#a happier inverse

[suranet]

i had fun doodling this and that's what matters.

[bigkickguy]

XZERO WEEK - day 2 - Garden!! I like the idea of X using his cyber elf power to interact with the world for something unrelated to combat

It seems like by this point, X is so used to Only Fighting he has forgotten he can do anything else? He seems very tired of living that way. I think the 2 of them doing something outside of all that would be very good for them both! :,)

[littleblueberryartist]

Boy I sure do love drawing the same guys over and over

[spacevixenmusic]

posting gifs on tumblr is like

carefully disassembling a scene from a show I love, paying close attention to where I cut each gif to make sure it transitions and loops cleanly, cleaning up interstitial frames, fixing the timing, optimizing for file size limits, arranging them in a pattern for presentation, and being proud when it gets like 20 notes

then scrolling for one minute to see a cropped 0.5-second gif of any 90s anime character talking and doing a quarter head turn with no context and no caption, colors extra saturated for effect, posted by a deactivated blog, with 100k notes

[unidentifiedfroggy]

I think equius and vriska deserve to have a fucked up but supportive friendship

[flytohurt]

hello!???

no one gives a fuck about the end of the match, can we pls get him down?

[eldritchamy]

I think I've figured out a good way to articulate one of the reasons Human Domestication Guide is hitting for me in a way really not much else has done for a long time.

HDG is an inverse fandom.

Whereas a lot of fanfiction (maybe just for the sake of the pun we can expand outwards, wink, and call them "transformative works") takes at the core of its nature a specific character or group of characters, and then transplants (sorry, I had to) those characters into Alternate Universes in order to keep telling altered, revised, and original stories with those CHARACTERS, while changing everything else, HDG does the opposite.

It takes the SETTING as the core defining feature, and creates original CHARACTERS in order to tell original stories.

And that's really cool for reasons that, of course, ended up becoming another gigantic one of Amy's Patented Infodump Posts.

Most fanfiction gets to appeal to its audience because of the associations and attachments readers have for the CHARACTERS, and then create a new story from there without having to spend time setting up WHO THE STORY IS ABOUT for you. I don't say this as a bad thing, that's just the attraction. The readers bring their attachment to the characters WITH them before they start reading.

HDG gets to assume you understand the SETTING as a basic premise, and then tell new stories with original characters without having to hold your hand through as much of the set up work, because you already know the SETTING going in.

So instead of discovering how the characters you know relate to a world you don't (and to each other within that context), you get stories where you get to discover who the characters ARE, in the context of a world you already understand.

It's not "what does a different setting do to these characters." It's "how do different people navigate this setting."

You get to meet and learn and identify with the CHARACTERS because you see how they as unique people react to a set premise.

So much of what I've read so far has done exceptional work establishing who the characters are, even making MINOR characters within the story feel like fleshed out people.

You'd think in a setting that takes at face value the premise of humanity being subjugated and doted on by a species that uses mind control drugs to turn them into docile, obedient pets, the stories would struggle a bit with sameness as the individuality of the characters failed to shine through or were inevitably suppressed over the course of the plot.

In practice, it seems like almost the OPPOSITE is true.

The Affini always win. But every character chooses to lose to them in a different way that speaks to who they are as people.

Getting to explore these unique stories through the eyes of unique characters seems like it's making it EASIER to latch on to what makes THESE characters the focus of the stories being told.

And so far the stories being told are fucking great, and have such a huge range to them.

The original story for the setting is a VERY non consensual medfet/drug play subjugation story where Elvira (captain of a ship for the Free Terran feralist rebellion) is ABSOLUTELY brought into domestication by force (at first), and we get to see the PROCESS of her being broken down and becoming something new over the course of (what we later learn has been ONLY) about three weeks. She's not the same person she was at the start of the story. At all. She's been utterly replaced by a new identity and personality that the old version of her would never have accepted. (Also it's kinda hot that it's actually good for her, and that she very much DOES end up happier for it. She's still Elvira. But she's safe, and she's loved.)

That's a pretty specific vibe for a story.

But the next story I read in the setting takes place over the course of several hours in-universe, and basically follows a dysfunctional, clearly neurodivergent woman stagnating in the limbo of having been failed by capitalism (or in her mind, failing at it) and having mixed feelings about the staggeringly powerful alien civilization that is currently part way through conquering her planet and its people.

The story starts off when she's so hungry after scraping through what scant, nutritionless garbage she was able to find in the capitalist dystopia that it finally overrides her fear, and she goes to the border of Affini-controlled territory in her city. She figures, they're going to do whatever they're going to do to the rest of the city within a few days anyway, so there's no sense pretending whatever outcome she's walking into wasn't inevitable, and even if it's not as good as the Affini promise, at least it's not what she's been stuck in. Fear of sameness finally becomes more traumatic than fear of change.

She proceeds to go on an adorable lesbian grocery date with a 10 foot tall plant that gently flirts with her while remaining very firm that all of this human's needs CAN and SHOULD and WILL be taken care of FOR her from now on, and it's OKAY that she has trouble focusing because it's OKAY that some people need more help than others.

