#kind of. a little. but they really function as parallels to one another in the mekaquartet

[mekatrio]

SHOOTING DEATHBEAMS AT SETOMARY WEIRDOS ugh kagepro has amazing dynamics that so many people want to ruin soooo badly by being WEIRD. like no they are not going to get married do not be fucking weird..... anyways their dynamic is amazing can you imagine if your friend from when you were 13 continued to look the exact same? wouldnt that be fucking crazy? time passes and you grow up and get jobs graduate uni whatever and your friend is unchanged. that is so interesting but people want to make it WEIRDDD. but anyways yeah i love these two. an unchanging pure love is so good.... the love between friends when youre young is SO....

also this is only tangentially related but this is why im a Short Haired Mary Truther like post-STR mary REALLY SHOULD have short hair. cuz like that shit burns off when she goes medusa mode and it only grows back when she resets time.... but post-STR will be like the One Time she doesnt reset time. so it should stay short. and also itll be The one aspect of mary that Actually Visibly Changes.. and kido cuts her hair short for herself obvs but also to grow her hair out with mary. yes. this is my truth.

[southasianpercy]

miles-42 is a vigilante.

this is something my friend and i have discussed in private immediately after watching the movie when it was released. but, whenever we see anyone else say it online, they get heavy pushback from A LOT of people. and i believe those people def only watched across the spiderverse for reasons such as (1) the most popular movie at the time (2) it’s spider-man (but they only have a passive interest in spidey). i say this because their denial of miles-42 being a vigilante instead of a villain or anti-hero feels like they only care to look at the movie with a very shallow perspective.

i’m going to first talk about why my friend & i believed miles-42 was a vigilante after watching the movie (take note that we hadn’t really seen other ppl’s opinions on this yet & we also hadn’t searched up anything pertaining to the topic prior to our convos).

our main reason is that miles-42 was meant to be spider-man in his universe. and we all know that when a person is meant to be spider-man, they are a person with a heart of gold (i.e. a very kind and good nature).*

*yes, i know spider-man can be evil, but that doesn’t line up with the theme represented throughout the spiderverse films, so it’s not relevant here. also, with that logic, then you have to consider that prowler can be good.

miles-42 being the prowler in his universe doesn’t mean that he’s automatically evil/a villain/thug/gang member, especially since there are parallels between miles-42 and our miles (miles-1610).

• they have the same mural dedicated to a beloved family member who died.

• miles-42 caught the glove from uncle aaron-42 the same way that our miles caught the spray can from his uncle.

• they wear the same clothes. i believe the clothes are a heavy indicator for how similar miles-42 and our miles are—they both wear the jersey with the big puffy coat over, but the colors (red & black, purple & green) match their respective titles (spider-man, prowler). this definitely indicates that they stand for the same thing and represent the same thing for their respective universes, just with a different appearance.

now, when i’ve seen people try to defend their belief that miles-42 is a villain or anti-hero, they say “well, he tied up our miles!” or “he’s the prowler! and the prowler is supposed to be evil/kill people!” or “he’s only had a couple seconds of screen time, so just let people assume what they want.” i have a rebuttal for each of these.

“well, he tied up our miles!” yeah, this is another parallel, similar to how our miles tied up peter b. parker in itsv. did that mean our miles was a villain then? or evil? no, he was scared and wanted answers. but, in comparison, miles-42 is more experienced and has spent a year being his city’s hero, so he’s definitely going to be tougher and more capable compared to itsv miles.

“he’s the prowler! and the prowler is supposed to be evil/kill people!” people need to take into account that this is a different universe without a spider-man. there is no spider-man mantle to take up because there never was one in the first place/no one got bit, which means things function differently. miles-42 being the prowler is the closest thing to being spider-man in his universe (which, once again, is indicated through subtext: miles-42 & our miles’s clothing being similar).

“he’s only had a couple of seconds of screen time, so just let people assume what they want.” no. i don’t care that miles-42 had little to no screen time because there are heavy indicators that point to him being a hero in his universe. and letting ppl assume what they want has went into weird racist territory where people push this idea of miles-42 running his own cartel, being a threatening hoodrat, or anything else that falls under bullshit harmful stereotypes based off of his appearance alone. letting ppl assume miles-42 to be anything but a vigilante who helps people and doesn’t kill anyone just lets them play out their fantasies that are deeply rooted in racism. they even make it to where miles-42 acts & dresses insanely different from our miles even tho the movie has shown us these two have similar taste?? and rio-42 didn’t think miles was acting any different when he was talking to her?? the only difference between our miles and miles-42 is their environment, which forced one of them to grow up way quicker and adopt a tougher exterior.

and a couple months ago, when i was reading through the atsv art book, on the section about miles-42 the director literally confirmed what my friend & i thought all along: miles-42 is a vigilante and the hero of his universe. it’s nice to have it confirmed, but it also is important for the vigilante deniers to hear it because that’s the only time they’ll truly understand (even tho it’s been heavily hinted at in the movie).

p. 190 of the atsv official art book

p. 200 of the atsv official art book

[dirty-droid]

So I played through some more dbh last night and woke up thinking, God, there is a good reason Markus and Kara, and their respective companions never got as popular as Connor and Hank. Literally The Bridge is surrounded by the most *do everything for absolutely no reason* chapters, and there's no comparison.

First the Kara chapter wastes your time, she barely gets any small talk in with Luther, then the car breaks down, then you're just doing tiny tasks, doing a shitty sum up of her story so far when Alice asks you to make one up- they could have done something interesting with that story but they chose not to, literally anything specific anything that would function as a parallel to their journey would have actually had some value. Then you barely start a conversation with Luther, where are you maybe get a hint of his personality before we're back to just talking about the plot and Alice, but then it's over again and you meet the Jerries and you learn almost nothing about them.

It is a chapter where you do nothing interesting, and you learn almost nothing about the main characters, for a downtime chapter, I expect character development and get barely a sneeze of it. There is so much room and so much time for you to really push and question your main characters but it just doesn't get used.

Honestly I think the protagonists all could have probably really benefited from the audience getting to hear their internal monologues if they weren't actually going to talk to their companion characters, but even that would just be a substitute for decent writing.

Either way, after that, we come back to Connor and Hank, who do almost no tasks in this chapter, *but spend the entire time TALKING.* They talk to each other in a constant volley back and forth for the entire length of the chapter and it's probably one of the best chapters in the game, it's certainly one of the most important in their story. You spend the entire bridge scene learning more about Hank and Connor's inner worlds, and how they think, and how they feel, you spend the whole chapter learning so much about their perspectives, this chapter is all about asking the hard questions about both of their individual characters, and the tension is high, it's a straightforward chapter to play, and it really fucking feels like your choices matter here, there will be immediate consequences, not just walking through your environment trying to find the right answer, or being dragged through an interaction. It's just plain good.

And then Markus infiltrates the Stratford Tower, and you get the most boring and useless and frustrating chapter in the game that doesn't seem to serve any purpose beyond looking cool. If Kara's last chapter was only to gain sympathy and create some soft and fuzzy feelings, this chapter is only about looking cinematic. This is probably my least favorite chapter in the game, honestly I've just gotten lost on that yellow ass office floor building too many times, even though I'm very familiar with the game now I still managed to get lost again last night.

I will admit that eventually it does become an opportunity to decide between pacifism and violence but that seems to be the only real development for Markus, and it wouldn't have been hard to make that kind of opportunity in another setting. Because we get next to nothing watching him get past the front desk, or from walking around that floor, just some outfit changes and pretending to be a machine and a little more Android hate in the background, Markus is almost completely silent yet again, there is almost no talking with North once she appears. We actually get more about North's personality here than Markus', she just feels like she has more lines somehow, because sometimes she just talks without it being connected to the plot and Markus never does.

This bit is more speculative, but my fiance and I were going off last night about whyyyy did they have to break into the tower? We're never given any reason for what the steps are and why they are important, just usually pretty important in these mission impossible type scenes, they're usually explaining in a voice-over why they are taking the steps that they are taking. But we get no explanation for why he needs to go to the 47th floor or whatever, No explanation for why he needs to change into a maintenance Android uniform, why North was in the stairwell, how Josh and Simon got in, it's all just handwaved, and whyyyyyy they couldn't have just?? Made a recording and then hacked the station's broadcast remotely and basically just posted the speech? I don't know, it's just a particularly frustrating chapter to play, personally, but it isn't strong.

