#but her role was pivotal lmao

[danggirlronpa]

i like your interesting take on tsumugi as a protagonist. i don't hear tsumugi a lot in terms of meta reasons and appreciation and i'd like to hear your though about tsumugi being a main protagonist please. :)

I'd LOVE to. Protagonist Tsumugi is something I really do think fondly of and often wish for.

Firstly, I think Tsumugi is really the only mastermind who you feasibly could play in a perspective of without making them forget they're the mastermind (a la Izuru). So much of V3 is either pre-planned or run by others on Team Danganronpa that her actual involvement as a mastermind is essentially nil - she's just doing damage control. It would be very easy to foreshadow the reveal without outright revealing that she's involved, the same way as with Kaede in the first trial.

Tsumugi is also the V3 character who has the most vested interest in keeping the trials going and making sure they get solved, because if the trial ends there, then there's no show. I could absolutely see Tsumugi's protagonist interventions ("No, that's wrong!") as being subtle interventions to make sure that the group is on the right track, but justified in her not quite knowing the answers because she isn't an ace detective, she's just a cosplayer with a mic in her ear to tell her when she needs to get everyone back on track.

I also think that playing as Tsumugi would play into V3's greater theme of culpability and the control of the audience. By playing as the mastermind, you are directing the killing game. Within the fiction, you, the player, are personally responsible for what happens here. Again, Kaede plays into this in a lot of ways as well (I think a version of the game where you still play as Kaede at first would serve this AU best), but the slow burn of it all makes the realization that much more horrifying, in the same way as the realization that everyone is Remnants at the end of SDR2. Kiibo as protagonist could also accomplish this, since you'd be more connected to the in-universe audience, but I think Tsumugi would provide an interesting take unique to her where the player is really taking on the role of Team Danganronpa itself.

There's an overarching theme that Tsumugi fits into with previous protagonists, too; Komaru had no connection to the mastermind, Makoto was friends with the mastermind once, Kaede and Hajime were accomplices to the mastermind once, and Tsumugi is the mastermind/accomplice to the masterminds. You get the final entry into this sort of sliding scale of connection to the villain, which in current DR is kind of dangling open-ended.

And she's also the only character in V3 who really plays into Danganronpa's overarching theme of the imposter complex ("plain, plain, plain")! I think it'd be so cool to have a take on the I'm Just Some Guy nature of DR's protagonists that is actually very talented, but still has this low self esteem because of the way they think about their talent. They tried to do this with Shuichi a little bit, but imo it wasn't very effective, because it never really came up; Shuichi's arc wasn't about learning that he is actually a good detective, it was about overcoming trauma. A Tsumugi arc where she learns that her talent is valuable, that she can have an impact on the things and people she cares about - especially when we, as the audience, think she's talking about supporting the other players, but in reality she's talking about supporting the killing game? Oh. Ooooooooh. I love that shit.

I do generally think that they should have done a lot more with Tsumugi's character. And, in fairness to them, there are reasons for Tsumugi being just a quiet background character without much impact - it's the big startling counterpoint that she's secretly the mastermind, compared to the more traditional tropes of the rest of the game; Tsumugi's reveal is what really blows the game wide open and makes you rethink the entire story thus far. I just personally think that there are ways they could've done it more effectively, to really give it that oomph.

[vigilskeep]

hi! ive seen you talk about your surana a bunch but i dont know if ive seen her full story. what were some of the pivotal decisions she made? i love hearing you talk about your ocs, theyre always so in depth and thought out!

oh thank you!! :) my surana is my Eldest Daughter from my very first full playthrough of a dragon age game, so i think a lot of people newer to the blog (like... from less than a year and a half ago probably lmao) have less of the context in complete form. so i will attempt to summarise!! it may be... long...

minerva surana is a manipulative, driven elven circle mage, heart-breakingly willing to sacrifice whatever she believes is necessary for her Grand Goals, who is often so busy playing 5d chess she forgets she’s a twenty-one year old with no experience of the world outside the tower

okay it did turn out fucking long the rest is under the cut its like 9 bulky paragraphs enjoy

her family were tevinter liberati, elven slaves who had devoted themselves to buying their way out and very recently succeeded. her parents were desperate to see her and her elder sibling grow up knowing only freedom, and sent their children south with another part of the family while they remained to pay off the last of their debts. the journey was long and difficult, and they had little left when they ended up in the denerim alienage. in a twist of bitter irony, magic that might have made minerva someone of value in the imperium saw her freedom once more revoked in the south. minerva remembers nothing of tevinter, and only a few fragments of what came next: of light through the vhenadahl’s branches glinting on a templar’s blade, of her sibling fighting them and being knocked to the ground, terribly still, with blood in their hair, and of her grandmother saying what she might have said many times on that long journey south: we can survive anything, as long as we never look back. ironically, minerva often took that to heart by denying all memory prior to the circle.

young apprentice minerva was a sullen child, with few friends; karl thekla took an elder brother’s interest, and jowan clung to her talent. she only really flourished when, after her terror of her natural gift for spirit magic saw her self-hatred turn dangerous in her early teens, first enchanter irving took an interest. he was a father figure to her, and he showed her how to channel her power into control, and her distress into ambition. newfound devotion to elemental magic saw her hailed as a prodigy, and surely a future first enchanter with irving’s tutelage. (only irving considered her too headstrong for the role. he never told her, fostering the drive he had cultivated, both fearful for the state she might return to if he didn’t, and curious as to what else she might become.) she grew up arrogant and beautiful and deeply loyal to the circle, learning that it was only the weak and the defiant who would fail to thrive there, and convinced she was neither. many of her peers wanted to be her, and few of them wanted to spend much time in her company. except jowan, still the little brother hiding in her shadow, and halliserre amell, a rebellious rival with a winning smile, who made up for their lack of her discipline and raw power with sheer brilliance, and whose heated arguments eventually developed into... ah, something else heated.

