#i think the thing with these two is it boils down to this:

[devosin]

" be my burden " , gender neutral reader

a/n: for the girlies who hate being a burden & hate being attached to people or for those who get up mid-breakdown because it's embarrassing.

Malleus's arms wrap around you, gently pulling you into his lap, he felt warm, soothing almost, and the overwhelming scent of pinecone and sandalwood took over your senses, almost numbing your nerves. "I'm fine", you mutter under your breath, "I should go", and despite saying so, you find your body leaning into his touch, as if it was home.

Because he was home, in this unfamiliar place you did find a home . . in Malleus, and that was something so overwhelmingly pleasant, that it made you feel almost uncomfortable . . because it just didn't feel right, the fact that someone could make you feel so loved, that suddenly nothing is too hard to bear anymore.

"You're not", he responds after awhile, a hand reaching up, to ruffle your hair, everything about him felt so gently . . something was bound to go wrong somewhere down the lines, and you don't think you could bear that, when the time comes . .

"I will be fine, I'm just overwhelmed?", you take a deep breath, and close your eyes shut, hoping to melt into his comforting touch, "It's stupid anyways . . I'm overreacting." you mumble out softly.

". . .", he pauses, he could go on and on about how being fine, and maybe getting fine, are two vastly different things, but that's something he could touch on another time, "your feelings are anything but stupid", he answers gently, shifting your weight so his forehead could touch yours, and your forced to make eye-contact.

" . . So please don't try and hide them from me.", he asks so softly, his words coated in honey, and you'd allow yourself to drown in it, if you weren't so reluctant to the idea of, "I don't want to be a burden."

The words came out before you bite your tongue and hold them back, as per usual, ". . I don't want to burden you . . especially." you whisper, and suddenly everything felt a bit lighter, it was as if you had admitted to a crime that you had carried on your back for years on end, and then it came crashing down, as the familiar feeling of dread boiled in your stomach.

"Then be my burden", he responded back with a smile, a stupid smile as if his words could erase all the troubles that plagued you. "I want to share those burdens, I want to help you . ."

"But what if . . you stop wanting those things?", you ask cautiously, "You can't waste your life on what if's my love, I need you to trust me." he responded back, "Trust that I would never stop wanting to help you and share the burden of the thoughts that hold you back.", he answered so certainly, that it felt difficult to disagree.

"I love you . . that's something no amount of what if's could take away. I could die tomorrow, but I'd die in peace knowing I loved you and was loved in return.", he gently placed a soft kiss to you lips, a peck that left your cheeks tingling, "Now . . will you tell me what's wrong?"

Ko-fi / discord server / (2 days left) personalized advent calendar

@ devosin , do not repost, plagiarize, translate, or adapt my work/theme without prior permission and or confirmation.

[dykedvonte]

You ever just see a Mouthwashing take that makes you want to bang your head into a wall? I literally just saw someone claim Curly couldn't have been emotionally abused by Jimmy before the crash because he was in a higher position of power than Jimmy.

-Shrimp Anon

The mouthwashing fandom has shown me that people genuinely do believe that certain types of abuse are not as detrimental as other types especially when they deem those immune/resistant, ergo, believing one is objectively worse no matter how it affects the person nor the intersections of power, history and dynamics at play.

Get ready cause this is a yap session:

Cause like it's heavily implied that Curly and Jimmy's friendship was toxic and abusive, pointedly in the direction of how Jimmy uses Curly's belief/comfort in him. Curly wasn't forced to enable Jimmy but he was emotional and mentally on edge around him in almost every scene in some way. Mental and emotional abuse are not contingent on what positions you have at work. Yeah, he's Jimmy's boss but he was Jimmy's friend first and it's like getting into Psych discussion to talk about how social power tends to overshadow any perceived organizational power in the human mind. People are concerned about their jobs ofc but they tend to hang onto and put more value/investment into their personal relationships, hence why there tends to be laws and restrictions around mixing the two.

I always see the sentiments that "Curly is a grown ass man", "Curly is bigger than Jimmy", "Curly is Jimmy's boss", "He just needed a backbone" as criticisms of Curly and while I do agree that on the surface level all of these to be true and viable ways Curly could've taken more control of the situation, I often look at the parallels of Anya and Curly as victims of Jimmy pre/post crash.

The way Jimmy talks to Anya post crash is how he talked to Curly in the pre-crash segments. It's hard to pin-point mainly because we know he hates and wants nothing to do with Anya compared to his contrary but similarly handled obsessions with Curly. It's a weird sort of "honey-moon" effect of abuse Jimmy does in terms of emotional and mental victimization. He is always horrid to Anya, always talking down or questioning her abilities and thoughts in a situation, this of course includes the harassment and assault. However, he has a moment of attempted gentleness/conditioning when he question her about the mouthwash when she's contemplating drinking it at the table. The key difference is he has no personal investment in Jimmy outside wanting nothing to do with him, meaning there is no sort of romanticized version of him that he can condition her off of. He knows this, hence, why he always reverts to trying to make her to scared to oppose him.

