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steddieunderdogfics · 2 months

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This week's writer spotlight feature is: @ciriceart! They have sixteen works under the Stranger Things tag and ten under the Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson tag over on Archive of our Own!!

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following of their works by CultOfAdoration:

I get this feeling I'm in motion

Rule Me Captive, Drain Me Empty

a good age to meet the person you're going to spend the rest of your life with

to have everything you can see

They care alot about capturing the accurate voice of the characters they write about, and put lots of thought and care into character motivations and worldbuilding :} - anonymous

Below the cut, @ciriceart answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

I just like the dynamic, and getting to write dialogue and think about conflicts that might naturally crop up between the two. I don’t think that there was a chance for them to get along well at all if not for the kids dragging them both into the end of the world, so it’s kind of fun to find different ways for them to get past it. Less of a “they would never get together” and more of a “under what circumstances would they get together” situation.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

I think I just like anything that falls into character study or backstory development. I used to eat up anything under the hurt/comfort or angst tags as well, and those can all go pretty well together. Anything that even vaguely evokes Orpheus and Eurydice is also pretty much guaranteed to get my attention.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Slow burn. A lot of my writing never sees the light of day (or outside groupchats), but a majority of it is “will they, won’t they” slow burn with the two kind of dancing around the subject until it feels inevitable.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

I’m not sure if I have a singular favorite fic. “New York Hardcore” by CaptainHoney is pretty high up there. It’s part of a larger series, but that first entry stuck with me. The tag “Steve deserves to be happy and go ham in the moshpit” is the truest statement I’ve ever read about that man.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

I’ve been working on a sort-of AU road trip fic about Steve, Jonathan, and later a hitchhiking Eddie, as they go cross-country. It’s very “right person, wrong place, wrong time”. Right now it’s just a big mess of notes and writing sprints, though.

What is your writing process like?

Almost everything starts off as scribbles in a notebook/Notes app, or taken down in notes app using speech-to-text on my phone. I always have to do the worst version first or it just doesn't feel right. Everything I want to be included gets thrown in there with very little regard for eloquence or order. From there, I break everything down into bullet points that I can expand on whenever I have time, and move things around into chronological order.

Do you have any writing quirks?

There are some words that I feel like I overuse. Things like “definitely”, “just”, and “very”, which reflects my real life speech habits.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

I try holding off posting until I’m finished if only because it feels SO bad if I don’t manage to complete something. It doesn’t usually work. I get excited, so usually I end up starting to post when things are maybe 60% finished. Schedules remind me too much of school to be fun.

Which fic are you most proud of?

I don’t think I have one I’m most proud of, but I don’t have one that I’m not proud of either. “a good age to meet the person you're going to spend the rest of your life with” is one that I thought a lot about and still think about, even though it’s pretty short. I only posted it very recently, but I wrote it shortly after Vol. 2 when thinking too hard about Robin and what her personal life might be like after everything.

How did you get the idea for Rule Me Captive, Drain Me Empty?

I thought it would be interesting to explore the two of them fumbling through kink and figuring things out in a more organic way. It’s something I always find quite cute, and it feels more natural to me when they’re not exactly well versed in the ins and outs of “proper” kink etiquette and terminology.

I’m also a Dom-leaning switch Steve truther and I’m out here in the trenches.

When writing to have everything you can see, what was something you didn’t expect?

The response to it from readers, mostly. I had several people letting me know that the subject matter is more outside of their usual interests but that they ended up enjoying it and seeing the appeal regardless. That’s a pretty big compliment to me because I’m somewhat in the same boat.

What inspired to have everything you can see?

So, when I don’t share an interest with others, I get really heavily invested in why they like that thing, or how the interest came about. It could be about anything - books, music, shows, ships, spirituality, kinks. I just like to Know, I like “getting it”.

I wrote that fic to understand “under what circumstances would this be A Thing for this character” in a somewhat judgment free zone. Just going right the hell into it like “alright, this is what these characters are into. Make it believable and make it fun”. It works!

What was your favorite part to write from I get this feeling I'm in motion?

I think it’s the implication of how routine hangouts like that are, with Steve and Robin. They go to her house, they get snacks and drinks, and they immediately make themselves comfortable in her room. There’s something really sweet about a best friend making themselves at home in your house, and just existing beside you.

How do/did you feel writing Rule Me Captive, Drain Me Empty?

Nervous! I get really in my head about how I go about things at first. Am I being too needlessly verbose? Too much exposition? Do people even care about all the pointless errands they’re going on, or should we just get right to the bedroom?

But then I calm down and figure, I’m having fun writing about Steve intentionally dragging Eddie around town, and everyone else is just going to have to make peace with that.

What was the most difficult part of writing I get this feeling I'm in motion?

Does “not immediately oversharing all of my personal hang-ups in the author's notes” count?

Actually, it was probably making the “repercussions” of Steve’s actions still be scary enough for him to internalize as a kid, but not be too disastrous or dangerous for him. I’m still not sure how I feel about it.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

It’s very small. In “a good age (…)”, Robin thinks about what it might’ve been like if Steve were her brother and they (affectionately) come to the conclusion that they would have been little shitheads to each other as kids.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I have a handful of steddie illustrations based on fics that I’m waiting for the green light on to post, and quite a number of fics I’m chipping away at. Watch this space!

Thank you to our author, @ciriceart, and our nominator! See more of @ciriceart’s works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

#steddie fic recs #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #steve x eddie #writer's spotlight #writer's wednesday

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swamp-spirit · 5 months

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Gritty Danny Phantom Netflix Reboot

It's inevitable. Here's my pitch.

So obviously the title is ‘Phantom’. It’s reboot inevitably that it’s gonna be the edgy, one word version of the original title.

For tone, leaning a bit into the dark/horror elements and getting a bit worldbuilding heavy, but also trying to keep a fun action feel that’s not too scared to be silly. Obviously, with me writing, being ‘half-ghost’ is a lot about being a community outsider and a lot about going through something traumatic and feeling like the you from before is gone.

Characters:

Danny Fenton

In the main show, he’s a bit of an ‘everyman’, so I want to get a little more specific with him,

He’s supposed to be a huge nerd, but he doesn’t act that nerdy. He’s pretty confident and straight laced.

I like the idea of Danny as a character who, especially growing up with Jazz and his parents fighting, wants to keep everyone happy, even when it isn’t practical. He focuses on trying to get people to get along and not taking sides, even when it’s a bad idea. He often ends up trying to make peace between Tucker and Sam and pulling the ‘both sides have points’, even when one of them is clearly wrong. He goes along with his parent’s ghost hunting while not believing in it, and tries to convince Jazz to ‘be reasonable’.

In Phantom form, his actual opinions start to surface. He’s frustrated that people can’t just be nice, and frustrated at feeling like he’s always cleaning up other people’s messes. He’s free to be opinionated, aggressive, and take action for what he believes. On the flipside, Phantom is prone to making irrational, emotional decisions and following poor priorities.

Besides being caught between two emotional extremes, he’s physically and metaphysically ‘caught between’ living and dead. His ghost form feels unstable and insubstantial, but, in his human form, Danny is hyperconscious of his own death. His heartbeat and pulse feel wrong‘.

Sam Manson

So I think the trick with Sam is every CW/Netflix teen show’s attempts to write very political characters, especially women, is… very bad. Very surface and ham-fisted. First, instead of updating Mall-Goth to E-Girl, go for a crunchy goth/punk/grunge look, especially for a rebelling rich kid. Shoes held together with duct-tape, big jackets she wrote on in sharpie, but keep the stompy boots.

Avoid the whole ‘haha she’s going too far’ and vegetarian jokes, and give her some specific local politics to be involved in (that can help inform later plots).

As an ‘outsider’ teen activist, she probably doesn’t have many people her own age who don’t see her as weird and pushy, so maybe has an older group of acquaintances. Teen goth with phone contacts full of old activist ladies maybe?

She has a very strong moral compass, but is insecure about her own wealth and privilege and compensated by being a bit blind on certain issues. She can also be unempathetic to people’s personal circumstances.

Tucker Foley

The teen Cassanova bit gets a bit cringy, so first I want to change this from ‘hanging outside the girl’s locker room’ cringe to ‘oh no, this 14 year old just read a wiki-how article on how to be confident’ cringe. He’s sincere and good hearted, but much more of a teen boy trying to be cool and it just highlighting his insecurity. As the show goes on, he becomes more confident as a Teen Hero and stops trying to impress assholes.

He’s a tech nerd from a middle class family, so is an expert at working with the supplies he can get. He is also prone to going to ‘hang out with Danny’ and then ditching Danny and Sam to obsess over Maddie Fenton’s latest tech. All attempts to be cool are lost in the face of Neat Electronics.

Jazz Fenton

Pretty much the same situation as canon. Her parents are immature, so she’s decided she’s Danny’s parent, but she’s also a teenager herself and not as mature as she’s decided she is. She barges in to fix problems when it’s not helpful/wanted, but she is also the only reason Danny lived to age fourteen.

Maddie and Jack Fenton

Mostly the same as canon. They do everything 100%, and don’t always notice the world around them. Jack is pure enthusiasm, and tries hard to connect with his kids while utterly failing to notice that they have their own interests and lives. Maddie is a little more perceptive, but easily distracted by her passions.

The family has a decent fortune on a previous Fenton Thermos prototype getting sold as the next Hydroflask. It’s a super trendy, high-class thermos, and Jack and Maddie are endlessly frustrated that their money comes from their world-saving ghost capture device being used as an actual soup thermos. It also means there’s a handy yet unreliable ghost thermos around whenever the story needs it.

Vlad Masters

A lot of Vlad’s goals stay the same, but a slightly more serious tone means he needs to be a bit… less stupid. He’s just as manipulative and self-centered, but he’s a bit better at putting on a polite face to get what he wants.

His ghost form gives him powers, but, like Phantom, it’s much more emotionally volatile. Vlad will often carefully set the stage, only for Plasmius to ruin it all for a chance to get one over on Jack or impress Maddie. If Vlad is trying to convince Danny to work with him, Plasmius will lose his temper. If Vlad is trying to attack, Plasmius will fall to base emotional manipulation.

Valerie Grey

Like Jazz, I pretty much like what she’s already got going on. Get pissed, join the villain, become a reluctant ally as a super and a protective GF in normal life.

Some Major Shifts:

-Tucker and Sam are not initially aware of Danny’s death and find out mid-way through Season 1

-When the story begins, Vlad and Jack are already ‘reconciling’, and Vlad is present around the Fenton house

-The sci-fi elements of the world belong purely to the human realm. The ghost realm is dreamlike and magical, while things like portals and shields are human ways of interfering with the metaphorical and metaphysical.

-Speaking of which, Danny is less ‘gene-spliced half creature’ and more ‘dead ghost possessing his own living body’

-Danny takes longer to become a known presence, managing to keep hidden for most of the first season, then going from ‘legend’ to ‘oddity’ to ‘yeah, the ghost hero, we all know him’

Ghost Powers:Keeping some Phandom lore here. Since it’s not a kid’s show, most ghosts can be actually dead people with regrets. Also keeping ghost cores and Obsessions because it gives an excuse for weird, campy undead on wild missions. (cores - a ghost’s center organ, and also sorta their soul, Obsession - the tendency of ghosts to become wholly focused on their passions or regrets to the point or irrationality)

For Danny specifically, I’m switching from Magical Transformation to Astral Projection. Part of this is for tone shift reasons, but it also adds a few narrative levers. There’s a ticker timer for Phantom to return to his body as Danny could perma die and leave Phantom stuck as a ghost. It also leaves Danny’s body open to possession while his ghost is away. (On the helpful end, it means his body can rest while Phantom does the teen superhero thing)

Phantom is naturally invisible and intangible, but becoming tangible forces him to become visible and neither is easy.

