#it is the inciting incident

[sandflakedraws]

How about Floyd, who came back as promised, hugging little Branch who just saw Grandma Rosiepuff get taken/eaten by the Bergen Chef?

Or how about Floyd, who came back as promised only to find the Troll Tree devoid of life and Rosiepuff's pod empty, going grey as he mourns baby Branch whom he thinks got eaten?

Hey so! Totally fun (and not hurtful at all) fact-!

For Trolls Band Together, the story the writers wanted to go with (according to the Artbook and novelization), implies that Brozone's disbandment happens before Bergen Town is even a thing, which has such severe implications to me.

so.

tfw you return to your home to find that

actually, the forest that sheltered you is eradicated, replaced with a giant town whose occupants' sole form of joy consists of devouring you.

the tree that served as your home is the only thing left of that forest, and it is decayed, withered, and desiccated... displayed in the middle of the town in a cage.

your pod, your home, is empty. every home around it is empty too. there are no trolls in sight.

as far as you know, everyone that used to be here is gone. or dead. most likely dead.

you will never see them ever again.

you were just a teenager.

#trolls #floyd #meadow-hearthfire #sandflakedrew #asks #u can pry this from my cold dead fingers #this is canon .. to Me specifically #because i'm a sucker for something that makes a thing Both Better And Also Sadder #in addition #the way i've been reconciling the general timeline is like so: #1. There was the Inciting Bergen-Ate-A-Troll Incident however many years ago - which fractured the pop trolls into smaller communities #2. The Bergens had indeed been eating pop trolls for generations complete with Trollstice #HOWEVER. #That had been amongst a moving Bergen settlement and those various pop troll populations #(<those groups have been eaten to extinction) #3. Therefore - Bergens were things our specific group of trolls were aware of at large - but one they had not yet experienced #4. It culminates with Bergen Town being the recent Settlement and the luck of Peppy's group running out.

[butterflyscribbles]

Loved and Lost

After an intense run in with the Purple Dragons, Terra gets brave enough to ask about Shelldon, something that Don has been notoriously reluctant to talk about with her…

Epilogue:

#rottmnt #rottmnt OC #rise donnie #rise terra #rise of the tmnt #this would be before Jeremy turned good btw #the inciting incident that actually got him to finally stand up to Kendra #there’s also a reason why Don couldn’t build Shelldon again after what shredder did to him I’ll get to that later too #>:3c

[nattikay]

...hmm...just thinkin' about an Avatar "no angst" AU, y'know, like an AU where the characters who died in the first movie just...didn't? For example...

• Tsu'tey and Sylwanin are both alive and well. They officially tied the knot not long after the point when Sylwanin would've died in canon, and already have a child together by the time Jake arrives on Pandora.

• Eytukan also lives and therefore he and Mo'at are still leading the clan, though of course Tsu'tey and Sylwanin are next in line.

• Because the schoolhouse incident never happened in this AU, Grace was never kicked out of the village; her school is still running and she is on good terms with the Omatikaya.

• The RDA is overall less psychotic than they are in canon, and the Avatar Program has been largely successful in establishing diplomacy with the local clans. There is still some level of tension between the humans and the Na'vi of course, because the humans are ultimately still there to mine unobtainium and the Na'vi would prefer there was no mining at all, but in this AU the RDA is at least principled enough to not do things like bulldoze the Tree of Voices or bomb Hometree etc. (so, Hometree is still standing). Jake was never asked to spy on the Na'vi.

• Grace is actually the one to introduce Jake to Neytiri when she brings Jake and Norm along to the school one day. Neytiri is intrigued by the goofy non-scientist "warrior" dreamwalker and Jake finds himself equally intrigued by her; they begin spending more and more time together, and when Jake expresses curiosity about her way of life Neytiri just naturally kinda takes it upon herself to teach him the ways of the clan.

