#this is such a ramble but i hope it answers your question

[tiramissyoucake]

(Refering to the reader beating the shit out of nogogglescible drabble) "lemme know if you want a fic" PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEAS PLEAS PLEAS PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEAHJ PLEADH PLEDSAF PLEADLS PLESRE-

Damn shawty OK! Here's a quick one!

CW: violence, masochism, dirty talk(?) It's no goggles cmon man

"Do whatever you can to beat it out of him." Is what Cecil told you before you came into the interrogation room. They had somehow subdued this version of Invincible and trapped him in dull room with only one giant one-way mirror, he was trapped and confined to a chair with giant technological confines caging his hand, as if his hands were through a cinderblock.

You were debriefed before you came here, you heard of the killing, how he behaved, naturally you were already wary of Invincible's strength, and this seemed like Cecil's worst nightmare. An Invincible that isn't on your side.

The 'Mark' with you right now had his head tossed back, leaning and lounging like this was a waiting room, he looked up; no goggles covering his dark eyes. "Oh, HeLLO!" He sat up, excited to toy with you. "I remember you!"

You ignored his rambling as you looked through a list. "Y'know, we used to bang in my world! Then you got emotional when I killed somebody and broke up with me. Total bitch behaviour in my opinion, but hey, the sex was— GUH?!"

You had reeled back your fist and swung it into his jaw as best as you could, watching him pant and groan as he readjusted himself. "Ooh! Oh you wanna play?! Fuck, I can't believe I felt that!"

"Where did you and your copies come from?" You started, eyebrows furrowed as his attitude was getting on your nerves. Mark paid no mind to your questioning.

"What copies? You think perfection can be made twice?! You wish there were mo— OUGH!" Another punch in the opposite direction, blood splattering past his lips.

"Answer my questions, why are you here?!"

"Get fucked, sugar♡" Mark grinned as he looked up at you, blood blending into his gums and soaking his teeth and lips, he wanted to piss you off.

You gritted your teeth in frustration, clenching your fists as you repeated the onslaught, his grunting and sputtering echoing in the room.

"Yes, fuck that's— GHK! YES! C'mon! UGH! Hit me again! Hit m—URGH! Oh fuck yes, harder! Harder!" He repeatedly tried to speak and yell at you to hit him harder, your knuckles growing sore and pained as he showed no sign of giving in.

You took a moment to breathe, hands reddened as your panting overlayed his groaning and moaning. "oooh baby... Hah... I know I'm invincible, but you hit like you wanna fuck me...!" His thighs parted further, bucking to get any friction. "Why don't you sit, huh? Gives you stability to beat the shit outta me!"

A cringe appeared on your features as he coaxed you on his lap, you could see a hardening beneath the fitted costume. This freak was horny.

"You're disgusting." You started while rolling up your sleeves, he could feel the arousal rush to his dick as he sat up, licking the blood of his lips.

"Yeah, c'mere baby— get mad at me! Hit me!"

The door clacked open as Cecil stepped in, his expression mirroring yours. "Alright, I can't watch this shit anymore, (Name). Hit the showers."

"I knew it! (Name)?! MY (Name) from MY world?!We were destined to fuck!" Mark announced excitedly while looking up at you. "Quit cockblocking, dickhead! Get out! I don't give a fuck if you cucks watch, just gimme 30 minutes alone here with—"

"You shut up! We'll deal with you later." Cecil watched you collect your things as Mark watched you like an abandoned dog, chest rising and falling. "Wh..?! Hey! Hold on! Not even gonna hit me bye?!"

You rolled your eyes, embarassed and angry by the interaction, you could hear him yelling as you left.

"Hey! Hey, come back whenever, sweetcheeks! Maybe I'll let you choke me while you ride me! You like that shit?! Fuck, you're just my type—"

The door slammed shut, you really hoped this ordeal would get sorted soon.

[evesbookshop]

𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬

𝐈𝐳𝐮𝐤𝐮 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐲𝐚 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭 ⇩⇩⇩

“𝐒𝐦𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐈𝐳𝐮𝐤𝐮 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝, 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 😋 𝐩𝐥𝐬"

𝐁𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧

✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿

𝐅𝐭: 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤, 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞

✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿

Izuku calls you a lot. He calls you a lot when he’s in the country, he calls you while he does your laundry or while hes on patrol. He’s had you on the phone while arresting some low level thief after they’d robbed a convenience store, he got in trouble for that one. But he called a lot, so it was no surprise that he called just as much if not more while out of the country, if not more.

