#it depends how much brain power i have once they're made

[raiiny-bay]

made this & then realized i wanted to make something else instead

[kiaxet]

Sooooo y’all see the latest @somerandomdudelmao comic update? Because once again it is living in my head, which means once again my brain has generated fic. This one’s ~1200 words and slightly less tragic, depending on whether or not you take dramatic irony into account.

~~~~~~~

It starts fairly innocuously.

One of the surviving technicians monitors a computer as it finally, finally boots up successfully, whooping when the Genius Tech loading screen pops up. He grins and pats the power cable. "Thanks, Raph!"

It catches on.

A water purifier, disconnected to save a struggling power supply, gets plugged back in. It chugs back to life, and the kids responsible for its upkeep cheer and high five. One of them waves at the ceiling, where a power conduit runs overhead. "Thanks, Mister Raph!"

And it spreads like wildfire.

Every time something works the way it's supposed to - every time a much-needed device pops back to life, or the emergency doors close correctly, or a dying lightbulb flickers on one more time - they thank Raph. In gleeful shouts and careful whispers, they show gratitude for the person who gave up his life - and his second chance at life, at that - to keep them safe. It makes the emergency base, ramshackle and barely held together as it is, feel a little more like a home. A little more alive.

It doesn't take long for a few unspoken rules to develop.

They never say it in front of the metal shell. It's one thing to say it to the walls, the cables, the electricity; it's something else to say it to a figure with a face, seated against the wall like a sentinel that will awaken and protect them when danger arises.

(Nevermind that they've been in danger, constant and unending, for decades, and that this sentinel is already protecting them in smaller, everyday ways.)

They learn very quickly never to say it in front of Raph's surviving family, either. Master Leonardo gets angry when he hears it. It's an anger born of grief and loss, painful but not dangerous to allies, but given how terrifying Master Leonardo can be on the battlefield or a bad day, nobody really wants that anger directed at them. Master Michaelangelo just stops when he hears it, lips curling up in an expression too devoid of life to truly be called a smile. It's almost worse to witness than Master Leonardo's anger. No, they learn to watch themselves in front of the family, carefully taking their gratitude towards a dead man elsewhere.

Until the day someone forgets and says it in front of Casey Junior.

The kid looks up at Roger with wide, almost hopeful eyes. "Why did you- is he here? Can you feel him?"

Roger stares back at him with equally wide eyes. He'd just been grateful the computer had booted correctly for his monitor shift, and he hadn't been looking, and now he has to try to explain this to a kid who's never known a life outside the apocalypse. Oh boy. "No, uh- I mean- I don't have magic like your dads do, Casey, I couldn't-" He sighs. "It's just...a thing people do, when things work. Before the Krang, we had all sorts of machines that made life easier, and...we'd talk to 'em. Thank 'em when they worked, yell or beg when they didn't...I remember threatening a fax machine once, not that that made any difference. I think that just...kinda carried over here." Wait. "Not that your uncle was a machine or anything-"

"His body was a machine," Casey says simply, with a pragmatism that Roger hadn't been expecting. Apocalypse-raised kid. Right. "That wasn't what made him Uncle Raph. He was- it's-" Casey falters, expression starting to crumble. Pragmatism be damned, the kid is still grieving-

Rem, just coming off her shift, steps in smoothly. It's not the first time she's saved Roger's ass, both on and off the battlefield, and it won't be the last. "We know," she says gently, putting an arm around Casey's shoulders. "What Roger means is that we're grateful he's keeping us going, and that people like to bond with machines even when they're too simple to bond back. We all used to name our cars - can you believe it?"

"I named mine Red Rider," Roger says wistfully. He still misses that car.

"And I used to sneak out of the Hidden City with my cloaking brooch and go joyriding outside of human cities," Rem says, a grin splitting her feline muzzle. "I named every car I stole Phantom, like I thought I was cool."

Casey smiles - small and watery, but there nonetheless - and Roger breathes a sigh of relief. "What else did you name?"

"I mean, it was mostly cars, but some people named their computers."

"I had a friend who named her phone and just kept adding numbers when she had to replace it. It was Duchess O'Brien the eighth last I'd heard."

"I know some Yokai named their weapons, but I never really kept track of those. It was more of a Battle Nexus fandom thing."

Another Yokai leans in - a four eyed lizard whose name Roger could never remember no matter how hard he tried - and Roger shuts up. She's in charge of security now, and honestly she intimidates him. She looks around - at him, at Rem, at Casey - and then intones seriously, "I once named a kitchen appliance Toasty McToastFace."

There's a beat of silence. Casey has a lopsided grin growing on his face, like he doesn't get the joke but he knows it is one, and that's enough to lift his mood.

And then Rem doubles over, cracking up, and Bob smiles carefully. "Really loved that toaster, huh?"

"It was my closest friend," the lizard Yokai replies, deadpan as hell, before leaving the conversation.

Casey turns that confused grin on Roger. "Was she serious?"

"Kid, I have no idea. Some people are just really into this kinda thing."

Rem finally straightens up, wiping a tear from her eye with a paw. "Ohhhh boy. Oh, I needed that." She turns her smile back on Casey. "Point being, naming something makes it a little more real, and makes you a little more likely to take care of it. The system here...already has a name. We're just saying thank you, you know?"

The grin on Casey's face settles down into consideration. "Yeah, I think I do. I- Thanks. I'm gonna-" He waves at the door to finish his sentence.

"Go for it, kid." Roger waves him off as he departs, then sighs once he's gone. "God, that kid is just hemmhorraging family, isn't he."

"We all are, Roger, it's the fucking apocalypse." Rem flicks an ear.

"Yeah, but still. It's rough." There's a second or two of silence. "Also, if he says it in front of Master Leonardo, I'm denying all knowledge of this conversation."

"Spirits, same."

Roger learns a few days later - from Rem, of course - that Casey has named his chainsaw hockey stick Killer, because it's what his mom used to call him. Well damn, if kids like him are gonna be the future, then maybe they have some hope after all. He raps on a wall lightly, just below where the power conduit is mounted. "I know you didn't have a lot of time with the kid, but you did a good job." He can't help but smile. "Thanks, Raph."

[bonefall]

You've probably mentioned this before and I just haven't seen it cus I'm a new follower but what is Darkstripe's Land Marr ((think that's what they are called))

I had not mentioned it yet! I'm between two choices, depending.

Choice 1: Blackshade Grove

There were a lot of Worst Moments in his life, but the most shameful was poisoning Sorrelkit. He gave her nightshade, and told her it was blackberry. They're both purple berries, and the eager little kitten always had an interest in cooking.

(This is how Sorreltail got her epilepsy. Nightshade causes brain damage; yew causes heart failure.)

So in this grove, you have to be paying very close attention to the bushes to tell what you're looking at. The strange, clustered nightshades are impossible to discern from blackberry.

Darkstripe takes it on himself to be the test subject, over and over and over. At first it was just the Dark Forest's sick taunt, that he could either get fresh blackberries or "die" a painful death. Once he has friends to feed, it becomes a frustrating obstacle he's determined to doggedly power through.

So eventually the bushes are "marked," safe or unsafe, depending on if they poisoned someone or not.

Choice 2: Bonehill

What's worse than poisoning a lil baby? Poisoning a lil baby for a man who will ALWAYS see you as absolutely fucking pathetic. Throwing away your Clan, your family, your entire life's passion and talents for an idea that would never include you.

So for this idea, the Land Mar is basically this arena-version of the TigerClan camp. There's a nightmarish version of Stonefur who will thrash you for getting too close. There are blackberry bushes that sprout from between the bones of the hill, guarded by "Bonefur" as if he's some kind of dragon.

(Note: this "Dummy" version of Stonefur is not Stone himself. Though I do want StarClan to use this dummy in one of Blackstar's trials, somehow. So I'm not sure if Stonefur made it and they pull it out whenever Blackstar makes another attempt for Life 3, or if the Dark Forest made it and StarClan uses it.)

During Tigerstar's Plan in OoTS, the demons probably appropriated this area. They had to collectively fight Bonefur to "neutralize" it. Tigerstar probably pulled out all the berry bushes off the Bonehill and tossed them away, with Darkstripe not voicing how much it hurt to see Tigerstar toss those away.

Can't admit how badly he wanted to eat them, lest he be seen as weak and distracted again. Before Tigerstar's double death, he was STILL trying to appease him by hiding what he sees as "weakness."

This one fits in with the story better, but it might depend on who else dies in TigerClan. I actually want a demon to have been EXECUTED under the Bonehill, for being HalfClan, having a forbidden love revealed, or some generally disobedient behavior.

(Maybe even in "retaliation" for the others escaping, even though they had demonstrably nothing to do with it)

Show that TigerClan was frothing and radical. Fervent supporters got drowned in its wake along with its innocent victims. So, having that person contribute the Bonehill would be cool.

[semiweirdshipper]

Altering Wesker's personality to make him an emotional supporter.

Usually I write this process on paper when I need to work on a slashers personality, but I wanted to share it with you guys so you could get an idea on how I turn the bad guys into emotional supporters.

So when it comes to working on the slashers' personalities, I always try to find a way to make them each more kind, sympathetic, supportive and likable while still somewhat staying true to their unique personality traits. Normally this process comes easy. I've never really struggled much with altering a slashers personality....

Until prince blondy bitch came into the picture that is.

Yes, this rip-off Corey Hart makes me wanna hit the snooze button in my brain every time I think about him. He's just so DIFFICULT and his personality is extremely unattractive to me. But I have him put down for future roles in billions of my fics and drabbles, so mentally I can't ignore him. I've gotta work on his personality and turn him into a proper emotional supporter.

Let's break down those traits, shall we?

Prince blondy is-

- narcissistic

- controlling

- manipulative

- dishonest

- powerful

- sadistic

- cunning

- polite only when he wants to be or if he's trying to manipulate someone

- disloyal

- teases and taunts people.

- gets jealous and loses his temper.

- gets bored of his friends and romantic partners

- views most people as insignificant and lesser than him.

- backstabbing attitude

- merciless

- gets bored easily and abandons people and/or projects.

- rude.

- does not value people for who they are but rather the benefits they can provide him with. Once someone is no longer valuable to him, he either runs away or kills them.

Yeah.... He's a real tough one. There's not a lot of positivity going on with this one. He's got every unattractive trait from A to Z. Imagining him as a supporter is like trying to walk on needles.

So what do I do during hard times like these? I make the positivity myself. I alter his bitch traits and give him some positive ones.

Altered Wesker

- Let's make him narcissistic still but with the ability to accept competition and rivalry without getting jealous or murderous.

- let's make him honest. Brutal honesty or keeping his mouth shut is better than lying.

- He hates unfinished business and will not abandon anyone or anything without explaining himself first.

- he can be manipulative but only during serious situations.

- He owns up to his failures, mistakes and misunderstandings. (There's nothing more attractive than a person who can admit they're wrong).

- he is still very intelligent, strong and powerful.

- He's still obsessed with uroboros and will murder, but he's more empathetic and less sadistic. He won't murder people he cares about.

- uses his honesty to defend his loyalty.

- has a high standard for people he considers worthy of his time. These worthy people will receive his kindness, consideration and attention.

- Likes independence, trust and dependability. These are traits he seeks in a partner.

