#i'm probably going to age her up once she has her character values good and at least a couple aspirations done?

[plumbobusuninterruptus]

tfw you go busk at the nightclub despite being a teenager and your cool aunt is there

[loz-furbies]

Breath of the Wild / Age of Calamity / Tears of the Kingdom Zelda, part 1/2

The final Zelda (so far) of this character review series is the most developed of them all, and probably has more character content to her in just one game than any of the others, and she has three to boot! With full voice acting (I'm JP voice only), a huge and personal role in the story, diary entries, notable relationships to multiple characters and being discussed by many NPCs there is a lot to talk about, but I'm mostly going off of memory and rewatching the cutscenes since it would be too much work to research every mention of her in all three games.

Design

(Ancient dress Zelda model from here)

Not going to copypaste my thoughts on her BotW look since this is long enough already.

It is a pity that Zelda didn't get a full redesign for TotK, but I'll take what I can get. The bob is really cute! And unusual among the Zeldas too, and I guess a nice way to represent that she has moved to the commoner lifestyle.

As for the ancient dress, it looks perfectly fine on its own, but since I value it when the designs have their own unique identity, I wish it wasn't so similar to her white dress from BotW. Maybe there is some connection, like Sonia used to be a priest so maybe the dress design survived through millennia as a prayer dress or whatever, but since that's not actually in the game, I'm not giving credit for that.

The bulkier and sort of unrefined jewelry does a good job making the outfit look ancient, but it's still fancy enough that I can believe it to belong to the royal family. That decorative accessory on the front of the dress is really cool looking and a nice and consistent detail among all the ancient clothes, but man is it a pain to draw. Finally I really like the big earrings and the tear makeup is a great little detail.

When I first saw the Light dragon in the final Zelda memory I thought it looked kind of doofy, with its bright colours, clumpy eyelashes, bulging eyes and borzoi nose, but it has since grown on me. I once read that some Pokemon designer said in an interview or such that if a Pokemon design looks too cool, they add something uncool to it to make it more memorable, and I think it's a pretty good design philosophy. There have been several LoZ designs that have shocked me at first, but eventually I get used to them and they will look just right. They could have given the dragons a more cool or elegant look, but that would have also risked making them more generic. Also the eyes give a good impression about Zelda's state that nobody is home there.

Character

This iteration of Zelda is easily the most fleshed out of them all, since we get to see so much of her relationships, character development, emotional reactions to plot events, and also stuff she does outside the immediate plot.

BotW Zelda's dread over the impending doom and the self esteem issues that rise from it are a large part of the story. There are other Zeldas who also worry about the Plot, but in BotW Zelda's case it's incredibly personal since her failure to do her crucial job in preventing the disaster is at the core of the story. According to Rhoam's diary, she had already internalised her duty at the age of six (and this caused her to not show any weakness even at her mother's funeral), and from there she spent her life trying and failing to awaken her powers. This lifelong crushing sense of responsibility and guilt and the failure to live up to her demanding father's expectations give BotW Zelda a very melancholic vibe that constantly pops up through the game. Though I must say that in the memory where the champions perform their little ceremony and Zelda gives a long speech to Link, her voice acting gets really awkward when it sounds like she's about to start crying with every word.

Once she finds her inner strength, Zelda gets her badass moments as well. I especially like the grand finale of BotW where she, glowing with power, calmly stands before Calamity Ganon's pig form and doesn't even flinch when he charges at her. And in the TotK flashback cutscenes she can apparently be taken to a battle against Ganondorf as a part of Rauru's sage posse.

I called out Skyward Sword Zelda for being a bit too much of an ideal girlfriend, so I'm really glad that the memory where BotW Zelda lashes out at Link exists. It works to prevent her from being just a pure maiden who is victimised by unfair outside circumstances. Or I mean that does happen to her, but letting her display some negative traits (like frustration and jealousy) that she's personally responsible for as well makes her feel more like an actual person and not just a perfect victim.

Even if BotW Zelda's heavy burden is a huge part of her character, luckily that's not all there is to her. And not just because being multifaceted of course makes her more interesting, but also I find it a lot more realistic that not every moment of her life had been constant suffering.

One of her most charming and notable traits is her nerdy scientist side. It certainly sets her apart from the other Zeldas, and also gives her something else to do than just worry about the plot and be a princess. The memory where she geeks over a frog and goes on such a ramble over its scientific properties that she forgets basic social norms is such a great piece of characterisation, and it's cute how her enthusiasm returns in TotK where she's excited over Zonai discoveries, and is also into Mineru's constructs. According to AoC, studying was also apparently something she did with her late mother as a child.

Her research notes also detail how together with Purah and Robbie they discovered various things about the ancient Sheikah tech, but I do think it's a little disappointing how we don't get much anything concrete about Zelda's contributions specifically. There's a lot about her being interested in the Sheikah technology and how she apparently was a part of research group, but all actual discoveries are attributed to different characters or left vague, so as a result she comes across more like an enthusiastic hobbyist who in the end doesn't actually get anywhere. I would have liked it if for example Purah's diary had a line of how Zelda's efforts helped them understand the Guardians better or something like that, but now you have to imagine her contributions yourself. The closest we get is how in AoC she gives one Sheikah artefact to Rhoam, which ends up saving his life, but it's not quite what I'm looking for since Zelda didn't know what the item would do, so it feels more like luck. But even if the execution didn't quite land, I'm glad that AoC took the time to give some kind of resolution to the Rhoam-forbids-Zelda-from-Studying aspect and has to admit that he was wrong. And regardless the Sheikah tech works well to give Zelda her unique identity, and it's also nice how two of her weapons in AoC are based on it.

BotW Zelda also has a playful side, like for example she runs up to play with a dog she just saw, or jokes with Urbosa about how they both had to act all formal in front of an audience despite being long time friends. She is also a very proactive character; thanks to the "find the memories" gameplay, we see her travel all across Hyrule instead of just sitting at her castle, she's the one to handle all business with the Divine Beast pilots (and since they're all high ranking individuals among their people, this makes Zelda pretty politically active as well), and BotW ends with her wanting to work on rebuilding Hyrule.

Zelda being active continues in TotK, where there's a lot of little snippets how she has founded a school, installed memorial monuments, managed survey teams, worked on gardens, and so on. And of course she also immediately volunteered for investigating the Gloom situation at the start of TotK as well, and from the stone tablets we can read how she also got into fiddling with Constructs and fashion in the ancient Hyrule. Obviously it would have been nice to actually see all of this instead of just reading or hearing it second hand, but I understand that not everything can get a fancy cutscene, so it's at least nice that this was included in the game at least in some fashion.

I touched on it in the part about her nerdy side, but let's also bring specific attention to the fact that BotW Zelda also has a delightfully weird and chaotic side to her. She tries to feed a frog to Link, and the TotK stone tablets tell about how she would ride Mineru's construct despite the protests of the chamberlain. And while the recipe she cooks in AoC is a legit BotW recipe, the way the scene is depicted clearly makes her come across as eccentric in her cooking.

AoC also casts her in a leadership role once her powers finally awaken and she becomes more confident. Honestly I prefer the insecure nerd Zelda over the charismatic leader because I don't think she quite has enough credibility to pull off rousing speeches to masses at this point of the story, but I guess it does make sense for the kind of story they're telling

Her powers are pretty inconsistent between games, BotW is obviously all about awakening her sacred sealing power, and the game ends with her saying that she used all that up. And then TotK reveals she had two different powers all along; Sonia's time power comes out of nowhere and Rauru's light power overlaps with her BotW ability a lot. But I can live with a discrepancy like this since I like the story of TotK.

Since I brought up how it's nice that Skyward Sword is implied to have a knitting hobby, I suppose it should be mentioned that BotW Zelda made the Champion's blue clothes and accessories. Though here it feels a lot less important and even a bit tacked on, since BotW Zelda already has so much going on that is more important and meaningful to her character. But I guess crafting clothes is princessy enough of a subject that Rhoam approves of spending time on it instead of prayer practice and even brags about it. A different little detail that I like more than this clothing thing is that we get to learn Zelda's favourite food (fruitcake).

In Japanese Zelda uses polite language, but no honorifics. I'm no Japanese expert, but to me this comes across as keeping a polite distance from everyone, while also implying status ("I'm a princess so I don't need to use a honorific for you"). Also in the beginning of AoC, Link (who at this point is just a random knight to Zelda) kneels in front of her and she doesn't even acknowledge him, so it appears she's pretty used to her standing. The stone tablets in TotK also describe her having an undeniable air of nobility.

[fedoraspooky]

Okay Spooky, if you don't mind random questions- what's your favourite Disney movie?

Oh I don't mind at all! I'm actually quite tickled to get one out of the blue like this. nwn

But yes! Answer! Uh, well... Honestly a lot of the ones in the 80s and 90s hold a bit of sentimental value to me due to the fact that my dad worked on them. I would always leave the tape running through the credits until I spotted his name. ;w; In fact, on the DvD for Treasure Planet, if you go to the special features you can actually see him in the making of featurette, where they're asking him about how he sculpted the cyborg parts for John Silver! But, er, yes- favorites!

I would say, it's kind of a toss up between two-

I LOVE The Great Mouse Detective. It encapsulates a lot of stuff I like about that era of Disney, and I do enjoy me a good detective story. The animation is smooth and full of character, and has that rough-lined charm of the xerox era, and the backgrounds? Absolutely gorgeous. The story is fun and full of great comedic moments and also moments that downright terrified me as a kid (That Fidget jumpscare and everything leading up to it still gives me the heebie jeebies). But most of all, I love the characters and the dynamics between all of them, especially whatever Basil and Ratigan have going on. Dear lord. Really not surprising this movie ended up being part of my big list of inspos when writing Kilroy. XD

Second movie- and I know some people don't count it as Disney but to hell with it, it was in kingdom hearts so it darn well counts in my book- The Nightmare Before Christmas. GOD, this movie. When it first came out, I couldn't make it past the opening song because I was scared of the clown with the tearaway face. I shit you not. BUT once I was past that, it quickly became an obsession in my little kid mind. My mom actually showed me a PHOTO she has of me from when I was still in my single digits of age, in which apparently I had taken a black permanent marker to my face to draw rings around my eyes and lines on my mouth so I could look like Jack Skellington. My mom still has it framed in her living room to this day. XD But yes, I sang all the songs, I drew Jack and Sally and Zero all over whatever paper I could get my hands on, and I even made a christmas ornament of Jack's head out of sculpey that we put on the tree every year since. It was probably a huge reason that I became such a huge Halloween and spooky-things lover. And even to this day, it resonates a LOT with me as a movie about someone who is just experiencing the WORST artistic burnout. That's really what this movie is about, I've written a whole-ass essay of a post once rambling about Jack's Lament as a song because of the feels it gave me (i tried to find it but idk if i deleted it during a scare of tumblr copyright striking blogs for music a long while back or if tumblr's blog search function is just poop, either is possible).

Anyway I've talked your ear off long enough, my apologies for the long post but sadly that is what happens when you get me talking about stuff I like. <XD ; Every time I say I won't, but then I become this:

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ch.215 thoughts

[Fashion, Put it All on M-wait, did I do this joke already?]

(Contents: character analysis - Tatiana/Chikara, narrative analysis - Negator tragedies, predictions - arc progression, thematic analysis - Clothing as Freedom)

Tatiana's Characterization

After all these years, we finally get to see Tatiana living a normal life, and just like with the rest of the cast, I'm pleasantly surprised to see how much better fleshed out she's become as a character!

In L100, she was always pretty bratty, but this chapter gives her attitude quite a bit of depth! She's blunt and demanding, yes, but it's clear that she's also considerate and kind; she fired her bodyguards specifically because they failed to perform (reasonable), but also understood that she was the one who put them in that position in the first place, so she gave them an out that wouldn't impact their livelihoods going forward. An excellent example of the "kind but not nice" archetype

We see glimpses of this through the rest of the chapter too. She snaps at Fuuko whenever her attention isn't on her but also values her opinion, and later yells at Chikara for taking photos during rehearsal only to give him the photo back with an autograph once she sees how good of a shot he took, acknowledging his skill as a photographer. She isn't cruel or mean-spirited, just kind of abrasive, whereas in L100 she had a bit of a tendency to be petty and disparaging (refusing to share her dolls with Fuuko, calling Chikara names, etc.)

