#(and also just kinda. a pattern with philip)

[welcometogrouchland]

Also what if I said the show taking time to show that Luz and Hunter aren't unhealthily dependent on one another post time skip the way they were in thanks to them (but still close seen in Luz's patches on her clothes or Hunter taking time off work to go to Luz's bday) actually plays in to the cycle of sibling betrayal motif w/ the Clawthornes and Wittebanes????

[lollytea]

hunter baby fever haver so true. guy who is mentally furnishing a nursery before even having his own place. baby name book addict. hes comparing & crossreferencing BI & earth names as soon as children start to be a possibility

Fr I don't think he even particularly cared about kids at all until a certain point. Like his lukewarm reaction to little Philip in Hollow Mind, before he actually realized who he was? He was all like "Hm. Yes. That certainly is. A Child."

But then he starts his apprenticeship under Dell and suddenly he's exposed to kids every day. And he's put into situations where he needs to talk to them and understand them because it helps with the palisman carving process. And he was pretty awkward at first cuz he has barely had any interaction with children before this (King was the only child he knew, who happens to be very mature for his age) and kids are weird and bizarre and unpredictable and Hunter is a little out of his depth. But he gradually get accustomed to it and even warms up to being around them, even finding them endearing. So at that point he's like "Hmmm....maybe....maybe I'd like kids one day. Maybe....."

But then, but then, but THEN!!! But then he's at work one day and somebody lets him hold their baby and its all fucking over for him. It awakens the beast. He's not normal anymore. How can he possibly be normal??? How??? How can he continue to exist and live an indifferent life when babies are so fucking SMALL?????? WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!! And then it just gets worse and worse and worse over time. He gets more and more comfortable with kids. He holds more babies. Now he's just insane about it.

And the thing is. Hunter knows he and Willow are too young for a baby. He knows neither are emotionally mature enough. He knows they still have so much growing up to do. He KNOWS okay he knows. So he's not begging for a baby. He has no intention of trying to have a baby right now. But that doesn't stop him from being in AGONY over the fact that it's gonna be several years before he can have a baby. His primal instincts are like. WANNA HOLD BABY!!! WANNA SQUISH BABY!!!! WANNA SMOOCH BABY!!!!!

Man is sighing wistfully over little baby clothes at the market and Willow's kicking herself for leaving him unattended cuz now he's gonna be in one of those moods tonight where he's whispering potential baby names in her ear when they're cuddling and she's had ENOUGH of it. She already wakes up every morning to twelve video links from Hunter of toddlers eating lemons and making funny faces or some shit because its usually in the middle of the night when his fever is the most potent.

Willow wants kids one day too. But she's also in very deep in her Flyer Derby thing. So while Hunter's idea of having children is the aftermath, Willow's mind immediately goes to the pregnancy part. And like. She has no intention of taking a pause from her athlete life yet. She's thriving.

Tho in fairness she does think it's kinda funny just how much of a menace Hunter is over this. He's just. Listen. If Hunter was never supposed to be a father, fate wouldn't land him with so many hobbies that could be utilized for future fatherhood.

An avid bookworm with an insanitable curiosity? He's 19 years old and reading parenting books for fun.

A tailor? He can sew, knit and embroider. He can MAKE little baby hats and mittens and booties and blankets. He'd probably be so excited to do so actually.

Woodcarver? He can build little wooden baby toys. He can make a mobile with little dangling palismen. He can build the goddamn crib itself and carve patterns into it of all of his and Willow's favourite flowers.

Like. He's spent a decade preparing. He's gonna be so ready when the time comes. But also you know that when the time DOES finally come and Willow tells him the exciting news, Hunter's euphoric celebration lasts for a total of four and a half minutes before he's like "Oh Titan....oh Titan, Willow, what if I'm a horrible father?"

He's a mess of a man.

[musical-theater-mania]

Rating performances of "Stars"

I am deeply particular about Javert's character and deeply unsatisfied with many of the performances of "Stars" that are available on Spotify! So here are my thoughts:

Terrence Mann (Original Broadway Cast Recording) - 9/10. Listen. It's pretty good. I feel like he really gets into it at all the right times! That being said, I cannot STAND the lyric "Falling from grace, falling from grace". The first "grace" should be "god"!

Philip Quast (Live at Albert Hall) - 7/10. I cannot get past the "there" at the beginning. It's the first word and I hated it. You already turned me against yourself. I also feel like he can be a little breathy when he changes notes (both times he sings "You fall in flame" are good examples). Other than that though his tone is great! He gets a great dynamic range.

Roger Allam (Original London Cast Recording) - 3/10. Holy fuck I hated this one. I HATE what the orchestra is doing (especially in the beginning). Like what is that weird staccato pattern??? It is too early of a production of this show to feel like it needs to be doing something cute to stand out. Also I feel like at times he's trying to do cutesy little runs? And again it just doesn't feel like Javert. He's too serious for those frills. Also the ending pissed me off so much. Why are you petering out? You are supposed to be strong and vivacious! Can you not hit those notes???? What's going on with the lyrics????

Russell Crowe (The Motion Picture Soundtrack) - 4/10. Ok. I don't love what the orchestra is doing at the beginning, that part is too iconic. Also, his voice is just so gentle. I do not believe for a second that he is hunting down a fugitive of the law! Where is the fire! Where is the severity! Where is the last note! Seriously why did they remove the last note?????

Michael Ball (2020 Live Recording) - 6/10. Something about his tone feels kinda mellow? Like idk it just isn't as rich and powerful as I'd like this role to be. (It kinda feels like an overly edited Disney recording, which is funny bc it's LIVE.) He also constantly sounds like he's behind the beat. And I'm sure this is an intentional choice, but I don't like it! Again, Javert is SO regimented and severe that I feel like he would be aggressively on beat (which would then make "Javert's Suicide" even MORE powerful when he stops adhering as strictly to the beat)! I liked the growl on "never rest" though, that ate.

Earl Carpenter (2010 London Cast Recording) - 8/10. I don't love what the orchestra is doing in the beginning? Idk it just really throws me off. (Although they do slay the end!) Also sometimes it feels really rushed. They play too fast + loose with tempo for me. Javert is an EXTREMELY regimented man!

Philip Quast (Manchester Cast Recording) - 8/10. I liked this one MUCH better than the other one he did. Still don't love the "there" but it isn't quite as off-putting somehow. He also has way less of the breathiness! (Fun little aside: his vibrato is tighter than most of the other people on this list, which you can really notice in "lord, let me find him")

Bryn Terfel (Renée & Bryn) Under the Stars - 9.5/10. They really let the Welsh National Orchestra go wild on this one and you know what I liked it! It had the same vibe to me as when a singer does an opt up (it was selective spots that showed off their abilities without changing the nature of the piece or taking away from it). The tempo was a little faster than I would have chosen but I feel like it worked for the character/song. Bryn is also an incredible singer! His voice is stunning and so wonderfully expressive. He also has that wonderful bassy quality that is SO important to me in this role.

Jason Manford (A Different Stage) - 7.5/10. He sounds a little young to me? Like he's missing some of the grit/bassy quality that I want in this role but something about the performance feels soothing? Like it's easy to listen to idk. It does lose points because it is missing some of the fire and passion. He lets a little of it out at the end so I know that he has it in the tank when he wants to use it

[kalocart]

Why is there barely Creature Cases content on this platform?

What a first date with them would be like p.1

Nb reader because why not, also this fic has some inuendos but not enough for the mature tag so the allert is "Thighs"

❄Sam Snow❄

Escape room

He wants to show off his master detective skills to impress you.

He asked Kit to help him pick a good one cus she knows a lot about his skills

He goes with his uniform (i think their uniforms) after a case. And you go dressed not knowing you kinda look like a detective too (like a coat, uh think sherlock? But casual) and he gets excited.

Sam: "Oh my god, you look like a detective too, we can be like sherlock and Watson! ... can... can I call you DR.Y/N while we're here?"

He talks out loud about his thought process and he takes into consideration your point of view, Oh? You think we should check the lamp? Of course, do the clues correlate with the wall? Sure lets try that"

At some point he thought about the shandelier in the room but it was too high, so he asked you to sit on his shoulders to boost you up cus he's strong💪

Now having his head being squished in between your thighs awakened a new desire.

Once getting the note you read it out but he ain't listening, your thighs are mulling the sound.

Y/n:"6 the clocks strikes at night, sven barks at the pen covered in the corpses of hens. What do you think Detective snow?"

Sam:".... oh- I'm sorry repeat that?"

Y/n:"oh! Let me get down-"

Sam:"no thats fine"

You moved the clocks hands to 6:07 and then a drawer comes out with a chicken constelation pen.

Sam theought the whole duration has been chearing you on being a detective. He wont baby you so your doing your part on your own.

At some point you two get stuck but then sam notices the pin on the cork board arent removable, and made click sounds.

