#i just think it's a pretty interesting concept

[manorinthewoods]

I feel like I *should* want to write something for this, but having a hard time actually thinking of anything. Xenofiction and eldritch horror are weirdly similar genres, and so this prompt is a natural extension of the thought, but like... I dunno. How would I do this?

The easiest way is to write a standard eldritch horror descent-into-madness situation, which is easier than usual because I, as the author, fully understand what the eldritch horror is but can still obscure it with the prose. However, the faerie spell to turn the mouse into a human and back would presumably leave the mouse too aware of what was going on to make the story truly mysterious and horrifying - especially since, you know, the prompt's right there, I can't have 'and I was a mouse!' as the final line or whatever, it would be pretty obvious what the eldritch secrets were.

So, with full-blown eldritch horror halfway out of the picture, what would I do? How exactly does a lowly mouse struggle with this sort of eldritch knowledge? I don't consider myself particularly good at the sort of character study this would require, especially since the character being studied is that of a mouse, and the study is in the format of mediumform Tumblr writing practice. And also, I've been on a downswing writing-wise, at least over here. So I can't think of much.

But it's still an interesting concept! I like the thought here. I just don't really want to try and execute it.

You were once a normal mouse, but then a Fairy Godmother turned you into a human for a single day to take a maid to a Royal Ball. You reverted back upon your return, but you can't go back to how you were because your psyche is being torn apart by knowledge your animal mind can't comprehend.

[eff-plays]

Long Taash storyline rant, by an enby

Listen. At first I was honestly not that offended/upset with the Taash enby stuff. And having an enby Rook who was able to help them out was honestly pretty fun. It was definitely the first time any video game engaged directly with nonbinary identity like this, and while it's not really 1-1 with my own experiences, I thought that it was. Fine? Ya know? I thought it was a very novel experience to finally have a fellow enby NPC that you could talk to about being nonbinary. It's never happened in any other game I've played.

But then it just ... kept going. And on one hand I get it, because you don't just decide your nonbinary and that's it -- it's a process. But the way it's handled is absolutely insane to me. First of all, how old is Taash supposed to be? They give off whiny teen vibes, and it's very off-putting. This is the character that's meant to represent me? Why are they written like a child?

Second, why are we using modern terms? The word "nonbinary" IRL exists because it is a rejection of the Western gender binary. It's a specific term that isn't universal, and since no previous game bothers to engage with the gender roles of Thedas to begin with, it's absolutely insane to hear these hyperspecific terms used in this made-up fantasy world. Especially since the Qun already has words and concepts for their gender roles -- why didn't BioWare just base this story on those? Why not try to contextualize this in-universe? There are other nonbinary characters in the game, but they just popped up in this previously unequal and often sexist world and are just vibing. With no explanation. Who's out there doing thedosian gender studies? How are they spreading these revolutionary concepts so far and so quickly that the terminology becomes universal?

Side note on that, why does Taash have a little counselling session with the other two trans people that sounds like something they'd do in sex ed class (in Sweden, anyway)? Why is this happening during a magical apocalypse? Hello? Look at this fucking codex entry and try not to cringe

Like. Who is this for? This doesn't make me feel good as a nonbinary person. This makes me feel like a freak, out-of-place, and like I'm a fucking baby that needs my existence validated by some fucking bitchass video game codex entry preaching at me about how totally valid I am. This doesn't feel like respect, or inclusion -- it feels patronizing. It feels corporate, like we're ticking off boxes. "Look everyone, we're using the appropriate terminology! We're so inclusive!" And you know what? The fucking anti-woke chuds are gonna look at this and think THIS is me. That all I care about is having my terminology and identity carelessly stuffed into places just so I can feel good about who I am.

And before tumblrinas get upset, I'm not saying I don't want rep, or that I'm one of the "good ones" who wants video games to be free of "ideology." I am one of the bad ones. Taash should be nonbinary and I should be able to play a nonbinary Rook and I want both of those things to be explicit and accepted in-game! But I want those in a way that respects me and my intelligence, and the world BioWare has created that I've come to love. Who is preventing BioWare from actually, ya know, unwrapping the sexism and misogyny that they started in Origins? Who's stopping them from actually tackling the gender politics of Thedas? Why don't we ACTUALLY sit down and figure out how a society like the Qun might approach somebody not willing or able to conform to their particular rules? Especially the Qun. Like, they had so much potential for something actually interesting here, and instead it's "mom it's not a phase, respect meeeeee!"

Third, and this is my favorite fucking part, they tie Taash's gender to their background, where the Qun represents conformity and Rivain represents freedom. (Which is an entire can of worms in itself that I won't go into here.) I don't actually mind this? I have some extra special boy insight on this part of the quest, because I am also an immigrant who was born in one country and grew up in another. Being nonbinary and being an immigrant, while separate, have both had a similar effect in my life. It's left me feeling like I don't belong anywhere at times, like I'm something different and strange, and at times like I'm a kaleidoscope of expression and freedom, with unique experiences not everyone has. There is an absolutely valid intersection there that could have been explored and would've been very impactful if done right.

But instead we get this

Hello? Oh my god HELLO?

Why is there a BINARY CHOICE in a story where a character embraces being NONBINARY? Why are we now equating Taash's background and cultural belonging to the demands of their mother? You can reject what your parent is forcing you into without completely rejecting your culture! Am I fucking taking crazy pills right now?

