#i think their relationship is best defined as

[loudclan-clangen]

SO I CAN IGNORE THE HURT IM FEEL RIGHT NOW:

What's Song and Weed's relationship like? I imagine Song thinks of Week as a stoner aunt the stoner aunt with a PHD and Homeopathy certification

Weed does her best to make sure that Songpaw wasn't pushing himself too hard. She isn't his mentor, so they don't spend as much time together as him and Wildfirecry, but she always made sure to check on him when she could. You're 100% right about the stoner aunt thing though, If Songpaw was an adult she definately would have introduced him to ditch weed to help with his stress levels.

Thank you! I am honored to be your introduction to clangenblr! My note taking is very underwhelming. I take pretty sparse notes on google docs (sparse because I like to move and fudge things as I go along) and color code them so I can keep track of what season it is. Basically it only gets written down if it's going to be important in the future (births, deaths, scars, name changes, mates, accessories) or if I find it particularly interesting. It looks like this:

I arrived at this process because if I put literally any more effort into note taking the game moves too slowly and I immediately lose interest.

Her name is Magpie. She's still alive, but she didn't think that she would be able to hunt for both herself and Cave, especially since he wouldn't be able to help much as he got older, so she pointed him towards the valley and split.

He's still got all six...

...for now.

Thank you! The text on moons is a font that I made out of my handwriting using calligraphr. The text on ask posts is fully handwritten. It all comes from practice!

1280 pixels is the widest an image can be on tumblr (from my understanding), so I generally limit my canvas to that width to make sure that it doesn't get squished when I upload it. Then I am for each page to be about 2000 pixels, but between 1000 and 3000 seems to result in good image quality no matter what.

That's adorable, I love it!

[totallyjustabunchofhocuspocus]

You know, I think what I find most frustrating about this season of 911 is that, like, EVERYTHING we've been complaining about is such an easy fix.

Bobby and Athena having an ultimately aimless storyline rehashing their marriage issues without actually resolving them? Pick up that thread of Athena being thoroughly unimpressed with the people that are slipping out of the academy and give her a really juicy storyline of deciding if she can do more good on the streets or as an academy instructor training the young blood. You're gonna tell me Angela wouldn't act the HELL out of a woman who's been defined by her identity as a cop trying to decide if it's time to pass the torch and train the new generation? Also gives us a plethora of new side characters and storylines in her academy classes that by the nature of the beast don't have to be permanent or super fleshed out.

And then have her and Bobby navigating what they feel when he's still active duty and throwing himself on the front lines when she's stepped back. Is she jealous? Does she worry about him more or less? Is HE jealous of her new role? Is he considering a similar role for himself now? Who does he start grooming to take over the 118. Is Hen the natural choice or is Buck ready? How does that make THEM feel?

Oh, Madney have another accidental pregnancy (dumb as fuck, they could've made it so much more dramatic without it being stupid if they'd just said Chim had gotten snipped after they reunited and it failed. Drama without including the very real fact that it is highly irresponsible of them to even risk pregnancy when her ppd got THAT bad.)? Actually explore how they be careful and cautious without going into it with the mindset that Maddie is broken. Is she AFRAID of the joy and ease she's experiencing, waiting for the other shoe to drop? Is Chim struggling with striking a balance between being OVERprotective and missing the red flags entirely like last time? How do the changes in their relationships with their parents come into play? Hell, let's get spicy and have Chim maybe express a desire to have his children be more connected to his culture and how a biracial family would really explore that.

Hen and Karen are shoehorned into a palatable portrayal of divine motherhood for all their scenes? Okay, fine, but shake it up. Give Karen a promotion opportunity that would require them to move, or for her to be home less just when Mara's finally settling in. How do they deal with that? Does Hen want to start climbing the ladder (heh) in the LAFD? What if she's NOT the pick Bobby has in mind for replacing him? Does she fight for it, or think about going somewhere else?

Buck is once again in the position he ALWAYS ends up in, alone and abandoned by everyone he thought he could count on as permanent, heartbroken at once again watching a relationship slip through his fingers? This one's the easiest. Make him fucking follow through on the realization he supposedly had in his coma dream. He's enough. His life is worth something, and he is the one who decides what happens in his life. He's all alone? Fine, then have him make the decision to fight for another chance with Tommy or walk away from it permanently BY HIMSELF. No friends telling him what's best for him. No well-meaning platitudes that the universe will send him someone special. Just him having a goddamn Ryan Gosling/Rachel McAdams scene all by himself. What does he want? It's not that simple.... WHAT DOES HE WANT? And then fucking go for it.

Eddie is three post traumatic stress disorders in a trenchcoat pretending to be a functional human being? I mean, what else is new? But also, like...this one is also easy. Make him address it. Preferably with intense therapy, but I'd even accept him doing it by himself. Make him confront the fact that him doing what he thinks he has to has fucked up his life and his relationships in every way possible. Examine how much he turned out like his father despite clearly wanting NOT to. Accept that he loved Shannon very much, but they were doomed from the start because he couldn't let go of his fears of what would happen if he wasn't "the provider" and so when Shannon's own issues also came into play, the center couldn't hold. Fix his damn relationship with his son.

And, of course, against the backdrop of all of this is the serial killer storyline. Sure, let's have fun with it. My pet theory is that they are faking all of us the fuck out with the killer going after Maddie and Buck is either going to date the serial killer (or an accomplice) on a rebound and get kidnapped himself, or this is all tied into that black book storyline. Spend a few episodes setting all the good, juicy, emotional character stories we've been BEGGING for up, with a few fun call stories for flavor, and then knock the lead up to the finale out of the park with our firefam coming together to save the kidnapee (and yes, I'm a shipper at heart, so fuck it, let's have Chim call our favorite hot pilot in for transport services again, for a BuckTommy reunion in the back half...even better if Buclk's the kidnapping victim, cause then it's not even a favor, it's Tommy riding to the rescue).

Hell. I'll even throw in a fucking Brad explanation and have him be involved in the black book and that's why he's been so unstable and angry and refusing to let Bobby disappear.

Just. There's so much potential being left on the ground to rot. They could still carve out something amazing. It would be EASY. It's all right there. Even the most bloodless, half assed attempt at some of this could be turned into something awesome by this cast.

It's just frustrating.

(ETA, I don't think it's irresponsible of Maddie to ever get pregnant again or want more kids, I think it was irresponsible of them to leave themselves in a position where ACCIDENTAL pregnancy was a risk. No, ppd doesn't mean you're broken or shouldn't have kids, but Maddie's experience looked way more like post partum psychosis)

[avelera]

I've been thinking about this meta and laughing actually because I want to reiterate, the foundations of Jayce's Season 1 plotline was clearly a typical morality play where he has an angel and a devil on his shoulder and he's tugged between politics and science.

