#character study ish

[snakeredbirdbatkatana]

Brother will you believe (until my bones are dust)

Tim will always be the first.

The first bird to hold a mantle covered in the corpses of Dick's wings, the first to carve a space into his heart, to make an all consuming void that only a brother can be.

"Bruce's alive, I can prove it."

He's angry at the world at Batman. How dare he leave, making another mess for Dick to clean up. Damian a child that he barley knows, Jason angry and vying for a cowl that both know, they don't believe in.

It's been years since Dick has worn the suit he worked so hard for. Passed from Jason to Tim. Only one with his actual consent not that his consent ever seems to matter anymore.

"Grayson, when will Drake be gone? He's unneeded."

Tim is all he has the only constant the only thing he can actual lean on. His little brother who has had his throat slit by Jason, and Damian is doing his damn best to push his out. He's backed into a corner.

Choices, a constant balancing act that all the acrobatics in the world won't allow him to slip from. Selfishness is his only net and for once he isn't gonna hit the ground.

"Tim I need you, I need my brother, I need someone to watch my back. We can come back to it but for now I need to breathe."

He leans back into the smell of coffee and absolutely horrid axe body spray that every teenager seems to love and just inhaled. He can feel a knife uncomfortable against his back, and what sounds like typing but he doesn't dare move.

His net curled around him and for once the world is quiet. Jason, Damian, and Bruce can come later.

For now it's Tim and Dick Grayson and he can feel the air.

[sexy-raccoons]

So something interesting I’ve noticed is how people treat Lockwood’s character especially how they handle his obvious suicidal tendencies. I mean, Winkman picked up on it within literal minutes of meeting the kid it’s not like he’s hiding it well, but anyways

George: George treats Lockwood’s tendencies as something you have to work around. He doesn’t really like it, but he doesn’t try to hard to stop it farther than telling Lucy she has to be able to tell him no or she’ll “make him worse”. We see this and we know George cares about him a whole deal and we know that they’ve been bets tied for a while now and yet George hardly knows anything personal about Lockwood. George doesn’t extend a helping hand so Lockwood doesn’t attempt to take it

Kipps: We all see how Kipps treats Lockwood’s disregard for life. He believes that there is no saving Lockwood and the best thing they could do is let him kill himself before he drags someone down with him, which we see when he talks to Lucy saying “you don’t know what he’s really like” and something along the lines of “you better leave before he drags you down with him”. Kipps not only doesn’t extend that helping hand but he takes it and runs from Lockwood as fast as he can, and so Lockwood doesn’t even pretend to like him (plus he’s a bit of a jerk but they’re all jerks Lockwood just has a tolerance for some of them)

Lucy: And here’s where it gets interesting. Unlike the others she doesn’t run away or dance around the problem, she looks it dead in the eyes and tells it to stop. She offers Lockwood her hand again and again and each time she does it Lockwood gets a little closer to taking it because each time she does it is a time no one else tried. Everyone had given up on him, decided that he was a lost cause and his fate was sealed, but Lucy just wouldn’t stop and so when she offered her helping hand, Lockwood took it. Yeah he doesn’t quite know what to do with it now that he has it but the fact that he took it is what important. It’s why she was only there for a couple months or so and he was opening that door when George couldn’t even ask about it after a year of living with the man

The reason why I love Lucy and Lockwood together so much is this. It’s because Lucy never gave up on him and it gave Lockwood hope in himself. The two make each other better people and that’s amazing

[riovidalswife]

everyone's talking about tua season four and how five & lila didn't make sense and how out of character it was for five and yes , i entirely agree on five's behalf .

and as much as i'm a fan of diego and lila ( they're actually me and my girlfriend )

lila's response & later actions are entirely in character .

people seem to forget she was an assassin as trained by her mother after her parents were killed ? i don't know if it's because they haven't seen s2 in a while or they don't like to think woman has character beyond wife + mother but i digress .

five understands lila , they've both killed for the same organisation. after that , they both experienced the same six years of the mundane normal life after a lifetime of kill after kill just to find a solution, murder with no end goal in sight. for lila this means never being in one place too long , her only proper connection being her 'mum' the handler and lets be foreal that's not exactly a healthy relationship . to go from that to having a family , being a mum and living in a stable environment is one hell of a change .

she has the opportunity to escape that , at first for a little while , with five . someone who knows what it feels like to carry more bodies than family and once they look past each of their potential egos & etcetera there's familiarity in that . and when they get stuck he knows how to survive too , they exist for seven years - unsure if they even have a world to go back to . and to find safety, along with the last person from your world it's a combination like no other for her .

