#thread: fear is a great motivator

[queenshelby]

Chemical Reactions (P. 20)

Pairing: Cillian Murphy as J Robert Oppenheimer x Student Reader

Warning: Age-Gap, Infidelity, Smut, Torture

Words: 1,889

Note: The fic is spoiler free and my own fantasy and imagination. It is not historically and scientifically accurate.

As the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months, the separation between Robert and you became agonizingly long. The weight of the situation bore down heavy on both your hearts, as you tirelessly navigated through the treacherous waters of uncertainty and danger.

Albeit the fact that you had been moved to more pleasant prison just two days after you had been arrested by Pash, you were still confined to a secure facility which, luckily for you, had medical care.

In this facility, the months dragged on, a never-ending cycle of uncertainty and despair.

While you were away from him, Robert felt as if he were living in a purgatory, caught between his duty and his love for you. The revelation that Kitty Oppenheimer, his own wife, had betrayed him like this was a bitter blow. It shattered any semblance of trust he had left, leaving him feeling betrayed and empty.

It was her who leaked secret information to an agent of the soviet union and the investigation into Kitty's actions revealed a web of secrets and lies that she had woven meticulously.

She had leaked information and tried to divert the blame onto you in order to get rid of you and this, itself, was a dangerous game that she was playing.

It was a twisted and cruel act, one that Robert never thought he would witness from someone he had once loved. The fallout from Kitty's betrayal only complicated matters further. The authorities were now wary of potential moles within the project, questioning everyone's loyalty and motives and despite her partial admission, the investigation into your past continued.

With Kitty’s actions, it seemed that no one was above suspicion, including Robert himself. Every step he took was scrutinised, his every move monitored while he led the project. Desperate to protect you and ensure your safety, Robert used his influence where he could. He pulled strings, called in favours, and pleaded with higher-ups to expedite the investigation so that you could reunite. But bureaucracy moves at its own pace, and justice seemed painfully slow.

The days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months. Robert could only imagine what you were going through, locked away in a military facility, while the world passed you by.

His heart ached at the thought of you being subjected to the harsh realities of prison life, especially with a child on the way. Time seemed to stretch endlessly, each passing day marked by a dull ache of longing and a gnawing fear of the unknown.

Robert grappled with his own guilt, feeling responsible for the situation that had befallen you. He questioned every decision he had made, wondering if there was something he could have done differently to protect you.

As the months went by, Robert found solace in his work. He threw himself into research and experimentation, channelling his frustrations and fears into the pursuit of scientific breakthroughs. He pushed the boundaries of his own knowledge, hoping that some great discovery would alleviate the pain of his separation from you.

***

Unable to see each other or communicate directly as visitors were strictly prohibited at the facility, the only solace came in the form of letters.

General Groves became the messenger, reading your heartfelt words and delivering them to each of you personally.

Every letter was a lifeline, a fragile thread connecting your hearts in the midst of an unpredictable and unforgiving world. Through ink-stained pages, you shared your hopes, fears, and struggles, desperate to hold onto the love that had been abruptly torn from your grasp.

The letters were filled with a mix of joy and sorrow, as you recounted each day's events, except those related directly to the development of the gadget.

You described the unbearable loneliness and longing for each other's embrace, the difficulty of trying to remain strong amidst the harsh conditions. But amidst the darkness, there were glimpses of hope as you spoke of the unwavering belief that one day, you would be reunited.

Robert, ever the optimist, wrote poetry to cheer you up and you poured your heart onto the pages, documenting the challenges you faced, both physically and emotionally while being confined.

The uncertainty of your fate weighed heavily on you, but you refused to succumb to despair. Instead, you clung to the memories of your time together, allowing them to fuel your determination to overcome the adversities you faced.

General Groves, touched by the depth of your love and resilience, took it upon himself to ensure the safe passage of each letter. He knew the importance of this lifeline, recognising that their words held the power to inspire and sustain you. With each delivery, General Groves witnessed the unwavering devotion that bound you together.

Your love, tested by distance, confinement, and uncertainty, remained steadfast, growing stronger with each passing day. These letters became a testament to the power of love in the face of adversity, a bond that refused to be broken. And so, the months crawled by, punctuated by the arrival of each letter. They became the rays of hope that pierced through the darkness, reminding you that love could endure even in the bleakest of times. Every word, every sentiment, forged a connection that transcended the physical divide, drawing you closer together even in your separation.

***

Then, one day, General Groves attended Los Alamos without a letter in his hand, informing Robert that he had something much more exciting to give to him.

Handing him a photograph, he said “Congratulations Robert! You have a healthy baby boy.”

With trembling hands, Robert took the photograph from General Groves. As his eyes settled on the image, his heart skipped a beat. There, captured in a moment frozen in time, was a tiny bundle of joy cradled in your arms. The weight of the world seemed to lift from his shoulders as he gazed at his son for the very first time. Tears welled up in Robert's eyes, a mixture of relief, longing, and overwhelming joy. It had been a year of unimaginable anguish and uncertainty, but seeing the radiant smile on your face as you held their child close, he knew that everything he had fought for had been worth it.

“He is perfect,” Robert declared tearfully, unable to take his eyes off the photo. In that instant, all the heartache faded into insignificance compared to the overpowering sense of pride and love surging through him. This new life embodied the essence of your undying commitment to each other, standing tall against the forces that sought to rip them apart.

Looking anxiously, Robert said, "This baby will change things and all our sacrifices won't go to waste."

"No, they won't Robert," the General said before he nodded resolutely, acknowledging the weight of responsibility resting on Robert's shoulders as well as his own.

"Please, can I see him. He is my son," Robert asked, his voice cracking, but General Groves told him that this was not an option due to security reasons.

Heartbroken yet understanding, Robert swallowed back tears and thanked the General for the photograph.

"I understand, General," he managed to say, his voice hoarse with grief and happiness mixed. 

"When you see her next, can you give her my letter and tell her that she is doing amazing and that I am proud of her?" His voice breaking slightly, he added, "Tell her how brave she is. How beautiful she looks holding our little miracle. Tell her I miss her dearly. And let her know...let her know..."

His voice trailed off as Robert realized he couldn't quite put into words exactly what he wanted to express about his feelings toward you, about their relationship, about their shared experiences - especially after learning about your bravery in giving birth under such difficult circumstances.

"I suggest you write it down, Robert. I will be here until noon," said General Groves, sensing Robert's struggle to articulate his feelings. "Take your time," he told him with a pat on the shoulder. 

Grateful for the supportive presence, Robert nodded and quickly retrieved paper and pen from his office. Sitting down, he began scribbling feverishly, trying to find the right words to convey his thoughts and emotions towards you.

In a few moments, he finished composing the most honest and vulnerable message he had ever written and it was this very honest and raw letter of his that brought tears to your face. 

*** The Letter ***

My Dearest [Your Name],

Words cannot express the overwhelming emotions coursing through my veins as I hold this photograph of our beautiful baby boy. Seeing his innocent face has cast a brilliant light upon the darkest corners of my weary soul. In this single image, I find solace, hope, and an abundance of joy that courses through my every fiber.

I stand here, with tears streaming down my face, in awe of the miracle you have brought into this world. Our son, our precious creation, is a testament to the strength and resilience of our love. He is a beacon of hope, a symbol of our undying commitment to one another and to a brighter future.

I cannot help but think of the sacrifices you have made, the hardships you have endured, and the relentless determination that has guided you through this tumultuous journey.

Our love has endured the trials, the uncertainty, and the immense pressure placed upon us. And now, in this moment, the weight of the world seems insignificant compared to the boundless love radiating from this tiny bundle of life.

As I gaze upon this photograph, I am filled with an indescribable pride for what we have created together. Our love, our bond, has transcended distance, sacrifices, and the devastating impact of this war.

Please tell our son, when the time comes, that his father loves him more than words can convey. Tell him about the countless lives that will reap the benefits of our sacrifices. Whisper to him our story, a tale of resilience, bravery, and the unwavering love that binds us all together.

And to you, my love, I want to express something that words alone could never encapsulate. Your indomitable spirit, your unwavering courage, and your unyielding love have sustained me through the darkest of days. In you, I have found my anchor, my refuge, and my reason.

Please know that you are an extraordinary woman, my love. Your bravery, your strength, and your unwavering spirit during the pregnancy and birth have left me in awe. The thought of you going through such a monumental moment without anyone by your side breaks my heart, but it also fills me with immense pride. You are my rock, my source of inspiration, and the embodiment of everything that is beautiful in this world. Our son is fortunate to have you as his mother, and your love and guidance will shape him into an incredible human being.

When the time comes for us to be reunited, know that I will hold you tightly, for I have missed your touch more than words can express. Until then, my heart stays with you, my love.

Yours, forever and always,

Robert

Tags:

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#cillian murphy #cillian murphy x reader #cillian murphy smut #cillian murphy imagine #cillian murphy x y/n #cillian murphy x you #j robert oppenheimer #robert oppenheimer #oppenheimer movie #oppenheimer 2023 #oppenheimer #kitty oppenheimer #j robert oppenheimer x you #j robert oppenheimer x reader #robert oppenheimer smut

[builietproof]

hope and sacrifice.

I need to expand on this more on here because I'm going insane thinking about this.

the main themes in the rise movie center around hope and sacrifice. hope, being a ninjas greatest weapon and what leo ultimately uses to get the team motivated, and sacrifice which leo actively uses. these two concepts are interchangeable and are used to develop this unhealthy view of being a hero.

leo being the prime example of this.

leo is notorious for being a martyr in the movie not because he wants to be self sacrificial and thinks he deserves it (although a small part of him might think that) but because thats what he's been taught and grown up to think. of taking responsibility. of allowing to take hold of the "burden" of caring for his team, for his brothers. he must sacrifice a part of himself in order to be a worthy leader. no more immature pizza stacking competitions, no, leo must sacrifice that part in order to mold into being a leader. he must sacrifice his childhood.

its no surprise leo wants nothing to do with this idea, its no surprise he's constantly rebelling against this notion and not taking it seriously because as much as we have seen leo act dumb and immature, we know that he is smarter than he acts. he knows that being a leader is sacrificing the part of freedom he loves so much. the part that can joke around with his brothers and can allow himself to easily fight off bad guys without worrying because thats not his job. he's just leo.

thats raphs job.

raph has sacrificed this part of himself. his identity is surrounded by being the oldest, being the responsible one, having the "raph chasm", being the leader. raph was born as the eldest son to take the responsibility and with little to no help from splinter (because lets be honest raphs relationship with his brothers is also very parental), raph has had to create this idea of what being a leader is not only to himself but for his brothers. he has created the mold of being a leader from shows, from experiences, from being the oldest. he must sacrifice a part of himself, a part of his freedom, a part of his childhood, in order for his brothers to be safe.

and now his younger brother is being pushed into this with little to no warning.

