#anyway i have lots of weird thoughts abt this just based on observations

[marsixm]

apparently that show ran from 1995-2000 and im like not even surprised i feel like culturally we hit a huge setback vis a vis meaningful diversity in media in the early 00s

[trashcanfills]

So I just read your hanzo space hcs and I loved the part about hushed conversations between him and genji in Japanese and I'm sorry if this request doesn't make a lot of sense but could I ask for a reader who finds out hanzo likes them because they know Japanese and listen to the arguments between hanzo and genji? Thank you and I'm sorry if this is long or confusing.

Mam/sir no this is not confusing. I like that you elaborated on the scenario u wanted me to write cus boi it helps hehe.

This became a monster of a fic jesus so uhhh more content for you i guess pardon the wait. I might edit this later cus Im not sure if Im happy with it now but eh its been stuck in my inbox for so long with some other requests better release now.

Shimada Hanzo x Reader - Hidden Confessions

Hanzo would likely be crushing on you after spending quite some time with you as friends. It’s hard to tell though because he never really says how he feels out loud, like I doubt you even are aware he considers you as a friend unless you confident/observant as hell or sth happened that both of you had to clarify for the sake of your friendship.

But alright lets say that you both consider each other as friends and you both know that. Cus friends to lovers tropes are gucci hehehehehe.

Ok so you def have to be crushing on Hanzo at this point, which I dont blame you for btw like look at the man. There’s a reason for the loads of fanart around him.

Unfortunately as we all know with the fucking friends to lovers trope drama, you cant just admit you like Hanzo that way, cus what if he doesnt sees you that way and it ruins your friendship and makes everything btw u??? Uh yea better safe than sorry bitches. Just keep it down and appreciate that you get to hang out with the angsty ass archer anyway.

Except…some kinda weird things have been going on with Hanzo and Genji? You think you see Genji talking to Hanzo in hushed whispers abt something that, based on Hanzo’s flushed and irritated expression, Hanzo clearly doesnt want to talk abt. It HAS piqued you interest when it tends to occur more often whenever you see the Shimada bros tgt. Asking Hanzo about it however just has him to dismiss it and change the subject. Rip.

Later on those hushed conversations do end up occurring in front of you and other overwatch members, in Japanese, since not many people do really know the language and the conversation was prob meant to be abt sth private and secretive.

Except, you do know Japanese. You didn’t exactly inform Hanzo or Genji of it because it seemed really entertaining to have them have these supposedly private Japanese conversations OUT LOUD without realising there were people who understood what they were saying. I mean, if it was a really sensitive thing they should be speaking behind closed doors right? Like cmon lol.

Usually, whenever the Shimada brothers talk to each other in Japanese, they would exchange some form of wit or ridiculous reference to their past (like that time Genji tried to cajole Hanzo into joining the DDR contest during one of the weekly game night sessions, until Hanzo said he still has pictures of Genji’s 16th Birthday Party Incident in Japanese. Ngl you were a lil curious what the incident was, but its likely some form of embarrassing blackmail).

However THIS TIME, it was completely different. You were chilling with a few other overwatch members plus Hanzo and Genji in the recreation room. Cue your surprise when Genji decided to ask Hanzo in Japanese:

“Sooooo…have you confessed your feelings yet, brother?”

Im sorry HANZO?? HAS FEELINGS FOR SOMEONE????? Thank god they weren’t really focusing on you that much otherwise they would have noticed your body tense a little at that. You don’t know exactly how to feel about this because this can either spell sth great or very bad for you, but most likely bad because what are the chances…right?

Hanzo predictably flushes a little, scowling even harder. If you didn’t know any better you would probably have thought that the archer was pissed at Genji about something instead of being embarrassed (tho i mean when has hanzo never been annoyed at genji lol)

At Hanzo’s expression, Genji sighed out loud. “You do realise you can’t stew on your feelings forever-“

“I can if I want to and that is my decision to make, not yours.” Hanzo hissed back. Genji, unbothered by the interruption, continued:

“-and you have been pining for them for like almost a year.”

Hanzo scoffed. Genji kept going. “I mean they are literally just RIGHT THERE. You can ask them out on like a freaking date-“

“-and risk the potential embarrassment and fallout of our current platonic relationship?”

“Look, I doubt y/n would be the kind of person to-“ Sorry, hold the phone. Did Genji say YOUR NAME?? DOES HANZO ACTUALLY LIKE YOU BACK??? HOLY SHEET???? It was literally taking all of your concentration to not combust on the spot and give away the fact you could understand what they were saying in Japanese because HOLY FUCK HANZO RETURNS YOUR FEELINGS??

Ok ok calm down and listen back to the conversation because you were zoning out a bit from the revelation that Hanzo has a crush on you. Genji was still talking.

“-and you can’t be sure that they aren’t interested in you. Heck, from what I see, they seem very receptive to your boneheaded ass-“

“Being friendly and polite in a platonic relationship is no grounds for speculating romantic interest, you idiot. It’s only a common courtesy-“

“-dude do you NOT notice how much closer they are to you compared to anyone else here-“

“-and that means nothing, Genji. Cease this conversation.”

“Hanzo-“

“No. I do not wish to discuss this any further. Regardless of what you say, I severely doubt they would even like me that way.”

“Even then, just TRY. That is all I am asking of you, Hanzo. Because I want you to be happy for once-”

“You know, you guys could just asked me yourself right now if that’s what you are worried about.” You chimed in. “And speaking of which, I do actually like you too, Hanzo, and uhhh I would be totally open for a date anytime?”

Their reactions were priceless. The moment you spoke up in Japanese had the two Shimada brother halt their conversation to look at you in shock. Hanzo in particular had a myriad of expressions too entertaining to watch.

Hanzo practically went through an entire rollercoaster of emotions when you interrupted. Shock at you speaking Japanese, horror when he realised you spoke Japanese and understood it which meant you were able to listen through their conversation this entire time, until he processed the part on you liking him back which turned into a mix of joy, relief, embarrassment…yea rip Hanzo lol.

Genji meanwhile was trying so hard not to laugh because holy sheet your timing was excellent.

He had to shake Hanzo a bit to get him out of a daze, and gestured at him to ask you out. Hanzo gets his wits back after, glares at Genji because he’s such a lil shit. He then glanced at you briefly before looking away all flustered. “So uhhh…I’ll pick you for dinner at 7pm later?”

You gave him you biggest smile and agreed. That was the start of your beautiful romance with Hanzo, albeit with a mildly embarrassing start but hey, you guys got together since then. :3

BONUS: during the date

“I wasn’t aware that you knew Japanese.”

“You didn’t exactly ask me.”

“…Fair point but still.”

BONUS BONUS: immediately after Hanzo asks you out

“Holy fuck finally!”

“I-Cassidy WHAT?”

“Look. I had to sit through y/n telling me that they are crushing on Hanzo, and listen to them whine about how unfairly hot and cool Hanzo is. I couldn’t do anything about it because I had to keep it secret.”

“Mood.”

“Genji, why are you saying mood? I didn’t tell you about my crush on your brother-“

“I had to sit through Hanzo waxing poetry about you whenever he gets in this weird mood or when he gets drunk during our drinking sessions. It was funny at first but then got sad after a while when he kept making himself depressed over the idea you didn’t see him the same way.”

“You did NOT have to reveal that information-“

“You were the one who chose to confide in me, brother.”

“Hmph, then I suppose you won’t mind me showing y/n my collection of blackmail material of you, then.”

“Woah woah woah let’s not go THAT far-“

[ruvatia]

Sorry if this is a bit much with everything going on, but could I request a scenario where the Paladins + Matt & Lotor have a black s/o and they’re scared abt everything that’s happening in their country and are sad that racial injustice is happening? I’ve been rlly worried the past few days, but if this is smth too uncomfy I understand ;w; Thank you 💖💖💖

This got really long, I apologize but I turned it into half-headcanons with just the main paladins-- i apologize for not doing all the characters you’ve mentioned, but I don’t think they would fit all in a single post anyways www

On another note I hope you and every other reader take good care of their mental health; it’s important to be aware of what’s going on but it’s also important to be in the right mindspace to be able to tackle everything that’s being shared. It’s pain that’s been boiling for a very long time and there is absolutely no shame in taking some downtime to recover before heading back into current issues.

SHIRO:

If you were saddened, Shiro would suggest that maybe you switch to something else; if there was something that he knows will distract you and temporarily have you be a little more at ease, he’d do that!

But also maybe add a little twist-- extra soft blankets (fresh out of the oven! Screw the bills you’re worth it), extra cheese on your favorite dish, whatever it is that can make your smile a little wider, bigger or brighter just let him know!

Would give you hugs if you asked, but usually Shiro pets your head and brushes your cheek for comfort

He also does this when he wants to ask something of you, but thats another story

Why the TV was still on was a mystery to you, you’d stopped listening a long time ago. Your partner besides you noticed, and you felt the hand around your shoulder tighten his grip a little, bringing you out of your thoughts.

“Hey, maybe we should watch something else?” he asked softly, brushing your cheek with his hand. “I can’t really listen to this anymore.”

“Yeah… Sure.” you replied, though it felt like an automated response more than your actual opinion.

“Okay, I’ll switch to that weird show Pidge recorded the other day, we agreed to watch it, right?” he replied, quickly grabbing the remote to change the program.

The first episode started playing, but the moment that it did, you felt cold as Shiro left your side.

“Where are you going?” you asked, your interlaced fingers the only thing keeping him close.

“Ah, I thought I’d make us something. We both kinda skipped dinner….”

He’d thought about putting something together that you’d like, maybe order dessert to surprise you but seeing the look on your face, leaving your side was the hardest thing to do right now.

So he gave in, and your both fell asleep until the doorbell rang with your delivery.

KEITH:

I have this headcanon that Keith isn’t very good with physical touch but after the end of voltron and after enough time of humanitarian relief, he learns how important it is for someone that’s in a specific state of mind

So the best he has to offer when his words fail is physical touch

Over your time together he’s learned what you need depending on your mood, and it helped him out lots when you were more vocal about it-- if anything he liked it when you asked for things that he could easily deliver, he’d do anything to see you smile

A hand came over your phone screen, Keith’s fingers lacing into yours and making you drop the device onto the crevices of the sofa.

