#He canonically is still alive as of the sequel Era!

[antianakin]

@theneutralmime

So there's a lot happening in this ask.

Do I think Palpatine could FEASIBLY be killed by something like choking on a grape or falling down the stairs? I mean, yes, sort-of. Like Palpatine IS still human, generally, and so if he's taken completely by surprise and doesn't have a way to keep himself from snapping his neck or whatever, he'd die. If we discount the Sequel Trilogy as canon, then Palpatine dies by getting tossed down a reactor shaft or whatever, so, clearly, he CAN die.

Star Wars has a tendency to run on rule of cool quite often, so Maul survives getting chopped in half because fans thought he was cool and Lucas then thought it would be cool to explore him again, rather than because it made any logical sense to bring him back. Palpatine survives getting thrown down the reactor shaft because he's the best villain this franchise has ever had and Rian Johnson ruined the two best options for villains in TLJ (Snoke by being unnecessarily killed off and Kylo by being made sympathetic to fans), so JJ Abrams was stuck coming up with something else in TROS. Shit happens in Star Wars sometimes and it doesn't really make SENSE, so it can be hard to try to puzzle out how the worldbuilding actually works in a situation like this one.

Maul keeps himself alive by spite and spite alone according to TCW. He's so full of anger and hate that somehow, despite being chopped in half and apparently magically transported to an entirely different planet somehow, he manages to stay alive long enough to attach his top half to a robot spider bottom. So, sure, if Maul can do that, then Palpatine should be capable of keeping himself alive by pure spite, too. You can try to argue that because he's killed in the way the prophecy says he would that maybe it should be more binding than Maul's, I guess, but THEORETICALLY, as per the worldbuilding rules that kept Maul alive, there's absolutely nothing keeping Palpatine dead, either.

I am also of the personal opinion that the prophecy means that IF the Chosen One tries to destroy the Sith out of selflessness and compassion, they are guaranteed to succeed (aka, if Anakin tries to kill Palpatine because this is what Sith apprentices do to their masters, the prophecy no longer applies and so he isn't guaranteed a victory). But this doesn't mean that this is the ONLY way to defeat the Sith. It's not like Palpatine could ONLY have been killed if Anakin personally kills him, it's just going to be a heck of a lot easier for Anakin than it would've been for anybody else. But Anakin defies his own destiny for over TWO DECADES and I think he could've defied it for the rest of his damn life if he'd chosen to. Which opens the door for the opposite to also end up being true: Palpatine can be killed by something that ISN'T the Chosen One fulfilling the prophecy. Maybe it takes a LOT of Jedi coming together to take him out, maybe it takes regular civilians helping the Jedi, maybe he CAN just randomly choke on a grape by pure luck. It's incredibly UNLIKELY to happen and even more unlikely to succeed, but not IMPOSSIBLE.

Moving on to the Separatist question about the contradiction between TCW claiming there are good people in the Separatist movement despite the horrible things their army is doing and the fact that without Palpatine and Dooku running things, they seem like they'd probably just fall apart immediately. I think the Separatists work the same way most of the antagonists do in Star Wars, especially in the prequel era: a parallel for Anakin. The Separatists seem to have good intentions for their actions, but are being manipulated by the Sith into (possibly unintentionally) backing some really heinous atrocities and a belief in their own superiority so strong that they'll never believe it's even happened, no matter how often it's explicitly laid out for them. The Separatist politicians (so NOT the people running the actual army like Nute Gunray or Wat Tambor or anyone else from the Corporate Alliance) are EXACTLY like Anakin, and they fall prey to their own arrogance the same way he does. So sure, there were "heroes" among them and people with good intentions, but Dooku was a good Jedi once, too. It doesn't mean that his choices NOW are actually motivated by those good intentions, though. The same is generally true of the Separatists. They had good intentions, but their ignorance becomes an intentional choice rather than something forced upon them and that ultimately makes them complicit in the crimes their army is committing.

I will say I don't think the Separatist politicians are explored well enough to really get that message across and so it just ends up feeling kind-of weird and contradictory sometimes, but that's my take on what the intended message of the Separatists is.

The same is generally true for Dooku. The thing with all of these characters is, they're ALL parallels for Anakin, which means that they have to also have one of the things most essential to his character: "There's still good in him." Regardless of how I feel about how his "redemption" was handled in ROTJ, the fact that Anakin has goodness left in him to act upon is VITAL to his character. So any character who is intended to be a parallel to his narrative ALSO has to have this characteristic. Dooku can still make better choices, he COULD feasibly turn things around and be a better person again. The Separatists CAN choose to be less ignorant and more open to listening to what people like Padme and Bail and the Jedi are actually saying rather than desperately trying to live in a perfect little fantasy world that appeals to them.

So even though they all SEEM irredeemable, they all SEEM rotten right through to the core, they're not. That's the major message of Star Wars, that choice MATTERS and you ALWAYS have a choice. Even if you've been making the wrong ones for decades, even if there's just a smidge of goodness left, it'll ALWAYS be there to act upon. Just like the capacity for darkness is always there to be tempted by, the capacity for compassion is ALSO always there to come back to.

Which brings us to the concept of, "What if the Jedi found out about the Tusken massacre sometime before ROTS and Order 66?"

The Jedi generally seem to believe in rehabilitation and forgiveness as much as possible, but they also believe in placing the needs of the greater good over the needs of one person, and in this situation, I'm assuming the Jedi are likely still dealing with the war happening which limits a lot of their options, especially if Palpatine is ALSO still in power. So they have to figure out how to help Anakin with the feelings that led him to commit the massacre in the first place while keeping him from being able to do it AGAIN. I generally imagine that this would mean removing him from positions of authority, which would include both being a General in the GAR and being a master to Ahsoka. I think he'd probably be asked to agree to being grounded at the Temple until such time as a Jedi mind healer deemed him capable of going back out in the field. I also think that, before he was allowed back into the field for any kind of Jedi work, he'd be asked to make some kind of amends for what he'd done, whatever that ended up meaning. It's not about punishing Anakin so much as it is about damage control.

The problem is that Palpatine is unlikely to allow Anakin to just be removed from the GAR and that Anakin is unlikely to take ANY of this well. Unlike most fics that deal with this scenario, I think he'd generally be willing to take the Council's condemnation of his actions relatively well. He admits to knowing it's not the way a Jedi should act in AOTC, so he'd be expecting the Council to tell him he was wrong to kill them all and I think he'd be able to put on a good show of contrition and remorse (regardless of whether it was that genuine or not; his remorse over having not acted like a Jedi would be real, but there'd be no real remorse for the deaths of the Tuskens and I don't know how well the Council would be able to distinguish between the two through psychic powers alone). But it's asking him to accept the demotion and the loss of Ahsoka that I think he'd lash out at. He'd accept the slap on the wrist, but the actual consequences would seem unfair and THAT'S when he'd start to defend himself and throw a tantrum about it (For an example of this in canon, look at how he acts during the scene where he's put on the Council in ROTS and how he stays pretty polite right up until he's told he isn't going to be made a Master and THAT'S what riles him up).

Anakin doesn't like making choices and I think the Council would likely let him know that this kind of infraction is one where, if he DOESN'T want to accept the consequences for what he's done and do the work it takes to re-earn their trust, they'd have to consider expelling him from the Order. So now he's faced with the choice of remaining a Jedi but diminished and humiliated (from his perspective), or not being a Jedi at all but leaving more on his terms. And I think that THIS is where he'd likely try to go to Palpatine to get him to pull strings in his favor and, given that the war is still happening, Palpatine might be able to accomplish this and force the Council's hand so that they CAN'T enforce these consequences no matter what. It's POSSIBLE Palpatine might try to convince Anakin to just leave so that he can then take Anakin even more under his wing, but I feel like Anakin wouldn't see that as helping very much, while Palpatine forcing the Jedi to let Anakin stay without consequences puts Anakin COMPLETELY in Palpatine's debt.

All of which would REALLY burn out a lot of the Jedi's faith in Anakin and start to turn even those closest to him against him, like Obi-Wan and Ahsoka. And the more they turn on him, the angrier Anakin gets, the darker and more violent he probably gets, and the more the Jedi lose faith in him. It's an ugly downward spiral for everybody that might lead the Jedi to ultimately feel like they have to try something beyond offering rehabilitation to Anakin. The reasoning would not be unlike what they utilize to step in with Palpatine where they realize that by NOT stepping beyond their boundaries, they're allowing the problem to persist which makes them complicit in the consequences. But now they have to remove both Anakin AND Palpatine from power without either of them finding out and while continuing to fight a war that's killing them off and spreading them thin. How this would turn out is anyone's guess, but I do think that eventually the Jedi could and would get to a place where they'd recognize that forgiveness only works if the person is willing to do something to EARN that forgiveness and sometimes the better thing to do is simply remove the person causing problems from the game entirely in order to protect everyone else. At this point, even though they firmly believe everyone still has the capacity to be good, it stops being a priority to ensure Anakin still has the opportunity to act on it when doing so puts others in danger.

[notexactlyrocketscience]

TMA ending reflections (and theories about the sequel!)

When I initially listened to the ending, it felt like a good plan (and the prospects of a perfect happy ending) unnecessarily jeopardised. Jon and Martin’s panicked conversation sounded so hopeless and their final decision felt impulsive. Everything was in shambles, and a good outcome was unlikely at this point. The promise of Somewhere Else seemed like an empty euphemism to make certain death more bearable. I was frustrated, and heartbroken.

Now that I've taken a few days to process and distanced myself from the characters' momentary pain, I actually truly believe that what happened at the end was a happy accident instead.

I don’t think I can put it better than the Reddit post already has—The original plan proposed by Annabelle could have had equally (if not worse) disastrous outcomes. Even if it had been canonically executed, knowing the way Jonny and Alex love to write, things would still have been shown to end ambiguously—just less tragically poetic. For the purposes of the narrative, I think they did a great job of ending the series on a climactic, fulfilling (and hopeful!) note that remains faithful to the overall tone of The Magnus Archives. Jon and Martin weren’t exactly planning on doing what they did, but it’s given them a chance at the best and happiest ending that was up for grabs.

And I love that I genuinely don’t feel like I have to be in denial of the canon at all to fully believe in this interpretation, since it was left strictly ambiguous on purpose.

But there’s more!

The Magnus Protocol teaser has a seemingly unharmed (and physically corporeal) Martin surprised to see the familiar tape recorder show up again, long after he’s assumed they’ve stopped listening. This, plus the fact that Jonny and Alex have confirmed they will appear in TMA 2, tells me:

It’s unlikely that Jonny and Alex will appear simply to voice other side-characters, even those with distorted voices. It’s clear from Q&As that they take casting very seriously. I can’t see them double-casting (former) main characters.

