#it's theoretically non canon

[canisalbus]

Young Machete, a sickly little Fiat Balilla, prone to engine knocking, surprisingly grew into a fast and powerful Alfa Romeo 6C 2300.

.

[bushuk-art]

I was thinking that Torkel could theoretically replace the gym, you know.......nevermind

[jessicas-pi]

guys I just came up with the crackiest of ships

[deerspherestudios]

Okay my curiosity is killing me, I saw that you said when Atom makes something it is no longer apart of him so he can’t just become anything…. But at the same time I’m so curious what would happen if he attempted to make like a human form?? Like would it end up as an entity entirely separate from him, fail as a whole, or would almost be like two atom’s to deal with? (That would probably get jealous of each other LOL)

He can make our favorite creature so theoretically he could make a person but like, if he doesn’t fully understand the behavioral characteristics of a creature, can he really make it?

IM SO SORRY I HOPE I DID THIS RIGHT I REALLY TRIED TO LOOK THROUGH EVERYTHING 🙏🏻 I love your games so so much! thank you so much for what you’ve created. Your work has genuinely changed my life for the better. 🩷

Aaa thank you for the sweet message and support! I was gonna explain it in this ask how Atom's transmutation ability works when it comes to creating living beings but the explanation was already so long I cut it out. I'm glad I get to explain it here!

To start, I always intended Atom to feel a bit eldritch-y, so this is probably the part where that aspect applies. Below is a clumsy explanation so bear with me, but to jump straight into it, this was what I had in mind:

So I've established they can make anything as long as they're familiar with it. If you're wondering how it learns, it's kinda hinted in-game when Atom mentions learning recipes from Kiara the cook after it dissolved her. I wouldn't know how to explain how that happens but chalk it up to being an alien lifeform! Also!! Think Warm Bodies I guess!!

Is it akin to a god if it's able to create life? Uhhh, shrug! I'm just having fun with them so just brush past this detail haha.

Anyways, the point is they can make stuff! This can be living and non-living things, but the caveat is anything 'living' kinda acts,,, off? The creature will look like it's alive but it feels like terribly programmed AI if you observe them long enough, with things like:

forgetting to breathe or blink

doesn't eat, doesn't drink, doesn't excrete anything

making the wrong noise

doesn't move like it's supposed to

flopping 'dead' for a few seconds before 'rebooting'

will dissolve into the rest of the worms when you're not looking (thus becoming a part of Atom again)

Extremely uncanny, extremely uncomfortable to watch. But if you ask Atom to shapeshift into something else, it'd still be a bunch of worms making up that shape.

For the sake of clarity, let's say you want a cat, that cat is gonna be it's own cat, however strange it might act.

If you want an Atom-shaped cat,, it's gonna look like worms.

I'll just use this doodle and hope it gets the idea across because I'm having difficulty explaining it but I hope it makes sense!

Edit: Actually now that I think about it, it's similar to this scenario from one of sanfangzhu's fancomics titled Reshape! Though,,, canonically the end result isn't gonna be that graceful hahaha.

[antivan-sprig]

Rook Literary Device Asks

I’m taking your Rooks back to Language and Literature class with these asks. I added a few examples to questions I found vague or difficult to explain. Hopefully it’s not too gratuitous!

These are based on common literary devices. I tried to pick more recognizable ones, or at least ones that autocorrect will pick up 📝

I’m considering doing a strictly NSFW one next. Lemme know if that appeals to you or not 💐

Dreams

I elect that Dwarven Rooks should still answer even if they don’t apply/aren’t canon. It can be theoretical for character exploration.

Allegory: What does Rook dream about?

Repetition: What are Rook’s nightmares? Did/does this change with age?

Cliffhanger: If a spirit wanted to trap your Rook in the fade, what would their best plan be?

Ex: Illusions of their past/wants, trapping them behind an emotion? (hello regret 🥚😔), promising them help in achieving their goals?

Tragicomedy: Would Rook make a deal with a demon? If no, what about a more benevolent spirit, would they make a deal with them?

Symbolism: The team is trying to rescue Rook from the fade. What five items do they use to do a summoning ritual?

Surrealism: How adept is Rook at navigating the Fade in dreams?

I believe it’s typically a sliding scale between these three points: no control (non mage) to some control (mage) to a lot of control (dreamer) but outliers definitely occur.

Morality

Hyperbole: Rook encounters two injured people. One a random npc citizen with a moderate but not life threatening injury and the other a venatori with a life threatening injury. As far as they can tell the Venatori was not actively involved in anything nefarious at this moment. Who does Rook help first (or at all)?

Foreshadowing: What does Rook think about Solas sacrificing the spirits of chaos and disorder? Would their opinion change if Solas had explained to the spirits that this was a mission they wouldn’t come back from?

Motif: What’s Rook’s opinion on the rite of tranquility? Is there ever a circumstance that could change this?

I know the fandom’s general opinion on tranquility is to absolutely admonish it, which is totally fair. But I also think OCs can and sometimes should have bad opinions or limited perspectives

Epigraph: What situation(s) would make Rook compromise their morals? How would Rook feel about this?

Point of View: Does Rook judge others for choices they made under duress?

Paradox: What’s Rook’s opinion on Blood magic?

Would they/have they ever participated in Blood magic (casting it, providing blood for it, was it their own or someone else’s etc.)

Personification: What’s Rook’s opinion on Necromancy? If your Rook is a necromancer, do they consider it a form of blood magic?

