#There and Back Again is an arc i have a lot of feelings about

[darkshrimpemotions]

The thing is, Guillermo being too kind and pure of heart to eat humans was always a fucking lie. Like??? Obviously, I think. And the Cannon Capital arc isn't really a departure for his character, it's us seeing all his worst traits highlighted in an environment that makes them MUCH less fun and sympathetic.

Guillermo has always been an intensely stubborn, self-serving character prone to tunnel vision who was willing to turn over pretty much every corner of his soul if it served his goals. Even if he did sometimes feel bad about it or force himself not to think about it so he wouldn't feel bad, he still did it.

He's still the guy who befriended people with the express purpose of luring them in to be killed. For years. He's still the guy who offered one of his oldest friends up to be murdered at an orgy, and only changed his mind at the very last second. He's still the guy whose version of trying to have a normal human life for once involved lying to pretty much every human in his life--his bio family and his boyfriend--about every aspect of his life but his name. He's still the guy who dismembered the corpses of his victims--yes they're still his victims even if he didn't strike the killing blows himself--in the front yard each morning with a dreamy smile on his face as he talked about the heart wanting what it wants.

Sacrificing Nandor to serve his goals at Cannon Capital is really not that different than sacrificing Jeremy to serve his goals as Nandor's familiar, except that in this case he had a lot more time to think about it and still did it, not via silence or omission but via a direct act of betrayal to Nandor's face. Perhaps it's because he never had to suffer any real consequences for his betrayal of Jeremy that no lessons were learned?

It's also really telling that when you reset Guillermo to his base state via sleep hypnosis, it's the sweetest, most wide-eyed and innocent version of him and STILL the first thing he does is offer himself up to be a vampire's familiar, all in a bid to have enough power that he can't ever be bullied again.

It's understandable. It's reprehensible. It's really ugly in a way that's harder to laugh off when you attach that to an extremely timely, familiar (heh) real-world scenario such as a venture capital firm that makes their money through shady real-estate deals that absolutely gut local livelihoods. But the Guillermo we're seeing right now is just as tunnel-visioned and stubborn and selfish as the Guillermo we've always known. We just very understandably like him less for it when it's real-world monsters we've all seen ruin real lives instead of fantasy monsters that are silly and fun to watch.

But this isn't out of character or off course or a step back. Guillermo is deep in denial and clinging to the Cannon Capital job because he can't face what he's lost as of the end of season 5. He's replaced Nandor with a master that's worse in every way, he's still clinging to the house while pretending he's separating himself, he's still sleeping on the remains of the makeshift coffin Nandor bought for him. He tells himself he is facing it and moving on, but I hope this time we all know that's a lie.

And I'm here for it when it all falls down around his ears, and he finally has to face himself. I'm really excited for it, actually!

[ohcoffeedragon]

I was about to give my own take on the album in the tags of @bisonaari's post but seeing the wall of text on my screen I decided to make it a separate post instead, and then I ended up making a graph.

I love how the album takes you on a ride and plants themes that keep evolving. It gets very dark at times, but you never lose that sense of forward motion.

Ready to Go is about getting your big chance, believing in yourself and going all in. It has an inspirational quality to it, but in the lyrics you already get a hint of the problems to come, and you already have two of the running themes: an inability to set boundaries + the impact of getting reduced to a one dimensional character, to the point where people want to see you fail for their entertainment.

Cha Cha Cha of course is about a lot of things, but in the context of the album the classic story beat here is the "point of no return". It's an emotional high: rising to the challenge, overcoming insecurities and difficulties, experiencing a triumph, but at the same time it's the point where normal life goes out the window. This is the point where you get the letter from Hogwarts or step through the wardrobe into a bizarro world.

Takavoltti marks the beginning of the downward spiral. K still has energy in abundance, we find the same attitude of going all in and pushing through difficulties that was first introduced in Ready to Go, but in Takavoltti the pushing just never stops. He is pushed further and further, and once again you can sense that the people pushing him don't really see him as a person. They just want to see how far he will go, it's all about the entertainment value.

Ruoska and Kot Kot go one step further. In Takavoltti K is already acting on command, he has no more agency of his own, but there is still an eagerness to surprise and please an audience. That eagerness is gone in the two following songs, it's all coping, reacting and surviving. Autiomaa is the darkest point but there is a fair amount of darkness in the other songs as well.

Around Autiomaa on both sides you have songs about coping. Kot Kot, Ruoska and Sex=Money, while being fun, are about coping strategies that come dangerously close to self harm (drinking, leaning into the pain/getting hurt but still asking for more, giving people what they want because you can't feel anything so you might as well).

Sex=Money marks an evolution because he is trying to reclaim the narrative and take his own decisions, but he is still lost in the numbness and doesn't really know which way to go.

It's only with Bananas, HHH and ICIP that we are finally emerging into a different mindset. The problems are still there but he is learning to roll with the punches. The numbness is gone and he is able to enjoy the moment again. Feelings of joy and love shine through even when things are frantic and full of uncertainty.

Then we have People's champion as the perfect ending, looking back at the roller coaster, stopping to take it all in, appreciating what a journey it's been, being grateful for it all and letting the positive feelings take over.

I find this album insanely well made. It's heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time, while simultaneously being pure fun, never missing a beat.

And I'm still at a loss about how the HS critic was unable to see this. How could he possibly not see the coherence of a narrative that follows the beats of a traditional story arc?

[carto0ncritter]

PLEASE DO NOT HARASS THIS PERSON.

I'm genuinely tired of HB/HH/Vivziepop stans putting words into my mouth.

"You literally hate everything about the show"

Fyi, I didn't hate the premise. I also don't hate: 1) The animation; 2) The voice acting; 3) The potential the show had, and hopefully still has, since it will apparently have at least four seasons.

But ever since HB went from being about the misadventures of assassins in Hell, into a romance drama between two characters who are clearly toxic for each other, that's when I started hating the plot. The third point you made is true, I do hate the plot, and I will continue to do so, unless all this focus on an abusive gay ship (Stolitz) shifts back to what got me and a lot of other people into the show in the first place. And no, I'm not going to stop being vocal about it just because someone else told me to. You're on the internet buddy, learn to accept the fact that not everyone will have the same opinions as you.

And that's really NOT something to get worked up about.

"Just stop watching it if you are this upset about all of this"

Maybe you should stop going into the critical tag if you know that what you're gonna find there will upset you. Just a thought.

And if you've come across my post by searching "blitzo" "moxxie" "millie" or "loona," all you had to do was read the very first sentence I wrote (having to do about my issues with the latest episode) and click off my post because clearly criticism of your beloved show triggers you. And no, I won't stop tagging the characters like this even if I have something negative to say about them. This perfectly explains as to why:

"You hate the main character"

Which one? If you mean Blitzø, then no. I don't hate him. I literally said it in the tags.

But if you mean Stolas, then yeah, I hate him. So what?

