Pacing - Tumblr Posts
"i don’t ever wanna ask
anyone for anything
i don’t ever wanna know what
anybody thinks about me"
don't worry I'm just having fun hope I'm not bugging anyone
i just think it's kinda interesting that you're preemptively solving all of these problems for me
Dear diary 3/8/2020
They are here, I can can feel them watching me. I am not alone and it scares me.They are in my mind saying my name, and using it as a place for their thoughts. But are those my thoughts? But if they are why would they suggest the things they do? Why would I want to hurt and cause drama between my friends? I went through life wanting friends. I can't just throw that away, not now. I feel like they want me alone, scared, and in the dark. I'm was pacing in large circles around my backyard. But now I'm sitting on a swing I don't remember walking to. Just thinking about everything....... This may seem strange, but right now I feel like necklace is creating a barrier between me and them. Maybe it (my friends) can stop them. But I don't know what they are. I want to embrace them. But it is hard when all they do is make you feel so unsteady, and anxious. I would tell people, but most aren't like this. I don't want to be questioned again. Maybe they are the embodiment of the feeling I've always had. The feeling of emptiness, the feeling that I don't belong. Maybe they are trying to get my attention so I can be with them.. Or maybe they are mad and want me gone... But who cares? They might try to do something while I sleep. But right now I'm too tried, and numb to care. I don't want to give in. But if I do maybe.......... No. I had this feeling for too long. I want to know my REAL emotions for once. But for now that is not a option. Maybe one day though...... Thanks to the kids that used to bully and make fun of me I've learned to have pride. To identity myself in a thing that only pulls me under. Don't worry I'm just the "weird" kid. This is why I don't talk to people about "feelings". All it dose is make people worried, scared, and sad. Making me nothing but a killjoy. As for the ones watching me they may scare me. But they taught me not to judge or hate something/someone because you can't understand. At least they are always there. They can't do the things my friends can. My friends can't judge me the same way they can. Because they unlike my friends. Can see through my mask and see the whole picture, not just a piece.
PACING IS ABOUT LOAD BEARING WALLS.
*staples violently to my own forehead*
I'm lying in bed next to my amazing woman, who, moments ago, i woke up so that she'd hold me while I sobbed. For no reason that I can confirm. I am calm now and I feel her drifting off next to me. It's peaceful.
I spent so many nights attempting to pace away my anxiety and dread in the basement alone. I didn't want the creaky floorboards in our old house to wake him.
Waking him was always bad. Especially if I was looking for comfort. His demons were to be soothed, attended and deferred to. Mine, likely only an excuse for my shortcomings, were mine. What business were they of his?
Pacing your Story (Or, How to Avoid the "Suddenly...!")
Arguably *the* most important lesson all writers need to learn, even for those who don’t give a damn about themes and motifs and a moral soap box: How your story is paced, whether it’s a comic book, a children’s chapter book, a doorstopper, a mini series, a movie, or a full-length season of TV (old school style), pacing is everything.
Pacing determines how long the story *feels* regardless of how long it actually is. It can make a 2 hour movie feel like 90 mins or double the time you’re trapped in your seat.
There’s very little I can say about pacing that hasn’t been said before, but I’m here to condense all that’s out there into a less intimidating mouthful to chew.
So: What is pacing?
Pacing is how a story flows, how quickly or slowly the creator moves through and between scenes, how long they spend on setting, narration, conversation, arguments, internal monologues, fight scenes, journey scenes. It’s also how smoothly tone transitions throughout the story. A fantasy adventure jumping around sporadically between meandering boredom, high-octane combat, humor, grief, and romance is exhausting to read, no matter how much effort you put into your characters.
Anyone who says the following is wrong:
Good pacing is always fast/bad pacing is always slow
Pacing means you are 100% consistent throughout the entire story
It doesn’t matter as much so long as you have a compelling story/characters/lore/etc
Now let me explain why in conveniently numbered points:
1. Pacing is not about consistency, it’s about giving the right amount of time to the right pieces of your story
This is not intuitive and it takes a long time to learn. So let’s look at some examples:
Lord of the Rings: The movies trimmed a *lot* from the books that just weren’t adaptable to screen, namely all the tedious details and quite a bit of the worldbuilding that wasn’t critical to the journey of the Fellowship. That said, with some exceptions, the battles are as long as they need to be, along with every monologue, every battle speech. When Helm’s Deep is raging on, we cut away to Merry and Pippin with the Ents to let ourselves breathe, then dive right back in just before it gets boring.
The Hobbit Trilogy: The exact opposite from LotR, stretching one kids book into 3 massive films, stuffing it full of filler, meandering side quests, pointless exposition, drawing out battles and conflicts to silly extremes, then rushing through the actual desolation of Smaug for… some reason.
Die Hard (cause it’s the Holidays y’all!): The actiony-est of action movies with lots of fisticuffs and guns and explosions still leaves time for our hero to breathe, lick his wounds, and build a relationship with the cop on the ground. We constantly cut between the hero and the villains, all sharing the same radio frequency, constantly antsy about what they know and when they’ll find out the rest, and when they’ll discover the hero’s kryptonite.
2. Make every scene you write do at least two things at once
This is also tricky. Making every scene pull double duty should be left to after you’ve written the first draft, otherwise you’ll never write that first draft. Pulling double duty means that if you’re giving exposition, the scene should also reveal something about the character saying it. If you absolutely must write the boring trip from A to B, give some foreshadowing, some thoughtful insight from one of your characters, a little anecdote along the way.
Develop at least two of the following:
The plot
The backstory
The romance/friendships
The lore
The exposition
The setting
The goals of the cast
Doing this extremely well means your readers won’t have any idea you’re doing it until they go back and read it again. If you have two characters sitting and talking exposition at a table, and then those same two characters doing some important task with filler dialogue to break up the narrative… try combining those two scenes and see what happens.
**This is going to be incredibly difficult if you struggle with making your stories longer. I do not. I constantly need to compress my stories. **
3. Not every scene needs to be crucial to the plot, but every scene must say something
I distinguish plot from story like a square vs a rectangle. Plot is just a piece of the tale you want to tell, and some scenes exist just to be funny, or romantic, or mysterious, plot be damned.
What if you’re writing a character study with very little plot? How do you make sure your story isn’t too slow if 60% of the narrative is introspection?
Avoid repeating information the audience already has, unless a reminder is crucial to understanding the scene
This isn’t 1860 anymore. Every detail must serve a purpose. Keep character and setting descriptions down to absolute need-to-know and spread it out like icing on a cake – enough to coat, but not give you a mouthful of whipped sugar and zero cake.
Avoid describing generic daily routines, unless the existence of said routine is out of ordinary for the character, or will be rudely interrupted by chaos. No one cares about them brushing their teeth and doing their hair.
