#her growth though from doubting she exists at all

[morelikeravenbore]

✨Sebastian Sallow Spicy Oneshots.

In the interest of ✨aesthetics✨, I'm compiling all my spicy oneshots together to link back to my masterlist. I'm a turtle writer but I'll update this list as I write more. All stories crossposted to wattpad & AO3.

Sebastian Sallow x unnamed female character. Mostly Sebastian's POV. Triggers and content warnings on each post. All characters are 18+. Minors dni, please and thank you. 🔞

Friendly disclaimer: if you're uncomfortable with Hogwarts Legacy smut, please keep scrolling and do not engage ✨🦋💙 I am of the opinion that it is possible to use ones ✨imagination✨ to age-up characters and explore adult themes in a healthy and appropriate way.

✨ Feigning Indifference | Explicit | Quidditch Smut, Beater!Sebastian, Feral!Sebastian, Shoulders!Sebastian 1.8k words.

Thanks to his seventh-year growth spurt, Sebastian is hardly any smaller without his bulky gear on — a fact he uses to his full advantage to shoulder through the crowd. It takes him several minutes to wind his way through; supporters and haters in equal measure jostle for his attention, girls squeal and find excuses to touch him, Imelda criticises his technique as he passes (even though he just won her the bloody match), and somebody lets off a series of explosions overhead that shower the crowd with green and silver sparks. — And on the edge of it all, standing alone by the stands, there's you: arms crossed, little pout on your cute face, feigning indifference. 

✨ Pandora's Book | Explicit | Unhinged Sebastian | Objectophilia | ongoing.

Seeking distraction from his interminable apathy, or a temporary relief from his guilt that didn't resort to obliterating his own memory, the girls he took made him feel good, said pretty things that made him believe, for a while, that he wasn't broken and irredeemable. But then, issues of that nature were likely a job for St Mungos rather than some girl's mouth in the back of a disused classroom, and over time, the thrill of mindlessly fucking his pain away began to dull, and he recoiled from their sweet nothings and gentle affections; like everything else in Sebastian's life, even the flames of desire eventually turned cold, and his escapades became less about feeling better and more about feeling anything.

Still, he couldn't say with any measure of truth that he'd felt anything like this from a book before.

✨ Good Boy | Explicit | Needy Sebastian 1.5k words.

On bad days like these, Sebastian simply couldn't believe in love until it held him close and kissed him and told him he wasn't the deplorable monster he believed himself to be. Love had always evaded him, but by some stroke of luck he wasn't deserving of, he'd found it living in the body of the girl currently squashed between him and the wall.

✨The Final Goblin | Explicit | Post-battle Sebastian 1.5k words.

Ordinarily such a demure little thing, whenever Sebastian's brilliant, powerful girlfriend unleashed her gift of destruction upon their enemies, it broke something inside his brain - as if all that raw power she tore from the ether went straight to his cock, turning him feral.

✨Tethered | Explicit | Imperio-kink Sebastian [dub-con] 1.3k words

Sebastian wasn't entirely sure why he'd used the unforgivable curse on her. He had no doubt he could've convinced her to do whatever he wanted quite easily; after all, getting what he desired came naturally to him, what with his Slytherin charm and all - but there was always the risk she'd shudder away from him, repulsed by his touch as if she could physically feel his tainted soul marring her perfect skin. For all his bravado and over-confidence, Sebastian wasn't sure he could bear it if she recognised him for what he really was: a monster.

✨Lessons in Upholstery | Mature | Sebastian is needy | Sebastian x Aurélie 1.6k words

There was a unique ache that existed when she was out of reach — one that started as a small hole in his chest before spreading rapidly until his entire being felt hollow, an ache that demanded they share a too-small bed so they had to sleep tangled together, or eat at a too-small kitchen table so she had to take most of her meals sitting in his lap.

✨ You can also read my long-fic How to Make a Villain which isn't spicy but is full of mutual pining, yearning, slow-burning idiots in love: 📔 [tumblr |wattpad | ao3]

[msnova-scotia]

Maybe a weird idea, but what if for Fantasy High: Senior Year, it was set ~50 years in the future or so, where all the Bad Kids are seniors now (hence the name). This can allow the Fantasy High series to get out of just the high school setting, the huge time jump means the characters can be level 20, the plot doesn’t have to revolve around immediate things that happen a year after this last season.

Fig can have her separation from the group where she’s lived many years doing her own thing growing. Emily can even choose to keep her retired, saying she’s happy just being a rock star or arch devil in hell or whatever she wants Fig to ultimately do, and can have another character or bring Fig back for a little here and there if she wants, without it being expected to bring Fig back.

Fabian can have his little sibling all grown up, and we can explore more about that. Chungledown Bim can be defeated during the time skip or even as a side plot during the season. He can be retired and not have to worry about keeping up his maximum legend status all the time, and live peacefully but accomplished.

Riz will probably have spent tons of his time exploring other planes of existence, being a secret agent with his dad, taking down all kids of baddies across the universe. He won’t have to be so stressed all the time having to keep tabs on his friends and make sure they don’t get themselves killed (though now he does have to do this with all of the newbies at his job).

Kristen is finally living her best life with a huge congregation following her pantheon of gods, spreading the word of doubt and justice and the true meaning of what these gods stand for. And who knows, maybe Kristen resurrected even more. Now Kristen is making sure each god has a following that believe in and shape the gods in the way the gods want to be shaped.

Adaine has long killed her mother at this point. Her and Aelwyn are best friends, inseparable, though each with their own independent life. I’ve also seen a couple posts about how Adaine would make a good principal (much better than Augefort at least), so she could be doing that as well as changing Fallinel to be less stuck up and pompous. Also she’s settled into her role as the Elven Oracle, and while it may still annoy her that every elf and their mother seems to want a prophecy from her, she at least accepts that her visions are important enough to change the tides of the world and her role shouldn’t be taken so lightly.

And lastly, Gorgug has proven himself as the greatest wizard of all time. Barbaficer has become as common as any other class. He’s changed the world with his inventions, and could be head of some engineering department or whatever that’s brought the entire world of Spyre into the future with crystals and vehicles and all sorts of technological advances that could never have been dreamed of before he came along.

And after all of this personal growth each of the characters had, they have to get together for “one last adventure, for old times’ sake.” But none of them have really adventures in a couple years. Not like when they were younger, that is, but whatever’s going on can’t be stopped by just anyone.

I was also thinking that tbh, it would be neat to maybe explore permanent deaths for the characters at the end, whether it’s from the final battle or the epilogue where each Intrepid Hero gets to choose how their character finally passes, and ends their story. It can put the Fantasy High series to rest in a good way, maybe leaving an open ending to give way for a new generation of heroes but also a final ending to the Bad Kids (so fans don’t keep asking for another year, then another, maybe college this time, etc etc.)

It would also be fun to start off the season with their deaths, have the typical introductions and scene settings that happen with each season, and then the end of the episode: BAM! They all die, put to rest, who will avenge them, the story begins, the Intrepid Heroes start their actual characters, and the whole season is whatever the cast wants it to be, I’m just not sure how well that would work, or how it would still play into being Fantasy High without the main characters. Maybe it could be a side quest or even a longer one-shot or something if they did it this way

[catofoldstones]

The Ashford Theory and my patience running thin

Welcome, welcome my guys, gals and non-binary pals, to another scream into the void that the Ashford theory is, in fact, very jonsa

On to the arguments!

1. The suitor has to have the correct last name, not family, look at Joffrey Baratheon, you stupid jonsa

Hypothesis - the suitor has to have the corresponding name, not family, and because Jon is a Snow he’s out of the running. The other prong is fAegon who is actually a Blackfyre and not Targeryen, who can also be the suitor.

Thesis - Joffrey is the only other suitor to have a different name. Joffrey and Jon have also been set up as foils from the start of AGOT. Joffrey is a bastard masquerading as the rightful king and Jon is the rightful king (thrice crowned) masquerading as a bastard. It makes sense that they are the only two suitors to have the wrong name as this establishes them as inverses in another way. The last suitor being the foil of the horrible first suitor thereby showing character growth, and plot progression and resolution? Count me in.

As for Young Griff being a Blackfyre, here’s a meta or two, maybe even an argument, for him being the real Aegon VI Targaryen but take my personal fav evidences of Tyrion figuring out that Young Griff is Aegon VI Targaryen and then, Varys literally telling a dying Kevan Lannister about the true Targaryen prince and why would you lie to a dying man? How does that serve your purpose?

This is literally grrm telling us who Young Griff actually is, though this does not count him I out of the contenders, it reduces the weight of him being the fifth suitor, due to story arcs and well, his doomed fate.

Conclusion - While Aegon VI is a strong contender, there is much, much more literary weight and nuance with Jon being the Targaryen suitor.

2. Lady Ashford was not crowned the Queen of Love and Beauty by any champion!!! Take that jonsas

Hypothesis - tQoLaB is a title analogous to a betrothal/love interest

Thesis - there have been no allusions to the title of tQoLaB while trying to foreshadow a relationship, except for a really, really bad one (r + l) that plunged the whole realm into a civil war and we should not take that as a good sign

Conclusion - we’re grasping at straws here besties

3. Dunk disrupted the Ashford Tourney, therefore Sxndxr will disrupt Sansa’s prospects and other things

Hypothesis - Dunk & Sxndxr are are analogous and since there was no conclusion to the Tourney we can safely assume that it’s sxnsxn foreshadowing

Thesis - Brienne is the Dunk asoiaf corollary, not Sxndxr. Brienne is theorized to be Dunk’s descendant. She even has her shield painted like Dunk’s, apart from their striking character parallels and being a true foil to all the other knights in the story. Mr. Gravedigger is just tall :/

“Your door reminded me of an old shield I once saw in my father’s armory.”