In human form, Danny retains access to extra strength and healing and, eventually, his ice powers, but lacks most of his more ghostly abilities.

Other Worldbuilding Things

The Ghost Zone serves two functions. First, it makes a cushioned pocket between life and death so the realms don’t damage each other. Second, it gives a place for those not ready to move on to dispel regrets. It’s intentionally separate from the human realm because watching the living world tends not to dispel regrets. Concepts from the human world tend to ‘echo’ there, and there’s a second society that some ghosts choose not to leave, sustaining a second life in the Ghost Zone. Most of the non-dead entities (like Clockwork) that live there exist to protect the Zone and keep it stable and functional.

Besides moving on, the way to escape the Ghost Zone is ripping through the border. It takes incredible will, so is usually only doable with a very meaningful ‘unfinished business’. It also does extreme damage to the spirit, leaving them weakened and confused. Entities in the ghost zone also work hard to prevent this as weakening the borders could lead to the collapse of the entire Zone.

The Fenton Portal created a weakened spot between the Zone and the living world and Danny ripping through it turned the weak spot into a permanent gap. Ghosts can cross full without damage and at full power, even if their goals in the human realm are mundane. It’s the gap in the fence all the local teens know, and it can’t be patched.

Stylistic

This will get me eaten alive, but I like switching the jumpsuit for pajamas so the ghost form has kinda loose, simple clothes.

Overall, the show brings big budgeting issues. I like the idea of using underwater footage to get ghost movement and get that floaty look. The ghost zone in general, use everyday sets, but with a strong purple light and a teal kick light. Using sets from other things and taking advantage of the nature of sets to wander between locations in ways that don’t make sense is a plus, but shoots could be at night pretty much anywhere.

I also suggest using different locations for the same location, for example, shooting a scene at a ghost zone diner at various diners, even mid scene.

Romance Thoughts:

It’s the CW reboot. There’s got to be romance, but I’d prefer to keep it on the back-burner.

Personally, I think Danny/Val has that good ‘conflicting identities’ thing, and it’s a romance arc that isn’t obvious from page 1, which I like. Before that, I think Danny should have at least one tragic romance with a ghost.

Lesbian Sam feels stereotypically predictable, but I also enjoy the idea of shipteasing Danny/Sam before it’s revealed that Sam having a ‘crush’ on Danny has been a long series of misunderstandings as she attempts to hide her huge crush on Jazz.

Tucker gets an internet girlfriend who nobody believes is real for a solid season. They met getting into petty forum wars over an MMO they both play. Once he has a girlfriend, he switches from Casanova to just constantly bringing up his Girlfriend, Who is Real and Hot and Plays Video Games.

Episode 1: Origin Story

Episode opens with Danny clearly stretched too thin. Sam has managed to force Tucker hiking and wants Danny there too, Tucker wants him there for emotional support, and Jazz thinks Danny should stay home and work on homework. Danny has promised his parents he’ll join them on a ghost hunt. Sam, Tucker, and Jazz all point out that Danny doesn’t even believe in ghosts and he always lets himself get dragged into this stuff, while Danny insists this hunt is extra important to their parents.

It’s revealed that the reason for this importance is the Fenton parents reconnecting and reconciling with their college friend Vlad. Vlad is polite, but keeps subtly avoiding saying anything nice about Jack while paying attention to Maddie. (“It’s wonderful to see you again” vs “It’s been a while”) He brings gifts for the kids and asks about their lives.

Jazz is immediately taken with Vlad. He talks about her school life and seems polite and educated, an example of an adult who can handle himself. Danny is a bit more hesitant, pointing out that he doesn’t seem that happy to see Jack.

The Fentons excitedly show Vlad the new portal. Vlad makes an excuse to get everyone out of the room. Afterwards, he excitedly asks Jack to demonstrate the portal. (A later episode confirms he intentionally sabotaged the portal for revenge, but him getting people out of the room should be as plausible as possible so viewers can feel proud for putting it together). Before they can show Vlad, Jack rushes them out on a ghost hunt. He says the portal takes time to warm up

It’s a long, boring car ride. During the ghost hunt, there does seem to be an actual ghost. Danny keeps seeing glimpses of the haunting and is getting genuinely scared. The adult Fentons, meanwhile, are excitedly chasing various non-paranormal occurrences, certain it’s ghostly activity.

They come home late and Maddie insists the portal be left until morning so they can eat and get some rest. Danny decides to get online with friends instead. He realizes the computer won’t work because the portal’s on and tells his friends he’s going to go shut it down while he plays, then sneak down to boot it back up.

We see the ghost from earlier watching and static building on the portal. He reaches out to touch it and the scene becomes surreal. We hear Danny’s heart racing. Danny collapses and, at the same time, is pulled across the portal.

In the final shot, we hear dead silence, no heart beating, and Danny lying lifelessly on the floor. The camera pulls out and his ghost form floats on the other side of the portal, away from the body. He looks confused and frightened and, as the show ends, he’s pounding on the door.

Episode 2: The World Without You

Danny pounds on the wall between him and his body, panicking, and is pulled away by a female ghost (later revealed to be Ember). He’s angry with her, but she points to the guards coming to see what the disruption was about. She tells him he’d never make it through anyway, because he’s not angry enough.

She tells him that she’d never cross over herself, preferring to avoid the madness that comes with breaking through to the human realm, but his case is different. His body is still alive, and, if he returns, he could live again. She asks him what he’d regret if he died now, and Danny talks about his dreams to go to space. It’s not enough, so she attempts to get him angry, but it’s not working. He’s just sad and scared. Finally, she seems to have an idea.

They enter a ghost town and she walks him to an old-style theatre. There is only one movie showing, “The World Without You”. The ghost tells Danny everyone comes here at least once, even though it’s not anything good, but it might help him. She hands Danny his ticket and goes to wait outside. Danny sits down to watch the screen.

We cut to Sam and Tucker. Sam’s trying to text Danny to see what’s taking him so long and Tucker says he’s probably asleep. After an hour, Sam starts to panic, but Tucker points out he had a long day and keeps insisting fell asleep.

Jazz comes down in the morning and finds Danny dead beside the portal. She goes into fix-it mode, refusing to admit he’s dead. Maddie tries to force Jazz away and let the EMTs do their work, Jack looks confused and frightened, and Vlad looks shocked and a bit ill.

The scenes get faster and we see Danny’s community fall apart. Sam blames Tucker for saying it was fine, Tucker points out his death was instant and is sick of taking the blame. Sam runs away and Tucker loses energy for his passions. Jazz is furious with her parents, saying their obsession killed her little brother. Jack becomes obsessed with trying to contact his dead son, leaving Maddie alone to deal with the reality of death.

We cut back to the theatre. Danny sits in an audience of ghosts. All, including Danniy, are crying glowing green ectoplasm. He rushes out and towards the portal. He thanks his guide, and she smiles and tell him to ‘remember he owes her’

The same guards arrive, forcing Danny to fight his way past them. He makes it to the border between realms. Ripping back to reality seems even more violent than the fight, an act of rage against the unfairness of death. He goes to his body and attempts to line himself up with it, muttering hopefully.

There’s a pause and then we hear a strange, sludgy noise that isn’t quite a heartbeat. It speeds up, sounding more like a heart and more like static, building to a frantic roll, then stops again. There’s a single beat, then another, until there’s a strangely slow and shallow, but constant, heartbeat.

Danny’s eyes open with a gasp and glowing green fades to blue.

#danny phantom #almost 3K

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14carrotghoul · 6 months

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Weekend WIP Game

Thank you to @welcometololaland for coming up with this game!! And thank you to @cha-melodius @myheartalivewrites @happiness-of-the-pursuit @inexplicablymine @read-and-write- and @cricketnationrise for tagging me!! You all have such an absolute treasure trove of WIPs!!!! So excited about so many of them!!!

I've been very single minded about witchy WIP for the last two months so this was a cool way to remind me of my other children lol

1. WIP List: here be my babies

A Love that Haunts the Land aka witchy WIP (currently posting but still working on it LIKE A FOOL)

Ellen drabble collection/character study

caterer!Alex and out Prince Henry meet at a state dinner

Las Flores 3

marching band/high school AU

anastasia-ish AU

alternate universe king Henry

Shaan and Henry pre-canon character study

"Anonymous" Henry and Alex wear disguises to explore and end up at the Strand

Canon-divergence no Cakegate

I wanna post the two character studies next!!

2. Which of your WIPs is currently the longest?

Not counting ALTHTL, I believe it's Anastasia (~20k) but still has a long way to go

3. Which WIP do you expect will end up the longest?

I think canon divergence no Cakegate??

4. Which WIP is your favourite to write/the most enjoyable to write? Why?

My favorite to write is las flores 3 but i also overthink it. Most fun to write is marching band au bc I get to reminisce and I always ham up their personalities when I write them as teens which is extra fun

5. Which WIP do you find the most intimidating to write? Why?

Las Flores 3 haha I've set my own tone unfortunately and I feel like this one is all over the place as far as a theme. And I keep going back and forth on some character choices. Have already had two major rewrites

6. Which WIP do you experience the most self-doubt about. Why?

Ellen character study! It's hard to get in her head, especially bc I have a Thing about people in power

7. Which of your WIPs will you seek out a beta/sensitivity reader for? Why?

Probably anything that's a multichap! When a fic gets too long I get overwhelmed and can literally feel that I'm not editing as well as I'd like

8. Have any of your WIPs been struck by the curse of writer's block?

I flip between them pretty often but the ones that are probably the most dormant are no Cakegate and Anastasia AU (this one is bc I have a lot of filler left and it's hard to force myself to write that)

9. Which WIP has your favourite OC? Tell us about them?

Las Flores 3! My gang of family OCs is in it and I finally wrote Alex and Henry's children and they are both very adorable in different ways! I think Anonymous is the only other fic with an OC in it?

10. Which WIP is the sexiest?

Probably Anastasia? I think literally that is the only one with an explicit scene in it (MY FIRST)

11. Which WIP is the angstiest?

Shaan and Henry pre-canon and King Henry AU are both pretty angsty :(

12. Which WIP has the best characterisation (in your humble opinion)?

ooooooh I think no Cakegate. Trying very hard to stay as close to their canon characterization as possible

13. Which WIP has the best scene setting (in your humble opinion)?

ALTHTL has some very cool imagery bc I got to build a world from scratch!!

14. Which WIP have you worked the hardest on?

Either Anastasia (where i wrote 20k in one month) or no Cakegate (which is among the first fics I started writing)

15. Which WIP do you have the highest expectations for? Why?

Las Flores 3 hands down. I want it to feel like a natural continuation of that big overwhelming love from the first two, but so far it's more toned down and anxious haha

16. Do you dream about any of your WIPs?

no haha which sucks bc I do have very vivid dreams and I think it would be fun

17. Do any of your WIPs have particular complexities that your other fics don't?

ALTHTL!!!!! My GOD the worldbuilding in this one is wild!!! I started by giving myself a bit of a cop out but then fully committed to Aztec mythology bc it was hard to find concrete info on brujeria. So there's still creative liberties bc I wrote it with the scraps of information I could find (a blend of a well timed ologies episode on witches, ingrained catholicism, and two sketchy looking websites on Aztecs) and THEN two weeks ago I found an extremely helpful book on Aztecs and have been tweaking my own worldbuilding (hence the still working on it). But what BLOWS MY MIND is that I had stuff I built from scratch that ended up aligning like CRAZY with the real beliefs. I shan't spoil but if asked later I will divulge!

