#or if it did come to this it'd be more justified. or something idk

[sillyabtmusic]

hmmm hwon

[azaharinflames]

tbh two things bother me the most about 'eddie HAS to be gay!!! it'd explain everything!!!' that BoBs do.

the first is just the fact that it feels like waaaay too many people are willing to excuse stuff like misogyny if someone's gay. i get that its probably rooted in this 'well, at least he's not dating/marrying women!' but like... gay men still have women in their lives? some of the fucking abhorrent shit that some of them say is still misogyny and needs to be called out. but also fucking double standards because 'eddie being gay would explain his shitty behavior because repression' oh, like how tommy said and did shitty things because he was closeted? that he fully acknowledged were shitty things later on and that he wasn't proud of the person he was then? things the show implies were forgiven by the people he hurt enough to invite him out for drinks after work? like ok BoBs i see you

the second is like. okay, say eddie IS gay. why would that bring chris home right now? eddie's a single dad, there's struggles that will come with that (esp when he's a literal firefighter... like... that man works long ass hours and we know this), and the idea of finding love again in general can fit into that. but, idk, with eddie there's two things that really need to come first and its chris AND his own wellbeing. get that man into some grief counseling or some sort of support group for widows or something. regardless of his sexuality, he needs to address his issues first and repair his relationship with his son before he can think about introducing someone else into their lives. imo the best person for canon eddie would be a single mom who can both understand what he's gone through but also call him on his shit when need be, but that's just me!! man needs to deal with his issues, period. him being gay and kissing buck wouldn't bring chris home, it'd probably just piss him off more and make him think his dad still doesn't care about him (and probably make him hate, imo, buck for not telling eddie to get his shit together and be the dad that chris wants him to be).

idk i just think its a dumb fucking take to be like 'but if he's not gay then he's just another misogynistic straight man!' like... yeah? those do exist? and this is pretty much the forgiveness and redemption show, eddie's flaws can be overcome if the writers care enough to do it. (and also, like i said... he'd just be a misogynistic gay man if he was gay lmao like misogyny does not disappear just because u aren't straight?? lowkey feels like proof that some of them have never actually spoken to queer men at all to know that they're still diverse in personality lmao).

Hi, Nonnie! Sorry for taking so long to answer, this past month has been something lmao

Yeah, gotta say - that is my biggest issue with it. Being gay never gives you a pass on being misogynistic, and it wouldn't give Eddie one, either. Justifying his misogynistic tendencies and passing them as: oh he just doesn't know how to behave with women, he's gay, is an extremely harmful rhetoric. And one way too many people adopt. No one gets a pass on this, and even if Eddie were to be gay, he wouldn't either. Instead, he would have to acknowledge his bad behaviour and work on it. But it doesn't seem like even the show acknowledges this misogynistic tendencies, so I highly doubt it'll ever be addressed.

and to your second point: yes. yes yes yes yes yes. Even if he were gay, dating Buck would solve 0 of his problems. What Eddie has to do is work on himself for real, because the bs we saw in 806 was not it. He hasn't worked on his grief over losing Shannon, and he hasn't done work with Chris other than considering moving to Texas... not to mention, in canon Eddie is a shitty (romantic) partner. This we know for a fact! And being with Buck wouldn't fix that; if anything (in my opinion) it would make things worse, not better. And yeah, most likely Christ would hate it, because to him it would mean losing Buck too, at some point.

Overall, nonnie, I heavily agree with everything you said! Sadly, Bobs are the most hypocritical and dense creatures I've ever encountered, so even if presented with this, they won't care.

Anyway. My inbox is open for ranting, venting, giving opinions, or confessions!

Take care <3

[bigbstatz]

very /gen question- why must bigb loosing any poll be about how he's not white? Like idk whats going on over on twitter- I care about the southlanders or whatever and secret soulmates an equal amount- far less than I am attached to the divorce quartet. It just happened to fall that way. While I'm not saying racists don't exist in the community- I'm not sure if it'd be to the extent that an entire statistic was swayed that much? Rather it'd be more likely due to some members of those others teams having larger fanbases from pre-life series, wouldn't it?

so i've made a few posts about this topic, but i do genuinely believe that a lot of the reason why people choose to exclude bigb from things, or not watch his POVs, or see things he does as less interesting - this idea that he's a "background character" that exists only to buff up other people's stories - comes from, at least unconsciously, a level of bias against him because he's black. i'm not saying life series fans are racist, certainly not. but i do think it's easy to notice how he is typically the only one who gets left out, or who people don't take interest in, or never think could be a winner.

and it's easy to try and justify it by saying he doesn't make minecraft content otherwise, or has a smaller fanbase, but that's not really entirely true. martyn was making mostly fortnite content when the life series started. bigb has been a reasonably sized, influential minecraft creator for years - he's in minecraft story mode where he plays himself, he's been friends with grian for over a decade, and he was part of evo! (something people also tend to forget - oh how i roll my eyes whenever people say grian, pearl, and martyn are the only life members that were part of evo.)

and despite all of this, bigb is, for a lot of people, an afterthought. a side character. he's just Grian's Friend, not his own person or character that people take interest in separately.

but i don't want to come off as harsh or judgemental in saying this because i truly don't believe anyone is doing that maliciously or on purpose or because they dislike him. i think it's just a bias people don't realize they have and need to unpack. and i think it's a lot more widespread than people really think it is.

thank you for asking tho! i really appreciate how many people have been willing to productively engage in this stuff and ask questions. i wasn't expecting some of my more specific posts about this topic to blow up, but i'm glad they did if it means people will enter a good discussion.

