#hell i need to make a post about the actual Backstory for this au i guess?

[stabbyfoxandrew]

mafia front restaurant please!!!

WIP Wednesday (8/30) | Mafia Restaurant AU

“He saw my gun,” Neil says once he’s back in the kitchen. Kevin and Jean had been laughing, but both of them go silent.

“What?” Kevin asks with wide eyes. That annoying shade of green follows him as Neil goes to lean against the corner with a hand to his forehead. “What do you mean he saw your gun?”

“I mean, one of the guys saw my gun,” Neil pulls his jacket out of the way and Kevin gasps. Jean curses under his breath.

“Why the fuck didn’t you leave that in here?” The taller man asks, clearly in disbelief.

“I didn’t think of it.” Neil says with a sigh.

“How did he react?” Jean asks.

“He made a joke about it. None of the others realized."

“Alright. We’re fine then.” Jean says with a shrug.

“I—” Kevin starts, but Neil cuts him off.

“Kevin, leave this to us. Go sit in the car if you have to.”

“No. I’m…” Kevin makes a face. “I can help.”

<- previous | first | next->

[byoldervine]

How To Always Have Writing Ideas…

For A New Story:

1. Keep a list. Any time you have one of those sudden bursts of inspiration in the middle of writing a separate story, don’t quit your current WIP or pretend you’ll ‘just remember it’, put it into a separate list. You can always go back to this later on

2. Writing prompts. Look them up, use random word generators, pick a random object you can see, whatever helps you come up with any idea at all. Write a few paragraphs. Can it evolve from there?

3. People watch. Go to a public place and make up backstories for the strangers you come across. That man in the hat is using it to hide his elf ears. That woman with the bright pink hair didn’t dye it, she’s secretly the main character of an anime trying to dodge all the tropes and cliches. That toddler is actually a guardian angel reincarnated to watch over their new baby sibling. What brings them to this place? Where did they come from? Where are they going next?

To Continue An Existing Story:

1. Act it out. Say the words aloud, act out what your characters are doing, get props or people to act off of if you need to. See what feels like the most natural progression of the moment

2. Coffee shop AU, or other substitutional one-shot. Good for establishing dynamics between two or more characters, or even just working out a lone character’s day-to-day. Just write a few paragraphs about your characters entering a coffee shop or similar appropriate establishment/ordinary location. What do they do? What do they order to eat/drink? What do they say to each other? How do they treat the staff and other customers? If all else fails, write what they do after they leave, as if it were an ordinary day for them

3. Rubber duck it. This is something programmers use to work out where they went wrong in their code, but I’ve found it can work for figuring out story stuff as well. What you do is get a rubber duck, or any other object of focus, and start explaining your problem to it out loud. In this case you can read your chapter to the duck, or even give it the full run-down of the plot so far. Warning; side effects may include getting frustrated that the problem was right in front of you and subsequently throwing the duck

For Both:

1. Writing graveyards. I talked a bit about them in a previous post, but writing graveyards are basically just the folder you store your deleted scenes in instead of yeeting them into the void. Reread those, see if they have anything you can recontextualise or repurpose

2. Combine ideas. My WIP Byoldervine is a combination of two separate plots I had that I realised I’d be able to combine - twice. I first realised I could put together my ‘angel and demon heroes protecting humans from a war between heaven and hell’ story and my ‘quest through the fantasy realm to find the ingredients to a cure for a dying god’ story into the same universe as two sides of the same story as a duology. Then I realised I could just remove a few characters, tweak a few plot points and mash them completely together into one book. Combining them works wonders and minimises worldbuilding

3. Go out with friends or family. I guarantee that the one time you’ll be flooded with inspiration is when you don’t have an opportunity to write it down

[alpaca-clouds]

Trying to figure out Gortash's backstory

As I said before, I am right now very much inspired to write a redemption story for Gortash. Like post-canon, Gortash lives AU (because I still hate that he dies), and he actually gets a chance to redeem himself. Not only like: He turns good, but he actually does something good enough to be considered a redemption. And he does so without dying.

But... Yeah, that story is going to be from Gortash's POV, which means that I very much need to come up with some fillings for the big ass holes that the game leaves in terms of his backstory.

We don't know how old he is, but I would estimate him to be around his late 30s or early 40s. Which means we kinda have like 20 years to fill up.

While the entire timeline of Raphael "buying" him from his parents and him escaping the hell is very vague, he was probably somewhere between 18 and 20 when he got out of the hells. And the exact stuff what happened in between is vague. Even how he escaped the hells is not quite clear. I mean, was Helsink responsible for that? Or how did he get out?

And then he starts to do illegal weapons trading once he is back in Baldur's Gate. Which is fair. I am going to assume that he is actually going to throw some stuff in there that is of his own making, given that he clearly is a tinkerer.

Given Karlach is 30, I do not think he hired her before she was 15, so at max she has worked for him just a couple of years.

I mean, technically those details don't matter. What does matter however is: How does he become a Chosen of Bane, and how does he get into contact with the Dark Urge?

As quite a few people have pointed out: Technically the Dark Urge existing is very confusing given that they have been created by Bhaal and Bhaal was dead for about a hundred years until ten years ago. So unless Durge is ten years old, this does not fully make sense. Sure, technically speaking Durge could be immortal, I guess, but... Well.

See, the issue I see with Gortash is, that I just do not pick him as the religious type. I do not see him going to the Banite church and actually give enough fucks to make himself a name in the church and after some great show of faith getting the status of chosen. I mean, if you talk to him, he just... Ketheric is devoted to Myrkul, sure. And Orin was indoctrinated into the Bhaalist cult from her birth onward. But Gortash? He would follow nearly every god if that god gave him powers. At least that is my reading of him. Sure, the entire tyrant thing plays well with his pompous and kinda narcissistic personality (and I mean this in a neutral way - given how he grew up narcissism in a medical sense is to be expected), but... Like, had Oghma thrown him a boon, he would have served Oghma, right?

So, why is he a chosen?

Usually chosen are either one of two: Either, they are very dedicated to the god and have proofen themselves to them over and over again, or they have something (power, knowledge, influence) that the god is interested in. As I don't see Gortash falling underneath the first umbrella, the second one could be it. Was Bane interested in Gortash maybe, because Gortash had a lot of knowledge about the hells maybe? Was Bane originally interested in the crown or something else that Gortash knew about? That would be one possibility.

Though, there is another one. Because it just so happens that in the lore of Faerûn something happened just 8 years ago, that could have given him chosen status without him doing shit for it. Even though it would also mean, that him being a chosen is almost random. Because 8 years ago the second sundering happened. And during the second sundering for a variety of reasons the gods picked quite a lot of chosen. And yes, that included the Dead Three as well. And a lot of those chosen were in fact not people super dedicated to the gods or anything, but just people who generally aligned with the domain and alignment of the god in question. And I cannot help but wonder: Was Gortash just one of the chosen Bane got from that event?

It would work out fine. Because there is one thing that keeps bothering me: Sure, Gortash kept secrets from Karlach. But she still was his personal bodyguard. And she had no idea that he was aligned with Bane. Which makes me think that indeed he was not a Banite when he sold her off to Zariel.

And yeah, I cannot help myself. The timeline would work out rather well: Gortash becomes a chosen closely prior the events of the second sundering, but after he sold of Karlach. After a bit the Dark Urge (who somehow very much is an adult, because I guess he time travelled or something) finds him. The two hit it off (whether romantically or platonically) and come up with their grand evil scheme. At some point Ketheric joins.

Of course, there is one big hole in that explaination, though: Who are the other people working for Gortash while he just is a black market weapons trader? If he was a Banite it would be easily explainable (other Banites), but like this it leaves open the question: Who are they and what happened to them?

I don't know. I am rambling. But yeah. I like this asshole. And his story is fun to think about.

[dseval]

New AU? 🤔🤔

(This drawing took several years of my life, i think. Had fun but I wasn't a pro artist, sorry color theorists)

I made a joke UTMV AU based on Blue Archive, as a joke, said joke took too many effort now to just be called a joke. Decided to post it on Tumblr because I guess I need Social Media sometimes. The AU is based off Blue Archive (heavily) and To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (loosely). Interested in this long idea dump?

Under the cut.

(logo made with the Blue Archive Logo Generator, this is also a joke name)

ArchiveVerse, or I would personally abbreviate it as ArchV or ArcV for the remaining of this post, is a UTMV AU, where all the characters are our favourite skeleton: Sans but from multiple AUs. It is heavily based off Blue Archive, borrowing a lot of concepts— and loosely from To Aru Kagaku No Railgun.

