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#where the author played with the idea of ending the story in tragedy
ladyluscinia · 5 months
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My hottest take from trying to delve into David Jenkins's interviews and piece together where he's going with this is that - for all he and everyone else are consistent about describing this show as a romance and a romcom (and The Muppets) - I don't think he finds the romance compelling??? At least, not the healthy endgame version.
Like, the one interview where he dropped that he was planning an unrequited romance in all those pitches of his until they shot the bathtub scene in 1x06...? Wild twist, but also it kind of makes sense.
Look at the comparisons he makes. Titanic (where Jack dies). Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (where both leads die). Shows like Insecure and Grey's Anatomy, where relationships get messy breakups constantly. He's excited about fanvids set to Olivia Rodrigo's "Favorite Crime". Writes an episode based on Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, a 1966 film of a play that attacks the concept of happy marriages. He mentions A Star Is Born repeatedly in reference to S2, a movie where the disaster marriage ends in suicide and heartbreak.
And even broad spectrum - he repeatedly explains that he's not compelled by pirate stories. Accuses the genre of being "creaky" and "hard to budge", and then claims to want to subvert it in one interview and shrugs about how "it's a pirate story" as reasoning in others. But the part he seems interested in...? Well it's the oncoming end of the Golden Age aspect, and also maybe the short and violent life of organized crime. He's drawing comparisons to mob movies and Westerns - two things I think we can say trend toward the bittersweet to tragic scale with endings. His examples certainly do.
I'm no longer surprised he was really compelled by the Edward and Izzy toxic divorce in S1 and the idea of doing an arc about "Can Izzy find himself outside of this toxic relationship?" only to answer "No." It seems right in his wheelhouse, tbh. Definitely enough that if he felt like Izzy ought to die due to vibes, I doubt he was looking too hard for an alternative.
For all his talk about "Can BlackBonnet put the work into this relationship?" I'm really getting the impression he thinks the more compelling answer is also "No." He likes the idea of a happy ending maybe, but he doesn't really seem into that as a story.
Now, he does seem to have gotten a crash course in "Maybe don't bury your gays?" and he's not lying about wanting to avoid the specific kinds of coming out and queer trauma stories - those are different kinds of tragedies - but I am... skeptical, perhaps, that the forced happy ending feeling of S2 will do anything but repeat in S3.
Just because, like, if I was scrolling these takes on a fic author's blog, I'd put majority odds on the main couple hanging in the final chapter, and I bet a happy sunset ending would come kinda out of nowhere...
Not really a recipe for satisfying, you know?
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physalian · 18 days
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Writing Tone #2: Avoiding Manufactured Sincerity
There’s a scene in season 5 of My Hero Academia where two beloved teachers have been brought to some high security prison to interrogate a captured villain that turns out to be a brainwashed childhood friend of theirs. The scene is really dramatic, these two teachers are screaming at this guy, heartbroken, and when I saw the episode (shortly before quitting the entire show mid-episode over how bored I was) I was not at all as outraged and horrified as they were.
It was so tonally jarring, and so unfounded within the plot, that it was almost uncomfortable to watch. The villain they’re interrogating isn’t unfamiliar, but the plot-twist-surprise childhood friend is a stranger no one but these two care about.
I didn’t care, couldn’t empathize with why they were upset, knew nothing about their relationship with the guy beyond the ham-handed flashbacks given right that moment. I wasn’t prepared to mourn the loss of this random character, wasn’t primed ahead of time with the idea that this was a possibility to dread the scene before it happened. I was just waiting for it to be over and when it finally was, the impact it had on me was a resounding: Well that was weird. Now back to the plot.
Unfounded sincerity is the uncomfortably ugly step-sibling of plots that are starved of sincerity—look at most of Phase 4, but really, starting with Thor: Ragnarok in the MCU. Many Marvel properties are afraid to embrace the emotional moments and resort to bad jokes to laugh at themselves before the audience can laugh at them. Because how dare a late-stage superhero story about mythical gods be at all sincere in its relationships, its quiet moments, its tragedies. Nope, time for jokes.
Unfounded sincerity is when a story goes far harder with the drama, the love-declarations, the angst, the humor, where it’s trying really hard to convince the audience to care and it just isn’t working.
This happens when arguments start out of nowhere, as well, when characters explode at each other in a heated screaming match that hasn’t been left to fester for nearly long enough, undercooked and hard to swallow.
This happens when characters fall suddenly, madly in love with each other with zero dubious intervention to explain away the sudden passion.
It happens particularly when characters care a whole heck of a lot about someone the audience doesn’t, at the expense of characters the audience is invested in.
It happens when characters have emotional breakdowns and start crying over what ends up reading like spilled milk. When stoic and strong characters break over something they normally would never, for ~drama~.
This is usually both a tone and pacing issue, and a serious case of telling. The author hasn’t done any of the work ramping up a situation or relationship for proper delivery of these emotionally charged moments that are written like critical character beats we’re supposed to care deeply about.
So how does this happen?
1. The author *really* wants this scene, but writes it too early into the story
Unless there’s foul play involved, or this is a romantic comedy that isn’t supposed to be a realistic and healthy depiction of how romance works, characters suddenly declaring love for each other at the cost of their own well-being, their own character arc and journey, and their other motivations can be very frustrating to read.
But the author wants to get to the Good Stuff, so they coast on the “male + female leads = relationship” expectation without writing the why (and so ensures the rise of so many gay ships in the process). Or the male + male leads” or what have you.
2. The author cannot fluidly change tone and characters explode, instead of simmer
An argument that comes out of nowhere can really take your audience out of a scene. Your characters suddenly look ridiculous and your audience can’t follow what’s going on or why they’re so upset. This is different than a character exploding seemingly out of nowhere, but who we know has been building resentment for dozens of pages and loses it over something otherwise inconsequential.
These scenes are painfully, obviously there for manufactured drama and don’t feel natural. These characters don’t feel like people, but playthings, action figures manipulated by the hands of the author.
3. The characters involved are underdeveloped
As in the My Hero scene mentioned above, of the three characters in the scene, the “friend” we’re supposed to care about is a non-entity. The two teachers could have lost their minds over this guy’s sudden death, or the reveal that he turned traitor, or that he murdered younglings and puppies and kittens, to the same emotional impact, because we don’t care about this guy (or, I don’t, at least. I didn’t, and shouldn’t have to read the manga).
You can of course have characters who grieve non-entities, like the fridged wife trope. The difference is the audience knows we’re not supposed to know or care about that lady and the character she never was. This happens pre-plot, not mid-season 5. The frigid wife is the catalyst for the character we then come to know, not a character whose death radically changes our heroes from the people we’ve already established.
4. The tonal jump is just too extreme from the established rules of the story
Abrupt changes in tone can be very tricky to pull off, and almost always fail when it surrounds an abrupt shift in character dynamics (as opposed to something more plot-related). As in, your lighthearted comedy suddenly stops the plot so two characters can scream at each other, when this level of emotional charge hasn’t been established as a possibility.
Or the aforementioned emotional breakdown that just leaves audiences uncomfortable like the awkward friend trying to soothe a weeping companion.
Unfortunately, the fixes to these situations are either delete that entire scene, or go back and do a lot of rewriting so there’s enough build-up to justify its existence. Go back and write in that simmering resentment, all the little frustrations, a pre-existing tension within the relationship that is always primed to snap.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder and there’s a reason the “slowburn” is so popular. Setting out from the beginning to write a fast-paced, passionate romance tells your readers to expect exaggerated displays of emotion.
My favorite musical is Moulin Rouge. This movie is insane. Everyone is hyperbolically emotional and nothing is half-assed. The dances, the belting singing, the costumes, set-design, editing, the declarations of love– they’re all dialed up to 11. So characters screaming their love or rage from the rooftops is a *lot* but you’re prepared for it from the opening scene, knowing exactly what kind of movie this is.
Even if you don’t start your story with the level of drama it will eventually reach, there should still be some sort of progression when it comes to character drama.
Last Airbender didn’t open episode 2 with the emotional intensity of Zuko and Azula’s last Agni Kai… but it did show you that this isn’t just a lighthearted comedy in episode 3, with the reveal of Gyatso’s body and Aang’s violently emotional reaction.
Speaking of episode 3, they didn’t throw in Gyatso out of nowhere. We know from the show so far that a) Aang is the last of his kind, and b) he doesn’t know this. Everything leading up to this reveal is lighthearted, sure, but with that undercurrent of dread, waiting for Aang to see for himself, waiting for that other shoe to drop.
So some things to keep in mind are:
Prime the audience with dropping that first shoe, make them aware of the building tension (romantic, aggressive, grief, or otherwise), even if not all the characters are aware.
Build that tension. If your characters will eventually explode, let them be mildly irritated first, then annoyed, then frustrated, then angry, then raging until they can’t contain it anymore.
Make sure every party involved in this dramatic moment is someone the audience actually cares about, not just someone they’re told to care about.
TL;DR: Don’t pull the trigger prematurely. It’s most obvious with suddenly passionate arguments, characters flinging insults and hurts the audience isn’t prepared for and doesn’t know about, in effort to move the plot along before it’s fully cooked.
So unless there’s some drugs or fairy magic involved, or one of these characters has a gun to their head forcing them to do this right now, people don’t just explode in a rage without some buildup first. People can explode in a rage over a seemingly inconsequential and unrelated thing, but they’re likely already upset and this one little thing is the final straw. Audiences love the anticipation of what that final straw will be, and whether the explosive drama is rage or romance, “slowburn” is immensely popular for a reason.
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genichisojo · 1 month
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Kagurabachi's Popularity: Familiarity Through Structure
Having a degree in writing and media is so fun because I can write an essay on why Kagurabachi can be defined as well written through craft standards and attribute its popularity overseas to its structure, which is framed similarly to western movies.
And I am!
After this interview confirmed that Takeru Hokazono, author of Kagurabachi, is a huge fan of western films, I went back to this idea I was playing with in October when KB had less than ten chapters. I had been reading since day one, and I knew it was good, and other overseas fan knew it was good. But what made it so good to us, overseas?
