#my own character development for Scout

[thedevilsruby]

Woke Up (Scout and Pauling oneshot)

Ms. Pauling knew it was a bad idea to go drinking with the boys on karaoke night but for once, she had the night off so figured it would be fun.

She sipped her daiquiri, choosing to ignore Demo drunkenly belting out a song she didn't know.

"I don't see how you can drink those girly drinks." Soldier grumbled, sipping his own beer. "Real men drink beer."

"She's a voman, herr Soldier." Medic stated, drinking his own cocktail. "Plus, I like fruity flavors more. "Vhich is ironic considering..." He leaned into Heavy's side as if to prove his point.

Pauling rolled her eyes, choosing not to reply.

"Next up, we have a man from Boston, give it up for Scout!" The announcer said as the audience burst into applause, the REDs being the loudest as the man handed Scout the mic.

"Thanks, y'all this little number goes out to a gal named Miss. Pauling! Can we get a spotlight please?" Scout said.

The purple-clad woman groaned as the spotlight landed on her. She covered her face in embarrassment as the audience clapped and cheered.

Was Scout seriously gonna sing her a love song tonight? That had to be the dozenth attempt so far.

A guitar started to play as Scout tapped his foot to the beat. Scout shot her a smirk.

"Don't you see?" He started out. "You're exactly what I don't want to be."

Wait what?

"Honestly, you're a walking talking purple tragedy." Scout stepped off the stage and strutted towards her, his smirk never leaving his face. "Can't believe I almost thought we were meant to be. Can't believe that I thought you cared about me."

Pauling watched as he circled around her, then finally faced her face to face, his smirk contorting into a glare.

"I'm so glad I woke up, I'm sick of living under your thumb, I'm so glad that I woke up, I don't really care about your worthless little 'pinion!"

Pauling's jaw dropped as she heard all of this. Was Scout serious?

"I should say that you're kind of a dictator in a way." Scout turned and walked back to the stage. "You're to blame, you're a constant source of misery and pain."

Pauling bit her lip. She WAS the reason the guys were constantly working. but they liked it!

...didn't they?

"What a shame that you're so stuck up, I know you won't change. Out of frame, now I know you never cared about me, because you left me drowning."

Pauling started to feel ashamed. She formed a bond with the rest of the team but not Scout. And why? Just because he liked her. She never thought to sit him down and tell him it was never happening but they could still be friends. That's all it would have taken for his advances to stop.

But she didn't.

"I'm so glad I woke up, I'm sick of living under your thumb, I'm so glad that I woke up, I don't really care about your worthless little 'pinion! I don't really care about your worthless little 'pinion. You think that you're so clever, why you scared of looking so dumb? I don't think you're entitled to a 'pinion about me, but now I'm just so done!"

Scout looked into Pauling's eyes.

"I don't really care about you! No, I don't really care about, I don't really care about you! You!"

Scout turned his back but looked behind him at her "You're self-obsessed and all the rest, and Pauling, I'm so over it!"

All the REDs cheered louder than ever, some smirking at Pauling.

"I'm so glad I woke up, I'm sick of living under your thumb, I'm so glad that I woke up, I don't really care about your worthless little 'pinion! I'm so glad I woke up, I'm sick of living under your thumb, I'm so glad that I woke up, I don't really care about your worthless little 'pinion!"

And the that, Scout dropped his mic. The whole bar erupted in cheers, while Scout walked back to his table.

"That was amazing, cadet, I'm so proud!" Soldier saluted.

Pauling looked at Scout who stared her right in the eyes.

"Next time, just tell me outright you don't like me. Don't play no fucking mind games. That's why you're still single, no one likes a lying manipulative bitch who can't say what she thinks."

Pauling felt a knife in her chest and a lump in her throat.

Scout sat back down and ignored her for the rest of the night.

Who cared what she thought anyway?

-

I really wish Scout would wake up (get it?) and just tell Pauling to fuck off. Not like she deserves any kindness from him anyway

Also my Pauling hate is showing, can you tell?

[rionsuke]

when I was a kid I bought volumes of Sailor Moon at random based on cover art, not knowing anything about linear story, and now that I'm finally reading my completed collection, I can say concretely that I was right to do that bc the Sailor Moon manga is ass. Somehow as a kid, I'd randomly selected the volumes with the best content, aka the side stories about the Sailor Scouts, aka the only ways you get to connect with them at all bc they might as well not be part of the main story for how little they affect anything. Thank god for the anime bc this shit is so shallow. I love and honor it still, but it is so shallow.

[pyrrhiccomedy]

A DM’s Fair Play Guide To Plot Twists

I love running a game with a lot of surprises. The challenge to pulling this off well is that, unless you’re playing a one on one game, your players outnumber you: and between them, they have a good chance of figuring out what’s going to happen, no matter how sneaky and clever you are.

The first way of dealing with this - which I’ll just call the bullshit way - is to not give your players the information they need to solve the mystery. Don’t let them find out about the secret society until it’s too late. Don’t give them any reason to suspect that their NPC ally is planning to kill them. Don’t let them find the murder weapon, don’t let them locate the witnesses, don’t give them the chance to skip to the end of their investigation.

This sucks, and if you run your games like this, you’re going to piss off your players. Because it isn’t fair.

In mystery literature, a “fair play mystery” is one where the reader is given all of the information they need in order to figure out the solution before the Big Reveal. It’s what makes the reveal good: that GASP, the “oh shit, the knife! the knife from the party! that was hers! I forgot!”

Pulling off a twist in a fair play game is an incredible feeling. Your players will think you’re a genius (or an absolute dick bastard, which is just as good) and they’ll respect it more when they land in hot water that they plausibly could have avoided. So how do you run a fair play game without your players figuring out the twists ahead of time, given that you’re definitely not smarter than all of your players put together?

By fucking with their expectations.

Here are some things that I keep in mind, to keep my players guessing. And it’s important, with all of this, that if your players see through something, let them have it. They should figure out a lot of things on their own! But if you’re regularly seeding your stories with all of this stuff, eventually your players will miss something. Those are somethings you can build on. The same way that a low level enemy who gets away once can keep coming back again and again until they become an important antagonist, a misapprehension your party proves to have a blindspot for can grow and develop until they get smacked with a breathtaking twist. 

What’s a twist if not the sudden overturning of an assumption you never thought to question?

1: Make your powerful friendly NPCs know a lot...but not as much as the players think they do.

Player characters often end up with powerful allies. It would be very convenient for the party if those allies always had accurate information. Make sure they don’t always enjoy that convenience.

It’s a balancing act: you want your powerful NPCs to be powerful. You want this alliance to be meaningful and beneficial to your players. But give your NPC an Achilles heel of some kind, when it comes to the information at their disposal. The Noble General commands powerful forces and knows the lay of the enemy’s land well...but that doesn’t mean he knows what every squadron and scouting party is up to. The Political Mastermind may know the ins and outs of the court, and have keen insight into the motivations of others: but he has an enemy who pisses him off so much that he loses all objectivity around her. The Powerful Wizard can call upon great magic to aid the party: but his divinations aren’t as accurate as he thinks they are, and he’s prone to finding, in his signs and omens, what he wants to see, more than what’s actually there.

Most of the time, their information should be good! That will make it more likely that your players will trust them the one time when it isn’t.

2. Let (apparently) less powerful NPCs sometimes know more than the players think they do. 

Most NPCs aren’t the Noble General or the Powerful Wizard. Most NPCs are Daves, designed to get the players from place to place. Most of those Daves know about as much as you’d expect them to. But some Daves have plans of their own.

You don’t always have to signpost with big blinking lights which of your NPCs are ‘important,’ and which ones are ‘unimportant.’ Sneak in a crafty Dave from time to time. That assistant they talk to, every time they go to see the prince? That bitch knows everything, and she’s almost ready to make her move. 

3: There is no such thing as a completely reliable witness. 

If the players only get information from one person, that information should be flawed in at least one, potentially small, but important way. Smart players will seek a second opinion, or at least allow for the possibility that their information may be incomplete. But even smart players get out over their skis sometimes.

4: Let your NPCs be aware of the power of a first impression. 

If an NPC gives a strong first impression of being a particular kind of person, it’s because they’re comfortable giving that impression. That might be because it’s who they are. But maybe not.

One of the first characters the PCs met in a VtM campaign I ran was Gawaine. Gawaine was a good old pine-scented man’s man, with salt and pepper stubble and a blue Ford truck. He listened to AC/DC, and talked about the war. He was affable and honest and willing to lend a hand. You already know Gawaine. Everybody knows a Gawaine. Gawaines are trustworthy, salt of the earth types. You don’t necessarily think to question a Gawaine.

That’s exactly why Gawaine was such a useful persona for Krystiyan, the Tzimisce Voivode, a cruel and alien sculptor of flesh who “never left his haven.” There were plenty of clues that they were the same person, but that campaign was in its endgame before the players put them all together.

5: Sometimes, dangerous and villainous NPCs should be helpful and cooperative. 

Not even necessarily because they’re manipulating the players, or even deceiving them about their true natures, but because their interests and the players’ interests genuinely align...for the moment. 

One of the easiest levers in your players’ brains to exploit is the expectation that people who help you are your friends. Even if your players know, consciously, that they shouldn’t trust this person, most of the time they kind of can’t help it, if the NPC is genuinely helpful to them and at least a little charismatic. 

6: Sometimes, good and valuable NPCs should be unhelpful and uncooperative. 

No matter how mature your players are, there’s a natural tendency to react to uncooperative NPCs with a reflexive, “Hey, fuck you! We’re the protagonists! This guy is an asshole!” so from time to time have a helpful, honest, good-aligned NPC have a wholly justified but as-yet-unknown-to-the-party reason to flatly refuse to deal with them.

7: Every NPC should have a secret. 