"You hate most of the characters in general"

If by most characters you mean Stolas, then yes, I do.

But uh... I don't hate any other character aside from maybe Loona? She's written so inconsistently. There's no real development when it comes to Loona. She acts like a huge bitch and a spoiled brat despite receiving love from her dad for five years straight. She is a grown ass woman who kicked Blitzø in the balls after telling Octavia that Stolas is "trying his best" when he clearly wasn't. She physically abused Blitzø just because he called her out RIGHTFULLY, remind me why she didn't beat the shit out of him again in the latest episode after Blitzø wanted her to overwork herself AND didn't pay her for a month?

Oh and there's also the time Loona cheered for Blitzø, tucked him in and called him dad. Why is she abusive towards him in the very next episode?

That's the inconsistency I'm talking about.

As for the other main characters:

I genuinely relate to Octavia. And I feel sorry for her. Enough said.

I don't care about Millie. It's too little too late for that.

I'm not sure how to feel about Moxxie. Where is his character arc even going? What is his character arc? Learning to stand up for himself for the millionth fucking time?

Stella is a wasted character whose only purpose is making Stolas seem "innocent." I hate what the writers did to her.

Also yes, I dislike Viv for reasons that are 100% valid and available to the public, so I'm not making stuff up.

[bloomiii]

Okay, I have been thinking about Diluc and have thoughts on this post.

First, I disagree with the idea of Diluc being extremely bitchy/aggressive towards Kaeya in the early patches, especially in Venti's quest. The dialogue follows below and if anything, Kaeya is the one that is bitchy.

Diluc simply asks him to "drink responsibly" and Kaeya is the one that goes "you'd throw me out with the trash." And we learn Diluc still cares even if he won't admit it by keeping the vase. One of the main differences between Diluc and Kaeya in the early patches was that Kaeya values the past and their childhood (perhaps too much) while Diluc is the exact opposite and wants to leave it completely behind.

This makes sense for both characters. Kaeya has little hope for the future because of his fate/destiny. Kaeya feels like Diluc doesn't value their past while Diluc sees little value in the extremely naive person he was before.

And this tracks with the Diluc's message at Cat's Tail:

Even I sometimes reminisce about the carefree and happy days of the past. The warmth of the Knights, my friends, my father... Everything was perfect. But one can never return to the past. For the sake of the future, I cannot keep on dreaming in memories.

Diluc's mindset is about always pushing forward, never looking back, (which is funny with the whole turnfire lore in Natlan). One of his ascension lines says "No matter what dares to stand in my way, I must press forward."

And in Weinlesfest, he says about Razor's situation that "tragedy can drive personal growth and learning how to face it head-on is part of growing up."

In that coffee-making event, Diluc says he was "young and naive" for *checks notes* making some juice as a child.

In GAA, Kaeya encourages Diluc to do something fun with the seashell collecting, and Diluc is surprised Kaeya would remember that, because he thinks that Kaeya must have left it all behind, like Diluc wants to do.

I think Diluc has gone too far in the opposite direction, becoming cynical and untrusting, and his arc in the game is about learning how to rely on people and trust again. This is what the traveler does for Diluc, helping him learn how to trust people again. And this is why Kaeya is the first one to reach out, because Diluc, despite still caring about Kaeya (he keep his secret and he keeps the vase) sees no point in rekindling their relationship, in trying to go back to the past.

So, I don't think that Hidden Strife overly changed the nature of their relationship. Kaeya, in the manga, reaches out first, and Diluc agrees to help with his plan. Kaeya sends the first letter and Diluc reciprocates by sending letters back. In Diluc's story quest, Kaeya makes the first move by telling Diluc he is glad Diluc has an assistant (read: glad that he is trusting people) and won't tell his DNH secret.

And Diluc starts reciprocating when Kaeya reaches out. He helps Kaeya with making Jean's skin, and he adds food to Angel's Share after Kaeya mentions it. Eventually culminating in Diluc reaching out on his own in Weinlesfest and inviting Kaeya for dinner after Kaeya initially refuses.

Along with Kaeya and Diluc's different personalities, where Kaeya is mischievous and Diluc, not being very conversational, often refuses to play along and kind of just ignores a lot of what Kaeya says (Diluc's little Hmph's) may make it seem like they dislike each other.

They often give each other shit, but its not from a place of true hatred. Like in GAA with Kaeya complaining about Diluc melting his ice bridge, when he could have just left on his own if he really wanted to.

I also know that people think Hidden Strife to be a complete retcon. I also thought this. But then I came across this post that actually talked about how all of it could work without retconning. Some food for thought.

based on diluc’s story quest, he didn’t seem to know that kaeya knew (or suspected) that diluc was the darknight hero til the end of that questline, though kaeya’s letters (starting at his seventh letter, possibly his sixth) imply he might know or suspect that diluc is the dnh. i’m inclined to believe that the events of diluc’s story quest took place between the sixth and seventh letters (where kaeya goes from a more vague suggestion that dnh and diluc would ‘get along well’ to outright stating that “my lips are sealed”) which casts the final letter exchange (Kaeya’s ninth letter and diluc’s second, which was in response to that) in an interesting light.

My complicated feelings about Diluc's character is that his character stories set him up on this loss of innocence arc, this previously naive child, who learns that the world is not black and white, that people he cares about could do "bad" things, be involved with "bad" people, and that they could have good or understandable reasons for doing "bad" things. But then he is put in scenarios where it is obvious he has the moral high ground and never has to work through morally complex scenarios and hard decisions.

(Like, I read this fic where Diluc is hunting down a fatui grunt, and Diluc is like "tell me what I want to know or I kill you" and the fatui is like " you really except me to betray my country and my family for you" and chooses death. And he is forced to acknowledge the other side could have just as righteous motives and parallel it with Kaeya who would be betraying his (blood) family if he sided with Mondstadt. Or any fic where someone comes after Diluc for revenge because he indiscriminately killed fatui in Snezhnaya and killed someone they cared about. Or his whole parallel with Signora who was also betrayed by the KOF and now hates Mond and is on the side of the fatui. Or Eroch, who is corrupt, but could be said to be acting for Mondstadt's greater good by preserving the people's faith in the KOF.)

They need to reveal more about Crepus' shady actions for Diluc's arc to work (did Diluc find out his father actually did terrible things to get the delusion or was he just a stoog). They need to tell us how Diluc felt about receiving a vision under the upbringing of Crepus, who is characterized as a faithful/religious man.

"Diluc's father had once said to him that the world would never turn its back on the faithful. But now, the Knights of Favonius trampled on his faith like it was nothing. He couldn't help but wonder: What was his father's view on faith in his final moments?"- Diluc's character story 3

"Visions are a light in the sea of darkness that surrounds those who have lost their way. But for those who have faith, they are little more than badges of conviction."- Diluc's vision voiceline

And now he uses his vision, after abandoning it during his father's death, but it is just a tool to him.

