#but like basically all of the things He says and does are extremely deliberate. he wants it to be CRYSTAL CLEAR what he thinks.

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

one thing about my emmet that i really hope comes across is that whenever hes interacting with another person it should always feel like everything he does is on purpose. because it is. he's like one of the most restrained/self-possessed and deliberate people ever. this is vitally important.

[dustysalmon]

Steb x Reader Headcanons

Steb ns//fw alphabet

Warnings: nsfw (below the cut)

Being a paramedic, Steb's protective instincts always kick in, even at home. He's hyper-aware of potential hazards and is often worried you will get hurt. He is always happy when you ask him to teach you some first-aid stuff

While Steb perfectly understands you, he cannot communicate verbally. He uses sign language, and truly appreciates the fact that you learnt it to understand him, even though you believe that is the least you could do

Because of the way he communicates, Steb is very sensitive to physical contact, and he can read expressions and body reactions extremely well. He adores holding hands with you, or simply brushing his fingertips against your skin (he very much enjoys the way you tremble under his touch whenever he does it)

Steb expresses love through acts of service. He loves cooking for you, especially seafood. He often does the fishing himself, picking the very best ingredients for you

Steb is definitely more on the introvert side, very calm, but also very attentive to the people around him. He is quite discreet and gets a little anxious in very noisy or crowded spaces

If you're comfortable with water, he WILL take you swimming whenever he can. His favourite thing is having you climb on his back while he swims as fast as possible

He absolutely cannot dance but always finds himself moving to the beat due to feeling the sound vibrations very strongly, he also just loves music in general. And he does have a playful side, doing extra awkward moves to make you laugh. He loves your laugh

Now about that fish stick...

Because he can't tell you what he wants, he likes to guide your hands and movements. He himself is very deliberate and exploratory. His nipples are highly sensitive, and you've made him cum a few times just by licking and sucking on them

It gets extremely messy when he cums, you weren't prepared the first time. Buckets after buckets of hot sticky fluids. Needless to say the sheets were done for. Also, the gills under his eyes move when he orgasms, they do so until the aftershocks have passed. Sometimes they even keep moving in the afterglow if he came particularly hard, it always mesmerises you

Shower sex is a big thing for him, it gets him going like nothing else. He loves coming up behind you as you shower, he starts washing your back, but then his hands are all over you, your nipples, your chest, between your legs. There's something about your naked wet body that makes him go absolutely crazy. But he's aware shower sex it's not the best for your species, so you don't do it often.

Steb doesn't speak, but boy oh boy does he moan. And being hyper sensitive doesn't help. Whether you're teasing his nipples, sucking on his cock or fucking him, you're gonna hear him whine, groan and whimper. He gets a little embarrassed about it, but knowing how much you love it makes him feel a little better

Steb's species have extremely sensitive genitals, especially the males. For that reason, his cock is normally tucked away in a genital pouch. It opens naturally with arousal to release his sex

Steb's cock is also equipped with small gills that are only here for one purpose: pleasuring his partner. And they do their job very well

Ever since Steb came into your life (literally and figuratively), you've stopped buying lube. His species produces a ridiculous amount of lubricant that is more than sufficient for the two of you

Steb loves giving you oral, loves seeing how much pleasure he can give you with his mouth alone. His tongue is much longer and stronger than a human's. He'll never forget your reaction the first time he plunged it deep inside you. He is not against receiving but he always gets scared about the idea of cumming in your mouth and basically drowning you

[littleeyesofpallas]

Hi,

would you make meta stuff about Mayuri's way of speaking? I mean guy speaks strange way compared to other characters and me with friend don't speak japanese and would like to know more about it.

Thank you! 💜

So, i do want to remind anyone reading my blog but please remember i'm not at all fluent in Japanese. I understand the grammar on a textbook level, and with enough dictionary resources I can poke around and sus out nuances of some word choices (particularly stuff like fictional names of people and swords and attacks and stuff, as those kinds of creative choices are very overt*), especially in irregular usage, but when it comes down to things like dialect, slangs, vernacular or phraseology, or more subtle tone indicators I'm pretty blind.

*(sorry to further clarify: when it's stuff like fantasy jargon it's stuff no one would ever actually say, and so the choices made in crafting those words or names from scratch are all reliably very deliberate. But when looking at more casual speech a lot of character voice just kind of defaults to what "sounds" right, and so the distinction between choosing one common word over another isn't always meaningful or readily apparent, both in general and to someone not fully fluent like me.)

Like if someone talks in a stilted overly technical or dry way I might be able to tell that much, but I'd totally miss more structural things like whether it makes them sound more like a mad scientist -vs- a tryhard edgelord fake intellectual -vs- a man out of time -vs- a stuffy rich person --or what the differences i'd even be looking for between all those would be-- I really can't tell outside of what i might be able to glean from things like narrative context more than the dialog itself.

With the exception of some very tropey, and thus easier to identify things like, movie-esque yakuza slang, or melodramatic historical feudal drama formal titles --and even then those are things i might more readily catch when actually spoken than when written on the page-- i'm just as lost as the next person.

That all being said, there are still a few little things i can sort of pick at without feeling totally out of my depth...

I think it's been brought up on some random post of mine before that Mayuri does notably use a "more feminine" 1st person pronoun, watashi[私] which is a pretty common pronoun, although its usage feels weird to explain in English?

Like... it is considered "gender neutral" in that there are other pronouns that are more specifically feminine or masculine and it's not one of them. But then in practice, you'd basically expect men to opt for one of the more overtly masculine pronouns, which just sort of leaves women with watashi as a default?

So it's not that it explicitly makes him sound ""feminine"" so much as it makes him sound less masculine; which suits his intellectual, non physical inclined, and at times cowardly or at least scheming demeanor. But like, it's also considered a little stuffy and sort of overly formal, or technical which is also appropriate to him.

Oh right and it's a formal pronoun as opposed to informal, but there's also a level of very formal pronouns, and it's not one of those, so that doesn't so much triangulate a position as it just leave in vaguely in the middle of the road...

Does that all make sense? it feels like super overexplaining for what is an extremely commonly used pronoun with mostly very neutral implications.

He occasionally ends sentences with a single katakana syllable rather than hiragana, indicating... not quite an "accent".. but like a sort of emphasis. Like a punctuating lilt in tone. Actually Nakao Ryuusei does this really noticeably in the anime and I don't know for sure if I heard it that way in my head and he just nailed it, or if i heard him first and it's just always colored my reading since.

A lot of the rhetorical NE[ネ] which begs confirmation, often translated into English as "...right?" (It's part of that desu ne[ですね] that you hear a lot in anime, where the desu[です] is just the verb to be, so together they tend to translate as "isn't it?")

YO[ヨ] which is again a sort of rhetorical thing that usually gets translated as something like, "...you know?"

and E?[エ?] which isn't even a word or part of speech so much as it's just like, an interrogative noise? Quite literally just "eh?"

But see this is one of those things were like... I can tell it's different from a sort of default neutral mode of speech, but I don't know what that indicates as, like, a point of characterization... Is it specifically condescending? Is it there to sound mechanical or stilted? Is it somehow old fashioned or polite/formal? I have no clue as to these sorts of specifics.

[edit]: I want to reiterate this is a rhetorical device, he's not literally asking a question and waiting for a response. If anything it's functionally the exact opposite, he's saying it to emphasize that he's stating things meant to be taken as facts, it actively closes the dialog off from further questioning.

He also says HOU[ホウ] a lot, which also isn't really a word so much as a sound, but given the pattern in speech above I feel like it's kind of inquisitive, or at least contemplative, which is (i think) how I remember Nakao delivering those lines too. Like a sort of, "Oh?" or "Huh..." or "Hmm..."