Either way, you've got two chapters with next to no character development, that just have a lot of empty space and time where the characters could have been talking or could have been doing something else, but didn't because the vibes were more important, sandwiching a simple scene with ten pounds of character development and it just feels weird. And once I noticed it, it just made the Kara and Markus chapters look incredibly weak and poorly written... And conversely, make the Connor and Hank chapter look much, much stronger in comparison.

It's like Detroit become human almost needs it's own type of Bechdel Test, just to show how much they fail Markus and Kara. "Do they talk about something that isn't the plot?"

"Do Kara and Luther talk about something that isn't Alice or getting to Canada?" "Does Markus talk about anything besides his speech for this chapter?" "Does Alice talk at all beyond basic communication with Kara?" "Does Markus or his buddies talk about anything that's not the revolution or just Markus himself?"

... They don't pass a lot.

It's just hard to take these characters above simply *likeable* when they just, don't, ever, talk. There's little to no development for Markus or Kara, and because they've just become deviants, there's hardly any character establishment in the first place, they barely even get the chance to just be flat, because if they don't really know who they are, we don't really know who they are.

Connor and Hank's friendship is more functionally the main plot, more so than the deviant investigation, and for Markus and the team, and Kara with Alice, that's simply just not the case, there is hardly any relationship, they're just in the same boat. This is why Connor got astronomically more popular, and why he and Hank have the staying power that they do.

Markus and Kara just don't ever talk, and Connor does. And I'm fucking mad about it. The amount of time that was just wasted in their stories, I could probably take a damn stopwatch to all the moments where there could have been a little something-something, and nothing was put there. It's not to say Connor doesn't get some quiet moments too but he always gets the chance to make up for it.

Even at the beginning of the Stratford Tower chapter, I noticed that they could have had Simon and North talking about something maybe unrelated when Markus walks up, but there's nothing, only silence until Markus comes in with a plan. And of course we know about every time Luther tries to bring up the fact that Alice is an android, only to be shut down and walked away from. It fucking kills me how much time Mark is has the focus of the camera but it's only so he could look cool for a minute, and share no thoughts of his own, none of his new feelings, everything is only implied and then followed by the action where he is only allowed to be the leader of the revolution and never just Markus. There's a tragedy in that, but they could have driven it home harder by *pointing that out.*

[homestuckreplay]

dave's gonna be pissed!!

(page 339-343)

I love when a story introduces a few separate and seemingly unrelated elements, and then gathers them all together in a neat conclusion that's even more satisfying because it's kind of unexpected. Homestuck does this on a really small scale - for example, the Sassacre book crushing the smoke pellets on p.96 bringing together John's sylladex accidents, the father-son prankster's gambit, and the two previous mentions of the Sassacre book's ability to crush things. But this is my favorite example yet.

A pattern is established with John and Rose that each character gets a command formatted as [strange noise/action] like a [creature] and [bodily function] on your [furniture]. Neither of these are relevant.

Dave's command is 'Bleat like a goat and piss on your turntable'. (p.315) but Dave 'would never consider allowing any fluid even remotely resembling urine to touch your beloved TURNTABLES.'

John gets a Little Monsters movie poster for his birthday and messages Dave about his favorite scene, where a monster pees in a kid's juice.

Later in the story, we see Dave find the bottle of apple juice in his closet that he found at the same moment that he was inspired to message John.

The Sburb Beta discs are established early on as a coveted item in the world of Homestuck, its importance increasing until it becomes the only item that can save the world.

Dave, who had a copy of this game before its true importance was established, reveals that he has lost it, and that 'its a stupid story and id rather not talk about it shit be embarrassing yo' (p.294)

All this comes together very delightfully when Dave finds himself unable to drink his unopened bottle of apple juice, unsettled by John's suggestion that a monster could reseal the bottle after pissing in it. He puts the juice back in his sylladex and immediately picks up another item, which forcefully ejects the juice, explaining the story of how Dave's game discs got damaged and fulfilling the prophecy of allowing a fluid resembling urine to touch his turntables.

This comic is basically engineered in a lab to be like one of those photo galleries of tiles that perfectly interlock and candy that's arranged in a perfect color gradient, it scratches the same itch. It's a storytelling technique that has infinite potential, but only works if it's spot on.

The Dave characterization here is really striking. Little Monsters is a movie where monsters under kids' beds are 100% real supernatural entities that make use of weird spatial/dimensional rules to play mean pranks on kids. Despite his obvious coolness and mastery of irony, and how dismissive he is of John's movie based interests. Dave can't shake the part of his brain that's like 'but what if monsters are real, what if there's one under my bed too'. I think he's like Rose in terms of meticulously constructing a personality that feels more 'adult', but their more childish aspects still slipping through the cracks (and nothing shows this better than their conversation on p.333 where they sound like they're rehearsing dialogue for the stage).

I've been thinking about John embodying characters from all his favorite movies, but maybe Dave is actually the Brian Stevenson parallel, right down to the sunglasses.

[merakiui]

Hai hai! Meraaaaa, you've done it again. A magnum opus once more! I really loved the new Riddle fic!

Since it was an arranged marriage and more in the victorian age anddddd was also inspired by Coraline (it gives me the creeps but I still love it) from the bottom of my heart it's the past life of your fic love me not!

From my observation, It has a lot of parallels. Firstly, Riddle's mother doesn't like FL because of her attitude, unperfect and too little for her liking and both Riddle fighting for their engagement. Second! Riddle's tapping, Well more on Moro's but Riddle in love me not was tapping as they waited for the oven to bake the lemon tart? and FL noticed that the place was weird.

Third, the place was weird, while Moro's looking glass noticed it pretty much sooner Love me not noticed it at the ending of the fic. Though Love me not got the FL in the ending, I'm quite curious if the mirror is still working? Since it was stated that there should be a part of him so that it'd go through her world and since there was nothing.. a broken mirror is useless at this point but that's just my interpretation of course!

Also! this line in Moro's! It also parallels the questions you've got in love me not

iii. the third petal is plucked from the wilting rose: “he loves me.” to what extent does he love you? “passionately, you see.” - from love me not

"It wants me. To what extent, I’m unsure. But if it truly does love me as it claimed… Surely it wouldn’t hurt me." - from Moro's looking glass

MERA MERA I WANNA DISSECT YOUR BRAIN AND PEER INSIDE OF IT LIKE WHERE DO YOU GET THESE WORDS?! It's so lovely and haunting and like gob smacking like wowww, big brain moment, it's like a song that just flows in! All your fics were aaahhhhhhhhhhh!!! ヽ⁠(⁠｡⁠◕⁠o⁠◕⁠｡⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠.

actually.. actually this is my third ask but I didn't know how to introduce myself hehe. I'm Italian Mafia Tako and Mera day anon (⁠ ⁠≧⁠Д⁠≦⁠). I'm quite shy and an introvert that's why I'd rather hide between anonymous asks hehe.. I also didn't know what to call myself haha and and! I'd rather introduce myself before I get caught.. You'll find me in your asks once in a while.. randomly, but I was anxious if you'd notice that my writing patterns are alike hehe. That's why Idia is one of my kinnies, I'd rather do it anonymous hehehe sorry Mera (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠)

.. I'm rambling a bit too much but I love all your fics! Every fic has a special place in my heart. This is the only time that I'd be jealous of a Tako but I wish that I could have three hearts to store all your fics, all so lovely and filling hehe! Have a great day author! ♡⁠(⁠>⁠ ⁠ਊ⁠ ⁠<⁠)⁠♡

MAFIA TAKO/MERA DAY ANON, HELLO!!!! SWEETEST GREETINGS TO YOU~~~ it's lovely to chat again!! I'm happy to see you in my inbox!! :D and omg,,, such a kind message AAAAAAA!!!! T^T <3 please don't apologize for sending anonymously!! Whatever way is easiest and most comfortable for you! 💖 thank you so much for reading Moros's Looking Glass and for enjoying the rest of my fics as well!!! To say you would want three hearts to store all of my fics..... aaaa I'm so happy to hear that!!!! ⸜(｡ ˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡ sending you all of my love!!!!!!!!