- still egotistical and holds himself in high regard.

That's just some of the traits I'm giving him to make him more supportive. Now for a little bit of writing. Albert Wesker x reader headcanons. These help me get an even deeper understanding of his personality.

Original/unaltered: Wesker x reader.

Wesker enters the breakroom and notices you sitting at a table. You looked horrible; your hair messy, your eyes dark and your outfit wrinkled. What a ghastly sight for him to walk in on. You should do a better job keeping yourself in proper shape.

Focused on ignoring you, Wesker made his way to the coffee machine on the other side of the room. His brow twitched in frustration at the sound of your pitiful "morning sir". Of course he couldn't go without drawing your worthless attention.

"(y/n)," He answered flatly, his back facing you, "Don't you have morning patrol?"

"Leon switched me," You answered, "I had a really long night last night. It was rough..."

"Excuses, excuses," Wesker glared at the bitter taste of his coffee. Why couldn't things just be the way he wanted them to be? "Allowing your personal life to get in the way of your job is insubstantial. Do better next time."

You remained silent, soon finishing your beverage and rising up to leave.

Wesker didn't notice nor did he care.

Altered/my version: Wesker x reader. (same situation)

Wesker entered the breakroom and immediately noticed you sitting in your lonesome at a table. You looked exhausted and unkempt, the expression on your face tired and miserable. Hm, he wondered what was wrong. Normally you were well dressed and always upbeat.

"(y/n)," He addressed as he slowly walked past you, turning his head to meet your eyes.

Despite your situation, you still managed a smile at him, your body lifting and your voice kind, "Oh, morning sir. How're you doing today?"

He always respected how considerate and proper you were even during difficult times. "I'm doing well. And you?" He continued to give glances to you as he fixed himself some coffee.

"I'm fine," You say softly, "Just a rough night."

Ah, so it was something personal most likely. "I see you swapped positions with Kennedy. I'd rather not have short notices like this in the future. After you're finished here, meet me in my office and we will discuss what you are going through."

You smiled weakly and blushed. Wesker always knew when something was wrong, and he was always so quick to provide any care he possibly could. He really was a good boss.

That morning, Wesker sat with you in the breakroom.

Aaaannnnnndddd.... Emotional support slasher born. BOOM!

The reason why I have so much trouble writing prince blondy is because I really don't like him. His personality is like a smelly trashcan to me and if I ever met him in real life I'd kick him in the balls so hard his motherless grandkids would feel it. But creating these writing templates helps me to view him underneath a different light. It's how I build personalities and familiarize them.

I've done this process on paper for multiple killers. I just thought it would be fun to share with you how I altered personalities to write my stories.

[brucewaynehater101]

I need to put this out into the universe

typically I avoid modern AUs because real world boring

but I inhale them like crack coccaine when it's got reincarnation and past life memories

=======

Basically imagine like Tim living his life on a Boring Plain Earth and then bam, memories of a Gotham that does not exist, heroes that can never be and magics that never were flood his brain; maybe something trigger his memories, maybe it just happens

or mabye it's slow and steady idk

----

So let's say that Bart not only failed on his quest to prevent the Bad Timeline but it got so bad that the planet, maybe even parts or all of the multiverse as they knew it died

And ever since then an Earth just like ours has been recieving reincarnators from that dead world

the heroes, the villains, the rogues, some civillians, etc.

----

There's two ways we can do this. Everyone is human, eventually recieves their memories at some point in time, finds eachother again, and is reassured they aren't insane since so many fellow supers, heroes and villains and rogues alike remember

Because of this they have to live in a world where their abilities used to change the world are pulled from right under them. (powers and maybe even civillian capabilities, money and connections)

The power they held is reduced to the civillians they saved or terroized once up a time

As for ordinary humans like the Bats or Amanda Waller? A plain world is gonna be a learning curve, as is having no supernatural safety nets, but maybe they'll adapt faster

I wonder if Clark feels guilty and thinks he's selfish for the joy he feels now being a normal human like his reborn adoptive parents, despite it being the furthest thing from the truth

Oh yeah, Wonder Woman, she may still be Greece on this new world but any connections she held with the Gods is just like every other person. There now exists a hole where a huge part of her first live's people and culture once were

Aquaman would have it rough, especially with how awful our and thus his new world treats the ocean

also if Damian was made artificially in his past life, imagine Bruce's relief if he were to succeed in having him with Tahlia this go around (assuming he gives a damn about the kid here)

okay but imagine Alfred being the first to wake up past memories, slowly or suddenly, and his POV as the Wayne family comes back together and remembers their own past lives

----

Another route is that they still keep their powers (if they had them) but only by a fraction. The users can tell and still use the power within them, but it's so much less than what they had before

How much power? Enough to maybe change the status quo if they applies their nerfed abilities smartly enough. Maybe. That's how little raw power they have left. Emphasis on the raw, but other aspects of their powers may be nerfed too

THis turns strategists into a more essential boon than ever before, powered folk would find themselves searching, flocking or entangled with reincarnators like Lex or the Bats because they have brains

Oh yeah the Flashes, on one hand, their metabolism is more human, on the other hand all the time they couldda spent thinking is yoinked and their connection to the Speedforce is so little that even if they wanted to, they're incapable of time travelling to restor their old world

Can ✨science✨ undo all this nerfting? If you wanna, sure but I think the answer of "absolutely not" is more fun

----

Circling back to Amanda, I wonder what her view on her new life is/

Would she still go for a government position after remembering everything? What would she strive to do with it?

Would she track down other reincarnators? Which ones in particular? What would she think of them now? Would she involve herself with anyone from her past life?

This depends on which take you have on this AU

In the Wholly Human route, she might only have people who never had any non-human or other special abilities to worry about, the Bats, Joker, the Pengiun, etc.

But if they still have Scraps of Superhumanity? Yeah she's gonna lock into focus with whatever plans she has for this no longer ordinary world.

----

this begs the question of who would see this crueler but less superhuman world as the chance for an ordinary life and take it?

who sees this world and continues to live their new life as they did their first one?

how does being in a world where they and/or other reincarnators are either wholly human or still have a fraction of their power left affect their decisions or views on this wolrd and whatnot?

I'm not gonna get into the logistics of our world suddenly becoming a Superhero Setting-lite, especially with governments or whatnot finding out cuz brain mentling

but also like, the superheroes and vigilantes, if they continue their old way of life, are gonna have to shift from a Superhero way of doing things to more of a Spy genre way of pulling things off

if they still have powers everyone outside of the loop aka not reincarnators will be so confused lol, who these criminals? (cuz methinks they'd get labeled as such)

----

Also there is The Question on if DC exists in their new world or not because the confusion and humor to be spawned from there being a Batman running around ("20 bucks it's a Watchmen irl" "30 it's a prank"), Clark Kent keeping his name after adoption cuz his parents remember ("parents have high hopes for you little hero") and Lex having to pick a different name for his corp cuz of Copyright, and these reincarnators adventuring the DC and Fandom Rabbit Hole

oh god I'd read a whole fic on that last one

But in a "zero DC media" Earth, we could get away with this planet being a lot more like canon, like Bruce being a billionare (and learning the hard way he'll be seen just like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, etc.),

The Internet would break if they realized their plain world became legit Superhero World-Lite, even more so if there were powers, especially if DC media exists

----

this AU was meant to be reincarnators introspecting on their past lives, coping with being mere civillians with maybe power the rest of the population had not, coming to terms with only barely being able to change the whole wide world anymore, being forced to give up being a super due to circumstances outside their control

but the Superhero Genre Conventions parasitized it lololololol

I find modern AUs to be pretty boring as well. However, I absolutely dig the angst in this one.

All of the DC characters regaining their memories would be devastating. Since they are all "human", this would fuck with some of their concepts of self, identity, and culture. I can't imagine existing in the exact same place I've been and gaining memories that I was different or more than I currently am.

Like, what if some of them never became anything? What if, outside of DC, their lives are miserable? What if it's better?

Also, for those who are happy to be human, I bet that would be an unpopular opinion. Everyone else who's gaining their memories are grieving over a time they just learnt about, but these characters, maybe who have been ostracized or hurt by their abilities, are secretly glad they are human.

There's just so much pain and confusion and lost of self in this AU.

There's also crack (like Bruce Wayne still having a "Brucie" persona even without Batman).

In this AU, if there's no powers, there might still be a need for vigilantes. Just not in the way they are for DC. I can imagine Barbara is hacking and bullying the government, as she should. Bruce is influencing other rich people to weed out who's corrupt, committing heinous crimes, etc. and then utilizing an anonymous persona to turn them in.

I wonder if Joker was living a normal life, he got his memories, and then decided that was way more fun than whatever he was doing before.

The Bats might be fine, but anyone with powers is gonna struggle to do what they did before.

[mauesartetc]

Thoughts on Helluva Boss 206 ("Oops")

Holy shit, is this episode... kind of okay? It still has issues and weird quirks that hold it back from being truly good, but I'd say this is one of the better Season 2 entries. At least it's good enough that I have a sufficiently-sized, dedicated "pros" list again. Let's get into it.

Pros:

-FINALLY, we have an mlm couple worth rooting for in this show. Fuck that Stolitz bullshit; Fizz and Ozzie are where it's at. ("Fozzie"? Yeah, that works.)

They're actually kind and caring with each other, they're playful and know how to laugh together, and they treat each other like equals rather than one partner fetishizing and sexually harassing the other. Hell, Ozzie even tends to Fizz's wounds at the end of the episode, and it's powerful to see a high-ranking demon in this society show tenderness and concern for a lowly imp. In a previous post, I expressed my doubts that Fizz and Ozzie's relationship would be any good, but I'm glad to report I was wrong.

-I liked seeing a glimpse of what one of these characters outside of the IMP team does for a day job. Approving designs at the dildo factory? Ehh, it's a livin'. (Though this once again begs the question of why demons live in a capitalistic society nearly identical to that of the US in the human world. Why do they need money to reinforce the social hierarchy when the larger, more powerful demons have special abilities and can just crush the smaller ones like bugs?)

-The heart-shaped flames in Ozzie's fireplace were a nice touch.

And they actually referenced Asmodeus' traditional fire-breathing ability at the end. Neat!

-Oh wow, one of the characters is finally floating the idea of Blitzo using an Asmodean crystal for transportation instead of the grimoire! THANK you!

And at the episode's close, Fizz permits Ozzie to give Blitzo a crystal, meaning he won't be dependent on Stolas anymore. Possible plot progression? How will this affect Stolas and Blitzo's relationship in the future? Would they still be in each other's lives even when the book isn't a factor? I hesitate to get my hopes too high due to the worrying possibility of Blitzo's crystal getting lost or damaged and forcing him to use the book again (though as to why he can't just steal a crystal and use that, I haven't the faintest idea). But I'm cautiously optimistic.

-I liked Stolas getting a chance to show some brain power in helping Ozzie negotiate the contract. This also gave us a nice tidbit of worldbuilding that states any contract signed by one of the Seven Sins is eternally binding. Is this foreshadowing? Will this information come up again in the story? Probably not, but it's fun to dream.

-It was interesting to see Blitzo, Fizz, and Striker have a conversation about each of their relationships with Hell's upper class, though it had potential to be SO much deeper and more authentic (which I'll get into momentarily).

