#different guy and also undergoes serious character development as she realizes that she will have great influence on this guy all while not

[arolesbianism]

Y'know I don't even go into rain world tags much but I get the feeling I should block the nsh tag ahead of time (<- has started actually giving a shit abt them but also knows ppl can get Rly weird abt this stupid green robot)

[thecraftyfoxthewriterscorner]

Creating Physical Wounds for Your Characters

Hey Story Crafters,

Last week’s post got me thinking about injuries—physical ones this time, which I want to talk about in this post.

Whenever there’s a fight scene, your protagonist risks getting injured. (To be honest, the risk of injury exists in all action scenes; but it’s especially true—expected, even—for fight scenes. And the same risks apply for a group of characters.) If, say, your protagonist breaks his ankle in the first fight scene of the story, the consequences of that injury need to affect every action your protagonist takes from that moment onward. He can’t suddenly jump to his feet in the next chapter, ready to continue on his adventure; not unless he has a healing ability, or a magic potion that can heal him.

When a character sustains an injury, the circumstances that injury occurs, what the injury is, and how that injury affects the character—mentally, emotionally, and physically—all need to be purposeful. The injury needs to mean something to the character, needs to have stakes and consequences. Not just for the injured character, but for the plot, too.

An example of a character who undergoes a serious, life-changing injury is Jaime Lannister from A Game of Thrones (based on A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin). I’ll do a brief breakdown later on, but if you’re familiar with the character, keep him in mind as you read on.

Circumstances of the injury

If your stories tend to be more action-oriented, your first instinct might be to assume that a fight scene will be the most likely time your protagonist gets injured.

That is not always the case. While it can certainly be suspenseful for the protagonist to be victorious in a fight scene against the “bad guys,” only to realize she was cut by a poisoned blade—leading to a subplot of finding a doctor or an antidote to cure her—there are other potential setups, depending on your protagonist’s interests, skills, strengths, and weaknesses.

The circumstances of how a character gets injured is another opportunity to establish character, and show development.

Protagonist’s interests, skills, strengths, and weaknesses:

What are your protagonist’s interests? Do they like animals? Fast cars? Hanging out at the beach? And is your protagonist proud or comfortable with her interests, or are her interests a source of shame? Knowing your protagonist’s interests and how she feels about them can provide opportunities for a scene when an injury can occur, if it’s relevant to the story.

Do the same thing with your protagonist’s skills, strengths, and weaknesses—what are they, and is your protagonist proud or ashamed of them?

Considering these factors can create interesting sources of internal tension

Type of injury

Though this technically falls under the umbrella of “circumstances of the injury,” I set it apart for better organization.

The type of injury sustained by a character needs to have meaning, to prompt the character to change and, hopefully, grow.

You might also consider story type and worldbuilding elements when deciding the type of injury your protagonist or another character (or characters) sustains.

Story type

Story type matters when deciding the type of injury a character might sustain. For example, the expectation for injury in a love story is very different from expectations of more action-oriented stories. In a love story, the expectation might be that the male lead gets slapped, or a black eye.

Make sure to keep audience expectations in mind when considering the possibility of injuring a character.

Worldbuilding elements

The type of treatment an injured character is able to receive can reveal worldbuilding elements like the status of healthcare in the story world—how advanced it is, and how accessible it is to the average citizen vs. a more affluent one.

The mental/emotional/physical effect of the injury

How does your protagonist react to his injury? Is he ready to tackle the next obstacle head-on, or does he start to question his ability to reach his ultimate goal?

How do the characters he interacts with treat him, or behave around him, post-injury?

As an example for the third question, say you have a typical fantasy quest type of story where a group of individuals come together to defeat an evil sorcerer terrorizing the land. The protagonist—the hero, the chosen one meant to defeat the sorcerer—gets seriously injured while rescuing a cute, fluffy magical creature in distress, and her ability to confront the evil sorcerer is in question. The members of the group can react in several ways, but it basically boils down to this: 1) they believe in the protagonist and do their best to support her, or 2) they start to lose faith in the protagonist.

The effect an injury has on the injured character, and the surrounding characters, is another opportunity to establish character, and show development (for the injured character and the characters they interact with).

Character Example: Jaime Lannister (a very brief breakdown)

*Note: It’s been a while since I watched A Game of Thrones, so this is a very brief, broad strokes breakdown. If I misremember some details, please don’t hold it against me too much. 😊

Circumstances of injury: Jaime and Brienne are captured by Bolton soldiers on their way to King’s Landing. He manages to successfully prevent Brienne from being assaulted, but when he tries to secure his own freedom, he inadvertently provokes his captor’s rage.

Skill: Jaime is a skilled swordsman, and takes pride in this skill. He might not take pride in every aspect of his reputation, but his skill as a swordsman is the part of his reputation he is proud of.

Injury type: Jaime loses his sword hand. Since GOT has a medieval setting, he doesn’t have access to proper care for his injury.

Effect of injury: In losing his sword hand, Jaime loses his sense of identity. He initially wallows in despair, but he eventually adapts to this loss, and learns to use a sword with his nondominant hand. He even grows, as a character.

A Final Note

You don’t need to use all of these factors when deciding if your story needs a character to be injured to advance the plot. But they’re worth thinking about and exploring, especially if you think your current story doesn’t have high enough stakes yet.

Until next time!

Best,

Leah

Substack Post: https://thecraftyfoxwriterscorner.substack.com/p/creating-physical-wounds-for-your

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[shauni-will-never-write]

Hey shauni, i dont know if you know, but do you have any tips in trying to complete(at least the main cast one) support log in Fates? Or if not, then do you have any support you think its pretty cool? (As in what happens in it, not necessarily for best boosts or etc)

Oh, sure, I can try helping you out! o:

If you want to complete the support log fast, I recommend:

Start a Revelation game.

Advance till a point where you’re sure to get all the kids immediately after their parents get married.

Set it on Phoenix mode so characters retreating don’t get in the way. Or, if you’re allergic to Phoenix mode, choose a very low level map that you’re sure your party will have no problem beating. 

Generate enemies using money (twice for maximum enemies). 

Farm until all of your characters have achieved an A-support with each other (if the enemies are low-leveled, just keep skipping your turn so they come and crash on your units, it’ll save you time). For couples, farm until the S rank is unlocked but not selected.

Save your game.

Now you get your first couples reach their S-support (including your avatar) and save on another slot. Be sure to write down the couples so you don’t forget which ones you’ve done. Now get the kids for that first batch of couples and farm supports with the kids (especially for the moms. You only need to get the supports with the dads once.)

Once you’ve unlocked all the supports of your first batch of couples and kids, go back to your original save file. Get your second batch of couples done, then save on a third slot (or rewrite the second save file). Get the kids and repeat. Keep writing down the couples you’ve done.

Repeat until all the couples are done.

Now you’re only missing the supports with the avatar of the other gender. Start a new game and farm with all the people your avatar can S-support, then repeat the process of saving your original, unmarried file before getting married, saving on another slot before getting Kana (and the other kid if your avatar is female), then going back to the original save file before marrying someone else, etc.

Now you only have to play a Birthright and Conquest route real quick so you can get Yukimura, Scarlet, Izana and Gunter’s supports with the avatar (both genders) + M!Kana if you play a female avatar + F!Kana if you play a male avatar.

It shouldn’t be as tedious as it sounds o: At least, it’s the fastest way I know to complete the supports log. If you only want to get the main cast’s supports, it really shouldn’t take long!

As for which supports I think are enjoyable… it’s been a while, but I’d say:

Ryouma - Setsuna. I’ve done this pairing in my very first playthrough just because the idea of Setsuna queen of Hoshido was hilarious to me. On top of that, I found their supports quite cute as they show an unusual more serious side of Setsuna: after being complimented by Ryouma who mistook her whereabouts for going to train, she feels bad for lazying around and actually starts training so that she can “deserve” his compliments.

