#i've used every spoiler tag i can think of so hopefully this doesn't fuck up anyone's life lmao

[elfrooting]

When you see what I've become, will you love me for who I am, not who I was?

[okamixxiii]

Allistaire Hale and Christian Edens

Warning: This contains spoilers because I can't keep my fucking mouth shut okay and I've been thinking about them more and more. I may delete this later.

BASICS; Let's begin with: ALLISTAIRE IS NOT CHRIS! ALLISTAIRE IS NOT AN ANCESTOR!

The reason they are a thing is that they are doppelgangers and that has significance in my universe.

Sometimes it means history repeats itself, sometimes it doesn't. Some doppelgangers can be related to each other but that isn't always the case. Another example pair of nonblood-related "doppelgangers" would be Charolette Hale and Bailey Edens. An example of blood-related would be Nicholas Cinder and Anthony Cinder.

Even though Allistaire and Chris are not related nor each other they are somewhat going to become an analogy (?) of confronting "one's self" of what was and what could have been. maybe loosely past and present self, but again I repeat they are not the same person. Both suffered great losses but both dealt with it differently. Allistaire is wiser in it, subdued. Live and let go. Chris by the end is bitter and surfeited with experiences (good or bad). In some ways can be seen as blindly angry and childish in comparison to how Allistaire deals with things. Allistaire ends up trying to console Chris which causes a rift between them. See what I mean? (Hopefully)

it's complicated. Blame Kingdom Hearts for my ideas. Another thing to note is the Renascence isn't Allistaire as some may believe, Allistaire is a human that had/has ties with the "Wolf". The Wolf itself is the Renascence. I will be using the term Wolf and Renascence interchangeably.

Allistaire is a dormant "spirit" (not truly dead but his body is no longer) that lies within the Renascence thus also inside Chris, that Chris is unaware even exists until towards the end of Skin and Teeth. I would also like to state how Allistaire exists within Chris because the Renascence made some sort of pocket dimension for him to keep him there and protect him. The reason being; Allistaire was chosen specifically by the Renascence. (You can learn more in the #lore tag). So the Wolf saved him. This pocket dimension (thanks for the vocabulary Genshin) behaves like its own little sliver of the Zenith. You can sleep, eat, etc there like you never moved on from the "real" Zenith in the first place.

His body may not be on/of the earth anymore but he exists there as alive. That's why I use the term "spirit" loosely. By Chris' "real life" standard he's perhaps a spirit, but by Zenith's standard, he's still alive and actively thriving. He can be brought back, just like Chris was able to be which differentiates it. xxxx TOGETHER, BUT SEPARATE; When Chris is asleep is when he can see through Allistaires eyes what he's actively doing.

But because of how similar they both look Chris passes it off as peculiar dreams, speculating it's just himself. Mostly because he sees through Allistaires eyes, and only knows the similarities because of the reflections on water surfaces, etc. is why he thinks it's just himself.

This can also be done in reverse. If Chris is awake and Allistaire sleeps, Allistaire can see what he's doing. So he is very much aware of Chris. At first, it came as a surprise for him. Allistaire started getting "the sight" (as they call it, later on, to refer to it) when Chris was bitten. So he knows nearly everything he's been through. He cants say that enjoys any of it. I would feel that in the first few months to maybe a year he believed the sight would be akin to a nightmare.

He doesn't really try to contact him either because he already got the intuition that Chris would probably freak the fuck out (he's right, he would), that it was best to just let him believe it was himself in the "dreams" as to not cause him any more stress than necessary. It doesn't happen every time they sleep either. It's only when the timing is right, or the Renascence establishes a connection subconsciously. So don't worry, Chris wouldn't be creeping on Allistaire at all times or vice versa. Allistaire has also learned that if he pulls away hard enough with enough concentration he can block Chris from seeing or hearing things or pull himself away from seeing things through Chris' end. Like I said earlier, Allistaire doesn't really care too much to see every gory detail *budumssttts*.

