#i didn't include bcs i have no idea of their dynamic

[lightmonx]

Some random thing I thought of

When their little siblings are born

Tsukasa & Shizuku: I'm going to dote her until the end of time! (And some other things that doting siblings does)

Ena: Finally my servant is here!

And-

Reaction to their little siblings being bullied

Shizuku: *doesn't even dare since she's Shizuku*

Tsukasa: WHO DARES BULLY THE STAR SISTER!? (and continue to be loud)

Ena: Who dares bully my brother!? Only I can bully him!

[tvrningout]

i'm about to try and write a plots post for chiyo from scratch and i'm... girl why did i give you so many verses

[yukinss]

the moon, the sun, and the earth | op81, ls2

pairing: oscar piastri x fem!driver! reader (unrequited) ... logan sargeant x fem!driver! reader (mentioned) summary: the moon relies on the sun to shine, but the sun doesn't care about the moon ... it's too focused on the earth. note: mainly focused on oscar, although logan is mentioned heavily throughout the blurb/fic, whichever you wanna call i. it's a really shitty ending bc idk how to end things properly, and it’s kinda opened ended, soooo smirking cat emoji, sun side eye emoji. note 2: don’t ask about the logistics of the reader (you) being at aston martin … i just wanted to include lance in some way shape or form, smiling cat emoji.

you, oscar, and logan ... that's how it's always been. from karting to your time in the f1 academy, it had always been you three. it was only a given that the three of you would've ended up as formula 1 drivers the same year. you at aston martin, oscar at mclaren, and logan at williams.

being on different teams didn't stop you guys from being close, if anything it only made you three closer ... well it made you and logan closer, as oscar was usually pulled away to attend team meetings and interviews to discuss the season.

throughout the 2023 season, yours and logan's relationship had grown into something more than just childhood friends. it wasn't until the austrian grand prix when the two of you had made it official. many fans and other members of the grid were over the moon to see the two of you together.

"it was only amount of time the two of you got together!" both yours and logan's teammates had said when they congratulated the two of you.

the dynamic of the 2023 rookies had shifted after that. no one really knew why, no one other than oscar of course. he had always known you and logan had feelings for each other for a while now, but had danced around the idea of the both of you actually getting together. he had only hoped that the two of you would've continued to dance around the idea ... or even just drop it. oscar had hoped that you would've dropped the idea of ever being with logan.

for 3 years, oscar thought his relationship with you was strictly platonic. yet somewhere along the way, you had become his sun. although, you were too caught up on your feelings for logan to have know about oscar's feelings for you.

oscar had become the moon to your sun, while logan had become the earth. oscar relied on you, everything he did was dedicated to you in some way ... but you didn't care for oscar, not in the same way you cared for logan.

it's like that saying, the moon relies on the sun to shine, but the sun doesn't care about the moon ... it's too focused on the earth.

[inchidentally]

also like, as I always say I love the carland0 and dand0 content SO much like it got me into f1blr and I rewatch some of those every week to make me smile <3

but whenever Lando was with those guys - or tbh with any driver older than him - there's always this reverting to baby brother thing where he lets the older guy answer everything more seriously or in detail and then Lando just pipes in w something funny or cute or getting flustered and everyone being like oh that's classic Lando etc etc. and it's always great content lbr!

but him and Oscar being on that freakish wavelength together and automatically sharing responsibilities based on individual strength to do w knowledge/skill (and Lando's mood that day) means we actually get to see Lando's competence and knowledge way more than we used to. bc it's always been there as much as the other guys it's just the ~divergence~ brain making certain environments or certain pressures shutting parts of his brain (and literally do I relate to that).

and not to get too deep but it parallels the fact that when Oscar showed up and everyone was saying how he was Lando's rookie and his protégé etc it threw Lando for a while bc openly said he didn't feel comfortable being in that role to someone else/not having someone older and more experienced to lean on. which I think if Oscar had actually needed that himself it would've not worked at all well - fortunately Zak and Andrea both knew enough of Oscar to know that wouldn't be the case.

BUT !! Oscar knowing cough so much about Lando before joining McLaren meant that even though he rly never needed Lando to be in that guidance/leader role for him, he picked up on Lando genuinely wanting to try and like - that's where the wavelength was established. bc Oscar did put himself in the role of following what Lando chooses and learning Lando's preferences and behaviors which in turn ! fulfilled Lando wanting to do the team and himself proud and be there for Oscar as basically the existing face of McLaren and the popular driver who was able to win over fans and media to Oscar who were not only reluctant to like Oscar at the time, they were actively rooting for his downfall and reveling in McLaren's tough start to 2023. because Lando pushed for such solidarity and included Oscar so much in his social media back then, Oscar returned the favor by learning and copying from Lando how to engage w media and fans on the F1 level of scrutiny. and because Oscar went so unusually quiet and observant with Lando compared to Oscar with the guys in F3 and F2, Lando kept complimenting how "calm" Oscar was and how it was rubbing off on him.

like I know there's the rpf of it all but it's why I feel like we all latch on so hard with landoscar as it exists just in reality bc there's been the opposite of bromance and convenience for them that their dynamics w other drivers have had (similar personalities, interests, being invested in PR - or not, in Oscar's case) and they also didn't even have fans rooting for them to be friends or even be great teammates bc of Alpine drama and being bitter about Daniel AND add to the fact that Lando himself was resistant to the idea of being the older guy. yet despite having that uphill battle and their personalities in superficial/social ways being diametrically opposed, they're the teammates that are known for their freakish mind-reading/twinning and they naturally form to the same car requirements and preferences and after just one season together have the narrowest margins between them on track. and Lando was truly one foot out the door at points last season and while most of him being swayed was loyalty to McLaren, I think if Oscar had been just as competitive as he is BUT wasn't as perfectly matched for Lando as he is then... idk drivers have left teams that felt like 'home' for less reason than that !!

idk Lando twice catching himself referring to Oscar as if they've been teammates for years instead of barely even a season and a half and Oscar having this metamorphosis that's been visible on camera based on using Lando as his pole star for coping with the leap from F2 success->languishing at Alpine->F1 in a rollercoaster season for McLaren. to now watching them in all their content easily swapping duties with unspoken agreement and picking up the middle of each other's thoughts seamlessly (and Wired deciding to have both of them do it instead of just one like usual) and Lando looking to Oscar every time he forgets a word bc Oscar will have it for him immediately. they sit back together and enjoy watching every other team and driver go through chaos bc they've both committed to their team already and don't have to worry about all that for a good while.

sure a lot of us would prefer if they had the shared outside hobby to ensure hanging out even when they're one day no longer teammates but askgsajfglafg honestly for me that's a future concern that idc about !! there's something so we didn't just become teammates against the odds we became one of the best teammate pairings against the odds about them that's compelling in a sports/competition sense but also in the way they hold something fairly special between them as drivers - and undeniably at least in part as people - and them not choosing to advertise for fans when they travel together or hang out or have their own little debriefs and decompresses together - like them being so proud of their new privacy door to their drivers rooms and emphasizing how it's their own place to be private private and away from everyone (even Jon and Kim!) but it's so shared between them that Oscar still hears all of Lando's music

it's such a massive, conscious commitment to each other in a career that is basically most of their lives every year and it's just so !!!! all on it's own as it is for me <3<3

[loth-creatures]

So... how does Baylan become a wolf? In one post you said it was Sabine, but in another you said Sabine bit Shin who then got Baylan later on.Si which is it?

So originally Shin bit Baylan simply bc I hadn't yet committed to writing in the entire ahsoka series and didn't think about it much; that just seemed like a likely scenario.

