#realized there were a lot of headcanons to come up with for mike inspired by my own job at the library

[stan-the-cinnamon-roll-uris]

Mike Hanlon Headcanon #1

Mike has a snackdrawer right at the bottom of his front desk at the library.

He originally started hiding some cookies there because he realized that even after his lunch he still always needs something to snack on in the afternoon while cataloging books.

Eventually he starts sharing his snacks with the High School students that are helping out in the library and several of his favourite library users.

[tacticalvalor]

«────── « HEADCANON » ──────»

@vendettavalor ASKED:

Inspo + Antonia !

MUSE INSPIRATIONS.

" IT'S NOT ENOUGH TO TAKE THEM OUT — WE HAVE TO SEND A MESSAGE. "

Chose to go the route of 4 topics and 4 specific individuals, because I think both are very crucial to how I've built up Toni's character.

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INDIVIDUALS

Black Widow - General disdain for Marvel aside (half joking), Natasha's character has become a subconscious point of inspiration. Someone who balances the line of good and evil, who has become a living weapon in their own right? Especially that latter point. Someone who has spent their whole life training and building their repertoire and is defined by their effectiveness. Toni has spent the better half of his life with the Ghosts, and it shows by the way people talk about her.

Medusa - We all know the story, or at least an iteration of it. A daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. Beheaded by Perseus as an act of valor, a declaration of loyalty/devotion to Athena. Pieces of her corpse used as a weapon. A mortal woman violated by the god Neptune, and punished for "her" misdeeds. She's become an icon of pushing back against a story that seeks to place the male, Perseus, at its center, blameless and heroic. Pushing back against a system that centers men, much like Toni has pushed back time and time again against the military culture and red tape that has victimized her and others time and time again. Medusa is such an inspiration to Toni's character, that he has a tattoo of her (placement is still up for determination, but I'm between a back piece or on the thigh).

Mike Ehrmantraut - Yes, another muse that I write, but shush. Anyway, a lot of the inspiration from him comes from that struggle to balance family and work, and to keep those lives as separate as possible. Canonically, Toni is... not close with her son. Their relationship has been strained due to the secrecy of her work. But with him about to have a family of his own, Toni wants to make things better. Whether or not he's successful is to be seen.

Šiduri - Big nerd moment here, but I loved reading The Epic of Gilgamesh in high school. And Šiduri's character just. Stuck. The way she rationalized Gilgamesh's grief, and tried to turn it into motivation... That hits close to home with Toni. The way he approaches a lot of his missions, both in part to the programming of the Ghosts, and in her own external experiences, is very much reminiscent of the idea that "this is fate, we may as well make the most of it".

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TOPICS

Betrayal - If there is one thing I will not shut up about, it's the betrayal arc that happens in Breakpoint. It's shown a bit in Wildlands, when Walker helps Toni realize that Bowman is going behind their backs to maintain destabilization within Bolivia, but it really comes to the forefront after. The killing of Vaugn, Walker being dishonorably discharged... And this all is so core to Toni's development as a character and her approach to things. As it stood with her work, he knew better than to loosely trust anybody. But after all this? Yeah... Yeah.

Identity - There are so many interesting intersections when it comes to Antonia's identity. Even before I made the executive decision to make him transmasc, the idea of being a woman (or perceived as one) within the military. Being a mother amidst that. Being a member of an organization that, on paper, does not exist and cannot exist. Knowing that your very being is classified. Redacted. That you could die at any minute, and none would be the wiser. But then you add onto this the realization of not being what you thought for so long you were, lest we forget Nomad's gender questioning doesn't take place until after the events of Breakpoint, where she's well within his 40s. Ultimately, I really want to explore just how elusive identity can be through Toni's character, and what goes into constructing one practically from scratch.

Revenge - Tying into the themes of betrayal is the act of revenge. How far is a person willing to go to consider things square? The betrayal of trust, the allies slaughtered in the name of a "greater good"... What is Toni willing to do? Is he really any different from Walker? What are her justifications? Can she pull the trigger when the time comes, or is he going to try and stop the inevitable?

Trauma - Bit broad of an inspiration, but like... This shit has got to weigh down on someone, and it does tie into the ideas of identity. How much does a person go through—how much can they go through—before losing themselves? How do they carry the weight of the literal world (re: Walker's plan to kickstart WW3) on their shoulders, and manage to stay focused on the road ahead? What would it take for someone in these circumstances to finally break? To potentially heal?

[gamebunny-advance]

Grab Bag Doodles

Whoo, art output is definitely gonna slow down now that I’m gonna be busy again, but hopefully moving around more will give me more ideas for stuff.

Notes under the cut as always~

1) Mike Hatsune from Yo! Noid 2. I’ve decided to come to terms with the fact that I just like cartoon old dudes, so I tried drawing one of my other favorite cartoon old dudes. I dunno, there’s just something really funny about “old man Miku” as a concept and still having the candy colored anime hair.

2) Superfan Kliff (Chibi Edition): What if Kliff was a different artist’s number one fan? Based on my theory that Kliff’s design is supposed to subtly imitate Tatiana, I wanted to try doing something similar for the other artists. I think I’m a lot less subtle about it, but I generally like the ideas in there. It’s just a matter of filling them out. They’re all different kinds of obsessive/creepy.

3) DJSS Superfan. I have drafts for the first 3 artists, but 1010 and Eve still need some work. It’s my headcanon that Kliff actually dyes his hair, so his hair color is different for each of them.

Captions (Clockwise, Starting from Top Left):

Circular frames to imitate DJ’s round helmet

Silver windbreaker

A ring for each of DJ’s white fingers

Tall white boots to reference DJ’s concept art

“Wireless” Earbuds

4) Unwilling Harem Protagonist. I actually drew this as a standalone, but I think doing that is just asking for trouble, so I’m throwing it in here.

Captions:

Kliff: WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?? I HATE LITERALLY EVERY PERSON IN THIS ROOM!

Neon J.: BABY! HONEY! ANGEL!

DJSS: It’s not like I like you, or anything! Simpleton!

Joey: Bro, I’m just here to get my mixtape back, but fuck you too I guess.

5-6) Vape. I dunno why, but I wanted to draw Roboto vaping. I dunno. He’s very stressed out.

Captions:

Red 1010: Is that even doing anything for you?

White 1010: It’s gumming up my internals, so I’d say it’s doing a great job of killing me slowly.

7) Farmer’s Tan. Inspired by a Sakurai Famitsu collumn where he talks about his own ROB and how just its head and base have yellowed, making it look like it has a “farmer’s tan”. [The translated article by Source Gaming.]

8) R.O.B. drawing. Practicing using refs again.

9) Me after realizing that Miitopia still doesn’t have any adequate curly hair options. We’ve come so far, but not far enough damn it. We should not still be having this problem, and even if it comes in a later patch, I’m still gonna be pissed. And why is changing the skintone limited to just the face?? I’m not a goddamn carrot Nintendo. I know Nintendo technically didn’t make this port, but these were problems in the original too.

[bookworm555]

*Reuploaded FOR THE THIRD TIME because I realized that this never showed up in any of this fandom’s tags the first two times I posted it :/ Now I am trying this as a text post with images instead of a typical art post because nothing is freaking working and I am so frustrated.

Because read-mores apparently make my post glitchy, I apologize in advance for the length of this post, and hopefully, it doesn’t clog your dashes/the tags too badly.*

Another CatCF/WWatCF sketchdump~

The top drawing is the characters from the 1971 adaptation ten years later (which was an excuse to draw 80′s fashion, haha).

Ten years later doodles (from left to right) Top row: Violet and Veruca Second row: Mike, Charlie, and Augustus

(I think Violet turned out to be the best of these doodles!)

Some headcanons for the ten years later drawings (this would have been the section under the read-more, if it worked :/ ):

I always headcanoned the characters in the ‘71 version to be thirteen, minus Mike, who I saw as eleven. So basically everyone in the drawing is twenty-three except for Mike, who is twenty-one.

Violet: For years after the nightmare that was the factory tour, Violet struggled with major body image issues, especially about her blue skin. (And is homeschooled because of this.) However, eventually, her mindset basically became ‘Wonka thought this was a punishment? Fuck that; I’m going to embrace it’, so she became more confident.

Once this confidence hits during her late teens, she uses her unusual appearance to her advantage (especially when it comes to attracting visitors/potential buyers to her dad’s car dealership).

She doesn’t go to college; instead, she works at her dad’s place, and basically learns how to be a mechanic.

She hasn’t chewed gum since the factory tour.

When Charlie contacts her and the others, she is hesitant to respond back, but ultimately does (to sass him, at the very least). During the group’s future meetups, she’s basically the glue that keeps them together.

