#so it's just wisdom and then I'll probably be able to keep up on my own

[itsgonnagetinspiringsoon]

Ok fellas it's time. After this I'll probably just do it myself but for old times' sake

5 notes and I'll listen to the wisdom saga

Not sure you can manage this one tbh 🤷

[medicinemane]

Should make a pain killer that actually kills (or even touches) pain

[thebestofoneshots]

Gilded Constellations | ANNOUNCMENT

Hey guys! As some of you may have read on my previous post, I got my wisdom teeth removed on tuesday and I just couldn't post yesterday, but the chapter is comming out in a few minutes so don't worry too much about it.

Now, the IMPORTANT news regarding the posting schedule: We're going on a mini hiatus!

There WON'T be a new chapter 18th of September.

There is a POSSIBILITY that there WON'T be one on the 25th either.

I'm going on a roadtrip and then I'm going to have some visit over and a lot of activities (got some friends comming over from abroad) and I highly doubt I'm going to be able to mantain my writting schedule.

But rest assured, we're definetly going to be back by the 2nd of October (if it's not by the 25th).

I have no idea how the network connection is going to be on my trip so there's also a high chance you might not hear from me much next week, but If you have any questions or anything, just DM or send me an ask and I'll get to it as soon as possible <3

I'll come back with cute pictures like last time, so keep an eye out for those  (๑>؂•̀๑)

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION:

As you might have read already, GC is ending soon, I'm thinking 10-15 chapters left (if I don't get carried away) and I want to print and bind my own physical copy. It will probably contain pictures, fan art, and other bonus material. Either way, if you want to collaborate, either in the revision (editing) or in bonus content, please don't hesitate to hit me up.

Thanks for reading, have a fantastic day,

xxx, Lils

[aleksanderscult]

I loved your analysis! Can you analyse the (barely there, not enough) Darklina scenes from the KOS duology? I could not rationalize some of what was going on there.

First of all, I'm so sorry for taking that long to reply, anon! (Hasn't it been over two weeks since you send this or what??😭😭)

Second, thank you so much for your kind words! 💗💗

Third, you and I both friend 🤝🤝

'Cause honestly I didn't know what the fuck was happening in that interaction too 😭

I'll actually analyze the only Darklina scene we got in RoW. But if you want another one too, just send me an ask!

So! Let's dive in and analyze that hot mess, shall we?

(note: I had to go back and read this scene very carefully in order to understand what the actual fuck they were saying💀)

⚠️TW!: PTSD, trauma⚠️

The way he's so obedient with her even in this life 😭

If somebody else had ordered him to do that, he wouldn't obey. But Alina? Alina is a different story and this is the first time he hears her voice since his death in R&R.

'Any little victory'

Uhh....okay...??

You made him wipe his feet. I'm.... impressed??

(confusion levels 📉)

LMAO MY BOY WOKE UP AND CHOSE VIOLENCE

I always believed that the dynamic between Aleksander and Alina involves lots of teasing. But not in the fun sense. But in the sense of "I'm getting under your skin. My words to you sting".

And that's what the Darkling does here too. He's a prisoner. Their prisoner. So he tries to gain the upper hand by using his wits, his past with Alina and the latter's trauma against her to get even.

Pretty clever, huh?

See what I mean?

He tries to weaken her confidence and it's interesting that back in Keramzin he also tried to get even (and he did) by killing her mother figure.

Aleksander: "Wanna fuck with me? Wanna mess with me? How about that time when I burnt that orphanage and killed your "mother"?"

*Alina's sure confidence is gone and now the Darkling has the upper hand in her feelings*

OUTSTANDING MOVE 👌

Excuse me, Misha? Who the Hell gave you the permission to interrupt or talk at all??

Also, do you really expect from the Darkling to remember a little boy while he was too busy trying to rule a nation, win a war and persuade Alina to join him?

And if you also expect him to remember you from that time when Baghra went out to confront her son while you escorted her, then you're also wrong. 'Cause he was too busy being furious that his mother sided and helped the opposite side and too busy being distraught because he was watching her fall to her death.

You're not important, son.

Sit down.

LMAO THIS IS SO HILARIOUS

Misha you're still an infant. Please shut up.

I honestly liked him in the Grisha Trilogy (I found him a cutie) but now I want to slap him and everyone else in this duology except Aleksander

The Darkling has survived numerous murdering attempts against him. He was finally killed by Alina not because of some grand display of her powers but because the former was so heartbroken by Alina's fate (and his own because he would be alone) that he just gave up on his life. Basically he committed suicide.

Misha, you wouldn't be able to kill him even now that he's powerless and in chains. Probably you would stumble and fall in the effort or smth.

Uhh actually no, Mal.

Threating him only makes you sound like idiots, honestly.

Also, since when did Mal gained ✨wisdom✨?

Wasn't he the hot-tempered one in the trilogy who always got angry with the mere mention of the Darkling? And the one who wanted to kill him as well?

Alina, you know damn well what his name is.

Honestly, I think she didn't say it because she wanted to respect the fact that he trusted her to keep it.

And I agree that Yuri is a horrible name for him. Makes him seem like a fisherman 😭

Meanwhile Alina in S&B:

So either Bardugo kinda forgot these scenes or we're led to believe that these scenes weren't her being happy, but we thought she was happy.

(me casually ignoring that theory because I choose to believe only the things that MAKE SENSE)

The fact that Bardugo made Alina believe that she was unhappy when she was whole with her powers and surrounded by people like her but totally happy now that she has no powers (a part of her soul actually) and living with a man that slut-shamed her in a toxic, childhood place is umm... yeah. Not good.

So basically:

Aleksander: "You look different. You look like shit. What the fuck did they do to you? This is not you"

Alina: "No bro I'm happy now that I live in toxic conditions where the teachers mock me, Mal takes me out for a walk to forget my psychological traumas and I raise some Grisha children that will fade because they don't use their powers and some others that I probably am in no condition to raise. At least that's what the author said is happiness, bro."

Aleksander: "......."

Alina: "......"

The readers: "........."

ALEKSANDER IS HONESTLY ALL OF US FRR WITH HIS LINES

"In peace"

Yeah, having PTSD certainly is peaceful. And knowing that you abandoned your country and left its fate to chance certainly makes you sleep like a baby at night.

"We chose the life we wanted"

Alina, you didn't CHOOSE to lose your powers. And before that you didn't even know what you wanted to do with your life. It was a last minute decision for you.

"I fell pray to the same greed that drove you"

Girl, are we the only ones who did our homework??

In his POV in RoW he confirmed that he tampered with merzost in the past because he wanted to stop Ravka's wars. So as far as we know he never used power exclusively for himself.

"I paid the price for tampering with merzost"

Now hold a second. I thought that the reason Alina lost her powers is because Morozova wanted that said power to be shared by any otkazat'sya around. It wasn't that much of a punishment as much as a need for Morozova to share that power.

Unless it was..... both?

I just want a guy that will believe in me and my abilities the way Aleksander does with Alina, man 😭

He strongly believes that she could become a Queen even without her powers. And he's actually so right when he says to her that her wounds won't heal. Because no matter how much you try to convince yourself that you are alright. No matter how hard you try to persuade your mind that you're not broken, reality will always hit you. Some wounds never heal and Alina's certainly will not. She didn't lose a toy, she lost a part of her soul and witnessed many die. How the hell does she think she's suitable to raise children, when she herself is NOT okay psychologically?

