#it's just an interesting bit of character work on a whim idk what to think of it rlly

[trickostars]

What r your thoughts on each Futuristic Four member 👀👀👀 (i am holding back a flood of excitement i like ur art btw)

WAHHH thank you I am also very excited. I have soo many thoughts. More under the cut

Violet

- I am totally unbiased abt her she totally isn’t my favourite incredibles character. I totally didn’t basically kin her when I was little

- also her speech about like “the government only gives rich people a slap on the wrist and lets them go” like girl the second supers get legalised you work for the government!! your mom works for a billionaire!! Do you know that?

- down to some headcanons. I think she’s very much the voice of reason in the four, between both of the boys being kinda impulsive and penny just eager to do things, someone has to make sure they don’t blow themselves up. She’s the only eldest child amongst the four and it heavily shows, half the time she looks like this:

- that said she isn’t above the mischief they all get up to, she likes being able to relax and not think with reason for a wee bit as long as it doesn’t cause mass destruction. She’s the logical friend but she isn’t like the mom friend or anything like that.

- she’s also the tank which is funny considering she looks like a twig but those shields + two traumatic experiences sure do a lot in terms of fighting skills.

- I also think she involves her life the least in the sphere of the four. she has a decent social life at home and she almost sees the four as an extension of her hero life rather than her personal life, they don’t know anything about tony and have never interacted with dash and Jack jack, maybe one time one of them interacted with her parents but it wasn’t what she wanted. this might cause problems down the line.

- she’s a very musical girlie, I definitely stole this from someone else but her friends like dropping off vintage vinyl in their homes to her since she doesn’t like buying them herself and she’s very much a teenager with music blaring from her room but it’s like. The Beatles or something instead of my chemical romance. until it IS my chemical romance because penny drops off one of her old cd players and you know violet would THRIVE with early y2k pop rock and it only gets better when Wilbur donates his mom and dad’s old cd collections. this ends up with her having insane taste, half franny’s broadway tracks, electro swing and emo phase and half lewis’ lonely island and weezer tracks

- she also very much is an “acts of service” kinda affectionate for her friends. She’s the tallest so she grabs things from high shelves, opens jars, luges things around the lab for Hiro, organises Penny’s stuff for her sometimes, definitely helps organise Wilbur’s space cause it’s a mess etc.

- oh and. idk if you wanted lgbt headcanons but. bi violet. she learns what it from one of the others (probably Hiro considering his friends are a fruit salad) and is like “OHHHH that makes sense.”

Wilbur

- there’s something wrong with him. I fully believe that it is not the future that is Like That but in fact just the Robinsons that are Like That and that becomes more believable when you realise most of the weirder robinsons’ family members were kids, teens and young adults right between y2k and now. They are pretty much eccentric rich people, but like morally good.

- he’s not much of an engineer or inventor like his dad but is actually way more artsy like his mom, but instead of music he likes model making and Lego like stuff. he’s thinking of studying architecture when he’s older though he’s pretty unsure of his path forward in life in general. He’s only a kid.

- in general actually he’s pretty unsure of himself, often dotting back from interest to interest, whim to whim until it doesn’t interest him. 99% sure he has adhd tbh but surprisingly he doesn’t struggle with things like school, but more with his sense of identity, he cannot define himself properly quite often and is constantly driven to find a purpose in life, since both of his parents knew who they were rather early in life and as he gets older this is just a more stressful prospect to him. He is very loud and boisterous to make up for this

- so as can be expected, the adventure that landed him to meet the others was just a whim that stuck. And maybe he feels guilty for that but he’s happy it happened.

- he’s very much the kinda teenager boy who sees himself as invulnerable and he often is the one who creates humiliatingly dangerous scenarios the other three have to save him from. Sadly, none of these saves have halted his own belief in his invulnerability, but instead made him wanna reach greater heights of almost dying. at least he’s pushing his friends’ limits, both power wise and nerve wise.

- I headcanon he didn’t really do school, more like a private tutor, as the youngest in his entire family and only child he very much is the kinda kid who’s best friend is one of his uncles or his cousins. No, he doesn’t let any of the others come around to his, his parents would kill him, does he steal the Time Machine to visit at least one of them at least ONCE a day, of COURSE what ELSE will he do all day??

- to no ones surprise, he’s very much the distraction of the group, a master of distracting people as much as himself so Hiro and violet can GET em. It’s how he makes up for being the one who starts most of the fights.

- definitely organises group dnd sessions that he dms and when he gets bored he sculpts their characters for funsies. he has 10k+ word docs worth of lore.

- speaking of which, loves giving gifts, usually little models and projects he makes.

Hiro

- he is the most social member of the group but it was not his decision, he inherited his brother’s friend group of full grown adults and I’m not entirely sure if he would be socially conscious enough to keep up with the four if not for everyone wanting him to finally have friends his own age. It’s not that he doesn’t like any of his friends, in fact he loves a lot of people pretty easily, it’s just that he gets dragged down in his personal projects so much that he maybe struggles to put in effort a wee bit sometimes.

- he is also the main host for hangouts, in his workshop or the cafe because the other four can poke around too much in his bedroom and he doesn’t really like anyone going near tadashi’s part of the room or messing around with his “order” of things, aka the mess he understands.

- it was priority one after they all become besties that he design supersuits for them, he especially liked the challenge of actually working and amplifying violet’s power while creating abilities for penny and wilbur. for penny he of course included bolt as well, copying a lot of the tech shown in the movie to make them a tag team duo with matching coloured armour while wilbur he just gave green lantern construct thingies. He gave them these as a gift and sadly none of them get a lot of use out of them but they appreciate it none the less and he enjoyed the project A LOT.

- he is also very much a gift giver, he’s not good with words so effort is the best he can show.

- he’s a little bit hypocritical in that if he gets hurt he’s very stubborn with baymax’s attempts to heal him but if ANY of his friends get even a scratch on them he’s pushing Baymax on them like “no no, get that cleaned up. get a bandaid. come on. Don’t fight him about it.” With his arms crossed

- he felt so awkward when he introduced the six to the four. they got along great, besides some lingering awkwardness and Fred’s joking attempt at a rivalry but he couldn’t help but feel like SOMETHING was gonna go wrong at every turn. He was surprised in fact to see them get along so well.

- Hiro often acts as the secondary fighter for them all, most of the time when he’s with them he doesn’t have access to Baymax so he just tries his best with armour and it’s small amount of gear.

- he’s the one who gets talked into doing dumb things for the sake of doing them. He doesn’t have the teenage boy invulnerability of Wilbur, more like the scientific mind that wants to do the most dangerous version of every test on mythbusters. He always has Baymax on stand by, his fatal flaw is just thinking that will always be enough.

- oh and just as a wee add on, I like to imagine him as autistic and aroace. And maybe trans, mostly because the idea of Baymax doing t-shots is fun to me.

Penny

- probably my biggest character change, cause penny is a wee bit nothing in the original movie. Not her choice really but there are things to expand on which I do. I know one of the more common things to do is make penny an actual secret agent like she in her show but I think it’s funnier for her to just be like. a retired child actor who hangs out with a bunch of superheroes and geniuses by accident. She is just a guy.

- But she is a very traumatised guy, between the fire incident and just y’know- being a child star for a semi Disney coded network, she’s got some stuff going on. Mainly breathing problems and some panic attacks. Thankfully, Bolt is a very job-oriented dog so with acting out of the picture, they had him trained up as a therapy animal which of course he does amazingly and diligently. Her mom moving them onto a farm was also very much a part of this, the clean air and work she thought would be good for her.

- She’s just now adjusting to being a more regular child, having acted for a long time, and is on the path back into integrating into school but she has yet to make any friends, especially not her own age. She’s often stuck at home so she’s very welcoming to her friends’ visits to her as it eats up her time.

- Penny’s place is the most common hangout spot for all of them as it’s just her, her mom and the animals and a lot of room to do whatever they want. Penny is always find with them being around and actively makes attempts to keep em around as long as possible so she doesn’t go stir crazy, week long sleepovers in summer and stuff like that.

- She also likes how if she travels to any of their own time period, she doesn’t have to deal with the fear of paparazzi and gossip tabloids and that’s probably why she’d rather travel to San Fransokyo for anything like buying a toothbrush or a snack rather than drive down the road.

- Treats Baymax like a pet quite often, petting him and calling him a good boy just out of habit, the others find it funny but she always gets embarrassed.

- she’s the healer of the group, when Baymax isn’t around, and Bolt acts as an attack dog part time. she gets panicked a lot by seeing her friends hurt so running in with a medkit to clean them up is always her top priority. She hides it well but it stresses her out when hiro and violet aren’t around cause she’s worried they’ll get grievously injured in battle.

- she’s also big on words of affirmation, team hypeman to the extreme. She cares about her friends a whole lot and she will tell them exactly why with no excuse or insecurity allowed. This doesn’t go over well most of the time considering violet and hiro can’t handle compliments and wilbur will soak it in with way too wide a grin.

[angelbitezzz]

Don’t feel bad! You’re not obliged to have anon on! :0

Also, idk if it’ll let you answer this ask, but if so… I’ll take one of each, if that’s ok!!

💕👋⚖️⭐️⚫️❓

(If not then just whichever you’d like to share!)

Okay warning, this is way longer than I thought it would be! So I'm putting my answers under the cut here

For the 💕, I think this one [It Takes Two] works (ik in the source material its a song between sisters, but i read it differently for crossbones and starstruck. It's definitely a bit more high-energy and peppy than either of them actually are, but I see it more like the romantic dynamic between their heroic personas. It's all geared up to eleven--both of them have to act differently in costume.

For 👋, I like Hummingbird. The song is mostly just vibes but there's definitely lyrical significance for some aspects of their relationship, y'know? Plus, the whole scene that the song is from in Across the Spiderverse is two superheros taking time away just to spend it with eachother. Kinda perfect?

For ⚖️, Sunlight by Hozier definitely feels right. It's a sweet song, and there's significance in someone who's never known the sun ascribing it to someone in their life. Just saying :3

It is. SO HARD to find a good song for ⭐️. Maybe I should make a playlist...what do you guys think?

