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tag-that-oc · 10 months ago

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QUESTION! Are there any obvious ideas I missed for an OC I will share that will flesh them out more? (I say obvious because developing unique ideas isn't your job. I'd like to ask, since you as a collective blog have experience with original characters).

Essentially, her name is Koda, and she is a twenty-one-year-old human(oid) who's a bit messed up. I intentionally autism-coded her (and have been debating/nervous about making it canon), since I am autistic, and I wanted to give her a few traits that I feel 'boiling' inside of me. She's particularly interested in creating stuff from other things, especially exotic materials (from, say, exotic sources).

More specifically, she's an absolute fan of monsters and freaky animals. Even more specifically, she makes crafts out of them, such as manipulating hard pieces of animal to create weapons (blunt heads, blades, mechanism shells for more complex stuff), using skin to create unique leather, either for style or for unique purposes (a fire-based monster's leather being fireproof? Good for a journal, maybe?), and finally, making meats and organs into foods.

Her past isn't the best. Her (supposed) biological parents died protecting the town they lived in while she was young, being adopted by a soldier who had found her wandering. This man, named Elmer, was mostly nice, but he intentionally isolated her from groups of people he didn't like (which is dangerous, since the world is rather strict about hate-fueled actions), which mostly included people who went against the typical stuff of nature (the queer community of that world). She did have internet access, but since she believed him, she also believed that she was reading nonsense (as he had told her).

A stranger who was injured met her, and she managed to dig up the courage to help him to a clinic. He helped her gain the confidence to socialize with others by listening to her rambling as they walked. Not only that, he asked questions and was generally a nice person in return for her helping him.

This let her interact with people she didn't understand fully and slowly began to come to an understanding. The nonsense she read online was real--and these people weren't bumbling idiots, they were genuine people, who weren't forcing anything onto anybody. Because of the people Elmer tried to hide from her, she learned more about herself than she ever would with him alone. She was attracted to women, as opposed to men, and it added a little more sense to her life.

When confronting Elmer with this, however, he grew irrationally angry and grew far more aggressive than he had EVER been in her life--alongside this, he did something for the first time and punished her with actual pain and injury. In his manic state, he forced his own daughter's hands into their furnace, and although it was only for a few seconds, the damage had been done.

He made her go outside and seemed to regret the irrational and violent reaction, but not before a familiar stranger had wandered the streets he had before and caught his eye on a silhouette familiar to him. The man who had unintentionally given the courage to explore approached her. She didn't cry, yet her blankness explained more than enough. The man looked inside the building to see another man he recognized, and not positively. The furnace, the familiar man, and the cowering young woman with seared hands, it was not hard for him to piece it all together.

The familiar stranger curtly explained for her to sneak in, take her things, and flee somewhere, intentionally trying to engage her survival instincts so she could be safe from Elmer. As she blearily complied, he ran in with his blade and raked scars across the man. She had given him a request, blurry yet clear, and he complied. The man was left sobbing, blaming Koda as she blankly ran with blood streaking down his flesh. The man with the blade imparted to him that he would not hurt her again, and knocked him unconscious.

The series of events was unfortunate, but she went to the only other place she knew for real; her parents were not from the village she was born in, and so, she made her way to a place known as Timu town. It was a respectable journey on foot, but she managed to make it, nearly falling unconscious just as she stepped into town. Yet, a woman found her. Not only did she find her, she took her to her home, and nursed her until she awoke.

For a while, although the woman let her stay, Koda remained closed to her, not even exchanging names with her. Yet, the woman pried into her with wisdom that could only be responded to with respect and comfort. Her name was Rhoane, and Rhoane listened to what Koda had to say with a similar respect to the familiar stranger who had given her this opportunity.

And, so, Rhoane allowed Koda to live with (as long as she contribute to the household of course), and Koda's life has been alright since!

Yet, (spoilery for her story), she doesn't realize that Rhoane is the mother of the familiar stranger, *and* her grandmother!... And that the familiar stranger is her father.

Uhh... sorry for rambling. Again, if there are any easy ideas I'm missing to flesh her character out, please point them out! If not, just have my rambling.

She sounds really interesting!! sounds like you've done a really good job of fleshing her out already. Not a specific idea, but I find that if a character needs fleshing out more something that helps is putting them in various different situations that they wouldn't end up in canonically to figure out how they would react in those situations. And sometimes you find out new things about them in the process!

#themrmoki #oc show and tell #moss answers #abuse #tw abuse

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leftdestiny-posts · 1 year ago

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My apologies for spamming your notifs lately but I randomly thought of this after messing up an egg recipe :’3

Whenever the Segments get mad at Cupcakettore, they try to sabotage his desserts. Once, a Segment snuck into his kitchen after the egg whites and yolks were separated. He then proceeded to pour all of the yolks into the bowl of egg whites, thereby wasting Cupcakettore’s earlier efforts. He even went as far as to poke the yolks to thoroughly mix them.

The next day, all of the Segments were served (poisoned) scrambled eggs for breakfast.

Also, ten-page ramblings, you say?? I shall make more room in my brain for Cupcakettore xD

Please, never apologize for giving me notifications!! It's a joy to see asks/messages from you :DD jkafnjkfn can you imagine my joy when I got this scenario for cupcakettore from you? While it's not quite ten pages, I definitely rambled for a while,,, so beware when you read this XD (note: I went really off topic but I added a doodle to compensate ^^;; forgive me XDD)

Before I'll drop the HCs, let me adore this scenario because <3 YES!!! (I have this lemon merengue cake recipe and I ALWAYS!! :(( mess up the eggs. I feel your (and cupcakettore's) frustration...)

Cupcakettore (quite literally) doesn't fit in the way he was designed to do, and while he is part of the hivemind, the others tend to make his life miserable whenever they can (granted, that is only possible by ruining his recipes lmao, hence situations like these).

Never before did the other segments (nor Zandik himself) understand his passion for baking (likely they never will). And while cupcakettore compares the kitchen to the other's lab and baking to experiments,,, the others just don't get it.

[Okay, I'll drop some HC's before I (hopefully) cycle back again to the scenario because cupcakettore (dubbed "DOTT" for simplicity,) has lots of lore in my head jsnldg]

• He was the first segment to be considered 'successful'. However, Dott remains far from resembling Zandik, as he is closer to becoming an 'individual' instead of a segment from the past. (let me explain;)

• While Kunikuzushi was created from wood, I imagine the current segments to be made from a combination of techniques from Ei's prototype puppet + Kharnri'ahn technology/Ruin guard parts. DOTT, instead, is a result of biotechnology --- a combination of innovative technology on human evolution + Ei's techniques for creating Scaramouche.

• ALSO!!! "Water holds memories", every segment carries a vial with blue fluid which connects them to the hivemind, and in extension, Zandik. These vials hold the memories that shape them, giving them personalities, and setting their traits fixed to a segment of "Dottore's"/"Zandik's" life (a.e. one of the 'younger' segments holds Zandik's memories of the Akademiya,, another of his first years in the Fatui,,, etc!! They all know what happened in the entire timeline [from Zandik's oldest memories to his recent ones], but if they're not in the vial, they haven't 'experienced' those memories; thus it doesn't shape their personality)

• But... Dott was only a prototype,, and thus hadn't been created with the 'vial' in mind. He was shaped to be a clone of Zandik; he got the same beliefs and ideas implanted in his mind ever since he first woke up; but without being a fixed part of the hivemind, he was able to drift into an individual (and while he's still very much a version of Dottore, he did gain some personal quirks that don't belong before he got added to the hivemind. Zandik suspects his unchained love for experiments (main_trait_1) and curiosity (main_trait_2) ended up being DOTT's downfall into a baker.)

• No one knows why this segment hasn't been deactivated (Pantalone sure questions it every time he gets a bill that consists of baker ingredients). --- Perhaps the first working prototype is a reminder of how far Zandik has come in his research, and perhaps he is there as cannon fodder, but at the end of the day, Dott does introduce a new perspective (even if most can't see that perspective).

• Everyone underestimates this segment until they remember that this segment is created in the image of the 2nd Harbinger.

• My guy created one of the most potent poisons on 'accident' (which he is currently banned from making again because of its effects). Dott also 'accidentally' created a truth serum that's now used for information gathering (although this ended up attracting a lot of rip-off serums on the market that didn't originate from DOTT. Pierro ended up having to ban this invention as well, since no one could differ a working truth serum from the cheap less-effective version of it (information intel became unreliable))

• He loves LOVES robots!!! Loves dissecting them, putting them back together, repeating, replacing parts, changing parts, and creating something new. He doesn't make many useful inventions in the field of machinery, but he remains incredibly intelligent and has a knack for remembering everything step by step, making ruin guard dissection and repairs his to go to job. (Though, if forced to choose between baking and robots... you know what he'll choose LMAO)

• One time he killed Zandik's favorite assistant on accident, but it's the assistent's fault, really!! After all, Dott did put a warning sign next to his fresh batch of cupcakes... Although, in hindsight he should've written the 'beware: poison' on a bigger piece of paper and not on a sticky note.