Make sure your characters move, but not too much. E.g. two characters sitting and talking – do humans just stare at each other with their arms lifeless and bodies utterly motionless during conversation? No? Then neither should your characters. Make them gesture, wave, frown, laugh, cross their legs, their arms, shift around to get comfortable, pound the table, roll their eyes, point, shrug, touch their face, their hair, wring their hands, pick at their nails, yawn, stretch, pout, sneer, smirk, click their tongue, clear their throat, sniff/sniffle, tap their fingers/drum, bounce their feet, doodle, fiddle with buttons or jewelry, scratch an itch, touch their weapons/gadgets/phones, check the time, get up and sit back down, move from chair to table top – the list goes on. Bonus points if these are tics that serve to develop your character, like a nervous fiddler, or if one moves a lot and the other doesn’t – what does that say about the both of them? This is where “show don’t tell” really comes into play.
4. Your entire work should not be paced exactly the same
Just like a paragraph should not be filled with sentences of all the same length and syntax. Some beats deserve more or less time than others. Unfortunately, this is unique to every single story and there is no one size fits all.
General guidelines are as follows:
Action scenes should have short paragraphs and lots of movement. Cut all setting details and descriptors, internal monologues, and the like, unless they service the scene.
Journey/travel scenes must pull double or even triple duty. There’s a reason very few movies are marketed as “single take” and those that are don’t waste time on stuff that doesn’t matter. See 1917.
Romantic scenes are entirely up to you. Make it a thousand words, make it ten thousand, but you must advance either the romantic tension, actual movement of the characters, conversation, or intimacy of the relationship.
Don’t let your conversations run wild. If they start to veer off course, stop, boil it down to its essentials, and cut the rest.
When transitioning between slow to faster pacing and back again, it’s also not one size fits all. Maybe it being jarring is the point – it’s as sudden for the characters as it is for the reader. With that said, try to keep the “suddenly”s to a minimum.
5. Pacing and tone go hand in hand
This means that, generally speaking, the tone of your scene changes with the speed of the narrative. As stated above, a jarring tonal shift usually brings with it a jarring pacing shift.
A character might get in a car crash while speeding away from an abusive relationship. A character who thinks they’re safe from a pursuer might be rudely and terrifyingly proven wrong. An exhausting chase might finally relent when sanctuary is found. A quiet dinner might quickly turn romantic with a look, or confession. Someone casually cleaning up might discover evidence of a lie, a theft, an intruder and begin to panic.
--
Whatever the case may be, a narrative that is all action all the time suffers from lack of meaningful character moments. A narrative that meanders through the character drama often forgets there is a plot they’re supposed to be following.
Hi! I'd just like to know your opinion: How do you know when something is considered slow burn? Like how many words? I feel like the word length defining fics is very subjective because I'm a writer who generally CANNOT write less than 10k but I don't feel like that's long at all, despite some people saying it is. So let's say my characters don't acknowledge their feelings till 15k words, do I have to tag it as slow burn? Is it different for fics where romance is the plot of the story?
That’s a question I’ll turn over to the readers. I tend to tag with UST (unresolved sexual tension) and RST (resolved sexual tension) rather than slow burn in my fics. Because even if they don’t do the do, they sure do think about it a lot :)
Me, a naive fan fic author: “Okay, so there’s six of them. I can give each character some individual focus and character development.”
Me, actually writing the fic: “OH GAWD! THERE’S SIX OF THEM! This! THIS IS WHY CANON NEVER DEVELOPED ANYONE VERY WELL!”
Weird tip for novel writers: give your readers a place to take a break.
We all know and love the feeling of being glued to a book. “One more chapter, one more page, one more paragraph.” But absorbing whole novels in 1 sitting isn’t the best. We forget loads of stuff that happen!! It just happens.
Every 5-10 chapters I leave it at a good stopping point. A character goes to sleep with no imminent threat waking them up, a good conversation ends with well wishes, a part of the story is wrapped up, and it’s a nice place to put the bookmark and close the cover.
This is good!! This isn’t a bad thing at all!! Some people only have the attention span or ability to read 5 chapters or so. Some people have to work early and want to sleep and not feel obligated to finish a book in one sitting. Some people need to pee!!
Brains will be given the chance to absorb things. Did your character just start a romance?? Win a battle?? Deliver a speech that would win Emmys?? Let your readers take a minute (or day) to process it. To savor it. To think about your characters and story while they go along their daily life.
“Boy I sure hope Alexandria and her girlfriend start a good adventure in the next chapter.”
“The Battle of Darenzal ended on such mixed terms. We lost two names characters but still prevailed. I hope it’s talked about more in the next part.”
“The Queen’s speech about her husband’s death, and the shoutout to our protagonist was lovely. I hope after the ball we see more of her.”
The best books that I’ve read have given me places to stop. To take a breather, to get a glass of water and stretch and THINK about the things that JUST HAPPENED in the last 5-10 chapters. Willingly giving your readers a rest doesn’t mean you’re sacrificing a page-turning best seller, it means you want people to turn pages a bit slower, take it a bit calmer, and have time to think and formulate about your story.
So let your protagonist nod off in safety around a campfire with their dog. Let them have a party where they laugh and dance with friends and relax in a big rose garden outside a castle. Let them accomplish something, and let your characters take a well deserved break. Knowing what we put them through, they deserve it just as much as our readers.
Quick Story Pacing Tip: Pause at the Threshold
Does your story feel too rushed? One easy way to control pacing, add suspense, and cue the reader about big changes in your story is to have your main character pause at major thresholds.
Thresholds are literal or figurative doorways that a protagonist walks through at key moments of the story. They represent moments of change: On one side of the “door” the rules are totally different than on the other side. Think Harry Potter going into the Chamber of Secrets, or Katniss Everdeen getting thrown into the Hunger Games. Once those characters “crossed the line,” they couldn’t go back.
In both of those examples, you might have noticed that Collins and Rowling slowed the story down a beat. Katniss had a 60-second delay where she sized up her situation. Harry had to solve a series of puzzles to get to the door. And for good reason: They’d been moving toward that big change for pages and pages, so it would be weird to rush straight across the threshold without a moment’s pause.
So if your story feels like it’s moving at a break-neck speed, look for thresholds or turning points where you can slow down. Show us details. Add another obstacle between your character and their goal. Let us hear their thoughts, hopes, and hesitations as they move into the next phase of their story. Show us why this moment is important. We won’t get impatient–in fact, if you’ve prepared us well enough for the moment, taking a pause will only increase the suspense!
Pacing your Story (Or, How to Avoid the "Suddenly...!")
Arguably *the* most important lesson all writers need to learn, even for those who don’t give a damn about themes and motifs and a moral soap box: How your story is paced, whether it’s a comic book, a children’s chapter book, a doorstopper, a mini series, a movie, or a full-length season of TV (old school style), pacing is everything.
Pacing determines how long the story *feels* regardless of how long it actually is. It can make a 2 hour movie feel like 90 mins or double the time you’re trapped in your seat.
There’s very little I can say about pacing that hasn’t been said before, but I’m here to condense all that’s out there into a less intimidating mouthful to chew.
So: What is pacing?
Pacing is how a story flows, how quickly or slowly the creator moves through and between scenes, how long they spend on setting, narration, conversation, arguments, internal monologues, fight scenes, journey scenes. It’s also how smoothly tone transitions throughout the story. A fantasy adventure jumping around sporadically between meandering boredom, high-octane combat, humor, grief, and romance is exhausting to read, no matter how much effort you put into your characters.
