#like i have a specific ship that's the bane of my existence

[sampoenjoyer]

i think sometimes being a hater in a healthy isolated manner is underrated. LIKE THE IDEA YOU JUST WONT EVER FEEL ANGRY/HATE SMTH EVER IS DUMB TO ME, you can be a hater, rant to your friends or on an isolated tumblr or whatever the fuck, I THINK THE ISSUE WITH BEING A HATER IS MORE WHEN YOU PROJECT IT TO EVERYONE AROUND YOU/PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABT IT. LIKE IT'S ONE THING TO MAKE AN ISOLATED POST JUST GENERALLY TALKING ABOUT IT AND WHY YOU DISLIKE/HATE WHATEVER INANE THING IT IS (TALKING ABT FANDOM TO BE CLEAR) IT'S ANOTHER TO SEEK OUT AND COMMENT ON THE THING YOU HATE YKNOW? One is fine and normal the other is a dick move tbh.

[felassan]

Some snippets from DA dev Luke Barrett on the unofficial BioWare forum, cut for length:

DA:I -

User: "I am still convinced that Bioware cut the healing spells and went with barriers instead because of the Multiplayer." Luke Barrett: I can't speak to any other games directly but I can give a bit of historic context for DAI. The game was initially a more dungeon/linear delving - see how far you can get - experience and there was no barrier of any kind. As a side note: healing has always been a hot topic in design because as soon as you include it there are many other conceits you now need take into consideration for the gameplay - one of which I will call 'the Anders problem'. Anyway, as DAI got the date moved and shifted more into the pseudo-openworld the concept of attrition (see how far you can get before having to return to camp) became less relevant and we needed to help the Players have more moment-to-moment agency around their survival. Unfortunately for various reasons (one of which is the sad reality of designing a game with a shifting timeline) the healing couldn't be re-added so we ended up with more of a mitigation strategy in the barrier system. It went through a lot of iterations but eventually landed on what it shipped with which I would call... acceptable (but just barely). Now, I will concede that a part of the reason it didn't return after that shift was an aversion to holy trinity gameplay specifically for MP but it wasn't the core reason. As a side story, trying to balance the game (as that was my job on DAI - and yes, it could be much better haha) we had to all but force Players to take barrier. It is intentionally the first skill in the first tree for the Mage and all the autolevel (I also handled that) is designed to get it right away." [source]

User: "Merry Christmas Luke! Sooo what was the hardest class you had to balance? [DA:I]" Luke Barrett: "I feel like anyone who was around for the post-launch content will already know the answer to this as it was the bane of my existence when I got put exclusively on MP after launch but the Knight-Enchanter barrier absorbing was a pain. Stuff like that is very challenging to feel good without being broken as they are relative to damage so scaling is fairly open-ended. Too little and the casual players won't get use out of it, too much and the character builders will be wildly OP. We actually had a 'no nerfing' guideline for the SP side so it was a hard battle to fix that silly thing 🙃." [source]

"As a fun fact, I did all the logic for autolevel on DAI and the guideline I was given was literally "make functional builds, but don't make something optimal that you'd play"." [source]

DA:TV -

User: "If you can, say thanks to the people making the no die option possible." Luke Barrett: "Done! My team handles this stuff so I let them know 😊" [source]

"Comically, I designed the majority of the items and skills and I am still finding it fun making awesome builds (been almost entirely doing playthroughs lately" [source]

"Was really important to the team that everyone could play the way that felt best to them." [source]

"Each specialization has a focus around a few specific mechanics, some of which are the weapons or damage types but you can go off script and make it work for sure (this was intentional in the designs)." [source]

"I designed all the skills and so they're each enjoyable to me to some extent. I have been playing through the game over and over the last couple months for balance purposes so I've played them all fairly extensively." [source]

User: "Necrotic sounds like it could be either Spirit or Nature." User: "For Rogue, it replace "poison". For Mage, it replace spirit (Spirit bomb). For Warrior, it's more spirit (especially Reaper), but some skills could work as poison too. So basically they merged spirit and nature." Luke Barrett: "Thats pretty close to spot on. They were actually heavily iterated on throughout development - I can't (at least currently) go into specifics as to why though." [source]

"the target for the progression vision is that you can make a viable build out of almost** any aspect of the gameplay." [source]

"As for timelines, We started DA4 in October of 2015 roughly. The entire team was moved to MEA for about 3-4 months to help it ship and I also spent all of 3 weeks helping out on Anthem. But otherwise I've been on some incarnation of DA4 for about 9 years now - pretty ready for it to release 😅." [source]

"yes, years of working on the same thing can cause some burnout but I've played through the full game probably about 8 times in the last few months and it's still fun (though some of the specific levels that haven't changed in a long time I've done 50+ times easily and I could do without ever seeing them again 😂)." [source]

User: "I do kind of feel that at this point the DA team has put so much work into creating and improving their tools and learning the ins and outs of Frostbite [...] But who knows what the devs in the trenches really feel" Luke Barrett: "I will say it does some things very well and some things poorly, relative to other engines. Personally I really enjoy Frostbite but I've been using it since 2012. In an ideal world, many engines would be viable and developers would make games suited to the strengths of a specific engine." [source]

User: "Since this game is much more stat heavy than prior titles, specifically when it comes to skills and gear, there's likely a need for some balance changes to be made post-launch. Does the game being playable completely offline hinder the data capture side for your team (in terms of analytics), or is this a non-factor?" Luke Barrett: "Generally speaking, most people leave data analytics on so we get more than enough data coming in. Additionally, I'll personally be watching several channels for things that are underperforming (relatively speaking) and not have to nerf anything. The rpg side is vast though and I'm sure people will find OP combinations/synergies that might need 'adjustments' but as long as it's fun and not an "I win" button that trivializes combat I'm pretty cool with it." [source]

Luke Barrett: "I can safely say there are many builds for each class that will feel very powerful if you're not on the highest difficulty 😉. What I'm really excited for is when the guides comes out that show people the fastest way to get some of the uniques that unlock 'special' gameplay 😊. Let's just say I love the feeling of rushing to Patches in DS1 and kicking him off the bridge for the Crescent Axe (iykyk)." [source] User: "Speaking of guides. Will there be a guidebook like there was for DAI? " Luke Barrett: "Not that I'm aware of but I'm happy to help feed info to somewhere like fextralife or the dragon age wiki after a week or so to help with those pursuits. Have to leave some time for exploration and discovery before the optimizers streamline the experience 😉" [source]

"Effectively, at least until the game launches (and likely a week or so after), you won't get anything interesting out of any of the devs save Mike Gamble or John Epler. Longer term I hope to be very active, at least for build mechanics and all the combat/rpg nuts and bolts conversations." [source]

"I started "da4" in October 2015 and so after 9 years of effort (minus 3 months on Andromeda) I'm quite excited for tomorrow and the launch week. I don't know if I'd say nervous, I feel pretty confident in the product, but definitely that eager kid before Christmas feeling 😊" [source]

"As the person who did all the balance, I will say that if you are comprehending how to make a cohesive build and understand the combat mechanics, you should play on Underdog. One of the downsides to having a lot of power growth vectors is the difference between people who engage vs those that don't becomes a chasm quite quickly. If you start blowing enemies up rapidly, turn up the difficulty (or play on nightmare where that will not be the case) - basically if it ever feels super easy or like enemies are health sponges you're probably on the wrong setting for your skill level. The custom difficulty settings are there to make the gameplay enjoyable (for whatever that means to you)." [source]

"As a tip from me, the balance is subtly tipped in the players favor until the last fight of the 3rd combat mission. Be warned if it's feeling too easy you may want to wait until after that to decide." [source]