To briefly sum up the meta above, what subverted this very reductive plotline was making Mel not evil (actually, not evil at all, just her own person with her own goals which are indeed mostly altruistic) and to make the motivations for Jayce 90% of the time to be helping Viktor and their work.

I think originally, the plot was supposed to be "Viktor and Science are Good" "Mel and Politics are Bad" "Jayce is Seduced by Bad Politics and Sexy Mel Away from the True Value of Brotherly Friendship and Science" with him only coming back too late to his Good Science Bro and realized his Evil Politics and Girlfriend Mistakes after Viktor has tragically decided to go full Machine Herald after Jayce's abandonment.

Now in this simplistic version, this failed morality play on Jayce's part is a Tragedy because he realizes his mistake and returns to his bro after it is Too Late and now he must use the lessons he learned to Save His Bro from Evil (that Jayce caused with his initial abandonment).

Then a bunch of other better storytelling drafts happened and we got the plot of Arcane as we saw it BUT

BUT

The thing that is absolutely cracking me up about this proposed timeline of storytelling decisions and where it got us (which I firmly believe to be true) is that it led to the absolute gayest take on Jayce & Viktor ever like, seriously, by fleshing out this story the way they did, it went from "Save the bro you tragically abandoned" to "Save the man you did EVERYTHING for because only YOU can rescue your soulmate across all timelines, all possibilities, and you must give more than you did before, you must give everything of yourself to this cause and you do so gladly, in the most romantic gesture of all time." Like...

Ok, I'm gonna say something potentially unpopular here but I don't really blame Christian Linke for seeing Jayce/Viktor as brotherly, because that's what like 99% of straight male showrunners see when they write the gayest relationship of all time and given what we know of what Jayce & Viktor looked like in the earliest drafts, it probably was more brotherly in the earliest versions that he had the most influence on before he handed it over to better writers and artists.

(I speculate the reason for male showrunners not getting how romantic the "friendship" stories they're writing are is because for many cis straight male creators, "brotherhood" as defined by "not blood relatives but more than a best friend" with another man is the closest relationship you can have, while romance is just a relationship with the best sex you'll ever have, maybe, or just the woman you're "supposed" to settle down with, whereas for women and queer writers, they tend to write the love interest as being your most important person, not a blood relative but more than a best friend, and this is where the wire gets crossed because these cis male writers don't realize they've written a catnip romance for everyone who isn't them ANYWAY I DIGRESS).

SO, this re-write of Jayce's reductive morality-play plot where Science Bro Good and Politics Girlfriend Bad to make Mel and Viktor more nuanced and complicated and not really dragging Jayce into two directions because he's doing everything for Viktor 1) makes all his motivations realign to be just about Viktor which is insanely romantic. But 2!!!

2) In the original morality play plot with Science Bro Good, Jayce returning to Viktor in S2 but it's Too Late is just tragic but it could still just be a story of betraying a friend and your own principles.

But in the revised arc, where Jayce did everything in S1 for Viktor, including overthrowing the government, but in S2 realizing that he wasn't helping Viktor in the way Viktor wanted, that he should have instead stayed in the lab to help Viktor instead of trying to save him elsewhere, and then re-writing Jayce's entire life purpose in S2 to be about saving Viktor's soul and oh, also the world I guess, goes from being "Reductive Jayce making Amends for Leaving his Science Bro for Evil Politics Girlfriend" and instead makes it, "Man who gave everything for his best friend but it wasn't enough to save him then course corrects and figures out how to give his best friend what he REALLY needs, but only does so tragically too late, and must then go on a Tragic Quest, tear himself down to shreds and build himself back up again to become a vessel of but one singular goal, which is the salvation of his Science Bro's SOUL, rescuing him from a fate of loneliness worse than death, because in all timelines, in all possibilities, only HE can rescue his Science Bro from himself oh, and also the world, I guess." And it just becomes the most insanely romantic story of all time.

And I can see how in the foundations of the old story, this would be a much more "friend-coded" story for Jayce and Viktor but because of all the nuanced writing levels that were added later, it just got 10x and then 100x more romantic until it's the most undeniably, mind-breakingly romantic story ever of literally saving one another's lives and souls over and over again across the multiverse because only you can save each other, you are doomed without one another, and yeah, if originally you just wanted to show Jayce being torn between his evil politics girlfriend and his good science bro buddy and then spending act 2 redeeming himself for his act 1 temptations then yeah, I can see how as CL or other show runners you might not have realized what you were cooking until after it came out of the oven!

I feel like so much of the silly Mel vs. Viktor discourse when it comes to Jayce would be resolved if people realized that the plot was originally conceived as a basic morality play arc with Mel as the devil on one shoulder and Viktor as the angel on the other for Jayce.

The bones of Jayce's plot in Season 1 is of a good-guy scientist who is tempted by the allure of politics and fame, with a beautiful femme fatale politician seducing him towards power on the one side and his humble 'brotherly' relationship with his scientific partner representing Jayce's 'true self' that he is drawn away from by her machinations. It's a very, very old school, reductive, male-centric plot that literally boils down to "bros before hos".

It even makes sense for S2, with Jayce overcoming his corruption arc in S1 and returning to his "bro" only for his prior sins to tragically launch Viktor's own corruption arc as the Machine Herald only after Jayce has learned his lesson.

And then the Arcane writers and Fortiche subverted this plot. Here's how:

They made all three characters multi-faceted adults with their own agency and motivations. None of them are puppets for the others or, if they are, the time one character spends controlling the choices of another becomes part of that controlling character's sins that must be atoned for (namely, Jayce resurrecting Viktor against his will, Mel manipulating Jayce against his will, Viktor trying to control everyone against their will).

For example, they made Mel complex and interesting and a good person in her own right. Yes, she still has elements of the beauty, danger, and allure of a femme fatale but by making her her own person with her own plot and motives, none of which are malicious (at most, they are self-serving until she changes her views on Hextech and how best to bring peace to Piltover).

Jayce is still torn between Mel and Viktor but he also fully has his own agency, as many are quick to point out. He is often dragged around by the manipulations of others too (Mel yes, but also Marcus, Vi, and Ambessa influence Jayce into bad decisions). Part of his arc is learning how to be true to himself and his own goals after his time spent in the Anomaly future. But, even there, you can still see the bones of the original morality play arc, where the "Good Ending" for Jayce is to go back to his lab partner "bro" and bring both of them back to being true to themselves.

Viktor isn't just helplessly standing by while Jayce ignores him. In fact, Viktor often deliberately cuts Jayce out of his experiments. He doesn't tell Jayce about the Shimmer, or the self-experimentation, or even about Sky's death until after Jayce resurrects him with the Hexcore. Viktor has agency, he has his own goals, and while he frequently chastises Jayce for abandoning their shared dream in what I believe is another hint of the bones of the original morality play plot, he also has his own flaws and his own journey to go on independent of Jayce.