And given how close the camera gets to his face most times he says it, it gives an impression of being, not "quiet" exactly, but like you had to be close to hear it, so like, almost under his breath? Like it's clearly a noise he makes to himself, it's not like a thing or expression he's making to the other people int he scene.

FUU[フウ] or alternatively HUU, and I think once or twice FUN'/HUN'[フン] as a sort of grunt? not quite as guttural as that, but not quite a sigh? Like a "hmpf."

He also does your classic YARE YARE[ヤレヤレ] which definitely isn't unusual or unique to him but it has this kind "tut tut" or "tch"/"tsk" tone to it and tends to translated very loosely like, "oh my" or "good grief", but I think of it more like a "well, well, well..." but like kind of implicitly more exasperated than that sounds in english?

I don't know where to start trying to qualify, like... what kind of character says yare yare a lot, but it's definitely something that suits some characters more than others, and Mayuri it definitely fits.

He tends to laugh like ...KU KU...[...クク...] which is a kind of sharp snigger, sneer, or scoff. He really doesn't guffaw or cackle or have much of a more typical dramatic villain laugh, it's very understated.

Although in his fight with Pernida he does let out a full on maniacal FUHAHAHA[フハハハ] laugh for the first time in the whole series

I do love the fonts Kubo uses for a lot of Mayuri's dialog. At a certain point he starts to lean intothe same basic font as everyone else, but particualrly at the beginning he switches between a few unusual ones that are specific to Mayuri.

One's got that rough kind of pseudo handwritten quality to it. It reads to me as kind of scratchy, like a sharp pen nib on thick matte paper, with a kind of clotty ink flow that starts thick and wet but sorta tapers out too fast, leaving the lines spotty and rough.

But he also alternated with a thicker rounder font that has these subtle curls to them that I don't see other character use often.

and then he's got a second font choice that basically has all the same tones as the first one, except maybe a bit, like, louder(?) implicitly just based on context? It tends to be used in creepy action scenes where as the thinner one is more for creepy conversation?

In his very first appearance he chastises Gin, and he changes font between sentences, giving a very distinct sense that it's a change in tone. It reads to me like a low heavy hiss, almost like his voice is normally shallow or throaty, but when the font changes he suddenly drops his voice into a chestier range and speaks almost more smoothly?

Then there's just the perfectly regular fonts he uses sometimes, basically any/every other character uses these same fonts at some point or another.

and he has a neat thin wispy font that he only uses the one time when he liquefies himself. Along with the voice bubbles used, it gives a super distinct impression of his voice barely being audible.

He also one time speaks enthusiastically in an italic version of the more standard font when he arrives in Hueco Mundo.

And then in the Hell Jaw one shot he just has a completely different standard font because Kubo probably didn't keep track of what fonts he'd been using from like 8 years ago

There's also a subtly funky sort of font he uses briefly in the tbtp sidestory? I dunno what to say about this honestly. It gives me these vague 60s-70s vibes that I can't quite place? (I feel like I know i've seen it before but on what? A bowling alley sign? A little back alley cafe? a jazz album cover??)

I have no idea that the take away from that is supposed to be though.

And I guess that's it. I dunno how I thought I was gonna end this. It didn't really reveal any new facets to his character that weren't pretty apparent from the rest of his whole design and demeanor. Plus Nakao's performance in the anime basically nails all of this and i think makes it pretty apparent in tone even if you don't know much about Japanese.

[inbarfink]

I mean, the thing about Zim is that despite what he might say, he is absolutely capable of love and affection. It’s just that he only expresses it to a very select assortment of people.

First and most obvious one is probably his relationship with the Tallests. Which tends to be a lot less just a ‘loyal soldier duty bound to serve his leaders” and is coded a lot more like…. “Child overeager to please his neglectful parents”. I mean, the entire emotional crux of ‘Enter the Florpus’ is built on this. 

Zim isn’t just motivated by a pure ideological belief in the Irken Empire’s conquest, or by the desire for the fame and accolades that come with being a successful Invader. I mean, those ARE factors. Zim is both a true believer in Irk’s imperialist ideology and very interested in feeding his ego. But he’s also looking for a more personal sort of emotional validation specifically from the Tallests. One that he’s desperate for, but we know that he’s never gonna get.

(And that’s not just because Zim sucks. Even if he could somehow stop being a walking disaster area and a giant millstone around the Empire’s neck, that desire for the Tallests’ love would still be a fool’s errand. We’ve all seen how they treat poor Skoodge.)

In addition to that doomed attempt at an emotional connection, Zim can sometimes be kinda affectionate with his various robotic minions, which obviously goes back to the whole…

Yeah, that.

And that same episode ends with him having a very similar sort of response to Robo-Dad and Robo-Mom picking him up.

And then there’s, of course, his M-Lab Robot Minions in 'Enter the Florpus'. All named - and all grieved by him. 

His extreme reaction to Lawrence specifically dying shows he did apparently see them as individuals.

But as far as we can tell both the Roboparents and the Robot Army are not, like, sapient? I mean, AIs like GIR or the Computer are characterized as basically Machine People - but these robots barely seem more sapient than my laptop. And as much as I love my laptop it’s not gonna, like, love me back.

Speaking of GIR, he’s another example of someone Zim shows genuine care for. I mean… he can absolutely be pretty mean to him at times…

But any sort of kindness from Zim has to be graded on a Curve because he’s so terrible. ‘Hobo 13’ demonstrated to us very well just how horrible Zim can be to his subordinates - rude, inconsiderate, pretty much deliberately sacrificing them not just for his personal gain but also just for his own petty amusement. 

And it’s notable that’s not how he treats GIR. Who he expresses actual concern for…

And he pretty easily acquiesces to GIR’s capricious desires even when he clearly sees them as Stupid and frivolous. 

This scene is especially notable. I mean, this is Zim actually feeling bad about the fact that he made someone cry and trying to de-escalate the situation. Maybe for other characters a moment like that would be no big deal, but this basically the softest Zim has been through… all official IZ media. And it was a scene with GIR.

 And meanwhile GIR himself… didn’t really register any of this - either Zim’s frustration or his attempts at sort-of comforting him, because he was only sad about having eaten his cupcake and not being able to eat it more. 

Because that’s the thing, while GIR does have some level of affection towards Zim at times…

He doesn’t really show that same level of care. I mean, in pretty much all of these examples, GIR puts his own desire to give Zim physical affection over Zim’s clear discomfort and disgust. And in general, while GIR vaguely acknowledges that Zim is his master - he often disregards or ignores Zim’s orders and requests. And not just when it comes to being ordered around in yet another evil scheme -

But also when the situation is just clearly basically hazardous to Zim’s very life. 

(Which is very much in contrast to Zim, who, again, is actually emotionally invested in GIR’s safety)

While some of GIR’s inability to fulfill Zim’s commands can be attributed to his lack of mental focus and general stupidity - his absolute lack of care and regret about these situations seem to imply that, like, GIR might follow some of Zim’s orders when they seem fun, and he might like Zim in the sense that GIR is generally incapable of genuine malice. But GIR is never going to care about Zim, as a ‘Master’ or as a friend, as much as he cares about his own hedonism.

And of course, we all know that if GIR was capable of actually focusing on anything and remaining grounded in reality - he would very quickly realize that he actually hates Zim quite a bit. 

And that’s, like, the whole Tragedy of Zim. He is a being capable of kindness and friendship - but he always ends up only caring about beings who will never care about him back.

Due to Irken indoctrination and also self-inflicted due to his own ego (like, it is no coincidence that the People Zim Actually Cares About are the two beings Irken ideology obliges him to acknowledge as his superiors and then a bunch of robotic minions who are supposed to be 100% obedient to him.) Zim only loves those who will not love him back.

Except for Minimoose. That relationship is 100% wholesome.