[on DA MP] Luke Barrett: "It was actually pretty fun but very much not what most people wanted us to make (including internally). Also we had, let's say, limited staff who had a passion and background in MP so it was definitely the right call to go SP only. Now, it would have been nice had we just started that way but so it goes sometimes." [source] User: "You still play it yourself from time to time (DA MP), or have you left it be?" Luke Barrett: "After playing variations of DA4 for so many years (9!!!) it's hard to go back to anything with DAI controls/gameplay speed. Even the initial Joplin prototypes I was doing were much more snappy/twitchy - for everything good about DAI the combat was definitely in the middle of two different styles." [source]

[on aiming bows] "we actually used to have separate buttons for ADS and ranged attack but it was wildly overloading the controller. These RPG games need controllers with at least 2 more buttons (fingers crossed for the next gen)" [source]

User: "After the last few games, I'm really surprised by the current skill... tree?" Luke Barrett: "I call it a skill graph - aside from the beginning where you have 3 choices the entirety of it is 2 choice splits and it'll essentially make a build for you. Just go a little at a time and aim for whatever specialization seems most fun to you 😄" [source]

"Loot is not random so theoretically guides with drop locations should appear pretty soon." [source]

"Yep, Spellblade is the only spec that directly impacts fire damage but you can get benefits from most of them and still go fire. As for the specs, yes it would have been nice to support all of them but just wasn't in scope unfortunately. Mage has Mourn-Watch, Shadow Dragons, and Antivan Crows specializations - only the Rogue has a Veiljumper one. Deathcaller left side you can go beam based and use a Fire weapon. Evoker you'd likely need to do a hybrid ice/fire build." [source]

User: "Bit of a side question, but for those who intend to make more characters, is BioWare considering upping the amount of playable character slots you can have (currently at 3)? Or is there a hardware restriction here given the game is offline playable?" Luke Barrett: "Don't quote me as I don't handle the technical side of this but my understanding is we have to allocate a specific amount of HD space on the consoles so we basically have to pick a limit, relative to our save file sizes, and then divide that by number of careers. I'll inquire if this is something we can increase with an optional download or something but I suspect consoles are stuck that way, unfortunately." [source]

[on Patch 1] "It's been awhile since I actually did the content for this patch so I'd have to check but I have a pretty anti-nerf policy for SP games. I know I fixed up a couple enemies that weren't as hard as they were supposed to be and definitely boosted a bunch of synergistic things though. I'll take a look tomorrow but for those that don't know, the turnaround time on these things is about a month of it's not an emergency due to certification process with consoles. Longer term my goal is to keep an eye in telemetry of any underused abilities and items (or enemies with too many kills under their belt) and audit them just to double check if they need a boost or if people just haven't figured them out yet 😉." [source]

"The equippable items are all predetermined with a minor exception*. Some items are class specific (all the weapons, a small amount of armors and accessories, 2 runes) so when you play a different class you'll see your classes 'version' of that item. Things that are random (from a table/pool) are valuables. Exception: Near the very end of the game we do a few checks on what equipment you haven't acquired. A bunch of those final drops, and inventory on the final merchant, simply find stuff you don't have and give it to you. That's basically the only major RNG we have with loot. If you notice even 99% of the skills and item mods employ an effect after a condition is met X times rather than a more traditional 'proc chance'." [source]

[on modding] "Once this starts to pick up, feel free to PM me if anyone needs help 'finding' assets or has questions about how one might mod something. We don't officially support mods buuuuut we don't have any kind of anti-modding stance either" [source]

"To give the high level gist of the resource economy: - each class starts off with minimal ability usage, this is intentional to force people to learn the other combat mechanics as they're a necessary skill and it's easy to lean on a crutch like ability spam and kiting - abilities are designed to feel powerful on use, thus they all have a decent cost and can't be spammed* - weapon attacks generate your resource - in the bottom right of the center skills area is a node to make each class's resource easier to manage - halfway down all starting segments (N, SW, SE) there is always a node that boosts generation - there are +max nodes on all sides of the skill graph for each class, this is particularly important for the Mage as they start each fight at max - each class can build into being ability focused but starts intentionally rounded - loastly, the first ability is always a resource spender and 1 or 2 of the next available ones will be cooldown gated. It is recommended to have at least one cooldown based ability slotted" [source]

"So loosely the rogue momentum works like this: - each ability costs 50 momentum - hitting enemies generates ~2 momentum per hit (base), you get extra for bow weakpoints - when you are directly hit, you lose 15% of your current momentum, this means the more you hold the more you will lose (this loss has a small cooldown so you don't lose a whole bar when you get hit rapidly) - momentum carries forward between combats (compared to warrior rage which decays when out of combat) If youre having issues, make sure you get that skill in the middle section that reduces momentum loss when hit. As a helpful tip, the Quicken buff generates small amounts of momentum each second so it's a good way to get more if you're having issues." [source]

"I highly recommend using the belt that grants Quicken early game until you can generate momentum faster yourself. And yes, the time dilation affects everything in the world except the Player so all your buffs and things still tick at normal speed" [source]

User: "If I knock an enemy off an edge, if they were supposed to drop something will it appear on the edge, or is it lost for good?" Luke Barrett: "It should appear on the ledge. I will say the 'real' loot from enemy drops are all hand placed. The actual random stuff is just valuables and materials." [source]

" The way it actually works is very complicated with a lot of necessary exceptions but loosely - each ability has a base damage and ones that hit multiple times have an offset multiplier. - That value is multiplied by the sum of all your stat bonuses, conditional bonuses, resist and layer modifiers. - We then subtract enemy defense and multiply by 1-resist (with penetration being calculated here). - this new damage then gets multiplied by 1+crit+weakpointpoint (so those bonuses always feel meaty) and then multiplied by a random number between .95 and 1.05 just to give a little range to the floaties (basically just a presentation thing) - we then multiply again for buffs and debuffs so they, again, always feel meaningful - lastly, we take all added damage and add it flat on top" [source]

"Specific enhancements make enemies immune to the matching affliction. For example, Fire Enchanted enemies are immune to burning. Juggernaut enemies are immune to being staggered but otherwise it should work in everything." [source]

[kavehater]

I’ll find her easy peasy I’m sure but that fucking sucks??? She freaking forgot me the whole time, ignored me for AGES. I am here thinking about her every day all the time. And she disappears and she STILL hadn’t replied to my ask. Who cares about the ask she just completely ignored my existence. wtf. Listen ik you’re busy. But we all are or I was until I got my holiday. Yet I would still make time for you. Just like how you clearly make time for your mutuals. Just like you clearly comforted a girl out of her suicidal ideation. (<- pls I get that’s srs but u don’t get how suicidal she made ME. I alr have problems and her vanishing made them flare up SO MUCH. I don’t think a single person has triggered this level of suicidalness in me tbh) Oh but you completely forgot about me all together. 😐🖕<- literally all I gotta say to patheticism of that sort. You’re a horrible person. It’s so humorous to to hear people suggest that you’re so soft etc 24/7 you’re not. A soft person wouldn’t have done that and believe ME I have exhausted every EXCUSE I could think of that oh! Maybe you didn’t see it. But I reblogged it sm times … yet you see people’s posts easily you send people asks even if they’re not your main friends. I even posted getting alhaitham which is your whole deal btw and you didn’t even say anything you didn’t even like the post. Istg. I hope you get your karma because you’re just cruel.

She deleted her account ???

