#but i feel like it might also come from her characters being constantly put under a microscope

[crazylittlejester]

i don’t know if this is something Jojo is doing on purpose, or if it was an intentional detail but i grabbed and ran away with it, or if I’ve just completely read far to into things and entered the realm of just making shit up, but Warriors and his little crooked smile are so GODDAMN important to me and I am shaking him like a squeak toy (gently)

(big yap/analysis under the cut)

disclaimer, i just have a lot of thoughts, probably way too many thoughts, and 97% of them are about Wars so I might be insane, and what you’re about to read provided you’ve stuck around so far might be the equivalent of your high school english teacher yelling with tears in their eyes about how the curtains were blue to “symbolize her sadness”. also my apologies for weird spelling mistakes or oddly misspelled words, i am dyslexic 💔 but with that being said:

Warriors to me comes off as someone who’s constantly acting larger than life. He masks a LOT in front of the chain, he acts overdramatic and a bit ridiculous on purpose, and to an extent he just is a bit ridiculous, but his reactions to things are sometimes blow way out of proportion or are just larger than life in a comedic way where it just seems like he’s doing it intentionally. He comes across as a very extroverted, talkative person, and he seems like he’d honestly be a bit loud too (whether that’s who is REALLY is or what he’s REALLY like is a yap for another post). His (physical) image and the way his character/personality is perceived by others both seem like things that are not his CORE values or the things that mean the most to him, but they do seem to be at least a LITTLE bit important to him just based on how he presents himself and the way he acts. And to an extent, the whole thing with him caring so much about his looks is canon in LU, with that one sketch of him and Legend where he’s looking at his eye in a reflection of a shield and Legend says “alright break it up you two” being the first thing that comes to mind (which is in the post “Mirror Shield”, click the name for the link)

To me, from what I’ve seen and from my perspective, there are very few times we see an actual genuine smile from Warriors, and when we do it tends to be in moments where he’s not in the spotlight, he’s not trying to command the center of attention, and/or the focus is NOT on him. It tends to be moments where he just seems genuinely happy or at peace, and those seem pretty rare. He smiles a LOT, but the majority of his smiles seem big and flashy and performative, and not that that means he’s not happy AT ALL in any of those moments, but those smiles seem a lot more controlled and closely managed because he’s aware of the attention on him and therefore thinking about how he’s perceived. (I’ve made some posts in the past and I’ll probably make others in the future about how I think Warriors puts on this “Captain” or “Hero of Hyrule” persona because of how an entire war was started because a sorceress found him beautiful, and how he feels like him being just him isn’t really good enough for that and how he feels like he needs to fit in and look/act/seem like the legendary heroes he’s being compared to. He’s created this idea of what he COULD be and that’s what he presents to others, fake it till you make it and all that, but thats another yap for another day)

However there are these little moments where we see him smile, and the same one side of his mouth is pretty consistently always just a little bit higher no matter which way his head is facing (here’s a few examples):

@/linkeduniverse, from the 2023 monthly art, “January- Cold Sunrise”

@/linkeduniverse, both from “Dawn pt. 2”

And the thing that really started this whole headcanon of mine that his REAL smile is crooked was this specific part of Dawn pt. 2 where Warriors sees that Twilight is gonna be find for the first time after most likely worrying about him and being up all night:

That middle panel, to me at least, is probably the most genuine expression of a positive emotion we’ve seen from him this entire time. No one’s focus is on him, no one’s really looking at him, he doesn’t have the pressure of being the center of attention on him, and honestly even if that WERE the case, the genuine relief that hit him once he was Twilight was gonna be okay probably would’ve been enough to get a genuine smile out of him anyways. But the second he walks into the room officially, he kinda, for lack of a better way to put it, announces his presence and starts “acting” again (also from Dawn pt 2):

And while that same one side of his mouth does seem a bit higher and not very straight, it’s definitely more even than it was just five seconds previously

Now, acknowledging there is an art style, and that I also just might be insane, but Warriors’s smiles for the most part (when they seem controlled) appear to be a Lot straighter and more even to me than when it’s a more genuine moment and he doesn’t seem like he’s “acting” so much (and just a note: it certainly isn’t EVERY time, but in general, in moments like these his smile seems consistently straighter unless he’s just flat out smirking. and im not saying it’s PERFECTLY straight either, just noticeably more even). When he’s being more dramatic or intentionally obnoxious or the attention is on him, it really does feel like his smile is more controlled: here are just a few examples, obviously this isn’t every single time he’s smiled in all of LU

@/linkeduniverse, from “Swords”

@/linkeduniverse, from “Shady Escape pt 2”

@/linkeduniverse, from “Divine Dark Reflections pt. 8”

@/linkeduniverse, both from “Magic Sword”

am i looking too far into a little thing? probably. am i insane? yeah. but i just really love the idea that when Warriors is truly, genuinely happy, the part of himself that he tries to hide, the sweet and caring person he hides underneath all the dramatics, that true self he’s probably kept hidden away since the start of the war who’s been buried under insecurity and hidden because of the fear that who he is just isnt ENOUGH peaks through, and that person comes out through his happiness in the form of his smile. and yeah it does probably mean nothing and Jojo might not have done any of this on purpose, but i’m crazy, and Warriors’s crooked little smile is so so important to me *insert image of a guy crying face down on the floor because unfortunately i’ve hit the image limit*

[twin-wxngs]

Nightmare Critters counterpart discussion.

{So, before I begin, I would like to point something out. I don't normally do speculation like this to a larger scale. However, I would also point this out as well regarding the discussion of these 16 characters:}

{The nightmare critters are not really counterparts. They are just another group like smiling critters. So! With that in mind, this topic is just for fun. So with that out of the way, let's begin under the cut. We'll be going in release order.}

When looking for counterparts for the Nightmare Critters, you have to look at their negative traits and find what clashes with them. Now, I could be wrong about some of these, but this is my take on them.

1. Baba Chops

Baba doesn't exactly like being outside. And while her friends tend to convince her after loads of trying, she seems to dip back into the same recluse we seem to see her as. Because of the fact she prefers her alone time compared to spending time with her friends leads to me believe that her counterpart is none other than the leader of the Smiling Critters: Dogday.

Dogday essentially embodies everything that Baba doesn't like doing. Spending time with his friends, being outside and having fun with others. That's what he loves the most, being there for his friends. On top of that, Baba would be that kind of person who wouldn't like having a leader role and would push it on to someone else if it meant she'd have her space.

One other thing to note, is that Baba's scent is Anise. If you don't know, Anise is a plant that is actually very unhealthy for dogs when consumed too much. However, it is also seen as a dog's catnip, making them more happy and energetic to an alarming degree.

2. Icky Licky

Icky from the looks of his description, is a very gifted individual with actual good merits. However, the problem is his attitude when making competition with others. He seems to be the type to make multiple excuses, pin them on any excuse, and maybe even pin it on other people just to say he didn't lose. As competitive as he is, he's a spoilsport with a knack for making multiple pleading cases because he doesn't want to lose. The person I can see him clashing with on this scale is Hoppy.

You see, Hoppy is energetic and sporty as well. Although the difference between her and Icky is the fact that she wouldn't really take losses that seriously. She loves sports, but she loves sharing those sports with her friends. While they're both competitive, Hoppy would actually take the loss like a champ and swear she'd win next time. And trust me, she means that.

Minor note, but both of them are animals that do a lot of hopping and jumping, if it helps you see what I'm saying.

3. Rabie Baby

Now, Rabie's counterpart doesn't really seem all that obvious. But let's take a look at what she says. She loves secrets, and she loves to blab about them to their friends. Unfortunately it seems that Rabie's big mouth of hers might seem to get her into trouble. She doesn't know boundaries, and seems to constantly push into blabbing about others because she loves to do so. I can think of one person for this, and it's Bobby.

Bobby is like the tight knit, responsible older sister of the group. She knows her friends boundaries and makes sure they're okay mentally when they're feeling down. Everyone goes to and trusts her to keep things quiet, essentially the therapist of the group. Meaning, she does know her fair share of secrets about her friends, but she keeps that kind of thing to herself, because she doesn't want to start anything. And come on, that's rude.

4. Allister Gator

Allister is definitely what you would call a lazybones by heart. He doesn't risk wanting to try anything if it means it won't bring him anything good about it. Essentially, if it doesn't benefit him, he won't do it, because he's waiting for the right thing to come by and be good for him. He's essentially a slouch that doesn't really want to put any effort, because he thinks he's good as he is. Which is a stark contrast to Kickin.

Kickin, believe it or not, is a coward who is afraid to try new things. However, this also makes him a little bit lazy too as a result. Because of this persona he has when wanting to be seen as the cool one, he's going to push through it and do anything to be seen as cool among his peers. He may not be the most courageous, but he puts in an effort to try to be, because good things will happen if you put in enough effort. And he makes an effort to try and stand out, unlike Allister here.

5. Simon Smokes

Simon is definitely one of those people that wants to be seen, but the thing is, there's something deeper going on here. You see, the way he carries himself and the fact he seems to want attention, to pay close eyes to his accomplishments makes him a bit.. desperate. Keep in mind, dragons aside from breathing fire, are known for hoarding treasure. Because of this, you could say his pendant embodies his greed for attention and gratification, which is quite opposite of Crafty.

You're all gonna kill me for this, but I'm saying it anyway. And no, it has nothing to do with them being the two mythical creatures of the group. It's moreso how they carry themselves about their talents. Compared to Simon, Crafty is more closed off about the things she likes to do. Although she wants friends, she doesn't know how to make them either, but doesn't want to bother people either, making her a bit of recluse. But the thing is, she's good at what she does, but doesn't outright gloat about it either. She'd only talk about it if you asked, being more humble and modest, probably saying it's not that good. Unlike Simon, who thinks he's on top of it all.

6. Poe

Poe definitely isn't having a phase. Jokes aside, they seem to be quite unlikable towards daylight, and seem to prefer being at night. In a sense, you could see Poe as a bit of a night owl, with the irony that they're not an owl. By the sounds of it, Poe would be the one out of the Nightmare Critters with a nocturnal schedule, wanting to be awake at night, and asleep during the day, but let's be real. If Baba's persistent friends are anything to be taken out of context, they don't let Poe do this. Which is funny, because I don't think Catnap would either. .