(now I could go on and on about how the season 2 finale was the catalyst for raph and leos bond and brotherhood to slowly unravel BUT thats another thread.)

the rejection of the leader position from leos perspective makes so much sense. leo is still a kid. this responsibility isn't for him, he's not equipped to make these decisions. thats for raph. thats for the oldest.

which makes why raph is so upset with leo in the beginning of the movie so much more real. all he's known is this great weight of carrying the burden and guilt of his brothers and the actions that could cause them to get hurt, he has taken the fall, taken the blame, and has done so without faltering (kind of). although leo is the "faceman", all of the brothers show some sort of mask to hide behind in an unhealthy way. donnie hides behind his science and his title of being the "smart one", mikey hides behind the fact that he is the youngest and his many dr. personas. leo and raph both hide behind some form of bravado that masks the fear they have for their brothers and their safety. raph uses his anger while leo uses his laid back attitude. both are hiding their fear. their both scared.

this is where hope and sacrifice begin to blur.

casey jr. introduces us to the idea of hope because he essentially is the human personified version of hope. he is future leos last hope. he is what is left of an entire civilization that has now been destroyed. but what is hope without sacrifice. casey jr. has witnessed both future mikey and future leo sacrifice themselves for the greater good. for hope. since this is all casey jr. has ever known, especially with how he grew up (another major theme but ill talk about that another time) the idea of sacrifice is hand in hand with hope. with winning. with being a hero.

so when leo comes back after raph sacrifices himself so leo can escape, casey jr. is more thrilled than anything that they have the key. because they "won", because raph sacrificed himself, because hope is nothing without sacrifice.

and this is again another reason why leo begins to put the two together and create his own warped idea of being a leader.

being a hero.

learning about his future self, of how much casey jr. idolizes him and calls him "the greatest ninja the worlds ever seen", of how he was a leader and led the entire revolution. of how he saved the world by sacrificing himself. its only until raph does the same does the gears begin to turn.

being a leader is about sacrifice.

and so getting thrown into the prison dimension is the responsible thing to do. its the right thing. its the sacrifice that someone like leo believes is what a leader would do because yeah leos the leader now and leaders do whatever they can to make sure their team is safe.

that their brothers are safe.

the words "its not about me" play into this mindset and although by the end it helps leo learn that he needs to put more trust in his brothers and allow the burden of being a leader to fall on more than his shoulders, "its not about you" is exactly the mindset that raph had in the beginning of the movie. and because of this, raph and leo both are stuck in this cycle of responsibility and freedom. of having to navigate between wanting to sacrifice their future of being heroes in order to just live like normal people for a few minutes or sacrifice their own individuality to bare the weight of the world on their shoulders. and with their situation of being literal mutated turtles created only to become super soldiers, they automatically are deemed special and were brought into this world in hopes of fighting against humanity.

A ninjas greatest weapon is hope after all.

#rottmnt #unpause rottmnt #unpause rise of the tmnt #unpause rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt 2018 #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt movie #rise tmnt #tmnt #rise leo #rise raph #character analysis #meta #rottmnt leo #rottmnt raph #casey jr #casey jones jr #rottmnt analysis #leonardo hamato #raphael hamato #rise analysis #tmnt analysis

[prinxlegolass]

Smut War Fic: Exit Wound

Well, this wasn't a war I was going to sit out. Please enjoy my 6th fic. First attempt at smut, but as you have already seen from my TrAuMa meme, it also has a lot of angst in it. I hope you enjoy it x

Rating: Explicit

CW/TW:

These are expanded upon further in the summary if you'd like to also read that for context, but take care of yourself :)

- Demon in Snake Form / Goddess in Human Form Sexual Encounter. Both are aware of what the other is, and both can consent

- Slight dubcon due to magic, feeling highly connected to someone and a sense of not being in control as a result, more so due to an inherent primal instrinct. All beings are acting on free will and are able to consent for the smut bits

- In the epilogue, a character describes a murder he witnesses without gory detail (the victim is not Aziraphale or Crowley). The nature of the murder is patriarchal and of spiritual colonisation in nature, but there is no sexual assault / motive. The fic can be read without the epilogue if you're curious but want to skip this subject.

-Angst ending

- Snake bite, snake sex and descriptions that could trigger claustrophobia

Summary

Hell sends Crowley to 5th Century Ireland, much to his chagrin, to investigate a mysterious source of power. Uphill from a deep rainforest he finds an ancient structure with something far more ancient and far more powerful than any blessing or curse he’d seen before.

This is a story of love, of loss, coming home, and everything that never was. Join me for a re-telling of an Irish Celtic Myth that has been sanitised and long-forgotten. Taking place in one hundred years into Early Christian Ireland, it weaves themes of spiritual colonisation with the ineffability of a great plan and the parts of us that are never truly lost.

But this is a smut war - and you can expect a sexy divine being, human sex and snake sex; not just hemi-penes, but hemi-clitorae! Sex magic rituals being used as a sensual tool for transformation and rebirth; and plenty of vulva pleasure and gratification.

There are three (because it’s a magic number) sexual configurations - demon in snake form / Goddess in human form, Snake / Snake, Human / Human. That culminates in a healing and surrendering love.

The epilogue features angst with an unhappy ending. As you can imagine, the resistance to Christianity did not end well for the Irish Pagans. In the epilogue, one character describes witnessing the murder (no sexual assault) of another. But the story stands well enough on its own without the epilogue if you want to skip this part.

5,014 word count

Excerpt:

“I’ve been waiting for you, Crowley.”

“Who are you?” Crowley hissed. His aggressive exterior betraying the powerlessness he felt to draw nearer.

“I am many things, Crowley. I am one of many mothers; both death and rebirth. I am the inhale and the exhale; the dawn that rises after the cold, hard winter; I bring joy and I am feared; and soon, none will remember…”

Crowley inched forward, concertina twinings marking the dirt, barely sensing the heat of the fire in the woman’s lure.

“Your name!” He growled insistently.

“You already know it, Crowley. Look deep inside you, my beloved serpent,” was her soft response with kind eyes. Crowley flicked his tongue at the fingers of her extended palm. The woman’s skin was steeped in the essence of her words; the taste of finely plucked sycamore seeds carried lovingly by the wind to pre-destined soils. Tears doomed never to fall filled Crowley’s heart as the thread that connected him to this woman tugged him closer on her arm; the most he had ever touched or been touched by a human in his snake-form. Only she wasn’t human, was she? A foreign name Crowley had always known moved from the back of his mouth to dance on his tongue.

“Caoira…”

Green eyes smiled through tears at the demon’s whisper.

“Yes my dear. It’s me. I’m so glad you’re here.”

Crowley’s thought-form longed to ask questions. About knowledge, that began before words; curiosity, that existed before symbols; and meaning, established before sounds. But he had already found his answer in her eyes. Another Almighty; new and much more ancient. A Goddess.

Crowley’s body took over once again, unable to resist the draw to her. Climbing her arm and shoulders, his tongue could not cease flicking, planting forked kisses on her neck. Quivering, he meandered down her shoulder, elongating his form to drape around her. Powerless over the compulsion to place his chin on every part of her body, Crowley’s tail vibrated in her lap and Caoira breathed sighs of joy in his scaled ministrations.

Fingers that had borne the very wells of the earth stroked the obsidian pearls of Crowley’s back, before coming to delicately caress the ridges of his snout and brow. Crowley flinched in the touch, haunted by memories of the fall; of centuries spent curled around the cooling magma of igneous rock. Curled around any form of connection to replace the Almighty’s as his wings burned.

 

Coos of Caoira’s attunement honeyed Crowley’s ears, and with no way of crying, sweating or spitting it out; his serpent-form became fevered with fury for what had happened to him. His body flailed in twisted, hissing reverberations in the centre of the Goddess’s crossed legs. In his uncontrolled anguish, Crowley felt his jaw unhinge and his fangs hook into Caoira's thighs, breaking her skin. Punishment for his other mother, who had placed a similar hook in his heart only to cut the cord in the end.  This time, he was never letting go.

Read more on AO3

Thank you:

Goskiagarkowska2 on pixabay for the image. A huge thank you to @sohoscribblers who have been amazing friends since I joined their group. Big thanks to @azeutreciathewicked @aidaran-alha @playdohangel and @rhosmeinir for the Betas x

#good omens smut #ineffable smut war #good omens #crowley and aziraphale #because smut without angst feels like nothing #celtic mythology #good omens au #irish paganism #newgrange #good omens fanfiction

[threadbaresweater]

one

Happy Birthday to the man that ruined me, the one and only Suguru Geto. 710 words, PWP, add some feels. It's prose-y and pretentious, but I had fun writing it when I found myself obsessed with him last year. Enjoy!

"Suguru…"

His name is a sigh on your lips, a plea to the heavens for him to never, ever, ever stop touching you, to never let the press of his naked body against yours ease up for fear that you might lose yourself completely, to become so weightless with pleasure, with ecstasy, that you evaporate into the air above the bed where you make love.

His body, long and lean, is slick with the sweat of his exertion, his arousal. Each slow roll of his hips against yours is a new cry, a whine, a breath from a mouth that's dry from rasping, wheezing breath, in and out, over and over again while you're pressed into the mattress beneath him. You've never known such passion before Suguru, and you swear on your life you'll never know it as great and earth-shattering and overwhelming ever, ever again. 

