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netherworldpost · 5 months

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Sorry if you've been asked this before, but how do you get started working in, as you said, weird quasi-startups?

This is a history retelling, not advice, because the world I came up in doesn't exist anymore. I'm in my 40s and started in the '90s.

If you skim over all of this WATCH THE VIDEO AT THE END HERE IS A LINK TO SAID VIDEO IT IS A CONDENSED VERSION OF IT from a local design firm.

The video is not a rick roll. This one is though.

Now I hope you can trust me. This is a long post. I'll use HACKERS to break it up.

I have no connection to Coudal.

Or Rick Astley.

I get into the nitty-gritty Small Scale Stuff

Jim Coudal gets into the nitty-gritty of the Medium-to-Large Scale Stuff... in 2011. The basics remain the same.

I am realizing in linking this that I don't think Coudal Partners exists anymore? I think they shifted their entire focus to Field Notes notebooks?

Anyway, still relevant.

(No -- 1994... and... maybe a bit earlier I can't remember that far back)

As I say -- this is history, not advice -- I'll try to pepper in some advice.

In some ways that's bad (Flash animation used to pay really well when weighed against what it took to learn how to do it).

In some ways that's good (things like Stripe and BigCartel and Shopify and MailChimp and Tumblr exist).

I was an anxious, studious kid really into mythology with very little access to it. I had access to the internet for about 6-8 hours a week, so scrambled to cram as much into my brain as I could. A reminder this is the early to mid 1990s.

I realized at some point that websites could be built without special tech. I explicitly remember seeing a web hosting company have a late night television ad on Conan O'Brian, offering a few megabytes of space free.

I learned HTML.

Then CSS launched, and I learned CSS.

(...yeah, this... this was the '90s)

From there I learned Macromedia Flash (later Adobe Flash) because it could do things I couldn't do with programming -- because of my own limitations, the web's limitations, free server limitations... etc.

I learned Flash the same way I learned HTML and CSS -- taking things apart to see how they worked, making my own stuff, breaking things down (and just breaking things)

At some point I was able to secure my own computer + internet and just hammered things constantly until I had a grasp of the basics.

So with that technical background...

"I am a web designer, do you need a website?" I would just offer up. Friends on forums, people in shops, a few cold calls that didn't work out great because I'm not a talkative person.

Just. Constantly. Networking.

Which is an accurate but kinda useless term, right?

"How does one network, does one just shove business cards into the face of everyone they meet and say 'I am a business person'"?

...yes.

Diners, comic shops, tattoo parlors, independent restaurants.

To illustrate the differences of when I started versus today -- any time I went somewhere that didn't have a website, I would ask the person behind the counter --

"Hey are you thinking about launching a website?"

When it wasn't the owner/manager at the counter and they would say something like "I just work here," I'd ask for the manager's contact info to follow up.

The success rate of "I ask" versus "I get money out of this" was maybe 1%. Just constantly asking, constantly trying to build the business books.

Never taking things personally when ghosted or just ignored or it fell through.

Cool but it's 2023/2024... so... the second half of my story may help.

I eventually gathered up enough clients and student loans to go to school for design. I have mixed opinions on this.

I had a few teachers who needed Extremely Cheap Intern-Level Labor and I was able to parlay my web experience into these opportunities.

I learned print design, branding, color theory, the basics of art in school.

I learned better business models by doing business and fucking up and getting burned and taking notes on how to fuck up less and get burned less the next go-round.

I applied for an ad agency job and hacked their website to rebuild it to show I could build websites and they were like "okay well we have to hire you now because we're in love with you / we fucking hate you"

(both emotions at the same time) (I worked there 11 months then went to grad school / see above art school link, it also applies)

Great thanks but maybe get back to advice?

I made things. I still make things.

Pins, buttons, shirts, bridge models, a chair, a lamp, I hired blacksmiths to learn about blacksmithing, I traded logos for beer, a theater company needed artwork so I engaged in a multi-prong trade of theater tickets and candy and / and / and / and with various other friends / clients / non-sense makers.

I made things and if people didn't have money to pay for them, I took some of their product.

Sometimes I paid other people with that product for things I needed, sometimes I paid with my labor for things I needed... etc.

Kept doing that until I could leverage skills acquired against people with money. Meeting them the same way.

"Hey who does your website?"

"Hey who does your menu design?"

"I like your logos, do you have someone working on your brochures? Oh you hate your logo? Okay to be honest... I was using that as an opening line. I hate it too. Want to chat about redoing it?"

I fucked up a lot. I got burned a lot. There was more success than failure so I was able to keep going.

Modern Day Translations

A lot of that will work -- build a portfolio, keep it updated, if someone mentions they are launching a whatever, chat with them -- but also look at freelance agencies.

If you work for trade, then scale the work offered for the product received. Don't be afraid to say "nope, out of scope."

People who will take +50% of the commission but help you find the commissions and handle the tax paperwork.

Ultimately, the basics are the same.

Make stuff. Put it into a portfolio.

Get comfortable introducing yourself.

Learn not to take rejection personally.

Keep going. The number of clients I would get on the first project discussion was probably 5-10%. It would take an average of 18-24 months, average, before I'd get money out of people. MEGA EMPHASIS -- A LOT OF -- MEGA EMPHASIS "hey remember me? I didn't have budget before, but now I do!"

By "make stuff" I mean.

Stuff.

(Things I have actually made)

Websites, blogs, writing, temporary tattoos, posters, ads, animations, plush toys, paintings, poems, books, rubber stamps, ads, grocery store packaging.

A whirlwind of stuff.

"That sounds expensive and difficult"

Yes. That's the bad news. There is no magic solution to it aside from "be careful with your time and cash and contracts and good luck."

I am not a soft person who is going to promise you everything is going to be okay and if you just work hard enough then things will work out and if you're talented enough then money and clients and business will come to you.

The brutal reality is it is going to be extremely difficult for as long as you do it and my #1 piece of advice is "constantly evaluate if you would find more happiness in a traditionally structured job doing weird stuff on the side."

It is absolutely possible to make a weird job.

It gets easier if you have financial support from family and/or a partner who will help you survive the lean times. I mention this in the spirit of honesty -- a lot of folks with weird jobs had/have one, or both.

In my opinion, this isn't talked about enough, and it leads to this mystic "This person must be doing well and I can't get off the ground, ergo something is wrong with me / my work / my process / my..." -- not necessarily.

Right, wrong, or indifferent -- some people have extra-to-their-personal resources help that allows them to make stuff. More, bigger, and/or faster.

I had the advantage of starting 30 years ago when the talent pool was smaller and harder to find and the work was harder to understand by people who were hiring.

Take what you have and try to make more of it being careful to spend as little as you can with it as it grows.

That's the essence of business.

Everything else is salad dressing.

SO MANY WORDS

I'll wrap up:

Start small and affordable

Figure out how to keep going when you want to stop but can keep going

Figure out how to stop when you want to keep going, but can't

Figure out how to start again when you have to stop

This isn't a moral or ethical dilemma -- it's business.

Cold, hard, ruthless business.

"Does it make sense to continue putting resources into this? Yes? Keep going.

"No? Pause.

"It never will make sense? Do this as a hobby, possibly an extensive and advanced hobby, possibly as 'this is my job in the sense I spend my resources here and the tasks I do for a company for money are life maintenance, on par with brushing my teeth."

Never work for free. Barter to a level mutual benefit.

If you want to work with other people, build a portfolio and keep it stocked with the stuff you want to do. Make up your own projects from literal scratch.

Most of the time, real work is better than personal work

BUT personal work is always better than no work.

This is cross-sectional -- if you want to make logos, it's better to show real work logos.

If you don't have any, make personal work logos and fold these into real work brochures, which you WILL DO but DONT WANT TO DO, as you build your logo business.

As your logo business builds up, replace real work logos + keep personal work logos and reduce brochures until you have enough (of either form) of logos to just have a logo portfolio.

Here is that video from Jim Coudal again talking about his (former?) design firm, Coudal Partners, and how it evolved to partner to create Field Notes

youtube

A final disclaimer:

I do not know Jim Coudal, I've never worked with him or FIeld Notes, they don't know I exist in any capacity. His projects are significantly larger than anything I have the appetite to tackle (I like small, weird things nearly exclusively)

This video + countless similar talks helped me build me up to where i am with advice, ideas, and the strength to get through the invariable weird / hard times.

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oddygaul · 3 months

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Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, and also just Scott Pilgrim

-footage from Rebuild of Scott Pilgrim

I watched Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, then realized it had been nearly 15 years since I actually read the comics, so then I re-read all of those. I wish I had just done it in the right order to begin with, because doing it this way really scrambled my thoughts about both works. In my defense, how was I to know Takes Off is actually a sequel? What am I supposed to do, read things?

I was pleased to find that the original Scott Pilgrim honestly holds up pretty well. Takes Off is clearly such a reflective work that I was expecting to find the original story a lot more problematic than I had in high school, but… for the most part, it really knows what it’s doing. Yeah, a lot of the characters are shitbirds, but they’re meant to be shitbirds. The entire point of the book is showing us flawed people who intermittently make shitty decisions, and giving them a chance to grow, reflect, and treat the people around them better.

So generally, I still really liked Scott Pilgrim. All the goofy-ass character art and the surreal, unexplained quasi-fantasy Canada bits that made it tick back then still work. This time around, I really appreciated the writing and dialogue for not only its bevy of solid jokes, but for how fucking weird it is. In the past decade or so, I think a lot of ‘quirky’ humor has homogenized somewhat into a particular tone. Call it Whedonization or globalization or internet brain or whatever you want, but it can sometimes feel like anything aiming to be comedic hits a lot of the same beats.

The Scott Pilgrim comics, however, are a weird time capsule and their own vibe entirely. These fuckers just talk like aliens sometimes. They say random stuff, but it’s not *holds up spork* random, it’s “shit sorry I was kind of half listening but I think the thing I’m about to say is relevant” random. It’s less big swings to try and land a punchline, and more of two people letting loose a stream of consciousness at each other, lending a sense of constant confusion to the proceedings. It’s absolute nonsense sometimes, and I was way into it.

This ties into a slight shift in my read on Scott as a character, too. I always just saw him as a huge asshole - and that led to my biggest issue with the movie, which was that Cera plays him way too meek and doesn’t suck nearly enough. Reading the comics again, though, while Scott absolutely does suck, he’s just so fucking head empty that I warmed up to him a bit more. He’s still an asshole that doesn’t take responsibility for how his actions affect others, absolutely, but also god damn he’s so dumb that it softens the blow sometimes.

There were some little details about characters I’d forgotten that I really love - like the fact that Scott is actually a really good cook, but does it purely through intuition without knowing what anything’s called.

Art-wise, I liked it a lot more than I remembered, too; it definitely starts out a bit rough, but there’s a lot of charm to the characters and their weird gremlin mouths. I also laughed at some of the manga inspiration I didn’t pick up on before; everyone’s got big anime eyes, sure, but the grey screentone Clip Studio pattern fills? The hiring of assistants to do polished background work as the author gets into the later volumes? Ahh, classic.

Takes Off was a lot of fun, too. I gather that a lot of the internet fandom is upset it wasn’t a straight retelling of the original story with killer animation, but man, you gotta let creators create what speaks to them. Bryan Lee O’Malley started Scott Pilgrim twenty years ago. He’s been both married and divorced since then. Surely he’s gone through as much growth and change as we all would in such a timespan - how could you expect someone to just re-tread the exact same ground on such a personal story?

I find it interesting how prevalent this trend has become in the past decade or so - a creator or creative team returning to an old work - seemingly out of necessity, as the IP has become such a juggernaut that it’ll happen with or without them - and refusing to just tell the story again by the numbers. Anno’s Rebuild of Evangelion is the closest spiritually to this, but even recent ‘remakes’/reboots like Final Fantasy VII and God of War 2018 have followed the same path - creators ruminating on the strengths and weaknesses of older work from a more distant lens to create something new. They all seem to have arrived at this methodology independently, too (O’Malley said he only watched the Rebuilds once Takes Off was written and well underway); it’s not about chasing the trend of an altered remake, it seems to just be a natural desire to reckon with the past this way.

Because of this, one of the reasons I really wish I watched the show after re-reading the comics is to have a better sense of the evolution, and the change in tone and message. Due to watching Takes Off while having only a hazy recollection of the original, I made a lot of assumptions about how the original work must have portrayed things, to explain what Takes Off’s themes were a rejection of: that by giving Ramona more agency, she’s less of a damsel in distress/prize to be won, and isn’t defined by her body count… when in fact, neither of those are really the case to begin with. Ramona has plenty of agency in Scott Pilgrim, she fights as much as Scott does, and really is only defined by her body count as narrative framework, not judged in-universe by the other characters* **.

*I think some of these misconceptions may have come from having rewatched the movie more recently than I read the comics, as the movie (if I remember correctly, which this entire blog has established I likely don’t) does tend to treat Ramona as more of an passive object. Her subservience to Gideon in the real world (rather than in her subspace mind prison) comes to mind.

**Also, you could argue that the framework of the story itself being ‘guy fight’s girl’s evil exes in order to earn the right to date her’ is inherently placing importance on Ramona’s body count and someone’s romantic eligibility/desirability being defined by that but like… man that just is clearly not the vibe imo

If anything, I think the real lack that the show was trying to make up for wasn’t Ramona’s lack of agency, exactly, but a lack of screentime. Takes Off simply spends more time inside Ramona’s head, letting us see things from her perspective, and understanding the reasons for why she is the way she is and why she does the things she does. In some volumes of the book, she’s aloof almost to the point of feeling like a trope; it’s clear (especially later on) that there’s a reason for the way she acts, but the story just doesn’t necessarily communicate it very well. In the show, with Scott sidelined, we get to spend a lot of time with Ramona, understanding her thoughts and feelings, which is certainly a welcome change.