Anyone who says the following is wrong:
Good pacing is always fast/bad pacing is always slow
Pacing means you are 100% consistent throughout the entire story
It doesn’t matter as much so long as you have a compelling story/characters/lore/etc
Now let me explain why in conveniently numbered points:
1. Pacing is not about consistency, it’s about giving the right amount of time to the right pieces of your story
This is not intuitive and it takes a long time to learn. So let’s look at some examples:
Lord of the Rings: The movies trimmed a *lot* from the books that just weren’t adaptable to screen, namely all the tedious details and quite a bit of the worldbuilding that wasn’t critical to the journey of the Fellowship. That said, with some exceptions, the battles are as long as they need to be, along with every monologue, every battle speech. When Helm’s Deep is raging on, we cut away to Merry and Pippin with the Ents to let ourselves breathe, then dive right back in just before it gets boring.
The Hobbit Trilogy: The exact opposite from LotR, stretching one kids book into 3 massive films, stuffing it full of filler, meandering side quests, pointless exposition, drawing out battles and conflicts to silly extremes, then rushing through the actual desolation of Smaug for… some reason.
Die Hard (cause it’s the Holidays y’all!): The actiony-est of action movies with lots of fisticuffs and guns and explosions still leaves time for our hero to breathe, lick his wounds, and build a relationship with the cop on the ground. We constantly cut between the hero and the villains, all sharing the same radio frequency, constantly antsy about what they know and when they’ll find out the rest, and when they’ll discover the hero’s kryptonite.
2. Make every scene you write do at least two things at once
This is also tricky. Making every scene pull double duty should be left to after you’ve written the first draft, otherwise you’ll never write that first draft. Pulling double duty means that if you’re giving exposition, the scene should also reveal something about the character saying it. If you absolutely must write the boring trip from A to B, give some foreshadowing, some thoughtful insight from one of your characters, a little anecdote along the way.
Develop at least two of the following:
The plot
The backstory
The romance/friendships
The lore
The exposition
The setting
The goals of the cast
Doing this extremely well means your readers won’t have any idea you’re doing it until they go back and read it again. If you have two characters sitting and talking exposition at a table, and then those same two characters doing some important task with filler dialogue to break up the narrative… try combining those two scenes and see what happens.
**This is going to be incredibly difficult if you struggle with making your stories longer. I do not. I constantly need to compress my stories. **
3. Not every scene needs to be crucial to the plot, but every scene must say something
I distinguish plot from story like a square vs a rectangle. Plot is just a piece of the tale you want to tell, and some scenes exist just to be funny, or romantic, or mysterious, plot be damned.
What if you’re writing a character study with very little plot? How do you make sure your story isn’t too slow if 60% of the narrative is introspection?
Avoid repeating information the audience already has, unless a reminder is crucial to understanding the scene
This isn’t 1860 anymore. Every detail must serve a purpose. Keep character and setting descriptions down to absolute need-to-know and spread it out like icing on a cake – enough to coat, but not give you a mouthful of whipped sugar and zero cake.
Avoid describing generic daily routines, unless the existence of said routine is out of ordinary for the character, or will be rudely interrupted by chaos. No one cares about them brushing their teeth and doing their hair.
Make sure your characters move, but not too much. E.g. two characters sitting and talking – do humans just stare at each other with their arms lifeless and bodies utterly motionless during conversation? No? Then neither should your characters. Make them gesture, wave, frown, laugh, cross their legs, their arms, shift around to get comfortable, pound the table, roll their eyes, point, shrug, touch their face, their hair, wring their hands, pick at their nails, yawn, stretch, pout, sneer, smirk, click their tongue, clear their throat, sniff/sniffle, tap their fingers/drum, bounce their feet, doodle, fiddle with buttons or jewelry, scratch an itch, touch their weapons/gadgets/phones, check the time, get up and sit back down, move from chair to table top – the list goes on. Bonus points if these are tics that serve to develop your character, like a nervous fiddler, or if one moves a lot and the other doesn’t – what does that say about the both of them? This is where “show don’t tell” really comes into play.
4. Your entire work should not be paced exactly the same
Just like a paragraph should not be filled with sentences of all the same length and syntax. Some beats deserve more or less time than others. Unfortunately, this is unique to every single story and there is no one size fits all.
General guidelines are as follows:
Action scenes should have short paragraphs and lots of movement. Cut all setting details and descriptors, internal monologues, and the like, unless they service the scene.
Journey/travel scenes must pull double or even triple duty. There’s a reason very few movies are marketed as “single take” and those that are don’t waste time on stuff that doesn’t matter. See 1917.
Romantic scenes are entirely up to you. Make it a thousand words, make it ten thousand, but you must advance either the romantic tension, actual movement of the characters, conversation, or intimacy of the relationship.
Don’t let your conversations run wild. If they start to veer off course, stop, boil it down to its essentials, and cut the rest.
When transitioning between slow to faster pacing and back again, it’s also not one size fits all. Maybe it being jarring is the point – it’s as sudden for the characters as it is for the reader. With that said, try to keep the “suddenly”s to a minimum.
5. Pacing and tone go hand in hand
This means that, generally speaking, the tone of your scene changes with the speed of the narrative. As stated above, a jarring tonal shift usually brings with it a jarring pacing shift.
A character might get in a car crash while speeding away from an abusive relationship. A character who thinks they’re safe from a pursuer might be rudely and terrifyingly proven wrong. An exhausting chase might finally relent when sanctuary is found. A quiet dinner might quickly turn romantic with a look, or confession. Someone casually cleaning up might discover evidence of a lie, a theft, an intruder and begin to panic.
--
Whatever the case may be, a narrative that is all action all the time suffers from lack of meaningful character moments. A narrative that meanders through the character drama often forgets there is a plot they’re supposed to be following.
Editing Tip: How to Speed Up or Slow Down Your Pacing
Hey friends. I’ve been thinking a lot about pacing lately, as I’m in the process of editing a few of my own stories, which tend to be too slow in the beginning and too fast in the end. Fortunately I have a ton of experience speeding up or slowing down pacing when I edit my clients’ manuscripts, and I wrote up a whole section about it in my book The Complete Guide to Self-Editing for Fiction Writers.
One important thing to keep in mind about pacing is that there’s no one “right” pace—each story and genre need something different. A crime thriller will usually have faster pacing than a character-driven literary novel; language-focused writers will usually create slower-paced stories than plot-focused writers. So when you’re revising your pacing, It’s about finding the right pace for your story.
At the same time, remember that stories generally build in tension, continually ramping up the conflict until it crests at the climax and falls at the resolution. While you’ll want some ebbs and flows in tension so the reader doesn’t get completely exhausted, the story shouldn’t feel resolved for too long without introducing another problem or further complicating the conflict.
A story’s pace is controlled by a number of factors but luckily, there are pretty much only two problems you can have with your pacing. A story can be too slow (which usually feels boring), too fast (which can produce a lot of anxiety), or a combination—too slow in some parts, too fast in others.