He kisses you, and you whimper into his mouth when his tongue strokes yours, when it laps at the back of your teeth and you clench your fingers around the soft flesh of his buttocks, and he falters in his gentle rhythm, hips stuttering before he drives a little deeper, a little harder. Your vision goes white and you squeeze your eyes shut and the tears trace down your temples and fall into your ears. You're vaguely aware of his lips at your brow, bumping against your skin while his words dance around your head. Come for me, baby. You feel so good.

You want to scale that peak, You want to come toppling down over the edge, free fall, euphoric. But in the same breath, the same wave of ecstasy, you don't want it to stop. You want to stay suspended in this moment right before you crest over, before the waves come crashing down around them both and he's breathing right in time with you. Before your toes curl and your muscles twitch and your eyes roll backward and you're falling. You're lost. You're so delirious you can't speak. 

He slows his work between your thighs and pushes his hair from his eyes; it's damp, it sticks to his forehead in dark swatches and he can hardly speak now when he catches sight of the sheen of sweat on your glowing skin- the flush on your neck, the gloss over your eyes, your delirium, your raw pleasure, your beauty. God, you're so perfect. 

He could touch your a thousand times and it would never be enough. He could bring you to climax and feel you from the inside, let you make him a man in every sense of the word each day and each night, and he'll never stop needing you, wanting you, craving you. He watches your face, the subtle wrinkle of your brow, the flare of your nostrils, the sharp intake of breath and the quiver of your chin as he rolls slowly against your and you arch to meet him and he finds the place where You need him most. Your cries are lost on his shoulder where you bite down at your peak. It's the motivation he needs to come along with you, to allow himself to succumb to the clenching and pulsing of your need, encouraging his own, hard and twitching now with his release. He forgets how to breathe, and he's certain his heart has fluttered directly from his chest and is pounding somewhere frantically in step with yours. Somewhere your souls have become one. Somewhere in some space where it's impossible to tell where he begins and you end and the other way round. 

You're searching for his hand to ground yourself, fingertips trembling, trailing from his shoulder to his bicep, his elbow. Forearm. "Please!" You cry, and he threads his fingers through yours and presses his palm into yours and against the mattress where the sheets have pulled away from the corner and become a wrinkled mess beneath them. 

"I've got you, baby," he whispers before laying tender kisses against the salt of your skin, your tears dried upon your temple. He's still buried inside you, still steadying his own breathing. You open your eyes to find him there, to know that he is really there. Fingers flex, toes wiggle. 

You're almost grounded again. 

#geto x reader #getou suguru x reader #suguru geto smut #jjk x reader

[scrollll]

Okay, I know, we're all absolutely ready, have our clipboards with notes and the blackboard with pictures, threads and theories that make Kim Theerapanyakun's look like a damn kids' game board to go completely all in with the analysis again.

But here I ask for a brief pause to honor what a fiercely good job the actors have done for this series.

Seriously, my examples of this are endless. Of course, probably the most obvious, the many smut-scenes. It takes a lot to allow that level of trust and professionalism to become so intimate with not just one but multiple acting partners.

What I particularly love is that so far none of the sex scenes or general hot scenes have been "just sex". In each one you could see what was going on inside the characters.

You could see Soong's hesitation, the moment when he ignored his own preferences in order to please others and the emotions that built up bit by bit, First's joyful anticipation of finally being able to live out his fantasies and his urge to go further.

Zouey's hesitation, alternating with moments in which he tries to rise above himself, Teena's way in which he first tries to put on a show, only to fall for Zouey after all.

Nont's microexpressions, every time he's near Prom, the fear, the determination, at the same time the lust and tension.

Jump almost willingly throwing himself into Porsche's clutches, kneeling and showing himself submissive, but just waiting to be more deeply involved with Porsche...

The individual examples are endless, and truly insane.

Secondly, the intensity with which the actors prepared for the roles. At this point, I'd like to mention the Playboy actors in particular.

The actor from Teena said in an interview that the weight loss and training had presented him with enormous challenges. There were days when he didn't have enough energy to go to the gym or even lift a weight because of his diet.

Again, guys, the bodies we see don't come naturally. To be able to see a six-pack, the water balance in the body has to be extremely low. And the total body fat percentage must be between 13 and 6%. I'll leave the math to you, but as a spoiler, that's pretty damn low.

Third, the acting in general, not just in the nc scenes.

For example, the friendship between Captain, Zouey, First and Porsche, our pampered gang of the privileged.

I love their scenes together, not because I think their friendship is flawless and great, but because it feels real to me. I like seeing how they interact and how their actions and consequences affect each other.

There are many roles in Playboyy and yet none of them feel like a repetition of another already existing role. The characters are different, different written and different brought to life by the actors.

Every character has their own depth, their own characteristics, goals, motivations, abysses and things they are prepared to sacrifice.

Anyway, these people put a hell of a lot of work into this series and with every new episode I'm left speechless as to how the hell they managed to pull off scenes like this in front of a team of I don't know how many people.

Okay, I can't go on for very long here and I invite everyone to do so. There's so much hate for so many shows and things right now, so let's enjoy some stuff that's just really awesome:)

#playboyy the series #playboyy appreciation post #these actors are doing such an amazing job and I need more subbed behind the scenes and vlogs of them #i am so ready for the next ep but i have the feeling i will eat this words like dirt very soon

[allaboutthedrama]

I know that I'm pretty late to the conversation, but I've just reread all of Vampire Academy and Bloodlines (possibly for The Untitled Jill Project) and it's the first time I've reread the VA series in years.

I'm just thinking about how, in my opinion, the quality of the VA series improved as we got into the last few books, and with Bloodlines, I think the reverse sort of happened. Spoilers for both series ahead. (Yeah, the last book came out nine years ago, but you never know.)

I think I hadn't realized how cohesive the ending of Last Sacrifice was. Details from as far back as the first book came up and were very relevant. The political plotline came together in a really tight way, Sonya Karp turned out the be Chekov's spirit user, we got more world-building details, the antagonists had complex and convoluted motivations, and even when there were plot threads left dangling, those actually served a purpose. I loved the part where Adrian pointed out to Rose that her actions had consequences and even though she had gotten what she wanted, not everything else was resolved, so people like Eddie and Sydney and Jill were left in bad situations, and she was partly responsible. It created a little more moral ambiguity, which I really enjoyed, especially since YA tends to like the very neat endings where everything winds up happily ever after.

The Vampire Academy books improved the deeper into the series you got. And, although I love Bloodlines, I do think that the first three books are much stronger than the last three. Which is a shame, because the series has so much potential.

I think Mead is at her best when she's writing something of a mystery. Last Sacrifice obviously comes to mind (they're solving a murder mystery, after all). Bloodlines had that, with the tattoos, Lee, and Keith being shady all building up to a really exciting climax. The Golden Lily wasn't quite as much of one, but the clues leading up to the reveal of the Warriors were well-placed. Indigo Spell went straight back into mystery territory, trying to find Jackie's sister. And then The Fiery Heart is where, in my opinion, things start to falter. There's a lot of interesting worldbuilding information introduced, with the new details about spirit and magic coming up, and it was fun to get into Adrian's head, but it definitely felt like this supernatural romance was shifting to become a lot more romance and a lot less concerned with the supernatural. But that's not such a big deal. It's the middle of the series, we're building tension, Re-Education has been a threat hanging over Sydney since page one of Bloodlines and we're finally seeing that fear pay off.

But then we get to Silver Shadows, and while I guess figuring out where Sydney is could be a mystery, it doesn't really resonate the way 'who killed the queen' does, in my opinion. Sydney's arc in Re-Education is great, and I do like the way the books deal with Adrian's mental health issues, but some of Adrian's chapters felt more like filler. And a bigger issue, imo, was that this was when we really started to lose the side characters. Some of my favorite parts of the first few books were characters like Jill, Eddie, Trey, and Angeline, and then the ensemble atmosphere was largely gone, because Sydney was in Re-Education and Adrian left Palm Springs. The final fight and flight sequence was really good, though, so I had high hopes going into The Ruby Circle.

The Ruby Circle is probably my least favorite of the books between both of the series, and I think that's a shame, since it's the finale. We'd just had a 'kidnapped character' arc, so I think there was less emphasis on describing everyone's reactions. We saw the biggest reaction from Eddie, but as a result, he got kind of flattened out from the really well-rounded character he'd been from the back half of the VA books and the first part of Bloodlines.

The Ruby Circle could have been a really good mystery, with lots of twists that tied up a lot of the lingering questions from the series. Except that a lot of threads from the rest of the series were dropped and didn't resurface. They never caught whoever was behind the assassination attempt on Jill. I don't think we even got an official resolution on whether Lissa managed to change the quorum law. The political plots that were integral to VA weren't significant in Bloodlines, despite it all starting because of a politically motivated assassination. We also never got a resolution on the rogue spirit user who turned Lee back from being Strigoi, or the spirit users who had been sent to the psychiatric facility in Tarasov (the prison from Spirit Bound). We never found Robert Duro. The bond itself was somewhat discarded, too, whenever it wasn't immediately useful for a plot point. Instead, we just got a scavenger hunt across the country, a few fight scenes where the protagonists were pretty much guaranteed to win, and a final showdown with a magic barrier that, as we learn after, would have dropped down on its own in a few hours for them to bring Jill food, anyways.

I obviously still like the series, since I'm rereading it and talking about it nine years after the fact. But I think that there were a lot of opportunities to continue plots from VA that were lost, even when they should have been brought back into the story.

If anyone has made it this far, I suppose I should throw in a pitch for The Untitled Jill Project, which will be my attempt to rewrite the Bloodlines series from Jill's perspective, because I think there's still a lot more story to be told. I haven't got it all mapped out, but I intend to at least tie up some of the narrative loose ends I mentioned that bothered me about the series in that story. I might write up another post here soon about how Jill's characterization also suffered as Bloodlines went on, if anyone's interested.

Anyways, if anyone has any strong opinions on what I said (agreeing or disagreeing) please let me know! I'd love to talk about the series with people, since no one in my real life has read it, and I'm curious to know what the rest of the fandom thinks about how the narrative progressed in Bloodlines.

