#because then you'd get a lot less people going “your theory is canon/your theory is bad and not canon”

[rubberduckyrye]

Just 2 AM thoughts: Theory crafting is just another form of writing fanfiction, you cannot change my mind.

[utilitycaster]

@just-a-moon-phase replied to your post “I have a lot of things in fandom I'd call "Brown...”:

please OP, where is the theory... I am listening...

​re: having a theory about why using non-canon nicknames cor characters specifically tends to be technically harmless and minor but also is really frequently a signal that someone's takes will be bad:

I think it's that it's both a quick shortcut to indicate intimacy, but it's also really generic and often out of character for those doing it.

To use Caleb as an example: not only did various German speakers in the fandom (of which I am not one) say that it's just not really a common thing linguistically/culturally, the nicknames people tended to use (usually at the time for Veth) were intended by the writers to be fond and platonic but were often either the sort of thing you'd only say in a romantic context, or else were nicknames very much intended for one's own children.

However, more importantly, Caleb very, very specifically doesn't really use nicknames in canon. He in fact frequently calls Beau "Beauregard". During a very emotional moment at the time of her transformation, he specifically uses Nott/Veth's full name. He refers to two of the characters we know he had romantic feelings for, Jester and Essek, by only their last names on at least one occasion, which reads to American audiences as either formal or perhaps fratty, but distinctly not romantic. As @essektheylyss said at some point, Caleb tends to use epithets a lot though mostly when talking about someone in the third person (eg: "our Kryn friend,") and the closest we ever get to any term of endearment is him saying "my friend," which again sounds quite formal. Caleb in general gets more formal with those he loves, not less. It's a great character detail, and anyone who peppers "spatz" into their fic like it's going out of style kind of comes off as, to put it kindly, not very good at finding characters' voices. Unfortunately, that is in my opinion literally one of like two things you cannot fuck up in fanfic for it to be good; if you don't get the voice right, then even if it succeeds as a story it fails utterly as fanfiction.

Anyway Caleb is a really good illustrative example because it's so clear from canon that this isn't his voice, but it applies anywhere. It's a sign that this person is cutting corners instead of actually establishing a base from which there will be a rewarding payoff.

(will say: this also, bizarrely, often applies to people who called Trent Ickythong/Ickythot or people who call Ludinus Luda, though it's much less reliable there. I feel it's similarly like, people who rely on shortcuts and the idea that the fandom will agree with them because these are clear villains, and never actually go deep enough to come up with an argument. Like in the end it always just feels like a cheap and insubstantial discussion.)

[saltymongoose]

I know its hard to believe it but think about it, Jeb was confirmed to have a bigger ego than Phobos himself, his goal of Being Nevada's Savior is more important than emotional attachments, he seems like the type of guy to not get attached because he thinks attachments will only make him weaker and easier to take advantage of, he likely developed a god complex after killing Phobos because, fuck man he killed Phobos of all people, by himself. he may not have come off as not considering Hofnarr a friend because him calling Hof 'old friend' in the game because he was manipulating, he needed to pull on Hofnarr's strings to have Hofnarr by his side so the plan would succeed, Hofnarr was just naive enough Christoff managed to pull it off. even Sheriff was victim of this, after the plan succeeded he even left Hofnarr behind to go do god knows what outside, then Hank came along and he was so focused on his job as Sheriff's bodyguard he left his "friend" for dead by the hands of Hank

he is no better than Phobos, only Phobos didnt make any connections in emotional senses and they had different goals

and to explain why would he help Sheriff in mc2-3 if he didn't think of the cowboy as his friend?- lets be real Sheriff probably ran begging Jeb to help him, which inflated Jeb's ego because of course Sheriff needed his help, if there's anyone who can stop Hank is him, Nevada's Savior, of course he'll help if it means his precious Nevada will be saved. Chritoff is an egotistical scumbag but its okay I kiss him on the head then put him in Hanks's bigass blender, will he blend?

of course we dont need to follow the canon, I myself have just nitpicked the canon and then gave Jeb a redemption arc, still, it makes sense why he wouldn't consider Hofnarr a friend and just use him for his goals.

-Plague Anon [|87

Huh. You know, Plague Anon, this actually makes a lot of sense. I feel like Jeb would definitely laud his self-imposed isolation as something that is entirely necessary to be the best Savior for Nevada. People who have this one goal as their fixation can tend to ignore everything around them anyway depending on how driven they are to reach it/how important it is to them (personal experience), and perhaps he also used this as a potential excuse as to why he'd willingly treat others as being so expendable. If he can convince himself that it was his only option and for the greater good, then he also absolves himself of all sins or wrongdoings.

[More under the cut :)]

I also took another look at the game because of this ask, and I realized that the way Christoff treats Tricky actually lends a lot to this as well. For one, the fact that Christoff still thought Hofnarr would be the exact same way at this time shows that he didn't bother checking in on him in the thirty year time skip between the Fall and the events of M:PN, so that shows from the beginning that they weren't as close as I'd assumed. (Outside of the stuff in the animations, which wasn't friendly either, let's be honest.)

Secondly, he doesn't really seem that concerned about Tricky in general. I mean, you'd think that if someone had a good friend and they turned into a zombie/Zed, they'd attempt to find some way to reverse that. Yet Jeb doesn't seem to really care, and still keeps that single-minded focus on shutting down Project Nexus. From the way it appears, Jebus couldn't care less about what happens/happened to Hofnarr so long as he was around to use for ending the Project, which fits in line with your theory (and Krinkels' words) about how their dynamic is. Tricky is harder to deal with than Hofnarr, but he has the same knowledge, so Jeb doesn't consider aiding him to be worth his time.

I also agree that the only sensible reason why Christoff would be so willing to help the Sheriff in the earlier animations is because of his savior complex (or that he just really hated Hank, which is another possibility). If we want to go into the flashbacks of M:PN as well, one could also argue that the Sheriff was another resource for Jeb to use, since he planned on having Sheriff and his Mercs help out while he handled things in the Nexus. It's another instance of Jebus using others for his personal gain.

