Unexpected difficulty writing a multiverse scene

[Juia_Darkcrest]

Fandom - HOTD

MC - John, a teacher protecting some zombie survivors in this world. Became their leader.

Situation - He was bit by a zombie, then teleported to a different world to save himself. He found a way to cure the virus, then teleported back, now with some magic powers. He then used those powers to rescue someone in a crowd, revealing that he had magical abilities unheard of in this world.

Issue - 'Good' ways to tackle this scenario.

As of now, I have written myself into a hole, unsure if I should keep pushing this to write myself out, or scrap the 1500 words and try again. Right now, he is just kind of passing it off as a magic trick and re assuming his role as the groups leader, but everyone seems in shock.

How would you try and pass off suddenly having magic abilities to a group of high schoolers and a nurse, after you BBQ'd a gangbanger that had a knife at a girls throat, all while in the middle of an zombie apocalypse? I am not looking for a full scene, but just some ideas on how to make this a more natural transition, instead of a 'yeah I can heal and throw fireballs, deal with it' scenario.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Wait - how did he teleport to a different world; has he always had this ability, or did something else cause it? If the latter, he can probably just explain any new powers as "remnants of the power that shunted me to Universe X"
If the former, he has to explain why he DIDN'T use his powers previously.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

Wait - how did he teleport to a different world; has he always had this ability, or did something else cause it? If the latter, he can probably just explain any new powers as "remnants of the power that shunted me to Universe X"
If the former, he has to explain why he DIDN'T use his powers previously.

Ahh yeah that was back story that I didn't think was particularly relevant to this scene as any of my readers are already aware of it by this point... I hope anyways LMAO.

He is a contestant at The Deity Entertainment Network. They send him to different worlds and he tries to change the lore of the story. So he has a skill that lets him return to DEN at anytime, letting him move between worlds nearly at will if he wants.

HOTD was the first world he went to, and was only there for a few chapters before getting bit. So he teleported out, pausing time in that world. Now a significant amount of time has passed for John, he is stronger and has some magic abilities now.

 

[CinnaSloth]

He is a contestant at The Deity Entertainment Network. They send him to different worlds and he tries to change the lore of the story. So he has a skill that lets him return to DEN at anytime, letting him move between worlds nearly at will if he wants.

Can he bring anyone with him? kidnapping people from their universe seems like a good way to change the lore of that story, more so if he kidnaps the MC of that universe.

Whatever attitude he has is going to play a key role in the way he responds.

If he's genuinely a decent guy, he'd probably go with the truth. I have someone looming over my shoulder, and I'm not allowed to disappoint them with boring shenanigans. Trust me, it's not as great as it sounds.

Or if he's a complete jerk, I know you said you wouldn't want them saying, because I can, get the heck over it, I'm saving your butt. but isn't that what a jerk would say, if they bothered to go back at all in the first place?

You mentioned he's a teacher. He could go full force into the science of everything, heat, and combustion, and energy within the body combining with the blah blah of zombie.. idk dragging their feet to make static discharge or something science-y ignited their clothes at the snap of his finger, and since they're all zombified, and leathery, and their skin is all oily from natural body grease made them incredibly flammable. static flame bomb! He would know what he said was just all lies and complete utter garbage, but the kids wouldn't know that unless one of them is some incredible super genius questioning the man literally saving their lives with some magical made-up pseudo-science.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

Can he bring anyone with him? kidnapping people from their universe seems like a good way to change the lore of that story, more so if he kidnaps the MC of that universe.

At this time no. Some of those protagonist have already died in some of the worlds he has visited, or he replaced the MC. In fact, Issei from DxD is dying at his feet in one of those worlds, and he is trying to get strong enough to get resurrection magic to save him before returning to that world.

Whatever attitude he has is going to play a key role in the way he responds.

If he's genuinely a decent guy, he'd probably go with the truth. I have someone looming over my shoulder, and I'm not allowed to disappoint them with boring shenanigans. Trust me, it's not as great as it sounds.

yeah, he is. He does have a temper, but he is a family man first and foremost. I am leaning towards the truth right now, though delaying the exposition for now as they had zombies to deal with.

You mentioned he's a teacher. He could go full force into the science of everything, heat, and combustion, and energy within the body combining with the blah blah of zombie.. idk dragging their feet to make static discharge or something science-y ignited their clothes at the snap of his finger, and since they're all zombified, and leathery, and their skin is all oily from natural body grease made them incredibly flammable. static flame bomb! He would know what he said was just all lies and complete utter garbage, but the kids wouldn't know that unless one of them is some incredible super genius questioning the man literally saving their lives with some magical made-up pseudo-science.

He is a 'Teacher' in that world, but he wasn't one in his original life. He did get some memories of this OG teacher from this world, and all the students he rescued see him as one, so he considers himself one while he is there.


I am just debating how much 'Truth' to say at this point, though most of it will probably come out.

 

[CinnaSloth]

yeah, he is. He does have a temper, but he is a family man first and foremost. I am leaning towards the truth right now, though delaying the exposition for now as they had zombies to deal with.

I mean the cliche would be to start telling the truth, x event stops him from speaking, he tells everyone that he'll tell them later when they're not being overwhelmed by x event happening in front of them. and later on trap them into a room where everyone is sus of him, forcing him to tell everyone everything. And when everyone is satisfied asking their questions, they all have new found courage and "You are filled with determination" pops up on the screen, allowing them the "Strength" to go fight headstrong into the hoards of zombies like badasses even though nothing has literally changed, except the main character saying a few words describing the current situation they're in. lol
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it would also be a good time to ask readers if they would like some questions of their own answered as if they were one of the students.
though, you'd have to vet through exactly what kinds of questions the current set of characters would be able to ask with what knowledge they actually have. they wouldn't be asking about the hunter x hunter universe, when they're part of HOTD. you know? But since he's opening up the gates about magic and DEN, They could ask questions about those, but also, answering only up to the knowledge John has acquired as a character.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

I mean the cliche would be to start telling the truth, x event stops him from speaking, he tells everyone that he'll tell them later when they're not being overwhelmed by x event happening in front of them. and later on trap them into a room where everyone is sus of him, forcing him to tell everyone everything. And when everyone is satisfied asking their questions, they all have new found courage and "You are filled with determination" pops up on the screen, allowing them the "Strength" to go fight headstrong into the hoards of zombies like badasses even though nothing has literally changed, except the main character saying a few words describing the current situation they're in. lol
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it would also be a good time to ask readers if they would like some questions of their own answered as if they were one of the students.
though, you'd have to vet through exactly what kinds of questions the current set of characters would be able to ask with what knowledge they actually have. they wouldn't be asking about the hunter x hunter universe, when they're part of HOTD. you know? But since he's opening up the gates about magic and DEN, They could ask questions about those, but also, answering only up to the knowledge John has acquired as a character.

Ah yes, the old Doctor Who standby - "We don't have time for that now, I'll explain it later..." (was very pleased to see a Companion get to use that one on The Doctor once)