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catsafari25 · 5 months

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A/N: Hello again, and with this I think (?) I may have succeeded in writing enough bionicle fic to get it out of my system (unless another plot bunny hits me like a cannonball, but... eh, we'll see) and thus, here is the companion piece to the Vakama & Roodaka oneshot.

This time, exploring the scene where Vakama entered the Great Temple, from his side of things! This was also partially inspired by the scene in Challenge of the Hordika where Nokama is almost physically repulsed in trying to enter the Great Temple :)

In the tunnels beneath the temple, Vakama must stoop.

At first he shuffles, mutated arm tucked against him and his sole hand brushing only briefly along the floor to steady himself, but the passages are dark and deep and lined with creatures which seek out the weak. The eyes that watch him are not hungry. They keep their bellies too full for that.

In the end, it is easier quicker to drop to all fours, to share the weight between claw and tool that feet alone cannot. His altered form folds into the new stance with frightening familiarity. It's comfortable.

Natural.

The crown of his mask grazes the tunnel's ceiling, but only in passing. His gait is sure. Well. Surer than the ungainly slouch it had been before.

It was said – back when Matoran were awake to say such things – that even the strongest swimmers of Ga-Metru would hesitate before plunging into the depths of the protodermis sea. Not because the creatures there had any fondness for the taste of Matoran. In truth, it was thought that the rahi actively disliked the flavour. No, it was because the way Matoran swam was indistinguishable from the rahi's usual prey. Only when they had sunk tooth and jaw into their meal would they realise their mistake.

It was an annoying, if harmless mistake for the rahi.

Matoran couldn't say the same.

Vakama's early crawl through the passage had been like that of a Matoran swimmer: functional, but slow and indiscernible from wounded prey. Creatures drag themselves down into these depths to die, in hopes that they will be devoured only when they are too far gone to feel it. The eyes are patient. They will wait to see if this newcomer is similarly inclined.

And so when Vakama drops to his haunches, the eyes blink. Reassess. He moves less like the hunted and more like the hunter now, more predator than prey, and the eyes – and teeth – keep their distance after that.

The path Vakama stalks through was once a protodermis pipe, made obsolete even before the cataclysm. Newer conduits had been built, more efficient, more resilient, and this one had been disconnected but never dismantled. When he reaches its origin, it takes some effort – and his blazer claw – to break the seal across the hatchway, but when he does, one of the temple's protodermis purification chambers looms above him.

The room beyond is quiet.

Unmarked.

He doesn't realise he's stopped until the chittering of his audience draws closer. The snarl he throws back echoes off the pipe's walls, and the eyes retreat, but do not leave.

Vakama curls his hand around the lip of the hatch, and then falters.

Something is wrong.

It's not a pain, because the feeling does not hurt as it ought, but something is undeniably, fundamentally wrong. It causes his breath to catch, his hand to flinch, and it would be so easy, so easy, to turn and walk away, only...

Only he came here for a reason.

The wrongness flares, amplified for a moment, and then he pulls himself up. The eyes watch, but do not follow. Do they feel it too? Can even such base creatures sense the innate malice the temple exudes?

He clambers out of the purification chamber – empty and abandoned now – and stumbles upon his landing. He catches himself, but does not rise back to his feet.

Wrong.

This is wrong.

And at the edge of the wrongness there is a strange sort of terror. It dreads the same way the fire fears the sea, the same way the prey fears the predator; it is the meeting of two primally antithetical forces where only one can survive. It whispers turn back through his mind.

He moves into the next room.

It's one he knows well. Light filters down from the rot-stained windows, centering – as it had the day he'd first seen it – on the suva, and casting long sentinel shadows of the columns standing to attention around it. A crack mars the suva, its stone dome now split cleanly in two from the quakes, and – drawn by some desire he cannot identify (instinct, curiosity... nostalgia?) – he approaches.

It seems so small now. Even bowed and altered in his Hordika form, he looms over the Ta-Metru symbol he'd once had to stretch to reach.

Unbidden, his hand moves to the niche where once he'd placed a Toa Stone – where once he had though himself chosen, duty-bound, destiny-gifted – and falters a breath from the stone.

The wrongness spikes.

Screams.

And with a twist of something he will not call horror, he understands it is not originating from himself.

But from the temple.

It is repulsion. It's alienation. It's recognising him, but as other, as rahi.

