#anyway the point is that these characters have like 2 traits each so seeing people conviniently changing one for the others just cuz

[cacaitos]

something finally broke in me after seeing ship art of midori camelliagirl and the bandaged guy not because i'm shocked or surprised that it exists but because as far as recognizable characters go on ST it really boils down to pick your favorite temperamental pedophile. but if it were that at least theyre pedophiles in different enough ways i would get it (in canon they are, as in random SA attacks v. a whole grooming child bride situation) but what´s clearly killing me is having bandaged guy have the traits of the other pedophile so it's kinda redundant but then i read the manga and tbh the arguments to explain the behaviour are so simple

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

It's rather interesting that each of the Yuus so far in the manga have been foils of sort to the overblotter in question (disciplined vs strict, competitive vs lazy, seemingly okay in body image vs puts up a mask, in order). Makes me excited to see what future Yuus will be like!!

Yes, it seems that the pattern for the manga!Yuu is that each serves as a foil or a “mirror” to the Episode’s respective OB boy. The idea is super interesting, but I hope they go further with it and actually let the Yuus engage with the OB boy of their Episode in a meaningful way. There’s both similarities and key differences between them, and I think that would make for an excellent opportunity for them to learn from each other, but also for Yuu to have a more active role in the OB boy’s steady, gradual change of heart and character. The way things are currently set up, the manga!Yuus don’t seem to have character arcs of their own or develop in any significant way from start to end; they’re just there to be the “good” example of what each OB boy struggles to attain.

For the Episode of Heartslabyul, I think the distinction between Yuuken’s discipline and Riddle’s strictness is an important one to make. At first glance, you might think being “disciplined” and being “strict” are the same thing. They’re actually not! “Disciplined” refers to control and restraint of oneself. That’s what Yuuken is! He is stoic but knows when to step forward and get serious. Meanwhile, Riddle is “strict”—demanding that both he and others obey the rules to a staggeringly stringent degree. Riddle isn’t “disciplined” because he forces his ideals on others and does not control himself when his temper flares. He is serious all the time and unrelenting in his pursuit of upholding the rules. In this way, Yuuken is actually the kind of person Riddle works toward becoming post-OB: someone with good control of his words and actions, while also observing the rules within reasonable wiggle room.

Another thing!! Yuuken’s style of leadership also greatly contrasts with Riddle’s. Throughout the Episode of Heartslabyul, we see that Yuuken is thinking about his kendo team mates, which spurs him to act or to comfort other characters because they remind him of his teammates. This was the case during the scene when Deuce confessed to his past as an ex-delinquent and Yuuken encouraged him in his endeavors to improve—just as he encouraged his kendo kouhai at the start of the manga. In spite of his stoic face, Yuuken is compassionate and considers the people around him. Meanwhile, Riddle rules with an iron fist and it’s always his way or the highway. He never once considers his classmates, their POVs, or their circumstances, always holding up his own interpretation of the rules as absolute and remaining unwilling to compromise.

For Yuuka, I wouldn’t say the contrast between her and Leona is in competitiveness vs being lazy. From what I’ve seen of her, Yuuka isn’t particularly competitive or lazy. She’s usually the one keeping people (mostly Grim) out of competition or squabbles, and she’s not exactly eager to compete (she steps up when people challenge or threaten her). I would hesitate to slot Leona (based on his actions in book 2 alone) as one or the other as well. Like… how is he lazy if he’s putting forth the effort to enact this whole scheme? And how is he competitive if the point of his plan is to get Diasomnia out of the tournament? Wouldn’t it be truly more “competitive” if he wanted to square up against them anyway?

I would say maybe a more apt point of mirrored traits for Yuuka and Leona are in terms of morality—or, I guess, how far they’re willing to stretch the definition of “playing fair”. Leona is the one that plays loosely, willing to resort to dirty tactics and skirting the rules if it means getting what he wants. Yuuka, however, is more morally upright. She’s keeping her friends out of trouble and stepping up to fight Savanaclaw mobs only when they pose a threat to her. In these ways, she “plays by the book”. As a fellow athlete as well, Yuuka would be able to understand Leona in the struggle to perform and to be seen. Not only that, but they share scars. The reasoning for Leona’s is left unexplained, but Yuuka’s is from a sporting injury. They could totally relate not only in their lived experiences, but by their physical markers.

We’ve only just met Yuuta, so I don’t know if we can draw any definitive conclusions as to how he’s a foil to Azul. However, we can deduce some parallels from his one chapter appearance so far. Both Yuuya and Azul come from restaurants that their respective family operates. Furthermore, Yuuta is and Azul was, overweight. For Azul, this became one of the sources of shame for him. His peers underestimated his competence in part due to his size, and this would later lead to Azul changing a lot about himself to appear “stronger” (including a more restrictive diet in order to maintain his new body). This is not true of Yuuta, who still retains his extra weight and happily chows on food. In fact, I don’t believe weight is even brought up by Yuuta at all. He’s content with his life the way it is, much more chill rather than stoic.

I think another HUGE point that helps Yuuta serve as a foil to Azul is their attitudes on gratitude. Yuuta is thankful for such little things like having food—he even gets mad at Grim for not being thankful for it!! This is a departure from Azul, who, despite running what is basically a wish-granting service, is never satisfied with what he already has. He is always concerned with getting “more”, be it money, influence, information, or abilities robbed from other students. The insecurity especially shows in how he desperately tries to protect his valuable golden contracts with a clever ruse. He keeps collecting and collecting, viewing those physical signifiers (the things he collects) as proof of his “success”.

My prediction for book 3 is 🤔 Azul will definitely see bits of his old self in Yuuta. His old self, whom Azul personally deemed as a weak and inferior version of himself, a version which he has a hard time coming to accept. I don’t think Azul would hate Yuuta or something that extreme, but Azul would feel pity for him and think him pathetic. Going hand-in-hand with the events of book 3, I believe Azul will underestimate Yuuta’s capabilities in the same way that Azul’s old bullies underestimated him when he was little. It would be such a cool parallel because, in this way, we’d get the sense that Azul has become no different than his bullies, pushing around the weak and (arguably just as bad) taking advantage of them for his own gain. And it would ultimately be those traits of Yuuta’s that Azul may have deemed weaknesses of his old self that save the day and get Azul to recognize he’s been living in denial this whole time, thus helping him to better appreciate his old self.