Saizo - Setsuna. Marrying Saizo to women who piss him off is everything to me asdfghjm Setsuna manages to (unintentionally) push every single one of his buttons and you can see the man losing his shit the more he interacts with her.

Saizo - Charlotte. Again, marrying Saizo to women who piss him off is so much fun. Except that in this case, Saizo is also pissing off Charlotte.

Jacob - Setsuna. Yes, I like a lot of Setsuna’s supports. I don’t know who between Saizo and Jakob gets the most angry at how useless and infuriating Setsuna is, but it’s just. So funny. Bonus points for Setsuna (accidentally) making Jakob fall into a trap.

Silas - Hinoka. Imo their supports were legit interesting, and their S-support is very, very sweet as you see them planning where they’d build their house to live together.

Takumi - Camilla. There’s just something endearing and funny in seeing Takumi act like a flustered schoolboy. Bonus point for Camilla being definitely taller than him, even without high heels.

Jakob - Azura. Guys, Jakob is so happy Aqua actually loves him in their S-support that he faints like a Victorian maiden whose corset is too tight. What more do you want?

Hinata - Azura. Gives a little bit of backstory to Azura, plus they’re cute. Be careful though, if Shigure and Hisame are brothers, you won’t be able to get the Shigure/Hisame C-A support chain (that is honestly very peaceful and sweet).

Suzukaze/Kaze - Beruka. In which Beruka is taught to have a quiet hobby that she actually enjoys. Their supports are relaxing, and it’s very cute to see Beruka, of all people, learning the simple pleasures life has to offer.

Laslow - Peri. Among all of Peri’s support chains, this is the one that genuinely gives us a closer look to the origins of Peri’s pscyhopathic womanchild impulses, as well as some backstory, AND shows her undergoing actual character development. The end of their support chain, in particular, gets quite emotional.

Xander - Camilla. I won’t spoil, but we get to see how well Mom figure knows Dad figure compared to their other siblings.

Kisaragi/Kiragi - F!Kana. Because don’t tell me it’s not cute as hell to see these two promise to each other they’ll get married when they grow up.

Ryouma - Hinoka. Don’t you want to see cute sibling interaction? Ryouma being teased to the point he’s speechless?

Fuga - M!Avatar. Because you get to know a little bit of Fuga’s backstory. Well, not much, but you learn a little something that is never mentioned anywhere else regarding Fuga and Hayato’s parents. #FugaDeservedBetter

Tsubaki - Azura. Romantic knight in shining armor and princess in distress vibes. Also featuring robed assassins.

Tsubaki - Selena. Yeah, it’s weird because of the Caeldori thing, but their supports legit bring closure to Selena’s insecurities about perfectionism, which is really neat.

Tsubaki - Avatar (either gender). At first glance, their supports don’t seem like much, but once you realize how crippled by his fear of imperfection and how livid Tsubaki gets at the slightest mistake, it reveals a really unhealthy side of him that 99% of players are sleeping on. Once you realize that Tsubaki has been raised since childhood to be perfect and how terrified he is that everyone may one day realize that he’s been faking it since the beginning (saying everything he does is effortless when really he’s just constantly working his ass off in secret), it really brings a lot of (tragic) depth to Tsubaki and makes him much more endearing (and sad).

M!Avatar - Caeldori. I found their supports really adorable. Plus it’s funny how composed and mature Caeldori is when she confesses vs how flustered the male Avatar gets. Also makes you realize that Caeldori is unknowingly reinforcing Tsubaki’s phobia of imperfection by idealizing him so much and making him fear she’ll eventually either surpass him in skills or realize that he’s a “fraud” (so much that he refuses to train her himself and sends her to the male avatar).

Hayato - Rhajat. Their A-support is just so good. Makes you realize that Hayato is legit a better father than most of the other male characters.

Rhajat - F!Kana (mother/daughter): Watch Rhajat being an awkward but genuine and loving mom. You remember Tharja’s supports with Noire and F!Morgan? Well, they couldn’t be more different.

There are more supports worth checking, but I think that’s enough x’D I got too talkative.

Hope this helps! ^^

[mimiplaysgames]

Why Lunafreya Can’t Be Fixed (Or... it would be very difficult to actually develop her character properly)

(A/N: Thank you guys so much for liking and reblogging this essay! It took a lot of labor. Please note that I wrote this a couple of weeks ago, before the reveal of the new DLC episodes. Here is a link to a new post that I wrote, where I discuss what I think Episode Luna is going to be about and why this creates new problems in the storytelling sphere. Warning - there be serious retconning ahead!)

Gamers today expect a substantial storytelling experience when playing JRPGs. Aside from immersive world building, a moving soundtrack, and compelling game mechanics, players are expecting a diverse cast and meaningful character development. This is definitely not the case for Final Fantasy XV‘s Lunafreya Nox Fleuret.

Character development assumes that a lead character, supporting character, and at times, even minor characters will undergo a journey of self-discovery of some level, or of some type. This, normally, should especially be true of a major character. In Luna’s case, she is heavily involved in the game’s advertising campaigns, and is assumed to be in a major romantic role with the main character, who undergoes his own extensive character development. She is therefore a major character, who is designed to forcibly tell us that she is important. So, why does she have no substance to her backstory, her character growth, and to her actual relevance in the story? And can she be fixed? This essay is an analysis on character creation from a writer’s perspective, and why she as a whole was not built for the character development that fans are expecting out of her - it is a perspective I feel is lacking in the all of the debates and discussions that are happening about this character. (Warning: spoilers for the Final Fantasy series ahead.) (Also warning: long.)

The essential main theme of character development in Final Fantasy XV is ascension. That is, the characters are growing to be better than they started out with, or are growing up in a physical, emotional, and mental way. For the four main Chocobros, this means growing up to be men, or from childhood/adolescence into adulthood (and for Noctis, becoming King). This is true for three out of the four main characters. The only exception is Gladiolus, who has already achieved manhood at the beginning of the game, and stays the same throughout. However, it can be argued that the Brotherhood anime has introduced some level of character development for him, going from a young teen who at first was displeased with protecting Noctis, into a young man who not only accepts Noctis, but accepts his role as a Crownsguard.

However, the same cannot be said for Luna. In all major aspects of the Final Fantasy XV Universe, Luna has not actually developed, nor was she really fully realized as a human being. What I mean to say is that she is the same in Brotherhood, Kingsglaive, Final Fantasy XV, and Royal Edition. While fans may notice behavioral changes between Luna in the film and in the game (and while many may prefer her in the film), her essential character actually hasn’t changed. Her goals are the same. Her emotions (and subsequent feelings for Noctis) are the same. Her commitment to being formal even in the presence of more intimate interpersonal relationships is the same. Her sense of duty is the same. Her obsession with Noctis is the same. Her lack of personality is arguably the same. The behavioral changes in this sense are mainly surface-level. This kind of personality quagmire is the same despite age differences throughout the timeline, as well. In other words, Luna is the same at 12 years old, and at 24 years old. She still is only interested in discussing her religious indoctrination, her duty, and her need to guide Noctis. This essentially means that there is no actual character development for a character that the game tries so hard to convince you is important. She is already grown up at 12 years old, and there is nothing left for her to personally explore. In other words, ascending to her role as Oracle is not symbolic of any character development, like ascending to be King is for Noctis. In the case where people argue she needs more screen time, YouTuber StoryTime** has explained it best: when you see one scene of Luna, you have seen them all. It is not that she needed more screen time - more screen time would just mean reiterations of old material. Case in point: she was given more time and more lines in Royal Edition, only for it to be the same old thing we have heard from her before (and at the cost of breaking one of their established world building rules). Expanding her emotions on the 1.16 update didn’t do anything different for her. It just beat the dead horse on what we already know: that she loves Noctis. What the problem really is is that she should have been planned out differently from the start.