Not necessarily a bad secret. Were it to be revealed, it might even make the party like them more! But for their own reasons, the NPC does not want their secret to come out, and they will lie to the party to protect it. Players go crazy when they realize they’re being lied to, and often jump to some wild assumptions about your NPC’s motivations. I’ve had an NPC lie about the opening hours of a shop, and had the PCs assume that they were black market dealers for the villain when the dude just wanted to be able to close early so he could go smoke weed in the park.

8. As a DM, it’s polite to remind your players of the common knowledge their characters would possess...even when it doesn’t reflect the truth.

We all know it’s tedious when the DM calls for a roll when you’re just asking for common knowledge. I shouldn’t have to make a roll to know the dumb space word for plastic in a Star Wars game. I shouldn’t have to make a roll to know who the Holy Roman Emperor is in a game about medieval vampires. The DM should supply common knowledge for free, whenever it comes up.

That doesn’t mean common knowledge is true.

This is different from just lying to your players, because you don’t put the weight of DM word-of-God behind it. It’s not “You would know this guy is a Ventrue, based on XYZ.” It’s “it would be a common assumption that this guy is a Ventrue, based on XYZ.” He might not be a Ventrue. It might in fact be extremely important that he is not a Ventrue. But if it is commonly assumed that he’s a Ventrue, that is - word for word - something you can share with your players. If they don’t look any deeper than common knowledge, that’s on them.

9. Obviously untrustworthy NPCs provide great air coverage for less obviously untrustworthy NPCs.

The obviously untrustworthy NPC might or might not be planning to betray the party. But if you introduce two untrustworthy NPCs in the same storyline, and one of them seems normal and cool and has a genuine plot-related reason to be there, and the other one is Jaffar, Jaffar’s gonna get clocked, but Susan over there will probably slip under the radar, and might even get tapped to help out with the whole Jaffar situation. They might get Susan’s number, by the end of the session. Susan might become an ‘ally.’ Susan might even get romanced by a party member. Play your cards right, and Jaffar might just end up a footnote in the introduction of Susan, Scourge of Worlds and most hated NPC in the entire campaign.

10. Your villains should always have a secret plan B.

Your villain isn’t stupid, right? And your villain probably isn’t so arrogant that it is inconceivable to them that their plan might fail. They’ve been planning this ritual for ten thousand years, after all. It’s always possible that some plucky band of heroes could show up at the last minute and murder your high priest, or steal your amulet, or seduce your second in command. So what does your villain have in his back pocket to make the players go, “Oh, shit - he planned for this!”

This may mean that there is a whole separate plot happening, running alongside the main story. This is great, because when weird things happen, the players have to figure out whether this is part of Plot A or Plot B, and working out who did what and why gets a lot more interesting. If they end up foiling Plot A, great - your villain was also secretly behind Plot B the whole time, and will transfer all of his resources over to that. 

Sometimes your players will figure out that Plots A and B were both the same plot the whole time, with the same villain at the head, and they’ll feel like the smartest people on the planet, and it will be their favorite moment of the entire game. That’s great! You gave them that!

Sometimes, they won’t. And when the villain of Plot A, apparently defeated, starts laughing and reveals that he was also the mastermind behind Plot B, which is now too late to be stopped, that will probably be your favorite moment of the entire game.

[boimann]

comic 7 spoilers

ok i have a lot of thoughts about comic 7 and i need to ramble a bit or i'll go mad, this post is just to get those thoughts out of my head so read it as me screaming into the void, also these are just my opinions you can 100% disagree with me just please don't yell at me ;_;

i didn't like it, don't get me wrong i did like a few things in it but as a whole... :|

so starting off with the things i did like:

Miss flo pauling :D !!! she's awsome as always, i will always love her no matter what and i'm glad she didn't fall for the australium's temptation and got rid of it :]

SOLDIERS FAMILY!!! they are perfect no notes 10/10

buff merasmus, also perfect

✨heavy with a beard✨

and that's a wrap on the things i liked. what was supposed to be the big finale of this really cool story just ended with a whimper of a flashback...why?? i think the biggest issue i have with the whole comic is the fucking time skip, i honestly don't think it was necessary?? it feels like they just wanted to have a 7 years joke and i get they wanted to show were the mercs are at after the events of the comics but idk i think there could have been another way to show it :/

i especially didn't like what they did with scout, i love the idea of him being a good dad and basically the opposite of spy but idk going from him still basically being scout from the game saying he's moving on from miss p to him being a responsible dad feels really abrupt and it's all because of the timeskip because we skipped past all the development of him getting to that point. am i saying that we should have seen all of that development?? of course not because fitting it all in one issue would have been impossible but the way it is now it feels wrong ;_;

another thing i didn't like was that half of the mercs just didn't have any lines?? :[ it would have been so cool to see more of them or/and seeing them interact for example medic was litterally sided with the enemy for half of the last issue but i guess no one cares?? and i guess demo has nothing to say about his best friend being engaged?? or anything at all really, it was all so fast they forgot to give my man any lines (ﾉ´ｰ`)ﾉ

also didn't love spy taking off his mask because you know most of his character is being a misterious masked rogue but that scene with tanya was really sweet so it cancels out <3

so yeah this was all i could think of right now if i get anymore thoughts i will reblog this post and add them later, for now i will pretend that the comics end with the sixth issue and try not to think about it too much, i hope that anyone reading this post was able to enjoy the comic more than i did and again if you want to add your own thoughts please don't be mean bc i will cry (promise threat)

[rfswitchart]

Hunter's Comfort Food

I think, at this point, you all know my personal favorite Owl House headcanon. I shouldn't have to say what it is, you already know what I'm about to discuss. However, I am going to describe why Hunter loves what he does and maybe you'll adopt it as your headcanon too...

It all started when Hunter ran away from the Emperor's Coven Post-Hollow Mind. He'd been living in the paranormatorim in Hexside since, building a nest and living on snacks. Gus, having seen the former Golden Guard living so dreadfully, offers him his lunch, which, among other things, included a sandwich.

Hunter then helps Gus escape Adrian and the scouts, citing his reason for doing so being because Gus offered him food. When the illusionist questions him on it, Hunter says "It was a really good sandwich." As many have pointed out, Hunter's diet in the castle was probably miserable. On top of it, he was clearly malnourished, as several characters (Luz, Eda, Amity, Edric, Emira, Matt) have said. So it is assumed he didn't have a great time food wise, which is why he looked so happy eating that loaf of bread in King's Tide...

Yeah, look at him go. Happily chewing on some bread and being pleased as punch over it. And this is where my HC came to be, Hunter and Gus bonding over a simple offering of food. A kindness Hunter had probably never known until then, combined with something that probably saved his life or at the very least made him feel much better. I feel like that sole interaction weighed on Hunter's heart, and it made him fall in love with sandwiches. After all, without Gus' sandwich, he would have never been able to sit down and actually talk about how he was feeling about Belos. He wouldn't have bonded with Gus and helped the younger witch when he needed it most. Hunter developed an intensely strong bond with Gus, a friendship and brotherhood forged in love, trust, and sandwiches.

That said, I assume when they were trapped in the human realm, Hunter started looking into various types of sandwiches (with the help of Camila and Luz, of course.) Figuring out what the best meats and cheeses were. What kinds of vegetables go well with them (information he totally shared with Willow, obviously.) The best kinds of bread and condiments to compliment the other ingredients. I assume he learned about what foods he liked and disliked (boy loves himself some olives, btw.) Of course, this eventually lead to the ultimate creation. His pride and joy: The True Hero Sub. The culmination of his knowledge and understanding of foods that allowed him to create divinity between two slices of bread (well, shoved into a loaf of french bread, but hey, who's counting?)

Of course, this is a BIG sandwich. I know, that's the one I made myself. It is about 2' long (60.69cm for you non-Americans.) It is not something you can eat by yourself, and Hunter would never want to eat it alone. Because of this sandwich, Hunter came up with his philosophy on food; "Food tastes best when shared with others." So I assume the first time he made one, he shared it with the others. Definitely Gus, his sandwich brethren, and possibly Willow, someone Hunter would be thrilled to share his accomplishments with.

And this probably continued as he became an adult. I bet anything that Hunter has a series of sandwiches he brings with him to work. He maybe even wrote down his own cookbook of sorts for them. You KNOW anytime he had a new idea, Gus was the first person he told about it. He probably even made a book to make sandwiches to represent Cosmic Frontier characters (you know Gus AND Camila happily assisted him.) And that's my headcanon. A boy, his best friend, and a type of food that brought them closer and possibly even saved a life in more than one sense. In this house, we respect the Sandwich Bros. (Tagging @childlikegoblinqueen, @unniebeans, and @probablyhuntersmom, who I assume have also had this headcanon infect their brain for some time. *evil laugh*)

[six-paths-of-jeanmarco]

Thank you for killing me slowly by a thousand mental cuts the ask, anon! First of all, lemme apologize for taking so long to answer, but in my defence, you asked me quite the question here.

I want to say first that I used to be a big snk fan. And then the final chapter was released. It was so bad that it made me look at the whole series with a very critical eye, which made me realize that snk has never been that great to begin with. What really made this story good was the anime produced by WIT, and what really carried the story was its big mystery box. The moment we opened it, everything went downhill bc this was no longer a fantasy world, but a lazy parody of ww2 Germany & Japan.

But more importantly, and referring to the final arc, I started to notice all the rot hidden in plain sight: its fascist and antisemitic undertones, the awful writing, the lackluster worldbuilding, the braindead politics and the inconsistent treatment of characters.

Despite my newfound interest for the cautionary symbolism of Reiner and his character arc, I still think it was handled poorly. I have the same problem with characters like Gabi, Annie, Magath, and Pieck. Their individual arcs ended with them facing no real consequences for their crimes. Magath, despite being a literal representation of the nazi, was rewarded by the plot with a heroic death (a baffling choice when you think about who he is and what he did, and just how brutal and meaningless all of the Scouts deaths were pre timeskip). Reiner, Annie, Pieck, and Gabi were all rewarded with the promise of a new, happier life ahead of them, despite being responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths directly or indirectly.