Brienne II, AFFC

Brienne has Dunk’s shield in her family home possibly because she’s a descendant of Dunk but then goes ahead and gets her shield painted exactly like this one

“[The painted shield] was more a picture than a proper coat of arms, and the sight of it took her back through the long years, to the cool dark of her father’s armory. She remembered how she’d run her fingertips across the cracked and fading paint, over the green leaves of the tree, and along the path of the falling star.”

Brienne II, AFFC

Secondly, just because the tourney did not have a (satisfactory) conclusion does not mean that the tourney did not exist to serve a purpose. I doubt grrm would likely give out his whole story as early as 1998.

Conclusion - BRIENSA 4eva!!!!!

4. Valarr Targaryen died of a sickness and Aegon VI is doomed to die and is connected to a sickness, are you looking at the nerves popping out of my thick, brainy skull

Thesis - the fifth suitor is 100% Aegon and there’s no one else

Hypothesis - there is a Targaryen.. currently dead.. in the books… (thnk u @istumpysk for ur galaxy brain). The plague in the story serves to connects Aegon more to Dany than to a northern girl he doesn’t know about and might not like since she’s a Stark and his mother is Elia Martell.

Conclusion - jonsa

5. This is all a coincidence & u jonsas are reaching as always

Hypothesis - though george is known to tie every deep end, every crack theory, even farfetched ones that the readers have not caught, this one thing completely skipped his notice because exceptions are always there

Thesis - yes, because this is acotar & not asoiaf and he’s not grrm, i am

Conclusion - JONSAAAAAAAAAAAA

[queenofthegayships]

Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter

I don't like them together, and its not even a bias. I thought she was kind of annoying at best, becoming very possessive very quickly. which like, go woman, go after what you want

But then she shoots at Steve.

First off, its highly unlikely she would have known the shield would protect Steve.

The shield is vibranium, the rarest metal on earth and not widely known. It was made with the last bit the world had available to them (as far as Howard was aware) and I doubt Howard would have advertised it or it's qualities to people, even in his own circles. Besides, vibranium looks like any other metal so even if she had known of its existence, she wouldn't have been sure that what Steve was holding was vibraniam.

Second, the gun she fired at Steve came from a table of what looked to be experimental and unfinished weaponry.

They were in what was probably Howard's starks research and development facility. And again, the table of weapons the guns came from looked to still be in development or at the very least, laid out for inspection and testing. This means that Peggy wouldn't have known that the gun was 1. Reliable 2. Safe to use and 3. Functional

Third, she fired a weapon in an enclosed space with no ear protection.

I mean, really? She's an agent for fucks sake, she should know better (even if the practice of ear protection wasn't widely taught at the time) And even then, she was risking the bullets ricocheting off into a room of experimental and likely volatile projects and innocent people.

Finally, with all of that, what gave Peggy the right to shoot at Steve?

Because she saw him kissing another woman? Is that REALLY an excuse? Absolutely not. For Peggy to react in such an extreme way over something so small just doesn’t sit right with me. It’s a massive overreaction that, to me, paints her in a very possessive, unhealthy light. She didn't even bother to try to ask him what had happened and she knew Steve by that point. She KNEW he wouldn't just be throwing himself at women, he could barely talk clearly with one. And what part of that kiss gave "consensual" on Steve's part? It was clear he was uncomfortable. The lack of communication here and the absence of Steve’s voice in the situation further highlights the power imbalance in their budding relationship.

At this point, Steve and Peggy weren’t in a full-blown relationship, just mutual attraction and some shy flirting. This makes Peggy’s behavior even worse. It wasn’t just a case of an overemotional reaction between two partners, it was a reaction between two people who weren’t even officially together. Instead of talking things out, she resorts to violence, major violence, because pulling a GUN on someone you are supposed to like is a huge red flag. Peggy’s behavior crosses a line from emotional overreaction to controlling, and it's alarming to think how much worse it could’ve gotten in a more serious relationship.

As for Endgame. I absolutely disregard that as canon. The way they resolved Steve's story in that movie feels wrong to me, and I don’t think it fits with the development of his character throughout the earlier films. Steve’s journey, his trauma, and his growth all lead to a different outcome, one that doesn’t involve going back to Peggy. The entire Endgame conclusion feels like an attempt to please fans, but it sacrifices the deeper emotional and character growth Steve underwent in the previous movies.

Besides, they knew each other for only 3-4 years and probably only saw each other intermittently during that time, with Steve often away chasing Hydra and Peggy occupied with her own SSR missions. It seems pretty clear that the attachment Steve had to Peggy wasn’t natural or healthy, and honestly, it comes off as a bit strange. Though his attempts to move on were probably skewed because of the reminder of her involvement in SHEILD, and for some reason placing Peggy's niece, of all agents, to spy on Steve in the Winter Solder. (I'm not even going to bother getting into Sharon)

[dailyadventureprompts]

What’s fasinating about the d&d movie is that it is all the fun of d&d removed from the rigid restraints of the the clunky game system: Thrills and laughs and hairbrained schemes minus the minutia of needless rolls or waiting for your turn in initiative to circle around. Part of this is idealization, but as someone who’s obsessed with making my favorite game system the most fun possible I can’t help but draw some comparisons.

Combat: Holga’s fight scenes were a highlight of the film for me, displaying a huge amount of kinetic creativity as she pinballed between different combatants swapping out weapons, bouncing off the surrounding terrain . This is a far, far cry from how being a fighter plays out at the table, as most martial characters are focused into doing just one type of attack as good as they can because it’s their only reliable contribution to combat. Try to model Holga’s fights in game and you’d be caught in a boring slog of dealing 1d4+STR damage to a bunch of guards whittling away at their hitpoint pools, a far cry from the lighting quick flury of smashing, bashing, and flips that make her the film’s action setpiece.  

What d&d needs is a system for combat that exists alongside the traditional damage/HP paradigm: an additional layer of complexity for martial characters that encourages tactical thinking and lets those who do their damage up close feel just as cool and as clutch as casters. My mind’s already whirling thinking up something that revolves around stuns, suckerpunches, and positioning, so expect it later this week. 

Powercreep: This might be subjective but I find it fascinating that the official stats put out for the party has them hovering around level 16, a point in character progression  a)that  most characters never get to b) by which the game’s difficulty systems have begun to break down. I suspect this was done in order to keep their on-screen abilities in line with how they are in the base rules, but I can’t help but feel like its odd for the “idedalized” dnd experiance to be playing around with toys that most groups will never get their hands on. 

In my experience d&d is on a sliding scale of stakes V Shenanigans, with the exact ballance evolving over the course of a campaign:  Your group starts out as a bunch of dumbfucks and at some point while you’re making  making absolute fools out of yourselves you become a found family just in time for the consequences of your actions to circle back around and threaten the realm. First the characters start caring about eachother, then they care about the world, then they have to save that world. Level 16 is, for me, distinctly in “save the world” territory, despite the fact that the HaT crew are clearly still figuring out who they are and what they care about.  It makes me wish D&D was more free with its shenanigan enabling magic/items/class features at lower levels to help fuel these kinds of antics.  

Attunement: Perhaps the best “ oh I’m totally going to steal this” moment came from Simon’s attempt to attune to the helm of disjunction. Turning what was otherwise a rote game mechanic into an oppertunity for character growth was genius on behalf of the writers, though one I’d only really employ with items that were as necessary for my plots as the helm was for the heist. Just like Simon’s major flaw was self doubt, I could easily see delicious storytelling potential in throwing up other emotional hurdles depending on the situation: A hero’s sword refusing to attune to the haunted survivor until they’ve come to terms with what they’ve done, an otherwise altruistic character being forced to admit their sin and self interest by an evil-aligned artifact. 

Over all, I really enjoyed the movie, though paradoxically It didn’t hook me as much because for me one of the biggest charms of fantasy is the feeling of discoverying a new world, and I’ve been living the d&d world for the past 20 years so it didn’t come of as wild and magical as it could have been, having hewn so close to established d&d material. 

[secretarysong]

word wall's worth of ramblings about the Grand Qwasa below...

anyone else ever wonder what the Grand Qwasa considers to be music (and therefore able to be turned into power)? this may or may not be a bold statement, but... the premise of transformation of music -> energy implies that, qwasascientifically at least, what can be considered music is NOT subjective; and there is a certain threshold within the world's never-ending valley of genres ... from spoken word/Ambience all the way to Harsh Noise ... that starts and stops being considered "viable music" . hmm.

well, this is assuming that the Grand Qwasa *only* reacts to music -- its own definition of music. and since music is such an unbelievably broad spectrum ... what if the GQ is more lenient, and it reacts to sound likeeeeee, in general? ... and the level of energy output depends on the "level of musicality" (whatever that might mean) and the variety of said noise... who knows!? what if 'sound' doesn't create *power*, but warrants something else...? what if there's a such thing as "harmful noise" that can potentially damage the Grand Qwasa? doubtful (even though it could make for an interesting plot point,) but it would be kind of hilarious if there were some sort of music-related rules and regulations put in place for Whatever Reason. or a list of blacklisted songs. i wonder what would be on there...

anyways... i will talk about qwasa scientists now! it is 11:39 PM for me right now and i can feel myself getting more scatterbrained by the second so Excuuuusee me i don't think it'd be too farfetched to imagine that scientists have Prrroobably ran experiments to see if different genres have different effects -- not just in terms of energy input, but also... like... environmentally. such as: does yinu's (neo)classical music have any effect on the growth of natural plants? (e.g flowers not willed into existence via prior plant manipulation magic) and if so, is it an effect of Yinu's (and/or her mother's) magic, or is it just a given quality of the genre she plays? and maybe they'd test it by having an unrelated pianist play an arrangement to one set of plants, and then they'd bring Yinu in and have her play the exact same thing . the music doesn't necessarily Have to be filtered through the Grand Qwasa in order for it to have special properties since music already seems to be deeply ingrained in most aspects of life. in Vinyl City, at least .

also, still in the realm of experiments, i could see something also having been done about the Grand Qwasa's relationship between live concerts/performances and prerecorded music. this half-related but I think recorded music does indeed count as a passive source of energy, albeit not as much... which is part of the reason why all of the radio towers around the city play that NSR promo tune that Mayday hates so much AAAALLLLL THE FREAKING TIME ...!!!! there's more in my head Which i will post tomorrow because 1. i'm tired and 2. this is already obscenely long but i Hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts Byyeeeee!!

