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lightdancer1 · 3 years

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Same thing actually would apply, really, to a Sokka and Katara centric narrative

Sokka would be an elder brother and a genius in a culture that has relatively few short-term outlets for him to exercise using his intellect. In any good Sokka story his intellect should not be given a lip service thing (and I kind of frankly despise reducing him to comic relief, as I think the series did him dirty in Season III with that). I present his intelligence as a very adaptable thing and that is one of his main traits. He *is* capable of adjusting to scenarios and exercising a flexibility that few other people are capable of, and taking any given reality before him and adapting to it much faster than other people.

Counterbalancing this are his two main flaws. He is capable of being extremely impulsive and with it leaping to the wrong kind of judgment (see: canon Sokka with Hahn and various scenarios in my Avatar stories) and he has the negative sides of being presented as world's smartest man. Namely that where he's got the wrong information or the wrong kind of information , or refuses to think through some obvious gaping holes in his ideas well....it goes exactly as poorly as one would expect it to go. This last bit in particular more than the first allows for actual tension rather than 'Sokka outthinks everyone' which would be an entertaining story but it'd also make him a less smarmy Rick Sanchez style plot device and that's boring.

In the emotional field Sokka is also an iceberg of trauma, and he handles that by denial and cracking bad jokes, though every so often, at least as I write him, that trauma has a nasty habit of erupting in a way he neither expects nor likes nor wishes. His mother's murder, everything with Yue, and the war all leave their lasting scars on him and it's not something that he finds an easy time dealing with, hence his pursuit of various distractions.

Katara by contrast is written firmly *away* from the series' mothering trope because frankly I find the racial implications there more than a bit disturbing to have the darkest-skinned woman in the series played as well...that. Instead I focus on her dealing with the trauma of her mother's murder (in every single AU but one) and her growth from a Rodney Dangerfield figure as far as Waterbending grows into the most powerful non-Avatar Waterbender in that generation.

She has to fight against a great weight of sexism that tells her that her goals are unacceptable, and she does so with finest style and winds up triumphant. She also has a dark side that goes its furthest in my first AU, where all of these hidden traits are magnified and her good ones as downplayed as the dark side in canon. She is capable of extreme ruthlessness, of a single-minded determination worthy of the villains. Her trauma means she's sitting on a vast amount of rage that boils out at various circumstances (pun intended) and is drawn to people who want to repay evil unto evil moreso than most of the Gaang.

Katara as I write her suffers every bit as much as Azula from mother-related trauma, from having views put upon her that she neither signed up for nor wished to be responsible for, and her role in the series is magnified from 'team mom' to the inverse element of having great power and wielding it wisely. She is presented as Azula's main foil in Azula-centric narratives because she does have to fight for her power rather than it being bestowed as a birthright.

In a Katara-centric narrative, however, her arc properly would focus on the weight and burden of being (one of) the last Waterbender(s) in her people, and having to rebuild an entire culture's reality after a century-long war and a nearly-successful genocide. This burden lies very heavily on her and gives her something of a 'parochial' view by others....and is why as far as shipping goes I would actually pair her up with Aang over Zuko, insofar as both understand this particular burden more than others, and each can help each other with it more.

Both Katara and Sokka were they the center of stories would focus very heavily on their people, for the logical reason that the Southern Tribe would need a great deal of rebuilding and would face challenges that few other cultures in a postwar setting would face besides the new Air Nation itself.

#avatar: the last airbender #atla aus #katara #katara narratives are about the weight of being the (almost) last of her kind #all the survivor's guilt and the weight that an entire culture's survival hinges on her shoulders #and she's 14 and didn't sign up for it but has to bear it anyway #Sokka narratives would deal with his battling his hidden emotional turmoil and disguising it with smarts and bad jokes #and eventually becoming chief of a culture whose postwar order is very fragile #and ultimately becomes ensnared in a war with the North by the time of Korra in a canon-style future #so clearly something went very wrong there and that'd be a good element for a Sokka-centric story to take

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thekisforkeats · 3 years

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TMA Changeling AU Courts

The TMA Changeling AU Courts and their Monarchs (along with a few others we might recognize):

The London freehold is a Seasonal one; those freeholds that held to other systems wound up subsumed as Jonah Magnus merged the myriad London freeholds into one. There are smatterings of holdouts, but it's the four Seasons that hold sway in London--and, up until recently, a surprisingly strong contingent of Dusk Courtiers.

Elias Bouchard/Jonah Magnus and Peter Lukas, the Autumn and Winter Kings respectively, hold most of the power in London between them. Agnes Montague has been Summer Queen for a long time, but she mostly keeps to her own business and focuses on protecting the freehold from physical and outside threats. And Spring, well... Spring's been in upheaval, and it's only recently that Nikola Orsinov came out on top as undisputed bearer of the Antler Crown.

More details below the cut.

The Autumn Court has a great deal of power in London, which naturally means Fear is a dominant emotion for Glamour-gathering. Those few Changelings of an academic or mystical bent who don't wind up in Autumn usually wind up attached to it in some manner anyhow.

Elias Bouchard is the current Autumn King, and has held the Ashen Crown since 1996. His predecessor was James Wright, but of course that doesn't matter; it is an open secret in London that both men, and several more before, are actually aliases of Jonah Magnus, who has held the Autumn Crown of his freehold since at least 1867. The Telluric Fairest is also a Mirrorskin, however, and swaps his identity every few decades, mostly to keep up mortal appearances. It's considered polite in Court society to refer to him by whatever name he's currently under and act as though his predecessors were indeed different men, but sometimes someone will call him "Magnus" out of spite.

Jonah Magnus was a Legate of the Black Apple, and thus, so is Elias Bouchard. This is understood to be part of how he's kept the freehold safe--he makes bargains with the Others, he keeps tabs on Loyalists and privateers. He was a Legate long before he was Autumn King, and he is very, very good at his position.

Much of the Ashen Court works at or is attached to the Magnus Institute in some way; Elias likes to keep a close eye on his Courtiers. There are exceptions, of course, and holdouts, but given that the Magnus Institute pledge has a generous dollop of Glamour harvest involved, it's hard to resist the pull. That Glamour harvest comes from the collection of statements, of course, and while much of the Glamour is channeled into the Panopticon, there's always enough kept aside for those who work at the Institute.

For most of the Institute's history, the position of Archivist was the London freehold's main addition to the typical Autumn Court positions (as outlined in Lords of Summer). In the mid-1970s, however, Gertrude Robinson abruptly abandoned her ties to Autumn and took up the Mantle of the Dusk Court. This severely hampered the flow of Glamour to the Ivory Tower, and forced James Wright to find alternate sources of Glamour, which led directly to his ending the six decade balance in merging the northern and southern freeholds into the present-day London freehold. This fact shifted power away from Magnus, however, a fact that has never ceased to rankle him.

Now that the position of Archivist is firmly back in Autumn hands through Jonathan Sims, the balance of power has begun to subtly shift back. Only time will tell where it will settle.

---

Winter is firmly under the control of the Lukas family, although it wasn't always this way up north. The fact is, however, that anyone who wants to Make It in the Winter Court has to kowtow to the Lukases in one way or another. There are those on the edges, gathering power and influence, planning to take Lukas down, but that's another post.

Peter Lukas is the current bearer of the Onyx Crown, and has been since about 2000. He's an Elemental through-and-through, Airtouched/Waterborn; he uses Contracts of Smoke to disappear regularly, and can be hard to actually meet in-person if you're not Winter Court yourself. He dislikes most interaction, and when dealing with those outside Winter prefers to make pledges based around wagers rather than anything more cooperative.

Peter only spends about four months of the year in London--the two weeks before the Winter Solstice, the season he wears the Crown, and the two weeks after. He spends the rest of the year on his ship, the Tundra, which is actually a big Glamour-harvesting setup. Find people dripping with Sorrow, bring them out to sea and isolate them, drain them for all the melancholy they can get. He rarely kills people, though some do slip into the fog. But it's all in pursuit of the greater good of the Lost, as Lukas puts it.

The Winter King is ruthless, even moreso than any family member before him. Peter will not hesitate to sacrifice a Courtier in pursuit of the safety of the freehold. He has no Entitlement--that would require a willingness to dedicate himself to something other than Winter, and Sorrow. He is, however, a student of the Contracts of the Sorrow-Frozen Heart, and knowing levels of said Contracts is necessary to make it very far in the Winter Court.

