#it feels the most brio

[coldshrugs]

HOW are you dealing with the new expression bones

for me and the type of gposing i do, less is more when it comes to expressions. still, i've tried to set myself up for success when adjusting them, so i'll share what i've got here.

quick preface: i use ktisis to pose. i've seen the layout for anam, but haven't used it, and i find brio's posing a bit too finicky for my liking. i use it for supplemental features, but not posing.

blue tips will be pretty accessible, and red tips are for those who don't mind fucking around and finding out, or putting in a bit more effort.

Filter the Visible Bones in Your List

No brainer, right? Looking at the left is a nightmare.

Do yourself a favor and only activate the group you’re working with, like the mouth group on the right.

Make an Expression Pack (or several!)

When it comes to expressions, the best advice I can give is: go through the vanilla expression emotes with your character and save them as .pose files. It’s a little time-consuming, but it WILL be worth it if you’re making enhanced poses often enough. And you don’t have to stop there–if there’s a full-on emote with an expression you adore, pause it during the expression and save it the same way. You can load that face onto other poses.

A note on pre-made expressions with the new face bones: Expressions will not carry across races, nor will they carry well across faces of the same race. This is particularly noticeable for the mouth. For that reason, you may want to label your expression folders like this:

Gender > Race > Face –or– Female > Viera > Face 4

Eye Movement with Sibling Linking

This has always been the go-to, but I think it’s good to share. There’s a button that lets you move one bone while also affecting its sibling bone (for example, you can move the left eye, and the right eye will move too).

“Link Rotation” will move the bones in the same direction. You will use this the most. “Mirror Rotation” will move them in opposite directions, but the amount of movement will be the same.

I use this for eyes and eyelids to ensure I’m getting even movements and looks across the board (like below), but it works for ears, limbs, hair, you name it! If there’s a left and a right version of the bone, they can be moved in tandem.

Mouth Movement with Position

With the new mouth bones, I’ve found position to be far more helpful than rotation. Switch your transform mode to position, zoom way in, and lift those lip corners, or shift them in or out.

Here's the expression we just made from a blank face!

Adjust Some Settings

Consider adjusting your settings so that the bones and their connecting lines fade or disappear while you’re mid-movement, so you can see things more clearly. Some folks don't want to dabble in settings at all, which is fine!! But if you have the time and inclination, try it out!

Try Bone Offsetting

This is a lifesaver. You can adjust the position of each dot, for a more clear view of them. This takes some time and patience, but I found it to be worth it because I'm always on that damn gpose.

ESPECIALLY useful for the eyes, where the bones’ default state is stacked on top of each other. I’ve also adjusted the abdomen/waist/lumbar area and viera ear bones to my taste.

Bone Offsets only affect the specific race and gender you adjust them on. Here you can see the pile of dots on the unadjusted fem miqo's eyes, and then the fem viera's bone dots spread out to more legible placements.

Hopefully this was somewhat helpful! Feel free to shoot questions my way anytime! 💗

[zylphiacrowley]

Good afternoon! I came upon your (lovely!) cowboy gpose with Eren. Where both figures are back to back, with a hat between their faces in an illusion of a kiss. I'd love to do something similar for my boy. Is it an existing pose - or, if not, would you be comfortable explaining how you made it? A mod for the hat itself, perhaps? Either way, thank you for your time!

Hi! First of all, thank you. :3 I'm still really proud of that one! For the hat, you can either use this mod that will turn everything but gear invisible (I used this for a set where I needed a bracelet to be visible and appear as if my catte was holding it in his hands), or if that's to much of a hassle to set up, if you're using Anamnesis (and maybe ktisis? I've never actually used ktisis myself tho, so I'm unsure if it can do that) you can load in a character put whatever hat you want to use on them, then turn everything but the head invisible and as long as you don't need to see the underside, you can just pose as needed from there (and ignore the floating head attached to the hat lmao, if it's not visible in the shot, it doesn't exist!) As far as posing goes, 99% of my poses I make myself and I have a really bad habit of not saving them. OTL BUT! I can tell you that I did it entirely in Brio, but you should be able to achieve something similar regardless of what posing system you're working with.

For the pose itself, I usually try to pose the main focus of the shot first and get that lined up then tweak everything else around that. I'm pretty sure I just worked off of the standard idle stance pose that characters are in when you load them in with Brio and then tweaked until it looked right for that one (a tip I can give, for anyone wanting to start gposing is, unless you're making it to upload and share, only pose what you can see and just make it look good from the angle you're taking the shot at). I know that I found a spot where I could have them both leaning against a fence, turned them both in the direction I wanted their bodies to be facing then sort of kept tweaking the spine, head and neck bones to twist them towards each other until I got them to look at each other and also look natural (I also posed a rough expression just so I have a better idea of what things will look like at the end). After that, I moved the invisible character wearing the hat to where I wanted it and then moved arms, hands and fingers to line up properly. And then my final step for most of my posing is to fine-tune expressions. I hope that my explanation helped a little. Sorry I don't have a pose file I can just link or send to you. I would love to see what you come up with tho if you feel comfortable sharing if/when you do it!

[banduckoot]

Headcanons of how the N. Team deal with/act while having a crush on someone?

Cortex isn't good with feelings. This unfortunately includes love. If he has a crush on you, he will be in fervent denial about it, and at first he'll probably be harsh towards you as a defense mechanism. He doesn't want to get hurt for the umpteenth time in his life. The universe is a video game, and he's the bad guy. He knows this. He is destined to be punished by the universe over and over again. It's best he convinces you he hates you so that he doesn't have to love you from afar and feel heartache. But... if he's feeling a little more emotional than usual, especially if you're alone with him... he may say or do something to show he cares. Other than that, the only way he can open up to his crush if they assure him he's not going to be punished by the universe again. That he actually gets to be happy for once. Cortex claims he doesn't need love, but he's aching for it deep down.

N. Brio hates having crushes on people. HATES IT. He hates how vulnerable it makes him feel. How his mind turns to mush because of it. Love is a distraction from his goal to get revenge on Cortex! He doesn't need anyone! He's just fine on his own! He doesn't need affection, either... it could turn into abuse any second! He keeps telling himself this, growing prickly and defensive whenever his crush is around. Despite this, however, he is surprisingly much better at showing he cares than Cortex is. N. Brio always plays it off like it's nothing, whenever he chooses to do something nice for his crush. Don't think anything about it, he's just being a decent evil person. What? Stop smiling at him, it's making him feel weird!

N. Gin is very eager whenever he has a crush on someone. He wants to learn everything about that person. He wants to know their likes, their dislikes, EVERYTHING. I hate to say it, but he may stalk you. Not out of malice or wanting to be harmful, but because he wants to know exactly how to make you happy so you don't end up rejecting him when he confesses. The missile lodged in his cranium makes him feel extremely insecure. It's the reason so many people looked down on him, even though he needs it to live and can't remove it. If you're N. Gin's crush, you'll need to be patient and set clear boundaries with him. He'll respect them, I promise. He just needs gentle correction.

N. Tropy is a major flirt with anyone he's interested in. Make no mistake, this man knows he's attractive and won't hesitate to use his charisma and good looks to reel you in. Unfortunately, don't expect Tropy to be interested in just anyone. The person he loves most is himself; he sees most other people as beneath him and not worthy of him. If he happens to develop an interest in someone else, it's someone he sees as an equal, and such people are rare and hard to come by. And god forbid that person proves to be beneath him after all... he'll drop them faster than a hot plate from a microwave and not even think twice about it.

[michelleelizabethtanner]

So obviously, we know that Beth and Rio hooked up a few times… sexually. But what do you think are your favourite non-sexual moments of tenderness between Beth and Rio?

Or whatever you find most meaningful coming from like a non-verbal or basically anything that’s not sexual standpoint. I find their communication so unique but I know a lot of it likely goes over my head.