not long before the start of the game, amell told her they were going to accept tranquillity. it didn’t matter how clever they were; with their weak magic, they would die in the harrowing. they’d only been so defiant of the circle before because, having accepted their fate, the risks were nothing to them. furious and unable to admit it was because she was in love, the last thing minerva ever said to them when they were whole was that they were a coward not to try. when jowan told her he feared he too would be made tranquil, minerva was still recovering from the loss, not to mention flushed with even more arrogance than normal from her own successful harrowing. she had been the perfect circle mage all her life, twice as good as everyone else to make up for every rumour about where she was from. surely she had earned one defiance. surely she could save this one thing, her oldest friend. and she is a loyal person, in her way, emotion powering her fierce drive, incapable of abandoning what she has set her heart on. irving, from whom she had learned everything, was ahead of her every step of the way. he arranged for her to be taken in by the grey wardens. she had proved herself as headstrong and unsuitable as he had feared—and she was shocked and bitterly betrayed to finally see that—but he also believed this might bring her to where she would truly belong.

as a grey warden, minerva’s highest concern is perception. when the stakes of the game are revealed, she has enough hubris to see it as a chance to not just save but change the world. defeating the archdemon isn’t enough. she needs to be seen defeating the archdemon, at the forefront, as an elven mage; she has enough idealism to believe it will really matter for her and people like her, and enough shrewd cynicism to consider what she may have to sacrifice to achieve it. mostly she approaches problems with the skill for diplomacy and management that irving taught her, with that good good Master Coercion skill. she gets many of the “better” and certainly more peaceful quest outcomes, not always motivated by altruism, but determined to be remembered well when she leaves each faction behind. her one great sacrifice of this goal to be seen as the perfect mage is when she takes up blood magic, determined after she sees its power that she alone can handle it, to get the job done and keep what’s hers alive fight after fight. but that only makes her more dedicated to her actions elsewhere

the real test and most pivotal moment of her arc is at the landsmeet. she has arranged anora’s marriage to an alistair hardened for the role (once more following irving’s example, learning to teach ambition as he had taught hers. is there love in that, or just selfishness? she doesn’t know). all that matters is that the joint rule neatly fulfils her desire for compromise to please all parties. but then she struggles between two aspects of her goal: she wants to be seen, personally, as the victor; she does not want every noble in ferelden to see her kill the hero of river dane with magic. she knows how that scene will be remembered, in the end. when riordan suggests recruiting him instead, it seems the perfect solution to everything, the salvation of the day. and then she realises she’s broken alistair’s heart, just when he’s breaking hers. she is incapable of backing down in front of them all (it’s only to alistair, her alistair, but she can’t do it—not to a human, and not to someone part of her will always see as a templar—not when everything she wants was so close.) he abandons her for the throne she taught him to want. she goes on with loghain in the party, and eventually—unable to let loghain snatch the final sacrifice from her grasp, and realising she does want to win and live, after it all—convinces him to do the dark ritual.

in terms of her most important relationships with companions: minerva traditionally romances zevran, who is in many ways uniquely her match having learned the same bitter lessons with the crows that she learned from the circle, and who is so dear to her and capable of lightening her heart when no-one else can. i’ve also experimented with the idea of her romancing alistair, to really dramatise the Landsmeet Divorce and capitalise on future political shenanigans where she could one day be his mistress, but more traditionally they are simply an extremely closely trauma-bonded pair of people who are incapable, at least that year, of really understanding each other deep down. it falls into a pattern where she loves someone with all that fierce drive, enough to die for them, but she will always prioritise what she thinks they need over what they are saying and what they want, often with misjudgements and terrible consequences for them both. it was true with amell, it’s true for many others

she has something very intense and homoerotic going on with morrigan, she has a strained relationship with leliana and wynne, and she has respect and comradeship and a fair bit of fundamental disagreement with sten and loghain. the awakening squad are the people she will consider family for life, most notably nathaniel who she started out not liking at all and is now her work wife, her right hand, can finish her sentences, etc.; anders, who remembers her as karl’s annoying teacher’s pet telltale little sister and is still sometimes baffled by who she’s become; velanna, who makes minerva her most genuine self by having regular screaming matches with her as a sign of affection; and oghren who tried to quit drinking at the same time she tried to quit blood magic, leading to many conversations that deeply baffled everyone around them.

the “current” minerva surana is a sharp-tongued leader who was born for the role of warden-commander, who loves her work and that it matters, who has a truer confidence that is less blindly arrogant and more willing to admit to mistakes, who has worked her breathless way up to h*lding h*ands in public with someone she loves, who has finally learned the hard lesson that the world needs more than an heroic example who followed all the rules to truly be bettered... and who, as rebellion brews, has never been one to sit back and watch while others changed the world

[boymanmaletheshequel]

Symbolism of Melinoe

💀💭💀💭💀💭💀💭💀💭💀💭💀💭💀💭

Dark goddess of funeral, of nightmares, and of ghosts and the dead, Melinoê is the dual goddess of the light and the day, said to be charred black on one side in her chthonic nature, and bright and white as snow on the other, contrasted by her heavenly half, Melinoe is a goddess to be revered and respected, and here are some of the symbols and sacred icons you can use to do so.