I made a quick thread on it on my Twitter account (that I never posted) where I mentioned Blake Snyder's Save the Cat book on script writing and story structure. I also brought up characterization and how it would've been really popular in my comic book class from undergrad. This thread discussed both Chihiro and Sojo, and the quick yet steady pace of the manga has given us more characters and moments to pinpoint. To not overwhelm myself, I'm not going to discuss the craft of characterization (maybe another time), and I'm not going to do a beat sheet for Sojo. For now, I'll try to stay under the first arc to map out why Kagurabachi has so far moved like a high budget film in manga form. So, spoilers ahead!
A quick lesson on Save the Cat, its three main characteristics are: Three act structure Fifteen plot beats Mostly applied to American Hollywood films
One of the biggest things I noticed right away was the resemblance a lot of the chapters, even the story as a whole, had to Snyder's beat sheet. This beat sheet that comes from Snyder's book is somewhat of an industry standard, so a lot of movies, even those that preceded Snyder, go through this structure of Act 1, 2, and 3. Snyder just identified the parts and broke them down to fifteen beats. Plus he dubbed the save the cat moment:
A decisive moment in which a protagonist demonstrates they are worth rooting for. Having the protagonist save a cat can be literal or figurative.
This was something KB needed and did have to have us warm up to Chihiro who post time skip, just gave gloomy orphan energy in the previous chapters. Here, Char would be our cat. Chihiro chose to save Char and chose to protect her, and continued to fight for her until she was rescued. He made this choice even before it's revealed that Char's mother died for her, something that would parallel Chihiro. This is what got readers to see him three dimensionally after being introduced to him. He's still the caring little 14 year old we saw at the start, who continues to take care of the innocent despite the tragedy he's been through. It is only natural for us to care for him, too.
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Above are the fifteen beats of Save the Cat and although KB on occasion doesn't hit all fifteen exactly as specified, especially final image as it's continuing, the song and dance is quite similar. Here are examples of The Dark Knight (2008) and Inglourious Basterds (2009), two movies that have inspired Hokazono's work.
Before Chihiro meets Char, we get his opening image of him and his dad forging which is works well as the entire story revolves on the consequences of them creating weapons. We get the set up to his world where he lives with his dad who made famous katanas that wield the power to end a war. The theme is stated, and it's not kept a secret: The katanas they make are weapons made to kill people. Are they willing to carry the burden? In another variation of this question, is Chihiro willing to carry the burdens unintentionally passed down by his father?
The catalyst is his father's murder that catapults him into seeking revenge and recover the katanas.
Now, for the rest of the story, this structure can be applied to the first 18 chapters or even 1-3 chapters at a time which in my opinion, is kind of insane. There's story telling inside the story telling, and these moments are both subtle and grand, signs of a strong and captivating writer. Hollywood would kill for a script like this these days. In order to get you to believe me how prominent these beats are, I'm going to do arc one and Daruma's story. The main story line should be around act one and two right now as of chapter 20, if we want to get down into it, but if anything, this feels like it's moving like a second "movie."
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Overall, this structure that comes from Hollywood movies can be identified in multiples parts of Kagurbachi's storytelling. I was going to do beat sheet's for Char and Sojo's stories as well, but I think this is enough of an example of a bigger picture versus smaller. Although other mangas also fall into three act structures, as most story telling does, KB masterfully uses the 15 beats to its advantage. I believe the familiarity of this pace is what hooked oversea audiences, and aside from that, the characters that quickly capture us.
Very quickly, because I don't want to make this about characterization, Chihiro is well written through his past, who he chooses to kill and save, his dialogue that can be surprisingly vulnerable at times, and his cool façade that melts because of how hot he truly runs. He is also straight up a badass. We get handed Char's background in an "all is lost" segment as well as some lore that can present her as a resource for the main cast. We see Azami's phone background photo that's minimum 3+ years old- a government employee with a soft spot for his friends, one who he is still clearly grieving. We get one tiny yet so fucked up bit of Sojo when we see him get a flashback where he's a child and his single dialogue of "I truly love Kunishige Rokuhira," that launched his type of villainy in the maniacal fanboy category. Who does it like that? Nobody but Takeru Hokazono.
Thank you for reading this essay! I do have two other essays drafted, one on Sojo's possible return (I'm a delusional Sojo fan) and just his overall significance and impact as the first villain even if he doesn't return, and on Hiyuki plus servant leadership versus self service.
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iheartgod175 · 2 months
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So, that Star Fox x KonoSuba idea…
It’s had an insane grip on my brain. To the point where my good buddy @blazing-shadows had to spam me with fifty messages, haha XD
Basically, this is what happens when you get your yearly itch for one of your favorite franchises and add in the game that you’ve been playing religiously for a few weeks ^^
I’ve decided to title this silly story “God’s Favor on This Not-Yet-Retired Veteran!” It may be subject to change, though!
This particular crossover idea takes place during the Assault/Command timeline. Why? Because I absolutely ADORE Star Fox Assault, especially Peppy’s portrayal in that game, and while Command is a whole mess, a few ideas/characters were pretty neat (*cough* Lucy *cough*). That, and I wondered what would happen in an alternate scenario where Peppy dies for real during the tail end of the game (a question that has been answered by several authors, actually!).
So the basic gist is that Peppy dies for real after sacrificing the Great Fox, but receives a second chance at life when he meets Aqua, who revives him and sends him to Axel. That second chance at life involves a world where cabbages fly, ranking works like a video game, and the people there are somehow are even bigger a-holes than in the Lylat System. Oh, and he ends up being in a party with one of those a-holes. Not Kazuma—although he’ll definitely meet him later. That would be Dust, the resident town punk, and his long-suffering party consisting of Rin, Keith and Taylor. With his chances at retirement permanently shot, Peppy now has to navigate his new life of being one of the oldest adventurers in Axel, and try not to either rage quit or kill Dust in the process. Meanwhile, in the “real world”, Lylat is reeling from the Aparoid Invasion when the Anglars make their debut, and the fractured Star Fox team must face this amidst team struggles and without their beloved mentor.
It’d be easy to have either Fox or Falco in this scenario, since their personalities would mesh with the craziness perfectly (I personally would nominate Falco for this position since in-universe he’s super competitive), but even before I got into KonoSuba, the idea of Peppy ending up in an isekai situation—especially in this world—was too hilarious to leave alone. Also Peppy’s my favorite character, so that’s a no brainer, lol XD
Also, the main reason I had Peppy team up with Dust is for two reasons: 1. As much as I like Kazuma’s character, I wanted to challenge myself with writing an ensemble cast outside of the main one. Kazuma and his party will definitely get their chance to shine, but I wanted to focus on a different set of adventurers for this story, and the team that’s the opposite of Kazuma’s seemed to be a fun choice. 2. Dust is one of my favorite characters in KonoSuba, which happened completely on accident, lol (more on that in the KonoFan post I’ll make soon). And just imagining the headaches he’d cause Peppy was hilarious.
This being KonoSuba, hilarious shenanigans ensue, but there’s also a little bit of seriousness due to, well, Star Fox. You can’t expect a battle-hardened veteran like Peppy to just be dumped into a crazy world like KonoSuba and pretend none of the canon in his universe didn’t happen, lol. I told my buddy that this little story is gonna be full of humor, drama, tragedy, a smudge of romance, and lots of wholesomeness, because although I put him through the ringer a bit here, Peppy needs a bit of a break after the stuff that happened in canon ;_;
If y’all like this idea enough—or if I can’t shake the brain rot off, haha—this might be something I’ll post on AO3! Let me know what you think in the replies!
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fierce-little-miana · 10 days
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I really like your fic and I'm love how you do Chizuru and Kaoru relationship. I must admit I'm was very disappointed with how they handle Kaoru in the game, like no kidding he did horrible things and wanted to make his sister suffer but at the same he was a victim of abuse. I wanted a route for him - platonic of course - where he and Chizuru would make up or at least come to a understanding
Thank you so much for the kind words about my fic. It is always super nice to hear some feedback on it. If you like how it focuses on the Kaoru&Chizuru relationship you might have a nice surprise in the coming days (provided that you do not hate modern AU).
I perfectly understand your frustration with how Kaoru was treated in the game (though I am even more frustrated by how he was dispatched in the movie!).
I have only finished Okita's route (good ending only - I don't have enough time to play right now) in the Hakuoki: Stories of the Shinsengumi version, but I am super eager to receive my copy of the Switch version so I can play Sannan's route and the other one (Yamazaki? Sakamoto?) in which Kaoru plays an important role. I want more Kaoru content!
That being said, I did not find the content I got in Okita's route to be frustrating at all. I think Kaoru is a well-written and coherent character in it. He is not sane, he does horrible things, his goals are megalomaniac and very probably unachievable even if everything went as he wanted, but it all makes sense. He can't come back from what happened to him, he is stuck in a headlong rush. There is no escape. He is a well-executed tragic character.
I love tragedy so I love Kaoru. I love him even more because having him as a villain sort of anchors Okita's route as a route deeply centered on Chizuru and since she is sort of the main character you know… Well, narratively the oppositions "ChizuruVsKaoru" and "OkitaVsKaoru" are super interesting to me.
So I don’t mind that Kaoru is a tragic character who could not escape his cruel fate. Even if some days I believe that there was a short window in which he could have been brought back toward the light (I might write a fic about this idea one day). Other days I truly believe that Kaoru was too far gone the minute he decided to take control of the Nagumo clan to ever come back from the path he had decided to travel.