And then in Hidden Strife, we get this.

"I will go out and experience all that the world has to offer, just as you have suggested. My father’s will shall find continuation through me."

Which seems to change Diluc's three year trip to something that was done with a calm mind and rational thought, encouraged by Alice as a good way to deal with his grief, rather than something done in the height of anger and grief, resulting in him almost getting killed by the harbingers, contradicting his character stories:

"After his close encounter with death, Diluc took a long hard look at his past and the anger he had harbored for so long. Acknowledging his shortcomings, he decided to join the underground intelligence network."

and

"The events of his years away had purged him of his childish immaturity, and turned him into a hero ready to shoulder his father's will once more. Each night, from the shadows, he fought for Mondstadt."

I would love to see evidence of Diluc's supposed enlightenment and understanding gained from his tragedy and his three years away.

If it's not too much trouble, could you expand on Diluc's "already incoherent characterization" you mentioned in one of your recent posts? I'm just curious cause I also feel that there's something off about him writing-wise but I can't put my finger on it.

sigh. so, at the start of the game hoyo wrote diluc as super aggressive and negative towards kaeya specifically and knights in general, and all of their interactions are very hostile. they are having bitch fights every time they are in the same room.

like, fandom likes to pretend that diluc has guilt, bc of like some anonymous message on a public board that sounds like it's diluc feeling bad, which hoyo back-wrote. but they can't gaslight me, i just recently replayed start of the game content on my new account. like first time diluc appears is in kaeya's domain after traveler and kaeya cleared it, and diluc bitches at kaeya for no fucking reason and kaeya is v passive aggressive back at him. they have bitch fight in venti's quest. diluc's entire quest is about him trying to keep kaeya from discovering he's darknight hero and he specifically makes it known that kaeya is unwelcome every time he shows up in the tavern. and he sounds negative when bringing up kaeya for any reason.

and then hoyo started to back-pedal. idk what happened, maybe the direction of the plot shifted. maybe the writer who was writing them in this conflict vein quit. maybe at the start they only had vague idea of like brothers at war with each other, and once they started to flesh it out and add nuance, they've realized that like, burning your baby brothers' eye out might be understandable in the moment of trauma and shock, but then acting like you're on high horse and treating him like garbage for YEARS after is a bit of a psycho behavior.

quick aside bc i know there are ppl who think that, um, kaeya "deserved" it and like. he was what, not older than 10 when he was left at the winery. and he was about 17 when he confessed. he was a traumatized kid who kept a secret bc his bio father told him that the fate of his entire country depends on it. get a grip. but as i said, with the same logic, diluc was also in shock and trauma, and i do not fault him the fight itself. what doesn't track is how diluc acts years LATER, when he had time to think.

so they started to drastically soften diluc AND back-writing retcons. Hidden Strife letters are all about it. They were like oh, brothers were always in contact! Diluc is not a maniac, he was polite to the knights and he told kaeya to take care :) :) :) this creates new set of problems. not only it gives diluc personality split where he was incredibly aggressive to kaeya in person, but apparently normal in the letters. But also, we have letters from Kaeya that make it obvious he knew immediately that diluc is a darknight hero and they both were chill about it. But like! diluc's entire story quest is about him trying to keep kaeya from learning that! like, come on! why then diluc did all these stupid scooby doo shenanigans with slimes and shit???

now i think they are trying to shift responsibility for reconciliation from diluc to kaeya, which is the only issue that affects kaeya's own characterization. bc they are very hard going into "all servants at winery ADORE kaeya and treat him like family and welcome him!!" and fandom like, extends it to diluc now, like diluc is welcoming kaeya too and kaeya is a silly goose who has his hang ups and refuses to visit. as if getting your eye burned off, trying to reach out first and getting "ugh, its you" treatment when you show up at your brother's tavern is just like. a lil awkward situation that kaeya himself should get over without any effort on diluc's side and he should just ~realize~ that he's still part of the family lol. and ppl justify it like "well we don't know how diluc actually feels, he probably feels guilt (anon message) and wants to reconcile". which like. so we don't know, but kaeya is supposed to figure out and reach out AGAIN, when diluc at any time could've just told him that he's welcomed.

and now in kaeya's hangout we learn more about their childhoods which tbh hurts diluc even more. like how are we gonna be pretending that diluc cares about kaeya when he returned to mond and found his baby brother, who was apparently the sweetest gentlest child in the world, his loyal shadow for entire childhood, couldn't lie, was taking punishments for diluc, and see him now becoming a high functioning alcoholic with brazenly unhealthy persona of liar and manipulator, and like NOT get worried and try to reach out. which i don't think it was hoyo's intention, they just wanted to add the tragic sweetie uwu to kaeya's characterization, but they did not think how it reflect on diluc in global context

so now diluc's characterization flip flopped in several directions, and he doesn't really has an arc or plotline going. he's kinda just there now, more of symbol than character, and hoyo just writes whatever they want for him without any regard for any previous lore

[my-mt-heart]

Thoughts on TBOC 206

I have a few thoughts on 206 specifically, but now that all of the episodes are out, I want to look at what the season as a whole accomplished for Carol's and Daryl's arc(s), or rather, how much damage it did, and emphasize for the millionth time that new leadership is the only way forward.

Carol and Daryl both planning to stay behind was really sweet. I especially loved the emotion in Melissa's voice when she delivered Carol's line about not being able to live with herself if anything happened to Daryl and the look she gives him when she's about to get on the plane. Melissa has a remarkable talent for conveying a story that the writing and editing don't want to tell and I cannot thank her enough for staying true to the character in spite of that. It shouldn't have to be that way, but it is because the men in charge are all vindictive monsters.

The interruption trope was grossly overused the whole season, but in the case of the plane, after Carol jumps out, there's plenty of room for her and Daryl to have a moment with each other where the impact of what she just did lands on both of them, but it gets passed over. There are smiles sure, but they don't even hug? It feels extremely inorganic.

For the very first time all fucking season, we get to see Daryl comfort Carol. He tells her that what happened to Sophia and the other kids wasn't her fault and that living at the Commonwealth will be different this time because they'll “stay together.” Again, it’s a sweet scene when you take it at face value, but thinking about it in context, I have several bullshit cards to play. It shouldn't have taken Daryl this long to figure out that Carol was struggling with her grief again. Even if he wasn't an expert on reading Carol, she explicitly told him multiple times throughout the back half of the season that she’s hurting, but for some reason it’s only when the child he's known for two months is safe that he can finally make some space for her? Bullshit. That’s not Daryl. Acting far removed from that grief when Sophia was a huge part of his story too? Bullshit, that's also not Daryl. The scene is supposed to be Caryl fans' payoff? Bullshit, because it's a repeat of a couple of scenes they shared in S10, only worse, because this time it's really hard to take Daryl seriously when just a few episodes previously, he was talking to Isabelle about the life they'd have in the CW. Do I think he meant what he said to Isabelle? No. Does that matter? No, because it's never clarified. Thus...bullshit.