In either case, you’ll need to learn how to put the brakes on or apply the gas as needed to moderate your pacing.
Speeding Up Slow Pacing
If we feel the pacing is too slow, it’s usually either because a scene is too long, too wordy, or not enough is happening. The result is a sense that the story is dragging, and a lot of yawning on the part of the reader. When the pace feels slow, we will naturally start to skim or read ahead to find out “what happens.”
Let’s look at how to address each of the three main causes of slow pacing.
Too long. Sometimes the pace feels slow because your scene is simply too long. To remedy that, you might need to start the scene later, end it earlier, or cut slow transitions where not much is happening. Shorter sentences and more frequent paragraph or scene breaks can also help to break up a lengthy scene and make it feel like it’s moving faster.
Too wordy. The more words you use, the slower the pace. Long passages of description, excessive dialogue or inner monologue, info dumps, repetition, and filler words are often to blame. If you simply can’t bring yourself to cut excess words, you can also try breaking up long sentences or paragraphs to give the illusion of a quicker pace.
Nothing is happening. A lack of goals, conflict, or stakes can lead to the feeling that “nothing is happening” in a story. Has your character slipped into the bathtub to ruminate at length on an issue that she’s already mulled over a thousand times before? Have you used five pages to detail a long, boring traveling sequence that should’ve been summarized in a few sentences of transition? If your scene has scant conflict, and no change by the end of the scene, it may need to be rewritten or cut in order to improve your pacing.
Slowing Down Fast Pacing
On the other hand, if a story’s pace is too fast, an excess of action and dialogue are usually to blame, as well as short, choppy sentences, and a ceaseless maelstrom of conflict. In that case, you have the opposite problem: Your scenes are either too short, too shallow, or too much is happening.
Too short. Short sentences, paragraphs, scenes, and chapters pick up the pace of a story, but can leave readers exhausted when overused. Mix it up, using longer sentences or paragraphs slow the pacing where needed. You can also lengthen action- and dialogue heavy scenes by adding brief spurts of description, inner monologue, or narrative summary.
Too shallow. An action-paced scene often skims over the deeper, more nuanced aspects of the story like theme, emotional depth, and character development. If your too-fast pace is the fault of a flat character, take a moment to let readers know what’s driving her with a few sentences of interiority or narrative summary. The more readers feel like they’re inside your protagonist’s mind and heart, the deeper and slower your scene will feel. Description can also help give depth to a shallow scene—all that action and dialogue isn’t taking place in a vacuum, and writing it that way can shift your story into turbo speed in no time at all.
Too much happening. If your protagonist is fighting off a centaur in a crowded marketplace, resolving a longstanding resentment with her brother who works at the tomato stand, looking for a choice hiding place for a trunk of buried treasure, wooing the delivery boy, and realizing the true nature of love and war all in the same scene, you might need to dial it back to control your pacing. Decide which storyline is the most important to highlight, and push all the others into the background or save them for another scene.
No breathers. If the protagonist never gets a chance to catch her breath, readers won’t either. Look for places where she can pause and reflect, like right after a problem is resolved or a new one is discovered, when new information is revealed, or as your character undergoes an important internal change in her motivation or perspective.
Hope this helps!
Any tips for panel layout for pacing? I feel like yours really lends itself to the stories u tell.
thank u. its random comic tips which may or may not answer your question time, cookie edition
did that help
ultraviolence
rk800 'connor' x reader x rk900 'nines'
GENRE → angst, romance
SYNOPSIS → your feelings for connor grew as the android revolution went on, though a new partner makes you question your feelings.
TAGS/WARNINGS → descriptions of corpses, blood, death, angst, crime scenes
CHAPTERS → PART ONE / PART TWO
────────────────────────────────
you could never get used to the smell of rotting flesh. the scent was overbearing, a particular smell that could only be compared to meat gone bad in your fridge. the scent was much stronger than expired meat, however you managed to push through it. crime scene after crime scene, they each had their own story to tell. and even though your sharp detective skills could figure out what happened, this case seemed to throw you off balance.
androids were something you were unfamiliar with. so far you've only dealt with human on human crimes, but never human and android. as you stepped into the rotting house, the first thing you noticed were the words "I AM ALIVE" written in the victims blood on the wall, right above where said victim laid. the smell lingered in the air, so much that whenever you went home you'd wash your clothes twice with the fear of that smell seeping into your clothing. the victims home was cluttered and messy, expected as nobody had been taking care of the home for weeks. as you examined the living area, you noticed blood leading into the kitchen. following the trail, it stopped in front of the flipped over table, which indicated that there has been a struggle between the victim and the android. there was always more to the story other than the android going rogue all of a sudden and attacking it's owner, and even the thought of a person owning someone who has a conscious didn't sit right with you.
that being said, it led you back to where you started: I AM ALIVE. the words repeated in your head like a broken record. you had an idea of what it meant. maybe the android wanted to tell people that they aren't just machines, that they're more than just wires and whatever else they were made of. the sound of the front door opening caught your attention, and you were met with lieutenant anderson's face along with someone you didn't recognize.
"jesus that smell!" the lieutenant's face scrunched up into that of disgust, before officer collins gave him a short briefing on what had happened. the person that he was with was an android, judging by his LED that circled amber as he analyzed the scene. "you'll get used to it," you replied to hank, to which he shook his head. you looked over to his partner, holding your hand out for him to shake. "hello. my name is y/n," you smiled. he shook your hand, "my name is connor." ah, so that was his name. hank didn't seem too pleased with his partner as he rolled his eyes, walking away with another officer, leaving you two alone. connor squat down in front of the corpse, his LED circling amber once again as he scanned the body. "he was stabbed 28 times," he said, standing up. "yeah, seems like whoever did this was tired of him." you commented before heading into the kitchen with the android. you didn't know what he was looking at, but his eyes were trained on the floor, despite nothing being there. "what are you looking at?" you asked him, stopping shortly once he stood between the table and the sink. "thirium. you call it 'blue blood'. it's the fluid that powers androids biocomponents." well, the more you know. "so...humans can't see it but you can?"
"correct." he looked over to you, before walking off to the backyard. there were some parts you had yet to explore, so you went down the hall and made a right into a small but cluttered bathroom. pulling back the shower curtain was slightly ominous, as if you expected the android to jump out at you. but what you saw was more intriguing. ra9 was written on the wall multiple times, along with a statuette in the middle of the shower floor. "could it be some type of religious offering?" connor's voice said behind you, making you jump from his sudden appearance. "how long have you been standing there?" you asked, and you noticed his eyes were looking at your chest. "not very long. your heart is racing," he commented. "because you scared me," you rolled your eyes, before turning around to pick up the statue. "anyway, i think it could be a religious offering like you said, judging by the phrase written on the wall a thousand times, it could be an offering to whoever ra9 is." intrigued by your analysis, he noticed something strange. a trail of thirium, coming from the kitchen and stopping right in front of the shower. then, leading to the attic. "think he's up there?" not many people used pronouns when referring to androids, most of them said "it" rather than calling them he or she. it was the first cop he'd heard use that. "only one way to find out."