She spends several chapters experiencing repeated Lesbian Bluescreens because of this sweet, doting alien who insists it's no trouble at all and she's happy to help. Then said alien takes her back to her apartment on the human side to make sure she feels safe getting there through the anti-Affini protests, and then in a matter of minutes she has cleaned this girl's entire disaster of an apartment and promised to cook her a nice Terran pizza.

Then the girl has a lesbian panic attack while coming to terms with how much misery she didn't have to be living with, and whether this future isn't exactly what she always hoped for and more, so the alien offers to give her some alien drugs to calm her down, and her now fuzzy brain accidentally crumbles under the weight of all the secret petplay fantasies that have been turning her face red all morning and she accidentally calls the alien "Mistress", and then she goes home to THEIR place back in Affini territory with her new owner and gets absolutely spoiled until she falls asleep feeling safe and loved for the first time in her life.

COMPLETE tonal shift from the original story, but the LOGIC of the story is fully consistent with the setting. It's just a different character responding to that setting in a different way.

The range of what's possible is ENORMOUS.

I went from there to "two humans captured at different times struggle to find their way back to each other and end up with neural implants plugged into each other's brains by their shared Mistress, and the feedback loop helps them domesticate EACH OTHER" and then from there to a mostly historical context story about an Affini who lived for almost 300,000 years and how she feels about the Compact's role in everything they've done to the universe.

And then I got to read "I have to pretend to be a good little floret maid at an Affini Compact hotel because that's my Genius Spy Cover WHOOPS it turns out being a maid means getting teased and played with a lot WHOOPS, OHHhhh NOOOoo~ I'VE BEEN TURNED INTO A FREE USE HYPNO DOLL because EVERYONE KNEW I WAS A SPY THE WHOLE TIME, I'm going to resolve my mixed feelings by erotically betraying my co-conspirator so we can be floret girlfriends together," which was cute, funny, and INCREDIBLY hot.

Seriously, chapter 10 of that story. Holy FUCK. I think my brain has turned fully inside out. I had a DREAM kinda like it afterwards that I wish I could remember more of.

I guess my point is HDG is less like a fandom and more like DND.

It's a shared universe of collaborative storytelling, even if any individual work within it was made by one person.

You get to play within a core set of rules for how the setting works, but the stories that can come out of playing by those rules are so incredible and diverse and interesting, and I'm really enjoying getting to explore all of that within the context of a basic premise that has absolutely grabbed most of my kinks by the throat, stared menacingly into my eyes, and smirked knowingly.

Also it's INCREDIBLY queer and very obviously made specifically for gay autistic trans women who take progesterone, so I guess just like the rest of the little Terrans, I never stood a chance.

[captainjonnitkessler]

I understand if you want to stay out of it but I’m curious as to you’re thoughts on this discourse

https://www.tumblr.com/dappercat123/737173649266737152/your-arguments-sum-to-in-my-perfect-world-there

Anon, I'm going to be entirely honest with you. I have been waiting for an excuse to put my thoughts about this down. Forewarning that this is going to be long and take a dim view of organized religion.

TL;DR: I think everyone in that thread is maliciously misinterpreting evilsoup's point, which is basically that they think Gene Roddenberry was right about what a post-utopian society would look like re: religion. And you can agree or disagree about whether a post-religious utopia is likely or desirable, but to say that anyone who thinks it is is actively calling for and encouraging genocide is a gross misuse of the term (especially coming from at least one person that I'm pretty sure is currently denying an actively ongoing actual fucking genocide).

@evilsoup can correct me if I'm misinterpreting their points, but as far as I see it there are two main points being made:

A) In a perfect utopia with absolutely no source of oppression, marginalization, or disparity, religion would naturally whither away with no outside pressure being applied.

B) This would be a good or at least a neutral thing.

As far as A) goes - a lot of the responses evilsoup got were basically "well *I* would never choose to be nonreligious, so therefore the only way to create that world would be by force, and therefore you are calling for literal genocide". But aside from the fact that evilsoup was very, very clear that they thought this would be a *natural* event and that trying to force people to be nonreligious would be evil - we're not talking about (general) you. You can be as religious as you want but you don't get to make that choice for your grandkids, or your great-great-great grandkids, or your great-great-great-great-great-etc. grandkids. Just because religion is an integral part of your identity doesn't mean it's something you can pass down, and if you're not comfortable with the idea that your kids might choose to leave your religion, you shouldn't have kids.

I personally don't foresee religion disappearing entirely, but it is pretty consistent that as a country becomes happier, healthier, and wealthier, it also becomes less religious. Religiosity is inversely correlated with progressive values. And the more democratic and secular a nation is, the less powerful religious authorities become - In the 1600s blasphemy and atheism were punishable by death* in Massachusetts and today I can call the Pope a cunt to his face** on Twitter with no repercussions whatsoever. Political secularism is an absolute necessity for true democracy and it necessitates removing power from religious authorities, which has and will likely continue to lead to a decline in religiosity - not just a decline in how many people identify as religious, but also a decline in how religious the remaining people are.

*Blasphemy laws and death penalties for blasphemers/apostates are still VERY much a thing in many places. It's hard to see a path where those places become more democratic but don't become more secular and repeal those laws.

