TWC4: Update and Deleted Scenes

So, earlier I wrote a post sayingg that I was nearly finished with chapter 2 of TWC4 and I would have deleted scenes to post later on, but for some reason this computer will not let me publish posts to this blog. So that post never got added to the blog. Instead I'm just gonna go ahead and make THIS message, and then hopefully be able to post it from upstairs on my OLD computer. And if I can't I have no idea what happens :P

Anyway! First of all: I finished and uploaded chapter 2 of TWC4, "Shake, Rattle, and Mole". The link is to the first chapter. It's also here on AO3.

So, as I wrote this chapter it just got longer and longer. And I'd edit it down, then write more. Finally I said screw it and wrote what I wanted, with ideas of what I could trim out later; the final edit turned out to be about 5,500 words. I got it down to just under 4,300 on FF.net by cutting rather ruthlessly and summarizing some of the dialogue I'd taken out. The stuff I cut was all just conversation, and does not keep the plot moving or anything like that - it's all really just chitchat. The thing is, though, I do feel like it's important b/c it gives a bit more of a reason as to why LP and Beth get along and why he'd start feeling the way he does for her. I feel like the version I posted at FF.net, while it is more concise, glosses over both his growing attraction to her and also the fundamentals of their friendship. So, although that's the "official" version up there and the extra stuff is probably really *better* for cutting, I still want to make it available since... well, it just might make the relationship make more *sense*, I guess. I dunno, I'm too in the characters' heads, and this probably isn't necessary - it probably overstates things way too much. But I felt I needed more transition from LP's resistance to his attraction to Beth, into his total acceptance of it at the end of the chapter.

I actually trimmed even more than I am putting up here... maybe I'll keep those parts or maybe they are genuinely expendable. But here are two snippets I thought were worth keeping, even unofficially.

****

"Traffic... OH." She put her hand to her mouth and looked thunderstruck. Then she put her hand over her eyes. "OH, of *course*. THAT'S why he's mad. Oh, I am so stupid."

"What? He's not mad. Why do you think he's mad?" Launchpad felt a need to protect her, but it came out as a sort of frantic cover-up.

"Nothing - I just... oh, sheesh, I didn't think. No, it's nothing."

"You're not stupid," he said earnestly. He looked around the room. "Is it the pictures that fell down? 'Cause that's not your fault."

"No, I know." She looked at him and smiled.

He smiled back, and realized she probably couldn't see his expression at all. He looked at the table. "So, what happened to your glasses?"

"Oh. They fell off, I stepped on them. Standard klutz stuff." She leaned forward and felt around for them, then put them on. The left lense was full of cracks, and the bridge was so broken that the glasses wouldn't sit straight on her bill, so the right lense twisted upwards. She tried twice to right them, then gave up and put them back onto the table. "Ugh."

"Can you see at all without 'em?" He looked at her carefully, without her glasses on - the first time he'd seen her without them; it made her face look younger and different, uncovered. *Naked*. He blushed a little and looked at his hands instead.

"Kind of. I mean, I can see you - just no details." She reached out and poked him in the chest, and he chuckled and rubbed the spot she'd poked. "But I have degenerative myopia, so I'm super nearsighted."

"Whoa, really? That sounds bad."

She shrugged. "It's not that bad. It's slow-acting, I mean. It mostly happened kind of quickly when I was about twelve, and all of a sudden I needed glasses, then stronger ones. But now it's slowed down and I just need to adjust my prescription every so often."

He looked at her face again, almost shyly. All this time he'd assumed that her eyes only looked big because of the thickness of her glasses, but it turned out they were just that *big*. She looked at most nineteen, and adorable. He realized he was staring and looked away, then realized she couldn't tell, so he looked at her again. "So, does it hurt your head to have everythin' blurry like this?"

"No, not if I don't try to see anything. If I have to squint it hurts eventually. But even if I squint I can only make things out if they're close enough, so I just don't bother most of the time."

"How close do you have to be?"