• Because Neytiri is neither tsakarem nor engaged to Tsu'tey in this AU, her romance with Jake is not quite as ~forbidden~ as it was in canon (and honestly they make zero effort to hide their feelings; the whole clan knows lol). The only remaining barrier is the fact that he's a dreamwalker and how that may affect things.

• Jake and Neytiri fall head over heels for each other about as fast as they do in canon; after three months Jake is already fully convinced that he wants remain with Neytiri and the clan for the rest of his life rather than ever go back to Earth, where there is nothing left for him. Even getting the spinal surgery to fix his legs no longer holds any interest for him, since of course his avatar body can walk just fine.

• By that point Neytiri begs Mo'at and Eytukan to let Jake do the coming-of-age ceremonies and become part of the clan so they can become mates. Mo'at and especially Eytukan are hesitant, but Mo'at consults Eywa and Eywa sends a sign of approval, so they allow it. Jake spends about an extra month preparing more specifically for Iknimaya and Uniltaron, and soon after completing those he and Neytiri actually get to have a proper mating ceremony. Jake does go through the permanent consciousness transfer at some point, though I haven't yet come up with the exact circumstances there...

• The Sully kids get to have more extended family! Grandpa Eytukan, Uncle Tsu'tey, and Aunt Sylwanin are all still around, along with a handful of cousins (Tsu'tey's and Sylwanin's kids).

• Quaritch never shot Grace in this AU, which means she never had to undergo the attempted consciousness transfer, which means Kiri wasn't conceived the way she was in canon. Buuuuuut I still want Kiri as part of the Sully family, so in this AU she is Jake and Neytiri's biological daughter and Neteyam's twin. She doesn't have the special Eywa powers that she has in canon, but does still have a spiritually-minded personality, and is a strong candidate for next tsakarem after Sylwanin. Grace still adores and dotes on her, especially when she shows interest in botany.

• Norm and Trudy are happy in a long-term relationship.

• There was no Battle at the Hallelujah Mountains, therefore Paz didn't die and was still around to raise Spider (undecided on how involved Quaritch was though).

• I like to imagine that in this AU Paz and Trudy are good friends, both being pilots and all. It's through Trudy that Paz and Spider become involved with folks from the Avatar program and Spider meets the Sully kids.

• Because she doesn't have the RDA-related traumas she has in canon, Neytiri is totally chill with Spider in this AU. She is mostly just curiously amused by the strange little human boy running around with his Na'vi friends.

• Spider is semi-trilingual English/Spanish/Na'vi. English is his go-to since everyone he knows can speak it, but he can also do some Spanish (Paz and maybe Trudy's influence) and quite a lot of Na'vi (Omatikaya influence, though Norm was thrilled to help when he caught wind that Spider was interested in learning). Sometimes he (subconsciously) mixes up a combination of any two or even all three and spews out mishmash sentences no one else understands immediately and has to stop and re-word.

• Because Quaritch is not the Big Bad Evil Guy the way he is in canon, Spider isn't really bothered by being called Miles. However, the nickname "Spider" somehow just stuck when he was very young so most people still call him that; it's mostly just Paz (and Quaritch) who call him Miles.

• Jake is not Toruk Makto in this AU, because with the RDA being more cooperative/less aggressive, he never needed to be. He and Neytiri are just normal (albeit well-liked/respected) hunters in the clan. Perhaps eventually a day will come when Toruk Makto is needed and Jake will have some reason to step up...but not yet. He's perfectly content being just a regular clan member.

• This has the side-effect of lessening Neteyam and Lo'ak's dramatic stunts as teenagers, because the legacy they're trying to live up to is simply "strong respectable hunter" rather than "legendary olo'eyktan Toruk Makto"

#avatar #''but without all that conflict there's not much of a compelling story so the movie would be boring'' SHHHHH #that's why this is only a just-for-fun ''what-if'' AU and not the the actual movie!! #also yes i know i said ''what if no one who died actually died'' but then Tommy is still implied to have died since Jake is on Pandora...😅 #sorry about that one; tommy's death is the inciting incident for jake leaving earth in the first place so. i left that one as-is #couldn't think of a good way to work him in #maybe another time :P

[riyo-soka]

Of course Crosshair agreed to help with Omega’s plan to find Tantiss by surrendering herself: He’s seen her escape the empire when the odds are stacked so heavily against her before. Of course Hunter couldn’t be there when her plan failed: he’d never be willing to let Omega put herself in danger when he’s lost her that way once already.

