#probably will post another one once things get real tough!

[riririnnnn]

These Itoshi brothers are going to be my end one day.

Every time I'm like, "Yay, I made a sensible theory. I'll stick to it now," these two always whack me out of nowhere. It's like they love to go, "🗣️📢 HELL NAH❗HE-HE-HELL NAH❗"

Anyway, so I was re-reading Rin's part in the LN, and I realised something:

So, after Sae left for Spain, there was a visible decline in the performance of both Rin and their Soccer Youth Club. Rin says it's because he could see the goal path and stuffs, BUT his teammates couldn't and the only person who could match his vision was, of course, Sae.

That's why Rin had to change his playstyle to match that of the Team's. He began passing instead of waiting for a pass and all. Things starts to get better, and the whole team starts to get their glory days back.

There was a line in the LN which goes something like, "The teammates thought they were playing good, but they were actually just playing in strings of Rin's. Rin was controlling everything."

He then goes, "This is tough and Nii-chan was doing this all along? Nii-chan was holding back. That's why he chose to go to Spain, so he can play the way he wants."

See.

THIS

is exactly where my brain started to churn.

So, Sae was in that soccer club since way long, and he was legit considered as the pillar of it or something. However, all these years, he was, in fact, holding back himself and when he got to go to Spain, he thought like, "Yes! Finally! I can show the world what I got," but sadly, he found out he just wasn't it.

Maybe it could be because he played UNLIKE his real self for so long that he forgot himself.

OR

He just wasn't that good as he thought he was. He found out that he was the Frog in the well.

HOWEVER.

He still had Rin back home, and he trusted him because he knew about his younger brother's true potential or impulses.

So time passed and the day of the U-15 Championship Finals came.

Reminder: Sae was scouted by Real Madrid/Re Al when he won in the U-15 Championship alongside Rin. That's why it was really important for Rin to win that Final match too.

What I said above was a fact Sae, probably, knew too. That's why he came a whole day AHEAD of his schedule to watch the younger Itoshi play with his own eyes (Rin had pointed out that Sae was supposed to come a day after).

But, surprisingly, what Sae saw was what he feared— he saw Rin play the way he himself used to. He was probably like, "I sacrificed everything for you and you became exactly what I sacrificed myself for you to NOT be."

Reminder: Rin gets into his real flow state/becomes berserk during the LAST three minutes of the whole game.

Which gives us two possibilities:

Firstly, Sae just gets up and leave without seeing Rin's berserk mode. After which he comes back to confront him once the match is over.

Secondly, Sae stayed the whole match and saw Rin's berserk mode and was somewhat relieved to know that the younger Itoshi hadn't completely lost his true self. After which the confrontation proceeds.

I don't want to say much about their reunion in this post, but I do want to add another perspective to why Sae challenged Rin for a 1V1:

Sae, probably, had thought that, "I couldn't beat the world and if you can't even beat me, then you are nothing in this world."

That's it, I guess.

.

.

.

I really wish for a Itoshi brothers spin-off because it's hinted that they had a big shared room, so I really want to see how everything is like after Sae returns from Spain.

[factual-fantasy]

Greetings Factual! Sorry it's been a bit since I last got to say hi, it's been a crazy week for me- but I still managed to check in every once in a while, and as is always the case, really enjoyed your recent posts- both the fun and the angsty! In particular, I really liked the Fnaf anniversary image you did, it was really cool seeing the classic crew in your style- and thanks for remembering Golden Freddy!

That actually brought up an Ask I had, too, which is: is Golden Freddy cannon to your main Fnaf AU? You made the Fredbear and Spring Bonnie side au, but did a version ever exist before the core crew in the original timeline? If so, he probably wouldn't be haunted, like the others arent, but, as an older model would he even be sentient? Maybe it's too spoilery, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask!

As a sidenote, I also come bearing a gift today! Last time, you'll recall, I asked if you wanted to see some of the old Mario OC's I came up with, and you said yes! So here's what I got now that I've redrawn and refurbished them- forgive my poor art and camerawork- i had to work with what limited time and supplies I had- anyway, without further adu, here's the dynamic desert dwelling duo, Rick and Rusty!

My idea for their story is that, as you can see, Rusty is an old, outdated model of Sherm, like the ones from Odyssey, and his partner is an almost equally as old, rough and tough Monty Mole named Rick who's lost most of his vision with age. I'm still figuring out the way they met- but at some point they both got stranded in the deserts of the Sand Kingdom , and ended up deciding to team up, becoming a wandering duo of tradesmen, transporting goods from one settlement to another- after all, Ricks gotta eat, and Rusty's always in need of spare parts due to his advanced age.

Sometimes times are tough for the two of them, but they soldier on though even the toughest sandstorms- and have formed a very important symbiotic bond, as Rusty gives Rick some much appreciated protection(he is a tank after all) as well as verbal direction when necessary, and in turn, Rick uses his impressive skills as a mechanic to repair and replace Rusty's parts, both on the outside and inside! I also imagine that Rusty would double as a living, mobile home for Rick, with some of those good ol' bigger in the inside shenanigans going on! I also had an idea for two additional characters who would eventually join the traveling band- those being Dott the Flopter and Brock the Bandit!

Still working on their stories too, but I envisioned Dott as a happy go lucky explorer who came up from the Sprixie kingdom to explore the surface world- only to surface in the sand kingdom and get caught in a sandstorm! Thankfully Rick and Rusty were passing by and provided shelter, after which she volunteered to join them on their adventures for the foreseeable future- Rick finds her outgoing personality a bit obnoxious at times- but Rusty's taken a real liking to her- plus, it never hurts to have eyes in the sky!

As for Brock, I imagined his arc would be similar to Diego's from Ice Age, funnily enough- he started as a double agent who sought to lure the crew into a trap so his gang mates could rob them, but he ended up liking them so much he switched sides, beat his old team at their own game, and joined the traveling Merchants officially as their muscle! His mask lets him weather even the most severe sandstorms, and he can use his hockey stick to wack projectiles at foes even faster than Rusty can fire a- uh- whatever those things Sherms shoot are called!

Anyway that's all I got for now, sorry as always for the wall of text- I was just eager to see what you think! With you being a professional AU and OC crafter, (especially compared to me) I would greatly appreciate any thoughts or criticisms you can offer! Thank you so much as always- and I hope this day is treating you well!

Hi! Its good to see you in my ask box again! :D I'm sorry to hear about your week though, I hope this next one treats you better <:(

As for the FNAF 10th anniversary post, I'm really glad you liked it! :D And how could I forget Golden Freddy?? He's been one of my top favorite animatronics for a very long time XD Speaking of him, he does exist in my main FNAF AU technically :0 although "Golden Freddy" in my AU is actually just the old Fredbear suit after it was decommissioned- though obviously I cant talk much about if it was haunted or sentient at all <XD spoiler stuff-

And lastly, your OCS! AND MY GOODNESS DO I LOVE THEM!!! :DD And as a ✨professional AU/OC crafter✨(XDD thank you!! :}} ) I tried to give you some criticism like you asked. But I'm having a hard time coming up with anything solid! <:0 I love their stories and I think their designs are great!

Originally some criticism I thought of was that Rusty looked a liiittle overly detailed.. there was an awful lot of bolts on the guy. But upon googling Sherms, they look like that in the game! Absolutely flooded with bolts! :0 So your design is actually accurate and very well done! Same thing with his color, thought maybe he could use a little more color but nope! In game the Sherms are just a block of green XD You actually gave him MORE color with the two different shades of brown! A very good choice in my opinion! :))

The only lasting criticism I could think of was more of a question; how can Rick repair Rusty if he's lost most of his eye sight..? Sure Rusty might be able to verbally guide him from the outside somewhat.. but what about internal repair? Thinking about it though, he could just be near sighted- or maybe his eye sight isn't as bad as I'm imaging it is? Either way- loved the critters! Loved the stories, the art is fantastic and I hope the rest of our day/night is a good one! :))

[onigiriico]

Mikoto audio drama (t2) - English TL

[ links: Spotify | YouTube ]

Mikoto-ing again 🫡 I know I say this like every other post, but I 100% recommend listening to the audio alongside the translation! On one hand the VAs just did an amazing job on this, and on the other hand I also feel like it'll. probably make the switches more obvious than I can convey in text lol

Little disclaimer about the way I translated the DID terminology here: I know the correct term in English is "alter", but in the JP audio they're consistently referred to as "personalities" (人格 / jinkaku) while the closest Japanese equivalent to "alter" seems to be 自我 / jiga, from what I could find. I generally try to stick as closely to the JP terminology with my translations as possible, so I mostly went with "personality". I really don't want to offend anyone here so I hope that's a somewhat okay choice ahshbsdj

Okay. Okay that got lengthy. As usual, if you find any mistranslations, have questions, etc etc feel free to send me an ask or hit me up on Twitter where I drop by, like, once a month 😅 And now without further ado:

⬇️ translation under the cut ⬇️

(Es enters)

E: Mikoto…

M: Ah… Hi, Warden-kun.

E: You… are Mikoto, right?

M: Uh… What are you talking about? It really feels like it’s been a while, doesn’it? How have you been? – Huh? What’s that…? Chains? Oh, no. Take them off!

E: I refuse. You’re too dangerous. Physical restrictions are necessary.

M: Umm… (laughs) What are you saying, restricting someone who can’t even hurt a fly?

E: You really aren’t aware, huh…

M: Well, I mean… I do get it. I… go out of control while I’m asleep, right?

E: …

M: The others told me about it. How I got into a fistfight with Koto-chan and whatnot.

E: Seems like it, yeah.

M: I wonder if it’s like… some kind of sleepwalking…? After all, I’ve been losing sleep more and more often recently… Man… It’s really troublesome, isn’t it?

E: Mikoto…

M: The others are all scared of me. I can tell by looking at the way they act. Because I read the room.

E: …

M: It’s pretty tough, isn’t it? (laughs) Ever since I came here, so much has been happening that I don’t understand…

E: … You really… do laugh when you’re suffering, huh?

M: Huh?

E: You don’t get angry. You don’t scream. You laugh, like it’s a minor inconvenience.

M: Ah… I guess so. I might have that kind of trait.

E: …

M: Usually, if you just laugh and pretend, things work out in the end, right? I’m pretty good at that. Making things work out to the best of my abilities.

E: Is that so…

M: (laughs) …But… it’s not coming to an end. All of this. With things I’ve never even heard before, the whole ti—

E: …

M: —the whole time… I have to make all these irritating experiences…!

E: You came out, huh.

M: Hey. Looks like you haven’t gotten a beating yet, Warden brat.

E: …!

M: Hah? What, are you scared?

E: Like you didn’t get beaten by Kotoko…!

M: Hah. That was just because she caught me off guard. We went at it again while you were asleep, and it’s not like I lost there.

E: Multiple personalities… Am I right with the assumption that the you I’m talking to right now is another personality of Mikoto’s?

M: Well, I guess that’s about right.

E: I see. What do you want me to call you?

M: Huh? You’re accepting this pretty readily, aren’t you. Wouldn’t the whole multiple personalities thing normally raise some eyebrows?

E: Yeah. I also didn’t think it was real, at first.

M: Figures. If it wasn’t me, I wouldn’t believe it either. I’d just think it’s a lie someone came up with to get away with murder.

E: But Milgram acknowledges that [it is real] in your case. I simply accept that as the truth, and develop my thoughts from there. So? What do you want me to call you? Your name.

M: No clue about that. Just call me whatever.

E: … For convenience, I’ll be calling you John.

M: Sounds like a dog’s name.

E: It’s derived from John Doe, the name given to unidentified bodies. Do you like it?

M: Can’t say I’m very fond of the way you’re flaunting your knowledge.

E: … Anyway. You’re acting pretty calm today, aren’t you? I thought of you more like a monster of some sort. I wasn’t expecting to have such a proper conversation with you.

M: Don’t get cocky! If not for these chains, I would’ve beaten your face in by now, brat.

E: Ohh, scary, scary.

M: Hmph.

E: John, you are not a prisoner of Milgram. The fact that Milgram’s usual restraints are ineffective against you is more proof for that than anything. Milgram has judged that Mikoto is the prisoner, and you, as his alter, are an exception.

M: Huhh, I see. So that’s why you believe that there’s multiple personalities.

E: That’s why I thought I would try and talk to you as a key witness today. I’m rather glad that you’re being cooperative.

M: But, you know… This isn’t a good thing, probably.

E: What do you mean?

M: I (boku) might be trying to disappear.

E: …

M: Evidently, the time I (ore) have been fronting has been getting longer, so this “me” has been able to stabilize. Isn’t that the reason we can talk properly?

E: …

M: If I had stayed a monster… maybe that would be better.

E: …

M: What?

E: You’ve turned out to be much more rational than I expected… I’m surprised.

