#spoilers; he does of old age :( (but he was very loved by those who mattered to him)

[captainmvf]

Some cute weirdos.

[noemilivv]

After Reading the Proposal and Wedding One shot I think it's called?

Can I please request the same characters(Adam, Lucifer and Vox) react to there kid having there Powers and how GN Reader and Them deal with it in an everyday bases

oh my god my brain has so many ideas i’m doing this right the freak now

also i’m so sorry this isn’t necessarily gn!reader becuz this does talk about pregnancy 😭

Warnings: AFAB!reader, pregnancy talk, ooc Adam?(?), swear words, potential S1 spoilers, Vox being a bit of a shitty dad

Adam, Lucifer, Vox w/ kids who have their powers (+ extra)

Adam

You and Adam probably wait awhile after your wedding until having kids, he wants to have his party lifestyle a little longer, and cmon, who can blame him?

At first he isn’t so sure, I mean, a small ball of flesh that just cries wasn’t the most entertaining thing to him… But he’ll do it for you

But the moment you tell him your pregnant, something in him clicks.

He’s very invested in the kids before their even born, he’s reading all those cheesy and old baby books constantly, cause honestly, he’s not as prepared as he’d thought he’d be

Simply because I see Adam as both a boy dad and a girl dad let’s say you two have twins 😛

He’s a good dad not gonna lie, but let’s be real, he tried to make at least one of his kids say “feces” as their first word… yeah, you weren’t too happy. 😀

Growing up, he definitely spoiled his girl and roughhoused with his boy, maybe a bit too much…

He was definitely a baseball or softball dad

Considering Adam’s foul language, they definitely grew up at swearing at a young age, but it stayed in the house dw

As the kids grew into their early teens they discovered their shared their dads powers — and bitch was through the roof about it

Adam started training them on how to use their powers to their liking, but also taught them the safety of them. He was actually a pretty good teacher ngl.

Lucifer

Obviously, from his past marriage with Lilith, he already had his first kid, so he was ready — he was just waiting for you to be as well

So when you were, he was stoked !

He was very aware and attentive during your pregnancy, trying to not make the same mistakes he did the first time around

He’s also very understanding about mood swings and he WILL go out in the middle of the night to get you cravings, he doesn’t have to, but he will

But when you both bring another daughter Morningstar into the world, Charlie is thrilled to have a younger sister!

She definitely babysits a lot, and the child definitely spends a lot of time in the hotel

Luci dedicates certain times of the day when he can not and will not have meetings or projects to be working on so he can dedicate time to both of his daughters.

He loves asking your daughter how her day was, and how schools going, but he also asks how her friends are to stress that grades aren’t the only thing that matter

As your daughter grows, she starts to develop Lucifer’s powers, only a small fraction — considering how powerful he is, but he’s stoked that not one, but now both of his daughters have his powers!

He’s been through training them before with Charlie, so he’s pretty skilled on how to do it now, but he tends to stress to your daughter the usage of the powers and the rights and wrongs are far more important than the strength you have

Vox

Vox was in no rush to have kids due to the current workload for VoxTech, but if you wanted them, all you had to do was ask

Vox, like Adam, couldn’t really wrap his head (or screen ig??) around the concept of a child until they were in his arms.

Vox wasn’t really sure how to handle a newborn, older kids were different, but this..? Maybe this wasn’t right for him…

It broke his heart every time he heard his son sob as a new born, and to be honest, he wasn’t sure what to do.

It’d be late at night and Vox would get out of your shared bed to go make sure the baby would stop crying before you’d wake.

He’d try everything, singing, rocking, bottle, changing the diaper, toys, everything. And it wouldn’t stop.

It’s not until you stir in your sleep and hear everything, you go to your son’s crib and simply hold him and he stops crying immediately, you set your son down and go back to sleep. Vox is literally amazed.

As your son ages into the ages of 6 and up is when it starts to get easier for Vox, by the time Vox can even slightly have a conversation with the kid it gets easier, the communication is a lot more clear

He doesn’t have a lot of time to play with his son due to VoxTech, so usually Vox will keep his son in his lap as he works in his office, he’ll even ask his son business questions! Even when he only gets gibberish back, he’ll take it. Hey, don’t judge him, client feedback is important.

As his son ages into his teen years, Vox starts turning a bit strict, he needs his son to be the coolest fucking kid in school, so Velvette tailors him a shit ton of clothes and Vox makes sure his son always has the newest gadget. Vox also is strict about keeping grades up, he wouldn’t ever take anything away for a bad grade, but your son may get a bit of lecture..

All of this is building up to something though, Vox really wants your son to take over VoxTech in his adult years, so he wants to make sure his son is prepared and experienced in the new world he’d enter, if he doesn’t want, Vox gets it, he may be a bit pushy though, but Vox has been in that place so he won’t push too hard.

At around the age of 15, your son developed Vox’s hypnosis powers.

Vox teaches your son how to use this to his advantage, like for example, VoxTech, but he also stressed there’s a time and place, and to not use it on someone you truly care about. Strategy is everything.

Is Vox the perfect parent? No. But no one is. But he genuinely has so much love for his son, and tbh he wants more kids…

[m1kad00]

Cyberpunk 2077 random headcannons!!

Characters included: Viktor Vektor, Muamar Reyes (El Capitán)

Reader: AFAB

TW: Age-gap relationship, reader is a mercenary (so violence ig), my horrible grammar, pregnancy, NSFW (at least I tried)

(Possible spoilers for Muamars gig)

Viktor Vektor

SFW Headcannons

-he probably didn't actually think about having a relationship with you... at first

-because you were out of his age range

-but of course, you managed to capture this old mans heart anyways

-I mean.. if you weren't on a mission, you were hanging around his clinic or Mistys shop

-Misty did play a big part to make this relationship work in the first place... she played her role as a cupid very well to say the least

-after you two finally got into a relationship, your visits at the clinic became even more frequent.. which made Jackie and V some people a little bit suspicious

-Misty was the first to know, obviously (she's the mastermind behind this anyways)

-Vik did not make your relationship offical immediately

-he loves you of course! Dearly. But he's not as loud about relationships as others would be.

-he's not big on PDA, but he wouldn't mind holding hands or small kisses.. just not making out or something like that

-the first time you both showed each other affection infront of others was a few weeks into your relatonship (Jackie and V were very surprised)

-his loves reciving gifts from you (have you guys seen those cute little 'waving cats' in his clinic? (idk what they're actually called I'm sorry))

-so he loves collecting little things you give him

-he doesn't care about the expense.. as long as it's from you he'll cherish it!

-jewlery, shiny stones, trinkets from one of your missions. It does not matter, he will hold onto it for eternity!

-Vik wouldv'e loved to have kids.. (let's be real that ain't happening anymore)

-but if it actually would be possible he'd be sosososo happy!!

-the chances he'd actually be able to have children of his own were slim

-I headcannon him to be around 60 (so he's Gen Alpha lol (he was maybe born around 2017))

-however he would be super worried that you would have a miscarriage or an accident or something like that, so he made sure you would be well rested in those 9 moths

-no more missions or hard work

-he made you spend your time mostly in his clinic, at Misty's or at home (not in a bossy and toxic way, but in a caring and sweet way)

-with the pregnancy, Vik also made you settle down for the time being

-being a merc with a toddler is not the best idea

-but he is a very caring person and an incredible father, so he was there when you needed him

-morning sickness? He definetly has a trick up his sleeve for that matter!

(I hate kids lowkey so I won't proceed.. for now)

NSFW Headcannons

-this man is very, very, very experienced

-he was a pro boxer after all.. he knows what he's doing!

-I'm sure this man was a bit freaky in his younger years

-so whatever you're into, he's into

-exept causing you pain, that's a turn off for him

-also he's more of a dom, but for you he'd also be more subissive

-he also loves breeding (absolutely not because I'm into that)

-holding you in a chokehold while doggy is just perfecton

Muamar Reyes (El Capitán)

-realtalk, no one talks about my pookie

-he might have a goofy bowl-cut but he's precious

-not even pinterest had a picture of him :((

-someone has to write for him at some point

SFW Headcannons

-you two probably met because of V

-you both went on one of his missions together, that's when he first saw you

-he instantly was head over heels

-he (smoothly) asked for your number, because he "might have some gigs for you in the future".

-not even one day later he got a gig for you.. what a coincidence!

-which was basically just you driving him around.. I mean you're getting paid! Who are you to complain?

-it turns out you both were indeed very compatible

-you both got along great (and he was lowkey flirty)

-after that day you got gigs from him constantly

-not only to chauffeur him anywhere he wants but also quick simple gigs like stealing cars for him

-Muamar would always ask how you are after gigs (in a playful way, so his intentions weren't as obvious)

-at some point he asked you out anyways

-he invited you to dinner

-after that he drove you both to his spot, where you can see Santo Domingo clearly

-there he would tell you how much he loves you

-Muamar is actually very open about his relationship

-so he's very into PDA

-some guy gets to close to you for his liking? He'll personally confront him about how he's too close to his lovely girlfriend.

-he needs to touch you 24/7. He's driving? Hand on your thigh. You two are walking? Hand holding. No matter where you both are going, people will know you are his.

-Muamar would want kids of his own, but would also be open for adoption

-they would grow up in Santo Domingo, but under diffrent circumstances

-since he hired V to steal that Arasaka medical truck, he wanted to make sure the people of Santo Domingo would not live in fear

-he would want his children to grow up without any health issiues caused by a simple cup of water, unlike him

-he would adore his kids, seriously

-even tho he looks like the villain from Minions, he still has an awesome style (so will his kids)

-would do anything to be a good dad

-he'd go all out to make the house/apartment super save for your kids

-once they'd grow up he would play with them in the backyard

-super corny dad jokes

-I LOVE HIM SMMMM

NSFW Headcannons

-just like Vik, he's experienced

-I can't imagine someone from NC to not be experienced

-average size, nothing to complain about

-he's more of a dom

-loves loves LOVES you on top of him

-his favorite positions are doggy and cowgirl

-car sex.

-you riding him in the back of his car while he's guiding you, holding your waist

Author Note

I am sorry for writing such bad NSFW HC's. I tried my best, I just needed some content of my favorite Night City legends on here. Especally of Muamar. I hope more people will appreciate him. Thank you for reading this by the way <33

[kaija-rayne-author]

Did Solas actually kill Felassan?