[skyesdaisys]

Hi! Love your work, could you write a dick Grayson fanfic abt him and a quiet female reader warming up to each other (set between season 1 and 2)?

yes, of course!!!! god, i've wanted to write for titans on here so bad i just didn't have the inspo so thank you<333

—

talk to him

titans dick grayson x fem!reader

sunmary: you weren't exactly much of a people person. especially since you were 1 of 2 adults living in a huge tower in san francisco, watching over 3 kids you don't really talk to outside of training. and the only other adult being closed off so who knows what'll happen when he decides to talk to you out of no where

cw: not much, there's just some fluff with a teaspoon of angst because of communication issues (they both suck at small talk and beyond)

a/n: idc what anyone says about this show, it's given me so much comfort and a lot of fun and likable characters. so i'm so glad i can write for them as long as you guys send requests for them. as well as other characters from other shows like yellowjackets and etc. also i love dick grayson, even though he can be a bit annoying in this show (that i can admit) but he's hot so ajsjfndmfmf. also, i'm sorry it took sooooo long, writers block got to me badly these past few months, so i apologize if it's cringey and awkward. but i do give the benefit the doubt here because this story is suppose to be like that (also the fact i'm projecting my "bad at small talk" trait here). two grown adults that can't seem to have a normal conversation, like at all

after the trigon incident you were dragged in by circumstance, you were the only other adult to volunteer to help dick with... whatever he was doing. you didn't have any life to go back to anyways, and you made a connection to everyone else so why part ways and it be unlikely to see them again. sure, you weren't particularly close with the kids, but, what are you supposed to do in order to bond with them? so that left dick in titans tower, but he wasn't as much of a talker as you outside of training.

everyday for the past few weeks have been, eat, train, sleep, repeat on a loop, no 'how was your day' questions, because the days are always the same so there wasn't any point of asking. and you could tell the kids were getting bored of it, very fast, and you could not blame them. being stuck in a repeating pattern with nothing else happening started getting old after the first couple weeks. so, you didn't really know how long it would take til something changed, it couldn't be like this forever.

during this time, you admired the grayson from afar, he was attractive, what else could you say? you weren't an idiot. and you also were aware of his previous entanglements with kory and you didn't wanna be involved in that. and, well... you felt like a teenage girl having a crush on a guy who was going through some shit, so it was better not to bother him.

and not being much of a talker doesn't make the conversation about feelings be any better. like, maybe this was attraction and nothing more? you were aware of the difference between liking someone physically and liking them emotionally (specifically in a romantic sense). but even as you admired him, you learn things about him, paying attention to the little things. deep down, he cared for other people, if he didn't, he wouldn't have taken rachel in and helped her, and he wouldn't have done the same for gar or jason either. people just have their own way of showing their love and care.

but your admiring wasn't exactly subtle. rachel had noticed it when you were looking at dick from across the room, talking with jason. the roth wasn't sugarcoating anything when it came to this, "you keep staring, you're probably gonna be capable of shooting lazers from your eyes." and you knew she was joking around but she caught you by surprise, making you face the young girl. "why is it any of your business?"

"because it's kind of sad seeing you pine for him like this." she points out, "and also, gar and jason made a bet whether or not you'd confess. we have eyes, you know?" and she lightly bumped your shoulder with hers with a smile on her face, "and i'm sure dick feels the same way, though he's not very good of showing it."

"that is ridiculous." you shake your head, "one, i don't like him. not like that. i just think he's cool."

"are you sure about that?" the roth rose her eyebrow, "talk to him." but you were not moving from where you were so rachel decided to take matters into her own hands, she then gave you a push (a literal one) towards him, and now you couldn't run away. all you could say was, "hey..."

"hey." he responded. jason just stood there awkwardly in between the two of you, "okay, well uh—" he pretends to look at a watch that's not even on his wrist, "look at the time, i must be going." and he had immediately ran out of there before dick tried to stop him. there was an silent pause and you were trying to figure out what to say, but before you could, he asks, "do you want some coffee?" all you did was nod. after that, there was even more silence, you two haven't had a conversation that wasn't training related in like, a while. it just felt like you were both strangers who didn't know each other nor were you fond of one another.

"you're just as bad at small talk as i am, huh?" you finally had spoken up. and dick just shook his head, "i don't know what you're talking about, i know how to make small talk."

"oh really?" you rose up your eyebrow, "okay mr. 'i know how to make small talk', what do you wanna talk about? and please, don't let it be training related. because if i have to hear you talk about that one more time, my head is gonna explode." you tried to look irritated, but he could notice a small smile on your face. then he immediately went into the 'deep, emotional' stuff, "you never told me why you came here. you just did, and i'm surprised you stuck around as long as you have."

you answered it anyway, because why not, "well, it's not like i have anywhere else to go." you set down your drink, making direct eye contact at him, "besides, the second i got here, and realized how big this place is and i have my own room... what, did you expect me to pass it up?" and you ended up making him laugh, which was surprising, "what is so funny, i'm just being honest." you were unsure why he was laughing, so you just took a sip of your coffee. he explained, "your honesty is refreshing, that's all."

"really?" and he nodded as a reply. you just sighed, taking your coffee and leaving. it's not like you had anything else to talk about and just sitting there would make it more awkward, so you just left. does it make it any less weird? absolutely not.

you guys didn't talk much after in the next few days, up until you decided to play hero on solo when you see a woman getting mugged by this guy in a mask. it was like one of the many movie cliches that you see brought into reality.

too bad it didn't turn out like expected, where you got shot in the leg. thankfully, the kids were able to track you down and bring you to the infirmary, gar was trying his best to patch you up and rachel was there for emotional support. as for jason... there wasn't much else he can do than just stand watch, up until dick had walked in with a worried expression, and the three teens immediately rushed out of there as soon as he walked in the room. you could've left if you wanted too but, obviously you couldn't.

"jesus fuck, you could've gotten yourself killed, what were you thinking?" all of his emotions were being let out in that moment, it was the most emotion you've seen him express towards you in like... ever. yet you couldn't help but be a bit sarcastic, "yeah, keep yelling... it's not like i'm literally a few feet away from you or whatever."

dick sat on the edge of the bed and started to explain, "sorry, it's just... when i heard what happened, i didn't know how to feel, or express it correctly." he gently set his hand on your injured leg, softly, "just if anything happened to you, i—"

"i'm tougher than you think, grayson." you reassured him, and you noticed a tiny smile creeping up on his face.

"i know it's just... i don't wanna lose anyone else."

you lean up a bit to set your hand on his shoulder, "i'm not going anywhere, dick." you then stopped for a second as you come to realize, "and we just had a conversation that didn't involve small talk. maybe i should get myself hurt more often." you were obviously joking at that last part, but dick's reaction to it was priceless, "i'm kidding. you are just... not what i expected."

"the feeling is mutual."

a part of you wanted to kiss him, that it felt right, but another part was saying how the timing of it all wasn't. and maybe these feelings you're having are actually real. because now, there was something in your heart that was growing that wasn't just admiration, and it felt weird, but a good weird.

maybe when the timing is right, they'll get to it, but until then, your growing friendship in the moment is enough for now.

[itslouisan]

Q!Philza headcannons:

I woke up and well, I'm feeling silly wanting to talk about Q! Philza since in my opinion he is one of the most complex characters in the QSMP, but also after the confirmation he is the same Philza as in hardcore, EarthSMP and DSMP, with the only exception being origins SMP (despite me having a headcannon about it and a whole timeline where all of it ties together) I thought, why not just show some of my headcannons since I kin this bitch way too much to point of Insanity and he is my comfort character and streamer, shall we?

