#it’s probably because i’m a traumatized orphan

[perfectlysunny02]

“And you trust that?”

“Me and Hondo? A 100%”

I KNOW THATS RIGHT.

[prying-pandora666]

On Alucard and Maria

Are there actually fans advocating for Alucard to be written as Maria’s father figure in the new season of Nocturne? Like that would be a good thing and not infinitely creepier? I don’t think they’ve thought this through.

Alucard is the single most popular character in the franchise. He’s also probably the most shipped character. And yet he has only had one canon love interest in the decades since he’s existed. It’s Maria. And you’re telling me that you think that because he’s 300+ and she’s 17-18 when they started living together in the games, that it would be grooming. However, somehow him inserting himself into her life at age 16 when she’s just lost both her parents wouldn’t come off like grooming!?

Does this man look like he should be picking up random children!? He’s literally terrified of his own cursed blood. Maybe LISTEN TO HIM.

I’m convinced fandoms have forgotten what that word means. Grooming has specific features. It doesn’t just mean “older guy and younger girl.” A relationship with an age gap or an uneven power dynamic can be exploitative or abusive without being a case of grooming. Grooming specifically refers to the process of forming a relationship with a child with the intention of leveraging that relationship and trust to train and prepare (aka brainwash) your victim for the harmful activities the groomer wants to normalize. The relationship Alucard and Maria have in the games is in no way grooming. You know what would be grooming though?

Coming into a 16 year old’s life when she’s vulnerable, traumatized, and recently orphaned only to insinuate yourself as a new father figure. This is so highly inappropriate and a huge red flag. Consider what you’re actually asking for here. These characters do not exist in a a vacuum. They have a long history together as each other’s only canon love interests. You cannot fully extract them from the games, art, interviews, audio dramas, animations, and more where they’re depicted as a couple. There are decades of this precedent and you are asking Netflix to knowingly take the characters with an established romantic dynamic that the audience is already primed to see as romantic and instead portray their meeting as him trying to be her new daddy?

“Oh look! Alucard and his… daughter? Yikes.” This is an official advertisement btw.

THAT is grooming! Think about the optics of this! It would be abysmal! No it would NOT fix the problem of their age gap to make him act like a groomer and get in good with her as a dad. You just cannot completely extract them from the legacy of their relationship in the source materials. It will be incredibly creepy and textbook grooming if you get your way.

Is this really what you want to associate with an “adoptive father Alucard”? Because the art we create doesn’t exist in a vacuum. All the old content—official and fanmade—is still going to exist.

What is so objectionable about the original dynamic anyway? It’s a pretty fun subversion of the tired and problematic vampire trope of “vampire man stalks teen girl and coerces her into being his”. Instead in their original relationship, Maria is the one who pursues Alucard! It’s the young woman who takes initiative and is given the agency to go after what she wants. She courts and woos him. That’s part of the fun!

Yes, Alucard is 300+. He’s also a fictional creature that doesn’t actually exist IRL and stays eternally young. There are no actual people who will ever have his problem of staying 20 forever so it’s rather silly to say he can’t date any humans because of course he will have an age gap with any of them.

The only real problem I have seen people bring up is Maria’s age, but from what I can tell, the show’s already fixed this. Check it out.

In The Games

Rondo of Blood: Maria is 12. She and Alucard do not meet. Richter is a brother-figure and not romantic.

There is then a 5 year time skip.

Symphony of the Night: Maria is 17. She and Alucard meet to save Richter. At the end, Alucard says his goodbyes and intends to return to a life of solitude. Maria goes after him because she has developed feelings for him and doesn’t want him to suffer a life alone.

Maria is given agency to pursue what she wants and prove herself even against Alucard’s resistance and hesitance to let another person into his life.

They spend a year together before we get the audio drama.

Nocturne of Remembrance: Maria continues to try to get close to Alucard. They end up saving each other’s lives and in the end he finally confesses his romantic feelings for her. She is an adult and perfectly able to make her own choices. She chose him. He admits he returns her feelings.

How fandom can look at a story about a young woman subverting the trope and chasing the vampire to get what she wants—basically an anti-Bella Swan—and still find a way to disempower her just so they can pearl clutch? I couldn’t tell you.

So now let’s look at what the show did.

In The Show

Nocturne S1: Maria is 16. She’s been aged up from 12, probably to give her a more active and believable role. But this also means she’s within a normal age to start feeling attraction and expressing her wants. Within her society, she’s even considered of marriageable age. However we are spared the discomfort of our modern values clashing with her contemporaneous ones because Maria in this season isn’t interested in romance. She’s interested in revolution, equality, justice. They’ve portrayed her with so much love and strength. There is no indication they’d betray her by writing her as the child victim of a male suitor. In fact she only meets Alucard in the final few seconds of the season and the two do not even speak a single word to one another.

Now let’s remember the games had a five year time skip. The show only needs two years to get Maria to the adult age of 18, but assuming the follow through with the timeline and go for the full five?

Maria will be 21.

21.

Fan concept for adult Maria. Credit:@esp-art

Are you telling me a 21 year old woman is not old or mature enough to make her own decisions? How is this not a total infantilization of women? Do you think a 21 year old badass vampire hunter needs protection from the ace depressed dhampir boy who just wants to sleep and has in no way tried to pursue her until after she expressed consistent and persistent interest in him?

It is not “grooming” to meet someone when they were younger and then meet them again years later as an adult. That’s a thing that happens! In real life! Adults can still make decisions for themselves! It is only grooming if Alucard behaved in a way that would manipulate teen Maria and put her under his control and authority before she can consent. There is no indication that Alucard in the show is going to do this. And yet the fandom is basically demanding it by saying he should make her “his baby girl”?

And what of Maria’s feelings in all this? She just lost her mother and was betrayed by her father shortly after discovering he even existed. She has lived her whole life without a father. She is in no desperate need of a new one. And if she does need a family member, she already has one! Richter is 19 and is her trusted adoptive brother. Why wouldn’t she go to him over a total stranger she just met and who is half vampire - literally a predator creature that feeds on humans!?

Yeah, hi, Richter Belmont still exists. He and Maria consider each other family. Why would you want her relying on a strange man she just met as a “father figure” rather than her trusted and loving brother?

Have none of you even considered how Maria would feel if Alucard even tried to fill the paternal role? He’d have to force it on her through manipulation and coercion. No way she would want to view him that way. Especially considering she is 16 and likely to be as attracted to the sparkly 20 year old looking sculpted marble beauty as anyone else!

Don’t mind the beautiful eternally young man who looks made of pure porcelain and light. No teen girl has ever been attracted to this, right? No way it could be exploitative and creepy for him to present himself as her new daddy, giving himself authority and influence over her as his child to mold as he wishes, right? Oh yeah, this is MUCH better than Maria pursuing him of her own volition once she becomes an adult, right guys?

We are truly in the stupidest dark timeline.

Frankly, I don’t care if Netflix has them get together or not. They would work just fine as friends too. I just sure as hell hope they’ll ignore the fans clamoring for a creepy daddy/daughter dynamic. Dressing it up as “concern” won’t hide that for some it’s a fetish, and for others they’re just useful idiots who haven’t thought it through.

I implore you to think it through.

[thatsodapopgirl]

Probably might write a short fic on ao3 about this. Just gotta motivate myself. I was thinking of writing an Alastor centric survivor horror with Hazbin Hotel crew seeing Alastor’s past. This would give them a glimpse of how these experiences shaped Alastor. Some Radioapple on the side cause I can’t help myself

My inspiration were from the game Clock Tower and @nunalastor World Watch au

Somehow the Hotel crew decide to watch each other's past lives with Lucifer showing them in a crystal ball or something. They want to see Alastor’s but he was at an outing with Rosie, but they decide to take a peek. But Charlie wanted to know more about Alastor’s childhood, she wanted to get a better understanding why Alastor became a serial killer and eventually the Radio Demon. What they ended up seeing was the horrors Alastor had gone through as a child. They started at the scene where Alastor had already murdered his abusive father and was being taken into custody. Because of Alastor’s young age and the story he came up with, saying a stranger broke into his home and murdered his father, Alastor was sent to a local orphanage.

