#Check out my felic tags and art tags to see all my AUs for this lil trash bin

[neon-crayons]

Felix for Fluff week!

My dudes. While I am working very hard on the few Prompts I've already been sent for Fluff week (o e is about half way done and I'll be drawing the other two when I have some time) I really need me some Felix fluff!

Be it Canon!Felix, Good!Felix, Femfatale!Felix or any of my many other Felix's I really just want to do something fluffy for him! So hmu if you have some Prompts for me 🗡🍊💕

[katagawajr]

did you have any other headcanons for Gladstone in your Atlas au? It's so nice seeing new art of him, he was my favorite character from bltps (づ ◕‿◕ )づ!!

aa sorry for the late response!! i got so excited to answer and then i forgot LMAO 😳 but yes!!! i absolutely adored him in bltps too :’) i have a few headcanons for him, and a lot are in collaboration with @ewbie (who’s putting out a fic soon that you might wanna check out *wink wink*)

this might be long, so HCs under the cut! (art here).

-so for starters, i hc him as mixed polynesian! i think i said this in the tags, but “gladstone” is a scottish name, and “katoa” is a polynesian surname (from wallis and futuna specifically). he also has a sort of australian/new zealand accent so it fits in my eyes lmao :)

-i also hc him as autistic (the way he calls the constructor prototype his “life’s work” or special interest, and clearly he’s extremely talented in that field. also his demeanor in general read that way to me), and trans (that one bltps line where jack goes “all brains, no balls, doctor?” and he goes “hah… something like that.” LMAO)

-i hc him as around rhys and vaughn’s age (so during atlas AU he’d be around 32)- this would also make him 25 in bltps, but he already has a doctorate so basically he’s just one of those smart gifted kids :’) often leads to him being a lil defensive or very sure of himself

-he doesn’t die in bltps (obviously). jack sticks him in the airlock as well, but gladstone manages to find a little something to hang on to while pleading with jack, and survives- probably dislocates his shoulders or something, poor guy. but jack takes note of his crazy intelligence as well as his apparent will to live

-so that being said, jack basically forces gladstone to work on the Angel Project and be his little personal scientist, under threat of death torture etc etc…. gladstone hates it more than anything, especially having to see another innocent woman (who should have been protected) be used and killed by jack. but gladstone sees himself as a coward, so he does what he’s told.

-during the helios battle, gladstone managed to copy felicity’s (broken) code onto a flashdrive. so then during the time when jack was overseeing timothy’s departure to the Casino, gladstone snuck the flashdrive to timothy in hopes that one day timothy would be able to find a way to rescue her, since gladstone couldn’t.

-eventually jack dies, gladstone falls with helios, and he ends up being hired to Atlas by rhys (just like a lot of helios employees). rhys knows nothing about gladstone since all his files were top secret and basically didn’t exist.

-he works in Bioengineering, since mechanical engineering is still a point of trauma for him. he does it occasionally, but he carries a lot of guilt for what happened to felicity, which he still sees as his fault.

-he lives by himself in the city, and he has a kitty! a fluffy white cat named Moonpie :)

-because of everything that happened, he definitely has a lot of anxiety and trauma (between felicity, the airlock, working on the angel project under jack, etc.) so he definitely sees a therapist. he also stims a lot and prefers to work by himself

-i hc him as mlm, and also he’s a virgo. idk.

-his favorite color is green :)

-in atlas au he tends to be a bit more pessimistic, and he definitely keeps a distance with rhys (unlike almost everyone else), but it’s really just a response to everything awful that happened to him when he used to be an optimist. there’s still a sweet young guy underneath…

-when felicity makes it to atlas, he’s so happy and they quickly become basically inseparable LMAO- i don’t think i personally see their relationship as romantic, especially because of felicity’s past and the fact that she’s an AI, but they are the closest friends that two people could possibly be. he is the first man felicity’s ever trusted, and she loves to sit and watch him do work and ramble :)

-that metal plate on his forehead was something that got installed at hyperion, when the company had a long history of implants and body modification to employees. it helps keep his goggles in place while he’s working, and also it’s able to do random little scientific functions like give temperature and misc. readings on things he touches to it lmao

-his favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate chip cookie dough.

-he doesn’t go out very much because of his anxiety, but he does like to play video games! he likes to speedrun games for fun :)

[leahazel]

7KPP Identity Meta

[The subject of racism in fanfic has come up, and I’ve been contemplating how and weather to change how I tag my own fics. This disorganized piece of 7KPP meta grew from those thoughts.]