AAAAA IS IT TRULY A MAGNUM (MOROS HEHE) OPUS?!?!? :O I never realized just how many parallels it has with Love Me Not!!! Those are all great catches! The line parallels between Moros and Love Me Not were completely unintentional, but I'm shocked at how well they align with one another omg!! I think the Love Me Not and Moros MCs should meet to discuss their Riddles. ^^;;;; group therapy with them... I think Moros!MC would be sympathetic towards Love Me Not!MC's situation. A motherly sort of figure almost,,, aaaa they both deserve happiness and freedom from the terrible Riddles!!!

As for your question of whether the mirror is still working, it's somewhat functional (i.e. it's still a prison for Mr. Moros)!! Moros is still trapped within and can't cross over into the real world because there is no part of him that exists there and Reader still has the locket with Riddle's hair. <3 he's essentially just a really useless charm necklace now since the mirror is in pieces. T_T it isn't big enough for him to slip out even when Reader is sleeping, so she is safe. <3

[sepublic]

Erzsebet should've become Apophis

I've been enjoying Castlevania Nocturne, but ngl I feel like the show in general suffers from a case of wasted opportunity when it comes to adapting many, many elements of the games. At times it feels like the writers tend to ignore perfectly sufficient aspects of the source material to replace with their own thing, which is fine sometimes...

But with Erzsebet, there really was missed potential in making her more like her game counterpart. In Bloodlines, where she's known as Elizabeth Bartley, she turns into Medusa as the first phase of her boss fight, before fighting Jonathan/Eric as her regular self afterwards.

There is SOME room to interpret this as Bartley merely summoning Medusa rather than turning into her. However, in Easy mode, Bartley just dies once Medusa is defeated, suggesting they're the same person; Bartley isn't mentioned in the end credits while Medusa is, suggesting they're interchangeable with one another (because otherwise, why would this one-off boss have more precedent than the main villain who appears in the prologue???); And at the start of Bartley's level, the player is attacked by a floating Medusa head that shoots out red flames, just like the Medusa you actually fight, and just like Bartley herself.

So as far as I'm concerned, Bartley is Medusa. And that's kind of a big deal to me because Medusa is one of the most recurring and iconic bosses in the series, so to see her, or at least one incarnation of Medusa, receive deeper characterization and story relevance is pretty cool. Medusa is one of Dracula's OG generals, which is why it's a shame she's been completely absent from the show.

Here's the thing; If they wanted to give Bathory a second form, Medusa is right there. It'd even parallel how Olrox turns into a green reptile himself, too! And if the writers still want to make Bathory appropriate an Egyptian deity, as part of her colonizer symbolism that informs Olrox's hatred and rebellion, we've got a perfect fit for Medusa; Apophis!

Apophis is a serpent and a much more explicit enemy of the sun than Sekhmet is in myth; He's the sworn arch-nemesis of Ra and attempts to devour the sun every night, only to be defeated, time and time again. He's said to lurk in the Underworld, too! So this has parallels to Vampires' association with Hell, Apophis fulfills the function of Bathory's hatred of the sun and her plan to block it out... Hell, we even have the theme of an enemy of darkness that must be defeated in a neverending cycle, like Dracula, whom Bathory is taking the role of in Nocturne!

So instead of drinking Sekhmet's blood, have Erzsebet drink the blood of Apophis. This causes her to turn into a green, serpentine monster that also resembles Medusa, making her the show equivalent of Medusa, and a more faithful adaptation of Bartley than discount Lion-O. And since Medusa is consistently green throughout most of the games and in general media depictions, this could also cause Erzsebet's hair to turn green, the same color it was in the games! I think that'd make more sense than discarding what little we got of Bartley in the actual games to instead emulate Carmilla from Vampire Hunter D.

[tasteofgummies]

hi! i understand that it can be uncomfortable for u but if u don't mind can i ask the headcanons of p3 guys with dystrophic fem s/o? it would be cool if you also will make an nsfw part

i really enjoy your writing!!!🥺

Thank you so much!! It's not uncomfortable at all, don't worry! I tried to make this post very vague, as the experiences of people with dystrophy can be different, but as always, you can message me if you want me to change anything, enjoy (⁠*⁠´⁠ω⁠｀⁠*⁠)

Stardust Crusaders w/ a dystrophic!fem! S/O 🌸

Cw: nsfw content ahead

Jotaro Kujo

>He'd be careful with you regardless, but I think it would take some reassurance for him to express his love physically. But again, he isn't really the most affectionate, so what's the difference?

>He knows that you can handle yourself, so he is thoughtful without actually doing anything for you

>If you require any mobility aid, the Speedwagon foundation is ready to create only the finest technology for you

>If you ever feel insecure of anything regarding your disability, Jotaro is there to hold you, he may not be good with words, but he'll try to voice his feelings in order to reassure you that there isn't a single thing he would change about you

>Carries painkillers and muscle relaxers with him in case you ever need them

>Understands that sometimes the pain can be too much to even want to interact, but he will still be there in case you need anything, you don't need to talk, you can do parallel play

>Is very gentle with you, and tries to make you do as little effort as possible during your intimate times

>Eats you out with de-vo-tion 🙏

>He's inexperienced, but it's definitely a pleasurable time

>And if you ask for, you can have Star Platinum doing it, he's got that godly precision for all your good spots

>Lets you choose the position you'd like so it's always comfortable

>Wants to take care of you but you'd end up sore regardless

>His pace is slow and deep

>6/10 aftercare, he isn't awful, but he needs some practice

Noriaki Kakyoin

>He's much more open about physical affection, as he trusts you'll tell him if he hurts you

>Enjoys "house dates" that's basically you two scrolling through your phones and showing each other those cheesy cat pictures that couples share, and you clearly don't have to move around much for that

>I headcanons he suffers from migraines, so he can relate to the pain and sometimes limits on your daily life

>Offers acts of service to help you in days that are harder, so don't worry about grocery shopping or taking out the trash while he's there

>He isn't as scared to hurt you while being intimate as others are

>He's a tease, but also a gentleman, he'd like you needy and worked up from his touch so you ask him to please you

>And how can he deny you?

>Maybe gets a bit too carried away with the overstimulation and leaves you aching

>But he'll take care of you dw

>Breakfast in bed after he wrecked you kind of romantic<3

Muhammad Avdol

>Soothes your aches with natural essential oils and massages

>Tries to smooth out the ground of his farm so you can walk on it if you use any mobility aid

>He doesn't let you get insecure ever, he's a happy wife, happy life man™

>He's really supportive and thoughtful of whatever you need

>Avdol is perfect for everything tbh

>May be a bit overprotective though, is nor that he doesn't trust you, but he know how damaging is the pressure to be "functional" rather than to live a full, happy life (damn capitalism)

>He's such a spoiling sweet lover

>He'll make sure you are comfortable, and if you need to switch positions, take a break, stop, or anything, you just have to say your safe word

>He can get rougher, but he's more slow and sensual type of man

>11/10 aftercare

Jean-Pierre Polnareff

>He's so sweet, but he sometimes forgets his strength, so warn him please

>Another one that will literally worship the ground you step on

>Insecurity? We don't know her in this house

>A huge simp

>I feel like (if you don't already use one) will heavily encourage you to use a mobility aid, he doesn't think you need to force yourself, and you shouldn't feel bad for trying to make your life easier

>"It's okay to take up space, chéri

>Or you can just let him carry you and kiss the top of your head the whole day<3

>Like Avdol, he's very passionate, he makes love, he doesn't fuck

>Soooo many praises

>Knows he's big, so takes some time prepping you, it may even look like he's teasing you, but he just doesn't want to hurt you

>Your legs may end up just a bit sore, but he won't leave you as bad as the others

>He also has a voyeurism kink, so just watching you touch yourself is enough

Joseph Joestar

>"You know the Speedwagon foundati-" shut up Joseph, you can't use your nepo baby privilege to try to find a cure for it 💀

>No, but fr, he gets you all the best of everything, the best physicians, the best technology, the best specialist, just anything that can help you

>Respects you, and knows that you can handle yourself, but is also in his nature to spoil you

>He's very understanding, but sometimes you have to explain to him that pain is a part of your life, and him dating you means that he's gonna see you in pain sometimes

>He's there to gently stroke your hair and sing you praises

>Horny jail? This one scaped

>You have to tell him your legs get sore if he just pushes you against a wall and starts to get at it

>He'll be a good boy and get you to a nice comfortable bed

>And when I say nice, I mean, top tier mattress and silky sheets

>Loves when you ride him

>When he gets horny he forgets that you may need breaks, so you have to stay firm and be clear to him

>Of course won't react badly, he just gets too excited

>He's really good with his fingers, but that robotic hand has more than one perk

>Goes for quickies, usually, but always makes sure to examine you and massage your sore muscles, he also uses hamon to help you

Merli Anne [platonic]

>Anne's a bit of a pushover, but she just wants to protect you!

