#i mean I have known of his existence for 11 years but I never looked beyond fr character who is a good surface drow until now

[minty-bunni]

Liking Astarion is an incredibly slippery slope into simping for Drizzt Do'Urden

[besaya-glantaya]

In an attempt to exorcise these thoughts from my brain (this movie has taken up residence in my soul), here is an incomplete list of the things I notice and love in Red White and Royal Blue.

1. Henry staring in utter disbelief at the frosting-covered whiskey tumbler Alex plops distractedly into his hand whilst pawing ineffectually at the mess all over Henry's shoulder. Comedy gold.

2. Nora pretending she doesn't know either of them and hiding her face as they scuffle in front the cake.

3. How Alex has Henry literally in his pocket while talking turkey.

4. During Henry's "what does it mean" crisis talk over The Kiss, the entire scene is dressed in bi flag colours. Nora is in pink, Alex in blue, with a purple poster in the background.

5. The soft "whoa" of the white house staffer, who walks into Nora's office just in time to hear her ask Alex: "How many guys have you been with?" She hesitates, stunned, and then looks as if she'd like the ground to open up and swallow her now, thank you very much.

6. His Royal Hardness making flustered small talk with the UK Prime Minister and the US President, while the FSOTUS goes in for a cheeky squeeze. You ridiculous, giddy, fools.

7. Ellen's exasperated "my son thinks he's a fucking comedian" look in reply to Alex's "The night is young, Ma" and his shit eating grin, before diplomatically, and very sensibly, removing the British PM from the vicinity of these two horny idiots.

8. Alex's warm and teasing delivery of "Are they known for their homosexual tendencies?" after Henry says he's "as gay as a maypole." Boy is smitten.

9. When Henry invites Alex to the charity polo match, his initial awkward nerves transition to fond derision when Alex's tells him, crestfallen, that he doesn't know how to play polo. Bless.

10. Henry on a horse. Very much in agreement with Alex on this one.

11. The interleaved editing of the polo match and tack room shenanigans. It reminds me strongly of the interlaced 'what if' scene in Steven Sodenburg's Out of Sight, which is executed at a far slower pace but delivers that same feel of two people being inexorably drawn to each other, almost as if events are fated to happen.

12. The lighting in the Paris cafe scene. God damn those are two beautiful men.

13. Henry's gleefuly bashful admission of innuendo in the Paris cafe. He's just given Alex his full Royal name, but its Henry Fox that's in control here and he's revelling in bringing every moment of his inner fantasies to life.

14. The heartbreaking disconnect between their two perspectives in the Paris walk scene.

That's some bullshit

It's my life

Doesn't mean you have to accept it

Alex has spent his life pushing defiantly against societal expectations. Henry has spent his life weighed down by them, isolated in a way that Alex only barely grasps.

15. I wish, with all my heart, that the fairytale political landscape of this movie was real.

16. The entirety of the morning after scene in the hotel room during the DNC is perfection and Zahra is the MVP. Matthew Lopez said he had no idea he was going to get that mini panic attack from Sarah Shahi and kudos to Sarah for that perfomance. Inspired.

17. How quickly and assertively Alex say "No" to Zarah's "would it make any difference if I told you not to see him again?"

18. The way Zarah says "Everytime I see you, it takes another year off my life." This phrase plays on loop in my brain during shitty work meetings.

19. The coming out scene with Alex and his Mom. A joyous balm for those of us who never got to experience that with our own parents.

20. Forehead touches. Ugh.

21. My brother in Christ, sharpen your knives Oscar, what did that pepper do to deserve that?

22. The catatonic state of sadness that Henry exists in after swimming away from Alex. My heart hurts.

23. The pride flags in the crowd outside Buckingham Palace. Again, can we all have this universe, pretty please?

24. The way Henry takes Alex's hand with such ease in public after the election win. If only Paris Henry could see you now.

[Exorcism sequel here]

[blanketorghost]

Okay hi hello I have seen a sudden new influx in EAH fans (hiiiii welcome <3) and while I am very happy to see this little fandom still be more than three pieces of lint and a paperclip, I am here to give y'all a list of already DEBUNKED EAH myths that somehow always show up whenever this happens every 1/2 years:

"Apple White and Raven Queen are related."

They are not. In Chapter 2 Episode 11 "Blondie Branches Out" there's a throaway line explaining how the 'Prince Charming' role is distributed between multiple unrelated Charming families. There is also no mention in any of EAH media of Apple and Raven being related. The only related characters are:

Poppy and Holly O'Hair (Twins)

Giles & Milton Grimm (Siblings, Milton is the oldest)

Cerise Hood and Ramona Badwolf (Siblings, order not specified)

Daring, Dexter and Darling charming (Siblings, Daring is the oldest and Dexter and Darling are fraternal twins)

Briar Beauty and Rosabella Beauty (1st Cousins)

Gus and Helga Crumb (1st Cousins)

The Hood/Badwolf sisters, Sparrow Hood (Distant cousins)

In Apple White's 'Royally Ever After' diary, the retelling of the Snow White fairytale has Apple be Raven's personal assistant that later overthrows her rule, meaning familial relation and them sharing a royal bloodline is not a necessary part of the narrative.

"XYZ Background character is the descendant of ABC fairytale character."

Unless directly confirmed by a GURU media employee or mentioned in the show, none of the background characters have a direct counterpart.

Most of the most famous background characters are actually cameos/based off of animators (pictured below):

The fandom wiki is not a reliable source given the fact it has no edit protection and the moderators are no longer active.

Be carefulnot to confuse popular hedacanons or fan designs (more often than not fanart by red_red_heels, boots.caitlin and/or theprincessswan on instagram)

"XYZ's fairytale parent is dead."

Unless specifically stated, this is also not true. Certain stories have a loophole or workaround that prevent major character death. So far we have been given confirmation of:

Cinderella (Unknown loophole): shown to still be alive in 'Ashlynn Ella's Story'

The Swan Queen (Turned into a swan forever): It is not known wether or not Duchess' mom gave birth to her while she was still a human or if she was born from an egg. Raised by her grandmother. It is implied her curse is generational.

The Little Mermaid (Happy Ending): The first time this loophole is mentioned explicitly (Meeshell's diary). She was given a happy ending and lives under the sea, unlike the original HCA story. Story variation further explained in 'Fairy Tail Ending'.

The Big Bad Wolf (Unknown loophole): Self explanatory.

Baba Yaga (Possible Immortality?): Self explanatory.

The Candy Witch (Version recorded in the Storybook of Legends confirmed to be inaccurate): Explained in 'Kiss and Spell'.

"Descendants killed EAH."

Look, I am as much of a Descendants hater as the next guy, but the unfortunate truth is that EAH was never as successful as Mattel expected it to be. Their style was too 'childish and girly' for kids who were already into Monster High, and their themes were far too complex for younger kids to fully grasp. So their target audience was unfortunately not very interested. This is coming from someone who was around 11-12 when EAH came out. As an existing MH fan, I was turned off by it as at that time kids were entering their more 'edgy' phase and wasn't willing to give it a chance.

What dealt the killing blow was Mattel and Disney severing their contract over the Disney Princess doll line due to decreasing quality, and then after the release of descendants with Hasbro, one of Mattel's biggest competitors.

-

There's probably some other myths I missed, but these are the most common/widely believed ones. I'll maybe reblog/update later with more myths as I come across them.

[angstywaifu]

The Lost Sister - Part 11

Synopsis: Xaden is known as an only child due to his sister who 'died' during the Rebellion. Little do they know she didn't die and has been so close this entire time.

Garrick Tavis x OC

A/N: Threshing is finally upon us! You finally get to meet Ophelia's dragon. Please let me know your thoughts on them. I would love to see it. I have left a photo of her dragon at the bottom, so if you do not want spoilers, do not go looking! The Lost Sister Masterlist | Masterlist

Threshing. The day we either walk out a rider or die trying to become one. Or come out without an dragon. And honestly I’m scared shitless. No amount of training can guarantee your survival, that’s all up to the dragons. As I look around the dining hall, I notice most of the first years are either eating small amounts of food or not at all. Some have even opted to skip the meal entirely. We’re all on edge today.

I force myself to eat another mouthful of food before pushing my plate away and making my way to threshing. I don’t get far before a hand grabs my arm and pulls me behind a pillar, my hands landing on the very solid chest of Garrick.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to pull you in so hard.” He says as he takes a step back, my hands falling to my sides.