**Well, to the face of whoever runs his Twitter account, but the point remains.

I also believe that many religious communities have been held together for so long via coercion - either internal coercion like blasphemy and apostasy laws, shunning, and threats of hell or other supernatural punishment, or external coercion like oppression from the majority religious group or ethnic cleansings. In a perfect utopia, neither form of coercion would exist and I don't think it's crazy to think that religiosity would drop severely and become a much less important part of people's identities, in the way I think the queer community would not exist in a world where queerphobia didn't exist.

ANYWAY, all this is actually kind of moot. It could happen, it could not, nobody is calling for it to be forced so we'll just have to wait and see. The real point of disagreement is on B).

I'm gonna be honest - I think a lot of the responders are rank hypocrites and are really hung up on the idea of cultural purity, which is something I'm wildly uncomfortable with.

First of all, the idea that a deeply-held religious belief could be diluted until it's just a cultural thing that nobody really remembers the origins of isn't some evil mastermind plot evilsoup is trying to concoct, it's just how cultures work. There's tons of stuff about American culture that are vaguely rooted in what were once deeply-held beliefs and are now entertainment. Halloween is rooted in sacred tradition and now it's a day to dress up and get candy. Christmas is one of the most sacred holidays in Christianity but nobody bats an eye if a non-Christian puts up some lights or decorates a tree just because it's fun. I have no doubt that every culture on Earth has traditions that used to be deeply sacred but are now just fun family traditions. People in Japan use Christian symbology as an "exotic, mythical" aesthetic the exact same way people in the West use Eastern symbology. And if you're okay with it happening to Christianity, why wouldn't you be okay with it happening to any other religion in the absence of oppression?

And there's the idea that if a culture fails to get passed down *exactly* as it is now, it's a terrible loss and the result of malicious outside influence. But . . . cultures change over time. No culture is the same now as it was two or five or eight hundred years ago and I don't believe that change is inherently loss. The things that are sacred to you may or may not be sacred to the people of your culture in the future. That's just the way things work, and I don't think it's inherently good or bad.

And finally, people keep accusing evilsoup of "just wanting everyone to assimilate to your culture", but it absolutely does not follow that a lack of religion means a lack of diversity. Different nonreligious cultures are every bit as capable of being diverse as different religious cultures, so it's weird to insist that evilsoup wants there to only be one culture when they never said anything to indicate that.

[free-boundsoul]

Imagine Gavin getting curious one day on his Deviant's preferences, just that nagging little voice in the back of his head whispering poison that he's not good enough for them, there must be something he could change to make them happier. It's for the person that kept him together during the hell that was the Inversion. He should be perfect for them.

So while things are...heating up between the two of them, he hones in on those desires that the Freelancer isn't really conscious that they have, tapping into that transformative magic that he despises.

And imagine his surprise when he looks in the mirror (you can't tell me that Gavin doesn't have a mirror in the bedroom) and nothing has changed. Maybe his eyes look a little brighter but that could just be a trick of the light. From the curve of his horns to his pinkie toe, its all just...him.

[completeoveranalysis]

[5]

CLAMP I LOVE YOU

HELLO DOMESTIC COUPLE KUROFAI

Fai couches his reasoning in a way to figure out the timeline but he is making DAMN SURE his husband’s prosthetics are comfortable and working correctly 

I NEVER DREAMED WE WOULD GET THIS KIND OF ATTENTION TO IT. Most manga would just say hey new arm moving on we don’t worry it’s perfectly the same as before 

Not clamp! They really sat us down and brought in the realities of a long term health condition and an acknowledgment that things don’t just work perfectly or leave you completely as functional as before. 

And THIS level of their relationship too. With Kurogane masking his pain and dismfort because they’ve got serious things go figure out but Fai was paying CLOSE ATTENTION and knew exactly what was up, but also deliberately arranged to be alone with him before talking to him about it out of genuine care for his privacy. 

MARRIED MARRIED I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER 

I

AM

IN

LOVE

OHHHHHH OHHHH I LOVE IT

LISTEN JUST GO BACK TO THAT FIRST PANEL THERE. LOOK AT IT. ENJOY IT. KUROGANE FORCING HIMSELF TO PUT ASIDE HIS PRIDE AND EMBARASSMENT AND ADMIT THAT YES, IT HURTS MORE THAN YESTERDAY

THE ANNOYANCE AS HE HAS TO ALLOW HIMSELF TO BE VULNERABLE TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION

THE WAY HE DOES IT ANYWAY. HE IS VULNERABLE WITH FAI.

And Fai immediately clocks him in the head for not mentioning it earlier. 

Not recommended in real life but EXQUISITE when your husband is like a 6’6 slab of hardened ninja beef, and also when that was essentially the same way you confirmed your marriage to each other not too long ago

New way for them to ignite their playful banter: unlocked! Instead of Kurogane chasing Fai with a sword it’s Fai hitting him in the head and Kurogane reacting in cartoon outrage. (This is Kurogane after all. He can dodge a punch) (Unless we are also saying that he was so emotionally vulnerable that he let his guard down completely which I am also a fan of. It's a win win scenario)

I suppose it’s one way of encouraging your husband to open up to you when it matters, especially when you already drink his blood on a regular basis. 