>You're a big sister to her, and she wants to prove to you what a useful person she can be, specially to you

>Tries to help the aches by giving you a soup recipe or something like that

>She thinks you're so strong and cool

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

can i ask for a quick rundown of your mcd and/or mystreet rewrite? i’m a new follower and a tiny bit lost 😭

Ah, Ofc!! this will be a long post, because you said 'quick' and i just heard 'explain everything'. just because I don't know HOW to summarise everything, so I just explain what I can... which is too much.

each section will have a TL;DR if it's long, though.

So, the only rewrite I’ve actually, like, done so far is Amaranth (https://archiveofourown.org/works/31310384)

It’s an MCD rewrite, the first one I did, and it’s not **technically** related to my overall rewrite universe, though I’m not going to totally discredit it. It’s where I got a lot of my ideas, and it was sort of a first draft for me. It’s very similar to MCD, just with events changed to how I would have written them myself. Major change is that the Zane/aphmau engagement actually goes somewhere. My favourite change was the Pikoro arc tho for some reason bc it was just my first significant deviation from the original plot.

Now… cannibalism and cult stuff, yeah?

(Don’t read past this point if you are uncomfortable with discussions of human-on-human meat/organ consumption)

Lycoris Radiata (https://archiveofourown.org/works/50710504) is the only part of this current era of rewrite!Aphverse that has any content so far.

TL;DR for this section: i mostly just emphasised themes present in canon, there's cannibalism for magical reasons, Shad is more relevant early on, and there's a reason why characters look like that when i draw them, i promise. Also, cult stuff!

LR is an MCD rewrite, which has some lore changes. It begins with Avra (Aphmau) travelling with Visher, Garroth being angsty, and so on. Only the prologue and first chapter are currently posted, and you don't need to read Amaranth to begin it (though it will follow similar storylines later on). Basically, the main premise is that it’s kind of a criticism of imperialism, organised religion, and so on. Those are themes already present in original MCD, and so I… expanded. Blood Magic is the main magic focused on as well. It's the kind that Avra uses, and it's the kind that makes SKs function. Avra has to consume blood and meat (typically organ meat, preferably human) in order to have any amount of magic, and depending on what creature the meat comes from, also grants her some fun little magical extras. She also has a strong association with Judgement(Shad) in my rewrite, and there is a reason I draw them so often together. Most character changes you'll see have some lore-based backing for it. Characters who are made darker-skinned, or have had their haircolour changed, it's typically due to them belonging to a particular ethnic group that i made for Ru'Aun or Tu'La, which does impact their characters in the way that they obviously grew up under certain cultures. Sometimes it'll just be because I think it looks cool, or for visual/thematic parallels with another character. If you're ever curious as to knowing why i have certain characters looking the way I do, then just ask. Oh, also, people aren't just loyal to Avra because she's nice. there's like an actual cult thing that begins happening and to say there's some weird shit with that would be... underselling it.

A Royal Tale, and Mermaid Tales both fall into the timeline between LR and the MyS rewrite. they're quite insignificant series, but i decided to devote myself to being a completionist.

My plans for them aren't really set in stone yet, but I know i want to expand upon them and their lore a lot more, and they will eventually both fall into the, uh, cannibalism and murder theme of the rest of the rewrites. they'll likely be little side projects. I have trauma from ART tho. Show makes me *uncomfy*

Mystreet.... yayyyy...

No official name for the rewrite yet, I'm working on it.

TL;DR: If you let an edgy teenager write MyS but they also watched desperate housewives so they write some sitcom episodes on the side. Also, Avra needs that gross-tasting nailpolish that stops you from chewing on your nails... but like... all over her body.

Basically, MyS except they've always been reincarnations of their MCD (or LR, in this case) selves, with some residual trauma and habits because of that. I'm going to lean more into the darker seasons, even though Ik popular opinion is that the light-hearted ones were the best, and I'll just focus more on lore and stuff. PDH has a 17 year old Avra joining PDH, after being homeschooled for a while due to having some mental health issues. I'm going to go a little more 'general highschool drama' vibes, might have some mystery shit idk. Will be less cringe than canon, because yes, i'm cringe and i'm free, but even i have limits. The more lighthearted seasons might just be amalgamed into one big 'sitcom style' fic, which will be set before S4 and such, but i'll probably make lighthearted chapters between the serious ones. S4, Aphmau's Year, S5, S6 and Her Wish will be my main priority, and will go into the whole murder and cannibalism theme of LR. It'll already have been kind of expanded upon, because MyS!Avra has a bit of a habit of auto-cannibalism (eating the skin around her nails/on her fingers, on the inside of her cheeks and on her lips) which eventually just... goes a little crazy. There is gonna be cult stuff in MyS too, it just might present differently to how it does in LR. Or maybe similarly. Idk, depends on how you view it.

[not-wholly-unheroic]

I finally read the junior novelization of Disney’s new Peter Pan and Wendy and although for the most part, it sticks to the film, there are some really great moments that I’m guessing might have been in earlier drafts which got cut but made it into the book. A few of my favorite additions/changes include…

- I think this may have been in the background in the film but is more noticeable in the book… When John and Michael are playing, one of them says, “Watch out for the crocodile” as Nana is playfully nipping at their heels. I like the crocodile/Nana parallel, as in the stage version they typically use the same actor for both animal roles and it seems like a nice little nod to that.

- John says the watch helps him sleep when Mr. Darling asks for it back after their game. George reluctantly lets him keep it but tells him to be careful because “a man’s timepiece is of the utmost importance.” This almost seems to be going back to the stage idea of George as a kind of alternate for Hook. Here, both men have an interesting relationship with time which we don’t see in the final film.

- Nana is the one who catches the shadow as it goes downstairs. Another nod to the original here where Nana is the whole reason the shadow is pulled away from Peter to begin with.

- Although we see Mr. Smee use an ear horn in the film, in the novelization, it’s pretty explicitly spelled out that he is hard of hearing due to long-term exposure to canon-fire. There are several funny moments more reminiscent of the animated film, but the comedy is less “Smee is stupid” and more just, “Smee can’t hear well and often gets mixed up because of that.”

- When we first meet Hook, he is writing a letter in his cabin (Who is he writing to?) and the cabin is said to smell somewhat like incense. Also, for whatever reason, his hair is described as being dark, like the more traditional Hook. Maybe Law’s look hadn’t been finalized until after the book was written?

- We get to see paintings on the walls of the tunnel that Tiger Lily takes the kids through to get to Skull Rock. She explains that they tell the story of her ancestors and how her great-great grandmother led them to Neverland and helped everyone hide underground in safety when Hook first laid siege on the island until they were ready to fight back. It also seems that her tribe has a history of female chiefs.

- This is a little random but I have to wonder about the theme of hearing/being heard in this story, the novel especially. On one end of the spectrum, Hook seems to have especially acute hearing, picking up on the ticking as well as Wendy’s singing and later Peter’s return long before anyone else seems to notice. Then, of course, there’s Smee, who as we mentioned earlier, is very hard of hearing after years of listening to canon-fire. Peter CAN hear just fine but often CHOOSES not to, putting words in Tink’s mouth, for example. And then we have Wendy, who seems to try to hear everyone even if she can’t always easily do so. She listens to both Peter and Hook’s side of the story, and she repeatedly tries to understand Tink even if she can’t actually hear/understand what she’s saying until the very end. I don’t have a fully fleshed out idea of what exactly they may have been trying to say with all this, but it’s an interesting observation.