The idea that Taash, upon discovering they're nonbinary, has to now say goodbye to being a Qunari? When they weren't even ever shown to care about the Qun in the first place? WHY IS THIS A CHOICE THAT HAS TO BE MADE? WHY ARE THEY ASKING ME WHETHER THEY SHOULD CONTINUE FOLLOWING THIS CREED THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT? (Side note: why did their mother escape from the Qun only to enforce it herself?)

Like? You can't spend a whole fucking subplot deciding you're neither a man nor a woman, but then equate being nonbinary to being Rivaini, and thinking you need to pick that or being Qunari. I'm sorry? I'm sorry? I'm sorry?

Why is there no third choice? Why is there no "Hey you can be both" or "Hey just pick whatever from either culture you want to keep and throw away what you don't?"

I am going insane. The game sits you down and condescends at you for ages about basic contemporary gender theory, but then tries to inexplicably tie that to Taash's cultural background, but then doesn't bother examining how those cultures treat gender at all, and then finally forces us into a binary choice ... for a character whose entire fucking personality is "nonbinary."

The Qun is a misogynistic society. Rivain is a matriarchal society. (This was true for the previous games, at least.) The way these cultures approach gender is vastly different. But instead of examining how such a person would struggle with their background and how that would tie into their gender identity, it's just "Rivain good" and "Qun bad." Pick one or the other. Conform or rebel. Pick one or the other.

And that's the storyline of the nonbinary character.

The reactionary chuds will hate this and blame nonbinary people for how much this fucking sucks. While I can't claim or enjoy it because it's corporate nonsense and fucking sucks. All this does is show people that when games include enby rep, it's hack shit like this, so why include it if it's gonna suck ass, right? This bad writing will just make your game worse, so don't bother!

So yeah. Cool.

Thanks, BioWare. I hope whatever you were trying to prove was worth it.

[yanmuffins]

what if the dimension of batman vs vampires p&f reader and damian accidentally stumbles upon is vampire!reader dimension? oh, and they arrive after vampire!reader is killed and turned into a vampire

the drama if p&f reader looks the exact same as vampire!reader (honestly, i see them as two different people since p&f reader is the same age as Damian and vampire!reader seems to be dick's age), since bruce looks at them and can't quite remember If vampire!reader looked like this when they were little

they all looking at p&f reader and damian being kids and wondering If vampire!reader were like that at this age, but then realizing that they don't have memories of vampire!reader like that

the despair, the anxiety, the guilt they fell

Why didn't they noticed vampire!reader sooner? why didn't they acknowledged them? why why why why

now vampire!reader it's nowhere to be found, and they could be in danger (they are), hell, for all they know they could be dead! (they kinda are)

and p&f reader and damian slowly backing away as they watch these alternate versions of their family descend into madness

let's just hope that version of the batfam finds vampire!reader fast and don't become desperate enough to end up becoming yanderes for p&f reader too

context &. context.

interesting!!!

i think vampire! reader and p&f! reader are basically just different versions of the same person. p&f! reader is gender neutral so they could be whatever gender you want them to be, while vampire! reader is female. also, you are correct, vampire! reader is older. while p&f! reader is around a year older than damian and came to the manor after him (being around 10 when they came to the manor and 14 in the fic), vampire! reader is around 21-years-old, closer to jason in age, and came to the manor somwhere between dick leaving for the teen titans and bruce adopting jason.

so, yes, p&f! reader is not only younger, but was the last one to arrive at the manor in their reality, and they had a pretty good, healthy childhood before that. not to mention bruce already had damian, so the concept of a biological child wasn't entirely alien to him, and they already had their hands full with him. the familial bonds ate tight-knit, lives are too busy, bruce already has to deal with his exceptional children and since reader is so normal, they're kinda overlooked.

and although there are similarities in the way and reasons both readers are neglected, i think it's worse with vampire! reader. she's around 7 when she comes to the manor, the circumstances around it being extremely shady (it was a scandal), and she's there before anyone except dick, whom she has shallow interactions with. from then on comes jason and the following children, and she just has to watch her father (and older brother) make time for everyone but her.

anyway, appearence-wise, p&f! reader and vampire! essentially look the same, or at least extremely similiar. but here's the thing: vampire reader's bruce does remember what his daughter looked like when she was around p&f! reader's age. and that's what makes him crumble, because vampire! reader looked abstemious and somber from a yong age, which is a far cry from her younger, alternate-dimension version.

that fact hits him the hardest, but dick notices it too. his birdie looked like a mini-adult from the day she came to the manor, and seeing p&f! reader he just wishes he could have actually bothered to be there for her. jason notices it the most because he was the one closest to reader before joker killed him, as she was the only one in the manor around his age. the others, though?

they have no idea. mostly because they weren't there when vampire! reader was a kid, but there are some memories; of her welcoming them home, little acts of affection, trying to get close to them. and they took it for granted. they started noticing her lately, yeah, but as it seems it had been a bit too late.

vampire! au damian would feel kinda jealous of the sibling bond p&f! reader and damian share, it would stir conflict between the two damians which i think could be funny amidst the angst (if you ignore that they're both kinda terrified of this batfam spiraling). all in all, i think bruce thinks of how shit it is to have a child missing so he would make sure to help send both p&f! reader and damian home safely. he's got his own kid to take care of and good lord, that's going too big of a mess for him to even worry about the two intruders in his dimension.