"In the wake of your wars"

Excuse me. Why is the Fjerdan and Shu wars always the Darkling's fault??

"And maybe when our country is free, then that wound will close"

She sounds so brainwashed bye--

And just like I said, wounds like that never close unfortunately. It can only become more bearable with time. But not forgetable.

Ah yes. Bardugo makes us watch how cute their relationship is.

Am I supposed to take off my camera and snap pictures of them whispering with tears in my eyes: "They look so adorable"?

'Cause I won't.

The way Bardugo has made Mal unfazed by the Darkling's comments. A thing that completely contrasts his nature in the Grisha trilogy.

He also made him have "sassy" lines because we've got to like him somehow, right? 🤗

Still hate him

Basically, dear anon, the author has made Mal more "likeable", immune to the Darkling's insults, patient and witty in order for us to change our mind about him and finally like him.

(mission failed btw)

He is literally nothing like his trilogy counterpart and, if possible, she made him more annoying.

(how the hell she managed to do that, I don't know)

I just feel sorry for Aleksander who has to deal with all these jerks. If I were there, I would have helped him kill them and bury their bodies.

Because you let your heart and feelings get the better of you, Aleksander. Because you proved to be the most human of all these characters here. You let her come close. And that's what killed you.

(also, shut up Misha)

Alina, you could have said "no" to that invitation. So stop acting like they dragged you from the hair here.

"Do you think you could manage it?"

Do you, Alina? 'Cause really, what did YOU do to make the lives of Grisha better? At least he built a palace for them.

"It's not like you didn't get a fair try before. Hundreds of tries"

Yeah, and half of them failed because you got in the way. You refused to listen to him and, even if you didn't like the way he dealt with the persecution, you chose to run away (again) instead of deciding to stay and do better.

SHE DID NOT JUST SAY THAT ZOYA AND NIKOLAI COULD DO BETTER LMAO 😭😭

Zoya, the very fact that he mentioned you should feel like a badge of honor.

And yet Ravka is in its worst condition ever.

Sorry Alina but I don't see shit from them.

The fact that the Darkling keeps mentioning that he's eternal is to remind them that he has seen everything and done everything. He has more experience than they will ever have. Not to gloat about it. And yet Alina takes it as the latter.

And it's funny that Alina turns him down for the job saying he has no powers when Alina herself suffers from the same condition 😀

Finally someone with self-reflection.

THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING!!

PREACH!! PREACH!! 👏👏

When you have the "villain" exposing the true problem in the story, the flaws and failures while having the heroes screaming "EVERYTHING IS FINE. YOU'RE WRONG!" then you know that something is wrong.

How the Hell are they gonna provide eternal peace in Ravka and to the Grisha when:

They have no experience

They are too busy criticizing the villain instead of looking at their own flaws

They doubt themselves

(you can add to the list, guys)

And he's not shaken because he's talking with a Saint, Zoya. He's shaken because he's talking to Alina. She always had a way in getting under his skin. He said it.

"Fine. Make me your villain" fits here 'cause he never perceived himself as the bad guy but he knew that this is what others thought of him.

I think it still stung to him to know that others saw his every action in a negative light but he still kept going. And sometimes he even used it (at the end of R&R).

Alina still wants to believe that there's something redeemable inside him. Her POVs were always the "kindest" in the way they painted the Darkling.

MISHA COULD YOU PLEASE SHUT IT

What about his mother, huh??

Who, despite the abuse he suffered from her, he still cared about??

Alina?? Oh boy, he was in love with her, obsessed and gave her so many chances. Something that he almost never does unless he's desperate.

So PRETTY PLEASE STOP TALKING

Meanwhile the Darkling in R&R, chapter 11:

"I have regretted many of the things I’ve had to do in this war."

So either Bardugo forgot that or Alina did or Aleksander changed his mind.

Or (my theory) Bardugo changed his perception in order for us to feel less sympathetic towards him.

Nevertheless, at least he has a spine and knows where he stands.

And Alina wanted the Darkling to say it not for him but for her. So she can feel okay. Unless Zoya is talking bullshit.

YES ALEKSANDER WHY DIDN'T YOU LIE SO OUR HEROINES COULD FEEL BETTER ABOUT THEMSELVES???!!

HOW DARE YOU?? 😠😠

He tries so hard to persuade her that the reality she lives in will not pay off anything. First off, this is not who she is or what she was meant to become and second, why does she teaches children stories that are lies? Feeding them false hope, repeating a circle that others had also been doing.

"Do you *really* believe..."

He wants to make sure that she stands by that. He just can't believe that this is her opinion. Her choice.

He just wants her to shine people!! 😭😍

"Those stories tell us the only people who matter are Kings and Queens. They're wrong"

Now tell me, Alina, which stories do YOU tell them? What do you teach them? That the world is as rosy as the orphanage they live in, where they only eat sugar and play the piano? Do you imagine what kind of reality check will those children get once they live in the real world?

And here, ladies and gentlemen, we see the Darkling having reached his limits and saying "Fuck this shit I'm out"

Congratulations, Aleksander! You survived that meeting with these buffoons and their groundless arguments!! 👏👏

Here, have this! 🏅

He saw his chance (Alina holding Mal's hand) and seized it. But I think he really meant all those questions he asked to Alina.

So, dear anon, what we have here is the villain making his effort (again) to be heard and understood. He tries to make them see his own point of view: Ravka is in serious danger and Zoya and Nikolai are in no position to protect it. He, on the other hand, can since he has more experience and balls to deal with these issues. The Darkling is no pussy. He truly makes hard decisions when he must, something that essentially all rulers must do when the situation calls for it.

But! We have the good guys silencing him and threating him (even having a little child to do the last one) in order for the reader to understand what he has left in his wake. How much pain he has caused.

Mal has gotten ✨magically✨ wiser and calmer and has actual wits to repel the Darkling's insults in order for us to get to like Mal and see how much he has changed.

Alina sounds like a brainwashed woman who is convinced that her lifestyle is great! That wanting something more (idk. a throne and changing the world maybe) is sinful and unfitting of her.

Aleksander is the only one who thinks otherwise for her, though. Thank God, I mean!

He sought Alina out both to reclaim his powers and because he just wanted to see her.

Personally, in this scene only the Darkling makes sense. The others either want to feel good about themselves by threating him or want to convince him that "Hey, we're the good ones here. We know what we're doing, okay?" and his own ways are shit.

Dear anon, if you have any other questions or want me to analyze any other Darklina scene from this book or duology that I didn't include, then just say so!

And please any others who want to add something about this scene, feel free to criticise in the comments! 💛💛

[silenzahra]

Hello everyone. I'm back ^^

I'm honestly not so sure about how to approach this post. I just wanted to let you all know that, well... I'm here. I'm not 100% fine, but I'm doing better. I've taken this week off to rest and focus on myself, and it's done wonders. I've been going out as much as possible, not only to go to work but also to spend a good time walking my doggies and playing with them, and I've also been watching some shows and trying to slowly get back to reading and gaming.

