#so i generally think of them from the pov of the successors

[jessaerys]

curious about your thoughts on lawlight… if you would like to share <3

i don't have an issue with lawlight. i have friends, that ship lawlight, even, in front of me. i don't think there's anything wrong with that. i'm an ally <3 give me a 2008 anime con yaoi pin and i'll wear it

[plznomonkeys]

I cannot add the screenshot but saw your comment about the process of making OCs. please share yours cuz I'm so curious!

I had literally 5k words written out explaining the process and thought 'nobody needs to read that' and just shortened it to point form. It was a lot of rambling......

Anywho

OC's, in my mind, fill a void that I feel a story is missing. I mean, no whole story is necessarily missing something, but it is in my perspective. Usually OC's are born from something I disliked with the original work or felt could've been handled differently.

So the tip of inspiration is a 'What If?' moment.

"What if L had someone on task force -with more than 2 brain cells- on his side?"- Death Note

"What if Naruto had a friend growing up who loved him?" - Naruto

"What if Truth was an even bigger dick and tortured someone's soul through reincarnation until they finally learned to break the cycle?"- FullMetal Alchemist

"What if a main character didn't have a damsel in distress as a love interest?" - Bleach

The what if is the first point to creation. It gives me an anchor of reference, of purpose, to this character. It's not to make them a plot device, but it helps me shape around what the reason for building them is. Everyone needs a purpose to have fulfillment in their lives, even if it's just to feed your cat and water your plants. You have a purpose, so what is my OC's? There's usually a moment in the story that inspires this specific purpose and each one is different.

Great, now that we have a purpose, let's move on.

Part 1: What's the start and ending?

It doesn't matter what the story is yet. To me, what's important is the end of this character's story. Where do they end up? Are they alive? Dead? Did they end up with love interest? Did they succeed in their goals? etc.

Despite how crucial this part might seem, I'm never dead set on it. I have a general idea most of the time.

The point of the ending is to have guidance as to where I'm going with the story line and remind myself that this character is moving in that direction. It can also change once you know your character more and once you have a fully fleshed plot, but again you'll change it likely because it works more with the OC you've created.

Now that you've got an ending, pick a starting point. It can be literally anywhere. It can be another character POV. Beginnings are really easy, just pick a place you want to begin and write a few words. Great, now figure out how this beginning meets that ending. Rough sketch it, when you write it out it'll change and grow, that's perfectly okay. No character is the same at the start and finish, so be aware that change is normal.

Part 2: What's the secret?

Every character that has any level of depth has a secret that is revealed in the story. L's successors was a big one. Naruto's parentage was theorized for years before being confirmed. Aizen's betrayal in Bleach was another. What big secret changes the reader's view on the character? What do the other characters think?

Part 3: How are they compatible with their pairings?

Legit this one comes up early in my mind. If I'm completely honest it has to, as you already have a character that is fully fleshed out and in order to keep them in character then your OC needs to adhere to the canon character's interests IMO. It's the reality of it. Which also means you have to know the canon character really well. Which is where character analysis comes in.

Let's take L for example. While I imagine he's the type to make his partner comfortable regardless of their wants/needs, I also see him as the guy who would legit rather die that admit those feelings at first? Like I subscribe to him being a little autistic and mildly self-degrading when it comes to 'why would they like me?' perspectives.

I say mildly because it's not so much he has no confidence as simply 'I literally have no internal clock, I likely have uncontrolled diabetes and broke my back on my own from sitting like this all day, I will ignore your very existence to finish a case and I literally haven't been home in god knows how long, so why would you ever have feelings for me?' It's illogical for L to entertain the idea of someone feeling that way about him because he simply doesn't fit the profile of a dating candidate. And so he disregards the idea that someone could ever be interested in him. Never mind he'd have to know everything about them down to their god damn SIN number before he'd ever see them in person.

So yeah, L's tough, but not impossible. I could see him with a character who really enamours him. I mean as in a character who thinks so radically different from him that at first he sees it as illogical, but progressively he begins to understand how they tick. I could see him being especially fascinated with someone who is very capable of lying convincingly, and yet wears their heart on their sleeve. I find this type of person to be so opposite and yet so similar at the same time.

Now that you have their OTP.... what other pairings are there? Contrary to the belief system, but there are multiple pairings in every story. Pairings don't have to be romantic, but they must be dynamic. What do other characters think of them? How would they interact with each other? I usually know intuitively who I want my OC to befriend and who they realistically could get along with.

This is, quite literally, the toughest part to flesh out, since I work pretty hard to try and stick to canon.

Part 4: Define your character in one scene?

As I said in the What If? section, each character is born from a specific scene or idea. So what is the scene in the story that defines the entirety of this character? For L I think his defining moment was his lil speech about 'do you really think I do this for justice?' in the manga. It brought into perspective that L was having fun on this case, and when he was 'wrong' about Light his temper tantrum made so much more sense honestly.

Characters need a scene in the story that really lets the reader understand the character on a deeper level and really drives home 'this is a person' even though they're not real it makes them feel raw and real.

Part 5: Motivations

Okay, great, we have so much covered, literally I could probably just go off this and wing the rest. But now we gotta ask why is OC even in the story? Why are they a moving puzzle piece? What made them get to their ending? What did they sacrifice? What's the most important thing to them? Why? Knowing why a person moves is far superior to simply wanting them to move. Why did Light swap the notebooks between shinigami? To keep Ryuk's big mouth away and Rem up close to L. Why did L confront Light at uni? Because he had enough sugar to kill a camel in his system and a gut feeling that Light was Kira and would eventually fold under pressure if he pushed him enough.

Part 6: The Plot

Okay so we've got literally everything necessary. So what's the plot? Is it AU? Partial AU? Canon compliant? Does it just follow canon to a certain point and then go off the rails? Personally I like canon divergent. It holds some points of interest with the original plot but diverges at points only to link up in some spots. I also am a huge fan of making events happen in different time frames.

And now.... where do the OC's affect the story? I mean there's no way that Death Note is a completely unchanged story despite another character being added? Something has changed, so what? Do certain events not occur? Does something better befall certain characters? Something worse?

I am also a stickler for universe rules. I do no bend rules for my characters unless I can come up with a universe compliant reason that it would work. I try to respect the original author's world...... but I will do whatever the hell I want with the characters as long as they're in character.

Part 7: The personal touch

Believe it or not, the appearance of the character is the literal last thing to even cross my mind. Like I legit started writing a Naruto fanfic and realized in 8 chapters I hadn't a clue what she looked like. I had to go to pinterest and make a board, along with a character bio in my notes app. I pic out the height, weight, hairstyle/hair colour, eye shape/eye colour, face, aesthetic, any scars/tattoos they may have and I put it on my notes/pinterest board. Now that I know their story is so I know why they'd have that scar or tattoo. I know why they have that kind of look in their eye. I know everything about them really.

The last bit is mostly spreading this personal touch through the above mentioned steps. It's fleshing it out further, making them more flowing in growth. When did they get the scar? Why that tattoo? Does it affect the story?

Attractiveness is something I debate a lot, and honestly it mostly comes down to plot. If a character needs to be pretty because of the plot I write them as attractive. If they need to be ugly that's what they are. Full disclosure, I see through my OC's eyes when I imagine scenes since I like to write in first person. Meaning I never remember their appearance and always have to review the notes to remind myself what they look like at all.

---

Ok, I think I got everything? So yeah, this is the fuck fest two brain cells can come up with. Keep in mind it is a cyclic mentality and I am perpetually editing and upgrading ideas in my brain. My newest OC to Death Note has literally changed so dramatically in 5 days just by doing this process 3 times that you'd think they were two different characters. It really helps me know my OC's honestly. Do I follow this to the T? Not always, but it is generally the process I subscribe to.

Hope this was a good read, cheers.

Also sorry if I did this wrong I've never posted on tumblr before this year god save my soul

[thegeminisage]

oh boy IT'S tng update time. last night* we watched "imaginary friend" and "i, borg."

*tonight. it's 1am. whatever. it's posting tomorrow when i'll be awake but busy. anyway im gonna have to start splitting these up so tumblr will stop FUCKING me re my character count

imaginary friend:

what i like about this episode and indeed tng as a whole is that the little girl was fucking adorable. tng fans, your show has at least one point of validity. whenever there was a child on tos i wanted to throw them out of the airlock because they acted possessed. all the children on tng inspire within me motherly concern.

HOWEVER. THERE SHOULD NOT BE. CHILDREN ON A STARSHIP.

we've gone over this at length. we don't need to do it again. i am sick to death of hearing myself talk about it. i want to stop. and yet. every. and i mean EVERY. SINGLE. PROBLEM. in this episode. happened because there were children on a starship.

problem #1: child is making up a fake imaginary friend instead of making real ones = it's because her dad hops from starship to starship

problem #2 her imaginary friend is real now and wants to drown her in the pool like in that one episode of s*pernatural = this is because an alien, from space, read her mind, which it could not have done if she wasn't in space on a starship

problem #3: the alien HATES the grownups and thinks they should die = because she is seeing the ship from a child's pov, because there are children on this starship

and on and on and on.

aside from this huge and ongoing point of contention it was solidly watchable. i liked the little girl. i like guinan. i like worf being a big old softie when he found them out of bounds. i like people not undermining deanna's counseling work. i liked the horrifically unsettling imaginary friend with laser eyes who definitely absolutely inspired 2.11 playthings.

can anyone tell me if the other star trek shows just let them have kids on the ships? ds9 i get because that's a space station but are there kids on the ship in enterprise? voyager? discovery? genuinely please write in i can't take living like this

i, borg:

ooooooh. ooh i am twirling my hair and kicking my feet and giggling about it. OHHH finally we get a good tng episode. and not just a good episode a GREAT episode. the liz community has forgiven tng. oh baby where do i even begin

okay, firstly, beverly. she so instantly sees someone injured and HAS to help, i mean HAS to, it's so good. it's very bonescore in a way that doesn't feel like they're trying to make her a cheap bones knockoff but rather a spiritual successor. he would have also helped his enemy rather than watching him die. hell, he DID do that and got quite literally mind-raped for his trouble, and he'd probably do it again. i was really really lukewarm on poor bev at first but she's come into her own so well and i'm proud of her

the borg himself - third of five, aw, just like seven of nine - but no, hugh - the name is dumb but whatever i'm glad he has one - was well-cast. it would have been easy to make him uncanny and an unpleasant presence onscreen (this was my biggest issue with data's daughter even though the ep DID make me cry, deeply sorry to data whomst i love the most). his "you will be assimilated resistance is futile" song and dance was actually really funny when played off of geordi's wry indifference. "ok, but before we get assimilated, can we please finish x test?" so true king

geordi's a natural choice to pair with this guy because when he's not being the creepiest person on earth to holodeck girls he's sociable, outgoing, and patient. PLUS he has experience befriending machines because of data. hugh actually reminded me of data in some ways because of his general lack of understanding re: humanity but - and this is critical to me - HE IS HUMAN

like, i feel like the episode didn't quite nail the point home hard enough possibly because they were afraid of the implications but the cold hard truth of the matter is that each and every person on the borg cube IS A PERSON. they have been assimilated, but we've twice now seen that it's possible to unassimilate them with only a few days of effort. picard (and guinan!) consider the entire collective their enemy but the collective is comprised of brainwashed prisoners. those fucked up little borg babies they found in the cube were assimilated as INFANTS - i assume they weren't born on the cube bc if the borg could reproduce on its own it wouldn't need to assimilate - but even if they were born on the cube, they had no choice but to be this. you know.

which is whyyyy it's so fucked picard was like yeah give hugh some digital poison let him carry it back to his cube and we'll kill them like ants <3 like, oh my god his lingering borg trauma or whatever. MWAH. when he told deanna he didn't wanna talk. when he and guinan had to trauma-bond while fencing. when he told geordi that he needed to unattach himself because it was nothing more than animal experimentation. STONE FUCKING COLD BY THE WAY. he is fighting in the war on animal experimentation on the side of animal experimentation. he was going to let his cre heal and feed that kid and then send him back laced with poison. diabolical <3

and, of course, when he didn't want to speak or associate that borg kid at all because that's who he used to be AND WHO HE STILL IS in some corner of his brain (!!!)