-This is where I learned the white bits on Blitzo and Fizz's skin are actually burns. I always thought Fizz was wearing face paint and Blitzo had some form of vitiligo or something, but the reason he's burned on that side of his face is that it's where the explosion hit him. And Fizz's entire face is white for the same reason, except for his nose, since he was wearing a fake clown nose at the time. It's nice that they kept those details consistent in the flashback.

-Look, I know it's a low bar for most shows, but I appreciated how the story actually gave Blitzo a chance to apologize and redeem himself at the climax rather than making Fizz just forgive him apropos of nothing.

-Oh hey, one of Blitzo's relationships has actually progressed. He and Fizz, after hating each other for years, have made amends. I really hope this friendship doesn't revert to what it was before, like Blitzo and Moxxie's relationship did. But I don't think that'll be the case since Fizz isn't the story's designated whipping boy.

-It was nice how Fizz and Ozzie's respective interactions with Blitzo and Stolas helped them grow and change. I mean, Ozzie still isn't comfortable with anyone outside the palace having definitive knowledge about his romance with Fizz, but baby steps, y'know?

Cons:

-So Crimson's aware he just showed his face to an extremely high-ranking demon, right? He comments that Ozzie is the "weakest" of the Seven Sins, but he's still goddamn royalty, and Crimson is an imp. What's stopping him from sending someone to wipe out Crimson's entire gang after getting Fizz back, or doing it himself like it's implied he did with the lawyer? Crim really couldn't have disguised his voice and stayed in the shadows? Rookie mistake.

Come to think of it, Striker was in that video too, and it never occurred to Stolas, "Oh shit, that's the guy who almost killed me"? Again I have to ask, why isn't Stolas sending people after him? He's a prince, after all, and canonically commands multiple legions of demons. Why the fuck are you allowing this guy to run free, dude?

-I was kinda looking forward to seeing Crimson again, but his reintroduction would have been much more emotionally powerful if it involved getting revenge on Moxxie, which is what the ending of Exes and Oohs implied he now wants. And I know I've said before how going too many episodes without a mention of Striker diminished his menace, but did he have to show up just two episodes after his last appearance?

In general, Oops feels like it has too many returning "guest stars", if that makes sense. Fizz, Ozzie, Crimson, Striker... that's a lot to pack into one episode. Maybe instead of Crimson and Striker, we could have a new villain holding Blitzo and Fizz hostage.

-Speaking of the villains, MAN are they shoveling handfuls of Stupid Pills into their mouths. When Fizz sings his little distraction musical number, they just stand and watch instead of, oh, I don't know, trying to capture him?! Like damn, Crimson and Striker used to be credible threats. This is just embarrassing.

-Also, I know they need to keep Fizz alive until the ransom money comes through, but what reason do they have not to immediately waste Blitzo? Striker hates him for thwarting his assassination of Stolas, and Crimson hates him for crashing his son's arranged wedding. Are they trying to get Stolas to cough up some dough as well? Because that's a pretty major plot development that the script should have made clear to the audience. Basically, the only reasons Blitzo lived through this ordeal are that he has main character plot armor and the villains are being uncharacteristically dumb.

-As expected, in Stolas' subsequent appearance following Western Energy, he's out of the hospital. But I didn't predict he'd be completely recovered from his wounds. Seriously, not even a limp.

Stolas getting hurt was a consequence that impacted absolutely nothing outside of that episode. Are we going to see any scars later on, or perhaps Stolas getting uncomfortable at the sight of knives? Because of how wildly inconsistent this show's continuity can be, I'm guessing no. (And since we don't know how long it normally takes for demons to heal from angelic weapon-inflicted injuries, it doesn't help us get any sense of how much time has passed in the story.)

-Actually, if a royal fucking an imp is such a taboo in this world, why did Ozzie agree to meet with Stolas at all, let alone act so hospitable toward him? If Ozzie's so concerned about his own image regarding imps, wouldn't allowing a known imp-canoodler into his home raise a few eyebrows? More importantly, why in the actual hell does he have a giant, sexy painting of him and Fizz on display in his office where anyone can see it?

And that brings up another question: Why is Ozzie's relationship with an imp being covered in the tabloids, but Stolas' relationship isn't? You might think, "Well, he's a lower-ranked noble, so it's not as newsworthy" but if that's the case, why was there a crowd of reporters snappin' pics when he arrived at the hospital?

"Well y'see it's not really the imp-fucking that's frowned upon; it's the imp romance!" Then why did everyone at Ozzie's club make such a huge stink about Stolas coming there with an imp? The club is located in the Lust ring, where romance is seen as disgusting, so we can safely presume the vast majority of the couples at that club are just fucking. It would be bad form to take someone you're openly romantically involved with to a Lust ring establishment (lookin' at you, Moxxie). Therefore, the patrons and Ozzie himself had every reason to presume Stolas and Blitzo were having sex, and just happened to be right. (Also, if nobles fucking imps were actually no big deal in this world, Stella probably wouldn't have an issue with it either.)

The worldbuilding's an inconsistent mess, is what I'm saying. And Beelzebub's relationship with a hellhound is also strangely unaddressed, making that episode feel even less connected to canon than it already did.

-Man, Stolas is kinda oversharing here, isn't he. It'd be fine if a character who's already been established to let their mouth wander were doing this, but Stolas hasn't previously shown any signs of that.

He reveals he has feelings for Blitzo, to the ruler of a ring whose culture frowns on romance. And... he just expects him to be cool with that, for some reason. At this point he doesn't have solid proof that Ozzie is in love with Fizz; those are just rumors. So this is an extreme lack of tact he's displaying. Also, Ozzie ain't your therapist, dude. And as far as we know they're just acquaintances, not close friends. He could have just skipped to requesting the favor; Ozzie didn't need to know his reasons. Sure, tell him if he asks, but he didn't ask. Or maybe just hint at Stolas' feelings through subtext: His expressions, body language, and all the words he can't say. Visual medium, people.

-For that matter, why is this seemingly the first thing on Stolas' mind right now? "Oh, y'know, I'm going through a very messy divorce and my wife sent a hit man to kill me, and he's still on the loose, probably killing other people as we speak, but can you do this wittle favor for my fuckbuddy, pwease?" We could have just had a quick scene outside Ozzie's office where Stolas communicates with one of his lieutenants regarding updates on the search for Striker. And the reason he's not searching with them? He's still recovering from his injuries. Give him a wheelchair, a cane, a cast, just something to show he's not physically up to it yet. Without this information, where in the actual fuck are his priorities.

-"I know your demons are some of the only ones who can traverse freely and legally." Y'know... This is Hell... Why is legality even an issue in this setting? I think I touched on this for Exes and Oohs, which revealed the existence of Hell Jail. But why is there a Hell Jail? Why are there (presumably) Hell Cops? How does any of this make sense in an environment that thrives on chaos and discord? Oh, and Hell Lawyers are apparently a thing too, because of course. This is why you don't want to build your fantasy world with too many elements that exist in the real one unless you have airtight logic for it.

-When Ozzie tells Stolas Fizz hates Blitzo, his response is, "He does?" The fuck do you mean, Stolas. You were at the club. You witnessed Fizz point out Blitzo in an effort to humiliate him, call him a "total disgrace", and refer to his love life as a "pile of shit". You should already know he hates him. Sure, Stolas doesn't know why yet, but this is why you need editors to cut the parts of your dialogue that don't make any sense.

-I'm not sure what this show's actual stance on the ultra-wealthy is. Fizz tells Blitzo, "Sounds like you just hate him for being a prince", as if princes are a group that's commonly discriminated against-? Sure, a person has no control over being born into extreme wealth and privilege, but they can control how they use it. And when they don't use it to make society better for everyone (opting instead to hoard all the resources for themselves), that will naturally breed resentment in the lower classes.

Another odd thing I noticed about this conversation: You know that one rule in the Bechdel-Wallace test that states a work of fiction's female characters must talk about something other than a man in order for that work to pass? This instance makes me think we need a similar media test regarding class, because here we have three lower-class characters talking only about rich people. Not the societal systems and personal histories that led them to rely so much on rich folks just to get by, but about the rich folks themselves. Hell, Blitzo even says "Royal demons don't give a shit about guys like us", clearly more concerned about wealthy people's opinion of him than the untenable situation their complacence and wealth-hoarding has caused for countless imps. In this scene, the "haves" are very much at the center of the have-nots' universe, and it puts me in mind of a male writer who assumes the only things women discuss with each other are their relationships with men.

Now let's talk about Striker. Time and time again the show has painted him as unreasonable for hating royals, and while his methods are extreme, there's probably a rational explanation for why he holds the views he does (at least if he's being written in a thoughtful, realistic way, which is a MAJOR stretch for this show. But for the sake of this discussion, let's say he hypothetically is). The average imp in this world would have good reason to hold a vague dislike for the royals, but hatred? Passionate hatred? That comes from a deep, personal place. At least one "blue blood" must have done something unforgivable to Striker specifically, and I wish the show would properly explore his motivations. Maybe drop some hints about his backstory once in a while, perhaps in this very conversation? Because this show's villains are really hurtin' for some nuance, and Striker's the one with the most potential for it.

It feels like the writers were trying to say something about real-world issues here, but the message got muddled. Part of it seems to be "don't make broad generalizations about people", which... Okay, nice thought, but if Stolas isn't using his power to improve life for all imps, not just Blitzo, Blitzo has no reason to believe his affection is genuine. For all he knows, imps are still just a fetish to Stolas, and he's only acting nice to keep him around. His love, to Blitzo's mind, is entirely conditional, and until he sees evidence that nobles contribute anything of substance to society, he's not wrong in thinking they don't care and "They're all the fuckin' same". Maybe he'll change his mind if Stolas calls off their deal and offers to hang out with no sex and no strings attached. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

-Also, this was an unintentionally-hilarious gem:

CRIMSON: Hey, hick-for-hire! I said watch 'em, not fuck 'em!

STRIKER: (Immediately leaves)

Great watchin' there, bud. And Crimson is smiling despite Striker going against his orders-? I mentioned in the Exes and Oohs review that there was a disconnect between Crimson's dialogue and what was actually being shown on screen. Old habits die hard, I guess.

-"Everlastingly binding", Stolas? You can't just say "eternally binding", which has the same meaning and would flow more naturally? Under normal circumstances this would feel like a nitpick, but Stolas' phrasing was weird in Western Energy too. He told Blitzo he was "stolen" when "kidnapped" would have been more fitting, seeing as he's a person, not an object. (Hell, he could've just said "spirited away" if they wanted to be fancy with it.) This is a character who's supposed to be well-read, being written by someone who thinks this is how bookish people talk. An abundance of syllables doesn't equal eloquence.

-So if we take a closer look at what Blitzo is holding in the flashback, we see he has a flower and an envelope sealed with a heart sticker, with "For Fizz's eyes only" written on it. This implies he was about to confess his love for Fizz. And in Fizz's flashback, we see Blitzo's dad handing him a card that says "Wish You Were My Son", which I guess is what upset Blitzo and made him storm off, causing the fire.

But those important details are very "blink-and-you'll-miss-it". I didn't catch the card at first, so Blitzo's angry reaction left me very confused. It looked like he saw Fizz being happy on his birthday and just left in tears for no reason. Yes, a good show trusts the audience to piece things together themselves, but we shouldn't have to pause the episode and play it back to see if we missed some crucial element that flashed on screen for two seconds.