At that moment you realize a rezenmblance of the corkboard and the pattern on the pen.

Y/n:"Detective Snow, how about we make the constelation on the cork board"

Sam:"Thats a Good idea Dr.Y/n"

The prize were stickers, a t-shirt and you could also keep the pen.

You two went to a small coffee shop to wind down.

Who got the pen? Kit Casey

Since she helped Sam look for the escape room and reservation you two gave it to her.

🦊Kit Casey🦊

Hiking

Like with Sam, she wanted to show off her zoology skills.

Sam also helped to look for a good place for you two to hike

This time, you get to go on R.O.N., weather you work at CLADE or not, Kit commiting grand theft auto.

You think Kit would take you to a generic forest? Fuck no she taking you to the south american jungle.

Its hot just like you, and just how she likes it.

Throught the way she would tell you stories of her past missions. Like the one with the snow hares, the bees, the time two Gila monsters bit her

Kit:"Gila monsters have a venomous bite, so I was out of it for half the day after both of them bit me"

Y/n:"they what?!"

Kit:"oh dont worry It was nothing, just had to submerge them in water to let me go and they went back to fighting eachother"

Y/n: 😰

She nonchalantly tells her near death experiences and when with animals with a pep in her step. She just thinks their amaizing.

She loves telling animal facts about the ones around them.

Kit will race you, and even teach you how to hop onto the trees.

You two just swinging tree to tree. Looking at all the natives.

You and Kit bump into the Howler Monkey Resort and decide to get a meal before heading back.

While waiting on your food in comes detective philip night. Who says a quick hello,

Philip:"Detective Kit Casey, what brings you here brings you and your ...new friends?"

Kit:"Oh hey Philip, their Y/n, and this is our first date!"

Y/n:"hello, its a pleasure to meet you"

Philip:"I cant believe you managed to win such a... captivating one, good for you"

Kit:"I know right! Their such amaizing and nice!"

Philip:"well then I'll leave the couple so they can enjoy their good night, till next time detective"

The conversation left both of two blushing

Once you two finish your meals you head back to R.O.N. and you start getting sleepy.

Kit tells you to go to sleep and you slowly do doze off, leaning on her.

Kit is internally screaming at the moment.

If you dont work for CLADE, she will make a pit stop at where you live, tuck you in and leave a little love note.

if you do, she would try to sneak you back in with the help of Sam. Before getting caught by Director Peggy Scratch.

Peggy would scold Kit but not much, since she's done it too

🐿🪁Wally Bungler🪁🐿

Picnic

He decided to take you on a picnic, cus 1.he loves nature and there's a nice spot near where he lives 2. His mom told him "the best way to someones heart is through their stomach" so what better than to eat outside with his moms famous blueberry buckle

He told you he would be a bit late because something came up and that he will get there as soon as posible.

You go and prepare the picnic blanket when you see something in the sky, is it a bird, is it a plane? It later answered-

"MAKE WAY FOR WALLYYYYYYYYYY"

You didn't get out of the way on time and he crash lands on you.

y

You dont miss the opportunity.

Y/n:"I hope you didn't get hurt falling from heaven"

Wally:"Ofcourse not, I fell for you after all haha... you didn't get hurt did you?"

After he gets off of you, the date officially starts, luckily nothing in his basket got ruined. His mom taught him how to wrap and store his lunch for him to transport it while flying.

You two talked about a lot of diferent things with him and heard as he talked about how good the food you made was.

He took it as you also trying to get to his heart through his stomach and that made him feel all warm and fuzzy.

You also discovered that he's also a really good cook, all the food in his bag look straight out of instagram.

If you can fly, he would show you a bunch of cool stuff around, if not he will try to find a way so that you can, or look for stuff on the ground.

His mom would sometimes interrupt but you didn't mind, she sounded lovely and what are you to say to not let him answer his mother.

Ms.Bungler:" Wally honey, have you seen my slippers?"

Wally:"Mom not now im on a date"

He would apologize but you would reassure him its fine

At some point you had to cut the date short because he got a distress call from .... a cuckoo bird?

Wally:"Junior Ranger Doli? Whats wrong?"

Doli:"cuckooo!"

Wally:"mom?!"

Doli:"cuckoo"

Wally:"disappeared?!"

He was gonna end the date short and you understood, but you were now worried about his mom, and you want to help find his mom.

He accepts the help ofcourse, him leading you to his home, and three cuckoo birds flying around the place looking for the woman.

After a bit of screaming her name you find a locked bathroom door, you knock but only hear snores from the other side.

You ofcourse call Wally and he bangs on the door calling for his mom. Then you hear her wake up with splashes, she fell asleep taking a bath.

After a bit she got out fully dresed and greets you.

Now you can finally eat Ms.Bunglers famous Blueberry Buckle but OH NO! the junior nature rangers ate it already!

Usually, when Wally finishes work he sometimes brings food for them, so the junior rangers thought it was for them. When they realized their mistake the cood apologetically.

But dont worry! Ms.Bungler will bake a new one! With the help of Wally, his Kids junior rangers, AND YOU!

Ms.Bungler prepared the kettle then started baking with everyone, and it was an absolute blast!

The date ended with you huddled uo on the couch with Wally and his junior rangers fast asleep and Ms.Bungler covering you all with a blanket.

[konigbabe]

Hey again, anon who can't get over your Philip Graves fic here. I really loved your characterization of him in your writing - everybody seems to write him differently, but with yours I can really hear the words in his voice, you know? I was wondering what made you decide to write him like that, if that makes any sense? Like I very much get the vibe of 'I know exactly what I'm about and I am full of snark because of it' from him - which makes it all the more hilarious when he starts pining for someone that hates his guts (or at least thinks they do 🤭). Anyway, sorry for the long ask. If you couldn't already tell, I am currently caught in the maelstrom of hyperfixation. Send help and thank you.

Hi!! Thank you so much! ❤️ it really brightens my day to see people enjoying my work (and sharing the same hyper fixations as me).

And what made me decide? I’m someone who tries to recreate the character’s behavior, tries to understand them and their behavior a little before I start writing. I do my research - what helped tremendously was also the fact that I played the full gameplay of cod mwii like five times and watched the gameplays multiple times; I also skipped to Graves’ parts when writing to see how he acts, reacts and his speaking pattern which I later attempted to recreate in my writing.

I also feel that I have a good grasp on characters’ behaviors and personalities (??) - not in a bragging way - I’m always interested in psychology, human behavior (how their brain functions, what makes them who they are) and my therapist also helped me tremendously in looking at people from “afar”, “a 3rd point of view”, as someone neutral to their situations and as an open-minded observer instead of a judge. This helps me in my way of characterizing my character.

I like to think that all characters are more complicated than they appear. It’s also why I don’t consider Graves as a complete snake and backstabber. I like to think that he had a more solid reason for what he did, even if he got swayed by his feelings later on (which resulted in his “death” that could’ve been easily avoided).

The pining part was something that just came naturally in the writing process haha. I can totally see him as someone slightly obsessed (more in a teasing manner). I do think he’s one of those “irritating” guys that linger around you until they kinda grow on you by force lol. So I did try to portray him that way.

Hope this answers your question 🫶🏻 and again, thank you (and I sent help, should be on the way lol)! ❤️

[spinaroos-47]

Okay time to ramble on about the little things and decisions I had for her designs because I love talking about my choices when doing designs

Teen Evelyn:

-For her teen design, she's got a little apron situation going on, I imagine that she likes being messy, so the apron is a way to avoid most of the messes and it's a little roughed up already

-This is also in the other designs so I'm mentioning it now, the patterns are based a lot on some that I drew on Rowan and Aspen's clothes, as well as the owl symbol thing to represent her being a Clawthorne. That plus the circles in some of the skirts being meant to represent the light glyph, but the shape changed slowly over time, as witches forgot about the glyphs, so now it just vaguely looks like it

Young Adult Evelyn:

-Ok I....kinda forgot that she had the more ripped looking skirt on the Hollow Mind paintings, I do prefer this look, though I'm not opposed to exploring the ripped skirt option in the future

-I did try to mostly stick to the closest as possible to this Hollow Mind painting for her design with the skirt, with my own little details. It's also why she has brown hair. And because I like brown hair :]

-Her chest does look pretty flat, but it's mostly due to how I've imagined her undergarnments, which have a sort of stays that flatten up her silhouette a little

-Her pants outfit has the pants looking similar to how I drew Rowan's pants sometimes, like here

Adult Evelyn:

-Didn't really stick with any greens here, but I like it better like that. She cut her hair before Rowan was born so it would be easier to take care of them and she liked the look, so she kept it short from then on

-Didn't change much from my initial exploration, one of the bigger changes was that I put the portal key as a necklace, so that it would be always in her watch. But years later she trusted Rowan with it, as they lived on the Knee and would be safe and far away from the last place she saw Philip, which was near Bonesborough;

-I'm gonna probably make a whole other post exploring it better, but the furs around her waist and that I've drawn on Rowan and Elowen sometimes have a certain utility. I decided that they would work like those under/over dresses pockets, like this:

Source

Plus they would also help on keeping the body warm on the Knee.