Aly of @azalynestudios has said numerous times (I can’t find exact quotes right now) that in order to allow players to see themselves in the MCs they create, she wanted to make it possible for any MC of any of the kingdoms to be a member of any race, and have any physical appearance. She has also mentioned that the kingdoms are very inter-mixed racially, and that all the characters are probably multiracial (here and here, for example). She’s also talked about having multiple historical inspirations for each of the kingdoms (too many sources to link them all). 

Such is not the case for the NPCs of the different kingdoms, specifically the ones with visible sprite art. This is partly because the visual artist Bana had a huge influence in, for example, designing the fashion aesthetic of the different characters. But Aly has also stated here that the NPCs’ appearance is “closer to what the nations originally were dominated by“, compared to the more modern, diverse population. With the notable exception of post-coup Revaire. In-game, a few references are made to the “new nobility” of Revaire all having fair coloration and a similarity in appearance.

So, any player who wants to make an MC of any background have any combination of racial traits, is given solid backing both by canon text and by “word of god”. An Arland or Wellin MC who’s Black or Asian or mixed race is 100% as canon-compatible as a white one. Of course, that also means that a white Corval or Hise MC is also canon-compatible, but I think we can agree that the dynamic on that is quite different, in the same way that writing a canonically straight character into a slash relationship is very different from writing Lisle (gay) or Avalie (asexual) into a het relationship.

7KPP is a visual novel and the NPC sprites are designed for maximum visual coding. When the sprites for all the delegates from a single kingdom appear together on the screen, they are meant to look like they are obviously from the same place. With the exception of the Revaire NPCs. Clarmont is clearly designed to stand out from Gisette and Jarrod, and not just because they are siblings and he’s unrelated to them. It’s because he’s a member of Revaire’s old nobility, and they are of the new nobility. Aly explains about this, for example here.

Now, there is room to criticize this approach to portraying racial diversity, but that’s not what I’m going to do here. There has also been plenty of well-reasoned criticism on the portrayal of especially Corval and Jiyel, where despite Aly’s good intentions, harmful stereotypes had more influence on the end product than she realized. I will also not be addressing that issue in this post, but I did want to acknowledge that there are a lot of open and complex questions surrounding the issue of race in 7KPP canon. 

As a player, I took all the above issues as guiding principles when creating my MCs, including the bit about not whitewashing Corval and Hise MCs, and especially the bit about Revaire. Revaire was a huge, multicultural empire like Rome, and even though the narration in the game, and Aly’s commentary, both specifically say that the Revaire widow is of the new nobility, I made my widow Allegra an Old Blood noble, like Clarmont. Specifically so that she would stand out, like him, from among the other Revaire delegates. 

So Clarmont and Allegra’s relationship has a kind of racial subtext, because they are a dark-skinned couple in (eventually) open rebellion against a monarchy of extremely white, extremely blonde oppressors.

I feel increasingly that I, as a white writer, am not up to the complexities of writing this dynamic. Not with all the goodwill and compassion I can muster, not with all the studying and listening I can do. I’m not yet sure what I’m going to do with that revelation, though.

When I created my MCs I tried to be conscious both of the implications of canon, and of the complexities of real-life race relations. There are decisions that I might have done differently, if I were doing them now for the first time, especially when it comes to my Jiyel MCs. Most of my MCs, just like Aly says, come from families that are multiracial, going back generations. It’s more obvious with characters like Christabel, who has a white father on one side of the family and a Black mother and grandmother on the other. Less obvious with characters like Felicity and Jack, who could be easily taken for white.

And because of the way that race relations work in our world, the fact that they can be taken as white means that in a very real way, they are white. Because, well, that’s what whiteness is, that’s what it was created to do.

So I created Felicity, my Arland princess, and she was white. Not a golden-haired, blue-eyes princess, but still white, still with the peaches-and-cream complexion (actual canon description), and still with all the baggage thereof. But why must a princess be white? She doesn’t have to be, as Aly specifically said. When I created my second Arland princess, I gave that some thought, and out came Verity.

Verity is mixed race, like Felicity, but in a more obvious way. I try to describe her in a way that makes it obvious that she could not pass as white, without being othering or fetishizing. But that became difficult, because Verity married into Revaire, into the very “new nobility” above mentioned as being the only group in the modern seven kingdoms that actually is meaningfully racially homogeneous. This begins to come up in her story pretty early on, when she first meets and befriends Nerissa, a Revaire widow who -- unlike Allegra -- is of the new nobility. Deciding to make Nerissa and Claude (and their family) white was a decision that ended up having big implications.