I think that Tatiana is a good demonstration of nature vs. nurture; she was likely always going to be like this, her kindness and abrasiveness being an aspect of her soul, but her ability to connect with people is vastly different between L100 and L101 solely because of the kind of life she's been able to live in the interim. Before, she literally lived in a bubble from a formative age, which greatly inhibited her chances at socialization, especially since the only people she got to be around from then on were the Roundtable members of the Union and maybe some of the rank-and-files. Now, she certainly has (or had) friends in school while she was growing up and has a much better understanding of how society and relationships function, even if she can be a bit unpleasant in how she presents herself

Of course, being a celebrity does seem to be having its own impact on her, as again she's being led down the path of isolation specifically because her fame is causing her to become separated from what she really wants: her family. I think we'll probably get another opportunity to examine that next week (or the week after) when her tragedy strikes, as I would expect it to be heavily tied to her catalyst

Tatiana's Tragedy

Speaking of, I do think that Fuuko's prediction that Tatiana's tragedy will occur during the fashion show may be a bit off. I've seen a few people discussing it already, but unless her parents are going to be attending the show and in danger, it really does seem like the personal stakes are lower if all that's at risk is a bunch of strangers. Sure, that tremendous loss of life would still be tragic, but accidentally killing 1000 people you don't know is not emotionally comparable to the weight of accidentally killing your own parents

In fact, even last chapter when Untouchable almost spontaneously manifested, it wasn't because she was surrounded by people; it was because she was reminded of how alone she was. The people around her were keeping her away from what brought her joy; in the moment, it was Pan-Panda, but that was a microcosm of her insecurity, that she was being slowly separated from her parents, who she ironically entered this lifestyle for. She sought to become famous for them, to make them happy, but all it did was put up a wall between her and them and make her miserable. That momentary shift in perspective was the catalyst, not the number of people who stood to be victimized

I think that Fuuko's misapprehension comes from the same place as ours, that she believes God is deliberately choosing "the moment to strike" rather than laying a landmine to be tripped. Of course she thinks that the opportunity for the numerically biggest tragedy is God's goal, she's seen Negator abilities take out entire towns before! She figures that the abilities just come at "the worst possible time," because hers manifested when her parents got on a plane surrounded by 200+ other people. She wasn't emotionally mature enough to understand yet that the real catalyst was either a) the joy she felt kissing her parents goodbye, or b) the fear she felt separating from them as they were heading to the airport

She has no way of knowing that Gina killed her townsfolk because she was despairing about the massive changes in her life that she couldn't control, or that Top killed his friends because he was actively denying the part of himself that enjoyed running, or that Shen killed Mei because he truly wanted to save her and was afraid he would lose her. It was never about anyone dying, it was about the emotions wrapped up in the moments that those people died

That's why Feng's tragedies never involved death, at least not directly. Because his tragedy wasn't about loss, it was about the emotional value he put on his own strength, either the despair at its loss in L100 or the joy and pride he felt achieving the pinnacle of martial prowess and believing his peers would always be there to push him even higher

I could go on and list the emotions that preceded everyone's tragedies, but I think I've made my point; the catalysts are never the circumstances alone, they are always the feelings associated with those circumstances. I'm sure there are moments that don't seem to fit, like Chikara simply crossing the street in L100, but we weren't really told what was going through his head or what was happening in his life at the time, so for all we know it's similar to him trying to express his desire to become a photographer to his parents in L101

The main point is that Tatiana's previous tragedy took place on her birthday because of the joy she felt being with her parents, possibly because of the hopes she carried in her heart as she made her birthday wish (one twitter user suggested she may have wished something related to being with her parents forever), so while she definitely enjoys being on the runway, I don't know if the joy she'll feel here will be comparable to that she feels being with her parents or the despair she feels worrying she won't get to see them

As it happens, Tatiana's birthday is mere days away in this chapter, so either her tragedy strikes now and her birthday will be a moment where she's shown that her life hasn't been ruined by Untouchable OR Fuuko is wrong and her tragedy was never meant to happen at the show at all. I'm personally expecting the latter, though I'm sure Tozuka will make it work either way

Tatiana's Philosophy

If the tragedy does occur during the show, I would expect the catalyst will have something to do with her philosophy as a model, that both her and the clothes need to be good to make for a proper performance. The smiles (or lack thereof) that she sees from the crowd are the deciding factor, so we're entering this phase of the arc with the implicit understanding that Tatiana does place emotional weight on how other people feel

Tatiana's phrasing that "the clothes are wearing me" also brings up a philosophical quandary I've had for many years - what makes someone "attractive?" When someone wears a stunning outfit or nice jewelry, we typically say "you look good with that on" or "it looks good on you," but don't those have opposing connotations? Did they not look good without it on? Will it look bad on anyone else? The phrasing of a compliment on aesthetics carries a lot of implications, intentional or not, and that's something I've personally been grappling with since adolescence when I was first learning how to talk to girls

Tatiana, being a model, is definitely thinking about it from the other direction, always striving to strike the balance between both forms of compliment. It's all well and good for Tatiana to be cute or for a dress to be beautiful, but if someone compliments her, then what's the point of the dress when she would have gotten the same compliment no matter what she was wearing? If someone compliments the dress, then what's the point of her as the model when any model would have gotten the same response?

I don't know what wording she's looking for exactly, but it's clear Tatiana wants to do the dresses justice by bringing something to the table that they aren't capable of on their own, that she doesn't want to just be an interchangeable mannequin serving as nothing more than a vehicle to get the dress to the other end of the runway. She has value to give to the dress, and the dress has value to give to her; it needs to be a synergistic partnership where neither overshadows the other

...Hm? A partnership...with an outfit? That sounds kinda familiar...

Clothes

Ah! Clothy!

"The clothes are wearing me." "I'll tame these clothes before the show"

"Once I've (Clothy) entranced you with my creation, you'll be my walking mannequin!" "Well I'll be, you took [Clothes] and made him your servant"

The wording is obviously different, but the spirit of the ideas is remarkably similar. I've seen a little bit of speculation already that Clothy would be making his reappearance in this arc, and I'm inclined to agree that it would be a great opportunity for him to do so since not only is it aesthetically appropriate, but also thematically

In much the same way that long hair is a symbol of isolation, I think that clothes in UU are a symbol of both restraint and freedom. Not only are Clothes a literal Rule that everyone must follow, but the ability to decide how that Rule is followed is a privilege that a good chunk of the cast is denied. Tatiana is the most notable example in that she can't wear clothes at all once Untouchable manifests, but Fuuko is forced to wear clothes that cover up as much skin as possible, a sentiment she makes clear as far back as chapter one. Isshin hides in her armor, Top's outfit is liable to be destroyed by his ability, Victor tried to force Juiz to wear armor for her protection, etc. etc.

On the flipside, other characters without those limitations use their clothes as a method of self-expression, like Gina emulating Japanese schoolgirl fashion, Ichico refusing to cover her breasts, Billy dressing like a cowboy, and of course, Andy being perfectly comfortable being naked at any and all times. Even when Clothy becomes bound to him, he never allows the clothes to wear him, he is always in control of what outfit he's wearing and how it looks on him. Ruin does this too through his partnership with Blood and Shadow, suggesting that he and Andy are two of if not the most free characters in the series (though that may be an illusion that we'll see broken later)

With how Tatiana's talking in this chapter, I wouldn't be surprised if she ends up being the one to tame Clothy this time, using his "perfect outfit" ability to bypass the Untouchable Rule ("I want an outfit that's intangible and not affected by Untouchable" or something to that effect) and keep Tatiana clothed at all times. Andy'd be out of luck, but with his high level of soul manipulation, I wouldn't be surprised if he can just project an outfit if he really wants. Bonus points if Soul gets mad at him for using his soul for something so mundane (though thinking about it, is that where the Master Rules get their clothes from?)

Tatiana's story really does lend itself to a friendship with Clothy better than Andy's, honestly, especially since there's nearly zero chance of Clothy taking damage with Tatiana and 100% chance of damage with Andy. While I never would have anticipated Tatiana becoming a model based on her story in L100, now that we're here, it's so incredibly obvious in retrospect. Perhaps Tozuka could have done a little more to foreshadow it, but I think the fact that it feels so natural is a testament to Tozuka's character writing

Tatiana's role as a model also provides that same retrospective justification to another character whose role changed between loops, but who I always thought was implemented in a slightly more awkward manner: Chikara

Chikara

While I understand the imagery of Chikara becoming a photographer, a tangible representation of both Unmove's effect and activation requirement, it was never stated that Chikara had any interest in photography in L100. We never heard anything about his extracurriculars or interests, whereas at least Tatiana's inability to wear clothes was a point of insecurity for her

This lack of explicit cohesion made me feel like Tozuka thought of it after the fact as it just happened to fit well, but seeing Tatiana as a model now and the compatibility between those two interests, I'm inclined to believe that Tozuka was planning for this to be the outcome for them for quite some time, especially since he's clearly been angling to make them a ship since at least ch.98, if not from the very beginning

If absolutely nothing else, that moment of Chikara reflexively taking a picture of Tatiana and her subsequent acknowledgment of his skills does way more for endearing me to their relationship than the *checks notes* near total lack of interaction between them aside from him seeing her naked and her calling him a pervert in L100. It doesn't help that Tozuka still isn't making it clear how old Tatiana is, especially since we no longer have the excuse of her growth being stunted by living in a ball, but again, I'm just glad to see that they have at least some chemistry this time around to make their feelings a little more believable/relatable

I do hope that they'll continue to get more cute interactions, cus I'd truly hate for Tatiana to get hit with the same complaints that people have about Leila not being enough of a character to justify Rip's decision to marry both her and Latla (a complaint I understand but wholeheartedly disagree with, by the by). Since Tatiana is an actual Negator and a major recurring character, I envision she won't get that treatment, but I would have said the same thing about Kururu

Predictions

At the very least, I expect that Tatiana's manifestation will result in Chikara awakening to his soul, possibly giving him the ability to perceive the boundaries of Untouchable and apply Unmove to it directly. It seems like the current plan is for Gina to use Unchange on some smoke or dry ice to make it visible to Chikara, but I expect it won't work out quite so well

I also think that with her own soul awakening, Tatiana will gain much greater control of the shape of Untouchable, either being able to mold it to her own form or to allow things she wants to touch to pass through and disallow anything she doesn't want (by the logic that she wants food and air and thus has the tube leading to her mouth, while also giving her the ability to prevent poisons or amorphous monsters from entering it). Kururu's soul let her aim Unchaste, so reshaping Tatiana's barrier should be easy enough, especially since she could already do that to some extent previously

As for the immediate next chapter, I think that it would be fun if Clothes showed up the same way that Color showed up at Chikara's graduation, making us think that he's going to be the catalyst for Untouchable only for him and Tatiana to become friends. Then, a few days later at her party, she either just happens to manifest it from her emotional state or a Master Rule shows up and prompts it, leading to more moments between her, Chikara and Clothes

As always, I'm probably nowhere close to what's actually going to happen, but I'd like it if I'm even remotely in the ballpark

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

[shwoo]

Grumpus Headcanons (1/3)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

I finished my big list of headcanons about the Bugsnax characters and their pre-game relationships, and it turned out super long! So instead of using a readmore like normal people, I'm going to post it in three parts over three days.

These aren't, like, analytical headcanons; they're mostly just me making stuff up that I think is plausible. I meant to do this a year ago, and even already expanded a little in a fanfic on the headcanon about Chandlo being a small kid (here). But I got it done eventually! The idea is one headcanon for one character or relationship.

Character Headcanons (Eggabell Batternugget - Gramble Gigglefunny)

Eggabell Batternugget I think she actively studied Bugsnax with Floofty, as well as volunteering as a test subject, but I also think that has some backing in the game, so it's not the headcanon I'm talking about here. The headcanon is what she was studying: the nutritional value of Bugsnax. This is how she's able to be so confident that they're a perfectly balanced source of nutrition in her DLC interview. She also tried to figure out what exactly made them feel so good to eat. Being an endocrinologist, she guessed that it was some hormone, and made some progress in figuring out whether that was true, but then the earthquake happened.