Anyway, intentions of the changes aside, I wouldn’t trade Takes Off for a straight remake in a thousand years; the sense of utter surprise I felt while watching the story take a hard left turn was exhilarating***. Plus, if the reason you love a series is the characters you’ve developed a bond with, what could be better than canonized fan fiction written by the original creator, showing your favorite characters interacting in new and novel ways? How could one not be excited to see Gideon and Lucas bro out and watch anime together? How could one not be thrilled to see Wallace Wells enact further chaos upon the whole province? More than righting storytelling wrongs, Takes Off is making space to tell more stories and round out everyone’s favorite supporting characters in a franchise that, due to the inherent density of its plot and setup, simply hasn’t had the real estate to develop all of them and let them breathe.

***Having just played through NieR recently, I almost felt like the show had scanned me, detected I had gotten Scott Pilgrim Ending A before, and was throwing some NG+ bonus content at me lmao

As far as the production goes, I was impressed overall, but thought it did suffer from some awkward timing and pacing issues. It’s stiff competition when your inevitable point of comparison is an Edgar Wright movie - even other live-action movies can seem stiff and slow compared to his frenetic pacing and constant cuts - but it still felt remarkably low energy at times, especially in the back half. Now, this is a problem you see a lot in anime dubs; English and Japanese are two very different languages, with different cadences and construction. Since a cast is typically required to dub over already existing animation, the translated dialogue often ends up being elongated and unnatural when it should be a quick back and forth, or hurried where it should have a little more breathing room. Given, though, that Takes Off was not only recorded in English before Japanese, but actually recorded before animation then animated to the dialogue (exceedingly uncommon), I was surprised the show still had this issue.

Regardless, the boarding in the first 4 episodes or so manages to be bombastic enough that this isn’t a problem; there’s a lot of wild camera angles and perspective shifts that keep things dynamic even when the dialogue itself isn’t moving too quickly. The animation highlight for me personally was the fight in the video store between Ramona and Roxy; great idea, incredible execution.

While Science Saru is the main production studio, I was intrigued to spy a bunch of other studios listed in the credits - WIT, Shaft, Ufotable, Trigger - but upon some further research it looks like they were just doing inbetween work.

Also the music includes slapped - I was jamming hard to Kidnapped by Neptune and Konya wa Hurricane, and then that United States of Whatever drop? unreal.

#will's media thoughts / virtual brain repository #shows #comics #scott pilgrim takes off #scott pilgrim

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marta-bee · 4 months

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I finished watched Psych all the way through for the first time this weekend, and I have Thoughts. Conflicting ones, at that.

On the one hand, it seems to want to be a quasi-Sherlock Holmes adaptation, but takes out all the things I love about the character. He's not exceptionally clever, just ridiculously observant of details, so you don't get the aha! of Holmes laying out his reasoning for Watson. He's hella straight to the point he almost reminds you of a Seth Rogen character. No neurodivergent/autistic/etc. coding. He really is just an overly dramatic, white man who likes to chase skirts, ride his motorcycle, needs to grow up, and who takes on mysteries because they entertain him in some way.

As a Holmes retelling, it should be thoroughly uninteresting if not outright insulting. But on the other hand, the odd subcultures and situations the show lands the characters in are genuinely fun to live in for 43 minutes. It does a really good job of showing how (say) comic super-fans or historical reenactors or the like are all really human in the same basic way. It's refreshing. And the show so embraces the cringe, that's refreshing in itself. So I really enjoyed it! Not as a Holmes-y character, or even a mystery/detective story, but for its other elements. It's fun, especially if you spread it out and don't binge it. (It was never meant to be watched that way.)

And on the other other hand.... look, if you want a Holmes and Watson type pair that are truly platonic friends, whose friendships stay central to each others' lives even as they develop (semi-)serious romances, this is how you do it. They're both constantly chasing after any nearby skirt for most of the show, but their friendship stays strong, not romantic but certainly something their longer-term romances (when they develop them) have to make space for. If you're going to have Holmes and Watson be heterosexual -- as in, not asexual, actually looking for their one true lady-love -- and still be the closest of friends, the show's ending is probably the best I've ever seen that done.

(To be clear: I'm sure some people ship Shawn and Gus. I'd like to read the fanfic, I can see it being a lot of fun; I just don't personally get even a whiff of that from the show itself.)

Which is odd, because the big romance really had no specific chemistry for me; it really did seem as much based on a man and woman in prolonged proximity to each other as anything else; yet I cared about the way it had to be balanced against Shawn and Gus's relationship to find it interesting. (It didn't hurt that the show did some interesting things with Juliet as well.)

So: lots to find interesting and fun, but equally kind of offputting if you're looking at it all through Holmesian goggles. Which left me more than a bit off-kilter throughout it all, and even past the ending. What an odd experience.

#marta blathers #psych #sherlock holmes #johnlock

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autumnalwalker · 1 year

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Find the Word Tag

Thank you for the tag, @ceph-the-ghost-writer.

My words to find were loot, snare, flinch, interrogate, & hesitate.

Passing the tag to @sleepyowlwrites, @dogmomwrites, @cljordan-imperium, @rainbowbokchoy, @oh-no-another-idea, and an open tag for anyone else

Your words shall be stolen, vine, construct, room, & question.

Loot Treasure: The Archivist's Journal, Day 8

And so after a moment of consideration I launched into a (heavily abridged) retelling of a classic. A story of a man from a quiet village much like this one who was invited out on an adventure to recover stolen treasure from a dragon and found a magic ring along the way. I was hesitant and awkward at first, neither confident in performing in front of others nor in my ability to do the story justice, but as I went on I got more and more into it (even if I had to make up names for characters I didn’t remember). It’s funny, I have this sense of a memory of being averse to speaking because I dislike the sound of my own voice, but I didn’t feel that at all last night. Or since I’ve been here for that matter.

Snare: A Dream About Growing Weary

I am a knight leading those under my command through a mountain forest in the fall. I see the ambush before we walk into it and go ahead on my own. The traps of vines and snares go off around me but I nimbly (or so I like to flatter myself) evade them, even as the elven woman who set them confronts me.

This is not the first time I’ve encountered her or those under her command, but neither of us are truly out for blood anymore. This mountain pass and the lands immediately on either side have traded hands between her nation and mine repeatedly over years of pointless conflict. We’re both tired of it.

Flinch: Empty Names - 10 - Cleanup

“Do you,” Lacuna hesitates, looking from the cleaning golem on the wagon to the statues pulling it, “want me to get on?”

The orb on legs without an orifice from which to emit sound chitters back at her.

“Yeah, I don’t know what I was expecting there.”

Another pointed squeak from the tiny construct and Lacuna flinches then starts climbing onto the wagon, apologizing all the while. She manages not to trip over or rip her skirt in the process, which she counts as an achievement. Not that there was any real danger of that but it’s the sort of quasi-rational fear that usually flashes through her mind whenever she’s already worked up about something. Acknowledging that might not stop the thoughts from cropping up, but it does help with letting them pass on by instead of fixating on them like she used to. Still does, but less often these days. Maybe one of these days she’ll get the moving on down to enough of a reflex that she won’t get so distract-

The abrupt inertial shift of the wagon lurching into motion knocks Lacuna off balance, nearly sending her to her hands and knees while thoroughly derailing that train of thought. She carefully lowers herself the rest of the way down into a seated position in the center of the wagon and leans back with her weight on her palms, telling herself to relax and enjoy the ride. She thinks about splinters, forces herself to keep her hands where they are, and lets the thought go.

Interrogate: Empty Names - 12 - Houseguests

“You have been through a great ordeal. Such stress reactions are common.”

Dis!ma*s gives a mirthless laugh. “Saints, ain’t that the truth. And I know being the only one on the crew to make it out alive is going to get me a whole heap of suspicious questions when I get back, especially with going to another world like a dirty smuggler or bloody criminal. I’m honestly surprised you lot haven’t locked me in a room and interrogated me over it yet.”

“I would not have agreed to join this venture if I believed that was how we would be doing things, and as Road has thus far lived up to their reputation I do not imagine they would allow it either. What is more, you have already given us your account of events.”

“And I still don’t know how I was able to pull myself together enough at the time to do that. But when I said I was expecting to be questioned again this morning the man in yellow, Sullivan, just laughed and said that wouldn’t be necessary.”

“As I said, you already gave your account.”

“Maybe, but the way he said it… I like to think I’m a brave man, and saints know I’ve seen my share of horrors these past few days, but…” Dis!ma*s shivers in spite of the balmy afternoon weather. “Look, I know you and yours have done nothing but good for me - cruel steel, you and the big one even got hurt getting out the people it should have rightly been my job to protect - but there is something wrong about that man.”

Hesitate: The Archivist's Journal, Day 155

There was one thing I did get around to asking that I’d been meaning to for some time, and that was inquiring into the source of Vernon’s spectacles. He asked if I needed a pair myself (a question that made me hesitate for some reason) but I told him my eyes were fine, I just had another potential use for similar glasswork. When he asked what I started going on about that half-forgotten idea of mine to try to make a microscope and examine some crystals with it to get a better idea of their composition. Maybe find out if they were actually rocks or something alive like coral. Vernon told me the glassmaker - who lives out near the western coast of the island has made magnifying glasses and spheres before, but not, to his knowledge, anything as tiny and precise as what I was describing with the microscope. Might be possible though.

#find the word tag #manuscript search tag #tag game #writing tag games #writeblr #my writing #The Archivist's Journal #Empty Names

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gretchensinister · 2 years

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For the writing ask meme, 36 and/or 38? Also happy birthday hope it’s a good one!

Thank you for the birthday wishes!

36. They say to Write What You Know. Setting aside for a moment the fact that this is terrible advice…what do you Know?

I know about what it’s like to be in a graduate program in the humanities at a large university in the 2010s, which is, yes, narrowly specific, but I mention it because I remember seeing at least once some post that was like “enough college AUs, how about GRAD STUDENT AUs” and most of the things on that list made absolutely no fucking sense. I also know about various behind the scenes aspects of nonprofit funding and children’s science museums, also pretty niche topics and not that useful for fiction but useful for me to say: if you ever do anything fun and cool for free in your community, please say or write something nice about it to someone in an official capacity because this helps more cool and free things happen in the future.

Marching band! I think there should be more marching bands in fiction, or the marching band vibe at least. Strange times.

Oh, also Catholicism. I’m not the most expert but I’ve read plenty of fiction, pro and amateur, where it’s obvious that the writer doesn’t know what they’re talking about and well. It does irk me sometimes because the weirdnesses and preoccupations are not the same as other Christian groups that it’s clear the author is more familiar with.

Anyway there’s also a lot of stuff where I’m in the awkward position where I know that I know more about topics than the average person, but I also know that there are people out there who are WAY deeper into the subject than I am. (Horror movies, Beauty and the Beast retellings, medieval art/literature, etc.)

38. What is something about your writing process YOU think is Really Weird? If you are comfortable, please share. If you’re not comfortable, what do you think cats say about us?

I don’t think any part of my writing process is Really Weird. I select the scent I will wear for the day based on the vibes of the scene I plan to work on, which I suspect is not common, but I don’t think “OMG this is weird” when I do that. I think “hell yes. It’s time for some quasi-religious sexual tension with X and Y, so I’ll wear Lush’s Breath of God.” I don’t know, this is a hard question for me because I barely think ANYTHING I do is Really Weird, even though I know MANY things I do are uncommon. To me, feeling like something I do is Really Weird is part of a framework that places the imaginary opinions of unspecified observers in a position of power over me, and that’s no way to create. Do I do weird things? Absolutely. Do I think about them being weird? Not on my better days! (Lol this does make me think of a writing group I participate in sometimes where some writers call themselves weird and um...yes every person is unique but no one I’ve met who’s immediately self-identified as weird has significantly proved it. I know that’s a bitchy thing to say. Nevertheless...)

#backupstardust #rambling

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recentanimenews · 3 years

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RECS: 5 Beginner Mecha Anime Fans Of Giant Robots Should Check Out

Mecha is possibly the most influential anime genre of all time. Mecha’s influence can be felt not only in anime and manga, but also in tokusatsu (live-action with heavy special effects), videogames, and even Hollywood (with the likes of Pacific Rim and Edge of Tomorrow). Many older anime fans got into the medium through classic mecha shows like Macross or Go Lion (aka Voltron). While some may say the genre is past its prime, mecha shows continue to enjoy popularity even today, as the recent SSSS.GRIDMAN franchise can testify.

Most anime fans have watched at least one mecha anime, but few explore the genre fully outside of household names like Gurren Lagann, Code Geass, and Neon Genesis Evangelion. With such a long and decorated history, it's easy to become daunted by the sheer volume of shows (and their length). Fear not, however, for that is where we come in. Here is a small selection of shows to help get you into the genre. Once you’re done with these, you'll be a mecha nut just like me. Even if you’re already one, you’ll no doubt have fun watching or rewatching these titles. Let’s get started!

Mobile Suit Gundam

Is there any better place to start than with the grandparent of most modern mecha anime? 1979’s Mobile Suit Gundam not only kickstarted the massive Gundam franchise but is also credited with creating an entire new genre of mecha: the “real robot” genre — characterized by an emphasis on technological realism and groundedness as opposed to the quasi-magical “super robot” genre.

In a future where most of humanity has moved to space, a breakaway entity called the Principality of Zeon declares war on the Earth Federation, gaining the upper hand thanks to their terrifying giant robots called “mobile suits.” Caught in the middle of this conflict, young Amuro Ray must pilot the Earth Federation’s own mobile suit, the Gundam, and face his greatest rival, Char Aznable. Mobile Suit Gundam has aged remarkably well and serves as a fantastic introduction to the mecha genre.

