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toxoiddiamond · 3 years ago

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T H E B A S I C S Given Name: Ryoga Zaizen Nicknames: Ryo Age: 38 Birthday: September 5th Zodiac Sign: Virgo Birthplace: Hakodate, Japan Current Location: He recently moved to Gzira, Malta, after having lived in Yokohama, Japan for nearly thirteen years. Speaks: He is fluent in both Japanese and English. He is starting to learn Maltese, but can only have a very basic conversation at this point. Dominant Hand: Right Education: He completed junior high, but opted not to continue on to high school and started working instead so he could help out his family. Occupation: Voice actor, mostly in anime and video games. Most of his voice work is in Japanese, but he occasionally does some in English as well. Every once in a great while, he does some live action acting, but it’s not his preference. Vehicle: 2018 Peugeot 5008 SUV in navy blue. Worldly Possessions: Some very nice recording equipment that allows him to do his voicework from home. A small family altar that he doesn’t actually pray to, but likes having around for nostalgic reasons. Lots of toys and things for his kids. Lots of DVDs and blu-rays of various films of all genres, with a whole shelf dedicated to family-friendly movies and shows. Pet(s): He recently got a one-year-old Shikoku Ken, partly to try and distract his kids from all the upheaval and turmoil in their lives at the moment. He wasn't too sure about having a dog at first, but now he really enjoys having a pet. The dog's name is Kotaro, meaning "small boy."

A P P E A R A N C E Height: 6'1" Hair: Ryoga enjoys trying all sorts of different colors and styles with his hair. He's had just about every color of the rainbow in his hair at some point, and when he was younger he experimented with having super long hair, mohawks, all kinds of things. Nowadays he tends to keep it cut into a more sophisticated, conservative style, but he still enjoys dyeing it various colors. Currently it is a light blue-gray. Facial Hair: He prefers to be clean-shaven. Eye Colour: Dark brown Skin Tone: He enjoys spending time outdoors, so he isn't super pale or anything; he has almost an olive undertone to his skin. Clothing: Most of the time he dresses in a fairly casual manner; his go-to look is skinny jeans paired with a graphic tee and either Vans or combat boots. But he also cleans up very nicely when the occasion arises. He has a few suits in various colors, patterns and styles and they all look amazing on him. Ryoga has a good sense of fashion and always manages to dress perfectly for any occasion. Distinguishing Marks: He has tattoos– like, so many tattoos on his arms, hands, chest, back, legs, basically everywhere except his face tbh. Face Claim: Miyavi

H E A L T H Physical Health: For the most part, his health is pretty good– he takes good care of himself, exercises, eats well, etc, especially because he wants to set a good example for his kids. However, he has had mild issues with his heart ever since he was a teenager– he has a slight arrhythmia and bradycardia (slow heart rate), but has managed both conditions fairly well throughout his life. He has had to stay in the hospital a couple of times after his heart rate slowed enough to cause him to faint, but he now tries to stay active and take his medication regularly so it (hopefully) doesn’t happen again. Physical Abilities/Limitations: He has a lot of upper body strength, partly from working out and partly from carrying his daughter around all over the place. He is also surprisingly flexible and enjoys doing yoga and tai chi as a form of gentle exercise. He’s always been good at imitating people/doing impressions and putting on different voices, which is what eventually led him to becoming a voice actor. Addictions: He used to drink a lot, but completely gave up alcohol in his mid-twenties, around the time he got married. This was partly because he wanted to try and be a more responsible person, and partly because his doctor recommended that he give up, or at least cut way back, on alcohol for the sake of his heart. Allergies: Shellfish Mental Health: Ryoga is under a lot of stress right now, so he’s not at his best. He’s had a lot of anxiety over his (very messy) divorce, then a brutal custody battle (he ended up getting sole custody), and then having to get a restraining order against his ex-wife when she kept showing up at their home and trying to get the kids to come with her, then throwing fits when Ryoga stopped her from taking them. Now that they’ve moved to a whole other country, he feels a bit better, less nervous, but he’s still constantly worried that his ex is going to show up any day. He has done his best to drill it into the kids’ heads that if their mom shows up, they are not to go with her and they need to come get him or call the police right away.

H I S T O R Y Summary: Long or Short Job History: His first job was at a small, hole-in-the-wall beef bowl shop when he was fourteen– he started as a busboy but was quickly moved into a kitchen staff position. A couple of years later, he was scouted by a modeling agent and ended up falling into the world of fashion modeling. He wasn’t super famous or anything; he mostly modeled alternative/goth/street fashion rather than anything too mainstream. This allowed him to network with a lot of people who were able to pull some strings for him and get him auditions for voice work, and within a few years, he had transitioned fully into voice acting (which he is now actually pretty famous for– in Japan, at least). Fondest Memories: Some of his childhood memories, such as family trips, or evenings when everyone was home and actually hung out together instead of going to their separate rooms. His wedding day, which is bittersweet to look back on, but at the time was one of the happiest days of his life. The births of both his children. Various anime conventions he’s gone to– he loves meeting fans and talking to them. Worst Experiences: His father losing his job– it sent the entire family into a downward spiral of anxiety and Ryoga always felt he had to walk on eggshells around them. Having to skip out on high school so he could work and earn money to help his family. His parents being more than a little angry with him when he became a model, started getting tattoos, etc., since they thought he was “ruining his life.” His parents later disowning him when he told them he was dating a man. And, of course, the slow and painful death of his marriage which resulted in a very, very messy divorce.

C O M M U N I C A T I O N Speech Pace/Style: It depends on the situation. If he’s working or in a more professional setting, then he is very respectful, using only polite language. When he’s with friends, he’s louder and more outspoken, and far less polite– not that he’s rude, just that he has a bit of a mouth on him. With his kids, Ryoga is very laid-back for the most part, speaking calmly to them and keeping a patient, gentle tone. Even when he scolds them, he doesn’t raise his voice much, though he can be very firm when he needs to be. Accent: Ryoga has a noticeable Japanese accent when he speaks English, but it’s not so thick that it’s hard to understand him. He speaks very clearly and enunciates well. Favorite Phrases or Words: Tends to say “Aa! Sou?” when he’s surprised about something, which just means “oh, really?” Also tends to say “ehto” instead of “um” or “uh.” Usual Curse Words: He tries to watch his language when he’s with his kids, though he does slip up on occasion (and they always call him out for it). He does have quite a mouth on him though, both in English and in Japanese, and uses whatever curse word feels most appropriate for the moment.

P E R S O N A L I T Y, M I N D S E T, A N D B E L I E F S Personality Type: INFJ-T Sense of Humor: With his kids, he’s pretty goofy and silly, always joking around with them and keeping them entertained. He does a lot of voices that make them laugh. When he’s around adults, he’s more sarcastic but still on the goofy side more than anything. Habits: He is hardly ever barefoot– he always wears socks or house slippers when he’s inside. He tends to eat rice with every meal if possible, in some form or another, or else it doesn’t feel like an actual meal to him. If he’s wearing any nail polish or anything, he tends to pick at it whenever he gets nervous or stressed out. Quirks: Ryoga really enjoys treating himself to things like spa days, mani-pedis, massages, anything along those lines. He doesn’t do it all the time, but once a month or so he gets someone to watch the kids and just takes a full day to himself to relax. He also loves taking baths and keeps various bath salts and oils around so he can take a nice, long bath at home if he’s had a rough day. Fears/Phobias: Anything happening to his kids; he worries about them constantly. His ex-wife finding him and showing up, even though he has a restraining order against her. He also tends to be a bit secretive about his sexuality, after facing some backlash/discrimination for it in Japan– he’s not exactly afraid of anyone finding out that he’s bi, but there’s a reason why he doesn’t offer that information very freely. Strengths: Something Flaws: Something Hopes/Desires: Something Wildest Fantasy: Something Self-Esteem: Something Religion: Something

R A N D O M Sleeping Position: Something Boxers or Briefs?: Something Day or Night?: Something Top or Bottom?: Something Partying or Relaxing?: Something

R E L A T I O N S H I P S Closest Friend: Something Relationship History: Something Sexual Partners: Something Thoughts About Sex: Something

P A R E N T S Name(s): Mom and Dad Age(s): Ages Social Standing: Blue collar, white collar, whatever Occupation(s): What they do Religion: What do they believe Quality of Relationship With His Children: Is good or bad? Living/Deceased: Maybe they dead

S I B L I N G (S) Name(s): First Last Age(s): Ages Social Standing: Blue collar, white collar, whatever Occupation(s): What they do Religion: What do they believe Quality of Relationship with Character: Is good or bad? Living/Deceased: Maybe they dead

D A I L Y L I F E Living Arrangements: Where they live

#character: ryoga zaizen #character sheet #ship: trizen

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askthematsunovs · 4 years ago

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Characters

Osomatu Matsunov The eldest of the Matsunov Sextuplets, he is the self-proclaimed leader of his brothers and the current heir to the Matsunov castle. As a result he tends to act like he owns the place, albeit in a very lackadaisical way. Unlike some of his other brothers, he makes absolutely no effort to leave the confines of the castle to hunt or to look into vampiric powers. He playfully mentions things like “nobility having to work should be a crime” when in reality he’s just really lazy, a rather deadly trait for a vampire considering their constant need for fresh blood, regardless of social standing. He’s incredibly shameless but ultimately has a kind heart and wishes the best for his brothers in their search for vampiric powers and skills, becoming genuinely excited for them each time a new one is discovered. Osomatu’s unique vampire power is the ability to turn into a demonic, beastial Old World Vampire form, implying he has incredible potential as the only known vampires able to use an Old World form have been the leaders of the Vampire Consul, including famed former Vampire King, Dracula. It should be noted that while Karamatu also has a beastial form, his is not Old World based and is more closely related to lycanthropy.

Karamatu Matsunov The second eldest of the Matsunov Sextuplets, Karamatu is not quite as boisterous or shameless as Osomatu but still has some un-vampirelike tendencies that make him almost equally useless. Despite not knowing anything about humans, he unwittingly plays into their stereotypes of vampires due to his histrionic and dramatic behavior, usually citing random prose and poetry in an effort to appear “sexy” or “cool” along with randomly posing and throwing basic French words into his everyday speech. He seems to know of the human culture portrayed in a few fairytales but, like his brothers, has absolutely no idea what real humans are like. Instead of learning about his vampire heritage as a child, he chose to read human stories, finding them much more fascinating, though seeing as really only a couple human-written books existed in the Matsunov library, he ended up reading the same couple of stories over and over again, thus making him believe humans were two-dimensional and simple. His mimicking (or rather his idea) of “human behavior” is apparent in his attempts to look at himself in a mirror despite having no reflection. Karamatu’s unique vampire power is the ability to shapeshift into a large, muscular werewolf form. It is not common for vampires to be able to shapeshift into wolves, but also not unheard of as a werewolf was one of Dracula’s many forms. Because of his connection to lycanthropy, Karamatu is able to commune with werewolves without them becoming hostile, like they would with most other vampires, their sworn enemies.

Choromatu Matsunov The third eldest of the Matsunov Sextuplets, Choromatu appears to be the only brother concerned with actually looking into their vampire heritage and vampiric potential after their parents leave for the Capital, not wanting any of them to starve. He also tries to take his research on humans further than Karamatu, focusing on learning about their biology and abilities rather than only reading their lore or poetry. Of course, given the limited source material in the Matsunov library on humans, Choromatu usually just ends up looking like a fool, acting like he knows more about humans than the others when really his knowledge is just as limited. He also tends to be a hypocrite, confidently stating that humans are no more intelligent than cattle only to, mere hours later, grovel somewhat pathetically in the presence of an attractive human woman. He also claims that relying on thralls alone would be dishonorable and yet once he discovers his unique vampire power, relies almost entirely on thralls for blood. Even more damning is his eventual discovery and later fanatical obsession with human opera singers. Despite acting like he’s above the others in terms of honor, intelligence, and nobility, at heart, he’s a Matsunov and trying to pretend like he isn’t doesn’t do him much good. Still though, out of all the brothers, he does end up making the most discoveries regarding vampire powers and ultimately is the most knowledgeable about things like vampire culture, science and humans, even if it’s not by much more. Despite his insistence that a reliance on thralls is dishonorable, Choromatu’s unique vampire power is to create thralls en masse. Thralls are soulless husks of humans that can be used for feeding on, manual labor, and other mindless tasks.

Ichimatu Matsunov The fourth eldest son of the Matsunov Sextuplets, Ichimatu is somewhat of a black sheep, even by vampire and Matsunov standards. Despite his gloomy and morose disposition, he’s actually the most harmless of the brothers and has much less of a desire to feed from humans. His lack of a desire to feed on human blood implies that he has a condition referred to by vampires as Şeptelbea (pronounced “Shep-tel-bee”), in which a vampire is able to maintain their vampiric powers through animal blood alone, usually livestock, at the cost of having general lethargy, sluggishness and overall tiredness. While he can drink human blood (and still does at times) and gain the same benefits a regular vampire would, he doesn’t care for the taste and he doesn’t care for how wired it makes him feel, suggesting that human blood to him is like a large amount of caffeine to a human, energizing him at first but causing him to completely crash, whereas animal blood seems to keep him more balanced. How Ichimatu became a Şeptelbea while his five identical brothers did not is unknown but suggests Şeptelbeaism occurs outside the womb and is not based in genetics or blood relation. Ironically, his favorite things are in fact animals, especially cats and bats. He prefers them much more to the company of both humans and vampires and isn’t much for conversation. In fact, he is the only Matsunov brother with a familiar, a little orange cat that is bound to him spiritually. The cat doesn’t need to be with him at all times though and unlike him is able to survive during the day. His disinterest in human blood also means that despite being seen as “cursed” or “afflicted” by other vampires (except his family of course), humans are much more accepting of him and thus, ironically, he has the easiest time out of all of his brothers speaking to humans without getting “weird about it” as he describes it. Not surprisingly, Ichimatu’s unique vampire power is the ability to command animals to do his bidding. He usually uses bats for this as they tend to be readily available in large groups already, but he wouldn’t mind having an army of cats either.

Jyushimatu Matsunov The fifth eldest and second youngest son of the Matsunov Sextuplets, Jyushimatu is the wildcard of the family. He’s loud, wild, energetic, and seems to delight in confusing the hell out of other people. Deep down though, he really just wants to be able to make people he cares about laugh. Despite being a vampire, his disposition is sunny and cheerful, albeit silly. There really isn’t a way to explain why he does the things he does sometimes. For example, rather than opening the lid of his coffin when he wakes up, he just punches through it, requiring one of the other brothers to have to fix it every sunrise before he goes to bed. Out of all the brothers, he seems to be the most naturally attuned to his innate powers. He’s technically the first to show a vampire power through his super strength and eventually starts floating on his own, changing into a bat randomly, retracting and un-retracting his teeth repeatedly for fun, hanging upside down, etc. He seems to be the most excited to use his powers and is the one to use them the most, even in casual conversation. When is he going to turn into a bat? Who knows! When is he going to just start floating and hitting his head on the ceiling mid-conversation? Who knows! The brothers seem to be pretty used to his behavior though, not really commenting on it or seeing it as anything out of the ordinary for him. Jyushimatu’s unique vampire power is the ability to turn himself into sentient fog. This is especially useful when slipping through otherwise impossibly small cracks or crevices, re-materializing on the other side. He can also turn certain parts of his body to fog while still keeping the rest of his body physical. Although not unique to him, Jyushimatu floats around significantly more than the other Matsunovs and seems to prefer it to regular walking.

Todomatu Matsunov The youngest of the Matsunov Sextuplets, Todomatsu is perhaps the least helpless of his brothers when it comes to behaving like a vampire. He’s well-mannered, polite, sociable, and charming, a stark contrast to the others. On the rare occasions that the brothers speak to other vampires, Todomatu is the one doing the most socializing. He doesn’t mind bending the truth to make himself appear more impressive than he actually is, sometimes lying about his kill counts or about how he’s been doing his own hunts for years. His charm can sometimes be a detriment though, as he often gets himself stuck in situations where he has to keep up a lie or facade. Like Osomatu, he’s not very interested in humans but, unlike Osomatu, is also smart enough to realize they’re a potential real threat and that they shouldn’t be underestimated. It takes him quite a while to get used to the idea of having to hunt his own prey after his parents take their trip. Despite his charm, he can also be quite spoiled and childish when he doesn’t get what he wants, expecting to be pampered as the youngest sibling. He’s an opportunist and often takes advantage of situations in a way that will benefit him most. He isn’t heartless though, and genuinely loves all of his brothers, wanting to help them succeed in attaining vampiric powers and skills. Todomatu’s unique vampire power is blood manipulation or bloodbending. He can psychically manipulate the bodies and blood of any creature, even once it’s outside the body. Though he doesn’t usually, this gives him the power to puppeteer living things and control their bodies, as well as the ability to stop peoples’ circulation and cause heart attacks without ever even touching a person. This arguably makes him one of the most dangerous members of the Matsunov family, but luckily, he doesn’t use his powers very often. For the most part, he’ll use it to levitate blood from across the room to his mouth so that he doesn’t have to get up.

Grand Vampire Princess Ava The somewhat recently appointed ruler of vampirekind, she has yet to be officially coronated due to the Vampire Consul insisting she find a consort in a defensive measure after the tragic “Mortal Uprising” that resulted in the previous king’s death, with the logic being that two powerful vampires would be much harder to kill than one. She had already been chosen as Dracula’s successor shortly after she was born and was thus trained by both him and the Vampire Consul for most of her life, rarely getting to leave the Royal Castle or interact much with other vampires. Just as she came of age (for vampires), the “Mortal Uprising” occurred and resulted in the deaths of King Dracula and prominent members of the Vampire Consul, causing the remaining Vampire Consul members and vampirekind as a whole to go into a panic at the unexpected event. Without much time to plan or coordinate, Ava was quickly appointed as ruler in an attempt to avoid further panic among vampire society. Despite sitting on the throne, she has not been coronated yet and thus remains a princess with little actual power. The Vampire Consul currently takes care of all the political and legal affairs of the vampires and has done so for as long as Ava has reigned, about 50 years or so, which is of course considered very recent in vampire terms. Her current duty given to her by the consul is to find a consort among vampire nobility in order to be officially coronated and become queen.