The scene next shows that it has been months and Alastor and a small group of boys have been adopted by ‘nice’ rich family. Turns out that the family were actually cultists who were sacrificing orphans. And the everyone gets to see and react to a young Alastor trying to escape, hide away, while also discovering the family’s secrets. He also being stalked and attacked by a killer (I’m imagining the standard stalker/killer you see in survivor horror games). As this is happening all the friends he’s made are being slaughtered and continued to be traumatized even further.

So yeah, I might write this short for the spooky season. Cause I still need to finish another Hazbin Hotel fics and I already have another crosser idea. But I just wanted to post this so I can remind and motivate myself

[givemeanaccountalready]

The Anti-Team 7, Formally Known as Team 6 (Komorebi)

First, I’d like to thank the wonderful @pumiih for drawing my little heathens. You made them (and Naruto) so beautiful.

It’s kind of funny. I picked the number 6 as their team number because Naruto would be the sixth Hokage (Kakashi is serving as Tsunade’s Jounin Commander for now) in my little AU world. I then learned that Team 6 was the number given to Jiraiya’s team with Minato and I thought, “Well, that’s a better reason to keep it as Team 6,” so here I am.

The Word doc that I made to actually plot this thing out to a degree has the title above for the Naruto-sensei arc. That’s somewhat touched on briefly before Naruto meets his team in the flesh, where he’s joking with Sakura that “This is their Sasuke, this is our you, and this is our me,” as the two of them look over the files Tsunade gave him. And he’s technically not entirely wrong about it lol. They just have really superficial connections to the OG Team 7. I even asked Pumiih to put them in the same order as the Team 7 picture. I haven’t posted it yet, but fic will be called Komorebi which translates to, “sunlight filtering through trees,” and I liked the imagery of that, so that’s the name.

Anti-Sasuke: Chitose Hyuuga 🍬 (prestigious clan with magic eyes)

Anti-Naruto: Kaito Isobe 🪁 (orphan, known troll)

Anti-Sakura: Tsurigane Kashiwagi 🔔 (girl)

I feel slightly bad for reducing Tsuri to that but I’m laughing too hard at the summary to care. She is probably the easiest anti-parallel to spot. Whereas Sakura didn’t really have an overarching goal until the Forest Death scene, Tsuri is the only one on Team 6 with an overarching dream/goal. She wants to gain Kage level strength, even though she doesn’t necessarily want the hat, and go down in history as a legendary kunoichi. Tsuri pretty much has a five year plan, meanwhile, Chitose is doing this ninja stuff because it’s what Hyuuga do, and Kaito is simply trying to earn a living until he finds something else that he likes. There is enough internalized misogyny in this girl to power a small village. You can thank her parents for that one. Tsuri despises fan girl behavior and she even lost a friendship over her best friend choosing to like and giggle over a boy. Eventually, she’ll reconcile with her, but for now, no. Very stubborn, very bull-headed, and very driven, Tsuri does not do things by halves.

Chitose is probably the least anti-parallel of the three, since her story revolves around bonds just like Sasuke’s had. Whereas Sasuke formed new bonds within Team 7 and wanted to protect them until Itachi and the Sound 4 happened, causing him to think he needed to sever his bonds and fuel his hatred to achieve his goals, Chitose’s story is a bit different. She wants to form bonds with others, and while she doesn’t have a deeply traumatic backstory, Chi definitely has some serious hang-ups stemming from the divide between the main branch and cadet branches of the Hyuuga family. She is not close to Neji or Hinata, but she has seen them grow into stronger, happier individuals because of their teammates and the work they do, and she wants that growth too.

While she does not have the Caged Bird Seal, Chi knows that’s only due to who her sensei is and not because the clan has changed its mind. Hinata is doing her best to change the Hyuuga’s ways after the war, but at the very beginning of the story, it seems more unlikely than not. Chi and the rest of Team 6 are about 6 years younger than Naruto so Chi couldn’t have possibly been sealed on Hinata’s third birthday like Neji was. She was going to get the Caged Bird once she either finished the Academy and became a kunoichi or sometime later if she had failed. The only reason she didn’t get sealed immediately after passing the graduation exam is because a certain someone told Hiashi that Naruto was being considered as a possible jounin leader and Hiashi wisely decided to hold off on it. The Hyuuga compound is still standing… for now.

Kaito is my lil goblin. He’s a snot-nosed brat whose fear of losing another loved one and screwy sense of self/self-worth resulted in his constant trolling and mouthing off. A little hater who graduated the Academy with two full time enemies and one part-time enemy, an unrequited rival (unrequited on Kaito’s part, he doesn’t want it). Like Naruto, he is stubborn and very perceptive of others’ emotions, but while Naruto clawed his way to acceptance and changing the way things are, Kaito is more content to crash and burn in the status quo. As a result, he does not have any big dreams or goals. If Tsurigane’s story is about learning to constructively use strength for herself and on behalf of others, and Chitose’s is about learning to let others in without making herself small to accommodate them, then Kaito’s story is about finding internal peace and taking the chance that the past won’t repeat itself.

I definitely spent too much time trying to think of what I wanted the other rookies besides Team 6 to look like. There’s three other rookie teams, and Shikamaru is the jounin leader for one. I just hope that they’ll be liked when I have enough written that I’m comfortable posting so I don’t have too much dead time in-between chapters.

And because I can… NaruSaku for the main ship. Team 6 ships it.

[atomicpirateperson]

Opinions on glitchybomb ship? 😭

I myself don’t ship cause GumRobs rly grown on me, but ik people do, which I can respect because that’s their opinion, but I’m genuinely curious to see your take on it cause I know you do GumRob as well

Tysm 🫰

if the viewer doesnt wanna see glitchybombs hate, turn back now

glitchybombs is my least favorite ship EVER outside of the actually fucked up ones like proships. im fine with any other ships, i mean i would rather not see ppl selfshipping with rob but i understand why they do that

first of all the age gap. sure 13 to 15/16 doesnt sound that bad but age-wise thats a middle schooler and a high schooler. BIG maturity difference

secondly they are NOT similar people. if you think they're similar people you have misunderstood one of them, probably rob. julius has a family and friends and a house and no apparent trauma in his life; but he bullies, fights, and manipulates other children, especially younger ones. rob has none of that except trauma and hes still a MUCH better person

they would definitely not get along well as the ship implies, if they ever interacted, julius and his friends would absolutely bully and manipulate rob. sure julius gets a little redemption but do these shippers even care about redemption? they dont seem to care about rob's, since the whole ship seems based on the idea they'd be "evil" together

oh yeah, they have NEVER interacted. i dont think they've even appeared on screen at the same time. you could at least have something in canon to support this awful pairing

finally wtf is with the amount of smut/overly sexual shit that comes out of glitchybombs? its SO much worse compared to other ships and theres no way people arent aware at least one of them is a minor. really says a lot huh

so yeah idk why people are shipping a 16 y/o manipulative asshole with a traumatized 13 y/o orphan. dare i say its pretty close to being a proship. i genuinely cannot think of anything good to say about it

[rom-e-o]

Proposal to work Emmerich and Belisma into the modern Scroogeverses:

The Twins and Emmerich went to university together and were roommates. While they were in business and finance, he was in mortuary sciences, but they all got on quite well together. (Side detail: Twins also worked for Fezziwig through uni.)

Fast forward a few decades, they all meet up again at a class reunion, each bringing their prospective wifeys. The Twins are successful, billionaire businessmen, Emmerich is a well-known professor of mortuary science at a prestigious school. (He also has a side-hobby of studying the prospect of the supernatural: ghosts, spirits, etc.). Cue them all seated at a table, all the girls chatting animatedly, getting on famously, and all these distinguished silver-foxes just... exchange besotted and fascinated looks. Imagine: all three of them finding love later in life with equally lovely, wonderful, and vibrant women. (Probably all foreign? For some reason, I imagine Belisma probably wouldn't be English?) Apparently, good things really do come to those who wait. (And endure traumatic spiritual time travel to save their souls.😅)

OH MY GOSH. 🥹

This is so cute and honestly incredibly perfect for them! And it lines up with timelines, and the details in their backstories, perfectly.

