#canon meaning that the ccs were the ones who made it

[freakinator]

being so brave and strong rn (ignoring a canon duo name in favor of one i like better)

[doublechocolate]

Haibara dissecting Conan/Shinichi like he's some kind of experiment ksjksjf

I think it was around this time when I started to seriously ship them. Haibara, at this stage, was still given the "cold and mysterious" status of a character but the story didn't shy away from showing us how her empathy extended beyond her own needs. She was well aware of Conan/Shinichi's pain, and also Ran's, because she finds herself to be in that same position as them, and has gone through layers of her own emotional turmoil by this point to recognize this.

But more than that, it's blatantly obvious here that if there's anyone who can understand Conan, it's her. There's a level of understanding between them that's deep and personal. And yes, Conan has that with others too, you can argue that, but what he has with Haibara is slightly different. You see, their "friendship" was born out of pain and trauma. They were each others' "doom", in a sense. Haibara created the APTX4869 drug while Conan failed to save Akemi. They saw the sides of each other that others haven't and had to learn to trust each other in their own way. Slowly, they grew to understand one another and from doom, they became each others' hope.

(Long rambling under cut)

There are many instances of Conan being able to understand Haibara's thoughts by merely watching her actions but to me, the one that stood out the most was none other than m26 Black Iron Submarine (not canon to you but canon to me) when they were underwater and Haibara is about let Conan's hand go but he pulls her back up. The entire conversation takes place inside their heads yet they knew exactly what each other was saying. Remember that post I made about them being drift-compatible?

That's why I think Conan is still unaware just how big of a presence Haibara is in his life. He came close to that in m26 but with Pinga, BO and Haibara's kidnapping, he didn't exactly have the time to sit and ponder over it. Surely people (non-shippers) would chalk it up to you, "aakchuallyyyy he just needs her for the antidote". But... are you sure? Are you really, really sure that that's all he is to her? Is that all you understand about Conan/Shinichi as a character? Even Takayama Minami and Hayashibara Megumi commented on how Conan losing his cool and becoming short-tempered when Haibara got kidnapped was unusual of him. In their opinion, the only reason why Conan calmed down was because of Agasa and how the Prof almost risked doing something reckless to save Haibara. Only then Conan realized he needed to remain calm to keep Agasa in check.

And also, Haibara noticed Pinga and Vodka's presence in the hotel first but Conan only noticed when Haibara was in danger. His train of thought literally went; something happened to Haibara -> it's the Organization -> oh shit they've taken her. Like, hello?? Excuse me?? What is this soulmate-level telepathy going on here right in front of my salad??

I've ~kinda~ mentioned this before in a passing before, but CoAi lowkey reminds me of SyaoSaku (from CCS) but in a different font - a more painful and (perhaps) tragic one. Haibara being Syaoran's counterpart, and Conan being Sakura's counterpart. Example; Sakura's infatuation for Yukito was loud and out there, literally everyone knew about it too (Conan/Shinichi with Ran). Meanwhile, Sakura's love for Syaoran was already growing quietly within her. She was showing signs of it but was too distracted to realize it, until the time came when Syaoran was going to leave Japan and return to Hong Kong. All of a sudden it hit her like a train that it was too painful to let him go (Conan/Shinichi with Haibara/Shiho).

This is why I'm convinced that when all of this is over, Conan will have to face the reality of just what Haibara means to him. It doesn't matter if Aoyama doesn't want to explore this, or chooses to address this in a different way. It's his story, he can do what he wants. But personally for me? I know Conan simply cannot go back to his original life as Kudou Shinichi anymore. He's too far changed, forced to recognize the grayness in a world he deemed black and white, empathize with people he would have classified as "criminals" in the past, and live a life of white lie even it meant hurting the people he cared for the most - in short, Conan/Shinichi simply cannot go back to being the same person he was before Tropical Land. And the one person we know for sure who will be able to understand him despite all of this, is Haibara.

I saw a comment once saying that CoAi/ShinShi are supplementary and wouldn't work. I disagree because I think they are more of a narrative foil. Haibara's existence in Conan's life taught him that he isn't invincible (failure to save Akemi) and that not everyone from the Black Organization are cold-blooded assassins. Haibara had her life and freedom stolen from her. Conan, otoh, taught Haibara to live. To not run away from life and to learn to trust people again. All the important people in life left her at some point, but Conan was the only one who kept coming back for her when she chose to give up, holding her hand as tightly as he can.

Conan, the boy who has everything. Haibara, the girl who lost everything. Conan, the boy who keeps trying to dig deeper into the viper's nest. Haibara, the girl who has lived in the viper's nest trying to pull him back from diving further. Conan, the boy who wants to keep tempting fate to save his friends. Haibara, the girl who is willing to die to save her friends. Conan, the boy who thinks his actions of holding back his love is immature. Haibara, the girl who understands his pain enough to know he is anything but. Conan, the boy whose life changed because of the drug Haibara created but in a way also saved his life (Gin chose to not shoot him in the head but fed him the drug instead). Haibara, the girl who lost her sister because Conan couldn't save her but now he'd do anything to make sure she stays alive.

Whether you ship them or not, or see them merely as friends, you can't deny that they play huge roles in each other's lives. We know that when the end comes, Haibara will be willing to let Conan go. She might have already prepared herself for this, even, because Ran is the last person she'd want to hurt at this point. Her resemblance to Akemi is too strong now and she knows Ran adores her a lot too. And from that scene above, we know Haibara feels the same pain Ran and Conan/Shinichi are going through.

But. Will Conan be able to do the same? Can he simply let go of Haibara and return to his old life? Even if Haibara/Shiho does remain in his life, when the dust is settled, can he truly move on from the person whom he has experienced so many life and death encounters with, and in a way, shaped him into becoming the person he is today?

We know the love is one-sided now because we're almost always seeing it from Haibara/Shiho's perspective. But how can we be so sure that something isn't growing deep down in Conan/Shinichi's heart too? If it's something subtle and quiet like the flap of a butterfly's wings now, eventually growing into something that could literally change the course of his life?

If you understand Conan/Shinichi as a person, beyond the shipping lenses, then I think the answer is already obvious.

"It's not cause the creator said so. They're just friends and Shinichi already confessed to someone else". Okay, like I said, the creator can do whatever he wants with his story. I AM choosing to read between the lines based on what that same creator has presented to us. I'm also always reminded of the Akai/Jodie/Akemi love story and how that panned out. I'm saying, things can happen because feelings are complex and sometimes you go through experiences in life that changes you inside out. Both Akai and Conan have had their lives stained by the Black Organization.

Not to mention that, in terms of their personalities, CoAi/ShinShi's relationship are quite a stark parallel to Yuusaku and Yukiko's relationship as well. What Conan/Shinichi needs is someone who can match his level of eccentricity yet at the same time call him out when his head floats too high in the clouds. Haibara is that person. And the best part about it is she didn't even have to change herself to match him - that's pretty much her personality already. Fitting in exactly like a puzzle piece.

Anyway, this is long-winded already. i'll stop rambling here. Also, if this breaches containment and reaches a non-shipper/anti and you have something negative to say, please do me a favor and be a mature person. Leave this post and let's both live in peace.

Love you, CoAi nation, bye!

[fishing-lesbian-catgirl]

is there a way to experience arknights that doesn't involve playing a gacha game? i kinda wanna see what it's deal is the girls in it are really hot

Yes there is!