Why is a supporting character given really drawn out romantic beats with another supporting character I don’t recognize (did she fall out of the sky? Who is she??) when the only romance that's actually been earned gets no focus whatsoever? Is the hand-holding scene supposed to parallel them? Why are we only allowed to have parallels? What is that?

I've talked a lot about the tunnel scene already because of the script leak and for me, seeing it on screen was worse than reading it on the page which was already an awful experience. Again, why do Daryl and ghost Isabelle get more emotional weight than Daryl and Carol, who actually have a deep bond with each other and have spent over a decade with each other? Why is he giving up on life when he knows he has Carol back? Why is there literally no reaction when he meets up with Carol again after a near-death experience? Zabel treats them like they're strangers, and I will never get over how insane it is that someone so ignorant and careless gets to be in charge of their stories. Also, why are they talking before putting on their masks??

Melissa is wonderful in her performance when Carol sees Sophia, but the scene feels like a copout instead of giving her a proper resolution to her arc. It feels like there's still so much work to be done there. Also, why couldn't they find an actress who resembled Sophia more closely? The contrast is really distracting.

Thinking more broadly about the season now, it feels like the healing journey Melissa intended for Carol got upended by Daryl's betrayal (and yeah I'm going to call it that). I think it raises more insecurities about her self-worth, and I hate the male EPs for that.

They turned Daryl into an original character who embodies an "ideal" masculinity, but it comes off as inauthentic to the character many fans related to in the flagship show. I miss the unconventional hero who takes a long time to build emotional connections and stays loyal to them once he does. His sudden desire to build an entirely new family with people he's just met wreaks havoc on many of his bonds back home, but particularly Daryl's and Carol's. One of the many issues with Zabel is that he's used to writing broadcast TV shows (think crime, medical, or law procedurals) where the main characters can be reset a million and one times and their trajectory doesn't change. Daryl's and Carol's story isn't wired that way. On the contrary, they are two of the most transformed characters on television, with a long history that needs to be respected. Zabel does not respect that. Neither does Nicotero, Gimple, and even Norman.

I don't expect things to change for S3. I actually think they'll get worse and as much as I love Melissa and Caryl, the four horsemen are simply untrustworthy. I won't subject myself to more of their shit. Why should I? As Nicotero so kindly pointed out, they don't make the show for me (or any fans?) anyway. I'd love to watch a real Caryl show, one that has a showrunner who values Melissa's input, understands the characters, and respects the fans and I sincerely hope AMC will do the right thing.

Bonus Thought: “You Can't Always Get What You Want" feels like a slap in the face and I will never be able to listen to it again. Thanks, Zabel 🖕

[zomboivex]

My predictions for each character in TKDB (please don’t take this seriously I’m not here to debate I just want a pat on the back and oatmeal cookies, thanks).

Frostheim

Jin -he will never get full use of his stigma back and the more he uses it the emptier he feels on the inside. Whoops. Speed running depression out here. But he’ll at least get some motivation to ‘take over the institute’ and it will be his goal to work towards.

Tohma - he will locate the ‘spy’ and will learn that the spy isn’t actually what he was thinking it was. And also- he’s a spy as well. Why? Because he gives me major slimeball vibes. Like he’s actually looking for the ‘spy’ because he is a spy as well. And that spy is double crossing. Idk man. Why not?

Kaito - he is going to have a sort of King Arthur type arc. Where he realizes he’s ‘royalty’ and will replace Jin as ‘king’ (in the way future when Jin graduates or whatever). He’ll become less cowardly and gain confidence and strength. And learn that whatever his ‘useless’ stigma is actually quite useful. There’s a reason we haven’t seen it in action. Because we, the audience, would be able to tell that it’s actually very useful from a narrative standpoint but to the characters may seem useless.

Lucas - he’s going to find out that his brother was the ‘exchange’ for his wish. This will reveal to us that every ghoul who makes a wish exchanges something in turn (since they didn’t die- there was something else exchanged and I personally think it’s connected to their stigma usage). The more they use their stigma, the worse off they become with whatever it was they exchanged. But in Lucas’ case- his brother was exchanged so he doesn’t experience the negative effects directly.

Vagastrom

Alan - is going to find out whatever is going on with Dante and will regain some of his ‘self’ because brother he just needs a hug. But otherwise- he’s mostly just going to be pretty stable despite saying he is the least stable/safe to be around. Good for him.

Leo - is going to get demoted from vice-captain. Lose his friendship with Sho. And have a complete turnaround as a character and go through some sort of arc where we find out he’s not actually that big of an asshole. I have more thoughts on this but I want to really wait until the next chapter comes out because he’s been a lot less schemey from the Vagastrom chapter and maybe I thought of his character arc wrong originally so I need more screen time of him but I love him anyways.

Sho - he will think he has a one up on whatever his brother is asking him to do but he’s going to have circles run around him. His friendship with Leo will be damaged (but they’ll eventually make amends). Leo probably will get Sho out of whatever weird shit Hyde is dragging him into.

Jabberwock

Haru - is going to reveal what house he’s originally from (Sinostra) and that he changed houses to keep a closer eye on something. Especially after the clash. But ehhh I don’t really want to speculate too much on Haru. All I know is that Towa is enamored with him.

Towa - is going to watch the tree wither away and then attack Darkwick to ‘unite’ them so that the houses work together to stop him and it begins to grow again. He is NOT going to be revealed as the mermaid. But he’s definitely not fully human. I’m not going to speculate on what he is right now. But maybe he’s that fucking weird oracle thing at the beginning but ‘split’ off from it to try and take human shape. Idk fight me.

Ren - is going to find meaningful friendships and have a very basic but fulfilling story. We’ll watch him slowly start to become more involved in things on campus and actually care about the outcome of things. Also we’ll learn why he hates the ocean so much. My guess is that we’ll find out more whenever we find out more about the mermaid. Because bet he watched a family member die via mermaid attack.

Sinostra

Taiga - Taiga is going to be one of the ones we find out that the more a stigma is used, the more damage it causes to the user. It’s why his memory is so scuffed. He has anomalous dementia probably. I don’t know if I think his stigma lets him have ‘foresight’ because I think his is just letting him be lucky. And that includes some level of foresight but not in the way everyone thinks. He’s going to reveal to us that Hyde is a piece of shit. He does NOT like Hyde (and same, buddy. Same).

Romeo - we’ll learn more about Taiga through Romeo. And how he’s definitely changed. Romeo will also show us what Hyde is up to (as well as Sho). And probably will get himself into a can of worms. Rescue Romeo mission in the future. Taiga gonna go feral.

Ritsu - We’ll find out some shit about how his father helps hide whatever bullshit the institute is coming up with. Probably will reveal to him that his family (father ahem) isn’t as great as he once thought. Will become disillusioned. But he will want to then eventually reevaluate his goals and ‘right his father’s wrongs’.