M: I’m a university graduate, after all.

E: (sighs)

M: As for alters… Why do you think they’re born?

E: In precise terms, it’s called dissociative identity disorder – generally speaking, [it refers to] when a person experiences severe pain or stress, and a new personality is created to try and isolate [the original personality] from the resulting trauma.

M: Yeah. I… probably come out to ease the stress Boku experiences. The fact that I come out for longer just means that Boku is constantly under extreme stress.

E: Stress… Namely the environment of Milgram, right?

M: Right. Especially the fact that you judged against forgiving Boku is causing a lot of stress. That’s why he’s entrusting me with his heart.

E: I see.

M: Not like I can blame him. From his point of view, he’s being blamed for a crime he can’t even remember.

E: If that’s the truth, then… you’re the one who committed the murder?

M: Yeah, it’s me. I killed them off.

E: …

M: So Boku really didn’t do it.

E: Can I ask… why you killed them?

M: They annoyed me.

E: Who did you kill?

M: Just someone who was walking around nearby.

E: … How many did you kill?

M: Can’t remember. I was first born back then, you know. It’s kinda fuzzy.

E: How can you talk about that so calmly?

M: (sighs) According to the law, how would this go for Boku?

E: With a psychiatric evaluation, there’s a chance of a reduced sentence, but depending on the number of victims… the death penalty might be inevitable.

M: …! I– I’m the one who did it! Boku was just sleeping!

E: Is this really something that works that conveniently?

M: Just put yourself in Boku’s shoes for a moment! He was bottling up all his stress! He kept dealing with it all by himself the whole time, until it exploded! It’s not like he just decided that he wanted to hurt somebody!

E: …

M: He’s not the type of person who could do stuff like that! He always looks out for others, always reads the room, always tries to get along with people around him! He can’t do stuff like that… He was on the verge of exploding! That’s why I was born. It’s obvious, isn’t it? Boku didn’t do anything!

E: Even if that’s true… Even if it wasn’t what Mikoto wanted – someone’s life was still lost.

M: …!

E: Even if it was you, John, who was in [your body at the time] – there’s no way for you to prove that. At the very least not in a way that would be accepted in court. It could still be judged that you’re pretending—

M: You…!! What do you think?

E: I…?

M: I’m the one who did it! Boku didn’t do it! You know that because of Milgram! I don’t care about the law, I want to know what you think!

E: …

M: Please… forgive Boku. I’m the one who did it.

E: … I can’t… judge that right away. It’s not something that I can easily decide to forgive. In fact, Mikoto’s mental footage was so violent… it’s unforgivable. That’s how I judged.

M: That could also just be a fake or owed to the multiple personalities, right?! Boku really isn’t at fault! I’m the one who killed them!

E: …

M: Are you really satisfied [with the unforgiven judgment]? He turned into a murderer overnight!

E: What you did could still be considered a sin, though!

M: …! … I think… I might be the person Boku wishes he was. The person who stubbornly stands his ground, who doesn’t cry himself to sleep from stress, who gives people their payback. If I, the “ore” personality, hadn’t been born, I’m sure Boku would have reached his limit and fallen apart.

E: John… you…

M: It’s true that I was the one who wanted to destroy everything… and the weakness of Boku, who couldn’t stand up for himself all alone, might have been the origin of that. But… that’s all there is to it. Is that a sin?

E: I’ll be considering that after this.

M: After talking to you, I get that you couldn’t forgive what I did. And I’m fine with that.

E: …Yeah. That’s right.

M: The one Milgram is supposed to judge is Boku – Mikoto, right. He’s not me – so, not John.

E: Precisely.

M: Please, forgive Boku. If you don’t… I’m sure he won’t be able to deal with this any longer.

E: “A sin committed by another personality isn’t a sin”... you’re telling me that’s how I should judge?

M: Yeah. If you forgive Boku… I’ll disappear.

E: …

M: That’s right. I’ll have to disappear eventually, anyway… Disappear, and take all of it with me. I… was born to protect Boku, after all.

E: You were… born for it…

M: Yeah. If it’s for Boku, I’ll… do anything.

(machinery whirrs, bell rings)

E: John…

M: W…what? A dog’s name?

E: Mikoto…?

M: Warden-kun, you own a dog? What breed? No, wait, let me try guessing first– A toy poodle? Actually, maybe you surprisingly prefer the ugly-cute kind… like a French bulldog!

E: … No…

M: A pug, then?

E: It’s not the name of a dog!

M: Ehh… Then what…?

E: … It’s the name of your… friend.

M: (laughs) I don’t know anyone like that~

E: … I bet you don’t.

M: Huh…?

E: Prisoner no.9, Mikoto. Sing your sins.

[heychucklenuts]

RED vs BLU Merc Name Headcanons + Differences

Within TF2 it's a bit ambiguous as to whether the BLU Mercenaries are clones of the RED Mercs, if they're Doppelgangers, or some other third thing. I like to think they're Doppelgangers, and as a result, this post is gonna be both my headcanons for the names of the RED and BLU mercs (obviously canon names such as Demo or Engie's will be left in tact). Also slight comic spoilers may apply so be wary for that.

I'll not only showcase the Mercs names, but also differences between them.

If a Mercs name is the same color as their team (so, the name is red or blue), that means that is their canon name. If only one part of the name is highlighted, that is the only canon part of the name.

Without further ado, the names for the Mercs:

Scout

RED: Jeremy Herring Surname taken from one of the surnames Jerma985 has been known with: Harrington. Unsure whether this is his real surname or another cruel joke. Also a slight pun with Red Herring. His first name should be a bit obvious here, as he's named after Jerma. BLU: Jesse Alibert Honestly I've probably thought of the name because of Jesse Pinkman, unfortunately. Surname is another variation of one of Jerma985's perceived surnames, this time being the world famous Elbertson surname.

Differences:

Jeremy is well known for being the rough and tough Bostonian he is, having grown up as the runt within a family of seven (7) older brothers. He's fought his way to get what's his, and he makes sure nobody stands in the way of him and what he wants. Jesse on the other hand is someone who you shouldn't fuck with. He grew up as the older brother to a little sister, so obviously, he grew protective of her, and has beaten plenty of guys up as a result. You cross him once, you're already on a watch list. Cross him twice? Obituary.

Soldier

RED: Jane Doe This is Soldier's already perceived name, a name given to either unidentified women, or women who's names are being withheld for other reasons. And what's to say this isn't his real name? BLU: Annie Roe As much as I wanted to go down the road of just calling him "John Doe, I felt that to be a little too easy. So, I looked up a list of placeholder names used aside John and Jane Doe, and ended up combining two placeholder names, one used primarily in the UK (Anne Other/A N Other), and another US variant of the placeholder, this time Jane Roe. I chose to change his name to Annie for two reasons: Annie Oakley, and there was an American clinical psychologist and researcher by the name of Anne Roe, so I wanted differentiation.

Differences:

Jane is who we know best, our jingoistic, lead-poisoned patriot himself. He's reckless, he's loudmouthed, but nevertheless he is passionate about his livelihood, about his country, and about his team. To him, he's served his time in the armed forces, being a part of the great Gravel Wars. God bless Teufort. He tries his damnedest to be the authority of his team. Annie is on a similar page as Jane, not much difference between the two, outside of the fact he has been in the army before, though not for long. The biggest difference would be how he seems to be a bit more closed off than Jane, a bit more to himself. He doesn't seem to fully understand at times that there is a time and place to brawl.

Pyro

RED: Pyro or Lumbre The Pyro's name is one of mystery, though I'm going off a particular headcanon I have seen before, or a speculation Pyro may be from Mexico do to a lot of their cosmetics being Mexico-themed. Therefore, I'm not necessarily giving them a name, more a placeholder word, one that can mean fire or light depending on it's context. Why I say Pyro or Lumbre is that we never know, perhaps Pyro is their name. Name not highlighted do to it being Pyro's name as a Merc rather than their real name. Allegedly. BLU: Cryo or Tsumetai (冷たい) A bit of a different take on the Pyro, which I'll get into later in the differences between the Merc counterparts. Cryo would be short for Cryomaniac, an opposite to Pyro's full Pyromaniac title. The other name, Tsumetai, comes from Japanese. It describes more something feeling cold. than yourself being cold. And the reason for the Japanese name is because of another speculation, of people believing Pyro is Japanese do to their "Hadouken" taunt from holding the Shotgun or Flare Gun. Obviously this is a Street Fighter reference, and thus some believe Pyro to be Japanese as a result.

Differences:

Pyro is notorious for being ruthless on the battlefield, burning everything and everyone that they can. But, to them, it's not destruction. If anything it's creation. They're creating a lovely world of candy and unicorns, with all of their friends there to celebrate, and those from the other team there to play. Surely they're just having fun, right? ...Right? Cryo. The opposite to Pyro. They see the beauty in fire, yes. But they adore the opposite too. Ice so cold it burns your flesh, causing severe frostbite, and necrosis. But again... al they're doing too is just playing. They're bringing everyone into their winter wonderland, to make snowtanks their friends and having snowball fights with the other team. Ice can't hurt that bad... it's what makes some of the best desserts. It's what makes people happy on a hot day.

Heavy

RED: Mikhail/Misha Medved Heavy's name Mikhail, or Misha for short, is already known to be canon. As for his last name, I decided to go with one that revolved around his bear theme in the game, having 5 bear-related cosmetics, as well as his fighting and killing a bear in the comics. The surname itself means "bear" in several Slavic languages., as a side note. Funny enough in researching this, I saw a retired Ukrainian decathlete by a similar name. (Translated to Russian his name is Mikhail Medved, but in Ukrainian it's Mykhailo Medvid.) BLU: Yuriy Kaban I wanted to give BLU Heavy a similar name type assigned to RED Heavy; I.E. having a more common first name, and a surname based off of an animal to represent them. While part of me wanted to assign BLU Heavy a surname meaning wolf, I decided instead to give him a name meaning boar. And, supposedly I'll say, the word "kaban" translates to boar, or wild boar.

Differences:

Stoic yet lovable, Heavy cottles his beloved Sasha as he takes down enemies. Of course, don't take him as someone who's cold and ruthless, he can be warm and vibrant, especially given he's a big brother to Yana, Zhanna, and Bronislava. His love for Sandviches helping to feed all of the other mercs, and his love of (and doctorate in) Russian literature making him so well read. But again, don't doubt him. He's the same man who can turn around and slam a bear on it's back and kill it if he chooses to do so. Yuriy is a man shrouded in mystery... somehow a bit more so than Spy is. For whatever reason he'd rather keep his past hidden from everyone else. What is known is he has a younger sister, similarly to Misha. It's theorized he came from similar origins as Misha, but something happened to the majority of his family before being sent to the gulag. While as deadly as Misha, he practices gentler hobbies to relax, such as sewing, or reading. He likes to take book recommendations from the other Mercs, and maybe even from Misha himself.

Demoman

RED: Tavish Finnegan DeGroot A man of many names, three to be exact. And All of these names boast some sort of a significance, being there as references to different cultural terms. Those being Black Scots, Black Irish, and Black Dutch, in that order. The last two being in reference to black people who have some ties to either Ireland or the Netherlands, but those ties not being ethnic. Meanwhile with Black Scots, that's more in reference to those descendant of freed African house servants who stayed in Scotland. All that is in blue is referenced from Demoman's official TF2 Wikipedia pageb and I felt it nexessary to elaborate more on that as I've done with some of the other Merc's names, and their origins. BLU: Aulay/Owl Tuinstra His first name is an interesting one, with one of its name variants (or one of the Anglicized versions of his name) being Humphrey. Aulay has a certain feel to it though that, to me fits a Demoman, and his nickname Owl may showcase his personality versus the RED Demoman. The surname of Tuinstra is a mixed one, being of West Frisian and Dutch origins, and his surname could roughly translate to "inhabitant of a garden", Tuin meaning garden, and the West Frisian suffix -stra meaning inhabitant of.

Differences:

The loveable drunk himself, Tavish is someone who defies all logic by being able to drink heavily, and not feel a thing. Though being in love with his own liver has something to do with it. He's a dastardly foe shooting bombs for people to step on and blow themselves up. Tav himself is damn well a multi-millionaire too, holding down three jobs, even if his mom says he's lazy. He's hardworking, and he's someone you don't wanna fuck with. Coming from more humble beginnings than Tavish, Owl grew up on a farm his family owned, still receiving the same scoldings of not working hard enough, despite being a bit wealthier as an adult. Like Tav, he's a man who can pack scrumpy and other types of alcohol. His nickname Owl does give a hint as to who he is though, being logical, independent, and a bit curious about different things... including cracking the cosmde between the RED and BLU team's relationship.