It's interesting to me that, as objectively bad as DAV is, Felassan was noticeably not in Solas's regrets.

Spoilers for all dragon age materials, games, comics, and books included.

Obligatory 'I'm not an asshole' disclaimer. Feel free to jump to the cut if you've read it.

Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It's fantastic. I'm also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.

I was on media blackout while I played DAV. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.

Though, every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking 'have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?' My guess is nope.

Note. None of my writing on DA, but especially DAV, is edited. This is just my off the cuff writing. I don't have the time, energy, or heart to edit them properly.

So did Solas kill Felassan? If you asked probably 99% of the fandom, they'd look at you funny and say 'of course'. You can call me deluded, it's fine. I legitimately don't care. I know that most people in this Fandom love to think Solas killed Felassan. (I have my theories on why, too, but that's another post.)

But ya know what? Solas would barely even be questioned if it were a modern setting. And unless the trial were rigged, he'd never be convicted of it. Yet the Fandom just loves to crucify the character.

I mean, there's plenty of other things he's definitely done that you can hate on if you want. He's never been all that shy in admitting he's a bloody handed rebellion leader. I think if he'd actually killed his friend, it would've been one of his biggest regrets. It's not like the elf has very many FFS. And I think he would've sadly admitted it too, if anyone had asked.

So why don't I think Solas killed Felassan?

There. Is. No. Proof.

So, look. I have a background in bioanthropology and forensic chemistry. Crime scene work. I honestly think the whole thing about Solas and Felassan is a Weekes twist.

1. It doesn't make sense that Solas killed someone who was spoken of as his friend. Not someone who served him.

2. Would Solas be capable of it? Yes. He's an antihero character. As such, he's capable of killing even a romanced Lavellan if she gets in his way. That's what an antihero does, they (usually, when written with any sort of competency) have a Goal TM. The only thing that can be allowed to matter to a true anti-hero character, before the goal is complete, is The Goal. I just don't think Solas actually did it.

3. I didn't want to believe Solas had killed Felassan. (Feel free to let me know, politely, if there was incontrovertible evidence in Veilguard, cause no way in hell am I playing it again unless someone pays me. A lot. It won't really matter to me, because DAV doesn't exist and is not Canon as far as I'm concerned because of the bad writing and disrespect of the Lore.) But you can tell me if he actually admits it or is shown doing the deed somewhere. So I went searching and analyzed everything. I can't find a lick of substantial proof that Solas definitely killed Felassan.

4. But it also tickled all those old crime stuff senses I spent so long training to do. My kids think I'm hilarious to watch true crime with, because I scoff at everything authorities missed re:evidence, a lot of the time. I have a gift for it, and misogyny drove me out of STEM.

Anywaaaayyyy.

Weekes has said several times that they love to write the kind of twist that 'was right in front of you the whole time'.

I don't honestly think Solas killed Felassan. And I have actual reasons why. Other than, I didn't want my blorbo to have done that. It just doesn't make sense. I don't generally have a problem with anti-hero characters being murderous fucks in pursuit of their goal, because literarily, that's kinda part of their purpose as an archetype.

Do feel free to look all this up for yourself, I have annoted notes on it all, but the big bad happened in Masked Empire. Felassan is an interesting character, I enjoyed reading the book (3x).

Motive: Felassan didn't get the key to the Eluvians to give to whoever he served.

Actions: Felassan knew he'd be killed for disobedience. He catches a rabbit, roasts it, gives himself a last meal, considers staying awake to avoid his employer, and decides an ancient Elvhen needs more courage than a 'stripling human'.

He tosses herbs on the fire, lays down, and dreams.

He wakes in the Fade in the same wintery forest he went to sleep in. He feels his dangerous employer nearby and starts talking.

He tells employer that he didn't get the key, which is a fib, because he chose to not take the key from a young elf he mentored.

He senses his employer knows that's a lie.

He tells employer he feels the modern elves deserve a chance.

He compares Briala, his mentee, a decidedly 'defines self as woman/female elf', to employer.

Employer crunches through leaves behind him.

'He never felt the blow that killed him'.

It never, anywhere, says 'Solas killed him'.

1. Felassan's body wouldn't be dead, it would be tranquil and still asleep in the cold forest he went to sleep in. That's what happens when a spirit is killed or separated from their body in the fade. This is deeply established Lore (as is the fact that tranquility is cureable.) Solas, even on a technicality, couldn't have killed Felassan cause he's tranquil, not dead.

2. Felassan compared a decidedly female elf to his employer. Solas isn't straight for any reason but misplaced 'avoid evil bisexual trope'. He was originally written as bi, but he's definitely more on the masc side of things, gender and sex wise. (You could make a case for him to be non-binary too, that would make a lot of sense, but that's a headcanon, not proof.)

3. Wolves move silently through bracken, like dried leaves. And all throughout DAI, Solas is shown as pretty graceful and easy moving. It's not hard to walk relatively quietly, if you're abled, through dry leaves. You'd kinda have to not care to crunch through them. Or want someone to hear you coming, which is a very un-Solas like power move. "He comes in humble guises".

4. Felassan wears Mythal’s Valleslin.

So, quick side jaunt on the Vallaslin. They aren't just pretty decorations. They're not make-up. They're called 'blood writing' and heavily implied as a method of control over the branded Elvhen by the Evanuris in the Lore.

So. By wearing Mythal’s Valleslin, he's sworn to her, and likely serves her.

Mythal is also a dreamer. (Or even lives in the fade like a lot of other Evanuris did.) It's implied in the Lore, that almost all ancient Elvhen were somniari, and definitely all of the Evanuris. She's still in Flemyth at the time of the murder. Flemyth hasn't ever been very pleasant and, y'know, not murderous. If you've played through all three games, the ones that actually were good, written decently, and that mostly followed the Lore? You'd know Flemyth isn't an awesome person. Mythal is even bloody worse.

Whatever you think of Solas as a character, he doesn't outright lie except for once in DAI. During WEWH. (Obscure, obfuscate, deflect, mislead, yes! Outright lie, based on the dictionary and philosophical definition of a lie, no.) And I don't believe in the 'lie by omission' nonsense. Why everyone thinks they have the right to know every little thing about someone else immediately is beyond me.

All circumstantial evidence points toward Mythal and away from Solas. (Except people love to hate Solas, so of course, everything a decidedly not awesome ancient, uber powerful mage with a god complex does is his fault. Makes perfect sense because he's eeeeevvvvviiiillll. Ripest of Sarcasm and glares at Epler, Creative Director of DAV. )

Solas has also been shown to be someone who listens to his few friends. He listens to Inky, Varric, and Bull a few times in DAI. So it's also odd that Felassan's employer wouldn't even consider listening. That Felassan knew he'd die rather than be listened to. Felassan is Solas's friend, ergo, he'd have been likely to at least listen.

Solas is also shown as someone honourable 'I have distracted you from your duty, it won't happen again'. 'I wouldn't lay with her under false pretenses'. When you're honourable, you kill an enemy face to face, not a stab in the back. Mythal? Yeah, she missed the honourable boat by oceans.

Oh! But what about Cole's line in Tresspasser?

To be completely frank, so many of Cole's comments are 19th/20th/21st century TV, game, movie, and book references, I don't know why anyone gives his commentary any weight at all.

So, Cole's line is, "His friend had to die. Because he thought they were people. A slow arrow breaks in a sad wolf's jaws"

You could take it on face value, sure. But, you'll pardon me if I think it's silly for anything Cole says to be considered fact on face value alone.

So let's break it down, assuming (possibly incorrectly) that this comment has anything to do with Solas.

His friend had to die. Sure, I guess? But this doesn't tell us who killed him. Simply that Solas knows Felassan is dead. And again, Felassan is referred to as Solas's 'friend'. Not servitor. Not employee. Friend.

Because he thought they were people. Unless I'm mistaken, the 'real people' line is another one of Cole's, just from DAI, not Tresspasser, so we're making an even weaker case by stacking a comment of Cole's upon another comment of Cole's. Talk about confusing. Also, Real people was a tv show. Real People (TV Series 1979-1983)

It could also easily be social commentary on the dehumanization of people in... so many ways and cultures historically and even up to today.

A slow arrow is definitely a literary reference.

"THE SLOW ARROW OF BEAUTY. The noblest kind of beauty is that which does not transport us suddenly, which does not make stormy and intoxicating impressions such a kind easily arouses disgust but that which slowly filters into our minds."

Friedrich Nietzsche

"Fate's Arrow, when expected, travels slow."

Dante Alighieri

So if it’s a Dante reference, Weekes is alluding to Fate. If Nietzsche, Beauty.

Based on the fact that so many of Cole's comments are references, I'm going forward assuming 'slow arrow' to be a reference.

Beauty/Fate breaks in a sad wolf's jaws.

The veil is considered beautiful, and Solas is intent on destroying it (because in the Lore, it's actually destroying Thedas, sucking the life and magic out of it. Which would matter, John Epler, a lot! *bombastic side eye*)

It could also be a reference to Lavellan in a romanced Lavellan playthrough. Solas destroyed or rejected the beauty of love. Or even fated love, by leaving her behind.

Sad wolf is also a literary reference. Likely to one of these poems. (Given our degrees, Weekes and I probably had to take very similar classes. I originally went to uni to be an English teacher.)

"The Wolf" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Lo! the calm moon comes forth!—The sad wolf howls!

He seeks his fellow in the hungry night.

With fiery eye—how red his mouth is!—howl

The lonely wolf, for, lo!—he is not there.

So if we want to go with Tennyson, the reference could imply that Solas tried to help Felassan... which, yeah. Mythal is also a twat of epic proportions. That wouldn't have worked.

This quote feels relevant to me. "The wolves in the woods have sharp teeth and long claws, but it’s the wolf inside who will tear you apart."

Jennifer Donnelly

Sad wolf could then be a reference to Solas's feelings. If Felassan was his friend, he'd be pretty torn apart by his death, no matter how it happened. Yet, it's still not among his regrets in DAV. Even though an entire story in Tevinter Nights is focused on his regrets surrounding his time in the Inquisition. (IIRC Felassan isn't mentioned there, either.)

From a literary perspective, this one also feels relevant.

The wolf changes his coat, but not his disposition.