Hotarubi

Subaru - Subaru is the spy. I’m joking. Maybe. I don’t trust him, though. But I think it would be wildly crazy and funny if he was actually the reason the Clash started. He has some pretty strong opinions that he does keep to himself. He’s scheming and plotting and we’re going to find out much more about him through Leo snooping. Because Leo has good instincts, I think. He’s right to not trust Subaru.

Haku - Haku is the ‘spy’ but not really. He’s a double agent type thing. Works close with Darkwick to try and get info from them by exchanging not as important info. After all- why keep Zenji a secret? Why not rat Subaru out? I think he keeps the real shit to himself but exposes fake things. Maybe. Who knows. He’s got beef with Tohma though and he also works with Rui but also keeps him on a sort of tight ‘watch’ because he has to because Obscuary is under tight observation to begin with. Idk. I don’t think he’s actually fully the spy. He doesn’t seem the type to me.

Zenji - he’s going to keep watching over his brother. And he definitely knows more than what he’s sharing but he’s an ally. There will be an arc where Darkwick finds out about him (Subaru ratted him out 💀💀💀) and then they will try to exorcise him but something will happen to where they decide not to. He’s ‘useful’ enough to keep around and he’s not malicious.

Obscuary

Ed - we’re gonna learn he can time travel and read minds and be OP. It’s why he acts the way he acts. Because he’s known these people in this loop for far too long and knows how it plays out and there’s nothing he can really do to stop it. So he’s just vibing with whatever happens and is just sorta fucking around with everyone. It’s also why he’s not as strong now because he’s still aging every time the loop resets. But we can’t see that actually happening because he’s a vampire so he doesn’t physically age.

Rui - is going to stay cursed and be very tragic. We’re gonna watch him wither into even more of a shell of a man. He’s going to become disillusioned about everything and just try to stay the same as he is but will fail utterly and horribly. But also whenever we get a beach day mission- he’s going to be the happiest. Also we’ll learn he was originally from like Ultio and helped to run the prisons pre-curse and pre-move to Obscuary. And that his curse made him completely change as a person due to now being the ‘monster’ he once held in prisons. I’m gonna be way off base with this. But whatever they do with him I’m ride or die for this bitch all the way.

Lyca - is going to discover Neros sold him out to the institute (for what reason who knows but hahahahaha) and he’s going to come to terms that he’s more anomaly/werewolf than human. And he’s going to be bitter for a while but will eventually overcome it and decide he’s fine how he is because he doesn’t need to be more or less of anything.

Mortkranken

Yuri - is going to dismantle Darkwick General and Frostheim with his bare hands. He’s gonna rip into them with his teeth. He’s going to shred them apart. He’s going to-!!! He will definitely be the one to find MC’s cure. He has to. Plus Mortkranken is the only house with a fucking secured anomaly under their belt. Everyone else has destroyed them.

Jiro - Will find out about his brother’s ghost. Will have memories return to him. He will be the one to tell us what happened with the clash probably (maybe not idk). But he’s going to also have a really bad episode where he goes into another coma. It will be sad hours. Zenji will be almost exorcised. But then MC will do something to help them both probably.

I dunno guys.

I’m throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks.

[germesthegenie]

Brief Respite At The End Of The World

Little doodle that I imagine takes place some time either during Arc 29 or after Arc 30. Wanted to do a quick drawing of this ship that for some reason lives rent free in my brain (Does it even have, like, a ship name? If there isn’t I think either Gauntlet or Handcuff could work for if I ever need to tag it but idk)

Way Too Much Yapping about a relationship between two tertiary characters below:

Part of the reason I like this ship is because these two were surprise favorites in the latter half of Worm, and I thought the mentions of them getting together in Arc 26 and 29 were cute. Though thinking a lot on the two characters (and probably a good bit of headcanon tbh), I started to appreciate it a lot more.

For Theo’s end of things, he’s always been burdened by expectations. His father tried to mold him into the next leader of the E88 from a young age, but Theo pushed back against that, instead wanting to be a hero. And then he got that, and a lot more than he asked for, accidentally becoming essentially a hero of prophecy thanks to Jack’s promise. Suddenly he wasn’t just a hero, he had to be *the* hero, live up to impossible expectations and save the world. And he was treated based on those expectations. His friendship with Weaver was pretty much based on the fact Taylor had to train him, try to make him the guy who could defeat Jack Slash. And then he failed, just barely missing the mark, and those expectations came crashing down around him. He distances himself from his team, and is mostly sulking in the background for the opening acts of Gold Morning, though one person does make an effort to reach out to him.

Aside from maybe Purity (who has her own set of issues), Ava is one of the few people in Theo’s life who likes and cares about who he is, not who he could be. And at his lowest point, where he feels he failed everyone, she’s trying to do what she can to help him recover and see he’s not a failure. And she does succeed eventually, as we see him up to fight a couple chapters later in the arc.

(Also it’s really funny and sweet that the meek girl from Arc 24 was able to almost convince Taylor “You can’t tell me what to do” Hebert to drop everything and talk to Golem, made a doodle of it a while back)

On Ava’s side of things, there’s admittedly not nearly as much to glean from just her characterization in the text alone. Like I said, she’s one of the few who appreciates Theo for who he is, regardless of expectations put on him by others. Their stories aren’t so different, only that her nemesis of sorts (Behemoth) was killed just as she was starting out. And after that fight she’s terrified, choosing not to attend the Khonsu fight. But Theo keeps pushing himself, trains knowing he’ll have to fight things that are arguably worse than the Endbringers when it comes to pain and fates worse than death. I like to think his inspiration is what led to the much more confident Cuff we see after the timeskip (though the Taylor Hebert Bootcamp probably also helped there). The main other thing we know is she had a previous boyfriend who she broke up with due to the pressures Weaver put the Chicago Wards under (which is probably a whole separate post to get into). So maybe their relationship is something that lets them both have a sense of normalcy in the insanity that is late Worm.

Or, you know, maybe I’m reading way too much into my two blorbos whose relationship gets like 5 lines of canon mention and 1 fanfic that I know of (shoutout again to Chartic, Off the Cuff is like a third of the reason I like this ship so much) and this is the best way I could put together why short of writing a fanfic myself (I might ngl but I do not have time atm)

[lilybecca1]

I open TikTok and of course this is the first thing that came up

And it's true. I think we all tend to look past how broken Bakugou Katsuki actually is, and how he's been broken down piece by piece ever since the beginning of the manga. So they say he hasn't gotten any karma for what he said to Izuku? He was literally one of the people who suffered the most in the entire story.

His entire world was flipped upside down, he went through feelings of betrayal when he thought Izuku lied to him his whole life, his own insecurities have been brought forth almost every moment, his ego was beaten down episode by episode, which yeah, we can say he deserved that, but that doesn't mean it wasn't any less painful and that he didn't suffer through all that humiliation and constantly being reminded that he isn't unbeatable, that he's weak.

