#Ignis themed...maybe?

[nerdyrogue]

It's Spring Break so back to the trampoline park we go!

[sebek-zigbolt]

gueh, its all igni

[ryuichirou]

More dark hcs

We have a bunch of asks about some dark-themed hcs, I’ll try to reply to everything today. As always, it took me ages, but I am still grateful for these asks. Thank you to all the Anons in this post!

Ships mentioned in this post: Ortho/Idia (Igni mob/Idia), Floyd/Idia, Jade/Idia, Trey/Idia, Trey/Vil

Anonymous asked:

Do you have yandere headcanons for tweels? Or they are not much different in your opinion?

In terms of darkness and fucked-up-ness, they really aren’t very different; I feel like every single hc list we have for the tweels is somewhat dark, but! A yandere is a bit different because yandere’s actions are motivated by obsessive love and devotion.

And I am not saying that Jade and Floyd with their “now I’m interested, now I’m not” personalities can’t get obsessive, but it’s a bit more tricky for me to think about them in this scenario. But “tricky” doesn’t mean “impossible”, so yes, I do in fact have some yandere headcanons for them! I hope I don’t repeat myself though, sorry if I do.

The target of their obsession in this list is Idia, I hope this is okay with you.

Alright, let’s go then:

Anonymous asked:

Just to complete all of Idia’s evil exes, how about headcanons for the Tweels and Trey as yanderes for him (Sorry, Idia, I swear I do love you 😭)

(Idia deserves all the love, especially if it’s obsessive, Anon….)

Jade+Floyd/Idia:

The more Idia tries to avoid them, the more obsessive they become. They didn’t mind him paying attention to other people and doing other stuff at first, but the more Idia openly avoids the Tweels, the more they want him. At first they just started to get clingier: Floyd literally started touching and hugging Idia all the time, Jade – texting Idia every other minute and cooking for him. It was almost funny and cute at first (not to Idia though): it’s as if Idia just got two love interests at the same time!

One day they would just break every single gadget and machine in his room. For no reason other than they really wanted his attention, and he didn’t give it to them. Of course, Idia would be absolutely distraught after that, but it’s okay, they are here to cuddle him while he is having a panic attack. Or haze him more… these two are such childish jealous brats sometimes. They might even dispose of Ortho if there is “no other choice” for them.

Sometimes they get jealous of each other too, but it’s mostly just Floyd getting fussy. Still, it was Jade’s suggestion to start marking Idia’s body just so they each know which part of him belongs to whom. Sometimes they start arguing about it, but it’s for a show: they know that Idia gets nervous and scared because of that, so if they poke him enough, he might start promising things! Like, maybe he’d give one part of his to Jade first, but then give it to Floyd… what other things Idia could promise them? They wonder.

DMMD Virus and Trip Ending. If you know, you know. If you don’t know: I think they would kidnap him at some point and keep him as their plaything. Sometimes they would take turns, sometimes they would have sex with him together, sometimes they would just sit there and talk about how everyone else is doing while Idia is stuck here with these two. Idia’s body got used to the pain (and pleasure), but the emotional torture keeps Idia’s wounds fresh.

If this is what happens, they would make everyone think that Idia is dead because now he only exists to be their precious toy. Even Azul wouldn’t know that Idia is still alive, and the Tweels would find it hilarious because they would have a somber conversation with Azul about how horrible Idia’s fate is, and then come back home to see him tied to a bed, hungry, miserable and barely resembling a human being. But oh so loved!

Trey/Idia:

Maybe one of the reasons why Trey got so obsessed with Idia is that Idia sees right through him (even though Trey’s also in denial about many things about himself). And while choosing whether to be wary of Trey or to call him out for his lies, Idia chose both… At first, Trey felt confusion, but then his interest in Idia just kept growing, and then he started to show up in his dorm again and again. People started gossiping  that these two are dating, and that Idia probably used some kind of charm or love potion to attract Trey. The second part is obviously false, but the dating part became true at some point… somehow.

Yes, teeth, OF COURSE we’re going to talk about teeth, come on, it’s Trey. Trey brushes Idia’s teeth for him. At first he just checked on his teeth every morning and evening, then one time he brushed Idia’s teeth for him just to show him a proper way to do it… but now he does it 3 times per day every single day. This isn’t just him taking care of Idia’s teeth (even though he always talks about how Idia isn’t going to do a good job if Trey isn’t helping him, and somehow phrase it in a nice way), this is him having a special tradition only for them…

Idia knows that Trey is bad news, and he doesn’t even fully understand why they started dating, but he just can’t resist him anymore. Trey seems so wishy-washy to others, but Idia knows that he could be stubborn and strict in a very sneaky way. They never argue, but Idia still can never “win” somehow – he always has to do what Trey thinks would be best for him. And Trey genuinely believes that he knows best, sometimes he thinks that Idia is a bit… inadequate at living. But he feels it very lovingly, very parentally, but still very-very sexually somehow… in his ideal world, Idia would rely on him so much that he would stop doing anything by himself, even the most basic things.

Idia never talks to anyone, but if he does, Trey gets jealous. He is very jealous of whoever Idia is talking to while he is playing games. Sometimes he wishes he could just break all of his computers and stuff like the Tweels would, but these aren’t his methods. His methods are to poison Idia’s sweets to make him so sick that he wouldn’t be able to do anything but throw up, cry and cling to Trey for a couple of days. It’s okay, when he gets better, Trey will nurse him right back and make sure he eats plenty.

He is very protective of Idia, and if someone is legitimately mean to him, he’ll never forgive that person. For some reason it’s easier for him to stand up against Idia’s bullies than to stand up against Riddle’s mom lol Anyways, with his mind being all messed up because of this obsession, he might actually do the yandere thing of killing a bunch of people for Idia’s sake. He’ll never let Idia know about it of course, but Idia isn’t stupid: he can see that something about Trey’s eyes changed. And he is legitimately scared of him.

Yeah, speaking of Trey! What a smooth segue lol

Anonymous asked:

Hi, I really like your character thoughts! I was wondering if you dive a bit into Trey's darker side and some more TreyVil headcanons? Thank you!

Thank you for enjoying our posts, Anon! <3 Trey/Vil as a ship doesn’t appear here very often, but I feel like whenever I think about them together, they just keep growing on me woah.

Of course Trey is obsessed with Vil’s teeth, that’s a given. And even though Trey doesn’t have Rook levels of dedication to his creepiness craft and doesn’t know everyone’s dental situation, he still thinks that Vil is one of the best ones. He was also lucky enough to witness Vil’s evening routine once, and while Vil found it intimate in a subtle way, to Trey it was so much more than that. He started dreaming about the way Vil brushes his teeth all the time. It’s so elegant, but still a bit messy (a little bit of toothpaste stuck to his lip for a couple of seconds before he rinses his mouth…), but also absolutely perfect, but also so… vulnerable before Trey’s eyes. He really wanted to masturbate while touching his teeth.

The fact that Vil is more experienced and sexually aware than some other potential partners of Trey is something that Trey has to constantly keep in mind. He does enjoy Vil being flirty and even hinting at things at times, but at the same time, if Trey gets too horny, Vil will definitely notice and address it. And it’s great when the timing is more or less appropriate, but if Vil notices that Trey is horned up when they’re discussing things like dental hygiene (embarrassing) or something horrible (like things that happen in the film industry)… then Vil might realise that he gets bad vibes from Trey for a reason and stop talking to him, and Trey doesn’t want that.