She leaned towards him, and beckoned him closer too. As he got nearer, she narrowed her eyes, and then stopped him. "THERE we go. Hi!"

He waved. "Hi!" She laughed, all squinty-eyed, and blushed a little. "If I get closer do you NOT have to squint?"

"Um, yeah, there's usually a point where I can see things, just before they get TOO close and I can't see them anymore." She beckoned him closer again, and he leaned in. "Okay... keep coming... keeeeep coming..."

Someone cleared their throat behind them, and Beth jumped back like she'd been stung. "OH my gosh!"

Launchpad sat back, away from her, down at the other end of the couch, and he hadn't been about to kiss her at all. "Oh. Hey!" he said as Drake came down the stairs, glowering at them both. "Heh. Gos okay?"

"She's *fine*," Drake said stiffly, and glared a direct accusation in Launchpad's direction. Launchpad suspected he was blushing.

Etc...

***

[[After this, there is one thing i took out - after reluctantly thanking Beth for staying to be sure Gos was okay, Drake gives her an extra $20 as "overtime" which she tries to give back but he won't take it. Eh, it was a nice touch but really not needed. Then the walk to Beth's, I had conversation written out that I ended up removing and summarizing:]]

"Sounds good," she said cheerfully. He had her repeat the first step, and he did his best to listen even though he was fighting a maddening urge to stroke the back of her hand with his thumb the entire time.

They walked in silence for more than a minute. Launchpad felt every second of it. It seemed as if he *needed* to say something, or else he'd just keep *thinking*, and thinking wasn't helping him in the slightest; but he had no idea what to say. Beth, meanwhile, was uncharacteristically silent; he'd never known her not to keep *some* line of conversation going. Taking a guess at what she might be thinking, he asked, "Still worried about Drake bein' mad?"

She nodded. "I feel like I'm on thin ice with him. Like there's a sword hanging over my head, and every time I do the wrong thing, the rope keeping it up gets weaker and weaker, and there's no way to strengthen it again."

"Don't worry about it," he said reassuringly, and tightened his grip on her hand without thinking of what he was doing. "He just gets, I dunno... funny about stuff. But you were right to stay with Gos, and he knows it."

Beth shook her head. "I should've thought, though... With me still being there when he came home..."

"Huh? What do you mean?" That was weird - it almost sounded like she knew about Darkwing.

"Oh - no, nothing. Sorry." She smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

"Oh, uh, okay." Launchpad scratched his cheek in puzzlement, and reached for a topic - something kind of boring and safe - and came up with, "So, uh, how's the job hunt going?"

Beth sighed dramatically, her shoulders slumping. "Still unemployed," she answered. "I don't know, Launchpad, I've applied to, like, twenty different companies this week alone and I haven't heard ANYthing. And they're all kinds of jobs, I mean, I even applied to a Hamburger Hippo and NOBODY has called me back! I was saying to Gosalyn earlier, I don't even know what I was thinking, just quitting. What a dumb thing to do. That was the ONLY real job I've ever had, and do you know how long it took me to get THAT? And then Henny just hired me on the spot when I came in to inquire... And now, I can't even use that job as a reference because of everything I said when I quit. Henny would *never* say anything good about me now so I have four years' worth of employment at ONE job, and NO references..." She shook her head and sighed again. "But you know, that's the thing about Henny, I don't think I could have gotten a good reference out of her even if I *hadn't* said anything."

Wow. Launchpad was almost sorry he'd asked, if only because she was obviously really upset. "Uh, I'm sorry. I guess it's kinda my fault you quit..."

"What? No! Oh, no it's not, really." She turned to reassure him hastily, waving her free hand all around as she did. "You just said I should look for another job, I'M the one who quit! Nobody is to blame for this but me." She looked at him, or towards him anyway, with an anguished expression. "Launchpad... What do I do? What if I never get another job?"

With that look on her face, he found that the only thing that seemed important was to help her, to find a way to make all of her problems disappear. What could he possibly say to make her feel good about herself? "Of course you'll get another job! You're a great worker an' - an' you, uh, you have attention to details!"