- Bellweather actually gets a personality! He is the fixer upper of both John’s watch (which he somehow got back from Hook??) and Michael’s teddy bear.

- In the book, it is said that Hook and Pan weren’t just friends…they ran away together and promised never to grow up or go back, and it makes the feelings of hurt and betrayal that much more painful.

- We get an extra scene on the way back to the ship after Hook “kills” Peter where the captain actually laments that Peter is really gone for good. He seems to recognize in that moment that revenge really didn’t feel as good as he expected it to and, like it or not, they need each other to function. He also seems surprised he actually drew blood. Apparently, they have rarely ever hurt one another in the past physically (with the major exception of his hand loss…) and it’s almost a game to Hook as much as it is to Peter. Hook speaks to the captured Tink at one point and asks her, since she was there at the beginning, if things would inevitably end up with one of them dying or if they might have gone differently. This Hook is very childlike at moments, and this is one of them.

- Mr. Smee flies!!!! During the final battle, Mr. Smee finds himself in a sticky situation and tells Tink he honestly never wanted to hurt anyone. He just wanted to fly. Tink apparently believes him to be harmless enough and allows it. Instead of asking at the end, “Did you see me, Cap’n?! I’m floatin’! I’m alive! I didn’t drown!” he asks if he saw him flying. I’ve always thought Smee had a kind, childlike heart, and if anybody deserves to fly, it’s him, so this part made my heart very happy.

- Wendy and Peter actually share a kiss (a real one!) near the end before he leaves. Wendy recognizes that Peter isn’t ready to grow up yet but tells him that maybe someday he will be and then they can be together again. It’s an incredibly sweet moment and gives a little more closure to things that Peter’s departure in the film does, and I wish we had gotten it in the final version.

- As they get back to Neverland, Peter spots Hook and Smee (who is still flying!) and pulls Hook up onto the ship, taking his friend with him back to the island for more adventures. While I do think the film’s ending with Law’s Hook smiling up at Peter works well as it is, this moment was just the icing on the cake for me. It cements that they are absolutely back on the same team again and all is forgiven.

[autisticandroids]

the fall of lucifer in spn canon: headcanons and speculations

so all this is just some headcanons based on what's in the show because obviously there isn't a very clear picture painted or i wouldn't have to make this goddamn post. anyway this post will prioritize stuff from seasons 4-7 because when you have a show like supernatural which really does not have a show bible or any worldbuilding rules or continuity enforcement, the longer a worldbuilding element exists, the less sense it makes, because people add to it as the plot demands without looking at the whole picture. this doesn't mean that no evidence will come from the later season, just that they will be engaged with selectively. furthermore, there isn't really a way to use all available evidence even in 4-7 because there really wasn't a coherent picture painted by the writers so anything i say will have to discard something.

okay, with that out of the way.

proposal 1:

this is what i always just sort of intuitively assumed happened. i'm going to list off some evidence.

the implication in season four is possibly? that only the four archangels have ever met god.

angels are soldiers, or at least, the ones we are meeting are.

despite that, they all seem super shocked when angels die, and "only an angels can kill another angel" is a revelation

lilith is the most powerful demon, and she is shaped from a human soul.

azazel's "right idea, wrong angel" speech in lucifer rising posits that lucifer's holy angelic glory tricked believers into thinking the site of st. mary's was holy and kind of implies? that lucifer is 1) metaphysically the same as other angels and 2) maybe the only angel who is an angel-of-hell.

non-archangel angels can fall, but this just means that they become human.

demons are functionally just ghosts with a little more juice. they are not matches for an angel in combat, or at least, not without the assistance of an angel blade (which is probably? a literal piece of an angel. and so qualifies as angelic assistance). we never see an angel go up against lilith or azazel, but we do see angels so up against other slightly higher level demons: alastair and crowley. alastair can take cas is physical combat, but can't kill him. they're not actually equals in this sense. cas tries to smite crowley in the man who knew too much and the only reason it doesn't work is that crowley is protected by raphael. demons - even powerful demons - are not the equals of angels.

lucifer explains to cas that god cast him down, and why. i.e., god was present when lucifer fell, and also cas doesn't know why lucifer fell.

as of season nine, knights of hell, who seem to be outranked only by princes (azazel etc.) and lilith, and are limited in number to single digits, suggesting that those who outrank them are even more limited, also began as humans. see: cain.

anyway, based on all this evidence, my intuitive interpretation of how lucifer's fall went is that it happened when there were only the four brothers, michael, raphael, gabriel, and lucifer, in existence. it happened when god was still present. and only after lucifer fell were other angels created, by the archangels (not by god) (which means probably primarily by michael and raphael? idk though), with the explicit intent of being soldiers in the apocalypse. (it actually provides a fun parallel to the tempting of lilith! demons and angels were created for essentially the same reasons!)

this explains why so many angels seem naive to the realities of angel-angel warfare, and why there don't seem to be any fallen angels in the classical sense (i.e. angels who rebelled with lucifer rather than angels who decided to turn human). this also makes sense in terms of like.... keeping the fall of lucifer as a family drama. god and the archangels are meaningfully a family in a way that the other angels really aren't.

the only real evidence against is uriel's "do you remember how beautiful he was" line in 4x16.

but this also means that lucifer's rebellion can't really be conceptualized as warfare/civil war in the way it traditionally is, and that the civil war in spn season six is the first time that's really happened.

it also means that conceptualizing the season five apocalypse as a "war" as such is a little strange since angels can easily overpower demons. there's definitely some implication that it's an issue of numbers, i.e., battles between angels and demons mean one or two angels vs. hundreds of demons, because demons are a plentiful and renewable population while angels are both limited and non-reproductive, but it's still kind of strange, especially since both knights and princes, the high-ranking demons who seem easily able to handle angels (if not kill them), are so rare. obviously there are other high ranking demons who can maybe hold their own against angels (see alastair) but. hmmmph.

proposal two:

this idea literally came to me as i was mentally laying out my evidence for this post, i had never thought about it before. but the best counterpoint i can think of for the previous point is that cas falls in season five because he's cut off from heaven. not because of his own choice but because heaven cuts him off. he loses his grace and wastes away until he's basically human. so if lucifer did actually lead a faction of angels in a civil war. potentially that would have cause them to fall in the supernatural sense. meaning that they would have become human and died and gone to hell. meaning that some demons (the princes perhaps?) are fallen angels, humanized then demonized. there don't seem to be enough princes though, so maybe the fallen angel demons are more garden variety. or maybe fallen angels go to the empty.

final note:

i am aware that the timeline does not seem to match up on any of this shit at all. cas was present for the first creature to crawl onto land, and yet he was created after god asked lucifer to bow to humans? lucifer's rebellion was at the beginning of time and yet there were human bodies around for his angel soldiers to fall (as in: become human) into? what the hell! well, my answer to that is that imo the way reality experiences time and causality and the way god and angels experience time and causality are kind of different. i've talked about one way this is maybe true here, but i'm also just inclined to believe that like... the version of humanity that god wanted lucifer to bow to was an idea, a concept. that the garden and cain and abel and all of that existed on a conceptual level as a kind of blueprint. that that was both true and they also literally happened on earth because causality works differently for god and angels. and stuff like that.

[waheelawhisperer]

I'm a boring basic bitch, so who would you ship with Jaune?

Full disclosure, I think Jaune is bi (or at least bicurious) and hasn't quite figured it out yet. With that in mind...

Arkos is my number one Jaune ship, no contest. It's a classic, and never mind that Pyrrha was done dirty.

I also really like Guard Dogs, Jaune and Marrow's dynamic throughout the Atlas arc was cute and funny and I enjoyed their interactions. The only problem is that they're both subs, so determining whose penis opens up to accept the other one's penis can be difficult at times.