But I decided on Sabine biting Baylan instead (she still also bites Shin first, on Seatos) when thinking about how she would attempt to escape and compromise the Sion, as well as developing Sabine and Baylan's dynamic more...I just so happen to have a substantial wall of text of ideas about the Sion's voyage sitting around if anyone is interested in that. It just needs some refinement.

ANYWAY, gory details below cut

Sabine makes her escape attempt a day or two before landing on Peridea. At this point, her and Shin are somewhat getting along and she's allowed her lightsaber for sparring. As soon as the opportunity arises she incapacitates Shin long enough to disappear into the walls Ezra style and spends the last 24 hours of the trip hiding deep in the guts of the ship and using the saber parts including the kyber to create a small bomb that can hopefully later be used to disable the Sion. Sacrificing the lightsaber almost breaks her heart again, and she is 100% banking on finding Ezra to pull this off, bc there's no way to detonate it without someone using the Force.

Once they've landed, she tries to get off the ship, and might have even succeeded if she didn't have to go back for her armor. She is then confronted by Baylan. He could have killed her using the Force the entire time but they didn't really want her corpse stuck somewhere hard to reach, so waited for her to make a move.

Idk why I got the idea but I've been imagining one of Baylan's Force talents as being really in tune with bodies, kind of like the heartrenders from Grishaverse, though not nearly on their level of percision.

He's been listening to Sabine's heartbeat since the moment she made a break for it. When he finds her, he squeezes her heart through the Force, crippling her. But before he crushes it, he makes the mistake of taking a moment to apologize for this, and the fact that she came this far only to never see Ezra again.

I mentioned before recently that Baylan knew of the Wolfwalkers from ancient stories in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, and is lowkey a fan. He attempts to get on better terms with Sabine during the trip in part because of that. She told him in no uncertain terms to fuck off but he still was hoping to not have to kill her.

In that moment of desperation, Sabine wolfs. It's like the moment in Wolfwalkers when Robyn's father becomes a wolf out of shear desperation to protect her.

Baylan wasn't aware that was a thing that could happen (spontaneous wolfing) and has about half a second to react before Wolfbine nails him. She misses his throat but crushes his shoulder and half his ribs in her jaws, fully intending to kill him. And she would have if WolfShin didn't show up just in time to intervene. And Shin would've ripped Sabine's throat out for reals, if Morgan and her soldiers didn't intervene just in time. Lucky for her they already contacted Thrawn and he wants her alive. Morgan, who watched Baylan leave to go kill her moments before getting Thrawn on the line is like 'Ahh. I'll see what I can do...'

Anyway, Baylan pulls through just barely, and is now a Wolfwalker as well, which he is actually very happy about. He hardly resents Sabine, even if he'll never be able to use that arm properly again and limps badly as a wolf. It is only fair, after all he tried to kill her first. Shin is the one Sabine will have to worry about seeking vengeance. Meanwhile Sabine is beating herself up even more for letting anyone affiliated with the Empire close to Lothal's secrets, though in the end neither Baylan nor Shin give a shit about the Empire.

[castleclerics]

winning, losing, timelines, and tying these ideas into the end of the show.

first this is insane:

both lucas and el waking up to someone telling them the same thing

and lucas coming out of the "WINNERS ONLY" door literally

and lucas and el both being "benchwarmers" then winning big out of nowhere. but then they don't really "win" bc el is still in the "circle" that brenner drew for her and doesn't want her to leave (making el go through a simulation of what didn't actually happen etc.) and lucas walks out and is disappointed to see the party after a dnd match instead of his game.

and then lucas being the imposter with the basketball team by pretending to be one of them the whole time/being the only one dressed differently. like el in nina pretending everything happened the way it did/her in lenora lying about what's happening and pretending everything is fine.

lucas here is similar to el wanting to fit in in the lab/lenora

?????? things to be different ???? now we have that chance ???? oh like el in nina ??? in a timeline that isn't the one the current el we are watching is from???? or like just shifting timelines in general in this show maybe in s5???? also i already was thinking about the possibility that brenner put el in nina to literally change the past/to combine timelines like maybe el doing what she did in nina had an effect on reality itself like i think that would be super interesting.

also "skip tonight" ?? "how much time did you skip?" like

also erica says "i'm 11" and she's a sub for her sibling so it seems like to me they're further hinting that el is a sub in nina ?? el taking place of her "twinner" and experiencing what that version of her experienced in a different timeline .

also have a post here about how el is a twin according to continuity that i think we should talk about more bc it's right there.

and the whole swapping places concept is so huge in this whole show and they include it in so many dynamics.

fred says about the game when he sees the tigers starting to fall behind: "looks like my headline has a shot" (different outcome/timeline) like the nina project failing/ending the way it did possibly changed the timelines in reality or something similar ?

there's also so much talk about moving dates or getting them like

like brenner with his whole arsenal of videotapes with so many dates and he captured "every success and every failure." like there's a specific tape or date of significance. and like i said here, maybe this date or tape didn't exist yet or something ?? and they have to obtain it in a way ?? birthdaygate or something of the sort methinks.......

also brenner telling el how superheroes and monsters are a thing of myth and fairytale and "reality, truth, is rarely so simple. people are not so easily defined."

(even though it's ironic bc it's coming from the true "monster" of the show) but it's true, reality is based somewhere in the middle of those two definitions. just like succeeding or failing at something. sometimes you don't fail or succeed but a secret third thing !!!!! and i'm betting that this:

is also in the same vein. but the interesting part is that hopper with this compromise still gets home late. it's like even a compromise/half win isn't always the case either. sometimes it's completely out of your control what happens.

ANYWAYS so this whole concept of someone "winning" but then not "truly" winning all reminds me of heroes. i'm starting to think the "we could be heroes just for one day" is more about being heroes in one timeline at the end of the show or something, bc obviously an ending where everything is perfect and they defeat the evil is not where it's going.

and how joyce closes the door in the last shot of s3 with the song playing, to me it feels like a representation of the end of the show, but also of the UD because i believe the UD is a once alive timeline that got cut off from continuing. maybe at the end they say goodbye to the place they lived their whole lives (their own timeline) and move on to a different one together where things are different but they're all alive and with e/o. they will be heroes and win but just literally for one day/momentarily because it's not going to be a normal win.

(i also have had this fucked up thought for a while that the UD is what remains after them losing the s5 battle and their battle takes place in the past but also the future somehow idk ignore me lmao)

anyways and the first time heroes plays in 1x03 is when you as a viewer see undeniable evidence that will is alive since joyce talked to him, but then you see his body and get confused. you don't know yet if will is really alive or not, you don't know what timeline you're in.

and joyce knows she just talked to will and saw a monster coming out of the wall, and mike knows he saw will's body. it's like two things are true at once.

"the shame was on the other side" and they cut from mike and karen's hug to jonathan and joyce's hug. i wonder if they'll realize theres nothing they can do to like. stop the parallel universes/outcomes and some characters will end up in different timelines than the others or something like either way the ending is going to be oh so bittersweet.

something that's always always caught my attention though is in 1x03 it cuts to black on the last word "day". but in 3x09 the line ends and then it fades to black from the empty byer's house. almost like slowly unveiling something/letting us see a tiny bit more. pulling back the curtain a teeeny tiny bit.

hopefully this was comprehensible since it's a little all over the place but this is my fav type of stuff to think about about this show heheh

[aquatark]

Can I ask your opinion on Endless Ocean Luminous?

Thanks for the ask anon! :D

I've been trying to get my thoughts on this game together into something that makes sense for a while now, but no better time than the present!

tldr: I seem to like it more than most people! I think this game is alright though it's still very flawed, and I'm still enjoying myself with it, but it seems very clearly rushed and it shows. I'm still very happy that the series has a third entry at all, and am looking forward to the future of the series after this game!