LIKE. WHEN HE WAS FINALLY CONVINCED TO INTERROGATE THIS KID. and IMMEDIATELY broke out the locutus voice. he still remembered all the protocol! the way of speaking! everything! i was so shocked and thrilled.

i love also how everyone who spoke to hugh came away extremely unsettled but also totally convinced of his humanity. even guinan, which was so fun, because she was even more anti-borg than picard at first and they were bonding over trauma and fantasy racism. that bit where hugh, who had only known about the concept of loneliness for like an hour, immediately pegged her as lonely after like three lines of dialogue. oh my GOD???

i was decently satisfied with the ending - obviously they couldn't send him back with poison nor could they protect him from the borg, but i wish they had informed him of the inevitable memory wipe before he made his choice. (a selfless choice! he loves geordi!!) still i think he mostly walked into it with eyes open. very sad but very proud of him.

my one tiny nitpick with this episode is that for all beverly's genuine and justified concern about hugh, i don't think theyre ever gonna address the fact that she shot and possibly killed some of the borg in the episode where picard got assimilated. i feel like after realizing they are all people, like hugh, she should also realize she's broken the hippocratic oath, and have a little crisis about it. i have no idea why we had the DOCTOR shooting and killing anybody but let alone if we aren't gonna get into that. i don't think anyone cares/cared except me though.

but tbh, for me this is one of the main draws of the borg. they're ALL brainwashed cyber-assassins and they're ALL prisoners and in theory ALL of them could be saved if only they would stop attacking first. sure, yeah, in fights you gotta do what you gotta do because your own life has gotta come first, but the unique scifi horror aspect of all of those guys being perfectly innocent people fucks and they should utilize it a little more!!!

NEXT TIME: "the next phase" and "the inner light."

[breitzbachbea]

Now that you mentioned it I am very intrigued by your human Hetalia au, go on

Thank you very much anon!

So. Basic concept: A world very much the same as ours, but acting mostly hidden from the public eye, are national crime syndicates in every country. Pretty much all are spearheaded by the boss of one noteable family that ensured that position some generations ago (those bosses are the Hetalia nations, ordinary Humans here) and two right hands. The AU is called Like Father Like Son.

Now, these syndicates are very much globally connected and when it comes to each other, act less than actual organized crime organisations in real life and more like monarchies or other types of state conducting diplomacy. Also, as is very unlikely for real life and much more common for royality, the bosses have usually inherited the business and had no option to opt out/felt it was the right thing to do. This is nuanced along the way, but again, stark difference to the volatile infighting and general hierarchies from real life organized crime (where the successor is probably NOT the 17 year old son, but a trusted right hand).

But they are, at the end of the day, gangsters. They fight for their own survival and supreme status within the other criminals in their own country and amongst their peers. (Alexa, play 741 Millionen by Tüsn). They don't represent states or governments or even people. They're in it because power is nice and the sunk-cost fallacy is too great to get out.

But because I am a history nerd, they still reflect certain phases and struggles and ideas about nationhood, like their Hetalia counterparts actually would. And here is where it gets interesting.

The protagonists of the AUs mainseries, called also called Like Father Like Son with the subtitle Sangue cattivo non mente on ao3, are the Irish and the Sicilians. So it's my Hetalia OCs (though I borrowed the Sicilian from a friend) Harry O'Connel and Michele Vento, plus Harry's younger sister Sophie O'Connel, and the Human-from-the-start right hands Paddy O'Neill, Charlie Higgins and Marco & Lorenzo Bontade.

And if you're looking for an Irish villain, where do you look to? England. Always the Brits. 'May the enemies of Ireland never meet a friend'. Which is why Arthur Kirkland, along with his right hands Robert Bailey and Tahir Rashid, serves as antagonist to the Irish in many stories. And of course, this makes it easy to present the fight as underdogs vs powerful evil empire, along the line of actual historical conflict. (I am oversimplifying, but we aren't here to argue details right now and in broad strokes, it IS right). If the reader has an inkling of Irish or British history, they will see the parallels. I, as the author, work it into metaphors by the narrative entity (usually occupying one character's POV, tho not to be confused with the character being the narrator). I work it into the general themes, with characters talking about history or historical/cultural backdrops. And of course, by that the characters themselves draw the parallels and pull on old stereotypes to rage against their enemies. Arthur likes to pull out the old stereotypes of the Irish being a belligerent, backward and unreasonable race when he paints Harry as a troublemaker. Harry will paint Arthur a tyrant who can't stand to see another man free when he feels entitled to his property and life. It's so enticing to believe that you know where to stand, to know where's right on the merits of history and the real world alone.

But as soon as you take a step back, you realize how they merely use something bigger and greater than themselves to fight their petty wars. Paddy and Charlie rail against the English after they've kidnapped Harry, they say Arthur thinks the world should grovel before him because it's his righ as an Englishman. But they're never alluding to anything bigger than themselves; yes, Irish are being kicked down, but it's just them. And sure, they may say an Irishman doesn't give up and that's what the English shall see, but it's the rhetoric of revolution without its goals. There's no British threat to Ireland - no fight they can align themselves with, because Arthur certainly isn't aligned with any either. Truly, if they were so committed to it, they would look with more sympathy to Tahir, whose parents came from Pakistan in the 1970s. They'd appeal to him, see the parallels of history with Ireland and the British Colony of India. But while the English tyranny rhetoric is usually reserved for white Arthur and Robert, at the end of the day, Tahir's also an 'English pedant' and haughty prick to them. And Tahir, similiarly, doesn't have much sympathy for the Irish, seeing them as annoying obstacles to their business dealings. He's in this to give his family a better life, he knows there is nothing grand about their enterprise. They all know that. In quiet moments, amongst themselves, they even express it. The farce they play; that the ideals they want to hold they betray; that they are a cancer on the people and country they love.

And I just. I love that. I love how it still has the themes one can ask in more substantial explorations of Hetalia - the constraints of free will, bearing the sins and burdens of the past, how much you can be an individual and how much you are a role. I love how it makes them true individuals, in the end, how it employs history as something that is interpreted from the witnesses we have to the past and told through our own eyes. How it seemingly creates this parallel to real history, but when one steps back, it shows that it's play pretend and it makes the reader sympathize while also keep its distance at times, enjoying a story that is fundamentally about a lot of people making the wrong decisions and living with the consequences. It's a tragedy, a meta-level of mourning - with none of that hope for a future that any reading of history can have.

Thank you for coming to my Ted-talk. I am currently rewriting the main series, because what is up on AO3 was written by a fourteen to sixteen year old and therefore, isn't very good. However, you can still check out my other writing (and the not very good mainseries) here. I also like to make lots and lots of AUs with the many Human characters and the Hetalia characters where they're not burdened by being organized criminals. You can find my ramblings about many of these AUs on my sideblog @i-centri-degli-universi . You will also find a few written works for some AUs on the ao3 already linked.

Thank you for your attention. I hope you have a grand day, anon, as well as everyone who read through this.

[theblurbwitchproject]

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Published: August 28, 2007 Publisher: Bantam Books

The Author

Born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Sarah Addison Allen brings the full flavor of her southern upbringing to bear on her fiction; a captivating blend of magical realism, heartwarming romance, and small-town sensibility. Her big break occurred in 2007 with the publication of her first mainstream novel, Garden Spells. The novel became a Barnes & Noble Recommends selection, and then a New York Times Bestseller. Allen continues to serve heaping helpings of the fantastic and the familiar in fiction she describes as "Southern-fried magic realism."

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The Story

In a garden surrounded by a tall fence, tucked away behind a small, quiet house in an even smaller town, is an apple tree that is rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit. The Waverleys have always been a curious family, endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders even in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina. Even their garden has a reputation, famous for its feisty apple tree that bears prophetic fruit, and its edible flowers, imbued with special powers. Generations of Waverleys tended this garden. Their history was in the soil. But so were their futures.

˗ˏˋ ´ˎ˗

The Vibe: kitchen witchery, magical family line, sisterly relationship, rebuilding relationships, plant magic, LGBTQ+ subplot, spiritual successor to Practical Magic

The Style: character driven, multiple POVs, magical realism

Trigger Warnings: domestic abuse, spousal rape, entrapment by pregnancy, fatal car accident, shooting injury

˗ˏˋ ´ˎ˗

The Review

You know how I’m always looking for the next book that gives me that Practical Magic feeling? This was the one. I don’t think it’s possible to get any closer. That’s not to say that this book is a copy-cat; the vibe is just so similar I really felt like I was being told another story in Alice Hoffman’s universe. From the first page I was so excited- I knew I’d found what I’d been looking for. Garden Spells is beautifully written; easy-going with lovely everyday magic and a sisterly relationship that I really enjoyed. I feel like the lead character, Claire, would have been friends with Sally Owens, while her sister Sydney would have definitely partied with Gillian.

Claire is the Waverley sister who remained in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina, taking care of the beautiful Queen Anne style family home and maintaining the magical garden that surrounds their renowned apple tree, which according to local legend “would tell you what the biggest event in your life would be” if you ate its fruit. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Sydney never wanted to stay in Bascom; she never felt connected to the house or the magic that Claire and their grandmother shared. As the story opens, the sisters have not seen one another in ten years and are both experiencing incredibly lonely, albeit incredibly different, lifestyles. Claire enjoys her self-imposed isolation; she doesn’t want to share her life with anyone besides her elderly relative Evanelle and is afraid of forging connections with people who will inevitably leave. She enjoys running her own business creating beautiful culinary concoctions using flowers and plants from her garden and being left alone. On the other hand, Sydney has lived an exciting and itinerant life, which has unfortunately culminated in her being trapped in an abusive relationship with a man who controls her every step (and by extension those of their young daughter Bay). With the help of a wonderful lady, Sydney escapes this situation with Bay and returns home to Bascom, rekindling her relationship with Claire and changing all their lives forever.

“All the locals knew that dishes made from the flowers that grew around the apple tree in the Waverley garden could affect the eater in curious ways. The biscuits with lilac jelly, the lavender tea cookies, and the tea cakes made with nasturtium mayonnaise the Ladies Aid ordered for their meetings once a month gave them the ability to keep secrets. The fried dandelion buds over marigold-petal rice, stuffed pumpkin blossoms, and rose-hip soup ensured that your company would notice only the beauty of your home and never the flaws. Honeysuckle wine served on the Fourth of July gave you the ability to see in the dark and the salads made with chicory and mint had you believing that something good was about to happen, whether it was true or not.”

Claire’s business in kitchen witchery allows for some gorgeous descriptions of magical food concoctions, I mean just read the above quote and tell me that you don’t want to sample some of those dishes? For me, the absolute best aspect of this book is the various descriptions of magic, from the kitchen and plant witchery to the special skills that each member of the Waverley family has. Evanelle in particular has a magical talent that I found super creative: the gift of Anticipation. She knows what people will need before they need it and gives them whatever it is, carrying a tote bag around town passing items out to people that will inevitably come in handy for them in future. Evanelle is such a fabulous character; an eccentric old lady who is well known in the town (and is hilariously very butt-focused, like an old Tina Belcher). I want to be her when I grow up. Sydney’s young daughter Bay has the gift of knowing where things belong without being told, which encompasses everything from kitchen utensils to people. Each family member appears to have their own skill like this, and Allen’s creativity in devising these magical concepts was a joy to read.