Beth smiled, evidently in spite of herself, at that. "Do I?"

He shrugged. "I'm not real good at this. But you're smart, you'll do fine. REALLY, trust me."

"I don't know. I said to Gos earlier - people, they just don't notice me. There's nothing on my resume that looks interesting, and it's the same thing when they meet me - just being smart isn't going to do it, it's like I'm invisibe. Nobody will ever call me because nobody will ever NOTICE me."

Etc.

***

[[And, last thing, which I won't paste here; after he asks her to have "movie night", she says that she was afraid he was avoiding her which he denies a bit too much. Again, cute but expendable. And there you go, now you know the rest of the story!

This still may not fully convey the transition I tried to write - well, to be honest, I'm afraid I failed with that even in the full version - but I mean, I just cut bits and piece throughout to take out as much as I could. I'm kinda impressed I got 1300 out of it. I wish I could've taken it down to under 4,000 since this chapter is such fluff that I feel bad having it be so long... but oh well. :P]]

MUPPETS

I've totally been searching for this track for, oh, like probably a good 2-3 years now. Pretty sure since before my office space was moved which was a year and a half ago...

Ridiculously pretty instrumental version of an incredibly silly moment in "The Muppet Movie". I love the fact that this song, when sung by Miss Piggy, gives me uncontrollable giggles - but the tune itself floors me with how lovely it is.

This is not a post

Fic update! I posted the first chapter of TWC4 at FF.net and AO3. Since it's a replacement of the chapter that is already there on FF.net, they won't register it as an update until I actually add a new chapter, so this is the "unofficial prerelease". :P I am, however, hoping to have chapter 2 done before the end of the month. :)

I'm so relieved to get this done. I had actually planned on working on this during October, but stress at the beginning of the month basically gave me artistic block on all fronts. I've only JUST started writing again. Hoping this is the start of something good! :)

If I can get to chapter 2 quickly enough (I don't know if that will work or not though) I'm going to work on "Those Daring McQuacks". I have the structure outlined and I tried starting act 2 a couple of months ago but i stalled on the scene. I was able to write it, it just wasn't paced particularly well and I was having trouble with what I wanted to say. I hope I can pick it up again and fix it.

Anyway, I don't think anyone checks this blog if I dont' put up links or reminders, but just in case people do, fic update message and general ramblings. ^_^ Hi!

Sex and the Single Girl

I've said it before and I'll just restate it up front: I keep the Webfoot Chronicles firmly PG. I'm not above a few minor hints and innuendos here and there but my rule isnt' even that all hanky-panky happens offscreen; my rule is, there is no hanky-panky. This was a conscious choice I made for myself many years ago, in part because it makes *me* more comfortable in general; *I* have an issue with thinking of the characters in the show in sexual situations.

However, I also decided some years ago that in order to really get to understand Beth - which was important to me - I needed to think out almost every aspect of her life, even the things that would not ever come up. To that end I've pondered a lot of her reactions to various situations - not everything by any means, that's not what I'm saying, only that sometimes I take the time to work out a hypothetical that occurs to me even though I know it won't be an issue in my fics, like religion (she's an atheist/agnostic), politics (conservative moderate but holds few strong opinions), and sex.

I've gone back and forth on posting about this subject, and if you read here regularly you may remember back in the summer when I went through a bit of playing with themes in a non-canon fic... The thing that keeps me from bringing it up, though, is my intention to keep TWC on approximately the same maturity level as the cartoon and not alienate people who feel the same way. It's weird to read stuff that, in terms of writing style is admittedly aimed at older readers (above middle school I'd say) but in terms of content is meant to be "family friendly", then go to a blog talking about the characters in adult-oriented situations. So I've avoided it.

However, I ended up doing that AU I posted about a few days ago, and as I mentioned in there, I crossed over into adult territory. There haven't been a lot of comments on it yet (and likely won't be) but I keep starting to explain the background, the differences, etc, why THIS Beth would make this choice and the other wouldn't, and it gets very long, too long for DeviantART. So I guess I'm finally going to make this post.