(AFAIK it canonically is, but that’s not an opinion held by all in Thedas)

Self Reflection

Anaphora: What lie is central to Rook’s worldview? How does this affect them?

Ex: Lisel thinks she can never regain the family she lost, so she neglects new relationships.

Extended metaphor: What inspires hope in Rook?

Dramatic Irony: Does Rook wonder why they’re the main character?

(As in, why they are in charge, why Varric picked them, why they’re connected to Solas etc.)

Do they have an explanation for why they are the main character? Fate? Chance? Skill? Maybe they don’t actually think they’re the mc?

Ex: Lise eventually comes to see taking the Evanuris down as a poetic justice. She dedicated her early (and happiest) life to worshiping Sylaise and feels it’s her responsibility to bring the remaining pantheon down. If they were ever the kind deities they claimed to be, she recognizes that they certainly aren’t now.

Exposition: What would Rook think of younger Rook? What would they tell them if given the chance?

Flashback: What past act is Rook most ashamed of?

Omniscient: Are there any secrets Rook is hiding? From others? From themselves?

Allusion: Who does Rook blame for their trauma, misplaced or not? Do they keep this a secret?

Physicality

Onomatopoeia: Describe how Rook speaks.

(Possible topics: Word choice, volume, phrasing, vocabulary, accents, tones, emotional intonation, speech impediments, etc!)

Isocolon: Describe how your Rook walks/runs.

(Possible topics: speed, agility, spatial awareness, grace, loud vs quiet steps, endurance, etc!)

Style: How does Rook sleep?

Archetype: Describe what another character might notice about your Rook physically.

Vignette: Describe the first time Rook got very injured. What was their reaction?

Juxtaposition: What’s their most prominent physical weakness and strength?

Bonus

Soliloquy: List/describe the most self indulgent headcanon/fic you’ve thought of for your Rook.

[bet-on-me-13]

Danny was born as a Halfa

So! Jack and Maddie are a little More insane in this.

When studying Ghosts, they become convinced that the only way to defeat the Ghostly Threat is to make a Ghost of their own. One who will fight on their Side. And they do believe that a "Good Ghost" is Possible, but only if fused with a Human to balance out the "Inherent Evil".

So, when Maddie gets pregnant they take the opportunity to try and make one of these theoretical "Halfas" by testing on the Baby in the Womb.

Jazz if Born, and she is not a Halfa. She is merely an extremely Liminal Toddler, so Jack and Maddie consider the experiment a Failure. They raise Jazz as per usual, and then 2 years later Jack and Maddie try again.

They have Danny, and this time he is a True Halfa! They did it! Now all they have to do is turn the Baby into the perfect Weapon against Ghosts!

Danny is raised less like a Baby and more like a Weapon. His Parents still treat him well, and give him some amount of love, but there is never any doubt in his mind that his only purpose in Life is to be the perfect weapon against Ghosts.

The only person who really treats him like something more than a Weapon is Jazz, who likes to sneak into his Room and play with him when they parents are out of the House.

(Later addition: They also have Ellie as a Kid a few years later, but because they messed up the process she is not as Stable as Danny is. She is 4 years younger than he is)

Then, they day he had been preparing for his whole life comes. When he is 10, a Ghost manages to sneak through a Natural Portal into Amity Park, and the Fentons send him to go deal with it as his First Test Run.

But when he gets there, he doesn't find an Evil Ghost bent on killing everyone in town. He finds a Teenage Girl, with blue flaming Hair, crying to herself.

(Idk how long ago Ember died, so lets just assume she died around 6 years before Canon)

He doesn't attack immediately, and when the girl sees him she invites him to sit with her. Against his better judgement, he agrees and sits with her.

She talks to him for a bit, and eventually explained why she was crying. Apparently she only died a few weeks ago and had finally found her way back to the Living World, back home. But when she got there she found that nobody really cared about her Death.

She had died in a House Fire, and because she had spent her entire night waiting for her Boyfriend to show up for a Date, she was too tired to wake up in time to escape.

Her Parents had obviously mourned, but her supposed friends and her boyfriend had hardly cared. In fact, it turned out that her Boyfriend had stood her up because he was cheating on her. So she had run off into the Park and sat down to Cry about it, where Danny had found her.

And Danny is confused.

His entire life, he has heard that Ghosts are Non-Sentient Killing Machines. That they don't feel any emotion aside from Malice. That they aren't People.

But this Girl is as Human as anybody else he has ever known. Perhaps even More Human.

He decides to ignore The Fentons Orders, and lets her go back through the Portal she had come through.

When he gets Home, the Fentons are less than pleased. They are Livid in fact.

Their Perfect Weapon was a Failure after all! It's too much like a Ghost to ever side with the Humans! It's just another Spook!

And they know what to do with Spooks.

They lock him up in the Lab, and decide to cut him open Later to figure out what went wrong.

They'll be successful next time.

Thankfully, their jeers to Danny are heard by Jazz in the other Room, and she doesn't like this one bit. So that night, she takes Danny and Ellie with her and Runs away. They need to get out of Amity Park, out Illinois even. They run and run, sneaking onto Buses, hitchhiking, even jumping on Trains.

Eventually they end up in a place called Gotham City.

...

Ages at the end.

Jazz: 12

Danny: 10

Ellie: 6

[taliesin-the-bored]

Tag game: tag nine people you’d like to know better.

Tagged by: @oneshoulderangel (Thank you for tagging me!)