“Why did you--”

“You’ve been staring at that thing for the past hour, biting at your nails.” he said in a worried tone. “That’s enough. We’re going to bed.”

“But it’s just--”

“We’re going to bed.” he repeated in a harsher tone, lifting you off your seat.

Keith sat down onto the bed first, pulling you into him. You both fell onto the bed, Keith quickly pulling the covers over your shoulders before his arms came around you.

“My alarm is my phone.”

“That’s nice, but we both know we have nothing to do tomorrow.” he replied right away, making you chuckle.

“Keith…” you called, your hands sneaking up to his face.

You brushed away some of his hair from his face as he gave you a complicated expression, unable to reflect the small smile you wore. He knew things were shit outside, that being apart from your family and other loved ones was a toll on both you and that lately negative thoughts have plagued you more often than not but Keith, despite his good intention was still somewhat of an awkward man.

“Thank you.”

He kissed you in reply and you both left it at that, glad that he had someone like you to meet him halfway.

LANCE:

Lots of hugs the moment he feels something is off with you

Will be a brat™ for the sole purpose of distracting you, bET

I feel like post-series Lance tries his best to be as observant as Allura and tries to understand others better-- but it didn't take a genius or incredible empath to know why your eyes looked like they were about to overflow at the sight of the news.

I’d like to think that Lance, with a big connected family is one of the paladins that very easily gets what you’re going through, wouldn’t be surprised he’s been called one or two things in his past either

That being said it doesn’t mean that he completely understands your personalized struggles with racial injustices that you encounter everyday; as another minority himself + coming from a culture and upbringing that might be different than yours, its a very different experience.

Memories flooded as the news anchor spoke about “lootings” and as you scrolled down your feed to see feeble attempts at sympathy from local peacekeepers. You sigh and retweet another thread, only to find something equally as shocking right after. You stopped commenting in quote retweets a while ago, you felt like you were constantly repeating that none of this was okay and that a reform was desperately needed. Rather than typing out your thoughts you typed out your name, address and email over and over again, signing one petition after the other.

Hearing sigh after sigh, Lance eventually put an arm around your shoulder. He startled you, but his soft voice made both your shoulders and your guard lower.

“Hey, do you want to make a midnight snack with me? I’m getting kinda hungry.”

“What about that new rule we were talking about? Not eating 4 hours before we went to bed?”

“Every diet has one or two cheat days, don’t they?” he replied, kissing one of your eyelids. “Come on, I’m sure your neck is sore from being like that for so long.”

In the end you both made some soul-food until a food-coma knocked you out until tomorrow. In the morning, you realized that Lance must’ve woken up in the middle of the night because you remember cuddling on the couch, and yet you’re waking up on the bed. Of course, still in his arms.

HUNK:

Having a sensible heart, I feel like both you and hunk would struggle a little about maintaining a healthy distance with current events.

Though overtime he would understand that keeping in touch with everything that’s going on is important, but not at the sake of burning out

His best bet, to him, to pull you out of a such a dark space is with comfort food

“Ok ppl feel like they want to eat a horse but they actually cant when they’re in that mind space Hunk, let’s make something sweet and small; something direct and straight to the point! Let’s add smiley faces on it!”

Your turned down the volume from the news, let your head fall backwards and brought up your forearm over your closed eyes. It felt warm and made it you realize that you had probably been staring very intensely at the screen as a wave of comfort hit your eyes the moment they were drowned in darkness. Letting out a deep breath, you stilled and let yourself bask in your thoughts until a familiar voice brought you back.

“Maybe a little bit more sugar? No, then it would be disbalanced. The base is already so sweet-- Ah, I have to take the cupcakes out or else they might get burned!”

You felt a smile grow on your lips, making you ignore the horrid news being broadcasted to turn to your partner that as usual, seemed to juggle ten thousand things to create a whole meal.

“What’s going on over here?” you asked, leaning over the counter to note that one of your favorite dishes was made and machines that were mostly used for baking had been brought out.

“Oh you know, just a little pick me up for my most favorite person ever.” he shrugged, but a smile soon came to his face. His hands were full but he leaned over, his lips meeting your cheek. “Things outside are a little dark, so I thought we could both use a little something nice.”

He turned on the machine after dropping a drop of dye to make it your favorite color and within a few minutes the icing was finished. Hunk scooped up a small amount on his finger and brought it to his lips and nod.

“Wanna taste?” he asked you, his finger dipping into the icing.

A mischievous grin spread on your features as you took his wrist and let his finger fall on your tongue, the sweetness quickly spreading through your mouth. The yellow paladin shivered as you let his digit hang in your mouth for longer than necessary, letting out a satisfied hum when you returned it to him.

“Tastes perfect.”

PIDGE:

She knew what could be fixed, she knew how to fix it but this meant she was also aware of how long such a transition would take

I think Pidge would be similar to Shiro: whatever she remembers that helps you be at ease, she would defect to that in hopes to maybe distract you for a while.

I don’t think Pidge is a very touchy person either, so if she reaches out to you _physically_ in worry, it’s a very clear sign she’s serious/anxious

I feel like she would reach out in other ways and then if she knew you were in a specific state of mind where touch was not useful, or if she just also wanted to try things out lol

As you watched the twisted information that was being shared on screen, another message caught your attention. Rather than a small red icon in the corner, a small window appeared in the middle of your computer screen.

<I found a way to modify notifications sent to another device.>

The video had stopped, every horrible gif about police brutality was paused and there was nothing else but the small window pidge had thrown onto your screen. You chuckled, and felt a pressure behind your working chair.

Another message popped up.

<You’ve been catching up with twitter for the past two hours. Surely you’re done now?>

A soft laugh came from you, making Pidge release a breath she didn’t know she was holding. You typed out an answer:

<Is it possible to be completely caught up with twitter? I follow like 500 accounts.>

<Okay, but half of them are just cat videos and the other half are just retweets of said videos.>

<Oh here I was thinking that this was an intervention to brighten my mood. We’re dragging each other’s follows now?>

<Oh please like you don’t want to be dragged, with that kind of follow list.>

<I can’t believe you’ve done this.>

You both laughed, before Pidge turned around and tapped your shoulder. She let her hand float in the air, yours coming to join it as a soon as your turned her way.

“Wanna take a nap?” she asked, letting her head fall onto your shoulder. “I had Chip make some hot chocolate, Hunk style.”

You squeezed her hand, putting your computer on sleep mode.

“Yeah, that sounds nice.”

[mokutone]

sorry if this is random but i was just curious about your thoughts on sai? i know you have a lot of thoughts on yamato fhdjdlfn and his and yamato’s relationship always seemed so interesting and really underdeveloped :[ theyre both really similar but yamato was able to get out of ROOT before sai was, and i was just wondering if you had any thoughts on that/him to share. sorry if this is weird or out of the blue djshfkfj love your art!!

that's not weird at all!!! actually the day u sent this question in i had finalized the thumbnails (and started on the pencils!) for a comic wherein Yamato comments on how Sai is handling his transition out of ROOT differently than Yamato himself did! I don't want to lay all my thoughts on that out here, because I think i'm much more clumsy with textposts than with comics, but I appreciate the question and I will share some thoughts!

under a readmore tho bc. this got Long...comics force me to be concise but w/ a keyboard under my hands i just chatter

here's something I've been thinking abt! I think they had fundamentally different experiences in ROOT, and this is reflected in their attitudes towards Danzō, as well as the way they interact with the people outside of ROOT.

Sai seems to have no real loyalty to Danzō. He does what Danzō says because Danzō gives him his orders, when he practices his fake smile in front of Danzō, Danzō immediately tells him to cut that shit out. I don't think there's a lot of love lost there—when team Kakashi catches up to him in orochimaru's hideout, and they kind of confront him, and. also kind of. "give him the option" of abandoning his mission (and ROOT along with it) or. you know. facing shinobi consequences. he doesn't really seem to think much of it? honestly. i imagine he was probably a little more relieved than anything else. Add to that him remembering how he wanted to finish the drawing of his brother—

actually wait hang on thats another point I want to talk about. Sai was pitted against the person he was closest to in order to traumatize him into numbness! wack! I think that's kind of at the root (help.) of why I see him as a fundamentally angrier character than I see Yamato—and why I interpret some of his behavior not just as Not Knowing How People Work (although he does have trouble with this! it's a very different vibe. like. him trying to comfort Naruto and Naruto thinking Sai was coming onto him was an entirely different kind of situation) but as like. intentionally inflammatory sometimes...like. he's insulted the bodies of most of the people around him in one way or another, he knows it pisses them off, he does keep doing it. I think him Causing Problems On Purpose is sometimes just a way for him to try and experience catharsis for a fury he doesn't really know he's repressing. Like. idk. it's one thing to be forced to hurt yourself, that's deeply upsetting, disembodying, traumatizing, but it's another to be forced into a situation where you're to hurt somebody you love (regardless of the outcome) like. idk. its a kind of powerlessness that hits different at least ime, and frustration and resentment are extremely normal reactions to a situation like that. i think. a number of things could be appealing to him abt trying to get others to get angry at him—whether it's Him being the one to Cause another persons anger (which could confer a kind of. feeling of control) or him seeing himself reflected in their anger (like a "boy howdy i recognize this emotion. it's very clear. very understandable") or even seeing how they handle the anger. kishimoto definitely doesn't care nearly as much about Sai's anger. but i found the implication of it compelling as a kid, and I find it more compelling as an adult! anger can be an incredibly healing and protective force sometimes when dealing w/ trauma...and I wish kishimoto knew what he was writing about or that we got to see it explored more!!! ack!

yamato (as kinoe) had a wildly different experience when he was in ROOT.

we know he knew how to fight against sharingan, which. I think implies he was training in combat with Danzō, or that he worked closely with Danzō, or at the very least that Danzō used his sharingan on him. We also saw that (unlike Sai, who was rebuked for even fake-smiling) that Kinoe (at first) was not told to feel nothing, but instead instructed on how to feel by Danzō specifically. Like, mostly telling him to Feel Grateful etc, but I think him being told to experience specific feelings according to what Danzō thought was appropriate would lead to a different relationship with his emotions than Sai, who was told explicitly to repress them all at all times, and to not even attempt to preform them.