Clumby Clumbernut She wasn't interested in joining the Snackolytes, and said no once Jamfoot was done talking about recruitment bonuses, though she knew he was telling her, not asking. But she was the last survivor of her expedition, and Jamfoot told her that she probably wouldn't last long all alone. Based on what she'd seen so far, Clumby agreed, so she joined up with the intention of going back on it once they were back on the mainland. But the Snakolytes were a lot bigger and more influential than she'd thought. They're also the reason she's continuing to do a job she hates.

Cromdo Face Hiding his singing is a habit left over from childhood, when he'd get in trouble if he did something fun when there was still work to be done. He also didn't have a lot of privacy, making it hard to find a time and place to sing that didn't annoy anyone. When he got married later, his singing also annoyed his husband. The idea that crime was the best shortcut to living comfortably was his own, though.

Filbo Fiddlepie I've made up my mind. He grew up with Lizbert; he's Grumpus American-Australian. His family moved to… I'm going to say Grumpus Sydney when his dad was a preteen, and his dad returned to New Grump City after finishing year twelve, then moved back to a smaller town when Filbo was a toddler. Filbo speaks American English to please his family, particularly his dad. Also he definitely did not get his pen licence in primary school. I've seen his handwriting in-game. I came up with a lot of extra stuff about Filbo's dad, for a story that's still in editing, but I'd sum up his attitude as "I love my cringe fail son".

Floofty Fizzlebean They've always been interested in biology and experimentation, but their parents impressed the importance of consent on them early. As a result, they've been experimenting on themself since before they were in their teens. They accidentally poisoned themself when they were sixteen. Snorpy found them, and they spent a week in the hospital. Also, their hair used to be a more vivid purple, for reasons unrelated to ageing.

Snorpy Fizzlebean First, psychotic Snorpy. That's an obvious one. But not all the stuff he believes is a delusion. I don't know enough about psychosis to go into detail, but he is aware of it, and so is Chandlo, and they have strategies. Less so for the conspiracy stuff, since Snorpy is unwilling to talk to Chandlo about that. And being on Snaktooth definitely made things worse. But, he really is being monitored by the "Grumpinati" (actually the Snakolytes), even if he's wrong about some of the details. They were involved in the artificial limbs project, as well as some other things that Snorpy noticed but blamed on the Grumpinati. They could disappear him, but he's off the mark about so much, and they think nobody would believe him anyway, so they don't bother.

Chandlo Funkbun If he didn't work out all the time, he'd be skinny as well as short. His body doesn't build muscle mass easily. He got beaten up a lot as a kid, because his school had a bullying problem, and he kept trying to intervene, while also being tiny. He started strength training as soon as he could, and got stronger pretty fast, but he stayed skinny until after puberty.

Gramble Gigglefunny He grew up in a very rural area, and concluded that if he wanted to find a family, he needed to be around more people. So he moved to New Grump City, and waited for a family to come to him. Instead, he learned the ways you can also be lonely in a big city. His preference for animals over people didn't help. Lizbert's expedition was his third attempt at finding a new family, as he thought he might get along better with the kind of people who'd go on this kind of expedition than with the people in his home town.

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

It's the underdog/victim complex. They think they're being oppressed/harassed/attacked by everyone else for liking their fave when no one really cares. Plus purity culture sorta screwed the fandom perceptions where now you apparently can't like a character or be a fan of them if they do bad/problematic things. This isn't just a FE thing either, there was an article that basically said that people can enjoy villains for being villains and requested everyone to not woobify or justify their actions. Guess what happened? People got salty over it and started attacking the article. And yeah it's not just a bunch of teenagers sadly, there are people in their 30s doing this kind of nonsense behavior and it's really sad and pathetic. And fwiw I'm not implying nor intending that people 30 or above can't be in fandoms or anything like that, it's just..you expect them to know or be better than to act like they're half their age with this nonsense.

Yeah, that's so wild to me when they do exactly that - attack others for their faves (especially Dimitri). Like yeah, I hate their fave but I don't go out of my way to attack them for liking her.

Purity culture really, REALLY pisses me off. Not only do people who like EdeIgard erase her wrongdoings, but they only like the version of her they created and not her canon self (i.e. the self that did wrong, but they can't handle the concept of that and their waifu has to be perfect and have her hands clean). Following that, they get aggressive toward Dimitri and his fans for liking him because uwu he did so many bad things. Like, yes, we are aware of that and he actively addresses that fact on a regular basis. He doesn't hide behind "uwu I did it for Fodlan", he doesn't make excuses, and his fans accept his faults for what they are. For some reason the stans seem to think we're just like them and that we erase any faults of our fave and pretend he's a perfect, clean handed individual.

I remember hearing or seeing once in this old Tumblr RP group that they banned Miklan from even being selected as a written character. Like bruh, if you're gonna write roleplays, don't you... want conflict? When I write I find it boring when there's no conflict whatsoever. Even in my dmcl writing, there's still a sort of internal conflict, like Dimitri having doubts about himself and thinking he's not worth being with someone he loves. No matter what I write, I prefer to have some sort of conflict because it helps to strengthen the positive result.

It's funny, too, because these are always the same people who like Hopes Claude more but yet don't think doing anything wrong is okay. They defend his actions instead like with their waifu because it's okay to invade a country and murder its people!

Reminds me of the stan that showed up in my inbox once trying to defend Claude, saying "what innocents did Claude even kill, he only killed soldiers" as if to say soldiers automatically lose all their innocence and rights as human beings for signing up to defend their country. That anon should probably stop and think about what they said and how that applies to real life, because they basically told me my sister deserves to die because she used to serve in the military. Oh no, how dare she be a soldier! She's no longer innocent and it's okay if she dies! Forget the fact that she has three children at home who are very young and need their mother! Forget that her parents and sisters are still alive and would grieve for her! She's a soldier, so it's fine if she dies!

That anon needs a real good look in the mirror and a smack in the face by reality. These people say a whole lot of shit to defend their fictional pixelated waifu without considering how that reflects on them in real life and the fact that what they say does have a reflection on their real life values. Anyone who tells me it would've been okay if my sister died simply because she was in the military is trash and I wish on them what they would wish on her.

I heard about that article! It's pathetic. There is literally nothing wrong with enjoying media and concepts. I have a section I decided to put at the end of this ask explaining how I feel about particular antagonists (Ashnard, Zelgius, Sephiran and Miklan), but since it's a biiiit off course here I wanted to avoid it splitting up my more direct reply to this ask.

Yeah, I know it's not only teenagers and that's also pathetic. While I wouldn't say I just forgive teenagers for being like that (they're old enough and there's no excuse imo, as I mentioned before), it's a lot more understandable that they might be like that and just eventually grow out of it. The fact there are people my age or older acting like angry babies who had their binky taken away is honestly so ridiculous that the term "pathetic" is not even strong enough to explain how ridiculous it is. They act like they're a little kid who had their favorite sticker stolen by some random kid in their class. These are people who should be looking for or having a job, being at least somewhat damn mature online and being a reasonable, mature person.

I was hoping "karens" would die out with the older generations (let's face it, a good chunk of today's karens are bored, angry old/older people with nothing to do and are just miserable people), but evidently we're never getting rid of that lot! It's okay to invade a country and murder its people, just like it's okay to harass and bully people off of social media, didn't you know?! 🙄🙄🙄 Really, how did some of these people get like this? And no, I'm not asking for their uwu backstories to redeem them LOL.

Some of these people are so insufferable that it's disgusting.

Regarding the villain discussion:

It's like I always say and you're about to hear it again: I love Ashnard as a villain because he's a villain, and he's a villain who fully embraces his actions and behavior. He doesn't think he's morally just. He's fighting for the world he believes in. He believes the strong should be on top and should rule the weak. However, he's extremely fair about that viewpoint and if he's defeated by someone because they were stronger than him, that is fair to him and he accepts his defeat. Since he believes the strong should be on top, he believes he should be on top... until someone comes along who can slay him, in which he believes they do deserve to be on top. If he's bested, he no longer deserves to be on top. He's a fantastic villain who never makes excuses and doesn't go back on what he says he believes. There's no "the strong should be on top but only as long as I'm the strongest and will be ruling". Plain and simple, the strongest should be on top whether it's him or not, and he's not, I guess you could say, "fake" about it.

Then you have Hopes Miklan who turns out to be a better person than people gave him credit for. He's someone I always had headcanons about based on Dimitri's take on him being disowned. I felt that he could've been a better person if pointed in the right direction and being told and shown that he was capable as a person even without a crest and that having a crest doesn't dictate whether he's useful or not. Dimitri put him in charge of a massively important, and arguably the most important, area of defense in the entire country. He proved he believed that Miklan had the strength to handle that and proved that he believed if Miklan had a better life and situation in front of him that he wouldn't resort to banditry. The thing is, he was right. Miklan not only started becoming a better person, but he even gets a line where he basically says he liked helping the people in a place that got destroyed in the war. He liked helping them rebuild.

Both of those are fantastic stories and characters. One of them had a redemption arc while nobody ever let any bullshit slide. He wasn't allowed to slip up or get away with any tiny "mistakes". It was literally do or die, but being forced into that situation did genuinely make him a better person. Even if he had to be forced to help them, it's not like he didn't come out on the other side and be better for it. Being forced to do those things didn't mean it just stayed that way and that he was hateful and angry that entire time.

Then one of them is just... a villain. A perfectly written villain who lived and died as a villain. Nobody made excuses for him and he didn't make excuses for himself. There's a reason I don't like Zelgius, and it's not that I think his character itself is terribly written, but it's the forced redemption that he didn't earn that makes me not enjoy his final arc. In contrast, what does Sephiran get? No redemption allowed from Ike until he gets up and proves he's willing to redeem himself. Zelgius could've easily been a character made to earn his redemption, such as being a playable character and having supports to flesh out his new arc, or even just being a story only character who protects and saves the main characters (besides Just Micaiah tee em) and maybe even guides them safely to the Tower of Guidance (no pun intended). Instead he just gets to say he admired his teacher and had a sad backstory so suddenly... nobody is mad anymore. Certainly not Tibarn, who had like 50+ percent of his nation wiped out, that being any able bodied man who could fight besides the ones who were lucky enough to be with Tibarn's fighting force at the time all that happened. 🙄

[practically-an-x-man]

I'll ask this in three asks as well:

Spider-Man OC to Spider-Man OC, I'll ask about Ophelia!

Pencil, Crayon, Charcoal, Pastels, Eraser, and Marker :)

thank you!!! Ophelia's a pretty interesting character, this will be fun!

OC/Writing Art Asks

Pencil: does this character have any "sketchy" habits? Have they ever broken the law? Do they regret it?

She's not quite as dark as some of your characters, but she's certainly morally grey. Property damage? Breaking and entering? All kinds of probably-not-legal vigilantism? Psh, no big deal. I think the only time she regrets it is when someone close to her gets hurt as a result. Y'know, she's a little more ruthless than Peter is, but she's still aligned mostly-good, and some of her actions do come back to haunt her. But that's all I'll say for now... you'll see what I mean if you read Catch and Release

Crayon: what was your OC like when they were four years old? Were they loud? Shy? Were they the resident "weird kid" or did they get along with others their age?

So there's actually some flashbacks in Catch and Release that show her as a kid, but I think I only go as young as six with those. But I feel like regardless of her age, she's an incredibly curious person, a little loud and reckless at times, but with this endless longing for answers and solutions to the problems she runs into. Though she was definitely a bit of a "weird kid" too

Charcoal: share any unique physical features about this character that are not scars or tattoos

If it counts, I'd say her actuators. But given those aren't implanted and she's able to take them off, I'm not sure that counts as a physical feature for Ophelia specifically. So I'd say her build. She's 5'11" and built like a powerlifter (broad, burly muscle, not chiseled but strong), and this tends to set her apart from the others around her.

Pastels: Give me three colors that best represent your OC. Now give me three colors that your OC likes best. Is there an overlap?

That represent her: steel blue (for her actuators), dark grey (morally grey, and her father's actuators before her), and green (her connection to Norman and Harry Osborn)

That she likes: purple (considers it one of her distinct colors), silver (associates it with machinery and innovation), and dark blue (another of her distinct colors)

There's some overlap in how her values align with the colors she likes, but no overlap in the colors themselves

Eraser: what's one way this character has changed over time? Either over the course of their story, or over the course of designing them as an author.