Gabi herself is proof of just how bad the writing is: RBA lived inside the walls for around 3 years, and yet they still went on with their mission. They still killed Marco. Annie still massacred those Scouts. It took Reiner 7 years to fully acknowledge that what he did was wrong and to finally make amends ... by joining an alliance that had the same goal as that of the warriors for the whole goddamn arc: take down Eren. However, Gabi realized she was wrong in like what, just a few months at best? Their development is dictated by however the plot needs them to be or act. But there's more:

Marco, the Levi Squad, Sasha, and -- as victims of similar circumstances -- Pixis, and Hange, the embodiment of pacifism, were all condemned for being good people, and some of them for believing that there is good in everybody, even in their enemies; and punished for believing that conflicts could be solved in peaceful ways. Does the cautionary symbolism of their brutal deaths still holds up when the story rewards violence and crushes pacifism?

I don't think it does.

Showing that even the worst of the worst are capable of change and doing the right thing in the end is an important message, but. The idea that everyone is just a victim of their uprising or their circumstances is simply wrong. Ideologies don't exist without people, cowardice does not justify orders carried out that lead to attrocities. This idea fails to acknowledge that evil exists. Not just nuanced evil, but pure evil as well. It also goes the other way around. This idea also fails to acknowledge that good can exist.

And also to sympathize with Pieck, who was still loyal to marley despite what they're doing to her own people. And Magath, who in his final moments, revealed that he actually cared about the kids he was indoctrinating and instructing to commit genocide all along. I can't ignore the similarity with the way neonazi like to bring up hitler's friendship with Bernile Nienau, a girl of Jewish origins, as an attempt to humanize him. Heck, even Zeke's final moments painted him as more sympathetic than he was. Such is the case with Floch, and the way Jean reacted to his death. All those characters were redeemed in the audience's eyes without facing any substantial accountability.

I also have a huge issue with the false equivalences that were supposed to show us how morally grey everyone and everything is.

-> The link to the post in the screenshot

Jean and Connie and the Scouts that attacked Liberio aren't just wrongfully presented as something they're not, they're also used as tools to rationalize what Reiner and co have done to them throughout most of the series. Jean briefly does that with what Reiner did to Marco before he punches him to a pulp. Then again with the "we're the same" bs. Then again with implying Reiner is one of them as a Scout. There's also no real tension between the warriors and the Paradis side of the alliance. What the warriors did to Paradis is truly horrific, so their only way for redemption is through their victims.

The mistake that most people do when they interpret their relationship or the characters themselves is to only look at the characters' in-story intent. But there's also this thing called the author's intent that overrides everything. Sometimes, you cannot separate an author from their work. Especially when it comes to the final 12 chapters, where the quality of the writing is in the sewer.

But there's actually another way through which these characters were redeemed: the introduction of a much greater evil and a much horrific event that makes everything else pale in comparison. The main conflict of the story was revealed to have always been Eldians vs Eldians. But that wasn't always the case. Not until isayama retconned Eren, and then treated him the same way he treated the warriors. Eren's friends refused to condemn his actions, and instead repeatedly rationalized, then absolved and thanked him for what he did. It doesn't matter that they still did what was right in the end, that Mikasa killed him, or that Armin admitted they're both going to hell for the atrocities they've individually committed. In the anime. Which came out almost 3 years after the release of chapter 139+the extras and the massive backlash that followed. Let's not forget how that conversation went in the manga:

None of that matters because there's a dissonance between their actions & words and their attitude. isayama couldn't condemn any of his genocidal characters in a way that matters, in a way that would leave no room for moral ambiguity. But perhaps the greatest injustice isayama has committed to his own characters, story and messages was to retcon Eren, the character that was at the center of a message as powerful as the idea that we're all special because we're simply born in this world, into a genocidal maniac that cared about no one and nothing (if he actually cared about his friends, he wouldn't have put them through living hell, not when he actually had the power to prevent it, and if he actually cared about his mother, he wouldn't have killed her) through one of the worst executions of the time travel trope I've ever seen.

Snk is not a story that condemns fascism, let a lone a "masterpiece" when it comes to social or political themes, because it's centralized on justifying the oppression of the Eldians and making it an integral part of the plot. Not only are the Eldians an obvious metaphor for Jews, which is antisemitic on its own given how it's executed, but isayama ends up making them truly horrific because he takes real world antisemitic conspiracies and turns them into factual realities in his own story, all while seemingly acknowledging that Jews have been oppressed and the victims of the worst genocide in history. Moreover, the Eldians also seem to be ideologically inspired by imperial Japan, Paradis in particular. As @ shangyang points out in their essay, we shouldn't forget the fact that this is a manga authored by a Japanese man, nor that Japan has its own history with fascism. (Plesse don't skip any of the posts linked here)

All that being said, isayama's true intent is more than clear: violence is praised because his characters were written so to see violence as their only option, and the fascist mentality of eternal warfare as the status quo. Pacifism is not presented as an option. There's no nuance, only extremism. Even the cycle of hatred at the very end only serves as proof that the intent of the story is to present an extremely narrow worldview in which the human species is only capable of perpetual warmongering, hatred, destruction, and death. Which is wrong and is the very opposite of what I'd call "nuance", imo. And the reason this bothers me so much is because snk and other "morally grey" works alike aren't portraying evil people as just that, people, and evil as something that exists in all of us - no, what they're doing is making the unlikeable likeable, the unjustifiable justifiable, and they're making people sympathetic towards things they shouldn't be sympathizing. Such narratives are banalizing evil (if I had a nickel for how many posts I've seen justifying what Magath did or outright saying they love the guy, well I'd have a lot of nickels) and depreciating good (lots of nickels for all the posts I've seen bashing the Scouts). Such narratives serve as propaganda for the things they claim to condemn.

The result is that such stories beget ignorance, and ignorance is a fertile ground, whether is the case of people who are only interested in shipping and blorbofication, or the people who are not properly educated to know what they're dealing with.

And there's a reason actual fascists and neonazi are circling the series like flies, identifying with the yeagerists, and saying that "Eren was right". They're not taking control of the narrative, they're seeing it for what it really is. The progression of Eren's character arc, his motivations, the retcons, the conclusion of the story, Ymir's motivation, the undeserved redemptions, the characters not behaving in ways they should based on their history, none of those things make sense because they don't have to make sense. They're only pretexts meant to mask the actual intent of the story. The cycle of hatred didn't end because the rumbling truly failed. Because "the enemy" (the people outside Paradis, all of them, as Eren made it very clear) wasn't completely obliterated. Because as long as there's "the enemy", there can't be peace. Fascists have a complex relationship with war. They don’t like it, but "the enemy" is always forcing their hand. The rumbling was meant to succeed.

This is not a cautionary tale for anti-fascists.

Snk is a cautionary tale for fascists.

Now recontextualize all of that in present-day fascist politics, and see where it takes you. But ofc, this is only my interpretation, based exclusively on the story itself.

[dawningwinds-s]

I'm a decentish way through Veilguard (just before Weisshaupt) so idk. Here's a summary of my compabions impressions so far:

- Neve: This woman has the sexiest voice I've ever heard, huge props to the VA. She's also a lot nicer to everyone than I'd've first guessed, I kinda expected similar vibes to Vivienne (who I'm pretty lukewarm on) and have been pleasantly surprised. The cutscene with her bonding with Assan is adorable and the fact that she just gave the skeleton a nickname makes me happy.

- Lace: Lace Harding, the scout of all time. She was fun in DAI and I've loved seeing her get a good of development here. The Stone Song powers are an interesting bit of lore and it's been fun seeing her grow accustomed to that. She's also just really sweet and I like her a lot.

- Bellara: Ngl I think she might be the funniest bitch of all time. "So it's safe?" "No, I just mean... worrying won't help. Whatever happens will be instanteous! :)" (her and Davrin in the crossroads) is probably the thing that stuck with me the most on that front. Her backstory with her brother makes me pretty sad, though, but makes a lot of sense for her character. Also, love a woman who builds stuff.

- Lucanis: Gods I feel so bad about Treviso. This man has had it so rough and I only made it worse. The Spite situation is really interesting and I look forward to seeing how it's resolved, and I've really enjoyed seeing his interactions with the other Crows. He's also surprisingly nice for an assassin, considering we went to the Treviso marketplace and he went out of his way to buy something for everyone else on the team. I also find it kinda funny that he seems to be primarily in charge of the grocery shopping.

- Davrin: He comes with an adorable griffon, what more can I say?

... a bit, actually. I genuinely enjoy his storyline with learning to take of and train Assan, he's understandably having a bit of a tough time considering he has no idea what he's doing but he's really pushing through it and finding his way. The wood-carving hobby is really interesting, I don't think I would've guessed it but I like seeing companions have things they do other than beating up bad guys. The way he connects it to the monster handbook is also interesting-- I do have a lot of respect for him seeing other handbooks and deciding he needed to do it right.

Emmrich - Honestly I would love to take one of his classes. Not only would it be really interesting from a perspective of someone who likes Lore, he genuinely seems like a really good teacher with a lot of patience of his students, and he puts in the effort to individualise the learning experience. Manfred as a teacher's assistant would also be really fun. He's really polite with everyone and seeing how much more formal he is is a really fun contrast. The absolute terror of death that can only be quelled by surrounding himself with the dead also works well with the idea of a necromancer.

Taash - I'll be using they/them for Taash since I'm at a point in the game where their gender isn't entirely clear. They're dealing with it. Taash has such a rough time with their mom, I've never had an overvearing parent like that but it's very believable how they respond. I also really love the "People who've only ever been one thing will never understand how big the world is" line that technically comes from Rook, but it's a really good line and it's a good early bonding moment for them. They're also a just little stupid I think (there's a couple Lighthouse interactions ypu can listen in on that exemplify this), but they've got big muscles and breathe fire so they'll be fine.