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM THE ORIGIN Advent of the Red Comet

So you want to get into Gundam, but you don’t want to commit to 43 episodes just yet? Then I have the perfect anime for you! Adapted from Yoshikazu Yasuhiko’s manga of the same name, MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM THE ORIGIN Advent of the Red Comet is a short retelling of events from the original Mobile Suit Gundam, but from the perspective of Char Aznable, the main antagonist of the original series.

If you like Char-ismatic Char-acters, this is the series for you. There is no one in Gundam history more iconic than Char, and this series shows the beginnings of one of anime’s most complex and flawed characters. If Char’s story doesn’t grab you, the movie-quality production values most certainly will. I can guarantee you’ll be interested in checking out the rest of the Gundam universe by the end of this.

Full Metal Panic!

Perhaps outer space is not for you? Perhaps you’d like something a little more grounded? Mecha has got you covered in that department as well. Full Metal Panic! follows the misadventures of Sousuke Sagara, a sergeant working for a private military organization, in his quest to protect a seemingly ordinary Japanese high-school student, Kaname Chidori.

Comedy, romance, mystery, mecha action — Full Metal Panic! has got it all. Much of the humor revolves around the military nutcase Sagara trying (and failing miserably) to blend in with the high school setting. He is absolutely hilarious, and his dynamic with Chidori is fun to watch. The mecha designs are more on the militaristic side, and the battles are surprisingly believable. Watch Full Metal Panic! and its sequels for one of the most varied experiences you can get from a mecha show.

86 EIGHTY-SIX

Are you looking for something even more grounded? Enter 86 EIGHTY-SIX. Gone are the humanoid robots that dominate most of the mecha genre. The mecha of 86 EIGHTY-SIX are more practical and insectile in nature, not unlike the spider tanks of Ghost in the Shell fame. The conflict is gritty and not glorified at all, and the story doesn’t pull any punches with its subject material.

The Republic of San Magnolia fights a war with its neighbors with the help of a drone army. They report zero casualties, because these drones are all unmanned, of course. Or are they? The reality may shock you to the core. 86 EIGHTY-SIX is a tale of persevering in the face of oppression, injustice, and war. With more episodes yet to air, who knows where the story will go next?

Planet With

How about we go the other way entirely? How about a zany, ridiculous, over-the-top mecha experience? From Satoshi Mizukami — the mind behind Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer and Spirit Circle — comes Planet With, the story of an amnesiac boy who pilots a mecha — which is also his cat — and fights the seven superheroes of his town with the help of a gothic lolita maid. Just your everyday premise.

Mizukami’s characteristic weirdness is on display as he delivers an experience that is equal parts FLCL and Gurren Lagann. It's easy to get lost among all the surrealness — your head will no doubt be filled with more questions than answers. Why does he live with an oversized cat?. But the core of the series is its cast: the way it explores them and the way they bounce off of each other. At a mere 12 episodes, Planet With is one of the most tightly crafted mecha experiences in recent times, and a good one at that. Don’t miss out on this underrated gem.

With over 50 years of history, it is unlikely that one will run out of mecha anime to watch. For shows may come and shows may go, but giant robots are forever.

What's your favorite mecha anime? Let us know in the comments below.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Manas B. Sharma

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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stellardarlings · 3 years

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Since usurping the throne of Alderaan a decade ago, Emperor Snoke has banned the use of magical powers within the kingdom. Only Snoke himself and his elite Imperial Guard are allowed to wield magic for their own cruel, destructive ends.

Rey is an orphan of Snoke’s war of conquest and survives as a scavenger in the wastes of Jakku. The threat of death for using illicit magic is no concern of hers - until it is.

Kylo Ren, the most fearsome of all of Snoke’s masked warriors, sees something in Rey she’d rather he didn’t. To protect her from Snoke, he hides her away in his abandoned ancestral home, teaching her how to wield the powers she barely understands. Rey’s lonely - until she starts being visited at night by the mysterious Ben, whose face she can never look upon, but whose soul shines to her despite the darkness…

Or: A quasi-medieval retelling of Eros and Psyche, with lashings of Beauty and the Beast.

M rated |176k | 23/35

Chapter Twenty-Two on AO3:

Kylo feels nothing for a long time but the cold.

Perhaps that's a blessing, because when feeling does return, it brings with it only misery. There’s not a part of his body which doesn’t ache. Even his lungs feel like they’ve been flayed open, raw and tender every time he breathes. It’s probably from the cold air, but it hardly encourages him to keep breathing.

Read from beginning

#reylo #reylo fic #reylo fanfic #rffa writers

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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The Last Kingdom: How Historically Accurate is the Netflix Drama?

https://ift.tt/3qcZcJp

Den of Geek is speaking to Professor Ryan Lavelle about Early Medieval ruler ealdorman Aethelred of Mercia. “The leading question I think you’re asking,” he laughs, “is was he really such a complete shit?”

That’s exactly the question we’re asking. In Netflix historical drama The Last Kingdom, “complete shit” doesn’t begin to cover Aethelred. Toby Regbo’s character in the series is a cowardly, scheming, abusive rapist who tries to have his wife murdered and plots to overthrow his father-in-law, King Alfred of Wessex. Aethelred’s a dangerous egotist driven by self-regard, with no concern for his people. But what say the history books? Is there evidence that the real Aethelred was such a swine?

There is not. In fact, sources suggest that Aethelred cooperated with his wife, and may well have done the bidding of King Alfred as a kind of puppet king. The TV series, and the Bernard Cornwell novels on which it’s based, have clearly employed dramatic licence. Does the portrayal worry Lavelle, a lecturer in Early Medieval History at the University of Winchester, and The Last Kingdom’s historical advisor?

“There is an inevitability that people sometimes engage more with the characters as they’ve been represented in the drama than with the actual historical characters, but this is something that allows a kind of hook,” says Lavelle. “I want people to use it to engage with the actual history.”

With that in mind, Professor Lavelle clues us in on the actual history and separates The Last Kingdom’s fact from fiction…

Uhtred is fictional, but inspired by a real historical figure

“Uhtred is a significant person in Northumbria in the early 11th century so there certainly was a historical Uhtred, just not in the 9th century. Most of the Northumbrians in this period had to have some kind of Danish connection in order to survive, so it’s likely he did.”

King Alfred did suffer from ill health

“There’s enough evidence to be able to say that Alfred was affected by bouts of chronic ill health. That could be part of Alfred’s outlook as a Christian ruler in terms of his sense of intense internal Christianity and his sense of introspection as a ruler.”

Alfred did seek to unite the kingdoms into one England

“Towards the end of his reign, Alfred is calling himself the King of the Anglo-Saxons, ‘Rex Angul-Saxonum’ is the term. It’s potentially a term that means him being a king of the Angles in Mercia and the Saxons in Wessex, looking towards a larger kingdom, a larger realm.”

There may be historical evidence for Osferth being King Alfred’s illegitimate son

“That came from a suggestion by Jinty Nelson back in the 1980s. There was the appearance of a certain Osferth in the will of King Alfred where he’s referred to as ‘my kinsman’. It’s possible, but it’s equally possible that he might just be some more distant relation. It does bring in the historical evidence for Alfred as a young man – as indicated in Asser’s biography of Alfred – that he is said to have regretted his earlier wild youth!”

The Last Kingdom: What to Expect in Season 5

By Louisa Mellor

The Last Kingdom’s Historical Advisor on Accuracy: ‘It’s a Constant Compromise’

By Louisa Mellor

An Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was written during Alfred’s reign

“There’s a lot of evidence for a kind of new form of kingship in Alfred’s reign, a lot of thinking about what it means to be a king, and the king of a Christian people. With that went this idea of the works of the English – things that were associated with English culture and the English language. It’s not so much turning away from Latin, it’s more thinking about the use of English as something which could unite, initially, his subjects in Wessex.”

Alfred probably didn’t burn the cakes, but it’s part of historical legend

“It’s apocryphal in the Anglo-Saxon period, but there is a 10th century account of Alfred burning the cakes in the life of an obscure Cornish Saint called Saint Neot. It probably didn’t happen with Alfred, but it shows that people in the 10th century were talking about Alfred’s life and retelling stories which then weave their way into legends within four or five generations of his lifetime.”

Aelswith would have advised son Edward on how to rule

“The idea of a Queen’s guidance is an important aspect of early Medieval royal power. Sometimes royal women were provided with far more legal authority as a result of a queenly title. That aspect of a Queen, or King’s wife being there at the court emerges in the historical records at different times in the Anglo-Saxon period.”

There’s no reason to think that Aethelflaed’s daughter wasn’t Aethelred’s biological child

“Historical question about the paternity? Sadly, I don’t think there is. I think that’s invented. I can’t remember whether it’s invented by Bernard or invented for the series.”

Aethelflaed, Lady of Mercia, was a real inspirational leader

“There is a version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle written from a Mercian perspective that really plays up Aethelflaed’s achievements, which indicates that there were people looking toward her as an inspirational leader.

In a version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in the 10th century, there’s a reference to the loss of the thanes, or warriors, who were dearest to her at the taking of Derby, so there’s a sense of that lordly relationship. It’s interesting that the word ‘Lady’ or ‘hlǣfdīġe’ is used for her because that is the female equivalent of the word ‘Lord’, and lordship is that bond that holds the warrior society together in this period.”

Aethelred likely worked for Alfred and didn’t plot against him

“Aethelred is a figure who sort of becomes beholden to Alfred. There is a suggestion that he’s not actually from a royal lineage and may have been from a noble family in Western Mercia. Potentially Alfred was doing the same as the Vikings did with puppet kings elsewhere and bringing in Aethelred. Aethelred was basically Alfred’s man in Mercia.

The disappearance of the shadowy Ceolwulf II, the King of Mercia, is one of the great mysteries of the late 9th century. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle – so, Alfred’s perspective on it – plays Ceolwulf down and talks of him as a foolish king’s thane, but actually he seems to have been reasonably independent. Just after the battle of Edington – Ethandun – Ceolwulf is disappeared and Aethelred appears on the scene.”

There’s no evidence that Aethelred was a cruel husband to Aethelflaed

“The thing to mention here is that Aethelred and Aethelflaed seem to have cooperated, they seem to have had a joint position and that’s probably because in order for Aethelred to have some sort of quasi-royal authority in Mercia, he’d have to emphasise Aethelflaed, his legitimate wife with royal blood, in his position there.”

Roman-style Shield Walls may not have been as popular a military tactic with the Danes

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

“There seems to be evidence for closely overlapped shields in Early Medieval warfare, but the shield wall is a very literal interpretation of an old Norse term of ‘skjaldborg’ or ‘shield fortress’. It’s probably just a poetic term, though it does get interpreted by a few books about Viking age warfare. I’m not convinced that they would necessarily do that kind of ‘holding the shields above their heads’ with quite the sense of Roman military precision. Partly, because it would make you very vulnerable to being charged very quickly. But it’s an interpretation.”

Read more from Professor Lavelle on The Last Kingdom at History Extra.

The post The Last Kingdom: How Historically Accurate is the Netflix Drama? appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3fOEn22

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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archiveofidentityconstellations · 5 years

Text

birds all sing | part 2

part 1

and we’re back! chapter has been revised for the better! enjoy!

August

“That’s right, give it a good hard stare. Make that menu tell you all its secrets.”

Selina’s whisper tickled his ear, which would have been pleasant if Bruce wasn’t so infuriated. The past couple of weeks had not gone according to plan. For one thing, Tim had not quit. Rather, he had reached into his resources and manipulated multiple employees as well as members of the board. Bruce couldn’t count how many visits of “good will” he had received since last week, hoping to make him “aware” in subtle terms of their position. Bruce wasn’t surprised, per se, at the actions Tim had taken. He had been a resourceful boy and now was a rather ruthless…man. Bruce adjusted in his seat. That was a trait that he had cultivated in him, and now the tables had turned. He did not regret cultivating the trait, not for an instant. Tim was the most cerebral of his sons, the one he could rely on to do what must be done, even to his detriment.

Especially to his detriment.

“Have you even tried talking to him?”

Barbara’s voice had been snappish, dry, and derisive, though lacking any real bite. Bruce had stopped by the clocktower in lieu of Tim for the monthly check-in. Bruce, being an adult, had kept the details of the situation from the family.

Which meant that Barbara had interrogated him the minute he stepped into the clocktower.

“It’s not about that,” he had told her. At her look he explained, “Tim is young. He’s young and he’s never branched out. Besides that, he never proceeds with the expected. He didn’t throw a shampoo bottle at my head and move out like Dick did. He left home by time I returned, and his lifestyle hasn’t been investigated since then.”

“You really think getting married is his act of rebellion?”

Her tone was not flattering. Bruce bristled.

“I wouldn’t expect you to understand,” he said. “Children are—“

“I think you don’t understand, Bruce, I really think you don’t,” she interrupted. “This isn’t a catch-all situation, it never is. You always think there’s a formula to these things. Why, I don’t know, especially since the fall-out is always terrible. My ears are still ringing from Jason’s tantrum in the eighth grade. You wouldn’t let him know why he wasn’t allowed to go on that D. C. field trip, remember that?”

Bruce did.

“Look,” she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I’m not here to argue or to lecture or any of that. I don’t think you’d listen to me if I did, though I’d try my damndest to make you.”

He scoffed. She smirked.

“I just want you to consider that this isn’t about you.”

Bruce paused. “How could this not be about me?”

“You get wrapped up in yourself, Bruce.”

Bruce cleared his throat, ready to deny this, but then Barbara sighed in a knowing way, cutting him off.

"I'm not here to argue about semantics," she said, looking at him behind her glasses. "Just consider that people, your children, everyone around you—we all have our own melodrama,” she said. “And we’re the main character in it. You’re the sidekick in this scenario.”

He stuck his tongue in the side of his cheek, blinking mulishly.

Barbara sighed. “He’s not doing this to hurt you.”

“He put Bosch in the office,” Bruce protested.

A beat.

“He’s doing this to hurt you a little.”

