#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.

[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.

[wereallbooked]

Our January Wrap Ups!

In January, M read 17 books (everyone say thank you throne of glass) and H read 12! We read books like Onyx Storm, The Courting of Bristol Keats, Spark of the Everflame, The Ministry of Time, and Love, Theoretically.

Our Thoughts below the cut: (spoiler free until the very end, and only minor spoilers there!)

H’s reads:

The Courting of Bristol Keats by Mary E. Pearson: For some reason, the first 100-or so pages of this book felt WEIRD to me. I can't quite put my finger on why, but it was one of those reads where enough is off to make you hyper-vigilant about everything else in the book, and it killed my vibe...until we entered the second act. THEN, it ate and left almost no crumbs. (maybe 2 crumbs?) I really loved Tyghan. I REALLY loved Tyghan's connection to Bristol's lore (iykyk) and I thought the use of dual POV here was an excellent way to differentiate it from the romantasy market at large. 3.75⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cruel Winter With You by Ali Hazelwood (M also read this, but she didn't want to count it. I am all about that Goodreads challenge): I don't know why, but I spent this entire read picturing Liam Mairi from Fourth Wing as the MMC, which probably added at least a star to my rating. Oops? I know a lot of people thought this man was creepy for his little photography habit, and I think in real life I would also be bothered. However, he is a man written by Ali Hazelwood, soooooooooo. 4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Flawless by Elsie Silver: When I read this bad boy, it was baby's first cowboy romance! M actually gave this to me for Christmas because I made one too many "we should try a cowboy romance" jokes. While reading, I alternated between intense joy and wondering who Rhett voted for. I think the fact that he was Canadian helped. A little. As I have gone on to read more from this series, however, the things that bothered me about Rhett are only intensified by reading about his brothers (latent misogyny, anyone? a smidge? a hint?). I DID have fun, though, which is what matters in a book like this. I was a big fan of the whipped cream shenanigans. I am also a milk hater, so that didn't bother me too much. 3.75⭐️⭐️⭐️

Powerless by Elsie Silver: Here's my beef with this one: If you promise me a book about a virgin with a big age gap, I expect a book about a virgin with a big age gap. I feel like Elsie could have committed to the bit a bit more? She gave Bailey a funny mix of sexual promiscuity and innocence, which is FINE, but wasn't what I was expecting. Further, she seemed to shy away from the age gap a bit by making Bailey more "mature". I felt like she could have just....not? If you pick up the fourteen year age gap romance book and get offended by the fourteen year age gap...that's on you. I don't think THAT's the audience Elsie needed to cater to here, but that's just me. 2.75 ⭐️⭐️