There’s an online tool that lets you read the visual novel story sections: https://akgcc.github.io/cc/story.html. It lets you read the main story, event side stories, operator records (mini stories focused on specific operators), it even has modules (upgrades to operators that cost a lot of resources but also give you a short story blurb when you unlock them). It usually takes a bit for new stuff to get added, so it can’t really let you read along with the current ongoing events (unless you can read Chinese, the CN server is 6 months ahead of the global server and I think the story reader gets updates for their stories but I haven’t checked, it might just be the ones on global).

There are 2 8-episode seasons of an Arknights anime covering the first 2 parts of the main story. They’re called “Arknights: Prelude to Dawn” and “Arknights: Perish in Frost”

There are a handful of official manhua covering various groups of characters, including one for the main characters at Rhine Lab (American science company with a lot of well meaning characters working for a flawed corporation with ethics issues) and one for Blacksteel (the mercenary group with Franka, Liskarm, Jessica, and Vanilla, who I’ve been posting a lot about. The new event side story is about Jessica so that’s why. The mangadex fan translations of this one were tagged as “girls love” and then the official translation made it even gayer, highly recommend for foxgirl dragon girl yuri). As well as a few others. There’s even the mostly lighthearted Rhodes Island test kitchen series about different operators making different foods from their cultures and backgrounds and stuff, it’s very cute. Official translations are here https://www.arknights.global/comic but for the ones that haven’t been fully translated you can usually find them fan translated on mangadex.

Speaking of mangadex, there are also 2 other comic/manga/manhua things you can read. There is the light hearted 4 panel series “Arknights Operators!” that has short, usually comedic, comics about various operators and their lives on the Rhodes Island land ship. I don’t think it’s explicitly canon (it has a gag about Hoshiguma bumping into door frames bc she’s so tall, but her “canon height” is 5’11” [no one likes the canon heights]) but it’s pretty fun and cute.

And what I think is the last thing I have the mention is the Arknights anthology manga series. It’s explicitly non-canon as the comics are all made by guest artists, but it is officially published by Arknights. It was only published in Japanese but scanlators have translated a large portion of it and it’s very good.

[journeysfable]

Making this it's own post cause I think I already made an ask about Gem's lore in Martyn's inbox and don't want to bother him about it anymore

Anyway I think Gem is more powerful than the watchers

hear me out

(this is both me presenting an idea for the Eyes and Ears lore and also me begging people to pay more attention to Gem's lore pls am lonely over in the loving Gem's lore corner) (And this also accidentally turned in A Character Gem character study of sorts I think. Oops)

During the Empire's crossover, Scar, in at least Joel's pov, said "did anyone else think this was a new life series?" cc!Scar had no reason to ask such a question meaning he was in character and his character, who just came from the Hermitcraft world and was now in the Empires world, wondered if he was in a life series game, which puts all three servers in the same universe imo. For at least Scar.

In the crossover Gem revealed her HC and Esmp characters were one and the same and that her character is a being that can casually move between worlds by sleeping, an ability no one else had. And because she can just hop between worlds and slip into whatever role fits best for that world and she doesn't realize that not everyone is just playing like she is.

A person is merely a costume to c!Gem.

And again, this is 100% canon

From "I have a SECRET?! Empires x Hermitcraft" "I have a secret. You see, when you join a Minecraft world you can be anyone that you want to be. Sometimes I'm a princess, but sometimes I change. And then I'm an elf. And in some worlds, I'm just me. And you see, where I'm from. That's kind of normal."

And then the following line has something interesting in it.

"One day I was just walking casually in the Empires world, playing DnD as I always do as a princess with my friends."

The Empires world is a game of DnD to c!Gem. That's haha silly meta but if you've watched the other esmp povs you know not everyone's character is role playing.

Like yea the content creators are role playing but Sausage's character is not roleplayong. But Gem's character is.

For example: In Empire's Shubbble plays Shelby the witch. Geminitay plays Geminitay the world hopping larper. Shelby the witch isn't larping, though.

But Geminitay The World Hopping Larper is seemingly not aware of this.

Further evidence that c!Gem is so powerful and used to playing a character she doesn't realize that Real People exist comes in "Exanding my Medieval Kingdom! Empires x Hermitcraft"

After patiently explaining to Sausage that she can move between worlds and that she's role playinng, Gem is greatly confused by the fact that Sausage (who through the whole season has been hopping across time and space by accident) can't control his abilities.

And at first it's seemed like Gem was aware that Sauasage wasn't roleplaying as she explained her world hopping and role playing to him. But then his freak out causes Gem to make this comment that I can't tell if it came from cc!Gem poking fun at cc!Sausage or c!Gem realizing that c!Sausage isn't roleplaying "He's not role playing is he? That's genuine. He's actually crazy"

There are a lot of implications that come with the fact that Gem doesn't even realize that the other Empires members aren't roleplaying. What else does she not realize because she can move between the worlds and be whovever she wants on a whim?

In "Empires 2: Building my BEST Medieval Minecraft Village!" Gem says she's a celestial being.

What does that mean? Well, the word celestial means related to the sky or heaven and is synonomous with heavenly, planetary, stellar, and godlike.

It may allude to the fact her name is Geminitay, a constellation(stellar). But it also sort of implies she's a fucking god or at least similar to one.

So what does all this have to do with Eyes and Ears lore?

I think c!Gem is so powerful it makes her dangerously naive. Not to herself but to others. Because she's possibly so powerful she potentially doesn't realize that danger exists.

And perhaps she's so powerful that the watchers can't feed on her emotions. Or at least not all of them.

Or maybe they're too scared to. Afraid of what she could to do them if they angered her in any way.

[qprsmackdown]

propaganda (under the readmore):

BENCHTRIO PROPAGANDA:

My friend wrote a fanfiction detailing their platonic relationship from childhood friends to spouses. It is over 1 million words long. Pls he needs this

my good friend sunny wrote over 1million words of fanfiction about them that was so good it permanently altered my brain chemistry. also i think the feat of over 1mil words is worth the win (:

Ranboo and Tubbo are canonically married, semi-canonically platonically so. Tubbo and Tommy have known each other for years, and have an understanding of each other that no one else does. Tommy and Ranboo went through a very awkward and begrudging beginning of their friendship, but Ranboo would go on to make Tommy's grave when he died.

I want to start off by stressing that these 3 are characters and are not at all connected to the real world creators that portrayed them aside from having the same name.

c!Ranboo and c!Tubbo were canonically married, with the nature of their marriage being largely ambiguous and up for interpretation! They live together in a mansion with their adopted child, Michael, a tiny baby piglin! c!Tommy was never an official part of their marriage, but the three spent so much time together(before the series' writing took a very unfortunate turn due to behind the scenes stuff) that they might as well have been a qpr polycule! It is confirmed that c!Ranboo(an 8'5 foot tall enderman hybrid) can only look 2 people directly in the eyes with it being STRONGLY implied those 2 people were c!Tommy and c!Tubbo! Their relationship didn't get as much time as it needed due to the series's unfortunate downturn near the end, but while it was there, it was a very comforting, very tender relationship between 3 traumatized young queer teens who were their for one another through their journeys in healing from their various traumas. Also one time c!Tommy and c!Ranboo got high together in a tiny smoke box they made(they also met when Ranboo hit him on the head with a giant flower. An allium, to be specific!).