This sort of give and take of "kindness" doesn't work on her because she knows he is just doing it to take more from her than whatever he could possibly give but it reflects even the "softer" scenes between him and Curly where he always rewords or rephrases Curly's sentiments and concerns to sound more shallow. He is feigning a deeper understanding by reworking Curly's emotions into something bad and needing to be hidden. Everything is laced with envy and resentment, an outburst just around the corner, I mean he even slams the table in the birthday party scene, a tactic in emotional manipulation to set the victim on edge and cloud their ability to respond. Even if Curly knows Jimmy won't get physical in that moment, the physical actions is intended to make him back down in the confrontation in case it does. This is something that is just not person specific. It ingrains itself into how you interact with the world and life and it shows in major and minor ways with Curly.

Post-crash, the abusive nature is more in tandem to the physical victimization Anya went through and the stripping of voice and autonomy we see take place. Like the parasite in HFIM, Jimmy speaks for Curly most of the time and puts words in his mouth, similarly to how he takes Anya's plans as his own. He very commonly, with the both of them mind you, supplements the worst aspects of himself into them; pettiness, selfishness, lack of understanding... And tries to cover himself with their best qualities; kindness, planning, initiative, etc...

These parallel are just to say that positional power has little to do with if a person can be abused and how it can even be flipped to further the abuse. There is no doubt that Curly could've picked up on Jimmy's envy of his position hence another reason he never confronted him as a Captain but as a friend as doing so would immediately put Jimmy in a space to be confrontational/combative.

I think the disdain some people have when they talk about the heavily implied if not implicitly stated emotional/mental abuse Curly experienced being Jimmy's friend is when treating it as an excuse to why he didn't do more. I can understand that completely because it is not an excuse to why he didn't do more but is a very real reason people in his position in these scenarios can experience whether in the context of a work or social environment. However, I also think the way people talk about it really does demonstrate a bigger problem when talking about abuse when somehow who is/was abused is either part of the issue or enabled it.

Harkening back to the sentiments about Curly's inaction regarding Jimmy, I think the exact phrases I used/have seen show how there is an inherent belief that it is easier to overpower the effects of emotional/mental abuse that go in tandem with the perception of Curly as someone who should be able to. There is not an age you suddenly stop being susceptible to abuse nor a set point or low where you realize how it has affected you. You don't suddenly know to stand up or put a face on to face your abuser nor admit that you inadvertently enabled them to subjugate someone else to the same treatment. Maybe it's my psych brain but their is this growing belief that direct action is somehow easy or always the best method with the game shows you instances where it is not always the case. In real life that rings true too. He should have done more, but it's not impossible to see why he struggled to find a way or didn't even if it makes us mad.

It's not easy to suddenly gain a "back-bone". You don't immediately want to resort to aggression, especially if it mirrors the type you were a victim to. You don't want to believe you allowed yourself to be treated this bad, let it get that bad or allowed something bad to happen to someone else. It is easy to be in denial, to retreat to your thoughts or make excuses to avoid the painful truth. It's frustrating but in a way we know is relatable. It why we both hate and love Curly for it. We know we'd be better, we think we'd be better, we like to think we wouldn't falter in the same ways but it's always easier to say that from the outside looking in. It's easy to see what he was doing wrong because we are seeing it, not him, but the game really does make you picture what you would do if this was your raw reality and it's why this debate about Curly seems so never ending/contradictory. We can all say what we'd do but bottom line is that's much different when you're in the moment with all the emotions and human feelings attached.

I personally think Mouthwashing tackles the themes of rape culture, enabling, toxic masculinity, types of abuse and patriarchy in ways that are meant to deconstruct the typical straightforward views we mostly have of these concepts and how little subtilities of them are just as, if not more, detrimental than the overt/obvious parts. The game deals with the idea of little details and bigger picture in a way to show that sometimes the bigger picture is not the issue but the little details that make it up. It's why I have a personal dislike of depictions of Jimmy as the typical horrible person who would of course do something like this because the game is about noticing the little warning signs, the foreshadowing and foresight.

It's why I dislike the typical discussion of "bro code" and "boys will be boys" for the game because the game makes a point to avoid the standard depictions of such. It is about the type of men who still enable despite not condoning, agreeing or even perpetuating harmful beliefs because they can't see the little details or the ways it seeps into their everyday. The severity is not obvious to them as it was not obvious to Curly, Swansea or even Daisuke the way it was to a woman like Anya. There are little details about Jimmy that should ring alarms but if you are too naive like Daisuke, too distant like Swansea or too conditioned like Curly, they are just off markers.

There is 100% more constructive/concise ways to say "Curly was a victim of Jimmy's abuse on an emotional and mental aspect that clouded his judgements and perceptions in the scenario" while also critiquing on the side of "Curly still had a responsibility to protect Anya as a crew mate and Captain that he failed to do due to biases and stigma's he failed to surpass" without the weird condemnation people give him about should've knowing better than to let himself be manipulated by a person he considered a close, if not family/best-friend and had his own reasons to trust initially. Also stop being weird about victims of abuse in general with this fandom, like sorry not everyone has a like social epiphany the moment someone's nasty to them. People are treating it like you immediately know when you are in a toxic relationship immediately or comprehend when a person is actively dangerous and either it's your fault for not knowing how to leave/cut them off or you deserve it. Like the hypocrisy of people believing how certain fans treat the story reflect their irl views but not their own is crazy.