The garden of the Waverley house itself is even brimming with magic, with portents growing and spreading at various points in the story which I found myself becoming engrossed by (in fact, I got so into this aspect of the story that when “tiny vines of thorns started to sprout along the edge of the garden” I had a genuine “oh no!” moment). The legendary apple tree that sits at the centre of the garden is also much more of a character than you would expect. With its own moods and aims, it manipulates the people around it in order to advance the plot as it likes (and is super petulant when it wants to be too, which was really fun). Scents also evoke certain feelings within the story; Sydney is haunted by various smells, from the flowers in the Waverley garden pulling her back home, to the smell of her ex that follows her as she tries to reconcile with the past. Garden Spells contains the exact representation of magic that I love; it all feels very natural and real.

“Sydney, Bay, and Claire sat on the porch that Sunday, eating extra cinnamon buns that Claire had made from her regular Sunday order to the Coffee House. It was hot and things were out of whack. Doorknobs that everyone swore were on the right side of the doors were actually on the left. Butter melted in the refrigerator. Things weren’t being said and were left to stew in the air.”

There is some lovely LGBTQ+ representation in one subplot, which focuses on Evanelle helping a local man named Fred to accept and move past a broken relationship with his long-term partner James. Their friendship is really lovely and somewhat melancholic, as Fred waits for Evanelle’s gift to provide him with The Answer to fixing his broken relationship. Honestly, the side characters in this story were pretty much all super enjoyable (besides matriarch of the Clark family, she was a real piece of work). I often find that child characters are slightly too twee for my liking, but Bay’s scenes were all truly enjoyable. She’s a very realistic kid; her wants and worries are so well written and understandable without being over simplified or silly. Her arc of trying to recreate a dream of the moment she realizes that her life is perfect is truly lovely; she just wants her family to be happy and it’s so sweet.

Typical of this genre, there is an element of romance in the story. Personally, I’m not massively into romance literature, but Garden Spells thankfully doesn’t overdo it. The love interests are nicely developed and things happen slowly enough that it doesn’t feel like the book is All About Them. Personally, I found the sister’s relationship more rewarding, but there were nice elements like the men who are romantically attracted to the Waverleys emitting a gentle purple glow that I found cute and ethereal. A nice final touch is the inclusion of a glossary “From the Waverley Kitchen Journal” at the end of the novel which details some additional plants and their magical properties. It really solidifies the magical realism vibe of the book and leaves you wanting more.

“She had lived thirty-four years keeping everything inside, and now she was letting everything go, like butterflies released from a box. They didn’t burst forth, glad to be free, they simply flew away, softly, gradually, so she could watch them go. Good memories of her mother and grandmother were still there, butterflies that stayed, a little too old to go anywhere. That was okay. She would keep those.”

Garden Spells is a very readable story; you can cover ten pages and it feels like you’ve only read two. If you like gentle magical realism, sisterly bonds and a little bit of romance sprinkled in then I can guarantee that you’ll enjoy this book. I’m super intrigued to read the sequel, First Frost, which revisits the Waverleys, but this time with an Autumnal vibe. I feel like their story isn’t quite over and would be happy to read more about the sisters and their apple tree.

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

[Goodreads]

[bleachbleachbleach]

Tell me about your WIP! :)

Part 1: Premise

Aaaaah, you guys are so nice, responding to that meme post with honest to goodness asks about my WIP. ToT <333 Sorry it’s taken so long to respond—that meme posted from the queue in a very inopportune week. But! I HAVE BEEN CHOMPING AT THE BIT TO REPLY EVER SINCE. Thank you so much for the ask! Words cannot express my gratitude, truly.

My WIP is called "Stories for the Sea," and is the third in a series, the first two of which I wrote before joining Bleach Tumblr. The first one is Ukitake POV up through TYBW. The second is post-TYBW from Matsumoto’s POV, 60% of which is about gravedigging, because it’s what I do best and after TYBW probably also what Soul Society does best.

"Stories for the Sea" is multi-POV, also post-TYBW. Currently the summary is, Six months after the end of a war, you have not yet reached the end of the war. Buuuuut I probably have to add something more concrete if I want anyone to read it.

The two things that I wanted to write about were:

shinigami off in the backwoods having a campfire and eating stuff!!

wtf an ocean is like in Soul Society

So the way this works out is, Kyouraku needs to send parties out to renew diplomatic relations with things at the misty edges of Soul Society, to assure them that post-TYBW the Gotei is alive and well pls don’t invade us everything’s fine!!!! One of the most recent times these relations were renewed, Kaien, as Clan Head of the Shiba, led a mission to the oceans beyond the mountains that border Districts 1-3 of Western Rukongai.

One of the problems of course being that Kaien met an untiely demise, left no notes, and named no successor for this role. So Central 46 is like, all right, well, Rukia then. She was his protege and she’s a Kuchiki so we’ll roll with that.

Rukia’s like ROLL WITH WHAT because inasmuch as her fight with Aaroniero helped her move through a lot of Kaien-related feelings, there’s a lot left unpacked and Ukitake’s death certainly isn’t helping that feeling. Also she has no idea if they’re supposed to be renewing diplomatic relations with… like, merpeople… or squidpeople… or just straight up a body of water… or how she’s supposed to do that. But *she’s Kaien’s protege* so now it’s her job to figure the rest out.

Meanwhile, Mayuri is like, you know what would be great? is if we could use this mission to start collecting longitudinal data about all those people I dezombiefied! He sees no potential pitfalls here. Why does he think such data would be good to have? He will not be taking questions at this time. So the dezombified make up most of the Rukia Escort Squad, plus some tagalongs. Although Akon has absolutely no desire to do fieldwork, no one else in the Division wants to either, and he’s the VC now, so he has to go. Baby’s first VC mission, he supposes.

Renji is here to figure out whether they can futsal their way out of this one, guys, because absent the mandatory collaboration of TYBW the Vizard 1) might be interested in taking advantage of the Gotei’s shaken foundations to bring more of their vision to the organization, and 2) Kensei and Rose are at least 60% convinced the whole mission is a dump job and they are being disposed of. Again.

In any case, Mayuri’s handpicked motley crew is a little dysfunctional, and Renji’s goal is to keep it from being a lot dysfunctional. And also to make sure Rukia succeeds because. Rukia.

Hitsugaya is just here to do his job, as is Matsumoto. There are several things going on that are going to make that really difficult for them, in ways that Hitsugaya absolutely foresaw and also absolutely didn’t. Hisagi has no idea what his goal is, caught between his loyalties to his friends and to his captain and to general existential crisis. 

So into the forest and through the mountains and out to sea they go.

--

Part 2: Progress

[h0n3yk1tt3n]

4 7 11

4. What is the plot bunny you've been carrying around the longest? Optional bonus question: do you ever wonder why you haven't written it and experience deep existential dread?

Jeremy's freshman year bisexuality crisis... those first two chapters are still on ao3 but gods the progress I lost... maybe one day I'll dig up the scraps I could salvage and piece it together. It actually inspired another user (whose name escapes me, but they did ask if they could write it in that comment section) to write a fic entitled "sophomore year" way back in 2018 so it's kind of funny how the spiritual successor got completed while the original died.

7. Tell us about the plot for the first fanfic you ever wrote.

Technically the first one was this self-insert youtuber thing when I was 13 that was highly wattpad-coded, but I didn't finish it and I was physically writing it on paper and didn't share it to the internet (or anyone. For good reason.) Like, I needed to be kidnapped bc [redacted youtubers] thought I was keeping "government secrets" but really it was just fanart of them bc i was a ✨️#fangirl lol✨️ It made. No sense. But I was 13 so of course it didn't.

As for the first one I posted, it was started a few weeks after I got into bmc - like I hadn't even listened to all the songs yet, I was banking off of boyfs fanart, animatics, the wiki synopsis, and then LATER the script when I got to the Halloween portion. It needlessly erased the fact that Jeremy was crushing on Christine and that she'd "known him since seventh grade" via AGTIKBI. Like she had just moved and Jeremy was trying (and failing) to project his feelings for Michael onto her bc he lied abt wanting to join the play "because of his crush" and just.. made up the name bc haha theres not a Christine Canigula at this school. And then he goes to rehearsal and Mr. Reyes is like "lol new student this is christine canigula" and jer is all "oh shit shes real and Michael is supposed to think i have a crush on her GUESS I HAVE TO GO FOR IT NOW."

It's like... not quiiite the Christine erasure that I thought it was now that i think abt it, but it was still needlessly wishy-washy about her importance to the story. It was basically "Be More Chill but Jeremy got squipped trying to get with Christine specifically to get over Michael" which is like,, prime 2017 cringefail bc I started it when I was 15. It was,, stupid.

Though admittedly it had some fun ideas. Like ACTUALLY SEEING HALLOWEEN THROUGH JENNAS POV VIA A VLOG AND GIVING HER SHIT TO DO PRIOR TO THE PITIFUL CHILDREN!!! I POPPED OFF THERE IDC!!!

11. What's something neat you've learned while doing research for something you were writing? Also, how much do you worry about research in general?

This is actually recent bc of smth I wanted to do with Tales From The Lagniappe!! So in L4D2 the military calls the Infected "Whiskey Delta" as code for "Walking Dead" (despite them not being dead but not the point.) And in The Sacrifice comic that bridges the gap between the first and second game, they call the Survivors "Tango Mikes." I didn't know what the "TM" could've been code for so I looked it up and it's in reference to Typhoid Mary, who as far as I can tell is the first (known) asymptomatic carrier of anything ever???

She was a cook for hire and most of the families she worked for mysteriously got typhoid fever bc she had it in her gallbladder and didn't practice proper hygiene while cooking (it was the 1900s so it was like, weird but not weird weird). She was quarantined for like 30 collective years throughout her life and,, knowing the lethality of the Green Flu and that the L4D military nicknamed the Survivors after her brings an even darker spin on their view on carriers, as if it wasn't dark enough that they (spoilers) later resorted to killing carriers instead of just imprisoning them.

[buffriday-with-the-bees]

Dear author letter for Unsent Letters Exchange.

https://archiveofourown.org/collections/UnsentLetters2023/profile

Dear Author,

I'm sure I'll be happy with anything you write. I deliberately selected all the possible forms for maximum flexibility on all requested canons. DNWs are in my optional details. But in case you would like some prompt-y thoughts I've included them below.

In general I'd read romantic as well as platonic content for a given relationship unless it runs into my incest or underage DNWs (which are listed in my signup under optional details).

Any kind of AU is fine as long as it's not in the DNWs and includes the requested characters and a requested format.

Any time I say "letters" or "correspondence" feel free to consider it shorthand for "any form or medium that is acceptable in this exchange."

Also, feel free to combine prompts.

I tried to avoid this but if a ship is in my signup and I forgot to supply a prompt feel free to reach out through the mods.

Anathem - Neal Stephenson

Ala & any

Things I am curious about: how Ala became involved with Jesry when as far as Jesry was concerned, they couldn't stand eachother. (Of course, Erasmas thought he couldn't stand Ala either.)

The military liked Ala ("They think I'm cool"). How did that work out? What did she think about them?

Ala & Tulia, at any time. Before Apert, after Tulia arrived at the Convox. Preference for this to be friendship-focused.

Any Avout Character at Saunt Edhar's & none

The perspective of any ordinary avout at Saunt Edhar's on the Vocos, Orolo's Anathem, the arrival of the Geometers, the Eliger of Erasmas's crop of fids, the dispersal of everyone from the concent into the Anti-Swarm—it all seems quite interesting.