#the bad batch #tbb spoilers #neither is wrong per se they just have different experiences that shape how they would approach the same threat #Crosshair’s having his ‘Hunter in the s2 finale’ moment #Hunter… Hunter’s already a shell of himself this might be his Joel Miller inciting incident #tbb omega #tbb crosshair #tbb hunter #hunter and omega #omega and crosshair

[tumbleofdorks]

It's Hazbin Hotel headcanon time! Alastor edition.

We know Alastor is mixed and creole, we also know he's from New Orleans and died in the 1930's. There have been some people that have given some criticism that he does not have black features or have a creole accent (although to be fair, Angel Dust doesn't exactly look Italian, does he?). His voice and features make sense to me though, especially when you consider his canonical devotion to his mother.

In the time and place of his upbringing it was not uncommon for POC women with light skinned children to try and pass them off as other ethnicities in an effort to give them a better life. Especially in cases of mixed parentage, considering such unions were still illegal.

Then consider his voice: a well-known made-up accent called Transatlantic, invented to make celebrities and the American nouveau-riche sound classy and vaguely almost British.

Next, his never ending smile. He tells Charlie that a smile is a tool, something to be used to keep others from knowing what youre truly thinking. His entire personality, theme, and demeanor is based on the song "You're Never Fully Dressed (Without a Smile)".

Put it all together. Picture a young mixed boy whose looks favor his father's genetics, raised by a black creole woman who is devoted to keeping him safe and giving him a better life than what she has had. He doesn't look much like her, he might actually have a shot. She teaches him not to learn her accent, learn from the man on the radio, because that's how a rich white man talks. Teaches him to be overly polite, because that way no one will doubt you. Teaches him to always smile, to never let people know you're scared or nervous, because confidence tells people you belong.

Every element of Alastor is a carefully curated mask, and I don't think he learned how to make it on his own.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel theory #hazbin hotel headcanon #alastor headcanons #I think his mother's death was his inciting incident too #maybe his first kill was someone that hurt her #or his father

[suntails]

idolatry

#the absurd unhealthy levels of devotion sebek has is so interesting. silver too but in a different way. sebeks is so blatant so OVERT #i think it would be rly fun (awful) if book7 had OB malleus and sebek having to choose whether or not to go against his lord. and thing is #im half convinced he'd still pick malleus. i think malleus could be mid OB and wrecking the world out of his mind and sebek would still pick #to be by his side. even knowing hes wrong. even seeing the negative repercussions live. i think he could #like i dont quiiite see twst going that dark realistically. like sebek was willing to fight malleus in halloween 2 thinking he was possessed #tho it could be argued he only fought BECAUSE he thought it wasnt malleus too. idk just food for thought #i want to know Why sebek idolizes malleus and lilia so much. its implied bc theyre fae but i want an inciting incident backstory #twst #twisted wonderland #sebek zigvolt #malleus draconia #do i get to tag malleus? his portrait is there.....its my post i do whatever i want #non silver art for once. dont get used to it. this is silver nation im sure he'll be back soon #suntails

[carolperkinsexgirlfriend]

Steddie Upside-Down AU Part 96

Part 1 Part 95

Mom makes him go home when he starts dosing on Steve’s hospital bed. But it’s okay because she kisses Steve’s cheek before she leaves, and Eddie and Wayne stay parked by his side. 

The connection’s easier now. It’s like all that time straining for Steve has snapped something into place. He can feel them all the time, a warm buzzing in his chest. He wonders if he runs hot now. If the warmth will diffuse through his whole being, make coats obsolete even in the dead of winter. 