He also like. Thought. Highly. of Danzō, not just as a leader but as a person...it's kind of undeniable that Kinoe saw him as right, was willing to brand his own feelings and intuition wrong if it crossed Danzō's, openly sought Danzō's approval, when he fails his mission to secure Kakashi's eye, his reaction is. essentially immediately to return himself to Danzō to face whatever new dehumanization Danzō's got for him— even when Kakashi and Hiruzen drag him out of there he thanks Danzō for everything, and he seems genuine about it, despite. everything. He's more expressive than Sai for sure, He had like. a moment of anger, when he said that he wanted to be Tenzō, and Danzō denied him that basic self identification...but it's quickly squashed. Messy. Messy. I think. I think he has a little more trouble getting in touch w/ his anger than Sai bc of his emotional closeness to Danzō.

i think. because yamato knows that he was something more like Danzō's favorite, and that conveyed a vastly different experience than Sai's, he might feel a little complicated about being like "So...ROOT trauma, huh? Hell of a thing!" but. i also like to think that he's very quietly kind of trying to observe and support in a way which mostly allows Sai to figure himself out—I think when they are older they would probably talk about it more (also because then their tongue-seals will have finally disappeared. Thanks sasuke!), once Sai has close friends in the village and everything

Just a lot of like. "I have friendships down. I have teammates down, easily—but what am I to the old woman I buy my cabbages from. What degree of friendliness do I exhibit to her."

"I think...whatever you're comfortable with is fine. I know neither of us had particularly normal upbringings, but you don't have to execute every interaction perfectly for people to care about and respect you."

anyway god this is so long and soooo based in my own personal HCs. I hope there was something in here that was interesting to you!

[faemen]

i'd love to hear abt ur characters!

THANK YOU!!!! okay for youuu i shall ramble about.. my very first oc ever, kodi arrington :]

real pretentious name, i know. wait until you hear about how he STARTED. long story short, i was in a regular chatting discord server with my friends, saw some weird demon server in the promo channel, and that ended up being my introduction to roleplay as a whole!! it sounds cringe, but the owners genuinely put a lot of thought into the lore and it was COOL!!! super cool!! sad it ended tbh.

kodi's monster form isnt exactly a demon, he's just a mix of many species, like ghosts/demons/etc etc. with this set of origins, nobody's quite sure what abilities he has, least of all himself. and the ones he DOES have arent very strong, due to him having so many at once. he can go through walls, but is solid for anything else, he has night vision, but not 20/20. there are a lot of drawbacks to having every single skill.

anyways. backstory. the main reason why kodi has so many species, isnt actually just because im indecisive. he's actually something known as an 'observer', aka a reincarnated soul that has no other purpose in the human world other than getting assigned to another being to watch over them. kind of like a messed up form of guardian angel, except he doesnt guard anything, just gives the info to his boss. he gets a new 'life' each time, with a new name, family, and identity, and although he TECHNICALLY keeps the memories, everything's been getting fuzzier.

when he first got chosen as an observer, he had a vastly different personality. a genuinely outgoing, kindhearted individual who just wanted to help those around him. a bit clumsy, but he was still trying his best to complete his job to the best of his abilities.

unfortunately tho, reincarnation isnt all fun and games. due to the nature of their assignment, the souls must be killed off in the human world quickly, so kodi has technically never lived over 18. in addition to that, even if he does get a task in the same area (which is rare in itself) he's not allowed to interact anyone who he gets close to in any of his lives.

getting close to people wore him down, although he did get excellent in a number of other skills, like the observing his career is named after. and eventually he morphed into the current kodi, a generally quiet and sly guy who doesnt trust easily at all.

anyway. his most recent assignment before heading to the manor which the roleplay was based around, was some rich music producing dude named kodi arrington. or at least thats what he was supposed to portray. anyway, he was generally gaining popularity, and theres a WHOLE other backstory for this specific human life that i can talk about later if anyones interested, maybe.

long story short, he dies. rip. but something weird happens this time. instead of being sent up to get another assignment, he ends up somewhere like.. really different. this manor, in the distance. it turns out that he's been taken from his job as an observer and sent to this sort of.. purgatory area? like a space in between heaven and hell? it could be pity, or perhaps he's been cursed. either way, he's stuck here forever now.

THIS GOT SO LONG BUT THERES STILL A LOT MORE i am sorry JGHSKJDHFJ thank you so much for asking tho ily/p

[tossertozier]

you mentioned possibly doing a ben or mike writing guide.. would you.. be willing to post a mike one. i'm plotting a fic and im struggling to get my mans down?? also i think abt ur fics weekly bare minimum.

hi there!!! i did my best. i tried to not sound preachy or like a know it all bc y’all know i can barely write. i hope this is helpful in some way!! disclaimer of of course this is all just my opinion & there’s no wrong way to write, you’re the only person who can tell your story!!

[[MORE]]

i think the first really important decision you have to make as Person Writing Mike is his

family & background

-are both of his parents alive?

-if yes, what’s their relationship like?

-if no, who’s his primary caretaker? what’s their relationship like?

-if no, when did they die? did he cope well with it? what’s his relationship with their memory like?

these are really really where you gotta start to write mike imo. or any character! i think one thing stephen king is to be admired for is he doesn’t neglect the parent-child relationship as so many people who write youth do. your parents are the most important people in your life for a long time. i don’t think there’s a wrong or ooc way to answer the above questions tbh. canon has really left a wide open field for you to run amuck in.

(example: i’ve mentioned in the past that my & tfat mike being a small adult is no mistake and intentional. it’s a bit of a throwaway scene, but i mention in on pointe that mike’s parents are coming. it’s intentionally done there too. mike is goofier, more outgoing, more immature in general in that fic in the small bits he’s in & that’s all a response to his familial life. )

culture + friendships

after you answer those questions, important follow up questions are:

-are the losers his first set of friends?

-how much social exposure has he had?

-has he dated? who is he attracted to?

-who influences him? (celebrities, family, culturally)

-what are his cultural interests? what does he do in his free time? how would that impact how he interacts with the rest of the world?

again, no wrong way to answer these. i’ve seen a super broad spectrum of indirect answers to these questions. even thinking about where he might pick up patterns of speech can make him feel much more like a realized character. i’ve noticed some people dip fully into aave to an extent that doesn’t even seem logical in their character’s current situation & it can really seem like a caricature, but i think to write mike without any sense of aave at all is a little ?? too. just be cognizant of it is my only real advice here. it doesn’t so much matter as long as you don’t forget who mike is which next point

humor & personality

-what do you think he would find (shows, comedians, youtube videos) really funny?

-does he have something he quotes often? something he started saying ironically but never stopped?

man i know i’m all there’s no wrong way to write mike !! in this post but i will say real quick that i think mike is funny and i don’t really respect depictions of him where he’s not. i think this is where the movies really just fucked up. book mike drops some of the funniest lines of the book. and honest to god tip is to write out a scene as you feel the urge too, look away for five minutes, look back and give half of richie’s lines away. (or... dialogue.) this sounds like a joke but it was what i did when i first started writing & tfat

i’d always be like “n the funny part goes... to richie.” and thats a fandom inclination too. nooooo. avoid this trap. it doesn’t even make sense. have u ever been in a friend group where only one person... makes jokes? that’d be genuinely so weird. especially bc if you give the joke away to someone else, you can also build on it. amazing things start happening when u start thinking of the characters in flexible patterns. like for example, i almost always give absurdist humor to stan now. wholesome to ben.

mike’s humor is largely situational to me. solid comedic timing & he’s an observant person. sometimes i read back my own writing & have to change the pov bc richies making jokes about things he would never ever notice to make fun of. mike would. mike genuinely sees all. i think he’s just got one of the most analytical brain of the losers. & i think intelligence is subjective and people are smart in different ways but i think it’s foolish to write him as anything other than incredibly intelligent both academically and emotionally. he’s just a natural observer and pattern notice-er. which brings me to my next mike thing:

love & selflessness

i think the biggest part of mike being harder to flesh into a fully realized person is the fandom tendency to make him kind and nothing else. here’s mike. he’s nice. next. bc the book kind of points out his selflessness in his decisions and it makes itself one of his strongest character traits.

especially bc nice seems to trump him having any other emotions. ...no?

i believe in general, but ESPECIALLY in the case of mike, that kindness is a choice. it’s one i genuinely believe he’d make, over & over again. but a choice he makes. he gets annoyed with his friends being annoying like anyone else would. he gets hurt when he feels left out. he feels tired & anxious & hungry and all those other human things. sometimes he might not let it show outwardly, but there’s a difference between that and not giving him feelings at all.

people are selfish. it’s a defense mechanism. it’s to protect us. it’s not a bad thing. we think of how the world impacts ourselves first. we don’t always act upon those thoughts or voice them, but don’t forget to let mike have them. he doesn’t need to be happy for his friends all the time, or rooting for them or supportive. he should have his own things going on.

also. mike’s not a doormat. yes, he stays in derry. but those were life-death consequences for generations of children. it’s really not comparable to almost any decision mike would make in a pennywise free universe. yes, he made a sacrifice in the book but i don’t think he’d just lay himself down in any given universe to whatever fate wants to hand him. but this is where i end this topic bc i’m actually only barely beginning to get to this topic in my own fic!

it’s hard writing the losers young sometimes bc i do feel relationships are naturally a little unbalanced based on basic maturity levels as young people. sometimes friendships just are unbalanced bc of who people are at that time. everyone involved can still be good people in these relationships. it’s about growing together and learning how to be good friends to each other.

for example, in &tfat: certain losers are always checking in with others. others are really wrapped up in their own shit and don’t really notice what bothers the others. it would probably take a chart the size of a textbook to explain how i think this dynamic wholly pans out in full. and yeah, i think it grates on mike a little bit that he is always the checker and never the checkee.

but even when mike snaps, even when he gets upset, i always write it coming out of him with a lot of love. i genuinely think mike, regardless of experience in that fic, has the deepest understanding of love as its own concept and an understand of how exactly it rules his life and and his relationships. mike knows to feel strongly about something he has to care about it. there are lots of things he just doesn’t care about. in the book it’s stated he’s difficult to connect with as an adult. he’s distant. he’s focused on what he wants to focus on. i think mike is actually the most interesting when he becomes a little bit of a disaster man with very little time for what doesn’t interest him.

which last thing, dislikes & disinterests

-what annoys him?