Regarding my previous post, there's really not much I can do except learn to live with it. I know it's gonna be a long and hard process, but I have to look after myself and my mental health, and it really warms my heart to know you're all there for me. I checked Tumblr yesterday before going to bed and felt so touched to find all your comments and advice. Again, you made me feel so supported and loved. I just can't thank you enough for being there for me. @itsavee4117 @megamagimugi @roscolate @keakruiser @stripetkattelalala54

@peaches2217 @bberetd @ask-rosalina-and-her-family @c-lavanda, thank you so much for all your love and support on my previous post, for taking the time not only to read but also comment to make me feel better. I'm really so sorry that I worried you, but truly, knowing that you're all there for me really means the world to me and makes me feel so warm inside. You've all given me precious advice that I'm definitely taking and showered me in love with your kind and sweet words. I hope you know how amazing you all are and how lucky the people around you are to have you 💖

Also, @multicolour-ink, I'd like to especially thank you for the valuable advice you gave me. Last night, after reading your comments, I searched and called a free helpline in my country and, again, it's done wonders. It was simply amazing to have someone there who listened to me and never judged my emotions, and then offered some advice on what to do to handle my situation. It was such a relief to, you know, actually talk to someone and feel supported also in real life. Thank you so so much, truly 🫂

And of course, @vulpixfairy1985, my dear friend... How can I even start to thank you. You immediately reached out through Instagram and have been there every single day, sharing your wisdom and offering your advice, and you even made me feel joy again after two days of only feeling bad things. It's thanks to you that I've been able to feel happiness and excitement again, to reignite my spark of joy that I thought I'd lost, and I know no matter what I do, I can never thank you enough. You truly are a gem, my dear friend, and I thank life every day that I met you and our wonderful friends. I know I've said this before, but this community is truly the best, warmest, healthiest one I've ever been in. And I feel so lucky to be a part of it.

I'll still take things easy. I'll take my time to check all my tags and PMs, and I'll probably be active only on evenings (Spain's time). Thank God, I can enjoy again the things I love, so I hope to see all your content eventually. Only that, well, I'll be slow. I wanna keep focusing on myself and taking those walks with my dogs. And this Friday I have a concert and I finally, FINALLY, feel excited about it. It's my favorite band, after all. I was worried I wouldn't get to enjoy it due to my mental state, but I'm actually so eager!

So yes, guess I can say I'm back, even if I won't be as active ^^ I know I have yet to finish checking the doc, and I'm extremely sorry that I'm taking forever, but of course, I appreciate all the effort you made to help me build up this new blog. As well as, of course, your support on the three posts I've fixed/redone so far. Hopefully soon I can get back to it and fix the rest of my old content.

But we'll see. Right now I'm just happy I can be back with you. I hope you've all been doing fine, dear friends ^^ I love you all so much 💖

Also, if you wanna see the little fella who's been with me this entire week, just click below to meet my beloved Baloo ^^

(Now I look a bit different btw, I went to the hairdresser yesterday, but I'll show my new hair another time.)

[the-mic-drop]

Building Zelda in BG3- Sorcerer

@benilos asked for it, and I'm delivering!

So, we've got two options for Zelda; a Sorcerer and a Wizard. A cleric might also work, but I haven't really settled on the specifics yet. The Sorcerer build is below the cut. I'll do the Wizard build next

We'll start with the version I use in the Isekai series I've been posting. I call this one...

The Dragon Queen

Background

Race: Elf (High Elf)

Background: Noble

High Elf Cantrip: Ray of Frost

Now High Elf I feel is self-explanatory, and Ray of Frost is the cantrip because she's more aligned with Naydra and her ice powers. As for the Noble background, I choose that over Sage because this Zelda is when she's really stepping into her role as Hyrule's regent. She's building a rapport with her people and is comfortable using her status as "Princess of Hyrule." Though if you disagree and think Sage is more appropriate, I can't really argue with you.

Abilities

Strength: 8 (-1)

Dexterity: 10 (0)

Constitution: 10 (0)

Intelligence: 16 (+3)

Wisdom: 12 (+1)

Charisma: 17 (+3)

Charisma is the main stat because that's a Sorcerer's spellcasting modifier, and even though Zelda is the Wisdom part of the Triforce, this version of her is much more of an intellectual than a philosopher. I felt the need to give her a tiny boost to Dex and Con becuase she's bound to be good with precision tasks and she's been through quite a bit.

Class & Levels

Class: Sorcerer

Sub-Class: Draconic Bloodline

Draconic Ancestry: White (Cold)

Sorcerer is a natural choice due to the inherited nature of her divine powers, and Draconic Bloodline fits perfectly since this is post-TotK Zelda, who deserves to keep some of her Draconic aspects. (Note that Draconic Bloodline gives you Draconic Resilience, making Mage Armor unnecessary.)

Proficiencies: Arcana, Religion

Cantrips: Shocking Grasp, Light, Friends, Blade Ward

Spells: Thunderwave, Witch Bolt

Arcana and Religion just fit way better than your other options. Shocking Grasp from Urbosa, Light because duh, Friends because her high Cha makes her a natural choice as the party's face, and Blade Ward because of her desire to protect those around her. Thunderwave and Witch Bolt are also thanks to Urbosa.

Level 2

Spell: Feather Fall (She floats sometimes)

Metamagic: Careful Spell, Extended Spell

Level 3

Spell: Gust of Wind (Revali)

Metamagic: Subtle Spell

Level 4

Spell: Hold Person (Calamity Wrangler/Stasis)

Cantrip: Mage Hand

Feat: Ability Improvement (Cha +2)

Mage Hand because she'd love it for efficient research. When you up your Charisma to 19, you'll likely be near the point where you're facing Auntie Ethel and you'll probably be able to get her boon easy enough to top Zelda up at 20 Cha.

Level 5

Spell: Slow (Sage of Time)

Level 6

Spell: Lightning Bolt (Urbosa)

Level 7

Spell: Ice Storm (Naydra)

Level 8

Spell: Banishment/Daylight

Feat: War Caster

Banishment because that's what Zeldas tend to do to Ganon in the series and Daylight because of the divine light she tends to generate. War Caster is just a necessary choice for any spellcaster.

Level 9

Spell: Hold Monster (Calamity Wrangler/Stasis)

Level 10

Spell: Telekinesis (Shiekah Tablets)

Cantrip: Dancing Lights (Divine Light)

Metamagic: Distant Spell

Level 11

Spell: Sunbeam (Divine Light)

Level 12

Spell: Chain Lightning/Cone of Cold/Globe of Invulnerability/Dimension Door

Feat: Mobile/Resilient- Wisdom/Spell Sniper

So, once I get to level 12, I find my main issue with Sorcerer; the lack of spells. You're plenty powerful, but not as utilitarian as you might like. Anyway, by the time you get to your max level, you'll have a Zelda that is as much a force of personality as a force of nature.

[drdemonprince]

Thank you for talking about the ills of isolation and withdrawing during a moment where we need collective action, whatever that may look like for each one of us.

I have been thinking a lot about how I want to belong to groups who are doing things I care about and what gets in the way of that goal. A huge difficulty I have as an autistic woman and a woc in a small town in a white majority country is that often even with people whose politics I broadly agree with, there is a lot of interpersonal unease and irritation to get through. This is probably sometimes as much my fault as theirs. But sometimes it's stuff like people openly rolling their eyes at my name (too foreign and hard apparently) or me finding some of the things they say awful (a queer rights group still being racist for example) or just finding people annoying to be around at times.