Emmrich is canonically in his early fifties (51-55) so he and the twins would all be in college around the same time, especially for their more advanced degrees.

All of them were also poor growing up (Emmrich before AND after was orphaned when parents died in a building collapse) so I can see them bonding from that as well, surrounded by all these trust-fund kids in their prestigious classes. They share drinks and complain about it.

Life pulls them apart, and time passes.

Him being a professor is perfect, but with a heavy side-hustle studying spirits and ghosts. (Oh, he would LOVE to hear about the Twins experience - he’d actually believe them without any hesitation or judgement! Many intrigued questions await.)

They meet up again decades later, and I imagine they’re all pleasantly surprised that each of them has found love. The only past paramour Emmrich will reveal in-game is a woman who left him because (it’s heavily implied) that she didn’t want to commit. And we know what happened to the Twins too. 🥲

So when they all show up with ladies on their arm? Fascinating, indeed!

“My goodness, you two have changed. Smiles, and pleasant company on your arms? I thought I’d seen it all.”

“You’re looking pretty chipper yourself, professor.”

Belisma would not be English, you’re correct, haha. It’s funny you should mention nationality, haha.

She and Emmrich are technically both from the in-game country of Nevarra, but BioWare/EA could never decide on a canon accent, so everyone sounds completely different, lmao. In the Character Creator, Belisma uses the upper-pitch “American Female” (Erika Ishii) voice option.

Belisma was also orphaned as a baby (the game gave her that backstory, I promise I’m not making all my OCs orphans on purpose lmaooo) so she was found in Nevarra, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s where she’s from.

In the modernverse, I’d say she’s actually from the U.S. (LA) since that’s the accent her voice has. Connie and Orin have New Yorkers as voice claims, after all, lmao.

So, another Yankee. These poor men, lmao. 😂

Belisma would get along with the girls splendidly! They can reminisce about life back home. She is a bookish woman, and definitely introverted. She’s not a social butterfly and comes across as a little over-eager and awkward with a morbid sense of humor sometimes, but she genuinely warms up easily when she sees Connie and Bess are kind and supportive. Also, they all have (ahem) similar tastes in men~

“Do you ladies like thrifting by any chance?”

“You know, um … My other friends made such a fuss about the 20-year gap between Emmrich and I. They’re supportive, but I can tell they don’t fully understand it. It’s nice to be with people who do and aren’t judgmental.”

“Oh my gosh, those blooms are gorgeous! Bess, would you ever consider offering gardening lessons? My husband adores flowers, but everything I touch just seems to die. I know I’m doing something wrong.”

“So, Connie, your family is into philanthropy too, yes? For unhoused children and families? That’s … nice to hear. I’m glad more resources are being created.”

“So, both your husbands are the CEOs of S&C? I’m dreadful with numbers and business sense, so I have no clue if this is helpful, but I’m working with the university to create more internship options for students who want to learn mortuary sciences, physics, chemistry and biology. I’m sure we could provide some financial aid if you have any programs in the works.”

[theratisbackanditsinyourkitchen]

not to cause drama or anything but I HATE SCYTH ASMR! (Tw fictional domestic abuse, and fictional abuse of power)

Hate is a strong word, and my feeling might be a little over the top but, I do wanna talk about some of his stuff. I was a big fan of his when his first V vid was made. I joined the discord and followed all his posts. And then he posted a video that happened to have domestic violence in it, MASSIVE TRIGGER WARNING FOR THAT PAST THIS!!!! this vid has the listener character “cheeky” (I will not be calling her that cus that’s is a cringe ass nickname btw) and V, the romantic interest training, then after some flirting (one sided on V’s part, I’ll get into this later) a cargo truck full of scientists drives by! V quickly gets into the trunk and kills everyone in there, the listener character tries to stop him from killing what she think is an innocent person, he kills the guy in front of her, and then throws her out of the car, chokes her, talks about how he’s going to kill her and pin her death on the people in the cargo truck, and then says “how about one more kiss before you go” before letting her go. He then afterwards explains that the reason he killed all of them, was because of some in story lore about werewolves. It’s explained that what they did basically caused a werewolf to go feral and become evil and kill people. So obviously! These scientists who were probably forced by the government to do this, deserved to die! That makes sense! Anyway the moral of this vid was that the listner character should always listen to V no questions asked! I hate this vid for a number of reasons. The biggest one is the number of comments sexualizing and romanticizing the fucking horrible and traumatic abuse this listener faced, even bigger then that was the fact scythe audio fed into it.

The worst comment (trigger warning, victim blaming)

As you can see, scythe not only condoned this behaviour, he feed into it. This comment makes me sick. I accidentally watch this video without reading the description and became very triggered at the video. (this is not scythe audios fault, I must make this clear) seeing people make jokes like “I asked to be choked but not like this” and talking about how the listener character deserved and even enjoyed the attack was and still is repulsive.

The relationship between V and the listener character was also extremely abusive, but it was always shown as loving, or something like that. The listener has to stay with V and basically do whatever he asks (including kissing and I assume sexual favours) or be tossed to the streets to be picked up by either the evil shadow government or the actual government. Both wanted her dead. So, she’s trapped staying with a man who threatens violence if she doesn’t follow his every whim, who sexually harasses her daily, who diminishes her trauma, and who treats her like trash, just so she doesn’t her tormented and eventually killed. My issue with this isn’t the fact he��s an abusive ass hat, my issue is that instead of giving him any actual character growth, V was given orphans. He was made into an adopted dad to a shit ton of orphans cus he has ZERO REDEEMING TRAITS OTHER THEN HOT. Scythe audio must have realized this guy was his money maker and realized he had to make this guy actually redeemable if he wanted to have him to keep Marlon him money. Anyway it was unconvincing cus right after introducing the fact there were cute kids in the equation, he dropped the domestic abuse.

Another thing, less about the videos and more about how he interacted with fans. His discord sever had rolls for age! They specifically had one labeled “16 and under”, now, I’m not against having minors in asmr fandom spaces, but having minors especially such young ones in a sever he made? It just felt like a weird choice, especially seeing as he had and still has, and I’m going to say it bluntly, porn up on YouTube. Now you can say “but the video said 18+!” We all know that has never ever stopped a minor from doing anything. With this said, a large amount of his fandom was under 18, I’ll give him this, I don’t think i ever saw Scythe interact with an under 18 fan, but he knew they where there, he knew they watched his content. And yet knowing this, he wrote stories that glorified domestic abuse as a way to teach your partner how to fall in line he wrote stories glorifying the horribly toxic relationship that was V and the listener character. This type of thing affects kids greatly, especially if they have no clue it is abusive. Even in the video with the domestic abuse the description says “this may be triggering to listeners in regards to domestic based violence” not “Trigger warning, this video contains Domestic abuse!” It says it more like “it’s kinda domestic abuse, but only if that triggers you”

In Redacted, the description will always tell you what to expect. “Gaslighting, manipulation, toxic relationship” he will make sure you know that a toxic relationship is toxic, he makes sure your aware that the abuse shown, isn’t love. The most scythe does is say “well V is a villain! He’s not a good guy!” And yet her tries to make him redeeming so people like him.

Now, I get that this was over 2 years ago, scythe audio could have totally moved past this weird glorifying abuse thing, who knows! I mostly wrote this as a vent cus my friend reminded me he existed. Anyway if you made it this far have a nice day. If you where or still are a scythe fan, tell me what you think of all this (without being mean please) if you happen to be scythe himself block me I don’t want you near me. Anyway have a nice day!

[destiny-in-the-universe]

two down, another to go.

This is going to a mix of about 4-5 different prompts and it’s going to be very much a doozy, esp. because of the fandom choice. It’s extremely late, and I’m not expecting anyone to see this until sometime tomorrow, but the fandom oddly enough is Cars. As in the Pixar movie!

It’ll be an extremely niche reader group but oh fucking well. This is what I’m fixated on writing apparently. For some explanation, it follows the most alt canon to ever be written but it is implied to take place following the events of Cars 2! Lightning is still a racer and at the top of his game, though things take an unexpected, sudden turn in this - since I just like to be mean when it comes to my favorites lmao which includes this boy. Also! Keep in mind everyone is human.