[codename-adler]

is there any reason why Dan specifically? a lot of the foxes have dad issues, but Dan doesn't show any signs of trying to seek out anything romantic from older men becuz of that. if it were any fox, i feel like it'd be more likely to be Andrew? idk how old Roland is but we know he was older than Andrew, and he's a position of authority just like Wymack. I don't WANT it to be Andrew. I just feel like if it had to be someone, its him, yknow?

hmm not sure how to answer this.

i just transposed my experience onto her, as a hc, for shits & giggles. i never said i based myself on canon? was just vibing.

if i did have to justify it, i’d say the EC kind of could point that way, if you really wanted it to be as close to canon as possible? but i’d don’t! cause it’s just for fun! and not that serious!

as for the Andrew thing, um, i feel like i gotta say something. just as nothing in canon points to Danielle having lingering daddy issues / seeking much older male validation because of her past, neither does Andrew. Roland is what? a few years older, max? legally an adult (which is still BAD, in case i wasn't clear......), but not the way Wymack is, a fully grown man in his forties/fifties. he’s not a dad’s age. no dad potential whatsoever. Roland & Andrew is different than the possibility of Andrew seeking out Wymack. you have to know that. it's not the same at all.

the reason Andrew sought out Roland was not specifically bc of his age, but bc Andrew could be in control and Roland would follow his rules, for the most part. when he would not, Andrew could tie him up, and Roland would let him. if there was an age-related reason, it’d be that Roland is a mature, consenting adult in full possession of his independence. Andrew would be inclined to see that as good (for Roland). Andrew would not consider this as also bad (for himself). Roland has no authority at all over Andrew, though. not according to canon Andrew. he may have been his boss at one point, but Andrew is holding the reins of the situationship. Andrew is the one in control.

so to say that Andrew, specifically, would be the one most likely to seek out much older males is… icky. iffy. yucky. you “don’t want it to be Andrew” and why is that? bc of his past abuse, right? and you know that. you know why. i know i’m probably more on the defensive than i ought to be, but there are already harmful stereotypes in aftg when it comes to queer representations and identities. we don’t need more in fanon. i don’t need more in fanon.

Andrew grew up in foster care without a mom or a dad. if he had daddy issues, he’d most likely have mommy issues too, no? but what did he do to his mommy? killed her. for laying a finger on Aaron. that’s a mommy issue alright, but not a mainstream, freudian one. not the kind we’re talking about here. so why would he develop those with older men in parallel? he actively avoids these types of men because of the abuse he endured at their hands. not just Drake's.

it’s just. awfully close to right down saying Andrew is gay bc he was abused by men as a child. that’s a dangerous, slippery slope.

again! in case it wasn't blindingly clear and glaringly obvious! the Danielle post was about Danielle herself. David Wymack would not and never was involved. David Wymack never even knew Dan harbored these misplaced (misplaced!) feelings. she is taking this one to the grave.

if you come from the perspective of personal experience and you’re projecting too, sorry. i don’t mean to invalidate your feelings or your experience.

i think i’m done now.

tl:dr it wasn’t that serious + it doesn’t need to be made serious. just me and my dad-baggage against the world.

[golby-moon]

uh oh I tried out a new art program called Krita. at first I really didn't like it but it did kinda grow on me after I started overcoming the learning curve a bit (which definitely has nothing to do with my constant refusal to actually watch tutorials for stuff. and I wonder why I hate 3d modeling so much gjfhfjgkgf). I still prefer flipaclip studios even though it's an animation app with way less features but this ended up okay I think. this was the first time in seriously like a decade that I drew something more than a doodle on a computer instead of a phone or tablet and I discovered that even though my screen is a touch screen, it has one of those screens that really drags and makes your finger feel weird when you use it and just

anyway. blame @lazarus-rose for this prompt of knight!dean flirting with prince!cas. what of course cas doesn't just have a flower crown because I couldn't draw a regular one what are you talking about

nah but I think my unfamiliarity with both the program and my laptop's touchscreen does show in all the clunky lines that aren't quite smooth. I also can't figure out how to grab and move stuff with one of the 20 selection tools on Krita or I would've lowered Cas a little and also added speech bubbles but idk I couldn't come up with any good dialogue anyway. it'd probably be something like:

D: so wanna go see how big my sword is 😏

C: I can currently see your sword Dean

(ignore the lazy background idk random castle. also yeah cas' book is about beekeeping and that's definitely not just me trying to justify his flower crown)

(11/25/24)

[real-total-drama-takes]

I think another reason why I hate season 2 of the reboot so much is that the betrayal of the season (or misunderstand plot idk) just isn't as impactful

What made Millies plot line so well rounded is because of the fact that it came out last minute, it came out exactly after she had her character arc, she had something planned to proved that she ended up enjoying priya so much more then she thought she would (Honest to god I'm convinced she has a crush on priya tbh), she DID mess up, the narrative actively shows you that this hurt priya but thata because priya doesn't have the full story, and it doesn't last for more then the episode the betrayal happened. Because of the fact that Millie just gets to tell her and priya understands her and they make up, ending in Millie wishing her well In the finally and her and priya hugging it out.

