#manifesting ot3 fics

[scenegraph]

netto is bi

enzan is ace

and meiru... here’s my one controversial opinion... loves them both

[suddenrundown]

wait a second, i wrote a “doctor paul” character that eliot knew in “as whole as we could be”....did i personally manifest this

[sparky-is-spiders]

Okay actually further anti jm thoughts. Also general time travel AU thoughts.

Back when I was really into jm I read a bunch of time-travel fix-its where S5 Jon wales up in the body of S1 Jon. And every single time there’d be this uncomfortably niggling thought in my mind that what happened there was that S5 Jon essentially killed and replaced S1 Jon. Because… I mean that IS what happened, right? All of S1 Jon’s personality and life experiences written over by someone else’s memories and personalities. It doesn’t matter if they’re both Jon, they’re different people and different Jons. And I ignored it because the author did and the characters did. This was a comforting fix-it for my (at the time) favorite ship. Why muddy it up by worrying over Jon being overwritten and replaced by himself? But actually thinking about it now that my preferences have changed makes me sad. Do Jon’s friends (including the dude who is possibly in love with him) care that he’s basically been turned into a totally different person? Because in most of those AUs they ARE friends. Would Tim “Stranger trauma” Stoker be completely cool with finding out that his Jon had been essentially swapped out with a new, different Jon? There’s something depressing about it, I think, when the big reveal that this is actually future!Jon happens and nobody even thinks to ask “what about past Jon? What about the person we worked with for years?” They all just accept that Jon became a completely different person one day and that everything is fine.

Also don’t understand Jon getting with Martin in those AUs. Just like Jon is completely different in S5 compared to S1, so is Martin. I may not like Martin very much (at all) but. Does he deserve to be replaced that quickly and easily by his younger self? Would Jon not feel like they’re talking to a different person? That the man they grew to love (*cough* feel dependent for affection and validation from *cough*) wasn’t there at all? That this Martin was boring (because he is) or too cloying? Even if they still held some affection for him I can’t see it working out long term, with Jon chasing the shadow of a man who isn’t there and never will be and a Martin who gets Jon even less than he already did. I can see Jon leaning on him as a crutch while knowing they can never be with him (it’s too dangerous, they’re too busy trying to stop Elias) and slowly coming to the conclusion that they don’t want to be. They’re projecting their (complicated, messy, sometimes unpleasant) feelings for a dead man onto someone who (for better or worse (probably better tbh)) won’t ever become him. If we’re going full fix-it, this means Jon will have time to process their guilt and acknowledge that their relationship was actually bad for them, and that they weren’t compatible at all. They can move on from their version of Martin and start seeing this Martin as his own person.

If Jon needs a romance I think it should be another monster. Somebody who can understand Jon’s new nature without guilting them over it and who Jon wouldn’t feel the need to hide anything from. For something more gentle and soft we could have some nice Jonoliver. Alternatively Jon could ask for Peter’s help in hiding from Elias, leading to a much messier relationship (que Jon googling “how do you tell your crush that you killed them in a past life?”) where Jon’s never quite sure how much they can trust Peter but they have so much less to hide from him. And of course there’s Jon deciding to just. Seduce Jonah (I mean revealing that his plan to get permanent immortality and safety fails and he DIES would probably put him off his plans). Lots of options to choose from really, especially now that Jon has “haunted, mysterious eldritch monster” going for him. Like. C’mon. Powerful monster who’s torn up by guilt and trying so hard to save people while rocking the scrawny academic look? Jon’s got options now and I think they should shop around.

Okay my main point is that time travel AUs are best when they aren’t endgame Jmart.

.

[fullscoreshenanigans]

I wanted to ask: what are your favorite norayemma fanfics? 👀👉👈

Ooo we will be here for a bit I love promoting fics that resonated with me so deeply and continue to shape my interpretation of the series (check out my TPN Fanfic tag for snippets to longer commentary in general), though I have yet to properly comment on some of them on AO3.

Beginning with one of the realest author's notes from @hylialeia:

Can you believe they invented OT3s 🖤🧡🤍

☆ This unnamed piece set during the timeskip by @p-s-geeks:

There is a flower in your pocket. It’s wild and medicinal. You’re familiar with it. You remember white bedsheets, a pleading whine, two pairs of hands embracing you, and the flower on your forehead, working more wonders that it was biologically capable of (it wasn’t the flower, you know). The flower currently in your pocket is probably in a worse state, has probably shriveled up and wilted after hours of being plucked. It weighs lighter than a feather but feels heavier than diamonds. […] You unearth the flower from your pocket. Ray deserves to see this. Deserves to relive memories with you. And you kind of need him to. Right now, he’s the only one who’s been through thick and thin with you in majority of these trials and tribulations. He’s the only one who can look at it the way you look at it. […] “It’s alright” Ray says, pressing himself closer to you. You hold onto him like he’s the last lifeline on a sinking boat. “It’s alright. You’re not alone. You never were alone” You sleep listening to her gentle words in his gentle voice and it’s the deepest sleep you’ve gotten in a long time. (You wake up to a beautiful orange sunrise. To limbs tangled around yours. To soft snores. To groaning and complaining about morning coming too early during summers. And the hole in your heart subdues itself. It doesn’t disappear, doesn’t stop panging, but you still smile in remembrance and hope.)