For a moment we just look at each other, taking in the presence of each other. Besides me being dead for a few years, the last few weeks have been the longest we’ve ever gone without talking or being around each other. And judging by the slight shadows forming under his eyes as well as mine, it’s not doing either of us any good. I don’t know how I didn’t notice it at presentation day.

“Look, we don’t need to talk about that day. It can’t wait till after threshing.” He starts as he starts to nervously pace back and forth in front of me, his eye brows furrowed as he thinks about what he wants to say.

He stops in front of me, places his hands on my shoulders, his thumb tracing over the gauntlet patch that now adorns my uniform. A slight smile forming in his lips.

“But promise me you’ll do your best to come back out of there today.” His mouth opens as he goes to continue but he falls short as his eyes look down into mine.

He quickly pulls me into a hug tighter than the one he gave me on my first day here. I feel him instantly relax as I wrap my arms around him, and I’m sure he feels me do the same as I bury my head in his chest. He rest his head on top of mine, and I’m pretty sure I feel him press his lips to the top of my head.

“I don’t need to tell you good luck, you’re the best cadet in your year. Just make sure you come out alive, dragon or not. You’ve got this little one.” He whispers to me.

I don’t trust my voice right now with so many unspoken things between us. But I nod my head, which I know he feels by the way he tightens his grip on me for a brief second. Behind the pillar, tangled in our embrace, it almost feels like we’re in a world of our own. As if we’re far away from the reality of threshing that’s about to start. He releases his hold on me, and leans down and presses his lips to my forehead before departing. Garrick was never one to show emotion like that, so him leaving without another word doesn’t phase me. As he said we will talk after threshing. ———

The feeling I got in presentation day is back. Like something else is present in my mind. I look around for the glimpse of white but I find nothing. White dragons didn’t exist. I had to have seen something else that day. Another coloured dragon that had reflected off the sun weirdly. That had to be it. White dragons did not exist.

Are you sure?

The thought catches me off guard. Halting me in my tracks. I heard it in my head but it didn’t sound like my own. As if someone else was there. I look around the small clearing I’ve walked into but see nothing. I’m alone. Or so I thought.

Hot air cascades over me. The same hot air I felt on presentation day. Dragons breath. I turn slowly and come face to face with a large brown club tail dragon. It almost reminds me of Garrick’s dragon, but I know it’s not. Garrick has described his dragon to me before, and had even seen a projection of it in classes. Maybe Garrick and I would have matching brown dragons. But I know this dragon does not belong to me. It just doesn’t feel…. Right.

A loud thud echoes around the clearing, the ground shaking with it. The brown dragons eyes go wide before slowly stepping away. Almost as if it was… scared. In its eyes I catch a glimpse of white.

I slowly turn around, and behind me, perched on a large pile of rocks and boulders is one of the biggest dragon I’d ever seen. And the only white dragon I had ever seen. The white I’d seen on presentation day. But it’s not completely white. Its eyes, tips of its horns and dagger tail, and the webbing of its wings are all a bright crimson red. I’d seen red dragons before with white, or very light yellow bellies and under scales. But this dragon was the reverse of that. And honestly it was beautiful. I hear the brown club tail take off behind me, leaving me alone with the white dragon.

The dragon jumps off the rocks gracefully as it makes its way slowly over to me. Each step shaking the ground beneath me. When it’s close enough it leans its head down to me and looks me directly in the eyes. Up close I’m just reaching above its ankle.

Yes. You’re the one I’ve been looking for. Ophelia Riorson.

It’s the same voice I’d heard earlier. The same presence I had felt on presentation day. This was my dragon. The presence in my head changes to one of pride at my recognition of who this is. As if sensing the question I’m about to ask she speaks in my head.

You can call me Mealladh.

“Going to take me a bit to learn how to say that.”

She lets out a light chuckle at my remark. Good to know she can take a joke.

You will learn. We will hopefully have many years for you to get it right.

”I saw you. On presentation day. You were in the trees. Weren’t you?” I ask as I look her over.

Now that she is closer, I can see the underside of her is slightly darker than the rest. She’s grey underneath. Almost the perfect colour match to the clouds. She would be almost invisible from above.

She nods. I was there. I knew as soon as I saw you, that you would be my first rider. You are what I’ve been waiting for.

“Why me?” I ask her. She’s clearly not a young dragon. The way she holds her self, and the presence in my mind tells me she isn’t a new mature dragon. And if the leadership knew of a white dragon, we would have known about it. Why had she waited all this time? And why me?

Firstly I am not a white dragon. I am a red dragon. And the rest will come with time little one.

My eyes go wide at her nickname for me. The same nickname Garrick used for me.

She chuckles, hot air blowing over me. Now climb on, we have a show to put on. And I get the feeling we’re gonna cause a bit of commotion amongst your leadership when we land.

I climb up her leg with ease, and find my spot on her back easily and settle down. Clearly satisfied I’m in a good spot, she wastes no time on launching us into the air. In seconds we’re about the trees, soaring in the sky. In the distance I see the flight field. I didn’t realise how far I had walked. I must have been going faster than I thought. Mealladh puts me through a series of manoeuvres, seeing if I can keep my seat. But somehow I get it’s all for show, to please the leadership watching us down below.

A smile spreads across my face as we sore above the tree line, effortlessly gliding through the air. It almost feels like second nature to me. Like I was made for this. Made to be a dragon rider. But another part reminds me, Melgren had essentially trained me for this. I try to push the thought aside, but then it dawns on me. He will be in the flight field waiting. He will want to see if I survived threshing, and bonded a dragon he deemed worthy. Me bonding with Mealladh was definitely going to draw more attention to me from him.

As we start our decent I see we are one of the first ones back with only a few dragons down below. And I can feel all eyes on Mealladh and I. As we land nearly everyone takes a few steps forward as if they can’t believe what they’re seeing. I dismount from Mealladh with ease, and take a moment to look around the flight field. There’s only a handful of first years with dragons around me. None of them I recognise. I’m the first of my squad and wing to land.

Here goes nothing. I think as I start my walk down to the roll keeper and leadership, all looking at us with looks of disbelief.

You will be fine. Mealladh speaks in my head startling me. I’d almost forgotten she can hear my thoughts if I don’t shield her out. Not that I would want to.

About halfway to the roll keeper, a Brown Scorpiontail lands next to me, their rider dismounting in a rush, running around the front leg to look at me. Garrick. His eyes instantly meet mine and he smiles proudly at me. Relief evident in his eyes that I’ve made it back alive. Then his eyes shift to Mealladh behind me and his eyes go wide in disbelief. He looks up at Chradh who nods their head at Garrick, clearly having a conversation. Chradh must be why Garrick flew in so quickly. He must have sensed through the other dragons I had bonded.

I shift my focus forward as I near the roll keeper waiting for me. On her left is General Sorrengail. Violet’s mother. I had only met her a few times in my time at the college. She gives me a curt nod. On the roll keepers right. General Melgren. His eyes narrow at Mealladh and I.

“Interesting Dragon you have there Riorson. Different colouring for a Red Dragon.” Melgren states as I take my place. “Don’t think we’ve seen them before.”

I ignore his words and keep my focus on the roll keeper who is still staring at Mealladh behind me

“Ah, what is the name of your d-dragon? She stammers out nervously.

“Mealladh.” I state proudly before I turn to go back to my Dragon, not giving Melgren a chance to talk to me.

The entire way back I can feel his eyes on me. Watching my every move. I look up at Mealladh to see her glaring at Melgren behind me.

I don’t like him. A low growl echoes from her. I don’t have to turn to know she is talking about Melgren.

“Neither do I.” I swear I hear her chuckle at my response as I take my place beneath her as we wait for the other first years to come back.

Slowly the flight field fills with other first years and their bonded dragons. As I glance over the first years and their dragons, I see Garrick staring at Melgren who is still watching me like a hawk. Melgren is too focused on me to notice his gaze. If he did, Garrick would have a target on his back. Though something tells me he already does with the mark on his arm and how close he is to my brother.

It doesn’t take long for Melgren’s attention to deviate from me as Violet lands in the flight field with a dragon even bigger than mine. The unbonded black dragon at that. A flash of gold catches my eye and I spy the Golden Feathertail under the black dragons wing. The one others had talked about on presentation day. As Violet announces both the Black and Gold Dragon as hers, all hell breaks loose.

Part 12

@riorgail @going-through-shit @fw-gt @bbkissme99 @xceafh Ophelia's Dragon - Mealladh

[pet-genius]

"No one deserves to be praised for kindness if he does not have the strength to be bad" - La Rochefoucauld

And is that not just "Snape to a T," as @dementedlollipop had put it while I was contemplating making a meta?