Middle Aged Evelyn:

-Not a note but I want to say that I'm pretty happy with how I did the grey hairs there. Fun shapes :]

-Got a petticoat peeking from under the skirt and went back to the greens

-I don't think I fully succeeded but I did try to show her having gained weight as she got older, after both having a baby and then also menopause. The skirt and the stays silhouette I mentioned before didn't help it much either.

Ironed out my Evelyn designs :]

I've kept her design mostly with a green theme, but with a good ammount of red still. And went ham on the details of the skirts lol

[yr-obedt-cicero]

Did any of Hamilton’s kids have his eyes?

Unfortunately, it's highly unlikely. Schuyler's black eyes, and well genes in general; were a very notable and consistent trait you can see throughout the family. Though there is the slight possibility of otherwise, considering the Hamilton children's portraits and photographs are often doubted wether it's actually them or not, as Google has the habit to kinda just toss around pictures freely, and could have just assigned any of the kids a portrait that wasn't theirs. (*Cough* *Cough* The William portrait)

Though it can be noted Alexander Hamilton appeared to have darker eyes in his younger years. Even though John Church described them as to be "Exceedingly clear" and we can see such ourselves in some of his portraits (Ex; the second portrait). That could also be because John Church was the middle child and when finally of age to actually remember his father, he was kinda old. And his eyes could have been drained of color through age. So he wouldn't actually be able to recall how his father looked in his younger days.

With the known and confirmed portraits of the kid's, you can see Elizabeth's genes being more dominant as the children often all had dark eyes, dark hair, and light waves. A common pattern throughout nearly all of them.

(First; John Church Hamilton. Second; James Alexander Hamilton. Third; Philip Hamilton II. Fourth; Alexander Hamilton Jr.)

Even William Stephen Hamilton, who was renowned as being the kid who looked most like his father, had such a dark tone to his features.

There is the possibility of his two daughters perhaps having his eyes, as we have no confirmed portraits of them. It is theorized that these are them, but I find it doubtful considering the attire and lack of sources. As who is supposedly his eldest daughter, Angelica, her gown looks more Victorian than what was traditional for her time period standards (Especially since she would be pretty young in this photo). But then again, Angelica was said to have shared the same complexion as her aunt, whom she was named after, Angelica Schuyler Church. And last I recall Angelica Sr. was a ginger, so perhaps she had blues eyes and also did her niece. And Eliza's is too outdated, with the "Porcupine" hairstyle being out of style by her time. Though maybe she was just conservative in her wear, I'm not sure. But It's important to note that there's nothing to confirm these are actually his daughters. So perhaps they and his blue eyes?

And last but not least, Philip Hamilton had no portraits, nor any descriptions of his appearance other than he was just "handsome". So for all we know, maybe he inherited his father's "Exceedingly clear" blue eyes. But it's up to the imagination.

Hoped this helped!

[scouts-thingsandrps]

General TOH Headcanons

Grimwalkers don’t really feel heat (unless it’s something extremely hot).

⬆️ Grimwalkers aren’t affecting by the boiling sea or boiling rain.

⬆️ Atalanta didn’t know that this was just a grimwalker thing and just thought people were exaggerating.

Also, if a Grimwalker has an incomplete galderstone, it results in either no magical abilities (aside from glyphs) or unusual magic abilities.

Grimwalkers also have an affinity for beast keeping or plant magic

Lystra is still alive, she used a curse similar to the palisman curse to stay alive (much like Philip/Belos had).

Lilith actually doesn’t remember much from her time in the emperor’s coven (similar to Hunter, Steve (partiality), and Atalanta in the golden duo au). This is due to their brain blocking everything out.

Raine and Steve are clumsy

Atalanta and Boscha have a complicated relationship (a mix of platonic and romantic), though neither of them chooses to label it.

⬆️ They, along with Luz and Amity, get teased for it so much.

Othala and Boscha are cousins.

Solis and Lunna are from Latissa, though they moved to Bonesborough recently.

Atalanta only started wearing a face mask after the day of unity.

Nixie and Nithe were the only ones that knew Vee was a basilisk (aside from Camila). However, the two did not know that Camilia already knew about Vee, this results in the two teenagers going to stupid lengths to try and hide it.

All the teenagers have learned how to parkour (skill varies between who with Edric being the most clumsy and Hunter having the most skill (having done it for years), though Willow, Boscha, Luz, and Atalanta are very close behind).

⬆️ They all just race each other.

⬆️ Adrian and August will join in these races to compare skills

Lilith tries her best to restore old history books/books around wild magic.

Luz memorizes animal symbolism and annoys everyone with it.

Vee has the mouth of a sailor.

Boscha joins the beast keeping track after the day of unity.

Luz, Amity, Gus, Willow, Hunter, Atalanta, Vee, Boscha, Mattolomule, Amelie, Skara, Celine, Barcus, Jerbo, and Viney (along with Edric and Emira on some occasions) make up the ‘Hexside Squad’.

⬆️ Skara and Viney become a part of the squad much later than everyone else

⬆️ They also get into so many shenanigans.

⬆️ No one allows each other to make self deprecating jokes about themselves, they will get a bunch of reassurance/logical arguments.

Lilith is really good at gardening

Skara’s violin playing sounds similar to Lindsey Stirling

⬆️ They’ve also tried to get everyone in the group to at least play one instrument in order to start a band.

Viney is a great dancer.

Also, the town of Gravesfield just kinda vibes with the witches (some shops even take snails as well as dollars).

Raine and Eda stargaze with each other on the roof of the owl house and Hooty interrupts it routinely.

Gus has attempted to start a pod cast about humans.

Adrian and Darius know how to the ‘customer service’ voice.

When they’re stressed, both August and Adrian embroider little patterns.

⬆️ This has rubbed off onto Atalanta, who embroiders their Hexside uniform.

Vitimir and Adrian are actually really good friends.

Cedric was a wild witch and helped teach Atalanta magic.

⬆️ He, along with Eda, helps teach stuff that was considered ‘wild magic’.

Some of the former coven heads (Darius, Eber, Raine, Adrian, Vitimir) volunteer at the school to help the kids.

⬆️ Osran was apart of this at one point, but he started to have issues with the kids (aka, he started to beef with the kids and went absolutely not excellent).

Celine and Barcus are great friends and often tutor each other.

Hexside Squad has a thing called ‘Honesty Hour’ where you can’t lie unless you need to (used to confess emotions).

Adrian and Atalanta can pretty much run on spite (they get it from each other)

Jerbo and Viney jokingly accuse each other of betrayal

[lennjamin-o7]

you'd be surprised at how many people reread your fic lmao, I also love rereading your fic (esp for the angst 👀). One of the funniest thing I realized at one of my rereads is that all of the blessed ones have the same 'short word + name of weapon' pattern techno does. I did an irl facepalm for not realizing it sooner lmao.

My favorite scenes is definitely techno's dream sequences, esp because it's genuinely does feel like a dream. Idk how to explain it, but it's scratching my brain in the best way. Plus the way you revealed the blood god!! Honestly I think that's one of the best application of "show don't tell" I've seen in a while. Cuz, you never said that it was the blood god, but Everything in that exact moment just Screams it. I just love the dream sequences alright. Also, the fact that the blood god actually hates how the church is treating techno is really funny to me, cuz now there's three parties who wants techno, and none of them will go down easily (unless techno's gonna off of blood god's hand with that little bet 👀).

Alright this is getting too long, I've already poured out so much in the comments and somehow I'm still having thoughts abt this fic 😵‍💫 what I want to say is, this is such a good fic I love it very much mwah /p

side note: I don't know why, but my brain has decided that your blood god looks like Mohg from elden ring (tw for body horror if you decide to look him up tho). I mean, his title is Lord of Blood so it kinda makes sense.

I'm so happy that something I created gave you enough joy that you read it not once but TWICE. But you insinuating that you read it more than twice. Bruh. I'm just incredibly flattered 💚💚💚.

I am incredibly proud of the names for the Blessed so I am glad people enjoy that, too, and it's not just me giggling at it. I originally was making it that every Blessed had 2 Syllable Adjective + 1 Syllable Weapon, specifically. So it had the exact same stressed syllables as Technoblade's name when said outloud. Just so it was even more integrated into the fic. (Also, Subtleknife is a nudge at His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman, which also has religious themes to it. Especially in relation to religious zealotry and overreach. So, I thought it would be a fun little fitting addition)

But as I added more names, it became harder to do that pattern because there are only so many 1 syllable weapons. And I really didn't want to keep reusing weapons, even if in Universe that's what they would have had to do. And I had the wiki for Melee weapons open on my computer for so long lol. So, I know I eventually caved on sticking strictly with that setup as more side ocs were named.