• He puts the most questionable things into his cupcakes. If it's not a new poison or serum, it'll likely be something worse (don't ask him)

• Once, a Fatuus was overheard laughing about the segment who baked in his free time. --- He ended up in the oven that same day, only for Dott to laugh in revenge.

• He shares his cupcakes, and while it's rude to decline them (he will turn you into his new red velvet batch), you can't be cautious enough with eating them.

• He ended up going into retirement once Zandik created enough segments. He was allowed to remain activated for as long as he delivered test subjects. So, he opened a bakery. The unsavory patrons that enter his shop end up getting delivered to his fellow kinship in the capital labs.

• His bakery is successful (to everyone's surprise)

• If you're polite (bonus points if you're a regular), you'll be safe. Contrary to normal belief, he does have a heart in the shape of curiosity and validation, so if you're a sweetheart breaking into his routine, you'll end up getting his special made cupcakes (he baked them just for you!) and the news of your annoying co-worker suddenly missing! (Tell Dott about it, he'll laugh. Just don't ask why he does)

OKAY SO!! I can 100% see (pre-bakery times) a new segment stealing one of his cupcakes (god forbid mess with his recipe and he's like;

Imagining a new(-ish) segment messing with his eggs after Dott spent HOURS on separating them (curse that Fontainian macaroon recipe,,,) --- DOTT will get revenge.

Fortunately, the segments are durable, else they would've died from that new poison he added.

#🧁˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆ The Bakery #🧁˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆ Received by: DOTT #🧁˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆ Received by: Shiro #Cupcakettore #He is my baby #But he is proper batshit crazy too #Imagine wandering upon his recipe book #it's just full of torture methods pushed into pastries and sweets XDD #okayokay I go so off topic the whole time but thank you for that scenario <3 #I was originally going to draw for it but ??#My mind was wondering so much DX #segment oc #il dottore

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fluffyhellspawn · 11 months ago

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Character Rambles: Sin.

Aside from the fact that Sin is canonically a masking autistic, I feel like the moment someone mentions boats or the clock-tower in the capital, he IMMEDIATELY goes on some unprompted rant about how it works, why it works, and the impact it has. Usually he's pretty quiet and a keep-to-himself sort of person. But the moment that special interest even gets MENTIONED? Yeah he won't shut up for the next few minutes. On-top of that, I feel like not many people have actually seen him do this. Aside from Soren (his dad), Maxwell and Shardé, are the people who are MOST around him, I like to think they knew he was Neurodivergent way before he knew. Like, maybe as a kid they all saw him have some sort of meltdown over something as minor as him not liking how his shirt felt or something- just little traits like that which added up over time. He also doesn't stim a lot- or, so he thinks. Sin can sometimes be seen either swaying from side to side or following different lights around the room or area he's in. He also has this one strand of hair that he always needs out of his hair-tie so he can mess with it- which is one of the many canon reasons why his hair is usually so messy when it's up. Entirely unrelated: Sin would absolutely love skittles bro. no its not me calling him gay i think he'd just like the weird little shapes they sometimes come in and would spend a while ordering them in size. I don't ramble about my characters on text-posts like this a lot, so this was a nice switch-up on my blog :) Maybe I'll do more rambles in the future, if anyone reqs anything. also me self projecting my own very autistic tendancies onto some of my characters. woo.

#isle of deriva #text post #character ramblings #oc rambling #character development #autistic characters #actually autistic

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featheryfoxes · 1 year ago

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Welcome to my rambling about this Polyship au and a series continuation it's a big post so its under a read more

The group met little by little before the beach, they met in Tag as per canon, though Kuina and Chishiya are the ones who find Arisu and they pick up Usagi at the Distance game.

Usagi and Arisu still have to find the beach alone though.

The beach has less cards in this than in canon. Niragi is still an angry little shit and has next to no social skills but he isn't assaulting anyone in this. He might even stop an assault on someone (maybe Hatter attacking Arisu or a militant attacking Tatta (the fic Cat's Eye had me shipping them) )

The group play games together and grow closer both as pairs and as a whole and start getting at the least romantic with each other as they make their way through the cards. Chishiya still has his plan but due to my own interpretation of the man as someone who isn't inherently a cruel person (we all saw how sweet he was with that kid. Plus liking to mess with people isn't the same level as setting up Arisu like that. I do think that he learned very quickly to amplify his more scheming traits and allow himself to act cruelly) but because he has more people on his side that are oh so slowly reminding him that oh right emotions and emotional ties are a thing™ he lets Arisu in on said plan. And to his surprise it still goes well. They still have to rescue Arisu but it's quicker due to the new alliances formed in the au. Arisu is still one of the last people to register.

The witch game plays out much the same except Niragi doesn't get flambeed.

The face games follow pretty close to canon with a few exceptions An and Chishiya are in the Jack of Hearts game because the two of them basically making a diamond game out of a hearts game would be beautiful, Tatta doesn't die my bby, Kuina joins the Checkmate Game since Tatta doesn't die And An is known to be with Chishiya. Chishiya schemes/convenes An to find the others so he can do the King of Diamonds alone.

It's much the same for King of Spades and Usagi + Chishiya uses the polypocket and the power of love to help Arisu break out from the queen.

They all wake up and slowly regain their memories before being released from the hospital.

So years go by our polycule deals with the ups and downs of life, getting new jobs dealing with shit parents. Having two baby girls and raising them.

A larger mass disaster happens and all our favs return to the borderlands along with new characters including

Chishiya Fuyu: biologically speaking she is the daughter of Usagi and Chishiya though like her sister the polycule is her parents. She is the Ace of Spades when the polycule gets to Borderlands. She is well versed in varied physical sports but excels at parkour. She is the younger sister by a year at 15.

Arisu Meiko: Biologically speaking she is An and Arisu's daughter. She loves her large family and definitely got Arisu's big heart. She becomes the Ace of Hearts, she is normally non combative and tries to save as many people as she can even in a place like the Borderlands. Currently 16 at the time she entered the borderlands.

There are two more Aces which is a new mechanic of the Borderlands new game.

The game has more phases since it's a far larger incident, and just like last time people 'enter' the borderlands at different times. As not enough people chose to become citizens after the last cycle a small set of games where held with the first group that arrived.

The four individuals with the most of each suit after all the pip cards were collected became the Ace (ie Aces high) the rest of the survivors with large amounts of cards took face card positions.

The Ace locations are unique as they function as 1 in the sense of they aren't playable games, but areas of resources and rest. A player has the chance to gain a Ace card (it's a key card that allows one into the area) after playing any of the pip games. Upon entering the area one day is added to ones visa, the Major suits Spade and Hearts can only appear from a game 5 or higher while the minor suits Diamond or Club can be gained from a game 5 or under.

Aces will be rendered useless once the face card portion begins.

There are far more repeat cards this time as well.

All the Ace area's are locals that Face games were held but the areas luckily aren't all bloody, since ya know purgatory.

Meiko and the Ace of Hearts is located in the prison from the Jack of Hearts game. As a major card her area has more resources including the medical wing of the prison and as she was mentored by Chishiya since she wants to be an EMT/paramedic when she leaves school she can perform a decent amount of triage for her guests, though not She also tends to play diamond or club games when she has to extend her own visa.

The Ace of Diamonds is in the supreme court, as a minor suits it's more like a depot than a full on center. But if one has a player with medical knowledge they would find supplies there, in fact most supplies can be found here. unique to the Diamond area common cipher keys if you so think that the books and or texts are worth carrying.

The Ace of Clubs is at the shipping yard as another minor Suits it's mostly supplies but it's unique supply are things for vehicles: gas, parts and even tools. Things also come in pre made packs ranging for one for two people to ones for five. Keeping with the idea of teamwork for clubs.

Chishiya Fuyu has her Ace of Spades at the Granship center where the jack of spades game was held. As a major suit her area offers a bit more to players including the geyser caused (ie like the stadium from season 2 but smaller) hot spring that overtook the room where the Jack of clubs game had been. Her area is also one of the few places to get actual fresh cooked food as it's her passion and she used Usagi's teachings about hunting to keep her and Meiko alive in the wilderness of the Borderlands. It's one of the things a player can stumble across her doing. She tends to play club and spade games when her visa needs renewal.

#aib #alice in borderland #alice in borderland Netflix #poly ship

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huntedsmark · 2 years ago

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hello below this cut is me rambling abt ez design (and also i wanted to put a pic of her side by side w the official art :^) <-- person who likes matchy things)

I love looking at her

IM NOT KIDDING WHEN I SAID I TOOK REALLY BIG ARTISTIC LIBERTIES WITH HER (in the name of enjoying her design) BUT I still tried to keep the spirit of it while incorporating the traits our ez has

Because I messed with her shapes so much, I tried to make her "recognizable" by making sure the colors were more or less a lateral match, especially the pants. If I had to go back and try again, I think the next time around I would try harder to keep her hair baubles (I've seen some REALLY good solves with them on other ez fanarts) and generally consider adding more vistani elements--tho in game her actual relationship with her own heritage is still under question LOL Among the things I like, I think the design I made is fun draw!! I think it's easy to remember!!! I like that her face silhouette is a cat!!! I also think I made her pretty while keeping her distinctive and remix-able :^) lov ez

#strahdposting #ez #technically an ez post even tho it's not art alone #i knew if i had to draw her canon cloak more than once in a row i would Die Instantly #shout out to anyone who draws it more than once in a row bc u are stronger than me LOLL

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thetimecrystal · 6 years ago

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Down For Whatever, A group of dumbasses (which i love) (part 1 out of 2?)

