#i still dream about dr and i really want to rewrite it

[dream-a-little-bigger-x]

Nothing is Accidental | Spencer Reid

Add yourself to my taglist! | Here’s my masterlist!

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Warnings: You usual Criminal Minds crimes

Author's note: This is a rewrite of the Season 7 Episode "True Genius".

Words: 3.342

Being a last year student at the San Francisco Police Department Academy had been a thrill. You had been dreaming about this since you were just a kid, wanting to step into your mother’s shoes. She had been the captain at the San Francisco Police Department since you knew what it meant. Her death caused you to up that dream to make her proud. Losing her made you want to become a detective even more. 

When you heard there was a conference hosted by Patricia Cornwell, you knew you had to attend. Her books weren’t the only ones on your shelves, but they took up a lot of space. Luckily, you didn’t have any classes all day. 

As Patricia wrapped up her talk, she turned to the guy sitting next to her and introduced him as Dr. Spencer Reid with the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI. He was tall and awkward and he had the sort of face that one could stare at for hours on end and not get bored. Even from your seat in the room, you were able to memorize every single aspect of his face. 

After Dr. Spencer Reid, came Agent Emily Prentiss. Though she was interesting too, you couldn’t help but keep your eyes trained on her co-worker who had retaken his seat. You wanted to talk to him, pick his overly genius brain. Whatever he would have to say would captivate you to no end. 

At the very end of the conference, people crowded around Agent Prentiss to ask her everything they needed to know. However, no one did the same to Dr. Reid. Watching him squirm and awkwardly twist and turn hurt your heart. Before you even dared to walk up to him, he scurried out of the door. With furrowed brows, you quickly follow behind him, just to find him talking to someone else. 

From a distance, you watched as Dr. Reid talked to the young man. He looked excited to talk to him, his smile never wavering right up until the end when the guy said his goodbye. Spencer’s smile vanished from his face. 

“Hi, Dr. Reid,” you finally dared to go up to him. 

The smile reappeared, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He was just trying to be polite to you. “Hi.” 

“I– uhm,” You stuttered, nervous as you saw the color of his eyes up close. “I’m Y/N Y/L/N, student at the SFPD Academy and I–” You scoffed at your own awkwardness. “I just thought you – what you said up there was really interesting.” 

“Oh,” Spencer chuckled, the light in his eyes returning. “Thank you.” 

A moment passed as the two of you just watched one another, smiles persistent on your faces. Neither of you said anything up until the point where Agent Prentiss exited the conference room. “Hey,” she greeted. 

You offered Emily a smile before turning back to Spencer. “I-I gotta go. It was nice to meet you.” 

“Yeah, you too,” said Spencer before watching you walk away after a quick bid of goodbye to Emily. 

“Who was that?” Emily asked, her eyes trained on Spencer’s furiously blushing face as he was still looking at you. 

He pressed his lips together. “Uhm, y/n y/l/n. She’s a student at the San Francisco Police Academy.” 

Emily hummed suspiciously, regarding her co-worker to find any trace of infatuation for the woman he’d just met. Though all she found was confusion, worry and a tiny bit of curiosity. She wasn’t even too sure where the first two emotions came from. 

For the rest of the day, you couldn’t stop thinking about him. The words he said during the conference and the bright honey-colored eyes haunted you with everything you did. Even the world didn’t allow you to forget him as his face was on your tv-screen as you were cleaning up your apartment. 

“Was your cousin by chance a fan of Wagner?” Spencer asked the man who was informing reporters about his cousin being the new Zodiac Killer. “Because a CD of the Tragic Overture was sent to the police this morning.” 

You furrowed your brows. “Come on, Spencer, you know better than that,” you mumbled, confused about how a genius like him could mix that up. 

The man on TV nodded his head. “He loved Wagner, especially the Tragic Overture. It’s him.” 

Spencer quickly pushed the man aside so he was now standing in front of the camera. “Oh, yeah. Well, for the record, a CD was not sent to the police this morning, and the Tragic Overture was written by Brahms, not Wagner. So luckily, I guess it’s not your cousin.” You let out a snort. Of course he knew that. “The FBI would greatly appreciate it if people would stop making false claims to get their fifteen minutes of fame. Thank you. Thank you very much.” 

Chuckling, you shake your head and continue cleaning up your apartment. Once you were done, you got ready and headed out to the coffee shop near the Academy, something you did almost every day before afternoon classes. 

“A tall caramel macchiato with soy milk, please,” you ordered with a smile and thanked the barista once you were given your coffee. As you turned around, your eyes landed on the mop of curls you’d seen just the day before. You tilted your head slightly as you approached him cautiously, uncertain if it actually was him. “Dr. Reid?” 

The man looked up at you from the papers in front of him, his honey-colored eyes sparkling as they landed on you. “Hi, y/n.”

“What are you doing?” 

He chuckled and looked down at the paper again. “Working on a case,” he mumbled. 

“The Zodiac thing, right?” he nodded his head. “Saw you on the TV this morning. It made me wonder how you could get Wagner and Brahms so mixed up.” 

Another chuckle rolled off his lips until something popped into his mind. “Hey, do you know anything about code?” 

“Uh, yeah, a little,” you murmured before accepting his wordless invitation to sit down. He slid the paper in front of you, showing off the spam comment underneath the article that had contained a matrix code which had led them to nothing. Your eyes scanned the comment for any clue until something in your mind clicked. Quickly, before you could lose it, you reached for the pen in Spencer’s hand, your fingers brushing his. You decided to ignore the feeling of the sparks at your touch and went to work. “It’s not a matrix code, it’s binary. I-It was written in the words, not the code.” 

You showed him what you’d come up with, his eyes lighting up in surprise as he read over it. “China Weekly Post, Page F4.” 

“This guy is smart,” you commented, leaving Spencer to wonder whether you were talking about him or the UnSub. You watched Emily walk into the cafe, telling you it was time to go. “I-I gotta go. Got a class in five minutes.” You quickly scribbled down your number on the top of the page. With furrowed brows, Spencer looked up at you in confusion. “Nothing’s accidental,” you whispered before turning on your heel and leaving the coffee shop with an acknowledging nod towards Emily. 

“She’s a genius,” you heard Spencer mutter to his co-worker. 

A slight blush resided on your cheeks as you made your way to class. All the way through, you couldn’t stop thinking about the case. Your brain only picked up a few of the things your professor was telling the class. Coincidentally, you were covering the Zodiac Killer case as the professor saw it fit with what had been happening. 

Nothing is accidental, the words kept rushing through your mind. Even though it was a throwaway comment you said to Spencer, it still held some truth to this case. Your professor repeated those words throughout the class and it made you realize that nothing was accidental in this case, either. 

Just as you made your way towards your next class, your phone started ringing. The number flashed on your screen, telling you it was someone you hadn’t saved in your phone. Confused about the flutter in your stomach, you picked up quickly. “Hello?” 

“Y/N, it’s Spencer Reid, f-from the FBI.” 

A smile crept onto your face. “I know who you are. Hi, Spencer.” 

“Do you remember what you said before you left the coffee shop earlier?” 

Humming, you nodded your head. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. My professor said the same thing about the original Zodiac Killer. Nothing’s accidental. This guy is doing everything on purpose. Every last detail is important to him.”

“Can you come and help me? I could use your genius.” 

The smile on your face only widened. “Are you sure I’m allowed to interfere in an FBI case?” 

“I’ll tell them it’s for your internship or something. We’ll figure something out. I-I just… I think I need to pick your brain for mine to function in this.” You allowed the silence to linger, giving yourself time to simmer in his words. 

“I’ll be there in ten,” you finally whispered before hanging up and making your way down to the police station where you found Spencer. He was sitting criss-cross on a desk, staring at an empty board. “Is there something on there that only geniuses can see?” you asked, startling him slightly. 

“No, because then you’d be able to see it, too,” he complimented. “I just figured we were looking at things linearly while we needed to take dimensions in account.” 

“Hey, we went through all the surveillance footage near the newspaper. There’s nothing,” Emily said to the other co-workers while you and Spencer started going through the evidence at hand. 

“Spence, you okay?” the blonde next to JJ asked. “And who’s this?” 

Cursing at yourself for not introducing yourself earlier, you offered the BAU team a smile. “Y/N Y/L/N, I’m a student at the SFPD Academy. I-I’ve been assigned by my professor to help you out for my internship…” you lied through your teeth, but it’s the best you could come up with. 

“Was that cleared by Hotch?” the older guy asked Spencer, though the genius didn't respond. 

“Nothing is accidental,” Spencer repeated your words as he started to put up some of the pictures on the board. “Nothing this UnSub does is accidental. The message in the China Weekly Post was on page F4. Why F4?” 

“That’s where the classifieds were,” said Morgan. 

You shook your head. “There’s more. Have you looked at the geographical profile yet?” you asked them. 

Spencer shook his head before moving over to one of the guys from the San Francisco PD who was at a computer. He had the map on his screen with red dots indicating the recent murders. 

“Can you rotate that?” Spencer asked and the guy obeyed, rotating the map and placing the grid over it. 

“F4 is a chess square,” you told them. 

The blonde woman known as JJ furrowed her brows. “He murdered people according to a chess game?” 

“He murdered people according to a specific chess game,” Spencer corrected while you nodded your head. 

“Game six of Fischer vs. Spassky in 1972,” you added, earning an impressed smile from the Boy Wonder himself. 

“One of the greatest chess matches ever played,” he continued. “The murder locations correspond with the final three moves of the game.” 

The man standing behind you grabbed his phone and dialed a number. Rather quickly, a chipper voice sounded from its speaker. “Garcia’s lair of knowledge and wisdom.” 

“Garcia, you have the list of Zodiac case experts?” 

“Yeah, standing by for you. I have everyone who’s ever written or blogged about it. FYI, there are way too many people obsessed with this sicko.” 

“All right, cross-reference that with professional chess players,” the man continued, hoping their tech analyst could find something. 

“Oh, that totally helps. Yeah. Okay. List is getting smaller… And smaller… Down to nothing.” 

You frowned before looking up at the tall man behind you. “What about high-level amateurs?”

The man gave you a weird glance, one that told you he wasn’t too sure what you were doing here. “All right, open it up to high-level amateurs as well,” he said into the phone. Even though he wasn’t too happy with you being there, he still took your suggestions to heart. 

The tech analyst told them she’d call them back when she had answers, leaving the FBI agents to simmer in their own thoughts. While they talked, you turned back to the board and looked over the evidence that was there. 

“Hey,” Spencer’s soft voice interrupted your thoughts. “Thank you for wanting to come and help me.” 

You offered him a smile and shrugged. “Eh, I’m only missing three classes and this is more interesting anyway. Though I don’t think your boss is too happy with me.” You throw a glance over your shoulder towards Agent Hotchner, who’s talking to Emily about something. 

“He’ll get over it,” he dismissed. “I was wondering – why did you–” his question got interrupted by Hotch’s phone ringing again. 

“Go ahead, Garcia.” You and Spencer quickly turned back to the rest of the group, ready to hear what Garcia had figured out. 

“Get ready to love me more. I did a search of chess players rater 2,200 or higher, which would make them masters but not necessarily professionals. I cross-referenced that search with Zodiac experts and came up with two former chess prodigies and best friends who used to write about the Zodiac in their junior high school newspaper. And I get bonus points because they both have IQs over 160.”

You couldn’t help but smile at the overly chipper tech analyst. 

“Where are they?” Hotch wanted to know. 

“In San Francisco. Caleb Rossmore is a City Parks employee. Harvey Morell is an engineer at a Chinese computer firm. He’s about to get married, and, yes, I just emailed you all this information right now.” 

JJ reached for the tablet and opened up the documents Garcia had sent. A news article of the announcement of their engagement popped up, carrying a photo of the happy couple. With a furrowed brow, your eyes skidded from the tablet to the victims on the board. “The fiancée Marisa Devon looks like the two female victims, doesn’t she?” 

Nodding her head, JJ agreed. “They were surrogates for her.” 

“Caleb could be jealous of his friend,” Morgan speculated. 

“Or what if he’s afraid of losing Harvey?” Emily suggested. 

“If he was a child prodigy, he may no longer feel special as an adult,” Spencer spoke up. “He could be trying to hold onto him.” 

His solemn expression made you wonder if he was relating a little too much to this guy, but you decided not to say anything on it and listened to Rossi instead as he spoke. “Harvey’s engagement could have been a trigger.” 

Hotch then turned to Spencer and you. “Reid, I know Spassky conceded the match, but what would the next move have been?” 

Before the genius could answer, you beat him to it. “Spassky would have been checkmated or…” you allowed him to finish your sentence. 

“He would’ve lost his queen.” 

You nodded your head in agreement. “Spassky’s queen landed on E8,” you remembered just as the team dispersed, starting to get ready to capture the guy. 

“Thank you for your help, miss Y/L/N,” Hotch told you, stoically. “But this is never going to happen again unless you decide to join the BAU.” 

“Of course, Sir.” You watched as everyone got ready, assembling your own stuff to leave when Spencer stopped you. 

“Could you-could you maybe stay put until I get back?” he asked. “I–I’d like to go for some coffee afterwards to thank you for your help?” He sounded incredibly nervous, though you found his bashfulness rather endearing. 

“You don’t need to do that,” you responded, and noticed his shoulders slumping. “But I would like to go for a coffee with you.” 

His smile reappeared, his honeycomb eyes shimmering brightly. “O-okay, I like that.”

“Great. Come back in one piece, then, okay?” You fought your urge to kiss him but then settled on kissing his cheek quickly before turning away and heading out to the breakroom to grab a glass of water, feeling Spencer’s eyes on you. 

Later that night, when Spencer returned, he took you out for a coffee, as promised. For the entire night, the two of you talked about anything that came to mind. Chess games, true crime cases, he told you about how the team had forgotten his birthday a few weeks ago… You felt a connection to him. A connection you had never had with anyone else. Call it love at first sight or just infatuation, you didn’t know what to call it, but you did know what you were feeling. 

So, that same night, you contacted Emily and set up a surprise for him. A few days later, all of his co-workers had gathered in the briefing room with presents scattered around the table and a cake with candles, ready for him to blow out. 

Occupied by the hugs and kisses he got from his co-workers, Spencer didn’t even notice that in the corner of the room, you resided. For a while, you just watched him get smothered in love and birthday wishes, and you couldn’t help but feel how your heart melted at the sight. Over the last couple of days, the two of you had been calling and texting non-stop. It nearly wrecked you to try and keep this from him, but it was all worth it when his eyes finally landed on you. 

“Happy birthday, genius,” you told him, grinning. 

“Y-Y/N, wow, I–” he coughed awkwardly as he grabbed your hands in his. “I didn’t–How are you here?” 

You nodded your head, trying to stay serious though you couldn’t stop the corners of your mouth to twitch into a smile. “You know, they invented something called an airplane. Gets people around the globe pretty quickly.” 

“I-I know that. I–” he chuckled nervously. “I just– Why are you here?” 