Traditional proverb

Solas is many things, but he's always Solas. Why would he do something so out of character as kill a close friend? (I'll even tell you a motive for why *Solas* might’ve killed Felassan. It's well established in Solas's character that he abhors betrayal. I suppose you could technically call Felassan's support of Briala a betrayal.) Still doesn't make sense to me. Because it actually is out of character for Solas to hurt what few friends he actually has. But, enh, you could call it motive. Do NOT get me started on the ham-handed writing and the fate of Varric Tethras in DAV. Epler has already said they only had him in the game so Solas could kill him and it would make the player hate Solas more. Didn’t matter to Epler whether it was in character or not. And it's not. Solas saves Varric in the comics. Numerous times.

1. That failed. Ugh. What a shit end for Varric. An author killed by bad writing.

2. Fucking bad writing ruined DAV.

I've rambled enough. I guess my point is that I'd love it if more people would think about things they saddle heavily neurodivergently coded characters with. It's not harmless.

The very first demographic blamed for a violent crime are neurodivergent people. Usually, the first is Autistic people. (We're almost hardwired to not hurt people. We tend to be the white knight tilting at windmills type. It takes a lot to push one of us to violence.) It can be done, but to automatically assume it's an autist is ableist and harmful.

The second group blamed are the mentally ill.

Statistics don't support that either. Neurodivergent people are guilty of 3% of violent crime. All the rest of the 97% is on all you neurotypicals.

Blah, blah, recovering from pulmonary embolism, partner recovering from broken back, money is tight if you've anything to spare. www.kaijarayne.com

[justhereformilgram]

WARNING: Mouthwashing spoilers ahead?? it is a psychological horror game so there is a bit of blood and gore, themes of suicide, cannibalism, all that. So be sure to read the content warnings if you haven’t heard of it before but decide to check it out!

Anyways. I introduce milgramwashing. because I fell down the rabbit hole and loved the complex storytelling and horrific situations of the original game. HOWEVER, for this AU, it definitely will be a different sort of storyline because while I appreciate the hard subject matter Mouthwashing tackles, I don’t feel comfortable putting any of the milgram cast in those positions.. I do love to point out parallels, though, and things will definitely still go terribly wrong.

Just imagine they’re a different branch, a different ship, on the Pony Express— or should I say, the Jackalope Express?

(1) I was torn between making the MILGRAM (replacing Tulpar) just a delivery crew like the OG, or a ship carrying prisoners, closer to MILGRAM. Or prisoners who become a crew after an emergency happens and Es can’t handle it on their own. 🤷 None of this explains putting Es, a 15 year old in charge. Were they a child pilot prodigy? A nepo baby? Who knows. But they are Captain Es.

(2) Next is Yuno, the first one I drew so she’s in color! She’s a psychology intern, just learning the ropes, tagging along because she needs money to provide for her parent and little bro. Also she’s under a false name since idk how legal her side job was in the mouthwashing universe. The Anya parallels are… quite real, though in this case she would’ve gotten pregnant from her clients like in MILGRAM but before she got on the ship, and only realizing later, and then it becomes a whole situation. She becomes an assistant nurse to Shidou after the crash happens.

(3) Fuuta! I think he shares in Swansea’s grumpiness, and it does make sense for him to be an electric engineer or hacker due to his focus in tech. cough. not always for noble means. Haruka will be his intern he has to deal with—though he isn’t middle aged, I think a mentor/older brother and younger brother dynamic mirroring Swansea and Daisuke could be fun and tragic for them. Also Kotoko definitely slices him in the eye. I don’t know why or how, I just feel like it fits pretty well.

(4) As said before, Haruka is another intern without much experience, sent into space because his mother didn’t want to deal with him anymore. Harsh. Meanwhile, after her incident at her school, Muu’s parents paid big money to cover it up then shoehorn her into an “internship” where the authorities can’t get her. She gets the nicest room on the spaceship.

(5) Kazui! The muscle of the group, originally I gave him captain or pilot since he really does give Curly vibes (means well, hurts the women in his life anyways through inaction/telling the truth/lying) and he also has a mid life crisis. then all this happens. I’d imagine he’s fairly level headed and would’ve intervened in the Kotoko incident and the Crash. (Related somehow? I don’t know, I didn’t think the lore all the way through) Not fast enough to spare Mahiru, though… Mikoto is not an intern, but a very stressed mouthwashing sales representative part of the advertising sector. His job still sucks. He’s due for a breakdown at any moment. John was always there, but he probably comes out more during great times of stress, like the Crash. Maybe he’s partly responsible, trying to defend from Kotoko or something. In no way people are letting Amane onto the ship willingly so I made her a stowaway fleeing her conditions under the religious organization after she murdered her mom. She sneaks into a shipment of mouthwash or something idk. Shidou is doctor but in space. I imagine his family passed in a terrible, terrible accident and he did lots of medicine malpractice still.

(6) Finally, Kotoko and Mahiru. Kotoko needs to use that axe, it fits too well.. I do think the Crash, just like Trial 2, is a turning point, so she probably has some hand in the Crash as well, if not purposely then it might be from swinging that around recklessly. She still looks cool doing it, though! And Mahiru. I imagine she pulled a legally blonde and followed in her boyfriend’s footsteps to become a pilot. After he passed, she continued her schooling and ended up as co-pilot on MILGRAM. Tried to stop the ship from crashing from the asteroid, and got caught in the blast zone… I’m sorry Mahiru it’s just you’re the only one with many bandages as a character design element 😭 and it made too much sense 😭😖 I think she’s still cute though. I gave her Daisuke’s hibiscuses since I like that imagery

[blindmagdalena]

Was re-watching Diabolical and have been genuinely wondering for a while about this………

Do you think Homelander could have been redeemed within those first 1-4 of his years of his initial roll out? It was obvious that he had no moral compass but he wasn't intentionally malicious back then. He seemed just kind of like a paper cup blowing from here to there as long as the promise of adoration existed.

I can't help but wonder if he had been surrounded by actually decent people rather than Vought psychopaths and manipulators if he still had a chance, even at that age.

a lot of things could have been different for Homelander when he was that young. it's a little fuzzy how old he was in Diabolical 8, but the general consensus seems to be 18-20.

we know he already had a kill count in the lab. he killed several of his teachers/nannies by the time he was 13, maybe more after that. he experienced a deluge of being made to crave the love of humans while also coming to view them as disposable.

as toys, if you will.

vague potential spoilers for s4 and longwinded rambling under the cut.

in my (wholly uneducated) opinion, this is where the foundational fracture of baby John's psyche begins. he had three "core" members of his team who formed a dysfunctional parental unit. Barbara, Vogelbaum and Stan Edgar. i believe that as a child, John had genuine and strong love for both Barbara and Vogelbaum, whereas i think it's always been a fearful respect of Stan Edgar.

then there were the regulars who existed in periphery, but mainly as antagonists. such as Marty and Frank. think of them as like... creepy uncles.

the rest of the scientists and caretakers were nothing but nameless, faceless props. the first time he killed someone, they were swiftly replaced. same with the first, second, third... who knows how many he went through. who knows how many "accidents" Vogelbaum swept under the rug in his pursuit of the Perfect Hero.

that little smile we see at the end of the clip? that's all Homelander.

Homelander fundamentally does not care about people, but has a deep-seated desire for their approval, and does grow strong attachments on an individual level. this is the "split" that exists in him. this is the 16 year old that left the lab.

he was always going to latch onto someone and have little regard for anyone who wasn't them. no matter how well-meaning and kind that person was, Homelander would have been an extremely difficult (and frightening!) child to manage.

you think he's immature and temperamental now? try him from the ages of 16-25. yikes!

he may not have hurt anyone on purpose initially in that rescue gone wrong, but he had absolutely no problem covering his bases once shit went sideways. he was only afraid of retribution from Vought/His Favored People. he wasn't upset that he hurt people. he was upset he might not get away with it.

it would make for a really interesting fic to explore what would have happened if the hero "Homelander" had been scrapped entirely for whatever reason. if he'd been if he had fallen into the hands of someone who actually meant well, who would parent him.

someone who would love enough about him to teach him the fundamentals of caring about other people not just on an individual level, but on a conceptual one. whether or not he still could.

ultimately, Homelander isn't a real person. it's entirely up to the author whether or not he could or could not be "redeemed." he'll always carry the trauma of what was done to him, but at the very least, maybe he could come to understand some degree of empathy or compassion outside of himself.

either way i'd read the hell out of it!

[fountainpenguin]

Do you have any Hazel fics in the works?

I do, but none I expect to post for a quite a while.

I'm doing the Dimmadome story set-up first since Dale is the main bridge between Cloudlands and City Lights AUs (He and Hadley are the only characters who are the same in both AUs; everyone else, including Cosmo and Wanda, have completely different story directions - Poof and Peri are especially different due to aging differently - so Dale is really the only canon character who makes that easy bridge leap for me).

I guess Doug technically does too, but he's such a minor character that he hardly counts

I talked more about this in the City Lights AU Guide, but I'm doing the Dimmadome arc in the "50 Words" style all the way from Dale's childhood to Dev's young adult years. This builds the skeleton of the AU so we know where we came from and where we're going... very useful for my character profiles that would otherwise have spoilers; Dev's for example won't be posted until the end of this.

Then we'll circle back to fluffier things, including a multichapter called An Old Wish (Dev and Peri and their attempts to win Dale's love with magic), plus separate stories for the Wells family, Hazel, and her friends.

I do also have space in the 130 Prompts for her (specifically, after the next two prompts on our list), and I've loosely planned to include her there, but no promises. [Non-Cloudlands AU, obviously]

I'm doing it this way so I can outline Dimmadelphia founder history (via Dimmadome family) so I know my setting well, and I'd like to know if we're getting a Season 2 before I do much with Hazel. Due to the existence of my OC Hadley and my pre-established plan to have her marry Dale, the Dimmadome content was going to be AU from A New Wish no matter what.

With the Wells family, I might hold out until we know more about Hazel's extended family (Ex: cousins and grandparents) before I do things like make the Wells family tree. If we don't get a Season 2, I have free reign with those things, and if we do get a Season 2, then I can consider what pace I want to go.

- I don't mind populating her family with my own OCs, but I don't write many standalone one-offs; I prefer multiple works that build on each other in a single consistent canon. I want to be thoughtful about what I "lock myself into" writing for the next however many years of my life.