MAJORWOOD PROPAGANDA:

i went so insane about them they spawned inside my brain, guys ever

They are the Mean Gills and they are canonically qpr!! They would also canonically die for each other

Canon QPR! Confirmed by cc!Martyn :D (he confirmed it on stream after the series ended)

They're canonically a QPR guys!!!! Both the CC's who play the characters have said that they see them as being in a QPR!!!!!! literally the first time ever i've seen any media ever portray a qpr of some sort

someone in Martyn's chat explained what a QPR was and he said "oh that sounds like me and Scott"

[ourhomealien]

Don't gatekeep feelings, please.

TLDR

I'm autistic and so I have a unique vocabulary, so bare with me please.

Hermitcraft to me is a community for all ages, that's what I expect of it. In the same way a child deserves and expects to be able to trust and learn from their parents without abuse or them being literal criminals. People are as bad as they want to be, and you can 100% grieve your expectations of them. Disappointment can hurt anyone. In the same way you invest your feelings into pets knowing they will die, and then grieving when they're gone, you can invest feelings and expectations into people you know about and that isn't childish or naive, it's human. Hermitcraft is in no way culpable for an individual's actions. The amount of distress caused by this VC's actions is widespread and not limited, in the same way an earthquake has aftershocks.

I'm genuinely grieving over iskall, The character and the community they built and the stims and autistic scripts I've built into myself because of them. I was shocked on Saturday, but at the same time, after reading that first line it didn't make sense to be any other hermit (I did not in any way predict this) at the time of reading nothing was confirmed so I felt that, innocent until proven guilty, was the way to go. My heart sank, I felt sick and I wanted to cry, I was on my way home from a long day at work and it was the first day of my hormone cycle at it's worst. The first thoughts I had were, 'no no please, it's not true, it's true, maybe it's the bullies again and he can't cope anymore'. Then the hermits started acting and I thought maybe he doesn't want to be affiliated anymore. But that didn't 100% add up. <33 to the good hermits for being amazing.

In my experience being autistic means 75% of my existence is made up of scripts I've adopted and will continue to adopt, from other people around me locally like my family, from movies, shows, and books growing up, to everything I've consumed information wise, this includes so many people, some that at one time were my hyperfixation, these scripts can be unlearnt, and I have another script that helps ('we don't do that here') but it's still a process and It's stressful and unpleasant.

VC was one of the only people I've subscribed to on twitch, I didn't even watch his live stream (they were way too stressful for me, the pay to win quality of his streams was really frustrating) I just subbed to support him. At least to me he had a 'victim' persona especially when it came to the other hermits and their success in comparison, and this translated to me the need to support him more. (He was a hermit for crying out loud, he was fine, I tell myself now), then I read the truth and the pay to win made sense because he Was showing favouritism, after reading K's statement before I was finished I knew M would be involved too and I just felt incredibly sad and heartbroken for them, no one deserves to be treated like that, and people except a certain level of human decency. I'm sorry that this happens and I'm so sad that it has.

He made me feel Grian was a bad sport and that Grian was wrong to be in videos with his friends because he was more popular, that Grian couldn't be sincere in his joy 'because he was always stealing the limelight' (I was 15 at the time and irl was tough and I had bigger problems going on, I loved C! Grian a lot) and didn't trust anyone, so I started to dislike CC! Grian a lot. (Again young n Major trust issues); I like Grian again now but felt uneasy for a long while.

VC always pops at the end of his videos when he says bye and I always watched to the end just because of it, and at a certain point I started associating popping with saying 'I love you' I did it to my family and it's been a part of my autistic script since late 2018. Others include (Hallo, Omega, of doom)

Iskall's Minecraft character is canonically non-binary/agender and in fanworks they use they/them pronouns and as someone who's a fan of mcyt, Minecraft and is gender q, that was a big deal for me to be canonically represented. They also inspired me to write incredibly niche and rare minecraft lore and head canon's for them (them being a villager/player hybrid); iskall's character is a separate entity but the association is horrifying now and that is extremely disappointing, it was the same with William Gold.

VC has made fun of people's differences and difficulties and has been generally rude at times under the guise of humour. He has laughed at people's trust in the creepest way, that even though I liked him I was scared and put off for days, I was so genuinely angry at him, because I felt humiliated. He knew who he was and laughed at our trust in him. That hurts and angers me even more now.

[sekahni]

To All the Fandoms I've Loved Before

Throughout my life, I've regularly participated in fandom—from enjoying art and AMVs/edits to writing fanfiction for Naruto, Supernatural, One Piece, and more. So, it's safe to say that I have a lot of experience watching the highs and lows of different fandoms.

And, trust me, I know the sting of finishing a series and learning that a ship I've loved for years hasn't been made canon. The frustration when a character I love dies. How a story deviated from what I hoped. It sucks! However, I also remember the hysteria too. Happening again and again. The malicious attacks and inappropriate conduct. Over and over.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, here are some examples:

SasuSaku blogs were flooded with threatening messages after Sasuke and Sakura were confirmed to be a couple

Kikyo stans were harassed out of forums, YT comment sections, etc., simply because they might've preferred her character over Kagome's

Genevieve Padalecki and Danneel Ackles endured a barrage of online attacks, bullying, and threats because they married Jared Padalecki (Sam Winchester) and Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester)

Amanda Abbington, Martin Freeman's ex-wife, faced similar attacks after she was cast as Mary Morstan in BBC's Sherlock—simply because some fans believed she was "getting in the way" of Johnlock

Prior to the Vox Machina animated series, when the campaign was still streaming, many people within the Criticial Role fandom villified Marisha Ray for her relationship with Matthew Mercer, wherein she became the victim of excessive online harassment and bullying

Laura Bailey portrayed Abby Anderson in the Last of Us II, a character who is highly controversial amongst fans. As such, Laura was subjected to mass online harassment and death threats. It was so bad, ign reported that HBO has increased security around Abby's live-action actress, Kaitlyn Dever.

Some Klance and Allurance stans routinely trolled and harassed each other—inciting such extreme inter-fandom conflict online that their "war" spilled into non-ship related content, discouraging others from interacting with the Voltron fandom entirely

Matt Smith faced unfair online criticism at the time of his casting, simply because he was the follow-up act to David Tennant's iconic Tenth Doctor—only for Matt Smith's iteration to be one of the most beloved incarnations ever

The frequent and ongoing racism POC cosplayers face every fucking day—slurs, threats, and more

The Cassandra Clare fandom came for the throats of anyone who had fair and justified criticism of both CC and her work—particularly around copyright infringement

The same thing can be said about the Sarah J. Maas fandom

2010s Tumblr blogs falsely accused John Green of pedophilia because he wrote contemporary romance YA—harassing him for months on Tumblr, and practically driving him off the platform

Marvel fans spread rumors about Brie Larson, accusing her of being an "arrogant racist" because they didn't like her or the MCU's depiction of Carol Danvers

Legend of Korra stans are still targets of misogynistic and racist rhetoric online—both here on Tumblr and on TikTok

The Durarara!! discourse of the 2010s was so fucked up, so vile, people disengaged from the series and the fandom entirely. This affected sales and the second season, which never really gained the traction it deserved because of how insufferable and toxic Durarara!! fans proved to be during the original run of the first season—I mean, people were harassing cosplayers at events! That's how bad it was

I could go on—and on, and on, until this post is nothing but a harrowing list of how people can't seem to behave themselves.

And, these behaviours need to fucking stop.