[attyrocious]

cross posting yesterday's rambling thread for posterity and because tumblr lets me edit things. anyway this is a sorta long thing and i might add things i forgot to mention in the twt thread

i tend to draw on-model canon because im a coward + just personal preferences. but the way i convert the canon designs into my artstyle is that i take the distinct features oda gives them and then combine it with personal headcanons to complete what should look like a unique human. Starting with Trafalgar Law, who is unfortunately a bland-ass conventionally pretty boy

someone commented a while ago the law hat drawing tutorial i made a while ago didn't make much sense and i realize its bc of the specific way i draw law's face: heart shaped (ba-dum-tss). That meaning, a narrow chin widening into a mild defined jaw, wide cheekbones, and up to his know-it-all brain dome.

given that, the pudgy guitar pick shape of his head i mentioned here should make a lot more sense.

i don't think this design point is unique to me, as most conventional pretty anime boy gets given jaws like this. a lot of law artists tend to veer into this head shape. just how life be sometimes. other points: flat, thick eyebrows is bc im a hairy gal and i need to feel better about myself.

Killer gets to be more interesting, because he shouldn't be considered conventionally attractive. my idea behind killer's is that those individual features is smth he would be insecure with enough to hide himself in a helmet but i draw him with all the love in the world actually. i'd like to think its how kid sees him or yknow, law, bc he's my kin assigned blorbo and maybe you ship lawkill as a guilty pleasure too i mentioned before (and ruined people's days) when i said whenever i draw killer he looks like griffith before i put on his goatee. the upper half of his face is distinctly feminine, with the lower half kinda over compensating. other than that uhh...idk. stan killer

Kidd is the bane of my existence, i feel like i can never draw his face consistently. yet at the same time he's so damn fun to draw everyone gotta try it.

my problem with kidd is that this mf does have eyelids. most kidd painters out there interpret this as him having deep set eyes (think Matt Smith or jeffrey star) . and yeh skill issue on me i should practice that. other notes, i try to make him younger than canon makes him look. he is my babygirl and he deserves to look cuddly. my band au kidd version has the honor of being allowed some chubs. he's just tries to look older and more menacing with edgy makeup. also i try to give him dimples when i can because, well i can.

Rosinante last bc i lost steam after kidd. the thing abt cora is that aside from not having eyebrows, everything is structured with the generic one piece man template. which means i gotta do everything myself doffy is there bc the way to figure out how to draw these two is to give them minor differences from each other, that being doffy gets slightly sharper features. in canon, these two are also rly wide boys (more of an oda style feat tbh) but i make them long. though bigger brained donquixote artists know that of these two brothers, doffy should be the wiry-er built. anyway that's it. in conclusion, i need to draw more girls actually i feel like im becoming misogynistic by osmosis from oda's style and now i draw girls all looking the same too.

[placeholdercornerworks]

In a fit of inspiration at @searivermountain 's , @idanit 's and @a-case-of-the-ace 's AU posts about Jeeves and Wooster living in their respective countries, here are my two (albeit rough and unpolished two cents) about Jeeves and Wooster if they were living in the Kindgom of Italy.

I'm rewinding the actual OG setting by a decade or so as such, we're talking of the turn of the century here, 1898-1912.

First, a few setting points:

• I imagined them living in Turin, initially this was because it tied well with other plot points (Such as chuffy owning his seaside vacation houses(?) on the coast of Liguria and still being able to put Rocky "abroad" in France). Historically you could explain it by saying his parents moved there shortly after the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 because they saw it as a reason of prestige, perhaps some aunts followed suit, so on so forth.

• To elaborate on Rocky, the equivalent of them going to America in S3 of the show would be Bertie residing in Monaco and Jeeves doesn't get sent to scout New York for Rocky's aunt, but rather Montecarlo.

• To move back to Turin, while gents clubs similar to the drones did exist in Italy at the time, it would have been much likely for them to meet at a cafe since many known groups in Italy organized in such way (e.g Varied well known turn-of-century writers often ruinited at the Giubbe Rosse in Rome and the "Macchiaioli" artists often reunited at the Caffè Michelangelo in Florence)

• The Ganymede however would have operated in a way closer to that of gents club.

• Bertie, such as his standing commands, is gonna get promptly shipped to study law at the University of Turin cause I swear it's lowkey a recurrent fact with many of the wealthier authors I studied, it was "the thing" much.

Now, before I get onto miscellaneous trivia and ramblings and such, my two thoughts on their alternative names.

• The direct italianization of Reginald is Rinaldo, which I'd be keen on keeping (alternatively Raimondo has practically the same etymology and derivation), for surname, upon learning that Jeeves derives from Genevieve, which was the patron of Paris, I've decided to give him the surname Parisi, for the sake of the assonance.

• For Bertie on the other hand, the direct italianization of Betram is fucking Beltramo and I am in fact not keeping that so to remain on something similar sounding, he's Bernando now cause calling his Alberto keep the Bertie bit feels weird. As for surname, I'm similarly going of assonance, but with his original surname and as such I'm calling him Vistarini.

And now, miscellaneous trivia, lo and behold!

• Newts, or more specifically, a specie of newts known as the Italian Crested Newt, is more of a thing in central to southern Italy, so Gussy hereby has a thing for eels here in Italy, which were more common in bodies of water in the North.

• Bertie being interested in aviation!!! It was very much the next new thing so he'd often muse to Jeeves about his curiousity towards the inner workings of this jolly contraptions, tried to operate a plane once, crashes it in 50m, but if you were to ask Jeeves he'll succesfully find the right guy with the right plane to give him a ride to give Bertie aerial photos of the city he's much excited about.

• Jeeves seemingly knows every literature known to man and he's ready to counter-prove or counter-quote a statement with an appropriate literary quote. This is more instinctive musing but I feel like Bertie would often make paragons to the plays of Alfieri and Goldoni, or alternatively, Latin stuff and he'd surely have studied it majorly in uni.

• Additionally I think it would be highly funny to have Jeeves and Bertie discuss Parini, il giorno specifically.

• God blast d'Annunzio also cause Tuppy would 100% be keen on comparing is love-unfilled existence to the banes of a d'Annunzio protag, he thinks himself the next embodiment of Andrea Sperelli and Bertie is just "Heh, silly Tuppy"

• This applies generally but lots of theatre going involved, they have stayed over in Milan before to catch premieres at The Scala and one of this baboons surely said they were gonna find themselves a girl like Eleonora Duse

• The cast of the drones routinely gets dragged in honor fencing duels over this or that offence or this or that woman and Bertie is frequently dragged in under the excuse "Oh, come on, the other party has never seen me before, you can go in my stead!", he miserably fucking fails and on the other hand this is another venture in which jeeves excels

[pleucas]

good evening. it is me again, skk hater - no air quotes because i am completely genuine in my hatred. this will be a long one.

i shall first begin with a thanks. i do write pretty often, and my ego has been sufficiently stroked. i suppose even the most despicable people have taste - at least in matters besides ships.

you have asked for my reasoning behind my vehement hatred of skk, and i think it's time for me to provide.

i'm going to be completely truthful - it's all Akutagawa's fault. i love him and his stupid victorian child fashion and british accent and dumb haircut deeply. so, naturally dazai is the bane of my existence.

now, even though i hated dazai more each time Akutagawa appeared, i actually didn't mind SKK for some time. i didn't get it cause Chuuya rarely actually shows up in the manga, which i read straight through without detouring for any of the light novels, but i was fine with it. they're fruity in most all their interactions, i shall never deny that because it's clearer than glass and i'm not that delusional, but i didn't see much substance beyond that.

then i read the novels and slowly came to the conclusion that i actually hate dazai even when Akutagawa isn't in the picture. and when i say HATE i mean HATE. he is the pebble lodged in my shoe, the lego on my cousin's floor, the table leg i stub my toe on, and so forth.