Last song: At the moment, I have "Losing Your Memory" by Alan Star stuck in my head, which I suppose makes it my current song, not my last song. Hm. I get songs stuck in my head very easily, but the last one I had there for a significant amount of time was a mashup of different language versions of "Les Rois du Monde" for about a week. "Lehetsz Király", the Magyar version, is probably my favorite of them. It's worth a listen.

Currently watching: Normally, the answer would be "random mostly terrible old movies/shows" or "nothing much", but I currently have a hyperfixation on the musical Roméo et Juliette and have been watching it in multiple languages. (Thus, the song).

Three ships: This is hard. Maybe as a result of being on the ace and aro spectrums, I'm more likely to care about which characters are interacting than whether it's romantic or platonic. Here goes:

Kedivere/Bedikay. It can be romantic, platonic, or queerplatonic, but whichever way, I'm here for it. I probably spend too much time thinking about how in Cullwch and Olwen, when Cai gets mad at Arthur and marches out, Bedwyr stays behind, keeps acting like nothing's happened, and isn't the one to avenge Cai's death. The feeling of betrayal on both sides has a lot of unexplored potential. And the version where Bedivere dies and Kay fights to bring his body back safely while mortally wounded himself... And the version where Bedivere survives Camlann and Kay isn't said to fight in it, so they might be left together after their world has fallen apart...

Platonically or queerplatonically, Galahad and the Grail Heroine. I really like the tragic Grail Quest friendships, but I like theirs most, maybe because there's something weird and otherworldly about them both. I like it when characters are strange and endearing and doomed by the narrative.

Ever since reading John Matthews' retelling, which I read before the original, I've had a soft spot for Caradoc and Guinier. The Story of Caradoc is very disturbing, and I have some major qualms with Caradoc over a detail Matthews cut out, but all the same, there's a reason these two have the best track record with magical fidelity tests. Each of them would go to the ends of the earth for the other, and together, they're stronger than any curse.

Favorite Color: Blue, particularly royal blue and some teals.

Currently consuming: Black licorice with chocolate.

First ship: This is a hard one, since through elementary and most of middle school, I tended to go along with whatever I thought the author's intentions were and was more likely to unship something. The first non-endgame ship I got invested in was Sonya/Nikolai in War and Peace. I didn't like Nikolai, but Sonya did, and she was my favorite character, so I wanted her to be happy. The first non-canon couple I thought was meant to be together was also in War and Peace: Marya Bolkonskaya and Julie Karagina. My eighth grade self did not think their letters could be interpreted platonically. I still don't.

Last movie: If the musical doesn't count, the last movie I watched was Quest for Camelot, which was awful. Though not Robot Monster-level bad, Robot Monster has an elegance to its simplicity which Quest for Camelot lacks.

Currently working on: Various fics, most of them Arthuriana or CotRK-related (I am woefully behind on the Badfic Bingo), and (theoretically) an epic-style poem, though I haven't gotten much of it written for quite a while now.

Tagging: @gawrkin, @emperorcandy, @wildbasil, @gorewound, @knightsofsomethingorother, @ladyminaofcamelot, @tasosotaso, @amashelle, @gingersnaptaff (I have no idea who's been tagged so far, apart from the people on @oneshoulderangel's post, so I apologize for any multi-tags)

[stonesense]

ANYWAY. the point i was going to make is that its fun + exciting to have two solid mage player characters because i get a fresh angle to explore magic. there’s a lot of worldbuilding and stylisation and characterisation choices u get to make when u have a mage in terms of what they do, how it works, how they learned it... they’re the class that lets u lean most heavily into my favourite angle, expanding on the ““realistic”” implications of crazy game mechanics, because they’re the ones who theoretically can actually for real do all that in-world whereas a lot of martial abilities feel like just, you know, exaggerations to make gameplay function rather than how it would ““actually”” work. and i’ve only had the one mage since i started playing dragon age who i’ve actually gotten through enough of a game & enough like level progression to have canon game mechanic material to play around with. plus she was made at the very start when i least understood the world.

im realising this is probably non-sensical and that my brain works in a very specific way. suffice it to say im having fun 👍 i think when i’m refreshing minerva’s character, which i’m sort of picking away at reworking in the background, that will definitely involve rewriting what kind of mage she is, and i’ll build in a lot of contrasts with katanni to demonstrate their very different backgrounds and give me a broad spectrum to play with of how magic can feel and act in this world

[canisalbus]

have you ever thought about Machete and Vasco's theoretical children? Would they even consider having any? I mean, I guess probably not if we're talking just canon universe but WHAT IF 👀

They have a theoretical non-canon child, Ear! (placeholder/nickname).

Ear would most likely exist in the modern au or in a separate offshoot of it. He would've been related to one or neither of them but not both, and any resemblance would've been coincidental.

About their feelings when it comes to adopting children, this is something I've said in a previous post:

Anonymous asked: in the modern au would they adopt? There’s been talk of this a couple of times before and I’m still on the fence about it myself. I think Vasco likes the idea of fatherhood and would have children if given the choice. Machete doesn’t hate children but is strongly unnerved and doesn’t know how to deal with them. So the odds of them agreeing to initiate the adoption process aren’t promising, but if they, by some random chance, found themselves responsible for a child, it’s entirely possible they would grow very attached to the kid and excel as parents. Vasco is natural dad material and Machete would be 'I don't care about children but I will protect this specific one with my life'. (I've said this before, but as tempting and wholesome it is to give your otp a child, I personally don't think that every couple needs to have a kid. It shouldn't be a metric of how fullfilling and loving their relationship is, you can be a childless couple and perfectly content and whole as is).

and

antlermoss asked: I feel in my heart modern AU Vasco and Machete would become parents like how my best friend is convinced he will become a parent: by becoming someone's godfather and that someone dying tragically That’s probably one of the more realistic ways you might end up as the legal guardian of someone else’s child, I suppose.

