#and yeah it’s probably influenced by my personal upbringing

[medusas-rockin-tits]

Man sometimes I think about the demons and Hell and how they’re kinda allegorically a group of neglected kids living in a run down house and having to look after each other

Their clothes don’t fit right, they’re always grimy, the lights don’t always work, everything leaks (and they don’t know how to fix it), there’s no technology, they don’t know how to write, etc

Like it’s not exactly 1:1 but it’s very symbolic of a very very dysfunctional household, in a very different way from Heaven

[cuteniaarts]

Honestly, one of the main reasons I’m still dead set on finishing AIDIB is because once the AU progresses, we’ll eventually get to see badass bloodbender Suiren

Bonus, Live Kuvira Reaction:

[ratato0ey]

Yea but to be real, I kinda head canoned the whole burromuerto family just from Jose and Alejandro(.)

Like the trend, Jose is goin to be workin out, doin all that toxic masculinity stuff and maybe bullying, pickin on a few peeps cuz he’s tall and large(kind of like Duncan in a way) but he’s also really straight out stereotypical “Tough guy/hardcore”.

But Alejandro, one the other hand does have quite a feminine flair, he certainly has that tenderness, and exquisite implicit feel, gentleman(probably because he spends a lot of time with his mommy in my headcanon)

Their dad has very high hopes for Jose, personally upbringing him and educating him as the family heir. Which means additional hopes and strict requirements. Jose mostly lives up to this, therefore papa burromuerto doesn’t intervene as much with his other sons life and education. He figures he might’ve been a bit too strict with Jose, so he hopes his other sons could live a free and laidback life, since all the big matters were mostly taken care of.

But Alejandro has very high standards for himself, and hopes that his father might see him the same way as he sees Jose, so he proves himself every chance that he gets. Although he excels in almost everything, his father is quite impressed but feels that since most of the big stuff is already taken care of, and that Jose is older, Alejandro’s dad still only mostly talks to Jose and has heart to hearts and stuff since Jose is the oldest child and the family’s future breadwinner. Jose knows exactly what his younger brother is up too and he doesn’t quite take it , they prank on each other and fight and stuff a lot

Yeah I don’t really buy the “toxic relationship traumatized “thing

Also yeah, this is my headcanon of Carlos⬆️

he isn’t too caught up in the Al-Jose drama, he’s laidback just like your usual third child. Isn’t too involved in family matters either, mostly cares about soccer.

Ps:oh yeah the reason I said that Alejandro’s mom said that “no Spanish” is because I read somewhere that if u want ur child to be bilingual, you need to have “language barriers” which means that if they are in a Spanish environment at school, speak English to him at home and let him watch English shows so that he has been influenced by both English and Spanish stuff(also that’s probably when he started watching total drama) and I think with their dad being a diplomat, their family probably has this weird elite education

Edit: now I call this erm, headcanon-ey AU-ey thing Burromuerto Babbles(will be updating)

[rooniper]

The inevitable Ralph Lore Masterpost

Here it comes. After my second re-read and a week of talking about this fictional cringefail tragic girl dad to anyone who would listen, here it finally is, because I felt a need to write all of this down for future reference and also because I am very close to exploding at any given second of the day.

Also: do keep in mind some of this is my personal speculation/theories/ramblings and probably not canon, but I did try to stick to just the book as much as possible. This is not a coherent essay. Really, it’s a word vomit because I can’t stop thinking about the funny Phone Man. I still probably missed some things, feel free to chime in in the replies, might make a Part 2 unpacking some of the lore/non-Ralph related bits in the future who knows.

Anyways, in no particular order (AND OBVIOUSLY; SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT):

Pre-Freddy’s Era Details I Couldn’t Fit Anywhere Else (Or: Upbringing, College and some Coppelia’s Mom Speculation)

There’s not much info about Ralph’s childhood from what I could gather, except two things: he was bullied in school to the point where he had to hide in a locked bathroom stall to get away from his classmates, and his father was a major a-hole who had extremely high expectations for him and also used to scare him out of wanting to play hide-and-seek with him which. Goddamn. The quote “all your life you’ve gotten used to not pushing buttons” really, really doesn’t help the horrible parents allegations. So yeah the man has daddy issues, jot that down.

Expanding on the previous point: a lot of his parenting of Coppelia seems to be directly influenced by his own upbringing. The paragraph-long tangent about how he’s purposefully awful at hide-and-seek because he never wants Pel to feel as scared as he did is an obvious example, but he also brings her gifts from work pretty much constantly (and sidenote: he thinks of taking things from his job that he never breaks the rules at to bring to her all the goddamn time, while being actively hunted by murderous animatronics. That’s so goddamn wholesome I’m sorry even when he’s scared out of his mind he’s constantly thinking of her). He never puts her down the way it’s implied he was put down as a child, he seems really supportive of her hobbies by the way he talks about her reading. I have more to say about his parenting skills, but the fact that he’s terrified of becoming like his own father/parents seems to be a giant part of them.

He’s a college dropout who majored in psychology, aiming to specialize in child psychology, which makes so much sense but also I find incredibly ironic considering he later exhibits very VERY obvious signs of what’s probably PTSD and doesn’t clock it at all. But that is also going to be its separate point, put a pin in that.

It’s not just implied, but pretty explicitly stated by Ralph himself that he’s a massive overachiever. He was probably pretty academically successful in college, considering he mentions it was a surprise to most people that he’d drop out to get into security work. It’s pretty strongly implied this was mostly because he was pressured into succeeding by his parents. My man has that helicopter parents burnout syndrome, and escaped it by going into a job where he could still interact with kids like he wanted to as a psychologist but actually be happy, and that means a lot to me actually.

(Very important sidenote, because I don’t know where else to put this: the fact that his real dream job is to make children’s toys is just so real to me, especially as someone who’s also experienced academic burnout. It makes so much sense for him to want to do something with his hands where he can create something tangible after being pushed into being traditionally ‘successful’ in academia by his environment. Also put a pin in this as well because I have another point to make about the whole toymaker thing)

He seems to be at least low-contact with his family, which is understandable from what we know about his father - I’d say it’s likely he even cut contact completely after dropping out of college. The fact that he never mentions his parents as a possibility when he talks about babysitting options, or the fact that he doesn’t even consider them taking care of Coppelia when he is literally about to die seems pretty telling to me. I mean, alternatively, they could both be dead, depending on how old Ralph is, but since Coppelia’s only eleven that seems a bit unlikely.

Coppelia’s mom is a mystery. There is exactly one mention of her in this entire book and it doesn’t come from Ralph, but from Pel, so we know she does in fact exist but that’s about it. When Ralph talks about parenting Coppelia he never mentions her mom, even as far back as when Coppelia was one year old. They probably divorced when Coppelia was really young, and Ralph likely has full custody, since he never mentions Coppelia going to her mother’s for the weekend or anything like that. And that’s all we know.

Freddy’s and Related Tidbits (Or: I Stuffed Everything Related to his Relationship to Fazbear Entertainment in this Section)

He’s worked at Freddy’s for at least eleven years, because he mentions Coppelia being a month old when he already had the job and recorded his first training tape. If FNAF 1 indeed takes place in 1993, that means he was already working at Freddy’s by 1982 and likely earlier. Which, side-tangent, would imply that either Fredbear’s Family Diner was removed enough from Fazbear Entertainment by then for him not to know anything beyond the vague existence about the bite of ‘83, or that FNAF 1 takes place after 1993. But at this point the timeline is confusing enough that who knows.

He’s never moved up to management despite being there for more than a decade, also doesn’t appear to know Henry or William (especially if you believe the whole Dave-is-probably-William theory).

He was employee of the month 22 times. He also likely competed against his murderer ex-boss in disguise for the longest employee of the month award streak which is the best goddamn thing I’ve ever heard.

He’s written some of the rules at Freddy’s. Because of course he has.

He leaves passive-agressive notes to the dayshift guard and also thinks about shoving a ballpoint pen in the cleaning staff’s faces. And also talks about reporting people for slacking off. What I’m trying to say that he’s probably not the most popular of people with the rest of the staff, and doesn’t appear to realize why that could possibly be. Worst enemy of folks who don’t want to take their shitty minimum wage job extremely seriously.

On a related note, he takes his job so seriously oh my god. He does like twenty other jobs each night while the animatronics are trying to kill him. He’s probably the only person still doing reports. Management is very much implied to never read them. He writes them anyway. The fact that he was genuinely called ‘the Phone Guy’ and also was in training videos is also amazing (and also pushes the Trans Phone Guy agenda for anyone who considers Kim from the FNAF movie to be a stand-in for him).

This is specifically night-shift related: While it’s true that his survival instincts are absolutely shot, he is, when pushed, demonstrated to be capable of extreme violence against animatronics, which actually good for him. He kicks Bonnie’s head off. He beats Chica to death with a mop. He shoots Foxy with a watergun and also throws a lightbulb at him. This is not particularly important to anything but it’s extremely important to me.

Anyways, he’s really, really loyal to this company. Like, too loyal. Like, he was very much responsible and instrumental in shutting down rumors and speculation among staff after the bite of ‘87 and likely after the MCI as well too loyal. He’s management’s mouthpiece for their dirty work and that makes me feel a certain way because it’s so obvious he cares a lot about this shitty kids’ restaurant, enough that he’d defend it at all cost even when there’s so much evidence against it. This will come up again when I talk about him gaslighting himself.