Much of the silly bickering I see between Mel and Viktor fans comes down to who "deserves" Jayce, who is "erased" by not ending up with Jayce, whether or not Mel is manipulative, or if Viktor thinks about Jayce at all when he's busy pursuing his own goals, and I think all of those are absurd arguments.

Mel is manipulative, it is part of the bones of the morality play plot that has her as the antagonist, but they made her so much more than that, that I think it's an active disservice to the character they made to reduce her story down to whether or not she ends up with Jayce. I get why people get hung up on it, because I do believe it's the core of the first draft of her plot, but the richness of her character comes from moving beyond that. Indeed, in S2, the least important part of her character is her relationship to Jayce. She has her own stuff going on.

Whether or not Jayce is a victim of manipulation or whether or not he pursued power for its own sake is also showing an understanding of the basic, core plot they built the richness on top of. Jayce was seduced by Mel's manipulation and he did grasp after power, but they enriched his character by making his goals more noble and more tragic. He's always trying to fight for Viktor, for Hextech, for their shared dream, and for making Piltover a safer, better place, but how he goes about it often makes matters worse until he learns, grows, gains wisdom, and makes terrible mistakes he arguably can never make up for fully.

Jayce also isn't fully a victim of Mel's manipulation, just as she is not fully a mastermind able to control his every move. He breaks away at a certain point and makes his own (poor) decisions in ways that frighten her and make her regret her actions, until he grows enough to recognize the wisdom in her advice (though he later grows again and recognizes the original manipulation, which leads to him breaking up with her in 2.08 because Mel's sins are still there and they are the reason she and Jayce don't have hope for a future together once he realizes he can't trust her because actions have consequences in Arcane).

As for Viktor, he doesn't like Mel. In that, I think we again see the original morality play roots, with him as the angel on the shoulder disliking the devil who is seducing Jayce. But they enriched his character by having him respect Jayce's choices even as he may have privately disapproved of them, and to have his own arc to worry about with his failing health, and his other flaws like intellectual tunnel vision/naiveté, and his tendency to self-isolate in the face of his terminal illness. He has his own stuff going on.

They also subverted the morality play arc to a certain extent by having Viktor stop being the angel in S2. Indeed, the framework more or less falls away entirely and it become Jayce trying to save Viktor from himself, and from Jayce's own mistakes of not destroying the Hexcore, while Mel is busy with her own story of politics, war, and magic.

Anyway, I hope some of this makes sense. But I think if people just recognized that yes, there are elements of Mel as a bad guy in the fabric of the story, of a story where Jayce is in a balancing act between his demons and his angels, but that good writers came in and layered real people over these simplistic plots, made it so Mel's story isn't just about Jayce, Jayce's story isn't just about getting corrupted by a femme fatale, and Viktor's story isn't just about being abandoned by Jayce, and thus elevated the trope beyond its tired-out, simplistic roots, there'd be a lot less wank.

[pepstarvanmoon]

Someone please get El out of there

Is it not obvious what this is? Do you really not know what you should be doing? SAY THE DAMN WORDS.

Why do you think she’s doubting you? Can you really not tell?

Mike, sweetheart, your relationship balancing skills are a terror to your friends, family, and romantic partners.

This is why people found Midleven cuter in S1/2, because the day you made it official marked the beginning of El’s doubts in your feelings for her.

You cannot seem to grasp that El is your friend AND your girlfriend, and somehow treating El like a girlfriend equates to treating her like shit.

You cannot make this up. El needs WORDS because Mike’s ACTIONS actively make her feel unloved. She does not feel it, so she wants some kind of verbal/written affirmation because of how emotionally distant Mike feels.

(someone talented please edit Elmike to Hamilton’s Burn or send an existing edit my way, thank you ♡)

His actions do not align to her expectations of love, not that it’s a good idea to let TV define romance for you, but you’re allowed to want/expect certain things in a relationship, and El isn’t getting that.

And let’s not act like Mike isn’t good at making people feel loved/cared for. Will is in love with him for a reason. El loves him for a reason.

(It was difficult to pick scenes for this because I’ve read arguments for how these aren’t really romantic at all, but from 12/13-year old, “fresh out the lab” Eleven, it’s as romantic as romance gets imo)

El has been trying to convince herself that their relationship is better than it is, because once she admits to herself that it’s not working, what does she do?

Her day-to-day life isn’t that great. Sure, she has her new family in the Byers, but her dad recently passed away and she’s being bullied at school. She has no friends outside of Will, and while I’m sure their relationship is great (wasn’t explored that much tbh), he can’t keep her from feeling isolated, and his own trauma with bullying keeps him from standing up for her.

One good, unchanging thing she has is her relationship with Mike. He’s the one who took her in and housed her, he taught her what it meant to be a friend, and… I’m having a bit of trouble here lol. I was going to say:

Never used her for her powers (not true lol)

When she was burnt out, he never expected more from her (not true LOL)

Never treated her differently for her powers (for this one, he found her awesome in an awestruck way rather than a Brenner “I’m gonna exploit this” way, but when he thought she lied about Will/hurt Lucas he was on her ass lmao)

My girl has those ‘first love’ blinders on. I keep having to ask myself what she sees in him besides ‘first person to accept me + we kissed’ like besides the latter, Dustin was right there. A lot of the parts of Mike I enjoy don’t reveal themselves around El outside S1 (barely S2). He’s shown as caring and protective, but he’s like that for all of his friends?? Especially when they’re in danger so idk what’s different. I’d have to peruse the milkvan tag to get a hint, but I’ll probably get a better idea watching Sleeping Beauty.

I’m a firm believer that Mike kept it ambiguous because he didn’t want to admit what the real problem was to Will.

“I couldn’t tell El that I love her.” - simple as that. Must be something about Will that has him holding his tongue because after S3 I doubt he’d have that much trouble telling Lucas.

Are you embarrassed? If you thought it wasn’t that serious you wouldn’t have told Will that it was something you “can’t come back from”. Is love serious to you, Mike? Because you can’t love El in the way she wants, do you think you’re incapable of it? Do you feel wrong? Do you not want Will to know?

Hit a little too close to home, huh.

(and let’s not get into the "team, friends, best friends" scene they had together like what was the point in having them make contact a SECOND time.

They already established a connection between them. Mike could’ve asked to be a team after the "guess it's gonna be up to us again," and Will could’ve taken the painting offscreen (the focus shot of Will grabbing the painting gets me so bad like WHY), but instead they wanted them to blush and giggle over each other AGAIN before they got to the van.

Make it make non-Byler sense I'm begging.)

You’d think that’d be good enough, but Mike still feels conflicted and has to make it Will’s problem (actually, Will kinda made it his problem. The way they shot the triple take makes it seem like Will dragged Mike away for another talk because of how spacey he was being. Who knows.)