Over the course of writing her, I realized that a lot of her interests and mannerisms ending up being fairly autistic-coded. This wasn't in my original plan for the character, but I as an author am neurodivergent so I'm not entirely surprised it ended up that way. And really, it makes a lot of sense for her, so once I realized (I want to say 7 or 8 chapters in, maybe) I decided to lean into it and make it a full part of her character.

Over the course of her story, I think she regains a lot of hope and appreciation for the world around her. I'll try not to spoil the surprise for you, but she'd had some events in her life that caused her to be fairly jaded and guarded, but finding a second chance for those events allowed her some reparation from that. It's actually a pretty interesting concept to explore as an author.

Marker: what's one thing your character would never tattoo on their body, even if they were paid a million dollars for it?

Hm... so Ophelia does have a tattoo (just one so far, a segment of Starry Night tattooed over the crest of her left hip), so she's certainly not opposed to the idea of tattoos. As far as what she wouldn't get tattooed, I think she'd hate the idea of getting someone's name tattooed on her, for two reasons: 1. it's unoriginal and just seems like a bad idea even in theory, and 2. even if it wasn't, she's had pretty rotten luck in romance and she wouldn't want to chance her odds by getting someone's name permanently etched onto her skin

[weirfq1]

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🪢❤️‍🔥😬

Francesca and Yam

(yes I'm very predictable always picking my two fave characters)

🏳️‍🌈 A sexuality headcanon

This is a pretty popular headcanon but they're both bisexuals in my eyes

🏳️‍⚧️ A gender headcanon

Cis Francesca while i feel like Yam is the equivalent of that tweet that is like "i'm probably nonbinary but i have a job so idrc about that rn" (same) as in she doesn't really think about her own gender like that (because gender and pronouns really aren't a big deal for her and she's alright with anything but also because with everything going on in her life right now this would just make her question herself even more and put her into a crisis) but she would probably fall under the non-binary umbrella (even if she doesn't use any kind of etiquette)

🪢 A headcanon about their family

Francesca has a big family and goes back to Italy so often because she knows that if she doesn't go visit her family members even at least once every few months/years (if possible), they might impulsively decide to come to Buenos Aires and spend a month or so at her family house, and even though she loves them to death, it would be such a mess.

Yam's family consists of her single mother, the son of one of her mother's high school girl friends (that grew up around them and took the habit of referring to her mother as his own mother/second mother and treating yam as a fraternal figure [thing that she won't ever admit enjoying so much]) + Ramiro and Jim <3

❤️‍🔥 A romantic headcanon

Before dating someone, Francesca has always made fun of the couples that matched clothes because she thought it was embarassing and a bit too much… Not even one full week after starting to date somebody she already bought her partner a matching jacket (nothing too crazy, just the same model of jacket in two different colors), and that is only the start...

Yam isn't really into physical touch unless she really knows and trusts someone but she's a good listener and if she wants to show you that she cares, she just brings stuff. You will never have to worry about bags, backpacks, books or similar things because there wouldn't be a single second of the day in which she'll let your arms be full. She also knows by heart your orders and will not only predict them but also anticipate your own needs before you even know it.

😬 A headcanon about the worst thing they’ve done

Francesca probably broke something that had a big sentimental value for her grandma but put the blame on her uncle (from her mother side) hoping that it would've never come out. After she came back to Rome, during a big family reunion, at one point her uncle calls her to the side because he has something to ask her and she doesn't think anything of it (from her point of view it's been ages since that happened). He brings up the whole thing, asking her if she knows why his mother accused him and was so sure that Francesca personally saw him doing that and she thinks of lying... of maybe saying that she's old and confused and doesn't know what she's talking about; but then she looks at her grandma's face and back to his uncle and just admits fucking up. He already knew that she was the one who did that but still covered her back and took the scolding at that time. Now that she isn't scared anymore, she wants to take full responsibility and maybe ever try to repay both of them for her actions and the hurt it caused, but her uncle puts his hand on her shoulder and tells her that it's okay and it's now passed... to just keep doing what she's doing without lying. (If you ask Francesca she would probably say that there are a lot of worst things she had done —objectively speaking— but this is the thing that made her feel the worst and that stuck with her.)

For Yam i'm not sure but she gets super paranoid and stressed out about any little thing, especially when she has to lie or hide something so whatever she did wasn't actually that bad, she just gets into her own head a lot lol

[celestialprayer]

SHIPPING INFO. answer the following for your muse(s) so people know how shipping works on your blog.

what’s your OTP for your muse(s)?

bit of a loaded question for a character canon used as sparingly as it did. the closest I can say is Annelie, since she's one of the only non-main cast members (who all have their own Situations going on) Zena has any noteworthy interactions with - and I mean that in a "they shared two Dragalia Life (the gag series) comics together and Annelie was Generally Supportive and Nice in her direction" sort of way.

ofc its a bit irrelevant to the conversation since we're way past the point where dragalia character rpers are freely stumbled on, but! yea

what are you willing to RP when it comes to shipping?

A lot of things! I like to have fun and variety, though I'll admit I'm a bit more of a basic bitch than a lot of RPers - I prefer my ships healthy, or at least to get there with time, thanks! Also no NSFW, very ace writer here, though I can skirt the line with fades, if it fits the mood

how large does the age gap have to be to make it uncomfortable?

A bit dependent on context, imo. Generally 10 years feels like a Lot to think about in a vaccuum, but there've been Individual Instances with more of a gap than that that I can vibe with. That said, Zena's rather a rather young adult physically, and I'd be reluctant to go too much older with her, so there probably won't be too much messing with that on my end.

are you selective when shipping?

not very? obviously I like chemistry and a meaningful bond to be at least implied before I go all in on it, but I'm pretty loose when it comes to what that really entails. I just like having my characters form close and loving bonds of all kinds, and have their base want for closeness met.

how far do steamy moments have to go before they’re considered NSFW?

If there's even a sniff of possibility for the bedroom getting involved, fades/cuts will happen at most once the bed's reached, if I even wrote something that goes that far.

does one have to ask to ship with you?

it'd be nice! i don't mind playing around with little crushes and whatnot without express permission, but if my muse and yours are going to really get meaningfully involved I'd like to make sure we're on the same page

how often do you like to ship?

when it works! i'm a SAP for shipping, I really value the comfort and closeness it can bring to my muses. the ideal is at least one for my muses, but I don't mind messing around

are you multiship?

yeee!! every character and dynamic to explore is different, and I like to explore them all when they're applicable. single-ship is just so restrictive-sounding to me - I might have a preferred ship to fall back on for sake of a blog's central canonicity, but nothing that locks out other options. and i also do poly but i've yet to be that lucky

are you ship obsessed or ship more-or-less?

used to be i'd say ship-obsessed, but these days i'm somewhere in the middle. i've realized that how far i went for ships was rather specifically because that's where closeness and tender emotions were most easily written, but I understand nowadays that's hardly the End of it, and that comfort can certainly come with the right kind of friends, too. I won't turn a good ship away, but I'm not in dire need of them like I used to be.

what is your favorite ship in your current fandom?

See Question 1. like i've never seen ship content of any kind with zena out in the wild, that's how dire it is

finally, how does one ship with you?

just bring the possibility up? if it seems like there's potential in a ship with my muse and yours, just lmk and i'd be happy to volley around the concept and see if I can vibe with it. Worst case we just wind up with good friends instead!

Tagged by: actually i stole it from @gamenu and for the things that woman's done to me i will not apologize /j Tagging: take it if you want it!

[cienie-isengardu]

In all fairness, the whole origin of Shirai Ryu is something the sources can’t apparently agree on, as Kuai Liang’s story is a whole different one from Liu Kang’s. Fire Lord makes it sounds like he is the one tasking Scorpion to build a replacement for rebelled Lin Kuei AND aiding him during that process:

"As you know, Bi-Han and his Lin Kuei have abandoned their roles as Earthrealm's guardians. His brother Kuai Liang has agreed to build a new clan, the Shirai Ryu, to take its place. I must go aid his efforts."

and he apparently already knows the name of the clan, even if Kuai Liang’s ending presents its name as something that comes after his romance/marriage with Harumi that was supposed to happen with passing time. But in story mode Liu Kang and his Champions celebrated the “happy end” so it doesn’t feel like that much time passed between the final fight and that moment (especially as General Shao was officially still in prison). And sure, Liu Kang may have been “ahead of the facts” but seriously, which story should we treat as a truth?�� 

I doubt we ever get Harumi as the politically ruthless head of her clan, even if that would definitely be something new and pretty cool. But then again, we have Mileena who is also set to maintain her regime and eliminate threats to her family and throne and is not presented as evil-driven character so I guess, it could be possible for future games to give Harumi’s that edge without making her jerk or villain, the way game/fandom is making Bi-Han for wishing to keep Lin Kuei as independent clan.

So, just in purely theoretical sense, lemme add three things to the idea of Harumi not giving up her power for lost puppy Kuai Liang and being in charge as she should be:

(1) As she is a childhood friend of Kuai Liang, I'm gonna assume she is of a similar age (20s-30s maybe?). If she is the head of her clan AND NOT MARRIED before Scorpion comes into picture, the fact she maintained her position without allowing herself being forced into marriage speaks about her independence streak (again, a similar matter to Mileena). Now, maybe marrying Kuai Liang would give her the “needed husband” to pacify anyone with more traditional values, but as Scorpion is focused on training the future Earthrealm’s defenders, Harumi probably takes care of the rest duties. So Kuai Liang’s presence doesn’t necessarily influence her job. Like yes, it does add more stuff to take care of, but I doubt Scorpion would interfere with Harumi’s duties, as he respected her wisdom and strength before they fell in love. Between them, she is the one having an experience with leading a clan - Scorpion most likely was trained for Grandmaster’s duties but he did not fully perform them up until then. Even if Harumi “lost” the title of leader, it should not mean she lost her position and power.

(2) If Kuai Liang was actually chosen by Liu Kang AND supported by Fire God, this connection would put her clan in good relationship with Earthrealm Protector. As Harumi seems to be aware of Lin Kuei’s true purpose I’m assuming, she also knows who Liu Kang is (and maybe even learning Liu Kang’s true role of Keeper of Time once she and Kuai are again close to each other). Aiding Kuai Liang and Tomas in need by proxy makes Harumi aid the Fire God himself. And Harumi’s support won’t be forgotten too soon because the new generation of loyal supporters will be create due to her choice.

(3) Kuai Liang’s goal is not to destroy Lin Kuei but to take control of the clan once Bi-Han and his followers are defeated. 

Scorpion's ending: The Shirai Ryu won't rest until Bi-Han is defeated and the Lin Kuei's honor restored.

or

Scorpion: From the ashes, the Lin Kuei will be reborn. Sub-Zero: Do not presume you can burn it down.

If Kuai Liang succeeds, once Scorpion is named the Grandmaster of Lin Kuei, Harumi’s clan / Shirai Ryu will gain potentially new land and sphere of influences. By birthright, Harumi’s children should take over Lin Kuei once Kuai Liang either died in combat or abdicate due to old age. In case of having more than one child, this gives a better chance to bypass internal power struggles as each child can be made a Grandmaster of their own clan and hopefully stay in alliance. It also could provide better prospects for Harumi and Kuai Liang’s children's marriages and/alliances. 

Like I said, I doubt we will get Harumi as the ruthless woman set to make her clan stronger due to political alliances and maybe even through marriage with Kuai Liang (even if she truly loves him), but I'm totally here for her having her own agency outside being Scorpion’s wife. And also, I’m here for the hilarious idea of her alliance with Sub-Zero to babysit his younger brothers 🤣 Or better, Harumi’s kid(s) turning out to inherit cryomancer genes and uncle Bi-Han being forced to take care of his nephew/niece 🤣🤣🤣

Does Bi-Han really has no idea where his brothers are living now?

To me, the most funny thing about the origin of the MK1 Shirai Ryu clan is Kuai Liang and Tomas' assumption that Bi-Han has no idea where their new clan is stationed.

We know from intros, Scorpion and Smoke do not share its location even with their allies so that Lin Kuei can't find it.

Kenshi: Why keep the Shirai Ryu's location secret? Smoke: So that the Lin Kuei can't find it.