Peter is smart enough to know that people need an outlet, however, and so he sees to it that Winter celebrates all the usual festivals and follows long-held traditions. He also has a dedicated member of his Court that runs Radio Free Fae, and he gives them a surprising amount of latitude in what goes on-air. This makes London's RFF station a true delight to listen to, for the content is curated enough to be coherent but with enough freedom to be truly informative and entertaining. The DJs even have a regular naming pattern, each named for a different station of the London Underground (aside from those who channel DJ Otzal, of course).

For the past five years, the London RFF has been run by Martin Blackwood, who DJs under the name of Kensington--which he is quick to point out means Kensington Olympia, one of the least-used stations on the Underground network. He seems to find this funny. Most people do not know that Martin is Kensington, nor do they know that Kensington runs all of RFF, but people have noticed that the quality's gone up in the past five years.

Martin is also Peter's man on the inside at the Magnus Institute, planted there years ago as a "liaison" and recently, at Peter's request, foisted upon the Archivist's motley, to be one of his assistants. Peter's plans go deeper than mere diplomacy, but he's playing his cards close to his chest as he usually does.

---

Spring has undergone some major upheavals in the past few years. The former Queen, Jane Prentiss, had slowly been losing Clarity for years despite the best efforts of those around her and the Blackbird Bishops. Three years ago she lost the Antler Crown to a complete newcomer, Nikola Orsinov. The loss of her position contributed to her Clarity finally slipping away entirely, and after an incident in which she dropped the Mask in a hospital and killed seven people, she was declared a danger to the freehold and cast out of the Court entirely.

Nikola is a Fairest, Dancer and Manikin, and when she came into power she began to reform the Spring Court, which had been in disarray for years due to Prentiss' mismanagement. She is an Elder of the Barony of the Lesser Ones, and has strong connections to the hobs and the Goblin Market. She re-oriented the Court to a strong focus on entertainment and commerce to gather Desire. They still offer healing services, but there's a lot less focus on courtly romance and free love and a lot more focus on what might be politely termed "capitalistic media."

With Orsinov came a whole flood of other Spring changelings, bolstering the previously lagging Court. She also brought along hobs and ensorcelled humans, all part of her rather large "Circus" motley, and it can be hard to guess just what any given member of the Circus is.

Nikola has plans that involve her Court becoming more powerful in London, and she does not trust Elias very far. Under her direction, the Spring Courtiers that had been connected to Autumn in any way have found their way out of pledges and obligations with one major exception: Sasha James, who has been part of a motley at the Magnus Institute for years and has recently gone down to the Archives with the rest of the motley. Whether this is at the behest of the Spring Queen or in spite of her wishes is hard to say; it may even be that Sasha is just unimportant enough to escape Nikola's notice.

But there is the persistent rumor that Nikola's entire purpose in coming to London was to take down Jonah Magnus and his Ivory Tower once and for all.

---

Summer has never been the strongest of the London Courts. It doesn't help that summer in London is, in terms of the weather, relatively mild, even sometimes cloudy or rainy. But for the past fifty years, the London freehold has had a strong Summer Queen and been a largely unsung backbone of the freehold. Elias Bouchard may spy the threats in the Hedge from the Panopticon, but it's Summer that forms the hunting parties to take down those threats.

Agnes Montague was not supposed to be a Changeling. Her mother was a cultist who wanted to bring forth a True Fae born on Earth, one who could tear down the Hedge and bring all the Others to the world. She conceived the child with Pedicle Velvet and gave birth in the Hedge, in a ritual that burned her pregnant body away so only the baby remained. Agnes was born an Elemental Fireheart, raised by the cult, and it was only as she grew older and more powerful that her secondary kith of Flamesiren appeared.

If Agnes has ever been to Arcadia, she does not speak of the visit; it's entirely possible that she never has. When the cult felt the need to give her further connection to the "real" world they moved her to the house of a privateer at Hill Top Road in Oxford, but that only resulted in the house burning down. The cult's control broke when Agnes was in her 20's due to magic that the Archivist Gertrude Robinson performed; it's never been clear exactly what happened, but it led to Agnes coming to London with the remnants of the cult in tow.

Agnes was crowned Summer Queen after besting the former King in single combat on her arrival in London. She is not much of a physical fighter, but her knowledge and control of Contracts is immensely powerful. While rumors insist that she is one of the Lost Pantheon, in truth she joined the Legion of the Iron Wall long ago, and it is with a Legionnaire's knowledge that she defens the freehold.

Agnes is as ruthless in her way as Peter Lukas, but with a core of compassion that can be glimpsed in rare moments. She struggles with her Clarity, and keeps close ties to the Blackbird Bishops as well as spending time on simple, mundane things. (That is, rumors say, why she continues to have an unorthodox relationship with a mortal, Jack Barnabas.)

Summer is the season of Wrath, and typically responsible for the physical defense of the freehold, and the Queen takes that responsibility very seriously. It was she who declared Jane Prentiss cast out from the Freehold, and she long ago set up ties with the police and various emergency departments in London.

Not all "Section 31" officers on the London police force are Changelings--it seems, from what little anyone outside the force knows, that there are officers from pretty much every supernatural groups. Which means werewolf police, vampire police... the mind boggles. Nonetheless, many Summer Changelings with anger problems find a home on the force, and goading mortal officers into police brutality is a great way to gather Glamour, right? Never mind the "collateral damage."

Then there's the Tolltaker Knighthood, the which isn't directly tied to the police force despite their current Knight Banneret, Alice "Daisy" Tonner, being a police detective. The London Tolltakers have a reputation for being deeply ruthless, as the only arbiter of what is a "just" bounty is Daisy herself, and Daisy is deeply ruthless. It's well-known that they rarely take bounties merely to hunt someone down and return them unharmed; Daisy seems to think that beneath her order. Roughing someone up is more likely, and killing? Well. If you can convince Daisy they're a threat to the freehold she'll gladly take up the bounty. She hands them out fairly freely to the other Tolltaker Knights, but she keeps the biggest threats for herself.

---

And then there's Dusk.

There was a time in London when the Dawn Court had more power than Dusk, but it's been so long that many Lost joke that it'd be too cloudy to see the dawn in London anyway. Some people attribute Dusk's power to Gertrude Robinson, the Darkling Antiquarian whose strange alliance with Agnes Montague and usurping of the position of Archivist from Jonah Magnus gave her Court far more power than it typically has in any freehold.

The truth is much darker, as befits the Court of Dooms.

There is something rotten in the core of the London freehold. Many of the Lost know this on some level, although few even think it to themselves, let alone say it aloud. Those who do think about the problem are liable to blame it on Peter Lukas. He has formed the Winter Court into a place where there is little hope or light, no warmth to keep the chill outside at bay. There is no longer the usual flow of fresh from the Hedge Changelings, desperate to just stay safe, to Winter as a waystop on the way to another Court; those who cannot dedicate themselves wholly to Winter find no welcome among Lukas' Court. He has supressed Fetch-hunters such as the Duchy of Truth and Loss, prefering to force new Changelings to give up their old lives entirely, and this has affected the entire freehold. He is barely present in the city for most of the year, which leaves the Winter Court's usual duties of secrecy and security to others such as Autumn and Summer, throwing off the seasonal balance.

And all of this is true, so far as it goes. Winter should, in the best version of the Court, be a place of both ruthlessness and compassion, with some who embrace Sorrow wholly and some who keep it at bay with blankets and a warm fire and good cheer.

But the Dusk Courtiers of London knew that the problem goes deeper than this. Get rid of Peter Lukas, form Winter into something more balanced, and you would still have a rot at the center of the freehold, because Winter is not at the center of the London freehold. Lukas is a symptom, not the disease.

Jonah Magnus is the problem.

Gertrude Robinson knew this, even if she did not know precisely what Magnus was doing. She saw the signs, the way the whole of the freehold bent itself to the Autumn King, the way the freehold population somehow stayed generally the same over time despite the growth of the city itself. Autumn claimed to be keeping the freehold "safe," and the Hedge usually was safe, but how many newly emerged from the Hedge found their way to the Magnus Institute to give a bewildered statement about Arcadia and then disappeared? How many Lost who lurked on the edges of their Court decided to "move" with no forwarding address?