she has someone who understands her , the chaos of the situation , the sudden relief of safety after seven years & no idea if you have a home to go back to is the perfect recipie to make lila's brain tick . she's in a situation feeding into all sorts of different ways of her brain and it's exactly what she needs , of course she's going to chase that .

also its the folklore love triangle

[themarginalthinker]

@roseate-lagomorph as there's too much info to just put in a reply on a post lol

Here is some of the romantic pairs and their relationships one can find in the Warren:

-Blue and Tweak are in....something of a relationship, though whether the two of them would categorize it as romantic if they were asked is. Well. Probably not? They do engage in ~*activities*~ and, without spoilering too much, there is a definite physical aspect to it, but it's more complicated than a romance. (As for whether they understand what Charlie says when she calls them 'kimessis'...well, Tweak does, and refuses to explain it to Blue, and laughs at his poor, non-homestuckian confusion.)

-Jen and Fenster: mlm, they're canonically married, rings and all, and have been for the better part of the 20th century. And even beyond that, they're more monogamous than most Kindred would be. For as much as they love to yell at each other, arguments one can hear halfway across the warren when they really get into it.

-Tanner, Neb, and Kink: two Nos and a ghoul between them. The three are pretty inseparable and have been together for a good while. Tanner might not say no to a one-night-stand, Kink is canonically a sex worker of various scenes and specialties, and Neb is a (willing) blood-doll for the pair who also does paid feeding work for Kindred in the city if they have the money or goods/info to trade. Always sold together do not separate them lol.

-Might not be a relationship other than a mentor/cool older aunt type deal, but Charlie has a crush on Bobbin, which, if she has it her way, the older Nos will NEVER hear about lmao.

-Charlie also has....something(tm) going on with Toreador fledgling Amber Glass. A lot like Tweak and Blue's 'relationship', but more like Amber suggests doing something utterly batshit, Charlie tells her how dumb a plan that is, inadvertently makes suggestions for how to do the Bad Plan better, and then tries to hold on as Amber does that bc now she's got Charlie Involved.

-Zephyr is aroace and would like you to ask before giving hugs, even if she usually accepts them, thank u.

Overall, these relationships are the most stable and long-lasting of what the characters are doing romantically/physically with other people, but they act more as the core of their romantic life, rather than the breath of it. Being a Kindred is a different experience than being Kine, and that means that their perception, both physically and mentally, of sex and love can shift a little. Especially when you live for centuries. All of them have their flings, one-night-stands, preferred feeding partners, preferred torpormates if any at all, preferred confidants and loved ones and clanmates. It's sort of understood that being with someone doesn't necessarily mean you're with them all the time, or that seeking other avenues of attention means you won't be loyal to your core.

[verymuchablog42]

king by florence + the machine is SUCH a nancy wheeler song, omg

"You need to go to war to find material to sing" "But you need your rotten heart" "I need my golden crown of sorrow / My bloody sword to swing" "I never knew my killer would be coming from within" "A woman is a changeling, always shifting shape" "I was never satisfied, it never let me go" "We argue in the kitchen about whether to have children / And about the world ending, and the scale of my ambition" "The very thing you're best at is the thing that hurts the most"

do you see the vision? tell me you see the vision, i am going crazy over this

[moonlight-breeze-44]

I would like to agree with EVERYTHING OP said, this is a great analysis of Tammy's character. I love what NCIS: New Orleans did with her, and I love that they did it so casually.

Because the thing is, yes, we need queer representation in media that discusses the struggles we have to face and the shit we have to go through on a daily basis. It's IMPORTANT for shows to cover homophobia, coming out, and loss of friends/family because of sexuality. Because that's real. That's what a lot of us face.

But, and this might be a controversial opinion: I think stories like Tammy's are equally as important.

On NCIS: New Orleans, Tammy's sexuality is never an issue. She comes out cleanly, casually, and on her own terms to her team. Jokes about her sexuality are perfectly woven into everyday conversations that she has with them. Her team, from Day 1, has been 100% accepting and supportive of Tammy. No muss, no fuss. There were never even any serious conversations about it. Her sexuality is normalized to the point that they portray her relationships as a plot point like they would any straight character. Asking for relationship advice, discussing past trauma, etc. It's so PERFECTLY executed and real. And I argue that it's so, so important to see.

