#i will sometimes make an exception under very specific circumstances

[literaryspinster]

people will swear up and down that it’s disgusting and predatory for an 18 year old and a 16 year old to date but then turn around and ship z*tara 🤦🏾‍♀️

[heartbeatbookclub]

inspired by the crying headcanons ask, how do you think the girls are like when angry? we do kind of see some of them get infuriated sometimes in the side stories but im curious if you have any extra thoughts on it

I'm just going to kinda rapid fire this because I don't like it sitting here, but I've been too busy and in a weird headspace to really take the time for it. If this ends up malformed or weird, I apologize. I've done a bit of thought on it though

Sayori generally keeps herself on an even keel. It's hard to really piss her off with anything which would typically anger someone, because she has a general kill them with kindness mindset (and if you do something like insult her, or try to start shit, she's more likely to assume that she's doing something wrong, so she'll beat herself up instead). That said, she does have her pet peeves (like when someone leaves the water on while brushing their teeth! you aren't using that right now, you're just wasting water!), and she does have certain buttons you probably shouldn't press.

Namely, Sayori really values other people, especially those close to her, and places a lot of trust in them. To be honest with her, to be good people, and to take care of themselves. If you fail the latter two, she will be disappointed with you, and maybe even a little angry dependent on the circumstance and how she learns about it. That disappointment hurts a lot worse, though. Of course, when it comes to taking care of yourself, she understands how that could be difficult, and will help you as much as she can, but she really wants you to value yourself as much as she does.

The former of the three, she'll get angry. Sayori isn't the type to go shouting mad (well, unless she's getting mad at mario kart or something), or the type to really share strong words. She's got that tranquil fury down pat. If you do something you know she won't be happy with, that's one thing. If you lie about it to her face, and take advantage of her trust, she'll take some time apart from you. She'll push you away until she can calm down and really think about how she wants to respond. She's not one to hold grudges; revenge isn't her forte, but when she faces that kind of betrayal, it's really hard for her to look at someone the same way.

Monika can be very passive aggressive. Yknow, that kind of backhanded, half-sarcastic passive aggressive. As a side effect of being a people-pleaser, Monika is averse to conflict generally, and would prefer to seek a more reasonable compromise in any given situation as opposed to some blow-out confrontation, and absent that, when she gets aggravated, she tries to be civil, but ends up being cattier than she intends.

If it does end up escalating to a more serious argument, if tensions are running high, Monika feels very uncomfortable. She's not one to escalate into a shouting match, she's not the type to start peppering her speech with colorful language adding with rage, she tries to keep herself under control as much as she can.

Still, she might slip up. And losing that control makes her feel even worse about it, makes her more emotional in general, and when she gets to that point, I think she'd probably say something she might regret. Definitely has moments where she cries from how angry she is about something, and realizes she needs to take a walk to get away from the situation.

Yuri tends to be strongly opinionated, but about some strange and specific things. She tries to keep from voicing these opinions when they aren't asked for or needed, just to keep everything smooth socially, but if asked, she will be blunt about her thoughts even while trying to be polite, because if they want her honest opinion, then being honest, she does feel that bluntly about it. The fact that she doesn't let on until asked makes it feel harsher than it actually is.

Yuri generally tries to keep herself under control in a similar vein to Monika, except that rather than trying to use some sort of conflict resolution, she prefers to just leave it as is. Just stop talking about it, maybe leave, whatever. Of course, she feels so strongly about her view and that it's correct that sometimes her mouth moves before her brain, and she feels the need to get the last word in, which often escalates the situation.

Yuri gets pretty easily overwhelmed emotionally, and her strong feelings about a given topic can quickly bubble over and force her to act in certain off-putting ways before she even realizes what she's doing or saying. She has a tendency to start yelling, to start saying a lot more hurtful things and use more caustic language generally. Without a mediator, she's wont to get into a loop of just continual anger and have it just ruin her day. Of course, after that, if she really thinks about it, she regrets it completely and feels terrible. (Unless they actually deserve it. Even then, she might think she could've gone about it better...)

That habit of bottling it up also has a tendency to create some outbursts if things become too overwhelming, though that's more likely to result in a combination of this sort of behavior and what I described when talking about them crying. That's da dawg in her ('tism)

Natsuki tends to be reflexively angry, or reflexively mean at the very least. I've talked about this at length before, but she pushes people away in general and tries to harden herself wholly so that nobody can ever hurt her. I've dwelt for a while on what I think that actually means about her life (namely her home life) but you can read my thoughts on that elsewhere.

She's got a tendency to just complain about a lot of different stuff which annoys her or makes her uncomfortable. She makes no secret of her opinions or thoughts on any variety of things, which might get her into trouble in some circumstances, but generally she's just very opinionated without much dedicated thought to it.

If you really get her going though, she has a lot of smart-mouthed comebacks and sharp barbs to lob back and forth. Also she starts swearing a lot more. She does her best to come out on top by keeping her anger in check, but she definitely indulges in it a fair bit. Sometimes too much. Sometimes she gets overwhelmed, and when she gets really, really mad, she also definitely starts crying, and she moreso than anyone finds that really embarrassing, because it's a sign of weakness in that kind of scenario.

[moonshynecybin]

one thing that i think we should talk more about is marc & vale's different manipulation techniques. idk if manipulation is the right term, at least for marc it's mostly about how he approaches the media

I think when marc was really young in the beginning of his career he was very honest with the journalist as he was excited to be a rookie for example and didn't have any bad feelings to hide. but i think he learned a lot from 2015, he progressively started to alternate moments of real and brutal honesty and even vulnerability to moments of (fake)politeness so that he can act as angel to the media while still being a menace on track and still be seen as someone who's brutally honest. (I'm not criticizing him, this is a smart move and nobody is honest all the time) obviously this happens a lot more with non-spanish media where he tries to appear less threatening

and then there's vale...vale who established himself when he was REALLY young has a funny guy, a lovable leader who's not afraid of saying what he thinks because he's aware of his charisma. he always knew how to work the media for some reason and in 2015 but also with every other rivarly he had he knew he could be as mean or cunty or corny as he wanted cause he had all the italian journalists wrapped around his finger. true marvel supervillain shit, iconic

yeah i see what you mean it IS manipulation but they also live and work in such a ruthlessly public arena that i can’t ever blame them for it like it’s not necessarily a bad thing that they know how to play the game and protect themselves a lil…

it’s also interesting in relation to each other i think. like marc IS very careful never to say bad things that can be used as sound bites about valentino and vale (WITH NOTABLE EXCEPTIONS IN THE PAST LOL) makes an effort to do the same… they’re both always reframing and changing the subject and dodging the question… vale gets asked about marc on the ducati and says yeah he’s fast lets talk about BEZZ. marc gets asked to name valentino’s strengths and weaknesses and says well he’s charismatic and has no weaknesses. marc gets asked about vale’s retirement gives a loooong spiel about vale being a huge part of motogp then essentially says yeah he hates me but i don’t have any problems and wish him the best :) like he orients himself in such a way as to make the feud seemed one sided which hmmm i don’t know about that anymore lol… truly marc only furthers their beef under specific and controlled circumstances ie his documentary (almost NEVER to the press writ large that’s why that misano press scrum had me like 👀) and vale is the same (podcasts are the optimal time for a deranged monologue). BUT he also sometimes furthers it when he’s just the angriest little motorcycle racer the world has ever seen and his temper gets the best of him. they’re too media trained for anything else

anyways all this to say is that they would both make such excellent hunger games victors…