Tim was sending a message, and it was personal. Besides all the office machinations and manipulations, he had taken to hiding out in Stephanie’s apartment, a place he knew Bruce wouldn’t visit. Not only that, but he went out of town for his birthday, decidedly not inviting the family or even letting Bruce know his plans.

Bruce didn’t know how to feel about that.

It wasn’t that either of them were especially attached to their birthdays, but ever since Tim had been adopted things had been—well. Different. Bruce had tried, put in more effort than he realized, in recognizing Tim’s birthday every year. He knew the boy’s parents hadn’t made it home more than not, and Tim had mentioned that through the years, a sure indication that it bothered him even if he didn’t admit to it. But Tim’s twentieth birthday had dawned bright and clear, and he had ensured that Bruce wouldn’t be part of it.

If Bruce was being honest, it hurt.

He had tried, damnit, and to have that effort thrown back in his face just because of a fight—Tim was supposed to be the good one. The understanding one, the easy one.

Bruce clenched his fists. Tim was supposed to be the reliable one.

“Maybe you should take that menu outside.”

Bruce looked at Selina. She quirked a brow at him.

“What, no come-ons? No sweet nothings about how good she looks?” She reached over and twisted the menu in Bruce’s hands, keen eyes surveying the width of the menu. She whistled. “I hear she also knows how to cook.”

Bruce didn’t smile, but it was a near thing. “I’m not ignoring you.”

Selina set her elbow on the table, leaning her head on her hand. “Oh?” She dragged a finger around his temple, long, scratching nail almost making him shiver. Almost. “You haven’t been paying attention to me either.” She pouted playfully, but her moue disappeared when Bruce only hummed. Her green eyes widened. “What’s wrong?”

Bruce hesitated. But before he could answer a waiter was directing a friendly-looking couple to their table. Selina sent him a look and stood up; time to meet the in-laws. Selina and her sister Maggie had discovered each other years ago after losing contact for more than twenty years due to foster care. Maggie had been shipped off to California and adopted. It was only after she had married Simon that Selina had brokered contact, and now his fiancé was deadset on including Maggie in the wedding details. Which meant meeting the groom. Which meant Bruce.

He sighed around his water goblet, taking a swallow and pasting a smile on his face when he shook Simon’s hand.

The situation with Tim could wait. Bruce had made it this far, he could hold it together for another hour.

“So then she said, ‘I sent my draft over’ and I was like ‘bullshit’ and then he went ‘I think we can all understand that folks have been busy’ and I was like ‘BULLSHIT’ and then she said ‘It’s not my fault that you spent all night working on it’ and she knows the grade is based on a group effort, it’s not individual, so I was about to go all Solange Knowles in the elevator, and THEN--"

Tim set his head against the wheel.

Stephanie tapped her fingers against his skull. “Honey? I know that my dramatic retelling of my summer class might be boring but you need to keep your head up to see the traffic light.” She tapped again. “Chop chop, eyes on the road.”

Tim obliged. “I’m losing it, Steph,” he murmured. “I’m losing it.”

“I’ll help you find it,” she assured him. “In the meantime we can share mine. Don’t crash my car. Now, where was I? Oh yeah, the elevator. So THEN—“

"It’s just,” he began, “he is up my ass—”

“Oh wow,” said Stephanie. “I have no idea what that feels like. I feel so sorry for you.”

Tim sent her an unimpressed look. She smiled beatifically at him. He reached over and pinched her thigh. Steph gave a shriek of laughter and drew her knees up to her chest. “Both hands on the wheel, Timothy Drake!”

He laughed and returned to the wheel, eyes scanning the road.

“But really,” she said, continuing their conversation. “He’s just in one of his Moods. You just have to ride it out.”

“Screw that,” Tim muttered.

“What is up with you two anyways? Normally you let him go crazy-anal and don’t get defensive about it at all.”

“Did you just call me a suck-up?”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “Seriously, though. You’re obviously unhappy. What happened?”

“He just…he’s too much. And I’m sick of it. You know he was trying to get me to go to college?”

“Yeah, I only heard about it twenty times.”

“Well,” he flicked on the signal, “he basically threatened to fire me if I don’t do what he wants.”

“No! Wait, this is Bruce we’re talking about. Yes!”

“So I’ve basically been getting back at him at the office. And on patrol. And at home.”

“Is this why you’ve been sleeping at my place?”

He didn’t even have the decency to look sheepish. “Yes.”

“Okay, while I love that you’re using me as a tool to piss off your dad,” Steph took a sip from her water bottle, “what do I get from providing sanctuary?”

“I’m getting you a new car for your birthday,” Tim deadpanned.

“Volvo?”

“Lexus.”

She leaned over and smacked a resounding kiss on his cheek. “Mwah!”

He grinned.

“Has Bruce retaliated yet?”

“No,” he admitted, bitter and not sure of the reason why, “but then again I’ve tied his hands. I made Tam hold all my calls.”

Stephanie burst out laughing. “Oh Tim,” she gasped. “This is Mean Girls petty and I should say I’m disappointed in both of you but I’m also loving this?”

Tim gave a half-smile but didn’t respond. It had seemed fun, at first. Hitting Bruce where it hurt, like he had done to him. But after the third quasi-manic episode at the office (which had included balloons and Eiffel 65 blaring—he didn’t want to talk about it), it felt…empty. Like no matter what he did, Bruce was still going to think of him the same and there wasn’t anything he could do about it. There was no concept of a permanent sense of self, only a ‘Bruce sense of self.’ That didn’t mean he stopped the lying and manipulation; he just felt strange using Lucius for personal reasons. Like giving Bruce the finger.

Tim shifted in his seat, barely listening to Stephanie chatter. He thought about actual aggressive “negotiations” with the man. He visualized launching himself at Bruce and choking him out.

Tim hummed, considerate. He took a left, merging onto the highway.

Not that he could really do anything. He’d just hang there, like a Tim-sized necktie.

But it’s the thought that counts.

“—And so then I’m stuck between two seats, my tongue almost touching the—hey!” Stephanie took her feet off the dashboard in surprise. “Why did you go on the 95? You know it always gets backed up.”

“Does it matter? Do you have to pee?”

“No, that’s not it.” Her eyes narrowed at the traffic. “We talked about ordering in tonight, and China Panda closes at eight.”

“I’m sure we’ll get home by—”

“You KNOW the 95 takes hours ever since they closed Doyle Pike, it takes—”

“Shit,” Tim swore. “For god’s sake Stephanie, you couldn’t have warned me?”

“I did!” she said shrilly. “I literally got into the car and the first thing I did was remind you about Doyle Pike and Mallowan Road and asked you if you had stopped off because I had less than half a tank of—”

The car gave a sputter.

Tim’s heart went cold.

“No.”

It jerked.

“Nonononono—”

It stopped.

This was hell.

Bruce examined the cutlery for the twenty-fourth time (he had counted). Silver, same as last time. It wasn’t as if he disliked his future in-laws. They were very nice people. Very…nice.

“And just think,” Maggie was saying, “after the wedding you could come visit us in California!”

“Yeah,” said Selina, face lighting up when she spotted their waiter across the room.

“And you could meet Linus!”

“Our son,” Simon explained, smiling at Bruce.

“Maybe you could even bring a friend for him,” said Maggie. She raised her eyebrows, alluding to something Selina knew about, for her sister smiled testily at her.

“Our waiter is coming,” she snapped, pushing the appetizer plates out of the way.

Maggie unrolled her napkin. “And Linus could even meet all the other kids! You have six, don’t you?”

If Bruce was surprised at being addressed, he didn’t show it. “I do.”

“You adopted, right?”

“I did.”

“I’m part of a blended family too!” she exclaimed. “I mean, besides Selina. I was adopted into a family, there were four of us until mom had Constance. I was seventeen, but I loved having a baby around, I think it really shaped me as an individual. What do you think about large age gaps between siblings?”

“Look, bread,” Selina announced. “Bruce, eat the bread.”

Bruce ate it.

Maggie moved on from her question, listing off her siblings’ names and dipping her bread with gusto, but Bruce considered it. Had his children’s ages and life experiences influenced the younger ones’ decisions? He knew that Damian was far more tactile due to Dick’s impact, and he likely would not be that way had he only been involved with Bruce. Perhaps that was what was going on with Tim. Perhaps there was some outside influence at work here, something (or someone, he thought to himself bitterly), that made Tim so stubborn. He knew the boy didn’t used to be this bad. He used to be able to wait him out. He remembered a specific scenario, giving Tim a look and Tim had immediately come clean, sniffling all the while.

Granted, he had been twelve at the time, but still.

There was something to this situation, an aspect Bruce hadn’t considered.

“What date for the wedding were you thinking?” asked Simon, stepping in when his wife paused for breath. “Have you set one yet?”

“Not yet,” Selina replied. “Look, food.”

Their waiter set down their entrees. Bruce unrolled his napkin amidst Maggie’s excited report on flexible venues.

“—And after a year or two the booking is still good!” she exclaimed. “So if anything comes up—”

“Nothing will. Bruce, steak.”

Bruce obligingly cut up his steak.

Although, perhaps an outside influence wasn’t the answer. Perhaps the answer was that Timothy felt that lies and manipulations were a viable tool of communication. Perhaps Timothy believed that respect was not warranted, not to his family, and not to Bruce. Bruce, you know, the man otherwise known as his father? Perhaps Timothy felt as though he should be able to do things with zero consequences. Perhaps Timothy thought that Bruce was stupid. Perhaps Timothy thought that it was funny that Bruce cared about him, that he wanted to see him succeed. Perhaps Timothy should be forced to cooperate, should answer his questions that he hadn’t bothered to ask because Timothy would feed him lies, all that boy did was lie, he woke in the morning and thought “How can I lie to Bruce today?” because lying about sleeping and his caffeine intake and his plans for school and where he was going to live and whose ring was in his closet—

“Bruce, chew.”

Bruce chewed angrily, snapping his jaws together.

“It is a lot,” Maggie was saying. At that point Selina had decimated all the breadsticks, wheat corpses mangled across the tablecloth. “I mean, I’m exhausted,” she admitted. “I’ll never sleep the same again, I swear it. But Linus is just so amazing. I can hardly believe that God gave me a baby, and that I get to have such a wonderful one. Especially after we struggled so much.”

Simon met his wife’s eyes, smiling reassuringly at her.

Selina paused. Her face gentled. She set her hand on her sister’s arm. “I have no doubt that you are a great mom, Maggie.”

Maggie bit her lip to cover up its tremble. “Thank you,” she whispered. She then cleared her throat and picked up her wine glass. “All in all, children are such a blessing,” she concluded.

Selina returned her hands to the table, face pinched again. She took a sip of her water.

Bruce twisted the napkin in his hands.

“I mean, what could be better than children?”

Sip.

Twist.

“I mean, they really are such a blessing!”

Sip.

Twist.

“Don’t you think, Selina?”

“Unf,” agreed Selina around a huge gulp of water. It spilled out of her mouth.

Twist.

“Plus, Simon and I are enjoying all these firsts of parenthood,” Maggie continued. “First time they roll over, first time they coo—”

Twist.

“First time they smile,” Simon added. They smiled at each.

Twist. Twist. Twist twist twist twist twist—

“And we’re so excited for what comes next!” Maggie squealed. “The first time they crawl, the first step, the first word—”

“The first time they set up an elaborate lie and tell you that they’re going to live with an imaginary uncle.”

The table went silent.

“PUSH!”

“I am pushing!” he bellowed.

Stephanie stuck her head out the window, eyes fixed upon him and definitely not on the road. “Push harder!”

Tim rolled his eyes. He planted his hands against the back of Steph’s 2003 Toyota Corolla and pushed. His heels lifted from the exertion, but he kept going. Sweat dripped and fell on the black tarmac. Cars inched forward behind him, growing more and more discontent.

Step by arduous step, they crawled up the highway.

Of course this would happen on the hottest day in Gotham City since 1999.

Of course today, of all days, this would happen. The climax of the truly spectacularly shitty summer. The summer a la Bruce, with special appearances by judgement and paternal harassment. Of course Tim would forget to fill the car up with gas. Of course. Of course! OF FUCKING COURSE.

“Do you want me to push?”

Tim leaned to his left, meeting her eyes. “No. Keep your eyes on the road.”

“Are you sure?”

“Steph!” he shouted. “Keep your eyes on the goddamn road!”

“Okay fine!”

Her head disappeared inside. Tim hissed, hands slipping off the hot metal. “Shit,” he muttered, throwing his weight into the next push. The car behind him hovered, then quickly cut into the next lane. Horns immediately started blaring. “Let them in!” he shouted, in a rare show of traffic consideration. “We’re not going anywhere, let them in!”

Gotham’s heart must have grown three sizes since Tuesday, because, miraculously enough, the car in the next lane let them in. A line of cars merged over like a shiny caterpillar in the sun. Tim wiped his brow on his shoulder, arms straining with effort.

This was shit. Complete and utter shit. It wasn’t even funny in that cosmic, haha, look at this human fail, what does he know sort of way. It was shit. That’s all it was. There wasn’t a bright side or a “trial of soul” as Jason liked to say. It was just shit. His life was shit, his relationship with his dad was shit, his job was going down the tube, everything was shit.

Tim grit his teeth. The next lane’s goodwill had worn off, so cars were piling up behind him again. It really was a matter of time before he was run over, and at this point he would welcome it.

The driver door slammed open. He looked up.

“Switch!” Steph yelled, popping out of the car and racing around it, “Switch!”

Tim, without knowing he was doing it, dashed to the front seat. “This is a dumb idea!” he said. He adjusted the seat.

“Keep the windows rolled down!” was the reply. “Sometimes the wind picks up and you get a faint breeze!”

“Steph!”

The car suddenly heaved forward.

“What did you do?”

“I kicked it!”

“Don’t kick the car!”

“It’s my car!”

“I’m going to push again!”

“No!” Another heave. “It’s my turn! You rest!”