End statement is: I honestly don't even know man, I've been writing this too long and just like no man on that ship was perfect or really helped Anya when it mattered and I feel like pitting them against each other in discussion on who did the least or most or how it was justified sucks cause in the end Anya always did the most and best thing for herself.

[missingininaction]

alright, friends, i might say something you don't like but i think it's important. not just to defend a character, but because i think this is literally making people's experience and relationship with this game worse.

give jimmy like two seconds to exist.

by hating jimmy so much you refuse to even say his name, and judge real, living people for liking him, you are cheapening your experience by boiling down the main character to the most ~yuckiest~ moments. and, by not making a seperate space for hating on him, you are drowning out the voices of people who actually have nuanced things to say about his character. you know, the skilled writers and artists that feed the fandom? limitation is what kills fandoms, you have to know that.

is jimmy a good person? no. is he a good captain/companion/worker? Absolutely Not! he crumbles like dust under any pressure and he immediately shifts blame off of himself, he is an actively harmful individual and it's right to be upset by his actions. i literally had to stop myself from saying "man FUCK jimmy." multiple times because i didn't want to spoil how terrible he got to my friends when i showed the game to them.

but you have to understand; people are more than their actions. thats part of the entire point of the game. thats why its so abstract. you are meant to think about the nuances of their situation.

we can agree that anya was way more as a woman than what happened to her and what she did as a result of it, right? that despite her best efforts, she was a victim of circumstance, and she deserves to be understood and analyzed fully?

then why, seeing a fictional man who has done immoral things, are you so disgusted you won't even draw, write or discuss him outside of hate? what is that doing for you, to ignore literally the main character of the game because of his actions?

now, this is not to say people can't hate jimmy. i understand it! as someone who has been a victim of s/a and abuse, i understand if you hate him and are even triggered by him to the point of avoiding mention of him. (but...why are you in this fandom? ((not aggressive im genuinely asking)))

you can feel however you want about any character, my goal is not to control people. but i thought it was common knowledge to not hatepost about someone in their tag? over actual insight into his character and, you know, the main themes of the game?

jimmy is a man who has struggled his whole life. both him and curly confirm that in the game. he's unable to control his emotional outbursts, and he likely had no idea what to expect from being in fucking SPACE for over a year with people he probably didn't even know before that trip. and pony express and their corporate safety corner cutting certainly didnt help, did it?

for one reason or another, he most likely was never actually taught how to manage his emotions. that's just how it is sometimes, growing up as a man. and it would make sense if he was forced to deal with everything himself, no? he always complains, but he still says he'll handle it. because that's what he's always had to do. and this is just the start of what i could say about what made him the way that he is.

he's a victim too, not only of his own actions.

surprise surprise, people who do awful things can also be victims.

honestly, this entire situation baffles me. how are you going to avoid one of the main characters of the game, let alone the one you play as ninety percent of the time? mind you, curly is also guilty, and i am happy to see at least some people giving him space for nuance. because he is also a victim!!! why is it so impossible to see jimmy as nuanced, when literally every other character also has incredible depth to them??

you're tarnishing and spitting on the beautiful writing of this game just because one character is too icky for you to feel comfortable thinking about for too long. it's horror, you absolute morons. it's supposed to make you uncomfortable.

if you hate jimmy, i dont blame you. but please, please, make your own space for it. be kind to people who want to explore jimmy and the darker themes, and like him for what his character represents. this is a video game fandom, not a witch hunt. and please, learn some fandom etiquette while you're at it, okay? okay. thank you

also just say his name. its not a slur youre not gonna go to hell if you say jimmy. like this isn't as important but still it just feels like a microcosm of this whole thing.

[pjharvey]

sometimes i feel like i spend too much time thinking about my own relationship with gender when i literally like tried out different pronouns and a more androgynous name and all of that and didn't like it but the thing is that when ur so gnc af that your friend's transphobic brother STILL called you they by default and ur friends have a recurring joke one of your friends' boyfriends looks exactly like you and you call yourself a guy in conversations a lot it's like. well it raises some questions.

[rubeau-art]

I might have mentioned it before, but Birdie was the last member of Delta to find out Jax was the Atlas soldier. He is justifiably mad about it too.

After the Eros mission, Jax’s condition had been triggered and Birdie was ordered to pull the rest of Delta from the site ASAP. At that point, Jax was tiny and stashed away safely in Monroe’s kit, so Birdie had no idea where Jax was, and was extremely distraught as he thought Jax was dead or that he was leaving him behind. Everyone said they’d explain, and when Kim (outpost commander) confirmed the order, he reluctantly followed.