[cosmerelists]

Tumblr Call-Out Posts of Cosmere Characters

If people were able to write call-out posts of Cosmere characters as if they were real people, those call-out posts might look like this.

1. Hoid

@libralita already wrote this one: https://www.tumblr.com/libralita/734739225821446144/some-planet-culturally-appropriated-the-marewill?source=share.

2. Siri

Just so you know siri does EXTREME fast fashion: we're talking--never wears the same outfit more than once and BURNS every outfit after she wears it and also every day she burns a couple other outfits she never even wore just for good measure. also she deliberately kept asking for fancier and fancier outfits so like even more material just needlessly burned up into pollution smoke

3. Adolin

Adolin's girlfriend is four years younger than him. Not so bad, right? WRONG. These are ROSHARAN years, which are longer than ours, it's actually way more than 4 years--probably 6. Or 8. Maybe even 10.

He's basically dating a girl a decade younger than him hello

4. MeLaan

Don't you think it's creepy that MeLaan--from a species that eats human remains--dates a human? How is that not a predatory relationship?

5. Riina

Riina built a giant spaceship shaped like a p*nis, sexually harassing a whole planet. :(

6. Lift

Just saying. Calling anyone "Tightbutt" is sexual harassment.

7. Dalinar

Brought people into his visions without getting their consent. Probably the worst thing Dalinar ever did. :(

8. Galladon

You might think that being quarantined in a horrible plague-city due to having "walking corpse" disease would make a man understand that diseases are dangerous and that maybe world hopping to a new planet without doing proper containment procedures and spreading a viral infection to an entire region is bad maybe

But you would be wrong in the case of Galladon who DID THAT

9. Kelsier

anyone who still supports kelsier after kelsier made his employee eat his bones needs to take a long, hard look in a mirror because it is NOT okay to feed ANY part of your skeleton to someone who works for you

10. Szeth

Keeping a sword sheathed all the time is exactly the same as keeping an animal in a cage--a sword can NOT get proper enrichment inside a sheath. Would you like to be kept continuously in a dark and suffocating place where you can't move or breathe? No? Then why would you be okay with keeping a sentient sword locked in a sheath all the time?

Szeth's cruel treatment of Nightblood makes me SICK

[shotanzz]

can you do ZB1 as your boyfriend PLS (like all of them🙏)

guess who’s kinda back…😨

ZB1 RICKY AS YOUR BF based on astrology ~

(reminder that this for fun and astrology is something I study for a hobby, these are all inferences based off of observations and not exact fact unless I knew him myself !!)

Taurus Sun @ 29° : With his sun being in a venusian sign in a leo degree (the sun), he’s the bf that takes care of himself/maintains his appearance. Everyone talks about “boyfriend air” and how bfs tend to be messy but he most likely is vv hygienic. He’s not one to rush and might initially be a bit reserved/introverted (until he opens up and feels more comfortable). He appreciates physical art and pleasures (fashion, food, leisure) and it translates into his relationships. He probably likes to gift his partner with material items that enhance their beauty so outfits, skincare, jewelry. It makes sense that he helps the members do their makeup and probs would maybe do the same for his partner. Being reliable is something he finds relatively important.

Gemini Moon @ 9° : In relationships he enjoys being able to be versatile and express himself in different and even unpredictable ways. He finds comfort in being able to freely share his thoughts/feelings and will reciprocate this to his partner. He may enjoy hearing his partners pov and opinions about things or even relish in hearing his partner’s voice in general. There’s a sense of spontaneity especially with the moon being in a sag degree. He has moon square jupiter+uranus and trine neptune; so he could be a bit restless and even indifferent emotionally adding onto his unpredictability. I wouldn’t say he has mood swings but his feelings could be very case by case.

Taurus Mercury @ 4° : He is honestly on the more laidback and rational side of things but is capable of being more obstinate and deliberate. He has mercury trine jupiter and sextile uranus so he lowkey has a gift for gab and basically is a yapper with whoever is partner is. With mercury sextile mars he might even slightly enjoy debating things (unless it’s something he’s super set in opinion with and sensitive about). He’s most likely more intelligent and has more common sense than he likes to let on and most likely shares his more intellectual/philosophical side when he’s with his partner. Would enjoy having person inside jokes with his partner alone.

Gemini Venus @ 26° : He’s naturally flirty, charming and even playful. He dislikes being bored and mentally under stimulated in his romantic pursuits. He acts in a sense that will bring both comfort and stability but also still mentally entertain. He likes his space however and may not enjoy extreme clinginess. Ricky is naturally creative and finds beauty in refined things with quality even in the mundane. He’s the guy who takes you to outside places to both indulge as well as communicate. He flirts in a way that’s not super in your face but still witty and clever with a smoothness; with it being in a taurean degree he finds satisfaction in giving gifts and doing reciprocal tasks. He has Venus opposite Pluto so depending on the state of the relationship he may have a tendency to constantly waiver between being passive/indifferent to being attached/controlling or just borderline being unpredictable in his displays of affection.

Cancer Mars @ 8° : In a scorpio degree oooo. He’s very caring and protective to a degree. He most likely would want to take the lead or at least be a source of comfort for his s/o. He isn’t super quick to confront and may gather his thoughts and feelings before expressing more negative feelings. He might have an unintentional tendency for unspoken resentment if he doesn’t/can’t express himself. He has mars sextile jupiter and conjunct saturn so though he seems slow to act whenever he does it will be bold or at least with impact, in relationships he wants actions to emotionally mean something and not be pointless. Lowkey might be persistent in a seductive nature LOLL.

[butterflydm]

some thoughts on spirits (DAV)

I feel like the game has done a good job making Rook feel like someone with natural leadership abilities. And while I do love the companions in the previous games, I feel like DAV's companions are my favorites (at least currently; entirely possible that a replay of the older games would make me feel different!).

I also really like the different dynamics between Rook and their companions. Just... idk good vibes.

Also, here is Rook being very relatable for me:

I am just really loving all the characters so much -- Lucanis stole my heart as my favorite (he's my 'personal demon' now in the character screen lol) but I'm very attached to all of my companions. I love how the game has made it easier to know when they have something new to say, and I like that they distinguish between 'conversations' and 'outings' in the companion quest section. I've really been enjoying getting to know them and I feel like this game has done a really good job appropriately gating dialogues and areas.

It feels like they found a good compromise between 'open world' and 'mission-based game'. Each of the areas feels really big but it's also gated in natural ways that get unlocked as the story goes on, so you can't bum-rush the Crossroads and do literally everything the first time you're there, for example. In DAI, I would sometimes have to impose my own pacing to make sure that things flowed well for me, and I haven't needed to do that with DAV.

One thing that leaving the Fereldan/Orlais area did is really let us get to know a lot of mages who don't have the same sense of shame and self-hate that mages are taught in the Chantry of southern Thedas (or the even more extreme way they are treated by the Qunari!). We got hints of this approach in earlier games, but getting to dive more in-depth into several cultures who do not have the same "let's toss all the mages into prison" approach to magic that southern Thedas has has been very illuminating! Obviously we've always had exceptions like the Dalish clans, but they were very much depicted as deliberately on the outskirts of society, and going against the Chantry-defined norm.

And to contrast, in DAV, I recently had a long conversation with Emmrich on the potential merits of lichdom! Basically an unthinkable conversation in either Ferelden or Orlais. Nevarra doesn't burn their dead and they don't have such a deep fear of the dead, demons, or magic itself. And it really just to illustrate how much the oppression of mages that was so much at display in the Circles is just... nonexistent in places like Nevarra. The oppression is cultural and it's religious -- it's not actually something that's necessary to 'keep magic in check'. (which, yeah, is obvious from the outside, but always nice to have reinforcement from the actual games!)