[honeyteakaros]

au where Hermes burns down Cyllene as punishment for Luke

If Apollo's "involvement" in the second war leads to a six-month-long punishment named Lester, it's weird how Hermes seems to get off scot free for Luke (and honestly, Ares too for the bolt). And yeah, I've seen theories where it states Hermes didn't break the ultimate non-interference laws and therefore was not punished, buT! I think it would make sense if anyone who had any involvement in any war WAS punished, just kept their mouths shut about the details.

so what would be hermes' punishment for luke's actions in the first war? i propose this:

Zues should make Hermes burn down his birthplace. destroy it. wipe it off the map. kill whatever was left of his mother's earthly connections, thereby locking her and her sisters into their celestial forms, never to step foot on the earth again. It's the death of an immortal, and how chilling is that? According to Apollo, there is a power in birthplaces, but for a bastard of Olympus, it is only a stain of a reminder of where they came from.

(putting the rest under the cut bc its long lol)

ig there would be 3 main things that Heremes would take away from this:

showing Hermes that Cyllene is the consequence of his own actions. May Castellan, Luke Castellan, now his mother, who else? Everything he has touched has turned to ash, and any life he has entered has been led to ruin. ig this mindset would also shine a different light on Hermes' deadbeatness, in a way.

1. Enforces the consequences of Zeus' non-interference rule.

Scaring Hermes into inaction by punishing the results of his rare action (giving Luke a quest, speaking to him that literal one(?) time, telling May about the oracle) would also handily explain why the hell he was so absent during the giant war and the entirety of toa. Like, communications are down and messaging systems are in complete disarray, isn't that Hermes' domain? Why the hell isn't he doing anything about it? Well, that's bc he knows what happens when he disobeys, and at this point, he's running out of family to lose.

2. Prophecy is set in stone

This punishment would also unknowingly (to Zeus) create a mindset of the inevitability of prophecy in Hermes. Aka, the literal opposite of what Apollo and his trial's entire deal. Aka Zues' entire deal! !!!This is negative character development for Hermes gang!!!

If we go with the idea that Hermes knew about Luke's fate since he was a baby, and his giving Luke that quest was Hermes trying to change his son's fate... Then it almost sounds like one of the only times Hermes broke his father's non-interference rules was in an attempt to change Luke's fate. But not only did it blow up in his face spectacularly, but if that quest was a fundamental canon event in Luke's spiral into vengeance, then this is a classic tale of a hero meeting his end on the path he took to avoid it.

Not only has Hermes failed to save his son in what he believed was a futile attempt to go against prophecy, but he has also doomed his homeland in his rash actions. By punishing Hermes through Cyllene, it enforces the idea that his ever daring to think he could change fate has inadvertently brought the mountain to its ruin.

Furthermore, Zeus' choice of Hermes' birthplace as the target is uniquely tailored to hit where it hurts the most. A forest fire can go burning on for years, after all, and a mountain of ancient trees surrounded by boundaries of the boundary god could theoretically go on burning forever. After the deed has been done and the entire mountain is up in flames, from that point onwards, Zeus would only have to point to a ruined Cyllene to quell whatever mere suggestion Hermes has of stepping out of line.

3. zues proving to hermes that he is ultimately his father's son

if nympths in the rrverse are physically bound to a certain place, then maia and her sisters would have both their stars in the pleiades constellations in addition to mount cyllene.

Say, would the offsping of a nympth and a god be a minor god themselves? another nympth? a monster? who knows? in reality, their entire existence hinges on mortal belief and how humans perceive them, but parentage still plays a role in how their stories are told. so therefore the only olympian with a nympth for a mother would also reasonablly assume that there is a peice of him, like his mother, is tied to that mountain. weather or not thats actually true doesnt matter, what matters is when cyllene burned and hermes stood at the foot of the mountain and did not burn with it, to him it was the dreaded proof that he was no longer his mothers son. that he has left behind everything good that he used to be, and through his very own efforts, somewhere between his childhood in that cave where he dared dreamed of something greater, he has forfeited what made those dreams worth chasing in the firat place. through his own efforts, he has become something terrible. he has become his fathers son.

.

.

.

all this is to say that rrverse zues may be evil, but bros not uncreative lmao. isolating Hermes through cutting off some of the last of his support system (by his own hands, no less) not only ensures Hermes' reliance on Zeus but also Hermes' reliance and identification with Olympus as a whole. also ensures that when the time comes for Apollo's punishment, there's already a hurt there that's ripe and ready to be dug into.

Apollo's been banished to mortal-hood? oh boo hoo, what a tragedy (compleatly different hc but i think hermes honestly would've had a much easier time adjusting to mortalhood compared to apollo at first, mainly due to the nature of hermes' domains). Oh, Apollo nearly keeps dying as a mortal and is prophesied to perish at the jaws of Python? well, fuck, his head for his crimes is what he deserves, is it not? While Apollo's punishment is a thinly veiled assassination attempt, Hermes' punishment would be to isolate him further.