This is mostly me speculating on the previous point, but I’m pretty certain a lot of his defending of the company is also a coping mechanism that he uses to grapple with the trauma brought to him by the fact that he’s spent a huge chunk of his life working for a conglomerate that’s gotten people killed. He genuinely insinuates Jeremy was responsible for getting chomped, because he must’ve done something wrong, the animatronics would never attack anyone without reason (right?). When he talks about how the media blew children going missing out of proportion, it seems less like he believes it and more like he doesn’t want to believe it - especially considering he’s only brought Coppelia to Freddy’s once in her life. He never lets her near it. He shuts her down immediately when she talks about working at it. Which, at least to me, demonstrates that on a subconscious level, he knows what he’s saying isn’t true. It’s just easier to say it than face the facts.

And lastly, he’s so clearly and passionately loyal to the Fazbear’s franchize. This fucker genuinely loves working here and is sad to go, even though management treats him like shit. We already knew that, but still, dear god those people could not care less if he lived or died and he STILL takes his night guard duties so goddamn seriously. He’s so clearly really invested in it, he talks about what a magical place Freddy’s used to be for kids, he talks about how much the job means to him, all the while it’s actively trying to kill him, he defends it to the point that it’s actively ridiculous, and in multiple endings he still gets blackmailed, disappeared or worse by the people he’s defending. And- I don’t know. It just makes me really sad. Again, I do believe his over-the-top enthusiasm for his job is probably him compensating for the fact that he doesn’t want to face the incredibly traumatic stuff happening to him, especially because as the week goes on, he gets less and less enthusiastic with every night, and just- Yeah. Fazbear Entertainment doesn’t deserve him.

Characterization, Diction and Things Like That (Or: Everything Else)

Let’s get the more positive stuff in this section out of the way first: we already knew this from the phone calls, but the way this man talks just sends me. “Time to make the donuts” when walking into a shift my favorite of his Phone-Guy-isms, but also unironically saying “oh boy!” and “what rotten luck!” right when you’re about to die is equally important to me.

Kind of related but not really: this man truly is a dad through and through because MY GOD the amount of bad puns and/or stupid references he makes is criminal. The fact that they get him actually killed in some of the endings because he keeps laughing at his own terrible jokes is also great. My favorite examples include thinking “my, what large ears you have” immediately before Foxy mauls him, the Irony Curtain, the how many night watchmen does it take to change a lightbulb, and so on. The fact that he also finds all of this absolutely hilarious means so much to me. Ralph truly is a cringefail girl dad, RIP to him he would’ve loved those awful shirts with puns that were popular with dads going to Disneyland in the 2000s.

Not gonna lie, and I’m not sure if this is just me reading too much into it, but he also reads as at least slightly neurodivergent to me. And I am ready to die on that hill. He doesn’t really seem to be the best at social interaction or with figuring people out, from the way he talks about not being able to tell if his coworkers are only laughing at his jokes to be polite or not and how he doesn’t seem to understand why they would be upset with him shoving minimal errors in their faces. He notices a single hat out of place in one of the Party Rooms and immediately goes to correct it. He makes a point about how much he hates messes and the whole “you need order, you crave order in your life” quote resonated so deeply with me that it’s uncanny. He’s a “stickler for rules”. The fact that he worked at one place for eleven plus years also makes me think he’s probably not the best with change. I could go on. I don’t know, I wouldn’t be able to tell you why, but I just can’t see him as fully neurotypical.

He’s also just a really curious dude, to the point of his curiosity overriding his survival instincts. Which is a horror protagonist trope if I’ve ever seen one. The scene where he lifts up a strange robot cupcake he just found directly to his face with zero hesitation is just. Yeah.

He loves Foxy, which we already knew, but also the fact that he explicitly states that he’s still scared of him and Pirate Cove by association makes me kinda sad. Also, related point, he’s a self-proclaimed fan of pirate stories, so I’m pretty sure that’s where Coppelia gets her taste in books from, but that’s besides the point.

In general, he just really loves the animatronics, too? Like he waves at them after his shift. Like I already mentioned, he talks about how much they mean to him, and how much he loves the fact that they brought joy to kids. It’s kinda sweet.

The most questionable thing about him is the way he. Uh. Talks about guns/cops in a way that kind of makes me remember he was raised in Utah around the 1960s. There are a few specific passages that make me extremely concerned about what his opinion on the second amendment is. But that is luckily left unspoken so I’ll be moving along.

The job stresses him out so much he consumes a packet of raw poptarts because he’s so hungry by the end of it. Which, while iconic, is also very deeply concerning. Which brings me to my biggest point

My god this man has Trauma. So much Trauma. He represses so much. The entirety of the beginning of Night 3 is just him describing that he forgets details about his shifts as soon as he leaves them. He gaslights himself constantly that nothing bad is happening (after Night 1, for example, he calls the entire shift the night before a bad dream and convinces himself he’s just “misinterpreting” events, which is goddamn concerning), but he’s also actively wasting away despite telling himself he’s not (my man looks into the mirror and his only and first comment is that he looks terrible). Not to mention the dissociation. He spaces out when he comes home on two seperate occassions, and loses and entire hour each time without realizing it. God I hope in the endings where he survives he eventually gets therapy.

Coppelia and Life Outside of Work (Or: This Section is Concerningly Short)

This man loves his daughter so goddamn much. So, so much.

No but seriously the interactions between him and Coppelia are so pure and well written and they were my favorite part of the book, somehow, even though I wasn’t originally sold on the concept. The “with what?” “excellent point, I’ve got nothing” kills me still. The scene where Coppelia curls up next to him after he comes home from his shift makes me want to sob. He makes her pancakes and they banter and she test limits but it’s obvious she also loves her dad, and that is- AAAAAA

Back to my bullshit, though: Ralph does kinda read as the type of parent who’d spoil a kid rotten if given the opportunity to do so. At some point Coppelia directly says that he “gets her everything she wants”, and- yeah. This is similar to the point I made previously about him bringing her gifts all the time. She does seem like a good kid, though. He’s just a girl dad to the extent that he’d probably wear a shirt with girl dad written on it, you know?

He’s also really protective of her. And worries. A lot. Not just when he calls home or rushes home to check on her, but also when he talks about being a security guard at her school and whenever he forbids her from ever ever going near Freddy’s. Say what you will about him defending a company to a possibly unethical extent, but he’s not about to endanger his daugher over it, and I respect that.

The only concering thing about him and Coppelia is the fact that Coppelia apparently drew herself stabbing him when she was little. Which is. Well. Not ideal. The fact that he finds this completely normal is very in character, though.

On Coppelia by herself, though: the fact that she ‘tinkers with stuff in the basement’ concerns me. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if after the canon ending, she ends up to be a technician at Freddy’s at some point. Also, the fact that she’s a gamer warms my heart.

Now, on other outside-work activities: I love the implication that my man not only bowls and always pays for dinner, but that he bowls and pays for dinner while dining with his serial killer ex-boss. God, that’s awesome, I love that so much.

Tying back to a point I made previously and also to a point I saw some people make that I really, really resonated with: there are actually a lot of parallels between Henry/William and Ralph, especially concering parenting. I don’t think the fact that his dream to be a toymaker is accidental, either, or the fact that he goes out of his way to point out that he wants to make toys that aren’t at all mechanical. Because even though he’s also a dad trying to make his kid happy with his creations, unlike William and/or Henry, he doesn’t want to make anything bigger than himself, or anything innovative; just wants to make simple things and make a kid’s day better. I don’t know man keeps me up at night, you know?

And, because this is only important to me: he owns a Kit-Cat Clock. This is somehow the most fitting thing I could’ve read about his taste in home decor.

And because I don’t know how else to end this: that’s a wrap! Was this book perfect? Hell no. The Bronwen plotline makes my brain hurt. But was it incredibly fun? Oh hell yes. And now I have a reference point for any future writings I do where Ralph is an active character, so that’s a major bonus. I have many thoughts but not enough time to put all of them down so I’m stopping here, major thanks to @graceandtheidiotsquad for pushing me over the edge and making me actually finish this with a reply lmao. And that’s all! Phone Man please get out of my head now before I go insane.

[spiralling-thoughts]

Loona would make an awful and abusive friend for Octavia

(Sorry if I might be rude and pity in this post , but this have been bothering me for so long and I feel like I should voice my opinion on the matter now disclaimer I mean no ill will towards anyone and I don't harass people who write about this idea neither should you this is just me voicing MY PERSONAL OPINION so are we cool here?)