Bonus round

Assan - BABY. I love this little griffon. He's really clever and full of mischief and I can hug him whenever I want. Perfect character.

Manfred - For some reason my brain keeps thinking his name is Martin. That aside, he's such a silly little fella. He's a spirit of curiosity. He picked his own skull. He loves to make tea. He'll get in a fight with a griffon only to team up to beg for treats. I don't even know if he can eat. I doubt he knows if he can eat. He's got goofy glasses. You can play rock paper scissors with him. Icon.

[aihoshiino]

I just want to start by saying I really love your analysis of Ai’s character! It’s nice to know that Ai still has some dedicated fans, even after she died in the story. Ai was fascinating to me throughout the time we got to know her. So it makes me happy that people still talk about her quite often.

I'll get straight to the point now. Lately, I've been unsatisfied with the writing of Oshi no Ko. I'm not a fan of how they've handled Ruby, the revenge plot, and Kana's concert. So, I decided to create my own alternate universe (AU) story featuring two of my favorite characters from the manga, Ai and Kana. The setting in the AU is somewhere around the time after Ai got scouted. The only change I've made to Kana is that she is the same age as Ai in this timeline. I'm not exactly sure how I want to develop their friendship or how they would meet, but I'd love to hear your honest thoughts. How do you think a friendship between Ai and Kana would unfold? I would like to say it wouldn't be an entire copy of RubyKana's dynamic, but I'm not entirely sure 😭. My goal is to portray Ai's feelings and the increasing pressure she faces, as well as Kana's struggles to find work and her gradual realization of her mother's exploitation. I also want to show how they balance their friendship despite being in different fields and supporting each other.

Thanks so much, anon! 💜 THIS IS SUCH A CUTE IDEA… Usually when I see fics of Ai and Kana interacting, it's with their canon age gap but the idea of them being peers is super interesting… please do drop it into my inbox if/when you write it!

The idea I had immediately was like - since we're already messing around with the timeline by making Kana and Ai peers, you could push up the live-action adaptation of Sweet Today and have them cross paths that way. Ai mentions in the Da Vinci Q&A that she would've loved to play the lead character if it was ever adapted - which as we all know is the role Kana plays in the story proper. There's already a surprising amount of parallels set up between Ai and Kana in the main story, but that one in particular really made me go ! so I think you could mine some interesting thematic stuff out of it.

That would also probably be a good way to put them in each others' proximity as well, I think! Like idk, maybe Kana was supposed to get the lead role but got bumped down to a supporting cast member when the production committee decided they wanted Ai's name recognition instead and now Kana has to balance being professional with seething over losing this role she really wanted to a girl who's not even an actress but also wanting to help her give a good performance j-just to make sure the show is good! Not for any other reason! … That kind of thing.

I definitely think they'd have an uphill struggle… they're both dishonest in ways that really clash, huh. I can really easily see the way Kana defaults to externalizing her vulnerability as snark and aggression accidentally setting off Ai's tendency to go belly up fawning mode, which in turn rubs on all Kana's insecurities and her feelings of not being good enough, which causes her to be even more reactive… I think they'd definitely end up having a big blow-up a la Nino and Ai before they could start properly communicating.

Once they're on the same page, though, I think they'd be really good friends! Ai is an incredibly affectionate and supportive presence for the people she loves and Kana is extremely proactively protective of the people she allows into her heart. I think they could really hype each other up and support each other in some really good ways.

Basically what I'm saying is;

[kana voice] HEY!!! SHE ASKED FOR NO PICKLES!!!!! [said while trying to restrain Ai from forcefeeding herself a burger she does not want in order to not mildly inconvenience another human being]

[thedevilsruby]

Spy: *abandons Scout*

Scout: *desperately seeks attention growing up with eight older brothers, a mom who was probably too busy to give him the time of day, and as a result, is awkward and boisterous to get attention anyway he can because he grew up without a dad*

Spy: Why is my son a failure?

[thattimdrakeguy]

Hey,

So if it's not too much to ask, can you give me a summary on the Core Four's personalities? I really wanna know for analysis reasons, I'm re reading all the core 4 young justice and teen titans books and trying to decipher my favorite one.

I can give you the personalities as intended by their creators no problem, Person Newtonote.

Now as you read you might think "Oh, hmm, that doesn't add up with what I've read" when it gets into the Young Justice and Teen Titans books, but that's 'cause different writers write different things, and some writers understand some characters better than others, and some of it is just plain character development, or in worse case writers doing what ever they please 'cause they don't care.

I'll let you judge when what happens.

Onto what you've asked though, I'll try to keep it simple as I can while still being detailed:

Tim Drake:

My personal favorite, that much is likely obvious.

As intended, he is an idealistic young boy, and dreamed of Robin as an even littler boy (he's pretty small for his age). He's clever, and resourceful, and thinks very very highly of the legacy of Robin. It's his heart though that got him his job as Robin, and his compassion and genuine passion for the role of Robin. And he displays what many may call boy scout tendencies. Even admitting to original Robin Dick Grayson that he enjoys helping old lady's cross the road (or something like that.)

Being raised in private schools, without a lot of friends (He's shown having no friends until he goes to public school to my knowledge), he's a pretty naive and oblivious, trusting person. And it's through out his journey's he has to learn how dark Gotham City can get. Though compared to the other Bat-Family members of this era (90s) he's very much the heart and light-hearted youthful energy to it.

His social ability is mostly perfectly fine, he's no complete weirdo. Kid can get friends easy peasy. Easily likable to folks. Endearing. But he has an oblivious side, and can get ahead of himself. Has a habit of getting spiritually adopted by people who instantly want to protect him. Anyone from Batman, to former CIA agents, and even villains. He's just got that babyface on him, and button nose.

He also deals with anxiety in terms of being Robin, being worried that he may be stripped of the job, or let people down, or mess something up. And sometimes that lends him having a lot of insecurities about himself. While having some prior training in martial artists, and implications of having taken gymnastics, also a former boy scout, he still doesn't naturally take to the role like all other Robins around him. Which means he has to try a lot harder to have his keep.

In the Bat-Family in this era (the 90s) he's the heart, and baby to everyone. They're uber protective of him, and take him out of the action when they deem it to be too much for someone like Tim. Within Young Justice he puts on a heavy Robin persona to hide what he's really like. Making himself out to be a more Batman-esque mysterious leader.

When really, he's a dorky, fanboy, who loves Kaijus, Crocky the ??? Crocodile I guess (Basically Barney the Dinosaur), super heroes, cars, Warlocks and Warriors (Dungeons and Dragons), sports, comics, Sci-Fi, fantasy, and cartoons. Self-admitted geek, with some popular interests in there.

Think of Tim as sort of Autistic kind of. He's never officially said to be. But when you read his origin, it's definitely a legitimate way to interpret him. Though I believe his uniqueness is intended to really be molded by Tim's passion, and obliviousness from a lack of parental figures in his very young life.

Tim is supposed to be an optimist, as told by his creator, but to be real a lot of writers seem to forget that, even when making jokes about how he's optimistic compared to others. I think sometimes the writer's own cynism leaks out into him. So remember that...despite a lot of writers forgetting it. Be better than them.

Cassie Sandsmark:

My personal second favorite member, but, please, make up your own mind here.

She's a rebellious teenage girl, and tomboy. She stays up pass curfew to party, but is at heart a good hearted individual who truly wants to help. This comes at odds with her stubborness and headfirst attitude. She hates being treated as a kid. And shows a great deal of intuition and cleverness. She's also a babysitter. Seemingly a good one too.

Her need to prove herself can put itself ahead of her own logic though. And she buts head with her very stuffy mother who doesn't appreciate Cassie's care-free nature. She means a lot to Cassie, and Cassie wants her approval. Cassie's natural being is...very much in contrast to what her mother would prefer though. It's fun.

A lot like Tim she's also shown to be a Super Hero fanboy. For her it's specifically Wonder Woman and the Flash, while with Tim it's basically anyone the writer decides he hasn't met offscreen yet.

Through her journey's she learns to contain herself though, and better use her powers.

Bart Allen:

The most teenager-y teenager you ever seen. He has ADHD, but not the uber-hyperactive, talkative, hugger you see in some more modern misunderstandings of him.

Originally he was pretty quiet. Super popular in his school. Girls loved him and considered him a pretty boy. But in reality he has no social knowledge, because he was raised in basically a video game for two years. He's essentially an alien learning to fit in with human civilization. So he's incredibly reckless without intention. It takes him awhile to truly process the concept of death and related repercussions. So he's sort of dangerous.

He can be quite surly, and mean spirited on occasion. But like most heroes, he has a good heart that comes out in the end. It's just simply the 90s and being Anti-Authority is the norm. His name is Bart after all. Underneath that is a young man who does sweet things when he has it in him.

Just don't think of him like a baby like how a lot of people make him out to be. He's a teen's teen.

Original Bart, like original Tim, and original Cassie, to me, is the best version of the character. The most nuanced, and interesting.

Oh, and minor violent streak on Bart too. Started a fight before, and stuff like that.

He cares inside. That has to count for something right?

Kon-El:

Hot-Headed pervert. Over-confident. Fame hungry. Lady magnet. Stubborn. Head first. Sort of a prick. But again good hearted.

I haven't read him as much as the others, because I don't personally care for him. Then in the early 00s with Teen Titans they decided just to make him an angsty young Clark, which is personally boring.

I don't have a lot of great things to say about him. His solo is very dated, and overtly sexual. Something I have no interest in reading.

He's at his best in Young Justice though, where he isn't written as jail bait by a writer who thought it'd be great if he dated grown women to fulfill teenage boys dreams. Instead you get to have fun with a very flawed character without the distracting perversion...mostly.