I will say he gets to go through it and is loosely inspired by a great series on Ao3 which I will link later if I can find. It’s definitely becoming its own multi-chaptered work though I’ll cover that later since I’ve no idea if people will be interested in that!

Read below the cut for more information about the Cars whump prompt!

Whumptober Event

Following an alternative canon, Lightning McQueen has returned for another year of racing in order to win the latest Piston Cup, but when things take an unexpected turn for the worse - will he be able to pick himself back up again?

The characters are, of course, humanized. Timeline wise, it’s supposed to take place after Cars 2, but presumably before Cars 3. There are a few key differences from the canon franchise however.

Cars AU Headcanons

I am not incredibly mean, so despite that my love for angst, suffering, and whump - Doc Hudson is not dead. Also because I’m a complete sucker for Doc’s dynamic with Lightning McQueen, and is a huge part for the incoming series/whump writing event.

Mater is very much Not Straight. He doesn’t have a label on himself, but after breaking things off with Holley Shiftwell - he has begun catching feelings for a certain someone. We’ll get to this later!

Mater is also Extremely Autistic and ADHD. You can’t convince me otherwise, holy shit

Lightning McQueen is so ADHD. This is canon now. I make the rules!

Sarge and Fillmore are in a committed relationship, and have been ever since the 1960’s. This is not center to the au I’m working on, but it’s also going to be referenced so,

Doc Hudson has mobility issues and uses a cane to help him walk. His crash won’t be a main focus, but yes, the cane is a mobility aid due to scarring from the incident in his youth!

Hurt Lightning McQueen means adoptive parent Doc Hudson. This is all you’re getting!

Finn and Holley might not appear in this installation, but they’ll probably get referenced in some way!

Lightning is an orphan. It’s unclear what happened to his parents, so all the people he has are from Radiator Springs.

While it’s not a major focus in this version, and is more in the past, I am very much a Harv basher. Have fun with this!

I’ll expand on this universe later, but the short version - Lightning deals with the aftermath of an incident during a race and the road to recovery is far from easy; at least he has his found family to help every step of the way. In other words, I traumatize Lightning for my own whump serving purposes. I’ll be in touch!

[pilot-boi]

A take that is just as bad as womanizer Jaune is that Nora is stupid.

She's objectively the smartest one on JNR, not to mention the most emotionally intelligent. And was shown in the early volumes to be interested in what was being taught.

The girl's a live incarnation of the Scientific method. She loves learning and finding out, so what does she do? She fucks around. Just because she has a lot of energy (probably ADHD), doesn't mean she's dumb.

yes Yes YES

Nora is NOT fucking stupid, even though the fandom loves to paint as so. She runs into the exact same problem that Yang does. Because she’s strong and not as overtly clever as her romantic partner, she’s painted as an idiot

How the hell are we supposed to know the intelligence of ANY of the characters?! It’s not like we see them DOING any freaking school work while they’re at school. The only one we know struggles is Jaune, so why is Nora painted as an idiot?

She’s able to understand at a glance the societal imbalance between Atlas and Mantle, and doesn’t try to hide her own political views while she debates succinctly, passionately, and verbosely with Ironwood

Aside from her outward emotional intelligence, which is shown to be the best of any of her friends by how easily she’s able to discern the relationships that they have with each other, Nora is also shown to be remarkably capable of figuring out her own emotional turmoil!

To date she’s the only character to really take the time to analyze her sense of self and how it relates to the other characters. Not to mention the fact that Nora not wanting jump into a relationship with Ren because she wants to figure her shit out first shows a level of restraint and emotional awareness that is severely lacking in most of our cast

What Nora IS, is a master of hiding her true emotions and ideas behind a mask

Since we’ve met her, Nora has been keeping up a face of being the ditzy, happy-go-lucky, breaker of legs that we know and love. And while she IS most of those things, she also plays up a lot of her more exuberant traits because that’s who people expect her to be

Nora is an orphan who grew up basing most of her personality and behaviors off of Ren. The most traumatic day in his life was probably her HAPPIEST day. So while he struggled with the loss of his parents, Nora was the happy face he could turn to for support and uplifting

And as life went on it only got worse. Nora is strong? Oh that must mean she’s an idiot meathead. Nora wears bright colors and cutesy clothes? Must mean she’s a ditzy airhead. Nora is loud and brash? Must mean she doesn’t think when she’s speaking.

Basically what I’m trying to say is, everyone in the FNDM who thinks Nora is an idiot is just falling for the mask she wears

[jays-cloud-zero]

Dazai Character Analysis

Okay so, this is basically a Dazai character analysis for before his mafia days so buckle up. These observations are from what I’ve noted in readings of official Light Novel translations, No Longer Human, Beast, and the base manga obviously, but head canons may worm their way in despite my trying to exclude them.

Alright, so I think that logically this should proceed from a chronological standpoint, so I’ll discuss the time before Dazai and Chuuya: Age 15 first, which, while isn’t explicitly stated, allows a lot to be learnt about his character. Let’s start with the fact that in Fifteen it is said Dazai is not an orphan, shall we? He has been established as a suicidal character from before his first canon appearance aged around 13-14, therefore an event before he joined the mafia is primarily the cause of this mindset. This doesn’t really highlight a brilliant childhood, although knowing he was indeed homeless for a time prior to meeting Mori does create another potential reason for this behavior and philosophy. However, this knowledge of the fact he was homeless also just goes to show that while he did have a family Dazai would rather live on the streets than with them. I’m assuming that Dazai did have a living family due to the whole “he certainly isn’t an illegitimate child, or an orphan he picked up” thing in 15 when discussing his place in the mafia. Therefore his time on the streets doesn’t really set the scene for a loving family, does it? Thus, Dazai’s household must have been a place he either felt overlooked or trapped. An example that sticks out to me from No Longer Human is when Yozo feels he must pretend to be something that his family desires rather than what he himself wishes to be. In writing the gift he feels his father wants him to get, or acting rather silly for the women, he is essentially crushing his own personality and needs and stuffing them away. So Dazai obviously comes from a background that gave him trauma, most likely from his family. However, this most definitely isn’t the only trauma to come out from his time homeless. Particularly, his hatred of dogs which, in the light of the manga and wan, tends to be portrayed quite comedically. But considering his experiences within the slums it can be assumed that the literal stray dogs may be to blame for this. Packs are often known to become rabid or attack others for a chance to be fed, therefore its probable that Dazai encountered such packs and someone he was with or perhaps even himself were attacked while trying to feed themselves in less than humane conditions. Akutagawa also has this dislike of dogs, which correlates with this theory, as he is also from the Suribachi Slums (it also gives an interesting take on the title Bungo Stray Dogs, but that isn’t relevant here). Speaking of the slums, Dazai was invited into the Sheep, but declined which is quite interesting as the knowledge of ‘strength in numbers’ is known practically internationally. This may be linked to his biological family because as a boy trapped you probably wouldn’t want to chain yourself to another group of theoretically ‘helpless’ people.