[egg-emperor]

All the newly shown Eggman concept sketches in SXSG are so cool, especially for how they're for Shadow 2005 💜

This goes so fucking hard my edgy black heart lives for it lol

Wish I knew what all of this said but I love this silly guy 💕

It appeared that his left brow ridge had accidentally been erased as there was some residue, so I copied and pasted the right one to restore it

I always love to see my boys togetherrr

Eggman: I COMMAND you, Shadow!

Shadow: :\

This one is neat for the concepts of inside his base in the game

Especially for this one for Eggman sitting in it in the chair that looks way too small for him in game while Shadow warps in!

I can't say for sure without the translation of what he's saying (really wish I had those for all of these) but it seems he was originally supposed to be sat there while Shadow entered, unlike the final game:

Eggman is already outside in his Egg Mobile, as we also see depicted in this concept, on the same page

It might be hard to tell because it's so small and pretty blurry (because the collection room doesn't even let you zoom in on Shadow Gens damn it) but that is Eggman in his Egg Mobile from the side outside the window lol

Just like this shot in the final game, from the same cutscene where he warps in:

So it seems this was indeed how this cutscene was originally supposed to go. Was Eggman originally going to be sat there while Shadow entered and then he tried to hop in the Egg Mobile and get away, perhaps? XD

Again, hard to tell when I don't know what the dialogue says but this is so awesome! New glimpses into Eggman in Shadow 2005, one of my favorite games and Eggman portrayals ever in 2024 is so cool :'D

And this one is REALLY interesting for how out of left field it is. It's drawn quite like a cover concept

The left side is definitely supposed to be Gerald. Note the lack of goggles and how his stache is shaped like Gerald's Shadow 2005 model that swoops downward more than Eggman's. Also lol he has white sclera just like Eggman does, checkmate :P But he appears to be somehow modified with metal with the scratches, bolts, and seams- or it's some kind of metal version of him perhaps?

Because Metal Sonic is there too, beheaded with Shadow looking badass holding it. Which is something else that's super intriguing, since Metal of course isn't in Shadow 2005 at all!

And also what's supposedly part of the same concept batch, titled "Shadow the Hedgehog stage concept", there's some metallic equivalent of the Biolizard, with Shadow's version of the fight and Finalhazard recreated

Wtf was going on in the early drafts for this game? Some type of possibly metallic Gerald, Metal Sonic, some metallic/robotic Biolizard inspired creation but it's a different creature? I'm so fucking intrigued!

I've always figured that Eggman and the androids were originally going to have a bigger role in Shadow 2005's story with how they set them up in Heroes and this heavily supports that in a completely new and different way like holy shit

Or there's the possibly that this was for a completely different game they considered before but it is listed just as "Shadow the Hedgehog concept" unlike how other concepts in the collection room art gallery have different game titles listed

Either way I'm gonna be thinking about this forever

[that-satireguy]

100% disagree. You're a cishet white man? Cool. I'm a brown trans guy who was raised in a misogynistic cult.

Do you know how easy it is.

For people to fall into cults?

Doesn't matter who they are, or whether the cult likes them or not. Frankly, if the cult just say 'you look tired/lonely... just come to ONE of our meetings. You can rest for a little... no need to think. We like you, we'll take care of you.' And then the meeting has all the wonderful nice little joyful parts, with lots of dopamine rushes for the tired/stressed/lonely person.

And they come back. Of course they do. Thats how its designed. Cults don't go for 40 year olds with stable social circles, happy lives and a nice middle class job. They'll go for depressed mid life crisis people, isolated young men, (new parents interestingly), often young women coming out of abusive relationships, and now with the internet teenagers.

'EVERYONE IN THE GYM CLASS GETS TO DO LAPS NOW.'

Its interesting that you bring this up because there have been hundreds of studies that this is a bad way to get through to people. In fact this is PROVEN to create anger, resentment, and isolation from about age 4-5 onwards. This is a full proof way to get people to leave the gym class, and when they can't (because in this case the gym class is just 'white people') they'll go into the arms of another teacher

'You are a group, and responsible for each other. If you don't want to run laps, make sure no one in the group does something stupid.'- this is collective punishment, and especially in situations where yk, not every white guy knows each other(?) And there are other inconsistencies like economic class and age which makes it very difficult to police each others actions and btw, the larger the group, the less effective this principle becomes.

'In that I hear a desperate fear to drown out the uncertainty of the rich tapestry of a varied human experience with an opiate-like acceptance.'-

Yes. Thats it pretty much. Thats what humans want, you want that dopamine to keep flowing in your head. What you're missing here is though, is that your upbringing and social situation plays a role in this. Your resistance, and even derision to this concept, comes from it not being a consistent facet in your life. This usually happens after isolation and intense feelings of hopelessness. When you don't have people to give you the dopamine and human connection you need... this will happen. Theres no 2 ways about it, it will happen. That is when you get therapy. And before the analysis, before the improvement and work, a therapist will listen. listen and tell you that your feelings are ok, and only after that, will you work on them.

'ou don't have to think too hard about it, as long as that warm blanket of surity hits as they smile'- yeah thats how conditioning and love bombing works.

'Man up.'- dumbest advice i've ever heard. genuinely. when has this ever worked for anyone. 'I'm struggling' 'Just don't'.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

[quill-n]

Some rough designs for my II/dnd au!! Mainly my knifecase fic I'm working on right noww + some old concepts and extras beneath the cut!

Please consider reading my fic if you're interested in this au :)

I have more for this au, but these are just the ones I've sketched so far!!