[shsl-analyzer-guy]

I'm feeling like being controversial today. Here, take some DR character opinions. Clutch your pearls besties

17- Makoto. I feel nothing for this character, in any positive or negative direction. To me, he's only ever been the vessel for which THH takes place for the player. That's kind of it. Bro is just chilling. (Note: these opinions are exclusive to the THH game.)

16- Leon. He suffers from what I like to call chapter 1 syndrome. Not only was he killed extremely early, but he had no plot or character significance before or after the fact in-game. I think the idea of a character that hates their talent is really interesting, and his design slaps, but he just didn't have any sticking power for me.

15- Yasuhiro. He's got funny moments here and there (the ghost bit in the ch 5 trial never fails to make me laugh) but he has no story. They don't do anything with him besides 'stupid occult man' jokes, and I can't help but feel like there was wasted potential to do something with his fortune-telling talent that was only ever used as another gag of his stupidity. Disappointing as a character, but at least he was around longer than Leon.

14- Byakuya. Asshole characters are always hit-or-miss for me, and Byakuya missed by a ton. I know he *technically* got showed up during the chapter 4 trial, but getting upstaged once and acting like nothing happened afterwards isn't enough of a character arc for me to find him surviving over so many others in the cast worth it. He's also just pretty weak as an antagonist in comparison to the others in the series(not to mention there was an objectively better option for antag in this very cast). He's the type of character I'd probably like way more in like, Ace Attorney, but here I just got so sick of hearing him speak.

13- Hifumi. I can appreciate the attempt to make a subversion of the 'perverted nerd' character, but they failed the second they actually made him a perverted nerd, even if they gave him that bare minimum ideal of rape being bad. Fanon interpretations of what could've been prop him up for me a good bit, too.

12- Mukuro. Similar to Makoto, she feels like a character that exists to serve a narrative purpose, and we never really meet her as herself in-game. Unlike Makoto, we actually got FTEs playable in the post-game that allude to a greater story with her and her doubt in despair that makes her retroactively more tragic and adds both to herself and her sister.

11- Toko. They just didn't do enough with her in THH to warrant me placing her any higher than this. I think the differences between her and Genocider are interesting, and I wish they'd been given more growth in the game instead of spending the entire game post-chapter 2 pining over and stalking Byakuya. Toko gets ranked lower because she wasn't as fun to have onscreen and I got sick of her insisting people disliked her for being ugly, even though she's pretty conventionally attractive beyond having glasses.

10- Junko. She was an incredible mastermind twist and had a ton of charisma and presence in the final trial, from her sprites to the VA's performance, but they just didn't use her enough to warrant putting her any higher than the characters above.

9- Mondo. I like the characters he's attached to more than I do Mondo himself. I like the 2-sided coin of toxic masculinity they write between him and Chihiro, and I love his relationship with Taka, but I just don't care much for him outside of what he provides for those characters. He's fine.

8- Genocider. Basically everything I said with Toko, but she's way more entertaining from her cheery and violent personality and is just more expressive and fun. I got excited whenever she came onscreen because I knew I was about to have a good time.

7- I don't think you could change Kyoko's role in the story much at all without drastically altering the game as a whole. Makoto may be the POV, but Kyoko is undoubtedly the main character of THH and not only is she the most capable member of the class, but her growth as she opens up to Y/N Makoto and puts her faith not only in the absolute truth, but also hope is beautiful to watch, especially as we get to learn the mystery of who she is and where she came from. In another world, she'd be my #1, but I've never actually shed tears for her so she ends up as low as 7th.

6- I'd say from an objective standpoint, Sakura is probably the most well-written character in THH. Her internal conflict as she's forced to play the role of spy paired with her rapidly growing relationship with Hina as she finally, finally finds someone that sees her as the woman she so desperately wants to be acknowledged as, growing past her greatest weakness- her fear- to stand up to Monokuma, and having to take the role of a fighter on for a class of people that hated her to be both victim and killer, freeing her classmates from having to become either- I think I've made my point. I still wish we'd gotten that 3rd-person fighter about Sakura.

5- When I went into THH, I fully expected Hina to be a dumb blonde character for the entire game, with no substance beyond her character design. Maybe that low expectation was what made her shoot so high up my list. She wasn't the smartest character, sure, and the game definitely focuses on her body an uncomfortable amount, but she still has an incredible arc in her relationship with Sakura. Her depiction of grief is so deeply emotional, and her sense of justice, which up until then had been alluded to but never put into her hands, became a weapon that almost took down the entire class with her tears. Not only does she lose her best friend, but she's then manipulated by Monokuma to make that pain so much worse by pinning the blame for her loss on everyone around her and herself. Her attempt of a murder-suicide of the entire class followed by the reading of Sakura's real will and her guilt and regret afterwards is one of the strongest moments of the series. I've always thought if Makoto didn't exist, Hina would've been a great choice for a protagonist for this game, since she starts with that same optimism and easygoing ability to make friends that Makoto does, but is a strong character in her dedication to her sports and fierce love of those closest to her.

4- As a trans man, Chihiro's story was a lot like looking in a mirror, especially when I was playing the game as someone who'd only just started opening the closet door. His insecurities due to his body and his attempts to forcibly feminize himself to receive acceptance and masquerade as something he wasn't was something I was intensely familiar with, and the tragedy of his finally gaining enough confidence to open up to a close friend and seek out help to try and become his true self, only to be betrayed by said friend and killed before he ever got the chance, was one of the best personal gut punches I've gotten from this series. Regardless of the transphobia and misogyny written into said storyline, he's a character I'll never not relate to. There's a ton to dive into with Chihiro's character writing, and he's one of those characters I can tear into like a raw steak and go not only into how he's treated by the show, but also by how many ways there are to write him better than the game actually did and all the different ways different corners of the fandom have treated him. (Also, to be clear, I'm not opposed to transfem Chihiros hcs, I'm using he/him bc that's what's canon.)

3- Taka. My beloved boy, underrated outside of his relationship with Mondo. I'll defend this man until the day I die, and will always believe he should've been a member of the surviving cast over Hiro. His constant uphill battle with trying to connect with and protect his classmates only to fail at every turn from his lack of understanding of social norms, going as far as to rationalize hobbies as a form of studying in his first FTE, and his pure joy in finally connecting with someone being decimated by the reality that that man went on to be a killer is so powerful. Watching him completely snap and go near comatose, only being pulled out of stasis by the news that an AI of Chihiro still exists and begging for forgiveness for not being able to prevent his death was shattering, and his fusion with his perception of Mondo pushing him over the edge only to be killed unceremoniously in the background of Celeste's plan was infuriating. This man struggled and clawed his way through the first half of the game for whatever scraps of screentime the creators would leave him, and then they tossed him out when they couldn't think of anything better to do. Justice for my man!!!

2- Celeste. Remember when I said there was a character more well-suited for the role of antagonist than Byakuya in this game? Well, this is she. Not only would she have worked as a narrative foil to the player, as Makoto and Celeste are both in the class for their luck-based talent, but she would've had a much more powerful and thematic rivalry with Kyoko, the girl who seeks out absolute truth, as the girl who wraps herself in a veil of lies. I already found her fascinating as she was, having a character that's unashamedly a bad person and follows her own ideals with no regard for the effects on the rest of the class beyond how easy it'd be to manipulate them, but her lack of regard for the class trials and refusal to cooperate could've been how she functioned as an antagonist, refusing to help the group when it didn't immediately serve her or intentionally leaving out details that put her in a bad position. Essentially, she'd function as an antagonist in a way inverse to how Kokichi functioned, which not only would've been phenomenal for THH, but for the parallel storytelling V3 later goes on to employ. That said, that's all hypothetical, but even without all of that, she's still an intriguing character that I can't stop thinking about.