So, to reiterate what I've said on another post, but targeted towards a wider audience:

Your feelings of disappointment do not give you the right to harass others online

Your feelings of frustration do not give you the right to harass and bully actors, creators, and writers ever—online or otherwise

Your ugly biases will never justify viciously attacking women, POC, queer people, disabled people, and fat people in fandom spaces

You're entitled to feel your feelings and have your opinions. You're allowed to express your disappointment online and within your own community. But don't go around attacking others because of said feelings—this concept really isn't that hard to grasp. And in the same vein, don't incite conflict with fans who are disappointed to gloat about your "victories." Neither of these actions are productive and simply contribute to the growing toxicity in fandom spaces.

The only exception to this, of course, is if you're racist, ableist, fatphobic, homophobic, transphobic, etc. Cause if you're any of those things, you're disgusting and block me right the fuck now. This blog is NOT a safe space for you.

Sincerely,

A jaded fan, sick of the toxicity

[this-is-a-name-dont-worry]

sorry still thinking about Antoine calling the eye guy the Watcher, seemingly its canonical name, when we haven't seen a reason for q!Antoine to know that name.

Like he didn't just say something in french that could translate to the Watcher, he was speaking french and literally said "the Watcher".

There is the possibility that the name was made public and so cc!Antoine saw it and used it without thinking/assuming everyone is using it so he directly used it while talking with Pomme but.

1) he was in an rp moment with Pomme, where he was questioning her on what she can remember. he could have very easily used the same description as her rather than the name

2) cc!Antoine has always tried to be careful about separating what he knows and what his cubito knows. He kept himself fom asking about SOFIA despite knowing of her existence because q!antoine didn't know about SOFIA. When the Codes pretended to be eggs and Aypierre gave him a recap, he tried to ask the questions so Aypierre would give him the mimicked eggs names since cc!antoine knew who they were and wanted to make sure his character would know who they are too. So it seems weird he would let the Watcher name slip up like that when nothing in the conversation was given to make him do so. which brings me to...

3) I get there's a possibility that because it's been one month, cc!antoine has lost a bit the habit of separating what he knows from what his cubito knows. I was thinking it may have been the case, until I remembered that last week he literally was the culprit in a murder mystery and played well enough that at the end only one person decided to accuse him, despite everyone thinking for half of the game he was suspicious and could be the culprit. Which means he very recently played a character who knew things he shouldn't let be known, and had a recent rp experience. So it's not as if he simply didn't do rp and separating player knowledge from character knowledge for one month

I think I'm gonna rewatch that moment (and maybe some others) to be sure

Like it's still possible he simply messed up because it became common knowledge (and I missed the moment it became common knowledge) but also. It's possible q!Antoine is the one who messed up.

[our-heartless-angels]

I got impatient, so I'm gonna info dump my AU onto this blog and none of you can stop me. (It begins below the cut)

Content warnings: Talks of abuse, torture, death, manipulation, miscarriages, and (possible) mentions of self harm (if i get there ofc)

I was really inspired by Crisis Core when creating this au, and at the time I was looking at those "Hero swap" aus where Sephiroth and Cloud swap places. When making my au (with CC in mind), I decided to take that premise and completely flip it on it's head.

Thus, The Seraphim Verdict: An au where everything is the same except for Sephiroth and Cloud. Because of these two being the sole changes, certain events play out very differently. How differently, you may ask? That's what you're about to find out.

In this au, Sephiroth wasn't born from the Jenova Projects. I was inspired by all the angel motifs attached to the canon Sephiroth, so I thought that I would make him into a real angel. A seraph, to be exact. He's the main character of the story. Cloud, however, is a human-turned soulless demon who loves nothing more than to make Sephiroth suffer. He's the main antagonist, and instead of vowing to destroy the planet, vows to become its supreme ruler.

Side note: The remnants we're created when Sephiroth was four, as a result of physically splitting into three people, meaning they cannot exist outside of him, nor can he exist outside of them. He can separate into the three whenever he's put under stress that he can no longer handle, and this happens at random, so yes they used to be in SOLDIER, too. Hojo forced it upon them just as much as he did with Sephiroth, and as a result while Kadaj is mostly the same in behavior as he is canonically, Loz and Yazoo are fundamentally changed due to mistreatment by their peers. Loz is a lot less of a "no brains, only brawns" character, having wizened himself up and sealed away all emotions that weren't his rage, and has sent several SOLDIERS into the infirmary after getting fed up with being beaten by them. (Many SOLDIERs were paid to harrass the trio by Hojo "for their own betterment." He was also forcefully tranquilized out of fear that he'd kill everyone in the building if they did not stop him.) Yazoo regressed into an anxiety filled mess, refusing to stand up for himself, as he fears punishment. People deemed him the weakest link, and he's been a target his whole life, leaving him completely afraid of the world.

Sephiroth was created by many gods all at once, using the soul of what would have ended up being Sephiroth, as Lucrecia in this universe ended up having a miscarriage, meaning that Project S was a failure. Though because they used the soul of what was to be the Sephiroth we would all know and love (or hate), this seraph would have been made flawed in their eyes. He, as a newly created (baby) seraph, would have earned an extra wing. An extra wing that was a part of his more human-like appearance. They only saw him as a mistake that shouldn't have been made, and they dumped him onto Gaia, his Grace intact and everything. The gods thought their creation would have not been capable of survival in this fragile form of a child, and thus pretended he never existed, abd because of this, never made another angel ever again.

From the start, the seraph has known abandonment. From the start, he was fated to be alone. From the start, he lacked the love he deserved to have. That was, until a distraught Lucrecia stumbled upon the abandoned baby one night outside of Shinra HQ. Being worried for the child's safety, and holding that longing of wishing to be a mother, decided to take him as her own in secret, once determining that he was abandoned there.

In secret, she cared for him. She loved him dearly, and was completely enamored by his tiny, white feathered wing. Unfortunately, this didn't last very long, as one day Professor Hojo discovered him and decided to take him away without her knowledge. As she was returning to the child, she was distraught by his disappearance, and through grief she left, never to be seen again. Hojo, now in possession of Sephiroth, decided to write off Project S as a sucess, in an attempt to hide his true research.

Sephiroth has the same kind of childhood he would have in canon, though he was never really addressed as a person until he was around ten years old (in human years), and instead he was treated like a beast. Even when he started calling him a "he" instead of an "it", he never really treated him well whatsoever. Even if he was supposed to be his father, he never acted like one. Not once. Those abandonment issues and that separation anxiety he harbored ever since he was an infant only got worse the older he got, as Hojo often took advantage of this, and he purposefully had him isolated. Sephiroth rarely interacted with others in his childhood years.

Sephiroth would also experience everything he would come to experience in his life pre Crisis Core, and all the way up until he was an adult. Crisis Core does play out relatively the same, save for a few key differences.

Those differences were: He was lied to twice about what he truly was, Cloud's jealousy towards Sephiroth's position and perceived power, and the subsequent attempts to squander his good name which lead to him seeking out a power beyond himself to get his wish of power granted (by a demon who was thought to be a god), though at the cost of his humanity, and thus his slowly degrading sanity, the Nibelheim Incident was all staged (Sephiroth pretend to go insane) in an attempt to draw Cloud out, and have him show everyone what he really was, Zack doesn't get killed, and Genesis doesn't end up with Deepground

The events post Crisis Core are both very much the same and also very different. While Cloud was going around, and continuing to try and paint Sephiroth in a bad light through lies and deceptions, Sephiroth, who had newly acquired an ally in Vincent Valentine, are going after Cloud, as Sephiroth knew the truth behind Cloud's false acts of heroism. The two go out to Shinra HQ, where they discover the existence of the Black Materia, to which after promptly putting an end to Professor Hojo, set out to retrieve it before Cloud does. When they suceed, it would be moments before they come across Cloud (and his freshly manipulated group of friends). Sephiroth, who has been anticipating their arrivals, decided to hand the black materia to Vincent, telling him to leave and not return until he deemed it was safe. By the time they arrived, Vincent was long gone, and Sephiroth remained.