Knife's design has been through the ringer LMAO I was originally going to go with bloodhunter for him, but I thought he doesn't actually use blades that often despite being a blade, so I switched him over to Fighter. Barbarian also fits him. As you can see, I also changed the silhouette of his dragonborn face to match his canon silhouette ig? I'm still messing around with everyone's designs, but I'll probably leave it sandbox for a while. I think Candle and Suitcase's designs are pretty much solid though

If anyone's curious about this au lmk :)

[bl-bracket]

Anyways I was going to make a post about the process of picking bracket topics and whatnot and was trying to come up with some examples of types of topics that would or wouldn't work and for whatever reason I thought of the concept of a "best murderer bracket" and I can't stop thinking about it lmao

it's just like such a funny concept? the idea of fictional murderers battling it out, especially ones from bls (which like I don't think is most people who are not super familiar with the genre as having a lot of characters who have killed people) is just funny in like an absurd way. like abstracting yourself from tumblr and tournament blogs, the idea of telling someone else that there's a tournament going for fictional murderers from east asian mlm tv shows, a genre that for several years was primarily shows about high school and uni students.

anyways that devolved into thinking about it more seriously, and then deciding a more practical way of doing it would to make some kind of directory of bl murderers. which would then lead to a lot of interesting statistical analysis, like characters with highest on screen kill counts, which countries have the highest proportion of fictional killers, etc. you can then make a separate category for characters with implied kills that aren't explicitly shown on screen or vague. and you could track how the number increases over time, which I assume exponentially goes up as more bls are exploring darker and more serious genres.

anyways back to the country stats, I started thinking about what the breakdown would look like so here's my guess based on zero research and just my general knowledge of shows

China. While having very few bls (censored or otherwise), they have a very unfair advantage and that is genre conventions. The 3 biggest Chinese bls I can think of are: The Untamed, Word of Honor, and Guardian. With The Untamed and Word of Honor, the conventions of xianxia and wuxia genres means that there are a lot of characters and almost all of them have killed before (usually nameless canon fodder but still). And then with Guardian, it's a supernatural detective mystery show with murder plots in it and a lot of characters, which again leads to a pretty high kill count. So even only counting these 3 shows, China will probably have the most killers in bl, or at the very least most kills done.

Thailand. It's a numbers game on this one. There's just so many Thai bls and an increasing number of like detective or mafia ones. A show like Kinnporsche has a lot of killers and deaths. Then there's other shows that include a few murderers (but less than Kinnporsche) like The Sign, Manner of Death, 4 Minutes, 3 Will Be Free, Never Let Me Go (Palm did shoot a couple guys dead elt's nto forget), Dead Friend Forever, etc. However the numbers also hurt Thailand in terms of proportions, since there's a lot more Thai bls that don't have murder, so it actually might be 3rd.

Japan. You're not getting much murder from your Cherry Magics and Old Fashion Cupcakes, which is what a significant portion of bl fan's primary exposure to Japanese bl is, but let's not forget that there's a lot of dark Japanese bls where murder is definitely on the table. Now I don't actually have a good gauge of what the numbers on this is, cause I haven't really delved that deep into this corner of the bl market, so I can't make a good estimation but I bet there's more than I'm aware of.

Taiwan. They've got a couple of mafia shows like HIStory 3: Trapped and Kiseki: Dear to Me, both of which have some implied and explicit murder (though less then you would expect if we're honest). That'll give them a few kills and they also have a relatively smaller pool of shows to pull from, meaning percentage wise it's a bit higher.

South Korea. Ok I am far from an expert of bls from South Korea, but unless there's like obscure short films I'm not aware of, the only drama I can think of from here with kills is Long Time No See? or I guess The Director Who Buys Me Dinner has like 1.5 murders? anyways Korea also has a not insignificant amount of bls to their name so proportionally it will be quite low.

The Philippines. Out of all the countries on this list, I am least familiar with the bls from here, but from what I've gathered during my routine mdl searches, basically all of them seem to be murder-free (unless of course there's some shocking plot twists in them)

anyways I'll probably never do this project just cause it would require a lot of time and collaborative effort and I've got a lot irl going on right now (hence why the submission period for most whipped is so long lol) and also have some other projects I'm already planning on doing so I don't really have time to do it. but I wanted to tell y'all about my thoughts on the matter.

also sorry if this is the weirdest thing I've ever posted. kinda had a major stress breakdown today but then resolved it relatively quickly cause I realized I could just reschedule the life altering appointment that was causing the breakdown lmao so I'm in a strange frame of mind lol

[karlachismylife]

Soap for the character ask game plz :)

Do I really need a reason to yap about him? Nah, but I'll take it, thanks :)

If anyone else is interested, I'll be glad to talk about someone else from COD and BG3. The game itself is here if someone wants to reblog!