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(This is basically me about Kaoru)
But I totally agree with you about something super important: Kaoru is without a doubt a victim of abuse (child abuse from when he was seven, and the game is not clear on when this stopped, sometime before the beginning of the game? sometime in 1864 taking advantage of the political turmoil in Tosa han?) that might very well have a sexual and scientific experimental dimension. That abuse ended in blood when Kaoru killed every authority figure in the Nagumo clan that wasn't him. Generally speaking every important character in the game is more or less given a redemptive action (even if that one action does not rehabilitate the entire character) that sort of acknowledges a "what could have been" scenario. Kaoru is not given that grace. The thing that comes the closest to this is his conversation in the forest by the Yukimura village with Chizuru after she has regained her memory. He is calm and apparently open during it but he is still hellbent on his "evil" plan and, for Chizuru, this conversation is more a corruption offer than a redemptive gesture from her brother. Plus we discover later that he is still lying to her about things at this point (notably about her being able to "keep" Okita).
Having the poster child for horrifying child abuse being among the very few irredeemable characters is… a choice? As I said, Kaoru’s character is well-written and coherent but the optics of that are not super good.
I too would very much enjoy a sibling (platonic) route that would explore their relationship and Chizuru oni’s heritage. Also, but this is because I am fucked up stories enjoyer, Kaoru’s route bad end could be a non-platonic ending. A bit on the same tone as Shiraishi’s Adonis Ending in Collar x Malice in which he is still with Hoshino but both characters are merely nightmarish shells (or everything they feared they could become) of what they were before.
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desultory-novice · 10 months
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Got your reservations, eh? (Feel free to DM or disc if you'd rather not air 'em in public)
Oh no, I'm HAPPY to talk salt about the novels!(1)
(1) Prepare to find out why my nickname is "Salty Dess"
...Now, I probably shouldn't be. I really hate to complain about someone's work when I know that alllll sorts of stuff go into the creative process. Including real human stresses about life and deadlines and having to meet various corporate imposed standards. Writing in accordance with reading levels, brand image, etc, etc. Even with all those piled on top, we're not yet in the dark future where AI writes everything and that should be celebrated! Even an author with flaws/hangups means they're still human and it's human-made art I want to see discussed, studied, and cherished! 
Though...
...Man, just WHAT is up with Takase-sensei's treatment (or lack of??) of Magolor and Kirby's friendship! Why is it like this?? Where is she GOING with this for three, or really, five books now!! (2)
(2) I mostly ignore Dreamy Gear and Kirby Clash in this lengthy rant, but those don't treat Magolor much better.
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Actually, before I get started, brief tangent:
Probably the thing that gets the most groans from me is Takase-sensei's Meta Knight bias. Back when everyone was speculating if we'd get a Magolor Epilogue novel or not, I was so CONFIDENT it wouldn't happen I would have put real money down on it, because there was no way for her to work Meta Knight in. And Takase-sensei always works Meta Knight in. Usually in a leading role. Lo and behold, the Magolor Epilogue novel didn't happen. Now, I'm not the person to talk bad about having a character bias :cough: Marx :cough: Magolor :cough: so I won't, but I also won't hesitate to note that she is showing a pretty obvious bias there.
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So, back to Magolor and Kirby. By now, it should be clear I'm someone who thinks really highly of their bond. I've always thought of (the original) RtDL as a tragedy. I just refused to believe that the takeaway of that game was supposed to be "And that's why you should always be cautious around strangers, kids!"
I suppose there was always the turn-around that Magolor seems to be in trouble but it was actually the ship that was in trouble the whole time, but that "rescue the princess" narrative went out the window a year later when Magolor and the Lor are depicted as loyal partners again in Dream Collection. A bond that is staunchly re-affirmed in Star Allies.
If the point is not to save the Lor from Magolor, what is?
Now, I also think that RtDL DX's many (subtle) changes to the narrative were informed by a desire to grow Magolor's character after a decade of fan speculation and brand growth. And I think he was consciously MADE into more of a tragic figure as a result.
...True Arena...
But there always had to be something to inform that growth. And even in the original, he has that "Let's always stay friends!" line.
So, RtDL gets adapted in book form and Takase-sensei seems to do her darndest to like... write Magolor out of his own story? Which becomes especially weird when you take into account the Labyrinth novel, where Magolor is a villain all the way through.
Now, unlike most other Magolor fans, I actually kind of like that book. I thought the idea that everyone calls Magolor out on being sus in the beginning was pretty cute coming so soon after his villainous turn.
I think the joke where he uses the mirror to become all powerful but just becomes a giant, funny-looking squeaky toy is hilarious. I think the fact that Takase-sensei highlights that Magolor does.not.know. the different between fighting Kirby and playing with him is probably the smartest thing she's ever written about him.
It is, in fact, something that informs my own characterization of Magolor. At least, the implication that he's been too alone for too long to know how to socialize with people properly.
And there's his breakdown in the end that it's not fair that he lost because he's never had any friends! (Marx: "......") The fact that this appeal causes Kirby to spare him and then he runs away and steals Kirby's cake was also cute in a Saturday morning cartoon freeze-frame ending.
It wasn't an amazing novel (what I really dislike in it is how Takase-sensei characterized Claycia. What the HECK was up with that? She's just...crazy and mean about art to the point that she leaves her girlfriend best friend in tears randomly every other week, I guess?) but it was fine on it's own...
"If only the story ended there..." to quote Smash Bros (EU)
So yeah, Starcutter and the Lying Wizard once again gives Magolor like one or two moments of interesting pathos, generally involving the Lor. But then Takase-sensei refuses to let Magolor build any bonds with the mains or let the mains bond with him.
Nope, we have to spend an unnecessary amount of time in Raisin Ruins with Meta Knight explaining to Kirby about how dangerous that mysterious new power might be when, oops, it never actually turns out to be dangerous! 'If you put the gun on the mantlepiece in act 1, someone has to fire it in act 2' is one of THE oldest pieces of writing advice in the known universe...!!!
And it's not just the wasted time on red herrings. (Or skipping Egg Engines....) It's the the whole concept of her leaving Kirby and Magolor becoming friends on the table that I just.don't.get.
If your heroes have no emotional stakes involved in fighting the big bad, that's... bad. Everyone knows one of Magolor's keywords is "betrayal." He "betrays" Kirby and the others. But not in the novel. They barely know him. He used them, but he didn't betray their trust or their friendship. Because he didn't HAVE either of those things to begin with. (Anyone remember the scene where Magolor calls the others "friends" and NO ONE responds to him? Because I do.)
Heck, I'd go so far as to say that the Lying Wizard barely LIED to them there. (Especially if you buy into him possibly being a secret descendant of the Ancients, born off-world.)
His offer to have Kirby be his lackey comes so out of nowhere. His offer to Chilly to rule the galaxy at his side in the manga, despite being based on a joke relationship, came off as so painfully sincere there that there are dedicated MagoChilly fans to this day!
And Kirby doesn't engage with him during the fight either. He responds to the things Magolor says with this "eener-neener nuh-uh" tone that is just... weird. I think most people have noted that Kirby comes off a little more mature in the novels than in other media. Still a "youth" by definition, but he talks and is capable of deep thoughts. But in the fight with Traitor Magolor, Kirby almost slips back into being an anime-esque infant. No thinking, no willingness to engage or even look at what he's fighting. (His one comment about the eye is almost embarrassing given the lack of everything till then.)
...Oh and DO NOT get me started on the fact that Takase-sensei specifically make the gang fight Magolor Soul and then changes his last words so it is now a meaningless groan of defeat?! I was SO upset at that choice (why not stick with his regular form in that case) but I told myself, hey... it's not like we know with definitive proof what Magolor Soul is actually saying...
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...
Oh, NEVER MIND, WE DO. And we know via the end-of-book text that Takase-sensei had access to everything she would have needed to write an informed Magolor Soul battle.
No. For whatever reason, making Magolor unrepentant in Labyrinth, making Kirby disinterested in the person who would later go on to say (... in the remake) that he hoped to be Kirby's most reliable friend in this or ANY dimension, and, oh, lest we forget...
There's the Samurai Kirby novel...
So, I mentioned above that I knew there wouldn't be a Magolor Epilogue novel. But I had to admit I was a little surprised we'd get an adaptation of the Samurai Kirby game to go along with the release of RtDL DX. It felt like an odd choice at the time.
Slightly less so once you know the plot so, okay... Here's what's weird about Samurai Kirby. And I'll try to keep it short and vague but talking about Magolor's role in it necessitates SPOILERS.
...
Magolor is the bad guy. Again. Yes. And he makes a passing attempt at getting Kirby to be friends with him this time too and Kirby once again refuses to engage with him and then, Magolor says to himself that he could never imagine being friends with Kirby.
...
I just want to point out once more that this novel came out two weeks after RtDL DX. We go straight from a game with Magolor using his vast magic powers to help Kirby out of pits and bring him food at regular intervals, a Magolor who, at his worst, begs Kirby for help while Kirby's own inner voice encourages him to "...save a new friend" and also a Magolor fighting through a hell-parallel to get back to "...his friends." And just...
Why would you write that, Takase-sensei?! Why would you write that book NOW?
And now we come to the present. And I've gone from upset to...mildly curious. Because the most interesting things about Magolor in the Samurai Kirby novel is that A) He says he gets the feeling maybe he and Kirby knew each other in another life and B) His goal is to get to a place that is OBVIOUSLY Halcandra. It's not written in Katakana but the place name and the methods Magolor wants to use to get there make it really, really obvious. It's either Halcandra or the Samurai Kirby equivalent. Except that I think he really IS trying to get to THE canon Halcandra.
DX has now canonized Magolor as "the dimensional traveler." So it's not strange at all if these curious AU worlds and events start to occur around him/because of him.
While I'm currently pretty apathy for the way Takase-sensei writes Kirby and Magolor's friendship currently, I can't help but wonder if this dimension stuff isn't all building up to something...?
At the very least, canon Magolor built Magoland for Kirby and friends, so either this novel will HAVE to acknowledge that or...no one will mention that and we'll have another book where Magolor is the villain (...because come on, he's probably going to behind everything in this book too. After being consistently sus through all his novel appearances, it would be weird and jarring if he were completely innocent this time) and it'll end with him and Kirby coming to an "agree to disagree" relationship.