So I have seen many and I mean MANY fanfics ,fanart,ect of the idea that loona would make an awesome older sister to Octavia and be her "first real friend who understands her " and some take it as far as shipping (sorry but the shipping aspect of this is really gross loona is 22 while Octavia is 17 this is pedophilia) now I will be honest I personally think this is sugar quoting and people giving loona to much credit, this woman is ABUSIVE (yes I said it she's a more accurate representation of abuse than stella and yes abusers could be traumatized victims) this woman beats and attacks her adoptive father who always shower showed her with affection and she knows hed get over it this is an extremely toxic trait, she kept insulting moxxie about being fat (even though he's a stick figure) until she gave him body image issues and she starts pity fights like how she did in queen bee now in what world would someone like this be a good older sister towards anyone?like imagine if Octavia asked loona to dial down her attitude a bit what would loona do? Would she listen to her NAH if she'd beat up her own father for that whose to say she wouldn't do the same for Octavia?, and their conversation in seeing stars....oh boy I was holding back trying not to throw my phone when this part came there are a bunch of posts about how nonsensical this part was but the long and short of it is that loona doesn't have any right to tell Octavia to put up with stolas when she herself treats her father poorly and she straight up lied to Octavia, stolas wasn't looking for her he was pathetically sitting around in the theatre getting thirsty over blitz and he wasn't all that freaked out that he's daughter ran away because of him, so loona literally gaslighted Octavia to apologise and come back to her neglectful father (yes for the millionths time stolas is neglectful) , this just makes their "friendship" all the more jarring and toxic, just because both are goth girls with daddy issues doesn't mean they will be instantly healthy friends their issues, upbringing, situations are completely different, Octavia is getting neglected by her father who constantly puts hes own desires before her will being and constantly makes her uncomfortable and constantly let her down and break his promises and from her perspective he ruined her home life, loona on the other hand is being rude and abusive towards her father who so far gave her affection, protection and while yes he was once over protective of her it's understandable considering where he got adopted her from yet even after all of that and after 5 years of being with him she still treats him poorly with only a few moments where she was nice to him and even then she resorts back to not caring about him and being rude and violent and she knows he'll get over it and come back to spoiling her, Octavia is getting emotionally abused by her father while loona is abusing her father THERE SITUATIONS ARE NOT THE SAME and now loona will basically glue Octavia onto her abuser while also probably abusing Octavia either emotionally, mentally, physically I don't see her at all as a kind or understanding or caring person she only act like that when it's convenient to the plot or as a moment to gaslight people into ignoring her awful actions , so yeah I don't think loona would at all be a good person for Octavia to hang out with under any circumstances she'd probably badly influence her and make her mental health worse than it already is , people go out of their way to make her act completely different from what she does in the show to make this s*** idea possible and that's another problem loona like stolas is coddled by the fandom and they always ignore how much of an awful person she actually is instead come up with excuses for her and try to make her look better than she actually is , I get the appeal people might get from this idea but I really don't like it or see it I feel like people are glossing over alot of issues with this whole situation

Thank you for coming to my rant

[charmedreincarnation]

Hi love your blog! do you feel older with shifting, do your other drs affect your personality, how do you deal with memories, what’s your favorite way to shift

Hi love!

I solely use intention now but I like to recommend Lucid dreaming, state akin to sleep , and the 5 sense method to others.

For the first two questions, no and no. I keep my DRs separate! The only place I'm going to start keeping all my memories is my WR for personal reasons. I think the belief that your DRs have to affect yourself here is based on the notion that this reality is your true reality or that like this is the OG. This is not the OG nor the realest, it's just the one you're aware of right now. Consciousness has no original or real reality; awareness is the reality. You can shape that reality however you please. So, I don't feel older, nor do my personality changes. I am Maya here, and though your personality will and can change especially if you don't want to mesh your realities, the truth is it will be just like here. Your likings and beliefs will be based upon your upbringing, environment, and of course, your script if you want that to be a part of your DR.

About how I deal with memories. Memory suppression exists, and once again, I prefer to only remember general things because I like my life here and I just want to live without being influenced by my DR. Plus, it gets annoying when you've shifted somewhere and you watch the media and others dictate somewhere you've actually been like it's a TV show. It is a TV show here, but you know it's actually your life, but you can't explain that to people. So memory suppression, which everyone has, helps with that. Personally, I think if you don't know about the law or shifting, you just reincarnate. So the truth is we've probably all lived before; we don't remember, but that's why things like Deja vu exist. But imagine remembering every single day of every single one of your lives? Most people can't even remember their dreams from the previous night or what they had for lunch two days ago. Your mind here would literally explode, so that's a good thing! Same with shifting. The same way you can't tell me what you were doing on October 13th, 2011, I can't in my DRs. Except in my WR because I scripted that memory suppression doesn't exist and it's perfectly fine. But yeah, it will be different for everyone, to be honest, but that's how it is for me! Hope that helps.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Hi! I really love your metas and i hope you're doing good. There's this about hp that's been bothering me for a while now and i kinda wanted to get your opinion? Sorry if it's been asked already or if it's just really really obvious but it's about sirius being Harry's godfather. Like, how do you think it happened and what do you think it means in the magical world, being a godparent? Do you think they have a ceremony for that or something? I lowkey thought that maybe it's something like Lily's influence with muggleborns being religious still but it seems like the idea of a godparent is so universally understood and accepted in the wizarding world and I'm like... What does that mean for them exactly?

Sorry again if it's stupid and no pressure about answering and stuff, love you, hope you are having a good one :)

Hi, thank you! 🥰

I just posted about religion in the magical world in a former ask. And it's not stupid, overthinking things like this is great and I made it a hobby. I think all of this is fun to explore. And while I lowkey wish there was a magical godparent ritual... the books don't really back it up.

As I wrote, I think wizards in Britain are predominantly Christian (Protestant specifically). As such a godparent would mean what it always does, which is a person involved in the religious development and upbringing of the child.

“Yes . . . ,” said Black. “But I’m also — I don’t know if anyone ever told you — I’m your godfather.” “Yeah, I knew that,” said Harry. “Well . . . your parents appointed me your guardian,” said Black stiffly. “If anything happened to them . . .”

(PoA, 379)

From this quote, it seems in the Wizarding World a godparent actually has legal guardianship over their godchild in the case of something happening to the parents (which isn't always the case in the modern day). In general, considering how the Wizarding World is a bit old in it's views and customs, I'd expect godparents to be more like their historical variant rather than the modern one. As in, much more common and much more involved in the child's life.

I actually read a little bit about godparents in the Church of England and apparently, there was a point in the 15th century when godparents weren't a thing before being reintroduced. But I don't think the wizards took much note of it. From how everyone talks about godparents it seems like their role is an important one in the child's life:

said Fudge. “Potter trusted Black beyond all his other friends. Nothing changed when they left school. Black was best man when James married Lily. Then they named him godfather to Harry. Harry has no idea, of course. You can imagine how the idea would torment him.”

(PoA, 204)

Everyone treats it as meaningful to be chosen as a godparent. It's a choice that is important because the godparent is expected to be very involved in the child's life.

Now, usually, a godparent would bear witness to a child's baptism as their religious role. I assume infant baptism is, therefore, practiced in the Wizarding World (like it is in the Anglican church) in some way or another which implies there is a ceremony of sorts as you mentioned. That being said, Harry didn't bear witness to any baptism of Teddy, though it was in the middle of a war and Harry had other things on his mind. I'd say they probably have a magical spin on baptism that godparents are involved in, but sometimes it'll be skipped, like in the middle of a war. Like their funerals and weddings, it'll likely look like a regular Christian baptism with the addition of a certain magical flare, at least that's my guess.

As for how Sirius became Harry's godfather, Fudge implied it was all James as he and Sirius were so close. I agree with his assessment on this one thing (can't believe I'm agreeing with Fudge of all people). James was probably the one who brought it up and Lily agreed. From her letter to Sirius, it's clear she understands how close he and James are and that she and has grown closer to Sirius too through James.

As the Potters were already in hiding when Harry was born, he probably didn't have the official baptism ceremony. From Lily's letter though, it appears Sirius did visit them on occasion:

We were so sorry you couldn’t come, but the Order’s got to come first, and Harry’s not old enough to know it’s his birthday anyway! James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell—also Dumbledore’s still got his Invisibility Cloak, so no chance of little excursions. If you could visit, it would cheer him up so much. Wormy was here last weekend.

(DH, 158)

So, Sirius was involved enough in Harry's life Lily felt the need to assure him it's not that bad he missed Harry's first birthday, meaning Sirius really didn't want to miss it.

I'm rambling a bit, but the short of it is that a godparent in the Wizarding World is like a third parental figure for the child and is very involved in their upbringing. Godparents seem quite common in the Wizarding World, I headcanon that most wizard-raised children actually have godparents and Harry just never learned about most of them. Additionally, a godparent is the legal guardian of the child if something happens to the parents. Finally, I think wizards have an infant baptism ceremony which is when the godparents are relevant in the religious context, although we never see such a ceremony taking place due to circumstances.

On that note, hope you're having a good one too!

[cherrylng]

Matthew Bellamy & Dominic Howard & Chris Wolstenholme interview - Muse [ROCKIN'ON (May 2000)]

"I think we're more honest about the times we live in than Radiohead."

Face this irreverent ‘beautiful mess’! While roaring demons and falsetto angels make a secret pact, Muse recaptures the physicality of rock with their superb technique and excessive staging, and even celebrates despair with all their might. There is no blind spot for these guys!!

Interview: Naoya Kida / Interpretation: Noboru Takami / Photography: DAISKE

Muse's showcase in Japan was a spectacular show that relentlessly hit the ‘sound of the times’. Matthew Bellamy's vocals, which utilise an idea that no one had thought of before - alternating between an effects-processed microphone and a normal microphone - attempt to represent all inner "voices" such as sadness, loneliness, joy, and madness, as well as his excessive performance in which he wields a modified guitar like a sword and his insane, virtuoso technique. He stepped through the dirt board that was placed on top of progressive rock and stole the techniques, mastered the sad melodies and flamenco rhythms in Spain, and possessed the "miraculous falsetto" of Jeff Buckley, who was supposed to be dead - I could only laugh and surrender to the possibilities of such outrageous rock.