Anyways, Tarantula by Gorillaz. It's one of their sweeter songs, and it's about like...well, not settling for someone? More like choosing eachother even with the shit in either of their lives? Thats how i see it

Oof, I already posted a rather angsty one with another ask. For ⚫️, I think This December by Ricky Montgomery is a good one--though I almost considered another song from the same album, Snow. There's conflict, y'know, if internal--how do you separate someone you care for from someone who's sacrifice would mean so much to everyone you know? Morally, Sans is an interesting character (I'm talking largely of his Undertale iteration, but since ts underswap tries to keep things relatively unchanged in regards to personality, he also counts) because while he is someone who I'd consider a good person, he's the same guy who more than likely would've attacked frisk on sight if he wasn't such a loyal character. There's love here. There's also the persistent, nagging knowledge of what needs to be done.

And finally, ❓. For the miscellanious song, we have Stars In the Sky by Kid Cudi for the second Sonic thr Hedgehog movie. I know it's a little silly, but lyrically I consider it a fantastic song for Crossbones and Starstruck! Angel is no stranger to the villain that is being mentally ill, and being separated from everyone she knew and essentially becoming the local semi-homeless human in a place that, while very silly and kind, is still hostile to her sucks. Doing the superhero gig--or rather, participating in the saturday morning cartoon gimmicks as either Starstruck or Koffin K's Spooky Servant is a good distraction. She likes it, and she likes getting to spend time with Sans like that. In a way the Starlight Isles are something of an escape for her, a dream-like forest suspended in eternal twilight where she gets to play the hero or the villain on a whim, with no real consequences. For now.

AAAAND that's it! I actually...did not expect to write so much. For your trouble, here is a drawing of the goobers.

[woodsfae]

Babylon 5 s02e17: Knives S02 Table of Contents • previous episode

They have the space for an entire baseball field, but the hydroponics is so starved for space that one single coffee plant is wildly against regulations and is a secret passed from Laurel (my beloved) to Susan (also my beloved)?

Love the scary stories of the Down Below. It's deeply weird, though, how Garibaldi continues to be a voice of reason to Sheridan. Good character work, I guess, and I like Garibaldi a bit better the further into the season I get.

There are so many strange details thrown at us about various characters, and it definitely makes them feel more real Londo and Vir are very into Centauri opera. Of course they are, hah. This Centauri has a funny 'do. Is it shorter because he's more srs? His general look seems to be of a different style than Londo, and is reminiscent of a western casual, gentleman or scholarly look of the later 19th century.

Of course Sheridan went Down Below alone right after Garibaldi said that was a bad idea, and of course he found a corpse-turned-assailant-turned-corpse-again immediately.

Corpse reviving temporarily kills comms! Interesting!

Garibaldi: "Maybe next time you'll listen when I tell you not to do something. Sir."

lmao.

Dead Alien was staying in the Markab Sector, but was found in the Grey Sector, Down Below.

Fingers crossed for a Sheridan Gets Possessed By A Ghost episode.

Cute, Centauri war criminal nicknames.

Cool and creepy eye effect! Invisible Space Dinosaur called a Grylor!! This is great.

Forensics say the murdered alien actually bashed his own skull in and died of suicide. Seems unlikely.

Awww, Londo is still hung up on Adira from season one.

Londo: "The Centauri have bowed to the whims of other races for too long. Now we will show the galaxy our true spirit. Beginning with those, those, thrice-damned Narns."

Translation: "It sucks that we reined in some of our slave-empire colonization due to pressure from races who didn't like the violent, murdering colonizing. It's good to be back at it."

Huh, old war buddy is against the war and didn't want to see the Narns forced into military conflict. And doesn't realize he's talking to the guy who helped orchestrate all of it. Londo was either the best or the worst person to come to for help when your house is about to be disgraced. Idk which way Londo's going to jump or how this is going to land. On the one hand, Londo could chuck his old friend under the bus for his own gain. Or he could really save this guy's political reputation.

Of course Londo has a portrait of himself in his quarters. That's giving him some serious side-eye.

Susan Ivanova!!

Sheridan: "Commander. Everything in order?" Ivanova: "Remarkably so. It's beginning to worry me." Sheridan: "Do you always worry when things are going well?" Ivanova: "I don't have time to when they're not."

Sheridan gets more, fun, hallucinations! This is definitely normal and not something he should report to Dr Franklin. Anna keeps coming up which feeds my theory that she's still alive.

Oh, he did go report it to Franklin! Good move. Smartypants. Franklin is amusingly dismissive of this.

Dr Franklin: "Well, anyone wiling to command Babylon 5 has got to be slightly insane, but I don't think you're ready for the asylum just yet."

LMAO. What's a little hallucination or four compared to how nuts you have to be to take this job voluntarily?

Oh, interesting. The Markab sector is named after a people also called Markab?

Dr Franklin: "I'm also prescribing a mild sedative. I want you to relax and enjoy yourself - that is an order!"

aka, here's some oxys, go nuts?

Extremely cutthroat Centauri politics perfectly punctuated by Vir, here:

"You know, on rare occasions, I am proud to be your attache."

hah! He really is gaining in confidence.

Ahhh the Markab went through sector 14, which has been restricted since B4 disappeared and briefly re-appeared. dun dun dun!

I wonder if JMS realized that Garibaldi was wholly unlikable and shifted the writing for his character intentionally. Every time he's on screen the last few episodes, I find him easier and easier to like. Or maybe his relapse into alcoholism and subsequent recovery really shook some sense into him? He's funny and endearing now, in a way he wasn't for me since the pilot, The Gathering.

Centauri party. Always a good time to cringe out of my skin. Nothing has happened yet, but there's plenty of time left in the episode for it.

Of course the very person Londo went to for help is the one that has been trying to wreck the Laddo house. And of course Londo didn't know. He's so smug in his great political knowledge and power, but he ignored Centauri politics until something piques his interest and then he acts without knowing the details.

Vocator Laddo: "You cannot build an empire based on slaughter and deceit!"

well, actually I think that's the only way to build an empire and collect that much power, but you gotta start somewhere.

Death match!! Can't wait.

More possession and hallucinations for Sheridan!

Vir: "Disgrace is preferable to death!" Londo: "There was a time when I would agree with you! That time has passed." Vir: "Londo, this is insane!" Londo: "Insanity is part of the times! It's time to embrace the madness, let it fire you."

Maybe that really is the key. Or maybe I shouldn't take advice from Londo Mollari.

Sheridan and Garibaldi are heading to the restricted Sector 14!

Urza Laddo is much better at sword fighting than Londo is. But since I'm pretty sure Londo is in this show for the long run, this can't end with him being dead.

Garibaldi snagged Sheridan's ship, but did he get Sheridan's mind? This sector really does have some janky phenomena going on.

Damn, setting yourself up to be killed by one of your oldest friends so your family doesn't get disgraced by your political opponents is a move.

Sheridan's mind did come back with him, but he did leave behind a consciousness which wanted to be taken home. Weirdness abounds on B5!

House Laddo is no more, and its members are now House Mollari and under Londo's direct protection. That's an interesting cultural mechanism to make sure that people don't go into death matches too lightly. If you win, you get a whole fuckload of new dependents! I could also see people doing that to gain power over particular dependents, though.

Londo: "I have made many choices lately, Vir. And for the first time, I am not sure those choices were right." Vir, tired of being the Jiminy Cricket to the worlds' worst Pinocchio: "Then perhaps some good has come out of this tragedy! It's not too late to make some good choices." Londo buying into the Sunk Cost Fallacy: "No, the blood is already on my hands. Right or wrong, I must follow the path to its end."

It's a real bummer that killing one of his oldest and dearest friends isn't enough to make Londo actually change some of what he's up to or to second-guess some aspects of Centauri culture..

next episode

[applestorms]

i'm in a bit of a john mood atm, so i wanted to write a post about some of the things that i think fanon gets wrong about him. the biggest thing is that imo a lot of people flatten john a ton in considering him the poster child for Homestuck™ as a story, which sucks because i think it should go the opposite way around. he's the prototype kid, yes, but that just means his unique traits have interesting implications for the rest of the story and homestuck's core themes, not that he doesnt have any unique traits to begin with. john informs homestuck of its themes, the story doesn't inform him of his character traits; sburb gives him the kernelsprite, but he & his friends are the ones doing the prototyping.

so, then, what are those character traits? who is john as a person and how does that inform the story as a whole?

TL;DR: if jade's overarching story arc is about the struggle of loneliness & isolation, john's is about the feeling of falling behind your peers, which is why i think his ending the story depressed works so well

trapped in the s(u)burbs

okay, argument: SBURB is clearly pronounced "sss-burb," like suburb but skipping over the first u. when the kids enter the session they are basically trapped in the world of the game until they can beat it and make the new universe -> they are trapped in the s(u)burbs -> they are home, stuck.

this is a weird line of thought but it's kinda interesting to go through the ways that the (human) kids are trapped in their homes, both physically and emotionally. rose is stuck in that she lives seemingly in the middle of fuckin' nowhere surrounded by a forest, dave is stuck in his apartment due to being watched by an abusive parent, and jade, jake, roxy, & dirk are all stuck in the middle of the ocean. john (and jane) however? they're just in the suburbs.

idk how much this cultural context translates to people living in other countries, but john & jane's original neighborhood is the fucking Epitome of modern american suburbia. i cannot emphasize enough just how much i fucking despise neighborhoods like this: sprawling and empty, they are a modern labyrinth to navigate. every single house looks like it was copy and pasted one spot over, the streets are all named the same thing but with slight differences ("Bluejay Road" vs. "Bluejay Lane" vs "Bluebird Court" HELL), driving through them is agony and walking is impossible. my dad pointed out to me one time that every single house looks like it was painted with a different shade of baby shit and he was correct. and this is not even mentioning the people that live there: i don't want to overgeneralize too much, but these houses are usually pretty big and the fact that they're supposed to be a "safer" place to raise kids makes them decently expensive, so these places are generally very white, very upper-middle class, and you can just. Feel It in the air

so this is where john starts his story. the page (A1:82) was one of the first things that caught my eye when reading homestuck originally, even as a dumb little preteen the age of the characters themselves with barely any greater social consciousness. john starts the story fucking around in his room, talking to all of his friends online, and who could ever blame him when it's such an american wasteland outside. not to get too far into my opinions on american architecture, but if you live anywhere in the united states and ESPECIALLY the suburbs you are basically trapped in the house until you can get your license at 16, transportation entirely at the whims of where your parents can/want to drive you. it makes sense, then, that john's aspect is breath and so heavily tied to transportation, a desire to get out and moving and interacting with the world. the sick irony of sburb, imo, is how that desire is later twisted against him.