18. Which WIP is the funniest or has the most humour?

Las Flores 3! And ALTHTL has a very pointed effort to remain humorous to counter the heavy material!

19. Do any of your WIPs contain outside POVs or a deep dive on a character other than the main ship? How are you finding that process?

Ellen and Shaan's character studies. Ellen is hard to tap into!! Shaan is a bit easier but I get sad writing it bc Henry is going Through It :(

20. Tell us one thing we don't know about one or more of your WIPs.

Las Flores 3 has a moment inspired by an actual photo of my dad from the eighties sitting on the hood of a lowrider wearing a v-neck crop top lmao he's blurry enough that I may post it as a reward when I upload the fic

No pressure tags for: @sherryvalli @indomitable-love @athousandrooms @suseagull04 @formorewishes @raysletters @historicallysam @dumbpeachjuice @cultofsappho @xthelastknownsurvivorx and @celeritas2997! <3

A list of questions for Artists!

1. WIP List:

2. Which WIP is your most complex?

3. Do any of your WIPs involve you using a technique/style that you haven't used before? What inspired you to try it?

4. Which WIP do you expect will take you the longest?

5. Which WIP are you finding the most enjoyable to create?

6. Do you have a favourite character to draw/stitch/paint/depict? Are they in many of your WIP projects?

7. Which WIP do you experience the most self-doubt about. Why?

8. Have any of your WIPs been struck by the curse of creator's block?

9. Do any of your WIPs contain characters outside the main ship? How are you finding creating those?

10. What emotions are you hoping to convey through your WIPs?

11. Are there any features/details you are finding challenging in your WIPs?

12. Which WIP has the most complex shading/colouring?

13. Which WIP has the most complex background?

14. Which WIP do you have the highest expectations for?

15. Do you dream about any of your WIPs?

16. Do any of your WIPs have particular complexities that your other art doesn't?

17. Are any of your WIPs commissions?

18. Do you have a character that is more difficult to draw/stitch/paint/depict? Are they in many of your WIP projects?

19. Tell us one thing we don't know about one or more of your WIPs.

#tag games #rwrb fic #i did NOT realize i had that many wips!!!

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accidentally-in-fictional-love · 3 days

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Susceptible - Jack Delroy/Reader

Warnings: Fully clothed grinding, very slight dirty talk, very light exhibitionism in a sense, no use of Y/N, female-hinted reader because of skirt/makeup mentions but other than that there's no real gender mention.

Wordcount: 4950

Summary: You spent a small fortune getting a ticket to Carmichael Haig's show on the promise of his new act showing his audience something the world has never seen before, as well as the possible attendance of one Jack Delroy, but will two hours of bullshit be worth the risk?