He’s left thinking about this for almost a month before Jax appears back at the outpost, and when asked, Jax just says he had to stay back because of an injury, then stayed on to help the Eros colony with their comm relay.

Birdie half believes him, but doesn’t press.

Later down the track, Birdie finds out the Atlas soldier is Jax.

During the event, there was a Midra threat at the outpost and Birdie ignored flight orders to take his ship out so the people outside had cover to get back to the outpost safely. His ship winds up getting shot down, but Jax (in just the pilot sleeve armour, so half dressed, frazzled and rushed) throws himself at his full size in the way, ‘catching’ Birdie and the ship and breaking the fall. Jax pulls Birdie from the ship, panicked and wanting to make sure his friend wasn’t dead, and lets something slip that Birdie recognises.

Later still, when they’ve both recovered a bit, Birdie confronts him about it all, asking why it’s been months and months and no one else in the team told him about all this.

The reason is terrible, and Birdie is EXTREMELY upset by it (basically boiled down to Ceres wasn’t sure Birdie could keep the secret). But he and Jax work things out, and Birdie inserts himself into operations by assigning himself as pilot for all ‘Atlas’ missions (which Jax supports, Birdie is an amazing pilot). The rest of the team get a proper chewing out by Birdie before he tells them to get their shit together. Delta is a team and they have shit to do.

Note: Ceres apologises later to Birdie for encouraging everyone to keep this from him and explains what she had thought and how she was mistaken. Birdie is still upset, but he takes in stride. The two are a little cold for a while, but bond later over teaching Ori the language.

ANYWAY, have Birdie confronting Jax. He triggered a shift to see if he was right about Jax being the Atlas soldier, then scooped him. Can’t run from the conversation buddy.

[eerna]

When I think about arcane arc 2, I’m just really :/ that it feels like they dropped the ball on their generational trauma theme. Like, we didn’t properly explore Ambessa and Cait’s new dynamic and Caitlyn had no reflection on her mother’s death anymore, Ambessa forgot about Mel??, Jinx was “fixed” by Isha, we have once again sidelined Ekko and his revolutionaries plot, and Vi and Jinx, who were trying to Kill each other two eps ago, are chill now (listen the catty fight was fun but ya know. besides that.) Like what about revolution eating up innocence and your sons and daughters and toxic coping strategies being passed down! Idk, I guess has someone who is a bit of a tragedy enjoyer (tho I like optimistic/happy endings lol) and someone who really likes toxic nuanced relationship (and arcane really focused on familial too!! which I love) I feel they really lost themselves trying to go the fluff route. This just isn’t that type of show. This is also why I think Vander’s character kinda threw a wrench in season 2; was there really a point to be made in bringing him back? Kinda thought he had already served his purpose but Idk! There’s other things to critique, and even things I enjoyed too, but I think if I had to boil down the main sentiment why I didn’t like arc two, it would be losing this character thread. So much of season 1 hinged on it, so many great scenes came out of it, feels bizarre fumbling it so bad in arc 2…

Yeah T.T The Vander one hits especially hard, because like. He really is done here. There is no reason for him to exist in the story anymore. The show even agrees with us, they brought him back ONLY to take him away from the girls again, and that is just stupid and boring. Sure, Warwick has to exist bc LoL, but there was no need to introduce him into the plot - the hints in s1 were plenty enough to give him a backstory.

And the most important part: WHAT ABOUT REVOLUTION EATING UP INNOCENCE AND YOUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS AND TOXIC COPING STRATEGIES BEING PASSED DOWN!!! HELLO???? THE MAIN THEME OF SEASON 1???????? It was about a bunch of revolutionaries trying to do good for their families, and how good intentions don't mean good results. Vi learned the passive rejection of a revolution from Vander, Jinx learned individualistic toxic obsession from Silco, Mel rejected her mother's "kill before you get killed" policy. None of this is important in s2 anymore!! I thought Isha would die in an act of revolution, bringing home the "is revolution worth risking the people you are doing it for in the first place" theme, but no. No! Because we are abandoning that line of thought! And you're right, the reason for that is the dumb family fluff they suddenly pivoted into. I adore family stories and relationships, but I'm not buying the Vander-Jinx-Vi-Isha unit for a moment. Jinx-Isha-Sevika, which had good setups, was abandoned and for WHAT!!!! CHEAP FLUFF???? Augh. Sad.