But then we have Kuai Liang's ending:

"No sooner had Titan Shang Tsung had been defeated than Bi-Han and his loyalists hunted us down. Outnumbered, we fled to Japan. There we sought refuge from an old family friend. As children, we played together. But Harumi Shirai was a woman now, the head of her clan. Her strength, beauty, and intellect awed me. Also incensed by Bi-Han's betrayal, Harumi agreed to help me forge a new clan. One that would stand against him and defend Earthrealm. Her aid proved invaluable. And as time went on, we grew closer. To honor Harumi and pay respects to my new bride, I named the clan after her, calling it the Shirai Ryu. Now the battle against my brother begins in earnest. The Shirai Ryu won't rest until Bi-Han is defeated and the Lin Kuei's honor restored."

in which:

A) Kuai Liang and Tomas fled to Japan and sought refuge from Harumi Shirai who is called an "old family friend"

B) she and Kuai played together as a children

C) Harumi is the head of her own clan living in Japan so between Scorpion and Smoke and her, it is Harumi who own land, money and/or necessary goods for a clan to prospere AND to fund Kuai Liang's new clan

D) Kuai Liang named his clan, Shirai Ryu, in honor of Harumi.

With such a description, the chances that Bi-Han is not familiar with Harumi are pretty slim to none. He already knows Scorpion and Smoke are in Japan, as they were hunted down by Sub-Zero's loyalists. Kuai has no money so for him to start a new clan, he needs to ally himself with someone who can fund it and support the two former Lin Kuei - and Harumi Shirai is an obvious choice, as the old family friend.

But even if that was not the first Bi-Han's conclusion, the fact that Kuai Liang married Harumi Shirai AND named his clan the Shirai Ryu makes it clear where he is - around Harumi. Scorpion's clan may go into hiding but I doubt Harumi would abaddon her land and clan or force everyone under her rule/protection into hiding so Bi-Han doesn’t even need to search for his brothers, he needs find only Harumi, as Scorpion and Smoke will come to protect her against Lin Kuei.

Since these days it seems everyone, including Outworld and Netherrealm characters, know about Kuai Liang's marriage and Bi-Han is A) operating in Sun Do, the capital of Mileena's Empire and B) is know to collect secrets, it is no surprise he knows about brother's relationship with Harumi. As even intro dialogues outright says so

Scorpion: Stay away from Harumi. Sub-Zero: In this war, family isn't off limits.

and look, putting aside the threat, Bi-Han already considers Harumi part of the family even if they are enemies.

So yeah, the whole "keep Shirai Ryu's location in secret" is so hilarious to me, because the Shirai name is total opposite of secret for Bi-Han, as he knows Harumi and where she is living, if Kuai Liang and Tomas knew where they should go while fleeing to Japan.

Good job, Kuai! 

But you know what is even more hilarious? The fact that Kuai Liang has no real idea where is currently his older brother and goes asking allies and enemies alike for help or information. Like yes, he and Tomas know the Lin Kuei clan is operating somewhere in Sun Do, but Li Mei found them and confronted them about Shirai Ryu activity in her city, while they did not capture Bi-Han there. And sure, Sub-Zero may not stay in one place for too long, however his own ending

"I had broken the Lin Kuei free of Liu Kang's enslavement. We were now masters of our destiny and could take our place among Earthrealm's greatest nations. But taking and holding territory would require a vast army. I needed more fighters to make our presence felt. Then I recalled Shang Tsung's dragon warriors. An army of them would be unstoppable. But trafficking in such strong magic would surely draw Liu Kang's attention. Sektor advised me that we avoid detection by building our army using science, not sorcery. We've invested much time in this endeavor, and we are beginning to see results. Once again proving the depths of Sektor's genius. When we are done, all of Earthrealm will honor our desires and heed our demands. If not, they will face the Lin Kuei's wrath."

says Bi-Han wanted to take and hold territory for his clan and so Lin Kuei invested time and energy into building an army based on magic Dragon warriors. Though it is not specified, I think it is right to assume the building of the army happened on Lin Kuei territory,

as that was their best secured base of operation. Like sure, Liu Kang and Shirai Ryu knew where Lin Kuei home was based but as the clan was living in hiding for centuries, their land was probably well guarded and the headquarter was located in a naturally defensive place.

And I admit, the whole idea that Bi-Han knows perfectly well where his brothers are hiding while Kuai Liang and Tomas have no idea about Sub-Zero's whereabouts and can't find him because none of them thought - or dared - to check Lin Kuei home is way too more hilarious than it should be.

People may make fun of Bi-Han not being smart during story mode but damn, Kuai Liang for sure is no mastermind either. 

[thephantomcasebook]

What do u think of the theory going around that alicent will poison aegon for killing rhaenyra?

I think these writers may actually do it and i hate it so much. They should have kept the book ages of alicent and rhaenyra coz rhaenicent is a terrible disservice to alicents character. Even if she hates her son for turning out as he did she was the one who put him on the throne and he is pretty justified in killing rhaenyra to avenge his sons and his family and if alicent does love rhaenyra more than her own children i must say i will hate her so much.

I actually liked how it was going till she said you'll be a good queen part to rhaenyra. I mean after aemond was brutalized and rhaenyra wanted her son to be tortured and her tongue to be lost?? No love no matter how deep will survive such a betrayal. Alicent should have cut rhaenyras entire arm with glee instead of feeling all guilty about it.

While olivia is a great actress...she doesn't understand her characters values which would be mainstream for that time period.

I think if book!alicent meets show!alicent she would be embarrassed by show! alicent being so cavalier and forgiving about all the wrongs rhaenyra and viserys did to her. I wish they show women to be ruthless like cersei more.

I think Cooke is probably moist at the thought of it.

But I doubt 100% that GRRM would ever sign off on that. Like I said and put up the proof of all night, the Rhaenicent shit was made up by Sopchnik's wife and Olivia Cooke, it is not something the writers wrote - Emily Carey confirmed that months ago.

GRRM has also said many times, from all the way back in 2018, that Alicent nor any of her children are gay. Rhaenyra is the only one that had - rumored - casual flings with possibly Laena in the book - but that was when she was young and before she was married to Daemon.

Once more, GRRM's policy with characters is that there isn't secret gays. If they're gay he'll be right on front street about it.

However ...

If by some grievous insult to GRRM's dearly departed memory, they do that shit, it'll be like Season 8 of "Game of Thrones" X 8000.

I'd legitimately lose my shit and fucking swear off "A Song of Ice and Fire" forever. Not even "A Dream of Spring" would save me from my apathy if they do that. I'd look at the entire franchise the way I do Star Wars right now ... the thing that I literally grew up with. No, scratch that, it'll be worse than Star Wars. Cause, at least with Star Wars my love for the George Lucas movies and shows remains untainted. With ASoIaF I'd be totally done with the entire franchise.

If Alicent isn't full "I'm gonna put Rhaenyra's head on a fucking spike" after "Blood & Cheese" and what happens to Helaena and Jahaerys (a grandson that she is incredibly close too in the book) I'm gonna be extra pissed and really start to dislike Alicent. It would be an assassination of her character if she's still carrying water for Rhaenyra after the murder of her grandchild.

I mean, in the book, after Criston is killed trying to rescue Alicent, she goes full Old Testament on Rhaenyra when she threatens Daeron. That's how much she loves her children - especially Daeron! My guy is kicking the shit outta the Blacks, Rhaenyra is losing the war, Daeron is the fucking "Oncoming Storm" from the goddamn constelation of Kasterborous that is making her Dragonseed riders piss themselves, and still Alicent goes full mamma bear when Rhaenyra threatens her baby. It doesn't matter that she's her prisoner and completely at her mercy. She is not gonna tolerate even a slighted look at the mention of her boys.

Its what triggers the Brothel Queens incident in the first place.

God, Nonny, now you can almost make me see this nonsense!

A goddamn Olivia Cooke and Sara Hess Dog Water, Tom Foolery, special! Where Rhaenyra is sitting the Iron Throne and Alicent is standing beside her on the platform like her queen - so regal and perfect. And they're just so fucking fierce and strong filled with Virtue and Goodness that is sparked by their matching chromosomes! And the realm would be in a utopia of peace and fruitfulness under this Girl Boss reign of Matriarchy ...

But, no, the evil Daeron Targaryen and his blood thirsty she bitch dragon Tessarion is coming to claim his poor and wilting flower of a beautiful mother *Gasp* *Pearl Clutch* Poor Alicent who only wants to be with her gay lover so they can take rides on Rhaenyra's dragon and touch rainbows! But no, the evil patriarchal system that this monster Daeron "The Daring" represents is coming for them and their forbidden but true Lesbian love! *Swoon* *Faint*

Ugh, shoot me!

Just fucking shoot me!

Everyone knows that Larys kills Aegon II in order to create chaos so that they he can hedge his odds in the power vacuum to come in the Regency of Aegon III and Jahaera.

[slashingdisneypasta]

Gotham Villains x Hotel Owner!Reader || Headcanons

Explanation / Topic: You run one of the cities dingy hotels except this one, in all of its glory, is only ever visited by bad guys. Your hotel is well known as the place rogues hide away in when they're planning or they're just out of action for a while because you refuse to give up information to the police no matter what (Its proprietor-client confidentiality! Ha ha) and you're treat them fairly (Although- on the kinder side of course)

These are the many ways they show their gratitude, no matter how small.

Character involved: Most, if not all, of Fox Gotham's rogues. Except Ra's Al Ghul because he bores me. Nevertheless, not just the Legion Horrible's like the picture might lead you to believe- that's just the picture with the most villains that I could think of.

Warnings: Probably too much fluff. I'll make a sequel to this with the less-then-pretty, nitty grotty details of this hotel too probably XD

Barbara likes to invest every now and then, "Just making sure my affairs are in order baby- gotta make sure my hidey hole's still there when I need it." but she always adds a little something for you to buy yourself 'something pretty' (Since your style is SO plain, according to her but then again who isn't plain compared to her XD). This little something is always upwards of a hundred dollars. She's such a sugar mommy you cant convince me that she isn't-

Butch (Or Cyrus Gold, or Grundy. he has too many names) has made it clear that if you ever need help, you can always call him and he'll be there. Very gangsta about it. He's such a big, tough guy but such a softy on the inside XD When he had Grundy brain, he still had some kind of tracker in his mind like dogs do that took him 'home' (To your hotel), dragging Ed along with him. He gave you a big, bone crushing hug when he got there.

Dr Strange is not allowed in as he'll steal your guests and experiment on them.

You don't know Ecco too well yet and vice versa but when she turned up with Jeremiah and Jervis- you definitely appreciated her presence more then that of Jeremiah's. You were still sore over Jerome and didn't trust this new brother. Still, you complimented the bullet in Ecco's skull, saying it was pretty cool, and now she loves you XD When she's in the neighbourhood she occasionally likes to pop in and say hello; Spread a little chaos, you know the deal.

Honestly you probably new Bridgit long before Strange forcing upon her the heat resistance thing and her becoming Firefly. She of course didn't remember you but soon *warmed* up to you after you gave her one of the few rooms with a fireplace and easily forgave her when she accidentally set the couch in her room on fire (I mean its for sure not the worst thing that has happened within these walls- no worries). She has been known to go around lighting the fireplaces for you under the pretence of having fun (Which is true) but also so that you can worry about one less thing. Firefly is also one to come chat with you if she's bored.

Fish Mooney obviously doesn't stay with you very often at all, because this lady can find better dwellings (As, no offense but your hotel is kiiiiinda dingy. What can you do about it, though? You house rogues and a lot of them don't have a lotta money) but she still absolutely appreciates what you do. She'll send bad guys that she does business with that have deeper pockets then your usual client, your way. She's also kind to you, which to me is even better honestly haha XD

Headhunter stays with you a lot when he's on business and often reminds you that you get a discount from him if you require his services. Hey, you keep him in milkshakes! He's gotta repay you somehow.

Okay, the twins. You knew Jerome first and got off to a bad start with Jeremiah due to that. Still, we aren't talking about relationships; We're talking about nice things. So moving on. Just assume that you warm up to the brainier twin.

These two are hard XD Cuz their 'good' and 'bad' sides kinda blur together as they're so unpredictable and don't really care about anyone.

Still, I can see Jerome being pretty light with you and valuing the fact that you can keep up with his banter- so he keeps you alive. You're basically his mother actually, despite the possible lack of age difference. Like, he wants to show you stuff he does and tell you about chaos he's created.

