#i love nathaniel very much

[whatareyou-acop]

Okay, so I've been thinking. Dragon Age Origins/Princess Diaries 2 AU. The king of Ferelden is dead, leaving his half-brother, the unassuming Alistair, as the sole heir to the throne. Hesitant to hand the kingdom to a half-elf bastard, the nobility push for his marriage to a true-blue Ferelden noble. Anora is the expected pick, but Rendon Howe has a plan. Enter [Insert name] Cousland, the last remaining member of the Cousland line after her family died in a tragic accident many years ago. Out of the kindness of his heart (he assures you), Rendon Howe adopted Miss Cousland as his ward, and now seeing an opportunity at the throne, urges her to aim for Alistair's hand in marriage herself. A romcom ensues.

[ruvviks]

Nathan Dixon is lead STEM developer of the Union environment and Team Bravo special ops agent of MOBIUS. He is one of the youngest recruits of the shadow organization, having been forced to join them after he killed his parents at age 16; and now, nine years later, he is looking for a way to destroy MOBIUS once and for all– if that is even possible.

taglist (opt in/out)

@shellibisshe, @florbelles, @ncytiri, @hibernationsuit, @stars-of-the-heart;

@lestatlioncunt, @katsigian, @radioactiveshitstorm, @estevnys, @adelaidedrubman;

@celticwoman, @rindemption, @carlosoliveiraa, @noirapocalypto, @dickytwister;

@killerspinal, @euryalex, @ri-a-rose, @velocitic, @thedeadthree;

@jacobseed, @swordcoasts

[tahwan]

no otp in bartimaeus just me losing my innards thinking about how much love bartimaeus feels for ptolemy after 2000+ years and how to the end he wanted to believe the little 12yo nathaniel who summoned him to steal something from a man who abused him was still somewhere in the man that nathaniel became—slaver, segregationist, corrupt, refusing his own flickers of morality and remorse

[blue-eli]

@khoc-week I am late I am very late-

Day one: Introductions!

Nathaniel Ezra Wyatt: a scholar, magic user, and very concerned adult. His home world (Hyrule, yes he is technically an LoZ oc as well shhh) fell only a year or so after Radiant Garden’s fall, when he was around 37, and he found himself in Traverse Town. He ended up bonding with the group from RG who were living there (Cid, Leon, Aerith, Cloud, and Yuffie) and found himself part of their little patchwork family. He is, despite looking like an pretentious old librarian, quite outgoing, and loves hearing peoples stories. He is also quite parental by nature, and keeps on finding himself adopting any stray child soldier he comes across (why are there so many-), and co-parenting the RG kids with Cid. After Maleficent was defeated in kh1 he made the decision to go with to Hollow Bastion with the gang instead of staying in Traverse Town or hoping to find himself back in Hyrule. He’s settled into Radiant Garden quite permanently now, and spends most of his time helping his family rebuild it. :)

[antisisyphus]

ive seen some cute reels/tiktoks of men being like "hey bitch where is my dinner" and then another guy will duet the original video and talk about how much he loves his wife and wouldnt call her bitch and how misogynistic that is! so cute! love that! love and respect your partner! i call my boyfriend a perverted faggot <3

[windupaidoneus]

ok ive finished the dlc so now i can properly say my least favourite thing about dragon age awakening is that the women feel like an afterthought & don't fit in the group at all. & i want to care about them & their banter so much. but i really don't because the game is giving me fucking nothing

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

hello!!! i am sorry you've had a hard time of it but welcome back!!! i am queer and i write fantasy with queer characters and i am also decently active/friendly, so hi! i'm copper and i write fantasy stuff! these days its mostly steampunk, in the past it was more of a high fantasy situation and who knows it might be again someday.

my main wip is called herald at dawn, its a steampunk fantasy murder mystery set in a made up city called volimere. I made a new intro for it literally yesterday, its got most of the details if you want to read it (link), but here's the basic stuff (plus extra, i like talking about it) (cut here for the sake of people's dashes):

there are so, so many queer characters. there are also a large amount of murders, but its a murder mystery so that's to be expected. I'm just going to copy & paste the synopsis from the wip intro, because I think that explains it decently well:

11 years ago a woman named Marisol Ekker was murdered by the wife of her son’s father, Evelyn Belmont. Despite all evidence, Evelyn Belmont was acquitted and faced no punishment. Nearly a decade later, investigative reporter Alexandrina McLelland approached Marisol Ekker’s son, Nathaniel Ekker–who was 12 at the time of her death–, to write an article about the corruption in the case. It is published in The Clockwork Herald, the newspaper where Alexandrina works, and exposes the dirty laundry of one of the city’s wealthiest families, the Belmonts. Soon after a string of murders begins. At first suspicions point to someone entirely unconnected with the Ekker trial or Alexandrina’s article, but as the pressure mounts (and the danger gets much closer to home), it becomes clear that the article and the deaths are far more connected than anyone initially thought.

so yeah! the loose gist of the plot is that there was a murder trial 11 years ago, in which a woman named Evelyn Belmont was accused and then acquitted of murdering another woman named Marisol Ekker, who had previously worked for Evelyn Belmont & her husband.

The important context here is that belmonts = Very Rich (like absurdly rich. geoffery belomont (evelyn's husband) spent thousands of dollars on bribing a judge). marisol ekker = Not Rich At All. she had a kid, as the result of an affair with mr belmont. evelyn belmont objected to this, and once she found out who the affair was with went and killed the poor woman. very violently, and very obviously.

everybody, and i mean everybody knew it was evelyn belmont who did the killing. however, the rich and powerful will be the rich and powerful, and her husband bribed the judge, and she got off the murder charge no worse for the wear.

the other important context here is that marisol ekker's son did not die, and he is alive, and his name is nathaniel. it has now been 11 years and he is mostly an adult. he agreed to do an article with an investigative reporter of some renown, alexandrina mclelland, so that the corruption in the case can get exposed and the belmonts' reputation can get trashed

(alexandrina is bent on exposing injustices and corruption. she has spent her entire career (10+ years) doing exactly that, and her boss/friends are very supportive of that)

this is where her boss/friends come in, actually! there are three very relevant ones, and several other less relevant at this moment ones.

JAMES BLAKELY (he/him), alexandrina's boss/coworker (the editor of the clockwork herald for the last 10 years, has worked there for the last ~15) & good friend. 32, worries too much, and cares about loyalty. leo's partner.

LEÓN RIVERA (he/him), alexandrina's coworker (does politics, ex-court reporter, covered the ekker trial 11 years ago) & good friend. 33, has a really terrible time in chapter 10, and a burning hatred for certain members of the government. james' partner & nathaniel's mentor (mostly).

ARTHUR HALL (he/him), alexandrina's rival (reporter at another paper) & sometimes friend. 30, loves his wife a whole lot, and is determined to have a better work-life boundary than anyone else he knows (this is not a particularly difficult task on the surface, but the problem is when you make politicians mad they will then try to make you have a horrible day)

oh, and since I should probably introduce alexandrina properly:

ALEXANDRINA MCLELLAND (she/her), investigative reporter (covers lots of things, but focuses on bringing justice to people and exposing corruption). 31, has issues with her father, and a strong sense of justice & a weak sense of self preservation. the only thing keeping her alive is luck and the fact that it looks really suspicious if the person who wrote an article exposing your crimes turns up dead a day after the article is published.

there are a lot of other things, but i've just realized how long this is and i know you said to be self indulgent but i don't want to make this four million words (also it is very late and i must go to bed), so the rest of the story goes:

article is published -> city goes fucking wild, the belmonts panic, nathaniel has a terrible day but not as bad as leo's in chapter 10 -> judge robert brown (asshole) is pushed out off a balcony by an unknown party and in the chaos everyone forgets about the article -> drama, suspicions, etc -> a second person, grayson atkinson (court stenographer) is pushed out of a window and dies -> further panic and suspicions, accusations are thrown around -> chapter 10 (leo gets pushed down a flight of stairs and very nearly dies). -> realizations! accusations! discoveries! etc! -> The ✨ Reveal ✨ -> trial of the murderer, wrapup, nathaniel gets a little bit of closure and leo is happily not dead.