Any Foral Family Member & any

So what's up with the Forals and their fascination with worldtracks? I'm so curious about that. I mean, it's apparently lasted for hundreds of years at least? Are there Forals other than Magnus and Ignetha who don't care about any of this?

Any Post-Second Reconstitution Avout & any

What's avout life like after the Second Reconstitution? Any POV is fine: a canon character such as Lio, Jesry, Ala, Tulia, Erasmas, Barb aka Tavener, Paphlagon, Moyra, Landasher, or an OC.

Emman Beldo & any

I'm interested in his pre-Convox life, how he got picked to be one of the people who could detonate the Everything Killers, and whether or not he ever made it work with Karvall.

Erasmas & none

I'm very curious about Erasmas as amanuensis: a consciousness-bearing system whose recording and observation is generally important and also possibly has some effect on the worldtrack he is observing. I'd be interested in something he wrote about this or in something he wrote because of it. Is there something special about Erasmas that makes him a good amanuensis in this sense?

Jules Verne Durand & any

I'd love to see his notes or reports about his Orth learning process. What was his earlier education like? Did he write reports for the people who sent him and others to infiltrate the Convox? What was his post-canon life like?

Sammann & any

What's Ita culture like? What is his post-canon life like? Did he maintain his friendly collegial connection with Cord and the others? Did he have more contact with avout post-canon?

Alliance-Union - C.J. Cherryh

Any Florian AF-9979 & Any Catlin AC-7892

Did later Florian and Catlin iterations leave advice or recordings for their successors, the way the Arianes did?

Any Neihart of Finity's End Character & any

The Neiharts have seen a lot, going from the pusher era to the post-war era. How did Fletcher (Finity's End version) settle in as time passed? What kind of person did Jeremy become? The various James Robert Neiharts? The senior captain of Finity's End especially has seen a lot.

Ariane Emory II & any

So many options. Ari and her successors. Her fraught relationship with Justin and Grant and let's be honest, basically everyone she knows, from her same-age cohort to the household staff. Correspondence to or about Valery and/or Gloria after she messed that up. Letters that she writes to Oliver AOX Strassen but never sends. Records from her position as Councillor for Information.

Damon Konstantin & Elene Quen & Joshua Talley

Maybe it was just trauma bonding but I've always felt like there were feelings of attraction here, even if they were V-shaped. I'd be interested in their correspondence over time.

Fallan Monahan & any

Did he ever write to Lisa before they reconnected? Does he make notes for Ross or Lisa? A historical log generally?

Joshua Talley & any

Did he send reports to his Union-affiliated co-spies and superiors? Did he write to Elene Quen or Damon Konstantin separately? To anyone else?

Ross Monahan & any

Did he write letters to other Monahans who were station-bound? To Fallan or any others who went with Galway? Did he start writing letters to Jen in his head, before they weren't separated?

Kate & Cecilia

Sylvia Schofield & Elizabeth Wrexton

I'd love to see them corresponding about magic and/or their younger relatives.

Kate Schofield & Elizabeth Wrexton

Kate asking Aunt Elizabeth for advice about magic could be interesting, if only because it seems more likely that she would ask Thomas, Cecy, or Lady Sylvia.

Lord Ermenwyr Series - Kage Baker

Agliavv Willowspear & any

Willowspear may not be the most sensible person in this entire canon but he's got to be up there, right? Anyway, I'd be interested in a journal or letters of his experiences when he's separated from Burnbright, or futurefic about him in a requested format, or his experiences as a disciple (during his noviatiate or when he's living in the city at the inn and teaching Children of the Sun, especially if he starts teaching them about sustainable agriculture).

Any child of the Master of the Mountain and the Green Saint & Ermenwyr

So, Ermenwyr's named sibs are Eyrdway, Demaledon, and Svnae. Per one of the short stories he has multiple sisters. I'd be interested in correspondence between Ermenwyr and any of his sibs, especially post-Anvil of the World.

The Green Saint & Svnae

I've always been interested in their mother-daughter difficulties. I'd be interested in reading anything about that or anything that took place after those were more resolved.

Krelan & any

I'd be interested in anything. Accounts from the Bird of the River's supply purchases that tell a story, future-fic correspondence, Krelan writing to someone from his old life either before or after he breaks away from it.

The Master of the Mountain & any

The Master of the Mountain sure has a unique perspective on basically everything, and I'm interested in any exploration of it, specifically after he became the Master of the Mountain.

Mrs. Smith & any

Speaking of interesting perspectives, Mrs. Smith has seen a lot. Would be interested in anything from a journal about that to an acrimonious exchange with an ingredient supplier.

Nurse Balnshik & any

Who does Nurse Balnshik write or talk to? Either as a friend, or as an employee/minion of the Master of the Mountain sending reports about his wayward offspring?

Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers

Annie Wilson & any

What are Annie's post-Gaudy Night and World War II experiences like? Does she get her life back together or, if you want to go dark, does she keep writing poison pen letters?

She could write to her daughter Beatrice (Beatie) despairing that Beatrice is living a wild life with a motorcycle, or doing war work.

Or this prompt would allow for poison pen letters we don't see in canon.

Any Shrewsbury College don & any

I love all the dons. The Dean (Letitia Martin) is my favorite, but I also appreciate shy Miss Chilperic and spiky and hurt and bitter Miss Hillyard and research-fixated Miss de Vine. Any letter from any one of them at any time would delight me.

Danvers & any

How does he really feel about St George? Does he actually like him or does he just oblige him because of new and old school ties? How does his narrow angle of view of the poison pen affair look? Was he at Peter and Harriet's wedding?

Marjorie Phelps & any

I'm interested in anything Marjorie has to say, whether it's about her artsy life or her artistic career or her feelings about Peter.

Salcombe Hardy & any

His reporter's perspective on Peter's cases, Peter's marriage, the annoying behavior of livestock in the country, anything really. Why did DLS give us a canonically violet-eyed reporter? (That last part is rhetorical but I do ponder it from time to time.)

Sylvia Marriott & any

I'm interested in her thoughts on Peter and Harriet, on being a woman with an artistic career, or anything that strikes your fancy.

Viennese singer & any

In Busman's Honeymoon Peter reflects that he once "owned the finest lyric soprano in Europe"; this is after St George brings up the Viennese singer Peter was previously involved with. In one of the Paton Walsh books (Thrones, Dominations) she's named Aurelia Silberstraum and Peter pulled strings so she could come to England (and, IIRC, escape the Holocaust).

Feel free to ignore this or any other Paton Walsh material, but I thought I'd mention it. My real question is, what did things look like from the Viennese singer's point of view, either during or at any point after the arrangement with Peter?

Star Trek (AOS)

Jayla & Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (ST: AOS)

I've always felt like they had father-daughter or mentor-student found family vibes, and would like to see that explored. No sex or romance, please.

James T. Kirk/Leonard "Bones" McCoy/Montgomery "Scotty" Scott | James T. Kirk & Leonard "Bones" McCoy & Montgomery "Scotty" Scott

Listing these together even though I prompted for them separately because it's complicated. Am interested in any configuration, whether they're strictly friends or whether they're kind of a queerplatonic throuple because Scotty is ace (headcanon but I'm not hugely invested in it) and McCoy is not attracted to men and Kirk is pan (again, headcanon) and the most allosexual person to ever explore strange new worlds (has to be fairly close to canon?). Anyway I'm interested in like ship's logs or conventional correspondence or whatever.

Gaila/Nyota Uhura

I'd love to see them trading space postcards or text messages between roommates or whatever.

Carol Marcus/Leonard "Bones" McCoy

In my head this started out collegial and evolved into something more but I'm open to whatever.

Amanda Grayson & Spock

Anything really! Amanda Lives AU, Amanda Prime somehow corresponding with AOS Spock, Spock having records of his mom's notes on his school assignments, or birthday cards from her, or whatever.

Tam Lin - Pamela Dean

Janet Carter & Christina & Molly DuBois

A collection of notes Molly, Janet, and Tina left eachother, coordinating things in an era when schedules were in flux and no one had cell phones etc. ("Having dinner with Robin", "Could you clean the litterbox?", "Won't need my hour, would you like it?" etc.)

Janet Carter/Thomas Lane

I've always wondered about Thomas and Janet's post-canon experiences and would be thrilled to read about them in letter or diary or whatever format.

Robert Armin/Molly DuBois

Robin has to be prodded, but does eventually start writing to Molly during summer breaks. What's that look like?

Top Gun (Movies)

Amelia Benjamin & any

To me Amelia is the ultimate POV outsider character in this canon, especially on her mom and Mav, but also in general. So, like, I'll take anything (except romance or sex with someone outside her age bracket, which I see as 14-16; this is also in my DNWs).

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw & Pete "Maverick" Mitchell

Another I'll-take-anything relationship, as long as it isn't in my DNWs. Young Bradley and Mav corresponding pre-paper pulling, Bradley being assigned somewhere at a distance post-canon and trying to write regularly to Mav, AU where the rift between Mav and Bradley never happened and they corresponded throughout the period between the movies, non-Navy AU, Bradley's angry journal entries. Romantic or sexual Roosmav is okay as long as it doesn't conflict with my DNWs for this exchange (underage or making it incestuous by making them biological or legal family).

Robert "Bob" Floyd & Natasha "Phoenix" Trace

It's hard to imagine them not together in some sense after TGM, at minimum as ride-or-die friends. Bob keeps a journal, fight me. I'd love to read it. But I'd also be happy to read their post-canon correspondence.

Penny Benjamin & Pete "Maverick" Mitchell

I would not actually die for a look at correspondence during their off-and-on period but it sure is an interesting thought. Same for a peek at Penny's diary, especially about the F-18 joyride.

Tom "Iceman" Kazansky & Pete "Maverick" Mitchell

Canonically they text. I'm interested in this or postcards or email or whatever.

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw & Natasha "Phoenix" Trace

I love them as friends but I'm open to anything from them trying to be more than friends pre-canon to Bradley actually trying to stay in touch post-canon. ("This is how I find you're back stateside?" IMO Bradley is canonically bad at staying in touch. Maybe he tries to get better.)

The X-Files (TV)

Dana Scully & William | Jackson Van de Kamp

New canon wants me to believe Scully would just stop caring about William and let him go emotionally? I'm sorry, no. Even if he is kind of creepy, plus all the other stuff in new canon.

Valdemar Series - Mercedes Lackey

Savil Ashkevron & Vanyel Ashkevron

Anything from the period when they're both full working Herald-Mages and she's his real mom but also his colleague and the vodka aunt.

[al-hekima-madara-blog]

Madara Finale Speech

This part is not canon to the manga. However, since it's the last moment where Madara summarises his action and what triggers him to start the Infinite Tsukuyomi. It's kind of a POV without being really one because there is no new informations to what he said. But usually we forgot this powerful monologue because...you know... the shadow guy in the back did what he did...😑... And we were so surprise by this plot twist that we totally forgot Madara's words.

"I just want to be the saviour that ends the long history of fighting amongst shinobi"

He embodied perfectly the anti-villain trope. Noble cause but horrific manners. And also it goes along with my headcanon here that Madara has always be groomed by his clan to think of himself as someone special chosen by the Divine. The God's complex is older that we thought. Madara reminds me a bit the Big Nurse in the movie Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, where she is convinced to act for the well-being of her patients while her acts are authoritarian and cruel. The only difference is that Madara is fully aware of his own acts of violence in order to reach is goal, in this "cursed world" as he said there is no other way, and it's also the only way he learned as a child soldier during the Warring state era.

Establishing Ninja village led to an increase in their military built-up which result in battles that turned into great wars...with countless lives lost. The battling of what became the first Great Ninja War, the second Ninja War, the third Ninja war... The fightings never stop. That's Hashirama's legacy to the Shinobi world.