Essentially, the main argument I am trying to make here is that the writers have effectively trapped themselves when it comes to Luna’s development. Let’s discuss the cuts that have been made from her development, and how she is problematically portrayed. There was a leak from a developer of the game who discussed that her childhood abuse story was cut due to anxiety over public backlash to her character. This backlash was assumed to come from a feminist perspective, being that her character would have endured the abuse for the sake of Noctis. This perspective is legitimate, which is another reason why she is problematic: she can’t be human, and be a full character, because her sole reason is to exist for Noctis. This is not just on an emotional level (where this kind of obsession is honestly incredibly self-sabotaging and unhealthy), but also on a plot development level. She is literally a plot device existing for the sake of Noctis’ development, and because of this her own development doesn’t matter. Her death was also for Noctis’ sake. She did not die out of her own convictions, or because her actions were conflicting with Ardyn’s goals. She died because Ardyn wanted to provoke Noctis. Luna’s death therefore does not hold significance for her development, either. This is largely different from Final Fantasy VII’s Aerith, who was murdered by Sephiroth because she posed a direct threat to his plans. Aerith, by comparison, died because she decided to take the world’s fate, as a normal civilian who wasn’t groomed to carry this burden, taking fate into her own hands, and without any religious brainwashing or indoctrination to tell her that she has to.

We do not know if this leak is true. Let’s assume that it is, especially since this abuse was teased in one of the trailers. Adding her abuse story wouldn’t actually add to her character development in a meaningful way. Why? Because she was already devoted to Noctis and to her duty before the abuse. Enduring the abuse for the sake of Noctis’ safety doesn’t change or enhance this devotion. It wouldn’t really be effective in changing Child Luna into Adult Luna. Also keep in mind that if we are to assume the leaks are true, then her motivation to endure the abuse was also supposed to be completely based on her devotion to Noctis. It was said that it was cut because people were going to argue against the notion of a young girl surviving abuse for the sake of a boy she barely knows, instead of for her own sake, or for the sake of the family she has left, etc. Any development that is meant for her is implied to happen for the purpose of existing for Noctis, just like the rest of her character development.

What this means is that from a writers’ perspective, she was created solely for Noctis’ development. Such characters do exist. They are necessary to develop main characters and to act as catalysts for a more natural plot progression. The problem here is that she is one of these throwaway characters, but fans are expecting more out of her role, or out of her existence - and Square is doing them a huge disfavor by advertising her as more than what she actually is.

All of this is exacerbated by the fact that she doesn’t really behave like a normal human being. If anything, she carries herself like Tolkien’s Galadriel, who is thousands of years old by the time the Lord of the Rings takes place. Her personality quirks are one of the reasons why people would argue against a romantic relationship between her and Noctis, and why she is unrelatable for many. Combining a human-not-human with the lack of character development, and exacerbated with a questionable role in the overall plot development creates a shell or a shadow of a human being that barely exists. I would argue here that if she was removed from the story, it would be incredibly easy to fill her void, being that Noctis can be easily rewritten to go after the Astrals and the Armiger weapons without her assistance. If we were to compare her to Final Fantasy IX’s Garnet, it is different. Removing Garnet would have a tremendous impact on the story, because suddenly there is no logical explanation for Zidane’s presence in Alexandria, and there would be no reason for him to go to Lindblum, and so forth. Removing her would garner serious rewriting of the entire game. Garnet’s contribution to the game is tied to the world building and politics that take center stage of the conflict, even though she is not the main protagonist. The same cannot be said for Luna. Her role as an Oracle is questionable: she is meant to be the voice between the people and the gods. But this is challenged repeatedly in the game. If she is needed to speak to the gods, then why can Noctis understand Leviathan during their battle? Why can Noctis exchange a conversation with Bahamut? If it is to be argued that he is also chosen by the Crystal, then what is the proper argument for Bahamut coming down and speaking directly to the Glaives in Comrades? Furthermore, as stated before, removing her would not constitute a huge rewrite. Since Noctis has shown to have no problem talking to gods, then it wouldn’t be a big task to write it so that he takes responsibility of waking them up, as well. It’s no wonder then that Luna has become such a contested character to debate over. If anything, it further deteriorates her character development.

I have to add here that proper analysis of literary characters need to use hard evidence from the primary source. Defense of her characterization from most of what I have seen rely on projection, which is not accurate of what is actually seen of her. This makes validation of her character in a meaningful discourse difficult (in other words, projecting ideals onto her character without seeing the forest for the trees will grant you the very least a “D” in your literature class). Furthermore, adding actual romantic messages on the notebook will not fix her either. The romance between her and Noctis, first of all, is flawed in and of itself, and is a different topic, although development here is necessary. Secondly, if you want to tie the romance to her character development, it cannot be argued that it does anything to *her* development. This is because the romance does not help her in any way, does not encourage her personal growth, and as it stands, does nothing to let us know anything different about her or see a another side of her either.  Since she is already grown at 12 years old, the romance has nothing to do with her ascension, either. Giving her a scene with Noctis as adults is actually NOT ideal either, because Tabata’s entire goal for her was to achieve her as a trophy after hours of chasing her, only for her to be taken away. Her death is written to be devastating because of the amounts of effort that Noctis (and the player) have put into chasing her. Writing a scene for her and Noctis before her death would cheapen and backstab Tabata’s efforts - not that it would do anything for her anyway.

Considering that Tabata has expressed his commitment to making her “stronger,” his new track record in Royal Edition does not encourage any trust in his goals. Giving her speaking powers in ghost form (which conflicts with her previous appearances, where it seems like she cannot speak - this also conflicts with earlier design choices and artistic goals of creating a sense of permanence in death), and creating a non-problem that has no significance to the actual story which also contradicts Ardyn’s motivations (the wall over the Lucian citadel) for her to “fix” (when Noctis has no problem summoning Astrals), especially when there is no physical cost, danger, or threat to her well-being (since she is already dead), does not really do Tabata’s need to convince players that she is strong any justice.

So how can she be fixed? A realistic answer would be that she can’t. To elaborate on this, I will assume that the three episodic DLC’s were planned ahead, which is why there are major plot holes in the base game. This means that the free additions to the story, and including the Royal Edition, were not originally planned. This includes the 1.16 patch, where she was given a couple of more lines of crying, the Astral backstory (which has been argued to contradict what was previously known about the Astrals) and the Chapter 13, verse 2 patch update. These examples do not excel in the writing department (the latter was very verbose and awkward in dialogue that seemed unnatural to the base game, even for fancy standards - and it did not actually answer any questions about Ravus’ character development - this was clearly planned for Episode Ignis instead). Basically, from the new additions to the story, the designers did not do a stellar job in showing that they can handle the expectations that fans want, nor are the writers confident in bringing in new material, especially in a short amount of time.

A good example of this is her Royal Edition appearance. Many were disappointed that there wasn’t anything meaningful in her only adult interaction between herself and Noctis. Why is this? Why couldn’t they give us something? This is because the writers do not know what they are like as a couple. They never had to write or think realistically about what their dynamic would be like. The writers are also pressured by the severe time constraints that come with game development. It takes a lot of resources to create such a short scene between the two of them. Good writing isn’t just talent and effort - it is time consuming, which they do not have. Believing that they will create something substantial in such a short time period for previously unplanned story DLC is unrealistic of their abilities. Episode Prompto and Episode Ignis were satisfying because those stories were planned from the beginning, as shown from the deliberate plot holes that they have set up, knowing that they will fill them in. Or, think about it this way: they had an actual story to tell with Prompto and Ignis. This is something that we all knew, being that the base game has given us teases. (Episode Gladio couldn’t be as satisfying because, as stated before, Gladio didn’t have any development in the game.) What about Episode Ardyn? I do not believe that the designers were anticipating such passionate interest in Ardyn’s development, and have genuinely screwed up in his build-up, too (hence why different language dubs will have contradicting information during his reveal to Noctis). As a writer myself, I do not have the intuitive belief that the writers knew that Ardyn had a brother who betrayed him, or where the name Izunia came from. When developing characters, a rule of thumb that all writers must follow is to know their characters’ backstory. This is why when Ardyn’s new brother was introduced to be named Somnus Lucis Caelum, it comes off as retcon-y. No effort was put into studying more Latin terms, so they went with the first word that came to be associated with Versus XIII, as homage to the origins of this game (since he is Founder King). That may seem pleasant from a symbolical standpoint, although it is sloppy. Consider that all names in this games have symbolic meaning. Somnus (”sleep”) means nothing in the final game, so there is no symbolic significance in naming Ardyn’s brother this way (i.e., it wasn’t planned before).