Veruca: Unlike Violet, Veruca carries a lot of guilt about what happened during the factory tour, since her father was punished along with her. He fell wrong, and as a result, was paralyzed from the waist down, and is now in a wheelchair. Veruca was lucky; aside from a broken ankle, she did not suffer any worse injuries.

Because of this, Veruca becomes mute (her mouthing off and constantly asking for things is what led to her–pun not intended–downfall, so she decides that it would be for the best if she stops talking altogether.)

Despite the Salts being wealthy, Wonka paid all of their medical bills. Even though it would have made sense for them to take him to trial, they decided not to (Henry did not want anyone to see him in his new state, and Veruca’s anxiety spiked even thinking about the factory).

When Charlie contacts the four ‘rejects’ ten years after the tour, Violet starts to bring Veruca out of her shell. Though it is ultimately Augustus who helps her feel comfortable speaking again, due to his soft-spoken personality.)

Mike: Like the others, Mike was very traumatized by what happened to him during the tour. (Especially since he was younger than the rest of them.)

While Violet embraced her altered state, and Veruca withdrew from the world, Mike became bitter. Very bitter. Because, while sure, Wonka and co. were able to get him back to about normal size [after stretching him waaaay too tall and thin the first time; his mother fainted, then had plenty of choice words for everyone involved when she came to], the process was incredibly painful, and involved basically rubber-fying his bones and muscles temporarily (yeah, he still had no idea why Wonka would even create a candy that did that).

Because of that, he has scars all over his body–the most on his arms, legs, and torso–so he always wears long-sleeved shirts or jackets, and long pants.

He is pissed that his life was ruined at age eleven; sure, he was obnoxious, but he was a KID. Now he’s stuck with chronic pain, not to mention the occasional breakdown because he has no idea if he’s actually HIM, or just a copy that was beamed through Wonka’s television room that managed to keep his soul. (Yeah, he doesn’t like to dwell on that; he prefers to think that that would be impossible.) [A/N: That part comes from the fact that Wonka stated that the chocolate that appeared in the TV screen was a copy of the much larger chocolate bar that was beamed through the air, and not the original bar itself]

When Charlie contacts him, he almost sends a nasty letter back, but something in him pauses, and he ends up sending a civilized response. It wasn’t Charlie’s fault all this happened to him; Charlie was the nice one, and, though he would never admit it to anyone, on the tour, he thought Charlie was cool. Goody-two-shoes, but in the ‘Lovable TV Protagonist’ sort of way.

As the five of them start meeting/corresponding through letters, he lets Charlie past all the walls he put up, and is definitely the closest to him in the group.

Charlie: Happily becomes Wonka’s protege after the tour. He is ecstatic that he not only gets to live and learn to work in this magical place, but he and his family are finally out of poverty!

He goes to school during the day, then learns the tricks of the candy trade in the afternoons and evenings.

However, about ten years after winning the tour, Wonka just…vanishes. And that’s when Charlie finds the videos showcasing what happened to the other four Golden Ticket winners after their mishaps.

Charlie is appalled; looking back, they were all so young. Of course, they were bratty; that’s how kids ARE. (Sure, some of them were worse than others, but they didn’t deserve their fates! Essentially, the four ‘losers’, plus Mr. Salt, were toyed with and tortured, and their parents could not help them.) Mike’s was especially horrible, to him; it was the only tape he couldn’t finish.

This makes Charlie feel a little guilty; he got off easy, even though he also disobeyed the rules.

He is also torn; on the one hand, Wonka was a great mentor, and he was fond of the man–he made a good father-figure, for him. But on the other hand, this was a man who thought the way to get rid of a kid’s bad habits was to torture them.

Before he could think otherwise, Charlie writes letters to the other Golden Ticket winners. He doesn’t expect anything nice back, but is surprised to find that they are all willing to talk to him.

He is relieved; he wants to right the wrongs done to them.

Augustus: The poor guy falls into a deep depression after the tour. Sure, he was thinner, but he had no problem with how he looked before. Not to mention, even the smell of chocolate and other sugary sweets makes him very nauseous. Oh, and there’s the not-so-small fear of drowning that he picked up, as well as severe claustrophobia.

He felt like a part of him was lost, since he could no longer enjoy his favorite foods. Or food in general. He ate to not starve, but that was it.

He was already quiet, but after the tour, he withdrew into himself even more, preferring to spend time with the neighborhood cats rather than people. (Yes, he is definitely a cat person.)

But he still has his kind heart, so when Charlie Bucket sends him a letter, he responds right away (and is the first one to do so).

When they start writing more letters to each other, and eventually meeting, he helps the others through their trauma, while ignoring his own. He thinks he’ll always be stuck this way.

Veruca disagrees.

And in terms of schooling, only Augustus went to college. As for high school, Violet and Mike were homeschooled, Veruca went to an exclusive, posh academy, Charlie stuck with public school, and Augustus went to a private school.

-

Now, if anyone was interested, these are the outfits that inspired the ones I drew (though, obviously, I took artistic liberties with some of them). I wanted to give them each a different style: Violet’s is the outlandish fashion the 80s are famous for, Veruca’s is demure and preppy, Mike’s is pretty unassuming, but with a slight edge, Charlie’s is comfortable/casual, and Augustus’s is comfortable/slightly formal.

Left to right: Violet, Veruca, Mike, Charlie, Augustus

(And I imagine the back of Mike’s jacket looking like this, aka with a vent, which is why the back of the jacket isn’t visible in the gap of his legs):

WOW, that got so long (oops…), but those were just my ideas for how these characters would interact and act ten years later. Hopefully someone enjoys this, XD

[snarkwriteswrasslin]

FFT: The Story of Tonight

Ahhh. And here is the final part! parts [ one - two - three ] can be found by clicking on the links. And surprise? This turned out really fluffy? I mean.... almost teeth-rotting in how fluffy it is, but I just... Listen... after the other night, I couldn’t have this ending angsty, so I purposely held off until a day I thought I could end this fluffy like I wanted.

Again, huuuuuge hugs to you, bb. Because you definitely inspired all of this with our talk about the idea.. And the titles you sent, bless you so much for all of them.

MAJOR FLUFF ALERT. AND FOR ONCE, THE KIDS CAN STAY LMAO.

Tag Squad:

@kyleoreillysknee @rampagewriting @writertoo18 @thatnerdwriter @wrestlingismyguiltypleasure @chasingeverybreakingwave @unabashedwrestlefics @wardl0w @missjenniferb @adampage @cabotcoves @cowboyshit @dietwrestling

[ tag list doc ] [ masterlist ] [ keep ‘em coming - they’re super fun ] - I mean that, as of now, my drafts are almost empty. I have like... one headcanon left to post (sorry it’s taking forever to the anon who asked, I’m trying to get a feel for the person you asked for, tbh) and no fake fic titles.. so yeah.

“Are you absolutely sure this is a good idea? Because I don’t think it is.” I stopped mid-walk, staring at the ticket line with wide eyes, trying to take a few deep breaths and pull myself together.

Cordelia paused her walk and looked back at me. “Oh no. Uh-uh. We drove 5 and a half hours. You’re doing this. You’re getting your closure.”

I felt more uneasy than anything. And if you were to ask me?

I knew deep down that I hadn’t come to the show tonight to get closure. I’d come because I was so desperate to see Adam again that I couldn’t take it. Everything felt empty. I tried moving on, I tried pushing my feelings and the pain under the rug, but I just couldn’t anymore. 

The fact still remained though, I was the one who was adamant that I would never settle for second best in a relationship again. And given what Adam’s friends said about this ex girlfriend of his, I just… I didn’t know what that meant for him and I as a couple. Because I certainly hadn’t just been able to ignore my feelings when they surfaced a few months back… Why would I be able to now?

It just made no sense to me.

“Fine. Okay, you’re right. What am I supposed to do when I see him though? I have no idea what to say but there’s… So much I wanted to say. You know, that last night.”

Cordelia nodded in agreement. I swallowed hard and started to walk towards the ticket line out front of the arena again, my breath catching in my throat when he walked right past me, flanked on either side by Matt and Nick Jackson. They seemed to be arguing about something. I got so caught up in staring at him, this odd sense of calm settling over me at the sight of him… Like I was coming home.

I almost didn’t call out to him, but Cordelia gave me a hard nudge in my side and I grumbled, looking at her. She nodded towards where they stood, just a few feet away and I took a deep breath, my mouth opening and…

Nothing came, naturally.

But in the time that I did that, Kenny Omega walked past, heading towards them and he saw me. Nodding towards Adam, who yes, I was staring intently at all over again, he gave me a thumbs up and as soon as he stood with the others, he tapped Adam’s shoulder.

Adam turned and we both froze. After a few heavy tension filled seconds, I finally managed to raise a hand and give a small and friendly wave. He bit his lip, staring at me almost as if he weren’t sure I was actually here or if he was imagining it.

