#may his reputation be as silly as his backstory

[hearthdraws]

Meet the wonderful Metronome Metchagnome! He is a bard I'm playing for Waterdeep Dragon Heist! He has 8 intelligence and is ready to charm his way through life!

[acidistyping]

Why Jiang Cheng is more like Shen Jiu than Liu Qingge: An Essay

1. Anger

All three characters are almost completely defined by their anger or aggressive natures. Both jc and lqg have similar expressions of their anger: they attack and lash out with their weapons and shout and yell. Their anger is loud. Sj's anger is quieter, more passive aggressive than explosive. He won't unsheathe Xiu Ya but will rather lash out with scathing words and insults. However, despite the difference in outward expression, sj and jc's anger serves the same purpose: a shield/mask to hide behind and protect their true emotions with. Lqg's anger doesn't serve a purpose like jc and sj's. His anger simply is.

Both jc and sj have, notably chosen, older brother figures that broke a promise to them and that they feel betrayed by, giving both deep abandonment and trust issues. For jc, it is Wei Wuxian and him leaving the Jiang Sect in order to protect the Wen remnants in the Burial Grounds. For sj, that's Yue Qingyuan and him not coming back in time to rescue sj from the Qiu household. It can be argued that Yue Qingyuan didn't break his promise as he did try, but sj didn't know that. In contrast, lqg is the older brother in his family and seems to have a good relationship with his younger sibling.

2. Older Brother Figures

3. Fire

Both jc and sj have fire and their "homes" being burned down as significant features in their backstories. For jc, that's the Wen's burning down Lotus Pier. For sj, that's him burning down the Qiu estate. Different circumstances, yes, but significant nonetheless. While we know little of lqg's backstory, fire is likely not a significant factor.

4. Villain

At least in the English speaking side of mdzs and svsss, both jc and sj are not widely liked or held in high regard. If you only take the protagonists' at their word and don't consider how the narrators may be unreliable, biased, or have missing information, you will likely see both of them as villains or at least antagonists within their respective stories. They're characters that, if you like them, you tend to sympathize with them and look at story events from their perspectives rather than from the perspective of our protagonists.

5. Rumours

Both jc and sj are the subjects of horrible rumours within their respective stories. While jc's, regarding him torturing demonic cultivators, are unknown if they're true or false, we have nothing to confirm they are and sj's rumours were proven false once Shen Yuan learned more about him. Regardless of the truth of the rumours, neither contested the rumours themselves and instead let them fester, possibly for strategetic reasons. Neither seems to mind ruining their own reputations if it will benefit something or someone else.

6. Cats

In fandom content, both are often compared to cats and portrayed with a hot/cold personality. They both are fairly prickly, deeply distrust other people, and tend to keep to themselves.

7. Ships

Both have fairly popular ships pairing them with one of the most powerful cultivators of their generations who wears a lot of white, are sect leaders, and whose sects are located on mountains. Yes, this is a silly reason but why not.

8. Demonic Cultivation

Both have ties to notable demonic cultivators of their worlds, though their situations are different. Sj with his time "studying" under Wu Yanzi and jc with Wei Wuxian. They also are notably said to have killed these demonic cultivators, though jc didn't actually do so while sj did.

—

I think lqg and jc get compared because people see them both as tsunderes, but i don't think there's anything tsundere about lqg at all actually. Lqg doesn't necessarily deny his feelings, he just doesn't always confess them in words either

[whosthere54]

Ok ok ok Royal au Royal au ararararah

now to yap about my Royal au cause I’m normal. (Longer post- I just infodump about my AU basically-)

So what I have in drafts is all mainly brothers or prison duo centric, as if you know my fics I usually write from Icarus’s perspective on things. The main ships I would be focusing on are ghaae, nightingstar, Wolftross, and then prison duo- but I have cameos of all of the cannon ships of course. I’m gonna kind of just go through and explain roles of my main guys tho- so hope you like this as a sort of starting summary? I guess?

Icarus is the crown prince of the gilded kingdom. Basically the other full representative of the overworld who’s not Fable. Basically, they are heir to the throne, have to maintain a public image, help Fable out with royal duties and pretty much prepare to be the next monarch to ensure a smooth transition if “mortal king Fable” passes away. (He can’t die- I’ll get to that maybe- but yknow. God.)

I’ll talk about Isla and things later in this post, so I won’t mention it now- but yeah. Icarus is the only heir to the gilded kingdom.

Centross is Icarus’s bodyguard (yes I’m going down that road for the prison duo content. I’m so unpredictable /silly/sarc/lh) Royal guard? Close enough probably. Which- idk if I have to get into what he does. I think you can assume. Protection stuff. He was a former assassin, having used to work with Enderian. I’m doing a cliche maybe- but- yknow- he was sent to kill Icarus, ended up unable to do so… so now he’s a bodyguard for them instead of going back to Enderian. (There’s probably a promise of mutual protection somewhere- I’m sure Icarus would not have let Fable give them a bodyguard before then, and when he did they’d make it everyone’s problem- instead wanting to prove they could protect themself. There’s something there. Yeah.)

Wolftross is yes a thing, I think they were probably together for a while- maybe not long after he first became a royal guard. At Icarus’s request, he can visit Fenris whenever he wants probably. Easton replaces him when he’s gone (even after he became blind- at Icarus’s request he will continue that role. They trust him- and he’s capable.)

In the one thing I wrote, I gave him end features as well. I’m moreso debating on that- but I think it’d be a cool thing as a byproduct of being one of Enderian’s closest advisors and trusted assasin. Or- I give them to him later when he gets to be god. He gets them at some point- for me.

Rae is the crown prince of the end kingdom- full representative of the end that is not Enderian. I’d think she gives him more freedom than Icarus gets from fable, her being the end mother she is. She did have the same I guess cruel past that she does in cannon- I’m trying to figure out how I’m translating s1 into this AU still, and maybe you’ll get a oneshot of that eventually. Atleast the prison arc- of course. He left the gilded kingdom (either with Isla, or later on his own I have drafts for. But- probably with Isla) and lived with Isla for a bit- she runs for help from soul and things like in cannon and she helps hide them for a bit. Though- Isla ends up having Rae stay with Enderian. She probably stays as long as she can without compermising Rae’s safety, but maybe gets caught by Fable eventually.

Fenris is Rae’s bodyguard. He is a former general for the Nether’s army, just like in cannon. (I have to rewatch some of his lore before confidently talking about how he gets to become Rae’s bodyguard, so I’m sorry I won’t have too much info at the moment <3)

He becomes Rae’s bodyguard later- Enderian probably heard of his reputation as “the wolf” and hired him. (May try to include the wolf arc- but am again, trying to figure out how to integrate it.)

Now- basic plot summary? Something of the sort? Yeah. Some random details too cause I have no one train of thought ever and am just writing whatever I think of down. /lh

So for some backstory- Islas story is basically the same as in lore. But it changes for that bit after Rae was born just to adhere to the different circumstances Royal AU brings to the table. So, Rae grows a bit before Isla takes him and runs in this AU- he’s older, couldn’t tell you how old (age is a lie/silly/j) but just. A child. She notices how he’s being treated by Fable, takes him and leaves. She doesn’t take Icarus. There’s a lot of consideration for that fact- of course there is. Their her child. But- they’re not close, Fable makes sure of that. They spend most of their time with him, and their his heir after all. Their disappearance would be the worst to explain. So she doesn’t take them with her.

She takes Rae, and over the course of a few years- stays in a sort of safe house like in cannon, learns the things she does there, goes to soul for help, all that stuff. But she ends up taking Rae to Enderian, he becomes crown prince. She stays with them until it compromises Rae’s safety. Fable finds her, she doesn’t give away that she’d stayed with Enderian and that stays secret for a long time. Fable finds her, messes with her memories and things (he’s messed with Icarus’s too at this point- probably erasing Rae entirely) end she goes into a coma. He locks her away, Icarus doesn’t even know she’s here- and ends up having no memories of her anyways. Only fable knows where she’s locked away. Some tower in the castle sleeping beauty style probably.

Rae grows up in the end kingdom, Icarus grows up in the overworld.

Rae meets Caspian in the end prison- advocating for his freedom and things. He gets him a place in the end kingdom, and they get together at a peaceful festival in the overworld. That is an annual festival- Rae meets aax and takes her there too. He and Cas talk- and probably end up asking Aax out there too- making a whole day out of it probably. It’s a tradition for them, after all.

Aax lives with Cas, and Rae stays with them on weekends? Mayhaps? Something like that. He’s allowed to visit them whenever.

I like to think maybe Cas helps Athena and Bruin run the bakery on occasion. Bed and breakfast. Idk. Rae is definelty still the taste tester on Aax safe foods. And also a waiter on opening day for multiple reasons- one, it’s funny- two, yknow. Royal press. Media(?) purposes. Yknow what I mean hopefully.

Also- end kingdom I think had parts in the overworld and end? Like- overworld has the stronghold portal as the center and then made a kingdom around that, and then there’s an end part of the kingdom. This was probably a result of a peace treaty Isla had led years before between the realms after the war. Because badass mother deserves it. But to explain that- yeah. I think the Nether doesn’t- but has a trading hub spreading through portals and things. Yknow. Just not kingdom- I think the overworld is still more cold to people from the nether so. No kingdom. But portals can be made anywhere instead of having just one like the end, so that makes sense.

Gilded kingdom is just the biggest kingdom in the overworld areas we know- as Fable is the god of creation. I just have cool ideas for kingdom designs. May build them in Minecraft actually who knows- (if I do I will in fact post the pictures)

The Aether kingdom was a thing for souls and stuff as it was in cannon, but fell the same way. Alerion and Will live peacefully in one of the overworld kingdoms living normal lives away from everything, as they deserve.

A lot of the fable characters probably lives in the overworld, and just travel between realms.

Athena’s house probably has an area like his lab, where half is in the overworld and half is in the nether. If not, maybe their bed and breakfast- or atleast she has some nether bakery locations maybe with nether specific treats! Cause I think they deserve it and I just think it’d be cool.

Will has a cartographers shop in his village- like a cartographer villager type thing.

Rae has his archives he runs in his kingdom, there are two- one in the overworld part and one in the nether.

Starbarks definelty exists, does Fenris cannonly in this AU run all of the businesses he runs in actual cannon? Probably not. Do they exist? Probably.

Ven works as a close advisor for Fable, and Ari is hired as a knight or general of a sort for fable. Maybe more like a spy. Cat scratch records exist probably.