How all the little things build and build until they become so deafening, and how so much solace is able to be found in those small‚ tender exchanges on one quiet night, with Ray echoing simple yet loving words he learned from her so long ago that became etched into his being after Grace Field not only by her but through the actions‚ big and small‚ of their family as well (because family is so very integral to each of them). How at first orange is such a painful reminder and how it ends on a most radiant sunrise that's the true embodiment of Emma, giving them both the strength to continue onward.

☆ Everything in banana_slug_army's library. Too much to cite in one post, but here's her tag on here and me talking about the only kind of jealously I enjoy between them:

(I do subscribe to the headcanon of Norman having a pang of jealousy over how much time RE got to spend together before their reunion in the Paradise Hideout with how he tends to navigate extremes at that age, but it’s of a very specific variety. Seeing how close the Grace Field escapees have become during their near two years out in demon world and how that shared trauma brought them together could be a mixed bag for him, with the aching reminder that he wasn’t there with them, didn’t share those memories with them after a lifetime of being together, and the initial flare of jealously turns into shame over thinking it in the first place when 1) he’s mad at not being able to have been there with them‚ not at them, 2) how selfish it is to still want that when they already went through his death once and now will have to go through that a second time, and 3) he spent so long isolated and effectively helpless in his immediate circumstances while at Lambda and suffered for no justifiable reason that it manifests in a festering internal rage, which heartbreakingly can never be given a satisfactory answer…so basically banana_slug_army’s Interwoven lol)

☆ Everything in @salsae's TPN library. Again too much to cite but here's her tag on the blog, me gushing about (so what am I defending now?) aka the quintessential Norray-focused REN fic exploring NR's relationship nine months into the search for Emma, and me gushing about her canon-divergent REN wedding fic, to have and to hold (fanart here). I am constantly citing this snippet of defending and thinking about the flashback and dream sequences Shirai went back and added to the volume release of chapter 181.

☆ Speaking of wedding fics, @carnivorouswillgraham's w.a.m.s. gushing can be found here. Also the post that inspired the fic with my silly edit.

The softness she regards them with, almost proto-shoujo bubbles. 🖤🫧🧡🫧🤍 Norman, adorably, hesitating because he’s still grappling with latent feelings he can’t even begin to articulate about his friends, but at the forefront of them is how he unquestionably gravitates to them and is attune to all their little nuances. Ray, heartbreakingly, hesitating because he’s grappling with the reality he’s beginning to comprehend and the crushing acceptance that he can’t save all his siblings as things stand now, and after already narrowing it down to just Emma and Norman, being faced with the question of if he could honestly live with himself if he chose one to save over the other. The conclusion he comes to further bolsters his resolve to confront Isabella in just a few short weeks, and foreshadows the devastation of Norman’s shipment after a lifetime of realization and meticulous planning. Really like the quiet magnitude of this both for Emma and Norman’s blissful unawareness of the farm system’s horrors conceived for them and ofc from the future romantic perspective as being the core foundational tenant of REN. 🖤🧡🤍

☆ Last of the wedding-related fics but honeynpeaches' Between Your Fingers, Between the Lines also has the first portion of Ray's chapter dedicated to it so I'll use that as a segue (gushing found here). The third chapter exploring Emma's inner monologues throughout the course of the series remains unpublished, but the Norman and Ray chapters can be read as self-contained fics. Highly recommend it and frequently to go back to reread when I need to reground myself in their character foundations.

So many little nuances and call backs, profoundly beautiful.

Additional citation of snippets in this post and this post, as well as this post for Ray angst fic recommendations.

There are so many amazing passages in here, but the "[o]ften, those eyes are blue" line absolutely fucking wrecks me every time. How the cadence of that brevity lands on such a simple fact that now evokes so much sorrow when he used to have such warm and positive associations with those eyes. Windows to the soul and everything that made Norman Norman and what he loved about him.

And then the often referenced celestial symbolism of him as the stars of the trio (to Emma's sun and Norman's moon), but a less romanticized, more viscerally horrifying perspective on it.

☆ As the Crow Flies by Goldfish_Writes I've talked about in more depth here. I'm not very big on full genre AUs, with my usual thoughts being "I consider the characters' personalities inherently shaped by the narrative itself. If you remove them from those circumstances they cease to be the same characters anymore, and I grew attached to them in part because of the circumstances they found themselves in; I got attached to this story." I'm also not very big soulmate AUs as they seem to miss more than they hit for me. But I am a big fan of REN, and I'm interested in seeing where this fantasy story goes.

The pre-established Noremma is absolutely delightful. Another thing thing I've mentioned before is my dislike of Norman being extremely uncharacteristically nebbish or aggressively confident and suave when pursuing relationships that' works in tandem's usually packaged with Emma becoming bizarrely demure. Again, I understand the appeal of stock scenarios, but it's not something I enjoy reading for them. I adore when they reach this level of knowing, playful banter with an underlying thrum of challenge, bred of familiarity at which boundaries can be teasingly skirted and which are low blows and off-limits, and founded on them being equals (after both of them, to different degrees, placed each other on pedestals).

☆ home by 81194, featuring a classic scenario of Ray, a dumbass, trying so so hard to lie to himself about his feelings for NE and failing spectacularly throughout a series of snippets before the two take matters into their own hands.

i think emma wouldn’t have been so spontaneous if she hadn’t been sure of how everything would go. things always go her way when she’s involved, after all… i love her sm.