Cloud made an attempt to pry out the location of the black materia on his person? and Sephiroth, who wasn't exactly lying to him, tells him he never had such a thing in his possession. Cloud wouldn't believe him though, and after countless attempts at making him hand over something he never once had in this moment, beat up the seraph in a fit of anger before leaving him there once determining that he wasn't lying. Sephiroth not once fought back against Cloud, as it felt completely unnecessary. Vincent does eventually return, taking Sephiroth with him to where they were currently camping out, so he could tend to his wounds in a safer location.

That night, however, they would receive a nighttime visit from a very distressed Aerith, who sought out Sephiroth personally. She was quick to beg and plead with the angel, knowing that he was the key to her salvation. She asked him to send her back to the lifestream. To his shock at such a request, he vehemently refused her no matter how much she pleaded with him to. Aerith then told him everything about the mistreatment she suffered behind everyone's back through the hands of Cloud Strife. All the gritty details of his physical and mental abuse upon her were laid bare for him to see, and that was enough for him to (reluctantly) aid in her suicidal desires under confirmation that this was something she actively wanted.

Pretty soon, he was to take Vincent to meet with her at a place long forgotten to time. While Vincent remained stoic about this predicament for the sake of not worrying the seraph, Sephiroth's thoughts were all over the place despite his blank expression. He tells Vincent to hide himself in case Cloud's group decided to go and find her, while he went to prepare himself for this moment. He complies, and once he left, Sephiroth took up residence in a high spot and waited. Unfortunately, he still had his gripes about doing such a thing. He didn't have much time to dwell, as Cloud came over towards a praying Aerith, who looked furious that she left him and the others behind. Before Cloud could do anything against her, Sephiroth made his move. As he was inches away from taking her life, he sensed her feelings about this shifting away, and coming to the conclusion that she didn't actually want to die anymore. It was too late, however, as by the time she had second thoughts about it, his blade would pierce through her, and she would ultimately die by Sephiroth's hands.

He was absolutely horrified by what he had done. The trauma of knowing her final feelings were that of wanting ro live hit him like a bag of bricks, as he quickly withdrew his blade. He looked at her in complete horror and silence, as Cloud's anger rose. From that moment on, Cloud declared to Sephiroth that he will make him suffer tenfold for what he did to the cetra girl, and he immediately left to quell his rage before it got worse, leaving Sephiroth to be responsible for putting her body into the waters that surrounded him, a sombre tone suffocating him all the wile.

Zack Joins the duo a few days later, after he was satisfied with his visit to his family. While the death of Aerith remained fresh on Sephiroth and Vincent's minds, they refused to tell Zack about it. It was during the addition of Zack, that they came across one of the gods. A god of time by the name Chronos had come in search for the seraph they got rid of, a feeling that he was still alive having brought him there. He was the sole god who wanted him dead, and thus he finally came to fulfill such a wish. When the trio arrived, Sephiroth immediately told his allies to leave. While Vincent understood why, Zack however, had a much harder time understanding why he didn't just let him fight with him. Sephiroth told Zack that this was his payment for forcing all those assignments onto him in the past, and that he's doing this to keep him alive, to which got Zack to reluctantly comply, and they two went somewhere more safe.

The subsequent battle was brutal and completely unfair. A mere seraph going against a whole god was simply unheard of, and the seraph was very close to losing his life, though by a stroke of luck, he managed to pick up on the secrets to Chronos' underhanded tatics, and decided to use them against him, which lead to him out right managing to kill the god for the sake of his survival. Beatened and bloodied, Sephiroth then collapsed. Vincent and Zack return, only to see a dead god, and their barely allive leader. They were quick to grab him and retreat, where Sephiroth would spend a few days recovering (much to his disapproval).

Sephiroth, after fully recovering, decided the next thing they would do is to break out those who were pulled under Cloud's influence. It was time they knew the real truth. They then silently trailed after Cloud and co, one by one convincing Yuffie, Red XIII, Cait Sith (and by extension Reeve), Cid, Barret, and finally Tifa into joining them on their quest to stop the demon. Each person had varying levels of difficulty when it came to breaking them free, with Tifa being the most stubborn. Once Cloud was alone, he scoffed at the betrayals, deeming that this endeavor was better done solo, and headed to the northern crater on his own.

Once the team was finally assembled proper, they decided to take a break for the next few hours one day to get a clearer head, so they could decide together when it would be the right time to strike, leaving Sephiroth all alone with his own thoughts. He then spent the night alone with the highwind, thinking over all that happened in the past, and hoping that the future he sees in his visions wasn't too out of reach. Eventually, everyone came back together, fully refreshed and ready to take on their foe. The group soon sets out, and what happens is deemed a final battle they would never forget.

Soon after the events, and within the time span of two years, it would be proven that Cloud refused his own demise, and forced himself back into the world of the living. All he felt was hatred towards Sephiroth. This was when he decided to make him pay, setting out to find him. This then began a painful cycle of Cloud finding him, and taking him away somewhere. Sephiroth would then undergo bouts of physical and mental torture that no living human would be able to survive, let alone be left mentally sound if they happened to live from it all. It was a constant loop that eventually was broken up with Zack coming to his rescue (despite it being mostly too late, and the damage having already been done.)

This constant cycle would break down the once untouchable seeming man, leaving him as a broken, and pathetic version of what he once was. Gone were the days where he remained strong in the face of torment, for now he ultimately became soft and meek through his suffering. He became a shell of his former self from then on....

Oh yeah btw Sephiroth stopped physically aging around his twenties, so he permanently looks like how he does in Crisis Core, fun fact.

[rottenpumpkin13]

I think CC had a huuuge problem with fleshing out Genesis and Angeal to be honest. I feel like the personalities they’ve been given by the fandom are mostly fanon and don’t have that much substantiation in canon because AG were both largely used as plot devices- which again I think is a big problem because it doesn’t make you feel or understand either of the characters or why they behave the way they do. By the end of CC I felt really bad for Sephiroth, was ambivalent toward Angeal but still felt a twinge of sadness because of how sad Zack was over him, and absolutely loathed Genesis. I’m still not Genesis’ biggest fan but the canon characterization has made him a bit more endearing, though when I go back to canon and see him I’m left disliking him all over again. Unless you really dig into CC lore you have no idea how Genesis felt about Sephiroth, it just comes off like he was always jealous of him and that the relationship was painfully one-sided with Sephiroth practically begging for his friendship. It doesn’t help that 80% of Genesis’ dialogue is Loveless quotes and the other 20% is him being angry and hateful. I guess it’s justified, but unlike with Sephiroth and Angeal you never see Genesis being anything but hateful. With the other two I found myself sympathizing and mourning the loss of the people they were prior to realizing the truth, but with Genesis I wished he’d just shut up and go away already. The training room scene also doesn’t help his case, because first it starts out with Genesis being cocky and wanting to take Sephiroth alone- despite Angeal’s warning- and then later on blasts his best friend in the face with a fire ball all while talking about being a hero. He purposefully escalates the fight, then when Sephiroth gets serious Genesis gets injured and crap really hits the fan- and all this could’ve been avoided if Genesis hadn’t had an inferiority complex the size of the moon. I also find it hard to excuse this whole sequence of events because this was prior to his degradation, and while it’s unclear whether it had started even before his injury, I’m going to say he was still mostly in his right state of mind and he still behaves like he has no care for his friends, even his childhood friend who was trying to keep the spar friendly and prevent it from turning into a fight to the death.