Hi, it’s Late(TM) and I love Down For Whatever, a hungarian metal band! Their music is very good (here are some links OwO) and they’re dorks. I am here to ramble have a Tedtalk!

Before I ramble, I am just gonna plug their igs, soooo go have a look!

Kiki

Robert

Zsombor

Dávid

Official band one

Aaaaand all the images I am talking about (And More!) is from this google docs folder, from their official(ish?) photographer Alexandra! Now that I am done unsubtly plugging all their social media, I am gonna actually start!

okay soooo i have like too many photos but i will do this in order of member and start with the one i have the least photos of (to the one with the most photos) and pepper some band ones in between ahfhfh

there is one photo of zsombor. he is a bit mysterious. also kiki taking a photo while someone is taking a photo of him is like the absolute media class mood

my main reason for downloading this is just robert looks so cute. he is so bundled up in his coat (inside??) and just. cute. (also look at how sMOL dávid is :D)

i am just. dumbfounded. what is this way of sitting? this hAnD??? this is like weirdly an action shot (he is obviously in a conversation with someone we’re not seeing) (or so i hope) anddd just. this amused me. and amazed me. great job robert

he. is. PRECIOUS. (we’re not even at my favourite member and i am already yelling compliments. this is going to go wonderfully)

i have like no idea why he looks like he is about to rob a bank, but still. PRECIOUS.

more bank robbin’ boys! (this time with the biggest fucking mood, in form of their former member attila, in the background.)

honestly, i just downloaded this to admire how nice robert looked (and the Makeup)

this is like an interesting shot because kiki is trying (??) at this lipstick business and both the makeup artist and robert is like “kiki. please. stop.” which kind of is. you know. A Mood.

here is a very cute photo of kiki and dávid havin’ a hug and you can really see how tiny dávid looks (i’d be surprised to hear he was taller than me tbh) this is also my not-so-smooth smooth transition into talking about dávid because he is whacky and i have a lot of photos of him. (still not onto my favourite member though) (i don’t think tumblr is ready for the amount of photos i am about to add to this post) (i don’t think i am ready for it either tbh)

a makeup wearin(tm) boi. also. do i need to say smol once again? he is cute okay and very attractive ajfhfjf

he also plays drums and like he has covered a billie eillish song and her music isn’t exactly my thing but i always appreciate metalheads doing non-metal stuff

tumblr isn’t letting me add more pictures what is happening hfhgh

i absoutely adore this photo for several reasons and just again. dávid. you whacky, weird man. (that is like the main reason) (also because i made a superhero edit of this called mr. lampman and i keep singing that to the melodyof mr. sandman)

we have a term for what you re seeing on this photo in norwegian. snikene ullteppe. or sneaking wool blanket. (it’s a nickname i have.) but dávid also pulls of that cuddly sneaky look.

bundled dávid is best dávid fight me. but this looks like ti could be taken on west norway and i am kind of. surprised. you may even say shook. maybe.

okay i have this and another from like the same day as the upper one and i mean. he looks really good? also his eyes ajghgjg. #dávidstopbeingsoattractivechallenge (fanis will fight me i know)

:D i :D got :D gloves :DDD

this is like the ultimate wonderfully weird photo of dávid. maybe i am just too tired to understand. but you know what. i don care.

OKAY SO I AM TIRED. I WILL WRITE A PART TWO WHEN I AM MORE ALIVE (FOR A LACK OF A BETTER WORD) (MAYBE TOMORROW) (PROBABLY TOMORROW)

#i filled up my computer with down for whatever pictures for this #you're welcome #down for whatever #dfw #mica speak #night shenanigans #i didn't even start on kiki #their vocalist #he is like insanely talented and his voice #h i s v o i c e #he made sexy and i know it sound good #like that man is too powerful #and that is why he is so angry #also his tattoos are a+#and i dmed him about it on ig and he replied so uh #he knows i exist #and i was also a rambly mess when i messaged him so uh #personality trait: rambly mess added #ajfhfjfh idk

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bidokja · 3 years ago

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so, i made a post before about how creepy and sad the cognitive censoring of kdj's face is in the web novel, and i have a few important things to clarify and to add.

for one, i realize the face censoring was kinda just dropped in the web novel, like, they did not maintain that subplot well At All (though i've got Thoughts about why that is, and it's not cause they retconned it or anything).

for two, and i cannot stress this enough, that post does Not mean kdj is secretly hot. kdj being some average joe is such a keystone element to The Point of orv that if you take it out the whole thing comes crumbling down. i don't care what a few isolated lines in the novel say, this is simply a Fact. whether you take that a step further and say he has to be Ugly is up to you, but regardless he has to be just some guy, okay.

anyways. put ALL of that shit aside for one sec, just a sec, just a moment alright. do y'all have any idea how much the face censoring thing narratively fucks. like. do you get how immensely hard it hits as a continuation of orv's ongoing allegory of trauma, and how it affects our perception of the world, each other, and ourselves. like. HELLO? Hello. do you get it do you really get it do you UNDERSTAND-

#added notes:#the thoughts about the subplot being dropped is that it was narratively intentional but not done as well as other similar things #for example. the intentional way that singshong slowly started writing less and less chapters in first person after a specific point #that was done SO well. and i think they tried to do smth similar with the face censoring thing but for once they dropped the ball a bit #also u may be able to tell but im personally not one for outright saying he is actually just Ugly cause like #what features are u associating that with. yknow #like. real people have these features yall draw him with while calling him ugly #or like. associating him being ugly with typically sickly/ill traits #it just doesnt sit quite right w me #dont get me wrong i 100% get that isnt like The Point of calling him ugly but it is A point/effect that ppl tend to slip past #thats it for my added thoughts ddhskdjs #tldr the censored face thing fucking slaps and singshong shouldve capitalized more on it #and i dont get why ppl seem to think it made no sense/didnt tie in and think its a good thing it was dropped #ANYWAYS. im done tag rambling if u see all this plz excuse the mess djsjdjdkd #beso babbles #orv

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alltheshadesofamber · 3 years ago

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Wait, okay can you please tell me what the canon characterization of Jason is? I’m a new comics fan and it’s so hard to separate canon and fanon traits from the batfam sometimes and I’d appreciate any and all insight 🙏 I really want to write a batfam fic w/ Jason in it but have been too scared of accidentally mischaracterizing him to start lol

Thank you for asking this! I hope you don’t regret it! 😂 I’ve never really written meta before, I struggle with formatting essays, and it’s been a while since I’ve written anything really at all, so sorry if it doesn’t flow well! I basically just periodically added something to it whenever I thought of it. Sooo this ended up longer than I thought it would be! 😅

This is all my personal interpretations of Jason’s character, disjointed as it may be! I’ll also admit that characterization can be tweaked depending on what you want out of the story, and I am not immune to this! And when it comes to pre-Crisis and post-Crisis Robin!Jason, I’ll admit I do get a little turned about regarding what may or may not be canon anymore, because in my opinion it’s not really clear! I do my best to weave some stuff together to make some stuff make sense, but this really isn’t something I’m used to putting down on paper into words, and I’m sure some other people have done or could do better. Furthermore, I prefer to take post-New 52 stuff with a massive grain of salt, because the New 52 was just. Yikes! Honestly most Jason stuff even pre-New 52 is just inconsistent. If you’re a Jason fan you prooooobably already know that though! His characterization is a tangled mess! Why do I even like him? Answer: He makes my brain go brrrrrr. I did my best to wrangle my thoughts here.

None of this is consistent either. My thoughts on Jason change like. All the time. This isn’t even all of them. And like, I tried to stick mostly to canon, but I will admit even I am willing to bend on this stuff a bit to make relations a little smoother in my head sometimes.

Also people are complicated and composed of contradictions, and every character can be said to be an unreliable narrator of their own story! I think that’s something important to keep in mind when it comes to my interpretations, and I tried to have that come across. Without further ado, my collected Jason Todd ramblings:

Let me start by saying, I just think Jason’s fascinating. And cool! I like his potential for depth and his leather jackets and his righteous fury and his refusal to be ignored or forgotten and his determination and his sense of humor and his intelligence and his attitude and I just think he’s great.