#Vampire Academy #Vampire Academy books #Bloodlines (Richelle Mead) #Eddie Castile #Sydney Sage #Adrian Ivashkov #Jill Dragomir #Jillian Dragomir #Jill Mastrano #The Untitled Jill Project #Rose Hathaway

[dalekofchaos]

William Afton's motivations and goals

From this reddit thread

and this reddit thread

I'll say this right off the bat: I am 100% certain that William's motives for murder revolves around his family. I think everything we know about William from the games, novels, and now film is pointing to this being the case.

However, there is nuance to this that should be understood. Even with this being the case, with William somehow caring about his kids in his own twisted way, William can not love.

Look to The Silver Eyes:

"We both wanted to love," he [William] said in those melodious tones. "Your father [Henry] loved. And now I have loved." "You killed."

Then The Fourth Closet:

"I wanted so desperately to have been the one on that stage, but it was always her. All of his love went into her." "You're talking about Afton." Jessica stopped, and Charlie [Really Circus Baby/Elizabeth] nodded confirmation. "William Afton never made anything with love," Jessica snarled.

Baby then described the moment of Elizabeth's death, from both of their perspectives.

“The little girl approached me and pulled the sheet away. I felt nothing; it’s no more than a record of what happened. But there is feeling, my feeling as I pulled the sheet away, and stood in awe before this creature my father loved, this daughter he had made for himself. The daughter who was better than me, the daughter he wished I had been. I wanted to be her, so badly.”

William did not love Elizabeth, he loved Circus Baby, which remember, in the novel's storyline was originally created by Henry as the oldest-aged Charlie. William is obsessed with Henry, his creations, and his family. Quote from The Silver Eyes: (this was when the police was investigating him following the Missing Children's Incident)

A search of his house had found a room crammed with boxes of mechanical parts and a musty yellow rabbit suit, and stacks of journals full of raving paranoia, passages about Henry that ranged from wild jealousy to near-worship.

Another quote from The Silver Eyes:

“Oh,” he gasped. “You’re something beautiful aren’t you?” Charlie recoiled as if he had touched her. What’s that supposed to mean?

With later context, we know better why he said that- Quote from The Fourth Closet:

“Even after this; embodying the one thing Father did love, I'm not enough. Because he can’t duplicate this, he can’t make himself like me.” Her [Elizabeth's] voice began to grow angry again. “He can’t duplicate what happened to me, or maybe he’s too scared to try it on himself. I broke free of my prison, I emerged from the flames and the wreckage of Henry’s last great failure, and I went to my father. I gave myself to him, to study, to use, to learn the secrets of my creation. And still it is you [Charlie, the 3rd robot] he wants.” “You, maybe he can re-create. Henry somehow got a piece of himself into you, and that’s something we haven’t seen before. That’s ... unique.”

Throughout The Fourth Closet, we see William trying to do this, to recreate what Henry did: to put a piece of himself into his own creation.

That was in the chapter immediately after Carlton finds William, next to what's revealed to be the molten amalgamation of all of his victims. That amalgam makes an appearance earlier in the book, but let's look at what William says in that scene, describing his goal and reasoning for this. (I am trimming down these lines for the sake of this post)

“I have faced my own mortality, Jessica. I knew I was dying and through every broken fragment of my body, I was profoundly, immeasurably afraid. I fear it more than I fear life like this, even when every waking instant is pain, and sleep is possible only when induced by enough medication to kill most people.” “Everyone is afraid to die,” Jessica said. “And you should be more afraid than anyone else, because if there’s a hell, there’s a hole at the bottom of it reserved for you.” Afton nodded with a moment of honest resignation. “In time, I’m sure that’s where I will find myself. But the devil has knocked on my door before, and I’ve turned him away." “So, what? You want to live forever?” “Certainly not like this,” he said. “So, what, you’re making yourself into a robot?” “No, that’s science fiction,” he said, unamused.

Then, William says this.

“The most terrible accidents sometimes bear the most beautiful fruits,” he said, as if to himself. “Re-creating the accident—that is the duty and the honor of science. To replicate the experiment, and obtain the same result. I give my life to this experiment, piece by piece.” He nodded at the girl, and she approached Jessica with deliberate steps.

He then shows Jessica the "melted scrapheap," then asks her how she thinks the original animatronics came to life.

“How did the creatures at Freddy’s move, of their own will, with no outside force controlling them?” he asked mildly. “The children were still inside. Their souls were inside those creatures,” “Oh, Jessica, come now. What else? What else was inside them, to bind their spirits so inseparably to the bear, to the rabbit, to the fox? How did they die, Jessica? How Jessica?” “You killed them. They died in the suits,” she said hoarsely. “Their bodies were bound inside, along with their souls.”

Then, he describes how he plans to live forever:

“The spirit follows the flesh, it would seem, and also the pain. If I wish to become my own immortal creation, my body must lead my spirit to its eternal home. Since I am still ... experimenting ... I move my flesh piece by piece.” He looked thoughtfully over at the creature on the table. “More and more,” he murmured, almost to himself, “it is a test of the strength of my own will. How much of myself can I carve away, and still remain in control?”

He wants to surgically remove his organs, piece by piece, with Elizabeth's help, into his 'eternal home,' the amalgam, to become "his own immortal creation."

William is trying to recreate what Henry did, putting a piece of himself into his own creation. In Henry's case, he put a piece of himself into the robotic recreation of his deceased child; in William's case, he is putting a piece of himself into the fused amalgamation of all of his victims, which I think is important to my next point.

William sees the animatronics and his victims as family.

This was already clear with Baby, as Elizabeth described earlier. But here's more lines from The Silver Eyes.

“You're a sick bastard,” Carlton sputtered. “And you’ve created monsters. The kids you killed are still here. You’ve imprisoned them!” “They are home, with me.” Dave’s voice was coarse as he said it, and the large mascot head slid forward, tilting. “Their happiest day.” “How do we get out?” Charlie placed one hand on the mascot head and pushed it back into position on Dave’s shoulders. The fur felt wet and sticky, as though the costume itself were sweating. “There isn’t a way out anymore. All that’s left is family.” His round eye reappeared through one of the sockets, glimmering in the light.

I don't think its wrong to say that the story of FNAF (at least early FNAF) was about "the Afton family," because that is exactly how he sees the missing children. He finds comfort in living amongst them, especially as Springbonnie, and he even says why-

“Because I am one of them,” he said.

Most of what I'm referencing in this post comes from the novels, but this is not an exclusive trait to his character in these books. Look to the recently-released film:

“The Little ones tell me you have a sister, she will love it here!"

and...

"Wake up Children! I brought someone for you to play with!"

That line I also find really interesting, because of William's language elsewhere in the movie, referring to his daughter, Vanessa:

"Put that thing away, and help me clean up the mess that you created!"

With the first line, he's referring to Mike like he's a toy for the animatronics. In the second line, he's referring to Vanessa's gun, but its also as if he's talking to a child, asking her to put her toys away and help him. Think about it, he's blaming Vanessa for something that is not her fault at all, it's the language of an abusive father to his little kid. I bet this is actually something William has told her before, to persuade and manipulate her. ("He really messed you up, didn't he?" as Mike put it.)

Anyway, I just wanted to bring it up because it just strengthens this point, William sees the characters like his own family; which is ultimately where I think his motives come from. He finds comfort in his robotic family because of his disdain for his real family.

William's kids change between each continuity.

In the games, he has 3 real children- Michael, the Crying Child, and Elizabeth- and kills Gabriel, Jeremy, Susie, Fritz, Cassidy, and so on. Michael of course, kills his brother. In the novels, he only has Elizabeth, and rather than killing Gabriel and Jeremy, he kills a kid named Michael (Brooks), and a kid without an established name (who is characterized by his black-and-white striped shirt, crying, and who gets told he'll be put back together by Carlton-- all relating back to the CC. All of this is stripped from the Graphic Novel, where that kid becomes Gabriel). Again, there's juxtaposition between the kids he murders and his real children. In the film, Vanessa is established to be his daughter, but only her- Michael and his siblings are not presented as being related to Afton (There could still be a plot twist regarding this though). We also don't know the identities of William's victims, aside from the fact that Mike's brother (Garrett) was kidnapped by William rather than bullied to death by Mike.

Ultimately, these continuity differences is why I can't say "William kills because he wants to bring back his son after Mike killed him," or whatever, because that objectively does not happen in either the novels or the film. He becomes deranged no matter what.

In my opinion, the Bite of 83 is the first thing that happens in the games timeline, and does result in William killing Charlotte (and also the creation of the Puppet, hence why it doesn't exist in the novels and why she doesn't possess anything).

In the books, William is established to be jealous of Henry, even before he brings his creations to life- and I think it's still because of his family- hence why he goes for Charlotte. William doesn't have his sons, and he clearly doesn't care much for his daughter, so he robs Henry of his perfect family.

In the film, I think his motives are more speculative. William's first kill in the other continuities is Charlie, but its unconfirmed if she (or Henry) exist in the film. William kills Mike's brother, Garrett, separate from the five missing children, but we have no established motive as to why.

This will probably be a big reveal in a future film, maybe Mike and Garrett are related to William and thats why he abducted Garrett (Affair Theory?). When Mike tells Vanessa about his family, he says they'd sit around the table, say graces, etc.- its a cookie-cutter perfect family. Maybe William wanted to destroy that, like he did with Henry's. Maybe, again, I don't know.

Now for my spin on the theory. I believe this was William's goal, but his goal in the games was to became immortal, but also to bring his family back as the Funtime Animatronics. Mrs Afton would become Ballora, Elizabeth as Baby obviously, CC as Funtime Freddy and once Michael is killed, he would become Funtime Foxy. And they would live forever as the Funtimes, eternal and killing together as a family unbroken!