-Also, like... Why does romance need to be a part of it. These two have known each other and worked closely together since they were kids, so isn't that kind of like Blitzo having a crush on who was essentially a brother figure? I don't know, it just felt shoehorned in, like Blitzo needs some kind of flirtation or dalliance (or good ol' sexual harassment in Moxxie's case) with every single man in his life except his dad.

-I'm getting tired of these flashbacks dialing the angst and trauma levels up to 11. "This kid was horribly burned... ON HIS BIRTHDAY!" "This kid's best friend was horribly burned... AND HE LOST HIS MOM!" For fuck's sake, it's like these writers are brainstorming what the grimmest possible outcome could be in a given situation, and using that to ostensibly wring some tears out of the audience. Here's the thing, though: We never knew Blitzo's mom. We never saw what her personality was like or what their relationship was like, therefore we can't get nearly as sad as the writers want us to be when she dies.

Think back to past animated stories that did this right. You know why the deaths of Bambi's mom, Littlefoot's mom, and Mufasa were all so heartbreaking? Because we got to know them. We saw how joyful they were in life. How strong, how wise. So it stung all the more deeply when we knew what their children lost.

Blitzo's mom isn't even a character, really. She's a prop the writers are using to exploit the audience's emotions, which is even more unfortunate when you realize that's what Moxxie's mom was, too.

So let's say you're a writer and you want a character to feel guilty about a horrible accident they caused, so horrible that it almost killed their best friend. Okay... It almost killed their best friend. That should be more than enough to make anyone feel guilty, right? Well apparently the Spindle crew felt the need to heap even more guilt onto Blitzo by making that accident also kill his mom. Why wasn't Fizz enough? Why did yet another nameless female character have to lose her life? If Blitzo needed something to distract him from Fizz's pleas for help, you'd think trying to put out the massive fire would suffice, but apparently not. It's all just so forced and manipulative.

-"You're all I had left, Fizz." Wow, so Barb's just chopped liver, huh? Jesus, Blitzo. No wonder she hates you.

-This drawing of Striker's face foreshortens his snout way too much, making it look a lot shorter than it really is.

And for those who haven't seen the episode, this is a held frame, not an inbetween or smear or anything like that, so there's really no excuse for it to look like this. Let's try to suggest more length and structure in the snout, and eliminate the tangents in his smile while we're at it.

I know drawing characters with long snouts can be tricky in a front view like this, but that's what turnaround sheets are for.

-What's ironic about the song "Look at This" is that it's a perfect analogy for how this show uses slick, flashy animation to distract its audience from the amateurish writing. Just an observation.

-Fizz goes on WAY too long about how big Ozzie's dick is. Yeah, great, we get it. Move on, show.

-"Why is it always a sex thing?!" I'm with Striker on this one. Almost every queer male character on this show is preoccupied with sex to an unreasonable degree. I mean Fizz is boinking the actual embodiment of lust and has had sex robots made of himself, so the horniness kinda makes sense for his character, but Blitzo? Stolas? Even Moxxie had his moment where he said "Harder..." to Striker, though that was just to get his guard down. Still, though. It's excessive, guys. It's tired. Come up with some new material.

-FIZZ: You blew me up again, you fuckin' prick!

BLITZO: I did. But this time I stuck around.

Ehh, feels like those lines would have been much stronger if Fizz said them both. Here it sounds like Blitzo's just defending himself, as if he saved Fizz not out of the goodness of his heart, but because he wanted to score brownie points with him. Just feels a little manipulative of him, and out of sync with the more genuine moments the episode showed us earlier. Maybe something more like this:

FIZZ: You blew me up again, you fuckin' prick! (Blitzo looks down, ashamed. But then Fizz realizes something.) But... I'm glad you stuck around this time. (He smiles and hugs Blitzo.)

Allowing Fizz to come to that conclusion on his own is so much more powerful than Blitzo spoon-feeding it to him. Oh, and by the way...

-"Would it fuck up the moment if we made out right now?" Yeah, Blitzo. Yeah it would. Much like how this show can't allow an emotional scene to breathe without making a joke. It's not quite as bad as the tone whiplash with Crimson's wall dildos, but it does spoil the moment a bit.

Overall, not the worst Helluva Boss episode. Not the best, but not the worst. I fully expect the next one to be pointless filler that doesn't advance the story, though, so I might skip it. The problem is, this show's quality boomerangs from bad to okay to bad again in the span of a few episodes. One episode might get my hopes up, the next might dash them, and then there's this morbid curiosity in wondering if the next one might be the one that I finally love. I wanted to like this show so badly (gotta support that indie animation and all), but dear God, this writing.

It's still possible the series could evolve into something great, but my patience in waiting for that is very nearly worn out. Maybe (and that's a GIGANTIC maybe) I'll stick it out to the end of the season, but if the finale sucks, I'm done. Anyway, I need a palate cleanse, so here's more Fizz and Ozzie to end this on a positive note.

[got-into-worm-by-mistake]

Insinuation 2.7 Live Reactions

(This is me, writing reactions as I read, because why the fuck not. They're not complete, mature thoughts taken after I sit back and evaluate what I've read. Consider them as such)

I really need to plow through these faster. I'll be at this all summer and more at this rate.

 I felt a touch guilty, for acting under false pretenses.   I also felt pleased with myself, in an irrational way.

What false pretenses? :P Taylor, why you always lyin' to yourself? :P

That regret quickly turned to a pang of anxiety.  What would they think when they saw the real me?  Brian and Alec were good looking guys, in very different ways.  Lisa was, on the sliding scale between plain and pretty, more pretty than not.  My own scale of attractiveness, by contrast, put me somewhere on a scale that ranged from ‘nerd’ to ‘plain’.  My opinion of where I fit on that scale changed depending on the mood I was in when I was looking in the mirror.  They were cool, confident, assured people.  I was… me.

A year and a half of some of the most intense bullying will fuck you up.

I stopped myself before I could get worked up.  I wasn’t regular old Taylor, here.  In the here and now, I was the girl who had put Lung in the hospital, accidental as it was.  I was the girl who was going undercover to try and get the details on a particularly persistent gang of supervillains.  I was, until I came up with a better name to go by, Bug, the girl the Undersiders wanted on their team.

Ayyyyyy! There's that brain Taylor! :high fives her:

 I rationalized it by telling myself that I was already in this wholesale.  Being truthful about that one thing might well save my hide if any of them decided to do some digging on me, or if I ran into someone I knew while in their company. 

This isn't even a bad rationalization, like some of your others. Just sound logic.

 Lisa, though, put one of her arms around my shoulders and gave me a one-armed squeeze of a hug.  She was a little older than I was, so she was just tall enough to be at the perfect height to do it.  What caught me off guard was how nice the gesture felt.  Like I had been needing a hug from someone who wasn’t my dad for a long time.

Oh god you poor touch starved girl. We need to get you some emergency kittens, STAT! Maybe an overexcited puppy or two.

Or just Kara Danvers. She's huggy enough to cure even the worst touch-starvedness

It wasn’t an area that had been kept up, and kind of gave off an impression of a ghost town, or what a city might look like if war or disaster forced people to abandon it for a few years.  Grass and weeds grew between slats in the sidewalk, the road had potholes you could hide a cat in, and the buildings were all faded, consisting of peeling paint, cracked mortar and rusty metal.  The desaturated colors of the buildings were contrasted by splashes of vividly colored graffiti.  As we passed what had once been a main road for the trucks traveling between the warehouses and the docks, I saw a row of power lines without wires stretching between them.  At one point weeds had crawled most of the way up the poles, only to wither and die at some point.  Now each of the poles had a mess of dead brown plants hanging off of them.

Ah yes. The deadsville. Every fictional Urban Dystopia has one. :rofl:

Our destination was a red brick factory with a massive sliding metal door locked shut by a coil of chain.  Both the chain and door had rusted so much that I expected that neither offered any use.  The size of the door and the broadness of the driveway made me think that large trucks or small boats would have been backed up through the entryway back in the factory’s heyday.  The building itself was large, stretching nearly half the block, two or three stories tall.  The background of the sign at the top of the building had faded from red to a pale orange-pink, but I could make out the bold white letters that read ‘Redmond Welding’.

The convenient abandoned warehouse/factory.

Someone should set up an evil lair in an abandoned coffee shop. Just for a change of fictional pace.

I supposed they might have a TiVo, though I’d never seen one.

For some reason, some name-brands just feel... weird to see name-checked in fiction. TiVo is one of them.

“I’m jealous,” I admitted, meaning it. “Dork,” Alec said, “What are you jealous for?” “I meant it’s cool,” I protested, a touch defensively. Lisa spoke before Alec could reply, “I think what Alec means is that this is your place now too.  This is the team’s space, and you’re a member of the team, now.”

Cut her some slack Alec. She's still getting used to the idea of belonging/being wanted/welcome anywhere.

Also, like, I imagine Lisa doing that has *got* to get infuriating sometimes.

“Last time he went up against Shadow Stalker, he came back here and bled all over a white couch,” Lisa groused, “nine hundred dollar couch and we had to replace it.”

You shouldn't have gotten a white couch then :P

I blinked a few times, then hedged, “For other local capes?  I’ve done research online, read the cape magazines religiously for a few years, more since getting my powers… but I dunno.  If the past twenty four hours have taught me anything, it’s that there’s a lot I don’t know, and will only find out the hard way.”

Information is the greatest weapon in the Wormverse, that's for sure.

I stared at her, a good part of me horrified that I’d gotten into an undercover situation opposite a girl with superpowered intuition. Taking my silence for awe, she grinned her vulpine smile, “It’s not that amazing.  I’m really best with concrete stuff.  Where things are, timing, encryption, yadda yadda.  I can read something out of changes in body language or routine, but it’s less reliable and kind of a headache.  Enough information overload without, you know?” I did know, her explanation echoed my own thoughts regarding my ability to see and hear things through my bugs.  Still, her words didn’t make me feel that much better.

Alert! Danger Will Robinson Taylor Hebert

“And,” Brian said, still glowering at Lisa, “Even if she knows a lot, that doesn’t mean Lisa can’t be a dumbass sometimes.”

Everyone who has valid (even if not always correct) reason to think they're the smartest person in the room has a remarkable ability to also be the biggest dumbass in the room.

2.7 - not quite knocks it out of the park, but definitely very good.

[glitched-username]

..★soo- , urh- I got a little concept regarding rottmnt G/t, thought about sharing it with you- if you don't mind.★

★M'kay- so combining the latest analysis that you made about Donnie being a size-shifter and the turtles heights in your 'Biblically Accurate Size' AU- I managed to cook up this (no, this does not only concern Donnie by the way) :

|⭐| What if the turtles were size shifters- who could only shrink, but wait- there is a catch. What if the absolute minimum of how small they can get depends on their species height. Like, once they reach said height- they won't be able to shrink any more.

|⭐| For instance, if Raph wants to get smaller- the absolute minimum could be 30 inches- since that is his accurate height, based on your AU at least. Same goes for the other turtles as well- such as, Mikey's minimum height is 5 inches tall- Leo's minimum is a foot tall, Donnie's is 9 inches- yeah, you get it.. I hope (—‹ —⁠;⁠)⁠ゞ..