I'm actually quite partial to Dragonslayer as of Volume 8, I wasn't really a fan of this ship beyond aesthetic appreciation at first but their scenes in Volume 8 really convinced me that these two have a genuine bond. Yang's been remarkably supportive of Jaune ever since, like, Volume 2, and I think their personalities are pretty compatible. Can't say their chemistry in canon is explicitly romantic, given Yang's focus on Blake, but they obviously care for each other and I think a writer could build on that in a very believable way. Also, I'm a huge proponent of bi Yang, let her have a hot boyfriend and a hot girlfriend.

I know some people don't like the actual ship name, mostly because it carries connotations of Jaune taming/owning/conquering Yang, and there are definitely people who really buy into that and portray the relationship (and Jaune's relationship with other girls, for that matter) in really gross ways, but I actually think it's funny in an ironic way because anyone with a functioning brain cell who's spent five seconds thinking about their established characterization knows that Yang would run Jaune over like a locomotive. If anyone's getting conquered, it's our resident himbo.

Also, if you capitalize the wrong (right) letter, the ship name turns into a sex joke, which is important to me because I have the mental and emotional maturity of a middle schooler.

White Knight was arguably my least favorite Jaune ship early on, and Beacon-era White Knight just does not do it for me, but I'm actually coming around on Atlas-era White Knight. Part of it is a "pair the spares" thing that comes from the emphasis on Bumbleby and the way it parallels Renora in the Atlas Volumes, as well as the hints of Nuts and Dolts we get in that same Kingdom, but also I feel like Weiss and especially Jaune are a lot more emotionally mature now. Jaune had a lot of stuff to work through, what with the whole toxic masculinity and not really knowing how to talk to girls thing, but he's come around and they feel like people who actually trust and like each other now as opposed to people who happen to be in the same friend group.

Martial Arcs (I think this is the name for Jaune x Ren?) is also very nice, even if I don't particularly like splitting up Ren and Nora. They're clearly very close, we get some nice angst and conflict in Volume 8, and they have a deep heart-to-heart discussion while Ren is naked and wrapped in a towel, thus making it impossible for me to view any of their interactions as anything other than homoerotic. Adding Nora into the mix is also a nice option, she deserves two boyfriends who will love her and each other.

Jaune x Neptune is inherently funny to me because I think having the two characters voiced by the main writers kiss would be funny and would probably make a lot of people mad for a lot of different reasons.

Not a big Lancaster fan, Jaune and Ruby have always just felt like friends to me. I like their relationship in a platonic sense but they just do not seem to have chemistry to me.

Knightshade is another one I'm not particularly partial to, given that Jaune and Blake have so little interaction in canon, to the point where seeing Blake hug Jaune when they reunited in Volume 6 genuinely shocked me because they've never seemed like anything other than people who happen to run in the same circles. I can't even test whether they have chemistry of any kind together because that hug was genuinely the first time I could remember them directly interacting, and by that point CRWBY is clearly gearing up to make Bumbleby canon. Like, they seem compatible, based on their personalities, but who the hell even knows because the writers seem to have an aversion to letting Blake just interact with her friends unless they're part of her specific plotline or her love interest of the day. No, I'm not still upset that it took us 8 Volumes for her to get a meaningful conversation with Ruby, I have no idea what you're talking about.

Still think the Gigachad Jaune shit does a disservice to his character.

[invinciblerodent]

The more preoccupied I get with Wyll (because apparently he's the one about whom I am hopelessly in my feelings today), the more certain I am that I inadvertently struck gold by choosing him as a romance option for my Inquisitor!Tav playthrough.

An older version of Ray is... pretty much exactly the person I can imagine working best for the kind of story I'd personally love to tell with Wyll.

I mean...

Regardless of the universe they're in, the Trevelyans are old money. They're not quite as high ranking as a Duke, but the Thedosian "Bann", I kind of see them on roughly the same level as a Baron. A minor lord, but a long-standing family with deep roots that make them politically quite significant. So it's conceivable that during Ulder's rise, the Ravengards and the Trevelyans occasionally rubbed elbows: this Ray (or Lord Trevelyan in this case, much as he hates being called that- had to assume the title after his father's passing though) may even know Ulder in passing, and if he didn't know Wyll, he must have known of him.

He may even have thought briefly about how it's been a while since he's heard anything about Ravengard's boy. Maybe he wondered for a few seconds about whatever could have happened to the lad.

Maybe Wyll even remembers seeing Lord Trevelyan, often by the moniker of "The Inquisitor of (I'll figure it out)", and his beautiful sorcerer husband at some function. Maybe meeting again and seeing that pain etched deep into the man's heart, he wonders what could have happened to break the man most thought of as a hero of the past. Maybe sharing that loss brings them closer.

The parallel of one of them missing his dominant hand and the other missing an eye works really well. It wasn't intentional at all, but Ray was barely older than Wyll is now when he was "Inquisitor" (I'll need to workshop how to adapt that to DnD) and lost his arm, and has since learned to live with it- but nevertheless, these are both very traumatic injuries that result in a pretty fundamental alteration of one's life. Loving the "broken" parts of one another, I think that's as bittersweet as it is kind of beautiful.

I'm electing to believe that the prosthetic limbs in Faerun are fairly sophisticated, so while the prosthetic hand has some pretty severe limitations, it does move (if jerkily), and it looks almost convincing as a flesh and blood hand under a glove. Cue dramatic reveal of silvered mechanical fingers glinting in the firelight the night after recruitment: just a small nod to mean "I know all too well your sacrifice."

(Solas vs. Mizora, who's the bigger douchebag, let's discuss)

I'm not going to say "daddy issues" because that's a very gross and oversimplified way of putting it, but after being so.... so cruelly rejected by his father, early on just receiving approval from an older male figure (this Ray is like ~55-ish) of similar social standing as his father probably... does something. To Wyll. Messes with his head. I mean, for a character who downplays his emotions because he just wants to please others so much, unconditional praise and positive reinforcement from someone who is outwardly so much like a storybook hero AND the father/mentor who rejected him must leave a deep impression on Wyll's heart. (I quite like the thought of an honest "Good lad!" and a slap on the back making Wyll's stomach clench.)

I love that in most of his romance, from what I've seen, Wyll does the "wooing". He is the one who courts and pursues the player character, which works really nicely for this kind of May-September romance: A gallant, strapping young man honestly pursuing the widower with the bruised and battle-scarred heart makes my own little heart ache, but in a good way. And the chasteness of the romance only adds to it, imo: definitely dispels in me any notion of it coming off... I don't know, icky. This is not about sex, or exploitation, or a power imbalance, not about someone gross manipulating a young, inexperienced person into anything: it's just about the... the tenderness of starting anew. It's about learning that.... that there can be more than just one "great love" in a life.

But also, adding to this, them trading the well-fitting role of the "dashing prince" back and forth also makes me smile. Coming to each other's rescue, dissolving the pact, maybe punching Ulder in the face after saving his shitty little life for good measure, it can make them both feel both like they're protected AND the protector. Like they can rely upon the other and be relied on in return.

.... Maybe I should finish at least ONE playthrough before I become enamored with the romance of a fkin FOURTH, huh.

[willedeservesbetter]

Get to know me tag game

I was tagged by @sflow-er , actually started answering a few days ago but run out of time. So now I have some time to kill, so let's try another time.

Do you make your bed?

Yes, it is an attempt I am actually allowed to call myself a functioning adult 😂.

What's your favourite number?

I don't have one, but my parents love the number 9, so I basically decided this is a family tradition now.

What is your job?

Nope, for one my job is actually not that easy to explain, even in person. Second, I don't share personal information on my public Tumblr account. My two Tumblr friends (you know who you are) can ask me though, in case they are interested.

If you could go back to school, would you?

Fun fact, ppl always assume I was an amazing student. I was not... sadly I am lazy AF, surprised I actually have a Master degree and I always hated studying. I am very much a learning -by-doing person.

Can you parallel park?

I mean, I have a driver license, so at one point I could 😝. Serious answer, I sold my car a couple of years ago, so I very rarely drive a car. Ask me again in September, as I have a road trip ahead of me then.

A job you had that would surprise people?

Mmh, nothing really comes to mind tbh. In terms of work I don't think I did anything particularly exciting.

Do you think aliens are real?

Are we alone in the universe? No, absolutely not. However what kind of life exists and how advanced they are, that is a totally different conversation. I don't believe we are getting visited or abducted.