when john first enters the session, meteors are beginning to destroy the world and the rest of the entire human population of earth. but to a kid for whom the entire world feels so far away and empty, how much does that really matter? especially when your internet friends, the few people you actually care about, are just going to enter the same game and escape along with you. speaking of,

2. social anxiety & internet friends

one thing i really like about the alpha kids is the fact that you can kinda reverse engineer them and their core character traits from the beta kids, which actually still works within the logic of canon if you consider their biological relationships. not only do the alphas and betas share chumhandle initials, but the person they share with is also the person they are most similar to across generational lines:

rose & dirk are both anal retentive motherfuckers + rose's interest in psychology informs dirk's interest in philosophy/old greek dudes, roxy & dave care about their friends to a fault and serve their needs constantly (emotionally vs. practically, maybe; and also maybe are in love with all their friends to some degree or another too?), jane & jade both have ties with their respective universe-iteration's first guardian and are mentally separated from everyone else at the start of their arcs (jane by not believing roxy and jade by getting prospit visions).

imo rose & dirk have the strongest connection and jade & jane the weakest, and each kid is also pretty unique on their own + informed by their more direct familial relationship too, but i think the chumhandle connection is key in understanding how the characters were initially created in terms of basic personalities, likes, dislikes, etc. since it fits with the stacking nature of how homestuck as a whole functions, both as a story and a world.

so: john & jake. i think fandom has actually done a good job with learning how to appreciate jake better in recent years by figuring out just how much of a persona he puts on to hide his intelligence, but since this is a john post, what's really interesting to me is how that might inform the way we view john.

to start, there are some really obvious connections between john & jake that are as clear as jake's first letter to john (A4:1955): both like pretty shitty movies, are allergic to peanuts, and they're practically identical in terms of appearance. what i see as the key connection however, which informs the entirety of homestuck's medium, is their shared social anxiety.

jake is a very socially anxious dude. all of the alphas are characterized by their inability to communicate and navigate interpersonal relationships, but this is especially true for jake, and i think the most obvious evidence for this is in the specific kind of character that he creates for himself. while realistically we know that jake spends most of his time (pre-brobot, at least) watching movies alone in his room, he specifically likes to take on the persona of an adventurous, extroverted action hero, charming and gentlemanly and generally a dumb jock. it's the dumb part that's important here: jake pretends to be a dumbass himbo so that when he fucks up and hurts people when he manipulates them into doing what he wants, he doesn't have to shoulder as much guilt/blame. he plays up being stupid specifically to avoid the agony of people being mad at him, caring way too much about other people's opinions (A6A2:4587). it's why the trickster arc is so painful for him, and also why he is so non-confrontational.

john is also pretty socially anxious, though i think it's a lot more subtle for him since john's upbeat personality isn't entirely a facade in the way that it is for jake. the most obvious evidence for this is again the fact that he only talks to, like, three people online and his dad. despite being 13, none of these kids ever mention jack shit about school or the other members of humanity about to be murdered by meteors from their own game, and i think that's more than just a necessity of the story considering how much homestuck seems to value realism (at least in terms of characters' emotional reactions & arc). john's dad (as pipefan413) clearly knows the neighbors since in the serious business chatting app you can see fedorafreak & the others also talking about escaping meteors, but the existence of any other kids in the neighborhood is unknown, though i would think likely considering john's early arc is set up to be as normal as possible to set up for the crazy bullshit later. (there's also the whole thing about john's peanut allergy + fear of the "peanut gallery" so)

since homestuck tells almost its entire story through the chatlogs of awkward teenagers, this is one key place where i think john's personality informs homestuck: namely, in its focus on isolation, loneliness, and growing up. SPEAKING OF,

3. childhood ignorance

jake isn't dumb, john isn't dumb, but why do so many people think that they are? for jake it's pretty clearly cause he wants it that way, but for john... i think it's cause he kind of. is? but also, he isn't. let me explain:

john often comes across to me as the most 13 year old 13 year old in the cast of homestuck. he's a sweet kid and intelligent enough for his age, but when that age is 13, there's not necessarily a lot there. john has also had the closest (closest. there's still a lot of weird shit there) thing to a Normal™ childhood out of the entire cast of homestuck (and yes that includes jane, she was the heiress to a corporate empire avoiding assassination attempts at 16, please don't call that shit normal), meaning that, in my opinion, a lot of his (lack of) maturity can be attributed to growing up pretty sheltered. where dave and rose had to contend with overt childhood abuse through toxic/neglectful parents, and even jade had to deal with a dog-parent & dead grandpa, john got a dad that actually cared about him.

this is not a bad thing in and of itself, but john being sheltered does mean that by the time they are actually entering the game and interacting with all these other worlds & alien peoples, he is imbued with a certain distinct ignorance of the greater world that becomes a very significant weakness in a story fucking dripping with semi-omniscient narrators that live to make you suffer. and, from the way he scribbles on the walls (A3:1049), this is something john is both aware of and frustrated with, calling himself a FOOL, tying to the tarot card (#1, his role as protagonist), the harlequin thing (clowns & their incredible pull on the meta of homestuck), & his anxieties (feeling ignorant & out of your depth stepping out of childhood into a world much broader and more complex and cruel than you're prepared for)

4. not a homosexual

i think i'm gonna run out of space here, so i'm just gonna copy & paste some hussie commentary here & maybe reblog this w/ some analysis of john & karkat's dynamic/parallels as "leaders" later (and maybe some june thoughts too):

5. successfully saved the world: the hero is depressed

okay, so earlier in part 1 i ended with a question:

but to a kid for whom the entire world feels so far away and empty, how much does that really matter?

i mostly left the answer to this implied earlier since it made more sense for the transition, but i think homestuck proper does give us an answer to this: it does matter! it just isn't until the end of the story, after they've won the game and finished the session, that it really starts to set in the extent of what they've lost.

so this entire post was largely motivated by another post i read earlier, which questioned why john in the snapchat credits didn't just go to live with the crockers. i gave a long ass commentary in the notes on that post, but my conclusion was basically this: john is depressed (!!!) and depression makes you apathetic & lose all motivation to do anything.

i've focused a lot on john's early life and the beginning of the story in this post, which is maybe in part because i've been rereading from the beginning recently, but also because john kind of loses touch with everyone else in the story as soon as he enters the session.

i think this is often read as just being a product of john's classpect, heir of breath. john doesn't just inherit breath when he godtiers, he also becomes it in a very literal sense (can't fucking find the page where he transforms into wind but ugh, whatever), so he when he literally loses touch with the reality of the story after gaining his retcon powers, it follows with the thematic concept of him being breath. this isn't bad, but i think it also goes further, again connecting with that idea that john is basically the "main character" of homestuck, which is actually a very unfortunate title as it means john in particular gets very wrapped up sburb & the story as a whole in a very literal sense. again: retcon powers.

for all my frustrations with the execution of the retcon, i can't deny that it makes a shit ton of sense for john to get those kinds of powers, since his character and position as the starting kid has always been so closely entwined with the story of homestuck as a whole (see: the entire rest of this post). it also ties back to that idea of john being particularly vulnerable as a naive kid in a world of maliciously omniscient characters (e.g. doc scratch, but also vriska/terezi & all of the trolls to some degree), puppetted around by the story and slowly losing all connections with "reality" and the rest of the cast (his friends!!)

you know all those scenes where john starts interacting w/ the shittily-drawn caliborn versions of all his friends? (or this page: (A6I5:6207)) that has always come across as kind of sad to me, because it feels representative of john's (lack of) connections to his friends by that point in the story. he gets so swept up in Plot Bullshit that he basically loses most of the contact he has w/ the people that were his closest friends for years (ik people hate inversion theory but he & karkat really are complementary in some ways), and that loss of connection just exacerbates his previous anxieties about being ignorant. the conversation between him, dave, & karkat on the meteor is really revealing of this (A6A6I5:7487). where dave & karkat & everyone else got three years to sort through their shit together, john was getting dragged off to make the story make sense again, technically completely losing everyone he had known and grown up with. it's not just that dad crocker is different: everyone is different.

(this also has the kind of even more depressing alternate implication that john doesn't even really get the chance to feel that difference outside of jade, since he wasn't able to connect with "his" original dave, rose, etc. in the pre-retcon timeline regardless. great!)

john's depression has always been one of my favorite parts of his character arc tbh, which ig is a weird thing to say, but it just makes so much sense to me as the next step in his story, if not the true conclusion. it's only after winning the game that john really starts to catch up with everyone else in terms of maturity and understanding, and by that point, when everyone already feels so far ahead, how could he possibly catch up? (the answer is that he can, just not alone, but it is that exact feeling of not being able to that makes him isolate in the first place. depression is a fucking shithole)

so much of homestuck is about loneliness, but in turn so much of homestuck is also about social connections, about the people around you that you love and care about and change your life. where karkat is able to heal the connections of the people around him by helping them through their interpersonal relationship bullshit, john gets caught in the wind of the plot and loses his connections, thus losing his ability to really mature as a person at the same rate as everyone else (not to mention how he might've felt behind in the first place). but still, even w/ john's arc ending on a heavy, perhaps unsatisfying note at the end of homestuck proper, i like to think there's still a lot of hope for him: after all, his dearest friends and family are all right there. he just needs to get off his ass and start talking to them.

(sidenote: while editing this part of the post, i suddenly realized just how sad it is that karkat and john talk so goddamn little in all of the post-canon shit. which fucking sucks actually because karkat would be the perfect person to yell at someone until they finally get off their ass and start trying to be a person again, exactly what john needs after the game imho. pumpkin route you are forming in my mind)

uhh anyways, i don't know how good of a job i did at tying this post back to my original goal, but if you read this far, thank you. i have been typing nonstop for like four straight hours (ᵃⁿᵈ ᵗʰᶦʳᵗᵉᵉⁿ ᵐᶦⁿᵘᵗᵉˢˀ) and i think my right ring finger is about to fall off.

bonus: 6. john is hussie???

OKAY, actual finale, this is quick and dumb but this idea comes pretty much entirely from a couple random lines of hussie commentary from a john & dave conversation on (A2:324):

John makes some pretty sassy quips here. I like the "15th day in a row" line, which makes sense since I was the one who actually said it in a real conversation about this.

most people make the connection between hussie & dave (& dirk, i suppose) since dave's sense of humor is basically just unfiltered hussie, but this comment makes me wonder what was put into john too (though i suppose you could consider all fictional characters imbued with some aspect of their author). i'm not super into psychoanalyzing hussie as a person through homestuck itself, but if you're into that, here ya go.