Hopper is waiting for them in the waiting room, El burrowed into his side. She looks wan, and tired, drooping into her extravagant coat, eyeliner running down her cheeks like she’s been crying. Something inside him twists when he looks at her.

Before he can untangle that knot of emotion, Hopper stands up, both hands slapping against his knees first the same way Mike’s dad does before he gets up from his recliner. “You ready to go?” he asks, not looking away from Mom. 

When Will glances up, Mom’s smiling up at Hopper in a way he doesn’t want to think about. The adults talk quietly in front, leaving El to stumble tiredly along beside Will. She’s staring at the side of his face. Will can’t bring himself to look back. 

“Steve,” she says, sounding the word out and making it longer like it still tastes foreign on her tongue. “He is okay?”

When Will gets up the courage to look over, her eyes are big and worried. He smiles at her helplessly. It’s almost funny how innocent she looks; like she’s a bunny dressed up in punk clothes. “He’ll be okay.”

She smiles, small and close lipped, but it still beams out of her like the sun. Will tilts his head to the side and tries to see what Mike sees in her. He wants to hide her in Castle Byers, build a fortress around her, and keep her away from all the lab people for the rest of her life. 

Is that howMike felt, hiding her in his basement, giving her frozen eggos and keeping his mouth shut? 

But then her lips thin and she looks forward again. The feelings vanishes. It’s just El, hia friend, despite how much of Mike’s attention she’d snapped up just by being herself. 

“I’m glad,” she says, looking at Hopper’s broad back as she takes two steps for each one of his. 

It’s quiet after that, the way it always is after; all of them too brittle and bruised and bone-deep tired for conversation.

Hopper’s truck rat-a tat-tats itself to life in the hospital parking lot. The radio croons out something quiet and thrumming until Hopper reaches over to shut it off.

El’s heads smushed into the window, vibrating against the pot-holed roads of Hawkins.

Will’s so tired he’s wide awake. 

He watches the familiar buildings of Hawkins flicker by. It's been a long time since knowing his surroundings brought any comfort. 

Monsters could live behind every door, every tree, every smiling face.

He’s not sure any of them will ever feel safe again. 

Will closes his eyes, locking the scenery out so he can focus on the bundle of warmth in his chest. They’re still huddled together, two sparks merging in his chest. 

The past couple days have been a necessary violation of Eddie’s private feelings. He’d bared them all with love confessions and grasping hands, trying to pull Steve back from the edge of immolation. 

He’s not even sure Steve knows, hopes he does. Steve deserves to hold that love delicately between his palms and choose what to do with it. 

He won’t crush it, even if it’s unreturned. He’ll hold it gently like he always does.

Will doesn’t realize he fell asleep, or that they’d arrived home until he’s in free-fall. It feels like one of those falling dreams where you wake up solidly in the middle of your bed, but this time he really is tumbling, only Jonathan’s arms keeping him from hitting the gravel. 

“Are you okay?” he asks shakily as he pulls Will into his chest, holding him tight enough to hurt. “I’m so sorry.”

“Oh, sweetie,” Mom murmurs, wrapping them both up in her arms, chin landing solidly on Jonathan’s shoulder, sandwiching Will between their bodies. “Everyone’s fine, right Will?”

Will murmurs his affirmation, feeling groggy and confused in the light of day. 

“I was with Nancy,” Jonathan whispers. “I was just with Nancy, and you were–I almost–”

“Shh,” Mom cuts him off, reaching up to cradle his face and smile up at him. Will barely catches the edge of his watering eyes from his restricted vantage point between them. “Everyone’s fine.”

“I should have been he–”

“Jonathan,” Mom interrupts again, sharper this time. “Everyone is fine. You deserve a normal life.”

“But Will–”

“I’m fine!” Will cuts in this time. 

Jonathan pulls back, looking down at him with worried, droopy eyes. “And Steve? Mike said he was possessed.”