-what makes him genuinely angry?

-what bores him to tears?

i always make jokes that i bring up the nastier parts of the losers bc i love nasty boys but thinking of things people don’t like is as much a part of them as the things they do.

for example, in &tfat, i write richie as making fun of “nerdy” things like anything you could find at comic con. i write bev as not giving a fuck about sports. bill doesn’t care about richie’s music tastes. eddie hates getting condescended to.

bc of the ... kind thing, mike’s one of the harder losers to do this with. i genuinely think mike would listen to any of his friends tell him about anything. & he knows, in return, they can’t say shit when he wants to ramble about history. but dislikes can also be super situational.

again, for example in & tfat: mike doesn’t like when his friends talk about college right now. no one is really being sensitive to him at all. he hates getting blamed for stuff that isn’t his fault, mostly bc it keeps happening.

anyway. i based a lot of my mike (mostly sense of humor and personality) off of a mix of real life friends of mine. it’s a luxury. i know. i’ve been blessed to have friends from literally all walks of life & for me borrowing little habits & quirks & sayings & jokes to slip into my fics and characters is my way of writing one massive love letter to those ive known. i hope i’ve helped you in some way anon. n if not.... don’t be sad i’m hardly one to take writing advice from anyway jandjxjx

overall, as i used to do often, i’d genuinely stop myself and say: is this a person, or a convenience for the plot? and if it was the latter, sigh, and get my backspace key ready.

[pseudoneiriic]

@idollatry​  /  ask. Charles/Q84 — ship or skip?

CATCH ME SCREAMIN ABT THESE TWO...... ship to the max, like honestly i... have some Very unpopular opinions about hello charlotte and this is very much one of them. for one thing, i think... charles might be implied aro? im really not sure because etherane really does just put “asexual” as his orientation and it’s like. ok but then what of vincent? there’s that weird-ass ship tease in heaven’s gate, but that’s like hashtag au where charles isn’t mentally ill to the point of being unlovable, so maybe what etherane’s saying is that charles is so mentally ill he has become Aromantic & Asexual. oh, we love implications.

anyway! charles and q84 have a really strong dynamic in hello charlotte 3. charles freely admits that q is his favourite of all the charlottes, and he actually knowingly enters school grounds even though he usually avoids doing that because he’s scared of running into scarlett. q is also the only charlotte he has told about the nature of the world. they exchange banter all the time, and they even cuddle in the infirmary — which is important, considering they’re both extremely touch-repulsed. it shows that they feel incredibly safe with each other, which is not in any way normal for them individually.

charles usually prides himself on being an observer and never interfering in the natural flow of events — for instance, when he and anri were watching a girl get bullied at school, but didn’t step in for fear of being bullied themselves. but when it comes to q84, he regularly intervenes in her life. carrying her back to the house after she’s been drugged, spending time with her in school, telling her secrets, and even going so far as to upload her into a vessel after she uses her wish. ( this last one is very important, because it effectively means he artificially prolonged her life. ) he also grants q84 the privilege of being the last charlotte of her kind, and it’s implied that the two of them move on from charles’ broken world together, passing into a better afterlife side-by-side.

and this isn’t a one-sided affection. q84, who is incredibly self-serving and hates feeling dirty or contaminated in any way, uses her wish for charles. although she knows that using her wish will kill her slowly, painfully, and in an incredibly disgusting way, she still uses it to kill scarlett. her reasons for doing so are entirely charles-centric, and she says things like:

charles never shared these memories with me. even though i thought we were friends... but now i know what he’s been hiding. [ ... ] that you ( scarlett ) deserve a fate worse than death.

you were the reason everything became like this to begin with. ( in reference to charles’ world having unstable foundations and being built on misery, strife, and the feeling of giving up ) even after his death, you trampled on [ charles’ ] feelings and made a show out of his memories. that... i cannot forgive.

and then, of course...

all you did was [ ... ] make a laughingstock out of [ charles ]. you call him worthless all the time, but you’re the one who won’t amount to anything. that’s why... ( and she uses her wish right afterwards )

this is so important. this is q84 actively making a decision to stand up for charles, which has never, ever happened. and not only that, this is her breaking character, betraying everything she values, all because she hates scarlett so much for hurting charles.

i should mention, because this is a thing, for some reason, q calls charles father in this scene, like, a lot...? and i interpret it as a kind of religious devotion instead of something parental, because i really don’t read their relationship as parental at all and more like a friendship between equals. even so, i don’t really like the power dynamics that are present in false realm, where charles is q’s creator and other such things, and i don’t interpret canon as romantic. i ship them based on au’s, mostly, where that power dynamic isn’t there but their canonically strong relationship is.

anyway this got really long but i just. i love them. i love them so much theyre so important to me

[maribelsawyer]

- ̗̀ * ( ella purnell + cisfemale + she/her ) have you seen ( maribel sawyer ) walking around campus ? they are a ( nineteen ) year old, studying ( journalism ). we hear they are in ( delta gamma chi ), and can be ( benevolent & impressionable ), maybe it’s because they are a ( gemini ). they sort of remind us of ( scraped knees , magnifying glasses , vintage oxfords ), maybe we can find out more ! *  ̖́-  + newspaper writer

god okay looks like i’ve fallen in love w ella purnell and i want to b her. anyways maribel is my newest baby n im sorta making her up as i go so pls bare w me lmao

TW: eating disorder mentions, subtle abuse?

{she is not currently in that mindset ^}

gen. info

full name: maribel ottoline sawyer

nickname(s): mari, bell, lottie b/c middle name, etc. etc. just sawyer sometimes idk

b.o.d. - june 1st, 19 yrs old

label(s): the marionette, the demure, the prevaricator, etc. etc.

height: like 5′3″ prolly tbh

hometown: duluth, minnesota

sexuality: shit she don’t know

bio. info

her dad’s in the air force, her mom’s published three diet cookbooks and two different DVDs--maribel is the only middle child

one of those conservative, all american families, they were strict and definitely made it known that they were parents and not friends by any means

9pm curfew, not leaving the dining room until all ur food is gone, grounded if ur grades were below their expectations, etc. etc. 

her older sister can evoke emotions in others thru her acting like no other. has taken the hearts (and leads) of all her acting directors since childhood. her voice is broadway material.

and her older brother? has been the best linebacker on any high school team he’s joined; hopes to make it to the big leagues. but if he doesn’t? he’s been taking college-level classes since he was a sophomore.

and...maribel?

maribel is...just, maribel.

for the longest time, there was nothing special about maribel

she couldn’t sing, or dance, or compose words in pretty prose

her grades were only satisfactory after hrs n hrs of studying everyday

homegirl can’t even cook w/o smth exploding

in short, maribel has never been good at anything. can’t draw within the lines, can’t follow the line, opens her mouth at the wrong time. etc. etc. shit? rough.

ANYWAYS

her family moves around a lot b/c of her dad, so she’s never really been in one place long enough to really prove herself? always been the quiet girl in class while her siblings brought home gold stars everyday

the kinda girl others would sorta push around n bully a lil bit bc she would never know what to say; prolly just cried a lot tbh

grew up w a lot of insecurities b/c of this

definitely doesnt help that her mother is obsessed w beauty n fitness n like

their mother p much forced her lifestyle onto her children, mari has a rough relationship w food b/c of it

ANYWAYS part 2

grew up always in the shadows of her siblings and their accomplishments, and spent a lot of her time tryn find something to be good at just so somebody could give her a stamp of approval

was always the ~wannabe~, the girl who would just endlessly suck up to the most popular girl she could find and try to mimic her to the best of mari’s abilities, just so she could survive her school experience

by the time mari was a freshmen in high school, her parents had divorced and she finally thought she could have a normal school experience and make something for herself

obv not. her mother shipped her off to a boarding school in nevada and that was it; her sister had already graduated and her brother was still in middle school.

it was finally just mari.

of course like she tried to suck up to others but it wasn’t really helpful, everybody was a lil too boujie for her and she always froze up when she tried to speak to the ~popular kids~

they only rly spoke to her b/c she’s got this knack for forging shit, like i dont think she even has her own handwriting; she always copies other people’S b/c she’s just. so used to tryn to mimic others n be them as much as possible

around this time she found herself fucking around in her computer class more often than not; it’d been the only elective left b/c she arrived in the middle of the year

but she surprisingly enjoyed it, like, a lot

her parents never really allowed much computer use b/c like. rots ur brain or whatever.

got into programming, but when she found out that u could ? hack shit ? kinda peaked her interest.

her shift into programming to hacking was subtle but before she knew it, she was fucking around on websites for the fun of it. never anything severe

computers became her friends, y’know

that was until her sophomore year and there was another loser fucking around on the computers during lunchtime

and like...they just started kinda talking, y’know? became friends, prolly mari’s first legitimate friend in...forever, really

the kid was kinda weird but she didn’t mind b/c fuck, mari couldn’t be picky n she didn’t mind weird

like...they were obsessed w conspiracies n mysteries n shit

it started to rub off on mari too, b/c homegirl is an idiot but. an observant idiot.