So in conclusion, I've changed my mind. :)

Not only does this characterization fit more within canon at a second glance, but it also provides me with a lot more to work with when writing Jeb (especially angst, gotta love it). I already feel like this is going to get interesting, thanks for sending in this analysis, Plague Anon! :D ♡♡♡♡

[transsexualhamlet]

i saw a post ranking how much each of the Valar hates Melkor and I thought I would make a post with kinda the opposite side of that, so

Melkor's Ranked List of Most Hated to Least Hated Valar

Burning Scorching Undying Hatred

Yavanna- There is just a special #1 enmity Melkor has for her, as is very obvious. He fucking hates trees so fucking bad and it is very difficult to escape her Stuff all Over the fucking place. There is absolutely nothing about Yavanna that Melkor wants to interact with. She symbolizes life and happiness and flowers and junk and well. Clearly makes him want to puke. He is a fan of the Corpse Flower which she made specifically because she was angry at him but it failed bc he was like oh this is awesome. But clearly there is NO redemption between them

Ulmo- Also has to do with conflicting elements. Ulmo fucking ruins this man's life and then ruins Mairon's life AGAIN later. He gets ZERO points for this and the sea is really the only place Melkor could never manage to conquer. As the sea is a very thematic thing for the elves and their salvation from Melkor and his nonsense, Melkor hates water so fucking much not even just because it spies on him and Mairon certainly did not have better treatment by it in his day

Manwë- The only reason he's at #3 is because Melkor does appreciate how much of a forgiving sod the dude is. He has to admit it is very easy to get off scot free from his brother, though Varda is not so forgiving. But despite it, he just cannot get over the rage of his brother being god's favorite. It's really an issue

Varda- Varda would be above Manwë if not for the fact that Melkor doesn't even hate stars, in theory. He wouldn't mind them honestly if they weren't literally all named "star that hates Melkor" "star that hates melkor 2" "star that shows we all want to kill melkor with weapons" above his head 24/7. Varda hates Melkor more than Melkor hates him, but of course that adds up to a Lot. She is the goddess of light which just. Well they really truly do not like each other

Nienna- Imagine having a bitch designated specifically just to be sad about everything you do. Very annoying. Get over yourself. You can just not be sad about it. There's an upside in knowing his actions have caused so much suffering because you know, that's what he's going for, but the idea of Nienna still just disgusts him. He feels as if his domain has been invaded and inverted towards Eru's purpose, which has been. A major point of contention. Over the years

Vana- She obviously gets hated simply thru association with Yavanna. She has personally offended him less, but it bothers him a lot that he has had such little effect on her. He's made Yavanna cry a lot in canon but Vana just . Can get through anything, she's there no matter what, she's happy no matter what. It makes him Sad

Namo/Mandos- This is a really weird one for Melkor because for him it's like. Going to the mall in your most fucked up and insane outfit to piss people off on purpose and then you see someone who looks even cooler and goth-er but they have a lot of friends with them and seem mentally healthy and it's honestly really getting to you. There are things about the world that he knows that Melkor doesn't and that makes Melkor want to fucking eat himself. Also he kept Melkor in a cage for 3000 years and literally never even made conversation. Melkor cannot tell if he wants to be friends with this dude or wipe him off the face of Arda but neither of those are options in any world

Tulkas- You'd think this dude would be higher on the list, but Melkor rarely thinks about Tulkas and often forgets the dude exists. Obviously it pisses him off that some random guy jacked as hell came in and beat his ass more than once and he has zero other purpose in life. But as to being a nemesis of Melkor, Tulkas thinks himself much higher on the list than he really is. It's kind of funny

Oromë- Melkor's main beef with Oromë comes from the dude and his people constantly one-shotting his Beautifully Handcrafted Beasts, and to a lesser extent him telling the elves about the trees, but there would be a lot less fun in making increasingly Fucked Up Creatures if they didn't have someone to fight, and well. He didn't really like the elves anyway. Mairon hates him more, personally, because of Huan, but on principle Oromë doesn't bother Melkor too much.

Estë- Although it is rather frustrating to have someone who can heal trauma which you worked so tirelessly to inflict, Estë's power is rather limited and doesn't often come into play. It's like someone comforting your ex who you haven't thought about in years and going ohhh he sucked he was awful you're perfect like. Ok? Like you're Wrong but it's not like this matters very much after the fact

Aulë- Melkor has very little to say against Aulë other than those like two times he yelled at Mairon during the years of the lamps. Aesthetically a really great guy, great ideas with weapons and volcanos and machinery and giant stone halls and whatnot. But seriously not a fan of the big chain. Melkor even thinks big chains are super cool. Just not like. Around him. Without consent ofc

Vairë- Melkor says keep on making awesome tapestries of people fighting against me and losing. Go ahead give him bigger horns make him look really scary. No notes just didn't like the hundred years she spent making a weaving of him sitting in a jail cell.

Irmo/Lorien- As much as he doesn't really have anything in common with Irmo, there's nothing really to complain about. Melkor is rather good at invading dreams and enjoys fucking with people thru them, so rather glad they exist. It is a pretty decent art medium and can make torture interesting. Generally not a threat unless in the rare and vague case of prophetic dreams which are just not heeded very often. Irmo can send some elf a thousand dreams of Melkor's battle plans and they will forget 99% of it within a minute of waking up

Nessa- She's pretty solidly on the bottom despite being almost entirely irrelevant because well, Nessa has done nothing to ever bother Melkor. He likes deer and dancing as much as the next guy (especially the fucked up kind) and they would probably get along at a party provided she didn't recognize him lol. She probably doesn't even talk too much about her cringefail husband

Indifference to Don't Even Mind This One

[icharchivist]

do we think belial got bullied for having different wings from literally everybody else or should we go back to being unabashedly horny for this sad horny man?

either direction is just on brand with this blog, we had both those conversations multiple times so what's one more right?

as for the wings, i don't think he was bullied by his peers because he was too respected for that. He might be a bit of an outsider but he wasn't a pariah, the angels genuinely respected him a lot.

I feel like the fact he has different wings would maybe put off some of the angels, but most of all i think it would actually just be something Belial himself might be self conscious about. There's a lot of comments in the game about how beautiful Lucifer's wings are, that i would assume that it would play in Belial's inferiority complex to compare himself to Lucifer even though no one else would ever dare to actually think badly of him for it.

There's always been this question about when did Belial's wings become like that though. There's been hundred of theories. Maybe he always had bat wings, and therefore it's something to bring up with Lucilius as to why he gave Belial different wings. Some canon notes mention that wings can change depending on the state of mind of their wearer. There is a high chance that actually Belial's wings changed after he left Canaan after the rebellion - a way of psychologically cut any connection he had left with Lucifer, for instance, would explain those wings. (we also know Belial tends to do experiments on himself so this would also not be far fetched to assume he did it to himself) Other theories that a lot of anons on here like to think about, is that he might have plunked his own wings out of stress (and that it would be what the feathers of his boa are), until eventually the wings were left barren, or Lucilius replaced them so he would stop. This take would imply Lucilius to consider Belial's wings unsighty and a downgrade, which would eventually add more angst to your interpretation.

