#headcanon blather

[derangedhyena-zoids]

It's time for another edition of Shit Nobody Cares About But I've Thought About Anyways! Sex & society on Zi edition.

I wrote this out the other day to explain to a friend, but I've rewritten it slightly to post here also. For starters, some important ground rules to consider: 1) The major factors that specifically influence how sex and sexuality is viewed in IRL do not exist on Zi. Cultures, religions, mindsets, physiology - ALL different. Ergo: it makes very little sense for any of our societal standards or expectations to apply. 2) In this hc, the entire population has, what's effectively, built-in reverse birth control. The human colonists* were genetically altered so they could only reproduce if supplied with [certain substance.] Do I know what it is? No. I've not thought in detail about it because that's not the point (though I have thought about the physiological side of things re: what's actually happening biologically. more Nobody Cares material, and also not the point) The point is that this makes having offspring a literal choice, and it's vanishingly rare for people to accidentally get pregnant.** (this doesn't stop people from thinking they want kids and then promptly realizing they Actually Don't, but...) 3) STIs are basically non-existent on Zi. The colonists were thoroughly screened for disease. Very few, if any, "Earth" diseases exist on Zi. New issues, pathogens, and problems arose, certainly - but they're the product of evolution in the new environment, not brought from elsewhere. What this rounds up to is that sex on Zi lacks almost all of the consequences it has IRL. Because NC0 society seems pretty hedonistic, this points to a very sexually liberal society at large, which is very accepting of behavior that'd be frowned upon IRL.

That doesn't mean there aren't prejudices and people who look down on this behavior on Zi, however, Things that are true in NC0 per the anime: -there is a noteworthy shortage of children. (it's extra-noteworthy in a kids' toy commercial show, IMO) -there is an outrageous class divide going on. Now - think about how Harry's family acted towards him. Think about lineages being so important to the Empire/presumably other power structures in the past. In this hc it's basically seen, by the higher class, as high-class to be very sexually selective and straight, so you can have A Family and raise them right, etc etc. basically only the fucking plebs run around fucking everyone like animals, how Awful This thought process obviously wasn't/isn't shared by the majority of society, which is why we don't see many "typical" family units. I personally think Steve - before his wife died - was the equivalent of upper middle class looking for upward mobility. He wholeheartedly bought into the idea that having and raising a nuclear family would be viewed positively by those he thought he wanted to join the ranks of. He wanted what was best for his family. But that all changed when his wife died. In my hc, Steve's wife died while giving birth to Leena. He didn't deal well with the, well... guilt? Of knowing that in trying to create a family he killed his wife. That's how you get... *motions at Steve Toros* consider also how this has affected Leon. yeeeaahhh All this is basically to say that Leon has serious hangups that are Steve's fault.

*the human colonists that resulted in the current crop of humanity on Zi are actually the second set of human colonists to make it to Zi, technically. **over time, genetic mutations started to ever-so-slightly undermine the inbuilt population control mechanic. The idea wasn't really to lose access to the tech that'd allow genetic editing - but people are people, and they did. So, occasionally, things don't work right and people get pregnant. And also occasionally people suffer serious reproductive issues.

[bliz-lol]

So! I decided to draw jackbox hosts!

headcanons of hosts names ( blather round,talking points,dodoremi)

Blaze is very talkative

my hosts version(dictionarium, push the button)

[plusultraetc]

So I was working on tomorrow’s prompt (first impressions!!) and I was wondering about the general consensus on Aizawa’s Hero Academia lol

(Feel free to expand on your answer if you’d like!)

[yourfaveisafearavatar]

Blathers from the Animal Crossing franchise is an Avatar of the Eye.

[skyward-floored]

Can you give us some hcs on what you think the chain's dark world forms could be?

Anon you have opened a can of worms you may regret opening here we go—

Sky

Sky I’m a little torn on, because on the one hand, as the first hero I feel like he should have something very impressive, like a big cat of some sort, or a huge bird (loftwing or otherwise), but also... a remlit just fits him so well. Small and sweet and sleepy, but also fierce and vicious and capable of being a real threat. So I don’t know XD

Four

Four is tricky, I’ve never been sure of what I like for him. Hummingbirds are small and colorful, so I like that, but also the humor in making him be something like a bear or an elephant would be amazing.