Because this world can be scary for the LGBTQIA+ community. For young kids who are just beginning to realise they're a part of it, it might even feel like a bad thing. They might even wish that they could be straight, or cis, or what-have-you. I know I did. Because the truth is that, even in 2023, our world is still unfriendly. I think it's important to be real about that, but I also think it's important to have stories like Tammy's where her sexuality is never an issue to teach people that being gay/trans/etc. does not have to be a curse. It can be a normal part of someone's life.

Teaching normalcy, and advocating for stories like Tammy's, can also help people realise that this is the BASICS of what we want. I've seen so many people argue that we want too much, that the LGBTQIA+ community is asking for way more than they deserve. But the truth is, THIS is what we want. We just want to be treated like normal fucking human beings.

Sure, maybe Tammy's story leaves out what it's like for some people growing up and coming out; maybe they won't find it realistic. Maybe some would even find it idealistic. But for me, this is the gold standard. This is a kind of representation that we don't see hardly enough in media, where it is a normal and accepted part of life. I don't know about you, but I want that. (Sorry for the ramble)

Representation in Media: Tammy Gregorio, NCIS NOLA

(** note this is based purely on my analysis of the matter and personal experiences with representation. I also apologise for any lack of clarity in my articulation of these points)

In general, I have a lot of thoughts on Tammy, but one thing I really think about is the fact that there is a canon lesbian character, who in my opinion is executed very well. Because to me and I know to others representation is important.

The first thing the writers do right with Tammy with regard to her sexuality is the casual way it’s dealt with. For example, when she and Sebastian have banter about whether or not Sebastian likes the red head in “Treasure Hunt” and there’s the little exchange of Tammy saying “oh she plays for my team.” And another episode where Sonja is talking about Chris’ girlfriend and there’s the “She’s not your type,” exchange between her and Sonja. Those sorts of exchanges are realistic (i speak purely from my experience( and they aren’t forcefully inserted, they fit the moment and the characters.

Another thing I quite like is how Tammy’s sexuality is a part of her, but it isn’t her. She’s such a complex character with layers of personality, wit, trauma to deal with, and care for the people around her. And unlike some other shows, her gayness isn’t brought up when the show wants ‘token representation points’ and needs to stick a gay couple on the screen. It fits into who she is and isn’t a separate entity, to make the show look more represnative. She’s very real in that sense. This point hinges off the previous in a way as those aforementioned exchanges don’t serve to remind the audience that there’s a gay character necessarily, they serve to display a repartee between her and her friends.

The way the team is so casually okay and accepting of everything is also another point I enjoy. One of her centric episodes hasn’t been homophobia from anyone on the team or team related. It’s always been accepted, I quite like that. And on the flip side of that. The relationship with her mother she talks about in ‘Waiting for Monroe’ is a good representation of tension in relationship due to having to hide a large facet of yourself.

I really adore that it’s not a large rift between the two of them, just that Tammy is uncomfortable coming out and being herself because she and her mother fight so much. That sort of situation, while heavily aggressive homophobia can be present in relationships, seems so real to me. That apprehension of wanting to remove a part of yourself that may seem more ‘abnormal’ to make others comfortable is so brutally honest. And the way it’s extended to Tammy’s mechanism of relationships now is also realistic in that vein, because that sort of feeling of removal extends to life even when you’re away from the source.

That being said though, a criticism I have is they haven’t resolved any of that tension. Tammy is so out and doesn’t keep long term relationships and I understand it has to do with her characterisation and her past traumas. I respect that to an extent, but I would like to see her begin to work through that barrier because lesbians deserve to see a good relationship on screen. And another criticism I have is the way they sort of drop ‘love interests,’ however temporary they may be, without any sort of lead up or reference. For example Tammy and Alyson were supposedly dating for at least a month (I feel like somewhere six weeks was specified but I could be very wrong) but we hadn’t heard anything of Alyson until it was convenient to bring her up to the plot of the episode. Yes, bringing her up furthered Tammy as a character, but setting that drop and that moment up could have been done better by at least referencing Alyson and making her seem real.

Overall, I’m so ecstatic at the representation Tammy provides. Like i am so ecstatic every time she has a moment or a one liner, or something that seems so real to me. And I’m sure there are other criticisms other people could have but these are just my own observations and conclusions.

[sabo-torao]

Small disclaimer before you head in: this whole post will be referencing the TCB translation. I know VIZ handled the exchange I'm discussing differently, but I couldn't find anyone who talked about the original version and as a result I don't really know who is closer to the original meaning. In any case, the "analysis" should still stand. Whether Dragon was commenting Sabo's firmness or admiring his resolution, Sabo's still putting on a mask, and that's the point I'm trying to break down. Enjoy!