And then I was moving. Running, shoving through the lingering crowd between us. We wound up meeting halfway and he stood there a second as if he were deciding what to do. 

Then I was being lifted off the ground an inch or two and squeezed tight. 

“Darlin?” that soft and heavy accent was music to my ears. I took a deep breath and tried to focus… To remind myself that I’d come here with a very specific purpose in mind.

A purpose that was rapidly being forgotten in the depths of those baby blue eyes… Or the honest to god actual smile on his face. He looked so happy to see me, I almost questioned whether I’d ended things first or he had. His forehead rested against mine as he set me back down on my own feet again, a hand raising, resting against the side of my neck as his fingertips grazed against my cheeks lightly. 

“I have to say this. I came all this way.” I pleaded, biting my lip as I met his gaze. His face fell a little, but for once, rather than just go quiet, he spoke up first.

“Not until I have my say.”

,, or that works too..” my brain reasoned and I went silent, giving a nod to indicate I was waiting. 

“The past few months have been hell on me, okay? I dunno what I was thinkin exactly,” Adam stopped, going silent and looking down. That sliver of hope I didn’t even realize I still had started to grow before I could stop it. I reached up, lightly gripping his chin and guiding his eyes to mine. 

“And?” I asked, my voice shaky. 

“I was wrong. Breakin up with you is the last thing I wanted… I… It took a while, okay? But I realized somethin…”

I raised a brow, waiting. My breath caught in my throat and mostly to have something to do with my hands, I twisted a strand around my finger. “Yeah?”

“My friends were all wrong. I love you. Took me bein’ away to see that. Then I came to tell ya as soon as I realized and I saw you out with some guy.”

I knit my brows together, trying to remember who he could’ve seen me with and I bit my lip, expression going a little sour. “Yeah, that asshat and I didn’t work out.” I admitted as I shook my head.

His eyes lit up and he asked quietly, “What about now?”

“Well… if he’s being serious and he can assure me that I am not his second choice… There is a guy…” I hinted, staring up at him, waiting on it to sink in.

As soon as he did, I got lifted off my feet again, noisy kisses settling clumsily against my face and lips. I gave a soft laugh but pulled back, searching his eyes. 

“I mean it, Adam. I can’t just be the one you pick because the one you want moved on.”

“You’re not, darlin’. You never have been, okay? Matt put that idea in your head or somethin?” he asked as he eyed me in concern, setting me back onto my own feet and then turning to glare at Matt Jackson who stood nearby. I turned his gaze back to me and shook my head as it suddenly sank in for me…

I’d taken it upon myself to let all the stories about his ex get to me. I’d let myself believe that if his friends talked about her so much then he had to still feel something deep down… The fact of the matter was now that I thought back, Adam hadn’t really mentioned her all that much.

Suddenly, I felt like the world’s biggest idiot.

“I’m so sorry.” my hand raised to my mouth and I stood there, staring up at him. “I’m the one who needs to apologize. I had it all wrong and instead of telling you, I did what I always do and I buried it…” my gaze dropped to my feet as I trailed off, going  quiet as the full reality of just how miserable I’d allowed me to make myself really sank in for me.

Cordelia was right, I needed to start dealing with pretty much everything better than I did. Starting now.

“Darlin, you’re not the one who ended things?” Adam eyed me, a little confused until I explained why I’d been on edge so much towards the end. He clenched his fists, glaring back at Matt and I directed his gaze back to me yet again.

“All they were doing was telling stories, okay? They never really did anything with bad intentions. It was me and my own fucked up line of thinking… Because of that stuff I told you about when we first got together.”

“About Sean and your daddy.”

“Mhm.. I just… started to freak out a little. And obviously, it was dumb. But honestly, Adam… Tell me the truth when I ask this, okay?” I paused, waiting on him to indicate that he understood.

“You know me, darlin.”

“If this hadn’t gotten to me… If you hadn’t panicked too and we would have just kept going.. Things wouldn’t have a chance of being better now… Right?” I finished, stepping closer to him and staring up, busying myself by toying with the front of his shirt.

And then it hit him what I was getting at, that I wanted to be with him and I wanted to try again and his face lit up. He stepped closer, mulling over what I asked. After a few seconds, he nodded thoughtfully. “Was still the worst few months I’ve had in a while, darlin.”

“But.. we made it and we’re here.. What we do going forward won’t be filled with doubts or fears, either… At least.. Not on my end.” I promised, taking a deep breath and waiting. Adam nodded and smiling, he caressed the side of my face, lowering his mouth to mine. “Mine either, darlin. I promise. If anything is botherin me, I’ll talk to ya.”

“And I promise I’ll do the same instead of going into retreat and just letting it brew.” I promised, nipping hungrily at his lower lip. His fingers dug into my lower back and he pulled me closer, chuckling quietly against my mouth. “I am curious, though..”

“Yeah?” I asked as I worked on  catching my breath when we broke the kiss and pulled away from each other just the smallest bit.

“What’d that guy I saw ya with do to ya that had you scowlin like that?”

“The guy was an actual fucking douchebag, okay? Just… ugh.” I shook my head and he laughed, pulling me against him a little. “Let me go get you a ticket.”

“Adam, no. I’ve got it.”

He eyed me but Cordelia made her way back over, slipping me a ticket. I bit my lip and looked at her. “You’re not saying?”

“Hell no! They’re doing a Magic Mike type thing at one of the casinos. Mommy got paid tonight. Mommy’s gonna go stuff her money down some lucky guy’s waistband.”

“Jesus Christ, Cordie.”

“You two have a lot of catching up to do. Actual talking.” Cordelia reminded me solemnly and I nodded. “Meet you back at our hotel room after then?”

“Or you could just take your sweet time… I intend to take mine.” she gave a teasing wink as she waved goodbye to us and made a beeline for the exit.

“So… I should go grab my seat.” I muttered, reluctant to leave him just yet. It felt so fucking good, his arms wrapped around of me. The scent of his cologne filling my nose. He tilted my chin, giving me another deep kiss to leave me breathless and then asked me with a gentle smile, “We’ll meet up out here after the show, right?”

“Definitely. It’s like you said.. We have a lot of catching up to do.”

“Yes we do, darlin.” Adam agreed, doubling back for one more kiss and a lingering hug before finally realizing he had to get to the back to get ready for the night.

And I smiled to myself as I watched him walking away.

This time, things will be different. I can feel it.

[princesstadashi]

Big Hero 6/OUAT AU

Okay guys--so I worked this whole big AU up in my head while I was at work today, inspired by @honeyxmonkey ‘s Tangled the series OUAT AU and @greensword101​ ‘s accompanying ask to me about Fred finding Hiro and giving him a hug once the curse was broken! Now, sadly I think I accidentally left my page of notes at work, or else they’re just lost somewhere in my bag, but I’m going to type of everything that I remember and hope for the best--here we go!

Backstory of how everyone got dragged into the curse: So I’m not even going to try to go into weird multi-versey type shit and try to be detailed with this but what you need to know is that Fred/Tadashi and Honey Lemon/Gogo are the main ships here, and Fred’s mom/Gogo’s parents are not happy about this, like at all. I have this headcanon that Gogo’s parents, while not as wealthy as Fred’s parents, are pretty well off (business owners? doctors? I’ll leave it up to your imagination) and are not at all happy with Gogo’s lifestyle choices/were probably emotionally and psychologically if not physically abusive to her, which is why as soon as she could she ran away to live with Honey Lemon’s family, and she and Honey Lemon eventually got together. Definitely not the match her parents wanted for her and they’re still mad that she wasn’t this perfect feminine daughter that they wanted. Fred’s mom is kind of the same way but mostly she’s just homophobic as shit and also wanted to marry Fred off to some rich girl like her and Fred’s dad’s parents did to the two of them. When it came down to choosing, Fred’s dad chose his son over her and divorced her, so she’s pissed because of that. 

Moving forward before this gets too long: Long story short, Gogo’s parents and Fred’s mom kind of knew each other from moving in the same social circles and when they somehow find out about the curse (which wasn’t going to hit most of San Fransokyo, if at all) they either go to Regina or (more likely) Rumpelstiltskin and make a deal so that they can get not only themselves and their families pulled into this other world where they can have the lives that they wanted, but also pull in the friends and other people who encouraged Gogo and Fred to be themselves and “punish” them for what they did. 

Characters Involved and Their Lives After the Curse:

Fred (new name: George): Engaged to Gogo (a match set up by his mom and Gogo’s parents), his dad in the cursed world doesn’t even fight his mom on things so he had no one to teach him to fight for himself and so he’s just sort of letting life get away from him and hiding in his fantasy stories and comics to escape reality.

Gogo (Edith): Engaged to Fred, never actually rebelled and never ran away from home so while she’s still got her fighting spirit on the inside it’s mostly been stamped out and she spends her days going to social events she hates and acting like she’s the perfect daughter she isn’t.