Let’s take a quick look at Aranea, by comparison. She has far less screen time than Luna, yet 100 times more character development. In her first major appearance, she is an enemy, working for the empire. In her second, you find out she is just a mercenary, and that she questions her commitment to the empire. In her third, she has decided to dump the empire and provide help to the survivors in Tenebrae. Aranea has undergone three stages of character development in her only three scenes. This was planned well. They knew who Aranea was and what she will become.

What this means in the long run for a possible Episode Luna, which is previously unplanned, is that the writers will have A LOT to work with in such a short amount of time. We do not know yet how they will handle such a responsibility, since Episode Ardyn is not out yet. Now, Ardyn is a much easier character to flesh out by comparison. He would have to have been young once, idealistic and willing to help those in need. The descent into hatred and anger is, understandably and expectantly, tragic and dramatic. Writing these themes would be easy for the writers to adapt. In other words, his story is already written by assumption just because he is the antagonist of the story, and because he was previously anointed by the Crystal.

In Luna’s case, however, this is not true. As stated before, Luna is the same at 12 years old, before the Niflheim invasion, as she is as an adult. As stated before, adding her abuse story would not be effective character development because of this. If they add this abuse, they risk drawing the ire of peeved fans who do not want to see her as just a sex dumpster for Noctis. All additions added for her so far was meant to convince us that she loves Noctis, which is already obvious. So what is there to do? I do not have proper advice in this case. She should not have been published in this state. Getting her interested in things that have nothing to do with Noctis would be a decent start, so that she can seem human enough. But here is the new catch-22: changing her too much would then betray our existing knowledge of her.

What this means is that if we witness her acting like a normal human being, they risk undermining our understanding of her. Suddenly, it is not one Luna, but two (or, if you think she is that different in Kingsglaive, it will become three Luna’s). If she is not comfortable behaving less formal in front her brother, in front of Regis, and IN FRONT OF NOCTIS EVEN, then how are we going to accept her behaving differently in front strangers? New friends? Servants? And this is only if they decide to delve into her backstory. This is not guaranteed. The massive survey conducted by Square teased that Luna’s story would not really be childhood backstory. It was framed as seeing her actions during Noctis’ story (in other words, her duty to waking up the Astrals). What this means is that Episode Luna would, therefore, exist for Noctis’ sake, too.

And what kind of story, exactly, are they going to tell in Episode Luna when they have shown repeatedly that they do not have a story to tell? I mean, REALLY, IF THEY HAD MORE CONTENT FOR HER, THEY WOULD HAVE ALREADY SHOWN IT. The reason why we keep getting scenes that do nothing except repeat what we already know is because they don’t have more content. I am trying to express here that a natural character progression or outline for Luna doesn’t really exist. Let’s flesh this out. The only scene we see where she is directly at conflict with her inner goals is when she is at the brink of giving up, and asking Ravus to take the ring. However, we see this scene after her death, when her character progression has effectively ended which is a problem on its own. Furthermore, this scene serves her less than it does for Ravus. This scene was introduced specifically for Ravus’ development, not hers. It is the first time in the base game the audience was even remotely aware that Ravus has mixed goals. On her side, the effectiveness of this scene in making her seem human is questionable. Why?

It is because we know that she is not realistic in her behavioral patterns. She shows no realistic reaction to her duties, which would logically come out in two ways: one, she would be angry at the gods for demanding such sacrifice from her when the entire Starscourge was their fault to begin with; and two, she would (AND SHOULD) be upset that Noctis, someone she supposedly loves, is going to die, too. But, she’s willing to allow him to die. Compare this to Final Fantasy X’s Yuna, who over the course of her journey, goes from a summoner who is willing to die to save the people from Sin, continually struggling to accept her decision to sacrifice herself as she forms a relationship with Tidus, and then becoming a warrior who decides to stop the cycle of abuse that keeps harming her people, while still maintaining traits that keep her familiar to us. In other words, Yuna’s development is about her being involved with religious and political conspiracies which lead her to then question her faith, only for her to stay steadfast in her own self-confidence and then risk her life to find a different method to save the world. Her refusal to sacrifice her friends is proof of this. There is a clear beginning, middle, and end to her development. Luna, on the other hand, decides to behave in all the ways the gods demand her to, instead of choosing her own fate. This effectively means that all chances the writers take at directly telling us that she “has a mind of her own,” or that her decisions are “her choices” (which is not what she actually says in the Japanese version), are basically smoke and mirrors, completely at odds with normal human behavior and previous world building efforts. She does not have direct will of her actions. Her will to give up temporarily, then, is an inorganic attempt to bring some character development into her, which happens only once, and it happens too late. At best, it is a weak attempt. At worst, it is disingenuous. Either way, this questioning of herself is not a proper method for character development, because her story has no beginning, middle or end. It’s a broken record throughout.

The writers therefore are going to have a difficult time logically creating a character outline for her progression and ascension for a possible Episode Luna. What exactly are we going to get here? What would her journey mean? Are we going to get repeated scenes of her questioning her strength when she wakes up an Astral because she is getting sicker? Rinse and repeat for every Astral she wakes up? What is the point here, when she didn’t even die because of her own pursuits, or because of her own deteriorating health? I would think that her DLC might be useful in learning more about the Astrals, about Tenebrae, or about the Empire. If that is the case, then that has nothing to do with her development, either.

That is not effective character development. There isn’t enough evidence to show any strong sense of optimism in this case. Maybe the writers will have some creative ideas to add to her story that will genuinely be surprising, although having her be a magical badass would then contradict certain elements of the Universe (such as her lack of magic in Kingsglaive). If she is only a healer, then that means that she needs another character to fight for her in her DLC (gee, poor Luna truly can’t do anything for herself). If she fights, then it’s a WONDER WHY SHE NEVER FOUGHT BEFORE, ASIDE FROM HER CONFRONTATION WITH LEVIATHAN. All in all, she’s messed up in general. I suspect that the reason they have not officially announced an Episode Luna yet is because they are struggling to create a proper character outline for her, as well as discussing ways to flesh out game mechanics without making her seem useless or terribly contradictory. If anything, the writers need to know her well before they can add anything. If they don’t even know how to get her to communicate with Noctis, when they have spent so much effort in building believable and meaningful dialogue and connections between the Chocobros, then I have no confidence in them knowing who she is, and therefore, no confidence that they will provide anything of value to her character in the future. TL;DR: Luna sucks and may not be fixable. No, I mean, really. I do not know, as a writer, how to fix her while still staying canonical to the published story, maintaining her relevance to the plot, and proving with little challenge that her actions are vital to the story’s development. **Please check out StoryTime’s video comparing Luna to Princess Zelda from Breath of the Wild. I have also noticed these severe similarities between the two of them. I would add that Breath of the Wild did much better in establishing symbolism in the silent princesses (the flowers). The sylleblossoms by comparison don’t have any significant meaning.