 So receiving calls from him was normal, receiving calls from him at one am on a wednesday while out of the country though, less normal. So while you were mostly just confused and half asleep, a part of you was worried as you pressed answer. 

“Izuku? You okay, it’s so late?” You asked groggily. Rubbing the sleep from your eyes as you leaned over to flick on your lamp, phone still pressed to your ear. “What’s goin on?”

“I’m okay honey, I’m sorry I didn't mean to worry you. Were you asleep?” Izuku knew full well that you were asleep. He was in India right now, a country three-ish hours behind japan. He'd done the math, he knew damn well it was one am and therefore passed you designated bedtime. But he’d been painfully hard for the last thirty minutes and his hand hadn’t gotten him anywhere, he needed you. Or at least your voice.

“No it’s okay, what's up?” You continued to question him, you really didn’t mind that’d he'd called it was just odd for him to do so this late.

“I- uh- I just missed your voice” Not a full lie. “Was just hoping to talk, hear about your day?” It was a lame excuse for a man calling at one am but he wasn’t willing to admit why he really called yet.

“Oh okay, sure.” You were a tad suspicious, but Izuku called, it was what he did. “Um probably wasn’t as exciting as yours but uh let's see. Went shopping, for groceries not myself. You’d be surprised how much cheaper it is when I’m not feeding a human vacuum.” You began rambling on about your day. Going through what you did, how you couldn't find certain items, how you couldn’t reach certain shelves without him 

Usually the sentiments would be nice, he’d laugh at your struggles or coo at how you needed him. Right now he was wrapping his hand around his base while imagining your voice saying other things. The way you sounded the last time he’d been inside you.

‘Right there Izuku’  “You feel so good”   “Harder Zu”   “Faster”   “Fuck Zu”  “Izuku, Izuku”

And paired with your voice in the background, even if you were currently talking about how you didn't know what color to paint your nails at the salon today, was all the more helpful. Ia Clearly.

“Nngh, fuck” A moan managed to escape his lips as his pace had gotten faster.

“Izuku?” You stopped mid sentence, having heard his slip up.A noise you were all too familiar with echoing through the speaker of your phone. “Are you..?”

“Yes, yeah. I’m sorry honey, I’m so sorry i just fuck-” Izuku was burning with embarrassment but honest none of that mattered right now.  “Just missed you so much and I couldn’t help myself. Tried to do it alone but I just couldn’t” He explained pathetically. Letting go of his throbbing cock and throwing his head back into his pillow with a huff.  

“Oh Zu..” You sighed slightly amused, “why didn't you say anything, I woulda helped you out.”

“I-I don’t know just please?” Izuku pleaded without remorse, he was aching for you and if you were offering he certainly wasn’t one to deny.You grinned lazily to yourself, despite his very clear distress it was flattering to know your boyfriend couldn’t come without you. 

“I got you , I got you.” You spoke softly into the the speaker, “Tell me what you were thinkin about before you called.” 

“The way you sounded.” He said simply, hand coming back to his dick, “ From before i left, how you were u-underneathe me.”

“Oh i remember,” it was an ongoing tradition to go at it like dogs in heat before he went on long missions. He’d had you in every position you could think of that night, on your back was where he finished though. He liked being able to watch your face. “Mmm that was so good. The way you had my leg on your shoulder, swear I could feel you in my stomach. Tats what you’re thinkin about, hmm?”

“Mm yeah” He moaned softly into the phone, “wasn’t enough though I couldn't”. You hummed in faux contemplation into the speaker 

“Well that just won't do, will it baby?” His sounds of affirmation rang through loud and clear, “That's right. So just listen to me then. I know you already started so just slow down for me.” Izuku groaned softly but did as told, sure to voice his complaint.

“Please don’t tease, honey.” Voice tight with arousal as his fist moved slowly up and down his length.

“I’m not, promise. You remember how I do it, don't you. I always start slow, do it how I would.” 

At that he sighs, imagining it’s your hand instead of his. Stroking at the tempo you would, thumb swiping over his tip gently the way your smaller one would. In a way that had him shuddering with a moan of your name.

“There we go, feels good when you imagine it’s me hm?”

“Yes, feels-feels so fucking good, Sweetheart.” Izuku’s voice took on a rasp it didn’t usually hold.

“I know, cause it’s what I do when I miss you.” His ears perked at that slight, you imagined him? Izuku moaned at the thought, at the metal image of you moaning his name as you touched yourself.

“You do?”

