#right??? they’re SUCH interesting characters and there’s so much cool shit to explore about them

[stealingyourbones]

I actually ended up in in the DPxDC fandom (and extension now, also the DC fandom) because a friend got me into Danny phantom.

Fun fact. Your posts were actually the first DPxDC content i encountered (one of the first few I encountered was you and your twin talking about your chemistry teacher). So I want to thank you for helping me discover this community.

Also my favourite DC characters are Alfred pennyworth and John Constantine.

Alfred is sassy, sarcastic and he absolutely makes the best cookies you can't convince me otherwise.

And Constantine is sassy and sarcastic and also just a very fun character overall.

There's just something so intriguing about characters who try to push everyone else away (especially out of fear of hurting them), but at the same time are so desperately in need of the love and affection they deny themselves.

John is in desperate need of someone who will warmly embrace him and tell him that it's ok, that he's done enough, that he deserves happiness. But he's too broken of a man to let anyone get close enough to him for long enough for that to happen, instead opting to push everyone away as soon as possible.

As you can see, I like Alfred and Constantine for very different reasons XD.

.

[inkpot909]

Falling for an Oblivious Reader Headcanons

↳ Characters included are Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli. Gender neutral Reader with they/them pronouns.

A/n: Exploring these guys’ inability to spit it the hell out was extremely fun. What a couple of disaster men.

Warning(s): None.

Johnny Joestar

At first, he’ll wonder if he’s just out of practice.

Johnny’s never been interested in someone so oblivious they miss every little hint or flirtatious remark he throws their way. Having been a famous jockey, people used to flock to him; he hardly needed to even try.

But by the time of the Steel Ball Run, he hasn’t been with anyone romantically in a good while. He could count how many years since, but he would rather not keep track.

And you’re not exactly making things easy for him.

Going about your day looking the way you do… and then having the audacity to not pick up a single signal from him (Or anyone else for that matter). Honestly, it should be illegal.

Johnny’s natural instinct, unfortunately, is to immediately assume he’s not what’s clicking. Lord, am I… not being obvious enough? he often wonders.

It’d be one thing if you wanted to outright reject him; he can handle rejection (No, really, he can). It’s just the way the horse gallops sometimes.

But you don’t even seem to notice at all and that’s what’s so frustrating to him.

Just thinking of it can make annoyance fester inside his mind. Gyro throws him a knowing look whenever it’s visibly getting to him; to you it just seems like his mood spikes at random.

His annoyance isn’t directed at you, of course, but at himself (As much as he outwardly blames you, it’s really just a front).

Has he really lost his ‘skills?’ Did the passing years make him completely forget how to flirt with someone? Gyro seems really keen on telling him that’s the case.

And Johnny is nothing if not contrarian to everything Gyro says.

The guy is bending over backwards, doing anything he can do to try to impress you. All while Gryo is not-so-subtly ragging on him over it in the background.

“Quit it! For the love of God-“

“Awe, c’mon Johnny, it’s not like they’re noticing anyways!”

Johnny hates how right Gyro can be.

He’s metaphorically tripping over himself left and right, feeling like he’s at the same level of a clueless middle schooler desperately trying to seem ‘cool’ in front of a crush. Gyro’s damn near crying of laughter at his struggle to make you get it…

But all you do is just stand to the side. Smiling kindly, and blinking without an ounce of procession of his actual intent behind your pretty eyes.

Agony… Johnny Joestar is in pure agony… you’re lucky he finds you cute.

You’re so frustratingly oblivious he can’t even tell if you might like him back, and at this point he’s honestly just trying to get a read on your feelings before he spells it out for you bluntly.

Such an approach is needed with you, apparently.

It’s around this time too that he realizes… Holy shit, they’re really just that oblivious.

Someone else approached you at a bar during one of your numerous stops during the race. Both Johnny and Gyro knew exactly what they were getting at the moment they walked over, a sly smile presented on their face.

All while you sipped from your drink, your expression and tone of voice so casual one might assume your simply discussing the weather.

Johnny isn’t ashamed to admit he felt a sense of pride as the person ultimately walked off, giving up.

Luckily for you, Johnny is not.

You’ve stolen his heart so completely without even trying… he can admit to himself it’s a beautiful thing- if he detaches himself from his own frustration.

He’s going to keep trying to get you notice; try to get a read on however you feel about him. Even if it takes him the entire Steel Ball Run to do so!

And, yes, it does take that long.

Gyro Zeppeli

So what, you didn’t notice the first time he winked at you? It was real sunny out that day- the light probably shined in your eye and made you miss it.

Whatever, if his first flirtation or two ultimately fell on deaf ears. Statistically speaking, not every line is going to land the way he wants.

Who cares if his apparent interest in you is obvious to literally every one other than you? It’s your loss, to be honest.

Not that he really cares.

And you know what? He doesn’t care so much he’ll snap at Johnny for bringing it up. He’s not bothered by it… so why does the guy feel the need to mention his failed attempts at showing interest? Really, it’s just a little annoying the jockey thinks it matters to him at all.

… it should go without saying that he does not handle the frustration well at all in the beginning.

He won’t necessarily blame himself.

He is aware of his own ability to flirt, and his past has granted him a sense of confidence in it. Gyro’s certainly the forward type, and knows that.

Yet, everything he says or does seems to go right over your pretty head. It’s a not a notion meant to flatter you either- one he keeps to himself with pouted lips and arms crossed.

It’s a rather childish anger directed towards you, but it doesn’t last too long.

Eventually, he also comes to the (Begrudging) conclusion that he really cannot blame you. Gyro realizes this around the same time he figures his liking of you goes far deeper than a casual fling.

And if anything, he’s going to start directing his frustration towards the people in your past.

Clearly, no one’s really hit on you before… or worse, something happened to you that made you think no one ever would- so thick-headed in that belief that you don’t even perceive it.

It’s in Gyro’s nature to let his mind ponder the ‘why’ behind your obliviousness- especially when he thought he was being so obvious about it.

Either possibility makes him want to find whoever contributed to your inability to pick up a signal, grab them by the shoulders, and shake them violently.

But with time, he’s going to find it endearing (Not that he’s ever admit it out loud).

Look at you… riding your prized horse as if you’re not the most beautiful person in the Steel Ball Run. And the smirk doesn’t at all falter even when the three of you stop at a dingy town for the night.

“I’ve had three strangers walk up to me since we entered the saloon… the people in this town are so friendly!”

“Y/n, dear, they’re all trying to hit on you.”

“What? No way! They just wanted to talk about the race over a drink or two. One of them said they had gin from France up in his hotel room. Can you believe that? Sounds delicious, right?”

“… good lord, Y/n.”

It’d be funnier if he wasn’t another trying and failing to flirt his way into making you open your damn eyes.

At some point, Gyro just has to spit it out.

It comes during the climax of one of the race’s many stopping points. It’d been looming over his mind for weeks, and if someone were to ask him (Okay, if Johnny asks him) he would bitterly grumble that it’s been affecting his scores.

His logic behind doing this at specifically that point in time… flawless.

How are you going to blissfully remain in the dark if he’s shouting his confession at you from the finish line in front of a large group of confused onlookers?

They just wanted to see the race… not one of the top contestants with a heavy Italian accent declaring his love for you while damn-near standing on top of his horse.

[storygremlin]

I have just discovered the offensive reality of straight people A/B/O through Bridgerton fanfics—truly a misogynistic patriarchal reinforcement of gender stereotypes that horrifies me to my soul.

Straight people should not have access to this trope, they have no concept of how to use it. Like, if you’re determined to do a “family legacy” thing for the Bridgertons, they’re all horny Omegas looking for love.

However, if we’re being more INTERESTING with it:

Simon/Daphne should be Beta/Omega, and you could use Simon being a Beta to play into his daddy issues.

Kate/Anthony is Alpha/Alpha, anyone who tries to make Kate an Omega is out of their fucking minds. Also, that is a woman who wants to fuck her husband, let’s be so for real.

Penelope/Colin would be the actual Alpha/Omega dynamic but Pen is obviously the Alpha. Colin wants to be good for her SO BAD. I don’t make the rules. (Except I DO and I’M RIGHT).

John/Francesca are a couple of autistic Betas who just want the crazy Alphas and Omegas to leave them out of their messy drama so they can be quiet nerds together.

As for Eloise and Benedict, there’s a few options.

Eloise as an Alpha or Omega can be used to explore how that effects her as a woman in 19th century regency who feels like she SHOULD be able to do the same things as her brothers but is restricted either bc she’s a girl (Alpha) or bc she’s an Omega, and how that’s affected by her internalized misogyny (against omega girls for example). Could also contribute to her and Pen’s friendship dynamics—if she’s an Alpha, as a bonding point for not quite fitting, but if she’s an Omega you can make it a like she thinks Pen being an Alpha is cool/is envious of her.

Benedict I feel like you could argue for any secondary gender and make it interesting, cause that’s the kind of character he is. But I think most interesting would be making him a Beta to really play into the way he’s trying to find his place without having a set role in his family.

Have I put way to much thought into this? No, I literally came up with this as soon as I thought about it, it’s so easy and way more interesting than “the boys are alphas and the girls are good little omegas bc i hate queer people and prefer to write boring uninteresting worlds and dynamics and fetishize terrible gender stereotypes”.

The only way ur allowed to use A/B/O for het couples is if ur messing with the secondary gender shit. Otherwise it just feels inherently misogynistic and homo-and-transphobic to me.

[pinazee]

Black and Tan: A Crime of Fashion

The MELANIE LYNSKY episode! (Or at least thats what i call it. upon seeing her on screen for 0.2 seconds i knew she was going to get pretty big. She’s such a phenomenal actress.) I honestly lowkey shipped her with shawn. She was so sweet and i feel like it brought out some of the sweet in shawn too. Shes also a character i wish would come back one day, like they do a murder mystery movie and they’re on her yacht or something idk shes really good friends with them all still, they could make it happen :)

Lassie has given up. He has resigned himself to his fate that Shawn will always be up in his shit for the rest of eternity.

LOOK HOW MUCH FUN DULÉ IS HAVING HERE! OHMYGOD HE FUCKING KILLED ME IN THIS EP!

why am i surprised he knows the name of the model in downtown Santa Barbara and is a huge fan? Im starting to see why Gus is single. He gets way too obsessed, but also, Shawn wasn’t kidding when he told that one chick he was willing to change everything about himself. This also adds a nice layer to Gus’s character because we see part of him wants that exclusivity and prestige. He wants to feel like someone others admire, which is brilliantly contrasted with Shawns more down to earth not really caring what others think vibes.

And speaking of contrasts, i love this bit; not only because its funny, but because it feels like a great metaphor for how shawn and gus approach life. Gus is trying so hard to win and Shawn doesn’t care and the outcome is the same.

And i think its so funny whenever Gus gets so obsessed with whatever world their exploring hes pretty much useless and Shawn has to be the rational one.

Every once in a while psych will do this POV shot in shawns perspective thats not being used to point out a clue and i think its really cool. I wish they would have done some more like it because its such a great way to show how shawns constantly aware of his surroundings even when he’s not on a case.

And this was brilliant! It has to be one of the best psych-outs in all of of Psych! Fucking legendary!

And this was brilliant too!

I felt so bad for shawn, playing middle man between henry and karen (which is the most unprofessional thing shes done haha), but it gave henry and shawn one of their best scenes at the end when henry is practically begging shawn to understand, like you can almost sense that he wants to confess right there that it was maddie who abandoned the family not him (or maybe im seeing that because i know its the truth. 🤷‍♀️) and shawn just doesn’t want to deal with it. Its interesting that henry was dragging shawn into it though, like he was using it as a way to see if shawn was okay with it now, cause otherwise he could have asked his friends right? It didn’t have to be shawn.

Honestly it shouldn’t have been. He knew it made him uncomfortable and he kept telling him to stop asking, but like always henry pushed it.

(Oh and also this kind of adds to the mystery of how well karen and henry know each other because she seems keenly invested in it, plus, when her friend told her he left a message she said that sounded like henry. So she must know him well enough that she can say this casually. Sidenote: that moment karen opens the door and Shawn looks horrified was priceless!)