If you haven't forgotten, Catnap's whole deal is sleeping at appropriate times. He makes sure everyone is well rested before they have a good day of playing and having fun, which is the balance he shares with Dogday. He wouldn't like it if they were suddenly awake at night like this, especially if they have no reason to. Catnap's love for sleeping at night is both a duty and a passion, even if he's still a cat. Which you know, he takes naps during the day. Poe would probably hate this guy due to his insistence on sleeping at appropriate times.

7. Touille

Touille, despite appearing to be a glutton, is honestly more of an oddball with disgusting tastes. It's been said that seems to talk everyone's ears off when it comes to talking about his favorite thing: trash. He likes eating it, but I imagine he also likes to collect it as much as he loves talking about it. Although he's not smart in a traditional book smart sense, he seems to make up for that fact in street smarts. The difference in that scope of knowledge would contrast beautifully with Bubba.

Now you see, Bubba is what you'd call a textbook smart individual. Research? History? Document, he's your elephants and seems to know quite a lot on that side. The problem is, like Touille, he seems to talk a bit too much whether you like it or not. But unlike Touille, he doesn't really know how to apply that knowledge in a street setting. He'd prefer being in a library compared to the dump. But unlike Bubba, Touille would probably eat a book instead of read it, if it looked unsalvageable enough.

Another minor note, but Elephants don't really like rodents. If you remember they're too small for them to see, which kinda helped me make a connection.

8. Maggie Mako

Maggie usually has one thing on her mind: food. And not the good kind of food, if we're talking from a health perspective. She seems to be insanely selective about what she eats, and prefers a LOT of junk food, and is unapologetically rude about it. It's safe to say that I don't think she plans on shaping up anytime soon. Although, this would definitely irk the likes of Picky.

Picky is the other side of the caring duo that makes her and Bobby. She's been known to make sure her friends aren't selective of their food, and is actually quite healthy herself. She and Bobby care about that immensely, with Bobby caring about your mental health, and Picky caring about your physical health from a food standpoint. And who could blame her? Watching the things you eat determines how fit you'll be. I don't think she'd appreciate Maggie tossing away the veggies, or other healthy foods she gives her.

{And I believe that is it. What do you think? Do you agree with me or not? It's fine if you don't, but I don't think I want to debate this. I've been doing this on discord for too long waiting for them all to come out. So, feel free to discuss your own thoughts with peers. Personally, Kickin and Hoppy's positions could go either way, but the others I'm sure of. Still! Have fun speculating!}

[smytherines]

Fuck it, here's an Owen Carvour dissertation

We don't have canon ages for Curt & Owen, but personally I headcanon Owen as being born in 1928, making him 29 when the banana incident happens. This leads to a lot of thoughts that are fascinating to me, because growing up in London during WWII could inform so much of his character.

Personally, I believe DMA's accent is much closer to Owen's natural accent. I think the Owen Carvour accent is something he puts on to make himself sound neutrally British while working abroad, because he grew up working class. RP is how most people (at least in the US) assume British people speak. This also works with the Texan agent mega headcanon, like they both have to put on an act to be spies, just like they have to put on an act with their relationship.

And class is really really important to how you conceptualize this character, because your experience of the war could be radically different depending on how much money you had. Food rationing began in 1940, which in this case would make Owen 12. Rationing isn't fully lifted until 1954.

At Elizabeth II's wedding in 1947, the palace made a big deal about how she was saving ration coupons for the material for her wedding- a full two years after WWII ended.

Here's WWII London:

This is the city Owen would've grown up in. This is a war zone. A city where food is tightly rationed, where sirens were constantly going off and you had to draw down the blackout curtains and go sleep in the tube station with bombs dropping constantly overhead:

If Owen were upper middle class, he might have had a shelter at home, some people did. But I imagine him sleeping in dark, cramped, noisy stations. And he learns to keep his cool. He starts to enjoy the danger because he has to to survive it.

Maybe he has lost loved ones to the bombings. Maybe one morning he comes home from the tube station and half of his house is in rubble on the ground. Maybe he's used to hand me down clothes and simple homemade toys and not having enough to eat. He's used to having nothing, having nobody. That's a headcanon a lot of folks have, and I think it makes a lot of sense for his character.

Even if Owen were one of the kids evacuated to the countryside, maybe that happens when he's 15 or so, it wasn't a Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe situation. For a lot of those kids they were leaving their parents behind in a war zone, sleeping in barns or basements, and most importantly working almost non-stop on British farms because all the regular farmhands were fighting.

I think, if this happened, Owen would be itching to go off and fight in the war. My personal headcanon is that he's an intelligent guy, and he figures out how to forge some basic paperwork to claim he is older than he actually is, so he can go fight in WWII.

But by some fluke he couldn't account for, he gets discovered. And because of his skill and his ability to keep his cool under interrogation, he gets recruited to MI6. A lot of MI6 operatives are upper class men, recruited young from the top schools. He mimicks them.

I think many years later, when he and Curt are escaping a Russian weapons facility, Owen loves Curt and trusts in his capabilities (maybe a bit too much- especially when he's been drinking), but he also feels frustrated that Curt is impulsive and cocky and thinks he is untouchable.

Because Curt didn't grow up the way Owen did. He didn't grow up waiting for the bottom to fall out over and over again. He's certainly got his own shit from adolescence, but he doesn't have that survival impulse hardwired into him the way Owen does. So Owen is careful and cautious for the both of them, trying to keep them both safe and alive.

I think about Owen being trapped in the rubble a lot. He would almost certainly be critically injured. Maybe he has PTSD from the WWII bombings, and he's just trapped in an exploded building, trapped with his own memories of childhood until he's almost feral from it.

This also, btw, is why the AU of Owen as Eurydice from Hadestown is so so poignant to me. Someone who grew up cold and hungry and turned their collar to the world, and then suddenly they fall in love and everything is sunlight all around them. All I've Ever Known is such an important owen!Eurydice song to me

I could keep going from here, but I'll stop for now. This isn't as neat and concise as I wanted to present these thoughts, but I can't stop thinking them

[rowanisawriter]

writer q&a

thanks for the tag @luvwich i love talking about myself lmao

tagging… @mashamorevvna @yourworsttotebag @swordbisexual no pressure

When did you start writing?

10 or 11 handwriting a three part series in notebooks lol i still remember the plot of my first book which was basically xmen AU. fic writing also started around that time

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

not really, my writing and my taste in reading usually align. even poetry which i read a lot of but don’t write, somehow still sneaks into my writing because i like making things read pretty

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

idk about fic but for published authors i like sally rooney and her character work, and i also love t. s. eliot’s rhythmic style in poetry, im always trying to emulate them

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

i have a toddler to the answer so this for now is my phone on the couch or in my bed in the middle of the night lmao. i’ve learned how to write under weird circumstances, but hopefully once she gives back some of the mental capacity she takes from me daily then i’ll sit at a table or something

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

can’t do it easily lol it comes to me in visions, usually after i read something or see a piece of art but if it’s not there it’s not there

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

i write a lot about religion… no that’s not surprising…. i also write a lot about love… that’s not surprising either lol

What is your reason for writing?

i like stories a lot, and i like being praised, so writing stories and having people read them checks two boxes for me lol

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

all comments are precious, but comments where people find something that i didn’t consciously put into a fic those are my favorite comments. i put a lot of myself into everything i write, sometimes i write things i don’t think about, when someone points it out it feels very personal (good)

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

hope i don’t come across as insane, i want to be aloof and interesting but then people find me on tumblr and learn the truth

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

hopefully emotion, i focus a lot on that instead of setting or plot most of the time so if i get emotion right then that’s good, as long as i can make someone feel something then they’re compelled to continue reading (conversely when i am reading something and don’t feel any emotional connection to the thing then i put it down)

How do you feel about your own writing?

i like it very much, it’s the exact thing i want to read, and it was a very long road getting here to my true voice and style. i reread my own work constantly i really like it

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

i can only write for myself, the motivation to write is only there if it’s something i want to write, even challenges and prompts i struggle with because there is some aspect of “this isn’t truly my idea” that i struggle with. i’ve written things that just aren’t popular (weird ship, quiet fandom, etc) but i wrote it anyway because i wanted to. obvs i want to be read otherwise i wouldn’t post online but i have a good audience now so usually no matter what i write it does get read anyway, so may as well just write what i want lol

[your-local-hoemie]

Hi! Can i request childe and zhongli (seperate) coming home to his beloved overworked and slumped over her desk?

Omg I get to write geo papi :D watch me work my brain juices for ya!

Warnings: fluffffff, a tiny bit of angst in childes if you squint again because I can’t help myself, Concerned boys, not proof-read, established relationships, gn! Reader (I know you said “her” in the request but I wanna keep it gn for everyone’s enjoyment if that’s ok aaaaaa.)

Characters: Childe, Zhongli

No I didn’t get carried away hahaha….hah

···

Childe~

He doesn’t understand at first lmfao

Mans constantly working so like? Isn’t this normal??

Honestly you might be helping him stop for a bit too

Gets very concerned :(

Might think you’ve died for a split second

Once he realised you’re fine he’ll make sure you’re moved to a comfier place like the bed or couch

Try to protest. I dare you.

He’ll probably arrange for one of his subordinates to complete any work you had left just to make sure you can rest

I also dare anyone to protest against a harbinger for finishing your work :)

You had been assigned a bunch of documents from Yanfei to go over after being transferred to her for extra work experience in Liyue before officially graduating.

At first your couldn’t be more optimistic about the workload telling yourself that it’s all worth it in the long run after years of studying law!

That lasted maybe a good four days before the lack of sleep and neglect to eat and drink properly started kicking in.

Raising your head you looked up from the paperwork checking the time. 4:30am. Groaning you raked your fingers through your hair, dragging them down your face trying to keep yourself grounded.

But much to your dismay no matter how hard you tried to keep your eyes open and your head free of fatigue, your body decided to finally take charge and before you can even protest, your head lowered to the table as your heavy eyes finally closed and took the rest they needed.

Meanwhile your beloved boyfriend, childe. Eleventh of the fatui harbingers, had finally got home after endless hours of his own work as a “toy maker”. He never told you about his true occupation, always worried it would put you in harms way or make you scared of him.