Chuuya, on the other hand, i love. he's great. amazing. stormbringer? peak. so, OBVIOUSLY, he could do much better than dazai. soooo much better. i mean, look at him

every time dazai and Chuuya have their objectively gay moments with each other, i feel like im watching my friend crawl back to their toxic ex.

that's how i feel with most dazai ships, and this is because dazai is always a smug prick towards the person he's being shipped with, and because i love Akutagawa i am not amused by this in the slightest. feels like he's rubbing salt in the wound. i actually like dazai more as a character when he's on the back foot. a (nonromantic) example would be him in The Day I Picked Up Dazai (A Side). dazai and Oda's dynamic is probably the best one dazai has in my eyes - though i don't ship them in the slightest. additionally, i think i, if only for a moment, actually liked dazai when he got ""killed"" in that one chapter. because it was a loss for him. in that moment, he (well, at least we're led to believe) got what he had wished for so often during the series, though it was not on his own terms. therefore, it felt almost like poetic tragedy - i thought it would have been a fitting end for him, and if it truly had been, i might like him now. this, as you know, was not the case.

furthermore, dazai is a fruitcake with or without Chuuya. it's not specific towards him, so i don't think anything real can be drawn from the vaguely homoerotic behaviour. i mean, dazai ballroomed danced with Sigma five minutes after meeting him. man just likes men, i don't know what to say

in conclusion, i feel like their relationship is unbalanced. dazai is never really shown to be all too worked up by Chuuya, even when he seems to be on the losing end of their bickering, but Chuuya is constantly harassed. while it's admittably funny, i don't like it in a romantic sense, nor do i see it in anyway that's different from Kunikida or Sigma.

that's about everything i can say without going on an unorganized tangent. i could bring up more specific issues i have that stem from Stormbringer and the Fifteen novel, but i have actual things ive been putting off writing - there's a whole book being sidelined by SKK right now. this has been a good way of procrastinating, but it must come to an end eventually

as for titles, you can call me Rimu. like the tree,

so, with an abundance of hate, Rimu <3

(ps: you might noticed that dazai's name is not capitalized at all in this ask. this is because he does not deserve that level of respect.)

holy hell Rimu. Hello, formally I guess — I will follow in your footsteps and leave dazai's name uncapitalized, because that was very funny

i've been putting off responding to this for a while but please believe that i have been thinking about it and periodically re-reading it. it's one of the most entertaining asks i've received LOL

to actually respond without completely proving your point of skkers procuring essays (though i'm sure you realize the irony upon review of your own accolade), i'll keep it brief. you had me in the first half, ngl, cuz i'm pretty sure 89% of us [skkers] agree, on a generalized scale, that dazai is the worst and Chuuya deserves everything and more (and better). he's the type of character that i enjoy as pure fiction, bc i know that if i knew him in person i'd hate him. same goes for my opinions on irl dazai — so asagiri did a (rare) justice for his authors there ig

abt everything else tho (imbalance, not being as affected by chuuya, similarity to other ships, and lack of intrigue)... i had a lot of responses prepared but really all of it can be summed up here as this:

like ngl man. LOL. i do blame the anime and its horrendous adaptation of dazai's character and skk's interactions, but that's another can of worms... that i have... opinons... about.

thank you for sharing your thoughts Rimu, i enjoyed reading through it a lot. keep it going!

with a mutual abundance of hate, Cas <3 <3 <3

[projectjasper]

What are your thoughts about the fandom believing that Ray doesn’t “deserve” Sand and that Ray thinks of Sand as someone he can purchase and then own. I don’t quite agree with that interpretation of things and would love to hear your thoughts.

listen, i could sit here all day talking about how most of sandray problems occured due to communication issues on both sides and the unique insecurities both sand and ray have all day. i could also talk about how sand is not the saint uwu baby that some people seem to think he is and - as someone whose favourite ofts character is sand - his woobification is truly the bane of my existence. however, i will not be talking about any of that in detail, because it kind of doesn't make sense to mention while answering your particular ask, considering the fact that i simply fundamentally do not believe that love is something you deserve.

there is no special formula that makes someone deserving of being loved by another person, nor is there any comparison list on just how many times each person can fuck up before one of them stops deserving the love of the other. that's just bullshit. two things are true: 1) sand loves ray and 2) that love is in no way intrinsically damaging or bad for sand (yes, there have been times when he was hurt, but that was, for example, due to lack of communication in episode 5 or ray jumping to conclusions in episode 10, which he apologised for - esentially, none of it is an inherent feature of their relationship).

see, i don't know whether it's people projecting their personal issues on the characters or - much worse - thinking ray being "difficult" (read: in most cases, just mentally ill and an addict) makes him fully unlovable or undeserving of love, but that's not the case not just in general, but specifically with sand. the simple truth of the matter is: sand does NOT find loving ray or being with ray or the person ray is difficult.

from the very beginning, even before sand falls in love, he is annoyed by ray but he also takes care of him - not just because sand is a helpful person and that's what he's used to doing but also because he does not find it burdensome. like, if someone would find it difficult to be in a relationship with a suicidal alcoholic - alright, they're not alone, they can go hang out with mew and chueam, who are in the exact same boat. and if someone would find it hard to be in a relationship with someone who is extremely emotional and "blows up" a lot - ok, then don't be friends with or date people like that. but sand just does not find it hard.

and that's kind of the whole point. there are always people in the world who will love someone with ALL their issues and flaws and idiosyncrasies and complexities. there are genuinely people who are going to be in a fight with someone who is deeply emotional and also deeply intoxicated and not internalise what they are saying. not because they don't care about themselves and are with someone undeserving of them or whatever, but because they understand that the person doesn't mean what they are saying in that moment and they can deal with it. if every time i was rude to someone because i was overstimulated (due to being autistic) that someone dropped me and called me undeserving of their love, i'd have no fucking friends, which is thankfully not the case.

when mew told ray "no one can put up with everything you do" he was wrong. plain and simple. just wrong. sand can. in fact, it's not even that he can "put up" with it - it's more like he can live with it just fine. let sand love the man he loves, seeing as he is very much not struggling with any part of their relationship or his partner's personality, especially after they resolved the issues they had (which is fine, by the way? just because someone is having issues in a relationship doesn't mean they gotta jump ship - if they want to and can deal with them, that's a good thing, actually).

as for the purchase part of your ask, i do always find it quite peculiar how simple people can make things. "rich + poor = automatic objectification" wow thanks for the analysis, boss! profound! like, i truly wish i knew where this could be coming from. i am also a dangerous romance watcher and if someone asked me about this in regards to kang and sailom, i would dive head-first and deep into those waters, because that's actually something that's relevant there. but with sand and ray... truly, i'm baffled by the suggestion.

the whole point of it to ray is that the relationship is genuine. that's deeply important to him, in fact - that is why he reacted the way he did about his father giving sand money. how in the world do you combine "(angrily and in disbelief) so this was all about money to you?" and "i literally bought you, i hope you remember that"?

idk, is this about ray buying sand gifts? 'cause gift giving is just an expression of love and ray just happens to be loaded so yeah, it's guitars and coachella trips or whatever - the guy lives in a mansion, i think it'd be weirder if he went "well, just to be sure i am not buying you, here is a pebble i found on the street for your birthday". is it about him being jealous or perhaps even possessive in the penultimate episode and likely the finale? 'cause that's just an emotion lots of people feel and while you could argue about 'ownership' in terms of the wider optics of how lots of monogamous relationships work, regardless of the financial situation of the partners, this is definitely just a fairly standard situation where two people are in an 'exclusive' relationship and suddenly a clear third party steps in.

ray has never expressed any disdain or even weirdness towards his poor friends in terms of their socioeconomic status, he has only brought up the wine selling issue when he fully blew up because he clearly understood that it was a source of income for sand, his initial suggestion to pay sand to hang out was in response to sand working at that time and literally needing the money he was meant to be earning that day to survive. like, where are we? how did we get here?