I’ve sat on this for a bit, Anon. Sorry about that. It was in part because I was using all my Brio time to finish that dang fic I’ve been fighting with for over a year, but also because I feel like I need a rewatch and a refresh on all the details. I haven’t seen any part of the show since last October when I watched a few episodes while visiting a fandom friend (so we basically HAD to do it, amirite?), and I feel like I’m forgetting a lot of the details and just remember the general vibes. I agree, the magic of Brio is in the unspoken. Or rather, unverbalized. Sometimes they understand each other perfectly regardless, and sometimes they don’t (and someone gets shot on accident.)

I’ve named this scene before, but I really love their little discussion about Smurfing. I have more detail about why I love it in this post from a while back which tumblr for whatever reason isn’t letting me embed in a link so here is the whole entire thig https://www.tumblr.com/michelleelizabethtanner/704994865351622656/girl-i-love-all-your-analysis-and-meta-and?source=share

That post also has mention of some of my other favorite moments between them. Some sexual, some not. But always romantic.

If you think about it, they’ve had so few real interactions between them that almost all of them are laden with meaning. There are your obvious ones like “the dubby” and all of 4.08 and his broken little “you just didn’t choose me.” (Whyyyy can’t I link back to my old posts on these topics, this is so annoying!) But there’s also these quiet sideways little glances between them. The dropped eyes. The missed moments when one is pointedly ignoring that the other is watching them.

The “I’m worth it” when he finds out the feds made her an offer, followed by his little shoulder touch with an offer of the whole bottle of her bourbon as a thank you gift when he thought maybe she’d chosen him. So reminiscent of that empathetic little shoulder touch and an offer to drink on his tab from back before things went so bad between them, when she’d told him her husband took her children. That history! Their shared understanding and him showing her both times that he understood her position because maybe he’d been in both those positions himself before.

The quiet “how’d you get that?” when he shows up all embarrassed with his black eye which he’ll never tell her he got over her.

The hurt and bitter “you, me, we – it’s just business,” when he knows they’re nothing of the sort. When he’d killed a woman and made Beth watch to hurt her, and when he couldn’t bear to watch her cry afterwards. And the fact that she’d even sought him out to cry to him at all in that moment. She had no one else. Annie and Ruby both sought comfort in those they loved. And so did Beth, I suppose. She held it all in until Rio showed up and despite his anger she showed him her vulnerability and her tears. And he couldn’t even look at her.

I guess I’m kind of partial to the heavier moments tonight haha. Which ones do you like or that resonate with you most?

[stephdragonness]

hey steph How do you work with most N team and minions most the day?

((i'll just write down most interaction she has most around when working with N team. possible draw up scenes sometime but just now a list.))

*Steph the Sorceress pov

Doctor Neo Cortex "i think its pretty open secret how my relationship with the doctor is like, dont think i need to say much."

Dingodile "well dingo not always around, there times go out lunch and bump into big fella, he reminded me in lot like a dragon so im comfortable around dingodile brash manner when other put off by his apperance, always nice for a chat on recipes of cooking, even tho his particular recipes do have things no one else can digest unlike dingos crocodilian nature to digest most things foul... but his roast penguin is pretty tasty on the menu."

Nefarious Tropy "certainly a interesting fella, no doubt handsome human, but our first meeting when i was in human form, he made mistake of thinking i was some sort payed escort when he heard i was dating the doctor... hmm so things left very sour in my mouth about him for while but we do have have talks of intellectual manner time to time.. prideful man and see way he very confident in his work."

Uka Uka "honestly, i do not trust or like this dark entity.. he try's order me like a minion even though i don't work for him as i contract Allie to Dr. Cortex and not to uka uka so he has no power over me, I buttheads to many time him as only barrier between him and doc. after one docs schemes where he was 'milked' for his dark mojo he been keeping his distance for now."

Komodo Brothers "not lot times i get meet the brothers, they tend stay away from doctors schemes these days and i heard they make living with fake jewellery selling in some markets. they occasionally called in by doctor for something big but its rare moment but i like there style, they reminded me of rouge types. joe is a smarts and clever with his swords and moe i find just sweetheart and they both seem be ok around my little zaran, see them play boardgames together."

N. Gin "Dr. Ngin was some first people on team to make me feel welcome, he has his moments but gentle manner so easy work with when i need help understanding tech of earth at times, he introduce me to games consoles so we moments racing games or those RPGs play together."

Nina Cortex "ah, Nina.. She was very hard warm up to and i know she is Docs beloved niece and so trying find some common ground with teenager too some time to build up, but we have our moments able bond, help out her assignments of school, girl talk on things she doesn't wish her uncle to know about.. so its slow for now i get it i might be aunty someday to her."

Nitrus Brio " a man who i mix feelings about, his bit ornery and fickle but i guess ok work with, we got along ok, I'm like to use alchemy and him a chemist so we have moments discuss on the matters at hand, but it comes do know being on competitive manner saying which is better alchemy of dragon realms or chemistry of earth. so our conversation get bit heated into debate."

Papu Papu "not much interactions with local tribal chief, when i do visit insanity island where the tribes are, i tend keep to my dragon form there as it dangerous with the locals now, so they keep wide birth from me... im sure i seen by them as omen of sorts."

Pinstripe Potoroo "ah, very confident and sleek dude, handsome face with vibes of street smarts, he like other minions who have there own life away from doc and only called in on big jobs. he always polite and a flirt when when i meet him first time. but nothing much as i don't have any work with him."

Ripper Roo "oooh yes the crazy one, apparently the blue roo took a liking to me when i came live in dr cortex current lair, followed me around lot times like a love sick puppy but he settle down now, he seem have moment of sanity and the his doctor persona pops out so easy deal with... but when the insane explosive manic comes out, the morning tnt blow up on the roof wake up calls are horrible to deal with.. cant sleep in some morning cause of whole place shaking."

Tiny Tiger "docs most loyal minion, he one stays living with doc and most time the bodyguard of the current lair, i find him be rather like big kid, i indulge moments play with checkers and help him with certain problems and so return he help with lot heavy lifting things when i need extra hand, real sweetheart."

Lab Assistant "these things are lil off putting, i kinda get they like golems with instructions for there AIs but its unsettling be around them cause remind me to much like dolls.. i don't like dolls as they creep me out."

"others i haven't meet cause most no longer work for dr cortex or moved on life, i heard the wild story's of characters like four legged racing aliens, living fruit ect ect.. but most who around islands to but that's another time to discuss about."

[bensonstablers]

I was tagged by @sothischickshe (thank you!!! 🥰) to answer 20 questions for writers:

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

205.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

609,094

3. What fandoms do you write for?

fandoms i've written for include:

Law & Order: SVU / L&O: Organized Crime

Good Girls

Gotham

Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel

Criminal Minds

Graceland

Stranger Things

The Walking Dead

Riverdale

Castlevania

Preacher

Four Brothers

Outer Banks

Gilmore Girls

while no longer available, in the past i've also written for:

Fast and Furious franchise

MCU / Marvel

Boondock Saints

Hocus Pocus

From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series

DC

(plus more i'm probably forgetting about)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Shared History (Good Girls/Brio)

Degree of Separation (Good Girls/Brio)

Milkshakes (Good Girls/Brio)

Deep Sense of Belonging (Good Girls/Brio)

Sacred Art of Kissing (Good Girls/Brio)

5. Do you respond to comments?

i read all of them for sure but i'm terrible sometimes at responding although i do try my best

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

ooft, okay. there's probably more than this but the following have major character death warnings that could very well be classed as angsty lmao:

i wrote this little ficlet: Gone (SVU, bensler/EO) in which a raid goes wrong and it's just pain from start to finish and then there's Until Long After She Takes Her Final Breath which is a Good Girls/brio fic in which their reunion at the beginning of season 3 goes very differently.

Why don't we go to Venus? is another Good Girls/brio fic in which the summary is: Rio killed her and that was supposed to be the end of it but Beth doesn’t seem to be done with him quite yet.

that one is probably my angstiest overall but the ending is probably the least angsty bit about it??? haha

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

honestly? i have no idea and i have no clue how to check 😭😂

8. Do you get hate on fics?

there was someone going around the SVU/OC fandom leaving weird hate comments on people's stuff (anonymously) and i got one but while it felt rude, it didn't feel like hate, but also it felt like it was supposed to be hateful, y'know? pretty sure i just deleted it though (i for sure ignored it) 😂

but generally, no. i'm lucky to say that i tend to avoid hate on social media and that includes fanfiction.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

i have done and the variety isn't huge but it's there? i guess?