The world sisters do exist, most likely- (logistically if this was like a alternate “fable raises Icarus AU” they probably wouldn’t but I can do what I want and I say they’re here cause I love them- /silly)

Addie- Addie idk- maybe they work on like a night shift for the archives? Or like as an intern.

Ulysses- idk where to put Ulysses. Oh you silly fish man you. I will incorporate all the telchin stuff, definetly, I think just think of the cannon lore for that one.

Also- Quixis is there somewhere. Probably not in the same way for plot- but gotta include them in every au somehow /silly

Yeah. Royal AU. I’m eepy so I shut up- but hope you like my rambling ig idk-

I didn’t realize y’all enjoyed this au that much- I appreciate all the excitement about it /gen tehe <3

[offorestsongs]

OC INTRODUCTION ❣ ROSIENNE MINUIT (ver. 2.0)

BASIC INFORMATION

full name 🥀Rosienne Minuit nicknames 🥀Rosie (friends), Cherry Barb (Floyd), Prince du les Epines (Rook) species 🥀human height 🥀176 cm age 🥀18 y/o birthday 🥀10.08 gender 🥀male (he/him) sexuality 🥀bisexual hometown 🥀Shaftlands dorm 🥀Pomefiore class 🥀3-C club 🥀Newspaper Club favorite subject 🥀ancient magic dominant hand 🥀right talent 🥀graphic design hobby 🥀reading, journaling favorite food 🥀bubble tea, anything cherry flavored least favorite food 🥀tomato soup pet peeve 🥀 people who care too much about their appearance

PERSONALITY

A lover, a hater, a sweetheart and a bitch. Rosienne is definitely one of the nicer people at Night Raven College, or at least he definitely seems that way. He's energetic, has a flair for the dramatic, is very talkative (some say - overly so) and incredibly extroverted. No matter the circumstances, he's always ready to strike up a conversation and make new friends. He likes giving other people advice and helping them with their problems, though he often tends to disregard the wishes of the people he tries to help as he's often convinced he's the one in the right, no matter what. Despite that, his advice is actually often pretty good.

Because of his signature spell, he tends to treat other people's emotions as nothing more than a silly game.

Stubborn as a mule. If he sets his mind on something, there's nothing that could persuade him to abandon his goals, no matter how silly and stupid it may be. Has many, many hills he's ready to die on and will happily do so. His anger issues are almost legendary — he gets angry quickly, often at stupid things, and is willing to fight everyone anytime (verbally or not).

At the end of the day, a lot of the way he acts is just a front he puts up. He's a deeply emotional and insecure person. He uses his confidence to cover up for the fact that he often feels too stupid or childish amongst other people and that he always expects to be mocked for it. When he's being loud or dramatic, it's only an attempt to make others like him. While a hopeless romantic at heart, he long stopped believing that he will ever find his true love and so he focuses on other people's love life as a way to live vicariously through them.

SIGNATURE SPELL -> Kiss of True Love ; it allows him to feel other people's emotions. Since it doesn't use up a lot of magic, he tends to use it as a sort of a party trick and doesn't see any issue with prying into people's personal feelings without their consent.

BACKSTORY

Grew up in an old castle. Located on a hill, in a pretty rural area — the closest human settlement was a small village — the castle, called the Midnight Palace by the locals, was in the Minuit family for generations. According to the legend, it was the very palace where the Beautiful Princess had fallen in love with her cursed lover, and that over the course of time it had ended up in the hands of one of the families who had worked there as servants. Now while a small part of it serves as a place to live for Rosienne and his family, most of it has been turned into a tourist attraction that has been managed by the Minuits for generations.

Rosienne's parents divorced when he was still little — his mother couldn't handle living in such a place, away from people. Rosienne stayed with his father, as the two of them were always close. He loved living in the castle, the mysterious atmosphere of it, and he would always help his dad run the businesses, often acting as the guide or dressing up to entertain the tourists.

While his home life was a quite happy one, his school life — not so much. He always felt out of place with the other kids. Too loud, too enthusiastic, too focused on his books and daydreams, too weird. His reputation as the "creepy castle kid" didn't help him much.

Over the years he had learned how to act in order to get accepted by his peers — turn his awkwardness into something funny, become just quirky instead of weird — but oftentimes, it was still not enough. He still couldn't find close friends and as he entered his teenage years, the problem of relationships arose. He had always dreamed about finding his own fairy tale love, but as his classmates were finding their first adolescent romances, all of that seemed to simply... pass him by. If anything, people would only ask him out as a joke. Was he not as pretty as the other people? Did he need to be?

Coming to Night Raven College was supposed to be a new beginning for Rosienne. In a place where no one knew him, he could become a different person, finally become popular and find his only and real true love.

Well. With varying degrees of success.

Rosienne's hometown event -> The Rose Festival

RELATIONSHIPS

Lysander [OC] — since Lysander spends so much time at Pomefiore and is close friends with Vil, the two of them were bound to interact quite often. Lysander is often suitably intimidated by Rosienne, but he appreciates the fact that Rosienne seems to know so much about the other students and often finds it useful. Meanwhile Rosienne thinks Lysander is both cute and fun to tease, especially when it comes to Lysander’s crush on a certain hunter (Rosienne is their #1 shipper). They're quite good friends, even if sometimes Lysander wishes that Rosienne would stop commenting on his love life so much.

Vil Schoenheit — it was hate at first sight. Rosienne thought Vil was nothing more than a spoiled brat, somebody vain and shallow, who only cares about conventional beauty standards, and happily told him so, on the first day of classes no less. They would often clash and argue, and their little back-and-forth had became famous around the school. Over time though, Rosienne had realised that he had horribly misjudged Vil and the two of them had managed to put their differences aside and actually become close friends. Vil had helped Rosienne a lot with gaining more self confidence and finding his own style. And so of course Rosienne had to go and ruin their friendship by falling in love. He's angry at himself for catching feelings because well, there's no way someone like Vil would ever return his feelings, right? Right?

Rook Hunt — the two of them have been friends ever since their freshman year. Rosienne had found Rook different and interesting, and he liked the way Rook talked about beauty. Unfortunately, Rosienne's type is just "people who are nice to him", which means that he quickly caught feelings which only served to drive the divide between Rosienne and Vil deeper, as Rosienne was plain old jealous of Vil and the way Rook talked about him. While Rosienne is past any romantic feelings now, they're still close friends now and often walk around school gossiping about something in french.

Epel Felmier — Epel reminds Rosienne a lot of himself when he was younger, and as so, he has a soft spot of the boy. During the events of book 5 Epel would often go to Rosienne to vent his frustrations, as Rosienne seemed the most like an "uninvolved third party". Unfortunately for him, it often quickly turned into Rosienne trying to give him dating advice. After all, is there something sweeter than true love?

Lilia Vanrouge — Rosienne was always drawn to people who seem, well, different. He always thought that Lilia was cool and interesting, he just wasn't sure how to approach somebody like that. Somehow it was the fae who approached Rosienne first, probably sensing Rosienne's interest and finding it amusing. They're pretty good friends and Lilia is about the only person whose advice Rosienne is actually willing to listen to.

Cater Diamond — the two of them had meet during their entrance ceremony and quickly found common ground. They would've probably became friends if not for Rosienne's insistence to pry into other people's affairs. Cater wasn't happy to find out that Rosienne is using his signature spell on him, while Rosienne couldn't understand what Cater's angry about — Rosienne just sensed that there's something bothering him and wanted to help, alright? Two years later and Rosienne still can't let the topic drop. He thinks Cater is making fuss out of nothing and that everything would be over and done with if he would only let Rosienne help him.

playlist -> click!

TRIVIA

has a column in the school's newspaper where he gives love adivce to anonymous students writing in

also does a lot of the graphic design for the newspaper

while he loves reading in general, he's particularly obsessed with trashy romance novels

has ADHD + dyslexia

has an interest in perfumes, likes matching them to people

instantly loves anything heart shaped

doesn't really use much social media besides whatever fantasy version of Pinterest there is

doesn't really watch movies unless they're awful rom-coms

scared of thunderstorms

his sense of style leans more feminine, wears dresses and skirts whenever he can

first time he tried to dye his hair, he asked Lilia for help, who swapped the hair dye as a joke — Rosienne ended up telling everyone that yes, the green was on purpose, thank you very much

like Rook, he can speak french

cries really easily, especially when he's angry and hates that

has trouble telling left from right

WRITING

headcanons; thornqueen relationship timeline orange peel theory

fics; stubborn heart stormy nights

CARDS

[SSR] Union Birthday [SR] The Hat Extravaganza (fan event) [SSR] Ghost Groom (fan event) [SSR] The Rose Festival (fan event)

dividers.

[tis-the-marmot]

Does Varimar favor magic then? Since she grew up around the college of Winterhold. Does she have any particular friendships with the students? Like a BFF?

Getting to talk about Varimar's personal life feels so great, these asks really make my day, thank you so much ♡♡

My reply will be long so it's all under the cut

First of all yes you got that right, Varimar's a skilled mage in some schools of magic such as conjuration and destruction, but utterly incapable in others like illusion :')

Since conjuration has a particularly low reputation she tends to hide her powers around people that might judge her, only summoning Daedra or reanimating corpses in cases of emergencies.

So while she's mainly a conjurer she generally sticks to destruction magic, more specifically shock spells.

As for her friendships with the other students I have a very clear backstory in mind.

I've always imagined that the three apprentices from the main questline - so Brelyna, Onmund and J'zargo - have applied to the College quite recently, but before them there were the missing apprentices from Phinis Gestor's unfinished sidequest: Yisra, Rundi, Borvir and Ilas-Tei. Not much is said about them in game so I thought, why not expand their roles and turn them into Varimar's former college besties?

They all used to spend a lot of time together practicing magic, doing funny little failed experiments or hanging out at the inn :3 Rundi and Borvir were her drinking buddies, Ilas-Tei was this little troublemaker who often tried to involve Vari in her shenanigans and Yisra was not only Varimar's close friend, but also her girlfriend for a period. Eventually they had to break up because Vari realised she's ace and, well, let's just say their physical intimacy levels were incompatible gshdnshshs. However even after their break-up they still stayed on good terms.