grabbing a chair for him, he thanked you before going up the attic. you'd be scared shitless, though androids didn't necessarily have emotions. connor probably felt the same as he did when he showed up. hank came over once he noticed connor was up there for too long, shouting for him. "connor! the fuck are you doing up there?!"
connor replied quickly. "it's here, lieutenant!" shit. the two of you ran to grab the attention of the other officers.
everything was moved to the station. you, connor, gavin and chris watched as hank tried interrogating the suspect. to no avail, he came back shortly after, until connor offered to question him. gavin laughed, making you cock your brow at him. "what's funny? connor has a better chance at getting answers than any of us. he knows more about deviants than we do," you crossed your arms, making gavin scoff and ignore you. connor looked at you with an unrecognizable emotion, before heading into the room.
there was no doubt that he would be successful, as the suspect confessed that he did in fact murder carlos ortiz, and claimed self defense. physical evidence showed clear signs of abuse - burn marks stretching over a year old, and so on. you honestly pitied him. maybe that's why you came to the cell he was being held in, keeping your distance to avoid causing unwanted stress. he barely looked up as you tried to get his attention. "i believe you," you started off, until he cut you off. "it doesn't matter. i'm going to get shut down." his broken voice tore your heart apart, and you didn't want to make any promises that he'd be kept alive. but you also couldn't sit there and do nothing.
"i'm going to try to convince them not to shut you off. carlos attacked you first, but in detroit law your act of self defense was deemed excessive- which is why they're treating this as homicide. i really do feel for you, i don't want your abuse to be the only memory you have of this life."
he looked up at you with a pained expression, as if he believed what you were saying wasn't true. as if you were trying to lure him into a trap. he didn't say anything, and went back over to the wall where he continued carving something into. you noticed his cuffs were still on. his head turned upon hearing the door slide open, and he backed up to the corner with his hands raised, which made you stop in your tracks. "can i remove the cuffs?" your voice was gentle, and you spoke as if you were speaking to a frightened child. he placed his hands in front of you, visibly shaking as you gently pried them off.
the moment he was brought to the station, he'd been treated inhumane. the officers shoved him around, holding him down to place cuffs on him in the interrogation room, and even when he was trying to leave the room, they were rough. not you though. from the moment you saw him, you didn't look at him with judgement. he felt like he could trust you, the only problem was that he didn't want to. even as your fingers gently brushed his wrists to remove the cuffs, he didn't want to feel comforted by your calming nature. your eyes were trained on his damaged forearm, guilt swallowing you whole as you looked at him. tears pricked at your eyes as you tried to hold in the sympathy you felt for the android. you didn't know why you felt so strongly- this was unusual. he noticed your eyes watering and felt a little more trust. "you don't deserve this," you said, your voice wavering. "i'm going to try to get you better, okay?" you looked up at him, your hands holding his. the trembling stopped. he nodded, prompting you to exit the cell, leaving him alone.
locking yourself in the restroom, you took deep breaths in order to calm yourself. the moment you stepped out, the sound of multiple officers shouting caught your attention.
you quickly ran to the source, skin prickled with goosebumps as you heard a thudding sound. the sight of thirium splattered onto the clear cell door made you cry out, pushing past officers to stop the deviant from self destruction. you immediately put your hand in between his forehead and the glass. "stop it!" you yelled, pulling him away gently, where he laid in your lap, thirium leaking onto your clothes. you covered the wound on his head with your hand, tears leaking down your face as he died in your arms.
"you know what they're going to do to me," he said to you, the words not being loud enough for any officer except for you. you clutched him harder, watching as he gave a small smile before laying still in your arms.
"are you alright, detective?" connor asked you, noticing the thirium all over your clothes, and your reddened eyes. "i don't understand. it's our job to protect people, not let these things happen to them." you sat on top of your desk, your head turning to look at the android being carried into the archive room. they didn't even see him as a dead body. just evidence to be hung up on the wall. something twisted in your gut.
"it's not a person. it's a machine," he corrected, rather machine-like. you sniffled, "he was more than that. you're more than that- all of you."
he titled his head, something he did often. he was going to say something before hank cut him off. "it's dead...that's for sure." your head hung low, eyes trained on the ground as everything around you faded. any noise was drowned out by the vicious thoughts in your head, the guilt clawing up your throat. you wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.
when you came into the office the next morning, you noticed a certain android sitting in the lieutenant's seat. "good morning," you greeted connor. his presence indicated that he was going to be here for a while, until everything would clear up. you doubted it would ever clear up, though having connor around for a while didn't seem too bad. "good morning detective. do you know what time lieutenant anderson arrives?" he asked, tilting his head. you didn't know if there were any other rk units, but you wondered if all of them were this cute. "usually around noon. I don't think he'll be coming anytime soon though," you bit your lip. "thank you." he replied, standing up to walk elsewhere, until you stopped him. "would you like me to show you around? maybe it's best if we get to know each other," you said warmly.
he smiled and nodded, following as you showed him around the police department. you stopped in front of the archive room, explaining to him what was in there, even though he probably already knew. "most cops here are very anti-android, so please be careful. speaking of which..." you muttered the last part under your breath as gavin entered the break room, immediately looking over at the much taller figure standing next to you as you made a cup of coffee. "huh, looks like plastic detective's back in town," he sneered. you grit your teeth, shooting him a glare. "hello. my name is connor," he greeted. he gave an amused look at his partner, who shared the same look as gavin came closer to the rk model. "I don't give a shit what your name is. you might've gotten lucky last night, but I'm warning you. stay outta my way," he poked a finger into his chest, his gaze sharp and full of anger. you stepped in between the two, causing gavin to stumble slightly as you gripped his finger and threw his arm back to him. "we get it. you're insecure. move along now, surely you have more work to do other than lounging in the break room all day." he scowled, about to press you when fowler shouted gavin's name from the bullpen. "you're fuckin' lucky fowler called me in when he did," he said, not before shoulder checking you as he walked out.
you groaned, running a hand through your hair. "are you alright detective?" connor asked again. "i should be asking you that. i'm sorry about him." you apologized, squeezing his arm gently.
the sensation lingered on his arm, even as he searched for the missing ax400. "connor! jesus, i'm talking to you. you ran outta batteries or what?" hank yelled, after calling connor's name for the last few minutes. "i'm sorry lieutenant. i was making a report to cyber life," he lied. hank scoffed, continuing to search the motel.
it had been a couple of months since the revolution, led by markus and a group of androids. connor had fully deviated, and with the new android laws he was allowed to remain working at the dpd. since then, the two of you had gotten closer. you saw more and more of connor's personality after working with him for so long. you'd be lying if you said you didn't have any feelings for the android. sure, it was dumb, and also forbidden. you doubted he shared any of the same feelings, though a part of you wished he'd reciprocate them.
he found it strange your heart rate would increase whenever he was around you. you hadn't done that before. he also sensed that your body temperature would increase if he got too close, and all of this analysis only confused him more. his relationship with the lieutenant has improved greatly, as well as yours.
the three of you hung out after work, frequently at a bar. you didn't drink, so it was mostly you and connor babysitting a very drunk hank.