Very much in agreement on Emma's respectful tenacity and ambition on these matters lol

☆ A Relatively Brief Reflection on Cognitive Dissonance by ribbontype is a wonderful character study of Norman up to the trio's reunion in chapter 121 executed through exquisite, deft prose, allowing one to easily luxuriate in its flow and imagery.

The way they make him whole and reaffirm his resolve to damn destiny itself. <3

☆ Tethered by SuddenWhispers is a beautifully written fic beginning during the human world arc and continuing past canon as the cast navigate what living truly means in the human world, along with what Emma regaining her memories could mean for the new promise.

Also some Ray and Barbara and Cislo interactions with the latter two acting as mentor figures to the former encouraging him on one of his weaker fronts of advocating for his wants, hello??

☆ the ambiguity of belonging by Kiss_Kiss is another post-canon fic that's smaller in scope but no less rewarding of a read with its quiet and desperate moments of vulnerability between the trio reaffirming how much they mean to each other.

Also not only is the handwave of Lambda sickness done away with for Norman, but it also touches upon what the difficulties of losing one's ear entails for Emma, something I rarely if ever see.

☆ Finally, hoping you're someone i used to know by @hylialeia

A post-canon fic delivered in gorgeous lyrical cadence. Such loving attention is paid to sentence composition that the words aren't merely a means to an end, but a reflection of a deep appreciation for both these characters and the craft itself, the weight of them meant to be lingered over and savored. Always a treat when you can find a fic like this in a fandom.

[reineyday]

finished the last season of manifest and some ship thoughts!

ive been saying it since drea showed up but seriously, mick x jared x drea ot3 come on!!!! poly detectives pls let hope have three parents 2k24

i was surprised they gave benvi a canon moment but i was here for it :') that one episode where saanvi kisses him for a cover but ben doesnt even seem phased and only gives her a Look at the end of the episode has very strong "this never occured to me before but actually this makes more sense" vibes from ben 😂 like even his reaction after they kissed for cover felt so platonic (imo) but then later on he realizes that subconsciously he's been heading there this whole time and he has an "oh" moment, but it's more like an "oh, duh" moment

niche but that scene where jared gives joe's kid a hug and then later on in the season when joe is so lovingly showing jared (and the stones) photos of charlie makes me think jared x joe would be cute, esp cuz jared wants kids so bad and he was so good with charlie

EAGAN AND ADRIAN AM I RIGHT????? man i was already thinking they'd be funny to ship together because they're both kinda self-serving disasters that have hearts deep, deeeeeeeeep down, but that moment when they held hands with the necklace between them? and then starting a business together when they land back in 2013??? so many options for them 😂 even just adrian showing up to angelina and eagan being married and being like dude wtf??? with the added emotional plot of being lowkey jealous and not sure why is a really funny fic idea

ultimately, i liked what they did w the ending tho! it was really cute what they did with tj and the girl older!cal dated, esp cuz both their s.o.'s kinda de-aged on them 😂 i also really love drea so im glad they had jared meet her right then, and it was cute how mick searched the cabs for zeke :') and it's not often we see a bi girl end up with the girl in her love triangle so that was nice for saanvi too yayay 🥰🥰

[mxanigel]

what we have is each other

The lovely @socially-awkward-skeleton and @captastra tagged me to play with this relationship template!

That's a fantastic template for two people. And I hope to use it for Vix and Shadowheart once I explore more of their journey. But. Uh. My current brainrot is my AoT OT3. So I'm stealing this opportunity to share the latest version of their chart (OT3 template here).

Explanatory rambles below the cut!

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Hange is a chaotic non-binary mess of a leader soldier, Levi is a clean freak who blunt and crass and so deliberate with emotions that he doesn't express them like others do, and OC Shion is a broken sunshine character seeking joy on her better days and clawing for meaning on her worse ones.

[greeting each other] Levi consistently uses demeaning terms toward Hange. "Idiot," "four-eyes," etc. When he uses their name, it's a big deal. I haven't figured out what he'll call Shion, but since she confessed so early in their relationship, he didn't have a chance to come up with something like what he calls Hange before Things Changed between them.

[First to confess] ahaha yeah Shion first tells Levi she loves him in chapter 9. We're on chapter 23 and neither Levi nor Hange have used those words. (but we're getting so damn close aaaaaaa)

[First to kiss] Levi kisses Shion after she confesses. He can't articulate why. She doesn't press him to. He knows she's important to him, something he shows in a thousand little ways. (Hange's a force of nature and takes all of this in stride in chapter 10 in very Hange-esque ways.)

[Dies for the others] OHOHO the WAYS this could happen depending on timeline and adherence to canon. Dare I explore a worldstate in which Shion dies to save Hange's life? WE SHALL SEE

[Prone to hide their feelings] This condition is in Levi Ackerman's blood okay. And an innocent chapter 8 conversation leads Hange to hide their feelings for both Shion and Levi to some extent. Their affection? Not at all hidden. Their romantic feelings? BURY THAT SHIT. Until they can't keep it buried any longer.

[First to apologize after a fight] Shion is not one who tolerates strain between herself and those she loves. Especially if she's the person responsible for it. But when that strain exists for reasons outside of her control… she won't apologize for the sake of apologizing. And she's learning not to apologize for who she is or how she feels.