Mori and Dazai as a duo are also quite fascinating, the mystery of how Mori picked up Dazai (ha-ha see what I did there?) leaves a lot up in the air, however what we do know is that an extremely young Dazai attempted suicide. Realistically it can be assumed that when the good doctor found him, he’d passed out and therefore was unaware of being moved to Mori’s clinic and so, when he woke up in an unfamiliar place, with a complete stranger and a traumatic background, Dazai probably started to freak the hell out. This helps to explain that panel from 15, where Dazai is strapped to the table with a mask on. No, it wasn’t some evil psycho experiment, it was just an aggressive child posing a threat to both himself and others therefore Mori sedated and restrained him which so happens to be a relatively common practice! I also feel that the ‘kinship’ Mori expresses in 15 may also have a part to play in why Dazai was taken into the mafia. The doctor most definitely has some form of trauma because no one just sees humans as pawns… but anyway, in seeing a child he could connect to he helped cultivate Dazai’s silly little genius brain and conditioned him a little in the process. Mori’s teaching method would have likely reflected how he himself was taught, and I feel like it would focus on the rules of the mafia (success = life type deal) since Mori was starting to plot to take over the underworld of Yokohama. I don’t think that Mori would have hurt Dazai directly, he does save lives for a living and hurting a suicidal child probably wouldn’t accomplish much, however he may have exploited a pet Dazai may have been attached to, I lean more towards a cat due to the nature of Catsume’s (Cat Natsume) interactions with Dazai and the fact he hates dogs. This whole idea of suffering at the hands of losing the war comes from Mori saying to Chuuya, “I am the pinnacle of this organization as well as its slave” in 15, it also reflects the fact that Dazai seemed to rise to the top of the mafia as Mori’s prodigy; he was being groomed to be a good leader if anything were to happen to Mori. It would also explain so much about Akutagawa’s ‘training’, as essentially, from the few snippets we’ve seen, Akutagawa was taught to be helpful to the mafia or die. Furthermore, it can be assumed that Mori and Dazai knew each other for at least a little while before the previous boss’ assassination both because of the familiarity Dazai had with the boss during their fight and the fact that no one just kidnaps a kid for a day to kill someone. Mori would have to at least trust Dazai wouldn’t spill the beans for a free tootsie roll, which requires trust to some extent. Mori teaching Dazai on the other hand comes from the fact that Dazai obviously didn’t go to school, he joined the mafia at 15 and was an executive by a maximum of 18, and despite people without educations still having intelligence in their own right, the level Dazai displays and the way he is always five steps ahead of everyone in the current manga timeline leads me to strongly believe he was given education through a more private and focused approach in planning, problem-solving and the like.  And that about brings me to the end of things I can think of to say about Dazai before canon, not sure if I’ll keep going past this point but we’ll see…

[chemnections]

What are your thoughts on the fourth TUA season?

i just finished bingeing it and am in the processing phase right now. my very first impression of it is i didn’t hate it, but i am disturbed by the ending.

suicide isn’t the answer. and the world is better with you in it.

it is so disheartening to see this sort of ending on a story about a dysfunctional and abused family - it sends the message that it never gets better. but it can get better - it truly can. and maybe they were going for more of a nihilistic approach, a “life goes on until it ends”, maybe a classic “all the characters have settled down and had family’s and lived to an old age” was too “boring” of an ending for the weird interesting umbrella academy. that all the characters “tried” to have normal lives but never achieved 100% happiness at all times because that’s not what life is, life is hard and we don’t have the answers why. but imagine watching the first season for the first time then having the ending spoiled that they never truly worked through the dysfunction than they all committed suicide as a group - because they had “no choice” but come on they didn’t go down fighting and it was written so that they “wouldn’t have a choice” to justify it. but it is what it is. as an untreated teenager into nihilism i probably would have found it profound. but as an absurdist treated adult, this messaging horrifies me.

and they know it’s fucked up because they made sure to save the kids - because that’s a step too far (even though had would their kids exist without them ever existing?). as if orphaning them isn’t horrible and traumatic. and then to display them happier than they were before with their parents. . . sure they had their memories erased, but that doesn’t save trauma from missing parents even if they are loved and taken care of. asked people who never knew their parents, or even people born out of an egg/sperm donation. most do wonder/want to meet their birth parents.

one potential saving grace that has yet to be seen is if by killing the umbrellas, gerard is putting the narrative of mcr’s dysfunction, shade and break up to rest. i am hoping.

and it does worry me how this theme appears in gerard’s current art. it worried me when they released foundations of decay. “from his own hand his spirit flies”. i hope he has found a place of stability and relative happiness and these themes are retrospectives from a past dark point.

and before i get messages saying gerard doesn’t write for the show, imo he does have great influence over the show and that steve blackman consults closely with him. they are past the point of original material. i’m seeing quotes saying the rest of the writer team wasn’t onboard with the ending, but blackman was determined. the actors thought he was joking. if it really was left open to the writers and producers to decide the narrative of i think the brainstorming would have been a much broader conversation as it does take several minds to build upon someone else’s world. tinfoil hat on, i think blackman asked gerard what ending he wanted.

i actually like that lila had an affair in the sense that i was worried they were going to have her marriage and kid “cure her” of her lying manipulative ways. that actually marriage and being together would “cure” both diego and lila of their ills and problems which they would hold above everyone else. so maybe that’s why i like this season generally, it did subvert my expectations in a good way. because in a real sense diego had to learn that when you get into a relationship with a liar, that they don’t stop lying. and that lila wasn’t going to stop being cruel because of love. and fuck, lying that stan was his kid isn’t something he should have forgiven. he should have seen the signs and walked away. so i kinda like how this season roasts him a bit for his own inaction in his own life and his audacity to complain about it. like the line “lila said you couldn’t get pregnant when breastfeeding” - he should have educated and verified that for himself instead of playing the victim as if he didn’t participate. life just happens to him. and they barely showed the additional two children - but they are twins.

lila cheating with five was foreshadowed in season three. it was something that really stuck out to me. when diego asked confused what lila and five were doing together when she was in the bath. scene in the bath in general. “i’m shaving my nest you perv” - quote just off of memory. i thought it was a very weird suggestion, especially thinking of who those characters are based on. i brushed it off as being a fucked up fantasy being put in, maybe to piss someone(s) off. but now it can be seen that it was setting up the groundwork for the affair. i guess i should google how old aiden gallagher is, maybe they were waiting for him to come of age before putting his character into a relationship.

i have seen a steve blackman quote saying they wanted to put five into a relationship, but if they wanted more romance how about something established or star crossed lovers storylines they already had - like klaus and dave, or not have ray abandon alison for no apparent reason given. they also had ben. or kept sloan alive. or they could have brought back deloris because people did accept that way more than they did luther and allison. but there may be a practical availability and budget side to this.

and so many repeating themes along then way. the piss bottle lol.

still very much collecting my thoughts on all of this, would love to hear other people opinions!

[fallindomino]

thinking about the way they adapted kaz’s trauma and didn’t touch inej’s makes me mad. it’s def not a big revelation or anyth but i just wanted to rant abt the idea of “safe” trauma vs “dangerous” trauma, in hollywood’s eyes.

kaz’s backstory, written in simplest terms, is that he and his brother moved to the city as kids after their parents died and got conned out of all their money by a crime boss. soon after plague comes to the city, which kills his brother and brings him as close to death’s door as one gets, leading to them both being thrown out on the barge boats. kaz is too weak to wait for the bodymen to come back, so he is forced to use the dead corpse of his brother as a paddle board to make it back to shore.

and then inej’s is that she slept in for five minutes that one time and was kidnapped and sold to the menagerie by slavers.

i’m not trying to compare the impacts of their trauma on them, they’re equally traumatized imo. but one trauma is easier for hollywood to adapt because to do the other would be polarizing and they’re probably scared to.

but for me this also raises another question about kaz’s trauma, assuming they keep exploring it in a soc spinoff, if it happens. another important aspect of his trauma that does make it different from inej’s is choice. it’s actually the one aspect of his crooked kingdom development they didn’t touch, which gives me some hope it might be used well but idk. in crooked kingdom this idea of an honest man is explored, “who’s the one mark you couldn’t fleece” yk. in (book) pekka’s final confrontation w kaz he even says it, how jordie was a fool and if he hadn’t been trying to cheat to get ahead they never would have been in a position to get conned. did pekka still prey on a child? abso-fucking-lutely, but this idea that jordie fucked up, that by believing he could be smarter than the system he doomed both kaz and himself, is something kaz also has to come to accept.

its something that all the crows’ traumas have in common in the books that make them resonate, and idk if it’s gonna come across as well in the series, that the system failed them all. kaz and jordie, orphans, left with no one to help them make their way. inej, objectified and dehumanized by both men and a fellow woman. jesper, who had unintentionally been raised to be so afraid of who he is that he developed a gambling addiction to cope with and hide it. wylan, who lives in a world where there apparently is no word for dyslexia, stuck with a father who defined his worth as a human being by his “flaw” and never any of his talents, a father who was powerful enough to take lives, including making an attempt on wylan’s own. nina, who was forced into training for the army too young by a war, and then so desperate to please that she jumps into the field, too young, during the reconstruction period, and gets captured. matthias, who was raised on hate after he became vulnerable when his whole family was killed in a grisha raid, to become prejudiced against the entire group of people those responsible belonged to.

well, we’ll always have the books, and i’m in the process of making peace with the fact that this au version of sab and soc is what we’re getting. between the ways trauma is often handled in hollywood, and the differences in attitudes between book writers and screen writers, it kind of makes sense that this is where we are. the cast did a stellar job, no doubt about that, but in a different universe (an au, one might say), we got an adaptation that was faithful to all of the crows’ traumas

[sitp-recs]

Rarepair Tag Game

Thank you @danpuff-ao3 for the tag! This was really fun 😍

Rules: List the top rarepairs that you like outside of your OTP, and why you ship it! (Criteria for what makes a rarepair is up to your own discretion.) tagging anyone who wants to do this, maybe @lqtraintracks and @writcraft if you feel like it?