———————-————————————————

•🌈 Colors:

Representative of her dualistic nature, the analogous colors of black and white are the best colors, or rather lack there-of, to iconize and represent this frightening goddess, like a black and white tintype photograph from a nostalgic, forgotten era.

•🐴 Animals:

- Ravens: the most iconic bird of the dead, a specter and epiphet of all chthonic deities, crows are the most obvious choice for an animal to represent the power and idolatry of lady Melinoe.

- Moths: an insect of the night, bound and destined to follow the white light in the dark, moths are rather reminiscent of the lost souls and ghosts guided by melinoe to those who seek them from the afterlife.

•🌸 flowers & Herbs:

- White Poppies. Long considered a symbol of ancient afterlife, and a bringer of nightmares, poppies are often considered a deeply paranormal flower, and it makes since that because of this, they are often seen as being iconic of melinoe, especially the white ones.

- Mhyrr. An incense of great respect and value, myhrr has historically been left as an offering at funerals for the dead, a sign of luck and prospect in the afterlife. This was especially common in ancient Egypt, but there’s also evidence to suggest that it was regarded in a similar way in Ancient Greece during the Hellenistic period!

•🍗 food:

- Pomegranate: as the daughter of Persephone and Hades, pomegranates played a pivotal role in the conception of lady Melinoe, and are a great food offering or libation to her, if one wants to communicate or connect to her, perhaps a good way to do so would be to snack on a palm of pomegranate seeds, or to make a tea from its rind?

•💎 crystals & gemstones:

- Ancestralite. A somewhat rare natural combination of hematite and iron, Ancestralite is considered a great gateway stone to communicating with the spirits of dead ancestors or family members, as well as a stone of protection from death itself. These qualities make it a rather great option for a stone to use in crystal work with lady Melinoe!

- Snowflake Obsidian. Obsidian, a lavic stone that has long been used in darker magic, and especially Chthonic magic, is a natural fit for iconizing Melinoe? And the stones signature black and white “snowflake” speckles are great representation of her dual nature between light and dark, though, any variety of Obsidian will work in theory!

- Jet. Often worn to funerals as intricately carved mourning brooches during the Victorian era, jet is a stone of deep Black Death, and highly representative of mourning and the afterlife, with the history to back it up. I actually own one of these antique brooches, and have found it to hold a very dark, but not evil, energy! Jet is a great, and very absorbing stone to work with in chthonic or black magic!

•🪐 planets:

- The moon. Like almost all chthonic deities, the moon is iconic of lady Melinoe, as the domain of nightmares and ghosts she reigns over is most active when it is at its fullest phase! Take advantage of the moon cycles if you wish to communicate with any chthonic deity, Melinoe included.

•🏅other symbols:

- Graveyard dirt. A common offering or ingredient used in black divination, spirit work, and dark magic, a jar of (ethically sourced, pls don’t dig in peoples graves lmao) graveyard dirt is a perfect offering of loyalty and reverence, or iconic symbol of respect, to the goddess Melinoe, as funerals are perhaps her most sacred event!

So there you have it, some helpful starters to begin your reverence of the symbolism and iconography of lady Melinoe of Hades, daughter of Persephone and Hades, mother of ghosts and nightmares. I hope you learned something about her, and will consider her in your future practices! Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more posts about the intriguing and powerful deities of Helen! 💙🏛️💙

@xxfox0-chillingxx

[mrfartpowered]

Hey! Just wanted to ask a question because I’m bored, lol. What is your favorite RC9GN episode(s)? I’m curious to know!

HIIIII AHAHA I have been meaning to make a post abt this for a while actuallyyy so this is perfect :33

I think Shloomp! There It Is (the body swap one) is one of the best episodes in the entire show, if not THEE best. I think its jokes are unmatched, its story is soooo strong, and the crew’s passion for the show is so so visible in Shloomp!.

my number one favorite thing about this ep is the choice to let Andrew Lewis Caldwell voice Randy!Howard. in a lot of media the body swap trope tends to swap voice actors along with physical traits, and imo, that’s kind of a copout. when your voice actors are professional voice actors, not just actors who happen to land a role in animation, they go above and beyond. Caldwell’s performance as Randy!Howard speaks not only to his skill as a VA, but to the show’s atmosphere and his relationship with Ben Schwartz. Caldwell performed an arguably-flawless Randy Cunningham, from the cadence to the mannerisms to the comedic timing.

his performance is enhanced by the love and care of the animation!! obviously the Randy hair on Howard’s model, but the facial expressions, the hand motions, AAAA it shows how well the animators know their character, how consistently their protag is animated — AND that they can confidently and smoothly translate those quirks onto other models.

obviously it’s not a perfect ep — I’m a big fan of acknowledging the flaws in things u love and I even think they’re kinda fun to talk about. so I wanna take a minute and complain about the Theresa subplot. I know a monster was important to keep the plot moving, but I do not think the audience knew enough about Theresa to care about her that much. Shloomp! feels like a pivotal episode, esp cuz it’s paired w McOne Armed and Dangerous — maybe not narratively, but definitely character development-wise. and it felt…like…unearned for Theresa to get so upset when Nomirandy made a pass at Heidi. at that point, Theresa had only had that prom moment w Randy in Sorcerer in Love, he’d saved her a couple times, and then Der Monster Klub. I just didn’t feel like we’d learnt enough about her and Randy’s relationship for me to care that she was jealous and heartbroken.