Under the cut for a LOT of Q!Philza hc:

• First of all Phil has multiple scars from battles, it's confirmed he used to go to wars and with all the lore of the DSMP, QSMP and so on, I imagine he has a lot of them especially in his back and arms with occasionally 1 or 2 near his eye

• Due to said scars he never takes his kimono/samue off, the only exception being intense training where he needs more body flow and lightweight and in serious fights for the same reasons, he probably feels too exposed, vulnerable and even "dirty" showing them off, traits crows also have (avoiding vulnerability that is)

• I'm just gonna brush it slightly on a CHARACTER (NOT streamer Philza) interpretation in his sexuality and gender, if you guys want I can go deeper into it but meh: he is bi and ace, more in the gray sexuality spectrum than anything and enjoying jokes about sex without actually needing to do it, he is a transmasc (FTM) and crowgender using he/him and crow/crow self pronuns. The fact I view him as bi and not as a straight ally (which I did before the QSMP) is due to the fact Q!Missa and Q!Fit were a thing, again I could talk more in depth about this but only if you want

• In my vision character Philza (once more ONLY character Philza) shows traits of having anxiety disorder, either social or just general and some traits visible in people with both ADHD and Autism, which makes me hc him as Autism level of support 1 (tiptoing around 1 and 2) and ADHD PROBABLY combined type (both inattentive and hyperactive)

• His safe food is avocado toast and any potato related food due to Techno.

• Has sleep issues due to constantly having nightmares of the events of the DSMP

• Has back issues due to spending MONTHS sleeping in a chair to watch over the eggs

• He doesn't necessarily views Q!Cellbit as a son, but I think he definitely likes Cellbit company and gives him a ton of advice seeing how Cellbit has massive need of a father figure to guide him through

• Paints his nails with Chayanne, Tallulah, Cellbit, Pac, Mike, Roier, Fit and Jaiden and uses this time to "fofocar" as much as he can with all of them.

• Doesn't like tea but uses it to calm down and heal injuries anyway

• Definitely Cellbit top costumer in his coffee shop and actually talks with Cellbit about brewing techniques (reference to their original duo name being "coffee duo" and irl Phil loving coffee and Cellbit too)

• Has a hardcore heart and Wither rose tattoos in each of the inside of his wrists.

[skimmingmilk]

howdy skim! how do you get Sonic and Tails characterization so spot on? Typically watching cutscenes i can read between the lines or think deeper on some bits of the games but you just flesh them out beautifully and I was just wondering what your interpretation of Sonic and Tails is!

Hi there! :D

Ahh, thank you! I’m so happy you like their characterization! Watching cutscenes does really help get the voices down, but you’re right in that it doesn’t give us a ton of emotional range to work with. I think—in the case for how I approach Sonic and Tails specifically in the Picket Fence series—it helps that their foundation is a mix of game personality and AoStH personality. 

AoStH, while a very silly series, offers a lot in terms of range for Sonic and Tails’s emotions and reactions to stress. We get to see Sonic angry and upset and scared in ways beyond what the games tend to show and Tails is very much a little kid just doing his best, with a bit of a stubborn and defiant side to him. Taking these traits and emotions and more or less infusing them into the game portrayals (specifically Adventure and Adventure 2) are kind of how I establish their baseline.

The rest has just been practice! I’ve written so much of these guys now, their behaviors and the way they think have become almost hardwired into my brain xD I didn’t start out super confident about my portrayal of them—Sonic in particular used to give me a lot of stress because of how much stock people can put in how he’s characterized. I thought for sure people weren’t going to like how I wrote him at all—and I’m positive there are people who don’t and that’s fine! But I wasn’t writing for them. I’m not writing for Sega or any official media, I’m writing for me and the people who want to read the same stories I do. 

**Edit: This isn't to disparage anyone who is more particular about how Sonic's portrayed. It's solely because there's already so much stress involved in the writing process, I don't need the added stress of writing for an audience that wouldn't like my style anyway hanging over my head! Especially when it's free fanfiction I'm doing in my spare time for fun. There are plenty of other really talented writers out there who have their own spin or take on the characters that people can find enjoyment in <3 I don't have to please everyone and that takes off a lot of pressure!**

So that pushed me to find my footing as I put Sonic in situations I wanted to see. The more I wrote him and practiced his voice, the more natural it became. I got comfortable with him and the confidence just built up over time to the point where I can trust him to guide the narrative and get himself where he needs to be, rather than me just shoving him into place.

In a way it’s a lot like learning to draw them, right? First, you stick pretty closely to on model references to make sure they look like who they’re supposed to. You learn their shapes and defining features, then once you're comfortable, you start to branch out, push the limits, and infuse more of your own style to them. It’s the same with writing. You follow the guidelines canon materials have given you at first, but once you understand how the shapes of their personality traits fit together, you can bring your own style and flair to the writing to expand their potential and match the creativity of your ideas that go beyond what the games, comics, movies, etc. have covered. 

More about how I personally approach them beneath the cut, because this got long, I'm sorry xD

I think my interpretation of Sonic and Tails relies on a couple of things. First, their relationship to each other. They are best friends. Sonic has a lot of friends and cares about a lot of people, but Tails is specifically his best friend. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s so important to me to establish that it’s a symbiotic relationship that goes both ways. It’s easy to see why Tails likes and admires Sonic, why he’d want to be his friend and that he looks up to him, it’s all part of his character arc in early games. So making sure Sonic views him in the same light is key—not just as a little brother figure he has to look out for, because that kind of responsibility doesn’t really align with Sonic’s free spirit*, but for Tails to be someone he genuinely admires and wants to be around. Sonic keeps pace with Tails because he wants to, because he’s choosing to of his own volition.

*Just want to add, that’s also what makes their dynamic so compelling to me. Sonic’s cool, rebellious, free spirit doesn’t typically lend itself to the idea that “my best friend is a sweet, eight-year-old genius mechanic who has a bit of a complex about me.” On a surface level, that doesn’t seem like it would align with a stereotypical “cool” character, at least not to me as an American kid in the 90s and early 00s. So playing with that and making sense of it is so fun and critical to my portrayal of him.

The second thing is mainly making sure my writing feels genuine. Like, I need to believe in the way I’m writing the characters because if I don’t, then I can’t possibly expect readers to. Sometimes it requires planting a few seeds along the way in order to earn the payoff of an emotional reaction, so that I can get to a place where I can write something like Sonic the Werehog hiding his face with one hand as he howls from the sheer relief of being free from the burden of taking a life that he was fully prepared to take on and believe him when he does. Or when Tails is trying to troubleshoot his own jealousy and insecurities on his own rather than talk it out, I need to believe that he believes what he’s doing makes perfect sense to him.

Honestly, my characterization of them is probably pretty skewed and biased to my personal tastes at this point. I don’t think this is a definitive way to write Sonic or Tails, but based on my experiences with how I’ve engaged with their characters throughout my life, I just write them exactly the way I want to and try not to worry about whether or not it aligns with others’ views of the characters. Taking away that pressure and outside influence gives me room to play and explore different possibilities. There are also certain characterization choices in canon media that I don’t necessarily agree with, but I try to work in aspects of that in a way that doesn’t totally contradict that piece of media while also aligning with my view of them, if that makes sense?

Basically I don’t disregard everything, but rather try and work it into my foundation that was built primarily on AoStH and the Genesis/Dreamcast-era Sonic games, so that people can still see a bit of Jason or Roger or Colleen's performances or nods to the OVA if that's their preferred piece of Sonic media. **Edit: I have the most familiarity with the English side of Sonic, but of course would want to be open to people who's favorite Sonic is Jun'ichi, too, I just haven't had as much exposure to him as Sonic, so can't say for certain if anything I've written feels in line with that**

I hope this answered your question? It was very compelling to think about and I hope it provided some insight into how I approach their characterization!