Trey has a rape kink, and he wishes it was purely hypothetical. Sometimes he has intrusive thoughts when he chats or hangs out with Vil about how technically he could assault him right here, or at least try to (since Vil isn’t that easy to assault). But would the thrill be worth the risk? Trey usually decides that it wouldn’t, but that doesn’t change the fact that sometimes he dreams about different scenarios in which he would rape Vil. And he isn’t always fully asleep when he has these dreams…

One time Trey saw Vil being very puzzled, angry and a bit embarrassed. He knew exactly why, but asked him about what was going on anyway, and after avoiding answering for some time, Vil confessed that somebody stole his used underwear. Trey expressed that this was super messed up and comforted Vil, gently ensuring him that it will be okay… and it’s honestly a miracle that Vil didn’t notice that Trey was lying through his teeth. Of course it was him who stole it. Another intrusive thought.

Trey would love to make Vil obsessed with his cakes, and by “obsessed” I mean “literally addicted”. Vil is way too good at avoiding sweets, but this could be changed if Trey figures out how to make a potion, one drop of which would make anyone who takes a bite addicted to this food forever. Of course, Vil is great at potions, and there is no way just any potion would work on him, so for now Trey is experimenting and using his own dormmates as guinea pigs. This is his private science project that he has to keep in secret from both Vil AND Rook…

Or something among the lines~

Alright, I don’t have a segue for this one, but let’s come back to Idia for a moment because we have another ask about him!

This is related to this post.

Anonymous asked:

I know you went into this in another post but what other ways has Ortho had other students haze Idia?

Alright, a couple of more ideas! Not a lot though, because I can’t share some because I want to draw them, and also I am a bit tired lol but still, I am happy you like this theme, Anon! You’re inspiring me to think about it more…

Ortho didn’t intend it to be a roast, but he made the other students chant at Idia about his love for Ortho when he left his room one time. This poor guy opened the door and got called a brocon by like 40 people. He got so terrified and shocked that he couldn’t move for a minute.

Another one that Ortho didn’t expect to end up being so evil is that he let the other students into Idia’s room at night and let them steal all of his clothes + his blanket, including the ones he was wearing while asleep. Idia woke up completely naked with zero clothes and a bunch of people outside waiting for him to laugh at him and take pictures.

Another time when Ortho let the guys into Idia’s room at night was when he wanted them to wake him up in a fun way! And the guys ambushed his bed, grabbing him, jumping on him, spraying him with water and making loud noises into his ears. After that Idia started stuttering, and it continued for a week… it’s a miracle it went away, to be honest. And also he pissed himself.

[pikabysss]

Here's a doodle dump of some of my Blazblue [idk the name anymore I'm gonna go with furry] AU character designs. Ones I doubt I'm gonna colour. If I end up colouring them, yay! Here's a look into some WIPs!

Doodle of Rachel Alucard. Of course, she's a vampire bunny because I have no imagination. :)

The rest under the cut because long posts are annoying to scroll through. (And there's maybe spoilers for future colored drawings, hehe)

The first concept of Ragna's and Naoto's designs. (I changed Ragna's a little bit to make him less pokemon. I think I'll keep Naoto's. Maybe I'm going to color him it in the future)

Here's Mai. (As well as an Espio cameo because I made her look like a sonic character, and she likes chameleons) Might redisign her because I think I was going for a salamander but she looks like a frog? Or is she just a frog with a tail? Wth was I going for?

Relius Clover and his children (again, make them all look like sonic characters)

If you wonder where's ignis. She's here.

Aah! The doodle version of my Noel drawing! Hi Noel! Next to her is naked Jin. Not gonna show him in full, he's naked.

Jin's old design. He was totally an ice-type absol. I wanted to make my own creations, so I changed him a little.

Finally, continuing in the pokemon theme, Amane as a Sylveon! Both are pretty queer and attacks with ribbon. Next to him is an unfinished Bang (buff lion)

[ragnar0c]

Can't stop thinking about this... Ignis. Does Ignis know? But then again. Maybe he's right. Do Caspian and Hana know? WHO KNOWS.

It's the themes of the story at a smaller scale!!

[luce-speaks]

If you did a fire emblem promare au who would promare. Why

EMRY you sent this ask to me having no idea of the can of worms you just opened. i'm going to preface a lot before i get to the actual thing so bear with me.

first of all i want to say this is a lot of fun and i'm starting to think i should have a tag for my AU shenanigans because i love collecting these things and codifying them on tumblr. will keep you posted

second and more importantly: this promare au was not my idea!! please go see THE ORIGINAL POST by softlytired because it's their mind behind all this

okay. lets go

1: central concept

the art i linked to shows several screenshots of promare redrawn with ike as galo and soren as lio. this is really really smart for numerous reasons, including:

ike and soren share color coding (blue and green respectively) with their counterparts, as well as sharing similar builds and relatively similar styles/aesthetics

ike and galo both do the thing where racism is brought to their attention and they're like WHAT THAT'S AWFUL like hands down immediately against it despite living in a society that's much less progressive

soren and lio are both racial minorities in a way that gives them powers but also is plot relevant as a racism allegory

soren and lio are both dragon themed (less obvious with lio but it's notable in the scene where he attacks promepolis)

gay

this all goes out to softlytired who i'm sure considered these things when drawing the art. now it's time for me to do my part

2: filling out the side characters

with ike and soren in place the next question is how to fill out the rest of the movie's cast. i want to start by taking my best shot at who would fill each movie role and why.

captain ignis: greil or titania, take your pick. it's the same thing, it just changes based on whether you want this to be a greil lives au.

heris ardebit: oscar. i think he could pull off the evil scientist thing. also, they're both more withdrawn than their boisterous younger sibling, and they're both very protective of said sibling. which brings me to

aina ardebit: boyd. he's mainly here for the sibling thing and the goal of keeping the greil mercs and burning rescue as overlapped as possible. but what about the almost-kiss on the frozen lake, you ask? yeah that still happened. the only difference is neither of them were into it. (that idea is kudos to @tobegii, who also helped me brainstorm a lot of this.)

lucia: mist. mist's role as a healer is hard to translate to promare world, so i figured the next best thing would be letting her play a support role as the gadgeteer. testing new mech suits is a sibling bonding activity!

vinny: rolf. okay before you dismiss this as just me being mean to rolf i'd like to point out that letting him play sidekick means actually keeping the fourteen-year-old (?) out of danger for once while still letting him exist in the narrative. but also haha rat boy

varys and remi: gatrie and shinon. i feel like the fact that i introduced these two as a duo says it all. even though they're not technically a duo, they're the only two who are deployed together in the movie's opening scene that establishes the members of burning rescue. they have a similar brains-and-brawn thing going on. maybe shinon can be less racist in this one or something.

and for the enemies

vulcan: petrine. big scary lackey who doesn't actually have a very deep motivation other than being a horrible person. you could also use ashnard for this but i think petrine deserves some enrichment

kray: this is the difficult one because there is a good case for either sephiran (your traitor is In Charge Of The Fucking Government) or zelgius (your traitor is someone you knew personally and worked with) but for now let's go with sephiran because

biar: zelgius. it's funny okay

oh and prometh? by my calculations there is No Good Option. there just isn't. put altina in there or something. i don't fucking know