This very specific interaction between Dragon and Sabo in chapter 1083 has always stuck out to me.

"My, you really are unshakeable."

which is an appropriate response to what Sabo said, of course. What kind of sensitive person reacts that way to the death of an innocent, right?

Even so, I can't help but compare the thing Sabo said to his actual, genuine reaction to King Kobra's death.

He's devastated.

Sabo brokenly screams Kobra's name, and his expression is one of full despair; he never thought about killing Kobra, let alone letting him die. On the contrary, he actively tried to save him.

Kobra told him to just let him go, that he was dead weight and he shouldn't be concerned about him, but Sabo straight up refused. In fact, Kobra's actions read way more as a sacrifice than an inevitable death; the king let himself die, knowing that this way Sabo could flee and reach Vivi and Luffy safely.

On the Lulusian ship, we see Sabo think about Kobra's last words to him and actively trying not to cry (and failing).

That's not an unshakable man. He's suffering, he's grieving. He realizes he failed his very own mission of saving the king and lets the meaning behind Kobra's actions and words sink in.

It really puts his former reaction into perspective.

Sabo's firmness, seriousness and coldness in front of Dragon and Ivankov are nothing but a façade. He acknowledges that what he's about to say might come off as harsh, and that, even if he does feel sorry for Kobra, the tragedy doesn't weigh him down thanks to the results it brought, but it all sounds like he's reassuring himself more than actually showing his indifference.

Hell, he even drinks his glass of wine right after having said that "he doesn't really care". How can anyone take his words seriously?

And we've been knowing Sabo is inclined to do this sort of thing since Dressrosa; he acted all cool and composed in front of Luffy but the second Koala called him on the Den Den Mushi he was weeping, having a hard time believing that his little brother didn't punch him or hate him for being alive all along. He even denied he was crying!

All because Sabo hates being seen as vulnerable, especially in front of the people he thinks he has to be strong for (Luffy, Dragon, etc). It's something I think goes back to how his parents treated him, since they scolded him for, y'know, having emotions and being a normal kid in need of love, but i digress.

I once saw someone describing Sabo as a very cold person in comparison to his brothers, even going as far as to say that Sabo doesn't care if people die if it means achieving the Revolutionary Army's goals (using this very interaction as proof), which couldn't be further away from the truth.

Bonney even says outright that it's weird seeing a "radical revolutionary" act so friendly when Sabo helps her out. Why would he do this if all he ever did was for "The Cause"?

Yes, Sabo is ruthless, rude, violent at times, and his friendly demeanor could be seen as a little more volatile than that of his brothers', but he's not heartless. He's not a "meanings to an end" guy, he proves it time and time and time again, and it's disheartening seeing people label him as such.

Sabo is kind. He may not be as warm as Ace and Luffy, but he is fundamentally a good person. A generous, kind, caring, sensitive person.

No matter how hard he tries to hide it.

[aquatint-101]

They tell you that you are a god, that thousands of years of unnamed power thrums beneath your veins. Yet your lungs rise and fall as they always have, and you feel just as human as ever-

(Maybe you never have been. Maybe your only reference point is you, and that is where your error is gravest. If you have been a god all along, what would you know of being human?)

-x-

They start to fear you for the accident of your birth. You try to tell them that you are the same as you have always been. You play all the same games, throw pies off the stony balcony ledge and watch them land and burst open like overripe fruit, gooey cream exploding into the air.

But they stop smiling at your jokes. They stop listening to the songs you've learned to play on your flute. They never say we're not friends anymore, because it's not true, not exactly. Friends are people that can be trusted and you, you are not a person.

There is only one man in the world who thinks otherwise.

-x-

They want to take him away from you. They want to tear you from your home and your family and what little you have left. You have been taught not to be covetous, but this angers you.

So you run, like the wind that has been trapped between the trees. You see the wide, open sky and decide to conquer it, just like your people have for generations. But it's not the storm that swallows you; the waves claims you before the clouds can.

You sink to the ocean's depths, and your grip on the reins starts to falter.

(You are not human, and this keeps you alive. Perhaps it is the elements. Perhaps it is the magic. Perhaps it is something far older than both. Your eyes glow beneath your closed eyelids, and your tattoos burn with impossible light. You are breathing still.)

-x-

They want to ask you how you did it, want you to reach inside the depths of your murky memory and proffer your secrets to them. But you have no answers to give her when she keeps questioning how you forced the turning tides to do your bidding.

The answer is simple. You didn't, the monster did.