“When you told me these guys had accidentally forgotten your birthday, I wanted to– you know, make sure you felt loved, make sure that even though life gets busy and rough sometimes, we still need to take a break and celebrate what’s important,” you told him, squeezing his hands. “So, I called Emily and we set up this surprise for you.” 

Spencer’s eyes moved over to Emily, who gave him a wide grin. “You did this?” he asked you, motioning to the party. 

“Yeah… Don’t know if you noticed, genius, but I do like you.” 

His jaw dropped ever so slightly and you could hear how his breath caught in his throat. “You like me?” 

“You’re a profiler, Spencer, I thought you’d have figured it out already.” 

“Our Boy Wonder is a bit oblivious to that sometimes,” Morgan interrupted with a smirk. 

You chuckled, turning back to Spencer. “Maybe this might help,” you whispered before standing on your tiptoes and allowing your lips to ghost over his before kissing him fully and deeply. You didn’t even care that you were standing right in front of his colleagues. You just wanted to kiss him. You needed to kiss him. As you pulled back from him, you smiled at how flustered he was and how the others in the room were cheering for him. 

“That does help a little,” he agreed before dipping down and kissing you again. 

From that day on, you were reminded that nothing was accidental. Meeting him at that conference wasn’t an accident, it was meant to happen; You bumping into him at the coffee shop, him asking your help on a case. None of it was an accident, just a junction in the path of your life that you had to take. 

Nothing was accidental. 

Everything taglist: @calamitykaty @littlemissaddict @n0wornever @wanniiieeee @unnowhatthisistbh

#spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid x fem!reader #criminal minds

[guriyuri]

I’m In Love With the Villainess/「私の推しは悪役令嬢」

(Literal translation: My Oshi is the Villainess.)

🌸 8/10 🌸

Ordinary office worker Rei Oohashi wakes up one day to find herself as Rae Taylor, the heroine of her favorite otome game, Revolution. Surrounded by attractive men all vying for her attention would be any maiden's dream—but that is not the case for Rae! None of them can hold a candle to the villainess, Claire François, whose blonde, drill-shaped ringlets only accentuate her haughty irresistible charm. In the original story, Claire harasses and bullies the heroine, which drives the latter closer to the male love interests. But Rae has no intention of pursuing any of the men; her heart is set on Claire herself! Unused to being on the receiving end of affection, Claire is left at the mercy of Rae's endless teasing. With the power of true love, can Rae successfully convey her heartfelt feelings to the villainess?

(MAL Rewrite)

If I were held at gunpoint to assemble a crate of my most outstanding, bountifully nutritious crops of yuri harvested throughout my many years ploughing fields and milling earth as a humble yuri farmer this would definitely be in there. ‘Watashi no Oshi wa Akuyaku Reijou’ stands out to me as one of the funnest yuris to read. The main beef of the manga falls within the jurisdiction of the characters themselves and their world rather than a greater metacommentary, which allows you to just veg out a little and not feel like your about to explode your brain matter all over your screen. BUT it also does a very good job investing you into the plot so you can still sink into it and immerse yourself. The gimmick of Isekai and a simple but underexplored concept makes the world and storyline easy to comprehend and flows very well throughout the entire manga. I don’t want to spoil too much, nor do I feel it vitally important to discuss anything specifically about themes and characters so I won’t elaborate too much.

TL;DR: really really really really really solid

#百合 #girls love #yuri #yuri manga #gl manga #shoujo ai #マンガ #I’m in Love with the Villainess #私の推しは悪役令嬢 #GL #少女愛

[dutifullylazybread]

I am so in love with your story Deeply and Immovably So. I am heavily invested, I am a bit embarrassed to say that right as I found your story I was writing my own fic falling into the same theme of Tav and Rolan living in the tower together. I am currently rewriting my story to make sure I keep our stories different.

I guess I wanted to ask you a question, how did you mange to write a story all in one go? I tend to write in fragments and post my chapters one at a time. I guess If you could give me some advice on writing series and how you approach it?

Your amazing and can't wait for the chapter update on Friday!

I'm so glad you like the story!! :D. I'm honestly not worried about there being similarities between our fics. One key point for Rolan's character is establishing a home for his family after what happens in Elturel. On top of that, Tav (even a Balduran Tav) doesn't actually have a home that we can ever visit, so gravitating towards staying in the tower makes a lot of sense! So if that is a big part of your story and it would be strongly affected by you changing that part of it, don't feel like you must make those revisions. I'd rather you be happy with where you story is than worry about similarities like that. Regardless, I'm really excited to read your fic! If you'd like, please drop me a link when you begin posting! :)

As far as how I wrote the fic all out? I won't lie, I haven't really ever thought about my process, so when you asked, I sorta resembled Patrick (more below the image, I promise!):

That being said though, I can definitely share how I wrote the fic and how I am working with the story now, but my big rule with writing is that writers should do what works best for them--what works for me might not necessarily work for someone else. So if what works best for you is posting as you finish chapters, then absolutely do that. There are some extremely talented writers in the Rolan x Tav corner that do the same or something similar. If you haven't read @underdark-dreams's A Strand to Climb, @lemonsrosesandlavender's Sharp Teeth, or @graysparrowao3's What If Rolan Was A Companion? I highly recommend them (and not just these fics--the rest of their repertoires are delicious too!).

This is my tl;dr for my explanation below--I can be super long-winded (I'm sorry about that!!). Like I said, this is what works for me, but if you don't think these things jive with you, then do what you feel is best for you and your story. :)

Write the story out first. Don't edit until you have finished the fic.

If you run into a writing wall, work on a different scene and come back later.

While it's fun to add in details, a lot of that can be supplied during your editing/revisions stages. Worrying too much about this can bog you down when you're in the middle of writing.

Don't immediately jump into editing your story after finishing a chapter. Take anywhere from a few days to a week to let the draft sit before you work on it again.

Avoid burnout - take care of yourself and take brain breaks.

Here are the longer explanations:

Write the story out first. Don't edit until you have finished writing the fic.

I started writing the Rolan x Tav story as my NaNoWriMo project back in November and I kept working on it through December. For those who may not be familiar, NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month, and the goal is to write 50,000 words in a month. These do not have to be good words, they just have to be words on a page. So already out of the gate, I knew that, if I wrote this fic, it might not be well-written at first, but it would be a story. I had to give myself permission to write a bad draft, basically, and that is sometimes the hardest thing in the world (I am still irked by it). If you're anything like me, the thought of not having perfection on the page during a first writing pass feels awful. BUT I do sincerely believe it is why I wrote as much as I did in two months. Because I just focused on writing and not editing. And, if I could tell I was getting close to hitting a wall, I would make a note in my manuscript to come back, and then I'd keep writing the chapter. My notes are parentheses that basically say (Add more detail here), (make scene more sexy), (Review dialogue exchange). It's really weird to write down, but when I'm writing and struggling, it honestly feels like my brain is coming up against an actual wall. Basically, I'm giving myself a headache. BUT this is my warning sign to come back later, because I'm getting too lost in the weeds and I won't be happy with the end result of whatever I force out.

2. If you run into a writing wall, work on a different scene and come back later.

The rationale for coming back and working through the wall later comes from a combination of reasons: 1) From past experience, forcing myself through a block can work, but it is the most agonizing experience ever. And it is exhausting. Writing can be exhausting, that is okay. BUT, what if I force myself through the block and then I'm unhappy with the result? For me personally, pushing against a block/wall can feed into burnout. So 2) it's better to take a break and work on a part of the story that I am excited to pursue and then revisit the wall later, because 3) if you let yourself take a brain break, you're going to come back and find that the wall isn't really a wall anymore. If anything, it's a really fun idea. You just needed to come back when the lighting was different.

3. While it's fun to add in details, a lot of that can be supplied during your editing/revisions stages. Worrying too much about this can bog you down when you're in the middle of writing.

I find that, while I am in the drafting stages, I often write at a pelt. I do my best to write the first draft well, but I write so quickly that I might not pause to ask, "So what does the setting look like exactly? What color is the sky? How does the Chionthar look at this moment? What does it smell like?" Some of those details might make it in while I'm drafting, but I think that I focus in on those during editing/revision, because that is when I let myself slow down and focus on the details.

4. Don't immediately jump into editing your story after finishing a chapter. Take anywhere from a few days to a week to let the draft sit before you work on it again.

Due to how I wrote this fic, I didn't actually revisit a lot of these chapters until about a month or two later. And that has led to a combination of "Hey, this isn't too bad," to "What were you thinking??" BUT, I do sit quite firmly in the camp that taking a few days to just breathe and not immediately jumping into editing helped give me a fresh perspective. When we spend so much time working on our stories, it goes without saying that we are very close to what we are working on, and sometimes that can work against us. SO, putting some distance between yourself and the chapter in question can help you identify what needs to be cleaned up/revised when you return to it.

5. Avoid burnout - take care of yourself and take brain breaks.

In my experience, one thing that stopped me from working on long fics was burnout. For previous fanfic projects I tried to work on, all of my free time would be poured into writing, and not a lot of it would be used to relax. I would work on these stories nonstop. I would argue that this is probably why several long-form fanfictions don't get finished by several writers (and that's not even considering how school, work, and family obligations might also take a toll on your energy). The last thing you want is to feel apathetic or frustrated over the thought of working on your story, so taking the time to relax and take care of yourself. While I think having a writing habit is extremely helpful, I also think taking an evening to just relax once a week is just as nice. Typically, I start writing around 7 pm every night, and I'll wrap up around 10:30 pm - 11:00 pm. BUT, I don't do any intense work on Mondays (since that is D&D night in my house).

I hope that this helps! But again, do what you think is best for you. I'm super excited to read your fic!!! :D

#darcy writes #darcy rambles #darcy replies #writing #creative writer #creative writing #fanfiction writer #fanfic writing #fanfiction

[scientistservant]

Oh yeah!! I completely forgot to mention this, but if any of you remember my posts last year on my old blog about a Long Live The Pumpkin Queen rewrite/fix-it-fic... that's still in the works! I just have a bunch of other projects I'm also working on but the prologue is almost done!!!!!

A small preview under the cut.

On a crisp autumn night in February, Dr. Finkelstein sat at a desk in his bedroom. Unintelligible notes were scattered about the table, the only noise he made was the tap-tap-tapping of his pen, along with a stray hum or two of thought.

The Doctor never liked to be too far from his work, but he greatly enjoyed his privacy — and so his room was tucked, inconspicuously, in a corner of his laboratory and away from prying eyes.

With another hum, Finkelstein opened the metal skull-cap that contained his brain and scratched at it; the Doctor did this whenever he really had to think hard about something — perhaps he was the one who started the phrase, “to rack one’s brain”.

With both hands Finkelstein shut his skull-cap in frustration, and got to his feet to search the desk’s drawers.

“Igor!” The ageing scientist shouted from his room and it carried through the hemispherical lab, the concave walls amplifying the volume and allowing Finkelstein’s hunchbacked assistant to hear, as clear as day, from the observatory’s cold, dark basement, “Bring me my tomes on apparitional properties!”

There was the sound of stumbling feet and panting, and after a moment Igor had entered the Doctor’s private room with a small tower of dusty books.

“I-I thought Master wanted to get rid of these,” said Igor as he tried to crane his head over the books.

“Nonsense,” Finkelstein stated matter-of-factly, “I never get rid of anything! Give them here.”

As the tomes were taken from Igor’s hands, a particularly dusty one slipped out from between two considerably less dusty books and fell, directly, onto the floor in front of the odd pair with a heavy ‘thump!’

The Doctor peered down at the book that now called the floor it's home from behind his small, black spectacles.

“Igor,” he said with a hint of both intrigue and irritation, “what is that?”

Through the dust, the book in question coloured a cool blue, adorned with a sparkling golden border on the covers both front and back. The book’s front bore no title, nor did the spine, yet in place of one was a dark blue silhouette of what appeared to be a lanky, bearded old man.

Not bothering to wait for his assistant’s answer, Finkelstein scooped the tome from off the cold, stone floor with a grunt. It was large in his small hands, and the dust collected upon his gloves, sparkling like tiny stars.

His right hand quivered as it reached for the cover, as though something dangerous would happen if the book were opened.

“Master?” Igor spoke up, seeing the Doctor’s apprehension.

Finkelstein clenched his hand tightly.

“Set the other books on the desk, Igor. I’ll look through them later.”

Right now, this tome was the only thing that held his attention.

The Doctor sat in a large reading chair that was nestled in a corner of his room, and opened the strange book to the first page.

He was greeted with wondrous penmanship, coloured a shimmering gold.

DREAMLAND: THE REALM OF DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES

the first page said. There was no author mentioned anywhere, as though the book had simply come into being one day.

Finkelstein continued to read,

The realm of dreams and nightmares is nestled in the deepest and darkest of wood. One can only find it if They have a strong dream They wish to fulfill. The souls of dreams will call to You.

The Doctor’s brow furrowed. He looked over, staring past the doorway of his private room, and into the laboratory.

On the operating table, covered in a white sheet, lay a body. It was nude, save for several layers of gauze completely surrounding the head and neck to the point of suffocation.

Tightly stitched seams of dark blue thread held the pale, grey-blue body together in sutures.

Finkelstein had been working for a long time on a creation he could spend time with, have conversations with. He felt he was far too old to start a meaningful relationship with anyone in town — that part of life was well past him now.

And so, instead of finding a relationship, he would make one.

But a creation made to converse with, to spend time with, needed a voice. A mind. The scientist of Halloween Town couldn’t simply ask a resident ghost to inhabit his dear creation, no — a ghost already had a life lived, its own memories and loved ones.

But a soul, made of dreams… his dreams — that seemed enticing.

Soon, Finkelstein made his way down to the observatory’s foyer, dressed in a moth-eaten cloak for warmth and an oil lantern in hand. Igor followed behind him.

“I’ll be alright, Igor. Don’t tell anyone where I’m going.”

“Master, is that wise? Going out into the Hinterlands alone? Igor should go with Master.“

“Don’t follow me. You need to stay here and look after the lab.”

“But…”

There was a tug on his sleeve — a useless attempt to have Finkelstein stay — and the Doctor whirled his head to face his assistant, a small hand clutching the door handle in fury.

“Igor, that is an ORDER from your MASTER!”

Silence seemed to fill the entire observatory and, not wanting to anger the scientist further, Igor backed away.

Finkelstein exhaled deeply from his nose, having opened the door. The cold night air greeted him, as did the silence of the town.

“I’ll return soon,” he told Igor, and the door shut behind him, slow and heavy.

The moon hung in the sky, bathing the town in its soft light. It had been a few days since the Doctor was last outside; the air in the observatory was old, dusty. The lab was no better. The strong scent of chemicals and strange liquids from pickled limbs kept in jars were things Finkelstein was perfectly used to — yet a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as the crisp, earthy scent of fallen leaves and cold, wet dirt mingled in the air.

#nightmare before christmas #tnbc #dr. finkelstein #long live the pumpkin queen #fanfic #fix it fic

[dangoarts]

i realized something as i was falling asleep yesterday: if i want people to like the au i'm making, i need to actually share what the hell's happening in my brain. therefore

Blotted AU Masterpost!