[meet-the-coffee]

TF2 Fucked Up-Au (or something)

I once started working on a totally odd as shit au that I forgot about, and I didn't even finish working on what the au's theme was, nor what each merc would be like to make it this a unique au????

DISCLAIMER: i don't agree with any of the weird shit these characters do in this au. But horror exists for a reason :)

Anyway here's what I remember:

Scout:

Is like a total stoner. Chill as hell. Piercings. Smokes cigarettes too. Fuckin dumbass. Comes to work high all the time. Doesn't give too much of a shit about much. Has ladies over often but never catches any feelings. Thinks Miss Pauling is just an object he wants to smash. He's an asshole. I hate him, he's a lil shit.

Pyro:

Actual serial killer. Tall as shit. Wide... Doesn't talk. Just breathes loudly and axes you to death or sets you on fire. Isn't as much of a "rainbow pyroland of unicorns and sunshine" as it is that he's complete and utter danger. A psycho. Tall and strong enough to michael myers-chokehold you with one hand against a wall.

Made up on a whim:

Sniper:

Total fucking sociopath. He's the crazed gunman with mental sickness that his canon counterpart in Meet the Sniper says he is NOT... yeah this guy doesn't snicker because he shot someone, or that he likes clicking on heads for the funsies, or for money... this guy loves all of that, but is a fucking creep while at it. He freaks people out. He isn't trying to be discrete while stalking people but he is so damn good at his interest - He is silent as death. He will stalk you home. He will watch you sleep through the window, preferrably snap a few photos or just find your breathing nice to listen to. He likes to feel warm blood on his fingers and loves that metallic smell. He's into weird shit. Don't be near him because he's unpredictable as fuck. He's manipulative, seem friendly, and then once you turn your back, you'll wake up two days later high as shit with a pounding headache, bound with your hands behind your back to an iron bar. He probably uses you for aim practice while drunk as hell. Do. Not. Turn your eyes. Away from him.

Spy:

Spy is anxious and emotional as hell, paranoid as shit and his worst-case scenario is The People finding him, especially if they find out Scout is his son. He does everything to push Scout away only because he doesn't want anything to happen to him. He's on a heavy dosage of medication to deal with it all.

Demoman:

He is so tidy. He's trying to remain composed and watches his friends get fucked up and he can't even do anything about it. He hates it. It tears him to bits when he's trying to sleep. But he likes to help, he listens to their rambles and keeps an ear out to pick up on his friends needs. He was raised by his mom and she taught him to be a kind and sensitive boy.

Medic:

I can't quite make my mind up on this guy. It's so cliché to just make him an utter lunatic but I don't feel him to be a soft guy either. There's a connection to his friends but I can't quite tell what it would be. It's a huge w.i.p.

...

Engie, Heavy and Soldier I'm don't know at all yet. And nothing is set in stone anyway.

Miss Pauling might just be an evil and fucked up gal who works like a puppet under the Administrator, idk,,

This is what I've got so far :')

[gynandromorph]

potential spoilers but, do things stick in stasis outside of Jessie's AOE of awareness, or do they update based on whatever she vaguely thinks they may have? would someone who was, say, building a birdhouse, make actual progress while outside the Area Of Existence, or only be able to work on it while Jessie was near, or just be however far along in building it Jessie would assume they'd be, if she was aware of the project. are people aware of when they continue existing? (cont)

(cont idk how people are sending such long asks) in terms of the AOE and basically being subjected to Jessie's whims, is there any insight into the horrifying experience of being not-Jessie in this world? or, as Jessies role is that of the author, is everyone elses experience inconsequential as if they were really fictional characters, and the only thing about them that actually functionally exists is how Jessie reacts to them? Finally: what did she WANT in the Shiloh sushi comic?? thanks again

long askers please reveal your long ask secrets...

things outside of jessie's awareness "continue existing" insofar that one might assume characters off-screen continue existing. the blanks are filled in once they need to be, when jessie's awareness is brought back into range. the person building the birdhouse would make as much progress as jessie... not even expected, but wanted.

people are not necessarily aware of the gaps in time; they, too, feel as though they've existed the entire time, as the mind usually fills in gaps of consciousness or doesn't notice them at all. jessie may have noticed the gaps in existence.

for their experiences outside of jessie... i'm currently drawing a strip about shiloh and their blue jay ex that explores that a bit. i might eventually draw a funny strip of two construction workers who just deal with absurd happenings around them while on the job, like sudden sharknadoes or a coworker being mauled by a pack of flying dogs or the summer day abruptly turning to a cold winter's night 12 minutes into their shift. however, as the story progresses, the inner lives of other characters eventually only become what jessie finds interesting as she takes control of the various elements of the setting. they only exist outside of jessie for as long as they are the first god's writing instead of hers.

she wanted to argue in the sushi comic because she was used to arguing about food. she didn't know how to react except to continue arguing regardless of the response.

[2dboisloyal-devotee]

Would you still love me if I was a worm?

Contains: Your question about being a worm and their opinion, short crack-ish? fluff, shu's being a bit of a jerk :( kinda suggestive & use of pet name on Helvetica's part, dissecting mentions in Mozu's part, tiny little few spoilers aha

x GN Reader

Feat. The main guys and Teuta (bcs I just love her as a protag, honestly I love all of them except Helvetica idk I'm just not into him)

Anyway, I will start from the most left character on the pic.

>)~Imagines/headcanons

—Mozu Nile Shepherd

You must already know what you've gotten yourself into when you ask him.

Mozu merely confirms you at first if you meant that literally or as in methaporical sense of inner beauty, so you answer him that it's literal.

Yeah... You expect it would go exactly like this. “Putting love aside... For me, you would still be an intriguing living being—full of life that I'd like to find out and delve into. Despite being in a small-scale size, the intricate details structured within worms aren't to be taken lightly ... ”

There's a hint of a budding smile on his face as he tells you thoroughly about fun facts of worms and his experience of dissecting a poor random earthworm he found not long after his parents' passing as a 'training'.

In a way, he still does show his interest in your form as a worm so that answers your question from before, at least...?

|×××××|

—Helvetica Orsted

Looks at you perplexed, but Helvetica soon replies with a tight-lipped smile. “Aren't you already my sweet little worm, sugarplum?” That's a silent warning.

You won't be safe from relentless teasing and innuendos with this guy—no, screw it, you are pretty much not safe being around him especially if you're his partner.

Asking that question is just a bad move on your part because that treatment will increase tenfold for the rest of the day, he's giving you no mercy as it's his chance to fluster you.

Though, not all bad considering he pampers you with a skincare and spa session from him personally which may or may not lead further down... to distracting advances.

At this point you might forget about the question since you already have your hands full just focusing on his passionate affection of prove...

|♦♦♦♦♦|

—Teuta Bridges

Teuta tilts her head, frowning deep in thought wondering how would the best response be. It's like you can hear the gears in her brain working around the cycle.

“This is not another one of your trick questions, right?” She pouts before considering your reply that you're just curious about her answer to your silly little question, that's all.

Teuta will smile in the end, putting her hand on hip as a show of unshaking will that she's sure of it.

“I would let you out to your right habitat since I love you, so don't worry about it!” she nods for a good measure.

Ah... Good old simpleminded thinking can lead you to satisfying conclusion sometimes, you feel kind of confused on how to react since she's that genuine...

|☆☆☆☆|

—Limbo Scott Fitzgerald

The type of guy who says he still loves you no matter what's your appearance, added with a concerned smile of his.

He would kind of worry but more to curious about the reason you're asking. Like, “Why do you ask?”

Just making sure, you know? Maybe something bothers you so that's why you would ask that kind of question in the first place.

After he's convinced wholly this is just another one of your whims, he turns the question right back at you, already grinning confidently. “Now that you got your answer now, how about me if I were in that position?”

You wouldn't refuse a worm like him when you're already his partner and all, right? It's only fair, as a part of give and take from both sides' reciprocating feelings.

|♣♣♣♣♣|

—Shu Lyn O'Keefe

“..No.”

Doesn't elaborate, doesn't humor you, doesn't even try to keep up the topic. Shu only stares at you with unreadable expression although his brows seem creased slightly.

“What are you planning this time?” he sighs. “You know that kind of question won't get me and you anywhere, right?”

If he could be honest right now, the mere thought of you being a worm is just... He hates the feeling of imagining it. If you were only a worm, you wouldn't be the you right now standing in front of him; the same person; or the person he loves even for that matter. It would be pointless, he wouldn't even reach life this far without you.

He realizes trying to explain it to you would be a drag, so he doesn't give you a much of an opinion. He ends up taking you out for a drive and maybe a walk together. “The fresh air might be what you really need to clear your mind off the clutter junk in there.”

|♠♠♠♠♠|

—Scarecrow

The kind of reactions he shows are varying, it feels like you're watching through someone's five stages of acceptance which for Crow is registering your question. “Eh!? Ah! Um, wait, of course...?”

He's considering to call for Anima's aid for this perfect moment, he doesn't though since he decides it would be inappropriate of him as your boyfriend...

Crow eventually—after having to take a deep breath—answers you, “I would.. take care of you and make you a good home in my room with the proper environment and food but yeah because I love you and I think that's what I think is best if you about to become—I mean, if you were a.. worm...”

Poor guy feels like he has run a lap or something as he soon tries to catch his breath.

He will be all the more clingy and whiny the rest of the day like a koala to a tree since he worries if you would turn yourself into a worm any moment.

Taglist; @weirdfallencreature

[velkyr]

DUSK QUESTIONS MOMENT. 1, 10, 40, 52!! 👀

ON IT BOSS!!!! o7 (tysmmmm for letting me ramble mwah. I wrote more than I expected as per usual 💖)

(original ask game post here)

I've read more'd this because oops it got so long sorry orz

Why did you pick the race you did for your Tav?

the short answer is always just going to be I love tieflings, I am weak for tieflings, this is a universal unchangeable fact amen 🙏 I think 3 of the... 6(? I might be forgetting some other oneshot-only characters idk) characters I've played at a table have been tiefs or homebrew variants of them! they're very gender to me, I felt that way before I even really knew jackshit about my own gender. absolutely batshit that I still thought I was cis when I started playing d&d lmfao. also horns tails fangs and claws need I say more. I shan't, I don't have to

but yeah specifically for Dusk, I wanted to base them off of my first d&d character in particular, who was a tiefling homebrew to represent an au ra from ffxiv in our homebrew campaign based around the game. so it was important to me they were also a tiefling draconic sorcerer to match!

a lot has changed about them while I've reworked them, but many of the fundamentals have remained the same. gender, motivations, reasoning and general force of personality have been altered towards things that I find more compelling or more fitting, 6 years down the line - but race and class, the idea of them being nobility who left their home(land) and has a bunch of hangups around it, that's all as it was back then.