[zeronetxt]

IT'S TIIIIIIIIIME!!!

...For me to do my lil randomly occuring hc yap sesh! today we have

Headcanons/Theories I came up with in the shower (BSD)

has anyone ever noticed how the characters trauma is linked to their ability in some way? or yt heir person, idk how to explain, but i'll use a few examples

either its their ability, or another work by their irl author counterparts

tachihara's ability, midwinter memento

midwinter, the coldest (theoretically) time of the year

emptiness can also feel cold

'memento' meaning souvenir, or a reminder

both of which could be about his brother

whom he has a similar ability to

this 'souvenir' could be a trait (their ability) or his brother's dog tag

when his brother died, tachihara became empty, and you can't compete with a dead person

So he tried being different to his brother to avoid comparison

fukuchi's ability mirror lion

'lion' representing a leader. a commander with bravery and honour

however a mirror is only made of 'glass' (and metal, but also, who cares?)

the reflection shown is but a sorry illusion that you can't change

no matter how hard you distort the picture, it's still your tainted hands

chuuya being the tainted sorrow in his irl counterpart's poem (havent read it yet though, so its taken from the title)

chuuya, no matter how often he tries, will always be a second choice

'tainted sorrow' for distraught. in despair to the point which you can't stand

numbness to pain you forgot existed

chuuya's ability is like a letter to the self

he IS the tainted sorrow

he IS the second choice

(btw, i have not yet read stormbringer and i havent been able to read the manga yet, so this is what i have gathered from the anime, WHICH I HAVE REWATCHED FOUR COMPLETE TIMES, DO NOT PLAY WITH ME ON THIS, I WILL FUCJING PROVIDE EVIDENCE.)

but this is my observations with the people he is shown to be "closest" with in the pm

ie dazai kouyou aku and mori

not including sb character (obvi)

dont spoil me either im alr so sicj of getting dpoilef its sad

tangent; no one sees my vision when i say that skk want to 'kill each other' just not in the way youd expect like beast!chuuya (manga at least) says he wants dazai to die by his hands (and from what i've heard frin the ln goes cuckoo snd seeks to destroy the agency)

yet again i have bit read any lns, im too poor

ANYWAY the others have "diff priorities" ygwim??

dazai has oda/atsushi ygwim?

but he does think of chuu bet

kouyou kyouka

mori dazai

aku jinko

but hes loyal snd i loev him

idk i just yap ive forgotten this thought ngl

jouno and his priceless tears man

i would explain more on this but the only tears there are were the tears that fell from my eyes.

might do a pt 2 of this idc lol

might get cancelled for my opinion and view of bsd too but idc its fiction i can analyse it how i want its nit the bible

[replicabetweenblogs]

FIRST POST-HIATUS WRITING UPDATE WOOHOOO. ALSO I NEED Y'ALLS HELP.

30.12.2024 // this is not a chapter update yet! As promised before, an update to reveal what I have been up to regarding RBU.

;-; catching up on age old asks that got thrown into my inbox while I was away on hiatus and. Yes- always made me smile reading those, but also made me quite sad for leaving the story at such a cliffhanger.

All the people hoping for a happy ending with the ROs do make me giggle- all those people pointing out all the angst make me feel quite evil for the stuff I have written down in chapter 9 already. ANYWAY!! the update!

A few lill snippets because why not.

over the past years of total and utter silence with this project gone through a never-ending hiatus, I have gotten alotta more confident(yay) yet no-where to put these skills of mine into, as my struggle in real life right now is the fact that I can’t find a proper game design job where I can flourish - I decided to try and keep said skills sharp and fresh by writing stories. so here we are again. I have been quite busy rewriting and re-defining the overarching story, and I cannot wait to have everyone see the eventual endings.

Kept it all hush hush not wanting to come back with nothing- hence the ask compilation above c:<

the chapter is going to be a BIG one. I am at 91k words, fully written out and basically done aside from one (1) path remaining. WOOHOOOO NEARLY THERE :D running towards the finish line, hence the teaser. Anyway --

FEEDBACK FORM, TEASER, REQUEST FOR EDITOR UNDER CUT!

***Feedback form! Help me reach the finish line!!***

I need your help c: for anyone who still has their saves or new players who have reached the end of chapter 8, I like to know what your stats are! I require this for proper balancing in chapter 9 as this is the chapter where the story gets split into many paths depending on some of those questions. Thank you in advance!!

what can you expect from the next update, coming up SOON?

91k wordcount so far (total, all branches, excluding code)

19k words for one single run

Romance lock-ins with Ash and Ha

consequences of your past major decisions/Character personality traits starting to finally catch up by taking the players onto whole different branches and locations altogether.

trigger warnings: implied mental and physical torture, determined character deaths

Some additional flashback sequences across chapters 6, 7 and 8 to some see things from companions' povs

The story of RBU is dark. this game has a dozen "bad" endings planned, only having one "good" ending for each individual Character/MC and main story in general. It's not for just the sake of drama and shock value, as I want this game to reach a very specific "lesson" which effect will be taken away if everything ended in a too-good-to-be-true way. Just a gentle warning!

main story lock-in!! Coded out some branches already for the next chapters. Chapter 10 will be the end of part 2, and part 3 will be more of a 2-chapter endgame with a chapter dedicated to an epilogue afterward. So we are really getting close to the end if I keep this up, and will stop updating the public link once reaching part 3. Will be making an announcement for private betas by then probably, but that'd be like... when I am on my deathbed at the age of 92, most likely.

I really hope you guys will be enjoying the absurdly long chapter. Did a few bold moves regarding the direction the story is going towards which I had been planning and iterating for since the very start of RBU regarding final revelations, hoping some puzzle pieces will be satisfyingly falling into place.

RBU is really about regret and acceptance regarding our decisions and mistakes, and how different types of people deal with it (badly).. so there are no "good" or "bad" endings or choices, really. BUT there is always a "worse" and "worst" so uh. Beware :')

Looking for a paid/voluntary editor!!

To help with the reconstruction of weird sentences, taking out grammar mistakes, eliminating the bad spelling, and bonking teenage-firefly on the head for her bad storytelling. plus points if you could help with the phasing even, perhaps like some kind of a beta reader- yet not too focused on it right now, as I'm just wanting to make the old chapters flow nicer.

shoot me a message if you are wanting to help out! Either on the forums, over here, or shoot me a DM! as I am @fireflyy on the official COG discord server.

For the sake of consistency, I am hoping to get help from one available editor for now. so please do let me know of your experiences if you are wanting to help out!!

You shall be credited within RBU's main screen

See you all soon <3 and a happy new year!!

[sweet-evie]

Does fanfic exist of SaShiSu just being housemates? I need this AU so bad 😭

✨ masterlist ✨

Like I want more wholesome shenanigans between the three of them...

Like, I need more content of just Satoru, Shoko, and Suguru being the best of friends going through ups and downs together, navigating through that phase in life where high school ends and university days begin.

Satoru is the rich friend and wanted to buy the three of them a house with his parents' money, but Suguru and Shoko refuse and are adamant about showing rich boy what it's like to live in the real world.