I've mentioned the Blotted AU a bit here, but I've barely gone in depth about what it actually is. In short, it's a Batim/Batdr rewrite AU inspired by Epic Mickey. It roughly merges the concept of the Cycle with the early game story of Epic Mickey, ideas from Ink Machine and Dreams Come to Life, and the story of Dark Revival. The general plot is that the cast from Bendy and the Ink Machine are all dragged into the Cycle by the Ink Demon and now have to survive as a team.

Before I go in depth (and it's gonna be long i apologize), here is the google doc where I wrote down every idea dump I had for it, a cast list with their roles and brief history in the au, and a rough timeline. It won't be any better of a tl;dr for this post since it's a barely organized mess that only makes sense to me, but if you're interested in seeing how the au developed over time, feel free to give it a read! A lot of the idea dumps ended up being about Sammy whoops (he's my favorite).

~*~*~

The rewrite starts off when Joey commissions the Ink Machine from Gent. Originally it was to cut down on animation costs and time, but when he realizes he could make 3D actors with it, he starts to experiment.

His first attempt that lives is Ink Bendy. His disfiguration and uncannily human appearance is immediately met with hostility and rejection, and Joey basically crams him back into the machine to try again. Unbeknownst to him, that creates the Cycle and Bendy never actually died. The rejection and isolation along with being trapped in a realm that mimics the fleeting glimpse of the real world he could've lived in started brewing up his very negative feelings towards Joey and humans in general.

Joey tries to make Bendy again, but the only surviving clones are the Wandering Sin Bendy and Concept Bendy, both of which are "scrapped" like Ink Bendy. Once he accepts that Bendy won't work, he tries with the Butcher Gang. A lot more clones survive, but they all end up horribly disfigured and mutilated. All of them are thrown into the Cycle.

His attempts with Alice Angel make incredibly humanoid creatures (original Lost Ones minus the dead employee bit), and that leads him to try creating an actual human with the Ink Machine. Everyone is really concerned about his actions and the ethics behind it at this point, and they get Henry to try and stop him. Naturally, Joey ignores them, makes a secret room for it, and continues his experiments.

After numerous failures that end up creating the population of the Cycle, Audrey is born in 1941. Joey discovers the joys and struggles of being a single dad working an executive position until 1946, when the Ink Demon finally gathers enough power over the Cycle to control the Ink Machine. Joey Drew Studios floods with ink, and every employee in the building is dragged into the Cycle.

Nathan Arch inherits the studio rights and adopts Audrey like Joey's will requests. A lot of her childhood with Joey is forgotten due to normal childhood amnesia, but she still goes by Audrey Drew. Her life is relatively uneventful and she gets hired as an animator in Archgate Studios like normal.

Meanwhile, in the Cycle, the studio employees quickly have to find shelter from the hostile toons. After finding refuge in Artist's Rest, they start pushing back against the Ink Demon's relentless aggression. It turns into a war of survival, with each side fighting to trap or destroy the other.

The animators start losing the fight when Sammy gets his eye torn out by the Ink Demon. The ink from the wound creates a mental connection between the two, and he's slowly corrupted from the inside out. It culminates into the Ink Demon puppeteering him, forcing him to lead the toons into the animators' base. A massive fight breaks out that kills most of the studio employees, and the Ink Demon consumes Joey's soul to permanently kill him.

Besides Joey, the employees who died are reincarnated as toons or Lost Ones, dubbed "conversion death." Usually their memories of their past life are blocked off, allowing their original personalities to stay but creating a blank slate for the Ink Demon to control. Conversion killed toons can keep memories from their past human life, but they never keep all of them. They can also regain their human memories again, but the process is usually very confusing, drawn out, and painful, with the memories coming back as visions accompanied by migraines.

Sammy was conversion killed after the fight that killed Joey. He was made into the Ink Demon's second in command, complete with receiving a fraction of his power as shifting through walls and manipulating his ink appearance. Susie and Norman were conversion killed during the fight, and they became Twisted Alice and initially a Lost One respectively. Norman's body was incredibly unstable and needed mechanical implants to survive outside of the Puddles, resulting in the Projectionist.

Henry steps up in Joey's absence and leads the surviving few to the Gent workshop after a few days of living precariously without safety. They switch their focus from fighting against the Ink Demon to surviving, now locked in a defensive stalemate with the toon forces. During the time, Thomas uses the familiar tech and supplies to create the signal towers, sealing off the workshop from the toons.

During the stalemate, the animators still had to brave the studio to gather food and materials. Jack, Wally, Shawn, and Daniel did most of the scouring, and Allison and Thomas only ventured out whenever they needed more supplies for his machines. While on those missions, Daniel was conversion killed into Buddy Boris, Jack's left arm was slashed and corrupted, and Allison and Thomas were conversion killed together into Allison Angel and Tom.

Boris forgot everything from his past life, but still shows sympathy to the animators. He lets them stay in his hideout he made if they need to and helps them evade the other toons. Allison and Tom forgot most of their past, but they remembered that the Ink Demon was dangerous and the animators weren't. They quickly went back to their side as soon as they could.

In 1963, Wilson disappears from the real world after finding out what the Ink Machine does in Archgate's museum honoring Joey Drew Studios. In the Cycle, he picks up where Thomas left off on the development of technicolor to combat the toons, along with trying to create his own ink life. He succeeds at both with the creation of the Keepers and technicolor ink, and the war flares back up.

Eventually, he uses the technicolor to gravely weaken and imprison the Ink Demon after a large fight. Henry is against his actions and torturous experiments on the Ink Demon, and he leaves after getting into a massive argument with him. To everyone else, he completely vanishes, but he instead takes up residence with Boris.

In 1973, the Ink Demon escapes from his physical prison Wilson trapped him in. He starts to recover from Wilson's treatment, but still can't get past the mental prison of Dapper Bendy he trapped him in. On the anniversary of the studio's disappearance, Audrey is lured into the Cycle by the Dark Puddles. Most of the story here follows Dark Revival's, with Allison finding her after a Piper raises the alarm, Audrey discovering Bendy and accidentally shocking him with her power, the Ink Demon getting released periodically from his toon prison, and Audrey finally making it to the Gent workshop.

When the Ink Demon's toon prison destabilizes, he acts a lot more aggressive and automatically treats everyone as his enemy. He kills anyone he can get his hands on, which included an overjoyed Sammy that ran straight to his death. He calms down after Audrey shows him kindness as Bendy, and he especially calms down when she shows him that same level of kindness and additional sympathy both as Bendy and the Ink Demon once she learns what had happened to him.

However, during that, Sammy took the death extremely badly, believing that he was killed because he didn’t free him, and does everything he can to earn his forgiveness again. Along with suffering through memory flashes of his past life, he tries to sacrifice anyone he can get his hands on, which includes the other toons that once trusted him. They reject him as their leader and start forming isolated groups, with some of them becoming Amok and their followers, the Ink Jets, the Demon Followers that still fight against the animators, and colonies of Butcher Gang clones. Alice wanders the studio alone, and the Projectionist stays in his designated area.

Sammy gets imprisoned after trying to attack the Gent workshop in a desperate attempt to please the Ink Demon. During his imprisonment, he regains most of his memories and starts to question how genuine his loyalty was to the demon. Audrey finds Henry shortly after and brings him back. Henry explains the full history of the Cycle to her, including what Joey did and the revelation that she's not human.

I'm still unsure whether or not I want Wilson to create a big scene with Shipahoy Dudley, and if he did, he would permanently die like Joey. However, I do want Audrey to deescalate the situation between the Ink Demon and the animators. His problems all came from Joey, and the other workers did nothing and were against his actions with the Ink Machine. Once he calms down and stops, he'd release everyone who isn't native to the Cycle back into the real world.

The ones who died in the Cycle revert back to mostly human in the real world. Some traits from their previous forms carry over like scars, Alice and Allison keeping their horns for example. They'd have to readjust to living like humans again along with revoking their legal death status.

~*~*~

and that's it! if you made it this far congrats you're a trooper

i'm still working on it and i wanna make stories for it like i did with sammy already, so praying to the motivation gods that i can get enough brainthoughts to write

now that i have the explanation done i can go back to posting cryptic nonsensical stuff about it

#batim #batdr #bendy and the ink machine #bendy and the dark revival #batim dctl #batim au #batdr au #blotted au #blotted au masterpost #blotted au explanation #writing stuff #gif warning #long post

[claudiajcregg]

⚠️ Which wip (are) you most likely to finish or update next?

🧭 An alternative title to your/ one of your WIP(s)?

Thanks for asking, Mia! Oof, these made me think. (I also got whisked away for a bit, but that meant extra time to think!)

⚠️ Which wip (are) you most likely to finish or update next?

The only current WIP on ao3 are the flop unconnected ficlets that I post to the same story, and I guess that will be the next thing I update, too. I have a few ficlets that need a kind beta to fix the grammar and the awk phrasing.

As for actual, longer stories… Wish I could say I'm finally posting pregnancy AU, but I'm only now picking it back up after 2.5 months. If I focus on it, I'm unlikely to want to focus on other stuff. So it'll likely be another story that I've probably haven't thought of in a while! First one that came to mind was a really silly proposal-that-goes-slightly-wrong story. Wait… *suddenly remembers she used to keep a spreadsheet that hasn't been updated in a while* I think it might be post-birth baby story I thought I'd post alllll the way back in 2021. I've kept postponing it, but I know I did some editing last year, and that might likely be it!

(tl;dr: a ficlet or two, probably. A saccharine post-birth baby story.)

🧭 An alternative title to your/ one of your WIP(s)?

Oh, how I wish I had an actual title for the pregnancy AU (besides “s5pAU”). Some I've considered: “everything that's mine is a landmine”, “until all of our best dreams come true.” I remain unconvinced; neither of them is really the vibe. (I think I had the IM AU (2021)'s title - what once was ours is no one's now - pretty quickly! That also counts as a WIP, no?)

Not a WIP, but the Jan 21st fic I posted a few days ago went through various names: Jan 21st, 2007; then “somehow I'm not afraid when you look my way,” a version of which is still on my drive. Then I reworked it, so it was “Jan 21 2007 rewrite,” to distinguish both versions… and eventually “it was letting go of everything but you.” That was, until I realized I had just posted a fic with Maisie lyrics. So I racked my brain and decided to go with the current Anywhere lyric, which I thought matched the story even better! (A thing about me is that most of the titles will be songs I was likely listening to around the time of writing the original. Sometimes accidentally!)

Thank you again for asking, mia! And sorry for this rambly mess of an answer.

(some other wip procrastination asks here)

#miabicicletta #asks #wip procrastination asks #thank you so much!!! #I have *so many* ridiculous fics ideas that are half written #most of them just aren't very good but maybe they'll be a fun read someday #extra long answer for the long wait #and because between one thing and the other I've been writing this for more than two hours

[heliianth]

alright. followup on my post about an httyd3 rewrite ^-^

there are a few things from the original that i’m keeping

the idea of “belonging”

the idea of “love is loss”

that “save him” moment when Hiccup is willing to die for Toothless

bittersweet ending

a reunion epilogue

here’s the, admittedly messy & kinda plotless gist (my reasoning for these changes is under the cut):

the villain can still be Grimmel (in fact, I would like Grimmel as a villain in this new story), but it doesnt really matter for what i’ve got jotted down so i’ve left it vague

the Light Fury is replaced by Toothless’ family, a group of night furies

the Hidden World is a refuge the night furies and their mix-matched flock of other scared dragons found, NOT some magical ancestral home of all dragons in the world

Toothless would run into the same dilemma as Hiccup did with Valka from HTTYD2; the night furies are unwilling to work with and are distrustful of humans, which puts Toothless at odds with his new place in the world

Hiccup’s new arc is, instead of also being focused on romance, about rediscovering his roots

Hiccup struggles with the weight of his new responsibilities (being chief and feeling like he’s leaving his father’s shoes unfilled, as well as the new conflict caused by the villain) and over the course of the movie he finds himself changing as a person in order to live up to them: “becoming his dad”

the night furies and Toothless come to a brief compromise, that they’ll help in some conflict with the villain for Toothless’ sake, but tensions break and the entire thing goes awry. maybe Berk gets destroyed, maybe there’s another death, maybe there are simply a lot of injuries on both sides. it leaves Hiccup’s chance with Toothless’ family seemingly squandered

the emotional climax comes when Astrid (paralleling the first movie) tells Hiccup, after he starts doubting his dreams as an extension of doubting himself and becomes willing to let Toothless go entirely for his own good, that Stoick is dead. Hiccup needs to stop letting his dad rule his life, needs to respect him as a fallible human being, needs to mature. he needs to grow on his own.

there’s a climactic final battle a-la the original movie where Hiccup tries sacrificing himself for Toothless, who can’t fly for plot reasons, and one of the new night furies saves him

the cliff-at-sunset scene still ends with a huge sacrifice: with Toothless’ family so unwilling to be around people in general even if they’re warming up to Hiccup specifically and the villain not totally gone…

Hiccup gives up his chiefdom, his future with Berk, and his future with Astrid to go with Toothless and his family to the Hidden World, and work on peace between dragons and human

the bittersweet ending is a goodbye between Hiccup, his human friends, and Valka, who promises to work on peace “from the other side”

the reunion epilogue comes about 10 years later, like in canon, but it takes place at a “negotiations” meeting between all the tribes about progress with the dragons, where Hiccup and Astrid finally see each other again

tl;dr before the cut:

introduces a theme of biological vs. chosen family by replacing the Light Fury with Toothless’ night fury family — altering the original’s commentary on “belonging” by removing the romantic aspect

Hiccup has a cyclical character arc that reinforces the theme of family where he loses and rediscovers himself and his values by drawing deliberate attention to his grief over Stoick

introduces the “love is loss” theme more organically by making Hiccup’s motivations center around this idealization of Stoick and how hanging onto it posthumously is actively hindering his goals and his growth as a person

Hiccup chooses to sacrifice his own future on Berk to bring about the peace he wants, letting go of Stoick’s legacy, to cap off the “love is loss” theme with a more symbolic ending

carries over messages from the other movies about the work for justice and change being grueling but entirely worth it

just a warning before you click: this is indeed SUPER LONG. like over 3000 words on google docs long. you are fully liable for scrolling past all of this if you open it. this is not my fault anymore.

The reason why I’m so relaxed about actual plot is because most of my complaints pertaining to the original HTTYD3 is thematic, and changing it’s themes changes most of the plot. Thinking up a majority of the plot for a Dreamworks movie with no glaring holes is a job I’m not super qualified nor have the time for and I’d prefer to offer up things that could happen within a hypothetical skeleton. Expect that, I guess. 

I’m going to go over my reasoning for these changes or shifts in order:

1:

I’d find Grimmel a good villain for this reimagined HTTYD3 because bullet point 2 remedies the ridiculous notion that he killed every night fury in the world, which is the only big issue that plagues him in concept because he wouldn’t have the same effect as being Plot Conveniences: The Character that he did in the original. He would be put in different scenarios, so there’s less contention on how the story molds around him to look cool, because the story has changed fundamentally.