They really are the most married of all time. 

OH AND THIS TOPS IT ALL OFF

THIS NEW DYNAMIC, SO DIFFERENT FROM ANYTHING THEY HAD BEFORE 

Not Fai lying or avoiding the question or hiding any part of himself - Fai being completely honest and open and correcting Kurogane when he isn’t doing the same. It's a complete inversion of how they were before, when Kurogane was the one pulling a reluctant Fai towards being honest. 

And when Kurogane grumpily notes the irony of Fai being the one to admonish him for keeping secrets (Oof, but also score) Fai OWNS IT, SMILES BRILLIANTLY, and uses it as AMMUNITION to back himself up. Who ELSE is an expert in the consequences of keeping things a secret for too long? 

BRILLIANT BRILLIANT LEAVE ME HERE IT’S ALL I NEED

[dontmixpaintinyourcoffee]

As per usual, info under the cut <3

IM BACK BITCHES!!!

Alright, here's the design stuff:

I wanted to go for kind of a Lois Lane vibe, including the way she gets all the way up in business she should not be up in. At the same time I wanted to bring the super cutesy gothic lolita style in at least a little. So I ended up going with a poofy short jumpsuit with bows and teddy bears. I would love to make a specific thank you to @themooncallsyou for suggesting I look at the Moschino 2022 spring line for inspiration, it ended up having a very heavy impact on the final design.

I tried to lean into the investigative part of investigative reporter, so that's what the heavy coat is about. I thought adding that classic detective silhouette would be a nice final touch. Plus, I think Blondie likes the drama of the coat flying behind her as she's chasing down a lead. It makes her feel very cool.

Alright, so her original pet is a bear cub named Grizz but I have. Several problems with that. The main one is that it's not clear what the difference between Grizz and the actual sentient bears and her story is. There is never any differentiation between them. It's a Goofy-Pluto situation. Like it doesn't need to be explained, but the minute you start thinking about it too hard it gets weird real fast.

Anyways say hello to Honey the magpie!! Magpies are great mimics and lovers of shiny things, so I thought one would be a perfect fit for Blondie. She repeats bits of gossip and steals little trinkets and clues to help Blondie with whatever case she's on. Honey is where Blondie gets her infinite supply of bobby pins. Her scale is a little off, I don't think magpies are actually that big, but I still think she's cute so I'm not changing it now lol.

Now for character stuff:

Honestly I'm not really changing anything as much as I am exploring what's already there. I think Blondie has the potential to be really interesting, because she's unique within the class system of the school. She's kind of the inverse of Raven status-wise. Raven was born to royalty, but because her mom is the Evil Queen she's actually considered a commoner by society. Blondie was born to a wealthy commoner family, but her fear of rejection leads her to exaggerate the prestige of her lineage. Everyone sort of knows that she's not a Princess but she's so desperate to keep up the image of royalty that no one knows where she actually lands. Most of the royals assume her parents are Lord and Lady or Duke and Duchess or something. In reality they don't have any noble title, and Blondie is very insecure about that.

Blondie isn't so much ashamed of her family as she is terrified of exclusion and rejection. Her standing in society is the one major thing that makes her different from all the other royals, but she has major anxieties that she's always on thin ice. In her mind she's permanently one wrong step from total ostracization.

On a happier note, she does have a genuine passion for journalism! She considers her news blog/podcast practice for her future career. She starts out discussing school drama and gossip, but tries to stay a neutral third party. That's why her hair is so big. It's full of secrets. As the story goes on she starts reporting on more political and social topics beyond the boundaries of the school (and therefore becomes one of Milton Grimms worst nightmares). She is really, really, really good at getting into shit people do not want her to get into. She's got her eyes on prize and good luck stopping her

[wing-ed-thing]

Tobi x Reader x Deidara Three-Man Squad Headcanons

Tags/Warnings: No Reader Pronouns, Tobi is Scary

𓆃 Haha... it's stupid.

𓆃 It's a three-man squad dynamic where Deidara has somehow taken over as the brains of the operation. Assuming you've stuck around to be a part of the Deidara and Sasori dynamic, it's quite the 180 to see Deidara transition from someone who hardly had to think to someone mapping out strategies.

𓆃 Because with Sasori, Deidara was primarily occupied with showing off. He got his jobs done just fine, but never put too much effort in planning.

𓆃 But when Tobi came along, it was almost as if Deidara stepped up out of spite.

𓆃 You supposed that perhaps it was the same with Sasori all along— that Deidara played up being more carefree to get on ever-organized and calculating Sasori's nerves.

𓆃 He seemed to be happier when he was more carefree, and now Tobi has made him into a monster, which makes for a hot and cold dynamic.

𓆃 Because Tobi is almost always high-energy and cracking jokes (which used to be Deidara's thing), and the energy level of Tobi is inversely proportional to Deidara's snippiness on any given day.

𓆃 Deidara, with a temper shorter than a teaspoon, is prone to violent outbursts on any given day. Whether it's sudden detonations or just yelling, he and Tobi keep each other busy.