Emma Emma is a peasant girl who lived in the village by the Matsunov castle with her father, who was also her only living relative, until he mysteriously disappeared while on his way to do business in the Capital. The other villagers figured he was killed by the monsters in the forest and held a funeral for him. Sadly, she could not make enough money on her own to keep the house and ended up homeless as a result, becoming well known for doing odd jobs around the village in return for food or shelter. Villagers noted her failing health from her homelessness and suggested she try to become part of the local brothel like many of the other homeless and destitute women usually did. Scared she would have no other option, her luck turned around when she met Karamatu Matsunov after his inability to kill her. The two made a pact that in return for providing the Matsunovs with blood, they would give her food and shelter. She is the first live human that the Matsunovs have encountered and thus tasks herself with teaching them about humans and human culture due to their inexperience. She also inadvertently teaches the Matsunov brothers that humans are more than just “cattle,” and that they too have sentience and emotions. Since moving to Matsunov Castle, Emma takes care of the place during the day, as well as taking occasional visits to the village to buy supplies for both herself and the brothers. She’ll often return from her weekly visits to the village with human books and souvenirs for the brothers to help them in their quest to understand humans and human culture. So far she has been an incredibly helpful friend to the Matsunovs and in return she is treated with kindness and respect, even to the point of the brothers willing to go hungry if they find out her health is failing from blood loss. However, she must be kept a secret from other vampires as befriending humans is seen as strange and pathetic and goes against basic vampire traditions.

#characters #character page #character list #ooc

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general-cyno · 1 year ago

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Ok I'm wide awake, spoilers for trimax and all that, so here goes nothing:

First things first: Nai was absolutely not "born evil". I understand why his personality as a child in Stamp might seem a little jarring for those who've read the manga, but despite his seemingly aloof or little ice prince facade, it's pretty obvious that Nai was a happy child. He's shown enjoying spending time with both Rem and Vash, he laughed, he liked playing the piano and he was into silly little stuff like cowboy movies. The fact that Stamp wrote him as more "plant-like" when it comes to eating or so, doesn't make him inherently evil.

Imo, the latter only added more to the horror of it all (Tessla): As if being an independent plant wasn't bad enough, Nai also had to be careful about hiding his own nature bc being so outwardly different only posed a bigger threat to his safety. And yeah, I do believe Rem was trying to protect him by insisting he act more human and to hide his powers. Considering what happened to Tessla, it's not hard to reason why even if it wasn't the "perfect" long term plan or way to keep him safe.

It's not until the aftermath of finding Tessla (of which we still probably have a lot to see yet) and Vash's speech about choosing to believe in humanity that we see a visible shift in Nai as a kid and it's not really about evilness, it's a child fearing for himself and for his brother after seeing their older sister mutilated and her torn body kept (still ALIVE) in tanks for the past 50 years.

In the manga, Knives reacted in a very similar manner. Albeit the story focused mostly on his own fear (unlike Stamp) and some other things happened in between (like his coma), it is the same fear-fueled motivation and it bears the same outcome: Nai/Knives causes the Big Fall. There's a bit more to say on the fall but that's for below lol.

Now, as for Nai after the fall:

The last run. Both Nai and Knives witness their sisters being violently exploited to death through the procedure called the last run. A main difference here is the timeline - while Knives sees this happen as an adult and over a century after the fall, Nai is barely about 5/6 (plant) years old when this happens. He's still very, very literally and visibly a kid and it hasn't been long since Tessla or the fall.

Needless to say, this is yet another event that affects their perception of humans. Regardless of the blame they share in the cycle of plants being exploited due to the fall, their sisters are still being hurt and it is clearly an upsetting thing to see - esp considering that both have connections to plants as part of the same species. Tr1max touches on a more telepathic sort of bond/connection, while in Stamp it seems related to sound waves. While Knives reacts almost immediately and even uses his angel arm to kill everyone in the vicinity in retaliation, Nai is so physically affected by it that he first collapses and it's not until Vash arrives (and shows no particular reaction to the whole thing), the humans both mocking the plants and manhandling him that Nai resorts to violence and even then - the scale of it is nowhere near the one Knives caused in the manga. Likely bc in Stamp he's still a kid/hadn't grown into his powers yet.

Still the point is - both Nai and Knives as his og counterpart both react badly to the last run and both hurt/killed as a result of it, despite the circumstances surrounding the event being pretty different.

The experiments. In Stamp, in a somewhat similar fashion to the manga, the EOM takes orphaned or "sacrificed" children to experiment on (hence WW and L1vio, with the addition of Rollo and Elend1ra this time around) and as narrated by Conrad himself, this is part of the work he and Nai did. Unlike the manga, Nai now has a direct hand to play in this. It is obviously a very fucked up thing to do and it certainly fucked up characters within the story itself, as listed above.

(There's a whole lot to be said here abt the cycle of abuse and how Nai, Conrad and all others involved only kept repeating what happened to Tessla again and again, but that's worth its own post AJSJ maybe another day.)

But y'all do remember that Knives killed children right? That it's part of the reason why he and Vash split ways, and it is pointed out again by M1dvalley. Repeat: Knives killed children/infants both directly and indirectly. Just bc the manga doesn't show him explicitly doing it doesn't mean it didn't happen. As M1dvalley saw it - slaughtering humans in general made (at least once that he noticed) Knives show something akin to the contentment of exterminating a pest.

That said... If you think experimenting on children is worse than killing them, well, I'm not sure what to tell you. Conclusion for this part: neither Nai nor Knives have exactly a clean record when it comes to children.

Vash. Eps 11-12 were pretty uncomfortable for many: what Nai did to Vash is in all possible ways extremely violating of mind and body. It doesn't help that Stamp gave the whole thing a pretty unavoidable and violently sexual undertone - what with all the vaginal imagery of Vash's gate to the higher dimension and the interdimensional egg/plant core, the pregnant plants and Nai's plan (as said by Conrad quite explicitly) relying on artifically impregnating the dependant plants through Vash for the sake of giving them "souls"/creating more independents.

Even so, a bunch of ppl will agree that this undertone was already present in the manga and Knives violating the autonomy of Vash's body happens more than once. It's in the july incident, it's in the fifth moon incident and later when he literally tries to forcefully meld with Vash in the ark. Whether you see this as having a sexual assault metaphor thrown in or not, it is STILL an assault on Vash's body and pretty much explicitly against his will.

Yet again: neither Nai nor Knives have a nice track record when it comes to Vash's body (or mind).

The destruction of Jeneora. Ep 3 of Stamp has Nai doing this and stealing the town's plants. This is a pretty brief point bc destroying an entire town and killing ppl isn't exactly out of Knives's scope in the manga. Points again at the reason why he and Vash separated in the manga, M1dvalley's dialogues and the fact that Knives literally had a group of assassins he recruited to commit mass slaughter. I mean,

Pretty self explanatory.

Vash again! And the bounty. So in Stamp, it's heavily implied (and might've been lowkey confirmed by one of the producers on twt) that the bounty on Vash was issued by Nai. The bounty has July's logo, and as it's mentioned in the lore info released abt the city, it's Conrad who's been in control of the latter - and knowing how long Nai has been with Conrad, that their base of operations is located in it, it's clear why he might've been responsible for the whole thing. So yep, it's very likely the reason why Vash is hunted and why ppl turn against him (like the folks in Jeneora did), esp since the price of his bounty is said to be the same as a singular plant's.

Though this doesn't happen in the manga exactly, well, the reason why Vash even gets a bounty on his person (or why he earns the moniker of the "humanoid typhoon") in there is Knives's fault too aka the july incident. Also, part of Knives's grand plan is this:

Conclusion idk 5? Nai and Knives making their brothers experience suffering/betrayal at the hands of humans is a thing in both canons. Different methods, similar thought process and outcomes.

The one thing I'd argue is worse in Stamp was Nai gaslighting Vash into believing he's partly to blame for the Fall by making him Nai's unintentional "accomplice". This didn't happen in the manga but Knives making Vash feel like shit isn't a new thing over there either. Events like July and the fifth moon have a similar negative effect on Vash:

Legato went through his own recognition of the self through another (derogatory) with Vash and even he realized Vash's self-esteem was non-existent. Imo, again, albeit events are tweaked differently in the writing - the consequences of what Nai and Knives do are pretty similar.

That said, I've laid out most of why Nai and Knives aren't that different despite the changes made for Stamp's writing so why do I believe he's just as salvageable as Knives was?

1. Stamp is based on the manga and guess who Vash saved in the manga? Points at chapter 96!!!!! One of stamp's earliest concept arts is also a reference to chapter 97. Can't include more pics bc of limits but here it is.

2. The story itself! Vash already mentioned it quite literally in ep 9 - he wants to save Nai. Vash is also questioned multiple times throughout ep 3 (by N3braska and Nai) which side he's on. WW outright tells him that one day he'll have to choose between saving humans, plants or Nai. All this is clearly setting up to something and it seems related to Nai himself.

What Nai did on eps 11-12 (and even before that) was fucked up on different levels as we already know, but something that he shares with his og counterpart is fear. He is soso deeply motivated by fear and Vash was there to witness it as Nai died - he saw and heard his brother literally killing himself bc he was desperate not to feel fear, pain or humiliation. Above everything, what Nai wanted was a paradise, a place in which they could just be happy and safe and their sisters free of suffering as well.

Having seen this, along with Vash's genuine wish to save his brother beforehand, and considering just how deeply heartbroken Vash was over losing Nai (pleading him to stop, sobbing and screaming out his name as Nai let go of the cube, Ericks!Vash trying to play the piano by the end of ep 12) I honestly can't see anything but a future Vash who will likely be more motivated to save him for real this time around and to do so in a way that won't make him sacrifice his ideals of also saving humans and plants - which imo, would be pretty in line with the climax of the manga.

3. Staff interviews and commentaries, both in general aspects of the story and about Nai's character in specific. Here's a twt about the use of the word "villain" and how they chose to deliberately not use it in the series, and the sakuracon interview which mentions how the director actively chose not to have Nai portrayed as a villain and even intervened when Nai's jp VA acted out his voicelines in a villain-like way bc that's not the way they wanted to depict his character.

Stamp is, as said by the devs and in official promos, the "song of two brothers" and it's pretty obvious they've been careful abt the way Nai's character is written and depicted in this iteration of 3gun. I think, as mentioned above, that the way Nai acts in the anime is within Knives own scope as a character in the manga, which is also the inspo for Stamp. So yes, regardless of whether ppl see him as redeemable or not in lieu of his actions, as far as I'm concerned he's just as salvageable as Knives was and the narrative seems to be pointing at that.

need to concentrate on class but I keep having controversial nai thots

#DONEEEE #there's other lil details I would've liked to point out but like. my hand already hurts from typing all this on my phone lmao #I'd say the reason why nai cuts vash arm off in stamp vs the manga is also smth to keep in mind #the importance of the piano and the duet and even the photo vash keeps etc etc #im gonna do so much grass touching to compensate for writing this btw #only millions knives could give me this insane massive brainrot #tp #I'm off to sleep #feel free to disagree obvs tho #this is after all just my slightly controversial takes

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katyatalks · 5 years ago

Text

MP100 “Characters & Such Official Guidebook” - Interviews ENG Translation

The Characters & Such Official Guidebook was released mid-April 2019 as a guide for all things related to MP100 season 1 & 2. The guidebook also includes interviews with the voice actors of the main five characters (Mob, Reigen, Dimple, Ritsu, Teru), followed by interviews with Director Tachikawa, Series Coordinator Seko, Character Designer Kameda & finally with ONE himself.

Contains a bunch of interesting trivia and conversations (eg. Tachikawa and Kameda looked at fan art before they began the anime, an alternative past for Reigen was once considered, plenty of references to S3 & broccoli arc.) This is a pretty long read, so please enjoy!

Original thread on Twitter here. TN = Translator’s Note "Bold denotes a direct quote of a question,” & “italics denotes a direct quote of an answer.” I’m a little bit inconsistent with where I decide to give full question and answers rather than summaries here...

ITOU SETSUO [Mob]

On being asked how he approached voicing Mob during the audition, he says that he went for something flat as Mob doesn’t really inspire “main character” vibes in him.

He takes it as a compliment when he is told that he’s like Mob as a person.

Initially he didn’t think too much of himself in the role as Mob but after being told by co-stars just how well his voice and performance suit the character, he began to believe it too.

On being asked what’s so charming about Mob, Itou says his honesty, and that he doesn’t take a negative viewpoint. Brings up that when Mob is against a foe, rather than “are you my enemy?” he’ll ask “what are you doing here?”.

Itou’s favourite character is Teru, as he thinks the way Teru behaves with his powers originally is the most realistic in terms of standard human nature.

He says the same thing applies to Shou & Touichirou.

The fact that Mob is different is his strength; the fact that he doesn’t think of his powers as anything special. He gives credit to Reigen for Mob thinking this way about his powers.

“At first, Mob-kun suffered because of his powers. But then he meets shishou, who tells him that his powers are just one part of him - this is linked to why Mob-kun is so charming now.”

Mob considers “you shouldn’t use your powers against people” a given fact.

Itou originally found it difficult to know how far he should go adding emotion to Mob’s voice.

Since MP100 is the first show Itou has been a regular & leading part for, he wanted to be the first person in the recording booth for episode 1, and as a result ended up arriving 45 minutes early.

Asked about his favourite scenes from S1 & S2, he mentions the scene that’s stayed with him is when Mob first appears in S1E1.

Has a few scenes he mentions as favourites; he loves the whole Teru vs Mob fight, but especially when Teru is shouting while using his powers as he recalls the passion Matsuoka [Teru] had when recording it.

He mentions when Mob saves Ritsu in S1E8, also mentions that’s something they covered in the stage play, and that it makes him emotional thinking about it.

Says he loves the scene when Mob shouts “Shishou!” as Reigen is ‘killed’ by Sakurai in S1E11.

Mentions S2E1 as well. “Mob-kun doesn’t express his emotions much, but he does then. Showing his powers to another while crying. I remember being glad when I first read the script for episode 1 as it’s a scene I wanted to do. I think of it as the moment Mob-kun starts to change.”

When asked about the stage play, says he thinks the Mob he portrays in the stage play is slightly different to the one he portrays in the anime.

Asks the fans to please continue to watch over MP100 and Mob’s growth, and it would be good if we could all continue to support MP100 as much as we can, from a stage play angle as well.

SAKURAI TAKAHIRO [Reigen]

Sakurai says if he were to have powers he’d probably use them to commit wrongdoings with.

Asked on his impressions of Reigen, says he sees Reigen as an “unbalanced person”, but thought he was mysterious in season 1.

Thought of Reigen as a fraud and not a good person in S1, but with S2 we see his uchizura (private, more ‘real’ self) and real emotions, so his feelings re: Reigen changed from S1 to S2. “It was hard to know who he was, back in season 1.”

“So you felt pretty strongly that he was simply a fraud?” Sakurai; “Well, he lies to people, but at the same time he does actually put some work in (laughs). Clients go home feeling refreshed, so he definitely gives a good massage.”

Calls Reigen eloquent, and that the things that he says are sound. Calls him a good speaker. Brings up his speech to the “claw guys” (likely referencing S1E12). “He can be irresponsible, but he’s got a mysterious intelligence.”

Says that from the middle to the end of S2 there would be as many as 20-30 people in the studio.

Asked about his favourite episodes S1+S2 inclusive, says S2E1 and that the transition from the end of S1 to S2 is smooth with it. “A really fantastic episode”, “you can also see signs of Mob’s growth.”

“On that note, when Reigen hears that Mob got a girlfriend...” Sakurai; “It’s a shock (laughs). His mind goes blank. ‘There’s no way Mob managed to get a girlfriend,’ is what’s running through his mind. He doesn’t celebrate it. Actually, it’s an upsetting thing for him - since Mob would be all over her, Reigen’s business would end up in trouble (laughs).”

Sakurai describes the “Shishou and Deshi” relationship that Mob & Reigen originally have as something that’s quite fabricated and disregards a lot of truths.

“Reigen was an adult floating in limbo for some time, and starts a business in a calculating move. And it starts going well once he meets Mob in their chance encounter.”

“The nickname ‘Mob’ signifies him as a boy without a presence, and yet it’s from that point that Mob starts to grow, and something like a desire for recognition sprouts within him.” [TN: This appears to be implying that Reigen began the ‘Mob’ nickname.]

Sakurai considers Reigen arc 1) a story in which Mob's popularity skyrockets 2) a story in which we see a more raw side of Reigen and start to like him more.

On being asked if there’s any part of Reigen that he sees in himself, starts off with saying that he tends to give out advice to those younger than him (he’s in his 40s and implies he can’t compare himself to someone who’s young in their 20s). Then after knowing what’s running through Reigen’s head in S2; “I suppose we do overlap in one way or another.”

Sakurai says he was very much one of the “mob” (a nobody) in his 10s.

Finally, asked to give a message to fans; “I’d like to do a Season 3, so please continue to love Mob Psycho 100.”

OOTSUKA AKIO [Dimple]

Asked about his thoughts on MP100, Ootsuka says that the art style of the manga caught his eye - he thought it was fun that the anime doesn’t lose the style of the manga while making it more stylish.

Finds in modern manga, the trend is an ordinary kid will get powers by some chance & the adventure starts from there, but found it interesting that in MP100 Mob has had powers since he was tiny & the adventure begins after he comes crying to Reigen with “I don’t know what to do”.

Also enjoys how Mob isn’t exactly the “main character” type. Thinks that it’s a breath of fresh air in the shounen manga genre.

On being asked about Dimple’s charm, Ootsuka; “He’s bad, but you can’t hate him.”

Says that Dimple is ugly but that’s fun, since most of the time mascot characters are cute.

When asked what was running through his mind when preparing for the role of Dimple, he says “dishonesty, slyness.” Acting as if he’s smarter than people but he actually isn’t.

“Speaking of dishonest/sly adults, I feel Reigen is a different type.” Ootsuka; “I’d say Reigen is more dishonest/sly than Dimple... nah, actually they’re about the same. (Laughs)”

When asked if there was anything he finds difficult about playing Dimple, he says that with other acting jobs he finds it hard to play a character where he can’t connect, but “there’s a similar kind of guy to Dimple that lives inside me. So I just go, ‘oi, come out’ (laughs)”.

Says he thinks we all have a bit of Dimple in us.

Ootsuka is also the narrator in MP100. Said that originally he felt there was a difference in the way he played Dimple & the narrator, but that difference kind of became smaller.

He was told to no longer put on a voice that sounds similar to the person Dimple is possessing for season 2, which disappointed him as he wanted to put on a Mob-like voice for when Dimple possesses Mob in S2E4.

Discussion of how director didn’t like Hoshino’s [Serizawa] original takes as they were too silly. [TN: this is mentioned again by Inoue [Suzuki] and Hoshino [Serizawa] in this interview.]

He recalls bursting into laughter over Iwasaki Hiroshi’s performance as Ishiguro in S1E12.