[kingofthewilderwest]

Hi Haddock! Sorry for the kindof strange question but I'm taking abnormal psych right now and it got me thinking... what mental disorder do you think each of the dragon riders would have/are prone to developing based on their traits and personalities? (i.e. OCD, depression, general anxiety, etc.) thanks as always!

Hello there, friend! XD Questions of all varieties are extremely interesting to chat about, so no judging on this end. ;) I hope you’re enjoying your abnormal psychology course and learning lots!

I’m not going to assign a mental illness or disorder to every dragon rider in the DreamWorks Dragons franchise. As I’m sure you’ve seen already in your class, these are serious conditions that are not at all romanticizable. The last thing I would want to do is give any sort of disrespect to the individuals who actually suffer from these conditions, or to make incongruous connections between one character’s personality trait and a symptom of something else different and debilitating. To give an example, just because Fishlegs is particular about cleanliness doesn’t give me a right to say he’s prone to OCD, as OCD is something altogether separate. It’s best to represent everything correctly, rather than creating mental illnesses in characters for the sake of creating mental illnesses in characters.

We as people of course have the right to headcanon what a character goes through beyond strict canon, and there is something to be said about looking to fictional characters as ways to relate to our own problems. But that’s different than assigning disorders to characters hypothetically for the sake of doing so. The former’s a coping mechanism; the latter’s an easy way to slip into misrepresentations, misunderstandings, and hurting others who actually struggle. I wouldn’t be morally comfortable with the latter.

But. That said. There are characters in DreamWorks Dragons that I do think exhibit actual mental health struggles. I haven’t taken a formal psychology course on this topic, so maybe you should be the person writing this instead of me, but here are the characters I think demonstrate feasible evidence that they could have these conditions.

Heather: Depression. As someone who has my own fun string of depression issues, I suppose I see a lot of what I and other like friends have struggled through in her. I think there’s a reasonable case to be made that Heather is undergoing depression during Race to the Edge times.

How Heather handles friendship in the first few seasons is a sad situation. Heather doubts that situations can grow better, saying she’s “destined for loneliness” in “Have Dragons Will Travel.” Emotionally troubled, she struggles to trust others and to believe that she will ever not be alone, to the point that Heather is quick to feel betrayed if her friends don’t agree with her, and to the point that she’s more willing to go behind their backs than believe they can help her. The dragon riders have done their best to reach out and help her, historically they’ve never done anything to warrant distrust, they’ve offered to help her in tough situations multiple times in the past, and the friendship Heather has formed with Astrid could have allowed her opening in trust. Of course every human opens up and trusts at different speeds… but there is something to be said that Heather acts under the mentality that she is destined to be alone, and is quick to see signs that the dragon riders won’t be friends she can trust, either. There’s a want to bond - she opens up and tells Hiccup about her struggles - but there’s also the underlying struggles of someone who’s internalized the belief that her life is just meant to be bad, that her social situation is just meant to be bad, and something is going to happen to prove that her time spent with the dragon riders isn’t going to be secure. You could read this as someone internalizing the bad in their life and believing there’s no improvement, which is something that many individuals with depression experience.

Like, it’s not just in this episode that Heather both shows a desire to make friends, but also a pessimistic stand that she’s not going to have these friends. In “To Heather or Not To Heather,” Heather thinks that Windshear’s inability to cooperate with other dragons means she has to keep the dragon distanced, which means she doesn’t seem to believe she has a genuine shot at becoming one of the dragon riders. Hiccup encourages her, “Just let me work with you guys,” but you can tell from Heather’s facial reactions that she has a much more pessimistic view about her slated standing with the others. After two incidences between Windshear and the other dragons, Heather gives up, venting, “Clearly this was a mistake. We just don’t fit in here.” 

Heather does in fact retreat from the others on her own in episodes like “Have Dragons Will Travel Part 2″ after her first run-in with the Dragon’s Edge crew. It’s a somewhat premature departure. Now, I have the need to get distance, too, when I’m sorting through big thoughts, and that can be healthy… but it’s worrying that Heather is more willing to retreat back into the world where she’s alone without a social circle - than to take advantage of any support network. Her go-to is to be alone, despite loneliness being one of the issues that tears at her the most. Her lonely retreat is shown not to be healthy, given how she vents to Fishlegs in her letters.

And speaking of her letters… we know Heather struggles with dark and unsettled thoughts from “To Heather or Not To Heather.” When the other dragon riders find Fishlegs’ correspondences with Heather, Ruffnut emphasizes, “Uh wow. Those are some depressing terror mails. I may need a mace to the head to cheer me up.” And when Tuffnut shouts “On it!” and grabs his mace, Ruffnut retorts, “Metaphorically speaking!” This means that Ruffnut is speaking in rather grim humor - it’s more fun to be bashed in the head (in a way that’s not recreation to her) than it is to read Heather’s emotional struggles. That doesn’t say anything good at all to Heather’s mental state.

Astrid also finds these letters concerning, saying that, “She seems worried and confused.” In fact, the entire team’s discussion at the start of this episode is about how they can find a way to help her, since they realize she’s been through a lot of struggles and isn’t doing well alone.

Dagur: Antisocial Personality Disorder. How Dagur characterizes in later RTTE episodes miiiiight counter some of my earlier interpretations of his psychological state, but I still believe there’s a strong case to be made that Dagur could have ASPD. I hope that my discussion of Dagur doesn’t sound like I’m treating individuals with ASPD as inherent villains or bad people, because I don’t believe that at all; I’m attempting to speak with objectivity about traits Dagur has that are often symptoms of ASPD, such as a violent temper. These traits are most evident when Dagur acts as an antagonist in the series (though not absent even when he becomes an ally).

ASPD results in a persistent disregard for social norms, morals, and others’ emotions. Individuals who have ASPD may be arrogant, irresponsible, impulsive, aggressive, hostile, socially detached, and risk-taking. They may feel no regret harming others through superficial charm or violent threats, they may have poor ability to bond with others meaningfully, and they may not have much control over their temper, a temper that can spike violently when they’re frustrated. So many of these characteristics fall right in line with Dagur.

In my old analyses from several years back, I kept oscillating between saying “psychopathy” and “sociopathy”, which annoys me to no end, especially since there is a difference between the two (sociopathy being more agitated and volatile, psychopathy being good mimickers of emotion but internally lacking empathy). I think I’ve re-edited everything in old analyses to say sociopathy… but anymore, I’d say the best thing to say is ASPD. Still, if you want to read longer (albeit older) commentaries about why I feel Dagur has this vein of condition, I’ll plop in a few links.

Dagur as a sociopath in ROB/DOB

Why I thought Dagur would be better without a redemption arc

Why I was unconvinced with Dagur’s loss of antisocial traits

Dagur as a villain and Dagur developing in RTTE

The essence of Dagur when he’s an antagonist is someone who demonstrates inhibited empathy and remorse, high violent tendencies, and uninhibited, brash behavior. Even as a child, Dagur tries to drown Hiccup, locks Fishlegs up without food, and uses Hiccup as a target to throw his knives - without any demonstration of remorse for his actions. Dagur is shown to quickly fly into a rage when irritated - for instance, all Savage has to do is say one sentence in “Dragon Eye of the Beholder Part 2″ before Dagur starts shouting and screaming at him. Other times, Dagur seems to legitimately enjoy hunting Hiccup down to harm him. Especially in ROB, DOB, and the first few seasons of RTTE, I’ll admit I’ve thought Dagur has been intentionally modeled to have such a personality disorder.

Beyond Heather and Dagur, there’s no character I’d personally pin as obviously having a mental ailment. It’s true other characters struggle, have highs and lows, etc., but that’s not enough to say they could be medically diagnosed with something. People are free to still read characters they love as coping through like struggles, though! It’s a fair way to be able to relate to a character and emotionally process one’s own life experiences. And I have seen some other headcanons go around in this topic. On my own personal end of interpretation, though, trying to be as objective as possible, I wouldn’t list anyone outside of the Oswald siblings.

