The Rescue Rangers Detective Agency is still going strong. Chip has taken a more laid back approach to things, and let Monty Jack oversee all the cases as Captain. However, Chip still plays a strong role in managing cases, showcasing his deductive reasoning. Monty’s addiction to cheese became bad over the years, and the only way that he can cull it if he smokes cigars. Dale is the hands-on Trace Analyst & Crime Scene Examiner, doing all the dirty work. He also helps out on forensics with the Medical Examiner Gadget Hackwrench (even though his erratic behavior makes one question if he’s the right dude for the job… but he gets the job done, nonetheless). Gadget also handles all case data and is in charge of IT as well. And Zipper is their Informant.
What makes a distinctive Rescue Ranger are the gumshoes they wear. It’s some kind of code they follow.
Sometimes, when I’m writing a scene where a problem is introduced, I suddenly have a “but what if they just–?” question. I used to freak out about it a lot, and sometimes I even considered rewriting large chunks of the story just because of one tiny question. The best way to approach something like that is to answer the “what if they just” question as it pops into your head. Have a character ask and make up some bullshit and suddenly you’re worldbuilding, not bullshitting, and you have this new tool you can use! Another thing you can do is have the characters only realize afterwards that they could have used an easier solution. That way, readers won’t feel like you’re just ignoring the solution– it’s just that your character didn’t think of it! This is especially useful when you’re using absentminded/reckless characters because they’re not as likely to weigh all of the options before they act. This can also be a good opportunity for character development. Your character may try not to make the same mistake twice which is an easy way of showing growth. Rewriting and ignoring these issues are valid, of course; do whatever makes you most comfortable!
Write a story where the main characters fuck up. Like, they let someone die because they were scared, or they reject a possible romantic interest out of snobbery and/or belief that nobody would have interest in them. Let your characters burn bridges, and let their mistakes have consequences. Some things are unforgivable, and it’s okay to have your main characters do these things. Everybody’s done something they regret. It’s hard (for me, personally) to do this because I love my characters so much, and I want them to succeed all the time, but it’s not realistic, and more importantly, it doesn’t make for as interesting as a story.
Something that’s helped me a lot when writing/designing characters is to make associations with them. Usually I pick an animal, a season, or an abstract concept to define them, and I keep metaphors and similes relating to that character within those categories. It adds a nice bit of symbolism, plus it gives the story more of a mythical feeling. It also lends more weight to interactions. If character x is the moon, and character y is the sun, then their interactions are suddenly more meaningful, especially if they have a relationship that is like that of the sun and moon in mythology or astronomy.
My character is a pretty bad guy and can be violent. I HATE it when someone I’m rping with provokes my character and expects him not to react aggressively. It bothers me even more when the rper doesn’t want me to hurt their character but keeps egging mine on. If you can’t handle bad characters, DON’T rp with them!
I hate when my roleplay partner always focuses on their own character. It’s all about him. It’s all about his ‘dying disease’. What’s even worse is that we agreed to do a shipping rp. But in every single rp that we do, he always brings in a ‘beautiful/handsome’ second character and makes them flirt with his main muse. At first, I figured it was to advance plots. But now I can see that he’s just trying to make my muse practically get on their knees for his. I hate his unoriginal methods and way of role playing.
Day 28: Parallels with other characters -> Daenerys Targaryen
Dragondreams/Wolfdreams
Dany
Yet when she slept that night, she dreamt the dragon dream again. Viserys was not in it this time. There was only her and the dragon. Its scales were black as night, wet and slick with blood. Her blood, Dany sensed. Its eyes were pools of molten magma, and when it opened its mouth, the flame came roaring out in a hot jet. She could hear it singing to her, She opened her arms to the fire, embraced it, let it swallow her whole, let it cleanse her and temper her and scour her clean. She could feel her flesh sear and blacken and slough away, could feel her blood boil and turn to steam, and yet there was no pain. She felt strong and new and fierce.
Arya
Sleep came as quick as she closed her eyes. She dreamed of wolves that night, stalking through a wet wood with the smell of rain and rot and blood thick in the air. Only they were good smells in the dream, and Arya knew she had nothing to fear. She was strong and swift and fierce, and her pack was all around her, her brothers and her sisters. They ran down a frightened horse together, tore its throat out, and feasted. And when the moon broke through the clouds, she threw back her head and howled.