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

i have done! beyond the obvious (where shows, etc share worlds), i did a boondock saints/the walking dead one (which was also co-written) because norman reedus stars in both 😂

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i'm aware of?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

again, not that i'm aware of

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

yes! the aforemention boondock saints/the walking dead fic was co-written on ff.net and i co-wrote (with the same person), a fast and furious fic.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

i lost myself a ton in writing olivia/elliot from svu/organized crime as well as beth/rio from good girls so they'd probably battle it out for top spot.

BUT

if i'm being brutally honest, my all time favourite ever to write were fast and furious ships 😂 especially the OGs (specifically vince and leon) with my OCs (although there were canon ships i loved to write too!). it was just so fun and freeing and i constantly think about it.

(i also loved when i wrote random marvel/mcu pairings, winterwitch was probably my number one for them and again, i think about it a lot)

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

i think it's unlikely i'll finish a lot but especially a degree of separation. i kind of hate it, i'm so sorry 😭😭😭

16. What are your writing strengths?

the thought of analysing my own writing right now sounds painful but two of the most common nice things people tell me is that: 1) they like how i write dialogue and 2) they like my writing style in general

(but of which i highly appreciate!)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

i don't do it enough?

nah. true but seriously, there's a ton, however, i do tend to waffle on and write something in several sentences that could have been just one 😭

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I don't think i've ever done it? if i have it'll be dialogue or whatever that's already in the show/move/etc

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The Fast and the Furious 🥰

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

still on ao3: it has to be Why don't we go to Venus? but also Knock First which is a Beth/Rio/Original Male Character threesome fic that was SO MUCH fun

no longer posted: a fic for The Fast and the Furious. it was a Vince/OC story. it was so much fun to write and it was one of my most popular back when i was posting on ff.net and i miss this story all the time (even though it's probably awful 😂) and always think about re-writing and posting it again on ao3

Tagging: @conscience-killer @constant-sinner @astarkey @xstrawmari @blainesebastian if ya like! (sorry if you've been tagged before!)

[green-nerd-showdown]

GREEN NERD SHOWDOWN ROUND 1 BATTLE 7

CILAN FROM POKEMON VS N. BRIO FROM CRASH BANDICOOT

propaganda

CILAN

Knows everything there is to know about everything within the canon of the anime.

Major fanboy energy. For cooking, for trains, for Pokémon. His wiki says “Cilan is a superbly eccentric boy. He enjoys the intricacies of life, making him cheerful almost all his parts in the anime. His connoisseur catchphrase is "It's evaluating time!" and honestly that takes his nerd score off the charts imho.

He's got so many different interests that he's so dang passionate about that you can't help but feel compelled to like him - the anime gives him infinitely more characterisation than the games could ever and I love that for him. He loves cinema. He loves trains. He loves fishing and science and all the fun stuff. There's a running gag where he becomes a detective for the episode and figures stuff out. In my honest opinion, he's arguably one of the silliest fellas in the entire Pokémon canon. In conclusion this silly green guy is so multifaceted with his billion interests outside of being a Pokémon Connoisseur - hot damn if he doesn't compel me with his possibly autistic charm.

N. BRIO

oh hes obsessive over his work, he's a man so obsessed with his creations and transformation potions that he's willing to experiment on himself. he's also pissed that dr. cortex stole his work on the evolvo-ray that turned all the main animal cast into furries that he goes out of his way to become his former colleague's sworn enemy in crash 2(though his allegiange changes depending on the game).

He's a pathetic sobbing meow meow ok

evil scientists are automatically huge nerds, he's obsessed with taking credit for his inventions which is totally valid of him but he also claims he wrote the bible. also he gets more green in his transformations which is fun

[rhadinesthes]

🐍About Me🐍

Got tagged by @n-brio, so let the fun begin~

Nickname: I've had several, but the most prominent are S_D (which I've used since I was twelve) and Snek. I like snakes. There's also the name people call me when they forget my name. Somehow it's always the same, so it must really suit me. XD

Sign:

Call Me Little Sunsign

Height: 5'5"

Last Google Search: I've been looking for a certain sausage cheese ball recipe, since I've lost the one I used last time.

Song Stuck In Your Head: Granite (Pendulum), since it's what's currently playing.

Followers: 2

Lucky Number: Killing Defiled Amygdala in only two tries was pretty lucky. That's gotta be my greatest Soulsborne moment.

Sleep:

Dream Job: I'm trying to write a story/book, so if I finished that and people enjoyed it, that'd be swell.

Wearing: Jack-o-lantern/bat/rat/ivy print leggings, socks, flip-flops house shoes, my middle school orchestra shirt, and a big, cozy jacket. And to think I just ragged on Fred for wearing flip-flops with socks.

Favorite Songs: So many. I'll pick some from a variety of styles: Legion (VNV Nation) Im Guten Im Bösen (Eisbrecher) Theremin [Club Edit] (Covenant) Respite on the Spitalfields (Ghost) Planet Hell (Nightwish) Honeythief (Halou) Das Neue Fleisch (Sielwolf) Resurrection (Christopher Young)

Favorite Instrument: Harpsichord. I love the sound.

Aesthetic: Does goth count? I've been into goth shit since, like, middle school. Otherwise, it's a hodgepodge. Feel free to peruse my Aesthetic tag.

Favorite Author: Lovecraft. I feel the burn of the torches and the sting of the pitchforks already. Honorable mention goes to my two favorite books: A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines by Janna Levin and The Hot Zone by Richard Preston.

Favorite Color: I like blues and greens a lot. And black.

Favorite Animal Sounds: My grandma has this saying: Whistling girls and crowing hens always come to no good ends. So you know what? Shout out to all the crowing hens.

Last Song: Benzin (Rammstein) just finished playing.

Last Series: I've been watching The Last of Us with someone who's super into the games. I never played them. The last shows I was really into were Resident Alien and Snowpiercer.

Random:

I don't have many people to tag, so... @the-hole-in-terzos-shoe, I tag you. Have fun~ :3 It'd be funny to tag @n-brio again and make it recursive. And anyone else who sees this, Kos has planted a tag inside your brain. Hail Mother Kos! Grant us tags!

[symphonybracket]

YouTube Links: Brahms 3, Tchaikovsky 1

Submitter's Comments:

Brahms 3 (2 submittals):

It's a staple! Imo Brahms' most complete work in terms of thematic development. Good times. Also the Bernstein recording will always be my fav

I love the journey this one takes me on. It never fails to cheer me up

Tchaikovsky 1 (1 submittal):

I put this a) bc I feel like this one is the least likely of my favorite symphonies to be submitted, b) it’s so atmospheric, and c) it’s just crazy beautiful and quintessential Tchaikovsky!

[riosnecktattoo]

Are you planning any stories right now? Any sports fics? Cause yours are so fucking great. I'm craving a baseball fic so bad. 😫 or any sports Rio AU. 🤔

I am! Very purposely didn't worry about writing at all for awhile after finishing Cherry Trees but I'm tinkering with my wips now 👍

They're not sports fic though haha. I literally know nothing about baseball so I know I would never write a baseball fic I'm afraid. The only sport I know super well, like it's my fave to watch and I have followed it for most of my life, is tennis, I would feel confident writing about that but I don't currently have an urge to write tennis Rio/Brio so can't see that happening. But ya never know

He'll be generally sporty in any upcoming fics though because he's a sporty guy! I'm always pushing the athlete Rio agenda

[banduckoot]

We had proposal and wedding headcanons, now it's time for the next step. Can we get some headcanons of the N Team as fathers?

You sent me this ask three years ago, and now I'm finally gonna answer it, whether you like it or not!