So we’ll see Martin again, post-escape from Eyepocalypse. Not just an old S1-to-S5-era never-seen-before Magnus Archives tape found by Alice and Sam. Including formerly unrevealed tapes from TMA would be a really nice touch (and I hope we’ll get that too!), but I’m sure Jonny wouldn’t release that particular teaser if he wasn’t solidly planning on following through in some way. Jonny has always been very serious about giving the audience breadcrumb trails with properly viable clues.

Well … what about post-Eyepocalypse Jon? Well, I think Jon is only going to appear in such a way that either fully retains the ambiguity of the TMA ending, or hints/confirms in some way that he is also alive and unharmed (in whatever avatar or semi-avatar form).

In any case, if post-Eyepocalypse Martin (and maybe Jon) do indeed appear (which seems very likely at this point), it will also be implied or shown that they are, indeed, together—in a non-tragic, romantic, bordering on wholesome way.

I say this because confirming their death or separation after the TMA finale would completely ruin the sanctity of the ending. It’s really neatly tied up and beautiful as it is right now. Answering questions to ambiguous events negatively in sequels (eg having formerly surviving main characters simply as side-characters who die in sequels) is really hard to land properly. It borders on being disrespectful of the investment the audience put into the original. Jonny has always been very receptive and sensitive to these things.

However, showing that characters from a previously ambiguous ending are living their best lives as mysterious side-characters that pop in and out—bamboozling the main characters (but delighting the audience)—is a lot easier to execute favourably. It also keeps from taking attention away from the protagonists and the main plot of the sequel.

So my expectation (read: hope) is that we’re going to see Jon and Martin in our world, where the end of TMA implied that the tapes are, and where I assume The Magnus Protocol is set! They will be happy and together (this may be explicit or implied vaguely, I am not sure how they’d keep that completely ambiguous if the post-Eyepocalypse versions of the characters themselves explicitly appear), and nothing worse than TMA finale will happen to them.

I only have this belief because I have incredible faith in Jonny and Alex as writers! I think they subverted insensitive tropes creatively and did just about everything right in TMA, and I can’t say that about most authors I love. Yes, I do generally want my blorbos to be safe and happy, but the above is not just a culmination of my wishful thinking. Jonny and Alex have already said that they certainly aren’t going to try to overshadow TMA, but I’m also hoping The Magnus Protocol will complement TMA while not really trying to step on TMA’s toes. They didn't have to drop so many JonMartin return hints (or even write JonMartin into TMA 2 at all) but they did. Super excited and optimistic for what's to come!

[eoinmcgonigal]

A list of my published SAS:RH fics

just sort of tidying up i guess idk

Paddy Mayne/Eoin McGonigal

Melody - T, 1.4k pre-canon falling in love

Refrain - M, 10k [UNFINISHED] post-canon, resurrection, Eoin & Jock are alive again

Beat - T, 1k post-canon, chronic pain Paddy, hurt/comfort

Diminished - T, 4k canon era, memory loss, reunions

Fermata - T, 1k afterlife, death, reunion

Jig - G, 0.6k modern au, halloween decorating

Transposition - E, 1.7k canon setting, weird physiology/creatures au, knotting .

Johnny Cooper/Bill Fraser

A Shortcut vs. the Long Way Round - T, 0.5k modern au, a shortcut through a graveyard

Alien Readings - T, 0.4k modern au, Bill's book reading isn't what it's supposed to be

Death's Embrace - M, 0.4k canon era, he is dead, but still with him

The Perfect Pumpkin - T, 1.4k modern au, Bill surrenders the perfect pumpkin to a stranger

One Day - T, 0.4k modern au, a cosy weekend away in a cabin

What If? - T, 2.1k modern au, they meet a few years after high school, while Bill is having a bad day

Horrifying Choice - T, 0.4 modern au, they try to pick a movie for a date night

Naebody Wauks - T, 1.8k modern au, no one's warned the newcomer to the community not to walk the brae at night

Vampires Don't Exist - T, 0.3k modern au, Johnny tries to tell Bill what he is

Not Scared of Spiders - T, 0.3k modern au, there's a spider in the bathroom

This Tender, Perfect Place - M, 0.7k modern au, vampire!Johnny bites Bill in bed (same au as Vampires Don't Exist)

Shattered and Frozen - T, 1.3k modern au, Johnny is having a bad day, a stranger is kind

To Hear Things Unspoken - T, 5k canon au, Bill ends up able to hear everyone's thoughts

We Were Here - T, 1.5k modern au, as they explore an abandoned building, Bill remembers something from another life

Unnatural Sounds - T, 0.5k modern au, Johnny thinks the kitchen is haunted .

Johnny Cooper/Reg Seekings

Warm Relief - E, 0.9k modern au, watersports

Getting Lucky - E, 1.9k any au/postwar au, glory holes, first meetings

Fistful of Heaven - E, 1.7k modern au, fisting, aftercare

Choking on You - E, 0.6k canon au, undernegotiated kink, asphyxiation, no aftercare

The Shallow Deep Sea - E, 2.6k canon au, sentient creatures, tentacle sex, pre-relationship

I'll Give Anything but I Won't Give Up - E, 1.4k canon au, aftercare, sequel to Choking on You

Me, Inside You; You, Inside Me - E, 1.2k modern au, developing relationship, object insertion

Toe to Toe - E, 2.8k canon era, foot fetish, foot jobs, pre-relationship

In a Heartbeat - E, 1.8k canon era, crushes, bad flirting, oblivious Reg, frottage

Girly Show - E, 2.3k modern au, camboy!johnny, feminisation, masturbation

Taste You - M, 0.3k canon era, smoking, shotgunning .

I only wrote one fic for these pairings

Gen/No Pairing - SAS: Rogue Ghosts - T, 1.3k [UNFINISHED] BBC ghosts crossover, post-canon, everybody lives

Johnny Cooper/Eoin McGonigal - Shelter in the Shade - T, 2k canon era, flirting, first kiss

Eve Mansour/Eoin McGonigal - Welcome Command - E, 1.9k canon era, fuck buddies, riding crops

Eve Mansour/Paddy Mayne - A Place of Worship - E, 1.6k canon era, sequel to Welcome Command/same AU, oral sex

Johnny Cooper/himself - Sound Performance - E, 0.9k modern au, camboy!johnny, sounding

Pat Riley/anonymous - A Satisfying Place to Be - E, 0.9k any au, glory holes, blow jobs

Bill Fraser/Mike Sadler - "Can you feel it?" - E, 1.1k any au, fisting, aftercare

Mike Sadler/David Stirling - A Better Use - E, 0.9k canon era, face-sitting

Jim Almonds/Johnny Cooper - A Loser's Victory - E, 1.9k modern au, gym au, secret crush, spanking

Paddy Mayne/Mike Sadler - Sharp Change - M, 1.3k canon au, piercing .

My AO3 i haven't included the kiss/touch/fuck ficlets, but you can find them here: #ktf prompts

[indigosabyss]

Will you consider writing a crossover of Percy Jackson in the bsd world?

FUN FACT I ACTUALLY WROTE ONE AGES AGO.

ahem

Wolfhounds And Hellhounds [T, 131k]

Formerly: To be a 90 year old teenaged Ambassador of Hades It was meant to be a simple job. Kill the kid, probably anger a powerfully rich organisation, hand the corpse over to Mori, and never think of it again. But things can't always be that simple, can they? He stared down at the boy in shock, his pupils shivering, "H-How are you still alive?" The boy, Nico -no, he couldn't be, he just couldn't!- looked at him, "Oh, it's you. This is kinda awkward." Dazai reached for his gun, eyeing the kid who's bleeding corpse he's stuffed into a trunk just weeks ago, "Answers. Now." He doesn't know what he's expecting, but a whole new world is definitely not on that list. (And was anyone gonna tell him that Odasaku was in on it this whole time, or was he meant to find out himself?) Or: If he was asked to pinpoint the exact moment his life really went off the rails, Dazai Osamu would probably decide that that would be the day he first caught sight of the mysterious person that he would come to know as the Ambassador of the Underworld.

oh man this takes me back. my first fic to breach 50k words. and then way further than that.

It is also the earliest fic i will admit to writing bc this was the first i can say with my whole chest is good, even though my writing style and perspective of the world has likely matured in the four years since I began writing that. Also as you read you start piecing together the aromantic awakening i was having. Definitely was projecting onto Hippolytus at some point. Which is Not Good, considering what I did to him.

I said I would do a sequel maybe, since the fic takes place betwen Fifteen and Dark Era, ending with Dazai leaving the Port Mafia same as canon. But only after the manga was over, since I wanted to know the full picture. Hasn't happened yet, and I've begun picking up a lot of projects, so idk if I'll ever do that.

[bbcphile]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers!

Tagged by @prosopopeya!!!! (thanks for the tag! Also, hi!!)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

15, which is actually more than I had thought I’d written.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

200,778

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I have three fics in the works for Mysterious Lotus Casebook, so that’s where I’m spending my time now, but almost all of my AO3 fic is for the Horatio Hornblower miniseries. (I also wrote a very very metafictional Galavant fic for Yuletide.)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Harboured and Encompassed (novel length modern AU with actor!Archie, librarian!Horatio; Archie/Horatio and Horatio/Archie/Will pre-slash)

Nunc Atque Semper (canon-era DKU (dead Kennedy Universe), past Archie/Horatio, Maria/Horatio; Maria finds out just who Archie Kennedy was to Horatio.)

Much Ado about Shakespeare: Love’s Labour’s Won (canon-era Archie/Horatio; Napoleonic era theater kid Archie speaks entirely in Shakespeare quotations and ends up in a relationship instead of being thrown overboard)

Holding Fast (Modern AU, sequel to H&E, Archie/Horatio/Will; Will has a nightmare. Archie and Horatio help.)

The Vital Importance of Doing Research (Modern AU, sequel to H&E, Archie/Horatio/Will; Archie’s trailer is out, so the trio turn to AO3. AKA. a parodic love letter to fanfic and the fandom)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I tried, I really did, but then I fell horribly behind when my health tanked, and I didn’t catch up, and now I’m just embarrassed about how many years it’s been. But I’m going to try to get back to it, so, if any of you are still following me here, thank you for your comments!! This incredibly anxious writer is extremely grateful to you! And I’ll try to figure out how to articulate that sufficiently soon! <3 

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Without a doubt, “Nunc Atque Semper.” I once swore I’d never write a DKU, and I almost never read them because they emotionally destroy me, but 1. I got a really excellent prompt for it, and 2. I was (and still am) so very mad at Horatio for his behavior toward Maria in the final two films, and this fic was my way of exploring his grief, how much he had changed because of it, and also holding him accountable because Maria deserved so much better. It’s one of the fics I’m proudest of, and one of the hardest to write, emotionally, and while by the end, they understand each other better and he will try to treat her better, they’re both still going to be miserable.  (Turning Over the Sands of Time and Taking Hands Against a Sea of Troubles are probably the next angstiest ones, since they both acknowledge that things are Very Much Not Ok, but at least everyone is alive at the time.)