THAT BEING SAID…..the heart in Shloomp! is palpable. I’ll have to make a compilation of my favorite Shloomp! moments someday ugh I have rewatched it more than any other ep. I actually watched it while I wrote this LMAO and I also shmoked a little hdngksnfk so I am.getting bored of writing now 😭😭 BUT trust that this is not the last time I’ll wax poetic abt Shloomp! There It Is

[atopvisenyashill]

Why do you ship book theonsa? Theon/Jeyne is more likely to happen

that feels like a crazy assumption to make lmao no shade.

i think the concept of theon confronting his feelings towards being a hostage of the starks on a more intimate level + his trauma with sex AND grappling with the sexual abuse he himself has perpetuated, through a relationship with a stark, who has her own issues with sex, AND is now in a position where she has a lot of power. And that’s where it’s interesting from Sansa’s end, again you have this story of hers where she would grapple with another Not Quite A True Knight + being in the position of some power in a relationship for the first time, being that he is like, physically wrecked, and on the hook for a Lot Of Crime, plus emotionally indebted to her (bc of his guilt over sacking Winterfell).

they both have very similar arcs where they romanticize the Establishment & are a bit delusional about their own role in it & the dangers presented in it, are very violently reminded that life is not as neat as it is in a story, and experience a sort of descent into the underworld alongside a shady captor/mentor, and are reborn in new, stronger identities, while all along harboring a secret resentment and longing to be themselves again. they’re both hostages, they’re both imo on a collision course to be at or around winterfell at the same time bc they are deeply drawn to it as The Scene Of Their Childhood, they’re both unlikely heirs to a pivotal kingdom (obviously theon starts off as a slightly more typical heir given he is a man, but theon as he is now is not a seriously considered contender for iron islands), and they both have very similar ~disordered thought processes~ that i find interesting as well.

the thing about theon/jeyne is i’m not sure jeyne is getting over her sexual abuse any time soon nor do i think theon would ever feel comfortable having sex with her. they mention in theon’s chapters that the lords have started getting uncomfortable because everyone can hear ramsay make jeyne cry at night - she’s experiencing some pretty acute abuse here that i think it’s going to take her a long time to wrap her head around. she also offers to be theon’s “woman” to get away and theon rebuffs her; i think theon would be very aware of how disturbing it would be to essentially take her up on the offer now. whereas there’d be more of a willingness to have sex with someone else down the road, because they weren’t literally in the room being sexually abused right along with theon, ya know. which isn’t to say that i don’t get the appeal here, but i think realistically, theon would be too preoccupied with feeling like he’s taking advantage of jeyne and i think jeyne would feel like she “owes” sex to theon in this scenario. even if theon doesn’t eventually go “maybe this is a line i shouldn’t be crossing” i can’t imagine the two of them like, with any group who wouldn’t go “theon what the fuck is your PROBLEM” if they found out he was fucking jeyne lmao. like asha alysane sansa jon snow etc i think they’d find it inappropriate. which isn’t to say that like jon snow of all people wouldn’t find theon & sansa fucking to be wildly inappropriate but what authority does jon snoe have over sansa lol, while jeyne poole is very low born & very easily bossed around by just about anyone, social status speaking.

[sillystringsimpsons]

I can imagine Legs being the more responsible out of the capos, almost being the mom-friend to Johnny and Louie; along with his soldiers as well (since you said he treats his soldiers nicely lol.) He might also risk neglecting his own mental health, and that can lead to some problems later. But for now, he’s happy helping his friends.

(Sorry if this sounds stilted I didn’t know where I was going with this. I just wanted to infodump about my analysis of Legs’ character lmao :>)

In my AU, Johnny is a bit detached from the other two - nothing happened between them or anything, he's just a bit of a stray cat type of friend, coming and going as he wants. But Legs is 100% the more responsible out of him and Louie, and he always looks out for him, which, you're right, sometimes costs him his mental health; especially since he's taken a lot of the accident the two got into onto his own conscience.

He's appropriately strict with his soldati, but he shows the most kindness and consideration out of the three. For example, a lot of people mistreat Suricato because of his skittishness and small size, but Legs always stands up for him and makes it clear that he's one of his most valued men.

Legs was also the first person in the mafia that Valentina came out to. Though he doesn't take as big of a role in guiding her transition (that's more done by Mikey), his acceptance plays a pivotal role in her story.

[greta--gill]

I have to say that I’m honestly just in disbelief that people are still NOT talking about Emily Sonnett on their post-game coverage and what she did for the team. I get it. We lost, so it’s not like that’s the first thing they’re going to say. But it’s sad to me.

oh lord, dear anon. you’ve just opened the can of worms i’ve been trying to keep shut lmao. i have a lot of feelings about this, but i’m just going to let them fly because i have to let them go.

i couldn’t agree with you more. it’s a damn shame that there’s, in some cases, a real lack of zooming out on these shows/podcasts/interviews/whatever. yes, we lost, but i think that the emphasis ive appreciated in some of the ones i’ve listened to/watched so far is that this team is going towards the future. and i think sonnett 100% deserves to be a part of that conversation. she had the absolute game of her life yesterday in terms of her national team career, and while it’ll be a difficult moment to look back on i’m sure, nobody can take that away from her. her leadership on the field - i will bang my drum talking about how you could hear her screaming on the field forever, not because of the act but because of what it means that she was calling for what needed to go down - and her ability to read that game and what had to get done deserves more praise, even though i hope to god that none of the players are on socials right now and will never hear the fresh noise, good or bad.