Why I’m interested in him specifically for this reimagining is his night fury obsession. Him hunting Toothless’ family might be why they’re driven out of wherever they are towards Toothless, and it also makes the conflict between him and Hiccup intensely and uniquely personal. Grimmel doesn’t want world domination, he wants the night furies and specifically Toothless dead, and he’s willing to cause Berk a whole lot of hurt to achieve that goal.

2:

My understanding of the Light Fury is that she’s essentially a plot device meant to represent a “call to the wild” and simultaneously be a figurehead for all other dragons hurt by humans. The thing is… there’s not much much more emotional weight behind her other than her looking somewhat like another night fury. She doesn’t even have a name, most of her significance is placed on her species.

I think her purpose would be better fulfilled if she was replaced by a small group of night furies—specifically Toothless’ family. The audience has been waiting since Riders of Berk to see more night furies, which would make their overdue introduction extremely satisfying for fans; “Holy shit! More night furies! And they’re Toothless’ family?”

This change would also excuse the conflict between Hiccup and Toothless being as dire as the movie requires, maybe even resulting in the same temporary separation present in the original after that first “devastating loss” which makes Hiccup falter so hard.* By making the night furies so intrinsically connected to Toothless as a character, we add a truckload of emotional weight; they’re tied so directly to our main dragon, whose history is a huge question mark, that we can forgive him for being so torn between them and Hiccup. They would both have the same historical significance to him (as opposed to the Light Fury, who was a complete stranger).

3:

This is simply because there are too many logistical errors in the idea that the Hidden World is the single origin point of all dragons and that its perfectly suited to housing all of them in harmony. My suspension of disbelief can’t stretch to accommodate the idea the original movie posits. Maybe this is different for other people, but it’s a concession I personally can’t make.

It also fixes the issue of “literally every dragon in the world leaves,” which is another huge thing that destroys my suspension of disbelief. Changing it from it’s original idea into a smaller, more personal sanctuary for dragons who don’t like humans lowers its significance on a worldbuilding scale but heightens it on an interpersonal level.

4:

Hiccup and Toothless have always had a deliberate parallelism about their arcs and stories. Highlighting this by creating a direct reference to Valka in Toothless’ family, maybe even his mom as well to really drive it home, IMO, fixes the issue that the original movie has with dumbing him down—showing him trying to negotiate with his family makes him proactive. Putting Toothless in a position where he’s arguing with his family, advocating for his own ideals and showing his growth from the first movie, makes the audience more interested in the dynamics between the two and raises tension; if Toothless’ own family is so resistant to humans that they’re unwilling to lighten up even for his sake, how will they ever live together? This gives the other night furies a chance to display some personality depending on how they react and speak with their body language too.

It also softens the blow that the threat of Hiccup and Toothless separating throws at the audience—Toothless wants to live in both worlds. He feels he has purpose and fulfillment in both, as a part of a life with a family and other night furies he never thought he’d get to have and as the Alpha of Berk: a mixed human-dragon nest with his human soulmate. He wants his two families, chosen and biological, to live together. In turn, the audience comes to want this too. The message shouldn’t be “biological family is more important than chosen family and this is why Toothless leaves,” it should be “both types fulfill different emotional needs and it’s neither inconsiderate or childish to want both”—something which effects both leads in this rewrite.

5+6:

Dealing with Hiccup’s mountainous new responsibilities is just a natural step forward in both his arc from the second movie and in his stage of life—he’s 21, this is the same age many people start struggling with work or university. He’s also only a year out from dealing with his dad’s death, which was The turning point for him in the previous movie.

Even though Hiccup is determined to do as he said in HTTYD2 and try his hardest to be a good chief, to live up to the man his dad was, he’s also having to confront the harsh reality that this isn’t him. Hiccup, as a character, didn’t want nor is skilled for chiefdom and accepted it partially under duress. He says something like “all that, all those speeches and running the village” isn’t what he’s good at in together we map the world, and he’s struggling hard because he was right about himself.

The connection between his new responsibilities and Stoick’s death (and thus his legacy) challenges his character in a way that hasn’t really happened before. Hiccup has always been very self-assured; in the first movie he refuses to conform and makes the world change around him, in the second he remains steadfast on peace throughout the entire thing and the conflict only makes him more determined to continue changing the world. He’s always known who he is, just not what that means (I know he says that quote in the same together we map the world scene, but the disconnect between the former and the latter is why he’s question marking about it. To him, “who” is the same thing as “what”). Having him need to ask hard questions about what he’s chosen to make his meaning out of and whether he’s capable of it turns him from an internally stable character into an internally unstable character. He loses sight of himself and starts trying to carve himself down so he can continue to fit a square peg in a round hole—literally trying to become his dad.

Introducing this type of conflict could also give our side characters like Fishlegs, Snotlout, and the twins to have some relevancy or even some poignant emotional moments as Hiccup continually tries to change himself as a person and slowly alienates himself from his friends, who start to miss him. Astrid could act as a bridge between them, trying to steer Hiccup down a path she thinks is more healthy, but Hiccup’s stubbornness is the reason why they have disagreements about maturity (instead of him not being ready to move their relationship along because he has too much of an attachment to Toothless, or whatever). It also establishes Astrid as a character with more agency—she warmed up to Hiccup romantically for specific reasons in the first movie and in past Dragons episodes (ROB “Thawfest” is specifically what I’m thinking of) and she’s commented on some of Hiccup’s more unsavory behavior to let him know when he’s straying away from who he is. She’s an outspoken person! Let her speak and be the support the third movie wanted her to be.

7:

Like I mentioned before, Toothless and his family having disagreements on humans could characterize them a lot if done well. Them coming to some sort of compromise with him would also lend to this feeling. It would happen after some inciting incident (not in the narrative structure sense, I just can’t find another phrase for it), showing one thing I felt was sorely lacking in the original movie: the consistent idea that dragons have never been inherently aggressive. The night furies can consciously choose who to and who not to associate with, and are okay with setting aside some differences temporarily for the sake of defeating the big villain. It tells the audience, briefly, after Toothless has been trying to win them over, that peace might actually be possible.

Then the plot twist rug pulls that. The shoved aside animosity the night furies have for humans comes to a head and ruins their alliance, sending the whole thing spiraling (assumedly in the middle of a coordinated attack or battle). Again, this raises the stakes and makes the conflict dire enough to genuinely think of separating Toothless and Hiccup after they’ve been glued at the hip for the rest of the franchise. The night furies gave it a shot, the humans reached out, and it all went to shit anyways. It got everyone hurt.

I’m not sure exactly what kind of consequence there would be for this. I’m trying hard to lean into what Dreamworks would actually put on a big screen, so I don’t think anyone would die, but there needs to be some escalation of stakes to make the villain half as impactful as Drago, who again, literally killed Stoick. I’m actually leaning towards Toothless and one of the night furies (maybe Toothless’ aforementioned mom) getting captured, causing the night furies to turn on Berk. Maybe Cloudjumper or Stormfly get injured pretty badly as well (non-graphically, of course). Grimmel, if the villain is Grimmel, doesn’t care whether the dragons on Berk are furies or not, he’s going to keep coming after all of them as long as they’re in his way. It’s not only Hiccup and Toothless’ issue anymore.

Having this olive branch between the humans and Toothless’ family be ruined does to the audience what it does to the characters: makes them ask “Is what we’re fighting for really possible? Can we actually help all dragons and humans work together?”

8:

*Yeah, this is where the asterisk comes in.

Hiccup’s instability relating to his self-image comes to a head. Maybe he encourages Toothless to leave, makes him a new tail (or maybe has one already for emergencies or made it during a moment of doubt earlier on) and tells him to go—this is the reason why I emphasize there being consequences comparable to Stoick dying. Something bad enough needs to happen that Hiccup’s vision internally crumbles.

Now comes the “this is who you are, son” moment. The previous moment encouraged Hiccup to continue fighting against Drago, and this one needs to do something similar. I actually like the idea of Valka encouraging Astrid to say something, but I also like the idea of Valka having no idea what to say (she’s always been idealistic, this would be a big blow to her as well) and Astrid surging forward instead.

I said in the bullet points that Hiccup needs to accept that his father is dead, that he was a human who made mistakes, and that he needs to let his legacy go. This isn’t me saying the correct course of action is to forget about Stoick and do the opposite of everything he once did—its to give Hiccup a dose of reality. He spent his entire life chasing acceptance from Stoick, even in the second movie he was avoiding having difficult conversations about the future with him. Doing what he’s been doing so far (destroying himself, changing his personality, trying to carry the responsibilities of chiefdom and live up to the type of leader Stoick was) has just become another desperate bid for belonging to a group of people who are the next best thing to his father. He’s losing who he is. He isn’t being Hiccup, he’s being Hiccup’s impression of his dead dad.

It coming from Astrid sets up a callback to the first movie—“what are you going to do about it?” The original HTTYD3 does this as well, but I think this would be more apt a comparison. Hiccup doesn’t have Toothless at this point in the story (captured), he doesn’t have a plan, he’s lost hope. By all means, he’s a scared 15 year old who just got disowned again. But Astrid reminds him who that scared 15 year old was and what he did to fix it.

Hiccup needs to respect Stoick enough to know he wouldn’t have wanted him to live in his shadow forever, and he needs to respect himself, as his own person, enough to let go of the comfort that chasing the idea of someone gives. By not giving up, he rediscovers his roots.

I think maturing enough to realize you aren’t the same as your parents and never can be is a more interesting, relevant, and impactful message about growing up than what the original movie says.

9:

This is where the lack of focus on actual plot points kind of makes this post suffer. I mentioned earlier that Toothless and one of the night furies get captured—imagine the rest of the family go after the villain themselves and the riders going to help their losing battle is what prompts growth and the climactic battle. I don’t know. Make up a scenario.

I liked this (the “save him” scene) in the original movie. Toothless is always getting into shit for Hiccup, so Hiccup returning the favor is very full-circle. One of the things I didn’t like, IIRC, was Toothless being unconscious.

Struggling to get free of his bonds and surrounded by enemies, Toothless is unable to move much. His attention snaps to Hiccup’s screams and he watches helplessly as he can’t do anything, visibly agonized. One of the night furies, realizing just how important this human is to Toothless, saves him instead.

The immediate battle resolves with Hiccup and Toothless reunited, the villain’s forces begin fleeing. I want to emphasize that Grimmel (or, once again, whoever the villain is) does not die in this movie, just suffers a heavy blow.

There’s initial celebration but Grimmel surviving and a line sets the mood as somber near immediately, something like “They’ll be back.” The riders and Berk stand on the cliff and watch the villain regroup with their army/armada or whatever and start to retreat, sailing off. Maybe there’s a moment of lingering eye contact between the villain and Hiccup. There’s knowledge that the night furies, and thus all the dragons on Berk, still aren’t going to be safe. And the night furies understand too, as they shy away from other humans despite letting Hiccup closer. Their beef with Berk as a whole still isn’t resolved. One of them goes so far as to growl at even Valka, who tries reaching out.

10+11:

This is where the sacrifice comes in, introducing the idea of love being loss. Hiccup looks between the two parties—night furies still distrustful of Berk and Berk hurting from the battle that wasn’t even fully victorious. Hiccup decides that they’ll never change anything by staying where they are, by demanding dragons come to them for refuge instead of making places safe for them elsewhere. What they’re fighting for is bigger than him and Berk. It’s going to be an endless struggle, but by bringing his arc full-circle back to the Hiccup we love, he refuses to give up on his dreams of peace.

It’s a huge decision to make, but he softly says he needs to go and explains why: that he’s willing to give up what he has on Berk, that he’s willing to give up his biological family’s legacy for the one he believes in. He’s found his “belonging,” and it’s making a difference where his presence won’t draw the line of fire. It’s not like Grimmel could touch him with a group of night furies anyways.

I’d also argue that what Hiccup gives up in this rewrite—chiefdom, life on Berk, a future with Astrid and his friends—is a much greater sacrifice for Toothless than letting him go. He actually ensures Toothless and his family a future by leaving to make progress with them instead of staying and hoping humanity will achieve the fruitless task of forever-unity before they and their flock of other human-fearing dragons can safely return from the Hidden World.

12:

Of course something like this needs big goodbyes, so there’s feels.

Hiccup gives Astrid the chiefdom, saying he’s never met someone as qualified as her. Toothless, possibly still feeling guilty over getting him injured, requests Cloudjumper keep the Berk flock safe. It’s a little piece of them to remember.

As mentioned before, Valka promises to continue work on peace from Berk’s angle, to make the world safe for all dragons as she promised in HTTYD2 (which also contrasts with her attitude in that movie, showing her emotional growth as a character. Whereas before she was unwilling to acknowledge people capable of change, now she believes in the betterment of humans and is willing to dedicate herself to working with them for their shared dream).

The Haddock line ends.

There’s a heavy, long shot of Hiccup looking back at Berk and their dragons as they get smaller and eventually the cliff disappears over the horizon, his head laying on top of Toothless as they fly towards unknown territory (on reflection… the Hidden World doesn’t even matter that much in this rewrite. huh!) The scene ends with the sunset giving way into the blackness of nighttime, and then a few bursts of light as stars blink awake.

13:

The epilogue in the original movie was quite literally an add-on. That’s the reason why it feels so out of place and contradictory to the “all dragons leave” ending. This epilogue, due to it being in context of progress actually being made towards peace and who the reunion is between, actually serves to reinforce the movie’s ending. Also it makes the audience happy seeing Hiccstrid again. That’s all I’ll say because the bullet point is otherwise self-explanatory.

if you read this far down, i love you and hopefully this was fun or interesting :)

#httyd #not trying to maintag. just organizational ^-^

[betweenthetimeandsound]

Writing Questions

--Thanks @lexiklecksi for tagging me on this! These questions made me think a little, so it's taken a while...

What is your absolute all-time favourite ideas you’ve ever had?

--One of my short stories finds my protagonist facing the people she's hurt in her dreams. If she doesn't find a way to conquer those challenges, she could die or lose her eternal soul.

--I like the idea for Iodine a lot--the girl finds out her family is alive, running organized crime in their homeland, but she hasn't been there in years and is acquiesced in her new identity. The futuristic world of Iodine, which takes place in the midst of a civil war, should play on my knowledge of history and political science.

--I have a story where a guy has to hunt for human/animal hybrids in Ethiopia, which should play my background and politics with fantasy. It should be interesting!

Is there a question you’ve been asked in the past that really stands out to you, and you still think about sometimes?

Somebody asked something about my musical, but I don't quite remember it.

What is your favourite part of being a writer? What parts could you take or leave?

My favorite part of being a writer is coming up with something which is actually quite good! Just getting an idea, writing something, and seeing it bloom is just really good. What makes it better is if somebody enjoys it as well. On the other hand, the rewrites can really stunt my work, as I'm not sure how to approach them. While it gives me an opportunity to write from another perspective (as I'm doing with Iodine's second draft), I wonder when enough is enough.

What is your greatest motivation to write/create?

I feel like I have an obligation to create, so to tell stories and to make people feel better. In addition, I want to tell some truths which I couldn't really express through speech, as well as feel what other people are feeling.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever read or been given as a writer?