“Reigen becomes able to see Dimple as well in the last bit of Season 1, so he gains another conversation partner.” Ootsuka; “Reigen and Dimple, they both view the other as unnecessary (laughs). So the back-and-forth they have with that in mind is pretty fun.”

Asked about his favourite scenes or episodes, he says the end of S1E3. Dimple’s “Great morning, isn’t it, partner?” line really stuck with him.

Compares Dimple to a dog by Mob’s side.

“Dimple has the kind of face that you just might want to slap (laughs).” Ootsuka; “Well, that’s why I was careful to not give him a too audacious manner of speaking.” Says the interesting thing about his line of work is really having to think about how to say lines.

Also voiced Dimple for the live action adaptation [TN: AKA Netflix ver]. Says it was fun but found it a massive shame that he wasn’t able to bounce lines off of anyone.

“I really didn’t do much in middle school. I was just a chuunibyou (laughs).”

When asked to give a message to MP100 fans, “You guys wanna see more, right? There’s still more to adapt, isn’t there ;) (laughs). So, we can make a sequel to S2 a reality if everyone works together. A ‘if you speak up, then your dreams might come true!’ vibe (laughs).”

He makes a sneaky reference to Broccoli Arc and wanting to see it animated.

IRINO MIYU [Ritsu]

On being asked his initial thoughts on MP100, Irino states he originally thought it was a lighthearted jokey manga based on the art style and the way the story was introduced, so he was surprised as the story progressed.

States that Ritsu is a relatable character with the issues that he faces (eg wanting something that’s out of reach so hiding your want).

Asked about anything that was difficult to perform as Ritsu, he states his two-sided nature; his general honour-student self and the other side of him.

Says that when Ritsu enters into his darker side, rather than playing some kind of bad guy Ritsu is simply more frank with how he expresses himself. “He lets the emotions in his heart be heard one by one.”

Irino is asked if he personally admires Mob, to which he replies that he’s jealous of the fact that Mob is so unbeatable.

He says Ritsu must also have the experience of looking at Mob and thinking something like, “Compared to him, I’m just...”

States he himself, Ritsu, and just about anyone has likely yearned to become something overwhelming, but we don’t believe in our ability to achieve that.

Following this, interviewer comments that Mob carries feelings of unease in his heart even though he’s so unbeatable. Irino comments that something fun for him with MP100 is that Mob doesn’t really realise how unbeatable he is.

Something that Ritsu admires about his brother is that he doesn’t show off the fact that he’s unbeatable.

“Even with powers, there’s plenty of things you can’t do.” Irino; “Such as not being able to confess to the girl you like (laughs).”

“Seems like even if he abused his powers he’d still be able to turn heads.” Irino; “Because he’s charming - that’s something good about him. That’s why everyone loves him, and why he gives off main-character-of-a-shounen-manga vibes.”

Asked about his favourite scenes/episodes from seasons 1 & 2, Irino says around when Ritsu's powers are awakened in season 1. He found it interesting to watch how his heart becomes disturbed.

"He finally obtained the thing he'd been longing for, but everything around him that was once so calm gets thrown into disarray."

He also liked it when Ritsu stands atop the telephone pole in S1E7.

Speaking in terms of Power Rangers & character colour association, ever since he was a kid Irino has admired characters that are more blue or black rather than red.

Interviewer comments that Ritsu holds the ‘blue’ role in MP100.

After Mob & Ritsu reconcile, Irino states that he feels Ritsu has come to understand his brother more.

“How should I put it; Ritsu is overprotective, or there’s a side to him that’s too fussy over his big brother...” Irino; “but that kind of brotherly love is pleasant to see.”

“In Season 2, Ritsu and Shou go through a joint struggle.” Irino; “Shou’s father has tremendous powers, and he has one fear with that; he doesn’t know when his father will go on a rampage. Their circumstances are similar, in that sense.”

“Truth is, in parts MP100 is quite like your typical shounen manga.” Irino replies that there’s a bunch of great lines in the manga, and importance hidden within casual words.

Following this response he’s asked if there’s certain line(s) from MP100 that have stuck with him, to which Irino replies quite a few of Reigen’s. “During the last part of season 1 when he marches into Claw’s hideout, you get to hear a lot of his thoughts. It’s hard to tell if he’s being truthful with the things he says or if he’s lying, and on top of that he says quite a few important things. That unbalance is interesting.”

“The broadcast of season 2 has already come to an end...” Irino replies that he’d like the MP100 anime to continue and adapt the manga to the very end.

“I’m sure all the fans feel the same way.” Irino; “Everyone worked together as one to create the MP100 anime. For it to continue, we need your support; so please continue to give that to us.”

MATSUOKA YOSHITSUGU [Teru]

Asked his initial thoughts on MP100, Matsuoka says it was that it’s a piece that you can easily empathise with; regardless of if you’re in primary school, middle school, high school, an adult, an old man or woman...

Matsuoka thinks of the anime as something you watch and go, “I’ll try my best tomorrow, too.”

Matsuoka voices both Teru and Tokugawa in MP100. He was first offered the voice of Teru, and then it was decided he’d also voice Tokugawa.

It’s brought up that Tokugawa appears earlier in the show than Teru. “They’re two very different people, so in that sense performing both roles was easy. If they’d been similar characters I think there would be some confusion.”

Regarding Tokugawa, Matsuoka describes him as being quite firmly in the “student council” role with how strict and resolute his character is, in a way that Matsuoka himself very much isn’t.

Describes him as a cool-headed person, but given the way he interacts with Kamuro and is able to persuade him, says he has a hot-headed element to him as well. Matsuoka uses this as an example of how MP100 shows us the multifacetedness of human nature.

Regarding his other character, Teru; describes him as the personification of ‘chuunibyou’. “I think of him as the embodiment of the answer to the question, ‘if you had powers, what would you do?��”

One line he still remembers from S1 is Teru’s “Muscle training? Studying? That’s for ordinary people!” Matsuoka says that there’s a part of him that agreed with that line, and he says that if he were to get powers he’d likely be as conceited as Teru was.

States that Mob’s “From my perspective you’re just ordinary” line also stuck with him.

“From S1E5?” Matsuoka; “Yes - and then Teru replies, 'shut up!', and strangles Mob.” He says that he was really able to project his own emotions during this part and mix them with Teru’s own.

“People can’t change so easily” - Matsuoka says the things that Teru was saying to Mob, he was also saying to himself, like looking in a mirror. Uses this as an example of Teru’s own multifaceted nature.

Matsuoka says that the original Teru we see (who the interviewer describes as having a "poisonous nature" & putting on airs) is simply playing the role of what he considers to be an 'ideal' person, but then that comes away and we're left with the real Teru.

Interviewer makes a joke that Teru gets his personality trimmed along with his hair.

Is asked about Mob & Teru's rivalry, and says "No way, no way - there's no way they're /actually/ rivals." Says the power difference between Mob and Teru is way too big for that to actually be the case - "compared to Mob, Teru is ordinary."

Calls MP100 a work from which you realise "Everyone is a hero, and everyone is ordinary".

Asked on his opinion on MP100 season 2; says that there's more moments that get to you emotionally than season 1. Brings up S2E8 as an example (when Mob's house burns). "Say if that was actually Mob's family who burned in there... I think he'd destroy the world."

Asked about his favourite scenes from season 1 & 2, he says (as previously mentioned) the part where Mob says “From my perspective you’re just ordinary”. He also likes when Teru says to Onigawara, "it must be sad to be ordinary."

He likes the whole of S1E4, and calls Dimple a "famous-saying-production-machine".

Continuing on the topic of Dimple, interviewer says that Dimple is an ally, but teeters between good and evil. Matsuoka; “Setting aside his actions for a moment - the things that he says are essentially evil (laughs). He tries to tempt Mob and the other characters.”

He is asked if he has anything to say to fans of MP100. Matsuoka; “Season 2 is over, and now you’re holding this Character Guidebook in your hands. The fact that we’ve reached this point is thanks to the support of you all, the fans.” [...] “Season 2 brings an end to the grand fight between Shou and his father, but as those of you who’ve read the manga know, Mob Psycho 100 doesn’t end there. The giant broccoli is yet to come (laughs). I personally would like to do the whole of Broccoli Arc. As for when we can do that, I don’t know - I don’t even know if it’ll be possible to do it - but I’d like to believe that we’ll do it. I think that if you all believe in it too, then it’ll become reality.”

TACHIKAWA YUZURU [Director]

On being asked why he decided to work on MP100, Tachikawa; “Naturally, it was because of how charming the characters are.” There’s a lot of main characters who hold immense power, but Mob doesn’t want those powers, which is rare - this is why he finds Mob charming.

He compares and contrasts to Reigen - “[He] has no powers, but puts on a bold front and deceives people… well, that’s a misleading way to put it (laughs).” He thinks Mob and Reigen’s combo is amusing as a result.

He’s asked about MP100s character design, to which he describes Kameda drawing up a whole bunch of ideas. There’d be designs that were similar to ONE’s, and designs that made Mob a bit more handsome, “since at the time, if you looked at Mob Psycho 100 fan art on the internet, there were plenty of depictions of Mob being all sparkly and good-looking.”

“But looking at that, Kameda-kun and I decided we both wanted to go for something more akin to ONE-san’s art. When we showed ONE-san the rough sketches of the more handsome designs, he said ‘they’re attractive - I'm good with that’, but Kameda-kun and I replied ‘no, no - ONE-san, your art leaves more of an impression than this, so let’s go for something more like what you draw.’”

Tachikawa wanted to include the more ‘catchy’ kinds of stories in the anime. He brings up that Mob and Reigen dressing in women’s clothing and infiltrating the school happens in Volume 7 of the manga, but they decided to bring that to S1E2.

Asked about convos that happened with ONE regarding scenarios in the anime - Tachikawa mentions how in S1E11, there’s a segment where a younger Mob and Ritsu are lost in a forest. “I expressed to ONE-san that I’d like to witness why Mob respects Ritsu, to which he gave this idea.”

“In the manga, what Reigen did before he began S&S isn’t shown to us, but we get an implication of his past based on a line he says to do with businesses. I said the following to ONE-san; ‘An insurance salesman, or water marketing?’, to which ONE-san replied ‘water marketing.’”

Also mentions that Tsubomi coming to S&S in S2E8 wasn't something they adapted from the manga, but something ONE specifically created for the anime because Tachikawa expressed he wanted to see that kind of scenario, and then ONE added it as an omake to the manga. [TN: This is mentioned again here.]

He thinks he would have had the choice to handle both the screenplay and the series coordination but decided to ask Seko to handle Series Co-ordination instead.

He is in charge of the screenplay for S2E6-7 (Reigen arc). It was decided that Tachikawa would be in charge of storyboards for S2E7 before it was decided he’d handle the screenplay.

“Do you feel you have an emotional attachment to Reigen?” Tachikawa; “Yes, I do (laughs).” Calls him a character surrounded by mystery back in S1, and other than his courage and the occasional line that would resonate with Mob there’s a lot about him that’s unclear. “But with S2E6-7, we step into his uchizura (more private, “real” self). It’s interesting to see who a character appears to be on the outside, and their uchizura.”

Tachikawa finds stories in which someone falls to their lowest point and then recovers charming - thus, Tachikawa was charmed by S2E6-7 which depict Reigen’s fall and his subsequent recovery. Says that Ritsu and Teru also go through something similar (fall and recovery).

He loves when you can feel the humanity of characters. Says that when you show character development the charm of that character increases, and so does the popularity of the whole work. “I suppose it’s not just me who likes that, it’s all the fans, too”.

Makes a point of mentioning that all the characters have reached a turning point by the end of season 2, apart from Dimple.

Asked on his opinion of Mob, he says he relates to him and he was the type of kid in school to be in a position removed from everyone else. “He’s a character I really like, though I’m told by others that I’m ‘Reigen-ish’ (laughs).”

“I think there’s a few ways you could take ‘Reigen-ish’...” Tachikawa; “To put it another way, ‘shady’. Kameda-kun made that clear to me (laughs). As if I’m feigning friendliness.”

Tachikawa handled the rough layout of the illustration cover (Kameda finalised it). “It’s something I could imagine happening that wasn’t shown to us during S2E8. I thought to myself, it would be nice to show Dimple, Reigen and Ritsu working together for Mob’s sake. A theme of season 1 and 2 is Mob’s growth, so I thought the marathon episode would fit as a cover for this guidebook. As a result of his growth, he’s got people gathered around him…”

“I think Reigen would’ve run with them on the first day they trained together, but then he’d start using the bike instead. Since his muscles hurt (laughs).”

Asked to give a message to fans, he says that all the support from fans gave them a lot of energy throughout the production of seasons 1 & 2. Tells the fans to enjoy the OVA.

SEKO HIROSHI [Series Co-ordinator]

Asked on his thoughts of the MP100 manga, Seko; “it’s a work in which the characters are all charming. This is a misleading way to phrase it, but they’re a hopeless bunch; yet, the way ONE-san deals with them is very warm.”

“They’re not just characters, they’re much like us - nothing but human.”

Asked about how he wanted to deal with coordinating the series; “At the time of season 1 discussions, the most recent volume was around 9. I’d read up to that point and thought that if the anime is covering 12 episodes, then we should reach up to the fight with Claw’s seventh division in volume 6. My thought process from there was, ‘in what way can we make it so season 1 ends there?’, and with that I began.”

Asked if there was anything he fussed over, “making sure to not tar what makes the manga so charming. For example, when Mob reaches 100% for the first time in S1E3, that’s a highlight of the story, and I wanted to keep it that way.”

Reason for the movement of the high school infiltration from Vol 7 of the manga to S1E2 was to help build up to Mob’s 100% in S1E3.

The “student council” part of the manga spans S1E6-7 of the anime. The decision to condense it was due to the anime having only 12 episodes.

Reigen & Mob’s initial meeting being portrayed in S1 is brought up; “In a screenplay meeting with Tachikawa-san, we discussed depicting their initial meeting from Mob’s point of view, whereas in the manga it’s from Reigen’s. It comes up a little later in the manga but we thought it would be good to show their meeting in S1. And, if we ever got the chance to make a S2, we’d have the scene again much like it appears in the manga from Reigen’s perspective. So they wouldn’t be entirely the same scene.”

To being asked if there were any requests from ONE regarding the screenplay of the anime, Seko; “We had a discussion in which he said that while the final part of S1 has a serious atmosphere due to the fight, he didn’t want it to end that way. For that reason I proposed that we could end S1 with the tsuchinoko segment. I think ONE-san is uncomfortable when there’s nothing but seriousness.”

Seko says he had a feeling that they’d get a season 2. Much like season 1, he finished off season 2 in such that way as to give off the impression that there’s more to come.

“Did you struggle figuring out how to start S2E1?” Seko; “Regarding that, I’d already decided that if we were to make a S2 we’d start it off with Wriggle Wriggle.”

A deliberate choice was made to start off S2, and finish S2, with the broccoli (Mob receives the broccoli seeds at the start; broccoli becomes the giant broccoli at the end).

The interviewer describes an important part of S2 as being “hold your emotions dear to you”.

Seko; “Wriggle Wriggle is a pretty silly story, so I thought having a pleasant story after that would keep the balance. I think that balance between silly and serious is representative of what Mob Psycho 100 is.”

“Season 2 has one more episode than season 1, making it a total of 13 episodes. Could you tell us why?” Seko; “The original plan was 12 episodes. Had we kept to that, the scene in which Mob’s house burns would come at the end of part A of episode 8. But Warner Bros. producer Matsuda-san said, ‘I’d like that to come at the end of the episode.’ However, doing that would mean we’d have to give the battle with Claw that follows that a squeeze... so Matsuda-san said, ‘let’s go for 13 episodes then.’” [TN: This is mentioned again here.]

“Are there any scenes from S1 & S2 that you feel an emotional attachment to?” Seko says when Reigen is invincible in S1E12. “The scene in which he scolds the 7th division embodies what Mob Psycho 100 is all about.”

Says that in typical shounen manga the situation would be resolved with a fight but MP100 isn’t like that. “The things that Reigen says are completely justified, realistically. The things an evil organisation does are a crime; the clothes that they wear are weird... (Laughs)”

“Speaking of Reigen, a phrase of his that leaves an impression in S1E11 is, ‘When things get tough, it’s okay to run away!’” Seko; “In conventional shounen manga, there’s the belief that the protagonist shouldn’t run away, but with ‘it’s okay’, ONE-san’s personality shines through. Reigen is truly an intelligent person. The things he does are questionable, yet he has common sense that comes out at strange times.”

“You can’t sum up his character in a single word.” Seko; “I think he’s a respectable person, but he also cons people (laughs).” He enjoys the back and forth Reigen has with clients, and his stinginess and the way he edits ghost photos. “He’s both eloquent and skilled, which is unbearable (laughs). Despite that, he doesn’t rip people off with what he charges. You get the idea that he’s got some sense of ethics, which is calming.”

“He’s simply a difficult character to understand.” Seko; “Honestly, at first I couldn’t understand him at all. It was difficult to think of things that he might say when creating scenes that weren’t in the original manga. But when it became clear to me that he has morals, it all fell into place. I’ve forgotten when exactly this happened - it was at some point near the start or middle of season 1 - but I came to understand the kind of person Reigen is.”

Speaking about Mob, “He’s introverted, quiet and bad at socialising, but he has this immense power inside him... when you hear that, some other works will probably spring to mind, but when you read MP100 you realise this is different. Mob is Mob[.]”

“It’s interesting to see a character as powerful as he is work very hard at training his muscles.” Seko; “And his incentive for that is that he wants to be popular (laughs).”

Seko was in charge of the next episode previews (which Reigen would announce in a meta-ish way). He says that he ran out of ideas of what to end them with by season 2 so they start repeating a little.

Asked to give a message to fans, he says thank you for watching S2 and look forward to the OVA.

KAMEDA YOSHIMICHI [Character Designer]

Asked his thoughts on the MP100 manga, Kameda says he didn’t have much of a clue what direction the story would take upon finishing the second volume. “After Claw gets introduced the story takes on an action-like atmosphere so I thought it would carry on that way, but then the story starts digging deep into uchizuras. I was surprised at that. That’s a true-to-life middle school boy being depicted.”