I am so glad you like the dream sequences! I have a BLAST writing those, and I have actually written two or three that never made it into the fic because I felt I needed to use them more sparingly. If I use them too often, I feel like it will ruin the tension of them, you know? So, as much fun as I had writing them, I do have to restrain myself lol. But trust me, I love them very much. And there will definitely be more in the fic because I am weak and want more. It definitely scratches my brain, too.

And I am glad I've been successful with the Show, Don't Tell. That is one of my personal goals when I started writing this fic in particular. To do better with show don't tell. And its really encouraging to hear that it was successful. Especially with the Blood God, because I was trying to hit that niche of, like, eldritch horror. Which HAS to be show not tell. Because I can't just say "hey, this guy is horrifying and incomprehensible!" and have the same impact. I had a lot of fun trying to find the right words to get across the feelings of those scenes. It was a lot of effort, but really really fun effort.

And Techno is in the middle of a multi-sided tug of war and doesn't even realize it lololol. Unfortunately, he's the rope. Which isn't, you know, great. I mean, for him anyways. All of us that like angst are having fun.

I love every word so if you are worried about it being long for me, please don't worry. I'm screenshotting it, printing it out, and eating it. I love it. Delicious food. Chef kiss. I love it. And I love the comments. And I am so happy it makes you happy enough to rotate it in your brain. Because it also rotates in my brain.

And I've never played Elden Ring, but I did look that up and fuck that is a cool design. The people who designed that game really went off. And feel free to imagine the Blood God like that, its looks neat as hell!

And its not like I've described what the Blood God looks like.

Because Techno hasn't looked at him yet.

Which I'm sure isn't significant. :)

Have a great day! And seriously. Thank you for the ask 💚💚💚

[bmblboop]

I’m gonna fuckin murder belos,

I’m also not entirely sure how,I feel about the collector being a “bigger bad” here, I kinda want belos to remain the main focus as a villain,

Then again maybe I’m just wired they’re gonna redeem belos, usually introducing a “bigger bad guy” tends to be a way to do that bus there isn’t really any real hint that belos will get redeemed,

I hope hunter is gonna be ok but I know he isn’t lol

I think that if the crew were gonna put any hint at a kinder Belos underneath, they would have shown that this episode. The show has undercut every moment that might redeem him, listed as follows:

Belos is gonna heal Eda's curse - lol no he's not. He couldn't care less.

Belos is worried for Hunter's safety bc Wild Magic hurt him - revealed to be a fabricated lie to keep Hunter in line. Belos damaged himself with glyphs and devours Palisman souls to stay alive longer than he should have lived.

Hunter giving Belos that Key means Hunter is in his good graces right? He can fix the portal and see the world again. LOL NOPE. The Collector even points out how close Belos was to whooping him for it.

Philip was a human! He knew glyphs! He built the portal! Yes, and then he betrayed anyone and everyone who was foolish enough to trust him.

The Owl Crew isn't gonna give us an episode with tiny baby Phillip - representing Belos in his own Mind- who turns out to be the same as Adult!Belos and attempts to murder the protagonists and STILL go the route of 'oh no, he was a good guy deep down'.

This show is smarter than that. They had plenty of opportunities to set up a misunderstood Belos. And they didn't. Luz gave Philip the benefit of the doubt and got betrayed for it. Luz, who helped Amity find friends and happiness again. Who got Hunter to open his eyes and steer him toward choosing his own destiny. Luz can't help someone who doesn't want to change. Belos isn't going to change.

The Collector is only the 'bigger bad' in the sense that he appears to be a cosmic entity, some kind of trickster deity. [Insert Bill Cipher comparison here.] It's clear to me that Belos will remain the biggest bad for the foreseeable future because the Day of Unity is what will free the Collector. The Collector is an underlying force but won't become an active player until then.

--

The notion of 'reveal bigger bad guy' = 'redemption for lesser bad guy' is a pattern yes, but it's not a trope. It's heavily reliant on context and character arcs. Skyward Sword did this great - in which the main Antagonist for 90% of the game is just an underling of the real big bad. Ghirahim is not sympathetic, doesn't get redeemed, and serves the story well as it's primary source of conflict. I have a feeling this story is gonna follow that similar format.

[luzswonderland]

Thoughts on Season 2 Thus Far..

I gonna keep most of my thoughts on all the episodes brief, but also long enough where you guys can get the idea of where these episodes stand in levels of importance to me. I already have a lot personal favorites in this first half of the season and hope that the second half will deliver the same energy.

EPISODE 1:  Separate Tides

Good episode to start off the second season

Episode does a good job of addressing the different circumstances that Eda, Lilith, and Luz have with adjusting to life after the events of “Young Blood, Old Souls.”

We see the Golden Guard for the first time. With a voice too. I have more to say about him later when I get to the future episodes. But he is a treat!

The reintroduction of the portal and Emperor Belos’ plans for the human world in this episode, does a good job of reminding the audience of what is as stake this season.

Adore Luz and Eda’s pirate outfits ❤ 

Overall, a strong start to a very ambitious season.

Episode 2: Escaping Expulsion (Personal Favorite)

We finally see Amity’s parents!!!

Wasn’t expecting Odalia’s eyes to be blue, but both parents fit the personalities I originally envisioned them to have

Luz teaching Eda and Lilith to use magic through the glyphs was so cute and shows how different both Eda and Lilith are when it comes to approaching magic

Love how Amity’s separation from Luz was the trigger that caused her to stand up to her parents

Even though I kinda knew the expulsion from Hexside wasn’t going to permanent, it still shows how much pull Amity’s parents have at Hexside and the Boiling Isles. 

Looks like the abominations that Alador has made for profit will be used to fulfill whatever plans Emperor Belos has for the human world. 

Loved Amity and Luz’s interactions!!!

Episode 3: Echoes of the Past (Personal Favorite)

Fantastic King centered episode

I know that invisibility spell will come in handy in one of the later episodes. Good job, Luz

Hooty and Lilith are a riot this episode. Was not expecting them to get along at all this season.

I thought the show was going to make them polar opposites, but good to see that Hooty has a fan in the house.

King trying to remember his past and recounting his childhood memories was so sad because you realize that he has been trying to find out who he really is this entire time😭

The temple where King was born holds so much history and I hope we go back there soon

Will we find out what happened to King’s dad? What potential does King hold? Find out next time on DBZ!!!

Episode 4: Keeping Up A-fear-ances

Finally get to see Eda and Lilith’s mom and her palisman’s a hawk.

Love the pattern of all members of the Clawthorne family having bird themed palismen. I wonder what palisman Eda’s dad has.

Love how the episode addresses the blatant issue that Gwendolyn has with trying to find a cure for Eda. She cares for her daughter, but she is being blinded by ambition

The scams in the book she was reading were kinda funny tho

Lilith being upset that her mom favors Edal more than her is relatable, but also makes sense considering how the curse impacted Eda’s childhood

Lilith wanting to travel with her mom makes sense and I’m happy she made the decision to do that

Lilith’s beast from is cool

We finally get more information about there being another human that came to the Boiling Isles long ago!!!

We finally catch up with what’s going on at home and see that Luz’s imposter is blending in just fine and Camila is none the wiser. At least that buys Luz some time in the Boiling Isles

Episode 5: Through the Looking Glass Ruins

We get a Gus-centered episode and I’m here for it. I love it when the show deviates from the main narrative and focuses on the supporting cast

Even though I’m not the biggest fans of their personalities, the introduction of the students from Glandus High was great

I really love the character designs of these students, especially Bria, she looks so cute

Gus getting more character development and bonding with Mattholomule was good to see, I hope we see more of their interactions in future episodes

SO MANY LUMITY MOMENTS!!!

Luz getting more attracted to Amity

Amity putting her job on the line, so they could find Philip’s diary

Luz saying that she hopes to show Amity the human world one day

Luz successfully getting Amity’s job back

The kiss on cheek at the end of the episode by Amity

The blushing!!!💜💚-I can go on and on

Amity’s new look fits her well and shows that she is starting to live for herself and not her parents-Good!

Through the help of the Echo Mouse, we also get more information about why Philip came to the Boiling Isle in the first place.

But the Echo Mouse is being picky and stops before it gets good😫

Episode 6: Hunting Palisman (Personal Favorite)

This is my favorite episode of the season so far and probably my top ten favorite episodes of the series.

We are finally introduced to Hunter as the Golden Guard and he is a treat

Everything from his character design, to his goals, to his interactions with Luz make him very intriguing.

The kids begin to pick out their palisman and a lot of them fit their personalities, especially Willow’s.

I’m glad the show is addressing the fact that Luz doesn’t know what she wants to do when she becomes a witch because tbh I’m not sure either. I know she wants to help and protect the people of the Boiling Isles but she can’t really do that if she wants to go back home.