Opening the door to your house, making his way up to your bedroom he didn’t actually expect to see you awake being so early in the morning so when he saw the bed untouched and you nowhere in sight he’d be lying if he didn’t feel a twinge of dread run down his spine.

“Babe? Where are you?”

Picking up his pace he’d hurry around the house opening each door, his bow appearing in his hand from anxiety.

Reaching the finally room of your home he swung the door open only to find you slumped over your desk surrounded by paperwork.

Almost running over to your side he dropped to his knee’s placing his hand on your back almost like you’d break under his touch he softly shook you taking comfort in feeling your soft, deep breaths under his touch.

“Hmm? Childe?”

Raising your head groggily you look at your boyfriend for a moment trying to piece together the situation while rubbing your still heavy, sleepy eyes.

“Archons Y/N, you almost gave me a heart attack! Why aren’t you asleep In bed!?”

Giggling sleepily you tried your best to explain the situation all while still feeling the heavy pull of sleep in your body not noticing the soft, if not concerned smile appearing across his face.

Letting out a sigh he gathered you in his arms lifting you up with ease, he carried you to the bedroom placing you down on the bed before pulling you tightly into his arms kissing your forehead.

“No more work for you love”

You were pretty confused to later find out you somehow still managed to finish all the paperwork before passing out even though you swore there was still a pile to go through~

Zhongli~

Oh he already knew.

You thought you were slick? You fool.

From the moment he laid eyes on the workload given to you all the way to your first yawn

He knew

He’d try to make it easier on you, knowing your stubbornness

Brings you fruit and tea every so often

Don’t be surprised if you get a nice back massage too~

Once he thinks it’s gone on for far too long he will take action and there won’t be a damn thing you can do

He’s a ex god. Come on.

If he thinks you should rest then you’re gonna rest

To bed with you

Lots of cuddles and head pats! Maybe even humming if he thinks it’ll help you relax

He won’t do your work for you, he doesn’t have the heart to risk ruining your hard work but he will help you if you seem like you’re struggling!

Much to no one’s surprise, Hu Tao had ever so kindly managed to gather a ever increasing collection of complaints from the citizens of Liyue from her persistent shenanigans that you’d be hard pushed not to find at least a little disturbing, leaving you to deal with the mountain on papers to sort through.

The moment zhongli caught wind of what had been keeping you so occupied from your routine walk through the harbour he was irritated to say the least.

After having a word with Hu Tao that was borderline passive aggressive he immediately stopped by the market picking up the best fruit he could find (much to Childe’s dismay) along with your favourite snacks.

Meanwhile you had enclosed yourself in your office, pondering your life choices while using all the strength you had to stay focused.

How long has it been since you started? When was the last time you ate? Questions hardly noticeable floated around the back of your mind as you intently ignored the pangs in your stomach and the worsening migraine growing across your head.

Letting out a frustrated sigh you finish reading a particularly rude letter sent in only to turn the page over by chance just to see that the paragraphs contained on the other side.

Finally snapping under the stress you lay your head down in defeat on the desk, tears threatening to run from your eyes and soak the papers under your head as you feel your body take over and force you to close them at last.

It wasn’t too long before you woke up in a mild state of panic before noticing a plate of beautifully arranged fruit, a warm cup of tea sitting beside you and a blanket draped over your aching back.

“Ah, you have finally awoken. Forgive me dear but I couldn’t bring myself to wake you from your much needed slumber so I took the liberty to prepare you some food”

God I love writing his funky little words

“Zhongli? H-how long have you been there?? What time is it!?”

“Hush now. No need to get worked up over such trivial things, you still have plenty of time to continue your work but I must remind you that rest and recuperation is an essential part to such dealings”

With that you find him dragging a chair next to you. letting out a deep chuckle he turned you towards him gentle pushing your head down to his lap as his fingers stroked through strands of hair. (If you’re bald then just ignore this part💀)

“Rest for now my dear, I shall assist you in this mess when you have recovered”

Not daring to protest against his authoritative tone, you close your eyes feeling your body melt at his touch.

Maybe a little rest wouldn’t hurt after all~

Bruh writing in zhongli’s fancy words is so fun I feel so sophisticated *sticks pinkie out and sips tea*

[iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia]

how do the m6 act when they're feeling petty??? and how does mc deal with it?

The Arcana HCs: M6 being petty

~ how do I begin to say how much I love writing about these lovely characters being typically human? Thanks for the prompt anon, enjoy! - brainrot ~

Julian

He acts petty about the smaller things as a way of being silly. He can hold onto a hurt, but he prefers to deal with that stuff more directly

You see it come out the most with his younger sister Pasha

She'll be rolling her eyes at him, telling him he's an idiot and she doesn't need his help

He'll be cleaning up after dinner with her and put everything away on the top shelves

She'll get annoyed and start telling him to pull them back down for her: "I know you know what you're doing wrong, Ilya!"

"What's that? I'm just your idiot older brother, Pasha, since when do I know what I'm doing?"

"I mean it! Take them down for me now, you know I can't reach up there!"

"I thought you didn't need my help."

He'll be giving her his usual rogueish grin, casually dodging her swipes at his kneecaps as he pulls everything back down

He wants to get his point across though, so he'll use the opportunity to reorganize her kitchen while she's distracted

Now the dish towels are in the oven and the sugar and salt are mixed up. He might even dose Pepi with some catnip on the way out

Asra

For someone with such a chillaxed approach to life, they are surprisingly easy to annoy

And yes, he gets petty when he's irritated

It rarely happens with you (usually when you're trying to annoy them on purpose), and then his petty retaliation prank is just for show (or to make a gentle point)

But if it's someone being genuinely maddening, maybe a Karen in the market place or a self-important jerk cutting in line?

Barely detectable spells designed to make them question reality in a decidedly unpleasant, but harmless way

The Karen screaming about the pumpkin bread being overbaked is suddenly under a 30 minute enchantment that makes her say the opposite of what she intends to

You've never heard anyone serve compliments so angrily: "Exceptional service! This bread is flawless! You're not being unreasonable, I am!" All while slowly turning purple with rage

And oh no, look at that, the guy who shouldered his way in front of you moments ago just made a beeline for the public lavatory, almost like he has sudden diarrhea

"Oh no, MC," Asra whispers quietly in your ear, dimples dancing, "Oh nooo ..."

Nadia

She gets petty when she feels like she's been insulted or underestimated

It's not her best look, but she has a lot of pent-up resentment about feeling constantly humiliated by her older sisters

So of course, that's what she does to the unfortunate nobleman who tries to mansplain his way out of taking care of his tenants in front of her court

She'll pull out the file of information she's gathered and grill him with no mercy: "You currently own 4 properties valued at ____, correct? And you charge your tenants ____ per month?"

You watch him go pale and gulp, "er, yes, Countess. But with the rain, building costs-"

"Your maintenance to date is estimated at costing you ____, leaving over 50 separate complaints unaddressed, some of which are several years old. If my numbers are correct, (and they are always correct, nobleman) you still have _____ in profits. That should easily cover the estimated ____ required to restore acceptable living conditions. I expect to receive a glowing report from your tenants next quarter. Will there be any issues?"

She usually feels guilty afterwards, but you can't blame her. It's just so gratifying

Muriel

He can hold a grudge, but his brand of petty is hard to notice until you get to know him better

It'll only happen with people he trusts, when they do something he disapproves of

For example, the time Asra visited and decided to feed the chickens some breadcrumbs soaked in mead. Just for fun

Watching tipsy poultry stagger and drunkenly cluck around your front yard was hilarious, but also a little sad

And Muriel doesn't appreciate it when someone disrespects nature. Even Asra

He'll sulk. It's a little comedic to watch a full grown man give someone the cold shoulder and huff and stomp his way around the hut, but it's surprisingly effective

Especially when Inanna joins in, skulking by his side and shooting the occasional disdainful glare

Asra crumbles when Faust sides with them, riding on Inanna's back and blepping at her master reproachfully

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have -" *giggle* "I shouldn't have intoxicated your chickens! It was very rude of me."

Really the apology is all Muriel wants, he'll stop sulking and maybe laugh about it later

Portia

She gets petty when someone comments on an insecurity of hers without meaning to

Being the younger sister of a charismatic older brother means that she *hates* being compared to him

She'll be enjoying drinks with you one evening at the Rowdy Raven, and one of the local regulars will make the wrong comment

"Hey, it's Devorak's little sister! Look at you carrying all those drinks, I bet you can hold your liquor almost as well as he can."

Uh oh. It's on.

She'll turn, smiling sweetly, and challenge him to a drinking contest in front of the whole tavern. He'll need help getting home

She won't stop there, either. After that it's arm wrestling, darts, even an insult war in which you hear some of the most creative roasts you've ever come across

All as her Nevivon accent gets thicker and thicker, curls flying and eyes sparking with triumph as she demolishes poor fool after poor fool

She'll be embarrassed about getting so carried away the next morning while she's nursing her hangover

It's worth it because Julian is now known at the Raven as "Miss Portia's older brother"

Lucio

In the same way that he only throws his tantrums cathartically, his pettiness is his other method of handling his short temper

On one hand, you're proud of him. It's a big improvement from ordering someone's execution because he didn't like what they said about him

On the other hand, it's hard to take him seriously when his response to an unwelcome comment is to mimick it back in their faces because he can't come up with a witty comeback

He'll be passing back by a merchant he tried to haggle with earlier when their shop assistant makes a friendly jab at him

"Hey, Mr Adventurer! You back for that deal, or is it still too much?"

He'll barely miss a beat spluttering before he whirls around and responds in a squeaky mocking voice at the top of his lungs:

"Hey shopkeep! You back for that deal, or am I still too much?"