1- Sayaka. I hated Sayaka when I first started playing, not because of anything she was doing, but because I didn't like how the game was seemingly gluing her to Makoto's hip. I didn't like having to slough my way through tutorial after tutorial going through her to talk to the entire rest of the class, and I didn't like being forced to burn my first FTE on her when there were other characters I wanted to learn about. I cheered when I found her body because it meant I wouldn't have to jump through hoops to speak to the other characters anymore. All that hatred dissipated as the first trial took place. Taking the cutesy sidekick girl and making her not only the first victim (something that was huge for the genre at the time) but also going on to reveal that she was actively betraying us and plotting to frame us for murder to save herself and her fellow idols was a genius move. Since then, Sayaka has become a stronger presence in my mind for this series, and her impact on the series as a whole can't be overstated. She put the first killing game into motion. She carried with her the first despair, and inspired the first hope from Makoto. Her desperation for a dream she had to fight tooth and nail for, that desire to hang onto her dream that'd kept her going for so long pushes forward everything. 11037 became a staple point for the series and the fandom, not just because of the poor western translation, but also because that was her point of regret, the guilt that stopped her from killing Leon successfully and ultimately saved everyone, her final moments being to save Makoto and the others. Every moment spent with her at the beginning is designed not just to make her seem like the desirable sidekick girl, but also to weave into your perception of her the darkness she carries on the inside, the dedication and determination to remain liked and retain her fame by any means necessary, feigning being agreeable yet still unwittingly developing genuine feelings for someone who's nothing but genuine. The money I'd pay for a prequel anime about Sayaka's rise to the title of SHSL Idol is unreasonably high.

[fullmetal-scar-simping]

I was talking about the last Airbender with one of my friends and how the whole "ending the cycle of violence" actually works really well and serves the story and the message it wants to send. it's one of these only instances where the choice of not killing the big bad guy makes SO much sense beyond the "murder bad".

It's the air tribe SURVIVING the genocide the fire nation despite all the hurt. It's so thematically powerful.

But having the supposedly anti imperialist show KEEP the military at the end? Is misguided at best. We're talking abt the same military that is built upon the blood and exploitation of others. Like the point is RIGHT THERE, and yet...

And gen I think that's what Arakawa is; misguided.

Cause she gets so many things right in her works that I don't get how else she could've chosen to end Scar's arc like *that*.

I just think she hasn't been properly introduced to intersectionality and radicalism and thus she's stuck in the liberal limbo. But then again, I might be wrong idk ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

ATLA shares a similar anxiety towards the oppressed who become "too violent" ala Jet and Hama. Pulls the classic "make the radical/angered victim of genocide behave cruelly to their fellows in order to equivocate the violence of entrenched power with those lacking".

Though I can give it to ATLA that, narratively, Aang defanging Ozai rather than killing him is an act of reclamation of his culture, as the sole surviving Air Nomad. Though we can ask how the meta-narrative uses this cultural context to soften the blow against an empire. But, given the homage to existing pacifist practices and ideologies, it feels more earnest and less nakedly protective of imperialist institutions compared to mangahood. But the cycle of violence is the growth of the Fire Nation as an imperial power, not the retaliation against the war machine; if Aang had chosen to kill Ozai, that's not a perpetuation of a cycle. Empires don't arise simply because someone took one down, and empires don't conquer and slaughter people because an empire had been quelled. The cycle of violence doesn't really map onto such things as imperialism, not without flattening all violence to "bad always".

It's been a long time since I watched the show; contrasting it to Brotherhood would work well, but who has the time? If nothing else, ATLA at least follows the victims and survivors of the Fire Nation's imperialism and massacres, rather than mangahood which largely stars genociders and imperial citizens. From what I can recall, it also has better pacing, doesn't squander its more serious and sombre moments with ill-timed gags, and the comedy/gags are more seamless/less intrusive than Brotherhood in particular. So hey, there's that too.

The supposedly "leftist", "anti-imperialist" show (Brotherhood) sure does a lot of excusing, coddling, and valorizing the military as an institution. It rests on a juvenile conception of noble idealism that, surely, all proud upstanding soldiers want to achieve for the nation. Positive nationalism! That's good and righteous, yeah? (No.) We sidestep the fact that no amount of 'noble' propaganda changes the exceptional violence that a military is literally meant to wield against those the state governs/wishes to govern/wishes to eradicate because, actually! It's the homunculi! Father makes the military and the nation it controls bad!

So there, problem solved. Anti-imperialism achieved.

We can only speculate on Arakawa's personal political beliefs. One's works are not necessarily indicative of every thought, belief, and action you hold or wish to see in the world. So no doubt she is simultaneously misguided on some things, liberal/nationalist/reactionary in others, and perhaps holds some quality beliefs as well. People are multifaceted messes, all of us. But, at least while looking at the politic of this one work of hers, it is boldly pro-military, pro-nationalist via reformism and the maintenance of the hegemon of powerful nation, and, frankly, racist towards brown people. Arguably mangahood is orientalist in its treatment of Ishval (exotified and negative/"savage"/"primitive"), Xerxes (exotified and 'positive', excuses and exemplifies the protags and their heritage, "advanced"/"civilized"/tragic in contrast with Ishval which is seen as aggressive on par with Amestris), and to an extent Xing.

Tbh, my biases prevent me from shaking the thought that she hated that Sho Aikawa et al had Amestris be shone in the hideous light of its systematic cruelty. That she resented Scar being made to be the enemy of Amestris as an entity, and a direct enemy of its military. (Oh no, he's an enemy of all the "~good~" that militaries stand for! 😱😱😱/immense sarcasm)

Perhaps she always planned for her version of her character to be 'reformed' (I have to hold in my bile). Perhaps that plot beat only blossomed in her mind after witnessing Scar kill off 7000 soldiers in his final act, 1) because she thinks that's cruel to the soldiers (🙄🙄🙄), and 2) because waaaah Scar died 'evil' (🙄🙄🙄🙄). As Brotherhood carried forward in its plot, all I could see were direct inversions of 03. And Liore (as well as Scar) is a prime example. Look at how Brotherhood assures us that actually the Liorans are fiiiiiiiine, they all banded together to work as a team to rebuild, they just got all turned around and violent but it's no one's fault except the nebulous sins of humanity, haha whoops! They're super happy, their outlook bright and cheery! No more military aggression here, and all without the violence of resistance fighters! We don't even blame the guy who upended the theocratic rule of the city, no sirree. All is well! Rose even thanks Ed for showing them "the way". All of this is a direct rebuttal to the horrific violence of the military invasion shown in 03, of the mass slaughter, of the rape, of Ed being shown the part he played in this destruction. Edward surrounded by the crowded graveyard of murdered Liorans as Scar stands above him, having been right all along about the role people working in the military will play, is one of 03's clear-eyed condemnations of the sabotage and subterfuge powerful states use against their targets. Rose doesn't thank Ed for what he did, for what happened to Liore, and the mass suffering caused on behalf of the state, for which his meddling accomplished.

It couldn't be more clear that Arakawa was not ok with any of this. I could chalk it up to "she simply wanted to set her manga apart from the first anime" which I know to be the case more broadly, given her statements on the matter. But it's the way she ignores Liore in her version of the story, the way everyone is oddly... fine. The way Rose assures Winry that they've improved as a people as a result. And the way Scar is just routinely tarred and flogged until he bends to the military while decrying his own actions as "terrorism" (I won't dive into the numerous meanings of such a loaded term for now). It's all of that that makes me see her work as a more active, intentional political statement rather than an accidental, incidental one.

As I stated before though, neither of us can be certain on what she believes within herself, let alone what she would claim. (People have a tendency to feel one way but their actions and reactions may claim otherwise. You can say you're against imperial violence while making millions of excuses for imperial nations.) It's still worth dissecting what can be seen, directly stated, and interpreted from mangahood itself, sans the author. Because regardless, the works themselves do have a voice. And that voice is often heard without the context of 03. Because I'm sorry, but mangahood would not be so stringent on its reformism without 03's more stark, relatively realistic take on militarism and imperialism.

Yet mangahood purists would have us believe that it exists not in conversation or rebuttal to 03 but instead in a vacuum. Pure. At best some fans see mangahood as a 'correction' of the 'mistake' of the 2003 adaptation, simply because the source material is king even when that source material doesn't fully predate the 03 anime. And that's fucking ridiculous and warps the chronology of fma's history as a franchise all for the convenience of ignoring mangahood's glaring contrivances and issues.

[comfortless]

König is usually depicted as an only child in most peoples headcanons, but how different do you think he would be if he had older/younger siblings?

actually i think it would be really fun to explore König being a middle child. ^^ there are so many possibilities, this is like finding a really big stick outside to poke at poor König with…

tw for emotional/physical abuse, bullying, toxic masculinity nonsense, mental health stuff.

i think that everyone heralds König’s father as being the worst of the worst, but what if that awful behavior was reserved solely for König? maybe he had an older sister that his parents see as being their golden child. she doesn’t get bullied: she’s pretty, average height, her grades don’t suffer from something undiagnosed holding her back. the yelling and fighting in the house is never targeted at her.