Will feels that bundle of warmth in his heart, lets it shine through his smile as he looks up at his brother. “He’ll be okay.” As Jonathan droops with relief, Will feels his smile turn cheeky. “Eddie will never let you forget that you were on a date while we were fighting monsters, though.”

Jonathan closes his eyes, pained while Mom laughs. 

It’s not until they’re walking toward the front door that Will notices the lack of demo-dog bodies. There’s still puddles of black oil-slick blood, but everything else looks normal. Who covered their tracks? The lab? Hopper?

He settles down for the debrief, pillowing his head on Jonathan’s shoulder as Hopper’s even tones flit through his brain. 

Maybe familiar places no longer hold any comfort, but Jonathan’s bony frame is enough to lull him into a peaceful sleep.

Part 97

Taglist: @deany-baby @estrellami-1 @altocumulustranslucidus @evillittleguy @carlprocastinator1000 @hallucinatedjosten @goodolefashionedloverboi @newtstabber @lunabyrd @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @manda-panda-monium @disrespectedgoatman @finntheehumaneater @ive-been-bamboozled @harringrieve @grimmfitzz @is-emily-real @dontstealmycake @angeldreamsoffanfic @a-couchpotato @5ammi90 @mac-attack19 @genderless-spoon @kas-eddie-munson @louismeds @imhereforthelolzdontyellatme @pansexuality-activated @ellietheasexylibrarian @nebulainajar @mightbeasleep @neonfruitbowl @beth--b @silenzioperso @best-selling-show @v3lv3tf0x @bookworm0690 @paintsplatteredandimperfect @wonderland-girl143-blog @nerdsconquerall @sharingisntkaren @canmargesimpson @bananahoneycomb @rainwaterapothecary @practicallybegging

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #will byers #steddie upsidedown au #my fic #Steve pov: I'm a wretch and a monster and everything is my fault #will pov: steve's so comforting :) #also Jonathan freaking out because he missed everything is something that is so fun to me. He's like. I'm a terrible brother! #Meanwhile Nancy only has low stakes in the whole thing. And she never got involved so by the time she knew to worry about Mike. #She already knew he was fine. so her main reaction is feeling left out. #Nancy is so fun in this AU because her inciting character incident (Barb's death) shapes so much of who she is #that we have like maybe one episode of characterization to work off of wrt what she was like before #anyway I'm sick so we'll see how much writing I can actually get done while feverish!

[gotogull]

Ancient Knight

#kirby #galacta knight #galacta knight gijinka #kirby gijinka #gull #I should just write my own comic and use these designs #i have so many ideas #like using the setting that one shit post I did #about the Kirby death zone part of space #and like it would be about the halberd crew coming together #under a different name of course #axe and mace knight would have to be the protagonist #Galacta knight is the inciting incident #ok insane rambling done

[em-dash-press]

What Is an Inciting Incident? Learn How to Write a Great One

Inciting incidents hook readers. They take stories in an entirely new direction or get the plot moving faster.

It’s the moment when Lucy discovers Narnia in the wardrobe or Gandalf introduces the thirteen dwarves to Bilbo.

Every great story has a fascinating inciting incident. Here are a few tips to come up with your own.

What Is an Inciting Incident?

An inciting incident is an event that causes chaos or change in the protagonist’s life. It kickstarts the story’s plot by compelling the protagonist forward. This can happen in the first chapter of a novel or the first few pages of a short story.

There are also three types of inciting incidents:

Coincidental: an event that’s unexpected or accidental. (Someone finds gold in their backyard or crashes their car into another vehicle and finds out their best friend was the other driver.)

Causal: an action or event the protagonist chooses to do. (Your protagonist files for divorce or gives in to their lifelong urge to start a restaurant.)

Off-page: an event that happens before the story starts or outside of the protagonist’s experience. (A country drops a bomb on the protagonist’s hometown while they’re at work one day or the protagonist’s best friend goes missing ten years before your story starts.)

Tips for Writing Inciting Plot Points

Now that you know the three types of inciting incidents, use these tips to create plot-activating moments that make your audience buckle in for a long night of reading.