Punk styled. Loves dressing like a punk. Until he doesn't. Ruh-roh.

--

Again though, different writers write different things. They catch onto different things more than others, some are plain neglectful, others don't care, some want to change stuff for the sake of it. It's comics, you'll be lucky if it's consistent.

But on my years of studies, all that is what the character's where intended to be by their creators. So a lot of it is a starting pad, but it's also the purest form of them you're going to find.

[queer-ragnelle]

So, regarding your novels, what made you write backwards? I'm so curious about it.

TL;DR I started writing in Mordred and Galahad perspective. I then became possessed by the "older" characters and went "back" in the timeline to write their origins (starting with parentified Agravaine). I did this several times until I ended up with Ragnelle/Gawain as book 1, "the beginning," of what turned into an Epic many books long.

Let me give you a timeline...

1900s: I am born and develop Arthurian brain worms.

21st century: The worms declare Ragnelle/Gawain are my favorites and I write their Wedding multiple times for fun based off what can be gleaned from Wikipedia and retellings as I have no medieval resources at my disposal.

February 2020: I think Mordred and Galahad would make neat narrative foils and write a short story about them playing chess.

March 2020: The plague. I'm furloughed from my job. Writing becomes my full-time focus. I write 60,000 words in Mordred and Galahad perspective, plotting their story to be a trilogy.

June 2020: I'm back to work but I'm still writing. With money and curiosity at my disposal, I begin hoarding Arthurian books. Local quirky secondhand bookstore owner had an Arthurian fixation in his youth—I clear his shelves. He asks if I'm a medievalist major and I have to break it to him I'm just a High School drop out at the mercy of the Tell-Tale knights chattering in my head. I learn more lore. I splurge to buy the Vulgate cycle. I'm forever changed.

Late 2020: Reading medlit and retellings and watching all the movies super charged the brain worms. The Vulgate especially. I develop an obsession with circumventing the Orkneys/Welshmen blood feud with the power of gay sex. (Joan Wolf did it first in her 1988 book The Road to Avalon with Agravaine/Lamorak.)

January 2021: Historical research shows that Islam didn't exist yet during the 5th/6th century I'd been writing in. I order Zoroastrianism by Mary Boyce to make sure I'm depicting Ragnelle and Gromer's religion properly. But it's nbd their page time is minimal as background characters right? ....right?

2021 continued: The Agravaine/Lamorak brain worms take on a life of their own as I'm hospitalized and bedridden. Chronic pain and isolation become my themes. I write endlessly on my phone from bed. 2/3 novels are completed and readable straight through with a third book in pieces. These are currently at a combined total of nearly 140,000 words. (Plus the notes file with scenes I haven't moved yet...whoa.)

Late 2021: I rediscover old Ragnelle/Gawain stuff and decide to write about their wedding. Again. But this time with legit sources. Except Ragnelle isn't some ambiguous character of color, she's now very specifically Persian [Iranian] Zoroastrian. So the whole thing takes place in Persia and research goes crazy. Someone gives me their college log in so I can download and hoard essays and textbook PDFs. I do beta-read trades with people in facebook groups (bad bad idea) and yet...

End of 2021: I get sample edits from various editors including one guy who insulted my "lack of education" and said emulating J. R. R. Tolkien's old style didn't work anymore and I should take inspiration from The Hunger Games....for my queer romance in Persia. Right. Anyway I pay the $100 for the pages edited so he'll go away and continue searching for my unicorn editor....

2022: Ultimately facebook group scouting finally yields results as I stumble upon a fellow Ragnelle/Gawain enthusiast who would become my editor!! Editor says I have to cut the giant book into thirds, so what is now book 1 ends up chopped.

2023: I'm still revising book 1, now titled The Moonlit Knight, with my editor. All the while I'm drafting book 2, sporadically cheating to write in other books including an Elaine and Perceval book that appeared out of no where, and scouting out beta readers. One beta reader came via a tumblr mutual who connected me through instagram. A second beta reader discovered in a discord server. Another beta reader from a different discord server. So on and so forth.

Early 2024: Beta reading continues, until I have readers for every angle I require; queer people of all flavors, Zoroastrians, Arthurian enthusiasts, Jewish readers, people with DID knowledge etc! Slowly but surely I work through revising the book with all these wonderful people to a final 95,000 words!

Mid 2024: But now...it needed a cover. I commission a tumblr mutual and work for weeks with them on that, still editing/revising and having betas read book 2, Sunshine's Lady, which is currently almost 132,000 words long and half edited/beta read.

September 2024: I still haven't published. lol. But the process takes a long time and has a lot of moving parts!

So why do I actually recommend this method? Well, this has been hugely helpful to write foreshadowing. Forgetting for a second the blueprint drawn from Arthurian Legend itself, I know how my story with my version of the characters is going to go, so I can set all of that up way in advance. It's all well and good to know (spoiler) Arthur dies at the end, but it's never been about the conclusion so much as the journey there and the unique perspective of whichever character the author has chosen to focus on. I mean, Godfrey Turton's The Emperor Arthur is Pelleas point of view. He's instrumental at the battle of Camlann. It's the same with Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles and our one-handed friend Derfel, the reasoning for which isn't revealed until book 3. The world is your oyster! Fixate on your special character and set that shit up and pay it off!!!

Knowing what you're writing toward is extremely helpful during the drafting process. Even if it's only vaguely shaped it'll develop detail as you revise. Other than Derfel's missing hand, the best example of this I can think of is in Realm of the Elderlings series by Robin Hobb. It has a huge fanbase on tumblr for a reason, it's just an insane amount of set up you're not even aware of until the impact slams into you many books later and you're left going, "Whoa.....it was there the whole time." Mind blowing. I want have half as much narrative resonance as that.

Another thing that came of this is, since I wrote Agravaine/Lamorak first, and I'm obscenely Ragnelle obsessed, she pops up in their pov as a hag, only for them to not realize she's one and the same as Gawain's bombshell wife they "meet" later. I wrote this as the lads first, but it's extra funny now that, actually, the reader will experience Ragnelle's perspective first. Hottie uncursed Ragnelle does know she met them before, but feigns otherwise. So it's very fun to see the same encounters happen a second time a few books later. Agravaine is like, "Okay granny whatever. Bye... :^/" and Lamorak is like, "That granny was weird but I like her! :^)" meanwhile the reader is like, "AHHHHH! I KNOW HER!!! YOU FOOLS DON'T KNOW HOW IMPORTANT SHE'LL BE AHHH!!!" At least, that has been the beta reader reaction, which is gratifying. Even better, the books can be read out of order, so actually if you read Agravaine/Lamorak before Ragnelle/Gawain, it works in reverse, too. So if the reader knows who Agravaine is from reading his perspective, when Ragnelle or Gawain runs into him, the reader will realize who he is before it clicks for the point of view character. I had a lot of fun developing all of this across the series for multiple characters, it certainly happens more than once.

Wow that was long but I hope it makes sense and gives you an idea how it all went down. Thanks for taking an interest and I hope you enjoy my books when they're out. Take care! :^)

[galedekarios]

Oh wait now I’m curious what the backstory reasons behind Alton’s physical design are! He’s very handsome and I crave the oc lore.

thank you so much for asking about altonaufein. i really truly do appreciate it a lot! 🖤he's the favourite of my bg3 ocs.

his development and growth as a character is mostly tied to his hair and how he presents himself, so this is what i focused on for my choices throughout the game:

altonaufein was born as the third child but first son to matron ithrana of house hlarahel, a younger brother to his eldest sister nadriina and the second-born iraeae.

house hlarahel of ust natha has produced a long line of powerful clerics in service to lolth so altonaufein, with his natural talent and inlination for both the divine and the art of combat, was trained as a cleric to aid drow scouting and raiding parties:

this is how his hair would have looked then--perhaps even longer as the cc allows us--white hair worn long and open, symbolising lolth's demon webs, her reach and control on her drow, despite altonaufein's dreams of a bright moon hanging in a dark sky he has never seen.

i will put the rest under a cut because a) it's very, very long so sorry in advance and b) because it deals with some very heavy themes so if you aren't comfortable reading, you absolutely do not have to!

(cw assault/rape, cw mind manipulation, cw enslavement, cw drow society in general tbh)

drow society is a matriarchal society, where male drow are considered lesser, and it functions under a particular set of rules:

"The cruelty and injustice of Drow society are utterly familiar because they are constants, from the womb onward. Drow mothers punish and manipulate from the start, and Drow women rule each household. Typically, nobles are divided up into houses which jockey for position in the city, and each noble house is headed by a cleric of great skill. A wise matron mother will have several cleric daughters to ensure that her line and influence continues, but she will watch them carefully. Inheritance is passed through daughters, with children ranked in importance by gender, and then by age. A matron will guard against her eldest daughters and pit all of her children against each other to ensure her own survival." "Drow children are not coddled. They are raised together and sent to schools with high standards of conduct. Drow children are trained to compete with one another and to show no mercy. Some children do not survive the intense childhood games." "The Drow are infamous for their torture practices, as well they should be. Among the elves of the beginning times, they were the first to experiment with the sensation of pain. They have honed torture into science and psychological treatment. Drow parents will punish their children with pain and humiliation in very tactical ways. Drow students are publicly punished in front of their fellow students and class clowns are rare (although pranks for which no one was apprehended are remembered by Drow students as legends of a sort). Drow adults are not all masters of torture, but they have seen enough pain to know how to make others hurt. Not all Drow use physical pain as their modus operandi. A good many are adept at humiliation and terrible mind games. Some slaves are so broken mentally that all they can do is concentrate on the task at hand. Some Drow actually do not like to put forth the effort that torture requires and would rather kill someone than waste their energy. The worst punishments are said to come from those closest to Lolth - the yochlol and the clerics. They are whispered to be divinely inspired."