König knows his older sister is the favorite, there’s never been any doubt about that. even as children she was granted anything that she could ask for, had their mother doting on her constantly, his father praising her for academic achievements and for simply existing. the love is definitely there, no questions asked. their parents always wanted a daughter and here she is: more capable and wonderful than they could have even hoped for.

and seeing how they may have treated König: the girl follows suit in making her younger brother’s life a bit hellish. she was never violent with him, not like their father, nor was she cold like their mother, but she would chide König endlessly about how he needed to focus on his studies, even when he couldn’t possibly do so.

the protestations would fall entirely on deaf ears here. his sister means well, in a way, but she also serves as a constant reminder of just how wonderful König’s life could have been if he were only more normal. (which, isn’t the case at all in this horrible, dysfunctional family. König just happened to be an “oops”, and his mother’s post-partum depression may have been so bad she never properly bonded with him when it was most important to do so.) i imagine that he loves her, Oma taught him to be good to women no matter how many squabbles that they get into, but there’s definitely a layer of resentment there.

say… he has a younger brother, too. always treated as some fragile, beloved thing. he’s taken out to buy new clothes and snacks when König’s jeans are full of holes and he’s left to his own devices to find food. that’s fair, in König’s eyes. he dotes on his little brother just as much as the rest of them, because their difference in age is smaller than with the older sister, he’s only a grade or two below him. his younger sibling is the closest thing that he has to a sincere friend.

the kids at school bully him in turn simply for being associated with König. pointing out that one day, he’ll probably hit some bizarre growth spurt and behave like an animal trapped in a cage, just as his older sibling did. unlike their sister, König’s not so hellbent on keeping up appearances at school that he would shy away from throwing some poor bastard into the mud to defend his brother. or his father.

though the old man is certainly kinder to his youngest child, he still thinks of him as being too soft. he won’t toss a fist his way, but the arguments in that house seem to triple when he realizes his boy isn’t as tough and strong as he should be. their father is constantly bickering with his mother over babying their youngest too much, and as awful as it is, hearing all of this is probably the first time König’s actually felt any pride in himself. the old man compares these two and almost seems elated that König’s becoming a proper man, one that doesn’t come crying to his mother like his brother does so often.

and despite all of this, König would have a lot of good memories with them. their sister has her own friends, but never held back on spending time with her (weird) brothers. maybe they built a little fort in the forest beyond their house to share stories and hoard snacks or trinkets. König had to set it up, of course, but it gives him a chance to play some sort of mentor to the both of them, showing off how easily he can structure something and share his knowledge about anything under the sun on hazy summer days when they’re picnicking outside to get away from their parents.

i don’t believe König would turn out too differently, honestly! maybe he would be more social, actually having two other people he could talk to if he chose it. in fact, after their Oma’s passing, maybe his siblings and his mother are the only parts of his family he bothers to keep in contact with at all. unfortunately bullying would take a toll on him regardless of if he had one sibling or twelve. he might trust (some of) the people that he shares blood with, but ultimately the world is still something unfair and cruel.

[rapha-reads]

The Church on Ruby Road [spoilers]

First of all: Fifteen is AMAZIIIIIING. I swear I'm going to try and be normal about him, but his energy! His joy! His connection to his feelings, the emotional depth! That moment when he says "I've adopted, I've just discovered that recently", and then his tears when he realises what happened to Ruby, and then how soft and gentle he was with baby Ruby.

I keep remembering Bill's words about Twelve: "With some people you can smell the wind in their clothes." - and that's exactly it with Fifteen. You can feel not only the age, the experience, the heartbreak and trials the Doctor has gone through, but also, and maybe more importantly, the healing, the love, the joy, the endless curiosity about the universe, the limitless desire to always learn and discover new things. Fifteen is the sum of all the previous Doctors, and he's carrying that weight, but he's also something new, something exciting. The trauma is still there, but he's not letting it weigh him down anymore. Even when he has a moment of doubt, when he says "Maybe I'M the bad luck", a previous regeneration would have left - he stayed and let Ruby make her choice. There's growth there.

We definitely are in a new era of Doctor Who. New New Who? New Who 2.0? Modern Who? Do we have a name yet or is still being debated?

Anyway, secondly. Ruby! Aw, she sounds so cool and kind! The mystery around her birth mother is thrilling without taking the precedent over anything else. Either her birth parents aren't that important, though it's Doctor Who - there's always something else, and I wouldn't be surprised if she's a Time Lord kid, or even the Doctor's child themself - or maybe Jenny's child, the Doctor's granddaughter? I'm just wildly theorizing at this point, never mind all of that.

What's interesting is her relationship with her adoptive mother. That scene where Ruby disappears and her mother forgets about her, and the colours themselves literally bleed out, and the joyful, kind, generous woman we've come to know suddenly turns bitter and sad and cold... Man, that scene messed me up. Makes you think about coincidences, about how and when you meet people and you can never know how important they are in your life, because sometimes the influence they have on you are so subtle, so diffuse, it's impossible to see it. Not the first time this happens in Doctor Who, though, time travel does have that impact. Butterflies and all that. But the impact is always the same heart-wrenching feeling.

Third, the language of rope! By which I mean, I was talking with my brother (huge Whovian like me), and he was telling me that he's a bit worried about RTD's decision to go towards fantasy stories. Well, magic is just another language, after all, isn't it? It's just science that we haven't been able to decipher yet. So, fantasy and science-fiction? They go hand in hand, actually. If the TARDIS is a wooden box that's bigger on the inside and can travel through time and space, then sure, why not, goblins exist, they eat baby, they can also move around time, and their science is the science of ropes and wood. Totally plausible in this world. Wouldn't be weirder than that time Ten met Satan in a pit, or Eleven had an ongoing feud with evil snowmen, or Twelve rode on Santa's sleigh, or Thirteen talked to a frog from another universe. That's cool. Love it.

Right. Well. I'm excited for this new series. It's shiny and fresh, it's something else! Moving forward without forgetting the past. And apparently we're going to meet the Beatles? I love historic episodes! And go to some new planets, meet some new aliens, deal once again with holes in the fabric of the universe (not new, but maybe done in a new way?)... This is going to be great. Next episode in Spring, though? At least it's not another full year of wait.

[ancientforgcd]

"Your fault was not in burying your furies, but in thinking they would accept such a fate."

-Verda

General Info:

Name: Verda Velmont Titles: Silent Sinner, Youthful Green Occupation: Adventurer, Traveler Allegation: Ascendance Team Age: 20~24 Birthday: July 6th Race: Vacosian Gender: Female Height: 172 cm Eye Color: Purple Hair Color: Green Misc: Has a nickname of Little Green.

Personality:

Verda was a very driven and determined individual. She had an intense desire to grow and become someone who could protect those around her, yet this ambition was tempered by a lingering self-doubt that she found hard to shake. Despite her progress, she often questioned whether she would ever reach the strength she was aiming for. This internal conflict persisted, even as she pushed herself toward greatness.

Though often composed, Verda was empathetic toward her friends and allies. She was compassionate and sensitive to the struggles of others and held a fierce loyalty to her loved ones and those who shared in her journey. She often wore a mask of indifference, but those close to her could sense the quiet storm beneath her calm exterior. While she might not always have had the right words, Verda showed her care through actions and by being present for others, even if it meant setting aside her own needs.

Her training under her Shishou taught Verda the importance of patience, both with herself and others. Where she once rushed into things, eager to prove her strength, she now understood that growth was a gradual, often difficult process. Ruby’s guidance had shown her the value of self-control, strategy, and adaptability, shaping her into a disciplined fighter. While Verda struggled with perfectionism, she was learning to approach challenges with a deliberate and thoughtful mindset, viewing setbacks and failures as lessons.

Furthermore, training under Ruby had taught her a lot about patience, as her Shishou’s shenanigans sometimes grated on Verda’s nerves, as well as everyone else’s. Not to mention all the Toon Force exposure, which gave Verda a strong resistance to witnessing things out of the norm, supernatural, or defying the laws of physics and existence.

Despite her incredible growth, Verda was still hard on herself. She held herself to high standards, often focusing on her shortcomings rather than her achievements. This inner critic drove her to train relentlessly, but it could also make her feel isolated, as if she was never truly good enough. Her Shadow Clones had become a tool not only for training but also for self-reflection, allowing her to observe her own weaknesses and strengths from a distance. Self-acceptance remained one of her greatest challenges to this day.

Backstory:

Verda grew up in a quiet Vacosian village, where strength wasn’t the kind of thing people talked about. Life just kept moving along, a steady, familiar pace that was enough for everyone—everyone except Verda. From the start, she was the kind of kid drawn to tales of warriors and distant battles, stories that sparked something restless inside her. She wanted to become someone her village could rely on, someone who’d actually be able to protect them if things went wrong. But even with all her ambition, Verda carried a quiet ache—a mix of doubt and uncertainty that she could never quite shake. It sat there, in the back of her mind, making her feel like an outsider in her own world. And even as she pushed herself forward, it was always there, making her wonder if she’d ever find what she was looking for.

Her family saw that spark in her and did their best to support her. They shared what skills they could, and local mentors helped, but there was only so much they had to offer. Verda grew quickly, surpassing everything they could teach, and as she did, a kind of restlessness took hold. She started wondering if she was reaching for something she’d never really be able to grasp. Still, she held onto her dreams, hoping that someday she’d become the protector she’d always wanted to be.

That all changed the day she met Ruby. Watching Ruby fight was like seeing all of Verda’s dreams made real. Ruby didn’t just have strength; she had this focus, this balance of power and calm that felt completely untouchable. Driven by a mix of awe and maybe even a little desperation, Verda asked to become her student. She half-expected to be turned away, but Ruby looked at her, seemed to understand that struggle Verda was carrying, and agreed to take her on. That was the moment everything shifted.

Training with Ruby was grueling, unlike anything Verda had imagined. It demanded more than just her physical strength—it took everything she had emotionally, too. Ruby didn’t just teach her how to fight; she guided her through her own inner battles, showing her that real strength meant facing yourself as much as any opponent. More than once, Verda found herself questioning if she was even worthy of Ruby’s guidance, her self-doubt making her feel like she’d never live up to her teacher’s expectations. But each lesson, each struggle, became another step toward becoming the warrior she wanted to be.

The real turning point was when Ruby taught her the Shadow Clone technique. For Verda, these clones weren’t just training tools—they were a way to face her own doubts head-on. She used them to push herself from every angle, letting each clone focus on a different skill or weakness. It was like looking at herself through different lenses, sparring as both student and teacher. Slowly, she began developing her own fighting style, a blend of agility, precision, and resilience that felt like it belonged to her and no one else.