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hmmm . . .  I’m not sure how to choose, because a bunch of them have lots of different flavors of happiness. Harboured and Encompassed ends on a loving/comforting/optimistic note (even though there’s still a lot of trauma recovery ahead of Archie), The Best is Yet to Come is sweet/fluffy/romantic, Holding Fast is comforting/snuggly/a little goofy right at the end, The Vital Importance of Doing Research is funny/bubbly/crackfic taken seriously. So, I guess it depends on what your favorite mood is to go with your happiness?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not that anyone’s posted in the comments, at least. Before I started posting Harboured and Encompassed, I saw some people hating on modern Hornblower AUs and the people who write them, but none of them proceeded to insult me in the comments of my fics, so if it continued elsewhere, I am blissfully unaware of it.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

For fics I’ve published on AO3, the closest I’ve come is in The Vital Importance of Doing Research, when the trio read fic for Archie’s film, and I am still laughing about getting to use the tag “boat porn.” In Harboured and Encompassed, Archie and Horatio make out a number of times but don’t actually have sex (because the fic is about different sorts of intimacy and was in part a response to the magical healing cock trope). I’ve planned sex scenes in the MLC fics I’m currently writing, so, we’ll see. 

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Not really, but in the incredibly crackfic-y The HMS Afterlife: Loyalty Edition, Zuko from ATLA makes a cameo. :)  

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes!! Lt_vanStein started translating Harboured and Encompassed into Russian! I’m still so happy about this!!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Lol. So, @fionatlux and I cowrote The HMS Afterlife: Loyalty Edition, which is essentially shitposting in play formatting with the characters as ghosts commenting on the events of the movie as a way of actually making ourselves watch the first film without Archie. It is absurd and ridiculous, and full of snark and Shakespeare quotations and angst and crackfic-y enough that Zuko from ATLA even makes an appearance. 

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Well, Archie/Horatio have been going strong since 1998 for me, so it’s probably hard to beat that. But I also love Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji, and recently my entire brain has been devoured by Di Feisheng/Li Lianhua (although I am also very much here for Di Feisheng/Li Lianhua/Fang Duobing).

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I had a very long sequel planned for Harboured and Encompassed in which the OT3 officially gets together (set between parts 3 and 4 of the series), and had written about 50k of it, but then personal drama related to the fic happened (long story), my health unrelatedly tanked, my life fully exploded, and I was too sick to even think about writing for most of the last 4+ years. Thanks to a successful neurosurgery earlier this year, I’m finally starting to regain some energy for creative pursuits, instead of using it all on staying alive despite the efforts of a broken medical system! But on a good day, I’m still only operating at about 30% of my previous capacity, so right now, I’m writing new stuff for Mysterious Lotus Casebook because that’s what the brain gremlins want (*gasp * what, me, invested in a show about someone whose health tanked and they had to build a new life? And that also has PTSD representation? Hell yes.), and hopefully, eventually, I will be able to finish that sequel, assuming there’s anyone still around by then who wants to read it. But I’m listing it here to take the pressure off myself so I don’t feel like I have to write it, because I’m tired of feeling guilty about it all the time.  

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, interior monologue, altering the writing style to fit the character, character development, representations of trauma/trauma recovery/mental health issues, humor, h/c, writing characters finally learning to communicate

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Describing settings, writing in scene when it could be summary instead, writing action scenes, and having confidence

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

There’s some French in The Vital Importance of Doing Research, but I think that’s it. One issue I’m running into with MLC, though, is that there are times where I absolutely know what I’d want the characters to say in Mandarin, but the English equivalent just doesn’t land in the same way. Ah well. 

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Sherlock. 

20. Favorite fic you've written?

I don’t know how to choose. I think Nunc Atque Semper is maybe the one I’m proudest of because of how hard it was (emotionally) to write. Harboured and Encompassed has my all-time favorite scenes/chapters in it, and I am really proud of the character development overall. I’m also still very very proud of just how many Shakespeare lines I was able to fit into Much Ado about Shakespeare: Love’s Labour’s Won, which probably had more research that went into it than any other fic I’ve written. I think the most underappreciated fic I’ve written is Taking Hands Against a Sea of Troubles–I was really proud of the research that went into it, the imitation of 1800s writing and speech, the significance of the play they see, and the non-verbal communication and comfort at the end–and I’m really surprised that Holding Fast has more kudos.  

If you write fic, consider yourself invited to respond (but no worries if doing this sort of thing stresses you out). I’m specifically tagging some of my newer mutuals, because I really want to get to know you better! (And if I forgot to include you, it's not personal!)

@thesilversun @nutcasewithaknife @shamera @extraordinarilyextreme @slangerogkatter @enbysaurus-rex @willowcatkinblossom @kingsandbastardz @the-wintry-mizzenmast

[solidsnakecake]

Thanks so much for your Sparda headcanons (TT o TT) I really hope Capcom does give us more info about him in a later game; heck, even the reboot gave more focus to Eva. Especially since now that Dante was voted most popular Capcom character, it might incentivise them to develop more DMC. It might be foolish, but I do hope he is still alive. Idk if you already said it in your blog, but do you have a voice claim for him? Somehow I imagine him starting out with a posh accent, though it gradually faded over the years, so it wasn't as strong as it was when the twins were born.

You're welcome. Glad someone likes my ramblings.🥰

I think Capcom or rather DMC team is in an awkward place with Sparda. Each installment tells us something about him. Breadcrumbs but no more. He's arguably been pivotal in every piece of media so it's not like Capcom and co have been deliberately ignoring him. So I hope they do reveal more about him, preferably giving him his own game.

Sparda is dead by all accounts. So unless he's resurrected, I don't think retcononing that is right. He's been enacting his will through Dante and Nero. If Capcom retcons him to be alive, it would be a character assassination. So if he's to turn up in a sequel, I prefer it's resurrection or flashbacks.

I don't know where Capcom stands with DMC at this moment. It's a popular franchise and makes them money but we know it's far from being the favorite child. And DMC's chief director, Hideaki Itsuno is doing Dragon's Dogma 2. The DMC future is foggy. I hope Capcom doesn't leave us hanging for years again. Especially with the results of the recent survey.

As for the voice, @saiyanblood2 suggested Crispin Freeman whom you know as Alucard from Hellsing and Hellsing Ultimate. And I do agree with a posh British accent as Redgrave, Sparda's city is based on London structures and Sparda himself is shown in Victorian era garbs. So at least in his last centuries, he sounded British.

BUT I also love the idea of Sparda changing accents over the years. He was a wanderer in canon, met different people, spoke different languages, etc. Those are bound to affect his accent in English.

[nehswritesstuffs]

be my seconds

So I thought of this partially while I was reading fight of firsts, partially in the comments section, and partially while talking to my Bellazón brother-in-arms @gendervapor14 afterwards. I can’t not follow through on it now.

2429 words; takes place pre-canon, in a continuum where some of our favorite Marine hooligans all know one another as young bucks; a direct sequel to fight of firsts so pls go read that before reading this kthnxbai; I had planned on posting something else new in October but this happened so let’s see if what can get out in the meantime

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Smoker didn’t really consider himself a squeamish person. It was how he was able to start climbing the ranks of the Marines at fifteen, in his starched-white cadet uniform and fresh buzzcut. Never grossed-out, rarely flinching, always bringing himself to the job wholly and completely. Ever since he watched the Pirate King’s execution in their hometown three years prior, he had been relentlessly dedicated to joining the force that would put Logue Town’s most infamous and wide-reaching legacy to rest.

Gold Roger might have died that day, but a new era was born, and Smoker was determined to help squish it under the heel of his boot…

…or he would be, if he wasn’t having a very unexpected crisis.

It all started on the battlefield—he and the rest of his unit had been given to a pair of young hotshots and told to go conduct recon on some trouble brewing near Oykot. Though they were both from HQ, the Commander was a nineteen-year-old Eastern spitfire and her Ensign some lanky eighteen-year-old with the North on his voice hiding some deeper secret. They looked at one another oddly, though he did not think much of it until he went looking for them on the battlefield, fresh out of munitions and in need of orders. That was when the young Seaman First Class found what he had immediately wanted to un-find.

“Both their shirts were open and he was reaching down her pants as they sucked face,” he said in a quiet, grave, and frankly horrified voice. He was in a mostly-empty corner of the mess hall, with his pink-haired training cohort. The young woman across from him frowned, incredulous.

“Oh, so they finally did something?” she asked, completely bored. “Hina was wondering if an extra push was going to be necessary.”

“Extra…?! Hina! They fucked!” He looked around cautiously, making sure that no one else heard him. “I feel like I just encountered a state secret.”

“At least she aims high,” she shrugged. Hina took a sip of her drink and watch as her comrade continued losing his goddamned mind. “You know… because he’s tall… and is the Fleet Admiral’s son…”

“Wait, he what…?” Smoker stopped fretting for a moment and stared at her.

“…is the Fleet Admiral’s adopted son? That’s what the word is going around; Hina hears he got his rank via pure nepotism, but there’s also rumor as to him being the undercover program’s star pupil.”

“They are still commanding officers,” he reminded her.

“If you have such a problem with it, take it up with Human Resources and stop bugging Hina about it,” she frowned. “How does Hina understand that weird things happen on the battlefield and yet Smoker does not?”

“You really don’t get it.” Smoker sighed into his potatoes and tried to not die of embarrassment. “Something terrible could have happened while they were… detained… and fuck…! We’re just lucky that we got out of there with everyone alive!”

“Then Hina does not know why you are so worked up over it. Everything went well, yes?”

“Well…”

“Then forget about it.”

“I saw things no soldier should see of their commanding officers, Hina.”

“…and how is that different from the shower room or the baths?” Okay, she kind of had him there, but…

“I’m going to do something about it,” he decided. He watched as she raised her well-groomed eyebrow. “I’m going to tell them that they were in violation of protocol.”

“Smoker thinks he can blackmail senior officers?”

“Not blackmail… just… remind them of the rules.” Blush rushed to the tips of Smoker’s ears. “Maybe being reminded that they’re supposed to be role models will make them think more in the future…”

It was worth a shot, anyhow.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

In the end, Commander Cocoyasi laughed more than Hina did.