Engineer

RED: August Conagher Not too much to say about the Engineer in RED, or his name. These two get to be our mystery Mercenaries for the time being. BLU: Dell Conagher The real Dell Conagher, as shown in both the story comics, and Loose Canon. There's not much that I can say about him, or his name, other than that the BLU Engineer is Dell Conagher.

Differences:

The Engineer in RED, the one who may be a little too interested in how to become robotic, but he isn't the Engineer we've come to know. August's past is for his eyes only, being someone of an unknown past, but of possible relation to Dell. He seems to deny that though... possibly angry at the man for keeping Radigan's plans and blueprints all to himself. Dell is who we have come to know as the Engineer. He's the lovable Texan with a bit of a sadistic streak at times, and someone who also holds plenty of secrets, namely from his team. He's loyal to The Administrator and to Mann Co. as a whole, God knows what would happened if he went against the company.

Medic

RED: Dr. Ludwig, Ludwig Humboldt, Joseph Ludwig The only thing that is confirmed regarding Medic's name is some aspect of it being Ludwig. It was thought for a while this may be his last name, due to page 208 of The Naked and The Dead. The only reason this ever got questioned was because of the Rottenburg map, and the pharmacy named Humboldt's Pharmacy. Due to some of Medic's past lore, this likely caused people to wonder if Ludwig was his first name, and the pharmacy being of his actual surname. Though there was also the name given by Gaming Heads when they were promoting the Medic figuring: that being Joseph Heliburger. Though this is said to be non-canon. So, while his name is left as Dr. Ludwig, or Mr. Ludwig, I could see his name being either or of the names I listed above as headcanons. BLU: Andrea Weis An example of me kind of just picking and choosing what felt right, for some reason this name stuck as a possibility for BLU Medic. The name Andrea can mean manly, and is of Greek origin, while Weis can mean clever, wise, or experienced, which I think fits with the Medic class as a whole. Not to mention the possibility of BLU Scout getting pissy with him and calling his Dr. Whizz, and getting a kidney removed as a result.

Differences:

Cruel, sadistic, a strong love for bones and gore. Dr. Ludwig is a strange figure of mysterious origins, and while he is someone who wants to experiment for his own pleasure, don't get the wrong idea about him. He's not entirely careless though, caring about his team, and their well-being. He shifts all medical logic in their favor, as well as all standard logic to ensure he owns all of their souls. That way, in life and in death, the team may always be united. Dr. Weis on the other hand is a much more careful figure, even if he does take a same sadistic pleasure in what he does. And unlike Dr. Ludwig, he's actually gone to medical school. Weis does his job, being the teams healer, but other than that, he's a bit more to himself, usually found in his lab studying, or working on an unnamed cadaver. He prefers the quiet, as the constant calls to him can get a bit grating on the ears. So much so to the point he's considered quitting, but the unlimited money is too worth it to leave.

Sniper

RED: Mick Mundy At least a half of his name has been confirmed, with Mundy being his surname, and what he seems to go by the most. As for his first name being Mick, I'm genuinely unsure if that's been officially stated as being his first name, seeing as it was just on the back of the box of the Sniper action figure. One thing to say though, if it turns out his name is Mick, part of me wonders if he's using a shortened version of the name Michael, and doesn't like people calling him by his first name. Not to mention his supposed first name seems to be a Crocodile Dundee reference (not surprising since he has the Crocodile Mun-Dee cosmetic.) Other than that, the surname Mundy is a bit rare to come by, and either comes from Norman or Irish origin, and could possibly mean "Son of Monday". And his birth name Mun-dee is offbranded Superman lore, if Superman were a sniper instead of a superhuman. BLU: Lawrence/Laz Walker Pivoting from RED Sniper to what I assume could potentially be a more common name. I'll be honest this was one of the names where is was a series of shrugs instead of thought, mostly due to Sniper cosmetics, and the fact some people may have believed his name to be Lawrence because of the Lawrence of Australia item set. (A reference to the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia.) As for the nickname of Laz, I can only explain it as it sounds more like a name for a Sniper than Larry. Do not question me. As for his last name Walker, I just decided "fuck it", giving him the 14th most common last name in Australia, versus RED Sniper's more unique last name.

Differences:

Adopted to Mr. and Mrs. Mundy, hailing from New Zealand to then be shot to the surface, raised to be Australian. Mundy isn't cruel like Dr. Ludwig, quite the opposite. He takes his job seriously, every shot being calculated to a T. Not exactly the friendliest of people, seeing as his job has had him isolated for long periods of time, but he's not completely cold to his team. He hangs out with them, he has fun with them. Serious and stoic he may be, he's found a love for his job, and for his teammates. Contrary to popular belief, he does not smell like piss. He takes care of himself and makes sure he's fresh for the day. Laz was born and raised in Australia, living in one of the underground homes of Coober Pedy up until he became an assassin. A cozy life for him he wishes to return to, but the town of Teufort offers an odd familiarity to him. It isn't the same, no, but it suffices. Laz isn't so much cold as he is introverted, preferring to keep his peace rather than interact with the other Mercs too much. The more he's worked with Team Fortress though, the more he's opened up, telling the Mercs stories of when he was growing up, and what it was like to have to dust yourself off after using the bathroom, or getting knocked on the head by loose minerals. Cryo seems to try and help Laz fill in the void of that by dropping sand and pebbles on him at random.

Spy

RED: René Èviter With RED Spy, I wanted to give him a very common French name, as that's what I feel like suits him the best. Thus, I named him René. (Bonus points because in the back of my head I can hear his full name being Simon René Èviter, with him usually omitting his first name. That's a give or take though. As for his surname, Èviter... it roughly translates from French to "to avoid", which is both a pun off his spywork, and his role as Scout's father. BLU: Florent Mercier More of a unique name, to a degree, and there's a reason why I named him Florent which I'll elaborate on shortly. I'll say I believe him to be RED Spy's more sensitive counterpart, so giving him a name that may be seen as more delicate in nature (translating to "flowering" from French), was a good choice. His surname, I just chose at random. Though I had to pivot from calling him Mercer as that's more an English and Scottish (and I believe Catalonian) variant, whilst Mercier is the French version, translating to "merchant".

Differences:

René is a sneaky man, conniving and quick footed. Nothing is known about him, where he lived, or even really who he is. All that's known is you should watch your back for him... and that he's quite the ladies man, seeming to sweep the Scout's mother off her feet, as well as countless other women. Make no mistake, he can steal your lady like he steals control points. More on the side of planning before acting, and less of a braggart, Florent lives up to a delicate nature. He's not someone who shies away from confrontation, no. He'll take a person head-on for whatever it is they've tried to do to him. But he isn't as flashy as his RED counterpart, preferring to stay humble about his spending habits. In his case too, he seems to be a little more than just a ladies man, rumors circling around the base that he may have a fondness for men too...

This took way too long to work on by the way, couple that with my newfound headache.

Was gonna do age headcanons too but I wanna sleep.

[adorethedistance]

Princess Antics - Trevor Zegras x Actress!Reader

Hockey Masterlist

Warnings: swearing, PDA

Words: 1352

Summary: Dating a famous hockey player is tough sometimes, but dating a Disney Princess may just give Trevor a run for his money.

A/n: I've posted this fic before and if you want to know the reason why, I've included an author's note at the end to explain.

A fruit smoothie. All week I have been craving a fruit smoothie, but because I’ve been in the recording studio all day everyday, I’ve had to eliminate dairy from my diet completely. I’m recording songs from the upcoming sequel to my first Disney movie “Cassie and The Prince”; a half-animated, half-live action Enchanted style movie, in which I play Cassie, the cautious and delicate wallflower-princess whose best friend is a grey rabbit. ‘The Prince’ aka Prince Oliver, who is voiced by Tom Holland, is the rambunctious, rifting presence in her life that gets her to live a little.

This week, the two of us have been recording vocals for a duet that the characters share at the beginning of the movie, and continuous days of singing equals ‘it’s better to not risk it’ with foods that affect your vocal sound and ability. We eventually wrapped on the song and the arrival of the weekend means I can finally fulfill my smoothie craving. My supportive as ever boyfriend, Trevor, accompanies me in getting my hard earned smoothie, figuring we could make a date out of the outing.

As we enter the small shop on the outside of our favorite mall, Trevor and I breathe a little easier to see we’re the only ones in the place. When you’re a Disney Princess and NHL player together, at least one of you can and will be recognized in public at any time. However, it’s hard to be recognized by people that aren’t around. I give Trevor my order (although I’m sure he already has it memorized), spewing the information at him as quickly but coherently as I can, as I have to use the bathroom urgently. Trevor assures me he’s got it and ushers me away to finally use the restroom. 

Once I finish, I look at myself in the mirror and gasp aloud at the realization that, in my hurried state, I forgot to tell Trevor I wanted a vitamin boost in my drink. With a pouty bottom lip and a melodramatic sadness in my eyes, I exit the smoothie shop’s bathroom, and approach my boyfriend who’s sitting on a bar stool that’s facing outside the store window. I begin to whine because of my own slip up,

“I had to pee so bad I forgot to tell you I wanted the vitamin boost in my drink!” Trevor laughs as he pulls out the adjacent stool, patting it for me to sit on,

“Good thing I got it for you.” 

“You did?!”

“Mhm.”

“Ah! What would I do without you?”

“Not have a vitamin boost probably.” The quip makes me laugh and Trevor smiles upon hearing the sound. I open my mouth to ask him another question but my voice is caught in my throat when a tiny squeal interrupts the mechanical sounds of the smoothie shop.

Looking to the source of the noise, I spot a young girl who can’t be any older than pre-school age with her mouth open in a gaping-smile. Her tiny brown eyes glitter with pure shock upon seeing me look at her. I can’t help but smile at her excitement and look at Trevor who is trying very hard to conceal a smile of his own.

“Princess Cassie! Mom, look! It’s Princess Cassie!” The girl tugs on her mothers hand to grab her attention before pointing in my direction and I grin at the mother to ease her previously startled demeanor. Her face morphs from confusion to a smile of disbelief.

“Oh my goodness, you’re real!” I laugh lightly at the woman’s joke before turning my attention back to the little girl who can hardly contain herself.

“Hi sweetheart. What’s your name?”

“Lucy.” I bend down to her level to both hear her and to let her know she has my attention.

“Lucy! What a pretty name. That sounds like a princess name, are you a princess, too?”

“Well, sometimes.”

“Sometimes? Me too. How old are you, Lucy?”

“Four- Also, I saw you in the mall yesterday,” responds, clearly not interested in talking about herself at the moment.

“You saw me in the mall?”

“The poster for Cassie and The Prince is in the window of the Disney store,” her mother clarifies, as the ramblings of four year olds can be incoherent at times.

“Ah, gotcha.”

“And, also, you were on the tv there, too, singing ‘Be Free’ with all the animals and Prince Oliver.”

“‘Be Free’ is a fun song. Is that your favorite song from the movie?”

“No. I like ‘Today Of All Days’ when you teach the prince how to talk to Louie the Bunny,” Trevor and I still haven’t gone public with our relationship, so I honored him in naming the Princess’s animal sidekick after his own real-life animal sidekick “What happened to your hair?”

“Oh, Lucy!” Her mother scolds the bluntness of her daughter’s question. My hair is up off my face today, and nowhere near the length of the extensions hair and makeup puts me in, so the contrast is notably different.

“It’s okay. I had to cut some of it off because it was getting too heavy.”

“Order for Trevor!” The one man cashier-barista calls from behind the counter, setting down the two smoothies Trevor had ordered not just five minutes ago. The mother clocks Trevor--the unfamiliar man I’d been talking to earlier--rising to grab the two drinks and leans down to speak to Lucy.

“Honey, we should let Princess Cassie go, I’m sure she has things to do today.”

“Can we take a picture?”

“You have to ask her for a picture, not me.”

“Can we take a picture with you?”

“Of course, honey.” I squat down to be closer in height with the small girl before beckoning her over. “Is it okay if I hug you for the picture?” I ask to which she nods yes and wraps me in a tight hug, pressing her tiny cheek against my face. Her mom snaps the picture on her white iPhone 12, using her index finger to do so. After, she motions for her daughter to come view the picture, and once Lucy’s attention is centered on the picture, she mouths a silent ‘thank you’ to me; I break character to wave off the complimentary closing and, miraculously, gracefully rise from the floor. When I’m back to full height, I take my smoothie from Trevor’s extended hand, smiling at the fact that he took the liberty to unwrap ¾ of the straw like a restaurant would.

“Thank you, kind sir.” Trevor steps in front of me to hold the door open, and with a wave, I give Lucy a final goodbye. As the two of us begin walking back to his car, I don’t miss the indiscernible smile he’s giving me. “What?” I ask. He shrugs nonchalantly,

“Nothing.”

“Whaaat?” He then shakes his head in partial amusement, partial disbelief. 

“I can’t believe I’m dating an actual disney princess.” 