3: other notes and adjustments

with all of my "how far can i take this" out of the way i want to make an actual attempt to clean this up a little and tie up loose ends. this is my loose list of "how would i adapt the plot of promare to fit better around the tellius cast"

replace the character of kray with the duo of sephiran (the governor) and zelgius (the enforcer), and have zelgius absorb what little plot relevance biar has. maybe zelgius was the one to save ike from the fire, but it was sephiran's burnish flare that started it. they could also be a sort of two-stage bossfight, with zelgius sort of one-on-oneing them before sephiran breaks out the big guns mech

greil died in the fire that nearly killed ike, putting titania in charge of burning rescue and giving ike and mist extra character motivation

shinon's character is hard to work with if you consider how racist he actually is in canon, but i think you could tone it down a little and use his character to make a point about how racism can be insidious and masked ("if you terrorists stopped burning down houses, no one would have a problem with the burnish!" and things like that.) getting proved wrong about those supposedly moderate beliefs might even give him a chance to grow

we can pretty easily add in ike and soren's childhood encounter as well! when they met as children, ike had no idea soren was a burnish (not that he would have cared). soren has always wanted to find him again but was busy yknow running an organization. he's incredibly hurt and disappointed when ike 1) does not recognize him and 2) works for the government now. but before they pilot the mech together, they finally get to talk it out, ike remembers and apologizes, and it represents a step forward in their relationship that prepares them for the ultimate test of teamwork (mech piloting)

okay well that's been a lot of talking from me. it's really more pattern recognition than any kind of actual story planning, but i hope you enjoyed! if anyone else has feedback or additions, i would love to hear about them. thank you for coming to my ted talk

[heathenkweer]

well, having officially Beat the Game, I can say:

everything after Accordo feels like a first draft 🤷 it's especially egregious that they don't have a scene of Noctis telling his friends that he'll have to die to save the world. It apparently happens off-screen, or they somehow magically know already, because they make allusions to it but never talk about it outright.

It is a major cop out that perfectly encapsulates FFXV's biggest weakness/sin/whatever you wanna call it: Its outright refusal to engage with its own themes and messages, especially if those themes might criticize Lucis or the Lucis Caelums. We're supposed to buy into the idea of Noctis as the True King wholeheartedly the way the characters and story do, but genuinely, no one seems to stop and say "hey isn't this all kind of fucked up? only one person can really save the world and nothing we do matters?"

It genuinely feels like the characters just sleepwalk through the last few hours of the game. You can't convince me the Chocobros wouldn't have raised hell to save Noctis. The game really expects me to sit there and buy the idea that Ignis "the world can burn if Noctis dies" Scientia would have just gone along with it. The game spends so many hours and lines of dialogue telling me how much these characters love each other, but then just accept that because Noctis is a divinely ordained King with Magic Blood, he has to die in order to save the world? Bullshit.

Gralea is especially a low point in the game. It would have been a perfect chance to really explore the enemy's world and see how Insomnia is viewed, really get some sympathy for the people living under Iedolas. But again, that would require portraying the Lucis Caelums as anything other than Tragically Good Royals who are Burdened by Destiny or whatever.

That being said... I do love these characters and this world, and I had a lot of fun going around in the Regalia and exploring Eos while doing quests and hunts. I love the battle system. The music is, of course, perfect. I'm ambivalent on the Ascension system; I was able to farm a ton of AP by doing long rides in the car, but that was time consuming and bordered on boring or annoying at times. I legit spent a lot of time scrolling on my phone while the boys drove around. I wish there had been a better way to do that.

I'll probably do a New Game+, but not for a while. And as for whether this kicked up any plotbunnies again... maybe.

[he6o]

Time to update you on something I started as a result of several Kura art ideas that derailed my enamel pin work 😂 I’ve wanted to do standees for a long time but only if they could be functional…so I decided to try a whiteboard style standee that could also be decorative, with characters who it makes sense for…(Ignis because recipe book, Tifa because of her bar, and Kurasame because of him being a CO in a classroom setting.)

Right now Kura has the most progress on both sides (90%) but I’m moving onto Ignis today. Designs will feature their 20s version on one side and their teenage selves on the reverse, themed after elements associated with them. Specs will be 6-7” tall, double sided standard acrylic, maybe with a custom elemental base. Prices are looking at £25-30 atm based on market values and moq cost, but final cost depends on my manu quote so consider it a ballpark estimate. Idk yet how a custom base may factor in.

If there’s anyone who wants to be notified when these go up for pre-order I have a google form here.

Adding your email isn’t an obligation to do anything. I just know it can be easy to miss things on socials.

[primamchorus]

xv: reimagined rambling

i've been rotating gladio in my head more than i typically like rotating him, but it's mostly just me mentally yelling about how much i hate episode gladio as a character 'growth' story, because, imo, there's not really a lot of growth. (i feel the same about episode ignis, but that's a different session i'll have to yell about.)

mostly, i'm just thinking that gladio's always been kind of the weakest character out of the main four boys. the dlc wasn't particularly interesting when it comes to character development, either.

based on the ova and gladio's really aggro way of handling things in chapter 11, i've been thinking about just kind of reworking the entirety of confronting gilgamesh. like, yeah, it's supposed to be a trial to prove yourself worthy, there'll still be that element. but i kind of really want to chip away at this idea that gladio still harbors doubts and misgivings about noctis and having to act as his shield.

the ova of 'sword and shield' is kind of what really makes me take gladio and kind of keep this seed of doubt planted within him. like, sure, noctis has proven himself a good person for what he did for iris to prevent her from getting into too much trouble, but, honestly, that's not really a big thing. ultimately.

he's clearly idolized regis -- which is likely based on stories shared from clarus (that probably embellished a bit to make them all look good for the sake of storytelling), but also maybe interactions with regis himself. he wanted to be shield of the king when regis was king. not shield of a child.

there are plenty of things that noctis does that paints him childish or even sometimes petulant. because he hasn't really fully grown up yet in the events of the game -- you could probably make an argument that he's still not really grown up by the time that he's out of the crystal to restore order to the world. but, again, that's a different can of worms for a different time.

i just think that in a game that's supposed to be about brotherhood, gladio is kind of one of the worst ones to show off this portrayal and/or embodiment (and this 'brotherhood' theme of the game is...well, i also have a lot of thoughts about it and how it's not executed well).

personally, i've been thinking that the meeting with gilgamesh isn't just a test of strength, it's a dance of self reflection. especially on the precipice of either walking away a stronger person, or falling never to be seen again. while i'm fine with gilgamesh's grievances on how modern times has made people soft (because sure, it would have if people get to live more in comfort), i've been thinking about how gilgamesh should pick up on this shade of resentment that gladio still has hung onto in regards to noctis.

i want gladio to deny this, because he's too proud to admit he still has this point of view. i want him to get his shit kicked in. i want him to have the self reflection that, maybe, just maybe, he's really only looking out for noctis as a favor to regis more than he wants to be a shield for noctis in and of himself. because, again, gladio wants to be shield for an established king who embodies his idea of who or what a king is. and, well...noctis isn't that, and still has a long way to go to be to that.

"you don't believe in your king, do you? look at you, your eyes still yet ember with resentment. you would rather serve a king who has already earned his worth rather than guide one to greatness. you're not a shield, you are a dog."

[trixiegalaxy]

I just had a fun Miraculous AU idea (got inspired by a book i saw in Wattpad);

Yu-Gi-Oh Miraculous Vrians!