it's fun! i like it a lot. ships wise, there's not many but there is leo & james (who have been together for a while); these two side characters who are amazing and i love them (nathaniel's aunts; airship captain blake sparks and her wife, gwendolyn sparks. they're the best); and the thing involving alexandrina's father (donovan), his best friend (ronald wilks), and donovan's wife/alexandrina's mother (mary gates), but uh the thing with that is donovan's dead

the only other important thing is that the murderer learned how to murder from radio dramas, and thinks she's soooooooo smart (she isn't, she's a fucking idiot). however, crucial to the learning to murder from radio dramas:

she has a murdering outfit. an outfit she uses specifically to murder people, and nothing else. (she thinks this is crucial to being able to murder people. well no, she thinks to murder people you have to be wearing a black trenchcoat otherwise it won't work and you'll get caught, and she thinks the trenchcoat is too ugly on its own so she must have ✨ accessories ✨ )

said accessories are: black dress that goes underneath the trenchcoat, black gloves, black boots (though that doesn't make her special since literally everyone is wearing black boots), and a dramatic sweeping black hat with a matching (black) feather plume.

me and my friend came up with it in a discord chat and I think it's the best thing ever

writers, listen up...

i've fallen out of touch with the writeblr community a lot in the past few years, and i want to rectify that. the community aspect was what made me fall in love with tumblr, and what improved my writing for the better.

the golden days of my writing were when i was highly active and engaged in this wonderful community, but life and work and the horrors of self publishing have overtaken my energy in the past year. however, i have been really struggling with original writing, and i want to get back into the community here.

that said...

you write fantasy with queer characters

are an indie author

post frequently about your wips (taglists are a bonus!)

are queer

are a very active and friendly writer

if any of these apply

please, please reblog and tell me about your wip. gush over it. infodump. characters and ships and worldbuilding and plot, i want it all! this is your invitation to be as selfishly indulgent as possible. let's make some new friends and restore some community!!

boosts appreciated!

[wisteriarain]

Bi disaster demon go brrr

Also used this for the pose: https://pin.it/y2FqGzhAq

[maegalkarven]

Probably unpopular opinion, but The Ranger Achieves series is better than The Echoes saga.

Idc about all these elves and mages and young greycoats falling in love with elves, and the plot, and evil elf rising, and the other evil elf serving the Main Evil elf scheming in the Nightfall-

I just care about Asher and whatever fuckery is going on with him at the moment.

[missconchshell]

I loved this new episode of Miraculous! Oh my gosh, I didn't even realize it was coming out, but I'm so happy it did!

I've never been too too attached to either Marc or Nathaniel, but this episode really won me over! It was neat getting to see both of their parents, and show just how much of a difference unconditional support can make. It really reminded of just how lucky I am that my own parents are so accepting.

I also love the contrast in the setting as well, with Nathaniel's family physically further apart, while Marc and his parents are all bunched together on the same couch. I feel like the show has been putting in a lot more care into framing and the setup of scenes this season, and I'm all for it!

Also, this is one of the first times I've seen their new designs up close, and I'm a huge fan! Love all the little details, like Marc's eye makeup, Nathaniel's self-painted shoes and his wavy little hairclip. Just look at the happy boy!

Now, onto the meat of the episode. Nathaniel's passions (and by association himself) being rejected by his parents did get me to tear up. It hurt and felt so real, I'm amazed to see this sorta thing in a show like Miraculous.

I felt so bad watching him destroy his work and try and force himself to conform to his parents' expectations. It was a very realistic picture of this type of struggle, and is definitely something I and I'm sure many others have struggled with before. And I was shocked at how blunt the writers got with the implied homophobia with lines from his mom about making Nathaniel "go straight."

Then once it got onto the mom being named Ruler, I just kinda started laughing, like, oh, they weren't gonna be subtle at all!

And dang Lila, willing to even use homophobia to get those miraculous. Tsk tsk.

The Akuma's power was definitely pretty creepy, like I hate these eyes so much, but Lila got really dang close to getting those miraculous this time, far more than any of Gabe's minion-based akumas! And despite this being the billionth time Chat Noir's been controlled, the physicality of the animation and voice acting did a decent job of making it funny.

It was also neat that the Akuma's powers got to be used against them, with Nathaniel finally stepping forth and taking back control from his mother (side note: I loved his transformation literally having him come out of the closet, the animators knew exactly what they were doing).