["Excuse me, they asked for no pickles"] Shion will sit there and roll with things (and may encourage others to do the same depending on the situation) but there is no freaking way Levi or Hange would accept any of the three getting pickles when they didn't ask for pickles, lol.

[Spoils the others] How said spoiling occurs depends on the person, but they're each ready able and willing to spoil the other two.

[Wakes up first] Levi canonically doesn't sleep much. So I headcanon that Hange has experimented with sleeping draughts (experiments which always piss off Levi regardless of effectiveness because Hange takes it as a personal challenge to slip him one without him noticing). But for this relationship, he's the first one awake which has already manifested multiple times in the fic. The very limited scenarios in which he wouldn't wake first are super fun to play with~

["What's updog?"] I took this line less literally, seeing it as which of them are the most casual in speaking to the others, most likely to make puns, etc. And that's 100% Hange.

[First to propose] Once the OT3 shakes off its rocky romantic restart, this is unnecessary. Hell, even before the official confessions, they're already a unit.

[Wants children] I actively avoid giving my OCs children. I stopped writing for one in part because it seemed like children were a likely outcome. And then Shion comes along and turns that on its head. So. There's a kid in one possible future. With three parents who love her very much.

[Didn't know they were dating] The they-were-already-a-unit thing I mentioned earlier comes into play here. I have mixed feelings about the word "dating" here only because it tends to have romantic connotations, and both Shion and Hange's initial feelings are strongly platonic. But given how much I adore Levihan and that this is my first-ever OT3, plus after thinking long and hard about how Shion eventually feels about Hange and vice versa, I decided all of their feelings would be considered romantic.

[Initiates contact] Shion holds back SO HARD from being affectionate toward Levi, but he picks up on that (and appreciates it) and works to communicate when he's more open to that sort of thing. Not that he's good at it, but he tries. Meanwhile, Hange is alllll about touching and other affectionate gestures, which helps further lower the barrier for the other two.

[Approached first] Shion kind of sort of approached Levi first (remember, she was holding back) and Levi, once he's open to taking another step, doesn't hold back. But I'm thinking about this romantically, and Hange is highly reticent to show romantic advances toward either one knowing that Shion has feelings for Levi.

[Says the L word first] Shion 100%.

[The oblivious one] I'm using "oblivious" a bit loosely here; Levi takes a while to sort through what to name his feelings, and Hange hangs out in denial for quite some time.

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No-pressure tagging people to play with either template and/or just skimread my OC+blorbo rambles~ @poetikat @mxkelsifer @milesmentis @arendaes @outpost51 @dr-paine @saraptor @perhapsrampancy @spindleweedss @marythegizka

[itsbinghebitch]

tag people you want to get to know better -> thank you @theblissfulchaos and @justafriend-ql for tagging me!

three ships: vegaspete, nuengpalm, jimwengaipa (i am manifesting this OT3 into existence. i dont care how unlikely you think it is, it will happen. if not on the show then in my mind as i self medicate with fic)

first ever ship: probably l/light which is. a contentious classic to say the least

last song: meditation by goldlink

last movie: parasite (which i rewatched for a third time with @commonharlotwatchesbl)

currently watching: moonlight chicken

currently reading: inciting joy by ross gay

currently consuming: fuel and excess metabolic energy because im on a bus back from a weekend getaway and i've had more coffee than advisable

currently craving: (for reasons above-mentioned) leg space

tagging @vegaseatsass @charliespin @sapphicblight @ladymcres @lesbianasukalangleysoryu . sorry if you've been tagged already!

[faorism]

3, 16, 20 for the fic writer ask!

03. what work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)? a the first answer to this will be what i'll talk about in the answer to 20, so the next up is new world to be won [leverage ot3, rated e]. it features small dick short king eliot. i feel like when people say size kink they are thinking about huge schlongs, and this fic was my way to be like yall get on my level and appreciate. well, that was the intention. while that certainly happened, what im most proud of is how funny the fic is? the summary says a lot about the fic: "Parker and Hardison love a short king… right until, along with Eliot, they have to establish an alternative reality post-French Revolution socialist state in their bed."

16. what’s your most common “additional tags” tag? fanart, submissive eliot spencer (wow i... have published less fic than i thought?? i really have been just drawing drawing drawing huh)

20. which work of yours have you reread the most? absolutely with a love so deep and warm and true [leverage ot3, rated e]. this 55k beast consumed me for months. it began as a short bulletpoint list of, oh what if i wrote about parker sharing beds, won't that be neat. and it just grew and grew and grew. i think the length in and of itself is enough to be proud of. but more than that, i think i really got into parker's head. i really thought about parker's life and presented forty years of characterization and history, that also ties into the expansive world in my head for my of hearth and home series. and i did so while handling some really heavy concepts, most of which i can completely understand why i think most people are hesitant to read it or engage.

while i think i did not come up with wildly original backstory points for parker (meaning, the violence she faced growing up, and her being autistic), i am so proud of how intricately, seriously, and attentively i wove the story. i had so many motifs going, so many emotional tie-ins, that i genuinely think its (to kinda toot my own horn) a smart piece of writing? like, if you look at bre's section, you can tell how much i was thinking about the sections with parker's foster siblings. if you look at how i discuss archie, nate, and parkers foster father, you can see how i always held the three together in dialogue. and tbh the thing im most proud of is that i believe i presented a fully realized, paced story of a survivor of violence reckoning with her trauma. it manifests in different ways, many of which i dont explicitly say besides that they are all written within a single fic. but, idk, i do a lot of work around recovery, healing, and trauma so this really did right by my nonfandom research and writing.