Jason was a good kid! He was the best kid, actually. He had a rough life, but he never gave up and he made do with what he had. He was scrappy. He was funny! I feel like an important part of Jason’s original post-Crisis origin to mention is the fact that he made Batman laugh. That’s always stuck out as important to me, and I’ve always felt it should be important for defining Jason and Bruce’s relationship and Jason as Robin and Jason in general, and I’m disappointed it’s been left out of later reimaginings as far as I’m aware. Jason Todd is the kid who made Batman laugh! Not only that, he made Bruce Wayne laugh, on the anniversary of his parents’ deaths, in the very spot where they died in Crime Alley! Jason was a light in Bruce’s life. Jason made him laugh. He did that. And little 11/12 year old Jason, when faced with a Batman he had just stolen tires from and having been caught in the act, was fearless. He wasn’t cowed at all! He denied taking the tires to his face, then he hit the goddamn Batman with a tire iron and ran away daring Batman to catch him! “Try and catch me, you big boob!” He had gumption and spirit to spare! And on top of that, he had an unflagging desire to do good. Batman sent him to a school to get Jason off the streets and somewhere safe, and when it turned out the school was actually a front for criminal enterprises, what did Jason do? He could’ve walked away. It would’ve been understandable, he was just a kid. But no. Jason decided that he had a duty, a responsibility. So he tried to stop a museum heist. And that’s when Bruce took him in, post-Crisis. So what have we established about Jason so far? He’s funny, he’s daring, he’s cheeky! He’s got an unrelenting desire to do good and a sense of responsibility to do so that most fully grown people don’t have. And Jason was a great Robin. He was smart, eager to learn, eager to help people and so very earnest about it all. He was a sweetheart. He was kind and considerate, sensitive and so so empathetic. He had a bleeding heart and he wore it on his sleeve. And I don’t know why I’m saying “was,” not really, because he still is most, if not all, of those things, even if they don’t present in exactly the same way anymore, or aren’t as obvious.

He excelled at school and he cared about it, it was important to him. He wouldn’t stand for injustice, and he wouldn’t keep quiet about it. He was exceptionally bright, gave everything his all, and he was recognized and praised for it by Bruce and Alfred. Dick liked him too. As Robin, Jason was never discouraged or led to believe he wasn’t good enough by any external forces. Bruce was actually very vocal and communicative about how great he thought Jason was.

I also have a particular fondness for Robin!Jason’s adventures with the Titans. His talk with Donna showed him to be responsible, level-headed, humble, intuitive, and very insightful! He’s able to get to the heart of what Donna’s dealing with and give her solid advice, while at the same time reminding her that he’s just a kid and he’s still got a lot to learn and he knows it. He’s also able to deduce that Roy is hiding something, as well as what that something may be.

Bruce suspecting him of killing Garzonas, Sheila betraying him to the Joker, dying brutally and bloodily, coming back, digging his way out of his own grave, regaining awareness only to find out that the Joker was still alive, Batman had a new Robin… that he had died, that he’d loved them so much, put his faith and trust in his new family, and he’d been forgotten? Replaced? As though he meant nothing to them? That his death hadn’t changed anything? It broke Jason. It shattered him to pieces. But as previously established, Jason is nothing if not resilient. Irrepressible. An unstoppable force. He put in the time, the effort, the sweat and tears (and there were tears when he first broke. Jason’s first reaction to the news about the Joker and a new Robin was heartbreak. He was devastated. The anger came later. And it was a righteous kind of anger) and he remade himself. Jason melted down the broken pieces of who he was, honed his skills to mastery levels with a frightening dedication and speed, and through trials by fire, forged himself into a weapon on par with Batman.

He’s resilient, in all ways. He can take a beating, he can take pain, he can take disappointment and betrayal and failure, and every time he will rally and come back swinging. He’s determined and dedicated. He’s got an insane work ethic, and learning comes ridiculously easy to him. He doesn’t get daunted or intimidated, not really. He’s a survivor. He looks the worst of the worst in the face and he doesn’t back down.

Jason has never been afraid or hesitant to make his feelings clear, and he intrinsically knows his own worth. He’s never been shy to say when he feels he’s been mistreated. He doesn’t expect the best of others, not anymore, not really (but maybe there is some flickering flame of hope he can’t quite smother—) but he has self-respect and no doubts about it (maybe some fleeting thoughts of “was it my fault? Did Bruce ever really love me? Was I a bad Robin? Etc” but we all have those kinds of intrusive thoughts, don’t we?)

He’s confident, because he has the skills to back it up. He’s self-aware, to an extent; he knows his limits, knows what he can and can’t do, and he knows when it’s time to call it a day and retreat. But also if he’s going down he will not go down without a fight, and he will drag you down with him. He likes to cause problems on purpose, and he escalates; you hit him, he’ll hit back harder.

It’s established that there’s a bomb in his helmet. I think that says a lot. I don’t think he ever intended to survive his showdown with Bruce, but I also don’t think he wanted to die, not really. I think he might have seen it as inevitable though. Or maybe he didn’t want to live in a world where his dad didn’t kill his murderer. I don’t know. I’m not sure Jason knows either.

He’s snarky and quick-witted, razor-sharp and acerbic and irreverent. His wields his words just as skillfully as he does all the other weapons at his disposal. But also sometimes he’s just having fun and being annoying for the sake of it. He’s frighteningly intelligent, despite what more recent writers would like you to believe. He’s a great detective, and he has a wide range of skills and he’s mastered all of them. He’s an overachiever to the core. He’s hypercompetent. He puts his all into everything he does. He’s good at reading people, better than anyone thinks he is, which is possibly linked to that strong empathy I mentioned earlier. He does have a flare for the dramatic, and he is very very good at it. He’s got theatricality, he’s a master showman. He’s resourceful and clever.

Jason is immensely skilled! He spent a year going around the world, learning all the same skills Bruce learned, but with the training wheels off, so to speak. And he mastered each one in record time! He didn’t just become proficient, he mastered them! He surpassed his teachers! And it only took him at most a few weeks each time! He learns incredibly quickly and picking up skills and techniques comes naturally to him. Jason’s more than a match for Bruce on a strictly physical level. (Sometimes post-Flashpoint does have its cool moments, like that time Jason took out a bunch of heroes pursuing him, a group including Bruce and Damian, all while falling off a building, if I’m remembering that right) And when it comes to the mental level? Jason’s a master tactician and strategist. He’s outmaneuvered Batman multiple times over the years, even on the fly. He was two steps ahead of Bruce all of UtRH.

I don’t see Jason as especially reckless or impulsive, at least no more so than any of the other Bats. I think he processes things very quickly and is very adaptive. So it might seem as though he’s taking a major risk or acting without thinking, but in reality he’s thought through his options and his risks and decisions are carefully calculated.

He’s not afraid of the Joker. This is made clear in UtRH.

He’s completely in control of his own actions and he always has been. “Lazarus Pit Madness” isn’t a prolonged or recurrent phenomena, and his feelings and homicidal actions are all his own, for better or worse. I personally just dislike that bit of fanon very much. I feel it takes away his agency and turns his very real issues and feelings and dismisses them in favor of excusing his actions and absolving him of the blame. I get why people like it and latch on to it and use it, because it makes writing happier Batfam dynamics easier, gives an excuse to speed up reconciliation, and gets rid of any consequences for his actions, except of course angst and guilt when needed. But I just don’t like it. I think it reduces him as a character.

I don’t think he loses sleep over killing. At least not when he’s first reintroduced. But later characterizations may vary.

I honestly don’t know what I feel about Jason’s relationship with Alfred is or should or would be after Jason’s return. There’s not much canon to extrapolate from, if I remember correctly. I know that’s led to a lot of popular fanon being about them reconnecting and having a fairly smooth and accepting relationship, and I’ll accept that when it comes up in fic, but. I don’t know. I don’t really feel it. And the lack of canon to draw on in the wake of UtRH sort of works against that interpretation for me, and in my opinion lends more credence to the opposite. I also think that relationship (really all of Jason’s relationships) deserves more depth than that. I wouldn’t call myself a fan of fluff for fluff’s sake, I don’t like the idea that Jason turns mushy and compliant where Alfred’s concerned, or suddenly turns into some kind of a sheepish chastened schoolboy from his very presence, and I like when characters feelings and relationships aren’t too straightforward. Complex relationships are something I adore.

I could conceivably see Jason getting along with Tim and Damian, but like. I don’t know how they’d get there. I guess I don’t have to ponder that, because DC canon has said they’re already there somehow, but still. I’m not super against it, I’d just like to understand more. I’m not against the idea of a more amiable (to a degree) Batfamily in principle, but in practice I think it’s just not really delivering what I want. Too many characters at once means everyone tends to get simplified in group scenes to a quip or a jab, and I’m tired of Jason being reduced to a joke or insult about him dying or having daddy issues or being some kind of meathead. It’s aggravating. (He’s also not the only one this happens to in this situation, and I absolutely am upset by how the others get reduced too, both in canon and fanon, Jason’s just the one I’m talking about right now)

Talia did not manipulate Jason. She didn’t brainwash him, she didn’t goad him into hating or trying to kill Bruce or the others, she didn’t treat him badly, or intend to use him as a weapon against Bruce, or anything like that. Her original plan was to nurse Jason back to health and return him to Bruce. When that didn’t work, she put him in the Lazarus Pit to heal him because she feared for his safety. Jason didn’t even show any signs of Lazarus Pit Madness afterwards, by the way. She informed him of the Joker’s continued existence and the new Robin, yes. So what? He needed to know. Returning Jason to Bruce was still the plan. But Jason’s the one who threw the wrench in that plan. Jason didn’t want to go home. Jason wanted revenge. He wanted to kill Bruce. Talia did not want Jason to kill Bruce. She set up all his training to stall him, in hopes that he would change his mind. She kept watch over him, and she cared about him and for him. She was worried that he might have lost his ability to feel emotions or become a psychopath as a result of everything he’d been through, and when he showed that he was still capable emotions and hadn’t completely lost his sense of morality or empathy, she was relieved.