Kameda says that he took on working on the MP100 anime after reaching the part of mob psycho that explores uchizuras. “The way I felt was, ‘I want us to make a season 2, so we can definitely animate this part. I’m doing season 1 for this purpose.’ (Laughs)”

“What were your first thoughts with the character design?” Kameda; “In the manga there aren’t really any illustrations that are coloured. Even the front covers of the volumes aren’t too expressive with how they use colour. The way lines are drawn is dependent on colour, so the first decision to be made was on that subject, while checking my choices with ONE-san. In the manga, Reigen’s tie is black. But in the anime Mob is painted all black, so I thought it’d be a bit too heavy to leave his tie that way. Reigen was the only one with a coloured illustration in which his hair is painted yellow, so based on that I tried creating a whole bunch of tie patterns - purple, green, blue, pink, etc. ONE-san wanted to go for a blue tie, but I thought that was too salary man-ish, and didn’t give off fraud vibes. The final decision was made based on a colour necktie that the average person wouldn’t buy - it would be pink, wouldn’t it.”

Asked if there was anything difficult after colours, he describes having difficulty trying to figure out how to convert ONE’s style to the screen. “It would’ve been interesting to leave his art as it was for the anime, but it seemed like it would’ve been very difficult to do so.”

Describes ONE’s talent as being the way he applies shadow, calling it very real.

Interviewer follows on this by asking anything else that marks ONE’s art as ONE’s, to which Kameda replies the shape of ears, and describes his struggle trying to replicate the way ONE draws them.

Kameda would correct the ears drawn by the other animators to try and match ONE’s style. Leading on from this the interviewer mentions hearing that Kameda would touch up any cuts that caught his eye. Kameda; “Around 10 cuts an episode.”

Calls Mezato a favourite character of his, to the extent that he volunteered to do the part that she appears in S2E13 (and did so).

Says that S1E5 was the only episode in S1 he didn’t touch, which Fujisawa Kenichi was animation director of. “The character design in that episode is a little different but I thought that episode would be better off with Fujisawa-san’s style.”

Kameda proposed the scene that happens at the start of S1S1 (Mob fighting the “evil apparitions”) by saying he wanted a depiction of a middle school boy fighting with his powers as our start, but he actually proposed it in anticipation of the kind of action we’d see in S2E5. [TN: I think it’s been a rumour for a while that the start scene is from Mogami arc and this sorta confirms that the line of thought there is correct]

The first episode in S2 that they started drawing production work for was S2E5.

When Kameda watched S2E5 what he was most surprised by was Part A of the episode (ie. Mob’s day to day life), rather than the action scenes. “The layout is good, as are the use of bugs as an expression device[.]”

Kameda speaks of S2E7 as a part of Mob Psycho 100 so important to him that if it didn’t exist he wouldn’t have chosen to work on MP100.

He fussed over the press conference and Reigen’s expression(s) when he talks to Mob by the river at the end of the episode.

Interviewer mentions that we don’t see Reigen’s face in the manga when Mob calls him a good person, so seeing it in the anime leaves an impression. Kameda; “we struggled with that cut, but we struggled with Reigen’s expression when he’s walking alongside the river more so. Originally his expression was hidden as he approached, but when the camera pulled in close you could see his face.”

We end up seeing his face the whole way through. Kameda calls Aoyama Hiroyuki (who animated the whole end segment) a “super(hero) animator”.

Kameda makes an edit to Reigen’s expression upon being told by Mob that he’s a good person, with respect to the expression Reigen pulls in the final volume, “when [he] lays bare his real emotions to Mob.” [TN: This appears to be implying Reigen was originally drawn with tears in his eyes that were removed to make sure that the scene in which Reigen finally cries maintains its impact.]

“The performance by Reigen’s VA, Sakurai-san, was amazing... and I loved Mob’s ‘By the way, Shishou. Happy birthday.’ Itou-kun’s way of speaking is so gentle... I can’t quite express the feeling properly, but hearing him say those words, I was brought close to tears.”

Kameda is asked if there’s anything that proved a lot of work, to which he says, “Hmm... there’s a lot of characters in MP100, aren’t there. (Laughs)”.

Describes that he designed ~90 characters for S1. “I thought I’d get to relax a little for S2, but in the end I ended up having to design around 90 more. (Laughs)”

“Some of the main character designs that were established in S1 changed a little for S2, didn’t they.” Kameda; “Ritsu changed a little with S2. In S1 he had a bit of antagonism toward Mob, so I had the hair that frames his face be a little longer to try and hide those emotions.”

“A character’s state of mind is something that can be expressed through their hair.” Says that Ritsu’s hair gets a refresh in the final part of S1 when he’s talking to Kamuro in the park, to represent that the “demon plaguing him is gone”.

He’s asked if there are any characters in the huge cast of MP100 that are memorable for him. He mentions Tarou and Hanako as two characters that were fun to draw as they set the trend for the other “guest characters” in the show.

Also says he likes Mitsuura as a character with high energy who was fun to pose, though he’s unpopular with the animators due to the patterns on his clothes being a pain.

“I’ve mentioned this here and there before, but I really love Shinra Banshoumaru. The reason why I was the animation director for S2E2 is because it’s his entry episode (laughs).”

“Why did you want to draw Shinra Banshoumaru so much?” Kameda; “Because he’s chubby!! The swell of his cheeks, his tummy, his large butt... I’m obsessed (laughs). I was so charmed, thinking, ‘I want to make him even bigger and move him around!’”

He’d do things like add extra belly sways to the storyboards. “I didn’t intend to go as far as I did, but I think I went overboard in a lot of ways (laughs).”

Asked to give a message to fans, Kameda; “I’m happy that you all continue to involve yourselves with Mob Psycho 100. Since we’ve come this far, I want to finish off animating what remains of the MP100 manga. A television season 3 - no, wait, perhaps even a film...? Please be sure to continue to support Mob Psycho 100.”

[TN: this marks the fourth mention of a MP100 film I’ve seen from Kameda, and also marks him as the only member of production staff interviewed in this book to explicitly state anything to do with season 3.]

ONE [Original Author]

He is asked how Mob Psycho 100 came to be. ONE; “I love psychic powers as a theme, so I thought to myself, in what way can I make the most of that theme? How can I add colour to it? Through that thought process, I incorporated puberty, stress, ‘being used’, complexes, unrequited love, ‘shishou’, lies, the dual nature that exists in many things, and so on… then, the protagonist; a passive, introverted person, but someone who is able to become the eye of a hurricane, someone who through the influence of their relationships changes, grows… it was with that foundation that I began developing the plot, and through that process I solidified the setting; this protagonist would have their heart burdened by a buildup of stress and the shift of their feelings, and after passing a certain boundary they’d explode, and their powers would run wild… I thought it would be nice if the manga was a little strange, with the buildup until the boundary crossover being shown to the reader via a numerical percentage value. Ideas for titles included things like, ‘Mob Psycho’, ‘Psycho Helmet’, and ‘Mob Psycho 100%’.”

He is asked to recall how he felt when the MP100 anime was confirmed. ONE; “I was delighted. A lot has happened in relation to Mob Psycho 100, but for me the anime has been the thing to make me the most happy.”

He is asked what he hoped for with the anime, to which he replies the happiness of the fans, and for MP100 to bring a smile to the faces of the staff working on the anime.

What he looked forward to was the way the voice actors and animators would approach the characters, and how they’d flesh out the MP100 world as a result.

“What kinds of conversations did you have with director Tachikawa?” ONE says he doesn’t really remember their initial conversation(s) but he knows that he told Tachikawa that he has the freedom to be as creative as he wants. “I didn’t want to be a nuisance.”

He recalls being told by series coordinator Seko that he may need to shift around a few of the chapters to make the story in the anime flow a little easier.

Asked his thoughts on Kameda’s character designs, ONE; “Amazing. I’d resigned myself to the fact that the characters would get an overhaul for the anime and become more handsome, but Mob has remained Mob, Reigen has remained Reigen. Their anime designs are charming. I was moved.”

He says he holds several pages of character designs drafts that Kameda drew up dear to him, and mentions that the Body Improvement Clubs designs were perfect from the get go.

ONE says that he feels blessed with the amazing voice actors giving depth to the characters, describing how when they’re given voices it feels like they’re alive, and regrets that he didn’t go to recording sessions more.

“How did you feel when season 2 was announced?” ONE: “Season 1 was amazing, so I expected there’d be a season 2.” Describes Tachikawa and Kameda’s hard work, to which he responded with his own. “It was around the time that I was ending the manga, so I buckled down to finish it.”

He looked forward to seeing how the anime would deal with adapting the more “drama” feel of season 2, with human emotions being explored.

He describes his process with writing problems and their solutions in MP100. “Mob & Reigen each have their own way of dealing with a problem, so I’d say, ‘this is how this problem would generally be dealt with’, and from there I’d explore different ways of solving that problem.”

“I let the characters start thinking for themselves - that kind of delusion awoke within me. Like, ‘Hey, Reigen, I’m going to sleep, so think it over for me.’ With that, it became easier to plan.”

He is asked his thoughts and feelings on the anime; he states he doesn’t really watch anime but was reminded of how interesting it can be, and the power of anime as simple entertainment. “I was able to recognise anew just how amazing the production team is. [...] I felt so grateful that they chose to work on Mob Psycho 100, devoting their precious time to really putting their all into the production work. It’s how I’ve felt with every episode. Right now I’ve watched up until the end of S2E5, but I’m already running out of tissues.”

He is asked anything that’s left an impression on him during the broadcast of MP100; “The amount of correspondence I’d receive from overseas Mob Psycho fans increased with the anime broadcast.” Says that it’s amazing that even with a translation foreign fans are able to laugh at the same things, be moved by the same things, etc.

Finally, he is asked to give a message to the fans who purchased the guidebook. ONE; “Thank you for always supporting Mob Psycho 100. The way I see the situation regarding Mob Psycho 100 as a work is as something that overlaps with Mob’s own development. Mob Psycho’s value as a piece of entertainment greatly increased with the powerful aid of the anime, and with everyone who offered a hand, gave their opinions and support, and reached out. I’d always thought to myself, ‘I want to create a manga that’s able to influence those who read it in some way, if only even a little,’ but as it turns out it’s Mob Psycho 100 that has become what it is now thanks to all of you. I’ve still got my eye on what Mob Psycho 100 will become in the future. Nothing would make me more happy than for all of you to continue enjoying Mob Psycho 100.“

Thank you for reading!

Posted on twitter here.

ONE & Director Tachikawa’s comments on the main five are here.

#mp100 #mob psycho 100 #kageyama shigeo #reigen arataka #dimple #kageyama ritsu #hanazawa teruki #tachikawa yuzuru #seko hiroshi #kameda yoshimichi #one #ekubo #my stuff #this is a long one!

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noblest-roman-of-all · 4 years ago

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abandon

i figured id try my hand at one of those inktober style writing prompt challenges, so here we go! first up: abandon

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When he was a kid, Remus had a family. He had a brother, a twin brother at that! They were pretty different, but Remus really didn’t care that much. They would spend hours coming up with crazy stories about dragons and zombies and knights and magic, playing in their room where they could make anything happen. They called it the Imagination, and it was their kingdom. They ruled it together, the prince and the duke, making their own world everyday, then taking it apart and putting new ones together.

He always thought Roman was happy with the way they did things. Sure, sometimes they’d argue about things, but they always ended up making something awesome out of it. They had all they needed with the two of them and their Imagination. Roman clearly didn’t think that though. He kept spending more and more time with the other sides, Patton and Logan. He knew Patton didn’t like him. He never stopped smiling, unless he saw Remus. It never bothered him though, because he had his brother. Until one day.

Roman came back from playing with Patton and Logan, but something was wrong. Remus tried to tell him about his new idea for the Imagination, but Roman told him to shut up. He started yelling about how Remus was bad, he was broken. He said lots of things, but Remus only remembered the last part.

“You’re not my brother. You’re everything I can’t be, everything I can’t let happen to Thomas. You need to leave.”

Remus tried to go back to the Imagination, but the door wouldn’t open for him anymore. He stood outside the door for hours, trying everything he could to get the door open, but nothing worked. He had ideas in there! Stories, monsters, worlds he needed to finish building! Roman was in there! It seemed like forever passed before he heard someone behind him.

“It’s no use. You’re not welcome there anymore,” the voice said. He didn’t need to turn around to know that voice. It was one of the ones they didn’t let Thomas hear, didn’t let him know about. One of the bad guys.

“You’re lying,” Remus sneered. “That’s your whole thing. Roman wouldn’t…”

“Abandon you? He already has.” The sharp voice suddenly turned soft, almost sad. “I… I can give you a place. A family, without him.” A hand landed on Remus’ shoulder. Well, they did think he was a bad guy now. Might as well play the role. He was good at that.

“... where to?”

For a long time after that, Remus had a family. Janus and Virgil were just as strange as he was, just as intense and just as hated by the rest of the sides. It made sense for them all to stick together, to wreak a little havoc. Freaky nightmares, little lies that snowball into a trainwreck, the voice in Thomas’s mind reminding him just how quickly everything can go wrong. It was fun, like getting to play again. His Imagination was no longer contained and quelled by Roman, he was free. He got to suggest all manner of strange, creepy and downright dirty ideas, and sometimes, Thomas actually considered them. And to top it all off, he had friends, family who understood him.

Well, he thought they both did.

Virgil had been acting weird, even weirder than he normally did. He had agreed to jump into videos to really antagonize the “light sides”, finally given a platform other than the mindscape they normally existed in. It had gone well for a while. Even if he didn’t always manage to keep Thomas anxious, he managed to unsettle him for a while, and he messed with the others a shit ton, which Remus personally counted as a win. It had been working, he thought. Until he noticed that Virgil would leave their dark little corner outside of videos, hanging around the others just for shits and giggles.

Janus didn’t seem to mind that much, but Remus knew they were bad news. Knew how fast they would turn around and decide, you know what, you’re not worth it, not worth our time. He knew they would decide eventually that whatever pet project they were attempting with Virgil, they would get bored of it, and they would toss him out and break his heart. Remus didn’t want that to happen. So, he pulled a few strings.

He started fucking with Roman more and more, pushing all of his buttons. He made sure to show his face around Patton, reminding him who Virgil’s real family was. He would pop up in Logan’s room to ask all sorts of nonsense questions, trying to tire him out and piss him off. And because Remus was an evil mastermind at heart, it started to work. The other sides would lose their temper with Virgil more and more often, pushing him aside and talking over him. He was so sure it would make Virgil resent them, make him turn back to the people who cared about him.

He didn’t expect Virgil to duck out entirely.

He really didn’t expect the other sides and Thomas to find him so quickly.

He absolutely didn’t expect they would win him over.

“I love my dark strange son.” What a load of horseshit, from the cardigan clad clown himself.

Fine! If Virge wanted to get involved, leave him and Janus behind just so he could get his heart broken when the others inevitably changed their minds, remembered who he really was, and decided to abandon him in turn, that was all him.

Remus just never thought he was the masochistic sort.

For another three years, Remus had a family. Him and Janus got along swimmingly, better than he ever had with any other side. With Virgil out in the open, they decided they could make themselves known. If he’d thought getting to stretch his twisted creative muscles in the mindscape was fun, it was nothing compared to getting to pull out his biggest guns on Thomas in person. He also enjoyed that Janus seemed to come back from most of his encounters with them smug and content, which was usually the best state Janus could be in. Things were going well.

Remus should’ve known that means someone’s about to leave him.

It starts with the wedding. The stupid, stupid fucking wedding. He’s never wanted to bash his b- Roman over the head more than the moment he decided they were going to go to the wedding. Even if it gave him more material to work with, he knew it was going to result in a level of misery he didn’t want to deal with in the long run. He did end up getting to beat Ro up a little bit, but it didn’t satisfy him the way he wanted it to.

What was worse than that, Janus started getting more and more irritable. Remus would find him pacing around his room, muttering as he steps over crumpled sheets of paper and open notebooks. He would snap at Remus in ways he never did before, pissed off over silly pranks that never phased him much before.

You’d think by now, Remus would be an expert in recognizing when he was about to leave him behind. Some people just don’t learn, apparently.

He did pay attention when he wasn’t around, though people never expect that. He heard everything that happened the night of the wedding. He heard how hurt Roman was, how confused Patton seemed, how angry Thomas was trying to not be. He heard Janus appear and diffuse the situation.

He heard Janus tell them his name.

“Roman, thank god you don't have a mustache. Otherwise, between you and Remus, I wouldn't know who the evil twin is.” He heard that too.

When Janus came back, he didn’t look very different. Remus… well, Remus felt a lot of things, most of which he channeled into an overwhelming desire to hit him directly in his stupid, snake-y face with the morningstar.

Remus generally didn’t feel bad when his weapons actually hurt people, but he didn’t usually feel this level of release, this feeling of letting everything drain out of him in one harsh swing.

“What the hell has gotten into you? I’m not Roman, you know,” Janus sighed, wiping at the blood flowing down his face.

“Yeah, I’m aware of that, you two faced fucker. That was for being such an absolute fucking dick to my brother,” Remus shouted, hauling the morningstar over his shoulder, ready to swing again. Janus took a quick step back and raised an entirely unimpressed eyebrow.

“Oh yes, and you have such a history of kindness and support with him.” Normally Janus’ smug drawl was comforting, but directed at him it grated on every. Single. Fucking. Nerve.

“At least he knows what to expect from me! I hit him with a pointy ball on a stick, I don’t try to emotionally manipulate and damage him every chance I get!” Remus shouted. “And what was the name sharing shit? It took years for you to tell me your name, they get it in a few months?”

Janus let out a long sigh at that. “You don’t understand. It was the only way Patton-”

That was the final straw. “Oh, Patton this Patton that! Why don’t you go suck up to daddy like every other fucking side has, clearly that’s the only thing you give a shit about!”

“I needed them to trust me, Remus, it’s not personal.” Janus had sat down by now, his head in his hands, but Remus could not give less of a shit about how tired he looked.

“You made it personal when you used me to talk shit about my brother! Maybe I am evil, but I know my role, I know what I am, I don’t try to convince anyone otherwise! You, you lie and talk in circles and do whatever it takes to make sure they like you, make sure Patton likes you, even when it means you shit all over me!” Remus had been pacing through his speech, but he circled back to Janus, who was finally looking at him again. They locked eyes for a moment, before Janus looked away, unable to deny any of it.

“You told me you’d give me a family. If this is what your idea of family is, I don’t fucking want it,” Remus spat. “Go play house with Patton and pretend you're ever going to keep a promise and not abandon everything you’ve ever said and done at the drop of a hat when some shiny new possibility appears.”

A long, long moment of silence followed. And then Janus stood up, brushed lightly at his pants, and turned away from Remus.

“Have fun alone, Remus,” he said. It wasn’t a sneer, wasn’t a snarl or a shout. It was just said, flat and cold and so empty. And then he walked away, closing the door behind him quietly. For all his drama and all his shouting, Remus wasn’t prepared for such a quiet end.