I think I can relate to the concept of goodness vs. greatness in HP that I've been toying with for actual years. The distinction first comes up in Ollivander's shop, IIRC, where Ollivander remarks that Voldemort did things that were "terrible" but "great", which makes Harry uncomfortable. But of course it does, because Ollivander is literally calling his parents' murderer "great". And that word keeps coming up: "You could be great, you know," the Sorting Hat whispers to Harry.

What if Harry's praiseworthiness is not in ending up in Gryffindor, but in choosing his idea of goodness (which was naive, as he was only 11 and his only source of intel was Hagrid)?

Dobby has always known of Harry's greatness, but not of his goodness, because the too things are not the same. The main "lesson" of COS is that our choices make us who we are, but how many 11 year olds are offered the choice? How many children ended up in Slytherin because no one had warned them about that House, because they had no personal stake in where they would be? Harry is not only a Gryffindor but someone who might as well not have been, hence his goodness. Harry constantly grapples with the knowledge that he is actually not special and has no outstanding power, and Dumbledore constantly has to remind him - the power of love. The power of choice. Picture young Snape, torn between the two, with Lily representing an idea of goodness that is increasingly foreign to him as she aligns herself with people he has good reason to despise. On his other shoulder, greatness - as he conceives it - whispers. It might be telling him something like... "There is no good or bad. Only power and those too weak to seek it." Or even something like... "our choices make us who we are. Do you choose to stay weak or come under my wings and learn how to be strong?"

He has every power to be bad, because his tragic life made that path the easier one. At some point, it might have looked like the only option. Certainly Dumbledore would not have humored a young Snape who had never been corrupted to start with, by the way. What glory or greatness could the Order offer him?

Funnily enough, his biggest criticism of James is that he was "mediocre" and "arrogant," neither of which translates directly to a "violent bully" in my eyes. I don't want to make another post about James, but I do think it says a lot about what Snape valued - at least at the time when James had been alive, when Snape probably verbalized his criticisms.

"Ought implies can", Kant tells us, meaning (as I read it) that moral duty arises only when the possibility exists. But we don't deserve praise for merely doing as we ought. Snape deserves praise just as much as deserves condemnation, because his story has always been that of choice between viable options. The option to be good must have seemed less viable when he was a short-sighted and traumatized teenager, but he always had it. Greatness, and goodness, praiseworthiness... belong to the adult we met, the petty and vindictive and still-traumatized and still embittered man who - even after killing Dumbledore, when capitalizing on his strength to be bad could not be easier - still chose the struggle. It feels like a good point to end the meta, except that I read it and I feel ridiculously self-important and like I barely skimmed the surface. I guess the quote in the title just really encapsulates why Snape is so endlessly fascinating, on top of just being, ultimately - good.

[asordinaryppl]

A3! Main Story: Part 4 - Act 13: Budding Spring - Episode 11: Pause & Pose

Citron: << I don’t see anything wrong with this. >>

Staff: << Understood. Also, there is one more thing– >>

Staff: << As Citronia-sama’s activities become more widely known, the interest in foreign arts and culture increases. >>

Staff: << There have been discussions about proposing the invitation of foreign performances. >>

Citron: << That sounds brilliant. Let’s try discussing it with my father. >>

Staff: << I will create an outline as soon as possible, then. >>

Citron: << I will also keep an eye on promising theater companies and the like. >>

Staff: << I appreciate that. I will create an outline in time for the International Arts Festival, so please wait for a while. >>

Citron: << About that… Please put my attendance confirmation on hold due to scheduling reasons. >>

Staff: << Would you like to have someone else go in your stead? His Majesty said this is a good opportunity to promote Zahra overseas… >>

Citron: << No, if we are going to participate, I am the right person for it. I just have some work piled up. Give me some time. >>

Staff: << Understood. >>

Citron: …

-

[Keyboard keys clicking]

Tsuzuru: … *exhales*

Masumi: … It’s 12.

Tsuzuru: Are you some kinda time announcer? It’s okay. I’ll take a break soon.

[Phone vibrating]

Masumi: …

Tsuzuru: Answer properly if it’s someone you know.

Masumi: I know.

Masumi: … I’m gonna call them back, so leave the room.

Tsuzuru: Eh? You’re making me leave?

Masumi: Hurry.

Tsuzuru: Okay, okay. I got it.

-

Tsuzuru: (Could he have just been trying to get me to take a break?)

Tsuzuru: (Guess I’ll eat and then go for a walk…)

-

Clerk: Welcome. You may sit wherever you like.

Tsuzuru: …

Syu: Oh, if it ain't Minagi-sensei.

Tsuzuru: Eh—

Tsuzuru: (Otomiya-san in a café is kinda… Should I say surprising? Should I call it a mismatch? … I’d understand if we were in a bar.)

Syu: It’s not like I only go out to drink, y’know.

Tsuzuru: (He saw right through me…)

Syu: Are you alone? Hang out with me for a bit.

Tsuzuru: I am. Then, excuse me…

Tsuzuru: (He even acts like we’re in a bar.)

Syu: Man, that Yukio’s really done it now.

Tsuzuru: Eh?

Syu: The Fleur Award.

Syu: This is Yukio we’re talking about, so all he’s thinking is probably things like “Theater is the best” and “It’d be fun if everyone could aim for the Fleur Award ♪”

Syu: He hasn’t stopped to think about the people who got caught up in this and are all confused.

Tsuzuru: Haha…

Tsuzuru: (It’s really starting to feel that way…)

Syu: So, how’s it going? Do you have a winning strategy?

Tsuzuru: Ah, we’re thinking of doing sequels to our debut performances…

Syu: Heeeh. That sounds interesting.

Tsuzuru: It’s just, this is my first time writing a sequel. I’m worried about how to plan it and what people are expecting of me. My pen’s feelin’ heavy, so to speak.

Syu: Isn’t the way you always go about it fine? Isn’t that why you chose to make a sequel of your debut?

Tsuzuru: I mean, I guess that’s true.

Syu: Well, if you need some more help— 

Tsuzuru: ?

Syu: … Have you heard of Director Akazaki?

Tsuzuru: Eh, I have. Isn't he pretty famous?

Syu: As a director and a scriptwriter, he holds a scriptwriting camp once every few years to nurture new talents.

Syu: He's holding it again this year, so he asked me if I know any promising young scriptwriters.

Syu: I was thinking of recommending you, but it looks like you’re too busy for it.

Tsuzuru: A scriptwriting camp… Such a thing exists?

Syu: Scriptwriters that participated in the past have won theater awards overseas, and have been selected for major dramas. The record’s good.

Tsuzuru: I’ve never participated in something like that before. I’m really interested.

Tsuzuru: But, considering the results of 1Q will be announced in three months, I think now’s not the time to participate in something like that…

Tsuzuru: (It’s a tempting new challenge, but given the timing, I don’t think I can accept it.)

Tsuzuru: If there’s a next time, I’d definitely want to participate.

Syu: Got it. I’ll let you know when that time comes.

Syu: As I said before, it’s fine if you stay the way you are, Minagi-sensei.

Syu: If you’re going back to the start, you should ask your past self to teach you about your debut script.

Syu: What do you want to write? That’s the kind of thing that’d appear most clearly in your first work.

Syu: Writing what you want to write’s one of the better parts of working for a particular theater. This sequel is something no one other than you can put out.

Syu: If you get the chance to do what you want, you should take it. Before it gets to a point where you can’t do anything at all, that is.

Tsuzuru: — —

Tsuzuru: (That’s true. He can’t read Hakkaku-san’s sequels anymore.)

Tsuzuru: (And if the rules for the Fleur Award hadn’t changed, we might’ve never brought up the talk of sequels.)

Tsuzuru: (That’s how it was with the original RomiJuli. I just blindly clung to the opportunity given to me.)

Tsuzuru: (Thinking this might be my first and last chance, I was willing to do everything I could.)

Tsuzuru: (Then, now too—)

previous episode | masterpost | next episode

NOTES:

(1) the episode title is two words written in the same way (ポーズ) but denoted just slightly differently, i went with pause and pose by ear

[symwinter]

So… about that Miraculous rewrite, what do you have in mind?