Jason is very attached to Gotham, just like Bruce. It’s his city, too.

Jason is willing to work with others when it suits him, and when he commits to doing so longterm he’s actually a very good team player. He doesn’t seem to have delusions of grandeur or aspirations of usurpation when it comes to leadership, and he’s not opposed to listening to people who have his respect. And if you aren’t on his bad side then he can be surprisingly cordial and polite. Though perhaps that’s not too surprising; he was a sweet kid, after all.

I wholeheartedly believe that Jason is at his core a good person. The bones are good, the foundation is good; it’s everything else that’s not doing so great. I don’t know if I’d say he’s lost, because I think in a way he’s where he wanted to be; he’s chosen a bad path, and he did so deliberately. Jason has always tried to the right thing, the things that need doing; it’s just that his idea of what the right thing is and what needs to be done has changed.

Jason has also been shown to have a massive well of forgiveness, though I feel that’s mostly post-New 52 canon, where full reconciliation with the other Bats is a thing, so he’d have to be forgiving by necessity. I’m not even going to get in to post-New 52 stuff I think, I find most of it very disjointed and in large part emotionally unsatisfying. There is pre-New 52 pre-death precedent for Jason being astoundingly forgiving though, to an almost saint-like degree; he forgives Sheila for leading him to the Joker and tries to save her life by untying her, and he even tries to shield her from the bomb. Which means a case for the later stuff being in-character could be made. So there is that.

Before Jason died he was also a huge believer in second chances. Sometimes even a bigger proponent of them than Bruce. This is a little hard to reconcile with his later actions, but it’s the truth.

Jason Todd went to Heaven when he died, we learn that in Green Arrow: Quiver.

I’ve seen a lot of comics that have someone, usually Bruce or Jason I think, say something about how they believe (or know, as if it was obvious) that if Bruce hadn’t taken Jason in, Jason would’ve grown up to be a criminal. Let me make this clear: I do not believe that for a second. Jason’s sense of right and wrong was always strong, and his moral convictions were steadfast. He stole as a kid to survive, but when presented with the option of letting something bad happen to someone else when he had the power to stop it, even if it wasn’t much power, even as a kid Jason never took the easy way out. He did what he knew was right.

Jason wants to be seen, but he also wants to be understood. That’s how I interpret his encounters with Dick in the Blood Brothers arc (yuck) and Mia Dearden in Green Arrow. And while I’d prefer to ignore it as a whole, he does make sort of similar overtures to Dick again and Tim in Battle for the Cowl, though I highly doubt he sincerely thought there was any chance at all that they’d accept in that case.

He’s incredibly loyal and devoted to those he loves, and expects that same level of loyalty in return. He sees failing to live up to those standards as a personal betrayal of Bruce’s; and after his return he takes betrayal (pre-New 52) very seriously. If you don’t reciprocate, then in his mind obviously everything else was a lie. If Bruce didn’t kill the Joker for killing Jason, did Bruce ever really love him at all? But he also knows for a fact that Bruce did love him. It’s complicated!

He knows Bruce loves him; but Bruce doesn’t love him the way he wants to be loved, or in a way that he interprets as true or able to be trusted, at least not anymore. It isn’t enough. Jason loves Bruce as much as he hates him.

Jason characterization is tricky! His skills, his strengths, and his smarts are all immutable across continuities and interpretations in my opinion, but the more undefinable things, like his feelings? I will admit, there’s more leeway to be had there. Also I’ve contradicted myself a bit sometimes, I think. Sorry about that! Sorry about all of this, really. I probably repeated myself a lot. In fact I’ve probably already apologized for repeating myself a lot. I don’t have the patience to check or edit this extensively. I did my best! I hope this helps! And thank you for asking me in the first place! Even though this is a mess, I did enjoy doing it!

#dc #jason todd #red hood #batfam #batfamily #jason todd meta #dc meta #dc comics #character analysis #red hood meta #jason todd feelings #jason todd characterization #my own ramblings #long post #this is unfocused! it’s long! it probably didn’t even answer the question!#tbh i probably should’ve just linked other people’s posts #but i didn’t! so we all have to live with that now #jason is very very tricky my boy is a complicated mess of a man #asks

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the-hydroxian-artblog · 3 years ago

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How do you go about designing robots? They all look so cool

TL;DR If you want to design a robot, that means you probably have ideas as to what a "cool" robot is. Find out what you think is cool, think of any backstory you think makes sense, then use existing robot designs as inspiration to figure out the visuals.

I wrote up something really long and rambly, and I'm gonna leave those extended thoughts below anyway; I apologize if this gets too dense and wordy, but to be frank I still gloss over way too much in it, as it's a really big question to answer without being reductive and frustratingly vague, or on the flipside making entire-ass tutorials/process essays on how I made all of my robot characters. I also made a guide for designing ruppets before that sort of answers your question, but I warn you that it's purely text, in-case you were hoping for some visual tutorial.

In any case, on with the ranting.

Honestly I'm more of a worldbuilder, so when I get this question I immediately jump to answering it from a storytelling perspective, not a simple "how to design a badnik" tutorial kinda thing. Robots are made for specific purposes. If they lack purpose, this can be a glaring issue, or a great trait towards your robot's backstory. Figuring out the backstory is pretty crucial, and the sooner you know that, the sooner you'll be able to ride your intuition and figure everything else out.

There's a LOT that can go into it, but there's two aspects, visual and descriptive, both of which are kinda the same thing but kinda not.

Descriptively, good robot design depends on the setting and the story told through text, and depends mostly on whatever one's heart wants above all else.

I come up with a premise I really like/want, and then ask questions to rationalize/reason backward to justify it. What do I want? Why, in its own universe, does it exist?

With these answers, you can figure out how to answer the visual question: How would this thing look like, then?

Possibly my most popular design, Splats, can answer these questions with both a visual and brief-enough flavor text to supplement her. Hopefully.

1. What did I want? A modern version of Splats, a scrapped Sonic 1 badnik. I thought it'd be cool. People apparently agree.

2. Why, in-universe? Why was Splats upgraded? She was meant to be scrapped in-universe, but didn't get the memo. Used abandoned eggman factories to repair and upgrade herself.

3. How, visually? How would she look like, then? I took elements like her thighs and tails and eyes, and made them more mechanical, taking some inspiration from P-Body from Portal 2, badniks in Sonic Colors, and toys with springs in their torsos. Also, of course, I took inspiration from artwork of Splats as well. Bash these together, and you'll likely get something like this. I wanted to stay somewhat faithful to the distinct shape language of the original, while adding something new and refining it as well as I could manage.

Another example, this time in my own OC canon: K-55, a one-off design I whipped up for fun.

1. What did I want? I wanted to draw a funny bird robot that had a serious/morally messy profession. The concept is funny to me.

2. Why does he exist in-universe? He wasn't built to look like this specifically. He was more of a standard robot for basic tasks that modified itself to look this way due to an eccentric personality. He has an eccentric personality because having certain quirks in robots can lead to them being creative problem solvers. This has a side-effect of them often dressing themselves up in different ways, whether alienating or appealing. That basically gives me the excuse to make him look as weird as I want.

3. How would he look like? A mess. Visually, he has a bunch of noticeable funny shapes working together to create a distinct, odd outline. His face is a bit wall-eyed, and he has a strange "hair style", which imply strange tastes. With the clear implication that he wasn't designed purposefully like this by anyone else, the design sends clear messages about his personality, and how unhinged he is.

One last example: Kaita, my beloved.

I wanted a cute, strong, robot wolf woman with a very friendly personality. The idea of a robot wolf woman is absurd on many levels, but I reason she was made as a weapon of sorts, but got misused and now lives her own life. This answers What she is and Why she exists, so lastly, there's How she'd appear as. In her case, I basically just figured she'd look like a furry terminator with exposed internals in some parts, large claws, etc.

There's many different ways to go about that, but by answering the previous questions of What, Why, and How, I can at least not go in blind as I develop the visual aspect of her design, and see if I'm being faithful to the concept. "Nice Terminator Wolf Lady" is basic in premise, but with tons of room for experimentation in execution. I designed Kaita years ago, and only in the past two or three years did she really look consistent.

#FAQ #Character Design #nonsense

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squishmallow36 · 3 years ago

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Drawing: the Gathering

Part 1 of Sokeefitz: the Gathering

Written for day 2 of Sokeefitz Week: Family, hosted by the wondaerful @rainbow-frog-earrings and @gay-otlc

Also a big thank you to @uni-seahorse-572 for listening to my rambling about this fic

Word count: 1.4k

Tw: swearing, food, brief sex mention (played /j and not within the scope of this fic)

Taglist (lmk if you want to be added/removed!): @stellar-lune @gaslight-gaetkeep-gayboss @kamikothe1and0lny @nyxpixels @florida-fruity-frog @poppinspop @crystallinewalker @solreefs @never-mourn-the-good @rusted-phone-calls @when-wax-wings-melt @cotyledon-tomentosa @good-old-fashioned-lover-boy7 @dexter-dizzknees @abubble125 @blossomsxgalorex @callum-hunt-is-bisexual @callas-pancake-tree

On Ao3 or below the cut!