Because, while I don’t want to exotify Verity as a character, others within the story definitely do other and fetishize her, and make her feel out of place. Once it started coming up in the drafts of my fanfics, I realized that I couldn’t ignore it. Verity is a multiracial girl living in the royal court of a multicultural empire, where the narrow slice of the elite has been striving to push everyone else out of the public sphere. This affects how she interacts with other people, and it means that with any supporting character I add to Decline and Fall, especially the nobles, I first have to give a good long think to their racial background.

It also meant that I have to give thought to Verity’s family and genealogy, especially when I decided that I wanted her ‘verse and Felicity’s to share a common root, and diverge. That means they have shared ancestors, and here I had the possibility of taking another look at Felicity’s uncomfortable whiteness. I could have decided to make Arland’s royal family white, going back through generations of whiteness, and only occasionally marrying in foreign brides, which could still account for Verity’s mixed heritage. I felt that it would be more interesting to do something else, and make the ancestors common to them both dark-skinned and curly-haired, like Verity, not fair and brunette like Felicity. 

In “Wendel Abbey”, Verity mentions to Brielle that she has a Revairian ancestor, and Brielle remarks that she must “come by her curls honestly”, that is, suggesting that her curly hair comes from Revaire heritage. But Verity corrects her and says that all her father (the King of Arland)’s family have it. I guess this is meant to represent the way that twenty years of a racially homogeneous (and oppressive) leadership have altered Revaire’s way of relating to the demographic mix of the other six kingdoms. Brielle is Black and her whole family is Black -- excepting her stepfather, who’s not mentioned directly in any of the fics (yet). The post-coup reality has affected the way she was taught to see the world.

It feels a bit like I am trying to have it both ways, both to talk about race and not talk about it, and I don’t know if I’m doing a good job. I’m not even sure that I know where I’m going with this post, even though I started writing it with such a confident attitude. I just know that these ideas have been swirling in my head for months and years, and it’s time for me to bring them out to see the outside world.

All my MCs are multiracial in the sense of their family trees, but some of them are easily identified as being characters of color. How to say this? In a modern AU, some of them would be stopped for a random check at the airport much more often than others. Allegra, Marguerite, Christabel and Verity are all on this list. Felicity, Jack, and Nerissa are not. Brielle is. Tristan is not. And so on. 

If I had thought about all these things more clearly before I created my six original MCs, maybe I would have made my Arland princess a Black girl. Or my tomboy countess. Or maybe I would have made them both Asian. Maybe I would have made my Jiyel MC Black, instead of basing her appearance on stereotypical East Asian traits, as I did with Periwinkle. I probably wouldn’t have made her white, for the reasons I outlined above -- I’m not saying that white MCs are anti-canon or wrong in any way, but it would have been too uncomfortable for me. Part of me thinks, “but then what? I would have no white MCs at all?” And another part of me replies, “Well, what if I didn’t?”

Which is kind of an empty dialogue on my part, because I went and wrote Felicity and Jack being who they are, without thinking too much about what their whiteness means, and I’m probably not gonna go back and retcon that. All the thinking that I do about it has to be retrospective.

There are other points of discomfort, like the way stats and personality interact with racist stereotype, and the way that butts up against my own personal preferences in terms of female characters. It’s no secret that Allegra is my favorite among my MCs, and also no secret that my favorite build to play is based around 75 points in manipulation. Which in a gameplay context creates a really powerful character who can broker peace treaties and fall in love and do a lot of heroic things. But nonetheless, there’s a subtext to creating a brown female character and immediately labeling her “manipulative”. Allegra’s build also took a hit to the beauty stat, as did several others of my favorite characters, and there’s a subtext there, too, like it or not.

I was especially uncomfortable with the fact that my two high-manip characters, Marguerite and Allegra, were both dark-skinned brown women. Despite the fact that they’re very different from each other, and despite the fact that I love them both, and despite that I tried to give them both deep and rich character development that makes them much more than their stats. I did create another character, Xanthine the weaver!MC, who is also based on the 75-manip build, and made her white. This... helped a little? I guess?

This is what I mean about the clash between my preferences and the racial stereotypes. The traits that create the kind of female character I’m most interested in, are ones that can easily be interpreted in a very negative light. I can’t ignore the implications of that, however much I might like to dismiss it by saying, “I just made her what I love to see.”

Of course I’m going to carry all these ideas forward, into any new game OCs I create, and especially into original fiction writing. And I want to stress that I’m just one very confused white gamer and fanfic writer, and I don’t have all the answers. I just think the questions are worth asking all the same, and to that end, I sat down and spent an hour or more writing this very confused (and confusing) spiel.