So, that's where I'm at. I'd like to do a pre-Dimmadelphia story for Hazel about her life before she moved... which is a topic I think Season 2 might explore.

We know she came from "the suburbs," but if they reveal she had a best friend she left behind, I'd rather write the canon character than make up one. Canon character tags will help more people find the story, and I might genuinely like the characters from her past (if any), so I don't want to spend my time and energy there while canon's ongoing.

I do have a Wells family draft I worked on during October. It's Angela-centric, focusing on her and Marcus during Hazel's early years. That said, it's a little too personal to me and I don't feel comfortable posting it to the public. Honestly, I may not ever share this one, and that's fine- I write for me.

I have several Hazel AU thoughts that I don't want to share yet because the outlines are rough (and might be scrapped), and I don't want to build false hype. I'm more likely to post these Hazel AU ideas - i.e. things that go in the Off the Rails series (for misc. AUs) - than I am to post Hazel-centric works in City Lights AU right now.

On the topic of Hazel, I did have someone ask a while ago why I used Dev and his parents as the cover image for City Lights AU and not Hazel. I did that because:

- I'd already drawn Hazel as the cover image character for the Off the Rails series, so I wanted to draw someone different (Same reason I used Cavatina and Anti-Wanda in the 130 Prompts cover instead of H.P. and Anti-Cosmo to represent Pixie and Anti-Fairy stories, because H.P. and A.C. are the cover characters for Origin and Knots). - I wanted three character pictures for the image so I could use red, yellow, and green blob backgrounds to mimic traffic lights (to fit the city theme). - There will be many Dimmadome works early, with Hazel works posted later. Dev and his parents felt more applicable than Hazel on that particular image. - My OC Hadley marries Dale, and this is something unique to my AU. City Lights doesn't have a special world-bending characteristic, so having an OC on the image may help people identify this AU better than Hazel alone.

I've not been asked this, but it's something I want to clarify in case anyone's been thinking it: the reason why Hazel isn't on Cosmo and Wanda's relationship chart on their sideblog profiles.

- The sideblog is for Cloudlands AU content, although a profile may mention how a character changes in a certain AU. A New Wish is a spin-off show, so it's not part of Cloudlands canon. - Hazel is a City Lights AU character. Cloud!Cosmo and Cloud!Wanda don't have a relationship with her. They're godparents to Tommy and Tammy during that time (in line with the "Channel Chasers" ending). -> I drew an image of my AUs HERE to give a visual for how City Lights branches off from Cloudlands (and where other AUs exist in relation to it). - I imagine Hazel does exist in Cloudlands AU, but she'll never be mentioned because she's a spin-off character. A New Wish is not canon with Cloudlands AU. -> She's there in the same way Viv and Roy are there: Technically they exist because I included them on the Turner family tree, and they might appear in a family reunion story, but "Fairly Odder" isn't canon in Cloudlands AU. -> In my timeline, Antony is born shortly after time is unfrozen. I opted for Angela and Marcus to be in a long-term honeymoon phase with no non-aging babies to care for. -> Hazel is born around the time Tammy and Tommy are, but I don't plan to include her because we don't know where she was born. If we find out she was born in Dimmsdale, then she'll possibly appear in Cloudlands AU, but only in her early years. Cloud!Cosmo and Wanda don't move to Dimmadelphia.

tl;dr - I do have Hazel thoughts in my head, but I don't expect to post them soon.

Thus far, she's appeared in my posted work "50 Words of Dev and Hazel." I'd like to do more relationship studies (Namely "50 Words of Hazel and Antony" & "50 Words of Wells" for their family, plus "50 Words of Hazel, Jasmine, and Winn" or individual stories for their duos), but I'm waiting for Season 2 news so I can decide if I want to use its canon.

-> Season 2 might also bring us more info on Wells and Jasmine's families, so I can write sleepover stories and house visits using canon family members instead of creating OCs. I don't mind creating OCs, but I'd be sad if I loved the canon characters and had already written Tran & Harper family stories that exclude them (or if they have single parent, stepfamilies, or adoption plotlines I want to explore).

-> It was an easy decision not to keep the Dimmadomes close to canon because I had a pre-existing OC married to Dale, and the OC is obviously not going to appear in canon. Thus, I didn't mind not waiting for Season 2 news to plan their family relationships. My Dimmadome works are helping me shape Dimmadelphia and its history before I add Hazel and her friends' families, but I do plan circle back to Hazel and the Wells family when I'm ready.

- Obligatory reminder that Cloudlands AU is my primary AU and is much higher priority than my City Lights works.

I do have some Hazel ideas that excite me, but I can only write so many things at once, so we'll get there when we get there. Some Hazel things might be posted in Off the Rails before I do stuff with her in City Lights.

[roseofblogging]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard liveblog

Hello! I often post Splatoon stuff here or reblog Tales RPG stuff, but I'm currently sucked into Dragon Age: The Veilguard and want to dump my thoughts on my game somewhere that I can look back on later.

If you want to avoid these either because of spoilers or because you just do not want to see it, I'll be using the tags: rose plays veilguard and dragon age: the veilguard spoilers, and you can blacklist those.

With that said, here we go!

The background for my Rook: She's a mage originally from a Dalish clan that greatly worships Elgar'nan, the father of the elven pantheon, god of vengeance, justice, retribution, and the sun. She grew up eagerly taking the vallislin and vowed to help the helpless, invoking Elgar'nan's name when doing so. (All the while, I, giggle at the sheer irony of how she'd hate the Evanuris--whom she currently worships--for them having been slavers.)

After she moved away to see more of the world, she found herself loving both the glitz and the grime of Minrathous in the Tevinter Empirium: the street markets were nothing like she'd ever encountered at home, and she became enamored.

Then she learned about the much darker side of Tevinter, and the fact that slavery was still legal there infuriated her. That's when she joined the Shadow Dragons and eventually made a name for herself freeing a bunch of slaves, going against the Shadow Dragons' plan to go slower and avoid attention. She doesn't regret freeing people, but she recognizes her actions had consequences for the Shadow Dragons and probably endangered a lot of people after she was forced to flee the city.

She's looked up to Varric ever since he found her and asked her to help them track down Solas. She's not fond of essentially being the leader in his place now, and she goes to him for advice a lot. He always manages to cheer her up no matter how much she beats herself up.

We're still early in the game's story, and while Solas didn't outright say at the start that the elven gods enslaved people, she got the sense the stories she'd grown up learning weren't entirely true. Now that she's lived through a couple of Solas's memories of fighting back against Elgar'nan, she has very mixed feelings about her prior hero-worship of the Evanuris father (she still does not know the truth about vallislin's origins). Time will tell how she'll feel eventually having to face Elgar'nan himself, now that he's escaped Solas's imprisonment.

She finds Solas pretty irritating and full of himself, but her conversations with him in the Fade have made her see him for more of who he is: a very old man who wanted to save people but is ultimately fallible and prone to mistakes like anyone, including severe lapses in judgment and an inability to listen to people he views as far younger, far more inexperienced, and deluded by a millennium of lies passed down as culture. For which he's right! That irritates her even more.

Where we're at now: Varric is injured and out of battle for what seems to be a long time. Harding has become a sweet friend, and Rook is looking forward to learning more about this strange stone magic she acquired from Solas's ancient dagger.

Neve, oh my gosh *swoon* aaaa. Kinda crushing hardcore. Excited about working with another person from the Shadow Dragons, especially someone with such fantastic inductive reasoning skills. We're aligned on some major core values. Both fiercely love Minrathous.

Bellara is incredibly sweet! Crushing--not sure if romantic or platonic, but definitely wanna learn more about her. The way she rambles is adorable. She's a fantastic tinkerer, brilliant, and full of life with a sense of adventure. Her enthusiasm is infectious!

Lucanis...yet another *swoon* He's only just joined, so Rook doesn't know much about him yet, and having a contract killer with a demon living in his head is concerning, but she's trying not to be judgmental about it. After her first one-on-one with him, she's feeling like he has a really good handle on that situation, though she feels awful for him and how he's constantly sleep-deprived because of that situation. She plans to sit down with him for coffee on the regular. (My own thoughts from being able to see the interactions with Spite: OH MY GOSH LOL he's hot) Plus, he takes his work seriously, and it's not like he wants ancient elves unleashing the worst Blight upon the world, worse than any of us can imagine. So, she can work with him, and she's got a good vibe about him at the moment. It's not like she hasn't killed people before.

[importantdestinydefendor]

Azar was appointed the highest military rank in Maar (I know you gave it a name but you were considering changing some names so does that include the title?) at a very young age, 22 if I recall, though you said you might change that. Nonetheless, she was very young when she got the rank. You said it was a matter of survival for her. I assume it has something to do with her half-Maaren half-Parsian lineage, as she'd be half foreign in Maar. Did something happen to facilitate her scrambling to rise through the ranks? Was she discriminated against? Were her relatives (evil aunt?) involved in that? Oh and how old is she actually, by Pars era 320? 22?

(It's a lot of questions, I know, and I know you usually don't like spoiling stuff but it's been weighing on my mind since I saw you mention “it was a matter of survival for her” and I just have to give it a try.)

Finally getting around to this.

I'm so happy that I'm not the only one who has Azar brain rot and that you all love her as much as I do!

So, small correction. Azar is 100% Parsian.

She does have family in Maar but only through second degree. The sister of her father married a Maaren farmer and built a family there (a pretty big one... I should maybe make a separate post for that). And it is at their, like, inn/tavern/farm in the village Rus where she grew up after being brought to Maar by said sister and, to some extent, Vahriz when she was one year old.

Now to the question that sparked your ask, probably.

Her "evil" aunt was part of the reason. Vahriz knew her when they all were young (or rather when he was young and they (also meaning Daryuns dad and Azar's mom) even younger) Their families were friends since their fathers were old friends.

So, a little spoiler for the AU, Azar's "evil" aunt (she does have a name, will do a post/poll about that later maybe with a few options)  was the one who killed Azar's mom. That's why Azar lives in Maar right now as her dads sister and Vahriz thought that she was safer there than in Pars. But that was proven false when the "evil" aunt ambushed Rus and gave Azar her first scar on her back (she tried to protect a few children in a church during the raid) when Azar was very young. After that the aunt attacked one more time and scared Azar's uncle (the farmer).