#Five Nights At Freddy's #FNAF #William Afton #The Afton Family #Mrs Afton #Michael Afton #Crying Child #Elizabeth Afton #Henry Emily #Charlie Emily

[henghost]

Twig Liveblog for Arc 16

good arc :O getting into the "late game" now. had the quality of a bottle episode or something, as most of the action takes place within small quarters, and it's quite tightly plotted by wildbow standards, though certainly the fighting against nameless soldiers and monsters thing does get tiresome (this is par for the course).

the plague and the tender mercies made for compelling antagonists. the vivid red of blood and plague against the wintry city is pleasing imagery indeed. there are a couple sort of quiet, understated moments that evoke their horror (the baby-killing scene, the mercy left behind, etc) in quite an effective way -- far more effective, anyway, than the lengthy ostentatious Battles that take up so much of twig.

the character of berger was for me the most interesting part. there's an appealing sort of ambiguity to him. he is on one hand the very picture of a cruel technocratic academic. but -- and this is especially obvious when it comes to his children etc. -- he clearly does have his own hopes and fears. that is, he comes across as truly human in a way the other evil professors/doctors often don't.

the shit with shirley is not well handled at all lmao, i suppose that shouldn't be surprising. sy picks her up almost purely and self-consciously as a plot device. after the shit with lillian he needs a kind of girl-macguffin to keep him going. whether consciously or not, he wants her to be captured, endangered, etc., so he has something to do, a thread connecting him to the rest of the world. a more sympathetic reading might highlight the crossover in the experience of a sex worker and the experience of an experiment -- people used in a very direct way for there mere biological potential, their bare life. but i'm not super inclined to be sympathetic lol, especially since shirley gets very little characterization or sense of interiority outside her damsel in distress-ness. she is easily swapped out for mabel or any other woman unlucky enough to encounter sylvester (except for jessie ;_; they belong together).

i thought the ashton interlude was interesting for its discussion of "bare life." he's interesting sort of foil for the other lambs, whose motivations are as complex as they are painful. wouldn't it better to be like ashton! just chilling out, content with eating, walking, drinking, and so on. like if i had to pick a lamb to be it would be ashton because he seems to always be having a great time.

and then the lambs are one again reunited!!! as it should be. ohoho twig really picks up when all the lambs are together. i am sure they will save the crown states together and be happy for the rest of their lives and sy and jessie will kiss :)))

#twigblr #twig web serial #henghost's twig arc #sylvester lambsbridge #twig liveblog

[dingleshartbeaufoy]

Amnesia: Rebirth and Misogyny

Hi! I’m rereading old Reddit threads and getting worked up over men males Annoying Amnesia Fans™️ deliberately misunderstanding the roles men and women play in video games. Here’s the fruits of my labor:

First and foremost: let’s debunk the obvious, frankly asinine counter-arguments.

“I don’t particularly, consciously hate female protagonists, so that’s not why I disliked rebirth/tasi” — if misogyny was only what you believed at the forefront of your mind, then we would not have misogyny. If misogyny was not a subtle plague that is hammered into you the moment you’re born, we would not have patriarchy. Just because you don’t know you hate female protagonists, doesn’t mean you don’t hate female protagonists.

Additionally: pregnancy is, if not inherently, a largely feminine thing. You cannot separate pregnancy from a uterus, and uteruses threaten men. The mere concept of pregnancy easily offsets a man and makes them denounce a game entirely, whereas women have dealt with all sorts of uncomfortable male topics (sexual abuse and violence against women, misogyny, fetishization etc) and dealt with it.

(Do you see where I’m going with this? The obvious double standard? That’s important later.)

Next: Tasi did not ramble any more than Daniel did, any more than Mandus did, either in general or about their children. The only time she really did was when she was narrating something that happened (common occurrence in horror games including amnesia) or the mechanic which is LITERALLY centered around dialogue, and changes based on your environment. That said, it’s also largely optional, and more often than not DOES serve a larger narrative purpose.

(Also— and this is my personal opinion- I think Daniel is poorly acted. God be damned if I don’t love him and his VA, but he is poorly acted. Hur dur are there dead people in the morgue Alexander).

On the same topic: Amnesia is not a fucking RPG. If you feel like you’re in the role of the character, great. That’s easy when they’re fucking silent as the grave the entire time except for letters and flashbacks. Amnesia has always been driven by two things; Characters and their motivations, and the fear of the unknown. (Rebirth checks one of those boxes).

Furthermore, when we look at the general consensus on rebirth, most of the reviews will be from men, because amnesia arguably has a predominately male audience. The reviews I’ve seen from women, though, all say they felt plenty immersed with Tasi as a character, that the game reflected their own fears.

Men (I am not going to specify not all men for the millionth time, fuck, if it isn’t about you then it isn’t about you) refuse to empathize with women the way women are forced to empathize with men because in gaming, and in the world, men are represented in all sorts of ways, where— at least for a very very long time— women had very slim pickings and, in recent years, there’s only been a handful of gems.

(No, don’t say Bayonetta or Peach. Do not fucking say Bayonetta or Peach. If those two roles were all women could ever be in video games, forever…)

You could argue you tired of Tasi talking about her child the way you grew tired of Mandus doing it, but Mandus very, very seldom verbally laments about his children the way Tasi does. You cannot reasonably draw that conclusion.

(I don’t see Oswald being condemned for, fuck, for what? For having children? The way Tasi is, either. Surely there is a systemic reason for that.)

Also: Tasi is held to a FAR higher standard than any male protagonist. When we see a male character we automatically take their actions and don’t view them at face value, we consider the shades of gray which is the very same theme the original game hoped to convey. Did Tasi truly do anything worse than Daniel? Then why do you shun her so deliberately while excusing him?

(Truth is they’re fictional and you shouldn’t act like either of them should be put before a court or something or other. But come on. Are they truly comparable?)

Female characters are slightly annoying once and are raked over the coals. Male characters can genocide an entire fucking country and people will still forgive that.

All in all: Misogyny is literally baked into our society. A game with a female protagonist will 100% of the time be subject to more criticism no matter what and Tasi is no exception especially because she experiences something directly correlated with women.

We could relate to Henri, I doubt many amnesia fans served in world war 1. We could relate to Daniel, I doubt many amnesia fans were manipulated into murder. You cannot relate to one fucking pregnant woman and her baby?

(I will say ONE thing to credit these people: the birth scene was uncomfortable not because it was childbirth but because Jesus fucking Christ doctor can you stop staring into the depths of my soul.)

#that said many of the grievances do not have to do with the gender or tasi #I’m not talking about that #or chalking any criticism at all up to Ahhh u hate women #also jfc men please listen to women #when they’re talking about experiences in a place where they have ALWAYSSSS #been excluded and marginalized #not a good look to shut us down immediately #when we’re not only underrepresented in the amnesia community slash fandom #but also gaming as a whole #amnesia game #amnesia rebirth #tasi trianon

[meteorstricken]

I've seen it argued that Ultima lacks empathy, and that this is what hinders him from grasping how humanity connects and cares for one another, but I think the nature of this beast is a bit more sinister than that.

Some fairly significant spoilers ahead...

My conclusion is that Ultima is in reality better understood as a dark empath--that is, one who can understand feelings and what motivates people extremely well, but does not share in the experience. Instead, the dark empath will typically use their razor-sharp cognition of others' feelings to manipulate them.

Here's a reference.

This is especially evident in scenes where Ultima appears to the characters as dead loved ones whose memory tends to evoke some intense guilt, longing, grief, and passion. The scene where Clive faces "himself" and falls to his knees before the flame-engulfed figure of Joshua as he last had known him up to that point, filled to brimming with sorrow, is one example. The notorious scene with Barnabas where Ultima role-plays as Benedikta, Hugo, and Barnabas' mother is another.

Ultima's colorful language about humans bolstering one another's usually weak wills by weaving together their consciousness reveals that he understands how a good support system works, and he further spells out the exact nature of those bonds--love, trust--in the aforementioned scene with Barnabas.

(Barnabas himself seems to rely on Ultima as a surrogate social support system, which...sure is a choice, and not one I'm entirely certain he can be wholly blamed for, as the latter end of the game is awash in context clues that he was more or less groomed to that end.)

And thus, Ultima's goal in attempting to cut the threads of consciousness (bonds) supporting Clive is to produce such a profoundly overwhelming state of grief in him that he can't recover from or cope with it, and sees no more reason to keep trying. With his own personal concept of meaning so thoroughly severed--ailing under the sense that even as he breathes, his life is truly over--Clive would theoretically become much more willing to be the 'Mythos' vessel that Ultima wants him to be.

And THAT is...too much...to scheme without any kind of empathy, and because it's too much, it really just underlines the severe extent of the ice-cold contempt Ultima has for humanity. He understands them, but he has always had but one use for making them, and resents the living piss out of them for evolving in a way that throws a wrench into his plans while he was hibernating.

He understands them, but is too entrenched in his own fear, hypocrisy, megalomania, and denial for that to produce any kind of *emotional* empathy--it's 100% cognitive.

As an aside, I have to argue with Clive's late-game insistence that Ultima's never suffered. The combination of fear, control freakishness, and self-isolation Ultima is revealed to have and practice don't typically tend to arise uninspired. It's quite possibly self-inflicted--being a little "g" god who's erroneously convinced himself he's the big "G" and can therefore tell reality how to work will do that--but I do believe it's more likely than not that Ultima has, in their milennia-long life, known a great deal of suffering. All that intricate, surgical understanding of how to produce more angst and suffering from individual to individual has to come from somewhere, and "he created them" doesn't quite make the cut because humanity evolved and awoke absent his guidance.

#Ultima FFXVI #Ultima #FFXVI #Spoilers #FFXVI spoilers #Might be a little pedantic but my brain's been chewing on this one for over a week now.

[dirtydragonthoughts]

Transformers Yuletide Literary Fest - Day 10

Welcome to the Transformers Yuletide Literary Fest! I’ll be recommending one or two fics every day until Christmas. Feel free to join in if you’d like (I’m using the tag #tylf2023 for this.) All fics are complete!