His comprehension on the shinobi world leaves you torn. All is true, painfully true. Contrary to Hashirama, he lived long enough to witness with his own eyes (pun intended) every wars. There is nothing the main characters can possibly talk no jutsu with him because either they are too dumb (Naruto), or too indoctrinate in the Will of Fire to even consider other perspectives (Sakura, Kakashi). And generally way to young to have seen every conflicts he is talking about.

Sasuke's position at this very moment is the most interesting.

But Hashirama ultimately failed in reforming the Shinobi world

Notice as the camera pauses for a long time on Sasuke. It's only after a second rewatching that we realise at this moment Sasuke has reached the same conclusion than Great-Great-Great-Grandpa. He heard Itachi's version, Danzo's version, Hiruzen's version, Tobirama, Hashirama, and even Hagoromo himself... In comparaison Naruto has no idea of the big picture. On and on, Sasuke listened all of them and meditated their past decisions who led to the current situation. The Shinobi world needs a reform because Hashirama and his successors have failed somewhere, in their own admissions. And he, Sasuke, is driven to be an Hokage and makes a change he called revolution. He is young enough to not be totally disillusioned like his ancestor. And for once, Madara's old age is a problem. His accumulation of experiences and tragedies froze his thirst for life (Gai may call it The springtime of youth) to the point he rather forces everyone into a fake existence than let them live and progress on their own. He hate this reality and doesn't want anymore to let it grow. While Sasuke still wants to change this reality.

Is this your idea of a perfect world? You're just deceiving people.

It's so strange because finally Sasuke is acting like the main character should act. Being challenged not just physically but also intellectually by an opponent, and overtakes him. Because of his Rinnegan and his EMS he was the only one who protected team 7 under his Susanoo and potentially the only one who could have stop the effect of Infinite Tsukuyomi. He actually doesn't need Naruto. That's the reason later he said that he will kill him first, the 5 kages and then he will liberate people from the genjutsu. This character is so independent from the main story we could literally have his own sequel without mentioning team 7. Anyway back to the old lad...

People cannot show each other their true feeling

When I dissected Madara's mistakes, I've said before that one of his main goal was to find a way to reach people's heart but he gave up the idea very early in his life. He never found a way to fully trust others and no one in return ever trust him.

My opinions were pushed aside

I've always repeated again and again but we never had Madara's POV about what happened in Konoha when he was still part of it. What happened exactly with Iwa? Why did his own clan prefer to be close to the Senju (long time enemies) than trust their own leader? Why was Hashirama not able to listen to his friend's opinion ? Lots of people talk about him, but we never let him express himself. We speculate but in the end, his opinion is still a mystery.

[gentrychild]

Imagine if Hori originally planned to make AFO hisashi midoriya and then changed his mind years later. What do you think about that?

To all the people believing in this theory (I know you exist), let's agree to disagree and just stop reading this, please.

...

..

.

You're gone, now?

Okay.

This theory, as far as I am concerned, doesn't make sense because we are still getting DFO hints in recent chapters.

The first time AFO was introduced to Izuku as a character was in chapter 89, at Kamino. 89 chapters is already a long time to realize that "Hey, maybe I don't want to make my villain the father of my hero because I'm sure people will complain about it!" and Kamino was just full of DFO hint moments.

We know that AFO couldn't have possibly not known that Izuku was behind that wall. Between the X-Ray quirk (and isn't that funny that we got a scene in Tartarus where AFO straight up talks about said quirk) and Search (from Shigaraki POV, it is shown to be a supernova of a quirk), he had to know he was here but he did nothing. When he fought All Might, not only was he at his most pissed, but everything he had to say about All Might choosing a successor was "YOU ARE A TERRIBLE TEACHER."

But alright, let's say that Horikoshi dropped the idea after showing Izuku being a tiny bit obsessed with quirks (Did I mention in-universe that Izuku's mumbling about quirks is seen as creepy, which directly parallels Toga's love for blood? Let's say I did.) and after Kamino. So the question is "When did Hori decide to abandon this theory?", I guess.

In chapter 193, we have Izuku communicating with the Vestiges (and yes, I am including it as a DFO chapter because even if you exclude the fact Izuku is communicating with his quirk, we get the panel with AFO's speech battle saying "My only family" and I will let you guess who is the only person in this panel. Spoilers: it's not Yoichi.) and in chapter 210, we get the first appearance of Blackwhip. It is considered a pretty big DFO hint but let's say that Horikoshi still wanted Izuku to have several quirks because it's cool.

But in chapter 217, we get Bakugou (who is the guy who got the closest to All for One among the students and even among the heroes except for AM and GT) actually makes the comparison with AFO, drawing once again attention to it.

Which leads to a pretty funny moment in the same chapter where All Might is obviously uncomfortable with the idea of comparing his son to AFO and trying to ignore said son looking at his hand in a AFO pose while loudly thinking "I will make that power mine."

Then, in the war arc (I am not checking which chapter), you have the AFO vestige not only saying that the ability to interact with quirk ghosts is something he has but also something that, and I quote "My blood relatives... My brother", also have!

Then there is the end of the war arc where AFO doesn't grab Izuku even if he could have as the poor boy wasn't conscious when he left the battlefield but when he (gently) pushed him back, his hand is shown bleeding as if he is the one who took most of the force of the attack in order not to hurt Izuku.

Then, during the solo arc... Listen, so many people made memes about it but yes, AFO was set on murdering past OFA users, nuked Nana and generally did a lot of collateral damage trying to kill All Might... and you not only have him just being "You took a thorny path. Are you sure you want to go on?" but Horikoshi keep drawing attention to Danger Sense so readers notice that AFO isn't triggering the detect-any-animosity part.

There are probably other things but right here, you have my problem with the theory. If Horikoshi dropped the dfo theory, why does he keep drawing hints and drawing attention to them???

[what-do-1000-swords-look-like]

One of the things I really am loving about House Of the Dragon is that while this show is telling the story of this house/family and it's from their POV, it also isn't pulling any punches in its representation of just how the Targaryens really are, which was only hinted at in GoT (minus Dany and Viserys obviously). It shows just how they're not the benevolent rulers they think they are, that they're not the saviors of humankind that surrounds them, and that they are not beheld with wonder and awe by all. That they are no more extraordinary than any other ruling family or any other family grasping for power during this era. They are all just as human, good or bad.

The only difference between them and everyone else is that they have dragons and that's how Westeros was conquered. They have the most powerful weapon, something they make sure to keep reminding the realm of with the Iron Throne display of the swords of all of their fallen enemies, and with the dragon keep being one of the highest points of the city. It's obvious while watching it that the Targaryen name already holds a lot of power, to the point where the tell-tale silver hair, the dragon bonds, and the blood of this family have become earmarks of the power they hold, besides the IT. You can literally see the legend rooting itself into the foundation Aegon and his successors have already built, and it is forming and solidifying right before our very eyes.

It really isn't any wonder that Dany thought she was the Princess Who Was Promised or that she would reshape the world due to her magic, that entitlement to the extraordinary and mentality of 'born to stand out from the rest' was already deeply ingrained into each generation of Targaryens. Dany may never have known her parents but Viserys did. It's no surprise that she grew up being told the same things he did, and how grand the Targaryens were and how they were entitled to their kingdoms in Westeros even after being ousted by their very subjects.

I appreciate this show and GRRM so much.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 316: We've Had One, Yes, But What About Second Explosion

Previously on BnHA: Deku was all “[powers up like whoa because it’s time to end the fight]”, and he saved Overhaul from getting not-shot, and then smashed up Nagant’s arm with the power of his new rechargeable super knees. Nagant was all “yoooo this kid is crazy strong whaaaat, it’s like he’s some kind of protagonist or something.” Deku was all “I AM A PROTAGONIST, ACTUALLY, DO YOU WANT TO JOIN FORCES AND FIGHT BAD GUYS WITH ME?” Nagant was all “ah shit why the hell no -- ” and then AFO was all “SURPRISE” and everyone was all “?!?!?!” and AFO was all “TIME TO EXPLODE NOW” and made Nagant explode because he’s an absolute fucking dick. And then Hawks showed up, because Horikoshi just wanted to stuff as many plot points as humanly possible into a single chapter I guess.

Today on BnHA: Hawks is all “good job giving motivational shounen redemption speeches Deku but I’ll take it from here” and screams very earnestly right in Nagant’s face until she finally wakes up. Nagant is all “oh hey it’s my successor, you seem surprisingly unfucked-up from your own HPSC tenure, how did you manage that?” Hawks is all “fandom is going to love hearing this one, but basically it’s because I’m very upbeat and also I had the world’s best role model Endeavor to look up to,” and I swear this man stirs the pot on purpose, but damn it I still love him so damn much. Overhaul is all “HELLO AGAIN, JUST A REMINDER THAT, THE BOSS!!” and Deku is all “MAYBE TAKE TWO SECONDS TO REFLECT ON HOW YOU TORTURED A LITTLE GIRL,” which, thank you, lol. Nagant is all “btw AFO’s hiding in a house in the woods”, and so Deku and the gang go to the house in the woods. Video recording!AFO is all “hi I’m AFO welcome to Jackass” and blows up the house. Sometimes I wonder if this manga is just a weird dream.

I am once again reading the Bean version because I think it was actually the best out of all three translations last week. and that is surprisingly including Viz’s. “faux” is not nearly as entertaining as “knockoff”, and also I have literally no idea why Caleb thought Deku was saying the Third’s lines lol

oh hey, Endeavor’s here too! not that you’d ever be able to tell from this first panel lmao

glad you received All Might’s call, mysterious unidentified glowing smudge

oh snap he says he’s weaker in the rain. is that why AFO told Nagant to attack then?? except that as we discussed the other day, I believe that AFO fully intended for Nagant to lose the fight, so him giving her info that would give her an advantage doesn’t really fit in with that. maybe he wanted Deku to be separated from Endeavor and the rest for maximum angst, though

btw Deku’s eyes are unsurprisingly back to the new normal here

alas, the angst continues. I say, pretending like I’m not totally eating it up each and every week and writing essay after essay about it lol

anyway so apparently Hawks can’t actually fly lmao. he was just yeeting himself with style

for some reason this is the funniest fucking thing I’ve ever seen omfg. wave to Hawks, kids! say “bye, Hawks!”

j/k of course Deku is catching them. -- except???

wow so he was just running on fumes there at the end. well, good to know there is actually a limit to his shenanigans, particularly regarding this new “knockoff” 100% OFA. it will definitely not alleviate any of the discourse, but it’s good for my own peace of mind because it’s solid confirmation that he still needs his pals in order to win this thing

anyway, but on to the rest of this conversation, which is basically Deku deducing what we all deduced last week -- AFO implanted some sort of trap into Nagant when he gave her Air Walk. though I’d still like to get the actual details from AFO and/or Horikoshi, because this was particularly wild even by quirk standards lol

omgggggg

she still has a face after all!! so it’s confirmed, Horikoshi has no idea what “blowing up” actually means. we might have guessed, based on what happened to Toga in the MVA arc, and also based on everything Katsuki does ever, but shhh

so now Hawks is all “NAGANT PLEASE WAKE UP, IF I SHOUT MY NAME AT YOU WILL THAT DO THE TRICK”

this is actually kind of touching though because even though we all know (or most of us acknowledge at any rate) that Hawks is a pretty caring person, it’s rare to see him actually panic over someone’s welfare like this

oh shit Horikoshi is really doubling down on it

I wonder how much Hawks knew about what really happened between Nagant and the HPSC. regardless, he probably sees her as a kindred spirit of sorts, and I’m more than happy for Deku to pass the redemption torch onto him now that he’s on the scene. like no offense Deku but they actually know each other and stuff lol