The car was moving faster than it was before. Tim tried not to let that rankle. Of course he would fail at pushing, he couldn’t do anything right nowadays. If he ever had. He groaned, slamming his head back against the headrest. It was bull self-pity, but at this point it was all he had. Bruce had basically already kicked him out of the family, and now was attempting to get him out of Gotham. Which, you know, pissed him off. Gotham was his home too, and he didn’t go around ordering people out of it. It was like Jason said, they all served the same mistress. Helluva lover, though. Tim brushed his knuckles over his jaw; he winced. Since fighting with Bruce he hadn’t bothered to check in, not even for patrol, which had resulted in no back up with some rather nasty bruises to show for it. Was it immature? Yes. Did Bruce absolutely deserve it? Yes. Tim couldn’t believe that he had had to hide at Stephanie’s apartment to escape him. He had been wearing the same business suits in rotation for a week, too scared to go back to his place and be immediately jumped and shipped off to Oxford. He imagined himself stuffed into a suitcase, strapped down to the luggage area of the batplane. Tim frowned.

And yet on the other hand, why was he fighting this at all? Bruce had made it clear, been explicit when he threatened to fire him, that he didn’t want Tim around anymore. Which, he’ll be honest, hurt his feelings. A lot. (He may have laid face-down on Steph’s couch and emitted dying squirrel noises at low moments, couldn’t be sure.) Why did Tim always do this? Why did he stick his nose into places where he was unwanted? Why did he slide into places with no room and insist he be allowed to stay?

This…wasn’t what he wanted. None of this was what he wanted. Maybe it was better he just take the hint and go. He wasn’t legally part of the family anyways, having been emancipated years ago. After Bruce got his way, there would be nothing holding him here.

“This sucks,” he whispered.

“HUH?”

“I said this SUCKS,” he shouted out the window.

“It’s all right!” she shouted back encouragingly. “It’s just like my eighth birthday! You get to live a day in the life, rich boy!”

Tim closed his eyes. Hot tears gathered around his eyelashes, but he didn’t let them fall.

Bruce always got his way. One way or another, Bruce always got his way. It was like the universe was curved to suit him and all the rest of the sorry bastards had to fight for the scraps. It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair. Nothing was ever fair, and that sucked.

Life sucked, Bruce sucked, Tim sucked.

“Tim!” shouted Steph. “Hon, you’re veering!”

Quick as a jolt, Tim opened his eyes and righted the wheels in the nick of time. Stephanie crowed in delight and the car heaved forward again from her kick.

Everything sucked.

But Stephanie didn’t.

Stephanie had been great about everything, like she always was. She hadn’t pushed him to explain and she made him coffee in the mornings, even gave him that stupid red mug that was made more for soup than coffee. She dealt with his stupid crap and mood swings and insisted that they go buy more suits for him because he was “starting to look like a business gigolo making ends meet” and had even made him laugh when he was being fitted because that’s what Steph did, she made everything brighter and happier and made the world not seem so bad.

Everything sucked, but Stephanie Brown didn’t.

“Switch!” he yelled suddenly, hopping out of the car, foot caught beneath the seat. He stumbled. “Switch!”

“No!” Stephanie yelled, but she was already halfway there.

“My turn!” Tim insisted, hair flopping in his eyes. He rounded the trunk, skidding into position. “Don’t worry, it’s my turn!”

Bruce always got what he wanted, but not this time. It was his turn. He pushed the car, ignoring the blisters on his heels.

Tim was staying.

“And they think you don’t know, they think you’re over the hills and simply believe them when they say they’re not doing what you know they’re doing. They think you’re an idiot that goes, ‘huh, they must be telling the truth because in this family we honor our word and respect each other enough to be honest.’ HAH!”

Maggie dropped her silverware.

“And you wonder, how long has this been going on? How long have you been going behind my back and doing EXACTLY what I told you not do!”

The couple at the next table looked over. Bruce didn’t notice.

“’Well, Dad, it’s been three weeks,” Bruce said, parroting a teenager’s voice. “And you haven’t confronted me so I’m going to assume that you’re alright with me lying to your face! Ha ha!’”

“This is really good,” Selina commented, taking another bite of her food.

“’Ha ha’?” Bruce repeated incredulously. “‘Ha ha’? How about I ground you for two months, that’s a ‘ha ha’ for me!”

“It’s got like this…” Selina quirked a brow in thought. “Lemony texture? It’s really fresh.”

“But you can’t do that, because while you were living your life, trying to ensure that everyone is doing alright because you can’t just let things go—”

“No kidding,” muttered someone behind them.

“Is that Bruce Wayne?” said another.

“—like others do! You know what happens when other people let things go?” He waved his hands. “Nothing! You know what happens when I let things go? Cataclysm!”

“What?” asked Maggie, puzzled. She leaned closer to Simon. He took her hand under the table.

“So while you were trying to prevent another cataclysm, they go off and grow up! So you can’t ground them, you just have to look them in the eyes while they smile and wreak havoc and tell you everything is fine.”

“So good. I’m definitely getting dessert.”

“And you just want to…” Bruce mimed closing his hands around a neck, “wring them by their skinny little neck and say ‘I know you’re LYING to me, you little SHIT!’”

The couple jerked.

“‘I know you’ve been lying to me,’” Bruce continued, caught up in his fantasy. “‘I know allllll your lies! But I pretended not to notice, because I wanted you to be comfortable! Well, fat lot of good that did!” He slammed his hands on the table. The glasses chinked. Selina chewed on her calamari. “’Because now, NOW? You’re screwing up your own life!’” He yanked the wine glass and downed the contents.

The room was silent. Simon cleared his throat while Maggie shifted in her seat. Selina waved their waiter over and asked for another entrée to go.

Bruce closed his eyes, letting the wine fill his senses as a reprieve. “But yeah,” he said after a moment, “Other than that. Kids are great.”

Was the I-95 made out of fucking lava? He could hardly feel his feet, they felt like they had been freezer-burned like old strawberries.

“Switch!” shouted Stephanie. Tim gratefully sprang forward and dashed into the front seat. He would feel bad, would feel like he was slacking, but he knew his turn would come again. He and Steph had managed the time required to catch a breath before switching. Tim had expected to do it all by himself but Stephanie hadn’t let him. And he was glad of it.

Steph was just…wonderful. In good times and in bad, Steph supported him. Even when he was being an idiot.

He was…glad to be taking this next step with her. Taking the plunge. After all, if not now, then when?

The feelings bunched up in his chest, shooting down his veins, so he stuck his head out the window. “Steph!” he shouted. He sat up further, tucking a knee on the seat. “STEPH! Steph, I love you!”

“Thank you!” she shouted back. “And here I thought you were only with me for my ass!”

Tim shook his head. “No listen,” he instructed, leaning out as far as possible, “I love you! I really, really do!”

The car stopped.

“Really?!”

“Yes!”

The car began moving again.

“I love you too!”

Tim grinned. “I think this is going to work!” he shouted again. “What we’re doing, I think it’s going to work this time!”

“Us or the car?” she shouted.

“BOTH!” he hollered. “SWITCH!”

Tim hopped out and Stephanie ran forward. Instead of going around the front, Tim circled back and almost smashed into her. They both laughed, breathless and exhausted.

“September,” she reminded him, shaking her hair off her face, halfway in the car.

“September,” he repeated, already making his way to the back.

They smiled.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.

A beat.

“Is this guy seriously honking?!”

“So when I said, ‘Let’s have lunch with my sister and her husband, tell ‘em about the engagement, really let them get to know you,’ you heard ‘have an absolute meltdown at the table; just fuck with them,’” Selina said, laughing. She swiped at her smeared lipstick and shut the sun visor mirror, leaning back and scrunching her hair in one hand. Bruce groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I’m sorry,” he said, voice muffled. “I really screwed that up, huh?”

“Nah.” She popped one of the complimentary mints in her mouth. “I told them you thought you were Christian Bale, today is your method acting day.”

He looked up. “You did not.”

“Nope.”

“Selina.”

She giggled, leaning over to massage his shoulders. “What’s the deal with you today? You’re so tense,” she complained, fingers digging at a muscle knot.

He sighed, but not in pleasure. Selina frowned. She pinched him.

“Ow,” he said dully, yet didn’t bother to push her away. She sat back anyway.

Selina huffed. “Really, what’s going on?” she asked, crossing her arms. Bruce didn’t respond. “Don’t make me pinch you again,” she threatened, holding her fingers like pincers.

Her fiancé turned on the car, grumbling, “What do you think is going on? I just told every staff member of Vivace about my problems, not to mention my new family members.”

“Tim? Still?”

He frowned at her incredulity. “Yes, Tim, still,” he said, taking a sharp turn into traffic. A horn blared behind them.

“Aw, baby.”

“He’s just,” Bruce sighed. “I can’t…”

“I know,” she murmured. “Have you tried talking to him?”

He frowned.

“Bruce?”

No response.

“Bruce.”

“He won’t answer any of my calls,” he admitted irritably. That fact stuck like a thorn. Worse than a thorn. More like a two-by-four. And he had been hit by them before, he knew what it felt like. “He told me to stay away from him.”

“Did you?”

He didn’t reply.

Tim didn’t want to be around him. Every instance of Tim’s new life, every personal decision, from age seventeen onward, had created distance. At this point, Bruce would believe that it was purposeful. But just what had he done so wrong? What had made Tim wake up one day and decide to schedule Bruce out from Monday to eternity?

Had Bruce failed? Worse yet, had Tim realized that and moved on?

Bruce wasn’t a proponent on fairness, but he did believe in justice. And justice was fair. And that meant that Bruce would get another chance, would get to see his son succeed and not be stuck choosing something he thought was right, something he had trained for. Something he thought was meant for, something that had made sense at a young age but wisdom and experience and death had tempered. Something that broke him, warped him, made him unable to recognize himself through the bruises. Something that was a lifelong mission and that sounded so grand at twenty-two, but at thirty-two it stings and at forty-two it aches. Something that made him less than what he was, what he should have been, if he only had just…taken a moment.

“Are you sure it’s the ring you’re worried about?”

Bruce blinked. “Pardon?”

“Is it marriage that concerns you?” Selina asked, peering at him with keen green eyes. She then smirked. “Should I be worried about that?”

“I just…don’t want him to do something he’ll regret,” he said, throat tight. Tim was still young. Too young. Tim was his, and Bruce had barely had him. To lose him to marriage, to adulthood? After everything? He didn’t think he could bear it.

“Well, look on the bright side,” Selina teased. “You haven’t heard from him. He could already be married. Then you have nothing more to worry about.”

Something caught his eye.

Tim’s location blinked on his phone. Bruce looked at it. He twisted the wheel.

“I’m going to confront him.”

“Okay, babe. I support you. Now, can you drop me off first before you—”

Bruce drove past her apartment.

“–okay.”

“Merge onto I-95,” instructed the GPS. Bruce flicked on his turn signal.

“You do realize I was just kidding about them eloping, right?”

Bruce didn’t reply.

Selina sighed, slipping on her sunglasses

“Here we go…”

#Batman #batman fanfiction #batfam #batfam fanfiction #Tim Drake #Bruce Wayne #birds all sing

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noknockingonmydoor · 3 years

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❤ you know who @noglxry

Dating:

Where was their first official date? I think it was a spontaneous date, like idk walking by the beach together, and once it ended even if neither of them acknowledged it they knew it had been a date

What is their favorite date location? Somewhere out in nature, away from people, where they could have all the privacy they needed.

How many dates before their first kiss? They kissed on the very first “date” I’d say

Who asked who out first? Probably Rohan, but he didn’t outright ask Brook out, just subtly kept on asking to hang out

How many dates before they considered each other a couple? I’d say it probably didn’t take much for Brook to think of them as a couple, but Rohan? He probably only realised they were a legit couple shortly before it ended 💀

Friends:

How many mutual friends do they have? If they’d met in Morioh, they’d have a few mutual friends, like Reimi and Koichi. Otherwise? None. Lol

Which one of their friends is most likely to get in between an argument between the ship? I imagine Brook’s friends would tell him to break it off whenever he talked about his problems with Rohan bc he always looked so miserable speaking of it. Does this answer that question justice, idk

Which one has more friends? Brook.

Which one has introduced the other to more people? I’m not even sure if they explicitly introduced each other to their friends... ‘cause deep down they knew this thing was gonna crash and crumble

Did they start out as friends and made their way to a couple, or were they a couple almost right away? They were quasi-friends briefly, but their attraction to each other was apparent very early on, and they acted on it too quickly probably.

Arguments:

What do they argue about the most? Brook hates how cold and dismissive and inconsiderate Rohan gets, Rohan hates how sensitive, emotional, needy Brook gets. It’s a vicious cycle.

How do they usually solve their disagreements? They don’t. Even if they try to set aside their differences, they just... can’t... and it hurts them both.

Do they argue a lot or not very often? Too much.

Who admits to being wrong more often? Usually Brook, unless he gets fed up with taking all the blame all the time and Rohan figures it’s his turn to take responsibility.

Sex:

Who is more likely to initiate sex? I’d say it’s even, maybe Brook slightly more? In the beginning, at least. Later on I imagine it starts feeling like a chore and they just stop altogether

Do they prefer to do it in a bed, or do they prefer a chair, or perhaps the shower? Maybe other spots? In the beginning, probably everywhere they could. As time went on, probs mostly in bed

Do they practice any kind of bdsm in the bedroom at all and if so, what kinds? I’d say only some tying up and liiiiight power play

Who’s usually more dominant in the bedroom? Rohan, almost exclusively. Rohan sometimes nags Brook to try and switch it up, but it doesn’t work out for either of them.

Lights on or off? In the beginning, it doesn’t matter. Later on, dim lights. Or off.