Despite all her progress, though, Verda’s journey was still one of hope and hardship. Her doubts didn’t just disappear; they were always there, that quiet sadness surfacing when she least expected it, reminding her of the distance between where she was and where she wanted to be. But she kept going, driven by loyalty to Ruby, a duty to her village, and a deep, unyielding desire to be someone others could depend on. Every step forward was shaping her, making her closer to the person she hoped to be, even if she didn’t fully see it yet.

The path wasn’t easy, but it was hers, and she wouldn’t have traded it for anything.

Abilities

Shadow Clones: Verda had mastered the art of creating Shadow Clones, an ability that enabled her to generate identical copies of herself. This technique allowed her to train at an accelerated pace, as knowledge and experience gained by her clones returned to her upon their dispelling. This gave her a strategic edge in both combat and training, enabling rapid skill acquisition and diverse battle tactics.

Advanced Martial Arts: Verda was highly skilled in martial arts, blending techniques she learned from Ruby with her own unique style. Her fighting approach emphasized agility and precision, with swift, calculated strikes designed to exploit her opponent’s weaknesses.

Flight: Like many powerful warriors, Verda had the ability to fly by manipulating her energy, giving her freedom of movement in battle and access to high-speed aerial maneuvers. Her flight was highly controlled, allowing her to combine air combat with her Shadow Clones for unpredictable attacks.

Super Vacosian Transformation: Verda can utilize the Super Vacosian trasnformations, having learned them in the past. She has fully mastered super Vacosian and Super Vacosian 2, while also recently acquiring Super Vacosian 4 under her Shishou's guidance. Each of these transformations multiply her power and abilities by a set amount.

Energy Manipulation: Verda could harness her energy (Ki), using it to create energy blasts, protective barriers, and powerful strikes. While she primarily focused on refined, close-range attacks, she could also generate energy-based projectiles for long-range encounters when necessary.

Enhanced Speed and Reflexes: Through intense training, Verda had developed exceptional speed and reflexes, allowing her to react in a split second and dodge or counter attacks with ease. This speed paired well with her agility, making her a challenging opponent to predict or pin down.

Keen Senses: Verda’s rigorous training had heightened her sensory awareness, enabling her to detect subtle changes in her surroundings. This sense of awareness granted her a tactical advantage, as she could pick up on an opponent’s shifts in energy or movement even before they struck.

Ki Sense: Verda could sense the energy (Ki, Mana, Aura, etc.) of others, allowing her to gauge an opponent’s power level, location, and even their emotional state. This ability aided her in understanding her surroundings and helped her determine when to deploy her clones or when to strike on her own.

Strategic Combat Analysis: Due to her sharp intuition and observational skills, Verda had a natural talent for analyzing her opponents’ combat patterns and adapting mid-battle. Her ability to observe and respond to various fighting styles made her highly adaptive, giving her an edge in unpredictable or prolonged fights.

Equipment

Twin Short Blades: Verda’s fighting style was agile and precise, making her pair of lightweight, durable short blades essential to her dual-wielding skills. Crafted from a special Vacosian alloy, these blades withstood intense energy-based attacks. She kept them strapped across her lower back for easy access in combat.

Weighted Training Bands: To push her physical limits, Verda wore weighted wrist and ankle bands during training. Made from a dense, compact material, these bands increased resistance without compromising her agility, enhancing her speed and endurance once she removed them.

Energy-Resistant Cloak: Although Verda valued light equipment, she wore a short, energy-resistant cloak that served as additional protection against energy-based attacks. The cloak was designed to blend with her surroundings, granting her a strategic edge during stealth operations.

Compact Utility Belt: Verda carried a utility belt stocked with essential items like energy capsules (small vials that replenished her Ki in emergencies) and bandages or medical supplies for treating minor injuries mid-battle. The belt also held small smoke bombs, perfect for quick escapes or creating distractions when needed.

Reinforced Gloves: Verda’s lightweight, fingerless gloves featured reinforced padding on the knuckles and palms. They helped her channel energy more effectively in hand-to-hand combat, allowing her to strike with precision and added impact while protecting her hands.

Trivia:

-Verda had a very sharp sense of intuition, allowing her to read people and situations with surprising accuracy. This talent proved invaluable in both training and unexpected encounters, giving her an edge even when she lacked experience.

-Verda possessed an uncanny sense of direction, rarely getting lost even in unfamiliar places. She had an intuitive knack for finding her way back, which made her a reliable guide for others and added to her confidence as an adventurer.

-Though not a gourmet chef, Verda had learned to make simple, nourishing meals out of basic ingredients she found on her journeys. She was adept at foraging and had an eye for edible plants and herbs, which she incorporated into her meals.

-Verda was almost always awake before sunrise, using the quiet hours to train, meditate, or prepare for the day. She found that early mornings gave her a sense of calm and focus, setting a disciplined tone for her travels.

-Verda’s clones often kept brief journals during training, recording any insights or observations they gathered while active. When the clones dispelled, these notes returned to her memory, allowing her to reflect on the combined knowledge. This technique helped her improve quickly and track her progress from multiple perspectives.

Verda used her Shadow Clones to focus on different aspects of training simultaneously—one clone might focus on agility, another on energy control, while she herself worked on technique. This approach allowed her to refine multiple skills at once, with each clone specializing in a specific task, giving her well-rounded growth without sacrificing focus.

Verda often used her Shadow Clones to test risky techniques or strategies she was uncertain about. This allowed her to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of new moves without directly endangering herself, making her more confident and innovative in battle.

Verda regularly sparred with her own clones, letting her practice against an opponent who knew her every move and tendency. This self-sparring method was a demanding exercise, forcing her to adapt constantly and improve her unpredictability in combat.

-Verda’s title, Silent Sinner, stemmed from her reputation as someone who took on the difficult, unspoken tasks that others hesitated to face. She had a knack for handling the jobs that required discretion and often operated under a strict code of silence, never revealing her methods or the burdens that came with them. The sinner aspect of her title arose from her willingness to carry out missions that required moral compromises or decisions others might avoid. Her quiet, unflinching approach in handling these difficult tasks earned her a reputation as the Silent Sinner, respected and feared by those aware of her work.

In accordance to this 'dirty' work, Verda has made a second main attire. One with a mask and her hair up in a folded pony tail, allowing her to do those things without it encroaching or interrupting her normal life.

[clarythericebot]

How to Rewrite Wish

I made a chart! :) I'm not great at chart-making yet, but I wanted to make a visual description on the major decisions people who decide to rewrite Wish usually have to make and what those individual decisions connote. Mostly because I'm also thinking of making a Wish rewrite^^

Explanation of chart under the cut:

I think the most significant decision you make about a Wish rewrite is how happy the Kingdom of Rosas is at the beginning of the film, because that in turn limits the choices you have of the dynamic between Asha and Magnifico.

Here are the options:

The Kingdom of Rosas is genuinely happy - Asha is misguided and must correct her worldview - King Magnifico is a sympathetic antagonist. This would frame Magnifico's actions in the film as actually good (and there can be an argument about that - you're essentially trading your ambition for a lifetime of security and a *chance* to get your wish granted - even if you disagree with it) or, you'd have to shift the nature of wishes and Magnifico taking them to be less sinister in the film. This choice lowers the stakes and may paint Asha in a pretty bad light, considering that it'll be her actions that disturb the peace. However, this storyline arguably gives the most room for internal growth, and the stakes can be heightened in different ways (for example, the kingdom is happy, but the people dearest to Asha aren't). You can also make full use of Magnifico's tragic backstory here and what led up to the building of the city of Rosas in the first place.

The Kingdom of Rosas is a secret dystopia - Asha is correct and must find a way to correct other people's worldview - King Magnifico is a sympathetic antagonist. This is essentially the original's set-up, though it failed in its execution by never quite committing to its premise. I suggest, then, that people who select this choice double-down on it to avoid Disney's mistake. Make Rosas' dystopia-ness a secret, and not something someone could figure out if they thought about the kingdom's wish-granting system for more than ten minutes. Probably make it more sinister while you're at it--for example, one YouTuber added that taking away wishes drained your life force. Have Asha be determined to free all the wishes from the get-go, and to get people to rally behind her despite her doubts. And have King Magnifico follow through on his redeemable qualities (maybe pairing his need for control with his chaotic past). Also, Asha still needs to grow somehow. I think this is a good reason why many people seem to like making her personality shyer in their rewrites--her goal is to rally the people, and she just doesn't have the charisma of Magnifico. That's one example of a good internal and external obstacle for this plot line.

The Kingdom of Rosas is a secret dystopia - Asha is correct and must find a way to correct other people's worldview - King Magnifico is completely evil. The above, only this time, you make Magnifico an all-out villain who knows exactly what he's doing. The best way to do this is probably to cut out his implied tragic backstory, or to reveal later that he was lying about it the whole time. That way, you could lean into Magnifico's malevolence in a fun, classic Disney way without being hindered by the thought that he might actually have a point. You also now have the opportunity throw evil Amaya and their cat into the mix.

