Trish's Fangirling Helps Inspire

To start, although my wrist still gets sore and stiff, it doesn't hurt nearly as much as it did the past two weeks. I'm not sure if I should cheer for finally healing, the new athletic tape I'm using to bind it, or a combination of the two.

However, I WILL sing the praises of KT athletic tape. If you want to get fancy with the patterns and colors, it can get pricey, but if you stick with the basic colors like I did, it's actually not too bad. I can use the tape for multiple injury types - which means Hubby can use it too for his knee if/when it acts up - and I can wear the tape for a few days without worrying about getting it wet. Fantastic when you're in a job where you have to wash your hands and/or dishes a lot.

The KT Tape site has instructional videos to show you how to properly bandage each injury with their tape. Which is another bonus. I have little baby wrists, and so when I wrapped my wrist as tight as I needed with a brace or ace bandage I usually cut off circulation to my hand. The bonus with the KT Tape is the video showed me how to bind it so I had the compression on the wrist I needed, but without turning the wrap into a tourniquet.

But enough of that.

My writing is doing about as well as my wrist: getting better, but still far from where I'd like it to be at.

I tried the Two-Hour Rule a couple more times this week. I'm still promptly passing out during each attempt. Maybe I should stop scheduling writing time and keep what I've been doing: ignoring the TV and just write when I'm bored. At least, until I've destressed and/or caught up on some sleep.

The "working on stuff when bored" method seemed to do a bit better for me this week. I went through the current troubling section of Please, Let Me Explain yet again, this time trying to pinpoint exactly when the story goes askew and ignores Willow's argument from the beginning of the story. I think I might have it down. Problem now is that I actually love the scene as-is, and I really hate having to rewrite it.

So, for posterity sake, I'm dumping it here. Minor spoiler for those who have been reading, but nothing that would truly ruin the story.

Willow’s face wasn’t warm and accepting like he anticipated. Her eyes were red and glossy, and she was biting hard enough on her lip that it split in the center. She stared him down for a few seconds before her entire body twitched. She ran her fingers through her hair and shook her head. “No. I’m sorry, but I just don’t know how I can believe you, let alone trust you.”

Devon’s lungs couldn’t hold any air for the next few seconds as he watched her step behind her door and slowly close it on him. His brain was screaming at him Words! Find words! Say something, dammit!

The clamoring onlookers dispersed back into their rooms. They knew it was over.

Devon wasn’t going to cave that easily, though. He pressed back against the door and called in to her, “Willow, isn’t there anything I can say or do to prove that I’m telling you the truth?”

“Devon.” He could feel her breath against his arm. She was leaning against the door again. “We’re done here.” She put a little more pressure on her side and Devon strained to keep the door ajar.

“Please. Willow, please. Don’t do this. I’ll do whatever you want. Whatever you need. Just please, trust me again. I need you to believe I didn’t abandon you guys; didn’t betray you! There has to be something that I can do.”

A soft echo ricocheted throughout the inside of his head. Four words repeated and overlapped each other like a creepy chorus whispering to him. He must have heard the sentence twenty times within the span of five seconds, each one getting louder and clearer. Then, it rang out once more. It was obviously Willow’s voice, and obviously in his head: “I wish there was.”

“Woah!” Devon jumped away from the door and it latched shut. Pressing himself against the wood he called back through to her. “Willow, what the hell was that?”

“That was my door shutting in your face,” she replied. Her voice was again stern and cold.

“Not that! The head thing.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Just now, when I-” Devon gripped his temples as Willow’s voice again ripped through his mind, “Head thing? That’s it. Maybe if I read his thoughts…”

Eyes wide, he started slapping the door to get her attention. “That! What you just did!”

With a stage sigh, Willow whipped the door back open. She cocked an eyebrow as Devon wildly continued to gesture at her. “Oh my god! What is your problem? Psycho.”

“You were in my head! I heard you!”

She was motionless. She didn’t blink. She didn’t breathe. With all the other weirdness that could happen at the mansion, Devon was half-convinced time froze.