I'm also watching a let's play of DAI on the side and the person just got to Solas and Cole's personal quests and, yeah, they resonant so hard after the additional Solas revelations in DAV. And it really does feel so much like DAV is in a strong conversation with DAI (as makes sense). Solas and Varric are talking about Cole but Solas is also talking about himself.

Varric: "A spirit who is strangely like a person!"

Varric: "He came into this world to be a person. Let him be one."

Solas: "We cannot change our nature by wishing it." Varric: "You think?"

Solas: "You would alter the essence of what he is." Varric: "He did that to himself when he left the Fade."

[if Cole is made more spirit]

Varric: "...could have been a person." Solas: "Would that have made him happier?"

Is Solas's endgame becoming a spirit again? Or has he experienced and changed too much? (would it make him happier? is that a desirable goal?) Is it all a matter of perspective? Cole approves of the Inquisitor's choice whether they make him more of a spirit or more human. I feel like Solas would lose a lot of himself if he became a spirit again, but maybe that's a matter of perspective too.

And then Solas's DAI quest is all about dealing with the damage of a Wisdom Spirit being corrupted against its purpose -- the same kind of Spirit that Solas once was. Wisdom vs Pride (but once you're a person and not a spirit, you can be filled with both at the same time).

DAV is really making me want to do another run of DAI, and take Solas literally everywhere, lol. But the conversation about spirits in the 'real' world didn't start there either -- it started back in DAO, with Wynne. It continued in DA2, with Anders. Both DAO and DA2 are more 'standard' than what we get in DAI with Cole, in the sense that they were possessing a body (though with permission) but it's still part of the same conversation.

But the conversation really did explode into something bigger in DAI, with Cole as a spirit who was with us without possessing a body, and with learning that being briefly possessed can reverse Tranquility (via Cassandra's quest). And now, with what had been confirmed in DAV, we know that a spirit that takes mortal form can, over the generations, become mortal, as that's what the ancient elves did, so Cole could have kids who were fully mortal, maybe. And Cole did it without using lyrium (and thus taking something from the Titans to fuel himself) -- at least as far as I understand.

I am also finding myself very curious about where humans come from -- we know that the ancient elves were once spirits; we know that the dwarves are fragments of the Titans. Where did humans come from? Evolution? Or is there a magical answer for them too? Is the Maker a spirit and/or Titan who created humans specifically?

(I think it's implied that Qunari were genetically/magically engineered in some way, and possibly crossbred with dragons somehow?? iirc DAI correctly)

I'm really looking forward to removing my filters on DA-related stuff and reading other people's thoughts. I've covered my eyes and clicked on posts a couple of times so far and have been rewarded by mostly getting fanart and not spoilers, lol. Mostly.

I genuinely have zero critiques of the game so far, if anyone was wondering if I was just holding some back or whatever. I like the quality of life changes they made to a lot of little things like companion banter; I never had an issue with the art style*; and I'm enjoying the story and characters as they unfold.

(*I know that was a big thing with a lot of people but, confession time: I genuinely can barely tell a difference between DAI and DAV's 'art style'. You can change Qunari hairstyles separate from horns now in the character creator? People walk less awkwardly than in DAI? The menus are purple instead of green? idk, maybe my brain just doesn't register whatever it is that makes DAV so different, art-wise?)

I also love that I can literally just throw myself at boxes to break them open to get materials. It's so satisfying. I have a griffon that I can pet. idk, I guess I'm just a simple girl with simple desires. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Looking forward to playing more this weekend!

Current progress note: a Dalish clan (at least one) has been kidnapped for potential blood sacrifices, so trying to rescue them is my next main quest. I'm about eighty hours into the game.

[twothpaste]

there's a bunch of little guidelines, unique to each character, that i use when writing dialogue. helps to give em unique voices, and keep them distinct from one another. it's also a list of headcanons in & of itself. figured it'd be fun to write 'em out and share 'em here........

lucas speaks as plainly as possible. tends not to use big words - or many words at all - if he can help it. only says what's necessary to get his thoughts across (or often much less…). his internal monologue is long-winded & rich & dripping with metaphors, but when he opens his mouth, what comes out is plain, simple, and always accommodating. though he uses informal language & comes off real casual-like, he's actually very careful with his word choice. if he's gonna speak up, he's gonna be deliberate about it. rarely imposes upon others, even if he's answering a question or making a judgment. while lucas does often talk quietly, and is prone to hesitant pauses, he almost never stutters. southern accent realness.

claus speaks boldly, usually without thinking first. may use an excessive amount of words. he meanders through sentences sometimes, cuz he's just blurting bullshit as it comes to him. has a cartoonishly brazen manner of speaking, like he's hyping himself up as the smartest funniest guy in the room, but you can kinda tell it's just a playful performance. uses mostly casual language, even when discussing serious or complicated topics. sometimes he tosses in big words to keep you on your toes and remind you he's smarter than he seems. will often try to sound calm and unfazed even when he's definitely Fazed. when he's for real emotionally compromised though, he completely flips, lapsing into the masked man's unnervingly brief, blunt, stagnant speech. southern accent realness as well.

kumatora speaks extremely casually. lots of slang. slathers the most basic statements in irony, pop culture references, and naughty language. whereas lucas won't impose upon others, kuma does exactly that, fully intending to make a big impression with everything she says. even when she's being rude as hell, she usually means it all in good fun, she's just got an abrasive edge to her manner of speaking. sometimes others are put off by it - therefore, she deems those folks unworthy of her company anyways. when she's genuinely angry or sad, she tends to cut the theatrics (though not the swearing). might occasionally lapse into metaphorical language to describe complicated feelings, especially when emotionally strained. shortens words and uses contractions as much as possible.

duster speaks really gently, with a lot of uncertain mannerisms. whenever he has to use more than a few words, he tends to hesitate and meander, like he's not quite sure he's got the right words to make himself clear. prone to hesitation, "um"s and "er"s, and occasional stutters. the way he phrases things is kinda soft & malleable, rarely stating his opinion definitively, cautiously leaving room for others to disagree or add their input. never swears - instead he opts for "gosh" and "heck" and so on. very informal, with a profound southern drawl.

boney's animal telepathy "dialogue" is simple to a goofy degree. little guy will directly state whatever is presently on his mind, oblivious to any social etiquette. sometimes his lack of filter makes for funnily rude or ill-timed interjections. he uses only plain words (though kumatora's unfortunately introduced a few swears to his vocabulary).

flint speaks a lot like lucas, plain and simple and quiet. though he doesn't have the same delicate consideration for the words he's choosing. he says what he means as bluntly as possible, in as few words as possible, and leaves it at that. (secretly he's very aware of how awkward and imposing he comes off, but he hasn't the faintest clue how to remedy it.) prone to hesitant pauses, but only when emotionally compromised. heavy southern drawl (where do y'think the twins got it from).

hinawa speaks kinda like claus, tossing out a lotta thoughts and words in a merry stream of consciousness. hugely exuberant. singsongy, even. she's a bit teasy, and very whimsical, but never offensive or impolite. fond of nicknames. her word choice tends to be informal, though she probably does have a more vibrant vocabulary than she lets on. heavy southern drawl of course, peppered with homely little hillbilly-isms.

fuel is funny to write, cuz he has a loose jokey less-than-sincere manner of speaking, which comes off lackadaisical & carefree. but you can sorta tell he's actually mopey & nervous under the surface. if not by his frequent hesitations and dodgy replies, then at least by his body language. very informal and hickish, and prone to swearin', like the workin' class guy he is.

nana's one of my favs to write, cuz she is a fountain of run-on sentences, always babbling some tangential story off the top of her head, winding this way and that, and by the time she's done talking you've learned like 5 mildly intriguing and hilariously irrelevant new things about her. remarkably formal diction, paired with a flat tone that does not quite match her long-winded rambles. rarely if ever uses exclamation points. doesn't swear. no accent.