That being said, I think I like hummingbird best, but I also think a cat would fit him very nicely, or a mouse or even a butterfly.

Wind

I like Wind as a seagull, and various other seabirds a lot, but I very much like him as a cat. It fits the ship theme, and he meows in game, come on.

Closely related to that, I also think he’d be great as a lion cub, because then there’d be the connection to the King of Red Lions, and it fits with how he’s small but mighty, plus if he does end up being king of new Hyrule someday, the regalness of a lion fits there rather well.

Warriors

Warriors I like as a number of things... I feel like a unicorn fits his sort of regal image, plus he could stab stuff with his horn and that would be cool. I’m thinking like the one on the cover of the last Narnia book. The one with the blood on its horn. That one.

But also, I think a peacock would be really funny, and also a wolf would fit him nicely because of the teamwork aspect they have going, so I’m not totally sure. But unicorn would be pretty cool.

Hyrule

Hyrule I particularly like as one of three things: a jackalope, a fox, or a deer. A jackalope because it ties in to his magical side and also fits with Legend’s dark world form, a fox, because they’re clever and tricky and invoke images of being hunted, and a deer because they also are hunted, but because they’re also sort of mythical feeling.

So one of those. But I could see him as any number of forest creature honestly, Hyrule is just like that XD

Wild

Ah Wild. I feel like he (just like everybody else XD) could be any number of things. I’ve written (and read) fics where he’s a fox, which I like a lot because it fits in with Time and Twilight’s canine theme, plus they’re playful, but also clever. His fur would be a silvery-bluish color I think.

I also like the idea of him being a squirrel because of the practical reasons; good at climbing, good at hoarding food, known for crazy stunts, plus if you made him a flying squirrel you’d have the glider thing too.

I’ve also seen him as a dragon (which is just cool) and a phoenix too, which is neat because of rebirth and all that stuff. But I think my favorite for him would be either fox or squirrel.

[ghostradiodylan]

What type of music would the counselors listen to?

I know some of my mutuals have answered this question before and I'm sure my headcanons will be influenced by theirs, AND I'm also significantly older than the counselors so they're probably listening to gen z stuff my late millennial ass doesn't even know about but here goes nothing!

Laura So much SIØBHAN! Just kidding. Laura feels like two completely different characters in the game so I have a hard time deciding what I think spunky but straight-laced, ‘this is my first cop,’ over-achieving pre-vet student Laura Kearney would listen to vs badass avenging murder spree Laura Kearney (but maybe she always had that inside her). Part of me wants to say, like, 80’s pop (Prince, Blondie, Tiffany, Michael Jackson, Pat Benetar, etc.) and part of me wants to put her in the hard rock/metal zone with Ryan. Maybe she’s a bit of both.

Max I believe it was Addie (@insertlovelyperson) who said Max would listen to country music where women murder their cheating or abusive husbands. That tracks to me. Maybe it's the use of Alma Cogan's version of 'Fly Me to the Moon' in the game, but I also tend to associate him with crooner type singers of the 40's and 50's (Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Dean Martin, etc), which is what I said he'd choose for karaoke. And because of this fanart I have no choice but to HC him as a major Ariana Grande fan, he's probably the one who chose the music for the drive to camp. So. Max has range.

Abi is the K-Pop/J-Pop stan to me but I know so little about that music beyond the crossover bands like BTS that I can't speak to it a whole lot. I think she'd also like some emo, pop-punk and moodier alt/pop. Avril Lavigne, Paramore, Melanie Martinez, Florence and the Machine, Metric, Lorde, Halsey, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Billie Eilish, Phoebe Bridgers/boygenius, etc. I feel like she's really into female fronted bands for some reason.