“I’m just glad she didn’t ask me to sing.” Trevor barks a laugh as he nearly chokes on a sip of his smoothie.

“Has that happened before?”

“Oh, babe,” I puff out of exasperation just thinking about it, “They want the whole album!”

“Did you?”

“Yes! I’m not gonna crush a little girl’s dreams just because my voice is cold. Would you refuse to throw a puck to a kid over the glass if your arm was sore?”

“This isn’t about me, Princess Cassie.” I roll my eyes as I slip into the passenger seat of Trevor’s car. Once buckled, I pull the remaining straw paper off my straw and at the first taste of the fruit smoothie hitting my tongue, I let out a groan at the satisfaction of what had been a week-long craving in the making.

“God, if I’d known a smoothie was all it’d take to get that kind of reaction out of you, I would’ve brought you here ages ago,” Trevor jeers from the driver’s side. I playfully shove his shoulder which doesn’t do much in the way of inconveniencing the six-feet-tall pro hockey player. 

“That’s no way to talk to a princess!”

***

A/n: If there's anyone who's been following me for a while now, you'll recognize this is the exact same fic as one of my Owen Joyner fics. I originally wrote this piece about Trevor but posted it for Owen because I didn't have a hockey following then and I didn't think anyone would want to read it at the time. Now that I have a relatively stable hockey following I figured posting the original would reach the original intended audience.

[elkian]

Oh yeah since it’s Homestuck Day here’s a post I’ve been sitting on for a bit.

Davesprite’s tragedy is even deeper than is immediately obvious.

The scale, time-wise, of the base game - the Alpha Timeline - is something of a joke. It pokes fun, I think, at the concept of Webcomic Time - that an event taking place over dozens of pages over the course of months is, in-canon, only taking place across a day or two.

But Davesprite. Oh, Davesprite.

Dave-the-sprite came from a timeline 4 months (chrono) past Day 1. He’d been hopping enough for it to come out to maybe 1 year for him. He’s very lanky in the animation, and when Rose’s dreamself merges with her Alpha self, the sprites are very slightly different sizes. Future Mutie is visibly older.

But then The Alpha Timeline? The Course Of The Game?

One. Day.

What an absolute whiplash, you guys. He’s been grinding and prepping and mentally readying himself and fucking grieving for his pretty much only friends for nearly a year. Remember how Dragon Ball Z had the Hyper time chamber and it was mentioned that it’s hard to use alone? Because being in there on your lonesome, that’s tough. That’s Dave. He had Rose, who was also grieving and having her own crises that he may or may not have been equipped to help her through at all, and he’s doing all this.

And in like, maybe 12 hours, it’s suddenly all over.

And then he finds out it’s gonna be another three years, but hey, this time he has Jade and John, the people he missed so desperately that he was willing to give up being The Real Dave, a real human, for.

And to them? He’s an extra.

He’s Bonus Dave. He’s Davesprite. He’s Basically Dave, (almost) As Good As The Real Thing!

Like, it’s very hard for me to articulate, but the way that both of them refer to him during the course of their cruise is... dehumanizing, in differing ways.

John calls him Dave, because He’s Basically Dave. (This is after John asked him to let The Real Dave in on their convo, recall). He doesn’t need to be treated any different, because he’s indistinguishable from The Real Dave, Pretty Much!

Jade isn’t as bad - possibly her stint as+fusion with Jadesprite helped - but the way Grimbark Jade loses her temper with Dave post-jump is... telling. She blames a boy she hasn’t spoken with in 3 years for something that a person who is not actually him did.

And he just! Fucking gets forgotten! I know Davepeta feels like an asspull to many readers, but honestly, it’s probably the best thing to happen to Davesprite since his John bit it. Like, was he the one from John’s timeline, or did he not die when the rebooted planet blew up or what? I’ve never understood that.

At least as Davepeta they have multiple people who are genuinely glad to be around them. At least Equius cares about one half and AR doesn’t not-care about the other and they’ve basically got a bestie in Arquiusprite! Getting fused with a reanimated alien catgirl in an alternate timeline(????) was probably the best thing to happen to Dave for a long, long time.

And I’m not even done!

Let’s talk Terezi.

Once we get through Act 5 and the trolls connect with the humans, we get a whole Fairy Godtroll situation that’s kinda cute. John gets Karkat and Vriska in his ear, Jade gets Tavros and Feferi and Kanaya and Karkat (Jade gets a lot of new people, doesn’t she?), Rose still has her Kanaya convos.

And Dave.

Gets.

Terezi.

They’re a great duo, very fun to watch - even with Vriska and Terezi’s weird rivalry shenanigans getting tangled up in it from time to time. As far as he knows, she’s just a bit of an internet weirdo who’s fun enough to hang out with.

As far as Alpha Dave knows, that is.

Davesprite came back, remember, to fix the timeline after Terezi got his John killed. Dave comes back, and argues with his John - that’s the first thing he gets to say to his best friend, one of his only friends, after a year of grieving in a dead, lonely session with only Rose for company. If he loses the fight, John dies.

After some effort, he gets his dumbass (beloved) pal to stop doing the stupid thing, then gives up his humanity (his existence as a core player, his role, his autonomy) and jumps into the sprite. Calsprite was a void of dead-eyed laughter and horror, so he wants to give the kids the best shot they can get, and having a non-cagey sprite on their side is a huge boost.

And Dave, Alpha Dave?

He ignores this.

He takes Terezi’s advice, over and over. Davesprite gives him the medallion, and we never see it used (we never see any sprite medallion used, as far as I can recall). Davesprite has to actively contact his player (his luckier, prime, Alpha self) and make him accept help, like guarding his body in his sleep. Meanwhile, Alpha Dave is getting codec support from the person who killed John, precipitating Davesprite’s entire existence in the narrative.

With the way the comic is structured, it’s really easy to blip over this, but this is what’s happening. Davesprite’s POV must be a goddamn horror movie, complete with futile shouting at the protagonists to stop going into the scary tunnels and following the advice of people who are blatantly out to hurt them. No fucking wonder he eventually fucked off the find Bro, who despite being an abusive piece of shit (did Davesprite ever get the chance to work that one out for himself?), is at least a constant. He’s the sole tie to the life this Dave left behind. Damn. And Dave doesn’t even come looking for him after he “dies”! If Davesprite didn’t vandalize that poster, would Alpha Dave have even known he was alive?

....fuck, is that why he keeps pasting orange text onto things? And provoking John into anger? Is he just doing his damnedest to keep from being trivialized and forgotten?

In the story, in the grand scheme of things, Davesprite is key to keep John from getting killed, and past that?

He has no purpose.

There’s no point to his existence.

His player seeks neither his advice nor his protection. His friends consider him part of the game they’re playing, rather than (an iteration of) their friend. The trolls mock him by doing nothing he can stop or really argue against. His rage has nowhere to go, so he has no rage.

No wonder he chases after Bro. No wonder he chills with Jadesprite. No wonder, no wonder. What a mess. What a disaster. He spends three years on the damn ship and as soon as the groups meet up, Jade begins projecting the time he spent with her on a guy she hasn’t seen since she was 13! And Alpha Dave just says “well, he’s bird me” and accepts this, except when he might get blamed for something he didn’t actually do!

God.

[persephoneprice]

lily, please elaborate on your clemmie and lyssie post 😔🙏🏽

i know i did this to myself but i’m actually nervous to write this out because i don’t think anyone is going to agree with me but here i go!

before i start- i do want to clarify that i love both characters and this is in no way me hating on clemmie or implying that lysistrata is perfect! clemmie is miles ahead in terms of being caring versus her peers.

however, i do not see clemensia as a truly good, kind person. (again, this is all my personal interpretation and i could be way off!)

a few things stick out to me about clemensia that make me feel this way (pre-snake bite, obviously! def unfair to hold post snake-bite against her).

the first example is when they are discussing how to force people to watch the games.

clemensia says-

“The real problem is, it’s sickening to watch”

lysistrata says-

“Most of us don’t want to watch other people suffer.”

to me, i see this as lysistrata acknowledging and putting focus on the children suffering- where clemmie focuses mainly on how it makes her feel to watch.

clemensia also talks about her first meeting with reaper-

“Mine wouldn’t speak. Not a word”

not horrible by any means- but it still feels lacking in empathy (and not great that she referred to reaper as ‘hers’).

another example that comes to mind is when clemmie and coriolanus are discussing the games after arachne death and she says this-

“Yes, or make them Avoxes, or something,” said Clemensia. “It’s awful, but not as bad as the arena. I mean, I’d rather be alive without a tongue than dead, wouldn’t you?”

this isn’t a bad thing necessarily! but to me, i see it as misguided and failing to actually put herself in the shoes of these children and sort of failing to have genuine empathy.

another example is regarding iphigenia-

“Clemensia had once told Coriolanus it was the only revenge she could take on her father, but refused to give any more details.”

again, miles ahead of most of her peers because she refused to elaborate further but i believe that exposing that to coriolanus at all was a deeply unkind thing to do.

and then here are some examples where i see lysistrata displaying kindness (though i’m aware that it may be unfair to bring up things lysistrata did during the games bc clem didn’t get the same chance to bond with reaper!)

she makes the effort to help jessup even before he protects her in the bombing-

she’d apparently been working hard to connect with Jessup “I brought you some cream for your neck,”

she is grateful to jessup after he protects her instead of just assuming that her life is worth more. she’s also willing to speak out and tell everyone this despite knowing how people view district citizens.

“She’s going around saying that big, ugly boy from District Twelve protected her by throwing his body over her, but who knows? The Vickers family loves the spotlight.”

it’s also worth noting that coriolanus follows this up by saying he’s never seen a vickers trying to claim the spotlight.

she also says this-

“And who wouldn’t rather be the victor than the defeated?”

“I don’t know that I have much interest in being either,” said Lysistrata.”

which i think is very decent considering she lived through the war just as much as her classmates.

she displays empathy and understanding for dill & reaper when her classmates do not-

“Isn’t he the one who promised to kill all the others?” asked Pup.

“Doesn’t look so tough to me,” said Urban.”

“She’s his district partner,” said Lysistrata. “And she’s almost dead now. Tuberculosis, probably.”

she’s also quick to call out her classmates during the games-

“Like musical chairs,” said Domitia with a pleased look.

“But with people dying,” said Lysistrata.”

when jessup has rabies and is chasing lucy gray-

“If Jessup can’t win, I want Lucy Gray to. That’s what he’d want. And she can’t win if he kills her,” she said. “Which might happen anyway.”

to me, this shows that she has been able to empathize and understand who jessup is as a person.

also while other classmates display anger or frustration at losing the prize she says this-

“Coriolanus could barely hear Lysistrata whisper, “Oh, don’t let him die alone.”

because she cares about jessup. she also sends food to lucy gray directly after that.

and of course there’s this interaction which i think speaks for itself-

“I do.” She took a deep breath. “What I’d like people to know about Jessup is that he was a good person. He threw his body over mine to protect me when the bombs started going off in the arena. It wasn’t even conscious. He did it reflexively. That’s who he was at heart. A protector. I don’t think he would’ve ever won the Games, because he’d have died trying to protect Lucy Gray.”

“Oh, like a dog or something.” Lepidus nodded. “A really good one.”

“No, not like a dog. Like a human being,” said Lysistrata.”

but the fact that she firmly and openly asserted his humanity in front of the entire capitol essentially is massive to me.

and of course there’s the fact that she had been nice to sejanus-

“Snow had invited Festus and Lysistrata to join the party, as they’d liked Sejanus better than most of his classmates and could be counted on to say nice things.”

of course this is all rambling that doesn’t actually answer the question but i feel like it was important to try to explain why i saw them as slightly different.

essentially i think my thoughts on kind vs nice can be summed up by this quote-

Niceness, then, is often expressed through words or gestures, while kindness is often expressed through acts.

and lysistrata proved repeatedly that she is willing to act by speaking up consistently despite how taboo it is in the capitol. whereas i don’t view clemensia as someone who would be as willing to directly assert a district citizens humanity so publicly (again, my own personal interpretation.).

because of this- i believe lysistrata is a lot more likely to get herself in trouble quicker by opening her mouth and sticking up for the district citizens, especially after this experience. whereas i do not think clemensia would be as likely to risk her safety to do so.

[iamnmbr3]

❤️, 🖤 & 🤍 for the ask game!

I don't see a red heart. I do see this one though (💔) but that's answered in a previous ask so I'll ignore it.

🖤: Which character is not as morally good as everyone else seems to think?

I'm going to go with Harry Potter. Listen, there is a "Harry Potter is a terrible person" corner of the fandom but I'm not in that corner personally (though I 100% support everyone's right to their own interpretations). I do think though that Harry is a flawed person and also someone who is capable of being very deadly when he has to be and making tough calls. I feel like he often gets flattened into this hyper pure heroic archetype who could never do anything morally grey and just is unrealistically idealistic to a fault. This often goes with characterizing him as really stupid and oblivious which is not supported by canon imho and also is just so much less interesting than the dynamic character that Harry actually is.