So  Vahriz brought her to the capital of Maar, Visgard, to receive proper training and that's when Azar became a squire. Vahriz felt guilty that he failed to protect her so he was very strict with Azar's training. He was so strict in fact that he exhausted her and brought her to her absolute limits. Others thought that Vahriz was maybe even too extreme. It was a very rough and hard time for Azar but for Vahriz, it seemed necessary. So she can protect herself with utmost certainty because he knows he won't always be there and he does still have a nephew he also has to look after. He basically drilled her and that's why she rose through the ranks so fast.

In the end it was Vahriz paranoia and guilt that drove her up the ranks so fast. A lot of people lost their lives the day Azar's mom died and Vahriz swore to protect and take care of Azar. But he failed in his eyes - twice. So he taught her everything he knew, drilled it into her, so she had a chance of survival when she came face to face with her aunt.

And due that and her vast skill set she proved herself to be a capable knight and leader. So she got appointed Almennt (I won't change the name for this one as in georgian it would be called generali and that does not sound serious at all (I do not say that as to mock the language, mind you. It just doesn't fit Azar at all)). I will probably change her age at the time to 23. Seems more fitting

And since we are at the topic of age and you asked how old Azar is in Pars era 320 (for those who don't know - that is our current time in ArSen) - she is the same age as Narsus, 26. She would probably be a few months older than him. So it has been three-ish years since her appointment.

(I hope I have answered everything you wanted to know!)

If anybody has other questions that you want to be answered regarding Azar/Firelight AU or any other OC I had mentioned or shown - my inbox is always open! I will write if it is something I won't answer if I regard my answer too spoiler heavy.

Edit: forgot the discrimination part. I have not really thought about that yet but considering where Maar's citizens originally came from it would be highly hypocritical. But there were (and still are (this time out of jealousy)) probably some squires and knights who were discriminating against or at least hated her due to King Farzin showing interest in her and sometimes training her personally alongside Vahriz. She probably got more discrimination against her with being a woman in one of the highest ranks in Maar since all of her predecessors were men.

[doctorghoti]

Reincarnation: ADDO Remaster

My favorite game series ever just had a remaster, and because I’m utterly obsessed and have too many thoughts on things, I figured I might as well write a more formal post. I’ll put under a read more so I don’t clog your feed, but TL;DR: I love it but you should play the old one first.

Gameplay

Okay, let’s start with what everyone actually cares about. This version of ADDO uses the inventory system that most of the other games do, unlike the first game that relied on clicking things in the exact right order. Honestly, this is a much better approach. It allows for different interactions (observe, use, talk) and fits better with the other games and with the controls in TROAE (TROAE is still unreleased for anyone outside of the Kickstarter, but it uses the same wheel system), so it serves as a nice transition for whenever that game gets released. The different angles for some of the rooms serve as both an extra challenge, such as the mouse hole living room puzzle (sorry for spoilers for a game that came out in 2008 btw), and to make things a little clearer, such as the picture puzzle in the upstairs hallway and the bedroom/bathroom. There’s also a tutorial at the very beginning of the game, so there’s not as much guesswork as the first game. This also helps establish Luke’s relationship with the demons more clearly than him just talking at the player like in the old introduction. Though speaking of…

Lore

Okay, so, the remaster does address how people go to Hell, how they can escape via reincarnation, and how demons go after them, plus Vile does give lines to indicate that the death needs to look accidental. However, I think a key part is missing, mainly that they don’t explain the urgency. In the old game, Luke tells the player directly that if enough souls reincarnate and get to Heaven, God will shut down all of Hell. To me, that provides more incentive for why Luke works the demons so hard. “But doc,” you say, “that’s not necessary. He’s the devil, he can be a dick to his demons.” True, but as a player, that one piece of information adds stakes. And it’s also very important for the eventual TROAE release since that’s a major part of what sets off the events of the story. Is it world-ending that that wasn’t included? No. Honestly, this game is advertised for established fans, so they should be familiar with that premise already if they remember the story. But for those who need a refresher or those who are new…

Personal Recommendation

I say play the first ADDO, well, first. It’s from 2008, so it will show its age, but I think it’s important for both the history of the game and for some additional story context. If you play ADDO Remastered right afterwards, it’ll be a wonderful compare and contrast, and it will actually make the puzzles in the new one a little easier in some areas. You’ll also get some fun little inside jokes. Of course if you REALLY want to get into all the games and see them develop from point A to B without a sudden jump, all the games are complied into one playlist on the Newgrounds website. Again, some of them haven’t aged well (looking at you ITNOE), but it’ll help you get more of a love for Vile and see how Hell works. If anyone wants a more narrowed down list, let me know, but I still say it’s best to experience all of them.

If you’ve made it this far, cool. Here’s some out of context fun points to try:

-Talk to the Newton’s cradle as your tutorial interaction. Luke has the same response no matter what, but this version of the interaction is the funniest to me

-Investigate the rug and button in the tutorial area with observe and use

-Talk to all the animals. All of them

That ends my ramblings for now, but I’m sure I’ll think of at least twenty other things to say after I post this.

[secretsofthecastle]

Starting with the basics, characters patronus and wand headcanons and why?

my goodness this has taken me a while!!! i'm not going to post the character patronuses, just because those are spoilers for later when they learn that spell, but the wands have been extremely fun to decide!!! and guys, please do send things into my inbox whenever you want, because this is FUN!!!! this is very long. but please read it!!!!

Beca – fir wood, thunderbird tail feather core, 10.5 inches – it is said that fir wands are well-suited to Transfiguration, and also “favour owners of focused, strong-minded and, occasionally, intimidating demeanour.”. Beca likes to think that her wand chose her due to her intimidating nature, the way she can command a situation, the way she can provoke and defeat an enemy. Stacie frequently reminds her that her wand’s sole desire was to be used for Transfiguration, and that it only settled for someone so not intimidating as Beca due to its thunderbird tail feather core also being useful for Transfiguration and being powerful in and of itself. Whilst Beca agrees to disagree with her friend, she can’t deny how pleased she feels to know that her transfiguration skills ere truly pre-destined. Beca’s wand is 10.5 inches long, on the shorter side of average, but average nonetheless. This is probably due to her introverted personality!

Chloe – chestnut wood, dittany stalk core, 13 inches – chestnut wood is described as “most curious, multi-faceted” allowing the wand to vary in character and taking colour and talent from the personality of its owner. In short, Chloe’s wand moulds perfectly towards her interests, which is wholly ideal for a girl who doesn’t really know what she wants academically or magically but knows that she does indeed love magic and being magical. This wand wood is also well suited to those who are natural fliers and possess great gifts in Herbology. Her wand’s core is made from dittany stalk – whilst this is seen as inferior and old-fashioned, dittany also possess unique healing abilities! This speaks to Chloe’s innate desire to always see the good in people and help out where she can. Her wand aids her in her desires but becomes temperamental when used for magic or subjects that Chloe does not enjoy. Her wand is particularly long, which Ollivander assumes is down to her large, bubbly personality and big presence in any room. (When stepping into his wand shop at aged 11, Chloe greeted him in excitement, talking his ear off about how excited she was to choose a wand and complimenting the dusty, dark shop immensely).

Benji – ash wood, unicorn hair core, 8.5 inches – Ash wood wands are extremely loyal to their original owners, worse so when cored with unicorn hair. Those with ash wands are typically “kind and generous with a gift for seeing what is beautiful in the world and in others”. It makes perfect sense for this wand to have chosen Benji, who truly has no bad things to say about anybody. He fears those who are unkind, and his wand matches his personality in this way. It is said that the magical tools made from Ash are productive due to the Ash tree attracting energy. This wand aids him immensely during Herbology! However, this wand has a unicorn hair core – this is perfect for Benji, as his wand will never become unloyal to him no matter how little he uses it, but unfortunately, these cores do not make for powerful wands. This makes it more difficult for Benji to execute basic spells and may be the reason why he occasionally falls behind in his wand-based classes. Benji’s wand is only 8.5 inches long. Short wands tend to choose wizards whose character lacked something – for Benji, he lacks courage. This does not mean that courage cannot be learnt and developed over his time at Hogwarts!

Jesse – dogwood, veela hair core, 12 inches – It is said that matching a dogwood wand with its owner is always entertaining, due to the fact that Dogwood wands are “quirky and mischievous” possessing “playful natures” and insisting upon “partners who can provide them with scope for excitement and fun”. Jesse’s favourite thing to do at Hogwarts is goof around and be silly. He tries to focus on his work when prompted by his smartest and most driven friends, or by his family, but he loves to have fun and loves to use his magic for entertainment, be that to create flying paper birds, or to procure flowers. When Jesse walked into Ollivander’s to purchase this wand, as soon as he stepped through the threshold, his wand began to rattle in its box. This may also be due to its veela hair core, which Ollivander states makes for ‘temperamental’ wands. I believe this core also aids Jesse in spells with romantic intent. This makes magic done with this wand charming!

Aubrey – elm wood, white river monster spine core, 12.5 inches – elm wood is known to produce the fewest accidents, least foolish errors, and the most elegant and sophisticated charms and spells. Of course, Aubrey would settle for nothing less. In fact, she strode right into Ollivander’s and requested an elm wand without so much of a greeting first. When told that the wand chooses the witch, Aubrey snapped back that she knew, and she also knew that only an elm wood wand would be choosing her. How she had predicted her wand Ollivander would never know, though he had a sneaking suspicion that it was something to do with being a Posen, like the minister of magic. Ollivander showed her several elmwood wands - none of which matched her perfectly - until coming across the white river monster spine core. This was a curious wand, as Ollivander knew it to be amongst the most powerful and most elegant in the shop. It fit Aubrey perfectly.

Cynthia Rose – spruce wood, phoenix feather, 11.5 inches - the spruce wand is said to be ill-matched with cautious or nervous owners. This came as no surprise to Cynthia Rose, whose friends thought her to be the bravest, coolest, most confident individual they had ever met. Not a sheep and never a conformist, Cynthia Rose’s wand reflected her personality perfectly, requiring a firm hand and a temperament to perform magic whatever way it wanted to. In fact, Ollivander had tried this wand on many young witches and wizards over the years, but to no avail – every one did nothing but cause intense havoc in his shop. This was no doubt due to the phoenix feather core, being as powerful as it is and having as much initiative as it does. Without fail, glass would be broken, shelves completely dismantled, desks and tables of the strongest wood shattered. It was not until Cynthia Rose entered the shop, with excitement and grace and certainty of her ability to be chosen, did the wand behave.