Jacob likes pretty much whatever is on the radio. He's a top 40 guy and has no shame about his enjoyment of Ed Sheeran and Justin Beiber, or about ugly crying to Taylor Swift and Coldplay. He rarely listens closely to the actual lyrics (and often gets them humorously wrong), he just goes on vibes. He discovers half the music he listens to via TikTok (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Emma is a theater kid through and through and loves broadway musicals. She goes through phases with each popular one. She's had a Waitress phase, a Mamma Mia phase, a Wicked phase, and a Hamilton phase, of course, and now she's into Mean Girls, Heathers, and Hadestown. Beyond that, I think she'd be a dedicated Swiftie, big Adele fan, and a lover of Britney Spears's entire body of work from the 90's through today.

Nick probably listens to stoner bro music. Like jam bands and psychedelic rock and stuff. He probably likes Dave Matthews Band and the Grateful Dead/Dark Star Orchestra, Sublime, Widespread Panic, Tame Impala, and O.A.R. Googling jam bands to remind myself which ones exist led me to the knowledge that there's an Australian psychedelic rock band called King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard and that name is so bonkers that I've decided without listening to more than a few bars that it has to be Nick's favorite band.

Ryan is a little bit emo and a little bit goth and a little bit old school punk. He needs music that's loud and moody to help sort out his feelings about life and drown out all the excess noise inside his head. He's into metal, the harder side of emo/screamo, goth rock, hard rock, punk, and post-punk. He definitely listens to Nightwish, GOJIRA, Mastodon, Lacuna Coil, Linkin Park, Rage Against the Machine, Bauhaus, Joy Division, Nine Inch Nails, Deftones, Thursday, Alkaline Trio, My Chemical Romance, AFI, Bad Religion, Black Flag, Minor Threat, The Misfits, Ramones, etc. He doesn't hate more accessible pop and rock music, but the closest he gets to choosing it for himself is probably something like The Cure or The Smashing Pumpkins or Depeche Mode, maybe some of the creepier Weeknd songs and Muse tracks too heavy to go on the Twilight soundtracks. He and Abi listen to Babymetal together.

Kaitlyn classic rock and 90's alternative. This girl likes the Stones more than the Beatles, though she'll listen to both. Led Zeppelin, Joan Jett, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Black Sabbath, the occasional hair band. She especially loves the 90's girl rockers like Alanis Morisette, Garbage, Hole, Veruca Salt, and No Doubt (Kaitlyn can't believe Gwen Stefani is married to pop-country dork Blake Shelton who sings that song about being your honey bee, because Gwen used to be so cool [I'm definitely not projecting]). I feel like she'd also love Bikini Kill and Sleater Kinney, Le Tigre, and The Donnas.

Dylan is the Music Guy ™ (and my personal bias/url namesake), so I've admittedly thought about his musical tastes more than most of the others'. The official Quarry website mentions his 'deep musical knowledge' and I imagine he has pretty broad views on what constitutes good music. He's got kind of a vintage vibe to him, maybe it's the reproduction band shirt from 1988, or the fact that he's into analog technology, or both, but I've noticed he's often depicted playing Queen or Bowie or something of that era in fics, which I think is realistic. This kid goes to the used record store and just buys whatever looks cool.

Fun Fact: According to the datamine, the chapters originally had literary or musical quotes at the beginning of each, and Chapter 5: White Noise (the radio hut chapter) was originally headed by the opening lyrics from Queen's 'Radio Ga Ga':

He's also the only character we see play music in canon, so we know he likes... songs from random compilation albums with inexpensive royalties. XD Just kidding, but these are the diegetic (in-universe) songs we get to hear from Dylan's playlist at the bonfire party:

All pop music of varying subtypes, so we know he appreciates a well-crafted pop song. I honestly am a fan of all of these. I think Dylan genuinely listens to everything but he seems like the type to especially like alt and indie pop, classic rock, garage rock, a bit of the more melodic side of punk, emo, and pop-punk, new wave, synth pop, electronic, and a little bit of hip hop that’s sufficiently nerdy white boy friendly (probably Beastie Boys, Run the Jewels, Post Malone, emo rap like Blackbear, etc). I also tend to gravitate towards early-mid aughts indie for him, like MGMT, Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes, OK Go, LCD Soundsystem, etc. Just seems to match his vibe. I think he'd really like BØRNS, Hozier, COIN, Mitski, and K.Flay and probably have a fair amount of overlap with Ryan's more melodic picks (MCR, Muse, The Cure, etc). Dylan probably hates Morrissey but begrudgingly loves The Smiths and definitely cranks up The Killers in his car. He’s also listening to bands right now that you’ve never heard of but will be huge in a couple years. He can probably tell you the difference between subgenres like chillwave, dream pop, and shoegaze but don’t ask me about it because I have no fucking clue.