And he also had his fair share of panic attacks, more than most of the others. He was humiliated and his weakness was shown for the whole world to see when he got kidnapped, and had to experience everyone believing that he could turn into a villain when his whole life was basically about how much he wanted to be a hero. And if we look back at how many times we've seen him cry, which is also more than most of the others, then it's a lot, especially for a person who is supposed to be someone who doesn't cry, who always remains strong. Yet he was the one that always broke down, that had to deal with the most inner turmoil in the span of that one year, which must have been a hell of a hard time of suffering for him after years and years of suppressing those emotions.

In the beginning of the manga, he started off as someone egoistic with a superior complex who would never ever admit that he was wrong, and by the end of it we got someone who apologized out of his own will. For someone like the person that he was, to even consider, yet alone want to apologize, on his own will, without anyone pushing him to do so, is a big fucking thing.

We forget the fact that these children have literally went through hell, emotionally, physically, mentally. They're just CHILDREN. Hell, Bakugo literally died, if that year wasn't traumatic enough for him. He had to experience what it feels like to lose someone important, first with All Might (the fact that he caused it adds even more to it), then losing Deku, then losing his OWN LIFE. And yes, he did lose Deku, because when he was in the hospital, the others literally told him that there's no way of knowing if Deku would even wake up or not. Do you guys have any idea how it would feel to hear THAT about someone you care about? That they might not even wake up? When you haven't even apologized about everything that you have done to him, haven't come clean about your past to him?

Yeah no, shit, I know it must have terrified Bakugo like hell. Then he ended up losing Deku again when Deku left UA to begin his Vigilante Arc. He left without saying goodbye after Bakugo thought he might lose him, now tell me that isn't painful enough as it is.

This guy went through fucking hell, people should stop throwing so much shit on him. He's been broken to the point that he basically became an entire different person than who he was. And I don't care that he told Izuku to jump, because he is not that person anymore, and not just because he apologized. No, that person has been beaten down rough, left broken, alone, confused and in pain, not understanding his own feelings. The person that he used to be was beaten down and left so broken, that he couldn't be built back into the same person anymore. He went through trauma after trauma, went through all kind of emotional turmoil, pain, anguish, shock, humiliation, guilt, remorse, and worst of all, he died, losing his life at just 16 years old.

He came back to life NOT the same person that he was. Not the same heart, not the same feelings. Whether you understand it or not, that guy is not the Bakugou Katsuki that he used to be, and he never will be. All that anger, that shell around his heart has been broken into millions of pieces, leaving only this pure and sensitive soul who has gone through too much pain to comprehend.

Trauma changes you, it makes you become a completely new person. Bakugou Katsuki died in the war, and it's Bakugou Kacchan who came back to life and survived to live on.

[swaps55]

What was the deciding factor that made you write Opus from everyone else’s pov and not Sam’s? Going back and reading it again while waiting (with rabid patience) for Mezzo, I’m truly seeing how fleshed out you’ve made Sam. And is it possible that we see another pov from Hannah? The small piece that was in Mezzo was really eye opening

It was a couple of things!

One is that we spend three games looking through Shepard's eyes, and if I was going to cover canon events in a fanfic, I wanted to look at them through the eyes of someone else to give events we all know about already a fresh perspective.

The second is that one of the things I wanted to do with Opus was really emphasize the 'larger than life' aspect of Shepard's legacy. As the player character of a video game, Shepard by design is the center of the Mass Effect universe. They are the only person who can save the galaxy, the person everyone looks to as a leader, the person through which all decisions flow. But fanfic isn't a video game, and a question I really wanted to answer about Sam specifically was...why him? What makes him the person who saves the galaxy? What makes him a hero? Because "he's the player character" isn't an answer.

Part of answering that question was making him feel larger than life to the reader. And one of the ways I thought I could do that was never letting the reader really see what's going on in his head. His narrative is entirely filtered through the eyes of others, so that all you see is what others think of him. They all offer pieces of the full picture of Sam, but no one has all the pieces. And even the people who love him the most - like Kaidan - still get him wrong sometimes. The reader is the only one who gets the most complete picture of him, but even you are missing one vital piece of the puzzle - Sam's.

It felt like a fun way to add a little mystery to who he is. There is always some part of him that's unknowable, which feels important to a character who exists as a symbol to so many. There's a person underneath the mantle, but you have to work for him, and what you get is a little different depending on whose eyes you're looking through.

It's been an interesting and really fun challenge to develop a main character whose thoughts you never see, but who nevertheless has a lot of depth and compels people rather than frustrates them when you don't know what he's thinking.

As for Hannah Shepard, I am all but certain we will get another POV from her. Her involvement in Mezzo and in the next story, Requiem, continues to evolve in ways I am really pleased with. I'm learning a lot about her, and I hope you will be surprised with the direction I think her character arc is going to go.

[andromedasolarsystem]

Sigh. Lately I’ve been thinking about Takiishi and Endo and their language barrier. :[

Since the beginning of the manga we’ve been taught that fighting is a language in and of itself.

Fists convey thoughts in ways that words cannot. That’s something that was taught at the very beginning in the Shishitoren arc and ended up becoming incredibly important when we got to the Noroshi arc! We particularly see this shown in our greatest antagonist yet: Takiishi Chika!

He makes it apparent from the very beginning that he doesn’t like talking. Though we don’t get to see him interacting with anyone other than Endo in early childhood we get a glimpse of it through Endo. Ignoring others, seeing them as faceless nobodies.

Then if that doesn’t seem to work then he’ll give them a warning in the only language he truly knows how to speak.

Then. If even that doesn’t work then you kinda have to improvise. Try to mix the languages. He speaks out loud for the first time. He bridges the language barrier. Sure, with the aid of his also using his own way of communicating, but the effort is still there. And we can see that he’s taken aback when Endo blocks the hit. He fights back, he tells him ‘no’ in Takiishi’s own language. So he attempts at communicating again but Endo,, hasn’t quite connected the dots yet.

Takiishi doesn’t like using words. It’s uncomfortable for him. They ‘have no meaning’, as he puts it. When he absolutely must communicate he’s straight and to the point, ending it as quickly as he can.

But even he’s having the time of his life and he’s choosing to speak it’s almost like,,, I don’t know like a doll just out of sync to me. His timing and choice of sentence structure is juuuust off.

Takiishi Chika’s way of communicating is through fighting. That’s why he loves it so very much, it’s the only time he can truly get his feelings and thoughts across the way he wants to. It’s why he’s so drawn to Umemiya, the only other person who understands that fighting is just another form of communication. A far more honest way of communicating too.