...okay, now I'm gonna aimlessly ramble for wayyy too long lmao (spoilers under the cut if you haven't played)

So, to get a few of my biggest gripes out of the way:

Having completed it... the plot is god awful (esp the ending, iykyk). I think I would have preferred having none at all, but Daniel is cool

The English voice of Sera isn't ideal, though this is an issue other languages (like Japanese, French) don't seem to have

The setting, character development, and lore is much more shallow, uninteresting, and poorly-explored through gameplay than any other diving game Arika has made, which is saying a lot bc EO1's plot was invented pretty close to release, and is known for also not being great

The game doesn't run as smoothly as I'd like. maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I remember a time when devs didn't feel like they could release their game if it crashes as often online as this game does

Some of this game's creature textures are far less polished than they ought to be for a Switch game. Surprisingly, most of the ones ported from Arika's defunct mobile fishing game are fine! It's stuff like the megamouth shark and bigfin reef squid that really stand out to me as sub-par

I'm not as bothered about this as some ppl seem to be, but I would have liked a little more customization freedom, ala EO2's suit cuts

Many creature descriptions are copied verbatim from EO2, which I really dislike. wasted a perfect opportunity to highlight different aspects of creatures, not rehash the same tired and basic facts

Though I love the concept of dynamic time of day underwater, it's executed very poorly imo. Could have done with some more fine-tuning (something that could be said abt... a lot of this game lol)

All of this however only detracts a little from my enjoyment of the game overall.

The fact that something like the story can be shipped in the final product with a dev team that shares many many people with the original EO games (seriously, compare the staff lists on the wiki, I genuinely teared up seeing so many familiar faces again)... suggests to me that this game was subjected to crazy time constraints, though I don't have any concrete proof. Nintendo has been known recently to be anti-crunch with some of its biggest IPs, so maybe an Arika problem? Regardless, this game shouldn't have released in the condition it's in, and definitely should not be the price it is.

I really don't like being too negative though, so I won't be! After all, and this may be controversial coming from an EO blog... but the various flaws of Arika's previous diving games made this not be the biggest surprise to me. I mean, I 100%ed EO1, including collecting every salvage and getting all gear/hairstyles! Do you have any idea how hellish that is? I eat slop for breakfast!!

I've still been playing a lot of this game with my dear friend MDB (us pictured below), and there are a lot of things I like about it!

I will, for example, drool all over this game's sound design till the day my son "dies" in a tragic submarine accident. Ayako Saso (main talent behind Everblue 1/2, EO1/2, and Luminous' original compositions and sound in general) knocked it out of the park as usual, with the menu sfx feeling really Everblue reminiscent in a way I adore, and the music easily being some of the best in the series. I know many fans are disappointed by there being no vocal tracks, but honestly? While I like the fact EO1 and 2 had them, they simply wouldn't have fit in this game. So I'm chill about it.

I think the random generation and focus on multiplayer are fun and fresh for the series! I have EO1 and 2 when I want polished singleplayer gameplay, and this game when I feel like something else. EO1 and 2's multiplayer objectively sucked, so it's a really interesting angle to take. The gameplay loop is entertaining enough for me - I like salvaging, scanning creatures, collecting tags, and hunting orbs, both in solo and shared dives. The framework is solid, but could use a little more meat.

The fact they were finally able to realize the "Ancient Sea" concept that had been thrown around during development since EO1 is lovely. Despite having been a dinosaur kid, I'm not really knowledgeable on any of the species depicted in-game, so their designs don't bother me... I'm just a sucker for human ruins overrun by prehistoric life!

Though there are some categories of sea creature that I'm a little sad not to see anymore, like seadragons, sea slugs, and many marine mammals... I don't mind this game's different roster. I like the creature variety, because imo, it would have been a little boring and predictable to have the roster just be every creature that was previously in EO, plus some new ones. This system avoids the kind of problem Pokémon games are currently having, where they have so many critters that they can't possibly put them all in one game, but fans are upset not to have the entire dex ported, y'know? It's like playing EO for the first time again!

I've seen several people theorize that the series was "intentionally sabotaged with a bad new game, so that they have an excuse not to make any more EO games", and... I mean... all I'll say about that is that there's no use killing something that's already dead lol. There'd been no games for over a decade, and very little demand for one - why would a game company looking to make money put so much effort and money into marketing, development, pre-order bonuses, and My Nintendo rewards in order to create hype for a game that's bad on purpose... when they could have kept the series dead for free? Nintendo clearly believe the concept of diving games has legs (or fins ig), with a staff team who love the ocean and dive irl, and are trying new things to see if it sticks better than the previous four games they've made, which collectively sold worse than Luminous did.

It may not all be great, or even good, but experimentation and trying unconventional things is what made EO such a special series in the first place baybee! We just remember the parts of it we liked, and forget the really dumb stuff. The EO team has never been perfect, and I can see their smudgy fingerprints all over this game... I mean, these are the same devs who didn't notice a crash so bad it had their game recalled, and repeatedly yoinked copyrighted material without permission to use in their games... but that's a long post for another day lol.

Soooo yeah! Those are some of my thoughts! Feel free to express your own thoughts on the game here - I'd be curious what other people think, and I'd be more than happy to answer more asks on specific elements of the game, or just getting me talkin' about this game, or any other game in the series for that matter! Any EO questions at all, ask away~!

Thanks for reading, hehe! >( ')

[nono-uwu]

hi this is kind of random but. ive seen a few posts so far from people in the fandom expressing they don't like/aren't interested in mikayuu anymore and i was curious if you knew why? it's been like a long time since i was into ons (like 2018? 😭) so im pretty out of the loop and was wondering if smth crazy happened ig lol 😭

I'm more of a recent addition to the fandom (watched/read ons for the 1st time in 2021 lol) but here's what I observed I think (not sure if you've read the manga but just in case huge spoiler warning)(also I may or may not be biased against them since my favs are the vampires and shinoa squad without mikayuu lol):

- there is just too much of them. Obviously they're the main characters but ons always had a colorful cast of characters and a lot of them (mainly Shinoa squad tbh) were sidelined during the shibuya arc and basically turned into cardboard cutouts that shout "Yuu!" every few chapters. Though they did get their personalities back in ch 133, it took way too long imo.

- Mikayuu barley changed as people and their relationship stayed basically the same. Once they reunited and Mika 'joined' Shinoa squad their relationship dynamic could be boiled down to: Yuu is kinda stupid and wants to do smth bc fAmLIy or whatever, Mika disagrees, Yuu does the equivalent of puppy dog eyes, Mika begrudgingly agrees, Yuu gets what he wants with minimal consequenz. After a while it's just not interesting to have the main character constantly winning. Heck, Mika's 'death' and demon transformation barley did anything in the long run.

Like at one point, it got brought up that Mika is losing his emotions for everything except Yuu, which was a pretty interesting idea and could have brought conflict into their realtionship. But a few weeks later (in-story, took a few years irl lol) Mika gets turned into a demon, regains his emotions and the former conflict is left in the dust.

Now with Mika as a demon, he lost all of his agency. He is literally stuck to Yuu and the most he can do against him is refuse to give him power but Yuu can just force it out of him so. Pretty fucked.

After they split off from the main group post Shibuya arc, they once again have an inkling of a conflict.

For context, they split off bc Yuu had to either choose between resurrecting humanity or only Mika (at least that's how Guren phrased it). Yuu's gayass chose Mika and at first they had an argument bc Mika doesn't value his life and would rather have everyone revived at his expense. Yuu goes 'nuh-uh' and makes a run for it, devoures Asuramaru/Ashera in the process.

Once they've run off, Mika confornts Yuu and shouts at him, saying he should have a happy life with his human family instead of Mika. Yuu once again goes "nuh-uh" and decides to revive all of humanity, Mika included.