So they rent a 3-bedroom 2-bathroom apartment unit... (Satoru and Suguru share a bathroom, and Shoko gets her own bathroom, for obvious reasons). It's still pretty upscale compared to most, but they all agreed to pitch in for the rent and utilities.

I want to see moments where Satoru learns how to do laundry, moments where Suguru figures out how to make the perfect fried rice recipe, moments where Shoko stays up super late to study and the boys stay up with her and help her with flash cards and stuff.

They have game nights, movie nights, spring cleaning days, laundry days.

I want to see friendship fights and friendship fluff afterwards.

I want to see moments where they have personal emergencies, and they each know how to take care of each other.

I want to see them get drunk together. Satoru gets wasted first because he's a lightweight and he RARELY drinks. He consumes alcohol like once a year and only because he lost to Suguru in a bet.

They're each other's best wingman and wing-woman and they roast each other so hard, like only best friends can.

They see each other's best qualities and know each other's worst habits.

I want to see Satoru whining and complaining when he keeps finding black and brown strands of hair everywhere. He also finds stray hair clips and hair ties in the most random places.

I need to hear Shoko complain about all the random shit Satoru and Suguru keep buying and placing around the house. They don't even need most of it. One or two or five is fine, but sometimes it accumulates and ends up cluttering the kitchen counters and takes up valuable cooking space.

(Like why do we need Digimon figurines in the kitchen? Why do jars of multi-colored marbles keep multiplying on available counter spaces?)

I want to see Suguru being passive-aggressive, sassy, and petty about his two housemates not carrying their own weight when it comes to housework. Suguru's toxic trait is that he refuses other people's help when it comes to cleaning because he has a way of doing things that he MUST follow and NO ONE is allowed to mess with it, but he gets annoyed when people don't help him while he's cleaning.

I want to see them juggle part-time jobs and college schoolwork... Well, Shoko and Suguru would get jobs. Satoru is a nepo-baby.

Even if Satoru is a nepo-baby, he at least knows what normal people (like you and me) do to function and live in a society drenched in capitalism, and it's all thanks to Suguru and Shoko.

When Shoko and Suguru struggle to make ends meet financially, it's Satoru to the rescue! They rarely ask for his help, obviously, but rich boy finds out anyway and if he can help, HE WILL HELP.

The three of them are family at this point.

If you date any one of them, just know that they're a package deal. You can't have one without the two.

I want a disney movie with the three of them as main characters, basically -- where friendship and family love saves the day! 🙌

Is this too much to ask?

From Gege? Well, yes... 😩

(JJK canon has just broken me beyond repair... *sobs in Ch #236).

[akajustmerry]

on sherlock adaptations: what do you think of house

I have so Many thousands of thoughts of House as a Sherlock adaptation that I could write a book about it and chapter one would be called: A HOUSE IS NOT A HOLMES© because I don't CARE that they called him House and idc that his apartment is 221b and that he plays the violin sometimes and solves problems, that's not my friend Sherlock Holmes!!!!!

House doesn't work as a Sherlock adaptation because deduction as Holmes practices it in the stories is not SPECIALIST KNOWLEDGE!!! the whole appeal of Holmes is that you read it and you feel like you could also deduce things. Holmes teaches you a way to look at the world and be more observant and use that knowledge to help people.

Holmes isn't a politician or a policeman even, he's a guy who wants to help because he's studied a particular way to see the world and you can too.........House is a SPECIALIST DOCTOR with a typical Doctor's God complex. That's as far as you can get from Holmes!!! The whole point of Holmes is he's not part of an institution!!! He operates OUTSIDE OF IT. House's knowledge base is medically specialist, you can't engage with his deductive reasoning the way you can with Holmes in the stories because to know what he knows you have to go to med school for 20 years. There's never a sense when you watch that you could have figured it out. Also, House's job description is institutionalised and established. He's not doing anything (med malpractice aside) that wouldn't be in the scope of any other specialist.

Thirdly, Sherlock Holmes isn't a guy looking to have power of people. This is the thing that arguably pisses me off most about House which is the interpretation of Holmes as someone looking lord his intelligence over others. I think this comes from the prevailing tortured genus trope. But also people not being able to tell the difference between Sherlock as a character who is just very open about his observations and someone who's an asshole. Sherlock is actually a very honest character which sometimes yeah means he's harsh but mostly he's just truthful. House mutilates this trait beyond recognition to the point of near constant and unrealistic cruelty.

Finally, I think making Holmes a doctor literally means you can't actually have a Watson because arguably the whole point of Watson, other than to be the audience pov, is to add credibility to Sherlock's unorthodox career choice AND to provide a traditional scientific perspective. House being a Doctor means none of that is really needed. Everyone knows, understands, and respects what a Doctor is!!! Wilson as a Watson figure has nothing to do except be the audience's WTF POV. Even the way Wilson and House's friendship is done is simply, like.... they didn't read the source material. Do you get that these men are meant to be at the very least friends who enjoy each other's company?? Also I think people need to shut the fuck up about House MD being a secretly gay show. A show doing homophobia on the regular isn't gay in any way that matters.

I say all this as someone who's watched it and enjoyed it at times. House and Cuddy were literally like one of the first ships I ever shipped. Do you know how weird it is to be 15 rooting for 2 middle aged co-workers on tv to fuck?? Anyways, I have lots of other thoughts about how the show handles House's addiction and disabilities and how arguably these are also taken loosely from Holmes lore. But if House MD must be considered a Holmes adaptation, it's one that mostly just mutilates. Almost every criticism hbomberguy says in his Sherlock is Garbage video essay is also applicable to House MD.

[thefinalcinderella]

Tsurune Book 3 Afterword

Full list of translations here

Time for my unsolicited book review!

Tsurune Book 3 is one of the books of all time.

I'm not trying to be funny, that is my true opinion about this book.

I've said before that it feels like the author was forced to write this book in a hurry, and after finishing it, I can only say that those feelings have only grown stronger. I think the author was going for an abstract and spiritual feeling but it didn't really work out. It only made the story hard to follow, and the tendency for the novel to jump from topic to topic seemingly at random didn't help. It's probably super obvious in the author's head, but that doesn't matter if the reader can't follow their thinking. I really do question what the editors are doing because I'm not sure if they're giving the author proper feedback.

The novel also suffers from trying to do a lot but not doing any of it satisfactorily. It introduced a lot of new characters and plot points but never really did anything with them?? The new first-years faded out of the story after the beginning and idek what's going on with Kuon. As for the new school Haneina...the author just gave them one """quirky""" trait each and called it a day. It kinda happened with Tsujimine too but it was more subtle with them, and I think the central relationship of Nikaidou and Fuwa was compelling and well-written. Asahina and Eddie, on the other hand, are just really weird?? I honestly don't understand what their narrative role is supposed to be??

This might be a controversial opinion but I feel like the anime tells a more coherent, polished version of the story. I was rewatching it the other day and I was kind of blown away by how the visual quality improved between the seasons. S1 was definitely not bad looking but S2 is just *chef's kiss*. Idk if there's going be an S3 but it will be interesting to see how (or if) they adapt book 3

Anyways i don't want to say that book 3 is kinda pointless since it did give us some reveals (perhaps unnecessarily) but on the other hand...i feel like book 2 had a nice ending for the series as a whole as well? idk. if there is going to be a book 4, i hope it will be all about Kazemai hunting down Masa-san's bio dad

Thanks for following along with me! I know I've been really slow with this so im glad people are still interested haha

Previous |

This happened when I was reading a certain foreign novel’s translated version. As I was reading through the point of view of a character whose first-person pronoun was “私” (watashi), I came across a surprising description. To my surprise, the character I thought was a woman suddenly started to shave their beard. Later, I learned that there was an unspoken rule that men used “watashi” written in kanji, and women used “watashi” written in katakana.