ness' speech is probably the most basic out of anybody's. ordinary and casual, with no particular accent or flair to it. big & fancy words are completely out of his wheelhouse. he peppers his dialogue with a few dorky dad-isms every now and then (like callin' folks "sport" or "pal," or dropping a wholly unironic "see ya later, alligator"). though he's not a nervous guy, he does get a little mopey or unsure of himself sometimes, which causes him to pause and mumble a lot.

paula speaks pretty formally most of the time. she says shit like "furthermore," and "precisely," making her stand out distinctively from her fellow dorks & dweebs. is she playfully talking clever in a tounge-in-cheek kinda way, or is she Actually Just Being A Smartass? depends who you ask! paula likes to flex her robust vocabulary, and lace her dialogue with snark & sarcasm. her delivery's comedically dry. when she's reaching out to someone in earnest sympathy, though, her speech gets a lot softer, with thoughtful pauses and gentler language. when she's upset, she gets really flustered, swapping her calm & cool veneer for frantic exclamations & italics!! she does have a southern accent, but she takes care to enunciate each letter in the words she uses, so it's subtle compared to characters like lucas or duster.

jeff speaks as flatly as possible, and keeps his word count to an absolute minimum. his standbys are answering questions with a blunt one-word reply, and asking questions with a period instead of a question mark (cuz he delivers them with virtually no affect). though he knows a lot of academic language, he tends not to use it in casual conversation, afraid of alienating others or coming off like a smartass. his speech is generally bone-dry and very constrained. which makes it all the more special when someone manages to choke a sappy blabber or a furious snap out of him. oh. and he comes with a british accent, of course.

poo's another surprise favorite of mine. my take on him is really charismatic, and genuinely quite funny. he's able to swap between casual and formal mannerisms on the fly. sorta in reference to his mimic ability, he tends to match the energy of whoever he's talking to. so he can turn on a dime from talking real candidly plain & chill with ness, to snarking it up shakespearean style with paula. sharply attentive, he's both clever and empathetic, wily and kind, often sassy but never hurtful. chooses his words very thoughtfully. he has a lot of big feelings bottled up, and fancies himself a poet, so he sometimes goes on sappy wistful metaphorical tangents. he knows full well they sound indulgent, perhaps even dorky, but you'll cut him some slack, won't you? a guy's gotta breathe a little.

porky is the fucking worst and i love him so much ❤️. he treats every conversation like a war, and will deploy snide ruthless underhanded tactics to emerge victorious. he's sardonic, haughty, vitriolic. if he thinks he has the upper hand, he'll cooly sit back and try to pick you apart with biting insults & blows below the belt, trying to find your weak points. if he feels cornered, he'll start furiously barking whatever he thinks will hurt you most. he speaks with an uncanny blend of boyish casual language, pretentious big-brained scrabble words, and swearing (which thinks make him sound Very Mature). will wax poetic about human nature like he thinks he's on par with socrates, then whirl around and call you a snot-nosed dweeb for daring to question his wisdom. my very favorite thing about writing porky's dialogue (and his internal monologue) is that almost everything he says is Wrong. like. as a rule, if he claims something, he's probably got it backwards. and while he is certainly trying to convince others of his bullshit, he is even moreso trying desperately to convince himself. maybe if he repeats his miserable lies & false convictions enough, louder this time, they'll finally stick.

picky peter is practically his brother's antithesis. if every conversation is a war, he chooses to lay down his weapons and avoid the fight entirely. he white flags his way through dialogue, keeping his statements simple and brief and unobtrusive. harshness or accusations make him retreat, essentially playing dead or gray rocking 'til the threat dissipates. kindness catches him off guard, making him "er…" and "um…" and scramble sheepishly to find his words. he does have a lot of barely-repressed bitterness in his guts, and might take on a subtle hint of snark or spite under pressure. his vocabulary is not very broad. he's got a dry fake little laugh he does when he's trying to be friendly ("haha") - but when he's genuinely cracking up, he'll snort instead.

tracy is fun cuz she shares ness' plain & casual "just some guy" manner of speaking, but she's like?? kinda fuckin' mean?? she thinks she's too cool for most folks, adopted a tough exterior to one-up her childhood bullies - and especially admires paula. but she hasn't quite mastered the art of being snarky without coming off rude or edgy. so she speaks sarcastically, teases others, seems bluntly disinterested all the time, and it just makes her sound like a careless teenager (which is exactly what she is). thankfully ness sees through her attitude and knows she's full of love deep down. and paula knows she'll probably grow out of it. peter weirdly enough feels very at ease with tracy snarking at him, cuz he's used to that sorta abrasive talk, but he finds solace in the knowledge that it's harmless here, he knows she doesn't actually mean it. tracy reveals her soft side when she's nervous or troubled, prompting gentler language and lots of unsteady pauses, sounding a lot more like her brother in moments of uncertainty.

[longing-for-rain]

What immensely bothers me about the way Kataang was written is that it not only hurt Katara's character, but Aang's character as well.

The writers set up the subplot of Aang needing to let go of his idealistic vision of Katara and then... just completely ignored it throughout the entirety of S3?

While I'm not saying that every ATLA character needed to go through an extensive character development, Aang having little to no development as a person and a leader (I am not talking about his physical training as a bender here) is some extremely disappointing writing, considering he is THE protagonist.

It's actually baffling to me how much the show deliberately dodges most oppurtunities to develop Aang as a character and how much the poor handling of Kataang plays a role in it.

Instead of Aang slowly growing to appreciate Katara as a person with all her flaws and quirks and trying to understand her way of thinking and culture, which culminates in him EARNING his Avatar state, we get the inconsistent mess, full of unresolved arguments and overstepped boundaries, that is S3 Kataang, Aang getting the girl only because he's the Hero™ (even though their last interaction before the kiss was an unresolved argument) and Aang being saved by Deus Ex Machina. TWICE. All of which could have been easily fixed, if the writers actually capitalized on the development that was already set up to happen.

I would be more willing to accept the points "he's literally twelve" and "why are you getting so worked up over which fictional characters are dating", if the writing didn't waste the blatant oportunity to develop the character, and if the ship in question didn't nuke any development its characters recieved.

Like, you don't even have to be a Zutara shipper to see how Kataang basically shat on both Aang and Katara as characters.

Agree with all of this, but I want to focus on this bit right here:

I would be more willing to accept the points "he's literally twelve" and "why are you getting so worked up over which fictional characters are dating", if the writing didn't waste the blatant oportunity to develop the character, and if the ship in question didn't nuke any development its characters recieved.

Here’s the thing. Aang is the protagonist of the show. You know, the one character who absolutely should have a solid arc and experience meaningful growth. I’m not saying he had no growth. But it’s just like you said, there are some pretty glaring plot holes surrounding his story. Could be excusable for a side character, but for the protagonist? Really not great.

And people will also act like romance is no big deal, but I think it really shines a light on how Katara is viewed by the creators and fans in relation to romance. From Aang’s perspective, romance can be treated as a minor add-on at the end because it’s narratively framed as his reward for saving the day. Aang doesn’t have to fundamentally change as a character to enter into that romance. It is written in a way that centers him.

Katara, however, does change. That can be seen in any post-canon material. I know they’ll keep trying to retcon this, but Legend of Korra will always exist to show us how little regard for these people have for female characters they’ve relegated to love interests.