Or maybe this time, things will be different and it will end with Novel Kirby and Novel Magolor actually becoming friends in a way that mimics their game selves.
I really can't say for sure. But those...
:pauses to take a breath:
...are my reservations.
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Brief Bonus: So, before you file everything I wrote up above as the ramblings of a crazy aspie, I am not the only one who has taken notice of Novel Kirby + Novel Magolor's non-friendship.
A couple of fanartists I follow on Twitter have even begun drawing humorous comics about things like "...threatening Magolor with Novel Kirby if he doesn't behave and it working" or "...Novel Magolor complaining to Game Magolor that he just can't get Kirby to like him." So, the vast difference in the treatment of their friendship (or lack of one) is something others have taken note of.
I'm not going to say anything like "I expect this novel to let me down too" in regards to Magolor. Nothing of the sort, really! I've come to terms with what the novel is, and I mean it that I'm curious if these Novel Magolors who continually fail to make a connection with Kirby will build up to something. Maybe something truly fascinating!
And hey, in lieu of (ever) having Marx appear, I can enjoy a villainous Magolor just in the meantime. (But seeing other people make fun of "Novel Magolor" definitely helped take the sting out of it.)
Phew...
I didn't realize I had as much to say about that as I did, but apparently, it was something I needed to get off my chest!
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...Before everyone goes, just because I don't know when I'll next have leisure to rant about novel-verse problems but...
I want to say that I'm also a little :side-eye: about Takase-sensei having Meta Knight give us "word of god" evidence in the novel that the Master Crown wasn't evil, it was just Magolor's OWN inner wickedness that made it that way when A) even Star Allies casts aspersions on that theory and B) the remake brings out some credible evidence for the theory that the Master Crown is, in fact, AMAZINGLY EVIL. There is even reason to believe it was brainwashing Magolor almost from day one!
...But that's a story for another essay.
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charmwasjess · 1 month
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14 & 21 for Sifo-Dyas in the character ask game please :D
bestie I love that we both immediately went in the same direction with this <3
14: Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.
....This is hard because I'm still completely enchanted with your real housewives glam Sifo and can think of nothing else.
But I think my Sifo-Dyas is a real hipster brand whore. Leather bracelets, Blundstones, Patagonia bullshit. When he's undercover for the underworld work canon inexplicably mentioned, he's wearing $500 of luxury outerwear, he looks like a CEO at a tech startup. He likes clothes, and I think his time working outside the Temple both underworld stuff and on research projects makes him actually "get" civilian clothes in a way that his Jedi friends don't. His idea of going incognito is to actually go out and buy an outfit that looks great on him and blends in; Dooku's is to put his hood up. 21: If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?
I love writing him in moments where he can prove himself a tremendously confident, capable badass. His story is so tragic, he's so trapped by the narrative, desperately trying to prevent this tragedy he only knows about because of a gift that he never asked for and then, he ends up causing the damn doom instead. It means a lot to me to write him in moments of agency, especially because I read him pretty disability coded in canon.
Something that's more difficult for me to write with him is honestly his visions/Cosmic Force vibes. Part of it is probably that my brain is more moment-by-moment instead of big picture, so it doesn't come that naturally to me. Sometimes I worry I don't spend enough time making his brain unusual enough, or how pervasive the double vision of living one foot in the doom future, one foot in the moment must be. Lucky I read wonderful authors like yourself who handle this well, so I'm working on exploring this more.
*
Here's the link if you want to send me an ask or reblog to play!
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johaerys-writes · 4 months
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Not counting Patrochilles:
1) Who are your favorite characters from Greek mythology (in general)? 2) Who are your favorite Homer characters specifically?
Omg what a great question. So I have many many favourites when it comes to Greek myths, it's hard to choose. I basically grew up reading simplified versions of these myths, specifically these children's books by Sofia Zarampouka (a greek author and painter, I'm sure any Greeks following me will recognise these lol):
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Just look at all those gorgeous covers. I had the whole series at some point and I have no idea where it is now, but I used to read these over and over when I was younger.
I absolutely loved reading about the labours of Heracles, those were really fun even though I didn't love Heracles himself as a character. I also really liked Theseus' story (Ariadne and her yarn! The maze! The Minotaur! Poor Aegeus dying at the end aksjs so sad) even though, again, I never much liked Theseus as a character haha. Atalanta was one of my favourites and her myth is very cool, and I also liked Perseus' story a lot. Antigone is a huge favourite, as well as Iphigeneia. I find their stories very compelling and very tragic and I think about them a lot!!!!
Another one that I absolutely love is Medea and her story with Jason and the Argonauts. The Argonauts on their own have a very interesting myth (heroes that sail to a strange land with strange customs in search of the mythical golden fleece) but the appearance of Medea and her later story with Jason is what makes it a fascinating story for me. She is the embodiment of what most Greeks at the time would find at once incredibly alluring and incredibly threatening: she is foreign (the Other), beautiful, powerful, she has hidden knowledge and magic, she defies her own father and kills her brother to help Jason escape. And when Jason, dickhead that he is, abandons her to marry someone else, she commits the ultimate taboo of killing her own children. She is such a polarising and blood-chilling character and I really love seeing how much she has inspired artists through the centuries.
As for Homeric characters, I do love Hector a lot, and the moments when he appears in the Iliad are among my favourites, alongside all the Patrochilles moments. I find Nestor very entertaining and he's always a delight when he appears, and I also enjoy Diomedes' and Odysseus' bro chemistry a lot lol. Clytemnestra is also one of my favourite characters in Greek myth in general. Technically it's Euripides' version of her that I love, based on his Iphigeneia at Aulis play, she doesn't appear in the Homeric works but she is mentioned so it counts lol. I also really love Briseis-- even though she talks very little in the Iliad, I still love her characterisation and the overall role and significance she has in the story. Another one I really love is Priam, I cannot read the passages where he appears in the Iliad without tearing up, he's just such a kind and noble person and his interactions with other characters in the epic give so much depth and nuance to Trojan society and culture and the tragedy that befell them.
Most of my fave Homeric characters are from the Iliad, but I should give special mention to some Odyssey characters I really love. I always found Circe very intriguing and the descriptions of her island and her magic etc are SO interesting and I wish we had been given more!! (Honestly even though I adore the Iliad I always found the Odyssey much more fun to read lol). Telemachus and Peisistratus are also special blorbos (and here I should give a shoutout to the amazing @figsandphiltatos for writing the fic that made me insane for them alsjs 😭🙏)
Gosh this is already so long and I feel like I could talk about this forever ahaha. I probably left a lot of characters and myths out but didn't want to ramble too much. Thank you once again for this question!
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slashmagpie · 3 months
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10 for the ask game?
10. How do you do character arcs?
Questions that make me stare into the distance for an extended period of time. How do I write character arcs?
Hm. So I think a good character arc has two core components: character and theme. Character is simple enough--who is this character? Where are we pulling this characterisation from? What do they want, what do they need, what are their goals? How do they tend to approach their problems? And then theme is the bigger picture--what is their story about? Well, what is the overall story about? How do those themes relate to this character? What do I want this character's story to say?
For example--take LLAU Pearl. To answer the questions above: her characterisation in the beginning is mostly pulled from Double Life, with later characterisation being more pulled from her chiller demeanour in Hermitcraft episodes. Her wants, needs, and goals are laid out quite neatly in the summary of My Blood: money, home, family, and hope for the future, all of which are things she starts out the story without and ends up having at the end. As to her problems, she tends to throw magic at them, though not to a stupid extent--she's pragmatic enough to know when she'll need that power later vs now, and when she isn't in a desperate or reckless situation, she'll be more reserved. She's sad and angry and bitter and she covers that up with ill-placed laughter and humour that, as she develops as a character, turns into an upbeat attitude and an ability to find humour in the darkest of situations, something that is incredibly helpful later in the story when she becomes the team's heart.
And then, what is the story about? Well, LLAU has two major themes: personhood and resurrection. Pearl's arc plays more into that second theme--how do you come back to life when you've been dead (metaphorically or literally) since before the story even started? How do you save a world that's already ended? How do you find hope when the worst has come to pass? How do you regrow from the ashes? LLAU Pearl is a character who starts with nothing, and ends with everything, and that is the theme of the story shining through and interacting with her characterisation to get both her character arc and the story's arc as a whole to the desired conclusion. Or, as my friend Missy (@/tiamatisobscure) once said:
There is something about narratives here. Every element of the story signals tragedy. Everything about the characters is arcing towards icy despair and there's nothing anyone can do about it. It's a Titanic in slow motion. But if the narrative is the Titanic, Pearl's arc within it is that of the RMS Carpathia. Have you heard the tale of the Carpathia? The ship that heard the Titanic's distress calls? That rushed 67 miles over the course of three and a half hours, cutting heating for speed? That arrived too late by many metrics, but saved seven hundred and six survivors from the ocean? The Titanic sunk. Bdubs died, Joe was butchered into a calamity, the universe ended. But there is an alchemy that can pull triumph from tragedy and Pearl is the author of it. Pearl is our Carpathia.
Does that... help? Does it make sense? Have I just rambled incoherently for four paragraphs? I have no idea.
MCYTblr writers ask game!
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randomnumbers751650 · 8 months
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I reached the most recent chapter of Oshi no Ko and I have to say it’s quite the trip. The way the author mixes so many things in a huge pot, wildly different things, creates a unique experience. The 2.5D play was really the highest point of the first part, because it played just like a standard shonen tournament arc, but a good one, where acting techniques were like signature attacks. But the real plot really starts after the Miyazaki trip, with the change in Ruby’s character. There will be spoilers in these unedited thoughts, so I'm just writing right from the brain.
I feel what attracts everyone most is that, in the end, it’s a tragedy. Aqua/Goro was born as an idol’s son, but one thing that always bothered me is how, in spite of being mentally a middle-aged man, Aqua acted like a child. He wasted his entire (second) childhood being obsessed with vengeance. It’s clear that he’s not well in the head. Seeing his half-brother calling him out so that he stop toying with Kana and Akane and he even realizes that he has nothing to live for but vengeance.