Side note, i do not actually watch To Aru, nor do I play Blue Archive anymore. So several stuff are definitely made up.

This is literally my second post ever on Tumblr.

The joke concept image that started it all...

I'm sorry for the terrible artwork sksksks

Do note ahead that this AU is made in-and-out of art block, so some information and designs are inconsistent throughout the post. Everything is also written in Comic Sans MS, as a joke.

The Academy City

Do not take this AU seriously, it's just a slice of life thing. (Unless)

The academy city is occupied with students, nobody is an adult. However there are complete facilities in the city, like malls, restaurants, etc. Some students work in these facilities, but most of the time they are ran by robots/artificial intelligence.

In the heart of the city, rests the Omega Tower, which, hypothetically, kept the city running. It is occupied by the General Student Council. The Academy City itself is shrouded in mystery.

There are four academies in the city, each with their own districts:

(Thanks to an irl friend for helping me design and clean up the logos ♡)

Each student belongs to their own unique academy, though students can be promoted and enrolled from OPS to either Ordenance or Paradigm if they possess the qualities of excellence. Students who have already been in Juvenile Containment aren't allowed enrollment in Ordenance or Paradigm.

Here are several more fun facts about the academies:

Juvie students are still allowed to go out of their district, though this depends. If the student has a light sentence and hasn't committed any heavy crimes, they're allowed to go pretty much everywhere (unless they're banned in certain locations). Any student can go in and out freely if they have a pass.

There are no teachers, the students learn from text books and videos, though they still attend class.

Even if students come from different academies, they're still allowed to visit and make friends with students from other academies.

The Omega Public School district is the largest district among all academies, and each and every student has their own house, as opposed to the other academies' dormitory system.

Only the Paradigm Academy has a standard uniform. Ordenance students have a dress code, OPS is free to wear whatever. While Juvie students must still wear the uniform of the academy they are once associated with.

Students/Characters

A list of basically every student I have somewhat designed for this AU. Each student has their own unique halo, and their own unique powers, which I have put in the sheets. It also includes a short backstory.

However, they're, uh, pretty shabby. This is the most I have designed for a joke (what the hell). Some are well-made, though i faltered around the end. So please zoom in to see text more clearly.

Friendly note that Nightmare's bones isn't covered in goop in this AU, see the very very first Illustration on top of this post to see what I mean. They also have wings. Nightmare's wings are broken and a bit ugly here and there, while Dream's wings are white and pristine. Can they fly? Take a guess.

Guys I love Reaper but I suck at drawing him Im sorry

Halo designs are not final. Also, rest assured, these three are not the only members of the GSC.

Each student has their own special power. So far, I... Literally have nothing to say about these powers, except a few things:

They can manifest from emotions. For example, when Horror is flustered, smoke can come out of the crack of his skull. Or when Dust is nervous, he gets 'cold feet,' A.K.A the ground under his feet turns to ice. Cross also has lightning fizzle out of his fingers when he's nervous or surprised.

They can channel their powers to a weapon, though it's not necessary.

Welp, that was fun. I have fun making this AU (even if it's unlikely anyone will see it). Thanks, guys, have a nice day.

Credits (please tell me if I missed anyone, or misspelled anything):

Undertale by Toby Fox

Nightmare and Dream Sans by Jokublog

Dust Sans by Ask-Dusttale blog

Killer Sans by Rahafwabas

Horror Sans by SourAppleStudios

Cross Sans by Jakei

Epic Sans by Yugogeer012

Color Sans by superyoumna

Delta Sans by AnimatedZorox

Ink Sans by Comyet/Mye bi

Error Sans and Geno by CrayonQueen/LoverofPiggies

Reaper Sans by Renrink

[mikimakiboo]

Ghosts & Medium AU by @ancha-aus :3

I'M FINALLY DOOOONE I was busy so I couldn't finish sooner :(

A nice AU idea where Dust is a medium and goes to haunted places to help the ghosts leave and rest in peace :)

Until he finds Killer, a very flirty and clingy ghost who seems to have fallen in love with him at first sight

The post that started it all

And my interpretation of everyone's backstories under the cut !

Tw: mention of torture, death, starvation, possession, religious trauma, sect

Medium Dust

( official backstory )

He had a rough childhood, being bullied most of his life because he kept saying he "could talk to ghosts", that made him the weird kid

He can really talk to ghosts tho, but it depends on how strong the ghost is, if it is a weak ghost he will need material to be able to communicate with them, but if the ghost is strong (like his brother, Killer, Horror and Cross) he will be able to see and talk to them without any material needed

He later decided to use this ability to work as an exorcist and soon became popular as he was one of the rare ghost hunters to actually have good results and not doing it for tv

That's when he met Killer, and regretted chosing this job

He used to be a lone wolf, only talking to his dead brother who never left his side after Dust failed to reanimate his body after studying necromancy, but now he is a tired guy trying to monitor four ghosts and a demon, and killing himself isn't an option for a very obvious reason that is: he would become a ghost too

Ghost Killer

( official backstory )

I wrote his backstory in an ask before making this post

Quick summary: Killer was a hitman who killed a very important man (possibly mafia boss), the man's family got mad, kidnapped him, kept him tied up in their cave to torture him and make him pay for the murder, and ended up leaving him to die in an abandoned train wagon, still tied up so he wouldn't escape, due to that Killer is deeply afraid of loneliness and ropes (and just restraints in general)

He caught an interest in Dust because for the first time someone wanted to know him, and having been manipulated all his life the fact that Dust asked him things about himself and listened to what he had to say made him fall for him in an instant

He then swore to stay by his side no matter what ! Dust is not happy about that

Priest Cross

( official backstory )

Cross is the priest of the universe !

Why did he become a priest ? To please his father, and as a punishment too

Cross's father, XGaster, didn't like that his son was bisexual and after trying many conversion therapies he forced him to go to the church and become a priest so that he would devote his life to God, never take a partner, and hopefully quit being bi

Cross, of course, got influenced by his father's opinions and thinks that being a priest is the best choice, he got traumatized by the therapies and genuinely thinks that being bi is a sin and that he will burn in hell of he ever feels attracted to a man

Needless to say he didn't take it well when he realized he was attracted to FOUR men, one of them being a demon, two of them being dead, and one of them (Killer) having possessed his body to flirt with Dust (Cross was supposed to exorcize him but messed up and Killer possessed his body instead, so now Cross is the ghost following Dust around, waiting to take his body back, and having to witness his own body flirting with Dust)

Ghost Horror

Horror was born and spent all of his life in a sect in the middle of nowhere, not that he wanted to leave anyway, but even if he wanted to he couldn't have reached out to anyone because there wasn't anyone aware of their existence

Food was sacred in the sect, so much that it would be used as sacrifice for their supreme leader (Undyne) and that only the worthy would be allowed to eat, and they still didn't have much food left

Horror was part of the worthy, he believed whole heartedly that the sect was good and only ever acted for its good

Until his brother made a mistake and was left to starve

And Horror loved his brother way more than he loved the sect, so needless to say his death greatly affected him

He started questioning Undyne, questioning the sect, and of course he got into troubles for that

He was hit, his head got badly injured, and he got locked up in the room where they left those unworthy of food, he later died of hunger

He haunts Dust now, and he always makes sure he eats during the day, being very scared that he might be hungry too as he had been hungry all of his life and died because of that, he is very insecure about food and always scared that there won't be enough

Demon Nightmare

Angels don't want to hear about him as he is a demon and demons don't trust him as he has angel magic in him and angel magic is more powerful than demon magic

( official backstory )

A demon born in heaven and banished in hell, twin brother of an angel

Thanks to, or because of, the angel magic Nightmare is one of the most powerful demons in hell and quickly got a reputation among mortals who summon him quite often

But the thing is, he is too powerful, and demons don't trust him even if he never showed any sign of rebellion, but to prevent any risk they decided to lock him away, separating his spirit (not his soul as demons don't have souls) from his body, leaving him as a broken version of himself only able to do small spells

But he still has a reputation, and Dust summoned him in hope he could do something for all the ghosts already following him, and Nightmare agreed on one condition: Dust had to give him his body back

Lots of things happened, Nightmare got his body back and is now tied to Dust because of their deal, but he never gets rid of the ghosts because he grew attached to them even tho he won't admit it, he will say that he finds them untertaining instead

Anyway Nightmare has big trust issues as he was betrayed by heaven first (and by Dream who did nothing to defend him) and then by hell, so it takes a long time for him to admit liking the group as deep inside he's still afraid they're gonna turn their back on him like everyone else did

(He also tries to convince Dream to stop trying to exorcize Dust when there is clearly no need to (Dust doesn't agree with him))

God Error

A God with not many followers but the few he's got are very devoted

His followers tried to sacrifice Dust once as they recognized he had a great power (plus the fact he had a demon following him around), but of course Dust's mates stalkers intervened and killed the followers

Blood having been spilled, and followers' blood being a greater sacrifice than other people's blood, Error got summoned, but instead of being mad that his followers got killed he was actually curious of Dust and declared him as his high priest to keep an eye on him and his little teammates

Error now shows up once in a while to appreciate some drama, Nightmare also became his new gossip buddy as Error talks shit about other Gods and Nightmare talks shit about Angels and Demons

[altocat]

all 50 of those Honest fave character prompts for Sephiroth

( @izunias-meme-hole )

........*cracks knuckles* OKAY.