I also think it's super interesting because this also happens to Harry in universe too. Lupin chides him over wanting to disarm Stan Shunpike rather than risk killing him and acts as though Harry is being overly squeamish about the realities of warfare and of hurting people due to being so Good and Pure TM. This is not the case. Harry is willing to take great risks to do the right thing and to save others. But he's also capable of being pragmatic. Harry was perfectly willing to shoot stunners at other Death Eaters in that scene even though he believed that could be fatal to them. He wasn't willing to do the same with Stan because he believed (probably wrongly but that's another meta post) that Stan was a victim. It was for that reason that Harry was willing to risk using nonlethal force.

In book 1 he straight up killed Quirrel. In book 2 he forced Lockhart to go into the Chamber first, putting him in a situation where me might be killed by a giant deadly snake. He also was willing to kill Diary!Riddle in self defense and didn't flinch at it. He didn't hold back with the Death Eaters in book 5 and it was Hermione, not Harry, who objected to cursing the one whose head had been de-aged to a baby. In book 7 he goes into a duel with Voldemort with the intent to kill him. He is perfectly capable of being deadly and making tough calls.

He's also perfectly able to go against what is expected of him if he doesn't agree with it. He refused to harm Stan because he believed it was wrong. He seemingly refused to incriminate Draco in book 6 (both when he didn't report him for trying to use an Unforgivable and when he seemingly only testified to MLE about Snape's role in Dumbledore's death) because he felt there were extenuating circumstances (plus he can never make himself hate Draco *cough* drarry *cough*).

He also frequently uses lies and trickery and misdirection to achieve his goals - ranging from escaping life threatening situations to trying to avoid conversations he doesn't want to have.

And that's not even getting into Harry's tendency to make snap, sometimes unfair judgements about people and to ignore the flaws of people he likes (two flaws that he improves during the later books in the series, especially book 7) and his sometimes vicious anger. These are realistic and interesting character flaws. But they are real flaws. And I think a lot of fanon tends to forget about them, which is a shame.

However, this is not to say that Harry is a bad person or incapable of making morally courageous or empathetic decisions. Which leads me to...

🤍: Which character is not as morally bad as everyone else seems to think?

Once again I'm going to go with...Harry Potter. Because on the flip side there's a corner of fandom that I think takes an overly dim view of Harry (though of course, to each their own).

Because yes Harry is absolutely a flawed person. But he's also the person who put his escape at risk in book 7 so he could rescue the Muggleborns who were on trial, who couldn't even properly use the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix right after he'd seen her kill Sirius (which is why I think the cavalier way it's framed when he uses it in book 7 feels super ooc and weird to me - I have sooo many thoughts on that scene but that's another meta), said he wanted to kill Sirius to avenge his parents but then couldn't kill or even hurt him when he had him at his mercy, said he wanted to kill Snape to avenge Dumbledore but then didn't even enjoy watching him die despite all their history, was so horrified by the flayed soul he saw in "King's Cross" that he genuinely made an effort to redeem Voldemort (offering him more compassion after everything he'd done then Dumbledore did at any point, even when Tom was a child - which says a lot about Harry as well as about Dumbledore), who wasn't even friends with Neville in first year but immediately confronted Draco about taking the Remembrall, who noticed right away that Ron was uncomfortable about his financial situation and set him at ease by telling him about always having to wear second hand clothes and then offered to share all the food he'd bought with him, who felt jealous and hurt when Ron was made Prefect instead of him but controlled that feeling and refused to let it rule him or to take it out on Ron, who refused to take the Triwizard Cup for himself because it didn't feel fair (unfortunately not the best call in retrospect), who was disgusted by the bullying tactics of Dudley's gang, who frequently made efforts to bolster Ron's confidence when he could see he was down or feeling insecure, who threw his entire body at a Death Eater to stop him hurting Hermione in book 5, who did everything he could to try to keep Sirius safe and his spirits up in book 5, who always gave his friends really thoughtful gifts that they liked a lot because he was able to pay close attention to their interests even when he didn't share them and so many more moments.

[lazarushound]

The Official lazarushound Dean Winchester Playlist

Okay so this playlist is a big deal to literally no one except me but I spent like two hours explaining every single song on my dean playlist and I'll be damned if I don't share it with SOMEONE.

The playlist in question, which I update and add songs too fairly often(ish). It's roughly arranged in order of Dean's story, from pre-canon to the finale. A fair few of the songs are courtesy of catgirlhannibal, whom I adore.

Warning that is is a VERY LONG READ and almost definitely is plagued with typos. Without further ado, here is the 9.5k word explanation of every single song (at time of posting) on the playlist. Call that shit explicable Dean Winchester vibes, complete with my favourite lyrics from each song.

• Ramble On - Led Zeppelin

Dean's favourite song! The whole song is basically about having no choice but to keep going, even when things are tough. It's also actually about LOTR which is funny cause Dean's secretly a nerd lol. But yeah, it reflects a lot on Dean's nature as a traveller and someone who never settles in one place for long. Sometimes I grow so tired but I know I've got one thing I've got to do - I ramble on.

• Travelling Riverside Blues - Led Zeppelin

Dean's other favourite song! Probably not a popular reading of this song but for me, it definitely has a level of queer coding. Asked sweet mama, let me be your kid, she said "you might get hurt if you don't keep it hid" is the most obvious example of it.

• Psalms 40:2 - The Mountain Goats

Very biblical song lol. It's a lot about small town America (as many TMG songs are) and shitty motels which resonates with Dean pretty heavily. Not to mention: He has raised me from the pit and set me high.

• Night Moves - Bob Segar

This one is literally in the show so naturally reminds me of him. But it's about a teenage romance which definitely makes me think of young Dean. I mean, come on: out in the backseat of my '60 Chevy when the man drives a '67 Chevy??

• Father - The Front Bottoms

A few songs on this playlist are pretty much only there for one or two lines. This is not one of them. I could write another essay about this song and how it relates to Dean, every fucking line. You were high school, and I was just more like real life, and you were okay as a girlfriend, but I was just more like his wife 😮‍💨

• Old Number Seven - The Devil Makes Three

This is another song I'm pretty convinced was written about Dean. Once played it on guitar and my dad asked if it was about him so that's all the validation I needed. Angels start to look good to me, they're gonna have to deport me to the fiery deep.

• Mission - Alex G

This song to me is very much pre canon/season one Dean. It's all about following orders and being a good soldier, much like Dean's devotion to his father. I was trained to stick to the mission, I was trained, I kept it on track. To me, Mission has a slightly bitter tone, as though the narrator is resentful that they've followed orders so obediently and only suffered as a result.

• Adam Raised a Cain - Bruce Springsteen

Courtesy of catgirlhannibal. What a surprise, another biblical song. Dean sees himself as nothing more than a soldier, violent and aggressive. He sees his father as a hero, despite the fact that he's an abusive bastard. Well, daddy worked his whole life for nothing but pain, now he walks these empty rooms looking for something to blame.

• Shoulders - Big Thief

Okay, I'd argue this song is more akin to Sam than Dean but fuck you, this is my playlist and I choose the music. And the blood of the man who killed my mother with his hands, it's in me, it's in me, in my veins is obviously related to Sam and Azazel but also to Dean and John, as though Dean comes to realise that he's just like his father.

• Celene - Gigi Perez

End of season two! This song is about losing a sibling and is very much the mindset I pictured Dean to be in after losing Sam for the first time. I'd also argue it's how Dean felt when Sam was at Stanford. The other day I thought of something funny, but no one would have laughed but you.

• Like Real People Do - Hozier

Why were you digging? What did you bury before those hands pulled me from the earth? HELLOOO CASTIEL! Very season four Destiel, those boys will NOT kiss like real people do.

• It's Only Sex - Car Seat Headrest

Okay so post-resurrection Dean is VERRRRRY traumatised which makes it difficult for him to enjoy the things he used to love, including sex. This song is also about his struggle over his feelings for Cas: what happens if I don't like it? I like you.

• Not Allowed - TV Girl

Well, you may not like it but you better learn how cause it's your turn now! Very much following on from It's Only Sex, similar themes in this song but more relating to Dean's insistence on keeping up The Act and pretending he's the same man he was before Hell.

• Presumably Dead Arm - Sidney Gish

Second catgirlhannibal song to make the list. Just to start this off, this isn't the start of anything. To me, this whole song is Dean skirting around his feelings for Cas and trying to pretend they don't exist in hopes they go away eventually. They don't. Honey, you are nothing to me, (but alcohol and dopamine)/(I don't call people anything thought to be so sweet).

• Tangled in Ropes - Holy Locust

I literally wrote a whole essay about this one so I'll keep it short with just the best lyric. Had a laugh made of wax, house made of butter, how they melted that summer.

• Hate Yourself - TV Girl

If there's one thing we've learned about Dean Winchester, it's that the man loves to use sex as a means to avoid his problems. How long will it take? Before you start to hate yourself and go straight into the arms of someone else is just straight up Dean struggling to give himself time to grieve and overcome his trauma. He'd rather just hookup with someone else and pretend it doesn't make him hate himself more and more every time.

• Cherry Wine - Hozier

See: my whole essay about this song and Destiel. And it's worth it, it's divine, I have this some of the time.

• Body to Flame - Lucy Dacus

Another catgirlhannibal song! I see you holding your breath with your arms outstretched, waiting for someone to come rip open your chest. This song to me feels like Dean kicking himself for every trusting Cas, after Cas betrays him for the first time. To accept Cas as his family was going against his every instinct to close himself off from outsiders, and Cas just proved him right by betraying him.

• Motion Sickness - Phoebe Bridges

Okay this one is basically just for I hate you for what you did, and I miss you like a little kid lol. It just perfectly encapsulates Dean, bitter and resentful towards Cas whilst simultaneously missing him so much his heart aches.

• I'm Your Man - Mitski

Oh, woof. Continuing the betrayal arc, this song is all about Dean's guilt. It's his fault Cas fell from Heaven, his fault this angel isn't holy anymore. I'm sorry I'm the one you love, no one will ever love me like you again.

• Not Strong Enough - Boygenius

Where do I start? Always an angel, never a god 😮‍💨 I think if you played this song to Dean it would break him a little bit. I DON'T KNOW WHY I AM THE WAY I AM!!!

• Legit Tattoo Gun - The Front Bottoms

I was aware of this song but catgirlhannibal brought to my attention that it's Destiel coded 🧐 Who did I think I was? Who did I think that I could be? Oh, how dare me. Dean just kicking himself for ever thinking he could allow himself to have something with Cas.

• SHALLOW (PPL SWIM IN SHALLOW WATER) - Saya Gray

Okay, this one is a bit of a "hear me out." I'm seeing Mother Mary, she says I'm closer to Hell than the clouds are to Heaven. Dean's mother is called Mary so she's LITERALLY Mother Mary which scratches my brain very nicely. Obviously Dean sees himself as a sinner and doomed for Hell, despite the fact that he's a hero. And I left my enemies, cause nobody hates myself more than me, GOOD LORD DOES THAT MAN LOVE SOME SELF LOATHING. My mother's evil and the angels too is soooooo self explanatory. Dean has an idealistic version of Mary in his head which is challenged when she comes back to life and he interacts with her as an adult. There's also the fact that real angels aren't as "good" as you'd think. Sometimes I don't think I'm cherished enough.

• John Wayne Gacy, Jr. - Sufjan Stevens

This song is an allegory for being gay. The narrator sees himself as evil, just as bad as the serial killer for which the song is named, just because he's gay. And in my best behaviour, I am really just like him, look beneath the floorboards for the secrets I have hid.

• Always - Panic! At the Disco

Another one that is less obvious without me explaining it lol. The light in this song is a reference to the Great Gatsby which is a whole other queer coded story in its own right. But I always (hehe) picture this song as Dean struggling with Cas' feelings for him which are becoming more and more evident. It was always you falling for me particularly stands out to me, along with you are taking me apart like bad glue on a get well card.

• Star Tripping - Kevin Atwater

Okay I looooooove love this song. But it's another song which relates to God and being queer. It's about a very toxic relationship, in which one person is relatively okay with their sexuality and the other is incredibly repressed (seem familiar?). I could use any lyric from this song but I'll go with: you think He made you wrong, I think you're giving Him way too much credit, crying at the party, know it only bothers you if you let it, later you can kiss me, blame it on the stuff you took to forget it.