Okay, thank you for asking, I appreciate it. I’ll try and make this as concise as possible, because there’s a lot and I tend to ramble, so I’ve made it in the form of a numbered list:

1. I don’t plan on redeeming Chloé. I feel like despite actually knowing why Chloé didn’t get redeemed, there’s a pretty decent lesson about how entitlement doesn’t mean you get what you want that they definitely also could’ve gone with of if they were a bit smarter with it.

2. No zodiac kwami. They’re the bane of my existence. Why are two of them time travel based in power?

3. Adrienette is the endgame couple.

4. As of right now I’m sitting at three seasons, each one being 16 episodes plus three specials but I might either add a season four or make season three longer. One of the specials is the alternate dimension one. I love the concept of it.

5. I also gave the show an actual timeline. Because the Christmas specials says it’s Adrien’s first Christmas without his mother, but then season one has the Valentine’s Day episode which means it’s February and then the school year in France starts in September so if we look at season one as somewhat chronological, it means the Christmas special is wrong and that drove me crazy so I just redid the whole timeline. Because it would be his second Christmas without his mom.

6. Nathalie doesn’t have an unrequited crush on Gabriel. I never quite got that.

7. Any rich kid that was a sentimonster isn’t one anymore. The peacock miraculous doesn’t create sentimonsters but rather charms enemies as its main skill.

8. Adrien has more of a backbone than he does is canon and Marinette’s crush on. Adrian is a bit more healthy.

9. Rather than using potions to unlock new skills, the kwamis can manifest them themselves. They just need to expend extra energy and there are just some situations where that’s more difficult. I just feel like the book and the potions and the rennlings from the Shanghai special make the kwamis feel less like something ancient powerful and more like a tool. And also because Frozer takes place in January/February and Syren takes place in March/April (both are season two episodes though).

10. Up until the collector, Natalie didn’t know that Gabriel was Hawkmoth and agrees to wear the butterfly miraculous in order to get Gabriel to let Adrien go back to school and not be able to pull them out for a stupid reason anymore otherwise she’ll just go to the cops and be like “my boss is the supervillain.” She does this again in Simon Says but with Adrien’s love life as a preemptive caution.

11. Adrien is in the finale battle. I don’t get why they didn’t include him in season 5.

12. Emilie Agreste is a famous actress so her disappearance (aka I haven’t quite settled on what I want to do with her) is a lot more well-known to the public.

13. I am planning on renaming both of Felix‘s parents. I just haven’t quite settled on names yet.

I think that’s all I got right now. I’ve mainly been focussing on the timeline and the episode list and any changes to episodes rather than the characters themselves which feels counterproductive, but it’s just the way that my brain works, especially since I find it really difficult to think out Marinette and Adrien as individuals. My brain kinda just weaves them together.



[riderofblackdragons]

Struggles and Sorrows and Skin

Day 11: Seeing Double | convenience store | loneliness | "leave no trace behind, like you don't even exist"

Surprise! I've actually managed to get this one out early in the day! And the reason for that is bc I wrote this pretty much at the same time as yesterday's, lol. So here's a return to Seal Be With Ye, ft pre-vampire Mikael and Elijah :) I'm apparently on a role with Mikael being a semi decent person.

If anyone has any specific AU they want more of, send me an ask or something and I'll see what I can do :)

Hope you enjoy!

It was a curious thing. Elijah remembered his birth, the way he'd yowled as he'd come into the world, and the way he'd screamed as his coat was taken off of him. A sea birth, he believed. It was never a good omen to have a woman give birth onboard, so his father had tossed Elijah's mother into the sea to give birth.

The memories fizzled out after that, in Elijah's mind, until they'd picked back up when he was around two years of age. Still on the boat, but no mother around to help him - and able to hear things, and see, and feel something other than the cold of the sharp wind around them. There was a woman around who he'd assumed was his mother, at the time, had assumed for years, but she'd always rebuffed Elijah aside from when she was feeding him.

She'd weaned him so much earlier than any of his siblings, he'd later learn. Because of course she would. Elijah wasn't her child. He was the child of her husband's thrall, the slut who'd taken to Mikael's bed, bearing him an heir in exchange for her coat back. After the birth, Elijah's mother had vanished, like she'd never existed in the first place, aside from the wailing baby she'd handed up to Mikael, complete with the baby's own coat.

Esther had never really understood the meaning of the coat, but Mikael had. He'd taught Elijah about it too, making sure he knew just how important it was that he kept his coat away from all others. Especially Mikael's wife, who proved herswelf to be willing to damage and destroy Elijah's belongings, as a sort of punishment to her husband's bastard child.

Mikael's favouritism towards a child not Esther's hurt her, and that, Elijah could understand. His father wasn't subtle about giving Elijah preferential treatment, after all, even if Elijah would rather he hadn't. If it would have kept his half-siblings from facing Mikael's wrath, Elijah would have given up everything, but he'd learned early on that it wasn't the way to go.

Even though Mikael had named Elijah after the child Esther had been carrying, that she'd miscarried at the time of Elijah's birth. He was confident that it was the other main reason she hated him. She'd never called out to Elijah by his name, only using words such as "boy" or "hey you". It hurt Elijah too, but he understood. He had to. If he didn't, then things would get worse.

Ultimately, the only true freedom Elijah had was in the ocean. In the trips Mikael would take him on, once a month, for a week over the full moon, to the ocean. Ostensibly, it was to avoid their neighbours, the wolves in the village, when they'd turn on the full moon. But Elijah knew it was also a gift to him - to allow him to slip into his sealskin, and swim and hunt and dive and play in ways that he was never allowed to under Esther's watchful eye.

It was Mikael's way of apologising to Elijah, that he didn't have his mother anymore. That he'd never know her, not her true name (for Mikael had always known the name she'd given him wasn't really hers), not what she looked like, not any secrets that her selkie parents had passed down to her. Elijah would get nothing, and Mikael was a man of few words. This had to be enough.

Tag List: @captain-effy @what-the-fuckis-happening

If anyone wants to be added lmk!

[thereconstructinggirl]

The Reconstruction After the Deconstruction: The Tower Falls

I remember the day that my faith finally crumbled around me. It was June 19, 2020, and it started like a pretty normal day working at K-Kountry in Branson, Missouri. I remember going about my day in the kitchen, visiting my kids during free time, reminding other campers to keep their face coverings on because COVID-19 was wreaking havoc on society around us, and feeling all of the joy that came with my summers at Kanakuk Kamps.

I remember being pulled aside by the head women’s director and told that my mom had called to let me know my great-grandfather, my last living blood-related great-grandparent, had passed away.

No.

I knew he was old and sick but no. Pop was the strongest man alive he couldn’t die yet. Not while I’m trapped in a place states away from my family and leaving means I can’t come back.

I can’t imagine what I looked like trying to walk calmly to the front office to retrieve my phone and call my dad. I can’t imagine what the poor girl who asked me if I had permission to get my phone as I burst into tears was thinking while I used what little strength I had left to not jump the desk and get it myself. She was just doing her job, and I was simply experiencing grief like I hadn’t known in a long time.

A girl I knew pulled me into a hug and attempted what every evangelical Christian uses to comfort someone who just lost a loved one.

“He’s with our Lord. He’s not suffering anymore.”

And while that would usually bring me a lot of comfort, my Pop was an atheist. According to his beliefs, his existence ended the moment he took his last breath. His body would be lowered into the ground, and that was it. According to my belief, the kindest man I ever knew and who never let the horrors of war he experienced color his view of people who were different than him was in Hell.

Nobody knew what to do after that. Pop was stubborn. We didn’t call him an ironhead for nothing. I knew that there was no way that he would have some eleventh-hour spiritual awakening and suddenly accept Jesus as a savior or belief in God.

They let me take the evening off. I brought my dinner, my Bible, and the tarot deck I had snuck in my backpack down to the dock. Eventually, kids would file into the lower field because of course tonight was a party night. And as a hundred or so 7-11-year-old boys and girls from around the country (but mainly Missouri, Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee) played a summer camp-friendly spy-themed scavenger hunt, I was asking God why. Why did my incredible great-grandfather who I knew was such a good person deserve to be in Hell forever for simply not believing?

I pulled The Tower.

If you know anything about tarot and about how to read and interpret the cards, you know that it’s one of the most feared cards by novice readers. In simple terms, it symbolizes chaos, sudden change, and destruction.

This card was the final straw in what I felt was my already dissolving faith. I had just figured out I was queer, I was discovering “witchtok” and finding comfort in divination through tarot cards, and there was no more ignoring that the world around me was burning. If there was a God, He was cruel and unforgiving. He let young black men be murdered by the very police officers who had sworn to protect them. He let a deadly virus bring the world to a screeching halt (and my study-abroad ventures be ripped from my hands). He let a man who meant the world to me go to Hell just for being an atheist.