★..erm. just a thought that has been spiraling around my head. I let you do what you want with it or smth, smth..★

★soo, bye for now-★

(I might return with a little idea regarding size shifting brains & brawn duo. erm. since Raph is technically a size shifter of some sorts- and Donnie does have the potential of being a size shifer. Though I don't have much in mind for this concept.. fuck =[[)

SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO GET TO THIS! My brain has been mush the past few days 😔😔😔

Anyway

Yes. Absolutely

Mikey 100% does it the most. To annoy older brothers, practice his "razzmatazz", and perfect cuddle buddy. Very "marketable plushie" coded. I just have a mental image of Mikey taking the place of whatever "sports ball" they plan on throwing around. He's already the biggest adrenaline junkie on the team and in the show, they already make it a habit of throwing brothers around like ragdolls so this is an entirely real possibility lmao

Donnie does it for science purposes like 99% of the time. Especially before he got his mystic goggles/powers. Machine is down but don't wanna tear it apart to get at the ONE section failing? Just shrink down and work on it there. The next 0.50% is when he's too overwhelmed and just needs to get small to hide from the lights, sounds, everything, just 'get me the hell out of here'. The last 0.50% is purely for personal comfort. Small bath turns into massive pools for the aquatic turtle to enjoy, warm human friend is suddenly a super warm and comfortable giant heated weighted blanket.

Leo is by far the most unpredictable. He'll do it to annoy Raph and Donnie and also LOVES how it can make him the center of attention. Leo is like the master of "I'm secretly craving affection but I'll cover it up with a cool guy persona who 'totally doesn't need hugs'!" April and his brothers will just carry Leo around like that one ferret gif:

Post krang, however? That boy does NOT like shrinking down. It makes the room seem massive, never ending, cold like the prison dimension. And his brothers, normally a comfort, morph into large terrifying shapes, reminiscent of the Krang. But "EveRYThiNGs FiNE! DoNT yOU WorRY aBoUt 'ol NEoN LeON!"

Raph shrinks down the least. He's too big to enjoy the perks being small gets. Still too heavy to be casually carried around. Still too big to have a nice heated bath feel like a nice pond. Too spiky to have the same huggable qualities as the other two. Not to mention the only time he really feels comfortable is when they're all shrunk down at the same time because he's worried that he would not be able to help his family at the smaller size. But at the same time he'll have those moments where he wants to be small, to be taken care of, to be the younger brother. He'll never admit it but the others can always tell when something's off. They've figured out enough that while he can't really be carried or held like the others, Raph still makes a perfect lap dog/turtle and is perfectly happy to just flop down on someone's lap and enjoy the free scritches during chill hours.

Splinter thought he was hallucinating for the first couple years when the boys would just randomly change sizes until he actually caught the turtle tots shifting in real time. Then he just was like "yeah this might as well have been another thing Draxum did to their DNA"

Also I started writing a response before I reread the ask and noticed it said "could only shrink" so under the read more was my thought process before of how that would effect the growing part of idea 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

And to add on, what if it kinda works in the opposite way when they grow. Like the Scale for BA Mikey is about 1:10, so what if when he grew it was flipped so he's 10x the size instead of 10% (47 feet)

Same with the others. BA Raph is about 1:2.5 so 2.5:1 when he grows (15 feet). BA Donnie is a 1:7 scale so then 7:1 (37 ft). And BA Leo is 1:5.25 so 5.25:1 or 28ft.

Suddenly biggest brother is now smallest brother and the smallest brother, Mr. "more than happy to chuck himself off a building to do a cool trick" is now the SIZE of a building.

It think I'd be really funny/cool as an added thing.

[call-sign-shark]

Shark!! I have questions 🦈.

If not Arthur, let's say an AU where Arthur doesn't exist, do you think Heaven could fall in love with John or Thomas? (Or Ada, why not!)

I love the chemistry between Heaven and John, but I feel they're like siblings . Although John is a flirty, sassy man and he's hot af 😂.

On the other hand, Thomas... Their rivalry. Enemies (fierce enemies) to lovers? Tommy knows how to seduce a woman. And he's really smart.

And Ada... Well. Queen Ada 👑. Nothing to add here.

Wow Flor, this is such a clever question!! Thank you so much for asking this, you really made my brain go brrrrrr 😁💚 The short answer is: She could have fallen for both of them depending on the context.

✞ If John had not been married she would have gone for him, I guess. As you said, he's flirty, sassy, hot, and caring. Heaven needs someone who's not afraid to lavish her with tenderness. Moreover, they already share a deep and unique bond in the story. Some feel ambiguity about whether John has a little crush or not -- and it's up to readers to decide if they have a sibling platonic relationship or if John does feel a little innocent something for her. But I feel like it would not have been a long-term relationship. More like an intense fling that would have ended up in a strong friendship.

✞ Regarding Tommy... You know, a lovely reader on AO3 wondered if part of Tommy's hatred towards her could come from jealousy and attraction -- once again, I prefer readers to imagine what they want. The most logical choice for the canon story with John being married would be Thomas and Heaven falling in love in a very slow burn revolving around the enemies-to-lovers trope. At first, he would have only used her for her powers and for sex before falling for her first and trying to seduce her. That being said, their relationship would be toxic: they would always fight then fuck, then threaten to murder each other, but keep coming back to each other for comfort. Also, Tommy's tendency to sleep around would really make her suffer. At one point in the story, Heaven would have slept with Jack Nelson to hurt her husband, which could have resulted in a twisted love corner.

Isn't it hilarious to think that, in a parallel universe, there is a 100% angst series called "After You, Hell Should be Easy" featuring Thomas x Heaven in an enemies-to-lovers trope?

As for Ada, I don't think so: they are too different. The truth is, Heaven would have 100% fallen for May Carleton, and they would be the happiest and most healthy little couple of all the Peaky Blinders universe. 😂

Congratulations, Arthur is sulking now and mumbling "yeah, very fun Flor eh, but don't forget she's me fucking wife"

✞ For those wondering, Heaven is “you” in Heaven in Your Eyes, an Arthur x Reader!OC ongoing series. Check out the Masterlist

[ashanimus]

Owl House Face Reveals and Why They Work

I'm so behind on my Huntlow week contribution but I have to exorcise these bees from my brain.

One thing I have noticed that The Owl House does really well are face reveals. Each time we've had them they have been genuinely unexpected and interesting. Now, face reveals are nothing new in media, and in many genres within the speculative fiction box they kind of have their own language and preset expectations depending on the assumed archetype of a character.

Growing up in the 90's, this was quite consistent (particularly with anime). When a Cool, Masked Character or Villain shows up, there's usually an instant of the mask getting revealed in a moment of vulnerability that shows us what the character looks like--but in a wide variety of these reveals...the conclusion is often along the lines of:

Protag: Oh. They're a lot cuter than I was expecting!

There's often a little romantic subtext here too, but not always.

And for all the benefits (and true banes) of anime-type character design, it was/is very common for the resultant revealed face to be conventionally attractive (or drawn to be perceived that way). I know that this is a sort of gentle pushback to the historical VILLAIN=UGLY trope that is nowhere near as prevalent as it used to be, but after thirty years of prettyface mask reveals, it ended up paving the way for strong, sleeping expectation of mask=pretty underneath instead.

And as a result, we're not taking away much more information that what was already expected (re: masked character not so bad) when the character showed up masked to begin with.

Now, this isn't always bad. But in the case of a face reveal, it's supposed to be a moment that establishes really important visual information quickly--and if it's doubled with the "masked character is unconscious/injured" there's a good chance they wouldn't normally let our hero get that close to begin with. The point is, the scene has heavy lifting to do!

Which brings me to our first big face reveal in Owl House, Hunter.

So at this point, the Golden Guard has made his debut--he's been set up as a "genius teen prodigy". This is loaded language that anyone who grew up watching anime instantly understands. Even if you don't though, the way Lilith talks about him sets him up for this expectation well. In this scene, he shows up as a cocky little asshole with a lot of bravado but also, importantly, some key visual indicactors of power. He's got a staff in his right hand, a cage in the other, and is wearing heavy armor and of course the mask. He shows up in a fifty foot fist made of boiling salt water.

Without showing us his face, the show has already laid a pretty strong, unconscious foundation for what the audience is going to see under there! So when we get our classic moment:

This scene moves so much VERY quickly.

First, the Golden Guard's face doesn't resemble the archetypal expectation the audience might have had based on what had been set up. If anything, we're getting a lot of traits all at once we're not used to on a sympathetically portrayed character (more on this in a second). They also wisely destroy any possible interpretation of romantic subtext by giving us a sibling slapfight immediately. But the biggest takeaway from this quick scene visually is the fact the Golden Guard here very young, about Luz's age, maybe a little older--a detail highlighted by our hero herself--and VERY vulnerable. Very murderable. See how his torso (heart) is twisted up, head is tipped back and the eyebrows are scrunched up? Makes him quite a bit "smaller" looking even though he's quite tall compared to the other kids.

But what does this do for visual understanding of a scene? When expectations are subverted, the viewer in a way is able to absorb the visual information with new eyes. When a mask reveal shows us something actually surprising, it actually allows us to absorb the visual details without sorting them into an archetype. So what do we see? Who is the Golden Guard without his mask, his armor, or the trappings of his power?

Well...he has a lot of traits classically associated with unsympathetic characters, to start! He has dark heavy brows, reddish eyes in an ashy face, an aquiline nose and a big ol' gap in his teeth. He's got a ragged ear. Now lately, eye bags and facial scars have come into vogue for heroes, but not usually in combination with all of those other traits (if it was just the scar or even the ear, it wouldn't have told us much). And even here, they're startling because no other character in the show displays eye bags or prominent scarring--not even the mercenaries or adults. He's also fabulously expressive and earnest regardless of emotion, which takes the edge off any potential ability to intimidate (and we know he's about as intimidating as a kale salad as shown when he tries to order the Coven Scouts around at the precinct).

At this point, now that whatever preconceived vision of the mysterious Golden Guard has been blown out of the water, we're able to absorb what each individual character design choice is actually telling us.

This is one busted-ass teenager.

The eyebags show he's exhausted/stressed. The facial scar is a brutal fucking injury and the kind of thing that you get when someone is deliberately trying to hurt you (in combat or...well. what's implied to later be the actual reason). The ripped ear highlights the idea he's seen a lot of combat. The gap teeth highlight the childish imperfection and youth.

One of the things that struck me most about watching this for the first time and watching other reaction videos (a lot of them of different ages and demographics to get a decent sample size) was the incredible consistency of the response to all this visual information! Almost every single one of them were some variant or combination of these two thoughts: "Oh no, he's so young, poor thing! Is he okay?" And even better--the audience understands the answer to that question the minute they ask it, even before the conclusion of the episode. No, he is certainly not! This brainwashed child is in a lot of physical and emotional danger!

Which is GREAT! That's clearly what the intent was. An given how much of a little shithead he was in his first appearances, it was really amazing to see how thoroughly he was able to go from that to instantly sympathetic--as well as visually very interesting.

The Owl House demonstrates a lot of mastery over animation and writing techniques/tropes. You could fill a book on the topic (please oh please let there be an art book at the end please please please). But I REALLY loved how they handled face reveals especially, and to date this one in particular is probably my favorite.

[eraserisms]

@ravenbled / Shota twin sent in these from here!