so she started getting reeeally into mysteries and shit. started acting like a mini investigator w/ her pal; solving stupid things like ‘who wrote ‘mindy is a whore’ in the bathroom stall’ and ‘does mr. roberts have a secret obsession w kpop’

no mindy is not a whore it was slander

yes mr. roberts is into kpop

ANYWAYS part 3

so they were these nancy drew, scooby doo, veronica mars knock off duo

by junior yr her partner started getting into like. drinking and minor drugs and other things that the other boarding school kids were smuggling in, y’know. 

this meant that mari was getting into that shit too, y’know. cant stay innocent forever.

became a lil bit of a pothead lmao

so like now theyre just stoners who go around solving shit and prolly also stirring shit up for the hell of it

so like . . . . . one night they were doin’ their thing, right? and her partner brings up this...completely wild idea

they live in nevada. y’kno what else is in nevada?

area 51

these fucking idiots want to go break into this fucking. air force base. to find area 51.

guess what they did?

they attempted to break into the air force base. like. of course they tried.

they failed like, super miserably, got arrested for trespassing and had to be bailed out of the county jail by their parents

her dad almost lost his job so he was mcfuckin PISSED esp once they figured out she was high as shit

her partner? disappeared. nobody knows where they went.

mari was moved from the boarding school to a public school closer to where her mother could, begrudgingly, keep an eye on her

kinda spent the rest of her high school career p miserable, she gave up on her whole ~detective~ thing and resorted to making fake IDs for her fellow high schoolers

was drug-tested like every week or so, too

around this time her mental health and relationship w food got worse, she barely made it to graduation. took a gap year to recover, worked a buncha jobs but usually gets fired from them b/c she’s really fucking bad like most things besides her two (2) unconventional talents that are decidedly useless

came to ucla b/c her mother p much made her, her mother’s a legacy and that’s about the only reason why she got into delta gamma chi

doesn’t want ppl to know she was a loser and also like . fucked up her dad’s life a lil, b/c it was def a thing that made the news and the only reason why her name wasn’t in the articles was b/c she was a minor at the time

so she like...lies abt her childhood a lot

tells a lotta lil white lies b/c she just. doesn’t wanna b her

uuuhh wanted to do computer science bc she loves it but her parents were both like ‘lmao we’re not paying for shit if u do that’ bc they don’t think it’s very ~ladylike~ n they still want her to like. just be submissive and obedient n shit.

so she took up journalism b/c neither her parents think it’s like a real career and they just want her to find a husband n get married n settle down n stop being troublesome

fun fact: she has a scholarship for being lefthanded so that pays for Some of it esp b/c she’s an out of state student

still struggles a lil bit w food but she’s like. doing a lot better. goes to group therapy, probably

uuuh that’s it for now i think ??

OH SIKE !! she’s a writer for the newspaper and writes ADVICE columns on various topics b/c she’s good at offering advice but only when she can sit down n think abt it lmao

^^she goes by an alias b/c she just. doesnt want ppl to know its her idk she thinks its embarrassing

other than that she’s probably like ... doing campus tech support b/c that’s her current job but who knows how long that’ll last lmao

knowing her she’s going to accidentally switch into her phone sex voice (another, old job she doesn’t do anymore) n get fired for tryn seduce a man with ‘did u try turning it on and off again?’

OKAY i think that’s all lmao

personality

mari is just. awkward, man

i mean like...she’s sorta bad at talking to others a lot of the time??

like ppl r kinda like ‘how tf r u a delta gamma chi girl’ n she’s just like i mean u  h h h h 

prolly stutters a lil bit b/c she’s usually rly anxious

but she’s v v nice, like, she tries her hardest to be a good friend n everything

but she also kinda switches her personality to appeal to whoever she’s talking too ?? like she wants to be. likable. she’s not real w/ others v v often

if ur boujie yeah she’ll pretend to be boujie too

she prolly still sells fake IDs to high schoolers n some of her college peers, she has one herself n hasn’t gotten caught yet sooo

always fidgets like she can’t rly sit still often b/c she’s so nervous

is a lil bit of a stoner but i feel like u can’t ever tell tbh

a lil shy n hesitant at first i’d imagine, or maybe just always lmao

has a bit more of a personality once she sucks it up n gets closer to u but she’s always v v cautious abt befriending ppl just b/c she’s had a bad time w bullies n her one friend in life disappeared so like...bummer, y’kno?

can never say no. like, i dont think it’s in her vocabulary. she’s a yes gal.

will p much do anything u ask of her b/c she’s constantly seeking approval

can ramble a bit when she’s nervous which is always but she also apologizes like a lot.

squeaks like a mouse

present at parties but it’s always kinda like. who r u. n she has to remind everybody that she’s a sorority gal too

considers herself v v forgettable, like, just v unimportant

like she’s just rly insecure

still does computer shit n is still rly good at it but she hasn’t done anything srs w/ it so it’s just wasted potential

going to use her journalism degree to do investigative journalism and maybe escape her parents, eventually

she just. bends easily to other’s wills, y’know? she’s hashtag soft

even tho she’s like. shy n awkward n shit it doesn’t take a lot for her to like, laugh, or smile

like she tries rly hard to appear happy n an optimist n just like. unfettered

a lil plain jane we stan

i cant think of anything else but she’s. she’s a good kid

OH she’s rly good w numbers n math but like that’s abt it. she’s a whole dumbass on everything else sometimes

is bad w talking n giving advice like in person but like ?? in her column or ovr text or smth ? she’s good. she’s concise.

is a good team player/good w/ projects/etc. etc.

OH OKAY YEAH

she’s rly observant n b/c she’s a lil bit of a compulsive liar she can usually tell when ppl arent honest

depending on how close y’all r she’ll prolly crack down on ur bullshit

but she’s also timid so like who knows tbh

this isn’t a personality trait but she wears like medium hoop earrings all the time n it’s cute ok bye

OK OK LAST THING

she’s so. fucking. clumsy. she will bump into everything. she’ll bump into the air. fuck, she prolly falls over just standing straight. usually has bruises n scratches from just being a clumsy idiot

like she can b a lil ditzy y’know ?? doesn’t have much common sense, sometimes, n can b naive but idk it’s all rly dependent on her n who she’s w n just. how i end up playing her lmao

lovs vintage. is cute.

wanted connections

her roommate uwu

ppl she’s interacted w/ during her childhood !! she’s moved around a lot so like . . . . they could kno each other

mmm sorority sisters

um gimme a ride or die or like a best friend or smth PLS she needs more friends

just more friends in general. she’s awkward but she needs ‘em

?? a one night stand ?? she’s not really . . . known for hooking up w/ ppl but i think an accidental occurrence would b fun!

idk somebody for her to just. crush on from afar. prolly stutters whenever they come near or talk to her or smth

^^i mean like an unrequited crush

SOMEBODY USE HER ! RUIN HER !

FRIENDS OR FUCKING OR WHATEVER

fake friends too! use her for her ~kewl skillz~

bad influence

let her b a good influence

some kinda...skinny love idk what that means. a will they wont they. smth cute. smth pure

it’d be wild if her partner just popped up outta the blue like that b/c mari 100% thinks they were like killed by the government

ppl she gets high w n talk abt conspiracies w/ tbh

ppl she gives or has given advice to w her column pieces ! love it

idk partners in a class

enemies or smth. i want conflict.

a tutor for her dumbass

but also anybody who needs help in math? she can tutor u

idk like this we can work a lil smth smth out

i give u one penny, if u plot w me. pls. i am poor.

[aristarshower]

Cosmere update???

alright y’all might remember that at some point this year i read stormlight archive and when i tried to understand Hoid better I got into Cosmere(I made one post abt it so I don’t expect anyone to remember it lmao! Also pls ignore that post it was more self deprecating than I would like!) 

Anyway, I am finally done with reading all the books and I am slowly making my way through coppermind and wobs and there’s so much here!!!!!!!!!

I read everything in the wrong order and I knew nothing about Adonalsium or the shards for the entirety of my stormlight read so I made some very wrong assumptions lmao. I’m gonna put everything here cause I feel like it and I also know no one else who’s read the books to discuss this with.

(Disclaimer:It’s 1 am and I’m amped up on painkillers and I know very little compared to all the overwhelming data in this fandom. I didn’t even know what RAFO or WOB meant until day before yesterday.)

The rest of the garbage is under the cut.

Sel:

I could not find an answer to this anywhere? So hopefully someone here knows? Whose voice talked to Raoden in the perpendicularity when he went Hoed??? Was it devotion or like a shadow/splinter???

Are people from Ire the same generation as Elantris era? 

Is there a connection between Iri and Ire??? I actually mistook Ire for Iri in secret history and got confused for a bit lmao.

Nalthis:

What happens if someone from Nalthis gives their breath to someone from other planets? No one can take breath but you can just give it? Will it stick just as well???

I did not Vasher or Vienna when I read SA and I didn’t make the connection after I read warbreaker either. That was a big coppermind surprise. I need to reread sa so forgive me if I make mistakes.

I’m guessing Lightsong saw the sequel in the painting but is it possible for him to see Roshar? 

We know Nightblood sucks in investiture(?) it seems easier on Nalthis or Roshar but how would that work on Scadrial or Sel or Threnody or Taldain??? Will it just eat the mists? Turn the sand black? Hurt the shades? 

Can Nightblood be used in hemalurgy as a spike? What metal is it made of? Does the type of the metal affect the way breath sticks to it(other than aluminium)? Where does the investiture go? 

Can you bring the dead back by giving them Returned breath? (Not as a lifeless) Also can one Returned give breath to another Returned dead to bring them back? Can dead Returned be turned into lifeless??? Can a Returned’s breath be stolen using hemalurgy? How would hemalurgy even work on breath?

What will Hoid do if he ever gets his hands on Nightblood?

Scadrial:

Did Hoid use a lifeless to paddle through the preservation’s perpendicularity in Secret History? It looked like he awakened something???

Did Kelsier pin his cognitive shadow to a body? Whose body did he use? Is he using single spike to keep Harmony out? Is he now like a Returned? Is he still mistborn?

Is Ironeyes a fullborn now?

Can nicrosil store all types of investiture? Can Scadrians use the bands to access other investitures?