• The Calendar - Panic! At The Disco

Another Panic! song 💀 also from vices and virtues. Another "hear me out." There's the more obvious I will come back to life but only for you but I also think the rest of the song relates pretty strongly to Destiel. You said if you don't let it out, you're gonna let it eat you away, I'd rather be a cannibal baby, animals like me don't talk anyway. For me, it strongly resembles Dean's view of himself, an attack dog. Cannibalism as a metaphor for love. And obviously that man loves to repress stuff and let it eat him away, so to speak.

• Lacy - Olivia Rodrigo

Lawd. This song has a lot of queer subtext in and of itself. It's all about adoring someone to the point where you become insecure because you know you'll never be as good as them. The song is bitter and resentful whilst simultaneously loving and adoring. I despise my jealous eyes and how hard they fell for you, yeah I despise my rotten mind and how much it worships you. He hates himself because he loves Cas. HE HATES HIMSELF BECAUSE HE LOVES CAS.

• Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want - The Smiths

Dean does not let himself have nice things. Lord knows, it would be the first time. This song feels pretty self explanatory to me lol.

• Feeling Oblivion - Turin Brakes

Okay this is my favourite song of all time so I'm slightly biased for including it HOWEVER. I feel it also applies to Dean pretty well. We're now at the point in the story where Dean is about to/has already lost Cas. This song invokes an incredibly deep feeling of nostalgia for me, like looking back on when things were better. Now it is night time, maybe we're cruising avoiding the anti-cruise, like tell me this isn't Dean and Cas just driving around Kansas cause Dean can't sleep 😭 and don't even get me fucking started on so don't leave me here on my own, by the time fear takes me over, will we still be rolling? Feeling oblivion cause this song makes me cry every time I hear it I stg.

• Who We Are - Hozier

Poor Dean :( bro has just lost his best friend, and is now realising that he'll never be able to tell him how he felt. It's like he's seeing things plainly for the first time, realising what he's been missing. He never had Cas because they spent so long avoiding their relationship, and now it's too late. You only feel it when it's lost, getting through still has its cost, quietly, it slips through your fingers, love, falling from you drop by drop.

• Crack Baby - Mitski

I don't know if I really need to say more than: crack baby, you don't know what you want, but you know that you had it once, and you know that you want it back.

• Knockin' on Heaven's Door - Bob Dylan

This is another song that's in the show (dark side of the moon, I love you) so naturally reminds me of Dean. It might be a bit on the nose putting it right at the end but it just feels like Dean finally letting himself rest (die of tetanus). Mama, put my guns in the ground, I can't shoot them anymore.

[thescrapwitch]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you @grey-gazania and @dreamingthroughthenoise for tagging me! Sorry for the very late reply!

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

Currently, I have 63 works, though a few of them are on-going multichapter ones. If I narrowed it down to only complete fics, it would be 58. 

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

501,530 words!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently the Silmarillion has me in a chokehold and I am having SO MUCH FUN putting tragic elves into all sorts of situations. There’s a lot of free space and flexibility in its canon which is fun to play around in, and so many AU possibilities. Before that I wrote for Linked Universe/Legend of Zelda, which had a large cast of characters whose found family/friendship dynamics had me hooked. 

(we shall not speak of what I wrote during my Fanficion.net days, back when I was very small and very terrible at writing 😛)

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Looking at all my fics, my Linked Universe ones have the most: Rescue Mission, Malevolence, Bad Joke, Untitled Goose Fic, and Weatherworn Heart. 

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to! I adore comments and go back and reread them often, so I try to at least say thank you to people who’ve left one after reading my fics. 

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

This is a tough one! I have a few Hurt/No Comfort ones (all focusing on poor Maedhros). I’ll go with Despair Like Poison, in which I find a way to make the beginning of the Silmarillion EVEN WORSE. Its based on a Tumblr post I made (which I now can't find????), and I might continue it, once I figure out exactly how dark/angsty I want it to get!

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably Rest for the Weary and the Damned, the final fic in the main storyline for my Maglor is an Eldritch Horror series. After many problems, everyone gets to be together and live happily ever after, including everyone’s favorite eldritch monster.  

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No, but I don’t tend to write a lot of romance/ship-focused fics, so that could be why.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

No, not my thing to write. 

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Crossovers aren’t really my thing to write either. 

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have! It's always such an honor when someone asks if they can translate my fic. 

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, though I do get a lot of inspiration from comments and side-discussions. Untitled Goose Fic happened because of a Discord discussion, and Trial of Crablor Feanorion was written because of a commentor’s remark about animal trials.  

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Silvergifting can be so much fun and so messed up and I love writing it. 

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

My poor Legend of Zelda 1920s AU fic is crying at me from the depths of my WIP pile. I am so sorry. One day, maybe, I will return to it, but I have so many other things that I want to write…

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, story structure, and weird stuff. Eldritch monsters, sentient houses that speak to you in nightmares, crabs who were once elves, dreamy-not-entirely-sane narration; those I feel like I can do well. 

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Description! Specifically, description used to set up a place, to make the world around the characters feel more textured and real. I am trying to get better at it. 

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I have enough typos writing in English, I do not have the confidence to try and write in anything else. The Tolkien fandom has a lot of languages and I’m always in awe of the people who can include them so well into their work.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Megaman.EXE, way way back in the early days of Fanfiction.net, all of which has now been thankfully eaten by the internet. 

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

I say it every time someone asks, but it has to be The Haunting of Imladris. That fic was a gift: it gave me a world to flesh out for my eldritch!Maglor series, it gave me confidence to write horror (which I’d never done before) and it gave me Lindir. I will always adore and be grateful to it.

Tagging: @camille-lachenille @thelordofgifs @searchingforserendipity25 @sallysavestheday @lordgrimwing @eilinelsghost @chthonion @gardensofthemoon and anyone else who wants to join in!

[bibibbon]

"Can we be friends or have moots with those who have very different views from us?"

What will your answer with that ask above?

Me, I have a friend (starts off as moot) who is a multishipper. I mean they can find ships from any fandom they're in, and once they love it, they'll make fics and arts of that ship.

About BNHA, they're die hard fan of BKDK, don't ask me, even I can't understand it (I'm also anti Bakugou and BKDK). But my friend and I can still talk about fandom stuff (minus the ships cause I'm not really into shipping).

Don't you think fandom have become more toxic these days? Like, even if I don't ship bkdk, but I never think to say rude things or send death wish to those who ship them. I feel sad when my friend receive those negative things just because of shipping fictional characters.

Thanks for bring positivity to BNHA fandom. My friend was surprised when finding out, you're anti bkdk but never say rude things to the shipper. You're the first anti bkdk blog that they followed and like the posts.

Even if BNHA end with disappointing last arc, it's a great journey overall, right? I don't get people who talked shit to the writer/artist of a certain work? Horikoshi-sensei have work hard all these years, we should appreciate his hard work, at least....(I can feel how hard writing is as a writer myself).

Now, at least I can see that BNHA near its ending from last year. But for JJK I did not see that coming. Is it true that JJK will also ending this year? What do you think the ending will be, tragedy or open ending? Can Yuuji defeat Sukuna?

As long as there's mutual respect between one and another I do believe that two people with different views can be friends. However, this honestly depends on the person for example I personally wouldn't be friends with someone who has a completely different set of morals than mine. Other than that( and maybe a few things I suppose) i think its good to surround yourself with people who have different views as it allows you to build a much more nuanced perspective on certain things and honestly talking to people who you have different views than can be fun.

Honestly depending on the websites or platforms your in different fandoms vary in their level of toxicity and all. I have found it that the most popular fandoms are the ones that have the highest levels of toxicity and Iam completely against it. People should be allowed to like or dislike or comment on whatever without recieving death threats or hate by others because at the end of the day these are simple pieces of fiction and the person you're hating/harming is a real being behind the screen.

I would like to thank you for your comment as I actually wasn't aware that I had such an impact on your friend and if the anons friend is seeing this I would like to apologise for whatever you went through as no one deserves to get hate or death threats for expressing themselves and making content for things they like.

Giving an author hate/death threats is completely inexcusable and shouldn't happen at all. I want to clarify that criticism (which is something that my blog is heavily centered around) is completely different to hate and while I think MHA has had a lot more downs than ups it's still a series with a lot of potential that has captivated me to be honest.

Also, I do want to bring to light that the manga industry in Japan is incredibly competitive and has put a lot of it's artists in tough, exploitative and outright inhumane positions so great works may lose quality overtime due to that or other external factors. In the end horikoshi is an amazing artist with potential to do much more but the writing ends up lacking in various aspects.

I have seen the posts saying that jjk will come to an end but I honestly doubt that gege will wrap up the manga at the end of the year. As of current the manga is in its last act and probably has one or two more arcs to go through before wrapping up to a conclusion. I used to be somewhat optimistic in hoping that jjk will follow the story of the younger generation overcoming and breaking the flaws and problems of the older generations so we would get somewhat of a bittersweet/happy ending but I do see a bad/open ending much more plausible in the current direction ths manga is heading in.

[gravesung]

geto headcanon(s) — 'me & my brain'

i've been thinking lots today about suguru's childhood and how it influences the choices he makes as he grows up. in particular, given that he was born into a family of non-sorcerers, i can't even imagine how fuckin Terrified he must have been as a kid with curses not only appearing around him, but turning their attention on him, flocking to him. the only thing worse than a monster is a monster that can see you. that doesn't go away when your parents come in and turn on the lights.

sleep has always been a biiiiig struggle for him. sleep paralysis, constant nightmares (thoughts inspired by this song), never really feeling safe even when his parents tried to comfort him. and lack of sleep only made his anxiety worse. he didn't develop (or at least notice) full-blown depression until after riko's death, but there was always a genetic likelihood of it because i feeeeeeel like one of his parents may have battled it while he was growing up, too.

eventually, he learned that sometimes he could actually fight back against the monsters that plagued him — not only that, but he could eat them. you KNOW he discovered this because of the way kids will try to eat anything that looks like a forbidden snack. one thing led to another. he turned a worm into an orb. he ate the orb. he could summon the worm, he felt the worm's evil presence in his fucked up little brain and didn't know WHAT to do about that.

he probably started meditation, thought exercises etc. once he was scouted by jujutsu tech. learned that the terrible emotions he felt were not his own, and that to separate them he had to center himself and take time to pick apart which feelings were his and which weren't; that the curses were real, but that he wasn't alone in seeing them; that he could take ownership of this terror in his life and come out on top. that he was strong, not weak. (haha unless? i'll get into that shit in another post lmfao)

as for developing his savior complex, that's another thing i feel started early? once he began to learn jujutsu sorcery, he also learned about the extremely formative concept of duty: the effort and drive it takes to do the right thing, even when your thoughts are dark and your instincts fight it. his parents, peers, and neighbors all saw him as a burden/curse/detriment, so learning that he could be a leader/savior/carer/helper was HUGE.

anyways, i dont think suguru hated his parents. but i think he had a really tough childhood, and from that he learned to be overly self-reliant in his teen and adult years. it's probably also why he struggles to communicate his deeper insecurities or be truly vulnerable with satoru — he never learned how.

even though it was an incredibly freeing thing to choose the course of action he chose (ew), the depression never went away. he battles it the best he can, but that shit's gonna be stuck with him for a long time.

[pyropsychiccollector]

What are the children of harem members and Natsu like?

It's rather open-ended, my dude. (人◕ω◕) I'll just go over "main ones"... Not necessarily the oldest each time, but. Meh. And I won't cover them all... 15's a lot to dwell on for one post.

Erza

The eldest daughter for Natsu and Erza would probably share parallels with Mukuro Ikusaba. (人◕ω◕) She's OP as all hell (as a warrior, anyway), has Mama's strict professionalism (... Most of the time), can still be an overly loving goober at times, fiercely loyal, and... She does have a masochist side to her. (人◕ω◕) Even as more kids come along for Natsu and Erza, the eldest is touted as the strongest. She also inherited Mama's ability to rise up through the ranks at a young age. ... Namely, she became S-Class at 10 years old. (人◕ω◕);;; There's some grumbling about that from the other Mama's, let's just leave it at that.

Another daughter of theirs is like Maki Harukawa. (人◕ω◕) Not as strong as the eldest, but you still don't want to underestimate her. And she did inherit Mama's... angy side. Don't piss her off. (人◕ω◕);;; She can be a goober once you get to know her better, but she's very... tsun-tsun.