Even though he doesn't contact him in an outright way and avoids doing so, I can say perhaps he creates somewhat of a play while knowing Chris thinks he's dreaming to give him insight on what he thinks Chris should do-- or aid in his favorite way: Translations. As most of us know, Chris has The Book Of Wonders, essentially a very old Wolvish grimoire that has been in the Cinder family for centuries that is mostly in Old English and Wolvish writing. Chris never actively learned how to read Wolvish (Until when Cinder comes around again) but is drawn to the book anyways because of the ties it has to the Renascence and Allistaire. The spells, the language, and general magic the book holds itself. Allistaire more than often would give an exception to the rule he made of "no contact" to give brief translations. Mostly by him playing as Chris in the "dream" reading in Wolvish but speaking what it says out loud. It's up to Chris to remember the way the lettering looks to correspond to different words. Allistaire has gathered that he's a very intelligent individual, so he has faith that Chris would be smart enough to remember if not all, most, translations. ❅ TOGETHER, AT LAST; When everything is said and done, Chris in the end was also favored and protected by the Renascence-- thus putting him in the same place as Allistaire at long last. News flash, he doesn't take it well at all. In the end, Chris becomes resentful and angry with how everything went. Hopeless and defeated because even though he tried everything and still had much to do (with his friends being in trouble with T.K.E.A and all) it was seemingly all for nothing. When he discovers Allistaire was not him but yet a separate individual he somewhat lashes out. First is fear because this man knew everything and had seen everything. It was an invasion of his privacy which he coveted so dearly. Even though Christian was not a stranger to Allistaire, Allistaire was still very much a stranger to Chris. Even in the moments The Sight was active, Allistaire hid his true self away. The second is confusion and generally freaked-out feelings due to him looking so starting similar to him. I mean who wouldn't be freaked? Even being a twin didn't really help Chris' case in calming down about it. The third is just a belief that Allistaire had something directly to do with Chris being chosen to bare the Renascence. Although it may be true, it isn't Allistaires fault. The Wolf just seems to favor them on its own accord, though Chris doesn't understand it at the time. What strengthens this belief is; during the end of it, Chris' body begins to show even more similarities to Allistaire's that wasn't there before. For example, Chris' hands begin to blacken starting at the fingertips and he begins to wear gloves to cover it. Exactly like Allistaires hands, which were damaged from using the Renascence's magic to open the portal all those years ago. This happens because Allistaire was giving him his own strength to hold out for longer in the living Earth realm, which ended up melding him to Chris' body in a way. It had even made him weak in the pocket dimension to do this for him, but despite this he still did it. He understood Chris had more to do. Chris, again, hindered by awful feelings and distrust takes it the wrong way. It's all a big misunderstanding. He saw it as Allistaire deliberately interfering with him. To put it simply at this point in the plot, he does not like Allistaire, while Allistaire cares for and wants to help him still. They spend the whole duration of that time together, just them in that pocket dimension until things get out of hand in the "living" realm again.

[thankskenpenders]

Folks.

I am tired. I am so tired. I don't want to be making this post at 6 a.m. on the Saturday following the release of the new Sonic movie. (I would have made this post earlier in the night, but the ask box is still off because I'm supposed to be on hiatus while I finish my game, so I'm only hearing about this now.)

But, unfortunately, the ride never ends

The short version: Based on descriptions of certain scenes from fans, Penders believes that some of the echidna backstory stuff for Knuckles in the new movie is inspired by his work, like Sonic Chronicles before it. Because he was not involved and he is the legal owner of all of his Archie Sonic material, he is looking into pursuing legal action. (A lawsuit is not happening at the moment. We are at the "he's tweeting about wanting his lawyers to talk to Paramount's lawyers" stage. Well have to wait and see what happens after that.)

(This post will contain spoilers for some exposition dump lore stuff in Sonic 2. It does not spoil the ending or anything like that.)