DAMMIT NAGANT CAN’T YOU SEE HOW LOUD HE IS YELLING

apparently being freed from his HPSC shackles has finally given Hawks the space to embrace his own inner shounen protagonist. is there anything more shounen than trying to motivationally scream someone awake when they’re lying in your arms inches from death?? 100% guaranteed to work

!!! IS THIS NAGANT’S POV OMG

SO SHE IS ALIVE. THANK GOD. Horikoshi doesn’t want to meet with my emotional distress lawyer today after all

love how she’s all “just gonna stir up the weekly Hawks Discourse pot here by implying that he probably committed a lot of Atrocities just like I did, so now people can get all hopped up about that, even though there’s no evidence he’s ever killed anyone aside from that one horrible ‘damned-if-you-do...’ situation with Twice.” no one asked for your provocative speculation young lady!! trust me Nagant, our rabbles don’t need the rousing lol

but nice save there with the “so how are your eyes so untainted” well you see it’s because even when he was following the HPSC’s orders he always went to great lengths never to go against his own moral compass. which just to be clear was incredibly difficult, and led to a ton of pain and suffering on his part, because the life of a spy is basically just one impossible situation after another. but in spite of that he never stopped trying to do his best to help people. I don’t really know where this tangent came from or is leading to, lol, but anyway p.s.a. I love Hawks a lot and he’s a good kid dammit

oh shit??!?

how is the League always able to swing all these fancy forest mansions. where do they find them. how many do they have

so Deku’s dropping them -- very roughly, not sure if he was reacting to finally getting AFO’s location, or if his energy really is giving out -- and now Nagant’s saying that AFO hired other villains as well. well of course he did. gotta keep chipping away at OFA’s ninth successor little by little

now Nagant is asking Hawks how he’s able to keep making “that” face. I assume she’s again talking about the fact that he somehow didn’t let the HPSC wear down his spirit

oh my god???

thanks for stuffing this chapter to the brim with good nutritional Hawks Feels, Horikoshi. what a good. he just keeps on trudging forward undeterred no matter what bullshit comes his way. what a steadfast little guy. I WILL PROTECT YOU FROM DISCOURSE MY SWEET SUNSHINE

lmaoooo

“SPOTTED THIS DUDE JUST CHILLING OUT THERE ON THE ROOF WITH NO ARMS, SEEMED PRETTY SUS” good job Endeavor

anyway so you don’t really need me to tell you that Overhaul is immediately starting in with the “BUT THE BOSS WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE ME TO THE BOSS YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD TAKE ME TO THE BOSS” stuff again. but I will go ahead and tell you anyway. so yeah. he’s doing that

OMG YOU GUYS LOOK AT DEKU’S “of all the fucking assholes to just randomly drop in on my life once again why did it have to be you” FACE THOUGH, OMG

fun fact, if you go back to chapters 124 through 160, there was an entire story arc where Overhaul imprisoned and tortured a little girl. yeah, I know!! suuuuuuuuper evil. anyways just an interesting little anecdote for you all that’s somewhat relevant to the current situation

OMG, YES. FUCK YES, DEKU

THEN WHAT ABOUT SPARING ONE FOR HER!!! YES!!! EXACTLY!!! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, SOMEONE GETS IT

HERE’S THE PANEL OF DEKU SAYING THE EXACT SAME THING I’M SAYING LOL

(ETA: so apparently there’s some discourse about this because some people are interpreting this as Deku saying “you should apologize to Eri”, which would obviously be a terrible idea even if Overhaul actually wanted to do that, because Eri shouldn’t ever have to see him again. however I just want to point out that there is a HUGE difference between saying “it would be nice if you could direct that feeling of regret/being sorry towards Eri as well”, vs saying “you should also apologize to her.” all Deku is doing is rightfully pointing out that Overhaul has hurt way more people than just his boss, and if he really is remorseful, then he should extend those feelings of remorse to Eri and the rest as well. it’s not a directive to take any specific action, and I’m 1000% sure no one at U.A. would let Overhaul within 100 miles of Eri ever again.

tl;dr “try feeling remorse sometime” =/= “do you want me to fly you over to U.A. right now to surprise the little girl you traumatized”, lol.)

[slings an arm around Deku’s shoulders] you’re a good kid. I like you. I don’t know if I tell you that enough, but it’s true

meanwhile here is Overhaul’s “spare... a thought... for Eri...???????” face sigh

the struggle is real y’all

(ETA: and that’s... the last we ever saw of Overhaul, I guess? well all right then. I assume Deku will make good on his promise, so we know he’ll get that little bit of closure before going back to jail or whatever, and I confess I’m more than fine with leaving the rest of it open-ended, especially given his character’s history. I think this was pretty generous all things considered.)

lmao holy shit

All Might what did you do to those tiki torch guys?? did you thrash them. did you give ‘em those hands. did you deliver their own asses to them complete with a sticker reminding them Amazon Prime Day is on June 21. we missed out goddammit

so Endeavor, who wasn’t the one he was asking, is telling him that they captured (well let’s be real, Deku captured, give the credit where it’s due) Nagant and Overhaul. and so I guess they’re going to take Nagant to the ER now

fire is no one’s weakness

-- oh my GOD I scrolled down and audibly gasped

[is politely but firmly approached and asked to remove my arm from Deku’s shoulder by the physical manifestation of all this Dekuangst] “we’re sorry, he’s not allowed to have visitors right now” oh shit, my bad. [goes to stand behind a police barricade]

lmao what. did you run out of room on the previous page

what an exaggerated fade to black lmao

-- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I actually can’t see what he’s reacting to so maybe I’m just seriously jumping the gun here lol, but THE HELL WITH IT. the next panel appears to be a cut to Haibori Forest, so I’m just gonna go ahead and declare that Deku ran off on his own all wounded to go have more Dekuangst, just like I manifested. now go call Katsuki goddammit

[scrolls three more inches down] oh

yeah so like I said, Deku is walking very slowly a few feet in front of Endeavor, who’s telling him to wait up. yep. we’ve all gotta be so careful to not just jump to conclusions. I know we’re excited but still

anyway, so! welcome back to Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods (ARE YOU GUYS DATING) and Edgeshot! have fun walking into this obvious trap lol

dammit Deku why are you so determined to tempt fate

[monkey puppet meme faces]

OH MY GOD THIS IS PURE GRADE-A CHEESY COMIC BOOK VILLAIN 101 SHIT AND I’M HERE FOR IT

that’s such a weird way of clapping who claps like that

unlike certain other people who shan’t be named, AFO doesn’t feel the need to inexplicably take his shirt off when recording sinister villain monologues. I think we’re all pretty grateful for that

high fives to everyone who called it!! yep yep

anyway so this whole scene has major booby-trap vibes, which I’m enjoying immensely even though I don’t think anything is really going to come of it lol. probably just another long-winded AFO Speech. but wouldn’t it be funny if like the ceiling started lowering down to try and squish Deku afterwards lol

(ETA: well the explosion was still pretty funny too ngl.)

ffff

[“Dekuangst is the trap” intensifies]

anyway so yeah. he’s just hitting up all of his usual villain talking points. we get it, you’re so smart and you see right through the thin veneers of society and people who don’t conform are left to fend for themselves and labeled as villains and history is written by the victors, and blah blah blah dude are you just jumping randomly from one soundbyte to another lol. literally what are you talking about. what does this have to do with you blowing up Nagant

-- holy shit??

[”Dekuangst is the trap” intensifies MORE?????]

LOL WHAT

BRO. WHAT IS WITH YOU. DON’T YOU KNOW HOW TO LAY ANY OTHER KIND OF FUCKING TRAP GOOD LORD

“YOU’RE NEXT” THE CALLBACK?? THE PARALLELS?? THOUGH WHEN ALL MIGHT POINTED HE MADE IT LOOK WAY COOLER. AFO’S POINTING JUST LOOKS LIKE SMOKEY THE BEAR

HAS ANYONE CHECKED IN ON KAMUI WOODS I HEAR HE IS WEAK TO FIRE?? THE ONLY ONE WHO IS, APPARENTLY

r.i.p. to this particular forest mansion. don’t worry they have a ton of backups

remember last week when I said maybe AFO thinks explosions are gauche. well never mind. he fucking loves explosions

anyway so that’s the end of BnHA, everyone. hope you enjoyed. it was a good ride while it lasted. see you all, good luck in your travels

[crtalley]

NANO 2021 ; « the garden of earthly delights »

genre → adult dark fantasy thriller pov → first person present tense themes → vengeance as justice, the evolving definition of the self, becoming the monster, the relative viscosity of blood and water extras → arospec and acespec protagonists, villain protagonists, soft... romance? infatuation?, morality is for losers, deadpan humor, revenge is hollow but so is everything else warnings → death ; graphic depictions of violence ; graphic depictions of substance abuse ; some sexual content ; mentions of: csa, parental neglect, emotional abuse, abandonment ; to be updated

Renard de Constans wants many people dead.

There are guilds for everything in the city of Grisencourt. If one needs furniture, they go to the Carpenters – horseshoes, the Farriers – light, the Chandlers.

If one needs to fill a grave, they go to the Spicers.

Ophélie was born into the Spicers Guild. She sees the sideways looks she's given when she peddles her cheap cures, her potions, her sugar-water placebos for those discontent with their place in life. She hides her discomfort with a smile and cuts her sugar with sweet lead.

The Spicers' mysterious Company of Decadents has an ear pressed to every wall and a claw sunk deep into every jugular in the city. With entry into the Company restricted half by inheritance and half by recommendation, no one who wants to know about it will ever see past its darkened doors.

While some have made their fortunes from filthy work, many Spicers Decadent in the city walls lead ascetic or impoverished lives. Death is not a grand sport nor a thing of great beauty.

But – when a stranger shows up at Ophie's door asking after her long-dead father, on guild business – it can be.

Everett chokes back fury. “She refuses to name a successor,” he says instead, calmer. More level. Sevestre laughs. “Which of us shall it be, Ève?” “I wouldn’t duel you for the honor.”

In the midst of a royal succession crisis, a nameless patron funds deaths and disappearances in the court. Lords go missing only to show up weeks later as gold signet rings in the corner of a pigsty. Prevosts drown in the lakes in the black of night.

The Spicer Decadent is caught – only once, but it only takes once – by the man who should be crown prince.

He helps her wash the blood from her hands.

Ophie finds herself in an uncomfortable spot: Her innocence is irrevocably tangled up with Everett's goodwill. And so she draws him in, making him a willing accomplice to her work.

The two of them make a temptation of death while playing at innocence. And, between the useless deviant persona Everett plays to the court and the timidity Ophie wears even as she tips mild poison into a cup, they can be nothing but innocent. Suspicions for the deaths turn to the grandmotherly Princess of Clarin, to the queen's brother Duke Sevestre, to Prince Consort Andrie of Corant – they have always been poisoners, those Coranti –

“Who died and made you lord of anything?” “I think one of the last few was a distant uncle.”

And then the final letter comes.

{{ GENERAL TAGLIST

@metanoiamorii @glitterandstarshine @crookedwritings @seasteading @avi-why @hekat-ie @localdeadlylaser @jadeywrites @aubergineanathema @quadraphonictypewriter @kudzupocalypse @lascalaveras @cheshawrites @eloquenceandemphasis @asablehart @arctic-stars @worldbuildng @dovebeast

THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS TAGLIST

@hottubraccoon @florraisons @muddshadow }}

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

MAGIC BABY AU

The magic baby AU, explained.

Content Warnings: Underage pregnancy, gaslighting, creepiness, and like general horrifying assumptions.

Izuku has a Quirk that enables him to have a baby if he wishes hard enough for it. He has to have reached puberty before it activates though, so no one knew. Inko in this verse is a bad mom who neglects him but totally pretends she doesn’t for the public. (Side note, Mitsuki is suspicious as fuck about Inko because she’s known Inko forever and knows she has tells. She just doesn’t want to think Inko would hurt her own kid.)