Notes: There is SO MUCH BUILDUP I'm so sorry I'm so weak for worldbuilding and plot I swear the other one I have planned will be shorter OTL I have never written a reader before but I am a huge fan of them, especially the DDverse ones I've been binging oop, so I hope this is a good first attempt! It's been a few years since I've written anything like this and probably a good decade or so since I last posted anything, so here's hoping I post more in the upcoming future~ This is also completely unbetaed so if you see any mistakes please let me know <3 The Manhattan Center is also real but didn't fit my needs entirely so I mashed it together with the theatre I went to as a kid lol

~~~~~~~~~~

Carmichael Haig was back in town and you had no idea why you were here.

He had left for what felt like both forever and not nearly long enough for a few months to do his tour, seeing his smug face everywhere you looked between both digital and paper news and making your distaste grow a little more each time. You had been fond of his trickery for a time, but his move from magic man to skeptic had sucked all the fun out of the act, his determination to not only find the real but humiliate the fakes way past annoying to straight up sickening to you by this point. Tonight’s show proved to be another big presentation of the latter you’d decided when it’d been announced officially, promoted by your favourite talk show host - and current celebrity crush - Jack Delroy; his smile was wide for the cameras but it didn’t reach his eyes, you could always tell between them by now and he did not seem to be as pleased as the two talked about it that night.

‘I’m going to show the world something they’ve never seen before,’ Carmichael had said, his usual smug look in place as he hammed it up for the cameras like he could really pull that off, Jack running with it like the patron saint of patience he had to be.

‘Big talk, you sure I can’t convince you to give our wonderful audience a taste tonight?’ he asked, the crowd cheering at the mere thought of getting to experience his new act an entire month early, but if there was even an iota of temptation within him to share he hid it perfectly. He waved the offer away to everyone’s disappointment, Jack pouting on everyone’s behalf and putting those big eyes on display as his own plea; the ratings, you imagined, would be wonderful for a segment like this when his show was already starting to slip down the line, but even that was no use.

‘You’ll all get a chance to see it on the 13th,’ he promised them as he turned to face the audience, the place and date scrolling across the bottom of the screen yet again, they’d been flashing it every single time it was mentioned to the point where you were sure you’d see it in your sleep tonight, rolling across the bottom half of your dream. ‘Or, those of you who’ve been able to get your tickets will, we’re selling out fast,’ he smirked with a tip of his glass, yet another thing that’d been brought up and hammered home; you’d gone to the Manhattan Center to check a couple days ago, just out of curiosity, the ticket price absolutely ridiculous to the point that you were convinced they’d never sell out, but now you guessed your distaste of him wasn’t as widespread as you’d secretly hoped.

Jack slapped his leg in mock disappointment, Carmichael looking back to him at the sound. ‘Guess you’ll have to tell me all about it the next time you’re back in town, I had asked Gus to pick one up for me but it seems he missed that call,’ he joked, Gus’ surprise at the blame of his absence being placed on him getting a big laugh as his face fell and he tried to explain himself.

Carmichael placed an understanding hand on Jack’s shoulder and leaned in closer, the other man leaning in in return as if to receive some kind of secret. ‘Well then, it’s a good thing my date canceled on me,’ he retorted, and when he pulled his hand back he revealed a ticket, Jack’s eyes going wide as he accepted the gift with a big smile, pointing to it before shaking Carmichael’s hand with a thanks.

Ah, so that was why you were here again.

You knew you’d never be able to get a seat on Night Owls because the thought of Jack seeing you in the crowd made you blush all the way to your shoulders, even on your bravest of nights you hadn’t been able to even call and see if there were any tickets left, but to maybe share an audience with him? To sit in the same room as him where you could steal glances if you were able to find him, with no risk whatsoever of him catching the way your eyes lit up when you looked at that handsome face, that dangerously attractive body? That was doable.

It had cost an arm and a leg to convince that scalper to hand over one of the tickets he was parading around outside the Center, but it was worth it as you stepped inside, your heart racing because, unless he wanted to risk the aftermath of Carmichael calling him out for not going, he was here; somewhere in this building was the man you’d been dreaming about since his debut a few years ago, the one you watched nearly every night without fail just for that hour where he looked at you, talked to you, noticed you even if it was through a camera, and that was all you’d needed until tonight.

You’d gotten a pretty shitty seat despite the price but you didn’t mind, it actually worked out for you considering you weren’t actually there to see the show but to look for someone in the seats in front of you, and you hoped that you’d be able to spot him from where you were in the far back corner. As long as he wasn’t, say, the exact opposite of you then you probably stood a chance of at least a glance, since his ticket came from Carmichael himself you guessed that it was probably close to the front if not front row center just to mess with him and prove that he’d come, and you felt all the hair rise on your arms and neck when Carmichael walked on stage early to very loudly greet someone who’d just walked in.

There he was, leaving his seat to meet the other man in the middle, and he was so much further than you expected but it was still him, big smile in place, hair perfectly combed, his crisp suit being wrinkled by Carmichael’s hands as he gave him a showy hug, and he was beautiful. You froze in the middle of the row, unable to finish the walk as your eyes stayed on him, the people trying to get by you not as starstruck as they attempted to squeeze past when you ignored their presence.

‘Sorry,’ you murmured as you sat as fast as you could, eyes still trained on him as he waved to the crowd to prove that yes, he did honour the gift and was there to see this big new act he’d been promised. You let out an embarrassingly needy whine when he sat back down and you became unable to see him again, the mass of bodies behind him obscuring all but a sliver of the back of his head from this angle, and you’d be damned if you had to spend the next 2 hours stuck like this at a Carmichael Haig show of all things. The person at the end of the row finally arrived and you made your move, hurrying down and taking one last glance before getting ready to make this whole thing a little more bearable. ‘Excuse me,’ you nearly stuttered as the person, a man older than yourself who definitely gave off the air of being a Carmichael fan, looked up at you, ‘would you want to trade seats with me? I was really looking forward to the show but I was too late to grab an aisle seat.’

It’s a blatant lie but the quick glance from before proved that you could see him better from there, and the chance of getting to look at him for the next two hours was worth the look the man gave you at the request.

‘Which one are you?’ he asked, looking down to the few empty spaces still waiting for their owners, and you pulled out your ticket to double check, seeing that it was R51; wow, you didn’t realize how far away R was from A until you saw it firsthand. He looked back down to your seat and considered it, looking you over midthought when he thought you weren’t looking, and he almost got away with it if not for the fact that you felt his eyes on you. ‘$100,’ he decided, the offer knocking the wind right out of you.

‘What? The seat was already $350,’ you choke, giving away the fact that you were really, really late to the party.

‘Take it or leave it, I had the sense to order on time,’ is all he says to that, and you looked back at your possible view before sighing heavily and reaching for your wallet; goddamnit, Jack, if only he knew how worth it he was. You hand over the money and step aside, the man pocketing his fee and leaving the seat for you as promised, and the view is just barely better but there he is again, perfectly in view due to what can only be a miracle, the hole in your wallet feeling a little less big as you watched him turn his head to talk to someone, giving you a perfect side view.

He really was handsome, captivating even from this distance, and you swoon a little as the audience finished filling out, the lights dimming and obscuring your view a little more save the grace of the stage lights that illuminate him from the front as Carmichael walked back out on stage and started the show. You’d never been one for spacing out but you couldn’t take your eyes off him, the $450 price tag of this shitty aisle seat all for him and not feeling so bad even as Carmichael charms everyone around you. He didn’t look to the side that often, you guessed he didn’t actually know his neighbour since the seat was a gift, but the times that he did, where he laughed or sighed at the theatrics or even put his face in his hand because he wasn’t having too much fun, were all cataloged away in your head forever, the perfect souvenirs to last you a lifetime of home viewing after this.

At about an hour in according to your old watch, Jack looked about ready to get up and find any reason to leave, which you couldn’t blame him for, the acts themselves were pretty damn good you realized in the times you actually paid attention, but it was getting so tiring to see Carmichael explain away all of their tricks, to see the joy leave their faces at being called a fraud or having all their mysteries revealed, and it was clear Jack felt the same down in row A. After a particularly rough walk-off from a woman who was trying very desperately to convince Carmichael that she could really read his mind and ending up with the humiliating reality that everything he answered to was false to get her to out herself, you noticed that when you looked back to his seat that Jack isn’t there, and you were in the middle of wondering where he went when the person coming up the aisle came into view so suddenly that it took your breath away.

It was Jack, his brow twitching slightly to keep a neutral face, his footsteps heavy as he tried not to stomp and draw attention to the fact that that last one really pissed him off, his hands already reaching into his suit pocket for something. You tried not to stare the closer he got but it was hard, years of being able to look all you want training your brain to look look look as he approached, and you forced yourself to stare straight ahead at the stage as he reached you. Your hands were clenched tight in your lap as he went to pass row R, and you were in the middle of thinking you were going to make it when he fumbled the small box in his pocket and dropped it with a low curse, the cigarettes he apparently smoked bouncing to the side and coming to a stop between your recently shined shoes.

Your head snapped down so fast you felt it in your neck as he came to a stop beside you, the two of you locating the box at the same time, and you stiffened as he reached for it before realizing how rude that would be despite his own sour mood. ‘I’m sorry, could I bother you for a second,’ he asked, his smile back in place despite being a bit tense, and you stuttered out a confirmation as you leaned down to pick them up.

‘I didn’t know you smoked,’ you blurted out before you could stop yourself, Jack’s hand frozen in midair as he reached for the box, his smile relaxing a little as he looked from your hand to your face.

‘Did I find myself a Night Owl in this sea of skeptics?’ he wondered aloud, your cheeks brightening in a way that really made you pray it was dark enough not to notice.

‘I wanted to see what all the fuss was about,’ you lie, and he crouched down so he could hear your whispers as the crowd reacted to the next act.

‘I take it you’re also not very impressed,’ he figured, hitting the nail on the head based on your expression alone. He chuckled at your silent confirmation and looked back down to the cigarettes, his fingertips just barely touching yours as you both held it, you didn’t even know when he’d grabbed it and you let go before it got awkward, but he didn’t seem to notice. ‘Well, if you don’t tell my producer that I’m smoking again, then I won’t tell Haig that you didn’t like his show, deal?’

You sucked in a breath as he moved the box to his left hand, offering up his right for a handshake this time to seal the deal, your heart pounding as you shook on it, his smile more genuine than you’d seen all night, you could always tell. He stood back up as the act finished and Carmichael went back to his disproving, his mood dropping again as his need to escape rearose. You both offered a look of disdain at the stage before he stood back up to move again, something stopping him midstep before he turned on his heel and leaned back down to you, a shiver running down your spine at how close he was so he could be heard.

‘Have you ever been to one of my shows?’ he asked, genuine curiosity in his voice, his warm breath accidentally hitting your neck and rendering you unable to do anything but glance at him and shake your head no. ‘You’d have a much better time, I’ve got some great stuff coming up,’ he pitched, either completely unaware of your predicament or just used to people acting like this around him, either way he didn’t react when your eyes couldn’t help but flicker down to watch him lick his lips so fast you almost missed it. ‘The next one’s already booked up but if you go down to the studio and give them this card, you should be able to get a spot for a night you’re free, I'd like to see you there.’

He pulled out his wallet and grabbed a business card, flipping it around to the blank side on the back before resting it on the arm of the chair. A pen was found next, and he scribbled a quick note to the ticket seller on it on your behalf, signing it and handing it over with that big showman smile of his. You took it and placed it in your own wallet, the previous hole instantly filled with its presence, his mood clearly raised by the interaction as he wished you a quick goodbye and resumed his journey outside, oblivious to the fact that you were about to disrupt the entire theater if you didn’t find a place to scream and fast.

You gave him a few minutes to reach the doors before jumping to your feet and making for the bathroom, your heels clickclacking on the tile the entire way until you found the correct door. The place was empty, which was great because once you caught sight of yourself you knew that it was bad enough he saw you this way, no one else should get the pleasure; your face was redder than you’d ever seen it, your pupils blown from the exchange and you could’ve sworn you could actually see yourself shaking you were buzzing so hard, your grin so wide anyone else would’ve assumed that Santa had just given you the toy you’d always wanted for Christmas early.

You tried to calm yourself as you ripped off some paper towels and dampened them, patting them against your cheeks and neck to bring your body temperature back down to a normal person’s, carefully avoiding your makeup that you were thankful you spent the time putting on just on the ultra rare off chance you’d run into him. When you were ready to go back - and after a quick internal debate on whether you should try and meet him outside for another, less hushed conversation already - you made sure to calm your breathing before heading back out there, taking a quick moment to look for him before making the trek back to your seat.