Even when the gang wasn't at the College they all used to keep in touch by writing letters to each other. When Varimar stopped receiving them she sensed that something was wrong and she later finds out that they all died for different causes, just like in the sidequest. :(

Varimar has also known Enthir since her early days at the College but their relationship has always been rather shaky and they used to bicker a lot. It's only after obtaining Gallus' journal during the Thieves Guild's questline that they're able to make up :3

As for Brelyna, Onmund and J'zargo, like I said before, Varimar meets them later in the story. She befriends Brelyna first, immediately followed by Onmund, meanwhile it takes just a little bit longer to get to know J'zargo. They're a bit younger than Vari and they remind her of her old squad, so she kind of takes them under her wing and helps them practice with magic :> When the time comes for Vari to go to Labyrinthian and retrieve the Staff of Magnus, Brelyna, Onmund and J'zargo decide to go with her and they all defeat Morokei together (in a very funny way if I may add but that's a whole different story)

Without going into detail that's generally it when it comes to the students, but Varimar has a strong bond with some of the teachers too, mainly Phinis and Tolfdir. When she was just a kid her horrible, horrible caretaker had led Vari to believe that simply having a good aptitude for conjuration would've made her an evil person dreaded and hated by everyone, and once she got accepted in the College, Phinis' help and his lessons were crucial to disprove this belief. Meanwhile Tolfdir was more like a silly little grandpa to her, he tried so hard to make her feel at home during her first days at the College, when Vari was still very nervous and scared 🥺

Obviously Varimar interacts with all the other members of the College as well, but their relationships are much more superficial or not fully fleshed out yet, so I don't have much to say about them atm :'D

[stobinesque]

I am interested in more information about "flag the play"

flag the play is The One in Which Steve Gets to Flag This TIme! It'll be a 5 + 1 fic from Eddie's POV of 5 times Steve flagged +1 time Eddie acted on it. The original idea for the fic was meant to just be a lil silly and smutty, but then my brain started generating Lore and Backstory and it grew legs and spun out into an unmanageable beast.

I do have some snippets and ideas written out for this upon revisiting the doc I apparently already have five thousand words of this thing written?? there is a good chance about half of that gets scrapped between now and whenever I start working on it in earnest. I'm not going to resume actively working on it until wigwag and possibly even Wayfinder are finished drafting because it's gonna span the time a few months post-s3 to a few months past season 4

here's a snippet that may or may not make it to the final version:

Even if he is gay or bi or whatever, why in the world is he flagging in public in Hawkins, Indiana on a weekday afternoon. And look, alright, Eddie can hear the hypocrisy. But, the case remains that even if the only people clocking him are fellow queers, the implications of being known are much different for Steve than they are for Eddie. Everyone already knows Eddie is a freak. And while the couple of clandestine hookups he's had with locals had all been discreet, knowledge of a former king of the realm's queerness would be worth its weight in gold. And maybe Eddie should simply conclude that Dustin Henderson is correct and that Steve Harrington—against all odds—really has changed. Has changed so much that he's knowingly flagging his interest in gay sexual acts in public, seemingly without care for the potential (further) hit to his (already rather battered) reputation. Except that even if he allows himself to make the giant leap of faith, and suspension of disbelief required to accept that Steve Harrington might like having sex with men, he would then have to go through the whole process again to accept exactly what Harrington is flagging for.

(ask me about my WIPs!)

[madebymaryssa]

Some silly thoughts

You know what can be fun? Assessing things based on criteria which the original thing was never meant to fill. 

To that end, I present ... 

Three Barbie Princess Movies In Descending Order Of How Able I Feel To Respect The Characters As Politicians 

3. The Princess And The Pauper 

The princess’ tutor-slash-love-interest recruits her doppelganger to impersonate her, to thwart the queen’s Evil Advisor’s plan to ... restore economic prosperity by giving back the gold he stole. 

There’s a fun post talking about how easily this movie could be redone with Preminger as a hero. His whole evil plot was basically Robin Hood with extra steps. 

1, steal gold out of the royal mine, slowly enough to not be obvious sabotage rather than the mine naturally running out. 

2, go on a journey to provide a backstory to a sudden mysterious fortune. 

3, marry into the royal family, thus having the status to make policy decisions directly rather than just advising on them, and distribute wealth to the people, saving the kingdom’s economy (after ruining it) and creating a legacy as a hero. 

It explicitly says during the opening narration that the queen wanted to consult with Preminger about the looming economic crisis, but couldn’t because he was out of town! If he’d only delayed his trip or been back sooner, he could’ve made his proposal before it even occurred to her to betroth the princess to a neighbouring king instead! 

Yes the big problems were the lying and the kidnapping and the attempted murder, but only the lying was part of his original plan. 

To be fair to Julian, all he knew at the start was that the princess went missing under suspicious circumstances. 

Anyway, the queen in this movie seems to have a decent grip on things, trying to address a problem before it becomes a crisis. Political marriages go against modern sensibilities but are a historically established thing and therefore understandable in the setting. 

Still. Just abdicate and let Preminger have the crown he wants so badly. 

2. The Island Princess 

A prince falls in love with a castaway, to the dismay of his parents and the mother of his arranged fiancée. Said would-be mother-in-law is also planning to kill off his family in revenge for her family getting banished the last time they tried to kill his family. 

This movie. This. Freaking. Movie. I love Luciana dearly, but every other royal in this movie is SO DUMB. 

Ro’s animals may have brought a sleeping sickness from their island, which is now affecting the local animals? Better throw them all in the dungeon without even asking whether Ro knows of a possible treatment! 

I blame the guard, not the royal family, for dismissing Ro when she tries to tell him she knows a cure, but the king and queen - or, the prince’s scientist friend - really should have asked before that point. The scriptwriters could then have Ro thrown into the dungeon after she makes the ‘baseless accusation’ that Queen Ariana poisoned all the animals.

And I get it, I get that the king wanted to marry off his son before the boy could elope or just run away to sea, but the middle of a health crisis was not the time to be throwing a royal wedding! 

They didn’t know the animals were poisoned! They should’ve had the capital region (or however far the 'sickness’ had reached) quarantined so that the sickness didn’t spread to the livestock of isolated areas, neighbouring kingdoms, and trading partners! 

Priorities are deeply skewed. 

1. Princess Charm School 

The most extreme offender on this list. Not necessarily for specific events, but for part of the premise of the setting: 

Why are other kingdoms letting a foreign school decide whether their heirs to the throne are fit for coronation? 

On some level, I get how failure to graduate could raise questions about an heir’s fitness to claim the throne. The school is a good networking site, and not graduating would hurt your reputation amongst your peers and thus your connections. Also, ages are unclear, so I’m not sure if the school is a metaphor for high school or for college, but either way, dropping out or being expelled might lower public trust in the young royal’s intelligence and/or self-discipline. 

But they could have kept the graduation scene at the movie’s climax without making it a coronation scene for anyone besides Delancey.  

And speaking of Delancey ... “Once I’m crowned, Gardenia is mine for life”? Um, no? There’s this little thing called ‘abdication’ that a ruler can do. If there’s no precedent for it in your country, you could set that precedent. 

I guess they could’ve done a scene where it turns out Delancey literally does not know what abdication is because her mom hid the concept from her in order to keep her as a puppet queen, but that probably would’ve gone a bit over the heads of the target audience. 

Great school for poise, not so much for politics.

[nikkoliferous]

#Even casual MCU fans might not be aware of Loki’s backstory#esp if they haven’t seen any Thor movies!#so the ​thousands of words of meta are irrelevant in this case#meta via @babygirlthor

with all due respect, it's not "casual MCU fans" being described in the original confession; it's the reputation of Loki fans specifically that is being besmirched, on the basis that we forgive him too easily purely because he's white and pretty. I don't see how that's not reducing his fans to silly, racist white girls who just want to fuck Tom Hiddleston.

and again, this claim actively erases the many POC fans who have connected with his story, which inherently has racial themes. while the racism Loki faces in-universe may not be "real" (whatever that means), the racism that those fans who have connected with him on that basis face is very much real. and it's offensive to see those fans erased time and time again simply because they don't fit into a certain convenient narrative. as @lotus-eyedindiangoddess has said elsewhere on this post, erasing/ignoring the fantastically-racist elements of Loki's story is not combating white supremacy; it's upholding it.

[high-dragon-bait]

What do half-elfs look like in your canon?

I know the game actual canon says a a child with a human parent and a elf one will have fully human ears, but I have seen plenty of people ignoring that (and I prefer that) and making their ears show their elf blood

So, what do your half-elf people's ears look like?

PS: Now that I write the last part I notice how silly this sounds

So. For me it's kind of complicated

For a long time I just did D&D style half-elves for them and sometimes I still will because I like half-elves and I'm a genetics nerd and the "human traits literally always just eat the elven traits regardless of circumstance because human traits are just THAT DOMINANT" makes my brain scream.

BUT

If we are not going by science, and are instead going by the theory that elves are made elves by some magical effect found only in elf blood that is canceled out by human blood, making all the children appear human, THEN I'm willing to play with it a little more. Right now, going off of that, this is my favorite interpretation

I'm playing with the idea that yes, physically, there are no half-elves in the Dragon Age universe, you either look elven or human and never a combo of the two AND yes, if a human and an elf have a child, it usually comes out looking human BUT. Not always, and a human can in fact give birth to an elven child

Thing is, even if the elf-blooded child is born human, that elven blood does not go away, it's still there, just "shut off." Elven blood can lay dormant in bloodlines for generations, long after it's forgotten it was ever there, until one day it "awakens" and an elven child is produced instead. This usually happens when it makes content with more elven blood (either another elf-blooded or full elven parent), which makes it "wake up" and now you have an elf to everyone's surprise. It can also be awoken through strong exposure to magic

I imagine this isn't widely known, probably very rarely studied, so most people wouldn't know this is possible.

A human giving birth to an elf actually happens twice with my Dragon Age OCs, once with Eshana, my FenHawke daughter, and it's also a factor in the backstory of my secondary Inquisitor Miris.