Honey Lemon (Heather): Works in an overly busy dress shop trying to earn money for college but is so underpaid she barely makes rent, let alone being able to save anything. She does all the tailoring on Gogo’s dresses and other clothes, including working on the wedding dress (which Gogo’s mom is never happy with, she’s probably made fifty dresses by now.) She and Gogo are secretly having a bit of a relationship (fitting rooms = closed doors and privacy with limited clothes for at least a short period of time) but no one can know. (More on the relationship below.)

Wasabi (Darnell): Honey Lemon’s roommate. Also trying to earn money for college (also failing at it), he works cleaning Fred’s family’s house--he’s great at the job because he’s so detail and cleanliness oriented, but he hates being around any germs, and the biggest part of the curse for him is having to clean Fred’s room.

Hiro (Nico): Hiro is a foster kid being “raised” by a horrible man named Montel (a.k.a. Yama) who forces Hiro into stealing things for him to “pay his keep” (and Hiro has the scars to show what happens if he disappoints him.)

Aunt Cass (Rachel): Works as the cook of Fred’s family, Fred’s mother delights in ordering her to make ridiculously elaborate and detailed meals, whether they have company or not, and then criticizing every part of them. Rachel would probably leave except she has a young son, Max, to look after and she can’t afford losing a job and having him taken away from her. (Red herring name alert: Max is actually a human version of Mochi, but if I ever turn this into an actual story it will be fun to throw people a bit off the trail! Also the reason Fred’s mom pulled Aunt Cass into this is because she felt Aunt Cass encouraged Tadashi and Fred to get together, being bi herself, and so she has an especial and very misplaced hatred for her.)

Tadashi (Shiro): Tadashi was found on the outskirts of town unconscious and covered in horrific burn scars. No one new his name except a few letters on a very decayed medical alert bracelet that looked a bit like Shiro (Tadashi Hamada--the “H” and “a” were pretty smeared kind of looked like “r” and “o”, the rest were completely illegible, so they guessed a bit on his name.) He was put in the hospital and put into a medically induced coma while he continued healing. When Emma came to town and time started moving again, Tadashi recovered enough for them to wake him up, but he has no memory of who he was or who his family was, and as his burns were still very severe and had gotten infected he’s still in the hospital for a very long time. (Explanation for Tadashi being alive: back in BH 6 world Fred’s dad, being a superhero, rescued Tadashi but since Tadashi was in such bad condition was still trying to get him back to being stable before letting anyone know that he was alive in case he didn’t make it. Fred’s mom did not count on this being a factor when she made the deal!)

Baymax (Mike): Baymax is a nurse in the hospital where Tadashi is being kept--in Once Upon a Time fashion, he did become human once in our world (I imagine his appearance being a lot like Aziraphale’s, only his irises are dark brown/almost black.) Another glitch in the curse (this time a literal one): even though Baymax’s memories were changed/rewritten for the curse, as a robot his system had backup storage for his memories. Robot brain being combined with a human brain was not quite compatible, so Baymax still talks/moves a bit like a robot which means a lot of people make fun of him for that, but more importantly, while he doesn’t remember everything, Baymax does have flashes of memories from the other world, and somewhat remembers being a robot. Of course anyone he tries to explain this to acts like he’s crazy so he’s learned to keep it to himself, but needless to say he feels a very strong connection to his patient, Shiro (who he at least on some level realizes is probably Tadashi), and is very, very protective of him. 

(This started getting long so actual story development below the cut!)

Story Ideas:

-Fred and Gogo, while resigned to their eventual marriage,are still both incredibly gay in spite of being forced into the closet, so their general secret arrangement is that they’ll be married for their parents’ sake but both are free to privately have lovers or partners (as long as their parents don’t find out about it.) Gogo’s first choice, of course, is Honey Lemon. Honey Lemon is totally in love with Gogo, but she’s torn as to whether she’d truly be happy spending her life as someone’s mistress and not truly married to someone she loves.

-Fred and Hiro meet for the first time when Fred catches Hiro breaking into his room, having been sent by Yama to loot the house. Fred almost calls security, but he sees how skinny Hiro is and how beat up he is and takes pity on him. He wants to call CPS but Hiro begs him not to, afraid of being sent to an even worse home (he has curse memories of being in even worse homes to keep him from ever leaving Yama.) Fred would gladly try to take Hiro in himself but he’s too afraid of what his mother would say. So instead he and Hiro make a deal--any time that Hiro wants to, he can come by the house, and Fred will provide him with money or whatever else he needs to take back to Yama to avoid getting in trouble, and then Hiro gets to secretly spend a few hours with Fred, playing video games, reading comics, doing all the fun kid stuff he never gets to do at home--and of course Aunt Cass makes it her mission to make sure that Hiro always gets at least one good meal while he’s there, even though she doesn’t understand why it hurts so much to see this teenager she doesn’t even know leave to go back to his foster home.

-Hiro and Baymax meet when Hiro’s class goes to the hospital to help decorate it for the patients (remember when Henry went and met “John Doe”? Same visit, even though Hiro is of course in a different, older class and also probably in a different wing of the hospital.) Baymax sees Hiro and, with his glitchy memories of the other world, remembers Hiro, but unfortunately Hiro is only freaked out by this stranger calling him Hiro (”My name is Niko!”) and acting like he knows him. Finally Baymax has to give up on that. Still, he “conveniently” sends Hiro to decorate the room of a sleeping patient in the burn unit. Hiro is grumbling about how stupid all of this is, how decorating a room won’t really help anyone, when he hears a voice saying, “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is a waste.” He turns around to realize that the sleeping patient has woken up. 

The patient introduces himself as Shiro, and even though Hiro feels weird talking to this guy who’s mostly covered in bandages, somehow they end up talking all the same, and Hiro finds himself spilling his whole life story to Shiro, who turns out to be a great listener. When Hiro’s teacher tells him it’s time to leave, Hiro finds he actually doesn’t want to go! But Tadashi asks him to wait for a moment, and then pulls a small bag of gummy bears out from a bag by his bed, saying, “Here. My nurse brought these for me and I was saving them for later, but I think you need them more than me.” Which almost makes Hiro cry because he loves gummy bears but he can’t even remember the last time that he had them. (A.K.A. Hasn’t had them since being sent here by the curse.) He promises to come back to visit Tadashi as soon as he can, and he makes good on that promise. He and Tadashi can’t do a lot for each other, but they always find ways to do small things, like how Tadashi will always save the desserts from his meals to share with (or more often give to) Hiro, and Hiro will check out books from the library that he thinks Tadashi would like and reads to him. “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is a waste” becomes their motto. 

-Hiro, spending time with both Fred and Tadashi, and having started seeing both of them as older brother/almost dad figures, plus eventually finding out that they’re both gay, starts dreaming of a life where Tadashi heals enough to leave the hospital, then meets and gets together with Fred, and the two of them adopt Hiro and they all live their happily ever after together. Hiro never manages to get Fred to physically come to the hospital with him, but somehow convinces him to become pen pals with a “lonely guy with no family or loved ones to look after him (he totally pulls out the puppy dog eyes guilt trip) and somehow despite anyone’s best efforts to keep it from happening, Tadashi and Fred start to fall in love all over again :)

The Curse Breaks (a,k.a. the one part of the story I actually wrote):

Hiro races towards the center of town, running as fast as he possibly could. He’d through that Montel was evil--he’d never imagined that things could possibly get worse, but when Yama’s memories had returned Hiro was pretty sure it was only the delayed shock of getting all his memories back at once that had let Hiro get away with little more than a bloody nose (and his life.) Hiro had no idea what the hell was happening--how he was here, in some town called Storybrooke and not in San Fransokyo, and how he had these two completely different lives and memories living in his head and currently at war with each other--but all he really knew is that he needed to get somewhere safe. Somewhere that Yama couldn’t find him and hurt him. 

“Hiro!” Hiro almost kept running when he heard someone shouting his name, too terrified of Yama catching up with him if he stopped, but then he suddenly felt arms wrapping around him and, after a moment of struggling, he realizes that he knew the person holding him.

“F-Fred?” Hiro gasps, looking up at the older man.

“Yeah, Hiro--it’s me,” Fred answers, a look of relief in his eyes as he smiles down at Hiro.

“Y-You remember?” Hiro cries, glad that this was at least some sort of proof that he hadn’t gone completely crazy.

“Of course I do.” Fred hugs him tighter. “I-I’m so glad that you remember too, I was afraid that you might not--”

“No, I remember.” Hiro shakes his head before adding with a shiver, “A-And Yama does too...”

“Yama?” Fred repeats only to gasp after a moment. “Holy shit! I-Is that who you’ve been living with this whole time?” 