Tf do you mean you didn’t know what to say? “Maybe if I said that thing” so you DO know? It’s painfully cut and dry if you take emotions out of it. El wants Mike to say that he loves her, so to fix this, to come back from that fight, Mike has to say he loves her.

Why is it such an internal battle for him? If I were to take it at face value, I’d chalk it up to what he said in the van scene.

So your solution is to push your relationship to a point that has El crying and throwing all the loveless letters you sent to the floor? To tell her that she’s incredible and a superhero and that she should know how you feel about her because, despite the tears streaming down her face and her DIRECTLY asking you if you still love her, she must know how amazing she is too?

NEWSFLASH, Queerler! She’s learning just how much she doesn’t need you right now, so I guess it’s time to face your fears!

This isn’t what I meant, but go off ig (don’t, actually, this is awful for everyone involved).

No way you expect El to buy this. You’ve expressed this fear of "losing El" to Will, I’ll give you that, but nothing you’ve done IN FRONT OF EL has conveyed this. Your letters weren’t helping, and you being there in person only made it worse.

Eagerly awaiting the day Michael Wheeler stops lying.

Well, I guess he doesn’t lie ALL the time.

[loveandleases]

How would each ro react to the mc parnets trying to be involved in their child life?

Cause they sound insane as hell considering how they are acting

I'm not going to go into too much detail because some of that will be in the story itself. (below the cut!)

❤️ Cam - Originally, MC's parents treated him well. (likely due to that last name of his.) But, once they realized he was the black sheep of his family, their treatment soured. He sees them for who they are - self-serving and opportunistic. For him, it's a big no. Big no. He knows them too well to give them the benefit of the doubt. "Maybe you should focus on Jade, I mean why stop now right?"

💙 G - So, MC's parents met G several times when they were attending Uni together. They initially liked G, especially when they thought G was on track to become a surgeon. G got along with them until they began noticing the favoritism between MC and Jade. They had hoped they would improve, but from what they noticed they never did. Over time they realized that MC's parents' treatment wasn't a fluke - it was a pattern. G likes to think things through and figure out what's going on. But their patience has limits, and they quickly decide that the parents aren't worth the effort. They don't hide their disdain.

💚 Kara - Our sweet girl likes to believe the best in people, including those two. Kara has been treated like royalty by them. So, she doesn't know all the bad. She has seen MC's parents when they're at their happiest. Surrounded by the Clarke's money and living it up, since they're family friends. Her optimism will crack though, once she starts seeing the difference in how MC is treated in comparison to Jade. Watching MC get brushed aside time and time again is eye-opening for her, and it even parallels. She often feels like a backup/afterthought to her parents. Her loyalty to MC will outweigh her idealism, and she'll start to see the parents for who they are.

💛 M - HATES them. Like really hates them. M has an amazing relationship with their mothers. So, seeing people act so aloof with their child, pisses them off. It's revolting. And you know how M is, sometimes they can hold their tongue, and other times it's out of their mouth before it's even fully processed in their mind. M thinks it's in MC's best interest to cut ties with them. Because they know MC deserves better, and if their parents won't give it to them. M will.

💜 Isaac - So, their feelings about MC's parents are complicated. Isaac lost their mother and has a pretty rocky relationship with his father. So, his perspective is unique. He knows what it's like to feel like a dollar sign to a parent, and he fears MC will face that too when they're more successful. Beneath that cynicism, there's a bit of sadness. Because they can't help but think about the relationship they had with their mother, that they wish MC could have. If Isaac thought there was a chance for MC's relationship with their parents to change and become healthy, they would oh so cautiously, support it. But if not, then he'd be the first to tell them to walk away.

🖤 Ardent - Ugh, this guy has really good parents. Most of his family is great. (then the others well.. spoiler) One of the two out of the ROs. He's used to arguments and disagreements with his family, but those are small fights. Over stupid things, it's never about favoritism or neglect. To him, family means showing up and making someone feel like a priority. MC's parents fail that test immensely. If MC needs companionship, a partnership, or a family he is ready to offer it all. For him, blood isn't what defines family; actions do.

[buubonita]

What do you think the bad sanses love languages are? Like physical touch, gift giving, etc

Well this is a hard one to define. Mainly because it will be an answer based on what I understand of the characters and not so much if it is canon appropriate or not.

But canon doesn't matter.

BSP displays of affection, do you mean between them or towards each other? I still can't figure out how they work together. So I'll talk in general.

I think Killer has no idea what it is to give affection. And if he does, his ideas must be distorted by his own experiences. The closest thing to a display of affection he could have is to warn others from the knowledge he has about his environment and the people around him if that can avoid an unpleasant moment (I go back to that post where I said he would advise Dust and Horror about Nightmare and when or how to handle him)

I don't see either of them being physically affectionate. Killer touches others as a method of keeping himself grounded rather than with a good intention. I'd say it depends on the state of his soul but I'm not sure either (state 3 and 4 seem to be prone to extreme violence and 1 is the full awareness of guilt eating away at the poor guy)

Killer doesn't have the best references when it comes to giving affection either. If we think of a setup where Murder and Horror are there as "toys" that Nightmare gave to Killer, I can see him translating Nightmare's behaviors to the two of them.

Though who knows, maybe he can learn a thing or two from the right person.

Murder and Horror seem to be the most willing to do something terrible in the name of those they love the most.

Horror doesn't seem like the gushing type at all, Sans didn't usually be either but he showed his affection for his brother in small gestures (reading to him before bed, helping him make costumes for his party, peeling an apple for him) so I think he would follow that same pattern of doing small things, niceties to take care of who he cares about. Maybe he knows Dust has a favorite color and gives him a gift of that color, or maybe he lets Killer name his weapons and addresses them that way.

Small nonsense but it makes it known that he is there.

What I do see as a form of affection, and partly because his memory fails, is that Horror gives nicknames to the people he hangs out with. The more nicknames, the more dear they are to him.

I also don't see him touching anyone so openly. Maybe on rare occasions and they are simple touches like punches or pats.

However, he is not above hurting or simply ignoring their personal desires and convictions. He fed his brother human flesh despite Papyrus telling him he didn't want to, he lied to the entire town about a new policy because he didn't want to take responsibility for things getting screwed up because of him, and he condemned his friends (although he is not the only one to blame) to a screwed up life.

Nightmare.

All of Nightmare's "displays of affection" lead to violence. Nightmare can't feel healthy affection for anyone in his corrupted state. I think even if he wanted to love someone, he'd end up hurting them.

I've said this before, but Nightmare would definitely compliment anyone in the group while they're dying because he finds their pain "too irresistible."

Becoming the object of Nightmare's affection only brings more pain unfortunately.

In a healthy version it's even hard to determine, because the best mercy Nightmare could give the MTT is to let them go. While some like to explore the idea of ​​Nightmare striving to improve, I personally like that but it also depends on how heinous Nightmare's actions have been and trying to determine if it makes sense for the rest of the MTT to trust his promise of wanting to change for the better.