Minato’s personal pronoun is “ore” in hiragana. It encompasses the meaning of “undifferentiated,” someone of unknown gender who is neither male or female, although his physical body is that of a boy. Nanao’s pronoun is “ore” written in katakana, a person of unknown nationality who can’t be classified as either Japanese or foreign, a person who wavers between the two, a hybrid existence that crosses that line. Takigawa Masaki is also someone who hovers between “human” and “not human,” so his name is written as “Masa-san” (マサさん) in the text. Shuu is also a character who is in between.

I’m attracted to such “fluctuating” and “swaying” things. Things that can’t fixed or distinguished in form or state, as changeable as “water.” Kaleidoscopic freedom and loneliness are two sides of the same coin. People who fluctuate cannot stay in one place, and instability follows. Because they can’t be classified, they do not belong anywhere, nor can they be emphasized with. I wanted to somehow hold back those who can’t stop walking. I wrote this story because I wanted them by my side.

Changing the topic, I was on my way home from a domestic trip. After spending a relaxing time listening to the chirping of birds on an isolated island, I heard a large explosion sound when I got off at a certain station in Tokyo. The warning signal of a train entering the station continued to sound, and announcements reverberated from all over. I forgot to bring my earphones, so I was unable to plug my ears and ran all the way to the edge of the platform. Glowing neon lights reflected diffusely, and the words on billboards and other signs crowded in my field of vision like a herd of horses. I almost thought that I had time travelled back to wartime. We had become so accustomed to the flood of sound, light, and text that we don’t realize we’re on the verge of drowning.

Tsurune is the story of masters and disciples and bow friends with the theme of rebirth, and it began as the story of seven archers. The theme of Volume 3 is “Meigen, that is the sound of the dawn,” and I wrote about shari kenshou (seeing true nature through the shot).

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone involved in the making of this book: Koyama Kyugu-sama, who I’ve interviewed, T-sama of the KA Esuma Bunko Editorial Department, Kyoto Animation-sama who was in charge of illustrations, the proofreaders, the novel’s official website, the printing company, and the distributors. The letters I’ve received are my treasures, and I have displayed them in my tokonoma alcove. I would like to thank my beloved kyudo teachers and bow friends, my precious friends, and my supportive family.

Last but not least, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all the readers who have read this far.

I hope for the day when the beautiful tsurune of the archers will resound.

Ayano Kotoko

Spring 2022

Previous |

[imminent-danger-came]

tbh you are so real for talking about the misogyny targeted to mei & other women in the lmk fandom. in general its like people only value mei as: a: the wingman to some basic mlm ship or b: macaque 2.0. its honestly crazy how so many male side characters overshadow her in the fanbase despite not even having a FRACTION of her screen time. idk chat i feel like the reason people dont care about mei but care about some random male side/background character is less because they're inherently more likeable but because some of you view women as inherently less likable. and everyone is always like "mei is so girlboss pussy cunt slay shes the only reason theyre still alive because she keeps them safe from their silly boy shennanigans shes their ultimate wingman shes so badass shes their lesbian best friend i totally paid attention to her when i watched this show LOL" and even ignoring the obvious misogyny here (ie. how people reduce her to being the male characters babysitter) its like... okay... i know mei is cool & badass already... could you name literally ANY other character trait she has. like people just value her as being "the braincell" who can get red son and mk together or something stupid and its like are we having fun still is this still fun. literally every day i go into the mei tag its like "look at mei shes red sons wifey and shes vaguely in the background of this drawing of red son and mk staring into each others eyes #trafficlighttrio am i right oh look shes macaques niece now this post is about ao lie why is it in the mei tag"

and thats literally JUST talking about mei and it doesnt even begin to cover the other female characters. chang'e constantly gets reduced to being red sons aunt/mom/big sister despite them like. not having any actual interactions in the show. lady bone demon constantly gets overshadowed by her minion who has like 2 seconds of screen time, or she gets made into a cartoonishly abusive madwoman who people call lady bitch demon. just in general people act like shes a horrible person for like. being a villain. liks yeah the trying to destroy everything was bad but also she was an antagonist and thats what antagonists do LOL. spider queen gets completely ignored. princess iron fan gets made into a cartoonishly abusive mother so that way red son can have a poor angsty backstory and some male character (usually nezha, macaque, swk) can take care of him.

(also theres just a great deal of ethnocentrism in the lmk fanbase? like im white so take what İ say here with a grain of salt but so many people will misconstrue aspects of chinese culture for their own personal hcs. people will say male characters are transfem or nonbinary while completely ignoring the time period/culture their from where thats the norm. like yippee youve implied that an east asian man is feminine/emasculine because he has long hair. how do you not see the negative connotations with this. people also turn pif (& lbd to an extent) into a dragon lady which obviously has negative racial connotations lol.)

anyway this is where my unhinged rambling ends have a good day have a good night İ had more to say here but İ reached the text limit. İ dont see a lot of people talk about the misogyny thats prevalent in the lmk fanbase so İm glad youre pointing it out lol.

Yeah, I totally hear you. The lmk fandom has plenty of issues with misogyny and, like you said, ethnocentrism. It's definitely something worth having a discussion about, along with these issues in fandom as a whole.

[villainintern]

Holy Hell, ngl this was already such an interesting read. Great start to a story. I especially liked how the characters(mc included) actually talked/s about the looks/origin of the mc, felt like they were more then just asthetics for the reader to imagine specifics, but an actually important part of the world and the mc.

I have a few points i wanted to ask about tho.

1: Will you add saves? While it was a blast reading it, needing to restart from the beginning just because one maybe missclicked, takes out the flow and kills the mood yk?(Of course thats just how i feel at least about it)

2: Would it be able to make the background white, cause it kinda hurts my eyes looking at the white text with black background, and it won't change on a white background even if you try to change the setttings.

3: Do you plan on making character intro posts(yk the whole nine yards of appearance, little details etc.) if not, could we get the physical descriptions of the ros?

Anyways that's all, good luck with writing and stay hydrated.

It's looking like people prefer the sepia in general, so the dark mode is optional now. The demo currently defaults to regular CS theme 👍. Saves are also something I'm definitely going to implement, I have them planned for the next demo update.

As for character posts, my goal is to spend most of my dev efforts on the writing/coding of the game itself, so you won't see quite as much activity on this blog as maybe you see from other IFs.

I am working on a character introductions post! But it probably won't have every little detail down to each freckle yk, I like to leave something to the imagination. But I'll do like general appearances, personality traits, stats, fun facts etc.

Thx for checking it out!!

(salute)

[cactusringed]

An essay justifying drawing characters fat should not have to exist, you're totally right and I think everyone should do whatever they want forever BUT I would love to hear your fat joel thoughts anyway they sound like they would be fun to read.