1. Make the Protagonist’s World Flip

A great inciting incident causes a significant imbalance in your protagonist’s life. They should start making decisions or changes they wouldn’t have before as they respond to the incident. 

Consider the almost-car-crash in Twilight. Sure, you could argue that moving to Forks is the inciting incident for Bella. It’s definitely the first incident that gets the plot going, but the story only shifts into vampire mode when Edward saves her from getting hit in the school’s parking lot. She notices his insane strength and speed, so she starts questioning who he is.

The inhuman features that intrigue Bella also hook the reader. You keep reading to find out how she discovers he’s a vampire and when/how the big reveal happens.

Her discovery that vampires exist also changes how she interacts with and understands her world. It radically alters her life path, well before she gets to know his family or the other supernatural beings in Forks.

2. Keep the Magnitude a Mystery

Sometimes major life moments happen and we don’t realize how significant they are. You could bump into a person at the grocery store, only to recognize them at a farmer’s market a week later and start a conversation. That person might be your future romantic partner who changes your life, but you don’t realize that while you’re standing between shelves of pasta and spaghetti sauce.

Don’t be afraid of leaving your inciting incident a mystery to your protagonist. Moments of excitement or terror can be great for starting your plot, but sometimes a hint of mystery intrigues readers too.

3. Align the Incident With Your Theme

You might know what your character is going to experience on their journey to the plot resolution but have no idea what your inciting incident should be.

If you can’t think of something, consider your theme. What event or circumstance would start your protagonist on a learning journey that exemplifies your theme?

Let’s imagine a scenario where you’re writing a coming-of-age story. Ultimately, you want your protagonist to recognize they have no control over their lives and find security in the community they build around themselves.

To make that initial loss of control happen, you could pick an inciting incident like someone breaking into their home. During the robbery, the criminal accidentally sets the house on fire. Your protagonist’s family loses everything and has to start over.

This event would align with your protagonist’s inner conflict. Focusing on inner conflict can be another perspective if you’re unsure what your theme is.

Let’s say your protagonist wants to go to college to provide for their family, but they get kicked off of their soccer team for cheating on a test. A soccer scholarship is the only way they could to college, but that chance disappears forever. They have to make a series of choices after that to find a new way to pay for college, which is the rest of your plot.

-----

Inciting incidents are important, so try thinking about yours apart from your stories. When they carry thematic weight or flip your protagonist’s world upside down, you’ll know you’ve created an incident that will hook your readers.

#inciting incidents #writing tips #writing inciting incidents #writing advice #writeblr #writing resources #character development #plot #writing plot #plot development

[harurio]

i just think it's so so cool that there are so many stories in this world. i think it's awesome and amazing. if i told you (and you didn't know) that there is a tv show about a weather reporter successfully pavloving his stay-at-home boyfriend into getting horny when the sun comes out. would you believe me. well you should

#and the funniest thing is the pavloving is only like. the inciting incident #and it all starts making sense from there #and it's silly and funny but also tender and poignant and also very sexy #i enjoyed it!! very good very nice #my personal weatherman

[27thfirefly]

ah yes my favourite movie about becoming lost in a created identity and trying to escape from your past only for it to come back to haunt you in ways you could never have imagined, [looks at smudged writing on my hand] perfect drug

palette from here

#kris draws #nin #nine inch nails #trent reznor #anyway this started as a fun poster imitation thing #and then it turns out actually. lost highway and perfect blue arent DISSIMILAR in its themes #only the inciting incident for said loss of identity lol #also lost highway > perfect drug > perfect blue. im making connections no one ever has

[smytherines]

The headcanon that keeps me up at night is the idea that Owen Carvour was this very closed-off, isolated guy who just singlemindedly devoted himself to spycraft (almost as if it were his special interest) and was generally disinterested in any sort of relationship- romantic or otherwise- and suddenly agent Curt Mega strolls into his life and stubbornly insists on being part of it.