If he did change for the better, their relationship wouldn't stop being complicated. There are no perfect relationships, there will always be instances of tension between parties even in the best of times and it's a matter of everyone involved doing their part to make it work. Relationships are not one-sided and one person cannot and does not have to bear all the responsibility.

It would be nice to see, if Nightmare were to redeem himself, teach others to better manage their "negative" emotions in less destructive and healthier ways. And above all learn to respect everyone's personal boundaries.

Nightmare would be fine with physical contact if he was the one to initiate it, I think. He would have to trust someone a lot to let them touch him and it wouldn't last long.

And lastly there's Dust.

I really like the idea that Dust writes. He doesn't know how to voice his feelings very well so he's better at writing them down. Maybe little notes left in the space of the people he cares about, even if they're just loose sentences, it doesn't take a lot of words to express great things when it comes to feelings.

And sometimes saying I love you feels like an impossible feat or something sacred that not many feel ready for.

Dust and physical contact don't get along very well either, but I like to think that sometimes he would initiate contact, leaning on his companions to make himself noticed and know that he is there.

I hope this satisfies you, anon! Thank you for your ask, i have fun braining all this.

[femmenature]

Good luck, Babe!

Pairing: Ellie Williams x f! reader (ofc)

Summary: Ellie is your best friend, or so you tell yourself after you're done kissing and doing things that friends don't normally do. But that's over since you have a boyfriend, and you're pretending to be something you're not.

Warnings: Inappropriate language, infidelity, mentions of sex, jealousy.

-

Your “friendly” relationship with Ellie was not easy, even if it seemed quite the opposite when you were alone with no one watching. You couldn't explain when this happened. When you started to see each other as more than friends, your mind blurs as you try to remember when her hands fit so well with yours and when the songs she played on her guitar started to play just for you. You think you don't remember because nerves make your brain melt, and your heart melt too. She's the only one who can do it, and losing control of the situation makes you despair. That's what led you to cut everything off, actually, you don't even know what you cut off. You couldn't define what you had, you were and still are friends. You broke the unexpected news about your new boyfriend with your friends, she was there too. It was an impulsive act because you knew you couldn't tell her alone.

“girl, congratulations I'm so happy for you!” exclaimed Dina happily as she hugged you.

“It's about time, isn't it?” Jesse joked as he playfully undoes your hair.

As soon as Dina broke the hug Ellie's face came into your view. She didn't say anything, her eyebrows were slightly furrowed trying to decipher what the fuck was going on. She looked at you with a hint of sadness but also with a claim, she wanted to claim so many things, she wanted to get angry and demand so much from you. Her heart was ready to tell you to give her back everything you were taking from her at that moment but on the other side she was dying to ask you not to do it, not to leave her, not to give up, to stay with her.

“I'm happy for you, good luck” but that's all that came out of her mouth, it seemed that the last words carried an ironic tone, but only you noticed it, because you knew very well what she was trying to tell you.

After that day it was obvious that your friendship wasn't the same, you didn't hang out alone, you only hung out with Jesse and Dina, and it was better that way. Or that's what you were trying to tell yourself. Your thoughts were interrupted by Dina, who texted you to party tonight. Obviously we were all going to go, she has great convincing power. The problem is that your boyfriend is going too, and Ellie is going to meet him. You had double dates with Jesse and Dina, they ended up being double dates because Ellie conveniently always canceled when she found out your boyfriend was going too. But I guess that changed today, or it would be too suspicious if she didn't come again.

“What are you thinking, gorgeous?” ugh, you hated that nickname. Or you just hated it coming out of his mouth. Because you really liked it when it came out of Ellie's.

You faked a smile and sighed before answering your boyfriend “I was just thinking about the party today”

He walks up to you with a cocky smile “I'm going to be with you, you don't have to worry about it” clearly that's not what you were talking about, but you just let it go. “And aren't you excited? I'm finally going to meet your friend Annie”

“It's Ellie. Not Annie” you roll your eyes, you couldn't help it. You were annoyed by something as simple as him mispronouncing her name. But it's her name. How could he mispronounce it? You couldn't hide your annoyance over something so small and it bothered you. It bothered you to know that you are losing control of the situation with the pronunciation of her simple name. You didn't need her presence to be overwhelmed with emotions and that scares you, it scares you too much.

“Chill, Ellie, whatever” his words were vague, he didn't even care about meeting your friends, he just wants to give you satisfaction by pretending he does. It was time to leave for the party and meet your friends there. It was a house, doors open, people kissing on the front steps, Christmas lights adorning the frames, even though the season was long gone. Plastic cups everywhere, laughter and scattered conversations were the decoration of the place but your eyes were only looking for her. A hand touched your shoulder and as you turned around you saw Dina smiling at you and your boyfriend.

“Finally lovebirds, it took forever” you hugged her greeting her and when you rested your face on her shoulder you saw her. Ellie was behind, looking at you, playing with her hands nervously as she looked at him and then quickly to the floor. As if it was the most eccentric thing ever. You broke away from Dina and waved to Jesse, then did the same to Ellie.

“Finally, its a pleasure Annie, I was looking forward to meeting you” your boyfriend interrupted the greeting with Ellie, smiling with false honesty. You looked at him angrily, you had literally reminded him of her name a few minutes ago, it seemed like he was doing it on purpose. I was about to remind him again when Ellie cut me off.

“It's nice to meet you Frank” she replied coldly, looking him in the eye. Your boyfriend sighed in frustration and reluctantly replied “My name is Mark”

“I guess the three of us have bad memories, hm?” Ellie tapped his shoulder as she passed and escaped the situation, heading for the bathroom

“all three of us?” Mark looked at you in confusion, trying to guess what she tried to say

You ignored his question and decided to confront Ellie once and for all, entering the bathroom without knocking. Her hands were resting on the marble countertop and her head was down. “What are you doing here” she didn't even need to see you to know it was you. She knows your steps, your perfume, she knows everything about you. “Shouldn't you be with your little boyfriend?” she spat angrily.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? did you really have to leave like that? doesn't it seem too obvious?" you pull your hair back in frustration. She looks at you in disbelief “Are you fucking with me? that's what you're going to tell me? I should be complaining about things”

she herself pointed to her chest, wanting somehow to make you understand what she is saying “you come all this way to point out to me that I am being obvious when you didn't even give me a reason to stop being obvious. You just showed up one day exclaiming you had a boyfriend and all I could do was step aside and let you go” her hand went back to the bathroom counter, squeezing it ”when you didn't give me any reason to do so. And I don't know how you do it but it's not easy for me to stop loving you overnight, so I'm sorry for not disguising it the way you would want me to” Her hand reached for the door handle but your back instantly pressed against the door closing it again.