Dr. Neo Cortex:

Cortex would be a very loving father... who unfortunately has trouble expressing that love in a healthy manner, and has abusive means of discipline at his disposal, both due to how he was raised. Like, he cares about his children immensely, and will even spoil them with presents, but you'll rarely hear him say "I love you" or "I'm so proud of you". Usually he only says those things when he's feeling particularly emotional. He loves his children because he made them himself. They are his greatest creations... unfortunately he sees them as extensions of himself rather than their own people. So heaven forbid one of his kids turns their back on him for disciplining them too hard... or trying to give them a sad backstory that makes them turn evil like him... or some other twist of fate... he will consider it an act of betrayal and disown that child, and try to replace them with someone else. But that's just because he can't handle the heartbreak of knowing he screwed up, and he will miss that child every damn day of his life, no matter how much he denies it.

Dr. Nitrus Brio:

N. Brio never really thought about having kids, but considering how many mutants he created and helped care for (and he even helped care for Nina for a little while too), he already feels like a parent even before having one of his own. In other words, he'd be a natural at it. Would he be perfect at it? Oh god, no. N. Brio has so many issues from dealing with Cortex that likely still aren't resolved, and he's going to inflict those issues onto his little one. N. Brio's partner would have to come in and prevent this. But otherwise, N. Brio would be a good caretaker who'd be quite proud of his spawn. Though if Cortex also has a kid, N. Brio is absolutely going to try and make his child bully/humiliate them, as an act of revenge against Cortex. His partner should NOT let him do this and, instead, force N. Brio to attend therapy.

Dr. N. Gin:

N. Gin would be the most well-adjusted parent on the N. Team. He would actively support them and their interests, 1000%. He'd love them unconditionally and never hurt them intentionally. However, sometimes parenting stresses him out, and since he's prone to migraines from his missile, he needs to take breaks and let his partner take over while he recovers. I... have no other thoughts about N. Gin as a parent. Sorry this was so short.

Dr. Nefarious Tropy:

N. Tropy does not care for children. Not even a little bit. He used to be a child, and he hated it. He has dealt with other children growing up, and he hated them, too. However, if his partner wanted a child, he would absolutely have one with them, and he would love that child. He would be somewhat emotionally distant, because he has no real paternal instinct, but he would still make an effort to be there for his offspring and support them to the best of his ability. However, if that kid ends up becoming anywhere near as narcissistic as their dad, Tropy may have a new rival on his hands, and needless to say, he will not like that.

[koukouture]

I have decided that I want to be obnoxious so I will be compiling all of my favorite Gposes in this post + context as to why I like it so much.

Also I miss gposing (I'm unsubscribed bc I need to focus on school rn)

This is one of my oldest screenshots from when I first managed to get Anamnesis working on the FFXIV free trial. I've had this idea of Elysia in her dragoon armor falling above Ishgard ala Spiderverse style and I actually tried to draw it once but ofc it kinda sucked ass and this screenshot turned out wayyyyy better. Might just be one of my favorite gposes of all time tbh. Anyways after taking this I kinda came up with a little headcanon that it's a rite of passage for new dragoons to jump off the top floor of the Vault and kind of parkour their way all the way down to the lowest point of Ishgard. So uhhh yeah dragoon supremacy.

I love this one a lot just by virtue of how unexpectedly hard this pose was for me? I has also just finished Stormblood when I started getting into Gpose so I was super Zenos pilled at the time. Anyways, this pose was really hard because a) I was still learning Anamnesis and b) you have no idea how hard it is to make this height different work even when Zenos is lying down 💀

This one was a part of a little photoshoot partially inspired by the hand scene in Perfect Blue where the stalker pretends to hold Mima in the palm of his hand except with my OCs- but it turned out I like the solo shot of Elysia better because idk man LOOK AT IT. The aura is unmatched. Simple composition but it's still so perfect.

These are from the same photoshoot and I'm really only including them because of how hard it was to line this up. But yeah anyways I think I did pretty good.

Uhhhh I really love the Royal Menagerie okay??? Anyways yeah once again just finished Stormblood and I thought Zenos and Elysia deserved a fight scene with a lot of sexual tension so these are like hypothetical shots of that.

AGAIN WITH THE ZENOS- Yeah so- I actually have a lot of more romantic/intimate shots but I feel like they never turn out quite as cinematic as my uhhh normal/more action based screenshots I guess? But I really love this one because the lighting and framing seems so intimate~ Also Zenos being almost reverent with his beast? Hell yeah

Okay I cropped this one that's how you KNOW it's good. What can I say? I really love dragoons. Also I was kind of stressing about this shot because I was worried that maybe Estinien's lance wouldn't be held the right way (I was using the dragoon victory pose) but thank god it was because look at this shot!!!! I have a couple more dynamic pictures where they're both on top of the statue of Haldrath but I think this one takes the cake. Also I captioned this shot "A legacy written in blue- Ishgard's Azure Dragoons" and idk I think that eats.

Okay this one was sooooo fucking hard to get mostly because Anamnesis doesn't let you spawn in actors like Brio does so in most cases you only have your player character, carbuncle, and maybe a training dummy if you're doing a photoshoot in duty finder mode. In the overworld I actually had to use NPCs as extra actors and that is NOT fun. I trailed to nail a more horror-esque vibe but idk maybe this could have benefitted from a little tweaking in Photoshop or a better shader preset because I could NOT find one I liked for this photoshoot. Obviously I love the DRK quests because who doesn't??? Don't worry, I have more DRK themed screenies to come

Oooo okay so this one is inspired by my Hellbound AU fanfic and tldr all you need to know is that Haurchefant is in the Heaven's Ward and DEDICATED to his wife. How dedicated? How about breaking his oath of celibacy and being ready to throw away his nation for her?

Once again super simple composition but immensely impactful. A general tip for taking screenshots in video games is to keep your character either in the center or closer to one of the corners of the frame AND NEVER OFF TO ONE SIDE KIND OF HOVERING IN THE MIDDLE (unless they are framed by something closer to the camera or if there's another character to help draw the gaze/balance the picture) Another things I guess for gpose specifically is to really think about the way your character's outfit will look in the environment. Do you want them to match or really stand out? I should probably make a post of dedicated gpose tips no? Anyways- I really love this one because she just looks so ominous lmao. Btw this is L'hamara! She's not a WoL OC but I still think about my lesbian bunny girl constantly.

Oh Zenos is here again. I promise I ship Elysia with other characters Zenos just has better screenshot potential. Yeah so I think Zenos should have skewered WoL Sephiroth style.

Mmmm okay I know I have a cropped version of this laying around somewhere but little known fact about me is that I LOVE Nier Automata so after I finished Shadowbringers before ANYTHING else I did the Nier raids STAT. The white haired girl is named Saji btw- she's my friend's OC and Elysia's (sometimes) girlfriend :)

God I wish I had nicer screenshots of my other WoL Xia but I don't think I have any cool ones :(. Anyways please perceive my stylish kitty cat daughter and her loser (affectionate) boyfriend. I don't really post about her and I should change that lmao- I keep thinking about how hard it would be on her as a literal teenager being the WoL. I need to do more stuff for her man.

Another cropped one so it bangs ofc. As you can see, I got some mods for Elysia which is really just using C+ to edit her face and hair bones a little lmao. I captioned this one "Hades could not help but hope- for he saw her in the folly of man" which I think is a BANGER fucking line. Something about WoL ultimately proving to him that sundered souls ARE a people worth living... it gets me man. Sometimes it just takes a girl that looks like your dead situationship from 12000 years ago to make you realize that all life is sacred. I will say though I do wish that there was a neat water shadow while in Amarot. I think there's one in other parts of the Tempest but don't quote me on that. I just wanna sell the underwater vibes sometimes yk?

Ugh these... I told you I had more DRK screenshots. This was actually for the entry of this glamour on Eorzea collection and obviously I took versions without the mod but come on man... my girl deserves her luscious long locks. Oh also yes you can pose shadow Esteem!!!! Search "Esteem" when you go to load in NPC appearance and they'll load in- just be careful because the smoke effect doesn't follow them once you've posed them so make sure to position them before you move any bones.