[rotshi]

sonadow brainrot yappings

Sonadow Twitter/Tiktok Takover:

I asked some questions to test my luck but ah well. at least i dont have to look both ways ten times the next time i cross the street. BUT oml what the hell was their problem? The amount of times my jaw dropped ??? Like Ayooo? "Go off king"???? Are you his queen???? "run laps around you"??? You keep it 'clean cut' to woo him????? "shopping partner"?????? You mean a fucking date???? Drawing each other unprompted????? Are you fucking kidding me?????? What the hell am i listening to? These fuckers got me exhausted. Like I woke up, listened to just 3 answers and was ready for a nap. Coffee flavored Ice cream MY HEARTTT!!!!!! (i wonder if i can get some coffee ice cream too) Sonic being like 'of course' when there's a mention of Shadow's caffeine addiction like he doesnt have a chilidog problem. They really are perfect for each other. Im surprised Shadow didn't say anything about it. Nah they did all this fruity shit on their OWN ACCORD! THEY DID IT THEMSELVES they did it themselves they did it themselves. Them influencing each other to the point where their opinions change on a FUCKING DIME: sonic: I dont have an opinion on orbot shadow: he sucks sonic: he sucks shadow: hes the best sonic: hes the best They really are so obsessed with each other it's concerning. If it were up to them they would spend their whole lives 'competing'. And these 'Competitions' 'Races' or whatever feel a lot like excuses to just be around each other. Oooooooooh their endless excuses. what is sonic's problem too? shadow opens up a smidge and the little blue bitch giggles. but i understand things had to be kept light for what theyre doing... i dont think sonic means to be... a little blue bitch. If they were alone i'd like to think sonic would be much more understanding and hear him out. But with possible kiddos listening in they couldn't get too deep into things. If it wasn't a 'Q&A Twitter/Tiktok' thing, and it was just them, I feel like they would talk all day and night. But they were getting to know each other and ahhh if was amazing. Hearing Shadow talk about himself and Sonic wanting to get to know him is the best and sweetest thing and all I was REALLY hoping for. Them just actually just sitting down and talking.

Deep thoughts:

Though I have been wondering what Shadow's beef with Sonic really boils down to. I highly doubt it but maybe Sonic reminds him more of Maria than he even wants to believe? Maybe at times he even sounds like her? Idk ??? How carefree and enthusiastic she was, helping shadow come out of his shell. IDK im a sonic noob !! He probably feels like this about a lot of people!

I can understand that there's more parallels with Maria and Amy than with Sonic and Amy. Putting myself in Shadow's shoes; I have a sister, I love like Shadow loves Maria. We are the best fucking friends. I can talk to her about ANYTHING. We're a team. But when it comes to finding a romantic partner, I dont want to look at my partner and just think of my sister lmao. But I would like a similar feeling. Comfortable, understanding, to have that team work, and able to talk about anything to them. And I think Sonic and Shadow have that if things were different I guess. Although Sonic doesn't always talk Shadow down from a decision, it does seem like they both can come to an agreement. "Two sides of the same coin". Like yeah, Sonic might've not been able to change Shadow's mind on going back to the Ark BUT I feel like Sonic probably wouldn't even try. I feel like he would probably even offer to join him for back up. IDK IDK IDK !!!! IM NEW TO SONIC STILL and all i've really seen of the two is some Game clips, some IDW stuff, and of course Sonic X and Sonic Prime. And some of the things my sister has told me. I got most of my IDW knowledge from her and pintrest ghhghg LiSTEN LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN I know sonadow will never be canon, I KNOW !!!! i accept that. Sonamy runs this bitch and Im not even mad and I dont even care. honest to god i do not care. I just like Sonadow and will die on this stupid hill SO HAPPILY. But also it would be so funny if they were to be canon one day. I would lose my fucking mind and throw up. so for my own sanity and health, im glad that theyre never gonna be a thing. im sorry, but im already half way to calling my doctor. i dont think i can handle an official kiss. It's just pure brainrot thinking about how their complicated relationship would work. Love isn't just as simple as 1+1 , this shit has the whole alphabet and the whole fuckin pi in there and it could all add up to 0. I'm solving a math problem for fun BECAUSE IM STUPID AND LIKE TO SUFFER ‼‼‼‼‼‼ But they said the same thing about Bubbline and Korra/Asami and look how that turned out. It would be funny but at the same time reality would probably shatter and sonadow would have to save it again- like my profile says, Im gay and like gay things. let me perish.

I'm honestly the biggest yapper. I go quiet, think about shit, and open up like a shaken up soda can.

TLDR; sonadow takeover made me explode

[jonathan-cranes-mistress-of-fear]

Genuine question, as someone who has characters of my own: how do I get over my embarrassment for having OC’s? I’d never make fun of someone for having them, but whenever it comes across my dash (especially if it’s ship art) I can’t help but… (for lack of a better word), cringe. I love people being creative but it feels like I can’t get over the backlash against things like that.

It's something you have to unlearn, and that's not always easy. I think as a whole, most fandoms are not OC friendly unless it's something like a videogame in which you create the main character from scratch. Most people will stick to already established characters, because that's easy to write. Very few are brave enough to make their own story.

Firstly, l'm going to discuss comics, this is a world of many worlds. DC as example has so many universes, and there's no way I could name them all. I think many of them are numbered, and fans who create their own usually make a numbered or named verse. Like, Codotverse! (if Codot can put his whole voice out there, you can do it too, btw)

Personally, I think the open ended-ness of comic worlds is a positive for fandom. It makes it so anyone can tell a story and despite it being fannon, it's really no less canon than what's in between the pages. Comic writers themselves can't get things straight half the time, heck I've been known to nit pick comics because they forget some fact about Jonathan that SHOULD be well known.