So. John "Soap" MacTavish.

favorite thing about them

Is "everything" a good enough answer? No? Damn. I guess I'll have to go with his passion. I can tie that to his ADHD, I can tie that to the fact that he's sunshine (and sun burns hot and flares), it doesn't matter - his emotions are bright, run hot, he's impulsive and he feels so strong. I relate to that, I also just like everything bright and flashy. His anger, his loyalty, his sense of justice, his love - they are so big and strong they cannot be contained inside his heart no matter how huge it is. This is what makes him dangerous, this is what makes him vulnerable, this is what makes him so fucking lovable to me.

least favorite thing about them

The fact that he prefers coffee over tea (source: his VA). I'm sorry, I can't stand coffee, my throat literally closes up and stops breathing if I enter some coffee-smelling space and it's not something I can control well (I tried, I swear). So the knowledge that living with Soap would involve the apartment reeking of the forbidden drink, and even worse, kissing him might taste like coffee... it's heartbreaking. I'm training that man to drink tea whether he likes it or not, coffee doesn't do anything for ADHDers anyway.

favorite line

I mean. I feel like using any of Ghoap batner here would be cheating cuz it is very much the best thing ever and also they're bouncing off each other. So I'll go with "Kids, guns and balloons. That's a new one."

It's at the start in Las Almas. I love listening to Soap in general, I love all the Scott-isms he has (even though it seems actual Scottish didn't appreciate those too much), I obviously love the funny lines he has or when he gets angry. But this one just stuck with me. Probably not because it's a Soap line, but because it's a sad line in general (and hits a little too close to home in the current situation).

But also I feel like it's kinda. The fact that I, a 22yo civilian am not actually surprised to see that "kids, guns and balloons" situation (although I am so fortunate to not be witnessing that directly), and Soap, a 26 (I think?) yo SAS Sergeant who ran off to enlist at 15-16 is. It says something about how he views the world, doesn't it? He lacks that cynicism. I've seen people say that veiwing him as a "happy go lucky" guy is incorrect, but I dunno, man. I think if someone who kills people for his job is surprised to see kids involved into crime+politics games, then he's a pretty damn optimistic lad that believes in the good in the world.

brOTP

Soap and Alejandro. There's just something so smooth, straightforward and inherently good about just two men coming to fight for what's right. Also nothing is funnier than Soap's constant cultural shock in Las Almas and Alejandro just chuckling at every silly question Johnny asks. Big brother Alejandro go go go!

OTP

Karlach x Soap for life, everything else is secondary.

nOTP

I reject the concept of nOTP, even the least likely/adhering to my tastes ships are at least interesting to explore. However, I am not a big fan of toxic relationships and such, so something like Soap x Makarov or Soap x Graves would be interesting to look at, but probably upsetting.

random headcanon

He likes the pink Orbit bubblegum, the one that comes in little stripes. His dad used to bring those at the end of the work week, sometimes unopened, sometimes with just a couple pieces left, and Soap stashed them away in his pillow case when he had the willpower not to eat them all at once. His old pillow in his childhood bedroom still smells like bubblegum.

absolutely based on my own life

unpopular opinion

I don't know what's popular to say what's unpopular. But maybe the fact that I think that Soap isn't like a total horndog 24/7? I still think he is pretty horny, more than an average person, but I also think that he's more tactile than anything and that even when he gets a random boner or just is hot and bothered, he can be satisfied with non-sexual touch. But he does not respond well to touch starvation, oh no.

song i associate with them

I am so bad at assosiating songs with characters/ships etc :( I'll be boring and repeat myself for the third time: Ren's "Loco"

favorite picture of them

That comission of him and Karlach I got, duh

But if we're talking ingame, nothing beats him being pretty and doing puppy eyes in that Milena interrogation scene. That hand reaching scene alone has me by the throat.

Thank you for asking about him!! Love youu <3

[mixelation]

I keep periodically reading reader fics in an attempt to Understand and I have nothing. Like I'm reasonably pro OC/Canon fics, and I actually enjoy second person, but reader fics just have me??? I do not need to be involved here what am I adding to the narrative... Also sooner or later I inevitably hit I Would Not Fucking Say That. And reader fics even trying to being generic have to add Some sort of description to the reader insert that makes it pretty clear that it is in fact not me swooning at Gojo's feet, or else he needs to stop preening and take me to the fucking hospital because if I a dark skinned black woman just turned bright red I think ive been cursed?? And the crazy thing to me is that I've actually run across some fairly talented writers who do write normal fics who are also super into reader fic and I try it and just go WHY is this not just a normal oc fic. Okay sorry for the rambling

yeah no this is about how i feel. i like OC fics and i like OC/character but something about reader insert land is just..... off??? like most of them just collapse into Generic Man/Generic Woman and at that point then what is the point

like i guess for me sometimes i do like characters because i can project on them/relate to them, but when it's a character i understand they are meant to be different from me even if i'm also supposed to project onto them, so when they make slightly different choices or something happens with them physically that wouldn't apply to me, i'm not like "hey! you ruined my immersion!" and then also because they are a character, usually they have an actual personality, which i like seeing in characters and makes me interested in what they will do or how they will react to things. also sometimes the character not being exactly like me is good because i like imagining scenarios where people do things i would never do because it's fun

meanwhile with the reader insert concept i'm like..... is that supposed to be me? please. i'm not this boring and also i have too much anxiety to have gotten into that situation and also too much self respect to not immediately leave. like are the reader insert fics for the people who leave comments on fics complaining your main character didn't do exactly what the commenter thinks they would have done in a given situation......? do they get mad when they're OOC????