10. If your Tav didn’t become an adventurer, what else would they be doing?

this is an interesting one, I've been stewing on it a fair bit recently while I've been thinking about what they'd do post-bg3 shenanigans. the thing with Dusk is I've infused them with So Much raw adhd (to the point of it far surpassing my own, oops. this seems to be how I bestow love on my favourite OCs at this point), they Need enough outlets in their day-to-day life or they'll end up in an understimulated mess pretty quickly.

adventuring is obviously a solid option for that need! but without that on the table, I think it needs to be something that caters strongly to their interests and whims. I can see them working well in a profession involving enchantment and/or working with jewels and precious metals. enchanting things would be a good way to siphon off some of that raw sorcerer magic - if they don't use it often enough, there's a build up of sorts. with it being lightning based, it's a bit like having an unstable motor that runs way too fast, and it makes them incredibly irritable.

as for the crafting part of the equation, well, they're already fascinated by shiny things, they're pretty detail oriented and good with their hands, and it's the kind of skilled manual work that requires Just Enough focus to be stimulating. the only thing they'd probably end up hating about either of these would be dealing with noble clientele lmao, but I have no doubt they'd find a way to exploit that anyway. while they may not be the most book smart in the world, they're people smart by necessity. (something something insight proficiency)

and really, as an alternative or perhaps on the side, I don't think they'd be opposed to sex work if it were an environment they felt comfortable in, with a well-vetted set of clientele that they have full autonomy over.

40. What is the biggest mistake your Tav ever made?

welcome to 'pick a struggle' with Dusk, they have their fair share,,,

there's a couple of things that stick out, but I'll stick with one that's pretty fundamental to them. they deeply regret having lashed out at and pushed away the people that tried to help them when they were younger, still stuck living in elturel.

while they can't entirely be blamed for it - they were conditioned to think and feel a certain way, and those patterns were ingrained across a lifetime, all the hallmarks of the abuse they faced - at the end of the day, the friends they'd made after they started sneaking out at night were only trying to help them see how awful their living situation was.

by the time Dusk fled home, they'd burned all the bridges they'd tentatively built over the years. their best friend at the time was the one who made a sort of last ditch attempt to convince them, and it came at the right place, the right time to push them into leaving. but it was outright said that none of them wanted to see them again, after all of the vitriol.

with the distance of years and the gift of hindsight, they regret it all the more. they haven't really forgiven themselves for it.

52. What is your Tav’s worst fear?

oh you already know this one I'm sure 🤠 but I'll elaborate it into something a bit broader that pokes at the Theming more.

they fear being forced back into a gilded cage - whether that's being dragged back home to their family or pushed into a new one. they fear the loss of the autonomy they've carved out for themselves. they fear a loss of identity, and the concept of having it stripped from them, reducing them back into some (feminine) trophy to be given away for material gain.

at its core, it's a loathing of the idea of heteronormativity, really. that's what I always parallel it to, and it's pretty on the nose in that regard.

granted, it's kind of a paradoxical fear for them. they're so thoroughly weary after spending so long living with their guard up, molding themselves into someone who can take on the world alone, that in secret, there's a part of them that just doesn't want to fight anymore. that part would be tempted to give up - to let themselves be reshackled, so to speak - if the circumstances were dire, so long as there were the promise of them being safe and cared for at the end.

as a secondary but very much related thing, they've also come to fear and resent being alone, and the idea of being left behind by people they care about.

[reap-the-game]

Personal, ooc, but this ties to Gia also (really he's the whole culprit for it) and I'm just Excited over it so you'll get to hear it under the cut anyway. Long ramblings.

So I made Gia sometime in December of 2022, in-game, then started rping him with the ever wonderful captainqster like... Idk man, three or four days later.

Let me check actually.

Two days later, okay. We went fast I guess.

ANYWAY. Gia very, very quickly ate up all of my interest, creative energy and drive, not to mention within a few months he had fully become my main in the game, entirely usurping poor Saahe despite being canonically an NPC, whereas Saahe made a legitimately good WoL and I could really get into the story with him.

And yet, Gia. Gia became my everything, and the friends that have known me the longest were commenting that I really just related to him on a level I never have with any other character I've played.

I couldn't exactly deny that, seeing all the evidence.

Now, a bit of context. Saahe was my first and my original FFXIV character, and when making him my thought process was "okay, what's the most personally attractive character I can make in this character creator", which led to Saahe. I think he's hot, appearance wise! I'm very very ace, but you know, aesthetically.

Gia was made on a whim and with an entirely different goal in mind. My thought process behind his appearance was more "if I could be anything in this game, what would it be?"

You might be able to see where this is going based on that alone.

Of course then I went on to mod him to be more in line with the vision I had for him, which led to him getting that hourglass figure and nearly getting entirely, fully castrated before I refrained just enough to leave his dick in peace. It wasn't just to please me, it did have IC reasons, but put a pin on that preferring the look of a male with all external sexual organs removed still in the context of "if I could be anything, what would it be".

So there I am, doing all of this to Gia, while relating like all hell to Gia, while suffering from an intense case of body envy given to me by Gia. More background, then: I've always considered agender to be my preferred identity/closest descriptor to how I feel about gender and shit. Agender, aro, ace, a-everything essentially. However, my appearance has always been very in line with gender binary.

And while I've been indifferent to genders, I have not been indifferent to my own body parts and how against what I feel they go. I've always had dysphoria, but I've kinda just dealt with it, mostly probably assumed everyone's equally unhappy with their bodies. Joke's on me there.

But now there's been Gia and me being kinda... Forced to confront the fact he is so much what I would want to be, physically. He's wonderfully caught between traditionally male and female features, is also very indifferent to his gender, and loosely considers himself a male only for the ease of it because it was the sex he grew up into in puberty and has those sexual organs (sans what's been removed).

And all of that has made my dysphoria flare up like all hell!

So after things kinda came to a head and I spent one total day crying over how unhappy I was with my body, I started to actually look into straight up transitioning and how that works in my country. And it got me very... Excited? Hopeful kinda? Like maybe I could be happy with my body eventually?

After sleeping on that 'cause being super emotional and very upset is no state of mind to make big decisions in, I took a lil step and sent an email to a social worker of a gender diversity organization, explaining my situation and my concerns a bit and just this "idk who to talk to about this". It's hard to doubt my dysphoria and want to change things after living with it since puberty which wasn't exactly recently, but of course it's still a big thing to consider and not something I want to think on alone, while also not knowing how my nurse and doctor would react if I brought it up with them. Or my old therapist, for that matter; we had other things to discuss during my three years with her than my dysphoria that I'd sort of just resigned myself to at the time, and I made Gia shortly before my therapy ended so then there just was no time anymore.

I wasn't expecting a response to my email right away, but I actually got an email back the next day! In which the worker suggested an appointment to discuss my situation, my worries, and what might be the right next steps for me to take. So I scheduled one, and that will be in about two weeks.

So yeah everything is only just at the very beginning, but I haven't felt this... Optimistic? Hopeful? About my future? In a long time? Like atm, before discussing anything with a professional, I would kinda hope to have two surgeries to make myself look more androgynous. Change my name into something less gendered too, most likely. Other stuff is more in consideration, but those first two I've been dreaming off for a ridiculously long time without ever actually thinking that hey, maybe they'd be possible even, and I've never been very fond of my name. I'd need to get a diagnosis first obviously, and that'll inevitably take a while, and then everything else afterwards, but I've cracked the first door open kinda? So maybe? Maybe I can get there?

I don't need the gender on my legal papers to change, I don't care that much and legally you gotta be one or the other, I just don't want to look like one or the other. Let me have the same confusing aura Gia does.

I've also been laughing over how the reaction of everyone online who knows me to any extent has been just a resounding "and no one was surprised". Apparently my vibes and how I've talked have been just a lil like that for the longest time.

But yeah. Thank you Gia for this, you funny little bunny. And if you've read this far, thank you for the time and all the best!

[lemony-snickers]

idk if i qualify as friend enough to request you smt or if my ships are even in the range of what you do usually, but if you're down i'd be ready to trade a lil comfort fic thing against a drawing of any characters/ships of your choice ♥ else feel free to ignore, have a nice day uwu

of course you can always request something from me. <3 i'd never ignore it. i will admit i'm not as familiar with some of your faves or your particular hcs about them, but i tried to write this little thing for you with the prompts choosing a bouquet and bird watching, and i hope you enjoy it. (also no trade necessary here <3)

Konan stands and stretches her back, which protests only a little after all her bending over.

The discomfort is worth the view, though; the field in which she currently stands dances in the breeze, the colorful petals of hundreds of wildflowers swaying in time with it. Konan smiles, inhales the earthy, floral scent as it wafts through her hair.

When she noticed the flowers had begun to blossom a few days prior, Konan promised herself she would take time to visit it soon, but such promises were often impossible to keep.

As the Akatsuki draws closer and closer to their true purpose, her personal time grows short. Infrequent.

Unimportant in the face of Nagato's vision.

But this morning, she saw the parts of Nagato that worried her; surly and quiet, retreating too far into himself. Sometimes, Konan thought his inability to move freely made him forget what it meant to be human. Forget that, even as they pursued their dreams of a perfect, peaceful future for all shinobi, there was still time to admire the world as it was; find the small bits of beauty it still possessed.

So she nudged him out of the hideout. He followed, slow and unsure as she steadied him, without question. That was trust. Love.

She would have followed him, too, if he asked. She was following him; straight to an uncertain future she believed in all the same.

Konan glances over her bare shoulder--the warm breeze too oppressive for her cloak, she had laid it down on a rock nearby and strolled the field in a white tank top, letting the summer sun burn her arms and her shoulders.

Nagato lingers at edge of the field, too-pale skin hiding from the sun beneath the thick leaves overhead. He leans back against the stump of a tree, glancing up at its branches. The chirping of birds reaches Konan's ears and she smiles, knowing Nagato is probably watching them flit from one limb to another, buildling a nest or tending to chicks.