Sorry about the rant, but that other anon talking about Genesis also brought back my thoughts about him and I felt like sharing since I’ve never really written them out.

Canon vs fanon aside, there's a lot of context and nuance often lost when adapting Japanese dialogue to fit English contexts. My biggest gripe with the training room scene in english is how Genesis proclaims "The world needs a new hero" right before he fights Sephiroth, suggesting he wants to take Sephiroth's place/ be better than him. But then you look at translations like this one and that scene gains a whole new meaning. Genesis instead says "I too would like to become a hero." And rather than the cocky "That's no way to talk to a hero," before he blasts Angeal in the face with a fire ball, he states "All I want is to be a hero."

The training room scene is a lost cause, because it's easy to place the blame on any one of them, or on whoever decided to go in there that day, or even on the fight itself, but accidents happen. But in the end, no one is truly to blame because none of them asked for Jenova cells or to be part of the Jenova Project, and the truth is that if it hadn't been the training room incident, something else would have triggered the degradation, or the conflict as a whole, and they would have been doomed regardless.

And that's why Genesis is so angry, and why he's so desperate for the cure that he keeps reciting what (in his mind) is the answer to the cure. I guess the reason we never see him be anything but reactive to the situation he's in because when we're introduced to him, shit has already hit the fan. He's deserted already. The first scene we see in Crisis Core literally has Angeal answer the phone and get the news that Genesis left. The only crumb of pre-degradation Genesis we get is the training room scene which—as mentioned above—got mistranslated in English, so of course we're going to think Genesis was hot-headed and envious (which in all honesty he could've just as well have been).

It's easier to sympathize with Angeal and Sephiroth because everything that's happening is happening because Genesis revolted against Shinra, and I get that. But what makes me sympathize with Genesis (and this is coming from someone who used to hate him) is the degradation and his motives. He wants a cure. He wants to live, and it's hard to live when your body is working against you and literally degrading because of something completely out of your control. On top of that, the people after you, the organization you've always aspired to be a part of because of your childhood hero, your friends including that hero, are on the side of those who did this to you.

Don't know if this makes any sense because I'm literally trying not to fall asleep writing this out asfshsjska

[nextstop-fixationstation]

Do you think Sasha's blatant dismissiveness of Marcy's interests was just a testament to her inability to care for things that didnt interest her, or do you think, perhaps, it's something that was developed over time as Marcy didn't stop trying to get them to watch War of Warlocks and play creatures and caverns?

I ask because, if I'm not mistaken, Matt once said they would sometimes play games together when they were alone and I always found it odd how the strategic side of CC didn't appeal to Sasha, which got me thinking if she didn't feel somewhat put off by Marcy's approach to the situation?

I quite like this interpretation because it adds another layer to their communication issues, but pre-amphibia Sasha definitely looked like someone who didn't give a chance to things that didn't outright interest her.

Sorry for the long ask and I hope I made sense here!

Thanks for the ask!

to be honest, I don't think it has anything to do with inability to care or reaction to Marcy's insistence that they watch WoW/play CC. I think that this is much more a testament to the state of their overall relationship, which allowed Marcy to do things no one wanted to do in their presence and allowed Sasha to be kind of mean about it, all while Anne panicked about how to handle the situation on the sidelines.

Sasha still played games and watched the film, paying attention enough to know the plot twist at the end and to know what kinds of things Marcy liked, she just wasn't very nice about it. I think it's more of a testament to how people can get comfortable with being casually mean to each other or bully each other even if they don't actually enjoy it. In the same way, it's easy for people to settle into a routine of being fine going through the motions during shared activities instead of discussing with each other and finding things everyone can enjoy. In Marcy's Journal, Marcy talks about how they all come to terms with the fact CC isn't something they all enjoy, and Marcy resolves to find something they can all do together!

(Also, and this is an aside, I suppose, very little is actually said about Sasha and CC, and it is the case IRL that sometimes people just don't like a game system. Sasha could have liked the strategy but hated the RP or vice versa, or the dice and number system could have been too frustrating for her to enjoy. D&D has strategy and RP elements, but it's far from the best in either direction. If you wanted a pure strategy game, you could probably just go back to Chess, and if you wanted a better RP system, you could almost certainly find a better one out there by an indie creator or big company! D&D just has brand recognition.)

I think that when it comes to Sasha, it's important to note that Sasha's character and arc don't pertain very much to the concept of pure "interest." That's a very "Marcy" or "Anne" thing. While everyone in the Calamity Trio has something to do with attachment, Sasha has much more to do with power and control. Sasha and Marcy maintain a relationship wherein they don't question each other and just go along with what the other does, backing them up even if they don't care about or for what they're doing. It's why Marcy has so much confidence that Anne and Sasha will be okay with the plan with Andrias, and it's why Sasha is so convinced that Anne and Marcy will just go along with her coup. This is a flaw in their relationship, not a feature.

Perhaps Sasha wouldn't give things she didn't care about a chance if she didn't feel it interested her, but I think it's probably more accurate to frame it as it being ignored if it wasn't beneficial. Canonically, we actually see that Sasha pays great attention to things that seem to disinterest her, even if it doesn't feel that way! That's part of what makes Sasha so interesting, at least to me

[getvalentined]

What’s your opinions of the various ffvii compilation games?

Oh I am a huge proponent of the Compilation as a whole; I know that opinion is rare for someone who's been in the fandom from the beginning, but I'm an insufferable lore gremlin and I just eat up everything the series has to offer. I have three different copies of Advent Children (the original on DVD, ACC on DVD, and ACC on blu-ray) and even still watch Last Order on occasion.

The series itself is really fascinating and staggeringly consistent (I've talked about how the implied timeline of the Jenova Project as presented in-game is so consistent that it matches up with real-world human gestational science), with the exception of the FF7Re series—which I can deal with, since it's canonically on a different timeline and therefore any retcons there are literal in-universe retcons, which is pretty brilliant.

That said, I'mma put ratings for the pieces of the Compilation individually under a cut!

OG FF7: 9/10. would be 10/10 if the English localization were better. Where it all started, still one of my favorite games of all time.

Advent Children (+Complete): 8/10. Not a game, but part of the Compilation! Anyone who says the plot makes no sense doesn't realize that they're watching a sequel that relies very heavily on people understanding the history and characterization of every single character shown.

Last Order: 6.5/10. Also not a game, also part of the Compilation. Love that this is implied to literally be Tseng's coverup of what happened with Zack, presented in anime form. Makes no sense in multiple places as a result, but if you know that's what it is then you can 100% see why it's portrayed that way! Honestly I really enjoyed it and wish more people would appreciate it for what it is.