[melrosing]

this is really rambly but whatever im just talking

harrenhal bath scene for e.g. it's a confessional and a baptism. jaime reveals his deepest secret to brienne, she sits quietly and listens. it's a kind of cleansing: she knows everything else, but she doesn't know this. he's entirely bare before her, both figuratively and literally, and at the end he's effectively reborn in Brienne's arms, internally insisting upon his true name. it's more like a return to and a reclamation of that name, after having been known so long as 'kingslayer'.

and it goes w/o saying that GRRM is expressing here a pretty catholic sentiment - one achieved through confession and atonement:

[On Jaime] I want there to be a possibility of redemption for us, because we all do terrible things. We should be able to be forgiven. Because if there is no possibility of redemption, what’s the answer then? X

and like GRRM isn't exactly shy about highlighting the contradictions and hypocrisies of the FO7, knighthood and the KG - which ftr are tied up in each other. knighthood is sworn to the Seven, as a part of Andal culture that was carried over with the invasion, and KG sprouts from the ideals of knighthood, even whilst corrupting them further.

and I think the point in Jaime and Brienne's story is that the core tenets of knighthood do mean something, just as even a lapsed Catholic might appreciate the core tenets of loving one's neighbour etc, if not the religious practise. to be caught up in the terms and conditions is to lose yourself in what it's all meant to mean. Brienne once judged Jaime harshly according to the rules, but found greater understanding of him, herself, and the world around them by opening her mind to the nuance, and trusting in her own understanding. it's not that knighthood is a fundamentally corrupt concept, but that true knighthood is about understanding it as a broader worldview of care for those weaker than yourself, rather than a set of rules, or a status symbol.

i think FO7 (particularly following HOTD lol) often gets slated as the worst faith bc it so resembles western christianity and all its associations, and the zealots (and what they do to characters like Cersei, Lancel etc) represent the very worst of that faith. the other faiths have something more mystical and formless about them: the weirwoods are tied up with the magical core of westeros, r'hollorism is clearly fucking onto something etc. and they're more appealing in that sense.

but I don't think the FO7 is portrayed entirely negatively! the way our FO7 characters follow and ponder the Seven as they relate to themselves is a really interesting device for introspection. Jaime for example has always seen himself strictly as the Warrior - he doesn't care all that much for the FO7 more broadly, but this is the prism he's understood himself through since childhood - he's the perfect archetype. likewise, it's the prism through which he once understood Cersei (i.e. as the Maiden), yet this led instead to a reduced understanding of Cersei as an individual. Brienne meanwhile feels apart from both the Maiden and the Warrior - she fits neither. both in a sense reduce themselves in how they do or do not relate to the Seven.

but without getting into JB and gender again (cos I will), their stories are more a contemplation on the fluidity of the Seven. it's said repeatedly in the story that the Seven are one, and so it then seems quite contradictory that characters should asign themselves to one and not the others. neither Jaime nor Brienne are simply the Warrior or the Maiden, they can be both each to the other: there's a kind of synchronicity in this, in that neither is solely the protector, neither is solely the protected. through the true ideals knighthood, they are both to each other. what seems rigid as a concept is actually one that can be interpreted more freely, and reveal new facets of the self rather than shut them down.

anyway so as i say this is rambly but i guess my broader point is that JB are sort of an exploration of how faith does not have to be about shutting down parts of ourselves, limiting our worldview, and striving to live untainted, but forgiving and finding ourselves and each other. it feels familiar to me as a lapsed catholic MYSELF: a deep scepticism and discomfort with the rigid dichotomies that send you fleeing from it in the first place, but a sort of new inquisitiveness and warmth one feels when considering its core tenets on one's own terms.

who fucking knows what exactly GRRM's relationship with catholicism is (idk even what mine is), but I think through jaime and brienne you maybe get to see some of the better things he took from it, i.e. forgiveness, introspection, generosity of spirit etc. like if you do away with all the corruption and misinterpretation and you sit with just the core, I guess you are left with what Brienne strives for in AFFC. she is not fighting for any individual or institution, but purely what she has taken away from knighthood, and what she believes to be right and good. and Jaime, once disillusioned by the rigidity of it all, is inspired by precisely that

have we ever talked about the weird catholic undertones in jaime and brienne's storyline. like grrm idk if you even know you did this but from one roman catholic girly to another it is loud

[goldendoodlerlockerlove]

5!

Thank you so much for invading my ask box again, Babs!! I appreciate you so much 🥹❣️

All right, The Cobra is my Marvel WIP (technically WIP even though it's published, because it's unfinished and I haven't been able to find the time to continue it for quite a while). But it's a fic I want to finish someday, eventually, though I don't know when. It's a fic that's very dear to me. It was my first big writing project that I actually published for the world to see, so I love it a lot for that. Okay, buckle up for some lore. I told @koko-raccoon all about my OC, so here's everything I told them:

Her full given name is Lucille Dorothy Barnes, but she goes by Lucy for short, or Luce (She/Her pronouns!! She's a Cisgender Lady :3 Tbh, I like to headcanon her as the type to put Pronouns in her Bio once she gets to the present and has an actual phone and learns how to use Social Media). Anyway, she's Bucky's younger sister, and he's her oldest brother (yes, she has two older brothers and one younger brother. I gave her two additional brothers because according to canon lore, Bucky's supposed to be the oldest of four, even though nothing about his siblings is known in canon).

She and Bucky are 1000% the closest to each other in their family, they were each other's first best friends!! That's the power of sibling love. The two of them eventually meet Steve, and she becomes Steve's bestie as well at the same time that Bucky becomes Steve's bestie. The three of them kind of become a friendship trio, like The Three Musketeers. Oh yeah, and she's also Aro/Ace, but doesn't figure it out until later, because of how taboo being LGBTQ+ was back in the forties. Her being Cis and Aro/Ace is based off my best friend, who is also Cis and Aro/Ace, pffffft (and despite being Aro/Ace, she's one of the most loving people I know).