BASICALLY i love this fic and it was so much fucking work and i wrote it for me and it includes all of my most precious headcanons, and there's this one line that eliot whispers to parker to tease her that literally fucking gives me goosebumps with how scandalous it is. i think its sexy and funny and sweet and thoughtful and yEAH IM BRAGGING, LEAVE ME ALONE, i wrote a 55k oneshot omg.

[izartn]

This morning I woke up having dreamt a girl genius fix-it at mechanisburg with gil and tarvek taking point to do whatever with-against Klaus with the help of others in castle wulfenbach while Agatha was with vanamonde fighting for the city and the other factions. It was nice, but uh. Unexpected. Lots of details that have been gone with the pass of the day, but I remember a pizarra and tizas and lots of fuzzy SCIENCE! So.

At siesta I had also a dream about Gil trying to convince people marrying Agatha wouldn't make him a terrible storm king oh no. Pinky swear. Tarvek was, for some reason, arguing that it was good for Gil reputation as the tyrant of Europe. (meanwhile the ot3 was totally happening, so I think this was tarvek trying to get a counselor behind the throne position and his fave people together. dunno it was fuzzy, I was dreaming) (canon the last thing in my mind of course.)

This is bc all the fic I've been reading recently. It won't let me sleep XD that it has manifested in a sort of fix it dream is surprising though. I usually don't directly dream about characters. My own wacky sequences of stories yes, but not from a fandom, usually. Im really obsessed, am I not? Wosh.

[haematicspectre]

Transcription below:

[Transcription of Discord screenshots between zoejay (@ot3) and griffonage.]

zoejay: someday i really should write some krisnix fic i have such a specific vision for them and nobody else is coming even close to what i want 90% of the time my controversial take is i think that they actually liked each other a non-superficial amount and i don't say this to try and make anything better i say this because i personally believe that makes it all much much worse

griffonage: really really intriguing. im curious what the liking each other was or how it manifested bc i think it would actually make things a lot worse but i struggle to conceptualize it as actual affection i tend to fall into the "phoenix isn't in a great place and likes kristoph because kristoph doesnt expect him to be anything more than he is" which IS a form of love i think but its very icky at the same time and i want to expand my worldview

zoejay: for me the way kristoph talks about phoenix makes it seems like kristoph considers him a genuienly worthwhile adversary/intelligent/competent person to some degree, to the point where his life is worth trying to ruin. which i think is the closest kristoph comes to respect or affection. like i think the fact that phoenix is worth so much of kristoph's time is more attachment than kristoph has had to the vast majority of people in his life. and then on the flipside i think this is really validating to phoenix in a lot of ways. like phoenix knows kristoph sucks and he makes him feel like shit but at the end of the day kristoph is like a professional adult phoenix's age who is attractive and wealthy and still considers phoenix to be, like. any kind of company. i think the fact that kristoph is just willing to spend so much time with phoenix endears him to phoenix more than he'd like to admin, because phoenix is kind of just used to people who Bail when they have other shit going on in their life. and phoenix is an insane obsessive freak so even though kristoph's reasons for being Obsessed With Him are bad i think 8yg phoenix would be in a bad enough place that he'd consider the fact that the obsession going on there is mutual is the closest thing to a reciprocal relationship he has any reason to expect from someone, with edgeworth mostly out of the picture. like a sort of 'no attention is bad attention' kind of thing

griffonage: reading this like the haha yes sicko guy

zoejay: i also DO think phoenix is bringing some 'i can fix him' energy into his relationship with kristoph i dont think phoenix had any reason to believe kristoph was a murderer until zak gramarye was killed and up until that point nothing kristoph had really done was that much worse than stuff that edgeworth did or that iris did that phoenix forgave them for

griffonage: youre so right about kristoph respecting him like it really does seem like that from the game dialogue and i havent seen that angle explored in anyhting ive read or seen yet. hmmmmmmmm fascinating… i can fix him energy sjdklfjgkhfkjdhfdkjdkj he would

zoejay: like phoenix in turnabout trump makes it out to apollo like this is the culmination of a long term plan phoenix has had to bring down kristoph but then you see in the flashback stuff in turnabout succession that phoenix literally didn't even remember apollos name the night of the murder but despite not really knowing anything about apollo, he still calls kristoph to represent him there are really only two ways this reads to me

griffonage: i missed that detail!!!!

zoejay:

phoenix, after finding out from zak gramarye that apollo was trucy's brother, took a complete gamble on him and decided to call kristoph's firm specifically to let apollo represent him at the last minute under the assumption that apollo, despite being kristoph's protege, would do the right thing and turn on his mentor

or, what i consider to be much much more likely

phoenix genuinely called kristoph to be his defense attorney s his kneejerk response to getting into trouble, and, in true phoenix fashion, figured out exactly how much shit he was in halfway through and had to scramble at the last minute to turn the situation around like i have spent an obsessive amount of time rereading the scraps of phoenix and kristoph interaction we get in aa4 and it really just seems to me like phoenix legitimately considered kristoph his friend he just seems genuinely upset that he can't figure out why kristoph killed zak gramarye