I went from being an active member of the Religious Life Leadership Team at my college to literally never stepping foot into the office again for my last two years of school. A place where I had felt nothing but acceptance despite not being Methodist or being pre-ministry, suddenly brought me anxiety. The Wesley ministry group I was an active member of that welcomed queer people and questioners sent me into fight or flight mode.

Because I had experienced such a sudden change in attitude at the summer camp I had given 13 years of my life to, who’s to say that these people who have barely known me for two years wouldn’t treat me the same?

Not only did I start the grueling and mentally taxing process of deconstruction alone, but I searched for liberation in the ancient traditions of my long-dead ancestors. So I started calling myself pagan. It brought me comfort and confidence, but I was still angry and scared. I began calling myself a practitioner, because "witch" never felt quite right. I reclaimed my personal power that I was often led to believe was sinful.

When I moved across the country from my family and friends after graduating college, I found myself falling out of my practice. I found myself sobbing watching Midnight Mass on Netflix and sitting in the parking lots of a local Episcopal or Unitarian Universalist church near my apartment in Tucson. Never going in, but simply sitting and listening to the ringing bells. I found myself driving up to my favorite lookout on Mt. Lemmon to feel as close as I could to anything divine.

I didn't want to admit that I didn't know who I was or what I believed any more.

Now I sit here, almost done with my first year of graduate school, and a kind of regular at an Episcopal cathedral where I live now. I contemplate confirmation (since I was never confirmed as a child) and even contemplate going to seminary.

I still can't call myself a Christian. That term comes with baggage that I'm not ready to tote around again quite yet, but maybe I will get there again.

I still read tarot and still pray to and work with Brigid, but she's morphing into St. Brigid now.

I find myself praying again and opening up my Bible app to read the verse of the day.

I read my favorite book of the Bible regularly to remind myself that the theology that does not include justice for the disenfranchised is not the theology for me.

My hope is that this blog will document my thoughts as I begin to formally reconstruct the faith that shattered right before my eyes.

~ The Reconstructing Girl

[toomanyplotbunnies-sendhelp]

Hello and welcome to Day 15 of "Let's Explore My Plot Bunnies"

Today, I have a plot bunny that has been on and off in my brain for the last *checks notes* 3 years now. It is a crossover between Yokai Watch (the 3 main games; not the anime) and My Hero Academia. Why? Clearly, my brain likes crossovers with My Hero Academia way too much. *looks over at the other MHA crossovers and crack fics I have noted down* Yeah, my brain likes this wayyyyy too much. *sigh*

The title for this fic is: Crank-a-Hero. Get it? It's a combination of the Crack-A-Kai machine and the word Hero... (OK, inner-Cyno plz stop)

And, because clearly myself from 3 years ago was way more productive, I have the first two games already mapped out and with the number of chapters + titles for them too. (I WANT TO BE PRODUCTIVE AGAIN)

Because of this, I will go and explain the plot by referencing this list of chapters, and I will point out the chapters that are more interesting from a plot perspective

As you can see, book 1 (aka the remake of Yokai watch 1) is 30 chapters long. The story starts with an 11-year-old quirkless Izuku venturing deep into the woods after being dared by Katsuki and his friends to find and catch a bigger and cooler bug than them in their "Bug Catching Competition". Izuku ends up finding the Crank-a-Kai Machine in the woods that he was exploring and meets Whisper, his newly self-proclaimed Yokai Butler. Whisper introduces Izuku to the existence of Yokai, creatures that can not be seen by humans under normal circumstances, and to the invention known as the Yokai Watch, a wristwatch that can help you see Yokai.

And so Izuku’s adventure into the world of Yokai begins. In this fic, Izuku will make new friends (human and yokai) and slowly learn what friendship truly means. I wanna mention that Izuku will meet some of his future U.A. classmates in this. Because they will meet early, they become friends early and, in some cases, this might prove very favorable depending on how the 1st year at U.A. goes on.

The first future classmate Izuku befriends early is Tokoyami, whom Izuku meets in Chapter 5. Personally, I always felt like Dark Shadow would love Izuku to bits, and I feel like Izuku would help Tokoyami with Quirk control a lot since Izuku is smart. Coming up with a new control exercise for Tokoyami and Dark Shadow would take time, yes, but it won't be impossible to do.

The second one Izuku meets is Aoyama in chapter 10.... look, I was thinking about this fic before Aoyama's spy identity was revealed... buuut.... I am not opposed to Double Spy!Aoyama in this fic. You never know. Izuku is very perceptive, especially when it comes to his friends. So, this is very possible... also, Aoyama is just the type of person I can see losing their mother's ring in a pond, so there is the main motivation for this choice.

The third will be Shoto. They literally met on a train ride when Izuku goes to Inko's office (she is a lawyer in this) because Inko forgot some important documents in chapter 14. Izuku doesn't quite recognize Shoto as Endeavor's child, so when they start a conversation, Shoto has a surprisingly peasant time talking with Izuku. Even after Shoto introduces himself, Izuku just behaves like Shoto is a normal person (which he is) and not like he is some new upcoming hero because of his father. Izuku even asks if Shoto wants to be a hero instead of assuming it; all in all, their first meeting is sweet, and they do become friends too.

The last future classmate Izuku meets is Kaminari in chapter 20. How did they meet, you ask? Why, it was a school visit to the museum, of course. Both of their schools had a visit at the same museum on the same day. And these two met there. Honestly, I do think if they met early, they would be fast friends too. So yeah, that is kinda all for meetings in the 1st book.

(And yes, Lucas goes to Izuku's middle school, but Lucas is not in Izuku’s class)

Also, the final chapter takes place on Izuku's birthday because I want these 4 to be like, "I am gonna surprise Midoriya on his birthday," and they met on the train to Musutafu. They also become friends with each other that way too.

And now, we move onwards to Book 2 (aka the Yokai Watch 2 rewrite):

This book takes place in the next year after book 1.

The first chapter I wanna point out for you guys is chapter 7 because that is the chapter where Katsuki says the (infamous) line: "Go and take a dive off the roof and pray you get a Quirk in your next life". In this version of events, however, Katsuki says this line one year early (they are both at the end of their 2nd year of middle school here) and thus, Izuku doesn't met All Might or the Sludge Villain. Instead, Izuku, after one year of having good friends - both humans and yokai - decides to let Katsuki win this one. Izuku finally stands up for himself and tells Katsuki that if he doesn't want to be friends with him anymore, then fine, they are not friends anymore and leaves. Inko, seeing Izuku upset, thinks maybe a change of scenery will do him good and asks Izuku if he wants to go to his grandparents' place (and yes, Yakumo Village is a reference to Izuku’s early design being called Yakumo). Izuku accepts and invites Shoto to go with him since apparently their grandparents from their fathers' side reside in Yakumo Village. Shoto ends up being introduced to the Yokai World because of Hovernyan. Also, no one told Katsuki that Izuku is at his grandparents' house... so there is a ton of guilt with Katsuki here. (Don't worry, by the time U.A. rolls around Katsuki will be a bit better in anger management than in canon; it's a start at least)

Now, chapter 19 is a bit more related to the One for All plot because... well, everything is possible in time travel. And it's even worse if the time travel malfunctions for a bit, sending you into the older-than-60-years-ago past. This is all I can say without outright spoiling everything.

The last chapter of interest here is chapter 25... If you watched/read the Sports Festival Arc from My Hero Academia, you know what this chapter entails. But the line might not come only from whom you expect it to.

Chapters 29 and 30 are recaps and a bit of a setup for the plot of Yokai Watch 3. I have yet to finish the Yokai Watch 3 chapter list, mostly because in Yokai Watch 3, we have split story lines, and Shoto becomes the 2nd protagonist there. So the planning kinda confuses me a bit, but I will update this post when I actually finish book 3.

Other things I wanna mention:

This is definitely a slow burn TodoDeku fic. They will be getting together later in the story, but for book 1-3, they are kids, and they should remain kids. Their relationship might advance after the 1st year at UA.

Izuku doesn't quite get a Quirk in this, but I want him to befriend Yokai and for his watch to be able (at one point during or after book 3) to absorb a Yokai and give Izuku that Yokai's power for a limited amount of time. Shoto could have something similar with his Yokai Watch, too.