Far from the objectivity of Radiohead, who reflect the world as it is, Muse lives in chaos. Now they stand on stage as if they are celebrating the story of despair that once ended with the death of Kurt Cobain. There is nothing to fear, despair openly, and cry out. If there is no hope in reality, you are the one who is beautiful and interesting, and that is the kind of fresh courage that resides in them. They have the overwhelming power to do justice to the jokey band name ‘Goddess’. In the 90s, rock music has been reduced to a struggle with self-consciousness, but these guys easily love and release their confused selves, and say that they are the right ones. And the moment this becomes possible, all hatred of the world, despair and everything else vanishes. Muse is a reckless narcissist who is heading for the extreme value of such catharsis.

In Melody Maker magazine, Matthew told us that his mother was a medium, that he too was interested in ouija boards as a child (his distrust of religion probably developed after he realised their falsehood), and the disappointment of his parents' divorce. I found their upbringing enigmatic and interesting, but this interview focused on what they wanted to achieve and how they wanted to provoke the world. Matthew's soul despairs of society (‘showbiz’) and religion, where even death is commodified in the capitalist system. I want you to feel the passion of his ascension with no place to go.

"Bands that used to be involved in the evolution of rock have been derailed into an ideological dimension. We're trying to get it back on track."

● I saw you live last night and thought your technique was so incredible that it was going to be amazing. Do you have any ambitions to drag down other British bands who can't even play rock music? M (Matthew, Vo&G): 「(laughs). I mean, in terms of the amount of touring we do and the quality of the music we make, I think Muse are better than most of the UK bands right now. For example, Senseless Things…… Sultans of Ping FC, ehehe.」

● (laughs) Don't be shy, but who would be your ideal artist, for example? M: ‘For me personally, the Tom Waits concert I saw in New York was the best concert of my life. There's no other show where you can experience so many different moods. It was like watching a play, there was so much atmosphere, I'd never seen anything like it. I'm not sure if that influence shows up in our live shows though. Also, the best rock band for me is probably Rage Against The Machine. That release of energy is extraordinary. It never stops from the beginning to the end.」 D (Dominic, Dr): 「Yeah, I guess so. Come to think of it, we used to like dressing up like girls too (laughs). I mean when we were much younger.」 M: 「We still do that sometimes. We didn't do it yesterday in Tokyo, but it happens sometimes. We started out under the name Muse when we were 16, and then we changed it to Rocket Baby Dolls for a couple of weeks, but then we put on a lot of make-up and we were like, ‘Oh my god’ (laughs).」

● Hahaha. M: 「I've always had this side to me. Deep down inside, I have a desire to be a 'whore', and that desire sometimes comes out (laughs).」

● (laughs) I see. What you said earlier about Tom Waits, Matthew used to do theatre. You did some weird pantomime-like moves on stage sometimes, but dare I say what do you think you're performing on stage? M: 「Hmmm, well…… It's like an excuse to let myself go (laughs). On stage, I can dress up like a twat and sing and express myself freely. In fact, if I started doing the same thing on the street, people would look at me with a scowl and say, "What's wrong with this guy?" But if you put a band together and do it on stage, they'll let you do it. It's like I'm going back and forth between two personalities, depending on the song. Some songs are so personal that you have to close your eyes to play them because you can't stand the way the audience looks at you, while others are the complete opposite, where you stare at the audience and point and make silly gestures. It's like, "Look at me!" I guess I go back and forth between the two during the gig.」

● Including this kind of live movement, I thought that you were conscious of wanting to restore something like human physicality in your music. I think guitar bands, especially after Radiohead, tend to go in an idealistic direction, but Muse are moving in a more physical direction, which I felt was very new. Is that something you are conscious of? C (Chris, B): 「No, it just happens naturally while we play. The way you express a song, the way you sing it, comes naturally as you play it.」 D: 「In fact, if you saw us at a gig, you wouldn't think there was any reasoning going on on stage. It doesn't seem like we're playing with anything in mind. It's like when you're reading a porno magazine, if you think too much you can't even stand up (laughs).」

● Hahaha. Well, that's true. M: 「But yeah, I've always tried to be physical. Not only live, but also on the album. In fact, a lot of people marvel at it. They expect it to be conceptual, as you say, but it's because our music is heavier, more direct, more open, more physical than you'd expect. But I think people are starting to realise, "This is what rock music has evolved into". "This is what rock music is like now". I think some of the bands that used to be involved in the ‘evolution’ of rock music, like Radiohead and Metallica*, have somehow strayed from the heavy, straight rock of Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins to a more conceptual, abstract dimension. We've (and then he wiggles his hand) - yeah, we've got it back on track.」

● I see. Did you have this vision from when you started the band? On the other hand, were there any frustrations, such as being in a very tight situation in real life? M: 「First of all, there was nothing else to do in the town where we grew up. Everyone who grew up in towns away from the big cities like London and Manchester is like that to some extent. So anyway, the main reason we started the band was to find something to do. And not something negative, but something positive. In fact, in a town like that, a lot of young people are going in a negative direction. They're so bored that they end up committing crimes. Drugs and things like that, even when they're just kids. There's really nothing to do. That's why for us the band is…… It was a prescription for not turning to crime.」

● So you were inspired by rock music in the first place because you were driven by the environment rather than the music itself? M: 「Yeah, I suppose it was the environment. But it's true that I started playing music because I was bored, but it wasn't because I was bored that I continued to pursue music without quitting. I think that's the biggest difference between me and the rest of the gang…… Hmmm…… I guess you could say that…… There's more than one reason why we started the band in the first place. There are so many reasons. So you have to be very careful when you use just one example. Because people might assume, "Oh, that's the reason?" For example, "When I was 17, just looking at all the people around me playing on computers all day and not doing anything else was enough to make me want to quit school", or "There's nothing more embarrassing than the apathy technology brings to people"……」 C&D: 「What's that (laughs)?」 M: 「But that's just one of the problems. There were also questions about the school education system itself…… The system says that "the schooling system makes the state as an organisation more powerful", but in my opinion it only makes the country richer, takes our eyes off the problems of the third world and makes the world a worse place. That's why I rejected schooling. So that was one of the issues that turned me towards rock music. The other issue is, yes, women. There are endless problems with women (laughs). So there are all sorts of reasons. And as I got older, I started expressing different feelings about different issues in my songs.」

● I think there are very few bands in the UK that have a critical perspective on society, do you have that kind of conviction? D: 「Certainly, I don't think there are many British bands doing the kind of music we do. We're often compared to Radiohead.」

● But when I saw you live, I thought that your guitar phrasing was completely different from Radiohead's. Why do you think people compare you to them? D: 「I mean, I think Radiohead are the only band other than us who are honest about the current situation in the UK. We and Radiohead are very much influenced by the country where we were born and raised. A lot of the negativity in our music comes from our feelings about the UK we grew up in. I can't think of many British bands that are doing anything remotely substantial.」 M: 「If you're talking about veterans as well as new bands, I think U2 are unique. I don't know about it musically, but in terms of the concept of the band and the way they look at things, I think they have a lot in common with what we're trying to say. But, for example, what Radiohead is doing now and what we're doing are completely different. They're about ten years older than us and I think the times themselves have changed since they were our age. So I guess you could say we're similar in the sense that Muse are doing music that's as much about ‘now’ as Radiohead were ten years ago, but these days Radiohead are making music about what's happening now for a 30-year-old, and we're making music about what's happening now for a 24-year-old. So in that sense we're different from them. I think we're more of a band of the current era, in the sense that we're honest about the times we're living in. But when I say ‘singing about the times’, I don't pretend to be singing about other people's relationships to the times. I'm just singing about our own relationship with our times. When you go into it and in the process of growing up, you create your own world, your own reality. You learn things, you experience things, and you form your own worldview that you think, "This is the world". It's completely different from what other people think of the world. So I'm just singing about the world I've shaped. It's my own view of the world, my own view of the times, and no one else is singing it. The other people are singing their own view of the times.」

● Yes. But you could say that although the perspective of the era they're singing about is different, they're targeting the same era. M: 「Oh, I see, yes, yes.」

● So, do you take pride in being a pioneering artist who correctly understands the ‘now’ and expresses it in your music? M: 「I'd like to be by the time we release our third album, though. I don't know. We've only released our first album. It's still more of a ‘goal’ at the moment. So we might fail.」

"I think life is a journey to find the right equilibrium of things. But I'm oscillating between two extremes. On the one hand I hate society and reject my audience, and on the other hand I embrace them."