For Eshana, I like to headcanon that the Hawkes have some forgotten elven blood in their lineage, and when my Hawke conceived a child with Fenris, that "woke" it and she gave birth to an elven child. It also could've been caused by the strong exposure to magic theory as the Hawkes do canonically have very strong magic in their bloodline and that combined with Fenris being an elf + lyrium exposure could've also created an elf child. First version makes more sense though so we'll go with that

For Miris, part of her backstory was she was found by Clan Lavellan as a newborn abandoned near the camp. For her entire life it was assumed her birth parents were city elves that couldn't care for her, so they left her to the Dalish, but that isn't the truth. In actuality, both her parents were minor human nobles somewhere in the Free Marches. They were expecting the birth of their first heir when the wife gave birth to an elven baby. I'm sure there was some panic, and they got rid of her to hide the scandal, making up a tragic story that the baby died during childbirth. The wife SWEARS she was faithful to her husband, and she's telling the truth, as unbeknownst to them they BOTH carried elven blood and it awoke in Miris. The husband doesn't really believe her but stays with her to preserve his reputation, she may or may not have human bio siblings as I'm not sure if one child could be born an elf and others not yet. Up in the air if Miris ever figures this out but she would not want anything to do with her bio family regardless

So yeah, that's the ONLY way I can work with elf-blooded humans always look human canon. Tbh it still isn't my favorite but it has been fun to play with how this might work and what it might mean

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

The Yugioh Arcs Ranked

I’m going to rank all the main arcs of the original Yugioh anime with the exception of season zero and Capsule Monsters, because I haven’t seen those. This is just my own personal opinion, it’s not objective in any way. In fact, from looking at other people’s lists, I think I might piss a few people off with how I ranked these. Remember, this is just my opinion. Also, disclaimer, I did watch this show in dub. While from what I’ve seen of the sub is infinitely better, I did get into the show and I do still think it is a good show in dub. Still, some of the story details might be slightly different for that reason. (Going forward with the spin-offs, I am watching sub.)

7 Dungeon Dice Monsters

This arc served one purpose and one purpose alone: to introduce Duke Devlin/Ryuji Otogi and establish him as a friend of the main group before he comes back in Battle City to… do basically nothing? Personally, I barely saw the purpose in Tristan/Honda and Anzu/Tea so introducing yet another cheerleader for Yugi who doesn’t do much on his own confuses me. Ryuji admittedly has more character than Honda and Anzu and the stuff with the Dungeon Dice Monsters game itself is kind of cool but the other arcs had much more to them so this arc is at the bottom just by default.

6 Noah’s Saga (Or Virtual World)

Onto the first filler arc. There are three arcs of this show that don’t accomplish anything for the overall story and this is one of them. If you don’t know, these arcs aren’t even from the manga. In Japan, Yugioh was based on a then ongoing manga so the filler arcs were created to give the manga writer time to finish the manga so the anime could adapt it. So while I understand the reasoning behind this, I think placing Noah’s Saga in the middle of Battle City was a pretty bad idea in my opinion, as it's nothing but a distraction that destroys the flow of the story and goes on for way too long. It’s not bad though. The deck master gimmick is fun and adds an interesting twist to the duels. It was also interesting learning more about the Kaiba family and especially Seto’s backstory. Overall however, this arc drags in parts and while Noah is still a good villain objectively, he's a complete brat and I personally find that annoying. Still, it was nice seeing Mokuba turn Noah to the heroes’ side through sheer goodness alone.

5 Grand Tournament (Or KC Grand Prix)

Another filler arc. I’m putting this one over Noah’s arc because while that one had the better individual moments and did more for the characters, this arc didn’t overstay its welcome like that one did. It also genuinely shocked me by having Kaiba actually defeat the main villain rather than going the stereotypical way and having Yugi beat him. That’s worth a few points in my book. (It was also just a really good duel.) I also liked Joey’s/Jonouchi’s duel with Yugi’s grandfather, his former mentor. It was annoying how he didn’t recognize him but it was still a nice way to show how far Jonouchi has come since the start of the series. Overall, this arc is just fine. I’d probably skip it if I ever rewatched the series but it’s not without its merit.

4 Duelist Kingdom

Okay, this is the point where I’m probably gonna piss people off. Don’t get me wrong, I still like Duelist Kingdom. It’s a really good start to the show, gradually establishing the characters and the game of Duel Monsters in a really natural way. It also includes some of my favourite duels in the series: Kaiba and Yugi’s duel on the tower, and Kaiba and Yugi’s duels with Pegasus. Speaking of Pegasus, he’s a great villain. He is made out to be undefeatable and actually lives up to that reputation due to the powers of the Millenium Eye. Yugi and the Pharaoh have to repeatedly switch minds in order to beat him, which was really interesting to see. However… This is not the best arc of the show. A lot of the duels before the finals aren’t all that interesting and go on for way too long. They’re not bad duels per say, just uninteresting and padded. When I first started watching this show, I was mostly using it as background while I wrote. The filler duels just didn’t grab my attention and I have no interest in revisiting them. The parts that made me look up from my writing were anything with Kaiba (who I latched onto very early for personal, coping reasons), the times Bakura went into evil mode, and pretty much everything from Yugi and Kaiba’s duel on the tower and onward. I knew about Kaiba attempting suicide but what I didn’t know was that the Pharaoh nearly went through with killing him and had to be stopped by Yugi. That was the moment where I realized this show was more than just “a dumb kids’ show” and was willing to go dark places, despite how much the 4Kids dub wanted to hide that. It was the moment where I actually became interested in the show. So yes, this is a good arc, but later arcs in my opinion topped it.

3 Waking the Dragons

Yes, I put a filler arc over the classic season one. Honestly though, this season was so good I didn’t even know it was a filler arc until I did my research. Sure, it moved the focus away from the Millennium Items but the character development for Mai, Yugi, and the Pharaoh felt so genuine and was really interesting. This season basically forced me to see the differences between Yugi and the Pharaoh by separating them for quite a bit of the season, which was another thing that really surprised me. I was used to this show being darker at this point. However, I never expected them to actually kill the main character, even if it was obviously just temporary. That’s a pretty ballsy move. I grew to really like the Pharaoh and Yugi this season. And Mai’s fall to villainy and the exploration of her trauma from Battle City was very interesting and tragic. This show writes villains very well and this season is a great example of that. I really like stories where the villains’ motivation is to destroy the world due to their hatred of humanity/the world. Valon, Allister, and Raphael all have genuinely sad backstories that perfectly explain why they adopted this viewpoint. Dartz not so much. However, he is still a great villain. He has such a presence and the way he manipulated all these people and even twisted their minds with the Orichalcos was delightfully twisted. However, his ‘redemption’ at the end was really out of nowhere and unnecessary and Pegasus’s involvement in this season was… weird to say the least. Overall, however, I really like this arc. I understand the backlash, since this is a filler arc and a really long one at that, but I personally really enjoyed it.

2 Dawn of the Duel

Yeah, the final arc isn’t the best one. Time travel stories really don’t appeal to me personally. However, in situations where the thing in question was already bonkers as hell before introducing time travel I’m more willing to let it slide and get into the silliness of the time travel idea rather than picking it apart. A lot of its logic makes no sense if you think about it even a little but seeing the conclusion to all these long running arcs was really satisfying. Bakura is also a great villain. I was wondering what they were going to do with him all series so for him to finally have the spotlight as the main villain and to learn that he actually had a sympathetic backstory was really cool to see. This is the arc with the least actual dueling so I can see why people who watch this show for the duels would be disappointed. However, I watched the show for the lore and the characters, which were the focus of this arc and personally, I loved seeing the ancient real life version of Duel Monsters. The battles felt more intense due to them being real. Also, I will admit that the final scene where they all say goodbye to Atem got tears out of me, which I didn’t think this show would ever do.

1 Battle City (Both parts, splitting it was stupid)

Okay, this is the season that made me a fan. It’s the point where I started actively blogging about it and even analyzing it a bit. First of all, this arc had, in my opinion, the best villain in the series: Marik. His redemption arc was the only one in the show that was justified or made any goddamn sense for that matter (besides Kaiba but I don’t really count him as a villain). Marik’s backstory did a good job making him sympathetic without excusing his terrible actions. Even before his darker side took over, Marik was a really good villain, using his millennium item to mind control and kind of terrorize his minions all while hiding in the shadows so when the heroes actually see him, they don't even realize it's him. Granted the story didn't do much with that plot point but it was still cool. Also, I didn’t think this show would actually go as far as to have the villain mind control Yugi’s friends and even force Yugi to duel one of them to the death. That genuinely surprised me, as did the Yami Marik twist. This arc also added a lot to the lore, which was the aspect of Duelist Kingdom that I was most interested in and was barely touched on in that arc. In Battle City however, we got the Egpytian God Cards, two more Millenium Items, the history of the Tomb Keepers, all of which were really interesting. This arc also has a lot of the best duels in the series, which I can try and list:

-Kaiba vs Ishizu (I hate the way destiny is written in this series, but Kaiba changing his destiny was the most badass thing ever. Even I can’t deny that.)

-The best Yugi vs Kaiba battle (Tied with their Duelist Kingdom one honestly, those are both great but this one had two god cards clash. I can’t help but love it.)

-Jonouchi vs Marik (The sub gave me chills and even the dub made my heart skip a beat and think they were actually going to break anime rules and let Jonouchi win. Also, the dub gave us the amazing “according to my math, six is higher than two” line, which I unironically love.)

-Yugi vs Marik (I mean come on. It’s the final battle and seeing Marik regain control and overcome his dark side was great.)

Anyways, that was my personal ranking. I think I’m generally in agreement with the fandom consensus except I feel Duelist Kingdom is a little overrated and Waking the Dragons is underrated. I will do this with GX when I finish it though I admit I have been really on and off about watching that show due to real life reasons.

[dcmeterwrites]

who is that walking on the quad ? that’s CYNTHIA WINCHESTER, of course. she may look like elizabeth debicki but the twenty eight year old is actually a doctoral student studying management. on game days, she’s judicious and honest ; during finals week, she’s strict and prideful. if you catch her at a party, she’s probably dancing to orpheus under the influence by the buttertones.