And then we learn why he acts like that. He didn’t really have a family, in spite of his grandma loving him and trying to help others in a way he was denied when he was a kid. It always bothered me how much Goro was a nobody; he was infatuated with Ai (in a meaning more ample than just “romantic”) in a situation that the term “idolatry” is more than fitting, in terms of character and I still think some of those things could be better foreshadowed. Revenge stories don’t tend to interest me, so I continued following his arc in spite of that, that’s why the Miyazaki arc was such a shock. I don’t take back what I said about him, especially because chapters later, he’s back on his thing. But his “adultness” showed when you compare to what happened with Ruby. A strange character that both pushes the plot forward and is pulled by it.
Her character arc was better foreshadowed. Her sharp tongue discussing in twitter in the beginning hits different after Miyazaki. In a short time, she goes from innocent to master manipulator and the public notices something changed and they love it – the idea that a girl must lose her innocence to be loved by all isn’t something new (does anyone remember Perfect Blue?), but they executed here in a quite somber way. This is girl having a nuclear, non-instantaneous emotional breakdown and everyone can’t just take their eyes.
It's also showing how it’s not just Aqua and Ruby that want to kill the one who killed Ai – Kamiki – but a lot of people. But the guy is really a serial killer. So the scale of the plan to get him is really impressive, to make a successful movie, mobilizing a massive quantity of resources, in which all the promises and compromises are being paid, sometimes with interest. And, as any tragedy goes, you can expect things aren’t going the way they’re expecting.
I criticized OnK before because, as well-written as it is, it cannot be free from the stereotype of “anime is for weird people”, with all those incest jokes. And then, in chapter 123, it surprisingly “pays off” (notice quotation marks). Serina falls in love with Goro because…honestly, she’s just a teenager who never loved and didn’t receive love from her parents since she was 4. Due to her terminal disease, she’d never have a significant one, that’s why I understand she had a crush on Goro, he’s the only one who showed affection for her. A “normal” girl would be like “oh, I said that when I was young, haha, that was a weird thing”, but Ruby isn’t a “normal” girl, because there was nobody to talk with her about these things – especially because Aqua was, again, manipulating people (I mean, it was obvious, right? To make her have a great performance as Ai, right?), just to get his objects. Even the Girl of Crows said “wow, this is going to my cringe compilation”, it’s obvious that this will be a wrench tossed in his plans, everything was going too smooth to be good.
But as someone said in this site, OnK is a story about how far the unloved would go. Ai, Aqua, Ruby, almost every named character has some degree of “unlovedness”.
And yet, one thing that I enjoyed how the characters are unique in the sense of how unrelatable they are. I think “unrelatable” might not be the best word, but we make a big deal of how characters should be relatable, but some of the most interesting characters are completely unrelatable. I recently played Project Wingman and why did Crimson 1 do what he did in the last mission? If you were playing attention to the plot, you'd know no one but Crimson 1 could’ve done that.
The things Aqua did aren’t things a normal person would do, but nobody in the world but him would do. We talk about “resist temptation”, but in reality it’s not hard for us to “resist the temptation”, but this temptation is made that no one in the world would fall, but them. I feel this is a path to make a character, especially a villain or an antihero, unique. Like Aqua, you can say “if I was in Aqua’s place, I’d do different” – even if the phrase may sound sanctimonious, that’s exactly the point! But then, it wouldn’t be the same story. Still, the characters make sense given the circumstance they’re given, that’s the sense of realistic a writer should aim – consistence in-universe.
Given the plot points, we’re approaching the end, I think. Personally, if the Girl of Crows (I also love how youkai/fair folk she is, she's there to make the plot happen and I say this in the best way possible) doesn’t end saying “humans are a bunch of bastards who can't live without drama”, I’ll be disappointed.
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old-stoneface · 5 months
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ive been seeing people claim that different characters are astarion's foil and i dont know why some people have yet to realize that all of the main six companions in bg3 are similar in so many very meaningful ways . you can ostensibly argue (albeit with varying strength and success) that any one of the characters in that party can act as a foil to another. also, im not really sure if most people know what a character foil is......maybe we need to reintroduce the phrase "character parallel" to the online character analysis layman's vocabulary. a "foil" is a character that has traits that contrast the protagonist or simply another character in the story, but it does not stop there. they dont have to be strict opposites. sometimes its just a matter of two characters having traits that accentuate or bring attention to each other's aforementioned traits.
a really good example of this is horatio and hamlet from hamlet, where hamlet is ruled by his emotions and horatio is ruled by rational thinking, a theme repeatedly mentioned throughout the play in the sense that horatio will ask hamlet to be more calculating, and hamlet will implore horatio to be more emotional. an example of a parallel in the same play would be hamlet and laertes (ophelia's brother), where in the end, due to their combined familial losses and the tragedy that befalls them, they are both corrupted by their volatile emotions/madness turning inward and then coming under the influence of other figures in their lives. theres a lot more going on in that play obviously but these are basic good examples of the ideas of foils and parallels.
in the case of astarion and wyll, their motivations and personalities are very good foil material, seeing as right away there is a distinct difference in their opinions on heroism, something that very much defines both of them. astarion is, when glanced over as a whole, a villain, while wyll is clearly a hero, immediately creating a dichotomy tantalizing to both the audience and the characters themselves as seen in their party interactions. with astarion and gale, we see more a foil-ness of their experience with relationships and personalities. gale is not a hero, and astarion's general villainity means nothing to him. they do not clash. its more about how they act in relationship to the player that causes interest between the two of them, how astarion is clearly uninterested in genuine emotions and wants to be manipulative, whereas gale is overly sincere and begs for attention rather desperately. however, when it comes to pointing out parallels that further promote and intrigue the dynamic of foils...we have the constant theme of being under someone else's control in this game and being forced by obligation to follow these rules imposed by someone else. astarion and cazador, wyll and mizora (and his father, in some ways), gale and mystra, shadowheart and shar, lae'zel and vlakiith (and githyanki tradition as a whole), karlach and literally every authority figure that wormed their way into her life but in particular - zariel. as i play more of the game and learn more about each character, im sure ill discover even more stuff that makes various characters into parallels or foils. i know theres stuff w halsin that will be interesting to me.
thats what i mean by there are traits in every character in the main party that both compliment and clash. and this is also a reminder that foils and parallels do not have to be romantic, but they can be. so like..idk. i dont really have a conclusion here. i just wanted to talk about this lmao
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cptn-m · 2 months
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One Piece chapter 1106 review
Where last week's chapter was all the slow setup, this one is 100% slow payoff. It's the turnaround for all of Egghead's tension, and Oda lets it breathe for an uncharacteristically long time, giving us pages and pages of relishing the Buster Call fleet's destruction and the ultimate demonstration of Kuma's love for Bonney. And I think this truly is the end for the Egghead Arc - Luffy's back on his feet, the Pacifista are completely under control, the giant robot is moving and the freaking giants are here for backup. For Saturn and Borsalino to overcome all of that and put the Strawhats on the ropes again would be a reset on par with Wano's legendary 'raid failing' theory. There's a bit still to do, but it's time to start wrapping up and winding down.
My favourite thing about the Luffy scenes in the opening pages is the gang of Marines who try to cuff him being knocked straight up off the island for their trouble, seen from a great distance. It's such an Asterix gag, and I have tremendous nostalgia for Asterix gags.
The slow lead into Vegapunk's big reveal puts all the weight of the arc on this one moment where the love of a father proves more powerful and is given the chance to overcome the world's greatest authority. In isolation, it's perfect for everything we've seen from Kuma and Bonney, and just the right final act of defiance for Vegapunk to gamble on. The build up of all the inner monologue last chapter about the tragedy of a father being made to kill his daughter only to find that the very same thinking was the inspiration for Vegapunk to turn that possibility on its head. Many have speculated that lineage factor or something like it would lead the clone Pacifistas into joining the original Kuma in defending Bonney, and having it be a deliberate choice from Vegapunk, brings the little found family of labrats from the flashback full circle. On paper, you couldn't do this better. In context, however…
In context, these great ideas are soured slightly by how hit and miss the Pacifista authority settings and Saturn's scientific vigilance have been the whole arc. It's cheapened by Vegapunk pulling out a secret act of defiance already last chapter. Frankly, if I was doing a rewrite I'd scrap the whole self-destruct bit - just make it a shutdown switch implemented as directed and overcome by Kuma's will. Saturn never threatens to check for scientific deceptions, Vegapunk's big choice is only a secret final person at the top of the authority hierarchy and it comes out all at once here. What we have now is one thing too many, and it doesn't let the one that really matters have the power you would want it to.
But either way, it happens, and we spend several pages revelling in well-earned carnage. The destruction of the fleet is beautifully rendered and full of lively detail.
Punk seems badly wounded when we cut back to him, but come on, this is One Piece. I'm not unhappy with the way Gear Five's euphoria overwhelms Luffy's traditional instinct to get mad if his friends get hurt in the way some others are, but it is a noticeable change. I can't help wondering if there's a story beat building over this. If Luffy is properly enraged, or saddened, or otherwise torn from the driving Nika emotion, would he lose access to the form? It would also be interesting to see a scenario come up that can't be resolved unless Luffy calms down and takes it seriously, but with Gear Five's incredible ability to warp the environment and people around it, I have a hard time of thinking what that could be.
Whatever 's been going with him up to this point, Borsalino is done playing. His promise to end it quickly demonstrates some sympathy to Kuma and Bonney left in his system, but he's all in at this point. But with a direct order, right in front of his boss, there wasn't really room for hesitation on this front.
Luffy is back and fully revealed and identified as Nika at last with some great, fun bouncing backgrounds. It's a significant moment for Bonney to finally witness this, but I'm not sure what I expect her to make of it yet. Will she follow him? Idolise him? Or perhaps this little girl is going to be frustrated her god couldn't appear sooner, especially if her father's wounds prove fatal. But that's for the future.