● No, I'm hoping, really. So are there any bands or artists in the US that you feel empathy for? There are a lot of bands, including Rage, that use social stress as a source of energy. D: 「In America, it's…… Slipknot!」 C: 「(laughs)」 M: 「No, I seriously think so. I can relate to their music and I think they are similar to us in the way they focus on the zeitgeist. I mean, I think both Muse and Slipknot express honestly in their music how they relate to the times we're living in right now.」

● In the case of Slipknot, one of their messages is that they live in an era that has the potential for extreme and excessive heaviness, and they do it in a very pop way, which I think applies to you as well. Is it something you can relate to? M: 「Yes. So the problem is that I could easily go for the kind of music they're doing. But I think life is a journey of finding the right equilibrium of things. I'm only about 20 years old and I'm constantly going back and forth between the two extremes. I'm on a journey. It's hard to find a place of balance. So it's easy to settle on one extreme or the other. And the extreme point is Slipknot. So if you're not careful, you can easily end up with extremely reactionary music that's all about hate and anger. I think that side of me is always there. I feel like I'm always oscillating between the two extremes. On the one hand, you have bands that hate and reject society and reject their audience, or are almost hostile to them. And on the other side is a band that shares with the audience, loves and embraces the audience. And we're the ones who move back and forth between the two.」

● Indeed. So, you said before that you wanted to leave a mark that you are here, but behind such thoughts, is there an obsession that you might be an invisible man? M: 「No, I don't think there is such a thing as an invisible man. I think all human beings are equal. In the sense that we are all part of one big system that binds us all together. Whether you are a scientist trying to invent something for the future or just an office worker, you are all important. Because we all function together…… Hopefully.」

● That's a slightly cynical view of humanity. M: 「…… And I personally don't find it hard to be in a situation where I'm an invisible man. That's why I've always wanted to do music, and I have the most fun when I'm doing it, that's all. I think I'm basically very adaptable to different situations. I've been in a lot of different situations myself. For example, before I started this band I was doing manual labour, painting, and decorating. I've had some pretty hard jobs. But my workmates were all good guys and I adapted to the situation. And then all of a sudden this band started. So I think it's fair to say I didn't feel any fear at all.」

● So you were quite happy with the situation at that time? M: 「Um…… Well…… I wasn't (laughs).」

● Right? There was a kind of frustration, wasn't there? M: 「But even now, I'm not satisfied with it. I'm not sitting back and thinking, "We did it!" I still feel the same dissatisfaction as I did when I was doing that kind of work. I think all sorts of mental problems prevalent in western society contribute to my dissatisfaction.」

● David Bowie, for example, has said that he switched between different personas because he wanted to prove to himself that he wasn't invisible, but you don't make music out of that distorted impulse. If that's the case, what do you think fuels your work? M: 「……Because we're a three-piece band.」

● Hey. M: 「No, seriously, it's because we're just three people. I mean, with three people, there's a lot of room left for each of us to do what we want. The proof is that the music we make is just as powerful and loud as music made by bigger bands, like a five-piece band. Do you understand what I mean? I don't know how to explain it, but I was in four bands before Muse, and when I was in the first one, I felt like I lost myself, like I was lost, like I was just a part of something bigger. But now I'm completely guaranteed room to do whatever I want to do. There's room in the band now for my ‘whole personality’ on stage, not just on guitar. There's no one to clash with me.」 C: 「There's no chance of anyone being swallowed up by anyone else.」

● In other words, you've created this band form in order to fully open yourself up to the fact that you're not invisible, whether that's sad or melancholic. M: 「Yeah. For the time being we'll stay like this. I'm not going to say we're going to stay a three-piece band forever. You never know what the future holds.」

"I think we want to speak for the emotions of people in the social system. We're also emotionally driven and we're still confused."

● Understood. You said that "'Sunburn' is about a moth that hits a lightbulb when it thinks it's flying towards the sun", but I think a lot of your lyrics are about the disillusionment that comes when ideals are betrayed. Is this a reflection of your attitude towards the times you grew up in, your view of the times and the world that you talked about earlier? M: 「You're saying that 'Sunburn' sums up the era I live in?」

● Yes. I was wondering if it was a metaphor for how you feel, that your ideals have been betrayed. M: 「Yeah. But there were never any ideals to begin with. Ideals get broken as you get older, you know. That's why most people try to live a safe life, to stop their ideals from being destroyed. They fear the truth and want to turn away from it. And so they live a modest life in a modest town, in a modest family. They don't want to look at what's happening on the other side of it, they don't try hard to learn. Well, a lot of people don't want to talk about issues that challenge their reality…… People only want to talk about things that they feel comfortable talking about - things they don't want to destroy, things they've built up, and things they believe in. Anyway, I think I'm at the stage now where I'm trying to be as objective about things as possible. Because I think that's the best solution.」

● Do you think young British people of your generation are basically similarly disillusioned? M: 「I think they might hold it, yes. I think it's the same in a lot of countries, not just in the UK. I think people don't think about things as much as they used to. I mean, I suppose in terms of technology we're more advanced now than we were a few hundred years ago, but I think that a few hundred years ago people were thinking about a lot more things. About religion, about people. But these days, people think mostly about wasting money. They rarely think about anything else. I think that the media, especially television, has largely fostered this generation. For example, by the time I was born, computers were already part of the social system that brought me up. But as I've grown older, I've come to realise that these things are not really made for people's benefit. We humans have been bought up by these luxuries. I think that's where the disillusionment came from. In short, we don't feel a spiritual connection with other people anymore. It's called ‘apathy’ or ‘not feeling anything’. At least I think that's how I was brought up. And now that I'm doing music, I'm able to detach myself from those feelings, and I'm able to look at things and think about things objectively, and I think that's a big thing.」

● Radiohead's 'OK Computer', for example, was an album that played the role of a cold-hearted portrait of the modern social system itself. Do you want Muse to be a mirror to portray society in the same way? Or is it to liberate the emotions of the people in it? M: 「'OK Computer' is certainly that…… Hmmm…… I think it's an album that ‘describes’ things in detail. But the music we make is not that clear-cut. It's obviously the difference in age (laughs). So it's more like the inhabitants depicted in 'OK Computer'.」

● If 'OK Computer' was an album that objectively observed a certain system, then you guys are actually living in that system, feeling various things and expressing those feelings? M: 「Yes.」

● So, do you think it is your mission to break within the social system, or to be a voice for those who are going through similar experiences, or to speak for them and liberate them? M: 「Ah, yeah, I think I want to speak for them. At the moment, yes. I think we still tend to get carried away with our emotions, and I think we're still confused in many areas. I mean I always take the stance that "I don't really know". I haven't reached the point where I can express in my music what is right and what is wrong, or what this is all about. I'm not confident enough yet to sing something so direct, so black and white. I'm still confused.」

● I see. Now for the last question. From the passion and almost perfectionist performance you showed at last night's show, I felt your determination that if there is no ideal in the world and there is only confusion, then you have to create your own ideal world. What are your last remaining ideals, if any? M: 「Ideals……. I don't know, I don't know. I mean, isn't it the job of scientists to prove that the ideals we humans create are wrong? It's like no matter how idealistic we are, scientists will disprove everything one after another…… In the end, people either repeat the usual pattern of having their ideals shattered, meeting tragedy and dying (laughs), or they get through it, trying to keep the balance in their boring lives. So the most important thing is…… is to not be afraid of anything. I think if you accept fear, you can leave this world and move on to the next stage of your existence. It's fear that stops us from moving forward. Fear that you will lose everything you have built up in your life, all your ideals. So, on the other hand, you have to try not to create too many different ideals. I think it's important to always be aware that everything is just a figment of your imagination, an illusion. You have to accept that fact. And physical pain is one of the causes of imagination. So I think if you're willing to accept death, you're not afraid of it. No matter how you die. Then everyone will realise that death is only one step. Why should we be hesitant or afraid, if we're not going to move on anyway?」

Translator’s Note: Hey, Matt from the year 2000, what do you mean by that you still sometimes dress up like a girl? What do you mean you have a desire to be a ‘whore’ deep down??? Hello??????

Given that quote alone, even though this is an in-depth interview, I think this interview will be remembered in another way thanks to the “I have a desire to be a 'whore'” quote alone.

* For this part, admittedly I had no idea which band had the short form named of Medaru/メダル, as no band had such a name. The closest that I could guess, based on reading up on rock music history, is that this could be Metallica that Matt was referring to.

[theamityelf]

Eyyyy it's me again with my trash English but I have been struck with an idea when thinking about the minis au (it's just so cute)

Hear me out

You know the minis like mini thh and mini sdr2

And we have v3 soooo I was thinking

What if the minis from thh and sdr2 were together in v3

And they would be like a set so like let's say for example kokichi has to take care of the luckster set aka makoto and nagito or rantaro has to take care of the forgotten their talent set or you could make hajime have his talents but he and izuru fused thingy :D

I in all honesty don't know what set would work with who so I'll leave that up to you on which set would consist of who and who it would work with

Mini Classmates AU Masterlist

I love it! Oh boy, let's see...I could go based on talent, but I think I'm also going to have some consideration for just what combination would be cool, lol.

(For example, if I were going just by talent, then Impostor and Junko would probably both go to Tsumugi, but that's too easy and denies Junko the opportunity to make a meaningful difference.)

...

Kaede: Keeping it straightforward with her; she gets Sayaka and Ibuki. It's the musicians. They get along well.

Shuichi: I'm giving him Sonia and Byakuya. The only real backstory rationale for this is the idea that they're both serial killer enthusiasts and also Shuichi is like the nepo baby of the detective world (joking)? But that's not the actual reason. Really, it's because it's cool to place a bad influence like Byakuya on Shuichi's shoulder– someone who will praise him for lying in trials –and also it's funny to give Shuichi someone kind of high maintenance. I want Shuichi sweating, trying to make accommodations for the Ultimate Affluent Progeny and the Ultimate Princess. And I want Sonia sitting on the bill of Shuichi's cap with her little legs dangling off and her ankles crossed.

If Kaede dies, he'll take her minis in, and vice versa.

Rantaro: He's getting Hajime and Kyoko. Memory gang! I honestly don't think Rantaro would trust his minis all that much, but Kyoko doesn't need trust to be effective (though it definitely helps); she just needs access. And he has to take her with him, everywhere he goes, or risk being executed if she's lost or killed. For now, I'm saying it's normal Hajime, but we can put a pin in that, for later.