these are the circumstances that shaped altonaufein as much as it did nadriina and iraeae, who, in the tradition of house hlarahel, are both striving to become powerful priestesses of lolth in their own right, seeking to inherit control of the house from matron mother.

drow house politics are insane and it's all encouraged by lolth. lolth wants to determine who of her followers are worthy enough to be supported by her, so all drow have to pass a test of faith, a trial of lolth.

after altonaufein foolishly (he truly did love--in a way that drow are capable of--his sister iraeae and confided in her visions that spoke not of lolth or a great spider swallowing the world, but of a moon, shining bright silver.

iraeae felt conflicted. she, too, loved her brother in her own way. of course that weakness was what made her realise what she had to do: weed it out. so she told not only nadriina, but her her mother. it was then decided that altonaufein was not simply to die.

they would not further shame their own house like that. instead he would be put through his trial of lolth, to weed out that weakness and corruption within their own ranks. should he die, he'd be a sacrifice to lolth, should he live, he would prove lolth's favour to their house and advance them further in ust natha's society.

altonaufein with that was sentenced to undergo the test of strength. power and resourcefulness, whether or not the subject is strong and clever enough to defeat a powerful foe. the test is only fulfilled by a battle to the death between the test subject and another, stronger person, sometimes a creature.

the fight is usually difficult, and the test subject often has to expend all their resources to survive and vanquish their foe, who must be slain: the more brutal, the longer drawn out the fight, the more you've suffered and the more your foe has suffered, the more it will satisfy lolth.

altonaufein earned his first brutal kill like that. he had just reached maturity.

nadriina had hoped he would die. winning the trial had garnered favour and attention. a strong male could be just as dangerous as a scheming female. she devised a plan with iraeae to ensure that they would not be threatened and, with that, iraeae passed her own trial of lolth: chwidevbrii, or the test of betrayal.

it's a punishment that strikes particularly deep. trust is a distasteful concept to drow, though they understand that sometimes it does happen and is even necessary. to rid themselves of this, to succeed at this test, the drow must betray someone who has garnered her trust or in whom she has placed her trust.

mentors, teachers, leaders, friends, family members. as long as there has been a solid connection of dependence made in the past. the relationship between master and slave or servant does not count; the goddess knows that no betrayal can happen in such a relationship. it is simply a slave. the drow must utterly destroy the other drow in a way that allows her to advance in some manner. the method is not important: blackmail, slander, torture... magic. in the end, the victim must die or be thoroughly disgraced and dominated. usually, the victim is murdered by the drow herself, commits suicide, or is killed as a result of the drow's action.

so what better way to show to her goddess that she is a true drow, that she is worthy, what better way than to serve the house than humiliating and dominating someone who was once a little brother.

drow females are able to take over the mind of a male drow just like that, with a spell, akin to a thrall. all thoughts are gone, all will is gone. your mind is not your own anymore.

iraeae did just that: after he was beaten, whipped, mental and physical defences exhausted, the spell on altonaufein took hold and, as perhaps a final "kindness" in her utter triumph, altonaufein was discarded in ust natha's dark underbelly.

ust natha has a tavern. to entertain both those lusting for blood, for sport, and for more carnal pursuits. altonaufein still remembers szordrin and sondal, the keepers of the tavern. their taunting faces. mind gone, he and others were kept in a cage. he served there for a while. to fight. to please. to be of use. to those who asked. to those who had power or gold. for battle. for pleasure.

he was there, under that spell, until it broke: iraeae dead by her sister's hand. betrayed just like altonaufein had been by her. altonaufein doesn't remember how long it lasted, remembers only parts of it: the many hands, more than hands, the pain. he remembers fighting. other drow. other prisoners. the surface. running. the moon. fever. then nothing for a long time again.

and finally, karl:

karl is an ilmater cleric, a part of a small settlement built around a modest church of ilmater that, unknowingly, is very close to an entrance to the underdark.

during one of his patrols with another of the settlement, karl found altonaufein: delirious with fever, malnourished, ravaged by old wounds that never truly healed, hair tangled.

any other man might have killed the defenseless drow, thinking it to be a ruse, or perhaps to put him out of his misery, but karl is an ilmateri through and through, for better and for worse, and so he shouldered this suffering and brought altonaufein to the temple. he was tasked with caring for him. and watching him.

so karl came to care for the drow: he cleaned and dressed his wounds, sat by him. tried to talk to him, engage him in moments of clarity and despite the obvious language barrier. karl, an ex-soldier and deserter, was forced to fight for his homeland cormyr against sembia. he saw a lot of cruelty during that war. a lot of violence, both in battle and outside of it. in the villages and cities that were torched and conquered and pillaged. he saw a lot then and sees a lot of it now in altonaufein, who survived a different kind of war.

as for altonaufein himself, he tries to settle into that new life, tries to come to terms with what he remembers of his old one... it was incredibly violating. he remembers only snippets. moments. sudden movements and motions, that send his heart racing.

the clearest memory is a hand gripping his hair so tightly, pulling and guiding. it's not anymore, but he still feels it.

he hasn't brushed it or touched it since his rescue, it's a tangled, matted–and it’s also something that hasn’t escaped karl’s notice.

altonaufein goes to cut it with the only blade he could find (stolen and kept on his person from one of the meals karl had shared with him).

(ilmater clerics and priests are good and nice, but they are also no fools who would give a drow access to sharp weaponry. kindness goes only so far, even here, no matter how much karl vouches for altonaufein.)

so altonaufein begins to cut it with a dulled blade and it goes about as badly as you'd imagine: it's hard to do, it hurts, and the strands that he manages to cut are choppy (which is the least of his worries). he still manages to hurt himself simply by the virtue of hard he is trying and how badly his hands are shaking with it.

karl would find him, take one look at him and leave, coming back with honeyed tea to soothe frazzled nerves and a sharper blade, one of his own. he drinks the tea first from the little teapot, pouring himself one cup and another for altonaufein, to show him it's not poisoned or meddled with. he had noticed how skittish altonaufein was with things he hadn't seen being prepared.

they sit there for a while before altonaufein, too, calms enough to drink his cup, and it is only then that karl begins to speak, voice soft but clear.

he takes up the sharp blade, lets it rest on his hands just so, where altonaufein could reach out and take it at any time, and tells him of what could happen: he could leave the blade with altonaufein and he can try again, but karl would prefer it if he could help, clean the cuts and nicks and heal them, and help altonaufein cut his hair.

altonaufein looks at him for a long time, searching his eyes, still holding onto that dull blade as a last defense, but there is no deception in karl, none at all. only that strange kindness that he has come to associate with the human.

it was one of many, many small gestures, things, that karl did for altonaufein that made him trust karl. trust him enough to at first take food and drink from him, later to help fix injuries like this one--and finally, to let him cut his hair.

he turns his back on karl--even though the human might not realise fully how meaningful that truly is--so he can do as he had said he would. and karl does. he keeps his word.

time passes and altonaufein settles into his new life, bit by bit. he helps with that he can at the temple and the settlement: repairing fences, caring for the animals, the harvest, building and repairing things.

he still wears his hair short, but here and there, he allows it to grow just that bit longer than it had been for a long while now:

and it's this way when the settlement is attacked and he is captured on the nautiloid.

on his journey to find a cure, and to find karl, he meets another human, just as kind as the ilmateri. one who knows the goddess behind the light and moon he had dreamed of, prayed to, albeit not knowing just how to, and gives her a name that altonaufein had not known until then: eilistraee, lady silverhair--and a close friend to the man's own goddess, mystra.

this bond between them, beginning with a moment of connection, grows ever closer and brighter.

through them, karl and gale, with them and alongside them, altonaufein begins to heal and helps them heal in return, begins to find his purpose and helps them find theirs:

he is a cleric of eilistraee. he can be more than a tool for bloodshed and violence.

he's not kulg llarzoran ithrana qualla hlarahel (his designation as a male of his house). he's not auflaque (dog) as he was called during his captivity. he is simply altonaufein and that's what he is to gale, to karl and the friends he has made.

settling in waterdeep with them, altonaufein joins the promenade and its leader trelasarra zuind. to help others as he had been helped.

🖤

[utilitycaster]

In the most recent CR episode I found it really interesting (and really concerning) that it Laudna's truth about wanting Bells Hells to ripcord out of saving the world came hot on the heels of Imogen's truth about not wanting to save the gods

Idk it could just be me, but it seemed like her truth was just another attempt to placate Imogen's moral confusion, while simultaneously pushing those things back onto the whole group

All it makes me think of is the fanon and 4SD discussions about Imogen and Laudna retiring to a farm and living happily ever after. What are either of their reasons for remaining with Bells Hells at this point, if their truths are that they don't want to save the world?

See, that actually seemed fine to me! Fearne had earlier admitted she felt they were ill-equipped for the job and likely to fail, so it's not just them who feel it, and honestly I think that Laudna's confession was one of the more valid ones that I hope get unpacked. Fjord and Jester made a very similar admission to each in both episode 72 and episode 118 of Campaign 2, of "hey, wouldn't it be nice if we just ran away somewhere quiet and never had to deal with this again" and I think that having that admission and then finding a way forward anyway is a really great moment. I didn't write at length about how Orym's "but we have to work together and do this" has also been a really big factor in the party's dysfunction because I covered a lot of that in my discussion of how he handles his own grief well and the grief and pain of others very badly, but honestly it's good that Fearne and Laudna are getting to "we don't have to do this, this was always thrust upon us because an old guy brought us to a cool orc who hired us to look into some stuff and in the process found out that the comparatively small-time political crook was tangentially involved in a a vast cosmic death cult conspiracy that several of our parents are also involved with."

My issue with Imogen is that she literally said two episodes ago she's never prayed and now she's claiming the gods never listened to her, as well as that her reasoning is the horrifyingly self-absorbed "they don't love her", but I actually think it's fine if this party does not wish to save the gods on the grounds of "we feel underqualified and overwhelmed and like we've been at the mercy of many (mortal) masters with no time to pursue our own interests." And I think that Laudna didn't force this specific thing on the rest of the party; she said they could all ripcord, but didn't say who should do it or who felt that way or force them into agreement.