Instead of paraphrasing him, here are his own words:

Now, a disclaimer: I haven't seen the movie. I'll be seeing it Monday at the soonest. I can't currently say how close the echidna stuff is to Ken's work

Based purely on his word here, the claim that Enerjak is in it because an echidna powers up with the Master Emerald sounds like a massive reach compared to the obvious inspiration the Nocturnus Clan took from the whole Dark Legion saga. Like, Sonic Team created the Master Emerald, and it's a power-granting macguffin belonging to the echidnas. That's just what it is, and it has been since before Penders wrote the whole Enerjak storyline. (And hell, I can't believe I'm saying this, but Ken should give himself more credit if he thinks "echidna who powered up with the Emerald" is all Dimitri/Enerjak is. That's one of his more fondly remembered characters!) Knuckles' dad in the film, on the other hand... well, again, I haven't seen it, but at least one person I know who's seen it genuinely thought it was Locke, so uh... he might have more of an argument there. Or it might literally just be "Knuckles has a dad." I don't know yet. Many people in his Twitter mentions are saying they're completely different, but people have been saying that about the Nocturnus Clan for years and that's complete bullshit, so I'm withholding judgment. I'll comment on this further in a few days after I've seen the movie

However, like me, Ken has also not seen the movie yet. He may or may not have a case here, but I think that him tweeting out all of this before he's even seen it with his own eyes is extremely foolish. Yes, fans are making comparisons, but there's also a segment of the fandom that's constantly tattling to him and snitching tagging him on Twitter over every little thing because they want him to start shit. And boy, this really doesn't do anything to dispel the "Penders thinks he owns the concept of echidnas or fictional characters having parents" jokes that I've been trying to clear up for years. Thanks, Ken

Look. Most Sonic fans don't like Penders. This goes without saying. But in all fairness, I will say that if they did base anything off of the material that Penders owns (and, again, can't confirm or deny that myself right now), then he should be compensated for that. Whatever your opinion of the old Archie legal battle, he owns that stuff, period. And no matter how much you like these movies, Paramount is not your friend. They're a huge media conglomerate, and this movie is gonna make hundreds of millions of dollars. They can afford to throw a comic guy a bone if they used his material. Comic creatives deserve to be compensated fairly for their work, even ones we don't like. Yeah, this whole situation is absurd, but I don't want folks to lose sight of that

Hopefully, if he does have a case, that's all that happens. He gets cut a paycheck and it ends there. If he doesn't have a case, he's up against fucking Paramount trying to defend their latest tentpole blockbuster film franchise. Whatever happens, I sincerely doubt that this will put future films in any sort of danger, so please don't let that fear color your response to this news. He does not want to cancel the movies. He wants royalties. And again, there is no lawsuit happening right now. Please do not go spreading around rumors about there being another lawsuit. We're currently at the phase where he tweets about wanting to talk to his lawyers, and tweets are not legal action

But boy. It just never ends, huh? Jesus fucking Christ. Whatever the end result, I bet Paramount's gonna be going over the story ideas for the Knuckles show with a fine-toothed comb. Or maybe they'll just pay Penders off and lean into it. Who knows! I don't. I am not a lawyer, I am a random furry artist who has become the Sisyphus of the Sonic comic fandom. Like Sisyphus, my torments never end, so expect more posts about this as this situation develops (if it goes anywhere)

(In the meantime: please don't bother arguing with Penders on Twitter about this. I know it's fun to try to ratio him, but no argument, no matter how airtight, is going to convince him of anything in the court of Twitter. Even if he is often full of shit, he is right when he says that he's successfully argued the case for his copyrights in court, and you are a random Sonic fan presumably less than half his age. It's not worth it. Go enjoy your weekend.)

[hopeymchope]

I haven't fully watched the new Higurashi yet (you can include spoilers for OG higurashi and the sequel in your answer, it's fine!) but from what I've heard and seen myself, Satoko was extremely out of line towards Rika and nothing Rika could've done could justify how Satoko basically abused and tortured her. The fact that they reconcile at the end puts me off because how can you forgive someone who forced you to relive your worst traumas?