There is something about watching birds in the wild, of seeing them fly free, which always entrances him. Perhaps he imagines the freedom of their flight, or maybe envisions a world in which all creatures will no longer be beholden to the whims of ninja society.

Where someone like himself--like Konan, like Yahiko--will be as free as any bird.

Whatever he envisions, it brings a soft, serene smile to his face and Konan's chest grows warm with gratitude for this brief moment of respite. Nagato deserves such things more than anyone, she thinks.

He has too easily taken to bearing the weight of the world on his frail shoulders.

Konan gathers a few more flowers; her bouquet is wild and unkempt, just as she likes it. The rapturous beauty of nature, she thinks, includes all its chaos.

By the time she settles down next to Nagato, he has fallen asleep, red hair cascading over his closed eyes as he rests against the rough bark of the tree. She resituates him, pillowing his head against her sun-kissed shoulder, and glances up at the birds overhead as she synchronizes her breathing with his.

Like they are one.

She and Nagato and Yahiko. Together always; still working toward their perfect future. Even if occasionally she takes a moment to watch the birds and enjoy the quiet beauty of a few flowers.

prompt list for those interested. &lt;3

[moth--knight]

💫what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback? // 💝what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting? // 🤍what's one fic of yours you think people didn't "get"? // 🕯️how do you think engaging with each other through tumblr, twitter, comments, kudos, creates healthy fandom experiences? How do you deal with that if you're not a social person/experience social anxiety?

omg......hiiiiiii :3

answers below the cut because I never shut up also thank you for asking!!! WAH

💫what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?

I love love love when people tell me what lines/sections of my fics hit the hardest for them!! specificity in comments is always nice :)

💝what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

oh man, Desert Hearts for sure. I did not expect SO many people to get invested in it - it was actually kind of stressful toward the end cause I didn't wanna disappoint! but I am very grateful for everyone who has read it and commented and such. AUGH.

also my barlissa fics??? I wrote two on a whim in like a single week and people have been SO kind. I am a bit blown away. working on a third rn hehe :3 here are the links one // two

oh my god also leather and lace. the girlies really liked that smut xaskldfhsakj I wrote it as a gift for a friend but it is nice to see that leather butches are beloved by many <3 <3

essentially, a decent amount of my fics get more positive attention that I would assume. it is nice!!!! but also.....I do not understand. haha.

I am also kind of obsessed with how often people lovingly threaten me online over what I write, both fluff and angst. are you flirting with me? are you actually gonna beat my ass given the chance? are you just dramatic? who knows. I love it tho.

🤍what's one fic of yours you think people didn't "get"?

this is me being controversial but I don't think people "got" I'll see you back home or hyperosmia. like, people LIKED those fics a lot, but projected a lot of their own feelings onto them I felt. both of them were written on a whim and both of them are not my favorites. lmao. I understand WHY people were upset, over both luka as a character and the ending of bayo 3 as a whole (I too was/am upset, which is why I wrote the damn fics sajkfhwdkj) but idk. out of all my work they are they fics I think people engaged the least with despite leaving a lot of comments/kudos. most of the feedback I got was people ranting about their own opinions and like. NOTHING about the fics themselves. alas.

🕯️how do you think engaging with each other through tumblr, twitter, comments, kudos, creates healthy fandom experiences? How do you deal with that if you're not a social person/experience social anxiety?

this is such an interesting question, so forgive me cause I am gonna ramble a bit. i'll answer the first part first. ha.

fandom is this nebulous thing imo, and so interaction within fandom is a double edged sword. for as many lovely people are you will find, there are ten more who fucking suck asdjhskj. the best way I have found to navigate fandom is to find people making the things you like, support their work, and if opportunities to get closer arise, feel free to take them.....but also feel free to end them. I have blocked many accounts over just the past year just because I realized they were making my personal fandom experience stressful - nothing personal usually, but I use fandom for fun, so I don't wanna engage with people who are making me miserable lmao. block and curate, prune your fandom garden, and you can have an overall good experience I think. interaction is the lifeblood of fandom! I think comments, kudos, tagging people in things, talking in the tags of posts, etc etc make it so fun and worthwhile. like personally, I do write for my own enjoyment, but it wouldn't be half as interesting without readers/commenters/mutuals/oomfies/friends. I have become friends with some of the most genuine people in my life through fandom, and even got to meet some IRL (and abby if you see this I WILL be visiting your ass our next trip will NOT be cancelled xsakjdghsaj). sorry I am rambling is it almost 1am here in NY but like. fandom is about participation I would argue. but it is good to be careful. be respectful. be patient. don't hesitate to step back or mute or block if you need to. engaging with each other is SO awesome but you aren't going to vibe with everyone and that is ok!!!!!!

oh man. I perhaps am not the best person to answer this, because online I am pretty socially outgoing? I rarely reach out first but if people wanna talk or whatever I am usually very down. I love people. love chatting. teehee. but I think that "fandom engagement" can take a lot of different forms. even if you don't feel comfortable talking to people directly, you can always still like/reblog/retweet their work! you can leave notes in the tags! you can leave anon comments! I think sometimes fandom creates this pressure to engage and create, but some of my favorite people in fandom are the ones who just reliably read and like my fics and if I am lucky they will leave a comment that is just some emojis (I have a regular commenter like this. I would kill for them. I know NOTHING about them. but everytime they comment a purple heart on my fic? whew. amazing.) essentially, do what feels comfortable for you and know that even if you aren't engaging directly in the same way, it is still SO lovely to have people engaging at all. fandom should be fun and not stressful imo. if you are having fun that is what counts. we are all playing in a big sandbox together. if you wanna chill by the edge and watch or play with your own tools that is totally fine. just nice to have you there. :)

ANYWAY. hope this was interesting for anyone who reads this behemoth of an ask. dklasfdhdj.

[lewis-winters]

the last major moment between lieb and guarnere was that moment in the troop ship, when they got into an altercation over bill's antisemitic remarks. it was clearly a one-off thing bc we never see them fight or bitch at each other again in the series, but it wasn't properly resolved on screen, either. we never got an apology, or a moment between these two characters that cements their reconciliation.

it's my personal headcanon that bill did apologize, but lieb either brushed it off or accepted it, but never bothered to reconnect. not that he's obligated to, since i don't think bill was ever part of lieb's circle of friends to begin with. but i digress.

bill apologized, lieb brushed it off, and that was the state in which they existed for a time. until, of course, bill got hit, was sent home.

and left babe behind.

and idk, but maybe lieb felt a bit guilty. felt a bit untethered. he and bill don't see eye-to-eye, but lieb knows what a good sergeant he was, that he worked to make sure the men under him were looked after. he was an asshole with a big mouth, sure, but lieb can see the effort. and I guess he felt a little bad that he never got to know him.

so, when chuck began to take babe under his wing, lieb did to. of course, he did it because babe himself certainly clicks with him, and they have an understanding between them that makes forging a friendship easier, but it's my personal headcanon that the reason why lieb took babe in as a friend, especially after breaking point, was because he wanted to look after him the way bill looked after everyone. lieb's own little way of accepting his apology and reconnecting with him. maybe a little too late, of course, but it's something.

[girlstacian]

Sukunas Ryomen Love Interest or Type of Girl? (or could he) - Jujutsu Kaisen

First, let's take a quick look at a few facts✅ about him!

Sukunas Character & Behavior?

What we know is: He is selfish, narcissistic, cold hearted, brutal, immoral, sadistic, looking for a good fight/opponent to entertain and enjoy himself. And all just for the thrill! He does what he wants, has his own whims, interests and desires. He never thinks about it or the consequences. He just doing it! But how does it end for him or others? Doesn't interest him! (Reminds me a bit of a snotty kid or a kid who likes to destroy around/toys, like this one scene with the girl and her phone📱or he just has no hobbies? Oh boy, what a lost child) 😂🤦‍♀️

Does Sukuna have friends or any affiliations?

What we do know is: He belongs to no one neither nor on anyone's side but himself! He is a true lone wolf & loner. Who loves to look down on everyone! (Like the way he always sits on his throne and looks down at Yuji or Mahito from above as annoying little tots disturbing his territory.) 😩😂 He's just a natural disaster like Gege Akutami mentioned!

What does Sukuna love or like/what are his interests or hobbies?

What we do know is: According to Gege Akutami, his only pleasure or favorite pastime is eating. He loves to eat! 🍽 But also making threats and mocking people. (Can this really be a hobby? Not really... but okay, whatever xD)

Who is Uraume and what kind of relationship do they have?

What we know so far is: that he or she is a human who has known and stuck with Sukuna for a thousand years ago. Sukuna gave him/her permission to accompany him and become his subordinate. Since Sukuna also eats people (seems to be an omnivore xD) they are difficult to cook and prepare. But Uraume has this ability! (Who knows? could be a family-clan of Uraume who are chef cooks or something like that? Idk) Or Uraume just had this good talent for it and was allowed to stay alive. (Can't imagine Sukuna just letting someone or everyone alive like that.) Well, no one knows their relationship to each other, neither is it clearly mentioned or the gender of this person. But one thing is for sure, for Sukuna only the good food is important and how it is cooked. (Otherwise that's it with you and you're useless!) 😬 

I personally think that Uraume is a man. Because of the male-like facial features, demeanor and clothes. A handsome, sweet-looking young man who looks like a woman. Like this one guy with this wild boar mask from the anime Demon Slayer 🤣👌

Does he have/had a wife or show any form of interest? 

The fact is: He has no wife 👰 or children 👶 in his previous life. Confirmed by Gege Akatsumi in an interview. What we also know about Sukuna by himself. He slaughters🔪 women and children and insults them as an insect - maggots. (Sounds more like a misogynistic serial killer?) Because it is. 

Although…🤔 not sure but I heard he likes strong women or women with strong will and dignity. Similar to DragonBall Chichi & Goku, Bulma & Vegeta etc (IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN xD). I somehow saw that briefly in a scene with Nobara, if I didn't misheard or misunderstood? 🤷‍♀️ Unless it was meant differently. Perhaps such women are best suited only to tease, to anger them, for his sadistic entertainment. 😤 

So what have we learned or discovered so far? 

Right. He doesn't show any interest! Not really...😑

Okay, now on to another topic!

Now that we have listed some facts, the next question is.

Could he show any interest or fall in love? (Is it possible or is he capable)

The fact is: YES & NO!