Even in this day and age of representation in media, fat characters are shockingly under represented. If I asked anyone right now to name fat characters who are 1. Important to a story's plot, 2. NEVER mocked in ANY WAY (whether overt or subtly) for their weight and 3. Whose storyline has nothing to do with their weight.... Well, let's just say that list would be depressingly short.

Whilst it isn't really our job to further representation with fucking Minecraft characters, I think it's always valuable to take that into account, take into account how much it could mean to other people, and how much one can learn.

Joel is a desirable man. One that is considered attractive and charming by several other characters (Lizzie, Jimmy, fucking Iskall now). He's also strong, skilled in combat, and absolutely fucking terrifying. He's capable. He has so many positive character traits so rare in fat characters. When was the last time you saw a fat character that would have people quake in their boots not because they wielded political or financial power (because the fat and rich aristocrat or mob boss is one of the only times we see fat people in power in media and it's never good, using their far as a representation of greed). It would just be such a refreshing portrayal? To have a fat person shown to be skilled, desirable, beautiful, strong? With a complex personality and psyche that does not revolve around their fatness?

But also to bring it to Joel very particularly, I say it all the time but like. His skin is based off Shrek. It USED to be shrek. And shrek is not just an empowerment to those who are seen as different, as not conventionally attractive - it's also very very importantly a fat empowerment. Shrek is fat. Fiona, as an ogre, is... Slightly thicker than as a human (insert grimace about the different expectations of beauty that even make their way into a movie made to combat that). And they're both recognized as valuable not just 'in spite' of that, but BECAUSE of that. Fiona's best, true self is as an ogre that I think was meant to be seen as fat. Shrek himself is definitely shown to be his best self as a fat ogre. Joel himself also fits the values of shrek so well - he's so damn honest and outwards to the point of rude bluntness, he lets his 'ugly side' shine. We all love to incorporate little Easter eggs and fanon headcanon into designs and so many people like to give Joel little shrek antennas to wink at his origins but imo it's kind of weak and has become a pet peeve of mine, which is funny considering the very first time I drew Joel he was also skinny w those antennas, but I think it's because I didn't really 'get' him. If you want to reference his origins as shrek you have to go further than that. You have to make him someone who is attractive, but not in a conventional sense, and who is not just okay with that but embraces it wholly. Or at least idk give him a bigger nose or just anything other than those little antennas. Like. You know. Giving him a body type similar to the character his skin is based off of. Gasps all around

But even without bringing the shrek origin up, like I said - Joel just really hits me as a character who could be empowering for us fatties and, further, I just think it fits his vibes so much more. He's such a force or nature, so utterly and wholly himself, so imposing and strong that to make his design fat, to me, enhances his traits so much more. Like it's just good character design. To me small, skinny Joel really does not encompass his personality and vibes as well. To each their own of course. But I wish more people took that into consideration. Took what fatness can give to your character design. Does that make any sense

[thehollowstarsaga]

Hollow Star Saga Book Four Predictions

okay so since i've finished agasv it's time for my predictions for the next book:

the CeLeTheo polycule

so i remember Ashley mentioned that there's possibility for a polyam and the moment i heard that i was just immediately like, 'oh, they're definitely talking about Theo, Celadon and Lethe right?'

like i'm not the only one who thought Celedon and Theo had insane levels of chemistry in both agasv AND acafl???

and Celedon and Lethe are already super cute and canon by the end of agasv too??

I'd honestly love it if Lethe and Theo end up being into each other too like the dynamic sounds super fun.

anyway that's the prediction Celedon x Theo x Lethe is canon next book (i'm gonna look like such an idiot if i'm wrong)

2. dragon Theo???

now i'm not too sure about this one but maybe (just maybe) Theo's a dragon?

i remember i made this prediction all the way back when adahs was released and there was that random paragraph in the beginning on how people can be dragons without realizing it. i was like 'okay, so one of the characters we care about has to be a dragon right??'

by process of elimination i reached the conclusion that Theo was the dragon out of all of them.

i remember when we found out that his grand aunt is a dragon i freaked out like i was so proud of myself for reaching that conclusion cause there's a high chance that he inherited those traits.

buuuuuuuuuuuut i'm not too sure whether that's actually going to be explored or bought up or even be true in the next book so this is a very tentative theory.

3. if Riadne dies, then who's killing her?

okay so i'm not too confident about this because i don't actually know if Riadne will die in book 4, at least in the traditional sense. but if it does happen the potential candidates are;

Theo: NO LISTEN I'M NOT BEING BIASED ACTUALLY FR HEAR ME OUT; Theo wants to rule over seelie summer, and if i'm not mistaken you need to defeat the existing head in order to do that so... maybe? admittedly its not very likely though cause there aren't enough emotional stakes. unless Riadne just murders his parents or smth in the first half lmao. i'll say 5% chance

Arlo: since we're talking about murdering parental figures... yeah. i'd say there's like a 10% chance that it's Arlo who kills Riadne maybe?

Celadon: 25% chance it'll be Celadon simply for the emotional stakes... and murdering parental figures. but actually if we're talking about someone who needs to stab their mom in order to get over their mommy issues...

Vehan: him having some kind of arc in which he's vaguely unhinged would go so hard. sadly, however, it probably won't happen. he's still most likely to kill Riadne at 50% chance, because the angst would be so good.

others: this is just me covering up my tracks in case my top guesses are wrong so that i don't look like a total idiot. Lethe, Nausicaa and Aurelian take up the remaining 10%. although i seriously doubt it'll be any of them. if it is though, Lethe's most likely to and Aurelian's least likely to.

honestly the more i think about it Riadne probably won't be killed by someone else. either she'll manage to get herself killed in her quest for power or she won't die at all. it doesn't feel like all the loose ends would be tied up if she did (watch as she dies at the hands of someone i didn't mention on this list.)

5. Vehan does some insane shit

this actually isn't me pushing my let Vehan go batshit crazy agenda. i mean insane as in he's going to have a major battle or show off some huge feat of power.

extra points if it happens in front of Riadne.

i think the best case scenario is a Riadne vs Vehan fight scene.

6. Who's the big bad?

see this is more of a discussion than a prediction cause i know Riadne's our main antagonist but i feel like there might be an overarching one as well.

easiest answer to this is Cosmin, and honestly, yeah it probably is him. however, Luck seems like they have a good head on them and that they might stop him from doing anything that would harm Arlo, so i actually think that maybe, just maybe it's someone else.

Fate, maybe? i'm not sure, but it seems we don't like them.

it could be another one of the titans but i'm not too sure they'd introduce a completely new major antagonist by the fourth book.

7. Theo has a bigger role.

there's no evidence no nothing i'm just manifesting stfu

[soratsuart]

Okay, so yesterday I ended up not talking about the KH x TDP AU (I should really look for a name for it) but I'm doing it now. This will be more of an analysis of my thought process for doing it as well as what interests me of each character and universe but it might still be interesting!

Beware for long analysis of both Kairi and Leola's roles under cut, though.