“I think the answer is obvious,” Hiro answers, pulling away and gesturing to his bloody nose.

“Oh my God.... Oh my God, Hiro I am so, so sorry,” Fred whispers, his voice full of horror. “I can’t believe-- I-I should have gotten you out of there a long, long time ago, but the curse...”

“Curse?” Hiro repeats in confusion. “What curse?”

“Apparently that’s what’s gotten us all here--a curse that took us from home and put us here, and gave us fake memories and made sure that we’d all be as miserable as possible. And it’s not just people from San Fransokyo, you won’t even believe who some of the people living in this town really are...” Fred answers before adding quickly, “But I can explain more on the way--all of our family and friends are back at my house, apparently my mom and Gogo’s parents have something to do with all of us getting wrapped up in this.”

“So everyone’s there?” Hiro asks hopefully. “Aunt Cass, Wasabi, Honey Lemon?” He’d have asked about Gogo too but Fred had already mentioned her so he could only assume that she was.

“Yes, everyone--even Mochi, can you believe that he’s actually Max?” Fred laughs. 

“Whoa... That is pretty crazy,” Hiro says, shaking his head, trying to wrap his head around the idea that Aunt Cass’ cat had somehow become a human child.

It was as he was thinking this over that another thought occurred to him. 

“Wait, Max...” he says slowly, and then gasps as the realization fully hits him. “Holy fuck, Baymax!”

“Hiro, I-I’m sorry, I don’t know where Baymax is yet, everyone coming out of the curse has everyone pretty scrambled up...” Fred starts to say apologetically, but Hiro cuts him off. 

“No! I mean, I think I know where Baymax is!” Hiro cries, tugging on Fred’s hand. “C’mon, we have to go get him!” 

“...The others can wait,” Fred after agrees after only a moment’s hesitation. “Let’s go get Baymax!”

A few minutes later, both of them rush into the hospital--things were in such a disarray that they didn’t even bother to stop at the nurse’s desk, Hiro leading the way up the stairs to the burn unit where he hoped that he’d find...

“Baymax!” Hiro lets out a huge sigh of relief when he sees the man in his standard white scrubs--it was still incredibly weird to think of the marshmallow-esque robot that Tadashi had made was somehow human, but all that really mattered that he was here and that he was safe. 

“Hiro!” The man turns to Hiro, a bright smile on his face, quickly putting to rest any fears that Hiro might have had that this wasn’t actually Baymax.

“Wait, that’s Baymax?” Fred cries in surprise.

“Fred, hello!” Baymax answers cheerfully, waving to him. 

“I... Uh... Hi?” Fred waves a bit awkwardly.

“I’m so glad that you’re okay,” Hiro says gratefully, hurrying into Baymax’s open arms and giving him a tight hug. 

“I am very well, thank you,” Baymax answers, hugging him back, before letting him go and continuing, “There is someone else here who would like to see you!”

“Someone else?” Hiro repeats in confusion. Who else could be here that he knew?

“Hiro!” 

That’s when Hiro hears a voice--a voice that, even before the curse, he’d given up on ever hearing again. No. No, it couldn’t possibly be--!

That’s when he sees Shiro, sitting in a wheelchair next to his hospital bed--the burn scars had greatly changed his appearance, it was true, and his hair was a bit longer than it had been before. But there was no mistaking those eyes, or that smile. 

“T-Tadashi?” Hiro whispers, tears welling up in his eyes before he could even fully process what was happening. “I-Is it really you?”

“It’s me,” Tadashi answers, looking a bit teary eyed himself, and, without even thinking about the consequences, Hiro launches himself at Tadashi, landing in his lap and wrapping his arms tightly around him, never wanting to let him go, only to find his hands wandering over Tadashi’s features--his arms, his hands, his face--trying to prove to himself that this was real, that Tadashi was really here with him. Tadashi was doing much the same, half laughing, half crying, stroking Hiro’s hair and kissing away the tears as they fell down his cheeks. 

“H-How?” Hiro whispers. “How are you here? “

“I don’t know,” Tadashi admits, shaking his head.”I-I don’t remember anything that happened to me after the fire... But I’m here, and I’m with you, and that’s all that matters.”

Hiro decides that questions can wait for later--all that mattered was that he had Tadashi back. 

“D-Dashi?”

Hiro suddenly remembers that he wasn’t the only one here who had a very good reason to be glad that Tadashi was alive.

“Fred?” Tadashi cries, looking up at Fred with what could only be described as joy in his eyes, and Hiro wisely chooses to move out of the way just in time to avoid being caught in the middle as Fred pulls Tadashi into a deep, passionate kiss. Maybe back in San Fransokyo his old self would have found this gross or made a joke out of it. But not anymore. This was something he’d been trying to get to happen for months, and it felt like his dream was finally coming true. Shiro and George--no, Fred and Tadashi!--were finally a couple, and maybe with this stupid curse gone, they could get married and adopt him so he could finally be away from Yama!

But wait. No, that wasn’t right! Hiro shakes his head. That was Niko’s dream, when he was stuck here, not Hiro’s dream! Hiro never would have dreamed of his older brother and his brother’s best friend getting married and adopting him! ...Would he have? More to the point, though: if a curse had somehow sent them here (and he couldn’t think of a more logical explanation at the moment), and it had indeed been broken--shouldn’t they be back in San Fransokyo? Shouldn’t they have gone back home?

Hiro feels a cold shiver pass through him. What exactly was going on here? And who would have the answers? 

“I have heard that there is a relief center being set up for those who are trying to find loved ones or who have questions about the curse,” Baymax pipes up, in the uncanny way that he had of almost reading Hiro’s thoughts. 

“Well, that sounds exactly like that place we should go,” Tadashi says, turning towards them, with Fred’s hand firmly wrapped around his own. 

“It does--maybe then we can bring some more information back to the others,” Fred agrees.

“Dashi, is it okay for you to leave the hospital, though?” Hiro asks a bit worriedly--he knew that Tadashi had been recovering, but he hadn’t left the hospital since being here!

“I can come with to monitor his condition,” Baymax offers.

“That would be great, thank you, Baymax.” Tadashi grins up at the other man.

“You are welcome!” Baymax replies, looking pleased to be of assistance. 

“Well... If Baymax is coming with us, then I guess it should be okay,” Hiro finally relents. 

“So, are we ready to go?” Tadashi asks, looking first to Fred and then to Hiro.

“Yeah,” Hiro agrees, taking Tadashi’s free hand as Fred continues to hold the other and Baymax begins pushing the chair forward. “I think we are.”

As long as he had his family and friends by his side, he was ready for whatever the future had in store for them.

((Random future story bit: The group running into Yama and Baymax giving him a good punch in the nose since Tadashi can’t stand to do it himself. “I no longer have programming, so I am no longer prevented from injuring a human being :)” (Protective Baymax is SCARY AF and also totally awesome!)))

[jimmypeakes]

ADAM DIMARCO? No, that’s actually JIMMY PEAKES from the GOLDEN TRIO ERA. You know, the child of BRANWEN PEAKES (NÉE GOYLE) and JEREMIAH PEAKES? Only 19 years old, this GRYFFINDOR alumni works as an AUROR IN TRAINING and is sided with THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX. HE identifies as CIS-MAN and is a HALF-BLOOD who is known to be IMPULSIVE, CARELESS, and IMPATIENT but also COURAGEOUS, ENTHUSIASTIC, and LOYAL. — &&. ( SAM, EST, THEY/THEM, 24. ) 

character parallels: gordon tracy ( thunderbirds ) + lorelai gilmore ( gilmore girls ) + sam wilson ( marvel comics ) + ron weasley ( harry potter ) + betty cooper ( archie comics ) + mike wheeler ( stranger things ) + anna ( frozen ) + legolas greenleaf ( the lord of the rings ) + donna noble ( doctor who ) + peter pevensie ( the chronicles of narnia ) !!

THREE HEADCANONS

— ❝ 01. Branwen Goyle was never a big fan of her family, and was out of the Goyle sphere of existence as soon as she finished Hogwarts. She ended up marrying a muggle man, Jeremiah Peakes, when she was around 25 years old, and had her first child two years later. She and Jeremiah ended up having a total of five children, all boys, and Jimmy is the second youngest out of them. He’s always kind of been the trouble-maker of the family, and though all of his brothers were over-achievers, he never felt any less proud of himself or that he had to compete with them. In fact, he’s a pretty easy-going person, and tends not to worry all that much. He’s fun to be around, and absolutely despises tension. He’s always trying to make light of difficult situations, and maybe sometimes cracks a joke when it’s not the exact right time. He’s been working on that, though, and can take things seriously. It’s like… He just needs a little something to help him grow up a bit more.