𓆃 Deidara doesn't even seem to enjoy making his art at the rate he used to. Instead, most of it has been angry and spiteful, shoving random clay birds and bugs in Tobi's face in an attempt to get Tobi to appreciate his art.

𓆃 And of course, it's on Deidara when he places such an expectation on Tobi knowing he won't understand.

𓆃 You can most definitely count on being stuck in the middle of the disputes, because Tobi is hiding behind you to get away from Deidara and Deidara is strongly petitioning you to just fucking agree with him!

𓆃 Most of your dynamic will hinge on who you side with. Whether you gang up on Tobi together or take pitty on the pathetically seemingly incompetent third member.

𓆃 Ganging up on him will more likely lead to establishing a hierarchy within the squad, and you'll find that Tobi is more than willing to take commands and orders with the right direction.

𓆃 Despite having to quite literally train Tobi like a dog, you can create some pretty powerful team moves together. Tobi is a surprisingly competent support on the battlefield.

𓆃 Taking pitty on Tobi won't be too much different in the short-term, but has the potential to be helpful in the longterm... not that you know that.

𓆃 He'll continue to hide behind you. You'll incur Deidara's wrath before he cools down. Rinse, repeat.

𓆃 And perhaps you'll enjoy his little jokes every now and then, especially on grueling missions where you need entertainment.

𓆃 Tobi is willing to serve even more than he would under Deidara's pressure, and will bring you little useless gifts from time to time.

𓆃 He's so pleasant and goofy you'd hardly notice the off comments he says from time to time.

𓆃 Because he mumbles. He mumbles and mutters to himself, but when you ask him about it, he insists that he has no idea what you're talking about.

𓆃 Sometimes, you hear him in the middle of the night talking to himself about revenge and a girl you've never met. His voice is lower than you had ever heard it...

"Tobi?" you say somewhere off into the darkness.

He's close by, just in front of you, where you can make out the vague outline of his cloak. His back faces you as he rocks, muttering to himself in the same deep voice that had been waking you up for a few nights now.

It wasn't every night, but every so often, you'd shoot out of sleep, the mutterings of an unfamiliar man shaking you to your core.

You groped at the ground in front of you, dirt sinking into your fingernails as you pawed across the leaf litter on the forest floor. The pads of your fingers brushed against the ends of Tobi's cloak, and you swiftly grasped it.

"Tobi?" you repeated in a whisper, barely awake. You blinked with a yawn, the dimness only serving to further discombobulate your tired mind. You tugged on his cloak with another soft hiss of his name.

He grabbed your wrist, yanking you forward before you could even process. And in an instant, you were face to face with Tobi's orange, swirling mask. The single hole for his eye was as pitch black as the night.

He just stared at you and you stared into the abyss.

You tried to recoil, but the hold on your wrist didn't loosen. Your eyes flickered back to the dark circle.

You could feel his breathing. Slow, low, and steady as the muscles in his hand flexed around yours.

He said nothing, just muttering about the gift. The very whispers made your voice hitch in your throat as your heartbeat quickened.

The muttering grew angrier, and the words less coherent. Your other hand shot to Tobi's punishing grip on you as you tried to jerk yourself away. He only held onto you harder as you began to kick and thrash, somehow maneuvering your leg to break yourself free before you tumbled across the dirt ground.

You scrambled to your feet, your chest crushed with panic as you grasped to collect yourself in the moonlight. A cloud passed overhead, allowing the dim moon to coat the forest clearing in a silvery sheen.

Tobi sat by himself in the middle, legs folded under him as he stared up at the sky. Deidara slept soundly at the edge, undisturbed by the commotion.

Tobi turned to you slowly.

The feeble beams of the night left mild shadows across his mask, leaving his frame looking almost transparent.

"What are you doing awake, silly goose?" Tobi giggled. He rose to his full height, and only then did you realize how truly tall he was. He raised a fist in the air. "Tobi has night watch all covered! Isn't Tobi a good boy?"

He stepped toward you, and you instinctively stepped back. Tobi stopped in his tracks, mask tilted downward to stare from your offending foot to slowly back up at your face. The mask cocked to the side, seeming angered. You couldn't prevent the chill that jerked your shoulders.

"Isn't Tobi a good boy?" he asked again. You didn't trust the softness in his tone. You gulped, nodding.

"Yeah," you resigned, frozen where you stood. "Tobi's a real good boy."

"Yes, Tobi is! Now go back to sleep."

You didn't know what to do. Too afraid to do anything else, you curled up at Deidara's foot and remained wide awake for the entirety of the night.

Thank you to all who liked, reblogged, followed, and supported. Your support means so much and is greatly appreciated.

Notes: I like how the panel cuts off in such a way that it looks like one of them (Tobi) took a bite out of the post.

[just-gay-thoughts]

There is not an inverse relationship, in fact studies have show that being kind/doing kind things makes you happier

[written-with-blue-ink]

Kaeya and Diluc Headcanons

Hey! Sorry for disappearing over the weekend! I’ve gotten a few asks that I’ve been working on. In the meantime take these headcanons of the RagBros. Ask Box is still open

Content Warnings: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of Severe Damage, Mentions of the Ragbros duel, Mentions of Child Abandonment (Kaeya and his dad)

During winter, young Kaeya liked hiding in people’s heavy cloaks, partially for warmth but his love language is touch so this is 1000000% an excuse to be close to Crepus, Adelinde, and others.