It's disgust that a monster would dare enter its sanctuary.

In the Ta-Metru carving, stone once polished to the point of fragmented reflection, he sees a glimmer of his own face. Neither Toa nor Matoran. Nothing blessed by Mata Nui.

Vakama recoils.

And then a wave of his own disgust, propelled by that fury that runs so close to the surface now, rolls through him. If you didn't want us as the Toa, you should've stopped Makuta from choosing us, he thinks, and digs his claws into the stonework.

The wrongness sings.

But he knows it for what it is now, and his morphed, clawed hand gorges scars through the carving. The stone is soft. Its makers had never imagined someone would take a blade to it.

There comes a tapping from across the room, echoing brazenly off the ancient stone walls, and Vakama retreats instinctively into the shadows. A Rahaga enters.

Norik?

No, this Rahaga's armour is more akin to a Po-Matoran than a Ta-Matoran's, the colour of dust and stone. Vakama tries to recall the Rahaga's name – and then dismisses the attempt.

It won't matter, in the end.

The Rahaga walks as he always has, stooped and slow, but clearly unhindered by the temple. He passes by the suva and runs one gnarled hand across the stonework, his movements marred by curiosity rather than reverence.

The rage arrives a fully-formed creation. It drowns out the wrongness, floods the apprehension, and he is moving before he's decided that this is the path he wants.

It is not pain, for it does not hurt as it ought.

But it does still hurt.

Whatever the Rahaga might once have been, they are old and weak now. Four are captured before Vakama's rage has a chance to cool, but the ire is no less dangerous when it does.

(That's the thing about Ta-Metru; it's not a place of fire so much as it is of magma. And magma doesn't extinguish with the cold; it sets. It moors itself into place, an unmovable, burning force.)

The rage settles, solidifies around his heart and lungs and carves a home between his breaths.

(Magma is not fire. It does not leap blindly from one source to the next. Instead it advances. Slowly. Steadily. It finds a channel, a destination, and it engulfs all in its path until it reaches it.)

He finds the last two remaining Rahaga, pathetically ignorant to their brothers' fates and still scavenging the temple for answers. He hears the way Norik appraises his sister's translation, relief clear in his voice that they are one step further on this wild rahi chase. Relief, surely, that the Rahaga are one step closer to regaining their Toa form.

(And Vakama's anger has found its destination.)

He does not descend on the Rahaga's leader the way he has the others. No. Norik will know what's coming for him first. He gets to fear. Vakama waits until Gaaki has gone, until Norik is alone, and then he circles. The wrongness thrums in his veins, weighing him down and labouring his breaths. It doesn't matter. Let Norik hear his approach.

Norik doesn't try to run. Vakama will give him that much. (A wise choice. Vakama intends for this encounter to last, but if Norik runs, Vakama cannot be sure he won't chase.) Instead, the malformed once-Toa calls out and actually tries to approach him. Stupid. Doesn't he know that he won't win any fight, transformed as he is? As both of them are? No, instead, he tries to talk. As if they are equals, as if Norik has done anything to deserve his respect rather than his scorn. As if he has earned the temple's forgiveness for his trespassing.

Even when Vakama raises the fate of Norik's fellow Rahaga, Norik attempts to sway him with the illusion of reason, talking of duty and unity, as if he's not using the other Toa Hordika to chase after a rahi myth for his own desires. As if their roles are in any way comparable, both Toa of Fire once, both leaders, it's true, but Vakama hasn't forgone his duty to chase after selfish needs.

And it stops now.

Vakama circles closer, and Norik is still talking, unease in his voice, but not fear. Still searching for the right words to turn Vakama to his bidding as he has the other Toa Hordika. Ever the voice of two-faced logic.

Why won't he just shut up?

Does Norik think him to be as gullible as the others? As quick to desert his duty as them?

And Vakama knows he wants – needs – to shake that assurance, that arrogance out of Norik. Needs to see that facade of self-righteous wisdom crumble into the terror of his situation.

The growl begins deep in his chest and, unleashed, it becomes a roar. He rears out of the darkness, into the weak sphere of light surrounding Norik – and there, there he finally sees true fear fill the old fool's eyes.

Something slams into Vakama and he reels, his roar cut short. His hand reaches automatically, defensively, to his mask. He finds only water there. It clings to him, imbued with some sort of power – he can feel something other in it – but otherwise impotent.