Apparently, the teenaged assistant in question is gifted in both good humor and snark. There's a crowd gathering for the free entertainment and it's fueling both of them

Neither of them seem afraid of being immature in public so you wait it out at the nearby tea stand until they're satisfied

(If you liked Lucio's part, I highly recommend the meme my lovely mutual sent me based off of it here)

[legally-allowed-to-slime]

i disagree on the "it was a good kill and Gem is bothered by it/pretends she's not" bc it really wasn't,,, and Gem can be right in calling it pathetic and also not expecting it/knowing how to escape and also be not that bothered by it bc she does try to like, let (red life) people kill her the entire session, she's 'not a sweat' as she calls it

Mumbo literally lost a life bc he was going after Gem in the car (he pours lava where she was specifically), then tried to lava her twice, Grain had to tell him to keep going after her with a sword (also Skizz tries to lava her before that too lmao) and she still escaped it to the point Mumbo logs out bc hes embarrassed (in a light hearted way ofc) just to log back in, join in on Martyn helping them (Gem does just accept him digging a hole under her, doesn't move at all, she only tries to escape the lava) just for Ren to steal the kill like the little yellow life shit he is and then Mumbo tries to lava her again lmao. it is pathetic, let's not kid ourselves here, Looney Tunes type crap, especially with the speed. It's a good kill on Ren side ig??? idk

like. idk, people try too hard to make it seem like she's bothered or not, maybe the answer is simply that she accepts dying, but she also wanted the killer to actually try to get her (like Grian does, he clearly hates the cheap kills,,, unless it comes from his teammates lmao)

feel like ppl try too hard to make her look like Scott (and I don't think even Scott is that bothered, he just switches to survival mode for once lol), when both her and Joel are fine with ppl trying to murder them and succeeding, they show it multiple times this session

i don't think this makes her "untouchable" or boring either, bc I don't think any life series member takes death as seriously as fanon makes it seem sometimes (might be the dsmp brain wiring lmao, but to me it does matter how a person reacts to their death and what they do afterwards, and she goes back there and just. Tries to congratulate Mumbo until she realizes Ren did it. She doesn't hide, doesn't get annoyed or anything, so I don't see why would I take it as her lying to herself or the viewers. Taking her at face value is smarter here, bc she doesn't hide her feelings, she's open about being annoyed at Pearl/Imp, she's open about disliking ppl and how she feels about stuff). they know they're in a death game, know what to expect so it's whatever as long as theyre still green and have lives to waste

i know it's all in good fun and role-play, but I just wanted to give my opinion from somebody who's not that into this side of the fandom (this is also messy as fuck and i probably repeated myself a bunch but im too lazy to fix this, whateeverr)

i’d like to preface this with a disclaimer: gem is one of my favourites. i would never speak so derogatorily about a character if i did not obsessively watch all their povs and consume so much fanfic about them that i’m sick. put simply, c!gem is morally grey, and i’m entirely comfortable with it. moving on

i feel like we need to face the fact that every lifer is an unreliable narrator. yes, some to a greater extent than others, like how dl!pearl or sl!lizzie are clearly unreliable. but all of them, bar none, say and go through things that affect their worldview. an unfortunate phenomenon known popularly as “the human experience”. especially in the life series, when the ccs are deliberately roleplaying, it would be naive to take any of them at face value, especially when evidence says otherwise.

so yes, gem is definitely bothered. she talks about how she’s a target, even puts a target on her skin, and keeps on talking about how incompetent everyone is (even when they’re not trying to kill her). i don’t think this is unreasonable of her at all, i’m just pointing out an incongruence in her words and her behaviour. again, there’s nothing wrong with being bothered, but what’s really interesting is that she constantly says things like “oh, finally!” or “that was so bad” or just laughs. to me, i interpret it as her purposely trying to keep up the image that she isn’t bothered, that she is confident or that wow, look, the other players are so bad she’s getting frustrated that she can’t die. a “regular” lifer would probably just exclaim oh no if there was a failed attempt on their lives, but gem is much more deliberate with her words. i’m not calling her calculating, but maybe i am.

(i have noted before that gem is impressively good at faking real emotion, so that definitely plays a factor in my interpretation. it’s very easy to dismiss it as genuine exasperation, but based off her other words you can slightly discern that it’s a facade. obviously gem is gunning for a win this season, and if she’s gunning for a win, why would she try or want to die?)

as for the kill. directly before this, yes, it was a cartoon chase scene, but gem was in full survival mode and was darting around, constantly eating. it would be foolish to pretend that she wasn’t trying to stay alive.

you argue that she allowed martyn to dig the hole under her. i went back to check, and due to the sped up game, it took martyn a little over 2 seconds to dig the 2x2x3 hole. 2 things can be true: gem is good at the game, and the hole caught gem off guard. furthermore, gem was looking at grian and not at martyn when the hole was dug. so she’s in the hole, and she has less than one second to react before the lava is placed. gem pulls out her water bucket very quickly, and places it down the same second. too late. she’s caught by the lava, she yells, she takes out her shovel to dig, she digs one block and then dies. so how long does the kill take?

eight seconds. from the first block being broken to gem dying to the lava, it takes eight seconds. that is the opposite of pathetic. that is a well-executed kill and even with gem’s condescending “good job!” it doesn’t take away from the fact that it was well done. note that gem reacted very quickly, so it wasn’t gem “allowing” herself to be killed. she tried pretty hard to not die, but the lava was just faster. in no way did she accept dying when even in her own video it’s clear that she fought to the end.

gem is definitely not fine with people murdering her. the other attempts, yes they were bad, but gem also tries to dodge them. i feel like she legitimately forgot about tango’s trap and stood on it by accident, but changed her story when tango failed anyway, because she doesn’t even say anything to tango (like a cheeky “tango i’m standing here”) prior to the actual attempt. i wouldn’t go so far as to call her a sweat, but to go to the other extreme that she allowed people to kill her is also straight up inaccurate, even if gem acts like she did.

so, we’ve established that it’s a good kill. how does gem react? she tells the audience “oh it’s pathetic”, goes up to mumbo and tells him “mumbo i’m so proud of you”. that is textbook condescending. she’s trying to act amused, as if mumbo’s a toddler that’s just done a cool trick. (never mind that it was ren, it’s the intention behind her words) if she got outwardly annoyed, that would make it obvious that she was actually threatened by the kill, or that she was actually bothered. this faux nonchalance is what i’m trying to point out here. i don’t think she’s inwardly annoyed either. i just think she’s lying to herself.

as for that last bit, i don’t think i ever said this made gem boring. to me this makes her incredibly interesting and an incredibly complex character to dissect. i’m saying those who just believe whatever she says and believe that whatever she says is what she actually believes are making out her character to be more boring than it is.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Princess Azula

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

This is one of those characters I should’ve done a long time ago, but just never got around to because I felt it was just way too obvious. I mean, come on, Avatar: The Last Airbender is considered one of the greatest works of western animation. Everyone and their mother has talked about this show at some point, so what could I even add?

Well, as it turns out, the way people talk about Azula is exactly what inspired me to write this! I have never seen a character so completely and critically misunderstood! Hell, this is a character that people like to disregard the core themes of the story to talk about! Discussion of her online made me so genuinely angry that I decided fuck it, it’s Azulain’ time! So here we go, my 200% anger-fueled analysis and review of the mentally-unstable Fire Nation princess who terrorized the Gaang!

Motivation/Goals: Azula has basically made it her life’s mission to be the ultimate tool of the Fire Nation, and specifically her father Fire Lord Ozai. To that end, she does basically whatveer he tells her to do? Kill the Avatar, conquer Ba Sing Se, take out her brother and uncle… So long as what she does has a net benefit for the imperialistic goals of her country, she’s down for it, and doubly so if she thinks it will get her even a little crumb of daddy’s attention.

Performance: Superstar voice actress Grey DeLisle of Literally Every Fucking Cartoon Ever Made fame lends her voice to the crown princess of the Fire Nation, and her smug, condescending delivery really sells Azula as a manipulative schemer who is constantly playing 4D chess to outmaneuver her opponents. I think I might even go so far as to call this one of DeLisle’s finest performances ever, for reasons pertaining to her delivery of lines in certain parts of the story that will be described below.

Final Fate: Azula’s fate is a perfect example of the show’s excellent writing because it robs us of catharsis in an extremely narratively satisfying way.

Throughout the finale, we watch as Azula’s mental health rapidly declines as literally everything in her life spirals out of her control for the first time. This is a girl who has defined herself as always being two steps ahead, always having everything firmly in her grasp, and yet her brother has run off with the heroes, her two best friends “betrayed” her, her father gives her the throne but only because he is crowning himself the Ultra Super Cool King Deluxe, and she is constantly grappling with feeling as if her mother viewed her as a monster while also subconsciously knowing that Ursa did truly love her. Keep in mind, all of this is happening to a teenage girl, so is it any wonder she completely and totally snaps?

Her final Agni Kai with Zuko during the height of Sozin’s Comet is epic, but it’s the conclusion where she is defeated by Katara and left as a sobbing, flailing mess that really knocks Azula’s character arc out of the park and cements her as the ultimate antithesis of Zuko. He had the guidance of a good, kind father figure, while she was stuck with Fire Hitler; he had a group of friends to love and support him, while she only had companions who put up with her out of fear and turned on her when they finally had enough; he was able to come to terms with his past traumas and grow to be better because of his numerous support systems, while all she had were toxic influences that led to her essentially collapsing under the weight of her internal conflict. She is what Zuko could have been if no one lent him a helping hand… and it is soul-crushingly tragic. The last we see her, she is a broken mess of a person, someone who has literally lost everything in their life, had the sole purpose of their existence stripped from them, and has just been reminded that she lost because she is a lonely, miserable, pathetic individual without any friends.

After her being on top for almost the entire show, this should feel like a triumph! But it’s not. It’s sad. It’s tragic. There’s no joy to be found. And boy oh boy, is it fucking powerful.

I’m just going to ignore what happens to her in the comics. It’s better that way.

Evilness: So here’s where things get really interesting, because while Azula does some truly evil things throughout the show, there is a tendency to exaggerate just how awful she is because most of her evil actions are just things she says she wants to do/has done. Combined with her smug, arrogant demeanor and it’s easy to believe she would do these things, but we don’t actually witness them. To wit, while she taunts Sokka about torturing Suki to the breaking point, when he finally reunites with her she sure doesn’t seem as cripplingly broken as Azula implied. I think it’s important to note that, as Azula is a massive liar, if we don’t actually see her do something (even something she’s threatening to do), it’s not really a mark against her. She’s a cunning manipulator, after all, conquering an entire city without lifting a finger.