I've talked about the campaign's earlier pacing at length and I don't want to revisit it at length because it evened out, but more so than any other party, Bells Hells has rarely had self-directed adventures. That's a big reason why they're such a mess; they didn't need to develop the tools to come to consensus because Eshteross or Ryn or Keyleth would give them tasks, so we never actually have delved particularly deeply into what most of the party members want to be doing, which is why we're here with this group that's mostly stuck together because they've had jobs to do. I think acknowledging that is an important step, because the task at hand (scouting on Ruidus) is in my opinion within their abilities, but they've been pushed and pushed and have finally reached a point where they can't just keep going. (This by the way is the underlying premise of this post; this is the fundamental reality of Bells Hells as a party. If you like that the most then hell yeah, but a lot of people who claim to love C3 are blaming the entire plot of the campaign for why the party is a mess which is like, so you like the premises of these characters and dislike the vast majority of the actual story in which they exist, and you really just want the story of Campaign 1 or Campaign 2 but Ashton is there.)

With that said though, I do agree that's kind of at the core of Imogen and Laudna. They're so insular, and that's been claimed as a feature, not a bug, for much of the fanon of that relationship. Like, I think Laudna is valid for this specific statement, but unlike Fjord and Jester, who had established in through the course of the campaign both deep ties to each of the rest of the Mighty Nein and a profound sense of responsibility in general, I find myself wondering why Imogen and Laudna don't go off and live in a cottage together and leave the rest of the party to handle this. I mean, Imogen is also impossibly tied up in the fate of Ruidus, but she dithers about the approach so much I wonder why she doesn't decide that perhaps she should stay out of it altogether and retire to that cottage with Laudna until it's all over.

Personally, my thought is that Imogen does in fact secretly like being the special Ruidusborn Exaltant On The Other Side, especially since she's realized her mother wasn't that (as she had hoped). I agree with the fairly common opinion that Imogen and Ashton are in many ways extremely similar people, but whereas Ashton just got a very brutal wake up call of "your parents did fuck up and you're not built different and your desperate attempt to be something special could have hurt everyone" Imogen is still out here going full Javert on everyone's personal thoughts. So I suspect she won't ripcord out in the end, and therefore Laudna won't. But I do think it's valid for Laudna to bring up, and indeed, one of the many things that would make great progress in fixing this party dynamic would be Laudna independently expressing her own needs some more instead of being Imogen's Yes-Woman or projecting her own desires onto other people as I suspect she's doing with Fearne and the shard.

[elliesmainhoe]

thinking about ellie with an actor! reader 🫣like maybe reader is doing short films and indie films to start off their career. reader sometimes brings ellie to set with them and ellie can just watch them do their thing and be a certified supportive gf🫡

a bonus thought that i just thunked while typing this; what if reader gets a callback for a pretty big show and gets !! the !! part !! and it could be considered their like “breakout role”, and how proud would be :,))

Ellie Williams Headcanons: Actress!Reader

The start of your career

Supportive gf Ellie is prominent!

Comes to all of the sets of projects that your working on-

Makes you and the whole crew lunch because theirs only like ten staff

Ur biggest fan❤️

Watches every single indie movie your in, every short film, you could be an extra or the lead and she will absolutely LIVE for it.

Sitting next to her giggling away as she watches gobsmacked at every plot twist and cliffhanger of a film your in.

Takes all the photos for your Instagram.

yourinstagram

3,286 likes

yourinstagram BTS of the new YouTube short film 'The butterfly effect' OUT NOW!!

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ellie_sketches taken by me🧍

ellie_sketches @dinnodina look at how pretty my girl is.

→ dinnodina @ellie_sketches nah y/ns my gf not yours

→ yourinstagram @ellie_sketches lomls... Don't fight <33 your both my bbygirls dw

Breakout Role

She was the first one you told when the audition told you that you had gotten the role

The lead in a film adaptation of a well known spy novel. The script was amazing, empowering and had beautiful character development throughout the plot

And as soon as your agent told you of the role you knew you had to do it.

You never expected to actually get a call back.

You had never ran so fast from your car, up the three flights of stairs and into your shared apartment than you did once you got the call.

"ELLIE!!! ELLIE OH MY GOD WHERE ARE YOU!" You screamed before an alarmed Ellie came out of your bedroom.

"Fuck babe- wants wrong are you alr-"

She couldn't even finish her sentence before you had ran into her arms, squeezing the life out of her.

"I got it- I fucking got it Els" you sobbed. Ellie's face light up immediately and her smile beamed before her lips smashed into yours. The kiss lasted for what felt like hours before you broke away from eachother.

Her hands cradled your face, tears rushing down her cheeks "I am so, so fucking proud of you baby"

Lets just say she is the proudest girlfriend ever.

Reads all the books the movies are based off of even though she's not a big reader

Going as your date for the premiere <33

Such a fucking sweetheart, goes with you to every new experience to help you with your anxiety. Whether she's lurking behind the camera during an interview or holding your hand as you meet your idols.

She's there for you. Always.

yourinstagram

17,892 likes

yourinstagram the first ever set that I've had my OWN TRAILER

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ellie_sketches I have never met someone more deserving of this than you ❤️

dinnodina so proud of you bestie <3

florencepugh I'm so happy I got to work with you!!!

Becoming a star

After the success of the spy movie you lead- you were scouted for so many new things.

You became a face in many franchises: scream, the hunger games and even marvel!

It was honestly insane.

And ofc big roles came with high rates. You bought a penthouse apartment in Manhattan- and you bought Ellie everything she wanted.

(Your her sugar mommy fr lmao)

She was able to quit her day job and focus solely on her art. She did something she loved and you were doing yours. It was perfect.

Date nights mainly stayed at home- the paparazzi and constant flashing lights became really tedious- so dinner and a movie was the way to go

Not like the two of you were complained.

yourinstagram

72,935 likes

yourinstagram I have never felt so honoured, appreciated and in love than I am right now. Being able to make acting my livelihood is something that I had never thought I would be able to achieve in this lifetime- and I am so so so grateful for everyone that has made this possible. Thank you to the staff, the directors, my agents and my team.

But a special thanks to my Ellie. Ellie has been by my side since day one, she has seen me lose roles, get roles, cry, scream and laugh through this completely and utterly insane experience. I love you so much.

....

GUESS WHO HAS AN OSCAR BITCHES!!!!

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[axilarycobra]

[Wings of Fire] C Dragon Character Headcanons

Hey, guys! Back for the next letter (there are a lot of characters with C names so I decided to just do the letter C so it isn't too long because I think if it's too long, it's less likely to be read completely).

Quick note: if you like any of these, they're all okay to use! If they're super specific headcanons, like my headcanons for Armadillo's & Anaconda's backstory, then I would maybe like some kind of credit because those are more developed stories that do include original characters (Armadillo's father, Anaconda's mother, etc.). But most of them aren't really so specific that I think I have any right to own them, especially since they aren't my characters. Although if you ever do use a headcanon for anything, I'd love to see it so please feel free to tag me!

Also also, just want to point out because I've seen this before, but yeah, these aren't headcanons. I made this stuff up, but no one uses the word for that (I don't even remember it) and I don't like it so I'm calling these headcanons.

Cs

Cadelle - Cadelle is one of the greatest historians in the HiveWing tribe, but she kept her research a secret from the queen and ladies because she was not a fan of them; she enjoys Jewel better as queen than Wasp. She remained in the Hive Kingdom after Jewel became queen, but she lent her research to the universities in the LeafSilk Kingdom at Cricket’s request because she secretly doesn’t hate Cricket.

Camel - after the war, Camel settled down in the SandWing stronghold and worked in the mailroom which he enjoyed a lot more than being a soldier. Camel’s sister is Saguaro and their parents would always compare them, making Camel feel insecure since he wasn’t as strong or tough as her.

Canyon - Canyon never liked Scarlet, he just wanted to be king because it would make other dragons look at him more; he secretly cared how Tailwind viewed him and would go out of his way to interact with them because he wanted validation from them as their younger brother.

Capybara - Capybara is Thorn’s cousin.

Carabid - before Wasp learned about Carabid’s power, he was a nerdy HiveWing who spent all of his time in libraries, similar to Cricket; he was timid, shy, and tried to help out SilkWings when he could; after Wasp used him as a weapon against many dragons, he felt guilty, but eventually found a home in the LeafSilk Kingdom where he worked as the librarian, archivists, scientist, and journalist in Chrysalis University.

Cardinal - Cardinal is Cliff’s best friend; as Cliff grows older, Cardinal hangs out with him a lot. He is the dragonet of Jasper and a SkyWing who Jasper is now divorced from.

Caribou (bard’s daughter) - at JMA, Caribou is placed in the gold winglet and becomes friends with Sepia, Newt, Barracuda, Changbai, Alba, and Snail.

Caribou (bard’s friend’s sister) - Caribou is a jewelry maker and owns a shop in Village-of-the-Plentiful-Seals.

Caribou (bard’s friend) - Caribou was from the circle rankings and the palace, but moved away due to the pressure, finding a home in Village-of-the-Plentiful-Seals. Their brother is Fjord, but they hadn’t seen their brother since they left and were informed after the war that he had died in Scarlet’s arena.

Caribou (bard’s grandmother) - Caribou was a scholar who worked as a traveling librarian before settling down permanently in Village-of-the-Plentiful-Seals.

Caribou (bard’s mother) - Caribou is one of the village scouts who protect the village from any dangers; this includes hunting polar bears, scouting for avalanches, and watching for other dragons.

Caribou (bard) - Caribou used to dream of meeting dragons from the other tribes, but when the war happened, they hid in their village, afraid to fight other dragons; while their daughter is at JMA, they plan to go on trips to the different kingdoms to meet other dragons.