“Every single time, your hands are so much bigger than mine though, don’t feel as full.” He let out a loud groan and call of your name.

“Shitt baby, i need more.” Izuku begged lightly, aching to come.

“Speed up for me then, Zu. You know how I do it. Massage your balls with your other hand, the way we both know you like.”  He nodded dumbly like you could see him. Other hand reaching down to cup his manhood, fondling them as he rubbed is length at a rapid pace. Doing both the way you would the days he'd come home pent up but too tired to do anything. Groaning and moaning your name as he did so. Abs tightening as he could feel his orgasm beginning to approach. “You’re doing so good for me Izuku, being such a good boy.”

“Oh fuck” his eyes screwed shut as the grip he had on his member tightened, “ ‘M gonna come for you, Sweetheart. Please, let me- fuck!”

“Go ahead, baby. Make a mess for me, you deserve it. Did so good not come for me Zu.” And he did. Izuku balls clenched as he grit his teeth in an attempt to muffle the long moan he let out as he came. Cock twitching in his hands as he pumped it raw, finishing all over his stomach and chest. Riding his high out until it hurt to keep going. Letting his already softening dick lay against his pelvis.

“Oh thank you, honey. Thank you, thank you.” He mumbled dazed and out of breathe. 

“You're welcome, Izuku.” you smiled drowsy. Placing the phone on speaker and on your nightstand to charge. “Now go to bed. I’ll stay on the phone. “

“Okay,” He murmured. Grabbing a tissue to wipe himself clean half hazrdly before tucking himself back into his briefs and rolling ono his stomach. Placinghis phone on the pillow beside him. “Night Sweetheart. Love you”

“Night, Izuku. I love you too.”

✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿

𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 ❤︎︎

𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐨𝐰 ❣︎

[noxiatoxia]

okay, i’ve been obsessing over your komaeda translations and i must know… given the unsure way he talks in the japanese (lots of filler words), does his dialogue change much after he learns the truth? late ch4, i mean. when he starts being condescending to everyone. i’m also very curious about his big speech about wanting to be called the ultimate hope

Hello, anon! Thank you for the message and interesting question! And thank you for the patience!

So, there's three questions here if I'm understanding:

Does Komaeda's speech pattern (sounding softer and using filler words, or generally downplaying his words) change later into ch.4?

When Komaeda starts rambling about hope, does he speak more clearly and more confidently?

What is the nuance in Komaeda's "hope" speech on the laptop?

I will answer all 3 in this order.

(Also, for anybody confused.... here's my post talking about how Komaeda uses filler words, and here's my post talking about how Komaeda's speech was deliberately changed during the earlier beta to make him sound less confident in himself.)

So, question number one:

1. Does Komaeda talk more rudely, use less filler words, or talk more assuredly in ch.4?

Hmm...I don't think so. He still uses honorifics for everyone (-san for girls and -kun for boys), he still uses sa and ne to the same amount, and he does not seem to devote any sort of rude speech for the most part. It is only his words that change, and not the way he speaks them.

My memory is horrifically bad, so please keep that in mind...I asked my friend @kaiokentimesten for help, and was provided with a good number of lines he remembered from ch.4/5 of Komaeda saying rude things, and I looked them up in the Japanese version. All lines were said in his usual speech formations, so there was no change. Again, the words he spoke just happened to be ruder, but they were said in the same tone.

I will show an example.

KOMAEDA: おっと、安易にハムスターを例に出すと、 脱落した彼に怒られちゃうかな? KOMAEDA: Oops. How clumsy of me to use hamsters as an example. Do you think that loser* would've gotten mad at me if he were still here?

*Komaeda does say "dropout" and it's used for people who have been eliminated in a game, or failed a test/exam/otherwise didn't "make the cut". I just think "loser" works better as a translation.

Nothing changes about Komaeda's speech here, he talks the same as he always does. He's just saying meaner words.

(I don't know where the translators got "weakling" from...that's nowhere in the text.)

The only exception I can think of is the beginning of Trial 4. Souda remarks they talk about the murder weapon, and Komaeda three times goes, "Ha?"

It's a funny scene, but significant because, as far as I know, this is the only time Komaeda uses this word.

(I could be wrong, but I'm totally coming up empty right now...please correct me if I am!)

は ha, is very rude. It means "What?" or "Huh?" but is a very rude way to say it. People like Kuzuryuu and Oowada love using it, and Hinata uses it a fair amount, although even Hinata - who's whole design philosophy, as pointed out by the SDR2 artbook, is to be more masculine and ruder than Naegi was - uses え e more often.