“Well,” he said to the empty room, “at least I can’t have any more family drama.”

He didn’t cry that night. He didn’t spend that night wishing that maybe someone would have bothered to stay with him, stay for him.

He didn’t. Because he was the evil twin, and evil twins don’t cry over being abandoned.

They plot revenge.

#ts remus #ts roman #ts janus #ts virgil #ts patton #unsympatton #kinda i mean remus blames him for a lot of stuff #remus angst #creativitwins #hurt no comfort #be ready to be Sad #shea writes

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forestwater87 · 5 years ago

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Tales of Fandom Past: Harry Potter and the Shipping Slaves

So, in my spare time I read a lot, lot . . . lot of fandom_wank. A lot. More than should be possible, considering it’s a dead website linking mostly to other dead websites, but I’m a woman addicted to drama who has the gift of long periods of quiet at work, so I’m working my way through almost 2 decades of fan history and it’s just fascinating.

Fandom, back in the ‘00s? Was so much more wild than it is now.

Plagiarism! Fake suicides! Fraud! Theft of real people’s actual money! Stalkers, both real and made up! Fanfic writers so popular they finagled it into mountains of free stuff and a book deal! Everyone was really gross and homophobic!

There were no rules, and that made it a terrible and incredibly fun time to be part of a fandom.

And we’re not talking enough about it. I guess that’s where I come in.

I’m interested in telling these stories -- not in the incredible level of detail of the MsScribe Saga or the Cassie Claire Plagiarism Debacle, but enough for us to all have a moment to think: Hold on, what the fuck was fandom doing during the entirety of the Bush administration?

A lot, it turns out. Much of it totally wild.

Today’s topic: Shipping wars are as bad as slavery

Date: August 2005

Fandom: Harry Potter

Supposed topic(s): Shipping, canon

Content warning(s): Accidental and ironic diminishing of slavery, complaints about political correctness and free speech, racism in general, lots of hurt feelings and drama

"Now, I'm not black, but boy, do I feel for the black people. If I lived in the 1800's, I wouldn't keep slaves, and if someone has a difference of opinion than me now, that's fine, believe what you want."

Background

In August of 2005, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had been out for a little less than a month, the film version of The Goblet of Fire wouldn’t come out until November, and the last Potter movie had been released over a year ago. In terms of shipping, fans had just discovered, to either their delight or horror, that Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione were canon; while some would continue to hold out hope that there would be a last-minute reversal of expectations, most of the fandom both on and off the internet was in agreement:

The shipping wars were over, and the Harry/Hermione fans (a.k.a., H/Hr fen, or “Harmonians”) had decisively lost.

The Harmonians’ ire seemed to have been pretty evenly split between J.K. Rowling -- who they felt had let them down -- and the R/Hr and H/G shippers (a.k.a. “Herons” and “Chocolateers,” respectively, though I’m not sure anyone actually used those terms for themselves; they appear to have been given from without), who were taking a victory lap. Depending on one’s perspective, this was either a long-overdue celebration by two groups of shippers who’d faced the fandom’s ire for approximately 5 years and were now vindicated, or it was the tactless gloating of sore losers who were thrilled to get one over on their hated enemies. Either way, tensions were no lower just because canon had decided the victors, and the battleground seemed to shift from the books to the movies -- where shippers of all kinds were in debate over which romance would win out onscreen.

Enter Emerson Spartz, a teenager in charge of one of the most popular fansites at the time and king of creating controversy . . . who had very strong opinions about shipping, and Harmonians in particular.

The Inciting Incident

Emerson had already incited the ire of Harmonians by calling them “delusional” in an infamous interview with J.K. Rowling. The wound was still raw, having come shortly after the release of Half-Blood Prince, and in some circles Emerson was already Public Enemy #1.

Therefore, when Emerson was one of two “anti”-Harmonians interviewed in a San Francisco Chronicle article about the shipping wars, some fans cried foul.

More responses can be found in a summary of the incident here, but personal favorites include a letter sent to the author of the SF Chronicle piece:

The majority of Harry/Hermione shippers are not merely upset that we didn't get what we wanted in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. That makes us sound childish. While I'm forced to admit that there has been much bile and vitriol posted on various H/Hr shipping sites, the majority of us are reasonable people. What really hurt our feelings was the way the Mugglenet/TLC article made it seem as if J. K. Rowling herself felt we were really dense, missing her "anvil-sized clues." Emerson's subsequent "apology" for the harsh words directed at the Harry/Hermione 'shipper community was a non-apology, which you [the author of the SFC article] would have known if you had done more than just take his word that he apologized. He simply used the "apology" as an opportunity to issue another dig. I suppose not much better can be expected from a child of 18 who has suddenly become a bit of a celebrity. But I do expect better from a colleague; a professional writer. ...

You have assisted one side of the argument and failed to represent the other. Did you attempt to interview the webmasters of any Harry/Hermione shipping sites or did you merely cut and paste posts that were pointed out to you by Emerson and Melissa? Your article shows no evidence that you made any attempt to give the other side equal time, so to speak, and as a result, you have contributed to the perceprtion [sic] that ALL H/Hr 'shippers are irrational, bitter, spoiled brats. And that's quite unfair. (Hughes, 2005, paras. 13 & 18)

Or this comment in a Harmonian forum by a disappointed reader:

History is written by the victorius [sic] (or something like that), isn't it how the saying goes?. I'm afraid we are witnessing it firsthand. Herons feel they are the winners on this war, and as such, they feel they have a right to treat us anyway they want to, and they think we have no weapons to defend ourselves since even J.K seems to have sided with them. Even if most of us are pretty reasonable people, at this point anything we say in regards of J.K's apparent disregard for our feelings (thoughts, opinions, whatever), will be gladly taken as the lashing out of sore losers. ::sigh:: I say, just ignore Emerson, he's just some lost kid desperate for attention. And how good can the guy who wrote this article be if he didn't bother to check the facts before he went slandering us?, not much me thinks. (Remolina, 2005, para. 21)

These responses, while perhaps silly or overblown, were not enough to make history. That honor belonged to a Harmonian going by the username Panther.

How, one might wonder?

The Blowout

Ya know, come to think of it, people like Emerson were probably the kinda people that started slavery. I mean, think about it, they thought the slaves were animals, just because they had different colored skin. Emerson thinks we're stupid and delusional for having different beliefs. Get the similarities here, people? Now, I'm not black, but boy, do I feel for the black people. If I lived in the 1800's, I wouldn't keep slaves, and if someone has a difference of opinion than me now, that's fine, believe what you want. (Panther, 2005, paras. 23-25)

The reaction was immediate and explosive from Panther’s fellow Harmonians. Some understood and empathized with Panther’s view; they saw it as a bit hyperbolic, but agreed with the underlying point being made.

I can see where they were going with this...a different analogy would probably have been better. Maybe the religious persecution during Mary Tudor's reign, or the Salem Witch Hunt/Trials, the religous [sic] crusades, the wars in Bosnia etc. We harmonians are being "persecuted" for our differening viewpoints/perspectives. (Anndee Granger, 2005, paras. 30-32)

The belief that H/Hr shippers were being persecuted for their beliefs was a pervasive one, and extended to fans, Emerson and other fandom “authorities,” and the author herself.

No, what we are experiencing is not at the same extreme level because of the world we now live in, but the base level is still the same. The base level taking us back to different beliefs and views without the ability to be heard in the correct manner, and yes it does feel like a form of persecution. (*Under your Skin, 2005, paras. 36-37)

While not on the same level as slavery, the intolerance of their ship did call to mind other examples of discrimination and bigotry:

Of course no one is dying because of this, but all in all we are being persecuted for our different beliefs. "Bloody" Mary Tudor, killed Protestants because she so hated their different views on Christ. This is an extreme indeed, but the mentality behind it, the vitrol [sic], is the same. (Andee Granger, 2005, para. 38)

This extreme point of view, while widespread, was not universal among the Harmonians. Many of them were . . . understandably appalled by the comment and those agreeing with it:

No wonder other people find it easy to portray us as reactionary and vicious. Some of you bloody well are. (jane99, 2005, para. 43)

I agree that it is very vicious and out in left field . . . Slavery was an oppressive movement for hundreds of years, resulting in the deaths of millions. I would hardly regard that with 'shipper treatment, nowadays. However, the schoolyard bully is a very appropriate analogy, in my opinion. Hopefully you understand the difference. (myrhlyn, 2005, para. 52)

The Response

NarcissaM brought the subject to the outside world by posting it in fandom_wank -- a defunct LiveJournal specializing in fandom drama, which now exists primarily in archives -- and the result was universally disbelief and amusement. The responses ranged from insightful, if crass, commentary . . .

Emerson did not kill your dog, tell you that Santa wasn't real, and touch you in your swimsuit areas. And the more I read the more I'm convinced that H/Hr fans aren't angry because what he said was insulting, they're angry because what he said was *accurate*. (iczer6)

I'm also wondering where keeping slaves was a matter of, y'know, people having different beliefs, and not the subjugation of an entire culture by another which had more money and more powerful weapons, and needed a lot of manual labor but didn't want to pay for it. (slackerbitch)

To good old-fashioned sarcasm and snark:

That's not the stupidest thing I've ever read, but it's in the top five. (Anonymous)

That's right. There is a conspiracy, Hermionians! The world is against you and want to take a shit on all your fan fiction! XD (Anonymous “Mary”)

QUICKLY! SOMEBODY CALL A WAAAAAHBULANCE! WE HAVE INTERNET PERSECUTION! (aerobot)

F_W, known for good and ill as a site that takes nothing seriously except the desire to laugh at themselves and especially others, took the slavery comment and ran with it:

So how much does a healthy H/Hr fan with good teeth go for these days? (xero-sky)

Which H/Hr's are in the big house and which ones are working in the fields? ... We didn't land on Plymouth rock, Plymouth rock landed on us! *throws up the fist* (prettyveela)

If we're going to start enslaving delusional people, I want to start with the scientologists. Who's with me? (ladybirdsleeps)

Big Daddy Heron:*hits the H/Hr fan with a whip* Your ship name is H/Hr, H/Hr! Say it! H/Hr shipper: H-Harmony (sewingmyfish)

Bully for the slaves! In fact they would have been sooo much better off if all we 21st century people could trade places with the whites that lived back then. Not only could we tell them to get a life, none of us would have kept slaves! (chief)

You know, just like slaves, they have to work out in the hot sun for no wages and be beaten and whipped and raped and sold like cattle deal with an author not writing the fictional pairing they wanted. (slackerbitch)

Mere hours after the controversy was reported to F_W, a user named ahiru created some icons to celebrate the controversy:

And with some more chuckles about the inherent ridiculousness of such a claim, the fandom and its onlookers dropped the subject.

For a few months.

The Aftermath

In November 2005, some users rediscovered the icons made by ahiru and found them insensitive and racist. This is immediately reported to F_W not once but twice, and the folks there were no longer entertained, responding with less amusement than outright hostility. A couple of F_Wankers understood to at least some extent why there might be people who didn’t love the icons, though they did generally come down on the side of parody and feel those upset were missing the point of the joke. A lot of F_Wankers were upset about political correctness and free speech, and were eager to point out the oppression faced by other groups of people.

Someone anonymous entered the fray with racist guns blazing, and was summarily eviscerated by gleeful F_Wankers.

After that, the dust settled, and all was quiet on the fandom front . . . at least, until the next inevitable disaster.

Further Reading

The Interview that sparked the Emerson outrage

An offshoot of Harmony that believes in Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson’s undeniable chemistry and romance

A collection of Harmonian controversies, 2006-2010

Other HP controversies

#harry potter #hp #jkr #rowling #fandom_wank #f_w #shipping wars #shipping #fandom history #tw: racism #long post #very long post #this is mostly a rounding up of quotes and summarizing the wank report #i do realize that #but this stuff deserves to be remembered #cut out some editorializing in the aftermath section about how f_w kinda come across as super huge dicks #but i'm trying to be objective here so #i got out of my way to say 'wank' as little as possible #it's one of those words that hurts to type #proving that i am not immune to finding something cringeworthy either #i don't have a consistent tw tag I'm sorry #no one is going to read this but i think it's interesting #i love fandom history and i'm not the best person to tell these stories but here we are #i guess i could just link to the wank wiki and let people read it for themselves #but that's a lot of link hunting and it's easier when it's all in one place i think

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randomguywithwords · 4 years ago

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Thanks For The Assist: Chapter 2 (Itsuka X Neito Story)

AO3 Link: Here

Chapters: 1

Chapter 2: Acceptance

––––––––

“How was the test?” Father asked as the three of them sat at the dinner table eating.

“Ok, I think I did fine,” Monoma said as he picked up a slice of meat.

“How were you graded?” Mother said.

“Fought some robots. You get points the more you destroy. The harder the robot, the more points you get. The field was massive, pretty much a life-size city, and I think they had at least 3.” Monoma explained with patience, though he suspected this expositioning was boring the other audience with information they already knew.

Mother hummed her assent. “I’m not surprised. U.A has a ton of money. More money than they need, really…” She ended her statement in a mutter. It sounded like constrained resentment to Neito. It probably was, but understandable.

“Isn’t the ministry diverting more money towards your school, dear?” Father said.

“Yes, I suppose. After years of appeals by the school committee. Hopefully I can obtain better equipment to teach those kids.” Mrs Monoma sighed, looking back towards Neito. “But I hope you get in, Neito. I have to admit, it’s really once-in-a-lifetime, and U.A will make you a fine hero.”

“Thanks, mother.” Neito smiled. A fine hero. The phrase did not apply to him, not in the societal nor linguistic sense of the word. A hero relied on himself to get the job done, at the end of the day. With what he had, that was an impossibility.

“None of the other kids gave you trouble, did they?” Father asked, and Monoma winced on the inside, thinking about the events transpiring just after the test.

“No, they were nice people,” He said. It was no lie, by technicalities. There was that girl, after all. Kendo, was it? She was nice.

Father seemed to perk up at his answer, gladdened. “That’s good,” He gave an approving nod. “I’m glad they weren’t like your schoolmates.”

Neito waved his hand like an aristocrat at a banquet. “Nah, I think maybe those guys were just ––” He struggled for the proper word. “Lame.” He ended, and grinned internally at the apt description of his dialogue. But that smile died in the next instant when he thought about what he had wanted to say.

Flat characters. A character with one dimension, owning a singular character trait to serve a purpose in a story. That’s what he called them, but not Mother.

“About time kids your age learned some maturity,” She said, her ‘teacher’ side emerging. “Not you, Neito – of course. You’re a sensible boy. Apart from your silly theatrics, but you’ll grow out of it.”

There it is, He sighed, on the inside – or, aside. That was how the plays would state inner actions on the script. But Mother doesn’t like plays, does she now?

“Neito, tell us about the fighting,” Father interjected with a smile that was a bit too wide, “What quirks did you use?”

Neito gave a response, but his heart was no longer in the conversation, having been chilled by Mother’s own lovely warmth that she had no idea she was radiating.

–––––

The letter came a week later when his parents were at work. Neito opened it up in his room. After all, where else would he? Only in his room could he find solace. And on his bed, comfort, so he plopped himself down and opened the envelope.

The contents contained a disc. A holographic. Taking it out and laying it on his bed, he pressed the blue button in the centre, producing a video on the wall.

It was the scene of an office, with a mouse sitting on a chair and a cup of tea on the glass table. He recognised the principal of U.A himself.

“Neito Monoma! Very good afternoon, or morning, or night, to you – depending when you see this, of course. On the off chance you are unaware of me, I am Nezu, principal of U.A High. This video is approximately 5 minutes long, but I will save you the suspense. You got in. Congratulations.”

His heart soared, and he pumped a fist in the air, breathing a sigh in much-desired catharsis. Had he been holding that in since the beginning?

“You are, both celebrating – I would hope, and also wondering what the remaining 4 and a half minutes are about. Please do not ignore the rest of this video, because I want to review two things: your performance at the entrance exam, and your quirk. Take a look at this.”

The video showed clips of Monoma from a birds’ eye view, running around and using his borrowed quirks, as well as him tapping random strangers. He noted how a lot of them turned their heads in evident surprise and puzzlement at him patting them on the shoulder or arm. And then the clip played of him taking a couple of points away from those guys.

Nezu clucked his tongue. “Many in society would deem that as ‘un-hero-like’ behaviour, as it can be interpreted as stealing, or taking what does not belong to you. Criminal acts indeed, if the deed is severe and the stolen thing valuable. But, your quirk acts on that very principle of taking what does not belong to you.”

The (overwhelmingly intelligent, Monoma realised) mouse continued, “I’ve taken the liberty of reviewing your application and academics. You boast admirable grades in your middle school, and your form teacher commented that you were a highly observant, smart and mature student. I could go on, but you know what you’ve submitted. I will continue with that presumed knowledge.”

“You must have realised by now, or very early on in your career as a hero aspirant, that your quirk is unorthodox, having no use on its own. You require allies, or foes who you can lay a finger on, to fight. And even then, you must hastily adapt to whatever quirk you have under your control, for a period of time. Lots of limitations, Mr Monoma. A lot of challenges you have faced, are facing, and will face. And when you are initiated into my school, expect more.” Nezu took a sip of his tea.

“That’s not to say you will face difficulties many would describe as ‘hell’ at U.A. And neither does my previous statement imply U.A is not ‘hell’.” He paused. “Do excuse my roundabout mannerisms of speech. It is a bad habit of mine.” Nezu chuckled.

“Simply put, I have taken a personal interest in you, Mr Monoma, for your cunning, your intellect, and your quirk. Report to me after your first day of school. We will talk more then. Congratulations once more. Another letter will arrive tomorrow to inform you of the minutiae regarding your inception into U.A. Good day, Neito Monoma.”

The holographic faded out, and Neito was staring at a blank wall for a few seconds trying to process whatever Nezu had said.

A buzz from his phone pulled him out of his hazy thoughts. He is...really smart.

It was from Kendo. “Hi, Monoma, It’s Kendo! The girl with big hands. Wanted to ask you whether you received the letter from U.A.”

He typed a response. “Yeah, I got a letter. What’s your verdict?”

Fingers crossed.

She responded, “I got in. >< You?”

A smile spread across his face. “Same, that’s awesome. Congratulations.”

“YAY! :D We both did it! Congrats too! And I was so shocked that All Might was in the video! I nearly cried. Or maybe I did, idk. Sorry, I’m babbling at this point, but I don’t have anyone else to tell this to until my parents get home and I’m so hypeddd”

Huh? All Might? So Nezu specifically…

He typed, “It’s ok, I’m excited too. Though I don’t express it over text that much.”