And then, yes, the giants arrive. Dory and Brogy back in action some 900 chapters after Little Garden. Triggers are being pulled on some of the series' longest-haul setups. Very, very curious that they've already fully identified Luffy as Nika, presumably just based on a bounty poster. I would have guessed they were only following Saul's will to prevent another Ohara, but it runs deeper. Seems like we're going to learn a lot about Nika and Joyboy on Elbaf.
As Egghead reaches this conclusive point, I find myself reflecting on story structure in big serialised works like this. Conventional wisdom says you need a darkest hour followed by a turnabout leading into the climax. But it's hard to do that on 20 pages a week with obsessive fans like this. Ideally, the reversal of the situation would happen all at once in a big, sweeping heroic moment, but when your cast is this large and this scattered, and your page time this limited, the reversal comes as more of a cascade, one problem being solved after the other. But that takes weeks in real time, in which people are going to complain that the tension is gone, and then talk themselves into thinking that's because that wasn't the real lowest point yet and it's still coming. Dispelling the tension in a single chapter - with a single moment, without the arc drawing on after and without it being so predictable that everyone sees it playing out - can be done (Shanks arriving at Marineford and Merry appearing at Ennies Lobby are the best examples) but the setup it takes is intense.
Wano suffered really badly for this. So much going on that by the time we start unpicking knots and resolving fights there's still three and a half volumes of content to go. Egghead's conflicts are at least a little more concentrated, so it should be smoother sailing.
And as a final note, the giants' arrival makes the Blackbeard Pirates' ship's presence even more mysterious. I imagine they're being opportunistic, planning to salvage one important thing from the ruins while everyone else is distracted with each other. Oda did allude, in his end of year statement, to having an outline that skipped over Elbaf though, which makes me wonder if Blackbeard was originally going to be used to force the story into a final stage post Egghead and has now been replaced in his role by the giants…
Well whatever. Elbaf is coming, and I can't imagine a more anticipated arc outside of Laugh Tale itself. The next few months are gonna be awesome.
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ridley-was-a-cat · 4 months
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What I Watched This Week – 12/3 – 12/9
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Heavenly Delusion – I started watching this while it was airing, but put it on hold after the twist in episode three re-contextualized a scene from earlier in the show, and left me with the impression that the author was not going to handle the stuff I knew was coming later with the proper care. After pushing through to finish it, my feeling was absolutely proven true, and what a shame that was. The good stuff in this show is great. The post-apocalyptic setting is intriguing, it has a number of unique and fresh story ideas that shift back and forth between timelines, and the production is fantastic. Unfortunately, the author couldn’t stay in his lane, and the story includes several weighty topics that it treats with very little care. The unserious treatment of gender identity makes me wonder why the hell he even wanted to go there, and its attitude towards bodily autonomy was thoughtless at best, full-throated rape culture at worst. And don’t even get me started on the nonsense in episodes 12 and 13. Absolutely gratuitous, and the aftermath was just disrespectful. 5/10
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Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket – Someone on Twitter, or whatever we’re calling it these days, said that this series in the Universal Century timeline was a Christmas series, so I figured I’d put it on. I was a little nervous to see that our main character this time was a 10-year-old boy, as I was worried he was going to end up flying a mecha around and fighting. Thankfully, he remains an onlooker instead of a combatant, although he still gets himself plenty involved in a situation involving a Zeon special forces squad who has come to his colony to destroy a Gundam at the hidden Federation base there. It does a lot in just six episodes, with some remarkably good animation that looks fantastic remastered for HD, and the final episode in particular was some excellent tragedy writing that hit me where it hurt. 8/10
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Reborn! Ep. 51-75 – I have some of the most mixed feelings on this series. The Varia arc wrapped up here, and I found myself enjoying the fights and the story towards the end of it, when Tsuna is forced to get serious and he and his friends start to work together. I still think the author could have cooled it a bit on the introducing more and more twists and complications as the sole way of adding tension, but it was satisfying to see Tsuna stand up for his guys. After that arc, there were several one-off episodes of daily life which still aren’t super funny for me, and then the next long arc begins. I’m interested to see how this arc plays out, as the ten-year time difference is intriguing, but I have to admit that I rolled my eyes a bit at the new weapon contraptions it introduced. We’ll see.
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Character Interview
Thanks @sio-writes for the tag! I'll ping @authoralexharvey @author-a-holmes and @friendlyneighborhood-writer for it!
For this interview, we'll go with Rain, the titular sorceress from The Sorceress and the Incubus. She's almost certainly had to do these for the mage reports at some point, so she's an old hand.
1. Are you named after anyone?
Unfortunately not. My parents are very fond of nature and decided to theme all of us children around weather. My sister is Sunshower - we call her Sunny - and my brother is Storm.
2. When was the last time you cried?
I cry pretty frequently, actually, at least if you're including any sort of tearing up. I think the last time was a few days ago, when I got really frustrated with a complicated piece of filigree work that I couldn't get right.
3. Do you have any kids?
Not yet! I think Saker would like having them, and it's not outside the realm of possibility for us. No idea what that would look like, yet, and if we do it I'd like to live somewhere more populated than Barixeor Spire, but given the length of our future, I think it'll happen eventually.
[the black cat on her shoulder rubs his face against her cheek, purring; she smiles and scratches him behind the ears]
I think that's a yes from Saker on kids. He'll be a good dad, and I'll do my best to keep up.
4. Do you use sarcasm?
Hah! Yes, more than I should.
5. What’s the first thing you notice about people?
Given how much summoning I do, I have a tendency to note things that would set people apart as unique - things like asymmetries, how they hold themselves, attitudes, or the pattern of their soul-ley. On a casual inspection, I think probably eyes? I like to look into people's faces.
6. Eye color?
I was born with green eyes, but they're gray now. Not blue-gray or green-gray or anything like that; colorless gray. It took a while to get used to, and it's "off" enough from natural eye colors that people tend to notice them.
7. Scary movies or happy endings?
I very much enjoy comedic plays, and not so much the tragedies. I can relate a bit too much to doomed heroes, and they usually leave me unsettled.
8. Any special talents?
Not that familiar with my work, huh? I'm the best dowser in the world; some would say freakishly so. Given that I only recently realized most mages can't see soul-ley without preparation, that's probably true.
My natural talents are with summoning spells.
9. Where were you born?
I was born in my parents' farmhouse in the Barrens. Not uncommon for farming folk, of course; the local midwife delivered me and both my siblings in the the same bed my ma was born in. The Barrens are good farmland, in case you're unfamiliar - it's magically barren, not physically.
10. What’re your hobbies?
I like tracking down artifacts and legendary creatures, places, and objects. It's relaxing for me, though rather time-consuming.
11. Have any pets?
Does Saker count?
[the cat on her shoulder meows and bats her on the face, making her laugh]
I suppose not, then.
12. What sports do you play/have played?
Eh, not really something I've ever been into. As a child I played hoop-games with the other local farm kids, and we'd play some keep-away games on skates when the ponds froze over, but ever since I manifested as a mage I've been a lot more focused on magecraft.
[the cat makes another prrt sound, holding out one paw and extending his claws when she looks over]
Ah, I suppose that's true. Saker and I do spar nowadays, though that's more for the fun of it than any real competition. I've always danced, too - but, again, that's for pleasure, not sport.
13. How tall are you?
I'm around five foot ten inches.
14. Favorite subject in school?
History, definitely. I'm especially fascinated with the First Age, though of course most of what we know from the time is legends. Maybe one day I'll manage to get one of the stars to tell me a few stories, though the only one I know of who was actually present in the Material Plane at the time was Tarandrus, and it doesn't remember.
15. Dream job?
Does inscrutable sage count? Not that I'm very inscrutable, but I think it would be hilarious to be some sort of wandering mage handing out ancient artifacts to worthy farmboys. Dropping Blackwings in Sersha's lap was honestly the highlight of my year.
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glygriffe · 2 years
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Family matters
Characters - John Winchester, young Dean, young Sam
Summary - After an unexplainable house fire takes his beloved wife and two young children, a devasted and desperate John Winchester struggles to rebuild his family while confronted with his demons.
Word Count - 3,855
Warnings - Angst, Mental health issues, some violence
A note - An alternative origins story set in the Dark Angel universe, from John Winchester's POV.
John Winchester is a man possessed. Or at least obsessed. He has been talking of demons and bad spirits since an unexplainable house fire took his beloved wife and his two young children. So, possessed might be the right term.
For a time after the tragedy, he was a menace to families with young boys in his neighborhood, because every 4 or 5-year-old could be his oldest in his eyes, and any toddler could be his baby boy. He would try to get them back home with him. For a time, John Winchester was almost more often in police custody for disorderly conduct than at home drinking or reading lore about the supernatural. And "home" for him now was a dingy room above his auto shop, where he used to do the accounting for his business.
After some therapy (the charges never held, but therapy was still mandatory, and the warnings to stay away from local playgrounds and schoolyards were pretty convincing), John learned to stop talking constantly about how demons took his family away. It kept the authorities off his back. He is still convinced that something supernatural was at play with the loss of his family. But he tried to move passed it. He really tried to bury the idea that demons and monsters are real, and of taking revenge on them.
He sold his half of the garage to his business partner and moved to another state to start anew. After some wandering, he ended up in Sleepy Hollow, Wyoming. The name of the town is just too reminiscent of his interests in the occult not to stop there. And it's probably as good a place as any to start being a "normal" widower.
He works as a mechanic in a franchised repair shop and spends most evenings at the end of his days in bars around town. He doesn't want to feel, doesn't want to think. When his coworkers start hinting he might have a drinking problem, he drives to dive bars in surrounding cities instead. He's also thinking of quitting the repair shop: too many people there talking about their family bliss. Or about him.
It's another lonely night where he sits at the counter of a half-decent water hole on the fringe of Gillette when he overhears a drunk tell that he lost his job at a nearby government facility. He apparently poked around a project called Manticore where he shouldn't have.