Kid Diluc has a little tooth gap that would whistle when he breathes

The first time Kaeya had to press grapes for wine, Diluc shoved him in and Kaeya’s clothes were unsalvageable due to the grape juice stains.

Kaeya loves playing with hair, as kids he would do Diluc's in intricate braids and styles and would brush his hair every morning.

Kaeya was also the only one Diluc would let do his hair because everyone else was "too rough" and would "pull too hard".

It got to the point after the brothers stopped speaking to each other, Diluc's hair became a mess and was constantly unkempt. The only reason he didn't cut it all off was because of those happy memories with Kaeya.

Kaeya doesn’t actually have anything wrong under his eyepatch, it’s just a way for people to not realize he’s part Khaehnri’an. Easier for people to notice the eyepatch and ask questions about that than to go deeper and ask about his diamond-shaped pupils.

Diluc actually doesn't hate the taste of wine, he hates the nostalgia it brings to a happier time. Inversely, this is why Kaeya began drinking.

Kaeya and Diluc had to actually learn instruments as kids for their education. Diluc learned the violin, Kaeya learned the flute and they both had to learn the piano. 

Angel's Share actually has an out-of-tune piano tucked away in the basement that was last used then the boys would play duets as teenagers

The night of Crepus’ death and the brothers’ duel, it was one of the few instances that a pyro vision’s flame ever turned blue.

It was after Kaeya ran from Diluc that the red-haired man saw the cryo vision on his brother's hip, a vision typically for the abandoned. It broke his heart. 

Diluc threw the vision after the duel, it was only months later, after Diluc left for Snezhnaya, did Kaeya find its muddy remains, still perfectly intact.

Crepus actually kept several bottles from the first batch of wine the boys made together. It went unopened till many years after his death when Kaeya and Diluc finally talked it out over a glass of that same wine.

[cerastes]

i have not gone through the stream vod of arknights, but did you enjoy eblana and her not-quite-that-much-fucked-up-evilitude?

We didn't read that in the stream but I did read that after the stream by myself and I Liked The Event quite a bit!

It goes without saying that I went into it with a lot of enthusiasm because I've loved Reed as a character since her release, and I really wanted to know What Was Her Deal. We get some of it in the main story, since she's tied to the Victoria arc, but her getting an event specifically as a new character in another class is fascinating because it would, logically speaking, serve as a character piece more so than a big stakes event. This is what was delivered, so I couldn't be happier.

It's not that I dislike big stakes or grander scale stories in Arknights -- the Abyssal Hunters arc and the Sui arc are my favorites! -- it's just, sometimes, I really want to know more about the characters more so than everything that surrounds them. Character pieces help understand the grander scale with a lot more emotional weight, because if done right, I'm now emotionally invested in the character and their overarching goal, not just the goal as the framework for the story. For example, 'Maria Nearl' was first and foremost a character piece, which then informs the overarching Kazimierz arc, so by the time Near Light rolls in, not only do I know what we're fighting for, I know who we're fighting for and why we are doing so, I know Maria's motivations, efforts, struggles, and trials, and so, I am invested in wanting to see her succeed. 'Maria Nearl' being a character piece doesn't mean it ONLY centered on Maria and nothing else, it sets up the scene and the cast, but through the lens of someone in the story as opposed to through the effects of events in the story.

What The Firelight Casts does a little inversion in the overall structure compared to 'Maria Nearl': It's a character piece after the bigger scale narrative. We know what the bigger picture is... But what about this key character in the whole story? And will knowing about this character recontextualize or add even more meat to what we already know? With this in mind, let's talk about it:

Reed detests her circumstances, because Reed had very simple, domestic desires: She wanted a simple, quiet life reading and writing poetry, immersing herself in words and stories. She didn't have any grander aspirations, experiences, or desires beyond "loving poetry" because she was a simple child when she got her head pushed under an ocean of conspiracies and was drowned in them. Since she didn't have the strength of character to really do anything in such a horrifying world, her sister, Eblana, endowed with far stronger character, made her her body double. Reed never questioned it, because she had nothing else going on for her, but the more atrocities she was forced to commit as "The Leader", the more she hated it, and herself for not having it in her to stand up to Dublinn.

Hence why she attempted suicide via standing in an open field that was currently being bombarded. In a turn of events she couldn't have predicted, she was saved by Outcast, and was sent to Rhodes for recovery. She then spent some time in Rhodes Island, recovering, but also, learning. It's noted in her Files that she'd spend a significant amount of time pestering the medical teams in RI for knowledge in the clinical fields. She also requested a new weapon to her specifications, because she hates her spear. This may seem a matter of preference, until you realize that the spear is just Eblana's old weapon, just furthering exactly how much of an un-person she was. She'd use her sister's name, her sister's title, her sister's reputation, her sister's authority, even her sister's damn weapon.

