#kinda sorta still uses that alias. Kinda sorta he doesn't

[devilsharm]

@wolfsmuses ASKS FOR A STARTER

Something about this stranger felt off. So much so that Nero has been sitting at his table just watching him for a GOOD THIRTY MINUTES by now. Fortuna hardly, if ever, had any visitors even at its peak of life as a city. Now that it's pretty much a shambling, hollow corpse of what it once was? The only visitors they get are families, both rich and poor, looking to adopt the orphans left by the destruction of the city. But this couldn't be it. This stranger doesn't look the familial type AT ALL. If anything he looks like---

...Fuck.

He looks like your everyday walking, talking, fucking BOUNTY HUNTER. Shit. What the hell would one be doing here?

There are a few more minutes where Nero just sits and watches the man before his curiosity gets the better of him. He rises from his chair but only so he can make his way and sit right next to the stranger in question. A man of subtlety, Nero never was. Well, he USED to be, but that's a time of his life he'd rather not remember.

" Fortuna doesn't usually get visitors, ESPECIALLY the kind lookin' for bounties. " Just like he lacks subtlety, he's also straight to the point. Nero looks at the man from the corner of one teal eye. " Here for someone OR JUST DECIDED TO COME SIGHTSEEIN'? "

[magicbeansprout]

I've been busy with schoolwork, so hadn't found the time to post these, but I found my stylus earlier this month! Only took me 6 months to find it 🙂. Here's some Ribbon and Diamond related stuff I drew a bit earlier in the month after finding it.

I ramble a lot here, so details on these characters are under the cut if you wanna hear me infodump about my characters and comic stuff.

First up are the fairies Bow and Tie, who help Ribbon and Diamond respectively. I'm really proud of the names, as goofy as they are. They match one another and each corelate to the respective magical girls they assist, as ribbons can be tied into bows, and neckties are diamond-shaped. Their colors and design specifics aren't set in stone, but they'll be made of fairly simple shapes so they can be drawn easily. Maybe I'll make them fully different colors from Ribbon and Diamond, with Tie being a yellow-green and Bow being lavender or another purple. Not sure though because I really like Bow with that shade of pink hair.

Next up, still on the topic of fairies, is this character whose outfit might seem familiar. (to those that have seen the singular drawing from 2? years ago of a character wearing this, this one's for you) I like how the character's personal colors look, but the colors on the outfit were kinda chosen randomly so I'll definitely be playing around with those some more. I've been wanting to rework the story of the witches, and the King is the one who's needed the most work. This is a possible concept I'm going to play around with. I don't think the proportions of the fullbody drawing will be the King's actual appearance as a fairy, looks kinda splatoon-esque lol, but since this outfit was intended for a human-sized character, I need to draw an awkward middle stage as I work to simplify the outfit for a smaller character, like a reversed Pokémon. I also think i'll be changing King's pronouns from she/her to he/him (or another combo with he/him). King still considers himself a gal gender identity-wise, but that's what he goes by and others call him. I know in Chinese and Japanese there are some masculine, pretentious? (not exactly pretentious but, like "I'm really cool/great"), personal pronouns or ways of referring to oneself. I'd think if you translated his dialogue into one of those languages or any languages that have something similar, he'd be using those in his speech. I only sorta know two languages besides English, but I definitely want to improve on them, since there are a lot of language specific jokes or gags you can play with in writing. (Plus, obviously just using the languages to talk to people lol) As you can see near the bottom, the King can also take on a human form, albeit with some slightly pointed ears. He's a lot stronger than fairies like Bow and Tie, and can maintain a human form for a very long time should he desire. I'm considering making there be different types/kinds of fairies who have different capabilities, i'll be playing around with those concepts some later. There's definitely a lot more to work with for the King. He doesn't have a proper name yet, yes even after 5 years, this is a normal pace for writing characters actually. Feel free to leave me any name suggestions for him. For reference, the other witches are:

Jo (Josephine) - the Joker. Her suit is clover (clubs, whatever) ♣️

- Her name starts with similar sounds to her witch alias, simple as.

Paige - the Jack. Her suit is hearts, which she shares with her sister. 🖤🤍 <- her hearts are drawn as half and half, kinda like a broken heart. She's the youngest of the witches and is still going through her emo phase.

- her name comes from an alternate name for the Jack in (i believe) some tarot decks, the Page.

Valentine - the Queen. Her suit is hearts, which she shares with her sister. ❤️

- Valentine, hearts, you get it.

[ijustreallylikecaptainamericaok]

So... about that What If...? 1602 episode...