I don't mind if people make artwork or write their own fan fiction of this. As long I'm credited for the original AU idea. I also posted this on DeviantArt.

In this AU, the kwamis are a special type of AI programming that is also called the "Miraculous Ignis". These AIs were secretly created by a third party during the Lost Incident. But when Professor Wang Fu (aka Master Fu) learns that these AIs were going to be used for evil purposes, he stole them from their creators and went into hiding. Fu managed to steal all the Miraculous Ignis', except for the Butterfly and the unfinished Peacock Ignis', which went missing during the theft.

10 years later, Gabriel Agreste uses the Butterfly Ignis to become the hacker terrorist known as Hawk Moth, who hopes to use the rest of the Miraculous Ignis' to waken his comatose wife, who used the Peacock Ignis too much without knowing it was incomplete. To lure out the Miraculous Ignis, Hawk Moth would hijack people's avatars in LINK VRAINS and turn them into his own mind controlled super villians. Also, to accomplish his goals, both Gabriel and his assistant, Nathalie Sancoeur, secretly infiltrate the hacker terrorist group called "The Knights Of Hanoi" under the codenames "The Collector" and "Catalyst". In hopes of not only finding the Miraculous Ignis, but to capture the original six Ignis' as well.

Meanwhile, Professor Fu decides to give the two most powerful Miraculous Ignis', the Ladybug and Cat, to Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste. They become LINK VRAINS' newest heroes, Ladybug and Cat Noir, who help the hero, Playmaker, fight against both both Hawk Moth and the Knights Of Hanoi.

Other details of the AU (with spoilers of Yu-Gi-Oh Vrains);

The Kwamis Ignis have the same type of body design as the original Ignis', but they still have their animal fixtures. For example, the Cat Ignis would still have his cat ears, tail, and green cat eyes. While the Ladybug Ignis have her red body with black spots (and maybe ladybug wings on her back). They also have the same personalities as in the Miraculous Ladybug series canon.

Similar to the Miraculous Ladybug series canon, every Kwami Ignis are kept in their own jewelry shaped electronics, which connect to the holder's duel disk by Bluetooth. The holder's duel disk also changes form when they log into LINK VRAINS (which helps hide their identities).

The Miraculous Ignis have their own separate animal theme Cyberse cards. For example, the Ladybug Ignis has a ladybug theme Cyberse monster cards, and the Cat Ignis has a cat theme Cyberse monster cards.

The Miraculous Ignis gives their holders the same powers/abilities as in the Miraculous Ladybug series canon. These powers can also be used as skills in a LINK VRAINS speed duel.

Also, like in the Miraculous Ladybug series canon, Hawk Moth can only akumatize people who are filled with negative emotions/thoughts. Plus, they have to have their own duel disk and deck.

People who are not logged into or even don't have an account in LINK VRAINS can still be akumatized.

In this AU, the akuma enters a person's duel disk as a virus and always goes into a person's ace monster card. While their super villain avatar takes form similar to their ace monster. That person's deck is also transformed when they become akumatized.

Marinette still dreams of becoming a fashion designer. While as a duelist, she doesn't have too much confidence in her skills. Marinette is the only one of her friends who doesn't have a LINK VRAINS account (not until she became Ladybug, but no one else knows that). When she's not using the Ladybug Cyberse deck, she owns a fairy type desk.

Adrian is still a fashion model for his father famous fashion brand in both Den City and sometimes in LINK VRAINS. Adrian enjoys dueling but doesn't have much time to do it for fun because of his career. When he's not using the Cat Cyberse deck, he owns a warrior type deck.

Marinette and Adrien (plus their friends/classmates in the Miraculous Ladybug series canon) go to Den City High School. And are in the same class as Yusaku Fujiki (aka Playmaker). Their class teacher is Miss Bustier from Miraculous Ladybug.

Ladybug and Cat Noir doesn't know the true identity of Playmaker. And Playmaker doesn't know their true identities either.

Yusaku/Playmaker didn't really trust Ladybug and Cat Noir at first. And didn't want them to become part of his fight against the Hanoi. But Playmaker later began working with them when he realized he wouldn't be able to fight both the Hanoi and Hawk Moth's akumatized villains.

The Knights Of Hanoi had no knowledge of the existence of the Miraculous Ignis until Hawk Moth started to attack LINK VRAINS with his akumatized villains.

The Hanoi also wasn't aware of The Collector actually being Hawk Moth, not until in episode 38 and 39 when Hawk Moth tried to take control of the Tower of Hanoi by akumatizing Revolver (the leader of the Hanoi).

Ryoken Kogami/Revolver managed to learn the true identities of Ladybug and Cat Noir but agrees to keep the secret after meeting Professor Fu.

[aeniqmata]

What’s your favorite trope to write? Do you write fights/battlefields threads? What kind of romantic ships do you like? Toxic or fluff?

And finally: I love your carrd/theme! Did you do it all by yourself or did you use some template?

for munday, anonymously ask the mun something you want to know about them, their portrayal, or what they will/won’t write. || always accepting

Heyo! So I'll answer the question about the Carrd first. I actually made it myself. I've used a few templates and paid for one early on that I learned how to use the website from. I have a degree in Graphic Design and Digital Communications, and I love designing things like that. It's cathartic and honestly really relaxing to just sit around and let it happen.

What is your favorite trope to write?

I adore the whole " strong character breaking " trope. So many games portray these characters, especially the title characters like Noctis or Clive, as people who can just keep on trucking through some god awful experiences. I'll use Noctis as an example, since 16 is still really new. You get to see him in the movie " Kingsglaive " telling Drautos to keep his father safe. While he will never learn this, Drautos is the one that kills his father, forcing the crown on his head and setting things in motion. We get to see Noctis break a little early on when Cor tells him about his father and Gladio's being dead, and then nothing since then.

The train to Cartanica is not something I consider canon in it's normal iteration, because of poor writing. Yes, Gladio is allowed to be upset and push Noctis a bit. Their strategist is now blind and Lunafreya is dead. From Gladio's perspective, Noctis shut down for seemingly no reason. Meanwhile, Noctis is fighting with the fact that all of this happened because of him.

Ignis is blind because he defended him from Ardyn, or in the more likely explanation given to him, to save his king's life. Lunafreya is dead partially because she was killing herself by healing those infected by the Scourge, and because Ardyn is a dick. Add this to finally getting the ring that they've been hunting down, and guess what?

The thing spends every waking moment whispering to him about how pleased they are to be with him, begging him to put it on, to fufill his destiny, to become one with the kings before him. He's allowed to be despondent.

All this is to say that the title characters tend to be unbreakable, and I like giving them depth and seeing them in ruins.

Do you write fights/battlefields threads?

I do! Not as often as I used to, but I was a moderator for Pledged Prelude and Crystatherum when they were active groups. We had lots of action based events and I helped in writing our Festival of the Hunt event. Besides that, I often find that I want to write out what may have happened in certain fights for my characters.

For example, my single Octopath Traveler muse - Therion. He's 5'3" and all of maybe 100lbs. With wind magic being a thing in Octopath, that poor boy would get thrown around a lot, nevermind that he's considered one of the front line fighters for the game. He's fast and strikes hard, but given his physique and skills, it would be incredibly easy to throw him off a cliff. I've written a few drabbles for asks based on combat situations for him and for Noctis.

What kind of romantic ships do you like? Toxic or fluff?