I think by all account Belial's bat wings are already a symbol of tragedy, if only because it shows the distance he took, willingly or not, from Lucifer to start with -- or if they were even allowed this closeness to start with.

any other level of angsts come with interpretations of the character, how much pathos you give him, or how likely you'd consider Lucilius to be cruel with him.

but i do think that he wouldn't have been bullied for his wings. Belial was too respected by his peers for that. I think one of the core interesting elements of Belial's character is that his sense of alienation is principally self-made. the Angels liked him. Michael admired him to the point it was joked that she had a crush on him. People like Sariel joined the Fallen Angels out of respect for him. Lucifer loved him. Sandalphon respected him. We've seen Gabriel be teasing about him but it's nothing unfriendly.

soyeah personally i'd say he wouldn't be bullied for his wings, but there is a lot more personal and internal turmoil that comes with it because Belial is his own worst enemy and the number one person to ruin his own life and i think the influence anyone else might have had on him getting worse is mostly on his way to interpret them and is mostly on his hands.

..... so maybe going back to being horny would be less serious of a subject right?

[mysticalibra1994]

What Florian's/Juliana's mother wanted to say to Director Clavell...

I know it's a bit late, but I've had this thought ever since October 11th (aka Coming Out Day).

Warning: This post will contain serious issues relating to what the members of the LGBTQ+ community STILL have to deal with (which includes... "the school's bathroom incident")

Okay, so it started as a theory/headcanon about why Florian and Juliana look so similar (a bit too similar...). Then, it hit me: "What if Florian and Juliana are the same people, but their other name is their dead names?"

In the game (after you customize your character for the first time (and let's say you used their respectful canon names)), after the opening sequence, the player's mom tells you "[Player], I've got a thing or two to discuss with the director here."

While the player goes upstairs to get their hat and schoolbag, who's to say that the mom wanted to personally inform Director Clavell about their past before the enrollment at Naranja/Uva Academy?

I believe that it went something like this... [For context, I'll be using Juliana for reference.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Violet!Mom: Again, thank you so much for accepting my daughter! I know it sounds a bit silly, but it truly means a lot to her... Director Clavell: *notices the change in tone* Of course, ma'am. If it's not too much, may I ask why? Violet!Mom: Of course. You see, by now, I'm sure that you're aware of her... shyness. That's because of her "unfortunate incident" from her old school. It was a bit early, but I have noticed and accepted the signs. Due to how late the paperwork was, the principal didn't get the memo of her transition. Juliana told me at the head office that she thought that she would use the bathroom on the 2nd floor due to less traffic and nobody would notice. Director Clavell: *sips tea* But, someone did notice? Violet!Mom: *sadly sips tea* Yes... At first, it started with one student. Then, by the time the principal arrived at the scene, it was a quarter of the population. One would assume that someone was delivering a baby! *sadly laughs* Director Clavell: *nibbles on the biscuit* Violet!Mom: Instead of understanding her situation, the principal blamed her for causing a scene; saying that none of that would've happened if "he" would use the "boy's restroom". I almost lost my composure as I tried to explain to her that Juliana is a girl so it's appropriate for her to use the girl's restroom. *eyes slowly welling up* She didn't do anything wrong! She... Director Clavell: You're quite right, ma'am. She didn't do anything wrong. What is wrong is to blame someone for their existence. *sips tea* In fact, you have nothing to worry about. Our staff, as well as our students, are as diverse as they are accepting. Granted there were a few hiccups, but we make up for our mistakes. In fact, our top student from the STEM program uses She/Her and They/Them pronouns. *hands her a handkerchief* Thank you for informing me of this. I'll see to let the Chairwoman and the staff know of this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To those who've heard of the "bathroom incident" before, I've heard of it from the Dr. Phil Show and I found it hard to believe that the students would waste their time to figure out "which student is using the bathroom". Just let them go in peace!

Also, shame on the principal for victim-blaming instead of the other students wasting their time harassing someone all because "they had to go". (I also blame the parents for not educating their kids to "treat others the way you'd want to be treated").

To anyone who's from the LGBTQ+ community and hasn't come out yet... You are loved, no matter what, and your existence is valid.

[emile-hides]

You requesteth Fairy Tail asks? I have arrived to inquire about my favorite, my love, Laxus. Tell me about him.

Shaking you shaking you You ask about Laxus my Grand Son your favorite guy you are obligated to come back and tell me your thoughts on him as well please

My favorite thing about Laxus and the thought I always have first when I think about him is when we first meet him, and really every time we see him, he's wearing Jeans.

I don't know why this stuck with me so hard, maybe it's because it was Season 1 and up until we meet Laxus and see him in full we're very much in a Fantasy Medieval vague Europe kind of setting? There's Taverns and people ride in Carriages and there's talk of Dragons and Monsters like it is very much solid in it's aesthetic spare like. The Gun Magic.

And then Laxus just showed up in skinny jeans and his beats by dre and his pimp coat and we were all just supposed to go along with that break in aesthetic. The Mangaka knew ONE cool guy outfit in 2009 and that's just what Laxius' fashion is now it's too late to back up.

I think Laxus is gay. I think this is something he himself didn't know until Makarov banished him from Fairy Tail and he started traveling. It wasn't the only thing he realized about himself while just kinda vibing around, but it was the one he looked at and went "This seems like a conversation for later." packed up, and then forgot to unpack until he was back in the guild and around Freed a lot.

Not because he liked Freed that way (yet) but just because Freed is an openly gay man and being near him again made Laxus kind of step back and have basically a second awakening, which prompted him to just. Ask Freed what it's like being Gay? Freed, who thought he was doing a stand up job hiding in the closet from Laxus (he was not), immediately choked on his drink and almost died on the spot.

This gets stupid away from canon because sometimes canon deserves it. Here's all my headcanons on how the Lacrima implanted in Laxus works.

Laxus was born with no natural magical energy, a birth defect that almost always results in death of the infant. It's unknown why this happens and is still being researched, but one of the cures, though with just as high a fatality chance as doing nothing at all, is implanting a Lacrima of a pure type (Fire, Water, Ice, Sky/Air, Earth, Thunder/Lighting, Light, or Dark/Shadow) into the baby to artificially give them enough Magic Energy to survive and live, so long as they don't use too much of it.

You see not having a Natural Source of Magic Energy also prevents Laxus from absorbing Magic Energy from the area around him like other humans do, meaning he (and other's with his disability) can't actually replenish their magic energy naturally, what they have in the Lacrima is what they'll have their whole life. In theory.