Tokoyami, Aoyama, and Denki find out about Yokai in Book 3. Denki learns to control his electricity better from Zappary, a Yokai with electric powers. Tokoyami would get along with a Tenglum for sure. I can see Aoyama probably starts gossiping with Cupistol or Dazzabel.

As stated before, Katsuki gets better, and he kinda mends his friendship with Izuku. Whisper and Jibanyan still wanna claw his eyes out. Shoto, Tokoyami, Denki, and Aoyama aren't too impressed either, but as long as Izuku is happy, they will keep their opinions to themselves. (Katsuki, pray you never hurt Izuku again cause you will have to watch out for both humans and yokai that will wanna kill you)

And this is kinda it. Again, the chapter list for Book 3 is still not finished, so until I finish that, I don't wanna talk too much about it. But, other than that, this is all I wanted to ramble about for now.

So, what do you think? Good? Bad? Is it a crossover crack? (The answer to the last one is yes.) Let me know!

I hope you have a great day/night and take care of yourselves!

See you tomorrow,

-TooManyPlotBunnies-Send Help

[peakwealth]

You Run

Vladimir Putin, flanked by airline cabin crew (reportedly Aeroflot trainees), shortly before ordering the invasion of Ukraine.

Two recent quotes stick in my mind. The first one was by an American woman who escaped from a mass shooting incident after the US Super Bowl in Kansas City. (One dead, twenty-two injured.) Interviewed minutes later on TV, she said: In this day and age, you run.

I forget where I saw the second quote but I thought of it after Donald Trump threatened to pull the plug on NATO, should he be re-elected this year: It's as if the devil had changed sides.

Near panic broke out across Europe. Trump was willing to throw European countries, previously known as America's allies, to the wolves.

Vladimir Putin, do as you please. Ukraine, prepare to be sacrificed. And by extension, Taiwan, your time is up.

I keep coming back to this: the West isn't what it used to be. I think of myself as fortunate to have grown up in a 'eurocentric' world order, or the outcome of the second world war if you prefer. It may have been delusional but it was printed on perfume bottles: PARIS - LONDON - NEW YORK.

In reality, eurocentrism and the colonial empires that created it were already faltering by the time I came into this world. It took, however, a long time to see and accept it. As for the 'American century', it ended in 2001 with the apocalyptic scenes of 9/11 in New York City. As the towers collapsed, the world pivoted into a new era. To put it differently, the world was changing hands.

---------------

On February 24 2022 I woke up in a small hotel south of Granada and went downstairs to have coffee at the bar. I flipped open my tablet and there it was:

RUSSIA ATTACKS UKRAINE

Until then I - we - had assumed there existed a fundamental contract with European history, immovably rooted in postwar reality and shared by all: never again, no more major wars in Europe. No one in their right mind would want to mess with that contract.

Except that Vladimir Putin had just ordered his army across the border into Ukraine.

Now I wake up every day and want to hit my head against the wall as the Russian war of aggression grinds on. Grind, meat grinder, human waves, trench warfare. The words are all desperately wrong.

After two years of daily annihilation, hundreds of thousands of lives casually erased or ruined, it goes on and on. Both sides, it has been reported, are running short of young men to waste at the front.

We do not know exactly what goes on on those front lines. We hear about Russian soldiers dispatched to their deaths as a matter of course. But we do not get to see that, nor do we get any real casualty numbers. At the beginning of the war, things were more graphic, the bodies photographed where they had fallen. Two years on, we don't know. But the broken, blasted cities tell the story, as they do in Gaza: not many people walk away alive.

And now no one seems quite sure what to do about Ukraine. The war looks unwinnable because Putin does not care about the cost in human lives.

Why fight if you can't win? Is a negotiated settlement still possible? Land for peace would mean the partition of Ukraine accepted as a fait accompli. But can there be peace without justice for Ukraine, which would effectively be sacrificed in the hope of keeping Putin's Russia in check? Putin, however, cannot be trusted, nor can Trump for that matter.

Should Trump return to the White House, a new world order might emerge overwhelmingly inimical to the west or what would be left of it. It might not even be clear where the USA would position itself. As for the loss of Ukraine, in whole or in part, it would be like small change.

You can go on like this, endlessly turning over the options and arguments in your head, none of them acceptable: Ukraine's outright surrender? Or an indefinite ceasefire that would humiliate Kyiv but leave it attached to Europe?

Faced with a historic opportunity to rewrite everything, a moment of dizzying recalculation of how the planet works and who's boss, it is hard to imagine that China would hesitate to seize the moment. Others would follow, like India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa, Brazil, eventually lining up with Russia in an historic act of opportunism and Schadenfreude.

In this day and age, you run. The devil has changed sides.

A lot is at stake in 2024.

[exantivancrow]

Hi!! A bit late rip but 2, 3, 6, 11 from the pride asks for hanna, fen, and anyone else you'd like! c:

laya, the light of my life, tysm!!! quick rundown of the bg3 ocs:

fen's my non-tav half drow halsin romancer, nature domain cleric of yondalla (listen, the underdark sucked) guild artisan

hanna's my witcher oc i borrowed for my first run when i got decision paralysis on the cc; human battlemaster fighter outlander who is also romancing halsin in her run bc he's eskel-coded

alecto's my gith oath of vengeance paladin soldier romancing astarion (and probably also halsin...... we're not gonna talk about it)

2. What's your oc's orientation? (Romantic, sexual, platonic, alterous, etc.) Do they have opinions about it?

Fen: Pansexual, bisexual, no matter your opinions on what label works best, if you're hot she's into it. She thinks it's kinda fascinating that this isn't the consensus on attraction. On the aromantic spectrum somewhere, because I'm incapable of making allo characters.

Hanna: She's pretty sure she's heterosexual; she has slept with more than just men, but she finds herself primarily focusing on men. She leads a busy stressful complicated life so if someone offers, that's all that matters, she'll take it, but she's not as into it as she could be. She's never really dedicated time/effort to figuring out more because she's got a busy stressful complicated life, but she is demiromantic.

Alecto: Their perception of sexuality (whoever is strong is attractive) is the only correct way. Astarion is strong in spirit, and in combat, if not in body, and he's not helpful in explaining how it works for people not raised in a creche, he's also drawn to strength.

3. How did your oc discover themselves? Did something cause them to question or have they always known?

Fen: She's always known. She's been through a lot of different cultures, and understood from her beginning how she worked.

Hanna: Was hit on by a gorgeous tiefling woman within her first year on the road, and thought "oh I can't pass up this opportunity", and then didn't enjoy it as much as she figured she would. Spent the next couple years finding the pattern before realizing she just wasn't as into women as she originally thought.

Alecto: The gith way is the only right way. Everyone born in the creche knows this.

6. How does your oc feel about labels? Theirs, or in general?

Fen: Likes learning new ones! Both for herself and others. She thinks they're neat.

Hanna: Doesn't mind labels, but doesn't use them herself; does her absolute (hehehe) best to respect others'.

Alecto: Thinks labels are restrictive until someone tries to explain otherwise, and they just find that more confusing. Why say you fit into a category if that's not always true, then you're lying about it? Zheir friends mark it a lost cause. She isn't rude about it on purpose though, he's just genuinely confused.

11. Is your oc open about their identity? Are they more blunt or lowkey? Why or why not?

Fen: Has a thing about sharing personal information needlessly, is not open about it.

Hanna: Is blunt if asked, has no problem with being open about it, but non-maliciously considers it to be a waste of conversation. We could sit around and talk about objective statements about each other, or we could go take care of someone who needs help. She has a preference.

Alecto: Is, in fact, too blunt about it. Karlach once made the mistake of saying that talking to people about it is a way of showing you trust them, and listening to people about it is a way of showing you care, and now she brings it up (in too much detail) when she's trying to make friends. Her existing friends have to explain "it means she likes you".

looking at this, glad to see they're all as autistic as I am, lmaoooo; my new bg3 blog @lastlightinternet will feature more of these kiddos eventually! thanks for the ask laya!!

[semuji]

A crossover I have been brainrotting about:

⚠️Grammar errors, kind of like a rant?, I want to talk about my thoughts and alternatives, not to stir things up between this two things so bear with me please.

I've just done watching the full gameplay of final fantasy 7 and Sephiroth is making me feel every aspect of emotions I didn't think I would feel about a fictional character. And along with that, I'm getting back on my Frieren addiction, so when I thought about it, Frieren and Sephiroth is kind of similar.