[quoted text]

Phoenix: For seven years we've been friends… …and yet, I still don't understand you. Kristoph: But Wright, your "friendship" toward me was never pure. …You suspected me then as you still do now, don't you? Phoenix: …Honestly, right now, I'm not sure what I think.

this shit makes me want to kill myself

griffonage: i have to agree that opt. 2 is MUCH more likely i never bought into the "this was all part of my master plan" theory. like oh of course you know, phoenix wright. always prepared never caught off guard. never bluffs

zoejay: RIGHT LIKE

griffonage: oh my god

zoejay: THATS LITERALLY HIS WHOLE THING

griffonage: ooohhhhhhhhhhhh i bet kristoph saying he thought phoenix always suspected him ow

zoejay: [screenshot]

Phoenix: …After that, he was killed. And I asked you to help me. …Because I remembered your kindness back when everyone had turned on me.

phoenix literally says this to kristoph in this scene

[screenshot]

Phoenix: …After that, he was killed. And I asked you to help me. …Because I remembered your kindness back when everyone had turned on me.

griffonage: fuck

zoejay: and it's like. he has zero reason to be lying here because i dont think he'd try to emotionally manipulate kristoph using this avenue i think this is just genuinely how he feels

griffonage: this is. a shakespearean tragedy disguised as a c plot

zoejay: and its like. we know how fucking entrenched phoenix gets with Anyone who is willing to stick their neck out for him even a little. i fully believe he was all in on this and it hurt like shit to have it all down this way i think over the course of the 7yg phoenix was investigating kristoph for fraud/forgery but the fact that he was just capable of both violent, physical, crime of passion murder and then extremely calculated premeditated murder attempts were both kind of completely blindsiding to him

griffonage: YEAH that makes sense listen a little fraud forgery is entirely excusable its fine

zoejay: and it's not until after that shit all gets aired out that he's really able to look back on his relationship with kristoph in retrospect and realize just how manipulative and fucked up a lot of what was happening there was from both sides like i don't think phoenix is self aware enough to question the legitimacy of his own interpersonal fuckery a lot of the time i believe he navigates all of that stuff on pure instinct

griffonage: oh 100%

zoejay: anyway. thats more or less the tldr of my krisnix manifesto

griffonage: i cant imagine he doesnt blame himself for not seeing kristoph for who he truly is either bc like he was probably the closest person to kristoph in the world and all he does for his job is read people and yet. he was blindsided.

zoejay: YES YES EXACTLY EXACTLY LIKE HES LIKE WOW INSTEAD OF STOPPING THIS GUY ROM MURDERING TWO PEOPLE, ORPHANING TWO YOUNG GIRLS, I LET HIM RUN RINGS AROUND ME BECAUSE HE FLATTERED MY EGO AND I WAS LONELY IT WOULD EAT HIM ALIIIIVEEEEEE

griffonage: GOD. YEAH.

zoejay: like knowing that trucy had to have her father die because he couldnt get his act together so fucking nasty to me

griffonage: AWFUL HATE THAT IM EATING IT ANYWAY he cant even say kristoph was this master manipulator who fooled everyone around him either bc there were probably red flags and signs i mean 7 years

zoejay: anyway thats why i need to someone do some sort of krisnix thing because everyone is taking it from a very different angle than i am like i do see his relationship with phoenix as bare minimum extremely unhealthy and easily veering into the territory of emotionally abusive. but i think its very much a boiled frog situation where phoenix wouldn't be able to realize let alone articulate that until after the context of This Man Is A Violent Murderer comes up.

griffonage: i like this version a lot better because theyre both getting something from each other but it's not purely a manipulative thing. its more complex and messy and emotionally involved than that which makes the blowup 1000x worse plus on a character level it is innately tied into phoenix's like…flaws ig its literally giving classical greek tragedy

[End transcription]

okay here are my thoughts on krisnix from my dms with grace last night, for posterity

[zeico]

Nine Mutuals I'd Like to Know Better

Tagged by @un-local

3 Ships

OCXCanon - Like everything I do is this. Idk this is what fuels me. Tbh let me gush about 3 of those here.

Wol/Estinien - My Warrior of Light Ahya is a monk first. She learns the healing arts of the stars later. I want to rewrite first steps of faith where she like grabs on one of the dragon killers and launches herself onto the dragon's back. This actually doesn't work and Ahya injures herself p badly. Like NEEDS time to rest and recover before like... doing her monk shit again. Estinien actually finishes the job of killing the dragon here and is like 'ur reckless wtf was that you're not a dragoon' (would make a good dragoon later. yes he will train her in that way later). But during recovery she studies astromancy to help her own healing. Anyway these 2 are like

Remilia(my sorcerer)/Ennui(dnd npc)/Mordecai(dnd npc) - (yes at this point its ocxocxoc but I love them). 3 nerds together. Remilia learned the divination magic she so craved from Mordecai. She learned a lot of basic survival and like magical creatures from Ennui. And like theres a level of vulnerability Remilia feels she can have with them instead of like current party bc of how she was kjinda dragged in. I've (in character) have been writing letters to them for the whole mission (just over a month in game time)(we aren't even done)(have just 'been gathering allies to stop the cult')(still have to like.... actually do that whole siege sequence)(I BELIEVE IT WILL COME BACK I AM MANIFESTING THIS). Even tho this campaign has been on hiatus for like years I do not care I still think about them. I am a fandom of 1 so I'll keep ship sailing myself if I gotta.