Gertrude knew, because Gertrude was the one in charge of the system Jonah Magnus was using to perpetuate his own power. And if that had been the only problem--if it had merely been that Magnus had struck some horrible bargain to feed the "weak" of the freehold to the Others to keep the rest of them safe--then she might have merely tried to take the Autumn Crown from him.

What Gertrude found, however, was not mere evidence of Jonah Magnus being a Loyalist (which she did), nor horrible bargains with privateers and True Fae to keep the London freehold safe (which exist). What she found was the outlines of a plan to use the Archives for some horrible purpose that, she believed, would bring about the end of the world as they knew it. And so she left Autumn and became Dusk, and the Crown came to her shortly after.

Exactly what she knew is hard to say. Her notes are missing, her once-powerful Court has been scattered to the winds. Gerry Delano, long the Dusk Queen's right hand, disappeared in America a year before her death. Adelard Dekker went missing in Germany a year before that, on one of his many missions to gather information about what he claimed was a push from inside Arcadia to invade Earth. The others of the Umbral Court who have not switched allegiances have gone underground or moved away.

One could think that perhaps this is merely the usual swing of power between Dawn and Dusk, but there are no Dawn Courtiers in London at all anymore. There is no hope of a better day, no glimmering light on the horizon promising change and renewal. There is only the deepening shadows, and the ever-more-persistent feeling of paranoia spreading through the freehold like a disease.

But, then, it is precisely these conditions that leads to a revival of the Dusk Court. Surely someone will read the signs, take up the call, fight the looming disaster. And there is one member of the London freehold that knows Contracts of Entropy, who knew Adelard Dekker, who chose Winter over Dusk in a desperate bid for normality over being any kind of "Chosen One."

But Martin Blackwood is working in the Archives now, and the stench of the rot will be impossible to ignore for very long.

#tma changeling au #changeling the lost #tma #the magnus archives #am i accidentally making martin the protagonist here?#not really tbh it's just that he's got more inter-court stuff going on than jon does #i look forward to expanding on the archives motley in another post bc i love them #anyway here have a dose of foreshadowing and me playing with characters and avatars

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ryqoshay · 4 years

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So I just finished reading all of How to Handle a Nico and I absolutely fucking loved it, do you have any NicoMaki fanfic recommendations of your own?

I must offer my apologies for the delay in response. I did not forget you, Anon, despite answering two questions that came in after this one. However, I wanted to wait until I knew I had a good amount of time I could dedicate to making a proper list of recommendations worthy of my time in the LL/NicoMaki fandom, which is typically sometime during my weekend.

Also, please bear in mind that this list is not all-inclusive. NicoMaki has one of, if not the most extensive list of fanworks out of the various LL ships. If someone reading this list is a fan of, or the author of a given work not included, please do not take it personally, this is merely a sampling of my favorites. There are genres and tags that I tend to avoid for various reasons, and there are many perfectly good works with the NicoMaki ship tag that I haven’t read simply because they are not the primary focus. And due to current events, as well as those of last year, there is a sizable backlog of NicoMaki focused fics that I hope to get around to reading sometime soon.

And as I expect this to get long, I will put the list itself under a cut.

First and foremost, I must shamelessly shill an author whose first forays into NicoMaki fanfic are based on HtHaN. It’s been almost a year since the first one went up and I remain in awe that I was able to pay forward the inspiration given to me by other authors. For this list I will only be including said works based on HtHaN, though VNVdarkangel has written some other NicoMakis I haven’t read yet. - Always there - Nico wakes up in the middle of the night. Some post-canon fluffy angst. - On tracks to the heart - Takes place during the scene transition in Homecoming. - Meet ‘n’ greet - Nico has a meet ‘n’ greet event and Maki shows up - Part-time idol composer - Nico hires Riko to compose some idol music for Egao. Minor YohaRiko to keep up the casual connections between HtHaN and HL. - Next steps... - A long, multi-chapter work that takes place after the numbered chapters of HtHaN. This work tells the story of NicoMaki as they take advantage of the research mentioned way back in Telling Mama. Yay science babies! - Out of focus - Maki can’t focus on anything but Nico - The door to dreams - Riko finds the piano from How to Celebrate a Maki and Maki finds Riko. More minor YohaRiko from HL. - Idol trainer - A non-NicoMaki, RinPana honorable mention tied to HtHaN

Next, I must link a few things from jstonedd, whose works I can point to as being among those that helped cement NicoMaki as a my favorite ship. - Buy Your Love - By the gods, I’ve honestly lost track of how many times I’ve reread this fic. It is also responsible for my headcanon that Tsubasa teaches Honoka how to skate, which I thusly include in Nico on Ice. - Soldier Wars - If memory serves, this work earns its M rating less for lewd stuff and more for action movie depictions of violence, like an R rated Charlie’s Angels or something. - After School Troublemakers - Earns its tag of Fluff and Crack. - Babies Maybe - More Fluff and Crack I only skimmed the first few chapters of Otonokizaka Private Academy and it didn’t seem very NicoMaki focused or really much my cup of tea. But I’ve heard others like it, and it was finally completed a few years back, so there’s that.

One author with whom I’ve interacted moreso than any other - maybe not VNVdarkangel as of late, but... - is the creator of one of my favorite Fantasy AUs, which is often a genre I don’t read much as it so often leans on Harry Potter, of which I’m quite unfamiliar. Of course I say I often avoid Fantasy AUs despite now writing two... Anyway, we have a few differing headcanons and I must say it’s fun to have a civil discussion about them - as opposed to others that become heated and dissolve into ad hominum attacks like the one marked by Comment Deleted tombstones in the comments of HtHaN. Anyway, that train of thought derailed, so here are some of lonelypond’s works. Worth mentioning that most works take place in the U.S. instead of Japan, something that confused me for a few chapters when I first started reading, but have come to enjoy it, especially when places are mentioned that I know. - Casual Lunacy - The aforementioned Fantasy AU as well as my introduction to this wonderful writer. Pulls in a quirky character from Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, an adorable anime I’ve been meaning to finish. Maki is a werewolf. And I really need to reread this one at some point. - PhotoJazz - Maki is a photographer and Nico is an actress. - AU Yeah August - A collection of short 1 Shots. I haven’t read all of them, e.g. the Harry Potter one, but those I have were adorable, e.g. Summer Camp, Fake Dating and FWB. - Christmas Confections - A collection of amazing Christmas themed works that rank among my favorite gifts each year since I first started reading them. I’d link them each individually, but they’re all amazing so just read them all; you won’t be disappointed. Maki and Christmas just go together and lonelypond writes them well. - Can’t Get Started - To quote the summary “Nishikino Maki is trying to make it in the piranha fishbowl of movies, music and Hollywood. Yazawa Nico already has. And they keep crashing into each other.” Literally. It’s quite amusing. I’ve heard good things from other readers about the 1Kiss series but have only skimmed a few; they are high on my To Read list. The Idol House series came out during my troubled 2019, so it also remains on my To Read list. The Moonlight series seems to focus on NozoEli, which is fine, but for better or worse lowers it position on my To Read list. It’s lonelypond, so I do intend to read it eventually, but there are more NicoMaki focused fics that I’d like to get to first.

Next up is Lucia Hunter, a case where I must separate author from work. To this day I remain uncertain as to the details of the issues between this author and the denizens of Sukutomo, but the animosity exists nonetheless. Still, the listed works below were part of my gateway drugs into the wonderful world of NicoMaki fanfics. - The Diamond Princess’s Melancholy - How NicoMaki came together. - Love marginal - My favorite portrayal of KotoHonoUmi. NicoMaki is a side pairing here, and remain so through the rest of the works, but they’re still worth reading, imho. - Shiranai Love*Oshiete Love - RinPana focus but NicoMaki still plays their role. - Garden of Glass - de de deee de de deee Obviously NozoEli focused.

My first encounter with Rinforzando was a T rated cute and fluffy fic but they’ve done some pretty good NSFW works as well. - Ten Years - Always enjoy a good adult NicoMaki fic. - Limbo - NSFW FWB NicoMaki - Caprice - NSFW 2nd Person post-canon NicoMaki. I’m not typically a fan of 2nd Person perspective, but this one was worth it. - Cheers for Loving You - NicoMaki Secret Santa.