Starting with the Kingdom Hearts part and Kairi's role. I don't really remember why exactly I chose her as a main character of sorts here??? I think it all came down to practicality and personal interest, really. Objectively I could have placed the KH timeline at any point of the story and have Sora or Riku or anyone else be the main character, but I think the main factors that contributed to choosing Kairi was the inclusion of the Final World as a means of meeting Leola, which isn't really introduced to us until KH3 and not many characters have visited. And like, yeah, I could just throw canon down the window and use it anyway at an early point of the KH timeline, but here is where the personal interest part of the process enters.

I guess I've just been thinking a lot about Kairi lately??? Which is a bit weird considering I haven't really thought about her in years, honestly. The fandom has always complained for the way the narrative keeps pushing her away of having much plot relevancy outside numbered titles and even then she doesn't get much screen time (my biggest admiration to Kairi fans for dealing with this all the time honestly) and added to that there were just other characters I was more invested in. Lately, though, I guess I've been thinking a lot about the potential in her and the traits she has. I can relate hard to her attachment to the past and her wish for things to remain unchanged only to be forced to experience change and grow up anyway. To the way she clinges to her best friends but can't help seeing them drift apart and feeling like she's being left behind (her dejectedly acknowledge that she isn't ready to go to Quadratum even though she wants to save Sora breaks me).

Like many others I think the way things were set up after Melody of Memory open a chance for Kairi to do some growing without Sora and Riku in the picture and figure her path, and though I'm skeptical that we will actually get a game where she gets enough spot light to develop her character that much that just means I get free reign to do it myself so er, here we are!

I really like the idea of immediately throwing Kairi into an adventure of her own. Up until now, despite the way she keeps claiming she wants to protect her friends, it always ends up with her needing the most protecting and saving a lot of the time (I'm not saying she's useless or unable to do anything, but literally every other character are experimented warriors vs her receiving a few months of training before being thrown into a war without any previous real experience, she did GREAT all things considered). I think it'd be interesting to give her a role where she's forced to be the protective role and not the protected. Leola is just a little kid and she's going to cling hard to the one person she feels a strong connection to (there is a reason behind this connection btw) and that helped her low-key revive. She's going to have to act as a guide for her and deal with all the mess that is Act 2 of TDP while being lost herself a lot of the time and without Sora and Riku there to act as support (and again, yes, there are other characters there to support her, she's not completely alone, but I think it's normal to assume that she's used to rely on the people she's closest to and that this is a chance for her to develop more her other friendships and create new bonds so there's that).

In summary, I just think for Kairi it'd be fun to explore her adapting out of her comfort zone dealing with a crazy adventure of her own.

Now, for TDP! I think I speak for everyone when I say I don't think what happened to Leola is fair. At all. And that's kind of the point, isn't it? Leola's death is what triggers all the events of the show. It's what leads Aaravos to a path of hatred and revenge that has dominoed into the current conflict. For us, Leola is less a character and more a narrative tool to explain the motivations of our villain, and we don't even know much of her personality other than Aaravos' descriptions of her and the brief flashback.

So what happens when we turn Leola into an actual character? What happens when we bring her back into the picture as a whole person??? Mind you, this is not a "what if Leola didn't die" kind of AU. Leola did die. But now she's back. And she's just a little girl who just wants to go back home and see her father after centuries of waiting and waiting in the afterlife.

I think that is what makes her a very interesting character to focus on for the TDP part of the crossover. On the one hand, what does her return mean for the story?? She's back, but her father is still a villain who's done horrible things and will continue to do so at least as long as he's unaware that she's back. How does learning she's back affect Aaravos? How does that reaction affect every other character??? How does the Star Council react??? They killed her for the crime of giving magic to humans because she "broke the cosmic order", and now she's alive again even though she shouldn't be. Does that also break the cosmic order? Will there be consequences???

But also, what about Leola herself? She comes back after being dead for centuries for something she did out of compassion and love. She comes back to a whole different world with different rules and different people, and this description is applicable to both the KH worlds AND her own world. Humans and magical people have been segregated for centuries after her death and only recently started mixing again. Dark magic is now a thing. There is a war happening and her dad is at the center of it all. How does a child deal with all of that??? Leola's story is one of dealing with lots of hardships and trauma that she will need to address. Of learning that the people you love the lost can hurt others so much. Of learning about forgiving and the rights of others not to forgive. Of the cycle of violence and that not everything is light, but not everything is darkness either.

Of course, it's not like she will be dealing with all of this alone tho. She's still just a little girl, like I've repeated many times. And she's got the KH characters around to help too. But I can hardly see that her return wouldn't kickstart a lot of subplots with more psychological and philosophical heavy themes. And also I just like exploring these themes.

I admit there isn't much else I can say on character analysis for her, given that as I said at the beginning of her part, in canon she's less a character and more a tool, but like with Kairi that just means I get free reign here to do whatever I want, so I appreciate the freedom.

TL;DR: I put Kairi and Leola in a situation together and I spin them like a microwave.

[understandableparadox]

Shamlessly posting all my ramblings from twitter on here.

I actully like this show, not enough to break the boycott but enough to pirate it. anyways lets go through the quick list as this show has a range of good points and bad points!

1. Designs. I fucking love monsters, monsters are my Bread, my Butter, My reason for getting up in the morning, yet consistently i found myself disappointed in each of the characters and what they were supposed to be, for instance alastor and vox

these two are supposed to media manifest, alastor is the Radio demon, yet his apperance is more around overtly edgy homestuck troll with horns i couldnt draw yet and vox is giving pyrocynical avatar. their designs are muddied because the concepts are muddied. alastor is not only the radio demon, he is the "voodoo man", the circus, the entertainer, the deal maker, the shadow weaver, the puppet on strings, and a myriad of other resume stuffers that are not needed. there is more then enough. every layer fights each other for attention, the only thing left on him that even remotly represents the radio is his staff that modulates his voice to have a radio static filter and without it he becomes a normal deer esque demon. i do not thing its good design if i can remove one aspect of a charecter and ruin it. this goes for vox as well, though i give them more of a pass because fuck me, he really do be haveing a Television as a head. but once again if i removed that aspect, what else tells me he is the television demon? his tie has a singal symbol on it, he has kinda robotic hands? but not really because he has the exact same hands as alastor leading me to belive he is wearing fingerless gloves or gloves with color blocked fingers which is a werid additon.this is ontop of the annoynce i feel at knowing that one is a recolor of the other minus the heads.

2. the pace.

the story itself moves either way to fucking quickly, i do belive that it was good to end the story itself on a redemption but we dont get enough of pentious being an actul sinner and evil guy to feel as though he deserves the redemption. show us the worst traits of our guests so that we can see the progress they are makeing through out the season so that when they do finally do something heroic and selfless and make it to heaven, we the viewing audiance can also enjoy that unilateral feeling of satisfaction of seeing our fav be vindicated as a Good Guy. im not trying to woobify pentious, exact oppisate, i want pentious to have agency to be evil and i want him to have agency to be good. we get this Somewhat with angel dust as they start makeing concious decisions to better themselves, to extract themselves from things, as well as make awful fucking choices and do Bad Things because again, these are Sinners And Demons who are reaching for redemption and salvation, I do not think we should have seen heaven at all, the embassy? yes, maybe a court of angels in hell to consider charlies plan? sure, but we should have never seen heaven until a sinner could see it.

i think i just had those two but im Bad At Being Concise... anyways viv is better at writing gay people then she is at lesbians which fascinates me to no end.