— RUNDOWN.

full name: cynthia irene winchester

name meaning: the goddess artemis, peace


date of birth: november 27th

place of birth: chelsea, united kingdom


age: twenty-eight


star sign:
 sagittarius

year: first


department: business

clubs: none

alignment: true neutral

mbti: isfp

spoken languages: english ( native speaker ), french ( fluent ), german ( proficient ), russian ( intermediate ), mandarin ( intermediate )

mother’s name: isla winchester née mcclare

father’s name: conrad winchester

siblings, if any: cordelia, casper, cressida, and charles winchester

birth order: oldest, older twin

height: 6′3″

hair colour: blonde

eye colour: blue

— BACKSTORY. 

as the eldest of five winchester heirs, a great deal of pressure was placed on cynthia from a very early age. sit up straight, learn your forks and spoons and knives, laugh a certain way, wave without moving the elbow. it was hammered into her. 

in order to survive in that world, she convinced herself of one thing — that life was a matter of complete self-restraint. she attended her flute lessons and loved them, but not too much. loved studying literature, but not too much. loved playing with her siblings, rowing in the summers, having picnics, sunday roasts, winter evenings by the fireplace — but not too much. 

it pained her deeply to see her siblings miss the fundamental principle of not too much. where cressida went one route, steeling herself into something artificially robotic and serious and never once allowing herself a laugh, the other sister delia went the other way entirely. threw herself with nothing but mirth into everything she did. casper too erred on the side of caution, living life to its reckless fullest. 

she never wanted to cut their fun short. some part of it brought joy into her life, when she didn’t allow herself to have it directly. but as her parents breathed down her neck, she cared less and less about protecting them, coddling them really. it only led to scoldings. 

cynthia was a good student, though not exceptional. if she had any skill in abundance, it was an uncanny intuition to see people for who they were, which did her favours in predicting reactions and decisions.

after finishing up her a-levels, she headed right to st. andrew’s for a bachelor’s degree in economics. her twin charles took a similar route, though she purposefully chose a different institution than him — mostly to avoid him. 

for better or for worse, he had always been an uncomfortable shadow on her side. while he was slightly worse than her in his behaviour, in his manner, in his academic and extra curricular achievements, their parents thought he could do no wrong.

nevertheless, after her mba degree at the london business school were over with, it was pretty clear what she were meant to do next. her endgame was likely to own a considerable share in the hotel business, own a few, operate a big one in new york or paris or london. it was laid out before her like a carpet. 

so she worked in public relations for the winchester family of hotels, nothing she wasn’t expecting. you had to start somewhere, and she was well-suited to be a fresh, likeable face for the company, speaking to investors, to the public and even to officials from the tourism department. all good. 

she made her life her work. when it came to the matter of romance, the principle of not too much returned in full swing. she’d go on dates, but none of them interested her very deeply, and left suitors with dashed expectations. perhaps she didn’t let herself be interested by them at all.

all the while, deep cracks emerged in the family. cora was simply not suited to the business, and before they could process it, she was across the pond, at some strange university that cynthia had never heard of. she couldn’t lie — it hurt. but by that point, she was resolute that cora had to grow up like the rest of them, and give up her silly dreams and wishes. 

at least she was doing well for herself. soon the winchester hotels were the talk of every major city in the world, the perfect option for any kind of customer. perhaps now, she’d finally get a chance at her management tasks, actually handling staff and making changes to the way things worked.

fat fucking chance. she was invited to a fancy gala with the family, mum, dad, cress, charles, even casper had been wrangled out of whatever european hamlet he hid away in — for what was apparently a grand announcement. she’d never been giddier in her life to hear those magical words.

i am pleased to leave the management of our family hotels to charlie. 

well, shit. that was one decision she could not predict. 

to say she was confused was a bit of an understatement. she hadn’t just been on equal terms with charlie in terms of performance, she’d exceeded him. he was lazing about on the board of directors while their dad pulled the weight, and while she increased the reputation of their brand tenfold. 

for the first time in her life really, she allowed herself a little too much. she demanded an explanation from her parents, and was met only with “ well, we didn’t think you’d care for the job. ”

right. because she never did show she cared.

losing out on that opportunity was a rough wake up call, that she’d expected too many things to go her way based on her achievements alone, rather than any passion. worse yet,  the announcement wasn’t exactly the sort of thing you could reverse on a whim. 

working at the hotels any longer drained her completely, knowing it was for nothing. and at least she had the decency to quit when she knew she wasn’t doing a good job. quitting meant disapproval and losing rights to certain family assets, but it was what it was.

years of repressed passions bubbled to the surface. suddenly she felt violent, wanting to do nothing more than to throw every last inch of her life away and start new, start different. but how the hell could she do that — where would she go ?

it struck her then. somewhere that the people around her hadn’t heard of. somewhere like riverbank. going back to school wasn’t exactly on her bucket list, but she was a bit desperate for a change of scene — and what a scene it was, wide open skies and suburbia and youth. besides, she hadn’t spoken much to cora beyond a few emails in her sister’s freshman year. she did miss her, even if missing was mixed up with disapproval and envy. 

so cynthia cut her hair, got a new look, less elegant colours and skirts and dresses, more pantsuits and dress shirts. applied for a doctoral degree in management science — she could wrangle up something based on her experience. and then she set out, selling off the remnants of her london life, and deleting far too many contacts off her phone on impulse. 

her financial situation was thrown for a bit of a loop, however. her source of steady income was gone, her claims to property were distant, and her doctoral degree was fucking expensive. her bank account is slowly wearing down, but it’s still good enough to keep her in a nice apartment by herself. 

well, there’s the question of meeting with cora at some point, but she’s mustering up courage for that. such a thing needed planning.

everything’s a bit too much. so it’ll take some getting used to. 

[lady-plantagenet]

Unsolicited Book Reviews (n4): The Daisy and the Bear

Rating:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Even before I had an account, I tended to go to tumblr to see people’s opinions before buying a histfic. Certain books are either severely underrepresented, where I feel like there needs to be something on them, whereas others, though talked about enough, something more can still be said about them. So for my quarantine fun, I have decided to start a series where I review every medieval historical fiction novel I read. Hopefully, it will either start interesting discussions or at least be some help for those browsing its tag when considering purchasing it.

TL;DR: Just like ‘Death Be Pardoner To Me’, I really don’t know how to rate a book that isn’t a ‘novel’ in the traditional sense of the word. So I take each book and measure it against what it promises to deliver. This spoof of the Wars of the Roses did just that perfectly! I found myself laughing out loud at least every three pages (a feat for me). I decided to buy this book because I was a long-time reader of the author’s blog: A Nevill Feast, and despite it being a super informative and enlightening blog (she is also a published historian), I always found her humour extremely amusing. The ‘brow height’ of the jokes in this spoof, are of all levels, but almost always smart.

Plot: Alright, who doesn’t love a good crackship? Well be prepared for a crackship so heightening it’s almost cocaine: Margaret of Anjou and Richard Neville 16th Earl of Warwick. This is not even the only thing you will find in the chaotic but short (153 page) spread of this ‘novel’. You will get witchy ‘Elizabeth Woodville Grey Witch Plantagenet Queen’ ‘s love at first sight with Edward ‘The Rose of Ruin’ IV, who (naturally) cannot be mentioned without the words ‘blonde, tall and womanising’ being thrown in; You will also get a random stand-up comedy routine thrown by the Nevilles called ‘A Very Nevill Christmas’, Edgecote Moor, Edward’s capture, the Welles uprising and the Nevilles’ and Clarence’s escape to France summarised in text messages and a whole two-page chapter written in a northern accent! This is frankly what everyone needs in those gloomy times!

It essentially sticks to what actually happens except for the whole Margaret/Warwick thing, which ends up in Edward of Westminster being Warwick’s secret son. This doesn’t really change anything of course, but the part where he and Anne Neville find out and end up playing a prank on the parents is one of the hilights of this book! Is that too spoilery? Oh well. Before moving to characterisation, there is also this absolutely hilarious OC called Dakota FitzPercy which is the ultimate parody of all OCs in historical fiction: all men are overcome with lust just by looking at her even though she’s dressed in men’s garb half of the time (and for no reason!), as Warwick’s spy she knows martial arts as she was ooobviouslyy trained in Cathay and she has an unnecessarily tragic backstory! Of course like most OCs she adds NOTHING to the story and is therefore the perfect parody.

Characterisation: What really really elevates this book in my eyes and rating is that it is so obviously a parody of historical fiction and not the figures themselves. A goodreads reviewer (who I have a lot of respect for btw) has said that this book often crosses the line into ‘defaming the dead’. With all due respect, I have to disagree as it is some of the portrayals in ‘serious’ historical fiction novels about these characters, which are the true offenders. This is what is being lampooned here and, as such, the book defends their reputations by drawing attention to how silly and sometimes downright offensive some authors’ takes on people like Warwick, Margaret of Anjou and Elizabeth Woodville are.

I can’t tell you how much I laughed at ‘Frail and Angelic © Dickon or Richard’ being so frail and angelic and good, Isabel Neville constantly being reffered to as a ‘prawn’ on her father’s ‘cheeseboard’ (obviously at the hackneyed use of the phrase ‘pawns on a chessboard’, which is incessantly repeated with regards to female characters). Among others: Clarence constantly knocking over his wine when he’s not drinking it, Anne Beauchamp constantly being reffered to as ‘pale and insipid’ (no other reason just because she’s a woman ergo...), Edward IV constantly sleeping with everyone around him, Cecily ‘the Rose of Rabies’ being beautiful, proud and pious (her only three personality traits). Don’t even get me started on Margaret of Anjou’s obnoxious French accent (rofl- it turns into a German one by the end) and nonesensical sluttiness. Another fav part must be the one with Elizabeth Woodville offering to call up a fog at Barnet and Edward being something like ‘well you know, it’s true that they won’t see anything but neither will we. I don’t think you understand how important vision is in a battle’ (like damn straight why has no one even bothered to mention this). Overall, humorous characterisation is done best by someone so well-versed in the history as the author (K L Clark), because she really does a good job teasing out some jokes which only seasoned conoisseurs of this period would know e.g. the Countess of Salisbury’s attainder.

Prose: Probably the crowning virtue of this book. The author does not only aptly parody the portrayal of these figures in popular histfic, but she EVEN PARODIES THE PROSE. I couldn’t stop laughing whenever we got the ridiculously gratuitous smut extract - you know the ones where the author describes the act in such a ridiculous and metaphorical manner that you don’t even understand what’s happening. She also parodies the repetitive and long-winded tell-don’t-show prose with such mastery it gave me great satisfaction.

An example: “This all made Richard of Dickson sad because he loved his brothers, though he loved Edward more than he loved George. He also loved his cousin, Richard Lord Neville of Warwick. He loved him more than George but less than Edward. He also loved the Earl of Warwick’s daughter, Anne. A lot. He wished his brother had let him marry Anne against his wishes at the same time that George married Anne’s sister Isobel (also the Earl of Warwick’s daughter), though he handn’t let him marry her either, against his wishes or not. It was all making his heart ache so very much”

Not to mention the over-written prose: ‘A bag drips with the blood, hangs from the saddle of a horse whose animal innocence shields it from the horrors of its burden. Black hearted Clifford chortles as he rides, his prize, his gift, his paeon, his song to his mistress oozing, dripping calaminous blood’

I’ll stop now before I get accused of copyright (not sure how it works but oh well).

One last thing I will say is that each chapter varies in type of prose, sometimes it’s written as a play, a soliloquy, first person and sometimes even text messages and letters hahaha.