Coming back from the kitchen with a mug of coffee at three in the afternoon, Sophie sits down next to Keefe to watch it draw.

A few moments later, he asks, “Hey, you can draw, right? Can you teach me?”

Fitz’s gaze flickers up from his book to watch Keefe’s response, signing in the reflection of the window.

“Does this have to be a now kind of thing?” it asks.

“Well, you’re drawing right now, so take a guess.”

Keefe sighs dramatically. “Fine.” It leans backwards, ruffling Fitz’s hair that’s pink in theory but it’s been a few weeks since it’s been dyed, so the colour has faded significantly.

“Yes, love?” he asks, already expecting its answer.

“Care to join us?” it signs above his head.

Putting his book down, Fitz answers, “Well, considering you two are probably gonna make a giant mess with all the new paint I bought you yesterday, I guess so. Even if it is solely for chaperoning purposes.”

“Aw, is the future Councillor mad?”

“I have both of you. I’m not allowed to be a Councillor.” Fitz stands, bracing himself on the table for the inevitable discomfort that always plagues his knee when he puts his weight on it.

“Not if you don’t get married, Fitzy.”

“Hm. I’m surprised you don’t want to be legally connected to me as soon as possible so I can’t run away.”

“Running away is my personality trait. You can’t have it.”

He walks over to their table. “You also say your hair is a personality trait and yet somehow I always find it everywhere.”

“How do you know it’s not Foster’s hair?” it asks, causing Sophie to exclaim, “hey!”

“Some of the hairballs were blue. Now, with your little photographic memory, can you remember a time when his hair was blue? And do you remember a time when your hair was blue?”

Keefe refuses to answer, which Fitz takes as a win, sitting down in his assigned seat. “What kind of portal to Exile will we be making today?”

It smiles. “Well, Fitzy, I’m glad you asked! Foster, do you have any specific requests before we start?”

He shakes his head.

“Okay, then. Fitzy, you like baking. And I like cake. So let’s learn how to draw a cake that you aren’t allowed to eat just to torture ourselves.”

Is this when I tell it that you can technically eat paper? No. I should not give it more ideas.

“Is that a reference to your ID cake from three years ago that I told you to wait five minutes before eating because I wasn’t done frosting it and then the frosting somehow ended up in your hair, which is still a mystery to modern science?” Fitz asks instead.

“It’s not a mystery, you flung it at me!”

I’ll take that as a yes. “You were like two inches away from the cake trying to lick the bottom frosting off. It’s not my fault some from the top was pushed off onto your head!”

“Guys, guys. Can we maybe save this for later? Like, after my drawing lesson?”

Keefe and Fitz glare at each other, but don’t say a word.

It breaks the tension by instructing, “Okay. So we’re gonna start with an oval in the approximate middle of the page. Go around a few times, we can clean it up later. Just try to make it vaguely symmetrical.”

Its ellipse is absolutely perfect--not a surprise but still annoying--while Sophie’s and Fitz’s are pretty much equal levels of crooked blobs.

Fitz tries to erase the worst of the messiness when Keefe grabs his hand, signing, “Not so fast. We finish sketching then clean it up. You never know which line will be the good one once you’re done so stop it. Pick two points on opposite sides of the circle and draw some gay lines going down as long as you want. The longer the lines, the taller the cake.”

“Are you expecting me to invoke physics to determine how tall it can be before falling over?” Fitz asks.

“Yes.”

“Fuck you. I’m too gay for maths.”

“Fuck me yourself, coward.”

Sophie sighs. “Please just let us finish this before tearing each others’ clothes off. I’m begging you.”

Keefe half stands, leaning over to kiss Fitz for the briefest second, signing, “No.”

It sits back down, and Fitz tries to ignore the urge to pull it back to him as it signs, “Okay, where were we?”

“Drawing a cake.”

“Cool. Mext we’re gonna mimic the curve of the lower half of the oval on the bottom of the two gay lines to make it a cylindrical cylinder. Don’t worry if it’s wonky or messy.”

Sophie and Fitz do as told, and suddenly it’s become an actual something.

“Now that technically can be your final cake and you could decorate it from here but let’s make it a little more interesting and obvious as to what it is so we’re gonna cut out and eat a piece. So we’ll start by marking the centre of the top oval with a dot.”

Fitz uses his hand to measure where the centre would be as close as he can manage to get. It’s probably off but, hey, if he’s cutting a slice out in the real world, it’s gonna be a little off-centre.

“Very good. Now we’re gonna draw a gay line from that point to the bottom of the cake. Then draw a line from the centre point to the edge of the oval. It can be as big of a chunk of cake as you’d like, although it is a bit easier if it’s roughly symmetrical. And make sure you save me some. I’m gonna require it as payment.”

Three wiggly lines later, Fitz is pretty sure he’s doing this correctly.

…at least mostly.

“Then from the point where the slanty lines intersect with the oval, you’re gonna draw 2 more gay lines down to the bottom.” Keefe instructs, shading something on one of its own projects.

Fitz really should’ve made this cake shorter, but he doesn’t have the skills to trim it down now.

“Aw, look at it. It’s a little thing.” Sophie says, showing it to Fitz, and it is certainly a little thing. It looks better than his cake, that’s for sure. Although that might just be because it’s farther away.

His would look better from far, far away.

“You’re not done yet, you two.” Keefe signs. “Where those two gay lines meet the bottom, draw a line parallel to the top angled lines to the middle line on both sides. Erase the arc on the bottom between those two lines, the bit of the middle line sticking out, and the portion of the oval that’s inside the lines. And now it’s looking pretty good enough.”

Now that Fitz is actually allowed to use his eraser, it’s getting its fair share of use trying to even out the lines.

“Wait, before you start cleaning up your limes and destroying all your work, if you’d like to add some cake layers, add some lines parallel to the top and bottom of the weird rhombi--oh Mx. Stinkbottom, I think that’s the first time I’ve ever used that word in my life. I just lost a bet to our least favourite technopath--anyway, you probably know what cake layers look like I’ll just let you fuck it up yourself.”

“Thanks,” Sophie responds sarcastically.

“You’re welcome,” Keefe signs, smiling.

It’s such an ass. And I love it so much.

“Now you’re on your own fixing up the sketch and colouring it in because I don’t have nearly enough patience for that. You should’ve learned that in school.”

“I had the last half day kindergarten my school offered. I am superior to all of you elves.”

Fitz laughs, bowing slightly to his overlord Sophie before taking a sixty-four pack of crayons that just kind of exist in their house. No one knows how they got there or how many they have. They just suddenly appear whenever they need them and especially when they don’t.

Fitz inevitably ends up trying to put too much detail into his design which should’ve been expected as he does that normally, but still ends up with a drawing that looks like a seven year old made it.

Blame the crayons. Always blame the crayons.

A/n: (i felt like this deserved end notes and those are exclusive to ao3 so this is what i'm doing) Shoutout to that time in 5th grade when we were doing this in art class and this kid said i like your cake--not to me but the kid diagonally across from me--but rounded the a to an o...i like your cock has now lived in my head rent free for many years.

#yeah for this i literally went 'hm what can i draw'#and the answer is cake #that's it #and it works with the whole fic surprisingly well #thanks 4th grade art class #(different one from the a/n i did this twice #kotlc #sokeefitz week 2022 #sophie foster #fitz vacker #keefe sencen #kotlc fanfic #sokeefitz

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helloalycia · 4 years ago

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my patient’s neighbour [one] // wanda maximoff

summary: whilst caring for a new patient of yours, you definitely didn't expect to fall for her cute neighbour, Wanda Maximoff

warning/s: very minor mentions of injuries and death

author's note: okay so firstly, buckle in, folks, this is gonna be like 6 parts long lol. Also, I google translated all the Russian bits so i apologise if they are incorrect! okay, you may enjoy now :)

"38... 38... 38..."

I scanned the doors to the many apartments in the hall, hoping to find the one that belonged to my newest patient – Anna Pivec. As a nurse, I was always given new patients to visit and tend to until they no longer needed it or chose not to have me around. I'd just been assigned a new patient, Anna, and was excited to meet her.

"38!" I said to myself, spotting the door at the end of the hallway. I knocked on before waiting patiently, hoping she wasn't sleeping or anything. It wasn't too early – 10AM – and she knew I was coming, so finger's crossed.

The door opened to reveal a short, old lady with grey hair and a cane in her hand. I smiled kindly, meeting her cloudy gaze.

"You must be the one my granddaughter is paying to look after me because she can't do it herself," the woman spoke before I could introduce myself. Stepping to the side, she motioned with her cane. "Come on in."

My smile dropped at her abruptness. "I, er, yeah, I guess that's me." As I walked in, I said, "My name is Y/N Y/L/N. The nurse from–"

"Yeah, I know where you're from," she cut me off, closing the door and heading further into her apartment. "They sent me a brochure, milaya."

I followed after her, surprised at how quick she was for an old lady with back and heart problems. She was leading me into the open plan living-room and kitchen.

"I'm sorry – milaya? What does that mean?" I asked politely, hoping I didn't come across as rude.