— ❝ 02. Jimmy Peakes does not have any problems finding people to date whatsoever. He’s very flirty, and quite agreeable to be around, and therefore, it’s quite easy for him to attract others. He’s pansexual and panromantic, and has never counted gender in the equation when it comes to romance or who he’s attracted to. He never really questioned his sexuality either. He always knew that he didn’t only like girls, and that whether they were girls or not didn’t matter to him. He first told his brothers he didn’t only like girls when he was seven years old. Like, just… Stood on the couch on Christmas day and announced he wasn’t straight. Which was a word he had learned thanks to the fact that Branwen and Jeremiah Peakes taught their children things about the world and had always made it clear to them that no prejudices would be tolerated. And as Jimmy tended to be a bit dramatic, of course he had to make a big announcement out of it.

— ❝ 03. Jimmy was a very active child, and still, to this day, constantly needs to be doing something. He’s a huge fan of flying and Quidditch, and that’s why he tried out for the Gryffindor team in his third (?) year. However, he always knew he didn’t want to take it to the professional level. Not only did he not have the patience to train as much as was necessary to become a professional, but he also didn’t think he’d be able to stand being only challenged physically, as he does love an intellectual challenge too. Sure, there are plenty of Quidditch players who are much smarter than him, but for him, personally, given the way he functions as a person, it wouldn’t work. He likes things that are more varied, which is why he ended up settling on becoming an auror. Not only was one of his heroes one, but also he couldn’t think of a better thing to do with himself than stop bad guys and save innocents. Plus, it presented a variety of challenges, both physical and intellectual, and therefore truly motivated Jimmy.

MORE

Has three older brothers and one younger brother, who I’ll definitely beg y’all to play hehe.

Yes, his family was inspired by the Tracy family from the Thunderbirds TV show(s) (and movie, though we don’t talk about that. I mean, I do love it, but I acknowledge the fact that it’s... Not the best.)

Definitely inspired by Gordon Tracy. Like, I’m not even trying to be subtle about it. For reference, though, my favourite is John. But Gordon is a close second. But actually, it changes a lot.

I do realize this turned into me just talking about Thunderbirds, but it’s my one (1) niche interest, and I will never ever shut up about it. I do apologize about that, though.

Loves classical music! Like, isn’t that into music in general, but he does really appreciate classical music. And like, he does enjoy music, it’s just not a passion of his.

Is going to be so into the year 2029 like how much things have changed? Amazing. And since his dad’s a muggle, he’s quite connected to the muggle world, so to see how things have evolved over there? WOW.

Probably was the kid who kept on trying to make muggle devices work at Hogwarts by tinkering with them, but then mocked/teased (I’m never sure what the difference between those words is; I should Google it probably) his younger brother when he brought a walkman (or whatever the equivalent of that was at the time) to Hogwarts.

Loves all things water related. Used to hang out a lot by the lake, and went swimming whenever he got the chance. He’s a very strong swimmer.

Kind of? Bad at dealing with emotions? Jake Peralta could also be a character parallel for him, honestly.

Has literally never interacted with his mother’s family, as they consider him and his brothers huge mistakes and stains on their reputation. Would fight a Goyle, 100%.

Would die for his family (his brothers, siblings-in-law and parents - maybe even niblings if someone who plays one of his brothers want said brother to have a child or children), no doubt about it.

His dad’s actually rich, so even though Branwen (Jimmy’s mother) got disowned, they never lacked of anything. Especially the newest technology and vehicles, as that was the field his dad was in. Please don’t @ me for all these stolen Thunderbirds ideas I am but a small, idealess Sam.

Plays Dungeons & Dragons with friends and (maybe - depending on the people who potentially play them) some of his brothers and plays a wonderfully chaotic neutral forest gnome rogue named Alvyn. No family name for Alvyn, because he’s just too cool for that.

( FOOD TW ) Is actually a somewhat decent cook.

Will most likely marathon a shit ton of old (but new for him) superhero movies in 2029. Because, yeah. He loves superhero movies. He prefers Marvel movies, but DC comics. Which is not at all inspired by my own taste. Not. At all.

+ ABOUT PAGE !! + PINTEREST BOARD !! ( coming soon ) + CONNECTIONS PAGE !! ( coming soon )

[notyourdeadgirlfriend-a]

//Questions for Muns of Canon Muses - 1, 4, 5, and 13

questions for muns of canon muses

1. what is the biggest headcanon deviation from the canon material that you have incorporated into the way you write your muse? why did you come up with it?

that maggie succeeds in killing barnabas is definitely my biggest change. tbh, i didn’t come up with this idea on my own (i was literally inspired to make this blog by this post) but i was immediately taken by the concept. maggie has always been one of my favorite characters, and it kills me how poorly her character was treated by the show after her kidnapping plot was resolved. 

now, i understand why the writers never killed off barnabas, and i acknowledge his importance both as a character and as the stroke of genius that saved the show from cancellation. but as a viewer, it’s maddening that maggie never got the justice she deserved. she’s had her memory of her kidnapping erased twice over the course of the show (which, again, i understand the choice despite not agreeing with it), but then after vicki leaves the show, she’s brought in as the replacement governess – a plot development that makes no sense and leaves the character with a drastically altered personality, as it’s clear that her role now is simply to fill in for vicki. but the greatest insult to injury is that from this point forward, the writers attempt to make barnabas/maggie a thing – again, completely disregarding her original characterization in favor of reducing her to vicki’s role, which had already been greatly diminished since the show moved from a jane eyre-esque gothic to an all-out spook show. after her flashback and subsequent second memory wipe, no mention is made of barnabas’ victimization of maggie ever again. it’s literally swept under the rug and forgotten about, even when maggie falls victim to another vampire.

tldr; maggie evans is an amazing character who deserved so much better, and my canon divergent blog is my attempt of sorts to redeem her later characterization and play her out as the badass that she is.

4. have you made any outright changes to the canon material in order to write your muse the way you wanted (entire scenes you chose to omit, chapters you say never existed, things you assume were never said, etc.)?

again, maggie killing barnabas is something that never happened in canon, but vampire slayer maggie evans is just too good of a concept to pass up. even the audios from big finish realized this – in bloodlust, maggie finally gets to stake somebody! it’s too bad that she’s still way too forgiving of barnabas, even though she remembers everything he’s done to her at this point. her hatred of barnabas is something i keep across all of my verses, up to and including my canon (when she regains her memory) and audio verses.

besides that, i can’t really think of many concrete examples on the spot, although i’m sure there’s other instances. as somebody else in the fandom once put it, dark shadows canon is like a choose your own adventure book. even canon contradicts itself (many, many times) and the show has several storylines taking place in actual parallel universes, so canon is honestly irrelevant as far as i’m concerned. i pick and choose what i like and leave out the rest.

5. what is an aspect of your muse’s canon material or canon existence that you never had the opportunity to explore but really want to?

maggie’s stints at windcliff sanitarium. she was committed there twice, once after the kidnapping, and the other after being attacked by the vampire roxanne drew. i feel that i don’t talk about it enough, and i’d love the opportunity to explore that part of her backstory. also, i really want to delve into her childhood – between her mother’s death and her father’s alcoholism, she dealt with a lot in her formative years. the audiobook clothes of sand goes into both of these aspects, and chronicles her first supernatural experiences with a character called “the sandman” – the memories of whom she has largely suppressed, but who has had a significant impact on her psyche nonetheless.

13. what canon character do you really wish your muse could interact more with?

WILLIE LOOMIS, hands down. he and maggie have such an interesting and tragic dynamic, and he’s the only one who can truly understand what she’s gone through (and vice versa). between the two of them, they share so much trauma. like maggie, willie’s also been screwed over by canon, although not to the same extent, and i’d love to write some threads in which they work through their trauma together.

besides willie, i’d also love to have maggie interact with angelique, carolyn, vicki, david, roger, amy jennings, julia hoffman, nicholas blair, tony peterson, any of the collinwood ghosts (josette, sarah, beth, rachel, daphne, jenny, trask), any of the characters from the audio series (especially kate ripperton, melody and mike devereux, jackie and rhonda tate, ed griffin) – as you can probably tell, i’d be thrilled to interact with ANY dark shadows character. but given how tiny this fandom is, i feel blessed just to have a quentin and now a barnabas!!

[plumbobpost]

Fanfic Friday: Spotlight on Skell’s Fortune & Romance

Sul sul!

Today Week of Woohoo continues with a very special twist. I have had the opportunity to ask Skell a few questions as part of a new series of posts about storytelling in The Sims community.

Skell’s Fortune & Romance serves as a prequel to the Pleasantview and Strangetown storylines in The Sims 2 from the perspectives of the Caliente sisters, hence the title which references their aspirations. Her story takes place in the time period between the first and second games and fills in the gaps between the contradicting timelines of The Sims, The Sims 2, and The Sims 3. Although the story is largely from Dina’s perspective, it features most of the iconic The Sims 2 characters ranging from Olive Specter to the Tricous to Bella and Mortimer Goth, establishing its own vivid mythology in the process.