Studies show a Lacrima's magic can be replenished if it is exposed to the same element. Basically one with a Lacrima as their magic source could replenish their magic by absorbing their element. The easiest to do this with would be water, as all you'd have to do is Drink Water. However this has a draw back as well, one can over charge a Lacrima with power, causing it to shatter. It’s a lot like a heart attack, can be survived but will be majorly crippling.

This is specifically why Ivan went on a Quest for a Dragon Slayer Lacrima, as it'd make it easier to absorb Lighting for Laxus to replenish his magic, and has more strength making it less likely to shatter, allowing him to follow his dream of being a Wizard. Without the Dragon Slayer abilities, Laxus attempting to replenish his magic would most likely bring him pain, as he wouldn't be as immune to electricity as he is now.

[melrosing]

actually, it's a pretty common theory. a lot of shippers basically don't want jaime to die and brienne to live because they said and i quote, "if jaime dies, brienne will be alone." they're overestimating jaime's importance and undermining how much of a catch brienne is. sorry if i sounded rude btw, i just thought you'd hate that theory too. and it is more common than you think. just look at the way all those ppl started theorizing that show!brienne would be pregnant with rejection baby

there's nothing wrong with implying that a single mom would take care of her kid after her baby daddy dies. but there is something fucked up in the idea that she apparently can't find someone better and has to be alone and unloved for the rest of her life. Jb shippers always say that love is an important part of brienne's story, but they actually only want her to be loved by jaime and have no issue throwing her under the bus to validate their ship.

siiigh okay let's do this. "a lot of shippers basically don't want jaime to die and brienne to live because they said and i quote, "if jaime dies, brienne will be alone." JB fans are shippers. they like Jaime and Brienne together, and do not want one half of their ship to die. so far so good: this does not strike me as offensive. I also think JB shippers are likely right in thinking that if Jaime were to die, Brienne will be both A) unhappy! and B) lonely! she's a character who has longed for love and has feared she'll never have it. Jaime is introduced as the character who will contradict that notion and love her as she loves him. there's this sort of... extended bit in ASOS where grrm kind of explores why they're that special fit for each other, it's pretty good. lots of soulmate imagery going on, etc etc. so you know, Jaime's death is kind of a... sad ending for Brienne. life certainly goes on, and hey, the story may well end like that, but it doesn't seem all that radical to me that some JB/Brienne fans might dislike that as the conclusion to her story and theorise that maybe, Jaime might live. "they're overestimating jaime's importance and undermining how much of a catch brienne is." they're overestimating Jaime's importance.... to whom exactly? to Brienne? the woman who thinks about him like... every couple of pages in AFFC? should we assume that actually, Jaime's death is no biggie for her, even though she has nightmares about him dying, even though she literally tried to die for him in her last chapter, even despite this constant refrain that goes 'I'm meant to protect him'? and I'm sorry, where do JB fans undermine 'how much of a catch Brienne is'? the whole point of JB is that Brienne is a catch lmao, and that Jaime, so far, is the only character who's actually opened his eyes and seen that. does that mean JB/Brienne fans believe Brienne can never be loved again post-Jaime? no. it probably just means that, as people invested in the characters and relationship of Jaime and Brienne, they are not super interested in waving off Jaime's death as 'shit happens' and moving onto exploring the relationship of Brienne and some character who does not exist in the story.

GRRM has done a lot of work explaining why Jaime and Brienne fit together. nobody is super interested in talking about how a similar relationship might play out with a stranger offscreen. "just look at the way all those ppl started theorizing that show!brienne would be pregnant with rejection baby" I saw those theories. nobody wanted it to happen. there were just some fans who, seeing how badly the show had already treated Brienne, thought there was every chance D&D might do still worse by her in the final episode. "but there is something fucked up in the idea that she apparently can't find someone better and has to be alone and unloved for the rest of her life." like I mentioned, I imagine what you're talking about has less to do with 'nobody else could ever love Brienne and she must be alone' and more to do with... no-one really being especially interested in exploring a relationship that takes place offscreen with a character who doesn't currently exist. but besides that, you will always find shippers who feel character A could never truly love again after the death of character B, particularly where the 'soulmate stuff' is played as hard as it is with JB. this strikes me less as offensive and misogynistic and more just the way people feel about their ships. I had a Renly/Loras fan basically tell me the same a couple months back when I suggested that perhaps Loras might find someone else post-canon, because they couldn't fathom Loras loving again after Renly. this didn't strike me as uncharitable to Loras, but just the strength of their feeling for the ship, and the strength of the love they read into it. and GRRM even sort of supports the idea with Loras' line "When the sun has set, no candle can ever replace it." perhaps this is the grief talking, or perhaps this is true for Loras. personally, I like to think everyone can love again after the death of a partner, but I don't think it's an offensive reading for someone invested in the ship to believe that Jaime was Brienne's great love and "no candle can ever replace it." it has nothing to do with thinking she has to be alone and celibate forever without him. it is simply their reading of Jaime and Brienne's relationship and how Brienne's grief might manifest, you're free to disagree with it if you like.

"Jb shippers always say that love is an important part of brienne's story, but they actually only want her to be loved by jaime"

JB shippers are only invested in Jaime and Brienne because theirs is the romance the story is exploring. they are two characters whose stories are about love, explored via the other. like, I'm sorry, are we supposed to just get on with shipping Brienne x Ser Not-Appearing-In-This-Story? what is your actual issue here?

[jimmygibbsjrrr]

I have a lot of thoughts about the Slaters

namely, I've been wonderin why the Fairfield Survivors got thrown off the boat in Death Toll

in this panel of The Sacrifice comic, Francis confirms the fates of three of the rescue vehicles:

Image ID:

A panel from The Sacrifice: Part 1. Francis is sat in the rescue vehicle from Blood Harvest, speaking to Louis. His dialogue is as follows:

"Louis, I hate to be the one to break this to ya, but we been heading to the safe zone four times now. Helicopter: crashed. Plane: crashed. Boat: kicked us out and left us to die."

/end ID

the chopper from No Mercy was confirmed crashed in Crash Course, and as for the plane from Dead Air, it was pretty easy to guess (and would have been confirmed in the cut campaign Dam It).

but the part about the boat? that's the Slaters' boat from Death Toll. this is the first time we learn this information.

so...why? what happened?