On that note, though, she does have plenty of wicked moments under her belt. She conquered Ba Sing Se for the Fire Nation, she constantly tried to kill Aang and her brother while they were on the run in the Earth Kingdom, she had her friends locked up for defying her… Like she’s one messed up daddy’s girl. Even taking into account the inherent tragedy of her character and the fact she’s a teenage girl, she still kind of steps up to crossing the moral event horizon. She’s very much the product of grooming in an environment meant to espouse the joys of fascism and imperialism, and since she never had a strong guide like Iroh her moral compass is busted.

With all that being said, I think she’s a solid 5/10. She does some really nasty things, but at the same time a lot of what colors the perception of her is stuff she only implies. Also I’m not considering any of her pre-breakdown fights with Zuko as truly evil; this is just how siblings are. You bet your ass sibling squabbles would look just like that if they could shoot fireballs from their hands.

Best Episode: For all her badass moments, awesome schemes, incredible fights, and powerful moments… “The Beach” might be her best episode. This might sound crazy, but I stand by it; I think showing us an awkward, human side of her really helps to sell that Azula isn’t actually some unstoppable force. She’s just a teenager who has no social skills and can’t exist outside of the confines of being a royal or a warrior without looking like an absolute weirdo.

Best Quote: After outmaneuvering season 2’s arc villain Long Feng, who concedes to he rand says she’s beaten him at his own game, she flippantly replies, “Don't flatter yourself. You were never even a player.” I don’t think even Jet got so brutally murdered. It’s the sickest burn in the series aside from Zuko’s scar.

Final Thoughts & Score: The whole reason I even wrote this Psycho Analysis is because the constant and critical misunderstandings of Azula I see online constantly piss me the fuck off.

There is a subset of Avatar fans who completely and steadfastly believe that Azula is in fact an irredeemable monster, a complete sociopath with no redeeming qualities who needs to suffer and die. They reject any attempts at assessing the character in a more nuanced light, because “why can’t villains just be evil?” They treat her as if she’s some sort of pure evil being instead of an emotionally stunted child.“She’s crazy and she needs to go down” might as well be the mantra of these media illeterate Avatar fans, parroting opinions that mirror the words of Iroh after Azula almost killed him but ignoring that crucial context as well as Iroh’s entire character. Like, do these people actually pay attention to the core themes of the entire show? You know, mercy, redemption, humanity, the importance of all life? Did they miss the part of the finale where these core themes were cemented by Aang removing Ozai’s firebending with energybending, or were they too busy bitching about it being a deus ex machina to realize it’s thematically appropriate?

Like they want Azula to just be this evil, unredeemable cartoonish villain in a show that explicitly says no one is like this. There’s even a point in the final episodes where it’s pointed out that genocidal colonizer tyrant Ozai was once a sweet, cute little baby, and didn’t just spring forth as a fully formed Red-Hot Hitler. Azula is a person groomed by an unrepentantly evil father to be the Fire Nation ubermensch, the ideal tool for the conquest of the rest of the world. She was never allowed to have a normal childhood, as evident by her awkward behavior and social ineptitude when she’s actually allowed to cut loose and be around people her own age in a relaxed setting. Everything that she is—a liar, a manipulator, an attempted murderer, an egomaniac—are all the result of Ozai’s upbringing, being entrenched in the propaganda of her nation, and a lack of authority figures with a moral compass in her life. She didn’t have an Iroh to guide her, all she had was Ozai. In this sense, Azula is as much a victim as she is a victimizer.

But she is a victimizer. She is still consciously making bad decisions, she is still doing evil and sometimes appearing to enjoy it. There’s no reason to believe she couldn’t turn things around if given a helping hand like her brother was (though there would need to be a lot more effort due to her being in Ozai’s company unimpeded for way longer than Zuko), but she’s not some innocent little bean who’s being persecuted by others. Azula is still a villain, and viewing her as just a mere victim is a disservice to the character just as much as painting her as an inhuman monster. She is a very nuanced character, but she never gets the sort of POV work Zuko does to fully flesh out what’s on her mind and let us see the world through her eyes so the work done for her is more subtle, at least until her final breakdown. At that point, the show is literally beating you over the head with the fact she is an incredibly tragic character whose entire existence is pitiful and broken, and who lives as a mirror to Zuko, showing him a dark path he could have walked down if he didn’t receive love, support, and compassion.

Ultimately, Iroh wasn’t wrong when he said “She’s crazy and she needs to go down,” but I take it with emphasis on and. Azula is, in fact, crazy. She is incredibly mentally disturbed, her mind warped and molded by her father to the point she breaks if she starts to lose control even a tiny bit. And, as an antagonistic force working against the heroes, she does indeed need to go down. I’m sure he wasn’t too happy with his near-death experience, but you will not convince me that the sweet old Iroh, who himself changed and redeemed himself after being a fucking war criminal who nearly conquered Ba Sing Se, could not see the nuance in the Azula situation and genuinely saw his niece as some beast to be slaughtered.

But that’s enough with the ranting, let’s get to the actual final thoughts and score for Azula. She is one of the most engaging and magnificent villains in animation, a real firebrand (heh) whose numerous schemes are gripping to watch, building her up as someone you want to see finally get defeated only for the writers to pull the rug out from under you and remind you just what Azula really is. Avatar had no shortage of brilliant and subversive writing, but I think Azula’s ultimate arc is an unsung masterpiece among it. The character is so mired in discourse these days it’s easy to forget it, but she genuinely is a grand character.

For her score, I’m gonna say she gets a 9/10. She’s easily the best villain on the show, far outshining her rather generic father, the deliciously hammy but ultimately rather shallow Zhao, and the scheming but relatively minor Long Feng (to say nothing of the numerous minor villains that range in quality from wastes of time like Combustion Man to genuinely amazing and horrifying like Hama). I think the only thing holding her back from a perfect score is that sometimes it feels like things fall into place a little too perfectly for her, and she doesn’t face setbacks too much until the very end, but considering the immensely powerful culmination it’s nothing that ruins her. Azula is a character just as rich and deep as anyone else from the show, and I really wish more people looked at her with nuance.

I also wish the fucking comics didn’t exist. Maybe I’m asking for too much.

[demonio-fleurs]

the headcanon ask game!

for both sabo and koala:

🏳️‍🌈🧸🎶💝❤️‍🔥😶

Send in a character or characters and an icon and I’ll give you...

i am so sorry this took so long btw, a mixture of me being busy and also having to come up with these on the spot made it take longer than i wanted it to!

these also range from "simple and straight forward" to "mini fics/drabbles" haha, sorry for the inconsistency

🏳️‍🌈 A sexuality headcanon

they're both bisexual, although koala is (in my opinion) far more likely to be vocal about it than sabo, who is too busy with work to think about relationships.

koala realized she was bisexual when she met betty for the first time, and no i will not elaborate further. meanwhile sabo has just always kinda known that gender doesn't matter for him.

(more under the cut!)

🧸 A headcanon about their childhood

one day, while traveling the seas with the sun pirates, their ship was attacked by slavers looking for a profit. they were arrogant, and believed they could easily take out the group of fishmen on the ship.

koala doesn't remember much about that night, except for how frightened she was, as the ship had been caught up in a cyclone right before being attacked.

but she does remember huddling in a corner of the ship, wide eyes staring as a man came rushing towards her. she remembers jinbei, stepping out of nowhere and using Samehada Shotei against the slaver, and how the sheer force of it was enough to cause the man to be tossed across the room, knocking him out. jinbei then turned to her, and had her crawl onto his back for safety until they could ensure there was no one left on the ship.

that memory stayed burned into her for the rest of her life, and the day that hack told her that she'd finally perfected the Samehada Shotei technique was one of the happiest moments of her life.

for the longest time, sabo's childhood was not defined by memories, but rather feelings and vague nightmares. he remembered there being a great, terrible fire, and the fear he felt when he saw it. he remembered the feeling of a bird, trapped in it's cage and wanting so desperately to fly free. so many dark emotions, so many nights waking up in a cold sweat, gripping onto his sheets.

but sometimes, there were positive thoughts and dreams from his childhood. a song played in a bar on a mission might bring back the memory of tall, towering trees amidst a humid jungle. koala clinging to him in the middle of a hot night brought back the feeling of creaky wooden boards beneath him, and the starry night sky above him.

it wouldn't be until after ace's death that he gained the context necessary to understand those lingering childhood memories, but context didn't make his heart feel any less heavy in his chest.

🎶 A headcanon about music

one day while laying low in a bar and trying to plan out their next steps on an important mission assigned to them by dragon, koala began singing along to an old song that was being played on a dingy old piano in the corner. to her surprise, sabo began humming along with it, despite it being a song that was usually only known by pirates.

after their mission, she sat down with him and sang the lyrics in the hopes of triggering some memories from his past, but the only thing that came to mind for sabo was a warm summer night in a jungle.

later on, he'd put together that he must have heard the song from luffy, who taught both him and ace the lyrics to "prepare them" for their life as a pirate.

💝 A headcanon about their love language

sabo is a very "physical touch" person, when they are alone he is constantly either in their lap, or clinging onto them, almost as if when he lets go of them, they'll disappear forever.

koala, on the other hand, is more of a "quality time" type of person. to her, so long as she is near the person she loves, that is quality time, even if they aren't doing the same thing. this doesn't mean that she isn't physically affectionate, in fact she can be quite clingy when she's worried or upset, but that isn't her primary love language.

❤️‍🔥 A romantic headcanon

oh gosh, haha, i'm honestly one of the worst people for romance but here we go

one of sabo's favorite things to do when coming home from a mission is to put his head in koala's lap and fall asleep. almost every outside observer wonders when koala will get fed up with him and kick him out of her lap, especially since she'll complain about it to anyone who will listen, but hack knows that koala secretly loves it. when she thinks no one is looking she'll often run her fingers through his golden locks, and simply enjoy the downtime with him.

😶 A random headcanon!

sabo has fangs like a dragon 3:

koala has an incredibly high spice tolerance, but primarily bc she enjoys food that has strong flavors.

[oyasuminto]

wait you played mouthwashing?? what did you think of it

I'm gonna just copy/paste some of my rambles below. Warning: I love to yap. Also massive spoilers.

Also this is very disorganized.

Because of Jimmy, everyone is under the impression that Curly is an insane asshole who purposely collided with an asteroid in an unexpected murder-suicide attempt. Curly is still conscious and aware of what's going on. He can hear whatever the crew are saying about him, he has to spend several months paralyzed, being forcefed pills by people who despise him.