[batsplat]

as soon as vale said that his most important rivals were biaggi, lorenzo, and stoner, I thought about your sete posts! it’s so interesting how he keeps downplaying that rivalry, even 20 years later

posted this like. the day before that podcast was released

yeah anon I'm glad I've been able to spread the gospel on this because it's very... going 'valentino is deliberately editing one specific rivalry out of his career in order to get people to forget about it or simply dismiss it entirely' does run the risk of making you sound insane. but now that I have presented my extensive evidence on this subject on a microblogging platform, I can finally FINALLY get the satisfaction of other people going 'hm yeah this is kind of weird'. it is weird!! podium of rivals my ass, valentino's best on-track rivalry is just indisputably with sete. going by quality and quantity of extended on-track duels, the oeuvre he put together with sete isn't even in the same LEAGUE as what he's got going on with casey, jorge, or biaggi. and none of this 'well he always beat sete' business - I saw how close that man was to ending it all after sachsenring 2003. there is not a SINGLE other direct defeat by a rival after which he is so visibly close to walking off the nearest cliff edge. also, at least sete actually managed to win a race-long fight against valentino, which is NOT something that could be said about either biaggi or jorge (casey as ever remains the specialest girl). 2004 is still the closest title fight he won!! the welkom 2004 thing is genuinely infuriating, because it's basically the only duel of that quality or length he ever has with biaggi (phillip island '01 is more of a multi-rider dogfight) and it comes!! at a time!! when sete is his main rival!! sete was already the main rival in 2003!! it is complete dumb luck that biaggi happened to be valentino's opponent in his very first yamaha race, allowing valentino to pull off this sleight of hand where his 2004 season conveniently starts and ends at the very first race. literally says in that bloody podcast that it's not a coincidence his three best races happened fighting his three greatest rivals... well going by everything else in 2003-05, it actually kinda is you fucking dingus. he has five extended duels in 2004 that are all excellent - and four are with sete! off the top of my head, the number of memorable duels he has 2003-05 clocks in at like fourteen with sete (jesus) and 1 (one) with biaggi. and mind you, however fond people are of the welkom race, you just KNOW more folks actually remember that last corner jerez situation than anything specific that happened at welkom. the unbelievable cynicism, the NERVE of presenting this selectively edited version of the switch to yamaha while completely erasing the rival he actually destroyed along the way!! staggering

anyway look I know I'm preaching to the choir here but yeah. I mean I did already say all this in the sete post itself

and ofc by now I've talked in a bunch of places about how valentino is clearly more comfortable with the impersonal nastiness of the biaggi, casey and jorge rivalries than he is with the ultra personal heartache of sete and marc. it really has carried over to how he's discussed these rivalries post-retirement... when it comes to the former category, it's really all quite normal - he's not doing much to reawaken the feud, isn't being particularly provocative, just gives a reasonably straightforward and restrained appraisal of his side of the rivalry on quite an irregular basis. a lot more agreeable than some of said rivals are when talking about him, let's face it. again, he does like his rivalries, he thinks sports SHOULD sometimes have this kinda nasty fun dynamic between two guys who really want to beat each other... but now the on-track competition is done with, it's all good, no reason to hold any grudges. with the latter category - by contrast - it's a tale of extremes. you've got the deflection of most questions related to the marc conflict from around mid-2016 onwards, with the exception of genuine head loss suffered at argentina 2018 or when he is an environment where he can air his grievances a little more extensively on his own terms (like, say, on a podcast) - there's a desire to erase marc from the narrative of his career and a wariness of the drama associated with this rivalry that wars with the urge to discuss it, since it is still a wee bit of an open wound. with sete, his approach is if anything even more radical: utter erasure. from his comments in the route46/93 documentary, it is obvious he has not forgiven sete in the slightest and does still derive some measure of personal satisfaction from how that whole thing went down ("if I had to give sete some advice... it's better if he hadn't done it" unfortunately just indisputably a banger line). discussed this elsewhere, but what's kinda wild about this whole approach is that the sete rivalry is such a triumph for him - not because sete is a weak opponent, but because of like... what an excellent job he did with the whole thing. the dramatic arc of that rivalry and how it coincided with the switch to yamaha, all the elite on-track battles along the way, the way valentino did literally manage to break another rider, it's kinda... I mean, this should all be a bigger element of his legacy than it is. personally in his shoes I'd probably never shut up about it (not least because he put a CURSE on a guy, which I get probably isn't good pr to discuss but y'know). what he's doing here isn't in his own best interest!! valentino you should be using this podcast to introduce the kids to quite honestly THE best and most watchable stretch of your career. valentino the kids haven't watched mugello 2004, valentino don't you think catalunya 2004 gets kinda overlooked, valentino tell the kids to check out assen 2004. valentino you won your first yamaha title at phillip island 2004 with a frenzied last lap battle, isn't that kinda cool and memorable and special. valentino

anyway tbh I think at this point he's not even doing it on purpose anymore. just what happens when you're disciplined enough with a narrative, I suppose, sticking to it even inside your own head - all about those lovely little stories athletes like to tell themselves, isn't it. years worth of editing and minimising and deflecting and erasing and suddenly it's really just three rivalries that stand head and shoulders above the rest - conveniently leaving out the ones that got interpersonally messy. it is a bit of a shame because, again, valentino buddy I hate to break this to you but 2004 is just categorically your most-enjoyable-to-watch title campaign. but clearly, to him, there are things that matter more than actually effectively propagandising his own career. you've gotta respect the grind ig. and maybe it's for the best that some of the details of those years remain confined to a niche audience, eh

[ask-codeearasure]

Do you think Ink has/would have self harm tendencies? Based on how he ripped his soul out of sadness and all

The basic definition of "self-harm" is to hurt oneself deliberately. But that's what Google says and I've met people who have performed self-harming behaviors without really knowing that that's what it actually was. The "deliberate" part is not always here nor there.

Given Ink doesn't remember that they technically committed suicide to escape their AU, I don't think they'd ever deliberately hurt themself for reasons as agonizing again, unless you happened to read my thread with @talonsirgo. But that is an extreme hypothetical, I have to stress that because Ink's reasons for doing what he did there are bound to be mostly circumstantial and entirely devastating. He was quite literally pushed to the edge.

But outside of extreme situations like escaping a meaningless life or having his very purpose stripped away, I don't think Ink would have any of the stereotypical, obvious, or purposeful self-harming behaviors, and if he were to partake in anything that counts as such, I doubt he was even looking to get hurt in the first place. I doubt he'd think of that result if he say, has to hurt himself to make an escape and fix it later or forms a drug addiction (because Comyet said before he'd probably do the latter if I remember right).

And I'm not talking about his paints, those are his equivalent to regular medication, shit that he depends on to live.

So through many words,... I'd say yes and no. I think Ink does have self-harm tendencies, but that depends on what they're doing and the reason(s) why. He's the kind of dumbass that gets himself hurt on accident, if it's necessary to save his own figurative skin, and/or out of pure reckless and impulsive fuckery. None of these things are inherently self-harm, but can be under specific causes.

EDIT: I was wrong about the drug addiction thing. It was a joke made by Comyet and I did not know that. Sorry for the inconvenience.

-- Sarco

[hamliet]

I'm really worried now about how bnha is going to end. I fell in love with the story because a lot of horikoshi's hero characters (nana, enji, hawks for example) were allowed to have flaws while his villain characters were still painted as sympathetic and human without having their villainy be erased. Now I'm feeling like hori is trying to turn this into a good vs bad kind of thing and the message is going more and more into the direction of some people are in fact born evil. on the one hand, we are constantly being told that all villains are human and that deku is special because he can see that, on the other hand we have AFO who is supposed to be the bad guy behind it all and heartless and whom the narrative never sympathizes with. it's all very odd to me. You could potentially argue that afo is a product of his environment and that nana, Kotaro, and shigaraki all made their choices in the end no matter how much they were being manipulated, but I got the feeling that the narrative doesn't believe that and even if it does, it bothers me that it refuses to acknowledge it. it feels so empty and cowardly, like horikoshi can't decide between "this guy is the big bad and just pure evil" and "every villain has a human heart" and like he doesn't actually believe in redemption as a concept, only in good people who do bad things but don't mean it and bad people who are really just bad. there's just something gross about it in general

I mean... yeah. That's why it's a thematic mess.