All kinds. The blog tends to run more on M/M ships because I am a lady and I write exclusively men it seems, but I am open for just about anything. Twilight Link has a ship with @txnichtgut's OC that I adore, Clive has a ship with @cidolfvs' Cid that is far more chaotic than I expected, and Therion has a ship with @asterisque's Alfyn because grumpy boy needs some sunshine.

Each have things in them that I absolutely crave, ranging from conflict to absolutely disgusting fluff and smut on occasion, and I wouldn't ask for anything else.

As for a preference on toxic or fluffy ships, I would have to say that I prefer fluff if only because I haven't had a ship that was truly toxic. Conflict driven and not always easy, absolutely.

Diabolos, my FFXIV character and the Voidsent/Summon from the series, has had a hell of a couple of ships, and is actually my primary poly muse. Dia fights with his spouses more often than not, and with him nigh constantly being used as a weapon for extra content in the game, that doesn't seem to be ending any time soon.

There was one ship I had with a friend that is near and dear to me who is actually writing out the story for our muses that was borderline toxic though. My Final Fantasy VIII OC and her iteration of Cerberus @ettriscapita ( @claireverie is her 'active' blog ) were fun to write!

[mcalhenwrites]

🤡🛒🍦and 🧠 for Noctis.

🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh? Okay, so I took this one out of my collection just now, but there are plenty of lines in it that have me cackling. The whole fic did while I was writing it. I'll pull one of the funny exchanges: “Do you think they’ve learned their lesson?” Regis asks his husband.

“Noctis is sitting on his.” 🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc. Hmm, I like being a stinky lil snowflake socialist writer who includes several themes in my stories, from breaking abusive cycles, preaching environmentalism, things like that. Or everyone is just horny af and someone's getting spanked. I'm versatile! 🍦 What's the sweetest fic you've created so far? Okay, you know it's Wandering Souls, I know it's Wandering Souls. Pure sugar sweetness, I've been secretly thanked by many dentists for the bills that come from readers who end up with cavities after this one. 🧠 Pick a character, and I'll tell you my favorite headcanon for them. Oh, I have so much to say about Noctis, but the main thing is that I watched him go from an attacked kid who spent time in a wheelchair to a teen with depression disaster apartment to a 20 y/o who slept sporadically and often. With a history of trauma and a rough way of moving/running that shows me he's struggling with chronic pain. So I headcanon that he has fibromyalgia and CFS. And I'm fucking angry that they gave so much evidence of disability and completely fucked it up in canon. What'd they do? They made it out like he was a lazy spoiled prince. That he should work hard in training and take the pain, because damn, he's got to be up for these tasks, no exceptions. He had fucking regular jobs. He reportedly loved animals and iirc a radio announcement early in the game implied he did volunteer work. I also... aligned with this, had a fic idea that I haven't started despite planning over the years, where the reason the Astrals chose him for the sacrificial royal savior is that he was also the "useless" one bc he's disabled. And while Noct doesn't know this, he chooses different choices. He stays in his wheelchair bc he needs it. (Yes, I actually do also headcanon that he was forced out, with that whole "you can't learn to depend on mobility aids!" bullshit that so many of us spoonies deal with irl.) It's maybe hard for people to realize - especially with the way we've historically trained kids for battle in several societies for centuries - that Noctis getting laid flat when he's barely recovered from a wheelchair (and the trauma from Tenebrae's invasion) in Brotherhood was abusive. And I really like the idea that Noctis questions all this, finds out he's going to die, and chooses to run off with Ignis before he ever begins his journey. But yeah, as someone with fibro and some comorbidities, I recognize that in Noctis perfectly. But the game never names it, they deny it, they just... they give you everything to set up that Noctis is disabled only to humiliate that. :/ So yeah, Noctis has chronic pain and chronic illness, and he's not lazy, and he was bullied by an ableist society in the game. I will die on the hill of defending this boy

[arkadiaasks]

I think you are a bit harsh the impact of Takeru's heroism in s2. Sure heroism in Vrains could not prevent tragedy, but he was inspired by Flame and Playmaker to grow stronger and becoming Soulburner is what let him act on that inspiration, letting him meet and become friends with Yusaku and Revolver. In Soulburner vs Revolver he gets ahold of himself with both Revolver and Flame's help because he remembers that the other people's influence on him is proof of their continued existence. Bonds is a major theme in Vrains in that Vrains never treats it as an all powerful force, but affirms the importance of bonds in healing and living life in spite of tragedy. His trip to Den City was definitely healthy for him imo

It's more how the story ends up wrapping up in Season 3.

There's never a really clearly or well handled reason given what future Soulburner or Flame end up seeking in Season 2. I mean, good on them to try and help the wider situation once its circumstances become clear, but like.

His journey while ultimately healthy for Takeru, is at the same time an odd Shaggy Dog Story. Maybe he needed to go out into the wider world to find out everything he needed to get his shit together was already back home waiting for him.

But like, the driving thrust Season 3 kind of lays at our laps is "Heroism ends up being something of a distraction for the cast".

Playmaker starts his quest on a self righteous journey of revenge, that ends with him bitterly having to kill the person that matters most to him. He ends up a mostly cut off tragic outsider.

Aoi does end up failing in most of her goals and finds peace living a normal life with her friend, brother and Emma.

Takeru vs. Revolver DOES kind of make it clear as much as the two did help, this ended up being a shaggy dog story, with us being basically told his future was always back home to begin with.

Go very clearly has his life worsen because his desire to be the Hero of LINK VRAINS drives him to be a terrible person as it becomes a personal vendetta.

Revolver, for as much good as his objective is for humanity in the long run, arguably, ends up being a terrorist.

Like, the show is clear of this subtext that heroism is not ideal, it is a dark place to go, and those that try to be heroes will either be burned, become monsters, or end up in tragedy.

Takeru does come out of it probably a more emotionally healthy person, but it basically came at the murder of what was arguably his best friend.

There's a very clear message as much as bonds are important, typical heroism is not an ideal in VRAINS, it ends badly for everyone and a lot of dead well meant Ignis.

[royalbratprince]

It was all about new traditions, wasn't it?

Maybe not all about them, but after everything that had happened, after essentially changing fate and a "world reborn", it only seemed right to put new spins on things at least. Nothing major, just a little reminder. Something a little bit personal.

Thus, the tradition of Yuletide Frogs began. As as joke, as was often the case, involving placing little frog figurines and plushes, wearing hats or scarves or mittens, in various places. Hiding them wasn't necessary, but it could be fun. Like completely and totally covering surfaces in little seasonally-appropriate frogs bringing joy.

Exactly when it got slightly out of hand became a traditional debate as well. Not so much when the official royal frog pond was established, but it was somewhere between the annual Frog Fashion Fest (it was insisted that Noctis judge the creative outfits, but Ignis was not so secretly a little more involved) and the Frog Paradem where the floats became more and more elaborate and an entire orchestrated theme song played over the whole affair.

Out of hand or not, Noctis liked the traditional frog cakes just fine.

[fujubun]

😁🤔😤

munday asks on a tuesday || open, why not

😁 — what’s your favorite part about being part of the rpc?

probably making new friends honestly !! most of my friends from here are gone, but id love to make new ones :^]

either that or like. being able to be creative and just write -- do whatever, you know ? i hardly ever have planned threads, if at all, so its a great exercise for me !!