Shes a strong character with complex feelings about her life, she's been bullied, and made to feel horrible, she clearly wasn't ever cared about by the people around her, so she places the expectations and judges people around her so she doesn't have to come to terms with all that's said about her, she barely had friends, honeslty i wouldn't be surprised if she ended up in those scenarios where you're "friends" with someone but then they never invite you to anything. She's a lost and confused teenager writing about how much the world and teens around her suck... because teens did suck to her, they did hurt her.

Caleb does not have this.

Caleb just kind of.. doesn't have the same heavy emotional backstory to justify his actions, sure sure not everything has to be traumatic but it makes him come off as kind of actually sucky, he just uses priya for an alliance (hell to give him some points here I'm not sure if he processes priya liked him) but honeslty it's just not as fun, priya and millie kind of had no one with them, but... people like caleb and priya now, that's why he was picked,he's this convienriyly super nice wet mop man, who after the secret gets out, priya just storms off, but this reveal is pulled too soon.

Im very sorry but for me at least the drag on of priya and calebs misunderstandings plus Julia is just something of pure obnoxious nightmares, it's barely fun and doesn't do anything say if you're like me and barely been convinced this couple brings anything new and interesting to the table (bonus points say if you miss millie and Emma because of the fact they get eliminated so early because the writers don't wanna bother writing the fat women uh oh!!! /that's meant to be melodramatic but like do I have a point they just shafted the more chubbier or fatter women or). Zee gets immediately eliminated after the secret gets out so there's not even them being annoyed at him either?? So it just feels like NOTHING

But then again this is all on thr writers. Honestly it makes me pity what caleb could've been say if they continued his view of something being an alliance rather then a forced romance plot, priya x millie seems much more realistic to me at least but also because I think it'd be fun to explore the fact that proabably caleb might just not be that "perfect guy" he's chopped up to be but then again I want a season that would've focused on Emma and Millie and Axel and Nichelle developing so woopsies maybe I ask for too much

Tldr: Prileb plot is fundamentally weaker then the Prillie plot because it drags and the writers don't actually put effort into writing properly compelling plots because romance = good drama ig.

Note: honest to god my belief is though that you can 100% fix most characters, I write this not because I wanna see characters put down but because of the fact that I boneslty would love to see people do more with the gen 4 cast.

-> Writing On, 🗒 Anon

[sweetshelluvaau]

Free pass for you to explain how you’ve decided to rewrite any of the characters ^^

if you can’t choose tho I’m very curious to hear your thoughts on Alastor

Oh geez I have to pick a character to talk about! Well, I'll do that but I'll also answer regarding to Alastor first:

I have a complicated relationship with Alastor in the show, however I don't think they changed him too much from the pilot but at the same time, something just feels off about him.

No shade to his new actor, he does a fine job but something is missing that Ed Bosco bought to the character. Also as much as I love the song Stay Gone, I do feel him using modern slang to be out of character for him. (I'll admit tho that him dropping the f-bomb did made me laugh.)

Really I don't have much complaints about Alastor being I'm kinda indifferent about him.

As how I would rewrite him: Well first off, get rid of the Voodou stuff. There are people much better qualified than I am to talk about why using symbols and villainizing a closed practice/religion that has ties to parts of the black community is wrong so I'm not touching that can of worms. I know Viv said he's Creole, but I feel she only made him such because of the backlash and criticism she gotten.

So, in my AU, suppose to using Voodou, Alastor will still have powers but they're more eldritch/Lovecraft in nature (which is kinda what he already has going for him so it's not too much of change I guess idk) and has these powers by making a deal with a demon when alive and when he died it just transferred with him when he arrived in Hell. How? Why? I haven't figured that out yet being I don't know even if I'm gonna touch on that much in my AU anyways.

Also worth nothing that in my AU: Most Overlords don't have powers and play more like gang leaders/owners of their control of ‘districts’/businesses though out various rings in hell where Overlords are a thing (Pride/Greed/Sloth. Lust sort of has them but they're more regulated in that ring suppose to having freedom to do as they see fit) sort of thing. The only exception of the rule is Alastor and maybe Zestiral because he's old and gives me sorcerer vibes (plus it is my AU I do what I want). Vox still has the ability of hypnotization but it's less magic more than it's technology (I mean he's a TV head and likes to update with the times so he had a good time to prefect that).

But back to Alastor: Honestly, I think that's really the major change I would do being I think he has a solid foundation otherwise, it just comes to excultion.

Okay, character of my picking:

Less of a rewrite and more of a compete replacement but I would get rid of Adam and replace him with Archangel Michael. I don't get why Adam is leading the extermination being he was never an angel but a human that just so happened to go to heaven in Hazbin. This would be okay if the worldbuilding made this make sense but again, we're talking about Hellaverse here where the writers just throw shit against a wall and see what sticks without asking why.