Hidekins is another author that has written a lot of NicoMaki I’ve enjoyed, but on a quick scan through the AO3 entries, few are jogging my memory with title and description alone. Perhaps I’ve read more here on tumblr? Perhaps I’ll come back and add more if I remember them better later. - NicoMakisses - A set of five cute short NicoMaki stories about kisses.

Saberin writes a lot of 3rd year stuff, and that’s fine, but the NicoMaki collection is worth checking out. - Prickly Love - As of writing this list, there are 10 chapters of cuteness

whoneedsapublisher writes a lot and I enjoy the style. Thus, when I see NicoMaki pop up on the account, I try to read. - Couples Therapy - One of my favorite Maki headcanons is included here. Not explicit but earns its M rating and thus is NSFW. - Subtle - Not particularly crazy about the Nico-taller-than-Maki, but that’s a minor complaint compared to the rest of this wonderful work. - At Least Six Confessions - Presequel to the above work. Poor Nico had her work cut out for her with a romantically dense Maki. - Keep Your Promises - Ten years later... - Happy New Year - Sometimes stalemates must be broken by someone. - Hidden Depth - Nico’s voice changes. And Maki likes it - Pretending to Pretend - Not explicit, but earns its M rating so NSFW. One of my favorite examples of the Fake Dating trope. - Merry Christmas Maki - I can’t think of a better present. - No Lies Allowed - Truth of Dare, NicoMaki style. - All Dressed Up - Based on a wonderful pic by noelclover - Santa’s Stand-in - Guess who still believes... - Switcheroo - Always love the idea of the girls trying to behave like the others. Makes me want to rewatch that episode. - Tick, Tock - Some introspective Maki - Insensitive - NicoMaki dating issues - Tomatoes - Maki’s favorite food I’ve heard good things about Dazzling Warrior Nightshade, so it’s on my To Read List, but I must admit I can be picky about my Magical Girls stuff. Madoka set an... interesting bar for the genre for me and in most cases I’d prefer to watch it as an anime or read it as a manga/doujin. Still, the idea of Nico being a magic girl amuses me greatly, thus why the fic remains on my radar.

And here are some other random works I’ve enjoyed over the years. - Smile, Nico Nico! - In which Nico drags Maki to the dentist - Billiards - NSFW 2nd Person. Yes, I know I just said I’m not typically a fan, but this one was also good. - Piano For Beginners - NSFW AU where Maki is assigned to teach Nico how to play the piano so as to be convincing for a film. - critical rules for not-dating - NSFW FWB AU that I need to finish reading someday but was happy enough with what I’ve read that I’d still recommend it. - 24 visits - Visits as in Nico the idol visiting Maki the doctor in the hospital. - 24 dates - A NSFW followup to 24 visits

So yeah, that’s a fairly decent list to get one started in their AO3 NicoMaki delving. As mentioned above, this is not all-inclusive and there are a ton of NicoMaki works out there. I haven’t visited FFN in years, so there may still be some authors that post there exclusively and have written some amazing stuff, but I cannot recommend what I haven’t read, or at least skimmed. I also have some tumblr works bookmarked... somewhere, so if I find them I might compare them to this list and maybe add those missed.

Here’s hoping something here piques your interest and makes you fall a little more for the wonderful NicoMaki.

#Ryqo's Q&A #NicoMaki #fanfic stuff

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bluephoenixdruidicprincess · 5 years

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OMG I remember when I saw Drusilla for the first time. I was 10 years old, she was in wheelchair and she was so scarring and creepy.I know a lot of people think that Glory was the best female villain in Buffy, but I think it was Drusilla. Some spn/destiel fan are so annoying and you're right about the treatment of female character by the fandom and the writers but it's funny bc I've always feel like destiel fan are mostly women. it's up to the writer to make an interesting demon in a wheelchair.

I think there’s something that’s just generally more terrifying about Drusilla in a wheelchair. One of my greatest fears isn’t necessarily the death of my physical body but moreso the death of my mind. I fear the prospect of losing my mind more than my death. And I think that’s what contributes to Drusilla being so terrifying while she was in the wheelchair. When she wasn’t in the wheelchair, she was still very terrifying in the sense that you knew she would tear you apart based on the whim of her mind that we have very little understanding of. But when she’s in the wheelchair, she has limitations on what she physically can do and if you have that kind of limitation you focus on another mode of torture for your victims. If you can’t physically hurt them, then attack them through the mind. And I think that’s what I found so genuinely terrifying about Drusilla when she was in the wheelchair. Just knowing that if she focused her efforts, she could destroy your mind. And we all know she has the capacity to do it. The whole reason her mind is the way that it is is that Angelus did it to her in the first place. Before he turned her, he wasn’t interested in destroying her body first, he focused on her mind, he destroyed her mind first before he destroyed her body. And because of this, to a certain extent, I think Drusilla will always go for torturing the mind as opposed to the body because that was what was done to her.

I mean, Glory was a good villain in the sense of her power. She was super powerful in ways that were very threatening to the Scooby gang. Most of the fights they had with her, they only made it out alive due to luck. However, I don’t think Glory is a great villain beyond that. To me, as far as her motivations, I think she’s kind of bland. She’s the villain that does villainous things because she’s the villain and has very little connections to the protagonists of the story. While you can say that Drusilla is the same that she wants to do villainous things just because she can, the difference is that Drusilla has a connection to the protagonists when she was first introduced that really propelled the story in interesting directions. And the state of her mind lends credence to an explanation of why she does the things she does. We really didn’t have any of that with Glory. Glory just does things because she’s evil. I mean, the show basically had to retcon Buffy being an only child just to give Buffy a personal link to her fight with Glory. But I also did find Glory quite terrifying as well. That whole thing where she fried Tara’s mind was pretty horrifying. As I said, I have a fear of losing my mind. So that part played perfectly into my fears. As a scary villain, Glory works but I feel like Drusilla was more interesting and dynamic. With Drusilla, you never knew what you were going to get. Was she going tear your throat out or did she just want to have a cup of coffee with you? It was anyone’s guess really what she was going to do from one moment to the next. And that unpredictability was always super interesting.

And to be clear on this, I don’t hate Destiel fans in general. There are some Destiel shippers I do like and am good friends with. And in fanon, I do like the ship (canon Destiel is just a no-go for me anymore), I will still read Destiel fanfiction (although its mainly AU stuff, like I said, canon stuff with Destiel just doesn’t work for me anymore).There’s just a certain faction of Destiel shippers that are just the absolute worst. The group lording over the entire fandom claiming that their ship is the only valid interpretation and everyone else just isn’t reading the foreshadowing, symbolism and subtext correctly. Or if you’re a Megstiel shipper, you’re heteronormative and homophobic. All that crap that comes from certain members of the community is what I can’t stand. Those people disregarding and invalidating what other people choose to enjoy from the show is what I hate to see. Especially since a lot of these other communities within the faction are actually super nice and supportive. Like, when I decided to jump-ship from the Destiel community and dig in a little more into the Sastiel and Megstiel communities to see what those were all about, I was just flabbergasted to find out that there’s communities in the SPN fandom that are super supportive of their thing but they also don’t put other people down at the same time while liking their thing like you see happen with the Destiel community a lot. When I started to really dig into the Sastiel and Megstiel tags, I really began to realize these communities are so much more healthy and positive and supportive and it was just amazing. You can ship Sastiel and Megstiel however you want, using whatever context you want and no one tries to tear you down for it. While when I was in the Destiel community, I had a different take on Destiel and it was like whenever I would talk about Destiel I would have to constantly defend my views on the ship but there’s none of that with Sastiel and Megstiel. There was barely any toxicity and if there was any toxicity it’s when Destiel shippers go into these tags and do what they do as I’ve already previously discussed.

Generally, for the most part Destiel shippers are women. I mean, I’ve met men who ship Destiel as well but I typically notice the ship more with women. But also generally speaking here, women have more of a connection to wanting to see things like romance in the media they consume so maybe it’s not so much that more women ship Destiel than men, it could simply be because there’s more women that engage in “shipping” in general more than men so it would stand to reason that there would be more women shippers of Destiel because there’s more women engaging in ship culture than men. Again, I’m not saying men don’t ship. Plenty of them do, I just think the ratio leans slightly more heavily on women.