When you got back you noticed that no new act was on, Carmichael already talking to the audience and projecting himself up on the screens for all to see, you rolling your eyes as you collapsed into the rich red velvet and preparing for more of his bullshit until Jack returned, if he felt like it that was. Everyone around you was concentrating on his words, staring right ahead as the theater fell silent save for his voice and the sound of a ticking clock; ah, he was trying to hypnotize everyone, that must’ve been his big final act that he’d promised his audience. You weren’t impressed, you’d tried to be hypnotized before at a party in your youth, it hadn’t worked then so it wasn’t going to work now you knew, so you sat back and prepared to at least enjoy whatever he was going to make the audience do.

Your thoughts went back to Jack as Carmichael’s voice slowly got drowned out, the ticking a bit louder in your ears despite the distance, but you didn’t mind because it was nonsense anyway, ‘Now who’s the skeptic,’ you think to yourself as you sink deeper into your chair. You vaguely heard the words, ‘Your greatest desire,’ in your ear before you felt a hand on your shoulder, your eyes leaving the stage to travel up until you saw Jack standing just behind you in the aisle, his smile from before now more like a smirk as he motioned towards the doors like he wanted you to follow him.

You looked back at the stage as Carmichael invited someone from the audience up to stand with him, some poor hypnotized fool who was bound to be humiliated along with everyone else who stood with him tonight, and you decided that you’d rather not see that again before standing and following Jack. There was a small hallway between the theater and the doors on that side of the back wall, the two of you out of view from everyone else but Carmichael’s voice still reaching, and you were about to wonder if he was leading you outside to just leave or talk when he turned and pushed you against the wall with a muffled thud. Your back met cold paint as your chest met with his, your eyes locking as he cornered you where no one could see, a confidence he saved for the cameras now focused solely on you as he looked you over the same way you’d done to him a thousand times over.

‘I couldn’t wait for you to come to my show,’ he whispered, his voice impossibly low as he held you in place, a knee parting yours and making you gasp, ‘you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.’

‘You’re just telling me what I wanna hear,’ you managed to get out, his eyes closing as he leaned in to grin against your cheek.

‘Is it working?’

You didn’t dare answer but you might as well have because your silence was enough to spur him into action, your head falling back against the wall as he started to kiss your neck, your hands grasping at anything because this was crazy. The man you’d wanted for years was kissing you not even 30ft away from a room full of people, anyone could come around the corner at any second and catch you, and you bit your lip at the thrill of it all. You’d had dreams like this before, ones that left you panting into your pillow when you awoke, but the real thing was so much better as he sucked a mark into your soft skin, your hand leaving his arm to cover your mouth lest you alert anyone within hearing distance to your current predicament.

You let him do as he pleased, let him ran his hands over your sides and down to the edge of where your lifted skirt was resting against his thigh, your legs shaking as your body tried not to grind against him; it was only due to him holding you that kept you standing as a matter of fact and he seemed fully aware of it as his nails scratched softly against your bare leg. He seemed to love all your reactions to what he did, he was in the entertainment business after all, every noise of approval that slipped through your fingers must’ve been like music to his ears but you had to hold back no matter how much you wanted to indulge him. Being denied what he wanted only made him work harder for it, the assault on your neck moving to your shoulder and collarbone instead of your covered lips, your mouth watering for just a taste as he started to move against you, one hand pulling your waist away from the wall by your lower back as the other moved up and under your skirt.

The first grind of his body against yours was decadent, you swore you could feel it in your soul the way he wanted you just as much as you’d wanted him, like he’d been watching you back through the screen for years and also craved this very moment, and now that he was getting it he wasn’t going to stop, you didn’t want him to stop. You’d never seen him act anything like this before in all his years on TV, a greedy flash of excitement running through you at getting to see such a new side of him quickly overcome by pleasure as he cupped your ass and pulled you even closer. You knew you couldn’t get undressed here, if you’d made it to the bathroom then maybe he’d be doing more but he hadn’t lasted even that long, but even with that desire being restrained you still wanted him here and now. Never in your life had you been this desperate for release but he was bringing out a demon inside of you that desired and needed and wanted so much that you were willing to throw your modesty out the fucking window for just a second of his hot skin pressed against your own, but this would have to do while the show still went on.

‘Jack…’ you moaned as your hand, moist from your panting, gripped his arm once again, Carmichael’s voice getting louder in the distance as you grew closer to your release.

‘Come home with me,’ he begged into your ear, his movements getting rougher as he also grew close, you knew you’d both have to leave before everyone saw you but it was worth it, god it was so worth it. ‘I want to have you all to myself, I need to taste you-’

You bit your lip and led his face away from your neck so you could look into his eyes, his mouth parted as he tried to control his own panting, he was coming apart at the seams for you right here in the hallway, the ticking in your ears either your heartbeat or a clock far away. You moaned his name again as you felt the heat build in your stomach, your back arching and pushing your body into him even more as the door to your right opened.

‘Dreamer, here, awake!’

All at once your knees gave out and you collapsed to the floor before that final wave could push you over the edge, your head heavy and your vision swimming as the body against yours vanished into nothing. ‘Are you okay? What happened?’ Jack’s voice from above asked as his worried expression came into view, the smell of rain and cigarette smoke invading your senses; the sound of the audience in a similar state of confusion drifted around the corner as Jack crouched down next to you, just back inside from his break from the show, the realization that you weren’t as immune to hypnosis as you’d thought hitting you like a bucket of cold water. You just panted in shock, surprise, and waning lust as Jack looked you over in concern, your hands moving to pull the bottom of your skirt down to cover your exposed legs in embarrassment, the scratches you were so certain he’d left behind not there, because he hadn’t been there.

‘I’m fine,’ you force yourself to say after you’d caught your breath, Jack believing you but still helping you to your feet like a gentleman, of course he would never act that way, that was only how you’d wanted him to act, you’d had dreams like that for god’s sake, the real Jack would never-

‘Is the show over?’ he asked as the roar of people applauding overtook the chatter, Carmichael now silent, and you avoided his eye as you started to edge towards the way out.

‘I think so.’

‘What was the big mind-blowing act?’

You put a little distance between yourself and him but he didn’t notice, Jack heading for the corner so he could look at the stage as he waited for your reply. ‘He hypnotized everyone,’ you answered curtly, his reaction big and full of surprise as he looked over the size of the crowd in an awe that wasn’t present for the first hour and a half.

‘Everyone? You should’ve come found me, I would’ve loved to see that.’ He was still looking at the room beyond, your eyes on him as he watched everyone else.

‘I got a little overwhelmed,’ you mumble, and he finally looked at you with that same concerned expression again, and it’s too much after what you’d just thought you’d seen, your eyes finding the floor.

‘What did he make you see?’ he asked, his curiosity quiet but still there under the concern, but you couldn’t answer him. ‘Do you need a ride home, or are you okay to drive?’

He’s too kind, he would never act that way, he would never say that to you.

‘I took a cab, I’ll be fine,’ you tried to say, but still you quickly found yourself being led to the front door as the audience swarmed around you, his hand on your back to make sure you stayed standing, a true gentleman. It had started raining while you were inside which explained the scent pairing with the smoke that covered up his cologne, and you just stood under the marquee as he hailed a cab for you as the sea of skeptics washed around you like rushing water. You hopped inside but he didn’t shut the door right away, leaning down in the rain once you were seated, and for a moment you wondered if he was going to get in when he spoke.

‘I do hope you come to my show, preferably Friday’s, it’s gunna be a good one, I promise,’ he said with that big genuine smile again, your heart pounding as your cheeks glowed red for a reason other than embarrassment as you gave him a small nod.

‘I’ll be there,’ you promised back, and he tapped the roof of the cab before shutting the door and letting you go. You looked out the back window as you drove away, the both of you waving as he ducked back inside and out of the rain, and as soon as you turned back around to face forward you found yourself reaching for your wallet. His card was in your hands as you looked it over, all in all it was an uninspiring, plain business card, and you flipped it over to read what he wrote for the ticketmaster on the back.

Wait for me by the back entrance at 11:00 Phil will let you in JD

Your cheeks turned red again as you put the card away, the cab driver giving you a look in the rearview mirror as you held your nearly empty wallet, now with one business card, to your thumping chest. Oh yeah, it definitely was all worth it after all.

#david dastmalchian #jack delroy #jack delroy/reader #Rose's Readers #would you believe I wrote this over a few hours listening to a dramatic cover of Dear God cause I loved the vibes lmao #completely wrong vibes but it's SUCH a good cover guys #it's pretty tame for this one but yeah full disclosure there's probably gunna be lots of hands focus in my writings #his are Beautiful and Perfect and Very Attractive and I am W E A K okay

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traincat · 11 months

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What are you favorite versions of spider-man? For me, it's main Peter for classiness, Ben since he's the first clone, Miles because he can eletrocute people and get invisible, maybe Gwen since she's a ballerina, Spider-ham since he's an anthropomorfic animal and therefore sillier and Noir because he's dramatic. Penny too, if only because she's more tech involved.

My favorite spider-people are definitely 616 Peter, Kaine, Ben Reilly (Ben comes in third but there's no shame in bronze), Miles Morales, Cindy Moon, and I have a weird fondness for Mattie Franklin I can't quite explain. I think it's just because she's so mistreated by the narrative. I've never really managed to click with Spider-Gwen because I think the foundation of her universe was never set up well enough to really support in depth worldbuilding -- it needed more of an Ultimate Spider-Man touch and instead it leaned very heavily, like a lot of more modern comics, on vibes, and vibes do not support an entire universe. (I kind of wish she wasn't in 616.) (I really want a 616 Gwen resurrection revenge story like let her go full Jason Todd.) I love Noir Peter, but more the version of him in the first two Noir Spider-Man storylines, Spider-Man Noir and Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face. I don't view anything beyond Eyes Without a Face as canon. The version of him in Spider-Verse is really fun but he can't beat the original for me.

I also like Mayday Parker a lot! Next generation stories can be kind of hit or miss but MC2 Spider-Girl has a lot of charm to it and hits the right balance.

#*replies

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fox-graves · 11 months

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A very special throwback Thursday! Again! This time a walk through Asim’s character design and how it changed over time and my journey through colorizing traditional pencil drawings. Breakdown under the readmore.

(note: when I say “my DM”, he is also my partner who I have been building a DnD setting with, I wasn’t bullying a random DM into what I wanted, I was working with my partner to build a new setting while he was really stuck in Standard DnD and was letting that inform pretty much all the worldbuilding decisions.) 2017: The first color picture of Asim, and an attempt to colorize a messy pen sketch that I had been close to giving up on. The filter modes I used on the inking made the shadows harsh and dramatic, and while good for the piece, did not give me much control over the color. He was a basic drow with a color scheme picked out by my DM - my DM also insisted on shorter elf ears that didn’t emote and an overall human-like appearance aside from skintone.

2018: The DM had noted in an expression sheet I had distinctly drawn Asim’s canines - he said it made him look part orc but it was really just a stylistic choice I was playing around with. I leaned into it and suggested his father was half orc for a chance to give him more monstery traits and made his tusks a bit more prominent. I also used large emotive elf ears in the sheet to show the DM how it was a fun trait to allow. He agreed. I did some semi clean line art of a new expression sheet and experimented with coloring that. the line art gave me a lot more control with coloring, but I wasn’t entirely happy with it. The DM had given me a halfmask/eyepatch with a design I wasn’t too keen on but used it in the design anyway.

2019: Fully leaning into his orcish heritage, Asim as his stage persona Balam Yunuen. It was a expression sketch that got out of hand and I ended up fully shading it in pencil I loved it so much. Some more playing around with filters, having remembered a tutorial I saw on digital artists tinting their lineart, and I hit gold. My painting skills were still a little shaky but I learned a lot and he gained +1 Iridescent Skin.

2019 part 2: Another 2019 because I learned a lot that year and his design gained another tweak - a small snout and hints at the animal-like nose he would soon have. I found my stride with shading hair and have been going ham on it ever since.

2021: His sideburns! His finalized snoot! His resting crooked ears! Redesigning his eyepatch because dammit it’s my character he’ll look how I want him to look! At this point I had really settled into my style of colorizing my pencil drawings.

2022: Return of the chin tattoo! Redesigned and simplified into a sun-eye motif. Playing around with his cultural braid, the Makhiorya, a braid that you put beads on for everyone you invite into your family. Magical neck scar where his neck was torn out! I was beyond settled in my colorizing, I was getting bold with colors and lighting, constantly trying new things and learning from it. 2023:???? my kofi supporters are in the know on what’s coming ;) Comms | Shop | Tips

#dnd art #dungeons and dragons #drow art #drow #half drow #half orc #dnd #dark elf #half elf #dnd paladin #monster art #monster boy #dnd character #dnd character art #throwback thursday #art throwback thursday #fantasy art