- They restate their goal, plans and whatnot too much. Ons is a monthly manga with ~35 pages per chapter. In Mikayuu centric chapters, almost half (if not all) are wasted on restating the goals they've stated LAST FUCKING CHAPTER. Maybe Kagami doesn't trust the readers memory but man, you didn't do this before, did you? Why now all of a sudden? There's plenty of plot to get through, we can reread old chapters if we forget something.

There's also way too much goofing around. Obviously down-time is needed in any action packed series but we've gotten so much random cut-ins of Yuu needing food in what are supposed to be tense moments. Also we do not need an entire chapter of them hunting, eating and talking about their plans and others plans.

-

This is all I remembered off the top of my head, anyone feel free to add more

[myloveforhergoeson]

Hiya! 😊 You're now a writer for the show. What three episode storylines are you gonna write? (In other words, what are you gonna make the boys do?)

ohm y god i literally have so many episode ideas but i'll try not to repeat any of the ones i've made posts about (except my first bullet bc im so passionate about it) so i'll give you my big list. most if not all will likely be something i DO end up writing about in my own story because ehehe i love making them do things

ones i think i've mentioned before:

a returning to minnesota chapter!! not for anything but nostalgia, getting to see the guy's favorite places, seeing their friends and families, bringing them back to realize how far they'd come. not so shy spon for my fic but i wrote a chapter like this last month and it's probably one of my favorite things i've written to date. it let me explore some of the boys' past, family dynamics, a little bit about Katie and agh i can't believe btr didn't capitalize on that at least once. ik its expensive to fund sets and hire new actors but idk i imagine it like an hour special where they could afford to shell out a bit more. idc when it happens, could be after they sign their record contract or the last episode or whatever :)

sketch comedy episode, something akin to saturday night live or so random

graduation! like you and i talked about lol i think it would be sweet

get me in the writers room stat:

originally i'd planned a "home alone lost in new york" like chapter for my story around thanksgiving where the boys are going to perform at the parade in town but they end up having their own adventure around the city beforehand. boyish antics, screaming gustavo, beautiful scenes, the works. i was just in too much of a slump to actually put it to paper :)

more tour-focused chapters (again, spon for my own fic lol) the episode in Canada was cute and the one on the bus was fun but idk there's just so many elements toward touring that i think they could've capitalized on; homesickness (for CA or MN), hardship of a go go go schedule, or fun things like being able to travel with your best friends and not ending up on the world's most wanted list lol. i know they tried really hard with this one so i don't blame them too much but my vision is just different and that's okay!

crossovers! while i'm so very happy dan schnider didn't have either of his disgusting hands in big time rush, i do remember watching the icarly/victorious crossover for the first time and wishing big time rush were there. it takes place in LA! the victorious kids are singers! carly, sam, and Freddie are pop culture experts! it would've worked really well :) so i'm writing that as a chapter for my fic LMAO

generally either an episode focusing in on or more scenes including james and lucy since the writers wanted them to be together so bad. inherently there's nothing wrong with them being together, but i do not think the relationship was given enough time to develop. give me lucy discovering her feelings for him, give me james not being creepy and obsessive about her; something more needed to be done on both of their parts to make me believe in it

additionally on that note more with jo/kendall and logan/camille; i love them both but they also had little development, just more than james/lucy. maybe they give carlos a gf (not alexa IMO, sorry. that got into weird territory for me idk why they made him be with a "real" person when he isn't other than they were already together irl) earlier and they can all have like conversations about their gfs and how much they love being together idk

and another generally, there were many songs btr put out that i love so much and feel like deserved their own episodes for hehe. i know not all of them have storylines easily transposed but i think they used confetti falling like four different times in the last season when any other love song from their third album could have been placed instead

and also another generally, and i know the early 2000s would've never allowed this for children's television but they should have and i'm the writer now!!!, but more representation all around. maybe some episodes about cultural heritage that didn't make stereotypes the main focus, canon LGBTQIA+ characters, holidays that aren't christmas, aspects like that where all kids can see themselves represented... LA is such a huge melting pot, it's not all white kids trying to make their dreams come true!

good god that was long SORRY AKJBSKJGBAB i have a lot to say and there's a lot im trying to incorporate into my story to add in what i think enhances the already present storyline. that's what's so beautiful about fandom, i love that we can have conversations like this :)

but what about you? anything you'd like to add in? i'd love to know <3 thank you for the question!

ask me a question! save my life!

[wolfsbanesparks]

Bouncing in here like a madman again

Do you think Captain Marvel (seperate from Billy) considers the Wizard SHAZAM as their father as a sort of creator and creation relationship? Giving room for Billy and grandpa wizard relationship kinda?

I've had a lot of sugar today, so I'm not sure how that sounds, but I kept thinking about your fic, "Split", and how if things took a different turn and Captain Marvel revealed he existed because of the Wizard, would the JL come to the assumption that the wizard was his father/Billy's grandfather?

Or if things took an angstier turn, if Captain Marvel let slip accidentally that he didn't believe that the death of Billy's mother (and actual father) was a genuine accident/had suspicions about it, how would they react? Would they suspect the wizard bc of all the suspicions they're having? Also, I'm not sure if I remember, but did the JL get to have a conversation with the wizard?

Kinda factors into that one ask I sent before, where the gods killed the parents of the champions of magic to challenge and prepare them without them knowing, which might include the wizard, too. (Sorry, I re watched the Guardians of the Galaxy 2 recently and it's been doing numbers on my little mind)

In all seriousness you could write an AU for your fics and we'd eat it all up and ask for seconds because your writing creates a universe of wonder for us.

That was a lot, wow :0

Okay first of all you are so sweet! It's driving me crazy (in a good way) that I can discuss AUs of my fics!

I think that the Wizard already plays a sort of wise grandfather figure to Billy (in my preferred version of him) regardless of Captain Marvel's feelings towards the Wizard.

But I think it's totally logical for Captain Marvel to think of the Wizard as a creator figure, especially in his current incarnation since it was just Shazam who made him instead of a full Wizard's Council. There's respect between them, but Marvel also wants to make Shazam proud, wants to prove he's a good Champion. And I think that can translate to a father-son type dynamic even if it's a lot more complicated than that.

If we're talking Split in particular, the JL "met" the Wizard but Shazam didn't bother talking to any of them so their many confusions and suspicions didn't get brought up to him directly.

But if they had reason to believe Shazam was Marvel’s father, Flash in particular would have been having a freak out because the Wizard would have gone from possibly sketchy mentor to controlling and possibly abusive father/grandfather. He might have even had more people on his side if that was the case (especially if we add in the idea that the Batsons were killed as some kind of test of Billy’s pure heart).

There would still be those who insist that they shouldn't get in the middle of their complicated and potentially messy family situation. But there would also be those who wonder if Marvel had a choice in becoming a hero if his father was the one who imbued him with his powers because it was his "destiny". I can definitely picture Marvel bluescreening if someone asked him if he'd had a choice in being a hero (he didn't, and Billy didn't either) or if he'd ever wanted something else for himself (it had never occurred to him that he could be anything else because he was created to fight evil). His answer would definitely send up some red flags to whoever he's talking to.

There are so many cool ways having people think Shazam is Marvel’s father could play out and it would be so fun to explore that.

And since you mentioned it, while I don’t currently have plans to write an AU of my fics, I AM completely open to other people writing AUs of my fics if they are inspired enough to do it! So long as you credit me as the original author/check the Inspired By box when you post, I encourage you to go for it!