Andromeda by Therese Bohman: I contain multitudes! The first half of this novel was really lovely. I really enjoyed the FMC’s (I believe her name is sophie? but we find that out on page 100 or something) voice and description of things. It felt almost Sally Rooney esque, and I am a huge Sally Rooney fan. And then, we got to Gunnar’s POV. I didn’t vibe with Gunnar. I probably should have anticipated this. There are few old men I do vibe with. However, Gunnar killed the novel for me. I got this from BOTM, and they advertised it as exploring themes of modernity. It DOES do this, however, the novels view on modernity and my view on modernity do not mesh. 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Favorites by Layne Fargo: This was my other BOTM pick this month! Again, I really liked the first half. It’s a Wuthering Heights retelling and the first half is much more loyal to the original story. The feeling of knowing tragedy is at the door but not being able to break through the pages and warn the characters was awful. I recommend! However, the late second and third acts diverge from the original novel, and in order to do so, fundamentally alter Heath (Heathcliff)’s character. This is all to say, I wish Heath was a worse guy overall. I get WHY he isn’t, though, especially after looking into Fargo’s backlog after finishing. Still, I was really disappointed with the novel’s end. 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Homeseeking by Karissa Chen: I really put off starting this one because I was intimidated by it. I don’t know WHY I was intimidated, but it was my BOTM pick for December, and then I let it languish on my shelves for weeks. I should NOT have waited!! It was a beautiful story with beautiful prose. I loved the excavations of Chinese history, the elevation of lesser known consequences of the Cultural Revolution, and the examination of the Chinese-American identity. GREAT stuff. 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros: This was my THIRD read. Originally, I gave fourth wing 4 stars, then 4.5 on my first re read, but this read pushed it back down to 4. The Empyrean series is my current fixation. I had no choice in the matter. My main blog is a fourth wing fanfiction blog. Violet and Xaden are verrrryyy important to me. However, the prose in fourth wing is so incredibly clunky. I get terminal red pen brain when reading. I thought a LOT about V and X’s chemistry while reading this time around (for fic reasons, LOL) and their big moments in the first half of the story arc didn’t eat like usual. The insta-lust wasn’t as bad as I remember it being, but then Violet didn’t really seem like she liked him ?? as much as usual anyway. HOWEVER, the second half of the book is where I USUALLY gripe about their development (re: all the actual relationship building happening off screen, what do they talk about, does xaden have a hobby) and on this read I actually caught a lot more of the minor references that show them falling in love! Casualty of the chaotic prose: it’s hard to catch a lot of the one-line mentions. 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros: This book is my baby and I love her. She’s the only girl in the world to me. I heard Lexi on Fantasy Fangirls describe Iron Flame as a transition book, and at first, I didn’t agree with this assessment. However, when I thought about it further, I think that’s why I love it so much. When I first read IF, my life was in a transitory period, and I also felt like my whole world had been turned upside down. A lot of people say X and V are annoying here. I, again, disagree. I raise you this: they’re just like me for real. Both of them and the way they react to things are EXACTLY what I would do. Maybe this is problematic, but I do NOT care. The problems I have with FW do all still exist in this one, but they don’t bother me. I don’t have red pen brain here. 6 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (read twice. in a row. back to back.): This is our book club read, so we’ll have a separate post for her! However, I will say that my first read was NOT great. I care about these books (see reviews 8 and 9, LMAO) and I was wayyyy too invested in certain theories going the way I wanted (re: Halden and Xaden, specifically). I was so anxious that Xaden was going to do something drastic based on the way he was acting that the entire first read was a 12 hour anxiety attack. I originally rated the book 4 stars, and then, I was minding my own business a few hours after finishing. The ending crossed my mind, and I burst into tears. Repeatedly. At length. So then, I made it a 5 star! On my re read, I was experienced a LOT more of that five star feeling, until the last 100 pages or so when I once again succumbed to dread. A lot of the popular critiques of this book aren’t things I “agree” with. I didn’t expect “good” world building after books one and two, for example. The prose is what it is. But! More on that later. 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood: Ali’s best work? Dare I say? I ADORED this. Elsie is so me coded it felt like Dr. Hazelwood was in my walls. I LOVED how Jack handled her issues. I really enjoyed the sex. Ali is always so freaking funny. This has me cackling. This has me crying. Incredible. 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

M’s reads:

*spoiler free until the end*

1. Kindred's Curse Saga

- Spark of the Everflame ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

- Glow of the Everflame ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

- Heat of the Everflame ⭐️⭐️

honestly was really excited to read this series bc i wanted to listen to ffg deep dives. i liked the first book well enough and i really liked the premise that the main character is a healer. the second book was good too i thought, and i was really propelled through the series because each book ends on a massive cliffhanger and i couldn't stand it. but then by the third book idk it all became too much - too much going on - too many bad decisions made by the fmc.

2. ACOSF ⭐️⭐️⭐️

love love the series but this was probably my least favorite book out of them all. it felt too long and honestly they fucked too much for me girl pls 😭😭😭 loved the sisterhood developed with nesta, gywn, and emerie and also her own sisters. as per my goodreads 3 stars for the plot and 5 for the sisterhood

3. A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston ⭐️⭐️⭐️

really wanted to like this one because who doesn't like a book written about a book? but i just couldn't vibe with the fmc and mmc and i couldn't with how it ended.

4. Ready or Not by Cara Bastone ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

okay actually kinda throughly enjoyed this one and it was really fun and super sweet. loved the mmc and the overall nyc vibes. every character was quirky and unique and the situation was kinda insane which i lived for. i would read this again for a spark of joy.