Castlevania OT3 (Alucard/Sypha/Trevor) - I REMEMBERED A CANON CHARACTERS ONE HOLY SHIT. Idk their dynamic was real good in the show that i still gotta finish maybe someday.

Also remembered like D/Rogier, Rogier/Tarnished (there is not enough english fics for my favorite mageboi),

First ship

Dude I have no clue. Prolly like Ed/Winry or like... Hien/Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho. I've been smooshing characters together like dolls for years.

Last Song

So this is Remilia (Vampire Bloodline Sorcerer) asking Bael'eari (High Elven Light Domain Cleric) to come back to Dawnhurst (city where she lives) Notably he worships the sun goddess Zephella. ("Its called DAWNhurst Bael!")

This has been in my mind rent free for past few days and I just am in mad dokis for this elf.

Currently Reading

The last thing I read was Dungeon Meshi. Which is a perfect fusion of my interests in food and fantasy.

Last Film

I...cannot remember tbh.

So last game I played is En-Garde! because its basically a lighthearted videogame version of my rogue in Curse of Strahd. Yes I bought it because her and the main character have basically the same model (my girl only just doesn't wear a hat at this point in time to which the DM showed me the haberdashery's shop inventory)

Currently Craving

Meat. I desire meat cooked over fire preferably on a stick. I want to taste the char. I want to taste the smoke.

I'm too tired to tag people rn if thou wishest to participate please feel free to do so. I doth not have the mind to think of people's names at this time.

[teafiend]

(Disclaimer: full credit to the GIFs creator. I am sorry, but I have no idea who made them, just sharing them. Will properly credit if I have the info. Thank you)

I am repeating myself, but these scenes were hard-hitting and impactful. Beautiful character moments and interactions which stayed on long after the plot had moved on.

These scenes fueled the need for these characters to have a measure of peace and joy after all they have gone through.

(I don’t have any wish for more seasons because the story ended on a hopeful note, and all I could ever want it need. I have no wish to see them go through more cycles of struggles and pain. They already have to live with the pain which will haunt them until the day they die. Why the need for more hurt?)

I admit to wanting more warm/fluffy post-canon fics though, which alas… great authors for the “fandom” prefer the angst/suffering 😰 No matter, am very grateful or each and every story created for this wonderful, if tiny, fandom. Thank you.

[editoress]

the gay pirate flag show~, legend of zelda, unsounded, suitor armor, star wars + pick your poison

From this most dangerous ask prompt. Salt for each under the cut. Half thoughtful attention to my favorite medias and half proof that I'm simply contrary.

Our Flag Means Death

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

Sadly, fandom has largely trashed my appreciation for Steddyhands (the ot3, you know). When I first saw it, I was instantly intrigued! They looked so happy; I wanted to know more! But the majority of what I found at the time was 'perfectly healthy Ed/Stede where they have to housetrain that awful Izzy,' and that was such a turn-off. I have found just enough good content since that I don't immediately scroll past the stuff, but it remains dire out here.

19. What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

It's the deadly combo of the way people make Izzy out to be the very devil with the way they make BLACKBEARD out to be an uwu sad boy who can't help his own actions. This comes as a package deal more often than not, and I can't stand any of it. Can't they just be a couple of homicidal assholes?

Legend of Zelda

16. If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

This Hylia and Demise stuff? Would be gonzo. Wind Waker probably had one of the best, most heartbreaking approaches to the cycle, and I want to keep canon along those lines. Less ancient spirits manifesting as people to duke out their cosmic battle. More people born into roles they struggle to understand and resist. Zelda as a smart woman who questions her own destiny. Ganondorf as a Gerudo, in a way where that context informs his actions, not where he's just some incarnated demon disguised as a Gerudo.

Unsounded

13. Unpopular opinion about XXX character?

DUANE ADELIER FUCKS. HE FUCKED THEN AND HE FUCKS NOW. AND I WOULD FUCK HIM

11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Probably all of them. Cope just makes baller characters that I love to see, excepting the occasional 2D hate-target like Starfish. In particular: people can't wrap their minds around Bastion's mad scientist morality, but the fact is he's fantastic both as a character and as an entertaining, badass drama queen; and several people got nasty at Leysa for remarrying, but she ALWAYS has my full support. She's always done what makes sense for her, and she is full of love.

Suitor Armor

7. Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?

Honestly? The protagonist is on thin ice. And it's not because she's a bad character; I'm having a great time writing Lucia in my ongoing fic. It's the protagonist bias in the story. We get so few scenes away from her, because only what Lucia does matters, yet she does so little. It's a slow court romance story. Not a lot of plot. Which is fine, but it means following one person around gets boring, and giving a single person all the narrative weight in a fantasy court setting is a weird move. Most of all, I'm getting impatient with the way the narrative supports everything she does as absolutely correct, no consequences to be found.