“Haha it’s ok. Can’t wait for the letter tomorrow. There’s so much to do! Hero costume, uniforms, books, all that. And term starts a month from now. Can’t wait!”

“Wow, how’d you know all this?”

“Mainly from the internet. I was that hyped, y’know?”

He cracked another smile from her enthusiasm. It was oddly contagious, and he found himself more zealous to go to school. That was a statement he’d never think he could formulate in his mind. “I see. That’s cool.”

“Btw, if you wanna go celebrate with your family or friends, go ahead! I don’t wanna hold you back.”

“Nah, my parents are at work and I’m basically alone at home. Same boat as you. So, fire away.”

“Ah, ok!”

The conversation continued with Kendo gushing about their new life, and Monoma passively followed along, inserting a few comments here and there. But he didn’t feel like he was stuck at a family reunion forced to endure his grandfather’s stories with a placating smile and affirming nods peppered in occasionally. She was actually interesting, and amusing, in a good way.

The topic was centered around school and academics, with little butting into personal lives, and Monoma didn’t pry. She was still a stranger, somewhat, albeit she would be his new schoolmate – and perhaps classmate. He crossed his fingers again, hoping that Fate would tap him lightly on the head once more with her providence.

He smiled when Kendo typed, “Hope we become classmates :D. Apparently there are always 2 first-year classes. So it’s basically a coin flip.”

“Heads.”

“Rly? Do you always choose heads?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m more of a switcher.”

“How do you decide when to choose heads or tails then?”

“Coin flip.”

“That made me laugh, thank you.”

“Why do you need to thank people for making you laugh? It’s a spontaneous thing.”

“That’s...oddly profound.”

“Or just a dumb statement made to sound fancy. Ah, sorry, I have to go now. But thank you for your time. It was great chatting :)”

“Why do you need to thank people for chatting with you? It’s a spontaneous thing. Joking aside, thank you too.”

“Nice haha” Was her last message. Neito turned his phone off and lied down on his bed. A moment passed, and Neito took a coin from his study desk. It was a silly thing to do, but his room was his stage. He was performing for himself.

He gave it a toss and caught it.

Seeing the result, he grinned.

–––––––

Yeek, this took longer than it should have, sorry. Had a bit of writer’s block when it came to planning this thing and I wasn’t sure how to move on. Also the tone of this is especially terrifying for me because it’s definitely going to be (ironically) more light-hearted, with Monoma’s dramatic language and (side thoughts) occasionally inserted, but that brings the challenge of need. When to do that, when not to. This story is a personal challenge to change my narrative style just slightly.

Anyway, I hoped you MonoKendo ppl liked it. A lot of people have told me it’s unfortunate the ship lacks content and I couldn’t agree more. But then again, that’s about 75% of the ships out there. (Fk it, 90%). So, here’s my contribution, alongside some other one-shots.

Feedback’s appreciated :D

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botan-shirabuki · 5 years ago

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Kyoichiro and Fuchi HCs 🦊+🤡=❤

I thought I’d try and write some hcs about Kyoichiro and my ninja MC! These are extremely self-indulgent so I Will Not Cry if you skip over them.

SFW

- They work really well together in the shop. It basically boils down to “Kyoichiro tells Fuchi to do something and she does it” but they’re so efficient now. Sometimes Kyoichiro finds things go almost too smoothly, and can hardly remember what working was like before her.

- Their regular customers really grow to like Fuchi. Sometimes one will pry and ask how a girl like her got a job at this shop. Fuchi just looks at Kyo with a raised eyebrow like “Yeah…how did a girl like me get a job here?” Kyoichiro just shrugs and says “The store will close before I finish telling that story.” Fuchi just rolls her eyes and the conversation moves on, but that interaction tells them all they need to know.

- Fuchi is so used to being uptight and tense and nervous that she likes to let her hair down and be straight up goofy around him. She’s a naturally funny person just from her facial expressions and mannerisms, but when she’s actually joking around she takes it to eleven. It’s literally impossible to not laugh at her jokes

- She likes to sing really silly songs (she can’t sing) when she’s cooking (she can’t cook). Kyoichiro can hear her in the next room over, but he can’t bring himself to tell her to pipe down. Later, he finds that the song is stuck in his head.

-They decided to temporarily give up on Fuchi’s cooking practice bc she nearly set his kitchen on fire. Now they have to incorporate eating out in their budget.

- On top of her being a total goof, they just have SUCH good banter. They can go back and forth for hours about anything and whoever is around to witness it finds it highly entertaining. If they point it out, Fuchi gets really bashful and she looks at Kyo like :3c but Kyo gets all flustered bc he’s mad that someone witnessed him having a moment with her.

-They take turns sleeping in each others rooms. They would move into one together but Kyo’s has the better view and Fuchi has so much stuff that she needs her own room. Raita has grown accustomed to this routine and knows which room to go to for cuddles.

- Fuchi loves annoying him bc she thinks it’s funny. He’s also pretty sexy when he’s scowling and trying his hardest not to tell her to shut the fuck up. Two wins!

- Often times, people will come to the store to shoot their shot at Fuchi and Kyoichiro has to beat them away with a bat. Mainly the magistrate, oh my god. He got robbed twice since he wants to be bold lmao

- Kyoichiro doesn’t like it when she drinks around guests. Especially around Sasuke and ESPECIALLY around Hideyoshi. More on that later.

- There are often times where Kyoichiro finds himself thinking about how amazing Fuchi is and how he doesn’t deserve her in his life. How she saves him from his own darkness. How her infectious laugh makes him feel warmer inside than sunlight ever has….only to be brought back to reality by her asking him the dumbest shit he’s heard all week.

NSFW

- They’re pretty vanilla for the most part but Kyoichiro has found that he needs to be a bit of a brat tamer from time to time. Sometimes Fuchi takes the whole annoying him thing in a completely different direction and does whatever she can to turn him on, often during shop hours when there aren’t any customers. He’ll grab the wrist of her hand that was reaching for his dick and her chin in the other and tell her that it’s in her best interest to behave until the store closes, because there’s nothing he hates more than interruptions. She raises her eyebrows and backs off, knowing she secured the pounding that she wanted for tonight.

- Neither one is necessarily dominant or submissive. They just take things wherever they go. That being said, Fuchi often initiates things, because she wants to and Kyo is low-key worried about coming off as aggressive and scaring her away (he wouldn’t). She usually gets in bed before him, but once he’s in she’ll casually roll over towards him and starts kissing his cheek and jawline. He’ll ask her if she knows what she’s starting and everytime she looks him dead in the eye and says yes I do. Its AWN from there. There are occasions where Kyo will initiate things. If they’re fighting over something stupid, he’ll kiss her to shut her up. If the adrenaline is high after a Goemon raid, he’ll dramatically swoop in and scoop her up to drown her in a sea of kisses and then he’ll fuck her in the cape.

- Fuchi gets straight up flagrant when she’s drunk. So much so to the point where Kyoichiro doesn’t like to let her drink too much around guests. She’s always climbing in his lap, kissing and rubbing up on him while her breath smells like booze, literally begging him to put his dick in her mouth with slurred speech. He gets hard from it every time but he knows he’s gotta get her to sleep it off. Then he has to walk through the house with her clinging onto him kissing his ears telling him every single thing she wants to do to/with him. Then he has to pry her off of him and tuck her under the covers so she doesn’t get out. It’s hard work, but he always ends up with a pretty fun checklist for once she’s sober.

- He loves fucking her while she’s in her ninja clothes. It’s absurdly sexy when she pulls her mesh leggings down just enough so that they frame her ass cheeks really nicely as he fucks her from behind. Or if they’re really in a mood he’ll use the blade in his kiseru to cut them open…

- They’re both very vocal. What starts out as taunting and egging each other on turns into filthy dirty talk which turns into breathless “I love you"s and "I’ll never leave you"s in between desperate kisses.

- Both of their favourite positions are with Fuchi on top. Kyoichiro likes when she’s facing him because he likes to a) watch her tiddies bounce and b) if he’s sitting up he can hold her close to him. Fuchi likes to be in reverse because she can grind against his thigh (and sometimes she feels like she makes stupid faces which is embarrassing)

- Sometimes Kyoichiro can hardly look at her with her hair down. It reminds him of her lovely tresses being splayed across his bedding, the candlelight accentuating the waves of her undone braid. It’s embarrassing, really.

- Fuchi loves kissing underneath the moonlight, obviously preferring the full moon. As a result, sometimes she waits out on the veranda for him to return from a night of thievery in the thinnest sleep clothes she owns. Then when he gets home, she greets him with a "Hello, handsome!” and then the night goes from there!

- One time they were fucking and Kyoichiro commented that she must have been stressed af bc if her pussy got any tighter it might cut off his circulation.

- They often smoke together after sex. Fuchi picked up the habit from him. She likes to take a drag and shotgun it to him. “Well, well, it seems you are wholly unable to keep that mouth off of me.” “So it seems, but if this is your way of asking me to stop–” He pulls her back in for a real kiss.

#my writing #headcanons #MC: Fuchi #slbp kyoichiro #long post

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realityhelixcreates · 5 years ago

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Lasabrjotr 45: Give and Take

Chapters: 45/? Fandom: Thor (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: Teen And Up Warnings: None Relationships: Loki x Reader (Someday) Characters: Loki (Marvel), Additional Tags: Post-Endgame: Best Possible Ending (Canon-Divergent), Loki Makes A Nefarious Plan To Overcome Captain America By...Bettering Himself, Devious I Tell You, Devious Summary: Loki gets a scolding for his privacy invasion, Reader gets a lesson in Asgardian Law, and Captain America gets to be in a calendar.

Captain America posed in various states of undress for several months in each calendar, and each of those months you had simply covered in hearts. Cute little pink marker hearts, revealing an adoration he hadn't realized you had.

No, he'd had some idea of it, he simply hadn't allowed himself to accept it. He had deluded himself again, let himself believe that it was mere admiration for what the Captain stood for that you felt. But in the short discussion that you'd shared about him, you had spoken of him more highly, more positively than Loki had ever heard you speak about any other man, and you always seemed eager and excited for your little weekly check-ins.

Had you been flirting with him, during those secret meetings? Had he flirted back?

Loki's hands trembled. He could tear the calendar to bits right now, toss it in the fire, erase the whole thing. But what good would it do? Depriving you of these pictures would not remove your feelings. And your Tara would almost certainly ask if you had received everything she had sent.

Clever little wretch; he had the feeling that she'd had him dead to rights without even meeting him.

There was a little note within one of the hearts. “Doctor's appt today; 3:30” it said. And three days later, “No results.”

This was from eight months ago. You would have been deep within your mysterious illness, when you were still trying to figure out what was wrong. He flipped a few months earlier.

“Doctor's appt today; 12:00.”

“No results.”

“Doctor's appt today; 9:45”

“No results.”

“Doctor's appt today; 4:15”

“No results.”

“Still feeling sick. Set up Doctor's appt.”

“Sick today. Stayed home. Deduct from paycheck.”

“Felt sick today. Get medicine.”

“Something happened today.”

Any further back from that was merely noting when your payday was, or when you had a vacation planned, or when you were going to meet your father for dinner. “Something happened today”, was such a neutral, vague way to describe the moment your life had irreversibly changed. The day you took a god by the hand, and was bound to him, in body, and if the dreams were an indication, in soul perhaps as well.

“Something happened today”. Such a simple way to preface six months of suffering, a build up to your emancipation from an old life that did not suit you, to a new one where you would be adored and glorified.

“Something happened today.”

You'd been within murdering distance of a god who had killed perhaps hundreds of your kind, your hand burned, and you'd been banned from the tower, and that was how you had described it.

You really were something else.

He loved it.

But all these hearts, they was distressing. Every protest he could come up with for why Steve Rogers was entirely unsuitable for you was countered by his own existence.

Steve was technically an old man, old enough to be your grandfather, easily.

And Loki was old enough to have played tricks on your ancestors.

Captain America, as a member of the Avengers and a proclaimed hero, had many terrible enemies. He was not safe to be around.

Loki had enemies all across space. An immortal madman, an entire planet full of giants, whatever might still exist of the Svartalfari, many of the denizens of Earth, and even members of his own people. He was far more dangerous to be around.

The Captain had seen war. Horrors beyond reckoning. Death, and gore, and pain. Hopelessness and despair. He would be broken inside.

Loki could only wish to have gotten off as easily as he. If Steve Rogers was broken, Loki was shattered into dust. There was no reason you should chose Loki over him, with only those reasons to go by.

What about other reasons, though? What did the good Captain have that he did not? Strength? Power? Loki far outstripped him in both. Loki had bested him in battle once, but he doubted doing so again would impress you in any positive manner.

Was it nobility? Loki had him beat there too: he was true nobility, by birth and by upbringing. Steve Rogers had allegedly come from common, impoverished stock...just like you. Perhaps that had something to do with it, that shared origin.

Steve Rogers had probably never committed a crime against humanity, so that was something that he had on Loki. But he had killed other humans, and who knew how many? He was a soldier, he would know when it was and wasn't necessary. Maybe you felt the same. When the Captain did it, it was necessary. When Loki did it, it was flagrant and cruel.

They were weirdly similar in many ways. Perhaps it wasn't the deeds that mattered to you, so much as the reasons. The intentions.

How could he earn those hearts? Precious pink hearts to warm the winter month called November?

He glared at the picture. The hearts got wobbly partway through the month, before ceasing entirely. You must have been drawing them in with weak and trembling hands all the way up until you were forced to stop. Because Loki had kidnapped you.

There were even a few drawn on the photo itself, where Steve Rogers sat cross-legged on an American flag backdrop, barefoot and bare chested, a basket of puppies cradled in his thick, glistening arms.

Ugh.

Wait.

Was that it?

The softness? The vulnerability? The gentleness and care shown to creatures so much weaker? Knowing that he had power, but also knowing that he was safe to be with?

But Loki was already doing that for you. He was doing all of that. He wanted to do that. If those were the things you desired...he was already well on his way.

He could outdo Steve Rogers in everything. When the man showed up for his brother's silly party, he could observe, watch his ways, possibly even grill him for information; learn his flaws and weaknesses, and avoid being those things. Learn his strengths, his admirable qualities, and become better at them than him. In fact, if he could get on civil terms with the man, that might impress you even more, and he could gather even more information that way. The Captain was going to have to get used to him being here, just like all the rest of them, after all.

Meanwhile, he would show you every courtesy. If his power and prestige made you uncomfortable, he would have to show off his other qualities; the other things he could do that would impress you without frightening you. That must be the key!

You had shown him some of the things you valued, over these past few months. Innovation, frugality, compassion. Your love of animals and plants, your excitement over the possibility of being involved in conservation efforts, when he had held you by the sea, and become captivated by your lips for a brief moment.

Conservation and compassion...

He had an idea.

*****

“So, what King Bor was saying in this speech is that he demanded the immediate abolishing of slavery on Asgard, not because it was wrong, but because he was afraid the Asgardians were becoming weak and complacent by having other people do all the work?”

“Got it in one.” Saga said. “And he wasn't exactly wrong either. Certain professions had become slave-dominated, whole industries without a single Asgardian hand involved.”

“That's pretty damn awful.” You said. “Why couldn't it have been because they were people?”

“Because the noble classes would have never accepted it.” Saga griped. “You ever tried to get a powerful person to willingly give up even a tiny fraction of their power? It happens on this world too, and it causes whole wars.”

“You're right.” You said, closing the folder and setting it on the table, next to a lead tablet stamped with pictographs so fine, they could only be seen under direct light. “There are people out there who treat all other life as change in their pockets. People so powerfully rich, it's almost impossible for someone like me to grasp.”

“You grasp the Prince.” One of the ladies cut in.

“I most certainly do not!” You protested.

“She means that you seem to understand him.” Saga said. “At least, she'd better mean that, or she will have interrupted both her work, and mine, and yours, for a snarky comment that doesn't do anything except waste time. Come on Lofn, you're better than that.”

“Not snark.” The other lady said. “Statement.”

You'd noticed that most of the other ladies stopped what they were doing when Lofn spoke, and looked at you. You weren't sure why it was so uncomfortable being the center of attention right now-possibly because they were all Aesir, or strangers, or because of their relation to Loki, or because he wasn't here, and you were alone in a very small room, with a bunch of women who were all better than you in every conceivable way...

And it wasn't like you could leave. You could spin your wheels well enough, but that heavy, wooden door would certainly provide an obstacle.

“I see you two. It is okay. I acknowledge.” Lofn said, a cryptic little smile curving her lips. The other ladies went back to their business, some of them also smiling.

“Lofn...” Saga groaned. “You are being Like That again.”

“I see what I see. If she does not, then give time.”

Saga huffed. “She's here to learn basic Asgardian law, not mystic hoodly-hoo.”

Lofn shrugged. “I leave hoodly to Loki, then.”

You opened your mouth to say something, when Andsvarr burst loudly into the room.

“I bring you lunch, my Seidkona! His Highness regrets that he could not deliver it himself, but some urgent business has demanded his attention. He got some of your favorites though.” He set the tray on the table in front of you with a flourish.

“Nope!” Saga proclaimed. “No food or drink in the conservatory! If it's lunchtime, then take it elsewhere, but it can't stay here!”

“Oh! Sorry, I didn't realize.” Andsvarr snatched the tray back up, looking around the small library, mystified. His gaze landed on a slab of stone in a sturdy, special case, its rough face scattered with faded, monochrome paintings of beasts and concepts you didn't recognize.

“Is...is that Ymir's Dreamscape?” He asked, awed. “You saved it?”

“The rest of the archivists and I smuggled out as much as we could.” Saga said sadly. “But we just couldn't get it all.”

“It looks as though you knew what was most important.” Andsvarr pointed at the stone.” That is the first known instance of art in the whole galaxy.” He told you. “It is almost eleven billion years old.”

You stopped breathing.

“Yeah, let's have lunch somewhere else.” You squeaked. The ladies tittered with amusement as Andsvarr handed you the tray and wheeled you out into the main library.

“Why did they even let me in there?” You gasped. “I'm just a huge humidity factory! I could have destroyed something!”

“Don't worry so much. Saga knows what she's doing.” Andsvarr assured you. “And those cases they are in are nearly indestructible. You could throw this chair at one, and it would bounce off.”

He brought you back to your room, pausing in the short hallway for a moment to comment that he thought Loki might be back from his emergency errand, then parked you in front of your desk and left to go check.

You briefly wondered what would happen if it wasn't Loki, but an intruder. Andsvarr would probably have to try and arrest them, or run them out, or even fight them. What was the protocol for that?