"Leave my brother alone," Gaaki snarls. She stands in the doorway, small and hopelessly overpowered, but her shoulders are tensed with a stubborness Vakama recognises. Already, her spinner is powering up for another shot.

Well. Two can play at that game.

Vakama's rhotuka fires into motion, but the water has seeped into the mechanism, and dowses the fire before it has a chance to catch. He gives it a withering look, before turning the expression onto Gaaki. "Very clever."

Another water spinner hits him, but this time he is braced for it and all it does is wash harmlessly off him.

"Is that all you have?" he asks. His blazer claw splutters, but the claws on his hand flex. After all, there's more than one way to defang a muaka...

Gaaki steps back. Good. She knows she's outmatched. "It's a devastating attack underwater," she offers, and her words are strong but there is a cracked edge to them.

"Then you'd better start finding a puddle," Vakama growls, "before my claws find you," and he drops into a run, feet pounding and fangs bared and that ever-present wrongness humming about him.

She doesn't flee. Just like Norik, she stands her ground, gnarled fingers wrapped tight around her staff. Her eyes are hard, but he sees the way her hands shake.

How long will her resolve last, Vakama wonders. Before or after the claws find their mark?

He never finds out.

He's knocked off his feet before he reaches her, and when he hits the ground, ropes of energy pin him to the earth, like a water-bound rahi caught in a net.

What–

Norik.

He'd forgotten Norik.

He thrashes against the restraints, but they hold strong – for now. His blazer claw splutters again, but it does nothing to the energy that binds him.

He stills as he hears footsteps approach.

The two Rahaga hobble into his line of sight. Gaaki is breathing hard, as if only now is she allowing herself to feel the fear. "You left that late, Norik," she says, and even the breath that follows sounds more like a shaken wheeze than a nervous laugh. "Almost too late."

"I only had the one shot. I couldn't afford to miss," Norik replies. "He's got our brothers. Gaaki, go find–"

"I'm not leaving you alone with him," she retorts. "I only went for a moment before, and look what would have happened if I hadn't returned."

Vakama tilts his head as well as the energy net will allow. He grins at the Rahaga, anger curdling it into a sneer. "Yes, Gaaki, you're very good bait, congratulations." He shifts his gaze to Norik. "But you've always been so good at getting others to do your dirty work, haven't you, Norik?"

Norik doesn't even have the decency of guilt. Instead, he simply looks tired. "Whatever you think you know–"

"I know the truth! You don't care about the Matoran, you only care about yourselves!" He strains against the ropes, and although they do not break, there's a little more give in them than before. He slumps back to the ground, breathing hard. "You might have the other Toa fooled. You might even have the temple fooled, but not me," he growls, and the temple's hatred presses down on him, straining his last words.

Gaaki places a frail hand on her brother's arm. "Norik," she says, and there is such unbearable sorrow in her voice. "He looks in pain."

"It's not my doing," Norik assures her softly. "My snare spinner only binds."

Vakama snarls. "I don't need pity from the likes of you. I know what you are."

"We're allies, Vakama," Norik says, in that insufferably reasonable way of his. "Friends."

"You're frauds," Vakama snaps. He twists against his restraints. They slacken, just a touch. "Liars. You don't deserve to walk these floors."

And the Rahaga stand there, unburdened by the temple's hate, strangers to this land, to Metru Nui, and yet it is Vakama the temple repulses? After everything he has forgone, the life he's abandoned, the friendships he's lost, Mata Nui punishes him?

His rhotuka fires off a fire spinner, and it goes wide, cracks a wall. Norik and Gaaki stumble back, Norik preparing another snare shot, but the energy net holding Vakama snaps. Vakama lurches forward, suddenly free, and slams into Norik.

The snare spinner wraps itself around a column. It lights up the room with crackling energy.

A blast of water grazes past his shoulder, too shy of hitting Norik to commit to taking the easy shot, and Vakama reels towards Gaaki. He fires with a snarl, but hears the snare spinner coming again and ducks at the last moment.

Again his own attack misses and the shot cleaves clean through a wall. Something on the other side begins to smoulder.

Then it begins to rumble.

It's a low sound at first, as deep as the earth and just as vast. Almost like a distant growl. But then the cracks begin to spiral out across the roof, along the columns, and the room buckles.