え e, うん un, ん nn, あれ are, are more casual but non-rude ways to say "What?"

Komaeda always used one of those first four from what I can remember, or simply 何 nani, which is probably the most neutral way to say "What?"

So to see Komaeda use this is surprising.

This is different than ははは, はっ, or あはは which are normal laughing sounds.

Oh, before we move out of Chapter 4, here's a mistranslation I want to point out (or, less mistranslation, more very direct translation where the joke is lost in English).

KOMAEDA: じゃあ、始めようか。シンキングターイム...ってヤツだね。

Komaeda isn't a stranger to randomly injecting English words into his speech - a quirk that I feel is used to show he's a bookworm/otherwise intelligent (that's just my thought) - and in those instances, instead of translating directly (because using English in English loses the nuance that using English in Japanese does) I would replace it with bigger, more obscure English words.

But this is actually not one of those times.

Another thing Komaeda is no stranger to is making random pop culture references. He does it more than you would think for a character like him.

While "Thinking Time" isn't a reference to any specific Japanese media per se, it's Japanese game show lingo.

For example, a tough question is given to the contestants, and they have 30 seconds to think of the answer before being forced to give one. These 30 seconds are called "Thinking Time".

I don't know the English equivalent. I know there's a countdown timer in stuff like Jeopardy and Minute to Win It, but I don't think they say anything. Sometimes it's "You have [x] seconds, good luck!" Or "and...start!" or suchlike.

I guess in that case, this line is better localized as:

KOMAEDA: Let's start! You have 30 seconds on the clock...good luck!

(I chose 30 seconds because that's how long the "Make your Selection" part lasts maximum).

2. When ranting about hope, does Komaeda speak more clearly, more confidently?

Yes!

In scenes like post- Chapter 1 trial, where Komaeda monologues to the audience for a few minutes before being knocked out - where he is rambling on and on - his speech is noticeably smoother with less pauses or filler injections. I would also venture to say the way he speaks makes it sound like he is stating facts, that he is very confident in his assertions.

3. Komaeda's Hope Speech on the laptop

Firstly, I want to point somethings out...unrelated to the hope speech itself, but just fun to note.

The garbled, loud noise you hear sometimes where Komaeda is speaking is not gibberish (listen here, volume warning). For whatever reason, the English version did not have Bryce Papenbrook record lines for this, and still uses the Japanese version.

It doesn't reveal any new information, sadly. And I can't make out the second one...but it's highly likely in that line I linked that Komaeda is saying 希望は絶望なんかに負けないんだ or "Hope will never lose to despair."

When it comes to the scrambled text...I've never been much of a decoder, but I can point some stuff out.

For one, I'm 99% sure the Japanese team probably provided the translators with the full, unscrambled text so they could better translate it.

That said, it's not impossible to figure this out.

<まじむかつく+超Ｙさしい２こんなにEEものｇ１０２＄うRしｓ～＝～＋いｄｓねうれOｒｚ』

まじむかつく is a term that means "extremely irritated" hence "seriously pissing me off".

The + is the same in both version, I assume it means "and".

The next part needs a little explaining. In Japanese, all consonants (for the most part) are followed by a vowel. on a Japanese keyboard, if you do not finish typing the character, only the consonant shows up.

for example, な is "na". but if you only type the n and don't follow with the a, you get ｎ.

There's a lot of Japanese slang based off this. To type ん you have to type "n" twice. so, a slang form of konnichiwa (こんにちは) is shortened to こん, konn. But it got shortened even further to こｎ.

so, 超Ｙさしい requires a bit of guesswork, as there are several sounds that start with "y", like ゆ yu, よ yo, や ya. the さしい at the end tells us it's an adjective.

超 in this case means "very", like "very expensive" or "very awesome".

Likely, Yさしい is やさしい, which is either "kind" or "easy".

This makes 超Ｙさしい either "extremely kind/nice" or "extremely simply/easy".

Official translators wrote it as "hella nice", aka "very kind".

Beyond that I start to get bad at this xD I don't know where they get "I can't believe something odd like this is only $102".

The 2 may be に, as 2 in Japanese is pronounced に(ni), and に is a particle.

I think the ＥＥ Is to be read like いい (ii) in Japanese. And the ｇ might be が (ga)?

超やさしいにこんなにいいものが１０２＄

こんなにいいもの would be "Such nice stuff" or "Really good stuff".