Stacie – walnut wood, white river monster spine core, 14 inches -  It is said that only the most intelligent witches and wizards were to be matched with a wand of walnut wood. It was all but impossible not to perform magic – both good and bad – with a wand like this, a wand which trusted its owners capabilities no matter what, with little regard to morality. This wand was one which answered to those who understood exactly the way in which their magic was to be used, those who were interested in perfecting magic rather than simply doing it. When paired with the core of the white river monster spine, this wand is sure to produce the most elegant and powerful magic for an elegant and powerful witch. Its abnormally tall height is Stacie’s proof to her friends that she will certainly always be the tallest in their group, and that she may go into modelling after completing her studies to become a witch at Hogwarts.

Luke – hornbeam wood, jackalope antler core, 13 inches – the hornbeam wand adores a wizard with a passion, an obsession, if you will. Luke has been following Quidditch as avidly as any lifelong fan since the age of four. He lives and breathes and thinks Quidditch. It is extremely difficult to find Luke walking around Hogwarts in anything but some variants of his quidditch uniform, even if he simply has his quidditch jumper on underneath his robes and over his shirt and tie. Music is interesting too, but he prefers not to delve into the Hogwarts music scene, with its frog choirs and its awful school song. Luke’s style of magic is what drew his wand to him, as his spells are always deeply intentional. Even if that intention is simply to escape a lesson as soon as possible or take so long that the time moves faster. The jackalope antler core helps here. It is a misconception that this wand core’s properties are unknown – in fact, they are aligned with help. Help to the owner who desires something more strongly than anyone. This wand has gotten Luke in trouble with Madam Hooch a few times too many, being sentient enough to go off at inopportune times in flying lessons, or worse during a match.

[d-1hater]

My own personal Miguel O'Hara character analysis

I'm trying to get better at identifying and building characters though analyzing complex characters and audience reactions, this is all my personal opinion on easily one of the most complex characters presented in the movie. You don't have to agree with me or like him. I'm not defending Miguel, I'm trying to understand him before I decide if I like him or not.

Obviously an insane amount of Across the Spiderverse Spoilers

Role in Miles' story: Antagonist, not villain

Explanation: An antagonist can be any character that opposes another's goal, this can be any type of character hero, anti-hero, villain or otherwise.

Miles's goal is very simply put to save his family and stop Spot. By the end of the film his main goal is to save his father's life.

This is the goal that Miguel directly opposes as his main goal is to maintain canon and keep the multiverse together. Which from what he knows cannot be achieved if Miles saves his father.

Miguel is a very good distraction from the villain: Spot, who is the one that will ultimately try to kill Miles' father Jeff, making him the main threat to Miles' goal. Which is exactly the kind of thing that makes Spot powerful and leads to Miguel's complex characterization. Spot is powerful because no one not even the audience or Miles takes him seriously, Miguel is the exact opposite he's incredibly strong and powerful as well as intimidating and it's a safe wager that he is the one that Miles sees as the biggest threat like I've seen is a general consensus and reaction from the audience.

Miguel may be an antagonist but he is the distraction from the villain, rather than being one.

Type of character: Anti-hero

Explanation: An anti-hero is someone with an ultimately good goal in mind that achieves it in morally bad or extreme ways. Anti-heroes also generally serve as an antagonist to the hero at some point or another, they can either stay that way or eventually become an ally.

Miguel ultimately just wants to protect the multiverse, his means of achieving this is to maintain canon by any means necessary. Whether that means being, for lack of a better term, a total dick or being immensely aggressive and extreme. It's what he must do to achieve his goal and he is willing to go all the way despite the costs.

Very typically heroes try to save every life possible, anti-heroes are the ones that are okay with breaking a few eggs to make the omelet.

Miguel is willing to sacrifice Miles' father and any other person that must die in canon to save the multiverse. He expects that Miles will make that sacrifice as well, even without him fully explaining everything to Miles himself. When Miles is very obviously not willing to sacrifice his father then Miguel chases him down, which does come across as very extreme and albeit childish when you consider Miles' age. That's what anti-heroes are: extreme. Miguel doesn't care how old Miles is he is going to take those extreme measures to protect the multiverse, in his eyes Miles has been told all he should need to know and is willingly going to then put billions of lives in jeopardy to save his father. Miles is Spider-Man, to Miguel that's all that really matters rather than considering his age and how young Miles is. Which is extreme and less than moral and that's exactly what anti-heroes are.

Audience Perception:

It's very easy to not like Miguel, because from Into the Spiderverse we all grew to love Miles Morales, we all saw how guilty he felt when his Peter Parker died and how distraught he was over Uncle Aaron. For Miguel to disregard all of this and tell Miles he's a mistake and further cement that guilt into him, obviously makes him dislike-able to downright hate-able. Hate-able characters, however are not automatically villains. It's no excuse, but if you think about Miguel's story that we know, then from that he wholeheartedly believes that that's the truth.

Explanation:

Of what Miguel knows there can only be one Spider-Man, only one person is supposed to be bitten in each universe. Miles was the second person to be bitten in his universe and when he was bitten, it was by a spider from a different dimension, thus stopping another universe from gaining their Spider person. All of this is outside of Miles' control, but it ultimately puts him in a sore spot with Miguel before they even meet and their later disagreements only adds to Miguel being far from a like-able character, most especially considering Miles' age and focusing on that which seems to be a very common reception.

Understanding Miguel's Perspective:

Ultimately Miguel is a character built by his trauma and experiences, like many heroes are, but Miguel's not only built by his trauma he's consumed by his guilt. He's one of those characters you really have to think about considering not only his actions towards the hero (Miles), but also his backstory to even gain a surface level of understanding of him and his motives. Miguel's backstory is beyond just tragic, he very obviously has extreme PTSD and survivor's guilt which guides his every move. I've seen a lot of people say he's projecting onto Miles and he is. Miguel has been where Miles is and he sees Miles doing what he did (choosing to go against canon and mess with the flow of the multiverse) and he knows that Miles is gonna get burned because the universe is fucking cruel. He tries to stop him not out of compassion but from his survivor's guilt, which he's projecting onto Miles. He knows that the choice he made to live in that dimension and replace the deceased version of himself was selfish and that it got most likely billions of people including the ones he loved killed, that a fucking lot of trauma and guilt for anyone regardless of how old they are, and it's killing Miguel. In his mind the only thing that he should do, if he's still to live after everything he's done (he has survivor's guilt and most likely considered or tried to kill himself) is to protect the multiverse and stop his history from repeating in any manner as a means to make up for what he's done, which he never feels like he can do thus adding to his trauma and compulsions to project his guilt and act through his trauma.

He told Miles what he did and what happened and Miles is still choosing to try to save his father and go against canon, which is something Miguel considers beyond incredibly selfish. He doesn't care that Miles is a child, because despite how little he likes it Miles is Spider-Man and he's supposed to act like it. Miles came in saying that he was capable and should be entrusted with the multiverse and despite it being a cruel start from Miguel, when Miles was first trusted to protect the multiverse and uphold canon he chose his father, which from what Miguel knows to be true and has seen firsthand will destroy Miles' universe, that's a choice that Miguel sees as unforgivable and something he must stop.

He sees letting Jeff die, like a police captain should in the Spider-Man canon as something he must do to protect the greatest number of people, because if he's right (which he believes he is) Miles saving his father will do nothing. Miles' dad will die anyway along with the rest of that dimension, which will amount to close to eight billion people, all because Miles tried to save one person that would end up dying anyway. Ultimately his goal is good, he wants to help people and save lives. His means such as sacrificing Jeff, trying to trap Miles, in general enforcing canon are less than good. That's why he's not the hero of the story, Miles is. He even knows and considers himself an anti-hero, he's well aware he does bad things and he hates it, and himself for that matter, but he has to do it to save lives and protect the entire multiverse.

Summary:

Miguel is an anti-hero that in Across the Spiderverse serves as an antagonist to Miles Morales. All of his actions are derived from his own personal experience and his immense guilt from a mistake he made that destroyed a universe. He's not there for the audience to like, he's an antagonist to a character that everyone already loved in Into the Spiderverse, he was never supposed to be liked. Instead he adds to the dynamic of the Spot, he's a distraction that pulls you away from Spot. He throws the worst things he could at Miles and then attacks him, he's meant to seem like the villain the audience was supposed to hate him. That's what makes the Spot dangerous, he seems weak and less of a villain than someone intimidating like Miguel, so the audience forgets about and writes off Spot. That's his whole character and origin story Spot is forgettable and seems weak, that's how he thrives. Spot is the villain because he's the one that will kill Jeff to hurt Miles. Miguel is an antagonist only, rather than the villain, because while he wants Miles to fail it's not out of malicious intent against Miles. It's what he knows and believes to be what will save lives.

Miguel is a very genuinely tragic character. He's incredibly traumatized and self-loathing. However, he ultimately acts with good intentions, but with bad means. He's the epitome of an anti-hero. We as an audience are not supposed to like him, I myself walked out of that theater HATING Miguel for what he said and did to Miles. To understand him you have to think a lot about where he's coming from, he's extraordinarily complex which adds worlds of possibility for growth in the next movie.

[annabthesolitarywriter]

For the fanfic ask game (second attempt)

🌝

🧠

🌈 (for Lady of Ithilien)

🌝 Who is one character you haven't yet written for that you would like to?

Since the question does not differentiate between OCs and canon characters, I'm going to go with the latest OCs I've created aka Finduilas of Lamedon (daughter of Angbor the Fearless and Faramir's second wife) and their daughter Faelivrin also known as "my sweet angel Fae".

I'm trying to include Finduilas in the one-shots for Tolkien OC week but as of now I've written nothing about her. I do, however, have some ideas.