If they do bring back Rachel for season 15, I’d be really interested to see what they do with her. Meg was a total badass character before and there’s no reason she shouldn’t continue to be a total badass now that she’s in a wheelchair. And reasons for why she’s in a wheelchair can easily be explained away. Like say Meg is stuck inside of her current vessel because a spell similar to the one Crowley used on Lucifer so he couldn’t jump out of the Mark P skin was used. And season 15, in general, feels like a season where anything can happen. There’s no doubt in mind there’s a way for the show to write Meg back in. I just hope it won’t be something dumb like a flashback.

#megstiel

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redsdesktop · 6 years

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Unbalanced Scales

Chapter 1

Fandom: South Park

Ships: Christophe / Gregory

AU: Stick of Truth, Medieval, Omegaverse

The sound of hooves on dirt had faded into background noise, the group had traveled for days to gain council of one man. Most of the group disagreed with the councilor's request to travel across the land to the fringes of civilization for a single person, especially in such a dire hour. However, the councilor was highly revered and his advice and charisma had swayed them, though it had not quelled their complaints along the way.

"How much longer? Traveling on horseback seems to be something more fit for commoners." Of course, it would be the self proclaimed wizard king who would be the most vocal about his complaints. However, the golden haired councilor simply ignored the portly male in favor of admiring the scenery. The rolling hills, only a few cliffs with their gray, weathered sides marring the greenery every so often. It was lush. And vacant.

"We'll get there when we get there, if you didn't want to come, you should've stayed on your plush seat back at your castle." While the councilor had refused to take the bait from the wizard, their more nature-friendly elf simply couldn't resist. Then again, the alliance between elves and humans was still new and fragile after years of fighting and distrust. Such things seemed inconsequential to the likes of the councilor, there would always be fighting in this world and it was his duty to make sure justice prevailed.

As they mounted a hill, the councilor gaze down at the shallow valley below, nestled against one of the small cliffs was a house, if one could call it that. A small shack was more adequate of a description, something that could be easily missed if one didn't know where to look. However, the owner of such a house could never hide from the councilor, no matter how far he ran away from the civilized world. The councilor nudged his heels into the side of his white horse, urging him to continue his pace down the gradual slope. The path was narrow, but with the grassy fields there was no need for concern about trees or rocks causing the horses to divert their pathing.

As they gained ground to the house, he could see the assortment of goats loitering around, lazily eating grass in the warm sun or relaxing in the cool shade of the cliff, chewing their cud. It all looked serene and peaceful, as if the news of the world beyond did not reach here. Until now.

"Christophe?" The councilor called out, trying to see where the man was. However, there was no response, but that didn't really surprise the councilor as he dismounted from his cremello horse, his soft leather boots thumping on the ground with ease. He looked around, but he couldn't detect movement from within the house nor did he see anyone out in the tall grass. "Christophe? I know you're here, answer me already."

Nothing. The lack of response was fairly annoying, but then again he should've expected such. Sure, it had been quite some time since he'd been in the company of the other man, but stubbornness had always been a key trait of Christophe. Seeing how Christophe refused to answer his call, the councilor began to focus a bit more, stepping out into the waves of tall grass, the goats lifting their heads to lazily stare at him, unperturbed by his presence. Following the the traces, the councilor looked down at a patch of flattened grass and in the middle of it was the smug bastard he'd come for.

With attired that was near threadbared, torn and rugged, olive skin smudged with dirt and sweat, Christophe looked like a beggar more than anything. Fitting for a man living out here with a bunch of goats. He looked like he was sound asleep, but the councilor knew better, such a paranoid man would've been aware of the company the moment they climbed the hill to his little valley. "Christophe, why didn't you answer me when I called for you?" "I was too busy ignoring you." Came a gruff reply, the low voice slightly hinted of an accent, one that only the councilor could likely place.

"You've ignored me long enough. Now get up, you've got company." The councilor gave the dirty male a slightly harsh kick to the side, which only gained a grunt from him.

"Tell the company to leave." Christophe growled but regardless, he pushed himself up onto his feet. For such a lean man, Christophe was shorter than the councilor by a good deal. The way he carried himself though spoke volumes, danger, aggression, things something wouldn't expect from the likes of his nature. Christophe mossy green eyes looked over at the group who had already dismounted their horses and looking curiously over at the pair.

"This some joke? Three humans and an elf walk into a goat farm." Christophe bit out with annoyance, though his tone was always like that, just as the councilor remembered. "I don't care what you've come for. I told you I was done playing your games, Gregory."

It had been even longer since the councilor had heard his name, but Christophe had been the last one to use it. While technically it wasn't his true name, it was the one he was most familiar with. One that Christophe had called him by... Along with a few other choice curses.

"I wouldn't have come if it wasn't important, you're already aware of that." Gregory retorted, but he was already walking back towards the house. As expected, Christophe followed, albeit reluctantly. "Invite us in, its been a long journey and we'd like to rest."

"Demanding as usual." Christophe grumbled as he opened the door and stepped inside the shack. Despite its small size, it looked spacious inside, but only because Christophe was a man of few worldly possessions. He had to pull small crates and barrels out to act as seat for his company, though Gregory chose to sit on the bed, which wasn't exactly comfortable but moreso than the wood. It was an act that Christophe frowned at, a bed was something personal and to sit on one could mean a lot of things, none of which Christophe cared for.

There was little to be done, Christophe digging up old manners he thought he'd buried long ago. If Gregory had not been there, they would all be outside on the ground, if Christophe had allowed them to stay long enough to hear them out. He handed out cups or bowls, since Christophe didn't expect to have company. Ever. So they'd have to drink out of whatever he had on hand.

"First, its only common courtesy to introduce our guests." Gregory started. He motioned first to the slightly heavier out of the group, his finely made garb was dusty and wrinkled from travel but the brown haired male still managed to hold himself with some sort of regality. "This is the Wizard King, Eric. He is the one who called a meeting about the current state of the world. He, alongside Princess Kenny, rule the human kingdom. Princess Kenny stayed behind to govern the kingdom while we are away."

Gregory then motioned to the slightly anxious but none-the-less cheery looking blond who sat near the wizard king. "This here is the paladin, Leopold. He is Eric's royal escort." Christophe tilted his head, focusing in on the smells now that they were indoors, taking his time to identify them one by one. The one named Eric, had the strong scent of pine oil, which meant an alpha. His paladin on the other hand was a bit more difficult. His scent faint, like watered down syrup, likely a beta.

"Next is the high elf king, Kyle." Gregory indicated the red haired male, he had fair skin and a noble look about him, but the fire in his eyes told another story. He scented of the woods, strong but underlying tones of floral, an omega trying his best to rule. "And his own royal escort, the ranger known as Stan Marshwalker." The black haired human looked quite, assessing with a stubborn set to his brow, he set close to the elf king as if no longer trusting others. The scent he gave off was subtle but there, of winter and crisp mountain air too thin.

Christophe scowled, it was unusually for an elf to take a human on as a royal escort, though he supposed he had been out of the loop for a good while. That and he didn't care enough to ask. For Gregory to bring strangers to see him of all people meant he was desperate and that meant Christophe was going to suffer the biggest headache.

"And this, my friends, is Christophe-" "The goat farmer?" The wizard King interrupted, causing Leopold to snicker a bit at the insult. That received them a lofty glare from Gregory which did silence the paladin but only made the wizard look away stubbornly. "The infiltrator. No one else in this land can match his ability."

"You say it like its something I'm proud of." Christophe sighed out and took a seat on his bed, keeping a reasonable space between himself and Gregory. "So, oh mighty councilor, why have you graced me with your presence this time."

Before Gregory could respond, the wizard spat and sputter after taking a drink from his cup, coughing before taking the handkerchief handed to him by Leopold to clean his mouth. "What the fuck is this? Are you trying to poison me?"

"Its goat's milk. What else did you expect, your highness?" Christophe's tone made the title sound derogatory. Only the wizard king seemed to complain, the paladin seemed reluctant to drink but too meek to say anything. The Elf King and his human escort seemed to be more accustomed to milk. Gregory seemed to be sipping his drink as if it was fine wine.