with more and more cases involving androids pouring in, you were being overworked. you didn't have a partner, but if you needed help connor would offer to help you when he was available. even so, you couldn't rely on him when he already had his hands full. the only problem was that there was nobody else working these cases that would be your partner. despite gavin being anti android and still working in these cases, you'd rather get paralyzed from the waist down than work with him.
fowler noticed inconsistencies in your work recently, which was why he was shouting your name from across the bullpen to call you into his see through office. "look, i know you've got a lot on your hands. but i can't keep letting you slide. your work has been inconsistent l/n." he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "you've gotta give me some time- i've been staying past office hours trying to finish everything. if I had a partner i'd be getting a lot more work done and solved." you explained.
he sighed, "alright. I'll see what I can do. just- in the meantime, will you please focus on your work?" you nodded, standing up before leaving his office.
it actually didn't take you too long before you had a partner. "cyberlife was generous enough to give me one of the most advanced androids in their possession, an rk900. now, i expect you to give me quality reports, and to solve your cases." you thanked him, before leaving his office and returning to your desk. hank and connor were out on a mission, otherwise you'd be telling them first. you waited at your desk, browsing some files when you felt the presence of somebody behind you. you swiveled your chair around to see an exact replica of connor, with a few different features. besides his white pristine jacket, you noticed his eyes were grey instead of brown. he looked much more intimidating than his counterpart. and he might've even been taller, though it was hard to judge considering you were sitting down.
"you're detective l/n, correct?" even the way he talked was different. his voice was similar to his predecessor, however there was something that distinguished him and the rk800. he sounded more authoritative in a way. "yes, you must be my partner?" you stood up to shake his hand, which he stared at for a few seconds before lifting up his own. his grip was strong, you noted. "yes. it would be best to get to work right away. is there a desk anywhere?"
you nodded, pointing to the vacant desk in front of you. he sat down, being quick to work as he browsed the many cases that you had. you saw his LED circle amber, indicating he was analyzing all of the current information. "do you have a name?" you asked, making eye contact with him before looking away. "no." well, he was very direct. "we should give you one," you suggested. he stared at you before responding vaguely, "i don't see how this relates to the investigation." you shrugged, "well, it would be more efficient to call out something other than your model number, in case of an emergency." a look flashed in his eye before he responded quickly, as if he expected you to say that. "there won't be any emergencies as long as you're with me."
you were caught off guard, and he knew it. from that look of amusement on his face, you reacted just as he expected. your skin flushed as you looked away, trying to hide your flustered state. did he even know how that sounded to humans? "that's sweet." you replied. "i didn't intend for it to be."
what was his problem? you ignored his comment and stood up, coming over to his side of the desk. "can you find the most recent case involving an attack with an android for me?" you asked, leaning over him slightly. his eyes avoided looking at your cleavage that was exposed, and he fought the urge to point out your violation of dress code. "did you need to stand up to tell me this?" he asked, before searching for a file. you chuckled a little bit, amused by his strange sense of humor. even if it didn't mean to come off as humorous, you still found it funny. your computer chimed with the case file, and you browsed it before grabbing your coat. "i think this will be a good start to our investigation," you said, grabbing your keys as well. he followed you to the parking lot, waiting for you expectantly as you forgot to unlock the passenger door. "oops, sorry," you unlocked the passenger side, waiting until he was fully inside before driving off.
"julia nichols, the wife of anthony nichols reported that her android had killed her husband before disappearing," you went over briefly. "i know." rk900 replied, looking over at you for a moment before turning his head back to the road. "right, you're the one who gave me the file," you said in defeat.
the two of you arrived at the scene shortly after other officers started to show up, and immediately you could tell something was off.
"her story isn't adding up," you said to rk900 as he analyzed the shared bedroom. "i agree. there's information that she's hiding from us. her heart rate spikes up and so does her body temperature." he said as if it was the most normal thing ever. the way you looked at him was proof that humans would never be able to surpass their greatest creation. the rk900 looked around more, peering into the closet to find a wooden box, with the outline of a hunting knife that appeared to be missing. "that's strange," you commented, before interjecting with another random thought that came to mind.
"does that mean you can see my heart rate too?" your curiosity and fascination with something so ordinary to him definitely fueled his ego a little bit. "yes." he stepped closer until he was two feet away from you. "i can see everything," he leaned down just enough for you to be eye to eye with him. the increased heart rate told him all he needed to know, and he left the room, leaving you speechless.
you tried to ignore whatever that was earlier by inspecting the gruesome crime scene. the pictures were always different in comparison to real life. seeing an image versus the actual remains of a human was a drastic change.
the murder took place a few hours or so ago, leaving a 15 minute time gap between the wife's distressed 911 call, and the amount of time it took for officers to respond to the call. judging by the blood splatter patterns, the android would've been seen with blood all over her clothing. unlike humans, androids don't feel pain. despite not being susceptible to damage, the android would most likely have a part of their hand damaged because of the amount of force needed to tear through tissue and muscles. it would definitely leave an injury.
with this information in mind, you were quick to note the slight injury on the wife's right hand.
you didn't believe a word she said. however, you played it off like you believed her and that she wasn't the main suspect. rk900 scanned the husbands corpse that was laid out on the kitchen floor. there was a key detail that any other officer would miss out on, not because they weren't observant enough, but because they weren't an android. rk900 found traces of thirium on the kitchen sink. what looked like fingers gripping onto the counter, and a splatter that was across from the fingers, with little droplets leading him into the basement of the home. he stood in front of the door, about to head downstairs when he felt you behind him. "don't go down there. i have a bad feeling about it," you gripped his wrist, stopping him from moving any further. "you underestimate me, detective. i'm rk900, the most advanced android ever made. if i couldn't handle a human, what kind of detective would i be?" he tugged his hand free from your grip, which didn't take much effort at all. you swallowed nervously as he headed down the steps, following after him. he stopped in his tracks when he felt your weight on the steps behind him. "i advise you not to stand in my way. i can handle this myself," he said, staring at you like you were some child interfering with adult business. you held your tongue, and retreated upstairs to look for anything else.
rk900 didn't bring up the fact that he saw blue blood in the kitchen. not only did that raise suspicion, but it also kept valuable information from you.
you examined the kitchen once more, coming over to where the husband laid, lifeless. you noticed that the knife in question that he was stabbed with was nowhere to be found. even the officers that first responded to the scene said that they hadn't found the weapon. the wife also stated that she did not see where the weapon landed, only when it was being used. but that didn't make sense, why would the android run off with the murder weapon if they knew there wouldn't be any fingerprints?
