2.25522e-15 light years away.

I look a little disheveled. but not awful. Roxanna has been putting pins in my hair for the last couple months because I refuse to cut it. She is convinced it looks adolescent left to its own devices. At work Jeff Su, our in-house older asian guy with a gray camry and no filter, remarked that I look like a golden poodle. I think it looks fine. more importantly I couldn't care less if anyone thinks otherwise.

This is beat-matched near perfectly with how I feel about almost everything else around me lately. Christmas is in two days, and I feel like all I want this year is to be floating in the vast nothingness of space in complete silence, absence of stimuli, thought or air pressure in my lungs. Or at least in a raft in the middle of a bay. Instead what might be happening is as follows: after christmas, the very morning of the 26ths, I have to be seen in a queue at the LA Federal Building at 7 am flat - that's when they open. I will be there with a heap of documents, forms, and passport photos procuring a same-day passport made using a citizenship certificate that I have just received in the mail which has the CORRECT spelling of my lastname. Once (or rather If) I get this, I am to pack expiditiously and be on a plane with Roxanna at 1AM the following day (27th), which will fly us to Morelia Mexico, where we will be joined by some of her bdgjillion relatives who will take us to a mountain cabin retreat at Zirauen. While out there we will be enjoying great company, and scenery whilst sleeping in a tent for a few days. Come the 28th or 29th (not sure) we set out for Caretero, and perhaps Guanojuato, where we will be impromptu-crashing at the home of other relatives. On the 3rd we fly back, ah! which reminds me - I need to send an email to my colleagues saying I won't be at work until the 4th. Which should technically be 5th because I am a human afterall and don't run on aderol.

ALL of this was figured out last night, between the hours of 5pm when I picked up my certificate in the mail and midnight or so. None of it was by me. I should really be teling this to my spouce, and I guess I will soon enough - but to me planning a last-minute trip of such complexity on such short notice is batshit insane, puts an undue burden on the folks that will be hosting us, and most importantly is the direct opposite of floating in a raft in the middle of the bay. And it is so by virtue of the fact that the latter constitutes Rest, the former - doesn't.

I don't doubt that parts of it will be fun, and I'll see lovely familiar faces and some beautiful places, but the problem really isn't our upcoming trip to Zirahuen, it isn't Mexico, Roxanna, or her great big army of amazing relatives. Btw it's worth a mention that I have already been to Mexico once for a Mayra and Tonio's wedding in Morelia last year, and had a blast.

The problem is not with traveling, it's with making plans. Or rather my perpetually empty calendar and never objecting to anything that other people may want to put on it.

Let's talk about Goals. Cheryl Crow's analysis of the matter falls way short of the Noble Peace prize - it is Not wanting what you got, not getting what you want, it's wanting something in the first place. You know what the hardest thing about meeting your goals is? THE absolute hardest thing no matter whether you're perfecting plie's in an intro ballet class or building the next Voyager - the hardest thing is having a goal in the first place. Because a goal worth having is the kind you absolutely can't live without - it defines you as much as your first and last name and your reflection in the mirror you see every day. With a goal like this, everything else is machine work - resources, design, problem solving, are all a matter of logic. I am convinced that all superhuman feats in history are results of having such goals, and have been dreamed, worked out, built, launched, and remembered because people woke up every morning, looking in the mirror and seeing the voyager reflect in their cornea...

Well, to get straight to point - I don't have one of these. And the longer i think about it the more I'm convinced that I never did. And if anything, this is one thing that keeps my mind completely devoid of thought as I float in my vacuum, and it is this:

if I want nothing and make zero effort towards achieving things I don't want (read: everything), then why the hell are there three achievement awards on my desk? why is my desk electric and goes up and down with a push of a button, and costs $3000 of company cash? How did I come up with Two degrees in Architecture at Cal Poly and UCLA? How did I even get INTO either of these two schools? How did I manage to not only get a job, but to keep it from 2009 until 2014, a period in architecture that was absolutely plagued by the recession. I am not putting myself on a pedestal here. The reason I bring up all these things is because I never looked at myself in the mirror and saw an architect with two degrees, three glass sculptures with my name etched into them, or the handful of buildings that I contributed design efforts to. None of this was ever a clear goal. Neither is the advancement up the ladder that I could be striving for, nor is architectural license that is the next logical step to your advancement up the ladder as an architect. I am not looking forward to any of that. I am particularly not looking forward to my performance review in early January where I will certainly be asked questions pertaining specifically to my ambitions in the firm, the industry, and my career direction.

It's a bizarre problem and I've learned to live with it - being exceptionally good at something but arguably having little interest in it. But it also leaves me in a perpetual search for something to BE interested in, because I'm a human, and we're a curious species, and I'm wired to have goals and predispositions. And like a bit-coin mining rig, my mind is occupied with this all the fucking time, to the point that I get tired of just thinking about it. In the meantime the world around me revolves according to its own rules. And whether I like it or not until I find something worth adjusting my trajectory for, I am at the mercy of the forces that make this world turn. So far, I think, they have been good to me.

To this end I wonder if the Voyager gives two shits where it's going? here is an amazing thing - thousands of years of star gazing, invention, evolutionary thought and technological breakthroughs, wrapped up in a glistening contraption of elegant and perfectly straight trusses, it's own metallic mind and set of eyes forever traveling at 38,000 miles per hour. If the gods were to add up everything we achieved as a species and pick 10 top things - this is one of them! Here's an amazing thing that we made, and then we just sent it off away from us as fast as we fucking could. The only thing we know about the voyager's plans is that 44,000 years from now he has a date with a neighboring star. If that was ever someone's goal for it, they certainly aren't sticking around to achieve it. And thus I believe Voyager has no destination. it's moving in a straight line, occasionally adjusted by the orbits of planets it slingshots off of. And maybe the Voyager is also perfectly fine with that...

crap, I gotta pack...

0 notes