The crew still know that Jimmy is an asshole. Daisuke is the only one who hasn't realized it yet because he's so new. Curly could've been seen as a tragic hero, but Jimmy was so desperate to play the hero that he thought he could force people to look past everything he's already done.

Jimmy is a violent egomaniac, impulsive, cruel, demeaning, irresponsible, and, most importantly, delusional as all hell.

The closest he comes to admitting his wrongs is in the scene with Polle where he admits he fucked up and apologizes to Curly for what he's done, but doesn't even think about the months of torment he put everyone else through

He is dangerously obsessed with Curly. He needs Curly to survive because he has imagined some kind of redemption arc for himself with Curly in the middle.

Much like Anya, he is incapable of treating Curly like an autonomous person, but unlike Anya he pretends to see him as an equal.

The men all appear at least once in Jimmy's hallucinations; Curly constantly appears, Jimmy is entirely fixated on him. Daisuke makes appearances after his death. Swansea acts as a constantly pursuing enemy in them.

Anya… really the most we get is group delusions like the party, aside from that it's just body/pregnancy horror, because that's all Jimmy cares about. All Anya is to him is another cheering subordinate, if she's not that then her pregnancy is a terrifying reality looming over his head.

But she is not allowed to be her own independent person.

ALSO!!! while Anya is clearly the main target of Jimmy's abuse and control, he doesn't seem to care about the boundaries of any of the crewmates. Curly is just a puppet he can project his rage, fear, and guilt onto. Daisuke is put into horrifically dangerous situations. Swansea is drugged, and it leads to Daisuke's death because Jimmy used up the last of the isopropyl alcohol.

even during the drugging, Daisuke is terrified that Swansea is dead. Jimmy just shrugs and says that Swansea has a high alcohol tolerance.

Meanwhile Jimmy has already shown he'll just take what he wants. He might tell himself that he cares about Curly, that he's giving Curly a chance, that he's somehow redeeming himself. But he isn't. He's just continuing that same pattern of selfishness that left Curly so grievously injured in the first place.

Jimmy has deluded himself into thinking he's somehow breaking the cycle he started, when he's only making things worse and worse because he can't fucking own up to anything he's done. It's never his fault, not fully. He always finds a way to redirect blame from himself.

it's actually a pretty realistic depiction of an entitled abusive man. He doesn't actually feel bad about anything he's done. He just fears facing the consequences of his actions. If Anya hadn't gotten pregnant and never told anyone what happened, Jimmy would've continued on without a care. Maybe he could've controlled the narrative and told people that she's lying, or that it was consensual. He could've walked out of her life and left her to pick up the pieces.

But a baby is tangible proof of what he did to her. It ties the two of them together, forever. Pony Express doesn't have the budget nor the foresight to stock abortion pills on their ships, and this trip has 8 months left. He would have to take responsibility, one way or another.

Everything hits so much harder when you're hit with the realization that the character you've spent most of the game playing as is a monster

You spend a good amount of time certain that Curly is at fault for all of this. He crashed the ship on purpose, he got himself burned up. He's the reason you're all slowly dying, so when Jimmy is angry at him you feel inclined to agree and sympathize with him. It must be so difficult being shoved into a leadership position while also being stuck in an awful unwinnable position.

He's rude to Curly and Anya, but he's stressed, he's scared, their deaths are basically inevitable. Curly crashed the ship, right? He deserves it. Jimmy basically tells you that Anya is kind of incompetent, she can't even give a patient painkillers! Of course he's growing impatient.

You become like Curly, excusing and brushing off Jimmy's behavior until it's too late.

Jimmy is a deeply pathetic and cowardly person. He thinks that he can save himself by "saving" Curly. He promises that he'll fix things right before murdering Swansea. Even his "selfless" acts are entirely selfish. In the end, all he cares about is soothing his own ego. He tells Curly that they'll both be heroes. He still things he could be a good person. Killing himself was just one more way he escaped responsibility.

He is someone with an awful victim complex. Nothing is ever his fault, and he is always capable of redemption. Any push-back he gets just gives him more ammo to claim victimhood.

Through Jimmy's eyes, it's everyone else who's at fault. Anya is whiny and annoying and useless at her job (she's a deeply traumatized woman who is terrified of Jimmy), Daisuke is a spoiled nepobaby who can't do shit (he's a young adult who wants to please his parents and doesn't always think before he speaks or acts), Swansea is just some drunken asshole (he's a grouch but he's probably sick of Jimmy's shit and just wants to go home to his wife and dog), and Curly is an arrogant ladder-climbing bastard who doesn't care about his crew (he's a closed-off man who takes on more than he can handle and gives Jimmy too much credit).

He needs to maintain that illusion to continue justifying his actions. It's okay that he berates Anya, she's incompetent. It's okay that he gets aggressive with Swansea, he's awful. It's okay that he looks down on and manipulates Daisuke, he's spoiled. It's okay that he beats an incapacitated and barely alive Curly, it's his fault they're in this situation.

[astrum-aetherium]

Henry's been living rent free in my head since I read TSH like four months ago- I cannot stop thinking about him and your blog is single handedly fueling my obsession with him so thank you so much really.

Anyways- I know Henry is definitely not the soft type of guy, but I do believe he could get just a tiny little bit softer than he usually is (sparingly) were he to find a person he really liked?? This is probably just my guilty and mostly out of character pleasure, but imagining him being all cold and harsh as he is for the most part and then suddenly doing or saying that one unexpectedly tender thing out of nowhere (even in a nsfw context, that's even better) and then going back to his usual self in a heartbeat makes me go uughhh

i wholeheartedly agree with you. on so many levels. it's very easy to cross the utterly restrictive OOC boundaries when speaking/writing about him, since all we seem to know is how stoic and cool and constantly displeased he is (although i could impugn this very well — take the glass shard scene or his staying at the hospital with richard as an example).

us as readers, we cannot help but crave a little softness from him sometimes, and i understand that completely. i'm always willing to indulge us all in a scenario like that. in a better world, on slightly OOC premises, he would make an evidently detached, but caring partner. coincidentally, i have been thinking about just that for the past couple of days, despite formerly being convinced it would be entirely impossible to conduct a healthy relationship with that man (which, yeah, if we strictly stick to canon, it still would be, but that's the beauty about fiction — we get to brush past and alter some things to our enjoyment).

therefore, yes — with the opportunity to alter his character just a tiny bit, i believe he would let his soft side flash every now and again. i don't think it would be in any form of physical touch, however, as he certainly isn't one to put his feelings on display, especially in public (in private, however, that'd be a completely different story). it would mostly be symbolic with him. for instance, imagine it being your birthday. as your partner, he would know you inside and out — he is highly attentive and perceptive, especially when it comes to those closest to him, and he would absolutely be well-versed in anything that you might like, or mention liking. he would know. loving is knowing. therefore, for your birthday, he would not only think of and buy you the best and most thoughtful present imaginable, but he would also buy five more to give to the rest of the group under the pretense of "i know her/him/them better than all of you combined, which is why all of your gifts have already been taken care of".

that is how his affection would shine through — acts of service. being spoiled by him is another tremendous part of that. i have already approached this topic in two previous posts, but to summarize: he absolutely would be willing to spoil you in any way imaginable, as it would be the only plausible way for him to prove the depth of his feelings for you (along with kisses and other physical endeavors, which would exclusively be saved for private settings).

in addition, i feel like he would let himself be swayed more and more despite his dogmatic position, meaning he would be willing to comply or enter compromises, especially for you. orrr... to approach the aspect of him portraying the merest smidge of sweetness and immediately reverting to his stoic self — imagine a strand of hair having fallen loose from your hairstyle, or it simply veiling your hair too much, to the point where he would press the book he might be holding under his arm mid-conversation and brush it aside for you with a light smile, only to immediately proceed with whatever it is he had been occupied by previously.

from a nsfw standpoint, his care would mostly show in his being very forthcoming and reassuring to you (asking for consent, asking if you're in any discomfort during a position, checking up on you during rougher activity), and aftercare (bringing you towels/water/a cigarette (lol), proposing to go pee, holding you on occasion if matters had been overly rough and you might still be trembling).

he would also totally be the type to run his fingers through your hair and even play with it. i don't care how OOC some people believe this to be — i need it. sometimes a girl just needs something of the sort.

[leviadraws]

Ik you said it's hella subjective but I'd love to see why you assigned each card for each character, i always find it fun to see what goes behind artist's minds n stuff :]

Oh go on you've pulled my leg /lh, I do have some notes on what's to come. Some of my picks might be considered a little ...spicy?

I was gonna put in the ones I'm more solid on but I ended up getting carried away and putting them all down haha. Yes I got way too involved reading into this, under cut as it's long and contains some spoilers.

Fool - Kiyoka: So you could likely argue either Yuki as the fool, since the tarot is often called the fool's journey. But I'd just taken the interpretation as the beginning, so I picked Kiyoka as the beginning of the series.

Magician - Syobai: I can hear it already, why isn't it Mikado? He's a literal wizard! But like while you could stretch the heaven and earth thing to be the real world and virtual one the kinda core traits of the magician don't really match up with him.

The magician is all about using everything in your arsenal to move forward, and taking every chance you get, and to me that reminds me of Syobai's journey from abandoned to the cut-throat person he ends up being.

High Priestess - Mikako: The priestess represents knowledge or a lack thereof, so it felt like it suits Mikako because she has her memories and knows who's responsible. There's also an element of mystery to it, so it works in the way that she can't reveal what she knows.

There's also a line for the reversed card about choosing to trust someone against your intuition or what others say, which is kinda like what happened with her and Utsuro + Akane when they're in hope's peak.

Empress - Setsuka: The empresss pretty much boils down to being kind to yourself and others, so I picked Setsuka as the big sister of the group and her battle to keep the group together.

Emperor - Shiji: So this one was harder, since the emperor is a little stoic and reversed emperor is tyrannical, such that Tsurugi would fit better. That said, the positive parts of it are more leaning towards Shinji and his role with the gang (Yuuki especially), he's their rock and their guide. It also means we get big bro and sis as empress and emperor which is kinda cool

Hierophant - ???: It feels like I should pick Kinji for this, seeing as he's the religious figure and this is the religious figure card. The hierophant is about taking the well-trodden path, do things by-the-book per say. Someone who's a good colleague or mentor. So I guess that could be Kinji?