1. Do you project onto this character?

All the time, every day. Like Sephiroth, I can often be avoidant, depressed, and overly attached to my loved ones. The struggle is real lmao

2. Did you always like this character?

Before falling into fandom hell, I didn't really notice him much other than Kingdom Hearts stuff. Or the occasional thirst post online.

3. What first drew you to this character?

Crisis Core making him a sad soft baby that everyone is mean to lmao

4. Did you initially dislike/hate this character?

No. I always thought he had a cool design and a badass voice.

5. If this character were a woman, would you honestly still like them? Or in reverse, what if they were a man?

Of course! Sephiroth is a fascinating character regardless. His backstory is very unique and I don't think that would change.

6. Do you have any nicknames or pet names you use for this character?

I mostly just call him Seph. Sometimes Kittyroth. Sometimes "Mr. Compassion" whenever I'm being sarcastic about him. And sometimes just SMUGFUCK because that's what he is.

7. Does the character’s age matter to you?

Nah. Like I said, he's a fascinating character regardless.

8. Does the character’s looks/design matter to you?

I feel like there are certain aspects of his character that you NEED to keep in--his catlike pupils, silver hair, etc. They are plot-related indicators of his heritage and genetics. Thirstposts aside, they are reminder that he is a lab-grown monster with alien blood running through his veins.

9. Does this character remind you of anyone you know? Does that affect how you see them?

Not really. Seph is pretty unique. And honestly I'd rather not know someone like him irl lolol

10. Do you see yourself in this character even without projecting?

Physically? Hell no. Emotionally? Sometimes. But that's on rare occasions where we can actually tell what he's thinking and feeling.

11. How did you “fall in love” with this character?

Watching Crisis Core cutscenes one rainy night in 2021.

12. If you could write effortlessly and as much as you wanted, what story (s) would you write for this character?

AU Redemption arc trilogy in which Zack and Aerith save Sephiroth from himself and he dismantles Shinra to become the planet's hero.

13. If you could draw effortlessly and as much as you wanted, what scene (s) would you draw for this character?

I'd really like to illustrate a lot of fic scenes. Especially the trippier Jenova-focused ones.

14. Are you physically attracted to this character?

...Yeah lmao But I don't ship myself or my self-insert with him because NO lolol I think he's aesthetically pleasing but I don't associate myself with him in any romantic sense. That's just weird to me.

15. Are your thoughts surrounding this character usually sexual, non-sexual, or a mix of both?

Non-sexual. I'm more interested in his character progression/fall into villainy. Like yeah he's attractive and there are some seductive aspects of his personality. But he's just more interesting to dissect as a villain.

16. Have you ever cried when thinking about this character? Genuinely?

Several times lolol usually after First Soldier updates.

17. Have you ever felt physical pain over this character? (ex: physical heartache).

Miiiight have happened once in dms with other fans (thanks @heraldofcrow)

18. Do you prefer to see this character suffer or know peace? Angst or comfort? Both?

SUFFER. SUFFERRRRRRR 😈NO COMFORT FOR YOU ALL IS PAIN AND ANGUISH.

19. Does this character serve as a stress ball/ security blanket for you? Something you run to after a bad day to feel safe or happier?

Oh totally. All the time. Imagine cute aggression but it's more angsty lol Angst aggression.

20. Do you feel affectionate towards this character?

For Sane!Sephiroth, yes. Very much so. Not so much after Nibelheim. Then he's just an evil little shit who needs to get clowned by Cloud again.

21. Are your feelings about this character platonic, romantic, or familial? All of these feelings at once maybe?

Platonic-familial. He's my precious baby boy. Who I have to hurt. LET ME HURT HIM.

22. Do you think you will always love this character?

I hope so! Assuming Square doesn't do something stupid.

23. Has this character permanently altered or impacted your psyche in a way you won’t forget?

I'm HERE. lmao There's your evidence.

24. Do you ever dream about this character? If so, describe a dream you once had about them.

I never have dreams about him and it makes me SO MAD SZDFGHFDSA EVERYONE ELSE GETS BLORBO DREAMS EXCEPT FOR ME.

25. What kind of fan-fiction do you read about this character? If you don’t read fan-fics about them, why not?

I mostly like character studies. Or slow-burn AU fics with him. I'm currently reading The Fear of Falling Stars and it's sooooo good.

26. If you look for this character’s name on AO3, what tags are you including or excluding?

It really depends on the fic tbh.

27. Do you like to ship this character with other characters or do you prefer not to?

I SHIP HIM WITH EVERYONE *feral noises*

28. Do you get defensive about this character? If yes, then why?

Only in select instances. I don't like the dudebro logic of "well Sephiroth was always arrogant/evil even before Nibelheim and he can't be vulnerable or sensitive because that's not badass" because those are fundamentally not true. And an extreme disservice to his writing.

29. Do you affectionately bully this character?

😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈

30. Are you especially sensitive about this character?

He makes me sad. His story is heartbreaking.

31. Are you ashamed of liking this character?

Nope. Not at all.

32. If you could make this character a meal, what would you make them?

Pumpkin soup, of course!

33. Are you “blinded by love” for this character or do you accept any flaws they may have?

Oh not at all. I have said many many times and will keep saying that Sephiroth does not deserve a happy ending after everything he's done. He deserves to be destroyed for good. He's NOT a good guy, not any more at least. He's caused so much damage in so many horrible ways. There's no going back from that. I love the guy and I feel for him. But that's still no excuse for what he did.

34. Does this character inspire you with little things in your daily life?

Uhhhh no.

35. Has this character ever prevented you from sleeping because you can’t stop thinking about them?

@ me whenever First Soldier updates.

36. Do you feel a spiritual/soulmate connection with this character?

Idk. Probably not. He's my angsty trauma son. But I wouldn't go THAT far lol

37. Is your love for this character a secret from people you know in real life?

Nope. I will literally never shut up about Sephiroth to family or friends lololol

38. Do you tend to joke more about dying or killing for this character? Both? What causes the distinction?

NO because Sephiroth is a villain and the goal is to not become like him lolol

39. Do you feel lovesick over this character?

Nope. He just makes me casually distraught.

40. Are you very empathetic towards this character? When they feel a certain way in the story, do you feel those emotions too?

Very much so. Like I said before, his story is heartbreaking. I've ugly cried about him so many times in the past.

41. Do you prefer to interact with this character directly via self-insert/reader type content? Or do you enjoy seeing them mostly with other characters in the story and/or your OCs?

Other than background OCs, no. I prefer mostly just his relationship with canon characters.

42. If you could, would you write this character a song or poem?

It'd be cool to do something creepy with his relationship with Jenova...

43. What type of weather makes you think of this character?

Rainy days. Because he's depressing.

44. Which season makes you think of this character?

Fall.

45. Do you feel as if you are intimately familiar with this character?

At this point, I'd really like to hope so. They have certainly added a lot of new stuff that feels on point with my previous ideas for him. But I'm open to new stuff too!

46. How much do bad interpretations of this character upset you?

It really depends on how they characterize him as a person before Nibelheim. I don't really like how people sometimes equate his evil/smug/arrogant post-Nibelheim personality with his CC-era one. They're really completely different.

47. Does this character ever make you laugh sincerely?

He made some the FUNNIEST goddamn faces in Rebirth, just sayin'.

48. What’s your favorite physical/design feature for this character?

R trilogy has the best overall design. Hair, eyes, and the sheer SIZE of him. All perfect.

49. What’s your favorite personality trait in this character?

Sane!Seph: His love for his friends

Insane!Seph: Him being a huge petty dick just for the sake of it

50. Link your fav song, playlist, aesthetic board, fan-fiction, reference pile, personal artwork, analysis post, meme, headcanon, or quote for this character. Whichever one (s) you are most comfortable with!