Yes, Arya thought. Yes, it’s you who ought to run, you and Lord Tywin and the Mountain and Ser Addam and Ser Amory and stupid Ser Lyonel whoever he is, all of you better run or my brother will kill you, he’s a Stark, he’s more wolf than man, and so am I.
- Arya III ACOK,
Mother of dragons, Daenerys thought. Mother of monsters. What have I unleashed upon the world? A queen I am, but my throne is made of burned bones, and it rests on quicksand. Without dragons, how could she hope to hold Meereen, much less win back Westeros? I am the blood of the dragon, she thought. If they are monsters, so am I
At the last, Viserys looked at her. “Sister, please … Dany, tell them … make them … sweet sister …"When the gold was half-melted and starting to run, Drogo reached into the flames, snatched out the pot. “Crown!” he roared. “Here. A crown for Cart King!” And upended the pot over the head of the man who had been her brother. –– Dany V AGOT
Ser Meryn pried the king’s mouth open to jam a spoon down his throat. As he did, the boy’s eyes met Tyrion’s. He has Jaime’s eyes. Only he had never seen Jaime look so scared. The boy’s only thirteen. Joffrey was making a dry clacking noise, trying to speak. His eyes bulged white with terror, and he lifted a hand … reaching for his uncle, or pointing … –– Tyrion VIII ASOS
Tyrion & Dany being quietly calm in the face of the deaths of (two of) their abusers, reflecting on whom Joffrey and Viserys had once been––a brother, a boy––and being helpless but to watch as two men perish because of circumstances beyond their control, deaths that they will later be unfairly blamed for.
i want to talk about the characterizations of ben wyatt and jake peralta. arguably jim halpert could be included in this conversation, but i want to focus on ben and jake because they’re such clear subversions of well-known tropes
firstly, you have ben wyatt. the nerd. he’s established as a hard-ass and a geek early on, and it would have been so easy for the writers to fall into that trope of presenting him as below leslie, as her eventual agreement to date him has a victory for all male nerds, because he had successfully tricked a woman into being interested in him.
instead, we get ben wyatt, a dork and a feminist. he’s nationally ranked in settlers of catan and he likes to sit around in a batman costume and he loves game of thrones. he also loves his girlfriend enough to lose his job for her, and it’s never even addressed whether he minds that leslie will probably end up with a higher status job than him - because why would he? he loves and supports her, and his nerdiness is presented not as a flaw, but as a complement to her single-minded determination - they’re both total nerds with an overlapping ven diagram of interests.
secondly, jake peralta. the character we’re introduced to in the first episode is cocky and a smartass, and while he’s loveable, we completely understand why he would drive amy up a wall. jake and amy are less alike than ben and leslie are; arguably they’re opposites. again, there’s a trope that the show could have fallen into: “endearing idiot eventually wears down woman who is too good for him, and she realizes she was too uptight all along”.
but again, we get something completely different. jake peralta, known for being Too Much, consistently respects amy’s boundaries and tries as hard as he can to be honest about his feelings, while understanding that amy is her own person. she buys orange soda for him and he gets a new mattress for her. there are so many examples of the respect in that relationship - they’re both so stubborn, but they love each other so much. he’s always known that she was going to be his boss. they’re different, but they love it about each other.
all i’m saying is, this purposeful subversion of gross male stereotypes is so important - and so much easier (and so much funnier!) than people think
“frenemies” is a really good character dynamic actually
like it’s SUPER funny as a concept but also. it brings up this dilemma of “this person is my number one rival and i’ve made it my goal to defeat them etc etc but at the same time we’ve been doing this shit for so long that it’s become a part of our daily routine and neither of us really wants it to end because it’s so much fun and if one of us were to succeed in besting the other it would be devastating on both ends because we’ve formed this sort of bond and we give meaning to each other’s lives and oh shit i think we’re friends”. fuck dude that’s good shit
Truly the best collection of tags. i remain astonished that “frenemies to lovers” STILL has not been marked as a common tag since I wrote this fic 2 years ago ahaha
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