Lovers - Haru + Satsuki: This one is kinda self-explanatory, there's not a lot of depth to this one haha. That said, there's a section of this card that's about finding out what's important to you by looking inside yourself so it fits nicely anyway. It's kinda the opposite of the hierophant, who find their way through established outside paths.

Chariot - Rei: The chariot is about having the willpower to overcome obstacles without distraction, so that fits Rei and her mentality to reach her goals no matter what pretty well.

Strength - Ayame: Strength is strength when facing adversity specifically, remaining calm even when facing a horrible struggle. Reversed strength is about insecurity, and a lack of confidence in one's self too, so I really like it on her.

Hermit - Sora: While the hermit can be associated with someone who likes to be alone, the whole thing about finding your inner self works nicely with her amnesia and drive to figure out who she really is.

Fortune - Yuuki(SDRA2) + Utsuro: I feel this one is more obvious, but the fortune refers to swings of good or bad luck. Reversed fortune feels particularly apt for SDRA2 Yuuki, as it's about uncontrollable change, and he's constantly a puching bag for all the horrible things that are out of his control.

Justice - ??? I feel like Kakeru is a cop-out here, and the theme doesn't actually suit him all that much. Justice is kinda the karma card, if you've done something bad your comeuppance will come, if you've been wronged your time for justice will come to you.

I've considered Kizuna for this one, as she has both done some awful things, been kinda in denial (or pretended to be) about those things, and shown that she was willing to take steps towards change. I'll likely come back to this one at some point

Hanged man - Teruya: The hanged man is someone who realises that sacrifice is necessary to move forward, this was one of the first ones I had decided on /lh

Death - Tsurugi - the reason Tsurugi isn't emperor or justice is because he fits this a lot better, the death card is about change or the resistance to change when reversed.

Temperance ???: Calm, someone calm who stays in safe waters and doesn't push the boat out.... I'm not sure tbh, possibly Kanata?

Devil - Kanade: Beyond the obvious, the is a theme with the devil card to addiction and obsession. You get the idea

Tower - Hibiki: Kinda funny that they're next to each other, the tower is like a huge change causes your life to fall on top of you. While the card itself isn't that drastic it works nicely for Hibiki.

Hajime also works well with this card, as a tower can represent a looming disaster and what you can do to avoid it too.

Star - Yoruko: I originally had this one as epilogue Yuki/Sora, but as the only survivor to not be as fucked up or on the run I think Yoruko sutis. The star is about hope and carrying on with your life after the events of the tower card.

Moon - Yuki (DRA) : So this one was kinda hard, I chose Nikei for this for a while, but his motivations are more rage related and don't really line up with the theme of the card. The moon is a card about taking the uncertain path, hidden truths and self-deception.

Sun - Yamato: What we're told at least of Yamato matches up with the sun a fair bit, someone with deserved confidence and success. I'm not very confident on this one, but I'm struggling to pick someone who hasn't been picked yet.

Judgement - Akane: Based off chapter 6 mostly, and her choice to save the others in the end. But also her choices in the start and how much she seems to regret them

World - Mikado: do you have any idea how much it pains me to give the wizard a card? /hj

That said, the world is completion and achievement, and so I wanted to give it to Mikado as someone who believed that had completed everything as planned, but had the wrong goal post from the start. It also felt apt for him to have the last card in the deck.

If I manage to get through all of them in like, a year(? most optimistic timescale ever haha) I'd like to do the minor arcana too, I'd like to end up with every character represented at least once

I'm likely to redecide on these at least 50 more times over the course of this project lmao

[unma]

Thoughts of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley?

idk why it took me so long to answer this, but I remembered that this was sitting in my inbox just now so I might as well. I'm going to assume you came here because you wanted to hear my actual thoughts on the game in good faith and not so you could find someone new to harass.

I like the game and really want to see what happens next. I love how dysfunctional both characters are, and it's fun to see awful people be put in awful situations and do awful things to survive. Especially when they're surrounded by equally awful people (and demons too I guess).

The hate over the game was stupid and was basically just people going "I can accept cannibalism, murder and demon summoning, but I draw the line at incest," which is frankly hilarious and one more reason I simply don't touch twitter anymore. Incidentally, you could probably dig through my posts and find an old one of mine where I opined that the game wasn't going down the incest route after chapter 1... That aged like milk, lol.

All in all, I wish the dev well. Nemlei didn't deserve being harassed off the internet, and I wish I could play the rest of their games. I actually had their itch.io page open at the time, so it was a shame to suddenly see it go blank. Oh well, that's on me for procrastinating so much.

I'd ramble on more about how I love the game's deep exploration of themes, and- actually, scrap that. I'm coming back in 5 minutes and I'll write my thoughts over both of the characters under the cut.

Ashley is pure evil. Is what I would say if I was someone who believed any person could be distilled down to those two words. No, she is very clearly a product of her downright terrible upbringing, and her downright obsessive love for Andrew is shown time and time again to be a product of her emotionally isolated childhood in which Andrew was the only one who ever gave her love. He was the only person who actually treated her like a person. Anyone with that kind of childhood is bound to end up at least a little maladjusted, so Ashley as a person is not unrealistic in the slightest. Her sabotage of Andrew is also rather clearly a method to ensure he will never leave her, even if he reassures her time and time again that he would never do so. Ironically, as her visions show, it may be her own obsessive actions that cause him to finally abandon her, which is just the most delicious flavour of ironic tragedy indeed.

Andrew is a coward. Through and through. I feel for him constantly, but he truly, truly, needs to learn to say no to Ashley. Or, well, he should've learnt to do that before she forced him into their current position. And yet, he's not malicious or actively evil. He's passively evil, in fact, though using the word 'evil' feels like hyperbole. He's consistently trying to never make a choice, and hoping he can simply pass on all responsibility to Ashley. And while I get where he's coming from, given everything they do and go through, he doesn't realize that not making a choice is still a choice, and he still did commit many of those deeds even if at Ashley's behest. At first, I wanted to pretend like he was completely innocent in the games, but it really doesn't take a genius to realize he's completely wrong about how responsibility works.

I'd say more, but it's been a while since I've watched Manly's playthrough of the games. My memory is rather fuzzy now. But feel free to ask more questions if you'd like.

[callieponders]

Okay. So. The Candy Jams episode, Girl Fest. I have so many thoughts on it, good and bad. This is gonna be another long thoughts post, so let's get into it. (Under the read more because this is Really Long)

On principle there isn't a bad message here, in fact, to this day it still has relevancy. Plenty of female singers playing faux feminist when they are more than willing to put other women that work alongside them down in order to raise themselves up, rather than trying to cultivate a good community, especially in regards to younger fans. This is definitely not new, same in regards to male singers that promote toxic masculinity to their own audiences.

My issues stem from, of course, the usual "errrrm, isn't it funny how we act uncertain if Laney is a GIRLLLLL, lawl!" ass humor. Like god that shit is garbage I'm glad we mostly phased that type of shit out. Yuck.

Not just that, of course, that's more of a Grojband, "this is from the real early 2010's" issue in general. I also take issue with the approach it takes touching upon the whole "this idol can't actually be trusted" thing. I understand it's watered down to be a little easier to understand, babies first feminism and all, as well as it being a little more niche in the addition that it's someone proclaiming to be all punk rock while in reality being a poser. That isn't a problem in theory, but in practice, I definitely think it came out clunky...

Which message wise, is a little rough. However, it actually comes off as a much more interesting character read of one of the most important characters, Laney, and even TRINA to an extent.

To understand what I mean, we gotta go down the list of things we find out about Candy Jams first. Keep in mind she is promoted to be this 16 year old (assuming she's the same age as the other older teenagers in the show bc it'd be weird if not since she dated nick) punk chick who doesn't take crap from anyone, acting condescending towards the male members of Grojband, and even going as far as to tell Trina she needs to be in charge of her own feelings— "You should be the voice of your own soul, girl!"

Candy Jams appears calm and collected about Nick. She even says she broke things off with him for making her too soft. This is shown not to be the case almost immediately, as while they're not dating, she clearly still has an infatuation for him.

Secondly, it's revealed she's very enthusiastic about clothes. I know, what a revelation, but keep in mind being fashion crazy is often a stereotype used negatively against women as a means of calling them shallow.

Her lyrics are written by her manager, who is an adult male (the adult part really isn't important unfortunately, because I feel like it should've been).

Finally, she says that lyrics with harder words in them make her head hurt (she calls it brain ouchie btw), which is... I guess it's calling her stupid? Not as smart and a thinker that she says she is? I mean, common thing to say to indicate a character is dense, but it just feels weird to tack on. I guess it enhances the fact she doesn't write her own lyrics since she says the last song he wrote had too many hard words for her to sing.

Alright, so, we went down the list... now, there is like... so much to unpack. First off, I don't dislike the ideas here, I definitely don't, because all these things show hypocrisy in Candy Jams branding (except maybe 4 that might just be like, her being a teenager still learning things lmao). It's a pretty classic "don't meet your heroes" situation for Laney, who looked up to her, now feeling shattered because she did not live up to expectation. However, what kills it for me is the already present misogyny shown in Grojband consistently.

Laney is misgendered for comedy constantly because she doesn't present herself as traditionally feminine, nor acts traditionally feminine. Like. It kind of bitters the damn message if you go "respect women in rock, unless it's funny, then don't" in the episode about... recognizing female talent in the rock scene and criticizing the posers sending bad faith messages to their younger audience.

However, despite all this, this episode is REALLY good to dig into Laney's character, and additionally, Trina's, as they both are fans of Candy Jams.

Laney herself is shown to be infatuated with Corey, not to the extent Trina is with Nick, but regardless of that she holds a massive spark for him. We can often see it in her face how she feels about Corey, finding herself at a loss of words when he gets as much as near her at times. She's also into extremely hyper-feminine things, decorating her room with frills and being into things that she would otherwise roll her eyes at— in secret.