What a good time to bring up this internal conflict

Kikimora wanting to get rid of Hunter makes sense seeing as how the Emperor’s Coven is based of performance

LIST OF FAVORITE HUNTER AND LUZ MOMENTS:

Hunter and Luz’s interaction on Hunter’s ship

Luz slapping Hunter to wake him up😂

Luz stealing Hunter’s staff

Hunter revealing his family history and why he defers to Emperor Belos

These two give off a good sibling vibe and I want to see more of this later

I originally thought the red cardinal was going to be for Luz, but it ends up being Hunter’s palisman at the end of the episode-Interesting

Whatever Luz’s palisman is going to be, I hope it’s an animal that fits her personality because I thought the red cardinal would have been perfect

Maybe she will get a violet-backed starling as a palisman🤔

Hunter comes off as very complex immediately and I love that the show let’s us know that he trying to figure out his place in the Boiling Isles as a powerless being.

Episode 7: Eda’s Requiem

An Eda centered episode is such a plus for this season

So far I feel like the show has had Eda be a main plot point, but she hasn’t really been given her own episode-This episode takes a good step in the right direction

Eda feeling like she’s losing both Luz and King because they have both trying to find out more about their personal journeys is equivalent to a mother accepting that fact that her kids are moving across the country 😥

Eda reuniting with Raine is nice to see. You can automatically tell right off the bat that they have history

Raine being a rebel against Emperor Belos while working under Emperor Belos as a coven leader is BOLD AF

I see why Eda fell for them

We are introduced to the Abomination and Beast Keeping Coven leaders and I love their character designs, especially for Darius

The scene where Raine and Eda play together was so beautiful and does a fantastic job of representing how pure their relationship was and currently is 

I love how Raine realizing that Eda has more to live for than she thinks and puts a stop to the song they play in order to sacrifice himself

I know we are going to see Raine again, but I really hope Belos doesn’t do anything bad to them. Raine is a sweetheart

Even though Luz and King lose the Gland Plix race, it was still nice to see that Eda came towards the end of the face.

The reveal of King wanting to take Eda’s last name at the end of the episode is one of the main reasons why I love King and Eda’s relationship. They really do come off as mother and son❤

Episode 8: Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door (Personal Favorite)

This is a Hooty’s centered episode which is a first for this show, but this ended up being one of my favorite episodes of the show because of what it addresses

Hooty helping King accidently discover his powers was a shock to me because I just through their interaction was going to end up being pointless

King can now be more useful in battle 😁

We finally see Eda’s dad and see why Eda has a hard time accepting her cursed side.

We also learn how the curse has negatively impacted her relationship with so many people, such as Raine 😥

Eda accepting her cursed side is the first step to begin this traumatic healing process. At this point, I don’t think the show will cure Eda of her curse and I don’t think they should honestly. It teaches the audience that you sometimes have to live with what you have whether it be a disease, a physical disability or mental illness.

GOOD LESSON👌👌

Eda’s harpy form looks amazing. I can’t wait to see what the show will do with this form in the future.

Hooty helping Luz with her crush on Amity was one of the best parts of the episode.

The Tunnel of Love scene and the mixed signals from Luz and Amity had be dying🤣

Luz building up the courage to ask Amity out was so sweet and so real at the same time.

It came off as real conversation between awkward teens trying to figure a romantic relationship out🥰

LUMITY IS CANON!!!😍💜💚

This happened sooner than I thought, but I’m glad it did. This is huge, especially for a Disney show.

Just when I started to like Hooty a lot more, he had to mess it up when he ate a letter from someone who could be King’s dad (?)

DANG IT, HOOTY

Hooty freaking out when he thinks he messed with helping King, Eda and Luz never got old 😂

The comedy was on point with this episode and I love how everything just falls in to place.

Episode 9: Eclipse Lake(Personal Favorite)

This episode had so much going on and I have a lot to say.

We get back to the Emperor Belos plotline of him trying to get to the human world and find out the Belos has actually been to the human world previously🤔

I wonder what Belos wants to do with Hunter and how he relates to these “plans”

Hunter is totally going to get betrayed by his uncle 😥

Amity’s palisman is adorable, I guess she got it off-screen

“DragonClaw Z”😂😂😂

Love how everyone is coming together to protect the house, it shows they really know what’s at stake

Amity using every opportunity she gets to call Luz her girlfriend is so cute❤

Hard to believe she hated his girl’s guts at the beginning of last season lol

Sick Luz is funny Luz

More lore about the secrets of the Boiling Isles and Titan’s Blood

I really wish Luz could have came to Eclipse Lake with the rest of the cast, but I guess the rest of the cast needed to experience Hunter for themselves lol

Hunter being roasted by Eda, King and Amity was hilarious 😂

“A bad, but sad boy.”-Yep that’s our Hunter 🤣

Hunter trying to get into Amity’s head concerning her relationship with Luz and her role in the Boiling Isles was surprising

I’m going to assume that Amity hasn’t been in a romantic relationship before so everything with Luz is new to her. Amity is usually very level-headed.

Even though Harpy-Eda is cool, I like that Eda doesn’t know how to control his form yet, it shows that she has a lot to learn before this form this 100% mastered

Hunter’s desperation to get his uncle’s approval is just sad; I really want to know his backstory because this isn’t it at all

Praise King for helping Amity figure out the text messages🙌

I love how Amity tries to relate to Hunter, it sweet and shows how much she has grown. If only see did a better job of hiding the key 😣

The fight between Amity and Hunter is amazing. I love when the show just flexes its animation like this. 

It may not be better than Eda and Lilith’s fight, but I still felt the tension between these two characters. When these two grow up, they are going to be some of the most powerful witches in the Boiling Isles for sure.

Hunter getting to Amity’s head about harming Luz is a low blow imo, but I’m glad Amity knew what was at stake in the situation

Crushing the key was smart tho. Even in stressful situations like these, Amity still keeps her cool. We love to see it😉

Luz can now use some of the Titan’s Blood from Amity’s glove to try to return back home!!!

This episode had no business being this good. When the plot kicks in the show, it never fails to deliver.

Episode 10: Yesterday’s Lie (Personal Favorite)

We finally catch up with what’s going on back on Earth and find out more about Luz’s impersonator. 

The gang making a makeshift portal out all of Eda’s junk is very creative. I wondered what they were going to do with that stuff now that Eda can’t sell human collectables anymore.

The dimension that Luz enters through the portal is very trippy and creative. It makes sense since the portal they made is not authentic. 

Luz mirror hoping and seeing someone impersonate her had to be scary. I couldn’t imagine.

We find out that Luz’s impersonator is actually a creature from the Boiling Isles known as a “Basilisk”

Vee’s backstrory is awful, I completely understand why she came to Earth and got comfortable after what she went through

We find out that Eda interacted with humans with an alias known as “Marylin”😂

Even though Luz doesn’t find a way home, this is the next best thing to let her mom know that she is okay.

Jacob gave off weird vibes immediately, so when he captures Vee to use her for fame, I wasn’t surprised.

What did surprise me was the fact that Jacob has been watching Vee for a while and he had the house where she transformed in monitored

I wonder if he’s seen anything else🤔

Camila is the GOAT. She came through and helped Vee out. A lot of people would have just ignored the situation, but she knew that Vee was important to Luz and I respect that👏👏

I’m glad she also agrees to keep Vee despite the situation

The scene between Luz and Camila was very heart-wrenching. Luz came clean about everything and Camila’s reaction to that was expected but it was still sad to see

The music and Camila trying to reach out to Luz was just 😭

This episode is a great mid-season finale. This episode addressed so much and foreshadows a lot of plot points to come in the later episodes.

The first half of season 2 had some bangers. More than half of these episodes are already in my top favorites of the series and we still have 11 episodes left. Good Job Owl House. I can’t wait see what the other half has left in store 🙌🙌

[from-heavento-hell]

Dream SMP Traitor Speculation

Okay hear me out. I think the traitor is going to be Wilbur. We know he is on a villian arc and maybe in the end he turns on Tommy and co.

My reasoning is we know wilbur and tommy LOVE Hamilton they quote it all the time and even base their actions off the musical. So when you start to break it down you can see a bit of a pattern in character similarities.

Tommy is similar to Hamilton a bright eyed young kid who speaks to loud and keeps starting fights. But trusts his friends and will fight for what he believes is right.

Tubbo is kind of like Philip Hamilton he is like tommy a bright eyed young kid that will defend tommy regardless even if he is scared to do so. He believes in what he believes in and that is the right thing. He is willing to put down his life for tommy's

Philza is kinda like Lafayette or George Washington he isn't there much and doesn't understand everything they are talking about but he is there for his friends when they need him and always giving support and advice. Also watching over them making sure they don't go to far.