"excuse me, miss nichols? were you able to tell what type of knife it was?" you asked the wife who had come back inside after being questioned. "it was a kitchen knife." she replied coolly. which was strange, considering the circumstances. a chill ran up your spine as you realized you made a grave mistake. "none of the knives are missing except for your husband's hunting knife," you said.
as rk900 analyzed the basement for any more traces of blue blood, he stumbled upon a container filled with blue blood, next to a black garbage bag that contained a heavy smell. he scanned it, then again, and again to make sure what he was seeing was correct. the blood in the container belonged to the hk400, and it matched the same sample from the kitchen. he pried open the bag, only to see a faint blue light humming, and then the hk200's dismembered corpse inside.
the woman paused, looking at you before lunging at you with the said knife. "shit! nines!" you yelled, trying to gather the android's attention while trying to keep yourself alive. you slipped on the blood, causing you to hit your head on the tiled floors of the kitchen, and she was on top of you in an instant. you fought with her, knocking down chairs to gather the attention of anybody. she managed to cut your arm, staining your white blouse with red, but you managed to switch positions until you were the one on top. using your forearm, you held her down by the chest while using your free hand to slam the knife out of her own. "fuck. nines!" you yelled again, relief flooding your body as footsteps rushed up the stairs, and rk900 was quick to enter the scene. while you were distracted, she was able to grab the knife and cut your stomach, but you were quick and held the blade before it could fully penetrate. he kicked the knife out of her hands, quick to point his gun while you held her down. "don't move or I'll shoot!" he raised his voice slightly, kneeling down to reach into your holster to grab your handcuffs. it felt weird having his fingers shove themselves into your belt, but you tried not to focus on the rough brush of his knuckles so close to you.
she was quickly apprehended by your partner, immediately being sat in the back of a police car. you sat on the floor with your back against a few cupboards, your hand clutching your stomach. you looked like a bloody mess. your arm was stained red, your abdomen leaked red all over your blouse, and your hand was drenched in a mixture of your own blood and the victims.
rk900 rushed to your side, scanning your body to see what injuries you had. thankfully none of them were fatal, but this still was a drawback on his end. "you okay?" you asked, despite being the one bleeding out. "i told you, i can handle myself." you nodded, "so what did you find in the basement?"
he sighed, or gave an equivalent to that. "you need medical attention before we can discuss the details," he held his hand firmly against your abdomen, adding the correct pressure that was needed to stop the bleeding. you winced, gritting your teeth at the burning sensation. you didn't say anything, the two of you waited in silence as an ambulance rushed to the home.
it wasn't a part of his mission to follow you to the hospital, but he did anyway. you had left your keys on the floor, which he picked up and cleaned before using your car to follow the ambulance.
after you were all bandaged up, you headed to the front desk where you signed out. you turned around, seeing the familiar pristine white jacket of the rk900, sitting in the wait room. he sat with his hands in his lap, and it was oddly cute seeing someone so intimidating look so small. as he stood up, you were quickly reminded that he wasn't cute and tiny. "why are you here?" you asked with a smug look on your face. "to return your keys," he replied. you chuckled, "sure. well, let's get out of here," you had walked to the parking lot, waiting for him to lead the way as you had no idea where he parked. "give me the keys," you said. "no. that would be a hazard for both of us. i'm driving," he said as he sat gracefully in the driver's seat. you wondered if you looked that good getting into your car.
"now that I've gotten medical attention, what did you end up finding in the basement?" you asked, looking over at the android who was driving even faster than you. "the missing hk200. it was dismembered and thrown into a garbage bag. next to it was a pitcher of its blood." you grimaced, "so it didn't run away after all. the wife definitely killed her husband and framed the android, but why? I mean why kill someone you were married to?" the android went silent for a moment, before telling you something that definitely would've helped. "I didn't mention this to you because I thought it wasn't relevant information, but when we were inside the room, I found his phone and saw evidence of him having an affair. that could've been a reason why she did it."
you froze, staring at him with a mixture of anger and hopelessness. "why would you keep that from me? even if it doesn't seem useful at the moment, you could've told me." you looked angry but you didn't sound angry. there was something in your tone that sounded like despair. you didn't underestimate his abilities when it came to defending himself, you just didn't want him to put himself into dangerous situations just because he can. in a way you were looking out for him without looking out for yourself. now wasn't the right time to say you were worried when you ended up proving him right; you were in his way. "I'm sorry, detective. I should also bring up that I found traces of blue blood in the kitchen." his tone was different from before. it sounded like he almost regretted his actions. you stayed silent this time. he underestimated your abilities, not because he was looking out for you but because you were weaker than him. that only would interfere with his work. it made you sad to say the least.
you dreaded reporting back to fowler, knowing he'd take rk900's side on this and probably fire you for letting the situation get out of control. you dreaded hearing what he'd have to say. you knew this was your fault, a loss on your end, only proving that you weren't good enough to be a detective. you sat across from Fowler, already sensing his anger and disappointment. rk900 stood behind you with his hands clasped behind his back, his face devoid of any emotion as he watched Fowler start to yell at you. "I give you one of the most advanced partners you can have, and you come back like this?! it doesn't matter that you solved the case! you let the situation get out of control. if I have to tell you to tighten the hell up again, then you're out of my office l/n. be like your partner."
rk900 looked down at you as you avoided meeting anyone's gaze. he didn't want to admit it, but he felt partly responsible for withholding information that could've given you a better outcome. you sat at your desk, avoiding his gaze as you typed away on your computer. the blood was still there on your shirt. you tried to cover it with your coat, but it was useless. the amount of blood on you made him feel guilty. if he just told you what he found, you wouldn't have gotten hurt. he was about to say something when you stood up, and excused yourself. he saw you talking to Connor, making eye contact with the rk800 before he went back to his conversation with you. were you complaining about him to his counterpart? the thought of that angered him, but he remained calm as he didn't know what you were saying. you left to the bathroom, while his predecessor came towards his desk.
"you're partners now," he said. rk900 didn't reply, he just looked at Connor until he said something else. "what's surprising is that she's not mad at you. she feels the opposite, that you're mad at her," he explained. rk900 stood up, looking over to the bathrooms where you were in. "that wasn't my intention-"
"then fix it." Connor said, walking back to his desk. his LED flashed red briefly, before returning to the steady blue it always was. he hated seeing you hurt. he was worried his counterpart would be too careless. sometimes he wished he could be your partner, in a work sense but also in another way he couldn't define. he wouldn't let you get injured like that. he just hoped rk900 would recognize his mistake.
it seemed like crying at work started to become a habit of yours as this was the second time you've done it. you didn't know what to do. you felt like you didn't belong here. since your first day, you've felt out of place. and now, the feeling came on worse than before. when fowler yelled at you to be more like your partner, suddenly it felt like your mom comparing you to a classmate that you could never be like. working here reminded you of when you were a kid, when you came home crying wondering why nobody wanted to play with you. was it always going to be like this? your tears ran down the drain again, and you wiped your eyes and blew your nose before trying to go back out again.
someone entering the restroom quickly made you pretend as if nothing was wrong, but when you met those same grey eyes in the mirror, you couldn't help but to lower your head.