But yeah, I think it'd make more sense for Michael to be leading the Extermination. I don't plan on him being a dick, let alone evil in my AU more than a guy who's trying to justify to himself that this is for the betterment for Heaven and Hell but takes no joy in the job otherwise and likely going to go though an existential crisis half way into my version of Hazbin.

Also, Lucifer and him are brothers. The Drama!

Anyway this is getting long and I think I spent two hours writing this out. If there's any other questions you want to ask, you're always welcome to send in more.

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

so since chen zhongli didn't have a connection to raniya, would he have one with venti? they're traditionally seen more often together (i joined like ~1.5-2 years ago i think it's because of last years lantern rite they're seen together but they're could be more i'm missing) and they're dynamic is always so funny i think it'd be a shame if they didn't know each other somehow

(but also knowing venti he probably would've blown up zhongli's phone by now lmao)

also as a second thought what is going on in like inazuma and fontaine if it isn't too like spoiler? do they have something mirroring the sokoku decree since there's no visions? is ei still in government to help the closed borders policy?

would neuvi have a position similar to his in teyvat? or is he just a dragon of myth like how rex lapis is?

sorry if that's too much i just love the aus you create and i love fleshing universes out

honestly? venti and zhongli have only appeared together in like one lantern rite scene and one poetry event and that's literally it, so i wouldn't say they're 'traditionally more often together'. on both times it was hu tao's fault anyway? so i don't think we've had zhongli expressly seek venti out like ever. but the reason why they have indeed interacted the most when it comes to inter-archon relationships (which isn't saying much because the only other ones who've interacted are furina and zhongli so like. venti doesn't seem like an outlier if he only has one extra instance over her) is because they're the only original two. so they know the other the most out of the rest, because again. only original two

so as for zhongli not having a connection to rukkha in this au and not having one to venti either; the only reason they know each other in-game is because of the archon war.

there's- there's no archon war in this au, at least not one that involves them. so like-

no. idk how to justify any of the archons having met each other imma be honest, which is why they haven't

as for the other nations- since zhongli isn't anything remotely resembling an authority figure in liyue, then neither are any of the rest, so no, ei isn't in office. ei and makoto are probably living normal lives as like- the descendants of a fabled samurai clan who now run a kendo dojo together after their father died or something idk. i could absolutely see their dojo and their sword arts being like- the same ones the shogunate's men use? so ei and makoto would be like the official sword art teachers of the entire military. that way we can keep sara a simp in any timeline LMAO also inazuma probably did have a closed borders policy but like in the past. so now they're all about trying to catch up for time lost in getting to know other nations and having other nations enjoy their culture. so the kamisatos are thriving is what i'm saying

neuvillette is a bit of a spoiler imma be real. not in that neuvillette is going to appear and matter (sorry), but in that if i try to tell you what's up with him i'm going into spoiler territory bc you can extrapolate that to other things, so no. but i CAN say that he's like- a judge. like of the justice system. maybe a lawyer? but i think judge fits better bc you know. he's a normal human guy, same with chen zhongli. furina is a famous actress but she does have a law degree bc i think it's interesting that she was essentially the prosecutor of fontaine, from what we saw.

[spurgie-cousin]

ok sorry I'm even more long-winded today than usual but here's kind of a point I've been meaning to post about that's kind of adjacent to everything discussed directly below this:

I think one thing we don't give enough credit to when it comes to cults or high control groups is how much our need for community and acceptance as humans plays into their success.

like if you've ever looked at someone who you thought was reasonably logical yet they joined some weird group and thought "why the hell did they do that???" 9 times out of 10 I'd argue that it's just bc they're fuckin lonely.

Western culture especially is so hyper-individualistic, we treat the nuclear family as the end all be all of social interaction and like anything else is just a bonus, when as social animals we're hardwired to thrive on as much connection with others as possible.

So when people inevitably need that connection that our society doesn't readily offer, they get desperate. I'd argue that the need for a sense of community and unconditional support is the main motivating factor behind modern, dangerous, cult-y groups like Qanon or the alpha male Andrew Tate bros.

so yea idk that's something I'm always thinking about when interacting with people who are balls deep into some high control, seemingly ridiculous group ya know.......I think about how I'd feel if someone attacked my immediate or only emotional support system, even if they were justified to do so it'd make me defensive and scared of losing it. So I think keeping that at the forefront can sometimes help us to communicate with these kinds of people that can be so hard to understand.

[nerves-nebula]

Just thinking, how would Splinter have treated Donnie if he *did* know Donnie was biologically female?? From the beginning, I mean. He seems pretty strictly anti feminine things when it comes to the boys, but is he the type of abusive dad to have overt favouritism towards the only daughter? Or more of an "ew a girl disappointing" type of guy?

(Happened personally with my dad favouring me over my brother just because I was born a girl, and with a friend being favoured over their male siblings by their abusive dad, just a weird trend i've noticed. Its like this gentle misogyny fathers can have, I guess. Especially "traditional" fathers.)

oh i know this one :D i've got an answer here based on Personal Experience as well!