(more under the cut, ended up writing wayyyy more than I expected over these past few days and don't wanna clog people's dashes lol)

so. let's take a quick dive into the last chapter of Death Toll, to see what we can discern about the Slaters from their dialogue.

the rescue vehicle in Death Toll is a civilian boat, Saint Lidia II, owned by John and Amanda Slater, a married couple. Amanda is never heard in-game, but John's reactions to her can be heard over the radio.

the Slaters are explicitly looking for "anyone out there with firearms". John later adds that "once you get on this boat? Your job is keeping our asses alive". it appears that their motivation for saving the Survivors is selfish from the get-go.

this is undoubtedly true in Amanda's case, however, some of John's lines betray a more selfless attitude. he will berate Amanda for not "think[ing] about the little guy". he will ask, "So what, then? We leave 'em to die? I can't do that, Amanda." whilst Amanda is thinking purely of their own survival, John still feels compassionate towards his fellow survivors. despite this, he says that "I don't want our first act of kindness to be our last", acknowledging the conflict between his compassion and his self-preservation.

so. these are the Survivor's saviours in Death Toll. a conflicted married couple looking for bodyguards, offering to take the Survivors upriver to a military safe zone in exchange for protection.

as for why they get thrown off the boat...well, the easiest explanation would be Amanda.

but, stay with me here, because I think it's a little more complicated than that.

this boat? fulla tension. there's the obvious tension between the Slaters, who we've established seem to fight and disagree regularly. then there's the inevitable tension between them and the Survivors. I reckon Louis, with his generally positive and friendly attitude, wouldn't have much of a problem with them, might even attempt some friendly conversation or something. however, he's about the only one.

the comic fully establishes Bill as caring about nobody except the Fairfield Survivors - the most obvious evidence of this being the words he lives and dies by, "we look after our own". he isn't particularly interested in other people, unless they can help the group out. and he'd likely recognise the unstable and conditional nature of their rescue. while I'm sure he'd try and keep the peace, in any reasonable disagreement or fight Bill's likely to take his friends' side, and if anyone's getting thrown off the boat Bill is going with them. this goes for the whole group, to be honest; I don't think they'd want to split up at this point.

Francis hates boats, hates water, and can't swim, so (and I'm getting a little speculate-y here) would probably be in an even sourer mood than usual on the journey. being as abrasive as he is, plus this additional stress, it's fully possible he could piss off the Slaters enough to get himself (or all of them) thrown off the boat.

as for Zoey? well, I don't imagine a married couple who constantly argues is gonna sit well with her, considering her backstory. similarly to Francis, the situation they're in would make her far more stressed, making it more likely for her to lash out.

Amanda didn't want to save the Survivors in the first place, so while I think that John wouldn't throw them off the boat without reason, I reckon she could persuade him to throw them off if they 'caused trouble' - and they would get into an argument with her far easier than they would with John.

in short: yeah, I can see them getting thrown off the boat by the Slaters after some huge fight or disagreement. I think that's a reasonable interpretation of canon, and definitely an interesting concept.

...however, I do wonder if this tension would really be enough to destabilise their mutual need, after everything they went through to come together.

which is why I'm going to bring up The Last Stand!

I gotta quickly address something before this segment: yeah, I'm totally aware this campaign isn't canon. this evidence works with the fact that it exists in an 'alternate timeline'. also, I am missing a few citations for this section - if anyone can provide them I'd really appreciate it, but just a disclaimer that I currently can't prove some of the things the wiki claims members of the Last Stand Community Update Team have said. here and here are the wiki pages where I got this information. in short - the above explanation is simpler and more canon compliant, the conclusion I draw at the end of this post is backed by shakier evidence but I believe is more interesting, and you can make of all that what you will.

allegedly, members of the Last Stand Community Update Team confirmed a strongly-suspected fan theory about The Last Stand: that it branches off from Death Toll in some way, in a non-canon alternative timeline. as well as this, they allegedly confirmed that in this alternative timeline, the Survivors still end up in Newburg for Dead Air. even without the confirmation, this remains a solid fan theory, due to the constant references to Riverside and re-use of many of Death Toll's assets.

who rescues the Survivors in The Last Stand? John Slater. no Amanda - just John. despite her lack of voice actress, if she was still present John would give some indication of this at some point. it can be speculated that whatever happened to her contributed to the lack of rescue at the boathouse that forced the Survivors to take an alternative route. either way, he ends up at the lighthouse when the Survivors call for rescue, alone, and picks them up.

and then later...throws them off the boat. into Newburg.

what reason would John have to do that? without Amanda, surely he wouldn't have that push, as he wanted to rescue the Survivors for multiple reasons in the first place. without his constant arguments with Amanda, Zoey wouldn't be nearly as stressed. and between the three of them I'm sure the other Fairfield Survivors would stop Francis from pissing John off enough to get them thrown off the boat. in short, less Amanda = less tension, and no reason for the Survivors getting chucked off the boat.

...right?

I'd like to remind you that a symptom of the Infection is paranoia.

what if, in both The Last Stand and Death Toll, John and Amanda are infected by the Survivors on the way to the military safe zone? after all, the virus is confirmed to occasionally be airborne, and I doubt two civilians have completely effective, sustained protection against that. likely the only reason they hadn't already been Infected is because they got out on the water early on in the pandemic, and hadn't come into contact with anyone else since. it's unlikely that one of them is immune, and even more unlikely that they're both immune (especially considering those with XX chromosomes may be genetically less likely to be carriers). wouldn't Francis have mentioned it if their rescuers turned or were obviously Infected? yes, but it's possible that the airborne strain works slower as well, meaning that the Survivors are thrown off of the boat after the symptoms kick in but before the Slaters fully turn. even Church Guy had at least an hour from being Infected to turning, and he was bitten. Newburg isn't too far from where the Survivors are rescued in Death Toll anyway (the burning city in the background of the finale is Newburg), so the Survivors clearly didn't last long on the boat anyway. as a result, the Survivors wouldn't realise it was the Infection intensifying the Slaters' paranoia - they'd just think the Slaters were being dicks. Francis also explicitly mentions that they were "left to die", implying negativity or even hostility from the Slaters as the Survivors were being thrown off.

so yeah. that's why I think they got thrown off of the boat in Death Toll - a combination of the intense tension between the two parties, and the Slaters falling victim to Infection-induced paranoia. but an explanation minus the Infection is equally as plausible. it all depends on what you find most interesting, I suppose, and both feel like they fit pretty well into the world.

lord this is a long chunk o text. I know most fandoms prefer art and fanfic over this sorta thing, so please let me know in replies or something if you're interested in more stuff like this. also if any of this makes sense because I like to ramble.

oh and if you'd like to use any of my interpretations in fanworks like art or fic, I'd love to see it :)

[reinvent-and-believe]

For the 5+ headcanons: geraskier (OR geraskefer, if you'd prefer) + Broadway/theatre AU! 😊

Okay, first of all, how dare you know me so well??? This is RIGHT up my alley and I am THRIVING, thank you so much omg. Second, I am SO SO SORRY, you did not ask for three pages of setup and YET HERE WE ARE

So, modern AU, obviously. Magic and monsters still exist, peripherally, on the outskirts of society; you occasionally hear of a murder that’s just a little too weird to be human that gets chalked up to various monsters, and there’s rumors of humanoid or humanoid-appearing creatures (dopplers, elves, certain classes of vampires) existing surreptitiously alongside humans, hiding their true nature. How much of that is true and how much is just paranoia is anyone’s guess.