"As a king, I expected to be treated with the best. Hold on, what the hell are you drinking?" Eric stood up, glaring at Gregory who didn't seem all too concerned by the act.

"Wine. Christophe always keeps a bottle for me." Gregory took another pointed sip from his cup.

"Why does he get wine?"

"Who are you again?" Christophe idly countered.

"The wizard king, the greatest of all wizards, and you will respect my title!"

"Sorry, never heard of you." Though, Christophe didn't sound too apologetic. "I only serve under Gregory, everyone else is lucky they get anything to drink. Now tell me why you're all here before I get impatient."

Gregory sighed out, watching as the paladin helped calm the wizard king down to sit back down on his seat. Once everything was settled, Gregory began to explain. "There is a new curse spreading like the plague across the land. It only seems to be effecting alphas, its slowly killing them."

Christophe folds his arms over his chest, closing his eyes before giving a snort. "You sure its not a blessing?" His comment seemed to surprise his company, all aside from Gregory. In this land, alphas were revered as needed to keep civilization going, just as every other dynamic. It appeared that society had changed. Before Christophe had left the civilized world, alphas held every position of true power. Omegas were, in most cases, treated as either second class citizens or property. There were a few rare cases, but those rare cases were always under constant bombardment from others and a struggle to keep.

"Christophe, alphas are just as needed as other dynamics are. If one should fall, there would be an unbalance and who knows what sort of devastation would fall on the world." Gregory said gently, as if condescending to Christophe, which made the 'goat farmer' crack open his eyes and give the councilor a warning look.

"I don't care." Christophe stated with certainty, but only for a moment before muttering a curse under his breath. "But I assume you're not leaving me a bloody choice in this matter are you?"

Gregory looked down at his lap, a sign of guilt and Christophe almost believed it. "No, you do not."

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osrasaskblog · 6 years

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If I may ask...why are you refusing to put Pearlmethyst in the story? If you just dislike it, I understand, but then why would you choose to write such an inherently Pearlmethysty AU? Especially with the building Ruby/Sapphire, it seems like a given Pearl and Amethyst would be in love.

I answered this on an AO3 comment but I’ll put it here, too.

For starters, the fic was started because I really like Opal, Sapphire, and Ruby. I wanted to write a fic focusing on characters that don’t really get that much screentime in canon. I’ve said before that I wasn’t intending for Sapphire and Ruby to be romantically involved (as I thought a purely family-based story would be interesting), but Rupphire is such a cute and interesting couple I couldn’t help it.

Personally, I think Pearlmethyst is also cute--I don’t actively ship it, I don’t actively dislike it. Again, for starters, I thought it might be good for this story to be 100% family-based. However, I realized that even though I wanted Rupphire to be the main ship, I couldn’t deny that when writing Pearl and Amethyst, there was inherent chemistry there. Like no amount of “It’s platonic!” was going to write off their very intimate interactions. All along, there was going to be another reason for them to be fused all the time besides just their relationship--that reason is still there, and will be revealed later.

This will also be made completely clear later, but there have been implications in “The Shock” and “The Day Out” that Amethyst does have romantic feelings towards Pearl. Opal hesitates to deny Steven’s guess that Pearl and Amethyst are together, and when Pearl calls Amethyst her “friend”, she’s not exactly happy with that. Pearl was in love with Rose, and it was only in having someone as close to her as Amethyst that she was not as consumed with her grief of losing her as she was in canon. But that love was still there, still real, and as such she doesn’t quite return Amethyst’s feelings. Not so much because “she’s my friend, just my friend :)”, but moreso that she’s still healing over losing Rose that she’s not ready to move on yet.

I’m not going to confirm or deny that Pearlmethyst will be endgame in this fic. I do have plans for how the story, and by extension their relationship, will end up. Without totally spoiling it, it won’t end with the two getting together, nor will it end with Pearl shutting Amethyst down. I label the story as “not quite Pearlmethyst” because even though there is some content, I don’t want to disappoint someone looking for a straight-up Pearlmethyst fanfic to be disappointed with a more complicated relationship.

tl;dr Pearlmethyst isn’t completely absent in this fic, nor is it the focus. I understand the confusion on why it would be expected from such an AU, but I think this makes for a more compelling story.

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fantroll-purgatory · 6 years

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@kyuremus

FIRST: Alternia (slight au- she’s not only a sgrub player, but the age for troll banishment has risen.)

Name: Astium Umoora! As she’s a fairly new troll of mine, I actually remember her name reasoning! Astium comes from astigmatism, as her eyes are a main theme. Her smaller 4 suffer from a severe case of this.

Umoora is pretty basic- Umora means fatigue in bulgarian. She’s pretty angry-tired thanks to a large mess of bullshit she deals with frequently.

I think this all works pretty well!

Age:7 sweeps.

Strife Specibus: Umbrellakind. Truth be told, she’s kind of scared of incredibly sharp objects. However, she needs some sweet, sweet long-distance, as an able-bodied Tavros might stand a chance in a fistfight. Umbrella kinda sounds like Umoora, but that’s something I only noticed right now. The second I’m typing this. The tip of it is rather sharp (because fear aside, she needs stabbing ability), but keeping it open usually protects her from accidentally stabbing an eye or three out.

Oof… I’m almost tempted to recommend bbgunkind just to make a “you’ll shoot your eye out kid” joke. But given her fearful nature she might not be particularly fond of the idea of using that.

Maybe a jaws of life/claw grabber instead? A not especially destructive jaws of life. It’s something that isn’t particularly sharp, has some range on it, and that she could use to restrict an enemy in order to give herself a much-needed advantage. It’s also a nice nod to her scorpion relation.

Fetch Modus:

This is a weird one so bear with me, but Lotus Seed Modus. Basically a little grid that looks a bit like a Lotus Seed Head (Don’t look it up if you have trypophobia, because it’s basically the very common plant pattern that activates that response). She has to fill up the entire pod before she’s allowed to retrieve any items, basically. Pretty simple, but it ties into her interest!

Blood color: Teal

Okay… I do have to say that I might want to change her to Cobalt. If only because eye mutations are sooo common among that caste. I don’t see why it Couldn’t happen with a teal, but. Nothing in her personality Particularly sells me on teal, since she doesn’t have a particularly strong moral position. She at least has a little touchstone with the Cobalt bitterness towards people who are better positioned than her. Also the scorpion association.

Symbol and meaning: Limini- Derse+Doom

You seem to be riding a lot on her doom power for her theme, so I feel bad about this, but… her personality honestly fits Rage just a little better for me? I usually wait until getting to the title section to address this, but I do want to talk about it here just to get it out of the way ASAP.

Her anger, fear, paranoia, aggression towards others, dissatisfaction with the current reality… I do agree with her being a dersite, though.

So depending on blood type, I might change her symbol to either…

Trolltag: destinedTrypophiliac. Destined is a hint at three things: Her eventual playing of Sgrub, her doom aspect, and some of her specific lil doom powers that’ll be below! She truthfully enjoys trypo-things, due to the nature of her face, she’s both intrigued and comforted by the patterns of small holes.

I think this could still work out even with my change because of her fatalistic nature. She has this perceived terminality that goes along well with the aspect. I also like that it kind of implies she was destined to be super into small hole patterns.

Quirk: I’m that anon from before- her quirk is a pain in the ass, and she knows this. That’s actually the reason for a good chunk of it, however, she chose things that both kinda looked like holes+eyes. U=☋, N= ☊ and a=∴. She’s got hella vision, so reading this shitshow is a breeze. She talks in all lowercase unless HEATED, and uses punctuation. She also substitutes the word ‘eye’ into anything that rhymes, even if the end result is kind of silly. (reyeght, meyene, etc.) “yo☋ ∴ll f☋cki☊g s☋ck. ”

Haha I love it. It’s definitely a pain in the ass, but I’ve seen way worse. Honestly if you wanted to make it worse, you could replace o’s with ö‘s. Just litter that fuckin quirk with dots.

Special Abilities (if any): I’m sure I mentioned something about eyes. She doesn’t have vision Xfold, but rather, 20/20 eyesight to the highest power. While each small eye on its own is pretty awful, when every single one is open and working, she can make out crisp details as far as she can see.