Now, lets talk OCs. The fact is, and this probably sounds mean, people would rather read about Scarecrow or Riddler then -insert Hench character for shipping here-

The reason is as stated above, it's easier to get into. They know what to expect. And unless this OC is someone you've been talking about for years and they have curated their own mini fandom within the fandom, most ARE gonna scroll by. That's sad, I know.

BUT that doesn't mean you should quit or be embarrassed about an OC. People can come to love them, but this usually takes effort and dedication on your part. You are the one and only author and content creator of this OC. Nobody else is gonna make content for them without insensitive. That means you gotta talk talk talk, and draw draw draw, then write write write. MAKE them care. People can very easily come to love and OC,. and i know this for a fact because I used to have my own and I always got asks, people wanted to draw them, or write stories, etc.

The thing is, you gotta embrace being potentiality embarrassing. If you don't take a step forward and put yourself out there, who will? This sounds very internal for you, and it's literally something that is taught to the youngins of fandom very quickly. Fandom, as a whole (think big here) will squash or despise anything that isn't palatable. And what is palatable? that changes often. Usually, fandom is a progressive space but that doesn't mean each and every sect doesn't have issues. Big issues that are spread between a lot of fandoms include misogyny and fetishization. This is why you sometimes see creators and fandom goers attacking canon female love interests and OCs. This is also why you see a huge influx of men being shipped together and any mention of either man loving or having a relationship with a woman is often erased. These two things go hand in hand quiiiite a lot actually. Just, a thing to watch out for and think critically about.

In the end, it boils down to making your audience care amongst a sea of easy to read and already palatable content. You gotta swim against the current. Make a space for yourself, provide something that doesn't exist yet. (for me, it was hi res comic scans)

Basically, don't let the haters win.

[ennn]

Thank you for answering my fandom ask! (And never apologize for the time it takes – your thoughts are always worth the wait.) I was wondering if you would elaborate on how you would change Agatha's trial in episode 5? (And apologies if I missed this in your meta tag!)

Thank you for your kind words! Always happy to share my thoughts to a listening ear. I've not talked about this before so you didn't miss anything, not to worry.

Sooo I don’t have issues with the main story beats they wanted to hit in this episode i.e. the coven that was just starting to bond starting to unravel, Alice’s tragic death, Agatha feeling what might be remorse for murdering a witch in centuries, Billy’s reveal.

What I would change boils down to two main areas:

The pacing was too blisteringly fast: I wanted characters to have a bit more time to react to things happening and give weight to their choices

The tone they wanted to hit seemed unclear — which is admittedly always a challenge for a show constantly oscillating between comedy and drama.

For example, for the scene where the coven starts turning against Agatha after the ouija board spells out "punish Agatha" – I personally would have had Jen appear more more angry, frustrated, and fear-driven compared to what we got, which seemed more vengeful and sadistic and gleeful.

Now I totally get why Jen would be the first one to turn against Agatha—it's absolutely in character for her at this point—but I've appreciated a stronger focus on how this was being done out of a need for survival and anger at Agatha's crimes and callousness.

I would have also appreciated even a little bit of resistence or questioning from Alice, the youngest and least jaded witch apart from Billy, and who is also a protection witch. Even one line where she says something to the effect of "This feels wrong?" or "Are we sure about this?" would have helped, I think.

Basically instead of having the whole coven immediately pile on Agatha, have a somewhat longer scene where they go back-and-forth a bit, with a serious discussion on how the punishment should go (if you want to slip a funny moment in there, you could use Rio as a wild card). Agatha could even aggravate them further, making the situation worse. Could have applied more pressure with the timer, etc.

I know Schaeffer has mentioned that a number of exposition lines were cut from the episode to maintain pacing and emotion and she's mentioned that some of the questions viewers have wondered about are addressed by those lines. I'm really curious what those lines were exactly.

I do know they cut out some lines about Rio explaining why she hates ghosts—that one I get because it's pretty intuitive why Death would hate ghosts. But I get a sense there were probably more lines cut.

From a thematic standpoint, I think it would have been interesting for them to explore and touch on that idea of witches having to be selfish to survive, in a world that isn't kind to witches. Jen and Lilia also deal in lies, but they've also survived terrible things. Get into that generational, cultural divide.

I think having more of these conversations — just a bit more character dialogue — would have helped ground the episode more. And also help justify why Billy lashes out at Jen and Lilia as well later.