[broodwolf221]

Wondered if you wanted to rant a bit about Merrill x Solas? Honestly never thought of the pairing before and I would like to hear your thoughts if you wanted? You'd don't think they'd argue?

oh! hi anon! yes i would love to rant about these two :')

it's a relatively new idea for me, too, and i do think they'd argue at first - solas is soooo condescending about the dalish and that would really bother merrill. but at the same time, she's a bit of a pariah within clan sabrae and would imo understand better the mixed feelings ppl could have about the dalish. not to say she'd roll over and accept his insults, but she'd consider his pov more than others might before arguing it, and i think that consideration would throw him off his stride a bit

and nicely, her use of blood magic would be a total non-issue, which i think would be kinda an amazing experience for her? to have another mage, another elf, even a non-dalish, accept her type of magic without blinking an eye or saying she's doomed to be possessed or whatever would be comforting. she doesn't need anyone's approval and has gone for a long time without it, but to get it, at least on that front? yeah, it'd be a pleasant surprise

and solas' disdain for the dalish tapers off when he realizes a dalish inky is willing to listen to his pov. he still holds them in some contempt but he's no longer as hostile about it, so i think if they could get past that initial rocky stage, and i imagine they could, then they'd find a lot to be interested in with each other.

merrill is extraordinarily powerful. within canon her immense skill is kinda undermined by the other character's perception of her, including the perception of her own keeper, but the truth is that merrill restored a blighted eluvian from a single shard. if solas learned about that? he'd be hella impressed and would question her all about it, but in an interested, engaged way rather than a condescending one. and i think she'd open up a lot when she realizes she can have a Mage Friend who is non-judgmental about her methods

imo a relationship btwn them would be something she pursues, bc he's still hung up on everything, same as he is with a dalish inky. and i honestly don't even think merrill would be upset that he's fen'harel? upset that he didn't tell her, yes, but not upset that he's the trickster/deceiver/etc. - she's very dalish, but like i said earlier, she's also somewhat removed from the dalish, a pariah amongst her own people who's had to forge her own path in many ways. and living among the city elves for so long would have broadened her perspectives on what it meant to be an elf. she wouldn't have painted him as a villain immediately or rejected him out of hand, but she would press him for the truth, bc just like him she wants to learn everything

nerds in love, frankly, is their dynamic in my head :')

[raevenlywrites]

Raev's Fic Masterlist

Since tumblr can be a little allergic to links, I thought I'd take a second to ramble about all the various little (and not so little) fics I have up on Ao3

Den of Shadows

Jaguar's Midnight: Currently a single chapter of me exploring ideas of a Midnight that is more blatantly BDSM and less human trafficking. Maybe more to come? Who knows

Unpublished Turquoise thing about her time with Daryl (pester me about if it you're interested)

Hawksong/Kiesha'ra

Ties that Bind (ongoing, 30 chps) A queer, polyamorous, Romeo and Juliet with shapeshifters set on a backdrop of the first tentative peace in a thousand year war. Canon's hotter cousin. Not currently explicit but plans to potentially get there

Frayed Knots (ongoing, 20 chps) The place where all the scenes I thought would go in TTB but didn't wind up. Some one offs, some deleted scenes. A mixed bag of spicy adult stuff and just fun character exploration. Iirc spicy chapters are marked as such

Dasi High (abandoned, 4 chps) Highschool AU of Maeve and Kiesha and Co, if their story was on the CW

Forbidden Skies (hiatus, 2 chps) Crossover with Forbidden Game. Julian is a falcon and Jenny and co are avians and serpiente. Basically FB's chars and plot cosplaying as K'r

Forbidden Game

Forbidden Skies, see above

Holy Fire (one off) A sort of song fic where Zach thinks way too hard about Jenny and tries to become a magician

Hearts Desires (ongoing, 2 chps) Still playing with Zach the magician, this one is meant to be a fairly short exploration of magic/runes, Zach's obsession with Jenny, his inability to readjust after the game, and coming out to himself. And tree sex. It's a weird one.

Unpublished pre-canon Jenny thing where she's kind of aware of something (Julian) watching her at night (spicy, pester me about it if you're interested)

Longer descriptions under the cut

Ties that Bind: A queer, polyamorous, Romeo and Juliet with shapeshifters set on a backdrop of the first tentative peace in a thousand year war. Anticipated f/f, m/m, and many other shapes of m/f/m and/or f/m/f, potentially kinky if I ever get it there. Also potentially ace/qpr stuff if I can ever figure out my MC and what is true in this fic vs what belongs in side projects. Canon's hotter cousin with more magic, more setting development, A LOT more romance, and a distant relation to the original in the way that Vaporeon resembles Eevee. It wants to still fit in canon's clothes but really needs to admit its grown too big for that.

This is the big one. I realized revisiting my favorite childhood series that the big epic romance I always remembered was mostly in my head. So I decided to get it out of my head and onto paper. That is... not what happened XD It follows the basic Romeo/Julietness of Hawksong, but I decided to really explore the world and characters and so made a lot of executive decisions bc there actually isn't that much about the world/characters in the original. It's diverged wildly, spiraled out of control into a 30+ chapters novel (lets be honest) and isn't ending any time soon. It's the one I most want to work on so send me asks and encouragement about it so I can get working on it again :P

Basically, Zane and Danica are still deeply dedicated to peace. They think the idea of getting married to achieve it is ridiculous, but they're desperate enough to keep it on the back burner. Dani gets to know Zane (and Adelina) as friends. She explores her relationship with Rei. She struggles with bureaucracy and a well-meaning mother that doesn't always support her in the way she needs. Also there's a bit more magic, a lot more setting, and a bunch of characters I kinda made up to help flesh things out (hello Vasili's made up cousin). Current plans include finishing it with some sort of marriage, but I haven't decided if Zanica is endgame or not (the dynamic currently in the lead in my head is Dani takes Adelina as her Alistair, Zane takes Rei as his Nag, and the four of them all kinda co-rule. We'll see. Everyone is going to kiss everyone else before its done that's for sure)

Frayed Knots (ongoing, 20 chps) The place where all the scenes I thought would go in TTB but didn't wind up. Some one offs, some deleted scenes. A mixed bag of spicy adult stuff and just fun character exploration. Iirc spicy chapters are marked as such Current offerings include: abandoned TTB starts, some BDSM scenes with Z/D/R/A, Dani getting herself off and thinking too hard, an alternative Snakecharm opening from Kel's POV, some Oliza stuff, some Marus/Urban stuff, and some Dasi High stuff. Really, Frayed Knots is a great place to start if you wanna read TTB but are kind of intimidated by its scope. Most FK entries are 1-3 chapters. A sampler platter of my nonsense basically :P

Dasi High (abandoned, 4 chps) Kiesha and Co Highschool AU, basically what if the Dasi was a show on the CW. A fun idea, but not actually my cup of tea. Would probably be more fun to ramble about in discord than actually write

Forbidden Skies (hiatus, 2 chps) Crossover with Forbidden Game. Julian is a falcon and Jenny and co are avians and serpiente. Basically FB's chars and plot cosplaying as K'r. I really loved the idea, but I don't know if it grabbed me enough to make want to wrestle it into submission like I do TTB. With TTB, I don't know the story yet, so I can trick myself into working on it bc I wanna know what happens. With FS, I know what my intended plot will be, so this one would need a lot of outside hype to get me working on it again. But I think it could be really really cool if I did. If this crossover sounds like your cup of tea, pester me for more

Forbidden Game

Forbidden Skies, see above

Holy Fire (one off, post canon what if) A sort of song fic where Zach thinks way too hard about Jenny and tries to become a magician. I have these ideas about Jenny half light faerie, hence Julians obsession with her. In this fic, Zach is trying to learn magic to protect Julian so FB doesn't happen again. He winds up getting the attention of a light faerie, who tasks him with being Jenny's knight until they're ready to come bring her home. Basically, the song Holy Fire by Seeming wouldn't leave me alone one day and this fell out.