I didn't actually pose Elysia much or anything I just took this before I did the Zodiark trial lmao. I just think it's neat how he peaks between the beams of light almost like they're imprisoning him. I do wish I had changed Elysia's outfit tho because the only think you can really see is her sword while her dress blends in. I had a nice DRK winter glam for the expedition into Garlemald maybe I should have kept her in that.

Oooooh okay these two- The idea behind these two was Elysia and her co-tanks- and obviously Elysia is the off tank because DRK is a DPS job at this point.

Soooo this one is obviously more on the comedic side but this is 100% one of my favourite screenshots ESPECIALLY after adding the text box. Glorious. Imagine your older brother and your pseudo older brother figure fuck I would literally become homophobic too /j

[luckylunatix]

N. Igmatic's relationships with the rest of the N Team, summarized

(Note: this is only gonna include the three main scientists because they're the characters she interacts with the most.)

Cortex: Due to a combination of his ego and an odd level of skepticism for someone who exists alongside magical talking tiki masks, Cortex tends to underestimate N. Igmatic and see her as something of a nutcase. Igmatic, unsurprisingly, does not take kindly to this; she butts heads with Cortex a lot and often feels a pressure on herself to prove him wrong. That said, she does still feel a sense of loyalty towards him and the team in general, and doesn't mind his companionship in the moments when they aren't concocting evil plans, which is when their rivalry gets most heated.

N. Brio: They're mostly neutral towards each other, but with N. Brio being a lot older than her, he does occasionally have a sort of "what's wrong with the youths nowadays?" attitude towards her and her eccentricities. (For clarification, in my headcanon, N. Igmatic and N. Gin are in their early 30s, Cortex is around 40-50, and Brio is 60+.) In their friendlier moments, they sometimes give each other tips on making potions.

N. Gin: N. Igmatic has never been more enamored with another person in her life. He's friendly towards her, they have some interests in common (music and spooky/macabre stuff especially), and she finds him genuinely beautiful even in all his oddity. In turn he appreciates that she shows him nothing but kindness and affection and doesn't just brush him off as a freak. With Igmatic around, N. Gin is more of a henchman to her than to Cortex directly.

[savoytrufflephd]

On resenting children and choosing family…

OMG, the term starts again on Monday. My time for having brain space to publicly obsess over HIUH is coming to an end. (I will continue to privately obsess in my own head, of course – HIUH lives there rent free.) But there was so much more to say!

Anyway, let’s do Kastor and Nikandros…

By contrast to all the amazing canon parallels, I am fascinated by the roles that @thickenmyblood has Kastor and Nikandros are playing in HIUH.

I mean, in canon, the two characters are very straightforward. Damen loves Kastor and Kastor is completely disloyal and prepared to kill Damen to get what he thinks he deserves. Damen loves Nikandros and Nikandros is completely loyal and would lay down his life for his true king.

But again, these are roles best suited to a pseudo-historical world of kingdoms. In each canon relationship, Damen, as the Crown Prince, holds a particular power (for Nikandros to cede to and for Kastor to resent and seek to destroy).

The absence of these royal dynamics in HIUH allows Damen’s relationships to Kastor and Nikandros to be delightfully more complex. And the two relationships/characters parallel and contrast with each other in interesting ways.

In terms of their relationships with Damen:

They each have the closest perspectives on Damen’s depression since all Damen does in the months after the breakup is go to work and sit around Nikandros’ place.

They have known Damen the longest of anyone left in his life.

They each present relationships that Damen must work through in his process of introspection (though Damen does not know this about Nikandros initially).

They can each, for their own reasons, be incredibly dismissive of Damen’s feelings.

Interestingly, in terms of their characters, the other thing they have in common is that the source of some of their most problematic behavior is their resentment of a child.

Kastor resents Damen for having been favored by their father and not only chooses to blame Damen along with their father, but also assumes that, as a much younger child, Damen would have been able to perceive and understand their father’s favoritism.

Damen ignores him. “Dad didn’t force anyone to stay at the house. They worked for him, and he paid them for their work. Not everyone takes the holidays off. It doesn’t mean dad was exploiting them.” “I never said he was. I said he was paying them to play house with you.” “What?” “He was too busy with work,” Kastor says, “and you were a half orphan. Do you actually think Hera, Chryses, and Brios wanted to be there? They had families too. They stayed because dad paid them, because he didn’t want you to grow up unbalanced.” A snort. “Not that it worked out too well, in the end.” Damen’s legs have gone numb. He thinks of standing, of walking out, but can’t muster up the strength to do it.  Kastor goes on talking as if nothing’s happened. To him, it hasn’t. “You know, after we had lunch the other day I kept thinking about Hera and all your nannies. Every time I went over to dad’s house, you had something new. A toy, a bed, a fucking babysitter. It used to make me furious. But now?” He pours what’s left of the wine. “Now I just feel sad for you.” Kastor is drunk. Has been for a while now. He looks less like their dad like this, which Damen is glad for. It’s always made him feel strange, the way Kastor can transform into someone older, with more authority, with just a gesture.  The polite thing to do would be to leave, quietly, and pretend this has never happened. Never bring it up again. Deny it, even, if necessary. Damen knows this. Damen has done this once before, for Laurent. He never brought up what happened at the company function all those years back. He should do the same now, for Kastor. “Why did it make you furious?” Damen says. “You were too old for toys, and you had a—you didn’t need a babysitter. Your bed was bigger than mine.” “It’s not about the fucking bed, Damianos.” “What is it about then?” Kastor’s hand goes pale around his glass, then back to normal. If he squeezes that hard again, the glass will break. “I can’t do this,” he says, as he pushes himself away from the table. “It’s—I’m not fucking doing this.” Damen stands as well. He feels like someone stuck on the wrong side of a mirror, his choice narrowed down entirely to another person’s. “Do what? We’re just talking.” “It’s never just talking when it’s you.” The table between them seems to wobble, unsure of whether to shrink or stretch. Damen thinks this might be the closest he’s ever been to Kastor.  “There’s nothing sad about having people work for you,” Damen says. He thinks that might be what Kastor was getting at earlier. Some internalized class shame. “They spent the holidays with us because they were paid to, yes, but that’s the way the world works. Would you go to work if you didn’t get paid to do it? Dad firing nannies because he was indecisive or something isn’t inherently—” “Indecisive. Dad, indecisive ? You’ve officially lost your mind.” They’re almost shouting again. This time, Damen doesn’t care. “If you would just explain what you mean instead of having me guess your fucking riddles like we’re ten years old, then maybe I wouldn’t sound like I’ve lost it.” “You’re insane,” Kastor says, even louder than before. “You’re just rewriting things to make them suit your craziness. Dad wasn’t indecisive about your stupid nannies, Damianos. He kept firing them because you called them all mom and wanted them to practically live with you. It freaked him the fuck out. And honestly? I don’t blame him. You freak me —” “Daddy?” Kastor steps away from the table. All of the sudden, he is like a man changed, reformed. Even his voice comes out different. “Did we wake you up, sweetheart? Uncle Damen was just leaving.”

(Also, intriguing little snippet re: Laurent just snuck into that passage.)

But anyway, it is wholly unreasonable for Kastor to expect Damen at the age of having nannies to have recognized how his behavior based in the absence of an involved parent had been interpreted by adults and influenced their actions. And it’s very dismissive of Damen’s experiences growing up (which, to be fair, Damen dismissed in himself for a long time before Neo).

Kastor definitely stopped therapy too soon!

Nikandros, meanwhile, has lumped Nicaise (who came into Damen’s life at the age of eleven!!) in with Laurent as a toxic and manipulative force in Damen’s life.

It’s obvious now to Damen that Laurent had been wrong at the coffee shop, wrong to assume Nicaise was on a crusade to spend more time with Damen. Nicaise has been inviting Damen places—Berenger’s houses, Laurent’s own apartment—because he knows Laurent will be there. Because he wants Damen and Laurent to be together again. Damen ignores the prickling sensation in his chest. It doesn’t exist, he tells himself, because why would he be upset to find out that a teenager doesn’t actually want to spend time with him? Nothing about what they’ve been doing has been normal. Nicaise isn’t normal.  Nikandros’ words, years old, come back to him now. That kid doesn’t care. He’s not going to call you in five years on Father’s Day. Like a parent’s scolding, the memory has come far too late to be useful.