[skill7spark04]

I feel like I worded my initial explanation poorly, and your rebuttal was well thought out and countered it well. I meant, that merely because only the essential, template information is available to TLQ and The Shifting Mound/Princess, such as the setting, premise, and the simple ideas behind it, those factors perhaps, would not matter. I am not saying it is not possible they would choose. I am just saying at the scale they are at, and with the story they are telling, does it really matter? in short, beneath them. not that it can't be important, but from what we've seen, the priorities have been Princess, Identity, Perception. and while it could slot well into identity, the premise given has no room to breathe around that. when you are both simultaneously everything and nothing, or the one who changes things by not changing, you'd think such notions would be lost, no? of course Identity matters. I am not saying they could not. I am merely suggesting, from my perspective, they wouldn't. but if they would, it might be funny, cool, and I'd certainly read it. all the information both characters have seem to be limited to what's important. and what's important, is that this is a love story. boil everything down to it's core, and that's what's left. a story about a Hero/Monster, who, in their love/trust for the princess/the narrator, saves/slays the princess. it took forever for identity to become a focus point in a human civilization of billions. being the only two beings, born of concepts themselves no less, may not even see gender or sex. they may just see each other. again, I do not aim to change your mind, and in fact, your perspective helped me collect my thoughts on my own in a less messy fashion. kudos to you!

not just does the game not have to be about romantic love in particular, TLQ also doesn't have to be a man. Let me explain.

When you first start the game, you are greeted first with the voice of the Narrator, who is a man. Then afterwards we meet the hero, who is voiced by the same VA / has the same voice /gender presentation as the Narrator. Then you meet the princess, who is your only other external being in the story until the end.

Given that this is TLQ waking up, they probably conceptualise "voices" as men and "external beings" as women, simply due to the fact that the Narrator presents masculine and he sets that standard just by being the first character TLQ meets.

I wish there was a story about TLQ realising she and the voices have a different genders. Maybe TLQ thinking of herself as fem only to realise her body is male later down the line. Or maybe a funny bit about the voices all having their own masculine bodies they are comfortable in and TLQ, who is obviously a woman, being all like "Why are you acting like this I'm totally the same as you guys" with the others just slowly shaking their heads going "Idk pal..."

Non binary interpretations are also really cool! I love them, though I do have to say transfem headcanons (or just fem protags in general) are my favourites.

[saline-coelacanth]

Since I have the Bad Endings Au on the brain, I wanna ramble a bit about Jay and Cole because every time I think about them I start to go feral (in a good way)

I'll put some of it under a cut since this gets pretty long

Jay and Cole parallel each other soo well that it's kind of crazy since it wasn't entirely intentional, it just sort of happened that way. So looking at their backstories, they're pretty similar. Both of them felt mistreated by the other ninja to the point where they wanted to take revenge on them. Both of them defeated the ninja when given the chance, but in the end they both handled it in completely different ways.

Cole very quickly was overcome with guilt. Morro called him out on what he did and it immediately hit him like a brick. He didn't feel good about what he did and it began to spiral into some self hatred and he eventually became very apathetic. He had killed his friends without thinking things through and now they were gone forever. Although to give him the benefit of the doubt, he was manipulated into doing so as he was in a very vulnerable mental state at the time and Yang took advantage of that to try and 'help' Cole be remembered. But that doesn't change the fact that Cole still did it and it haunts him every day of his life. He also ends up isolating himself afterwards, not wanting to face any of the family he has left even though he desperately doesn't want to be alone. That's the main reason he joins the other BE!Ninja in the first place, because for the first time in a long time, he isn't alone. And even though he doesn't want to go through with the others' plan, he stays with them since he has nowhere else to go because he thinks there's no way the normal ninja would accept him after what he's done.

And then we look at Jay who trapped the remaining ninja in his sword after he overthrew Nadakhan and became the new captain of Misfortune's Keep. Jay felt no remorse from trapping his friends. In fact, once he had finished the job, he smiled. He was happy about it. Jay truly believed the others didn't care about him, that they left him on Misfortune's Keep to rot for months. And by the time they had finally shown up to save him, he had gone through so much that no amount of explaining was gonna get him to change his mind. He had already saved himself, he didn't need the others to swoop him and save him after they treated him so terrible and abandoned him for months. And after everything was done, Jay didn't have anyone to tell him he had fucked up. Nobody on his crew would ever suggest anything like that, obviously none of the ninja were left to call him out, there was nobody to make him open his eyes to what he had become. And after living life as a pirate captain surrounded by people who would listen to him without question, people who were scared of him, he grew to love it. The ninja never took him seriously, but his crew HAD to take him seriously because they were terrified of the consequences. And when he met the BE!Ninja, he was mainly just uncomfortable seeing the other ninja again because he had grown so angry at them, but he was willing to help out with the plan to take out the other ninja because he was just that far gone.

And when the two of them meet each other for the first time, Cole is just completely shocked to see Jay at all since the Jay from his timeline is dead. And though he acts pretty cold towards him since that's just how Cole is now, he also doesn't want to leave his side because he misses Jay so much. And even though this isn't his Jay, it's still Jay. Meanwhile, Jay is angry and annoyed at having to deal with Cole. He wants nothing to do with him and turns down any offer Cole makes to help him since he doesn't need help from anyone, especially Cole. He eventually 'comes around', but that's really only because they team up with the other BE!Ninja. And yeah, over time Jay does genuinely grow closer to Cole and both of them open up about their pasts and what happened to them, but Jay always has more walls up than Cole does. He's more vague, he snaps more easily, he quickly shuts Cole down when he starts asking too many questions. Cole on the other hand lays everything down for Jay, (although he is still hesitant to open up) He lets his guard down and lets Jay realize just how lonely he's been in his timeline.