Mira

Natsu and Mira's eldest daughter shares similarities with Junko. (人◕ω◕) Definitely inherited Mama's rockin' bod, and is a model like her. ... Although she also inherited the "demon" aspects of Mirajane. Very playful. Insults people so casually, just overall speaks her mind. ... Very unpopular opinions come from her. (人◕ω◕) She's not as strong as Erza's eldest child, but they're about the same age, and Mira's is arguably craftier and hides her intellect well. ... Natsu and Mira learn to not leave her alone, because she orchestrates chaos that can result in them rebuilding the entire guildhall. ... Among other things. (人◕ω◕);;; She must be watched, but... She's a daddy's girl. ... And she always brags about having the biggest tits of all Natsu's daughters. And mocks Erza's eldest for having the smallest. ... Or so she claims. Take that with a grain of salt or whatever. :3

Another daughter for Natsu and Mira is on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. (人◕ω◕) While she admires her kaasan's profession as a barmaid, that isn't precisely where her desire to be a dutiful maid came from... Err. (人◕ω◕);;; It came about from reading Victorian novels, and to her horror Virgo shattered her worldview, claiming to be a maid... This daughter seeks to rectify this grave misunderstanding of what a maid is. She wholeheartedly denies any connection to Virgo, as she is an exhibitionist. ... Not a maid. (人◕ω◕);;; Let's just move on.

Sorano

Sorano-chan's kids... (人◕ω◕) Mm. Comparing them to Fuyuhiko and Natsumi Kuzuryu is fair. They're tough kids that don't like showing their vulnerable sides. ... And they have a loose interpretation of the law because of Sorano's previous affiliation to a Dark Guild. (人◕ω◕);;; Nothing truly evil, mind you. No murder, kidnapping, trafficking, etc. But they run a gang like it's the yakuza/mafia... Connections and all that. You need something, you go through them. They're also willing to break kneecaps for you and not have it traced back to you. They're spunky kids. (人◕ω◕)

Ultear

One of Ultear's daughters shares commonalities with Sayaka Maizono. She's not quite an "idol", but she is a celebrity and sometimes does Sorcerer Weekly photo shoots, just maybe less... spicier than Mira's eldest. (人◕ω◕) Overall, she's a cheerful, perky, loving girl. Ultear wouldn't let her daughter grow up bitter and resentful like her. ... Though as a celebrity, this daughter knows the world isn't all sunshine and rainbows. Showbiz tends to drag you down like that. (人◕ω◕)

... And one of Ultear's sons is much, much like Kokichi. (人◕ω◕) He inherited both his parents' playful nature... Always up to mischief. He and Mira's eldest are the ones you hafta watch out for... They're always planning something, get bored real easy, and don't mind people thinking ill of them... For this boy's part, he's used to bad publicity. He just wants to have fun~... (人◕ω◕)

Kagura

One of Kagura's daughters would be a lot like Kyoko Kirigiri... (人◕ω◕) Kagura can be very stern and strict, and a tad emotionally detached at times... Not to mention, the lilac-colored hair could be a mesh of Kagura and Natsu's hair colors. (人◕ω◕) This daughter isn't a robot, but she cares about getting to the bottom of things and ensuring nothing like what happened to her Uncle Simon ever happens again (getting kidnapped and forced into slave labor).

Another daughter would be like Peko Pekoyama... She'd inherit the way of the sword from her kaasan. (人◕ω◕) And again, Kagura's stern and dutiful nature is passed down. With Natsu's sense of loyalty as well, of course. (人◕ω◕)

Juvia

One of Juvia's kids would be a loooooot like Ibuki Mioda. (人◕ω◕) Crazy energy. Likes fire a lot. (人◕ω◕);;; She's very affectionate, and seems to have inherited her kaasan's sixth sense for "rivals" (in this case, her sisters) trying to get "alone time" with tousan, which she wants in on. She's got good hearing like tousan. (人◕ω◕)

Meredy

One of Meredy's daughters would be like Aoi Asahina. Can't sit still, enjoys eating (and training off all the calories), can be a bit of a hothead at times but she's got morals and principles she sticks to. (人◕ω◕) Friendship is very important to her~

Wendy

One of Wendy's daughters would be like Mikan Tsumiki... (人◕ω◕) Inherits her Mama's desire to care for people, but she's super fragile... and has also inherited the ability to trip on air, just like her kaasan~... \(人◕ω◕)/ ... She can also be a bit horny like Wendy, but that's not widely talked about... (人◕ω◕)

Chelia

One of Chelia's kids would be a little like Ruruka... She's cutesy, has a thing for making sweets and urging everyone to enjoy her sweets... The distinct difference is she's not bitchy. (人◕ω◕) Chelia-chan raises her daughter right~... And Natsu, too.

Brandish

One of Brandish's daughters would be like Chiaki Nanami... Tends to not want to do very much except play games, but she is a sweet, caring girl... Who inherited her kaasan's love for gelatos. (人◕ω◕) Such a kind, loving goober~ ... Also inherited kaasan's, um... Pillars of Heaven. (人◕ω◕)

Cana

One of Cana's daughters.... Would be like Celestia Ludenberg/Taeko Yasuhiro. (人◕ω◕) Having a Mama widely known for her drunkenness is not very appealing... So she envisioned a new identity for herself, "disowning" her family... or at least her kaasan. She's still a daddy's girl at heart, but she's also a big High Roller who loves to gamble. ... Gamble and win. Winning is the most important part. (人◕ω◕)

... Let's see... Ugh. I said I wasn't going to do them all... But there's only a few left. It'd be a shame to not think of them... XD

Yukino

... This was a tough one. lol I've been trying to think of Danganronpa comparisons for a Natsu x Yukino kid... And the well is just about dried up for inspiration. But I suppose the kid could be similar to Gonta - in that he's a very strong kid, and people "judge" him for being so strong and intimidating.... But like his Mama, the boy has a heart of gold and cares for people a lot. (人◕ω◕) he wants to become true gentleman~...

Lisanna

One of Lisanna's daughters might be a lot like Kotoko... XD Very obsessed with "adorbs" things, and she's a big daddy's girl.... And friendship is very important to her~.... :3 ... She can be a bit dramatic, though~...

Sayla

... I think a son and daughter of Sayla-chan would be like Korekiyo Shinguji and his sister... Minus the incest, really. ^^;;; For this situation, they just love each other a lot. They like reading and studying, and they can come across as creepy and intimidating.... And shady. (人◕ω◕) But they're nice, really! ... For the most part. (人◕ω◕)

Virgo

Lastly... one of Virgo's daughters would be like Ritsu, from Assassination Classroom. (人◕ω◕) She inherited Natsu's cheerfulness.... And her kaasan's, erm... racy habits. (人◕ω◕);;; She's a smart cookie. ... Just very perverted. And unapologetic for being perverted. (人◕ω◕)

[thenationaltreasuregazette]

Hi, I was wondering how do you imagine the Team Treasure spending Christmas? Who cooks, who decorates the house, who dresses up as Santa?

Holiday Hijinks, Angst Edition

Hi @thesere1418!

Thanks so much for your question! Let’s have some holiday fun.

Right off the bat I’m going to divide this into ‘pre-treasure hunt’ and ‘post-treasure hunt’ Christmases, because they’ll look very different and I think the contrast will be useful and full of angst, muahaha.

What follows is 100% pure headcanon and conjecture. I have no source for any of this other than I feel like it : )

A Pre-Treasure Christmas

I think it’s important that we start here because before the events of National Treasure, our four heroes are all living isolated, solitary lives to varying degrees.

Angst & headcanons ↓

Ben

Ben spends his pre-treasure hunt Christmases, well, treasure hunting. I imagine that the holidays don’t factor much into the way he lives his life. He pours over books and old archive records for hours and days at a time. He eats frozen meals and fast food, takeout when he can afford it. He’s not one to decorate his apartment, because he’s not home that often. He can spend weeks at a time away on salvage dives, or off in New York or Boston or Paris searching for Charlotte’s whereabouts. If he is at home, he might have one or two sentimental decorations that belonged to his grandfather that he’ll put out. The remind Ben of early Christmases as John’s house.

At some point over the holidays Ben has to visit his mother. Emily seems like the kind of person who puts on a classy Christmas party, maybe not on the day itself, but sometimes around it. She has her professor friends over for wine and an a delightfully pretentious selection of cheeses. It’s a great time, if you like parties that come with their own subscription to The New Yorker. Ben is always invited and he has two options: attend and know that every other guest thinks he’s a crackpot, or disappoint his mother. Neither is great. Sometimes he’s conveniently out of the country. Sometimes he toughs it out. If he can, Ben visits her on the actual holiday instead. Then it’s just a quiet dinner with a few close friends and the guy she’s seeing, if there is one. If he’s out of the country he always calls.

On Christmas itself—or maybe Christmas Eve. Ben feels like a Christmas Eve person to me—he puts on an old record and splurges on some real takeout, Chinese or Thai. It’s that and a beer and another late, lonely night reading through ship manifests and learning about arctic weather patterns.

If you live in a world where Book of Secrets does not exists, then Ben’s mother probably hangs over the holiday like a fondly remembered ghost. He was quite young when she died, but the memories he has of her are dear to him, as are the traditions that come with them. If she made the best fruit cake in town, then Ben finds himself wandering into the bakery or that one and sampling the wares, never finding one that tastes quite the way he remembers it. If she had a favorite decoration, maybe a ceramic angel tree topper with delicate lace wings, Ben always finds a prominent place to display it, even if it’s the only thing he puts out.

What about being “cavalier in [his] personal life,” you say? Never a Christmas girlfriend? Sure, maybe once or twice. But Christmas with the family is a big step, one I think Ben would be reticent to take. Although he’s apparently going around telling at least two “someones” that he loves them, I think deep down Ben knows none of these relationships are as important as his one true love, Charlotte and the Templar treasure. He tries his best to get out of it. If he can’t, well, I imagine he’s his usual completely normal self and I’m sure that’s a big hit with some unsuspecting family.

Abigail

Abigail’s pre-treasure Christmas is the least isolated of any of them, but she might rather trade with Ben honestly. Her holidays start by suffering through the office Christmas party. Stan has too much eggnog and hits on her while her assistant does her best to run interference, and Abigail pretends to like coworkers she barely knows during an awkward secret santa. Then, after a brief stop at home to change and collect her already meticulously packed suitcase and meticulously wrapped gifts, its time to drive to wherever her family lives. I’m feeling Connecticut. So she drives to CT to her favorite Christmas jazz CD. She likes the quiet hours in the car.

Then the Christmas chaos sets it. I don’t imagine Abigail comes from an especially large family, it’s her mother and step-father, her brother, his wife, and her two grade-school-age nephews. I also headcanon that she has an older sister who moved back to Germany, but more on that some other time. Abigail arrives a day or two early to help with the preparations, and that’s one of her favorite parts. She and her mother make Lebkuchen (German spiced Christmas cookies) and other family recipes, as well as prepare a fish dinner for Christmas Eve and a roast duck or goose for Christmas Day.

The Chase family partakes in the German tradition of decorating the tree on Christmas Eve. This wasn't a huge part of their Christmas before they moved, but after they moved to the States it became an important way to stay connected to their roots.

Other favorite activities of hers include playing games with her nephews. She got them into go a few years ago, but Abigail is also surprisingly competent at Mario Cart.

But there’s also the comments about whether she’s seeing anyone, and the questions that make it clear that her family doesn’t understand what she does for work or why. She loves her brother and his kids and she’s always grateful to be home, but it’s also very clear to her, between the lines, that her family thinks her life is too small. When the noise and the people get to be too much, she escapes to the kitchen to work on the endless pile of dishes.

Riley

Riley, Riley, Riley. My problem child. Who are you??

Riley seems like he comes from a big-ish family, let’s say four kids, and he’s second youngest. Maybe it’s the way he seems to roll with the punches. We’re breaking into the National Archives? Sure, fine. I can’t stop you, so let me get my laser.

There’s also a good chance that he’s Jewish. Justin Bartha is Jewish, and Riley does say “Mazel Tov” to Ben when Ben says he looks alright for the gala. For the sake of this post let’s say that Riley is from a mixed family that celebrates both traditions. But if you have a take on how Judaism informs Riley’s character, I want to hear it!

Before meeting Ben, Riley worked at a dead-end office job (at IBM, according to the 2003 script). I imagine he was pretty low in the office hierarchy if a probably-fruitless, dangerous treasure hunt seemed like an appealing alternative. Otherwise he’d keep toiling away in a sea of gray cubicles, underpaid and under appreciated. The thing about offices is that when the holidays arrive, the people leave but the problems keep coming. And when you’re know as That-Guy-Who-Can-Solve-My-Problem, you get stuck with the problem. So as Riley’s coworkers and colleagues start to head out on vacation, more and more problems pile up on his desk. His nights get later, and on the last work day before the holiday, his is the last light on.

When all the workplace fires are finally put out, Riley stuffs the presents for his nieces and nephews into his clunker of a sedan and heads for the family home in…Florida? Michigan? My gut says it’s not one of the original 13 colonies, based on how geographic symbolism tends to work in the National Treasure-verse. (Riley listens to metal in the car. He gets sick of Christmas music by November.)