Do they share any kinks? Both into some light bondage and wearing lingerie

Does either one have any kinks that they don’t have in common with the other? Ofc. There’s Brook’s kink for soft love and affection and romance, and Rohan’s kink for heavy rough senseless fucking

Have they ever had sex anywhere public before? Maybe tempted to in the beginning, but never went through with it

Who would be most likely to suggest bringing in a third person and who would that person be? I don’t think either of them would be into that.

Cuddling:

When are they most likely to cuddle? Just before bedtime or after waking up

Where is their favorite place to cuddle? In bed

Who’s usually the big spoon? Both? Mby Brook more because he’s much bigger and it’s easier for him to embrace Rohan than other way around

Do they cuddle often? Rohan would say too often. Brook would say not often at all.

Marriage:

Are they married? If not, is it something that could happen between them?

If they are married, where did they get married at? If not married, what is their dream wedding location?

If married, who proposed to who? If not married, who would be more likely to propose to who?

If they are married, which one moved in with the other? If not married, who would be more likely to move in with the other?

Children:

Do they have kids? If not, would they consider having kids?

How many kids do they have? If no kids, how many kids would they want to have?

What are the children’s names? If no kids, what would they name their kids?

Random:

What are three random headcannons you have about the ship that are not related to romance or sex? 1. In the beginning, Rohan could listen to Brook talk for HOURS about his life, experiences, knowledge, but later on the spark is gone and their conversations get really dull and uninspiring and passive-aggressive. 2. An important character in Rohan’s manga/one-shot/something is HEAVILY, shamelessly inspired by Brook and the storyline he’s featured in is like an allegorical retelling of their relationship. 3. Rohan likes to tease Brook a lot and give him embarrassing nicknames like ‘my little orange’ but Brook actually finds it adorable. (wow, ONE WHOLE kinda cute headcanon)

Which one is more likely to suggest getting pets? Brook. Rohan's like. OK if ur gonna take care of them while I'm hyperfocusing on something

Which one eats more snack foods? Brook, and he’s always bringing apples n shit when Rohan forgets to eat

What is their favorite movie to watch together? Umm... Brokeback Mountain? BHJFBAJBFJHBDF I DUNNO

What is their favorite tabletop game to play together? Idk about tabletop but they probs played like card games

What are your three absolute favorite things about this ship? The lovey dovey perfect magical beginning, the weird rollercoaster once the honeymoon period wears off, and the EXPLOSIVE ending. Basically everything. It’s interesting.

What is one thing you don’t like about this ship? It HURTS and there’s lingering sadness in their every interaction and it can be a bummer bc they’re TRYING but they’re bringing out the worst in each other :(

If you had to rate this ship on a scale of 1-10, what would you give it? 1/10 WHAT THE HELL WHERE THEY BOTH THINKING DRAGGING THIS THING ON FOR SO LONG. HELLO??? But would ship again thank u Nori for the opportunity to indulge in shameless angst hehe

#this thing is so long jesus christ agbhdfgf #memes #noglxry

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darcyscoattails · 4 years

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Meme was made with imgflip.com --

As I watched Lost in Austen, there were particular moments that captured my attention. Certain moments are ‘meta,’ ‘self-referential,’ and ‘time bending.’ These are the moments when there is a compelling interplay between the text of Pride and Prejudice and the Lost in Austen video rendition. In these moments the intertextuality between the two works is most apparent. Also at play is tension between regency era and modern England. Guy Andrews does not seek to recreate or retell Pride and Prejudice; he merely references it. More than just another rendition of Austen, this is a complex work with relationships to the original Austenian text as well as the modern Austenian world.

Laurie Kaplan writes that “willingness to defy the viewer’s plot expectations” and Miss Price’s “constant presence” offer a “metafictional writerly or authorial point of view.” [1] There is a disconnect between what happens in Lost in Austen and what ought to happen if the original novel were followed entirely. These discrepancies are often noted by our protagonist, Amanda Price. Around the 21st minute of the first video, Amanda thinks “stop looking at me; look at Jane,” silently urging Mr. Bingley to follow the dictates of the novel (Andrews). We are given, via Amanda, the point of view of someone who has read the novel and knows the plot, but she is transported into the work and disrupts it. Moreover, this only works because the viewer is in on the joke – we recognize, like Amanda, all the departures from Austen’s original work. The video takes the form of an embedded narrative, though this narrative is in a way self-referential, almost paradoxical. The viewer is able to observe the tensions between the interior and exterior narrative only because he is completely removed.

Amanda, for her part, recognizes many of the discrepancies between the original text and the derivative, quasi-faithful version we get in Lost in Austen. Amanda at one point notes “nothing’s happening the way it should” (Andrews). She is aware that Jane, Darcy, Bingley, are characters within a text that has already been written; it is starling, then, when they do not fall into place. Bingley around the 31-minute mark exclaims that “we are both of us in a dream, Miss Price,” to which she responds “more than you know, Mr. Bingley” (Andrews). Though she is talking literally to Mr. Bingley, she also can be construed to be speaking to the audience. She first notes the strangeness of her insertion into the classic Austen text. The comparison to a dream is an acknowledgement that something a bit unsettling is happening. This time bending, meta, Twilight Zone effect is produced by the friction between Price and the world she enters. She is speaking to the reader, too, or even takes the place of the readers whose dream it is to enter Austen’s world. Some of this friction is caused by the insertion of 2000s objects into Austenian England. Consider scenes with the lip gloss (curious stares) or cigarette (“She even breathes fire”). Conversely, Miss Price’s awkward fanning herself demonstrates her attempt and failure to master regency manners, mannerisms, and decorum. These sources of friction underline the play between the original Austenian text its derivative.

Much of the ‘meta’ or ‘self-referential’ moments come from Miss Price’s own knowledge of and desire to uphold Austen’s original plot. At the 40-minute mark, Jane even calls her “oracular” (Andrews). Around an hour and 25 minutes in, she hints to Bingley that he should not give up on Jane. Despite her best efforts, we witness “the marriage of Jane and Collins,” “Lydia running off with a drunken Mr. Bingley,” and a match between Mr. Darcy and (a lesbian) Caroline Bingley[2]. Miss Price’s desire to stick to the original plot is in tension with Andrews’ acknowledgement of other renditions of Austen’s work. Though Miss Price has a desire to maintain textual integrity, she also references Colin Firth, comparing his performance as Darcy with the Darcy she meets in her journey into Austen’s world. This allusion surfaces again with the pool scene. These moments are significant for the way in which they create the interplay between this work, original Austen, and other renditions of Austen. This is a deeply intertextual work that is not only self-referential to its original source material, but other spinoffs as well.

Perhaps the most mind-wrangling moment occurs when Mr. Darcy discovers a copy of Pride and Prejudice and asks Amanda, “Is your name Price, or is it Austen?” (Andrews). He speaks as if the book is the derivative of the happenings of the movie, though he of course has it backwards. He lacks awareness that he is not, in fact, a real person, but exists in this work only because of the existence of the book he holds in his hand. Miss Price is not Austen, either; rather; she is the quintessential Austenite. She inserts herself into a version of the work, and she has knowledge of both the original work and other subsequent renditions of the work (movies, tv shows, etc,).

Lost in Austen, then, exemplifies the way in which various parties have adapted, forwarded, altered, derived, mangled Austen. This is demonstrated through the relations between this work, Pride and Prejudice, and all the other allusions to the Austensphere. A “post-modern,” self-referential, time bending, or meta effect is both produced by and produces intertextuality / relations between all these works. This is achieved via time period friction, deviance from original plot, and enlightened moments where Miss Price’s awareness contrasts with the ‘characters’ lack of awareness. If this seems confusing, that’s because my own thinking is confused. Lost in Austen is a fitting title. My only point is to pay attention to the seemingly ‘meta’ moments, because they are indicative of the intertextuality occurring here, and that intertextuality is the most essential feature of the work.

Works Cited:

Andrews, G. (Director). (2008). Lost in Austen.

Kaplan, L. (2008). "Completely without Sense" Lost in Austen. Persuasions; The Jane Austen Journal.

[1] Kaplan, “Completely without Sense”: Lost in Austen (243)

[2] Kaplan, “Completely without Sense”: Lost in Austen (247).

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unexpectedreylo · 5 years

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Vanity Fair Summer Issue: Let’s Break It On Down

reOkay, first off, I can’t think of the last time I was really happy to be wrong about something. I didn’t believe for one second they’d play the Reylo card this early in the game. I didn’t think they’d play it AT ALL before the movie’s release.

Instead, they hopped on a big Reylo semi-truck and crashed it through the front windows of all doubt. Sure VF Senior Writer Joanna Robinson is an admitted Reylo but it’s not like she ordered writer Lev Grossman and photographer Annie Leibovitz to pull a gun on the cast so that they’ll give us all the Reylo we want or else. If you can’t figure out by now that Reylo is central to this trilogy and the answer to life, the universe, and everything, I can’t help you.

The cover photos are of course, stunning. Robinson said there is a hidden meaning in the covers that she wonders if anyone will figure out before the film is released. (I know, LOL, these are Reylos were talking about here.)

They are obviously in the same environment (this new desert planet) and Kylo looks all Lawrence of Arabia/princely/dashing, exactly how you want your villain to appear, am I right? She looks emotional. Maybe they are looking at each other. Notice how light and shadows, twilight and sunrise play across both images.

There’s a lot of debate about this image going on right now. Some are saying they are NOT fighting each other but this looks like it might be the same “duel” portrayed on the Art of TROS cover (notice she’s in the desert, he’s in water) AND on the Loungefly pin art . The difference is in the latter two, Kylo is in a helmet. In this photo, Kylo is not wearing a helmet.

Let me just say this...the above photo is NOT a movie still. Annie Leibovitz always stages her Star Wars photos. It’s not to say this scene won’t happen in the film but it may play out/look differently. For example, look at this photo from the TPM spread in 1999:

Yes, Obi-Wan and Darth Maul fought in the movie but not on Tatooine and defintely not with Obi-Wan leaping about while still wearing his cloak.

Anakin and Padme wore those costumes in a scene together in AOTC and they were standing on that Naboo balcony but they didn’t cuddle in that scene like they do in this photo.

I could point to other VF SW photos that weren’t literal depictions of anything that goes on the movies but are truthful about the character, relationships, and so forth.

What’s really interesting is what the actors and the VF people had to say about Reylo:

“The most important relationship in the new trilogy”

youtube

"Their relationship is the closest thing the new trilogy has to a star-crossed love story on the order of Han and Leia: a source close to the movie says that their Force-connection will turn out to run even deeper than we thought.”

“I think there’s a part of Rey that’s like, dude, you fucking had it all, you had it all,” Ridley says. “That was always a big question during filming: you had it all and you let it go.”

"They’re uniquely suited to understand each other, but at the same time they are in every way each other’s inverse, down to Kylo’s perverse rejection of his family, which is the one thing Rey craves most."

"And then he had been forging this maybe-bond with Rey,” Driver says, “and it kind of ends with the question in the air: is he going to pursue that relationship, or when the door of her ship goes up, does that also close that camaraderie that they were maybe forming?"

"By the emotional logic that governs the Star Wars universe—and also our own—Kylo Ren is going to have to confront the past, and his fears, whatever they are, or be destroyed by them."

"If Kylo Ren can’t be redeemed it will almost certainly fall to Rey to put him down, in spite of their maybe-bond.” (Okay, none of that Jonerys stuff better happen but Rey failed twice to take him out when she could’ve. So that’s something.)

“Will Kylo Ren and Rey reforge their own connection? And if they do, will it be love or simply friendship that unites them? The answer, Driver says, is incredibly complicated: ‘I don’t think it’s any one thing. The strength in what Rian (Johnson) wrote and J.J. (Abrams) wrote is it’s never all one thing.”

From Grossman’s Reddit AMA chat:

“I got a strong sense that this movie goes deeper into the Kylo/Rey dyad but that’s about all I can say.”

From Grossman’s answer to Twitter user Riri:

“I have no spoilery knowledge but I would be surprised if they didn’t take that further. There’s so much powerful feeling and tension there.” Plus a hope that this doesn’t end up like Jon and Dany and being unsure about what Jedi can do with romantic feelings.

Other interesting related tidbits. VF.com first claimed that it can confirm Kylo was fighting the now-revealed Knights of Ren in the TROS teaser but then it claimed it was an error. Riiiight. An error in giving out a spoiler. Driver talks some more about having a clear ending in mind, likely for his arc. Rey finds kind of a quasi family with her pals but is separated somewhat from them because of her Force abilities. Keri Russell was confirmed to be playing Zorii Bliss, who is so obviously a bounty hunter and Richard E. Grant will unsurprisingly play a FO bigwig named Pryde. Fifty bucks says he and Hux will conspire to oust Supreme Leader Kylo. Mysterious omissions: Rose and Palpatine. I think the Luke shot reveals perhaps a full retelling of what happened on the night of Murdergate. Either that or Luke is in hell. Billie Lourd insisted on having scenes with her late mother.

The mag hits the stands on Jun. 4 (May 30 in L.A., NYC, and London) and there’s a crapload of video to pour through over the weekend.

Hat tip to @sleemo, Johnamarie Macias, Riri, klaudia, and benscalligraphy for transcribing, screenshotting, and so forth.

#vanity fair #star wars #tros #reylo #reylo fandom #reylo trash #rey x kylo ren #rey x ben

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captainderyn · 6 years

Text

Cipher Five (A Real Introduction)

Because I never formally introduced him, and I’m having fun with this character sheet.

Again, it was done by @therron-shan, gotta give credit where credit is due :D

(**Old drawing, think no scar..)

Preliminary Info:

Name: Valetyn Slovoko

Nicknames: Val, Vicky, Five

Alias(es): Cipher Five, Viktor Aulis (most used cover name, he introduced himself this way to people after he’s out of Intelligence as he doesn’t like giving his “real” name.

Age: 32

Born: 19 BTC? Maybe? Years work how?