in my opinion, sonnett was the best centerback in the league in 2021. for the national team, she’s played almost every version of a position on the back line. she’d barely played midfield for the team before yesterday. she’s subbed in during crazy moments, good moments, terrible moments. she started in one of the biggest games for the history of the uswnt yesterday, and she did the damn thing. her career has not been easy (if you haven’t, take a look at the sam and sonnett swatch watch story, it gave me great insight into the ideas of hard work and dedication but also a really poignant (though brief) overview of what makes sonnett great, and her and sam’s friendship), nor has she gotten her flowers, nor was she set up to succeed, but like tobin said, she fucking did anyway. i hope with time things will change. i firmly believe that from what we’ve seen she’ll go down as one of the best teammates the wnt has ever seen. that list is likely neither ranked nor exclusive by any means and it’s definitely not short. but it’s still true. and honestly, i think that if julie really is retiring, sonnett may have just carved out a home for herself in the six. if we’re lucky, we may even see her and sunny in a continued double pivot role at times, depending on what a game calls for. i can only hope.

thanks for this ask, anon. i needed to get some thoughts out and i really appreciate you coming to my lil inbox to chat lmao

[dipplinduo]

Have you ever scrapped ideas for Sweet & Sour?

Yep!

My process has luckily been more of "transform an idea that doesn't fit" situation for most things, but I'm happy to talk about some of the things that didn't make the cut. Whipping out the notes page...

Lacey was actually meant to be the spotlighted E4 member that gets close to Juliana, not Drayton (hence the focus on her in Chapter 1 & 2). She was actually my favorite at first, and I envisioned her as being a positive, grounding guide for Juliana, and also somewhat of a middle ground influence for Kieran. But then I wrote my spin on the cafeteria scene, and I was like "oh my god wait, Drayton's character is so enticing and flexible, and he's especially fun to insert as an influence in the Kieran/Juliana dynamic". SOOOOOO I quickly decided to pivot and make him the spotlighted one, and have him do more of this brotherly figurer role who was very cunning and comedic. Before I even realized I got overtaken by the iconicism, and now he's just part of my brand in general. Whoops. The "Drayton Being Iconic" tag existed on this blog before this happened so I honestly should've seen it coming LMAO. I do have very important plans for the rest of the E4 and what role they're playing, though :

Don't laugh at this one - it was also early development LOL. I was going to have a party scene where Drayton convinces Juliana to pretend she got drunk (I know) as part of a roundabout and wild way to find evidence that Kieran had a soft spot for her (I KNOW). Kieran was essentially gonna waltz in (to a social event he otherwise never would make an appearance in) and he'd get all flustered as Juliana latches onto him. He would've decided to sweep her away from the party and take him back to his dorm. I ended up scrapping this entirely because while teens do party and all that...yeah, and also we pretty much got the dynamic moments I wanted to portray much better through the chapters where Juliana got sick.

Kieran/Juliana dynamic was also gonna have a moment where Kieran gets it in his head to start flirting with Juliana because he thinks that she’s flirting to get him to put his guard down. And that's where they both kinda were gonna secretly realize their feelings LOL. In hindsight lowkey fire still, but yeah, kinda just didn't have the space for it. We do have flirty Kieran era though, and that's still based.

This one is kinda known already, but originally the Applins were the only stars of the show (hence the name of the fic). I added Ribombee in early on after enough people wanted it and gave it lore/a connection to Kieran and his mother. Before Ribombee was conceptualized, I had different plans for what happened to Kieran's parents (he would still be an orphan regardless).

Briar was originally going to make a "deal" with Clavell regarding getting Juliana to come to Blueberry early, although it wouldn't be revealed until Juliana discovers this later. I scrapped this in favor of something much better because I didn't like the implications it had on Clavell's character, and honestly, only Blueberry is supposed to have the sketchy admin/systematic stuff going on anyways lol.

Kieran was meant to show more obvious signs of sleep deprivation (e.g. falling suspect to illness more frequently, slowed reactions). This idea is still good and realistic, but yeah, ended up leaning more into other symptomology that went well with the toxic chain curse (e.g. irritability, obsessive fixations, self-criticism, overworking himself, fatigue, etc.)

Ribombee was going to sleep powder both Kieran & Juliana in the cave scene of Ch 5. I decided to make it a bit more organic by having Kieran up and reflecting on everything + having Ribombee appearance in a more mystical way. Plus, I thought it would mean more if Kieran & Juliana opted to cuddle up themselves rather than being knocked out. There was a part of me that was worried the dynamic was progressing too fast this way with this change, but it seemed to have landed well! :)

This doesn't really count as a scrapped idea, but related: I 1000% retconned something with the Drayton POV chapters (if ykyk, LOL). But YEP. It's CANON. And frankly it's a decision I personally love that has implications, but also won't screw up the storytelling for where we're at now, either.

There's actually a lot more, too, but like I said: most of my ideas tend to upgrade. And lolololol OMG this is especially true for some major lore stuff. I just don't want to reveal it because I don't want to give y'all hints on where we're going!! LOL.