Nani, huh? 😲🤨

I'll tell you right away: 

So it would be possible, but it also involves a high risk!⚠️ It will be very difficult and life-threatening to convince him. In any case, many who dare would fail in this attempt! Sukuna doesn't hesitate and makes short work (you'll be chopped into pieces)🔪 like the two girls from Geto. Especially if you bore, annoy or trying to flirt with him💋. You already robbed his time, neither will he fall for it!⏳ You have to be something special for him to get his attention. You would either have to be as strong as he is in order to surprise him, to make him speechless, so that he shows enthusiasm in you at all.😮 And he could suddenly, unexpectedly, develop some kind of interest that he doesn't know yet, neither understands but through his intelligence he may slowly begins to understand it? Or you're just as crazy as him and you know your way around wild beasts and you're a monster tamer or something like that xD (But even that wouldn't work! He can't be tamed, he hates orders). 😅 You should be stronger or smarter and more fearless than him so that he will listen to you or at least show you some respect. You would have to study him like a zoologist/biologist or go to geophysics XD😅 the easiest thing of all would be...just be MEGUMI. GOOD LUCK! 🤣🤣🤣👌 

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Psst...! If you are unlucky and things go wrong?😬 Then I hope for you, you can cook very well like Uraume (preferably better than he/she) to stay alive and at least be at his side as a last hope? See it as a second chance! Otherwise you unfortunately drew the ass card🃏🤷‍♀️

[sardinesandhumbugs]

what (if anything) would you change about the musical, if you could?

what do you mean, the musical is perfect

a) Give Badger back his "it's been a long time since anyone's said that to me" line from the finale. He deserves it.

b) I saw an am-dram production of witw, using the same script/book as the west end, and they gave Lesser Weasel an actual character arc where he (or she, in that production) visibly grew to resent Chief Weasel always ignoring and belittling them, to the point that Lesser actually switched sides in the finale battle, and gave the key to Portia's cage to Toad. I think that's just neat.

c) There's probably other things I would change, but that's all my brain can manage right now.

In terms of "things I wouldn't add to the official musical because it would probably mess up the flow of the story, but I wish we had an extended version/deleted scene option for": put Wayfarers All in, and properly this time.

(The uk tour heavily referenced it, and even tied Ratty's character arc to the idea of him wanting to travel, but never reached a peak with the actual Wayfarers All scene, which left it feeling... somewhat like a loose end. imho the west end made the right decision with swapping Ratty's plotline to his and Toad's estranged friendship.)

I'd probably place Wayfarers All in the third scene of Act 2, just after To Be a Woman. AKA: replacing this scene:

(Don't worry, A Place To Come Back To still happens in this scenario)

I'd keep Ratty's anger at Toad's situation and use it to rationalise his sudden interest in travelling – ie: Toad is still in prison, Toad Hall is still overtaken by Wild Wooders, and Portia is still missing (possibly dead), so the idea of getting away from it all is pretty tempting.

(I mean, it's shifting the original scene's context, but if the 1996 movie can put in a subplot about a dog food factory, I can twist the character motivations a little.)

And in walks the Seafaring Rat.

(In terms of doubling-up roles, Adrian suggested the Chief Weasel/Neil McDermott to play the Seafaring Rat, which would work pretty well, so long as it was clear it was a different character, and not some secret Wild Wooder plan, a la Jan Needle's Wild Wood.)

I'd throw in a song for the Seafaring Rat (perhaps something with a bit of a sea shanty vibe? idk music genre isn't my forte), and send Ratty off to heed the southward call and all that jazz, only to encounter Mole. Mole realises something is amiss and tries to talk Ratty out of this sudden, ooc plan, only to derail when he senses his home/Mole End and is torn between the call of home and wtf is going on with Ratty.

Mole's distress brings Ratty back to himself, and here the story would slide back into the canonical plot of the musical – and I'd like to think A Place To Come Back To would have an extra layer to it, now Mole is heralding the virtues of home after nearly losing Ratty to the high seas.

Additionally, I like the idea that Ratty might even understand Toad a little better now – since impulsive ideas and changeability are what he's berated Toad for, but he nearly left his beloved riverbank on a whim.

(That said, I don't think he ever admits to Toad what happened. He'd never hear the end of it.)

[meggannn]

shepard/garrus?

oh boy, sorry for the late response! I always end up posting these things and then going to read/take a nap/play a game or something. anyway writing this up took two hours, i hope it is even slightly interesting to read. cut because this is looooooong

What made you ship it?

I think I was interested in this ship before I even played ME. I was just like “I know Shepard is a character and an alien named Garrus is a character, and people draw porn of them together.” because I think it’s reasonable to say it’s one of, if not the most, popular ship in the fandom, or at least in ME’s tumblr fandom? and the way people talked about it, I knew their tropes were #banter, #battle couple, #partnerships, and... and as we’ve learned from royai, I am a bit weak to those tropes (assuming I like both of the characters). the way people talked about them also from a “best friends” angle—which is sort of forced in-game in a way that seems strange to me now—was also a plus in its favor at the time. (if they get together, I do see their friendship/companionship, in whatever form, in some ways integral to their romance—unless you’re playing full far-right renegade who’s like a xenophobe and hate-fucking Garrus, I guess?—but Bioware also kind of shoehorned Garrus into that best-friend role and that’s a topic for another day.)

What are your favorite things about the ship?

(my friend will hit me if I say “partnerships” again) I’m gonna talk about the way I play my Shepard now, because so much is dependent on the unique Shepard. for Lydia’s journey over the series, I see a large part of her journey as basically a study of her (often self-inflicted) loneliness. and she never entirely breaks her habits of self-isolation, but the events of the series force her to be vulnerable in a way she would prefer not to be in front of a crew, or, y’know, ever. Garrus becomes an integral part of that story to help her break her out of these bad habits (all of the crew does, particularly also Ashley for my Shep), but to my eyes, the story of “Shepard and Garrus’s relationship” is also one of mutual respect, burden-sharing, and sanity and morality checks.

I don’t think of their “mentor” relationship in ME1 very often mostly because I don’t think it was done particularly well, but for all its faults, I do like how naturally the jump from “subordinate” in ME1 to “ally” in ME2 felt; once you meet Garrus on Omega you feel more on the same footing as two friends greeting each other because you’ve both recently been through trauma and the sight of a friendly face in a station full of hostiles is so unexpectedly welcome that it lets them both hope things will be okay for a minute. starting from that moment, Garrus becomes one of the few people who can see “under” her mask, I guess: partly because he’s one of the few combatants from the SR-1 who knows Shepard well and sees who she is both on the field and onboard the SR-2, with the ability to compare both to the times of “before you died”; partly because he has trauma response training and recognizes it in others even if he doesn’t in himself; partly because his loyal personality makes him sensitive to wonder how she’s dealing with being resurrected; and also partly because they’ve both gone through similar things. namely, getting your squad killed and blaming yourself for it, and it possibly being your fault (BioWare is inconsistent on what Shepard’s role was on Akuze, but in ME1 she has the chance to reply that she was responsible for getting them out safely, and failed).

necessity forces Shepard to adapt to things like being effectively forced to work for terrorists; being isolated from her support system; being resurrected and feeling like a stranger in her own body; later, getting decommissioned for making an incredibly difficult call to save the galaxy; watching your homeworld burn; being forced into a political role negotiating high stakes you don’t know how to play; being told you’re the spearhead of a galactic war; doing all of this without a full crew complement; the list goes on. those are all, on their own, incredibly isolating, traumatic experiences, and my Shepard’s not emotionally sane at the best of times. (emotionally stable, perhaps, only in the most literal of terms, at least on the surface. she’s like a rock when shit hits the fan. emotionally sane, no, for that reason and more.)

the tables have turned, and Garrus ends up becoming a large part of helping her regain agency in most if not all of those things: in ME2 he was a former crew member she trusted, and he was eager to work for her and be distracted from his failures on Omega. over in the battery, he is himself recovering from a major injury (like Shepard) and going through the aftermath of a bloodbath he feels responsible for (like Shepard), working on a crew that holds him at arm’s length, that he also... arguably... didn’t have much choice in joining (like Shepard—I’m assuming he wasn’t held hostage and joined voluntarily after waking up, but lbr this is unconfirmed). their reasons are different and varied, but they don’t realize until much later that they have found each other at the most opportune time, providing a sense of stability for each other, and also, frankly, sanity and morality checks.

in ME3, he steps into this role more fully because he’s become more disciplined, is doing work firmly in his wheelhouse, and paired up against Shepard struggling with their positions somewhat reversed from ME1: him more confident and her now completely out of her element, floundering with her place on a galactic scale. without Garrus—and Chakwas, and Joker, and Tali, and later the loyalty of the entire SR-2—the story of ME would be a tragedy, and it would end shortly in ME2; it’d be the story of how my Shepard slowly went insane being forced to fight boogeymen under a terrorist banner. Garrus isn’t, like, the keeper of her sanity, but their ability to check each other, and see themselves in the eyes of each other, provides stability and occasionally a bit of a wake-up call to both of them. when they’re both vulnerable, they both feel most seen, and most understood, by an alien that listens.

one angle of this ship that highly interests me at the moment, along with the above, is that while it’s not illegal for them to be together, it’s still... a really bad fucking idea lmao. (I could make the argument that it’s a bad idea for Shepard to be in any relationship with their crew but I think there are a few ships—Garrus, Tali, any Alliance crew at all—that realistically would be huge political clusterfucks.) so overcoming personal insecurity and fear of the unknown to acknowledge interest in each other, and the desire to become an item, getting roadblocked by a reality wake-up call with the fact that 1) she’s his boss, 2) Garrus comes from a society where station matters, like, sort of a lot and it even determines your job and how much legal power you have, 3) the potential political blowback (which would be ENORMOUS because lbr the hierarchy may not care about what turians do in off-hours but they WOULD care about the superior/subordinate thing, the human thing, the fact that they’re doing this while a war is going on. basically one of their best agents is on the Normandy to negotiate their interests and they’re basically at the whims of their relationship the whole time)... it’s a lot! all of that sort of makes it tragic, but I’m curious to see how they’d overcome it.

anyway, all of that is where I’m coming from when I think or write about this ship, but there’s a lot more I’m not mentioning here. there are a lot of juxtapositions that in my head that I’ve either added or extrapolated from canon that also interest me about this pairing. Garrus is a former cop, as is his father; Lydia is a poor kid who used to be in a gang out of necessity. Garrus is a turian with often traditionalist thinking; Shepard is a human who has much less sociopolitical power than him, even if she is his superior on the Normandy. both of them are roughly as old as the First Contact War, when their people were at each other’s throats not thirty years ago. Garrus idolizes Spectrehood while Lydia hates it, feeling it was forced on her. they can’t eat the same food. and yet despite all of that, and the fact that they need translators to communicate, they manage to understand each other when a lot of the world around them doesn’t.

god this is not even the full list of it. anyway I could go on but I’ll stop there lol.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

oh jesus, so much. I’m a grouchy and picky shipper, be warned.

pining can always make my ships more interesting, and imo it’s a consistent part of any ship of Shepard’s, considering it’s wildly inappropriate and unprofessional for her to be fucking any subordinate, so I think more consideration could be given to shakarian in the “we shouldn’t be having a thing and oh also you’re an alien and I’m kind of scared of both your government and your body” angle! I hope to explore that a bit with a fic I’m writing (if I ever finish it, god).