This post is also a really good exploration of their communication barrier. I ended up taking a lot of inspiration from August’s reading of the characters so I really recommend you go check him out. :]

I’ve hitting the image limit so I’m gonna do a pt. 2 going over Endo’s fighting style and his way of communicating. :]

[ciaossu-imagines]

Day 3 - at some point the vongola 10th squad will move to italy, lbr. Question is: what is rhe BIGGEST culture shock for the japanese boys? What ia the thing Dera and Lambo will miss most about Japan? Anything anyonw will have issues to adapt to or adapt to again?

I actually think that me and you have talked somewhat about this before! At least, the fact that I really don’t think that the Vongola 10th move to Italy full-time. The TYL! Arc was still set in Namimori, where we see a strong Vongola presence in Japan. We kind of see that a lot of them were off and doing their own things. Chrome was in France, along with Chikusa and Ken. Yamamoto had said he was off and playing baseball, and to be doing so at 24/25, I like to believe it means that he was at least able to go semi-pro, like he’d hoped in his younger years to do so. It’s said that Ryohei was visiting Italy to see Lussuria, and that combined with the photos on his dresser and Hana’s dresser, leads me to believe he divides his time in between different places and that he still spends a good chunk of time in Japan, albeit it I don’t believe he lives there year-round either. Hibari is so devoted to Namimori, it’s a huge part of his character, that I do not see him being willing to move full-time to a foreign country. On top of that, Tsuna’s Vongola Neo has broken literally every single other rule around Mafia life, for the most part, that I don’t think they’re going to follow some old-fashioned rule about needing to live and operate exclusively in Italy. There’s just a lot of inference, in my personal opinion, that lends itself more to the idea that Tsuna’s Vongola operates on a more global scale. Hell, if the right people were to find their way into the story in future arcs, I could even see the reach of the Vongola extending past Italy, past Japan, and extending into many other countries, though I don’t think it will be Tsuna’s goal and more something that just kind of happens.

With all that being said, I’ll do my best to answer the question, really just focusing on what the biggest culture shocks were for everyone when they first visited and what they had the most trouble getting used to, whenever they spend any amount of time there.

Tsuna really struggles with just how much more pressure he feels whilst in Italy. Whenever he is in Italy, whether it’s a short visit or a longer stay, there just seems to exist a pressure that he doesn’t feel when he’s back in Japan, with his Guardians and those that he’s gotten to know since his teenage years. In Italy, more people seem to know him and those that don’t seem to suddenly kowtow and treat him with a respect bordering a little on fear at times as soon as they hear the word Vongola in relation to him. Those left over from Timoteo’s time as the Vongola boss all seem to have great expectations from Tsuna or expect him to largely be something he’s really not, even though they have all had literally years to realize that Tsuna does not want the Vongola to continue the way it always had prior to this. There’s just a lot of stress, anxiety and pressure that he feels whenever he has to spend time there that he’s not really fond of. Plus, with all the stress and anxiety, on top of the difference in his diet while in Italy, he always struggles with stomach issues while there.

For Yamamoto, the biggest culture shock is really just getting used to how grand everything seems. Namimori was kind of a sleepy little Japanese town where most everyone knows everyone else. He’s used to knowing all his neighbours. He’s used to just casually chattering away with the elderly folks. He’s used to a specific type of architecture. Italy? Nothing at all like what he’s used to. It really hit him, the scale and grandness of some of Italy’s architecture, how big the country really is, how just…different…everything is on that first trip he took there with Dino back as a teen. Despite knowing in his mind after that what Italy can be like and that it is different from Namimori, the fact still really hits him each and every time he goes there. To him, there’s just something old and grand and cultured about Italy and while he loves it, it also kind of makes him feel out of place at times.

Gokudera doesn’t really experience much in the way of culture shock when it comes to returning to Italy. He spent too many years of his life there, so he knows what it’s like. He’s accustomed to it and every time he returns, he just kind of slips effortlessly back into the customs and culture of the place. He not only has that going for him, but I also don’t see him as being someone who is prone to experiencing much culture shocks. Any time he is going to be travelling to someone new and unfamiliar to him, he spends a lot of time researching the geography, interesting locations, history, and culture of the place he’s going to. He learns social customs and taboos. He’s always been kind of a nerd when it comes to researching in that it’s something that makes him happy, but this kind of research also means that he feels pretty well-prepared for exploring untrodden ground.

Ryohei? His biggest culture shock moment, and the thing he finds hardest to adjust to, is definitely the currency system. He’s spent his entire life using Japan’s currency system. He knows the yen. It’s all he knows. So switching to the euro and remembering how to convert a yen to a euro on the fly? It’s really, really hard for Ryohei, who isn’t the best at math-based things to begin with. It kind of hurts his brain and it’s going to take him at least a solid month before he becomes at all comfortable with it. Even then, he’s still going to prefer what he’s grown up with and is the most comfortable, and frequently encourages his Italian friends to champion converting their country’s currency system over to the yen.

While Lambo might have spent the first four to five years of his life in Italy, enough to have pleasant memories of it, he has, for the large part, grown up in Japan. He’s spent most of his formative years in Japan. He’s no more fully steeped in Italy’s culture than an Italian-American who goes on their first trip to Italy to ‘discover their roots’ is. It also doesn’t help that a lot of his memories are from such a young age, when they’re hazy enough that he doesn’t remember what was make-believe and what was truly real. Because of that, he is definitely prone to culture shock. The biggest one that gets him is the food culture between Japan and Italy…honestly though, he’s not complaining. While he’ll miss Nana’s home cooking anytime he’s in Italy for long stretches, he’ll find he’ll go back to Japan and really end up missing out on some traditional Italian dishes that he routinely had while there as well.

Hibari experiences less culture shock then you would expect. It’s mostly because, when he travels, which we’ve been shown he does with startling frequency (he’s been travelling as an adult when we see him in the Future Arc, he travels to various places to train with Dino during the ring arc), there’s explicit reasons and purpose behind his travels. When he’s going someplace new, someplace outside of Namimori or even outside of Japan, he’s doing so for one or two explicit reasons and those reasons are all he cares about. He doesn’t want to sightsee. He doesn’t give a shit about the culture or immersing himself in it. He can speak the language (sometimes only crudely, but enough to carry on basic conversations), he can figure out where he’s going, that’s all he needs. It’s really tough to experience culture shock when you don’t care about the culture, when you just want to accomplish something and leave the country.

Mukuro really doesn’t experience a lot of culture shock anytime he’s in Italy. It’s got nothing to do with whether he’s from there or not originally, as I know there’s some differing opinions on that, but more to do with the fact that Mukuro travels the world. He’s not someone who stays exclusively in one location constantly and has no experience outside his home base. He likes traveling and he’s someone who honestly finds a lot of fun in learning about the culture of a place before going there. Some of his ideas are definitely very misinformed and based on popular media, but he does his best to learn the language of the area and at least the broad strokes of culture. He doesn’t really get ‘culture shock’ because he’s throwing himself into the culture, getting as immersed in it as humanly possible, whenever possible. The new experiences and the differences in how societies function intrigues him instead of confusing him.