Hearts Desires (ongoing, 2 chps, post canon what if) Still playing with Zach the magician, this one is meant to be a fairly short exploration of magic/runes, Zach's obsession with Jenny, his inability to readjust after the game, and coming out to himself. And tree sex. It's a weird one. Basically, I woke up one morning with the ending of it circling around in my head, wrote that, and am now trying to build up the beginning so the ending has anything to jump off of for impact.

Unpublished pre-canon Jenny thing where she's kind of aware of something (Julian) watching her at night (spicy, pester me about it if you're interested) This one I do have plans to publish, I just need to get it (and myself) ready to show to the world. It asks the question "What if Jenny kinda like the idea of feeling watched all the time and deliberately got off for her imagined (or so she thinks) Shadowman?"

[inchidentally]

Um, these 60 seconds of recent content between Lando and Oscar made me realize one thing, are these two really only knowing each other for a year or their whole lives?

the audience does not know !!!

like there's a very specific 'united front' thing I can see in a lot of partnerships and it's founded on different things but ultimately manifests in a feeling of cohesion between the drivers. (and I am so sorry bc I saw in passing someone else made a similar post to this but I cannot remember who so lmk bc I don't want to be ripping off their idea !! I have my own separate feelings about it so it's not a copy but still I wish I could have kept that on my dash long enough to rb)

like most teammates fall in the neutral category of professional politeness and friendliness but also the need to push for their own advantage wherever possible. totally fine and normal. also allows for a few fireworks occasionally which is just as good for fan engagement - sometimes more - than if the drivers were always cool w each other.

aberrations like Senna and Prost, brocedes, and sebmark are not to be included - way too unique. could even throw Esteban and Pierre in there.

you've got consummate professionals Lewis and George who are both careful about cultivating their own separate images and who hold a baseline of genuine respect for each other - but part of that respect being that they both know they'll look out for themselves first. so they're very much similar and equals even in operating very independently. ultimately they want the mess to get cleaned up and to shake hands and do business as usual. I could see them genuinely having to hash out something truly ugly and shake hands and move onto their own lives no problem. which like, they clearly have lol.

then there's a situation like Alex and Logan where the dynamic is so incredibly imbalanced BUT you have someone as humanly decent and warm as Alex (even if he maybe wishes he were less so for competitive reasons) and Logan has already become very skilled at dealing with being an outsider/almost unwanted :( and it's clear that they both see how hard-working they both are and what a massive thankless task they have in trying to just achieve points - undetermined if they're mostly friendly out of trauma bonding or will remain friends after being separated but there's absolute friendliness and respect.

then there's The Charisma Guys of Daniel and Carlos and now Lando (who mooched a lot of his F1 charisma off of Carlos and then Daniel). Daniel and Carlos replicate an almost identical dynamic with all of their teammates and it's predicated on what most drivers are already well versed in, which is: playing gay for fangirls, bromance hugging/camaraderie/ribbing for sports media and fans, and taking care of their own brand and career separately from their teammate. it's a powerful tool to have especially for leveraging the popularity of whatever bromance they're in towards their own image without having to lose power over their own image. individual sponsorships being a driver's second goal after winning races and WDCs also makes this an exceptionally good skill to have. it only starts to break down when the personal fortunes of one of the drivers start to hit hard times (current example being obvious).

the Carlos and Charles dynamic absolutely pulls a lot from the charisma/bromance stuff but the huge difference is that Ferrari would - like any F1 team - not give a shit if they didn't get along and just hitched on a bland smile for the cameras. Ferrari aren't remotely behind C2 being what it is, that's all Charles and Carlos. don't get me wrong Ferrari social media teams are MORE than happy to jump on! and sure, the challenges and content are a fun bonus thing to sponsors but three things here: one is that Ferrari IS the brand and they're a top 3 team like they're not grasping for sponsors asflgaslf. two is that as many partnerships have shown, you really don't need to do that much to satisfy the brief. and third, sponsors are like 99.999999% interested in the team's standings and the drivers' individual popularity with partnership popularity coming dead bottom - the bromances are only worth it if they're engagement darlings like carlando. and charlos doesn't do anywhere near those numbers or that widespread corporate social media appeal. you gotta do major impact with crazed fans for it to at all influence a brand's decision where to put their money. so all of the pop off the screen fun and genuine enjoyment we see Carlos and Charles have is fully legit. when they're being tongue-in-cheek levels of cutesy they literally say so. 2025 onward will see how much of a friendship there actually is, but as far as them being very happy with the partnership and collaborating exceptionally well within it, they're far more rock solid and natural at it than most. and the fact that they're if anything even tighter when there's zero incentive for it ?? and when their families and fanbases and their team principal and garages are constantly feuding ?? like it says everything about how much they respect each other and actually feel affection for each other to remain such a united front and so happy and affectionate. nobody else benefited from Carlos asking his team to tell Charles' team to come celebrate his win with him. nobody else in Ferrari or on the grid made bank off of about Charles rushing to congratulate Carlos while he was still in the car. (especially not when carlando did a quick hug and it got brands and official accounts posting tiktok ship edits to the predictable delight of thousands of fangirls. and for them all to cough cough conveniently ignore the embrace with his gf to push the image further.) there is no PR benefit behind C2 that would justify them hitching on such a dramatic facade - and if anything the people around them would prefer they kept separate so that they could celebrate one without the other. whatever their relationship is after this there will always be that massive respect IN SPITE of what the world around them wants.

but Lando and Oscar are such a major aberration not just in them both being so incredibly young and arriving into F1 so hot and already being so close in ability, but their specific 'history' and personalities. they were already such an easy fit together that it surpassed the professional need for a bromance buffer - and at the same time their bond being partly on how naturally private and shy they are made them poorly suited for a PR machine.

Oscar had already said - and a lot of fans already knew - that there were several friends in common and that the shifts in careers and being separated professionally by more years than their ages is the only thing that meant they'd never crossed paths before privately. as K said back when Oscar originally opened that TikTok acc it was so long ago that he followed Max F but that Lando didn't even have an one yet.

but also as many people close to Lando have said (good example that was posted recently) and that we can often still see in streamer Lando - Lando is very much like Oscar as a person at his core. pretty much all of the 'famous person' stuff we saw him become happened after 2019 and directly because of latching onto the social lives of guys like Carlos, Daniel and Martin. he's always referred to as extremely shy and he's said before he likes for others to lead. but his comfort place is still either hanging out in private with close friends only or to get on stream and laugh with his friends. Lando himself said that he considers Oscar to be very similar to him as a person outside of F1 and for all that in some ways that seems surprising, when you look at who Lando is when he's not in Professional Mode or Party Friends Mode he genuinely really fits in with someone quiet like Oscar who loves spending hours gaming w his friends and not being in public. I don't know enough about Martin Garrix as a person but I rly honestly see that with him as well. yes there's the Party Friend aspect but for them to travel solo for two entire winter breaks in a row ?? clearly Martin is a peaceful, quiet guy on Lando's level <3

and ofc I go onnnnn and fucking on about how while we all hate it bc it means we don't get as much content, the fact is that Lando and Oscar are the type of friendship/partnership where it's quiet and private and not something that translates to a bromance on camera. it's never going to be strategic.

so the fact that they have this "twinning" thing isn't that they are identical or that they even look all that similar, it's down to actually slotting in really well with each other as people! as always who knows how deep these friendships actually go but the whole mind-reading and synchronization and total lack of drama between them as drivers comes from genuinely being similar people and liking each other - that's what we're all picking up on when we watch them together.

the fact that they honestly find it awkward as hell when the media try to get them to "package" their friendship in bromancey soundbites or when they look at the camera a bit like an intruder that's making them dance their friendship around for media, like. that's so incredibly relatable for how any of us would feel with one of our actual friends having to do all that. having a camera aimed at us and some stranger being like "so you two get on really well huh?" and practically leaning in for an expected answer ???? it would be so stupid and weird and the whole way Lando and Oscar work together in unison to dispel how weird that is is so natural !!

idk it's like there's different things to take from different partnerships and literally all of us are suckers for a fun bromance and great professional chemistry. but I think this whole universal 'twins' thing that everyone sees in Lando and Oscar is genuinely two guys who are similar in all the fundamental ways and who actually slot together in ways where they naturally just agree on everything and therefore can predict a lot of what the other person is thinking if that makes sense ??? like yes Lando has Single Guy Party Times and professional motivations where Oscar does not but for a friendship and partnership to work, those are the two least relevant things to need to be similar about y'know ??