What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out writing?

Somebody once said that to make it as a writer, I'd have to treat it as a job. I'm still not sure how to approach writing, whether as a major career of as a side hustle, but writing does take discipline, especially concerning how to get stuff done!

What is your favourite story you’ve written to completion? Link it if you’d like and can!

While not fully polished, I'm proud of this short story, because of the different lenses involved. Still struggling for a title, though; what ideas do you have?

I like this one, inspired by a Florence and the Machine song lyric. I could imagine this one being expanded to a longer and more horrific story.

The Prostitute: Because of the inspiration involved and the imagery I used. Plus, it can get dark at times.

What is your favorite out-of-the-box quote?

The classic "write drunk, edit sober", especially considering that I hardly drink alcohol.

Which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? Why do you say so, and how do you personally feel about their ideals?

While Amber (the princess of Vela) and Dr. Shira Mizrahi have pretty dark methods to get their way, they mostly operate out of care for their own people. They have a little bit of arrogance about them due to their abilities, but they mean well. And I could understand that sentiment (one's trying to protect her country, another her family), especially when it feels like you're all alone in the world.

One character I have in mind is Hilda Adalbjorg Vigdis, the queen of a fantasy realm. She's descended from disgraced royals from a faraway realm who tried to take over the fantasy realm. While she uses her newfound power to develop the kingdom, she also has a superiority complex which scares the civilians a lot, especially as she was an usurper of a long-beloved dynasty. At the time of this book, she's incapitated, so I could imagine feeling sympathy for her, though her real intents would come to light eventually.

If you, when you first started writing, met you now, what would younger you think?

I think my younger self would wonder why my works are quite dark, as well as when my novels were going to be published. :)

@fragiledewdrop, @prasannawrites, @andromedaexists, @violetsinsummer, what about you?

#tag games #writing questions #writeblr #writers on tumblr #about me #personal

[notyourdeliveryservice]

dr strange but better

i just watched multiverse of madness and. sorry but i can do it better so here’s my rewrite. 

-strange is having nightmares, yes, all of them about dying

-but the night before christine’s wedding, it’s the one of him and america

-wedding is where we need to set up his arc, and the character flaw he’s facing is that he can never admit when he’s wrong and it drives people away from him. he continues to cling to the idea that the blip and tony’s death were the only way to defeat thanos, and that losing Christine was out of his control

-christine asks strange if he’s happy, but he hesitates, and before he can answer they hear the crash

-octo fight is the same

-they take america to the sanctum, she doesn’t trust them, but she tells them she’s being chased by Things

-he goes to wanda to discuss the multiverse, and she agrees to investigate with him

-of course, she’s very interested in america and her powers, but nothing untoward

-until it comes out that she was messing with the darkhold

-combine that with america telling them that dreams are visions to other selves, and they begin to question what exactly wanda was doing in those other universes

-they shift america away from her, and wanda realizes they no longer trust her

-she insists that she hasn’t hurt anyone, only looked, why are they treating her like a villain?

-strange’s mistrust increases, and he implies that she may have done something without realizing it or that other versions of himself had tried to stop her and she’d killed them for it. again, he can’t admit that he could be wrong about this, no matter how much she protests. the moment she said darkhold, he completely shut down.

-this infuriates wanda, a fight breaks out, and the main three are flung into three separate universes

END ACT 1

-here is where ms america should have an arc of her own. like ostensibly she’s trying to figure out who was sending the Things after her but there should really be setup for her “trust yourself” arc.

-wanda goes to exactly the universe she wanted to, with her kids an all. she finds them and watches the kids and her Other self from a distance, waiting.

-dr strange is in the illumati universe where they executed him and he ends up on trial much the same way

-in america’s universe, she goes looking for their stephen strange for help, but what’s this? he’s been murdered (gasp)

wanda watches Other wanda drop the kids off at school, then immediately picks them up again to be like “oh i just wanted to spend the day with you” and they have a very lovely time together

-strange is attempting to defend himself at his own trial and this begins his introspection that maybe a) there’s something wrong with him and b) there are universes where he’s not good

-ms america has made a discovery! she figures out that strange was killed by one of his own, a different strange

MIDPOINT REVELATION- strange’s nightmares were of himself

-something attacks america, one of the Things. she gets scared and does her thing, landing in-

-wanda’s universe! she crashes right through wanda’s lovely little day, and the boys sees wanda use her powers to terrible effect to kill the Thing that followed america through the portal. they get scared, and wanda panics, and turns on america, who also gets scared and throws them into-

-illuminati land! wanda can still have her dope ass fight against everyone if she wants. she tries to convince america that if this many stranges are bad, america’s original strange, murdering strange, illuminati strange, what’s to say theirs is any better and should we not just kill him to be safe?

-strange gets out of his trial in much the same way cause honestly it was funny

-america is wavering. wanda do be having a point tho. america has now encountered more bad stranges than good, and it’s hard to trust OG strange when he’d probably already said the “i could control your powers” thing.

the fight is messy and confusing, but wanda is tearing thru people left and right so when strange says “take my hand” america does. and disappears.

-strange and wanda are left in illuminati-verse, alone with no more illuminati left

-in Incursion verse, america asks why everything is so messed up. “strange” says something vague about how its a safe place, because no one would go looking for them in an incursion.

-wanda and strange are still fighting in illuminati verse. wanda blames him for losing everything, again, and accuses him of the same hypocrisy as in the original. strange tells her she’s right, and he’s sorry she lost her kids, but there’s a kid right now who needs them both. aw.

END ACT 2

-in Dark verse, america tells “strange” what she learned about the strange killing stranges and his behavior gets a little, well, strange. he starts asking more questions about her powers, and keeps changing the subject when she tries to talk about Evil strange

-wanda and strange are working TOGETHER to do some witchcraft/sorcery BS to get to america

-america is beginning to realize something is wrong. Evil strange notices her pulling back from him, admits that he was the one sending the Things after her, he wants her power to eliminate all the stranges in every multiverse all at once, and then he strikes

-wanda and strange arrive to find america being drained, and they break the connection. the stranges go one way, the girlies go the other

-strange gets to have the same chat with his Evil self about how they’re all miserable and shit

-america tells wanda that she was right, strange can’t be trusted, etc etc but wanda says that she was wrong. that maybe in all of the multiverse, they might have found the good one. and for the time being he’s the lesser of two evils so they really ought to help him.

-strange is trying desperately to win the ideological battle against his Evil self, but he was in such a state of doubt and confusion beforehand that he’s losing morale and he’s losing it fast. Evil strange is throwing all his guilt, and all his mistakes at him. Christine, the blip, tony, all of it.

-wanda and america try to help, but stephen has some bullshit “i have to do this on my own” thing. thus begins our standard marvel climax fight

-he fights his evil self for a bit, but eventually he’s thrown down and wanda has to intervene to protect america

-this gives strange time to have the “trust yourself” moment with america before he rejoins the fight, now realizing he can’t do it alone

-wanda and strange are doing their best, but Evil strange is beating them back. “i’ve killed a hundred stephen stranges, i can can kill a hundred more. what’s one little witch to add to the pile?”

-america has her little moment, learns to trust herself, and boom! she’s in the fight

-with the combined power of all three of them, they defeat Evil strange, hooray!

-things are still a bit tense, though. wanda still did all That, but to thank her for helping them stop Evil strange, america offers to send her to the universe she wants to go. america opens the portal, and wanda sees her Other self. they make eye contact, and there is an understanding. wanda rejects america’s offer.

-now, america (who lost her parents) has wanda and strange, and wanda (who lost her kids) has america, and strange (who lost his wife figure) has learned to appreciate and trust the women in his life so maybe these two will stick around. it’s not a perfect found family, there’s no romance or adoption papers, but they fill the gaps in each other’s lives in a way. and since wanda didn’t murder a bunch of sorcerers she could probably help train america in the same way that stephen starts training her, so she knows both sorcery and witchcraft.

-christine throws a belated reception, since her wedding was interrupted by a giant octopus

-this time, when she asks strange if he’s happy, he doesn’t hesitate to answer. he says yes

the fact that they made a multiverse movie and refused to engage with any of the introspection that the multiverse form demands in favor of Evil Witch Lady is just. beyond me. (like don’t get me wrong, i love wanda and i support women’s wrongs, but why did she have to become a demon). and more to the point, multiverse discussions don’t have to become so high and philosophical as Everything Everywhere All At Once, they can easily be made into something understandable to a layperson. i am not joking when i say Markiplier in Space did the multiverse better than marvel did here. 

anyway Kevin Feige if ur out there call me i have a film degree i’m not using and would love to fix ur movies.

#not a fix it fic #just a fix it #cause im mad #marvel #doctor strange #multiverse of madness #multiverse

[frostyreturns]

Frosty Ruins Captain Britain And The Mighty Defenders

Before I even dive into this comic Just from looking at the cover I have complaints about it. #1 I can already tell this is going to be a socjus all female reimagining of a previous collection of franchises and #2 I have no idea who most of the characters on the cover are. I recognize She-Hulk and I'm aware loosely of the female version of Black Panther but the vaguely Spider-Man looking one I've never seen before, the costume looks horrible. The costume looks like a metaphor for the character...it looks like someone skinned Spider-Man and then wore his skinsuit like a cape and a hood. Which sounds a lot cooler than it looks. Then there is an ethnically ambiguous browinish woman who could be arab, spanish, black or Indian in the middle that looks like she's from Assassin's Creed if the assassin's wore hoodies and sweatpants. She's carrying a glowing weapon I can't tell if it's supposed to be a lightsaber like weapon or a metal sword. I don't know who she is supposed to be but I can tell from looking at this that there is no Captain Britain on the cover of this Captain Britain comic. None of the characters even look like a female version of the character. And then we have Iron Man without the man part. This is going to be fucking terrible isn't it.

The comic begins with the premise that the multiverse was destroyed and all the heroes you've been reading about for generations all failed so here's some new ones. It's not enough to rewrite and remake everything, they have to also blow up the universe and kill everything else and reduce all past work and all past heroes to dead failures.

The first story begins by trying to tear down the Tony Stark character, it begins with him giving away his suit to a guy I've never heard of and who doesn't get much of an introduction at all. Tony then goes on to say he didn't really create the iron man suit and that he deserves to die without it and how the world doesn't need him...for some reason that's not talked about.

Then we skip ahead 10 years Tony is dead and this completely unknown character he gave his suit to is giving some flowery speech about how he used the suit to solve all of the worlds problems. They seem to be criticizing Tony for developing weapons like the Iron Man suit to protect people...but don't explain how this new character uses his suit...which is still a weapon to do anything different they just vaguely say he used it to defend the world from hate, want and fear...unlike Tony who...didn't? And by doing...something...that's definitely not the same thing Tony did he's essentially eliminated poverty, crime, inequality and cured every disease for free! And is now ready to go to other planets too. Oh and they made a self sustaining metropolis to end climate change...because even when the writers are magically solving all the worlds problems...we still need to upheave society to save the world from weather. Oh but guess what that was a dream and Dr Doom actually rules the universe like a god king and a tyrant. Which makes this dream sequence even fucking dumber, the writers in a dream within a fantasy science fiction comic book...still has global warming being a thing. That should tell you everything you need to know about the mindset of these doomsayers.

So then we get introduced to She-Hulk who is one of Dr Dooms "Thors". Which from context they seem to have made Thor into a kind of green lantern corps kind of thing, which is weird and stupid. They talk about how each sector has their own Thor. She Hulk is carrying around a "gavel of thor" and does enforcing of Dr Doom's laws which include punishing people for heresy against Doom. Oh and she calls it a gavel because her muscles are the real hammer, yeah strap in for cringe. So they essentially stuffed three different characters into She Hulk, she's the Hulk, she's also Thor and also she's a green lantern. And she's doing the bidding of Doom... So she's a villain? I have no idea what the fuck is going on it's only been a few pages and this plot is already convoluted and nonsensical. Even for a comic this is fucking retarded.

Then we meet the spiderman character who seems to be wearing the Prowler costume underneath a spider cape and hood, they call him Spider Hero which sounds super fucking stupid...but then he corrects She Hulk and says Spider-Man but then the character introduction box at the bottom calls him Spider Hero as well. So great inttroduction everyone you had one job to do, tell us who this stupid new character is and you failed. I read your introduction and still don't know what this gay new hero is called.

Then this stupid new spider-man/hero says this dumbass line "If I had Spider sense it would be tingling" lmao what the fuck kind of line is that, if you dont have spider sense why would you know what it is? and why would he phrase it the way the original spider-man that doesn't exist anymore did. They even go on to say he has no idea what spider sense is. This line is a logical and metaphysical impossibility. You cannot discuss a concept you have no conception of and they did it for a cheap nod at the character whose corpse they are desecrating.

I feel like I'm walking everyone step by step through this story but I can't read more than a sentence or two in this piece of shit comic without it being astoundingly dumb. The very next line is she Hulk complaining about trigger hapy fascists...but moments ago they claimed there was no crime? And she had just threatened a man for speaking heresy against her master Doom... and she’s calling other people fascists?

Now we meet the new Iron Man who's not a man...and they call her...get this "Kid Rescue". lmfao holy shit... comics in general have some ridiculous names...but even for comics these names are so bad. These are the dumbest names out of a collection of dumb names. This character isn’t even a succesor to Iron Man either she’s a succesor to a succesor who we only met a few pages ago. These writers can't be serious, this is a joke right nobody actually earnestly thought this was good, they can't have.

Okay here's the best part...the woman who looked like she was from Assassin's Creed is a female muslim doctor...and she's the new Captain Britain. Oh my fuck, no way. They made Captain Britain...the big buff english dude who wore a union jack costume to represent the patriotic british version of Captain America...is now a muslim woman in a hijab. Oh and also Britain doesn't even exist in this world either...lmfao. There is no way to possibly have screwed up the character anymore. It's as unfaithful and bad as it can be which makes me think there's no way it wasn't intentional. There is no part of me that believes for a second that this comic was made in earnest. It was made to be politically inflammatory, it was made to piss off the fans they expect to buy it. They probably had the press release where they called fans racist, sexist xenophobes typed up before this comic was even written. So yeah Britain... the English nation here is your fantasy story...Britain was wiped out and doesn't exist...and now your new hero is a muslim woman...and not even a muslim woman who takes up the Captain Britain mantle...she'll just wear her plain white hijab.

This is one of the worst comics I've ever read, and with lines like "hello everybody look at all my guns" it only gets worse and worse the longer you read it and the more you think about it. At one point Captian islam starts speaking like yoda for no reason at all. "I've got healing powers, I can take him apart, get the bullet out save him I can."

The anti-gun stuff is so weird from some of these people. I hate guns but I'll fight with a sword...both will kill someone what's the fucking difference. It's easy to be anti-gun when you have magical powers. Yeah sure when everyone can shoot lasers out of their hands or blow up building by punching them...then when can get rid of guns how about that?