Since we’re on the subject, here’s my absurdly long and ever-growing Rylan/Radioheads playlist because I have a problem.

And my Sweet Summer Jams playlist, that’s just a bunch of random songs I think would be clean enough to play at a summer camp as long as the kids/your boss don’t ask too many questions.

[bluntblade]

I'm assured that this is impossible in both Legends and Canon because apparently Togruta evolved to blend in with red grass (which I guess is ubiquitous across Shili except in Ahsoka's village) and only change colour if they leave Shili, but headcanon be upon yer arses:

Originally, the Togruta evolved colours and patterns for camouflage, but with the mix that we see in TCW, most prominently, that feels like a stretch. So what I like to think is that previously you had the blue people of the northern ice wastes, the brick-skinned tribes who lived among the red grasses and the green forest folk, but over the millennia since Shili unified, well the Togruta have married and made babies across all the old divides. Thus we have the pick'n'mix of colours we see in Star Wars.

[arisenreborn]

Things I wanna write (most are low-midkey shippy but always slowburn af):

-Reverie meeting Srail in the Nameless Village, alluding to the familiarity and ultimate sense of having lost something she may truly never get back. But coming away with the knowledge that they do still support her; even if things have changed, it's not all bad.

-Phantom Oxcart Quest. Rev getting the crap beat out of her, utterly furious and frenzied in the final leg of the quest, Rann bewildered from the godsway, delicious wound-tending afterwards filled with delicate lingering touches of relief.

-Vocation snippets! She teaches Rann archery and he teachers her magecraft. The classic sort of close-quarter touching and adjusting positions and stuff like that. 😏

-Masquerade stuff. So much. Like that time she accidentally gets poisoned doing recon for Sven and Srail who is there undercover has to help her get out.

-Domestic AF shit. Some days they just stay at home and lounge around to wear off the aches of hard travels. They're so used to being in close quarters all the time always basically. There's multiple ideas here from "shopping episode" to cooking and taking care of each other yada yada but all falls under "Domestic AF shit" umbrella.

-Reverie and Rann dancing badly (but so so cutely) by the campfire.

-Oh yeah, absolutely the "whispering elven translations in her ear" stuff.

-That time after a brutal fight with a drake they fell into a watery cave on top of each other and Reverie was just so relieved he was okay (see: no longer under the drakes control) and they're just clinging to one another breathless and wet and- ....it's really emotional okay I'm a big goober I'm sorry. But yes it's also hot and there's absolutely some very clear awareness starting to happen.

And so much more but I need to think of a way I can get these out kind of bite size for me and my sanity with how much I want to do. Bane of my existence is getting carried away by wordiness 🤣

Because I also have so many ideas for post-game shit and that is not gonna be helped at all when I actually finish. 😩

[jimmerzz0905]

ngl Eclair Cookie reminds me of Blathers

their color palettes are similar in a way

they run museums

blathers is probably British (and Eclair has a British accent)

they’re both very interested in something from the past

[andromedaesresolve]

I think Dante has a proclivity for magazines in general. They've got enough pictures and short enough articles for his ADHD ass to engage in and I think that provides him a LOT of useless and unexpected information.

Undoubtedly makes him scary good at really out-of-pocket trivia.

Guns, cars, woodworking, fashion, celeb gossip, astronomy, fishing, medicine, home improvement... prepare to be unsettled.

[derangedhyena-zoids]

I wrote down a bit of Sara background on the Zoids Discord and realized I don't think I ever posted any of it here, l m a o. So, some Sara stuff. Under a cut because mature-ish.