But, i'm going to be kind of weird and do the real content in the comments. Since there's no option, from what I can see, to do a text cut like you have in LiveJournal, this is sort of my best option both to save on the length of this post (too late) and to allow any readers who really don't want to know this stuff to just avoid it. For those of you guys, you can just rest assured, this subject matter really, truly will NEVER come up in TWC. I promise. :) ...That doesn't mean I will never again write another AU though. 9_9

My Uncle thought he was St. Jerome...

Guess who saw "Ghostbusters" in the theatre this evening? Yeah it's me :D At first when it started I had a thought, like, "Is this going to be worth it? Am I just putting import onto something that isn't really that important?" But OH MAN was it good on the big screen. It was just fantastic. I haven't ever seen GB in the theatre -I am just SLIGHTLY too young. (I did see Back to the Future in theatres when it came out, though. AND THAT WAS AMAZING.)

Anyway, that is all. I may not get to see Shaun of the Dead, but I got to see Ghostbusters. :D

On a completely unrelated topic, I've been sketching - both artistically and bio-type - on an AU Beth recently. I'm putting up the first batch of sketches on DA and I thought I'd take the opportunity to expand on it here, since... I can. :)

So, waaaay back when I was writing "All About Elizabeth", I included a gratuitous scene that took place when Beth was 18, attending Duckburg University, and working as a librarian on campus. She has a very brief encounter with Scrooge McDuck and tells herself she'll tag along with him on adventures and change her life, but of course, she does not. Well, mentally I then proceeded to create an entire AU where she DOES, and her life is - not all that changed. :D Frothinglizard on DA used this idea somewhat, with my blessing, in a really wonderful set of pics and comics. My idea was entirely different and I'm finally kind of going to elaborate on it. With the note that nothing is ever going to come of this: I'm not going to write it out. I have NO ideas. It's basically making Beth a DuckTales OC instead of a DWD OC, and the fact is, I can't write for DuckTales. I don't do adventure plots - I'm okay with action/superhero/comedy plots, and even those I struggle with and take a long time to do. But adventure, like in old school DT... nope. Just doesn't come to me. The only part of the idea I'm actually able to develop is the stuff that relates to - yeah, you saw this coming, right? - Beth and Launchpad and how they relate to one another.

Basically, Beth at 18 is even more awkward than at 25. I established in AAE that she makes a lot of her own clothes - she actually is quite good but you wouldn't guess it to see her in what she wears at that age. She was going through a thing where she preferred very large clothing, particulary shirts - she was uncomfortable in anything that didn't hide her figure - so it looks as if she's a very shoddy seamstress when actually, she knows what she's doing. She just doesn't really get how awful the badly-fitting clothes really look on her, b/c the alternative makes her uncomfortable. The rest of her apperarance is largely the same, just... perhaps a bit more disheveled. Well, in the AU, she manages to talk her way onto Scrooge's plane as he departs for some adventure in the jungle, and immediately wishes she hadn't, since she has no idea what to do.

She meant to introduce herself as Eliza, and reinvent herself with that new identity, but she screws up and gives her name as Beth on instinct. A bit later she meets Launchpad as he is piloting the plane, and she's instantly gone on him. He's friendly and handsome and charming, and completely overlooks her. They get through the adventure, find the treasure - after nearly losing it due to Beth misreading something - but then she figures it out and all is well. Scrooge isn't too happy with her screw-up, but LP sticks up for her and says she's the one who figured everything out, so he reluctantly hires her (for next to nothing) as his researcher. For a couple of years she does this and also puts herself through school at the same time (which irritates Scrooge because every so often she either opts out of a trip due to exams, or else has to bring her books along with her to study).

Over the next few years she and LP get to be - well, not quite close, but on very good terms. She's completely devoted to him, but she also gets enough of a backbone to speak her mind sometimes. She's just about 21 when Gizmoduck shows up. She and Fenton actually get along quite well and play geeky math games. She realizes early on that Fenton is Gizmoduck, though it doesn't change much. A little while after this LP leaves for St. Canard (I haven't thought of any details as to why); she's hurt by this but doesn't tell him so.