Manticore. As in the legendary man-eating monster? Surely, it is a little too on the nose. All patrons in the bar seem to think that it is just customary drunken babble. On the other hand, governments aren't often subtle and not everybody read about every imaginable monster there is. John immediately forgets he is trying to live a supernatural-free life. His grief latches again on revenge and, suddenly, his upside-down world is almost put right side up.
He digs around and finds that the guy worked at a big private facility doing secretive government (or federal agency, locals are not sure) contracts. Nobody knows a lot, but even if most buildings in the compound are fairly new, one of them is rumored to be haunted, with stories of monsters in the basement to boot.
It looks as if this place might be a good training ground to find monsters (or demons) and learn how to beat the crap out of them. Or possibly interrogate them. His mind is not convinced that Mary and the kids are dead; they might just be captives of the spiritual world, somewhere, and demons are surely responsible for that.
The guy that got sacked was doing equipment maintenance there. As a mechanic, he probably has the basic qualifications to do that, and the job is probably open…
He already did some manipulation to clean his permanent record of the misdemeanors his gravitating around playgrounds had peppered in there (it turns out that a lot of employers are finicky about criminal records), so he applies right away. They're mostly looking for loners that are skilled, disciplined, don't ask too many questions, and keep their mouths shut. John thinks he will feel right at home there and he can channel all his drive into solving this (maybe) supernatural problem by slaying the beast, be it metaphorically or literally.
It's not gratifying work, but the stern hierarchy of the company that kind of runs like a branch of the military is surprisingly soothing to him. It is a structure he knows well from his years in the Marines. And he is alone from his department on the evening shift, which is fine by him, having fewer people trying to make friends with him. He's mostly just waiting for a piece of equipment to break down. So, he has a lot of time on his hands to explore discreetly for a couple of months.
Now John is a man with a mission. He feels alive again, having a purpose. During his boring non-bothered shifts, he walks around the fenced-in compound (a pack of cigarettes in hand in case someone asks why he's there), noting how many people and cameras secure the place. In his down time, he's mostly in his apartment, meticulously studying floor plans for every building in the compound.
He figures out the best place where they would keep some foul creatures. (Because that company is shady as hell; he would not put it past them to keep monsters handy, or to conjure dark spirits to obtain favors.) It is the most guarded building in the whole place. It could be something else, (there are so many secrets here) but he'll try anyway. He has nothing to lose, and revenge fills his stomach with a warm feeling that cheap whiskey can't beat.
When he finally tests his planning skills on site, he is pleased with the results. He estimated quite accurately how many guards are on patrol and their usual schedule in and out of the building. His heart rate is under control, he avoids all cameras without breaking a sweat. He planned multiple entry and escape routes, focusing on the optimal ones the same way he did when he was in service. His terrain skills are not too rusty, even if it's been quite a while since he used them.
Figuring out how to unlock the door to the basement was the thing that he worked on for months beforehand and he was the most nervous about. But he didn't trigger any alarm doing it. When he sneaks into the poorly lit basement, he does indeed hear some growling and howling creatures from behind faraway closed doors, very similar to what the rumors were reporting. In addition to his small crowbar and his wire cutters, he came with silver bullets in his gun, a brazing blow torch, and some salt for good measure. He is prepared to face anything. Or so he thinks.
Because what he hears, clear as a fine tune radio, just around the corner from where he stands, is the muted struggles of a small body against a bigger one, and the rapid irregular tapping of arms and legs against the cement floor. Popping his head at the intersection of the gray hallway, John sees two guards. They barely restrain a child (buzz cut, a bit stocky in his pajama-like uniform) who is fighting tooth and nail to reach a smaller boy (slightly longer hair and slender frame, but same type of clothes) on the floor. The latter is the one making the tapping sounds (jerky movements of booted legs, eyes closed, head tilted back); he is having some kind of epileptic episode.
-492, stand down! What are you even doing down here? Go back to your unit immediately. That's an order! At that, the buzz-cut kid loses some of his steam. Apparently, he is trained to obey orders, even if he is probably not up to the dress code since he doesn't have any shoes or boots on.
The second guard looks behind his shoulder at the small boy whose body has stopped spasming. Buzz cut makes a strangled sound looking at him, but the guard seems nonchalant about the whole ordeal. - I think he's a goner. Might as well save us the trouble and bring him directly to the morgue. - No! Sev? SEV!!! The older kid's voice is pained and panicked. All his combativity comes back in an instant.
This is all a little too much for John watching the scene from afar. His stomach is in a knot and he is losing his grip on reality. From a distance, the name shouted by the boy sounds too much like 'Sam', and his mind superimposes images of his sons on the two boys before his eyes. He doesn't think, his gut instinct taking over: his feet are already moving towards the lot of them, his mouth silently making a "Sammy" shape.
Everything happens at once.
In a blur, the older boy attacks, striking the guard in front of him with two swift motions to run to his friend (or sibling?) on the floor. He throws himself on the ground to hoist the little one into a half-sitting, half-kneeling position. He's howling now, like a wounded animal, and the creatures hidden behind some of the doors howl with him. The shout of pain cannot escape the man's throat, his leg at a weird angle after the boy targeted his knee, but his windpipes crushed while he was still crumpling down (almost in slow motion).
And in the same moment, John Winchester is charging, gun aimed at the still standing man in the hallway, the one reaching for his nightstick. The silver bullet hit a chunky piece of thigh, and a scream of agony comes from the second guard who collapses to the ground, near the first one. John swoops in and throws some salt into the men's faces, just in case. (This clearly put them in pain, both of them, but he's not sure if it is because they are demons or because they now have a bunch of salt in their eyes.) He kicks the nearest man in the head to make sure he stays down, checking they don't have guns of their own (just the nightsticks), grabs the two boys managing to keep his gun at the ready, and starts retreating swiftly backward to keep the threat in sight.
He turns a corner into a new corridor even darker than the one they just left, the boys still crushed to his chest, and for a moment John is completely disoriented. With an uncooperative eight-year-old that could take down a grown man without too much of a fuss with his bare hands and feet, his exit could have been excruciatingly difficult, if not downright impossible. That is if even he could remember where to go next.
For now, he is just trying to silently coax buzz cut boy to get with the program and stop fighting him. He roughly grabs the collar of the weird pajamas top to stare closely into the huge eyes to convey his intent. The other kid, just dead weight on his shoulder, is hindering his movements (but he doesn't want to think about it, about the possibility that the little boy is dead).
From this close, he can't miss the stubborn wrinkle forming between the boy's eyebrows and the tension in his shoulders: the young'un is about to throw a punch. John has a split second to decide if he wants to strike first or find another way to defuse the situation. But then the smaller child whimpers and the little fury immediately calm himself. Sev (or is it Sam?) is definitively not dead. John feels his shoulders relax. Looking at each other, the half-pint soldier and the full-grown Marine both realize that their little protege will be alright, that they all going to be alright if they can just get out of this place.
He can feel the tension lift from the stocky boy. After a beat, still nose to nose with him in the dark basement, the kid gives one sharp nod and slowly wiggles out of John's arms. It's obvious he thinks he and his buddy are relatively safe for now. He gives Sev's still limp and sweaty body a little reassurance pat and goes seamlessly into full reconnaissance mode. It is quite impressive. Totally focus, totally silent, using military signs to indicate to John the way to go and the moves to make.
This is not a situation John Winchester ever thought he would find himself in: following a kid's silent orders. He cannot say he is a big fan of that, but he knows it’s the best scenario for now.
When they are finally out of the building, John takes back the lead. The lad's bare feet are quite silent when they have to walk momentarily down a gravel path to reach his optimized escape route. He shushes the little one in his arms that is regaining some awareness of the world around him. They almost reached the parking lot where his big black car is waiting for him on the other side of the eight-foot-high chain-link fence when the alarm starts blaring.
Again, so fast John cannot really see him do it, the kid reaches the top of the fence, hangs himself upside down by his knees, extending his arms and wriggling his fingers to indicate John should transfer the younger boy to him while he climbs. The transfer is awkward. He is reluctant to let go of his charge whose features bring back memories of his own son. His lack of focus almost gets him kicked in the face by a boot when Sam (Sev) tries to help in the change of hands. But the siren is now coupled with gunshot sounds and all John's instincts kick back in, telling him they have to be on the move. Telling him to stay in the present.
Long distance shots start to ricochet around them as they jump off the fence. Sev is supported by the other boy who looks at John to know where to go now. He points to his car while fishing for his key, and they manage to get into the car without too much damage.
He doesn't go back to his apartment. He drives two towns over before stopping at a motel. Tells a groggy Sev and his hyperalert friend to stay in the car until further notice. It is only when the desk clerk gives him a suspicious look along with the room key that he realizes he's bleeding.
Back at the car, he opens the trunk to get the first aid kit and his duffle before passing them on to his new sidekick; that gives him the freedom to carry the little one with ease for the first time. Without meaning to (not really), he presses his cheek to the boy's head.
In the motel room, he sets Sev on the bed nearest the entryway. He locks the door, closes the drapes, and directs the light of a desk lamp on the prone kid. He starts a superficial inspection, making sure that no stray bullet buried itself in the young flesh. Buzz cut stands near the bed, alert and ready to open the first aid kit at the first sign of injuries. John must admit that he is impressed by the older kid's attitude and demeanor during the whole ordeal, starting when he took point to get out of the Manticore basement.
Now that the adrenaline is starting to wear off, John is asking himself the important questions he has been ignoring until that moment. Like, what were those two kids doing in that building, surrounded by soldier-like guards in a hallway full of reinforced doors like prison cells? Why both of them are wearing pajamas-like uniforms?
Still thinking, he's gently palping every limb, brushing his thumb under the little fringe of hair on Sev's forehead, turning his head to examine his neck and behind his ears. For a moment, he is reminded of that time Sammy had an ear infection and he was the only one able to get him to sleep, all cuddled in his arms. He is still looking at the child, but images of his son are merging with what his visual sense provides.