5. All of TOG ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

no words. best series i've ever read idk why i didn't read tog sooner i was so missing out. every book was good in its own way. you didn't ask but here is my ranking of books in the series.

heir of fire

kingdom of ash

throne of glass

crown of midnight

empire of storms

assassins blade

tower of dawn

queen of shadows

*i have more comments on this series in the spoilers section*

6. Onyx Storm ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

most anticipated read fr. enjoyed it. loved the world building and xaden and violet in this. violet was truly girlbossing it up. ALSO loved ridoc in this he has my whole heart. I feel like we got to love all the side characters a bit more here so that made my soul happy. not sure where to rank it in terms of fourth wing and iron flame. i feel like i should have reread fw and if before this but i was too busy girlbossing it up with tog.

1. The Ministry of Time ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

was really not into it in the beginning probably because i haven't read lit fic in a while, but it def grew on me and the commentaries about being mixed race really hit home for me here 💔. def reccomend this to ur wasian besties because i almost cried.

8. Tethered ⭐️⭐️

this is your sign not to read books you see on tiktok because i was like oooh ahhh vampires i LOVE a vampire. not saying i don't love this vampire, but i couldn't get into it just based on the way the book was written and there's so many more books in the series i just knew i couldn't keep going through it. if you want a trashy wattpad vibe book (sorry if u love this book and i just called is trashy but its trashy in a good 2000s britney spears) kinda way.

**spoilers**

- kindreds curse saga: okay so my main qualm with this whole series is that by the third book the way the fmc acts just became too much and it's as if she's having no self-growth at all. like sorry for throwing tomatoes but she kept making decision after decision that led them running on their asses elsewhere. and it just never ended. ALSO i just couldn't with them fucking in the library after they fought a battle and then getting caught. PLS a library. anyways. also another comment is that i was really wanting to read this series because she was a healer but then turns out she doesn't even want to be a healer so i felt a bit sad about that in my soul.

- TOG: i have so many thoughts on this series my life is geneuinly changed thank you parents for buying me the box set for christmas because i could reread these books forever. what truly amazed me about these books were that characters i kinda disliked or hated (cough cough chaol) i truly came to love and understand by the end of the series which is so hard to do as an author i think. like i went from hatimg chaol in queen of shadows to feeling so sorry for him in tower of dawn. not that its not fucked up what he did to aelin and nehemiah but like you really get to empathize with him and his sitaution. and manon too! i didn't really like reading her parts at first but then i loved her by the end. and also i wasnt sure how to feel about rowan in heir of fire bc i already knew he was endgame but now i also love love rowan so much its like he's the perfect balance for aelin. also cannot express my love for the fmc that is calaena / aelin like she is amazing in every way possible.

[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!

[tiredlilguy]

[Yomi Shi]|My JJK OC

a/n: enjoy my beautiful skelly boy :3 i'll be writing oneshots about him + more posts about his family soon- also apologies if this doesn't make sense; it's just a general markup of Yomi. i currently have no character design so i'd say just use your imagination

also warning for JJK SPOILERS

yomi - “land of the dead”/“underworld”; where dead souls reside in sadness and darkness

shi (written as four) - number associated with death, because it sounds like shi (written as death)

he/they; born male, but to be honest- it’s not like it really matters because he’s decaying anyways (aw… poor guy)

27, was in the same class as Nanami; attended Jujutsu High (has a lineage of sorcerers in his family [they all got techniques that are very… halloweeny], but his technique was so unusual that by the time he reached 15, they sent him off to Jujutsu High; his family does love him tho :3)

inspired by Gashadokuro (the starving skeleton yokai) [Gashadokuro]

—

special grade sorcerer; DE is extremely powerful, second to gojo’s

the Shi family is actually a family of sorcerer’s with very… strange techniques that are quite gruesome (I’ll add more explanation in another post soon); so far his close family (mother, father, older brother and younger sister) all have cursed techniques which is very rare; they’re all sorcerer’s though :) they may just be a lil creepy

rich with old money (because they’re a huge family of sorcerer’s, but not one of the three clans); his family home is a very gothic mansion, they also have a big shaggy Komondor dog (this dog is not really that important to Yomi’s lore, but I just want to paint a picture- the dog’s name is Kumo)

he uses a cursed imbued weapon that is in the shape of a cane with a skull on it (a small hand-knife is inside of the cane if pulled out, but Yomi usually doesn’t need to/doesn’t use it) - this is gifted by his family members