[punkeropercyjackson]

Forget Spiderman Percy,what about Spiderpunk Percy?Who choose his name because he's crustpunk but also because she's transfem bigender and Spiderman and Spiderwoman were already taken by Nico and Hazel and they're a Spider trio with Percy being 22,Nico 17 and Hazel 16 and having been the Spidersiblings of Earth 27 for 4 years by Atsv.Sally adopted Nico and Hazel in their toddler years but died under mysterious circumstances when Percy was 12 and he had to resort to self-parentification since Smelly Gabe was their 'guardian' and he took the brunt of the abuse on purpose so his little siblings could be safer.Hazel was bitten first so she doned the Spiderwoman mantle that'd been lost with Sally's death because she was the first 27 Spiderwoman but kept it a secret from her kids for protection,Nico gets bitten next and joins her as Spiderman and finally Percy is bitten too while dealing with radioactive sludge during eco-activism he was participating in

He's got a Gwen Stacy variant too and they're afrolatina like him and turn out to be an Anomaly by turning into Ghostspider a good deal into the Spidersiblings run and when they join Spider Society,obviously he instantly hits it off with Hobie and they clown on Miguel and have a lot of the same interests so they do them together often and Hobie's friends with Nico and Hazel too,being especially close to Hazel because he thinks she's the most adorable thing ever and loving to annoy Nico's lil black emo ass.Percy's also a dad in every way but having bio kids so he forces Hobie into healthy habits and coping mechanisms because realistically he's gotta have a lot of problems that i don't doubt like Gwen in Across will be explored in Beyond and speaking of Gwen,Percy's pretty much her new dad and mom who makes her do awful things like building up her self-worth again and spending time offduty actually having zero stakes fun and Hobie sees Percy as his eldest sister and she views the two of them in familial light back since they're a trio like she is with her legal siblings and Peter B's the only Peter Parker she dosen't think is a cornball and they hang out sometimes and have been on missions together but not nearly as many as her and Hobie who's her favorite Spiderperson tied with her homedimension ones

Percy's also got tons of street cred as Spiderpunk and as Percy Jackson-He killed his canon event cop Zeus Grace,he's defeated triple digit villains,he improved the view on Mutants by using his Spiderpersonhood to shine light on them and help out directly,he's got some narly scars from all his herowork,the Daily Bugle is highkey scared to shittalk him due to all the brutal things he's done and survived and as Percy,she works a fast food service job on the weekdays but spends her weekends attending protests and charity events and is very well known amongst other New York punks but especially in Manhattan specifically just as Percy in general and she's the go to for baby punks to learn what they need to and Nico's goth punk and Hazel's pastel goth punk because no younger siblings and pseudo-kids of hers were gonna be raised as normies or posers.She's a popular flirtation and thirst target but has never been interested in anyone except the 27 Gwen Stacy,a pastel punk like our Gwen and they grew up together

Just.......Spiderpunk Percy.Regular Percy's character relies on being a huge weirdo with no conformity capability and there's a lot of transfem subtext to her so it fits pretty well and it's why him and Hobie are almost the same!!You KNOW their basement shows go so fucking hard

[avpdvoidspace]

wondering how other people w/avpd (or in my case suspected avpd) feel about being online?

for example I know a lot of people who are socially anxious or shy, but are very comfortable being on social media/in fandoms/discord servers etc. they've told me that they feel more outgoing and comfortable than they do irl

in my case I don't feel safe online... at all. when I do it's under very specific circumstances. I never join discord servers, all my social media is private, I avoid anything "multiplayer". when a piece of media I like gets big and the fandom suddenly becomes huge I retroactively get extremely anxious and leave ASAP. I never tag anything and rarely visit tags themselves just because they feel "crowded". it makes me uneasy and paranoid and I start to avoid anything associated with it as a result.

I like talking about my interests and meeting people I can eventually feel okay with but I hate excessive attention and judgement and drama that comes with the internet

I just don't get it when people say they feel more comfortable online lol... sure, you can't see me but you can judge me anyway

I relate to a lot of this, and of course others with avpd are free to chime in. Discord servers scare the crap out of me except for two that I run myself and are extremely small--but even those two I sometimes dip out of for long periods, and when I do interact, I try to keep it distanced and 'professional'. That's my trend with being online. This blog, for instance, is about a topic that's very important to me. I can talk about it with a detached interest, keeping who I am as a person out of it other than relevent information. Even my 'personal' accounts are all about my art. There's almost nothing personal there, and my interactions are almost always about my or other peoples' art. I feel like if I don't bring me as a person into it, I can avoid personal scrutiny and attention, which I'm terrified of. So while I'm not doing the same thing in regards of locking my personal accounts, I don't really use accounds where it's just me, interacting with people as myself--just accounts where I'm interacting as an artist, as a person with avpd, or as a curator of a certain fandom's art and fics. It's stuff like this where people with avpd are a little more comfortable with very shallow unpersonal interactions than close friendships that highlights how different avpd is from social anxiety, because I do feel like a lot of introverts and people with social anxiety are more comfortable making friends and interacting online. Whereas for me, it's almost as frightening as trying to maintain in-person friendships. Thanks for the ask

[mixelation]

What is deidara’s relationship with kushina? Actually what is the entire team’s relationship with kushina

cut for length

deidara has a problem with authority in general so at first he is both dismissive of her as a shinobi and is like "why should i listen to this lady, hmm? marrying the hokage doesn't mean you're SHIT" but kushina's approach to problems is "i will just hit it really hard" and her approach to life is "you should have as much fun as possible make the most of every situation!!" and is, in fact, the authority figure most likely to support deidara being artistic on main. so he softens up to her :P

tori is not used to having a mentor who won't secretly steal her organs and kushina's personality is sort of pushy for her tastes. so she starts subconsciously pretty distrustful, but kushina is sympathetic to a lot of her problems in ways tori forgot people could be. kushina's teaching style of "just throw the genin at something until she figures it out" isn't the best match for tori but it's not the WORST match and so tori experiences a lot of on and off frustration DURING her genin days but years later will look back at being slammed into the ground repeatedly because she couldn't "just figure out" a specific move like "ah yes.... nostalgia"

more than she does deidara and itachi, kushina views tori as her precious student minato obviously picked out for her specifically-- tori is a foreigner training to be a konoha ninja and she's obviously angling for a fuinjutsu specialty. so kushina is a little bit hurt when they don't click immediately, but she gets over it quickly because that just happens sometimes. meanwhile she does end up "clicking" better with deidara but there's actually not a lot deidara needs to be taught? his jutsu is already fully developed and he has his own goals and priorities, although kushina sees his.... personality.... as being an immature 12 year old who does need some guidance on important Life Things. imagine you're deidara and kushina tells you about the birds and the bees. RIP