The premise then becomes this team of heroes who has lived under Doom for what we assume is their whole lives is now teaming up to fight him out of nowhere...because a strange foreigner showed up and said Doom isn’t really a god. And then instead of fighting doom, they fight another city state that’s rebelling against Doom for some reason. None of this makes any sense, toddlers could have come up with a more coherent storyline, and they’d probably tell it better too.

And the comic ends with them introducing this character that seems to be a blend of ripoffs between robo cop, judge dredd and the punisher. Especially Judge Dredd, they have him in a Dredd like helmet, working in a mega city one type city working with a psychic partner...if Disney didn't own everything then someone would be able to sue for plagiarism. This was without a doubt one of the worst comics I've ever read. It reads not only like it was written by a retard...not only like it was written by a child but by a retarded child who is a political idealogue. It's propaganda written by retarded children for absolutely nobody because there is no audience for this. It's like it was written for regressively left women who hate comic books...a hell of an audience to try to sell comic books to. To typical comic book fans it's an affront to everything they enjoy...it's the desecration and defacement of the things they love. To political opponents it's an idiotic, hamfisted screed with no coherent point. To people who agree with the writers politically...it's a poorly written comic with a terrible premise and an even worse plot...which is probably why this only has two issues. This was cancerously bad on all levels, it has absolutely no redeeming qualities...the art style...it could be worse I guess. That's the closest I have to a positive comment about this comic.

This reads like a comic that's not real but is something that someone like Steven Crowder wrote as a joke to mock how bad comics have gotten. It reads like a satire of modern comics but it just isn't it's just that horrible. If I were grading this like an elemntary school teacher this is what I would write at the bottom of this comic in red pen...

F- see me after class you clearly didn't read the assignment instructions

[iwouldexistwithoutyou]

Three Short Story Openings

Scene 1 Summary: 11 years ago I wrote the opening of a sci-fi story for an English course I took in college, I was reading it over because I was going to simply edit it for a course I'm taking to get my master's, ended up just rewriting the opening scene along with two new scenes, one of these three will become a full short story. Looking back at the old version, I can really see my progress as a writer and I'm pretty proud of it. (Formatting is busted on tumblr)

Scene I: The black Earth hung like a dead orb in the window of their ship. Jaiden sat seething within the stasis depressurizing chamber. He had heard briefings about what happened to the Earth so long ago, how humanity had been driven from their home those four hundred years past. Nothing prepared him for what the place looked like now however. Squirming over the surface he could see the oceans were now pitch black and so different from the images he had seen of the blue planet from yore, the land itself seemed relatively untouched, but he knew from his briefings the opposite to be true. With a hiss the gelatinous clear fluid surrounding his body began to lower, once it reached his neck the fluid began to crystallize, the warm gel swirled around him and began forming at first tiny and then large strands of connections, the nano-machines communicating with each other to begin materializing a black form fitting hazard suit over his pale skin. Jaiden kept his eyes locked on the planet. He would be the fiery vengeance of his species, who were now situated far away living within the roaming super-ships or the sparse human colonies eking out an existence on planets that barely sustained them. A humming sound above him is quickly deafened as a helmet engulfs his skull, followed by a locking sound completely shutting out all other sounds. For a few seconds there was complete darkness, his eyes struggling to adjust but to no avail, and then finally from his left a woman walked in front of him. She was wearing a long white coat, and a black blouse with a skirt. Her blonde hair is pulled back into a tight ponytail. Her familiar British accent rang out. “Good morning, Dr. Jones.” “Good morning, Moe.”

Scene II Summary:

A man named Richard is moving into a new home in Maine, he is leaving his life in California to start over after his divorce. He sees the house as a new beginning but begins to encounter strange hauntings during the evenings shortly after moving in. He seeks local help and is warned by a Psychic named Sarah Redwood that he’s living in a haunted home. She offers to come inside and bless the home for him, during this blessing he witnesses the power she has and how she is able to know exactly what he’s been seeing, without him telling her.

Scene II:

            The woman in the mirror had been smiling at him for about an hour. Every time he checked again, she was still there. What Richard had first dismissed as a waking nightmare had clearly outlived the expiration date for one of those. He glanced at the clock on his nightstand. “4:37 AM” it read, he shook his head back and forth, smacking himself across the face and looked back at the clock “4:37 AM” it defiantly stated again. His doctor had told him if you’re not sure you’re dreaming, look at a clock, then away and back at it, if the time changes you know you’re in a dream.

            “Riiiichard.”

            Came a sing-song voice from the bathroom situated right at the foot of his bed. It knew his name somehow. He refused to look again, could not look. He flung the covers of his bed off himself, they felt as if they weighed one hundred pounds as his entire body began to vibrate. From the cold, he told himself.

            “Richard, honey, it’s me. Don’t you want me Richard? I want you.”

            Her voice echoed as if she was actually in his bathroom, he sprung out of the door to his room and slammed it shut. There was no fucking way this was happening he thought as his eyes darted around the house, boxes were still piled up in the hallway, the smell of fresh paint still in the air of this newly renovated home.

            His bare feet thumped loudly on the wooden stairs as he held onto the banister, trying to hold his composure. He reached the living room when he heard a doorknob upstairs turn, in the darkness her white nightgown seemed to glow as she opened the door, her hair draped in front of her face.

            “Richard? Please, come back to bed. I have needs you know.” She giggled as she spoke.

            Completely in disbelief he stared at what couldn’t have been there, and yet somehow was, within a second suddenly she was at the top of the stairs and he screamed despite himself turning to face her.

            “Let me show you.”

            He flung the door open and ran out onto the porch, the cool night air and choir of crickets embracing him, a heaviness falling off of his shoulders. As he stumbled onto his lawn he stared at the front door, wide open into the yawning maw of the home, no one walked through. His bedroom light on the second floor turned on, then off, two minutes dragged by as he sat not knowing what to do next, and then the front door slammed shut. He could only think of the terror, the disbelief, and how quickly he could sell this home he had only just purchased.

Scene III Summary:

Jack is a modern day hit man, he works only for the most elite clients, and he is about to work for the most elite client of them all. After killing the leader of a crime syndicate somehow Jack’s wife is found, she is kidnapped by members of the crime syndicate and Jack quickly tries to rescue her. He is killed during a gunfight but is offered a deal by none other than Death AKA “Ted” himself, if he can bring Death the souls of one thousand evil men, Death will resurrect him and reunite him with his wife. He’ll have access to abilities no human should have, and his own personal demon assistant, What could go wrong? Also YES this is a complete rip off of the plot of "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" but MCR never bothered actually writing the story out, so I figured I'd take the liberty for fun.

            Scene III:

            He leapt up from his chair and touched his chest where he had been shot. He looked down only to find a black and red freshly tailored suit.

            “You like it? I had it especially designed for you Jack.”

            He looked up at the man sitting before him. Platinum blonde slicked-back hair, a black suit with a paisley tie, a red pocket square. The man smiled, an impossibly white set of teeth peering through ruby lips. He stretched out his hand.

            “Ted. Nice to make your acquaintance.”

            Jack instinctively reached forward gripping his hand, it felt like an ice cube, and he let go quickly, Ted doing the same.

            “Please please, have a seat Jack.”

            “How did-“

            “You get here? Yeah, lemmie save you some time, trust me this gets old after you’ve-”

            The man brought a cigar to his lips and inhaled for a moment, savoring the taste before releasing black smoke into the air.

            “Done this as much as I have.”

            Ted examined the cigar with mild interest and then looked back at Jack smiling once more.

            “Jack, you found yourself in a gunfight a few moments ago, over a woman no less how stereotypical, and now here you are in my office. I won’t bore you with the metaphysical details of how you’ve arrived in my care but let me assure you that you are in fact very dead. Pretty painless as far as they go, the good ol’ nine-millimeter ‘boom’ straight into the heart, you could do worse.”

He paused, watching Jack’s face for a moment, that smile returning. After letting that hang in the air for a few moments he continued.

“This deal I’m about to offer you is a rare one, it comes around once in a decade just about, and I only offer it to special types of men, women, and of course children. You get one opportunity to agree to or disagree to it, so I suggest you think about it very carefully.”

#writing #creative writing #story prompt #short story #class work

[castle-dominion]

c5x24 finale

shirtless guy shirtless gal wait she is not dead nvm psycho? That is NOT hair dye, is it? wait lol there IS hair dye there just like that urban legend with the elevator game & the girl in the water tower

the washington monument? beckett is the president of the united states now /j girl that's what TRAINING is for or never in a lifetime I AM just a homicide cop right now! I need training to become what you want me to be!

castle lmao giant green lizard rewrite the book sfkjdhk dad, alexis is talking to you! castle she is a young woman she is making this decision oh, paris he loves her she has nightmares still? Oof, I'm glad that she still has trauma RC: No. But it sounds like someone has. BRO

greets ppl <3 Sito is great bc that is actually where his name is emphasized.

RC: Hey ‘sito. JE: Hey. RC: Where’s Beckett? JE: How the hell should I know? ((I love him)) Aren’t you two practically living together now? RC: Ah, well, she left me alone for a couple of days so I could finish Deadly Heat, which, by the way, is both deadly and hot, thank you very much for asking. JE: I didn’t. ((completely disinterested)) RC: Right. so like is she on call but only just got off the plane? (could clip the zito interaction ig)

hate the siren audio

Love em all in sunglasses which makes sense for actors bc hats would shade their faces too much but I love my hat on sunny days.

smoke on the roof lmao crystal sky? Hippie name. esposito my beloved "gonzalez every once in a while"

My man knows she had smth going on with her dad? they spoke? ah yes prostitute ofc.

Yeah if she was killed you DO need to know the truth

the most sus part of this is how the landlord actually heeded the tenants & their complaints abt bloody water place like this has a security cam in the elevator that actually WORKS?

Ooh I want to busk my way over europe

would she have told you? well she DID stay in a plave like that bro

RC: Straight A student, no history of trouble, on a dream European vacation, turns into a hooker in a ratty hotel. There is no way I’m letting Alexis go to Costa Rica now.

are you talking about yourself becks?

remember that case with the prof who took a hundred crappy jobs for a book he was writing & becks said "we need his manuscript" & the publisher was like "ain't got one"? yeah reminding me of that.

GIRL TELL HIM

Remember s1e2? elevator times? Wrong floor? THIS REALLY IS LIKE THE GIRL IN THE WATER TANK PLAYING THE ELEVATOR GAME Stairs? & did the 80yo come back down? whipsers "it's expensive" nobody coming into her room yet she had those sounds? Cam girl?

Well could the water have washed it away? LP: Water has a great way of washing away things like trace DNA. Also dr parish a bit earlier: If she was a prostitute, she wasn’t very good at it. there’s no evidence of sexual activity.

Well he could still be doing illegal stuff even if he didn't murder "but of course I wasn't spying on her all night every night" is what I would say

laptop comp sci esposito's hair is nice I like & ryan's outfit is great wait is this going to be a plot episode with the senator & all this stuff

these two same brain uwu. Also beckett totally used to be "wow who knew I should look for evidence when I could make things up" but now she is same braining with castle & looks for evidence to support or disprove the story. & rysposito are watching caskett finish each others sentences fdkjskldjl

"she's all yours" XD

is she in trouble? for not telling your boss you are leaving? "you were supposed to be on call" Gates knows that people deserve to move on & turnover rate is real *flashforward to her hating the job in s6* don't say kill for it! You're a homicide cop! gates is so proud of beckett

Lanie my beloved also what is in her mug? She doesn't drink coffee calls it twelve-midnight

beckett pronounce your Ts depends on the opportunity! Castle & everyone else in your life! You can always decline the job say "moi" & kiss him thru the phone!!

rysposito great outfits, ellis great character really? Which ones SHUUP

BRINGS HER COFFEE DOESN'T EVEN MENTION IT JUST GIVES HER THE COFFEE I like castle in this more red outfit, beckett looks amazing. Ryan I already mentioned but again hhhh he's so good RC: which is why you need me KB: *considering leaving*

clipping the "thank you?"

my partner mitch bauer, nice, & noce how she asks him to double check for her. MB: Is she in custody? RC: Sort of. She's dead.

The way their faces look

most of them or all of them lol

RC: So without it we’re dead in the water. Much like Erika. RC+JE: Too soon

RYAN IS SO SMART-- I DIDN'T EVEN THINK ABOUT THAT, ABOUT WHERE THE CALL CAME FROM three? I thouhgt you said ONE of them popped but now u have three?

he dead the way they open the door too forcefully & ryan needs to push it open man's got a nice place tho hanging from an extrnsion cord. I like how at least this time the body is above them instead of on the ground, it gives variety to murder positions *taps ryan on the shoulder like that* like bro?? what was that? Also ryan's black suit jacket with the red squares is incredible & I love it sm

Every time, they see two lines & say not suicide but homicide ooh technically first! Why does it say ian blayock & anonymous user? I'd say "you" if Iwere a chat system KB: So this was sent by whoever killed him. He lured her out.

Esposito sittong on someone's desk way far from caskett rly the lawyer guy was doing drugs?

Most people say they would never drive drunk but then when they are tipsy they say "I'm only a little bit drunk, it won't be so bad I'll be careful" & being intoxicated, it limits their inhibitions & walls & drunk ppl always do stupid things like idk dancing on tables. Driving is just another stupid thing that you would not do while sober but you might while drunk. why didn't ryan say in the first place "friend from high school who interned but died a year later" why did he wait until beckett asked him? Ah driving in heels tho? Tru.

RC: A single car accident with no witnesses? Guys, this is a classic conspiracy cover up. Though only a lowly intern, Pam stumbles on to something the firm is doing, something big. Nefarious. She has to be silenced, only after the accident Blaylock can’t take the guilt. Or admit the truth. So his only bastion is to escape the sweet oblivion of drugs.

& I've mentioned this a million times I like ryan's vest & coat & outfit & how he has the fancy of the vest but the chill of going tie-less but also the jacket & vest MATCH I'm hiding that laptop!

Esposito looking at these two & their samebrain moment with not his "heheh these two" face but not an "ew gross these two" face it's more,,, suspicious.

INT – RESIDENTIAL HOTEL BOILER ROOM *KR pops up from the floor. It’s dark and they’re using flashlights to search the room.* KR: Man. This was Castle’s theory. How did we draw the short straw? JE: I don’t know. JE: Let me ask you something. *Turns off flashlight* You notice anything weird about Beckett? KR: What do you mean? *JE jumps on a heater unit to get closer to the ceiling* JE: Well, she’s- she’s different. *KR looks up at him* Something’s off. KR: What are you saying? Like she’s --pregnant? JE: !!?!!?!! ((love the music)) JE: What are you talking about? Where did that even come from? ((from YOU suggesting smth & ryan was wondering what you were implying. He thought you already had a theory)) KR: Well, you said she was acting different. They’re consenting adults–.. ((I mean yeah accidents happen, & non-accidents)) JE: (adamantly) Beckett is not pregnant. C’mon, man. *He goes back to running his hands along the top of the ductwork, which uses actual duct tape which is like sticky aluminum foil NOT DUCK TAPE WHICH IS BAD FOR DUCTS & NOT MEANT TO BE USED ON DUCTS* KR: What’s so wrong with being pregnant? JE: You know, I can’t even talk to you about this right now. ((about what? pregnancy? or beckett? also oh no dominoes u just got a fic idea)) KR: Okay. Well, um … try to get over it before Jenny tells you the news, okay? ((you haven't told him yet?)) *That surprises JE. KR grins.* JE: What? KR: *grins wider* JE: Are you serious? Wowwww! Congratulations, man. That’s great! KR: Thanks, brother. *There’s suddenly a happiness to their work.*

Gosh I went to write a crackfic but then got food, ate food, danced around a bit, listened to music, & scrolled on tumblr until I got to the end of my dash Which I Never Do anymore these days. & ofc wrote the crackfic. holy crap. it is now 15.00. I could have watched two castle episodes in this time if I was better at this! & if I woke up at 9 instead of 12 I would have been able to watch four! Except that I wanted to clip everything I needed to clip today.