I know I've ignored them most of the episode, but I will say that Marinette and Adrien were adorable as usual! And I love that he feels comfortable enough with her to tease!

Then there was the ending. I'm so glad Nathaniel's parents came to accept his love of comics (and Marc). It was a sweet moment of acceptance that not everyone is lucky enough to have, so I'm glad we at least got a happy ending here.

I also really appreciate that little serious moment at the very end. I was expecting more Lila dialogue when the ominous music started playing, but having a serious moment where they discuss how they're attacked simply living their lives was a sad but pleasant surprise. It's cool that they're acknowledging a reality that so many people face every day. But I'm so glad these boys have each other in this!

And even if I know for a fact that the identity reveal is going to blow up in their faces one day based on the show's history, it still was so adorable and I loved the scene! Just the joy on each of their faces, knowing they're not alone, was so sweet!

Overall, I'm just really impressed with the writers this season! They're tackling a lot more serious topics in these one-off episodes, and honestly doing it far better than I ever expected from this silly love-square show. So many of these stories have resonated with me, and it's been really neat getting to see so much representation of different struggles. And it's especially cool to think about how these episodes could meaningfully impact the show's younger audience as well! These are the sorts of things I wish I saw more of growing up, it would have changed little miss shell's world for the better. So, keep up the good work Miraculous Team!

[ssoapp]

Absolutely love that this scene reinforces the point of the charms.

Her looking at Marc and Nathaniel and remembering what Ladybug told her: “Children should follow their own path, not a path that is planned for them.” I don’t think Shirel wanted to truly hurt her son; she was just very afraid for him, she knows how cruel the art world can be (and by extension the world to anything that dares to defy the norm) but I think seeing how much emotion and love he put into those illustrations made her realize how awful she was being. In this way, I think this scene works as her both accepting him as an artist and as himself.

[dcvina-claires]

even though renee isn’t in the books as much as some of the others, i’d argue that she’s on the same level as andrew and kevin in terms of importance, not necessarily because of her impact on the main plot but more because she symbolizes something these characters desperately need: hope. first of all, it has become increasingly obvious to me that she’s a narrative foil to neil. not only do they leave their sketchy pasts behind, change their names, and dye their hair, but their birth names (natalie, nathaniel) are incredibly similar. renee represents who neil would be if he actually processed his issues instead of running away from them (“i’m not proud of my past, but i’ll never heal if i hide it”). neil is so unsettled by renee because she’s the person who neil has been told for his entire life that it’s too dangerous to be. he dyes his hair to blend in. she dyes her hair to stand out. and she’s HAPPY. she’s not dead like neil’s been brainwashed to believe. then, of course, there’s her iconic friendship with andrew. i’m not going to say that she’s the only one who andrew likes, because we all know he’s very protective of his cousin, brother, and neil. however, renee is the only one who andrew never lashes out at. if renee hadn’t intervened when andrew was attacking allison, who knows what would’ve happened? finally, there’s her connection to jean. jean was denied color for years, surrounded by black and red, never thinking that he would escape. his first interaction with renee always stands out to me because for the first time, he’s left speechless. he sees renee and her rainbow hair and can do nothing but stare. how could he not fall in love with a girl who goes so directly against the rules of his abusers? and she gets him out of the nest. she’s the reason why he defies all the other drafts and stays alive. throughout the books, she grounds andrew, saves allison, and gives jean a reason to keep living. the events of all for the game and the sunshine court couldn’t have happened without renee. none of it could’ve. she was at the center of it all the whole time

[itsblubun]

Talking about Nathaniel and the homophobia allegory / artist themes in The Ruler because I am not sane (very unorganized thoughts ahead)

First of, oh my god the homophobia allegory. I have so many sporadic thoughts that I'll try my best to explain.

Homophobia is such a taboo topic, especially in children's cartoons, that it's incredibly refreshing to see miraculous of all shows tackle it with such forwardness. There's really not all that much sugarcoating, it's the story of a queer kid growing up in a homophobic household, having heteronormativity indoctrinated onto him, having to deal with close-minded family who refuse to support you, because they fully believe you're on the wrong path, making decisions that will "ruin your life", claiming your passions as "just a phase", and being threatened to live in isolation from your peers, the people you are most close with in the world due to being "a bad influence" on you.