Can we alloy godmetals? Like Lersium and Atium make Ettmetal??? But what if we combine Lerasium with some other godmetal? Like honorblades(those are honor’s body right?)? 

Can someone ascend by burning a lot of Atium or Lerasium? 

Can Kandra burn Lerasium? Will they become mistborn if they do? What about mistwraiths?

What happens if Koloss burn Lerasium?

Is it weird that when I read Ettmetal can’t be burnt cause it explodes with water, I thought ‘ooh sandlings can eat it then!’?

First of the sun:

I really really want a book on this planet!!!! 

Whose perpendicularity is on First of the sun??? I can only think of Odium tbh. He can see the future. He can get into people’s head(a bit like ruin but we know where ruin is???). Do we know where Odium’s perpendicularity is? Is it on Braize or Roshar? It could be small cause he is so far off.

I also wondered if this could be Hoid’s secret base? He did gather investiture for some reason? Maybe concentrating that on this planet caused a tiny perpendicularity? Can perpendicularities exist without full shards? It would also explain the weird powers???

Taldain:

When will we get full Khriss backstory????????????? I love her.

Threnody:

How did Nazh get off the planet?

 Is Evil a shadow/splinter of Odium or Ambition? I thought the shades were Ambition’s but the Evil is Odium’s. Or maybe Ambition is still alive(the power not the person?) 

What does Aluminium do to shades? 

Roshar:

I’m love Roshar!!!!!!!! Best world!!! The whole world is crabs stacked on each other!!!!!!

So Roshar seems like the closest to Yolen for me??? In one of the wobs brandon said there are tiny sentient dragons on yolen(correct me if I’m wrong) and that there are three sentient races, dragons are one, humans are two and the only other sentient race we’ve seen so far are Parshendi? This is assuming that Cosmere does not have races other than what was on yolen.

Are Sleepless dragons or maybe a type of dragons? Is that what frost meant when they said they observe? 

On a related note, what the hell happened to Aimia?

City of shadows-shadows like shades?

Ok so when I first read sa I didn’t know abt shards so I assumed there were three gods Unity, Honor and Cultivation. Odium killed Unity first and then came for Honor(I actually assumed odium honor and cultivation killed unity first??? something abt the reaction odium gave when dalinar ascended??? I’ll find the quote that set me off someday). The sibling is Unity’s shadow like stormfather or nightwatcher. Now I know Dalinar probably changed the shard name to Unity when he ascended like Harmony did?(I am still very confused. I’m hoping a reread will make this clear.)

Is Cultivation the shard from silent divine? The whole disease for power sounds like a boon and curse???

Which other god did humans have before Odium chased them over to Roshar? Odium was going exclusively for shards? Did cultivation come over from another planet in the same system and brought humans with her??? coppermind says honor and cultivation settled on Roshar so was there a third shard? Is that shard related to the sibling?

Is Cusicesh the sibling? I only have the pronouns to go on for this? Stormfather used they and Cusicesh was said to have both male and female faces?

So spren freeze when recorded? Does that mean once their cognitive aspect is fixed they also become fixed? Is that what happened to Cusicesh? It was recorded that they appear the same way in the same place and that just happened?

(Why am I so fucking obsessed with this one damn spren?)

I also want more about Axies and Aimia in general??? Can the Iriali or the Aimians (Sian? non sleepless ones) become knights radiant?

Can parshendi bond with the unmade? 

Is there a parshendi shard? Are they all human?

Is kalak shin???(He looks like a child?) (According to a quiz I took, I am a WillShaper!!!)

I wanna know more about Willshapers!!!!!!!

Why does one of the heralds have horns????????or is that just a helmet and im an idiot?

Was Jazrien tanavast at some point???(I know a shardholder can survive a splintering!)

Did Odium make Hoid averse to hurting people? Like the shard on Obrodoi is instilled with hate for Hoid? Can Odium instill a intense hatred of harm in Hoid? Is that what pissed Hoid off or Odium did it cause Hoid was pissed off???

So the waters especially rivers and oceans are one continuous bead because they think of themselves as a whole? So what if we get enough soulcasters? Can we turn the whole of them into something else? 

How did Nazh get Shallan’s notes from the ocean? What happens when things sink into the ocean in cognitive realm? Do their beads become a part of the big ocean one or they just lie on the surface?(Does this make sense?)

If origin is honor’s perpendicularity then how did dalinar open it? Like can one shard have two perpendicularities?

What are dawnshard? did vyre kill jazrien with a dawnshard? could they be cultivations body???

Was honor splintered on shattered planes? or city of shadows????? Or aimia???

Are the major human cities so symmetrical cause they are landing spots for the space ships??? After so many years of crem the ship should just look like windblades???

Did eshonai die cause she bonded a spren and her plate and shardblade started screaming and she got overpowered in the highstorm???

Renarin and Lift can heal people together now???

Stormlight looks like breath in cognitive realm? What does mist looks like???????

Cosmere:

Is it possible to become savant on other types of investiture?

Can Adonalsium see future? Did Adonalsium choose to get shattered? Could Adonalsium have influenced Hoid to do what he does like preservation and his plan? Is there a threat to cosmere from outside(all i can think of is another galaxy crashing into it?)? Was the holder of Adonalsium killed?

So one big theme of Cosmere is rebirth so is Adonalsium gonna be born again?

What is the scar constellation? The tear also nags at me for some reason???

Who is Senna???(Preservation mentions them once??????)

[divviren]

yooooo! this is so well written and thought out!! I admire your dedication to finding sources and fact-checking I know it can be taxing on the patience.

This is all super interesting to me. It’s been a while since I’ve interacted with dsmp lore and I kinda originally made the post because I’m an inniter and people were speculating abt ghostinnit on the dash and I wanted to say something (I didnt really expect people to see it Lol).

okay this was getting long here’s a read more

in all honest, we prolly won’t ever get a clear answer on ghostinnnits existence or even probably all the intricacies of limbo, revival, and ghosts as a whole on the dsmp. Which is fine tbh because it leaves more room for speculation and discussion.

I kind of had a similar idea to you—that ghosts kind of were a seperate/split version of a character after their death. Obviously, ghosts only appear after a character has died and based off of their personality traits I think it’s fair to come to a conclusion that yeah they represent a specific part of a character. I was kind of going off this knowledge in my original post because from what weve observed from other ghosts, the ghost versions of characters can be very different from their original self—sometimes nearly complete opposites! I think this is why I was so quick to accept that ghostinnit was a frequent crier who barely talks (and what do we know maybe it is true but there’s no way to really prove it unless a cc straight-up comes out and says it (but even then other ccs can still come on and dispute soo..))

I think the most likely situation—if ghostinnit was real—is what you said, that he probably showed up in prison with Dream. This can also be supported by the fact that Wilbur showed up in L’manburg immediate post-revival and the fact that it seems it was necessary for Dream to kill Ghostbur in order to revive Wilbur in the first place. If that’s true, then it’s likely that Ghostinnit showed up in pandoras vault and since no one thought to check in on the prison, Tommy’s ghost stayed there until Dream decided to revive him 2-3 days later.

I feel like there’s a lot you can do with that information, assuming it’s true, it gives a bit of insight into the kind of basic rules of how the revival book works and—if we go off of what Schlatt said—gives us a bit of insight into how limbo and ghosts work as well (even if does provide just as many questions as answers, if not more so).

But it does beg the question of how exactly Schlatt’s Gym works. I think I mentioned this in one of my asks but I was under the impression that it was between limbo and the real world. (since schlatt is a ghost and presumably mentions other ghosts visiting but quackity is able to come down as well.) It seems like this is plausible but then We have to wonder how tommys ghost was able to get there if he was trapped in the prison (perhaps he wasn’t trapped but if so its weird that no one else mentions him—perhaps he stayed out of sight ? but this is probably more of a plot hole than an actual choice). is schlatts gym open to anyone wherever they are? Does it have multiple entrances? can Actual dead residents come in as well (schlatt implies that Wilbur visited but I assumed he was talking about ghostbur)? It’s interesting to think about. The existence of ghosts and the canonization of the three lives system has opened up a lot of discussion on the world the dream smp and the characters that live it.

anyways rant over. Thanks for reading it you got this far and thanks again for replying back with such as detailed response !! It was very well-written, I enjoyed reading it—it made me think. We’ll probably never get a straight answer about any of these things but honestly I think it’s much more fun to see what answers we as fans can come up with :)

continued: i assumed ghosts dont go to limbo because ghostbur wasnt there until he actually like died so i assume its more like switching places from the point that a character dies (im not sure how death and revival exactly works on the dsmp--this is my assumption). so i thought that was kind of how tommys ghost was canon ? cause hes the only one who hasnt had a ghost at all to this point but it could also be a plot hole. idk you have me thinkin

Alright this is gonna be long. Not in a bad way! This isn't discourse or anything, just analysis and that's just how it goes when talking about this stuff.

Long discussion about Ghosts on the DSMP ahead!

One thing you have to get straight about this, is that there is little consistency between all the ghosts on the DSMP. For this we are going to talk about our 4 confirmed ghosts, Boo, Ghostbur, Ghost Mexican Dream, and Glatt. (austinshow and velvet are both dead, but since they don't have ghosts (nor a time when they were alive for us to compare to) they will be left out of this "essay"(i can't believe i have to say this, only in the dream smp lmao)) The only consistent aspects I have found between all ghosts are as follows:

- A "washed out" color pallet/ grey skin and hair

- Overall more carefree (while they can have moments of distress, a neutral state for them is one of a carefree attitude)

- And a weakness that would "kill" them or send them back to limbo. For Ghostbur its water, for Glatt its the sun, for MD its possibly Quackity, and for Boo its doing a song and dance

That's all! you would think more fundamental aspects of ghosts need to be set in stone, but no. You would think that maybe ghosts need to be separate from their selves in limbo, but MD and Glatt both make reference of traveling back and forth between limbo and the overworld. Maybe the ghosts need to be stagnate characters, set in their ways and unwilling to learn or change, but Glatt goes through a whole character arc in Tales. They need to be happy? nope. They give out stuff that meant something to them when they were alive? also no. Its frustrating!