Lastly, its interesting that shawn is proud to have never been in therapy when his mom is a psychologist. I feel like she would have instilled in him a better understanding of what therapy does and that its not something to be ashamed of. Likely the writers just hadn’t figured out maddies profession yet, but still.

P.S Everyone look at his jaw!

[xnchxntmxnt]

Hello there!

This is less of a request and more of a brainrot ask (feel free to write about it tho, would be fun to see 👁👁) because I’ve been lurking in the shadows and I think you’re super cool and wanted to talk to you

In short, what do you think would happen if the karasuno volleyball team (faculty included) got isekai’d into teyvat?

For example, they’re in the bus, ready to go to a training camp. Everyone except the driver falls asleep and the driver makes a turn into a grass-land, expecting to be there in a few minutes.

But they don’t

After the panic settles down everyone gets off the bus and they’re for example, in winerise. How would they continue?

(Ps. I’m kind of losing fume and I’m getting sleepy so feel free to add you own thoughts!!!)

omg so i was going to react to this forever ago bc I loved the idea but then I was like. i need to have more brain cells to respond to this to accurately explain my thoughts. and then I forgot.

ANYWAYS im here now <3

i dont work with isekai aus often because i didn't really. know what they were for a while but I figured it out alright. i don't know why I don't google it but its a pride thing at this point

i think they should get thrown into the world, visionless and defenseless. let's say they get thrown into mondstadt just cause that's my fav region. they end up in windrise and right next to that hillychurl camp to the right of the tree and tanaka wants to go fight the mitachurl but gets held back by the collar by ennoshita okay he's not stupid enough to let him go

theyre just standing there, figuring out where the hell they are

honestly. i think they end up running into a knight or adventurer (also confused as to what they're wearing) and escorts them to the city

unpopular opinon: NOTHING happens

i dont mean nothing at all but like. them being there doesn't break the entire world as it is its just. mundane but in such a FUN way

i dont think anyone in particular ends up with a vision but I think suga and takeda would be very interested in learning how it works. daichi or asahi has to stay with the 2nd years at all times to make sure noya or tanaka aren't harassing jean (she deals with enough shit actually). both pass out when lisa low key flirts w them (shes just messing with them tho its not anything crazy)

ukai? good buds with diluc and charles and the angel's share after a while. hinata LOVES timmie and is a tcg GOD. befriends diona doing that

yachi and kiyoko spend a lot of time in the knights library with lisa chatting and eventually join the adventurers guild part time and go take some commissions once in a while together. sometimes takeda tags along to make sure they're safe (he doesn't do much)

tsukki and yamaguchi also become tcg gods and end up meeting a few people through that, and really want to explore around some of the other nations, so they make a field trip and go south to liyue. chaos ensues there and hinata falls in love w beidou (not in a romantic way just in an appreciation way) and is excited about becoming a pirate

i have so many thoughts. there's so many and I think their relationships with each of the characters would be so FUN. everyone knows them as the weird squad of guys that isn't really from anywhere but everyone appreciates anyway

[ofgentleresolve]

MUN AND MUSE QUESTIONS ♡ ( MYUNGDAE. )

List 5 of your muse’s favourite sensations.

The sound of Nell’s fingers typing on her keyboard.

The taste of coffee from Alfred’s coffeehouse.

The sight of pigeons taking flight only to return.

The smell of lilies of the valley.

The warm touch of a beloved one against him.

Do they have any pet peeves?

For someone who can be difficult to be around ( aka there are just not a lot of environments that he feels comfortable in or can even tolerate ), he doesn’t actually have that many…mostly because he tends to zone out if he’s not in Black Knight mode so he wouldn’t know :’D

That being said, people who like to scare off the pigeons for fun is probably one. He also hates analog clocks and especially the sound of ticking clocks, but that’s less of a pet peeve and more of a legitimate fear.

Their comfort read? (could be a book, magazine, comics, etc)

Greek and Roman mythology of any kind- he devoured them both in secondary school and has now returned to them because they’re familiar to him, he knows what happens, and therefore that makes them safe. It’s the reason when the university asked him what literature he specializes in, he picked Greek and Roman Mythology because he knows them both like the back of his hand.

If the book they are reading turns out to be shit, do they push through  just for the sake of finishing it, or do they move on and find something else?

Myungdae barely reads anything that isn’t related to his classes so even if he does like the book he’s currently reading, he might forget to come back and finish it 😢 that being said, if the book he is reading isn’t that engaging, he’ll probably just drop it and find something else to do ( when the brain fog isn’t kicking in :| ). it does frustrate/upset him though not being able to put the energy into finishing everything he read because that’s what he used to be able to do and now?? he can’t even summon the willpower to even start a book :’(

Their comfort tv show / film

He doesn’t watch a lot of tv shows/films because a lot of media has content that makes his body shut down…that being said, Nell has dragged him over for a Jane Austen movies/series marathon once and he quite enjoyed it <3

A song that is currently stuck in their head? (or multiple)

Mmmm, he’s not really a music person. Do the sound of feathers ruffling or birds/duck sounds count tho?

The next three questions are for you. do you have anything special in common with your character.

Thankfully, I do not have many similarities with Myungdae because bruh, he’s been through a lot, I promise you, my life is much stabler <3 that being said, this is going to intersect with Patrick too, so we both work in academic settings although I work more in administration- he’s a teacher.

We’re good at keeping a cool head in the face of crisis.

We’re also both very content to stay in the background and do our own thing.

What brings you the most joy about writing this character, right now?

I don’t know if I can say writing him brings me joy necessarily since he’s really going through the wringer and that hurts…BUT I will say, it is very interesting to me to be able to write and explore this version of him since in his main verse, he’s much more stable, a very tranquil person in essence….whereas here I get to see what happens if that tranquility is taken away. How does he react to that, how does he cope with it and essentially how does he move forward?

That, and of all of my characters, he ( Patrick ) seem to bring out the most ‘literature’ side of my writing if that makes any sense…whereas say someone like Mana and Lam would be more direct, straight to the point, Myungdae tends to be more…roundabout, elegant, one might say ( although simplicity doesn’t mean it’s not elegant ), I think a better comparison is he speaks the way you might expect an orator would. Sophisticated. Makes me wish I could write like that in my writing outside of Tumblr :’D

Who would win in a fight, you or them?

Hands down, Myungdae, but if I did win, I’d then have to go through at least two, three more people, you know who you are :’)

Any advice from your muse?

“You will have to make a choice. Choose wisely and do what is right...but don’t forget there will be people affected by your decision. They may be hurt by what you do; still see it through to the end.”

tagged by: you know, someone probably has....i also just felt like filling it out :’D tagging: steal it because i stole it but also.... @phantombs​ @gwyynbleidd​ ( bc i saw u on mi dash....do for katara?? ) @eternasci​ @wellfell​ <3

[thetriggeredhappy]

yeah, no worries, i’m aware!

the short answer is that within human rights conversations (in particular in regards to conversations about jewish issues, both culturally and politically) we might occasionally hear the term “dogwhistles”, generally talking about how hate groups and extremists, knowing that overt hate speech or direct discussions of their goal of eradication and suppression will be met with the normal and appropriate level of disgust and rejection by the general populace, will code their language and/or try to find ways to subtly nod to their fellow extremeists without breaking TOS on any given platform or alerting the other people around them to the insidious shit they’re trying to pull off. this is widely known to be A Thing That Hate Groups Do in our cultural sphere, which has the unfortunate but understandable and inevitable side effect of making people very suspicious whenever people are unclear or fail to be specific and vocal about the things they stand for and believe in. this is a case where i’m concerned that it’s possible the person asking was trying to gently field where i stand on a few issues right now.

the long answer is long.

to get into that long answer and elaborate a little more on why i feel the need to be more specific now than i might have been previously, i started writing Taking Shots, oh, i dunno, six years ago? 2018 or so? if this is the first anyone is hearing of it, yes, antisemitism and fascism in general have been a problem in the internet sphere of culture for quite some time. i decided i wanted to include a few discussions of diversity in Taking Shots peripherally to flesh out the world more since i had the option of adding in so much flavor text with a setting we don’t explore at all in the comics or source material, and having sniper and spy as central characters in a context that’s already talking about religion (the christmas special) felt like a good time to organically explore these conversations about judaism and religion and spirituality and holidays and that sort of thing.

and now the year is 2024 and the vibe in the room is going to be a little bit different when i have the jewish characters talking about their culture and opinions on traditions, because there’s going to be the question in the back of some readers’ minds of, “oh, god, i hope this isn’t a zionist dogwhistle”.

this is something i earnestly think about a lot. there’s a point where i most likely won’t be bothered if someone chooses to interpret me in bad faith. i’m aware that the person who sees me writing spy and sniper shaking hands and going “being jewish is great! we have a beautiful and diverse culture!” and starts telling the newspaper that i think the palestinian genocide is fun and cool is, in the kindest interpretation possible, deeply misguided about how to help other people, and that their opinion is misinformed. but that doesn’t let me off the hook and mean i can just sort of… back away slowly to avoid anyone ever possibly getting mad at me. i value my integrity, and i value how my actions (or inaction) and words (or silence) impact people.

i think that there’s nuance, and i understand that i need to exist somewhere on the gradient between “making a banner that lists all the hot button topics and a few extra ones and my stances on all of them so people don’t have to worry about me being one of The Bad People and a pinned post where i read every individual hate group i can think of the riot act and tell them to leave me alone��� or “so vague and avoidant about world issues or politics or current events, so completely allergic to the idea of talking about things that might sort me into either Minority or Oppressor, that it comes across as dogwhistle-y and deeply suspicious because it clearly takes a lot of work that could instead be put into caring about these things”. i’m also not interested in making this space one that i use for social justice and awareness, and i don’t think anyone else is interested in that being what i do here either. there are other people perfectly qualified to do that work and maintain those spaces, and they do. someone who wants to engage with short essays or articles about human dignity will likely find themselves doing that, and not here where i do my thing. because that’s not really what we do here.

the thing i do here is write stories and make art. in a lot of those stories and art, i engage with these social justice discussions by framing things with compassion and empathy. my earnest hope is that a reader in good faith would be able to gather my stances on topics, diversity in particular, by reading the things i’ve made and seeing the way i conduct myself and the way i engage with other people. i’m not scared of being direct, or of sharing my opinion outside of the stuff i make, but i’m aware that it’s a different metric entirely by which to judge people, to see what they say in defense of themselves rather than in what they do, what they make, what they clearly care about when their moral character isn’t the topic of discussion.

i limit what i do here by a pretty wide margin. in my life offline, i engage plenty with humanitarian issues. probably the one most identifiable to people around me is environmentalism, but there are others, these things tend to be intersectional. i try to contribute to causes in ways outside of media influence and ‘raising awareness’ in whatever metric you might use for that. this space is just a different thing, to me.

but it is important to be transparent. it is important that the vulnerable people engaging with the things i make can do so without being nervous that i have ill intentions.

nuance. i dunno. i don’t think there’s a singular correct answer. i think there’s instead a series of choices we all make, over and over, where we’re always trying to do what we think is the right thing.

refusing to be vulnerable enough to share my earnest opinion on this feels, itself, like bad faith engagement. i want to have enough integrity and accountability to overcome that sometimes. this is a conversation i know i’m going to keep having every single day and every single time i make something and share it with people and i’m not scared of that.

i don’t ever want to reach the point where i need to share huge swathes of my personal life and identity to ‘justify’ my ‘right’ to have conversations about [insert culture or minority status or identity here]. i don’t even really love sharing things like my specific gender identity markers or first name or age, for (again) personal reasons. at a certain point there needs to be good faith engagement from the viewer as well.

none of this was even the question.

i wanted to specify my stance on palestine since i’m aware that it’s inevitably going to come up sometime soon once i start having the characters talk about jewish culture since that’s at the forefront of a lot of people’s minds. i’m aware that it’s probably over-cautious, i’m fine with taking the risk that i come across as clumsy. i’m specifying less because i’m worried about bad faith interpretation and more because, even if i’ve explicitly mentioned my stance on antisemitism, it’s still probably been a while, and fascism is a persistent, creeping thing that needs to be chased away actively with a broom and a spray bottle.

thank you for your concern. i hope this has helped.