(If I can easily find a Tumblr account for the author I’ll tag them. If you know of an author who has a Tumblr account and I didn’t tag them, please let me know so I can add it! )

Fics in my recommendations will come in two different flavours: tangy and spicy. 😄 As always, curate your own online reading experience, and mind the tags if necessary for your own safety. ♥

Tangy

Title: Spec Ops Mission 98: Jazz's Interrogation at Soundwave's Pedes

Author: @kc-anathema

Rating: Teen (contains plug-n-play interfacing)

Wordcount: 195, 290

Summary: Surrounded by the torrid fiction of his fellow Autobots, Jazz uncovers a Decepticon plot hidden amidst their written fantasies. Can the Spec Ops commander turn this plot of high treason into a narrative…of love? OR Jazz is surrounded by a bunch of perverted writers, and wouldn't you know it, one of them is a Decepticon.

Why I love it: This story left me stunned... in a good way. I started reading it as a WIP because the premise sounded hilarious (hahaha, the bots and cons are writing RPF fanfic about each other, hahaha). But as the story went on, it turned into a LOT more. It became a story about love and trust, and forgiveness and boundaries, set against the backdrop of a brutal war. And then when it ended and we got the wrap-up of all the threads that we hadn't even known existed... Wow. This was an amazing story, and I will definitely read it again someday.

Spicy

Title: The Angel Breaker

Author: @altraviolet

Rating: Explicit

Wordcount: 62,452

Summary: Mysterious, deadly creatures descend on the population of Cybertron, spreading a disfiguring, brainwashing disease. The wealthy retreat underground while the rest try to survive a dangerous and disrupted aboveground society.

Years after suffering a great personal loss, Drift works for Flatline doing menial tasks. But when Flatline sends him to find someone who has done the impossible – survive an attack – Drift finds himself swept up in a continent-spanning plot. To save the Cybertron they love, Drift and his allies must find out what these creatures are, who made them, and if they can be stopped.

Why I love it: One thing that I've always loved about Altraviolet's work is the worldbuilding. (If you've been paying attention at all to my recommendations over the past 10 days, you'll know that I LOVE me some good worldbuilding. 😄) This story has a wonderful amount, specifically focused on geology and botany, and their relation to culture. BUT ALSO it has a gripping story that sits on top of all that worldbuilding, with a "rare trio" that I never would have thought of myself, but it really works well here. The author has an excellent way of making sure each character has their own voice, and motivations, and hopes and fears, and then wraps it all up in story that somehow wouldn't feel out of place in a Mythology of Cybertron collection.

#tylf2023

[thecreaturecodex]

Mater Cachinnarium

"Truce?" © deviantArt user damie-m, accessed at his gallery here

[People who have been following the Monster Girl Summer project may have noticed that there are a few plot threads being developed alongside the big Mormo vs. Lamashtu plot. This entry ties into the sample beldam NPC and Mad Maddy Maddison]

Mater Cachinnarum CR 12 CE Outsider (native) This woman is lean and ashen-skinned, with clawed hands and jagged, saw-like teeth. Her face seems perpetually fixed in a cruel smirk.

Mater Cachinnarum is the Mother of Sneers, a notorious bogey of eastern Garund. Her wicked braying laughter is heard everywhere from bustling cities to isolated oases, and always shortly after a mutilated body or two turns up. Even more destructive than her serial killing is her delight in framing others for her crimes. She is adept at stoking paranoia and hatred, and those that escape her attacks may become scapegoats for the next murder she commits. Rumor has it that anyone executed for a crime she committed hears her laughter as they die.

The Mother of Sneers was not born a bogeyman, nor even properly born at all. She is the brainchild of a wizard named Valinus Trent. Trent was the sole survivor of an Aspis Consortium expedition into the heart of the Mwangi Expanse, and while attempting to find safety found themselves in the clutches of the beldam Mancinia Spurge. Spurge played the good host for a time before tormenting Trent and eventually trapping their soul in a black sapphire. Mater Cachinnarum is essentially a projection of the darkest parts of Trent’s psyche, their disdain for less intelligent people and fear of being bullied magnified into a shadowy murderer.

Mater Cachinnarum both resents and kowtows to Spurge, as if the gem is broken, the Mother of Sneers will immediately cease to exist. Thus, between her personal projects, Cachinnarum serves Spurge as an assassin and recruiter. Mater Cachinnarum desires an apprentice; her previous apprentice was the dark dancer Mad Maddy Maddison, who escaped her about a year ago. Mater Cachinnarum occasionally torments Maddy with nightmares, but doesn’t want to kill her—she has something much crueler planned. The Mother of Sneers is waiting a few years for Maddy to become established and develop friendships, only to murder everyone Maddy cares about and frame her for those crimes.

Mater Cachinnarum      CR 12 XP 19,200 Bogeyman variant tulpa CE Medium outsider (augmented fey, native) Init +9; Senses low-light vision; Perception +23 Aura deepest fear (30 ft., DC 28)

Defense AC 28, touch 26, flat-footed 21 (+9 deflection, +6 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 armor) hp 127 (17d6+68); terrible rejuvenation 5 Fort +11, Ref +16, Will +13; +4 vs. mind influencing effects DR 15/cold iron; SR 21

Offense Speed 30 ft. Melee 2 +1 claws +15 (1d8+2/19–20) Psychic Magic CL 17th, concentration +26 20 PE—burst of adrenaline (1 PE), burst of insight (1 PE), create mindscape (5 PE), ego whip I (3 PE, DC 22), foster hatred (5 PE, DC 24), levitate (2 PE), mind probe (4 PE, DC 23), paranoia (3 PE, DC 22), possession (5 PE, DC 24) Special Attacks sneak attack +6d6, striking fear Spell-Like Abilities (CL 16th; concentration +25) Constant—detect thoughts, tongues At will—darkness, gaseous form, ghost sound (DC 19), invisibility, suggestion (DC 22) 3/day—crushing despair (DC 23), hold person (DC 22), quickened phantasmal killer (DC 23) 1/day—nightmare (DC 24)

Statistics Str 12, Dex 23, Con 18, Int 17, Wis 16, Cha 29 Base Atk +8; CMB +9; CMD 36 Feats Dodge, Great Fortitude, Improved Critical (claw), Improved Initiative, Magical Aptitude, Mobility, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (phantasmal killer), Spring Attack, Weapon Finesse Skills Acrobatics +16, Bluff +29, Diplomacy +22, Disable Device +16, Escape Artist +19, Intimidate +32, Knowledge (local) +17, Perception +23, Sense Motive +23, Spellcraft +17, Stealth +29, Use Magic Device +23; Racial Modifiers +4 Intimidate, +4 Stealth Languages Aklo, Common, Necril, Undercommon; tongues SQ creator link, sustained by thought, variant tulpa Gear dead man’s headband, bracers of armor +2, amulet of mighty fists +1, wand of acid arrow, 700 gp

Special Abilities Creator Link (Su): A tulpa has a special link with its creator or a creature that it treats as its creator. By concentrating for 1 minute, the tulpa can sense the direction and relative distance of its creator, as long as they are both on the same plane. Deepest Fear (Su) A bogeyman is cloaked in a 30-foot aura of fear. This aura manifests as a shifting haze of images that reflect the viewer's deepest fears. The first time it ends its turn within the aura, a creature must make a DC 28 Will save or become shaken for as long as it stays within the aura. If the creature succeeds at the saving throw, it cannot be affected again by the aura for another 24 hours. This is a fear effect. The DC is Charisma-based. Striking Fear (Su) If a bogeyman confirms a critical hit or a sneak attack with one of its claws on a target currently suffering a fear effect, that effect automatically becomes one step more severe (shaken creatures become frightened, frightened creatures become panicked, and panicked creatures cower in fear). A DC 28 Will save negates this increase. In addition, a critical hit from the bogeyman's claw forces any target that has successfully saved against the creature's fear aura to make another Will save against its effects, even if 24 hours have not yet passed. This is a fear effect. The DC is Charisma-based. Sustained by Thought (Su): Tulpas sustain themselves on and gain their power from the mental energy of living creatures concentrating on the tulpa itself. Tulpas do not heal or regain psychic energy naturally. Instead, whenever a living creature spends at least 10 minutes mentally picturing the tulpa, or interacting with it in some way, the tulpa heals 5 hit points and gains 1 point of psychic energy. A creature other than its creator can't provide more than 5 hit points and 1 PE to the tulpa per day with this activity, but its creator can feed its tulpa indefinitely, granting 5 hit points and 1 PE for every 10 minutes she spends in this way, up to the tulpa's maximum hit points and PE. A creature that regularly spends time mentally picturing or interacting with the tulpa may eventually forge a powerful link with the tulpa, and effectively be treated as though she is the tulpa's creator (though this does not supplant the original creator or other creatures treated as the creator by use of this ability). A creature other than the creator that focuses on the tulpa enough to provide it with psychic energy each day for 7 consecutive days must succeed at a DC 20 Will saving throw or forge such a link. Terrible Rejuvenation (Su) A bogeyman gains fast healing 5 while any creature within its deepest fear aura is suffering from a fear effect, including any fear effect created by the aura itself. Each round it gains this fast healing, it also recovers 1 PE. Variant Tulpa Mater Cachinnarum does not have a creator in the sense of a traditional tulpa. Her existence is tied to the gem in which Valinus Trent is trapped in. As long as this gem exists, she returns from death 1 month after slain, but if the gem is broken and Trent is freed, she is destroyed. Mater Cachinnarum does not gain the mental form special quality of a tulpa, and does not gain a racial bonus to skills. Her psychic magic can affect any creature, not just herself and a creator. Her terrible rejuvenation allows her to heal without being in the presence of a creator.

#mater cachinnarum #bogeyman #tulpa #monster girl summer #monster npc #pathfinder 1e #pathfinder rpg

[shai-manahan]

Hello!

I am a person who is writing his own Interactive Fiction game. I currently have about 50k words written for it and will probably be making a forum thread soon. But I really need some advice from you as your game is one of my favourite.

The thing I am struggling with is my plot seems a bit bland to me and I just don't know what to do about it. Like I at the start only decided my game is going to be very reactive to choices and I have loads of meaningful choices and lots of variables remembering lots of things. But when I read through what I have written so far it feels a bit meh. Like your game is soooo intriguing as a reade. So my question was how do I make the plot more intriguing?? Sorry for the long ass post

I'm probably not the best person to ask about this; I go through cycles of self-doubt at least a few times a month 😞

But I'll do my best to help!