How do I show up in these spaces and create a community without burning out from annoyance/disappointment/the everyday alienation of it all? Surely moving to a big city cannot be a practical answer when it's not affordable? And surely there must be a way to be honest about my politics and stand up for myself and still be in halfway progressive spaces that are doing good work and are best options right now in terms of proximity and impact? My parents' answer (different generation, country, culture) was always keep your head down and stay out of difficult things like organizing. I am tired of living like that. But I also feel I am too angry and too unfit to deal with the everyday reality of what people are like to be able to part of movements. The alternative though is to having a panic attack while reading the news and sink into despair and helplessness which sucks. Am I missing an obvious way out here? As always, very grateful to you for your wisdom and clarity on living uncowered.

Thank you so much for your wonderful message and question. I am admittedly a little out of my depth in some ways in answering this, I feel, as a white person and a man who people don't tend to subject to the worst of the kind of treatment that you're speaking to. (What I do get is people thinking that expressing the prejudices will be acceptable to me, which I have the responsibility to shut down as often as humanly possible, so that spaces don't have a such a dogshit culture and alienate tons of people like you).

I think you do really have to look over your own bandwidth, and determine for you what is tolerable and what isn't. As a trans person, there are slightly "off" little comments that I'll accept from someone who isn't well versed in the topic, and differences in how elders talk and think about gender that I'll tolerate bemusedly, but if it ventures into any area that makes the space explicitly hostile to trans people who are more vulnerable than me, then it's something I need to fight about or I need to abandon the space.

For a woman of color like yourself, I think that kind of decision making is a lot more fraught, because frankly I never have to worry about anybody really escalating their bullshit with me too badly, and they'll want to forget it pretty quickly after the conflict even if I do challenge them.

(This propensity towards midwest nicey-ness / white person fake nicey-ness can sometimes be leveraged to win a battle or two -- when I have obviously, unquestionably shut down someone's ignorance or read them for filth diplomatically for making a really dumb point, often the other person's impulse is to backtrack and make nice or pretend that what they said never happened, while also never doing it again in my presence, and in plenty of situations, that's plenty good enough. I have seen this kind of maneuvering work for people of color too, especially in groups like churches, volunteer organizations, cultural affinity groups, and the like, where there is a strong bias towards everybody getting along...sometimes that awful cultural norm can be shifted to your advantage if you Make the Person Saying the Fucked Up Thing the Awkward One.)

I think a lot of what you'll have to do is discern between the groups where you can push back against the remarks and policies that are unacceptable to you but basically get along with well-enough intentioned people, and the groups where you will be singled out and treated poorly for speaking up or ever asserting yourself. It also really helps to befriend all the other people of color & neurodivergent people in the space early on into joining a group, so you have people to lean on and you can get their lay of the land.

I wish I had advice that was more targeted and immediately actionable, but I think a lot of this is a very subtle dance based on the community spaces you move within, your political goals, the people within the space, the norms within that space surrounding conflict, how many other poc are there, etc etc. You will probably have to try a couple of groups before you find one that is tolerable enough for you because a) the people arent That Fucked Up, and b) they can kind of handle conflict some of the time at least. Please don't be disheartened if things feel awkward or a few of your first tries have rancid vibes. You can also take steps to build the very community spaces that you want -- by reaching out to other people of color in the area and forming your own groups that can then partner with these kind of annoying white majority organizations. The autonomy is useful and may preserve some social and emotional spoons, but at the cost of having to do a lot of organizing work. So, tradeoffs.

Would love to hear in the comments from people of color who do organizing in non-urban areas and have to deal with a lot of white people nonsense.

[wolfsbanesparks]

Hey, I just thought of, like, the singlest best Billy Batson hc I'll ever have so, here I go...

So, bc Billy grew up as poor, he would know what it's like to not know when your next meal would be, and even if odd jobs can get you some money to pay for one, it only goes so far. And also bc I love lil' Billy Batson with a longer-than-himself criminal record (of stealing from big corporation only) and a acab personality trait (I don't know how much I've seen Billy-steals-a-cop-car hc, but I dig it), mixed with a touch of feral Billy in it... *chef kiss*

So, all that, plus the hc that Persephone is like "(⁠●⁠♡⁠∀⁠♡⁠) a baby~!" at billy (I don't know where I've seen it before), and the fact that he would really feel like an hypocrite arresting some kid for stealing some basic necessities, like food or clothes, for themself when he probably did the same thing (probably to the same store) some time ago....

And so, came the idea to just grow it all himself,, like vegetables and fruits, and bc of magic (and HE'S magic, like the magic-est magic man around) he can grow more, faster, and also he's tight with Persephone (so she helps, like blessing him...?), and a hero, so who's really gonna stop him, right?

Like, I'd really like itty bitty billy, just breaking the economy(?)/capitalism(?) around food and basic necessities, bc let's be real, we all know that with the Wisdom of Salomon, he could probably pull off sewing some kids' clothes.

I'd just really love it if he, homeless, orphan, street rat Billy "I'm not 6 I'm 10" Batson, Champion of Magic, became the Protector of All Children (or something similar).

And also, if he had like some sort of ongoing truce with Poison Ivy, where when she is within Fawcett City, in Captain Marvel's domain, she isn't in Batman's reach anymore, as long as she Promise to help him grow his "little vegetable garden" (who's now like, decently Big).

'Cause I'm sure that billy "I lie to the JL for kicks but also bc I'm a kid with an adult body a word away" batson would be able to, not only weasel a Pact out of her (that would basically be sayin' "You are now my Slave" in small print, that would have her be in a do-or-die type of situation, with the 'do' part being "help me grow my plants", and the 'die' part being "you'll die horribly, and probably lose your soul too"), and also get a gigantic amount of respect, bc, like I said, he's tight with Persephone... the LITERAL Goddess of Spring, Grain, Nature and Destruction, and also the Queen of the Underworld, and Ivy grows plant so....

I'd just really like something like that in a fic, but I can't write, nor keep to a schedule (or even get it from start to finish with something on the middle) so... I just want this Billy Batson hc to be out there

Thx for listening (reading?) 😁👍

I love the idea of Billy getting fed up with capitalism and providing for both himself and his community. And I also love the headcanon that various gods and goddesses adore Billy (including Persephone of course). Mixing those ideas together is awesome! I can just imagine him having a few secret vegetable gardens throughout the city that various homeless people and people who are low income/don't have food security could drop by and take what they need.

I think that if for whatever reason Poison Ivy found herself in Fawcett City, he wouldn't even need to trick her into some contract, she would just see his garden and be like "wow what kind of fertilizer are you using to get your tomatoes so big?" And then she would give him tips on how to grow different things even when he wasn’t getting divine help. She would also teach him about native and invasive species of plants so didn’t plant the wrong ones. Setting up secret gurellia gardens to turn the concrete landscape of a city's abandoned buildings into lush thriving environments is her jam.

This is an excellent headcanon!