The light flickers. The frames of the high windows above collapse.

The world becomes fragmented, filled with flickering images. Falling masonry and toppling pillars and dust – but the sounds never relent. Even in the depths of the passing darkness, the thunder continues.

And when the dust settles, so does an awful silence.

Vakama straightens, or does his best approximation of it. Fragments of cracked protodermis fall from his shoulders, his head, his back. He withdraws the hand which has somehow found itself raised above Gaaki, knocking aside the stone slab caught against his arm.

Where's Norik?

Both Hordika and Rahaga stand side by side, that quietness disturbed only by the skittering of stone shards settling. There is wrongness in his breath, his head, and it's impossible to separate where the temple's ends and his begins. But any moment now, Norik will reappear from the wreckage, bearing that ever-same holier-than-thou look, and the anger will rise anew in Vakama.

Any.

Moment.

Now.

"You've killed him," Gaaki says, and her voice breaks that terrible stillness. She draws in a half-breath that cracks into a sob. "You've... oh, Norik..."

No.

No, it was an accident. He hadn't meant to– Norik had simply been in the wrong place. It wasn't as if he'd taken a blazer claw to Norik, or hit him directly with a fire spinner. He'd only meant to... what? What had he only meant to do?

Something swings towards him and he grabs the staff before he even registers what it is.

"He's not dead," Vakama says, and maybe if he says it, he might even believe it. He snaps his gaze to Gaaki, as if her grief is bringing it to pass. "He's not. He's not as easy to kill as that. When the others– when the Toa find him, he'll be fine. Fools like him always find a way to survive."

Gaaki attempts to pull her staff free, but her strength is no match for Vakama's. He wretches it out of her grasp and tosses it aside.

"Stop that."

She doesn't listen to him, only steps back and charges up her rhotuka. The grief in her eyes fogs into hatred.

The water spinner hits him but does little more than rock him.

"Stop."

Gaaki screams, a sound of rage and anguish, and releases a volley of spinners as ineffectual as the first.

Vakama's patience – or whatever had held him in place until now – snaps. He lunges forward. His claws close around the joints of Gaaki's rhotuka and pins the mechanisms harmlessly into place, in the same manner one might pick up a baby ussal crab by the widest edge of its shell. She thrashes, but Vakama's grip holds.

"I said, stop," he snarls.

She's breathing hard, her gasps sharp-edged with agony. "You killed him," she says, voice hoarse and hateful.

His insides twist, and – Gaaki hauled by his side – he starts the ascent to where the rest of the Rahaga are trapped. He doesn't look back to the rubble. Doesn't glance for one last glimpse of Norik's resting place.

He's not dead. He's not dead he's not dead he's not

The wrongness, the hatred, has woven so deep into him, it's almost a part of him now.

Toa don't kill. Vakama can't remember who taught him that (he recalls, briefly, the flash of a gold mask, but it comes with pain – grief – and he pushes it aside before it can take root) but it gnaws at him like a trapped stone rat. Toa don't kill.

But he was never meant to be one.

And if the Great Temple – if Mata Nui – thinks a mistake was made in Vakama's destiny....

Well. That's somebody else's problem.

The Hordika that returns to Roodaka is different from the one she sent out. There's something new in his eyes... or perhaps something lost.

"How was the temple, Vakama?" she asks when it's just the two of them.

He looks to her. Beneath the anger, beneath the rahi, there's almost a haunted look to those eyes. It vanishes a moment later, but Roodaka never doubts her own eyes.

"Unwelcoming," he replies, and Roodaka smiles. She could have suggested Vakama pick the Rahaga off one by one in the chaos of Metru Nui, outside where her Visorak could have been an aid... but the temple had been too good an opportunity to miss.

"Good." She sets a hand on his shoulder. "You owe no loyalty to Mata Nui, Vakama. Not anymore."

He rolls his shoulder, but not sharp enough to dislodge Roodaka's hand.

"One thing I do not understand," she says. "What happened to the sixth Rahaga?"

The Toa growls. It is a gutteral sound, rooted deep in the chest and at home in a way it wasn't before. "You wanted a message left for the other Toa. I needed a messenger."

"Alive?"

Vakama shrugs his shoulder again, and this time she lets him roll her hand loose. "Does it matter, so long as they understand?" he growls.

No, Roodaka concedes as she surveys the remains of the Toa before her. She supposes not.