You are welcome to: reblog with comments, reblog with criticism, link to this post, post your own reflection on the race and ethnicity of your OCs, send m4e asks about any of these characters, etc. Remarks along the lines of “it’s stupid to care about racism in fandom” or “there’s nothing wrong with being white” will be roundly ignored as being beside the point. If you’ve read this far (or even skimmed it) I’m amazed and astonished. I’ve lost any gift for brevity that I ever had.

[cruzrogue]

It’s all Relative

#Fictober19 @fictober-event

————————————————————————

for fanfiction:

Prompt number: 7  “No, and that’s final.”  

Fandom (AU if applicable): #arrow fanfiction #olicity

Characters: Oliver/Felicity/William

Rating:PG

Warnings/Tags: Unhappy preteen with parents

Summary: William has a chance to work with an idol he doesn’t understand why his father isn’t allowing it.

~~~~~~****~~~~~~~~sp@ce~~~~~~****~~~~~~~~

​It’s all Relative on A03

This is an argument Oliver intends not to lose. His voice steady holding a finality to it. He tells his son his final answer, “No, and that’s final.”

“It’s not fair!” He stomps his foot. “You did worse when you were my age.”

“And look where that led me.” Oliver sighs. His son doesn’t get it. He only wants what is best for him. “You’re the only thing from that time period I cherish.”

“You didn’t even know I existed.”

“That is right. I didn’t. A day doesn’t go by that I don’t try to make it up to you.”

“Well I don’t need you!”

“William, apologize this instance for that remark.”

The boy looks to his step-mother and he can tell she isn’t thrilled but he knows if Felicity places herself onto the conversation he knows darn well that his dad will be tenfold in executing any plan and never, ever back talk to her in any case. Not only will it cause a terrible chain reaction from his father he’ll feel so terrible and guilty because he truly adores Felicity, she’s not only an awesome parent but she’s super chill with him.

“But mom, it’s not fair! Dad is being super biased.”

“William!” Her voice carrying that underlining tone. After the whole debacle of the infinity crisis that is what it’s been called even if he thinks it’s truly a stupid name. His dad was supposed to perish he thinks. The life he is having right now could have not existed. Somehow that thought alone makes his dad live on the edge of being overprotective but there is a baseline that his parents will do whatever it takes to protect him and his siblings.

“I’m sorry dad. I just don’t understand.”

“I know you don’t. It’s okay to be upset but there are things you aren’t aware of.” Oliver closes his eyes for a second as he thinks of the right words. “You’re becoming a teenager and your mother and I want you to live your life to the fullest so yes you aren’t privy to things that we don’t see fit for you.” A small pause. “Yet.”

“William, we know somethings cause tension. We expect that as you are becoming more and more independent but son you’re still so young. Protecting and getting you ready for adulthood is our job.”

“So, I really can’t go?”

“William. When it comes to your idol. The Flash. Your mother and I don’t mind your hero-worshipping from afar but we don’t want you entangled within his web.”

“What your dad is trying to say without being seen as aggressive or jealous is that we care for Barry we just don’t want you mixed up in his crazy timeline catastrophes.”

“What? The Flash is a hero! He’s not responsible…” He looks at his parents who are now mum all of a sudden. “Wait? Uncle Barry is the one who caused all those… No way. The media always says… Oh!”

There is a quiet moment within the household as Oliver and Felicity’s eldest is understanding something major. To him as the Flash came onto the scene. The red dash was super cool as it zipped through the city. He stopped bad guys what isn’t cool about that? Though like many things when you get to know your hero they become humanized and finding faults in humans is just a reality. The Flash isn’t that mere idol anymore. He has a face and a name to William. He also has had a hand in breaking his family apart. The crisis left everyone mending with a feeling of what-ifs and these paradox realities weren’t very pleasant. He lost his dad, didn’t see his mom until two decades later and William knows right now the life he is living is a blessing.

“William, we never wanted you to see him different.”

“He makes mistakes. We all do.”

“But his mistakes affect our family right?”

Oliver nods.

“Okay, I can see why you don’t want me at Star Labs anymore.” William looks at his step-mother and a smile creeps onto his face. “Maybe I can intern at Smoak Tech. Learn some coding. The archer program was way to cool for…”

“The archer program is decommissioned until I can figure better safety protocols.”

“Okay but I can still help out right? Especially when baby two makes its presence known.”

Oliver looks at his wife and just shrugs. William is totally a tech nerd and a feature that connects him to his wife so he can’t fault the boy at all. While Mia is learning to walk and already getting into things knowing that at least his son will be safer with Felicity he can relax just a tad more.