UHHHHHHHHHHH I'm just going to cheat and say THIS ENTIRE COMMUNITY because Seph-fans are BEST fans and we get along and get shit done. Best content. Best fandom space. No in-fighting or drama on his character. We're ALL peak 😎

[fnich-enthusiast]

Hello hi if you didn't know I'm like,,, Obsessed with the Olympics so naturally a newsies Olympics AU had to happen.

First of all would like to acknowledge that a newsies Olympics AU already exists and it's a work of art. You can find it on Kath's blog @thefactsofthematter or on AO3 here

I will elaborate in later posts bc there is,,, a lot but Paris 2024 basics:

It's Jack's third Olympics, Davey's fifth, Katherine's fourth, and everyone else's first

Also it's Charlie's fourth paralympics

Him and Jack are brothers, not super important to the plot but important to me

Jack and Davey are married <3 v much openly queer pioneer athletes and I have SO MUCH backstory for them they're my favourites actually

Jack is the captain of the men's rugby sevens team, which Spot and Albert both play on

Davey's a heavily decorated diver, and is competing for the last time. He originally wasn't going to compete but then Les needed a synchro partner and Davey went what the hell why not

Also Jack and Davey are 32 and 31 respectively

Sarah was also an olympic diver, she's 3 years older than Davey and used to compete mixed synchro with him (which I know isn't an olympic event but this is an alternate universe where fictional newsboys are olympic athletes so the world is what I make of it - also I want all of the Jacobs siblings competing together)

Charlie plays wheelchair rugby and is actually the entire reason Jack got into rugby in the first place, he's two years older than Jack because I love some older brother crutchie

Finch is an archer, he's also very interested in the olympics and runs a tiktok account where he talks about all sorts like daily updates etc, fails to mention that he's competing until someone sees him on tv and is like wtf that's the tiktok guy

Race is Finch's best friend from home and is a skateboarder, was fully unaware that skateboarding had become an olympic sport and Finch watched in real time as Race realised they could both go together

Katherine does equestrian <3 I have not decided which event bc I think they're boring

They're all Team USA and I have so many more thoughts but this is getting long and also asks are open

Thanks to all the besties involved in this mess @we-are-inevitable @tarantulas4davey @jack-kellys @to-be-a-dreamer @wineandhargreeves @claireverlasting

[hothammies]

just wanted to say I'm really liking this au so far, mike's character breakdown is so fun and I just wanted to thank you for a part of it! when I first read that he wasn't good with guns I deflated a little because I thought oh, it's another incompetent mike and macho will situation 😞 but the fact he's not good with guns because that's a NERF, and he's otherwise actually competent, respectable, intelligent, commanding, just - mike wheeler himself - made me really happy! that's a fun take, and I appreciated the effort in how you used the dnd charts etc too it's so cool!

it makes me look forward to the other character intros, and I already loved how sweet will looked in the party line up art even while holding a gun 😂 idk if you plan to have him only embrace the skill because it's necessary and not entirely what he likes, or something else, but I just liked that kinda contrast in the art regardless it made me giggle

oh also: "would never hesitate to do something deplorable to protect the party: family first" <- iconic. I can see the ruthlessness already I love you mike that's our leader, kind badass boy

this ask made me squeal and kick my feet like five times so thank you for that LMAO

i'm so happy that you (and others) have been enjoying the mike characterization i've put out for this au :"D i put a ton of thought into all of them and i'm having a lot of fun! mike in canon seems to be one of the most intelligent characters in the show, closely rivaled to dustin in making plans and having them go right, so him being incompetent is like an oxymoron.

there's a reason he's the leader of the group, and when people paint him as incompetent and / or babygirlified (in the "damsel, innocent, weak, must protect" sense) because he's played by finn or because he has terrible physical capabilities, it kinda makes me annoyed. so what if he's weak physically? he's still the one who actively squares up to people even when he knows he's about to get his ass beat :P he is the one who puts everything into action. his intuition and plans are correct most, if not all the time, and it pisses me off when people undermine that to try to fit him into someone who needs to be saved.

of course, in this au, his weaknesses more lie in his emotional incapabilities rather than survival. he isn't the best physically either, but that doesn't mean he can't do anything (its the apocalypse - he had to have learned something at some point).

the pressure that bears down on him in this au isn't based on society, and more related to the fact that he sees himself as the sole "caretaker" for the group. being put in charge of the lives of five other people followed by your own is scary as hell, and he doesn't really have an outlet for the pressure he faces until he enters that fwb relationship with will. that's an entirely different can of worms though so i'll stop with that for now!

i'm actually so happy that you mentioned how sweet i drew will in his design <3 will's character sheet will be posted tmrw so hopefully it will make sense why i drew him the way i did. i hope that my explanation regarding the rifle makes sense and does his character justice! him being good with guns was also a way for him to bond with lucas and explore his character a bit - it'll be explained later :O

and abt that last line regarding his ruthlessness... in all of the group's backstories, they all had people outside of the party that very much helped shape their identity and how they act. all i'll say is that mike is very much influenced by nancy in the moral compass department >:)

[pokoinsides]

Uuuh...

Here is the list of the characters(the first part),whose stories and existence are possible to find in this AU - Traumatic Pasta: (‼️TW:Mentions of SA,selfharm,violence,child neglect, alcoholism‼️)

I also need to notice,that everything in this universe happens in early 2010s (wanna avoid all the questions about character's age,so just telling you in case you care :P)

🍭🫀 - Laughing Jack: used to kill children,making their death the most horrible,painful, gruesome and disgusting,but now he's a babysitter for all the pastas.Of course,Jack would rather die than be a lovely housewife till the end of his existence,but he has to, because of having a debt to the faceless mf.It is a story for another post,but to be short,Slenderman is the current owner his soul, who's giving L.J protection from angels out of Heavenly Office,who wanted to send him to the hell after his ward Isaac(since L.J is a paradise twink,I formed a theory,that he,unlike other entities,can possibly have soul).

The clown is irritated by every noise and cough,emotional as fuck and can barely bear the existence of the children of the mansion (exceptions: Sally and Toby.They're mama's innocent kittens forever and no matter what).

👔🐙 - Slenderman: actually,fella doesn't give any fuck about the fact of a bunch of mentally unstable teens living in the mansion located in the middle of the forest under his wing,because it's not his,but only Jack's concerns.His only goals are to use this emo gang in his own interests,so he barely cares of the poor ones' physiological condition and mental health.

Slenderman is extremely cold and arrogant towards everyone,even to Jack.To be honest, it's the whole event,if he shows up in the mansion to give his proxies orders about next missions and call Jackie's tartlets a piece of shit.

🧸🖍️ - Sally Williams: the poor one is a doomed spirit,who has got accidentally adopted by Slenderman (he just picked her soul up,carried it to Jack and then was like:"Here,do whatever you want with it").Sally doesn't remember,how she has got into the mansion and the abuse provided to her by her uncle.The girl doesn't even know,that she's dead and travels between two worlds in her ghosty head - the first one is cute and adorable with unicorns and glitter and the second one is just...just the reality with all the goofy monsters there.

Sally's actually a cute bun,who's really easy to get distracted with some silly activities (drawing or playing,for example).Sometimes she's whiny and moody as any other alive child.Her favourite activities are getting on Jack's nerves and following Slenderman around.

Mental illnesses:

-Canon: honestly,I haven't found anything certain about Sally's mental health problems (except the fact,that she gets anxious,if her uncle is mentioned,which could be some kind of the first symptoms of PTSD,if I'm not wrong).

-Headcanon: retrograde amnesia,psychosis.

🧇🪓 - Toby Rogers: he's a mentally unstable teen around 16-17.His backstory in this au is pretty similar to the original one.The only exception is,that he hasn't burnt the whole neighborhood - instead,he was sponsored by the faceless mf with an axe from the garage,killed his abusive father and then a few more innocent people on his way to the forest.That's the reason,why he's feeling a bit of guilt because of having blood on his hands (not his father's one,ofc).

Toby had never experienced any kind of healthy family dynamic,so,when he had started living under Slendy's care,he quickly got attached both to L.J and Slenderman,seeing parental figures in them.He's literally the one,who gets nervous,when two entities have arguments and always tries to bring them together.

Mental illnesses:

-Canon: BPD,analgesia,Tourettes Syndrome.

-Headcanon: ADHD, generalized anxiety disorder (I dunno,if it's allowed to use GAD,so yeah).

🚬💊 - Tim Wright: he's an old mf in his early thirties.After beating all the shit out of Jay on the parking place,he decided to escape from the state and then (what a surprise!) got caught by the slendy fucker again,so he just...gave up?

Understanding his own helplessness in the situation,he decided to take its course,letting Masky follow Slenderman's orders and himself just becoming a drunkard,who tries to lose his consciousness of the whole desperation in alcohol.