*MAJOR SPOILERS FOR 2020-2021'S "HIGURASHI GOU" AND "HIGURASHI SOTSU" ANIMES HEREIN*

I wasn't sure how to speak to this Ask because the Ask itself is a massive spoiler (and obviously it's possible some people here might not be wanting that), but it's also Anonymous. So I have to answer it publicly if I'm even gonna respond. I guess I'll just roll with the huge spoiler warning there, put a bunch of spoiler tags in, and hopefully that'll do enough.

God how I hate Gou and Sotsu, though. *sigh* It's not the sequel story I hate the most out of any sequel ever, but it's definitely one of those sequels that... any time I go back to the original, it's tainted by the knowledge of what canonically came later. It'll never not be damaged by these things. Taking a story that had a beautiful and satisfying ending for decades, then going back to add a new sequel that not only undoes the triumph of that ending complete but ALSO radically reinterprets one of the beloved characters into a villain now is just... SUCH a "fuck you" to everybody who ever loved the original.

There’s nothing like hugging it out after 100 years of physical and psychological torment.

But that long-ass video I recently linked to also taught me a lot of things about how it turned out the way it did — and where you can go to get a better version of the same basic tale. Though even then, I still have a lot of misgivings.

For starters, I learned that franchise author Ryukishi07 wrote down the basics of what was supposed to happen in every arc and the overall narrative for the anime team at Passione, and then he let them handle the details. The actual scripts were handled by the writers at Passione, and Ryukishi07 said he was frequently shocked and surprised by what they did in the storyboards and scripts. He wouldn't have written things that way himself. But because he A) believed they were the experts when it came to animation, not him, and B) has always embraced other creators coming in and giving their own narrative spin to the 'When They Cry' multiverse, he always signed off on/approved anything they showed him, no matter how much it deviated from his own vision. Which, I'd argue? Was a big mistake. Because when you're giving us the first official full sequel to such a beloved story solely in anime format - there's never going to be any other "Ryukishi's version"? That means you need to make sure the characters are being done right and the events make sense. You need to make certain it's all true to that original tale. No, maybe this isn't the medium you're comfortable writing in. But that doesn't mean you can afford to look the other way when you think "Wow, that's completely NOT what I intended" over and over.

Secondly, I learned much more about the manga adaption of "Gou" and its own unique take on the sequel — which is called Higurashi Meguri. By the time Sotsu was finished airing, the "Gou" manga was just wrapping up, and the mangaka embraced the opportunity to do take the same framework and tell a version of the story that is significantly different. The result is that the manga is much more in line with the characters and tone of the original story than the anime was, because the author has seen how much the anime didn't work and is able to course-correct in a million small ways. The same basic events are there, sure. But it's all about a hundred times better-handled so far. 

HOWEVER... there are some flaws that are going to remain inescapable. When you end one season/series on a cliffhanger that you proceed to ignore for like 13 episodes before you get around to dealing with it in the second season/series? That’s stupid, and it’s an example of something kind of inescapable in the structure of the damn thing. More importantly, as far as I'm concerned? The entire concept of this sequel was doomed from the fucking jump. Getting a version with better writing and better motivations and more believable actions on the part of the characters is GOOD, sure, but that doesn't mean it's not STILL a huge "fuck you" to have these basic events take place at all. Y'know? Like, I respect Meguri, sure. But I still don't particularly WANT it.

...this is all a really overlong lead-in to my point, which is that: In Gou and Sotsu, they sometimes try to imply that Satako isn’t really in control of her own actions, Or at least, the Satako we’ve always known isn’t in control? There’s seemingly a new, second personality in there - a “witch” who may or may not have been brought into existence by her interactions with Eua inside the sea of fragments. (And again: The whole “a god-being inside the physical domain of the the sea of fragments is communicating with Satako to cause her to become corrupted” is something I find inherently bad and dumb that you can’t really ignore in this story.) So this arguably removes some degree of guilt from Satako? (This is heavily muddied by how the storytelling handles the whole “Dual Personality” aspect in a bad way, but that’s another can o’ worms.) 