Harry/Teddy

This ship has been a long-standing guilty pleasure fave ever since I’ve read the amazing When It Alteration Finds by the Hardy champion @lqtraintracks, many years ago. Shipping Starker (MCU) in 2019 made my love for Harry/Teddy come back even stronger because I can trace so many similarities between both ships (besides the obvious age gap). Pretty much like Tony and Peter, Harry and Teddy are war orphans whose paths wouldn’t necessarily cross only they did, and the mentor/father figure combo can lend itself to so many interesting narratives, both tender and angsty which is my ultimate jam. This was my very first ship that didn’t have the antagonist component - on the contrary, this brand of romance is even more heartbreaking because they’re so so seriously devoted to each other. They could have been best friends to lovers if not for the whole godfather+ age gap problematique but it makes the ship even more compelling to me. I love the guilt, the want, the inevitability of them falling into bed then hurting through the complications before finally getting together. My favorite fics include (you guessed it!) everything LQT has written especially Beneath a Foreign Moon and Coming Up for Air, plus the stunning Surface Texture by @the-starryknight.

Ron/Draco

I would never have considered this ship if I hadn’t stumbled upon the brilliant A Fine Foray into Fashionable Fellatio by @wellhalesbells - a masterpiece that remains my all-time favorite Dron fic because it finally opened my eyes to their sexual and emotional potential as a ship on its own, outside of Drarry’s shadow. Ron is such a fascinating character, so very different from Harry in his strengths and vulnerabilities, which makes his dynamics with Draco very unique and 100% different from Drarry fics. It’s a delight to see him as a protagonist, I love his sense of humor and I find the idea of exploring what brings him and Draco together (besides being tall Purebloods with strong feelings for Harry 😏) and what pulls them apart when it comes to wealth/status difference very refreshing and compelling. Lokifan handles it masterfully! Now, I might have come for hung!Ron smut, but I stayed for the feels. In the past year I’ve become more emotionally attached to this ship especially as dragon tamer pals thanks to the superb Dreaming Skies by @sweet-s0rr0w and @tackytigerfic and more recently, to a Dronarry gem that’s really a love letter to Dron, The Sun, Shining Above You by @oknowkiss

Ron/Harry

Young Liv couldn’t care less for “friends to lovers” but now that I’m older and mellow, those dynamics are slowly but surely working their way inside my heart. Gosh, I’m so soft for Rarry! I love the idea of them experimenting together as young and traumatized teenagers, and there’s something poetic and right about Harry falling in love with his first and best friend. My heart aches when I remember that Ron was Harry’s most precious person during the Tournament’s 2nd task, being with each other just feels right. Love me some confused pining, domesticity and slight possessiveness /jealousy for them, especially in a scenario where Draco’s involved (yes I am also here for the Dronarry agenda). My first contact with this ship was through Golden Trio fics and the catharsis of comfort sex during the Horcrux Hunt; it was the easiest thing to slide into Rarry afterwards. Now I see them everywhere and am low-key spreading the word among my most skeptical friends (@writcraft is probably thinking “wdym you were shipping them in my Drarry fic???”). If anyone’s curious about this ship or wants a break from enemies to lovers I strongly rec the darling Sun Kissed by @static-abyss,the angsty Prelude and Fugue by shes_gone, this hot af Kinkuary by iota the exquisite Silhouettes by @sweet-s0rr0w

[childrenofthenightt]

‼️🚨 calling all ghesties 🚨‼️

i would like to propose a theory!!! many ghesties are theorizing that our beloved phantom ghoul is the brother of another ghoul, whether it’s dew, aether, omega or anyone else!!! and i love those so much !!! (tbh especially the aether one. wow) BUT i propose. phantom is ifrit’s little brother. unfortunately i’m delusional and have made up lore to support that. enjoy!!!!

this is going to be so long and so badly written <3

pre-summoning:

before ifrit’s summoning, him and phantom lived in the fire ghoul pits of hell <3

phantom is half quintessence and half fire, so he’s smaller than the rest of the natural fire ghouls (underdeveloped in both quint and fire traits!!!) and ifrit has always been a protector of sorts <3

phantom has vitiligo (which he tends to cover up with his mask, which would explain the name <3) and the majority of the meaner fire ghouls would give him shit for it: phantom can take care of himself of course, but ifrit would jump at the chance to defend him for that especially!! also, ifrit has vitiligo patches as well except they’re mostly on his chest, arms and torso, where most wouldn’t see it <3

they are essentially orphans so they looked out for each other their whole lives, and ifrit promised to write to/contact phantom as much as possible if he gets summoned. cue ifrit getting summoned <3

(sorta unrelated but i do think ifrit was terzo’s personal summoning which is probably fairly rare for a papa as they would simply use the ghouls around the abbey. because terzo summoned ifrit himself they would be especially close and you would almost never see terzo without ifrit (and aether) trailing behind)

mid-summoning

around a year after ifrit had been summoned is when things went to complete and utter shit <3 i have personal hc’s about exactly what happened here that are absolutely for another post BUT. the clergy is very unhappy with terzo, and whisk him offstage for an Early Retirement, and then kill him <33 chopping his head off to make a point i suppose <3

ifrit found out about terzo’s untimely death, and had noticed how fishy sister imperator and papa nihil had seemed. ifrit, being a fire ghoul whose summoner and best friend had been murdered, was understandably raging about it <3 ifrit snaps, and finds seestor and nihil, raving at them about what they had done. ifrit disrespects them to the point that they have to shut him up somehow <3

(i think they either make an example of him n behead him like they did terzo, throw him in jail for years so that nobody ever finds him or they give him the worst jobs known to ghouls and essentially make him nameless with no authority or choice at all. but it’s up to interpretation ofc!!!)

as for what happened to phantom during ifrit’s time at the abbey…. i personally like the interpretation that @sixcrowsbooks posted but the whole backstory is of course up in the air <333 i just like traumatizing these ghouls <3

post-summoning (enter phantom stage left!!!)

ifrit was the big brother. he was the protector. older and bigger and stronger. and ifrit DISAPPEARS after he said he would be BACK and sent him letters whenever possible until they STOPPED. phantom gets summoned and immediately starts to look for his brother.

phantom gets summoned and immediately sees the single white eyes of these two strange men and the stern lady with white hair and other ghouls and just. asks immediately where his brother is. of course nobody Listens and imperator doesn’t know who he’s talking about cause he didn’t get to use the name before being Ushered away but he’s going to find out what happened to his brother or else <3

ifrit was so showy onstage and had so much energy and was a lil cocky too <33 so in this new place without the protection of his older brother and obviously suspected by nihil and seestor (even just at the way he spoke out of turn asking about his brother during his summoning. they don’t even have to know he’s ifrit’s brother) phantom’s just a scared lil guy using his brothers showy tactics to survive <33 been like that since 6 years ago when ifrit came to the abbey and left him alone <3

phantom’s biggest lead towards where is brother could be is one terzo emeritus, who he had talked so so fondly about. when phantom gets there and they’re both gone <3 what’s a ghoul to do!!

dew, mountain and aether (who Started Working At The Abbey Again. he’s the costumer/tailor he told me so) immediately recognize phantom because they were also with ifrit during terzo’s time as papa, and take the little quintessence ghoul under their wings <3 although they can’t tell him anything about what happened to his brother in case seestor and nihil find out and make an example out of them too.

phantom once brings the situation up to copia and he just <3 shuts down <3 because terzo’s his brother and he knows just how phantom is feeling <3 after this, the ghouls and copia make sure phantom is never alone <333

reasons for this theory:

the personalities are so similar i adore it so much <3

ben christo (ifrit) and randy moore (phantom) look. so related it makes me batshit personally <3

fanart mirrors this fact tbh <3

update: GO read my lovely wife @lady-jane3 fic linked here it’s exquisite and so so so good

and that’s a wrap. thank you!! if you made it to the end of this post here is some tea (☕️) and cookies (🍪) ily all <3

[thekrows-nest]

Huge wall of speculation incoming.