i think she and itachi must already have an established relationship bc it IS canon that she and mikoto are friends, and i do think the dialogue between them in the manga low-key implies that friendship probably would have turned into naruto-sasuke playdates if everything hadn't gone to shit. so i think itachi already knew her in the context of her being sasuke's friend's mom who once got drunk in their kitchen with mikoto and snorts when she laughs over any other contextualization, INCLUDING "hokage's wife," so i think he would struggle with 1) deferring to anyone but the hokage himself (since he's being taken out of being a genius ANBU captain just because he's TECHNICALLY a genin), and then 2) deferring to this particular person because even if he's seen her stats on paper.... that's just naruto's mom??? it's confusing. she threatens to rinse his mouth out with soap after he says something mean and his brain shuts down. is she is commanding officer or his babysitter. he doesn't know and he's afraid

kushina's view of itachi is that, like Deidara, she understands he doesn't really need her guidance except for maybe Life Stuff. she's actually kind of annoyed at Minato for giving her this team, instead of one where she actively got to teach more. she does respect itachi's skills as a shinobi and understand their relationship through his mother makes the whole thing Weird, but it is infinitely funnier to pinch his cheeks and watch the panic in his eyes.

kushina's view on the team as a whole is that they should not be able to work together but they can and they do, but ONLY under very serious circumstances. so obviously she should be throwing them at increasingly dangerous situations to make them work together, duh. trust her minato she's a fucking teaching genius

[neechees]

Hi! Before I ask my question, I just want to say that your art is awesome! I especially love the common windmill butterfly OC you came up with. They're so cool! Did you ever decide on a name for them? I just realized that's also a question woops lol that wasn't the main question I wanted to ask. I was curious if you've ever seen the 1999 film Ravenous, and if so, what are your thoughts on it? It's a film that not so subtly almost blatantly denounces the u.s, colonization, and european christianity by comparing it to cannibalism. However, they also incorporate something that I don't think I should spell out cuz I've heard it would be disrespectful of me as a white person to mention the word so I'll just say that it starts with a "W" when written out in english. I wanted to know if, even in a context in which colonization is outright reprimanded, if it's still unintentionally engaging in oppression by adding that specific cultural element into the movie at all. I've been trying to find any indigenous film critics's thoughts on the subject but google and tumblr's search functions are total garbage and I've also been making a point not to write the W word into any search engines cuz as I said earlier I've been told that that's not a good thing to do. But obviously, you don't have to answer any of my questions if you don't want to. I just know you sometimes do art analysis, so I figured you might be interested in giving your thoughts on the subject. Anywho, I hope you're doing well! 🧡

For the first part of your question, tysm, and I'm so glad you like my art!! <33 I actually never named any of the fancy shawl dancers, they're less like fully fledged OC's and more like just a human representation of what a fancy shawl regalia might look like inspired by the moth and butterfly species given. many dancers might have a regalia that represents something or have common motifs/themes surrounding that thing, sometimes very personal, and sometimes just because they like that thing or think it's pretty, and seeing butterflies on fancy shawl regalia is very common, which is partially what inspired me to do the series. I'd love to see if any other people had come up with names for them though!

and as for you main question, no I have never watched that movie, and I don't think I will specifically because it includes that. I also don't know how much Native involvement there was in it. The idea of the ice cannibal representing greed comes from traditional beliefs (which may vary depending on tribe, but there's quite a bit of overlap) of multiple Algonquian Nations, so that's why it pops up in media surrounding it, I don't really think it's particularly groundbreaking or anything because that was OUR beliefs. However, I know most depictions of the ice cannibal, because most are done by Moniyaws, are inaccurate. Generally most beliefs regarding the ice cannibal tend to agree that one shouldn't show it at all, except under specific circumstances and by certain people. You might get differing opinions on whether White depictions on the ice cannibal is contributing DIRECTLY to Native oppression specifically, but in the very least it's disrespectful and maybe a microagression (depends on the content, though). I wish people would STOP doing it, but for the moment I don't know that much can be done about the already released media regarding it.

But even with Native led depictions, let me give you a couple of examples: There was like this live play of a Native retelling take of Macbeth put together by a small group of people that featured the ice cannibal, and they went around various reserves showing this play, and they came to my reserve. My sister was there, and she said whenever it (the ice cannibal) came onto stage, multiple people, which included most of those in the audience, screamed and ran out of the room, only returning when the character was off stage. So that should give you an idea of how many Cree people feel about even fictional depictions of the monster lol.

As another example, there's this Native artist who's work you might have seen at some point, named Norval Morrisseau (he's almost like the Native American Michelangelo of Woodland Art, and he's described as "the Picasso of the North", that's how legendary he is), and while he's still very very famous, of course he's most well known by Native people. He did a painting of the Ice Cannibal, and it was very controversial among Natives when it was done and displayed. Many people believed he shouldn't have painted it at all. So even though the monster and his art was a bit more obscure at the time he painted it, this was still highly controversial.

So even when it's coming from a Native perspective, any representation of the ice cannibal will be controversial and subject to differing opinions, which might vary depending on their specific beliefs. If it's THIS controversial when NATIVES do it, imagine how much worse it is if it's a White depiction with bastardization (not that we necessarily want an accurate depiction, either). I can't offer a review on the film since I've never watched it and likely won't, but if another Algonquian has, feel free to share your thoughts!

[28turnips-in-a-trenchcoat]

In honor of it being the month of love here are my dumb little TBOSBAS shipping ideas:

Couples-

Coriolanus x Lucy Gray: A classic, really just a teenage romance between a weird dude and a musical girl, we know it, we may love it. I use it sometimes in fix-it’s when I put Sejanus with someone else (I just write about Sejanus, like almost exclusively)

Sejanus x Coriolanus: The joys of Snowjanus. Two guys in love, kind of toxic love but love. Sometimes I write them precannon, sometimes fix-it’s, sometimes in the past after the betrayal. Love them, they are so silly goofy I just get bored or angry at Coriolanus sometimes.

Sejanus x Felix: I’ve seen this briefly in Snowjanus fics to make Coryo jealous but I think it could work. I like to use it in a specific fix-it where Felix comes to Sejanus for help after getting emotionally attached to Dill and wants to end the games. I also sometimes do them pre cannon, usually as a “practice relationship” for Felix.

Sejanus x Marcus: Gotta love the friends to one sided enemies to lovers. They make me happy because I refuse to let Marcus die(can you tell I like fix-it’s) they are so fun even just as friends I love them. My angsty little guys.

Sejanus x Reaper: okay so I haven’t seen anyone else do it but it makes perfect sense to me. Two rebels who piss off the capital by honoring the dead. I love them, probably my favorite one. They make me happy because I think them together could be really cute but also a rebel power couple. Someone please say they see my vision.

Reaper x Coriolanus: Based solely on the pretty boy comment. Read a fic once it was nice I think under a very specific set of circumstances it could work well. I rarely do them solo.

Lucy Gray x Sejanus: The Coryo hate squad. Them after the betrayals just trash talking him. I like to keep them both alive but seriously traumatized. Two bright lights in a shit world. I like to think Sejanus used to play music back in 2 so they could do little duets.

Lucy Gray x Coral: women, that’s about it. But seriously they could be suck a powerful duo if they got out(again with the fix-it’s) I love them, I don’t use them much but I love them.