[muzzleroars]

Fallen Angel brothers!!! God I bet their designs would all look amazing! They are all in this together willing to toughen out even the worst punishments! I wonder if Raphael would stay super positive, or if Uriel would find different ways to read. Maybe Gabriel and Uriel could stay together sometimes since they are now opposites.

(see this!)

ouuuughhh honestly i do want to try to design them at some point, bc i have a rough idea what they would all look like now. i did talk a little bit about their dynamics here, but i really love the potential of them reuniting as a family....except they've all fallen. like they do need to rely on each other and they obviously have that foundation from the eons they spent as a cohesive unit, in fact it's natural for them...but they've basically been separated now for centuries and they all have the stress of being fallen to contend with. raphael IS absolutely trying to stay positive, but his fatigue can leave him too exhausted to mediate constantly and, being fallen, he also discovers he's got his limits (i have to imagine the first time raphael yells is VERY effective at defusing the situation though lol) i think they all sort of realize that they're each suffering and dealing with constant punishment now, so, fittingly, they need grace more than ever. gabriel's freezing, uriel's on fire, raphael's sick, and michael's basically a vampire. if they could be convinced to get along (ie, if MICHAEL can get along), i actually think they'd begin to care for each other in new ways.

the thing is, despite being a unit, the archangels are all rather independent in how they operate - uriel would alert them of trouble, gabriel would fight the threat, michael would bind it, and raphael would heal the damage afterward. and in battle, they all know their exact positions - uriel and raphael in the back for magic assault and restoration respectively, while gabriel and michael hold the frontline with their graceful close combat. but now, in hell...i think they need more direct support from one another. gabriel and uriel definitely learn very quickly that if they both need some relief, they can stick close together and mitigate some of their respective punishment (uriel can READ he can read!!!! i like the idea too that gabriel actually figures out how to freeze books to help them stand up to uriel's temperatures) raphael absolutely gets in the habit of carrying blood with him in case michael needs some (he's at first offended by the idea of needing to be cared for, but he's pretty grateful the first time it comes in handy), and i just KNOW they all want to be sure raphael gets his rest - he feels guilty for slowing them down so often, but they all assure him they need the rest just as much. and michael absolutely attempts to take on way too much once he fully accepts their situation, trying to at least be a perfect big brother but also because, in a way, he feels his punishment is the easiest to deal with. it's hard to get him to slow down because of it, but i think raphael figures out fairly early on that he can fake sick and michael will stick by him to keep him safe (TRULY a demon of fraud!!!!)

SO YEA....i really love them coming together as a family in new ways, ways they never had to when so much else was taken care of for them. they have to carve their own path now and honestly, in some capacity, they can actually be much closer than even god made them to be. michael would PREFER if that family didn't now include v1, but maybe he can eventually reach a grudging acceptance of it when he sees how happy it makes gabriel. it maybe not be the in-law any of them wanted, but somehow it, unfortunately, seems to suit them.

[wrongcaitlyn]

do you have any favorite scenes that didn’t make it into talk ur talk?!?

okay so i took a long time to think about this bc GOD its such a good question but now that i rlly look back at talk ur talk - i realize that i was incredibly self indulgent with writing scenes and what sort of stuff i was including!! i mean, obviously the fic idea as a whole was very self indulgent, but i think that whenever i had an idea for a scene, it ended up in talk ur talk in some way

however, there are definitely some things that i cut out simply because they weren't in character/i didn't think it would be fitting, which sometimes you just have to do! the characters were progressing, and they didn't fit into this cookie cutter mold of a classic celebrity, so obviously i wasn't able to write some of the things i would've liked, aka:

interviews. i would've LOVED to write more interview scenes with nico. but i also knew that he, as a character, very adamantly was not a fan of them, and so obviously i couldn't just make him go back on his word and go off to do a bunch of interviews

more scenes in public/with fans, getting recognized and what not. honestly this may have just come from my own fear of oc's, bc everytime i included other characters that were not from the main cast, i got *terrified* like idk i just try to stay away from them? not like they can't be written well, they absolutely can, i've read fics with some of the most incredible oc's. i am just scared of writing them on my own, so i tended to stay away from the fan interaction thing even though i definitely would've liked to do that more

red carpets/award shows!! i didn't include a lot of these bc i felt like it'd get really repetitive after the first time and i didn't want to clutter up the fic with a bunch of, essentially, the same scenes. he walks down a red carpet. cameras are flashing. he answers some questions. that's pretty much it

OKAY OKAY WAIT THIS IS SOMETHING THAT TECHNICALLY it's not that it didn't *make it* into talk ur talk, but just several ideas that i had that i knew immediately wouldn't ever be in the fic, but like, aghsljdf my heart - him interacting with irl celebs. i KNOW i don't write that, i don't plan on writing that, i don't like writing with real people involved, BUT

him being a special guest on the rep tour

him talking with lorde at the grammys

him just meeting a bunch of other celebs like ugh ik i've thought abt it a lot and it'll never actually show up in the fic but i do like to imagine it!!

something i also didn't include in greatest of luxuries was will listening to welcome to new york. nonstop. like all the time. it's just always there he's always listening to it if i ever mention him listening to a song and not saying a specific song it's welcome to new york bc ofc it is.

(i am currently listening to welcome to new york)

aside from all that, i think when looking back at all of it, the one thing i regret is that i didn't write more school scenes. like. there were so many opportunities, more octavian, more angst, more nico being famous, like i feel like famous kid in a school with the asshole that is octavian would be such a cool dynamic and i kinda regret not writing it more! i think i may, one day, go back and write a few extra scenes of talk ur talk into a few one-shots or something (probably after i finish greatest of luxuries and just get nostalgic over talk ur talk lmfao) but i think that's it! thank you for the ask!!

[charmixpower]

What do you think the internal dynamics of the Specialists are? Like towards each other personally and also tactically on the field

Ok, I'm gonna try and make this short or else we're gonna be here all week

My first specialist ask I can't needlessly include Nabu (my love) in XDD

Combat Dynamics

Aka the short part

Sky:

Small hc but Sky at first didn't like swords because he was scared of hurting people but having their son be a RF specialist was good pr so his parents just decided he would be

Sky is good at working with someone, his decision making skills are piss poor (see: the show) but he can follow orders and stick to a plan like no one else so he usually handles the main threat or goes for the objective

His main combat skills is dueling, he's fucking amazing at it

Brandon:

Brandon is the leader because I say so. He's better at commutation and leading in general. He easily keeps track of everyone's skills and helps everyone work together despite their differences

His role in combat is usually crowd control with his broad sword, and his secondary is mostly used to taking people out rather than keeping them at bay

He has the most experience in combat

Timmy:

Handles the more technical aspects but isn't much of a combat planner. He can plan how to make defensives, but cant plan how to fight if that makes sense. Like the s2 planning is how to deal with a incoming threat, but he can't lead an army and call out mid combat commands like Tecna could

Prefers the ship or not being on the ground in the fight in general

Main combat skill is sharp shooting with literally anything you give him

Riven:

Riven is good at real fights. Like ones without rules, where the only objective is to win and not get hurt/survive. Most of his skills aren't legal moves in RF but they are useful as fuck

He's also good at breaking into places but he's shit at sneaking which is hilarious, but he's amazing at distractions

His combat skills lie mostly in fights where he can use his environment to his advantage

Helia:

Helia is actually the one who is surprisingly good at commanding mid battle he just hates it and refuses to do it bc he makes him scared

He's nervous and avoids the spotlight for fear of fucking up but has been so entrenched in this stuff for his whole life that he can pretty easily think about these things. It's like a logic puzzle

Main combat skills are his strings, and witch magic, he's also good at medic stuff which is a hc I picked up from somewhere else I can't remember I am sorry

Preface! Who is closest to who?