Chrome’s biggest culture shock the first time she was in Italy? Just how physically affectionate Italian’s seem to her. To her, compared to Japan, they seem very touch-focused and it’s something she really, really doesn’t like. There’s a lot of amazing things about Italy in Chrome’s mind, but that’s not one of them.

[thefirstknife]

100% true, definitely needs to be said.

A lot of people in fandom spaces HATE when characters grow and change. They get attached to a certain version of a character that appeals to them the most, and if the character grows or changes in anyway, these people will become upset and go as far as to claim things are being retconned or whatever (especially if they change against their headcanons and like I'm sorry but sometimes your headcanons are wrong).

Drifter literally just had a character arc, and an excellent one at that. We know so much about his life. We know where he came from, how he lived at the start of being a Lightbearer, we know what he went through. We know what he lost and how, we know how much it traumatised him. His trauma caused him to close off and isolate, to keep people at bay because if he gets close to them, he will lose them again. He resented the Light and searched for other ways, leading him into schemes and unsavoury company and experimenting with the Darkness back when that was much more frowned upon and more dangerous.

He didn't want connections because he didn't trust them. He didn't trust that they would last and that he wouldn't be hurt again. Everyone who dismisses Drifter's trauma or treats it as just some cool aspect of his character is immediately suspect to me, not gonna lie. Like, yes, unhinged Drifter is interesting as a character and I enjoy that part of his life as well, but I ultimately want him to heal and get better.

It's always been presented that he wanted to do good and to help people and save them, but given his circumstances, he either couldn't or, later, he started distancing from them because he believed that his presence would make it worse. Drifter always cared, deeply. The name chosen for him even as a Dredgen was "Hope." His arc was always moving in the direction of him accepting his helpful nature and coming to terms of working with other people, having a community, and having trusted friends. That's the natural conclusion of his story. He overcomes his trauma.

Which he did! And it took years. And it started with us. Arguably, you can say it also started with Shin and the Gambit setup with the Vanguard, but we, the YW, were the true first catalyst. We didn't have any baggage around him, so we accepted who he was and we trusted him. And we were one of the people who he wouldn't lose. We stayed with him through everything so far. Through us, he realised that there's more to connection with other people than simply losing them.

Drifter's arc from someone who saw no hope for survival and was ready to leave it all behind and try his luck out there all alone to someone who gradually realised that there's strength in the pack and that there are people who care and who will help him and protect him has genuinely been one of the best parts of the Destiny story. Way too many people view Drifter superficially and have never engaged with any of his story.

This is particularly baffling when it comes from people who are allegedly fans of him. Why do you want him to suffer forever? Because, as a fan of the Drifter, I want him to have a character arc and to heal from trauma. I want him to feel safe. I want him to never be hungry again. I want him not to worry about people he cares about dying in his arms.

I feel like a lot of people just want to be able to write edgy angst fanfics. And I want a narrative: I want characters to evolve over time and respond to the changes in their circumstances.

Sorry for going off on your post, you're completely correct and this is one of those pet peeves that I have, specifically about the Drifter and how the fandom treats him and how many times I've seen the fandom rejecting his arc and his healing from trauma. Anti-recovery website, I guess. Idk, the borderline obsession with the Drifter from 5 years ago who was going through immense suffering and isolation out of fear and paranoia is kinda uncomfortable to me in the context of people saying that this Drifter was better.

It was a great start to his character! It made him really interesting and compelling! Knowing where he came from and how he started is what makes the rest of his story stand out and encapsulate the core of the Destiny's theme. He chose to change. He chose to overcome his fears and anxiety and to try. And there's plenty of characters who refused to do this; those stories are also compelling. But the Drifter was never pointed in that direction. From the very start, he was shown to be a man of hope, and care, and need to protect. He just didn't get a chance to fulfil his purpose until much later. And I'm glad he got that chance. I love seeing him enjoying his time with people and helping everyone out. It's what he always wanted.

mildly unpopular drifter opinion that nobody asked for: he hasn't been "defanged" he's grown closer to the guardian + most of the characters we see him interact with in lore, and dropped enough of his act to resign to his usual bullshit without the exaggeration he's shown to use to keep people at bay. I definitely enjoy unhinged drifter but I enjoy character development more. send post

[minecraftbookshelf]

WIP Wednesday

From There and Back Again, the third arc of the Marriage of State AU, which I have not talked about at all. Enjoy!

It took Shrub a moment to realize that they'd lost a member of the party. They turned in their seat, the Mother Wolf halting while they looked back the way they came. Katherine and Sausage were both still there, treading carefully over the red ground. Katherine absentmindedly petting the wolf beside her while Sausage gestured wildly as they spoke to each other. And nearly out of sight, back where the crimson turf and mushroom-trees turned to basalt and blackstone, the Elf King stood still as a statue, staring into the depths of the lava sea. Katherine and Sausage noticed her staring, and looked back in turn. After a moment of no one, not even the wolves moving, Sausage hopped back down the hill and approached the elf. "Xornoth? Are you alright?" It's been almost a year and it is still weird to hear genuine concern in the King of Mythland's voice, instead of the mocking cruelty that was all Shrub had ever heard from him in her time here. Katherine has assured them that this is the real Sausage, but they can't help but be wary anyway. Xornoth tilted their head to the side, branching black antlers brushing against crimson vines. It is a familiar silhouette that sends a shudder down Shrub's spine. "I'm going to try something." With no more warning than that, they shuck the outer layer of their travel robes the way Shrub's little cousins would shed their clothes to go swimming in the summer, tossing the fine-woven wool so that it lands on a sputtering Sausage's head. And the king of Rivendell dives headfirst into the lava.

-

AU Masterpost

[rustedleopard]

What astounds me about the whole "you need a pure human SOUL to perfect the serum" thing is that so many people take Chujin's conclusion at face value. Chujin Ketsukane? Chujin "Winner of the 'You Tried In Engineering' Award" Ketsukane? Chujin "Fumbled Inventing Robots So Hard He Earned The Ire Of The Usually Pretty Chill King" Ketsukane? Chujin "I Accidentally Killed A Human Child By Overshooting The Parameters On My Guard Robot" Ketsukane? That Chujin Ketsukane?

[welcometogrouchland]

I miss them so bad (Dick and Damian)

[shannonsketches]

something something foils moving in opposite directions Goku's always happy to seek and fight stronger opponents because he spent most of his life being the strongest guy in the room and Vegeta wants to be the strongest/is always exhausted to find stronger opponents because he spent most of his life having to navigate his survival around the whims of the strongest guy in the universe room and so Goku has a foundation of safety and stability and so spends his time craving challenge and adventure and Vegeta has a foundation of challenge and adventure and spends his time craving safety and stability and the overlaid section of their venn diagram is that the only way they know how acquire and maintain those things is through battle