She waved her hand dismissively, mumbling something to herself in what I think was Russian. Her profile did say she was from Sokovia, so maybe that was it.

"Okay, erm, well, as I said," I changed the subject, figuring she wouldn't give me an answer, "I'm Y/N. I'll be here five times a week and basically be doing anything you need me to do. Of course, I only want you to be comfortable in your own home, so if you ever feel anything but, please let me know."

She hummed in acknowledgement before motioning for me to follow her. I set my bag on the kitchen counter before sitting on the couch as she did so on the recliner. She sighed with content as the pain on her back was eased from taking a seat.

"Tell me about yourself," she said gently.

I smiled with amusement. "That's usually what I ask my patients."

"Do forgive me, milaya," she said, and I made a mental note to bring a Russian-English dictionary with me tomorrow, "but you're a stranger in my home. I'd prefer to know about you before I let you take care of me."

I nodded, slightly impressed. Her profile didn't do her justice. Usually, the elderly I cared for were quick to allow me to do my thing, never really questioning who I was or what my intentions were. I was starting to get the impression that Anna was a strong, stubborn woman in a little old lady's body – definitely not one to mess around with.

"Okay, well, I'm a nurse," I began with the basics, and from there, went into a long ramble about my job, how I got into it, what it consisted of...

Anna was full of questions, taking the time to get to know me and I her. Once I had told her everything I could think to, she told me about her life. How she lived in Sokovia up until she was thirty-five years old and had to flee with her husband and daughter because of the war. She gushed about the both of them, a twinkle in her eye as she recalled their livelihoods like they were still alive. Her husband had unfortunately passed many years ago due to liver problems – "All that drinking, milaya! Us Sokovians are a force to be reckoned with!" – and her daughter had passed in a car accident not long after.

It was a tragic tale, but she didn't let it bring her down. In fact, she seemed grateful to have lived it and I couldn't help but smile as she shared it with me.

I noticed she would speak short phrases in Russian mid-conversation, without realising, which didn't make it easier for me to understand, but I couldn't bring it in myself to interrupt her to ask what they meant because she said it with such sincerity that I figured it reminded her of her home.

After our conversation, I made her lunch and gave her her medication before watching some TV with her and pretty much talking to her once again. She was quite an interesting woman, different to my usual patients, and I was enjoying our time together. After spending the day there, I wished her a good night before leaving.

When I returned the next morning, I let myself in with the key Anna gave me and called out a good morning.

"In here!" an unfamiliar female voice called out.

I furrowed my brows as I took off my jacket and headed into the living-area. Anna was sat in her recliner as usual, but she had a guest sat on her couch. A young woman, possibly my age, with long dark hair and a friendly smile on her lips was sat comfortably; she had a cup of tea in her hands and her legs pulled up on the couch like she lived there.

The stranger and Anna exchanged words in Russian briefly before the former stood up, about to introduce herself.

"Oh, are you her granddaughter?" I asked, putting two and two together. It was the only explanation I could think of for how comfortable she was and the fact that she was also Sokovian (I assumed, anyway).

The girl laughed, her green eyes sparkling as she shook her head. Putting out her hand, she said, "I'm Wanda Maximoff. Anna's neighbour."

Slightly embarrassed by my mistake, I smiled awkwardly and shook her hand. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have– I just thought because you were speaking Russian that–"

"It's fine, no harm no foul," she put me at ease quickly, before taking her seat again. "I've lived next door to Anna for about a year now. Sometimes I keep her company on my days off."

I set my bag on the floor before taking a seat on the couch, leaving a gap between Wanda and I.

"That's nice," I said with a smile before looking to Anna. "How are you feeling this morning, Mrs Pivec?"

She sighed, waving her hand dismissively, before saying something to Wanda in Russian who was listening intently. Nodding her head, Wanda looked to me with amusement.

"What did she say?" I asked, quirking a brow.

"She said she told you to stop calling her Mrs Pivec yesterday," Wanda translated, trying not to laugh.

"Just call me Anna, Y/N," Anna added with a nod. "And I'm fine. Just had breakfast with Wanda here."

"Breakfast," I repeated slowly. "How long ago was that? Just gotta make sure you get your meds."

"Shoot, am I doing your job?" Wanda asked, slightly panicked.

"No, no, you're not." I laughed at the way she scrunched her nose. "I mean, it would help if I could have breakfast with Miss– Anna, so I know when she has her medication. But it's all good."

"Are you sure? I can leave if I'm in the way," Wanda said with a frown.

"No need," I reassured her. "If Anna doesn't mind your presence, it's all good. I'm just here to look after her, clean up, make sure she eats, has her meds."

Wanda looked to Anna, who seemed unbothered by her presence.

"She can stay," Anna said with a shrug. "Makes it feel less like I'm a pet."

I opened my mouth to say something, possibly make her feel better, but I wasn't sure what to say.

"Don't mind her," Wanda reassured, giving Anna a knowing look before shooting me an easygoing smile. "She tends to speak her mind exactly as it is. No filter whatsoever. And very stubborn. You may have noticed."

I cracked a smile, feeling better knowing that it wasn't just me who noticed Anna's unique personality traits.

"Hey, that stubbornness and lack of filter is exactly how I beat my husband and his friends in every poker game back home," Anna said with a playful smirk.

Wanda and I chuckled, before the brunette leaned on the couch comfortably and looked to me.

"We finished breakfast, maybe, ten minutes ago? I made us eggs and toast," she answered my question from earlier.

I hummed before getting up with my bag and heading to the kitchen. Setting my bag on the counter, I grabbed my diary and also Anna's medication from its place on the kitchen counter.

"I'll give you your medicine now, Anna," I told her, already grabbing a glass of water for her.

"Thank you, milaya," she called back, and I spun around, immediately going to get my Russian-English dictionary from my bag. "Wait, I know what that is!" I flicked through the pages and scanned it eagerly. "Milaya... milaya... milaya! Okay, it means... sweetie."

"Sweetie," Wanda said at the same time, and I looked up to see her watching me from behind her cup of tea, trying not to laugh again.

"I guess another perk of your presence is being the translator," I said sheepishly, realising just how eager I was a second ago. "Anna likes to speak Russian a lot, which I'm fine with of course, but..." I waved the dictionary in the air.

"It's funny watching tvoye lichiko, milaya," Anna said with that same mischievous smirk on her face.

I looked down to my dictionary, struggling to pinpoint a single word in her sentence that I could search. It was overwhelming, the words going in one ear and out the other.

"She said it's funny watching your little face, sweetie," Wanda translated upon seeing my frozen state.

I relaxed my shoulders. "Thanks." Then I realised what she said. "Hey!"

Anna laughed as Wanda grinned, and I was suddenly glad she was here. I grabbed Anna's meds with a glass of water before giving them to her. After making sure she swallowed them properly, I put the glass to the side and took a seat on the couch again.

"So, you said you visited Anna on your days off?" I asked Wanda, intrigued by why a neighbour would be so interested in another. It wasn't very common in today's day and age.

"She's almost always here," Anna answered before Wanda could speak. I looked to her as she continued with a grateful smile. "Helps me with everything. Groceries, cleaning, my medication."

"So basically me but unpaid," I joked, and Anna laughed.

"Exactly," she agreed, and I looked to Wanda to see her blushing, eyes avoiding mine.

"That's really sweet," I said gently, earning her attention. "You're a really good neighbour, Wanda."

Wanda ran a hand through her hair. "It's nothing. If anything, I enjoy being here. Anna reminds me of Sokovia and my family and, well, home."

"Oh, so you're Sokovian, too?"

She nodded before smiling playfully. "Did the accent not give it away?"

I hid a smile. "I didn't want to assume. I mean, you could've been Czech. Slovakian. Basically anything else."

"Okay, I'll give you that," she gave in, tilting her head to the side, smile widening.

It was then that I learnt her smile was extremely contagious.

Same as yesterday, my plan was to stay the day with Anna, though this time Wanda also kept her company (and me, too). After lunch, I left the two of them to watch some TV as I excused myself to change Anna's bedsheets in her room, ready for bed tonight.

As I was doing so, I heard the door open and glanced over my shoulder to see Wanda entering the room. I gave her a smile before continuing to replace the pillowcase.

"Here, I can help," she offered, and didn't give me chance to decline as she grabbed the pillow on the other side of the bed and began to change its case.

"You sure? You know it's my job, right?" I teased, looking up at her over the bed between us.

She rolled her eyes playfully. "I'm aware. Just thought I'd make it a bit easier for you."

I chuckled. "Well, I appreciate it... how is Anna?"

"Dozed off," Wanda quipped with an expectant nod. "Same time every day. Like clockwork."

"Huh." I thought back to yesterday and how she ended up taking a nap after lunch, too. "Noted. Thanks."

Wanda smiled before putting the pillowcase on the pillow and puffing it with her hands. I did the same, content with its appearance, before moving to the duvet. Wordlessly, Wanda grabbed one end and began to help me put it on, which I appreciated. The duvet was bigger than I was and definitely a two-person job.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" I spoke out of the blue as we were putting on the duvet cover.

"Go for it," she said encouragingly, glancing sideways.