Nikandros is doing the mouth thing, that soured-up expression he can’t hide when he wants to say something but knows he shouldn’t. Aktis calls it his bitch face. Damen breathes in. “Just say it.” “Do you talk about Laurent?” He does, sometimes. But it’s not a thing, it’s not often. It’s always in passing. Still, saying no outright feels like cheating. “I mostly talk about Nicaise.” The mouth thing worsens. Nikandros gets up. “I’m gonna get you more water.” “Don’t bother. I’m not thirsty.” “I am,” Nikandros says, and disappears into the kitchen. The sound of rushing water travels from the kitchen to Damen’s ears, but it’s not loud enough to drown out Nikandros’ voice. Damen doesn’t know what he’s muttering about, the words low and cut off, and he doesn’t care enough to ask. It’s not hard to picture Nikandros, standing in front of the sink, glass of water in hand, saying—well, what he’s always said. That kid doesn’t care. That kid’s fucking trouble.

“You just—you fucking love it.” Nikandros is walking again, half a circle, then back, then half a circle again. “You fucking love being his dog. He calls, you answer. He asks, and you drop every single fucking thing for him.” The thread stretches, wobbles. “I do.” “And for what? Are you that desperate to play daddy?” Damen doesn’t reply. Nikandros scrubs his face with both hands. “Damen. Damen . I’m—do you think he’s changed? Is that it? He hasn’t. People like him don’t change.” People like him. “Why don’t you like Nicaise?” “What?” “Nicaise,” Damen says, calmly, slowly, numbly. “You’ve never liked him. Why?” “Are you being serious right now?” Damen tips his head to the side, waits. His hands are not tingling anymore. “What is there to like? That kid’s a fucking brat,” Nikandros says. “You can’t even take him to a family dinner without him making a scene, and he’s, what? Eighteen? Come on.” “Did you tell him that? Did you call him a brat?” Nikandros’s mouth thins. He looks like Kastor. “Damen.” “Did you?” “Answer me this. Have they been asking you for money again?” “What?” Damen says. And then, as the thoughts trickle down: “ Again ? What the fuck does that mean?”

An exhale, defeated. “I don’t want to fight with you. That’s not why I called.” “Maybe I do,” Damen says. “You told me you’d stop. Time and time again. You said you’d stop bringing him up, bringing Nicaise up. But you won’t. You can’t.” “You bring them up,” Nikandros says, “all the fucking time. What am I supposed to do? Smile and nod along, like it doesn’t make me fucking sick? Like the way they take advantage of you isn’t wrong?” “We’re not even together. We’re not together. Do you hear the shit you’re saying? How is he taking advantage—” “Is the kid there?” Damen holds onto the counter. “It’s none of your business if he is.” “So, yeah, he fucking is. It’s Friday night, and you’re stuck home babysitting that deranged little shit when he’s not your responsibility anymore. What? Is money tight? Can’t he pay for a fucking nanny? It’s Friday night, and he dumps his kid on you, and then he gets to go out and have fun, which is what you should be doing. What’s next, huh? Is he going to make you pay for his college tuition? Make you buy him an apartment when he drops out? Damen, if you let him, he’s going to fucking milk you—”

Nikandros’ reaction to Nicaise makes me very angry! That’s why there are so many excerpts!

Okay, so we know now why Nikandros hates Laurent—and he wasn’t entirely wrong (though he wasn’t that right either)—but Laurent and Nicaise are not one undifferentiated person. And the difference between the responsibility Laurent and Nicaise bear for their behavior based on their ages is HUGE.

Nikandros has chosen a completely unreasonable interpretation of Nicaise’s trauma-induced behaviors. If a kid is struggling that much at that age, it’s not because they’re inherently unkind, uncaring or manipulative – it’s because of something they’ve experienced that they have not been able to process!

Nikandros has also (perhaps to be protective) minimized and belittled Damen’s desire to parent Nicaise. I think we can see Nikandros’ influence at the beginning of the story and in the time just before the beginning of the story after the breakup. At that time, Damen does not believe he is allowed to still parent Nicaise and has preemptively protected himself by not pursuing contact with Niciase post break-up. What Laurent and Nicaise have sometimes interpreted as Damen’s lack of care is actually, I believe, Damen in denial because he thinks he cares too much and that he is no longer able to give or express that care.

I think all this also gives us reason to reinterpret something else. In Chapter 19, I believe not for the first time, Laurent points out that Damen kept Nicaise compartmentalized from other parts of his life. Laurent takes this to mean Damen is embarrassed by Nicaise and doesn’t want Nicaise for the long haul. But if we think back to Damen’s initial description of why he didn’t want Nicaise to wear feminine-coded things, we see that it is a well-meaning but highly problematic effort to protect Nicaise from harm.

“Okay, then what was the problem? What made the things Nicaise wore girly?” “They were covered in glitter and sequins. He had this pair of shorts he loved, and they had this… pink patch sewn into one of the pockets.” Damen rubs his hands on his thighs again, not liking how damp they are, how tight his skin feels. “To school, he wore normal clothes, but only because I insisted. On the weekends, he’d just play dress-up. At fourteen.” “Let’s go back for a second,” Neo says. “You keep mentioning school, Damen. Was that your main concern? The fact that Nicaise would be teased by his classmates for wearing certain things?” “Yes.” Neo nods. “So you thought you were helping Nicaise prevent bullying of some sort.” Bullying. Damen tries not to roll his eyes. “Yes,” he says again, because it’s true. “Then what was the issue with Nicaise wearing those types of clothes at home during the weekend? No one was going to bully him there.” “Are you honestly going to tell me that’s normal?”  An awkward silence settles over them. Damen thinks he shouldn’t have used that word. Laurent had practically banned him from saying it at home, wouldn’t even hear Damen out if ‘normal’ was part of the argument, but this isn’t home. This is Neo’s office, and so Damen should get to say whatever he wants.  “What do you think would have been the normal thing to do?” Neo says. The confusion Damen is feeling must show on his face, because Neo adds, “What I mean is… What sorts of clothes should Nicaise have been wearing at fourteen?” “I don’t know.” “You can’t think of anything?” “Er,” Damen says. “Jeans?” “Good, jeans. What else?” “I don’t know what kids wear these days. A t-shirt? Sneakers?” “Okay. Now, what did you wear as a kid?” That was over a decade ago, Damen wants to say. What does that matter? Why can’t they talk about what’s actually important here, which is Laurent dating a fucking stranger?  “I guess the same things. Jeans, t-shirts. Gym shorts.” “Could it be that maybe what you think is normal for a fourteen-year-old to wear is just what you used to wear at fourteen?” Damen blinks at him. “I have nieces,” Neo says, “and they dress horribly, in my opinion. Fashion is very fast-paced. Most of the time it doesn’t survive the passage from one generation to the next.” “This isn’t about fashion.” “What is it about then?” “Nicaise is confused,” Damen says. “He needs stability. Rules. A schedule. Playing dress-up is fine when you’re six and a girl, but not when you’re… At fourteen, shouldn’t his main concern be finding a girl he can ask out on a date?” Neo picks his coffee up again. Three short sips this time. “You used the word ‘confused’. What do you think Nicaise is confused about?” “What he wants.” They’re running out of time to reach a conclusion. Damen feels wrung out, like something that’s been squeezed far too tightly and then left alone to decompress.  “What should he want then?” Neo says. The question hangs heavy between them, not accusatory but prodding. It feels like there are fingers scratching at Damen for answers, trying to slip under his skin and examine there too. All Damen has ever wanted is for Nicaise— “To be happy,” Damen says. “It’s like he keeps picking misery over being okay. He should just… make the easy choice, you know. Being a teenager is hard enough, why make things even more complicated by trying to stand out like that?” “Maybe that’s what makes him happy.” Damen snorts. “Right. Because being picked on at school is awesome.”