The Kingdom of Rosas is blatantly sad - Asha is correct and must find a way to correct other people's worldview - King Magnifico is completely evil. In this version, there is no chipper 'Kingdom of Rosas'--the sadness exists here without a facade, as a powerful sorcerer king forces everyone to give their wishes over by the age of eighteen to fuel his power and there's nothing anyone can do about it. It's a much sadder beginning, and you have Asha start in a position more similar to Cinderella and Snow White, but on a larger level. However, that could show her holding on to hope no matter what, and trying to save both herself and her people. I would also argue this is the version where having the Star Boy iteration of Star would make the most sense. While he's a definite possibility in all versions, in the other ones, the conflict is mostly focused on Asha and Magnifico. Because Magnifico in this case is a more flat character (in this case, all he has to do is be fun, like Ursula! Not much depth required in that) Star Boy can function as the character that challenges Asha the most--for example, how this Tumblr user suggests that Asha could've ultimately been pessimistic despite being desperate enough to wish on a star, and Star Boy coaxes hopefulness out of her. It would then be matter of working together to take down Magnifico.

I hope this helps somehow, if you're thinking of doing a Wish rewrite! I'm definitely not saying these are the only options--I just put this together as what I think would be the most logical conclusions depending on which Rosas you pick.

And if you're curious--

The iteration that appeals most to me is #1, mostly because At All Costs sold me on how Magnifico ultimately has good intentions (and the movie never takes that nor his tragic backstory back). I'd have his Asha be his and Amaya's daughter--who sees that the vibrant peace and prosperity of Rosas, the way people willingly give their burdens and their wishes to her father, and thinks, I want to do that. She, unfortunately, is not nearly as powerful as Magnifico (that's where Star Boy comes in). I'd have Asha and Magnifico then have twin desires for power, both with the best of intentions, and twin tendencies to be a touch arrogant. I'd also have Magnifico and Amaya be 100% devoted to each other--I know everyone is wishing for a Disney villain couple, but I for one would adore a good!couple that are in love years into their marriage. The book still plays a role in turning Magnfico evil, though it wouldn't be as permanent as the film. And I'd want the theme to be more blatantly the difference between wishing for yourself vs wishing collectively with others.

[xeonsdesire]

A WARM EMBRACEMENT OF THE ABYSS: AN INFINITE TANGO BETWEEN THE CYCLE OF SUFFERING AND REBIRTH

To my core, I’m a lesbian thought daughter who’s hopelessly devoted to capturing the hearts and souls to those who showed me colors I never knew existed. An individual who indulges in unfulfilling occurrences as a distraction from the reality that existence itself is suffering but evidently empathizes with those who made her the way she is. One who longs to shine brighter than the northern star who stands high in the skies above but simultaneously longs to dissolve into the abyss.  I’m the girl that will eternally mourn what never was - one who’s always consumed by the haunting horrors of my past. Even when I feel i’ve progressed forward, the ghosts of my previous hardships continuously linger. I search for the deeper meaning in all i observe and experience as a means to discover my own purpose and all which surrounds me. I am choosing to carry the cross of vulnerability and intensity that weighs heavily upon my heart with contentment rather than remorse.  I used to spend my evenings calling out to the skies above for a savior to come falling at my fingertips. I wanted consistency to feel as if it was a feasible feat, not one that was worlds apart from my everyday reality. I sunk into the cavernous depths of a dreamlike state I manufactured within my own personal mindscape, which inhernetly morphed into my own personal hell of neverending desires; constantly yearning for what may never be. Ever since the dearest days of my youth, I have developed a pattern of reeling back into my shell, like a turtle when it’s startled by a predator or like a fish who’s guts are sunken into by a hook and line which is controlled by a greedy fisherman. I’m a girl who’s become gravely aware of the horrors the world subjects you to from my earliest days - fear, betrayal, rejection, doubt, hatred; all have become a impenetrable aspect of the reality I’ve been forced to acknowledge. as much as I’d love to perceive the world through rose-colored lenses, I’ve been harsly stripped of that privilege. While misfortune builds strength, a part of me wonders when all of this misery and despair will come to a closing so I can fully embrace a life of contentment. I feel as though the prison I’ve tightly interwoven myself within may be my eternal condition; bound to the pain since that is all my heart has ever known. Despite all the hatred the world’s attempts to latch its shrill claws of bitterness into my being, my heart has an everlasting yearning to revert to love. Each of the strings which construct my heart cling to all I’ve ever loved: the souls of my past, present, and future, my passions, my fixations, the art and experiences I’ve consumed, the way the birds chirp with each dawn, the way the leaves flutter with each breeze, the phase each moon cycles through to become anew only to follow a consistent pattern of repetition, the sequence of birth, life, death, and rebirth each living being undergoes, the way each individual is a reflection of the human experience but in a way that is so disctintly their own. I am no longer ashamed to wear my heart on my sleeve, I wear it with pride just as I do my grand hoops or my towering platform shoes; I will not give into the brash expectations the world expects me to uphold. I will grow to the most splendid of heights, towering over all the doubts which only held me back. One day I will be able to look down upon these tribulations with fondness to where it has led me. One day, all the inconveniences will fizzle into something so minute it will be a reminder of how humanity is truly just a speck of dust in the ever-expanding sphere of the universe. After all, to exist is to suffer; shall I abide by the constraints of my past or shall I become absorbed in the decomposition and reconstruction which results from growth

with the utmost sincerity,

brooke beausoliel <3

[yallemagne]

Whenever I see people on the hate train against Jonathan -- it doesn't seem as common nowadays, but they're apparently still alive and roaring in their circles jiogep -- it's soooo funny how they use Mina as a scapegoat for their anti-Jonathan rhetoric but can't think of a solution to Mina being "overshadowed" other than... erasing Jonathan from the narrative and/or replacing him with a new guy. They don't share this attitude toward Van Helsing though, which I find curious. I mean, perhaps they have some bitterness towards the guy, but never have I seen them speak on that... nope, it's just vitriol for Jonathan.

This is a rant.

A lot of people like Jonathan. Sure, sue us. And there is generally a problem with female characters being less prioritized in fandoms than their male counterparts. But the cultural impact of a few tumblr users calling Jonathan Harker their blorbo will never stand a chance against the wider interpretation of Van Helsing.

All of Mina's accomplishments and ideas are attributed to VH in many adaptations and readings, and she gets pushed to the side and downgraded into a screaming damsel who, in the worst cases, is depicted as encouraging Dracula's sexual crimes. Mina isn't the only victim of this flanderization, all the protagonists in Dracula are often dumped for the sake of raising up Sexy Tortured Hunky Helsing, but it's especially offensive to see this highly intelligent and resourceful female character have all her intellectualism stripped and given to an older male character. In fact, the very older male character who endangered her life because he doubted her mind and infantilized her!! The irony hurts!!

Now, I am pissed that the vast majority of people will always see VH as the ultimate champion against Dracula and view Mina as nothing more than a wayward virgin in the devil's clutches, but I don't direct that anger toward Van Helsing and get pissy any time I see him. But people who are still furious that love for Jonathan Harker exists do precisely that to Jonathan. And when I try to figure out why VH is not attacked with such venom but Jonathan is... it doesn't look good, chief.

In general, an older, accomplished man with a lot of say in group decisions against a younger, inexperienced man with little say in group decisions. An enforcer of gender roles against a challenger of gender roles. A man who said to Mina's face that he doubted her intelligence against a man who eagerly kissed her when she displayed her skills in deduction... Who is the evil gigachad? Truly neither of them, but I hope this illustrates my point. VH's authority and sexist beliefs are already a bit of an obstacle for Mina (one she thankfully overcomes) and yet her supportive husband is seen as the problem. Not because he's not supportive enough, but he's just too charismatic.

You don't need to write Jonathan out of the story to put more focus on Mina. Bram didn't feel the need to do that when he summarized his entire novel as being about Mina's gallant bravery, so why would you? Unless maybe... it isn't wanting more focus on Mina as a female character but rather a call for less focus on Jonathan as a male survivor of assault.

It's incredibly telling when they go beyond erasing Jonathan and actually replace Jonathan with a new man that their problem isn't that Mina's supposedly being overshadowed by her male love interest, it's that Mina's male love interest is not an overbearing hypermasculine figure. Mina, who had an equal partnership from the beginning, is told "nonono, you have to get with an awful man... and transform him into an okay husband". I don't know about you, but that does not sound like putting Mina at the forefront whether that new man is an OC, a character from another novel, or Dracula himself. That sounds more like twisting her into being the catalyst for an awful man's character growth. WHICH WE ALREADY HAVE ENOUGH OF IN FICTION.

And hey, lissen, you can read and write as many reimaginings of Beauty and the Beast AU Dracula as you want, but stop lying and claiming it's for Mina's sake, like fuck dude, your taste in men is not Mina's, she much prefers her gothic heroine of a husband over your saviour complex nonsense.

[variousqueerthings]

Regency England. Bit more black than they show in the movies.

it's "thin ice," which is personally the episode to me that cements some of this season's (perhaps some of this era's?) ethos. it's also the one that people often bring up about twelve-as-the-doctor, and I do appreciate it. I've had critique of twelve's writing throughout most of s8 and a faaair bit of s9, and I think the twelve that people fondly remember is mainly s10 (with a dash of s9 and a few choice scenes in s8 -- it's not all bad) but I am happy that capaldi was able to give the doctor real nuance bit by bit until we got to this point and can sort of feed that back down the line, even though I'm not convinced that the beginning of writing him knew what it was doing entirely

also this episode has a really big fish in it. and the fish... is people! (sort of, it's an animal, but animals are people!)

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 10/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 7/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 7/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 6/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 7/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 8/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 8/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 10/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 7/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 7/10

FULL RATING: 77/100 (if I can count….)

imagine if we'd had this the whole time...