I hate the flavor of fandom!shakarian where Shepard romanced Kaidan in ME1 then felt “betrayed” when he’s confused and hurt on Horizon, so she gets with Garrus as like... revenge? idk. and then Garrus usually develops this bias against Kaidan as a sort of author mouthpiece (which is inconsistent with his characterization cause Garrus is nothing but pleased to have Kaidan back on the SR-2 in ME3!) and takes up the anti-Kaidan crusade cause K ~questioned the commander~ (since when does Garrus fall over himself defending a superior from criticism?) like, idk. I think Garrus can be sensitive to the fact that that reuniting must’ve been painful for Shepard, but also be aware that it was also really painful for Kaidan because all of Kaidan’s complicated feelings about Shepard’s resurrection were, realistically, things Garrus should’ve felt too! this trope is very popular but just feels like manufactured drama for drama’s sake, idk, I’m also not big on love triangles so. I would much rather people just rescue Ashley on Virmire and avoid the whole thing rather than have previously-romanced Kaidan around in ME3 for the sole purpose of forcing him to watch Shepard/Garrus being happy together tbh.

I think full goody-goody paragon Shepard is too preachy to make a good partner for Garrus and full shoot-anyone-in-my-way renegade Shepard encourages and emboldens his worst tendencies (and Castis Vakarian is right to disapprove of them). most people end up playing some combination of both, or if they do settle in one camp or the other, usually there is some sense of realism where Shepard doesn’t play nice/naive or play mean all the time, so it’s rare I see either of those kinds of extreme Shepards depicted, but in general if there is a Shepard that is so far in one direction it seems illogical to me that they ever stay together.

I think wanting a mShep romance for Garrus is a pretty welcome idea in fandom, but adding onto that, I think Garrus should’ve been romanceable in ME3 for players who changed their minds on other romances or want to play slow-burn romances! we had it for Kaidan—and should’ve had it for Ash—so (pounds fist on desk) Garrus too imo!

I hate the canon get-together because Shepard walking into the battery and asking “do you want to fuck” feels very tailored to the players who want to romance Garrus, not to who Commander Shepard is, imo. it lacked all of the subtlety and depth of some other romances—until the scene of Garrus coming to her cabin with a wine bottle, at least, cause I do like that scene, but anyway, I dislike the actual get-together.

just in general, I’m a stick in the mud, so my favorite iteration of this ship is where Shepard is resolutely professional, and the challenge of it becomes him getting her to open up, not the other way around. like, I think on some level every iteration of Shepard is a bit of a lunatic/eccentric, because you have to be to do the things they do, but I like to see their flirting with less of her calling him “big guy” (not sure where that came from, is that in canon? I must’ve missed it, but personally I don’t like it) and more of Garrus making wisecracks in the canteen while he’s talking to Joker, but he’s looking at her out of the corner of his eyes and he really said his joke with the aim of making her laugh, and as she’s reading her datapad she hears him, and even when she wants to chuckle she stops himself and just smirks cause she doesn’t want to give him the satisfaction of a laugh, but he sees her lips twitch and feels his heart flutter. that. I want more of that.

oh lastly, I hate “Shepard takes Vakarian clan markings” in any iteration. there is no canon relation to turians being poc—in fact I’d argue they have sociopolitical privilege real-world bipoc do not—but the concept of social face markings, face tattoos, etc., is rooted in non-white cultures and with the fact that 1) turians had a literal civil war over the territories those markings represent, 2) we don’t even know if marriage is how markings are shared or if non-turians are ever invited to wear them in the first place, 3) most of the art of this trend, lbr, is of mostly white Shepards in wedding dresses and blue face paint... all that combined just makes me frown and scroll faster every time I see it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bipoc Shepard with Vakarian face markings in fic/art, and that to me is very telling (not because they should have them, but because bipoc fans who make bipoc Shepards usually recognize when a racially-coded trope is uhhhhh not so great to appropriate for someone not of that group).

[octoberobserver]

Hello again😉

So, my new idea is: living together but at Keefe's flat. Idk, Kelvin's house is invaded by rats or has problems with water/light whatever and he needs a place to stay.

Keefe obv is the hero of the day and offers his humble place to stay.

And it's minuscule, compared to kelvin's. And they are always touching, being millimetres apart and sleeping to closely if not together. Kelvin can see and hear Keefe taking a shower and he looks after he is done bc Keefe's hair is still wet and dropping water on his tan skin and Kelvin wants to go where they go.

Another idea but I don't know where it could be go is reverse time! Kelvin, ex Christian, decides to try everything he was always too scared to do and goes to the Satanist club (you can see i love this location). Here he meets Keefe, a sweet albeit a bit lost satanist/metalhead/what he was before Kelvin and the magic happens. It could be darker, with Keefe being not so sweet and naive and corrupting Kelvin piece after piece and it would be hot and smut as fuck. Obv no violence a part from consensual (or is it?) bdsm and similar. Not for everyone but interesting.

Other darker but hilarious idea: Keefe is a sex worker. He works on the streets and it's very dangerous and not the best for his health. You can put here all the violent and horrible clients you want. A night he is more down on his luck than usual and while sporting a black eye he meets Kelvin. Kelvin doesn't really want to pay for sex (he is celibate! The son of the major congregation's boss!) But he can't leave Keefe/he doesn't really understand that he is a sex worker and brings him to his home. Accidental sugar baby acquisition.

It's funnier if Kelvin has no clue and he is very oblivious to every effort of Keefe, who is totally in love with this man who just likes him so much as a person and is so generous without wanting anything bc Kelvin loves buying him everythjng). Obv they fall in love and pining and ecc. Maybe another spike of angst towards the end when Kelvin understands Keefe is a sw and thinks he loves his money and Keefe thinks Kelvin doesn't want him anymore bc he is damaged goods but everything ends fine.

Another very silly idea is this: first meeting era, Kelvin wants to convert Keefe, who is convinced this is a date. They clarify and become friends ecc. Then Kelvin wants to date Keefe but he thinks he is still converting him/doing church things. Even more bc Kelvin brings him only to church events as dates and quotes the song of salomon but he did these things even before so Keefe is justified to be so blind.

Other idea: bj (he is the best) and Kelvin's sister decide to have a wedding ceremony with everyone, finally. They invite Kelvin and Keefe as a couple. At the beginning they suppose that being such bffs deserves to have a shared invite but more they stay at this wedding more talking about being the next ones, anniversaries and buying home together and adopting they have to do and listen to. Everyone, even Kelvin's family, thinks they are together and it's embarrassing but Kelvin has thought about sharing all these life steps with Keefe before.

Ok, I have to stop, too many ideas!

I would love to finish many many series but if I could begin a new one, I think I would like to watch the knick or a very English scandal. But often I watch things bc I saw a bit before and thought it was cool so probably this doesn't help at all😅 I really follow too much my whims😣

I really like historical dramas and funny shows, better if they are secretly heart breaking.

Which is your fave character in Ted Lasso? Which was your first fandom/the first fandom you wrote for?

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Hi 💫Anon!

So sorry for the late reply. Oh wow I love these ideas 😍 I have always wondered what Keefe's place looks like. I'm still not 100% sure if he's moved in with Kelvin permanently? Though, it seems like he is after s2's events? Still, if he isn't, I would love to see his apartment in the future. And your idea is *chef's kiss*. I do love the notion of Kelvin being shown his privilege, and I know the show would do it in a hilarious way.

I adore the 'OMG they were roommates' trope so seeing them just living their shared lives together (even more), in whatever form, would be amazing on screen, tbh. And YES! Kelvin being subjected to the sheer hotness of his best friend and in such close proximity is just 🔥🔥🔥

Oooh that AU is very intriguing too. Almost a Pretty Woman homage with a more dangerous twist.

I want a first-meeting scene so bad in the show! I love your idea here, the misunderstandings are so in character for them both. And the potential for mutual pining is off the charts. I wanna know how these two loveable weirdos came to be and I hope we get to see that. This show loves flashbacks so fingers crossed!

BJ is the best! I was so sad we didn't get to see his and Judy's wedding on-screen so would really like to see this. BJ's baptism was so funny, I can only imagine what a wedding ceremony would be like lol. And yes, definitely, Kelvin getting all of the elbow-to-the-ribs nudges and winks about how "it'll be you next," and "when are you gonna put a ring on it" etc. So. GOOD! And poor Keefe is all confused and pining and not realising that Kelvin wants all of those things and more.

Oh, you've very good taste in shows! If you're a fan of historical shows and funny ones, I recommend Our Flag Means Death. It's about real-life pirates, is also an HBO show, and has a lot of mutual pining between friends. It's also funny and pretty heartwarming, considering the plot lol.

Oooooh that is a tough question! I love loads of people on Ted Lasso for all different reasons. I adore Rebecca and Keeley's friendship, and the relationship between Rebecca and Ted too. But I think my favourite character (by a small margin coz I really love pretty much everyone) is Roy. He's just so grumpy but also sweet. And it's a not-so-secret secret that he's based on a real-life footballer Roy (*cough* Keane *cough*) known for being particularly grouchy and that just really amuses me 😂😂

My very first fandom that I wrote for, if I remember correctly, (it was a VERY long time ago,) I think was Harry Potter? I was around 12 or so, so it was properly back in the day haha. It was a Ron/Hermione fic, I think? Harry Potter was pretty much the first fandom that I had an online presence with anyway.

What about you? What was your first fandom? What is a popular fandom you never got into?

My fic is almost done! Hoping to post it very soon. Hope you're well 😊😊