[bl-bracket]

More specific follow up question: favorite side character who is not a part of a ship?

oooooo ok. Kind of a random pull but I was obsessed with Jinta from Triage. like someone give him an award for having to put up with both Tin and Tol's shit in the time loop. he was so iconic I love him. Another good one is Chun Sangwon from Love for Love's Sake, though I don't know if you would count him as being in a ship since he did have an unrequited crush on Myungha, but like baby boy <3 someone please show him love. Han Ying from Word of Honor is my special little guy who I'm always thinking about as well (I have so many Ying'er thoughts it's crazy. like half of my woh wips are about him or involve him heavily in some way). If we're counting villains as side characters then I got to also include Uncle Kit from Never Let Me Go. If Chopper wants a step dad I am available. Cartoon ass villain type beat having the bane of your existence be some gay teenagers.

[robinswise]

okayyyy unpopular opinion that will more then likely turn into a rant!

EDDIE 'THE FREAK' MUNSON IS THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE

AAAAAA

ok.

I. Do. Not. Like. Eddie. Munson.

Just to get this out of the way, I don't hate Joseph Quinn at all, he's a great actor, but I hate Eddie.

OKAY I NEED TO ACTUALLY GET TO THE POINT-

Eddie is an asshole

Why couldn't he push the dnd campaign to a different day? Is there a reason? I don't think there was, I don't remember there being one and when I googled it, sure enough, there doesn't seem to be a reason.

Really couldn't his role have been given to pretty much any of the characters?

Mike.

Lucas.

Dustin.

Jonathan would've made the most sense (to me) if he wasn't in Cali (in season 1 we know some people thought Jonathan might've k!lled Will, so they could've thought he did the same to Chrissy)

Even Steve.

Honestly, even Max could've been given the role

Also, I don't dislike most people who like Eddie, alot of them are just really obsessed (like a scary level of obsession)

ALSO STEDDIE-

I posted about them positively one time a while ago but no I do not ship them.

The context for that post was that I didn't hate Steddie - at the time I even vaguely liked them (or more specifically, I liked the way that certain people wrote them) but I didn't ship them, they just made the most sense for that specific idea and I didn't hate them at the time.

I was reading something that was part of a longer series of posts and the person had hinted that Stonathan would be in it but then suddenly Eddie appeared and Steddie was heavily implied - which normally wouldn't be an issue but they didn't tag it with Eddie or Steddie.

Anyways, Argyle is in my opinion the better character added in season 4.

Another thing, it didn't bother me initially but Eddie stans acting like Eddie and Dustin's friendship is so unique is really annoying to me-

Because- no- like sure, he's close with Eddie, but the friendship is not unique whatsoever, in terms of older brother like friends he had Steve, in terms of outcast nerds who like dnd he had the party, and in terms of friends with attitude problems he had Mike and Max

Also, was his death really all that shocking? It fit the st formula perfectly! Introduce a new character just to k!ll them off

Benny

Barb

Bob

Billy

Even in search 4 we got Chrissy Fred and Patrick

About his crazy fans - not all are like this, I've met some genuinely nice Eddie fans who've written genuinely good Steddie ficlets - but was sending death threats necessary? Because I just don't get why that whole thing happened.

I think Eddie coming back in any form other then a flashback or Vecna vision would just maks me upset tbh, like actually, what would be the point? They already pulled "look he's actually alive!" Trick with Hopper (and to an extent, Will) so doing it a third time (even for such a fan favorite) would just feel lazy to me

Also, in my opinion, Will would dislike Eddie, so many people say that Will would love him but to me, I feel like it would be very out of character for him to like Eddie (knowing that Will doesn't like extra attention - at least not from people who might judge and/or ridicule him - and Eddie actively draws it)

I feel like the fact we only got a reaction to Eddie's death from Dustin and Wayne is really telling as to how little importance he actually had, because even Mike who was friends with Eddie didn't know about his death - or at least his reaction wasn't important enough to show.

I found Eddie's guitar solo to be very pointless and even rather boring.

Also, there are people who ship Eddie with Billy?? Ew.

Even as someone who does not like Eddie at all I can confidently say that he deserves better and would probably not fall for that walking piece of dog shit (once again, I don't hate Dacre Montgomery I just hate Billy)

Anyways, in short, I don't mind Joseph Quinn or Eddie's fans, I know there's definitely worse characters in the show, and at the end of the day I'm just a nerd on the internet who's been fixated on the same subject for probably way to long so it's fine to have a different opinion then me

[frostfires-blog]

"Most of the ships in this post are great (love them too)! Sadly OP have to add the gay ships. Really, can't we just have normal ones without gayness".

This is how I found your post (top 30 ships). Sorry, I dislike the one who said the above, but because of them, I found your blog and fall in love with your posts....

Thanks for your posts and your metas (especially the hanakotoba analysis).

See, as multishipper, most that I found are either gay & lesbian ships only or het ships (like the one who said the above) only, but you really saw the dynamics a d chemistries of the characters. That is why I love your top 30 ships post.

Like, at first I thought you'll ship IzuOcha (like most people who love het ship) in BNHA but you ship BakuDeku (amazing) or IchiOri (bland) in Bleach but you ship IchiRuki (great) which both (later) ships have the best dynamics in the series (more than the former ships)..!

Sorry, I'm not really a fan of most m/f ships (it's easier for me to love m/m & f/f compared to m/f) but the ones that you love are all great!

My top 10 favorite ships from your post :

♡ Hua Cheng/ Xie Lian (best love story ever, one of my all time fav danmei ever)

♡ Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian (Wei Wuxian will always be in my top 10 characters ever, love him so much)

♡ Hak/Yona (best shoujo ever for me, will always love this couple)

♡ Bakugou/ Midoriya (will always be in my top 10 otps ever, love them so much, have shipping them since 2019)

♡ Cheng Xiaoshi/ Lu Guang (start shipping them since ep 1 s1, my love for them got deeper after finished s2)

♡ Obi/ Shirayuki (can't believe you have both ships with Shirayuki, but I love Obi more, for me, Zen is kinda bland)

♡ Taichi/Chihaya (yes, they're canon. I'm so happy when I read the end of the manga, Taichi will always be special)

♡ Minato/Kushina (one of the best ship in Naruto, love the build up and the tragedy, this is my 2nd fav ship after NaruSasu)

♡ Ichigo/ Rukia (why Bleach have to end like that, IchiRuki have way more chemistry than the IchiOri)

♡ Itadori/Fushiguro (love their bond so much)

Have you watch these 4 new fav anime of mine (for the story and the ships): Cherry Magic, I'm in love with Villainess, Yakuza Fiancee, and Nina Starry Bride?

Sorry for this long ask, feel free to ignore them, hope you have a wonderful day.

I'm sorry you discovered my blog due to such a distasteful comment, but I'm glad to have encountered someone with such great tastes in ships. I rarely manage to encounter someone who likes so many ships that I do. Oddly enough, I haven't managed to find that specific comment, so it's likely that person blocked or subsequently deleted their comment without giving me the chance to respond... Oh well...It's not the first time I've gotten criticised for my tastes in ships, and unfortunately, it definitely won't be the last...

Moving on, I'm glad you enjoyed the Hanakotoba metas! They're my favourite types of posts to make, even though they're the most time-consuming. Unfortunately, I probably won't be making another one for a while since I haven't encountered any material to work with in the shows I've seen recently. Here's to hoping The Apothecary Diaries S2 gives me something to work with... But if anyone has any suggestions, I'm keen.