[foreveralegend]

42 CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT QUESTIONS!

17. Are they more shaped by nature or nurture — who they are, or what has happened to them? How have these shaped who they’ve become as a person?

This one is a tough one in some ways. There are certain things about who he is that I think were in his nature, or he never would’ve survived the ‘nurture’ in his childhood. His determination, his loyalty, his protectiveness for those he cares, a self-sacrificing side that he’s made himself not show in later years. On the other hand, he was definitely ‘nurtured’ into not trusting 99.99999% of the people he meets. He was ‘nurtured’ into a life of crime. I mean, he does bear responsibility for that, but also consider that when his environment changed even once he was older, he began to change again. The first instance is when Barry gives him an out to drop the killing––“if you’re really as good as you say, then you don’t have to kill anyone to get what you want”––then with joining the Legends. Anyone who’s watched the show can see the vast amount of change he undergoes, while still remaining who he is. He’s still primarily cold and standoffish, but the protective and almost brotherly side of who he is comes out again, even if only here and there. So, I would have to say that it’s definitely a heavy combination of the two. Had he been in a better environment early on––just as he ended up in later––who knows? His better qualities might have flourished and some of his worst qualities may not have even manifested. I mean, in Earth-2 (at least by fan consensus) he’s a mayor who’s fighting to take his city back from a lunatic. I’d say he turned out to be a pretty stand up guy there.

25. What do they need and want out of relationships, and how do they go about getting it?

Snart is, primarily, anti-relationship of any sort beyond practical working relationship, with the exception of his sister and (sometimes) Mick, who earned his trust and friendship’ when he was still young.

In work relationships/business partnerships, Snart demands discipline and loyalty. He needs to be able to trust that his ‘team’ is going to get done what needs to get done as quickly and as efficiently as possible. He needs to be able to trust that if he gives them a plan and a timeframe that they can follow it. He needs to be able to trust that if one of them gets caught, they won’t blab everything they know to the police. As I said, this is something he demands of people and he makes that clear as the consequences for being disloyal or undisciplined can be deadly.

Now, in other relationships, one of the things that Snart absolutely needs is still loyalty. If someone he considers to be close to him betrays him, it’s difficult to earn back his trust. It’s either going to take time or something extraordinary that renews his faith in someone. As with business relationships, until someone manages to get past some of the walls, this will continue to be a demand of sorts. You see this to some extent with Snart and Mick’s relationship. Something that’s not required but is nice bonus for him is someone that can challenge him. Verbal/mental sparring is something he especially enjoys. It helps to keep him on his toes. That is not so much something he can demand as that he tests the waters. He throws verbal barbs at people, jabs at them, and then sees if they turn it around on him. This is seen primarily with Cisco, Barry, Sara, and Jax, though to some extent even with the way he interacts with the rest of the Waverider crew. He treats all of them roughly the same way in this manner (and, yes, in part that’s just who he is), but Sara and ‘the Kid’ are really the only two that engage in a way that doesn’t (always) boil down to, well you’re just a criminal, and they earn his respect as a result. The same with Barry and Cisco.

[ Though, sidenote, I’ll add that he also respects Barry and Cisco because 1) Barry made him up his game and raise his level of thinking about ‘the job’ and 2) Neither of them backdown (y’know, short of Snart freezing Cisco’s brother’s fingers and threatening to kill him if he didn’t share the identity of the Flash. 3) Barry and Cisco were both willing and went out of their way to help him and his sister even after they’d only recently semi-betrayed Team Flash. Snart respects that they were willing to do so much for him, despite everything. ]

I think, Barry, Sara, and Jax also further earn his respect because (at different junctures) they both came to the conclusion that he wasn’t just a criminal. For Sara, that realization must have come pretty early on because she spends a lot of time with him and places trust in his opinions, enough so that in episode four of Legends, she allows him to talk her down from doing something. With Jax, the realization comes a little later when Snart had a chance to kill him and didn’t (though Snart had already grown fond of the Kid before then).

With all that said, I think part of what he needs, even if he doesn’t know or even really want that, is for people to see potential in him, to call him on his act and not put up with his BS. He needs people that keep him in line the same way that he used to(?) keep Mick in line.

Now, I’m a hardcore Captain Canary shipper, so I’m going to say that romantically, all of those fundamentals remain unchanged. BUT! He also needs someone who is willing to let him set the pace (or with whom he is comfortable with setting the pace). Because, as seen with Sara, he is an irredeemable flirt, BUT it takes time for him to actually warm up to the idea of something serious and when he does, it takes time for him to come right out and say it. Beyond that, I feel like it would take time for him to warm up to certain aspects of a romantic relationship. For example, physical contact. We see in the show that Sara is one of the few people he allows it from, or that he really even allows to get very close to him. Openness is another matter that he has to get used to. He has to be completely comfortable with the other person if he’s going to be open and honest with them, and even then, it takes time and effort on the part of both parties.

So, as rambling as all of that was, basically, I’d say that what he wants/needs in a relationships boils down to loyalty, trust, respect, but also accountability.

37. Have they had any special education or training that colors their means of learning about or understanding the world? Conversely, do they lack some kind of education considered essential in their world? What kind of impact has this addition or lack had on them?

The only ‘special education’ Snart got was definitely not official or traditional education, but he practically got a PhD from the School of Hard Knocks.

He had it quite literally beaten into him that people as a whole are terrible because if someone’s dad can treat them the way that his treated him and his mother and sister, then what hope was there for the rest of the world?

He was educated in the art forms of wiring, lock-picking, safe-cracking, and all manner of other illegal practices under constant criticism and under threat of beatings if he couldn’t get it right.

He learned to both pride himself on his skills and make himself seem confident while simultaneously not actually having the best opinion of himself. Because when you hear the words ‘worthless’ and ‘good for nothing’ often enough, they never quite go away, but you have to put on a front if you want to be taken seriously, if you want to fight back against the words. He also learned this from teachers and police officers, that he’d never make anything respectable of himself because he was too stupid and too much of a crook, and he listened. He gave up, dropped out of school and did whatever he could to provide for his younger sister.

[ As a result of his treatment by teachers, to this day, he operates under the assumption (until proven otherwise) that smart people are going to be arrogant and talk down to him if they know that he doesn’t understand something. Sometimes, he simply tries to gather the best concept he can and run with it, other times he uses his sharp humor to turn it around on them, demand explanations, make it seem that maybe they’re the stupid ones since they can’t understand ‘simple explanation’ or ‘in English.’ He hates to be talked down to and has little to no tolerance for it as treats with contempt anyone who does that to him (assuming he chooses not to ice them). ]

[i-w-p-chan]

so, here is that Third Phase Backstage (a.k.a extra details and the fic’s background) + I.W.P-chan’s comments while writing it (all taken from my PMs to @onceabluemoonwrites also, long post is looooong): 

Do you read Hanahaki AUs? when I do, I wonder about technicalities of the AU like the mental and emotional drawbacks of the surgery. 

I’m still hung on the ‘emotional and mental drawbacks of the surgery’ I really need to find a decent post-surgery fic. all of the fics I passed focus on getting the disease, suffering through it and then being cured/dying. none of them really talks about how it would feel to wake up only to find a part of you empty from feelings. 

I’ve passed a Hanahaki AU again and it made me think. I really want a Hanahaki AU (with ‘the disease takes a couple of years before hitting critical stage’ idea) where a person A discovers they have Hanahaki and realizes who the person they have unrequited love for is, and then proceeds to court them.

why do the Hanahaki AUs have to be about gearing up to the confession? are there any out there where the one with the Hanahaki tries to court their love interest? where they try to build a relationship of romantic nature with their love interest to have a better chance with them instead of just putting on the spot with a confession?

I think that would be good?