There was already a jealousy here that could be amplified to the nines post-trials. I think it's due to the sheer fact that Apollo came out of his punishment better off than how he began, divine and golden and shining once more, even though he has defied their father again and again and has acted as an antithesis to everything he once preached. To Hermes, Apollo's death-defying ascension makes the fact that while Apollo effortlessly gets everything, the only thing Hermes has received for his troubles is a dead mother, dead son, and a homeland in ashes.

[copperbadge]

SAM!

I love the Chicken Salad War, but it's been a bit of a week so I have not commented. But it is very good. Which is funny, because I don't actually like chicken salad itself... Anyway, I have two(ish) questions about the Shivadh-verse! Back in one of the earlier books, you mentioned Gregory hung out (or at least knew) Princess Mia of Genovia. So are we talking about the Disney version of the Princess Diaries, with the awesone Grandmere? Or the book version, where Grandmere was pretty awful? My headcanon is that it's the Disney version, since (IRRC, as I said, long week, family emergencies, hospitals and all that) the Shivadh-verse started as Hallmark Channel Romance type movie script. So the happier version of the PD would make sense. Okay, second thing... When there is an election, is it basically "first across the finish line" style voting? Or is it ranked choice voting, where the votes for the non winning persons are redistributed ? (I know that's a massive over-simplification, but I'm sending an ask, not a theoretical essay.) I am assuming there's none of this stupid electoral college nonsense going on. (I am USian and I hate the electoral college system. But that's a rant for another day!)

I honestly love when people ask world building questions about the Shivadhverse, and I'm so glad you're enjoying the latest one!

I wasn't even aware the Princess Diaries HAD a book version. I won't lie, I've enjoyed the movie both times I've seen it but neither was like, intentional, I didn't seek it out. I'm not very well-versed in the canon, so yeah if the movies are happier lets go with those!

As for voting, that's an interesting question. I looked up how old ranked choice is as a methodology, and I think probably for royal elections in the Ask it's majority rule, but I have some really detailed reasoning as to why :D

Mainly, it seems that ranked-choice was generally known, but also not very popular, around the time Gregory II was democratizing the country in the early 20th century. That being the case he probably went with majority rule, which mostly matters because a lot hinges on how he chose to structure the elections.

There have, at least at this point in canon, been only five elections since the country went to democracy: Gregory II, Nathan IV, Jason I, Michaelis I, and Gregory III. I might write Jason or Michaelis facing a recall vote at some point but I don't have plans to right now. I find politics stressful :D Anyway, the history goes like this:

Gregory II was a birthright king and took the country to a democracy but then was elected king, which I think probably dismayed him a little but what can you do? He died in office, so parliament ran the next election, and they wouldn't have changed the still very new system.

Nathan IV was both incompetent and dictatorial so he was the first real test of the elected royalty system, where there are no term limits, simply the ability to call an election if people didn't like what the king was doing. A recall election would have been a really ugly time to change the system. Plus the whole thing was engineered by Jason, so he would only have allowed it to change if it benefitted him against Nathan. In theory it would have, since if you're voting for someone running against Nathan your vote would probably go to Jason next, because this was mostly about "get Nathan out of office", but Jason also knew he could win without it and he had to consider optics.

Likewise, Jason wanted his son Michaelis to be king. It's not so much that he wanted power for its own sake, but more that he felt that his family were the right people for the job (Jason was a competent ruler but he was arrogant and also not someone who let ethics get in his way). So again he would only have changed the system if he felt it would benefit Michaelis, who was so clearly going to win that he didn't need the help. That election had a number of people running, but nobody was giving Michaelis a real challenge.

Michaelis would have been willing to change to ranked-choice if the people wanted it, especially since he thinks it's a fairer system. Despite his dad, Michaelis is concerned with ethics and he wants to make sure everyone has the same power in the ballot box. So it's possible he held a referendum about it, perhaps well before he was thinking of retiring. If he had just decided to push it through parliament, there were again optics to consider, like whether he was doing it because it would benefit Gregory, so he put it to a public poll. But while Shivadh are generally very liberal they can also be a little set in their ways, and I think if he did hold a referendum they'd vote to keep things as they are. The system elected them three good kings and only one bad one, and those are decent odds.

And Gregory is open to the idea of changing the voting system, but unless there's a push for it from the voters, he's not going to bother, he has bigger fish to fry. He is concerned about the fact that three generations of his family have held office and now it's looking like they're bucking for a fourth, even if Joan is new to the family, so he's more focused on making sure that other young people who are interested in politics get opportunities similar to Joan's. Both because they deserve it, and so that it doesn't seem like Joan's getting undue favoritism.

I might write a political-themed Shivadh novel one day -- we know very little about Michaelis's election and nothing about Gregory's. I have distant plans for the election after Gregory announces his retirement -- Joan obviously is going to run, but I think Serafina will too, and they won't be the only ones. :D But we'll see. There's enough scary politics in the world right now that it won't be for a while in any case.