#bionicle #cat writes #lego bionicle #do i have a weakness for the hordika arc? you'll never know #(yes. look i was a well behaved 12year old kid who loved plots about characters going feral. i ate the hordika plotline up)#(and two decades later or there abouts i still have nostalgic fondness for it)#heya so how do we feel about vakama returning to the temple and finding it is repulsed by him?#a discovery that might not only confirm he wasnt chosen by mata nui but has been forsaken #and yeah this was the fic i technically titled 'damned'#but also casually thought of it as 'god called to let you know he hates you personally'#because that's definitely a normal thing to name a fic #also yes i like the idea that roodaka pushed vakama to enter the temple knowing he would feel abandoned by mata nui #and thus helps sever the 'destiny' part of the three virtues #i like the idea that just like matau had to invoke the three virtues to get vakama back #roodaka worked on severing vakamas ties to the three virtues to get him to turn his back on the others #and while she succeeded with unity and destiny #duty she could only derail or corrupt rather than sever entirely #and that (esp since duty is vakamas whole shtick) is why matau reminding him of his duty finally worked #i'll probably add this and the stasis tube au to ao3 in time #but for now it goes here

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theflyingfeeling · 5 months

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okay I'm not expecting anyone to care all that much, but I was looking at the prompts for the 18th Day of Gift-Giving for my Olli/Allu fic advent calendar and I'm between two options on what to do with them, so if anyone out there wants to put in their two cents...

(see the pros and cons in the tags of the original post)

#on one hand i'd like to write a standalone with a storyline of its own #because that way i could probably manage to write a better story #on the other hand i kinda feel like i should focus on the main plot after all the standalones i've posted this week #but if i stick to the main plot my options would be more limited 🤔#because i don't feel like making either of them have a random headache/migrain or some kinda personal crisis #just for the sake of the prompt #i know there's barely any plot to begin with but i still don't want to make it too scattered 😅#i have an idea that would work alright for the main story and it would probably turn out cute enough #but some of the other prompts that wouldn't really work for the main story are soooooooo tempting #and i mean. at least 4 or 5 of the stories for next week will be related to the main plot #plus the stories for the 16th and the 17th #so there'd still be plenty for that too!#i'm probably gonna make my own decision regardless of the voting result but i'd like to hear from you anyway #i've never made a poll before and i'm kinda nervous about this lol i really am expecting this to get maybe 3 votes max 🤡#i hate how the title is so huge pls don't be annoyed with me i'm sorry for existing i promise i'll never make a post ever again 😭#not putting this in any tags. you see this if you see this

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spaceyflowerswriting · 2 years

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Ahhhhh.....the proposal letters were so good!!! Like ahhhhhhhhhhh

Would it be bad to ask for a scenario of Taehun and SeongJun actually popping the question?

JunTae anon

PS: if you can't or don't want to it really fine.

popping the question (seongjun and taehun)

details: fluffy scenario, gender neutral reader written in 2nd pov, general canon au (taehun is older though), reader has been dating character for a while

a/n: aw im glad u like them :'] and dw, thank u for another request <3 !!

TAEHUN

"Look, there's no way to bring this up without being overly formal and stuffy so I'm just gonna say it. Will you marry me?"

Maybe he should've practiced in front a mirror after all with how that came out. But like hell he was going to submit himself to that kind of cringey embarrassment--at least he didn't stumble over his words or stutter.

Either way, he ended up slightly blushing while managing to force himself to look you in the eyes to show he was serious. You were quiet, jaw dropped, processing the question.

Tension built in the air. Fortunately, not for long as a bashful smile soon replaced your previous expression.

"Yes, let's get married!"

After putting the ring on your finger, Taehun takes a moment to admire your sunshine-y demeanor. An unfamiliar warm feeling fills him, but he'll admit for once that the feeling isn't a bad one. As he reaches over to take your hand into his, running his thumb across your ring, he knew it was going to become a new habit of his.

SEONGJUN

There was a kiddish glee in Seongjun's steps as he entered the house, shutting the door behind him and shrugging off his coat. He hummed casually, pretending not to notice you when you walked down the corridor to greet him. A grin grew on his lips as you began to question him about his surprise starting with an M.

"Well, it's no fun if you don't guess."