“You know it wasn't the right thing to do, what we were doing” her hand was still on the door handle as she looked you in the eyes “then why are you blocking my way?” she whispered as her heart was racing. And all you wanted to tell her was the truth. Because you couldn't let her go like that, because she's all you want, all you long for, but your mouth said something else “we were nothing, just confused friends.”

She laughed under her breath with sarcasm “Is it so hard for you to say it's love? I want you to tell me something” she let out a sigh ”When you see his face when he gets up, do you recognize yourself? Really, when you look at yourself in the mirror, do you know yourself?” Your eyes betrayed you and looked quickly at the mirror next to you, returning your gaze quickly to her, with a hint of embarrassment ”Because I have no idea who you are. And when you finally wake up from your lie after so many years of living a sham, the only thing you're going to get from me is an I told you so.”

your gaze dodges her and your back peels away from the door , leaving the way clear for her to leave the bathroom “and I really would have liked it to be you. Shit, I really do, but if I have to beg you to stay I guess you don't love me enough, and I just want someone who feels the same way I do” her fingers moved closer to yours, trying to caress them, the distance was so deep even though the centimeters were ridiculously short ”I wouldn't care what they say about us, loving you is never going to be something shameful, I never saw it that way. I never felt it that way, I wish you would understand that and stop being afraid. But I can't force you to feel more love than you do.”

The only thing that sounded after that was the door being closed. The feeling of anguish that dwells in your chest feels so heavy that it drags you down to the cold bathroom floor. You hug your legs trying to protect yourself from your own guilt screaming at you from the mirror. Even though you know your shadow's speech by heart, at the end of the day it is yours. And even if you try to hide it's still there, telling you that you will never be happy if you deny yourself what you really love. Why do you need control? You keep telling yourself that it's natural to be with him when you know it's unnatural to force yourself to touch his face when your heart doesn't want to. And the most real you ever felt in life was with her. It makes you sick to know that you have to go home to him and have to put up with the lack of love you feel, or don't feel. So you get up from the bathroom, and when you see yourself in the mirror, the only thing you think is that you want to know yourself again, and you know who knows you well enough to remind you of who you are.

In a hurried step you opened the door and looked for her through the crowd, not finding her silhouette you left the house, ignoring the calls of your friends and Frank. Her car was in sight, you would recognize it anywhere since on starry nights we drove around in it listening to music. The lights came on, indicating that she was inside, about to leave, and you rushed over, opening the passenger door, without permission, and sat down. “What are you doing? You really have a problem with opening doors unexpectedly” she scowled at you.

“I'm an idiot. And you're right, everything you said to me in the bathroom, you're right. But you were wrong about one thing” you swallowed nervously looking into her eyes with sincerity ”I love you as much as you love me. And yes, fear paralyzed me, the lack of control over my feelings made me make a stupid and senseless decision. I overflowed with love, I really did. And not being able to hold that back and put it in its place I ran away. This is not a justification, nor is it an excuse. I'm just telling you the truth, I want to be me again, and I was never more myself than when I'm with you. I don't want to be afraid of love. I don't want to walk away from you.”

"Then don't do it" her hand rested on your leg, caressing it with her thumb "let me remind you who you are" her hands unbuckled her car seatbelt and she approached me, resting her forehead on mine "let me love you like he could never do" and without saying anything, you kissed her like you never did before. Without fear.

-

I guess she told you so!

[skimmingmilk]

howdy skim! how do you get Sonic and Tails characterization so spot on? Typically watching cutscenes i can read between the lines or think deeper on some bits of the games but you just flesh them out beautifully and I was just wondering what your interpretation of Sonic and Tails is!

Hi there! :D

Ahh, thank you! I’m so happy you like their characterization! Watching cutscenes does really help get the voices down, but you’re right in that it doesn’t give us a ton of emotional range to work with. I think—in the case for how I approach Sonic and Tails specifically in the Picket Fence series—it helps that their foundation is a mix of game personality and AoStH personality. 

AoStH, while a very silly series, offers a lot in terms of range for Sonic and Tails’s emotions and reactions to stress. We get to see Sonic angry and upset and scared in ways beyond what the games tend to show and Tails is very much a little kid just doing his best, with a bit of a stubborn and defiant side to him. Taking these traits and emotions and more or less infusing them into the game portrayals (specifically Adventure and Adventure 2) are kind of how I establish their baseline.

The rest has just been practice! I’ve written so much of these guys now, their behaviors and the way they think have become almost hardwired into my brain xD I didn’t start out super confident about my portrayal of them—Sonic in particular used to give me a lot of stress because of how much stock people can put in how he’s characterized. I thought for sure people weren’t going to like how I wrote him at all—and I’m positive there are people who don’t and that’s fine! But I wasn’t writing for them. I’m not writing for Sega or any official media, I’m writing for me and the people who want to read the same stories I do. 

**Edit: This isn't to disparage anyone who is more particular about how Sonic's portrayed. It's solely because there's already so much stress involved in the writing process, I don't need the added stress of writing for an audience that wouldn't like my style anyway hanging over my head! Especially when it's free fanfiction I'm doing in my spare time for fun. There are plenty of other really talented writers out there who have their own spin or take on the characters that people can find enjoyment in <3 I don't have to please everyone and that takes off a lot of pressure!**

So that pushed me to find my footing as I put Sonic in situations I wanted to see. The more I wrote him and practiced his voice, the more natural it became. I got comfortable with him and the confidence just built up over time to the point where I can trust him to guide the narrative and get himself where he needs to be, rather than me just shoving him into place.

In a way it’s a lot like learning to draw them, right? First, you stick pretty closely to on model references to make sure they look like who they’re supposed to. You learn their shapes and defining features, then once you're comfortable, you start to branch out, push the limits, and infuse more of your own style to them. It’s the same with writing. You follow the guidelines canon materials have given you at first, but once you understand how the shapes of their personality traits fit together, you can bring your own style and flair to the writing to expand their potential and match the creativity of your ideas that go beyond what the games, comics, movies, etc. have covered. 

More about how I personally approach them beneath the cut, because this got long, I'm sorry xD

I think my interpretation of Sonic and Tails relies on a couple of things. First, their relationship to each other. They are best friends. Sonic has a lot of friends and cares about a lot of people, but Tails is specifically his best friend. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s so important to me to establish that it’s a symbiotic relationship that goes both ways. It’s easy to see why Tails likes and admires Sonic, why he’d want to be his friend and that he looks up to him, it’s all part of his character arc in early games. So making sure Sonic views him in the same light is key—not just as a little brother figure he has to look out for, because that kind of responsibility doesn’t really align with Sonic’s free spirit*, but for Tails to be someone he genuinely admires and wants to be around. Sonic keeps pace with Tails because he wants to, because he’s choosing to of his own volition.