☀ Does the mun listen to you while writing or not?

"I don't know if the word listen is the the accurate word. I feel like we're almost always in synch with one another. That is at least, when he is actually writing instead of pacing the house like a lunatic trying to convince his brain to get some words out. It's just that sometimes neither of us have the mental capacity to get things done around here. Either I'm not in the mood to co-operate, we're both tired from work, or there are too many external factors going on in our lives"

✍ Has the mun some special talents beside writing?

"He probably would tell you that he doesn't have any talents, unless you count being able to put in exactly 30 dollars of gas into a car, or however much you want in it." "His friends would say that he has a talent for cooking, but he is his own worst critic. He loves to cook for others, but doesn't like working in the industry. It's tireless and unrewarding. He often says that being a cook is like being a 'starving artist who won't starve' and says that they won't starve only on the basis that they're cooks. They would be able to not go hungry by eating family meal at work and for the fact that they know how to stretch out ingredients. If you want to do well in the culinary industry, you have to be great. And he'll tell you that he's only a good enough of a line-cook to work Mother's Day brunch at the Olive Garden. Nothing higher than that. He isn't good enough to be able to handle the pressure of fine dining and Michelin stared restaurants." Shota gave a toss of his head in thought before letting out a soft 'tch' of a laugh. His lips even dared to curled up into his rarely seen true smile. "And I'd say....well, I don't know if I'd consider it a talent but, he can be a quick thinker when the time calls for it. His rapid responses likely comes from working in hospitals or from being a cook and having to sometimes think on the fly. When it comes to himself he is the type of person who freezes up or shuts down. However, he is like Izuku in a way, and if it's another person or party involved, he can usually spring into action to help rather quickly. I'd even say it's heroic of him, but he'd say it's just human decency. "

🌟 Is there any genres the mun doesn’t enjoy writing but you enjoy being part of?

"Ehhhh, I don't think it's a matter of not liking certain themes or implications. D.A. is pretty open as far as what he is willing to write with people. Out of all thread types, he doesn't really like writing smut and doesn't plan on writing it on this blog. The only person he ever writes smut with is a close friend that he has known for over 10 years. In fact, they even met on this website. It doesn't really bother me all that much, but I'd like to get laid at least once in a while." Shota's mouth curled into a mischievous smirk. "But I guess I'm okay with it just being implied. A lay is a lay whether its written in detail or not." Considering there were few things that D.A. wasn't interested in writing, it caused Shota to pause briefly. His lips pursed in thought, trying to think of something else that wasn't common for his mun to write. "Another thing he doesn't write often is fighting. No matter if it's a physical fighting or a verbal fight, he isn't a particularity strong writer in those genres. That's not to say that he doesn't take pleasure in writing fighting scenes; he just isn't very good at it. In cases of fighting, depending on who he is writing, he is afraid to write characters as over-powered, especially me given the nature of my quirk. Alternatively he is anxious about making the mistake of leading a fight into a direction that his partner doesn't want it to go in. I suppose that's what plotting and out-of-character stuff is for though. I think that's why he made that last post about wanting to have a rival based thread so he can practice that." "As far as writing verbal disputes goes, he is always concerned that his arguments aren't going to make sense, or he'll end up not knowing what to say to a well-made point. Once again, this applies to a person like me who is driven by logic. That isn't to say that he isn't driven by that, but sometimes in his personal life, his emotions can override his reason."

[eryanlainfa]

hi hey very random but im new here and can i ask everything abt aiden? like the lore and their powers they seem so cool i wanna get into ur au :D

(idk how to exactly sayit)

Do not worry I basically shared almost NOTHING about them at all so no one really knows much about them except me and ONE friend. But maybe it is time for me to share more !

But- everything- ? You sure about that ? You want everything ? I'll assume you mean the important things because there's a LOT going on, you don't want to know 😭

If anyone wants MORE infos about Aiden or my worldbuilding around Tangled or my version of Vat7k. I CAN make posts going in more details but do YOU really want to read ALL OF THAT ??

So for now ! Important infos about Aiden under the cut !

Small worldbuilding thingy first : witches exist in my version, they're basically halfbloods of humans x whatever magical being, and it stays in their lineage for a whiiiile. Basically, contrary to humans, witches don't need artefacts to do magic, and different witches have different magical abilities (depending on what/who was their magical ancestor). And fun fact : they can't break promises. They genuinely physically can't. Because promises are a sort of pact, so they avoid it. (Aiden made two throughout their life and it always ended badly for them)

Aiden ! They're a witch and are from a powerful witch family known for their purple eyes. Their father ran away from said family before Aiden was born so they only got to learn more about their heritage when meeting the extended family during the vat7k journey. Lots of drama on that side.

Aiden's parents are very kind and simple people, they arrived in Old Corona around the same time as Quirin and Ulla so both couples became friends. But while Quirin quickly got the villagers' respect by helping around, Aiden's parents prefered to stay low, they were here in hide-out afterall.

Aiden is around a year and a half older than Varian. They are friends, at first because their parents also are, then because they're both nerds and the only ones capable of keeping up with the other's brain. They both care for each others, and yeaaaars later Aiden gets a crush, but it's very obviously one-sided.

When Aiden was very young they didn't really know how to control their powers, causing incidents and starting weird rumors around town, so their parents decided to lock it up. Since then Aiden got a tattoo on their back as a binding spell. Their father also added an illusion rune to said tattoo to turn their eyes orange/light brown instead of purple. (so through all of Tangled The Series and a good half of Vat7k they have orange eyes).

Due to the rumors (and needing someone to do the tattoo) Aiden's family moved away from Old Corona, they spend some years in another small village farther away and only come back to the capital 2 years before the movie takes place.

Aiden almost always knew they wanted to become a physician, for multiple reasons, and worked hard to attain their goal. So when the current royal physician accepted to make them his apprentice Aiden was overjoyed. They've resided within the castle since.

They lost the use of their right leg and left foot to the storm in Queen for a day. Due to not receiving proper care in time, once back to the castle, their mentor had to cut of the limbs because they were too damaged. Aiden got a prosthesis since then and they have multiple mobility aids they can use. Though it did take a while for them to accept the whole thing.

They took care of a hurt magpie and the bird just keeps on coming back to them, his name is Camille! He is very useful when Aiden needs to communicate with someone who's far away.

Aiden has almost no impacts on the Tangled Series, I like to make things difficult for myself and kept everything canon intact. During the series they are mostly off-screen being busy, their mentor makes them work a LOT, and when they have time off they mostly hang out with their friends who also work within the castle. I could genuinely make a spin off solely on castle staff shenanigans-

Aiden's interactions with the main cast is limited and, as I said, happen off-screen. The only plot point they impact is the saporian take-over of the castle. Which happens off-screen for my own delight.

They helped to get Varian and Andrew out of jail. And helped Saporians to take over Corona, until things went too far and they tried to convince Varian to turn against Andrew, to no avail. Cue to Varian and Aiden having their sort of 'break up'. Once the whole ordeal is handle by Rapz and co, the two teens decides to give their friendship another try, they still do care about the other a lot, but the subject still stains their relationship a little, even through vat7k

I've been rewritting my own version of Vat7k for the 5th time and explaining everything would take forever :'D help. But there' s like... A whole other quest that results in finding the eternal library but is kind of more important for the world- It's a forever work in progress...

Var and Add are back to being close friends when Vat7k starts. Except that while Aiden is repressing their feelings, Varian is slowly accepting his. Cue to Varian clearly flirting with Aiden but the other keep on dismissing it.

Aiden's reason for joining Varian through his journey is because : 1-something is wrong with the magic and witches started to get weaker, they hope to find the cause and a cure. and 2- their mentor really wants to retire but Aiden doesn't feel ready to take his place yet, so they kinda run away from the responsability by following Varian

Aiden's story is a lot about accepting their disability, learning to put their needs before others and learning to trust themself.

At first they kinda fall for Hugo as a way to get over Varian (he looks like fun).

Upon discovering Hugo got feelings for Varian, Aiden immediately started to play wingman for the two. Drama ensued.

They got a crossbow because they needed to find a way to help while staying at a distance.

Aiden sees Yong and Nuru as younger siblings. The whole team enjoy bantering with one another but if anyone is in danger they would not hesitate to destroy things. Aiden is closer to Nuru than to Yong though, they relate to each others in multiple ways, and Yong finds Aiden can be a bit too uptight.

Aiden learnt about their heritage and got to see how shitty their father's family is like. Said family tries to get Aiden to stay with them at ALL COST. Resorting to brainwashing at some point.

Their magic got unlocked and they got their purple eyes back definetly at that point. The tattoo is gone.

the relationship between Aiden, Hugo and Varian is pretty vague when they get back to the Light Kingdom but they are aware of each others feelings to an extent- and it almost becomes a thing! Then Donella comes back to fuck shit up-

When Varian locks himself in the eternal library Aiden was against going after him right away, they wanted to give him time to cool off and to get back to his senses on his own.

Fun fact. Since Aiden never really got the chance to learn how to do magic properly the "final battle" is genuinely.. terrible. They do try to use their power but at some point they kinda give up and just shoot "Ulla" (so Varian's body) with their crossbow. Nothing too bad no worries.-

End of Vat7k.

Once they get "proper" rest, Aiden goes back to being a physician for the crown and gets back to work right away because Rapunzel is pregnant and their mentor basically leave them a note like "your turn now, good luck 😋✌"

Varian Hugo and Aiden get officially together after all of that, the three of them. They told no one at first (except Quirin and Aiden's parents) just to mess with everyone.

I'll stop there for the story because my drawings are mostly around this period. And the rest is barely written at all yet but more shenanigans with Aiden's family happen and Donella comes back to be a bother as well. Results in Aiden's father dying and Hugo loses his right hand.

More facts :

Aiden's green ribbon in that ref sheet is from one of Hugo's dresses. Even when their hair got short they kept wearing it as a bracelet.

Aiden is from a lineage of mind witches (yeah its hypnosis basically). Their power impacts the mind. It can be used as an 'enhancement' (making someone believe they're stronger than they are or making them unable to feel pain), or to create illusions only the affected person can see. Mind control or brainwashing is possible but takes a lot of energy and practice. And each members has their set of rules to be able to use such power.

They can also like.. See the flow of magic and some other stuff. But that's a thing for most witches

Yong and Nuru are witches as well (so I could keep their original eye colors). I haven't fully decided on what kind exactly yet- but I have ideas.

Aiden does learn how to use their magic a bit better and sometimes use it on their patient as an anesthesia. They also use magic to help Hugo and Varian fall asleep every now and then.

They don't like lying but they're good at turning the truth in their favor. They enjoy playing with words.

This is for the main universe/timeline ! Because I have many AUs and 'what ifs' and since I keep on rewriting things I kept old versions as 'other timelines'- voilaa

[decompose1]

yknow what sure lets talk about inanimate insanity. tell us more about salt and pepper

YAY! I LOVE TALKING ABOUT THEM!

I have analyzed these two so much, and they are really deeply interesting to me, and it's such a shame they're so overlooked by the majority of the fandom.

Interestingly enough, they work as both parallels and foils at the same time.

They are almost the same person at first glance. They like all the same things, talk the same way, act the same way.... etc. But it sort of begins to fall apart the closer you look.