I will say that I think Hori isn't attempting to argue that he doesn't believe in redemption; it's more that

he wants to please everyone, and actually

he wants everyone to root for redemption.

By Trying to Please Everyone, You've Pleased No One.

I've actually talked about this before particularly in regards to the Endeavor arc, where it felt thematically confused because he was trying to placate both sides--people who didn't want Enji redeemed because they feared he would wash away the abuse, and people who wanted him redeemed. And we know Horikoshi initially had different plans for Enji but changed it, so this is partly to blame as well.

But the reality is it's a stronger story if the story isn't written to be enjoyed by everyone. If people can dislike parts of it. Even if people scream about how it's morally bad for saying circumstances influence how people become or something like that. (Those attacks come from genuine pain, and I honestly get the feeling that Hori is very, very aware of this, especially considering how visceral he writes abuse. But that doesn't mean they are themselves valid criticisms.)

You can't please everyone. You just can't. No one wants every single ice cream flavor melted together. Not every story will be for everyone. And no, that doesn't mean you should be deliberately hurtful, but if you're writing a story where the abuser is redeemed, if you want to portray the abuser as human, some victims may not want to read it. But many will want to read it. And both are okay. Some people will misunderstand you, and that's just--life.

The reality is that in this world everyone has competing needs, and what can meet someone's need doesn't meet another's, and that's okay. The beauty of humanity is that with all the billions of us on this earth, someone should be able to help meet someone else's needs in a certain area. You can't feed everyone, but you can feed someone, and watering down the story so that it's basically now devoid of nutrients/what makes a story interesting doesn't actually help anyone. By trying to please everyone, you've pleased no one.

Hori Is Very Pro-Redemption

I genuinely think Hori somehow decided to try to make Shigaraki extremely palatable not because he doesn't believe in redemption, but because he wants everyone to believe in it and root for Shigaraki.

It's not unique for him to retcon characters' mistakes; like I said, he's done this with Enji, with All Might, and with Hawks where he very obviously swerves from the initial plan. However, that weakens the very themes and the characters, and makes the story less interesting and objectively less well-written.* And now this AFO reveal, considering it's the main plot, kinda throws these more subplot ideas to the back burner and weakens the entire frame of the story rather than just the subplot.

So Hori's into redemption. The problem is that he doesn't know how to convince everyone that redemption is worth it, and so makes it so obvious that it's devoid of any actual interesting questions we can ponder. Essentially if you refuse redemption for Shig now, what's wrong with you? It's nigh morally impossible not to.

But I, Redemption Arc #1 Fan, like it when it's questionable. Redemption, for me, is never about deserve.

It's disappointing, but I've also seen way worse lol in terms of thematically undermining a story at its ending. So, no, I'm not happy about it and I will critique it. But I still want to see the characters I've loved for so long get their happy endings.

*Yes, "good writing" is an opinion; however, there are general consensuses of what constitute good and bad writing. This type of thing--removing agency completely in the last hour--is bad writing.

[zuko-always-lies]

Have you considered that Zuko is just a bad friend?[This will not be a Zuko friendly post]

While this title is a bit of a joke, the point remains: there is a very strong argument to be made that canon Zuko is just not a very good friend, that he’s someone who doesn’t treat his friends very well. Obviously there are many events in Zuko’s life which negatively affected his interpersonal relationships, so I don’t intend this to be an exercise in blame. I’m merely noting a pattern that I think Zuko will need to work on in the future:

Ty Lee: Zuko is extremely vicious in what he says to Ty Lee in “The Beach,” which stands out because it’s about the only substantive thing he ever says to her, and because Ty Lee is extremely kind to him that episode. He never apologizes for it. He also deliberately tries to provoke a fight between Ty Lee and Mai.

Mai: Let’s us just say that Zuko treats Mai very poorly in “The Beach,” and never really apologizes for it or recognizes what about his behavior was wrong. This includes getting into fits of violent jealousy the moment Mai even lays eyes on another boy.

Now let’s turn to the Gaang. In all cases, Zuko starts off eager to please and gain their approval. However, once he passes this initial hurtle, his behavior doesn’t necessarily measure up.

Toph basically approves of Zuko from the start, and he has to do little to win her friendship. As a result, he largely although not entirely ignores her. He feels comfortable dumping his emotional issues on her, but when she tries to do the same to him, he’s dismissive of it. All things considered, Zuko isn’t a terrible friend to Toph, but I wouldn’t say he’s a great one, either.

Aang rapidly warms up to Zuko, particularly through their field trip in “The Firebending Masters.” However, we see some questionable treatment of Aang later on. Zuko twice mocks the culture of Aang, a genocide survivor whose culture was murdered by Zuko’s ancestors, in “The Southern Raiders.” Worse, Zuko, in the series finale, decided it was a great idea to try to light Aang on fire in order to terrify him into submission, because said best friend didn’t want to train and Zuko didn’t feel like reasoning with him.

Sokka is an interesting case. Zuko tries hard to win his friendship in the “Boiling Rock” episodes. However, once this is accomplished, Zuko starts behaving differently. In “The Southern Raiders,” Zuko uses Sokka to find out about Kya’s death. However, although Zuko emphasizes the importance of revenge, it doesn’t occur to him to offer the opportunity to Sokka. Zuko doesn’t directly tell Sokka what he found, nor does he give Sokka the chance to join on the little “vengeance expedition.” The fact that Sokka already forgave Zuko means that Zuko has no reason to care about giving him an opportunity for closure.  And of course, when Sokka, who also lost Kya, says that he thinks killing Yon Rha is a bad idea, Zuko ignores him.

Zuko’s treatment of Katara is a whole mess of its own, although it’s largely confined to one episode:

1. Zuko feels entitled to Katara’s forgiveness.

2. Zuko ignores Katara’s very clear and reasonable explanation about why she doesn’t like or trust him to instead decide it must be all about her mom.

3. Zuko decides to manipulate Katara into liking him by giving her the opportunity to murder someone she hates. That someone is a bad person who did something truly awful, but whose actions are not necessarily much worse than what Zuko himself did, much less what Zuko’s believed uncle Iroh did. Zuko claims this is all about “justice,” but the fact that he had no interest in giving Sokka an opportunity to come along and participate shows the real character of Zuko’s actions here.

Zuko is mostly nice to Katara after “The Southern Raiders,” but his treatment of her in the episode always feels terrible to me.

Zuko and Suki don’t seem to have any significant friendship, so there’s nothing to say here, one way or the other.

[sootwilb]

also same anon with long rant about biting

Another issue is people keep approaching the biting thing as more akin to "kink" than "atypical affection."

Him just grabbing and biting is less about "I'm trying to hurt someone" and more akin to "I am showing love"

It's like they're approaching his actions as intentionally malicious, a real cruel mastermind, when in reality it's "bro, your affection style is not working with her and you did not get the memo at all."

Again, Wilbur biting out of affection is not a new thing and something friends cite too. So to characterize it more as a behavior he's doing to be some sort of controlling/cause deliberate harm is extremely absurd.

I actually am all for safe words for all forms of affection, including hugging and kissing as someone who is touch averse. But if two people aren't on the same page, or someone doesn't feel they can handle that kinda boundary--better to end it.

I can not tell you how pissed off I get when people call his biting a kink. She even says he does it to show affection! Hes done it since he was a kid, he bites both his male and female friends. And you are so right about it not being a targeted or calculated thing. In fact honestly I think him biting to show affection is really sweet and I say this as someone who also hates physical touch.