Her chosen codename, "Reed", comes as no surprise: She explicitly says it's because that's how she is: Bland, an accessory, unremarkable, insignificant, like reeds by the river. In this event, we also learn another reason why "Reed" is apt for Loughshinny: Uncontrollably flammable if set ablaze.

Reed was terrified of her own powers. She is a direct descendant of the Red Dragon of Tara, and has insane innate power, namely, power over life itself: The way her flames work is explicitly not fire-aspected Arts: Her Arts allow her to inject pure life into objects and creatures, and the consequence of overcharging skin, muscle tissue, etc with so much life energy so fast and strongly is that it becomes unstable and explodes into raw energy, generating fire as a consequence. It's also why parts of her body, like her tail and her chest, seem to be constantly "ablaze": She is literally overflowing with the essence of life at all times, to the point it hurts her, and coming into contact with her means exploding. She is an almost perfect weapon. She hates it. Even her Rhodes Island evaluation files basically describe her as a stupidly powerful individual.

There's only one thing she doesn't regret about her time in Eblana's Dublinn: She really does care for Tarans, and wants to do anything in her power to help them. The reason she put up with being used and abused in Dublinn (about the only person that showed Reed any kindness in Dublinn was Harmonie, and even then she claims it's because she's interested in Reed and that she may have use for her) was because, Reed told herself, "at least it's for the Tarans". But Reed is not stupid, and over the time, realized that Eblana doesn't mind sacrificing countless Tarans that trust her if it means securing an advantage. That's when Reed decided she'd rather get blown to pieces by artillery rather than continue doing horrible things for someone that doesn't even care about the people that she claims to fight for.

Reed in the event is trying to help this very "little guy", this very scorned Taran, find a foothold. Her story here is, by all means, low stakes for the most part, but it's important in understanding who Reed has finally resolved to become: Her time in Rhodes Island and her new Arts unit allows her to far, far more precisely control her Arts, and now she can use VERY controlled bursts of her Arts to inject life into others without sending their living tissue into disarray, effectively becoming a potent healer. The wounded Tarans even remark that while she didn't give them the most involved treatment for their wounds, they still felt as good as new: It's because Reed isn't doing more than basic first aid, and using this as a disguise to her carefully injecting their wounds with life energy. For Reed, this is massive: She's finally able to like her innate Arts, an intrinsic part of herself, for the first time, because she's finally not using it to turn people to ashes or make them violently explode. She can finally do things differently, and without Eblana pulling her strings, she's finally able to do as she wishes. She ends up creating her very own "Dublinn", with a few Tarans, and looks to the future to do what she never thought she could do, and that's what I really loved: It's a small scale event, but it makes it very clear that from here on, Reed not only has a purpose, she has agency over herself, and finally, finally, she is her own person.

The final "map" of the event was fantastic, narratively speaking: It's a fight with Eblana entirely within her mind, with Eblana wearing a mask in the first phase. Eblana's mechanics involve killing her own units to empower herself, representative of how she's completely willing to kill Tarans for the purposes of Dublinn without any regret, then, in the second phase, she discards her mask and sets every reed in the map ablaze: No matter how much Eblana speaks of loving her and saying she's important to her, Reed has finally come to terms that Eblana WILL simply sacrifice even her when the moment comes, just as she has no issue setting the world on flames if it furthers her desires. The entirety of the map is just Reed finally coming to terms that if she wants to help the Tarans, in her way, she inevitably will come to blows with Eblana at some point, and that there's no space for hesitation, because Eblana sure as hell won't hesitate.

What The Firelight Casts is ultimately a high-impact bildungsroman in which our protagonist finally finds herself, perhaps for the first time ever since she was a toddler, and finally has agency over what she does and why she does it.

There's other parts to the event that I'm not covering that I think were great as well, such as Bagpipe's characterization being pretty damn good and once more winning me over (I started not really caring for her in any way, but her writing is something I like a lot) with how she's clearly not book smart, but is sharp as all hell, and most would call her "naive", when in reality, it's that she has a rock-hard moral compass and will NEVER stop going where it tells her to go, as well as the Taran survivors having plenty of nice scenes, including the incredibly chilling scene where the older lady that can't see in the dark is holding onto Selmon's hand and suddenly she can feel Selmon's blood all over her arm... We just never know what actually it is that killed her in that night skirmish. Fionn's characterization as this cowardly but good chum that will take responsibility no matter what is... Honestly, man, if you hang around sectors with low education and wealth, you know a Fionn or two. Especially when it comes to oppressed and displaced peoples... And the way the narrative portrays the opportunistic and almost callous nature of a bunch of the Taran runaways at times without vilifying it? It's great, the narrative immediately points out, through Reed and Fionn, that yeah, it's just natural because of how awful they've been treated their entire life, there's always people like that in such groups, doing it not out of cruelty, but simply because, damn, they have to survive, and nothing guarantees to them that this stranger with good intentions actually had good intentions. Trying to survive does things to people. This all becomes water under the bridge after Reed properly bonds with them.