Kirumi: Oh, Taka and Mikan are the clear answer, but I kinda want to give her a spicier combo...Like, Taka and Mikan are fitting, but I don't know that they really bring out anything new in her. But if I gave her Makoto and Nagito? Now we have this hypercompetent person dealing with Makoto's clumsiness and Nagito's craftiness. She's not wholly unreceptive to Nagito's ideology, but she's very pragmatic about when it is and isn't helpful. Nagito and Kirumi are having a very polite conversation about how it's their natural place to serve, and Makoto is just waving his arms like "NONE OF THIS IS RIGHT!" Yeah, congrats Kirumi; you get Makoto and Nagito. If you see Nagito climb into Makoto's tiny bed instead of his own after you both get back from planning a murder, no you didn't. ;D

Angie: In a vacuum, she'd get Mahiru and Hifumi. But oh boy, consider...if she got Impostor and Junko...No listen, her canon arc is going from "It's going to be fine," to "Actually, maybe I need to make it fine by taking on a leadership role based on manipulations I haven't unlearned from my upbringing." How short do you think her "It's going to be fine" stage would be, if she knew that her minis were "person who is lying about their identity to everyone" (because her handbook tells her Impostor's talent) and "person who definitely has bad intentions but I can't pin down her exact deal" (because she can read Junko pretty well, but not well enough)?!

Does she assume that everyone else's minis are also up to no good, or does she reach the conclusion that she has been given these minis because she's the only one who can handle them? Whatever the case, her vigilance in keeping Junko on the straight and narrow reads to everyone else like she's just trying to evangelize her poor minis. She is genuinely a little unfair to Impostor, in that she considers them and Junko to be at the same level of "needs me to fix them". I'm giving her Impostor and Junko, because it'd be fun.

She'll be keeping Junko in check with a smile on her face. But since this is a case of her character flaws coming in handy, what this means is either that she still won't get to grow as a person or the moment she grows as a person is the moment she lets her guard down and Junko gets to do something underhanded.

Tenko: Obvious answer would be Aoi and Akane, and that would really be a fun dynamic that would help divert some of her obsessive energy away from Himiko...Other possibility is Leon and Nekomaru, which would be mainly because

1. It's important to see that, despite her "degenerate male" thing, she's still a very caring person to everyone; the game didn't make this as apparent as I feel they could have. It would be cool to have her still say her "degenerate male" stuff but be very careful with Nekomaru and Leon. (My concern here is that it reads like I'm trying to punish her, and I'm not. I just like what this could bring out in her.)

2. Ryoma would do well with Aoi and Akane. Yeah, it's really just a matter of Tenko and Ryoma both qualifying for both pairs of athletes, and I think Ryoma would get more out of having the energetic and positive Aoi and Akane than Tenko, who is already energetic and positive, would.

So, Tenko gets Leon and Nekomaru. She's pretty strict with them, and Nekomaru is super respectful; Leon is rebellious, but Tenko can definitely handle that. (Alternate option is, she gets Aoi and Akane and Ryoma gets Sakura and Hiyoko, but that's not the way I'm playing it.)

Ryoma: Aoi and Akane. Given how positively he reacts to Kaede in canon, this arrangement would be good for his mental health. Not to be 100% serious, but these two are going to pretty much explicitly be his reason to live for a while there. Making sure they get all the food and exercise they want really gives him a sense of purpose, and they push for him to get back into tennis, since it's clear to them that he still loves it.

Korekiyo: My immediate thought is Toko and Gundham. For a moment I considered what Sakura and Hiyoko or Celeste and Chiaki would bring out in him, and either pair could be really cool, but if his minis are both girls, he genuinely might kill them to get to his 100 friends count, once it's clear he's going to be executed anyway. (Which could allow for a situation where Sakura manages to protect Hiyoko and escape, but Celeste and Chiaki would pretty much just die in that situation.) He probably doesn't consider Toko a worthy friend for his sister. (As fun as it would be if Gundham had to protect Toko.) OR, it could be a nice character moment where he chooses not to kill his minis even though there's no reason not to. That'd be nice.

Anyway, I think Toko and Gundham are the match for him. Their quiet, subdued, poetic vibes would go well together, he would take Genocider Syo very much in stride, and just generally I think it would be a pleasant grouping.

Miu: Chihiro and Kazuichi. Her maternal side would come into play, and Kazuichi would love that. Honestly, both Kazuichi and Chihiro would be pretty overwhelmed (in different ways), and I really kind of just want to let that dynamic ride.

Gonta: ...Thinking about giving him Mahiru and Hifumi. Mahiru would be glad to give him advice on how to be a gentleman, and Hifumi would be an example of what not to do (and, ever so occasionally, what to do). Plus, they'd both get a kick out of being closer to bug-sized, artistically speaking; Mahiru can take pictures of bugs that come up to her knee, and Hifumi can get inspired with thoughts of whatever show or manga is relevant to giant bugs. All of that said, Gonta only gets anything out of this arrangement if we take it to be true that he genuinely does need (and want) to be a gentleman, and I'm just not sure whether this is the most interesting angle for him.

Mondo and Fuyuhiko would be wild. Imagine those two giving Gonta masculinity advice, and Gonta just being like, "...No, I think I'm good actually."

Actually, I'm back on Mahiru and Hifumi. I think that could be fun. Gonta gets Mahiru and Hifumi, Mahiru and Hifumi get giant bugs.

Kokichi: Mondo and Fuyuhiko feel fitting for his talent, because they belong to crime groups, but the combo doesn't feel interesting enough. Chiaki and Celeste sound fun, because games and lies. But I'm giving him Mukuro and Peko. Because everything he doesn't like about Maki is something he'll also dislike in them, and tease them about. He doesn't trust them, and like Angie, he considers it his job to prevent any damage they might do.

(If Kirumi dies, I think he'll really push to take care of her minis, because I'm picturing a murder trial where Nagito is firmly supporting Kirumi and Makoto is either confused (because Nagito made sure he didn't see the murder, but he knows enough to know that Kirumi's alibi doesn't make sense) or missing (because he did see the murder, so Kirumi had to hide him), and Kokichi's takeaway would be that Nagito is too into the killing game to allow to run loose and also Makoto might be trustworthy.)

Kaito: I could have given him Kazuichi and Chihiro, because being an astronaut is science, but I would have found the combination just insufferable, lol. (I'm half-joking. It could have been fun.) And Mahiru and Hifumi would also be fun for him; I kind of want Mahiru to yell at him. But I think Sakura and Hiyoko are the coolest option. Hiyoko can fuss at him and laugh at his expense, and Sakura can express concern when he shows signs of his illness.

Tsumugi: She gets Celeste and Chiaki. Let the doll dresses (and video game references) roll.

Kiibo: He gets Teruteru and Yasuhiro because Hiro would hate it, lol. And I believe Teruteru could work with the premise "Giant robot has to take care of me."

Maki: I'm giving her Taka and Mikan because it's funny. It's a fitting combo, for the talent she lied about having. She lied to them about it, too; when they find out that she's an assassin, they're dismayed, but also she's been taking care of them for days now, so they're also worried about her and trying to get her to open up. When Taka tries to encourage her, she's annoyed. She's also annoyed when Mikan falls over or acts all sheepish and she has to help her with things. But she takes care of them, and she does so very well.

Himiko: The obvious answer would have been Celeste and Chiaki, but I'm tempted by Mondo and Fuyuhiko. Imagine Himiko with a mean-looking gangster guy on each shoulder. Imagine Mondo and Fuyuhiko getting into an explosive argument and Himiko just going, "Nyeh, you're so loud...You're lucky you're cute." Chiaki and Himiko have too-similar energies, anyway. So, Mondo and Fuyuhiko have a home at last.

[sainteda]

If Merope Gaunt would have lived and raised Tom. What do you think would have changed?

ultimately, very little.

i think that any life with merope as tom's mother is 1. still going to end with him uncovering the nature of her relationship with his father and by extension her horrible upbringing, and 2. will be one in poverty wherein the devastation of the great depression and world war ii still greatly influence him as a child.

i asked this question to a few of my friends (because it got me thinking, thank you) and one of them mentioned tom likely being put in a role of parenting merope more than she might be able to parent him. i think there would be love there, in whatever way she understands it, but she's so damaged as a person and so unequipped to handle self-sufficiency that i think tom would feel responsible for her. unless one of them is magically conning their way into decent money, their circumstances would be poor, and considering merope delivered tom in london, i'm assuming they'd be living there.

tom having an awareness of his own magic and heritage from a young age might shift his self-perception somewhat, but for the most part tom in canon already had an understanding of his singularity in contrast to the other orphans and was unsurprised throughout the story to discover the extent of it.

if anything, knowing there is a wizarding world existing in parallel to the muggle world at an early age, while enduring poverty and later war, might just accelerate his resentment. especially going into hogwarts, this grand magical castle, his fear and anger are now much bigger than not having a home to go back to in the muggle world - he has a mother stuck in the heart of london during the blitz, and no one in the wizarding world cares to do anything about it. i'm of the belief that tom holds equal hatred for both sides of the world, but i think in a universe where merope lives, he sees the failure and carelessness of wizarding society so much sooner and much more callously. if merope dies because of their refusal to intervene in what they deem as muggle affairs, then, well... yeah.

really, i think voldemort is still inevitable in this version of the story, albeit with a few changes. the years prior to and following hogwarts might be somewhat different - i imagine tom would work in whatever way possible as a child in the war effort, sorting scraps for money or stealing if that wasn't possible (he seemed decent at it in the orphanage), and post-graduation (should merope survive the war and her declining health) might be interested in securing a better job than borgin & burkes. or maybe he really loves retail. he probably hates dumbledore x10 more regardless.

unfortunately, if anything were to change tom's fate, i don't think it's coming from his family. he's always going to hold resentment for the muggle world, but finding true solace in the wizarding world comes from someone within it changing his perception through real action. merope is just an extension of the ancestry he reveres so much - in having her in his life, there's no challenge to the delusions of grandeur he takes on in canon to make sense of the world, which are that he is fundamentally different to everyone else, muggle and wizard alike.