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pendwelling · 2 years

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Hello! I really love your art and fics for Lout of the Count's Family, I found your blog by chance but it's actually what got me into LCF to begin with. I actually wanted to ask you about TWSB. I've seen you post about it and I've found a synopsis online, but would you mind talking about what you like about it?

OH GOD ACTUALLY I THINK I CAN GO ON FOREVER ABOUT THIS??? THANK YOU FOR SUCH AN AMAZING QUESTION I literally have so much to say, but also not enough words to even begin describing the full extent of what TWSB does to me.

To make things easier for me to write and for you to read, I think this will primarily be in messy bullet point form xDD

(Oh and omg?? I'm glad I was able to help get you into LCF. Perhaps I can hope to do the same with TWSB? 👀😂)

Haha but okay— So. Maybe we'll start with the premise/overall novel I guess? I just love it so much. After that we'll get to characters.

It's "Transmigration into a novel" trope—BUT!!! Refreshing take! Jung Yeseo actually hasn't read the og!novel. He literally knows nothing about what's going on besides what his younger sister, Jung Eunseo, has told him of both the plot and characters.

Thus, he sorta treats his sister's words like a survival guide. Even if the info becomes inaccurate as time goes by and his meddling with the plot changes things.

He knows how important the og!novel was to his younger sister. She cherished it, so in a way, he does too and wishes for it to go the same route.

But this is muddled by the fact that the character he transmigrated into, Jung Yeseo, dies during the war between the Riester Empire and the Venetiaan Holy Kingdom, after taking a blow meant for the Riester Empire's Prince, and Original Male Lead :|||||

Yeseo, now Jesse, as all main characters destined to die do, announces that he will ✨avoid the main characters, stay out of the plot, and survive peacefully as the diplomatic hostage, priest of a prince that he is.✨

Plot twist: this fool cannot escape the main characters xDD

Sounds like the typical transmigration plot, BUT!! with it's own refreshing takes!

We have 2 transmigrators. Yeseo (Jesse) and the og!MC Christelle, (originally a fellow Korean worker in her 30s named Ham Ga-in).

Original novel was a RoFan (Romance-Fantasy).

Current novel (TWSB) is anything BUT that xDD

Pace might seem slow at first, but it is pretty slice-of-life! Later on however, we get to see more adventure/action, as the characters slowly find goals and travel around the continent.

Speaking of continent, THIS NOVEL HAS AMAZING WORLDBUILDING.

Pretty much all of the locations are even based off current countries.

For example, Riester Empire's culture/character names are inspired by France. Venetiaan Holy Kingdom is inspired by Dutch.

Power system (mana, ether, priests, holy knights, mages, swordsmen, etc) is so interesting and well thought out. There are rules that are concretely established and it's just the best.

Interesting dynamics between Priests and Holy Knights! Symbiotic relationship!!! Which the main characters have! :D

Cédric and Christelle are both Holy Knights, so they require a priest to help replenish them with ether. Jung Yeseo/Jesse just so happens to have overwhelming amounts of ether due to special circumstances that eventually get mentioned :D

They are practically married due to this (/hj). They call each other partners and everything (Cédeic especially gets giddy when Jesse calls him this. The stoic simp, tsk.)

Romance is non-existent but MAN DO THESE INTERACTIONS FUEL THE SHIPPER HEART.

One this I ADORE about Sookym-nim's universe is that people just seem so open?? when it comes to sexuality?? No one finds anything wrong with suggesting if two people, or even multiple people, can enter a romantic relationship.

You actually don't realize this until you really think about it. It's a subtle thing but it made me so happy when I realized that.

The Priest/Holy Knight partnership/holy covenant is actually kinda like that. A deep and special relationship. Holy Knights are known to be very protective of their Priests.

Also, both women AND men have been explicitly stated to take interest in Jesse. At some point, the empress, Frédérique Riester, mentions (while comparing Yeseo to the rumours surrounding og!Jesse—who you can sort of think of as a less alcoholic and violent og!Cale Henituse) that Jesse didn't seem like he had any experience bedding either women or men. The universe really says Bi rights and I love it HAHA

Also—Sookym writes women so well. So many great women in power, so many kind, compassionate women. Women who are smart, scheming, funny, sly, powerful—so many types of women for us sapphics to simp over.

In both the Riester Empire and Venetiaan Holy Kingdom, line of succession/inheritance isn't based on gender, but on first born. Riester Empress Frédérique is so COOL, I simp.

(in some cases, such as Blanquer Duchy, competence also plays a bigger part instead of who is born first!)

Ofc the guys are also amazing as well!

We also have cute animals. So many cute, cute animals. I cry.

ANYWAYS!! CHARACTERS!!

The protagonist: Jung Yeseo, 28, who transmigrated into Prince Jesse Venetiaan of the Holy Kingdom, priest and diplomatic hostage in the Riester Empire. In the original novel, he was the 2nd Male Lead who died taking a blow for the Male Lead (Riester Empire's Crown Prince Cédric Riester) during the war between their kingdoms.

He's super kind. Refreshing when you consider all the angsty, sad, emo, stoic and tragic MCs LMFAO.

Of course his past isn't perfect, but he has amazing, wonderful supportive siblings and he grew up as a well-adjusted modern-day Korean citizen. Really just a kind, good "boy-next-door" type of character!

He can be a little prickly in his internal narrations, but who isn't? xD

I've seen reviews call him a Mary Sue and I want to WRANGLE NECKS.

Apparently being kind is just too much of a trait for some people??

Personally, I think it's one of his biggest strength. I love a compassionate MC, and even of his morals might seem foolish a bit, they are reasonable and admirable.

His kindness sort of make you want to tear up a bit: "how can someone as nice as this exist?"

But of course, it isn't unconditional. He knows when people are wrong, and when they deserve to be punished, and will get angry and vicious accordingly. But even despite that, he will frequently have that small thread of compassion for even people who harm (ex: The situation with Peter, Synkie, especially because they were kids—and Jesse has a soft spot for kids, but even so, he naturally acknowledges they deserve some kind of retribution for nearly assassinating him).

(Of course, when people are irredeemable, he doesn't play saint. He's a good guy, but not all-forgiving—and like it was mentioned by a Eunseo cameo in a certain chapter in the 500s, Jung Yeseo is a frightening person when angry.)

(Tldlr, Never piss off the kind and gentle person in a group. They are secretly the scariest when angry, and Jesse is no exception to that—if he gets angry then you KNOW shits going down oml haha)

But overall, he really just gives off the impression of someone who would be a very good and genuine friend :')

He radiates so much Big Brother Energy™ both literally and figuratively.

Even if annoyed, he will still be weak to young kids (again, see above: Older Brother Energy™). Even if the said "child" is actually a 24yo man, Yeseo will eventually succumb to his hyung instincts LMFAO. Which brings us to Cédric Riester (see section after Jesse bullet points) 😂

(He does swear however, though never at a person, but always at a situation. Apparently the Jung Family had a swear jar growing up, though it was his younger sister who mostly ended up giving it money xD)

HES ALSO SO UNINTENTIONALLY FUNNY???? At some point, his friends are getting scolded heavily at the table by the Empress, and it's very much the sort of scene where you, the outsider of a family, has been invited to their family dinner, only for the head of the family/stern asian mother to start scolding your friends right in front of the table.

Except, instead of feeling very awkward, Jesse just continues eating LMFAO and the only time he ever really stops is because his chewing sounds too loud during the scolding, and he still has some shame left HAHA

(This guy is always eating, and it's admirable lolol but tbf in that situation, Ced, Chris and Eli deserved the scokding sKSKKSK)

Anyway— I like how they explore Jesse's status as a transmigrator, as well. He initially thinks of these people around him as characters, whom he only really knows through whatever it was his sister has told him, but he eventually grows to care for them genuinely.

Despite this, he is still very much a young man who cares deeply for his siblings that he believes he left at home, and doesn't know for how long, and naturally experiences home sickness. That's his goal, after all—to finish his role and eventually, somehow, go back home to his siblings.

(SPOILER-ISH 170+):

At some point, we see a vision of his apartment's veranda, and Jesse tries reaching for it. It won't go into much detail, but it's a rather bittersweet moment, especially when other characters, such as Cédric, misinterprets it as Jesse wanting to leave them—the friends he made who genuinely care for him (even if Cédric doesn't exactly show it in the most outward of ways.) Novel characters grow anxious about him feeling as if he could disappear at any moment, and Jesse has to deal with the dilemma of "do I want to return home? Can I really leave behind these people I've come to care about? Are they even real? What will happen to my body if I choose to stay in one world of the other?"

((END OF SPOILER))

His relationship with Cardinal Aurélie Boutier is also one of my most favourite things ever. She becomes a sort of mother figure after they become teacher and apprentice, and the amount of care Aurélie has for him brings me to tears sometimes. She doesn't have any children, but the way she eventually grows to consider Jesse as her own is just TTvTT<3

ANYWAY I LOVE HOW THEY EVENTUALLY GO ABOUT THE WHOLE NOVEL/REALITY THEME IN THIS BOOK. It's so so so good.

With that said, lets move on to the next character :D

Cédric Riester: 24 yo at the beginning of the novel. He was the first male lead and love interest in the original novel. He's the only Prince of the Riester Empire.

He's also lowkey bisexual but that's my opinion LMFAOOO (more like he's MainCharacterSexual)

Speaking from experience: you might hate this guy at first 😂 A lot of my friends and other readers did and I laugh about it all the time.

Eventually tho, he will probably become one of your favourite characters, if not THE favourite. Regardless, you will grow fond of him, as you will pretty much all of the main characters!

For comparison, he's similar to Yoo Jooghyuk from ORV. You really gotta get to know him and his motivation before he starts growing on you like the fastest mold.

His backstory explains a lot, and MY GOD DO YOU GROW FOND OF HIM.

He's so easy to bully. It's a fandom joke at this point to call him derogatory nicknames like; Ether pig. Black pig. Pig. Mosquito. 24/25-month-old kid. Brat. Crapdric. Cedick. Simpdric. Sapdric.

But don't get us wrong it's all done affectionately auhsdhskks

You might become a Cédric defender/apologist the more you read about him.

But how can you be an apologist if he's done nothing wrong—//slapped.

Thinks locking people up is the best way to protect them, and then when he notices it makes them (Jesse) sad, his 0 emotional intelligence naturally goes: 'Ah. I should hire an entire performing circus troop to his palace so that he will feel better.'

The poor guy is TRYING alright 😭

We can kinda blame it on his parents' love story. Those two were p wild LMFAO (but also pretty sweet auahbdldlskdld Frédérique, Alexandre and Aurélie's relationship is very reminiscent of Cédric, Jesse and Christelle's). Actually the whole Riester imperial family was wild with the people they cared about HAHA

But yeah, Cédric's origins as Male Lead in a Romance-Fantasy novel really shines through sometimes, but at the end of the day, you also just gotta remember he was once a kid who spent most of his childhood sick, suffering and sleeping, and now that he can finally move around as he wishes, his full brattiness can unleash now that he found people he can be a 'kid' with and run around the continent alongside him on adventures xD

Jokes aside tho, he's a genuinely good guy.

His character development makes me cry. He's a stoic bastard, but at the end of the day, he's OUR socially inept stoic bastard.

He cares a lot for his friends. So so much. Even if he doesn't outwardly show it.

He's also lowkey very very gay for Jesse. (You might even say Bi because he did fall for Christelle in the original novel too (again, see above for my comment about him being MCsexual) 😂 (actually the main trio pretty much radiate Bi energy I'm ngl LMFAO twsb universe is just very casual with sexuality and I am fr not kidding abt this it's canon and it makes me happy))

The first time Jesse saw his smile was when Jesse called himself Cédric's partner. You also gotta keep in mind this scene happened after Ced (at the imperial palace) and Jesse (at his marquisate iirc) we're separated due to reasons, and the whole palace was placing bets as to when Cédric was finally gonna cave in and chase after Jesse and co. to join them.

Cédric ended up having in pretty quickly xD The complete simp.

Heck, once Christelle and Ced had to pretend they were a couple in front of the Empress and Cardinal in order to help Jesse out, and the Empress asked them what they liked about each other, fully knowing that those two would rather d1e than ever get together.

Cédric then immediately proceeded to describe Jesse, and got jealous when Christelle caught on and also started describing Jesse 😂😂😂

This man gets JEALOUS so much when it comes to anyone expressing nearly any amounts of attention towards Jesse aUDGHDJSKKSKS

At some point (330+) the man even proposes to Jesse. He gets down on one knee and all and starts reciting his vows to unite their sound together and stuff and I'm in TEARS whenever I reread that part, because Ced did it in the MIDDLE OF BATTLE LMFAO

BUT ALSO TBF, it wasn't exactly a marriage proposal, it was a Covenant (which is basically soul marriage between Holy Knights and Priests, in simple terms HAHA) and readers everywhere went crazy sKSKSKKS poor Cedric tho because Jesse ignored him (he was too panicked by the fact that they were literally in battle—)

Anyways yes. Cédric is a character you will easily warm up to gradually, because deep down he's a genuinely great guy.

He's a filial son, and he's a great future ruler—he constantly proves that he is perfectly capable of succeeding his mother, and he cares for both her and his godmother the cardinal )and other members of his family that u get to know better later on.) He even initiates a duel to defend both Jesse, and Jesse's deceased father's honour after his cousin besmirched their names (the cousin insulated Jesse's father, who was a commoner, and Cédric had a very close and dear relationship with his own father, who was also deceased.)

Anyways yes. Cédric is a little prickly, but he's such a good guy deep down, honourable and who stands for what's right and those he cares about.

He's also the reason for why the readers are having a hard time trying to defend the genre of the novel LMFAO (but tbf, Jesse also contributes to that too. How much poetics are these guys able to wax about each other's looks? I'm on tears, I love them hdhdjkskks)

But anyway. Homoerotic subtext is something for a whole other day xDD

There's so much to say about him, but I think I've written more than enough, so let's move on to our beloved Christelle!!!!