OK SO how Splinter would act towards Donnie wouldn't exactly be favoritism but it'd definitely be different treatment.

so first off, if Splinter knew, then he'd definitely have raised Donnie as a girl. Which would be an issue because Donnie is a boy, but he'd have to stay in the closet until they could get away from Splinter (or i guess, less of him staying in the closet and more of Splinter refusing to acknowledge him as a guy so nobody else really takes it seriously either. like when you try to come out and your parents just say "No")

Splinter wouldn't be as hard on him about sucking at training, but that doesn't make it NOT hurt. Because the REASON splinter wouldn't be as hard on him is because he's sexist and so obviously his "daughter" would be weaker/worse at physical stuff. so its like a double whammy of sexism, transphobia, and just generally feeling like shit for disappointing dad and being Inherently Lesser.

Leo would be hella jealous, obviously, and not really understand why. so she'd justify it to herself by saying that she's just angry that Donnie gets off easy and doesn't have to train as much as the rest of them. Obviously Leo doesn't see how much it hurts to be excluded from this kinda stuff, where it feels like the whole family is part of some big important tradition EXCEPT for Donnie.

idk if Splinter would have named Donnie something different or not. I can see him choosing the names and then realizing donnie was female and just doing a hasty fix, like turning Donatello into Donatella to make it more Hashtag Girl Coded lmao. but idk. maybe he'd pick a famous female painter instead. personally I like some of Artemisia Gentileschi's paintings so that could be cool.

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

oooohhh now u got me curious. how do you think an alarkling mentor/protégée focused dynamic a theater au would hypothetically go??

I'd probably just take heavily from a phantom of the opera esque relationship trajectory. though I think vanity or at least pride along with like hard power within the scope of the story is important enough to the darkling's character function that I wouldn't make it an outright poto au where he's like hideous and hiding in the walls lmfao. so he's probably like the artistic director of a theater company, maybe as a retired celebrated performer himself, and she's his favored up and coming actor. (for gothic value and bc there are no powers and I need something to keep me entertained I'd say like Something Happened and he stopped performing and it's a mysterious thing he's broody about. but that's not integral, I just like drama.) the first book already has like the contemporary vibes of a teacher/mentor/someone in power having bad boundaries with underlings despite the trappings of like a fantasy army. so translating that dynamic would be fairly easy, and it'd be simple to just lean into it more, where there's simply a longer period where alina is under his sway and more invested for it. he's likely exacting, again very bad with boundaries lol lmao, and promises her a lot but very conditionally. I'd also highlight the zoya rivalry in this, where she was the former favorite until alina showed up, and translate that into him actively pitting the performers against each other. and alina probably starts out some level of starstruck and apprehensive of like dfgh the red flags but keeps getting in deeper and deeper. something interesting about any sort of professional arts is that it’s SO competitive and alina particularly has like zero ambition. so tho I could see her getting into theater out of an initial genuine interest in it, to an extent, her wanting to like be the best or to just stay in the game on a career level feels like it would probably stem from wanting to keep his favor. but yeah overall trajectory, I'd probably have some sort of phantom esque thing where she does start to make it big and maybe needs him less as a result. he gets weird about it. like maybe the theater itself is seeing more success now because she got overnight famous for whatever reason and she's the one drawing audiences to him? and that threatens the power dynamic in a way that makes him volatile. hm I'd probably throw in some murders dfgh more just because it's fun. if I was planning a full on fic I'd say something related to The Incident that changed his own career trajectory comes back to haunt him. like the renewed interest means someone from the past who like Knows Something shows up and is threatening and he kills them. but the circumstances are such that he can spin it as like alina they were threatening you! this was me protecting you! (lol lmao it occurs to me that the overt connection to alina that circles around to an unknown past connection to aleksander seems most readily translatable to mal since he's the surprise morozova. but on a character level I feel like mal isn't the correct character type for the sort of Problem Causer I was picturing. I was thinking more someone that could function as a weird blackmailing creep in a vasily or apparat sense) and idk now they have to cover up this murder together while their own relationship is fracturing?

idk how I would wrap this up. she def has to learn about the Incident. whatever that is. maybe it was some tragic accident that was actually a crime/murder he committed-- hence there being any opening for blackmail. for more entertaining angst I'd say it's something with a vague degree of justifiability or tragedy. where she wrestles with being sympathetic vs maybe lets not solve all our problems with murder. and it slowly occurs to her over time that he probably did the recent murder for his own benefit too as opposed to the claim that it's all to protect her and her career. and that that's true of everything he does, everything in their dynamic is really about him. anyway uh idk how I'd wrap it up. she'd probably like fuck it and tries to find an out? I'd probably try to achieve that by introducing a fake out suitor to help her (nikolai? mal?) who also dies as the plot spirals in a phantom of the opera esque fashion and then she eventually actually succeeds by reaching out to zoya maybe? okay okay actually sdfghj I would combine the fake out suitor and causes problems on purpose guy. and yes now they can both be mal who shows up seeming like a poto!raoul type but he's actually only really there for blackmail purposes. and then he bites it as planned. alina can help cover up but also freak out about it and have many conflicted feelings. then eventually reach out to zoya? that actually facilitates some sort of option to successfully gtfo. and I think the end would probably hinge on her having a final choice of like deciding to stay bc the fucked up relationship is worth it actually, or leaving for good. which one would probably depend entirely on my mood when hypothetically drafting the last chapter dfghj