(this was re: a discussion about various takes on Sara's background/backstory/what exactly was going on with her in Backdraft. this is my hc: ) Sara's beginning at BD was as a call girl, when she was much younger. Because some of the men would talk to and/or around her, she started accruing exclusive knowledge of some of the inner/upper workings of the org. As we know, in my hc Sara is related to Ryss - and not too distantly (read: Ryss is her great-grandmother). Ryss's offspring generally end up with psychic abilities of some stripe. but the more diluted the bloodline gets, the less intense and direct those abilities are. Psychic abilities in my setting are broadly considered active or passive. The perception-warping. brainwashing, nightmare-giving/etc sorts of powers Ryss was shown to have are active. The "really great intuition" sort of things, and non-aggressive/intrusive mind-reading are passive. Active tends to drop out fast as far as inherited abilities go, passive does not. Why this matters? because Sara's basically on the tail end of having active abilities, but she definitely has passive ones. She was always VERY aware of the conflicting and cut-throat nature of things going on around her - basically saved all of this knowledge up. Her more active version of abilities can only really be utilized during intercourse, which she came to realize over time. Because she had to figure it out. Basically the intensity/vulnerability combo of sex creates the perfect storm of her being able to profoundly mess with/see into the minds of whoever she ends up with. A lesser version of it, basically an aggressive/forced magnetism, is how she continued to draw people in for this if needed. But it's not like she had to try too hard, for most people. It's prudent to remind folks of my hc's whole "Zi's society does not work the same way ours does" thing esp. when it comes to sex/relationships - so Sara's behavior is not at all viewed with the same lens it would be IRL. But obviously, as soon as she was able, she extricated herself from being a call girl and planted herself in the org. And moved on up from there. And as for the mutual hate thing going on with Alteil- Alteil is gay. And utterly immune to her bullshit. He sees what she's been doing, and noticed her power-creeping up the org. He doesn't understand how exactly she's doing so, so effectively, but he sees it - and HATES it, hates her. Feeling's mutual - Sara hates not getting what she wants. + re: her and Steve, The Ship(tm): Sara is used to cut-throat people, people that can't be trusted, etc - and Steve is both Not That and very fundamentally doesn't mean anyone harm. She was READY to fuck him up, but was confronted by not only all of what he's buried, but also the brief, unwelcome self-reflection that she'd become just as cut-throat as all the people she'd been around.

That's kind of what's supposed to be communicated in the short comic about her, Shallow. But idk if it did that or not.

[bliz-lol]

So guys. Keep my version of the Guesspionage host.

In the second art he is the same, but with the host blather round - his only such talkative friend (my headcanon which is not canon lol)

[plusultraetc]

I really want to get better at like. Having Headcanons but unfortunately the ‘making a headcanon’ to ‘making a new wip’ slope is slippery like a cartoon banana peel and buddy I am sliding

[emerald-dragonflame]

Really dumb thing I've been thinking about is what classes and races the MHI Crew would play in DnD/Pathfinder.

Earl wouldn't because the only board game he'd be interested in is Monopoly, cause that's when money made sense (I genuinely think he finds video games and TTRPGs silly)

Tanya wouldn't cause she would try to use real elf magic in the game and would get frustrated when Tripp, the DM, says she can't do that.

And Edward wouldn't simply due to the fact that there's way too much talking and numbers involved.

Tripp is obviously the DM, playing either Pathfinder or a more homebrewed version of DnD

Owen would play after Tripp tells him it'll be fun (even though he says that it's a nerd game. As if he isn't a giant fucking nerd himself. My mans, your an accountant, this is a numbers game, and you don't even have to factor in taxes, it was, like, made for you), so he decides to play something he thinks is funny: A Dragonborn rouge who is way too good at sneaking around. He's not edgy, and doesn't have a tragic backstory or anything like that, he's just a shit stirrer. Only later realizing "Oh... crap this is actually kinda fun", turning his character into the best part of the campaign.

Julie would play a gunslinger Halfling, mostly cause I think she would play something she knows (and Tripp would definitely change some gunslinger rules to make them more realistic), and I think she really likes the trope "cute, but deadly". She'd 100% play the sweetheart of the group, and play the character closest to her personality.