Cursed Technique:

Stun (Shi family technique): stuns the victim for a short amount of time (Yomi has been able to hold a victim in a stun for 10 seconds, which is longer than the rest of his family has ever done), Yomi is able to manipulate the victim’s body/use them as a puppet or make them hurt themselves|the only exceptions to Stun are Gojo Satoru and his sister (who has a body manipulation technique)

Resistance (from his curse-imbued bandages): this enhances Yomi’s defense/makes his body somewhat of a protection of steel due to his bandages; this also enhances his body and adding another layer to his normal internal strength (though it does depend on how strong his actual body is); these bandages are very hard to pull off/do not come off unless done by Yomi or if he allows someone else to; if an opposing technique involves touching, Yomi is usually unaffected unless the bandages are ripped off of him

Timer (his actual technique): in order for Yomi to land this onto someone, Yomi must aim/land a hit on the victim in some way; the victim is set a certain amount of seconds (it’s random, but it usually varies depending on strength, age, etc) the average amount being 20 seconds to exhaust their energy; the victim can fight/function/use techniques are normal, but using all of those soon start to become more and more exhausted and demanding more out of the body/the person; as the timer goes down, actions of the victim require even more energy until they use up all of their energy and die/become exorcised

Domain Expansion: SHOWTIME! - a theatre space domain where the victim, other people, and Yomi are dressed in classic formal clothing; victim is dragged from a dressing room and onto a stage by skeleton shikigami that appear passive (these shikigami usually assist Yomi in the domain, they are seen wearing a tuxedo with a bowtie); participants in the audience are skeletons/shaded figures that clap when the victim is hit (Yomi can also drag other people into the domain that aren’t his victims, they usually are seated in the audience) people who are not considered enemies are placed in the balcony in the audience; Yomi is seated at the front and forces the victim to dance to death (victim is forcefully stunted) if victim breaks out of the dance of death, they will be eaten by a large skeleton figure that is behind the curtains (quite literally gashadokuro); however, victim can also play another sequence where they are casted onto a wheel by gashadokuro and are spun to figure out whether their soul gets to be eaten by gashadokuro (quieter death) OR are eaten alive (more brutal); the two games are decided by Yomi and whether or not he chooses to spare them (also when DE is being used, Yomi’s full human face can be seen); Yomi can reside anywhere in the audience that he chooses, but he’s usually seen front and center with his usual formal attire and his cane

burdened by a Heavenly Restriction: basically a human skeleton; is slowly decaying, set to fully die at age 50; the last time he had a fully functioning face was 20 (only his family and classmates from his high school year know what his face used to look like before it became what it is now); it's hard for him to talk at his current age (27), but he will talk when he absolutely needs to

currently at 27 still has flesh in his body that’s slowly tightening around his bones, body is still somewhat in tact and he’s actually quite strong physically wise (partially because of his bandages); has been and is held together by cursed-infused bandages that are actually imbued with a very strong curse by his grandmother

Shoko is currently studying how to heal Yomi… as sometimes when healing minor injuries, his skin comes back temporarily

covered head to toe in said bandages, which makes him appear off-putting because you quite literally cannot see his face or anything (upon first appearance, he looks like a cursed spirit almost, but he has the energy of a jujutsu sorcerer)

wears a black and white suit (white button up, tie, black jacket suit over the shoulders, black slacks, leather gloves and black combat boots)

when he joined Jujutsu High… here are the following reactions:

Gojo: thought he wasn’t real, tries to take off his head bandages (Geto stopped him)

Geto: curious about Yomi’s cursed technique (at the time Yomi appeared physically weak, aka… not rly the fit for a special grade sorcerer), but also thought that Yomi was really handsome

Shoko: thought Yomi was actively dying low-key (technically he was…); avoided smoking in front of him

Nanami: indifferent, the first person to treat Yomi like a mutual human being (Yomi has had a crush ever since)