[gemharvest]

As promised, NENE FOR THAT ASK GAME prompted by @zackcharine

favorite thing about them: I really like her design. She's really pretty 2 me also I kinda just like her... whole characterization idk. I get obsessed with girls who like sharp objects and have no problem using them. I wont her.

least favorite thing about them: You know what, funny thing for me to say after that but I can't think of anything else. The way she was designed for Pico's School was certainly A Choice. Really does make you go "Oh yeah, Pico's School/ Nene's Interactive did come out in 1999, huh".

favorite line: Once again gonna have to pass for now bc I like. LMAO I haven't engaged with enough Pico's School stuff to have anything stick to my mind yet. Most of my engagement has been playing Funkin' over and over and these fuckers don't really. Speak. In that game.

brOTP: Like I said with Pico the NG trio are so silly to meee I love those goobers, but as it stands now I am very specifically obsessed with the Pico & Nene friendship dynamic. Need to get. A more confident read of her and Darnell and then maybe I'll get more obsessed with them. lol

OTP: GFNENE I lauv GFNene. I haven't many serious thoughts on them yet bc I like. JUST got down my personal characterization for GF and don't quite have a solid one for Nene (though it's been getting there for a while now) but idk I like girls. Glirls. Also something funny about GF being a literal demon and Nene being Christian. I also fuck with CassNene, but it's even more of a passive thing than GFNene like I have 0 serious thoughts. I just think it'd be cute if they kissed. #womenswrongs

nOTP: I daurnt knoowwwwwwww. TBH I think if you asked me this when this fixation started I would have said romantic PicoNene but that's not the case anymore. I can get behind a good exploration of them in a romantic context, even if it's still not something I'll ever explore myself. So I guess, honorable mention so I say at least Something. Literally other than that Idc.

random headcanon: Shieettttt I don't have very many HC's for her rn. Like at all. You know what this is another "funny thing to say after what I just did" moment: I sometimes rotate Pico & Nene FWB in my mind. I do not think abt it deeply and it is not something I consider canon to what I write for these guys, but it's There.

unpopular opinion: Gonna have to pass on this one too. I don't even have anything annoying I've seen to complain abt I just straight up dunno if I have an unpopular opinion on her. I think she would be justified killing Pico I don't Fucking Know. I typed that out planning to delete it but no that's staying, that's funny as shit. Kill his ass Nene.

song i associate with them: FUCK I need a Nene playlist. Uhhh I never shut up about KATAMARI but I'm gonna force myself not to pick a Femtanyl song. What if I said Bed of Roses.

favorite picture of them:

I tend to stray from PS Nene art for The Obvious but I think this one is really cute. Wauts he telling her. .. Runner-up would be this PA doodle:

>> Original Prompt Post <<

[havendance]

Ask Game: 5, 10, 16, 25

5. What’s a fic idea you’ve had that you will never write?

My idea for a JPV fic where he joins a superhero teams and gets a baby. There's a lot I like about it, but it'd also be a lot of work that I'd rather invest in different fics. The basic idea of the fic is that post-Knightfall, Jean-Paul Valley ends up forming a team with members that I never completely settled on (part of the reason it'd be more work than I willing to put in) but that potentially include Steel, Supergirl, Connor Hawke, Booster Gold, Lyta Hall, Tera II, etc. Just when he's getting settled in, who turns up but an old friend from college. They'd had a one-night stand when Jean-Paul was going off the rails as Batman, and congratulations, it's a boy!

The fic would then go into Jean-Paul figuring out how to deal with his new found fatherhood, sort out his relationship with the friend, etc. This would prompt him to go looking more into how the order creates its Azraels because he's worried about accidently turning his son into him. The order also probably tries to kidnap the baby (named something on the nose like Gabriel or Micheal) at some point.

The other reason I'm not going to write this fic is that I so desperately want Cass to also be involved in this team, but I cannot come up with a way to make it work.

10. Is there a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

This isn't quite the same, but both of the fics in my No Truce with the Furies series, I was kind of surprised by how many readers seemed be totally on board with the fact that Jason was killing Bruce in retribution for Bruce killing him and thinking that was good and justified (and also this thread that 'well the furies did it so it's automatically right) when I was playing more with this idea of the cycle of vengeance and 'wouldn't it be messed up if this happened'. Aeshylus wrote like a whole trilogy about how Athens is super awesome and cool that it has murder trials instead of the retributive justice of the furies, so like, idk what to tell you man. (When I took a class on ancient greek and roman theater, my professor said that she tended to be less interested in like the Oresteia because it's exploration of kin-killing and vengeance felt less relavent to the modern day than like, Medea. And I was over here thinking 'I don't know, I think the Batman fandom could use some of that.) I think that is a thing I should have maybe see coming though considering how loyal some of Jason's fans are.