Gender: Male

Species: Human

Affiliations:

Empire, Imperial Intelligence

Occupation:

Imperial Intelligence Agent--Cipher division, instructor at the Imperial Intelligence Academy (unwillingly at first) when he was on leave, mostly full time once he leaves Intelligence.

Physical:

General Description:

"Five...first time I met him I thought he was an ass, but intimidating. He practically had the agents in my training class falling at his feet, he’s got that whole ‘tall, dark’ thing going for him. I just wanted to fight the fabled Cipher Five. But he’s intimidating, cold and distant like he could kill you with his eyes only until you see him out of uniform *glares off camera* no not like that. When you see him outside of being an agent you get a softer person. Not different, not entirely, but like the harsh edges are softened...” --Erabelle Torven “Cipher Nine”

Height: 6′0

Weight: Somewhere in the 170lbs range

Hair: Dark dark brown, probably slicked back out of his face if he’s working, his wife would rather it be ruffled because then cowlicks start to form and she finds them adorable.

Eyes: Hazel eyes, leaning more on the brown end than green.

Skin/Fur: His skin has a naturally more tan tone, despite being stuck on Dromund Kaas most of his life.

Scars/Birthmarks/Etc.: He has a line of double scars going down his spine from between his shoulder blades all the way down his back with some larger scars crisscrossing over those from the accident that ended his agent days.

Tattoos/Markings: ---

Cybernetics: He has cybernetic implants along his spine after an accident in the field that caused severe injuries to his spine. Those cybernetics allow him to walk and function pretty normally, though they aren’t a solve all and he still suffers some on and off pain from the injury.

Handedness:

He’s left handed

Style:

Intelligence: In the field his favored uniform is black/very dark grey (unlike SOME agents, he says, glaring at Era, preening in her white/light grey uniform). He wears gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints everywhere in the field, and his uniform is lightly armored. The less bulky the better.

Civilian: He dresses classy, he dresses nice okay. I blame him growing up in Kaas City, where everything is high fashion. It’s easier for me to just post a picture than explaining:

Other:

He has a thick Imperial, Kaasian accent that comes through when he’s tired or very amped up/angry/whatever. His voice is very nice to listen to, it’s relatively deep and just has a soothing cadence to it. Unless he’s angry and then its sharp as a dagger and you better get ready to dodge.

Mental/Emotional:

Background/Backstory:

Five grew up under two military bred parents, his father from the Imperial Army, his mother from the Imperial Navy, in Kaas City. He led a pretty easy life and excelled in his schooling, finding a passion in history. He knew he wanted to go military-esc to serve the Empire, but when applying to a program initially for the Imperial Navy he was directed towards Imperial Intelligence as a best fit instead. He worked as an agent for ten years before being forced to retire.

Personality: Five is very logical, very analytical, and horrible with numbers. He’s highly intelligent and can read people quite well, something that has allowed him to do well in his field as opposed to somewhere like a Fixer or a Minder. Five has a passion for history and the habit of being able to remember random facts that he can pull at a single trigger. When he’s nervous he’ll start talking if it’s someone he’s comfortable with--like when he was going to propose to his now wife, he started talking about the art history of the resturant they were at.

Due to his time in Intelligence he’s developed quite a suspicion of people and is very much someone you can get the wrong first impression of. You need to work to get him to trust you and open up to you, otherwise he just comes across as a very quiet, rather rude and cold asshole. However, when you do unlock the actual man behind the agent mask he’s quite nice to be around, if you can handle the highly intelligent sort that always have a habit of guessing the twist on a holonet show before it actually happens.

Quirks: He doesn’t sleep much during his agent days and even after, he refuses to give his birth name to anyone but his wife--as she’s the one who realy gave it meaning again, he almost never will have his back to a door and will flinch if you surprise him from behind--ie, hand on his shoulder.

Disorders: Most likely some manner of PTSD after all he’s been through and seen, haven’t thought enough on it to expand comfortably.

Addictions:

Not a full blown addiction but for awhile he had a heavy reliance/quasi addiction to adrenaline stims so that he didn’t need to sleep and face what he’d see in his dreams. Eventually it becomes easier to be awake than it is to sleep.

Strengths:

He sees the Empire as what it could be, not venerating it for what it is, he’s quite methodical and careful in his work, he’s good at what he does.

Weaknesses:

He’s got a fricken attitude towards his superiors, but it’s all veiled jabs and insults, his old injury means he could seriously fuck himself up if not careful, he got too attached to his small gaggle of agent ducklings.

Likes: Helping his fellow ciphers, the idea of a better Empire, people who aren’t blind to the Empire’s flaws.

Dislikes: Sith, whoever in Intelligence thought it was a good idea to keyword Ciphers, people who are blind to the Empire’s flaws, ect.

Phobias/Fears: Losing control of his mind/body, hurting his wife or anyone close to him, his own mind in some sense, a suppressed one is losing his ability to walk.

Hobbies: Reading military texts and strategy books, good natured debating, learning all the history things he can, patting his cat.

Interests: History--both general and military, other cultures.

Favorite movies: He sleeps through more movies than he watches. Things that are either fairly lighthearted or related to historical events/retellings. His daughters have warmed him up to Space!Disney animated movies though he’ll roll his eyes at their cheesy messages.

Favorite music: Again, not much a music listener. If he had to choose it’d be of the classical type, or at least instrumental. Music soundtracks, orchestral movements, ect.

Favorite books: Shoot I already covered this (*smacks self* overzealous!). Hm, military histories, some historical fiction, some fantasy, though he’s picky.

Favorite TV shows: Whatever his wife will watch with him. Also things that make him think, with twists and stories and characters that are interesting.

Skills/Talents:

Habits: Being hyperaware of his surroundings, always checking the people around him, always being on high alert outside of the safety of his home.

Morality/Ethics:

I have these goals I need to meet and I follow my own morale code, if you cross the line of what I deem is right and you don’t have a valid reason for it then I have no problem doing what I have to do to you. There are things I need to do in my line of work that I am not okay with, such as needless killing, and if I can’t avoid it then I am deeply sorry.

Don’t hurt people who don’t need to be hurt, don’t make people needlessly suffer. Always be honest to what you do and accept the mistakes you make. Faction doesn’t justify wrong things that you do.

Goals:

Short Term: Survive raising two twin girls who are very energetic and enthusiastic about life, see that Daughter #1 (see family) makes it out of her own career alive and well and that she’s happy, build a normal life and adjust to a normal life with his family. Finish his own recovery from his injury/linger effects from Intelligence years and be there for said family.

Long Term: Survive raising two twin girls. That doesn’t go away. Reconnect with his own family on a better level, be happy.

Motivations:

His own drive for a long time, his passion for the Empire he knows can be born, then it shifts and its his wife, then his family as a whole.

Other:

He’s an introvert by nature and isn’t the most outgoing of people, he’s honestly rather reserved. But among a select few people he will open up a bit to show his sense of humor and be a little less quiet.

Relationships:

Sexual/Romantic Orientation: Bi/demi

Relationship History: Not good. He’s been in a few relationships and until his wife they’ve always crashed and burned as the people he was with couldn’t handle the intensity of his career and how he would be traveling more often than not.

Reputation: He doesn’t have a reputation relationship wise. As far as anyone in Intelligence knows he’s single and has been single. He’s usually known to be successful in missions where seduction is a key element, does that count? Gossip in the Academy when they learn about Cipher Five is that he’s hot??

Family:

Vitaliya Slovoko: Five’s younger sister. Four years his junior, a major in the Imperial Army by the time they reunite. She’s just as intelligent as he is but finds it best put to use in the context of strategic analysis in the Army. She’s run several successful operations in her time. The last time Five had direct contact with her before resuming it was when he was nineteen just before he became a Cipher Agent. He was close with her growing up, very much a protective older brother Now their relationship is rather cordial until they finally break through the ice and then they’re close af again. Tries to see some of her old brother shining through and sometimes presses a bit too much for it.

Anton Slovoko: Five’s father, retired from the Imperial Army where he was highly successful in support and leadership positions instead of combat positions. Regrets ever allowing his son to go into Imperial Intelligence, worries about Five even after they’ve reunited. He and Five have always had a pretty good relationship, he was the fastest to warm up to Five (Five as a person, not Valetyn, the son that left for the Academy) as he is when he returns. Probably the one that understands and respects Five’s nature the best and is the only one who just nods and accepts his request to not go by Valetyn (He goes by Viktor to everyone outside of his wife and to an extent Era).

Stasya Slovoko (nee Roksana): Five’s mother, ex Imperial Navy where she was a successful combatant/pilot. Thought for the longest time after Five cut off contact (rather unintentionally, he was stripped of most memories of familial ties upon his entrance into Intelligence) that her only son was dead. Hasn’t quite forgiven him or Intelligence for making him/self disappear, hasn’t entirely warmed back up to him. Part of her expects and wants her pre-Intelligence son back, the one who didn’t hold his blood family at an arms length, the one who wasn’t a little bent and broken whenever she looks at him. However she and Five are working on it, they’ve always had a slight tendency to knock heads after all, but they’re trying to work through it for her granddaughters/his daughters’ sake.

Erin and Claire Slovoko: Five and Thea (his wife)’s daughters, twins and too intelligent for their own good. The mirialan in their blood shows through more than the human, which sometimes doesn’t work in their favor in the Empire. They wrangle their father into princess parties and beg Auntie Era to paint his face into funny creatures. He let’s them, he loved his daughters more than anything and would do anything to protect them.

Erabelle Torven: Yup, she gets lumped in with family. Because she’s technically Daughter #1. Because Five took her under his wing when she was a wee little field agent first coming into the Cipher program and well, oops, now he’s stuck with her. Thea jokes that Era is their first child and she’s honestly a part of the family without question. She and Five are extremely close and have a lot more of a father-daughter relationship than say, a sibling-like bond or something.

Agent: He and Thea have a loth cat that they found as a kitten on the streets of Kaas that was jokingly called Agent until he started to respond to it and well..not the cat’s name is Agent. He’s like a big maine coon mixed with a loth cat and is a smug, cuddly bastard. He and Five get are best friends and Five loves his cat dearly. When Five came home injured, almost two weeks after he was supposed to come home the cat sat on his bed and belittled him in meows as cats tend to do for ten standard minutes.

Friends:

Noa: ...who belongs to @delavairesslegacy, obv, basically gets lumped into family as well considering she’s Era’s girlfriend and Five and Thea love her too. But they’re also friends, so to speak. They get along, he’s about as friendly as he can get. They meet officially through Era, but he nows her through Intelligence as Fixer Twenty-Four. He’s probably worked on a mission with her once or twice.

Most of the agents in the Cipher program: I headcanon them to be a fairly small, tightly knit group and he’s grown pretty close to the ones that have been around consistently. Of course, he’s been in the cipher program for close to 10 years, compared to the 5 that most get before they’re killed or disappear and with the ever revolving nature of the cipher program a lot of the agents by the time he retires are young. And since he’s usually tossed into teaching training classes at the Academy he’s had a hand in most of their training. So he’s like the mother duck of the cipher agents, hence the gaggle of agents mention. They’re all pretty close and support each other. The agent puppy pile is a thing, and when Five is being tested after his injury to assess that he really can’t serve the ones that are home at the time are there to support him and are sad (but also glad) that he’s released out of Intelligence.

Enemies:

There are too many to name, and none that have names that stand out to me rn.

Love Interest:

He’s married to @delavairesslegacy‘s Thea Xern. They met when they were both working (she’s an ex SIS agent), and she was interfering with his assassination mission. They infuriated each other, getting in the way of each other’s missions and such. TBH he antagonized her a bit, played games with the SIS agent. He got in trouble for a) letting her see his face by accident and b) doing an unsanctioned search for information on her (where he found mundane jobs listed that he called bullshit on) and was sent to a non combat posting to tie up loose ends and eliminate her, as a loose end. They met, she surrendered and said he could kill her as long as he helped her tie up her own loose ends. Being stuck on a ship for x amount of time later he couldn’t bring himself to kill her and offered to help her start a new life with a new name, no ties to the Republic, on a neutral world. No strings attached. She accepted and from time to time he would check on her, make sure that his connections were sound in what they’d provide for her. And from there they grew closer until they became involved, and eventually she moved to Dromund Kaas to live with him. Which means he may or may not have committed treason in bringing an ex SIS agent into the heart of the Empire. Oops.

Affiliations:

Imperial Agent:

Rank:

Cipher Agent

Known Aliases: Viktor Aulis, Daniil Antonov, Emil Nichevo

Weapons/Specs:

He’s well versed in both stealth/knife fighting like Era prefers, but his strength and preference has always been sniping. He prefers to shoot with a rifle.

Methods of getting information:

Five prefers to go for seduction and befriending rather than torture. He finds torture unnecessary and gruesome. If it comes down to it his veiled, elegant threats will put a blade to your throat but no torture.

Thoughts on the Republic:

He is loyal to the Empire, serves Intelligence to a point unless it conflicts with his own beliefs, but does not hate the Republic. He thinks they do some things wrong and that their supposed morale high ground isn’t as true as they’d like to convince themselves it is but being married to an ex Republic citizen has given him a new perspective, even if she’s not really a Republic patriot anymore.

Other Info:

He’s gone undercover on many occasions but has a general distaste for deep undercover missions. Especially deep undercover missions in the Republic, he thinks they’re tedious and often don’t gain the information they hope. That being said, he’s best suited for solo or pair missions (he and Era are a popular partnership) that involve being undercover to an extent or getting in and out without fuss. He does not enjoy desk work, he gets restless and much prefers to be out in the field.

Other Biographical Info:

Birthworld: Dromund Kaas

Homeworld: ...Dromund Kaas

Where is/are their stronghold(s) located? Where do they consider home?

His home is a modest now family sized apartment (they probably had to move once they realized they’d have two girls) on Dromund Kaas that’s filled with personality and life compared to his old apartment when it was just him, where it was furnished with the basic necessities and was only used as a brief check in point.