Hello! I really liked the recent chapter you posted. I'm excited to see more :]

Do you mind elaborating on Spy's jewishness? It's a very fun headcanon and I'd like to learn what you think about it ^_^

sure! first of all 🍉🍉🍉 to be clear

sniper and spy are the only two who i’ve explicitly stated as jewish within the text, i think, and likely the only two for whom it’s going to come up super frequently, but i also do think that tony’s wife theresa is jewish, as is collin’s wife lily, and i don’t think any singular one of them is the classic Monolith To Represent An Entire Culture Singularly.

i imagine spy was somewhat heavier on tradition for himself, more orthodox, follows kosher, that sort of thing, and that if his family were still physically present enough to be part of his life they would be absolutely flabbergasted that he married an irish catholic woman and even more flabbergasted at how chill she is about it. i imagine spy is a pretty private guy but went out of his way to stay in contact with the judeo-french community in boston. this would’ve been around, like, ~1940 or so? the O’Connell family i always believed to be closer to South End, which was historically a cultural hub in the city. him being part of espionage efforts as a teen throughout the 20s means that he had a pretty unusual immigrant experience for that reason, but i thought it was more interesting to sort of keep spy more grounded in reality compared to the team fortressing of the rest of the peripheral landscape. some of the older boys who remember when spy was around remember how hard spy and ma worked to celebrate the holidays for both catholic traditions and french jewish traditions, and archie for example has tried to pass that on to his own kids as well.

sniper meanwhile i have grounded as kind of the ‘my family is jewish but um y’know not in the way that people hate’ brand ‘palatable immigrant or different culture trying not to take up space in a place that is not necessarily friendly to outsiders’ story. his mum and dad were the only jewish people in their relatively small community by the time sniper was a young boy and they really did try to keep up traditions, but it’s hard when you have no outside support to help reinforce that stuff. sniper has a (relatable) internal sense of being both an outsider to the predominant culture while also not feeling confident enough in it being ‘his culture’ to make any claims for himself. i imagine that if he could meet some of spy’s old buddies in boston and connect a little more with the diaspora he would be able to start feeling more of that pride and connection, but as it is he’s caught between dodging antisemitism and denying a culture that does matter to him but in a way that’s difficult to verbalize and not often asked about.

i think spy and sniper might bicker about it at times in later chapters, next chapter in particular. scout’s ma is definitely going to make at least one more comment about scout getting married to a nice jewish boy though. that trope in media about east coasters is just too much of a staple to pass up.

[knowlesian]

ofmd is an alternate history and fractured fairytale at once and i am going FERAL ABOUT IT.

the alternate history part is fairly self-explanatory; things did not go as planned/why and what if it weren’t like that are the guideposts they set in the first episode. ofmd takes place in a world of made up moths, a new name away from being just like the moths in our world, where crown royal bags are shovel covers, people wear crocs and funky little crop tops and pinocchio was available in print in 1717. 

these aren’t mistakes or goofs: these are purposeful narrative choices. they’re not trying to be historically accurate, but rather to create their own alternate world where shit happened when and how the writers want it to.

the fractured fairytale bit needs a moment of explanation, just in case anyone isn’t familiar with the concept.

a fractured fairytale is essentially a deconstruction of a classic fairytale. they’re usually absurdist, they use a narrative structure or story/characters people are familiar with to tell a new story with a lot more nuance and a more modern worldview, and at their best they provide a thoughtful critique of whatever they’re attempting to deconstruct.

in a fractured fairytale, you might have an exterminator named, i don't know. sal, who has a thick brooklyn accent and is fucking sick of getting called out here to deal with this ant problem and not getting paid, lady. he doesn’t say nothing about the weird little graveyard out back or the rotating cast of kids in the oven, but he draws the line at convincing a bunch of singing ants to march their happy asses away from a cottage MADE OF SUGAR for the third time this month. cast a fuckin’ no-munch spell or pay up, & etc.

you get the picture. fractured fairytales, much like their source material, also usually operate on the Rule of Cool. things happen because it makes the story best, not because linear time or real world logic must be factored in. (unless factoring it in for a second would be coolest, like when you want to do some tender brow mopping while a wound heals: then it’s allowed.)

which brings me to the part i like best.

most alternate histories tend to ask ‘what if things were worse’. that’s not the entirety of the genre; some also ask ‘what if things were different’, but there’s not a whole lot of ‘what if things were better’.

especially not for marginalized groups.

i see a lot of utility and catharsis in narratives exploring pain, whether that’s just depicting real life or investigating how things might have gone worse. my issue isn’t with their existence so much as the wildly skewed ratio, and that for where i’m at right now in life i’m painfully aware life can get worse. i know that because over my lifetime, in many ways it has. not all the ways! but enough that political pessimism (never my chosen or instinctive mode) is currently unavoidable if i want to acknowledge reality and fight back instead of sticking my head in the sand.

all that means that i am very interested in art that says: i am not here for straight-up escapism so much as i am a celebration of defiant and sometimes angry hope for better in the face of genuinely shitty odds.

the thing about landing a dart on the proverbial dartboard o’ marginalization is that you move through life knowing the world is not for you. the ways in which that plays out change depending on how many darts any of us land and where we land them, but in some way we are always, always being reminded that we exist outside the mainstream and are allowed in on sufferance and promises of good behavior.

it’s why we can’t say ‘hey, get your fucking boot off my fucking neck, who the fuck raised you’ without getting scandalized pushback for a lack of civility. ‘please, person i know is good and kind and i am not in any way angry with, would you kindly take your foot away from the spot where you have placed it? i can happily wait another five to five hundred years, of course, but i would so like to not be down here’ is how you have to word these things, or you get called angry. or crazy, or stupid, or lying— the point is, people like us so rarely get to win, and we have to be so, so nice about the shittier realities of our lives if we want to be as effective as possible when trying to get people to listen up and knock it off.

ofmd doesn’t deny the more horrifying aspects of colonization and empire exist and hold sway in the world they built. they just refuse center them or make the trauma/tragedy the point, but instead use these glimpses into a harsher reality to craft absurd and emotionally real situations, alongside characters who get to not give a single fuck about how the world thinks they should be acting and are not punished by the narrative for being themselves.

(this does not mean bad things will not happen to beloved and/or authentic characters: it just assures them the eventual win, and means the narrative doesn’t end up enforcing a bleak set of rules that unconsciously assume to push back against the status quo is to be eventually ground down or broken in some fashion.)

this is why lucius could never have been actually dead: it breaks the show, on a fundamental level. and shows a lack of thoughtfulness and intentionality, neither of which really ever seems to be an issue for this team.

this is why nana is great with pronouns but judgey about a lack of murder, and why jackie and jim have a drink instead of fighting it out, or why stede isn’t angry about ed’s pirate face/off plan and ed comes back to knock boots just in time.

it’s about the Rule of Cool, yeah, but it’s about more than that. it’s about looking the realities of a shitty world and shitty behavior in the eye and saying, but why can’t we imagine better? we can so, so easily imagine worse. why is it so hard to think: what if people were kinder and more honest? what if you got to exist in a stacked system where you are the one it’s stacked against and still win?

and then it’s also about deconstructing pirate (and colonizer) narratives and fucking around in the murky waters of identity and finding solidarity and how to live out solidarity in the first place and a million other things silly and serious and on this day, the day of our rainbow capitalism overlords FINALLY GETTING THEIR SHIT TOGETHER

i am very, very glad this show exists. because fuuuuuuck me running, did we need a win right now.

[steveharrington]

this is like a super specific question but are there any dynamics that you don’t usually read/write fic for but like only if they’re written in a super specific way? like for example i could like stoncy but i don’t seek out fic for them because nobody ever resolves the s2 drama in a way that feels satisfying to me (or fair to everyone). i know you mostly focus on platonic/just like general character analysis type stuff so this applies to that as well, i was just wondering if there was anything you haven’t read/written but want to explore sometime in the future

oooo fun question and i am pretty picky about what i read so there’s probably a Lot if i compiled a list over time but for right now off the top of my head i’d say….i think the concept of nancy and robin becoming friends gradually over time and working out their differences could be really interesting if done in a very specific way. i don’t really buy nancy and robin as insta-besties (and i know the show like. attempted to give them conflict at first. but it was such a weak attempt i don’t count it) but i don’t think they’d outright hate each other either. there’s like a fine line i think they’d walk for awhile where they kinda start off on the wrong foot and maybe have not the best impressions of each other until slowly through like the forced proximity of being on the same monster hunting team they start to work through their shit. and i kinda feel the same about steve and jonathan even though my past fics don’t really reflect how i feel about them now LMAO but i also think they’d need a long gradual coming together to be friends just because of all the weird history between them, and like you said it isn’t often resolved.

ALSO! i think it would be cool to have eddie interact with will, but i think it’s kinda…..boring (sorry 😭) to have eddie just instantly take will under his wing and have him become like the practical co-president of hellfire and be a nurturing older brother figure etc etc. to me that just doesn’t reflect their personalities! eddie isn’t a natural big brother figure, even with dustin! he’s not like warm and nurturing!! he’s bossy and intimidating!!! and will “is that why you don’t have any friends?” byers might not be so readily down with eddie’s whole aesthetic yknow he has his own style and his own preferences and idk i feel like just because they’re both gay everyone is like oh so they’ll automatically be best friends and eddie will want to mentor him :) which….to me…….simplifies their feelings and identities way too much. like this automatic assigning of will to eddie as His Mentee is so random to me. idk that was a tangent sorry and to be clear i’m not like hating on anyone who likes/writes those stories, i just think it would be interesting to see a different take on it where they retain some of the distinct differences they have!

[scared-aquarius]

me very aggressively complimenting the signs

Aries- You have so much passion for the things and the people you care about that it is SICKENING. You’re so goddamn DETERMINED to meet your goals it is absolutely fucking admirable. You were BORN to be a leader whether you’re leading others or taking control of yourself. You’re not afraid to do what needs to be done because you have the fucking strength. You bring people TOGETHER. You have BIG SHORT PEOPLE ANGER ENERGY and it will get you FAR. You WILL accomplish the things in life by continuing to be your CONFIDENT and BADASS SELF. FUCK

Taurus- You are the definition of a RELIABLE HUMAN BEING. You are the rock that so many people need in their lives. You’re so fucking devoted to any task thrown your way. You make life problems YOUR BITCH. You do this by enduring all the garbage that gets thrown at you and wading it out sometimes based on pure goddamn stubbornness and you come out the other side with a BIG BAG OF ACCOMPLISHMENT and a MIDDLE FINGER IN THE AIR. Even when you want to give up you DON’T because you’re a responsible PIECE OF SHIT with GLITTER ON TOP and I love that.

Gemini- FUCK GEMINI HATERS. Some may call you two-faced, real ones know you are ADAPTABLE. You are fucking CHAMELEONS. You were the person in high school who had friends in ALL different friend groups. You are truly a gentle person with a curious heart, do you fucking hear me. You have the ability to reach so many people with your WIT and CHARM. You’re not afraid to take off your mask in front of people which makes you that much more RELATABLE. PEOPLE AREN’T ONE-DIMENSIONAL SO YOU SHOULDN’T GET FLAK FOR IT. Direct me to the Gemini haters, let me roundhouse kick them real quick. 

Cancer- You have the BIGGEST HEART and your ability to make others feel comforted in their time of need is EXQUISITE. Those closest to you know you will defend them to your LAST BREATH because you are loyal as fuck. The way you can find even the smallest things to be important or sentimental is VERY TOUCHING. You’re like a $100 8 oz piece of medium rare filet mignon covered in a sugary honey garlic sauce, SWEET and TENDER, SHIT. You can empathize with just about everyone, even those who have wronged you because you really are just that fucking PURE.