Coral x Sol: Don’t ask what I was doing. Secondary source except I didn’t fully read the secondary source. It was a strange move but it still makes me happy.

Sejanus x Festus: Festus being one of the nicer people to Sejanus got me thinking so this happened. I love it but also kind of hate it. Look they could be friends, maybe even better friends than Sejanus and Coryo in cannon.

Triads-

Reaper x Coriolanus x Sejanus: Basically just a combination of the two duo ships. I think they just hang out, Coryo tries really hard to fit in with them but he’s not good at it. They just hang out, be cool, be traumatized, gotta love them.

Sejanus x Coriolanus x Felix: basically the same as Sejanus and Felix but Sejanus ropes Coryo into the scheming. They cuddle a lot. Silly guys. They could also work pre cannon at the academy, give Coryo two rich boyfriends to manipulate.

Sejanus x Coriolanus x Lucy Gray: Coryo gets bitches, that’s it that’s all I got.

Sejanus x Felix x Reaper: Sejanus bonds with the other two the same as in duos then Reaper and Felix bond over Dill. They are a group of rebellious teenage dumbasses.

Quartets-

Lucy Gray x Sejanus x Coriolanus x Marcus: The Snowbairdjanus trio run away then Sejanus gets word that Marcus is alive and either buys him as an avox or breaks him out. They then do love and bonding and cuddles.

If anyone wants fics I might write some stuff to post here

[seafaring-cephalopodsss]

Pirate AU Infodump Post #1: Best 8 :P

Hey gamers! I decided that I would like to redo the infodump posts and organize the main thread a little more-- the information has changed quite a bit since the last time I talked about these guys as well :'D I'll have specific posts for world building and others just for characters!

Anyways, this post will mainly focus on the Best 8 of Splatsville! Their personalities will stay mostly close to canon tbh, I don't think I've changed them around too much--? Eh, whatever, enjoy!

Infodump under the cut :D

Here is the link to the main thread

For a bit of context, I've split the best 8 in half;

Wireglasses' Crew consists of himself, Ocho, 8-Bit, and Shady + their respective teams. Same goes with the remaining four of the best 8, consisting of Tako (Shellmet), Barreleye, Hornmet, and Mitsuami + their teams. (Except for Mitsu, I don't think she has her own team yet..? Not really sure yet)

Wire's crew:

The Wireglass Pirates!! One of the strongest pirate crews to ever patrol the seas at the time. They've created a pretty fearsome reputation for themselves, a lot of smaller sailing crews will go on routes to avoid them.

The main crew members' bounties are in the high 900k's, Wire's bounty almost reaching a 1 million cash! :D

They have no known allies, although they're sort of buddy-buddy with Barreleye's crew. They don't really attack each other while at sea but it's also really really awkward when the crews do run into each other.

Sometimes Barreleye and Wireglasses' crew will meet up and trade resources-- although most of the time they end up just hanging out and playing cards.

Uses black labels in battles which disable their opponent's weapons and can also prevent them from using their specials as well if stuck directly onto them

Black Labels are considered illegal, they're very hard to attain unless you either make your own or smuggle it from somewhere.

Wireglasses:

The Captain of the crew!

He also goes by Captain Wire

Mainly uses a cutlass and/or the splattershot pro, depending on the circumstances

He likes playing cards and staying with his crew. They play cards sometimes to pass the time. He is scary good at playing card games like Speed or Hearts.

Sometimes he gambles during stops— he’s won a few, lost a few (Sometimes he’ll cheat at the gambling table whenever he feels like it) 

He's also pretty firm in negotiating trades. He gets a little bitter whenever trades don't go his way--- just because he's firm about it doesn't mean he's good at it

Wire sometimes gets a little too serious in battles. He's ruthless towards his enemies and just overall gets overconfident during battles 

Ocho:

Master at pick-pocketing and picking locks; If you flip him upside down and shake him around a lot of spare change and random trinkets he found will come out

Sometimes whenever the crew plays cards, Ocho likes to cheat (even though he doesn't always admit it)

He's sometimes sent off to run errands for the crew if they are split up.

Second in command, sometimes helps with other stuff around the ship. EXCEPT FOR MOPPING he hates mopping the deck. He will complain the entire time/hj

Uses a set of throwing knives and/or .96 gal, depending on situation

He's a bit of a sore loser when it comes to almost everything

He likes collecting little trinkets; sometimes it's stuff from trading posts and other times it's random stuff he'll pickpocket off people.

Ocho rarely calls other captains by their proper titles. He mostly uses their names— which Barreleye doesn’t like (Ocho is mainly avoiding Barrel’s title just to annoy him)

Ocho has a boyfriend!! He is dating my friend @autoboros ‘s OC, Lock :D (hi auto!! waving at you) 

They spend time together between voyages 

Most of the time they meet up at the docks and spend some time together :3

8-Bit:

She LOVES explosives and has probably tried to make her own at some point (But got told off by Ocho and Wire)

She takes care of the canons on the ship

Uses a dynamo roller most of the time, though sometimes she'll have smaller bombs that she throws.

Like Ocho, she cheats in card games, but not as often as he does. She’ll get all offended if you accuse her of cheating.

8-Bit also sometimes makes really weird drink combinations whenever she’s bored, the rest of the crew just tries it to be polite— but it mostly turns out to be a disaster.

Due to an incident, 8 Bit is banned from the ship’s kitchen— she is no longer allowed to cook for the crew ever again (womp womp) 

8-Bit and Ocho compare bounties whenever they appear in the newspaper. She's jealous that his bounty is higher

Shady:

Sniper of the crew! 

He has an eyepatch for when he’s aiming his shots. 

Shady keeps a journal of the places they go to

He is also in charge of navigating the ship wherever they go places.

His accuracy goes head to head with Skull’s, it’s only a matter of reaction time and who fires first 

Shady likes reading the newspaper to pass the time whenever he is bored at sea. Most of the time he’ll just be sitting in the crow’s nest and reading the paper for hours at a time. His favorite columns are the sudoku puzzles. 

Shady usually stays behind to watch the ship sometimes while the crew goes to run errands. Every now and then he’ll tag along though :D  

Shady does have a smaller dagger on him just in case for close combat. Normally in battles he’s well-hidden and enemies have trouble finding him :D

Barrel's Crew:

I’m gonna be 100% honest, I still haven’t come up with a name for their crew. So far I can’t find any names that really stand out to me at the moment so I’ll have to keep thinking about it :’] 

The crew mainly uses heavier weapons compared to other pirate crews.

They’re all in all a very loud bunch, mostly Barreleye though. 

Even though they’re pirates they prefer to have fair fights— they won’t fight someone who is unarmed.

They have a lot of other allies :D Although their relationships with other crews are mostly one-sided. Neither of them get benefitted its more like people they're acquaintances with

They first got their bounties after accidentally exploding a few navy ships-- and also """"accidentally""" stealing a few of their resources.

Tako (Shellmet):

She used to be in Wire’s crew but she eventually left to join Barreleye’s crew. She also became the new captain after Barrel stepped down for a little bit. 