They push their ideologies so hard on Nath that he actually goes through with what they say. He destroys his art, literally shreds the story he's worked so hard on because of his mother. She says so many times how she's going to "set him straight", saying that he needs to be "converted" to be successful or for the world to accept you. That his art is meaningless and immature and he needs to make "real art".

His father also adds onto it by saying the comic book knights should fall in love with the literal villain because "that's what people want to see". Like the relationship between the knights wasn't sentimental, like it was meaningless, like it wasn't love.

Marc's parents also show up for the first time, and they're the complete opposite. They're incredibly supportive, accepting, kind, and they absolutely love the script for their comic, saying that it clearly came from the heart. They let Marc express himself, they let Marc love who he wants to love. It's honestly a bit jarring to compare Marc's parents to Nathaniel's. (Nath always looks so sad with them oh my heart 😭)

But despite everything I just said, the ending is a really beautiful conclusion.

The comic knights get to be together, and Nathaniel finally gets the acceptance of his family. His mom finally accepts him for who he is, and supports the art he makes. Because it's so clear now, that it's from the heart. And that's the most beautiful thing art can be.

A lot of artists have dealt with invalidation, wether from uneducated people or other artists, for "not being professional" or "not what's expected to make in in the industry". Because these artists choose to make the art they want to, choose to express themselves and be bold.

Nathaniel's mom being an architect really sells the themes of art in the episode. She's strict, unbending, and she clearly has very closed minded views on what art should or shouldn't be made. In her standards, if it's not in a museum, it's not art. But that's just simply not true.

Art is a beautiful thing, in whatever form it is. It's pure, it's passionate, it's what makes us human.

While its incredibly refreshing to see such a bold queer allegory in a kids show, it's also beautiful to see the story of an artist like Nathaniel be put front and center and tackle the many sides and points of view that someone can have on your art.

Because, while his mom sees it as immature, his friends and boyfriend absolutely LOVE it. They adore the story they're telling and literally flock in a circle to be able to see it.

And then the fact that the episode ends with Marc and Nathaniel revealing their identities to each other, the same way the comic knights revealed theirs... Ties the allegory with a beautiful bow and ships it over straight to my heart.

I love this episode so much, and I seriously can't wait to see more. Miraculous team, you cooked.

[zoe-oneesama]

I know some are gonna say the whole bad parents shtick with ML characters is getting kinda stale (and I do agree a bit) but I honestly think Ivan and Nathaniel have had the best takes on it BECAUSE of the specifics of their situations (Ivan feeling pressure from his criminal father, Nathaniel being shunned by his parents for doing what he loves/totally not a homophobic parent allegory wink wink) and how they’re shown to persevere in comparison to characters like Adrien and Kagami that makes them so much more compelling

I mean, at least they're actually acknowledging that yeah. These parents are Wrong. Quite the step up from the past, honestly. And as you stated, the kids are Fighting Back, which I am SO glad they're finally allowed to do in this show.

Unfortunately a running sentence that I've had when discussing the episodes in Season 6 with my friends is "This is great! Um, feels kinda late." I think I'd care about this stuff more or at least not give it massive side eye or even compare it negatively if it just came sooner.

I'll give the show it's flowers, Ivan's plot in "El Toro De Piedra" was very interesting and compelling and I loved what they did with it.

(I wish it didn't have to be bogged down with Agreste Drama, but the comparisons were too obvious to not constantly flop back to it. Though I guess that's what the problem is, right? I would've cared about THIS Agreste Drama if 5 Seasons hadn't already broken me into just going numb when it's on screen.)

Same with Nathaniel, he finALLY got a GOOD EPISODE and it was genuinely so sweet and so...good? Like wtf it had no business being so good?

I felt a kinda like the Live Slug Reaction Meme though because unfortunately Marc/Nathaniel's origin story from "Reverser" is burned into my fucking skull, so it was lowkey TAINTED. A bitch never forgives or forgets, Nathaniel.

Anyway, glad for the outer class to get any kind of depth. Kinda wish it didn't take 6 Seasons to get here???? Trying to be grateful, can't help being bitter, that's where I land.