I focused on Reed with this post because she's a favorite of mine and I'm happy to see her growth and where she's aiming for, and how she's grown narratively through her experiences and how that reflects on her Arts: True, Arts are a cool power in the narrative, but for Reed, it's more about how her Arts are intrinsically to her self-loathing in the past, and how they reflect her growth as a person: She went from a reluctant walking nuke who could only destroy and justified this by simply saying "it's because my sister knows better and she's doing it for the end goal of the well-being of Tarans... The end justifies the means" to someone who uses her almost unique powers to soothe others after learning some control over them, control that causes physical pain to her, as controlling her immense power feels as if she's searing from the inside, as if her organs were on fire, and comes to believe that, no, the means do in fact matter a whole damn lot, and that she'll one way or another achieve the end while being mindful of the means, even if it means suffering, if it's for her people. Eblana, who also can control life, uses her powers to 'resurrect' and control the dead like puppets, whereas Reed now sears herself from within in order to precisely control this power in order to help those she wants to protect, and drive away those who would hurt her or her friends. In what's a bit of a segregation of narrative and gameplay, whereas she's known for Explosions in gameplay, in the event, Reed exclusively fights with martial arts. In fact, the only time when she actually uses her Arts, she has to suppress them instantly or she was going to just completely incinerate everyone around her. She turns her surroundings to ashes so quickly that Ch'en can only just stare, wide-eyed, at how she completely incinerated a complete installation of military tents in less than a second, with just a small release of her power.

It's great! I love Reed! I wanted to see her growth, a piece focused on her, and it's what I got. I want to know more about the most loving and caring walking nuclear missile in the world with the most hypnotic tail swishes.

[valworth]

I do think that Wrightworth's popularity makes the AA fandom slightly uninhabitable. I'm by no means the first person to say this, but it sure is on my mind. This isn't to say I don't understand the appeal. I do. They have some incredibly strong moments and are an interesting, compelling couple. They are also both massive bitches, which is tremendously fun. My issue lies more so in how inescapable it is.

I think both Phoenix and Edgeworth deserve the grace to be interpreted apart from each other. They are individuals, with massive lives outside of the other. I think it's really insulting when some can't bear to think of the two apart, god forbid in other relationships, for more than five seconds before they have to make a joke about how they're the most important couple. We get it. Can people talk about something else, though?

Not only that, but I yearn for more varied and nuanced depictions of their relationship, if we're using them at all. My request will always be to make it fail. They're so compelling as a failed couple. I mean, god. You, on an obsessive whim, shape your life around chasing this guy. This guy you knew for a year in elementary school. You have other reasons, but always in your mind, there he is. This thing that's just out of reach, a goal to pursue. Then it happens. You get him, and you win, and it's everything you dreamed. And then it isn't. It just doesn't work. Plain and simple, cruel and real. You're not a good couple, and it crumbles, and every time you see him from that point forward, you have this pang of anger. This feeling of betrayal. You were not what I wanted you to be.

Then there's the inverse of that. The feelings that come from being a trophy, a conquest, an item. They both lack the emotional intelligence to talk about and navigate their own feelings, with Phoenix running head-on into everything with reckless abandon, refusing to question his own motives, and Miles having a tendency to detach himself from his issues as hard as he possibly can. It's such an interesting, flawed basis for a relationship. That's just my take, though. It's how I like them, and no one else will ever be beholden to my interpretations!

I get AA is escapism for a lot of people, and if that's how it works for you, total respect. But I crave variety, god I do. It's not about being right, it's not about being wrong, I just think there are so many ways to play with these characters and the fandom is stuck in a rut of samey-same content, both happy and sad. I'm not here to shame you for liking what you like, either. I'm pretty esoteric. I mean, Jesus. There's nothing less welcome in the AA fandom than a self shipper getting between Wrightworth. I don't mind doing my own thing, and I'm happier with fewer eyes on me anyway. If my stuff upsets you, that's okay.

That being said, I think I'd have a much easier time being around the fandom if people treated it less like there was a way to interpret the games correctly. The general fandom consensus is suffocating at times. Escapism can be dangerous if you don't know how to handle threats to your perception of a made-up world. I don't mean that to be condescending, I've just been there.

It was a breath of fresh air to leave the AA fandom for a while and focus on something built upon 18 years of fan-interpretations, with no right answers. Where every artist's version of them feels drastically different. It made me realize how silly this all is. It also made me remember how sad it was that when I joined the fandom and started trying to share my opinions on certain Phoen-ish ships, a popular AA blogger publicly ridiculed me and let their followers harass me. I just don't understand why the AA fandom compels people to feel like they have to be correct about everything. I've had to be very careful not to let feelings like that sour the whole franchise for me.

I myself have veered into that territory, and it's why I don't like writing this post. I don't want to be that person. I think everyone should be able to give each other space to do what makes them happy. If common fandom interpretations are what you like, then go with those. If you're like me, though, and you've ever been nervous to share headcanons and analyses that are unpopular, this is me telling you I think you're great. Say what you want, make what you want. It doesn't have to make sense. It doesn't have to be right. People might be mean about it, but you still deserve the right to self-actualization, even if no one else likes the things you do.

It's more important for you to post what you want than for others not to see it. If you're not hurting anyone, you can always rest assured that you've no reason to entertain their ire. From the bottom of my heart, just get silly with it.