[pizacat72]

what are your thoughts on tlk1, tlk2 and tlg? how much do you like each of them?

ooh good question!!! lemme see here. putting this under a keep reading bc it long

TLK is definitely far and away the best out of all of em. God the visuals!!! Each shot is a definite masterpiece. Each scene vitally important to the film as a whole. The best scenes in the movie imo are Mufasa and Simba roughhousing and Mufasa's ghost speaking to Simba. Each emotional beat in those scenes just hits me in the feels every fucking time. Oh, and the music. It's simply impossible to discuss TLK without the music! Each song number is catchy and fun. The Circle of Life sets my soul on fire every fucking time. I Just Can't Wait to Be King and Hakuna Matata are my fucking anthems. Can You Feel the Love Tonight is sweet and romantic, with the funny bits with Timon and Pumbaa being the cherry on top. Even tho Be Prepared is my least favorite song in the movie, that doesn't mean it's a bad song. It's only my least favorite bc I don't resonate with it as much but it's still one hell of a banger. Also this movie arguably has the most recognizable leitmotifs ever. Mufasa's leitmotif is grand, majestic, and tragic when he dies. Simba's leitmotif is hope filled, inspiring, and awesome, especially at the end of the movie. The musical score is amazing. We Are All Connected, Kings of the Past, and The Rightful King are easily my top 3 movie score pieces of all time. I just. There's so much to unpack and I just aaaaaaaa it's my very favorite movie of all time!!!

While TLK2 obviously isn't at quite the same level, it's still a worthy sequel in its own right. The animation is still pretty good, the characters are fairly solid and the music is still mostly catchy as hell (that said, Upendi is definitely the cheesiest song in the whole movie and I definitely could do without it). I think Adult Simba's characterization is the strongest without a doubt here. Matthew Broderick's enraged shout of "Exile!" gets me every time. He's still wrestling with being like his father. Oh and Kiara is arguably my favorite TLK female character of all time and is probably my second favorite TLK character next to Cub Simba. Her compassion and wisdom really draw parallels with that of her grandfather and I headcanon that she sort of felt his presence guiding her as she fell in love with Kovu. Oh, He Lives in You and We Are One are my favorite songs of the movie. There's a spirituality to them that I really can't ignore (i'm a bit reluctant to go into my spiritual beliefs on tumblr bc of religious trauma and also i think i'll probably get lambasted haha).

TLG is a mixed bag for me. The chemistry between the characters in the first two seasons was pretty solid. The music is excellent as always, Zuka Zama being my favorite. The antagonists were pretty awesome too, especially Reirei. God, I love her. I also really appreciate that this show doesn't forget about its side characters and most of them make at least two appearences in the show, which I do appreciate. I also liked the little parallel shot references to TLK (in a youtube video seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s0EYqMIR58&t=13s). However, Simba's characterization here really bugged me. Especially in the Savannah Summit episode where he basically tells Kion that he ruined it. He feels more like Kion's boss than his father. While I am able to headcanon that as him throwing himself into his royal duties to protect his family, I do wish he had at least a slight bit of chill. I also was bugged about Kiara wanting to be queen, which kind of skewed her desire to not be queen in TLK2 but honestly, I kind of chalk that up to writers forgetting her previous characterization briefly. Oh and ZURI. I fucking hate Zuri. Whose fucking idea was it to give a lion cub eyeshadow? She's irritating, unbearable, and simply unlikeable. I used to hate Tiifu but The Underground Adventure redeemed her in my eyes so she's cool with me now. Also, not a huge fan of Kion talking to Mufasa so easily. I just think it kind of ruins the whole mystique and majesty about the Lions of the Past. Season 3 was also pretty rough but I think I've complained about TLG too much already so I'll stop for now.

(gonna make a separate post about TLK 1.5 bc that movie is probably the best TLK sequel imo but yeah haha)

[callistosystems]

Severe tooth decay, Call for help.

Over the past several years I've had to deal with steadily worsening tooth decay and tooth damage. I live and grew up in poverty and haven't had dental insurance for as long as I can remember, so I could never afford to get any of the problems fixed and they've piled up to the point where now I have no choice but to go for emergency dental work. The only thing that has stopped me up to this point was that I wasn't in pain. That's changed. Two of my more damaged teeth have become abscessed, and others are at risk. I'll go into more detail below but I would recommend avoiding that segment if you're squeamish about dental issues. I've been prescribed antibiotics and painkillers, and I'm going to have emergency dental work done. I'm looking at at least 3 pulled, more likely 4. I will stress: I DO NOT HAVE DENTAL INSURANCE. I will be forced to take this on as medical debt, while I'm unemployed and between concrete homes. I'm making the decision to ask for help if anyone is able to provide it. I'll be accepting donations to help put a dent in the bill, my paypal email is "Calabel831@gmail.com". Any amount helps, everything I receive will be used exclusively to reduce the bill I'll be forced to pay. If you have the time I would appreciate if you could reblog this to help get the word out. (CW: Tooth decay and Damage described in detail. Don't read past this point if that bothers you.) The full extent of the damage to my teeth is much more severe than a couple of infected ones, but for the most part it can be put off. Right now I'm worried about the ones that have broken or split open deeper than the enamel, exposing the inside of the tooth itself. I have three, possibly four teeth that are damaged to this extent. My upper right canine and upper right back molar are two of them. These two are the infected ones, and the ones causing me pain. My bottom back left molar is split open with half of the cap missing and the inside exposed, this one was broken by my wisdom tooth, both of which have fully grown in. It's probably at the greatest risk of infection out of the rest of my teeth. My upper back left molar is in a similar state, but not as damaged. Aside from those most of my front teeth are severely crooked and many of them have extreme enamel damage, one of them has lost it's entire front facing surface, and the inside of these teeth under the enamel has turned completely black. These will probably all either need to be pulled or require root canals for the ones I intend to keep, but that can wait just a bit longer until I'm in a better living situation. My upper canines, including the infected one, have been shunted up into and are sticking out of the front of my gums. Both are going to wind up being removed eventually, as well as my lower right canine which is severely decayed. My lower left is in decent shape and I'll probably be able to keep it. If there's any doubt or skepticism that this is as bad as it sounds, I would be more than happy to provide images if they're requested of me. I would ask that those stay private, I'm extremely self-conscious about this issue. TL;DR I need thousands of dollars worth of dental surgery. Some of it is severe enough to be threatening to my health or even life and I need help to pay for the medical bills.

[awakenedsylvari]

What if I said number 14 for all you 14 sylvari? 👀 (or just the ones you want, all miiiiight be a LOT lol)

14. What do they think of the Nightmare Court? Would they ever join it? What would make them do so? / What made them join them? Would they ever leave it? (Sylvari ask game)

Ehehe, you picked a great one!

I'd planned to only give brief answers, oops. It's divided up into sections: Dreamers first, then characters who aren't Dreamers or Courtiers, and finally Courtiers. This is entirely because the Courtier section got much longer than the others! 😅

DREAMERS

Keelie is wary, having treated many wounds caused by the Court in her time. That said, she's generally trusting and prone to giving everyone a chance ('All things have a right to grow'); if a courtier who hadn't done her harm was wounded, she would treat them. She'd never join the Court by choice, but I can see her getting captured and forcibly converted if she's not careful.

Although Culhwch hates courtiers as much as most dreamers, they fought alongside some during the assault on Mordremoth. They've also gone through periods of disillusionment with the Grove/nobility/fighting against the dragons. It's possible that, at the right time, one of their fellow fighters might have been able to convince them. But generally, not going to happen.

Sorcha and Eirlys both have the usual Grove-aligned views on the evil of the Court, but neither of them encounter the Court much in their day-to-day. They're doing Mists stuff.

Hafwen also dislikes the Court. But he has no fighting ability, so if he was ever in the wrong place at the wrong time… sorry, dude.