In addition to writing, Skell has also created beautiful Maxis-Match content for The Sims 2 and is a frequent contributor to the Totally Maxis Tumblr and the fansite Garden of Shadows.

Without further ado, I’ll let Skell speak for herself.

You’ve said in the past that Fortune & Romance started out as your attempt to make sense of Maxis canon for the premade characters of Neighborhood 1, Pleasantview, and Sunset Valley. How did this evolve from your personal headcanons into a full-fledged story?

“I had played TS2 off and on for years before I was part of the fandom, mostly just goofing around but I had a lot of fun taking pictures and experimenting with posing. One day I discovered Strangetomato’s “Strangetown Here We Come” on TVtropes and was amazed at the way she fleshed out the premade stories from the game. Through her comment section, I discovered the whole fandom and started paying better attention to the premades. Eventually I came up with a backstory for Dina that I really wanted to write and share.”

Why did you choose Nina and Dina Caliente to be your protagonists? Did you ever consider different lead characters?

“It was always gonna be Dina because I was intrigued her backstory with the mysteriously inconsistent Michael Bachelor and the fact that she’s part alien. I wasn’t as interested in Nina until I noticed that she was shy (like me in RL) and also autonomously beating people up all the time. That’s when I realized she was gonna be a co-star and balance to Dina’s antics.”

Instead of ignoring Maxis’ characterization of Dina as a gold digger, you embraced it and made it a focal point of her character. Similarly, you fully acknowledge Nina’s romance aspiration while not making her a heartbreaker. How did you find a balance between their implied “villainy” in The Sims 2 and making them more sympathetic characters?

“I enjoy classic movies where Marilyn Monroe or Thoroughly Modern Millie is like “teehee I’m gonna marry a millionaire,” and it’s quirky rather than villainous. In those stories, she usually falls for a poor guy and chooses love over money (and often he turns out to be secretly rich.) Since Michael didn’t give her a “married a rich sim” memory, I wanted to write Dina the gold-digger as a modern version of that kind of story.”

“Maxis kind of setup Romance sims for “villainy” by not allowing for casual or open relationships, but of course that can be fixed with mods. With Nina, it’s interesting that she doesn’t really fit the “outgoing party girl” type. I think of her as a quiet person with a very intense energy. She needs lots of exercise and woohoo so that she doesn’t explode.”

There are a lot of unconventional relationships in your story. Nina and Servo. Olive and Ichabod. The Tricous. Even Dina and Michael. That being said, there is very definitely a theme of “love conquers all.” What motivated your approach to these relationships? How does that relate back to your attempts at reconciling Maxis canon throughout different games?

“I have a thing for mixed supernatural relationships. Dina and Mike bonding over their hidden supernatural heritages was always key once I figured Michael had a magic side. I knew I wanted to have Nina be intimate with a servo because that’s HAWT, but I didn’t foresee how intimate things would get until I figured out Servo’s character. The Tricous’ happy polyamory was my explanation for all the weirdness going on with their relationships and family tree. And I wanted Olive, Ichabod, and DJ make up this very loving and weirdly “normal” Unholy Family.”

Speaking of reconciling Maxis canon, you created your own version of Michael Bachelor in order to match his appearance in The Sims better and to create a resemblance between him and his famous sister, Bella Goth. Why do you think Michael was depicted so differently throughout the first three games? What did you draw inspiration from in creating “The Ultimate Michael Bachelor?”

“I think it mostly comes down to them wanting to use a familiar name for Bella’s brother/Dina’s husband in TS2, and carrying that forward. In TS3, I saw a boy who had his life all planned out for him by his father. In my headcanon, he screwed that all up and became the graduate of TS1 who had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. His relationship to Bella is the reason why he’s still single by the time he reconnects with Dina, who helps him find direction.”

There is an abundance of strong female characters in F&R, some of which were not originally portrayed that way. Why did you feel that it was important to write them as such?

“Well, because I’m a proud “SJW,” of course! But seriously, it’s less about being strong and more about seeing them as people?”

^Best answer that I could have asked for.

A large portion of Fortune & Romance is dedicated to the mythology of The Sims universe(s) and to supernatural sims. How did you go about the process of world building? Did you draw inspiration from different games in the series and/or from outside sources?

“My biggest worldbuilding is the explanation of where the supernaturals came from. The fairies are sort of fallen angel types who each have an animal form, and their magic rubbed off on human sims to create the supernatural life states.”

“I try to base the worldbuilding off things in game or aspects of game play. The fairy backstory was heavily inspired by fairy tales, in the way they morally test humans for punishment or guidance.”

Aside from premade supernatural sims such as the Smiths, Calientes, and Summerdreams, how did you go about deciding which premade sims were supernatural and which weren’t? How did you decide what life state they were?

“Bella has that awesome bio about being descended from “occultists, decadents, and mystics,” but then in TS3 the Bachelor family is uber-normal, so it eventually became that Jocasta is a squirellier version of Samantha from Betwitched.”

How has Fortune & Romance evolved since you started? Are there things you would do differently if you were to restart it?

“I was such a younger, different person when I started it, and yes there are many things I would do differently. (Michael’s skintone, for example. I tried to split difference between games with a custom skintone in between S2 and S3, but everyone assumes he was whitewashed to S2.)”

“When recreating families for TS4 I came up with a backstory for Dulcinea and Nestor’s relationship as well as a backstory for Don that explains how he got to be the way he is. I still can incorporate these things, but it would have been nice to bring them in earlier.”

With your story having reached a climax, many readers are wondering whether or not F&R will come to an end sooner rather than later. Not to spoil anything, but will the story continue after the party and if so, do you intend for it to last until the events of The Sims 2?

“I never intended for it to last until the events of TS2 because then it would be really depressing. There is more stuff planned for after the party though!”

Aside from writing Fortune & Romance, you have also created a variety of Maxis-match custom content. Why do you prefer working in this aesthetic? How do you feel it complements your writing?

“The game is cartoony, and I like to use that style to tell the story. I prefer to keep things heightened and silly rather than realistic, which very much fits into The Sims aesthetic.”

Speaking of Maxis-match, you have been working on a project for The Sims 2 that involves adapting Maxis-based custom content to blend in better with the game files. Would you mind elaborating a bit on The Maxis Match Repository Project?

“The TS2 repository project is made up of conversions/separates/or otherwise adapted Maxis which pull their textures from the ones that are already in your game, rather than creating new ones. This makes the files much much tinier. I also wanted to create a catalog where you can easily find it all in one place rather than hunt all over the internet. Check it out and don’t miss out on the gems in the back of your catalog!”

You’ve played every main game in The Sims franchise, and you’ve even made some very popular 2t4 recreations of the Calientes and Michael Bachelor. Do you have a favorite game for playing? Creating sims? Making Content? Building?

“I enjoy a lot of things about TS4. The game looks great and CAS and Build Mode are the best of any game. My favorite aspect is making sims, especially that you can share sims with traits/careers/skills so they have their own little story packaged with them. However, it is much more difficult for storytelling since there’s not even a way to pick up sims and move them around.”

“TS2 is still the best as far as premade sims go, and it’s the only one I make content for. I’m a bit of a control freak with my sims, and TS2 has been mastered by fans at this point where you can have ultimate control.”

Why do you continue to play The Sims? Do you feel that the games provide a creative outlet?

“I always loved playing with Barbies as a kid and The Sims really is the ultimate dollhouse. The first time I ever heard about TS1 I knew I HAD to have it. My aunt bought it for me while I was on vacation, but I couldn’t play it until we got home! During the car ride back home and I read that manual from cover to cover multiple times, so many ideas buzzing in my head.”

Any parting comments, teasers, spoilers, public service announcements, etc.?

“I’ve been on hiatus a long while and am just now getting back into the swing of things. I’m currently working on finishing up the chapter I started posting on Tumblr but never finished. It was FreddyAirmail who got me back in the TS2 spirit by asking me to help out with the Crystal Springs neighborhood project. It’s a community hood with houses based on each of the Stuff Packs, and I made the families for Teen Style and Family Fun!”

Thanks again to Skell for answering my questions. To those of you out there who aren’t familiar with her work, go check out her Tumblr and make sure to catch up on Fortune & Romance.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to visit my ask box. If you are interested, give Plumbob Post a follow, and reblog for anyone else who you think would enjoy this blog. Stay tuned for upcoming posts!

Dag dag!

 *Photo Credits go to Skell*

[marvelandponder]

DEAR GOD... IT’S COMIC-CON

Welcome, one and all, to the biggest Pony news day of the year! 