Izuku, desperate for someone to love him, ends up wishing for someone and that’s his first baby. Who either is or isn’t a reincarnation from a different anime. Solely this is for fun POV of the baby and could easily be done into omakes if I don’t go with this for real.

 Now, this is where I am kinda seesawing. I think part of the horrifying part is the idea of a kid that young (like 12) being pregnant, so instead what if since he is so young his Quirk works over time and baby just appears. Premature a bit but baby is okay. Izuku is winded as fuck though, and like in the future babies will be born with Izuku being pregnant because it took to much out of him.

Continues under cut.

 Now everyone knows the truth and a specialist is called in because someone figures out the baby might be from a teacher and they all are NO WHAT THE FUCK.

 Of course like, it might still because the Quirk relies on touch and a wish, and everything- the bullying, the neglect, all of it- comes pouring out. Izuku is removed from Inko’s care and the school is under heavy investigation.

 A lot of the kids end up with marks in their records. Some schools won’t mind but others... well, sorry Bakugou. Ketsubetsu will take you but not UA.

 Izuku’s story is leaked though and he’s snatched by villains who want to raise super powerful children to be future villains, done so because it was also leaked his first baby has a super powerful fire Quirk from her ‘birth’.

 Izuku ends up pumped full of Trigger and gaslighted into having more kids. Now this time is actual pregnancy which pisses off the villains and has more of his Quirk come through. Including a pheremone that makes people want him. Luckily it really only affects those around his age and just makes adults nicer.

Less nice is as he gets older this changes a bit and the age range grows.

Anyway, Izuku was dragged through a bar with his Quirk activated and he ended up touched by a lot of villains and has no idea who fathered his first set of triplets. One though had a fire Quirk that produces blue flames.

Izuku gets a break and then the next time happens, with way more Trigger. Doesn’t take though, and just keeps doesn’t taking until his kids are threatened and boom. He’s about 14 now and is terrified and along, when he’s saved by a raid on the facility he is in. (Which might have been a tip off from a fire user who heard about a kid with him and got mad as fuck)

 Izuku is saved by All Might and Aizawa and taken with them.

 However, it was the day his Quirk activated and a lot of people touched him so he’s back at Square one. More so when he learns that thanks to all the Trigger he can’t turn off his Quirk ever.

Izuku is made into a ward of UA, and All Might decides he’s got a successor with how Izuku still wants to be a hero to prevent anything like that happening again.

-General notes:

-Dabi turns himself in and Endeavour is under investigation. Todoroki is protective of his nephew/niece and Dabi is a pretty good dad.

-Izuku likes dresses. Partly because as he gets bigger the dresses are roomier but also because he kind of likes being ‘motherly’

-Shigaraki and Overhaul are affected by his pheremones. (I have no clue how old Overhaul is but fuck it)

-Eri was with Izuku during the raid and Izuku has claimed her as a child. FIGHT HIM.

-Bakugou sends an apology letter he means to Izuku but keeps away because Izuku isn’t okay.

-No pairings yet because Izuku can’t handle the trauma and just can’t be in a relationship for a while. Maybe when Izuku is like seventeen but right then no. He can’t.

-The second set of triplets has Izuku unable to take the exam but he’s let into the hero course anyway after helping break apart multiple other villain organizations thanks to his brains.

-Izuku keeps his kids because he’s near feral at the idea of them leaving him due to the threats of the villains and knowing what they had planned for them.

[fatal-rewrites-warriors]

:c I'm offer chimken nooble

Which characters are the hardest to write, or get into their heads for?

Favorite scene so far (of those up to this chapter ofc)?

If you *had* to put Blackfoot in a relationship with a canon character, who would it be? How would it play out?

What do you think might be some challenges in Blackfoot's POV next book?

If Yellowfang hypothetically never chooses Leafpool as her apprentice, who would be her successor instead? + if Yellow hadn't ended up in Thunderclan prior to Spottedleaf's death, what would have happened? How would Thunderclan have gotten a new healer, and who would it be in this Yellow-less scenario?

so ive already answered the first two, but lets see...

I am honestly drawing a blank for Blackfoot. Like this is a highly repressed gay dude, already limiting his options, and then furthermore Shadowclan is a bit of a mess and most cats around his age are either taken or they're mollies, not to mention having been a loyalist limits his options even more

I guess the fact of the matter is that Blackfoot would probably need someone he's known from youth, who's willing to look past his crimes and put in the effort to get through his beliefs that he cant be loved, and theres just no canon cats that can fill that role

(not even getting into the fact that Blackfoot is basically predisposed to relationships with power imbalances because if he did get into a relationship he would just. worship them. and thats not Great)

But also Im highly particular about Blackfoot just in general and there hasnt been a single ship involving him thats pinged me

anyways now that ive talked about blackfoot a bunch lets talk about the struggles he presents as a pov character, which i mentioned in the previous ask but like. yeah the fact that he's a follower, that he would rather do things for others than forge his own way, is a whole thing.

i think the religious aspects of his character will challenge me too because im not a religious person and generally speaking had a fairly agnostic upbringing. I'm up to the challwnge, tho, and honestly just excited for his pov in general

if yellowfang didnt choose Leafpaw...i could definitely see Shrewpaw giving it a shot! and if yellowfang hadnt been arpund to replace spottedleaf, starclan would prolly need to send a sign hmmm. at first firepaw, feeling guilty, would try to take up the post, but he's an outsider with no head for herbs so he would have no success

they would need someone well suited pretty fast, and i can honestly see Raven getting nudged towards the role because of his intelligence (tho his success is debatable too because of his anxiety). it'd be a tough decision to make and sadly it wouldnt have an easy answer--this might even be a situation where a cat from another clan needs to move to thunderclan and train to become their healer

[paragonrobits]

A friend asked me to give a stab at a Tierlist Maker for Video Games Not Yet In the Video Game Hall of Fame Tier List Maker, so here's my list for it!

This is based primarily on what I considered to be overall value to gaming history as a whole, with games with greater influence or impact ranking higher than those that had less impact on those to follow, or on culture. All the entries are those that have been nominated to the Hall of Fame, but not actually inducted as of this post's writing. Games that I personally like are generally rated higher, though mostly because I'm more familiar with them and thus can judge their impact from a personal POV.

(Tier List explainations, below!)

SHOULD BE IN ALREADY

Final Fantasy: I mean seriously. How is this one not already in yet?? It is not, as my research suggests, the first true RPG; that likely goes to games like Ultima. It is certainly an incredibly influential one; FF is a name closely associated with JRPGs in general, and its diverse class system is one of the strongest things to do with it, as noted by challenges like beating the game with a party of Black Belts. FF is THE name of RPGs in general and I'm startled it hasn't made it in, though I suppose that's owing to more notable entries (Hard as that is to imagine). It doesn't hurt that the majority of my favorite FF titles are those most similar to this one, such as FF6 and FF9, in terms of approaching the general world setting and class systems. Most significantly is that this game popularized RPGs and made them accessible, in ways that previous games such as Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest did not; the field of gaming would be VERY different without it; RPGs became VERY popular, to the extent of RPG elements being almost universal among other games in the modern day. (I am also pleased and amused to see 8-Bit Theater mentioned on the actual Wikipedia page. Now THAT'S notability!)

Sid Meir's Civilization: HEY NOW HALL OF FAME JUDGES, DON'T YOU BE MOCKING CIV, ALRIGHT. CIV IS FUCKING AWESOME. Okay, jokes aside, I'm genuinely astonished as the Civ series is considered the first true main game of the 4x series, and it shows; the entire genre centers around expansion, resource usage and diplomacying or conquering your enemies, and considering the impact of this game and its sheer popularity, to the extent of the meme of the game getting people to play for Just One More Turn, I'm a bit disappointed that it's not already in the hall of fame. I also note that I am personally more familiar with the spin off Alpha Centauri, a sci fi variant, which is still one of my all time favorite games.

Half-Life: Given this game's popularity, to the point of its release alone consigning the likes of Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines to cult classic status and its engine spawning a whole THING with GMod and the usage of physics mechanics in FPS games, one thing of note is its use of scripted sequences; at the time, an unknown in most games of the time. There may be something to be said for how the entire game is spent as Gordon Freeman, behind his eyes, possibly engendering a lack of separation between self and character that would be later emphasized in games like Bioshock. It's influence on games cannot be denied, with publications using it as a bookend between eras of gaming. One consistent element of what seems to make this game so distinctive is its approach to storytelling, without simply imitating film techniques which don't always work well with gameplay.

Candy Crush: This is an example of something I don't personally play myself, or even like very much, but I'd be remiss to dismiss it out of hand. There's no denial that phone games are one of, if not THE biggest market of games in the here in now; if now in scale, certainly in quantity. You might call it the TF2 Hat Economy theory; people aren't spending BIG bucks, but they are spending a LOT of little bucks all the time. It proves that highly accessible games that are generally free to play, with optional purchases, are a legitimate means of game business, and this certainly revolutionized how games were seen by the money-makers.

Super Smash Bros Melee: I loved this game as a kid, but truth be told i have a bit of a love-hate relationship; i REALLY dislike the competitive community that has fixated hard on this game, so any thoughts on it will have a slight element of pause beforehand. Even so, I can't forget the thrilled delight I felt watching the trailer for this game in supermarkets for the first time as a kid. at a time when getting any new games at all was a HUGE deal in my family. So, there is a lot of feeling behind this one! Ultimately, I have to concede that while i have complicated feelings about this game, its worth noting that the vast majority of things that made Smash iconic, and influenced the competitive scene AND the games inspired by Smash AND shaped the course of the series going forwards, largely owe themselves to Melee in particular. 64 was far more slow paced, while Melee began the trend towards much more fast paced action (and while I doubt it's SPECIFIC to melee as a whole, it may have been a trend for the genre from then). Melee is STILL widely played, especially on the competitive scene, and this sort of longevity always bears evidence of notability.

Goldeneye 007: I have to admit that despite being a kid in the 90s, despite someone who put most of their time into gaming, and despite being someone whose favorite system at the time was the Nintendo 64, I mostly missed out on the trend of history by honestly not being that much into this game. I have to say that I DID play it, however; I just never managed to get past the first level or so. I have strong memories of triyng and failing to sneak around a snowy lair of some description; it wouldn't be until the mid-2000s, playing Deus Ex Human Revolution, that I got the hang of stealth. All the same, personal indifference really doesn't matter much because HOLY SHIT THIS GAME HAS SOME STAYING POWER. IT HAS INFLUENCE, FRIENDORITOS. Perhaps chiefly, at the time it was made, consoles were not considered viable platforms for first person shooters; Goldeneye revised that notion, and created a whole revolution in multiplayer and shooter games. We would later see the ultimate consequence of this in games like Halo, which further revolutionized the whole genre. Ironically, the stealth attributes I was so bad at were part of what made the game so unique! It's one of those games that may not have aged well, by modern standards, but its import to gaming as a whole goes a long, long way.

Guitar Hero: I expect this one might be a bit hard to justify, but on its own, this game is INCREDIBLY innovative, though its not entirely the first of its kind, having mechanics based on earlier games. The very first entry has a respectable library of 30 songs, which is impressive considered at the time it was made, its not likely people expected it to get as far as it did; bear in mind that the massive libraries of later games were the result of years of this game series being a massive steamroller of a franchise! At the time, this one was an unknown. It has an interesting history as being a successor of sorts to an arcade exclusive, and inspiring a genre of imitators and spiritual successors on its own; of great note is the sheer impact this game had. With so many of those successors, the increased value of liscened soundtracks, and the way the game's concept became so influential, its astounding this one isn't already on the hall of fame. (It's also very fun, but fun alone doesn't make for memorability, sad to say.)