🤔 — what genre(s)/theme(s) do you struggle to write the most?

honestly these days im pretty good with writing just about anything ! ive been writing for roughly 20 years at this point, and roleplaying for roughly.. 13 ? i think ? pretty much all of which has been on tumblr ? so i don't really find myself struggling much with anything anymore

😤 — what do you dislike the most about being part of the rpc?

since being back, i think maybe just how quiet it is, but that might be due to the fact im now on the other side of the world ( gmt +2 ) so a vast majority of activity is around like.. 4 am or so ? ( which is fine, im usually up anyways )

before though, back in around 2015 - 2017 it was definitely how like. highschool-esque clique-y it got. around 2018 - 2019 people started getting really competitive with fancy graphics and back then i even had a few other ignis roleplayers try to compete with me too over who had " better / darker / ect " headcanons and whatnot which was......... very stupid imo ??? like what. both reasons are a huge part of why i ended up slipping out of the community tbh, i didnt have the time and energy for that nonsense anymore

[shadow-fell]

my chapter in the Great Wyllstarion Quantum Leap Multiverse Shenanigans AU is up. This fic was so fun to watch be put together, an absolute blast to write for, and has turned out so good. the stuff yet to come....i have no words.

...and, well, am I really aping Carla Speed McNeil if there aren't excessive footnotes? they are hiding, spoiler-filled, beneath the cut.

As I said in the end notes, this AU is based on Finder vol 5: Dream Sequence, by Carla Speed McNeil. While I don't think the chapter itself is super spoiler-y, the notes here definitely are, so be warned. While it might not be the start of the series it's pretty easy to read without context, so if the vibes interest you, I really recommend checking it out.

Finder is maybe my favorite comic of all time. It's kind of sci-fi/post-post-apocalyptic/dystopia. It's from the 90s, and parts of it has aged weirdly? but it's honestly more progressive than a lot of comics printed nowadays. I could talk about all the details and themes and worldbuilding and characters for ages, but I'm here to talk about fanfic, so...

It reminded him, in a way, of being teleported by that damn genie to the jungles of Chult – oh, gods, was this a world where the city had never been built? What was even the point of ascending if it left him ultimate ruler of a bunch of prehistoric cave-dwellers?

The general tone of this fic leans more on humor than angst, but this is one of my favorite beats. Astarion is getting kind of tired of all these dumb universes, and the idea of being stuck without "modern" life is absolute hell. And not just because he's finding excuses to skip worlds and put this off, definitely.

No busy street to check against, he reached up to touch his ears - elven, thankfully. He felt neither vampiric hunger nor the tadpole’s presence, but there was no sensation of blood flowing, of a beating heart, so he might just have been very well fed – this seemed like a forest with ample large prey. Looking down he had a rapier at his hip, well-crafted but not obviously enchanted. His clothes were strange, but were closer to adventurers’ garb than anything else, and definitely required advanced techniques to make, which was a positive sign on the not-cave-dweller front. Ignis summoned fire to his hands, so this world had at least some magic to make it viable for Ascension.

Added this paragraph a bit later after seeing more of the other AUs take shape , and edited around once I knew I was to be this early, because originally written the idea was Astarion has this method down. In context, being in a modern AU has kind of fucked him up (and I truly fell in love the idea he's pissed about how many human aus there are. why isn't there a world where Wyll's an elf)

Unfortunately for his little checklist, he's in VR and his avatar is decked out with magic. This is also the reason he doesn't feel his heart beat despite not being a vampire - he's not in his body at the moment.

Narrowing in on that, he snuck closer towards a clearing where a large bonfire burned. Around it were figures dancing – not humans, but a pack of silver creatures. They were headless, many-limbed, and looked almost like fluid mercury in the way they moved. A drumbeat’s rhythm seemed to come from the very air itself, and at the clearing’s edges he could see shadowy figures silently watching. 

There are a couple images I wanted to steal directly from the comic, and these strange, alien figures dancing around the fire was one of them. It's always stood out to me, and it fits very well as our introduction to the Frontiers.

Clearly, he was in the Feywild. He’d only ever heard stories, of course, but it was obvious really, and surely a fey pact could help him Ascend as easily as a devil’s. Maybe even without the full seven thousand sacrificed to Raphael; wouldn’t it just be lovely to pull off a scam on the smug bastard? 

My main contribution to the slow arc of Astarion coming to terms with not wanting to do the ritual. I really wanted to set up the idea that he is having second doubts about the cost of ascension (listening to Wyll) but absolutely refuses to admit it. Because he still needs wants it, but he admits it would be better without the killing, because (Wyll is right) it would be funny to fuck over Raphael

This ends up getting mirrored (as I assumed it would) in some of the later AUs, the idea that if the problem is the 7000, it'll be fine without killing them. right? right?

So, first things first, find this universe’s Wyll - surely a monster hunter would have all the details on what fey magic was happening here. If he hadn’t been hijacked - it seemed as if Wyll arrived some time after him, clearly trying to catch up, the bastard, so it was probably for the best to hurry and not lose what little lead he had.

This got edited a fair bit to set up being AU#2, mostly emphasizing the rules (Wyll shows up later, giving chase). He has a reason to find Wyll, and it definitely isn't just that he wants to see him!

I could probably have spent more time fucking around establishing the dreamlike quality of the frontiers, but sometimes it's better to just get to business, and he is on a bit of a time limit (impending Wyll)

There was a field of corpses. Given the lack of clothes and the way some of them were still posed embracing each other, a once-impressive orgy had clearly been absolutely slaughtered. Some of the bodies lay across the ground, shattered, while others are twisted up and impaled on spikes. A gruesome sight. He was not at all surprised to find Wyll at the center of it, kneeling down and inspecting one of the bodies.

The other really iconic scene I knew I needed to keep in was the traveling orgy server getting brutally not-murdered. There's something about the combination of sex and twisted corpses, and also, just a hint into the stock horrror of what it means to have your imagination, your mind, your waking dreams just another online site. Since I was eight, like, what a panel.

His clothes were simple, mostly pure black cloth without even the pretense of armor, but a rapier hung at his side, not one of the magical ones Wyll favored in their home, but cold iron alone was protection against fey, wasn’t it? He had no horns, or any other devilish features—maybe he was bound to some Archfey instead of Mizora, a better world indeed—and his hair was longer, what would reach well to his feet if it wasn’t floating upwards weightlessly with the magic of the Feywild, locs mixed with thin strands of silver, both braided in and growing from his scalp, not grey hairs but shining metal. His face had a black circle on it—hopefully some sort of makeup and not the world’s worst tattoo—which emphasized the concerned expression on his face. 

This is the image that kind of inspired the fic - the dream of Wyll with very long locs, floating up in the air like cables (and being literally the cables hooking up to the VR).

The fic doesn't go deep into what the world is like outside of the Frontiers; while there are some things implied, Astarion is very much an outsider POV to what's going on. Mizora is definitely one of the people on the company board manipulating things, though - and with the politics of Anvard, that could go very poorly for Wyll.

I went back and forth about the weird circle on the face, and decided to keep it for what it represents - Wyll, like Magri, isn't fully aware of what it is, and it doesn't quite come up in the fic, but it is his repressed anger - the monster - and having that pointed out is what triggers the final breakdown in Dream Sequence.

“Well, not you, of that I’m certain.” Wyll said – clearly still this world’s Wyll, thankfully. “I’m sorry that you’ve been dragged into this – no one would listen, when I said you weren’t a part of it, that it only wore your face—”

AU Astarion and Wyll haven't actually met. Wyll is a more active character than the very disassociative Magri, but however things went down, he didn't stop the company from grabbing Astarion as a scapegoat.