Nabu can finally be included!!

I try to keep these all balanced bc I feel bad if someone is everyone's least favorite

It's like a puzzle, I figure out everyone strongest ties and just fill in the spaces from there

Sky:

Brandon, Timmy, Nabu, Helia, Riven

Brandon:

Sky, Riven, Timmy, Nabu, Helia

Timmy:

Helia, Sky, Brandon, Riven, Nabu

Helia:

Timmy, Nabu, Riven, Sky, Brandon

Riven:

Nabu, Brandon, Helia, Timmy, Sky

Nabu:

Riven, Helia, Sky, Brandon, Timmy

Personal relationships

Sky & Brandon

S1: Their relationship is p complicated actually. There's a lot of co dependacy that was sorta forced on them. Sky straight up has never been allowed to function on his own, always having someone assigned to watch him, and Brandon hasn't been allowed to exist without being in charge of something. So they're relationship is complicated. On top of that, Sky recognizes most of what his parents say as bullshit, he's just too scared of them to do anything, but Brandon doesn't! So that's a dimension. They care a lot about each other but their up bringing makes life complicated

S2: Sky and Brandon are starting to separate from each other. They're still best friends but they've both be introduced to the idea of boundaries and are considering implementing them. It's slow going and they both miss having a "roll" and always having someone they can just expect to go along with them. Co-depdant relationships are comforting, and trying to move away is hard, they both end up trying to continue the same co dependacy with their partners, which is not good for either Bloom or Stella because both of them are EXTREMELY SUSPECTABLE to this kind of thing, its a bit of a mess. They both need real identifies outside of the ones assigned to them

S3: THEY HAVE SEPARATED AND ARE HEALING AND HAVE THEIR OWN IDENTIES AND ARE STILL BEST FRIENDS!!! Its still hard for them to see each other normally, and they feel very safe and comfortable when in each other's presence bc of their past dynamic, but they are being separate people. Sky's unfortunate mind control by his parents into the roll they want from him really scared him into trying to be his own person, when previously he was the one who struggled the most with it

Sky & Timmy

S1: They get along. Timmy appreciates that Sky protects him from bullies, and Sky just finds Timmy cool to be around

S2: Now that Timmy has begun growing a back bone he goes "Hey why are you hovering over me? I can handle myself now. Don't you have your own problems to worry about?" Sky has a LOT of anxious energy and he is channeling it into other people and Timmy no longer wants to deal with that

S3: Timmy thinks Sky is a fucking dumbass of the highest caliber (big fucking affectionate) and will help his friends destroy anyone who hurts him. They're on equal footing now, no weird dynamics, all is good

Sky & Riven

S1: Mutually don't like each other. Riven is paranoid and Sky has a tendency to just say shit, so they constantly but heads due to miscommunication

S2: Riven doesn't like him but Sky is intent on mother henning the depressed onion. He lets it slip that he thinks Sky would want him dead, Sky is horrified, and Riven thinks he's just trying to save face

S3: Riven finally believes that Sky's attempts at friendship are genuine, and steps in to comfort him after mind control trauma. They are friends

Sky & Helia

S2: Helia is standoffish but deferres to Sky and doesn't bother questioning enough that Sky never really feels the need to make a thing out of the fact Helia doesn't talk to people...they're very neutral about each other

S3: Helia has come out of his shell as the chaos gremlin he is and tries to fucking drop Erendor no hesitation. They still don't talk much but they consider themselves ride or die

Brandon & Timmy

S1: Protects Timmy from bullies but also tries to gently coax him into being more assertive, something Timmy didn't want him to do at the time. So he's thankful that he's so nice but also is aggressively hiding in his comfort zone

S2: Brandon's lack of coddling is a breath of fresh air, and he's also someone that Timmy can just have a conversation with without huge biases, fuck yeah

S3: They are vibing. Brandon doesn't quite believe Timmy when he says Tecna is out there like Sky does, but he's willing to hear him out. Mutual trust and understanding

Brandon & Riven

S1: Brandon is the only person Riven will listen to and the only person Riven respects. Riven reminds Brandon a lot of himself when he was early into being a servant, first fighting assassins, dealing with awful rich ppl. Brandon goes out of his way to try and include Riven and make him feel comfortable in the group. He recognizes Riven's behavior as a coping mechanism, a bad one that hurts people but one none the less, so has the easiest time interacting with him. Riven feels Brandon is the only person in the school that actually cares

S2: Brandon being the most emotionally intelligent has allowed him to be a VERY important part of Riven's post Darcy support system. Helping Riven keep up with the stuff he learned in therapy, helping him cope better. Fun stuff. Unfortunately for Brando, Riven is officially clear headed enough to point out that Brandon seems to think he's inherently of less value than Sky. Not like as his job, but like as a person. And is now picking at all of Brandon's long held propaganda, which makes Brandon SO fucking uncomfortable. Brandon's personality and mode of functioning has been severely impacted by the conditioning he went through, the fact that he's definitely killed someone, dealing with rich people who do whatever they want. Brandon carefully hides these from normal people, and Riven is like "if they don't like the real you then fuck them. Your trauma isn't your fault."

S3: FRIENDS!! They kick each other when they fall back into bad habits. Riven tries his best to communicate to Brandon when Erendor and Samara go to Valtor, that they've always been awful and that his conditioning was child abuse. He's supporting Brandon now. Riven doesn't understand all the political stuff but he can yell Brandon's own words back at him. Riven positively loses it when he finds out that Brandon has been kidnapped and held in a cell before (I still can't believe that's canon) and Brandon appreciates him

Brandon & Helia

S2: The way Brandon introduces Helia implies he doesn't like him which I think is fucking hilarious. I think they both recognize what the other is like and because their so similar they piss each other off because they keep stepping on each other's toes. I also think it would be really funny if the two smart chill planners had a secret beef going on. Brandon doesn't vibe with Helia knowing so much about him without talking, Helia doesn't vibe with the colder aspects of Brandon's personality that was developed though training. Self Identification though the other /neg

S3: they're far more comfortable with expressing themselves now and have unfortunately for everyone else figured out they have a similar sense of humor. Brandon will fuck with people, and Helia will commit to the bit. God help the fool who draws both of their attention at once

Riven & Helia

S2: Helia sees depressed s2 Riven and goes "we are friends now" and Riven just has to deal with it. Helia was first interested in Riven bc Saladin specifically mentioned him the most often as a victim, so Helia wanted to look out for him and it spiraled out of control form there. They're both willing to go ape shit but in different ways, this is their friendship

S3: Chaotic dumbass friends. Riven aggressively has been bitching at Helia to actually talk to the rest of the specialists, much to the local hermit's distaste, and then found out they were cool. He is now Significantly more unhinged. Woe