And Jeremiah honestly appreciates that you'll listen to his long speeches (You've gotten pretty good at just sitting and nodding your head and you've perfected the art of the well placed understanding noises like 'Hmm' and 'Ah!' and 'Oh dear' in your line of work)- so obviously, you're invaluable to him. Must keep you around. I mean, Ecco listens, but does she really understand? That is the question.

When he's around, Jervis is very polite and gracious. He'll duck into the kitchens after dinner and start helping you with the dishes and clear dining tables, he'll ask you how you are and mean it (Like, he'll stand there and discuss it with you), he'll try to keep Jerome from barging into your room in the early hours of the morning, etc. Just nice things like that ^^

Magpie tries not to steal from you... Haha XD Like, she'll pick up a pretty clock off a mantle piece and then go to leave with it... then realise that this is yours and go 'Oops!!' and put it back, giggling nervously.

... When she leaves you still find various items from other places in the hotel, in her room, but still. The fact that she tries is enough!

Mr Freeze is a pleasure to have around, of course!! He's quiet, he nods to you when he passes, and he's there to freeze assholes that harass you (And then take them outside so they don't melt all over your carpet). A respectful dude. He has frozen Jerome multiple times... particularly when Jervis has been unsuccessful in persuading him not to wake you up at 3 in the morning.

Ivy gets so happy whenever she sees you. Lots of hugs and telling you all about how she's been. Her energy is enough to cheer you up, and on your birthdays she always brings you a new plant that has meaning to her. Like, a sunflower for how kind you are, a Ficus for abundance, etc. Always in a pot of course, never dead. So of course, you have to take care of them but its a small price to pay for the sweetness ^^ And the not being murdered thing.

Like Mooney and Barbara, Oswald doesn't stay often due to having that mansion from his father but he remembers your kindness from when he would fall on hard times before that (And after the fact, too of course) and whenever he's making some kind of mafia deal he always ensures your and your hotels safety in the contract.

Pyg / Lazlo (I cant decide which name I like best XD) is just very polite, like Jervis. Gentlemen. Also his impressions- God. Have fun with that. He might just do your favourite Looney Tune character if he's in a good mood.

With Ed... look, if you even try with his riddles without being prompted, he'll do anything for you. It's well documented. I'm not sur about nice deeds, cuz Riddler's kind of a dick, but he'll for sure send you a birthday card every year! Christmas probably too ^^

Scarecrow: I will not spray you today. You: Gee thanks. // No but seriously, he's quiet about his gratitude but he is definitely once of the good ones ^^ Would absolutely take it upon himself to come save your ass if you got abducted.

Tabitha... well, you know how Headhunter will you get a discount if you want someone killed? Tabitha will do it for fucking free.

Hey, if you feed Victor (Zsasz), you have a friend for life. He will bring pizza and just hang out together. He is also willing to murder someone for you.

[bleachbleachbleach]

Going to be 100% predictable here: 💛, ❤️‍🩹, and 😋 for Toshiro, Momo, and Rangiku

From this ask game~

(I apologize ahead of time for this absolute wall of text but there are two of us with lots of thoughts and no ability to be coherent or succinct)

ippoddity's answers

💛- Brotp

Hitsugaya - I'm gonna have to be predictable here, and go with Matsumoto and Hitsugaya. They have such a wonderful depth to their relationship, and unlike most other Captain/Vice-Captain pairs, they have a long history too! (lol not to blast Byakuya and Renji but at the start of the series these two barely know each other) I think that long working knowledge together makes them one of the strongest pairs in the Gotei 13, which is an organization that really seems to value individual strength, but not working together? Which is good and all, but like... you would never get a badass ash/ice wall without two shinigami who understood each other's strengths/weaknesses really well, and then used them to their advantage. Obviously teamwork makes the dream work!

Hinamori - I love Academy Days Renji/Kira/Hinamori. They're so adorable together as they're coming up in the world, and I think there's something very special about bonds forged at school. I think when they graduated, Hinamori made them all a photo scrapbook that they Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants-around throughout the years and add to every once in awhile. The pages that Kira makes are usually somewhat straightforward, but nice. Renji puts in pages that are usually activity themed (futsal stickers anyone?), and Hinamori makes pages that are nostalgia-inducing.

Matsumoto - Ok, but who DOESN'T Matsumoto have chemistry with?? The possibilities are endless. I already talked about why Hitsugaya/Matsumoto is so good together, so I will choose someone else to talk about for her. Not sure if this is necessarily a Brotp, but I love thinking about Matsumoto being a big sister to Yuzu and Karin. She already acts in that capacity for many of the other characters (Rukia, Orihime, etc), so can you imagine her with Isshin's daughters? I think she would be a very good influence on them, in terms of knowing even better how to get on Isshin's nerves. He'd probably hate it, but love it all the same, to see his former vice-captain influencing his kids (for better or worse).

❤️‍🩹- Angsty headcanon

Hitsugaya - I don't think this is an original take at all, but as the designated "tensai" character of the series, I think Hitsugaya is rather isolated. He didn't really have a childhood where he got to play with children his age, and then he went straight into the academy, full of people older than himself. Now, he has what is arguable the most Grown Up Job in all of the Seireitei, and he still doesn't get many opportunities to let his guard down and just act silly. Even while everyone else around him gets to carouse and relax occasionally, he's afraid if he joins in, he'll just be seen as childish. So he hangs back, and watches everyone else have fun, all the while wishing he could join.

Hinamori - Prior to Aizen's defection, Hinamori used to regularly make up excuses to visit Hitsugaya. Whether it was bringing over baked goods that she made "too many of" or asking him whether he'd read any good books lately, she really just wanted to make sure he was taking care of himself. But afterward... she didn't seek him out for a long time. She told herself it was because she didn't want to make him worry about her (he already has enough on his plate), but a small part of her was haunted by the look of hatred and ferocity he had in his eyes when he impaled her during the Winter War. Logically, she knew those feelings weren't meant for her, but she still couldn't get it out of her head that they could be. After all, she had accused him of some terrible things, and even attacked him. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that he might hate her.

Matsumoto - After Ichimaru dies, birthdays are very difficult for her. Not just because he's the one who gave her her birthday, but also because it's a reminder of the passage of time, and what once was. Normally she loves any excuse to celebrate, and birthdays are a great opportunity for it, but she's never happy on her birthday. She uses to occasion to drink even more than usual, because it's better to be overly inebriated than to think.

😋- Funny/stupid headcanon

Hitsugaya- At some point, maybe when life gets less crazy and people stop invading Soul Society Hitsugaya wants a pet cat. He thinks they're cute and soft and he enjoys their quiet company. (I don't know if this is really based on anything, I just feel it's true in my heart of hearts)

(Yup, we did indeed steal an Arakawa cat for this, and we regret none of it. Let it never be said B3 didn’t commit to the bit.)

Hinamori - Not sure if this is funny/stupid, but Hinamori is insanely good at puzzles. Not just jigsaw puzzles, but also logic-game ones like sudoku and kakuro. She likes to do them on her breaks, and she's always the first to complete the sudoku/kakuro puzzles in the latest issues of Seireitei Communications. Her unmatched superiority at puzzles is also why she's so good at using kidou spells and weaving them together in innovative ways.

Matsumoto - No one has ever seen Matsumoto with a bad hair day. And this is because they do not exist for her. Her hair is just like that naturally, much to the chagrin of Yumichika. Sure, she takes care of her hair, but doesn't have any special regimen or products that she uses.

--- 

whipplefilter’s answers

Brevity is not the soul of my wit.

😋- Funny/stupid headcanon

Hitsugaya - This is something I think about a lot… and the stupidity of this HC comes from how often I think about it, lol. But like, the scene post winter-war where Hitsugaya is training bankai in a cave. I get the reasoning for this, but when rock is subjected to stress (for instance, the volumetric expansion of moisture contained in/between rock as it becomes ice) it cracks, and Hitsugaya has definitely brought that cave down on himself at least once. I mean, he obviously knows how ice works. I don’t think it was a surprise. But lol how embarrassing? (Maybe it was a BOGO thing—built-in kekkai training too?) Just out here CAUSING EROSION...

Hinamori - Some time after the publication of the Seireitei Communications Birthday Edition (and Hinamori’s heroism in getting it fit to print), one of the regular staff approached Hinamori about collaborating on a new artistic feature. Hinamori stopped dead in her tracks, put a hand firmly on the editor’s shoulder, and smiled. "Absolutely not," she intoned, so coldly that it was not until hours later, in the comfort of his own quarters, the editor thawed enough to burst into tears, wholly incognizant of the reason for them. Unless it has already been proofed, polished, and published, Hinamori is never touching that magazine again.

Matsumoto - Junrinan Grandma sometimes makes off-color jokes about Matsumoto being a home invader (Matsumoto’s sudden appearance inside her home in the dead of night to have a heart to heart with baby Hitsugaya was their first introduction to each other). Given the somewhat shaky reputations of shinigami to many Rukongai residents, Matsumoto honestly cannot tell if the jokes are really jokes or not. Hitsugaya refuses to clarify the matter, which leads Matsumoto to believe that it probably is a joke and not that serious, except then Hitsugaya regarded her very seriously and said, "You’d trust my interpretation of a joke?" and Matsumoto is pretty sure that’s a joke (...right?), but in any case, the saga is ongoing.

❤️‍🩹- Angsty headcanon

Hitsugaya - I simply cannot believe that reconstituting your body to augment its ability to function as a sausageskin for bankai power is actually good for you. I don’t think that that TYBW form was the organic, intentional way Hyourinmaru’s bankai is supposed to go. My headcanon is that after pulling that off under duress, it takes years (possibly ten of them) to "undo" the messiness of its aftermath. Patience is a virtue, but I think the angst comes in because during that time Hitsugaya really had no way of knowing that Soul Society *was* going to see peace for the duration of those ten years. And if they didn’t, he did know he wasn’t going to be able to meet the demand. His epilogue smile as he’s talking about that peace is one of very personal relief.

Hinamori - Whenever she messes something up, or isn’t quite good enough at something, or even just has an off day, there’s a >50% chance someone around her will attribute it to her trauma at the hands of Aizen. This is more damaging to her than it would be for someone to see her faults as entirely her own. Her reactions/responses aren’t always healthy, and it can be a compounding vicious cycle.

Matsumoto - Contending with her "greatly diminished" lifespan as a result of Mayuri’s zombie cure is really hard for her. For all the regular reasons that any other shinigami would share, but it also feels like it moves up the deadline for things she might want to experience, and hadn’t previously given much thought to—romance, marriage, children. This is especially difficult because, well. Who’s she going to talk to about these things? Hitsugaya?? Basically all of the women she knows are younger than her, and it feels like all of these life events are probably even further from their minds than they had been from hers. It’s isolating.

💛- Brotp

I wanted to talk about potential pairups that I think would be interesting, even though they may not actually be my dyed-in-the-wool 100% brotp. …BUT MAYBE THEY WILL BE IN MY FUTURE.

Hitsugaya & Zaraki. We talk about Hitsugaya and Byakuya, but Hitsugaya, Byakuya, and Zaraki spent a LOT of time together in the reigai arc and I think the OT3 needs to be acknowledged. I think Hitsugaya and Byakuya like working together because it’s easy for them to understand and predict what the other will do. However, they are both amenable to working with Zaraki because he is actually also easy to predict, albeit in a... completely different way. Also, Zaraki has never once asked a personal question of anyone, which to Hitsugaya merits some commendation.

Hinamori & Sasakibe. I can never quite tell what the protocol is for seeking an audience with the Captain Commander, because sometimes it seems like there’s a lot of pomp and circumstance around it and sometimes Hitsugaya is just like "yeah, I went and dropped off a report." So do random shinigami just like, wander into his office to shoot the shit sometimes, or do these mystical reports need to be personally walked over midday, Captain-to-Commander, with no intermediary, because access to the guy is a big deal? Anyway, my point is, Hinamori sought an audience with Yamamoto, and asked for AND GOT permission just to talk to Hitsugaya on the incredible Fancy Worm TV, and I feel like there’s a story there. I’d love to know more about how that all came to be, and what it was like for Sasakibe and Hinamori to witness each other in the wake of Aizen’s betrayal (of Hinamori, of Yamamoto, of Soul Society).