[bookinit02]

hi!! i was just wondering if you had any buddie fic recs? i've read all of yours, and i tried to sort through your bookmarks afterwards but it ended up really overwhelming me for some reason 😞 so i was just curious if there were any you'd recommend, like specifically? love your fics btw hope you have a great day/night 🫶

hi!! 1) thank you so much and 2) yes, definitely! i have too many buddie fics that i absolutely love tbh, which is probably why my bookmarks are overwhelming—i think i have almost 150 by now😭 but here are the ones on my god tier list, in no particular order!

failing up by derryfacts2 (10.7k): eddie confesses his love and buck is insane about it. i ADORE the writing of this, especially the dialogue. they are Best Friends For Real.

forwards beckon rebound by hyruling (9.7k): eddie’s coma dreams after a car accident en route to texas. an absolute gut-punch in the best way possible.

hope is the thing with feathers by effervescentwolf (29.5k): this one makes me CRAZYYYY!!!!! magical realism, buck gets turned into his kid self and eddie takes care of him. i remember crying so much at this one because. baby buck. ohhhhhhh he needs a hug so bad. and he gets them! thank god. need to reread this one again asap actually.

should we talk about the weather by trysetmeonfire (20k): basically takes the idea of drift compatibility from pacific rim (which is one of my all-time favorite tropes, despite never having seen a single minute of pacific rim), and brings it to the real, non-au world. buck and eddie are Linked. good shit.

the going water and the gone by trysetmeonfire (31.5k): eddie presumed dead fic where buck takes care of chris. these are my favoriteeeeeee angst fics of all time, but especially this one. they hurt so good.

theoretical corpses, laughing by amiril (25k): this is actually just one of my favorite fics like. Ever. (and its predecessor, which you should probably read first). it’s about the Aftermath of eddie getting stuck in a time loop, from buck’s perspective. if that doesn’t make you want to read it, i don’t know what will. also, this fic has, to date, the MOST ACCURATE depiction of adhd that i have ever seen in my life, as someone with very likely undiagnosed adhd. literally love this so bad like it’s not even funnyyyyyy.

no place like by clytemnestra (51.6k): buddie platonic hookup fic w/ angst. delicious. i loveeeee this trope and this one especially is just so well done. infinite kudos!!

good pretender by likeshipsonthesea (85k): THIS ONE OKAY. THIS IS MY RAVI FIC OF ALL TIME. basically starts as buckravi fwb (non-explicit), then turns to buddie. split povs between buck, ravi, and eddie. this is THEEEE depiction of canon ravi to me. it explores his family and his culture and his personality and his childhood like. so fucking well. every time i miss ravi i come back to this fic. on top of that, though, it explores buck and eddie just as well (including buck’s traumas/hang-ups about casual sex). just incrediblyyyyy well done like i cannot give this fic enough praise. please read it if you have not🙏🏼

let the world have its way with you by fleetinghearts (54.4k): buck and eddie work through buck’s bucket list after the lightning strike. soooooo sweet like genuinely heartwarming. i love this one a lot.

burn the straw house down by rarakiplin (40.2k): this is THE time loop fic to me. along with the amiril one. like these two fics together could actually keep me going for the rest of my life with nothing else to read. desert island shit. i am obsessed with this fic to the degree that i read it six (SIX) times in a row when i first discovered it. all 40k. like literally for days on end i did nothing but read this fic. in fact i think i will go read it again Right Now.

that’s not all the fics in my god tier list (and certainly not all the ones i’ve ever loved and/or bookmarked), but hopefully it gives you a good idea of where to start! i really recommend looking around for yourself, finding authors you love, and reading all their work. i wholeheartedly love every single author on this list, and many many more! happy reading💗💗💗

[nqueso-lies]

tbh this is entirely based on my own experiences watching the show, but looking at the poll about "whose going to be endgame buddie vs bucktommy" im just like... how many of them actually did watch the show before they picked buddie? because while i came into the show for tevan as a ship (the funeral with buck and tommy together was the exact scene that convinced me to watch the show), i honestly expected to like... understand where the BoBs were coming from.

and then it just... never happened. a lot of it was "yeah, i can see where some people would interpret this as romantic if they don't have really close friendships," but i've literally got close friendships where if i was widowed, i would write it into my will that my child would almost definitely go with one of my best friends (if they were fine with that decision) rather than my parents, if those were my only two options (idk im assuming in this theoretical for my life that there's a reason why my deceased spouse's parents aren't an option). like, i have solid reasons to say "i'd want my kid going to one of my closest friends" and i don't feel anything romantic toward those friends in the slightest--and i have friends who are compatible w my sexuality and those who aren't, not that it matters since i can still have feelings for someone i'm incompatible with. i've spent countless hours yapping to one of my closest friends about anything and anything. if i found out she was injured badly enough to be hospitalized, i'd probably go into a depressive slump and cry over her because she's family to me. i literally had someone ask me once if i was dating her, gagged over it, told her, and then she also gagged over it because "we're family??? gross??? i love u but not like That????" before we moved on talking about something else

like... ik ppl calling out the "there's no platonic explanation for this!" stuff has been going around tumblr plenty and i'm glad it has been. there's always a platonic explanation, y'all just don't have deeply intimate relationships with close friends and it shows. i love my close friends, but i'm not in love with my close friends, and imo that's healthy and important, and it wouldn't change even if i was dating someone rn.

i can buy people viewing stuff through shippers goggles bc everyone does that at some point. the issue really comes from insisting that it was 100% intended and that b*ddie is going canon any day now because ppl can't tell their headcanons from what the show and everyone on it keeps telling us. ik its been said before, but b*ddie doesn't have to go canon to be enjoyed. like id say at least 80% of fandom shipping culture is looking at non-canon ships and going "yeah, i'll fuck with that." lmao literally i kinda thought linda and eddie would have had a cute relationship and its entirely based on the fact that i liked what we saw of their friendship and that it could be nice for eddie to have a friendship with a woman first before later pursuing her.

but idk thats what i get for watching the actual show in its entirety and enjoying the actual show on my screen rather than just watching tiktoks saying "OMG B*DDIE CANON???" because they breathed on the same planet at the same time. the writers could have buck come out on screen right now and say the literal exact words "eddie is my brother, not a guy i want to date. and even if i did, i deserve better than him" and they'd still be finding a way to say the b*ddie is canon trust while also bitching about buck for implying that eddie is anything less than perfect

Annie, yes yes yes yessssssss

[labyrinthofsphinx]

Damn the Au Vox character design talk is really interesting. ...now I'm curious to see a breakdown of Au Al’s design 👀

Anon asked: Can we get a design breakdown of Drift and Alastor too??