Most people are very rigid about their tastes in ships. Admittedly, I used to be, too, but over time, I've become more open-minded and contemplative—though I still have a long way to go. When it comes to shipping, I prioritise development, character dynamics, and aesthetics in that order. Gender and official status (i.e., canon or non-canon) are unimportant to me.

This is honestly the first time I've seen someone else who ships IchiRuki and BakuDeku... Honestly, I'm so happy! IchiOri/IchiHime is literally the bane of my existence. I could write a full-length essay on what I ship IchiRuki and dislike IchiOri/IchiHime. These days it's especially difficult being an IchiRuki shipper, as we receive nasty comments on most Ichigo/Rukia-centric posts and edits. Just because another ship was made canon doesn't mean you're not allowed to ship anything else. The great thing about fandom spaces is that there is a place for everyone—so I don't know why they can't let us be.

As for IzuOcha, it just lacks the development and depth that BakuDeku and a lot of other BNHA ships have, and consequently, it seems bland in comparison. BakuDeku was actually the very first M/M ship I supported—so I have a lot of attachment to them—and it becoming such a beloved ship has made me immensely grateful and happy. Inexorably, the brighter light shines, the more shadows it casts... As its popularity has increased, the ship garnered more detractors, making things more difficult recently. Seeing people condemn and degrade BakuDeku shippers because of recent events is incredibly hurtful.

The double standards I've seen from some of the people who disapprove of non-canon ships like BakuDeku and IchiRuki are insane. These same people who disapprove of the age gap between IchiRuki will happily use Isshin/Masaki's dynamic to bolster IchiOri or will go on to ship other couples with age gaps like Inuyasha/Kagome. These same people who use Bakugo and Deku's or Ichigo and Rukia's friendship as a reason not to ship them then go on and fawn over the friends-to-lovers trope elsewhere. Perhaps I've ranted a little too much... However, I didn't intend to insult anyone; I was merely trying to point out things that didn't add up. If anybody here doesn't ship BakuDeku or IchiRuki but is respectful towards their shippers (i.e., refrains from antagonising them unjustly) and can recognise the basis for both ships, please know that my irritation isn't directed at you.

I probably mentioned this already, but you have great tastes in ships. Just a few things I wanted to note as I went through your list and comments... ❉ You're right Hualian truly has the greatest love story ever!

❉ Wei Wuxian is in my top 10 favourite characters too! Each member of the MXTX protagonist trio is so well written tbh.

❉ Akatsuki no Yona is my favourite shoujo manga. I'd love them to animate the rest of it. I'd ascend if we got a Fruits Basket-like remake!

❉ Coincidentally, I also started shipping BakuDeku in 2019, which is when I started BNHA.

❉ As for the ObiYuki vs. ZenYuki debacle... My heart is torn in two, which is why I haven't read the manga yet. I started the show and shipped ZenYuki, but over time I started drifting towards Obi instead. ZenYuki is a solid ship, but ObiYuki really packs in all of my favourite tropes. So, I ultimately included both ships, knowing that both sides of the fandom might not be pleased with me. I've never been an OT3 person, but I feel like that might be the direction I'm heading towards...

❉ Regarding Taichi/Chihaya I actually have a funny story concerning them... As I was bingeing S3, I saw some spoilers, which led me to believe they weren't canon, which upset me so much that I refused to finish the anime—whereas, before this, I'd been planning to start the manga immediately. After a few months, I realised I'd been misguided, and they were in fact canon! I subsequently finished the anime but haven't gotten around to the manga yet.

❉ I'm never going to get over the ending of Bleach. Before the TYBW arc, all the development and symbolism pointed towards IchiRuki becoming the endgame... The switch-up was insane!

I've been trying out a lot of new anime recently. I actually only started watching new anime seasonally from the first episode a year ago, so keeping up with 12 anime this season has been challenging. ❉ I'm currently watching Nina: The Starry Bride as it airs. Since I heard good things about it from manga readers and had been itching for a fantasy shoujo anime for a while now, I checked it out as soon as the first episode dropped. It's definitely been a journey, and I'm still formulating my thoughts about it... In all honesty, the first episode was lowkey disappointing—but I think that's because my expectations were too high. I feel like it lacked the drama and intrigue that Akatsuki no Yona's first episode had—which was what people had compared it to. However, 8 episodes deep, and I'm really enticed! I really look forward to it every week and am excited to see where the story goes! Are you rooting for Azure or Sett?

❉ I'm also currently watching Yakuza Fiancee. The show really shook me to my core. Like damn, these people are crazy! It's really entertaining though, and for once I have no idea where the story is headed since the show is so unpredictable to me. However, I'm not sure I can commit to shipping Yoshino with Kirishima yet. I kind of want her to stick to her plan of up and leaving in a year... But we'll see...

❉ I watched Cherry Magic as it aired as well. It was pretty funny and sweet—but sadly, for some reason, I didn't really form a solid attachment to any of the characters... It's possibly because at the time other shows gripped me more, but I can't say for certain. I might revisit it again sometime when I'm under less stress. ❉ Lastly, I haven't seen I'm in Love With The Villainess...

I tried to cover everything. Sorry if I rambled too much... Hopefully I didn't miss anything important...

[fanaticsnail]

Snaaaiiiil!!!!! You fiend, you devil, you madwoman, you!

I love feral characters. I love wolf-coded characters. Not in the way that they're noble creatures of battle (but yes that too) but when they're specifically wolves that Aren't dogs.

Mind if I get poetic in your inbox for a sec?

(Disclaimer: this is exaggerated for the point of poetry. My family breeds, shows, trains, and sells dogs and we have respect for them as individuals and a species based off of the knowledge we purposefully learnt to give them the best care possible. This is angsty on purpose.)

Dogs were bred from wolves for obedience and companionship through years of selective breeding and compassion. Offering scraps of meat, scratching where they can't reach when they let you close enough, giving them shelter and names and soft voices.

But a wolf can never be a dog.

Because dogs become dogs through generations of evolution until they rely on humans.

Their sharp edges softened until they rely on protection.

Their hunting instinct numbed until they rely on food.

Their adapted bodies changed for cuteness until they would no longer survive in the wild.

The one thing humans rely on is their pack nature. They need dogs to want to be around them, whether it's for loyalty, or obedience, or companionship. The one most common thread between all dogs and any wolf is their need for a pack.

The evolution of dogs is fine tuned only by the successive breeding and death of each generation.

A wolf can never be a dog. It's instincts are too prevalent. It's nature is too wild. It still knows the taste of blood.

A wolf has to die for it's descendants to be dogs. But it will never know the comfort of a human as friend and family - as pack. It only knows the instinct of survival, the one that tells it to run from or kill the predator and competition.

(Again: wolves are perfectly happy in the wild, they have flourishing hierarchies and pack structures, they integrate well into conservation efforts. It's for the angst)

So the idea of a character that is all knuckles and teeth and claw? Licking my plate clean, sending compliments to the chef, asking for seconds, leaving a six star review.

I just love a feral woman with blood dripping from her teeth who could be compared to a cage fighting dog. And how did you know hyenas were one of my favourite animals you oracle you!

And the writing? Ooh! The way you described the spear sinking the ship then running along as it sunk, then blowing up another ship in an explosion that returns the spear to your hand??? The perfect type of flavor that fits in with the absurdity and extravagance of anime (and particularly one piece and the live action) fighting and I Loved it.

Garp and Bogard giggling and eating popcorn while watching with opera binoculars is the best though.

Also, the enemies stopping in confusion and disgust when they hear the bet with Mihawk?

Holding up a hand like ☝️"Hold please."

I love how she is entirely wild and untamed, even when using some femininity in flirting it's clear she's still brash and not poised in any way beyond poised to strike. I love how you commit to the characters you write!!! And the characters you write have such a wide variety of flavours!!! Delicious.