16. At what point in the process do you come up with titles?

It really depends on the fic. Sometimes it's really easy to come up with a title and I come up with it during the planning/ideation process. For example, I knew that I wanted to title Batman for Dummies that before I even started writing it. Other times I'm thinking on it during the writing process and if all else fails, sometimes I have a complete draft and have to scramble to come up with something. This happens a lot of times with drabbles and they end up with really basic names as a result.

25. Have you ever upset yourself with your own writing?

Not really. There are tropes that I can find distressing/emotional sometimes when reading (like major character death, I also avoid fics where Bruce is dead for real), but if I'm writing with them then I've found an angle on it that I like and find interesting and want to explore. It's this 'wouldn't it be messed up?' sort of feeling. If something's really upsetting to me, I'm more likely to avoid writing it.

All that being said, I did find myself getting a little emotional when writing the scene in The King is Dead, Long Live the King, where Tim comes back after Bruce dies.

[bthump]

What would it be like if GA Griffith and NeoGriff suddenly swapped bodies

Well it'd be a kickass fanfic premise.

NGriff in the Golden Age would be interesting from NGriff's pov because of, let's be real here, all the feelings it would unlock that NGriff would try and eventually, inevitably fail to deny. I think he could play the part of human Griffith relatively well, especially if it's post-Promrose when Guts expects to view Griffith as distant and other. He and Casca might notice something's off, but they'd probably chalk it up to Griffith spending so much time around the nobility or something like that.

But yeah emotionally he'd be fucked lol, and it would be great. I can just imagine him bottling it up and playing the part, going through the motions to keep the past on the correct path until they swap back, but when the second duel comes around he fucks it up and maims Guts instead of losing to him.

Idk how that works with fate or whatever magic sent him into the past, but NGriff's stay there culminating in changing everything in one impulsive very slightly altered sword swing feels so right. Say once the timeline's been ruined they shift back bc that's how mysterious time travel works in fiction. Or yk, NGriff disappears because he just wrote himself out of existence. Or say NGriff knows why it happened and knows it'll only last X amount of time and the 2nd duel was one of the last things in the schedule before returning to the future. Point is, human Griffith returns with a new future laid out.

Human Griffith in NGriff's storyline would also be amazing because his angle is experiencing what it's like to have gained everything he ever wanted at the cost of Guts and the Hawks, and realizing he doesn't want it. But at the same time it's extra complicated bc NGriff did like, create a utopia. Human Griffith's gonna be hanging out in Falconia going 'damn I really followed through here.' Which makes his choice even worse, because he'd be trading a certain roaring success for Guts and much less, if any, success.

Though this could be mitigated a little if human Griffith is more disturbed by NGriff's means of yk, bringing dragons into the world. It could be a good eye-opening revelation of the cost of his dream, beyond his own personal relationships. I don't think he could write off the lives lost to fantasy creatures the way NGriff can.

He would obviously have to come face to face with Guts, see how much Guts hates him now, and be horrified.

And it's even better from Guts' perspective because he goes to confront and kill NGriff and finds the Griffith he's still in love with in his place, and that's just ideal romantic drama. Guts swinging his sword and altering the trajectory to miss him at the last second when he looks into Griffith's eyes and instantly fucking knows. I'd be remiss not to link this amazing fanart of that theoretical moment here btw.

That could also be a revelation for Griffith too - the realization that as much as Guts hates who he became, he loved and still loves him. Like, say Griffith has learned what happened in the Eclipse - Casca's kidnapped and hanging around, maybe he used his god powers to read her mind. (Also human Griff and post Eclipse sane amnesiac Casca would be its own wild can of worms, but I'm not gonna get into that bc that would take too much imagination.) Point is he knows why Guts wants to kill him, thinks Guts is absolutely 1000% justified, probably plans to let him, and so when Guts refrains and like, let's be real here, probably desperately kisses him instead, that's a major wake-up call about the nature of Guts' feelings.

If this is the same fic where they swap back after NGriff fucks up the second duel, it could be a perfect moment for human Griff to reappear in the past, in front of an injured, miserable Guts, and do some confessing. And it would be a perfect moment for NGriff to return, say something ambiguous, and... either kill Guts or let Guts kill him, depending on the fic's vibes and how NGriff's side of the story went. Maybe he can kill Guts with a certain sense of serenity knowing there's a parallel universe out there where they can be happy. Maybe the timeline's about to collapse and he lets Guts kill him because it doesn't matter anymore and it's a moment of spiritual fulfillment and joining. Maybe his emotions have been awoken enough that he wants to die. Maybe his emotions have been awoken enough that he wants to kill Guts for still affecting him. Yk, it's all good here.

Thanks for asking, this was a lot of fun to think about!