See, there is a monster inside of you. Not a god, because gods are never this angry, never this vindictive. The monster wants to rage and destroy everything it sees painted in red, but you will not let it. The monster eats you up when you get scared or angry, and you are never strong enough to make it go away.

She is. She calls out to you and her voice somehow lulls the monster back to sleep. She cradles you in her arms and tells you that you can let go. You think her words are lost on you, because you are not the monster.

-x-

They want to pull the monster out from inside you, and you let them. The monster has laid waste to armies while all you have done is run, run, run. Your people are gone because of you, but the monster saved you. Perhaps it can save them too.

She tells you in plain terms that she does not like this, and you can see the fear in her eyes when she talks about rage and pain and you. You do not know how to respond. Perhaps if you cut enough pieces of yourself away, the monster can finally save you both.

It's okay, you want to say. I'm scared of it too.

All you give her is cold, cold silence.

-x-

They are gone, and you are all that is left of them. They are gone, and it is you, two animals, and a monster that stubbornly claws its way out of you when you are forced to confront this fact. The monster is everything your people would have hated, because it aches for blood and vengeance in a way you never can.

(They are your people, they have to be, and you cannot be this other, this god, that they just raised like a cuckoo in the nest.)

In the desert, as the heat scorches your bare skin, you look at your shaking hands. You do not deserve to be the last of your kind, because now when anyone thinks about your culture of peaceful monks, they will think about the monster inside you.

-x-

They are right to fear the monster, and you are right in wanting to control it. You seek out someone who promises to help you tame it. He wears the saffron of your people but smiles sadly when he says he is not one of them. He tells you about your guilt and your fear, your hope and your longing, and all the things you have to confront.

And it doesn't make sense. This isn't about you, this is about excising the monster inside you.

But as you gulp down the horrible banana onion juice he insists on feeding you, the truth hits you like a falling meteor. There is no monster, no other force inside you that magically appears when you get sad or angry.

There has only ever been you.

-x-

They are disappointed that you cannot summon the monster anymore, but you are just relieved. The anger keeps building inside you, like a roaring flame or a rising tide or a towering mountain or a howling wind. Its pitch and roll keeps you up at night, the names of all you have lost black marks against the inside of your skin.

You try to be as you have always been, but your smiles never reach your eyes, and the notes of your flute always sound out in minor key. They probably notice that something is wrong, but they don't say much except to push you towards your destiny.

Your temples are in ruins, and they think you weak for trying to hold on to them. They think you weak for forgiving, not knowing that the alternative, letting the monster have at them, would have been far worse. But it's okay now, the monster can't hurt anyone ever again. You can't hurt anyone ever again.

-x-

They tell you to kill him, and you want to say no. The voices of your friends, the voices in your head, the voice of the monster, they all scream at you to just end it. But a smaller voice, one that speaks from your heart, just whispers in quiet opposition.

The monster is you, has been this whole time, but you are not a monster. You are more than a living relic or a god given flesh. You are a person, the last of your kind, and they all live on in you, so for their sakes and yours, you say no.

"I'm not going to end it like this."

[myreygn]

do you ever think about how sanemi's animosity towards tanjiro makes so much sense from a narrative perspective because tanjiro is literally everything sanemi isn't?

both of them lose their fathers at a very young age, only that sanemi's father was a horrible abusive jerk who inflicted severe trauma upon his entire family while tanjiro's father was the coolest guy around whose lessons continue to motivate tanjiro and impact his life in a positive way.

both of them have to deal with a beloved family member turning into a demon, only that sanemi ends up killing his mother and has to come to terms with the fact that although she became a monster he still killed his mother while tanjiro manages to guide his sister through her monstrosity and finds ways to help her keep her humanity in tact.

both of them lose their families with only one younger sibling remaining, only that sanemi and genya get separated and estranged while tanjiro and nezuko never lose their close relationship.

[spoilers below the cut]

both of them have to deal with their younger sibling being a demon (one way or the other), only that sanemi's hatred towards demons as a whole makes it impossible for him to look at genya the same way while tanjiro loves his sister all the same, no matter if she's demon or human.

both of them try to protect their younger siblings from danger, only that sanemi can't think of anything but straight up abuse to try and push genya away which remains unsuccessful while tanjiro and nezuko work together well during fights and tanjiro still manages to keep her safe.

both of them fight with the goal to keep their siblings alive, only that genya dies and leaves sanemi with a ton of guilt and regret while tanjiro and nezuko get their happy ending.

both of them are thrown into the conflict between demons and humans out of nowhere, only that sanemi spends a considerable amount of time on his own, killing demons without any assistance while tanjiro gets sent off with a hashira recommendation letter to urokodaki's where he receives a proper training and finds a new home and family.