Let's start with Al. To be honest, most of the original elements taken from Al were kinda informed by some of Viv's early streams on a theoretical human Alastor design. Like Vox, I adapted a few things to better fit with the AU I was making though. The eye shape, for example, I made bigger if mainly to add expression to it, especially since I am keeping to the Alastor only 'smiling' rule. The smile can wobble and turn oddly, but the ends must always be up by some measure.

And, in contrast to demon Alastor, human Alastor has a lot more soft lines, adding into the more 'human' aspects of him. He's skinny, and generally non-threatening in build, buttt, there is always meant to be something a little...unsettling or not quite normal about Alastor, even from design.

While I made the eyes larger, I did change the iris of the eye quite a bit. The oval shape makes it between the soft rounded look of Vox and the more demonic like cat eye of demon Alastor. I also run with the idea that the eyes are the 'window to the soul', and thus reveal quite a bit of character in them. The blackness of them means you can't quite separate the pupil from the iris which, while making it appear more 'friendly', kinda reflects the internal darkness finding 'its way out' in a sense.

Alastor also has...stages of unhinged, which you may have noticed. Like I said Al...isn't quite 'normal' anymore, in certain respects. And the more bloodlusty he gets...the stranger things tend to become. He also snaps between the phases to further add to his unpredictability. In the show, Alastor snaps between different emotions on a dime, such as his conversation with Husk in the hallway, and I wanted to keep that threatening unpredictability in the AU.

Overall, Alastor was meant to look more friendly than his demon form, but still have something distinctly...not normal about him. Like Alastor in the show, he can play the 'nice guy' but he's not fooling anyone, unlike Vox. Everyone is on edge around canon Alastor, with Angel even calling him 'creepy'. Again, this is something I kinda wanted to bring into the AU. He's too nonthreatening appearing to cause suspicion logically, but that illogical, emotional center of people looks at him and may feel uneasy, even if they can't name why.

I've done breakdowns of Drift in the past, but it's been a while and I don't mind retreading :3

So, Drift is actually almost exactly as he was when I first deigned him, wayyyyy back when the pilot of Hazbin and Helluva first came out. As such, the demon form of him came first! His story came first before the design was finalized because a lot of how Sinners appear seems to be influenced by their life and their death, like Al being a deer because of being mistaken for a deer, and Vox's face being a literal television and being some kind of TV personality while alive.

Technically, this is going to go into spoilers for my fic series, but I'll keep it light ;)

With Drift I was kinda proposing the question of what it takes to actually get into Hell, and what it means to be redeemed. Could someone have 'one bad day' but otherwise be a honest to goodness good person and still wind up in Hell? What would that look like? As such, he's really playing on the innocent look, big ears, head, and eyes. He's meant to look out of place a little among the scarier denizens of Hell. Being a fox plays into his backstory quite a bit, from certain familial affiliations and fact that foxes are very commonly roadkill (which is how Drift died), but also the concept of being very low on the rung of Sinners, looking almost like a hellhound (who are at the bottom of the overall pyramid). Likewise, foxes are associated with being tricky, more street smart than wise.

The inspiration from the Fennec fox is meant to showcase the kind of twisted 'Peter Pan' syndrome going on, in that Drift will never be any older than he is, and fennec foxes always tend to look like babies. It also plays into the place he's from, environment-wise, someplace hot and dry.

Human Drift I made basically right after I was done with demon Drift's more finalized look. The only thing I changed for the AU were the clothes he wears, as Demon Drift will often dress in 90s skater kid clothes to Murder Partners 1930s ragamuffin look. There's a lot of 3s and 2s that I carried over between deigns. I also kept the large head and ears, but small mouth. It also secondarily adds the effect of Drift being the kind of person to hear/see a lot of things, but keep his mouth shut.

Funny enough, when I was done with everyone's designs and I was taking a look at the silhouettes, Drift ended up kinda looking like a combination of Alastor and Vox's appearance in certain respects, like the hair styles. An accident, but one that I'm pretty happy with. He is kinda their kid after all...and also mostly by accident! XD

Thanks for the asks!

[martinblackwoodhaterfan]

Non-hateful Martin rant on the Martin hate account??? I bet yall didn't see this one coming. Under the cut for length

Martin, like literally every other TMA character, is morally grey. He thinks of himself as a "good guy", sure, but that's exactly why he isn't all that "good"- it means he will support everyone who agrees with him, and look down on people who, according to his perception of 'good' and 'evil', are on the "bad" side. This way of viewing things, that categorizing everything into "right" and "wrong" and putting himself on the "right" side no matter what, is in certain situations both a strength and a flaw of Martin's.