“Sure, I’d love the extra set of hands. If Mia is any indication. Your brother or sister will enjoy trampolining on my bladder.”

“Cool, I want an intern T-shirt, a badge, shoot I want a name plate too.”

“Okay, there tiger. There isn’t a physical building yet. Not until your mom here figures the location. The t-shirt well… hmm maybe you can design the logo.” Oliver can see the spark in not only in William’s eyes but the thought of creating a logo has his wife also beaming a huge smile. “Okay, I know those looks. Maybe we’ll need to go to the art store and buy some supplies.”

William excitedly nods. “Oh, we need a color scheme too. I know you like purple.”

“I do, but I know you love the color blue.”

Oliver just watching the conversation become a debate. Loving every moment of observing two of his favorite people discussing color schemes and it just makes him have a goofy smile. He knows its goofy by how many times he’s just turned and found a truly happy face looking back at him from a quick mirror’s glance. He doesn’t drop that smile he only makes his grin become wider as Felicity and William turn to him for his opinion. Finally telling them, “I think we owe it to ourselves to try every option.” It is that precise moment that Mia makes her presence known as she wakes up from her nap. Oliver checks his app. “Well while you two discuss business I have a little lady waiting for her daddy.”

William and Felicity watch him go before William asks his mom, “Do you think he’ll ever let Mia touch a bow? I know she became the Green Arrow before…”

“Your father loves you. He’d do anything for his children but he also knows he can’t always be there and it’s not to say it will be the easiest thing in the world. We need to allow you and your siblings to grow and it’s a delicate balance William. We’ll make mistakes but you do know we’ll try our best.”

“I know. I’m sorry for before.”

“I know you are sweetie. As for your sister becoming the Green Arrow. It’ll be a bittersweet moment for him. When that day comes…” Felicity tries her best but she still tears up. “You won’t be our babies anymore.”

William snickers, “Please you’ll still treat us like kids.” That gets his step-mother to chuckle. “I hope you know when that time comes we’ll do fine. We have two of the greatest parents raising us.”

A deep cackling voice is heard, “No amount of buttering your mother up will keep from getting your well-deserved punishments.”

“Ah, Dad!” William raises his hands, “I was trying to have a moment with mom.”

“I overheard the conversation of a future scenario.” His head nods to the baby receiver on the table by Felicity’s side. “If and when one of my children decide to follow in my footsteps it will be an honor.” He bounces his baby girl against his hip. The little girl giggling. It’s strange to look down and see that there is a path she can take and become the Green arrow. A path that he’ll be there to see. Does he want that? A sane rational father would say no, no way. Her safety is of great importance. A part of him wants to lock his kids in a tower and throw away the key. He won’t go that far, even if he lost his mind his wife would kick his ass. They will eventual grow up and its Felicity and his duty to make sure they can handle themselves in whatever occupation they decide to enter.

“You’re really going to be okay with it?”

“William, we started this argument over my overprotectiveness. I can’t bare for you to go to Central City for a few weeks when I know there is a good chance something can happen.”

“Yea, I know. You said no.”

“It’s still very much a no.” He sees William nod in understanding. “But one day you’ll be a grown man and I need to believe your mom and I did our very best to inform you and ready all of our children to make the best possible decisions possible.”

“Okay, I get it.”

“I need you to know that my past mistakes are mine alone. What mistakes you’ll create and believe me it’s probable being my son that you’ll create some whoppers. We’ll deal with the consequences together. I’ve got your back.”

Felicity adds, “We’ve got your back.”

William feeling over emotional just hugs his mom whom happens to be closer and then hugging his dad before he tells them he’ll go get some markers and such so they can at least look at some logo art for Smoak Tech. He practically runs off.

“Well he totally has your sense of emotional control.” Mia is moving her little arms towards her mother.

Oliver huffs, “I can’t even use anything against you on that. Though if I didn’t know any better I’d say he is all you.”

Felicity laughs as she takes her daughter into her arms. “This one here is just like her daddy.”

“Maybe the next will be a good mix of us.”

“I’m okay with little blue-eyed monsters that’ll own my heart.”

“You say that now, until they break the rules and become all mine.”

She shrugs to his correct assumption though she is still very empathic to his needs so she goes in for some kissing. Bringing their daughter up between them and Oliver kisses their baby girl first.

“Come on! I just left for a minute. You two are so gross!”