She left because she was against the whole black labeling thing. Wire wasn’t too happy to hear about Tako leaving the crew, he’s still bitter about it but there’s nothing he could really do to change her mind about it. 

Tako uses a cutlass and the hydra splatling, depending on the situation. 

As second in command of the crew, she makes sure the ship is in tip top shape every day. Sometimes she’ll try to help out with repairs

Tako met Barrel in a tavern where Barrel was arm-wrestling other patrons for fun. Tako arm wrestled him and won 

While she was in Wire’s crew, Tako used to whack the other crewmates with a broom whenever they annoyed her, she’ll still do it whenever the crews run into each other

Barreleye:

He carries a blaster and sometimes uses a cutlass. 

He is LOUD. Sometimes he’ll fire off the cannons just for fun and gets scolded for it by the rest of his crew.

Barreleye is friends with Gloves and was the one who convinced him to set sail in the first place! :D Although they don’t really see each other often 

Barreleye makes a lot of silly blunders that his crew usually has to drag him out of. 

His bounty was first posted after he exploded a navy ship on accident. It was a long tangle with the navy but the crew ended up being victorious from the whole ordeal. The crew had bounties after that incident as well.

Barreleye doesn’t really get along with other pirate crews— mostly Hivemind or the X-Bloods. 

Sometimes he gets a little overconfident in his own abilities, both in silly situations and serious situations

Mitsuami:

She wanted to join a sailing crew initially. Hornmet was the one who convinced her to join Barrel’s crew!

Mitsuami has her tri-stringer but no sword, in close combat situations she’ll sometimes freeze up and panic. She’s still trying to get better with those situations though!

Her accuracy can almost catch up with Shady’s. She’s only missed around 3 times but she doesn’t really like to talk about those times

Mitsuami is absolutely terrified of pirate crews with higher bounties such as Wire’s crew or the X-Bloods. She tries to avoid them whenever she can

Mitsuami sometimes cooks stuff on the ship for the crew to enjoy. She likes going to snack shops whenever the crew goes anywhere

She freaked out when she first saw her bounty listed in the newspaper but later saw it as something cool :D

Hornmet: 

Hornmet and Mitsuami have been friends for a decently long time, before both of them joined Barrel’s crew :] 

Hornmet is the shipwright of the crew! She is mostly in charge of repairing something in case it gets broken or needs fixed 

Sometimes she’ll help with the canon repairs as well 

For the most part, she uses her tri-slosher in battles 

Every now and then she’ll use throwing knives for longer range attacks. 

Hornmet loves the thrill of being a pirate, she has no interest in reading maps and stuff

Like Barrel, Hornmet sometimes gets herself in situations due to her overconfidence 

====

That's all for now! :D If I think of anything else I might put it in a separate post or something... but that's everything for now :] Thank you for reading and have a nice day/night!! I'll write some stuff up for the S4 and others next hopefully :D

[focsle]

so we all know sailors were a superstitious lot, but did they believe in actual ghosts? if so, did they have anything specific they'd do other than typical christian things like praying?

Just like today I’m sure some believed in actual ghosts and some didn’t. No one’s a monolith now or historically! Ghost stories and ill omens were often the subject of many a’ yarn with specters ranging from murdered shipmates to dead brides and babies. With that said, with the exception of the tale I’ll share below, I haven’t come across any journals thus far where a man was convinced he saw a ghost in real time (outside of yarn spinning) and did something to defend himself against it (which I believe is what the second half of your question is asking?).

But here’s one of my fav whaling instances about a ghost that I’ve paraphrased before but I’ll share in full here. It comes from wet-blanket Charles Nordhoff, who shipped on a whaler out of New Bedford in 1850 and wrote about his experience in his travel journal ‘Whaling and Fishing’. All his shipmates were convinced his berth was haunted, he was deeply skeptical, and as a result everyone but the cook fuckin hated him for it. Under the readmore:

“It was but a few days before we left the bay, that a singular incident occurred, which, had the succeeding circumstances been only more favorable, would have given rise to a veritable and most undeniable ghost-story. Many such, I dare say, rest on a less plausible foundation. 

The humpback is in many regards a fish of very singular habits, differing in great measure from those of any other species of the whale. Among his oddities is one which those of us who daily labored in the boats had soon gotten used to, but of which the ship-keepers knew nothing. A whale would sometimes get under the boat, at such a depth below the surface that the crew were entirely unaware of his presence, and there utter the most doleful groans, interspersed with a gurgling sound such as a drowning man may be supposed to make. The first time I heard these sounds it was almost incomprehensible to me that they could proceed from a whale. But close watching of their motions convinced us all that they were the true authors. So little noteworthy had the matter been thought after its cause was explained, that it was not a topic of conversation on board, and so it came about that our ship-keepers were left in entire ignorance of the imitative powers of the humpback. 

One morning about eleven o'clock, when the boats were all on the daily cruise, and but half a dozen men on board each ship, our steward happened into the forecastle, and was there startled by a most unearthly groan. Thinking that his ears were deceived, he listened intently for its repetition, and was soon gratified. A moan as of one in terrible agony, he said, issued from the berth of the present writer. Two jumps carried him safely to the deck, where he at once informed the cook of what he had heard, declaring his firm belief that the ship was haunted. The cook laughed at the, to him, funny idea, and thought a ghost must have but poor taste, to come into this outlandish part of the world. The steward, however, related his story to the ship-keepers, and asked them, to make assurance doubly sure to step into the forecastle in person, and regale their ears with the mysterious noise. Accordingly, all hands (only three, the other three being at work ashore), descended to the haunted region. They had scarcely entered, when the groans were repeated with even more horrible emphasis than before. With hair erect, and elongated faces, they listened sufficiently long to vouch that the real sounds proceeded from no where else but my berth; and then, overcome with terror, rushed to the deck, seized the jolly boat, and took refuge on board our partner ship. The black cook alone remained on board. He scorned to run from anything that could only groan, and having satisfied himself that there was no tangible cause for the noises, in or about my berth, quietly busied himself about his galley thinking, as he remarked to me afterward, that “if it was really a ghost, and it did the poor thing any good to groan, he had not the slightest objection.”

In a short time the sounds could be heard upon deck, and then they gradually died away, until presently quiet was restored, and the affrighted fugitives returned to the vessel.

“It is a ghost or spirit, that's certain,” asserted the steward, who had told the captain of it, already before the latter got out of his boat. 

“If you talk to me of ghosts again, stupid, I'll put your head in a bucket of water,” was the reply. 

This threat put an effectual stop to the dissemination of spiritualism in the after part of the ship; but meantime, our ship-keepers had laid their experience before the forecastle, the story of course gaining fresh horrors with every recital. The case was so plain - even the cook, who laughed at the whole matter, having to own that he heard the sounds, and that they were marvelously like human groans - that most of our greenhorns soon became devout believers in the immediate presence of a spirit in our midst, and the poor Portuguese, whose nature it was to be superstitious, turned a sickly yellow, and began to shake in their boots. 