Dirge of Cerberus: 7/10. The gameplay kinda sucks but honestly the storyline is super good—or it would be, if the entire fucking prologue hadn't been cut from any release outside Japan, thereby leaving the entire issue with DeepGround completely unexplained to all other audiences. Once you know what is going on, the storyline here is fantastic, and I've never really forgiven SE for not releasing the rest of it. I love that Dirge fills in the lore for Vincent that was cut when he was relegated to "optional" in the OG, and that it also helps to clarify why Midgar could have 9 functional mako reactors while every other reactor in the world is either sputtering to nothing or exploding. (It's Omega. Midgar is built over Omega. It's the place where all lines of the Lifestream converge so that Omega can draw it all in and carry it away at the end of the world, and Shinra never discovered that's why the mako well there is so expansive. I love good worldbuilding, and Dirge is a beautiful example of that.)

Before Crisis: N/A. I want this game so bad man where is it give it to meeeee. Honestly tho I've watched playthroughs and read scripts where available, and while I don't think it looks like much fun from a modern gameplay perspective, I have huge respect for it as far as development goes. This is one of the first really mainstream mobile games ever made, it was made for flip phones, and it's super extensive! Also it gave me Veld, who is one half of my favorite ship ever, which means it automatically gets a 7/10 even if I've never played it.

Crisis Core (+Reunion): 9/10. As fun to play as the OG. When I first played this on PSP over a decade ago, it hit me with such an intense feeling of nostalgia that it almost took me off my feet. In spite of the dramatic difference between game mechanics in CC versus the OG, it felt exactly like playing the OG again, and that feeling never really left. Humanized Sephiroth in a beautiful way that pissed off a bunch of fanboys and made me fall in love with him all over again. Also introduced my second favorite FF7 character ever, Genesis, who is one half of one of my core FF7 ships, so A+ on that too!

FF7 Remake (+InterMISSION): 8/10. Had a lot of fun with this one, and it's beautiful, but it doesn't have a lot of replayability in my experience, which is a shame. Would have been 6 or 7/10 if not for InterMISSION, which was a fucking delight.

FF7 First SOLDIER: 6/10. This applies to both the Battle Royale and the title in Ever Crisis. I am not a fan of Glenn & Co. but I love 14 year old Sephiroth and really appreciate that extension of lore and worldbuilding, so it's a decent balance. I love that the opening cutscene for the battle royale literally filled a 20+ year old plot hole in under two minutes.

FF7 Rebirth: 9.5/10. The only things that could make me like this game more would be if Vincent were playable (although I understand why he's not and, in spite of him being my favorite fictional character ever, I agree with this decision), and fewer required minigames. Just cut like one or two. Or fix the controls, maybe. Glide de Chocobo is even more broken now that it's been patched.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Monster!Izuku: All Might? You mean that weirdo Mothman wannabe? I dunno he's fine I guess?

Hero!Izuku: I mean just... it's weird for me I guess. I know I had a poster of him in my room, but to hear someone be so... neutral about him is weird.

Villain!Izuku: I mean I had a poster of him too so it's not that weird.

Vigilante!Izuku: ...you threw darts at it didn't you.

Hero!Izuku: No! Tell me it at least wasn't the 30th anniversary holographic poster! There were only 200 made and to destroy one is basically crime!

Villain!Izuku: >:D

Monster!Izuku: Hey V wanna get outta here while they throw hands?

Vigilante!Izuku: Sure. As long you explain more about the deals! They sound so interesting and fun to think about!

The thing about Villain is that he wouldn't because at his core he's Izuku and would NEVER but he has no problem letting his other self believe he did.

Also yeah Monster is so weird because there are no 'Heroes' to him. Like he's met most of these people by now so he can connect who is who regardless of if they still use their Names or not. But there's no fandom for them as essentially 'idols'.

THAT SAID

I'd like to see a fight between them because their styles are just. So different.

Hero ofc has his canon/CC Quirk(s). But Vigilante is fighting mostly-Quirkless, with rare and quick uses of his Quirk in a pinch(and it doesn't exactly work on the other Izukus). Villain has little issue using his Quirk, though it won't work on his counterparts, but he may have another trick or two up his sleeves, And Monster has Magic which is. Gonna go sideways and break some rules to the others.

Combat experience is all over the place too. Monster can fight, but it's not his focus. Villain has the most combat-training, but little experience. Vigilante has the most experience but little actual training from someone who knows what they're doing. Hero is mixed on having both training and experience.

[emi-writings]

Honestly, still kinda pissed that someone saw my jokey post about changing c!Wilbur – in a way that would have resulted in the exact same mc skin – and decided to scold me for “changing a loved character” in a way they considered “sucks”.

Could you imagine if commented every fanart of zombie Wilbur with “this isn’t canon and also it sucks” just because I personally didn’t like the zombie Wilbur headcanon?

My headcanons also aren’t something new, I just held back on how extreme they were because I knew people who were obsessed with cc!Wilbur would get upset for doing things cc!Wilbur wouldn’t like, even if I could back up why I have those headcanons from the canon material!

Just because I posted something in a jokey way, it doesn’t mean that these aren’t things I have spent years exploring in my fanfics, ideas that always wanted to expand on but never did before.

Why do I headcanon Wilbur as a witch? Because potions in Minecraft are considered magic, you get the death message “killed by magic” when killed by potions, and the mob witch uses potions. Wilbur is strongly associated with potions because he started a potion scam when he joined the dsmp! I held back from including things like astrology, but now that cc!Wilbur is dead to the fandom, I figured I wouldn’t need to anymore.

I’ve actually included Wilbur with witchy tattoos in my fanfics before! In the first ever tattoo artist/flower shop in the tntduo fandom!

Gender nonconforming Wilbur is simply based on the fact that he does act very gender nonconforming in canon. He serenaded Quackity to get him pregnant, he refers to himself as the Yin to Quackity’s Yang, I don’t want to touch on the Ghostbur and Friend shenanigans.

Wilbur not understanding geography? He needs help finding things on the server, and he clearly doesn’t know how countries work if he thinks he can just claim a piece of unused land and call it a country. It’s a funny little joke, he doesn’t even know what exactly is going on in terms of countries in the server, he just cares about his own thing.

Wilbur is one of the many characters that didn’t have a canonically height listed, so I made him a bit shorter than his cc! counterpart… He’s still taller than most other characters, it’s not much of a difference that I think would matter.

We know Wilbur is a musician as he composed the L’manburg anthem, but canonically the only instruments in the dsmp are the noteblocks. But I think woodwind instruments make sense for Wilbur, since they’re capable of playing some hauntingly beautiful melodies, and as the son of the angel of death, I think that would make sense for his character.

Like, I shouldn't feel more pressured to make my headcanons of c!Wilbur more like cc!Wilbur after we all agreed that the character was separate from the content creator!

[anotherdayforchaosfay]

Finished Dragon Age The Veilguard!!!

Wtf!?!?!?!?

Valrico is dead? Been dead the entire time? It would've taken the entire team to keep me from ending Solas for that fuckery.

I very much want to destroy the fucker.

Next time, I'm sending Harding to distract on Tearstone Island. Losing both Davrin and Assan is just too much. Yes, I'll cry when Harding dies, but at least it's just one person and not a team.

I found those weird circle things and got the secret post-credit thing. There had better be another game because there is still a lot of lore that needs answering. Like who tf are those people? How do we heal the titans? How do we cure the blight? What's the storm the qunari are fleeing from?

My Inquisitor, Ghanima Lavellan, went with Solas into the Fade. She is too good for that asshole. I will, however, let that be their ending...and I need to write that but of the fanfic because, um, I wrote her as having his children post-Inquisition. Twin girls, who would be turning 10 years old shortly after she leaves. Soooooo much personal lore to write. It's gonna make me cry so damn hard.