You reply hesitatingly despite the obvious answer, and it makes Seongjun lean down to give you a kiss, softly telling you the speech he's had planned in his mind all day. He finishes it off with, "What do you say? Will you marry me, my dear?"

Seongjun cups your cheek as you smile. "Of course I will, Seongjun."

No words could express the euphoria Seongjun was feeling as he puts the ring on your finger. Deep in his heart, he was also feeling guilty, that he shouldn't be allowed to be this happy, but his heart eased when you held his hand and looked at him with gentle love. No matter what he felt, he was just glad to love someone so much and have them love him, too.

#viral hit x reader #how to fight x reader #seongjun baek x reader #taehun seong x reader #seongjun baek #taehun seong #requests #juntae anon #im so sorry that these are short;;;#i felt like i just needed to post this as is or i'd never finish it bc i wanted to add more but couldnt think of much 😭#so then i was just stuck in place and decided to push forward <//3 #but this is actually giving me an idea to create a new request option: scenario!#bascially a very short writing with generally no plot/basically miscellaneous writings #im worried about confusing/stressing ppl out with so many options tho.. 😭 i'll make a guide later!

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nobodieshero-main · 18 days

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okay so i was thinking about ahuru, as one does, and i was thinking about how much i don't want her death to just. be keika's backstory, yknow??

like i don't want to reduce her to just the main characters motivation, which is why i try to give her so much life in any scene she's in. but i think i wanna like- so, ahuru's death literally shapes nobodies hero, right? there'd be no story to tell if she hadn't been killed. and that's kind of a Big Deal to me.

so i think i'm going to symbolise the fuck out of birds. foreshadowing or whatever.

like when keika first meets mattie- he's in priah and he still doesn't have his memories back. he decides to go for a walk, just wandering through the mushrooms and the woods and then all of a sudden a game bird gets shot with an arow right in front of him. and when he looks up, he sees mattie with a bow and arrow, and that's how they meet.

and then in the next book it's revealed that Mattie is, technically, responsible for ahuru's death. it wasn't personal, in the same way hunting that bird wasn't personal, it was just...self preservation. they just shot an arrow and watched it land.

#i want the first thing for keika to see when he leaves the mahina woods is a dead bird #just. for every wrong path keika takes there's a dead bird waiting for him yknow #when he's in the library in the palace in prota he can hear the birds. and when he kills sasha they dont sing for days.#it also helps with my idea for there to be 'stop go back wrong way' signs all over the place the entire time keika's on the quest #like he's CONSTANTLY being told he's going the wrong way. he's not where he's meant to be. and every step leaves feathers in his wake.#im trying so hard to properly convey what i want to do with the birds but none of its coming out right #i'll just have to write it ugh #anyway #ahuru my beloved you will haunt every word in these books if it kills me #oh my god what if all throughout two ghosts he hears birds but never sees them......#i might have to adjust the title slightly to allow more wriggle room for more ghost metaphors #plot stuff

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heich0e · 6 months

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Livvvv my brainrot is so bad recently m and your Choso fic isn’t helping 🥲 would you ever consider writing for other jujutsu kaisen characters like Yuta, Yuji or Nanami?

SORRY TO BE A HINDRANCE TO UR RECOVERY BESTIE!! and as a general rule i'm usually down to write for any character, it all depends on the whims of whatever part of my brain is responsible for plot production <3 that being said i have a lot of reservations for writing certain characters bc ppl get very protective of them and their characterizations in fanfic, and it rly sucks all the joy outta writing for them or sharing those pieces

#liv got mail #all that aside... i do notice that every so often i have these fleeting plot ideas for yuuta but they never come to full manifestation #if that makes sense??#like i'll be like 'oh i think yuuta would like/say/do this' and then i go hmmmm interesting.... but nothing else comes to me!#maybe some day that will result in a full fic/drabble!!#i'd say in order of likelihood it would be yuuta yuuji and then nanami #but yuuji is very baby to me #and nanami............... writing for him scares me LOL

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koritsi-chaos · 1 year

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Pride and Prejudice_

'Surrender me your pride and I'll let go of my prejudice. '

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bookwyrminspiration · 1 year

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Do you have advice for plot specifically in stories? I am usually able to figure out characters, setting, and worldbuilding, but I struggle a lot when it comes to plot. - Amethyst

I do! I can share what helps me figure out plot and approach the story, but keep in mind every writer is different; if what works for me doesn't work for you, that's okay!