Having heard the matter duly discussed, I ventured to suggest that it was clearly a humpback that made the mysterious noise. This was treated, however, with that degree of scorn which is usually bestowed upon any reasonable explanation of a ghost story. My scornful laugh was severely frowned down, and I was informed by one of the wiseacres that the groans having evidently come from my berth, and no where else, portended some unheard of accident to myself. So eagerly does ignorant humanity swallow the most egregious humbug, if there is only something supernatural about it, that of the sixteen men who had probably heard the same groans dozens of times in the boat, not one could now be convinced, by reason or ridicule, that those in question owed their existence to a natural cause.

I found myself regarded as a doomed man; and certain of the more friendly disposed privately advised me to prepare my mind for the approaching calamity, and even offered to share their berths with me, not considering it prudent that I should sleep in the haunted bed. If my excellent ship mates before cordially hated me for my unsociable spirit, they were now doubly bitter against me on account of my present doubts; and one poor fellow went so far as to impugn my faith in the existence of a Deity, on the ground of my skepticism on the subject of ghosts.

I joined with the cook in laughing at their foolish fears (which by the way procured me the present of a huge piece of pie from that worthy, who declared me to be a “good fellow”) and slept soundly as ever before in my haunted bedplace.

The ghost was the staple of conversation next morning at breakfast and prophecies were freely made that before sundown that day, our boat would be stove, and I would be severely injured, if not killed. Fortunately for my credit, not an accident occurred during the remainder of our stay in the bay. Had I been in the slightest degree injured, or even had our boat been stove, as was prophesied, this would have formed a well authenticated ghost story, and I should no doubt have been held up to future generations of whalemen as a melancholy example of stubborn unbelief.”

[leolingo]

(rant about linguistics, aphasia and q!quackity’s impairments post-memory loss!!! to anyone who knows more about any of this, PLEASE add on or dm me id love to learn if anyones into neurolinguistics or anything of the sort)

ive been digging deeper into q!quackity’s condition (because I quite literally CAN’T stop thinking abou it) + taking note of his symptoms/behavior and it seems like what he’s dealing with could be called alexia (acquired inability to read) with agraphia (acquired inability to write), which are types of general aphasia, except i still need to know MORE about his production and comprehension i need to get in there!!!!!

it seems like he could be experiencing literal/verbal alexia with agraphia, which would mean he can’t recognize written letters or symbols at all and that is why he’s unable to read (this is all very tentative… all i have to go off of is my psycholinguistics class and as many academic articles as i can read). from what ive seen, q!q hasn’t actually tried to read any signs out loud, there’s no verbal attempt or production of speech which would make sense if he really can’t recognize the alphabet. BUT. what bothers me is that he can speak spanish with no issues. since spanish has a high proximity between phonology and orthography, theory says people who are able to speak it should be able to read and write the phonemes. and he can’t — or hasn’t tried. THAT makes me think he Can recognize the letters themselves

to confirm this i would really like to see him try to spell…. Or just name a letter! if its confirmed he CAN recognize individual letters, then id say what we’re looking at is more like pure alexia (without agraphia) — only a reading impairment, which would cause him to be unable to Arrange the letters in a sensical order. Its tough to check any of this w minecraft as a medium…. with a keyboard (or, in rp, on a communicator/in chat) it’s kind of impossible to know if he’s clicking at random or actually Trying to seek specific letters. but ill say that the way he sometimes dictates what he’s intending to write makes me think he DOES have the visual of each letter in his mind, and just struggles to order them or accurately transpose them

its also interesting to me how theres no sign of a speech impediment. q!q could speak fine from the very first moment we saw him. all hesitation was modal/owed to circumstance and not actually tied to his production of speech. i think that has more to do with the memory part of things! it could be that the extend of his memory alteration only goes as far as his writing and reading do. speech and comprehension come first in regular human development, and those are the faculties he has kept mostly unaltered. there could also be an argument to make about this pointing spanish as his first language (like cc!quackity) and english as his second, which would explain the dissonance between his production in one language and the other — but given that last stream he did express knowledge of english, idk if its relevant

i dont know much about the actual anatomy of things but i think it’s interesting that most aphasia cases are caused by lesions on the left temporal-parietal lobe. AND that its also possible for aphasia to be caused by head trauma like a hard hit to the head or deprival of oxygen (due to drowning? food for thought).

psa i know the situation in canon could be a lot less deep than im trying to make it. i get that. i dont expect the writers team to have researched the symptoms to this extent, but i enjoy discussing it. this is part of my major and a big area of interest for me so i find it really fun :) ill keep reading on this topic as much as i can and reblog w more of my musings if i find more relevant info. baseline qsmp team please let me in i need to study q!q under a microscope (lovingly)

[mockerycrow]

My brain has been rotting with monster!au for the 141, so let me share it with you:

Ghost- While Ghost being vampire is appetising and makes me weak in the knees, I'll give you one better: he could be and Onryō*. Onryōs are spirits who have been severely wronged and abused in their past life so now they seek vengeance. They're motivated by their thirst for revenge and are known to be highly destructive, causing natural disasters and are very feared, even among other spectres. Sound like anyone? (Example for an Onryō: Sadako Yamamura from "the Ring")

Soap- You CANNOT convince me Johnny's not a werewolf. I don't have reasonings or logic, I just KNOW it. He's a werewolf.

Price- I didn't know at first, but dragon!Price has grown on me a lot. Blame @/bluegirangi for that. They mention that his "dragon's hoard" is the 141, which is so big brain.

Gaz- Originally, I had no idea for Kyle as well. But that's when it hit me. Kyle is probably just a human. A wizard/warlock or just a human who can use magic in general, but I don't think he's anything but a human.

König- Egregore. Hear me out: Egregores are beings that arise from the collective thoughts of people. When you think of war, what do you think of? Carnage. Bloodshed. Violence. Terror. But what else? War can be liberating. It can free an occupied people. That's not to say that it still isn't, you know, war. But it's also looked at positively sometimes. And that's the two sides of König- horrible and scary, but he can also be caring under the right circumstances. (Example for an Egregore: the Dredge from Dead by Daylight)

*Sidenote: While Onryōs are usually female, I just think that an Onryō makes sense for Simon. Everything lines up perfectly, so let's make an exception.

THESE MAKE SO MUCH SENSE BUT HEAR ME OUT FOR GAZ…

Gaz as a Thaye 👀 Specifically the Phasmophobia type of Thaye. They are extremely territorial and protective, and Gaz has done a lot of VIP escorting. I can also see him as a human with some type of power or uses magic, but I can’t help but also think of him as a Thaye!

(psst i’ll have to check out that dragon!price)

[mareenavee]

⭐️ mages and literacy

Director's Cut -- Mages and Literacy in The World on our Shoulders

FRICKEN FANTASTIC. Thank you so much for asking about this specifically.

Actually, on a side note, my mom and I were talking about how strangely well read the people of Tamriel are considering the setting. I really love it even though it's relatively odd. We only ever meet a few authors in game, and never anyone who transcribes professionally. Certainly no printing presses. Maybe there are and we just don't know it.

On a more serious note, since literacy seems very common in the setting, generally speaking -- obviously like everywhere there will be exceptions to the rules, I'd like to talk just a bit about arcane text specifically. I'd mentioned before that becoming a mage, or at least becoming more skilled at the use of magic requires time, effort and study. Some people are naturally more inclined to do so, and some are not. There could be a myriad reasons, culturally or biologically or what have you.