Anyway, Lucy never gets powers, but does support Steve while he gets the serum, and actually does manage to join the army with him. Even though she's a woman, she still gets in because let's just say that's how desperate they were, lmao. And they also tour together selling War Bonds as Captain America and The Cobra (which eventually becomes her actual superhero name). Then they both get trapped in the ice. I don't know how she survived, because she never got the serum. Let's just say she's built different--and somehow the ice protected her all of those years, I don't know. I don't think I thought about that enough when I wrote it.

Anyway, they wake up in 2012, join the Avengers, and craziness ensues. But the craziest part is reuniting with Bucky, who she thought died all the way back in the forties. She definitely took his presumed death the hardest, she grieved so much. She never really fully recovered from when she thought she lost him. She actually turned to drinking to make herself feel better, it was that bad (she previously never even touched alcohol). And she even cut her long, brown hair and dyed it; it eventually grows back and regains its old, natural color, but it was still a huge, rebellious move for her. She gets even more upset when she learns that Bucky was brainwashed, and he's barely even her brother anymore. But part of her that she thought would never heal heals when Bucky is eventually freed of his mind control and becomes a part of her life again. They definitely become each other's support system when Steve goes back to live out his life in the forties and dies, leaving the two of them (and Sam).

And she's reminded just how fun it is to spend time with her big brother again. She just missed him so much 😭 I like to think that she's also trapped in the town Wanda creates in WandaVision, and actually forgets everything, and Wanda tries to justify it by saying that now she gets to live the life she lost. Very sad stuff. I actually kind of used this fic as an excuse to write a character going through the grieving process, sort of?? It was definitely interesting.

Here's an excerpt of Lucy dealing with grief and turning to drinking as an unhealthy coping mechanism:

When they got back, she turned to drinking. Being drunk erased the pain. It numbed everything. It wasn’t a permanent solution, but it helped. She was old enough anyway. She and Steve sat in the remains of a building, listening to a broadcast.

“Blackout is still in effect throughout the London area. Please wait for the all-clear. Your attention, please. All citizens should remain indoors until further notice. Blackout is still in effect throughout the London Area.”

Peggy suddenly appeared in a trenchcoat. Steve cleared his throat and spoke, his voice sounding rather raspy, “Dr. Erskine said that the serum wouldn’t just affect my muscles, it would affect my cells. Create a protective system of regeneration and healing. Which means I can’t get drunk. Did you know that?”

“I can.” Lucy hiccuped, pouring herself another shot. “It helps with the pain. Physical and mental. Also, Steve, m’pretty sure your metabolism burns four times faster than the average person.”

She heard that her words sounded slightly slurred, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.

“I was just about to say that.” Peggy grabbed a chair and sat beside them. “He thought it could be one of the side effects. It wasn’t either of your faults.”

“Did you read the report?” Steve questioned, probably sounding harsher than intended.

“Yes.”

“Then you know that’s not true.”

She slammed her shot glass on the table, startling Peggy, “I was a coward.”

“You did everything you could,” Peggy assured them. “Did you believe in your friend and brother? Did you respect him? Then stop blaming yourselves. Allow Barnes the dignity of his choice. He damn well must’ve thought you were worth it. Both of you.”

“That’sss Bucky for you.” Lucy’s “s” was slightly drawn out. She laughed drunkenly and then hiccuped again.

“I’m going after Schmidt,” Steve decided. “I’m not gonna sleep until all of Hydra is dead or captured.”

“You won’t be alone.” 

Lucy never forgot those words of comfort.

Here's an excerpt of a small part of WandaVision that I wrote in advance because I got so excited to get to it:

Lucy started to grow angry herself for not being listened to, “What is outside of Westview, Wanda?”

“You know full well what’s out there,” Wanda snapped. “Lucy, I did this for you, too.”

“What?”

“Haven’t you noticed? You’ve gotten to live through all of the decades you never got to experience. You never had to be a hero,” Wanda explained.

Lucy’s hands curled into fists, “I thought you were my friend, Wanda. How could you do this? People here are suffering!”

“You don’t understand.” 

“I don’t understand?” Lucy hit the table with all her strength and started to shout, “I knew damn well what I was getting into when I got into that plane with Steve!”

“You don’t get to make a choice for us, Wanda!” Vision exclaimed.

Also, the best flipping part about this fic is that Lucy is canon is some way thanks to The Falcon and The Winter Soldier!! Sort of. Okay, I still made Lucy up, and Bucky's sister never appears on-screen, so it can be assumed she never made it to the present and passed away at some point. Or he could even be lying. But let me have this!! When my best friend, Matilda, pointed this out, I squealed with happiness so hard.

[stil-lindigo]

the calamity.

a comic about being seen.

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creative notes:

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all my other comics

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[fumifooms]

What if we were both magic prodigies and it otherized us in different ways and we devoted ourselves to protecting a family member who has general other goals & priorities. What if we both did self-sacrifical devotion in opposite ways.

What if we were dark mirrors of each other and where I've grown overcontrolling you've grown complacent. What if, bought as a servant into a pretty loving home, ownership and control is what love looks like to me, and to you neglected and lonely growing up, love is gratefully taking any scraps of it you’re lent.