Salt is boastful, bossy, overconfident, openly flirty... very sure of herself. In contrast, Pepper seems to take a back seat, though we aren't certain how willing that placement is. She comes off a lot more insecure, but we know she's quite possessive and jealous, and many believe her to be the "brains" behind the takeover in Alternate Reality Show, with Salt acting more as the... pretty face who took the credit. They are both filled with deep flaws and insecurities that will explode with too much pressure, but they are both trying, and i think both of them really do just want love and friendship, but they've got that nasty bratty way of going about it. They try. They absolutely try. But they're so quick to lose themselves once they gain an ounce of power.

Salt is more open about her power trip, but Pepper definitely seems a lot... sneakier. Take this clip from Alternate Reality Show:

[ID: Image 1: Salt stands holding her face, which is cracked from Pepper hitting her. Pepper stands in the background, angry. Image 2: Salt turns to Pepper. Captions- Salt: "- You've threatened me before." Image 3: Salt pointing at the camera, towards Pepper (off-screen) Captions- Salt: "But YOU don't have the GUTS!" Image 4: Pepper punching Salt in the face, shattering her face, breaking a tooth, and sending her backwards into the black hole (off-screen), killing her. Image 5: Pepper motioning towards where Salt had died. Captions- Pepper: "-Y-YOU ALL SAW! I TRIED TO SAVE HER, Image 6: Pepper (side view) Captions- Pepper: "but she had to go!" END ID]

This implies Pepper HAS made threats within the timeline of ARS, but Salt had largely ignored them, leaving Pepper's anger to fester for who knows how long. Eventually, pushed too far, Pepper snaps and kills her under pressure.

What's interesting about this is that Pepper still attempts to cover it up, even though everyone saw what she did. She claims she tried to save Salt, when she didn't. I like to think this is sort of two things- saving face in the public eye, for one, but also, this sort of... instinctual loyalty she has to Salt. She doesn't want to admit that she did something terrible to Salt, because for so long, they've been inseparable. Pepper was her ever-loyal-bestie.

... I definitely think Pepper's feelings towards Salt are something romantic. I think she loves Salt very much, but at the same time, resents her. Salt is either blissfully unaware or in sharp denial, and i see her as a closeted lesbian going through some nasty comphet. And i do have backing for this!

Salt really only cared about Pepper for the first bit of season 1. She was so devastated by Pepper's elimination that she wouldn't even move. OJ was simply the first person to have any real conversation with her after that.

You know how i said Pepper relies on Salt? Well, Salt relies on Pepper, too. Salt is an incredibly dependent, insecure person deep down, and i think she feels she needs SOMEONE to cling to. So when OJ spoke to her, she became attached very quickly, even though she didn't even really seem to like him when he first spoke to her.

I think OJ, widely viewed as this very normal, even, reasonable person was subconsciously viewed by Salt as a blank slate to project her feelings onto. I think she misdirected a lot of her feelings and they became these weird het fantasies where OJ was just the perfect ideal Guy for her to like, because that's what she knows to be correct. I think she'd tell you she's straight if you asked. I don't think that's true. And i think that Pepper resents Salt and OJ and everyone else and maybe herself for this stupid confusing mess.

Salt and Pepper are meant for each other. They'll inevitably tear each other apart. They're in love. They'd do anything for each other. Salt is taking her for granted. They would die for each other. Pepper is possessive. They'd sooner die than truly separate. They're going to ruin each other. They are perfect together. Salt will never admit it. Etc

[darkacua]

Regrets AU Riddle ver.

Remember the Regrets AU I'm writing? Well, my brain told me that it would be interesting to do it but with the other guardians of the houses, and while I rambled about how the story would be and how it would change depending on each character and their personality, Riddle's ended up becoming a damn comedy.

And since I can't get it out of my head, I'll write here to be able to leave that alone and continue with the blessed chapters of Regrets that I have long overdue.

The opening story is basically the same as with Vil's.

Two girls arrive, one is "good" (again it will be Yuu) and the other "bad" (let's call it Ume just because I like the way it sounds), the bad one starts dating one of the guys that Overblot (in this case Riddle) and because of the brainwashing that makes them all good, they end up killing Ume.

The difference between Vil and Riddle is that the latter has no way of knowing that Ume didn't really die and simply returned to his home believing that it was all a dream.

This is when things get weird for everyone else.

The beautiful, cruel and selfish Yuu causes a thousand and one disasters to happen out of the sheer desire for power, fame and admiration.

She took advantage of her connections and friendships with people of power to attend political events where she somehow ends up starting a war between all living races.

She obviously denies any blame and tries to charm her way out of trouble.

These problems last for years, and lead many of her former friends and lovers to turn their backs on her, as they try to fix the problems she caused and thus prevent the destruction of her homes.

Lilia literally forces Malleus to cut all ties with Yuu for the sake of her people, as this lovesick fool was the most reluctant to admit that she was the cause of one of the greatest misfortunes in history.

Even Kalim understood that faster than our poor Tsunotaro.

Our former Guardian of Heartslabyul continues his life in the best way he can, completely ignoring the existence of Yuu and Grimm, those along with the name of his former girlfriend are completely forbidden around him, just for very different reasons.

The first two make him have fits of rage that usually end with something going up in flames, while the last one makes him cry like a baby and ends with Chenya and Trey comforting the poor guy for hours.

Riddle never commits suicide as Vil did, he marries a woman he does not love, he never has children for fear of repeating his mother's mistakes, he reaches old age and dies of natural causes but carrying all his life with the weight and pain of having been complicit in the death of his girlfriend.

And it's when our little red tyrant dies that the world resets.

Everyone reappears at the entrance ceremony, everyone is confused about what happened, but they think it's a miracle, a dream or something.

While everyone is talking about what could be happening, Kalim approaches Riddle and advises him to try to fix things with Ume this time, since he knows how much he suffered from her death.

Which many believe is a good idea, since with everything seen in the future, it was more than clear that Yuu had made all those present look like idiots and it was very likely that Ume had never committed any crime against Yuu and Grimm.

If only Riddle knew what the hell they're talking about.

Everyone is literally stared at as if they are sick or have grown a second head.

Riddle, Yuu, Grimm and Ume are the ONLY ones that returned with no memory of what happened in the past/future.

A meeting of all living (and not so living) beings that are part of the school is held, only excluding those who do not know about the regression, to discuss what could have caused such an event and how to prevent future misfortunes from stopping.

It was concluded that somehow Riddle is the reason they came back and every time he dies horribly or unhappily they return to the entrance ceremony.

This hypothesis was proven (sadly) more than once. Who would have imagined that an Overblot can really kill a person? Or that he can really die of a broken heart? (Leona accepts the blame for that bad decision, although she would like them to stop complaining about it)

From then on it's a group effort between almost all of the NRC alumni to prevent Yuu from gaining any kind of popularity and try to get the little red tyrant romantically together with Ume.

Riddle doesn't understand anything.

Why are they so insistent that he MUST get along with one of the non-magic girls who came by accident?

His whole Overblot disaster happens, as much as they wanted to stop it, it's necessary for his character development.

One funny thing is that neither Riddle nor Ume know how to hide their crush, they're so obvious it's painful to watch.

The day our little queen decides to confess, the school literally splits up into several teams to make sure said confession goes off without a hitch.

The most important (and tiring at the end of the day) teams are the ones that actively help Riddle, the one that gets Ume safely to the rendezvous point, and the one that stops Yuu from trying to ruin the confession. .

At the end somehow there's a sodden Riddle along with a mangled bouquet of roses, an Ume covered in dirt, leaves, and (for some reason) peacock feathers, along with what appears to be a Grimm wrapped in a makeshift straitjacket. .

Crowley and all the other dorm heads are mentally preparing for the catastrophe to come, only it never comes.

All of Riddle's stress drains from her body as Ume starts laughing and picks up one of the few intact roses left in the mess of bouquets in her hands.

Only the Big Seven know how, but a new couple at NRC joins that day and it's more than reason to celebrate.

Now they just have to find a way to prevent Yuu from poking her nose into said relationship.

Español Bajo el corte

¿Recuerdan el AU Arrepentimientos que estoy escribiendo? Pues mi cerebro me dijo que sería interesante hacerlo pero con los demás guardianes de las casas, y mientras divagaba sobre cómo sería y cambiaría la historia dependiendo de cada personaje y su personalidad, el de Riddle se terminó convirtiendo en una maldita comedia.

Y como no me lo puedo sacar de la cabeza escribiré aquí para poder dejar eso en paz y continuar con los benditos capítulos del Arrepentimientos que tengo bastante atrasados.

La historia inicial es básicamente lo mismo que con la de Vil.

Dos chicas llegan, una es “buena” (otra vez será Yuu) y la otra “mala” (vamos a decirle Ume solo porque me gusta como suena), la mala empieza a salir con alguno de los chicos que Overblot (en este caso Riddle) y por el lavado de cerebro que les hace a todos la buena, terminan matando a Ume.

La diferencia entre Vil y Riddle, es que este último no tiene ninguna forma de saber que Ume no murió realmente y simplemente regresó a su hogar creyendo que todo fue un sueño.

Aquí es cuando las cosas se ponen raras para todos los demás.

La bella, cruel y egoísta de Yuu hace que mil y un desastres ocurran por el puro deseo de poder, fama y admiración.

Aprovechó sus conexiones y amistades con gente de poder para asistir a eventos políticos en los que de alguna forma termina empezando una guerra entre todas las razas vivientes.

Ella obviamente niega toda culpa e intenta usar sus encantos para salir del problema.

Estos problemas duran años, y llevan a muchos de sus antiguos amigos y amantes a darle la espalda, en lo que intentan arreglar los problemas que ella causó y así evitar la destrucción de sus hogares.

Lilia literalmente obliga a Malleus a cortar todos los lazos con Yuu por el bien de su gente, ya que este tonto enamorado era el mas reacio a admitir que ella era la causante de una de las mayores desgracias de la historia.

Incluso Kalim entendió eso más rápido que nuestro pobre Tsunotaro.

Nuestro antiguo Guardián de Heartslabyul continúa su vida de la mejor forma que puede, ignorando por completo la existencia de Yuu y Grimm, esos junto con el nombre de su antigua novia están completamente prohibidos alrededor de él, solo que por razones muy distintas.

Los dos primeros lo hacen tener ataques de ira que usualmente terminan con algo prendido en llamas, mientras que el último lo hace llorar como un bebé y termina con Chenya y Trey consolando al pobre por horas.

Riddle nunca comete suicidio como lo hizo Vil, este se casa con una mujer que no ama, nunca llega a tener hijos por miedo a repetir los errores de su madre, llega a la vejes y muere por causas naturales pero cargando toda su vida con el peso y dolor de haber sido complice de la muerte de su novia.

Y es cuando nuestro pequeño tirano rojo muere, que el mundo se reinicia.

Todos vuelven a aparecer en la ceremonia de entrada, todo el mundo está confundido sobre que paso, pero creen que es un milagro, un sueño o algo así.

Mientras todos hablan sobre que podría estar pasando Kalim se acerca a Riddle y lo aconseja para que esta vez intente arreglar las cosas con Ume, ya que sabe lo mucho que sufrió por su muerte

Lo cual muchos creen que es una buena idea, ya que con todo lo visto en el futuro, era más que claro que Yuu los había hecho pasar por idiotas a todos los presentes y era muy probable que Ume nunca haya cometido ningún crimen en contra de Yuu y Grimm.