What's your guilty pleasure?

If it brings me joy, I don't define it as a guilty pleasure, as long as it doesn't interfere with life, friends or family. Maybe I am abusing way too much time at work to write comments for my fav fics or writing novels back to friends.

Tattoos?

No, because I know myself and I will get tired of anything I could get. But I understand why ppl love them because there are some very cool and amazing tattoos (but also gotta say, I find most tattoos very underwhelming or even ugly and I am surprised why ppl get them in the first.place. But those opinions I always, always keep to myself).

Favourite colour?

Blue was always my colour since I was a little girl and it also looks best on me. I love green and altrosa too though.

Favourite type of music?

I suck when it comes to music. I always listen to some random Spotify lists and generally have no idea what is happening in the world of music or particularly care.

Do you like puzzles?

I don't remember the last time I did one... guess that is answer enough.

Any phobias?

I HATE needles. I needed to get a lot of vaccinations last year, I survived, but it really was not my favorite past time. At least the employees at the doctor all complimented me for still being mature enough to take my health seriously 😂.

Favourite childhood sport?

I was the WORST cheerleader in existence, but I loved it 🤷🏼‍♀️.

Do you talk to yourself?

Lol, i am a very chatty person (IF I like you. ironically I can also be very quiet), of course I talk to myself.

What movies do you adore?

Edit: Can you drive a manual car?

The Lord of the Rings trilogy has such a special place in my heart and they better never remake it.

Coffee or tea?

Both, at home and work it is coffee. when I am visiting my parents, I am always drinking tea. but I like both a lot.

What was the first thing you wanted to be growing up?

Lol, a FARMER. The idea is from beginning to end HILARIOUS.

Edit: Can you drive a manual car?

I am German, it is in my DNA 😂. ask me driving the first time an automatic car though. Now that was an experience.

[zanzibarhamster]

FORGOT THE NUMBERS UBh every oddly number

ALL RIGHT LET'S GO (character is big boss mentioned in another ask)

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

big boss has a really compelling negative character arc and has a lot of grayness to him. he's a hero to some and a villain to others, and we get to watch the slider slowly go from one end of the other, which is not a kind of main character that you see a lot, especially in games. i think a lot of the discourse about him, including the insanely polar-opposite takes of dudebros who think he's a super cool anti-hero vs the queer fans who think he's an irredeemable psychopath from day 1, is because neither one is entirely wrong. also, the che guevara parallel really really works for that reason.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

hayter's voice acting does not always land. sorry but it's true.

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

definitely kings by tribe society (spotify, lyrics)

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

i like how many artists reject the way his canon models are mostly hairless with a chiseled six-pack (bc lbr neither one of those makes sense for the character) and go some degree of bear with him. 10/10.

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

...my gut instinct was "no" but honestly he's lived in very tight quarters with other people for many years so he's probably a pretty mindful roommate. the downside is he also probably doesn't know how to function without a KP chart and will be more than a little bitchy if I don't stick to whatever day of the week i'm supposed to wash the floors. i could do worse.

11. Would you date this character?

absolutely the fuck not.

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

he wouldn't use emojis even if he knew what they were and how to use them. but 📦 suits him for obvious reasons.

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

shocking absolutely everyone, bbkaz.

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

not sure how to parse this question so i'm going to hype my other bb ships which are bbeva and bbroy. he's weak to a very specific type of person okay.

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

i don't really have this? i do wish we had more closure on his relationship with eva, the way i make sense of eva pining for him for the rest of her life while he barely even mentions her is that i hc that their last conversation was 1) about the twins, 2) went extremely badly, and 3) she feels guilty about how badly he took it while he just cut her out of his life and never looked back. but i wish we actually knew what happened.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

not sure i have a favorite but my least favorite thing by far is to have him watch someone else fight. choreographing fight scenes is a pain in the ass already bc i tend to try to work within specific arts a character might know like judo or aikido instead of just doing it by vibes, and the last thing i need is to deal with a character that uses every single technical term for all of those techniques and provides running commentary on top of it.

23. Favorite picture of this character?

i'm on mobile but insert screenshot of when he is naked against the wall of a cell in portable ops here.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

mgs3 was the first game i played bc i was told to play in timeline order and my first impression was that he was kind of a dumbass but in an endearing way and his relationship with the boss was cute. which more or less still holds up as part of my opinion on him at that point on the timeline. it got more complicated.

[thebarefootking]

Ren Narita

I have complicated feelings about Ren Narita that have very little at all to do with Ren Narita. Which may not necessarily make for a satisfying answer -- as I know he's your dude -- but allow me to try. I was initially excited for Narita's return from excursion. I don't remember whether or not I got to see him as a young lion (and if I did, it wasn't for very long at all), but Shibata had enough of my respect that I figured any protege of his would at least be good to have around. Initially, I was interested in the contrast of how Umino and Narita use the influence of their mentors in creating an image for themselves. As foils for one another, they were engaging as character studies. However, individually, they did little for me -- Umino even less than Narita. When Narita joined up with Suzuki and El Desperado, I was tentatively optimistic. Suzuki is an impeccable mentor for someone of Narita's description to have. And El Desperado excels at helping others develop their characters and add movement to their stories. It's one of his most impressive skills. And it got a workout last year. But not with Narita.

Were there occasional moments that utilised Suzuki and Despe as characters in interaction with Narita? I won't lie and say no. More Suzuki than Despe, I think. But mostly and for what seemed like weeks and months at a time, they functioned as bodies to fill out Narita's party. How many times did we watch them enter to Narita's music? Minoru 'Kaze Ni Nare' Suzuki entering to the music of some bloke who just showed up? How many promos did Despe stand behind and to the left of Narita, having physically shrunk himself to avoid pulling the spotlight away? And I don't just mean he reined in his personality and mannerisms -- though that was very much the case. He literally, physically made himself appear smaller until it was his turn to speak. Their policy with Narita was so hands-off that I wonder what it was meant to achieve at all. And I admit that it did not take long for me to begin resenting him for it. More than just about anyone on the roster who isn't just, y'know, a scummy person irl -- every time I saw him, I just thought, Ugh. That guy.

I sort of checked out of what Narita and Umino were doing pretty much entirely, for a while -- which is a shame, because I really did find them engaging, at one point. There was just so little to Narita that was identifiably Narita -- and everything to Umino that was identifiably Umino was honestly kind of annoying. And I was so sick during WTL that I missed most of what went on then.

But it was impossible to miss the news of Narita betraying Umino and joining Bullet Club. And it was comforting to my self-image that my first thought was that it was good for Narita. That I didn't hate him so much for something he had no control over that my first impulse was to celebrate Suzuki and Despe being rid of him. That was just my second impulse. But it has been good for Narita. I admit I don't really grasp the full scope of HoT!Ren, but it's a right sight better than he was doing for himself before. I look at him, and I know what character I'm looking at. The cloak is a menace, admittedly. It looks like he had a heel turn, and while HoT went home to get drunk and celebrate, one of them found it in a closet somewhere. I was certain, at least, that it would be temporary -- just for a show or two, or at least replaced for Wrestle Kingdom. El Desperado, after the betrayal, accused Narita of lacking the courage of his convictions. (I could say a lot about the narrative parallels between a younger Despe and the current Ren, and how Despe is a wretched hypocrite, but that's a bit beyond what I hope to portray here.) I'm an unapologetic fanmoose, so I initially nodded along. But what were Narita's convictions? I can see a lot more of them now than I did before. And when I watched him walk out at Wrestle Kingdom, still wrapped up in that goddamn cloak, it hit me.

That doesn't look like a man who lacks the courage of his convictions.

I am eager to see what he does about it.

[imagine-a-sanctuary-like-this]

Thoughts on AUs in fanfiction and why they may fall flat

So the other day I was having a conversation with a friend of mine about fanfic on ao3 and shared some thoughts on a very good SteveTony AU I'd read recently on ao3. We talked a little about that, and I was surprised to discover that my friend didn’t enjoy AUs because he felt that they defeated the point of writing about those specific characters. For him, an alternate universe (not canon-divergence, I mean like a serious AU that changes the setting completely) is more like an original work thinly veiled with the names of characters from fandom. Out of their specific stories they become something else - i.e., they are no longer the characters they are claimed to be, but simply OCs.