*Just want to add, that’s also what makes their dynamic so compelling to me. Sonic’s cool, rebellious, free spirit doesn’t typically lend itself to the idea that “my best friend is a sweet, eight-year-old genius mechanic who has a bit of a complex about me.” On a surface level, that doesn’t seem like it would align with a stereotypical “cool” character, at least not to me as an American kid in the 90s and early 00s. So playing with that and making sense of it is so fun and critical to my portrayal of him.

The second thing is mainly making sure my writing feels genuine. Like, I need to believe in the way I’m writing the characters because if I don’t, then I can’t possibly expect readers to. Sometimes it requires planting a few seeds along the way in order to earn the payoff of an emotional reaction, so that I can get to a place where I can write something like Sonic the Werehog hiding his face with one hand as he howls from the sheer relief of being free from the burden of taking a life that he was fully prepared to take on and believe him when he does. Or when Tails is trying to troubleshoot his own jealousy and insecurities on his own rather than talk it out, I need to believe that he believes what he’s doing makes perfect sense to him.

Honestly, my characterization of them is probably pretty skewed and biased to my personal tastes at this point. I don’t think this is a definitive way to write Sonic or Tails, but based on my experiences with how I’ve engaged with their characters throughout my life, I just write them exactly the way I want to and try not to worry about whether or not it aligns with others’ views of the characters. Taking away that pressure and outside influence gives me room to play and explore different possibilities. There are also certain characterization choices in canon media that I don’t necessarily agree with, but I try to work in aspects of that in a way that doesn’t totally contradict that piece of media while also aligning with my view of them, if that makes sense?

Basically I don’t disregard everything, but rather try and work it into my foundation that was built primarily on AoStH and the Genesis/Dreamcast-era Sonic games, so that people can still see a bit of Jason or Roger or Colleen's performances or nods to the OVA if that's their preferred piece of Sonic media. **Edit: I have the most familiarity with the English side of Sonic, but of course would want to be open to people who's favorite Sonic is Jun'ichi, too, I just haven't had as much exposure to him as Sonic, so can't say for certain if anything I've written feels in line with that**

I hope this answered your question? It was very compelling to think about and I hope it provided some insight into how I approach their characterization!

[gnomey22]

Phoenix Wright & The Feys

Ace Attorney has a lot of important relationships, a whole range of ones you could argue for being the most significant throughout the games - in the original trilogy, at least.

As anyone in this fandom knows, the general fandom places most emphasis on Phoenix and Miles' relationship, and their extremely convoluted development from childhood-best-friends-who-became-estranged-to-unwilling-coutroom-rivals-to-Obviously-Gay-At-This-Point-But-Capcom-Are-Cowards. It's the greatest example of how Phoenix, and those like him, are such a positive influence in the Ace Attorney world, inspiring a deeply broken man to push forward and change his ways - and of course, it's excellent shipping fuel too. All of that is certainly up there as one of the most important relationships, but I'd only call it the second-most-important.

The third-most-important relationship is (and hear me out on this one) Phoenix Wright's relationship to the courtroom as a whole. His entire character motivation lies in the 4th grade class trial, and as AA1 implies and T&T expands upon, Mia's mentorship in the ways of the courtroom dictates a lot of his general life philosophy. He believes he exists to lend a voice to those who can't get their messages across, and the dramatic all-important courtroom is his perfect outlet. It screws him over time and time again, this fictionalised legal system's greatest similarity with the real one is its unfavourability towards everyone involved, but he uses it to his advantage, turns everything around for the greater good. But that's all metaphorical talk, not an actual character relationship.

Phoenix Wright's relationships with the Fey family are what truly define Ace Attorney, from most conceivable angles. I've seen people claim it's all about his relationship with Maya, or likewise for Mia, but I think that's a pointless separation. There's a reason Phoenix's conflation of Mia and Maya in AA1 plays out the way it does - with Phoenix learning to appreciate Maya's influence better than anyone, while still honouring Mia as best he can - and it's not because either of them were more important to him. And none of this is to talk about his relationship with Pearl Fey, how he was able to break through her shell with far more delicacy than he usually shows, an excellent showcase of his good capabilities as a vague-family-figure and lawyer, or even to talk about his relationships with the Hawthorne twins, how their manipulation and lies wounded him deeply, but nonetheless shaped him into the sharp-eyed seeker of truth he is throughout the trilogy.

In truth, it's the whole Fey family, and how inexplicably closely Phoenix Wright is tied to them, that Ace Attorney revolves around. The shichishito at the start of 3-5 is such an important moment to me, because it explains exactly what I'm about to say in a much more succinct and artistic way - The Fey family branches out to everything it touches, pulling people in too deep and entrenching them in the toxicity and pressure, until they cave and break off entirely, either getting themselves killed or deeply hurting those they left behind. This all applies to members of the family, too, so many of them meet terrible fates just for being born into it, let alone getting involved in it later in life. The few who don't die get pulled into crime, or extremely traumatised by all the pain their family lineage has faced and indirectly wrought through mere existence.

And then you have Phoenix Wright. He wasn't born into the family, we don't even know his family at all, he has no history with them whatsoever until college. He didn't marry into the family, his relationship with "Dahlia" went down in flames, and now his interests lie in the Demon Prosecutor he had a fourth-grade crush on. He didn't even visit Kurain Village once until 2-2, and he was already close with multiple Feys at that point. But he's been inexorably linked to the family in dozens of ways, from dating Iris posing as Dahlia, to spending three years learning everything he knows from Mia, to carrying her memory alongside her younger sister and his developing best friend Maya, to comforting a young Pearl when she's put in the most vulnerable position of her life. Everything I've just listed is wrapped in tragedy, from toxic relationships to false murder charges to real murder charges and unwarranted deaths, but Phoenix never breaks away. He always has to wrap up every loose end, leave no stone unturned, and stick by the people who need a voice like his. So, even through the unimaginable amount of violence and trauma the Fey family brings about, he finds many of the most valuable relationships in his life through them, and in turn, he unravels the mysteries and curses shrouding their entire existence one-by-one, providing bittersweet closure to the crimes and tragedies always unfolding in front of their, and his, eyes.

Just like he does with the courtroom, and just like he does with Miles, he turns it all around. That is the spirit of Ace Attorney.

...

and also it's just really funny that this random lawyer is constantly pushed into the centre of generational magic family drama

[cybershock24601]

A woman who openly dislikes you also being basically the only person who speaks up from you is absolutely brain breaking. Especially bc with Illario it's like, it would be easy to fit in his worldview if she was a conquest or in some way attracted to him or something but she is very much not. Everything about their relationship suggests that the best behavior he can expect from her towards him is bare minimum civility and that is shown in most aspects of their interactions so what's it mean that "bare minimum civility" is treating him better than most of the people in his life.