Si tan solo Riddle supiera de qué diablos están hablando.

Literalmente, se les queda viendo a todos como si estuvieran enfermos o les hubiera crecido una segunda cabeza.

Riddle, Yuu, Grimm y Ume son los ÚNICOS que regresaron sin ningún recuerdo de lo ocurrido en el  pasado/futuro.

Se hace una reunión de todo ser vivo (y no tan vivo) que sea parte de la escuela, únicamente excluyendo a los que no saben de la regresión, para discutir que pudo haber causado tal suceso y el cómo evitar que las desgracias futuras paren.

Se llegó a la conclusión de que, de alguna forma, Riddle es la razón de que regresaron y cada vez que el muera de forma horrible o infeliz regresaran a la ceremonia de entrada.

Dicha hipótesis fue comprobada (tristemente) más de una vez ¿Quién hubiera imaginado que un Overblot realmente puede matar a una persona? ¿O que realmente se puede morir por el corazón roto? (Leona acepta la culpa de esa mala decisión, aunque le gustaría que dejaran de reclamar por eso)

De ahí en adelante es un esfuerzo grupal entre casi todos los alumnos de NRC para evitar que Yuu gane algún tipo de popularidad y tratar de juntar románticamente al pequeño tirano rojo junto con Ume.

Riddle no entiende nada.

¿Por qué insisten tanto que DEBE de llevarse bien con una de las chicas sin magia que llegaron por accidente?

Ocurre todo su desastre del Overblot, por mucho que quisieran detenerlo, es necesario para su desarrollo de personaje.

Una cosa graciosa es que ni Riddle ni Ume saben esconder su enamoramiento, son tan obvios que es doloroso de ver.

El día que nuestra pequeña reina decide confesarse, la escuela se divide literalmente en varios equipos para asegurarse de que dicha confesión ocurra sin ningún problema.

Los equipos más importantes (y cansados al final del día) son los que se encargan de ayudar activamente a Riddle, el que hace que Ume llegue sana y salva al punto de encuentro y el equipo que se encarga de evitar que Yuu intente arruinar la confesión.

Al final de alguna forma hay un Riddle empapado junto con un ramo de rosas destrozado, una Ume cubierta en tierra, hojas y (por alguna razón) plumas de pavo real, junto con lo que parece ser un Grimm envuelto en una camisa de fuerza improvisada.

Crowley y todos los demás jefes de dormitorio se están preparando mentalmente para la catástrofe que está por venir, solo que esta nunca llega

Todo el estrés de Riddle se va de su cuerpo cuando Ume se empieza a reír y toma una de las pocas rosas intactas que quedan en el desastre de ramos que hay en sus manos.

Solo los siete grandes saben cómo, pero ese día se une una nueva pareja en NRC y es más que razón para celebrar.

Ahora solo les queda encontrar una forma de evitar que Yuu meta su nariz en dicha relación.

[zimithrus1]

Could I please have 7, 17, 22, 29, 38 for the writing ask? 💚

You absolutely can! 💚

7. Your Favorite AO3 Tag ⭐

That's probably a tie between hurt/comfort and sick fic! Sometimes the two go hand-in-hand, but most of the time they're neck-and-neck with each other! XD Either way, they're the go-to when it comes to writing/reading!

17. Past or Present Tense? Why? ⌛

Present tense for me. I used to write past tense for a long time, but I hated how far away I felt from my own writing with it. Once I read a really good present-tense fic a few years ago, I made the switch. It grabbed me so well and really made me feel like I was truly there watching it all unfold! That was something I wanted for my writing, so I made it happen and now there's no going back for me lol! 😂

22. What is it about watching the same two idiots falling in love over and over again?

What isn't it about?? 😂 The familiarity, the comfort, the opportunities and possibilities, the safety. It's everything 🌟 It's like a favorite food - you cook/buy it for yourself when you're in the mood, just because you can, if you're feeling down and need a pick me up... it's something you can just jump right into knowing you're going to love it and not have any second thoughts about it. I know how it's going to play out and yet I don't at the same time. It's fun, it's relaxing, it's rousing and calming. An adventure I've been on countless times that never gets old. It's just, awesome 💚

29. What's the hardest thing about writing?

it's a tie between starting, and keeping my focus long enough! These days when I write it's been very hard to start and get in the groove. I overthink almost every sentence so it's hard to keep a good pace, which ties in with focus. I focus too hard and then after only writing like, 300 words my brain decides that's enough, and checks out! Man, I cannot crank out 14k word chapters anymore 😅 best I can do when I'm on a roll these days is 2k XD

38. 'This never happened' fix-it fics, or 'this happened but-' fix-it fics?

This answer depends on the source/fandom honestly! I've done both! In my oldest fandom I write a lot more 'this never happened', (eg: no my favorite character did not die, now here's a 125k+ fic where he's alive XD) but with some of my smaller ones or newer ones, I've entertained or thought about 'happened but-' fics! (eg: Tiger & Bunny - Kotetsu losing his power but what if it happened differently? haven't got around to that one yet but yknow XD)

Thank you very much for the asks @isleofair! 💚🌟💗 Sorry it took me a minute, life's been pretty busy for me lately! But they were a blast to answer!! ⭐

[eparch]

​Multi-Timeline Lore !

Part 1... maybe?

I don't know if I'll ever have the energy or brain power to actually make a comjc or a Big Damn Fic abt this so I've just written up some BIG LORE rambling that probably won't make sense to anyone + made a sketchy cover thingy for it-

I have multiple timelines/AUs and the main thread that ties them together is Scillareth's timeline (her people call it the Dawn world) allowing their Elder Dragons to rip open rifts through the Mists and into the other worlds to go eat their magic instead. They've dealt with the Elder Dragons by turning them into anime boys girls and enbies giving them new vessels to inhabit that Scillareth has some power over and for the most part, they're kind of okay with the arrangement (it's complicated feelings for everyone involved) but mostly because they get to do whatever they want in other worlds.

And naturally the Commanders and the Pacts and the Dragon's Watches of the other worlds are not gonna let this happen without fighting back, to varying degrees of success depending on the Commander and which dragon went for their world. Story wise this would start out focused on Lucilaeh's timeline ("Dusk") first, where they're fairly successful at holding a line against Dawn Zhaitan who is invading Sylvan Orr and manipulating the Risen once more.

Things suddenly get personal for Luci because Scillareth starts sending her brother Clerestion into various worlds to assassinate other Commanders, but rather than go for Luci, he kidnaps Benedicuore—her beloved brother—for unknown reasons instead. At this point though they don't really have a good understanding of what's happening and Ben just goes missing—what changes that is @/icebrooding's commander, Kaushue from "Gloom", falling through a rift with Dawn Trahearne in tow being chased by Awakened. Luci helps fight off the Awakened, closes the portal, and then finally gets answers out of Dawn Trahearne about the sudden return of Zhaitan and where Ben was taken to!

(Dawn Trahearne defected from Scillareth's Pact after years of being puppeted by her, disgusted with the way she used the Pact to forcibly "unite" the five races and how she went behind his back on killing Zhaitan. A few rising heroes of the Dawn world—Malyck, Braham, Rox—helped him escape and go on the run. Kaushue had been world hopping for Reasons, encountered him and then the two of them were discovered by Awakened soldiers...who are there because Scilla "teamed up" with Joko—)

Luci won't stand for all of this of course. She wants her brother back but she also very much does not like what Scilla's doing with the Elder Dragons on principle. Especially since the Dusk timeline successfully ended the Dragon Cycle, so she knows how things could have gone, could be better, despite all the sacrifices her world had to make. So Luci decides to use Dawn Zhaitan's portal to jump into the Dawn timeline and start her new heroic quest.

The Pact launches an assault, she and Kaushue and whoever from Dragon's Watch sneak behind enemy lines, etc—they successfully subdue Dawn Zhaitan and make him open a rift. But when Luci and Kaushue go through (DW stay behind to keep an eye on Zhaitan), they find themselves in the Mists instead, which is where they discover they're not the only Commanders officially caught up in all this.

This is where they encounter our other Commanders! So far that'd be:

Bikki (Isekai Commander) and Lily from "Prism", time travelers in their own world from 1000 years in the future who were sent back to become co-commanders by an unknown person. They are there because they found an unattended rift and went through to investigate. These two are pretty much the most level headed Commanders present and are fairly enthusiastic about getting to work with other Commanders and get to the root of the inter-timeline problems. Lily a little more than Bikki. Their world, strangely, was not attacked by any of the dragons, so who knows where that rift came from?

Nepenth (@/icebrooding's courtier) and Ardant from "Torment", our horrible courtiers who hate each other and can barely work together, from their commanders AU—their world was attacked by Dawn Mordremoth and they're here because Dragon's Watch hates them both and someone (Jory. It was 100% Jory) pushed them through a portal in the hopes they could both go away permanently and also take care of the problem at the same time. Ardant is mostly interested in getting out of there and saving his own skin. Nepenth frequently has a gun pointed at him and likely chained themselves together again (first time was in HoT) and has figured he'd see the entire thing through to the end.

Dosa (Branded Salad) from "Crystal" who is probably the strangest one to be here, being a Sylvari Commander who was somehow Branded (answer: was Awakened first). She's here not out of a sense of heroism and stopping the world ending threats, she's here because Dawn Kralkatorrik is encroaching on her world, where her Kralkatorrik won and she's been working with him to eliminate the remaining dragons while he continues to eat up the Mists of their timeline, and she wants to put a stop to the external forces.

This list isn't wholly complete because it'd definitely grow as I get more ideas for Commanders and it is skewed heavily toward Sylvari at the moment and I want to fix that, but these are what I have at the moment.

It's not too fleshed out past this point but the idea is that this group spends a little time in the Mists between worlds, working on finding a way into the Dawn world (Luci has realized that Zhaitan likely tricked them). They do meet various familiar faces along the way but they only make actual progress when they rescue and meet one more Sylvari who calls himself a Commander too—Yulan, a powerful Chronomancer from "Midnight" who lost his sister to the Dragonvoid, and has been traveling the Mists between worlds for some time now. Yulan explains that he's seen each of the Dawn timeline's dragons as they travel to and fro, always coming from the same locations within the Mists, and suggests using the next dragon's rift (probably Jormag idk yet) to finally enter the Dawn timeline.

and...that is pretty much what I've got plotted out other than some vague ideas of where things might go: they probably meet Dawn Joko somewhere in there—could he retake control of Branded-Awakened? Especially one from other timelines the way the Elder Dragons have been taking control of other timelines' dragon minions? Who knows!!! Dosa will find out. They'll also meet the Dawn timeline's group of heroes that do not like what Scilla is doing, basically the Destiny's Edge + the would-be Dragon's Watch + Malyck. They can't explicitly fight the Pact since things seem to have generally gone for the better with the Elder Dragons under control, but most of them just kind of feel like...this isn't right. And with Malyck, they'd definitely meet his mom tree in this timeline because I have that character planned out. Also Malyck is Vlast's Champion here btw and Vlast is probably around? Maybe? I still need to work out too what's going to happen to Aurene but I definitely want her to be involved somehow!

What I do know for sure is that they will eventually discover that Scillareth and her Elder Dragons are in fact being manipulated by someone else who will be the real final boss, but who that is...is gonna have to stay a mystery for now :V