Speaking of which, I'll clip that & then finish the ep.

Ooh they are at beckett's home oh he found the boarding pass & you didn't tell me? *implies he is upset* & then if I were him I'd say "I'm so proud of you! Let's open up the wine!" Except it is now a fight. Bro she chose not to bc y'all haven't had that talk. She didn't want to tell you bc if she didn't get the job then she wouldn't have to but then that is still hiding things in a relationship which is sus...

castle is probably going to talk to his mom

Wow s2 esposito outfit right there. Brings me back to the first time I opened up the dvd set with my family & binge watched some good content with em. "yep" she says & throws down her coat so angrily he cares abt her, he follows her to the break room, he loves her. I could clip this but I won't. I love especkett's relationship. They are so great. If caskett wasn't my otp, I'd totally ship these two. In fact I do, I just still have caskett as my otp. You know, I totally think especkett had something going on back before the series started. Even "esposito" & "ryan" said it themselves while they were "reviewing hidden camera footage" of the 2 cool for school case.

last summer? the intern? ryan weird outfit tbh, looks a little bit s3 vibes

the third? well it COULD have been fine to get into a car crash but then he staged it & now it is REALLY bad.

KR: Hey. What’s going on? Where’s Castle? JE: Don’t ask.

lawyer lady grabs a pen his face falls she looks like she knows what is going on

"& we're not in court" XD

Martha is right So Have The Talk

MR: I know you. You do not hold back. Except this thing with Katherine. It took you what, three years to tell her how you felt, another year to act on it, and now, at the first sign of trouble, you’re ready to run. Why?

ryan's hair is so short I dislike He'd get a close friend or trusted associate to hire someone

give her time to think maybe...?

she doesn't tell esposito where she is going, she doesn't tell him what her fight with castle was about, but she doesn't even tell ryan she is leaving or that there was a fight, poor esposito being left in the dark but poorer ryan

Is she at the airport rn? No way. Oh meeting her dad <3 <3 I love jim someone had better have this clip on youtube, probably that person who has all the other clips so talk You have been together for a year ish now, he took three years to tell her, another year until they got together

This job is what I want but I am afraid of losing him. Not: he is what I want but I'm afraid, unsure where I will go, so I will hide in work

CASTLE IS LETTING HER GO. HE IS... SOMETHING, SOMETHING IS HAPPENING

how they really are hhhh this was insane

this room is too dark for the mirror to be functioning she is feeling nostalgic she's saying goodbye to the room, no longer leveraging it or that, maybe she is using it KB: So the question is, how many years of your own life are you going to sacrifice for someone else’s future?

Ooh nameplates for naming characters who are unnamed! detective turner sits across from det esposito, then Ryan is back-to-back with esposito, (& the coffee on his desk is the right mug, set design my beloved) couple uniformed officers chatting, rysposito walking up to her, first names they love her, they are concerned for her, (highkey s3 rysposito outfits)

caller ID much?

THE PARK THE PARK THE SWINGSET AT THE PARK he has a nice nose but I am getting in I am finding my way in because I love you. fshdfkjsdhfjshlakfjdshfjkh I know what's going to happen but I wish I was able to have seen this episode not knowing that they were going to get engaged or married.

houghton? srs? (that ring is huge & expensive af & seems like smth beckett would wear nowadays or even on outings in s1 but she is a cop, get her a ring with an inset gem not in a prong. Smth she can actually wear. Also, with her complexion u def need gold (or warm colours) not silver (or cool colours). Maybe s2-s3 beckett could have had silver.

Ok time to clip bonus features babes! it is 15.45! Totally not late lmao!

Maybe I can watch audio commentaries while prepping veg for supper or smth...

#castle 5x24 #castle 5x24 spoilers #castle 5x24 quote #castle s5 spoilers #the elevator game episode

[kaztrolls]

Time to ramble about Raya and the Last Dragon because I need to get my thoughts out somewhere.

Tl;dr: Raya is attempting to be Avatar: The Last Airbender but fails in every respect. Just go watch that series instead.

Spoilers below for anyone who cares.

It's pretty bad. Starting from the technical aspects before going into the designs, art direction, characters and story.

The choreography, fight scenes, character animations all felt pretty lack luster. Nothing standoutish, just samey, play by the books, cookie cutter stuff. Nothing wowed, or awed, or had me wanting more. Serviceable but the fights themselves were just bland and uninteresting. The camera angles as well were very stock. Nothing particularly exciting.

As for the characters themselves. It's a mostly forgettable and bloated cast with nothing really interesting to say. They suffer most from the length of the movie and could have been a lot better had they room enough to breathe. Boun was my favourite out of all of them because the kid had the most going for him seeing as he was the longest standing side character out of the bunch.

The Baby (Noi) and the monkeys were forgettable and completely unnecessary. They just...bloated the whole story.

The barbarian dude was a diet coke version of the guys from Tangled's bar scene but so much worse. And the fact that Noi had parents was a bit of a disappointment. I kind of wish Raya had actual death in the story. Noi and the barbarian dude had some cute chemistry, a father daughter thing going on and would have been very wholesome and would have improved the whole story line had they come together.

Actually, if anything, it would have been a nice found-family story had each of the characters ACTUALLY LOST people to the Drunn. It would have made the story a lot better in so many ways.

Oh yeah, the antagonist? Had good shit going for them but they tried to pull a Zuko and it failed miserably. There just wasn't enough time to develop them in the story. Had this been a mini series instead of a movie, I think a lot of the issues would have been solved.

Sisu was obnoxious to a fault. The voice acting, the characterization, the cramming 'trust me' down the audience's throat every other line. I'm upset that they didn't stay dead.

The worst thing about the narrative, outside of the pacing, is the fact that there are no stakes. There is no loss. There's nothing profound to say at the end of the film because, guess what? No one dies. The damage is 100% reversible. There's no sense of people having to learn and grow and move on because there are no consequences for anything.

If I were to rewrite Raya and the Last Dragon, I would cut out all the side characters (except for Boun since he plays a pretty significant part in the story and is about the only side character who is interesting) and I'd rework Sisu.

But it'd be a lot about Sisu TEACHING Raya how to be the bigger person, to sit down and speak with the leaders of the other nations, to become a role model and leader that is working towards her father's dream of unification.

It'd have it so that Raya's antagonist was an unwitting pawn in her mother's political chess game who tries to rationalize her decision to believe her mother because she wants to ignore the guilt of doing something wrong. I want her to be that presence of ignorance in the film, chasing after Raya for the shards of the dragon gem at her mother's behest because she believes her mother knows best and her slowly come to realize that her mother is wrong. That her ideology of controlling the power of the solidified gem to assure their own safety is the wrong path to take. And to come to a turning point half way through when, say, Raya has united with one of the clans and they work together to drive out Fang's army. The culmination of failures causing an schism between her and her mother.

And I feel like I'm re-treading the same groundwork as Avatar at this point but, you can still have the antagonist kill (or seriously maim) Sisu. Because the antagonist fails to retrieve the dragon and dragon gem shards, and subsequently sends the world into chaos, her mother would reject her outright forcing the antagonist to work through her guilt.

Have her and Boun spend time together, Boun forgiving her and helping her to take the right path. Have her help the protagonist without asking for forgiveness but with acknowledging her wrongs and trying to do better. Have the protagonist embody the teachings of Sisu and work with the antagonist for the greater good. Let the antagonist kill her own mother who set her down this war path and take over as leader after she takes the dragon gem piece back and forges it anew with Raya (and possibly Boun).

It feels like itd be a more coherent narrative thoroughline because just...shoving a bunch of people onto a boat as 2D cutouts of their "nations" feels tasteless and boring (and let's face it, feels even more like a rip-off of Avatar the last airbender).

Also also also, I fucking hateeeee Sisu's design. It feels like it was created to be marketable plush toys for kids. It's uuuuugly.

#rambling #okay im done

[luna-rainbow]

meta: implantation for prosthesis

Okay I wrote an entire essay on this and decided no one was going to be interested because it was so technical so I spent hours rewriting it but it turned out to be an essay anyway….

I hope this is helpful for anyone writing fics about Bucky’s time in Hydra cos you really don’t need to think up new torture methods when you consider the medical procedures he had to go through…

The TL;DR version: Bucky's implant doesn't obey the laws of biophysics but neither does Steve's shield; all that matters is they both look cool.

As you can see from this picture, compared to what I referred to in the amputation meta, the amputation level has moved from forearm (transhumeral) to above shoulder (probably forequarter) level.

How was Bucky's arm implanted?

The thing about Bucky's prosthesis and the way it's implanted is we don't have anything close to it in the real world, and there are some practical issues with it.

I dislike anatomy too but we gotta see it to understand, so bear with me.

What's important about this picture? Look at the ball and socket joint. The glenoid cavity i.e. "the socket" is basically a tea plate to the golf “ball” of the humerus - you rock it hard enough and the ball will fall out (e.g. shoulder dislocations). It's held in place by tendons and muscles that are built for mobility rather than durability, which is why rotator cuff tears are so common (and annoyingly debilitating when they do happen). To add to that mobility, the socket is formed by the shoulder blade/scapula, which itself is just a dinner plate sliding across the back of the rib cage, held in place only by a few flaps of muscles. Now look at that flimsy clavicle, then at that tiny point of contact between the clavicle and the sternum - that is the only attachment the shoulder has with the main (axial) skeleton.

What I'm getting at is that the entire human shoulder stays in place by the sheer miracle of opposing tendons and muscles and ligaments. This means at Bucky's level of amputation, all the things that hold the arm onto the body are gone, and just fusing metal components onto what remains is not going to cut it.

But he's still got his pecs, you say. Maybe he's still got his scapula, which means he'll also have his rotator cuffs. Yes, that brings me to the other unrealistic issue about his implant. In real life, we simply don't have the technology to do this - the components we have bond to bone but do not bond to soft tissue, i.e. muscles, fat and skin. Even if you have muscles left you can't attach them in a way that holds the joint on.

Directly attaching metal next to skin, as it appears for Bucky, has its own problems. One of the newest techniques these days is interosseus implants (Source), which inserts a metal shaft into a long bone and attaches the prosthesis at the end. A major drawback is fluid leak and infection because the soft tissue simply does not bond to the metal and form a good seal over/around it, so you essentially have a chronic open wound going all the way through to bone.

In Bucky's case, he doesn't even have any long bones left to even consider this technique. Where are you going to attach an entire arm? The clavicle? The ribs? The flappy scapula? Have you seen how easily these bones snap like legit grannies just have to trip over and they'll crack 8 ribs on the way down.

Of all the ways Bucky was attacked and injured in CACW, this is the one scene that makes me wince every time. That’s what, a 10 meter drop? I know what you’re thinking Bucky - it's gonna look impressive in front of Steve. Well, GOOD F**KING JOB BUCK YOU'VE JUST RIPPED YOUR IMPLANT OUT OF YOUR BONES. On a scale of "freezing yourself in cryo" to "breaking Zemo out of jail" can you STOP being such a self-destructive drama queen for FIVE minutes and—

Okay, but Bucky's arm is canon. Can it theoretically work if we take into account futuristic technology and super soldier serum?

So let's talk about what it needs to achieve: - Very strong attachment to axial skeleton WITHOUT use of muscles/tendons - Full range of motion as a normal human arm - Ability to connect to neural supply (won't go into detail in this post)

Let's pretend the metal-skin interface won't be a major issue because of better skin healing/better materials.

Even with the serum's healing/durability, the implant still needs a stronger attachment than a single clavicle. One (imaginary) possibility is having most of his left ribs and clavicle filled by (not replaced by) implants with attachment sites, to which the metal arm actually attaches. This distributes the loading forces more evenly throughout his thorax. Remember though the weak point is always at connection points, and at high enough impacts something will give, and if it's not his bones it'll be the metal work, and that will still hurt.

That leaves the issue of scapular movements. I just want you to take a moment to appreciate the many directions this bone flap spins in. It’s vital in positioning the shoulder relative to the rib cage, and it’s every anatomy student’s nightmare (or dream, I guess, depending on which end of the spectrum you fall).

Two (imaginary) possibilities: this is built into the prosthesis - ie the scapula is removed and jointed components pull the shoulder across the rib cage - this method means more bone/muscle have to be removed. The second is if they develop technology to attach muscle to metal implant, and I almost don’t want to think about that possibility because the amount of experimentation that would take, the amount of muscle tears and tendon rupture and repeat surgical procedures and pain is just horrific to consider.

CBB reading all that, can you just tell me what it practically means for Bucky?

He would have to: - Undergo multiple revisions to reach his current level of amputation: this could be from unsalvageable implant failures or injuries forcing them to go up higher (amputate more) for attachment points. - Undergo multiple rounds of experimental implant techniques: failures in those early decades are common due to the materials used and the immature techniques. Metal shattering within bone or snapping outside of bone can happen especially at the huge forces he puts the arm through. For perspective, people are advised against running after a hip replacement because that counts as "high impact" ARE YOU LISTENING TO THIS BUCKY. - Complications? Pain, infection (painful), bleeding (painful), nerve damage (painful), fractures (painful), implants breaking (painful), rejection of implant material (painful), reaction to sediments produced by crappy implant material (painful). I don't know if you see a common theme or... - After each surgery there will be a necessary healing time (even for a super soldier) where he will be vulnerable while the bone heals.

All of this suggests - and not to minimise what Isaiah was able to do single-handedly - that the early Winter Soldier was not the sleek machine that Steve fought, and was likely far more prone to injury and damage.

And finally, as a heartfelt thank you for getting this far, someone pointed out that Bucky cradles his metal hand for comfort. That itself suggests that despite the amount of pain that he inevitably endured to get a functioning prosthesis - his life was infinitely worse without it.

#bucky barnes #meta #tw: amputation #tw: injury #medical meta #your daily dose of pain #long post #looooong post #stucky meta

[wrienne]

Official Post: Writing Comeback!

I was going to post this on Twitter but realized that it became way too much text to fit in a comfortable format there. Also, since this is the revitalization of my writing and Tumblr page, I thought I might as well fuse both of them together!