Christelle De Sarnez—the original protagonist of the the novel, formerly called Ham Ga-In, a South Korean woman in her 30s who one day woke up in the body of a Duke's 19 y.o daughter. In the original story, she eventually fell for the 1st ML, Cédric, after overcoming their differences. The classic RoFan novel plot!!

Christelle is so interesting as a character, I find, because in the original novel, her not having any powers (due to not having absorbed a Divine Artifact) really shaped the story into the RoFan genre (amongst other things).

BUT in TWSB, she is able to become a Holy Knight and is able to overcome that role/destiny as a damsel in distress type of Romance MC, who gets kidnapped and has to rely on the ML to save her.

Which gave us our wonderful TWSB!Christelle :DD

Instead of getting kidnapped by pirated like the original Christelle had been, our Christelle ended up becoming a "Pirate Queen" and captured a whole ship just because Jesse off-handedly remarked she should get him a souvenir when she went to visit the north xDD

She is so strong and ALSO SO FUCKING FUNNY LMFAOOO

AT SOME POINT HAHA (CH 330+) SHES IN CHARGE OF A FEW HUNDRED SOLDIERS, AND UPON ARRIVING AT A VILLAGE FOR (REASONS) MADE THEM CHANT A KPOP GREETING:

"HELLO! WE ARE THE R.I.E.S.T.E.R IMPERIAL ARMY! NICE TO MEET YOU!"

LIKE LMFAOOOO WHO PUT HER IN CHARGE OF ALL THESE SOLDIERS 😭😭😂

*deep breaths* anyways—

Reminder again that Christelle is also a transmigrator. (But unlike Jesse, the world she went into wasn't a novel, it was just a whole different world where she didn't have to be an office worked anymore and could find romance while being rich, etc.)

This means she is a modern-day South Korean who is ABSOLUTELY aware of pop culture, and says the funniest shit ever istg (see kpop riester army example above) 😂

You can tell through Christelle and all the other references made throughout the novel that the author, Sookym, is also a rather pop culture-savvy person. A lot of other movie franchises get mentioned, and references to other pieces of media/literature are often seen.

One of my favourite Christelle moments that I can think of at the top of my head is when, like I said at the end of my Cédric rant, Christelle, at the end of her and Cédric's fake couples interview with the Empress, eventually cried our "Dobby is free!!" when the questions stopped coming. It made me laugh so hard when I saw it 😂

(Comments on Ridibooks were even laughing at some point when the author included a parody version of an Aladdin song in one arc of the novel, and joked about Disney copyright striking the novel xDD)

Just like Jesse, Christelle also gives off the impression of someone who would be a very good friend. That's how she is with Jesse after all!

While Cédric is a bit more "selfish" when it comes to Jesse and their status as partners, Christelle tries to be more understanding. She is very kind, considerate and I love her. (See a lil further below for more comments about her refreshing emotional intelligence!)

One of my other favourite moments is when Christelle told Jesse that if one day, if he had the feeling that she was different, he should call her "Ham Ga-In", and if she didn't recognize it, she wouldn't be the Christelle he knew. (At that point in the story, Christelle wasn't aware that Jesse knew she was also a transmigrator—even less so that for him, she was a novel character. Which makes the scene even more touching/heartwrenching, since Christelle truly trusted him, and just proved how much she cared about all her new friends and worried about the possibility of the original Christelle coming back to take her place).

I won't get into details, but the way this story treats its transmigrators :')))) makes me cry :')) I find this novel does it very well, especially in the later chapters when secrets start unfolding 👀

(Speaking of transmigrators—this story doesn't brush that fact of lightly. Christelle, just like Jesse, also feels some sort of 'imposter syndrome' and acknowledges that she "has taken the place of someone else's previous daughter". The way the author's treated this plot line between Chris and Christelle's mother was wonderfully done, and made me cry. I love it when stories address transmigrator issues and so on.)

TWSB!Chris feels more like the best friend of a romance story's slightly oblivious protagonist xD If Jesse is blind to Cédric's ML antics and actions towards him, Christelle is completely aware and trashes him for it 😂

She has so much more emotional intelligence than Cédric (who's only friend for literal years until he reached 24 was Élisabeth, the vice-captain of the imperial guard) and she balances him so well like that.

She's often the one who goes out of her way to make sure Jesse's feelings are considered and that people (ie our socially awkward and inept Cédric) will treat him right, because that's what friends do—treat their friends right and wish for it to be that way.

Btw Ced and Chris absolutely hate each other and it's the funniest thing ever, but they also do become good friends despite their opposing attribute repulsion HAHA

(At some point, Chris considers not giving Ced advice on how to get along better with Jesse, so that Jesse would end up liking her more LMFAO but she does end up giving him her 31y.o wisdom xD)

Anyways, Chris is so so great. So lovely, so funny, I holler in nearly all her comedy bits.

She also can't sing, and it's hilarious.

Yeseo's sister once told him that the original Cedric smiled when Chris sang, and Yeseo naturally presumed it was because the original FL was just so amazing it even made the stoic ML smile.

He was dead wrong.

Christelle is tone deaf 😂

Anyways, I think this is long enough. I'm not exactly sure if this sort of response was what you were looking for, but you did ask if I could talk about what I like about this novel, and the answer is simply just this:

So, so very much.

From the amazing worldbuilding and interesting power systems,

To the lovable characters that you only grow more fond of the more you read. Of course, there will also be characters (one in particular) that you will despise to their very bone, and that in itself is just proof of how well Sookym is able to write characters.

The main 3 characters are adults in their mid 20s—30s, and yet they are all very youthful and energetic in their own ways. I find it so refreshing to other stories, where sometimes adults are portrayed with all the hardships of their ages. But here, these characters who have gone through so much are able to often act like children as they run around the continent together causing havoc and try to accomplish their goal of collecting all the divine artifacts. It's so great seeing them have fun, and go on all these quests.

And truly, this story evokes such strong feelings within me.

One moment you're laughing your ass off at whatever ridiculous thing is happening, and the very next moment you might be thrown into the unveiling of a whole mystery. The shift of genres and tones that occur throughout the novel is so well balanced, and it gradually builds up so that at the pivotal moment the author requires it, you as the reader get hit with the accumulation that had been building over several chapters, and you can only sit there in tears and wonder 'why and how the hell is this been described as a "feel-good novel"?'

Sookym is truly amazing, to be able to write buildups that manage to land so impactfully, and bring to life characters who are so endearing you can't help but earnestly root for their success as they try and achieve their goals and get through obstacles throughout the way.

The day the webtoon adaptation gets officially announced, I don't think I exaggerate when I say I will be crying whilst reading the 1st chapter, knowing just all the adventures and trials these characters will have to face in the future TvT It is such a wonder rollercoaster of a read, and I adore it so much haha.

In the meantime, I will continue to draw fanart and write fics in hopes of dragging more people into reading this novel that I hold so dear :')

With all that said, thanks for the ask! I hope this was able to convey to you even a fraction's bit of my love for this novel! Forgive me if theres any typos audhjdksks I had a lot to say so this took me a while haha 😂 and I hope youre enjoying the novel, if ever you decide to give it a go!

#asks #TWSB #when the third wheel strikes back #섭남파업 #서브 남주가 파업하면 생기는 일 #i love twsb so very dearly #TWSB WEBROON MANIFEST SOON 😭🛐🛐🛐#Im not gonna lie #this couldve been WAY LONGER but sadly i have a lot of work to do :')))#just know that there is so many things about TWSB that makes me wanna scream and cry. how is it so good???#twsb asks

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bewitched-forest · 1 year

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Formula for a Crime Scene - Ch 2

Circumstances leave Artemis Fowl and Danny Fenton living in Gotham to attend Gotham Academy with Damian Wayne. More circumstances lead to the three boys becoming unlikely friends, and eventually something more. Now the three must navigate a world of superheroes, fairies, and ghosts together.

The worldbuilding of this fic was co-written by my friend, @half-dead-ham, and myself! They will be posting their own Crime Scene (The name of the ship as dubbed by another friend, @thetoyboxs) fic that will have similar plotlines, as we made them together! So behave!

[Ao3 Link Here]

} ~ – ~ {

Danny hummed, adjusting his backpack as he walked outside of the school. He looked around, watching the other students hop in cars before walking away, heading for his hotel.

Now why was he in Gotham you may ask? Why was he attending Gotham Academy?! Well that could be summed up with one word!

Vlad.

Vlad had come over to ‘visit’ Dad a couple of times. Every time he talked about this fancy academy he had donated to and how great it was. A perfect school for young geniuses, that held a great standard of discipline.

It was annoying.

And then when his parents complained once again about Danny’s grade, Vlad acted. Talked about how unsafe Amity was and it wasn’t any surprise that Danny was doing so horribly. Amity Park was so unsafe, especially since its protector was the wretched Phantom. And then he offered for Danny to go to Gotham. And his parents agreed! They agreed like the fucking fiddles they’d been played as.

So now here Danny was. First day of school done with and heading back to the stupid ass penthouse apartment thing Vlad had bought for him.

At least the owners of the apartment were nice. The old lady gave him cookies when he’d finally moved in.

He sighed as he unlocked his door, stepping inside and locking it behind him. Gotham is safer, his ass. It was more dangerous because humans didn’t get affected by ecto-weaponry.

Danny sighed again, dropping his back and the uniform jacket by the door before flopping onto his couch. School was tiring. A couple of the kids were cool, like Quinn and Hannah. Quinn was an enby in his English class who said “Mood” when he slammed his head on the desk. They had a fun conversation about their mutual hate of classic literature. Then Hannah was in his P.E. class.

Honestly P.E. wasn’t as bad as he thought. They had to change, despite it being the first day, but no one said anything about his scars. Then again, Danny had noticed a bunch of scars on other kids too. Just goes to show how hellish Gotham is. Hannah had walked up to him after he got out of the lockers and asked him where he was from. And respected when Danny dodged questions. Pretty chill kid.

Danny shifts when his phone buzzes, sitting up to grab it from his pocket. He leans against the armchair of the couch as he opens his messages.

Tucker: Yo dude how was the first day?

Danny smiles as he replies.

Danny: Ey. Same old same old.

Danny: I stopped this one kid from getting in trouble cause some dickhead picked a fight with him

Tucker: No ignoring bullying?

Danny: I mean. It’s not like anyone knows who I am.

Danny: Can’t pick on me for being a Fenton freak here.

Tucker: Good point.

Tucker: Wish I could convince my parents to let me join ya. Being that close to WE sounds like heaven.

Danny laughs.

Danny: For you maybe.

Danny: I had to get a special orientation featuring like a million safety plans for Gotham’s various problems.

Tucker: Speaking of which, you going out as Phantom?

Danny: Nah man you know the rule. No metas. I may not count but I doubt Batman would care.

Tucker: Eh. Isn’t Signal meta?

Danny: Doesn’t matter. No Phantom-ing in Gotham. Any news on Vlad?

Tucker: Nothing new. Honestly I’m hella suspicious, man.

Tucker: He’s too quiet.

Tucker: Especially after kicking you out.

Danny: Just keep digging Tuck.

Tucker: Yeah yeah. Anyways see ya man. Lancer gave us homework! On the first day!

Danny laughs, texting goodbye. He gets up, heading over to his lab. Honestly the fact Vlad allowed him to get one was wild. But he’d be damned if he didn’t make use of it.

Right now he was trying to figure out how to minimize the original Fenton thermos. He figured he could probably make it the size of a lipstick, like the lazer blaster. But his first, like, three tries ended up exploding so Danny decided he was going to do something different this time.

Danny knew engineering. Its why he has a fucking scholarship for it. But he had zero fucking clue all the materials and know how on his parents creation. They were very much the “lets just do it until it works” type of people.

Which meant he essentially needed to completely recreate the original thermos from scratch before he could actually work on minimizing it. He’d gotten a good outer shell together, but right now he was trying to replicate some of the circuitry. Which wasn’t going so hot.

The memories of how he, well, died made the occasional stray sparks while staring at the open circuit board hell on his nerves. But he was slowly managing it better. He shifts, readjusting the board as he moves the soldering iron he was using.

He perks up when he hears the doorbell ring, taking a moment before realizing that it was the superintendent’s wife. He smiles, putting down the circuit board and welder before heading for the door. He backtracks for a moment to actually turn the welder off before making it to the door.

He opens it up, smiling at the old woman. “Hey Mrs. Abringer. What's up?”

Mrs. Abringer smiles as she offers a box. “I made some cookies again and figured you’d want some. I’m sure you could use them after getting through your first day of school.”

Danny chuckles, reaching out and taking the box. “Thank you. Your cookies are always great.”

Mrs. Abringer nods. “Thank you dear. And remember, don’t be afraid to ask for help.”

“I won’t Mrs. Abringer.” Danny closes the door as she walks away, locking it again.

He moves to the kitchen, stepping over some trash that escaped the can and setting the box on the table. He looks around, sighing before moving to clean up.

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scribe-of-stories · 10 months

Text

10 Songs, 10 People

Was tagged by the pleasant @mrbexwrites whom graced us with her songs

Rules: Put your music on shuffle and list the first 10 songs that come up. Then go about describing how they relate to your WIP and or worldbuilding.

In truth I do not have a designated Lexical playlist, but what I do have is one massive playlist of songs that I can easily relate to characters/worldbuilding. I will admit to cheating and skipping a few songs due to irreverence or for being clown core.

Soft tagging: @rewritingrosie @squarebracket-trick @artcoffeecats @vicstmichael @sam-glade and whomever else wishes to join in.

Hero - 11vx

Wonderfully upbeat and woefully short. I always have seen this song as the theme that would play around the protagonist's "turning point" in Lexical. When they make a connection with their Inscription that lets them overcome something, or finding a weakness or solution to a situation. The title really says it all.