The celebration is at his aunt and uncle’s house, on his dad’s side. By the time he gets there, the house is capital C Chaotic. His cousins and most of his siblings have kids, so there’s a whole flock of nieces and nephews running amuck (and Riley is only too happy to join them). His dad and his sister are bickering over the best technique for cooking the roast. His sister and his brother-in-law are having a heated debate over who knows what. And his other sister—that’s right, I’ve decided he has all sisters—is trying mediate a spat between some of the kids.

Uncle Riley is a big hit with the kids. He’s cool. He’s techy. He always knows the latest video games and can troubleshoot any problem with their GameCube. With the adults…not so much. Riley was a bit of a late bloomer career-wise. He might have stayed in his parents’ basement for a year or two after college. He’s obviously incredibly smart, but he never applies himself to what he’s “supposed to.” Also please stop telling our kids that Bigfoot is real and the moon landing was fake, thank you.

Once he’s through with that and back in his broom closet of an apartment, Riley has a second holiday gathering, this time with his online squad. Riley has to be part of some online groups. Hackers. Conspiracy theorists. Random internet weirdos. Maybe they play D&D together, or swap code or challenge each other to hack into places they shouldn’t just to see if it can be done. In a lot of ways, Riley feels more at home with these usernames on a black background than he does with the family he grew up in.

Patrick

Any way you slice it, Patrick is having a pretty sad Christmas. He’s estranged from his only son. His wife either died thirty years ago or hasn’t spoken to him in thirty years. Either way, his belief that she was his “one and only” means he isn’t seeing anyone, and it appears he has no siblings, so he probably doesn’t have much in the way of family plans. Maybe he has a friend or two who invite him to their family gatherings. Patrick always says he’ll try to swing by, but he knows he won’t. He doesn’t want to intrude, and he has no interest in pity invites.

In the week leading up to Christmas, Patrick’s poker club meets for their holiday game. There’s eggnog and music in the background and enthusiastic discussions of everyone’s holiday plans. Maybe they even tried a secret santa once or twice. It’s a fun little time, but it’s not Christmas.

Christmas for Patrick Gates is a pre-ordered meal and a glass of whisky and an old record on the record player, alone in that big old house.

Conclusion

Okay! Have I broken your heart yet?

Sorry for the angst, but the contrast is going to be important!

This was actually a great opportunity to reflect on what Team Treasure’s lives were like before the events of the film. It highlighted for me just how lonely and isolated they each were, and how something was missing from their lives even if they didn’t know it at the time.

Of course, I’m making most of this up whole-cloth, so feel free to disagree with everything! What do you thing their families and family holidays were like?

This year, the holiday lead-up has been really hectic for me, but this question helped me get into the holiday spirit a bit and think more about my own Christmas traditions as well as the characters.’

Next time, I will answer you actual question about post-treasure Christmas!

I am trying so, so hard to have it ready by Christmas, fingers crossed.

[swallowtailed]

palisade 42 (!) this is actually going to be post 1/2 because i had way too much to say and decided to split it up. below the cut: thoughts on the plot twist.

so here we are. alert clock's paid off. the mirage has bloomed outward to envelop palisade. this does feel like something we've been waiting on for a while—a real return to the mirage, payoff on the mirage bombs (and of course the clock)—although absolutely not what i expected the alert clock to be. (i do agree that it's brnine's fault. big domino meme.) the whole sequence was stunning, especially with the music—the sound of the twilight mirage really returned here, in full force, and it was beautiful. what a song. (i’m not great at identifying musical motifs but i’m pretty sure the one i think of as the millennium break victory theme, from partizan, was in there. it’s the one that played both at the end of the kingdom game and over si’s death.)

still, i think the twist didn't quite land for me in the arc of this episode. it's a huge worldstate shift and a cool visual, but it really cut the momentum for a minute—there wasn't a clear path forward for the pcs. (reminiscent of the last arc of sangfielle in many ways.) things did pick up once the immediate stakes for the pcs became clear, though, and i do think that this will be a really cool endgame.

however: i also don't buy that this is fully a problem for the bilats—they're in the mirage! inside of it! that was their entire goal this season! as much as the potential for a mirage victory was talked up, i feel like it's gonna be tough to put that back in the box. (it also seriously rescopes the endgame—the entire twilight mirage is now in play. not that i don't have faith in fatt's finale game. but like. damn.) (although now i’m remembering thinking in the very early season about whether the blue channel would ever see the mirage. now they will! that’s exciting.)

another question i have is whether the effect of the perennial glitch is ongoing. i suppose that within the twilight mirage it is not, but is it continuing to fluctuate outside? unclear to me. (which, by the way: very moving. i'm always a fan of grief so great it reshapes worlds.) if it is ongoing, i'd expect to see an increase in the exploitation of divines by the principality, since that's the only(?) advanced tech not affected by the wave. (also, jesset destroyed the other altars, leaving only the motion-powered mech standing. so that's the competition won. lmao.)

speaking of outside. probably the war with the branched is gonna go some places while this season closes. it was also great to get a glimpse of a.o. and k.o. rooke reunited, and of routine, cor'rina, and miseri. what i am most intrigued by is the possibility of elderly retired pirate leap, which has so much hilarious potential that it's actually brought me on board with leap coming back onscreen at some point.

also, hearing the sermon back in context was a really cool reveal. especially "to our new neighbors"—which i assumed was directed at mbreak at first. incredible resetting.

god, it's such a huge swing, though. it's so big. i have zero idea where this is going to go.

[blackjackkent]

And more for the character meme to keep you occupied, haha. Pick whichever interest you.

Rasaad

Minsc

Shadowheart

Minthara

(“Send me a character” meme)

HOW ABOUT ALL OF THEM! \o/ :P

First impression

Rasaad: Once again, I'd first heard about him from @springagainafter 's posts about BG1/2 back in the day, so I already had good initial thoughts about him before actually meeting him for myself. My first encounter with him in-game, with Caden, was nice because he spends a lot of time talking about how he wants to bring light to people, which was good to hear after Caden had been having such a rough time of it with Gorion's death. He definitely struck me as a calm and measured sort of person with a level and meditative head.

Minsc: Pretty sure I loved Minsc instantly. :P In my BG1 liveblog I mentioned him being my favorite of the people Springy had talked about in her posts and I was very excited to get him and Dynaheir. He struck me as generally goofy and comic relief and I loved the way his dialogue was structured and how much character it gave him.

Shadowheart: As soon as I encountered her, a bunch of people commented on the liveblog post, "Oh yay you've met my wife!" So I knew there had to be something good there. :P She struck me as someone who was definitely hiding something, and seemed standoffish compared to Lae'zel's forthrightness, but I think I did like her right from the beginning and was curious to learn more about what her deal was.

Minthara: Lol I thought she was a scary bad guy and I was supposed to kill her, and so I did. :P I straight up didn't know there was another option until several weeks later; I was running Lab on stream last year and @morganaseren commented that she was gonna romance Minthara on an upcoming playthrough, and I went, "Wait, you mean the lady I just killed? You can do that?" XD

Impression now

Rasaad: He *is* level-headed and meditative... except when he's not, and then he's a mess. :P He's got a much more complex layer of darkness under the serious exterior, and he is capable of being super rash in pursuit of vengeance or self-sacrifice. I love him but he is definitely more of a chaos engine than he appears at first glance, and he needs a lot of hugs.

Minsc: My booooooy and his hamster. I love Minsc even more than I did previously; his relationship with Jaheira is wonderful and touching and both of them bring out interesting angles in each other. I love his enthusiasm and how much energy he brings into the party, and I am fascinated by the implications of his experience having been petrified for a century.

Shadowheart: A woman who has gone through a terrible process of systematic erasure of self and yet still manages to cling onto bits of herself regardless. The longer you talk to her the more you start to see bits of that true self poking through, and it's a person I very much like.

Minthara: Absolutely fascinating take on the tough soldier woman trope. I am deeply invested in the way that no matter how badass she seems, basically everything about her and how she operates is rooted in deep, visceral fear. I can't wait to do a romance run with her because I really want to know more about what's going on in her head.

Favorite moment

Rasaad: Hm. Probably the moment when he SHOUTS down Alorgoth in his personal quest in BG2. It's wonderfully voiced and a real moment of power after he's been doing a lot of soul-searching in the time leading up to it.

Minsc: Oh, man, this is a tough choice. :P I gotta say watching him crawl out of the mimic he kills from the inside with his bare hands in BG3 has got to be a high point. :P

Shadowheart: The night orchids! She has a lot of great moments, don't get me wrong, and this one seems like a small one, but I love how it displays her sentimentality and sense of humor in a way that can definitely take the PC by surprise, particularly if you get it in Act 2.

Minthara: "You see through my Minthara-mask, pretty little flesh thing. A joke - I am no more Orin than you are." My friend Minthara is the funniest person I know. ;)

Idea for a story

Rasaad: Once again I have about a billion random little ideas stored up regarding my ship between him and Jaheira. Off the top of my head - I wanna write something about him taking care of her after she comes back from a Harper mission all beat up. :)

Minsc: I think there is a lot to explore about his experience of being petrified, coming out of the petrification, reuniting with Jaheira, and any lingering aftereffects of the whole experience. There's no way it was completely without any effect on him, even though he certainly acts like he just shook it off.

Shadowheart: I have Thoughts drifting around about Shadowzel and what their first manifestations of "gentleness" in their relationship look like. I haven't exactly articulated a plan for them yet but I think there's a lot there to explore.

Minthara: Hm. Haven't actually considered much Minthara writing yet. I think ultimately she and Rakha might come to blows which could be very fun to write. XD

Unpopular opinion

Rasaad: I really don't know what qualifies as popular and unpopular when it comes to Rasaad bc I have not encountered anyone who talks about him besides me and Springy. XD Maybe the fact that I think he does loosen up a little and start learning (awkwardly) how to joke by the time he and Jaheira are old together. XD IDK.

Minsc: I am of the general opinion that Minsc also has a lot more depth than he lets on. I think his usual jovial ferocity is completely sincere - but he definitely has his moments of wisdom when the situation calls for it, he's devastatingly loyal, and I think he does a lot more thinking (albeit via discussion with Boo) than one would assume.

Shadowheart: Honestly not sure about this one? IDK that any of my opinions about her are particularly off the beaten path. Maybe that I don't think she should be friends with Scratch and Buddy (the owlbear) right off the bat since they are wolf-adjacent and might make her nervous?

Minthara: Again, not really sure I stray too far off the beaten path with her. Honestly having a lot of trouble coming up with anything here. (Presumably I'll think of something after I post. XD )

Favorite relationship

Rasaad: Jaheira! My rarepair. <3 I also really loved him and Minsc and Khalid and Caden being a buddy group during BG1 and SoD.

Minsc: His friendship with Jaheira gives me life. And I love his wychlaran relationship with Aerie. Honestly, though, I think no one has ever fully equaled Dynaheir in his eyes, nor ever will. I don't really have a romantic ship for him; I think he certainly knows what sex and romance is and is glad for his friends who are happy together but it just isn't really top of mind for himself. He bonds with people in other ways.

Shadowheart: Once again - yeah, yeah, I'm a Shadowzel simp. :P I really just think their stories parallel and contrast each other so well compared to any other possible pairing for them.

Minthara: Hm. With my Tav who I'll eventually do an evil run with. XD Of the canon characters... idk, I heard someone talk about Minthara/Karlach in the past and I was mildly intrigued by it. Karlach is basically the only companion Minthara speaks highly of right from the beginning, and I think Karlach could teach her a lot about living in the moment and moving past her fear of obsolescence and death. And Karlach does deserve a lover who would rip throats out like a guard dog for her. :P

Favorite headcanon

Rasaad: Hm. I've developed a lot of headcanons for him in recent months (wonder who's responsible for helping with that :P ). Hard to pick one. I do enjoy the stuff we came up with around his wedding with Jaheira - super sweet Selunite ceremony under the stars, followed by all of their friends getting turnt while they slip off for their own time. XD

Minsc: Minsc gets released from his wychlaran pact with Aerie when she and Caden go to settle down in Faenya-Dail, but he still feels himself very attached to her (I don't think he ever fully believes the bond can go away completely) and is similarly attached to Quayle as Aerie (and Caden)'s kid. He always brings a gift for Quayle when he comes to Faenya-Dail (and Quayle is devastated when for stone-related reasons he stops coming, and delighted to learn he's still alive many years later).

Shadowheart: I think Shadowheart never becomes a fully committed Selunite no matter what the outcomes of her personal quest. I think there's a lot of value in the fact that she has the freedom to choose her own course after breaking from Shar, and while I think she values elements of the Selunite faith (and explores many others), her spirituality going forward is a lot more nuanced and never reaches the same level of fervor again.

Minthara: I haven't spent a lot of time headcanoning about Minthara. But let's see. She has a number of lines indicating that she actually really likes Scratch, so I think secretly when no one is looking she plays fetch with him in the middle of the night, when it's dark and comfortable for her.