(bonus: “You know, I used to have Hanahaki.” choke “wHAT?!”)

I truly want the Hanahaki fics I talked about (the post-surgery fic and teh courtship fic) and so my brain started to come up with an idea to mix the two of them with 0027. the two of them meet when one of them is visiting the hospital for the surgery while the other is there for a reason or the other (I haven’t decided yet), they keep meeting up even after the surgery, with the latter helping the former get over the post-surgery Feels (still don’t know what to call them) and ends up getting Hanahaki himself, deciding to court the other after he gets better.

I’m thinking Tsuna is the one who has Hanahaki and takes the surgery, Enma develops Hanahaki later.

Remember the 0027 Hanahaki AU I said I wanted to write? I’ve been thinking about it and Mami surprisingly shoved her way in (and opened up a doorway for me to use to make Tsuna and Enma interact. but this threw a shade of Anyone Can Have Hanahaki in the fic)

Support groups for people with Hanahaki are a thing. Mami also has Hanahaki, she’s in love with her friend who is aromantic, this friend is the one who convinced her to join a support group. there, Mami meets Tsuna who is already half-convinced to take the surgery. Tsuna’s choice to do it convinces her to do it herself. that’s how Enma meets Tsuna: Mami insists on visiting Tsuna the day before the surgery (and then many times after the surgery) and Enma takes her. some time later, when it’s Mami’s turn for the surgery, it’s Tsuna’s turn to visit. Mami successfully undergoes the surgery, Tsuna is around helping her get back to her feet, and Enma realizes ‘holy shit I love him’ (let’s give Enma kudos for hiding the fact he has Hanahaki from two people who had it before and his own family).

the fic is probably going to contrast three cases (Tsuna: hopeless, unrequited love, object of affection never considered him in a romantic light and not even around anymore, possibly via either death or traveling. Mami: hopeless, unrequited love, object of affection is aromantic but is highly supportive of her and cares deeply about her, is there every step pf the way towards the surgery and after. Enma: not hopeless, unrequited love, object of affection is around and on good terms with him, possibility of having his love requited). if I can do the contrast in my writing.

if I wanted to slip in any mafia/Vongola-related things into it and had the chance, this is what happened with the Vongola: Nono goes senile some years before Tsuna is born and decides to step down and give the boss position to Enrico (this is the reason the mafia as a whole declared Timoteo senile, like, who in their right mind would put ENRICO in charge?), Enrico digs a bit into Vongola history and finds out about the Shimon. he is hit with Feels and decides to renew the Vongola-Shimon connections (”let me enjoy a new OTP pseudo-getting together” in reference to GiottoCozart). Deamon tries to pull some shit but Enrico is fueled by shipping power (and ship hate, eh’s still smarting from those Deamon/Ricardo shippers okay?) and successfully gets rid of Deamon. no one really wants to know how it happened.

(and there, right there, is clearly all the evidence needed to tell you that all the madness comes from the mafia. just look at how different the mafia half and the hanahaki half are)

How gay do you think Enma is for Tsuna? if I can do it in the narrative flow, Enma’s first thought about Tsuna in Third Phase will be: ‘that guy has Hanahaki? who wouldn’t want THAT?’ like, Enma, tone it down, you’re making me want to put it in when I’m not sure if I’ll be able to fit it in

(extra: Enma’s inner Mami would metaphorically bash him on the head right after those thoughts, “Hanahaki is about ROMANTIC love not lust!” Enma’s reaction thoughts are like “but two years are enough to grow to love someone, right? right.” it would be a nice foreshadowing for when Enma gets Hanahaki himself.)

me: how should I write Third Phase? me: Enma sees Tsuna and basically goes ‘well, fuck me’ what more do you need?

me @ self: Third Phase is supposed to be about the contrast between the various Hanahaki cases! not about Enma falling in love with Tsuna! self: AHAHAHAHAHA self: you innocent child. give in to the 0027. you know you want to. me: ...damn... you... gah.

I made kind of a differentiation between how far along Tsuna, Mami and Enma are in their Hanahaki. Enma stays in the early stages before it’s gone, so he doesn’t cough a lot of times, OR a lot of petals. not much blood and no flowers. breathing is only slightly labored. Mami is in the middle stages, coughs regularly during the day but not with a lot of petals (and the occasional flower) and blood, gets bad episodes from time to time where she basically coughs too much and ends up vomiting. her breathing gets labored easily but not enough that she ends up winded after a 5 or 10 minute walk. Tsuna is in the final stages with the worse condition, he coughs a lot with a lot of petals/flowers and blood. must take care to do things carefully and to not strain himself else he’ll have episodes just as bad as Mami’s but on more regular basis, his voice is quiet and hoarse as a result.

I really wanted to expand a bit on the Hanahaki to incorporate it in a more... detached? fashion. like, not focusing on handling the hanahaki like the other fics I read (either by character death or confession-then-discovery-of-mutual-love), but do EVERYTHING except confessing. Tsuna is in the most dangerous state between the three (a bad enough episode with no one around to get him help and he’ll be gone) but he doesn’t die, his love-interest is the one who is ALREADY dead. Mami has no chance even if she confessed because her love interest is Aro. Enma doesn’t confess and decides to take matters into his own hands by wooing his love interest.

Enma is lost like, ‘I want to text Cute Guy but how do I do that? how do you text people you think are cute? what is texting? he’s currently agonizing on the couch. Mami is not there to laugh at him, at least. small mercies.

*coughgooglehowdoyoutextcuteguys?cough*

there is now a Tsuna protection squad. Mami is in it adn Enma wonders where he can sign up.

also, Enma is Gone. he keeps being swung about two extremes ‘is he smitten or is this just a passing crush’ he doesn’t know and neither does the author.

on a scale of 1000 to 1000,000, how much do you think Tsuna’s friends will mind if Tsuna dragged Enma to his bedroom for cuddles post-surgery

I don’t know how to write post-surgery!Tsuna. Hibari and Mukuro are clearly the Harbingers of Crack. Things Escalate (That’s What You Call Jumping On A guy You’ve Only Met Last Week And Demanding Cuddles). new definition of being petty: someone sends you cookies that suck and you give all of them to that someone’s love interest. Enma discovers hidden maternal instincts of ‘I MUST FEED HIM’

Hanahaki Fic, I.W.P-chan Style

*squints at screen* is this what they call romance fiction?

help what is even romance fiction I don’t know how to write anymore and the supposed cuddle session doesn’t even happen it moves onto talk about how bad Mami’s cookies were which moves onto talk about Fuuta and holy hell I had no idea that when I popped Mami in as a way to link Tsuna and Enma that she would be ENMA’s link in, and that TSUNA’s link in would be FUUTA. just like Enma is a Concerned Big Brother and is Very Glad his sister has Tsuna in her life, Tsuna is Very Glad his brother’s friend’s family doesn’t hold a grudge against him for Mami’s Hanahaki.

holy shit me, why is this so detailed you need to focus more on Tsuna’s post-surgery state isn’t that one half of why you wanted to write the fic in the first place?

have I mentioned how dramatic Enma is being? also, teh saying ‘tthe way to a man’s heart is through his stomach’ holds true for him. and apparently, mama Kozato’s cooking is heavenly while papa Kozato’s coffee is to die for. adn I just wrote 500 words starring hungry!Enma promising his soul over for Tsuna in gratitude for the food. help?

I just realized that in Third Phase, Enma lowkey has hints of a sister complex stemming from the attempted murder on her when she was little... it explains so fucking much...

500 words later and how much more Smitten can Enma fucking be?????!!!!! I’m serious, I thought the conversation on the first not-very-official date would be awkward but Enma went for the fucking jugular and semi-confessed and I’m trying to keep up with how fast things are going. I wonder why the heck things/places that appear once before in the fic get to reappear. and Enma flipped a fucking switch: once he realized that he was in love with Tsuna he can no longer go a page without reiterating the fact and being smitten over Tsuna.