both of them find companions along the way and form meaningful relationships with them, only that masachika dies young with sanemi being unable to protect him while tanjiro, zenitsu and inosuke stay together through everything and manage to survive even the final battle.

and a lot of this is meta knowledge, a lot of this is information that sanemi doesn't have about tanjiro. but he does have some of it and i think it's enough knowledge for me to put up this theory: sanemi envies tanjiro. because both of them went through unspeakable trauma and grief, both of them lost people close to them, both of them had to deal with similar situations.

and yet tanjiro is kind. he's friendly and good, people trust him, people love to befriend him and he inspires them wherever he goes while sanemi is bitter and nasty and simply incapable of forming and maintaining these connections in the way tanjiro is because who'd want to be friends with a cruel jerk right? and tanjiro loves to take lonely people under his wing, but not even he is willing to forgive sanemi for most of the story and i can only imagine how that must sting because no one wants to be lonely and yet sanemi can't even blame him. he wouldn't forgive himself either.

[commiecricket]

the concept of the batfamily having a secret language/code is the single best idea i have EVER seen. because you know they absolutely would. i particularly mean communicating in chirps, whistles, tweets, tongue clicks, etc.

dick would start it during his robin days. as a kid, it’s the coolest thing he can imagine. eventually he stops responding to bruce’s usual messages over comms until he uses the corresponding whistle. over time, there is a sound for almost every situation. even their own names.

then he teaches it to jason to be a little shit. he’ll never admit it’s also so he knows that if it ever takes too long to reach the comms, dick knows he can let out a sharp whistle and his brother will be there. (and because it makes him feel closer to his little bird).

jason isn’t there to teach him, but tim learns as well. dick will chitter soft reassurances after an argument with bruce. a whistle out in the field, a chirp before they head to bed. tim embraces it fully— its feels more like family than anything else he’s known. it becomes second nature.

barbara gets to learn a bit, too. she isn’t as fluent in the language but can decipher messages as well as any of the robins. when she finds her hands full as oracle, she knows a sharp whistle into the comms will let the bats know what’s happening.

stephanie embraces the language similarly to tim. she uses it more conversationally than in the field. it shows up more when she’s emotional. as she gets worked up about things, her words will start to melt into whistles and trills. her family can tell what mood she’s in by how her chittering sounds.

cass is similar. she uses it sparingly, but more often than speaking english. she finds it easier. when words are difficult, she can usually muster up a grunt or warble in response to someone. her heart is filled with warmth when, instead of prompting for further words or signing, her family will simply whistle back.

damian is a bit more difficult to convince. by the time he arrives, the noises are just another form of communication. he refuses to use it for quite some time. he convinces himself it’s childish and strange— words work just fine. but after bruce gets lost in the time stream, he allows it between himself and dick. eventually he starts to use it with the rest of the family. he uses it sparingly, definitely not as much as everyone else. but he quietly adores it. he loves the simplicity and security of a code that nobody else could decipher. and if it makes him feel closer to his siblings? well, that’s just a plus.

duke is caught off guard at first. his entire situation is bizarre when he first arrives, but he didn’t expect the robins to communicate like. well. actual robins. but hey, he can adapt to anything. so he joins in. members of the family teach him in their own ways. jason and cass will whistle at him in the field, which he learns to be his name. tim clicks a pattern when he arrives to breakfast— a sleepy greeting before he’s fully awake. steph whistles and purrs when they’re spending time together. the list goes on.

[fishhateme]

okay fine let's address the elephant in the room i've abandoned this blog BUT i needed to cope after singapore yall after a good two months of no contact with any media of my pookie danny and the subsequent exposure to THE maxiel paddel date (ft. temporarily adopted paddel prodigy??) i'm ready to be back on my bullshit

this time? angsty introspective danny and max comforting him, aka ao3 hasn't been hitting and im in crisis

if it sucks it's because i haven't written fanfic in ages (started uni and it kicked me in the teeth, the only reason i can justify spending time on this is because at this point it's a Coping Mechanism™)

also i know the whole part things is a pain in the ass but tumblr wont let me write posts as long as i want them to idk i hate technology i was born in the wrong century (id rather die of the black death at 20 than have to deal with hyperlinks again thanks for asking)

read it here

[geek-antic]