23. Unpopular character you love?

The villain, of course! Every single time he shows up, I think of the line, "Have you thanked a villain for your plot today?" He's fun. He has style. But most importantly, he's carrying the plot on his back and I'm grateful for some juicy conflict in between the scenes of pining. A lot of fans hate him because they think a cartoon guy should be judged on real life morality. You've seen the type of fan

Star Wars

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

I never hated Reylo, but fandom definitely cannonballed me from casually liking it to actively, deeply enjoying it. 99% of my dash became utterly obnoxious whining about how Reylo, the basic baby's first enemies-to-lovers, was scandalously abusive, etc. Out of annoyance, I really dug into the themes and AUs, and I super enjoyed myself!

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

If I ever meet Dave Filoni and His Cronis, they will all pay for the pacifist Mandalore arc.

[teafiend]

The rotting threads of destiny which bound them together. The OT3 of my heart ❤️‍🔥

      Gil Young, Choi Yoon, Hwa Pyung finally confronted each other about their tragic past.

[darkfinch]

in honor of me having a chronic pain flare up so bad i cried during math, i want to talk abt the ot3 and how they hold/cope with their pain.

hardison is the heart of the whole thing, so ofc he tries to make things for his people when he's hurting, to sorta assure himself that he can still be useful/be worth their attention. as much as i rant abt parker and eliot, hardison 100% has inferiority issues that manifest in Making Things. so he makes stuff to subtly convince people to stay.

parker is more of the person to run from their pain. or in their case, literally hide away where no one can find them. at the very least parker will pull away from their boys and almost burrow?? like yk how foxes make tiny dens to hide in?? they do it Like That. when they're ready they'll come back out but i feel like parker needs the security of knowing they can leave.

eliot doesn't acknowledge his pain. he def ignores it until he absolutely has to or until it interferes with a mission/job. it was trained into him to ignore it and now he just does it out of habit. it's canon to me that sophie sat eliot down and made him verbally catalogue everywhere that hurt after seeing him wince just so that he could be Aware of what was going on in his body. eliot is protection-based but he never learned how to protect himself. if that makes sense???

as a spoonie i have a Lot of thoughts abt the ot3 and how they'd handle their pain plus this gives me a distraction

dorian!!!!! i'm so sorry ur having to deal with that my dude, flare-ups when you're stuck somewhere are the absolute worst.

these are SUCH good thoughts...in my heart hardison has adhd so i really like the idea of him being like..."okay well i feel like garbage so lets make somethin cool for my people :) as a distraction :) to cheer me up & not feel like im wasting time etc" except he. the. the executive function button broke and the flare up is getting worse and he cannot stop typing, uh oh, uh oh, and parker has to drag him over to the couch because it's Lie Down Time

parker dropping off the face of the earth to curl up in a comfy tiny space when they're hurting is a Lot and i am Feeling things. it makes them feel safe but also!!! this tracks and im upset about it.

also !!!!!!! yes!!!!!!!! eliot does enough first aid for maintenance (gotta keep the body Functional At All Costs) but long-term stuff gets ignored because like. whats he gonna do. take an advil? what's that gonna do? he'd need enough otc painkillers to shred his stomach lining and the problem'll still be there tomorrow so like. might as well just suck it up

there's a very good fic called Make it look like you don't mean it by andalucite where eliot's in the habit of tuning out injuries, and parker pokes him directly in his busted ribs to Draw His Attention To It and make him take care of himself.... which u may perhaps enjoy :)

as i fellow spoonie i too have the Thoughts and they are a Lot To Think About thank u for sharing <3

[marzipanandminutiae]

13, 25, 24?

13. favorite writing song/artist/album of this year

I have a whole playlist on my phone called "beware of," with songs that have Fandom Vibes to me at the moment:

Li'l Red Riding Hood (Amanda Seyfried)

You Belong To Me (Cat Pierce)

Butterfly (Christina Perry)

Poison and Wine (The Civil Wars)

Still Here (Digital Daggers)

Rose Red (Emilie Autumn)

Castle Down (Emilie Autumn- I titled a fic after this one)

Your Guardian Angel (Fatin Majidi cover)

No Light, No Light (Florence + the Machine)

Bedroom Hymns (Florence + the Machine)

Howl (Florence + the Machine)

Counting Stars (Gardiner Sisters cover, ft. Kuha'o Case)

Tainted Love (Hannah Peel cover)

Like Lovers Do (Hey Violet)

Wolf Like Me (Lera Lynn cover, ft. Shovels and Rope)

Monster (Meg Myers)

Keep Your Heart Broken (The Rasmus)

Apres Moi (Regina Spektor)

War of Hearts (Ruelle)

Can't Help Falling In Love (Tommee Profitt cover)

Ship to Wreck (Veer Gilder cover)

The Hymn of Acxiom (Vienna Teng)

Holy (Zolita)

Touch (Daughter)

24. favorite fic you read this year

Oh geez, that's really hard. It's not exactly my favorite, but The Cherry Hung With Snow has become my comfort fic. How a modern rock star AU with an extremely different tone than canon took on that role for me, when I'm normally all about the High Victwardian Gothic Drama, I have no idea. But it is a very good story, as well as the only modern AU in the tag and the longest OT3 work I've yet found. 89 chapters and still going.

25. a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read

who manifest their presences by shadows, by marypsue. Just a great, solid ghost story oneshot, with a splash of reincarnation AU. love it so much

Send me a number from this list of fanfic asks.