Matsumoto & Rukia. I feel like Matsumoto might be someone Rukia used to actively avoid one-on-one time with, because Matsumoto’s exuberance can sometimes make Rukia feel a bit inadequate and more wallflower-y than Rukia has imagined her ideal self to be. Plus, Matsumoto is one of Renji’s Friends and Rukia basically only knows her in the context of Many of Renji’s Friends Mutually Getting Shitfaced. But they become closer once Rukia makes VC and Matsumoto is the one to welcome her into the fold. Re: my Angst HC above, I imagine Rukia’s pregnancy with Ichika also opens up a new dimension of Matsumoto and Rukia’s relationship, especially since birth/pregnancy amongst shinigami seems rare to begin with. 

[an-aura-about-you]

reblogging this because I've been thinking about it again and I have a few notes, additions, and fun facts:

-first off, I'm ageing nearly all the younger characters the hell up because it really just doesn't make any sense for some of them being as young as they are. this choice was prompted because I looked up on the wiki that Mauri is supposed to be 16. What??? 16? No she is not the hell 16 she has lived WAY too much goddamn life to just be 16. And I know experience is a bitch of a thing and doesn't choose age. But what I mean is you cannot tell me a character reached the age to go to school to learn to be a priestess, got engaged, fell near-fatally ill, recovered, changed so much as a result of this that her betrothed broke off their engagement, took a spot as a prominent leader in the church, and been separated from her ex for enough time for him to develop a reputation as a drunken womanizing disgrace to the point that no one could believe he was once on his way to becoming a priest himself and convince me that this character is supposed to be 16. of all the ridiculous timeline stuff in Lunar and all the things the mostly-teenage characters get up to, that stuff's just the least believable.

-the Notable Exception to this is Lemina tho because her age plays into her storyline, what with being the Junior Premier of Vane and having no real authority compared to her mother and Borgan. truly vexing.

-I started thinking a lot about Ghaleon and got hit with a fucking truckload of feels. like. before I was so busy drawing parallels between Jon and Lucia that I didn't stop to think about the parallels between Jon and Ghaleon. like, okay, he's got a fascination with Hiro and his party because Ghaleon has knowingly placed himself in the role of villain. but fucking imagine what kind of fascination he would have with Jon. they're practically kindred spirits with their willingness to do what they believe is right (for given values of right and a not so healthy dose of The World Is A Mess And I Just Need To Rule It) and basically achieving godhood and damning the world in the process to do it. not to mention Ghaleon being gay af and still pining for Dyne over 1000 years later. just. it would be so good, guys.

-I was looking up stuff on Ghaleon's first English translation voice actor, John Truitt, so I could hit you guys with how he just takes such relish in playing the bad guy, and I found out that he was named the 2020 Citizen of the Year in Redding, CA for all the work he's been doing for the community. Love that for him!

-(I would actually love to hear Truitt in character as Ghaleon reading a statement)

-related to the previous fun fact: a lot of the voice actors for the original English dub jobs were just People That Vic Ireland Knew, and that included future O-Town member Ashley Parker. in fact, he didn't do any voice work in Lunar 2 specifically because he was too busy being in O-Town.

-should Jon ever encounter Nall, he would fucking Know what Nall is. he's got whatever level of magic necessary to clock that Nall is powerful af and meeting Ruby before would finish filling in the blanks for him. Nall probably wouldn't clock that Jon was originally from the Blue Star unless Jon mentions it, though. (look, while Luna theoretically could keep track of some of this if she's got enough divinity left to leave a letter to Hiro, the whole point of the first game is that she gave that up. she's just doing Hiro and the gang a solid.)

-a lot of what I'm writing here is under the assumption that the people bothering to read this are either already familiar with Lunar 2 or not sweating it. so I didn't bother to mention there are beastmen on Lunar with obvious animal characteristics. Leo and Mauri are beastmen, and there are some beastmen that work in the caravan. That Would Have Been An Adjustment For Jon. Martin, being out of control of his body, would just have to Fucking Deal, and by the time he's able to control himself again, he's used to them.

-also knockoff chocobos

-debating on whether I want the universe of The Magnus Archives to be one in which Lunar 2 exists as a video game and if Jon and/or Martin are aware of this. (if it is, I doubt either would necessarily be aware of it since it's like well loved but not exactly a household name in RPGs like the Final Fantasy series or Chrono Trigger.)

-(but if either is, it'd be Martin, and he'd at least be grateful that they got stuck in a game world that gets a happy ending.)

-so in Lunar, music and singing = praying. magic also = praying. yeah, it's incredibly easy to be a bard in Lunar, and usually the better you music the more divine you are. anyway something something Jon singing for some of his spells.

-in all actuality, I picture Jon's offensive magic operating like those angel cannons in the Blue Spire. magic tied to lights as befitting the Eye. but honestly, it can be as wibbly-wobbly as we want. I mean, a lot of Ronfar's magic is based on literal dice rolls and coin flips since he made his post-Chosen living as a gambler.

you ever have a fanfic you know you're not gonna write but the ideas keep bouncing around in your head so you gotta do an infodump somewhere?

that's what we're doing today so here we go: TMA fic I'll never write in which Somewhere Else is Lunar (during the events of Lunar 2)

(or "gee Leo, how come you get to hunt down two destroyers?")

-ngl I've been thinking about this ever since I started reading clutching a map of dreams, which is a fantastic Final Fantasy X fusion au and y'all should go read it even if you don't know a thing about ffx because the characterization and action is superb

-I likewise have some cherished RPGs from my youth and one in particular clicks with this like no other

-I'd start it out some time before canon gets going, but not too far out. just far enough that we've got a little bit of time for the boys to acclimate to the world they've found themselves in before the action starts.

-start with Jon, who wakes up and is surprised to do so. holy shit, he made it! they made it! wait where's Martin? wait is he in some kind of carriage?

-turns out Jon was found by the caravan that sets up the carnival in the Madoria Plains. This Causes Some Concern, at least until he realizes he's not restrained in any way and nobody's setting off Stranger Vibes.

-also Jon feels???? way better than he probably should have considering he just got stabbed???? and that's how he learns that magic (aka RPG mechanics) are in play

-(debating on whether he grows his ribs back or not. I'm inclined to say they did just because That Shit's Funny.)

-first big hurdle actually comes from learning Lunar is Lunar and not Earth. first time he goes outside and sees the Blue Star he nearly has a breakdown then and there. (that is the Earth that is the Earth in the sky I am looking at the Earth which means I'm NOT on Earth what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck)

-eventually he does manage to adjust and make friends with the musicians. operating on The Mechanisms were Jon's Band in Uni rules, he's able to contribute that way.

-he and Jean become sibling-like friends. (she's like, "Hey, I'm not the newest member anymore!") neither learns the full scope of the other's past until considerably later, though. (Once they do, they're like, "Hey, both of us were orphans that found our family later!")

-he discovers that he's retained some of his powers as an avatar of Beholding but under Lunar's magic system rules, as well as develop some new abilities such as making himself invisible. he's relieved that he has more control over whether he compels information out of others.

-(he's not entirely sure how he feels about Althena, but he would rather choose her over the Ceaseless Watcher as far as sources of power go.)

-so Jon's there with the caravan when our intrepid party of heroes show up having adjusted as well as one can over the course of, say, a few months.

-holy shit Lucia has the Lonely coming off of her in waves. Jon is seriously concerned that she might become a catalyst for some Forsaken ritual.

-Jon finds that baby dragons are utterly adorable and is grateful that he's not prone to baby-talk around cats and things that look like cats, thus earning Ruby's respect.

-after Jean leaves with the party, Jon decides to take his leave on his own, now confident enough in his abilities on Lunar to try to find Martin.

-except when everyone goes to town, they find some wanted posters. one for Lucia and her party, and one for Jon.

-"wtf why is Leo calling Jon a destroyer????" vs "how tf did he know I'm a destroyer?????"

-Jon gets captured by Leo and jailed in the Dragonship Destiny a couple of times as well as an attempt at Lemina's Magic Mansion and an encounter with Ghaleon, the last of these setting off all kinds of alarm bells because Ghaleon Very Much Should Be Dead. ("Is he connected to Terminus?")

-the last time Jon's captured by Leo, he breaks out of his cell and tries to escape at Azado, but That Doesn't Work Out What With The City Being On Fire. (fuck this reeks of Desolation)

-but also oh hey Jean, Lemina, and Lucia are tied up on the deck of the Dragonship Destiny what's up guys? oh cool, Leo went with Hiro, Ronfar, and Ruby to take care of the fire, that will give us time to escape.

-This doesn't get very far because it's not long after that when Mauri shows up for her confrontation. Then Leo and the rest of the party join in. AND THEY HAVE MARTIN WITH THEM!

-Jon is ecstatic! Whatever fight they have with Obvious Desolation Avatar Mauri, they can manage it now that he's found Martin! Except that Martin seems to know Leo? AND Mauri???? And HE was the one who told Althena's Guard that Jon is a destroyer???????

-Jon's got a lot to think about on the way to Pentagulia.

-But also they've got some time on a boat so it's time for stories to come out. (including Ronfar and Jon both being puzzled about how their SOs know each other and other members of the party thinking they have to explain homosexuality to Lucia but she's just confused about why they're bothering to explain this when no one's thought to explain heterosexuality to her.)

-this also means Jon's finally up to speed with what the player would know at this point: entity called Zophar trying to destroy Lunar, Lucia's here to stop him, the campaign Zophar engineered against Lucia, what's the deal with Althena's Chosen (with the additional sting of them informing Jon that Martin was wearing the garb of one of their priests)

-at some point there's a talk between Jon and Lucia and he ends up understanding what's at stake far better than Lucia anticipated he would. it's a nice little friendship moment.

-They arrive at Pentagulia and it's time to split up the party for everyone to make their appointments with their plot threads, which means Jon's semi-tagging along with Ronfar as they go to the Red Tower to confront Martin and Mauri respectively. It goes about as well as people who know the game expect it to, with Martin speaking to Jon as if everything is normal, that this is the way things have always been for them, and that nothing has changed between them. (but there was one moment with a break when Jon, as a last resort, compels Martin to tell him what's happening. In lieu of any actual answers, Martin gives him a horrified look and begs him to leave while he still can.)

-once that plot matter is wrapped up in the canon way (with Jon being courteous enough to not comment on how Mystere is obviously Leo), it's time to regroup and try a different approach. in this time, Jon receives a letter from Martin.

-let's back up to before the story begins one more time

-Martin wakes up in Raculi. only the problem is he was already up and moving when he comes to.

-turns out he was found by the Chosen and cleansed (that is, made to drink Zophar's blood) before he came to. and now he's working as an assistant to Lady Mauri

-he wakes up in time to hear himself tell Mauri about Jon and how he's already destroyed one world, fighting to stop himself but physically unable to.

-from this point on, Martin's been a prisoner in his own body, watching as he helps Mauri "cleanse" the sinful with fire and blood, struggling to get his body back under his own control. but it's no use. he's a vessel for Zophar.

-he writes down as much of this as he can in the letter to Jon in the brief moments he can actually control his hands, finishing it by telling Jon that he's sorry, he loves him, but should they meet again Jon should mercy kill him because otherwise he might not be able to stop his body from killing Jon.

-(the reason Martin's able to write and send it at all is because Zophar delights in that kind of torment)

-there would also be a scene with Jon discussing these things with Leo, who is more certain about taking fatal action if need be, and through compulsion Leo admits he is terrified at the idea of striking down Mauri because, even though they aren't as close as they were and she's done horrible things, she's still his sister and he still loves her.

-Jon goes to Raculi with Leo because Leo was ready to kill both Mauri and Martin, and Jon isn't sure if he can actually go through with it but tells Leo that if Martin must die then Jon should honor Martin's implied wish that it be by his hand.

-in a one-on-one fight that proves challenging since Martin is armed with a flail, Jon ends up non-fatally incapacitating Martin while the party fights Mauri's Id. by the time the fight is over, the effects of Zophar's blood wear off and Martin is back in control of himself. cue proper tearful reunion.

-with Mauri also free from the influence of Zophar's blood, she apologizes to Martin for what she did to him. having been in the same situation, Martin understands and forgives her.