"Of course, you don't have to answer, but I thought I'd ask since I'm going to be looking after Anna for a while," I gave a little disclaimer, before saying, "She makes a lot of snide remarks about her granddaughter. Do they not get along?"

Wanda sighed quietly. "Her granddaughter doesn't really visit her here. She rarely calls."

"Her daughter's kid?"

"The only one," Wanda confirmed. "She keeps her distance, ever since her mum – Anna's daughter – passed. She just pays for, well, you."

I frowned. "That's sad."

"Yeah," Wanda agreed, breathing out.

The two of us spread the duvet over the double bed before I looked to her with a small smile.

"At least she has you," I pointed out. "It's nice you give up your free time to spend it with her."

"Like I said, it's good for me, too," she reminded me, returning the smile.

"So what do you do when you're not here keeping her company?" I asked curiously, moving to Anna's bedside to clear it up a little.

Wanda hid her smile behind a look of confusion. "Do you not– don't you recognise me?"

I quirked a brow, pausing my actions. "Am I supposed to?"

She snickered, shaking her head, eyes falling to the bed with mild disbelief. "I mean, I guess not. I'm–" She chuckled, looking to my confused face. "I'm one of the Avengers."

I studied her, her words not quite settling in. But when they did, I realised I actually recognised her and she was one of the Avengers.

"Oh my God!" I blurted, the penny finally dropping. "The one with the weird red energy powers! I mean– not weird but– the magic!"

She stifled laughter, nodding her head. Just like her smile, her laughter was contagious, too.

"Yeah, that's me," she confirmed.

I made a weird motion with my free hand, like I'd seen her do on TV when saving the day. "Does Anna know about your y'know?"

Wanda crossed her arms, raising a brow and watching me with a humoured gaze. "Is that supposed to be my powers?"

I stopped making the motion and felt my neck heating up. "I– yeah."

Laughter spilled from her lips yet again, automatically making me smile. I didn't mind that I'd made a fool of myself all of a sudden.

"Anna knows, yes," Wanda said with a bright smile. "She actually recognised me straight away. Much quicker than you. And she's eighty."

Waving my hand to distract from my flushed cheeks, I said, "Pfft, she probably confused you with someone else and played along when you told her who you were."

"Yeah, I'm sure that was it, ty milyy maneken," she retorted with her piercing gaze.

"No fair, my dictionary is in the other room," I said with a pout, and she only laughed even more.

"Guess you'll never know," she teased with a smirk, making me roll my eyes to distract from the way it made me feel when she stared at me like that.

It was much later on when I learnt that she had called me 'a cute dummy'. And that was the beautiful start to Wanda and I's introduction into each other's lives.

—

From then onwards, about eighty percent of the time I would go to care for Anna, Wanda was present, too and I didn't mind one bit. Not only did she keep Anna company, but she made my job a lot easier whilst keeping me company as well.

I was beginning to look forward to seeing her whenever I would open the door. Whether she was cleaning something up, playing board games with Anna or simply having a tidy up around the apartment, she'd always stop what she was doing and help me with whatever was in my hands as she greeted me at the door. It was adorable. She was adorable.

The few times she wasn't present because of work only made me miss her, the apartment feeling emptier than usual. Even Anna agreed, the two of us making up for the lack of the Sokovian girl's presence by distracting ourselves with other activities.

I was convinced Anna was warming up to me as she freely let me care for her without resistance. Obviously, she wouldn't be Anna if she didn't throw funny remarks my way or speak to me in Russian, knowing I didn't understand her, but it was tolerable. And I was liking her, too; she was easily becoming one of the best patients I cared for. There was just so much personality to her that I couldn't help but smile whenever I spoke to her.

One time, I was helping Anna out at her place when Wanda wasn't present. I was leading her into her bed when I decided now was a better time than ever to ask her about her birthday on Sunday, which I knew was then because of her file.

"So, I'll be seeing you in two days next," I told her as I pulled the duvet over her. "And a little birdie told me it's your birthday then. Eighty-one, Anna! That's amazing!"

She smiled but seemed embarrassed that I knew.

"Tell me what you want and I can make it happen," I said promisingly, smiling down at her.

She waved her hand. "I don't want anything, milaya (sweetie). Your presence is enough."

I chuckled. "As sweet as that is, I know everybody wants something for their birthday. Now please, Anna. What can I do to make the day a bit more special?"

She pondered my question momentarily and I waited for her to speak, hoping it was something doable.

"I would love to have a traditional Sokovian meal," she said reluctantly. "It's been a long time."

I breathed out quietly, patting her hand gently. "I can do that, Anna. Don't you worry."

She smiled genuinely, before shooing me away. "Okay, enough sappiness, ty mozhesh' uyti seychas (you can leave now)."

I laughed, standing up and dusting my pants off. I only knew what that phrase meant because she said it almost every time before my shift ended and I left for the day. I knew she didn't mean it as harshly as it sounded.

"I'm going, I'm going," I said, already heading to the door. "I'll see you Sunday, birthday girl."

She groaned quietly, making me grin, before I double checked everything was okay in the living-area and grabbed my stuff to leave.

As easy of a request that it was, I knew absolutely nothing about cooking a traditional Sokovian meal. But I knew of one person who did and instantly headed to Wanda's apartment next door to see if she was home.

With a quick knock, I waited patiently. I wasn't sure if she was even home since she hadn't visited Anna today and she usually did so if she was. When I was beginning to think she wasn't, I told myself I could Google a recipe and put something together, but then the door opened and revealed a tired-looking Wanda.

"Y/N," she said with surprise, but a friendly smile was on her lips nonetheless.

"Hey, I'm so sorry to disturb you this late, but I wanted to ask– wait, what happened to your face?" I stopped speaking and lost my own smile when I noticed the faint scratches and bruises dusting her skin.

"Oh, it's nothing–" she started, raising her hand, fingers wavering over her head, but I cut her off.

"Shit, Wanda, what happened?" I reached out, taking her hand in mine and studying the cast that was around her wrist. Concerned frown on my lips, I glanced up at her. "Are you okay?"

"It's fine, Y/N," she tried to reassure, but I couldn't help it as my worry got the better of me and I studied the cuts on her cheek. "I just came back from a mission. Minor injuries. Honestly."

I let go of her hand, realising I was still holding it, and nodded slightly. "Right..." Realising she must have been exhausted, I awkwardly stepped back and shook my head with realisation. "Sorry, I should go. I didn't mean to bot–"

"You were saying something," she interrupted, nodding encouragingly. "You wanted to ask me something. What is it?"

I paused, nodding. Admittedly, I was still worried about the bruises on her forehead. I knew she was an Avenger and this was probably the norm for her, but to me, it looked like she'd just got mugged. And the irregularity of that worried me.

"Yeah, I was saying," I finally found my words, trying to ignore the way her tired eyes peered at me hopefully. "It's Anna's birthday on Sunday and she wants to have a traditional Sokovian meal to celebrate. The only problem is, I don't know what that is." Wanda cracked a smile as I continued. "Do you, maybe, have a recipe I could use?"

"Of course," she said before motioning for me to follow her. "Come on in."

I followed after her, closing the door behind me, and stopped at the kitchen counter patiently. As she searched for a notebook in her drawer, I subtly glanced around, taking in the inside of Wanda's apartment. I'd never actually been in it before, but the minimal décor was very her. She didn't have many knickknacks and everything on display served a purpose.

"There's some recipes in here," she said, grabbing my attention. She slid the notebook across the counter and leaned forward with a smile. "Take your pick."

I flicked through it briefly, smiling at the notebook filled with recipes, all in Wanda's neat, cursive handwriting.

"Thank you," I said gratefully, looking up and catching her staring.

She perked up, clearing her throat as she nodded in response before looking the other way. Cute.

"Are you working on Sunday?" I asked with a raised brow, before rolling my eyes playfully. "What am I saying? Of course you're not. Not with that wrist."

She chuckled, still avoiding my eyes. "I'm not."

"Well, why don't you come over for her birthday? You can help me cook her a meal. Or rather, I can help you cook it since I'll probably screw it up."

Finally meeting my eyes, she smiled with amusement. "Are you sure?"

I gave her a knowing look, ignoring the butterflies swirling in my stomach as she held my gaze with her intense dark eyes. "Yes, I'm sure. Anna will love to celebrate with you. And..." I pursed my lips, taking a leap of faith and adding, "and I'd love it, too."

Wanda let out a quiet laugh. "You would, would you?"

I straightened up, smile widening. "Yeah, I would."

She tilted her head, studying me with a curious smile. "Well then, I clearly can't say no."

Something stirred in my chest the longer she watched me and I oddly liked it. It was obvious that Wanda was a beautiful girl with a heart of gold, but I guess I hadn't really acknowledged that I may have had feelings for her until now. And I didn't mind one bit.

"Great," I finally found my words, nodding slightly. "I'll see you Sunday."

She mirrored my expression, saying, "See you Sunday," and I knew I couldn't wait until then.

#wanda maximoff #elizabeth olsen #wanda maximoff imagine #wanda maximoff x reader #scarlet witch #wanda maximoff x you #marvel #mcu #marvel imagine #mcu imagine #elizabeth olsen imagine

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