Familial Background:

He comes from a military family, and a successful one at that. He’s the first one in a few generations to go into Intelligence however.

Other Info:

A fun little fact; I’ve already mentioned this but Five is particular about names, just as Era is. So he introduces himself as Viktor to people, and Thea, Era and Noa are the only ones (outside his blood family) that know his real name. However Era refers to him as Five still and Noa probably calls him Viktor, as they both understand far to well how much names mean and how special they are for agents like Five and Era. Likewise, Era doesn’t tell Thea and Five her full name (Erabelle) until after the end of the canon story. Even then Thea calls her Belle and Five still has a habit of calling her Nine, though he’s started to call her Erabelle/Belle as well. Only Noa calls her Erabelle.

#swtor #imperial agent #oc: Five #oc: Era #other people's ocs: Thea #other people's ocs: noa #if we can't tell I have more about Five figured out than Tacka #I love Five #so much #like waaay too much #my lovely grumpy agent man #sorry @mobile user's dashes

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redhoodsrobin · 6 years

Text

I like giving really extended author’s notes (or ‘director’s commentary’ if you will) about my fics, but since AO3 is hardly the place for adding those, ehm, guess it’s gonna be bonus content for the tumblr crowd?

Now chapter 3 of No Shadow Falls is up, I just really want to ramble a bit about the thought process behind it. Do people give spoiler warnings for their own fics? If so, consider this it. Please read ch3 first, just in case :’)

So this is that UTRH/Court of Owls mashup fic I mentioned a while back! The premise I wanted to do was basically ‘What if the Court caught wind of Robin!Jason being led into a trap by the Joker & saw a chance to get a new Talon’. Combine this with a little of ‘what if Bruce never found Jason’s body but still presumed him dead bc of the explosion and copious amounts of blood at the scene etc (even though he secretly keeps looking for him still) à la Arkham Knight’ and voilà, here we are.

Considering the fact this fic’s setting is contemporary, I actually imagine Joker would’ve recorded video evidence of him beating up Jason to taunt Batman with too... Hmm, maybe I should re-label this a UTRH/CoO/Arkham Knight mashup instead...

Did I mention that if you’re here for romance, you better strap in for the long haul? Because this is gonna take a while, alright

Prologue

Can you tell I like being poetic? Or that I enjoy parallel & contrasting sentence structures?

first & last paragraphs (the ’beginning’ & ‘end’) include ‘a boy’ & ‘a bat’

‘how the story goes’ vs the later ‘NOT how this story goes’

second & second-to-last paragraphs both start with ‘you see’

3rd & 4th paragraph start with ‘maybe’

the structural halfway point is between the 3rd & 4th paragraph, so between ‘an end (death)’ & ‘a start (resurrection)’

in those same paragraphs: ‘in flame and fire with ice building in his gut’ versus ‘in liquid and ice with fire running through his veins’

Yes, the prologue is from Jason’s POV through his death and resurrection

Chapter 1

The working title for this chapter was ‘Something In The Water (...it’s bodies)’ though I changed the location the body was found in the end.

That stream of consciousness that serves as the intro paragraph(s) is supposed to reflect the opening narration of the Court of Owls storyline, wherein Bruce muses over the Gotham Gazette's 'Gotham is...' column.

Also let me tell you I knew from the start I wanted to do a UTRH retelling but with Talons, and I still somehow forgot Dick’s leg was in a brace during the original UTRH story until I went back to fact-check.

[announcer voice] All names of the victims/CoO members are purely made up, canon can bite me because I don’t care much for the turn the CoO story took after a while but that’s a rant for another day

‘Dick is getting precariously close to the end of his rope’, get it?? foreshadowing that the victim was gonna be found hung up under the bridge? eh?? I like to think I’m funny when I’m not

Chapter 2

I re-wrote this entire chapter from scratch (except for the last 'night’) because I hated the first draft so much

Guys, I love Babs-as-Oracle. Dunno if I can do her justice, but please know I love her.

I don’t think this detail matters if you don’t know much about comics canon: Tim and Cass did stay in Blüdhaven for a while in the past, but they’re mostly back in Gotham now. They still have a hideout in the Blüd and drop by to visit Dick/avoid Bruce every so often, and Cass also spends a lot of time with Babs (& Steph, again, I’ll mention her at some point. so many characters to juggle, christ. I’m gonna level with y’all, I just do NOT want to deal with the War Games storyline in this fic, so don’t expect me to reference it)

Talon did, in fact, use a crude version of Batman’s grapple hooks to get the body up on the bridge. Why display it in the first place? See ch3: as a provocation to both Batman and Nightwing in specific, because Jason is a dramatic lil’ shit no matter what universe you put him in

The Talons in canon seem to have more weapons that fit their fighting style, but I went for the combination of grappling line + (throwing) knives for now because Jason actually does use a knife in UTRH. I might make him use guns, at some point, but for now it’ll be the usual improvised bat-gadgets like flashbangs, smoke bombs etc, plus knives

And thus starts our story of Talon messing with Dick

Chapter 3

The ‘Such Terrible Hungers’ chapter title is taken from the same poem as the main story title (’No Shadow Falls’), namely, Louise Erdrich’s “The King of Owls”. For obvious reasons.

This chapter, I re-wrote about fifteen times. I wanted to cry in frustration.

Anyway, yay, more Jason POV! (in my weird quasi-poetic format)

[insert obligated identity crisis because he was forced into a role he never wanted but it’s now useful to his cause]

Points I want to single out:

Whenever I use text in italics+brackets, it’s some form of unbidden thought coming to Jason’s mind

Drinking game: spot the references to how Bruce failed to find Jason/the Owls (”a detective who cannot find what he is looking for“) or how nobody seems to want Jason bc he’s Jason, they just want him as a substitute for Dick

This is also why Talon doesn't want to be caught, he wants to be found. Small but significant difference

There’s an underlying theme of ‘stories’ in my quasi-poetic chapters, so I really wanted to incorporate the classic ‘Once upon a time, there was...’ ‘One day, ...’ structure of fairy tales/bedtime stories. Lest we forget the CoO also had a nursery rhyme dedicated to them

“Talon never spilled his secrets but oh, how the Owls would have laughed if they had known.” >>>> the Owls ovbs interrogated ‘Robin’ (Jason) while he was in captivity, but they didn’t get much info from him. I’ll mention the details in some later chapter!

Yes, I do the ‘Night-Wing’ ‘Gray-Son’ spelling thing on purpose to show that Jason’s mind isn’t all alright at this point

The switching between ‘the Gray Son’ & ‘Gray-Son’ is also on purpose to show the cracks in Jason’s conditioning/the Owls’ failure to brainwash him fully

I try to keep most of Jason’s core characteristics intact - his focus on victims + helping them, his disdain of Batman’s methods - but I’m going to have to change some bits to fit the Talon narrative I think. We’ll see how it works out...

That being said, he’s mostly gonna be messing with Dick because he’s petty and bitter, but it turns out to be more fun than he thought it would be. After all, our boy severly lacks human interaction & Dick is a relatively expressive person (the polar oposite of the Owls’ haughty/better-than-thou/distant demeanor & even Batman’s carefully controlled reactions)

Bonus scrapped story element: at one point I had the idea to have Talon be as good as mute because of a particularly brutal blow (from the crowbar) injuring his throat/vocal chords. I couldn’t think of a way to incorporate it on top of everything else though, so that remains an idea for another time...

(Seriously though, Jason and Cass silently bonding over speech issues, sign me up. Especially bc Jason loves literature and Cass is into theater it seems, you can do so much with that)

#eve.fic #i still haven't refered to Jason by his actual name in-fic but I assume all my readers figured out by now he's Talon #addendum: nsf #fic: nsf

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thenightling · 7 years

Note

Gothic romance?

Well, let’s see. I guess it all depends on what you mean by Gothic Romance. A long time ago the term Romance was used to mean anything emotional, dramatic, or exaggerated. And most Gothic fiction fits under this category but I’ll answer under the assumption that you mean the modern definition, as in Gothic love stories.

Here we go…

Edward Scissorhands. Probably the saddest but most obvious one to list with beautiful and haunting music by Danny Elfman.

Crimson Peak. This one is practically a love letter to Gothic literature of the late nineteenth century and practically personifies Gothic.

Faust. The silent version by F. W. Murnau. This version beautifully follows Goethe’s Faust Parts 1 and 2 and ends with the bitter-sweet ascension of Faust and Gretchen to Heaven, Faust’s love saving him from damnation.

Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride. Animated with beautiful music by Danny Elfman this film is today strangely under-rated whereas when it first came out people seemed to think it would be the next Nightmare before Christmas.

The Company of Wolves . This one is an odd film. Using werewolves as a metaphor for sex, sexuality, and even puberty the film tells several classic werewolf legends all within the mind of a sleeping pubescent girl (having her first period). In the dream Granny (Angela Lansbury) tells terrible werewolf stories to Rosaleen (Little Red Riding Hood) to warn of the dangers of men but in the end Rosaleen shows sympathy to a werewolf huntsman and it’s implied she becomes one as well. This is from director Neil Jordan (Interview with the vampire) and can work on it’s own (without understanding of the metaphors) as a good, yet trippy early 1980s werewolf movie.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Nineteen forties novel, movie, and 1960s TV series. This is a sweet story of a self-sufficient young widow (in the Victorian era) who ends up in a very peculiar and loving relationship with the ghost of a cantankerous old sea captain. It’s more empowering than anything you’ll ever find in Twilight.

She Creature (2001 film. Not to be confused with the 1950s film of the same name. It has a very different plot. Also sometimes titled She-Creature: Mermaid Tales). This film deals with some carnival people trying to take a captured mermaid back to America with them but the mermaid is more of a predator than they realize and she starts to kill off the men who hold her prisoner, only showing sympathy to the one female on board, whom she seems to have developed feelings toward.

Dracula (1979 film). I like this one because the Mina character (called Lucy in the film) is actually a very strong and aggressive character. You can even argue that she is the one who seduces Dracula first. She also speaks her mind when she disagrees with his actions. And it intrigues and delights him.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The love story might be purely created for the film but I still like it. Even if they did take some odd liberties about how Dracula became a vampire.

Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula. Surprisingly respectful to history while still implying Dracula becomes the vampire, the dynamic between Vlad and Lydia is sweet.

Love at First Bite. This one is a romantic comedy but I have a soft spot for it. It even gives Dracula a happy ending.

The Vampire lovers. If you want a little bit of Lesbian romance than The vampire lovers might be for you, it’s an adaptation of Carmilla with one of the main character’s names changed but other than that it follows the novel better than some other adaptions and has a great ambiance and atmosphere.

Interview with the vampire. If you can’t tell that Lestat is in love with Louis than you have no eye for subtlety. Not strictly a romance but you can tell there is love between the main characters.

The Bride. Not to be confused with The Bride of Frankenstein this movie is from 1985 and is a very modern (though set in the past) exploration on the Bride of Frankenstein idea. It also gives The Creature a happy ending and I’m kind of a sucker for hopeful outcomes.

Beauty and the Beast. Nearly all versions of Beauty and the Beast (when done well) are Gothic romances. Though if you want something a little darker than Disney than I would suggest the 1940s version or the surreal 2014 French version (now available on DVD in the US.) The 2014 French version has beautiful visuals but the chemistry between the leads is a little weak. It also gives a very intriguing new backstory for The Beast.

Sleepy Hollow. The romance between Ichabod and Katrina is simple yet beautiful. (1999 movie. Not the TV series.)

Warm Bodies. May people call this the zombie equivalent to Twilight but R has a lot more character depth and development than Edward ever had. Also it’s the only Zombie apocalypse movie to have a happy ending. And though the metaphors are a bit ham handed I think it’s sweet. Love and feeling is what makes you alive.

Let the Right One In. Though the relationship is platonic the protagonist’s bond is deep and sweet. And if you want a little violence in your romantic movie night wait until you get to the “bullies at the pool” scene. You’ll get something delightfully terrible.

Phantom of the Opera (2004 musical / opera version)

Disney’s Hunchback of Notredame. I say the Disney version because the romantic aspect of the original is purely in the emotional nature of the story. Any “Love story” aspect was purely one sided but in the Disney version you get to see reciprocated and unappreciated love. Also, who doesn’t love “Hell Fire”?

Dorian Gray (2009 version). Though this film deviates from it’s source material it does capture the heart and feel of the original story and also features a sort of quasi-redmption near the end, out of love.

The Canterville Ghost (1996). The love story in this is a bit thin but it is there between Virginia and the young lord next door.

Gothic only in it’s atmosphere, nearly any version of Les Miserables.

There are a lot more but that’s what I thought of off the top of my head.

Bonus Fantasy suggestions: Maleficent (though it’s more of a maternal love), Splash, and Date with a Angel.

For Gothic Romance TV shows: She-Wolf of London, Dark Shadows (original and 1990s version), and Forever Knight, and Lucifer.

For Gothic Romance novels try Carmilla, The Dracula Tape (retelling of Dracula by Dracula, himself) by Fred Saberhagen, Goethe’s Faust parts 1 and 2 (Closet Drama), Warm Bodies, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, Beauty and The Beast (original French novel, not the fairy tale version), and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir by R. A. Dick (Pen name of Josephine Lesley).

TV mini-series: Jekyll. A direct sequel to the original story by Steven Moffat and it shows just what happens when Hyde develops feelings toward his alterego’s family.

And the 2004 Hallmark mini-series of Frankenstein starring Luke Goss as The Creature. It’s very faithful the novel and has good chemistry between Viktor and Elizabeth.

Plays: Frank Wildhorn’s Dracula The musical. Particularly the German production. Dracula das Musical and the Japanese version where Wao Yoka plays the best Dracula ever done by a woman you are likely to come across.

The up coming movie The Shape of Water looks very good too.

#Gothic #Gothic Romance

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