Technoblade is a bit harder to find a match probably best described as a Maria Reynolds convincing Tommy to do things he knows is wrong saying it will be okay and tommy following behind him until eventually he follows him off a cliff into a hurricane. Obviously I feel there is more similarities but for time sake we will leave it at that. Also Tommy is a MINOR and I am not saying their relationship is like Hamilton and Maria in that sense but the consequences that happen because of it are similar

Dream is also hard to find a match for, he could be a King George. Being against them, watching from the sidelines until they do something that risks him and intervening then, joining the side that benefits him.

Now let's get into the fun stuff

Shaltt is easily Thomas Jefferson he supported L'Manburgs independence even though he wasn't there to fight for it. He constantly apposed everything Tommy does and is painted as the bad guy even though he is hilarious

Wilbur is Arron burr he is good hearted, smart, and willing to wait for the right moment to do something. He gives tommy advice and helps him start out. Tommy looked up to him, then fought along side him, started a government with him, then started to oppose him as there ideas became different.

So we can see character similarities and we know Wilbur and Tommy create plot lines similar to Hamilton ie. The entire formation of L'manburg. So I think this plot line is going to resemble the the Reynolds Pamphlet part of the track. Wilbur realizing Tommy has sway over other people on the SMP and will go to Shlatt and help him take down Tommy. In the end Shlatt and Wilbur succeed and people on the smp will be "mad" at tommy. Similar to how Burr helped Jefferson even though they had opposing sides to take Hamilton down a peg when they saw the amount of power he held.

My conclusion: Similar to how Arron Burr betrayed Hamilton by helping Jefferson take him down, Wilbur will betray Tommy in order to help Jshlatt take him down.

And honestly you could take it a step further adding in the election of 1800 plot line. After the fight and betrayal and they fix themselves, Tommy is still pissed that wilbur betrayed him they will try and ammend their relationship but it's hard to forget something like that. Maybe they have another election for manburg and Jshlatt runs again. Tommy realizing that Wilbur isn't that great he sides with Jshlatt because when it comes down to it Jshaltt wasn't that bad. Wilbur gets pissed and fights tommy ending in tommy's death or something. Just speculation!

So ya that's my view on what is going to happen. I think their are more similarities you could find between Hamilton and the Dream smp these are just the ones I thought of. Please share what you think! Have a lovely day!

[rotationalsymmetry]

Fandom, social justice, and You Must:

Good morning all and happy Saturday. (Or whatever day/time of day it is when you read this.)

I just read a post about the Old Guard fandom that has some perfectly fine points about noticing which characters get more focus than others, and then moves on to suggesting an obligation for fans to change which characters and ships they personally focus on.

I think that, while the criticism is absolutely worth making, the solution side of the post is the wrong approach on multiple levels.

The first thing is: you ever read bad representation? Like, a character is technically a Diversity Win but in practice they’re a fucking caricature and have no personality other than their race, gender, whatever was going on with their group of people at a particular point in history, etc?

(There’s one series that is especially notoriously awful about this, the author is Philip Jose Farmer and the first book in the series is To Your Scattered Bodies Go. It’s a sort of big old historical crossover story, except it was mainstream published, and it is so bad. The female characters are women, that is their entire personality. The black characters are black and that’s it. Etc. So bad. Anyways.)

When people are writing (I don’t know if this is as big an issue with fan art) out of a sense of moral obligation or solely to teach a moral lesson without a love of the characters and a willingness to get dirty and do some things their ego doesn’t approve of, you get very flat, dry, stale writing. It’s unappealing. It’s not worth reading. Someone who’s engaging in fandom from a place of “oh, I don’t want people to not like me” or “I am going to be a Racial Justice Ally” is at significant risk of getting into that writer space.

Writing and fandom aren’t something like doing your taxes, where of you don’t really want to do it that doesn’t really matter. They’re more like playing a game with your child or a friend. Your emotional state, whether you’re into it or not, is actually going to influence whether you get the outcome you were hoping for.

So encouraging people to be open to specific possibilities and seeing if something clicks, is good. Gently attempting to expand your own capacity to love specific characters and really get into their inner life and drama, is good, just don’t force it if you give it a fair try and it’s not working. (Like dating? Maybe someone who isn’t the sort of person you dreamed about marrying at age 10 could be a great partner for you, it’s good to be open to the possibilities, but if you go on a couple dates and you don’t even really like spending time with them, it’s time to let it go.)

Nile is a very central character in the movie (I don’t know that she’s the protagonist, surely that’s Andy? We certainly see Andy a lot earlier), but the sort of person who loves Booker for his misery isn’t going to necessarily be able to transfer that over to Nile. Nile is bouncy and idealistic and doesn’t have that much angst and is going to be a lot more appealing to people who like badass fighters who are also kinda cinnamon rolls, which is a pretty different character type than Booker. And yeah, there is a shortage of black women characters who have that level of angst, because of social patterns around who is expected to give empathy and who is expected to receive it.

Some people are going to take a look at Nile or a Nile/??? ship (which...there’s a reason people are hesitant to ship Nile with other Old Guard members, there’s a lot of ways things could get unintentionally oogie there) and just not see anything to connect to in that and that’s OK.

Social justice work is a marathon, not a sprint. And which opportunities for Doing Something make the most sense for each person is going to be highly individual.

And...I’m not saying fandom representation is irrelevant? But...it’s one out of many, many issues that are relevant to social justice. There’s the cop stuff and education and childcare and workplace stuff and...I mean there’s a lot of things that need working on and picking one specific thing that’s relatively symbolic and relatively amenable to a very superficial “look at me I’m performing inclusivity” activism ...I don’t like it.

So, everyone makes this mistake once of trying to pressure people into specific changes that might not work for them, right? No matter how much I got into bicycle advocacy I was never going to get my mom to use a bicycle as a form of transportation. (And due to disability I don’t do that myself any more either.) Her contributions to a greener planet are things like driving a more fuel efficient car and getting thicker, more insulating windows put in and keeping the thermostat at arctic temperatures. You need to learn to be flexible and look for the people who are open to making specific changes and use more honey than vinegar and recognizing that there’s enough things that can be done or need to be done that not every single person needs to do any given thing.

Talking about personal experience can be really helpful here. For instance, talking about how you, personally learned to really love writing about a character that you’d previously dismissed. People need a roadmap, a path to follow. Because if you try to force yourself to love fandom in a way that just doesn’t work for you, well, loving people and loving things and loving fictional characters or ships is something of a miracle and you can be grateful when it happens but you can’t force it.

Oh, end note, I think we can learn something here from how so much of m/m shipping is not written by mlm and how sometimes that leads to things that actual queer men are kind of “wtf?” about? I’m definitely not saying that only black women should write black female characters. I am saying (and the person who wrote the post was white, so I’m not talking over black voices here or w/e) that when you have a situation where people in minority group x are mostly written by people not in that group, sometimes that goes off the rails in ways that are really uncomfortable or at least not actively good for people in group x. And people feeling obligated to write certain characters seems to me like a perfect storm for them writing them both badly, but also maybe badly in a way that might be hard to put into words and suggest corrections for.

[dangerouscommiesubversive]

Phillip and Parad, P?

P is for puzzling Parad’s Rubik’s cube is borrowed from @si-siw.

Philip is nearly breathless with excitement when Parad pixelates into the front room of the agency, barely managing to get through introductions--”You’ve met Shoutaro, this is our boss Akiko, those are her children Yuji and Haruna.”-- before going to, “It’s wonderful to see you again, I’m delighted that you were willing to come, thank you. Do you have bones?”

Shoutaro nearly chokes, torn between trying to get Akiko to put down her slipper and saying, “Philip, you can’t just lead with that kind of--” but Parad is entirely unfazed. “Yeah, Snipe x-rayed me once, he says I’ve got the normal number of bones. He was kind of mad about it, actually, I think he was hoping I’d be full of electricity or slime or something.”

“Philip!” Akiko gets her outraged squawk under control only halfway through his name. “Who is this?”

Philip blinks at her. “This is Parad. He works with Ex-Aid. Didn’t I mention that he was going to be visiting today?”

“I had assumed he would be coming by motorcycle, if he’s a Rider. I wasn’t expecting him to just...just...materialize!”

"I don't know how to drive," Parad says, helpfully.

"He doesn't know how to drive."

"Well, you could have warned me!"

"I thought I did. I told you he was going to be visiting so that I could ask him some questions about the specifics of Bugster physiology."

"That doesn't, that doesn't tell me anything, Philip."

Yuji, his sister hiding slightly behind him, looks up at Parad and says, solemnly, "Bugster means you're a video game. Dad said. Do you know how to play Minecraft?"

Parad blinks. "Yes."

"Can you go in a Minecraft game? Do you wanna go in my Minecraft game? What video game are you from? Why do your pants have Tetris on them? Are you from Tetris? Do you know Freddy Fazbear?"

"You ask a lot of questions."

"Dad says I do it to aggravate him."