You set your tray of food on the desk, and dug in to the skyr, gazing out the window at the flowers outside. There was a fairly wide space around the complex that was untouched by construction. You didn't know if it would remain a native landscape, or if it was destined to be planted over as a garden, but it was lovely to look at right now.

Just as you were finishing your skyr, Loki entered your room after a light knock, carrying a large box.

“How are you feeling, darling?” He asked, sounding somewhat subdued. “Did Saga treat you well?”

“Oh yeah, she was really informative. I think one of the ladies was making fun of me though. I think her name was Lofn?”

Loki frowned. “Odd. That doesn't sound like her at all. I'll look into it.”

You probably shouldn't be snitching while Loki seemed like he was in a mood. What had gotten into him?

You knew something that might cheer him up a bit though. You placed the cup back on the tray.

“Maybe I just thought that because I'm so tired.” You said, feigning exhaustion. “There was so much to learn, and my head aches. I don't think I can walk right now. Can you help me?”

When you opened your eyes again to look at him, he was staring at you with a confused expression.

Oh right, he could tell when people were lying.

But he set the box down on your desk, and gently lifted you from your chair anyway, sitting with you on your bed and dutifully feeding you the rest of your meal. You knew he seemed to really enjoy being needed, and you couldn't deny the tiny electric feeling every time his fingers brushed your lips.

The tenderness of his actions and intensity of his gaze were hypnotic, and for a short time, you let yourself fall under the spell. Life had been far too eventful lately; and these slow, peaceful moments were gaining in value.

He spoke very little while feeding you, only to ask if you wanted more or not, reluctant to let the moment end. But your curiosity got the better of you eventually.

“What's with the box?” You asked.

“Oh, this is for you.” He said, whisking the food away, and plunking the box down on your lap. “It is from your friend, Tara.”

“And she sent it conveniently already opened, I see.” You said, a frost of sarcasm on your voice. Just a minute ago, you had been thrilled by the merest graze of his fingers; now, you were annoyed by how far he had been shoving his hands into your business.

“I had to check for possible dangers.” He said imperiously.

“From Tara? Come on, we've known each other since grade school.”

“Another school?” He asked. “There was no guarantee that it was truly her who sent it. And if she did, it could have been intercepted and tampered with.”

“And you don't call this tampering?” You gestured at the cut tape.

“There has already been an attempt on your life!” He exclaimed.

You crossed your arms with a huff. Sure, he was right about that, but he could have at least asked.

“Is everything still in there?”

He pressed his lips into a thin line. “No.”

“Loki-”

“There were some foodstuffs, and I sent them to the healing wing to get them checked for poison. If they prove safe, I'll give them back.”

“This is ridiculous!” You snapped.

“Your safety is paramount.” He cupped the side of your head, light as a ghost. “Look at what my negligence has already wrought.”

You knew you shouldn't give up on being angry so easily, and a little knot of resentment did still remain, but his point did dampen your irritation. Of course he felt guilty about all of this.

“Look that's touching and all,” You said placing your hand over his. He froze in place. “But you understand that, if you keep treating me like a prisoner or a criminal, we aren't really going to be able to gel like we should. If I'm gonna be a...magic politician, or advisor or whatever, I mean. You understand, right?”

“I...” He faltered, appearing to debate himself for a moment. Did anybody else ever see him like this? It was so different from the way people described him: not cagey, not guarded, not in perfect control.

“It's more than that.” He finally said. “It's more than just the social importance of your position, and it's more than the responsibility I feel towards you as a ward of the state, and it's far more than just owing you for all the upheaval I have caused in your life. I just...I genuinely do not wish to see you hurt, and it is frightening to realize how easy it is to hurt you. To realize that you are in more danger than I initially thought and that I might not be enough to protect you.”

“And I get that.” You said, stroking his hand. He remained frozen, but shivered just a bit. Poor guy must be really eaten up about your injury. “Things have been more...adventurous for me than they have been for my whole life, and none of it has been a walk in the park for me either. But I can tell you right now, trying to protect me from everything will not work. There will always be something that can break through your defenses, no matter how good they are.

Even before we met, it wasn't like I was completely safe all the time, you know? I mean, there were genocidal aliens that threw my whole universe into turmoil. And even without that, without any extraterrestrial interference, there was still a level of...I guess you could call it normal danger? Like, there was always a possibility I would get into a car accident, or fall down wrong, or catch a deadly disease, or be bitten by a snake, or accidentally poisoned, or electrocuted, or-”

Loki was looking exceptionally pale.

“-Well, you get the picture. There's a million ways a person can get hurt, and there's no real way to prevent all of it without pretty much killing me. Like, locking me away might protect my body, but it would kill my spirit. So there's a level of protection that's fine, and probably a good idea, but if you go overboard, you can easily cause more harm than good.”

“I see...” He said anxiously. “Perhaps it would ease you ire to go through your things?”

He seemed reluctant to remove his hand, but you couldn't reach the box with his arm in the way so you pushed his hand away, a little reluctant yourself.

“Now, there is this strange plush creature...”He lifted it from the box.

“Oh, that's my Bulbasaur!” You cried in delight, snatching it from his hands and cradling it in your arms. “What? Yeah, I know it's silly, but I've had this little guy since I was a kid, and he's the perfect size for cuddling.”

“Is...Is that supposed to be a real animal?” He asked in confusion. “Is that something that could actually be encountered?”

“Oh, no way. This is a fantasy animal. It's too bad; I'd love a real Bulbasaur.”

“And this blanket...”

“Nanna Beth made that! I need to send Tara a present after this. Okay that should probably go over the chair, so I can wrap up in it when I'm working, or something.”

Loki draped the blanket over the back of your desk chair; its familiar pattern bringing a real taste of home to the room.

He proudly presented you with the clothes and cheap jewels Tara had sent, placing them in the dresser, and promising to have a jewelry box brought for you. Your books went on your desk, and the music USB went straight into your phone. Then there were all your papers; important identifications, milestones, memories. You had to explain to Loki what high school was, which brought up concerns about Asgardian public education. It existed and was supposedly top quality, but the population of children was currently very low, and most were in apprenticeship right now, while the schools were under construction.

You briefly brought up the idea of adoption, but it made Loki very twitchy. You dropped the subject and he went back to presenting you with your things.

Phil 2 absolutely thrilled you. Such a healthy leaf meant that Original Phil was being well taken care of.

“I'm gonna need a huge pot for this!” You gushed in excitement. “This thing is gonna get really big! Tall as me, easily!”

At the bottom of the box were your calendars. It gave you a good laugh to see them, and Loki's grumbled response just added to your amusement. He desperately tried to prevent you from looking in the new one, and you eventually agreed not to...until he had left. He hung this years calendar up on the wall, flipping to the current month-Banner, in an open lab coat and possibly nothing else-grumbling even more.

“He's not even that handsome!” He huffed.

“He's got a big brain, sometimes that's enough.”

“For a pin-up calendar? Isn't that all about looks?”

You shrugged. “Heroism is sexy.”

Loki harrumphed, cheeks reddening. Considering all the media speculation about him, it was rather unexpected and actually quite endearing to find out how shy and easily scandalized he could be.

Eventually he sat back down next to you.

“Buridag will be in a few months. There will be city-wide celebrations, and we will be building a courthouse, everyone participating, as per your suggestion. We will be allowing the camps into the city, so they might participate as well.”

“Oh wow! That'll be so exciting! I hope I can see Sofie again.”

“You might. This will also be when we will formally announce your appointment to Royal Seidkona. It's important for you to be aware that this will make you royalty yourself.”

“What?”

“It's a formal title. You won't be a princess or anything like that, but you need an elevated title to be able to properly perform your duties. The Buridag festival will double as a formal titling ceremony. Now, I do not expect anyone to take a shot at you in public like that, but just in case, I am having armor altered to fit you. Hold on.”

He hustled out of your room and back with a handful of papers.

“This is what Andsvarr has donated.” He showed you a drawing. “They will fit you well with a little work, and should protect you from most dangers. And this is something I have designed for your head.”

He handed you another drawing. You'd had no idea before this that he could draw at all.

“Loki...Is this a flower crown?”

“Yes. I thought it appropriate, since you seem to like plants. But this will be nornbein and steel, rather than petals and leaves.”

It was a beautiful design. Loki had incorporated several different kinds of blossoms, their petals spread wide to cover as much of your head as possible, the golden nornbein and silvery steel contrasting to give the flowers color. The skullcap and cheek guards were patterned like ferns, and he couldn't help but to add a few jewels here and there, probably very hard and durable ones.

Loki was going to make you into royalty, and he was going to give you a crown.

Wasn't that a dream come true? Why was it so frightening?

“I really don't deserve-”You began, but he cut you off by placing his hand to your cheek again, and leaning in close.

“Please, won't you let me be the judge of that?” He asked softly. “Trust that I know to whom I wish to distribute my gifts and favors.”

“O-okay.” You whispered.

He leaned away, and begin describing a Seidkona's duties to you again, going over things you'd already heard. All you could think about was that, for a moment, it almost seemed again like he was going to kiss you.

For a moment, you were disappointed that he didn't.

#lasabrjotr #loki x reader #loki (marvel)

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howyoutalktostrangers · 5 years ago

Photo

So,

When trans rights activists began to mobilize in opposition to feminist thinker Meghan Murphy's appearance at the Toronto Public Library in October 2019, I was only half-interested in the controversy. Several literary figures I admire had become swept up in the pseudo-religious fervor, and I was shocked to see them enthusiastically championing censorship. I figured this person they were protesting must be some ghoulish anti-intellectual, spewing hate speech and vilifying marginalized communities. I assumed that a quick Google search would result in a list of published works worthy of this sort of opposition, or maybe news items about her provocative past.

Imagine my surprise, then, to learn that not only was Murphy innocent of the hate speech accusations she was being doggy-piled with, she was actually advocating on behalf of marginalized populations and rape victims — something I'm personally passionate about. Her highest profile dust-up was with a pedophile trans activist named Jessica Yaniv, a true villain if there ever was one, and now she was facing death threats for publicly questioning whether convicted child killers who self-identify as female should be allowed in women's prisons. As far as I could tell, she was a strong-willed social crusader making a real positive impact in the world.

So how come everyone was treating her like the Antichrist?

In the week leading up the event, I followed the controversy via Twitter and began to educate myself on the subject being discussed: trans rights. I learned that this new slur "TERF" is an acronym for "trans exclusionary radical feminist", though it was being used as a catch-all for anyone who disagreed with their rhetoric, and it wasn't immediately apparent what trans people were being excluded from. I learned that "dead-naming" someone means using someone's name from before they transitioned (like calling trans icon Caitlin Jenner by her birth name Bruce) and that there were a few koan-like mantras everyone felt strongly about: "Trans rights are human rights" and "trans women are women."

As I engaged on Twitter, posting a few comments and questions, I became increasingly aware of how toxic this discourse was. These trans rights activists were looking for people to crucify, drunk on self-righteousness, and were incapable of having a nuanced conversation about this new worldview they were wielding like a weapon. As I consumed their vitriol, following accounts on either side of the spectrum, it occurred to me that all of this anger wasn't only being funnelled towards anti-trans bigots. It was also sliming well-meaning leftists who weren't sufficiently up to date on how this conversation has been progressing (learn your acronyms!) and people blissfully unaware that this esoteric social justice battle is even happening. According to their standards, not only was I a TERF but so was everybody else in my family, from my toddler niece all the way up to my grandparents. We all believe in something we've been taught since childhood, biological sex, and that makes us the enemy.

But how could I make my own position known without offending and alienating the trans people in my life who I love, regardless of how I feel about this new gender ideology? Could I oppose the indoctrination while embracing trans people themselves? Was there some sort of middle ground I could take, where I could express my support and love for them while simultaneously refusing to drink the Kool-Aid?

Then the big night came. By this point the Toronto Public Library scandal had taken up three or four days of my attention, and I remained glued to social media so I could follow every development. I read an extremely thoughtful prepared statement by a city councillor named Gord Perks and thought "finally, a voice of reason!" only to see his contribution written off and misrepresented. Hundreds of people took to the streets, necessitating a police presence to keep the audience and speakers safe. Videos posted on Twitter showed this hate mob, led by Governor General Award-winning author Gwen Benaway, shouting violent epithets at cowed women while pretending they were the victims. These bullies were out for blood, and anything less than full surrender wouldn't satisfy them.

The thing that struck me the most during all this was that the two sides of the political spectrum were arguing different points. While one side was insisting that Meghan Murphy deserved free speech, the other side was arguing about the perceived content of her talks as they pertained to trans rights. They weren't meeting anywhere near the middle, because they weren't even having the same conversation. The result of this was that trans rights activists were passionately mobilizing certain nuances of their worldview, and demanding these tenets be accepted, while the other side was simply saying "let her talk". The protesters had smeared her as an anti-trans speaker, though that wasn't how she self-identified. For a movement so obsessed with self-identification, this was a huge blind spot. Just like misgendering someone, they were accusing her of being something she's not.

As the think pieces and news articles began to come out in the following days, I read opinions from both sides and searched for even a shimmer of mutual understanding. This divisionary rhetoric was going to have devastating consequences, I figured, including within the literary world. And if people were continuing to be scared into silence for fear of being mobbed like Murphy, how could we ever have a meaningful dialogue? Who would be the next person to inspire one of these hateful clown parades?

This was the headspace I was in when I came across a story in Flare written by Benaway in which she narrates her experience addressing representatives of the library during a feedback session leading up to the event. With purple prose, silly histrionics and self-aggrandizing rhetoric, she singles out Head Librarian Vickery Bowles (who didn't speak a word during the exchange) and accused her of being transphobic simply for supporting free speech. In the most embarrassing passage she repeatedly challenges those present to tell her which bathroom she should use, which is so off-topic it comes off as nonsensical. I couldn't take it anymore. I left a comment under the article, calling Benaway "so dishonest" for misrepresenting Bowles and Murphy, and accused her of "tilting at windmills, hard."

This was it. The first public stance I'd taken on the issue. I knew that nearly every literary figure I was associated with on Twitter probably disagreed with me on principle, and would probably only experience this as some privileged white dude punching down on a poor trans activist. That being said, I really believed in what I was saying and legitimately believed trans rights activists who were vilifying librarians and feminists needed to be fucking stopped. I felt a twinge of vertigo as I let go, allowing myself to tumble head-first down this howling rabbit hole. I'd heard that these activists are militant, sometimes going after people's livelihoods if they disagree with you, but I was feeling ready for a fight.

It was around this time that a Twitter account started retweeting some of my comments, tagging my employer Humber Literary Review, adding melodramatic captions about how I was a trans-hater. This Internet stranger made me uncomfortable, but I didn't engage, comfortable in the knowledge that my editors had known me for five years and understood I was incapable of hatred. Anyone who took a moment to read my timeline would see that I wasn't a zealot; I was just a newbie to this particular conversation, trying to make sense of what was going on in a respectful manner. Also, I wasn't interested in having a conversation about trans rights -- the issue is hardly relevant to my day-to-day life -- I was interested in talking about Meghan Murphy's right to free speech, a right that had been thoroughly trampled for no good reason.

One thing that occurred to me was that the library protest ultimately had the opposite effect of what was intended. Rather than silencing Murphy, they'd elevated her to a new level of prophet-like prominence. I'd never heard of her before, but now she was being profiled in newspapers and discussed all over social media. I'd gone from having no idea who she was to being one of her most ardent fans, keen to hear what she was up to next. And pretty soon there were titans of the entertainment world stepping in to take her side, including J.K Rowling and Ricky Gervais. The haters tried to silence her but instead set her on fire, leaving us all to watch her dance wreathed in holy flames.

Then they came for me. Three days after my comment on the Flare article, which inspired a long back and forth with a Toronto poet, Humber contacted me to say that I no longer had my position as interviews editor. According to them they were restructuring, but we were in the middle of an issue and that made no sense. I sent a few exploratory emails, one proposing a book project that would be a collection of the interviews I'd done over the years, and I was mostly met with silence. Was it possible? Would they actually pull something like this? Would they take sides with the trans mob over me? And why?

The way I figured, if the move to take away my position was actually motivated by my Twitter interactions then their real motive was both to shut me up and to distance themselves from me professionally. The hate mob who had attacked would be waiting for word that I'd been turfed, and I wouldn't give them that satisfaction. For the following weeks, and then months, I made sure to routinely tag Humber in my posts, reminiscing about my interviews of the past and looking forward to the one that hadn't yet been published with Yasuko Thanh. I sent my editor an email and asked her to retweet some of these posts, which she said she would, but then didn't. I started escalating my rhetoric, criticizing trans activists and calling out their bonkers nonsense, all with Humber's twitter handle nice and prominent in my bio.

Finally, just before the holidays, vindication came. The founding editor of Humber Literary Review, Meaghan Strimas, contacted me to say that the collective had "grave concerns" about my Twitter content (even though she admitted she rarely uses the platform) and then demanded I remove her magazine from my bio, even though my interview with Thanh had not yet been published. Her email confirmed all my concerns: they had a staff meeting without me to discuss my conduct, they took issue with my views on trans rights, and they were hoping to make an example out of me. It was two weeks before Christmas and they were picking a fight with one of their employees for no good reason. The positive relationship we'd enjoyed for half a decade wasn't enough to shield me from their poorly researched dogmatism.

I knew what to do right away: I alley-ooped the email, and a bunch of screen-shotted Twitter posts, to a journalist named Anna Slatz. She was an active participant in the trans rights conversation, and had appeared at an event in Vancouver in which activists showed up wearing a guillotine for TERFs. She was just as outspoken as Murphy, I knew, and would be just as infuriated by this turn of events as I was. This was a minor freelance gig for me, but what if it was my main livelihood? Would they come after my other job next? My fiancée was six months pregnant with our first child and now I had to worry about these pitchfork-wavers? Slatz was thorough, professional and tactful: within 24 hours my story was live on the Post Millennial website. Watching the story rack up engagements was one of the most vindicating feelings of my life.

Within hours I was contacted by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. I'd heard of them through the Yaniv debacle, and I was thrilled to learn that their potential involvement in my case would be free of cost. I took them through what happened over the phone, step by step, and revelled in how appalled they were. I wasn't the only person who thought these activists had gone too far, targeting people's jobs and smearing them in public. They told me that if it went forward my case would have the potential to affect a huge number of people's lives, perhaps setting a precedent that would dissuade these clowns from using sinister tactics like this in the future. And I wasn't the only person this was happening to -- online there were examples of people like Maya Forstater, who lost her job for saying that biological sex is real, and others who lost gigs for something as simple as retweeting a gender critical account.