First of all, 50k words for an initial demo is impressive! HM had around 28k words when I first uploaded a public demo (which was just the first version of the prologue), so you're doing very well!

I think it would help tremendously for you to sit down and figure out what themes you wish to put focus on. It doesn't mean that you can't tackle a few others as you write, but it's always good to set goals like this to maintain consistency and make their presence strong in the story. It doesn't have to be something "grand"; it just needs to be clear in your head.

It's cool to aim for your choices to be meaningful, but watch out for scope creep. Not that I can talk; I have way too many variables tracking the MC's actions/dialogue choices as well as routes that not many will ever know about. And they can be fun! Just remember that fun doesn't always remove the stress attached to those boosts of excitement. I'd say try to focus on choices/variables you're sure you can deal with, particularly those that can enhance the quality of your plot, and you can decide to add more once you're certain you can handle them.

I have no way of knowing you're not already doing this, but well-developed characters help the impact of the plot grow stronger. Their fears, motivations, what they need to see vs what they have currently. Humans are complex beings, and for me, it's always interesting to try and explore that complexity. I love exploring it.

Try to talk to a friend about what you have at the moment! It helps to have some who'd never mince their words and are willing to give honest feedback while being helpful at the same time. In a way, it can be encouraging to know you have someone to depend to, and I hope you can find them if you haven't met such a person yet.

It's a first draft!! This is something I also keep telling myself, though it doesn't necessarily help me clear out all doubts all the time. But you should at least be aware of it. This is the first time I'm creating an IF, but I did a lot of film screenplays before, and my first drafts always sucked. It's why rewrites are not a foreign concept to me, and why I know HM might go through a lot of changes before I settle on its final version. But I do think both readers and writers should be aware of the fact that first drafts aren't supposed to be perfect; and WIPs, no matter how long they are, shouldn't be expected to have no flaws at all.

I cannot stress this out more, but taking walks outside or even doing the most mundane of errands can help to clear your mind! Try to take some rest; it might even give you some perspectives you haven't thought of before :))

I think that's all I can give for now, and I hope you're having a great time writing so far! I do want to remind you that you'll have to find methods that personally work for you as well, whether you're a plotter, a pantser, or something in between. It's why I haven't been too specific with the things I said; it's best for you to try and see what actually works for you as a writer. Best of luck <3

#writing #interactive fiction #anon #ask

[yanderefairyangel]

Monster in Fire Emblem Engage

What is a monster ? We read about them ever since the youngest age, those weird creatures that haunt our nightmares. However, did we ever questioned what they represent ?

A monster is a individual or a creature whose shape, behaviour, surprise by how far it is from what is considered to be "normal". It creates fear, disgust, hatred, disdain, loathing.

If we go back to the original meaning, it comes from the latin word monstrum, which comes from the latin verb monere "avert, indicate, enlight" and originally used to refer to miracle and any extraordinary event, without any negative connotation. Another etymology is that it is derivated from the latin verb monstare meaning "to show, to point out" because the monster is what is pointed out as extraordinary, out of the ordinary. In japanese, the common word for monster is 化け物/bakemono which is formed from the verb  化ける meaning "to transform, to disguise, to take a different form/appearance". If in our western conception a monster is what is different, in the japanese mind, it's what has the ability to become different and change it's shape.

In the traditional story of heroism, the hero always have to fight a monster, usually portrayed as an hideous creature with either zoomorphoic attributes or anthromorphic one. There is actually a much deeper level : the hero must fight and defeat a monster in this journey in order to defeat his own demons. See, monster's traditional representation are always linked to how in the human mind they are supposed to represent a part of the human monstruosity. We aren't pure and clean being, we human can commit absolutely awful acts, therefore the opposition to a monster is supposed to show how we manage to overcome the monstrusosity lying within us. This is also present in the traditional representation of the Devil. It's not accurate, it's meant to represent how human perceives it : as something worth fear. Monster in general are all based on the feelings and sensation they create. Their ugliness is motivated by the fear and hatred they create.

Therefore, whether an author is aware of that or not, this symbolic is bond to that scenario meaning that simply adapting it will recreate this symbolic.

Fire Emblem in general is no exception. It's all about the hero's journey to defeat the evil dragon that represent the worst, the one thing the hero must overcome. I link you to that thread :archie | currently playing sacred echoes! on X: "Like it's like we joked too much about recurring dragon final boss and forgot that they're...more than just a big dragon. Medeus represents lasting hate/war. Duma the tunnelvisioned pursuit of strength. Idunn is a walking war crime. Fomortiis works as the devil-on-the-shoulder." / X (twitter.com)

While this apply to a FE as a whole, I will focus on how Engage deals with the topic of monstruosity because of how it doesn't embarass itself with more then one plot line and focus on this one : on Alear defeating Sombron. And also because Engage is the perfect summing up of what FE is.

We already discussed this in my blog, but Sombron is the perfect embodiment for hatred. His serpentine form is actually unique to him. The snake is the symbol of Dvesha, one of the 3 poison of existence : it represent hatred, aversion, anger. Sombron is also an arrogant and egoistic person, the complete opposite of Alear. Sombron isn't only representing everything that Alear isn't, but what they must overcome, as well as their great fear. Sombron's monstruous appareance is based on how he lives in Alear's mind as the representation of their trauma. Sombron is the one person Alear hates the most, defeating him is the final trial for Alear to liberate themselves from hatred and to overcome their fear and trauma.

Likewise, Rafal turning into a monster/dragon in the Xenologue is showing how he is falling into his monstrous side. Here however, defeating Rafal is to help him gain freedom, overcome his own monstruous side. His dragon forms share a similarity with Sombron's however, it's still distinct enough for them to be very different when you take the time to compare them side by side. And this actually make sense. Sombron is a being consummed by hatred, Rafale by regret. This is visible in how he behaves when alone with Nel. And Rafal's form isn't so much about how people perceive him then how he sees himself. A monster. Knowing how he yearned for nothing but the approval of others and was considered to be worth "pointed out" by his other sibling for being a failure, it's no wonder. His skeleton design gives him a grim reaper looks, which makes sense with how he was the one to doom this world.

This monstruous aspect is also worth pointing out when discussing otherness. From a xenophobic point of view, and by that I mean "fear of the stranger/other" human have always tried to deem those they hated and feared as being non humans, in other words, monstruous in a way or another. They are deemed as "savages", "monsters" by judging "barbaric" some of their own customs, practices, belief etc. In Engage's case, this is represented by the hatred of Fell dragon that Veyle experienced. Veyle saw her mother tortured to death and almost experienced the same fate, all of this because she was a dragon, thus deemed a "monster". This made her relationship with other even harder. This made her hate her self with this self loathe being animated from the scar of being a dragon, making her wish to be human sometimes envying them, hating anything that reminds her that she is a dragon, because she interiorized the idea that she was indeed a monster. Hence, when she committed those awful deed, Veyle felt as if she became a monster as well, hence her will to make ammends for the sin she committed.

We can also view this on how Brodia and the believer of the Divine dragon antagonize those who believes in the Fell one and Fell dragon.

Veyle rejecting her dragon side is showing of how much this scarred her. She is rejecting her "monstruous side". Hence she get rid of her dragon stone, hence she tries to lessen her dragonic impulse wearing chains. Hence she tries to hide her identity and the fact she doesn't age. She tries to appear as close as human as possible as to not scare them, which result in her reject her "monstruous nature". In fact, I think the reason why dragons on the positive side have so few fature to distinguish them from human is to lessen the difference between them and human physically and how they are so similar to us, bare the transformation.

This however, is not the case of Zephia and Sombron. Their role as a monster gave them appearance that are more distinct from human then the other dragons, Sombron in particular whose form can be called humanoid at best. Zelestia's appearance being similar to Zephia is therefore her being in the same situation as Veyle, in which she is treated as a monster for something she can't be held responsible for : her appearance as she looks like a monster, but not because of the horns or the pointy ears, but because of her being Zephia's alter ego, someone who behave monstruosly. And Zephia herself used to view herself as monstruous for having destroyed her own home and killed her family, but while those action where something she did out of control, her action in the game are all done out of her own agency, making that Zephia ended up turning into the monster she though she was long ago... the irony

And also, the drastic difference between the Fell twins and the Fell sibbies is how they can turn into a dragon whereas the Fell sibbies cannot. I already pointed it out but the Fell twins still have a dragonic form that stands out as being different from Sombron as being less snake like and more alike to asiatic dragon as they retain a lof of lizard features. I already share my thoughs on how I think that it is because of how in their world, they have like a quater of divine blood (ok maybe less) but that's not the point here. Rafal and Nel have their own self loathe, but unlike Veyle and Alear it's not linked in a way or another to be a Fell dragon. And that's mainly cause of the positive influence Alear (isekai) was to them and helped them being accepted. Veyle however ? If her dragonic form looked even remotely close to Sombron's, that's no wonder she doesn't want to turn into a dragon as she doesn't want to be like him. It's her not wanting to be a "monster" once again, because it is her father's shadow that weighten on her.

In Alear's case, their lack of dragonic form steams from having forgotten about it however, Alear seems to have a post traumatic amnesia so once again, the fact they can't turn into a dragon is also indicating of Alear wanting to forget about the "monstruous" part in them. They hate Sombron and want nothing to do with him so sharing a form that looks even remotely close to his might break them as well. They can accept others, but not that from themselves. But most importantly, the comparison with the Corrupted.

When I made a post about the banditry in Firene, someone remarked that the presence of bandits with dead living in FE was done on purpose, to deshumanize bandits and I agree. But probably not in the same sense as that person. While FE always had instance of nuancing with the reason leading someone to banditry, the most "vile" of them we'll say are portrayed as cruel, merciless, committing awful acts. In that sense, they are acting like beast, monsters. In Engage it's the same, with the difference that we fight bandits only 4 times (not counting the squirmishes) because the threat of the Corrupted is made more important then the human one ever can. The Corrupted are obviously monsters, but their monstruosity ties within their name, how being revived as one of Sombron's pawn deprived people of their true nature, their humanity. And in Alear's mind they are doubly monstruous as they view them as the monster who killed their siblings and that they feared all their life. This also explain why Alear had a negative image of themselves : them looking like a Corrupted makes them a monster as well, therefore they view their past selves as being just as evilish, their past action made them a monster as well.