“Fuck, kid, I’m no role model,” she giggled through tears. Ensign Donquixote was sitting nearby trying to look smaller than his eight-foot-and-change frame would allow. They were all in the training yard, where the older pair had been sitting under a tree in a corner watching all the freshest of fresh recruits get tortured with early-evening training. “I’m the anti-role model if anything.”

“…then why did they put you in charge of our command?”

“I’m a local Eastern and they’re considering a ground campaign based on what we learned—corroborated with some other information of course—which I would ultimately be a part of if it gets off the ground. Might even make Captain for it.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that the two of you were fucking on the battlefield.”

“It’s both more and less complicated than you make it out to be,” Ensign Donquixote shrugged. “You’ll understand if you find someone in an unlikely place.” Smoker simply looked unimpressed, which made the Commander laugh.

“Don’t act like such a big tough guy,” she snorted. Yeah, the kid was about an inch taller than her at that point, but she wasn’t so easily swayed. “Just because you smoke bougie-ass shit doesn’t mean you’re an adult.”

“I smoke cigars… they’re supposed to be fancier than cigarettes.”

“You’re fifteen—what the fuck should you know about smoking?”

“…what I know from my uncle running a tobacco shop,” the kid scowled. “Fifth-generation; you know, how we got our family name.”

“Well that’s a bit on the fucking nose, isn’t it?” the Captain scoffed. She took a packet of cigarettes from her shirt pocket and stuck two in her mouth, lighting both at once. Smoker tilted his head slightly as he watched her, knowing what was up soon as she passed one back to the Ensign. “Now, are you going to be a good boy and let the adults talk?”

“I have a better idea,” the Ensign offered. “How about if we simply talk about this. There’s a bar nearby that I know that we haven’t gotten kicked out of yet—”

“I don’t drink,” Smoker said firmly.

“You don’t have to, but I think I have to,” the Commander nodded. She put an arm around Smoker’s shoulders and began to pull him along. “It’s a great idea. I think maybe we can go over protocol being really just loose guidelines there.”

“They can’t be ‘loose guidelines’ if we’re going to eliminate the increased pirate threat,” he said.

“Don’t worry,” she said, patting his chest with her free hand, “it’ll all be clear to you by the time we’re done for the night.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The only thing that became obvious that night was that it wasn’t as simple as Commander Cocoyasi let on. Nothing was clear, everything was a mess, and all the young Marine had on his hands were a couple of drunk superior officers.

“Isn’t she great?” Ensign Donquixote sighed. He was propped up by his hand on his chin and elbow on the table, watching with a syrupy grin as the Commander was in the middle of an arm-wrestling competition with some other Marines and varying sailors while winning each match. “Do you have anyone, Seaman?”

“No,” Smoker replied tersely. He choked down another sip of beer, the mug having been put in front of him with the declaration-turned-direct-order to finish the whole thing. “I want to get more established first.”

“You know, I thought she was a lesbian,” the Ensign said, not entirely registering Smoker’s words.

“Well, you are her girlfriend.”

“Yeah… great, isn’t it?” The Ensign took a sip of his sixth (maybe ninth) beer of the night and watched as the Commander laid claim to another victim. His eyes unfocused as the lids drooped—he was beginning to hit something, whether it be his limit or another thing entirely. “I realized a lot out there, you know.”

“You don’t say.”

“I mean it.” The taller Marine glanced down at his drink and exhaled heavily. “I don’t really know what it is that Belle and I have, but I like it… it burns like something I’ve never felt before.”

“…burns…?”

“Yeah, here.” Smoker let the Ensign poke him in the chest. “I’ve never seen anyone else have something like this… not even my parents, and there was no question that they loved each other.”

“I didn’t know the Fleet Admiral was married.”

“My… erm… birth parents… before I met Sengoku. They were devoted to each other to the end.”

“I’m sorry.” Smoker tried to hide in his beer, though it stank too much for him to attempt for long.

“Nah; I brought it up.” The Ensign turned his gaze back to the Commander, who was suckering in another victim. “Just remember something for me, Seaman: shit’s weird. You never know when you’re going to do something like fall in love, or have your heart broken, or anything in between. Let shit happen. Good shit, bad shit… nothing’s cut and dry, so you shouldn’t treat it as such.”

“Plenty of things are cut and dry,” Smoker reasoned. “We’re the good guys and good guys don’t risk trench dick by fucking their superior officer on the battlefield.”

“You and I are Human, as is most of the rest of the Navy, and those who aren’t still have humanity, making it a rather moot point.” He downed the rest of his beer and nearly slammed the glass on the table. “Sometimes the correct thing to do is going by the book, and other times it’s risking trench dick, and other-other times it could be something like cooperating with pirates and you won’t know which is which form of Justice until you arrive at the decision.”

“I’m from Logue Town; why would I cooperate with pirates?”

“I don’t know—maybe that’s the reason you will.” The Commander won her match and collected her winnings with the biggest, shit-eatingest grin, which turned her Ensign wistful. “We truly don’t know what’s out there next.”

“If you say so,” Smoker shrugged. He watched as the Commander lit another cigarette and made her way over to them. She took a deep drag and pulled gently on the Ensign’s neckerchief, removing the cigarette before they locked lips. The Ensign moaned in a way that Smoker wasn’t entirely comfortable with, smoke pouring from his nose and mouth as the kiss broke.

“That’s not your usual brand,” he noted.

“Won ‘em five morons ago,” she replied. She kissed him again, this time allowing her hand to knock the cap off his head as she tangled her fingers in his hair. Smoker just wanted to be sick.

“You’ve got to have a Devil Fruit,” someone grunted, coming up to the table. Smoker looked and saw it was the Commander’s latest victim—a wiry bastard about fifteen years his senior—looking intensely pissed both via emotions and alcohol. “What the fuck’s your game?”

“No game,” Smoker replied. The Commander was too busy sucking the Ensign’s face off to notice the intrusion. “She’s just better than you.”

“A skinny brat like her?”

“Don’t fool yourself.”

“Kid, I’m a Commodore… don’t fuck with me.”

“That’s my job,” the Commander chuckled as she broke her kiss. She stood up straight and put the cigarette back in her mouth, blowing out a cloud of smoke in the Commodore’s face. “Now, you got a problem with a superior officer and the way she does business?”

“You’re not my superior; and I’ve got a bit more than that to pick with you,” he growled. The Commodore snapped his fingers and some subordinates were at his side almost immediately. “Now: what are you going to do to apologize for cheating?”

“Nothing; I didn’t cheat.”

“My instincts say you did, and they’re never wrong.”

“…and what are they saying now?”

“That I need to teach a couple Eastern hicks a lesson.”

“Oh, this’ll be fun,” the Commander smirked. The Ensign simply grabbed the glass from Smoker’s face and chugged the rest, placing their empty mugs on a nearby table.

“Time to expleriment with Justice,” he slurred, flashing a grin Smoker’s way. Donquixote pushed the table out of the way and stood behind Cocoyasi, tension in the bar drawing taut.

Fuck… might as well. Smoker stood and went to her other side and all hell broke loose.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Hina did not enjoy being contacted so early in the morning. She had a routine that she was able to fit within the confines of the regimented life of a young officer-in-training and she really did not appreciate when it was disturbed. That was probably why the chore boy was quaking in his boots as he stood in front of her as she ate, holding out a slip of paper towards her.

“What are you bothering Hina with?” she said coldly over her coffee. The chore boy instead went beet-red, scampering away soon as she took the paper. Hina rolled her eyes and read the contents as she took a bite of toast—they really needed to start recruiting men who knew how to talk to women…

…huh. Not the best note she could have gotten privately couriered to her breakfast table, but it at least was something she could feasibly fit in. She finished up the last of her breakfast and deposited the tray before heading off in the direction of a place she was getting a bit too familiar with.

“Hina does not want to know,” she said as she walked into the cell area of the base’s jail. Not only was a roughed-up Smoker there, but Commander Cocoyasi and Ensign Donquixote as well, causing her to raise an eyebrow at the scruffy trio. “Ah. Still don’t want to know.”

“You should see the other guys,” Commander Cocoyasi smirked. She gestured to the cell across the way and one over where none of the occupants were even conscious before clapping Smoker on the shoulder. “You’ve got yourself a good one here; scrapper’s good in a fight.”

“Hina keeps her nose clean,” Hina replied, wrinkling her nose.

“Stick in the mud?”

“Someone needs to post bail.” She put the key in the lock and turned it, taking note of how noticably cowed both Smoker and Ensign Donquixote were, especially the latter as the Commander hefted him up to his feet. “Hina would not like this to become a habit.”

“We’ll try,” Ensign Donquixote promised. “Thank you.”

Hina knew that it was empty, though not out of contempt. She simply herded her now-charges out of the holding area and towards what she hoped was the first of what would be an infrequent number of times she’d have to bail them all out. She could only be considered a responsible custodian for so long, after all.

[twistedtummies2]

Fifteen Days of Disney Magic - Number 15

Welcome to Fifteen Days of Disney Magic! In honor of the company’s 100th Anniversary, I am counting down my Top 15 Favorite Movies from Walt Disney Animation Studios! Today, the countdown begins in earnest! My first entry on the countdown is a package full of fun! Number 15 is…Fun & Fancy Free!

For most people reading, this is likely going to be a surprising pick. While not by any means an atrocious film, “Fun & Fancy Free” is one of the more overlooked features in the Disney canon, and is also often regarded as one of the more confusing. Yet in a weird way, it’s insanely fitting this is the first film to start off this countdown. “Fun & Fancy Free” was released in 1947. It was one of several “package features” Disney produced during the wartime and post-war era. During that time period, it was harder for Walt and the team to make feature length movies, for multiple reasons. The solution was to take various short subjects and string them together into anthology film releases. In the case of this feature, there are two separate stories: one is the well-known “Mickey and the Beanstalk,” which is…exactly what it sounds like. Preceding this is another short entitled “Bongo,” the story of a circus bear who runs away into the wild. (This short was based on a story by Sinclair Lewis.) Both segments were originally planned as standalone movies in their own right (“Bongo” was even considered as a potential sequel to “Dumbo”), but the constraints the studio faced meant they had to be turned into two approximately half-hour-length short subjects, strung together by a framing device in this film. The framing device in question focuses on Jiminy Cricket, as he visits the home of child actress, Luana Patten; it is here that the first short is narrated by singer and actress, Dinah Shore. Jiminy later follows an unknowing Luana to a party hosted by old-time comedian and famed ventriloquist, Edgar Bergen, who tells the second story. While the film is not by any means terrible – if it was, it wouldn’t be on this countdown – I will concede that it is, in several ways, quite dated. Parts of this movie have simply not aged well. This is arguably most visible in the framing device: it’s the cause of most of the confusion for people watching the film. (For just one example, I can’t count how many times people talking about the film ask, “What’s with the weird puppet guy?” when they are introduced to Edgar Bergen in this movie. It’s a question that makes me feel physical pain, I swear.) Combined with the fact that the whole movie is, overall, rather simple and sweet in nature, it’s not surprising that it lacks the popularity of tons of other Disney movies. So, one must ask…why is this in my Top 15, and why would I say it is so perfect to start us off? Well, the reason I love “Fun & Fancy Free” so much is very simple to explain: I grew up with it. This was actually one of the first Disney movies I ever owned as a kid, and I watched it over and over again. It’s influenced me in a lot of ways, and while I recognize its issues…I still find myself revisiting it time and time again. It's a perfect film to start off this countdown because, as I said yesterday, most of the movies on this list are older Disney films: things from the pre-Renaissance era, most of them made when Walt Disney was still alive. Most of the Disney films I watched as a kid were older ones I had on VHS, such as this one.