Leo- I would very much LIKE TO BE AROUND YOU. Not only do you know how to light up a room but you can FUCKING keep my ATTENTION. You absolutely know how to dominate a conversation, teach me how, you are a goddamn NATURAL. The CHARISMA, it OOZES, sometimes when you don’t even realize. You are the person others go to when they need a good cheering up. You know how to make a person laugh under any circumstance, you fucking wizard. If you were in a movie you’d be the hot one and also the comic relief and also the main character who everyone loves, holy SHIT

Virgo- You very much should receive the RESPECT that you fucking DESERVE. You put in the WORK, bitch, you know how to fucking GET SHIT DONE, bitch. People may misunderstand you for being cold, but in reality you just know how to put your own feelings to the side in order to do the task at hand, and do it with PERFECTION, because you are so fucking detail-oriented, you never miss a single fucking BEAT. You would be the person to find a cure to the zombie apocalypse in less than a fucking week. You can get things right even on your first try because you’re EXTREMELY FUCKING CAPABLE.

Libra- You aren’t afraid to put your faith in others and THAT is what makes you so fucking LIKEABLE. You are humble while still remaining STRONG and true to WHO YOU ARE. People fucking love you because you know how to view a situation from all sides because you have an OPEN MIND and an OPEN HEART. It is truly disgusting how amazing and rare that is, you fucking gem. YOU GODDAMN PERSONIFICATION OF GRACE. How are you able to fight for the things you believe in all while remaining sympathetic to all, it’s beautiful. YOU ARE FUCKING LOVED, UNDERSTAND THIS. 

Scorpio- You are the person who your friends would go to when they need to get rid of a body because you’re that fucking TRUE and FAITHFUL to the people you LOVE. Not only would you get rid of the body, you’d also know how to do it with 100% certainty you’d never get caught because you’re so damn resourceful. Is this morbid as shit? MAYBE, but you don’t care because you’re the FUCKING COOL ONE. You are a FIERCE BITCH who people close to you LOVE and your enemies should FEAR. Never underestimate yourself because you have the PASSION and the CUNNING to get through all fuckery. 

Sagittarius- If I had to sit on a 30-hour long flight with someone, it’d be you because you would be SO FUCKING FUN TO TALK TO. You truly do not give a SHIT what other people think about you and it allows you to speak your mind freely, it’s so fucking amazing. Your love to travel and learn new things makes you INTERESTING as FUCK and you know how to put anyone in a good fucking mood. You make people feel INCLUDED. Your thirst for adventure is CONTAGIOUS, I would like to explore the inside of the earth with you, fucker. You are a prime example of WALKING the FUCKING WALK.

Capricorn- You know how to get the most out of literally ANYTHING, if you were given enough popsicle sticks and glue you could probably build a second fucking Golden Gate Bridge. You KNOW what you want and you know how to fucking get it. Your mind is SHARP AS FUCK. You have so much discipline and self-control you could probably become Lord Commander of the ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD and you’d be fucking GOOD AT IT. You are a goddamn force to be reckoned with in both your personal and professional life because you take yours AND others' mistakes and learn from them, it’s fucking BRILLIANT.

Aquarius- The world is your fucking OYSTER, BITCH and you are ready to mold it into what it needs to be. You are CREATIVE, you are INNOVATIVE, you are a fucking VISIONARY. People love you because they know you give a shit about them because you SHOW them. You don’t fucking tolerate those who hurt others and people ADMIRE YOU FOR IT. You aren’t afraid to be your own fucking person and that spans from how you think to how you act to how you look. IT’S ABSOLUTELY FUCKING ALLURING. You help others feel comfortable in their own skin when they’re around you without you even REALIZING. 

Pisces- You are a GODDAMN PIECE OF ART. You are the type of person who would fucking die to save a stranger. You are deeply connected with your emotions and because of this you are able to create ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE FUCKING THINGS, not to mention it allows you to really connect with others. People from all different walks of life get drawn to you because you’re SO FRIENDLY. WE ALL WANNA BE YOUR GODDAMN FRIEND. You see the beauty in the mundane. Describing a personality like yours would turn into fucking POETRY. YOU ARE A SOFT PIANO SONG.

[teamfortresstwo]

You 🤝 Me

God exists and they’re a preteen girl.

OOOH hot damn that’s some sweet sweet trauma! I appreciate making the towns folk reasonable in their concerns, when most stories would just make them some nebulous bad people without any good motivation.

OOoOooOoOh. I love you characters who fuck with time… How did some of her early travels go? (Did she get lost? Was she ever stuck in a loop/create paradoxes on accident? Did time lecture her about it afterwards?) also :0! How does the crystal ball work? How did Time make it? Does it have any special physical features? How does Alouette train her powers and will she ever be able to make artifacts like that?

OOOOOOH THATS SO FUCKING COOL… time just?? Gave her its eye???? Damn… also how dare you make a character that’s THIS perfectly tailored to me… fucking with time, having body parts of a god on them, AND having more than the normal amount of limbs?? SAY LESSSSSS

OOoOoOoH that’s a really interesting limit to her power! I wonder if she still sees the person acting after their death, if there’s any signs of that not being real or if it’s really a perfect replica. And I wonder how she sees that at all.. it’s so interesting your universe and world building, I am eating it so hard rn.

OHHHHHH THATS SO COOOL. Gives off like. Mechanism’s Rose Red vibes. Absolutely tragic. Seconds away from creating an oc in your universe that’s just one of these little puppet freaks i love them soooo much.

Oh?? A little godling who works for the impress? I wonder why, is it a parental thing? Is it for their amusement? Is it a power/worship thing? Do they have a deal going? What’s constellations relation to time?

Oh so it’s constellation’s “faith”, that’s an interesting word choice… it’s always a fun idea when the roles are reversed between mortals and gods, and it’s the god who’s in almost reverence for a person. Cant wait to see how you explore that relationship!

Hunt down and kill?! Jesus, that’s brutal… sounds like my kind of time! I wonder how this effects the gods as a whole, as well as their acolytes, and how this affects the group of people doing the hunting. Most of all, I’m curious as to how Stella is going to take the news when she realizes “oh fuck I’m a godling.” And “oh fuck am I on my friend’s hit lists??” Or if she already knows, how she deals with hiding it.

OOoOoOoh a thousand year race. That sounds fucking awful and tragic. I loveeee that. But also, god grave yard… is that the only way in which gods die? Could coming so close to death change Stella’s perspective on murder and life? Is that where Alouette found time, or was it just hanging out somewhere going hot god shit?

OOOOOOH THATS SO FUCKING SAD- when they die do all their puppets go with them? Do they ever dehumanize themselves because of their new body? Are they ever afraid of losing their own agency? Do they ever feel guilt about the way they treated puppets before?

Ooooooh, so they live but switch bodies? Inch resting. (Always love me a body hoppin murderer with weird ties to gods and immortality.)

oooOoOOoOoOh I want that drama so bad. The manipulation! The way in which they use people so effortlessly! (I wonder if that ties into their role a puppet master.) good god I cant wait to see how the family reacts to being used, the angst potential in that is sooooo <33

Okay so Arceli (I think?) stops being mortal at some point, right? And gods are just hubris filled ultra powerful humans right? AND she’s shown to basically hate most gods outside of her friend, RIGHT? So how does she react? Is she also hunted down? Is she sent to the void realm or are most gods on their side at that point? Does it take away bits of her humanity when she ‘ascends’ so to speak, or is it just a power up?

OOOOOOH REBIRTH DEITY WITH FIRE AND PHEONIX MOTIF ILY THATS SOOOO CLEVER WHAT THE FUCK? Also she got out of the dead zone?? 👀👀

Willow and Arceli both have kind of a rebirth theme going on, with the body hopping and the literally being marked by the rebirth deity… Could this be symbolic of how Willow keeps being reborn, but Carrie’s her friends and memories with her throughout? (Or something similar?)

ooOooOoh. Are there any draw backs to possessing Sam? Is it like a phantom limb feeling for Stella’s entire body? Does it feel like it’s asleep? Is it difficult to control/hazy/difficult to keep thoughts? What’s it like to be Sam for them?

The uncontrollable urge to just turn my characters back into cats strikes again

[army-of-mai-lovers]

in which I get progressively angrier at the various tropes of atla fandom misogyny

tbh I think it would serve all of us to have a larger conversation about the specific ways misogyny manifests in this fandom, because I’ve seen a lot of people who characterize themselves as feminists, many of whom are women themselves, discuss the female characters of atla/lok in misogynistic ways, and people don’t talk about it enough. 

disclaimer before I start: I’m not a woman, I’m an afab nonbinary person who is semi-closeted and thus often read as a woman. I’m speaking to things that I’ve seen that have made me uncomfy, but if any women (esp women existing along other axes of oppression, e.g. trans women, women of color, disabled women, etc) want to add onto this post, please do!

“This female character is a total badass but I’m not even a little bit interested in exploring her as a human being.” 

I’ve seen a lot of people say of various female characters in atla/lok, “I love her! She’s such a badass!” now, this statement on its own isn’t misogynistic, but it represents a pretty pervasive form of misogyny that I’ve seen leveled in large part toward the canon female love interests of one or both of the members of a popular gay ship (*cough* zukka *cough*) I’m going to use Suki as an example of this because I see it with her most often, but it can honestly be applied to nearly every female character in atla/lok. Basically, people will say that they stan Suki, but when it comes time to engage with her as an actual character, they refuse to do it. I’ve seen meta after meta about Zuko’s redemption arc, but I so rarely see people engage with Suki on any level beyond “look at this cool fight scene!” and yeah, I love a cool Suki fight scene as much as anybody else, but I’m also interested in meta and headcanons and fics about who she is as a person, when she isn’t an accessory to Sokka’s development or doing something cool. of course, the material for this kind of engagement with Suki is scant considering she doesn’t have a canon backstory (yet) (don’t let me down Faith Erin Hicks counting on you girl) but with the way I’ve seen people in this fandom expand upon canon to flesh out male characters, I know y’all have it in you to do more with Suki, and with all the female characters, than you currently do. frankly, the most engagement I’ve seen with Suki in mainstream fandom is justifying either zukki (which again, is characterizing her in relation to male characters, one of whom she barely interacts with in canon) or one of the Suki wlw pairings. which brings me to--

“I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!” 

now, I will admit, two of my favorite atla ships are yueki and mailee, and so I totally understand being interested in these characters’ dynamics, even if, as is the case with yueki, they’ve never interacted canonically. however, it becomes a problem for me when these ships are always in the background of a zukka fic. at some point, it becomes obvious that you like this ship because it gets either Zuko or Sokka’s female love interests out of the way, not because you actually think the characters would mesh well together. It’s bad form to dislike a female character because she gets in the way of your gay ship, so instead, you find another girl to pair her off with and call it a day. to be clear, I’m not saying that everybody who ships either mailee or yueki (or tysuki or maisuki or yumai or whatever other wlw rarepair involving Zuko or Sokka’s canon love interests) is nefariously trying to sideline a female character while acting publicly as if she’s is one of their faves--far from it--but it is noteworthy to me how difficult it is to find content that centers wlw ships, while it’s incredibly easy to find content that centers zukka in which mailee and/or yueki plays a background role. 

also, notice how little traction wlw Katara ships gain in this fandom. when’s the last time you saw yuetara on your dash? there’s no reason for wlw Katara ships to gain traction in a fandom that is so focused on Zuko and Sokka getting together, bc she doesn’t present an immediate obstacle to that goal (at least, not an obstacle that can be overcome by pairing her up with a woman). if you are primarily interested in Zuko and Sokka’s relationship, and your queer readings of other female characters are motivated by a desire to get them out of the way for zukka, then Katara’s canon m/f relationship isn’t a threat to you, and thus, there’s no reason to read her as potentially queer. Or even, really, to think about her at all. 