Overall, A massively chaotic but enjoyably written and quite intelligent hodgepodge. I may have revealed a lot in this review, but this does not even scratch the surface of the multitude of other gags you will find inside! Highly recommend for anyone already familiar with this period and with a sense of humour! Now excuse me while I go back and read something serious lmao

[regalloki]

Memories

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: It’s the last night before Bucky’s departure to go fight in the war, so you visit the Stark Expo together along with Steve. It’s your last date, so you make some memories to look back to while he’s away.

Warnings: a whole ton of fluff 

Author’s note: Bucky’s backstory is based on the TFA tie-in comic and the Captain America and Bucky comics cause we see very little of his life pre-TFA (the mcu has done us wrong tbh). Also the reader can be read as gender neutral!

Word count: 2196

18 March, 1943

It was the day before he’d leave. He had just received his orders, being appointed sergeant of the 107th. Admittedly, you were a tad bit bitter. You weren’t worried for him, per se. Bucky was capable in hand-to-hand combat and an excellent marksman as well and could very well hold his own against men stronger than him. He was a natural, after all, having a knack for that sort of stuff. He was the three-time YMCA welterweight boxing champion, so, surely, he knew how to put up one hell of a good fight. During training in Wisconsin, he quickly and steadily rose up the hierarchy and the ranks to earn the title of sergeant. He would indubitably be a valuable asset to his regiment. However, watching him go was, for you, nothing short of tormenting.

You caught sight of Bucky heading towards you, charming as ever, sporting that beguiling cheeky grin that made your knees buckle. He looked positively stunning and you caught yourself unabashedly checking him out. His confident strut, cocky posture and calm nature added to the undaunted and self-assured allure, but the gleam in his entrancing baby blues, the slight tip of his head and the lovesick subconscious smile he didn’t manage to conceal after quickly catching a glimpse of you were a dead giveaway of his feigned composure.

Beneath that cool, tough and charming veneer, Bucky was an utter sweetheart. He wouldn’t be caught dead admitting it, but he was more silly and sentimental than he came across as. A huge sop, Bucky had a thing for being close to you. He liked falling asleep on you, listening to your heart beat or the low, soothing vibrations of your chest whenever you’d softly hum some made-up tune to lull him into a peaceful slumber. His hand had practically molded against your own. He was by all means a sucker for hand holding, but he’d rather not be seen. He had a reputation to withhold, after all. However, he managed to sneak his calloused hand in yours here and there, under a table or during those long cuddle sessions he liked after a particularly hard day when you were both alone at last. Bucky also had a weak spot for kisses. He tried his utmost to be stealthy and clandestine in public, but he oftentimes yielded to his desire and would slyly steal a few. If there’s one thing Bucky relished more than kissing you, it was being kissed by you. When you two were alone during the scarce downtime you’d get, all types of kisses were in order. Cheek kisses, mouth kisses, forehead kisses, neck kisses. They made Bucky feel enveloped by a welcoming surge of warmth and tenderness. He savored those moments, for they made him feel loved and cherished. It was safe to say he was absolutely smitten.

You took great joy in calling him out for how sensitive he is. His cheeks would immediately blush a gentle shade of tomato red and he would hang his head low in a desperate attempt to hide his toothy, broad smile he spectacularly failed to hold back and collect himself. But he knew it was absolute nonsense and all in good fun. He was aware of how fond you were of his clinginess and how cute you thought his gimmicks are.

“Hi, darling”, he greeted you, the low trill of his voice alone enough to make your heart skip a beat. He hugged you, briefly and slyly grazing his lips against your cheek.

He looked quite dapper in his uniform. Undoubtedly, he cleaned up nicely, you had to give him that. You were had been accustomed to a considerably ruggier look. His hair tended to be a messy halo around his head and strands would pop up here and there to frame and accentuate his handsome features. He sometimes even boasted a few bruises or marks, tell-tale signs of some recent tussle. He was never the one to shy out of a fight, although Steve was usually the one to get himself caught up in one and Bucky would be the one to defend his friend- and get a few good licks in before drawing Steve away.

You handed them their tickets to the Stark Expo. Bucky was ecstatic to find out he would be around in Brooklyn long enough to be able to go. You decided to get tickets for the two of you and Steve, something like a parting gift for Bucky. You smiled at the memory of when you told him you could all go together. His eyes went wide and he seemed so thrilled. You’ve lost count of how many times he thanked you. 

The two of you started walking side by side, stealing glances and smiles. Further down the road, you met with Steve. The three of you started catching up. Bucky told you all about Becca’s baking disaster and Steve’s latest misadventure in the back of an alley that morning. You giggled at Bucky’s frustration and at Steve’s endeavor to justify his shenanigans. 

“Buck- Bucky! Hear me out! That jerk was being disrespectful and he made that woman cry! What was I supposed to do-”

“Try not to get into a fight, that’s what! It’s been, what, the third time I’ve found you getting beat up in an alley or behind some diner just this month! I’m worried for you, Steve! I won’t be here to bail you out!”

“But-”

“Can’t you for once just do as your told? You know what? You may be my best friend but you also make for one hell of a pain in my ass, Rogers.”

You stifled a giggle at the two friends bickering. Before you knew it, the three of you arrived at the Expo. It was jaw-dropping and imposing. The lights, the inventions, the fireworks. Howard Stark sure knew how to put on a sensational show.

The inventions displayed at the Expo were astonishing and unprecedented. Flying cars, synthetic bodies, futuristic engines. You watched as Bucky marveled at the expeditions. He looked like a kid in a candy store, eyes wide and gleaming with excitement and mouth agape in wonder. The childlike enthusiasm and amazement in his eyes made you smile uncontrollably. You loved seeing him happy.

After a while, Steve left and Bucky went after him, concerned for him. Steve seemed in a bit of a haze, as if something was troubling him. He decided to not join you for the rest of the night.

“You know, he tried to enlist again this mornin’. God knows how many times he’s tried. He’s dead set on joining the army.”, Bucky explained.

“It kind of reminds me of someone”, you retorted.

“I’m just scared he’s way in over his head. War’s more brutal than some backalley. And if he keeps lying on enlistment forms they’ll either catch him or, God forbid, take him. It really gets on my nerves how thick-headed he is.”, Bucky said, looking down on his shoes.

“You know how Steve is. He has always had a fight in him. So have you. Steve wants to fight for what he believes is right. That’s his calling.”

“I’m worried sick he’ll get hurt and I won’t be there for him. He’s pretty keen on doing stupid  things.”

“You’re a good friend, Buck.”

The two of you strolled around the Expo. Bucky, all giddy and excited, ran around telling you all about the fascinating inventions. He surely loved showing off to you.  After a while, the conversation drifted elsewhere.

“Aren’t you scared? I mean, you said it yourself, war is brutal.”, you asked.

“I am. I couldn’t possibly not be.”, he chuckled almost nervously. “But it’s my duty to fight, the way it was my father’s before me. That’s one of the reasons I enlisted, you know. I wanted to finally make him proud. I had caused enough problems for him, especially after Ma died.”

“I don’t think that’s true. George loved you”

“I always got into trouble. After she passed away, I had to pretend everything is fine for Becca’s sake. But deep down I was scared and angry. Angry at everyone and everything. I would constantly get into fights, not unlike Steve. Maybe that’s why I’m so protective of him. I don’t want him to make the mistakes I did.”, he continued, head hanging down low. “Dad made a point of telling me how let down he was in me when I would come home wounded and bruised, but I don’t blame him. It’s just… His last words to me, before the accident, still ring in my head. ‘I’m disappointed in you, Bucky. You’ve really let me down here.’”, he muttered.

“You were a kid, Buck. You were processing so much grief and anger. You needed a way to unleash it. Sure, it wasn’t the best one. But you learned and grew from all this pain.”, you encouraged him.

“You’re pretty great, you know that?”, he chuckled, seemingly less on edge now. “I’ll miss you”

“You’re not too bad yourself, Barnes.”

“I’ll miss home, you know. You, Steve, Becca. But, at least, the thought of returning home will keep me going. God, I’ll miss you”

The two of you walked and talked for what seemed like hours, having a sincere heart to heart. After some time, you came across a photobooth. You both wanted to commemorate that night, so Bucky suggested taking a few pictures and you happily agreed.

You sat in the small, crammed space side by side. You placed your hand on his thigh, somewhat cheekily and he laid his head on your shoulder. You started taking pictures. While you were preoccupied with making silly faces for the camera, Bucky was busy keeping his eyes on you. You could feel his gaze on you, and, before you knew it, he laid a loving kiss on your cheek. He caught you by surprise, and the gentle touch of his lips on your cheek resulted in a toothy, ear-to-ear grin spreading across yours. You turned to him, seeing him beam at you adoringly. 

You could never get over how utterly and ridiculously impeccable and downright perfect he looked. His features were flawless. His piercing eyes were a breathtaking bright, steely blue. They glimmered in moments like these, when he was serene and content. The affectionate looks he gave you made your heart skip several beats. His rosy lips were soft and his kisses were tender and so sweet, you thought he could give you toothaches by merely kissing you. His nose was cute as a button and it took genuine effort on your part to not gently peck it with every chance you get. His hair was a velvety and silky mess with a few curls here and there framing his face and you wanted to gently card your hair through it and mess it up even more. His jaw strong jaw and cute little buttchin were the cherry on top. Bucky called to mind those Hollywood actors audiences swooned at. He was truly a sight for sore eyes.

You ogled at him long enough that a faint blush rose on his cheeks. He looked ravishing and irresistible so, without delay, you fondly grasped his neck and drove him into a passionate kiss on the lips. It wasn’t rushed or heated, but delicate and mellow. He leaned into your touch, craving it, and lowly hummed in content and satisfaction, as he cupped and caressed your cheek.

He pulled away with a delighted smile on his face. Both your hearts were bursting at their seams with pure, sheer love and affection for each other. That love transcended anything superficial, like looks or charm. Bucky had a heart of gold and sometimes it was too heavy for his own good. He cared so much for others that it took a toll on himself. But he was sincerely kind hearted and caring. You genuinely admired and appreciated him for that. He’s extremely loyal and devoted. He never gave up on anyone, not Steve nor his sister nor you. He was thrice as strong emotionally as he was physically, having to go through all that pain and despair and still be his sister’s rock. Bucky was an angel and he deserved the purest and sweetest love there is. And you wanted nothing more than to give him that.

Bucky grabbed the photos with a small smile on his features.

“You look nice”, he complemented.

“Not nearly as nice as you”, you replied, the words escaping your mouth before you knew it.

The grin disappeared from his lips in realization. The night was drawing to a close and he’d never get to share one with you for the foreseeable future. He started holding onto those photos a little harder now. 

“There you go.”, he said. moving his hand to give them to you.