She was born in TA 3007-3008 (she's several years younger than Faramir. I'm not good at math, but since Faramir was born in TA 2983, I suppose she's 24-25 years his junior) and she's the youngest of five sisters that are all settled down with children. Her father is desperate because she's been consistently refusing every marriage proposal she's received since he was a teenager—she really didn't want to marry, I guess—and now she's considered way too old to be a bride of interest by the vast majority of people. Because of something that happens in chapter 4 (no spoilers), Aragorn sets them up and has them married (it's actually Enna's idea but I will say nothing more about that). It's an arranged marriage and I think it will be interesting to explore that dynamic, especially when Finduilas comes to realize that Faramir is infatuated with a certain Haradrim noblewoman who also happens to be the mother of his son's best buddy. (I also cannot wait to write about those two babies. Baby Elboron and Baby Selim are literally the cutest).

Another character I am looking forward to writing about (someone who is not a Maiarin character or included in Enna and Eönwë's family) is definitely Faelivrin. Fae is just...Enna's mini-me without Enna's mental problems. If you were looking for an unproblematic Enna...that's Fae for you. She will go through her fair share of troubles but it's mostly because:

-she adores her older sis and is constantly worried about her, especially when Enna starts getting pregnant every couple of months.

-She falls in love with either someone from Rohan or Harad (though I'm leaning more toward Harad) and has to have Enna's approval to marry.

Nevertheless, she adores both her siblings and Selim (he's technically not a brother but he's always been around so he's basically family anyway. I think Enna's growing affection toward Selim will be the key that eventually makes her approve of the marriage—Eönwë could technically step in and solve the matter but he chooses to stay out of it since it's a matter between sisters)

Faceclaim for Finduilas: Laura Berlin as Emma of Normandy (Vikings: Valhalla)

Faceclaim for Fae: Isla Merrick-Lawless (The Spanish Princess)

I'll include them in the character profile spreadsheets soon! I'm still looking for someone as adult Fae but I am mainly torn between Esmahan Sultan (Magnificent Century)

And another Esmahan Sultan (Magnificent Century)

The second Esmahan is probably more fitting. Too bad she only appears in the very last MC episode and there are no gifs of her.

🧠 What's an idea you have that you can't quite call a WIP yet?

Oh, that's basically the whole plot of Estel i Hína, the planned sequel to LOI, and it's also the plot of Nyerénya... Namárië!, which is the First Age fic I've been thinking about and the main reason why I've decided to include some Fëanorians in LOI. I have a general idea as far as Estel i Hína goes (it will be about Elenwë's remaining children—yes, I'll probably end up killing a few of them off. Mairon certainly won't spare them just because they're cute—and their children aka Elenwë's grandkids). I have only two planned at the moment: Elanna and Fionwë, Mírion's children. I don't know whether they'll return to Middle-earth. The story might be fully set in Valinor. Who knows.

As far as the First Age fic...I only know Enna is Hiril's daughter (Beren's sister that was later scrapped. She's thus related to Lúthien, Thingol and all of those people. I think Morgoth will have her captured, but I have no idea what I'll come up with. I think Eönwë will show up at the very end and I'm digging the idea of her being in love with a Fëanorian, but I really cannot tell you much about it as I don't really know what the fic will be about specifically. This will be it, I suppose. Enna existing in Beleriand and suffering at the hands of Morgoth. Seems pretty straightforward to me. 😂

🌈 What inspired you to write [The Lady of Ithilien]?

I actually have to mainly credit you @lucifers-legions & @saurongorthaur9.

Garo Estel (read it y'all) was one of the very first fics (if not the very first) that caught my attention on AO3. Before that, I didn't even know what AO3 was (I joined in March 2023). I don't exactly remember how I discovered the fic but I loved it right away and couldn't stop reading it.

The same applied and still applies to @saurongorthaur9's Gorthauro Estel, which is an absolutely amazing piece of writing. Check this one out too, people. Garo Estel and Gorthauro Estel. Trust me.

Both fics inspired me to write my own and then I had an idea for a one-shot as I was writing an original thing which is now on hiatus...the rest is history.😂

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SENDING IN THE ASK!

[hergan416]

Why do I love Moriarty the Patriot?

It's not just like...compelling story. Sure it has compelling story, but ultimately it is a Sherlock Holmes adaptation. Surely I would have gotten into I dunno, Elementary when my mom was super into it when I was a teen, or the old BBC show my ex's grandparents had on at their house all the time (that more or less followed ACD canon). Maybe even ACD's books...which I like but am languishing on reading even after getting into MTP). So why this one?

Admittedly, I am the kind of person who is much more interested in animated works than live action, so I'm a little biased towards the format of an anime (and then finding the manga for more context after I love it). That's definitely a me thing.

But why did I start to hyperfixate on it? How did it become my fandom?

Gonna have some heavy topics and spoilers now.

It's relating to every single character as human. It's the way the relationships are so real and easy to imagine. It's the main character...who basically tries to commit suicide around the same age that I tried to commit suicide, failing, then having to learn to live with himself.

It's about the struggle to relate to people, to communicate, even for brilliant people who are very close (Will and Al and Louis), even for brilliant people who want to be (Sherlock and Liam), even for people who at first glance don't all seem to be neurodivergent (Sherlock and Watson). It's about how no friendship or familial relationship, no matter how deep the ties go, is perfect. It's about found family and blood ties and being true to oneself.

It's about good and evil and what those terms even mean. It's about the inherent worth of humanity. Nobles not finding all people to be people. Louis lives because William has been acknowledging his worth and thinks Holmes can provide that for William. But in the end, Louis and William both find their own worth for themselves. Louis pushes forward and really starts to shine in his new role. He's so good at what he does. He's so comfortable. He's a leader, not a servant. He is the new head of the family.

William too, learns a lot from having to live with just himself to look after (and maybe Sherlock). But he's not enmeshed with Sherlock the way he was with his brothers. He's learning to live as his own person, to become himself. Not an actor on a stage, not someone he is expected to be, to be vulnerable, to not know the answers. Because when you are smart like that...you're supposed to know all the answers. Even now.

It's beautiful. The Final Problem isn't enough. The first part ends with a brief description of how things happen after a three year time skip. Its about healing. And not healing. And struggling to move forward anyway.

How could I NOT love it?

[ashleysalcove]

Title: The Outsiders

Author: S.E. Hinton

Publication: April 24, 1967

Synopsis:

No one ever said life was easy. But Ponyboy is pretty sure that he's got things figured out. He knows that he can count on his brothers, Darry and Sodapop. And he knows that he can count on his friends—true friends who would do anything for him, like Johnny and Two-Bit. But not on much else besides trouble with the Socs, a vicious gang of rich kids whose idea of a good time is beating up on “greasers” like Ponyboy. At least he knows what to expect—until the night someone takes things too far.

First Line:

When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.

Favorite Character: Dallas Winston

OTP: Dallas and Cherry ☺️💕✨💖

Favorite Quote: “I could fall in love with Dallas Winston,” she said. “I hope I never see him again, or I will.”

Rating: ★★★★★

My Thoughts:

*SPOILERS*

Life is funny isn’t it? Funny in the way the things we like sometimes change as we age and mature. I think Taylor Swift is the only musician from my early teens that I still love, probably even more now than I did back then, at twenty-eight. I can’t tell you a single book I’d read back then that I would still enjoy today that isn’t for nostalgic reasons.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is a book that I was supposed to read at fifteen years old for my advanced English class, but at the time I had so much going on at home that I wasn’t interested in anything and by my last class, which was Science, I was fighting to keep my eyes open. Years later I bought it again to read on my old iPad, but I only got through 1 and a half chapters. I wasn’t paying attention to what I read and I guess I just wasn’t interested in those types of stories at that time. I loved the Twilight Saga and Fallen and etc.

Today, at twenty-eight, I was able to read and finish it thanks to my kindle. I think that’s one of the drawbacks of being a ‘mood reader’ and one of many reasons I love my kindle. Being able to read the books I’m in the mood for the second I’m in the mood for them has helped me become a more voracious reader. Before, I’d always be in the mood to read something else by the time the book I ordered arrived.

I am of the belief that everything happens the way it’s supposed to. Everything happens for a reason. I don’t think that the meaning and the themes of The Outsiders would have resonated with me at fourteen or even twenty-two for that matter the way they have today. There’s something about being in your late twenties and reading a book like The Outsiders and thinking back on your childhood and the people you’ve interacted with or grown up around that makes this book more meaningful. Of course, those who read it back in high school and reread it today as adults might have differing opinions.

S.E. Hinton’s writing is so simple and beautiful and lyrical even which is surprising since she wrote The Outsiders in High School. That is amazing and quite an impressive accomplishment for a teenager to have especially since it’s considered an important piece of literature today. How many 16 or 17 year olds can say that they wrote a book that would be read over and over for years and in some cases even banned for, in my opinion, showing the hard truth of realities? Probably not many.

I love the characters so much. I love Dallas Winston. I can fix him (no really I can). I think Johnny Cade had a better understanding of the insides of people than Ponyboy does. Maybe it’s because Johnny had a more difficult home life than Ponyboy or maybe it’s because Johnny has seen a lot more than he has. I don’t know, but what I do know is that Johnny Cade deserved better than the ending he gets.

I love the foreshadowing S.E. Hinton does throughout the book. I think it’s very impressive she was able to do so on her first book and at such a young age too. I feel like there were times she could’ve gone into a little more detail like the fatal fight between Ponyboy and Johnny and the socs in the park. I feel like there could’ve been more emotion than there already was.

I think S.E. Hinton is incredibly skilled at dialogue. The dialogue and relationships between the characters just flow so beautifully throughout the book. My favorite scene is when Two-Bit, Johnny, and Ponyboy are walking Cherry and Marcia to Two-Bit’s so he could give them a ride home. I love the dialogue between Cherry and Johnny and I love how real it felt and how you could feel the pain Ponyboy feels when he shouts that it’s not fair that the greasers have all the rough breaks and how you could feel the figurative slap Johnny feels when Pony tells him that Johnny’s parents don’t care about him.

I love Ponyboy’s thinking that Darry hates him and I have to wonder if I would have thought that too had I read it when I was younger and if I had thought that how would I see things if I reread it as an adult? I guess I’ll never know. When Darry slaps Pony, as a reader, you can feel the hurt on both ends. As an adult I knew that Darry behaved the way he did and treated Pony the way he does partly because Darry loves him and is afraid to lose him but also because Darry wants Pony to be able to have the opportunities he had but was unable to explore.