Appearance wise, they looked kind of the same. White grey hair and bright color eyes. Frieren got this emerald light eyes with a somewhat distant aspect in it and Sephiroth with his cat-like pupils in those cyan mako eyes. Clothing, Frieren wore a color of white with some gold and red sprinkled here and there. But Sephiroth is full black and grey, and I think that's a good contrast of the both of them.

Now personality wise, I found them quite interesting. Because to me, both of them had trouble sympathize with people, and somehow they also had trouble communicating with them.

For Frieren, it's due to her nature as an elf, she had lived a long life of at least thousands of years, and she still has a long journey ahead of her. Her perceptive of time is different from humans, and to an extent because of that, she is kind of stoic, aloof and not as ingenious as the people around her (aka Himmel as the presentation).

For Sephiroth, it's because of his childhood, the environment he was born of and grew up with. He's surrounded by people who doesn't care of *who* he become, but about *what* he become. He was raised to be a weapon, not to be a soldier or a human. That's why he appeared distant and mysterious, maybe a bit harsh or rude(?) to some people.

But for both of them, there are still those who care about them, but the difference is that Frieren still has those people, Fern, Eisen, Stark, friends who she had made along the way and the past memories which she clings onto dearly. That's when she learned about how to love, to understand, to appreciate and to have kindness, emotions and feelings. Eventhough it is a long and far process, we can still see the improvement. That's why the people around you are also a piece of you, because they effect you in many different ways.

Sephiroth on the other hand, has none. Yeah, maybe when he was friends with Genesis and Angeal, maybe some other time he is still has friends and companions, he would even offered his life for his friends when they are in danger, but we all know what happened. That left him with nothing. And that nothing has a part of what turned him into the mad Sephiroth we known from other's point of view (mainly Cloud?).

A great difference I found out between them is that Frieren, knows her past. She remembered everything and lives on with it in her head. It's not like those flashbacks in Frieren is useless you know? But Sephiroth, he only lives a lie his whole life, what was his existence means, what is his life even about, why was he born? He never got those answers his whole life, that's why when he found out about his orgin, he was mad. Mad and crazy, a total completely different to his old composed and yet still kind self.

Now, talking about other aspects, I want to talk about their powers. Frieren is known to be great mage, who is in the team of the Hero Himmel that had defeated the Demon King and are greatly praised. And when said about the strongest, Frieren is not exactly the one. She had lost to a whole numbers of at least 11 mages(?). And talking about other things like a warrior or a knight? We haven't counted at all. But when we said about powerful? Frieren is indeed a powerful one. She greatest power is probably her minds, not with her speed, not with her mana. Her knowledge of magic and her experience of thousand years, is her greatest benefit in fights. We didn't even talk about how calculated and wise she is. That's why I deemed Frieren to be a powerful person.

And for Sephiroth, it's easy to know. He is raised to be a weapon after all. If they didn't make him one of the strongest if not the strongest, then why would they even bother with him?

Both of them are overpowered, let's be honest. Up to the anime right now, there are only a number of people who can maybe defeat Frieren, later on in the manga there will be more, but I would like to think Frieren is overpowered.

And then again, talking about their past, both Frieren and Sephiroth, were raised to be a weapon. For Sephiroth, we all know why. Those mad scientists (*glaring at Hojo*) are sure another breed. And for Frieren, it's because of her hatred for demons that killed her whole village. Flamme did a good job on teaching Frieren, but what she taught was only ways to killed and deceived the demons, not how to live and enjoy life, just like a weapon. But Frieren's fate is different, because there is Himmel, there is Heiter, there is Eisen, there is other people around her who taught her how to live in Flamme's place. It's endearing and lovely.

That's why when I think about it, I find myself laughing at the idea of Sephiroth being Frieren's apprentice. I don't know how, or why did I even thought about that, but I feel like it would turn out pretty wholesome and cute, and it might even helped Sephiroth not turning into the person he is now.

Like in Frieren, years passed by and Fern had passed away, she found herself looking at the boy with sliver hair, frantically finding something amongst the corpses of the soldiers. Frieren eventually helped Sephiroth find his necklace and later on took him in as an apprentice (I don't know how so yeah). Which leads to some sequences of Sephiroth sneaking out just to meet Frieren in a small house near the sea and in the vast forest, far away from the city and everything related.

Maybe something like when Sephiroth was young, he is not as tall as he is now (which is 6'7" aka 197cm-ish??), he is only like the same or taller than 2-3 inches (5-7cm) height as Frieren. So when he left for like years for missions and things, Sephiroth barged into the house and Frieren actually jolted with surprise because Sephiroth is somehow taller than the door now.

Or maybe when Sephiroth met Angeal and Genesis, he would brought them with him when they met Frieren. And don't get me started on birthdays presents, the steak would be the best food Sephiroth could found in his whole life cause look at it!!! Would.

With how Frieren interact with Sein and Stark, even with Fern, I think Sephiroth would appreciate and love headpats from Frieren so much btw. Because I believe this man need physical touches love language and don't forget about the words of affirmation, look at how Fern frequently get compliments from Frieren when she shows something good or great in her improvement. I think Sephiroth would be so downbad for compliments and encouragement words from a Master or like, parental figure.

Roughly calculated by people's assumptions, Frieren is 5'3 (153cm?) and Sephiroth as said above, is 6'7" (197cm?). That would makes Frieren is only as tall as Sephiroth's chest and I find that so fucking cute, omg, I would die for them to interact, especially pre-Nibelheim Sephiroth and Frieren.

Please for the sakes of my life, I want them to interact.

(The art is mine, please don't take it elsewhere without credits)

[baldurs-kinfessions]

For this (https://www.tumblr.com/baldurs-kinfessions/757650251642519552/two-truths-and-a-lie-tara-actually-spoke-with?source=share) one, I tried to send an ask giving the answer not long after the poll concluded but I think my internet was being weird (also no worries on the length lol). I never met my father. Ever. At least not as far as I knew, I could have run into him any number of times. I had a theoretical policy with myself of never having relations with a silver or half-silver dragonborn because I didn't know if any of them would be my dad or half-sibling.

It's honestly kind of funny, I was upset about it when I was young but by the time the Absolute incident happened, my attitude was basically "I don't need him and it's his loss if he never meets me" and then I became a hero and never said the name of the town I came from to anyone outside of our little group. No one knew where I came from, heck, most of the world never knew I was even partially silver since genetics are weird and my scales were predominantly black (and I kinda... Clawed off the biggest patch of silver scales when I was 11, I blame my half-sister and her friends who were really shitty about it, but if I'd had those, people would have known, but instead I just had a weird scar where no scales grew anymore).

Tara was lovely if a little pushy about us getting enough food (not that I blame her, I actually really enjoyed her motherly nature having not really had a mother myself, I mean, I had one, but she never acted like one). I miss her.

My first lute was a symbol of my freedom, and I kept it and took good care of it all my life. I left it in Astarion's care and I have faith he looked after it well after I was gone. I can't say the same for whoever had it after him, but I can only hope it being a relic from a hero meant it remained treasured for as long as it could possibly have existed. Funny story, it was stolen and sold to me when I was 11 (it was an eventful year), and I think I was still the first person to play it since it was stolen from a stuck-up merchant who liked to "collect" things but hadn't the slightest clue how to use much of his collection.

🐙

[weedandweasels]

11/8/2023 A Wednesday

I'm supposed to be in the prime of my life. That's the crazy thing. This is the age I am supposed to be out and about, partying. I think I am supposed to be living.

Currently I am in a crutch, my knee having decided to swell up for no reason last week. So here I stand, wearing all black, walking Sherlock. I am probably the most liberal looking person on this campus at this moment in time. A joint in my hand, my piercings, the crutch, the platform boots and the all black outfit. A fucking ferret on the end of a leash.

I watch these functioning people plan things with friends. I am alone with the very animal who is my only constant companion. No flaking out from him.

I decide I am going to try and romanticize things. If I can type them I might finally be able to get out the words I've been trying to handwrite for years. They have felt too intimate, too sacred to me for them to be typed. That's what I told myself. So here I am on a random Wednesday night pretending my life goes beyond these four walls.

I by no means am an amazing writer. I think that's obvious in these first few paragraphs. I keep thinking of the moments that lead here. The recent PTSD flareups I've had in the last few weeks. Things I cannot seem to be completely honest with. Even with myself. I just spiral.

I romanticize the green of the forest in spring. I miss the rain on my skin. I need the cold again. I need the ice in my lungs.