For those of you who maybe haven’t been following the fandom closely around Comic-Con in previous years, the community has come to expect news, clips, animatics, even full trailers! Lucky for those of us without the necessary pocket change, every spoilerific tidbit is live-blogged for our enjoyment by our friends at Equestria Daily, and the clips released afterwards online by Hasbro.

So, expect spoilers below the break with commentary and hyper fangirling! (Note: This post will be updated as clips and more news come out)

NEWS! CLIPS! SOME OTHER THIRD THING!

My Little Pony: The Movie

Two sneak peaks and a SONG were shown! I’ll update the post when they’re released online. There was also an intro video to the panel where the cast of the movie talked a tiiiny bit about their characters (we’ll hopefully see that online, too).

The song was sung by Rainbow Dash and Captain Celeano (the pirate birb), and it’s a song called “Time to be Awesome” sung to the pirates to rally them into rebellion against the Storm King.

Sneak peek #1 was about the mane 6 leaving Equestria for the first time heading south, and sneak peek #2 was about the Storm King using some kind of potion to essentially video chat with Commander Tempest.

They couldn’t spoil too much more of the movie after that, but the panelists were prompted to use one word to describe something about the movie:

“"Broken." "Musical." "Spongecake." "One small thing." (Okay, Pinkie.) "Therapy." (Aw, 'Shy.) "Not a big enough par--" "Granny, how'd you get here?" "Flushed," said Rarity. "Windmill," says AJ. "AWESOME." "Festival," Ms. Sparkle.” (from EQD)

Here were a few screenshots and pictures displayed at the MLP Booth

My Little Pony Season 7

Surprisingly, they didn’t show off any real clips for season 7 or reveal much info at the panel, but if you’ve been following pony news in the past few days (AND Friday night!), we got some stuff that’s really exciting!

So, we’ll get the old stuff out of the way first: if you don’t know, we have most of the summaries for season seven and you can read those here. Season 7 part 2 is set to premiere August 5th with two amazing episodes, Discordant Harmony and The Perfect Pear. With Fame and Misfortune on the 12th, Triple Threat on the 19th, and Campfire Tails airing on the 26th!

That last one is especially important, because we now know it’s going to tie into the first arc of the Legends of Magic comic line!

There’s two short trailers with action-y clips out already:

and an extended version:

But even more than that, we know the Legends of Magic comics tie into the finale, as well!!!

The 7th issue of Legends of Magic, set to come out in October, “ties into the finale” and with an Avengers-like storyline to boot: “You’ve met the most legendary ponies in Equestria’s history… now find out how they first came together to battle an unstoppable evil!”

Exactly how that story ties into the finale remains to be seen, but this is the most well-integrated the show has EVER been with its comic line. Oh, and as someone whose been following the Legends of Magic comic line and getting more and more invested (it’s one of the best arcs they’ve ever done), I can say that you won’t need to read the comics to enjoy and understand what’s going on.

It’s excellent, top-quality bonus material that tells you stories after the important ones that are talked about in Campfire Tails, but both the comics themselves and it seems the episodes of the show will be able to stand on their own.

Oh, and for the record: season 8 was confirmed long ago (as was Discord’s inclusion), but a few days ago Daniel Ingram teased that he was working with a very talented singer for season 8. So, there’s a lot on the horizon!

UPDATE: This isn’t from Comic-Con per se, but the news just dropped about the episode titles for the last three episodes of the season!

Episode 24: Uncommon Bond Episode 25: Shadow Play Part 1 Episode 26: Shadow Play Part 2

Now here’s what’s cool about the season finale title (aside from the fact that it’s just objectively cool): there’s a few options for who that could be.

A few days ago Discovery Family announced the second half of the season, in which they described a few things:

“Throughout the second half of the season, Pharynx learns that love is a strength and not a weakness, Twilight Sparkle battles the Pony of Shadows, famous author A.K. Yearling teases a new novel, the Cutie Mark Crusaders learn that nothing is impossible with courage and strength, and much more!” (x)

The identity of which is still a big mystery...

Equestria Girls

No actual news for EQG, I’m afraid, but they did make some jokes in the Q&A portion that CONFIRM MY DAMN HEADCANONS SO I’M TAKING IT AS CANON UNTIL PROVEN OTHERWISE YOU CAN’T STOP ME

Q: Any chance Celestia is Sunset Shimmer's mother? Meghan: There is NOW! We may need you to sign some papers.

VALIDATION! SWEET, SWEET VALIDATION!

OKAY, BUT IF YOU KNOW ME YOU KNOW THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER-LIKE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TEACHERS AND THEIR STUDENTS IN THIS SHOW GIVE ME LIFE.

Q: Why doesn't Twilight write to the Princess anymore? Tara Strong: She uses email. She's a great texter. I dunno. Meghan McCarthy: That's my fault, that we stopped doing that. We felt she evolved as a character and her relationship with Celestia was changing, so she didn't have a need to update her in that way. Mike Vogel: More time to spend with her daughter, Sunset.

THEY ACKNOWLEDGED IT. EVEN IF IT WAS A JOKE, THEY ACKNOWLEDGED IT.

Also, there are three kinds of people in this world, apparently.

Q: Is Sunset ever going back to the pony world? Meghan McCarthy: ... yes. Mike Vogel: For a three-day weekend.

To visit her mom, obviously...

Q: Will Discord change if he goes through the portal? Meghan McCarthy: Oooh. He would change. That's just science. Cathy Wesluck: All his parts would just fall off.

So Discord would actually change going through the portal. Into what, we may never know, but at least we know he’s not immune.

It would be funny if his multiple parts just changed into different parts, though. Like, the translation process is still one-for-one, so he’s basically the same structure with different animals.

UPDATE: And for those wondering, it’s been confirmed that there’s more EQG on the way by Big Jim on Twitter:

We know for a fact there’s at least two new music videos coming out sometime this year because they were leaked in Russian, but at least we know there’s more EQG beyond that in 2018!

IDW Comics

In addition to the crazy things going on with the Legends of Magic line, IDW previewed a few pages from the Movie Prequel line of their comics: this time, Captain Celeano!

Much like the Legends of Magic comics, these seem to be smaller stories that give us a little background on the new characters, but won’t be necessary reading for the movie.

There’s also not a ton of reports out about what was actually said during the panel, but that might be because IDW had other brands to focus on presenting (Star Trek, Transformers, etc.).

Overall + Other Convention News

So, that’s about it for SDCC 2017, and we got a few great things, but if that wasn’t enough to whet your appetite, don’t worry too much.

Hasbro’s first ever convention, HasCon (... yes that’s really what they went with), is set for September 8th-10th with a panel line-up that already has me drooling:

The Voices of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Have you ever wondered what it's like to be the voice behind a pony? Straight from the pony's mouth, learn about what it takes to bring iconic characters to life with just a script and a mic.

From Ponyville to Canterlot High – History of Equestria Girls Join master storyteller, screenwriter and lyricist Meghan McCarthy as she shares the inspiration behind Equestria Girls and gives a peek at what adventures the Equestria Girls are going on next. Be the first to see the new product line and hear first hand from the Equestria designers as they share how they bring to life our Mane 7 ‘s unique personalities!

My Little Pony Designer Q&A Join members of the My Little Pony design team as they take you on a journey through four generations of pony product. Designers will answer questions, giving a behind-the-scenes look at how they have made their (cutie) mark on My Little Pony and proving that you're never too old to play with ponies.

The Making of My Little Pony: The Movie Join master storyteller, screenwriter, and lyricist Meghan McCarthy as she shares her experience in creating the first feature film for My Little Pony. Find out how the Mane 6 inspired her to discover the importance of teamwork and friendship along the way. Includes an exclusive sneak preview of the film!

First Look at My Little Pony Season 8! The adventures of the Mane 6—Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack—continue with the 8th season of the beloved My Little Pony Series in 2018. Renowned storyteller, screenwriter, and lyricist Meghan McCarthy will join fans to present the first look the Season 8 premiere exclusively at HASCON!

And yes, I realize the irony of putting this section into a post about SDCC, but I do it for a good reason. Normally, SDCC is the biggest Pony news day of the year, but that’s just not the case now that Hasbro can dedicate 45 minutes EACH to the main show, Equestria Girls, and the Movie!

This is especially important (and relevant to this post) because the decision to make the SDCC MLP panel just about the movie was a last minute thing. They had things about the remainder of season 7 and EQG that they were prepared to share, but were probably told to hold off on it because of HasCon.

So, I just wanted to let you know this won’t be the last post like this this year, and that there’s even more exciting news on the horizon.

If you need more pony RIGHT NOW (which is my constant state of being), you could always take a look at my editorials or episode reviews! Here, have an end slate because pretty pictures:

Daybreaker Editorial, LGBT+ Editorial, and Trailer Analysis

Or see the whole year’s selection of stuff right here:

Year of the Pony