Rook and Illario's relationship is insane to me because as I've said before my Rook was the one who advised Lucanis to lock Illario up for what at the end of the day were political reasons and absolutely gives him shit when he deserves it but is also the only person in Villa Dellamorte to really have Illario's back in a lot of ways.

Lucanis and Illario's relationship is so defined by Caterina's treatment and abuse of them that Lucanis is never going to be able to speak up for Illario when he can't even speak up for himself and I can see a young child who sees the safety in being the favorite not really wanting to risk losing that favor by stepping out of line and also starts to subconsciously rationalize and internalize Illario's harsh treatment from Caterina as Illario just not being as good as Lucanis. So much of Lucanis and Illario's dynamic was solidified as children and as neither one of them really had anyone close to them aside from each other there was never anything to really shake up their dynamic or cause them to really question it because that's just the way things are.

Enter Rook, especially a Rook who is not a Crow, who through their relationship with Lucanis is drawn into the family and gets to have a real good look at what the fuck is wrong with House Dellamorte. Rook's probably really quick to pick up on how Illario is treated in the family and sure Rook is pissed at him for what he's done to Lucanis and thinks he's an absolute idiot for working with the Venatori like he did, they still extend Illario empathy and some basic human decency which is so much more then Illario is used to.

Sure Illario can be an idiot sometimes but that doesn't make the way Illario is treated by his family right. I also think Rook - or that very least my Rook who has some similar issues of acting like a fool to keep people's expectations low so as to not to disappoint them when she can't live up to said expectations - starts to see through the mask of the carefree philanderer Illario wears and how much of his behavior stems from just playing into the low expectations everyone has of him. Rook, who is generally a pretty kind and empathetic person, would take it upon themselves to start calling out Caterina and Lucanis when they're being overly dismissive of Illario both as a person and an assassin because their behavior towards him can be really uncalled for a lot of the time and that just isn't right and Rook is definitely starting to get why things played out the way they did between Illario and Lucanis. Not that Rook is giving Illario a pass at all but Rook can acknowledge that Illario's actions did not come out of nowhere.

Illario who has grown up never expecting anyone to have his back is floored. Yes, Illario could trust that Lucanis would always back him up on a job but Lucanis would never really intercede on his behalf with Caterina, or at least if Lucanis ever did that was an impulse that was killed long ago probably due to Caterina's cane. So the fact that Rook who clearly isn't a fan of him is speaking up to her is mind blowing and Illario cannot make heads or tails of why Rook would do that. Not just talk back to Caterina because Rook has likely been speaking up for Lucanis' sake already which is an insane thing to do in the first place, but the fact that Rook is willing to do so for Illario just doesn't make any sense no matter how Illario looks at it because Rook just being a kind person is not a motive Illario is capable of considering. Illario spends a lot of late nights puzzling over what 5D chess game Rook is playing and what she must want to be doing all this.

Rook calling out Lucanis is also something that would stump Illario because it is clear Rook is head over heels for Lucanis so why would she potentially cause friction in her own relationship just for Illario's sake. Even stranger is that after several late night conversations behind closed doors between Rook and Lucanis, Lucanis' behavior towards Illario starts to change. It really freaks Illario out because why the fuck is Lucanis being so nice to him, is he dying??? Illario would wonder if he was possessed but he knows Lucanis is and the demon hates Illario's guts so what is going on?? It would probably take Lucanis and Illario some time to find a good equilibrium in their relationship as they start reconciling and unpacking the hurts in their past that lead to everything that happened because what Illario did was wrong and he knows that by now but it's nice to have Lucanis acknowledge just how much constantly being sidelined and considered second best hurt.

I think the real turning point in their relationship would be that the first time Lucanis stands up to Caterina is for Illario's sake. Illario had thought that if anything would get Lucanis to talk back to Caterina it would be Rook so the fact that the first person Lucanis really took an actual stand against Caterina for was Illario is inconceivable to him considering how the entirety of their lives have played out. It also brings up some lingering bitterness with no real target that Lucanis couldn't have done this before everything that happened between them and told Caterina that he didn't want to be First Talon. Things are still complicated between those boys and they always will be but they are getting better and it's pretty clear that Rook was the instigator for a lot of it.

[crqstalite]

equally hilariously, lucanis is the one who keeps gaining rep with sabine the fastest. to be entirely fair its likely for gameplay reasons (i drag him out all the time for detonations — he hasnt gotten a break in a while, his fault for being too useful) and related decision making, but its way funnier to imagine that lucanis is attached at the hip to sabine not because he’s attracted to them, but because hes trying to keep them from getting themself killed.

[tinartss]

akademiya shenanigans

[byfulcrums]

it is incredibly important to me that satosugu are not dating actually. i don't think they ever would (they wouldn't label it, at least. why should they? it's not like anyone else has a right to care about that), but it is something that i think matters a lot to the narrative, neither of them having ever said i love you

satoru never did it because he thought he'd have enough time for it. suguru didn't see a reason to, at least not back them. they're together, will always be together no matter what happens, and that's enough for the both of them, so why bother?

it didn't really last. satoru got to tell him, actually tell him, one time. it was the first and the last. suguru didn't get to say it back

[butchnavi]

nina salazar-roberts is such a beautiful case study in comphet and I genuinely think her arc deserves so more appreciation

[vaguely-concerned]

I don't know what I love more, the fact that as rook you can make a statement in NO uncertain terms that you are NOT responsible one way or the other for the theological implications of the shit you're discovering in the 'regrets of the dread wolf' memories. not my jurisdiction. quite simply none of my business. not my chantry circus not my chantry monkeys. irrelevant to the matter at hand here we'll kill that god if we get to him he can get in line. or if the best thing about it is seeing the lone little 'lucanis approves' that pops up right after choosing it. corvid with a knife about to commit deicide keeping it real and sensibly, pragmatically, wilfully agnostic with me here in this magical lighthouse today

[cluescorner]

I gave myself a writing challenge and I am fascinated by it

So basically I put the robins in a randomizer to give them a new order/role (because I just...kinda wanted to see what would happen + I like role-reversal AUs) and got results that are giving me a fucking brain blast.

Stephanie, the first sidekick who defines the role

Tim, the sidekick who dies and comes back wrong

Dick, the sidekick who saves Batman from himself

Damian, the sidekick who was never supposed to be a sidekick but would go on to prove everyone wrong

Jason, the youngest sidekick who is still the Kid Wonder

...So this is fucking wild. I've got some ideas and several of these fit perfectly (Dick's role is pretty similar to his one in canon), but some of these are fucking INCREDIBLE to explore (Steph being the first Robin is something I never even considered but tbh I kinda love it).

I probably won't write a fic or anything because tbh I don't like publishing my writing that much, but I might expand this into a full AU and post about it. I might randomize other stuff too (ie, stuff that I cannot change vs stuff that I cannot keep the same) but this fucking rules as a starting point.