And also...there are cuter moments I haven't used in S&S and probably won't be able to because I account for what makes sense with the given dynamic. BUT what I do end up doing is taking those unused ideas and putting them into What-Ifs or other stories. There's one I'm particularly thinking of that I was dying to put in S&S D, but I don't think it would trip up the current Kieran as much as it would've in earlier chapters, lol. SO. It's going in The Dichotomy in Our Hearts instead! xD

This was super fun to write, hope it was enough substance for the question! <3

[ao3-oner]

do you play league? if you do, what's your main position/champion?

Hi there, thanks for the ask!

I am pleased to announce that I am an LoL-sober individual. I did play back in 2020-21, but I haven't touched it for the past few years. I first learned the game because one of my friends was really into it and she assembled a team of five of us who all played together on a regular basis, but that kind of fell apart. I played solo queue for a while after that, but I think the summer Star Guardian event in 2022 was the last time I really played. I still have it installed, but I haven't updated it since before Vanguard got implemented - not for any Vanguard-related reason, just because I haven't opened the app since then lmao

As for my main role/champion, back when I was on the team of 5, I was support. If I had to pick a single main, it'd be Blitzcrank, though I think I have more mastery points on Morgana (I have mastery level 7 on both of them, plus a few others - Thresh, Pyke, Lux, Sona, Zilean, Zyra... Yuumi, though I guess they updated the mastery system now? Idk). I was also very fond of Renata Glasc when she first came out and I played her a good deal. My secret pocket pick was always TF support (point-and-click cc is never bad!), or sometimes a BeryL-inspired Heimerdinger.

After my team broke up, I quickly discovered that playing support in solo queue is Not The Move since you completely live or die by your matchmade teammates, so I decided to pivot over to jungle from there. My jungle mains are Ekko and Evelynn, and they gave me *far* more agency in how my games went, for better or worse. My jungler prowess is not nearly as strong as irl Oner's, ofc, but I like to think that I'm not *too* bad at it! I'm certainly much better at TFT and LoR than I am at League, though.

Thanks again for the ask! If you play League, I hope your future games go well! If you don't, I'm proud of you for maintaining your sanity/mental health!

[taldigi]

What made you decide to include Kagami into the Fashion Club AU? And do you have plans to include other canon characters into your AU, or is it just Kagami?

Just Kagami. She was the one with the most potential and is able to fulfill a unique role. also, it was kind of a mutual brainrot agreement amongst friends that if anyone deserved to be saved from canon, it was her.

Zoe, Adrien, Chloe, and GDVs plot points would have all functioned better layered on Kagami. Even Juleka and White Dreads Hippie Girl had some aspects that would have worked better on her too. She had a great opportunity to fulfill that "sixth ranger" energy but instead she got a lot of racist stereotypes and was whittled down to "Adriens unreasonable shitty ex"

If you scrub off all that, give her some proper depth, and stop pivoting her around her relationship to the male lead, and she could have been truly great.

So she gets to be salvaged lmao

Also I've been increasingly fond of Floragami

[trashquisitor-shirozora]

Hey! I saw your reply to that anon ask about mandalorian, and i gotta say i agree with your view. There is something different in season 3 that i couldnt really explain, but you managed to put it into words. The past seasons feel character driven, while this season is more plot driven.

Honestly, i didnt have high expectations, because the ending of season 2 feels conclusive, so i dont know what theyre going to do after that. And when they said that din wont be the main focus of season 3, i felt a bit sad about it haha. I was thinking that maybe we're gonna explore more of din's identity crisis or something like that. But uhhhh idk. I have thoughts and emotions that i cant put into words. I hope you understand what im saying here lmao

Y'know, in hindsight - and can I really say so when we still have an episode left of Season 3, a whole ass Season 4, and however many seasons left until the Disneyfied Thrawn Trilogy Movie? - I feel comfortable saying that Din's story should've ended in Season 2 and he never should've gotten the Darksaber. I also want to argue that he got the Darksaber because Favloni did have plans for him, specifically, until something (Ahsoka and the Thrawn Trilogy and a movie) happened that made them decide to pivot hard into propping up Bo-Katan, whitewashing and sanitizing her backstory, and giving her all of Din's possible storylines. I mean, what did she really do over a season that made her better than Din, who lost everything saving Grogu from Gideon and finding a Jedi who could take him in?

Din was left alone on the bridge of Gideon's cruiser with Bo-Katan and Koska. He is truly alone. Does he follow them back to Bo-Katan's fleet, a CotW among others who don't trust him and his covert? Does he start his search for the Armorer and survivors of Nevarro? Din showed his face to another living being. What does his crisis of faith look like? We saw a glimpse of that in TBOBF; he wasn't doing too hot and then he was banished from his covert and told hwo to atone for his sins. We could've had a multi-episode arc following his journey to Mandalore and visiting the history of Mandalore and its desecration by the Empire. We could have seen him waver in his faith, struggling between what he believed and what he experienced and all the ways they intersect and conflict. Din won the Darksaber in combat. He now holds an ancient Mandalorian Jedi weapon that the Mandalorian diaspora now say marks him as Mand'alor (or the best candidate for Mand'alor). Does he grow into this role using his experience and skills earned as a bounty hunter and his covert's provider, or does he choose to surrender it to somebody else because he never wanted and still does not want the power and authority that comes with the title? Does he ever see Grogu again? Is Grogu doing well? How will they reunite? Well, TBOBF answered all those questions and we just have to accept they're back together at the start of Season 3.

Thse are just some of so many potential character-driven and character-centric stories that I'm never seeing in canon now. He's been wallflowered, pushed into the background, Bo-Katan's newest and biggest supporter in her so-called redemption arc even though you wouldn't fucking know that her redemption arc maybe should've included some mention of what she fucking did in the Clone Wars and the fucking Season 3 logo features Din and Grogu front and center.