-the three of them, Jon, Martin, and Mauri, all stay in Raculi as the party moves on to mount their attack against Zophar. when Zophar starts getting the upper hand, Jon is reasonably concerned it will become another Fear Apocalypse because everything about what he's told indicates that Zophar and the Fears are one and the same.

-in a fit of impulsiveness, Jon proposes to Martin in this time. ("I've already seen one apocalypse with you! I don't want to go through another with the regret of leaving that undone!") Mauri finds a couple of old bracelets of hers to stand in as wedding bands and marries them then and there.

-when the world is inevitably saved with the power of humanity, Jon and Martin get a nice little house in Dalton so they can be close to both where the carnival likes to set up and Raculi where Mauri and Ronfar live. (also there's a hot spring nearby, which, yeah, when you hit the age Jon and Martin are, you want to live by something like that)

-they go out on the occasional adventure, a much more peaceful prospect now that they no longer have the threat of Zophar or the Fears looming over them.

-Jon eventually brings Martin to meet everyone in the carnival, who properly give Jon shit for running off and getting married without telling them and tell Martin about all the pining Jon did for him.

-when they catch wind of Hiro wanting to go to the Blue Star to reunite with Lucia, they're like, "That's crazy but in good conscience we should encourage you because she's Lonely AF and her being the only person on the Blue Star isn't helping with that."

-and they all live happily ever after the end!

[roddyretrograde]

jake is literally president of the people always leave club and you want peyton to be with him ?? lmfao even if he had his reasons it still hurt her.

Hello, you must be new here! May I counter your surprise by pointing you towards my url?

I love Jake Jagielski and his relationship with Peyton. That being said, I'm actually okay with Peyton ending up with someone who leaves, because people aren't flawless and they make mistakes - even if intentions are good. Though I'll go on about that later. First, here is what you're looking for obviously and you know what, this is something my rp partner Karli and I have talked about in depth! She plays Jake to my Peyton (◡‿◡✿)

Some shitty things Jake did were:

Ghost her in season two by not emailing her back (it hurt too much to talk long distance, but he definitely should have told her that)

Not tell her his plan about going to the police station to turn himself in (she would've talked him outta it, but that's probably a good thing)

He did actually tell her that coming to see him in prison was hurting him but still ouch!

Send her home by not believing her over something she said in her sleep !!!

Why I still love him though? His intentions. Not once did he think that his needs were more important than Peyton's.

The second he realized that Peyton really needed someone he came back to Tree Hill to check on her, and eventually stay and admitted that he loved her letters and should have written back.

He genuinely thought he was doing the right thing by going to the police for Jenny and that was the one way to keep Nicki from Jenny. Jenny should always come first for Jake, and Peyton always understood that and believed it herself. If it was between protecting Jenny or Jake? She would pick Jenny too!

When he broke up with her in season two, he did it to her face instead of just leaving her without a word (like Luke in season five), and did it because he didn't want her life to get harder and her fire to go out. He thought she deserved a normal life with school and her friends, rather than on the run from Nicki at the age of sixteen! It was never because he didn't love her, or thought she wasn't willing to work on them. It's because he didn't want her life to revolve around him (the anti-Lucas Scott)

When he heard her talking in her sleep, all of his insecurities hit hard. She once had feelings for Lucas, and for her to show up out of the blue after having a really hard year, all of the reasons he thought he wasn't good enough in the first place come back full force. He's seventeen and has missed his friends and his family and navigated trials for his daughter and working shitty jobs and being by himself for almost two years! He's scared - like anyone would be (see Brooke's season two/three arc with Brucas)

As for why I'm 100% okay with Peyton ending up with someone who is the personification of People always Leave, is that her deserved arc is finding that Peyton is enough on her own. It's one of the reasons I really loved season three to be honest!

Peyton's entire worth in season 5 and 6 was based on whether Lucas liked her back, and that's so degrading to her character. Peyton is smart, funny and loyal (when they aren't writing her completely out of character). She's driven and started Tric in her junior year and despite the writers making it seem like she was a failure in LA, she was an assistant in a record company at the age of 22! Definitely not a failure! 

In Karli and I’s first verse, Peyton and Jake run into one another ten years after the last time they saw each other in Savannah. She’s gone to therapy, she’s lived a life outside of Tree Hill, she’s been single for a long time and she has pride in what she’s accomplished and met people that she didn’t go to highschool with. She’s grown as a person and learned the value of herself without it being tied to another person! That’s the season 5 + 6 we deserved. 

She’s healthier (though still has bouts of PTSD like anyone would), and while she still has trust issues for a guy that does always leave, isn’t it a better arc for them to earn each other’s trust back mutually then to frame Lucas as this guy on a pedestal who could do no wrong, gaslights Peyton into thinking it’s all her fault and then undermine all her great qualities? 

Peyton deserved better than to be one of three girls Lucas could have called at the airport. She deserved to someone’s only girl, and when Jake is around she is so in love with him there isn’t even a question about other people (until Chad made the writers take the sharpest U-turn in story-telling history. Again, out of character).  

You’re allowed to think what you will, but I love Jake Jagielski and Jeyton. They own mine and Peyton’s heart ❤ 

[darthkruge]

heyy Megan, I'm trying to do a character study on Anakin but im finding very limited information online. what do you think are some of his worst and best traits? his personality, humor and like his values? thank you so much,, hope you have a good day/night

omg hi!! thank you for asking me!!

*cracks knuckles* let’s get into it 

anakin skywalker character analysis

best traits:

intelligence, overall skill, curiosity 

anakin was building droids from scraps when he was a child. he spoke huttese and basic from a young age, as well. he’s an insane battle strategist, wonderfully skilled in battle/with a lightsaber, and incredible pilot! he can pick up new skills quickly, as well. i’m just gonna link this post by @chokemeanakin bc it just sums it up real nice.. but yes smart boy love him

compassion, capacity for emotions, empathy, understanding

anakin feels things deeply. i’ve talked about this a lot before lol. but yeah he is frequently in conflict over the sheer weight of the emotions he carries. further, as a jedi, this is not something his peers could relate to. but he always tries to be there for his friends and would do anything to ease their pain. and i think that anakin seeks to understand others. he’s spent so much of his life feeling alone and like no one related to him; he wants to know how other people work, feel, and think.

loyalty, friendship, caring

anakin is so fucking loyal to those he loves. and, tying into my previous point, he loves deeply. he cares, he always has. he treats droids as humans and forms attachments, even though they may be forbidden. he held onto that need for love, for connection even after he joined the order. and he would defend those he loves til the very end... 

selflessness, protectiveness, bravery

anakin would literally dive headfirst into danger to save someone he loves. he doesn’t care about hurting himself or honestly whatever happens to him, as long as those he cares for are safe. 

worst traits:

impulsivity, recklessness

i think we’ve all seen anakin be a bit impulsive at times... sometimes, he just doesn’t think everything through. this is especially clear when someone he loves is in danger. anakin’s lost so many people that when he’s faced with the threat of losing another, his judgment can become clouded. 

insecurity, jealousy, fear

anakin is frequently jealous, which stems from his insecurities. he was probably conflicted a lot; brought into the order as a young child and told he was the chosen one. the weight of the galaxy was placed on his shoulders and, yet, he was held back in classes as a padawan, he didn’t make rank (canonically). i think these things are what allowed palpatine to manipulate him; palpatine knew anakin was afraid, insecure, and, yet, arrogant (my next point dw). he tapped into this and because anakin and the council did not have much mutual trust (aside from like obi-wan), it was easier to get to him. especially because palpatine used anakin’s fear of losing padme and his unborn children to do so. fuck palpatine bro- 

arrogance

yes, anakin was insecure. yes, he was also arrogant. let me explain myself. he occassionally rushes into things without thinking, thinking he can handle them. i think a lot of this stems from being told he was the chosen one from such a young age. that title combined with his skill?! it makes sense he’d internalize it. i am now going to stop myself before i rant about how the gifted education system is a fuckfest. this is coming from someone who spent years in that program. anyway-

personality/overall rant about his life/motivations:

i think i summed up a lot of his personality within the best and worst traits because i got ahead of myself but im going to say some more!! i think a lot of anakin’s personality is dependent on his deep capacity for emotions. you can see that throughout ROTS, he was conflicted almost all the time. he grew up as a slave and all he wanted was to protect his mother. he built droids to help her and competed in podraces to tryand get them anything that could help. 

then, he was taken to the order. suddenly, all these amazing traits he has make sense!! but then the person who’s supposed to train him (qui-gon) dies after anakin’s only known him for a short period of time. anakin’s attachment issues are abundant (i don’t think i need to explain that one) so of course he grows close to obi-wan! but obi-wan was trying to be strong for anakin. even though obi-wan struggled himself with attachment, he tried to be strong and put up a front as a “good” jedi for anakin to look up to. while this was helpful, anakin probably just felt more conflicted, as no one in his life could relate to the bredth of emotions he felt. this caused him to be more introverted and withdrawn (i talk about that in this post)

then, he loses his mother, she dies in his arms. the only person he’d wanted to protect from a young age, who he left to join the jedi, dies in his arms. he blames himself for this, thinking he should have gotten there faster, should have done something more. he probably also blamed the jedi, to at least some extent. why do these powers matter if they can’t save the people he loves? i believe he acted out of anger, killing the tuskens, because (at least to some degree) of the jedi. instead of teaching him how to express his emotions (pain, fear, loss, grief, etc.), they train him. to some degree, he might think all he’s good for is these skills. so he acts out of anger, slaughtering them. 

and then finally he finds someone who loves him in the way he wants to be loved. padme stays by his side, even after he killed the tuskens. she sees the good in him and treats him as a man, not a prophecy. but once again, this motif of fear remains! he has to hide this love, one of the only pure and good things in his life! he has to live in fear every second of every day because, if the council finds out that he found happiness and love, everything is ruined. 

but then he starts getting the vision’s that padme will die. and not just padme, now his unborn children could die, too. the one thing he has that is good and purely his could now be ripped away. he knew he was helpless, knew there was nothing he could do to stop it by himself. the council isn’t that helpful, telling him to learn to let it go with the force. while that might help any other jedi, it just pushed anakin away. he would never be able to just surrender and let go to the force, not when the life of his entire family is at risk! 

and he finds palpatine, someonoe who has spent years trying to manipulate him. but palpatine is smart, he’s cunning. anakin didn’t know what the real intentions were and, truly, he probably didn’t want to know. he was blinded by his fear and if anything could save padme, he would do it. then the council try to get him to spy on palpatine. again, conflict. anakin’s loyalty is repeatedly questioned and pushed and prodded, he was probably so confused! he didn’t know who to trust. but, when you combine the current situation with his backstory with who he is and what he cares about, it makes sense why it all happened. 

this is what i mean when i say conflict. he was pulled in a million directions constantly. and we all know how his story ends and i don’t want to cry so i’m not gonna detail it...

also: i’m not saying any of this excuses all of his choices, but it does explain them.  

humor:

lowkey a dork

he is. and i love that about him. you can see this in the way he flirts with padme sometimes... like floating the pear to her and the whole “i don’t like sand” thing. he’s a fucking dork. can’t exactly blame him nor do i hold it against him! he didn’t have many close friends growing up and he was like pining for padme for years so it’s not like he spent that time creating a playbook

he’s also witty!

i think this comes with his intelligence; he’s witty and he’s quick. example: “general grievous, you’re shorter than i expected.” i mean he’s no sass-king obi-wan kenobi but anakin definitely can hold his own in a verbal sparring match! 

also i headcanon him as having horrible puns but loving them!

values:

love, friendship, connections

at his core, anakin just wants to find someone who understands him and his emotions. who can relate to him. he wants those connections; in fact, he actively seeks them out. love is a key part of his identity. i talk about this in this post about his love languages so imma just link it there!

success, validation

tying into his determination, anakin wants to do well! he pushes himself and i think he’s a perfectionist, too. you can see this in the way he holds himself as a general; he doesn’t slack off, doesn’t not care. he understands the responsibility he has in that role and he takes it seriously! and just in his overall skill level, even though he was a bit of a child-prodigy, he clearly spent a long time training. he probably also had some imposter syndrome going on and was constantly trying to prove his worth. 

----

uhh yeah i think i got everything?? yes?? he’s so complex and i legit love him immensely. doing character analysis for anakin is my favorite thing in the entire universe! if anyone has anything they want to add, please feel free!!