“Keep them”, you retorted. “To remember me while you’re away.”

“To be frank, sweetheart, I don’t think I’d be able to forget you. In fact, I think I’d struggle to think of something else.”, he chuckled. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Buck.”

[tyrantofthefirmament]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE: MUN & MUSE

fill out & repost ♥ this meme definitely favors canons more, but i hope oc’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. multimuses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm.

tagged by Stolen from: @warlordratchet​​ tagging: everyone!

MY MUSE IS.   canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless

is your character popular in the fandom?  YES / NO.

is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK.

is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK.

are they underrated?  YES / NO.

were they relevant to the main story?  YES / NO.

were they relevant to the main character?  YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG.

are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO.

how’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL.

HOW STRICTLY DO YOU FOLLOW CANON?

I consider everything presented in the aligned canon as my Starscream’s canon backstory, but his current story diverges after the end of TFP and does not follow RiD. I made up stuff to fill in the gaps and tried to make it fit in well. Where there are contradictions in the Aligned canon (as happens frequently), I consider the novels Exodus and Exiles to be the most canon, followed by TFP, followed by the comics and video games. The Covenant of Primus or any other materials published after the beginning of season 3 of TFP are a secondary canon that I only pick and choose from, because they retconned and threw out the original story bible and setup, an action I didn’t care for. 

SELL YOUR MUSE! (aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutual.)

Starscream is a walking roller coaster of emotions. His contradictions make him unpredictable, as he tries to navigate a world which would prefer to write him off as at best a cautionary tale, but whose future he still believes he has a right to shape. He craves relevance and recognition, but he’ll settle for infamy if pushed away too much. He misses the mech he was before he was broken, but seldom admits it to himself, and doesn’t want anyone else to know he’s struggling. Even though he’s trying to be on his best behavior, he still believes scheming and murder are perfectly viable solutions to most problems.

NOW THE OPPOSITE! (list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?)

Starscream is a paranoid and self-centered individual, so it can be hard to find reasons he’d engage with other muses. He’s a stubborn old butthead, is what I’m saying.

The fandom (and show writers) often reduce him to a one-note, weak character who needs others to step in for him, or whose motivations are simply power grabs. I don’t think he’s like that at all. His power grabs are intricate and his relationship with the idea of power (and powerlessness) is as tragic as it is fascinating.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO RP YOUR MUSE?  

Never in the history of fiction has a great character been so screwed over and tossed aside as TFP Starscream. The end of Predacons Rising left wounds for me that fanfic couldn’t heal, so I decided to give him a future worthy of such an interesting character. I wanted to keep him around, basically, and see where he could go if given a chance.

WHAT KEEPS YOUR INSPIRATION GOING?

I have a ton of ideas for him and endless “what if” scenarios to explore. He’s so much fun and never grows boring. I like that he can be serious or silly, sympathetic or a total asshole. He has boundless potential but he’s his own worst enemy. It kind of makes him hard to write at times, but there’s never any lack of ideas. Usually there’s too many and I take forever to settle on what he should do.

SOME MORE PERSONAL QUESTIONS FOR THE MUN.

do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO.

do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO.

do you sometimes write drabbles? YES / NO.  

do you think a lot about your muse during the day? YES / NO.

are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO.

are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO.

are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO / DEPENDS

DO YOU ACCEPT CRITICISM WELL ABOUT YOUR PORTRAYAL? 

Yes but I prefer it to be relevant to my specific portrayal. Like there are times I know I’ve made him bend out of character to make a thread move along, so that would be something I’d take criticism on, so I could figure out ways to do that more smoothly. I don’t take criticism like “you’d get more interaction if you RPed ships”, which I thankfully haven’t seen in ages. People seem to have accepted my aro-ace birb and his eternal bachelorhood.

DO YOU LIKE QUESTIONS, WHICH HELP YOU EXPLORE YOUR CHARACTER?  

I crave them with every fiber of my being.

IF SOMEONE DISAGREES TO A HEADCANON OF YOURS, DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY?  

Not really. Everyone has different headcanons, so I’d be shocked if we all agreed. That’s kinda the point of headcanons. That being said, it is sometimes fun to discuss and debate different ones.

IF SOMEONE DISAGREES WITH YOUR PORTRAYAL, HOW WOULD YOU TAKE IT? 

Like a champ. I don’t mind if someone disagrees, though I would wonder why they felt a need to bring it up. There’s a bunch of Starscream blogs out there, so hopefully they’d be able to find one that suits their fancy.

IF SOMEONE REALLY HATES YOUR CHARACTER, HOW DO YOU TAKE IT?

It’s funny, but I actually take hate of me and my writing waaaayyyy less personally than I take hate toward actual canon TFP Starscream. I hate the way people talk about him and dismiss him and tear him down. Like. It genuinely upsets me. Leave my bird son alone! When people direct hate towards me I kinda drink anon tears tbh. I don’t mind it, usually, and I can be as snarky as my muse.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH PEOPLE POINTING OUT YOUR GRAMMATICAL ERRORS?  

I’d be fine with that. I’m good at grammar but not so good at typing, so if my brain goes faster than my fingers and I screw up, please let me know so I can fix it! In fact as I typed this very answer I skipped no fewer than three entire words, and it’s not that long of an answer!

DO YOU THINK YOU ARE EASY GOING AS A MUN?  

Most of the time. I know it probably doesn’t seem like it if you read my rather lengthy and specific rules, but I do give people the benefit of a doubt and I’m pretty friendly (but shy and terrible at remembering to return messages)

[citialiin]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm. tagged by: @forseenclade thank you ! man i am so bad at doing memes.  tagging: @blossomingbeelzebug @zhrets @lupichorous @dansiere yayayayayayayaya

My muse is:   canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless / complicated [ z/iggy stardust is DEFINITELY not my original character, but 683 is, and every single part of how i rp ziggy from his backstory to his personality was made up by me. that being said, ziggy is still a character that exists in media. ]

Is your character popular in the fandom?  YES / NO. [ im pretty sure ziggy is tied with the thin white duke as one of b*wie’s most famous fictional personas? ]

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES ? / NO / IDK.

Is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK.

Are they underrated?  YES / NO / IDK. [ maybe a little overrated ]

Were they relevant for the main story?  YES / NO.

Were they relevant for the main character?  YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG.

Are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO.

How’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL. [ celebrity rock god of limitless talent vs inevitable overrated washup. most celebrities are polarizing anyways ]

How strictly do you follow canon?  — there isnt much canon to go off of i think? the album barely even states if ziggy is an alien and b*wie himself got really wishy washy about it (sometimes saying z is a human who was contacted by aliens, he was an alien himself, etc). i dont think we know anything about him besides what he looks like (red hair / weird eyes / pale / “well hung” lmao) and he has a band called the spiders from mars, he plays the guitar left handed, he’s bisexual + androgynous, and he’s charming and popular with the teens but inevitably is a victim of his own ego. and he dies.  that too.  but that’s literally it! we know Nothing else about him.  so i filled in all the gaps because my brain has worms.  theres a little bit of the story that verges on fantasy (that he’s some sort of messiah messenger for “the infinites,” whatever the fuck THAT means, david) so i nix that because i prefer hard scifi.  and theres one BIG part that i just ... deleted out of his canon, in that the world is ending in 5 years in his timeline, and he’s like ... aware of this ?  but that’s dumb and confusing.  i legit dont care anymore. my OC now.

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals.  —  im so embarrassed i know i could be genuine and actually try but i have brain blockajjolajlakala33lak33klak333ak3jka3akjj323j3 i guess it’s like ... ziggy is truly the ultimate expression OF humanity because he reveals everything both wrong and right about the human condition, he literally embodies the best of humanity and the worst at the same time, he’s a really interesting critique on the idea of genuineness/earnestness vs commercalism in art, the perils of fame, and also how humans are so inherently corrupting?  a lot of thematic stuff i like exploring is like what is innate to humans vs what is learned behavior, what are things that humans do naturally that ziggy mimics out of his desire to be like us?  i think he has a really good story arc -- he went from being a literal nameless CLONE in a society full of pragmatic forward thinking science-oriented people to a sell out rockstar celebrity in a society of people that value individualism and self expression and art, but in the process completely lost his mind and himself and gave into the worst that humanity has to offer like rampant selfishness, drug abuse, self destructive tendencies, etc. characters changing is always interesting and ziggy truly changes for the worse -- but he is never just black and white, he was never good and then suddenly evil, he just was always the same person putting on different facades and trying to be himself by constructing an identity that maybe was who he wanted to be versus who he actually is.  i dont know what im talking about. hes just an alien trying to be too hard to be human in all the wrong ways.   i just like how “gray” ziggy is. he isnt good or bad, he can be very nice and he can be very mean, he’s overtly showboating confident but at the same time deeply afflicted with self-consciousness (why tf else would anyone be So obsessed with how they present themselves?).  hes an icon of individualism but also commercialism.  he’s freakishly alien but is almost more human than humans themselves.  he struggles as lot in his head -- which makes for interesting writing, i guess !!  Im so emabrrased im not going to go back and read what i wrote so if i typoed dont look at me

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?).  —  i think ziggy comes across as really mean and nothing else.  his horrible bitchy rudeness comes across as hee hee hoo hoo sassy isnt he a rascal when it’s supposed to be more like ... he’s so far gone into the celebrity delusion he’s conflated aggressive rudeness with charmingness because no one told him otherwise and everyone worships him to the point where he’s just given into the delusion that he can do no wrong.  i think theres the general simplification problem that happens with a lot of fictional characters, it’s easy to see him as just a whacky sassy glittery quirky rockstar when i guess it avoids the inherent tragedy of like ... everything else about him. his totally fake and false sense of identity built up from superficial things like fame and labels and stardom.  maybe my version of ziggy is just too weirdly depressing and sad when i know his original iteration wasn’t quite so ... grim.  im not very sure tbh.  

What inspired you to rp your muse?  —  hmmm ... a lot of things! i just really got into b*wie stuff in early 2019, i’ve ALWAYS loved aliens and sci-fi, and i was really shocked that db sets up such great visual storytelling potential but does it through music.  i just really liked ziggys “story” and i like any chance to think about aliens so i just got invested into piecing together a little backstory for him using, like, the cumulative knowledge of literally every other piece of science fiction ive ever consumed in my life.  this was summer 2019 when i was making initial pitches for my thesis film, and so i just randomly decided to pitch “animated version of ziggy stardust” as one of the potential ideas.  shockingly everyone liked it a lot and so did my professor who thought it was really cool, and then i just ended up sticking with the character and working on him for an entire year.  ziggy became my hobby but also my homework.  he was such a fun character because everything about him was interesting to me and i had just enough source material to have a starting point but so much room to take him in any direction i wanted to.