I’m just... I’m just suffering. quietly. while writing in a fucking rush while trying to keep up.

I wanted Tsuna and Enma to take their time. maybe at least take a month before Tsuna realized what Enma felt for him. but nOPE. it’s all Enma’s fault. you just don’t tell someone what he said to Tsuna and look at them the same way and expect them not to realize that there’s something not exactly platonic happening.

I thought the visit to Shimon Island will go by pretty uneventful but guESS WHAT? ENMA AND TSUNA TOLD ME TO GO FUCK MYSELF AND PROCEEDED TO PLAY IN THE WATER AND LEAD UP TO MOMENTS(TM) AND NOW WE’RE ABOUT TO HAVE TSUNA WEARING ENMA’S CLOTHES APPROX AT LEAST SIX MONTHS EARLIER THAN I EXPECTED.

F R I C K

I’m reading what I last wrote for Third Phase and I found out that I can’t write pining for shit...

while writing Third Phase, i keep getting flashes of ‘am I reaching the end at last?’ but then the fic goes ‘SIKE we still have more to go’

holy shit. wait. wait. wait. am I actually... really truly about to write the ending scene? *kneels on the floor* oh my god I though it was going to drag on some more.

I... I... excuse me while I sob as I write the final scene...

how much of a bad author would I be if I told you that I never intended to write the entirety of 0027 dating and the moment Enma’s hanahaki fades away and that I decided from the start that the final scene will be post-time skip post-Enma’s hanahaki recovery with established 0027?

[kpopnkoffee]

Drama Review: Sungkyunkwan Scandal

Show: Sungkyunkwan Scandal

Starring: Park Min Young, Park Yoochun, Yoo Ah In, Song Joonki

Language: Korean

Availability: Viki

Episodes: 20

Synopsis: Set during an era when society does not allow females to be educated nor employed, Kim Yoon-hee disguises herself as her brother, Kim Yoon-shik. "He” gets caught substituting as a test-taker at Sungkyunkwan, Joseon Dynasty’s highest educational institution, by the upright Lee Sun-joon, who later acknowledges “Yoon-shik’s” talents, and even encourages "him” to enroll in the university. At Sungkyunkwan, she must bear with the endless mischief of upperclassman Gu Yong-ha, put up with the constant mood swings of roommate Moon Jae-shin, avoid getting in trouble with the strict student body president Ha In-soo, keep her secret from being discovered, all the while trying to hold her growing feelings for Lee Sun-joon at bay. The mysteries surrounding Yoon-hee’s father, the Hong Byeok Seo (a secret ninja who spreads messages against the politics of the Dynasty), and the King’s secret mission (Geum Deum Ji Sa) make this drama interesting.

Review: This drama was...something. I already watched it a few years ago, but I decided to revisit the drama hoping that I would pick up on some things that I hadn’t noticed before. And boy did I notice a lot. Right off the bat, without spoiling anything, I’ll mention that the acting is pretty stiff. The main leads are kind of stiff with each other and the chemistry between them is lacking (in my opinion). I have nothing against either of the actors and I think they did a decent job, but I think the chemistry could have been better. I definitely think that the female lead and second male lead had much better chemistry. When they flirted, I got butterflies, and everytime Yoo Ah In came on screen I got a little excited.

I suffered from serious Second Lead Syndrome. He’s just so kind and nice to her and he wants to protect her. His idea of making her stronger isn’t to throw her into the deep end and make assumptions about the way she’s lived her life. He also doesn’t treat her that much differently when he finds out she’s a girl.

Other than my SLS, I also suffered from a case of “Oh my god, is it done yet?”

That’s because this drama was slow. The pacing was terrible and the drama kind of dragged on for way too long. It wasn’t bad since it wasn’t like 30 episodes, but they could have easily wrapped it up in less than 16 episodes if they were clever about their pacing. Instead, we see a bunch of filler moments and unnecessary drama. The writers also didn’t do that well with timing. For example, adding slow, romantic scenes in the middle of a high-action scene and then cutting back to the action. It kinda kills the mood and just makes you annoyed at the actors for trying to be cute while their friend is sacrificing their life. Regardless of the crappy pacing, and the super rushed ending, I didn’t hate this drama. In fact, I quite liked it! The romance was okay and it definitely got better towards the end. There wasn’t much mystery and I definitely didn’t stay for that lol. I honestly may have just continued watching for Song Joonki and Yoo Ah In...

(I’m sorry were you saying something? I was busy blushing over baby Joongki)

Rating: 6.9/10

Read Below for a more detailed Review!! (SPOILERS AHEAD)

Plot: The gender-bender theme in this drama was pretty realistic in terms of why Yoon hee dresses up as a guy. What’s unrealistic is how long it takes Sung joon to realize she’s a girl. It’s almost annoying that it took him more than 15 episodes. The rest of the plot is interesting, but not gripping. There’s no real mystery. The lost Geum Deum Ji Sa, which is mentioned multiple times in every episode, doesn’t really hold enough value that the audience would be ecstatic to have it found. The same goes for the mysteries behind Yoon hee’s dad and Jae shin’s brother. They tried to make it this intriguing story line, but I think they missed the mark, since I didn’t find these plot points too exciting. I liked the interactions between Cho Sun, In Soo, Yoon shik, and Sung joon, because the complicated love hexagon was comedic, though pretty unrealistic. I also loved the backstory behind each of the characters (including small side characters like Cho Sun and Yong Ha) and I wish they would have expanded on that, because those would be much more interesting as side plots. I quite enjoyed trying to figure out (and finding out) who the Hong Byeok Seo was too! It was an interesting plot point that could have done with better execution.

Characters: The female lead was pretty and sweet, and I liked her go-getter attitude in the beginning. She was a little too pretty as a boy, but I suppose the writers covered it up pretty well. She changed when she started falling in love. I don’t like female leads that become soft and mushy when they fall in love, because it seems like they undergo a personality change or something. I will admit that Yoon-hee did not become a complete doormat, but she did relent to useless abuse from the Student Body President, Ha In Soo, and his cronies. She also didn’t fight back with Lee Sung-joon as she did in the beginning, which made me kinda sad, because I feel like that’s the representation most people get these days. You don’t need to accept shit from the guy/girl you love just because you now have feelings for them, guys. Anyyyyways, I thought Moon Jae Shin (Geol Oh) was a much better match for her. He is such an interesting character and the actor is really fun to watch! I’ll be completely honest, I did not like Lee Sung joon. I felt like he was arrogant, stubborn, and almost uncaring at times. He often didn’t take Yoon hee’s thoughts into consideration when he made certain decisions, and he treated her like crap when he realized he had feelings for her (he basically thought he was gay). Like I’m sorry you’re having an identity crisis, but that doesn’t mean you have to treat others like crap so you can feel better about yourself? Not a good representation imo...I loved the side characters (Cho Sun and Yong Ha). They’re interesting and expressive. I loved Joongki’s acting and wish these characters would have gotten more screen time and more backstory.

Development: There were some really good character development moments (save for the main female lead). Ha In Soo’s cronies had a really enjoyable character development, though I wish it had been introduced a little earlier. Ha In Soo’s character development was, in my opinion, unnecessary. Not because it wasn’t an intriguing turn, but because it was shown within the last 20 minutes of the drama, which sort of ruined the effect. Cho Sun, Hyo Eun (Sung joon’s fiancée), and some other characters had minimal development that I would have liked to see a little bit more.

Overall, though, I really liked the side characters and their representation in the drama. The backstories, the development, the comedy were all interesting and definitely made it worth watching! I would 100% watch this drama again and recommend it to others as well!

This is a good light hearted drama and I actually really enjoyed it. I would totally recommend it (for the very last scene, if nothing else!)

Let me know if there are other dramas you want me to review!