And while Owen and Julie try not to have their characters fall in love, it kinda happens on accident cause the two idiot lovebirds won't stop jokingly flirting with each other, and whoops, how did they end up in the same bed?

Holly would play a male Goliath barbarian, and would be the only person playing someone of the opposite sex. She doesn't care about the roleplaying or anything like that. Her characters entire personality is: A'm only 'ere t' crack skulls, an' fuck bitches... and a'm all outta bitches t' fuck". Girl doesn't care at all about the kingdom they need to save, she just wanna roll dice and swing her axe around.

"I would like to rage" is her favorite thing to say.

This is all mostly headcanon that I have no proof for other than "yeah, that feels about right", but it's fun and i think fit's their personalities... I... might have to draw these characters now, lol

[ghostradiodylan]

Who among the Quarry counselors has had an emo phase?

This got lost somehow and I couldn't find it until I got on the desktop site and it was like HEY THERE'S AN ASK IN YOUR INBOX, I'm so sorry Torch! But thank you for the ask!

Obviously Ryan. Look at him. He's still in it. He's wearing a long-sleeved shirt with a short-sleeved band shirt over it! He's got the eyeliner and everything! 😆 If they had kept this concept art design with the black converse high tops with the contrasting red laces, we wouldn't even need to have this conversation because it would be so obvious!

That right there is an emo boy. I actually have no idea what emo kids 10ish years younger than me were listening to, but based on my own experiences I'd put Ryan musically in the spot where emo, screamo, and post-hardcore intersect, so he probably liked stuff like Scary Kids Scaring Kids, The Used, Thursday, AFI, and some of the moodier Brand New albums (before they got canceled).

Miles says emo is not a phase and he is and will forever be emo (same), and while Dylan is not exactly or entirely Miles, I think he would agree. Not sure he would have adopted the outward style though, I think he was super nerdy when he was younger and wouldn't have wanted to draw attention to himself. But based on the handful of songs we get that Dylan is supposed to have chosen for the party, he probably listened to the more melodic and poppy (but still angst-riddled) side of emo, like Dashboard Confessional, Jimmy Eat World, Bright Eyes, early Weezer, and Saves The Day (before they got canceled).

And, look, Abi's the other obvious choice, right? She's got that Hot Topic aesthetic. But wouldn't it be funny if the other former emo kid was actually Emma? I HC her as into pop and top 40 rock and broadway tunes now, but Imagine middle or early high school Emma listening to early Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance and having split cherry red and black hair in kind of a scene shag cut and heavily lined eyes. I can kinda see it. she probably liked 30 Seconds to Mars too (before, say it with me now, they got soft-canceled--why are men in this scene and music industry as a whole so terrible??)

Finally, Jacob might be having his first ever emo phase right now. Remember when "Untitled (How Could This Happen to Me)" by Simple Plan became a meme? I feel like that's just Jacob during the game and post-canon. He's a sad boy. He could have a small emo phase, as a treat. It might be good for him.

Hang in there, big guy. 🖤🖤🖤

[bladewarde]

sitting here thinking about some plot hooks that are important to laera's story per act 1:

getting her shield back: technically the start of laera's quest chain. laera was kidnapped by goblins and held for 2-3 days where her equipment was confiscated. her sword can be summoned via weapon bond, but her shield bears no magical properties and is still within the stronghold.

books and scrolls: laera knows wizard spells. giving her books and scrolls she finds interesting make her happy! bonus points - talking to her about the books she receives earns her favour.

sword of tyr: after astarion and laera dispatch the tyrrans, she takes the sword of tyr. ( gale will ask her for it; she says no. ) the next major part of her quest chain is assisting her in breaking tyr's blessing on the sword.

other general things plaguing laera in act 1 bc she can't catch a break: she is traumatised, struggling with her mental health, and totally in survival mode. being abducted has just compounded the prior 8 months of hell she's been through ( mariss disappearing + church paranoia ) and it will be a constant, uphill battle for laera to find some peace of mind.