Three Absolute Improvements on the Comic:

Wanda gets to actually do some important stuff unlike the comic where she kinda sorta broke the fourth wall once and saw... something? I don't know. Weird just how little she got to do there, especially given how Magneto and Pietro got a bunch of screen time and were able to push stuff along. Anyway, Wanda Merlin is awesome and I wish we'd gotten even more of her.

Theatre kid!Loki and his gushing about Iago. It's all so fitting and tickles me.

It was fully Steve's choice to go back to his own time. In the comic Fury knocks him out and carries him over the rift, which does make sense in context. However, I'm still not overly fond of it, so I'm glad they changed it and let him be the big, self-sacrificing jerk (affectionate) that he is.

The Biggest Change That Irks Me:

The reason they call Steve the Forerunner. In the comic, his presence in 1602 doesn't just bring about the tears in the universe, it also causes people to develop superhuman abilities therefore starting the Age of Heroes four hundred years early. That latter part is what makes him the Forerunner. Because his role as the First Avenger is apparently so set in stone that no matter where or when he goes, heroes will follow in his wake.

But of course, since they're using this adaptation as a vehicle for Captain Carter, they can't go into all of that, because that would completely undermine her. So instead, he's the Forerunner because he hit the Time Stone during the Battle of Wakanda and somehow unknowingly dragged everyone else back in time with him? Doesn't really make sense given the combo of people in the episode, but sure, I guess. >_> I don't know which is worse, that or the fact that I initially thought they called him the Forerunner simply because that's what he's referred to as in the comic and no further justification. Either way, they still took a story that shows what a linchpin Steve is within the universe and said, "Nah," which is super annoying.

The Most Petty Thing That Still Bothers Me (And Probably Only Me):

I totally get why they wouldn't want to touch Rojhaz with a ten foot pole and gave Steve a different alias and Rogers Hood is cute and all, but I'm sorry, man, if anyone in the MCU should've been the Robin Hood analogue, it should've been Scott. I will die on that hill.

No pun intended.

[chxna-cheeseycake]

So like at 12 years old I used to be a major and I mean MAJOR Zane fangirl. Zane Ro'Meave was my everything as a kid frfr like I would deadass defend his every action when I was 12. Like even in his MCD form you best bet that 12 year old me was using their every waking breath to stand up for Zane. I would see someone make a valid point about Zane being a dickhole for killing Jeffory and I guarantee you my 12 year old self would still try to find a way to defend Zane. That's just how much I was fucking in love with him bro. This man's straight up shaped my whole personality as a kid because his existence is why my main persona/online alias is Zana. Deadass before I gave her a heavy revamp, my persona was straight up just a female version of Zane 💀 And I always find it kind of funny because I created her long before we got canon genderbents so like... Jess you copying me gurl??/j Anyways, I was such a Zane fangirl that I even cut my bangs at 12 to try to look similar to him. I had wannabe emo bangs in 6th grade because of this fucker. He ruined my life I tell you. I never technically got rid of them either, I just let them grow to be the same length as the rest of my hair. No one in the present day will ever know about it but I will always remember. It's a memory of my middle school days that will never leave me.

And then there's the dramatic irony that after rewatching MCD and Mystreet now, Zane is no longer my number one fave anymore. It's fucking Dante now. Of course I will always love Zane, that bastard clearly holds a special place in my heart. But ultimately, Dante did in fact steal Zane's place as my number one favorite Aphverse character. He pushed Zane off the goddamn podium and snatched up the first place medal for himself. And I have no problem with that. But I just know my 12 year old self would be in pure shock if they saw that I ditched Zane for Dante lmao. Yet at the same time, I can't help but look at this in a poetic sense.

As a child I know I had such an attachment to Zane because I related a lot to him with being that person that was kinda seen as weird because I was quiet and wasn't a social person. I also had a few friends like Zane but just like him, I met some of them through a single friend that interacted with me first cuz I was far too socially awkward to speak to literally anyone. But now that I'm older, I don't really relate to Zane anymore. I'm not a full on social butterfly but back when I was 12, I couldn't even talk to people my own age that weren't friends because of my shyness and socially awkward personality. But now I'm not like that anymore. I would still say I'm a quiet person ofc but nowadays I don't freeze up and immediately get awkward when people I don't really know try talking to me. Sometimes it can still happen but I just don't really do that anymore. I don't think I actively made this choice though it just sorta happened. Growing up will just do that to you I guess lmao. And that's probably why I don't relate to Zane as much anymore and have now gravitated towards Dante. I grew up and now I find myself being more attached and sorta relating to Dante way more now than Zane. Zane's still cool to me but he's just not my fave anymore because I'm not the same person I was when I was 12.