[inafieldofstarflowers]

Obviously the first chapter of The Foxhole Court lays the groundwork/provides background for a lot of parts of the series (Exy, the Foxes, who Andrew is, hints at Neil’s past, etc.), but I think one of the most important (& honestly masterful) things Nora does in it is establish the relationship between Neil, Exy, and Kevin.

When we meet Neil, he’s literally on the bleachers in pain from watching the Exy court be turned back into a soccer field, because that’s basically a crime to him. While yes, this is a funny comment because it’s so deeply dramatic, the following explanation that it’s the one thing Neil has never been able to let go of through all of the identities he’s held makes it clear that Exy is something more to Neil than just a game; rather, it’s a symbol of his lost childhood, of the way things might have been if he and his mother hadn’t run. Still, Neil is torn about the idea of pursuing Exy, because his love for it is warring with his mom’s instructions not to play again in order to remain safe and under the radar.

Enter David Wymack with a contract—or, really, Kevin Day with a contract.

Even Wymack says that Kevin is the one signing Neil. Kevin, who Neil met once as a child, when they played a game of Exy together. Kevin, who has spent the years Neil has been on the run building his skills to become a star Exy player. Kevin, who has a career it is obvious Neil has followed closely.

At this point, Neil reaches two important conclusions:

He would be in danger of losing everything if Kevin remembered him, but he doesn’t seem to

The offer of a contract doesn’t matter, because Neil Josten isn’t real—no matter “how much he liked being Neil Josten”

And this is where (in my opinion) things get very interesting: as Neil thinks about the offer to play for the Foxes—& therefore with Kevin—he thinks that he doesn’t want to give up Exy because “It was the only thing that made him feel real,” and then follows this up with the thought that “[His] past was locked in Kevin’s memories. It was proof he existed, same as this game they both played. Kevin was proof Neil was real.”

Since Kevin was first mentioned, it has been in relation to his Exy career—his partnership with Riko, the broken hand that halted his career briefly, signing to the Foxes, the speculation about Andrew’s impact on that choice—because that is the thing about him that matters to Neil—or, perhaps more accurately, it’s the only thing Neil really knows about him. Neil’s concerns about Kevin remembering him are so loud that they can make it easy to overlook the fact that Kevin and Neil aren’t reunited childhood friends, they’re just people who essentially had a really fucked up playdate once.

The thing is, that day is the one with the biggest what-ifs for Neil, and as a result, Kevin is wrapped up in those what-ifs: for Neil, it’s become a question of if I had stayed, would I have reached stardom like Kevin has? Exy and Kevin, while not fully interchangeable, are certainly inextricably linked in Neil’s mind, and they are also both tied up in Neil’s dreams and regrets.

Why does this matter? Two main reasons: first, having this background shows us why Kevin is so important to Neil: no matter how much Neil doesn’t want to be Nathaniel anymore, Nathaniel was the one who was real. The only things at the start of the series that give Neil Josten that same feeling are playing Exy and Kevin Day.

Second, we are immediately shown that Neil’s perception of Kevin is not entirely trustworthy, because its foundation is one traumatic childhood event followed by a years-long parasocial relationship. And, while Neil certainly gets to know Kevin better as the series goes on and they actually start spending time together, there are many moments where Neil views Kevin through a lens that is too close to being “Kevin=star Exy player,” which results in him misinterpreting Kevin’s meaning (ie after Kevin learns who he is and Neil thinks he’s just concerned about their season even though Kevin’s telling him to run) or simply brushing over other parts of his personality (ie when he buys into the “Kevin only cares about Exy” idea some of the others have said). By making us aware of this early, Nora is preparing us to examine what Neil’s saying for bias by showing that he isn’t an entirely reliable narrator, and it’s done so well in just a few pages.

[flyzzle]

I redesigned both Sabrina and Nathaniel yesterday! Sorry nate, you don't get a second drawing. I'm pretty sure my right Sabrina looks very similar to someone else's because I saw it once but I don't actually know how much of it is similar to theirs? I hope it's not just copy paste? She's so cutie. Nathaniel just gets a random outfit that I found cute. I was going to add paint splatters but we don't rlly see him paint? He usually draws right? But his s6 outfit has paint splatters. I dunno, he's cutie. And I love Domo. Had to give someone in ml a Domo shirt. Lalala!!