“Katara’s here but she’s not actually going to do anything, because deep down, I’m not interested in her as a person.” 

the show has an enormous amount of textual evidence to support the claim that Sokka and Katara are integral parts of each other’s lives. so, she typically makes some kind of appearance in zukka content. sometimes, her presence in the story is as an actual character with layers and nuance, someone whom Sokka cares about and who cares about Sokka in return, but also has her own life and goals outside of her brother (or other male characters, for that matter.) sometimes, however, she’s just there because halfway through writing the author remembered that Sokka actually has a sister who’s a huge part of the show they’re writing fanfiction for, and then they proceed to show her having a meetcute with Aang or helping Sokka through an emotional problem, without expressing wants or desires outside of those characters. I’m honestly really surprised that I haven’t seen more people calling out the fact that so much of Katara’s personality in fanon revolves around her connections to men? she’s Aang’s girlfriend, she’s Sokka’s sister, she’s Zuko’s bestie. never mind that in canon she spends an enormous amount of time fighting against (anachronistic, Westernized) sexism to establish herself as a person in her own right, outside of these connections. and that in canon she has such interesting complex relationships with other female characters (e.g. Toph, Kanna, Hama, Korra if you want to write lok content) or that there are a plethora of characters with whom she could have interesting relationships with in fanon (Mai, Suki, Ty Lee, Yue, Smellerbee, and if you want to write lok content, Kya II, Lin, Asami, Senna, etc). to me, the lack of fandom material exploring Katara’s relationships with other women or with herself speak to a profound indifference to Katara as a character. I’m not saying you have to like Katara or include her in everything you write, but I am asking you to consider why you don’t find her interesting outside of her relationships with men.

“I hate Katara because she talks about her mother dying too often.” 

this is something I’ve seen addressed by people far more qualified than I to address it, but I want to mention it here in part because when I asked people which fandom tropes they wanted me to talk about, this came up often, but also because I find it really disgusting that this is a thing that needs to be addressed at all. Y’all see a little girl who watched her mother be killed by the forces of an imperialist nation and say that she talks about it too much??? That is a formational, foundational event in a child’s life. Of course she’s going to talk about it. I’ve seen people say that she doesn’t talk about it that often, or that she only talks about it to connect with other victims of fn imperialism e.g. Jet and Haru, but frankly, she could speak about it every episode for no plot-significant reason whatsoever and I would still be angry to see people say she talks about it too much. And before you even bring up the Sokka comparison, people deal with grief in different ways. Sokka  repressed a lot of his grief/channeled it into being the “man” of his village because he knew that they would come for Katara next if he gave them the opportunity. he probably would talk about his mother more if a) he didn’t feel massive guilt at not being able to remember what she looked like, and b) he was allowed to be a child processing the loss of his mother instead of having to become a tiny adult when Hakoda had to leave to help fight the fn. And this gets into an intersection with fandom racism, in that white fans (esp white American fans) are incapable of relating to the structural trauma that both Sokka and Katara experience and thus can’t see the ways in which structural trauma colors every single aspect of both of their characters, leading them to flatten nuance and to have some really bad takes. And you know what, speaking of bad fandom takes--   

“Shitting on Mai because she gets in the way of my favorite Zuko ship is actually totally okay because she’s ~abusive~” 

y’all WHAT. 

ok listen, I get not liking maiko. I didn’t like it when I first got into fandom, and later I realized that while bryke cannot write romance to save their lives, fans who like maiko sure can, so I changed my tune. but if you still don’t like it, that’s fine. no skin off my back. 

what IS skin off my back is taking instances in which Mai had justified anger toward Zuko, and turning it into “Mai abused Zuko.” do you not realize how ridiculous you sound? this is another thing where I get so angry about it that I don’t know how useful my analysis is actually going to be, but I’ll do my best. numerous people have noted how analysis of Mai and Zuko’s breakup in “The Beach” or Mai being justifiably angry with him at Boiling Rock or her asking for FUCKING FRUIT in “Nightmares and Daydreams” that says that all of these events were her trying to gain control over him is....ahhh...lacking in reading comprehension, but I’d like to go a step further and talk about why y’all are so intent on taking down a girl who doesn’t show emotion in normative ways. obviously, there’s a “Zuko can do no wrong” aspect to Mai criticism (which is super weird considering how his whole arc is about how he can do lots of wrong and he has to atone for the wrong that he’s done--but that’s a separate post.) But I also see slandering Mai for not expressing her emotions normatively and not putting up with Zuko’s shit and slandering Katara for “talking about her mother too often” as two sides of the same coin. In both cases, a female character expresses emotions that make you, the viewer, uncomfortable, and so instead of attempting to understand where those emotions may have come from and why they might be manifesting the way they are, y’all just throw the whole character away. this is another instance of people in the fandom being fundamentally disinterested in engaging with the female characters of atla in a real way, except instead of shallowly “stanning” Mai, y’all hate her. so we get to this point where female characters are flattened into one of two things: perfect queens who can do no wrong, or bitches. and that’s not who they are. that’s not who anyone is. but while we as a fandom are pretty good at understanding b1 Zuko’s actions as layered and multifaceted even though he’s essentially an asshole then, few are willing to lend the same grace to any female character, least of all Mai. 

and what’s funny is sometimes this trope will intersect with “I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!”, so you’ll have someone actively calling Mai toxic/problematic/abusive, and at the same time ship her with Ty Lee? make it make sense! but then again, maybe that’s happening because y’all are fundamentally disinterested in Ty Lee as a character too. 

“I love Ty Lee so much that I’m going to treat her like an infantilized hypersexual airhead!” 

there are so many things happening in y’alls characterization of Ty Lee that I struggled to synthesize it into one quippy section header. on one hand, you have the hypersexualization, and on the other hand, you have the infantilization, which just makes the hypersexualization that much worse. 

(of course, sexualizing or hypersexualizing ANY atla character is really not the move, considering that these are child characters in a children’s show, but then again, that’s a separate post.) 

now, I understand how, from a very, very surface reading of the text, you could come to the conclusion that Ty Lee is an uncomplicated bimbo. if you grew up on Western media the way I did, you’ll know that Ty Lee has a lot of the character traits we associate with bimbos: the form-fitting pink crop top, the general conventional attractiveness, the ditzy dialogue. but if you think about it for more than three seconds, you’ll understand that Ty Lee has spent her whole life walking a tightrope, trying to please Azula and the rest of the royal family while also staying true to herself. Ty Lee and Azula’s relationship is a really complex and interesting topic that I don’t really have time to explore at the moment given how long this post is, but I’d argue that Ty Lee’s constant, vocal  adulation is at least partially a product of learning to survive at court at an early age. Like Mai, she has been forced to regulate her emotions as a member of fn nobility, but unlike Mai, she also has six sisters who look exactly like her, so she has a motivation to be more peppy and more affectionate to stand out. 

fandom does not do the work to understand Ty Lee. as is a theme with this post, fandom is actively disinterested in investigating female characters beyond a very surface level reading of them. Thus, fandom takes Ty Lee’s surface level qualities--her love of the color pink, her revealing standard outfit, and the fact that once she found a boy attractive and also once a lot of boys found her attractive--and they stretch this into “Ty Lee is basically Karen Smith from Mean Girls.” thus, Ty Lee is painted as a bimbo, or more specifically, as not smart, uncritically adoring of Azula (did y’all forget all the non-zukka bits of Boiling Rock?), and attractive to the point of hypersexualization. I saw somebody make a post that was like “I wish mailee was more popular but I’m also glad it isn’t because otherwise people would write it as Mai having to put up with her dumb gf” and honestly I have to agree!! this is one instance in which I’m glad that fandom doesn’t discuss one of my favorite characters that often because I hate the fanon interpretation of Ty Lee, I think it’s rooted in misogyny (particularly misogyny against East Asian women, which often takes the form of fetishizing them and viewing them only through a Western white male gaze)  

(side note: here at army-of-mai-lovers, we stan bimbos. bimbos are fucking awesome. I personally don’t read Ty Lee as a bimbo, but if that’s you, that’s fucking awesome. keep doing what you’re doing, queen <3 or king or monarch, it’s 2021, anyone can be a bimbo, bitches <3)

“Toph can and will destroy everyone here with her bare hands because she’s a meathead who likes to murder people and that’s it!”  

Toph is, and always has been, one of my favorite ATLA characters. My very first fic in fandom was about her, and she appears prominently in a lot of my other work as well. One thing that I am always struck by with Toph is how big a heart she has. She’s independent, yes, snarky, yes, but she cares about people--even the family that forced her to make herself smaller because they didn’t believe that their blind daughter could be powerful and strong. Her storyline is powerful and emotionally resonant, her bending is cool precisely because it’s based in a “wait and listen” approach instead of just smashing things indiscriminately, she’s great disabled rep, and overall one of the best characters in the show. 

And in fandom, she gets flattened into “snarky murder child.” 

So where does this come from? Well, as we all know, Toph was originally conceived of as a male character, and retained a lot of androgyny (or as the kids call it, Gender) when she was rewritten as a female character. There are a lot of cultural ideas about androgynous/butch women being violent, and people in fandom seem to connect that larger cultural narrative with some of Toph’s more violent moments in the show to create the meathead murder child trope, erasing her canon emotionality, softness, heart, and femininity in the process. 

This is not to say that you shouldn’t write or characterize Toph as being violent or snarky at all ever, because yeah, Toph definitely did do Earth Rumbles a lot before joining the gaang, and yeah, Toph is definitely a sarcastic person who makes fun of her friends a lot. What I am saying is that people take these traits, sans the emotional logic, marry them to their conception of androgynous/butch women as violent/unemotional/uncaring, and thus create a caricature of Toph that is not at all up to snuff. When I see Toph as a side character in a fic (because yeah, Toph never gets to be a main character, because why would a fandom obsessed with one male character in particular ever make Toph a protagonist in her own right?) she’s making fun of people, killing people, pranking people, etc, etc. She’s never talking to people about her emotions, or palling around with her found family, or showing that she cares about her friends. Everything about her relationship with her parents, her disability, her relationship to Gender, and her love of her friends is shoved aside to focus on a version of Toph that is mean and uncaring because people have gotten it into their heads that androgynous/butch women are mean and uncaring. 

again, we see a female character who does not emote normatively or in a way that makes you, the viewer, comfortable, and so you warp her character until she’s completely unrecognizable and flat. and for what? 

Azula

no, I didn’t come up with a snappy name for this section, mainly because fanon interpretations of Azula and my own feelings toward the character are...complicated. I know there were some people who wanted me to write about Azula and the intersection of misogyny and ableism in fanon interpretations of her character, but I don’t think I can deliver on that because I personally am in a period of transition with how I see Azula. that is to say, while I still like her and believe that she can be redeemed, there is a lot of merit to disliking her. the whole point of this post is that the female characters of ATLA are complex people whom the fandom flattens into stereotypes that don’t hold up to scrutiny, or dislike for reasons that don’t make sense. Azula, however, is a different case. the rise of Azula defenders and Azula stans has led to this sentiment that Azula is a 14 y/o abuse victim who shouldn’t be held accountable for her actions. it seems to me that people are reacting to a long, horrible legacy of male ATLA fans armchair diagnosing Azula with various personality disorders (and suggesting that people with those personality disorders are inherently monstrous and unlovable which ahhhh....yikes) and then saying that those personality disorders make her unlovable, which is quite obviously bad. and hey, I get loving a character that everyone else hates and maybe getting so swept up in that love that you forget that your fave is complicated and has made some unsavory choices. it sucks that fanon takes these well-written, complex villains/antiheroes and turns them into monsters with no critical thought whatsoever. but the attitude among Azula stans that her redemption shouldn’t be hard, that her being a child excuses all of the bad things that she’s done, that she is owed redemption....all of that rubs me the wrong way. I might make another post about this in the future that discusses this in more depth, but as it stands now: while I understand that there is a legacy of misogynistic, ableist, unnuanced takes on Azula, the backlash to that does not take into account the people she hurt or the fact that in ATLA she does not make the choice to pursue redemption. and yes, Zuko had help in making that choice that Azula didn’t, and yes, Azula is a victim of abuse, but in a show about children who have gone through untold horrors and still work to better the lives of the people around them, that is not enough for me to uncritically stan her. 