[splicejunction]

also it was really fucking uncomfortable because the facilitator for the activities kept asking people like questions about how they think their childhood or their upbringing influenced their answers to the personality questions and I’m like well yeah probably I’m like this because I was primarily raised by a pathological control freak with extremely poor emotional regulation skills who told me I had the potential to be some kind of analytical mastermind as long as I spend every day studying and training my mind and optimizing every aspect of my life forever. So

[heylittleriotact]

I read the rules AFTER replying to the post. The title that most intrigues me is Senna Origins, because yeah, Senna. I might be a lil obsessed.

For you, anything! Thank you, friend 🥰

This is a portion from Senna’s backstory, which mostly focused on their upbringing and youth in the Feywild, and their activities within the Seelie Court as a young adult. I actually have yet to finish this because in the campaign that Senna exists in, they’re 472 years old and have spent around two centuries in the Material Plane and having to account for almost 500 years of being alive is… well it’s a lot.

I was picking them off one by one, pulling away pieces of a war machine that was driven by greed, privilege, and hubris. Lillian was becoming more and more powerful, her ideas were holding more sway, and I was becoming far too big for my britches: It was no longer enough for me to control the ebb and flow of the Seelie Court with my humble influence. I decided it was time to bless the Unseelie Court with my unique knack for taking out the trash as well.

(It’s vital to understand that the following decisions resulted in me ultimately drinking for roughly a decade straight in the Material Plane, and then sleeping for another 24 years to nurse away the cumulative hangover.)

Back when we had our silly little pissing contest with the Unseelie Court and Lillian and I were put on the front lines for a short time, the biggest battle we fought was against a monster named Baron of the Withering Spiritual Resilience - We called him Bows’r - He was big. He was mean. He was a graceless oaf (but really probably a lot more graceful than you know… un-Fey standards), and he led a battalion of four thousand to near victory against our own force. He was high ranking in the Unseelie Court, and I figured if I’d defused the powderkeg that was my own court, I may as well balance it out on the other side too.

I approached this differently though. There was a lot of sneaking, a lot of cloak and dagger, a lot more cloak, and a lot of being really, really careful that this didn’t get back to Lillian, or the rest of the Seelie Court, who still at best barely tolerated me.

See, my goal wasn’t to take down just Bows’r. My goal was to take down Bows’r, by goading him into an attempt on Oberon himself (actually knowing full well that I didn’t really have any kind of personal issue with Oberon, aside from the fact that he was one of them, and back then that was enough. Yes. I was an idiot, thanks.)

It would have worked spectacularly if I hadn’t suffered a betrayal within my own ranks which tipped Bows’r off, led him straight to Lillian instead of Oberon, and ultimately squared things such that the might of both Bows’r and Oberon were unjustly laid upon Lillian.

This was not just a matter of mistaken identity, a few bruises, and a socially awkward situation. The world of the fey is not so droll. No. This treachery meant that Lillian was implicated in the plot that was mine, and for the fact that Oberon’s name was even mildly associated, the perceived challenge was answered with the swift, practical retribution of The Hunter.

My love was taken away. Pierced by thirty-seven golden arrows even as I sought to buy her freedom with whatever means I could.

I watched it happen, I saw her face - content, relaxed - safe. I saw it fall to fear and surprise as the Green Lord appeared and took his prize, as triumphant and gleaming as any god would be in a tale told to you by someone else. I saw her curl, stretch, curl, shudder, and succumb on her feet to the wounds inflicted on her.

There was no time to explain, you see. Between my fatal error, Lillian’s false implication, and her blood on the mossy ground, less than a few hours had passed. There was no room to talk my way out, no way to talk her out, no army at our back, and nowhere else to go but… anywhere. And if you know even the loosest concept of anywhere, you know it means little to Oberon.

All I could do was watch as the Green Lord stooped and shouldered the body of a woman much larger than he, and all I could think of was the image of a hardened hunter hauling off a well-earned kill. Her blood trailed down his green shoulders and arms as he looked at me, without words.

“Release her,” I managed, from my broken and pitiful position on my knees. The hot tears that carved down my cheeks felt foreign and terrible. I felt, for the first time in my life, that I might be sick for the fear and grief that ruled my body now. I was no longer an instrument to the music: I had been swept up mercilessly in its unyielding fury.

The Green Lord’s cheek curled in a wry smile. “Set a trap, spring the line, and request from me that which is mine?” Lillian’s form was shifted up higher on the shoulder, and I swallowed back the gag that forced its way into my throat when I heard a bit of blood drip out of her own onto the forest floor. I forced myself to my feet, horribly aware of the soil and plant-life wedged deeply under my fingernails, horribly aware of the dryness of my own mouth and the wetness of my pants as I ignored the quaking in my knees and the sharp metallic flavour of fear on the back of my tongue warning me that my life was in very severe danger. I breathed in as deeply as I could - a shallow and sad attempt at best - but I forced my head high, forced my expression blank, and willed my forsaken knees still. There was music in this nightmare too. There had to be. I just needed to listen.

I looked Oberon in the face. In the eyes. And I said (as if it mattered, which around the Feywild, it very may well):

“Let her go, please.”

And he laughed in my face and disappeared from the forest in I don’t know… a fucking raincloud or something probably.

And he took Lillian with him. He took Lillian. My love, my queen, my hero. My best friend. My only real friend.

The problem - the real problem aside from him murdering my lover in front of my eyes for a crime that was not hers - was that he also took my child. My child that Lillian had only told me about moments before Oberon’s intrusion.

My beloved, and my future: Gone in the time it takes a leaf to fall from a tree.

[astroismypassion]

Hi. I’ve read through all of your blog and love it 💕 I wondered what your opinion was on me and my friend/crush’s synastry was.

He has his sun in my 10th house, moon in my 6th, Venus in my 9th (it’s also my sun sign) and mars in my 10th. I have my sun in his 9th (it’s also my Venus sign) my moon in his 1st, my Venus in his 10th and my mars in his 1st.

I also find it interesting that his sun is my Venus and vice versa. Is the attraction just one sided or is there some hope in the future if I come clean?

Oh baby you will GROW!

That Sun in your 10th house, oh you surely will mature, become more responsible, dedicated, stable, consistent, reliable. It will be like a "grow up" wake up call for you.

Their Moon in your 6th: well, be mindful of this one. It's really caring energy. You genuinely care about their physical and mental wellbeing and that they feel well on a daily basis. BUT as a 6th house person KNOW that you are NOT their servant, that you don't have to provide for their every wish, need or whim. Beware, that they need to take care of YOU in return or from time to time as well. It's reciprocal energy, so never forget that. Also don't allow them to influence negatively your daily routine, schedule. You could get moody, if you don't receive their message everyday or in 2-3 days, like your mood might actually fluctuate, because of that and this will influence your work performance or what you want to achieve on a daily basis and your productivity.

Venus in your 9th house: it tells me there is possibly an age difference? Probably not too big, I would say max 2-3 years. Ahh this one is pretty neutral. You two are quite cerebral with each other, you love to talk to each other and explore each other's mind, you like to share stories and you love to hear them talk. Very possibly you could have a very different upbringing, come from various background, you are not from the same city. Anyhow, there IS some small cultural difference, even if it's just how your pronounce certain words

Your Sun in his 9th house: he will view this connection with you as a lesson as growth, this tells me your Sun signs are probably not the same element, like one is fire and the other is earth or one is water and the other is fire Sun sign or something like that. Yeah, he will be very optimistic about this connection with you, you probably also have more dominant Mars sign than him (like you could be a Scorpio Mars and this person is a Libra or Virgo Mars or something like that)

Your Moon in his 1st house: well, this is just very beneficial overlay for any kind of connection really, it doesn't always indicate just romantic partnerships, it's not solely reserved for that, it's definitely found in great, good friendships where there is mutual understanding. However, I always feel with this placement, that this overlay is tougher on 1st house person. Or 1st house person is more affected is how I see it. Because the Moon person will make your confidence level, your ego, pride, self esteem blurred and becuase of them it will be fluctuating. But the Moon person finds great solace in 1st house, they will confide in you, talk about their emotional world more openly and in a comfortable manner. Moon will always get a hug from you. You could have the same Moon signs or even your or their Moon conjunct your or their Ascendant. This is just great understanding. Though, you tend to pick up their emotions and start feeling them as your own as a house person. If they are in a bad mood, you will also start thinking "am I in a bad mood?"

your Venus in his 10th house: you will love being seen with him and vice versa. Maybe you would insist that he posts you on social media, like if he is not willing to do that, you could think that your love, relationship is not real. With this overlay I see a lot of posting of each other's images on social media accounts. This person can introduce you to their parents

your Mars in his 1st house: yeah well so this is quite something, because sometimes this works better if Mars is man and the 1st house woman. So again, I kind of think you will be the more dominant in the connection or the one who lead in this relationship. You could also be the one who initiates the connection to go one step further or that you change the dynamic (from friendship to partnership). You could also make some decision for him (as for example what he orders in restaurant). There can be uplifting energy, you motivate each other to do better, could also be a bit of a friendly competition. You will find this person HOT. How they dress, their mannerisms. Probably there was physical, sexual tension present at the first, initial meeting.