Haibara: WOAH SKELETON DUDE

Him, Gojo, and Geto are a weird trio… are usually NEVER put together, and it happened a couple times because they wanted Yomi to come along/followed Yomi on a mission out of curiosity to watch him use his technique

enjoys black and white clothing (though, it’s not like he can see anymore), sweets (habit he picked up from SatoSugu), jewelry specifically rings (likes the noises it makes when it rattles, makes contact with a hard surface), frogs (they remind him of Nanami for some reason), miso soup (because most of what he eats is liquid based-)

not a teacher, but is often at Jujutsu High/lives nearby because he can’t really walk outside into society on a normal basis due to getting weird stares and once a guy tried to rip off his bandages

will only go out in public if it’s a drastic measure (aka… Shibuya); if he’s in front of citizen’s he’ll usually wear a mask and cap to disguise himself, as well as clothes that cover his whole body and figure

originally had no clue how to answer “Why are you at Jujutsu High?” Other than “It’s the only thing I can do until I decay and die.”; until he heard Nanami striving to use sorcery to protect people, which naturally Yomi wanted to do the same (because Yomi’s a SIMP)

will on occasion sub for Gojo, very well liked by all of them (Megumi likes him)

Him and Inumaki get along very well (the whole no talking thing); the 2nd years respect him well, the 1st years think he’s interesting, the Kyoto students are afraid of him except for Miwa (because Miwa actually sparked conversation with him); Sukuna thinks that he should just decay already (what a dick)

is very good with the students, but usually doesn’t talk/or say much unless he needs to

Yomi is very kind-hearted; will give a student a candy if he senses/notices them frown; very empathetic with other’s feelings and can understand Gojo’s loneliness very well (doesn’t really view Gojo as the strongest or anyone really… he’s neutral and thinks the ranking system and the higher ups are stupid cough like Nanami cough)

sweet and quiet kind of person, but he himself is not very emotional…? In-tune with his feelings, however, but due to energy balance, he doesn’t like to waste energy on overly expressing emotions unless he absolutely needs to (aka extreme anger, grieving… being a simp for Nanami)

can overthink though; often knows people’s first thoughts on him and tends to expect that reaction on the spot (is shocked when he doesn’t receive that from other people)

Didn’t blame Nanami for leaving because he was very close with Haibara (Itadori makes Yomi feel very protective for that reason)

was very happy to hear from Gojo that Nanami was coming back (Gojo teased the shit out of him)

Him and Gojo become close after Geto defecting

Hates his birthday, or when times passes in general (he doesn’t like thinking about when Geto left/other events that happened); likes to live in the present and not think about the past or the future (because he’ll inevitably die)

Yomi values his friendships/relationships very much; it’s the entire reason why he wants to keep living life to the fullest

Has scary dog privilege though- very intimidating on the battlefield so much so that even grade 1 curses cower in fear

He likes Halloween :3 the one day he can just be himself out in public (likes to go to arcades with Gojo if he’s free or will just go by himself) (this definitely doesn't go wrong at all)

wants to confess his feelings to Nanami (which may be mutual owo) after Shibuya

aren't i such a nice creator? (im sorry atlas and yomi- i love you both very much but the angst is fun)

[rei-caldombra]

Wholesomeness in Fall 2023 Anime- Crash Course + Goofy Boss

Healing/Iyashikei anime has been a favorite of mine for a long time. I wouId often watch one every season. I can get depressed fairly easily and often, and it's nice to be able to turn on something wholesome and suddenly start feeling fuzzy inside. It can be very cathartic to just watch a bunch of characters be happy together and look into a world where a lot of normal troubles don't really matter. Or worlds where deep emotional issues can be alleviated with just some basic human kindness (which is relevant to both shows). Healing anime won't solve all your problems, but it's a much healthier way of making yourself feel better for a bit than many other options.

This season we have 2 shows that I feel can give you a solid wholesome fix- I'm Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness (which I will refer to as Crash Course) and My New Boss Is Goofy (which I will refer to as Goofy Boss). This is based off of watching the first 3 episodes of each anime and no outside knowledge of either. There will be some spoilers.

Goofy Boss Specific thoughts

After being horribly abused by his previous boss, Momose is left is severe anxiety that gives him health issues. But it turns out his boss is actually super nice and clumsy. This shows does succeeds at being heartwarming in two ways. One by being directly and obviously cute. The two leads are cute characters, they are cute together, and they add a cat that is cute. Secondly, we see Kentarou get over his past trauma. These two have a very nice relationship that just feels good to watch. Over time he is able to forget about those past experiences and move forward thanks to his healthy relationship with Shirosaki.