I love you, Snail. Your inboxes always brighten my day. You are amazing, and I appreciate your many thoughts.

I very much leant into the absurd cinematography of anime on this one a little bit. Lots of fighting, lots of violence - usually the bane of my existence.

Garp and Bogard being little watchers, their binoculars focussing on the two warlords as opposed to, you know, doing their jobs.

I love committing to a variety of "reader" inserts, so we can all experience everything the way we want to. It's part of fandom magic that has always held me absolutely hostage: you are what you are, you add what you add. You have your own name, but it's not directly ever spoken. Enjoy the ride!

She was fun to write for. I may need to write another like her in the future.

She was just fun. Not a whisper or crumb of an enemy remaining once she consumes them.

[t1meslayer]

18 and 31 for the ask game?

Based on this ask game! Thanks so much @alchemicallymoon :)

#18 - Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process? How do you come up with titles?

Fanfic titles are the bane of my existence. Basically all of them - with the exception of pieces that have longer pre-planning stages like “Fallout” - are the very last thing I write while setting the story in AO3. It’s basically tradition for me to message my beta reader about how much I hate coming up with a title when I reach that stage.

I cannot overstate this point enough. 9/10 times you read one of my fics, the title is something I fumbled with before hitting post. There’s no real pattern to them either, except in particular cases like my “Sapphic Valley” series where every title is a Taylor Swift song as determined by my Swiftie friend (who plays the Gardenia character) based on the vibe of each piece.

#31 - Do you start with the characters or the plot when writing?

This could go either way, honestly.

Most of my fics start as a character-driven idea. I’ll be interested in writing about a particular pairing or dynamic, and that drives the process of figuring out how I want to throw them against each other.

However, I also base a lot of my stories on little personal experiences or a visual scene that’s striking in my head. If those aren’t inherent to one character or character set (for example, a Pokemon battle between specific folks), then I’ll sometimes fit characters into the scene.

That being said… Shipping is one of my main drivers for writing. So you can generally assume I’m character-first.

[felassan]

post from Dragon Age: Dreadwolf developer Luke B. (Game Systems Director for Dragon Age) on the unofficial BioWare forum, discussing the reasons why in Dragon Age: Inquisition there was no healing mechanic and instead the barrier system was introduced in the gameplay:

"I can't speak to any other games directly but I can give a bit of historic context for DAI. The game was initially a more dungeon/linear delving - see how far you can get - experience and there was no barrier of any kind. As a side note: healing has always been a hot topic in design because as soon as you include it there are many other conceits you now need take into consideration for the gameplay - one of which I will call 'the Anders problem'. Anyway, as DAI got the date moved and shifted more into the pseudo-openworld the concept of attrition (see how far you can get before having to return to camp) became less relevant and we needed to help the Players have more moment-to-moment agency around their survival. Unfortunately for various reasons (one of which is the sad reality of designing a game with a shifting timeline) the healing couldn't be re-added so we ended up with more of a mitigation strategy in the barrier system. It went through a lot of iterations but eventually landed on what it shipped with which I would call... acceptable (but just barely). Now, I will concede that a part of the reason it didn't return after that shift was an aversion to holy trinity gameplay specifically for MP but it wasn't the core reason. As a side story, trying to balance the game (as that was my job on DAI - and yes, it could be much better haha) we had to all but force Players to take barrier. It is intentionally the first skill in the first tree for the Mage and all the autolevel (I also handled that) is designed to get it right away. Feel free to ask other DAI questions, I'm happy to answer about things I was directly involved in 😁. Anything DA:D related you'll have to wait for at least a few months after launch to grill me...though I'm hoping they let me stream at launch as an official thing 🤞." [source]

a user asked about what the hardest class to balance in DA:I was:

"I feel like anyone who was around for the post-launch content will already know the answer to this as it was the bane of my existence when I got put exclusively on MP after launch but the Knight-Enchanter barrier absorbing was a pain. Stuff like that is very challenging to feel good without being broken as they are relative to damage so scaling is fairly open-ended. Too little and the casual players won't get use out of it, too much and the character builders will be wildly OP. We actually had a 'no nerfing' guideline for the SP side so it was a hard battle to fix that silly thing 🙃." [source]

[tempkiriri]

For the fandom ask game, for Tiger & Bunny: could I please have 1, 3, 12, 22 for *rolls mental dice* Antonio and Ryan, and 23, please? 😊🩷

Alrighty! 1: OTP This is honestly a tricky one for both men, and people may be surprised by the answer. Who I pair Antonio with may change later since I still need to read the Manga, but I do picture him as having a 'buried so deep he doesn't acknowledge it' crush on Kotetsu and used to have one on Tomoe as well but of course kept his lips shut (which also answers the OT3 question for him as well haha). With *just* the anime taken into account, his crush on Agnes isn't belivable, you 100% need supplementary material to even have his 'I'm trying to get *Agnes* a gift' thing at the end of S2 come across as believable and not just a cheap expectation divergence for the sake of it. So right now it's kind of, no OTP for him, but Antonio/Kotetsu is crammed into a little box in the corner in my head. As for Ryan, I don't ship him with anyone too strongly bc the only 'older' (aka mid 30s at youngest in my head) women in the show are Agnes and Nathan, and whilst either could be interesting in theory I don't think it would work out for either of them lol. I'm a Ryan Milf Hunter truther, meaning I don't ship him with Karina at all. Like, I dunno man, him flirting with her mother right in front of her is kinda sending clear signals to me. Someone please write Golden Ryan x MILF!Reader fics I think that would be funny.

3: NoTP This one is also tricky. I classify a NOTP as something that is able to render me physically uncomfortable if discussed, which aside from some generally obvious child / adult ships and similar ships in here, I don't think I have that reaction to anything. Closest is for Antonio is that I think Ivan is allowed to have a crush on him but Antonio would like, nephew-zone him, much like how Kotetsu has niece-zoned Karina at least twice now. And similarly while not exactly an NOTP for Ryan, I again just don't see him with Karina, she's not in the age bracket he's interested in; too young.

12: Funniest/Craziest AU? Honestly there's not a lot of AUs I can think of that revolve specifically around a character. Antonio has a bit of a sad one I have saved for him so it's not applicable here, but for Ryan I *did* write a fic where he and Ivan go to the beach bc he wants to help Ivan 'hunt for babes', that was pretty fun to write. Molly comes with, btw. But I don't consider that an AU bc I tried to keep it canon compliant, so...yeah, don't have much for ryan, at the moment.

22: Give us a HC Antonio - He's secretly semi-fluent in Japanese because he wanted to learn due to being friends with Kotetsu and Tomoe and wanting to communicate with them in private when in public (at least when in Sternbild). Ryan - Everyone seems to make fun of just how *fake* of a shade of yellow his hair is, but it's also very hard to get it to that colour if your hair is naturally dark (everyone remember Morita's The Live Incident? Bleached his hair so hard by best he could achieve was some cherry red-brown). Naturally, Ryan is a Platinum Blond like Ivan is, but with the colour being so un-vibrant combined with Ryan's desire to stand out, he dyes it a horrific yellow.

23: Has Fav ship changed overtime? Across all fandoms and my time being alive, certainly. As a young kid I got into Avatar, as one does, and something both outright turned me off from Katara with Aang and hooked me on Katara with Zuko. I don't know, I think it's just a difference of how chemistry can be forced in terms of writing. Tunnel of Love is the bane of like 8yo me's existence is all i'm gonna say.