My family rarely went to the movies to see a lot of the newer releases (at least as far as my memory can recall), and even when we did…to be honest, those one-time events did not leave the impact on me you’d expect. I don’t remember what the first Disney film I saw in theaters was. (I think it MIGHT have been Mulan, but I am not sure.) What left an impact on me were the movies I was able to watch frequently on videotape, and later DVD. And while I certainly had a lot of the newer films, gathering them as they came out – like Pocahontas, Hercules, Tarzan, and so on – the older ones were there, as far as I can recall, practically from the moment I left the womb. Even when they weren’t, they certainly felt like they were! This is also probably why a lot of the modern era movies aren’t in my Top 15: they’re even more recent, and while I HAVE seen many of them in theaters or via streaming, and I have revisited several of them more than once…it’s not the same as a movie you’ve been watching and cherishing in your heart since you were perhaps seven years old, sitting at your Aunt’s house, holding a plush bunny as you stare in wonder at the television screen. THAT, dear friends, is what “Fun & Fancy Free” is to me, and that is all it needs to be in order to make my Top 15. Several other features to come will be very much the same. The countdown has only just started, people! Tomorrow we continue with my 14th Favorite Disney Film! HINT: Two Fabulous Characters for the Price of One.

[gffa]

So I’ve been wanting to get into reading Star Wars books and have no effing idea where to start. Basically I’ve read the novelizations of a couple of movies, Jedi Apprentice everything and Rogue Planet because of my obsession with Obi-Wan back in the prequel era... and that’s it. Oh, and a few comics set in the Rebellion era.

Do you have any recommendations on where to start or just some good reads to start with? The obi-wan obsession is still alive and well if that’s a factor... anyway, thank you!

I’m going to include both canon and Legends in this list, because if you want more than, like, two recs for Obi-Wan stories, you’re pretty much going to have to dig into Legends, too.  Plus, they’re genuinely good stories and that continuity has a lot of value and great stuff! - Revenge of the Sith novelization by Matthew Stover, which I assume you’ve read already but just in case you haven’t!  The characterization for Anakin is really the selling point for this novelization + Stover knows how to deliver a killer line or twenty, it knows how to really pack a punch to the feelings and make that movie an even better experience. - Wild Space by Karen Miller has a lot of issues with the structure of it, it feels like two books stitched together, it doesn’t earn its ending, it prioritizes whump over staying true to the canon, it doesn’t really quite get the Jedi, but MAN is that book quotable as all hell and so dramatic and an absolute scream of a read, so it’s still one of my favorites to this day.  Miller’s work tends to be very iddy, but if you like that stuff, it’ll be stellar. - From a Certain Point of View: A New Hope by various authors.  The first anthology was absolutely stellar for the three prequels characters stories, the Yoda pov, the Obi-Wan pov, and the Qui-Gon pov are all must reads.  The Motti story is also the funniest thing I have read in my life.  (I, uh, to put it mildly do not recommend the second/ESB anthology.) - Dooku: Jedi Lost by Cavan Scott is an audiodrama and it’s a lot of fun and gives us a nice sketch of what the Jedi Temple was like, what Dooku’s time as a Padawan was like, and a really good look at Asajj Ventress’ character as she tries to uncover Dooku’s past. - Choose Your Destiny: An Obi-Wan & Anakin Adventure by Cavan Scott is very much a young readers book but I loved both characters here and there were some really hilarious moments in it.  It’s just fun to read. - Force Collector by Kevin Shinick is set in the sequels era and it doesn’t deal with the prequels characters much directly, but it is a lovely look at a Force-sensitive young man trying to figure out what the Force is telling him and to rediscover the actual truth about what happened to the Jedi Order, not what the galaxy says happens.  A lot of cool worldbuilding here that I loved! - Dark Rendezvous by Sean Stewart is probably the best book for the Jedi, as well as for Yoda and Dooku feelings, but all the Jedi get really good moments in this one, definitely read this! - Shatterpoint by Matthew Stover is focused on Mace, but again he brings his A-game to Star Wars and it’s an excellent read overall. - I haven’t finished either Labyrinth of Evil or The Rise of Darth Vader by James Luceno, but I’ve liked everything else I’ve read of his and I’ve heard good about these ones! - I’ve heard good about The Cestus Deception by Steven Barnes, though, I haven’t read it myself yet. - Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston has a bit of Obi-Wan and Anakin it, a couple of short scenes from Obi-Wan’s povs (like a single page short) and mostly Ahsoka occasionally thinking of them, but I enjoyed this book a lot for the look at Ahsoka’s character. - I have greatly enjoyed both Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule (definitely read this one first) and A Test of Courage by Justina Ireland, which are about the Jedi Order set about 200 years before the prequels and they’re set in a golden age where the Jedi are shown to be much more revered by the galaxy, there’s a lot more good faith going around, and yet you can see exactly how the cracks in it all are first appearing.  Lots of really good worldbuilding and fun action and Jedi stuff! If you’re looking to expand beyond the prequels or looking for some comics/etc. recs, I have a handful of posts that may help you out here, here, here, here, and here..

[fireworksoffashion]

I started watching Naruto when I was 12. I'm now 27. During my first year of watching, I started to enjoy Naruto and Sasuke's relationship. At the time, I didn't even know what shipping was.

I loved and loved their relationship more and more, in 2014 Naruto ended; however, until now, I have not been freed from their legendary love. But as an adult, this torments me even more, they didn’t receive the solvent, and it ended in disappointment and omissions. I really see their relationship as love, extremely romantic, sincere, pure, delicate, can't live without you kind of love. The best love story I have ever seen or read. NaruSasu is the best love story. And as an adult, I somehow understand why Kishimoto didn't openly let them be with each other in the manga. Thinking it was inappropriate for the age group. But he wrote and developed their love purposefully. Could he stand his ground and finish with the open ending? I think the money didn't let him do it. Naruto is one of the most popular anime. So they needed a sequel. And when I try to decide on it: it's just sad. I don't consider anything rather than Kishimoto draw canon, anything, so the only canon boruto material is Gaiden, anything related to Ikemoto is non-canon as it has nothing to do with Kishimoto, and only the original author can develop his characters.

So, thinking about Naruto and Sasuke's relationship in the boruto era, when Kishimoto made it clear that Sasuke and Sakura were not married, Sasuke is not interested in either Sakura or Sarada. Which makes the whole story of Sasuke from the very beginning till now so sad. He lives alone, outside of the village, and only interacts with Naruto. He does what Naruto wants (or thinks Naruto wants him to work for the village and protect Konoha). IMHO, he only does it for Naruto.

I think if it was for an 18+ audience, Kishimoto would more directly hint or show that Sasuke has a full relationship with Naruto (romantic, sexual). And looking from Sasuke's point of view, live alone, wait to meet Naruto and have him for a while, and then let him go to his work and family, until their next meeting. I think it's in his nature to think that he doesn't deserve Naruto and can't make things difficult for him, so the best thing he can do is just be there for Naruto, even if it's not enough for himself.

When it comes to Naruto, having a family and romance with Sasuke is completely out of character. At least Naruto, pictured from 1999 to 2014, was too sincere, pure and a good of a person to do something like that. I mean, he won't just do Sasuke once in a while and come home. Just because Naruto could never treat him like some kind of secret that should be hidden. I only see this situation when Sasuke left the village, when Naruto gave him his headband, Naruto was so heartbroken that he agreed to any relationship just to minimize his feelings for Sasuke. But he fails and when Sasuke returns Naruto allows himself to open up to Sasuke and this time Sasuke doesn't have the strength to push him away. And Sasuke thinks that taking Naruto away from his position as Hokage, away from his children, would be a terrible thing to do to Naruto, so he just lets Naruto in once in a while when it hurts too much.

And Naruto agrees to this relationship because Sasuke only allows this much, but only if Sasuke openly asks Naruto to drop everything and go with him Naruto would do it. And Sasuke doesn't give himself the right to complicate and intervene in Naruto's life like that.

So I strongly believe that Kishimoto has one unfinished business and when he understands how he will finally let them openly be happy with each other. Because their love is still alive and needs justice.

I just needed to figure out how their relationship worked during the Boruto era, and that's the only explanation I could have.

[laufire]

ALL OF YOUR SPN WIPS SOUND SO GOOD. okay hard to narrow down but for the wip game can I ask about 1) caswena met before 2) endverse sastiel 3) demonblood kids 2.0 and 4) time traveling jack?

also on the btvs side, 100% support the vampire kendra sequel she deserved wayyy more screentime

Thank you <3

Okay, one by one.

-Caswena met before: this is... one out of three, maybe four? WIPs where I plan to address Castiel's stolen memories. Because I still think it's ridiculous that the show dropped that information to never address it again!

The basic premise is simple: what if Castiel and Rowena had met in the past (likely in less than friendly circumstances), and that memory was stolen from him? She wouldn't be aware of it either, as Castiel would've showed up with a different vessel. Maybe I'd bring back the one from "Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets", because of totally not shallow reasons.

I don't have much more yet, as it's lower on my list of priorities than other WIPs. I just got the idea and added it to the list because I think Caswena is a hot, fun rareship people should pay more attention to xD (I also plan to indulge in some fake married!Caswena in the Desperate Housewives crossover lmao).

-Endverse Sastiel: we never saw endverse!Castiel dead, so I choose to believe he isn't. I mean, I'd consider it very in character for Lucifer to leave Castiel alive (especially season 5 Lucifer, who lbr, feels different than the rest...). Maybe out of some distant sentimentality. And/or enjoying having a righteous angel to torment (like Lucifer taunting him with the possibility of returning some powers to him, for example).