This will be a semi-long but official post regarding all my writing plans. For those of you who just want the TL;DR: I haven’t abandoned any of my Ao3 stories, in fact I’ve already planned for sequels for both AHPHand DL. I’m also working on minor revisions with TET and finally writing the sequel, The Essence Prince, which I plan on posting exclusively here on Tumblr! Tumblr will also be my all-in-one hub for all my writing and art and blogging!

Firstly, about Ao3!

None of my stories on Ao3 are abandoned! I have full intention of continuing and finishing all my stories. In fact, for I have a second season planned for AHPH and a sequel to DLas well! I know it's very ambitious considering how my tempo of writing has been the last two years, but my circumstances have changed drastically since then. Not to get too personal, but I’ve wasted so much precious time and effort on people who didn’t deserve it. Although it’s regrettable, I have learned incredibly much from this experience and I feel more focused and happy than ever before!

Regarding AHPH, I feel no need to stress the actual plot and story that I have developed for it, as I want it to be a pleasant, fun and comfortable read. I don’t wanna say anything about it, not even a tease as it might disturb the reader experience and the overall narrative I’m pursuing. But there is a bigger picture to the entire story and world, which will unravel slowly but surely toward Season Two. As such, you can expect AHPH to be a very long ride!

As for DL, I have hit somewhat of a creative block in terms of the story’s pacing. However, it is not meant for a long run, and I really want to focus on finishing it as soon as possible. You can expect more familiar faces to appear in the sequel, such as Namjoon as a Sherlock-esque mastermind/private detective and Hoseok as either a chief prosecutor/lawyer or criminal psychologist. The story will be about the case that Reader cracked during her time at the police academy and made her famous among her peers!

Secondly, we’ve got my refreshed and now active Tumblr!

All my writing, whether they’re meant for Wattpad, Ao3 or original fiction, will be posted on Tumblr first! So, if you wanna get a faster look at any of them or you want the convenience of one single place where you can read everything that I write or make, you can find everything here. I wanna use Tumblr as my one-in-all hub for all my creative endeavors, making easier for both me and readers to find all keep track of all my updates and stories! And, speaking of all my creative endeavors...

Thirdly, I have not yet abandoned my dream of making webtoons! I can’t say for sure when this dream can be realized, but I’ve got two stories in the making: The Emperor’s Bride and The Dragon’s Wish. Both are based in Korean culture, mythology and history. The Emperor’s Bride is set in a pseudo-alternative Korea where the almighty tyrant and mysteriously masked Emperor seeks his first bride in a trial of one hundred women, of which one is the main character – however, she’s only joined the competition to exact her vengeance on the Emperor. The Dragon’s Wish is based in contemporary Seoul where a failing acting student is struck by a falling star and finds her destiny intertwined with a dragon – or two. Some ideas for characters for The Dragon’s Wish are already posted on Twitter!

In general, I wanna do art and draw, so outside my webtoon endeavors, you can look forward to more than just writing from me in the future!

Fourthly, I have decided to finally get back to working on The Essence Series. It’s been a complicated project to return to out of personal reasons, and I’ve also developed vastly in terms of writing since I wrote The Essence Thief. As such, I’ve been going back and forth on revisioning The Essence Thief once more, or even rewrite it completely. This has caused me mentally to keep putting the sequel on hold, which I now realize has been a horrible idea. So now instead, I have decided to simply correct any minor errors that still remain in The Essence Thief and move on to The Essence Prince! And yes, name drop for the official title of the sequel! A new face will be introduced, as the last missing piece of the OT7, and the threat of King Kwang-Jin will be dealt with as secrets crawl back to surface! I will be posting the raw firsts draft/manuscript here on Tumblr as I write them! Feedback of all kind is what I will be needing, but also the pressure and expectations from readers in order to get me to write! The final result of The Essence Prince will be a published book and sequel to The Essence Thief, so I hope you’ll be looking forward to that!

Lastly, I will be using Tumblr as a blog as well. I want to post travel and college stuff and other things unrelated to my writing and art. In regard to my previous series on my WordPress, “Writing Wednesdays”, is something that I am also considering, but let me know what you think!

Always and forever, thank you for reading! If you reached this far, I want to tell you once more how happy and fortunate I feel having so much support for my writing. It means, literally, the world to me. Thank you.

#official post #wrienne

[kaypeace21]

The theme with “time” this season makes me think of the phrase, “wanting to turn back the clock.” And I then think of Will never wanting to grow up and wanting to go back to the old days of playing dnd in Mike’s basement.

And then I think of Will’s (speculated) reality altering bending powers. So could there be a possibility that Will may use those powers to “turn back the clock”?? Maybe rewrite how things happened? Maybe it would be after Mike’s “death” like you speculated earlier. Since he thinks Mike is “dead” he wants to go back, and that’s what he does accidentally.

ALSO, Hopper tells joyce that he was trying to runaway from his "past" trauma with sara- before he says that line in the letter about wanting to turn back the clock and then saying it's not possible to do so . (And that life life hurts you but eventually you get out of that cave and life goes on ). Similar to Will he wants to turn back the clock to better times, but a part of him isn't ready to accept his entire past/ the tra*uma that comes with that- in order to move on and heal for the future .

Like robin said about back to the future "he's stuck in the past .But he needs to get back to his time which is the future!"

HOWEVER- I DON’T THINK THERE’S ANY REAL TIME TRAVEL!!!!

I’ve mentioned  my time-theory many many many times- in relation to my DID theory.  even if my did theory is completely wrong (aka Will has powers so his alters/split personalities/innerworlds come to life)- 

We also see how memories are explored in a supernatural way in st - it’s not literal timetravel just El using her powers to explore tra*matic memories of others (Terry/Billy so far). Like NO TIME TRAVEL PLEASE-THAT’S JUMPING THE SHARK. I really don’t want it lol. XD I think hopper and Robin's lines allude to the theme that will be addressed: confronting the past/times that harmed you but overcoming it for the future because time goes on 'whether you like it or not '.

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In reference to my time-did theory. Look at the st s4 movie inspirations. In ‘what dreams may come”  a guy explores a heaven like world influenced by a painter’s emotions/created via immagination.We also have the movie ‘inside out’ -which involves “memory islands” (distinct worlds based on a child’s memories) which are influenced negatively by the kid being depressed she moved to California. The characters traveling to these memory islands are constructs of  kid’s mind -and 1 of them also has a guide helping them explore the ‘memory islands’.  Welcome to marwen- has an artist (attacked for being perceived as gay) imagining an abstract world based off his art- where the characters he made experience their own adventures (loosely based off the artist’s trauma). ‘The cell ‘ has characters explore the mind of a guy whose father ab*sed him- and the different alternative fantasy-worlds they explore are based off his memories. The cop exploring these memory-worlds, was also implied to be se*ually ab*sed by his dad . Also,in  Inception a guy says he’s a construct of a guy’s mind ( the guy who created the dream worlds that are like alternate dimensions/levels- also hates his dad). And leo’s character says he needs to help him escape the many different levels of the dream world of the mind. Movies like inception, total recall, the cell, enter the void, wizard of oz, Peter Pan, hellraiser 2, dream warriors, bill & ted’s bogus journey, the labyrinth,and welcome to marwen, all allude to this: because they involve entering simulated abstract worlds usually created/based on happy& traumatic memories/fears. While truman show/matrix are more about realizing your reality isn’t real. While in bladerunner 2044/total recall it has the theme of false implanted memories… probably relating to hopper/el realizing they’re alters of Will’s-and their memories were technically created by him.

Something some DiD suffers have are “innerworlds” .When someone has DID there can be multiple “innerworlds” that are separate from one another (and look very different from one another) .And are usually very abstract worlds that are based on the child’s memories (good &bad) . These worlds are usually created at different times and almost act like alternate dimensions (and the inhabitants -npcs/alters of those worlds usually don’t interact with one another) . So they can almost resemble alternate dimensions like how Scott Clarke mentions “Hugh Everett’s many worlds interpretation.” Russia where Hopper is- is probably one of those innerworlds.

HOPPER THEORY: 

tw:ab*se/r*pe. In s2 Nancy asks Steve how his “grandpa’s time in the war is a metaphor for your life?” And steve compares the mf to the germans in the war. Dr owens mentions Will has ptsd like “ (vietnam) soldiers’, Hopper saying he had buddies like Will . “In the 70s there was a study that compared the post-traumatic stress symptoms in Vietnam veterans and adult survivors of childhood s**ual ab*se. The study revealed that childhood s**ual ab*se is traumatizing and can result in symptoms comparable to symptoms from war-related trauma.” Hopper isn’t actually in Russia -but in one of the innerworlds (after he jumped through the rift of the machine- into Will’s mind). We’ll see flashbacks but also present circumstances of his imprisonment echo Will’s past with Lonnie (if the movies indicate anything)- being starved, guards getting payed in order to let other prisoners  r*pe a gay prisoner (than claim incorrectly because of his sexuality he wanted it) , as well as a gang of sadist men who r**e others and a warden using that as a threat to be compliant , being thrown in a dark room of solitary confinement and starved when they didn’t obey the warden, the warden being religious, etc. And the American soldiers (in Vietnam) in the movies aren’t much better and do similarly horrific acts to civilians like r**e and bragging/ happily k*lling women, children, and the elderly. The drill sergant in vietnam calling them homophobic slurs & women, and chocking one of the soldiers with one hand (like the mf/russian), slapping one for not believing in christianity. Tying up a soldier in a bed , gagging him, beating him and saying “remember it’s just a dream.” Only praising them when good in fire arms.(movies : fullmetal jacket, papillon, shawshank redemption, platoon, welcome to marwen, etc ) . My assumption is flashbacks of his life-  hints about him being an alter -the boxes in the basement are “vietnam” ,“dad”, and “ny” (and these are the memories of his we’ll see).or after escaping the prison he’s stuck in diff innerworlds of memories. And some of the bad characters in said stories will also parallel Lonnie . Like how in  the s4 film ‘peterpan’- the young girl Wendy imagines netherland and the villain -captain hook- is based off her father ( in the movie they have the same voice actors/while in all stage productions the 2 characters are always played by the same actor). Similar to the other s4 film- ‘wizard of oz’ where the wicked witch of the west from the mythical land of Oz (is played by Dorothy’s real life mean neighbor in the real world/kansas).Or in ‘the cell’- all the alternate dimensions of the dream world that were created by a guy with a ab*sive h*mophobic dad -had the same actor play the villain in each very different dream dimension. ”Not sure if they’d use Ross Patridge (actor of Lonnie) in this way . But it would be very interesting if (In makeup) Ross played many negative people in Hopper’s life.  

Also, in  s2, Jonathan mentions Indiana writer Vonnegut- In his book ‘slaughterhouse 5′- Vonnegut begins the story of Billy (William) Pilgrim, a man who has “come unstuck in time”. (time ref of Hopper saying he wants to ‘turn back the clock.’ or’ runaway from his memories.‘It accounts of Billy Pilgrim’s capture and incarceration by the Germans during the last years of World War II (Hopper captured by the russians), and scattered throughout the narrative are episodes from Billy’s life with his dad, and his own wife and kids.Billy is forced to be part of the war and similar things against his free will. The moments start from his childhood when his father throws him in the water to teach him how to swim. He was unwillingly drafted into the war. Later, he is kidnapped by Tralfamadorians  (aliens that are implied to be caused by his mental health issues/trauma) against his will. Therefore, he realizes that this concept is just an illusion.in bladerunner 2044/total recall it has the theme of false implanted memories… probably relating to hopper realizing he’s an alter and his memories are technically ‘created’ . Like in total recall- the bad ass spy is told all his memories: his wife/ years of marriage,  his name, are just implanted memories. And she says “you’re life is a dream.” We also have ‘Arrival’ -the parent’s daughter died young cause of terminal cancer- and the mother later realizes time is also just a abstract construct (a thing she can experience differently than others), but she still finds meaning/happiness in those memories/times.

I also talked about how sarah as an alter could come back and the 2 would explore the “innerworlds” of Will’s mind together (you can read the details there). 

El and Will theory 

I’m thinking of the s4 movies and 1 matrix scene comes to mind that could be an obvious hint to Did (and Will’s importance). Mr smith (the suited calm villain/ who is a literal computer program of the matrix world -cough alter/npc of Will’s) kidnaps/ ties up Morpheus to a chair (like Will in s2), injects him with drugs in the neck ( like s3 steve/ will’s arm in s2).  Then Mr smith says as everyone leaves the room “I’m going to be honest with you. I hate this place, this prison, this reality or what you call it.” (grabs Morpheus’ head and glares) “ I need to get out of here! I need to be free! And this mind is the key.”(referring to morpheus).morpheus also translates to ‘god of dreams’. Also Morpheus was wearing head gear similar to El in s1/Will in s2 . or in 12 monkeys the guy sent to psych ward -starts believing he’s just “crazy” and says “i created a world with those people in it.” “It’s not real .I’m just mentally ill, like you said ” when you know- it is all real,cause of the supernatural angle involved. in 12 monkeys a patient even tells him the fictional world he created would dissappear once his mental health was in order.

Then there’s the El stuff.  Hellraiser 2- has a normal psych hospital, but the basement floor has an evil psychiatrist experimenting on teens to open a portal to another reality. assasains creed/dream warriors -  has the psychiatric facility be similar to the s1 lab with sensory deprivation tanks, cameras, solitary confinement in dark rooms.The doctor experiments on them- and forces a character to go into the memories of another individual (we know El has memory powers).The dr reveals how the character’s reality/whole life isn’t what they think it is (and that the memories they saw with their powers-was their past life and they are that person’s reincarnation) . Aka Will is the host- and El is an alter (alters can see memories of other alters/the host irl-aka billy/terry were also alters ).

In assasain’s creed there’s 2 psychiatrists- one bad / one who is good (but influenced by the bad dr). One dr annoyed at the lack of progress, says about the patient “he doesn’t want to remember his father.” While one dr doesn’t want to rush the therapy/ the other dr wants the patient to go back into his memories regardless of how it affects him. (which could be Brenner & maybe Owens referring to Will’s dissociative-amnesia and not remembering all the ab*se Lonnie did. And Owens not wanting to rush it/hurt el by making her go into said memories …but Brenner not caring.

also other hints : Cough s4 using the movie wizard of oz refs “we’re not in Hawkins (kansas) anymore”-hint at russia. David on instagram posting st stuff and captioning it with and quotes, pretending to be dorothy from the film. Hopper in s1 saying hawkins lab was “emerald city” (referencing El- it’s also why they reference El entering our world in ep 1 and the alice in wonderland song plays) . Murray says about the supernatural “no one wants to see behind the curtain” (what was behind the curtain in wizard of oz-was a wizard aka Will). Or you know right before Will sees the mf for the first time -a clock turns rapidly/ he  has goosbumps at the back of his neck. Which he later grabs/states  are from “memories” he can’t remember that are like a “dream”. 

If i’m right-not sure how much of this may happen in s4 vs s5, though. But I think something like this is possible.  For all we know-Will/El being trapped with Brenner while Hopper escapes ‘russia’ could be how the season ends? The timeline i’m a bit iffy about-tbh.

#stranger things theory #will byers #el hopper #jim hopper #time theory #did theory