The Stains of Time - Kit Walters

It's video game music, it's MGRR, it's fight music. Specifically I'd say it's villain centric fighting music. I've got this character in my head who connects the concepts of water and time whom I could easily see this song fully being about. Where Hero is about the protag winning, Stains of Time is about Villains hamming it up.

Little Lion Man - Mumford and Sons

Ken, Host of Fangs, Lord of Hearts. No Inscribed has had an easy life. This one's life is full of regret, broken relationships, and estranged family. Like several Lexical characters he began his existence as the protagonist of his own story and has gone through several iterations; he has landed as a semi-significant side story of the Stage City campaign I'm running. "I really fucked it up this time, didn't I my dear?" perfectly fits him.

Gunman/Blotter - sageiskami

Hey it's more fight music! Specifically fight music that samples a literal fighting game. It's violence turned into entertainment for the ones doing it; and that doesn't describe any character better than it does Model Tom. She's a Shape of Flesh, a shapeshifter, a sociopath, and absolutely having such a fun time being a villain. He's extremely fun to roleplay as in Staged City, which is a slightly worrying statement.

Children of the Omnisiah - Guillam Davis

A haunting church choir with a back drop of electronic noise. I've come to associate electronic elements in songs with the Wyrd side of Lexical; and with it, this song goes with the Angels of Heaven. Invasive creatures from the edge of human imagination come to reap the souls of humanity and remind them of the gods they used to worship.

Bright Shadow - Hydelic

A comparatively (mostly) calmer piece. Wind, gears, windmills, nature, and the connective rhythm that ties them together. I find this song ties closely to the magic practitioners of Lexical, especially to one specific one: Richard Dahlmann. He comes from a long family of magicians, will workers who tame the Wyrd without ever fully giving one's self to it. A proud Old Warden. Fully human but able to play a song and have the world listen.

Numb - Freya Cathine, Jack Victor

There is a certain amount of humor and irony to this song I can't ignore, but read straight this song could easily be sung by Joshua of Broken Whole. Most of his life is inescapably about his relationship with his father. At first all his actions as a way to escape from under his father's influence; then during the story itself facing the same life his father had and attempting to do different. "To be more like me, and less like you" Joshua says into a mirror.

Fire Fire - Steam Power Giraffe

A song about a burning disaster and the affect it has on the survivor. The Wardens, Old and New, have attempted to keep Earth and humanity from itself for as long as recorded history. Whether it's the secret society of wyrdlings and wizards of the Old or the Inscribed costumed heroes of the New, history rhymes with itself. Disaster comes regardless of anyone's attempt to stop it, and those that manage to live through it can never fully walk away from the memories. Despite their good deeds and their heroism the history of the Wardens is full of failure and an inability to meaningfully save the world.

Hajnal - Venetian Snares

I love this, easily one of my favorite songs. In the context of Lexical it describes the First Wave, the several thousand first Inscribed. Those troubled individuals who woke up to a world carefully playing along to an old tune strung by those in power, and shattering it with drums and electronics. The First Wave marked the end of many things: mainly the Old Wardens, the Wyrd masquerade, and most world governments. It's hard to maintain a functional civilization when a politically charged maniac who can manifest explosions targets effectively any head of state. The First Wave turned Lexical into the Earth it now is, forever changing it's music.

No one is Flying the Plane - Panzerballett

Another favorite of mine. Organized discordant chaos held together by an underlying beat. This is the theme of the Staged City, the story of New Maine buckling underneath the unrelenting crises that plague it. Of course it's also specifically about one character, the BBEG of the campaign, one underlying beat of the song: (spoilers ahead for Staged City) The Baron. Nothing is actually happening naturally, everything is a stage being prepared for this one villain.

#writeblr #lexical earth #writers on tumblr #writeblr game #Broken Whole #Staged City #I did not have the restraint to write short descriptions for each song #but I hope y'all find the world building enjoyable

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killerandhealerqueen · 1 month

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for the fic writers asks: 7, 11, 17

for the love your fandom asks: 4, 5, 10, 16

Thank you bby, love you! 🫶🏻

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

I'd say the worldbuilding in my most recent fic For All Eternity. It's a xianxia and xianxias aren't exactly that easy to write, in my opinion, so I'm happy with what I was able to do with this fic

11. Are you partial to a certain character/pairing or are you more equal-opportunity? If you are partial to any character/pairing, why do you think that is?

I'm more partial towards certain pairings, but I never stop people from shipping what they want to ship. I'm not really a crack-shipper nor do I see the appeal of some ships that a lot of people like and I think it all just comes down to preference and what you like in a ship

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

Hmm...I mean, you take a look at my Killer and Healer fics and you'll see that they're pretty much all aus that I'd want to read but I think maybe...a Pacific Rim au? I haven't done that yet for any of my fandoms and I think it'd be good. But sci-fi is something that I'm not...really great at so it would definitely be on the back burner for a long time before I ever got around to it.

question for fic writers | send me asks

4. say something nice about a ship you don't ship (it can be another ship in your fandom, a mutual's OTP, etc)

While I don't ship Yohan/K, I get why people do because like...the devotion, the pining, the one-sided unrequited love...I get it

5. something you see in fics a lot and love

Hm...when I'm reading a fic that's not mine, I love seeing how passionate authors are about their aus and how in-depth they go for them. Cuz like, I do that and I love seeing authors just got fucking ham

10. a blog (mutual or one you follow) that has made your fandom experience brighter

Oh, there are so many...but I guess one that I have to give a shout out to is @kpopfantasywriter because jiejie really is the person that I could go to and bounce ideas off of and vice versa and she's just made writing and fandom and headcanoning just...fun. But there are so many people who have made my fandom experience brighter and better and I just can't thank y'all enough

16. a tiny detail in canon that you want more people to appreciate

I guess for Killer and Healer is that Sun Yongren, while mainly being comic relief, is also really smart. He's a part of Jiang Yuelou's duo, him and Song Rong. They are his closest and only subordinates. And Jiang Yuelou doesn't work with stupid, so the fact that he's a part of Jiang Yuelou's team means that he's not stupid. (Though you can't tell that he's smart cuz sometimes he just says really dumb shit and next to Song Rong, he looks dumb so...but still! He's smart! Just does not have a good brain to mouth filter)

✨ love your fandom asks ✨ | send me asks

#sass answers #took 🐸#questions for fic writers #love your fandom asks

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t1meslayer · 1 month

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Going in for round 2!

I had a lot of fun with my Debrief for "Stone-Cold Lovers (Ch. 3)," and I think there's a bunch of interesting, insightful aspects to my writing here given Splatoon's setting offers plenty of aquatic-themed worldbuilding.

So, let's get into it! Check out my full author's commentary below the cut — but only after you've had the chance to read "By Moonlight," my latest Splatoon fanfic.

I've been playing Splatoon since the 2015 original on Wii U. But to be completely honest, the series never hit me until Splat3. I never bought Octo Expansion (though I did watch most of it), so "Return of the Mammalians" may have just become the first time I truly appreciated how insane the series' lore is. Playing through the final battle during a road trip back from San Francisco with a couple of buddies is something I'll remember forever.

I also fell in love with Shiver and Marie as a couple, spawning a whole host of fanfictions.

But that's neither here nor there. Because this story is about Pearlina.

(The featured image evolved over time)

Another consequence of my foolishness circa Splatoon 2 is I didn't realize how much I liked Off the Hook's music. In fact, the origins of this very fanfic came from a brief obsession with Marina's piano-playing prowess on songs like "Tentacle to the Metal" when Splatoon 3 released in 2022. A connection to the 1st Movement of "Moonlight Sonata" was baked into the premise by their similar set of three notes playing in succession.

Though, I should be clear: I am not a classical music nerd, nor any kind of music nerd. I have a pretty terrible ear for music, and as a result don't listen to much (video game soundtracks notwithstanding, most of my ambient noise is YouTube videos, TV, or podcasts).

If we want to get really deep into the weeds of how pathetic I am, my main attachment to "Moonlight Sonata" stems from Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak (2002) on the GBA.

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My rendition of Marina playing the song even ends at essentially the same point as this game's usage, since it's baked into my soul.

When's Hamtaro coming to Nintendo Switch Online, cowards?

That being said, I largely based the in-universe playing on this video by Rousseau, a YouTube channel that creates fancy visuals for piano covers of classical and pop music:

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My original plan was to have Eight gift the Beethoven book to Pearl and Marina as an oddity acquired through raiding Grizzco facilities following "Return of the Mammalians." However, the idea came back in full-force with the release of Splatoon 3: Side Order. There was a brief period where I considered applying to the Pearlina zine "You and Me Against the Universe!" with something similar, but that was before I fell into my drive to write for zines.

Side Order definitely feels like a test run for more fleshed-out Roguelike modes in future Splatoon games, but I'm enjoying it all the same. And I just had to include tidbits of lore like Eight joining Off the Hook's world tour.

As one final note on "Moonlight Sonata," this is the first time I've written a musical performance as prose. My Mariver fic "Harmonic Frequencies" ends with a bit of choreography for Deep Cut's tribute to "Calamari Inkantation," but that's about as far as it goes. Luckily, my sister is studying Music Education and Music Performance in college (and she graduates soon!), so I was able to lean on her as a source of knowledge.

She just had to suffer through my insufferable gay seafood to get there.

Her main advice was to think of writing musical prose not as a literal translation of sheet music, but instead to really hone in on the emotions of listening to music. It took a bit to figure out the right balance between describing the performance itself and the more emotive images it conjures in Pearl's head, but I love the outcome!

My sister said, "Also the moonlight stuff is fire af." Clearly I've peaked.

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Fun Fact: She told me I should look into the creepier aspects of "Moonlight Sonata" while writing. Did you know that the song is dedicated to then-16-year-old Countess Giulietta Guicciardi (per Brittanica), a student whom he fell in love with (per New York Times)?

Because I didn't.

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My presentation of Pearl changed a fair bit over the course of this writing. Pearl's They/She pronouns were pretty spur of the moment, and the idea of They/She Napoleon has since become a running in-joke between me and my beta reader, the incredible artist Trybard (who was the source of my great screencap preview post that I blocked out for anonymity of personal socials).

Pearl with full tattoo sleeves was also a sudden decision that's entirely inspired by a Twitter post; I unfortunately cannot find that post anymore, it disappeared after I shifted pages. Likewise, Pearl learning Octarian is part-cute girlfriend stuff, part-excuse to use the joke about them reading Beethoven as "Beat-Havin'" that came to me in a flash of divine inspiration.

Marina doesn't get nearly as much love in the personal headcanon department, it was Trybard who suggested she might wear a citrus-y perfume smell. I added the motor oil.

I also added the fact that she's living it up in Pearl's downtown apartment, and lending out goofy manga-themed sleep shirts.

Off the Hook's apartment setting only includes the windowed hallway and main foyer (which I hope adds to the sense that Pearl is rich enough to afford the most ridiculously huge apartment of all time). However, there are two tidbits about the setting that I quite enjoy:

First, did you catch the bit about the charred piece of hull? I wanted to keep it subtle in writing, but my intent was referencing the NILS Statue! Did Pearl or Marina take the trophy? Who knows.

Second, Off the Hook's wall of records went through hefty trial-and-error. I settled on the idea of giving them Gold/Platinum/Diamond records (ala the real-world practice of Recording Industry Association of America certification) while listening to the collective works of Off the Hook. Given this is pre-Splat3, I imagined that the new recording of "Nasty Majesty" and their Splatfest theme "Color Pulse" would have among the most attention.

I also imagined that Splatoon wouldn't just use an exact 1-1 copy of our record certifications. Thus, the Recording Industry Association of Inkadia (RIAI) was born.

Rather than using precious metals to delineate sales, I decided to go with the more Splatoon-feeling marker of "neon records." I actually did a minor amount of research, predominately leaning on the website of Brigham Young University physics and astronomy professor Harold T. Stokes to figure out Neon's color spectrum.

Using this, I equated:

Violet = Gold (500,000 sales)

Green = Platinum (One Million sales)

Yellow = Double Platinum (Two Million sales)

Red = Diamond (Ten Million sales)

I even formatted the text to look like an actual RIAA plaque, just with the color's name rather than a literal record. AO3's HTML formatting can only go so far.

I used the "acronym" formatting to add extra context in the form of each song's to-date sales, which was all I originally planned to say. Learned all about that option in my horrific opening chapter to the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet fic "Paradiso," in which Arven has a nightmare that breaks the text "House of Leaves" style.

And that, my friends, is all she wrote.

I could go way deeper into the minutia Pearl's boisterous tone or Marina utilizing mechanical terms, but the broad strokes of where certain ideas originate seems like a better use of my "Debrief" time. Let me know what more you might want to see me discuss going forward, or what ideas for Splatoon fics you wanna see added to my eternal backlog! (The poll-winning Stardew Valley piece has to take priority now — no more game release distractions~)

Though, as one final note: Yes, the title is a Sailor Moon reference.

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You're welcome.

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