OTHER

Rhiannon, Ddrysien, and Mal have all lived outside of sylvari society for a long while, for one reason or another. None of them think about the Nightmare Court much day-to-day. That being said:

Rhiannon has a strong sense of justice - perhaps too much, having rejected Ventari's wisdom for being too open to interpretation. Would never join the Court, probably fought courtiers during her time in the Lionguard. Honestly would probably kill any courtiers she did encounter, if she could get away with it.

Morally speaking, Ddrysien is the most likely of the three to align with the Court - she's cynical and unscrupulous. But she's not sadistic, just self-interested, and she would also dislike the hierarchies and commitment required. If she encountered any courtiers, she would be wary of them; if asked to pick between the Grove and the Court, she would pick the Grove.

Mal hates the Court as much as most Dream-associated sylvari, and are physically repelled by most of them - Mal has always been sensitive to sylvari empathy, and it only got worse after they answered Mordremoth's call. They would be very vulnerable to Nightmare conversion because of this and the Soundless methods they've tried to adopt since. Would immediately try to get out of any scenario where courtiers are.

Finally, Aderyn, (ex-)Mordrem with no memories of anything before that, doesn't know what the Nightmare Court is. Probably shot a few over the years, but not for being courtiers, just to keep them away in general.

COURTIERS

(Worth noting up top, I don't see Nightmare 'corruption' as inherently irreversible. I know that's not technically canon, but it's more interesting to me that way!)

Derval and Llinos, I've not decided how they joined the Court. I can't see either of them leaving, either, but that's just off the top of my head.

Daithi started out participating in Grove-aligned duels, hunts, and tournaments. Reasonably skilled and good at performing to a crowd, they found themselves being invited to more ruthless, higher-stakes revelries, which they found even more exhilarating. I haven't decided how it's revealed to them that they're attending Court events; it's probably dramatic and they leave for a while, but eventually crawl back. Maybe this happens several times, I don't know! I'll have to think about this some more. These days, they're unrepentant. If they left, it would only be to participate in a wider world of morally dubious recreational fighting. Even most of those frown on the killing/torturing of opponents who lose, so... The Court it is!

Idris and Esyllt could be their own post. They both woke on the same day, some months after the Secondborn (if Thirdborn was a thing, they would be it) and became close friends. I imagine the Nightmare Court was still growing at this point, somewhat unorganised and not seen as an outright threat.

Idris dreamt of dying, and woke obsessed with death and the avoidance of it. He found the Grove limited and limiting, and was slowly lured away by the promise of more freedom in his studies. He became one of the Court's executioners, using the close encounters with death to further his knowledge. These days, he isn't ideologically invested in the Court as an institution, though he finds some satisfaction in his role within it. However, he has no particular desire to go anywhere else either, especially given that the parts of the world with morals wouldn't exactly welcome him back. I've toyed with him taking up residence in the Heart of Maguuma to research ley magic/dragon magic, away from court politics, but I haven't decided if this is a HoT-era thing or a more permanent thing.

Esyllt was captured by the Court a year or two later while working as a healer for the Wardens. Idris refused to execute her, and she was placed into a Nightmare conversion pod. She came out a twisted reflection of the person she had been before. She discarded her medicines for poisons, and enjoys luring people in only to toy with them until they break. She intellectually knows that what Idris did to save her was awful. Nonetheless, the person that the conversion pod made her delights in Nightmare. (Naturally, she and Idris have a complicated relationship now!) Of all my courtiers, she's the least likely to leave, and this is the real reason that Idris would never leave either.

[icharchivist]

more da4 stuff are coming out and i hadn't blocked the spoilers tag yet bc the warning was that there'll be more spoilers on the 19Th, but last article by IGN actually revealed two things i really wanted to see in game by myself and i'm so mad kdjfhdjkfhd

i blocked the tag now so at least i should be able to avoid more but boooo

but about those things bc i want to discuss them:

so far it was a theory that Lucanis was possessed by a demon but the latest video just confirmed it and i'm. so sad they did so.

but they also confirmed which type of demons which is a win for me bc i've been brainstorming it for a while.

Because the tarot card showed Pride Demon and it boggled my mind because Lucanis is NOT prideful. he's only arrogant to provoke his marks. And, on the other hand, he's not particularly wise. In fact he's the opposite of wise this man fucking tore open the Veil to get revenge and then went "idk it seemed like a plan, anyway yolo YOU told me to do that", this man behaves on instincts not on wisdom.

To me, if spirit was possessing Lucanis (which was strongly hinted at from his new powers, his skillsets, the fact he's believed dead and probably did actually die!), it should be a spirit of Justice/a demon of Vengeance, because Lucanis is DEADSET on vengeance even though it's not his job. He derails his job completely because he's motivated by vengeance for people who were wronged by Ambrose.

But then again we never truly saw what type of shape a Justice/Vengeance spirit would take, since we only met one possessing other people's body. It also felt wrong to me to have this again considering how close it would have been from the Anders/Justice plotline from daoa and da2 (with Justice first possessing a dead person and him being twisted to vengeance once he gets into Anders).

So my conclusion was Justice/Vengeance unless it's a new spirit we've never heard of that is adjacent to that.

WELL the latest video seems to reveal that Lucanis is possessed by a Demon of Spite.

Which. Well. Close enough????

But also it means Lucanis very likely died or almost died and was saved by a spirit of Spite (probably because Lucanis is waaaays too comfortable using spirits to start with but that's a post for another time i have so many thoughts about Lucanis, magic, and spirits) which is why he's alive. The screenshot i've seen implies that Lucanis is trying to keep Spite from being too active, trying not to trigger it, and i wonder if the stolen glances with Emmrich in particular is a set up to how Emmrich, used to gently handling spirits who bind themselves to corpses, would help him navigate this situation.

BUT the best part to me is that it means Lucanis SURVIVED OUT OF SPITE. THIS IS THE FUNNIEST THING YOU CAN SAY ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER HELLO. HE LITERALLY SURVIVED OUT OF SPITE.

I already love him so much it keeps adding i'll never be safe.

The other spoiler i've seen is that we're definitely seeing Felassan again and i'm so excited for that, but i wish I'd been surprised about it in game. He's a book-only character, from The Masked Empire, and there's only one line that refers to him in Trespasser ("His friend had to die. Because he thought they were people. A slow arrow breaks in the sad wolf's jaws."), but we know Felassan was someone important to Solas and that the end of TME still haunts him, so it was logical that in the Lighthouse/Crossroads, that will be filled with Solas' memories, we'll see more about Felassan, but i was worried they may ignore him all together because he IS a book only character, no matter how beloved he is. I'm relieved they're actually showing him, but MAN i can just imagine how i'd have screamed if i saw he was there in game. wasted.

Anyway now i blacklisted everything and i reread The Wigmaker's Job and The Wake the other day, and i have thoughts, i've written half a post about it and then got too lazy to do the rest, so stay up for that one i guess.

But ghhhh. So good.

[droughtofapathy]

I'm too lazy to get my phone out and scroll through emojis, which I know you'll appreciate. "what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?" "share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on" "what's the fastest way to become your mutual?"

And because I know this is going to cause internal bleeding: "give yourself some constructive criticism on your own writing"

Thank ya, love.

Oh thank god, I don't have to go scrolling back to find the post. Big fan of no-emoji asks.

"what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?" Essays. I'm lucky enough to have many beloved mutuals who will show up on the doorstep of my works with lengthy analysis, discussion, and favorite lines all ready to go. I'm a writer who wants to discuss the work in intimate detail, so these comments are like catnip to me.