DESERVES IT AT SOME POINT

Myst - an iconic and incredibly atmospheric puzzle game, I'm genuinely surprised that I haven't heard talk about this one in some respect; it bears note as a rare game with absolutely no conflict whatsoever. I actually rank this one on par with the 7th Guest in terms of atmospheric games, though their tones could not be more different. So why do I think this game deserves it at some point? It was an incredibly immersive and beautiful game, lacking in genuine danger or threat, encouraging the player to explore and tackle the puzzles of the game. This sort of open-ended lack of peril makes it an interesting precursor towards certain flavors of sandbox games around now. It's worth noting that it was a tremendous achievement, given technical limitations of things such as the CD-Rom it was stored on, maintaining a consistent experience, as well as tying narrative reasons into those very constraints. It has been compared to an art film; if so, it certainly is the sort that invited imitators and proved to be a great technical achievement.

Portal: PORTAL! What can I honestly say that hasn't already been said by other people? The amazing integration of a physics engine into innovative puzzle solving, combined with a slow burn sort of minimalist plot reveal concerning the AI proving itself to be a kind of reverse HAL 9000? This game got a HUGE number of memes back in the day, and I expect anyone reading this can probably reference a few. The cake thing, certainly, and its relevance to matters of deception. There is much discussion over the game's utility in academic circles, which is certainly quite notable, and for my part, I'm interested by the point that at first the game gives you a lot of hints towards what you're supposed to do, gradually making it less obvious for the player you're on your own entirely, using your experience with the game to get past the puzzles from there, and its excellent game design. Ultimately though, I place this below Half Life in hall of fame urgency, because while I probably like this one more, it doesn't have the same impact on other games, per say. (That's a lot of awards for it, though. Wowza.)

Resident Evil: Is it fair to call this one the major survival horror game of its era? No, because it's apparently the FIRST, or at least the first to be called such. It's certainly up there with shaping the genre as a whole, both its immediate predecessors and modern games. The flavor of a survival horror can even be judged about whether its close to Resident Evil's style of defending yourself with limited resources vs controlled helplessness. It's also worth pointing out that I quite like the restricted, cramped setting of the mansion, rather than an expansive city; Biohazard was a real return to form, even if its something I mostly watched through funny lets plays because OH NO ITS TOO SCARY I CANT WATCH.

Asteroids: It's called the first major hit of the golden age of the arcade. I'm forced to say... yeah, it absolutely deserves it. The actual implementation and hardware of the game makes for interesting reading, and so its innovative nature ought to be noted: it lacked a soundchip at all, making use of handmade circuits wired to the board. It's reception was great, beating out Space Invaders and needing larger boxes just to hold all the money people spent on it. It also invented the notion of tracking initials on the top ten score, which has implications for arcade challenges.

Ms. Pac Man: This one consistently ranks HIGH in gaming records of its time, though there is admittedly some confusion to whether it or Donkey Kong was a better seller. Interestingly it appears to shape most of the gameplay mechanics people remember most for Pac-Man, such as the improved AI of the ghosts. It's more highly regarded than the original game, and on a personal note, I remember being a kid and seeing this arcade machine at ALL the laundry places my family usually wound up going to.

Frogger: It's placing on this list is not solely because CUTE FROG. The accessibility and wide appeal of the game bears a great deal of consideration, the flexibility of its formula, and just how many dang times it's been ported in one form or another. (And also, cute frog.) It also gets points for the creator being inspired for the game when he saw a frog trying to cross a road, hampered by the vehicles in the way, and he got out of his car and carried the frog across the street. The game is also evident of broad appeal, and some money-makers resisting it, goes back a long way; it was apparently dismissed as a kid's game by some, which just goes to show that some problems are older than quite a lot of gamers alive today.

Uncharted 2: this is one of those games where I cannot honestly say I have personal experience to draw from. Of the playstation's big games, I remember the Jak and Daxter series; I remember Kingdom Hearts, and I remember Ratchet and Clank, and I remember Infamous, but the Uncharted series remains

something of a 'I don't go here?' obscurity in my personal playbook. It does look memorable and charming from what I've seen, and one consistent element I've seen in comments about it is the cinematic nature of the game; it feels very much like a fun heist movie, based on what I have seen of it, and the notable thing is how the game FEELS cinematic.. in a literal way. As in, it combined elements of cinematography with game design, and that's no mean feat: what works for movies are unlikely to translate well to the interactive side, and it shows how that can be done for other games. The extensive praise does the game a LOT of credit!

WORTH NOMINATION AT LEAST

Angry Birds: As noted before, I'm not the biggest fan of most phone games, given that i prefer a more passive experience than most provide. As such, Angry Birds isn't something I've played as of this writing, but I have to appreciate the straightforward and simple gameplay; it reminds me a bit of the Burrito Bison game series, which I HAVE played, and I'm going to go out on a limb and assume it's because Angry Birds is probably the innovation that coined that particular style of gameplay. It's an example of what made phone games profitable and worth the time of developers to work at them; its easy for casual players to get into, and there's a fun sort of impact involved. Given the popularity of phone games, this one has a LOT of influence in getting that rolling, similar to candy crush, if not as much.

FIFA International Soccer: Simulation games are a tricky business; it can be really difficult to get them right, and this game provides an example of it being done in a way that a lot of people REALLY loved, set up an entire game series, and revived the 3DO system after a very bad year. Of note, apparently it was commented that it was more of a simulator than a console game, and this is rather funny considering how simulator is its own genre nowadays! Such do things change. It seems to have been a revolutionary game and simulation; setting the shape for modern sport games of its type, and tending more towards realism (accounting for acceptable breaks in reality) than was typical of the time. This one's position is thus picked for its impact as a whole; while it may not necessarily be a household name now, the series continues on, and is popular enough that even after 20 years, it's still been going.

Elite: I nominate this game in this position for being a startlingly early entry into what we would now consider open-ended games, even with an element of exploration and trading; if one stretches definitions a bit, a precursor towards gameplay of the like scene in 4X players who strive to avoid conflict, if possible. Its technical breakthroughs are some very interesting reading and make for good game history; a vast and complex game (not just by the standards of the era, either), and opening the door for persistent world games such as World of Warcraft.

Wii Sports: A significant game, and much as how other titles mentioned above were famed for gateway entries into gaming for an unfamiliar audience, or those that would want o play on a more casual basis. It seems notable to me for being most suited as a family game, or a more casual experience of multiplayer than usually associated with games like this; this has greatly influenced Nintendo's design philosophy, and one can see elements of this all the way through the Wii U onwards. It's essentially a fliparound from Mario Party; less competitiveness, but definitely meant as a group thing. Controversy is evident, because like with Mario Party, injuries did result from it.

Call of Duty: I place this one here because, while it DOES hold a very significant role in gaming history, with countless imitators, spiritual successors, being a game-changer in ways that its modern reputation might surprise you with, ultimately it is less so than other games such as Goldeneye, Halo or Half-Life. It's development in AI pathfinding and tactics is incredibly noteworthy from a mechanical perpsective, and the sheer level of awards it won is notable. In the end this game's popularity and continuing influence means that it shouldn't be overlooked.

Metroid: You can't spell 'Metroidvania' without this game! A relatively open ended exploration-based game with further options opening as new tools were found give it an interesting vibe, and the oppressive atmosphere distinctive to the game says great things about its sound and level designs. It wasn't the first open world game, or explorer, or even the first to open new aereas based on equipment, but it had ALL of these elements in a very memorable package. (Samus Aran as a female protagonist is something I'm a bit reluctant to give it credit for, as her identity was obfuscated for most of the game, and only revealed in a fanservicey way in a secret ending. All the same, credit where it is due, I suppose!) It's music seems to endure as a mood setter, too!

Pole Position: Perhaps not the FIRST racing game, but still considered one of the most important from the golden age of gaming, and the one to codify many of the firm rules of the game series. It's three dimensional gameplay is incredibly innovative for its time, and having played it and games like it in the past, I'm struck by how smooth the whole thing feels. No wonder it was popular! It is notable for having been designed specifically as a 3d Experience, meant to execute techniques like real drivers might attempt, which makes it a different sort of beast in that it tried to do more realistic actions; in some ways, a precursor to modern trends of realism in many games, for ill or best. Ultimately I think this one is worth a nomination because of its influence towards racing games (a popular and long lived genre, to say the least) as a whole.

OUTSIDE CHANCE

Nurburgring 1: On the one hand, I feel a bit guilty putting this one so low; it is recognized as likely being the earliest racing game in history, and given that I just finished noting Pole Position's influence, it feels a bit mean to rate this one as relatively insignificant all the same. However, in terms of notability, I never even heard of this one, and it was tricky finding information about it. Accordingly, that may say something about its influence, though this position DOES make it noteworthy as the first of its kind, albeit with Pole Position refining and introducing elements that shaped the genre.

Dance Dance Revolution: It feels a bit strange, putting this one fairly low. This thing was a MONSTER back in the day; entire arcades were built around the dancing control peripherals it required, rhythm based games or mechanics specifically invoked it by name, and it was an absolute cultural touchstone for years and years. So, why place it low? Partly, its because I can't just shove EVERYTHING into the 'deserves a nomination' folder; I do think it's fairly reasonable for this one to at some point get a nomination in the future, though ultimately there's games more noteworthy on the whole. It's specific rhythm qualities continue outside of its genre, and are quite influential to gaming as a whole, though unfortunately the series seems to have lost something in notability over time; popularity is a factor, but so is the impact on other games.

NBA 2K and NBA Jam: I put these two together because they touch on similar touchstones for me, and they really did popularize basketball games back in the day. Jam in particular seems to be invoking the Big Head mode that were a big thing in games at the time, at least going from the screenshot. They were very popular and highly beloved games back in the day, though I don't know if they have much influence on later games. I note that interestingly, they take opposite approaches; 2k focuses on AI and realistic experiences, while Jam was deliberately less realistic and more actiony in its over the top gameplay.

Nokia Snake: This one really impresses me for the sheer number of releases, in various forms, it's had! Interestingly, there seems to be little consensus on the name of this game; most just call it Snake or something on that theme. I went with Nokia Snake because... mostly, it sounds funny, and that's how its done on the list. This one is fairly low, but I Have to give it credit for having hundreds of releases!

Farmville: My mom liked Facebook games, a lot. And I am certain this one was one of her main ones! I rate it fairly low, and no doubt her spirit is yelling imprecations at me across the void of time, space, and abandoned socks; all the same, this one is ranked low because of the sheer number of displeasure aimed this one's way. (And to be fair, she complained about it. A LOT.) It is thus notable for unusually negative reasons; an example of exploitation, pressuring players to pester their friends to play it in an equivalent to electronic chain mail, and microtranscations.

Tron: I'm inclined to give any game that takes place in a computer land and uses programming or mechanical terminology a free pass! Interestingly, this has some association with the Snake game, as they have similar gameplay and Snake games are sometimes called Light Cylce games, after this one. It has an interesting history; the graphical system was chosen largely because it was believed it was more likely to be achieved before the deadline.

NO BUSINESS IN THE HALL OF FAME

Mattel Football: I do feel a little mean putting anything in this category; firstly because I don't want to make actual fans of something sad, and secondly because I believe you can probably find notability anywhere you look, if you are inclined. And here is the chief difficulty with this one: I could not find any real information in this one. It has no Wikipedia page, a google search only led to undescriptive links of SALES for the game, but not any information on the game itself. Notability is my main resource for sorting these entries, and honestly? If google has nothing on you, that's a pretty poor sign. Sorry, Mattel Football, but you look like a poor man's Game And Watch. You're no Portal, Myst or Pole Position.