Witchers, in theory, also still exist, but they have even less of a place in this world than they do in the canon setting. You’ll occasionally run into people who will swear up and down that a witcher fixed their aunt’s haunted attic or a witcher showed up and the random bizarre murders in their small town stopped or they once saw a witcher tracking blood footprints down an alley by the St. Louis arch, but witcher sightings are given about as much credence as UFO or Bigfoot sightings.

And so our young hero Jaskier is making his Broadway debut in a revival of Next to Normal, playing Gabe. It’s the chance of a lifetime; they wanted to go with young unknowns for the teenager roles, and he was discovered at a BFA showcase in New York and invited to audition. After half a dozen callbacks and a little over a month of rehearsal, here he is, just weeks away from previews.

And it’s kind of a big deal. Not only is this the first time Next to Normal has been revived, but he’s also playing opposite Tony Award winner Laura Benanti as Diana, for god’s sake (because it’s my headcanon and I can mix in real actors I really want to see play these roles dammit! 😂). It’s a huge deal.

Which is why it’s just completely unacceptable that Jaskier is being haunted.

He didn’t think he was being haunted, not at first. He glanced at some eerie green lights coming from the wings during their first tech rehearsal, and he assumed the crew was just experimenting with some new lighting angles, no big deal, and kept going with his song. When the number was over, the lights were gone.

But then little things keep going wrong. His white tuxedo jacket isn’t stage left for his quick change when he distinctly remembers putting it there. He can’t find his prop and the ASM is scolding him for moving things when he really, really didn’t. He misses a cue because the monitor in his dressing room is, apparently, lagging five minutes behind.

He’s freaking out. He knows how bad this makes him look to everyone he’s working with, and while he’s a little scattered sometimes, he is a professional when it comes to his craft and he would never be this careless.

It must be sabotage. And there’s only one person it could possibly be��

His archnemesis. His understudy. Valdo fucking Marx.

Valdo Marx has hated him since day one, it only makes sense he’s trying to get Jaskier out of the way so he can be the one with the triumphant Broadway debut at 22 instead of Jaskier. So Jaskier calmly, politely, non-aggressively (he’s a professional, dammit) corners Valdo and makes it very clear that he will stop sabotaging him ASAP unless Valdo wants his boyfriend to know he sucked Jaskier off in the bathroom after their second callback.

(He’s not a saint. It’s not like he’d resort to blackmail if Valdo weren’t trying to get him fired. Fair’s fair.)

Except, turns out, it’s probably not Valdo. Valdo couldn’t make the batteries in his mic pack die five minutes into every rehearsal even when Jaskier watches the sound engineering change them right before they start. Valdo couldn’t make the fly system break right as Jaskier crossed under it and make a piece of the house set hit Jaskier in the head. And Valdo Marx definitely couldn’t black out all the lights in Jaskier’s dressing room and make that unsettling green light appear behind him, a shadowy figure barely visible, hissing in a rattling voice out, out or perish.

And listen, Jaskier would normally welcome this fascinating turn of events; he loves an adventure. But this is his big break and he will be DAMNED if he lets this creepy green-light apparition ruins this opportunity.

So he talks to the stage manager, the director, then, for good measure, the Equity monitor. All of them tell him the same thing: surely someone else would have seen it if there was a ghost. It’s probably the stress. He should take a few days off, get some rest, and then come back when he’s feeling better. But he probably shouldn’t mention it to the other actors. Wouldn’t want to get everyone worked up.

But like HELL is Jaskier going to do that. He’s not stressed, except about the fact that he personally seems to be undergoing a haunting.

So he stays. And things are getting...pretty scary, all things considered.

Seeing his not-so-friendly ghost friend has become a pretty regular occurrence. It appears next to him when he’s standing in the wings waiting for an entrance. It’s sitting in the house when he’s onstage. It locks him in his dressing room. It’s just really not going great.

And then it puts its hands on him. He didn’t even know it HAD hands, much less a truly corporeal form, but there they are, really, really cold pale hands choking him in his dressing room after the run of the show. He stomps on its (also apparently corporeal) foot and books it out of the theatre and to the nearest bar.

He downs a shot then opens his phone camera. There on his neck, clear as day, are bruises in the shape of fingers.

He’s at the end of his rope. He doesn’t know what to do. He’s read about ghosts online, he’s tried to take protective measures but they all seem to be shit because they’ve done fuck all to protect him from his undead stalker.

He takes another shot, laughs at the absurdity of his situation, and tweets “if anybody happens to be besties with a witcher, hmu” before ordering another drink.

Three texts appear from an unknown number in quick succession.

what’s happening. is this why you can’t pull your shit together to get through a single scene?

or are you just tweeting bullshit as usual?

this is yennefer. i can help.

And. Well. Jaskier doesn’t have a problem with his costar Yennefer, who’s playing Natalie in the show, but she is more than a little terrifying, so they’re not particularly chummy.

But if she can help…

And that’s how Yennefer’s hunky cryptid not-boyfriend (“we fuck around but it’s casual”) witcher ends up helping Jaskier get rid of the wraith trying to steal his role.

(But there’s lots more)

(Lots more fun mystery stuff but also lots more cute threeway flirtations with theatre happening in the background)

(The three of them hook up and it’s unexpected and delightful)

(Geralt stands backstage on opening night with two bouquets, staring at them hopefully)

(And he doesn’t know shit about theatre but he sat in that audience transfixed and he’s pretty sure he’s in love with them both)

[floralbfs]

WIP Ask Game!

thank u anon!!!!

1: Summarize your WIP in 10 words or less.

orphan gains powers, gets adopted by alien, saves the world.

2: Post a line from your WIP with no context.

'There's a whoosh of air, and Leo suddenly hears a voice he never thought he'd ever be able to hear again.'

3: Does your WIP have a title? If so, explain its significance. If not, what are you calling it for now?