Sherlock regains my attention. I let myself wander into those daydreams I have for myself. Those moments in moments that feel more and more real. I want to stay here. The beauty of the world around me, the sensations. I am alive. Its dark, and I am holding an herbal cigarette between my fingers. The smoke calms me. Just the action. I need something. If I kill myself smoking weed so be it.

I wonder when the prime of my life was. If it ever existed. If it ever will exist. I feel like my body is falling apart faster. I don't think I ever peaked. It feels like I am still dragging my body back up a hill. Never quite recovering from the last thing that drug me down.

I write letters in my head a lot. What I'd say to celebrities, my father. What I would try to get across to them. Hozier is my most often letter drafted. His music has healed and broken me in ways I will never fully understand. Every lyric a gash and a bandaid all at once.

I think I liken myself to a creature so often because I never felt human. I think the addition of body jewelry and tattoos are testament to that. Something for them to look at. Something for those who would judge to walk a little farther away from me. I enjoy the outskirts. Like a dog waiting for scraps from the fire. Is it because that's all I've known? I am ready for the men around the fire to kick me the first chance they get. To tell me to leave. Or just up and abandoning me, refusing to pay attention to me. Having to wait for the next group of people. I tire them, my cycles of usefulness wearing out. How tiring it is to restart.

I need to word vomit. Its tiring to write by hand. Blogging I think is the only reason I'd put it down. An open word document is too much. I need this. This email to someone.

Here again I crave notice. I want someone to see my words and connect. I want someone to tell me things. I am begging for recognition. A scrap. I want my words to matter to someone.

I am so tired of fighting and trying to prove myself. I am a human. I think I deserve more than this. I think I deserve worse than this. I cannot seem to decide if I want to be seen and adored, or if I should remain in the shadows. Someone unseen. I want to be alive and bold and better than this. I want to stay here in my apartment lit green with music playing and Sherlock running around. There are moments I feel I am missing out on everything. I love it. I love being here and I miss being out there.

Tomorrow I continue working on my research. I get to be smart and someone and important. These words rush out of me and I cannot stop them. I am smart, but I am feeling too. Perhaps this is too intimate to share, but I love it too. I love that someone out there can judge me. I hope they find me worth something too. I hope these words make them feel seen.

I wonder if they feel the poetry in my words like I do. If you're listening. Can you let me know?

[waterdeepthroat]

OHHHHH oh oh fuck I’d ask all the pride questions but I gotta be normal so uh. 8, 10 and/or 11 for Denandras!!

pls don't be normal i would happily answer any/all questions about my ocs!!

this got pretty long, so i'm putting this under the cut:

8. Have they had struggles with their identity, be it due to internal or external reasons?

God. Has he ever. Growing up in drow society as a lower-class male entertainer was hard enough, but growing up with feelings of what we would call dysphoria (he, of course, originally saw that as desire to be female for the power it would offer him) made it even harder. Denandras, then known as Szin'eth, was definitely very confused by his identity growing up, and due to the nature of his society would remain confused for almost two hundred years. When he finally had the means to escape to the surface, he still saw his own masculinity as sort of a curse, something he'd deeply internalised growing up in Menzoberranzan. He didn't find freedom in it, didn't feel like it was something to be celebrated, as it was with the drow men who joined Bregan D'aerthe. Denandras identified as a trans woman for many years and lived as Brizziffyn, but it never felt right, either. He changed his name again and lived as a man when he came to Waterdeep, but internalised transphobia is a hell of a drug, and never really considered that being non binary was an option (at least, that's the closest term we would have for him IRL). His feelings about gender were even stranger when he underwent the Changedance, because the Changedance completely changes your physiology so you look like you were born a different sex. While this is something he may have thought he wanted when he went by Brizziffyn (he changed his name to Denandras when he converted to worship of Eilistraee, though this was before he underwent the Changedance), it never felt entirely comfortable to him. Only through the temple of Eilistraee and meeting Luala did he start to understand that he could exist outside the binary, though I'd say he still moved through the world and presented as a woman through most of BG3. I'd imagine he would only open up about his struggles with gender at about the mid-point of Act 2, when all of the origin characters start having their own crises. This would come in the form of him sort of coming out to everyone (though he had been open about the Changedance, he hadn't talked about his discomfort with it, possibly seeing voicing his discomfort as a sort of blasphemy... yeah, growing up drow will seriously fuck up your ability to understand what is okay of a woman to ask of you and what isn't) and coming to the conclusion that he/him pronouns felt best for him, even if he isn't a man, necessarily.

As for sexuality, it isn't quite as complicated (though, this being Denandras, it's still complicated). Bi/pansexuality is the norm in the Forgotten Realms, however, I'm pretty sure I remember reading somewhere that WLW relationships are far more accepted than MLM ones by drow (though calling them relationships is also a bit ehhh, since only Eilistraeeans actually have a word for love- something actually brought up by the Minthara romance). When it comes to orientation, Denandras definitely leans more towards men than women, but that isn't to say that he hasn't held feelings for women before (ex: Luala, a Silverhair Knight of Eilistraee who rebuffed his advances, though this developed into them becoming very good friends instead). I would imagine his preference to "entertain" men over women wasn't taken terribly well in Menzoberranzan, though likely he rarely had a choice in who he performed for, if at all. Denandras is also somewhere along the asexuality spectrum, though this definitely interacts with the sexual trauma he's faced at the hands of House Tor'duis (a drow house that, you guessed it, held him captive for a few years, as he was a favoured performer). He's very much of the mind that sex is something extra in life. It can feel good, when done right, but he doesn't seek it out. When it comes to his relationship with Astarion this definitely causes problems early on, as the two are similar in terms of backstory, but ends up actually benefitting them both post-Cazador. Denandras is a very romantic person, especially in terms of displays of affection and non-sexual intimacy, but when it comes to sex itself he's got a lot of, at times contradictory, feelings about it.

10. Does your OC celebrate Pride? How?

As discussed above, queer identity in Faerûn definitely works a bit differently than it does in our world, so actual pride month/pride parades probably wouldn't be a thing there. However, different pride-associated events/institutions would exist (likely focused more towards trans and aro and acespec identities). One example of a very queer setting would be the Lace Harp, a canonical drag club in Waterdeep founded in the 1370s. Although Denandras got there roughly a hundred years after it was established, it does seem like the kind of place he and Luala would frequent. One thing forgotten by a lot of people is that beauty and the arts also fall under Eilistraee's domain, and gender identity is something that definitely comes into play when it comes to her religion, so all of those combined mean that it's probably pretty common for her followers to either do drag or enjoy drag shows. Art that alludes to a sildur (Realms word for being trans) identity would be something Denandras would appreciate in particular, though using that term for himself would be something he would be uncomfortable with for a long, long time. Especially post-canon (in a world where I don't give him the tragic end that I played through lmao), he and Astarion would be the type to enjoy drag shows and seek out other events and/or groups that involve queer people (though, with bisexuality being the norm, what's considered queer would likely be different than how we define it).

11. Is your OC open about their identity? Are they more low-key or blunt about it? Why or why not?

I'm starting to think I created Denandras to be a mess of insecurity, indecision, and overall complication when it comes to queer identity lmao. I could write a 2k word essay on each one of these questions. But, to answer this one quickly, it's complicated. Over the course of BG3, Denandras became more secure in his identity (like the coming out I mentioned above- if he were a companion in BG3, this would definitely be the Act 2 part of his arc). He tends to keep that part of his identity on lock until he quite literally can't anymore. As for sexual identity, his bisexuality + preference for men is something he doesn't keep hidden. He probably would have, at one point, but upon coming to the surface I think it's the first thing he'd come to terms with identity-wise. It's a lot easier to be bi when being bi is seen as normal, after all. When it comes to asexuality, though (something there is, unfortunately, no Realms term for- though if anyone has a suggestion for a term, I'd be happy to hear it!) he probably is still working to figure that out. There's a lot of trauma that he hasn't been in the right place to unpack for literal centuries, leaving him in a similar position to Astarion, if Astarion had about ten years of real freedom under his belt. That's to say, Denandras is still unsure about a lot of things, and insecurity is still a big issue for him. He'd probably view his own lack of desire as something to push past rather than a fact of being, though he's perfectly willing to respect anyone else's. It's a major case of internalised victim-blaming when it comes to trauma and internalised acephobia when it comes to his asexuality, though these are all something he (with Astarion, if we're disregarding both of their tragic ends in my "canon" playthrough) would attempt to work past. Tl;dr he's a mess of insecurity and thinking he's allowed to even have an identity is still very new to him.