I love the scene after everything goes down and the boys look for Dallas and find him at the one guy’s place, I forget his name, and the way Dallas came out to talk to them even though he was tired and sore from having his ribs cracked. I loved the way Dallas smiled when he realized Pony thought he had been with a girl. That way he smiled, I could see him so so clearly, and I think that’s when I started to love him. I love how Dally helped them out and the way he keeps his mouth shut and takes the blame for something Two-Bit did when he could have easily ratted him out. The hair on his chest. The way Dallas opens up to Johnny after Johnny says he and Pony are going to turn themselves in. The way he talks about Cherry and how she hates him and when I read that all I could think to myself was: if only you knew!

God, I fucking love Dallas Winston.

In the beginning of the book Pony only sees people on a surface level. He doesn’t see past their roughness and thinks of them in almost the way socs do. Pony grows up so much throughout the book. I love his relationship with his brothers and how soft all of the guys in their little gang are for each other. You can feel the love between all of them.

To Dallas those guys are the only family he has. They mean the world to him and it shows. I mean, how many people would you go to the door to see with freshly cracked ribs? How many people would you help run from the police to protect them from the hardness that jail can bring you?

Johnny didn’t deserve to die the way he does. Johnny Cade didn’t deserve to die at all. The final moment with Dallas and Johnny in the hospital is heartbreaking. The way Dally hoped that telling Johnny that the greasers beat the socs would make everything better. He thought for sure that if anything could have saved Johnny it would’ve been learning that. Reading it reminded me of Jennette McCurdy talking about how she naively thought that telling her mother she finally reached their goal weight would bring her back. And when telling Johnny that doesn’t work, Dallas tries again and harder this time because now it’s urgent. It was urgent before but now it really is because the thing Dallas thought for sure would save him wasn’t saving him. He tells Johnny that he’s still being called a hero and that he and the boys are proud of him.

Dallas has the biggest heart out of all of them and I think that’s why he prefers to be so hardened or to make people think he was. It was his way of protecting himself from more heartbreak but he’d let his guard down when it came to that lost little puppy that was Johnny Cade who idolized him and admired him so much. He didn’t even see it coming. I think the line that sums up Dally is one he speaks himself: “… you get tough like me and you don’t get hurt. You look out for yourself and nothin’ can touch you.”

I want to say that Dallas didn’t deserve to die the way he does, because he didn’t, but it’s hard because it was his choice. He wanted to die. He lost the one person he let himself love and I have to believe that it was also guilt that led him to dying the way he did. Guilt for being the one who told the boys about the church and how to get there.

God, I fucking love Dallas Winston.

[katapotato55]

Why I am not a fan of the interns from psychonauts 2 in terms of writing

spoilers for most of the game. please play this game it is very good. spoilers begin after the cut. Disclaimer 1: I love this game. If I hated it then I wouldn't be talking about it. I criticize the things i love because I believe in improvement from fair criticism. Disclaimer 2: If you are personally attached to said characters and feel as though you are being attacked by reading this, politely piss off. I don't know you personally, and if you think my opinion on fictional characters is some slight against a random stranger, then you need to touch grass instead of spamming my feed. With this in mind, this is my PERSONAL OPINION as to why i dislike these characters from a writer's standpoint

1- they are pricks. i have been told "hazing is just a normal rite of passage!" hazing is a dick move created as an excuse to prank newbies. I don't care how many fond memories you have of your frat house: hazing is something only assholes contribute to. and you know what else is a dick move? bullying a 10 year old kid for no reason. it is very normal for teenagers to group together with people that are the same as them, so i can believe this is a group of snobby little shits. If being bullies was the intended purpose of their characters I would be fine, but it conflicts with the story the writers want to tell. which brings me to my next point

2- We barely get any time for them to develop at the beginning of the game they are introduced as a group of little shits who bully kids for no reason. not great but i can forgive giving characters flaws so they progress. People like that do indeed exist. the problem: they don't seem to learn anything and they just randomly decide Raz is their friend during the casino mission. (and then later randomly shown up to save the day at the end even though they were missing most of the game) "don't forget how i taught you how to grind rail raz!" what???? you didn't teach us anything! you barely talk to us skateboard kid! Raz knew how to do that at the summer camp! and like, this scene is very cool. the artistic style and the characters popping up like comic book panels but none of that matters cus i have no reason to like any of these kids. "but Raz proved himself that he is capable during the lady luctopus fight so they respect him!" thank you for pointing that out obvious straw man I created to make up for my shitty argument skills. but the thing is: just because these kids were proven wrong does not equal character development. They didn't learn anything other than to not mess with Raz specifically. Which:

3- If you asked me their names, I can't tell you who is who other than sam (and we will get to her later) let me describe these characters to you -skateboard kid -kid who is in a really cool lawn chair hover thing -kid who got all of her clothing by stealing from construction workers and rodeo cowboys -the other bitchy one but with a beanie. - darius rucker with a yoyo -and sam. this shit is all i know from these characters. At best I know traffic stop clothing kid and the other one are sisters, but i literally only know that because Raz randomly pointed it out. (and personally, i think those two are the most unlikable of them all) "ah you probably hate them because they are teenagers" listen man. I am an original homestuck fan back when the main cast consisted of 13 year olds. The characters ages do not matter to me, but rather how interesting they are. in Psy 1 the campers were full of personality and depth, BUT they didn't shoehorn them in expecting them to suddenly be all buddy buddy with raz. They were designed as fun background characters, and they served their purpose. The interns problem is that they have the personality of very boring background characters, but they are not given enough time to develop as characters and are expected to be treated like a main characters. We spend all of our time with the Psychic 6 and not them (and i fucking love those guys!) the Psychic 6 are the ones we spent our time with. THEY are the real main characters because we understood their struggles and got to learn about them. I was closet to THEM because i spent time with them. I feel as though most of the interns were shoehorned in to appeal to a younger audience ok now we can talk about sam

4- I think sam is only interesting because she is attached to Dogan (please don't kill me i promise i am going somewhere with this) If you don't know, sam is basically the explodey head kid's sister. She has personality because she is attached to the most wholesome man of all time, and the weird kid from the first game with murderous tendencies. As a result of this, Sam has to be just as weird as her family members to make sense. I guess her character wouldent change if you removed her familial status with the Boole family, but also consider sam is basically pinkie pie. and Mable pines. And Molly McGee and basically every single quirkyyyyyy overly energetic female character in media with animal abuse sprinkled on top for comedy. there is nothing wrong with this. I think sam is fun too. But also she stands out like a real person in a room full of mannequins, mostly because her friends have the personality of mannequins. The poor writing of the rest of the interns essentially makes sam worse by the law of association because sam is grouped with these losers. in case you are curious, the "where did you get the milk" line cracks me up every time. poor Raz needs a hug.

5-They overplayed agent Forsythe a little bit too much and that does not help the interns in contrast. first: i love Raz's arch about learning not to affect peoples brains like it's nothing. It gave me emotional whiplash because i played the first game right before this game, but the games have a 16 year gap between each other and times have changed. I won't blame the game for that, AND the whole "mental health is a serious issue" grew on me. very good story this game has. Point is: Raz's consent arch was a really good thing for his character. but also agent Forsythe is kind of a bitch. first: your two agents brought you a kid who is enthusiastic about the psychonauts and your immediate instinct is to put him up with the mailroom clerk as his mentor? really? Thinking Cruller is a fucking nut and not validating Raz's honorary psychonaut status? yeah fair. she has no reason to think Ford isn't batshit insane. Getting on Raz for being late to class? also fair. She is a very strict teacher and needs to instill onto her kids that punctuality is important. but then some things rub me the wrong way. like you are an adult, how come you are letting these kids bully Raz? surely you saw the footage on the security cams? Or how come Raz got blamed for invading her thoughts when it was the interns that shoved him into it? How come you are targeting the kid for this and not everyone else who was involved in this? lets give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she didn't know about those things. Raz's story about him apologizing and learning from his mistake was still very good. Then sasha and Raz have a very charming fatherly moment about learning when to bail from a dangerous situation. made me smile. but then after all that emotional drama, you then talk to her and raz apologizes AGAIN and the emotional drama tries to continue. Lady you already had a talk to Raz about consent, why are you making him explain himself again out in the open? He is 10 years old and already learned his lesson, chill the fuck out.

and then later on she implies that she thinks Raz is the mole just because his family is from a fallen country related to the current issue. I understand not liking Raz, but is the racist remarks necessary? Do you seriously think some random kid kidnapped the head of the psychonauts? I know it is a serious issue but come the fuck on the kid barely knows how shapes work. i know this is about the interns, but Forsythe rubs me the wrong way and i feel like she is the reason why these brats are the way they are. I feel like she makes my distaste for the interns worse because she comes off to me as a sad fuck who targets kids to fuel her fragile power tripping ego. her level was good, and her arc with Raz was good, but she could use a bit of retooling. I feel as though I can forgive her nastier flaws if she acted more like an adult and gave the teenagers the same amount of lip she gave Raz. Perhaps if she had stepped up the interns would be more likeable because they and raz could have a nice bonding moment over their mistake. Tldr: Forsythe needed to act like an ADULT and discipline the interns just as much as she did raz instead of enabling them.

Overall, the interns are poorly written and I dread seeing them on screen. I am not attached to them in the way i am attached to the Psy 6. The story of Helmet and Bob touched my heart, Agent Boole's mission about social anxiety related to me personally, the story of Cassiopea coming to terms with her past and identity issues, Learning about ford's mistakes and the trauma he collected, everything! I love these characters! I guess the lesson is that just because a character is superficially the same as you, does not mean they are relatable. I am in my 20's. I am not a teenager anymore, but I am not elderly either. I am actually closer to the interns in age than i am to the Psy 6. And yet I relate to the Psy 6 more because these are human beings that i have grown to know and learn about. I am a girl who plays videogames. Shocker I know. and I have seen debates about "we need this and this and this or else i can't relate to the character!". There is not a lot of female characters in media and i agree that it would be nice to be represented more. but a character being the exact SAME as you does not equal relatability. I am not a grandfather with a tendency to make people explode, but i relate to Bool because we both share in our self judgement issues and the struggle to not want to hurt people with your personal problems. We have nothing in common physically, but we share in our struggles. and that is why the interns failed as characters when the Psy 6 succeeded. please don't spam my inbox about how much you disagree with me and how much you actually like the interns. this is just my opinion with writing advice sprinkled in it, much like Sam's personality.