I think this show is very solid overall. Its jokes land pretty often, and Just within the first 3 episodes we get a good amount of backstory for both the main leads. It actually hit me pretty hard in the heart when Momose learned that Shirosaki was the one who came up with the advertisement that inspired him. I also really appreciate this point because it shows someone getting inspiration from something very untraditional. I don't have any particular love for advertising, even the harmless kind like the ones we see in this show. But it's important to recognize that inspiration can come from absolutely anything. When so much of media uses the same avenues for inspiration, like nature and famous people like heroes, it's nice to see something mundane like an ad for a random business having a strong emotional impact on someone.

Sorry if this immediately makes you close out of this post- I personally don't ship them. I like them as a couple but not romantically. I've always been put off by large age gaps. They are both old and mature enough where I would not call an actual romantic relationship between them problematic though. It's just not my thing. All the power to you if you ship them, the show succeeds at making you want to ship them, so I totally get it.

Crash Course Specific thoughts

After being abused by her family and ousted from her home, Charlotte is taken in by the "demon lord" of a nearby area who wants to teach her how to be "naughty". Don't let the title fool you, in general the naughtiness here is more akin to a kid doing things they "shouldn't" do on purpose. At its core this "naughtiness" that Allen is trying to teach her is about helping Charlotte do the things she has been conditioned not to do and selfishly pursue her own happiness. I really vibe with this message. Most people won't have as extreme of a bad experience as Charlotte, but many people can relate to feeling like they are in the wrong for desiring more happiness. My favorite scene is when Allen buys her a table covered in sweets and basically tells her to pig out. For me seeing Charlotte be able to eat tasty food that she was never able to experience really hits. I really agree with the message he tries to convey to her there, about how it's ok for her to be given something expensive and to enjoy it to the fullest. Imo pigging out on great food is one of life's best pleasures (in moderation). And is a great way to reward yourself and make yourself feel better during a tough time. This show succeeds at being heartwarming through this message trying to be conveyed to Charlotte. Its cathartic to see a character who deserves a to be pampered get pampered. That is the primary appeal of this show. And down the line when we very likely see her properly embrace this philosophy, it'll probably feel really good then too.

When you step away from this general theme, the show starts to lack a little. The art and animation are not particularly noteworthy in any way. As characters they also do not have a lot of charisma or interesting qualities. Like with Goofy Boss I also do not ship this two, but for different reasons. I don't think they have particularly great chemistry. The jokes are also not funny as often in my opinion. If I didn't have a stronger appreciation for the theme that I mentioned I would say it's pretty boring. Among the many healing anime I have seen, I would put it pretty low on the list. If I had to say a #1 its Demon Girl Next Door. To give some other favorites- Barakamon, Non Non Biyori, Lucky Star, and Girls Last Tour. But I've watched many others too that can be considered healing anime, so let me know if you'd like to see more posts about them.

Both of these are relatively simple and formulaic shows, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The goal of both in my eyes is just to make you feel happy with wholesome characters interactions that help someone overcome their past trauma. Series that have a simple goal makes sense to have simple execution. Both have solid emotional cores that most people can empathize. They may not stand out as anything amazing, especially Crash Course, but they are succeeding at making me feel warm and fuzzy every week. For that reason, I will continue to watch both. If you just wanted to check out one of them, I recommend Goofy Boss as it has stronger characters and comedy.

Thanks for reading!

[chronoxtreme]

The Cage: Chapters 2-5 Author's Notes

So, I'll be honest - one of the biggest weaknesses of this fic for me, personally, is that these 3 chapters don't really need to be here, but they do at the same time. They're important to Astarion actually getting to know Nanne, but at the same time they don't really move the story along in terms of the main thesis, i.e. "they met 10 years ago and now they're back together oopsies."

I've also been trying to break the habit of relying on canon dialogue/scenes to convey relationships. It's something that I notice I do a lot in my other fics that aren't AUs, so this fic is trying to get out of that niche.