Caribou (princess) - Caribou was considered one of the most beautiful IceWings in the kingdom while she was alive; many believed that she married Snowstorm, but she only had eggs with Snowstorm, which she raised with her wife; Caribou was the daughter of the IceWing queen, but she never wanted the throne, so her cousin, Queen Marble, challenged her aunt instead.

Carmine - Carmine did not have a close relationship with her daughters and only viewed them as being necessary for the throne, despite being upset that Sunset died, she just had another daughter to replace her.

Carnelian - Carnelian would have eventually warmed up to her winglet and become friends with them, especially Umber and Winter. She had a sister named Torch who she looked up to and was an elite soldier for Ruby which is why she hated being sent to JMA.

Cattail - after the war, Cattail and her siblings learned how to handle cattle and started a successful cattle farm in the Diamond Spray Delta; Cattail boasts that she laid the egg of the dragonet of destiny, but all of the MudWings she is around tell her that she doesn’t even care about him.

Cereus - Cereus becomes one of Blaze’s friends in the SandWing stronghold. During the war, her family pressured her to have eggs so she did with Camel; however, neither of them are in love, but they still raise the dragonets together.

Cerulean - Cerulean is one of Turtle’s meaner brothers, but he tries his best to be nice to Turtle ever since Turtle saved the world.

Chafer - Chafer is one of Lady Cicada’s sons, which is why he looks similar to her; it is also why he and Scarab knew each other and why Scarab was so okay with shutting his store down for a day.

Chameleon - after losing his scroll, Chameleon tried to find somewhere to go, and at the request of Kinkajou, returned to the Rainforest Kingdom where Glory apologized to him and welcomed him back to the Rainforest Kingdom; he apologized for his nasty behavior towards everyone and eventually started working with the other healers; the masks he made under different tribes somehow materialized into real dragons who had to figure out how to navigate the world themselves.

Changbai - Changbai is reserved and doesn’t often speak; they are in a relationship with Alba. They have an interest in history and geography. When they were a dragonet and lived in the Ice Kingdom, Changbai was told that their father died when they were very young, but this was a cover-up, as their father was Hvitur, an IceWing who had to flee due to his forbidden romance with Prince Narwhal.

Char - Char was a childhood friend of Oasis; when Oasis was pressured by her mother to find a dragon to marry, she just chose Char because she believed that it would be easy to marry him without actually having to love him, but she quickly found that spending time around Char was quite annoying and the two often had to spend time apart.

Cicada (AGttDW) - Cicada was the second queen of the HiveWings; she was respectful of the other tribes, but also ambitious, eager to expand her tribe.

Cicada (TLC) - Cicada loved art and before the Tree Wars, she used to make wood carvings as a dragonet; she is resentful of Wasp for making rules that censored trees.

Cinnabar - Cinnabar would become a member of the SilkWing Assembly, by request of Tau. Cinnabar eventually starts dating Io and Tau and is reunited with her grandmother Danaid.

Clay - Clay never liked to read because his eyes always hurt when he tried to read something; later in life, he would get glasses that would help him be able to read clearly without pain; Clay developed an interest in music and would go on to teach a music class at JMA.

Clearpool - as an adult, Clearpool returned to the Kingdom of the Sea where she inherited the throne from Pearl.

Clearsight - Clearsight never romantically loved Darkstalker, and just saw him as a close friend. On Pantala, she had dragonets with both Sunstreak and Maple, although it is commonly censored that she had LeafWing dragonets. She went on to have more dragonets with BeetleWings so the HiveWings became their own tribe, but her NightWing/LeafWing dragonets were so few, a new tribe wasn’t created from them.

Cliff - despite being a prince, when Cliff grows up, he becomes a trusted advisor to the SkyWing queen.

Clorinde - when the SilkWings were looking for staff members for Chrysalis University, Luna, Io, Swordtail, and Blue searched for their old art teacher so that they could bring them to be a professor at the university. They are the parent of Glider.

Clubtail - Clubtail fulfills his lifelong dream of owning a sweets store, where he uses his flamesilk to make baked sweets. He is the father of Grayling, who believed he was killed by Lady Bloodworm, but was actually taken to Wasp Hive to be returned to the flamesilk factory without Grayling’s knowledge.

Cobra - Cobra and Thorn knew each other as dragonets and after Cobra was thrown into Thorn’s dungeon, Thorn tried to convince her to become good so Cobra can be released. Cobra hasn’t committed yet, but Thorn keeps coming back to her every week to talk.

Cobra Lily - Cobra Lily becomes one of the soldiers in the LeafWing military, one of the military bodies that protects the LeafSilk Kingdom.

Cochineal - Cochineal was the younger of her and Scarab; she would constantly taunt her older sister and make fun of her; during her reign as queen, Scarab would try to suggest things to her, but Cochineal dismissed her every time. When Cochineal had lots of daughters, Wasp was her least favorite and she hoped Wasp wouldn’t be the one to become queen, but things didn’t turn out how she liked, as Wasp had figured out the secret of the Book of Clearsight, so Cochineal was forced to give her the throne so Wasp wouldn’t reveal it to the tribe.

Coconut - after returning from JMA, Coconut became a fruit gatherer in the Rainforest Kingdom; he works as an apprentice under Mangrove and Orchid, the two treat him like a son.

Comet - Comet was a fictional character who never actually existed; there exists ancient NightWing fanfiction between him and Mindhealer.

Commodore - Commodore was the youngest of Clearsight’s dragonets with Sunstreak; he loved telling stories and became an author, his mother would help him with printing his books.

Copperhead - Copperhead met his RainWing lover during a negotiation between the two tribes, the RainWing also being a prince; when they ran off, Copperhead was welcomed by the RainWing tribe.

Coral - Coral’s mother, Queen Conch, never paid attention to Coral when she was a dragonet. Because of this, Coral felt lonely and when she had dragonets, she coddled them because she believed that it would make them feel like they weren’t lonely.

Cowrie - Cowrie was very supportive of Clearpool and protected her when they returned to the Kingdom of the Sea.

Coypu - Coypu never knew that she wasn’t related to Sawgrass until she was elderly and had passed the throne on to her daughter.

Crane (L1) - Crane was one of the last ambitious MudWing queens in history; all of her siblings had died during skirmishes with the RainWings and SeaWings, causing her to make big military decisions since she had nothing else to lose.

Crane (TDP) - before her death, Crane had gotten into contact with the Talons of Peace and hoped to convince her siblings to join it.

Cricket - Cricket became a librarian and archivist at Sapling Academy, and later, Chrysalis University; she raised Bumblebee like a daughter to her and Blue, but the two didn’t date for a long time and just see each other as close friends after breaking up.

Crocodile - Crocodile lost all of her siblings during the war, which is why she chose to work for Burn. She survived Glory’s venom and is held as a prisoner by Queen Coral.

Crystal - Crystal and Gharial have dragonets together; they decided to raise their dragonets not as royals, just having them be regular Sanctuary residents.

Current - after returning to the Kingdom of the Sea, Current decided to go into aquaculture, as he liked to make food, but couldn’t stand the sight of knives. He would go on to meet someone and raise dragonets away from the palace, but his dragonets were never considered part of the royal family.

[allmentalyart]

💜 Purple!💜

After quite a while, I present to you the return of the themed headshots! For today, we have the purple beans! While deciding on the characters themselves, I specifically went with characters that are not part of my main story Allmentaly. Mainly so I can get some notes down for some characters of my other WIPs. Considering how often I am currently taking notes, I hope I can develop some of the many side projects a bit further soon :3

In the meantime, watch me ramble about my OCs ^^

🔭Mystic, the Raptor! - OG designer: stardragonsparky on Instagram

This lovely bean is part of the raptor pack Kaijuru is in. Mystic's role is to scout the area whenever the pack wanders to a new location. She is one of the oldest raptors of the pack and knows the dangers of the world quite well, so her eye can often spot potential dangers quicker than the other members

📖Jasper, the Sand/Raining hybrid - OG designer: _.star._.fruits._.artsy._ on Instagram

This shy dragon lives in the Hybrid Colony located between the Rainwing forest and the Kingdom of Mud. He has been living there for his whole live and has a little cottage close to the library. He loves reading books and studies specifically how fruits benefit the health of dragons. His main focus in books are therefore fruits, medical studies and romance books! Yep, the latter sounds quite odd considering the previous descriptions of Jasper XD But this bean is a true lover of the most cheesy romance book you can think of! That being said, you might now be able to guess how his relationship with Mango is going!

⭐ Starfin of the Depthwings! - OG designer: aurora_rainsea on Instagram

Starfin was named after the star in-between her split fins on her neck. It's become her trademark and she never misses the opportunity to show it off! Yep, she is super proud of herself. Starfin usually spends her whole day to collect scales! Mainly fish scales or dragon scales, but her collection does have some more rare scales in it! In the evening, after returning home, she starts doing her main work - crafting earrings, necklaces, piercings, bracelets, home decor or even weapons (mainly ones that are used for ceremonies, since the decor she puts on these isn't practical in battle)

⚔️Battlemaker of the Nightwings - OG designer ilionzae_draws on Instagram

This high ranking soldier is not only part of the army of the Nightwing kingdom, but also a mentor for Moondust. Training the future queen was no easy task, especially in a time of war! It was Battlemakers idea to sent the young princess to the Skywing kingdom and let the Night/Ice/Sandwing hybrid get trained there. The Queen - Milky Way - agreed, trusting Battlemakers judgement. After all, it was this snarly Nightwing, who protected the princess from an assassin and lost her left eye in this incident!

✅Likes, shares, saves and comments are highly appreciated

❌I own the copyright to these artworks! Any usage of it without my consent is prohibited! I don't consent to the usage of my art for AI or NFTs! Stealing and tracing is obviously also prohibited!