I agree wholeheartedly that safewords should be normalised both in relationships and friendships. I hate the way she basically says that "the fact he even suggested a safeword is a red-flag". It boggles my mind that she doesnt even seem to understand how a safeword should be used. It seems like she was using it as a last resort rather than using it the moment she feels even a little uncomfortable.

[nightmare-foundation-2]

Am I the only one that disagrees with peoples perception of Oz being that he's a religious paranoid zealot out to destroy and demonize Salem??

Because,, I really never got that kind of vibe from Oz. Oz is a lot of things- bitter, cynical- but what he is NOT is a religious fanatic who follows the GoL without question.

At first, yes he was willing to follow the GoL's orders with little argument.

But did everyone just,, forget,, that he flat-out originally said NO to the God of Light with no hesitation just because he thought Salem wasn't alive?? Like. He straight up said that he basically DOES NOT CARE about the world (and by extension, the gods) if she's not in it.

And when he found out Salem was alive? He completely ignored the GoLs actual warning, the only thing he SHOULD have listened to. He only accepted the GoLs order because Salem was there. That's it.

That... doesn't tell me he's a zealot blindly following the God of Light.

And about trying to follow through with his task, yes it's bc the GoL told him to. But he's not a fanatic.

The only reason he originally wanted to destroy Salem (which was probably a last resort to him, lbr) was because she was actively working AGAINST him. She hurt him DEEPLY by incidentally killing their kids and him (which, yes, she killed their kids, she attacked first for no reason without trying to talk to him), so naturally he's going to see her in a not-so-good light.

As for Oz being paranoid, it's reasonable he would be. He doesn't know which Grimm is hers, which Grimm was deliberately sent, what events are because of her, etc. There's NO WAY to tell at all. He HAS to be vigilant, because if he isn't, people DIE.

And he isn't demonizing her for no reason. This entire time, Salem has been vying for the destruction of Remnant. Whatever her reason is doesn't matter, that's what she wants. If she really wanted to just bring the Gods back to defeat them, she could've easily communicated this to Oz and worked WITH him instead of against him. Not only that, but she destroyed 3 Academies and is responsible for hundreds if not thousands of deaths, everyone from the guilty to innocent, from elders to children. And it's HEAVILY implied that she started the Great War ("no one knows who shot first" <- in stories that implies the third party, the antagonist, caused it, and Oz was still fighting her then), which resulted in possibly MILLIONS of deaths.

There's also nothing to even imply that she grieved for her daughters' deaths. It's explicitly stated that OZ grieved and drowned his sorrows with alcohol, when Jinn easily could've mentioned if both of them grieved. Oz was, and likely still is, deeply traumatized by his and Salems first fight.

The reason Oz sees her as a manipulative monster is because that's what she currently IS. She tortured Cinder after she disobeyed Salem and manipulated her right after, told Tyrian she was extremely disappointed in him knowing it would hurt him deeply, used Hazels sister to manipulate and keep him on her side EVEN WHILE fighting him- there's probably a million more examples that I can't think of right now. She deliberately uses the broken and hurt of society for her own gain and keeps them broken.

Because of this, in her songs Sacrifice and Divide, she projects HARSHLY onto Oz. Everything she says Oz does is what SHE does- she lies, manipulates, gets people's hopes up only to crush them. She sees humanity 2.0 as nothing more than pawns to use, that she and Oz are the only players. So she thinks that Oz MUST be the same, right? They're both immortal, the only 'true' people, why wouldn't he??

So Salem doesn't TRULY understand Oz in my opinion.

But I really think that Oz DOES understand Salem, at least better than Salem 'understands' him.

Oz... is definitely disillusioned in the Gods. He refers to his immortality as a curse despite the GoL delivering it as a blessing. He's pretty much given up on not just destroying Salem, but also on his task (he straight up said he has no plan when Ruby asked him). He's bitter and no doubt angry. If he was so zealous in his love for the Gods, why would he refer to a blessing as a curse? Why would he give up on his task? Why would he refer to them as essentially people who get into petty fights? To an actual zealot, that would be extreme blasphemy and heresy.

I really do think Oz understands Salems dislike for the Gods. Maybe not at first, not entirely, but now he definitely does. The only thing is that he's not willing to crush people under his boot like Salem does just to get that point across.

I definitely don't think they could ever work together, but mostly because of Salem. Salem views herself as completely separate and better than humanity and hates everything Oz is responsible for. Oz was likely willing to compromise with her, but he didn't like how she did things (like being a tyrannical dictator). And now that Salems done so much damage to him and everyone else, I highly doubt Oz would ever be willing to work with her, same thing with Salem.

To be clear, I don't think Salem was always evil or manipulative nor that Oz is perfect. Salem was, at one point, just a grieving woman who loved her husband enough to go against the Gods because of it. But I think time and constant fighting jaded and twisted her. Oz too- he's had to do things he's not proud of, made mistakes that blew up in his face, hurt people without meaning to. But time also changed him, and he's learning because of Oscar as well as teams RWBY and JNPR.

Ultimately, I don't think Oz is the zealot people think he is. He's not evil, and Salem isn't good or remotely sympathetic anymore. Salem doesn't understand Oz as much as she likes to think she does, but Oz understands her and not only does he hate it, but it scares him.

[nilboxes]

What would you say is the pivotal moment Ratio and Aventurine realized they were attracted to each other both romantically and sexually?

I fully subscribe to the headcanon that Aventurine and Ratio met face to face first during the events of the Final Victor LC when I wrote my fic Audentis Fortuna Iuvat, I had the impression that Aventurine was already extremely besotted with Ratio (due to basically propping him up as a figure of salvation/inspiration covered in the series of fics lol) and could not help but just yearn for any encounter with him of the physical sense, just to like, have a "piece" of Ratio so to speak. Sexual tension was off the charts, he was really gunning to do Ratio in that hallway/storage closet and whatever comes next is something he was betting on to be positive, but not really knowing how it would take form. He was always already there in the attraction to Ratio in both senses for me, part of his unhingedness if you will.

It was a gamble for Aventurine if Ratio would reciprocate at all, but lucky for Aventurine, Ratio was very taken aback by the bold desire in Aventurine and somehow resonated with that physically at first, then the more he thought about it, the more he kind of resonated with the underlying reasons behind it (Aventurine's yearning, his loneliness, the singular focus/devotion to Veritas Ratio himself) when he started to think about it more. (I'm still working on the fic that tackles this, basically Ratio getting his feelings ironed out with regards to the whirlwind that happened between them in Audentis)

And I think fundamentally Ratio and Aventurine are just two very, very lonely people who found each other, as equals in ability, as polar opposites, who complement each other very well, and the more they worked together the more they realized this, the romantic attraction definitely came after all the sex they have (they are also physically compatible)

I think Ratio ultimately realized he would love Aventurine in my fic Nitimur in Vetitum, which I deliberately wrote as Veritas' "revelation" moment. Aventurine deliberately started showing the bad sides of him and was trying this bit where he would drive Ratio away so he wouldn't have "something to lose" during his mission at Penacony and he would be able to give it his all 100% and if he dies he would do so without regrets. He was really vulnerable here, and Ratio sort of saw Aventurine without the mask, without the pretenses, and whoever Ratio found underneath that mask was someone he could open his heart to and let him find a home there.

They of course, have not really talked about their feelings, Aventurine "confesses" but Ratio does not really hear it, they never really talk about it but expressed it all physically in bed. Despite knowing the strength of each other's feelings and reaching an understanding, there are many more things between them they have to work on such as talking to each other more, opening up with words... and I like keeping them there for future potential fics lol idk

Anyway this was really long, but thank you for the ask anon!