Why tf is the game so short? I looked up info on any new addons for the game too. Nope. It's done. Finished. Nothing will be added. Less than 100 hours, and I went full fucking completion with it too. Why is it so short?

The choices made had no impact. Just determined the armor and abilities. Nothing else. No lasting impact, no nothing. It was like not a single choice meant anything. It feels so damn empty.

How tf did this game get any awards for the music? This is a weak soundtrack. How they managed to have it so weak with the two most amazing composers is mind boggling too. There are couple good songs, but they only work with context. The other DA games didn't need context. You could listen to them without knowing anything about the games, and you would still feel the emotions and mood. But DATV? It's empty noise. Especially the fight music.

I do like the way the fights are handled though. Really got my heart racing, and that was fun.

Why tf doesn't Rook have a bed? The room looks cold! They need a bed and blankets. A chaise is not enough. I will correct this when I write my Rook's story.

I know it's canon Lucanis has no sexual experience, and I do like how well conveyed it is. What I don't like is that we were lead to believe the romance was steamy. It was fade-to-black (done rather well though), and all I saw were boobs. I thought this would be at BG3 level of steamy. Nope. Not at all. Please tell me the other romances don't do the weak fade-to-black. DAO may have had some awkward angles, but at keast we had something. Why bother with bulge in CC when it doesn't mean anything other than appearance? This is irritating.

I do like hearing the team complimenting each other during fights, as well as shouting warnings.

It would be nice if there were dots on the map indicating enemies. Like in most games. Swirling the camera around to find if there are any results in motion sickness.

Overall, I give the game 6/10 stars. If they had said it would be fade-to-black and didn't lead us on with thinking otherwise, the rating would be higher. For context, DAO/DAA are 10/10 stars, DA2 is 8/10, and DAI is 9/10.

I'll be romancing Davrin next.

[trafficteamsupportexchange]

How to sign up for TTSE through AO3

Join the discord server above to be given the sign-up link on 12/15!

You can join the discord server as a pinch hitter or a beta reader, even if you don't plan to join officially or you missed the deadline.

TTSE Masterpost | Gift Guidelines | Timeline

Discord Invite: https://discord.gg/3YC3V8BfCY

TTSE is an exchange that focuses on canon life series groups and their team dynamics, though the dynamics themselves don't have to be strictly canon nor does the gift have to stay in a canon compliant/divergent universe. Those specifications should be mentioned by your giftee when they sign up. TTSE intends to be strictly Non RPF, so anything created through this exchange should be about the characters and not the CCs.

By default, assume that the wanted dynamics between everyone in the group is platonic teammates. It is up to you/the giftee to clarify your/their wants and dislikes when you/they sign-up, including but not limited to the following: your/their pov preferences, dynamic desires, what the characters mean to each other (romantically involved, siblings/family, best friends, etc), what you/they don't want included, and more. I suggest requesting more than one team or potential dynamic to help limit things going to pinch hitters.

Look under the cut for a step by step guide on how to sign up!

This exchange is focused on canon teams/alliances that the mod team and I have decided were significant enough to include, so the tag set is predetermined meaning we can skip the hassle of tag nominations. That makes it a bit easier. Please note that I have a siteskin so the colors are going to be different than you may have.

After you have completed your assignment, you can create treats for other members unless they specifically opt out of them, said in the description of that specific request form. Treats are extra gifts you made and are not restricted by the gift guidelines as strictly.

Request Form

Above is what the request form will look like. You can request up to six forms, a number I picked so you could have a different form for each season if you desired. Everything is required with the exception of a Prompt URL. This is there in case you are someone who utilizes letters. In that case, you would put the link there, but they aren't required so I won't be going over them.

By selecting Secret Life, the tag set pops up with all the accepted teams. This is to make matching easier for everyone. By default, they are marked with the & symbol, and it is up to me to clarify what I would want in the description box. I recommend giving your gifter multiple options to choose from to reduce things going to pinch hits.

I will now run through three scenarios, all using a different gift type and a different season from one another. You can request multiple gift types or seasons in one form if you would like, as well.

Gift Type: Fanfic | Life Series: Secret Life

Just incase the image is difficult to read, here is what it says in the Description box:

I would like to see Gem&Scott as siblings, Scott/Impulse as romantic, and Gem&Impulse as best friends or in a queerplatonic relationship. Alternatively, I would also like them all in a queer platonic relationship. Likes: canon compliment/divergent, minecraft mechanics, band/celebrity au, modern with magic au, fantasy au, fae/elven cherryblings, demon impulse, physical affection, compliments, arranged marriage/fake dating, etcetc [continue with whatever else you like] DNW: unhappy ending, graphic depictions of violence, use of The End, medical trauma, etcetc [continue listing whatever you don't want to be written for either trigger or preference reasons] Prompts: 1. Scott and Impulse start fake dating for whatever reason, but Gem is onto them | 2. continue with whatever prompts or ideas you would like to see that your giftee may or may not use

Gift Type: Digital Art | Life Series: Third Life

Just incase the image is difficult to read, here is what it says in the Description box:

I would like both treebark and flower husbands to be romantic, or at least depicted to be very close. Likes: canon compliment/divergent, physical affection (ex. kissing, cuddling, helping with self care slash caregiving), flower crowns for Scott/Jimmy, royalty outfits for Ren/Martyn, feel free to trans and/or yurify them but keep it queer (mlm or wlw no mlw), potentially specific canvas sizes I prefer, etcetc [can add more] Do not draw: AUs outside of canon divergent, graphic harm/body horror but some blood and violence is okay, eyestrain, neons, dark shadows that make it hard to see the art, etcetc [add more if you have more] Prompts: 1. Treebark post-beheading | 2. Flower husbands proposal | 3. Flower husbands in a flower field (potentially with/making flower crows) | 4. Treebark dead/dying close to each other and reaching out to slash holding each other with their last breaths | 5. Scott at Jimmy's grave grieving with ghost!Jimmy watching | etcetc

Gift Type: Analogue Art | Life Season: Last Life

Just incase the image is difficult to read, here is what it says in the Description box:

Scar and Joel's relationship can be up to artist interpretation. Shadow Alliance as platonic or queerplatonic, but I would be open to Cleo/Lizzie and Lizzie/Ren being romantic. Likes: paper layer art, colored pencils, markers, vibrant colors, hybrid headcanons, honestly go wild! surprise me Dislikes: please don't use watercolors, oilpants, or anything else that could be faint or hard to see Prompts: 1. Scar and Joel doing wizard-y things together | 2. Shadow Alliance in a fantasy and/or royal AU | 3. Shadow Alliance all as fairies | 4. Scar and Joel as a nature elf and a wolf hybrid respectively interacting

Offers Form

The offers form is extremely important because this is how AO3 matches gifters to giftees. The description box isn't important for this section, but everything else is. If you select the "Any" section, it really means any, so please ensure that you are okay with that, because it will negate anything you have selected in the associated box.

So, for example, if I'm okay writing for any season, but only specific teams, my form would look like this:

Or, as another example, let's say I only wanted to write for Double Life, but I was okay with writing any relationship/team in there. I could mark it in either of the following ways, or both.

After you have your requests and offers set up, go ahead and submit, and then you're done/officially signed up! Feel free to edit/make tweaks during the sign-up period, because it's stuck like that after.

And that should cover everything! Feel free to ask any inquires you have here or in the #questions-for-mods channel in the discord :D