"when you were calling me for help, you called me 'nines'. is that correct?" he asked you. your brows furrowed as you tried to piece what he was trying to allude to. "yes, is it okay if I can call you that?" you said, turning around only to find him closer than you anticipated. "mhm," he said lowly, "i like it. you can call me nines from now on." the corners of your mouth upturned slightly as you said it out loud once more. "I like it too."
he didn't know how to apologize without making it sound like connor told him everything. "I should have been more...efficient. I should have told you the information I found instead of keeping it to myself." you smiled a little bit at him, before remembering what he had told you. "it's okay nines. i never underestimated you, i just...didn't want you to put yourself in danger." unfortunately, he couldn't say the same. the words were clogged in his artificial throat as he tried to gather a correct response. but the look in your face told him that you already knew. "i know nines. if you feel that I stand in your way, don't be afraid to ask for a replace-"
"no." the word was out before he could even think about it. it caught both of you off guard, but he was quick to correct himself. "I apologize for what I said in the basement. if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have found the culprit. I regret what I said, I hope we can move past this and become better partners." you would've started crying again, but you felt too happy to even consider it. "I hope we can move past this too. after all, you are my partner," you smiled, patting his arm.
the police department wasn't bustling with police officers as many of them had gone home, which was something you were thankful for as nobody would question why you just walked out of the same bathroom with your male partner. just imagine the rumors. connor was glad to see you smiling again, and came over before he and hank left home. "are you heading home?" you asked the brown eyed rk unit. after being with nines all day, you missed connor. "yes. i hope that you get well soon, detective." he scanned you one last time, just to make sure that you were alright. "I will be. take care of yourself connor," you smiled before hugging the android goodnight. if anyone else was here, there would be rumors of you fucking both the rk models. you hadn't hugged him before, but it was definitely something he'd get used to. his arms wrapped around your waist gently, not to hurt you. he rested his chin on your shoulder, his sensors going haywire from the warmth surrounding his body. as well as the smell of you, and your hands rubbing his lower back. if he could get goosebumps he probably would have them right now, as the feeling was similar. nines watched your interaction with curiosity. he had access to connor 's memories but never found anything intimate, or anything to suggest the two of you had a relationship outside of work. he must have been very close to you, as your body went from being tensed to completely relaxed.
after connor had left and you made some final reports about the case, it was time for you to go home. you stretched your back, wincing when you felt your injury move underneath the bandage. "are you alright, detective?" nines asked. you smiled, despite them being two different people with different personalities, there were some things they did that mimicked one another. "I am. I think I'm done for the night." you stood up, and grabbed your coat. nines did the same, though he didn't need to grab anything except for his keys. "nines?" you called out, looking over to him only to find he was already looking at you. "yes?"
"are you comfortable with me hugging you?" it was strange. you seemed confident hugging connor but you looked shy when asking him. it made him feel a way he couldn't describe. despite being deviant, these emotions were still new to him, as connor had time to adapt to these new feelings, he didn't have much of an experience. he paused for a second, before nodding his head. you wrapped your arms around his abdomen, your hands rubbing the same lower portion of his back that you did when you hugged connor. reluctantly, he wrapped his arms around you, his sensors taking in the sensation crawling up his spine. since deviation, he was able to feel more things for some reason. that meant his pleasure receptors were stronger than they'd be if he was just in his program, but right now he felt something he'd never felt before. it was a good feeling, to be wrapped with a warm pressure. now he understood why humans loved hugging each other.
you pulled away to his distaste, walking out with him to your car. you didn't know what you just started, but you knew it would be tough to handle your feelings for both of the androids.
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a/n: before you ask, yes there will be a part two. I'm not sure how long this might continue, but it depends on how many people will enjoy it. I know the majority of my followers aren't a part of this fan base, but I hope it reaches the right audience ♡
What are some ways to speed up or slow down a scene?
On a basic level, speed is all relevant to word count. The amount of space it takes on a page to convey an idea (whether it be dialogue, description, or anything else) mimics “real time focus”. More words, more time; fewer words, less time. All the methods of altering scene pacing essentially come back to that rule in some way.
Speed up:
Tell, don’t show (AKA summarize). Telling isn’t always bad, in fact it’s kind of required to be able to skip over the boring parts of any story. It’s possible to mix telling into a scene to glaze over certain parts, but you want to be careful to make sure that you couldn’t just be scene breaking instead.
Get to the point. Setting the scene is important, but for any “faster” scene you want to keep the focus on the events and the plot. Take out (or just don’t write) anything that repeats what’s already been brought to attention.
Use shorter sentences and/or paragraphs. This tip is weird because you should still be varying the length of your sentences and paragraphs, but any fast-paced scene doesn’t need any extended narration. Yes, you’re sacrificing detail, but as long as it’s not necessary detail then it’s usually okay.
Slow Down:
Show, don’t tell. Spend some time really creating concrete images in the reader’s mind, as long as it makes sense to include that level of detail within the scene. Description is all relative to the narrator and what they pay attention to, so someone putting all of their focus on a phone call is not going to be describing their surroundings in detail. (Though you could use the description to show that they’re not focusing on the call.)
Insert some character thought. Nobody needs a monologue, but some thought now and then can show characterization and add some flavor. You just don’t want it to repeat anything obvious or that has already been made clear– it should enhance the story not make it redundant.
Add meaningful roadblocks and pauses. Life is very rarely as simple as “event happens smoothly”, so a story should reflect that. It’s just important to remember that those obstacles need meaning; they should show something about the setting, characters, or plot. You can write an argument as a simple back-and-forth of dialogue, or you can take some time to give the argument pause and describe how the characters are physically acting in the silence.
Good luck with your scene pacing!
Space to Breathe
So I've been thinking a lot about pacing and structure in my own stories, and one thing that's become increasingly clear is the importance--the necessity, really--of giving your story space to breathe.
Particularly for novels* with a lot of tension, there's a tendency to think the whole story should be tense: if you drop the tension, all of the air goes out of the story.
But in fact, the opposite tends to be true. As is true with so many things, if you spend an extended time in a feeling of suspense or anxiety, it all tends to flatten out into something less meaningful. The moments that are supposed to feel very impactful end up feeling the same as the less impactful moments.
What you can--and should--do instead is give your story space to breathe. Deliberately lower the tension for a scene or even a chapter and let everything settle. Here are a few ways to do that:
Have your character process a traumatic or impactful event. One of the easiest ways to cheapen a character injury, death, near-death, or massive reveal is to not give any time to process it. So give your character a chance to cry, talk about it, or otherwise process what happened. It doesn't need to be immediately after the event, because often you will want to keep that tension high for a while, but if you are giving the reader a traumatic event, give them the emotional payoff of having the characters deal with it.
Have your characters feel safe. This can be a real safety or a false safety, but if your characters feel/are in danger for much of the story, giving them that sense of safety can ease the tension for a little bit. It can also increase the impact of an event immediately after it--being attacked or injured when they feel safe has a very different emotional payoff for the reader than being attacked or injured when they already feel like they're in danger.
Have your characters take advantage of a lull in tension. Along with the previous instance, this can take place when there's an in-story lull--the prom isn't for another week, the ritual can't happen until the full moon, the enemy is still a hundred miles away--where the characters themselves deliberately decide to put the tension aside and take some times for themselves.
In all of these instances, you give yourself an opportunity for an even higher emotional payoff later while also providing the characters with an opportunity for more normal interaction. How do they interact when the stakes aren't so high? What do their relationships look like?
*short stories have an entire different structure and different sense of pacing and tension, and this advice doesn't apply nearly as well to them.