Well about Sun Venus conjunctions and these connections, from my experiences it really depends in which way it goes. If this is great, like you could be Libra, Taurus Rising and totally love these overlays. But in some cases, this creates a superficial connection, one that is based on attractivness and how you find the other so physically attractive. It can also be that you stick together, because you feel like you look good together. In positive cases it can also be that you share similar values and that you work good as a team. You could also feel wealthier together, more abundant or like you together have more money or more talents. So with this Sun Venus conjunction it can really go either or.

I really can predict if it's reciprocal or mutual. But you can take these energies into account (like I mentioned about you being Mars and them 1st house), so you can be open about your feelings or make a step forward. I feel they won't be mean about it in any case you decide to share you feelings. Even if they don't share your feelings, I feel this person will be cool, kind about it.

But we are all human at the end of the day, so I think astrology can only tell you so far. But then further you just have to make proactively your own life experiences and decisions. :)

Thank you so much for leaving such a lovely feedback! <3

Send you all the love you need at this time. And also remember that things can go right too and it can all turn out alright. And in case of rejection, it's just redirection. Was probably just not your person.

I any case you will find your person, so don't rush or push it too much.

@astroismypassion

[xshingie]

Summary:

An anthology of themed oneshots exploring the budding stages of the romantic developments in Annette’s life. (aka self indulgent oneshots where the Nocturne boys simp over my favorite girl, Annette lol)

--

Chapter Specific Notes:

Pairing: Edouard/Annette

Rating: G

Prompt #1: Flirting

Author's Unfettered Notes, Ramblings, Headcanons, etc:

When I studied screencaps from 'Freedom was Sweeter' (Annette's flashback episode), besides noticing Annette growing her hair out at the time, I noted Edouard wearing a green scarf throughout his time in the maroons (as well as when we are introduced to him in ep1 of Nocturne).

When I had researched what kind of life Edouard would have experienced in Saint-Domingue's theatre culture (see: Edouard Character Profile and Analysis), it led me to speculate Edouard would have mingled among higher-end social settings, where he would have been exposed to social etiquette and norms, which included fashion and dress. The middle-upper class of Saint-Domingue was heavily influenced by imperial French at the time, where it was common for bragging rights to show off garments fashionable in/imported from France (i.e., silk). Based on this, I think Edouard would have developed an 'image-conscious' approach to dressing himself. For example, in the screencaps shown he chooses to wear a ring that matches the accents and which jewels match the color of the jacket (right).

I honestly think the green scarf is just a design nod by the artists to the green sportscoat (left) he was wearing when Annette meets him for the first time on stage. ... But what if perhaps, it was something he consciously picked to symbolize that part of him that he wanted to keep with him when he left the the theatre?

Still, I couldn't get over this detail of him wearing a green kerchief out of my head, considering how much that hue of green clashes with with his eyes, which is easily his most striking feature (and probably something which would have garnered attention). Why wouldn't he have wanted to wear something that better complements his eyes? ...Unless it meant something to him. [I mean, green is Annette's favorite color.]

So I went down a rabbit hole of researching the significance of handkerchiefs, and realized how much history handkerchiefs have in romance and flirting, to signal as a token of affection in court setting (i.e., a lady giving means she's signaling her romantic interest, and if the gentleman accepts or displays it publicly, signals he has the lady's favor and the feeling is mutual on his end). Edouard, with his exposure to proper social settings or through his upbringing, likely would have known the implications; whereas Annette, probably would not have known this -- or if she did, I'm not sure she would have consciously let herself acknowledge it.

One of the biggest reasons why Annette/Edouard continue to fascinate me so much is how despite how close they might have grown from fighting alongside each other, differences in their upbringing/social class would have created rifts where they didn't understand each other. Exploring these fissures in their connection, so subtle you wouldn't even notice they were there; the little ways in which they missed each other's signals. In my previous writings featuring Edouard and Annette, I consciously skirted to make their dynamic ambiguous whether romantic and platonic, but now I think I'm ready to take the plunge to write romantically.

... yeah, even though I might be the only person who ships this 😂😂😂

[anomaliex]

Aside from Adaine's anxiety no mental illness or disorder is intended in the bad kids' portrayal I know, but I like to read a lot into everything. Most of this behaviour could just be chalked up to "stressed teenager with weird upbringing", but like what's the fun in fandom without blatant projection headcanons!! This post is about Fabian and Kristen.

I think Kristen is bipolar (Bipolar II probably?? I don't think she's ever fully manic). For example her behaviour in the beginning of junior year feels like a hypomanic episode, afterwards (when they lose Cassandra) like a depressive one. Being bipolar is basically switching between those two which sucks and getting to feel normal sometimes if you're lucky. Here's a WebMD excerpt btw: "During a hypomanic episode, a higher mood can show up as either euphoria (feeling "high") or as crankiness.

Symptoms during hypomanic episodes include: Flying suddenly from one idea to the next

Having exaggerated self-confidence

Rapid, "pressured" (uninterruptible) and loud speech

Increased energy, with hyperactivity and less need for sleep

People in a hypomanic episodes are often quite pleasant to be around. They can often seem like the "life of the party" – making jokes, taking an intense interest in other people and activities, and infecting others with their positive mood."

My take on Kristen's general Kristen-ness. Maybe.

Fabian has like. Intense ptsd. Originating mostly from his father's death and his "no good very bad day" except he doesn't realise that his father's death was highkey traumatising to him (which is a wild thing to say) because it was "awesome". He can take pride in it and be comforted by how it ultimately ended but that doesn't really null how horrible of an experience it was over all and what that does to a teenager's brain. I think he's surprisingly good at coping but he's. Not that good!

Also this one is kinda. Out there? But histrionic personality disorder. Going to a personality disorder might be reaching or whatever but like I said idc. As someone with a pd I just kinda jump on characters I like exuding symptoms, and god does Fabian exude symptoms. I feel like hpd is the one cluster-b pd people don't know (the others are bpd, npd and aspd) so honestly here's just a link. Excerpt from it: "A person with histrionic personality disorder may:

Feel underappreciated or depressed when they’re not the center of attention.

Have rapidly shifting and shallow emotions.

Be dramatic and extremely emotionally expressive [...]

Have a “larger than life” presence.

Be persistently charming and flirtatious.

[...]

Speak dramatically and express strong opinions but with few facts or details to support their opinions.

Be gullible and easily influenced by others, especially by the people they admire.

Think that their relationships with others are closer than they usually are.

Need instant gratification and become bored or frustrated very easily.

Constantly seek reassurance or approval."

Yes unlikely but hpd Fabian is true in my heart<3 I can't put it into words well but I looked at this guy season one episode one and was just "yeah no you smell like cluster b" and was never swayed from it. It's like when you see a character talk once and immediately decide they're autistic, you just know.

(Oh speaking of that Fabian is autistic. And Riz. And Kipperlilly. And and and anndddd autism post can be its whole own thing later.)

[pebbledragon78]

RANT: My Actual Opinion on Melami Goldmine (As well as a character study)

Ignore if not interested

This is not a Rain Code meme-post, but rather a small vent about Melami Goldmine. More details will be below the cut.

I’m not sure if it’s too soon for me to say this, but I assume to have built a reputation here based on how much I talk about Melami. I make sure to talk about and feature her in every Rain Code post of mine, as many of you have probably noticed. But is the affinity that I have for her actually genuine? I want to talk about that today.

First, I want to start off my speech by mentioning what we see from Melami when we first meet her. Back then, we saw Melami as a cheerful, outgoing girl who heavily liked clothing and reading people based on what they wear. Of course, she also had her Spiritism Forte, which would have most likely been one of the most effective Fortes in the game had it not been for its numerous restrictions. But we always saw that as nothing but an added quirk to her character, and nothing more.

However, this is where I want to begin my insight on her actual character. Now, this could just be my way of seeing things, but I wonder if I’m the only one here who sees her as a sort of cryptid.

Like think about it for a minute; A good portion of her actions don’t make sense at first, she doesn’t perceive life, death or clothing the same way that everyone else does, and she always knew more than she let on, beyond the outgoing girl that we initially perceived her as.

Of course, while Melami is not nearly as creepy or as foreboding as Vivia, she still had some degree of oddity to her that set her apart from the other Master Detectives, just enough for the player to think, “Yeah she’s definitely hiding something” in a doubtful manner. She had something off about her compared to everyone else in the game, and that’s saying something considering the colorful cast of characters we were given.

Like, not even the Gumshoe Gabs revealed much about her upbringing or how her Forte influenced her as a child; Much of it was left to the player to figure out for themselves. In retrospect, there was a delicate mixture to her between benevolence, glamour, extroversion, relevance, and mystery. It was a beautiful sight to see.

I don’t know, I just found it really cool how Kodaka explored on such a unique personality throughout the course of the game, especially in the more vital events that happen in the later chapters. Of course, I’m not gonna spoil anything, but damn; She was just, really really cool. That’s the only way I can summarize her, honestly.

Am I looking too deeply into this? Probably. But I suppose that’s what happens when you really like a fictional character. In any case, I’ll post another collection of Rain Code memes sometime in the future; I’m actually close to gathering 10 memes. So uhh yeah, look forward to that and thank you for listening to my little rant.