The stress and sudden attention from all this hoopla had me panicked. I was worried both about my employment, and for the financial future of my baby. As my case drew the attention of names I recognized, like Jordan Peterson, I worried that I would be submerged by this trans rights tidal wave. I knew my misgivings were shared by many, both in the literary world and everywhere else, but people were too afraid to speak the truth. For a few nights I couldn't sleep. I didn't feel like fighting; I just wanted to be left alone.

But then I began to reflect on what actually mattered. I have a number of trans friends who are intensely important to me, and it's them who are suffering the worst consequences of this toxic rhetoric. As activists continue to over-reach and inflame controversy, the blow-back is hitting people who would just like to quietly go about living their lives. They don't believe in some of the more ridiculous aims of these activists, like plugging biological males into female sports or subjecting female prisoners to the company of murderers hiding behind self-identification. They're just as embarrassed by the Gwen Benaways and Jessica Yanivs of the world, and believe just as strongly as I do in Meghan Murphy's right to free speech. They don't believe in vilifying strangers, or taking away their jobs, because that's the purview of idiots and assholes.

As J.K. Rowling recently wrote on Twitter: this is not a drill. The time for ignoring or being complacent about the trans rights conversation has passed, because it is now doing real harm not only to trans people, but also everyone else. With my daughter en route to Earth, I want to create a future where this dystopian rhetoric is a thing of the past, and I don't have to worry about her being indoctrinated into a worldview where biological sex doesn't exist. I believe that inclusion is non-negotiable, and that trans people should be embraced and supported, but that should never come at the expense of people who reject their ideology or have beliefs of their own. It's possible to love someone even if you think their worldview is nonsensical, and trying to speak sense to them is the opposite of hate speech.

You could even call it love speech.

The Literary Goon

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otp-armada · 5 years ago

Text

A Time Capsule

I’ve been lurking across several fandoms spanning a decade now, since my days of reading “Bones” fanfics on fanfiction.net. Before any inkling of Ao3’s existence. Maybe longer, my memory is murky at times.

I’ve never made a splash in any fandom, so to speak. I’ve always been content to stand shrouded in anonymity, residing on the edges of fandom, never an active participant. Perfectly at peace to never have a voice. Never brave enough to want to be heard. It has only been in the last few years that I discovered Tumblr and felt comfortable enough in taking advantage of its anon feature to interact mostly with The 100/Bellarke crowd, “conversing” with one user in particular. In the instances I chose to speak, there was safety in knowing my words never had an identity attached. A safety that lent itself to sending anon asks a fairly common activity until I wrote one recently sharing a remnant of my “The 100” viewing experience. The warm response from the users who read it left me smiling for the rest of the day. Their reply took a direction I didn’t expect. They encouraged me to take credit for my words under my username, which of course, I didn’t have, not being a Tumblr user.

I was flattered by the response, bolstering me to continue the line of conversation with another ask and was met with reiterated sentiments.

In the wise words of one of those awesome people,

“I was the ultimate lurker for a long, long time. I had a Tumblr account for four years before I ever made a single post, and even then I had to be talked into it. And you know what? When I finally starting “talking,” it was so freeing! Even if no one else was listening, even if I was speaking into the void, I was no longer dependent on anyone else to share my thoughts and opinions. I could do that myself.”

I took the compliment but waived the advice. Tumblr is made of communities built upon sharing and I have always been unto myself an island. It goes against my shy, introverted nature to take part in a community. I have no business pretending I have a place there. None at all.

And yet, despite my misgivings, the idea wouldn’t leave me as I believed it would. I started to genuinely ponder the merits of creating a blog.

There are strong reasons to support the affirmative.

First, the utilitarian benefits. In the absence of a blog, I turned to alternative methods of archiving appealing posts. If by some miracle, the item count of my browser reading list hasn’t yet ascended to the thousands mark, it most assuredly rests in the hundreds. My camera roll queue has indubitably reached the thousands count, currently sitting pretty at 3,300. I shudder to think of the sheer number of my bookmarks. One hundred and eighty notes on my phone. The final frontier has been broken, at last, habitually inundating my laptop with screenshots. Long has it been overdue to clean house.

Second, I find writing to be a herculean undertaking I enjoy in the moments it doesn’t drive me to the brink. A slow-going process, but when I’m able to appreciate the fruits of my labor, marvel at the polished product, I often feel quite proud. Writing is a skill I’ve lost touch with over years of disuse but found incrementally returning while expressing my opinions via Tumblr asks. Like any skill, it can be honed with time and practice. Transferring my streams of consciousness onto written medium challenges me to think critically, ask myself if my POV genuinely holds true or falls apart, requiring further reflection. If nothing else, it’s a good way to process thoughts and emotions. I find it easier than and therefore preferable to oral communication. I am a perpetual editor, always amending my statements which can’t really be done as effectively in speech.

Third, if there was ever a time to join the Tumblr fandom I’ve found a home in for the last three years, why not in time for the show’s last ride? The night I signed up for Tumblr coincided the first day of “The 100” cast and crew filming their 100th and poetically final episode. Around the same space of time, we got a release date and the nostalgic goodbyes of a few cast members rolled in. I know when Bellarke crosses the last threshold, I’d want it plastered all over my dash and I’d be able to make it happen.

But where there are pros, the cons inevitably follow.

Do I really need a further distraction from my responsibilities, spending additional hours and expending more energy I should not spare online? The too easy potential for more hours behind a screen when prone to headaches and horrid habits of not regulating my eating and sleeping schedules? The answer is a clear and resounding “No.” Would maintaining a blog be harmful to my mental and emotional health? Remaining anonymous has historically done a fine job of insulating me from general rebuke, which has mitigated the risk of reproach at least. No corner of the internet can be designated as a safe space. I knew I would in all likelihood have to work diligently to curate and be responsible for my experience, leading me to doubt how the effort could possibly be worth it. How could it be worth feeling exposed, self-conscious? Constantly second-guessing myself, debating whether or not my thoughts are best kept within the privacy of my mind to avoid stepping on anyone’s toes? Combating the periodic skepticism that my thoughts possess value worth writing?

There was always the lingering possibility I was overthinking the decision to my detriment, as is my norm. After all, it seemed silly and dramatic to regard one obscure little blog in a sea of hundreds of millions of social media users as momentous. But I know myself better than that. It is a really fucking big deal for me.

I vacillated between both sides of the argument for days before deciding not to follow through with the venture.

And then one night, a single stray observation ran through my mind. One observation became another, became another and before I knew it, I had formed the grounds for an entire meta post. It didn’t end there. More ideas filtered through. I expanded on those ideas. More traction gained. Another meta formed. More jumping off previous points. Before long, I had mentally written the foundations for four metas. And I was so excited and proud of forming these connections to this puzzle without even trying that I wanted to share it. I sat down to write them in my trusty Notes, outlining, trying to jot the main points down before they fizzled away from memory. I saw how long-winded these spiels had gotten sans the full writeup, subsequently rationalizing…well, not blowing up someone’s inbox is just good manners, isn’t it? And terribly inefficient to boot. More to the point, it seemed a disservice to myself to censor my rumination to fit the small confines of a Tumblr ask box.

The part of me that wanted to push forward envisioned what the future of my blogging efforts may look like. That part knows that this blog is for me and only me. What makes me laugh, what makes me cry. Smile. Rage. Flail. Think. Whatever the hell I want. I get to say what I want, however, I want. It’s incredibly nerve-wracking. It’s also exciting, thrilling, and yes, freeing. The notion of carving out a tiny space for me to fill to the endless brim with whatever brings me joy makes me…really damn happy. It’s not an easy feat to accept and harder to retain. I should be ok, so long as I never forget that I get to be in control of what happens here. It’s within my right to block anyone I don’t want to engage or associate with. It’s my full right to not care what anyone else has to say if I don’t want to. Block out anything negative I don’t want to endure with only a few clicks. If I decide I want to walk away, permanently or otherwise, for any reason, it’s within my right to do that too. It’s comforting.

There was a time when I “knew” I would never sign up for an Ao3 account until one of my favorite authors withdrew the majority of her stories from public consumption. I “knew” I was never going to post commentary until I did. I “knew” my username would never be seen by anyone aside from me, never to be affiliated with my commentary until it was.

I did. Each and every time I thought I would never, I did. I broke my own barriers with patience and some courage. Maybe the most intimidating aspect of something new is simply the beginning. I said earlier that I’ve been an island for nearly as long as I can remember. It’s still true, I don’t expect overnight results. It’s probably going to be true for a long time. Perhaps forever. But maybe it’s all the more reason why I should take this step toward peeking out of my self-imposed shell. Do what scares you, or whatever it is they say.

I wish I could say it was enough to reverse my earlier verdict.

Nope, I had to agonize some more.

What can I say? Fear is a damn powerful inhibitor.

Lo and behold, as if the universe took pity on me, I got the chance to communicate directly with the same awesome lady whom I quoted above and she kindly offered some more merciful wisdom to a truly maddeningly indecisive individual:

“When you create a blog, you are STILL anonymous. You have a username, yes, but it doesn’t lead back to you unless you want it to. You still have your personal privacy. Tumblr isn’t Facebook. If you want to disclose personal information, you can, but you certainly don’t have to.

And second, your blog is for you, not for anyone else. It’s for you to express your own opinions. Or create gifs or other visuals. Or just repost what other people create. You can be on every day, or just once a week. It’s also a great way to save stuff you might want to look at again. And then… and then… when brilliance suddenly hits you, you have somewhere to let it hang out! 😁”

It was much I had already considered, but it helped immeasurably to have my reasoning reaffirmed from an external source I respect. I logged into Tumblr for the first time the very same night.

After much deliberation, an uncharacteristic burst of bravery and a grueling four hours I owe to technological ineptitude, I have, tentatively and cautiously, opted to give this Tumblr thing a go.

With luck, a day will never arrive when I dust this preamble off for a much-needed pep talk. Instead, it is my hope that one day, this memo-to-me will stand as proof that I don’t always need to be afraid of the unknown. Not all endeavors have to be as frightening as they may appear. And if I can apply this attitude to all else suppressing my personal growth, I might just be peachy someday.

Bearing this in mind…

…here we go.

#about me #personal

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advernia · 5 years ago

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i’m amazed that i’ve been active for at least a couple days straight??? is it the effect of lesser fe3h playtimes + the silly coworker writing challenge at the workplace??? oh well ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿

since i remembered i was trying to make work commentary a thing here, more rambling / author’s notes under the cut!

jul 6th // ikerev

push your way through the cracks is the first edgar/mc i’ve written here and while i’ve mentioned there that edgar is my fav out of the cast, i fear that i’ll probably take me a very long time to write another one bc... he’s my favorite. i noticed i have the tendency not to write much (or have finished works) about ships i really, really like despite... you know, liking them. hopefully not - shipping aside, i like exploring the characterizations of enigmatic types like edgar.

about the fic, i pretty much like it save for the second part bc i think i could’ve done something more with it - not exactly change the setting, but expounded a little further on it. i don’t know, it feels lacking somehow in comparison to the first two.

there are a lot of flower-related descriptions tossed here and there, but i think i succeeded in not being so purple prose-y? hopefully! this was pretty descriptive, i guess.

with this edgar fic present, that means i have 2 more red army doods to write about, namely zero & jonah. i was really aiming to make edgar the last one tho haha.

jul 12th // ikerev

weave me into your web is canon based, specifically pt. 24 of sirius’ route where they say ‘goodbye’. note those quotation marks.

i think i wrote this after a discussion i had with a friend about sirius & his route - she read some posts commenting on the route and she wanted a nearby opinion. we got into an agreement: while we do find sirius to be indeed husbando material, his route would’ve risked nothing if they gave him more / emphasized his flaws. his flaws, not mc’s, gosh.

no, seriously. in my opinion, mc fretting so much about being immature sort of blinds her from the little things that prove sirius is not so composed as he appears to be. it gets even worse when she realizes she’s fallen in love with him, and while i enjoy the black army going kira-kira rabu support team + seth being hopeless suitor, i’m going 50/50 on mc. she’s written to be indeed very single-minded come the war phase and while that’s not necessarily bad since she gets to broaden her perspective as she always does, i think i would’ve appreciated it if she came to most of the realizations on her own by reflecting on them based on how the events around her are progressing; and not simply by sirius / someone else pointing it out for her. no wonder she’d think she’s immature in comparison - it also irks me a bit that she keeps on fretting about her feelings for sirius. this is what i’d be sad to see again in other routes: the romance overthrowing the potential / present character development.

side note: i understand that in relationships with a notable age gap, maturity / perceived maturity can be a problem - i just wished that the route downplayed on this bc honestly, there are other things more interesting to explore than that angle, like, say; isn’t she from another culture or world or something????????? will those differences affect our potential relationship??????????????

on sirius himself, i recall reading on reddit that one person didn’t pick up ikerev for the reason that the cast is too perfect. that’s a fair opinion. i think i can relate this to sirius himself: while throughout the route you do see some flaws in him, he’s still overall the dude you’d write home about + that dude you’d dream introducing to your parents complete with that suave voice (thank u junichi suwabe). no, i’m not saying that he has to have some unlikable or quirky trait / wangsty backstory, it’s just that in my opinion he’s desirable but not exactly relatable. let him struggle, let me see him rise up from it. show me his humanity. there’s the scene with him and lancelot, but i want more. tho him being afraid of being alone is what i find extremely relatable and endearing about him, very nice. otherwise... well, maybe i have to reread the route again or smth.

anyway. the fic emphasizes actually on his character trait of self-control / restraint. did u know too much is bad for u??? it can reflect that since you hold yourself back too much, it could mean that you’re masking your true feelings, for example. there are various psychological studies on that. *stares at sirius* hMMM.

i took care to be quite descriptive on that kiss scene and at the same time, not to be so emotional on it bc it’s still sirius lol - i believe he’s not one to lose himself completely to his emotions, but he’s not that afraid to succumb to some of it - especially if he actually wants to feel them.

... this turned out to be a rant portion rather than a fic commentary now didn’t it

aug 24 // ikerev (i’m seeing a pattern here)

a beginner’s guide to waltz was seriously just some formatting experiment, then it blew up to something larger. i actually like it tho, it’s cute.

writing oliver is actually fun, not bc of the reason that i can be rude. he is rude, but he’s not like that for just the sake of being so. as seen with blanc, it’s probably a result of habit. why exactly he chose to be verbally aggressive is something i’d like to know in his route.

i have no idea how the relationship shift is portrayed either, but i do hope it’s a mortifying revelation on mc’s part lol. like, lookie here, that little kid with his wee shorts and pretty hat that you hang out with all the time and don’t care about acting so ladylike around was that hot hunk who saved you before! oliver’s so amused and never letting her live it down.

for the line ‘i’m not interested in asking you about a decision you’ve made since you arrived here’: the decision mentioned is mc’s promise not to fall in love & to go home. i think oliver would be one of those routes where he falls for her but wants her to go home anyway, but the difference in his route is that he’s very adamant to make her leave. maybe thinking along the lines of ‘i don’t want you to end up like me’ or something. idk. idk what i’m trying to type at this point, lol.

just some random thought, but i do hope ikerev artist tcg someday draws mc in the game outfits / hairstyles bc she’s actually rly pretty. the description of mc’s outfits / fashion of part 4 of the fic was out of me just staring at the my closet portion of the game. don’t ask - i like the hc of oliver & mc having elegant wardrobes / fashion sense, and since i’m too lazy to check up 19th century london fashion trends...

sep 28 // collar x malice

haunted by something still alive was the result of me thinking about guns. don’t ask me either. maybe it’s also a result of me wanting to write something else that isn’t from my horrendous drafts folder lol.

these were actually nice drabble practices, and the first one i clearly had i mind was shiraishi’s. i honestly think it would be fitting, probably around the start of the route where they haven’t got to know each other so well.

from there on i tried to do the drabbles in the route order i did when i played the game, which was mineo - sasazuka - okazaki - shiraishi - yanagi. but tbh when i was writing it became shiraishi - mineo - yanagi - sasazuka - yanagi again - okazaki, lol. i rewrote yanagi’s and okazaki’s three times.

subtitles have their respective mathematical operations on it - i find it kind of cool and funny that those are their symbols (amnesia had the card suits), but when you do think of it properly, it does relate to their characters.

... never forget that hoshino ichika is canonically good with guns.

sep 28 // ikerev

in absence of glass slippers as stated was a part of one of my first ikerev drafts. still a draft until now, but the portion i posted is one of the ‘finished’ sections of the fic.

i don’t headcanon mc as a respectable lady from a equally respectable house or her being a well-off girl, but i like the concept of her being a self-taught lady of society aka she learned stuff like manners, dancing, and etc. out of curiosity or for more practical reasons like fitting in. 19th century london is still the victorian era, so social class and propriety was still a thing.

her taking off her shoes to practice dancing with ray is a sort of a challenge, actually... his measure of improvement will be based on the times that he steps on her feet / how many blisters her feet would gain by the end of the session, lolol - that’s why she says that stepping on a rock is the least of her problems. pretty hardcore, isn’t she?

thus the title actually - glass slippers (mary janes actually) are pretty delicate, but don’t you think a lady’s foot is much more delicate?

with ray’s fic up, i’ve officially written a piece for all of the black army men! nice.

sep 29 // ikerev

neither heaven or hell is holy shit, an mc-centered fic! hella rad - i was half thinking to classify it as a drabble, but since i decided that drabbles are pieces that i may get back on, i kept it as a full fic instead since i’m happy with how it turned out.

all of my screamings are in the tags, so i don’t have much to add besides that lol. however, the writing here is pretty different, and that’s because i was trying to do a three sentence fic challenge kind of thing. buuuuut it became three paragraphs with three lengthy sentences instead lol.

also, there’s some stuff highlighting mc’s london-er/english-ness. washing powder is the british term for laundry soap. 19th century roofs for royals were usually panels, and wooden beams for commoners. different as chalk and cheese is a british expression. i’m certainly not british but i just like emphasizing the fact that mc is of another culture/world, thus there should be differences in how she perceives things / her mannerisms & actions / her way of speech. i’ve been conscious of that in all of my fics involving her.

actually, i do make it a point to watch her way of speaking. i really like the polite way of speaking of 19th century britain (and also of today), so i try to integrate that despite the fact that i’m not british myself lol. it’s hard to fully convey it, but i try with hoping that it doesn’t seem too off. i should probably look for more references to practice it.

this was a very spontaneous piece with actually minor editing involved, and i’m pretty proud of how it turned out.

#rundown.txt #oh this is certainly longer than i intended it to be #oh well thank you to those who reads these ramblings of mine tho!

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