And Owen is just completely, utterly fascinated with this guy. Infatuated with him. How could he not be? Curt is perhaps the only person on Earth that can keep pace with Owen, that can best him (not that Owen would ever admit to it). He's so different from Owen, but they're also very much the same.

And over a number of years Curt wins his trust. First by being an excellent (if unconventional) partner, and then they start a physical relationship. And then Owen actually finds himself in love with this person, an attachment he never wanted but now can't live without (in a way he sort of resents Curt for sometimes).

He feels these things in an overwhelming but impossible to articulate way, to the degree that he willingly puts himself in a position to be outnumbered 21 to 1 to rescue Curt from a Russian weapons facility- because that's what you do when you love someone, right? You flip off god and walk backwards into hell for them.

So when Curt leaves Owen to die, part of him just fractures. This delicate, imperfect, but still very real trust he had in Curt is absolutely shattered. He's afraid and helpless and critically injured, and the last thing he can remember before waking up in unimaginable pain, his body and brain damaged in a way he will never fully recover from, is the look of horror on Curt's face as he ran away.

And the worst part is that there is no way for Owen to disengage from those feelings. He will never have any sort of distance from Curt and his betrayal ever again. His body hurts constantly, his mobility is impacted, he gets headaches and vertigo and panic attacks, and every single time he is forced to relive the moment that Curt left him. Forced to relive that terror.

Every time his leg gives out while he's forcing himself to walk without crutches, or the burn scars start to ache, or his vision goes blurry and his heart feels like its going to burst out of his chest, he feels that hurt. The only person he would've ever confided those feelings in is the reason those feelings exist to begin with. That person thinks Owen is dead. And Owen sometimes wishes he had died too.

And Owen hates Curt, but more than anything he hates himself for trusting Curt. For putting himself in a vulnerable position to save Curt, only to be destroyed by Curt's hubris- part of the very same thing that made Curt irresistible to him. That cocky confidence, the effortless charm, the completely intuitive, instinctive way his mind worked- a style that had never let him down before. Owen loved him, and he knows that if the situation were reversed he would've gone back for him. He would've laid down and died next to him. And it's blisteringly painful to him to realize that the same wasn't true for Curt.

And for Curt's part I don't think he was like "oh well, fuck it, time to book." I don't think he thought at all in that moment. He didn't decide to leave Owen so much as his body, his adrenaline, his instinct made the decision for him. It was fight or flight, and his body chose flight. Speaking from personal experience, when you have ADHD and you realize that you've screwed up and you're suddenly overwhelmed with emotion, your body can just kinda carry you away without thinking.

But the leaving being involuntary doesn't help Curt deal with his grief and shame and self-hatred, because he still has to live with the decisions he did consciously make that night- leaving the banana peel on the steps, deciding to blow up the facility instead of just sending the blueprints with the watch, setting the timer for three minutes instead of four.

For years, when he's not too drunk to think at all, he endlessly relives each point where things could have gone differently. He obsessively thinks about how his pride was a bit bruised by needing to be rescued, by being chewed out by a boss who seemed to prefer his partner to him, and wondering if maybe he was more over the top than usual out of spite or insecurity, to save face with Cynthia and Barb, to impress Owen (because he loved Owen and respected him and cared about what Owen thought of him).

He wonders if Owen was right about his drinking, and then he drinks to shut out the pain of that thought.

He has to live with the decision his adrenaline made, tortured by the idea that he should've somehow fought back against that flight impulse in the moment and gone back for Owen. Tortured by the idea that maybe, if his rational brain had been fully present, he might have still made the same decision- leaving Owen to save himself.

He saw Owen twitching on the ground, grasping onto the banana peel, bleeding out on the concrete. He was almost certainly about to die, but when Curt left Owen hadn't died yet. So maybe, maybe, maybe there was a chance and Curt missed it. And every time he thinks about the possibility he feels sick. And he drinks. And he has imaginary conversations with his dead partner before passing out curled up in the corner of his bed, clutching a pillow, his eyes red and burning from the tears.