Mental illnesses:

-Canon: in Marble Hornets' series it is noticed,that Tim has been suspected in having schizophrenia in his childhood,but it has never been proved or disproved,so I won't try to say something certain on this topic<:)

-Headcanon: DID (alter - Masky),Korsakoff's Syndrome (due to alcohol),CPTSD (thanks to faceless daddy;333).

🎭🔪 - Masky: Tim's alter.If the host for the current moment of plot is an always drunk to vomit vegetable,Masky is a cold-blooded murderer with no morals and whose only goal is following Slenderman's orders.In spite of being hated by Tim with all his soul,Masky himself is pretty neutral to him.He tries to care as much as he want and can about the body's health,preventing any suicide attempts or extreme self harm,but at all he only does it to keep body decent for missions.Plays the role of trauma holder and protector.

🎨🩸 - Bloody Painter: a murderous sicko with passion for art.He is one of the killers,whose determination of reality is the least broken,so all his felonies are done just because of the lack of moral.

It's really rare to see Helen anywhere out of his working place in the mansion.He even prefers to eat in his room,avoiding "family dinners".In communication with others Helen shows himself like a polite young man with high manners,but he still tries to avoid any contact with other pastas.

Mental illnesses:

-Canon: some wiki pages notice,that Helen is in autistic spectrum,so I'll add it here too:)

-Headcanon:body dysmorphophobia (due to the trauma tied up with his parents and their will to have a girl,not a boy).

That's all for today.I'm going to upload the rest a little bit later!:D

I don't have any decent arts for this post,so here you have the ones I've made with L.J and others for my friends.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

I saw your ATSV reaction post and wanted to chime in a little about Miguel and Spiderman 2099. Because I love him but also your reaction to him is 100% correct, and I am also lowkey mad about people jumping straight to 'he did nothing wrong'-ing/fetishizing him.

Like, Miguel is trying his best (as Spiderman) but he's not a nice person! His arrogance and hot temper are major tenets of his character. His comics run is Mostly him fucking up his interpersonal relationships, finding out new horrible layers to the bad things that happen/ed to him, and then reacting poorly to those things (then dying) (he got better). I thought it was actually very fun of Sony to make him the Spider Society guy because he's the last person I would put in charge of anything. Like there's some fun commentary to be made on the fact that Miguel's canon lore also very much does not line up with the average Spiderman's backstory, while he's being written as placing himself in a position to act as arbiter-of-Spider-People, when he only Became a Spiderperson himself as part of a cascade of Reacting Poorly To Things.

(Be a corporate genetic engineer in the Horrid Capitalist Future -> trying to make A Spider-Man -> first human test goes horribly because your evil boss won't listen to you about the feasibility of your work -> try and quit via emotional outburst -> your boss gets you secretly addicted to illegal future drugs that are 100% addictive because they bond to your DNA or some nonsense -> your boss blackmails you into continuing to work on the person-melting Build-A-Spiderman genetics machine -> you decide to use the genetics machine to reset your DNA to before you were addicted to genetics-altering drugs -> your jealous co-worker sets the machine to give you 50% spider DNA instead -> you are mutated into a Horrid Spider Man -> you react to his by trying to kill yourself -> you live because your bullshit spider mutations save you -> all this and your drug addiction isn't even cured -> have the revelation that Capitalism Is Bad -> later find out your evil boss is also your dad)

It's unfortunately 100% in character for him to react to being happy and then incidentally destroying his own happiness (which, I have seen some wild takes about the whole 'replaced himself in another dimension' thing, but let's be real Miguel doesn't think he Deserves to be happy, so it was probably a BIT more complicated than him just being like 'hey free AU') by aggressively trying to police the multiverse because he's unfortunately a genius and also unfortunately just incredibly angry and aggressive and fueled by his own deep self-loathing and guilt.

Which is a long-winded way of getting around to the fact that Miguel using cult tactics on the Spiderpeople is because Miguel is using cult tactics on Himself to justify his actions (to himself) as part of (get this) a further cascade of Reacting Poorly To Things.

I'm personally still staggered by the fact that they made Miguel the Spider Society guy, like, I am really hoping this pans out in BTSV because, yes, Miguel has a storyline about messing around with the timeline, but that was Time not Dimensions, so I do want there to be a reason beyond 'who is the most maladjusted and traumatized and ill-tempered Spiderperson to be our antagonistic authority figure?'

Sorry this got long but ATSV has really unlocked new depths of hell for me in terms of 'niche comics character that doesn't get much attention now suddenly getting lots of attention'. I want to talk about my little guy but also my little guy needs to be appropriately contextualized and not belt-sanded into a dreaded fandom archetype.

god there's nothing I love more than a rant off a comic book fan whose little guy is being interpreted wrong. I spend most of my time in DC spaces so getting to reach across the aisle with empathy to a Marvel dude feels great, really bringing people together.

[kysoncat]

Eeveelution Squad Journeys (My ES AU)

Hello everyone. If you saw on my introduction post I mentioned having an ES AU called Eeveelution Squad Journeys and I'd like to talk about it here. Hope you guys enjoy my first ever post about it here on Tumblr since I've talked about it before on other sites like reddit and Discord.

History I feel like before I explain what my AU is I need explain how it came to be so here's the backstory!

Way back in 2021, I was first introduced to the Eeveelution Squad comic from the dub and then found the actual comic and began reading it myself for the first time. While I was reading it a lot of stuff bothered me like Speed being stupidly overpowered, complex lore that I could not process, shipping moments being shoved down my throat every 3 pages, and more. I kept up with the comic till it ended and I was sad as I saw the comic could've had potential specifically with the characters but it didn't do anything with most of them.

After the comic ended I began thinking how I would write ES while fixing a lot of the problems I had with it. I dug through EV's account and found that ES was originally supposed to be about the cast as a Rescue team instead of living together. Around this time I was watching the Pokemon anime and while watching it I thought what if Eeveelution Squad was like the Pokemon anime. What if they were an actual squad, an actual team that would actually bond with each other by going on adventures like in the anime. It was at that moment that my AU was born. After developing it for a bit and sharing this AU idea with some people in the ES Discord Server (Now known as Astral Treehouse) with it receiving positive feedback, I would continue developing it for myself as it was fun developing and for what ES could've been with its missed potential. I decided to name the AU "Eeveelution Squad Journeys" after a friend suggested in the name in the Discord Server.

Premise So this AU is basically what if the Eeveelution Squad were a competitive battling team in a humanless mainline Pokemon world where they would take on the regional leagues and go on adventures as they bond and strive to become the greatest team ever.

The AU takes the series in a more action/Shounen approach rather than the Slice of Life or whatever the hell the Vacation Arc was trying to be. It takes inspiration from some animes I've watched like Pokemon and Fairy Tail.

While making the AU I have these goals in mind for it:

Have the characters be used to their fullest potential. A lot of ES' characters either had very little or nothing at all and after scrounging through the comic and certain journals I knew they had so much potential and I want to use them to their fullest.

Make the main cast actually bond. To me, the main cast in the comic had no real bond, they didn't feel like a squad, or family, or roommates. Also the title does not fit the comic with its story or genre. I want the main cast for my AU to actually feel like a team and make the "Eeveelution Squad" in the title actually make sense.

Don't make the AU stupidly edgy or confusing. Pretty simple with this goal.

Don't prioritize romance. Characters with their development and building bonds comes first.

Don't let anyone influence my AU. I'll listen to feedback and criticisms but I will not listen to someone who tries to change my AU into something that's unrecognizable. Toxic fans and shippers can go away if my AU isn't for them.

AU Changes

The World ES Journeys takes place in a humanless mainline Pokemon world where competitive battling is the most popular sport in it. The world has the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, Alola, and Galar regions only so no Paldea as well as some anime locations like the Orange islands. Rescuers are still a thing in this AU but they're part of the police. Because this AU has a more modern setting, there's no such thing as Wild Pokemon. Technology in this world is not as stupidly advanced as the comic so no Iron Man suits or other junk like that (I hated ES' technology), only modern technology like computers and stuff we have today.

The Lore ES Journeys does not focus on the Timeline Lore or Berserker Virus Lore because they do not exist. These two things should not have been in the comic but did because one comment said ES was boring which made EV add them. 90% of people either do not understand it or don't care about it. The only lore in this AU is backstory on characters.