Even if he's not as dissassociative, Wyll still has to lock himself away from a lot of his thoughts; in canonverse, I imagine there's quite a bit of his time with Mizora he's locked away in a vault. But escaping to a dreamworld is a bit different when it has guests.

“Did they not…? No, I suppose they wouldn’t have. Scapegoats aren’t worth interrogating, after all.” Wyll shook his head. “We recovered memory data from some of the victims who were recording when it attacked my father’s men. It has more than just your face – your full bodyprint.”

I don't actually explain what AU Astarion's deal is, because we never actually interact with anyone who knows him. I thought about it, but the explanations are all awkward. If I'd had him start out on the streets, he'd piece it together quickly, but that loses the Feywild angle.

In Dream Sequence, the monster wears the face of the main character, Jaeger, because ever since he got caught on film in vol3, his face and body have become common in movies, and, as a recurring beat through Dream Sequence, porn. Given some of the framing and setting, that's the context Magri saw him and took his face to be the monster; there's an underpinning about sex and discomfort with the sexual to the monster beyond just the anger issues - the reason why the comic ends with the two making out.

Astarion is definitely not Jaeger, so how his bodyprint came to be a porn star is left up in the air, but you can fill in the gaps that he's had some canon-typical trauma re: sex. And Cazador. And bodily autonomy.

“It’s a traveling server. They move between different sites to avoid moderation. This isn’t the first time they’ve inflicted themselves on the Frontiers – it’s like people don’t even care about the host. For motive… the shareholders would tell you it’s corporate sabotage.” / “If this was a simple hacker, I could kick them out,” Wyll explained. “I have that much strength at least. It’s why I know you’re not the one behind this – they know it too, it’s just easier to have a person to pin the blame on. Because I host the Frontiers, they’re resistant to viruses – even when they do take hold, I can partition them away. I’ve tried that, isolated the victims, blockaded whole sections of the Frontiers. It just keeps coming.”

These bits from Wyll are the hit you over the head reveal we're actually a cyberpunk au and not the feywild. Because he's not explaining the world, it gives a pretty succinct view of his power - he's both creator and moderator of the Frontiers. It's a parallel to Ascension, but also to being Grand Duke.

Astarion has picked some stuff up from this version's memories, but not enough for him to realize that he's not in the feywild because that's already fucking weird, you know. he's still not used to modern aus.

“…Kill it,” Wyll repeated.  “You don’t need to start moralizing, we’re talking about something that did…whatever this was, to all these people. And it stole my face! That alone should be a death penalty, honestly.” “The fact I can’t kick it means it isn’t a person,” Wyll said. “I’m not sure if it’s a thing that can be killed.” “Have you tried?” 

Wyll in this isn't necessarily anti-murder, but he's definitely confused - and while he may have the rapier at his side, he's not actually a monster hunter, he's more like a popular fantasy writer running a massive larp. Astarion is very pro-murder and does not have time to deal with Wyll not being down with that (I mean, he's searching for a Wyll who's cool with killing 7000 spawn).

"it stole my face. death penalty" is one of my favorite beats from Astarion.

He turned away, and as he did, the world turned with him. No more bodies, no more forest; they were in a graveyard now, large crypts and shining stones that seemed to stretch for miles.

So, there are some visuals that were huge multi-page things that stuck in. And then there's this one panel, that hit me hard enough it made me think the setting came back for a larger sequence.

Practically, the switch is meant to be jarring enough to force Astarion to break with the Feywild idea, alongside any readers who haven't yet caught on. The graveyard is here for the tomb that Wyll keeps all the things he's repressing in. But mostly, it's because

Ulder is alive and running the company in this, and I doubt there's the same rumor about Francesca's "retirement" - but Wyll is just as haunted by his mother's death, albeit in a different way. His head is full of graveyards, it's a miracle people aren't constantly stumbling over them.

Tagline, marketing – someone had made a business, inviting people into Wyll’s dreamland. Vile, but not exactly surprising. Could anyone do this, make a world in their mind? Get a bit of ultimate power? Was it this world’s alternative to ascension, perhaps?

Once he realizes they're in Wyll's head, he puts the AU together quickly. He may not fully understand the technology, but he understands greed and abuse. This isn't a full parallel to ascension, but it is fundamentally about what would you trade in exchange for ultimate power.

Astarion is someone who disassociates as a response to trauma, and that makes the idea of your own mind not being private worse - because where else is left to escape to? But as someone who has so thoroughly been compelled, the idea of having control over your mind and those intruding on it has its appeal.

Because it isn’t an external threat – it’s internal. There’s something wrong with me.” “No, no, it makes sense, doesn’t it? I was annoyed, I was angry, that the server came to the Frontiers, and the monster attacked them for it. Which means, if I want to keep everyone safe, then all I need to do is stop having any more negative feelings!”

This is the core of this AU idea. Dream Sequence is mostly a story about imposter syndrome, well, that and "hey, maybe staying awake for a decade straight turned your anger issues into a full on psychotic break". Wyll has shades of this, but I think true to form, it's more about the stuff between him and his father, and his own self worth issues.

Wyll needs to be perfect. He has to uphold the ideals his father set out for him, and failings that are fine from others are inexcusable to him. The Frontiers are his creativity, his joy, and they've been packaged to be sold, and that's fine, because it means he's doing something, that he's helping people, that he's worthwhile. And if that goes away, then he's not the Blade, he's just Wyll, and he can't be just Wyll.

I mean, the core thing about Wyll is that at seventeen he decided his soul was worth less than the lives of a city. He's self sacrificing to a tee. He will become a devil to save one innocent life. Of course his reaction is that he has to be perfect and save everyone, otherwise, what is the point?

“Wyll. Darling. That’s maybe the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard you say,” Astarion told him. “Fuck all these people, it’s their fault, trying to have an orgy in your head. Even if it is you, and not some trick by Mizora or whoever, the solution is to take control of it. Really, you’d be so much better off if you just stopped  pretending that you’re the most perfect noble hero who’s never had any mean thoughts in his life—” / “Fuck them! Fuck your father, fuck the company, fuck everyone who thinks they deserve to have a piece of you! If having a world you control means you can’t have fun then what’s the point! When’s the last time you did something for yourself? Had a feast or fucked someone or took a gods-damned nap?” / “This is why you’re so insufferable, you know that?” he said. “You don’t want to admit that all the self-sacrificial hero nonsense makes you miserable, so you take it out on everyone else! This is why you keep interfering, because you look at someone who might be close to actually being safe and happy and need to sabotage it for your stupid morals. Because you can’t just admit you need to yell at your father for all the shit he put you through! Of course you have a monster in your head maiming people, is it really any surprise!?”

Astarion's rant. He is yelling at this Wyll, but mostly his Wyll.

Most of the shade is about all the things about Wyll that also make him unwilling to let Astarion ascend. The idea that you have to keep playing at being a perfect hero, even when it makes things worse and makes you miserable, come on, wouldn't it be better to take time for yourself, have fun, and let me kill 7000 spawn and ascend?

Which isn't to invalidate his points; the thing I like most about Wyllstarion is probably the "corruption" angle - that Wyll needs to learn to be more selfish instead of self-sacrificing, because if you give too much, it kills you. Astarion isn't always right, but he's great at getting someone to sit and take care of themselves. He helps push Wyll into being healthier at the same time Wyll pushes him to being a better person. They lose the sheen of their archetypes and instead make each other into people.