So, the the idea of Tommy not having a ghost while everyone else does is consistent with the inconsistencies of ghosts. Confusing, right? Never said the dream smp didn't have plot holes lol. So it is not out of the realm that Tommy is just special and didn't get a ghost, for some reason.

Lets look at what you said, though.

Limbo is weird. And that scene with Glatt in the gym is good for us getting to know more about limbo (and is really funny).

Im rewatching that section of the stream here for this, and the gym does seem to be Schlatts limbo. From Boo's description of what limbo is (a type of ball where sometimes the faces will cross into each other, and that is how people can see each other in limbo.) we could say that Schlatts gym is a place in limbo where this "face" of the "sphere" crosses into the overworld. Like a place where ley lines cross.

Then again, Schlatt also said that Wilbur would come in to the gym occasionally to annoy him, while Wilbur has said he did nothing of the sort, and has instead said that Wilbur couldn't leave the train station. So this might not be totally accurate.

When Schlatt alludes to Tommy here he does say "he comes down here" (present) but also its important to note that when this stream aired, Tommy had only recently been revived. (Quackitys vod says march 17th as its upload date, so the stream was likely a day or so before, and Tommy was revived on march 3rd) While limbo time works differently, we don't know what time Schlatt's gym operates in. In this encounter, real time, but who knows. Maybe when talking to different people time is different? How long does Schlatt think he's been dead for then?

Food for thought, but its also to be noted this clip does NOT prove Ghostinnits existence. I've been trying for like the past hour to find a clip where cc!wilbur said that Ghostinnit isn't canon, or at the very least he's not in limbo, but I've had no such luck. There is a very good unofficial vods channel for Wilbur so I'm sure someone more dedicated could look though those to find it exactly, but that's a bit overkill for me and for this haha.

Now for a bit easier thing to ... disprove? argue against? You were under the assumption that ghosts didn't go to limbo "because Ghostbur didn't go there until he actually died" and that's false!

The two ghosts we see instantly after revival are Boo and Ghostbur, and both actually talk about their experiences in limbo that they briefly had before getting put back into the world.

When Ghostbur comes back initially, several people asked him what death was like (i think mostly Tubbo and Quackity, this was like the day after the 16th), and while he insisted he didn't go to hell, he described death as "nothing." Sound familiar? maybe like Tommy's limbo?

But wait, why would Ghostbur's limbo and Tommy's be the same? And if the void was Ghostbur's limbo, why is he at the train station now? For the first one, we could take it as Tommy heard this description of what Ghostbur's death was like, and as such that's what he expected of limbo, so it became like that. It could be like the sphere thing, where Ghostbur just took a peak into either an empty space, or Tommy's limbo (if it pre-existed). Or we could take it as, since at this point, only Schlatt has died, there hasn't been enough time for a proper limbo to form for Ghostbur to see.

Which brings us to Boo (we'll get back to the train station). Boo didn't describe his limbo, so much as tell us that he was able to see Ghostbur crying at the train station limbo. And then went on to describe the ball thing. If that were the case, a Ghost's brief visit into limbo when they die (or are born) could be looking at a section of this "sphere." And limbo's for people only are on the "sphere" if there is someone to inhabit that limbo.

So when Ghostbur died, there was only 1 limbo on the "sphere" as such there was a lot of "blank space" and so Ghostbur saw nothing. When Boo died, there were more limbos there so he was able to peak into Ghostbur's limbo.

And when Ghostbur goes back to the train station, I believe that this is just a factor of Ghostbur and Wilbur being, at least from the same person, if they are not still the same. So they would have a smiliar limbos. Ghostbur just wasn't able to see it the first time around because it didn't exist yet (quite literally, cc!wilbur hadn't thought of it yet). It also to be noted, its not exactly the same as Wilbur's train station. Cc!Wilbur has said that it is dirtier, darker, and Wilbur had no TV's telling him what everyone said about him. This shows that this is Ghostbur's unique limbo, that while similar to Wilbur's, is his own.

I hope that makes sense! I know Boo's explanation of the way he thinks limbo works is confusing enough, so this could make it even worse haha.

One way I've seen that has the most merit for being canon is that Tommy did get a ghost, he just appeared in the prison cell with Dream (where he died, which is consistent with Ghostbur showing up where Wilbur died) and Dream killed Ghostinnit to revive Tommy. i think this is the most likely, if it were to be canon, but no other people from limbo have mentioned seeing Tommy's ghost, or Tommy since he died, save for that one Schlatt clip.

Finally, your totally good artemysty for not knowing how death and revival works. I don't totally know myself, and its not made very clear in canon so I don't blame you! I've seen even theories that the revive book is not a revive book at all, but a wish book where your wish is to bring the person back. (because when Dream tried to revive Techno they got a wish) We don't even know how many canon lives a person comes back with when they are revived! Why is it called "limbo" instead of "the afterlife"? Wouldn't limbo be Lady Death's domain? Why is Dream XD feeding on the souls there then, cursing them to a afterlife of misery? There are a lot of unanswered questions!

I saw a very good theory awhile back, i forget who by, but they said that Ghosts are possibly the parts of the person alive or the personality traits that that person didnt want others to see. Ranboo didn't want other to see his suicidal thoughts, Wilbur didn't want others to see his emotional heart, but Schlatt was confident til' the very end, and that's why his ghost is much the same.

I, somewhat similarly, thought that perhaps when someone dies, they are only split into two (a ghost version and a version in limbo) if they are a person with a lot of emotional turmoil. Where you are very divided in yourself, in your head. I think this works for Wilbur and Ranboo, since both tend to compartmentalize their past actions, seeing them as different people entirely (the different burs for Wilbur and Ranboo's enderwalk). And like I said before, both Schlatt and MD were much more confident in themselves.

Feel free to look into this with me! I am open to discussion here! I love talking about the ghosts on the DSMP, I'm even open to talking about hcs regarding Ghostinnit!

[jamiedodgerart]

if you're happy to tell us, i'd love to head more about ur inquisitor :00!! his debates with dorian sound fun

:DDD yeah sure! soz this is late

pica’s 1/6 of an inch tall

(im kidding. his name was originally a pun, but not a typography one - he’s a rehash of an old oc i had way back in the day, who was based off a magpie. hes actually on the short side for a dwarf, i want to say around 4′3″)

he was a lyrium smuggler before the inquisition, and specifically was the front man who sold it. he’s a champion liar and man of many faces, and knows how to disappear in plain sight (which is easy if you’re a dwarf and most law enforcement on the surface are humans. to a human guard dwarves all look the same and theyre too short to really get a good look at their faces). he had a pretty transient lifestyle- he didn’t get tied down, didn’t get too attached to anyone or anything, had pretty few posessions. he was 26 (or the dwarf equivalent of 26. hows dwarf aging work in dragon age anyway) when the carta got him to spy at the conclave, and you know how that went

look ok. the first half of his career as inquisitor was just. wingin’ it. no one really knew what the fuck he was supposed to be doing, least of all him, so he just pretended he knew what he was doing till, i wanna say the end of into the abyss. after talking to mal hawke some he learned that, hey, everyone’s always winging it, and also that his decisions kind of really mattered. (and that those decisions he makes can. kill people) for the first time in his life, he realizes hes actually important, and what he does changes things on the large scale

so after that, he got to thinking. the world kinda sucks. and it sucked before the war. and the leaders of thedas are really not doing all that much about it, except trying to kick each other in the nuts while their enemies are weak and completely forgetting that politics Cannot Survive as a practice if theres no farmers able to make food for diplomats to eat. so, orlais, if your farmland is all gunched up with battlefields, then you need to fix that, don’t you. but the inquisition is really, really good at providing stability! it’s good at establishing patrols, safe trade routes, providing local employment, and is a fairly reliable consumer of local goods. so pica capitalized on that, and quietly spread inquisition presence all over southern thedas. this led to immense inquisition influence, with very little fanfare.

you can guess why the rulers of thedas tried to get rid of him as soon after corypheus was taken care of as possible. they branded him a tyrant and like. ok. they werent like. super far off. bc at this point he was kinda trying to see how much of the world he could take over before anyone noticed/tried to stop him and also figured he could do like, a way better job at leading it than the current rulers could. and he wasnt beholden to anyone either (not like empress celene! elected to her throne by… uhhhhhhhhhhh divine providence or something. i mean shes doing an ok job but like i didnt vote for her) so if he really really wanted to he could go full dragon reborn

ive got off topic but point is he figures humans have had their go and they fucked it up, so it’s a dwarf’s turn and he’s going to put the world back together himself. (ps hey bioware can we have some dwarf stuff in the next game. im js. weve had a whole load of elf nonsense and its nice and all but dwarfs had a cool ancient society too yknow)

after trespasser he elects to keep the inquisition around, because he worked hard to make this glue keeping the bits of thedas stuck together and he’ll be damned if he’ll let solarse and his minions screw it up. but it gets nerfed heavily and hes pissed about it

he romanced cassandra! i really like their relationship- they look to each other for moral guidance. pica knows he can get flighty and relies on her to keep him in line, and always asks her for advice when he sees her in the courtyard. he usually doesn’t follow it but he feels it’s important to have her perspective on things

they disagree on a lot of stuff (like he made celene and briala co-leaders but she was in favor of gaspard) but he trusts her judgement, and supported her in becoming the divine

he’s a little weird about religion, specifically relating to the stone. the surfacer part of him that hates caves is like pff hippie garbage, but the bit that’s generations old and wants to belong to a larger whole of a culture is Super Into It. cole said he felt the stone’s presence around pica one time and externally he didnt react but internally he was yelling WHAT THE FUUUUUUUCKKKKKKKKKKKKK I LIVED IN SUCH PEACEFUL IGNORANCE I DIDNT NEED TO KNOW THAAAAAT and after the mythal thing hes like fuck believe what you want. whatever floats your boat. we live in a world where nugs have little people hands so if it comforts you to know a god did that then live your truth

re mages he figures theres a way better way for them to fit into society than the circle. its dumb. they can LIFT THINGS WITH THEIR MINDS. USE THAT FOR BUILDING. they can HEAL WOUNDS WITH THEIR MINDS. THEY CAN TALK TO SPIRITS AND SHIT THEY CAN PROBABLY FLY WHY ARENT WE USING THIS THEY’RE WASTED IN TOWERS LEARNING TO SHOOT FIREBALLS OR WHATEVER people who fear magic are cowards. chantry more like sham-try. 

hes big on research and development. he sent samson to dagna for research and in the au where mal lives he sent anders to her too. cos. like. dude COEXISTS WITH A SPIRIT. thats cool as SHIT how does it WORK. 