Until he sees it. A tattoo on the back of the kid's neck: a bar code with a number. He saw something similar on the older boy, too. It makes him see them more as Holocaust survivors than it does his children, now. Even if Sev looks an awful lot like Sammy would at this age. So, he gets back to the task at hand. Other than the exhaustion that came with the seizure, there is nothing wrong with the boy.
John sits on the other bed, a little more relaxed even if his side is starting to hurt like hell. He signals the other one: "Your turn."
When he sees the kid fidgeting with the first aid kit still in his hands, he adds: "Don't worry, he's ok. I'll get him some orange juice or some other sugary drink soon to boost his energy a bit. - He needs tryptophan or milk. Or both. - Tryptophan? - I heard a nurse call it that. "
John hums as if he understands, tugging the boy's hand to make him stand in front of him, between the two beds. When he feels reluctance, he looks sharply into the green eyes. The message is clear and the little soldier now stands at attention, letting himself be examined thoroughly.
There are some fresh cuts and scrapes on his body, nothing too serious, and some older scars including a burn mark on his calf. A bad one. He brusquely put the bottom of the kid's pajamas back down on his leg, reaching to examine the first boy again, weary he missed a burn on this one. Of course, he didn't. His mind is just playing tricks on him.
He tells himself he's just being thorough, but in reality, he can't help but reach out to Sam. A firm but gentle squeeze on a shoulder, a pat on a cheek, as if his skin remembers being a father. He would ruffle his hair if it were long enough to do so. The boy is awake now, if weak looking. John smiles at him before gesturing to the first aid kit. When Buzz cut gives it to him, he goes to the bathroom to quickly clean his wound. He presses some gauze onto his side, fixing it in place with tape. He removes the paper covering the glass on the counter and fills it with water. He can see through the half-open door that the older boy is sitting next to Sev and talking softly to him. For the first time, he looks at ease, even though he regularly glances furtively towards the bathroom.
He goes back into the room to give the water to Sev. He focuses on what the older boy said earlier and, looking from one kid to the other, asks: "Tell me about tryptophan." When there is no response from either of them, the little one looking a bit confused and out of it, he turns towards the half-pint soldier: "Now, son." The kid is back at attention between the beds
- It's … It's some kind of pill that helps with the shakes. It didn't help that much today because he already got the shakes yesterday and Sev couldn't rest today; he went for special training at PsyOps. He's always drained when he comes back from PsyOps.
He caught himself and the boy off guard calling him 'son'. But the voice is foreign to him and the kid looks nothing like his eldest did the last time he'd seen him. Those green eyes have nothing in common with the hazel he remembers all members of his family to have.
The kid's eyes shift to the bed, seeking reassurance from the other boy even if the little one is back asleep. It is a profound bond that those boys share. Like family. - Is Sa… Is Sev your brother? - He's part of my unit, sir.
Unit. So… Child soldiers, without a doubt now. And more than the two of them, apparently. He supposes this is as close as a family as they get. - What's your name? - 492, sir.
John blinks. Even the military does not use service numbers to refer to soldiers. The older boy seems to take his incredulity as a response to some kind of insubordination, so he hastily stands straighter and quickly recites: - My designation is X5-331845739492, sir. - How come he's Sev and you're… 492? - He's X5-331845741027. - You don't have names? Sev stands for… Seven?
492 almost shrugs: "I… I have a bad habit of shortening words, sir. And since Sev is younger than all of us, it felt right to use a smaller designation."
He rubs his face with his hand while pacing the space between the front door and the bathroom, trying to make sense of it all. Bar-codes, like properties, and no names. A mix between livestock and weapons if his assessment is correct.
Sam whines softly in his sleep and man and boy alike get closer to the bed to make sure he is alright. That doesn't sound like any weapon he has ever seen before. He should get to a drugstore and a mini-mart to buy some anti-seizure medicine, juice boxes, and milk for the kids. Also, clothes. They will stand out like sore thumbs walking about in those weird uniforms and with no shoes. He stops his train of thoughts at that: Is he really considering keeping these children? He cannot take them back, of course. That is not a life for kids.
But John Winchester's life is a mess, too. Can he take care of two kids while going after monsters or demons (or whatever took his own family)? He has a horrible thought: What if all the creatures howling in that basement were children instead of monsters?
He looks back at the boys as a way of grounding himself. 492 is back to sitting next to Sam (the little one is definitively Sam for him, now, since he looks so much like his lost son and he doesn't have a name of his own), rubbing his fingers on the sleeve of the younger boy in a soothing gesture, looking intently as if he could will the tremors not to come back to shake the small frame of his friend. Of his brother. Of John's son.
This time, the use of the word doesn't feel foreign to him. With a nod of his head, John makes up his mind. Fishing his car keys from his pocket to get to a store that is open all night, he puts his other hand on the doorknob and turns towards 492:
- I'm gonna call you Dean.
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interact-if · 2 years
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Day 3 of our Pride Month Event with Maxim!
Maxim, Author of Werewolf Noir
Set in a modern fantasy world, Werewolf Noir is a dark mystery where you’re looking for the person who killed your kid. If it’s for justice or revenge is up to you. You play as a relatively new werewolf after having lost everything and everyone, now living in the city of Reaver, corruption runs deep through the system and the richer someone is the more corrupt they are. Meet interesting characters and ro’s as you put the puzzle pieces together, get adopted by a tiny little pup or kitten, and pick out your new career path (private detective, bounty hunter, criminal) to make ends meet as you navigate this world and try to keep the wolf inside contained.
Read More about Werewolf Noir here. Play the Demo here. Maxim is also the author of Ichor: Awakening (TBA) and A Hero’s Job (TBA)
[INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE CUT!]
Q1 - Please, introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your project(s)!|
Hi, I’m Max I am a gay trans man. Werewolf Noir is probably my biggest project right now (and the only one with a public demo). It’s a modern fantasy noir setting where you play as a recently turned werewolf hunting down the people that took your life and your family from you. My other wip is called The Ichor: Awakening, it’s also a modern fantasy setting but with horror as well. You play as an ancient warrior who wakes up in modern times despite your last memory being your own gruesome demise. Only then, to find out that the ancient evil you previously fought is coming back and you have to fight it once more.
Q2 - What or who are some of your biggest inspirations?
            I have always loved fantasy media and monsters, to be honest I’ve had a love of monsters for so long that I’ve made up my own monster guide that will actually be featured in Werewolf Noir. I’ve always been drawn to dark settings like horror and tragedies. It’s hard for me to nail down a specific piece of media that serves as my biggest inspiration because I’m constantly getting new ideas and inspirations from just about everything. Not to mention the countless amazing IF authors and their projects! I just love seeing the worlds people create and how that affects the characters around them!
Q3- What excites you most about IF? What drew you to the medium?
            When I was first introduced to IF I was a little hesitant on if I would enjoy it, one fully read and re-read project later and I was hooked. I love seeing all of the different settings and worlds and how your character reacts in these settings. Being able to customize and really create your own character as the MC is most likely what really drew me into the medium, and I love seeing how each decision affects the story later on.
Q4 - Are your characters influenced by your identity? How?
I would say that most if not all of my characters are influenced by my identity. I’m so tired of having to hunt for any LGBT+ rep in mainstream media, so when it comes to my own works and characters, all of them are LGBT+ and neurodivergent.The Werewolf Noir RO’s are all bisexual as a general umbrella, because each has a more complicated identity stemming from that attraction. For example, The Ghost is an RO who is asexual, they’re fine with kissing, but just have no desire to go further. In my other project, The Ichor, there are two gender locked RO’s one being Andreas who goes by he/they pronouns, and the other being Ghislain the nonbinary healer. These two were some of the first characters I fleshed out for The Ichor, they know the MC the longest and so I wanted them all to be sort of locked in. Then we have M, their gender is chosen by the player, but they will always be transgender. M is one of my favorites to right for the Ichor as they relate closest to my specific identity, but also because they are just a big softie trying to act tough and aloof.
Q5 - What are you most excited about sharing related to your project?
            I think I’m most excited about sharing the characters I’ve made. Not just the RO’s either, but the NPC’s and how everyone works in the setting. World building is very important to me, and a lot of the characters have long backstories that not everyone will learn, which is totally okay! What gives me the most enjoyment is seeing how people react to the characters I’ve created and seeing if they like the same characters I do, or how people feel about the antagonist(s).
Q6 - What would you like to see more of in LGBT+ fiction/IF community?
            I would love to see more explicit trans identities in LGBT+fiction and the IF community, as in more characters who are trans. I’ve noticed a lot more options when it comes to making the MC and being able to make a trans MC which is amazing! But, I think I would enjoy seeing that spread to RO’s and NPC’s as well. A great example off the top of my head is from the IF wip The Northern Passage (which is an amazing project definitely check it out). I’d just love seeing more trans rep in projects and fiction, as well as trans wlw and mlm relationships without it being considered this “revolutionary” thing just because someone who’s cisgender is dating someone who’s transgender. I just want to see more casual relationships involving trans people.
Q7- Lastly, what advice would you give to your creators and readers?
            As a guy who struggles to write a lot of the times because I get in my own head a lot of the time, my biggest piece of advice is to just be easy on yourself. You don’t have to write a novel everytime you open your project. Your project doesn’t have to be perfect on the first iteration either. If it takes you years to get one project written, awesome! Why? Because you wrote something start to finish! Be gentle with yourself, you wouldn’t yell at an author for taking to long on the next update, so don’t do it to yourself. As for advice for readers, be gentle on creators. You never know whats going on behind the screen, and really you don’t know the creator. The best way to help creators is to interact with their work, likes are very nice, but personally I know I love reading tags or getting asks that are just keysmashes and “I love X character ;0;”. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate, but just seeing that people do enjoy your work and getting feedback like that can be more inspiring than any number of likes. I guess to sum it all up, be gentle with yourself and the creators you enjoy!
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