I have no idea if the OG! - Vamp! connection hinting at the mantra relates to stuff I’ve guessed at but hasn’t been publicly confirmed, or if it’s stuff that even I haven’t touched on.

Let’s see… let’s first go over what I do know.

The hunger is obvious. 

OG Krow is notoriously food insecure and that’s where his organ harvesting side hustle comes in. His thirst for fluids… if you know you know. He’s also metaphorically ‘empty’ because he’s been so emotionally neglected and lonely. Also his job and the dog eat dog survival growing up may have desensitised him to a lot of emotions like guilt, empathy (for those who give a reason) or fear.

As well as being a really striking visual it makes sense with all of this for Vampire Krow to have a gaping void at his core, a ravening hunger and thirst, an empty belly and no heart. Traditional vetala also prefer to feed on intestines so there’s that too.

OG Krow is an artist, and creativity is his entire drive outside Dove. (It could be argued that as a muse who broke his art block, Dove is even an extension of that.) Maybe there is some of that remaining.

OG Krow loves music and has sensitive hearing.

OG Krow is clever and sneaky, easily underestimated.

OG Krow loves birds. Perhaps that can be used in some way.

OG Krow was/is homeless, hypervigilant, stealthy, has wonky sleep schedule but great physical stamina. 

Vampire Krow may be tethered to one place or haunting abandoned places, but if he may have travelled to America he may have been cursed to wander. Or just have free will like most vamps. Or is being forced to move around to avoid being killed, or endlessly chase more prey. I don’t know.

I do know he doesn’t have an opulent mansion and probably doesn’t have a safe secure resting place. Vampire Krow doesn’t tire because he has nowhere safe to rest with other monsters hunting him and is always seeking the next meal. He can possibly be active night or day but might use stealth/night for easy meals if he still has enough sanity to not just charge in.

OG Krow is Bengali/Indian. 

In the subcontinent it would reallllly suck for him if he was weak to the sun. Or garlic. Or superstition. Too easy.

You know what? Both Krows have freckles and OG Krow curls up in bed to stay warm (maybe that’s just his substandard accommodation). I headcanon that if Vampire Krow  ever gets a moment of peace or if prey is unavailable he's sitting in the sun to get nice and dark or just not caring about it, he can barely feel the warmth but imagines it’s still a source of energy (prana) and maybe it warms his cold dead body. He tries to remember it from when he was alive. 

Maybe he even uproots and crushes cloves of garlic into his mouth because the strong acrid flavour is the only thing that still registers, or eats it like a starving human eats grass. 

Whoaaa… In some religious contexts Hindus may consider the strong odor of onions and garlic ‘impure’ and avoid them during sacred occasions or religious rituals. It is veg food though.

However like OG Krow he may not have been allowed to learn about Hindu beliefs. Despite having memories of life, having Hindu roots and being traumatized by colonization, I still don’t know what garlic means for Vampire Krow either way. If it’s good or bad. I’m going to say it’s not effective because it’s so well known against European vampires.

I don’t think Vampire Krow gives a single crap about crosses, or (if OG Krow had the religious upbringing I have brought up as a Krack theory) they may just make him angrier. This is a fairly traditional weakness anyway. 

Krack theory… OG Krow as orphan or in foster care?

Part of living Vampire Krow’s trauma under occupation may have been being orphaned or taken from his parents for colonisers to raise. 

I don’t think this is it as OG Krow is Bengali/Indian but there were also cases of British men siring children and returning overseas, abandoning mother and child to fend for themselves. Not a great position to be in in poverty, war, and famine… may have led to the loss of his mother or their separation.

This doesn’t square with him being turned as an adult unless there’s some device like slowly aging or he was just reaching age. But abuse of children of colour in ‘children’s homes’ was rife, mortality was high and covered up, and children were the favourite prey of traditional vetala. I actually have no idea how or why he was turned.

So. This is all I have so far.

Blind unreasoning hunger (greed), (bloodlust?) or rage may lead Vampire Krow into traps or destruction/capture by another monster. (Either Vishnu or Krishna said downfall comes through greed, lust or rage.)

Appeals to any remaining humanity may be somewhat helpful.

He may be bribed with… liquids. Or mangoes?

Water from the Ganges seems to be the equivalent of holy water.

Offers to braid his hair did seemed to give him pause. And marriage proposals? In Indian culture it can be inauspicious to have open (untied) hair and the attention and sensation of braiding might remind him of life. Or lust.

Perhaps Vampire Krow may be mesmerized by art or beauty. Perhaps he can be distracted by looking at or making mehndi.

Maybe he can be enthralled by music or given pause by loud sounds.

Maybe you have to be wary of him pretending to be trapped or enthralled, only to suddenly lunge.

He may pause to look at released birds, or stop to collect strewn feathers.

You cannot sneak up on him or outrun him as you will be taken unaware or tire before he does. I believe the term is persistence predator.

Krow mayyyy be weak to intense cold? Or at least not really like it.

Turmeric is an auspicious spice and to be avoided during mourning so maybe he’s weak to that? He may still be given momentary pause by Hindu taboos from when he was alive? Assuming he was allowed to learn about it.

He may have trauma from life around young ones being taken or hurt, and might be persuaded to spare babies or children.

As to the specific mantra relevant to OG Krow, I still don’t know. There may have to be some more lore drops before I even have the faintest hunch.

But I did look for mantras for abandoned babies and came up with another chant to Narasimha - then randomly stumbled on something interesting.

There was once a deva named Hiranyakashipu who sought the boon of invulnerability against most weapons and causes of death, and to become so strong that only Lord Vishnu could kill him. Beast, deva and man could not kill him, he could be killed neither at night or in the day, not inside nor outside, on the earth or in the sky, by weapons either living nor nonliving… 

Then one day Hiranyakasipu had a grievance and sought to kill Narasimha (the fourth avatar of Vishnu). Hiranyakasipu was then attacked by Narasimha under the perfect conditions to circumvent it all.

Narasimha took a form that was part human and part animal, attacked Hiranyakasipu at twilight, and did it at the threshold to his house. Narasimha laid the deva on his own thighs (off the ground but not in the sky) and killed him by disembowelment with his claws.

Probably not why Vampire Krow is gutted but an interesting coincidence all the same. 

So I’m guessing that Krow has a number of conditions under which he can’t be killed or at least things that won’t work, and so there may have to be some creative thinking, riddling and loophole abuse.

Vishnu/Narasimha also does seem to be the one to pray to for defense from demons or evil spirits.

Took a bit to get to this because my god what a novel that is this ask. /pos

I appreciate that you make me much more of a genius in character design than I really am Krowspiracy. /silly I guess it's one of those things that even if the creator didn't consciously go into a design with certain thoughts, it still subconsciously bleeds (ha) through. Maybe I still am a genius?

...New canon for Vampire Krow. He absolutely lounges in the sun whenever he does have a moment's peace. He probably doesn't really warm up any more, or really feel it, but, it's a moment to try and reflect back on when he was alive. To try and desperately still cling to what humanity he has left.

And no garlic isn't really effective one way or the other to Vampire Krow. The main thing for him is I wanted to get away from "traditional" (western) vampire weaknesses for him. He's not western, so why would those weaknesses apply to him? So someone trying to eat garlic or something as a means to ward him off are in for a nasty shock.

Crosses might not be a magical weakness to him, but they could still infuriate him as a possible reminder of British colonization. So in one sense, is a weakness, but not like how you'd think for a vampire.

I do like the idea that enthralling him with things of beauty is a means to at least give him pause (or even confuse him with unexpected kindness). There's so many stories of terrible beasts being tamed or thwarted or whatever when showing compassion to them instead of aggression. And that is a neat idea to have with Vampire Krow.