(im gonna make a post abt the mal lives au soon. its good)

hes largely responsible but he has also impulse bought at least three stuffed dragons. also, if the textiles technology were available, hed have dragon jammies. it’s the little things in life.

he collects notes he’s found talking about him and hangs them up by his desk. his favorite is the one samson wrote calling him a damnable rogue. he says hes doing things right, if he’s making people mad

hes trans! im not sure how thatd be regarded in dwarf society, in undergrounders i doubt it’d be very acceptable given their emphasis on reproduction, but house cadash has been on the surface for generations and has probably adopted more liberal views on lgbt stuff. either way hes not very open about it, and it’s really easy to pass when he’s around humans (i get the feeling dwarves and humans look for different things, when they’re trying to guess gender. for example hes got some beard scrub, which in human terms means male but in dwarven terms probably either means very young male or unkempt female) (the added implication to this is that varric might keep his beard to stubble so he looks younger) he met krem and had an instant Trans Solidarity moment, which also comes with the Trans Fear that the person Knows that you’re trans and could out you. it’s a weird kind of trust and for me feels like that one performance art piece with the people holding the bow and arrow. anyway hes cool w krem but doesnt talk to him all that much. theyve got pretty different interests.

his best friends are probs cole and dorian! he’s very curious, and likes to hear different perspectives on things. he and dorian often play chess and discuss all sorts of stuff. they end up yelling a lot because they both want to talk but the other started saying something before they were done with their point, which they started saying before the other was done with their point, and so on. he doesnt get very far in the slavery argument until hawke starts chillin at skyhold more regularly and can adequately school him on the state of tevinter slavery (fuck i gotta make a post about that. mal’s had a lot of development since i last talked about him)

he listens very seriously to cole’s observations. he can really appreciate the input of someone who watches so much more than speaks, and heartily supported his ventures in becoming more human.

he also gets along very well with josephine and likes to trick her into taking days off. hes also always down to chat w dagna and scout harding! and varric, of course. it’s always nice to talk to someone without having to crane his neck up at them all the time

(this is the reason he doesnt usually spend time w bull. hes just too tall and its uncomfortable knowing your face is at your friend’s dick height while ur trying to discuss battle strategy)

uhh trivia, at one point i thought i’d fucked up cassandra’s romance by not flirting with her enough so i meant to go for dorian’s instead, bc while i had wanted to romance cass since uhh i dunno one of my mutuals first reblogged a picture of her, i underestimated how charming and cool of a guy dorian ended up being. so in canon i say pica had a crush on both of them for a little while

its late and i think i got mostly everything so enjooooooy

as a parting gift, this is him

[earthdeep]

ok so

having finished silver snow I've now done all the story content easily available to me, even tho the two music tracks in the extras menu that are ???ed out still do worry me

and tbh I don't have much to say abt silver snow itself bc it is almost identical to verdant wind HOWEVER I'm taking this opportunity to ramble my thoughts on the game as a whole, in a format that will likely not make sense to myself let alone anyone else

I guess I'll start on my thoughts on the lords? + rhea bc she's basically a fourth lord. so like, personal fave is still edelgard bc I am gay and angry with the state of the world, followed by claude bc he's fun and also probably the best person out of all the major players in this game, then rhea further back for being fucking terrifying to me and yet also woefully incompetent at the act of doing anything important, and dimitri is waaaaaaaaaaaaay down at the bottom of the barrel bc I am not here for angry white boys. I'm incredibly disappointed in the fandom wrt how much they adore dimitri. not surprised, mind you, since I've seen the cullenites in the dragon age fandom and their years of bullshit. but still, el and claude have so much more going for them (and are hotter to boot lbr) that it makes it suuuuuuper difficult to claim race and gender has nothing to do with it. but I'm totally sharing some of that blame with the game too, bc dimitri did get brought up in a good light more than, say, claude did in the eagles routes. which is super shite since claude's the fucking helpful one. srsly I had to sit through dream!dimitri in silver snow and you couldn't give me another claude scene- oh my god I just realised I didn't here from him again after he went missing. son of a fuck my dude just disappeared. like I assume he ran off to almyra like every other time but I just never saw him again.

actually, since we're on the topic of claude not being widely beloved enough by the fandom for me not to side eye them, leeeeeeet's point out a little smth smth with 3h's darker skinned characters. bc.... eesh. dedue? absolute life debt mode to the whitest of boys, hobbies include household chores, big brawny lad who's only recently literate. if disney wrote this character he would currently be locked in the vault out of shame. but I guess if it's not a pattern- oh hello cyril. at least HIS life debt is to the whitest of ladies instead! literally, her dragon form is the actual colour white. at least catherine used to be a noble, even if it's in danger of being cancelled out by her also being a brigand. and I don't think she's any good at chores either which is good. but like, the devotion...

we have claude and petra too, who thankfully have lives of their own. but it's hard not to wince when claude is called some variant of sneaky for the hundredth time (he's all talk yo...) and petra's post timeskip outfit makes me feel kinda gross if I look at it too long. it's annoying bc her face makes me feel gay things and then the camera pans and I'm back to oh yeah, they really wanted the tropical princess halloween costume huh.

at least judith's cool. and even wears trousers. I've never seen her in action in my game bc I overlevel and get through fights too fast for her but we stan her on this blog anyway. and this is already the third 3h lady I've had this response to but I am super gay.

anyway that elephant has finally been ushered out of the room, time to ramble about narrative things. bc what the fuck was three houses doing? verdant wind and silver snow were the same but for the final boss (and BOY is that final boss an asspull in both routes) while azure moon is similar but with entirely different factions being discussed, then crimson flower is just HALF A ROUTE?? and tbh crimson flower was I think the best, not only bc it was p unique and let me hug edelgard but also bc it was as short as it was. all the other routes dragged to hell and back as a result of being restrained by the calendar. you have so much fucking energy by endgame that it's a fucking chore to use it all, and you can only go two weeks before you've taught everyone on your main team and need to go explore and feed them or give them shit and then you need to use up all your energy and collect some more ingredients for the meals you keep having and then decide what you're going to do with your free day now all your paralogues are done and you don't want for ore or gold or levels so do you- ugh I know I could just skip but it feels wrong to do when not story appropriate. the calendar system works during the academy phase and fits the almost slice of life feeling it has, but once there's a war on it just destroys the narrative tension. war isn't hell in three houses, war is purgatory.

and now for something completely different: the church n stuff. it sure is very based on the real life church! as an agnostic lesbian maybe you can guess how high my hackles raised whenever anything particularly churchy came up. I do wonder whether IS underestimated how heavily that could sway the viewpoint of the player. bc I walked in ready to burn that fucking monastery to the ground if I'm honest. it's rare to be able to do that to christianity allegories in video games (*cough*dragonage*cough*) so crimson flower appealed to me a lot in a way I'd guess wouldn't to certain others (*stares at the white boy stans*) and it's kind of a kick in the teeth to be railroaded into worrying abt rhea in verdant wind. I purposely avoided support with her during that run and yet my dialogue options the moment she vanished were byleth caring abt her well being. game, the most I care at this point is that she is alive enough to give me some fucking answers on the shit she's been doing this past millenium. and that specific factor makes me wonder whether silver snow was done first and basically copy pasted to serve as a different route, forgetting that the player may not have the same objectives since they've been rolling with claude the visionary for the past year.

honestly the golden deer in general get kinda shafted by the game. I've seen others point it out too, but they get like no exposure outside of claude unless you seek them out. of the eagles, edelgard and hubert are always major characters appearing as bosses multiple times, although the others do fall to the background. then dear god the lions. both ashe and sylvain have entire month's missions dedicated to a part of their backstory during the academy phase! and even while dimitri dies after a single battle away from his route, there's a good chance dedue's coming back for more. claude gets a couple letters and a single battle and then he's out. let us ally with claude you bastard of a game.

I got sidetracked there but like the ashe and sylvain getting prominent story beats in all routes I think was a bit of a lost opportunity. and also probably is the reason sylvain is actually as popular as he is. dude's kind of a scumbag and it really does take being contextualised by his obscene amount of trauma to start understanding or liking him. it also helps he's easy as fuck to recruit and a very viable unit so u have a gameplay route to getting attached to him (legit 3/4 of my playthroughs had me fielding him as one of my regulars).

but think of the potential to add that to other characters! imagine seeing the conditions that led leonie to obsess over jeralt! meeting all these (completely alive!) siblings we keep hearing about then not seeing! killing bernadetta's father! the possibilities are endless and could be easily explained by rhea assigning tasks to students who already have relevant context or whatever. just ugh some of the choices made by the writers annoy me.

sfdlkdfkjdj I don't know how to connect this last bit at all, bc it's just observations abt like the models n stuff. I like how they've obviously set materials up for all the models to easily change clothing colours to differentiate factions. that's cool. they did that with skin tones too, so if you zoom in on like the agarthans you can see their weird super pale complexion (tho for some reason their battalions have regular skin?). tho it does make it weird when the 2d portrait is always the same. this duscar soldier sure doesn't look like his profile pic.

anyway that was the last thing on my mind abt this game. kinda anticlimactic to end on, I know, but rather in the spirit of things. only crimson flower knows what a satisfying conclusion is, after all :) long live lady edelgard yo.