"share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on" Stop giving a fuck. Do what you want and what you like and to hell with what others are doing or thinking. Having confidence in yourself is the easiest way to deal with problems. I have always been an extremely confident person, but as a kid I still had a lot of stress and anxiety, and though even at such a tender age, I was still doing what I wanted, I was also doing it with a lot more neurotic energy. I had panic attacks semi-frequently, but (and this is really bad advice from a professional mental health perspective because I'm realizing how trivializing it sounds) I got rid of all the stress and anxiety and neuroses by just...not having them. It sounds absurd, but I'm living the high life with none of the mental health issues so many of my friends have because I just decided to stop being anxious and stressed all the time, and more importantly, I'm so fucking sure of myself. This is not something most people are able to do. Proper treatment is important: I just... didn't need it. I looked at all those reasons I was stressed and upset and just said "who cares? So what? What's the worst that could happen and what am I actually going to do about it if it does? Nothing matters. I'm fantastic. So why am I wasting my time and energy being so worked up about everything?" And that's kind of just how I live my life. Nothing matters, things happen, life goes on. I know I'm a fucking delight. (And yeah, it's probably really aggravating to hear someone just say stop having anxiety, because it's not that simple. But it was for me.

So that's my advice: be confident. Be apathetic. I'm sure of what I think and what I do. Have trust in yourself. Just do whatever it is that you need or want to do.

"what's the fastest way to become your mutual?" Barrel into my DMs with lengthy rants/discussions at the ready. Talk to me about my writing or the theatre. I'm actually not great at fast-tracking mutuals. I know all of my current beloved mutuals can attest to the fact that it did take time for me to follow back. Just stick with me. I'll get there eventually if I like what's on your blog and I connect with you personally.

"give yourself some constructive criticism on your own writing" Me talking to myself: Jesus fucking Christ, why won't you take some goddamn time to edit your work? Would it kill you to take a breather in between finishing the last sentence and putting it up on the archive with barely a cursory reread for typos (especially given how they keep slipping by anyway)? Why must you be so stubborn? It's not admitting incompetence by doing a second draft. Try it out sometime and see what happens. You might even like it.

(Unfortunately, I am cursed with a staggering amount of confidence--bordering on arrogance--and my first drafts are pretty damn fantastic. I never had to try very hard to get top marks for school essays, so I was stuck in this no-edit lifestyle from an early age and just never bothered to get out. It's working for me.)

[amiharana]

CHILDHOOD CANON PLSPLSPLS ik childhood revalink isn't very popular but i am DESPARATE for that content 😭✋

(ask game from here)

more people should write revalink as little babies since we get like two sentences from mipha about what link was like as a toddler and pretty much nothing but inferences on revali's childhood based on how he acts. revalink community, i'm calling forth upon you to write more baby revalink ☝️👁️

👶 9. Childhood headcanon

i've talked a little bit here and there about my headcanons on both of revalink's childhoods, so i'm not gonna try to reiterate those here 😭 but i'll do a couple more little bullet-point hcs teehee

i just know link was a menace for his mother to deal with when he was growing up. climbing on trees, the houses, disappearing to climb the fucking mountains, just a little rabid animal for a child

once, he was hiding in the wheat fields or maybe pretended to be a scarecrow, and then he jumpscared one of the farmers, who nearly died from a heart attack 😭

link probably once tried to climb up to the spring of wisdom by himself to catch a glimpse of the great dragon naydra, only to pass out in the cold snow. something warm and blue takes him back home, and when link wakes he's at home in bed, like he never left. but he remembers seeing a bright gold eye in his dreams...

i bet you part of the reason why revali was so obsessed with perfecting his gale and being able to fly properly was because he couldn't even fucking glide as a kid. his little baby wings just couldn't catch the updrafts and he was left behind during flying lessons. completely stacked his resolve to be the only rito who could properly fly

rito village treated revali naruto-style. the elders and adults pity him for having lost his parents in such a tragic way, but the kids and teens tended to bully or ostracize revali for not having any parents. yeah.

sorry for only sad baby revali hcs omg ok the elder takes revali to the hebra plunge with him and the hunting squadron to catch fish for an upcoming festival and this is where revali learns to hunt fish for the first time! when he catches his first hearty salmon, he's so excited, and the elder and members of the hunt who watched are very proud of him! it's a huge fish, and they let him keep it and help him make his very first salmon meunière 🥺🤍 bb vali eats very well that night

baby revali stumbling upon the pocket of updrafts at dronoc's pass for the first time after getting left behind, and teaching himself how to glide there 🫣 it's difficult at first because he has no one to teach him how it's supposed to be done, but he gets a hang of it pretty quick after a while. i just know his dumbass kept falling into the water though LMAO but it's his special secret spot that he shares with No One else! and ofc when revali's older and has bested everyone with his superior archery skills, he has the flight range built there 😌

[queenofbaws]

One good turn deserves another, so now I'd like to thank you for YOUR kind words and well-wishes! I should probably clarify as well that I'm no stranger to writing in general - I've worked as an editor and even have my own story in the works. It's fanfiction that proves daunting, as I fear I won't be able to portray the characters accurately or even write believable modern-day interactions due to my own... social shortcomings, so to speak. If you have any advice to offer, I'd be rather grateful!

!!! well lookit that!!! aw man, if you're already writing your own story, you're so ahead of the game!!! ;)c on the rare occasions i've been asked for fic advice, my first step is almost always to, like, get a feel for writing rules in general, so cross that sucker right off the list!!! heheh

i'll throw a few nuggets of extremely long-winded "wisdom" below the cut for anyone interested, but tl;dr the BIGGEST and BEST advice i think i could give to someone hesitant to dip their toe into writing/posting fic is this: we're all playing pretend here - and i don't say that to minimize anyone's efforts!!! not even slightly.

if anyone takes playing pretend seriously, it's ME, angsty longfic mcgee, but at the end of the day, fanfic is YOUR sandbox. YOU make the rules. YOU make what you want to make the way you want to make it when you want to make it. everyone wants the validation of hearing that other people enjoyed their story, that they're moved by their art, but sometimes things won't hit the way you hoped they would, or people wind up having a different interpretation of a character than you and don't hesitate in letting you know, and man, that sucks when it happens and it can make the idea of continuing to post really, really daunting, but it's still your sandbox. if you like it? if you enjoyed making it? if it was fun and fulfilling and you felt satisfied once it was finished?????????? THAT'S what you gotta hang onto. THAT'S what's gonna keep you moving forward. <3

(and, just saying, from personal experience? once you take the dive and give it a try? ooooh baby. there's nothing like it ;P i've mixed too many beach metaphors in here. that has to mean something.)