He has his moments: he's shown to be very helpful and caring, his uncomplicated way of viewing everything means he will fiercely protect his friends no matter what, just like he did when Jon was accused of murder and when he defended Jon's odd behaviour to Tim; but this simplistic way of thinking means he can be unintentionally cruel and harmful to those around him even when he has their best interest in mind: in season 5 him being very vocal and harsh in his hatred for avatars caused him to be also (subconsciously? Or purposefully?) cruel to Jon, whom he claimed he dearly loved.

But the vast majority of his fans don't allow him to be actually, consequentially fucked up. Most fan posts talking about him repeat a variation of "Martin is my fucked up pookie!" Why do you think that? "Cause he wants avatars to die haha! He's so sneaky, everyone thought he was a softie but he craves violence! He's such a cunning manipulator! Go my bloodthirsty king, he deserves a gun!"

First of all, that's not really what happenned, but I'm not here to quote canon to you. Second of all, this isn't at all what I had in mind when making this post. You see, all the things I mentioned in the previous paragraph are perfectly "excusable". It's fiction, so the severity of the character's actions do not matter, and on top of that the emotional aspect of fantasy murder and violence is foreign to the audience. You're not gonna be personally affected if your blorbo kills off a bunch of no-name characters in the story they're in. You know the act is theoretically "bad" and whatever, but it's not real, it's a reocurring event in this particular podcast, and the story itself treats it lightly, so why should you care?

My issue is that Martin has a lot of everyday-ish, human flaws that hit way closer to home, but are almost never acknowledged by his fanbase. I don't care that he wants to kill, that's really nothing new considering how all the other characters are. I care about his personality and canon characterization. I care about the ways in which his behaviour impacted other characters in the story, and I care about the fact that these effect were not always positive. Martin fans are eager to accept that he was okay with murder, but they never acknowledge him being passive-aggressive, or toxic, or selfish, or close-minded. Those characteristics aren't all he is, and they obviously aren't his defining traits, but they are a significant part of him as a whole. If you choose to ignore them, then all you're left with is a stereotypical "soft cute cinammon roll" with Martin's name and foggy aesthetics slapped on it. No connection to canon whatsoever. He's essentially become an empty shell.

His problem is that he chooses to ignore things that make him uncomfortable because he's scared of the responsibility that comes with acknowledging them. He feels like he should stand up for himself but he hates himself at the same time, so it results in him pushing away everyone he cares for and then blaming himself while not changing his behaviour, because he finds comfort in loneliness, because it's what he's familiar with. Because it's always been like this for him, and he doesn't have the strength to actually change something for once. It's easier for him to maintain surface level relationships with people and not let them get close enough to form an opinion on him other than "he's a nice guy who tries his best I guess".

He himself said that offering tea as a blanket solution for people's problems is easier than actually getting to the root of the issue. If he just makes that person some tea, technically it does nothing good but they can't blame him for not helping. The whole let-me-bring-you-some-tea thing was Martin avoiding serious conversations while maintaining his image as a kind and helpful guy.

He can sympathize but not empathize, he relates to things that he personally experienced before but can't really put himself in another person's shoes. He can be very hardworking and responsible, but he can also be childish and avoidant, especially when it would mean he has to take responsibility for something. He has a very strong sense of justice, but his morals are based on a very childish perception of the world around him - "cops are supposed to be good, avatars are supposed to be bad" - he separates the world into "good" and "bad" categories without accepting the possibility of exceptions to that rule - you're either with him or against him, you're either good or bad; he doesn't allow the possibility that it depends.

All of those biases and his childishness and his internal conflicts and his season 5 assholery make him equally interesting and unbearably annoying and that's highkey awesome. Even if I don't like the season 5 development and think it's shallow I can still acknowledge that it has potential. But you people focus only on his depression and self esteem issues and pity him like he's a little child. Baby that man can live on his own just fine lmao. Everyone in this podcast is depressed you just find his experience deserving more pity than all the others cause you relate to him as an introvert with a shitty parent. Let him be inexcusably messed up let him be awful let him be flawed in other ways than "poor depressed bean filled with self-hate aww". Jon isn't the only one who's fucked up. Martin didn't match his freak but he nearly surpassed him in personal problems and I'm sick and tired of people portraying him as Jon's selfless pure-hearted savior. Where's my canonical toxic codependence?????

[justladders]

Whenever I see your Springtrap design I imagine him speaking with the voice of the Cheshire Cat from the American McGee's Alice and Alice Madness Returns games.

A very British, deep voice with a hint of nasality.

Videos of his quotes from the games so you can see what I mean;

1: https://youtu.be/J3PbmYQRRl0?si=EN1mjjRha5kr7V3i

2: https://youtu.be/wBO5aO6iJlk?si=Naj3Wq2b2jJ8uuDT

This is probably the closest voice I've heard to being like Disney Springtrap's voice claim, Tim Curry. It's not exactly the same voice per se, but it "hits a lot of the same notes" while still being different/unique. I'd probably say this is a close second to Tim actually, as far as a voice I could see for Springtrap in a full movie.

I have some other "non canon voices" for him -like anything from Tony Jay to Markiplier- where they aren't necessarily for the theoretical movie, it's just that I could see him moving and emoting with that voice and it would still feel pretty natural. I think this one may sit above the others though, in that it fits even better.

Tim Curry is still at the top of the list however. I can basically guarantee that there won't ever be a better-fitting VA for him; he can just hit every kind of sinister, flamboyant, joking, enraged, etc. Not to mention the singing, bc villain song.