OBJECTIFICATION: Bill wears this really cute regency fit, the Doctor's swaggering about in a top hat he then gives to a homeless kid, looks upon looks

PLOT-POINT: Bill and the Doctor unexpectedly land in the past (no doubt because the Tardis doesn't want to end things just yet), and she navigates everything from being Black to the Doctor's morality. it's a very clear trajectory from episode one (the wonder, but with some personal sadness), episode two (the danger, but with the feeling of doing good) -- in episode three, Bill realises that things aren't so clearcut, and that the Doctor is, despite being her professor, a bit of an enigma to her

it's not as big of a Thing as back with Rose in s1 or Clara in s8, where they were both really wondering whether the Doctor wasn't a bit fucking unhinged (I'd say Martha as well, but her unhinged Doctor flavour was... unique RIP), but it's a bit of that

of course the Doctor has had their own character growth by now so is sort of more able to not fall to pieces on the whole + isn't the kind to seemingly ignore suffering for the sake of the bigger picture, which I don't think would have been on with Bill at all. yes the Doctor speaks about the bigger picture, but it's about protecting the kids

also I think Bill witnessing the Doctor standing up for her was good for her belief in him, as well as her own worth

COMPLEXITY: it's quite a simple plot. a child just fully dies relatively early on, and I don't know why that's shocking but it just is. I think because the plot is on the whole a tad on the sillier side, but then the villain is truly vile, and the the heart is very much in the right place (what if orphan kids were people! what if big fish trapped in the Thames was people!) so it becomes very Doctor Who

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: there's not technically much Big plot advancement, but Bill and the Doctor feel like they advance a lot in their understandings and trust of one another

at the end of it there's a bit of spooky banging on the door, and it's the Master we know this. knowing it's the Master makes me wonder a bit about how the various hints work out. I need to rewatch the bits where the Master is properly revealed, because yes they're bored and frustrated, but how do they really feel about the Doctor seemingly ignoring them/moving on at this point. banging on the door and all that, but that feels more for effect. idk what I'm saying here, it's not actually critique, I think I'm just wondering about a fic from the Master's perspective while locked up

COMPANIONS MATTER: yeah Bill is both emotionally and practically important in this! it's been more than a week so some of the details are hazy, but she definitely Participates. I think a little less on her own steam than in some others, but definitely doing some Stuff

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: as far as I remember there's nothing egregious in this episode beyond the fact that the Doctor takes charge most of the time and there aren't any really distinguishable single-episode characters who carry some of that side of things. there's the bad guy and the kids, and youknow... hypocritical perhaps, considering how often I've felt like this era has had kids who were kind of superfluous to plot and often unfortunately not good actors, but I'd have liked to have seen more of these kids beyond the Idea of them, if that makes any sense

they're introduced very strongly with the pick-pocketing and the death and finding out where they live, but for the main gist they fall a bit on the wayside

maybe this is the wrong point to be talking about that -- my point is, if the episode had been able to make the kids make more choices in the plot, then the Doctor could have been leading it slightly less

it's not a big thing, it's just a thing

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: the Doctor's been to the frost fair a few times, which is very funny to me and gets a mention. otherwise this isn't much of a referencing episode, and that's fine

“SEXINESS”: can we cross this one off the list for good? (almost, but there's ooone episode I just wanna talk about... well, and then I don't remember if it gets really bad near the end, it's a bit of a risk, as much as I'm so into Gomez!Master, sometimes she does still get the bad dialogue + with the sexism Type that they write the first doctor as at the end of the season... we'll see...)

INTERNAL WORLD: it's the frost fair of 1814. there's circus. there's orphans. there's an evil rich man. there's the Thames. there's the big fish under the Thames. I mean, what more do you need tbh

POLITICS: this is the episode that's famous for the Doctor punching a racist in the face. I cannot say if anyone would have preferred it to be Bill or for it to not have happened at all or... personally I think it's pretty great and of course feels a bit like a direct answer to critique no doubt gotten for some of Martha-in-the-past episodes, where the Doctor never stood up for her and she never really had her worries/fears taken seriously

in this episode you've got a very similar beginning (stepping out of the Tardis and getting nervous because it is 1814), the Doctor allaying those fears in a way that I think was pretty acknowledging of them, while also giving us Black people 1814, as youknow... there were Black people in 1814. including one of the single-episode main characters, so it's not just background characters and Bill

and then the Doctor loses his cool because of racism, which is both admirable and unhelpful to their situation, as it does get them captured. but youknow. you wanted the Doctor to stand up for Martha and this feels like a long time coming -- I don't think it needed to be subtle, I think a bit in-your-face was very needed. now the question ofc is whether we think Ryan and Yaz in chibnall!era are able to continue that... I don't remember

and the next question of course is whether the fifteenth Doctor adds even more layers to the story as a Black character (Ncuti Gatwa at least has said that he thinks so, which is exciting). as a whole though, it's interesting watching this from the perspective of where we are now. Freema Agyeman as Martha shouldered a lot of weight and while I think her character was fantastic and her arc was interesting and nuanced, we know they didn't (and the fandom certainly didn't) give proper space for her to be a Black woman and also just... didn't give her space, in various ways -- however one might have seen it, gracious read is that they "wanted her to be like any other (white) companion, without being singled out," or "they were afraid of writing race," or or or... we know it can be done better (and that if Martha were to come back, say, right now.............) Bill was a very different character to Martha, and after her Ryan joined the team, and since then Rose (Noble), and the fifteenth Doctor are now a part of a much bigger, more exciting (or maybe I should say less depressing) analysis of writing Black characters on Doctor Who, which will only grow as the character roster grows

and the thing is, this season isn't just "important because we need to support Black characters in scifi" in the sense that it's badly written and we're kiiind of gritting our teeth through it, it's... it's quite good. it's not perfect, and I think others could give a much more in-depth analysis of that than I can (specifically in terms of race), but as a trajectory both for writing Black women, for writing marginalised main characters generally, for writing queerness -- which is more my wheelhouse to critique and I do -- for writing the twelfth Doctor's character arc, for the end of this particular era of the show... I think it deserves that kudos. sometimes. someone's gotta punch a racist in the face. and a Black woman can know that her white buddy has got her back. and the two of you can save a big fish and a bunch of homeless orphans and get said racist eaten (or drowned, I forget if the fish got him)

that's good political theory

I want to also note the orphan kids. I mentioned I wish they'd been more fleshed out after the first act/been more heavily involved in the plot, so that the ending really pinpointed how it wasn't just good because homeless kids is... bad... but specifically also from a character standpoint. this especially because one of them died at the beginning, and I feel like it didn't quite sit through the rest of the story -- that being said ofc, the ending is neat. good on you Bill for getting this through and confirming it happened

FULL RATING: 77/100 (if I can count….)

I feel like I did a good summary in the above point. solid stuff. big fish

Just realised "thin ice" obviously also refers to someone who is metaphorically on thin ice- we talking the Doctor taking Bill out even though he's not supposed to? the Doctor and Bill's relationship having a tense moment? the Doctor generally getting "bored" and needing to do something? perhaps and yes, and also ooh big fish

[devilagent]

💔Least favorite ship for the muse?

i think out of all the pairings with him, i'll say the most least favorite that came to mind which is Nicholas/Angelique

i got a separate ask regarding the both of them so i will save a lot of my ramblings for when i reply to that one! but i'll keep this one a bit more brief for now.

i have expressed this privately already, but i view nicholas and angeliques relationship as disastrous siblings. i am aware that nicholas being her brother is merely a ruse ( which i will also discuss more in the other reply ) - but even with that being said i enjoy viewing their dynamic from a #worst sibling ever lens

i may been influenced by not so lovely fics i have read on this pairing as well, most often ending up abusive on nicholas' part toward angelique ... which doesn't really sell the ship for me. i do understand the appeal that people have towards them in a romantic sense, as for me i view their relationship in a more nuanced way than that!

my secondary choice - which may come as a surprise to some people maybe considering how passionate i am about them - is Maggie/Nicholas

don't get me wrong, there is no doubt in my mind that nicholas would treat her like a queen and she could do no wrong in his eyes, it is already canonly established that he treats her with upmost love, tenderness and devotion. and his feelings for her are sincere, the closest he has ever been to sincerity. but even with that being said, i cannot see them together as an actual couple. for multiple reasons, none of which has to do with nicholas feelings or how he'd act in a relationship with her. nope! his devotion to maggie is unquestionable.

a very glaring reason would be the fact, simply put, that nicholas butted into maggie & joes pre-existing relationship together and sabotaged the both of them. he inflicted a lot of suffering onto joe in particular, not only to get him out of the picture but to appear like a compassionate shoulder to cry on for maggie. it is very much on purpose, because joe is a good man, and nicholas wanted to appear the same way to attempt to win over maggie.

another reason, which is probably the biggest factor of all, is that maggies heart belongs to joe. that is not to say that she doesn't have any feelings for nicholas, i do believe she does even in spite of the fact nicholas set it up that way, however her feelings for him really pale in comparison to her absolute love of joe haskall. he is truly the love of her life! and he was with her long before nicholas entered into the picture.

maybe in an AU scenario it'd be interesting, although i don't really have much interest to explore that personally. i have said this many times privately, but i think nicholas as a character would benefit greater by accepting he cannot be with her.

i do feel that he will always love her though, no matter whether he can be with her or not. it'll be difficult for him. but for the sake of progressing his character forward and allowing character growth, he needs it. his character circles around maggie whereas i think she was a good catalyst for his character vs revolving around her.