There are two big things I do when thinking about plot: asking why, and the skeleton. I hope they are of some use, and happy writing!

Asking Why

Plot is a messy conglomeration of worldbuilding, situations, and character reactions (among other things), so what's key for me is understanding why things are the way they are, and following that trail of questions. If you have a certain situation, prompt, feeling, etc, you want to convey, ask why it's there. Asking why and trying to answer those questions give your story more reason to them, which makes it feel more solid and believable. A healthy scattering of whats will also help.

I'll use a recent shorter work of mine, our corner of the world, a keefitz sick fic, as an example. I'd been given a prompt that someone was sick, and the other person didn't know how that had happened. So then that leads me down this trail: Well, why doesn't Keefe know Fitz's sick? They're not together when he falls ill. Well if they're not together, why does Keefe ask him about getting sick in the prompt? He must've had a reason to see him then, that way he can ask. Well, why does Keefe need to see Fitz? Maybe they had something planned. Okay, well the prompt is that he's sick, why is that important here? Oo, what if he's sick and that means he misses a date/hang-out spot. Okay, well what's Keefe's reaction to that? Thinking Fitz has had enough with him and self-doubt, so he goes to check on Fitz and after a little bit, they talk things out.

That process of asking questions of the very baseline situation I'd been given and the characters I was working with allowed me to think and explore in-depth various ideas. This was just one possibility, it could've led me a different direction.

Asking those questions to help create the plot instead of creating the plot and trying to fit it into the story I find allows it to feel more natural. I don't have to force things together because the two work in tandem. The baseline creates the plot, and then through the plot it enriches the characters and situation. It's more fluid this way, for me

The Skeleton

The other thing I like to do is write down the most bare bones outline of that plot I questioned into existence. It can be as simple as a single sentence explanation, but I make sure to know where I'm going. If I leave it open, I find my story wanders and loses sight of itself, and I never touch on what I want to. You may be different, but knowing (at least vaguely) my end goal is crucial.

For that keefitz fic, I wrote something like "Fitz sick. Keefe worried. Visits. Talk it out." Right there I've hit the most basic elements. There's the situation (sick, worried), what Keefe does about it (visits), and how it ends (talk). I know where I'm starting and I know where I'm ending, so I can get a better grasp of the space and story I have to work with.

For longer stories, like the wings au, the same thing applied. I was a little more sophisticated and decided an exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution, but each of those was just as simple. My notes legit say "big fight" for the climax.

From there, if you want to be more detailed, you can fill in the gaps between that and add muscle and fat and nerves to that skeleton, some organs to flesh it out (pun not intended but acknowledged). There's no rule about it, just however much you want to. I was fairly thorough for the beginning of the wings au, but way less so for the ending. For the keefitz fic I didn't go any further than what I said above and kept everything else in my head. Do what you like!

A final thing to keep in mind: plot can change! just because you've written things down doesn't mean you have to stick with them. Follow your story and don't be afraid to deviate. The original falling action and resolution I planned out in the wings au ended up not fitting with how the story developed as I wrote, so rather than force it into old plans I allowed it to grow outside of them.

Sometimes asking yourself more questions (why or otherwise) as you write will illuminate new opportunities you can incorporate, so if you're not certain of something now, it's possible you'll figure it out as you go. There were a few very important plot things in the wings ai I didn't know until after I'd started writing--like the little girl's role. She wasn't in my original plans at all, but ended up being very important!

So those are my main two things for plot. I find them very useful, so hopefully that helps answer your question :)

#writing advice #plot advice #quil's queries #nonsie #i love writing!#also as I go i'll add in little notes in brackets #of ideas I had and want to include #for the sick fic i thought of: 'i thought you'd finally had enough of me.' 'never.' and went oo I want to do something with that!#so I made note of it and worked it in #i could say so much but i will stop here #happy writing and plotting!

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lott-the-otter · 2 years

Text

Plot ideas that I'll never write

Let's continue on the Genshin impact train wreck but this time with my favorite bridge maker: Kaeya Alberich!

Kaeya x Reader

Alright, so it's more a vibe than a plot but Vice-Captain!Reader

Let's start with a small backstory :

Origin: You can be a descendant of an Adeptus or just a regular human being. But you are much stronger than your typical human and you don't have a vision.