So now we think about Damen’s friends and what he implicitly (if not consciously) knows about them. He knows they will judge Nicaise, so he keeps Nicaise away from that judgment – less to protect himself than to protect Nicaise. But now, through therapy, he has learned both that his actions were hurting Niciase and that he genuinely desires (and maybe deserves) to parent Nicaise and to parent him well.

Which circles us back to Nikandros. Previously, Damen ignored Nikandros’ comments about Nicaise to keep the peace, and mostly kept the two apart. He also allowed his own desire to parent Nicaise to be belittled. Now that is no longer good enough. He needs to actively defend Nicaise and his feelings for Nicaise, and he does this by ending his friendship with Nikandros.

(Granted, he could have tried to articulate this more clearly and directly to Nikandros to at leave give Nikandros a chance to rethink his stance…) But breaking with Nikandros is Damen breaking with his old behavior and affirming his commitment to Nicaise.

Nikandros also serves as an unhappy mirror on Damen’s old dismissiveness around Laurent’s mental health. When Nikandros speaks, Damen is sometimes hearing Nikandros’ judgment, but he is also hearing his old self.

“Let’s drop it then. Never talk about him again.” “Fine.” “Good.” “Perfect,” Damen says. And then, “He’s not mentally unstable. Just because he has to see a therapist, it doesn’t mean—” “We said we were going to drop it,” Nikandros says. “You can’t just make things up and expect me not to correct you.” “Damen, you were the one that kept going on and on about his medication and fucking shrink appointments last year. Not me, you . So can you just be honest with yourself for once?” Damen thinks about leaving. He sees himself standing up and making his way downstairs, exiting the pub and getting into his car, then driving away. He sees himself ignoring Nikandros’ texts tomorrow. He sees them not speaking for another month or so. But then Damen also thinks about what Nikandros has said, about how it’s true. He should come to the gym with me, Damen had said last year, instead of just chugging down three pills a day. It can’t be healthy . And, Yoga could help. You know, the stuff Jokaste and her friends do. And, I wish he’d stop shit-talking me to his shrink. He’s so fucking crazy sometimes I — “You’re right,” Damen says. “We should just drop it.”

I think this offers us one possible answer to a question that Neo poses about the difference between the two relationships which interests me:

“How did you decide to set those boundaries with Nikandros? What made you do it?” Damen rolls his left ankle. It sends a rush of blood to his heel, his toes. “I don’t know. It just… happened. We started disagreeing on things.” “Would it be fair to say you identified some things that bothered you and that was what prompted you to take the measures that you took?” “Yes?” Neo nods and nods. Not a good sign. “Have you not felt that way about other people? Like they were crossing a line, like they were aggravating you…” “Er,” Damen says. “Kastor? We’ve been doing pretty well recently. He doesn’t boss me around; I do more stuff for the firm.” “So, what exactly is the difference between Kastor and, let’s say, your uncle?” “My uncle called me a faggot.” “Kastor has shown a tendency to call you things, too.” “I’m,” Damen says. “Why are you comparing them?” Neo’s pen lifts from the paper. “I’m trying to understand your thought process. What makes someone worthy of a second chance or, sometimes, several chances. What doesn’t.”

Why does Damen seemingly give up completely on Nikandros, while he and Kastor start to make forward progress? I have a few theories:

First, as I just said, I think Nikandros reminds Damen of his own failings, which makes him harsher on Nikandros because he is very angry at himself for hurting Nicaise. Kastor may feel Damen has many failings, but they’re not very fair assessments and Damen hasn’t taken on responsibility for being a clueless kid (nor should he).

Kastor doesn’t hate Laurent or Nicaise (he actually communicates with them when Damen isn’t) and actually seems to recognize Damen’s parenting role before Damen fully does.

“Do you still talk to Laurent?” Kastor does not look surprised. If anything, he seems relieved. “Ah,” he says, because Kastor’s always been one to gloat. “Yes. Sometimes.” Sometimes. Damen hasn’t talked to Laurent in weeks, not since Nicaise staged their little reunion, and before that months had gone by without a single text or call or voicemail. But Kastor and Laurent talk sometimes. That’s good to know. “Why?”  “We’re not friends,” Kastor says, which only makes Damen feel more out of place. Does he think Damen doesn’t want them to be friends? Does Damen not want them to be friends? “Or anything, really. We text once in a while, mostly about Galen.” Damen frowns. “Galen?” “Nicaise asks for pictures of him. He refuses to accept my mom’s friendship request on Facebook, so I send Laurent photos of Galen that he can show Nicaise. On occasion. It’s not a thing.” “Why not text Nicaise directly?” Kastor snorts. When he runs a hand through his hair, messing it up, he looks too much like their father. Damen ends up looking away. “I’ve blocked his number. The little shit kept spamming me with that photoshopped picture of—” “The rabid beaver,” Damen says, smiling despite it all. A bitter hurt starts to spread in his chest, suddenly unleashed. “That’s nice of you.” “You sound surprised.” I am, Damen thinks. Instead, he says, “I need to ask you something.”

Kastor pushes himself away from the door. “We’re going then. Next weekend, or the one after that.” “Just us two?” “No. Galen’s coming too.” Damen frowns. “Isn’t he a little young to go fishing?” Kastor frowns back. “What? Why?” “How’s he supposed to hold the rod?” “I’ll buy him one for kids,” Kastor says. Then, already halfway out of Damen’s office, “Do you.” “Do I…?” “Do you want to bring someone.” Iris? Kyra? What is Kastor talking about? “Like who?” Damen says. “Is Jo going too?” Kastor’s eyes roll and roll and roll. “It’s a boys' trip.” “I’m not,” Damen gets out, awkward and confused, “seeing anyone right now.” “For fuck’s sake, I’m talking about Nicaise. ”

3. Also, Damen and Kastor have ways of improving their relationship that don’t require head-on confrontation of their issues. Once Kastor actually tells Damen how much he’s working, for example, Damen is able to agree to take on a larger share of the work. This isn’t the deep source of Kastor’s resentment, but establishing greater equality in their working relationship serves as a proxy solution.

By contrast, there is no temporary way forward for Damen and Nikandros without Damen both admitting the ways in which Nikandros had a point about how Laurent treated him AND confronting Nikandros about his judgment of Nicaise.

4. I think that throughout this fic Damen has been struggling with the idea of family. He starts the fic with a strong sense that being biological family is a bond that has to be respected in some way. They shouldn’t speak ill of their father. They should honor their father’s relationship to Makedon. Kastor is his brother and so he can treat Damen however and Damen will just take it.

This extends to a sense that family cannot be chosen. Damen doesn’t get to parent Nicaise if he’s not with Nicaise’s guardian. Damen cannot try to fill the whole left in his life by his biological mother (and his father’s distance) by cultivating a relationship with someone else’s (Nikandros’s) mother.  

And I feel like that may be related to Damen not trusting that people not biologically related to him won’t just leave because they have no formal obligation to him. So I think for Damen, Kastor will always be in his life. But if it comes down to Nikandros or Nicaise, he’s decided to choose Nicaise. (Though again, I hope he will rethink that and approach Nikandros with more honesty. And that he can flourish with a better understanding of chosen family and of what he deserves from the people he cares about.)

Bright side of his rigid family ideas: He gets to cut off Makedon once Kastor points out (if rudely) that he isn’t actually biological family.