I do kind of like this, because it reminds me of the nature of various insect eyes. Their smaller eyes tend to be less detailed and focus on things like light/dark, heat, or movement, but when used in combination with more complex eyes they help create a thorough image. Scorpions in particular have really light sensitive eyes.

I think that’s something you should maybe play with with her. Scorpions can travel by starlight at night, so maybe she’s Really good at tracing light. But also make her really, really hate harsh light. She can still be great with Detail, though.

She’s got underdeveloped doom abilities. As Terezi was able to use her mind abilities pretty well w/o god-tiering, I’m applying this here. It’s pretty basic, but she’s pretty good on picking up vibes. That’s about it. She has a dislike for a lot of trolls, but she’s only truly scared of some. She doesn’t understand how she makes this difference.

I think you could still work this with my change- If you wanted to keep it for doom I might adjust it to her being able to sense impending threats in general? Not being able to note the danger surrounding particular trolls, just particular Moments where she or someone else is About To Experience Danger.

If you go with my Rage change, though, you could have her be able to sense the threat inherent to each individual. Though her perceived threat might be slightly skewed by how much she was Already scared of them.

Lusus: Scorpionmom! Small, angry, the obligatory eye thing- but you can squish em if you’re fast. Astium is vulnerable behind all her yelling.

Personality: She seems like the kind of troll with anger issues. Moreso than most. She’s violently aggressive towards those above her in hemospectrum, but only when guaranteed protection behind a screen. All of this stems from a crippling fear she lives with, however- she is a mutant. It’s not the worst mutation in the world, her blood is teal, and she’s more than functional. Her four smaller eyes developed AFTER her lusus adopted her. They kind of.. burst through the surface of her face, and scorpionmom noticed those bumps. Otherwise, she probably would’ve been culled. (It also changed the pattern of her horn. This was initially just me forgetting which way the red-orange-yellow went, but I rolled with it.) She can’t compensate her mutation with physical strength or cool calculations, and her fear is at fault. There’d be no reason to spare her at the time of drafting. She’s aware that the wrong highblood could end her life in a second, so she tries to compensate this by coming across as impressively scary enough to ward them off. This is also just a side-effect of fear. She’s kind of a coward face-to-face, and she’s disgusted with herself for this. As a mid/highblood, she expects herself to have the natural anger and strength of somebody her caste, but is as weak as the rust spectrum, minus the cool psychic powers.

Now here’s my least favorite part of having to step in- I think you have some misconceptions about Alternian culture. Since it’s an AU, you could definitely adjust things to suit your needs across the universe… But since you haven’t specified a particular change in this regard, I’m going to discuss this as we know it in canon:

Eye mutations are pretty normal on Alternia, it would seem. Her having extra eyes isn’t enough to have her immediately culled. It might even be common enough to not be particularly notable. In fact, most ‘mutations’ or even disabilities might not even be instantly cullable offenses- the only things we really know for sure result in culling is blood mutations and a failure to provide genetic material for the filial pails.

Alternia definitely has a “the strongest survive” mentality, but it Also has an “adapt and live” mentality. Tavros’ paraplegia didn’t put him on the chopping block and he implied he still had hope of becoming a member of the cavalreapers. Terezi was completely blind and she was still gunning for the job of legislacerator without having to worry about being culled for her disability.

Now, I DO… still want to work this for you. So I think you can definitely argue that if she’s particularly frail on top of her eye mutations she might be culled?

I have two slightly more interesting options for you, though:

1. She could survive drafting, and would get shipped off planet, but because of her various issues she probably wouldn’t get a high ranking position and would probably just be tossed out as cannon fodder. She’d be a low-ground grunt and her likelihood of survival wouldn’t be particularly high. So she’s still terrified of this fate- she doesn’t want to be some first wave scouting grunt that gets killed in the first fight. This still justifies her fear and anxiety around the whole thing.

2. She BELIEVES that she’ll be culled at drafting time despite it being untrue. She really, really, genuinely is convinced of this being the case, and is terrified of it. People try to reassure her that this won’t happen and provide examples, but she is just REALLY, STUBBORNLY sure that it’s absolutely the case and that all of their examples are just Government Lies meant to placate the masses.

When it comes to quadrants, she has the maturity of a grub. Astium hasn’t a CLUE how to healthily establish one- dealing with her feelings is confusing and absolutely terrifying. She’ll also go ham if she gets her “veyebes” from a friend’s quadrantmate, which can really hurt Astium’s relationship with the original troll. However, this isn’t too much of a focus. She’d rather be single for as long as possible.

I love this. The idea of her trying to warn her pals that a quadrantmate has Threatening Auras is intriguing and the dynamic it could create w/ relationships is nice.

She can also be kind of an idiot about small things, with the stuff said above being prime examples. Covering her eye mutation is.. not her strong suit, despite her fear of being found out? Her eye-quirk is too natural, despite her multiple attempts to get out of the habit. Words feel wrong if not spelled with eye puns.

Astium pushes herself away from most, and this has wound up having her be quite needy and lonely, so she can certainly come across as overbearing and somewhat annoying to anybody who strikes her interest, platonic or romantic.

She loves the word fuck.

She’s a great character! I think if you want to keep her a teal, though, you need to give her a kind of moral touchstone… I think a fascinating one for her might be a sort of “might makes wrong” worldview as a contrast to Alternia’s usual “might makes right” way of doing things. Basically have her fundamentally distrust people who are strong and assume they’re in the wrong/always blame them.

Interests:

COOKING SHOWS (it’s a small aspiration to become a chef.)

PLAYFUL SPARRING

TRYPO-GALLERIES

HOPEFULLY, A NONVIOLENT CAREER.

VIDEO GAMES ARE COOL SOMETIMES.

The idea of a troll having a nonviolent career aspiration is so fun. Good luck, baby girl, you live on Alternia… Maybe you could give her a theoretical interest in gardening just because of her trypointerest? Or you could make her like Mushrooms. Mushrooms are pretty easy to plant, so she could even grow them in her hive!

You could also have her practice some escape artistry nonsense. Preparing to run away from the culling drones. Building a panic room. All kinds of fun stuff.

She could also be interested in getting in Arguments Online. Yelly Online Personality Who Is Mad. An Internet Skeptic For Trolls.

[These are the ones I have the most trouble with?]

Title: Witch of Doom

Witch of Rage could be a fun title for her… The active changer of rage, allowing her to actively manipulate and change the negative emotions that others feel, altering the levels of pessimism, able to generate torment and worry while passively understanding optimism and figuring out how to flex her own negative feelings to the mold of reality…

But I also think Knight of Rage might be a good possibility to consider? Starting out surrounded by and overwhelmed by all this anger and fear and paranoia. And then having to learn how to exploit and utilize those feelings effectively instead of allowing them to consume her and everything around her.

Land:Plush and Night. Plush is both her direct inverse and secret wish, and night is simply so she struggles to see- her one strength.

Trolls are nocturnal, so her having difficulty seeing in the dark doesn’t make much sense for her species! Plush and Day might make more sense, both biologically and with her having a scorpion mom and with the eye light sensitivity thing I mentioned.

Dream Planet:Derse

Sorry if this is too wordy/comes across poorly, this is my first time ever submitting a troll for review!!

Don’t worry, it was the prefect amount of wordy. Sorry my review got wordy in turn, haha!

Now let’s have some design fun!:

So we have here a teal and a cobalt redesign.

Horns: For the teal I shortened them a little just because with teals the horns never seem like the main attraction. They’re always relatively understated. I kept them the same on the cobalt, though.

Hair: I kept it the same for the cobalt, too, but I wanted to make it messier on the teal. My concept when designing her was basically “really exhausted grad student who is a disaster mess and rarely leaves their room,” since teal designs seem to occupy a niche grad student genre.

Eyes: They seemed just a little too small for the style. I removed the eyebrows to do away with crowding and then made the main set and the lower eyes larger. I also added eyelash definition. And, of course, the undereye bag shadows!

Mouth: I wanted to give her some bigger, scarier fangs. Mostly so she’d fit the definition of someone looking like they have a temper more. It also makes her look a little like spidermom’s face which is fun. A nice arachnid reference. I gave her some black lipstick on the teal version and some cobalt on the cobalt.