Well, sadly, rewrite it I must. This is where that speech I wrote for Devon a little while back comes in. Instead of pleading that there must be some way that he could prove to her that he's innocent, he comes at Willow full-force. Basically yelling for her to get out of her Emo Corner and realize she's not the only one hurt by what happened over the past two years. If you look at in on paper, Devon clearly had the rawer deal. Yet he still wants to make amends and restart their friendship. If he could get over everything, why the hell can't she?

Granted, in the speech by itself I ended it with Willow not really having an answer and Devon giving up; signalling that their friendship is indeed over forever. So, I need to work on that ending as well so I can get back to the whole point that Ronoxym came up with over a year ago: Willow's romp around Devon's head.

It was supposed to be so simple. She would confront him at the cells, use telepathy for whatever reason, Devon would plead for her to use it to see that he was innocent, and then the POV would switch to Willow as she went on a tour of Devon's subconscious and memories. Sadly, I derailed that horribly, which turned what should have been a seven-page short story in to a 40-some page tale.

I'm so good at this, guys!

The worst part is that the whole point of writing the speech was to fill the plot hole Ron and I made. However, the Angry Devon interjection I wrote almost derailed us again! Hopefully, with all of this struggle to try to get Willow to agree to read Devon's mind, once we finally get this part perfect the whole thing will feel natural and organic. We won't ignore earlier arguments; even though the scenes that follow are so much fun. We won't make it feel rushed and a strong-armed plot point.

Still need Ron's official input on it, though. I should have asked him when he and Cyhyr visited last night. I guess I just got so absorbed in to the fact that I was socializing with a lot of people this week. Wheeee!

Hubby and I also started up a new anime this week. I'm so glad we did, because I think I have the inspiration for my X-Future Reboot version of Pyro and The Brotherhood. One of the first characters we're introduced to in the anime "K" or "K Project" is a red-head named Mikoto.

TRISH started fangirling in my head. TRIIIIIISSSSSHHHHH. The hard-ass, tough-as-nails, only-has-eyes-for-Pyro, psycho bitch that takes residence in my brain.

This crazy chick!

Well, that got my gears running. Mikoto just seemed PERFECT for Trish. Honestly, with the vibrant red hair and pseudo-punk look, he almost looked like a male version of Trish. Then he used his powers!

I don't know if it is ACTUAL fire that he's using, the whole powers thing is a little vague, but it at least LOOKS like fire, and it heats metal. Close enough!

Yeah, this is fanart, but you get the idea...

Then it was revealed that Mikoto was in charge of a group that called themselves Homra. They're a step up from a typical street gang - at least one member owns a classy bar that they use as their headquarters - but they're not to the point of Mob-like Organized Crime. Homra is violent and vengeful. In other words, it's pretty much EXACTLY what I was picturing X-Future Reboot's Brotherhood equivalent being.

I mean, come on, even the chibi versions are adorable!

  

And below is what Chibi Trish looks like next to Chibi Mikoto. It looks a bit weird because it's two different chibi stylings, and so Trish looks a lot more like a kid than she should, but height wise it's about right:

So, let's face it, Mikoto is a near-perfect match for what I was picturing. Neat! I just need to make sure my version of Pyro isn't a carbon-copy of Mikoto either. To be fair, though, while I love the cool and collected air that Mikoto has, it's a bit too relaxed for Pyro. Not by much, but juuuust enough. Also, we're only about two episodes in, so we don't really KNOW Mikoto that well. Based on what I've seen so far - and what I've found while looking for the above photos - I don't think Mikoto has Pyro's personality. So, I need to put Pyro's personality in Mikoto's body and switch some things up to make him more original.

And thus, I decided to mess around on the same chibi maker I made Trish on. It's not exactly what I was picturing, but it's close enough of a base. I present to you, Ignatius "Iggy" [insert last name here]. My version of Pyro.

He's a bit too "teen-like" in this chibi version,
but it's the best I can do right now.

And this is how he looks next to Trish. Again, it looks weird with them both looking like kids, but it's just a base idea of how Iggy will look.

Now to figure out what he calls his group. So much to still decide on and so much world building to do, but I'm slowly chipping away at it.

I'm going to try to have more for you guys next week; and on time.