So, part two. After finishing school, Beth starts in teh real world with a real job, which despite all her science education ends up being working for Scrooge in a higher capacity. By this point, having gotten used to dealing with him, she has a much thicker skin than she used to and her confidence in herself is a bit higher. I don't know much about what she does but it involves a lot of travel, plus I think she handles some of the stock investments. Years go by, and she figures out a lot of things for herself and grows up a lot, so that by the time she's 25 in *this* universe, she's quite a different person. Fundamentally still a chatterbox and prone to getting nervous under personal circumstances, she's better equipped to deal with people (and she looks great).

Four years after LP left for St. Canard, she travels there on a business trip - for the first time, oddly! She goes to Europe more often than to St Canard - and gets LP's address from Fenton so that she can look him up. They reunite very briefly and amicably in Drake's house but since she has to run to the first of her meetings (being held over several days), she invites LP to dinner in a few nights.

The funny thing is, when I came up with this AU (which was really just a way to occupy my time and explore a different characterization for Beth), I kept it in my usual rule of Duckverse stuff - which is to say, very close to the tone of the show, nothing "adult" or mature, and my big rule for my DWDverse is that nobody has sex. Sex doesn't even exist. (This isnt' to say I haven't put any thought into it - 'cause I have, from time to time - but it's more like as an exploration of sexual behaviour and how it stems psychologically, mainly from Beth, and next to no explorataion of sexual *themes* from any characters in this show.) Somewhere, though, over the past few days this one... got away from me. *blush* Which is probably why I've been drawing stuff for it and expanding it somewhat. I'm not sure what point I'm going to go up to, but... well, there's more to this storyline, and I'll probably share it at some point soon. But, fair warning. :P

It's October now?

So I only updated once in September. Then I came on here and I was like "Oh it's stil September, that's good! Oh wait." Because I remember very little sometimes. Bah!

I thought I was going to work on "Those Daring McQuacks" before I started on TWC4, and I even thought out some scenes and had them planned, and it just will not come out. I mean, I have written a few things, but they really really need rewriting and editing. And I'm just stuck on finishing them and connecting the dialogue and stuff. Bah. Also, things in real life land the past couple of weeks have just about killed my creativity drive :P

However, this afernoon I had a few good ideas for at least completing the first scene of TWC4's first chapter (I put up about 800 words as a placeholder on FF.net; the completed scene will only be the first half of chapter one, but it's a start) and surprisingly I was able to get some of it done :) So to maybe keep my inspiration going, I'm gonna post what little I just did since I won't have the chapter finished until the end of the month at the earliest; if I can keep my momentum though I might be able to get THIS scene finished over the weekend. I'm also not posting the part that's already up at FF.net so, if you have no context, the chapter begins with a moderate earthquake. This is immediately after it's over with.

*****

Beth held the glasses up directly in front of her face and squinted at them; she still could barely make them out. She felt them gingerly and when it didn't seem as if anything was going to gouge her, she put them on. One of the lenses had a spider-webbing of cracks over it, and the bridge was bent. She sighed wearily. "Occupational hazard."

Turning to Gosalyn, she took a breath and tried to make the best of it. "So! Better clean up that glass, huh? Do you have a dustpan anywhere nearby?"

"You bet!" Gosalyn cried, and took off for the kitchen. By the time she returned, Beth was kneeling by the wall, carefully picking up shards of glass and looking out of only one eye. "Uh, does that make it easier?"

"Huh? Oh, no - just, the crack in this is really getting in my way. I thought if I just looked through one eye - but it's making my head hurt." She placed a handful of glass into the dustpan and sighed, while Gosalyn loaded her arms full of larger shards and dropped them into the pile Beth had already started. Beth jumped at the sound. "Um, could you be a bit more gentle than that?"

"Why? It's not like it's gonna matter if it breaks *more*."