Conclusion    

misogyny in this fandom runs rampant. while there are some tropes of fandom misogyny that are well-documented and have been debunked numerous times, there are other, subtler forms of misogyny that as far as I know have gone completely unchecked. 

what I find so interesting about misogyny in atla fandom is that it’s clear that it’s perpetrated by people who are aware of fandom misogyny who are actively trying not to be misogynistic. when I first joined atla fandom last summer, memes about how zukka fandom was better than every other fandom because they didn’t hate the female characters who got in the way of their gay ship were extremely prevalent, and there was this sense that *this* fandom was going to model respectful, fun, feminist online fandom. not all of the topes I’ve outlined are exclusive to or even largely utilized in zukka fandom, but a lot of them are. I’ve been in and out of fandom since I was eleven years old, and most of the fandom spaces I’ve been in have been majority-female, and all of them have been incredibly misogynistic. and I always want to know why. why, in these communities created in large part by women, in large part for women, does misogyny run wild? what I realize now is that there’s never going to be a one-size fits all answer to that question. what’s true for 1D fandom on Wattpad in 2012 is absolutely not true for atla fandom on tumblr in 2021. the answers that I’ve cobbled together for previous fandoms don’t work here. 

so, why is atla fandom like this? why did the dream of a feminist fandom almost entirely focused on the romantic relationship between two male characters fall apart? honestly, I think the notion that zukka fandom ever was this way was horrifically ignorant to begin with. from my very first moment in the fandom, I was seeing racism, widespread sexualization of minors, and yes, misogyny. these aspects of the fandom weren’t talked about as much as the crocverse or other, much more fun aspects. further, atla (specifically zukka) fandom misogyny often doesn’t look like the fandom misogyny we’ve become familiar with from like, Sherlock fandom or what have you. for the most part, people don’t actively hate Suki, they just “stan” without actually caring about her. they hate Mai because they believe in treating male victims of abuse equally. they’re not characterizing Toph poorly, they’re writing her as a “strong woman.” in short, people are misogynistic, and then invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of feminist theory to shield themselves from accusations of misogyny. it’s not unlike the way some people will invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of critical race theory to shield themselves from accusations of racism, or how they’ll talk about “freedom of speech” and “the suppression of women’s sexuality” to justify sexualizing minors. the performance of feminism and antiracism is what’s important, not the actual practice. 

if you’ve made it this far, first off, hi, thanks so much for reading, I know this was a lot. second, I would seriously encourage you to be aware of these fandom tropes and to call them out when you see them. elevate the voices of fans who do the work of bringing the female characters of atla to life. invest in the wlw ships in this fandom. drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic (please, drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic). read some yuetara. let’s all be honest about where we are now, and try to do better in the future. I believe in us. 

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E127 (March 2, 2021)

Tonight’s guests are, of course, Ashley Johnson and Marisha Ray!

Marisha, on her thought process behind the date: “It was a fascinating study on designing something with another player in trying to navigating how to do that in a way that makes sense and wouldn’t be too metagamey or overly scripted or anything like that. I had a bunch of ideas thought out, then I just typed it out and sent it over to him, and then he interpreted it as such.” Liam had ideas, but Marisha wanted him to keep the details a surprise. The theme of “let’s start over” was the leading motif for the design. Three acts: pre-game cocktails at the Nestled Nook, picnic in a field of Xhorhasian wildflowers, and then close it with after-dinner drinks and hot tub at the Steam’s Respite. And the very last thing was “and all the cats were dogs”. Brian: “What was his response to that?” Marisha: “He texted me and was like, ‘Are you serious or is this dog thing a joke?’”

Ashley is asked what it was like to know it was coming but not know the specifics. “For both of us, I don’t think we thought it was going to be right then. I think because it’s been so long in the relationship between Beau and Yasha and it felt like such a natural progression for the two of them, and they’re both awkward together. I think there was something to just being thrown into it.” She spent time thinking about what things Yasha would talk to Beau about on a date. “We got to maybe one of them. It was just so fun! Exploring romance in D&D can be super weird, especially when you’re streaming. But it felt like that’s where our characters were going. There was that excitement of trying something that is out of my comfort zone, and I think so much of Marisha was part of that, as being the initiator as Beau, where I was like, okay, this is where it’s going it. Let’s do it, let’s see what happens!” She mentions how “fun and freeing” it is to trust your improv partner in something like this.

Marisha: “I just wanted Beau to be a fuckboi!” But she highlights that it’s hard to deny the deeper connections that come up in D&D scenarios. “They’ve been with each other through so much that it’s difficult to deny when those bonds start to happen.” She texted Liam in a panic before the game. “What do I wear? And he said, ‘In the game or in real life?’ Both!”

Marisha was expecting a Sam curveball at some point. “My/Beau’s reaction of ‘I love you!’ was pretty accurate. She does care! She’s not just  a troll trying to ruin our shit.”

Marisha on Yasha liking dogs: “I clocked that shit when you bought a dog figurine.” She keeps notes about all the members of the party when they reveal things like that.

Ashley has started taking more detailed notes, partly to play catch-up for events she may have missed earlier. “Turns out, notes are very helpful and can help you in your RPing!”

Favorite parts? Marisha: “The fade-to-black moment at the very end, and I think it’s because Ashley’s eyes--maybe this is going to get weird--we had this moment where we were in the hot tub at the end, and I looked over and was like, ‘hey’, and you looked over and were like, ‘hey’, and I was just dead. I will never forget the look on Ashley’s face. There was just a pure moment.” Ashley: “That’s so funny, because I was going to talk about this one moment with Marisha. It’s just clicking into the scene and clicking into the moment.” Marisha talks about how the moments associated with the game have real, tangible emotional connections. Brian highlights that the emotional side of things is what you remember the most after the campaign is done.

Character thoughts on Kima? Marisha: “I was like, step on me! Please! Both of you! We’d be friends.” Ashley: “It’s also that nostalgia that feels so good at the table. These characters we know and love are still living and breathing and happy together and just kicking ass. For Yasha it was an amazing example of a relationship that works in this world, and something beautiful that these people who are different but are connecting. It was a lot of-- it was cool. I think Yasha’s a very big fan of Kima and Allura. When she gave over the sword, Travis texted me and was like, it’s the Holy Avenger. Looking it up and talking about it, it was like, holy mackerel, this sword is insane. But there’s going to have to be some conversations had to attune with the sword. But I like that Matt presented that challenge, that this isn’t necessarily in your class, but let’s do some RP and see what happens.”

Where’s Yasha at with the Stormlord right now? “I’m curious to explore that more, but knowing that the Stormlord was the first person to bring her back to her own will, of pulling her out of whatever was happening with Oban and the Laughing Hand for however long. It’s also weird to see the relationship that the clerics have, and I think Yasha’s still figuring out how to be her own person, but also... not serving somebody, but still trying to figure out that relationship with her god. But again, he saved her from a very, very dark place, and I think that’s something she values and holds on to.”

Cosplay of the Week: An amazing Essek! (Blushingvioletcosplay on Instagram)

How is Beau handling the Eyes? “All the theories! It’s hard for it to not feel like a ticking time bomb. I always have to try and separate my theories from Beau’s theories. That’s acting and shit. I, Marisha, am very interested if I can somehow utilize this to our advantage. Beau, also interested but simultaneously terrified that it might be a bad idea and I might just get further initiated. When it comes to Matt, you know there’s always something more lurking underneath all of this. As players it’s kind of our job to navigate that.”

How about Yasha? “I think it’s one of the things that didn’t really come up in the date, which is funny, because it’s something I was thinking about. Me as a player, that’s something I’m extremely stressed about. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We kind of got into it, but I think the fact that Lucien was listening, and the Eyes, I think it made me as a player as Yasha very nervous about interacting with Beau, because I don’t know what they’re picking up on. There’s so much we don’t know, and Lucien is so confusing, and the Eyes, and with Matt... we don’t know! It’s a point of extreme concern for Yasha, especially someone that she has feelings for and cares about, it’s an extra level of I don’t know what this means and I can’t lose this person, but I need to protect at all costs.”

What was it like for Beau to discover that Dairon and the Soul not only listened but took action? “That moment was so deeply powerful. Honestly, I was just as taken aback as Beau was. I never in both mine or Beau’s thought process did I think Matt would take action in that way, or that would ever be handled. And I think that’s what makes it so emotional. You condition yourself to think these things just happen, so much so that they permeate your D&D game. So rarely do abusers get held accountable for their actions. What was powerful about it was that he was, and other people cared. That alone was so emotionally impactful, and I was completely thrown by it. I feel like I had to walk away from that situation kind of unpacking those things. What does that say, what does that mean? Same thing for Beau, where the cycle of abuse has happened repeatedly to her with no repercussions to anyone who’s causing it. It’s why she’s always had a weird tenuous relationship with the Soul. It throws you into these layers of reconciliation and thought. I didn’t think this was going to be addressed. What does that say about society? So many different layers to peel back. It all speaks to so many real-life experiences that happen every damn day to so many people. There’s not many examples in media of abusers getting handled, and especially not in a way that’s not some sort of device to motivate somebody.” She highlights how rare it is that the abuser was handled without pulling the victim into the mess. I’m definitely not doing what she’s saying justice with my speed-typing.

How is Yasha feeling about solidifying her identity as a protector? “Putting together this character and starting to play as her, there was a part of me that wanted-- when I work on characters, you go through the list of questions you have as an actor, what’s your motivation and all that stuff. But I very much wanted to see if I could have a character that doesn’t necessarily know what their purpose is, because I feel like a lot of people feel that way. I think when we see movies or TV shows, there’s always a character who says, I know what my purpose is. I wanted to explore what it meant to not know what that is. I left that open with Yasha, and I didn’t want to set that for her, because I thought that was an interesting thing. I still like that idea, but in the conversation with Beau and knowing the date was coming up, there were a lot of internal conversations I was having of how is Yasha feeling in this moment. At the end of the day, I feel that’s a very solid purpose for Yasha in this moment, of all I can really provide is protection - and of course she can provide more than that. But now I’m just, yeah, I think protection for her is the best way she knows how to describe her purpose.” Brian: “And once we arrive there, the goal is to find a greater purpose, to be of service.” Ashley has tied in Yasha’s protectiveness with her grappling with loss.

Fan art of the week: A second amazing Essek! (by Saturday_sky)

Thoughts on the amulets: set-up or bad luck? Ashley: “I thought they were a set-up!” Marisha: “I think [Astrid’s] an opportunist. But I think it’d be much more convenient if anyone other than her killed Trent. To what end, I don’t know.” Ashley: “Me, personally, how I interpreted her crying in that alleyway, I felt like she was crying because of a betrayal. But I don’t know! I think she definitely cares for Caleb.” Marisha: “I also got betrayal tears. That felt like guilt-crying to me.” Brian: “I don’t like any of this.”

What prompted Beau going full assassin? “If they were to get in and out and I could have jumped over that tower without killing that guy, I would have.” She didn’t have a lot of options as a monk and not a rogue assassin, but needed a quick and quiet way to get him out of the way. “I went through so many ideas in my head. I thought of an idea to dump all of the ball bearings under him, then light fireworks” to try to get him to fall off the edge.

Is Yasha’s hope for Molly still alive? “Yes. I think that because Yasha has been on the other end of doing terrible things under someone else’s influence, she has a lot of forgiveness for people. At this point, of course, it’s hope that he’ll come back or have some type of recognition of his life as Molly. There’s a lot of questions. I don’t think she’ll ever give up on him.” The only moment of hesitation was when Lucien was cool with Gelidon leaving with Beau.

How are they feeling about their odds? Ashley: “I feel really great about the ideas that the group has to get out of tricky situations. This one I’m nervous about.” Marisha: “I agree. We have our little side player thread, minus Matt, and I don’t see how we’re getting out of this without some sort of compromise that’s not necessarily in our favor. I think we’re going to get out of it, but I don’t think we’re going to get out of it completely.”

Ashley didn’t tell Brian about the date after the episode ended, but wound up blurting it out right before he was about to watch the episode for Talks.

[crispy-ghee]

Hello! Firstly I just wanna say I love your work, both your own personal drawings and stories, as well as the collaboration pieces with Isei. I was just wondering what your process was for your building of your Yautja clans?? I wanted to try my hand at making my own, so I was wondering what pointers you may have.