LONG-WINDED RAMBLING, GO! i want to preface this by saying, hi, this is 100% just me running my mouth about how i go about writing fic - if anything i say here doesn't work for you, ignore it! wholesale!!! everyone has different processes, everyone approaches writing in a different way, and even my writing buds and i butt heads sometimes about the fic-writing process, so imagine this is simply me offering suggestions on little scraps of paper, neatly piled up on a silver platter. you're free to fling that platter out of my hands at any time ;P ha!!!

i COMPLETELY understand how trying to get a pre-existing character's voice down can be intimidating, but at the end of the day...everyone's going to view them a little differently anyway!!! that's one of the beautiful things about fic - two people can look at the same character and see completely different facets of them, and that in NO way makes them wrong, or somehow less valid! here are some of the things i do when i'm trying to get into a character's headspace or find my version of their voice:

mannerisms! the first thing i always try and figure out is how the character behaves in canon. do they hold themselves confidently? do they get along with other people easily? if it's visual media like a video game, what kind of idle animations are we working with here - nail biting, hip swaying, anxious shifting, slouching, yawning, knuckle-cracking? i like doing this a little bit better than just trying to pin down what kind of "personality archetype" they have, like...you can say ashley brown is the scared nerd character, sure, and that's one level of her, but she's also ruthless when she needs to be, quick to make a joke, and deeply, deeply curious. digging down into a character's pieces-parts instead of just looking at them as a whole can really make your characterization of them feel more HUMAN.

actual source material dialogue. how does the character actually TALK in the source material (if they do, in fact, talk at all)? do they stammer? pause often? are they using high-scoring scrabble words in day-to-day conversations, or do they mostly just grunt and nod when asked a question? if you're worried about keeping YOUR version of them close to the source material or canon, i always say look for those verbal tics right off the bat. to keep using until dawn examples, josh tends to talk slowly but FLUIDLY, if that makes sense, like he's been practicing how cool guys talk in movies; chris, on the other hand, tends to start and stop, or have a jerkier sort of cadence, shifting in pitch the more agitated or anxious he is. mike talks to himself a lot, whether it's to make inane comments or reassure himself that he's okay; matt really sort of stays quiet unless he's talking to another person. that sort of thing!

the jurassic park method. okay. okay stick with me here. this one's my fav. this one is genuinely my secret weapon when it comes to writing believable fic characters. you know how...in the original jurassic park...the whole thing was they filled the dinosaurs' genetic gaps with frog DNA? yeah. yeah i'm about to tell you to do that. only with blorbo from your shows. is there someone in your life who reminds you of a character you're writing for? they don't have to be a perfect match, but maybe there's someone out there who you think "aw man, i bet sam would wear that," or "i could so hear jess saying that," or "i bet she and emily would get along..." this is me taking you by the hands to say use that. fill those gaps with real life experiences. this one's really more about making characters feel realistic than it is keeping them true to canon, but man..................sometimes it really makes them shine, know what i mean???

as for believable modern-day interactions...WOOF. i also feel like...i have missed that bus on that one. 🤣 i wish i had straightforward advice for this, but i have GOT to be real with you, i am a mostly housebound millenial who recently had a very sobering conversation with my doctor about how i've hit the age where i need to actually pay attention to my blood pressure and cholesterol, and boy, that...that really makes you feel very

sdklfjskldf heheheheheheh

my biggest tip in terms of MODERN social interactions??? don't put too much effort into making them modern at all! that sounds counter-intuitive, i'll explain: language moves really, really quickly, and it's constantly changing. if you throw a lot of slang into an interaction, it's going to date itself pretty quickly. instead, when i'm writing, i really focus on the interaction feeling BELIEVABLE. not even "natural," not even "normal," whatever those mean, but believable. can you BELIEVE that characters would interact with each other this way. cuz let's face it: sometimes. in real life. social interactions. occur. strangely. that doesn't make them less BELIEVABLE.

(and for what it's worth???????? a lot of time canon doesn't care about modern day interactions either. emily and jess's fight in the lodge is.......the best example......i could give you. there's....there's a lot going on in that one. the bar has been set...very low on that one alkdjfalksjfasjdfklsdjf hahahahahahahahah!)

i'll stop here before i literally turn inside-out from word barfing so much, but to revisit my very, very first point up top...writing and sharing fic can be SO nerve-wracking. 100%. no question. writing is personal!!! if you're writing your own story, i'm sure you totally get that. it's a piece of you! and by putting it out where everyone can see, you're making yourself vulnerable, and that can be so, so terrifying. but. BUT. i am personally of the opinion that the benefits outweigh that moment of trepidation ;)c if this is something you've been wanting to do, i wholeheartedly say give it a shot! if you decide it's not for you, eh, at least you tried, right? and if you love it, then look at that!!! a whole new world opens up at your fingertips!!!

and you'll for sure have ME rooting for you, either way :D

[rainintheevening]

Oh boy, seven characters. Let's see...

Anakin Skywalker

Edward Elric

Sam Wilson

Gandalf

Sherlock Holmes

Peter Parker

Luna Lovegood

This ask game.

1. Sam. I'd go grocery shopping with Sam. Simple, fun, and he'd tell me about all kinds of stuff he'd cooked, and what dishes I should try making. He'd know how to shop on shoestring too. Nice guy, good person to help make decisions on what to buy.

2. Having Gandalf over for lunch is sketchy, because you can't be sure if it's just going to be him, or if others will show up uninvited. But that would just add excitement to the party, I suppose. I would want to lay out a good spread, but he’d have to bring his own pipeweed. He's a story teller, so lunch would give him plenty of time to spin me a tale of great deeds and small comforts and friendly jokes. Have lunch with a wizard grandpa? Definitely.

3. Peter would be lovely to have coffee with. Or hot chocolate, whatever he wanted. I'd also invite Ned, of course. I'd take them to Tim Horton's and let him fill up on doughnuts (enhanced metabolism, and all that), and whatever they wanted to try. We'd talk Star Wars and science, and people watch. It would be fun. I would probably attempt to deliver some elder-sister wisdom. And I'd give that boy the biggest hug goodbye.

4. Luna would be a wonderful person to go thrifting with. She'd see potential in every little knickknack and peice of clothing. She'd be hilarious, and offer wonderful fashion advice, which I suspect would work out more often than not. We could make up all kinds of silly stories about the people who might have ownes things, or what certain oddments might have been used for. It would be grand fun.

5. I think going to a museum/gallery with Sherlock would be amazing. He would spit out the most random facts about stuff, and then he'd have those one or two exhibits that would capture his attention and he'd spend at least an hour staring at. He might be a bit rude sometimes, but I think I'd be chill with it. I would probably be intimidated by him at first, but then if something exciting happened, and there was some sort of case to solve, I would totally be able to keep up with him. I think it could be a very enjoyable day.

6. Ed could be fun to go to a bookstore with. He loves books, reading, study. If he was in my town, I would take him to Sunrise Books, and he would probably get lost in there for hours. He would find some ancient tomes about alchemy (I suspect that there actually are a few of those in that bookstore). I would probably be the one dragging him out at closing time. I feel like he might also pay for my books too.

7. For plus-one at a wedding, I would absolutely want Anakin. We would have a great time. He would be a fantastic dance partner, and I would jibe back at his darker jokes with my own. Depending on how well we knew everyone, we would probably have 'our corner', where we'd stash some snacks and drinks, and come back when we needed some quiet. We're both extroverts, but Anakin’s a reserved one, so I'd pull him into conversations and games. If there was a little karaoke, I'd beg him to sing, and he'd probably say, "I'll do it if you will," so we'd go up and give a great performance of 'Firework', except our giggling would spoil it. Anakin would likely get into a big argument with someone about politics or sports, and I'd have to break that up. We'd do some people watching, listen to the music, enjoy the food, and I would probably doze off on his shoulder. (We'd probably go joy-riding after, and not get home till 2 am or something, if we didn't crash our vehicle/s.) Yeah, I think Anakin and I would be great friends. (Though if we were padawans together we would be trouble!)

Okay, hun, now you need to do these characters back to me!!