Soundwave is a powerhouse and an enigma and we don't talk about it enough so i'mma just gonna make a compilation of "how the hell did he do that" and "what the hell is he" moments that i've managed to find from across several transformers continuities

first off is from the first IDW comic continuity

this is never explained, so i can only assume its because soundwave is technically an outlier but i haven't seen a panel that shows other outliers having "off the scale" readings, whatever that means.

and then in the last moments of this continuity he sacrifices himself to save the universe/earth by using his outlier ability along with the enigma of combination to essentially connect the dead to the living in the entire galaxy for a hot minute . idk how the hell he did that or how he knew to do that, my money is on bad writing but i digress.

next up Transformers Prime

tfp fans: elaborate on that. tfp writers: no. transformers prime soundwave is definitely a powerhouse and an enigma for several reasons but number one is this god damn scene with ratchet exclaiming soundwave isn't your standard cybertronian and then to my frustration the show refuses to explain why.

also he can open portals. the only explanation for that is in the novels where he actually was part of the invention of spacebridge technology. i guess he could've incorporated that into himself, which frankly is kinda unheard of in of itself. but still I feel inclined to tell him that skywarp called and they want their powers back.

Next, we have the game Transformers: fall of cybertron. where he scavenges together all of megatrons parts and puts him back together which, yeah sure why not? it's essentially like putting a corpse back together but then he just REVIVES HIM??

with his mind completely intact despite having been decimated by Metroplex and being dead for several hours. excuse me sir but that shouldn't be possible. I guess I could just chop it up to the writers being a bit loosey goosey with their own rules for the world but it's still quite a feat. but thinking back to G1 where he did the same thing with skyfire I guess they assumed it's just something he can do?

although skyfire's revival was a bit more reasonable considering he was still in one piece and frozen solid which they explained to be the reason as to why he was kept intact. but I'm assuming that's why the writers were like "well let's just have him do the same thing for megatron" and everyone was like yeah okay why not. also like a lot of things in G1 this inbuilt high voltage canon/defibrillator is never brought up again which is hilarious and par for the course for G1.

there are several more moments throughout all the tf continuities where soundwave just does something inexplicable but these are a some of the moments that stuck out to me the most. I welcome others to add onto this post if they wish. because I'm sure I've missed some "how the hell did he do that" moments that would be a shame not to bring up.

[doodlesdreaming]

Three men and their Dad.

[embraceyourdestiny]

It’s literally so sick that the entire arc of forgetting and remembering sora in the kh1 to kh2 transition (and even the greater whole of sora’s character) is that sora is not a person you can forget. Even if the world is against you, even if he is purposely rewritten out of history, even if he dies and the universe says it’s time to let him go, sora will be remembered. He will always come back. He is that faint, pleasant memory in the back of your head. That even if you can’t remember the specifics of, you still remember how that memory made you feel. How the sunshine felt that day. Sora makes everything so real that even memories of him can be actual wishes to reunite with him one day, and a wish that will be granted by some miracle of the universe down the road. Sora is special; because he’s sora.

[themarginalthinker]

I came across you saying Charlie has a Minnesota accent. Had to look it up and I'm crying.

What accents do the other nossies have.

Also pls do fenster hanging with Jen doodle. Have you ever considered a size chart aswell?

lmaoooo yep, Charlie is born-and-bred Minnesotan, eh? Though not quite that strong, and she plays it up for the joke sometimes.

The others all have a mismatch of accents from all over.

-Alfred has perhaps the most ambiguous, having learned over two hundred years both how to cover his accent, and then it just slips away with so much time spent away from its land of origin, England. He tends more towards what I've heard referred to as 'Queen's English' when he's relaxed and with people he trusts and can speak freely with.

-Blue has a very flat accent, coming from the lower midwest, Indiana and Illinois, western Ohio. Sometimes he'll use vernacular that's a bit more 'countrified', like 'yall' or a double 'ain't' in a sentence, but has learned from Alfred how to mask it.

-Tweak is....all over the place. Whatever he's picked up from all the people he's met over the years - if you spend enough time around him, he'll eventually start parroting phrases and words from you. He knows a bit of Spanish, French, and Italian, though it's mostly conversational and slang. If you dig, though, and listen closely enough when he's speaking without trying to make himself sound a certain way, he tends to default to something vaguely Northeastern, possibly in the New England area.

-Zephyr tends to have a something a little closer to Canadian, but on the other side of the country than Charlie. Think Pacific Northwest, Cascadia for Zeph, though it's fairly muted. Her voice is also pretty raspy, and she has a pretty flat-affect, even when she's more emotional. Overall, pretty run-of-the-mill voice out of all the cast. She likes to blend in.