(A lot of newer merch I see at the Disney Store, Heroes & Villains, Her Universe, etc. now feature multiple Mandalorians and Mandalorian helmets, so maybe that was a giveaway that we are following more Mandalorians now... and I am still forever struggling to find decent Din Djarin merch that puts him front and center. Fuck me, I guess)

I truly wonder what kind of Season 3 we could've gotten if Favloni, Kennedy, and Disney decided not to MCU-fy Filoni's precious darlings, if we were allowed to follow Din the way we did in the first two seasons. You could bring him back to the covert without losing him to the crowd. You could have him cross paths with Bo-Katan again and have her play a more significant role in his journey(s) without taking all of the spotlight.

I did have high expectations after Season 2, Anon, but once TBOBF came out, i realized I was fucked. And, well. Here we are.

[macbethz]

ok final thots. thank you to those who supported me liveblogging both those episodes i love doctor who so much. i also unfortunately love being a critic

all three dw episodes seem to be engaging heavily in this new folklore-ish lean that was established in wild blue yonder - the goblin stealing children, the bogeyman, the fiddle battle with the devil. im interested to see where it goes bc i think its a compelling throughline and one thing rtd lovessss is creating episodic stories that resolve into an overarching narrative. I do think DW seems to be pivoting towards its more family-centric roots, which is fine i guess. I am aware im not the target audience of doctor who but i do love her for her darker moments so ill always be a little sad

i think its kind of funny that the bbc lied in their marketing a little? like space babies was not about the first 5 second butterfly thing and the beatles were barely in the devils chord. actually really funny i literally cant be mad

ncuti is literally electrifying every time hes on camera. i believe he's the doctor 10000% and he really brings that combination of whimsy and sadness to the role that makes me want to see more of 15. ruby i find....less compelling. at least as of rn. I think the main point of interest for her is the mystery of her origin but as a character she's kind of a non-entity in the same way i found many of 13s companions. she almost reminds me of early season Clara in that she's just kinda Mystery Twee Girl but Clara ended up as one of my favorites because she became the most sick and twisted woman on planet earth over the course of 3 beautiful seasons so I have not lost hope yet.

However I do think the companion-doctor relationship is the thing the entire show runs on and I'm not, AS OF YET, super compelled by what 15 and ruby have going on. Hitting a lot of the same notes as rose/9 without the emotional follow-through and DISAGREEMENTS that really made that relationship interesting to watch. I think that's the main thing is I need to see some kind of conflict. 15 is a lot more open than any previous doctor by a LONG shot, presumably because of 14s off-screen therapy LMAO. There's a lot on the table up front in terms of backstory and personality (which i get helps set up new fans) but that also means a lot of the narrative tension created by that kind of inside information is lost. We need something else to replace it and make that dynamic interesting! For me doctor who maintains its narrative momentum through character relationships, i'm not particularly interested in just seeing Space Adventures without that kind of meat behind it idk. it makes them feel a little hollow to me

what else um. jinkx monsoon ate obviously. music is the meaning of life thank you for acknowledging this doctor who.

[endlessly-cursed]

The First Lady of Winbourne is looking for a husband!! CLOSED

A little bit about her: Descendant of Charlemagne and renowned Norman socialite, she's also a pivotal figure in the court of Aethelred the Unready and served many queens of england, one of them being Emma of Normandy. A renowned beauty, she's a powerful and wealthy ally of Helga Hufflepuff. She has a strong platonic relationship with Monarch Betwixt and it gets to the point where she has to marry whoever you offer!! Yes, you, I'm looking at you.

Some things to consider before offering:

They have to be of a noble family or politically important in the founding of Hogwarts

He has to be a family guy, someone who might like having from 5-8 children since welp it's the middle ages and it's either fatherhood or war, pal

He has to accept Henriette's bond with @hphmmatthewluther 's Betwixt lmao

He has to be a human being kakjasjka sorry Guzma

They also have to be a warrior

Henriette marries at 21 so uh, keep that in mind

Supporter of Helga or her allies

Has to take charge of Winbourne since women don't take a full role before the Tudor Era

They will eventually lead to Primrose since she's a direct ancestor

I'm open for ideas such as a royal bastard or a nobody who rises to power cleverly 👀

Tropes:

Childhood friends

"I fell for your beauty and stayed for your intelligence and heart"

"Forget the title, I want you"

"I married you out of obligation and fell in love in the way"

"I saw you bathing/dancing and fell in love instantly"

"I saved you in the Mage Wars and I can't get you out of my head"

Peasant who rose to power x powerful noblewoman in her own right

Average/ugly man x beautiful woman

You're always taking care of others, it's time I take care of you

Allies of Helga that fall in love during the founding

Tagging a few who might be interested in Henriette: @potionboy3 @unfortunate-arrow @cursebreakerfarrier @kathrynalicemc @camillejeaneshphm @that-scouse-wizard

[lightboundhellhound]

for this story, should the main characters mom die, or should her dad die

like i don’t want it to be the dad because im stubbornly against the idea of having like,,, a father be loved?? LMAO like i was gonna have erin’s dad end up being really shitty because i can’t imagine a dad in any other role. plus the mom dying is just what feels right to me personally? idk why

but also im so sick of female characters being killed for the sake of plot or whatever :/ like i don’t want a woman’s death to be pivotal in character progression or whatever. for example, supernatural killed two women in the very first episode, and both those deaths were treated as male character arcs. if that makes sense. and i fucking hate it ajdjfkk

so like. what do jsjdjfkfkf

[clariongradiation]

We all have canon mounts for our WoL's but, we ALL have our first chocobo! What is your WoL's chocobo name? Do they have a strong bond after going on so many adventures together?