What keeps your inspiration going?  —  honestly, yooooou guyssssss. i have some really amazing fwends that ive met thru here .... and some of our dumb stupid stories have literally become NOVEL length. it just self generates inspiration because you realize the limitless amount of stories you could tell with this one single character when your character enters his story or he enters their story and etc. etc.  ive drawn endless amounts of comics and stuff for him ... ziggy is just so endlessly interesting ...   cringe be cringed bro but recently (i know this sounds dumb bear with me or die.) ive kind of realized a lot of how i rp z comes as some metaphor for the experience of being an asian immigrant/being asian in the US -- his home “culture” is a lot stricter than the rampant selfish individualism of the usa (he only lives in the uk and usa, so he thinks the whole planet is like this), he’s dissuaded from standing out from his community and his selfishness becomes a community burden rather than a personal flaw, and when he does come to earth, he goes through such awful culture shock, literally nothing makes sense to him and everything is Different.  and while some things are different in a Nice way, something things are different in an Awful way, and he’s given the option between losing his true personal identity as an atominan and giving it up to be a human.  the allure of being a human is a little too much but losing yourself like this is traumatic, in a way.  obvs like ... a little silly and definitely not something that i actively intended to put into his story arc, its just something that fell into place cuz i guess i worked so closely with my own personal experiences and feelings of “alienation” (pun intended) to try to understand how he would feel being a literal alien an shid. its cathartic to write about him. but he also has a lot of my own personal interests just thrown in -- 70s fashion, scifi, science, tryhard implications about human nature, art history, whatever dumb nonsense i get into

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO / SOMETIMES?

Do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO  [ i would prefer information to spring up organically in the story but cuz threads always get dropped i end up just telling people outright. i didnt want anyone to know his home planet/his old name but barely anyone writes enough with ziggy to get to that point to reveal it (i legit managed to do it organically Once) so i just had to write it in a post lmao orz ]

Do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO [ wrote a ton of drabbles ! drew a ton of comics! ]

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO 

Are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO / I DUNNO?

Are you confident in your writing?  YES / HAHA NO.

Are you a sensitive person?  YES  / NO. / IDK ? 

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?  —  definitely!  like i said ... my version of ziggy ended up being the protag of my thesis film and for 1 yr straight his characterization, backstory, design, and even how i wanted to animate his fucking movements (ziggy stardust timing charts.) were beaten to death in a classroom environment, torn apart and rebuilt into something better.  had i stayed with what i originally wanted to go with, ziggy would be so different than how i write him 2day. amazingly my pre production professor is a literal two time emmy award winning storyboard artist and animator so he definitely helped me design him (my version of ziggy is meant for ... a cartoon, obviously, not real life) and give him a better backstory?  and my post production professor is a retired disney animator who worked on hercules and a bunch of old disney channel shows?  had i gone wah wah wah i dont want to hear ur critiques i wouldnt have made him better.  if you ever think ziggy seems inconsistent or poorly written ... tell me !! i literally major in ... animation. cartoons. entertainment.  my job is to entertain you. if you are not entertained, there is a problem.  ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED ????

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character?  —  I LOVE QUESTIONS? i love ... answering questions ... if you ask me something ill come kiss you.

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why?  —  sure! i dont know why that would happen, though, because i mean ... he’s an OC. but i gues someone could be like “i feel like this is incongruous to things you’ve previously established in his character” or somethin

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?  —  i feel like a lot of b*wie stans would find my version of ziggy weird but i mean thats fine!  i guess my goal is to have a well written character, not necessarily an accurate version of ziggy

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it?  —  if you hate MY version of ziggy thats fine but if u hate ziggy stardust in general (like the bowie concept) then u need some taste what the fuck is cooler than a egomaniac genderless bisexual rockstar alien with red hair? nothing. go back to watching your CW shows you dirty filthy normie

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?  —  yes! dm me though. dont clown me on the dash like that.  i usually write your replies 12 AM - 4 AM so it’s expected.

Do you think you are easy going as a mun?   —  hmmm ... maybe! i do like to talk to people and i am VERY nice, trust me, if youre ever sad ill do everything i can to make you feel better. but im quiet! i dont really reach out to people and i tend to just keep to myself.  im not very social or extroverted at all haha i barely can make ooc posts without feeling like god’s coming to beat my head in with a brick. im sitting here at 5:30 AM with this meme feeling like if i post it i will die (BUT I MUST)

[ellynneversweet]

How did you decide on the daemons you did for the Bennet sisters?

Oh that’s something that takes some answering, thank you :D. I tend to pick and choose between religious and heraldic symbolism, cultural associations, puns, but I’ve got a bunch of loose ground rules that narrow things down based on age, social standing, gender, etc — it depends on the character. Starting with broad strokes:

Aristocrats and their families really pride themselves on big-cat daemons, which neatly ties up:  Darcy and his cheetah daemon; Lord Asriel and Stelmaria; and the long and storied history of British monarchs representing themselves /the state with lion symbolism.

Following from that, the more important you (think) you are, the larger and more baroque your daemon tends to be. In Mr Bennet’s case, his bear daemon is so large as to be practically disabling, since the accomodations necessarily required to manage his lifestyle are barely within budget (story of Mr Bennet’s life), but he’s also someone who has social power and doesn’t use it.

The enlightenment arguments about concepts of the self as an individual distinct from the society it springs from, and the interest in the scientific community in exploration in classification that were happening at about this time should clash in the public imagination with more old-fashioned heraldic concepts of what it means to have your inner self on display. And, while I had a lot of issues with The Secret Commonwealth, I did think it was interesting that Pullman suggested people mostly knew what animal their daemon looked like, and that’s something take into account at a time when your average person would not be expected to be widely informed on the fauna outside their own home region. So some people are very traditional and conformist (the Fitzwilliams), some people try to game the system on their or their children’s behalf (Jane, to an extent), some would prefer to see the whole thing stripped of artifice or otherwise romanticise the idea of more instinctive and naturalistic (Darcy very much, Elizabeth slightly less so), some don’t think too much about it and  just go with the flow  (Charlotte).

Witches and magicians (almost) always have bird daemons, per HDM and also because of the consistent association of birds with magic in JS&MN, particularly ravens. So Jonathan Strange has a blue jay daemon, because blue jays are corvids but they don’t look it, and Strange is a very good magician but tends not to look it on on introduction.On the other end of the size scale, Mrs Bennet’s dalmatian pelican daemon is springs from catholic imagery in which pelicans are symbolic of self-sacrificing motherhood, based on a medieval belief that pelicans pecked their chests bloody to feed their chicks with their own blood. Since this is absolutely not true of pelican behaviour, and since pelicans in life (enormous, smelly, loud) are much less romantic and attractive than that imagery suggests , I figure it works both with what Mrs Bennet would like to believe about herself and how she actually is.

Which necessarily leads to the Bennet girls all having bird daemons, conveniently narrowing the field of possibilities.

For Jane, whose daemon is a hyacinth macaw, I wanted a tension between outward conformity to the role of perfect daughter and gentlewoman, and someone who has hidden depths. Bright bird daemons are very much in vogue for ladies — think parrots and birds of paradise — so she fits that mould, with an elegant and beautiful daemon; but on the other hand hyacinth macaws are much bigger, cleverer and more powerful than your average parrot, they’re less immediately eye-catching and surprisingly good at camouflaging themselves. They’re also (by parrot standards) relatively patient, even-tempered and shy, and they pair-bond quite strongly in addition to being generally social, but they can be destructive when they’re unhappy, and Jane, I think, quietly excels at self-destruction. The backstory that may or may not make it into the fic itself was that Jane spent a lot of time in her mid-teens being dragged around town to every menagerie and museum Mrs Bennet could manage to get tickets to, mostly without Elizabeth, feeling miserably shy and self-conscious because people kept staring at her. She saw a very lonely macaw (via a Portuguese trader Uncle Gardiner knew) trying unsuccessfully to hide from massive crowds in a showy display, and felt a sort of immediate empathy with it which, erm, stuck.

For Elizabeth, whose daemon is a gyrfalcon and, unlike Jane, a complete accident, I riffed a bit off Darcy. So, something fast (and, importantly, faster than a cheetah), independent and aggressive, but also beautiful, playful and charming — archness and sweetness, you know? Gyrfalcons are beautiful and quite acrobatic, and (pun incoming) their scientific name (falco rusticolus) means countryside dweller. They’re endemic to both England and the arctic areas that the witches are associated with, suiting Elizabeth and her interest in her foreign grandmother. They’ve also got a long association with the uppermost echelons of society, being the valued possession of kings and generally a mark of high honour to associate with in any capacity. (Darcy, whose family still regard themselves basically as vassals of the Raven King, absolutely knows what a gyrfalcon looks like and what it implies, but unfortunately rushed to judgement too soon. He’s in for a hard time sorrynotsorry)

For Mary, (short-eared owl), an owl was the obvious choice, given the association with seeking wisdom, if not necessarily finding it — I admit to a bit of petty amusement at the way owls are not, in fact, particularly bright birds, despite their reputations. Barn owls and snowy owls, while lovely, are just super over-done, and for Mary I wanted something little bit silly, too big and too drab in his colouring to be fashionable, but not fierce enough to command admiration. I figured by this point in their parenting career Mr&Mrs Bennet had moved on from dragging the girls around town, and what encouragement they got to consider the wonders of the natural world consisted of being pointed at the door and told not to come inside until dinner, maybe a  new book of illustrated plates if Mr Bennet thought it was interesting enough to buy. Short-eared owls are pretty commonplace in huge parts of the world, including the UK, so it’s quite likely that Mary would have come across them even with limited resources.

For Kitty, I admit that I don’t have a sub-species quite nailed — he’s a pink hummingbird, but that’s colouration rather than a specific type (possibly a bronze-tailed comet or a red-tailed comet). He’s pretty, tiny, silly and annoying, (‘for heaven’s sake stop buzzing about at breakfast! My poor nerves, etc etc’), which seemed a natural fit for Kitty. However, hummingbirds are also associated with the souls of dead warriors in Aztec mythology (although admittedly my knowledge in that field is woefully thin), and as Kitty has a fair bit of fight in her and absolutely no ability to pick her battles, her daemon would naturally be the sort of animal that starts fights they have absolutely no ability to win.

As for Lydia, well — she’s still working it out, in her own special way.