I have a scene in chapter 2 where Hadvar gives a spell tome to Nyenna that he'd taken out of the keep in Helgen. The scene starts after she quickly understands and memorizes the words for the flames spell:

“How curious… I had no idea this could be so simple,” she said. “My mother never saw sense in trying to teach me. My purpose was to unite houses, and that’s it. At least according to her. It was a miracle I learned even the tiniest alchemic recipes in all the time I’d had to observe her work.” Hadvar looked at her, again with his eyebrows knit, making his broad face seem even wider than it was. She returned the confused stare. “Wait, is it not simple?”

“Magic definitely isn’t simple, no, I can assure you. I can’t make any sense of those scribblings no matter how many hours I stare at them. I know they’re written in Common but they start to swim around on the page like they’re not meant for eyes like mine,” Hadvar said, reading over her shoulder.

We're not exactly sure what language magic is written in, or if it exists in all languages, or is something else entirely. We're not sure if it's a manifestation of the blessings of Magnus or Julianos on Nirn, even. In my hc, sometimes the text is very difficult to read. Some people can't read it at all, though it's possible they could learn the spells if the words were ever spoken to them. Some people, especially considering the social attitude toward magic in Skyrim in this case, accept that arcane texts are more trouble than they're worth -- as Hadvar might in this scene. Or maybe there's more to it that we can't know.

I like to think the arcane texts are themselves magic of a sort, that spells and the intentions behind them are found in the shape of this language -- even if it's actually written in Tamrielic/Common. It's possible, for some, it's simply not something they're willing to put the effort in to comprehend.

Even if many people in Skyrim/Tamriel own and read many more books than would normally seem possible in such settings, arcane texts are probably on a different level. I would imagine that's probably why there's not very many spell tomes sitting around on peoples' bookshelves in their houses or anything like that. Usually one must go to where the mages are to borrow their copies.

There's probably a lot more we can extrapolate on this question, but there's surprisingly little lore about the mechanics of why spell tomes work. (Or really, why they get destroyed in game when you're done with them.) In the end, I think there's a lot of factors that influence why someone might become a mage, and perhaps a lot more as to why someone else might not, and some of that reason could be the difficulty of the craft and the amount of study and work that probably has to go into it under most circumstances. Less literacy, and more cultural and aptitude based.

(I like to think it's like any art in real life. Some people have natural affinities to do creative work, some don't. Anyone who wants to improve their skill in said art will need to put in the work, no matter how easily or not it comes to each specific artist.)

Thanks! This was fun to mull over :D

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

Curious - what do you think about Darkling's will to save Grisha? What part of him do you think is "good" despite him being a vicious villain? Or is he completely self serving in your eyes?

Hmm I think he started out genuinely meaning well but past a certain point it took a back seat to his personal ambitions. By canon era he seems more preoccupied with *being the person to fix things* rather than them simply being fixed, if that makes sense? Like his ego and need for unilateral control clearly come first.

There’s definitely a lot of murkiness in the series where it’s hard to separate in-universe characterization from author shortcomings sometimes, but I think it’s pretty telling that his contribution to making things safer for Grisha results in the Little Palace and essentially a personal army answering to him alone. And he seems to be content with that until a sun summoner shows up and allows him to try to enact world domination via Shadow Fold. I feel like if his real primary goal is meant to be any sort of large scale liberation we would simply see more of it as something he’s pursuing?

Anyway I think “good” is hard to define. I wouldn’t say he’s one note evil? But he’s certainly incredibly ruthless and vindictive. We see him personally hurt other Grisha the most tbh? And frequently disproportionately and to his own detriment. A scenario where he wins everything seems so easy and attainable if he was just a little less cruel and a little more patient.

I think the thing mostly tripping him up is just immortality tbh. He’s so old that individual people and lives don’t have much meaning to him anymore, he’s playing a numbers game instead. And it’s become more about winning than any particular ideology or value. I think a good example of that is him working with Fjerda circa S&S to sack Os Alta, which seems like a pretty stunning abandonment of his supposed values. Or how his plan seems to have been “kill pretty much everyone” sgdhdg like the Darkling Did Nothing Wrong side of the fandom bring up him not killing the kids in the orphanage a lot as a defense, but he did very much kill basically all the Grisha left in the Little Palace. The only survivors were the ones that escaped. He didn’t actually spare anyone!

I think RoW, for all its contradictions and awkward relationship with the original trilogy, does showcase circumstances where he isn’t the absolute worst (lol) pretty well. He isn’t redeemed, because he isn’t sorry for a single thing he did! But he is also happy to be the person to go to tree hell to save the day, because who *else* could possibly do that, except for him, the main character of the universe? Like, frankly, I think the tree hell stuff is fucking stupid, but it is a deft way to show how his ego and values are intrinsically tied, and how under specific circumstances he is willing to sacrifice very, very much, despite being an otherwise fairly selfish character.

[sluttyhenley]

twenty questions for fic writers

tagged by: @redbelles 💖

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

54

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

303,100

3. what fandoms do you write for?

recently? 911, top gun and uhhhh masters of the air... (but if you ever check out my ao3 you will see several fandoms)

4. top five fics by kudos

my heart is working over time

is forever enough

lover be good to me

a twister to blow everything down

when one plus one equals three

5. do you respond to comments?

sometimes it takes me a while but yes, i love getting comments and so i like to make sure i actually reply when someone takes the time to talk to me about my fic

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

until the shadows fall, which is uhh, one of the earlier fics i wrote and my writing has definitely . . . . evolved since writing it, but. yeah, it is the angstiest ending i've written. actually, though, i'm going to mention the sound of glass, because yeah, that one is a close runner up

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

probably put a hold on my heart. if it's not the happiest ending it's definitely the sappiest ending

8. do you get hate on fics?

i have gotten hate on two separate fics

9. do you write smut?

ha. hahahahaha. stares for a long time at like..... 3 of my top 5 fics by kudos. and two of my most recently posted fics. and my mota fic that's upcoming. yeah... . .

10. craziest crossover:

i've only written one crossover, leverage and the old guard in the immortals job (the craziest one i ever conceptualized though was prob an idea to cross over star trek and doctor who)

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

nope!

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

no, but i have tossed story ideas back and forth with people

14. all time favorite ship?

i refuse to (read: can't) answer this

15. what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

i have . . . . . a few. and they're fics that i started for a source that i don't want anything to do with anymore

16. what are your writing strengths?

@redbelles has a first row seat to this but because of what i'm trying to do right now, all of my writing feels weak. but i'm trying to remind myself that as your writing evolves you feel less confident in your abilities regardless of the accuracy of that feeling. but i think i'd say ummm characterization and humor

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

me @ me: for $1 pick literally any other word/phrase/imagery device. for god's sake

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language?

i won't do it except under very specific circumstances, such as actually having a reasonable proficiency in the language. i did pepper some french phrases in a book of nile fic a while back

19. first fandom you wrote in?

the librarians is the first fandom i actually posted fic i wrote for. but i did write some doctor who fic before that i a) never finished and b) don't actually want to see the light of day

20. favorite fic you've written?

probably put a hold on my heart. i put a lot of work into that one, and handwrote the whole thing. it was my baby for the better part of a year and i'm really proud of some of the things i did there.

tagging: @reachingforaspark, @ladywaffles, @shoesplease, @sindirimba, and @natashatrace (if you want!)