Kai: Swiftstep, a prayer for speed and sure footing

Yuki: Otoya, fleet and true as an arrow

Popoto: Pumpkin, named for her color and how round she was as a baby

Negi: Namatamago, he thought it sounded cute

(The others don't have their birdies yet so they don't have names, but everyone is def good friendos with their birbs)

Since Popoto is so small I hc that she made friends with all the chocobo breeders in Bentbranch, and when it came time for her to get a riding bird they gave her a special dwarf chocobo to fit her size

If you're given a chance to have an expac/prequel (timeline who) that is tailor-made SPECIFICALLY for your WoL/XIV OC... What is the title and MSQ

👁️👄👁️ (shout out @unboundhavenn)

Kinda HC that Azems source shard dies during/before each calamity, and they played some pivotal role in either bringing it about or trying to prevent it. MSQ would be a series of echo visions going through the events leading up to each death, and what happened after. I'd probably call it Shardbound, to bring it full circle back to my wols name weh also cuz that's just been the theme of her story, even back when arr dropped (though rip, yet another SB acronym lmao) so you'd go from the first all the way to the 6th or 7th calamity (not sure about 7 cuz that'd just be 1.0 lmao)

Although I do have a hm what if about like, what if azems shard was born as a (pre-empire) garlean, and that was the reason emet-selch decided to become solus and marry them for angst reasons. Then when the shard died it would be the Tragedy that got Emet-Selch to give up on humanity (again), and hed authorize the research that led to the 7th calamity

if your WoL or Oc had an in game portrait like the scions do, what would it’s name be?

Kai: Wand'ring Star

Yuki: All for Love

Punch: Scaletipper

Twi: Ever Onward

Negi: Where Heart is Home

Popoto: In Soft Sunlight

Crystal: Cycle's Disciple

For Auri Wols/Ocs, do you have any headcanon Auri lore about your beloved lizard, or Au Ra in general? Tell me all about it. Tails, scales, horns, sheds. What are your hcs about Auri communities? Lizard babies? I need to know!

I gave Yuki the Big Tail and I like to imagine it is large like a croc's, also she does the water float thing. She rumbles like a croc too

Crystal hisses and has folding fangs like a snake, and her scales are small and cover a lot of her body so she can shed them in one big pull

Also HC that au ra spend only part of their pre-natal time as a pregnancy, and about halfway through they come out as an egg. This way the mother doesn't have to risk birthing a gigantic baby boy or deal with horn nubs. You can tell when they're about to Lay because they start to get nesting instinct, and crave foods that give them a lot of calcium. Yuki has her egg and gets the Ironworks to build a portable crystal-powered incubator, and it looks like those travel backpacks for cats

[ofwrxth]

CHARACTER BASICS

Name: Beckett Rhodes

Age & Birthday: 49, October 27

Gender/Pronouns: cis man, he/him

Species: Witch

Birthplace: Phoenix, Arizona

Job/role: Owner of Anvil, Music Manager (bc I can LMAO)

Positive personality traits: efficient, intuitive, patient, protective

Negative personality traits: distrustful, intense, reticent, stubborn

ABOUT

Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Beck grew up the oldest of two brothers, looking out for them when he could and helping provide for their family from a young age. When he was 18, their coven was attacked by hunters and the Rhodes parents died, leaving Beck and his brothers amongst the survivors. Now their guardian and barely an adult himself, Beck took them to California, trying to get away from hunters who might be looking for them still and to a place where he might be able to find work.

He got work as a bouncer at first, before eventually moving his way to a private security firm where he began to work with stars. Through RP magic he ended up making solid connections and proving himself to have good instincts (sometimes they'd ask for his feedback or his opinions) which eventually led to him becoming a manager.

By the time he was 25, he'd begun to work with some smaller stars, gaining a reputation as a steady but discerning presence. He was able to support his brother's ventures as well, and had a solid career for several decades. In that time, he met and married Natalie (insert last name), a gallery director from New York. They were happy together and ended up moving to the east coast to be in the city near her family and Asphodel – a place she had deep connections to.

Beck's career began to taper off a bit in the late 00s, and he considered doing something new as times and music shifted. Recalling his early roots with the security firm in California, he saw a need for security to work closely with Asphodel and the talent they recruited, someone who understood the supernatural. So Anvil security was born about 15 years ago.

He still had a few music clients for a while before stopping altogether when Natalie passed away 10 years ago. Can't decide if she got sick or was killed so if you have thoughts lmk.

Anyway, he ended up spending more time with Anvil, career pivoting almost entirely until X months (or year) ago when he met Odessa. He'd heard her singing a few times at a club downtown and eventually got his card, thinking that he could connect her to some managers who'd help her career. When he went to find her, she was being harassed outside said club and intervened.

Since then, he's somehow become her manager, roommate and quasi body guard (still has Anvil). And while there are feelings there, he doesn't want to impact her career and thinks that she can do a lot more without him by her side. But obvi that's until they bangarang and admit they LUVV each other. There are tiktok reels with him and fan edits LOL which his brothers give him grief for but, ultimately, Odessa has sparked life back into him, bringing color into a gray world.