Okay so I have been calling it the Youtuber Superhero AU (because it started as a fandom au but then i made it an original!!) but I thought maybe it could be "Thicker than Water", since my MC, Leo, is an orphan and he lives alone for most of his life (most of his life lmao at least until canon point? read also: around 9-11 years when in canon he's like 19?) in a remote, lowkey magical place/dimension?, but ultimately he comes back to his hometown and creates a family for himself!!!! i won't give spoilers but, since i already said this, part of his found family is his adoptive dad, an alien who is also a superhero!! If not TtW, I would call it maybe,,,,, Moonstone???? at least the first book!!! (ooh, maybe TtW can be the series name and Moonstone the first book's name?) because Leo kind of gets his powers through a moon stone????? it's not actually moon stone; it was a strange rock he found in the magical dimension that seeked out a champion for the god Huitzilopochtli??? and the closest word Leo could get for it was Moonstone, because of its uhhhhh singular qualities!

4: Describe the setting of your WIP.

OKAY, this is a fun one!!! Leo's hometown is named Star Nova, idk why it just seemed cool, and it is a futuristic city!!! They don't follow capitalism Because I Said So, and they're really into, like, environmental stuff!!! So you'd see SO much flora all over the city kshdsjfh like those???? idk what they're called but like the towns overridden with plants? but controlled!!! There's a tiny percentage of the population (tho I still haven't decided if this is worldwide?? I have a way to make it worldwide but idk) who have superpowers, either due to "individual" factors (e.g Leo's powers are bc of the moonstone, and Matthew(his dad)'s powers are due to him being an alien!) or were affected by a weird experiment an Evil Corporation™ were doing; ECtm was trying out an illegal experiment that could alter living beings' genetics to their will, but it went wrong and their substance exploded and went airborne. Those who were working on it knew about its risks and toxicity, ergo they were wearing a special suit and weren't affected, but the gas contaminated and ??mixed?? with the air and spread to the nearest city, Star Nova (the unofficial capital of the Joint Pacific Nations) and affected a Whole Lot Of People!!! this all happened a while before canon, and the corporation got away with it bc they were filthy rich basically. Anyway, a lot of the people who were affected to the "virus" reacted negatively and died, some were uhhh """immune"""???, and a few Seemed to be immune but had actually had a successful celular-level bonding with the substance! It didn't do anything to them, but their children/grandchildren were born with physical or mental anomalies, also known as super powers (gasps)!!!! BUT!!! a lot of the story happens in the magical city of Coatl (it means serpent!), located within a pocket dimension somewhere inside the Mexican southern forest, where Leo finds himself when he's four years old, recently orphaned, guided by a magical ....bird....being....? he lives there for around eleven years, and he's granted Huitzilopochtli's Champion's power once he's like. Not A Baby lmao. Coatl is.... kind of like,,,,, an Olympus, I guess? Only those with like the destiny to find it know where it is, and they can lead other people there if it's for good causes! It's almost like a sentient city, and the Aztec gods kinda. chilled there???? my theory is that a lot of religious mythologies exist, at least in this universe, and they all co-exist on earth, or pocket dimensions inside of it!!! anyway, Leo lived there and was basically raised by gods???? and an AI???? bc i love AIs???? and uhhhh i think that got away from me ajdhsjdhsj does all of this even count as setting??? am i missing anything????

5: Search for the word “knife” in your WIP. If you find it, paste the line and explain the context.

no knives sadly :( i guess i haven't reached Those Scenes yet???? tho there should be one in the first chapter….. my wip document is just kind of very messy ajdhsjdjsjdh i might just have to make a new document????

6: Search for the word “dream” in your WIP. If you find it, paste the line and explain the context.

???????????? why am i not using any words?????????? sorry :/

7: What are you most proud of?

probably the worldbuilding and characters (at least those with superpowers? maybe i should say superpowers period)!!!!! they're very complex and thought-out????? and i THINK they're original!!!!! so!!!!! ＼(￣▽￣)／

8: What is your biggest challenge?

oooooof,,,,,,,, probably..... getting an actual plot lmao????? like i have an overall view of my would-be first and second books, but i don't know if they actually have enough to them to be written as they are?????? like… idk if the conflict is really like??? worthy to be a Main Conflict™????

9: How would you describe your writing style?

oooooooh uhhhhh maybe….. flowery prose???? i'm a poet at heart, so if i don't use loads of metaphors and language uhhhh idk their name in english but language variators??? i will literally die. but seriously nsjdhsjdhsjfh nothing too serious!!!! most of my “”””angst”””” scenes are….. not so sad, i think skfjsjfj

10: How would you describe your WIP’s narrative style? (1st person, 3rd person, multiple POVs, single POV, alternating chapters, etc.)

oh!!!! well, i think it'd be multiple povs, alternating chapters, third person???? i'm still not sure whether to use 1st or if i already have??? p sure that's a different wip i'm thinking about tho

11: Which character do you have the most in common with?

uhhhhhhhhhhhh seeing how underdeveloped she is right now??? probably Persephone???? bc she's genderfluid skfjsjfjdjfh or uhhhh Scott??? bc i too love leo with my heart and would die for him and stay with him in the afterlife. (hypothetically, of course….)

12: Which character do you have the least in common with?

Maeve, probably!!!! she's, uh…. Something.

13: Your characters are stranded on a deserted island. What happens?

They Are All A Mess. akfhajfjajfj Matthew would probably become the leader and like. establish order and shit???? but he's also the hugest nerd so he'd just give the leader role to someone else (probably seph staine?) and goes exploring and cataloging shit skfhsjfhdjf Leo is probably the most resourceful one of the bunch, so he would immediately like. start planning for huts and food and stuff???? also idk if they would have their powers in this situation cause it'd be too easy to get them all out of there????? but let's just say they do but the island is inescapable by flight?? he can talk to animals, so he could communicate with the local fauna and like form alliances???? Seph is a good leader, so he'd probably like….. keep everything in check???? and Leo's friends are all good and resourceful, so they'd make a good team!!!! tldr they basically create order immediately and do their best to not struggle??? after a few days/weeks, some of them start to like. break down? but the adults are like. wise and shit??? and i'm pretty sure at least one of them is like a licensed therapist??? so they help each other out uwu

14: Have you chosen birthdays for any of your characters? If so, when are they?

oh!!!! only for a few!!!! Leo and Maeve's birthday is on March 25, Scott's birthday is on August 27, Matthew doesn't really have a birthday??? because time is different in his planet????, Percy and Persephone's birthday is somewhere in November, and uhhhh im p sure that's all i got akfjsjfjsj i suck at birth dates

15: Do you know your characters’ MBTI personalities?