As for the specific mantra... I'll give a slight hint. It is to a specific deity but likely not who most would think of. And it does have to do with OG Krow lore. However, that lore hasn't been publicly revealed yet. (For you though, Krowspiracy, as a treat, I'll say you did pretty much nail what the lore was, more or less, in one of your theories.)

Pretty much for a mortal to kill him would require specific conditions I think (or well... basically nuke him sdfnmbdlf). A fellow supernatural would have an easier time killing him, albeit that doesn't necessarily mean they can accomplish the task.

[r-we-taire-yet]

I love my little Super Power!SAF au but I change my mind on how to do it so often it's hard to actually write it as a story. Here's some bullet points about it if anyone is interested:

General info

Maybe Canon Era? Maybe sci-fi mixed with Canon Era? Maybe 80s? Unclear at this time, in my brain it's a mix of all three

Very big X-Men influence because I'm a comics nerd, not based on the movies

Not necessarily specifically in marvel and there's no other hero stuff, just mutants basically, just people with weird genetics who got super powers

Pretty common in the universe for people with powers to get grabbed by organizations and pressured into working for them, or otherwise have their powers exploited, this is a big concern. There are also people who try to 'fix' people with powers and they are also a concern.

Mutants aren't a secret but they aren't very common so they try not to get discovered for fear of the previous point.

Powers usually come in during puberty and it is hard to tell if someone will have one prior to it activating. Powers can activate at a younger age if they are in an extremely stressful situation which can lead to problems.

Various governments have had programs working with powered people because they can do things no one else can, this involves espionage.

Cynthia Houston is a mutant who runs the American Secret Service Powered Division.

The leadership of the team is basically: Barb and Info look to Curt, Curt looks to Owen, Owen is a nuclear bomb that could explode at any time, and Tatiana tries to hold everything together.

Curt Mega

Curt's dad was an agent in the American Secret Service Powered Division and was good friends with Cynthia. He died in the line of duty and she stuck around in Curt's life like an aunt.

Grew up in Northern New Jersey with his mom. She probably doesn't have a power? But she definitely tries her best.

His power activated when he was in his teens during a baseball game when he destroyed a boy's hand accidentally. This was very traumatizing and lead to everything else to come.

He can control energy, specifically he can increase the levels of Kinetic or potential energy in an object, or switch something from potential energy to Kinetic Energy. Curt uses this by putting a lot of energy into metal balls and throwing them, tearing through things or causing explosions. He can make things explode by filling them with energy. (If you know the X-Man Gambit it is similar to Gambit)

Afraid of what he could do, Curt ran away from home as a teen and kind of went into hiding. He ended up getting caught by a bad organization that snatched up teen mutants to manipulate them from a younger age. There he met Owen, Barb, Info, and Tatiana.

They end up working together to escape and finding their way to Cynthia who takes to training them despite not really knowing how to Mom.

They form a group as adults where they work somewhat independently and somewhat for the American Secret Service.

Curt and Owen are together, the group knows, this is Fine

Owen Carvour

Owen is... constantly on the verge of exploding, everyone knows this but generally tries to ignore it because he does

What exactly happened in his background is uncertain for me at this time, only that he is an orphan who definitely watched at least his mother die. This stress triggered his powers to activate which did not help matters. He was probably 13 or so?

Owen is a powerful telepath, think like Jean Gray if you know who that is (the instability caused by the powers like Jean is a similarity). He has telekinesis and telepathy but only tells people he can manipulate perception which like, yeah technically that's true but that's because you're messing with their head telepathically. He refuses to accept that he has telepathy or telekinesis most of the time, and if he does accept he has it, insists he can't control it.

Right around when he was orphaned he got snatched by an organization that attempted to use his powers to their advantage, reading people's minds and stealing information using a machine. This damaged his psyche pretty bad and was traumatic. In an attempt to protect himself he kind of locked the powers they exploited out of his own reach and made himself forget they were there.

That organization is how he got to America and met the others. Generally just was Very Unwell when he got to Cynthia's and she did her best to help but like she isn't a telepath, he needs a telepath to fix the problems there and she doesn't know one.

Everyone kind of knows his issues are going to eventually explode either inwardly or outwardly but there isn't much that can be done other than Trying Their Best to support him.

He's honestly a bit scared of what he's capable of because he's accidentally killed people with his mind on more than one occasion and doesn't really know what he's doing about that.

Tatiana Slozhno

Pretty similar backstory, got taken by the KGB to be trained as an assassin, the fact that she has a power that benefits that was definitely part of it

They would test kids by putting them in situations that would trigger powers at a very early age which was how she got picked for the program

Her power is to manipulate projectiles, specifically bullets but it doesn't have to be, both in making them hit where she wants and to do cool trick things she decides. Electric bullet to shock someone instead of kill them, sleep bullet, scatter bullet, etc etc etc. She has the most control over her power out of all of them due to her getting it so young.

Ended up in America on a mission and escaped, and ended up captured by a different organization much to her chagrin. Met the others there, teamed up with them, decided to stick with them for safety.

Has a bit of a leadership role in the team because she's the only one who just about always has her head on straight. Owen is good at leading until he's having a Power Moment, then he is out of commission and Curt is freaking out to much to lead, so of course it's on her.

She loves these stupid idiots so much, she tries her best to keep everything together which results in a lot of pressure when the other two fall apart.

Barbara Larvernor

Barb knew Curt prior to them meeting in New York, they met at camp when they were younger. She decided she had a crush on him at camp to get other girls off her back about her being friends with a boy.

Her dad was never in the picture and her mom was neglectful. At one point her mom dropped her off at her grandparent's house for months without a word. She lived near the Mega's during that time and Mrs. Mega would often invite her over. She really wanted them to end up together much to their embarrassment.

Barb's power manifested when she was alone in her house working on a little invention. Basically she can put stuff together with any materials and make something that functions. With training and effort she can make it work exactly how she wants it to, even if it's made of shoe string and bubblegum. If she isn't careful it'll have chaotic and potentially disastrous results.

Her power being considered non-combative made her seem less valuable when she was captured by the organization with the others. That let her have more freedom to make things that allowed them to escape.

She looks to Curt as a leader but knows he can be an idiot so she looks to Tatiana if Curt's suggestions don't sound right.

Barb is the smartest one on the team and they all know it, she has a very valuable role on the team because of that. Curt's habit of not listening does cause problems and she tells him off.

When she figured out Curt and Owen liked each other, she dropped her 'crush' on Curt because it was obviously pointless and she didn't really like him. They tease her about it now.

Informant

Usually goes by Info, and uses varying pronouns.

They don't remember their original name, gender, or backstory because of their time captured by the organization. There is a theory that it was Owen's fault, that he'd had a Power Moment and Info got the brunt of it before the other three got captured.

It isn't clear who got there first because other Owen nor Info remember, but they were both definitely there years longer than the others.

Info is the only one with a visible mutation, when not shape-shifting they look like they're made of colorful plastic parts like Legos or something. They can stretch and change shape like they're made of plastic and can shape-shift to look like anyone they want.

They don't really blame Owen for whatever happened with their memories, considering it's just as possible the amnesia was a trauma response, there's no hard feelings there.

They also look to Curt for leadership because he's pretty good at that, until he isn't and is freaking out, at which point obviously Tatiana is in charge. Also everyone knows when Curt is in charge, Owen is actually in charge because Curt does what Owen suggests.

Unlike the others, they had no idea what their identity was before ending up at Cynthia's, and she has been unable to figure it out due to the change in their form when their power manifested. Because of this she had a new identity made for them so they could have some semblance of a life back and go to school and things.

Info is the only one Cynthia actually got legal custody of. Tatiana was not legally in the country and trying to sort that out was a problem so they just kept it on the down low. Barb and Curt both had families who didn't necessarily want to lose custody. Mrs. Mega ended up letting Curt stay with her for a while but he did end up moving home eventually (with the agreement that his friends could come too). Owen was also in the country illegally but for Different Reasons and tracking down his actual identity was almost as hard as Info's, so things were also hushed up for him.

Info occasionally joins the three on field missions but often they go under cover doing other things.