This Castiel would feel even more defeated than we saw in the episode after Dean's death and he'd just... give up. At least, until something happened that, for a brief moment, was enough to bring Sam to the surface. And anger and hope would return then.

I both envision this as one of my "darker" ideas, even for the Endverse (the others don't deal as much with Lucifer. Lucifer is awful xD), yet somehow the one with a chance at a happy-ish/bittersweet ending lmao (within the parameters of the Endverse, where err... about everyone and everything is dead ^^U).

-Demon Blood Kids 2.0: this was an idea surged by some asks from a mutual. Basically, what if at some point demons in Hell tried to bring back this experiment, albeit with different goals than the original?

The story would, ofc, centre around Sam. My idea right now is making it 100% canon compliant. As in, including the information about his life in 15x20 lol. I find the idea of trying to make All Of That make sense and fit within this plot (the random blurry woman, the kid, etc.) a stimulating challenge, what can I say xD. I want to see if I can pull it off.

So the premise would be Sam finding out about those new experiments and being thrown back into that world, with all his conflicting feelings about him. Other returning cast members would be Rowena, as queen of Hell of course; Castiel, Meg and Ruby from the Empty (because Drama. But also because I have this headcanon of Meg as a demon blood kid 0.1 version. I think Hell tried this before and Meg was one of the original Azazel kids, basically. Tom as well). Eileen, because even if I don't ship it and I'm disappointed with how canon wrote them, the resolution is bullshit. And some others.

-Time Travelling Jack: I love time travelling fics and time travelling angst in all its forms. It's actually preposterous it took so long for me to get a solid idea with this premise, tbh.

I started thinking, hey, what if Jack not only was stuck in the past, but specifically in season 9? human!Castiel, possessed!Sam era? And, to make things even angstier, what if it happens after 15x18, precisely at that moment in 15x19 where he's on the street alone, quietly mourning Castiel?

So yeah, that's the Jack that travels back in time. Before Dean gets the Mark of Cain, setting the chain of events that lead to Lucifer escaping the cage. Which, spoiler alert, Jack is going to be determined to prevent. Yeah... he's not in the best emotional state on this one asñdlkfjasf.

Oh, one thing I'm looking forward to with this fic is the possibility of Jack interacting with Gadreel. I think it would be very very neat LOL. Another spoiler is that Kevin doesn't die here, of course :)))

-Vampire Kendra sequel: it would be a continuation of "Beware of Greeks bearing gifs", a one-shot I wrote a couple years ago. I have a lot of ideas of what happens after (Buffy returning to Sunnydale and finding out, Kendra and Faith meeting and how that would alter s3, Angel & Kendra bonding, Kendra & Drusilla's... very messy sire/sired dynamic xD, and so on). It's just I don't have anything concrete inspiring me at the moment. But I love Kendra and I want to write more about her, so I will eventually return to that AU.

ask me about my WIPs!

[mejomonster]

im going to cry ff7 remake rlly is just sephiroth trying to write a time travel fix it (or whatev bizarre idea he has of fixing,,,) and just. making things a burning dumpster fire. wtf man look at what u did!! u made the main group fight the emobdiement of fate or whatev! u made parallel universes?? IDKK. when i watched a playthrough of it i thought it was like. a full redo of the og game following the plot exactly and that was my first exposure to ff7. but uh ig its,,,canon divergence?? an au?? nomura rlly went what if we let sephiroth write a (dubious) fix it. like ngl i am curious to see where it'll go but. it rlly is a trip finding that out ToT.

100% there with you!!!!!!! OH MAN

So I have played 80% of the original before I played the remake, so im aware of some differences. I played 70% of the remake but have not finished yet- but I spoiled myself and watched reviews so I know there's some time travel, multiple sephiroths, some very curious things afoot and most important - the potential for the remake to have a completely new unknown story than the original.

(On a fan level I am. Mildly annoyed because I only ever wanted a very easy thing: the original with just slightly nicer models than ugly Legos, and voice acting, for a remake. That's all I wanted. And apparently the mod Echo S for computer with the original steam version of ffvii will fulfill my wish for that eventually. So like I've long accepted that this Remake is not what I wanted, but instead more like yet another new addition to the compendium extended story of new FFVII materials like Crisis Core and Dirge of Cerberus were. Which when I view it that way, i like it much better. But still tiny bit bitter they never just went the much easier remaster route back in the ps3 era lol. I am also as a gamer a bit annoyed they padded the Remake part 1 wirh so many long dungeon segments the original did not have, void of story moments or any additions except extra game play time, when I'd have preferred a game taking me 20 hours to 40 but wirh more story content/meaningful content per minute but that's more my personal preference).

I am. Very fascinated by whatever the fuck is going on wirh sephiroth in Remake. By the fact my boy zack may be alive my fave ff character.

By rhe fact I have a theory this sephiroth may either be pre Nibelheim sephiroth (which was a lot more like zack fair and Angelus and might even ally with cloud) or post Advent Children like, which also would be a sephiroth more self aware of Aerith and Zack Fair and Cloud and what Shinra did, what the planet wants, how he was played personally when emotional etc. Which could also end up more finding himself allied instead of a full on bad guy this time around which would be fascinating, although it would be a bigger divergence. Especially with zack fair around, and zack fairs background as a work Peer of sephiroth who actually helped him and went thru being experimented on too. His connection to cloud and sephiroth and aerith, how that could affect who would be so hostile or less hostile to who. There is a Lot of cool room for exploration. Now... do i trust square Enix to logically thoughtfully explore these cool angles they have opened themselves up to? Lol well I'm not sure I do. But there's a cool potential to be sure

Anyway like you said IT SURE IS A TRIP FINDING IT OUT and I'm still contemplating tbh. Will be contemplating more wjen I beat remake or finish watching a lets play lol

I would highly recommend the original or a lets play though. If you can tolerate the graphics and age! The remake seems to be in a way JUST as much an additional new game, as Crisis Core was a prequel or Dirge of Cerberus was a sequel. So I feel like seeing the original is some useful plot info, and I'm not entirely sure the Remake moving forward will either go back to Similar to original or diverge even more thoroughly.

I'm happy to report tifa/aerith being super close was also a thing in the original and I love that, aerith being kickass and less shy than tifa was in the original like the remake, cloud is a tiny confused man pretending to be tough in both, Barret is fairly on point, and overall i found all the characterizations fairly good in tje remake (sephiroth is somewhat different but he's clearly not following originals plot so I'm not sure where he's at in his characterization arcs lol).

[chenoehi]

It’s interesting to me that in addition to attempts (by a minority) to change the series start date of 1996 to the 2000s (more on that in another post), people are now also trying to say that Inuyasha is not 200+ years old. And the main reason why I see them doing it is because it’s a popular response now to “Well, what about Inuyasha being shipped with Kagome, a 15 year old?” So now Inuyasha can’t be 200+ anymore, he has to be 15 in human years, even though he was always around 15 mentally despite being 200+ years old (that’s never changed). Technically, that’s not even right. Inuyasha was pinned to a tree for 50 years so he’d be at least 75.

Instead of just pointing out that Inuyasha and Kagome are the same age mentally, now people on all sides of the issue are just deciding that facts are what they make them so they can support their position. I’m not even just talking about Inuyasha’s age because his age was never confirmed in the original manga or show that I know of. I’ve just come across posts and other comments on tumblr right now that state no one shipped Inuyasha with Kagome while she was 15 and that she was only shipped with Inuyasha post her return to the feudal era. I nearly had a stroke. Really, my brain stopped working for like five seconds. Is that really how far people are willing to go?

I don’t personally know where the information about Inuyasha’s age came from before, just like I don’t know why it’s assumed Sesshomaru is 900+ (personally I doubt that he is). But it has been the long-held belief that Inuyasha was around 150 when he met Kikyo and then he spent 50 years pinned to the tree making him about 200 years old. Mentally and physically, he looks to be 15 just like it’s said that Sesshomaru is 19 years old and Koga has said to have the appearance of a 15 year old or an 18 year old (depending on where you’re getting the information).

There is nothing that I know of in the manga or anime that states he’s 200+ years old, just that we know he’s been pinned to the Sacred Tree for 50 years making him at least 50+ years old. It has been vaguely implied that he’s much older. Inuyasha said his mother died a long time and that could just mean it feels like a long time ago if she died while he was still a young child, or Inuyasha aged more slowly than humans and so by the time his mother died he was still young. Considering that after 50 years he looks the same as he did when he was pinned to the tree, I’m more inclined to believe he’s a slow ager and it really has been a long time. There’s also the arc in the anime with all the commentary on Sesshomaru being miffed about how Inuyasha could not help with the fight against the panther demons because he had been pinned to the tree, along with their initial battle over Tessaiga, all vaguely suggesting that Inuyasha and Sesshomaru have some longer history than a few years. Because that’s all it would have been if Inuyasha were only 15 years old before being pinned to the tree; we see him running in a forest as a child, presumably when his mother died, and he’s alone. He was possibly 8, 9, maybe 10 (he’s not a tall guy). But, we could always throw that out and forget the panther arc because that was filler. There’s always the issue of people talking about Toga as though it has been a long time since he was alive, and so it certainly feels like it could have been centuries since he was alive just like it feels as though Inuyasha and Sesshomaru have a long history with each other. But that’s still not confirmation obviously.

So, with seemingly no confirmation in the manga or anime, it must have been left to Rumiko or someone to suggest ages for Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. They had to come from somewhere and had some basis. I don’t personally know if Rumiko herself came up with those numbers. Honestly, even if she did, it’s kind of like a Dumbledore being gay situation all over. Just because J.K. Rowling decided Dumbledore could be gay doesn’t excuse it not being explicitly stated or shown. Prior to the Fantastic Beasts series, it was just implied as a possibility at best. Now, with Yashahime, they are going with Inuyasha being 200+ years old and have confirmed that in the actual show. Whether you want to accept the show as canon or not, it was previously held that he was 200+ years old and now we have evidence in the show’s sequel that he is, in fact, that old. It’s not a retcon per se if they confirm what we already believed. If Rumiko stated that Sesshomaru was 900+ and then Sunrise decides upon an age for Sesshomaru that’s younger than that, we could say that’s a retcon. Technically, none of their ages aside from Kagome are confirmed in the show, but you could still say it’s a retcon I guess if it goes against something the creator stated (even if the creator didn’t put it in the show, which I have a problem with personally).