[sputnikodin]

🔥dishonored ?

now keep in mind that i've recently replayed solely dh1 and haven't gotten back to dh2 or the dlc yet but i think they could've done cooler things with the relationship between the outsider/his cult and the overseers, thematically speaking. this opinion mostly stems from the information you learn about the abbey and the outsider in overseer hq or whatever it's called early in dh1 -- it's all like disappointingly christian to me. like the way the strictures are written in very biblical syntax, the way the outsider is spoken about as "coming from beneath the earth" the same way as satan (made me roll my eyes a little) .... the outsider is associated with the sea, nautical life, and the whales, the sea and the whales are associated with terror, the unknown, things larger than oneself, and exploitation; dunwall is literally being consumed by the sea, the same way it's consumed by the plague, which is carried by the rats, which are something corvo is able to possess by dictate of the outsider; it'd be such a simple change to strengthen that outsider/sea association even just by saying he comes from there instead. sailors and whalers coming home from journeys changed and outsider-worshipping -- which would help bolster the believability of its permanent foothold within the common folk. As for the overseers the christianity connection while interesting just feels sort of like superficial and i wish they'd either gone harder with it/justified it in worldbuilding or gone a different direction altogether. the chaos vs order thing they have going on is really cool too ESPECIALLY the way the musical scale is weaponized against the outsider and actually effective -- the music boxes, fact that the overseers functionally protecting industry -- there's so much there and i wish they did more with it!!

Really though these are minor quibbles, i love the world of this game and i like the outsider and the abbey as they are, too. idk if this is controversial either i am pretty distant from the dishonored fandom and content this way. but happy to have the chance to talk about it regardless cuz i've been thinking about it a lot

[pythiaswine]

[Knock at the Cabin spoilers!!!]

I havent read the book (going to do so now that I've heard some commentary from people who have) and I went to see the movie without knowing a single thing about it AT ALL.

towards the middle and closer to the end I was HOPING and PRAYING it'd be ambiguous, like a we-don't-really-know-who's-right sort of a thing, I wanted to see them struggle with (no matter the outcome) not knowing whether they could have or if they truly had prevented the apocalypse. I wanted them to question whether four people plus all those involved in the global disasters died in vain.

the middle of the movie SO PERFECTLY made me doubt and made it clear the characters were very well doubting. You're in a fucking echo chamber! Online message board? You are feeding off of each other. A rage-filled bigot, a beefy bartender, a devoutly religious nurse, and an impressionable line cook all creating a false narrative to justify breaking and entering and cult-suiciding! Can't you see how crazy this is? There's no cell service out here and you cut the phone lines on purpose. You planned ahead. The TV isn't live, you're checking your watch obsessively, you're "predicting" a pre-recorded news story.

ALL THAT, just for the apocalypse to unequivocally be real? the only ambiguity left is WHY???? And don't you dare tell me Andrew would shoot Eric, even if he begged him to. Even if the sky was fucking falling. If it's not real, how could he live with himself? If it's a real scorched earth, fuck it, we deserve to live. Sorry, I'm much more of an Andrew. I'm atheist and never in a million years would I believe the horsemen weren't just insane suicidal cultists who met on r/apocalypse. To have that be the case, undeniable to both the viewer and the characters who make the ultimate decision, it feels like the set-up of the entire movie has crumbled! It's all for nothing!

Don't get me wrong, I loved it. I loved what it was set up to be and as disappointed as I am in the ending, it made me cry and laugh and ik there is some sense of valor in sacrificing yourself bc you believe it will make the life of your child better, even if Eric didn't care about the rest of the world. And the No, kill me. Please. Kill me instead. True love right there. Again, both for the partner and the child. But come ON! if I'm going to be unhappy by the end of the film, I want to at least doubt the validity of the events.

And no, seriously, I don't think I CAN get over Eric making the decision he did or Andrew agreeing to it. Sorry, I'm dragging my partner out of there and fighting tooth and nail for them to stop asking me to do something so stupid like choosing to kill them to save the world. bullshit.

I need to read the book because OP's description of it is 100% what I was thinking by the end. WHY WOULD A LOVING GOD MAKE THEM CHOOSE? FUCK THE WORLD. but idk i'm an idealist like that. also would never be able to kill my partner and on that note, I wouldn't give my own life to "prevent" an "apocalypse." on so many levels. even if I knew it was real. nah. guess that means I'm built different.

okay, here's the other thing. sacrificing to save all of humanity isn't something that really happens. "sacrifice" is a relative term that comes subsequent to shitty events to justify, soothe, or deify what was lost. nobody should have to sacrifice their own LIFE, not truly, and the false narrative that sacrifice is good is as old as the oldest armies fighting for land or the earliest iterations of later-worshipped religious prophets and believers sacrificing themselves for their beliefs. To be clear, I'm not trying to say people who've laid down their lives shouldn't be remembered for their noble causes, rather that the fact that people die to fight on one side of history or the other is insane. this is very closely related to the queer allegory written into the Cabin story. Theism vs. atheism. Do we sacrifice for what they say is good? Are we supposed to lay down our lives for old-testament punishment? WHAT KIND OF A GOD WOULD MAKE US SUFFER LIKE THIS? Is there even a god? are they telling the truth? Do we sacrifice loving one another to comply to their beliefs? Do we sacrifice our fucking LIVES for a world that hates US, that would see us die for them?

It's bullshit. even though i loved the actors and appreciated the idea of the story. I'm gonna go read the book.

Knock at the Cabin (+ spoilers for Cabin at the End of the World)

Keep reading