This was supposed to just be a couple of short paragraphs, but that's what I get for thinking about curtwen I guess

#cannot believe the inciting incident of this show is “man trips on banana peel- dies” #spies are forever #tin can bros #curtwen #owen carvour #agent curt mega #saf #tcb #saf headcanons

[angelsdean]

i love when sam doesn’t know shit abt dean

#anyone who wants to dispute this see: s1 sam not even knowing dean /carried him out of the fire/ #you know the house fire that was the inciting incident of their lives. and a moment on which dean builds his whole personality off of #as his brother's keeper. as his father mother brother. and sam doesn't even know until he's 22 !!!!!! #sam knows a caricature. and he projects a lot of what he *thinks* dean is onto him #as always i contain multitudes and i enjoy many different interpretations and conflicting headcanons #but fr 'all knowing sam' is OUT this yr for me #he doesn't know. he doesn't know anything #vic.txt

[ghostkingdoesstuff]

Bold statement but the Titan war, Luke's betrayal, all that could have been stopped if Grover had come out and SANG THE FUCKING CONSENSUS SONG!!!

#found this in my drafts #stand by it #oh golly the roads indeed getting bumpy #feel free to use this as the inciting incident of your fix it au #percy jackson #pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #pjo fandom #luke castellan #grover underwood

[vladdyissues]

I believe that the only reason Vlad and Maddie didn't have children in Masters of All Time is it would raise a heavy moral conundrum that the writers didn't want to tackle in a kids show.

Because if that door had opened up and Danny had seen Vlad and Maddie's kids, he'd have to deal with the terrible fact that by trying to fix his own timeline, he'd be erasing his own half-siblings from existence. Not to mention Vlad and Maddie's relationship, their happiness, the life they'd built together. Still ridiculously in love after 20+ years.

Maddie would undoubtedly love her and Vlad's children just as much as she loves Danny and Jazz in their own timeline, and there's no question how much Vlad would cherish his kids.

And supposing that Vlad couldn't father children for some reason, I think he'd be completely on board with adoption. (So even if Danny wasn't wiping people out of existence, he'd be denying them a loving home and family.) The absence of children is just downright baffling, given the evidence we've seen of Vlad's character. The man was dying for a family, desperate to love and be loved. (See: Maternal Instincts, Secret Weapons, Kindred Spirits.)

But no offspring meant no "loose ends" to deal with, no baggage, no sticky moral conflicts. Because Danny would certainly be conflicted by a situation in which he had to unmake his half-siblings. In Kindred Spirits we saw how he hadn't wanted to harm Danielle, who was essentially his own DNA assembled by Vlad; by this same principle, I don't think he'd want to hurt his half-siblings, even if they were made by worst enemy.

If the writers had shown Vlad and Maddie happily married with kids, if the audience had sympathized with Vlad, then Danny would be the villain for wanting to rip that family apart.

(Also, they had to show Vlad doing a complete 180 and going full Evil Diabolical Villain with a side order of Lying Husband at the end of the episode, just to reinforce the idea that This Guy Is And Always Will Be The Bad Guy And Don't You Forget It.)

#vlad masters #maddie fenton #danny phantom #danny fenton #masters of all time #fan theory: #the title is a play on words #vlad ''masters'' of all time #in all timelines he's going to be the bad guy #even though the inciting incident for vlad's turn to villainy was absent in this alternate reality #because that's how cartoons work #meta

[wheresjonno]

Clearly the rep is trying to convince him to join. That's why the conversation has taken all week.

From the look of things our other Horror Protagonists aren't getting their Hot Girl Summer either, between the fiancé anxiety and the cat debacle and the unseasonable storms and All That.

Maybe they can collectively bargain Dracula into a stakeholders meeting...

#dracula daily #Horror Protagonist's Union #Jonathan: I'm not the protagonist I'm the inciting incident #got an apocalyptic log and everything #Captain of the Demeter: *sweating nervously* apocalyptic log? don't like the sound of that...