Kastor puts his chopsticks down. “I don’t know what you’re so upset about. Makedon has always hated Vere. He was the one that threw the biggest fucking fit when he found out dad wanted to move to Delfeur, and back then it was still Delpha. There’s no way you didn’t know that.” “I knew, but he—” “And anyway, why do you care what some old fart thinks of you?” Damen closes his mouth, opens it. “He’s our uncle.” “He was our father’s best friend,” Kastor says, managing to make even the simplest statement sound like a lecture. At least he’s used the right pronoun this time. “We’re not related by blood, and even if we were I’d still think he’s an idiot. Maybe even more, actually.” They only have fifteen minutes left of their lunch break. Any moment now, Marianne will knock on the door and ask him or Kastor or both to sign some papers, to send an email, to make a call. Damen wishes she’d come in right now, before he says something he’ll regret. “You sound so,” Damen starts, and stops. He’s so tired of feeling stupid; he’s so tired of not knowing what to say. “I didn’t know that’s how you saw things.”  “What is that supposed to mean?” Dad’s words sneak out of him: “Family is family.” “According to whom?” Kastor says. He doesn’t sound playful anymore, or sarcastic. He hasn’t moved, and yet Damen feels as though Kastor has gone away, replaced by a stranger that looks like him. “Daddy dearest? Was being nice to Uncle Mak on the will? I must have missed it.” Damen clenches his jaw so hard his molars ache. “Don’t.”

Anyway, I don’t have a great wrap up to this post, but I really appreciate the complexity of HIUH Kastor and Nikandros and the depth it adds to the characterization of Damen as he navigates his complicated relationships with each of them and the meaning of family.

But don’t resent children! Seriously. Stop it.

[jgroffdaily]

Jonathan Groff's Broadway performance called 'thrillingly fierce ... unmissable'; a roundup of critics' reviews of 'Merrily We Roll Along'

Mary Ellen Wright

Lancaster County native Jonathan Groff is receiving some rave reviews from major critics for his performance in the Broadway revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical, “Merrily We Roll Along,” which officially opens today, Tuesday, Oct. 10, and had its red-carpet celebration Sunday at the Hudson Theatre.

Jesse Green of the New York Times calls Groff’s performance “thrillingly fierce.”

Though Green feels the show is “underscaled” for Broadway, and has problems with the book of the show feeling “Frankensteined” with parts that are “coarsely sutured and don’t quite line up,” he gives kudos to the three leading players.

“... Radcliffe’s wit and modesty, combined with Mendez’s zing and luster, provide perfect settings for what is now (as it has never been previously) the inarguably central performance. Groff, always a compelling actor, here steps up to an unmissable one.

“With his immense charisma turned in on itself, he seems to sweat emotion: ambition, disappointment and, most frighteningly, a terrible frozen disgust,” Green adds.

“Groff ... has never been better than he is here, imbuing a tricky character with tearful sincerity and charm.” says Patrick Ryan of USA Today. “Mendez is a hilarious knockout as the acerbic Mary, bringing powerhouse vocals and aching vulnerability ... . As Charley, Radcliffe is the tender, open heart of ‘Merrily’ ... and infuses his stubborn lyricist with brio and palpable hurt.”

“Groff’s transformation-in-reverse is a perceptive journey ... from remorseful Hollywood sellout to star-struck starving artist, pressing his nose up against the window of fame and riches,” says Peter Marks of the Washington Post.

Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune, who says Mendez’s Mary character comes off as the lead character in this production, says “Groff, whose singing and energy drive the show, is ... superb: his character refuses to see plenty of stuff, but the denials clearly show on Groff’s face, and in his voice.

“Broadway never saw a better triple-act” than the three leads,” Jones says, calling the revival “gorgeous.”

In some of the reviews, British musical theater star Maria Friedman has been credited with retooling the show to resurrect it as a hit.

The show, which is now scheduled to run until March 24, played off Broadway last year.

“Groff, Mendez, and Radcliffe create a Frank, Mary, and Charley that burst with energy,” says TheaterMania’s David Gordon. “They’re giving career-best performances, and you not only buy them as friends, but palpably sense their joys and crushing disappointments.

“... Groff beautifully grounds Frank in the reality of a man who has gotten everything he wanted, only to realize that the most important things in his life have completely disappeared,” Gordon adds.

Groff, who combines the looks and charisma of a young matinee idol with tender sensitivity, is the ideal Frank — someone who everyone else can’t help but fall in love with, which is why his pals self-destruct when Frank loses his way,” writes Matt Windman of AMNY.

“... Groff is an actor who’s able to communicate hurt and humanity even through a carapace of ego and moral deficiency,” says Sara Holdren of Vulture.

“Friedman and her ensemble render the show exquisite,” Holdren adds.

“Watching the show on Broadway, I found myself concentrating less on Mendez and Radcliffe’s back-to-back screeds and drawn more to Groff, who almost singlehandedly, and in a very quiet way, makes this revival drive forward while going backward on all eight cylinders,” Robert Hofler of The Wrap writes.

“The joy of the show is watching Radcliffe, Mendez, and Groff together, because they are quite visibly having the time of their performing lives,” Tim Teeman of The Daily Beast writes.

Teeman seems to feel the Broadway version of the show raises more questions than it answers about how the three main characters’ friendship went so wrong.

He also seems to have liked Groff’s performance better in the New York Theatre Workshop version of the show off Broadway: “At NYTW, Groff crafted a career-shining role as Franklin ... on Broadway, some of the nuance of his Franklin has disappeared, and this is particularly evident in his final performance of ‘Our Time,’ which he plays to the house, as if grandstanding a solo.”

And Forbes’ Darryn King writes that Groff’s Franklin bears “the gravitational pull of a small planet. ... (T)he three stars are plainly made for one other. Their chemistry suggests decades’ worth of familiarity and backstory.”

Groff, a stage, film and TV actor who’s a Ronks native and Conestoga Valley High School alumnus, won the Outer Critics Circle award and was nominated for the Drama Desk award for his Franklin Shepard role off Broadway in 2022.

Groff is known for his previous Broadway work in “Hamilton” and “Spring Awakening,” TV performances in “Glee” and “Mindhunter,” and film roles including “Knock at the Cabin” and the Disney “Frozen” films.

He has been cast in the next full season of the long-running BBC sci-fi TV hit, "Doctor Who.”

[drnpcortex]

i don't hate animals.

"The Rumours going around say I hate animals.. that's not true. I just tend not like most from the Peramelemorphia order...most the animal kingdom don't seem like me."

"I always love my biology and study hard on fauna of the world, I do think many way more superior then to human race, our species can be very xenophobic made me less impressed with humans and certain parts my family way they treated me.. its why I started create new race anthro animals make my army." " I had so many pets over years, I tend to them and I loved them... maybe to much love in few of me test experiments in evil academy."

"I know I'm no saint comes to ethical animal treatment. I am a evil scientist? I had use some human subjects testing for awhile but never gave best result. so kept them in the castle dungeons away from the world...but they did result help creating my helpful android lab assistants over years with the human tests."

"but I'm digressing.. back to animals, I do have my fav few I love, animals of greater intellect like parrots! Victor and Morris were my most beloved pets, yes its unfortunate what happen.. we all know TwinSanty fiasco.. don't remind me of the humiliation."

"hmmm I do like marine life, might have been a marine biologist if I wasn't put into madam Amberly academy. I do think dolphins and orcas are neat... *cough*why I have a dolphin tattoo *cough*. "

"even over few years my army had dispersed from failed attempts world domination. it resulted least they made own towns around the islands made bit more civilized and good neatwork of own economy. now i can go shopping again locally without have travel all way to continent and have a swat team trying arrest me, so could say I'm the creator of all this.. my credit making them get towns created on islands, i should have a statue of me in town square.. ungrateful lot."

"anyway... tiny maybe exception from all of it, he been loyal ever since I revived his fossil and evolved him and still is, his a good boy, so maybe Tasmanian tigers too on my list."

--- ((headcanon** ~ all years cortex been mistreated by inner family, school and fellow humans in science community, it grown spiteful most humans, why keeps company people more like him, ngin, brio and exception of tropy too, he never feels comfortble be around human city's much these days and spit having so many felonies in some countries he cant go to anymore. value of his family is few to ones close to him and treated him with respect, Nina, older sister, his younger brother and his mother. reason started make army of animals more of a comfort he wont be betrayed by using cortex vortex to be loyal to him... but years went by the cortex vortex effects do wear off and made lot of his anthro army become the native new citizens of wumpa archipelago which started there own small towns.

Much humanity failed Dr Cortex in his youth to accept him be part of rest the world. at least he has wumpa islands feel be part of its citizens in a way.))