GOD, no. maybe i should do their tests???👀

16: What would your characters be for Halloween?

Leo… doesn't believe in/care for Halloween, as he didn't grow up around it, but it's totally Scott's jam!!! they are dirt poor in a good first half of the book, though, so they can't really dress up :( they met in the library, and after (spoiler alert!!!) scotty's death, Leo feels it appropriate to dress up as Scott's fave characters every year. Percy and Persephone are (very weak) shapeshifters, so their costumes ROCK!!!!! they always do matching costumes, so they get cliché pair costumes!! Matthew….. uh. he is… way too old for that. he was literally alive before Halloween was even a thing, so it's not really his thing. Leah just……. does her own thing??? she can see ghosts, so she sometimes does like historical costumes and stuff with their help!!! and Ben…. oof tbh that depends on what his fave song/album/whatev is at the moment??? he kinda creates like a story/aesthetic for them and dresses up that way!!!!

17: Does your WIP have any themes or motifs?

uhhhh found family, definitely!!!! i really can't think of any bc i'm an idiot, but uhhhh intelligence??? if that's a thing??? like,,, they're all powerful and shit but it's also like. brains over brawns????

18: What’s easier, dialogue or description?

i think description!!!! neither of them are… hard??? but!!! description is like…… where i can go hog wild akfjskfjsjfb

19: Post a picture or gif that describes your WIP.

20: Post a brief excerpt.

Leo @Leoberry

You asked, I answered. New Q&A video is now up!

[3k retweets, 10k likes, 9k replies] 20 min. ago

[My First Q&A- video transcription excerpt]

[Leo Berry, a nineteen-year-old brunette guy with green eyes, wearing a red shirt with a lightning symbol on it that's loose on his muscular form, waves at the camera and smiles widely, dimples showing up on his cheeks.]

Leo: Hey, guys. You've been asking me to do a Q&A for a while, and the day has finally arrived! I told you to ask me questions on Twitter with the hashtag #AskBerry, and I've picked a few!

[Leo smiles brightly and lifts up his cellphone.]

Leo: First off, here's one by @razzberry- nice username, by the way-: “what's your cat's name? Do you have more than one?”

[The video shifts, and there's suddenly two cats sitting on Leo's arms: a large, orange cat quickly falling asleep on his shoulder, and a black kitten hugged in his arms.]

Leo: I do! This little fella-

[He gasps as the kitten in his arms struggles to get free and runs off-camera.]

Leo: Don't leave me! Okay, that little fella is Onyx, and, as you can see, he doesn't like me very much. Anyway, this little gal asleep over here…

[He points toward a small orange cat sleeping on his shoulder.]

Leo: ...is Tigress! She's my little baby. You've probably seen her around a lot on my vlogs, since she really likes to hang out on my bed.

Leo: Next! @Honeybats asked: ‘“is it true your dad is Jade?”

[Leo smiles and, after a few seconds of trying to school his features, bursts out laughing.]

Leo: You mean to ask whether my dad is Matlal Jade, the greatest superhero of our era?

Leo: ...Well, yeah! My dad- [more laughs] my dad is totally my Jade. His name is Matthew, and I keep asking him to fly me to school. He says it's not funny!

[He sobers up for a second.]

Leo: Jokes aside, he adopted me a few years ago and he'll always be a superhero in my eyes. I was in a really dark place when he found me, and I can't thank him enough for all that he's done for me.

[Leo looks away for a second and loses his smile. The video cuts and skips again, and Leo appears once again, this time sporting an easy smile and a blue shirt, this one tighter around his shoulders.]

Leo: things got a bit too deep! This one was sent by @shazhangs: “are you dating anyone at the moment?”

[Leo laughs.]

Leo: God, no. I mean, I'm not really a people person, you know? And I’ve been so focused on work, vlogging, and, uh, extracurriculars, that I really haven't had any time to socialise.

[Leo laughs again.]

Leo: This one comes from @perspartone: will you collab with any other youtubers anytime soon?

Leo: Yeah, sure! I don't think I have done any videos with other people in the past, so it'd be a fun thing to do! I just have to find a friend first.

[Leo laughs loudly.]

[End of excerpt. For viewing of the video, refer to Leo Berry on Youtube, and find the full transcription here at DailyBerries in a few hours.]

[utilitycaster]

i find there is a sizable overlap of people who want to 'fix' vax's death and the people who imagine Keyleth and Vax as static pictures of grief. Who never manage to find meaning in their lives after Vax. At first these seemed like opposites to me (making the suffering go away vs. suffering forever) but now I actually think that it's tied together. If you can't picture Keyleth or Vex as being able to find ANY meaning after loss, of course the (simplistic) solution is 'get rid of the bad thing'.

So here's the thing: that's true, and it sucks because I like both Keyleth and Vex more than Vax, and because unless you are so unfortunate to be the one who dies very young, someone you love, or even generally like a lot, will die and you will keep living for a very long time afterwards; stories about people who freeze in grief indefinitely are far more tragic and horrifying than stories in which someone merely dies.

But also? I think it's even simpler. I think it's really just "I miss Vax and want him back."

The thing is, that's valid. Honestly a lot of things I make snarky remarks about are valid. The thing I find irritating isn't being like "I miss him!", it's when people try to justify it narratively and do a bad job. I saw this post recently about ships and the thing is, as someone who has a lot of shipping opinions...I DO think it's fully valid if people only want characters to be together because they think it would be hot. It's just...I happen to be interested in my fiction saying something else.

So if someone is just like "man I wish Vax hadn't died because I love him as a character" that's totally cool, the stuff that annoys me is "well maybe if this series of events that has truly apocalyptic implications for the entire world and would absolutely destroy basically every other player character's life happens, Vax will be back." And that's because I'm a lore person and I like how everything weaves together in an interesting pattern (same reason why the EVERYTHING IS SUPER SUPER CONNECTED theories irritate me) I see that attitude and am like wow you'd literally throw everything else away for a guy who will be less interesting because you threw everything away. Real Legend of the Magi energy. And they probably think I talk about narrative too much, and honestly that's fine as long as we both make our snarky remarks on our own blogs and don't send anon hate or whatever.

Basically: I think most fix-it fic, for example, sucks, and I've said that repeatedly, but if someone loves their fix-it fic and acknowledges it is totally their own self-indulgent stuff, I think they should do them. It's when people get mad at or sad with the canon for not being the fix-it (or the pwp ship, or whatever) instead of embracing that they're telling a second story with some shared elements that I get annoyed. Literally, now you have two stories, the canon one and the one in your head. Why do you want to reduce them to a single one that's probably worse than either?