As someone who loves all kinds of AUs and who regularly filters by the Alternate Universe tag on ao3, I found this idea interesting. It got me thinking about the kinds of AUs I find successful and those that I feel fall flat, and in the end I came to the conclusion that it’s absolutely possible to write an AU that is wildly different from canon but still tells a story about the same essential characters. Since I've been reading a lot of SteveTony recently, I use Tony's arc (the MCU one) as an example here quite a bit, but you don't really need to be in the fandom to understand the point of the post.

Before all that, though, a quick poll:

Okay, so with that done...

I’ve decided to post my simple musings here, where perhaps other people would like to contribute to the discussion. I know many people enjoy AUs like me, and I always like to hear their reasoning for things like this.

Character Essence

First I guess we have to think about what makes a character who they are, since this is what the whole issue seems to hinge on. I’d imagine if I were asked to loosely define a character, I would say that broadly speaking they are a person (not necessarily a human person) in a work of fiction. This is good enough in that it seems to capture what I think of as the concept of 'character', but it's not helpful in so far as it gives us nothing to really differentiate one character from another.

So maybe what distinguishes a character from others is their personality. But if this is the case, it certainly does not encompass the whole idea - otherwise we would have no real way of distinguishing between characters who are as people the same, but end up in different circumstances that force them to act differently (an example of this would what I call type-b parallels within a same story, where characters with the same essential personality are thrust into different circumstances, probably to highlight their differences or make a thematic point). Probably a bigger issue here is that characters personalities change, sometimes almost to the point of becoming unrecognizable, or at least significantly different as a matter of personality (Jaime Lannister in season 1 vs season 4 of Game of Thrones, Bucky Barnes compared between Captain America: The First Avenger and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Powder/Jinx or Jayce over S1 of Arcane to name a few examples). Still, we would generally consider someone whose arc includes a strong change ‘the same character’, even if they are not the same personality.

Obviously things like ‘character name’ or how they look don’t really seem to work on a fundamental level. I think a little closer to the mark is something like ‘the story the character goes through’, i.e., the events that happen to them or action they take over the course of canon. These define the arc, because you bounce the character off the events around them to form an image of how they change (or how they stay the same, in the case of flat arc. Basically imagine this as mapping their internal journey as a function throughout the story) or a deeper look into their psyche.

I think this is where me and my friend would diverge, because while I think characters’ specific stories and events are important, this view sort of misses why they are important.

Why tell stories?

The story is about something. I suppose the conventional term for this ‘about’ would be the ‘theme(s)’. The story - and therefore the character’s arc - has some essential components that align with the theme, or else act as a mode of its expression. What I’m saying is that in terms of narrative layers, the theme is probably the most fundamental. What comes on top of that - places, names, specific events - map onto the theme and all those core ideas underlying the narrative, usually in a way that follows ‘narrative beats’ (in that, moments in the story that are significant to the theme) that are usually not one-to-one specific to that situation. Often these involve exploring questions about human nature, psychology, morals, etc., which don’t in themselves require a specific context to be followed to a T.

By the way, I’m not saying it’s just this that differentiates a character, that would probably be too reductionist, but at least for me when I analyze a story, this is mostly what makes a character ‘who they are.’ Themes, beats.

Which is why I think AUs have great potential to be fully in-character and in line with ‘who the characters are’ in canon (if that is indeed the goal. To be honest though, I don’t always see the point of writing strong OOC on purpose because here you’re certainly not writing about the canon character anymore) while also adding fun new elements and worlds into the mix. This way you can change events dramatically, but as long as they have the same thematic relevance or fulfil the same beat in the story as in the original, it is hardly out of character at all.

Compatibility

Of course this works better for some universes than it does for others. Some thematic beats are simply too fine-tuned to the story - for example, I have trouble visualising a drastic AU of something like Better Call Saul that keeps up with even most of this stuff. ‘A drastic AU’ here would be something like removing the ‘lawyer’ element from the story completely. I mean, one of the other reasons you probably couldn’t do that is because ‘law’ is among the themes of BCS. Some themes necessarily imply certain content, so you can't really write about these characters without writing about the law somehow.

On the other hand, other arcs are very adaptable to this kind of AU-fication. An example that springs to my mind is the MCU (not 616!) Tony Stark’s arc. It’s fairly complex, but after some reflection - and drawing on a LOT of SteveTony AU fics done well - I've found the themes are very ‘universalizable’.

To illustrate, here are the main things Tony's story is about: sacrifice/selflessness, redemption, purpose (very big in Iron Man 1), moral choices like security vs freedom (Civil War), identity I guess (big in IM3), security taken on its own (obsession with extra-terrestrial threats after what he saw in the wormhole in Avengers 1 is the cause of PTSD in IM3, creation of Ultron in Age of Ultron and the whole thematic thing they did with Thanos in Infinity War), dealing with strong emotions (Civil War)…

So there’s a lot to draw from. And what I mean when I say this kind of arc is 'universalizable' is that a lot of these can be mapped onto other stories without losing much of this meaning. This is coincidentally why I believe AUs “before ‘modern science’ was a thing” still work for Tony, because nowhere in his arc is Tony necessarily a scientist. I see it more as a tool for these themes than a theme of its own. It seems there are many beautiful AUs out there where Tony is not a scientist/engineer, yet remains in character (though I guess if you consider it a necessary part of his character, he isn’t in-character, and my argument is circular. I don't think it is though. I might make a post about this sometime...).

Anyway. That's some stuff in favour of AUs from a the story structure standpoint. They can be non-OOC.

Now, of course, an AU is not bad if it isn’t in line with what the original story was about. Well, okay, firstly there’s probably gradations of how close you are in terms of loyalty to the shape of the original story. Some AUs are almost one-to-ones moved into a different setting, some are a little more vague but follow with the general idea and map onto the most important things in the original story. If your criterion for a 'good' AU is just characters staying in character (which in my view is a little... shallow) then I guess you have a way of differentiating between fics. Personally, I think a lot goes into a good AU, and being in-character or OOC is just one factor (though not a small one).

Interpretation

There's just one more thing to talk about, and that of course is the matter of interpretation.

Different people may interpret what a character's story is about very differently. This is a complicated question that tracks back to the nature of truths and all kinds of things that are beyond the scope of this post, so I'll only touch on this briefly. Coming back to the Tony Stark example (I swear I have others, but months of reading SteveTony are... showing). I have seen people claim that Tony's arc is essentially about him realizing that 'making weapons bad' and finding ways to right his wrong and become a better person. I don't think this is... entirely wrong. That does happen in the first Iron Man movie.

But the broader point is: the people who claim this and me have looked at the same material and drawn different conclusions. Is either of us mistaken?

I think the answer in this case is yes. The reason is evidence. There is a lot more evidence against the above statement than for it (this doesn't mean my vision of Tony's arc is accurate, mind you, only that this one is inaccurate) which I think resolves the question nicely.

Some people think that discussion about literature consist of nothing but opinions, and evidence is... irrelevant. I disagree. Value-statements are certainly opinions, but examining a character's arc is not entirely a value-statement, a lot of it is working with material. The material is the story, and a lot of it can be used as concrete evidence - events, things characters say or do, things they think even. These do form a picture, and while it's sometimes hard to find a single thing they point to, it's usually pretty easy to weed out things they definitely don't point to.

Now of course, I think some variation will exist without any statement being correct or incorrect, but most of the time for the fundamental ideas in stories there will be a bunch of clearly wrong interpretations, and very strong - true - evidence that shows why those interpretations are wrong.

Endnotes

Anyway, wrapping up, that’s my thoughts on AUs and why some of them may fall flat for people like my friend. I think for a guy like him, the reason he hasn’t read many good AUs is that he hasn’t read many in general, so there’s not a big sample to draw from. And then once you’ve made a judgement about a kind of fic, you don’t try it again, so you never really end up changing your mind even if there is a chance that it might be.

If any of y’all have thoughts on this (you like AUs/dislike AUs, maybe your ideas about what makes a good AU) I would love to read them. Drop a comment!

- S