Beth shook her head. "You know, I think I should handle this. I don't want you getting hurt on broken glass."

"Oh come on! I know what I'm doing!" Gosalyn protested vehemently. Beth frowned and picked up another few pieces. As she turned to slowly place them carefully in the dustpan, Gosalyn continued, "Honestly, I'm insulted! You really think just because I'm a kid, I'm going to - YAAAAAH! AAAIEEEEE!"

"OH MY GOD!" Beth yelled, her eyes widening as she turned back to Gosalyn who was holding her hand to her side and grimacing in pain.

"OHHHH NOOOO! MY JUGULAR!!!" Gosalyn screamed, and Beth stared in horror, uncertain if she should try to make a tourniquet or run to call 911 first; then she realized that Gosalyn was laughing.

"Ahahaha... Just kidding," said the girl, pulling her hand out from her shirt and wiggling it. She caught sight of Beth's expression, which was still utterly horror-stricken. "Heh heh... sorry, that was probably not nearly as funny to you as it was to me."

Beth finally found her voice, which sounded flat even to her ears as she said beseechingly, "Please let me do this?"

Gosalyn relented, and went to sit on the couch and see if the earthquake had affected her video game console.

IS 100th POST, IS GOOD

SO THIS IS MY 100th POST IN THIS BLOG :D :D :D

PARTY!

Uh. I have really got almost nothing interesting to say, and almost no time to write it in.

So instead have a playlist! :D

The past few days I've been getting sucked into music that "fits" certain environments in the fics, and mainly LP/Beth ones. I sort of started getting into this a while back with this pic. The idea for THAT came from the end of "All About Elizabeth", when I casually mentioned that LP spent like, two days making a mix tape for the car ride home with Beth, and all the songs have, er, "subtle suggestions" to them - the first being "Take a Chance On Me" by ABBA, though it's not named.

The idea of an actual mix tape that he's like "Oh, here, made ya this" and gives to Beth kind of tickled me so I returned to the thought a few more times and then, after doing that picture, came up with a few others. Only five though. :P So here they are, plus a few extras that I am just sticking in for the fun of it!

These are HEAVILY 80s-oriented, for the record. I wouldn't put anything post-1991 on there anyway, due to chronology of the fics, but I kinda think that both Launchpad *and* Beth are musically stuck a few years behind everyone else. :D

Take a Chance On Me, ABBA

Do You Believe In Love, Huey Lewis and the News (He'd better HOPE she doesn't figure it out while listening to this. It's just aggressive enough to scare her off. XD) (Side note: AIN'T NOBODY BETTER DIS HUEY LEWIS, OKAY?? I LOVE HIIIIIM)

Kiss on my List, Hall and Oates (eeeheehee, I think this song is adorable and SO 80s)

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, Leo Sayer Well... this version is by the Wiggles. :D I like this version more! It's an awesome arrangement! yes including Wags the Dog popping up and barking :P COME IN IT'S IN GREEK how can you not love it? :D ...Yeah. It is *so* obvious I have kids.

Somethin' Stupid, Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra (Pictures of Grace Kelly FTW.)

Anyway I figure that one is the last one on the tape - there are others in between, I just don't know what they are yet. :) And that's, yeah, that's the one where she finally goes "....Oh."

I think I've probably either mentioned or even linked to these before, but this song is my theme for TWC4:
Strange Magic, ELO There's a reason, it kinda goes with a scene, you can't just plug it in unfortunately. (and since the scene's pacing is in my head, I can't plug it in even after the fic is written. Sadness.)
And I know I've mentioned before, I listen to the Bee Gees for some of my inspiration... You don't have to like this stuff, I just have a liking for 70s makeout music. :D
How Deep is Your Love
More Than a Woman

How can I actually like these songs when I hate that falsetto so much? It's like nails on a chalkboard :P

Anyway... any thoughts? Did I win anyone over to 80s music who didn't like it before? Did I make any new Huey Lewis fans? If not I can throw more REALLY AWESOME songs at you. And he has great hair! VERY fluffy! :D