The only case of dragon whose form is not seen as a negative thing are the twins and Lumera's, which is not a sign or monstruosity there, showing that it is not the shape of the dragon that makes one a monster, but their actions.

#fire emblem #fire emblem engage #fe engage

[annoyinglandmagazine]

Lesbian Halenthir pt 10

Haleth didn’t mean to say it. She knew that whatever was going on between her and Moryo it was doomed to eventual failure and pain. After all she was only a ripple in the immortal life of an elf. But in this one matter these two infinitely logical women lost the ability to think clearly or rationally.

Caranthir had noticed the state of Haleth’s cloak when they’d begun to undo their armour and immediately demanded to have it handed to her. Haleth had been confused but passed it over and Caranthir had crossed her long legs and sat on the ground, taking out the thread and needles that she’d kept in her skirts, because of course she had. Who didn’t keep sewing materials in pockets under their armour while fighting.

Haleth had set to sharpening her sword next to her but found it hard to focus. Moryo was focused on her task and her long pale fingers moved nimbly while her curtain of hair, that she had slipped out of its braids, spilled over her shoulders and all the way down her back and around her in inky waves. She had started to embroider the most beautiful roses unto it once she’d finished and flushed as red as them once she realised that Haleth had noticed, pulling her eyes back down to her hands and nervously pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. And Haleth’s resolve weakened as she was overcome by deep affection for the person in front of her. The words were out before she could think of them fully.

‘I love you.’ Caranthir stopped, feeling her eyes widen, hardly able to believe what she had heard. ‘You don’t mean that.’ She said abrasively, angry at herself for doing this to Haleth. How could she deceive such an incredible person into falling in love with someone who never existed? For it must be that she’d presented herself falsely to her, no one would ever be capable of loving her if she had been honest.

‘What, am I too unintelligent to understand the meaning of the words I say? Too unsophisticated to know my own feelings? For how could a mere mortal understand the concept of love?’ Haleth was fuming her words practically spit out as she rose from the ground to glare at the elf. This was right. She should be angry at her, Caranthir must have been genuine here, anger was the correct response when she spoke. So Caranthir did what she did best. She straightened up to look Haleth in the eyes, squared her shoulders and yelled.

‘I’m a monster! I killed people, innocent people, my hands are drenched in their blood! My insignia, my face, my sword or my name invoke fear and hatred in most of my species, even in the children, those who have done nothing to invoke my wrath! I taint and burn all those who are unfortunate enough to know me let alone love me! I’m vengeful, harsh and too weak to stand up to my father or brothers even when they lead us and our people even further into doom for our crimes! Whoever you think you love they are merely a fragment of your imagination! A monster is all I will ever be and if you think there was ever anything more than that it is either the product of deception or wilful ignorance.’

Haleth refused to take a step back or flinch at Caranthir’s words looking straight into those dark blue eyes, now glistening with tears that refused to be shed. When she spoke she kept her voice level ‘I am not here to analyse your every decision and action and look into your every motivation to cast judgement on whether or not you deserve to be punished. I will not do this because I am nowhere near absolved of all wrongdoing myself and I cannot tell you if you are a good person because I do not believe such a thing exists in this world. I know only that you may well be all these things you have spoken of but you are also the Carnistir that I have known these past months and that elf may not be a good person but it is certainly a person with depth and most definitely a great deal more than a monster. And know that I love you not as some bewitched deceived victim but only as a woman who loves all the aspects of another so much they feel they could burst. And if you do not feel that my love could ever be enough to understand the depths of an immortal elf just tell me and you need never be bothered by it again.’

Caranthir sank to the ground pulling her knees to her chest while the first silent tears slipped past her defences. She whispered then her voice barely audible, ‘I do not deserve it. You should give it to someone else, someone that is even a fraction of the person you are, or at least deserving of any form of love from anyone. I am not.’ She was aware of Haleth kneeling next to her. Then like a jolt of lightening she felt her cup her chin, pulling her face gently upwards to look her in the eyes. She waited for a response for Haleth to realise her mistake and get out while she could. She was probably being kind to her, letting her down gently with one last show of affection. More proof that Haleth was far kinder than she deserved.

‘You are. You deserve all the love on this world. I could not give my heart to any other even if I wanted to, ever since I first saw you that day, like a figure from legends. And I would not even if I had the choice for my choice would always be you. You are the first person I’ve ever known to look at me and really see the person I am and I feel more secure in that person every day just knowing that if someone as strong and intelligent as you can look at me with so much warmth I must be doing something right.’ Moryo suddenly wrapped her arms around Haleth, collapsing unto her shoulder to quietly sob. Haleth hugged her back and the knelt together in each other’s arms on the floor for what felt like hours. Caranthir then spoke into Haleth’s shoulder. ‘I love you to. So much.’

#Silmarillion #tolkien #I thought I was going to write something fluffy and then Moryo’s self loathing crashed in like a freight train and demanded to be addressed #Caranthir needs a hug #Caranthir gets a hug because Haleth is a great girlfriend #Lesbian Halenthir #caranthir #Female caranthir #Halenthir #haleth #lesbians

[creativestalkerrs]

subplots

I posted this on my Substack blog as well, subscribe to that for more content. Apart of creativestalkerr’s writing lessons.

types of subplots that can be used in your story and what they might mean for your story.

Subplots can be challenging to write in a story,  however, they are also critical to a story as well. You want a subplot to be connected to your overall story rather than to fall flat and often be meaningless.

Because there is a wide range of plots, there is even a wider range of subplots that you can cook up.

Mirror Plot: When writing a ‘mirror plot’, this type of plot in few ways follows and ‘mirrors’ the main narrative. There is a pattern that you can identify with its similar concepts to the main plot. However, you don’t want to copy the entirety of the main plot, as it has differences to it.

Example: Character A and Character B have both fallen in love with two different people. Character A’s relationship is going amazing while Character B’s relationship is not.

Contrast Plot/Story Thread: In this type of subplot a secondary character will be met with similar situations and circumstances as the main character however our secondary character makes different decisions and often goes down a different path than our main character.

Example: A set of twins both lost their mother. Twin A has gone down a path of drugs and depression while Twin B has gone down a path of helping others and bettering themselves.

Complication: In this story thread, our secondary character will often make things worse for the main character. They often will make a consumer more invested as they see the main character untangle those obstacles.

Example: Character A needs to go to the bank. However, Character B has slashed its tiers. Not only their plans to go to the bank has been delayed, but Character A also has to fix the tiers as well.

Romance Threads: Romance subplots are common in storytelling. The story often can change in direction and or change the character's motive when they fall in love whether they wanted to or not. Romance can shift a story and add tension into a story. This tension is often positive, but can also be negative depending on how you tell the story and your characters.

Growth Threads: Almost every character should have an arc that they go through. The character has struggles and flaws. We see them threw the story grow as a character. This is an internal change a consumer wants to see with the story and how the growth of the characters affects the story.

Note: A subplot can reveal a character’s arc in the story and help reveal it as well. Some questions to keep in mind, might be; how does the main plot help the character grow and change? What can it say and tell us about our character? How do their relationships change as well? (I’ll be making a future lesson on character arcs.)

Character-Driving Threads: Consider a character's habits and or addictions they may have. If a character is written to have OCD, how does that affect the character and the story? How can you show that in your story? You want to explore these traits that your character has and how it affects the path in your plot.

Example: BoJack Horseman is a great character to look at. His addiction and depression drive him to make the decisions he has made.

Fear Threads: If your character is afraid of something/someone how does that look? How do we see them in their vulnerability? Why are they afraid and how do they overcome that fear?

Example: Character A has to find the missing treasure. The treasure is on an island and the only way to get to it is to sail on a boat across the sea. Character A is afraid of water. It is revealed that Character A’s parents have died from drowning.

Secondary-Character Conflict Thread: This can be looked at with a couple of your secondary characters and how they are in conflict with each other--not necessarily the main character. These characters can be on the same ‘side’ as the main character but the secondary characters will butt heads and may have a distaste for each other. You would want to up this conflict when the main tension has calmed down, this can keep your consumer interested and help your world-building.

Dream Thread: Not ambitions. This subplot is where a character had dreams that can reveal important information for our main plot or reveal something that our character might not know before. This can be used as a tool of reflection in the story as it allows us to pick at the mind of our characters and get into their heads.

Cause-and-Effect: This one is self-explanatory. This shows why something is the way that it is. X happened because of X.

Comedic Relief: This can be a great way to relieve tension in a story especially if your story is rather dark in nature. However, you want to be careful about how you connect this to your plot as it can be easy to just write it in with no meaning or connection (as well as all of the subplots we went over).

Example: Again, BoJack Horseman is a great example of how this is done, balancing both the dark elements of the show with the funny parts as well.

~Vocabulary~

Subplot: a subordinate (lower in rank or position) plot in a play, novel, or similar work.

Main Narrative: a story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious.

Main Character: a central character who acts as the audience surrogate.

Secondary Character: a character who has a significant role, and appears in multiple scenes, but who is not the main focus of the primary plot.

Motive: a reason for doing something, especially one that is hidden or not obvious.

Tension: the state of being stretched tight OR applying a force to (something) which tends to stretch it.

Consumer: a person or thing that acts or uses something (in this context, a story)

Character Arc: a transformation or inner journey of a character over the course of a story.

~If you have any questions, feel free to message me or ask in my ask box! It’s good to be back~

#writing #screenwriting #creative writing #Writing tips #writing process #character #character development #character sheet #character traits #plot ideas #subplot #writing prompt #writing practice #song prompt #Orginal character #dialogue prompt #blog #fanfiction #fanfic #fanfictions #angst #fluff #bojack #bojack horseman #writing lessons