By belonging to someone, even if she comes back injured or fails at finding Delgal, she feels like she belongs and is cherished, by owning someone he feels safe in them not leaving him.

She’s what’s tethering him do you see… And he’s the only thing giving her direction and purpose in her state. She needs a compass and he needs a support.

They’re both so out of it 😭 It’s the weirdly intense and unearned mutual trust and reliance on each other?? They’re each other’s weird little comfort codependent teddy bear. Or at least they were headed towards that before SHE DIED THEN HE DIED THEN THEY BOTH FORGOT ABOUT EACH OTHER AND NEVER MET EVER AGAIN. Though she’s also the guard attack hound keeping him safe… And vice versa he heals her and can rewrite her very being with just one wave of his hand. They’re both so so mentally and physically vulnerable both but they cling onto each other. They can’t perceive things accurately but despite it all someway somehow they stumble into something closer to resembling companionship just before they both die. Falin is just that kind and Thistle is just that lonely. Overworked. We both haven’t lived for ourselves in a very long time, haven’t we.

They both have a similar devotion to the people they love but again the difference is that Thistle starts overtsepping while Falin is self-effacing. The other difference between them is that people care about Falin <3 People have given up on Thistle long ago, and he has given people reasons to, while people refuse to give up on Falin. Yaad has a mini arc about it dw about it it’s ok he’s not all alone in the end 😭😭 He reached out for Marcille’s hand but they already all wanted to help him, they just had to be given the chance to, Yaad just had to be given the chance to, it’s okay I’m okay

Hey what if we learned to get in touch with our own identity and the world around us and living in the present again through being in the worst codependent situationship ever.

Falin and Thistle sitting in a tree, sucking on flowers together because they’re h-u-n-g-r-y 💕💕💕

I bet he’s only ever thought of flowers as useless ornaments. Weak weeds. But she shows him they’re tasty and useful and good and pretty in their own right too and deserve existing without proving their worth and waaa <33 Thistles…... Did you know thistles taste sweet if you remove the thorns and eat them?

"Even as a chimera, her kind nature remains" you can’t suppress her in the way that matters. You can’t soothe him in the way that matters. It’s doomed. You’re doomed. It’s all doomed. Save me.

[ninjaaa-go]

I was just thinking that, if we do actually get amnesiac Jay, him eventually getting his memories back could be really interesting. Because obviously you’ve got all the great memories with his family and the people he loves, but at the same time just— the horrors. The guy has so much trauma piled up from over the years and I feel like that would be A Lot to have dumped on you all at once.

[flwrkid14]

Buried Beneath The Laughter They Ignored

Tim is totally fine. Ridiculously fine, actually.

It didn’t matter that he woke up feeling this bubbling, manic laughter in his chest, like everything was suddenly so fucking funny. It didn’t matter that he’d woken up from another nightmare last night, crying, calling for his mama—not the mother he lost, but the mother he gained, Harley Quinn. And it didn’t matter that most days, he felt more like Joker Junior than he did Tim Drake.

It didn’t matter that no one else seemed to fucking care.

He shoved down every bit of laughter clawing up his throat, because he knew if he let even one chuckle slip, they’d all give him that look. The one they always did. Disapproval masked as concern. They didn’t like Junior. They didn’t want to believe Junior was still in there, clawing his way up every time Tim breathed.

It didn’t matter that no one ever asked him how he was doing. They didn’t want to talk about it. Because talking about it would make it real, and they preferred pretending it wasn’t. They expected him to be fine, to push it down, to carry on like nothing happened. If he tried to bring it up, they’d say he was being insensitive—insensitive to Jason's trauma. What fucking irony, he thought bitterly. As if it wasn’t insensitive to be stepping all over his by not letting him speak.

It didn’t matter that he caught them glancing at him sometimes, like they were waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting for him to snap, waiting for Junior to come out again. But they never asked. No one asked what was going on in his head. No one fucking asked.

It didn’t matter that when he finally snapped, when he finally screamed at them, sick and tired of pretending, they had the nerve to act clueless. As if they didn’t know.

It didn’t matter that Dick, of all people, screamed back. Yelling like he was being unreasonable. Like he was the problem. He screamed at Tim, demanding answers, to ask what the hell he meant by Joker Junior, as if—

As if they didn’t know.

They didn’t fucking know.

This whole time, they hadn’t known.

They didn’t know Tim had been taken. They didn’t know Tim had been missing. They didn’t know Tim had been held prisoner at the hand of the Joker for months, tearing him apart, piece by piece, until Junior was the only thing left of him. They didn’t know he had screamed for them, begged for someone to find him, but no one ever did.

They didn’t know how much he had suffered. Alone. They didn’t know how much he had changed. They didn’t know that every time he woke up now, it felt like he was still Joker Junior, just wearing Tim’s skin.

And they didn’t know how much it hurt—how much it broke him—to realize that they had never known.

Tim wasn’t fucking okay. And it mattered—oh, it mattered—that they didn’t fucking know.

Because if they didn’t know, it meant no one ever bothered to look. It meant no one ever cared enough to notice.

[canisalbus]

Different Italian anon, but the thing with Tuscan C is that it's pronounced like a very strong H sound, which is extra weird cuz the letter H makes no sound in Italian, normally. It sounds the way Spanish pronounce the J. We say it's "aspirato". So then people from there will say things like Hoha Hola (coca cola), and it's funny. It's also extremely contagious, I got family in Florence, you spend 3 days with them you start doing it too before you even realize.

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