On the flip side, the alternate telling of these events in the Higurashi Meguri manga takes this idea much farther, making it far more blatant that Eua damages Satako’s mind against her will and forcibly manipulates Satako into her new corrupted form. Satako is far more of a victim in Meguri than she ever is in the anime; it’s obvious that she’s not in control of anything anymore. She’s just a puppet that Eua is using to ensure that Rika continues to be “interesting.”

So I guess my point is, yeah, I get what you mean about the anime in particular. I guess this is supposed to be an exploration of how their relationship became too co-dependent, but it really just makes Satako look like a psychotic asshole. But in the manga? Well, Meguri isn’t finished, but at this point, I can far better understand why someone would forgive Satako in THIS scenario. It really isn’t her fault that this happened to her OR Rika. 

[some27-url]

Writer Chat Tag Game!

Some spoilers for my writing below!

I was tagged by @possumteeths 😗

What us your total posted wordcount on AO3?

307,786

Do you have a routine for writing?

I've dabbled with different ways to get *in the zone* and actually put out good words without getting derailed, but there isn't anything solid. My best performing routine is: put baby down to sleep, IMMEDIATELY lock self in a room away from husband and animals, chug a coke zero and eat two pieces of candy. This almost always results in me managing to start really writing within, like, an hour and a half? Which means I'll get in like 45 minutes of actually writing before it's time to take care of the baby again.

What are your favorite tropes/pairings

Bodyguard romance, ofc

And there was only 👏 one 👏 bed 👏

Unrequited love that's actually totally requited.

Pairings where one person romanticizes the other to the point that they miss/ignore enormous red flags, hopefully making the reader a little uncomfortable :) like with Princess Leo being an unrepentant liar and Deacon literally killing innocent people to protect Whisper from an imagined danger. (He has to be sure though, right?) I guess I just like to show that you never quite know what someone else is thinking and that anything can happen and that the world is a spooky place.

Do you have a favorite fic of yours?

Deacon/Whisper might be my current fave. RJ and Leo will always hold a special place in my heart, though.

Your fic with the most kudos?

Inclusions is at 169! Weee!

Anything you don't like about your writing?

Some of the background characters are flatter than I'd like. I try to write them as if I had a binder full of backstory workd out for each one without actually having a binder full of backstory worked out for each one, which means that... well, continuity can be a nightmare at times and so not everyone gets the best treatment I can give.

I also wish I could be more descriptive, I just have a hard time knowing what to include. I try to include as little as possible bc nothing turns me off to a reading experience faster than like a fit check followed by an in-depth description of their appearance followed by the precise degree of the angle at which they have cocked their hip out like!! No one is going to notice all that about someone unless they are fucking creepily obsessive with zero tact!! For someone to notice every thing about every outfit and every setting and every expression all the time? It's an automatic DNF in my mind. Too much mental work for me to imagine things precisely the way the author sees it and I have to assume I'm not the only one that feels that way so i dont write that way... But still I could stand to paint a clearer picture at times. Just because I know where the desk is in the room doesn't mean everyone does, etc.

Oh and too many of my sentences start with nouns/pronouns. That is something I specifically look for in later stages of editing but sometimes it's like pulling teeth to fix because, again, I have an almost pathological aversion to detail.

Now something you do like?

Something I've really focused on improving and which I feel I've improved a great deal is pacing during sex scenes. It's hard to draw out the prose long enough to make the reader really live in the moments that are... simple but repetitive? Lol. But it's something that bothered me enough about the first scenes I wrote that I honed in on the skill and I feel like I write some damn good stuff now! Even if it's kinda fucked up sometimes! And it's funny bc I decided to start writing fanfic unsure that I would even write any smut at all. I thought I'd be too embarrassed and I looked at writing fic as a way to develop skill so I could write original YA fiction someday. HA!!

Also, allowing the narrator's internal voice to bleed into their dialogue the way i do is something that I am very proud of bc it's what's allowed me to even write words in the first place. It was the change in my approach to writing that allowed me to actually complete and be proud of a scene for the first time, and I feel like its sort of unique and therefore engaging, so... Win/win.

I am tagging @danses-with-dogmeat and @twosides--samecoin and @pumpkinov !