As well, Nanne giving the tent to Astarion is something I kind of stumbled into and ended up loving. I think it's a nice way to establish Nanne's personality in context. That sort of generosity mixed with envy because you really want it for yourself but you know that it's the right thing to do to give it to this poor nobleman who's clearly never had a day of hardship in his life. The selflessness that isn't quite selfless because it's been engrained into you from a young age and is it really a choice? (Don't worry, we'll get into more of that later)

Some funny headcanons/canon events that I shoved into this fic:

Literally all of Astarion's camp gear is stolen from the crypt/the tiefling refugees/the druids at the grove. I refuse to believe that he obtained all of those trinkets by gainful means when it's repeatedly emphasized that this dude owned literally nothing under Cazador.

Astarion's burial shroud (inspired by the rags you can see in his various camp sites, especially in Last Light Inn). This is something that was almost 100% pulled out of my ass. I don't think the vampiric resting place rule applies to spawn, but I do like the thought of Astarion's sole possession being a reminder of his trauma. We'll do stuff with that later, don't worry.

Astarion thinks Wyll is hot because he's exactly his type of "innocent charming younger man who is selfless and slightly awkward but good at heart." Also Wyll is just hot.

Astarion making fun of Shadowheart's goth name is a thing that happens in game if you happen to recruit Astarion first before her and it's VERY funny

The sheer, utter frustration Astarion has watching everyone in camp target his seduction mark and try and pull the moves on them

I do also believe that Astarion's compatible with every single party member (except for Minsc and Jaheira for obv reasons), so while he does tick them off the list of "seduce for protection" candidates for various reasons, it's mainly because this is a Tav x Astarion story. Likewise, I love all the party members, no matter how much Astarion may shit on them lol

So, let's talk a little about Chapter 5 and what's going on here. A lot of the events are based on my second-first playthrough as Nanne (my first playthrough was on my old PC that died and the saves got corrupted, so I had to start over). Looking back, I do think it's pretty self indulgent to have everyone hit on my OC, but considering it happened in game just by playing a nice character who naturally wanted to get to know everyone and was a compulsive peacemaker, I can't say it's, like, over the top outrageous. (They literally ALL cockblocked Astarion's romance scene except for Wyll. Literally all of them)

If I were to go back and rewrite this section, though, I'd probably stretch out the timeline a lot more, moving Shadowheart's date later back, Gale's magic lessons, etc. One of the issues that I have with writing is the timeline, and nowhere has it been more obvious than with this fic, where I'll describe a week's worth of events happening in literally four days, then skip ahead two months and go "Hey guys, take my word for it that x time has passed." It's something I definitely need to work on lol. At the same time, this is very much a self indulgent fic for funsies.

Now SPOILERS FOR NANNE'S CHARACTER ARC: In case anyone's curious, no, Nanne had no clue that Shadowheart's little date was supposed to be a date. This is a person who has never been approached for anything romantic except from their sketchy employer. Astarion is exasperated that they didn't see the signs, but Nanne has no experience with "hooking up", dating, whatever you wanna call it.

They do feel bad about accidentally leading Shadowheart on, but honestly, they're torn because on the one hand, someone did find them attractive! Wowee! On the other hand, this is moving awfully fast and they're scared about being exposed. They have had it repeatedly bashed into their head that their body is disgusting, unnatural, a deviation that must be fixed, and so relationships are this thing that they can't ever have, but desperately crave. It is a deeply painful position to be in. They do a good job of hiding it and not coming across as clingy, but Nanne is a very lonely person who craves connection and intimacy (physical, sexual, emotional, any of it). At the same time, they can't risk being rejected again.

END SPOILERS

The boar scene is one of my favorite early on scenes because this is the moment when Nanne clocks that Astarion is actually a vampire. A lot of people make fun of the game for waiting like, five in game days before exposing the elephant in the room, but considering that everyone knows vampires can't stand in sunlight, it's reasonable to assume that Astarion's just an incredibly pampered noble who's got delicate skin and maybe some drow ancestry.

But then he starts acting VERY suspicious and guilty and, well, the boar is literally right there.

Nanne's comment of "You're protecting us from the vampire, aren't you?" is meant to be a very subtle way of thanking Astarion from not eating anyone yet, which considering what happens in the next chapter is, uh, lol. Lmao, even.