Hi! Thanks so much for the kind words, it actually makes me really happy that anyone is enjoying the stuff I enjoy making. Worldbuilding can be a lot of fun, and awesome that you're gonna try your hand at it!

I have a lot of thoughts on worldbuilding, and to be honest my approach varies here and there depending on what I'm making or writing, but I'll see if I can't gather my general thoughts into something more succinct instead of going off on a long ramble haha

STARTING INFO

When you're worldbuilding for a pre-existing IP, it's good to keep in mind the stuff you already know about the race/species. This seems really obvious, and imo you can mess around in and out of canon if you want bc it's your clan and you should have fun first and foremost, but it's something to consider.

(But also keep in mind that this isn't something you necessarily have to think about right away, it can come later in your process, but I'm just mentioning it here.)

With Yautja, there's the physical aspects that make them distinct (mandibles, crest, reptilian/mammalian, tendrils, claws, tall on average, tend towards warmer climates, strong, etc) and what we've seen of them culturally (glory/trophy hunters, honor code, matriarchal, etc etc). The cool thing though is that when you're coming up with a hook for your clan, you can either choose to follow these rules, or you could find something interesting in subverting them.

What if it's a clan of smaller yautja? What if these live in the cold? What if their clan doesn't give a shit about hunting? etc etc

Speaking about Hooks...

The Hook is just sort of a jumping off point where you can start building your clan out of. It doesn't necessarily have to be a hook for the audience, and it might even change or be discarded as you go along writing, but it's always good to have a place to start.

Hooks can honestly be anything and inspired from anywhere. I'm going to be honest that most of the time I don't really go searching for hooks, they're moments of inspiration that kickstart stuff. They're usually what causes the worldbuilding.

A lot of that (and a lot of worldbuilding, actually) is actually input. Being curious and learning things, consuming things, etc etc. Expanding your visual/mental library. It's not something that i do purposefully, necessarily. It comes from stuff I've read about, movies and documentaries I've watched, some tweet I saw, a picture on my dashboard, a wikipedia article I stumbled into somehow, a story a friend told, so on and so forth.

That being said, you can totally find a hook if you just ask yourself the right questions.

But the things that can be hooks, like I said, can vary greatly. It could be an idea you had out of nowhere, a novel question, a theme you want to explore, a cool image you saw, a costume you wanna try out, anything! For example:

Maybe you already have a character that you designed that you want to build the clan around. The character can totally be the hook. What are things about the character that might hint at what society they grew up in? Do they have a specific attitude? Quirk? Is there something about their appearance? The clothes they wear, the way their tendrils look, their coloration?

Maybe you saw a location that was really neat! What if Yautja lived in a place like that?

This clan is stealthy!

This clan likes animals!

This clan makes art that looks like _______.

This clan engages in a lot of warfare.

I liked this idea touched upon in a predator comic I read, can i expand on that?

What if a Yautja did Basejumping?

Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...

Brainstorming! Ask lots of Questions!

I ask a lot of "why" and "how" after I figure out my hook (or hookS). It's an easy way to get stuff kickstarted.

How do they do that? Why do they do that? Is it ritual? Is it something else? Is it based on their history? On their environment? On their Lore? On their social structure?

And then just keep asking why after you answer that question, and then you'll have a pretty good foundation that you can maybe mess with or discard or change completely or use for an even better idea.

Like...lemme use the "Yautja Basejumper" as an example.

Why would this Yautja base-jump? Is it for a practical reason, like it helps them hunt a specific animal? Is it for a ritual reason? Is it for the thrill? Is it to prove themselves?

How do they do it? Do they use high tech to do it, or is it low tech? If it's low tech, what materials do they make their parachutes or gliders out of? In human base-jumping, what tools do they use, and how can I translate that into Yautja maybe? Or is it a completely different approach?

Do they basejump off of mountains? Is it something they do because they live in the mountains? Or is it maybe something they have to travel to a specific place to go do? What is this place? Why do they go there? Is it for a spiritual reason? Coming of age? Is the place itself significant? Does this have something to do with their history, or a legend that they have?

If base jumping is important, how does this affect what they find attractive or cool? Do they like really tenacious yautja? Is being more aerodynamic a boon? Would the wear anything specific for the act, bits of decoration? Is there an animal they want to look like?

So let's say just going through those questions, and asking myself why and how and other questions from that intial hook and then the answers I gave. Here's a (very very very rough) potential initial thought:

This Yautja clan base-jumps as a coming-of-age ritual. They live at the foot of a tall mountain, and young hunters climb to the top to prove their courage and tenacity. Part of the ritual is making your own glider--and if your glider doesn't hold up because you rushed it, then you get really hurt or die, and that's your own fucking fault. They're doing it to mimic large flying animals that once-upon-a-time roosted on that mountain but don't exist anymore, which had cultural/mythical significance to them. Maybe their ancestors used to ride them. This clan are able to fight in flight, unlike many other Yautja.

And then you can build off of that or change it, do research and look stuff up related to it to see if you can add more stuff, keep asking more questions about the things you decided on, etc.

Forever and ever and ever.............

Anyway, that's my worldbuilding approach, haha. It's basically "learn a lot of stuff, ask a lot of questions."

I don't know if that was helpful at all, but there ya go!

[anointedflame]

My thoughts on a Netflix show…

…are lukewarm to cold lol.

Horizon has an incredible story and world and characters that I think could translate well to television. But at the same time, the games are still ongoing and they’re already so richly designed and cinematic that I don’t think adapting that to tv is necessary. If anything, it will just fall short of the games. I just can’t picture anyone else playing the characters in the games than their original voice actors/face models. They’re already so real and well done that it just doesn’t feel… necessary? It seems redundant and a tv show would be set up to fail in regards to casting.

My fears with Netflix doing it are compounded by what’s happened to The Witcher, which I was incredibly excited about back when it was announced. Henry Cavill aside, the casting was weird/off, the CGI was pretty shit, and the writing in the second season also turned to shit (and I haven’t even read the books so my complaint isn’t about faithfulness to those, it just makes no sense. But I digress). Netflix has ruined their reputation by producing a ton of crappy content, canceling good shows right and left, not budgeting in the right places, taking years between seasons, and hiring writers who don’t respect the source material and want to “put their own twist on it.” Which no one ever really wants from an adaptation of a beloved book/game!

Anyways, some positivity. I love Horizon and am excited by the prospect of more content. I think this could be cool or positive if:

They go the spin-off/prequel route. Exploring Rost’s backstory, the Derangement and the Red Raids, or Enduring Victory and creating Zero Dawn. It would be adjacent to the games and show some very interesting themes and plots that the games haven’t shown.

They create a totally separate storyline. The world of Horizon is beautiful and fascinating and all the different cultures and tribes are one of the best things about it. There are endless stories that could be told apart from Aloy’s and they could be original with it and further flesh out the world without stepping on toes of the fans of the games. I’m thinking like Rogue One or the Mandolorian for Star Wars.

They go the animated route. I didn’t finish Arcane, but it felt refreshing to watch a beautiful, uniquely styled animated show that isn’t for children and that isn’t anime. I feel like this may be the best bet for quality with a direct adaptation for Horizon. And maybe the original voice actors can come back! Only thing is that there still isn’t much love for animation like this and it may be too similar to the game- just rehashing things in a slightly different, less interactive format.

They go the live action route BUT keep the game creators/writers heavily involved, defer to the source material, respect what the fans love about the games, keep as much original cast as possible and be as faithful as possible in casting new people, don’t fill it with a bunch of big name actors just cuz, give it a proper budget big enough to accommodate GOOD CGI for all the different machines, and green light it for a minimum of 3 seasons off the bat to give it a complete arc.

So, this was quite long-winded and rambling, but I had and will probably continue to have lots of thoughts about this and I wanted to get them all out and discuss. So, let me know what y’all think about it too!

[quirklessidiot]

Title: filthy rich [1/3] Pairing: millionare!sakusa kiyoomi x y/n [filthy capitalist au] Genre: romance, major angst ahead ,fluff, yandere!au-ish 

Synopsis: Your luck had just run out when you realized that you flirted with danger. [400 followers special]

Warnings: language and none...yet….[although i will put a trigger warning that is a controlling, abusive, and kind of a yandere relationship] Notes: 

Happy 460 followers i- look, i know i promised a long kita fanfic but i got more inspired to finish this and write this one because djjdjdjd ,,, anyways this was originally a kpop fanfic i wrote years ago and i switched it up to an omi fanfic. I don’t condone this type of relationship, if ya see this shit on your partner, please run (i beg of you)

also eheh the remaining two requests will be posted soon so uwu

next  ||  series masterlist || taglist 

“Hey Y/N.”

You look up from your medical textbook to find your aunt standing there with an expensive freshly pressed suit on her hand wrapped in plastic, you had been living with her along with her two younger kids in Tokyo after your parents decided to become humanitarian doctors. Wanting to explore and get out of your comfort zone, you ended up living in the big city along with your mother’s closest friend.

“Oh, hey obaasan.” you greeted, “What’s up?”

“Ah, you see, Shoyo is out now and no one will be able to deliver the suit to Sakusa-san, would you mind doing me a favor and delivering it for me?”

You shut your textbook and stood up from your chair, “Sure, uh- could I have his address?” you ask as you took the suit in plastic carefully from her hands, not wanting to damage something that cost as expensive as your tuition in med school. After saying goodbye to your aunt and carefully placing the suit at the back of your car, you drove your way to the upstate part of the city.

Your second hand car stood out like a sore thumb in the lane of expensive and flashy cars, you wanted to waltz in and out of here quickly. Following your aunt’s instruction’s, you march up to the front desk to hand the suit over to the receptionist, “I’m here to drop the laundry for Sakusa-sa-”

Before you could even finish your sentence, she snatched it away from your grasp. You narrow your eyes at her rather uncouth attitude, “Oh, cool...thanks…” you murmur, not wanting to cause a scene or pick a fight with the rude woman, you made a b-line towards the exit. Away from the judging and prying eyes of the people who were very much above you in terms of class and wealth.

The moment you step out though, you watch in horror as your car is being towed away, “Hey!” you exclaimed, hurriedly going to the worker who was writing something down on his clipboard, “Hey, wait! Please, excuse me?”

The worker turned to you with a questioning gaze as you immediately started to explain that you were in and out of the place and that you were just delivering some laundry but all you got was a shake in the head and the words, “It’s not up to me, that guy called us in.” He points his ballpen towards the man in a suit and paired with a surgical white mask on the phone, “...The parking here is for residents only and clearly you’re not one of them.” 

Your eyes almost widened at his explanation, just what was wrong with people who lived here?

You fumingly grab the piece of paper he hands to you and stuff it in your pocket as you march up to the stranger on the phone, “Hey, excuse me!” you proclaimed, there were a few on-lookers but you ignored them, you were seeing red with the treatment you’ve been receiving here. The raven-haired stranger ignores you, still on his phone so you call him out again and when you do, the darkest pair of obsidian eyes are on you.

You clenched your fists tightly as the quote ‘eat the rich’ comes into your head.

“There must be some mistake.” You began slowly, trying to put your anger at bay because you didn’t want the whole thing to escalate in public, “I’m in and out here, all i did was deliver and I didn't know-”

“Your ignorance doesn’t excuse you.”

“Excuse me?”

“Ignorance of the law excuses no one.” He simply states, “Also the car was on the way in my space and not even a parking spot.”

You let out a loud, sardonic laugh, “I’d be gone in two minutes if you waited.”

“You would’ve wasted my two minutes.” 

You clenched your fist tightly and as you were about to bite back on his snide remark, the receptionist from before intervenes, “Excuse me, he’s right. You aren’t allowed to park here.” she tries to look professional but you know she’s just siding with this idiot since he had the money.

“Right.” you nod, “You know what, fuck it, this blows. All I did was my job and I have to be shitted on because I don’t have money like Mr.fancy-pants over here.” You bellowed,your glare was intense as you turned around, stomping away before you would do anything you’d regret.

The stranger’s eyes towards you do not waver though, how interesting, he thought.