Shirt: I made her tanktop a little flowerier and less put together. I also adjusted the outline to be more visible. New symbol, of course. On the cobalt I just added a jacket over top of the tanktop.

Legs: I edited one of fan-troll’s sweatpants sprites to again fit that exhausted image you wanted for her. I also turned her shoes into slippers, though I kept the blood accent on each.

Thank you for sharing! She’s pretty great!

-CD

#kyuremus #astium umoora #tealblood #cobaltblood #ceruleanblood #review #redesign #cd review #submission #astium #umoora

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prepare4trouble · 7 years

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Star Wars Rebels fanfic - The Last Of The Light

So, a while back, I filled a prompt on @swrrequests for an AU where both Ezra and Kanan were blinded at Malachor. Here’s a prequel to it that nobody asked for.

The original fic is here, and here’s a bunch of random thoughts from the AU, this fic is based upon some of those events, and is therefore much less happy than the original fic.

The days were all warm on Atollon, but this one in particular had been stifling. Planetside, the engines on the Ghost were switched off, and without them, the air didn’t circulate through the filtration system that held the temperature constant in space. As a result, the ship, designed to conserve heat and therefore energy in the cold of space, had quickly grown almost unbearably warm.

Hera wafted her hand in front of her face, forcing the air to move in little, useless ripples before her. She had been tempted to fire up the engines, if just for a few minutes’ respite from the heat, but to do so would have been wasteful; they had a finite amount of fuel, and to burn through it while parked inside an atmosphere would have been an unnecessary drain on resources.

And so they had all been driven outdoors, seeking the shaded areas, and the buildings that some engineer had had the forethought to fit with cooling systems that didn’t require starship fuel. It wasn’t perfect, but it was better than nothing.

The evening had brought some respite; as the sun had begun to sink below the horizon, the wind had begun to pick up, bringing some much-needed airflow. She took a deep breath, and even inside the Ghost, the air smelled of dust from the ground outside, but opening the door had allowed the cooling air to circulate, and she was hopeful it would cool enough to allow her to sleep in a few hours.

Right now, however, sleep was the furthest thing from her mind.

She climbed out of the access hatch, leaving it open behind her, with the intention of allowing a little more airflow through the ship.

She found Ezra right where Kanan had told her he would be, sitting on the top of the ship. His legs were bent at the knee, and his arms wrapped loosely around them; he stared, or appeared to stare, out over the landscape of the planet and toward the setting sun. His hair rippled in the breeze, and she realized that he had allowed it to grow a little longer than he was used to. So had Kanan, now she thought about it.

She wondered how he had found his way up there; whether he had taken the same route that she had, up the ladder and through the access hatch, and how easy he had found that, whether he had had help, and how long he had been there. She wondered whether he had brought a canteen with him, whether he had had enough to drink in the heat, whether he was wearing enough UV blocker. She wondered, but she didn’t ask. She was very conscious of not appearing that she was fussing over him; he had made it very clear that he didn’t like or want that.

Still, she might have chosen one of those questions, simply to make conversation, if it hadn’t been for the thoroughly dejected look on his face and the way his entire body appeared to slump as though he was being forced to carry a burden much too heavy for him.

He was, of course They all were. But his had grown the past few months.

He turned toward her up as she approached, and for a moment she felt as though he was looking at her, until she came a little closer and could see the way his gaze didn’t quite focus. He knew she was there, of course. He would have heard her, and he could probably sense her presence through the Force, but if he could see her at all -- and she wasn’t clear on exactly what he could and couldn’t see -- it was only as a slightly darker spot against the brightness of the sunset.

He cocked his head a little to one side, an unconscious gesture, one that she had seen Kanan do too on occasion. She hated that; not the gesture itself, but that she found herself drawing comparisons between the two of them. It was something that she caught her mind doing independent of her permission.

Her feet slowed on the metal exterior of the ship as she approached him. Suddenly, she felt as though she might be intruding. It couldn’t have been easy for him to find his way up here, and it wasn’t something he would have done if he wanted company. Ezra had been distant since he and Kanan had returned from Malachor. They both had, but Ezra moreso, somehow, because even when he was there, it felt as though he was elsewhere.

Although Kanan was, understandably, unhappy, it felt to her as though he had accepted it what had happened to him. He was having trouble learning to adjust, he was withdrawing, spending more and more time alone, meditating, but at least he was adjusting, or trying to, after a fashion. At least he recognized that that was something he needed to do. Ezra was still deep in denial, waiting for an improvement that he had already been told wasn’t going to come.

She continued to approach, because he was waiting for her now, and to stop and turn away now would be cowardice, and would be taking advantage of the fact that he probably didn’t yet know who she was. When she reached his side, she lowered herself down onto the flat surface of the ship. The metal exterior was warm to the touch, heated by the rays of Atollon’s sun.

“It’s a…” she began. ‘Beautiful evening’, she had been about to say. But he wasn’t up there watching the sunset, despite appearances to the contrary. Anyway, it wasn’t even true, and the reds and yellows in the sky evoked a painful memory for her now; the last night she and Kanan had spent together before everything had changed. She sighed. “What are you doing up here?” she settled for instead.

Ezra had turned back to the sunset. He didn’t bother to face her, speaking out into the desert instead, into the glow of the setting sun. “Nothing,” he said, and made no attempt to elaborate.

Hera settled in next to him, and watched as the sun sunk further into the horizon. The sky was seemingly on fire with reds and pinks and yellows, and she had been wrong the first time; it was beautiful. It just hurt that Ezra couldn’t share in it with her.

As the reds began to fade into purples, Ezra finally turned away. She wondered whether he had reached the extent of his vision, whether the colors he sometimes claimed that he could see had faded into darkness. He sighed deeply, leaned forward and rested his chin on his knees..

“I think…” he said, and then stopped.

Hera felt herself holding her breath, frozen in the moment, both anticipating and dreading his next words. When Kanan had directed her up here, he had sensed something from Ezra, but hadn’t elaborated on what it might be. Perhaps he hadn’t even known what it might be. It should have been Kanan that was here with him, and it was a testament to his own feelings of inadequacy that he was not.

“It’s not going to get any better, is it?” Ezra asked quietly.

Relief clashed with sorrow, and for a moment she wasn’t sure what to say. For months he had refused to believe that, he had insisted time and time again that he was seeing improvements where the medic told him there was none. He had kept himself in a holding pattern, waiting for the moment when he would be able to see again, instead of beginning to deal with the fact that he wouldn’t.

She turned her attention briefly back to the sunset. The sun had almost completely disappeared now, leaving behind a deep red glow, like an echo of the day. “No,” she said. “I’m sorry, Ezra, I don’t think it is.”

He sighed deeply. “I’m such an idiot,” he said quietly, speaking into the night. “I should have just listened to…” he stopped, and silence passed between them. Even down on the ground below them there was no sound from the base. It felt as though there was nobody else for miles around.

“You’re not an idiot,” Hera promised him. There was nothing wrong with hope, it was what kept them going every day. But at the same time, she was glad. Not that he had lost hope, but that he might now be able to turn it in another direction. “I broke my arm when I was eight,” she heard herself saying. “The doctor insisted it was just a sprain, but my father insisted it was broken. Who do you think was right?”

Ezra frowned, confused by the sudden change in topic.

“The point it, medics aren’t always right. You were right to question what they said, up to a point. There was nothing wrong with keeping hope.”

“I don’t think this is like that,” Ezra told her.

“No,” Hera agreed. She placed a hand gently on his shoulder. “I don’t either.”

They lapsed once again into silence, neither sure of what to say next.

“Are you okay?” Hera asked after a moment. It was a stupid, pointless, and possibly even cruel question, and she wanted to kick herself the moment the words left her lips.

Ezra turned to face her, lips slightly parted, like he had opened his mouth to speak before he had decided what to say. Finally, he gave her half a smile, and nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Of course.”

Hera didn’t reply. They both knew it was a lie, and they both knew there would be no benefit to either one of them to expose it. They sat together in silence as the last of the light drained away.

Moving Forward (next fic)

#star wars rebels #swr fanfiction #in one piece au #hera syndulla #ezra bridger #blind ezra #au

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