I find it very transparent to shift things on a dime so that you can bolster your argument. Take for example, my personal theory that Sesshomaru is closer to 500 years old than 900 or 1,000. I think we’ve been given some information that supports this theory and it would make sense to me personally. Does that change anything with the Sesshomaru/Rin dynamic? No, not really. So my saying I think he’s actually 500 instead of 900 can’t be used to support an argument that ‘well, Sesshomaru’s actually younger in demon years, and well, 500 years old isn’t as old as 1,000 in demon years’. That would be a stupid argument. We already know from Inuyasha that at 200 years old you at least have the maturity of someone around the age of 15. Sesshomaru is older than Inuyasha, therefore, he has to have the maturity of someone older than 15. Therefore, anyone who has a problem with the sessrin pairing is still going to have a problem. But apparently it’s popular now to say that Inuyasha was only ever 15 (as in 15 human years) and to also state that he grows at the rate of humans (even though we don’t actually know that for a fact). All to avoid having to discuss their age gap. There is an age gap. If it wasn’t confirmed before, HNY has confirmed it now.

Technically, the InuKag age gap is not the same as the sessrin age gap because while Inuyasha may be 200+ years old, he’s mentally 15 and Kagome is also 15. So anyone who has a problem with sessrin because Rin was still a child when they met doesn’t need to try and change Inuyasha’s age. If we’re talking about mental age and maturity of the characters upon their meeting, these two age gaps are apples and oranges.

[not-wholly-unheroic]

On the Origins of Hook: The Complicated and Often Contradictory Backstory of a Villain

The story of Peter Pan has been told and retold in writing, on the stage, and on the big screen countless times, yet in the original storyline, we are thrust into a world with a pre-established (and presumably long-standing) relationship between its hero and villain with little information regarding their pasts. So far as the audience is concerned, Peter and Hook have always been a part of the Neverland...yet as evidenced by the many retellings that attempt to answer the question of these characters’ origins, clearly, people want to know more. Barrie, however, leaves a great deal to the imagination and while he tackles a bit of Peter’s past in The Little White Bird, there is significantly less information about Hook in his writings, and much of it is up for debate, as Barrie arguably contradicts himself. 

In terms of canon (which for the purposes of this article I am limiting to Barrie’s final published version of the novel), much of what we know about Hook can only be inferred from a few brief passages. In the initial introduction of the pirates, Barrie gives us the following description of Hook:

In the midst of them, the blackest and largest in that dark setting, reclined James Hook, or as he wrote himself, Jas. Hook, of whom it is said he was the only man that the Sea-Cook feared. He lay at his ease in a rough chariot drawn and propelled by his men, and instead of a right hand he had the iron hook with which ever and anon he encouraged them to increase their pace. As dogs this terrible man treated and addressed them, and as dogs they obeyed him. In person he was cadaverous and blackavized, and his hair was dressed in long curls, which at a little distance looked like black candles, and gave a singularly threatening expression to his handsome countenance. His eyes were of the blue of the forget-me-not, and of a profound melancholy, save when he was plunging his hook into you, at which time two red spots appeared in them and lit them up horribly. In manner, something of the grand seigneur still clung to him, so that he even ripped you up with an air, and I have been told that he was a raconteur [storyteller] of repute. He was never more sinister than when he was most polite, which is probably the truest test of breeding; and the elegance of his diction, even when he was swearing, no less than the distinction of his demeanour, showed him one of a different cast from his crew. A man of indomitable courage, it was said that the only thing he shied at was the sight of his own blood, which was thick and of an unusual colour. In dress he somewhat aped the attire associated with the name of Charles II, having heard it said in some earlier period of his career that he bore a strange resemblance to the ill-fated Stuarts; and in his mouth he had a holder of his own contrivance which enabled him to smoke two cigars at once. But undoubtedly the grimmest part of him was his iron claw.

From this, we may be able to draw a few conclusions about who Hook was before he came to the island. (1) He was likely a sailor, if not a pirate, BEFORE he met Peter, given that he had previous interactions with “The Sea Cook”--that is, Long John Silver. (2) He was alive and most likely an adult by the mid 1700s, as in Treasure Island, Billy Bones--a former crewmate of Silver’s--has the date 1745 in his log and the dates 1750 and 1754 on his treasure maps. (3) Hook’s hairstyle and fashion is similar to that of Charles II, whose reign ended with his death in 1685. 

We are also informed by John that Hook was supposed to have been Blackbeard’s bosun. Blackbeard was born somewhere around 1680 and may have been a privateer earlier in his career at sea, but he didn’t actually take up piracy until 1716 and had only a very brief reign of terror before he was killed off the coast of North Carolina in 1718. Assuming Hook was meant to be Blackbeard’s bosun after he went pirate, this gives us a pretty narrow window of time during which Hook might have interacted with him. And, if we take the comment about the Sea Cook seriously, then Hook must have been pretty young at the time he worked for Blackbeard, given that there is a twenty-seven year gap between Blackbeard’s death and the earliest date Billy Bones offers in connection with Silver. 

Hook also uses words and phrases such as, “Pan, who and what art thou?” which would seem to indicate that he is from a time period centuries before the Darlings come to visit. (“Thee” and “thou” had pretty much completely fallen out of common use in English by the late 1700s/early 1800s.)

So far, so good. The dates might make it a bit of a stretch, but we can pretty comfortably say that prior to Neverland, Hook was a sailor--and probably a pirate--during the 1700s, was likely born in the late 1600s, and was possibly a related to Charles II, who had many illegitimate children. This possibility fits nicely with Barrie’s statement that, “Hook was not his true name. To reveal who he really was would even at this date set the country in a blaze.”

We don’t know much about his parentage, however, except that Hook’s voice cracks when he is speaking to Smee about mothers regarding the neverbird’s refusal to leave her eggs even after the nest falls into the water. Whether this is because he was close to his own mother and is lamenting her loss or he had a rather indifferent (or even cruel) mother and he is lamenting his own lack of a loving childhood is up for debate, though the official sequel, Peter Pan in Scarlet--written in 2006 by Geraldine McCaughrean--favors the second interpretation. (Again, however, for the purposes of this article, I am only considering Barrie’s published novel as canon.)

We also learn that Hook attended Eton, a rather prestigious school for boys between the ages of thirteen and eighteen. Assuming Hook completed his schooling there and was, therefore, at least eighteen by the time he joined up with Blackbeard, it would place his being born somewhere close to 1700. Assuming his interaction with Long John Silver was, at the earliest, probably around 1745, and that this interaction happened prior to his visiting the Neverland, it puts Hook (physically) at approximately age 45 by the time we meet him in the book, give or take a bit.

There are two potential problems with that timeline, however. (1) In Barrie’s original novel, only Peter stays young forever. The boys can technically grow up, and Peter “thins them out�� when they do. (Decide for yourself whether that means banishment or something worse.) If this is the case, Hook shouldn’t still be alive or, even if the aging process is slowed down, at the very least, he should be an old man, given that the Darlings visit in the early 1900s...making him at least two hundred years old. (2) Near the end of the book, when Hook is trying to convince the boys to join his pirate crew and John asks innocently whether they would still be loyal subjects of the king, Hook responds with, “You would have to swear, ‘Down with King George!’” John (and likely the audience) assumes here that Hook is talking about King George V, who would have been the present king of England at the time the novel was published. If this is the case, how does Hook know who the king is? Has he been able to leave the island and find out this information? Or is Hook, perhaps, from a more modern era than we suspect? Cleverly, Barrie leaves this question open-ended, as Hook could just as easily have been referring to King George the First, who ruled England from 1714 until 1727. 

As for personal hobbies, we know only that he loves flowers and plays the harpsichord--an instrument that was once quite popular but which had fallen out of favor by the 1800s, replaced by the piano. 

The rest of the information we get from Barrie about Hook’s origins comes primarily from his “Hook at Eton” speech, delivered in 1927--many years after his original play (1904) and novel (1911). And here’s where things get interesting (read: contradictory). Because he wrote the speech so many years later,  as a sort of afterthought, and because of the inconsistences with the novel, I personally reject this information as canon. Nevertheless, it is Barrie’s take on his own character and, therefore, is worth at least considering.

In this work, we are told that Hook not only attended Eton but also--at least briefly--went to Oxford. This in and of itself poses no major problems for the timeline suggested by the novel.  What DOES pose a problem, however, is the fact that Barrie claims to have been in contact with Hook’s “Aunt Emily”--apparently his closest surviving relative--and has been in search of possible photographs of Hook during his time there. This would indicate that Hook MUST be from a much later, more modern era than the book suggests, as photography didn’t really come into fashion until the mid-1800s, and even if “Aunt Emily” is quite old (and she is likely a good fifteen to twenty years OLDER than Hook if we assume she is near in age to one of his parents) at the time of Barrie’s supposed meeting with her, she couldn’t have reasonably been expected to have been born before the early 1800s, placing Hook’s own birth nearer to the 1850s. While some of the information in the novel might be explained away to fit with this date (his choice of dress and hairstyle, for instance), he could not possibly have interacted with Blackbeard or Long John Silver. In fact, he could not have been a pirate--at least, not in the traditional sense--at all, as the Golden Age of Piracy (1650s--1730s) had long passed and the Age of Sail ended in the 1860s. Because of this inconsistency, some have argued that Barrie may have intended Hook to be a more modern man who essentially became trapped in a child’s fantasy land. He became a “pirate” only AFTER his interactions with Pan--that is, he took on the role of a villain because that is how Peter and the children imagined him--and that John’s assertions about his interactions with Blackbeard and Silver are merely rumors that the boy has heard.

Setting aside this apparent contradiction in the timeline, we DO learn some other interesting facts about Hook. For instance, Hook’s blood (which was said in the novel to be thick and strangely colored), is specified as having been yellow. This, along with his appearance having been described in the novel  as “cadaverous” has lead some to conclude that Hook was likely rather sickly as a child. We also learn that Hook enjoyed the Lake poets and strawberry mess (a dessert),  collected keys, performed well in sports while at Eton (though he did not like water sports as he rather surprisingly hated the feeling of water on his skin), and played the flute. We also learn that he was politically conservative and was probably never in a romantic relationship. 

There are a few other bits of information about Barrie’s idea of Hook that can be found in the early manuscripts for the play, which feature “deleted scenes.” One such manuscript--the earliest, I believe--can be found here. (Though good luck with reading it without going cross-eyed because Barrie’s handwriting is BAD.) However, I think this post has gone on long enough, yet we are still left with many unanswered questions. But perhaps this is what Barrie intended all along. Perhaps, fittingly, we are ultimately left to fill in the blanks about this villain of the Neverland with our own imagination. 