You never wanted to return to that place again, not only did you lose a lot of money to pay your toll fee for your car but you needed to buy a bunch of new books for the new semester. You groan out loud as you also realize that you needed to do a grocery run since all you had were empty packets of instant Ramen and water in your apartment.

Chunking the cue cards to the side, you made your way to the convenience store, the city was definitely alive tonight and amidst that, you look absolutely dead tired. Your eye bags were getting thicker, a few zits had popped out, and you had grown thin in an unhealthy way because of your food consumption.

Man, being in med school and being dumb wasn’t a very good combination.

Your thoughts are interrupted when your aunt calls you again and says you have to do deliveries tonight, “You remember Sakusa-san?” your aunt says on the other line.

You couldn’t help but grimace at the mention of the man and the memories of where he lived.

Man, did this Sakusa-san needed new neighbors.

“What does he need a suit for in this unholy hour?” You mentally groaned.

“He needs it for laundry, you can have the money when you pick it up.”

Your ears immediately perk up at the mention of cash, you decided to take public transportation since you didn’t want to risk getting your car toll away by that Sakusa guy’s wretched fancy-pants neighbor. Grocery shopping could wait another time, “Stupid rich people.” You muttered under your breath as you pushed open the entrance to find the same man who you despised, sitting there with a laundry basket next to him.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” You mumbled, sucking in a deep breath, you say, “Sakusa-san?”

“So I was right.” he says, pulling down his mask to reveal his sharp features, “You were the one who delivered my suit that day. It’s usually a young boy with a bike.”

Boy, this man was definitely at his prime, he was probably a good few years older than you and you bet he had the ladies swinging left and right with that face. Too bad he had a shitty attitude though.

“Well, that doesn’t give you an excuse to tow my car away.” you deadpan.

“How much do I owe you for the unfortunate accident then?” his tone was rich and low but you detected no remorse in it, it was as if waving huge chunks of money would help tremendously. The asshole couldn’t even properly say sorry to you because of the hard time you had to go through that time.

“None,” you scoffed, “Just hand me your laundry and pay the fee, we’ll call it even.”

The raven-haired man tilts his head and carefully hands you the laundry bag along with a wad of cash, your eyes immediately widen out of character, “Woah, wait-”

“For the troubles.” He simply replies, “Goodnight.”

You later found out that his full name was Sakusa Kiyoomi and not only was he rich, he was filthy rich. The man used to be a big volleyball player back or something when he was in high school and college but instead of becoming a pro player, he had inherited the family business.

“Huh, so he was a capitalist.” You stare at his picture at the morning paper which was coincidentally an article about him. You decided to forget about it, expecting to not see him after that night since Hinata had no classes or practices these upcoming weeks yet weirdly enough, he started to ask for you to pick up his laundry instead.

So you both fell into a strange routine, you’d pick up his laundry and return it the next day. He was also there to pick up his things and you no longer needed to talk to the rude receptionist. You were suspicious of him yet you decided to just overlook it, he gave good tips and he wasn’t as rude as the first time you met him, in fact, he made small conversations now and you sort of got to know the man.

You had a weird dynamic but strangely enough, it worked.

“L/N-san.” 

“Good evening,” You greeted per usual, holding out your hand yet his eyes squinted at the bandage on your hand.

“What happened.” the raven-haired man asked, his gaze zeroing on the wound that you got in one of your classes.

“I’m a med student...I cut myself instead of the cadaver in class.” you shrug nonchalantly as you wiggle your fingers, “It’s alright though, I’m not going to stain your suit that you keep putting back to the laundry for some odd reason.”

“You got hurt.”

“Happens to the best of us.”

Sakusa mutters something incoherent under his breath before saying, “I’ll take you to your car.”

“Woah there-”

The man ignores you as he walks ahead of you, this was certainly getting out of character, even for him who always asked for you, “Open it.” He orders as he points to the car door, you begrudgingly obliged and did as he said. He places the laundry inside and turns to you to give you his usual pay, “Take care of yourself next time, L/N-san.”

The very next day, your aunt hands you an expensive package of ointments on your doorstep. Your brows are furrowed together in confusion as she says that they’re from the millionaire himself. You pointedly look at the package in front of you, completely lost as to why someone like him would send something like this to the person who he wasn’t exactly close with.

“Y/N-saaaaan…” Hinata drowns, you snap your gaze from your notes to the young orange-haired boy, “I’ve got news!”

You had stopped working for your aunt since you found a job at your university’s library, not only were the hours more lax but they even minus some of the tuition as long as you worked there. It was definitely a win-win situation for you.

“What’s up, orange?” You asked.

“Remember Sakusa-san?”

You hum a reply, “What about him?”

“I think he likes you.”

You almost choke on your saliva when you heard that, this little brat, why you ought to-

“He looked really disappointed when I said that you didn’t work for us anymore.” Hinata explains, cutting your thoughts short, 

“Right.” You drawl, shaking your head, “Maybe you were just hard to look at, that’s why.”

“Hey!” He clenched his fists together and pouted at your tone, “I don’t even know why he likes you!”

You feel a vein pop in his forehead as you hear his insult,  you proceeded to chunk a pillow to his direction in which he successfully dodged, “Get your facts straight and I assure you, he doesn’t like me.” you grumbled, returning to your books.

Ultimately, you thought that you’d never see Sakusa Kiyoomi ever again. It was fairly obvious that outside your job, someone of high caliber as him was someone you’d never see again yet you're immediately thrown off guard when you find him standing there around your campus.

Your eyes widen in surprise, well what do you know? it was the devil himself.

“Sakusa-san.”

“L/N-san.”

Man, you may not have seen him for a month or two but despite wearing the mask, you could tell that  e still sported the same blank and basic bitch face behind it. Hinata was wrong in all ways, this guy wouldn’t like you, he’d probably deem you too low class for him, “What a surprise, it’s been a while.” You stiffly bowed down.

“You’re acting weird.” 

You raise your gaze to meet his and you could see the glint of amusement in his eyes.

“You’re most likely a guest in the university.” You mumbled, scratching your head, “People might come at me if I treated you as casually as before.”

Sakusa raises his brow, “That’s funny coming from someone who was this close to punching me during our first meeting.”

“You were being a dick that time.”

“How you have guts to say that to my face amazes me every time.”

“Oh yeah?” You chortled, amused by his statement, “I’m starting to think you’ve taken a liking on me.”

“Was it not obvious when I kept asking for you from Hinata-san?”

You immediately choke on the coffee you were sipping, burning your tongue in the process, “Okay what the hell, sakusa-san-” you said in between coughs.

Your freeze up when you look at him dead in the eye, his eyes crinkling, was he smiling behind the mask? No way, the Sakusa Kiyoomi was smiling at you? He pulls down his mask and bends down, making you retract your steps and your cheeks flush to a brightly red color, “You’re turning red.” he points out loud and that makes you turn even redder.

“You’re acting weird.”

“You were getting dense.” 

“How was I supposed to know...to know that…” You try to stutter out, completely embarrassed.

“To know what?” 

“You know what.” You grumbled, standing up a bit straighter and ignoring his teasing tone, “I’m not interested in you.”

“Your red cheeks say otherwise.”

“It’s the cold weather.” You harshly replied, looking away again, trying to avoid his gaze, “I’m not interested in a boyfriend, a flirting partner, or whatever that is. So good day!” 

You immediately stomp away, leaving Sakusa Kiyoomi with an amused smirk. How entertaining and adorable, you looked like a bunny. His cute bunny.

A few days had passed from that little interaction and you wanted to hurl yourself out the window whenever you thought about it. Sakusa Kiyoomi? The filthy rich capitalist Sakusa Kiyoomi? Interested in you? What kind of k-drama was this?

You tried to avoid going out much in the campus, Apparently he was around after he donated half a million to the medicine department.

You immediately groaned out loud at the thought, there was in no way that all this was possible!

“L/N-san.”

You immediately jump on the spot and drop your keys, “Holy fucking-” You pause, biting back your tongue, there he stood sporting a casual attire instead of a business suit and his usual face mask,  “Sakusa-san?”

“Kiyoomi.” He smoothly corrects.

“Nice. Very nice.” You dryly replied, “Heard you donated half a million and some new equipment to our department. Sweet.”

“You don’t look that happy.”

“I mean you basically confessed that you were interested then decided to donate to my department only.” You narrow your eyes suspiciously, “You remind me of a sugar daddy.”

“Well,” He shrugged, “You didn’t exactly deny that you wanted one.”

Your brain immediately short-circuits as you try to stutter out a reply, Sakusa looked like he’d been having a field day. Gone was the fiery girl he met a few months ago, he really knew what to say to reduce you to a stuttering mess.

“I’m kidding, L/N-san.” he deadpanned when he realized that you weren’t giving him a straight answer since your mind was jumbled up, “It was purely coincidental, we’ve been eyeing certain medicine departments and yours was performing top-notch. It doesn’t mean that I’m any less interested in taking you out.”

“You do know I’m poor right…” You sweatdrop, “I could easily take advantage of you-”

“One date, L/N-san…” he says, ignoring your very weak argument, “Just one then I’ll let you go.”

You don’t know why but you ended up saying yes that day.

You didn’t know what to expect on your first date and you had your fingers cross the whole time that he wouldn’t take you to an expensive michelin star restaurant since you didn’t have the clothes for the place.

Thankfully, the date was more casual than you expected, it was in his home and he had  cooked the meal himself.

“You’re looking oddly relieved.”

“I can’t function well in expensive restaurants.” You sweatdrop, covering your awkwardness with a laugh. You’ve never gone on dates before, the idea of being intimate with someone had made you feel awkward and bothered. 

“I’m not a big fan of public areas so I assure you we're not going on those anytime soon.” 

“Well aren’t you getting confident.” You raise a brow, teasing him a bit as you start to pick on the beef with your chopsticks.

“Call it a gut feeling, L/N-san.”

“Y/N.”

“What?”

“You asked me to call you Kiyoomi and well,” you turn red once again, “Well it would be awkward if you were all formal with me.”

You saw the small twinkle in his eyes, “Y/N.” your name rolls out of his tongue smoothly and you feel your heart hammering on your chest, “I like that, Y/N…” 

It was in that little moment that you realized that you liked it when he called your name.

The dinner went by without a hitch, Sakusa Kiyoomi was not the same arrogant man that the media portrayed him to be. He was quiet, understanding, and soft. Completely the opposite of the first day you met him. He urged you to talk more about yourself, saying how boring and open his life was since the media tailed him a lot.

“Why Tokyo?” 

“Why not?” You shrug, swishing the wine before taking a small sip, “It’s a great place, it’s new, and I had someone I knew here. My mom and Obaasan were good friends so I was allowed to move here on my own.”

“Are you coming back to your country if you’re done with your studies?”

You were silent for a moment, “I don’t think so. I wanna be like my parents.”

“A humanitarian doctor, huh?”

“Yeah.” You smile, “A humanitarian doctor. How about you? What’s your story?”

“Nothing interesting.” He glazed, “I’m an open book, Y/N.”

“Open book?” You tilt your head to the side, “You’re usually painted as an asshole by the media…”

“But you don’t believe it.”

“You kinda were when we first met.”

For the first time, you hear his soft chuckle and your heart starts beating fast. You liked that sound, you wanted to hear something like that again, “You always know how to amuse me, Y/N.” he shakes his head, “And for the record, just because I’m not comfortable with touches, public places and whatnot does not make me an asshole...I just am a very private person with interests…”

“What’s your interest now?”

“You.” He replied nonchalantly, making you look away..

“Stop.”

“What?”

“Stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Flirting with me with a straight face like you mean it!” You choke out, turning red.

“Because I do mean it, Y/N.” He shrugs. “I am interested in you.”

It seemed like that little date you had turned out more successful than you thought, one date led to another and another. This went on for a few months until he asked you to be his partner one night at a very random place, you usually pictured Sakusa Kiyoomi to be the smooth type     you were, after all, always the stuttering mess between you two     but when he asks you to be his officially, outside the public restroom of all places with his ear tips turning red, your reduced to a heaping pile of giggles.

With men like him, you didn’t exactly expect anything more than the dates.

You should’ve known better that he was too good to be true.

general taglist for the next part is open aye