“Why, doesn’t your dad like to answer questions?”

Shoutaro glances at Akiko and her bubbling, vibrating offense and puts an arm around her shoulders. “Hey, boss, come on, I’ll make you some coffee and you can yell at me about how bad it is, Philip and Parad are probably going to be talking for a couple of hours.” At Philip’s grateful look, “Please make sure to use your inhaler if you’re going to be doing any look-ups, partner? I’ll bring you guys some lunch in a bit--Parad, is there anything you’d like for lunch?”

“I don’t need to eat, you don’t need to get me anything,” Parad says cheerfully, “but if you’ve got a ribbon jelly that’d be very nice, please.”

“Ah...all right, I can grab a ribbon jelly, and some takoyaki for Philip.”

“Here, right this way.” Philip heads for the garage door. “So you don’t need to eat, but you can eat?”

Parad nods, following behind him. “Yeah, if I feel like it. Mostly I like stuff that’s bright colors. And really spicy things, it drives M nuts when we get takeout.”

The last thing the others hear as the door closes behind them is, “So where does the food you eat go, then?”

--

Two and a half hours and one very easy lost cat case later, Shoutaro comes down to the garage with a ribbon jelly for Parad and takoyaki and coffee for Philip and finds that Philip has covered all of his whiteboards and several sections of wall with notes. “I’m going to start buying you those scented markers for kids, partner,” he says as he comes down the steps, “the ink smell in here is awful--is that Haruna’s Rubik’s cube?”

“You never used to mind the ink smell, are you getting sensitive in your old age? But scented markers would probably be an improvement.” Philip flashes him a smile before returning his gaze to the other cube that Parad is holding. “Yes, Haruna was kind enough to lend it to me. Parad is teaching me how to make patterns on it.”

Parad’s hands move very quickly; it’s clear to Shoutaro that he’s making an effort to slow himself down for the benefit of human eyes. It’s mesmerizing, actually, watching patterns ripple across the cube’s surface as he turns the sides. “I’ve got a couple of larger ones at home,” he says, his own gaze fixed on what he’s doing. “But the regular one is easier to start with.”

Philip accepts the little tray of takoyaki from Shoutaro with a smile, and then an affectionate head-bump to his hand. “I’ve learned a number of compelling details about how Bugsters function today. Unfortunately their original creator is no longer available for questions, but Parad tells me that this is for the best. His files have been retained by the Ministry of Health, Parad’s going to see if he can get me copies for further study. I may have to sign waivers.” Then he falls silent as he pops an entire takoyaki into his mouth.

“What...kind of waivers? Here, ribbon jelly for you.”

Parad grins crookedly at him and starts to shake the bottle, his other hand continuing to turn the faces of the Rubik’s cube. “Thank you, W. He’ll probably have to sign something promising he won’t use Genm’s notes to destroy the world or start going around saying he’s God. You know. Rider stuff.”

“I’m sorry, did you say God?”

“Yeah. He wasn’t, really, but he said he was.”

Philip swallows his takoyaki. “According to my research, a Kamen Rider becomes a god or god-like being approximately once per decade. Frankly I’m pleased that it wasn’t us, I don’t think I’m suited for it.”

Shoutaro sits down heavily on the nearest chair. “That’s...ok, kind of a relief, but also I’m a little worried. It’s not just Kouta?”

“Oh, yeah, M met the last guy a while ago.” Parad takes a sip of his ribbon jelly. “Apparently he’s pretty nice.”

“If the pattern continues, we’re due for another one in approximately three and a half years.” Philip eats another takoyaki whole and then abruptly starts turning the faces of his borrowed Rubik’s cube, a pattern blooming underneath his fingers.

Parad claps delightedly. “You pick up on this stuff quickly.”

Philip nods emphatically. “I enjoy intellectual challenges with a physical component. Do you have an email address?”

“Yeah, kinda, they just sort of come to my head but I can read them.”

“Really? You’ll need to tell me more about that, do you have some way to visualize them?”

Shoutaro pinches the bridge of his nose. “I’m guessing you might need me to bring you dinner, too.”

[late-but-still-obsessed]

Any headcanons that you have for the characters?

Oof headcanons are hard for me

So you know that one thing where someone said Angelica is the "only" one who can rap like Alexander is because she matches him intelligence wise?

I agree with that

But I also think that Eliza sings more base like songs because she is Alex's base.

one of the only song that Eliza sings less basey is take a break she breaks her usually pattern which I also believe to be because Eliza's idea of an adventure is basically a getaway with her family in the musical she's sort of portrayed as a stay at home mom that supports Alexander so for Eliza to sing less basey in take a break fits quite well since she's not exactly at home and she's once again telling Alex to tAke A FUCKING BREAK-

Also I kinda "headcanon" that the reason why all of the hamilsquad rules at rap is because they are rebellious soldiers

Rap is sort of a fuck you in your face type of music and how the musical portrays the rebellion is a fuck you in your face army to England

The army is like a giant family and George Washington is basically a tierd dad trying to keep his children alive

Alexander would be a great theater kid he was basically showboating when George finally allowed him to lead an army

John Lauren's is Philip's guardian angel :)

Alex did all his shit in act two because he realized (because of Lauren's) that he only has so much time to change the world

Thomas and Alexander don't HATE each other they just act like children

If they lived in modern times I bet Alex would totally buy John a turtle

Also I feel like Eliza would be a cat lady

oooh imagine the girls in the musical (Peggy Eliza Angelica Maria Theodosia) going to karaoke on Saturday's??

Were would the boys go through? *sudden realization* TO A BAR!!!! THE BOYS LOVE DRINKING!!! I'm Imagine that James or Aaron would be the designated driver I can't see James getting drunk at a bar and I feel like Aaron will only has a few drinks

Oof Alex is probably going to start a bar fight

This turned into Concepts instead of headcanons

I'm running out of ideas I'll finish this later

[lovemesomesurveys]

Has the person you like ever seen you in your pajamas? I don’t like anyone in that way.

Did the last person you kissed celebrate your last birthday with you? No. The last one they celebrated with me was six years ago.

What’s the first word of the last text message you received? “Will”

Do you think you’ve changed at all over the past year? Not in a good way.

Is there a song that reminds you of your ex? Do you still listen to that song? Lithium by Nirvana. Especially a cover of it done by ThePeteBox.

Did you tag anyone in your last Facebook status? No.

How do you behave when you’re drunk? I was chatty and annoying I feel like.

What is your least favorite type of chocolate? Dark chocolate, blech.

When was the last time you felt disappointed? What was the reason? I’ve felt disappointed in myself these past few years.

Is there someone that can make you smile, even when you feel like crying? My doggo.

Is there a certain person on your mind right now? Tell me about him/her. No.

You’re getting ready to go to bed, and the last person you kissed shows up, what do you do? That would be completely random and out of the blue. I haven’t seen or talked to him in almost 6 years. I would certainly be surprised and confused and caught off guard. I wouldn’t go out and talk to him, though. I wouldn’t want him to see me right now. I honestly don’t know if I’d text him at least or not.

What was your last thought before you went to bed last night? I don’t remember. My mind is a jumbled mess.

Do you think someone is thinking about you right now? Nope.

Are you okay right now? I’m tired.

What time did you get up today? Sigh, like 930 after hardly sleeping at all.

When was the last time you saw your mom? Last night before she went to bed. She had the opening shift at work today so I haven’t seen her yet today.

What is the last thing you drank today? Water.

Do you dislike/hate anyone? No.

Where is your best friend right now? She’s at work.

When will your next kiss be? I have no idea.

Will you be up before 7 am tomorrow? 7AM is usually when I go to bed. :X

Does anyone completely understand you? I was just asked this in the previous survey I did, but no.

Who was the last girl you hugged outside of family? A friend. That was like 4 years ago.

Have you held hands with somebody in the past three days? My doggo.

What will you be doing in 3 hours? *shrug*

How often do you straighten your hair? I haven’t straightened my hair in years.

What are you currently looking forward to? To when my mom gets off work because I’m gonna ask if she can get me a Starbucks on her way home. I’m also hungry and wanting a breakfast sandwich, so I’ll probably have one later. She’s not off for 5 more hours. D:

Is tomorrow gonna be a good day? What are you going to do? I don’t have anything out of the ordinary going on.

Who did you last hang out with? My mom.

Did anyone see your last kiss? Probably.

Could things possibly get any better? Uh, I sure wish they would.

Do you know who you’ll even kiss next? Nope.

Do you ever sleep in jeans? I haven’t in years, but I have before in the past. I don’t know how I did that. I’ve been living in leggings for the past few years and I can’t imagine doing that now.

Name something you dislike about the day you’re having? I only got like 2-3 hours of sleep.

Did you get a full 8 hours of sleep last night? Yesterday I got like 10 hours, which is insane. My brother came in and woke me up because it was after 6PM. I never get that much sleep anymore, so I have no idea what that was about. But now today I only slept like 2-3 hours. I tried going back to sleep, but couldn’t and now here I am. Sigh.