_____

Thanks to @katherinenotgreat for asking me to do a post on Hook’s origins. Thanks also to @concordia-cum-sinistro for your input. Feel free to add your own information regarding the original manuscript drafts, as I know you are more familiar with them than I am.

[phantomchick]

List of wips - aka struggles

Call Me A Jason Todd fic I started two years ago and still go back to poke at longingly, will the second and final chapter ever be posted? Who can know for sure.

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I tell myself that I don't need Anyone (But the truth is no one needs Me) Another Jason Todd fic I haven't completed, posted two years ago for whumptober, it was the only day of whumptober I participated in, intended to be full of Captain Atom and Jason Todd interacting during the fall out of Bludhaven getting chemo'd but he doesn't show up in the first chapter and have you ever tried to read Infinite Crisis? It's a fucking mess. With this wip I have a close to justifiable excuse in that I refuse to write without knowing the canon, and reading through all the canon that's relevant is A Task.

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The Monster in The Man A Merlin fic floating around my drafts, currently at a good bit over 5k wherein Merlin gets POSSESSED by an old enchantment gone mad. Written because a Merlin fic I read ended on a horror style cliffhanger and I couldn't handle it so I charged my way through the first 2k of a sequel and I've been adding to it ever since. Angst with a hopefully happy ending, if I ever frikking finish it.

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The Dragon Lord In the aftermath of his father's death after Merlin inherits his father's dragon lord abilities he notices some minor changes to his interactions with his friends, the thing is that Merlin is a dragon lord and unusually what he hoards is people, things might just turn out the better for it.

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Maelstrom A Naruto time travel fix it fic that wouldn't leave me alone until I got the first chapter out, ironically it has left me entirely alone since I finished the first chapter and I have no idea if inspiration for it will ever return or when that will be.

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You Don't Know Anything Long long ago in a land of asks and a time of legend @paradise-runway sent me a fic request for "one where the other Bat boys find out the circumstances of Jason's death and resurrection and their reaction?" it has been lingering in my drafts haunting me ever since, someday, someday I shall fulfill what has been promised.

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Of Curses and Covenants A longfic exploring the magical underbelly of Gotham's history, focuses on the intertwined relationship of the Wayne Family and the Zatara Family brought about by how often Waynes through the generations have ended up being cursed. I have an index of all the curses ready, the problem with this one is the plot and the story.

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Vicki Finds a Bat (temporary title) Vicki Vale stumbles upon a still alive young adult Jason Todd at a wafflehouse on the way back from snooping into Cobblepot's latest criminal schemes. Convincing the young man to go back home to his loving father might prove more of a challenge than she thinks however. (will have a happy ending if I ever fucking finish it, for now it looms in my drafts like an unhappy gargoyle)

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Hug Deficit A fic about Jason being touch starved and his family fixing it, hurt/comfort all the way, post resurrection.

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Stephanie Brown and The Mansion of Man Pain Robin Era Steph, she and Alfred have pumpkin spice lattes together, it's their thing because I say it is. Includes, Alfred raised 5 boys counting Bruce, he's not sure how to handle a little girl and Bruce trying to dad plus Steph trying her best. Would be a lot easier to write if I was any good at comedy.

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Another Time, Another Place Some twenty years or so after their death, Martha and Thomas Wayne appear in the middle of Wayne Manor's ground floor parlour room, the major problem with this? Not only are Bruce and Dick away, Alfred's on holiday in England! Which is why Jason as the eldest has been unwillingly nominated by his younger siblings to deal with the situation at hand. Martha and Thomas in this are heavily inspired by @unpretty's amazing portrayals in her fics with them.

- Queen Blackfire and the Lazarus Lord An au with Soulmate identifying marks: Jason Todd was having an okay time as de-facto leader of The Outlaws, a band of misfits and rebels with hearts of gold (or at least silver) saving the world the best they could and filling in the gaps the more straightforward heroes tended to miss while they were at it. Then he found out he was soulmates with the Alien Warrior Queen bent on declaring war on planet Earth if the Justice League didn't find her soulmate for her. Things with his friend, team mate and potential future sister in law Kori just got super awkward and the only good thing he can find about this situation is how angry (and protective? But maybe he's just imagining that) Bruce seems over the whole thing.

Side note: Kommand'r freaked out during the years Jason was 'dead' and accidentally brought peace to a huge chunk of space and intergalactic society via building up her empire after throwing herself into work to escape the grief.

- To Grasp The Hand of a Fox Naruto and Kurama travel back in time to save the world but unfortunately they land in the same moment that Kurama's just been put under a genjutsu by Madara Uchiha, Naruto has to make his way to Konoha and wake Kurama up before the villagers seal him away inside Mito. Can he save his friend in time to save them all?

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Those Winter Sundays Mcu fic. Snapshots of Tony working hard for the avengers and no one noticing. Civil War Team Iron Man.

- Salvation Rides a Solar Wind Iron Man fic in a Science fiction / Western style fic where Tony's presence is described through the eyes of the aliens he helps. Au where the war with Thanos goes very differently. The type of fic that needs like 5 multi chapter fics in a single series to truly shine, hence why I will likely never finish it.

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And We Break Away Again Jason goes back to Talia after Damian is brought back from the dead by Bruce. It's not that he begrudges his little brother his resurrection, the opposite, but he can't ignore what Bruce did to him by taking him to the magdala valley and he can't ignore what Bruce doing for Damian what he didn't do for him, (do for Dick, do for any of them besides the blood related one) means. So he decides to go back to the only person who ever seemed to understand why he wanted to avenge himself in the first place, the only person who seemed to agree that he had a right to be angry that he'd died at all, the only person he can trust to hold him together while he feels like he's falling apart that won't judge him against the heroic mold while they're at it. Not sure if this will be a oneshot or a series but we're going good Talia with this one regardless, DC's been ruining her lately but through fanfic all things are possible so fuck them.

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Fan The Flames In the aftermath of a magical fire taking hold of the Daily Planet in Metropolis, Superman is missing, can Batman and the rest of the Justice League find their friend as well as the identity of the evil arsonist before Lex Luther does it first?

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In a Whisper (In a Wish) Ichigo Kurosaki protects people, it's not just who he is, it's what he is, down to the core of his very soul. The only problem is, that a few weeks ago he sacrificed half his soul to protect the world. It aches inside where he knows something important used to be. When everyone he cares for is avoiding him and he's starting to feel more like a shadow than a person, that aches at him too and he can't help but wish, quietly, privately, painfully, to himself if no one else that things were different, that he wasn't so broken or so alone. But if wishes were fishes they'd fill a whole sea (just be careful not to whisper them within the hearing range of the Hōgyoku).

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An Honest Conversation (Is A Bitter Thing To Crave) Jason kidnaps Bruce but things don't go as Bruce expects. First of all the reason Jason was able to kidnap him was because Stephanie of all people was his insider, why would she support someone Batman knows she's only met once. And second of all the reason he's been abducted - So that Jason can drug them both with the same substance. And when Bruce asks what he's doing this for Jason only responds, "We don't trust each other enough to have a truthful conversation otherwise" and refuses to say anything more while they wait for it to kick in. What will be revealed by this forced honest encounter on both sides? -

carrying the world on thin shoulders Midoriya Izuku deserves better from literally all the adults in his life so this is part whump part hurt comfort part fix it fic that sprawls out from time to time but it's pretty bad tbh, at some point I'll probably make it neater and give it something resembling a coherent plot. Hopefully. -

Trust Issues HP fic. Harry gets dosed with a potion that's supposed to reinforce your strongest survival instinct, the person who drugged him might've intended to be helpful but said potion happened to be at extra strength and he was given what would be a normal fix for the regular version but for this one is twice the recommended amount. Great.. The biggest problem about all this - beyond his internationally wanted godfather Sirius endangering himself by hiding out in a cave near Hogsmeade against all rational advice, his best friend Ron hating him, everyone in school besides his other best friend Hermione also hating him or avoiding him and the entire Goblet of Fire problem - is that he can't bring himself to trust anyone enough to tell them what's wrong.

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Truth is Treason in the Empire of Lies A post marvel avengers story, thor pov probably, made because I like to dive into a pool of thor & loki sibling feels sometimes: Starts off as Thor regales his new human shield brothers with the story of his banishment and return to Asgard ending with Loki falling into the Void and the Avengers have some questions, questions Thor had not thought of, remarks on things that Thor doesn’t know how to explain away.  After he goes to Loki’s cell and asks him some things he becomes more and more angry despite having no one he can punch > Gets drunk and criticises Sif and The Warriors Three after they try to calm him down > mention of Loki still being underage by Aesir standards during Thor 1 seeing as Thor was being crowned due to being of age in the movie > heavy inspiration drawn from queen regnant by peaceheather. “For while the Treason I detest, the Traitor I love still.” Currently just an outline.

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Separation Split personality disorder Red Hood and Jason Todd, alternatively, Red Hood is a demon/parasite latched on to Jay. A lot of work necessary considering right now it’s currently just an idea inspired by a cool tumblr fanart.

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A Trinity of Head Wounds The dcu trinity in the aftermath of a fight against some alien invaders (or something along those lines), whump, hurt/comfort, starts with them arguing, ends with them bleeding on each other in a friendship way, whole thing should take place in a single room on the watchtower and be a oneshot so it's gotta be a short and sweet one-two gut punch with the feelings which is difficuuult.

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A Stark in The Stars an mcu fic, a really over complicated mcu fic, mostly because of Steve Roger's timeline fuckery, Tony's alive but he's not supposed to be, but so are a lot of people who were dead but aren't now you might say what with the snap and the blip. The thing is that Steve's timeline fuckery is making it so that everyone keeps getting confused between the two different timelines of events, obviously more confused the more that their characters were connected to the films/the events that were altered, the punchline of this particular fic though is that Tony's still alive and he's unaware of the timeline of events where he died. And as he's currently in space he's also unaware that everyone on Earth thinks he's dead (because why wouldn't they? he died in endgame after all). That makes this fic super tough to write because like ultimate unreliable narrator right here and not sure how to tie in the whole 'oh wait actually everyone on Earth thinks I'm dead because of the canon timelines' thing in or at what point of the story to do that at. The fuckery of it all gives me a headache. Plot is hard. Also all of that's basically background to the actual focus of most of the fic thus far which is Tony travelling around space in an Iron Man suit up until the point where it won't be background.

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Magic Chained Merlin au. When you put magic restraining cuffs on Magic himself you don't just bind him you bind all magic the world over. It is therefore, infinitely lucky that Uther Pendragon never became aware of this fact.

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A Child in The Cold bnha Midoriya deserves better also Recovery Girl and Aizawa have shit to answer for as far as I'm concerned.

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