[lorekeeper-backset]

New Year, New Me, Same old OCs. Here's a list of my protag OCs/Canon Protags with Headcanon Personalities. Not including Kanto and Johto because I still haven't played those games and my perception of Red is pretty solidly colored by @heavenlysphere's portrayal of him (sorry for tagging you, Maverick) and Alola because I kind of... forgot to make one. I'm also including Protags who serve as rivals if you don't pick them.

Marie "Mare" Lillian Birch: My first ever and longest running Protag OC, she's the protagonist of ORAS and also my fanfic An Account of Rayquaza's Chosen. Short and mad about it she has Aura Powers, allowing her to understand Pokemon, and is the Chosen of Rayquaza meaning Rayquaza likes her a lot and lets her use its power sometimes. Despite being somewhat overpowered, she's limited by her strict moral code and deep well of trauma. Her last name is Birch even though she's the protagonist because Norman is her step-father and her mom is Professor Birch's Sister.

Brendan Birch: A real brat of a boy and Mare's cousin, Brendan is desperate to prove he's better than her at literally anything, something he consistently tries and fails at because, despite claiming to be the best battler in his school, he's really bad at battling. Eventually, he finds enjoyment in something he is good at and actually enjoys and becomes a star Coordinator with the help of Lisia.

Detective Annabelle "Ann" "Dawnbreaker" "Dawn" Berlitz: Sole heir to the Berlitz family fortune and protagonist of Platinum, Ann has an obsession with classic noir style detective stories to the point where her goal in life is to become a Private Detective, much to her parents' chagrin, to the point that she wears a trenchcoat and fedora at all times and has a habit of diving into detective monologues. She goes by the codename Dawnbreaker, shortened to Dawn, because she met Looker and thought the idea of having a codename was really cool and all detectives should have codenames. She is the Chosen of Dialga and uses her powers over time in conjunction with her her partner, Lucas', power over space to solve crimes nobody else can as the Time-Space Detective Agency. It's kinda like Ghost Trick except they can only reverse a death under very specific circumstances.

Detective Lucas "Luca" "Lux" Diamant: An incredibly bright boy from Sandgem town, Lucas shares Ann's interest in Detective stories, gaining a reputation around town as a sort of Encyclopedia Brown-type detective, solving small cases like missing shoes or some kid's con scheme. His intelligence got him tapped by Professor Rowan to be his research assistant, a job he quite enjoys. He goes by the codename Lux for the same reason Ann goes by Dawn. He is the Chosen of Palkia an uses his power over space in conjunction with Ann's power over time to solve cases no one else can. He is also descended from Adaman and consequently is cousins with Calem and Perrin.

Hilda Kyoko: A rough and tumble girl from the streets of Castelia City, Hilda keeps the streets of Castelia safe from unwanted troublemakers (gangs, mafia, Team Plasma, etc) as part of the Castelia City Girls, a band led by Roxie (the band would later move to Virbank City and change its name to Koffing and the Toxics following Hilda's departure and Roxie becoming a Gym Leader, leaving Castelia's protection in the hands of a successor band that took up the band's old name). She is the Hero of Truth and Chosen of Reshiram, revealing the truth about Ghetsis to the world. Her connection to N isn't as strong in this universe since Mare serves as his foil instead so the reason she leaves is to track down an escaped Ghetsis, who she believes to have fled the region. She's also friends with Victini who will occasionally lend her its power when it feels like it.

Hilbert Ashton: An ordinary teenager from Nuvema Town, Hilbert dreams of becoming the very best, like no one ever was. A veritable Pokemon Master, one could say. And the first step on that journey is to become Champion of the Unova Region.

Rosa Florence Annie Bridgewood aka Stella Black aka The Riolu/Lucario Girl: A bubbly, happy-go-lucky teen actress whose breakout role as The RIolu Girl aka Stella Black in the first Brycen-Man film has shot her into the spotlight. She convinces her agent to let her go on a Journey with her friend and rival Hugh as a publicity stunt to promote the upcoming movie "Brycen-Man Strikes Back." As part of the stunt all League battles have to be taken on in-costume and in-character as The Riolu Girl (and later the Lucario Girl when her Lucario evolves), with the Gym Leaders being hyped up as sensational villains (some of them, like Elesa, get super into the role while others, like Cheren, put no effort into trying to sell it at all). Most of her battles against Neo Plasma are also taken on in-costume. She is not a Chosen but is best friends with most Legenaries, gaining the favor of both the Legendary Birds an Legendary Beasts as well Victini, Meloetta, Reshiram, and Zekrom. Even Kyurem likes her and Kyurem doesn't like anyone.

Nathan "Nate" Lumiere: An aspiring Cinematographer, Nate is an intern at Pokestar Studios. He finally gets a chance at making his dream a reality when Rosa asks for him specifically to film her battles against the Gym Leaders.

Calem "Cal" Xavier and Serena "Rena" Yvonne: They are a pair, do not separate. Despite not being related, Calem and Serena refer to eachother as Brother and Sister and share a deep bond, essentially being raised together. Calem is the calm and rational one while Serena is the Chaos Gremlin of the two, leading to much siblingly bickering and teasing. Excelling at Multi-Battles, each sibling can practically read the mind of the other making them a terrifying combination in battle but also meaning any matches they have with eachother always end in a draw. Two of the few Protags to actually become Champion and keep the role, they're referred to as the Twin Champions despite Serena being a year older than Calem. Calem is descended from Adaman, making him cousins with Perrin and Lucas, and Serena is descended from Irida.

Kai Riposte: A fencing prodigy and the protagonist of SwSh, Kai prefers fencing to Pokemon battles, going on a Journey to make sure her friend Hop doesn't get into too much trouble. Originally from Spikemuth, a fact her mom insists they keep secret so the neighbors won't judge, much to her annoyance, she doesn't get the big deal about Dynamaxing and almost never uses her Dynamax band.

Juliana Violeta: A quiet girl who is incapable of using first person pronouns (that's not a metaphor she literally cannot use I, Me, etc), she prefers to simply not speak at all, and when she does speak she keeps it short and concise. Despite all appearances, she's actually very friendly and open to making new friends. Nemona, who does enough talking for the both of them, appoints her as Vice President of the Student Council with Penny as the Treasurer (cause she's good with numbers and the position supplies her with certain privileges the can exploit for the purpose of Operation Starfall) and Arven as the Secretary (because they needed a Secretary and it allowed him and Juliana more time to speak). She bonds with Miraidon.

Florian Escarleta: A boy who is even quieter than Juliana. Unlike her, he prefers to keep to himself, being extremely shy and having difficulty interacting with other people. He is very creative and enjoys telling stories but is too nervous to show them to anyone. He eventually becomes Student Council Stenographer, keeping record of everything that happens in the Student Council Room as well as transcribing Student Council Meetings, revealing a surprising amount of wit on his part that he'd never display verbally. He bonds with Koraidon, an impressive feat since it hates everything.