The Cast While ES Journeys does have all 9 main characters (10 counting Axel) they're not going to be together right at the beginning. The reason I made this decision is because giving focus to that many characters right at the start of the story would be difficult to pull off. I want each character to get focused on without another one hogging it up like how Speed, Flare, Lazuli, and Silvia did in the comic. With the cast starting off small, focus can be put on them and when the characters join the main cast over time, focus moves on to them. The cast starts off with just Speed, Crystal, Flare, and Sunshine but when the group are in a region where the other main characters are they join them like how Ash gets new traveling companions when he arrives at a new region. So... yeah. That's Eeveelution Squad Journeys with what is had and how it came to be. Does this sound interesting or is this a stupid AU idea? I might make posts on my AU about the characters or story in the future. If y'all have any questions about the AU, feel free to send me an ask and I'd be happy to answer. Well until the next post that's all I have to say so bye everyone!

[accidentalcookies]

hello!! i kept procrastinating this, but now i'm actually buckling down to do a shaoyuan intro post!! i will get to the others sometime in the future... but for now, onto sy!!

(picrew here)

so for context, sy is actually my dnd character in a friend's campaign, but i simply love him so much that i plucked him out to shove him into various aus for my entertainment 😂

which also means that this character intro is less about an intro of him in a specific universe, and more just the key traits and backstory aspects that need to make it into every au in some way to make sy, well, sy. if i ever refer to a "canon" sy, that would be his original, dnd character version.

this got longer than i expected, i'm putting it all under a readmore 😅

full name: shaoyuan nie, 聂绍淵 (yes technically the last character is the traditional version but... it looks cooler than the simplified so i kept it SKDFHG)

age: it depends. canon sy is currently 28, and typically i do put him in his late 20s (unless i'm writing his younger self)

height: 6'3" (tall boy)

the gist of sy's backstory is that he's born to some sort of high ranking, nobility-adjacent family as the eldest of a set of twins, him and shaoquan. he has two older sisters, qinhui and qinli (twins) who are around 5 years older than him, and two very much younger siblings (also twins), nianxiu and nianping, who are 17 years younger than him, and whom we will refer to as the babies, because that's what they are to sy 😂

the reasons for it differs between aus, but when all the nie siblings are younger, each set of twins is forced to fight each other to the death (or near-death), sometimes alongside other kids in their age bracket. usually i translate it as something like a "training from hell" thing, such as in the mafia au with aristides.

whatever the reason given in-universe, though, sy takes it extremely seriously. like, way too seriously. essentially, if you give him a task, and convince him that it's necessary, he will become absolutely singlemindedly determined to complete it, and will give it 1000% effort. given that the context for this is fratricide (and often fellow child murder as well), you can imagine that 1000% effort is not great for his twin, sq.

these death-fights typically end at a certain age (adulthood), and it isn't until the very last set of death-fights does he suddenly have a moment of clarity, staring into his twin's eyes as he murders them. it's sort of a moment of like, "what was even the point of this? why was i even doing this? why was i going so hard on fratricide?"

cue the ensuing downward spiral! because in this moment, sy realizes that "hey, i'm an awful person! i do awful things! i only feel bad about the fratricide because i only just realized that it was all pointless and cruel! if given another purpose to fulfill, i would absolutely do similarly heinous shit! i'm a monster actually!!"

in canon, after they meet up again after that last fight, sq absolutely tears into sy about it and absolutely rips him to shreds with their words, and i usually translate this over into the aus, too. it's actually one of the pivotal moments in sy's psyche, the gordian knot that ties together all his guilt and regret and repentance and self-destruction.

following that, it becomes sy's life goal to get the babies (here they are!!) out from whatever situation the family is in, whether that be training from hell, or a cult, or whatever. some aus i set for before he manages it, and others i set for after. all that really does is affect his self-preservation-from-death mindset, where if it's before he's gotten the babies out, he's determined to live solely so he can achieve this goal, and if it's after, he's determined to get himself killed somehow 😅

as a character, sy is a deadpan sarcastic motherfucker. he will snark about anything and everything, and his internal monologue is always a joy to write, because he's also just a little bit weird! and as evidenced with the babies, he has an extreme soft spot for children, and has a big brother instinct a mile wide (and, if we're being honest, a parental instinct too). he has a tendency to take things way too seriously (if fratricide wasn't a good tip-off already..); if someone he trusts tells him something is necessary, it won't even occur to him to question it. and when it comes to it, he's ruthlessly cold. there's nothing he won't do, to achieve his goals. and he won't feel guilty about it either, if it proves necessary, despite his all-encompassing guilt complex. he'll feel guilty that he doesn't feel guilty, if that makes sense? he is also an incredibly avoidant bastard, and his main coping mechanism is repression. to him, talking about his feelings is worse than death, and he will do his utmost to avoid it. he also doesn't believe he deserves to be loved, so when it turns out that people do, he has absolutely no idea what to do with himself. "no don't, you're making a mistake, wait," he says

some additional facts about sy that i don't know where to put in this post:

in his dnd incarnation, he used to be a high level evocation wizard, with an elemental affinity of acid. he has since burned his spellbook in an attempt to declaw himself, and is now a rogue-warlock

i try to keep the aspect of acid elemental affinity across universes in some form, and his hatred for his inherent affinity

so yes, this does mean that he melted his twin's face off with acid in their fights.

he is trans!!

he is also undead in canon. shit happened

in canon, because of Reasons™️ (AKA being literally haunted by his own regrets), he's got a sort of discoloration on the left side of his face and his left eye that's in the shape of the whole melty-twin thing, and parts of his hair is slowly turning white. i typically try to keep this across aus somehow, and it's why i put it in the picrew, but it's not technically a scar.

for a man who is 6'3 and is typically dressed in a classic black suit, tie and all, his stealth stat is absurd. it's his highest stat in dnd, and i keep that trait through every single au. he's like a cat

this isn't important but i do think it's funny: in canon he is an accountant. just a normal accountant. and is also causing the in-universe equivalent of the prime minister to have an affair.

i also have the following aus in the works for sy, in case anyone was interested in asking about any specific au :3

mafia au: i've been posting about this one! sy is the somewhat-indentured assassin to aristides, head of a mafia. celestinus is aristides' bodyguard and general assistant, kinda, and also serves as the rapid response medic (when sy's done something stupid)

trigun au: come on, there's a fratricidal older twin brother, how could i not? this one is actually super fleshed out, i keep meaning to buckle down and write it.

borderlands au: i actually fucking love borderlands so much you guys, if you ask about this one i'll be eternally grateful. you can have my firstborn.

venovea (my dnd world) au: this one involves more worldbuilding lore, since it's my original dnd world, but holy moly if you ask about this one, you can have my secondborn too. short description: he was raised in a cult, got his siblings out, and is now the divine champion to the god of vengeance. recently, he accidentally started a world war (oops)

mer au: he is a mer. aristides and celestinus attempt to domesticate him (not literally, they're just trying to make sure this rare marine animal has the enrichment and habitat it needs) (they are marine biologists). shenanigans ensue. somewhat accidental baby acquisition too!

if you made it to the end of this post, thank you so much for listening!! please take this gold medal and slice of pie as a token of my appreciation 🪙 🥧♥️

tagging @whumpbug, hope this wasn't too long of a read haha

[yolowritter]

Volpibug Au Part 4: Mom help, there's a fox girl on my floor!

Hello there everyone, and welcome back to Lilanette Hell! Finally, after three rants longer than my entire attention span, I've returned with the good shit! Also yes, I cackled at the title. You'll see, it makes sense later. Part 3 of the Au is right here for anyone who needs a reminder, and today's rant focuses on the Glaciator episode and the immediate aftermath! This is where the Lilanette really begins! Also, this post is going to be really long, because I've got two whole snippets for you guys!

To give a bit more context, the Au currently has a pretty linear timeline. Begins with Volpina because obviously that's when Lila shows up for the first time, continues into Collector where Lila decides that Adrien is the least annoying person in class and she will get him back, hence teaming up with Marinette to go confront Gabriel about it. Yes, she gleefully reminds Monsieur Mothballs that CPS exists and is only one phone call away. Then the show moves on as normal, with Lila happily staying out of everyone's business and just kinda figuring out how friendships are supposed to work.

Add a few flashbacks to her altered backstory, maybe some nice Trixx pov to sweeten the deal, and suddenly we're at the Sapotis episode! As I mentioned in Part 2, Lila doesn't like Chloe, so she and Marinette kinda put their differences aside for the sake of Adrien having more friends and keeping the Queen B in check. Still, Lila does not like Marinette at this point. She thinks that while having moments of brilliance, the bluenette is erratic, overly emotional and also kinda creepy with her stalking of Adrien. This isn't bashing, just Lila being a bit too blunt. Anyway, they aren't clawing each other's eyes out and that's what matters. Cue Alya inviting them both to sleepover, the Sapotis incident, and then the rest of Part 2 where Volpina (with her fake civilian name starting with "Cer-" as a nod to Cerise) joins the hero team. If you need a reminder, don't worry I'll rant about it again sometime soon. Lila comes and goes during Akuma fights, occasionally showing up to laugh at Chat Noir when he gets yeeted halfway across the cityscape, and usually just sniding at that day's Akuma. She needs to get it out of her system to be able to hold her tongue in school, so it's a good outlet!