-Jen has perhaps one of the strongest accents in the cast of the Warren, hailing from the boondocks of Deep Appalachia itself. He always sounds like he's talking around a cigarette - which, to be fair, most of the time he is lol. When he gets angry, the accent really comes out, and he'll weave a word tapestry of some of the most obscure, unintelligible cussing you've ever heard this side of the Atlantic.

-Fenster ... I haven't decided whether I want him to be from Wales or Southern Ireland, so his accent would likely be from a region there, but that gives you a rough idea of where to start. The more I consider him, the more I lean towards Welsh. As for how he talks, he's a pretty easy-going person, who, much like Alfred, can mask his accent when he wants, but will do so much less frequently.

-Bobbin is a little tricker to pin down, despite her actual accent being fairly easy to pin-point of them all. She sounds like she's from the heart of the midwest at the turn of the 20th century, being Embraced (I believe? Correct me if I'm wrong, Berd) in the middle of the 20s. Chicago, St. Louis, all those big, swinging cities. The only issue with actually hearing it in her voice, however...is that the Embrace did some nasty things to her vocal chords, and she sounds, for lack of a nicer way to put it, like someone tearing sheet metal, like nails on a chalkboard.

So, that's about everyone in the main group with a notable accent!

As for drawing Jen and Fen, oh I definitely will have to, as well as the others. (I may or may not play favorites with my four main cast lol...) The problem is that I'm currently on vacation with my family and have left my tablet at home :T So, next week! I have also considered doing a character line-up as well! Perhaps when we get a little further into the story and they have been established as characters. Thank you!!! <3

[ievaxol]

no one can unring this bell

on good days, the creaking hardly bothers him.

'tis simply part of the daily routine to draw from the well of his aether and breathe life into his limbs again upon waking, to close his eyes through the initial panic of being pinned to the bed by dead weight and then the secondary, slower burning one of that dead weight being attached to him.

it took a couple of years, but he got the hang of it eventually. for all the theatrics of his youth, g'raha has discovered a pragmatic streak that runs deep within him.

he'll trade an arm for a settlement, half a leg for a child with eyes the color of lakeland -- he'll barter, give and take and move the pieces he has with lips pressed together and eyes cast to a future that may well lay hundreds of years ahead.

his own body is merely another resource at his disposal. he sits down with stacks upon stacks of books on anatomy to find a way to have the aether penetrate all the way out to this fingertips, not for himself but because the dexterity is needed in order to fight.

lyna smothers him in salves and ointments and he lets her, if only so she can feel needed. there is no need to tell of an itch that goes deeper than skin, not when she frowns in determination and sets his heart to bursting with affection.

on bad days, it does bother him.

those days he lets the sleeves drop a little lower and he stays in the tower if he can, both relieved and sickened at the familiar hum of aether that cocoons him.

relief at knowing he'll be able to move the way he wants. that he'll be able to fool himself into thinking there is nothing wrong with him so long as he doesn't look upon himself and see the tattered remains of his dress branded into the mockery of flesh provided by the tower.

nausea at the calculations that perpetually run in the back of his mind, reminding him of the fact that his body is no longer his. how many ilms of skin does it cost to save a life? what limbs would he trade for the crystalline mean? does he have the right to grieve himself?

it would probably do him well to remember that the tower isn't sentient as such, yet he can never shake the feeling that it hungers for more. some days it feels as though he has placed himself in the maw of a starving beast that is simply waiting for him to grow a little more before its jaws snap shut.

and time is notoriously not on his side.

on the worst days, the creaking is all he hears.

when he's called out on extended business, or another summoning attempt falls flat, or someone dies, or, well --

it's so loud those days. the scrape of rock against rock, slow and relentless. it is inescapable, too, as his chest heaves with every breath he takes and the crystal moves with it, groaning and cracking like a live thing.

the warmth is siphoned first out of his skin and then out of the very air, leaving his teeth chattering and lyna's face engraved with a silent worry that he's scared will grow permanent, and he wants to weep at how the one supposed to protect her ends up hurting her the most.

every swallow is a struggle, every step a fight. the seams of his transformation cracks and bleeds pain until he's half delirious with it, overcome by the need to claw his way out, out, out of his own body and the prison it makes.

it's basic survival instinct after all, to run away from what's killing you. and here he is. walking toward it, sprinting some days, as if he truly can't wait.

he has a thousand things to do and a hundred places to be, and yet all he is capable of is humming under his breath to try and drown out the never ending sound of his own corpse being puppeteered.

a small prize to pay on the grand scale of things but gods.

gods does he long for silence.