Are you in love lately? That’s a weird way of saying it, but no. It’s been a few years since I’ve had those kind of feelings.

How often do you see your ex? I haven’t seen him in almost 6 years.

Who was the last person to text you? My pharmacy.

Did you like anyone last summer? No.

Do you replay things that have happened in your head? All the time.

Who was the last person you stayed up with till 2am? My brother and I stay up late all the time, though we’re in our own rooms.

Do you want a boyfriend or girlfriend? Not at this time.

Are you currently in a relationship? No.

Do you use a full length mirror daily? No.

Would you be shocked if the person you have feelings for texted you? I don’t have feelings like that for anyone.

Is there anyone you wish you could fix things with? Yes. I have to fix myself first, though.

What are you planning on doing after this? I’m waiting for my church’s livestream service to start in like 30 minutes.

Is there a girl you would do anything for? I’d do a lot for my mom.

Who IMed you on facebook last? I had been messaging a family friend a couple weeks ago about something.

How old are you? 31.

Do you love dogs? Yesssss. I don’t know how anyone couldn’t.

Were you finished childhood and teens when Harry Potter movies came out? The first one came out when I was 12 and the last one came out when I was 22.

Did you keep all your VHS tapes? No, just the Disney ones.

Do you think Jack Nicholson is a good actor? Sure.

Have you ever watched an episode of "The Honeymooners"? Nope.

Have you ever owned a pair of high-top Converse? No, just flat tops.

Do you have rain boots with a cute pattern on them? I don’t own any rain boots.

Would you rather eat an apple or an orange right now? Neither, but if I had to I’d choose the apple cause I don’t like oranges.

Would you rather do a cartwheel on land or a backflip in water? I can’t do either one.

Have you ever performed on stage in front of people? Yeah, for choir and band concerts. Never by myself. 

Were you kinda scared of the goths in high school? No.

What size is your mattress?(single,twin,double,queen,king) Full size.

Do you eat foods from all 4 food groups everyday? Not even close.

Do you sleep in PJs? I always wear leggings and graphic tees and sleep in that as well.

Do you prefer watching TV or listening to music? Depends on my mood, but I haven’t been listening to music lately.

Would you rather watch a movie in theatre or at home? There are some movies I love experiencing in theaters for the first time. 

Do you prefer brown or white rice? Neither.

Do you like spaghetti? Yes.

What about lasagna? Not so much. It’s the type of noodle I have an issue with. I’m weird and particular about my food and when it comes to pasta, I like thin noodles.

Do you celebrate Christmas? Yesss.

Is your Thanksgiving celebrated in October too? No, it’s in November.

Do you like chocolate bars? Sure. 

what about ice cream? Sure. I haven’t had either one in awhile, though. 

Have you ever been stung by anything? What was it? No, thankfully.

Do you get tired easily? I’m just always tired.

Or do you always have plenty of energy to spare? Hahahah, no.

Have you ever done volunteer work? Where? Yeah, I’ve done a lot of volunteer work. What about court-ordered community service? No.

Have you ever worn contacts?(even just to try them out) No. I’ve always been too scared.

Would you wear contacts on a daily basis? No. 

Are your ears pierced? How many times? Just my earlobes.

Do you have GOD-GIVEN(not dyed) natural brown hair too? Yes.

Or were you born blonde? Nope.

Have you found a gray hair on your head or body before? Ugh, once I turned 30 they started popping up.

Have you ever had any suspicious moles removed? Nope.

Have you ever been screened for STDs? No.

Are all your wisdom teeth pulled? Yes.

Did you have your tonsils taken out? Nope.

Did you have your appendix taken out? No.

How many kidneys do you have?(have you donated one?) I have both of them.

Would you(to save someone)?^^^ I don’t know if I could, like health wise.

Have you ever found a bug or slug in your salad? skjflsfjklds nooooooo.

Do you like Harry Potter? I enjoyed the movies.

What about Twilight? I was really into Twilight back when the books and movies were coming out, but I outgrew it and find it kinda cringe now lol. How do you feel about Lord of the rings? I never got into that.

Are you going to see 'The Hobbit' when it comes out? ---

Do you have a glass that says 'Molson Canadian' on it? No.

Do you have any collector's glasses or cups or mugs? I do.

Would you rather have a white fridge or a black fridge or a stainless steel fridge? Black.

What size shoe do you wear? 6 in women’s (US). Each of my Adidas are actually a 3 or 4 in kid’s sizes, though.

Do you have a wide foot or a narrow foot or just average? Average, I guess.

Do you bite your nails when you're stressed? I pick and clip my nails constantly.

Do you have to take an allergy pill daily in order to live normally? No.

Are you on the birth control pill? Nope.

Or are you trying to get pregnant? Absolutely not. I’m just not sexually active, so.

You'd rather wear black sneakers or sneakers in a bright color or pattern? Black.

Has anyone ever told you they were attracted to you? Shockingly, yes.

Can you swim well in water way above your head? I can’t swim.

Are you afraid of thunder & lightening? No.

Have you ever experienced an earthquake? No.

What about a tornado? Nope. 

Are you closer to your dad?(more so than your mom) I’m closer to my mom.

Were you your parents' first born? I’m their first together, but not my mom’s. She had my older brother before meeting my dad.

Do you have a child? Is the father still with you? No.

Did you trade stickers at recess when you were a kid? No.

How old were you when you had your first crush? Do you remember their name? I was 9 and his name was Philip. 

Can you even remember what the hell they looked like? Vaguely. 

Have you ever operated any type of motorized vehicle before? No.

Are you going to drink alcohol tonight? Nope. I haven’t drank in 8 years and have no desire to.

Have you ever heard of the Canadian kids show called "Mr. Dressup"? Nope.

What about the kids show "Fred Penner's Place"? Nope.

Did you hate Sesame Street when you were little too? No.

Were you born perfectly healthy or with some(or a lot) of health issues? I was born healthy.

What are those 'said' health issues? –

Do you collect DVDs? No. I don’t have that many.

Do you download music? Nope. I’ve just used Spotify the past several years now.

Or do you still go to stores and buy CDs? No, I have’t done that in yearssss.

Did you skip(jumo-rope) a lot as a kid? No.

Did you ever catch any bugs or insects with your friends as a kid? EW, noooooo.

Didn't you just LOVE art class in elementary school?! Yeah.

Have you ever played dodgeball? Ugh, yes. I hated dodgeball. I don’t find having a ball thrown at me to be fun at all. I was always scared of getting hit in the face.

What about Red Rover? Yes.

Have you ever played "What time is it mr. wolf?"? It doesn’t sound familiar.

Do you hate your weight? Yes.

Have you ever struggled with a mental illness? I do.

Serious question, peanut butter or nutella? Peanut butter, hands down. I don’t get the hype of Nutella.

Have you ever stepped on a snail? Gahhhh, I’ve run over one before.

Do you prefer baked potatoes or mashed potatoes? I like both.

Do you prefer ankle socks over regular socks? I only wear ankle socks.

Last movie you've seen in theaters? The Invisible Man. That was almost. a year ago now. I miss going to the theater.

What is your oldest sibling's middle name? I’m not sharing that.

Have you ever been to Disneyland or Disney World? I have been to Disneyland several times, I love it. I’d love to go to Disney World someday.

Would you ever go backpacking across any country? No.

Would you prefer to travel around the world by yourself or with a friend? I definitely wouldn’t go alone.

Do you like breadsticks? I do.

Do you usually wear shorts around your house all year long? I never wear shorts, I’m a leggings gal.

What state were you born in? California. 

Have you ever had a nose bleed? Nooo, thankfully. I would freak out.

How far away do you live from your birthplace? Still live there.

Do you have a weak stomach? Yes.

Do you know anybody who has been diagnosed with cancer? Yes.

Have you ever had to take care of an intoxicated person? No.

Have you ever considered becoming a lawyer? No. Definitely not cut out for that.

Do you *really* like donuts? Yesss.

Do you think Disney World could ever get old? Not to me.

If you could, would you hookup with the last person you texted? Uh, NO, absolutely not. The only people I text and text me are my parents, brother, and my Nana....

What are your favorite things to spend money on? Food, coffee, clothes.

Will you talk to the person you like on the phone tonight? I don’t like anyone in that way.

What do you usually order on a pizza? *finishing this hours later from when I started* White sauce, feta and ricotta cheese, garlic, spinach, crumbled meatballs, and pesto. Do you and your boyfriend/girlfriend fight a lot? I’m single.

Who's the first person with the letter "m" in your contacts? My mom.

Which would you rather have a new puppy or kitten? Puppy. 

How old will you be on your next birthday? 32.

What color are your underwear? Blue.

Do you ever feel self-conscious when you eat around other people? Yes.