That got way more deep than I was actually expecting lol. But I still stand by my point regardless. Zane was a huge comfort to 12 year old me but not anymore. I still love his character but he just doesn't bring me that same comfort like he did when I was 12 because I don't need that type of comfort anymore. Dante however is my new comfort character probably because I relate to him more now than I did as a kid. I barely paid attention to Dante when I was 12 but look at me now. He's all I ever seem to post about on this blog lmao. Honestly, seeing myself go from having Zane as comfort character in the past to now having Dante as my comfort character kinda brings me a peace of mind because I think it truly represents all the healing I've done over these past years. Even if it is a little silly to think about it in a deep and poetic fashion like this but I don't really care, thinking about this topic just brings me this sort of warmness I don't really know how to explain. I feel like maybe some people will understand what I'm trying to get it. Hopefully. Anyways, hope y'all enjoy my stupid thoughts and rambling because honestly I don't even know what I'm typing anymore skssjkdsdjknon

[buttons-beads-lace]

For a minute I thought that I never actually wrote about why I hated the ending so much, but I found it. I didn't really properly explain, though, so let me add some more context. Here is the blurb:

Set in a near-future world where the British Empire was preserved, not by the cost of blood and theft but by effort of repatriation and promises kept, That Inevitable Victorian Thing is a novel of love, duty, and the small moments that can change people and the world.

Victoria-Margaret is the crown princess of the empire, a direct descendant of Victoria I, the queen who changed the course of history two centuries earlier. The imperial practice of genetically arranged matchmaking will soon guide Margaret into a politically advantageous marriage like her mother before her, but before she does her duty, she'll have one summer incognito in a far corner of empire. In Toronto, she meets Helena Marcus, daughter of one of the empire's greatest placement geneticists, and August Callaghan, the heir apparent to a powerful shipping firm currently besieged by American pirates. In a summer of high-society debutante balls, politically charged tea parties, and romantic country dances, Margaret, Helena, and August discover they share an unusual bond and maybe a one in a million chance to have what they want and to change the world in the process —just like the first Queen Victoria.

And here are spoilers:

So, fast facts about these characters:

Crown Princess Margaret has recently realized that she is a lesbian and the idea of having to court and marry a man is really not sitting well with her, even though she wants to continue her family's legacy and all that good stuff.

Helena has just found out that she is intersex. She is AFAB and has lived her life as a woman but she finds out she has XY chromosomes. When she gets her Official Government Dating App account, which is a thing that exists, on impulse she decides to set up her profile to say she's a man, which she can do because her genetic test says XY. Helena meets Margaret in person as herself, but they also chat online through this alias. They fall in love.

Helena and August are childhood friends, very close, and Helena has always sorta assumed they will get married. They care about each other deeply and would probably get along great, but it's not a passionate romantic crush like her feelings for Margaret.

August is a nice boy whose big secret is that an organized crime gang is extorting money from him by threatening to intercept his family business' ships and kill the crews. These are people that he knows and whose safety he feels responsible for. He pays up instead of going to the police because he's afraid for their lives, and we're meant to believe that this is a serious sin on his part, but anyway.

I have to admit that when I read that blurb, I was expecting a polyam relationship. That does not happen.

You might think instead Helena and Margaret will get married. Maybe rules will be rules-lawyered on account of Helena's Official Gender being kind of up in the air. Maybe Margaret will just flat-out say she's a lesbian and force people to accept it. This also does not happen.

The denouement of this kinda-sorta-love-triangle is that None of them get to be together! Margaret still has to marry a Suitable Man and have children; she's told that she maybe might be allowed to use IVF to conceive instead of having sex that disgusts her if they keep it secret from the public. Maybe.

Helena gets to be Margaret's lady in waiting or the modern equivalent, so it's not like they never see each other again, but my personal onion is that a secret shameful relationship you have to lie about constantly is maybe worse than just breaking up? Not what I would call a happily ever after. Maybe I'm biased.

August retires from society in disgrace over the being-a-victim-of-extortion which doesn't make a ton of sense to me but it's the least weird thing here so whatever.

I am absolutely at a loss as to what the person who wrote that blurb thought that bolded sentence was referring to. Unless the point is that it's a one in a million chance and those are bad odds and they fail. None of them get what they want and they do not change anything. The best outcome a lesbian princess can get in Alternate History 2050 is exactly the same as the best you could imagine happening in Real History 1850. I hate that so fucking much. How is the world being changed here? What is progressive that is happening? Nothing.

I read this book in *checks notes* 2019 and I'm still angry. I have to go to bed now or I would still be yelling about how fucking sick it makes me that anyone could even suggest "be her lady in waiting while she marries a man" is a positive outcome.

Someone I follow is liveblogging another Weird Royal Romance Novel & it's reminding me of how much I hated That Inevitable Victorian Thing. And unfortunately I am still mad about it. I have never been more bitterly lied to by a blurb.