But mostly Wyll needs an Astarion to let him know he should tell Ulder to go fuck himself.

“Enough!” Wyll yelled, and it was actually angry, enough that Astarion did freeze for a moment and go quiet. “I am sorry that you got dragged into this, I truly am, but I have enough people judging me without adding a stranger to the list. We are done here, and you are done with the Frontiers.”

And our reminder this isn't his Wyll, or our Wyll. This is a very important conversation, but it's not a very effective one against a stranger. Astarion knows Wyll far better than Wyll knows him, but while some things are the same, this is a different universe.

The final straw was bringing up Ulder. They have a complicated relationship - in many ways, more complicated because there isn't a banishment, instead all these years working together, while Wyll is professionally sleepwalking through life.

He mostly takes the comics role of Chester Stilwater, the CEO who's been milking Magri and Elsewhere for profit. Stilwater is, to be clear, a really shitty guy - but in the context of Anvard's atrociously amoral feudal system, he clearly does care for Magri, having tried to advise him against the contract while he was disassociating, and giving him back majority shares in the company when he left. Ulder loves his son, but he also exists within a system.

Wyll doesn't see any of this as shit his father put him through. He sees it as a choice he made to support his father, that he's struggling to meet. If Wyll chose to move on, Ulder would likely support it - but at the same time, if events followed Dream Sequence, he would be sitting at his son's bedside listening to advisors tell him he should be lobotomized to keep things running, and not turning it down out of hand. So. Complicated.

A hand mirror rested beside the bed, its surface shimmering in the way that marked it as Shaundakul’s – within hands’ reach, this whole time, only next to where his physical body had been and not his mind.

There was a line in the overview doc about it being our choice whether the mirror was right there or had to be a Quest. I kind of fell in love with the idea it was always right there, but you needed to wake up first to realize it.

I don't think it's that monumental of a reveal - maybe if he'd spent longer wandering around the Frontiers before finding Wyll? Been confronted by the monster. Except, well...I think Astarion might actually be posessing the monster.

In Elsewhere, guests possess characters rather than appear as themselves, and the monster is another character, being passed between sleepwalkers mid-nightmare. So, he is both himself and the thing wearing his face. freaky, much. Astarion would never have figured this out, even if I'd written like 10k of this AU.

“You can’t be serious – if I sleep, I lose the Frontiers, I lose everything. I can fix this, I just need to be stronger, I just need to—”

We see Wyll angry before; this is him desperate. Because the problem with pinning all your self worth on a single concept. If he isn't the Frontiers, then his father doesn't have a reason to love him. So he has to be the Frontiers, you understand?

Canon Wyll has this but for being a hero.

Wyll’s eyes opened again, a mix of confusion and clarity. “Astarion?” he said. “Wherever we are, whatever you’re doing, please, can we at least talk?” That’s Wyll. Real Wyll, original Wyll, his Wyll – not good, not good.  Before he could think of any words to say, he pulled the plunger and injected the drug, watched as Wyll fell unconscious back onto the bed, to a hopefully peaceful, relaxing slumber.

I think the two scenes I had most clearly was Wyll standing over the murdered orgy while Astarion was like "what the fuck" and this, where Astarion injects Wyll rather than have an awkward conversation.

Big "go to sleep go to sleep go to sleep" energy. I technically offered content warnings but in my heart I know this is a comedic beat.

This world didn’t seem to be one for infernal rituals – only strange, technological horrors. As interesting as the dreamlands were, he wasn’t looking for a new set of downsides to ultimate power. Even if he wanted to stay, free from vampirism, Wyll’s state made it clear this was hardly a paradise, and he didn’t want to see what his own life was like, not kidnapped to be made scapegoat for some monstrous killer. He turned towards the mirror, picking it up.

While plenty of the AUs are horrifying, a lot of them are tempting. Worlds where he's alive, where he can walk in the sun and eat, where he isn't stuck with Cazador. That's what he wants, after all, more than the power, it's comfort and safety. This one could be all those things - but it's a risk, especially coming right out of realizing Cazador was in even light happy ballet world. He can't risk it, and he's probably right; Anvard is not a great place to live, especially if you're worse than a tourist. There's a reason I put dystopia in the genres Finder falls into.

I don't actually know the full details of what Astarion is like in this world, beyond the fact he is definitely 100% not Jaeger outside of this single specific storyline. But Dream Sequence is the furthest chronologically we've seen from Finder, the most we've glimpsed of what seems to be a happy ending, and I'd like to believe that Astarion is similarly already at the end of his arc, and that waiting just outside the door are the rest of the tadfools arguing with lawyers to get him free, and not Cazador.

When Wyll woke, his whole body ached. He was overwhelmed by the sensations of hunger and thirst, and it felt as if he’d slept for days. His head itched, his mind rang, and there was this sense of absence, of something gone.

It wasn't until after reading the draft of the first AU that I chose to end on Wyll's POV, for a bit more structure and consistency. Being in this Wyll's body is a nightmare, especially coming from someone who, while maybe not the best of self care, has a baseline level of maintenance required to do the things he does.

Having slept, the Frontiers are gone. Wyll wasn't awake in this world long enough to feel them - and given he's a different version, who knows what it would have been like if he hadn't been immediately drugged - but their absence is still a very physical loss.

For all it hurt, Wyll was right that staying awake is what kept the Frontiers running - there's only so long after waking you can remember a dream. Although, to be clear, like Magri, he needed to sleep, and there are ways to keep the Frontiers without it Literally Driving You Insane, Wyll. Please I am begging you to take care of yourself.

 A prayer to gods he doubted would be listening even if they were in a normal world, to whatever fates are dragging them along this winding place, that this world had a happy ending, and that Astarion might finally stop long enough to listen instead of drugging him to run at first sight.

Pray for Wyll, he's got another 17 chapters to go and it's not getting any better. He is not surprised about being knocked out, but. Come on, Astarion, he just wants to talk. Also, confirming the beat that it's important for him that they're not fucking too much with the worlds they leave behind, and he wants all their AU versions to be happy.

I believe the vague ruling is the AUs snap back to before the transfer point happens (since, well, it would be weird if this happened in the middle of grand adage). For how it would go without bodyswapping shenanigans...

Astarion isn't going to be quite so up front about confronting Wyll; even if they do meet, it probably won't spark the same realizations. Without being drugged, I think things will probably follow closer to the comics, with a massive breakdown before Wyll finally is drugged into unconsciousness. So, a rougher ride, but I'm an optimist; everything will be better so long as Wyll gets some sleep.

the title is a joke on several layers - obviously, there's the joke about the fact it ends with both Wylls being forced to take a nap, but also, it's an adaptation of a comic titled "dream sequence" that's spent entirely in Wyll's waking dreams. there's a whole undercurrent about needing to sleep, to dream, to live, and naps are the epitome of that most 'selfish' kind of resting.

Reclaim the idea that napping - that sleeping - is lazy. You shouldn't sacrifice yourself for work - no matter how important and meaningful the work maybe, even if it's creative and fulfilling.

But mostly, well. The title is because my favorite panel in all of Dream Sequence is the very last one, and it's where I want to shove both Wyll and Astarion: out of danger, out of the limelight, surrounded by love, and taking a nap.

Drink up, dreamers.