But anyway, one day the Glaciator Incident happens, mostly like normal. Lila gets invited to go out with the rest of the group, and actually does her whole innocent act to basically force Marinette to show up...but Adrien doesn't. Lila is less than pleased with this decision, because if you remember she told Marinette off for memorizing Adrien's wiki page and kinda stalking him instead of...oh, talking to the guy! It annoys her a bit too much, so she endeavors to put an end to this crap by making it so Marinette has to interact with Adrien in the context of friendship, and hopefully figures out that stealing phones is Lila's thing, and no, she doesn't allow copycats! Evidently...Marinette ends up having the same interaction with Andre, causing him to be upset, but Lila steps in to save the day by exclaiming that his ice cream is awesome and she really wants to try! Akuma averted...or not, because once she thinks she's out of earshot, Lila mutters about how a grown adult shouldn't get so hung up on teenagers' love lives + a whole bunch of "doesn't he have anything better to do?" Again, not bashing anyone, just Lila being Lila. Cue Glaciator, canon edition!

Volpina does show up for the fight and distracts him while Ladybug and Chat have their little "faking feelings is wrong!" argument, but Lila quickly gets tired of their shit and urges Adrien to just get it over with! Then, she hides behind a chimney to keep watch and they defeat the villain. As Volpina makes her way back down, Ladybug and Chat have a little conversation where he asks her to at least let him talk to her, and then they leave Lila behind to have the rooftop scene with the rose. As Ladybug leaves, Volpina jumps over (yes, she obviously spied on them, she does this a lot) to talk with Chat Noir.

Now...Lila does not do feelings of any kind. Empathy isn't in her dictonary, even if she is slowly learning how to practice it despite that. And here...she actually does have one of those mature moments. Lila's been forced to grow up too quick after her grandma's death with only Trixx for company (see part 1 here for the backstory), so that sobered her up a bit. Half the reason she treats everyone like an idiot is because they're all incredibly immature in her eyes. Anyway, she sits on the railing and Chat exclaims he's not in the mood for jokes tonight. Alarm bells start ringing in Lila's head, because she actually really vibes with their team's other pun enthusiast. She wouldn't call him a friend, but who else can help her drive Ladybug insane if not for the mangy stay? So she decides to talk to him about it, and we get the following snippet! Bet you weren't expecting that!

[...]

Volpina raises her hands in a surrender, giving Chat a toothy grin that shows her fangs. Her tail swishes around the metal railing, but after his frown doesn't go away, she clears her throat and scoots over to him. "Listen...I really don't do feelings. And I'm going to regret this...but do you want to talk about it?" she asks, trying to smooth her voice into something soft instead of the usual teasing tone.

The blonde's surprise is only betrayed by the sudden twitch of his ears, and Lila lazily stretches her arm to at least keep up the pretense of not caring. Give the boy an out if he doesn't want to share, and hope it all works out. Instead, Chat levels her with a suspicious stare. "Why do you even care? Sure, you're on our side..." he makes a wild gesture with his arms, as if physically grasping for the right words.

Lila cuts him off by snapping her claws together, meeting his eyes. "Because if you and the watermelon don't get your shit together, that's more work for me. And I've already fought enough of his kids' cartoon rejects as it is." she tells him in a rare moment of honesty. Not that Volpina doesn't care, it's just that the list of people she's willing to fight over currently extends to maybe five or six, and begrudgingly at that.

Chat's face falls, as if he'd half expected it. For a moment he almost looks like he's going to try and scold her...but he only gives a deep sigh. "It's complicated. I don't expect you to understand." the blonde mutters, ears drooping like someone's doused him with ice-cold water.

"It's either me or your Kwami. Take your pick, I won't sit here all night." Volpina argues in a dismissive tone. When Chat looks away from her, Lila thinks she maybe should have picked her words more carefully. Resisting the urge to leave him be, Volpina reaches out to gently grasp his shoulder with her claws. She levels him a serious look, to say she means it. "Just...start talking, would you?" Lila prods him, and Chat's eyes glint with poorly-disguised surprise. What an idiot...it's not like she'd actually grown attached. That would just be ridiculous.

Nevertheless, he tells her everything. How he'd invited Ladybug on a date and carefully prepared everything in advance, even if she told him it was a maybe. Well, that was much more headway than he'd ever made, so Chat Noir still went on with trying to make the perfect spot. But...she hadn't shown up. Dissapointed, he'd headed over to Marinette, having seen the bluentte on her balcony. Lila carefully files away their prior friendship, as well as the fact that she might have judged the girl a bit too quickly. If one of Paris' heroes has taken such an interest to her...could there be a side to her beyond the exasparating annoyance she's been friends with for so long? Chat goes on to describe the impromtu date between them, and then the conversation with Ladybug that Volpina definately hadn't listened in on. Spying on her teammates during a momet of emotional vulnerability? Her? Never!

Still, a certain detail does stick out to her, but she politely waits until the blonde is done moping. "You...do know she told you there were other plans for tonight, right?" Volpina asks, leaning her face towards him to look into Chat Noir's eyes. Her catty green peers through a dissapointed emerald, and he gives a nod. "Okay...I can't believe I'm going to ask this, but you know that Ladybug wasn't obligated to show up just because you expected her to, right? Everyone is allowed to say no." Lila tells him, trying to keep her tone from turning to an accusation. She'd never gotten the impression that Chat believed himself entitled to the other girl's affections, but it didn't hurt to make sure.

Silence slowly envelops them as he mulls her words over, as if struggling to understand the concept. She straightens up, arching her back across the railing for a stretch as Chat falls deep in thought. "We...we can say no?" he asks dumbly, almost as if he hadn't heard her. Oh. Oh...shit. She knew that innocent gaze from a mile away, having spent so much time glued to Adrien's side. Lila's heart sings with pity, and she takes a deep breath.

"Yes, of course we can." Volpina insists, grabbing onto his shoulder for emphasis. She clicks her claws together, hopping off the railing and standing next to Chat Noir. "Listen to me. Other people's desires only matter if you decide they do. And it goes both ways. Ladybug wasn't obligated to show up today, and you aren't forced to go on patrol if you don't feel like it." Lila tells him seriously, looking the blonde in the eye.

Then, as abruptly as the advice came, she steps back and promptly twirls herself around, playfully hitting his arm with her tail. Chat doesn't say a word, and Volpina takes a cursory glance at the sky. "I gotta run. Try not to get caught out in the rain, would you?" she snips at him before climbing on the railing. Before he's even gathered his bearings, she's disappeared over the skyline, with only the familiar high-pitched titter grazing his ears. Chat Noir unhooks his baton, and quickly jumps away into the night.

[...]

And scene! I figured this specific conversation was important, because Lila's advice really resonates with Adrien here. Also, I'll take any excuse to have Volpina on screen, but it's mostly for the plot. I'm trying to prevent Ladynoir without any fights, so Lila has her work cut out for her if she wants to accidentally rizz up Marinette. Believe me, if you thought the Agrestes were oblivious, they've got nothing on the fox girl who subconsiously doesn't think there's anything about her to love. Never to a point of self-hate, Lila is fairly comfortable with who she is as a person, but just...hasn't ever recieved affection aside from her grandmother. Sure, she's dated a few boys before, but that was only because she was using them for one reason or the other, and the "relationships" lasted only barely a month each, being more uninteresting than the one before. So...you can guess why Lila has never considered it after coming to Paris.

Also, just to be perfectly clear, despite Volpina and Chat Noir having their moments together and even a psuedo-date later on, things are strictly platonic here. Lila doesn't like him that way, and Adrien sees her as the cool friend who's teaching him what freedom actually looks like. His eyes are squarely on Ladybug, and later on Kagami. And after that, Luka. But that's for way later in the timeline. Feel free to ask about it though, I'm happy to yap some more about this Au's Lukadrien! Anyway! Lila is very much gay for Marinette, and Volpina does end up as Ladybug's bi awakening...so there's that! Alright, back to the plot!