So, in other words... she's a poser. She does the exact same things that Candy Jams does, if not being worse for doing it, as she calls Candy Jams out for her behaviors while doing the exact same thing to an even YOUNGER audience. Let's not forget that Grojband's two groupies are young, elementary school aged girls. Laney is just as much an influence to them as Candy Jams is.

Now, am I saying exactly that she's a poser? Not really, no, but you get what I'm saying in pointing out the fact she has far more in common with Candy Jams than she would be comfortable with. It's most certainly due to internalized misogyny at that, especially in a scene that doesn't recognize or respect female voices to begin with unless they denounce anything feminine, either about themselves or other women— Corey himself had to be shown that "lady rock" is in fact, legit.

Keep in mind this is during the early 2010's, so it isn't the same situation now as then exactly, and I'm definitely not saying critique towards traditionally feminine culture isn't valid. It ABSOLUTELY is, but this isn't about criticizing it, Candy Jams AND Laney both outright hide the parts of themselves that enjoy it. Candy Jams because she's an industry plant, and Laney because of her shame in indulging in it at all. Maybe Laney saw herself in Candy Jams a little too much, and was deeply ashamed of what she saw, due to previously having projected herself onto Candy Jams's exterior persona.

Now, where does Trina come into play? Well, similar to Laney, she hides parts of herself that are more vulnerable to others, parts she is ashamed of. She's an intellectual, both with math, literature, and writing. Her being adept with writing is, admittedly, if you count her diary being so well written it can be used as lyrics for songs that in universe, are GREATLY well received. Unfortunately, due to nerd culture being shown as undesirable, ESPECIALLY for/towards women, she only indulges in academic pursuits covertly as an entirely different persona. Additionally, she changed her name just to fit her new mean girl, cute and popular chick lifestyle, and with it her kindness.

Like Laney, she too saw herself in Candy Jams, specifically in her songs. She found herself spoken to in regards to her love for Nick Mallory in one of her songs (and Laney likely did as well), and was equally upset when Candy Jams revealed it WAS about Nick. It made her feel like she didn't own her own feelings, which is something that is far more devastating for Trina than you'd think on a base level alone. She HAS to be in control of her own feelings, she has literally hand carved herself into the person she is today by regulating exactly what she feels, how she conducts herself, and who she hangs out with.

Makes you wonder how she'd feel if she knew that Corey was using her feelings to make his songs.

All in all, though, this episode is pretty surface level and not even the worst I've seen, it's definitely one of the more interesting Grojband episodes. For a feminist message? It somewhat does it's job, especially for 2013. I, for one, think it does an even better job at looking into the thoughts and feelings of the two most important female characters of the show.

[mxsoyo]

Watching every Dracula adaptation! #2

Dracula (1931) starring Bela Lugosi

Next up is the first authorised film adaptation of Dracula. The movie is actually based on a play adaptation from 1924, which explains some of the changes they made.

Should you watch it? Yes, but not for the reasons you might think. The movie is very funny (not intentionally), great to watch with friends. It is also free to watch on the Internet Archive. It is still recognizably the story of Dracula, but a lot of the details have been changed, especially the characters, so beware of that if that bothers you.

↓ Character and Story Changes + notable moments under the keep reading. ↓

Character Changes: -Renfield takes up Jonathans role of the young solicitor traveling to Transylvania in the beginning of the movie. Until he is put under Draculas influence where goes back to his book version after that. Dwight Fryes performance as essentially both Jonathan and Renfield are both very entertaining. Like that man is giving 200%. -With Bela Lugosi starring as Dracula, this movie was definitely the starting point of the sexy-fication of the character. Even thought I think this Dracula has even worse social skills than his book counterpart. -Mina is actually Jack Seward’s daughter in the movie, I assume this change was made to explain why the main characters would be hanging around at the sanatorium. Personality wise she is a bit blander than her book counterpart, partially because she spents a good chunk of her screen time under Draculas influence. -John Harker (just John, not Jonathan in this version) has been definitely changed for the worse. They made him the sceptic that doesn’t understand what is going on and is constantly doubting Van Helsings advice. He feels a bit more like a douchy version of Arthur than Jonathan. -Like I said, Jack Seward is Mina’s father in this version and is the character in name only and in the fact that he owns a sanatorium. -Lucy (her surname has been changed to Weston) is a single girl since Arthur and Quincey don’t appear. She has a stronger interest in the macabre and has a small crush on Dracula (despite everything about him). -Van Helsing gets a lot of good lines in the movie, he seems a lot less eccentric, and Dracula remarks that he has heard of him. But he is not yet the badass expert vampire hunter later movies make of him. -The movie also added two prominent characters the sanitarium worker Martin the and nurse Briggs, which both serve as a kind of comic relief. Story Changes: -As far as I know this is the first time the female vampires (Draculas roommates) are referred to as his wives. -We get a lot more scenes from the point of view of Dracula -Dracula actually introduces himself to the main characters as their next door neighbour and casually comes over for conversation before they find out he’s a vampire -Lucy dies very shortly after being introduced, but the plotline of the gang trying to keep her alive was given to Mina instead - The ending is surprisingly anticlimactic. They find Dracula lying in his coffin in Carfax Abbey, Van Helsing kills him off-screen, while John looks for Mina. -Afterwards Van Helsing also says they should leave without him, they do and then the movie just ends

Notabel Moments: -The movie starts with Swan Lake out of all songs and then is dead silent when it comes to background music afterwards -The opossums and armadillos (classical Romanian wildlife)

-this GIANT BEE (totally not a normal sized Bee jerusalem cricket in a miniature coffin)

-The BATS!!! Oh my god the spirit halloween bats! The bat driving the carriage?! -the spirit halloween plastic spider on a string -”I never drink... wine.” is such an iconic line, that I was surprised it’s not from the book, this also goes for ”the strength of the vampire is that people will not believe in him” -The best scene in cinema history! I cant do it justice by explaining it, you’ll have to watch it yourself, it’s at 1:03:20

Next Up: Dracula (1958) starring Christopher Lee

[doodlesanddrabbles]

Astarion's witty humour and elfin features had bewitched me mind and soul since the Early Acess, so of course Leshana's beau was going to be him.

Inspite of her genuine and helpful nature, Astarion did initially become fond of her ability to snark back and cut through other people's BS (when she's not calling out his own BS, that is)*.

Leshana meanwhile, was always the type to befriend weird loners at college so upon seeing this prickly hissing wet cat of a man would initially approach him to make him feel welcome in this hostage situation friend circle, and when he approached her for sex, decided that since she could die tomorrow why not? She fell first but was just as surprised as Astarion was when she also caught feelings for him.

Breakdowns of these points under the cut.

Template (c) @arcandoria

Other Leshana Templates

Leshana the character

Moodboard

(Extroverted vs Introverted) As mentioned above, Leshana always made an attempt to befriend the friendless at college, and honestly I guess any Tav has to be a little extroverted to communicate with any of the party. Astarion's extrovertism is mostly performative.

(Agreeable vs Argumentative) Leshana isn't afraid to call out someone when she see's bullshit, but otherwise does her best to keep an open mind to many things, asking Shadowheart or Lae'zel questions about Shar and Vlakith or taking part in the Lovitar's Pain Ritual , it comes in part of constantly molding herself to be what people expected her to be growing up. Honestly Astarion's a good influence on her in this reguards in getting her to be a little more selfish and less agreeable at times.

(Sensitive vs Hardened) Putting Leshana that far in sensitive is probably a bit mean, but most of me sharing screenshots of her amongst friends is pointing out how 90% of the time she looks like she's moments away from crying because someone was mean to her. Astarion, however, is rather numb to some of these things.

(Tactful vs Blunt) A bard with a level 1 Charisma Score of 17, Leshana is a people person used to manuvering her way through any social situation she finds herself in. Astarion likes to think he's just as charming and tactful as her, but oftentimes falls short and is just as fast to simply call an idiot and idiot when needed.

(Overprotective vs Chill) Leshana has had this entire party for two months or so but is already out for blood on everyone who made their backstories tragic, Cazador being top of that list. Astarion finds himself not entirely lying when trying to convince her that him Ascending would work in him protecting her, too.

(Secretive vs Outspoken) Astarion always voicing how much of a pain everything is, Leshana keeps a lot of her own troubles bottled up inside until she dies.

(Formal vs Casual) Leshana's Noble upbringing means that she's still trying to unlcench her pearls in some situations, again, Astarion's influence is helping her loosen up a little.

(Gifts vs Favours) Leshana wouldn't be doing half of these side quests for the party if their love language wasn't acts of service just a little bit, but also, Leshana is loaded and once she can get to her family estate and bank account the party won't want for anything ever again. Astarion however, has spent 200 years with nothing so all he knows to give is himself and favours. He's going to enjoy being spoilt rotten.

(Music) Leshana is a bard, so being able to draw an audience and let everyone hear what she's doing--or hearing a good performance on it's own--is what she's looking for. Astarion feels like the type who enjoys a nice quiet ambient music.

(Brawls vs Brains) A lot of Astarion's initial approval points for Leshana was her ability to talk her way into or out of situations and avoid unessicary conflict. He might not be as slick or as smooth as Leshana, but that doesn't mean he doesn't appreciate her brain.

(Reserved vs PDA) Leshana is a cutesy bubbly girl who just wants to smooch and cuddle her boyfriend but also respects that he'd appreciate her asking first. Outsider's looking in might think it's a case of her being a lot more into him than he is, but in truth with Astarion it's the little things he does that mean the world to both of them.

(Submissive vs Dominant) IDK what to put here, this is just my own vibes of Leshana having no idea what she's doing so let's her partner take the lead in tandem with Astarion allowing himself take control of his sexuality. IDK man.

(Cute vs Hot) Leshana is the cutest woman in the upper city, Astarion is the hottest man in Baldur's Gate. Whatever Dhampir hellspawn they might have will cause riots in the streets just by batting their eyelashes.

(Kinky vs Vanilla) For a bard, Leshana was basically a virgin when Astarion first propositions her**, and when talkign to the Madam at the brothel, get's visably flustered enough to get teased for blushing by her. Astarion is figuring out just what he likes in the bedroom moving forward.

*Amazing that my babygirl consistantly rolled good insight checks on party members but always failed to notice traps. She'd be dead without Astarion pulling her by the cape out of wayward mines and tripwires.

** Does Head and hand stuff in college count as sex?