Next I moved onto sonic and oh man there were so many goddamn ships. Sticking strictly to Canon on Canon, I think my first fav sonic ship was Tails and Cream, and currently it's Sonic with either Blaze or Knuckles (though for Sonaze specifically I view it as starcrossed and I do have a fic idea on exploring that *evil laughs*). If anyone wants a thicker rundown of the sonic ship timeline feel free to ask for 23 again and state sonic only lolll

Then I caved into despair like lord Enoshima would have wanted and got a double whammy of Hetalia and Danganronpa around the same timeframe. For Hetalia, you can rip the old bickering married couple of France and England from my cold dead hands, and then I had several for Danganronpa but the one I think I championed for the hardest out of sheer 'it's getting drowned out by the less interesting shit' was Shuichi x Kaito. Like, my guys, Shuichi catches HIS GAY THOUGHTS ON KAITO IN THE MIDDLE OF AN FTE. I genuinely don't know how other ships have stronger bases bc of that one moment. But also, that would require the DR fandom to know how to read, so (/j).

And then came Persona 5. So many good ships in here, I still adore stuff like Joker with both Yusuke and Ryuji, and I also got a soft spot for Ryuji with Yusuke or Haru. (In fact I have an AU fic I promise I havent abandoned abt Ryukita. The two men are early 20s in the fic with jobs and Ryuji is even a single father.)

And now we arrive at present time, where these petty argument idiots have taken over my brain, send help. Honourable mention will have to go to Keith with Cis bc that episode completley destroyed me it's like a brain worm and I cannot pluck it out.

[warmhealerr]

18+ - Minors Do Not Interact.

Adult content sometimes. Even if it weren't the case I just don't want minors here. My Instagram is not my Tumblr.

I am Barnabas, though you can also call me Barney! I use he/they pronouns interchangeably.

I'm a hobbyist who writes and draws. I am currently deep in a DND phase kickstarted by BG3. I am fond of all things Gith- peoples, though Githyanki especially. I also love Deep Gnomes, and undead, go figure.

I am otherwise writing The City Of Dust aka TCOD (name to be changed) which I might post about from time to time. It has been my personal passion project for 7 years now.

If that information matters to you I am a French in France who stays awake at ungodly hours and wants out of here HAHA.

BOUNDARIES/"DNI"

I feel childish adding more to this section for some reason but it is necessary, so might as well get on with it.

I know how to curate my online experience like any other, and I also love dark media and kink, but I genuinely politely ask that you do not follow me (assuming you've read this) if you post or reblog fetish incestuous content (emphasis on the word fetish). I like quickly checking and/or following people's blogs when it seems we've common interests! There's only so much curating I can do when someone with no specific warnings anywhere on their account does not tag it, which has been a more common occurrence than I'd prefer. This also goes for adult/minor fetish content. Please and thank you.

No gen AI.

I otherwise block whoever I please for reasons completely unrelated to former points. My blog history and bio might give you insight as to what. I also do not like people who revel in being the most shocking, mean spirited, judgemental and edgy in the room.

Finally, petty intercommunity validity discourse is the bane of my existence.

TAG INFO AND MORE UNDER THE CUT

NOTE 1

I suffer from serial social media liking disease. Apologies, I don't mean to spam/be obnoxious.

NOTE 2

I am ND and very mentally ill. My casual everyday (like you are reading right now) writing might be noticeably overcompensating, too cold, too warm, far too descriptive, or redundant alongside suffering at times from poor punctuation and vocabulary (though that is also on the fact English is not my first language). I am well aware though I'm trying to avoid awkwardness, sorry about that.

TUMBLR STUFF

ASKS

I welcome any ask no matter its content (that includes asks of an adult nature).

TAGS

I am God awful at tagging things even though I have been using Tumblr for at least 5 years now. I am especially forgetful when it comes to character or ship tags. This is an attempt at changing that.

#rambling for when I talk about... Nothing.

Feel free to request ship or character tags (as I usually forget them) in my ask inbox. My ship tag format usually goes #x/y.

I usually do not tag suggestive content (I just don't think about it, this blog is already 18+). I will tag explicit sexual stuff with #nsft.

Content warning tags will use a single word, like #gore. This is to avoid typing gore cw instead of cw gore (for example) in case someone doesn't have that former tag iteration blocked.

I usually do not phobia tag (I might sometimes tag specific living beings like #bugs or #spiders. It is for archive navigation purposes but perhaps you could find it useful to hide them).

Feel free to request CW tags in my ask inbox.

MY TAGS

#myart for my visual art : from sketches to fully rendered, anything goes. I describe my rendered art for the visually impaired, and/or comprehensive visual clarity for an easier analysis. I usually do not describe sketches especially if posting a bunch of them.

#my writing for any kind of writing I put out. I don't write lots of polished stuff though. It's mostly summaries, script drafts and ideas I use to communicate with myself first, and then other people. It's hardly literature imo.

My individual OC tags go "#charactername tag" for easy navigation purposes.

"#Fist of the Comet" additional tag for Ta'rath post BG3 campaign

"#underdark siblings" for Joufos/Oulmat/Zilkon, their other family members and Oulmat's patron.

#TCOD for TCOD (until name changes).

I will add more tags here once relevant. Thank you.

Ta'rath spin...

[theyhaveacavetroll]

Tagged by @pazithigallifreya. Thanks, I love doing these!

Tagging @partiallypearl, @imfunnyandrude, and anyone else that wants to!

1 How many works do you have on AO3? 90 works

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 585,148

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Cure for Sorrow

Cup of Their Deserving

As a Stranger Give it Welcome

Reclamation

To the Upper Air

Obligatory disclaimer: I'm only proud of three out of these five, but I'm glad that people are still getting something out of the other two. Cure for Sorrow and As a Stranger were written when I was a different person and well before the finale of Black Sails. 'Nough said.

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to, yes. I sometimes run out of time and energy because I work a full-time job where I'm out of my apartment 12.5 hours a day during the week.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don't write fics with angsty endings. Battle Raven comes the closest and even that isn't angst, it's just not sunshine and roses. If you want dark fic or real angst, I'm not your girl.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

I think most of my fics have happy endings. If I had to pick a "and then they all lived happily ever after" fic it's probably most of the stuff in my Fate The Winx Saga works.

7. Do you write crossovers?

Yes, when the idea occurs to me! I'm particularly fond of You Steele Know My Name, which I WILL finish, I swear.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not hate. I've received weird comments and "when will you update" no other feedback given comments, but nothing truly mean.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yep! I've written kink and what I'd consider vanilla, or at least nothing to write home about. I've gotten better at it over the years.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of and that is NOT a challenge.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Again, not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yep! I have quite a few co-written fics with various people.

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

In terms of what rewrote my DNA? Probably Flinthamilton but in terms of a ship that I always come back to where I have no negative fandom associations and endless, endless need to fix canon? Bagginshield.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

And the Sea With Its Deepness, aka the Black Sails fic where I faked everyone out with the first chapter specifically to enjoy the screams of "wait, that's WHO that got nabbed?!!" I want to come back to it but... yeesh, the fandom. I left for a Reason, and then there's the fact that I just can't with writing a certain character anymore.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Plot and dialogue. I'm one of the best damn mimics of character voices you'll ever meet and that's just facts.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Action scenes. Action scenes are the bane of my existence, and I have a tendency to end paragraphs on an em dash too often that I've been trying to curb. A few is fine but there is such a thing as excess.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I like to do it but only in short bursts and for languages I can be confident I'm getting right.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Probably Star Wars when I was very, very, VERY young indeed.

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Does it count if I have an unpublished WIP already? If so, then Downton Abbey and The Hobbit. If not, then honestly I have no idea.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Ironically, arguably my favorite is one none of you have even seen and might not because I have no idea if I'll ever finish it. It's long, it's sprawling, and I've worked absurdly hard on it but it's just. so. much. As to finished fics, though - probably Reclamation. It's got Themes and everything.