The next morning passes by quickly, and Lila decides to join the nightly patrol with Ladybug and Chat, which she almost never does aside from when Volpina is in a mood to jumpspace their brave leader. She does it constantly, and Ladybug can never manage to find her before Lila suddenly appears behind her to say hello. This time however, she decides to spy on them again as they have a conversation, and Chat apologizes to Ladybug, explaining that he got his hopes up and it wasn't her fault. She then says it's okay, they hug, happy ending! But that's not what Lila is here for at all! See, Chat's words about Marinette have been stuck in her head all day now. In fact, Lila even tried being nice to the bluenette at school today (severely weirding her out) just to see if there's a difference to how she acts with her actual friends.

The results were...inconclusive, so she's come up another brilliant plan! After making sure this whole feelings crap was done with, she would just...show up at Marinette's house. As Volpina. Without any prior warning. And then promptly proclaim their friendship! That seems like a great idea! With only the best of intentions! What could possibly go wrong? ...as it turns out, absolutely everything.

Unfortunately this post is getting a bit too long, so I'll save the snippet for next time. I am writing these on the spot you know, it ain't easy. Hopefully a good way to get rid of Writer's Block, but still a challenge. Anyway, I do hope you all enjoed today's rant! Wasn't as unhinged as when I talk about canon, but then again my Aus have a lot less to complain about and a lot more to enjoy! If any of you want to talk about Volpibug feel free to shoot me an ask, I'm more than happy to tell you everything you want to know!

Anyway, I'll see you all next time, but until then, Stay Miraculous everyone!

[bluespiderlully]

KNY (+ my extras) - More Ships!

Okay, so... I love being a multishipper, for anyone who knows me I love every ship until it's legal, healthy and can work, AUs are the best thing in the world so if you have two characters you want to see togheter and they didn't interact much just make an AU and all your problems are solved, it's absolutely fantastic.

I already made a post about the ships in my AU, I'm linking it here but I have four gay ships there, but I have to be honest: I headcanon every character here as potentially bisexual (forget that Muichiro and Rei exist, they're 14 and they're not going to be shipping material for this post or the following posts concerning ships), but the question I asked myself was: "what if there were some arranged marriages, I can't have gay ships, so... here we are! You'll get a dose of canon x oc and rarepairs but they're legal!

The gay ships I have are RenGiyuu, SaneOba, Shinobu x Hiromi and Mitsuri x Ayumi.

You can find info about these characters in the masterlist, but I'll explain very shortly why I will choose a certain character instead of another, this is linked to my AU of course so if you find things that aren't canon, as I said before, check the masterlist, every character has a dedicated post where I explain their backstory here.

Sanemi x Hiromi

I don't want to be in their house if they're arguing. If you don't know her, Hiromi is a very very very impulsive woman and is the female version of Sanemi with even more rage, being forced to marry a man for her would be literally hell, she killed the one she was supposed to marry because she didn't want to but I doubt she would do the same with Sanemi. First of all he wouldn't be violent and he would never force himself over her, second she actually likes Sanemi and respects him, she wouldn't be too upset about having him as a husband... I just... can't imagine them fighting.

Obanai x Shinobu

Okay, so... I just find hilarious that Kaburamaru CANONICALLY has a crush on Shinkbu, but in this AU we don't have him, so let's focus on his owner. Shinobu would get along pretty well with Obanai I think, in my AU they work togheter sometimes to create poisons or to study so they don't want to kill the other at least. In the case of an arranged marriage I think they won't be to upset, same as Sanemi and Hiromi, in the end they have compatible personalities and interests, they would be happy.

Giyu x Ayumi

Prey for Giyu, Sanemi would probably kill him if he does something wrong. Just kidding. Ayumi is TERRIFIED of men, read her backstory if you want to understand but she's literally terrified and she would never be happy about a marriage, but at least, Giyu is a good person. He would respect her, I can imagine him leaving her the bed so she can rest well just like Tyrion did with Sansa, with time she would begin to trust him and like him... guys I can't help but I like this too much, we need more good guys and less bad boys in books, it's just a terrible trope, let's all just say it togheter.

Kyojuro x Mitsuri

I have a fucking lore about this: so basically they're both from wealthy and respected families, okay, maybe the Rengokus are way more rich and way more wealthy but... you know. Kyojuro needs to marry and his ways are not noble at all so every girl refuses, and he doesn't want to get married so he does it on purpose actually but his father just keeps to get angrier and angrier. Mitsuri, in my AU, gets married, to a man that abuses her and burns her legs, after this she decides to join the Demon Slayer Corp, and she meets Kyojuro. They decide to marry and he promise he'll be respectful, of course Shinjuro doesn't approve but... it's better than nothing right?

I hope you liked this post, I love talking about ships and I'm 100% sure I'll make a third part where I'll talk about other ships I like in the Demon Slayer universe and in my AU💜

[voidscarredadjudicator]

Anyways it's 3 am and I have work tomorrow. Clearly this is the perfect time to ramble about one of my favorite bands.

You've heard of fanfiction. You've heard of podfics. But have you ever heard of just straight up making two whole ass fucking albums of genuinely good rock opera ballads that stand on their own two feet as quality music that's all just very thinly veiled Mega Man grimdark AU fanfiction?

You have now.

These guys are The Protomen. You might've heard of them. You might've not. The point though is that they're rad as hell, and a genuine inspiration. I'm not sure about anyone's individual backstories, but they've been together as a group since at least 2005, and from then 'til this very day they've been working on this Mega Man AU of theirs in the form of song, with two major acts/albums out and a third one that's been in the works for years (with a single having dropped sometime last year).

"Gee Void," I hear you think, "This sounds incredibly cheesy! Also what's the status of Act II of Humanity's Endling?"

Yeah, and? Still kicks ass. Also see previous ask response.

Anyways, these guys go above and beyond a simple fan project. They've done tours, collabs, and even made a music video that's more akin to a short film - which is where my profile picture comes from, actually.

The best part about all of this though is that you honestly don't even need to be a fan of Mega Man whatsoever to be a fan of The Protomen, since so much has been changed around that it's entirely it's own continuity. I can personally attest to this, as I've been listening to these guys since at least 2015 and I've only just played my first Mega Man game earlier this year. The best way I could describe it is if somebody made a film adaptation of the Mega Man games in the 80's that doesn't quite get the story 1:1, except they actually tried to make the new story good in it's own right.

Act I, just called 'The Protomen', has a lot more of a grungy garage band sound, while Act II: The Father Of Death does this really cool thing where the first half of the album is western and it slowly transitions to 80's rock as the album goes on to signify the passing of time & advancement of technology in the story. Act II is a prequel, so you can listen to either album first.

You can probably guess where I got the inspiration to name the parts of Humanity's Endling 'acts' from. Well, this and a different band that also does the same thing with their music, but that's a different ramble post for another day.

Regardless, I won't spoil the story, so if you're gonna listen, I'd also recommend having the lyrics pulled up on the side as there's some extra lyric notes to read for some songs that give further story/context to the songs that are playing beyond just what the words are saying.

This isn't music I'd recommend just playing in the background while you're doing something else - set aside some time, about an hour and a half, to just listen and take it in. Treat it like you would a fanfiction. Of course, music tastes are subjective, so if it's not your thing, I understand.

But if you're still not convinced, here's a link to what is unequivocally their best song:

It's just over four minutes; give it a listen if you've got the time.

That's it from me. I should get to bed. This post took an hour to make. My sleep schedule is still in shambles.

Good thing I'm a closer! 🙃

[the-invisible-bunny]

I actually completely forgot that I needed to edit and post chapter 4 of Friendly Fire (AU where Johnny and Sue don’t join the Fantastic Four and instead Peter and Johnny meet at college and juggle falling in love with secret identities) because I distracted myself with my current three favourite WIPs. Done so now. Peter gets to meet Sue and Namor, they finally kiss, and then voila identity related issues. So I can go back to distracting myself with…

1. The fic where Sue (meaning only the best for them both) tells Peter to back off making a move on Johnny because she thinks Peter is too irresponsible and the resulting angst eventually resolves with them getting together and all is well.

2. The fic where the Fantastic Four get caught before they steal their rocket and the adults are arrested. Johnny is heartbroken (and Victor von Doom ends up his legal guardian) and with his school friend Peter they make up cool stories about themselves as superheroes with superpowers complete with bad drawings (because I am bad at drawing so they are also all enthusiasm no talent).

3. The fic where for reasons (protecting the children, probably aliens) Johnny get his memory wiped and believes himself to be a single father to Franklin and Valeria, with his friend Peter checking in on him regularly and reporting back to the other three about how worryingly angsty Johnny’s subconscious has made his new backstory and obviously they fall in love.

4. The fic where the other three return after an absence to find they’ve been longer than they thought and Johnny is now happily married to Namor and everyone is thoroughly confused. And then maybe they go back to their original time and confuse the hell out of everyone else by fervently shipping Johnny with Namor.