Family: you can either not remember much from them, except one memory of you telling someone that you wanted to be a knight and them warmly encouraging you, a memory filled with warmth and light that you yearned to remember but can't. Or you can live in a small cottage and have your family ripped from you, killed by that dragon (not Stormterror, the other). You're left on your own and rely on your strength to survive.

The point is: you are an orphan (which will help Kaeya empathize with you) and the Grand Master Varka is the one extending his hand to help you. Perhaps, your family was friends with him or perhaps he found you and took pity.

He is the one who chooses to put you in Kaeya's squad, believing that you would benefit from each other.

Now, as I said, I do not have an actual plot but I do have scenes in mind :

Kaeya is not someone who tends to get drunk, he needs to keep his head clear if he wants to get people to air out their secrets. He likes to drink and he likes to get tipsy, yes but not get drunk. However, there are special days that are exceptions: the death of his adoptive father, but also a few others that you don't know the significations (one would be the day his biological father left him behind and you can get creative for others). It's on those days that you stay behind at the knight's headquarters to clear most of his work, just like you suddenly were in the mood to drink and what a coincidence, you just so happen to choose the same bar as Kaeya. My oh my...

You know his tell: when he is drunk, Kaeya is quiet - which happens like never, the bastard always has a witty remark to make - and he get lost in memories of a painful past. And so, while he broods on them, you watch over him.

On every other day, though, he is a little shit that likes to play mind games with you. Mainly testing your ability to follow along his train of thoughts by pushing you head first in a situation without telling you much before, asking you to put yourself in uncomfortable situations (and most of the time succeeding: acting as a bait, as a damsel in distress, as the distraction... ).

And sometimes (rarely), he will put himself in danger and trust you to save him.

The platonic relationship is all about trust (the reason why you follow along with his plans), respect, and teasing.

One situation could be that there are people ready to overthrow him in his squad and he suddenly has to go somewhere, leaving you behind. He will trust you to handle the squad and stand your ground against them while he lays low, waiting for the rebels to make a fatal mistake.

Another situation would be in combat, he wouldn't jump to your rescue - even if you are separated from them because the enemy expects you to be weaker as you don't have a vision, to which you get angry because he is insulting 90% of the knights - as he trusts your strength and your fighting abilities.

Now, you may ask: "but Lott, what about the romantic aspect?" to which I would answer by uhh....

To be fair, to get in a romantic relationship with Kaeya is uh, hella hard. You need to have patience as he will most likely try to distance himself from you (by playing mind games with you in the hope that you get fed up with him and distance yourself on your own). I hope you're a good dancer because for each step forward, he will take two back.

It's all about his trauma: he prolly has abandonment issues, he is lowkey scared to show that he cares and he is filled with guilt. Example: Jean's story, when he refused to admit that he was the one who organized everything. The page he wrote about Diluc's reaction to his confession and the way he clings to the past, to the memory of his biological father, and the times when his relationship with Diluc was simple.

(There are some tumblr users that are far better than me at writing meta about Kaeya)

But a bit despite himself, you can expect longing glances, intense stares and fleeting touches that yearned to remain longer. Watching over you from afar and teaching you everything so you won't have a hard time once you leave him behind (his thoughts). Compliments that he will mask as idle flirting.

Another big problem would be that you're both knights and it's frowned upon to be in a relationship together (especially because he is your superior). Though, everyone already believed that you are together.

It's such an open secret that the both of you know the other return your feelings but you still refuse to step over the lines. Your duties as a knight being too important for you.

And when the embers of your yearning turns into an inferno, you may be tempted to spend a night together, to allow yourself to succumb to your desires. Only for one night, you will simply be Kaeya and yourself, not the knights, not the spy. Simply, ordinary you. And you would wake the next day early in the morning, before the sun kissed the horizon, to stare at your lover that would cease to be your lover in a few hours. And you would let your fingers run his face, tickling him awake so you could share one last embrace and say goodbye to a side of the other that you would never see again.

And maybe I should stop here for now, the post is starting to get really long. Though, I do have other scenes in mind buuut such word vomit already...

If you have any questions, you're welcome to ask me :)

#genshin impact fic #genshin x reader #genshin x you #genshin impact #genshin kaeya #kaeya alberich #kaeya x reader #plot ideas that i'll never write #kaeya angst #romance #slow burn #kaeya x you #kaeya imagines #word vomit #sfw

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