And the two of them realize just how similar they are, but they both end up going different paths. Cole realizes more and more that what he's doing is wrong, that he's just gonna end up making another terrible mistake if he continues down this path. He realizes just how messed but the other BE!Ninja are, he realizes that they must be hurting deep down, just like he is. But Jay just continues to spiral further and further. Once again he's with a group that doesn't take him seriously. The only one who seems to do that is Cole, but even then Cole still doesn't always treat him like the threat he is. Even worse is that Nya, the one he felt the most anger towards, isn't even helping. BE!Nya wants nothing to do with the others and actively treats Jay like he doesn't matter (though she treats everyone like that, her only real loyalty is to the Overlord). So Jay just gets more snappy, more violent, more determined to defeat their good counterparts because that'll prove to the others that he is a threat and that he should be taken seriously. Cole grows and slowly betters himself while Jay only gets worse.

God I just have so many thoughts about these two. I mean, I have a lot of thoughts about all the BE!Ninja, but Jay and Cole especially love to live in my head rent free. And there's one last little detail that I wanna point out with these two because I just think it's neat.

When Cole took out the other ninja in his timeline, the first one he went after was Jay. When Jay trapped the other ninja on his sword, the last one he trapped was Cole.

Idk I just think that's a neat detail. Anyway, I'm done rambling for now. Maybe I'll ramble about some of the other BE!Ninja in the future. I guess if there's anyone specific you want me to talk about let me know, but otherwise I'm just gonna end this post here.

[aesdi]

the tragedy of James and Mary Sunderland is one of the most heartbreaking and (most importantly) human stories I’ve ever had the joy in witnessing

[ask-zerotrio]

Clavell and cyrano angstttttt. My mind has conjured some messy idea of Clavell's complicated personal relations with everyone. From unresolved pining/mourning/anger for the profs, to broken friendships with Cyrano.

[chronurgy]

If you spend 6k actual real us dollars on one single two day vacation it better blow your dick clean off!

[binghe-malewife-goals]

Since Arcane is so purposeful with its animation in every little detail I'm fully convinced that actually you were supposed to read Jayce and Viktor's relationship in a queer context

[fitzrove]

Fun facts about crown prince rudolf 🥰💖

Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria was this super tragic figure whose super tragic life was always tragic and very sad. Also he was an irredeemably evil sexist jerkface and if you like him you're a pick me girl who wants WOMEN TO DIE,, anyway here are some fun facts about him!

He died in 1889 from suicide :( Or he may have been murdered by French agents sent by his friend Clemenceau,, listen I know they were friends who were aligned politically, but Empress Zita said this ~40 years after Rudolf's death, and because she's distantly related to him through marriage it must 100% be true!

He shot himself in the mouth, I don't know why all of these adaptations change it to be the temple lol

He infected his wife with syphilis >:o

According to his writings (mostly Eine Orientreise where he frequently admires the fresh manliness of his Arab hunting companions) he was heteroromantic polysexual <3 representation

He used to keep this creepy sex register where he used different colors of pens to mark what kind of woman he slept with (virgin, of noble birth, etc...). No trust me bro it's legit even though nobody has ever presented proof of this register existing anywhere or even a credible primary source citation to point to someone contemporary describing it

During his travels in Egypt and Palestine Rudolf acquired many cultural and historical artifacts for museums in Vienna as well as for his personal collections<3 Explorer king. Wait what do you mean imperialism, graverobbing and arson?? Noo I wouldn't describe it as such haha...

He was really sexist and that's not ok tbh :/ How can anyone be interested in him when he was horrible to women :( I mean it's kinda hard to find 19th century european men who would not have been and a lot of our still-revered statesmen had comparable attitudes that people let slide, but actually when it's someone that was also mentally ill in a Scary Violent Way it's ok to center his negative traits and ignore everything else about him haha. Also women are only allowed to enjoy researching and discussing historical figures who are unproblematic and good representation<3 ALSO women are not allowed to make arguments about historical figures being interesting or sympathetic based on their political views/positions if those figures were awful people in their personal lives, it's like the rules of feminism or something! ~~

He was involved in this crazy conspiracy to crown himself as king of Hungary. Also he was really hyped about hungarian nationalism and independence and totally wasn't an imperialist first and foremost who would've seen the ideology as ultimately destructive regardless of any personal fondness for Hungary

The italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni actually really wanted to fuck him and this was a motivating factor for Lucheni's assassination of empress Elisabeth in 1898 😳

[THIS POST IS SATIRE (inspired by) and the "facts" are purposeful misinformation kfkfkfkf. If anyone can provide actual proof of that sex register thing that does NOT come from greg king and penny wilson (derogatory) I will graciously not duel them in the hofburg parking lot xD I hate that this disclaimer needs to be included because it ruins the joke, but a lot of these are such common takes that I can't not]