が at the end could be "But..." or "However..." but if the 102$ is connected somehow, then it may be an object particle.

Maybe it's "Really good stuff gotten easy for $102"

But that isn't fully true to the official English version, so maybe they were provided with more clear words to translate from. Like I said, I'm no good at codes.

The last part is easy though. うRし follows the same rule as before. うれし Ur(e)shi(i), which means "happy". I don't know what the "s" is, since it seems the sentence picks back up at いｄｓね, as うれしい is the full word. "d s" is probably d(e)s(u) with the ne particle at the end. うれしいですね, which means "I'm happy!"

And I'm guessing Orz is the emoticon.

Okay, sorry for rambling. When it comes to the actual speech, there is something interesting to note, albiet small.

The English version is correct in its translation, and the only thing I have to offer is the nuance behind how Komaeda makes his requests.

He says stuff like, "Respect me" "Praise me" "Build a bronze statue of me" and such. And he requests all of these by saying ～てくれ ~tekure.

I don't think Komaeda ever uses this outside of this speech. てくれ can be seen as rather rude. Though the formation looks like an imperative (very rude), it is not, since at it's core, てくれ means you are asking someone to do something for you, not ordering them. It is still the rudest way you can "request" something though.

It's not as severe as Komaeda yelling 黙れよ (damare yo) in 2.5, but it's close behind.

It does show he is being very callous and assertive in this scene, truly a 180 from him being casual but still respectful. This sort of demanding request tone coming from Komaeda is surprising, I feel.

Otherwise...there isn't really any nuance to add, I'm afraid. The speech is rather straight forward and the English version translates it well.

I hope this answers your questions!

[alexanderlightweight]

this is literally just malec fic ideas and verse bullshit - lumine

I was writing the beginning of this new verse for a prompt and it reminded me of another idea that i'd dreamt of briefly during last years brain fog.

Colosseum (and primarily active only) shadowhunter style but it's also basically tied with the whole mating runs trope. which I think I have a prompt from someone about gladiator style shadowhunters fights so like.... I could fill that with this idea I think. it's just courting gladiator style instead.

basically when you hit a certain age, you get sent in rotation to the colloseum because 1) its good training 2) its a good way to connect all the younger active duty Shadowhunters who normally are stuck at their respective Institute 3) allows for the mingling of bloodlines and testing of chemistry

once you reach a certain rank/essential work you only have to go for like, events or if you're specifically called out (because they fight for the right to court as a part of this whole thing)

alec is so far unbeatable. not necessarily because he's better than the rest but the sheer rage and energy of 'i'm not marrying you. perish or die' kind of make it hard for anyone to hold up well against him.

yes Alec knows that both of those options are unreasonable.

he doesn't care.

you expect reason out of him when he keeps having to fight off shadowhunter women looking for strong/lineage/good position/really good with kids-handsome, who want to have sex with him?

like they want to marry him but that's not the only bad part. the worst part is the sex okay. Alec knows exactly what those kind of shadowhunters are here for and it's to have babies. they're looking for a stud but they want a competent one, hence the fights.

technically by the rules of the colloseum Alec could fight a guy and propose that way completely legally but he uh.... there is no one he wants to fight in Idris. like he sometimes subs in for shadowhunters who don't want to risk losing and are too outmatched by their opponent. typically that because of politics or family dynamics they don't say no to the whole fighting mating dance.

and sometimes in a daze the Shadowhunters Alec beats are just like 'oh wow' and Alec is just like looking down at their prone forms, the match already called 'stomps their face and hopes he did enough damage that they forget the last five minutes' (he's gotten really accurate over the years okay. at some point it's mentioned that Simon needs to forget the last few minutes and alec's just like 'oh I can handle that' and everyone is just like "NO ALEC HES A MUNDANE'

Alec: well.... it still would have handled it

--

anyway so yeah alec does not need more suitors. even if one or two are the gender he actually likes

he has standards

currently nephilim are not up to his standards and since broadening his horizon (he didn't broaden shit. its just that Magnus is the skyline) he realized that Magnus is not just up to his standards but was in fact the blueprint and mold for those standards.

magnus finding out that even though the entire shadowworld knows they're together, Alec is still getting courtship fight requests.

Magnus: I see, I see. so first i'm going to nearly kill every single one of your opponents in your name, then i'm going to fight you and personally ensure that every single nephilim in attendance witnesses your submission when I win.

Alec who is absolutely tired of the colosseum and clave bullshit: k, wake me up when it's my turn to lose. I need a nap.

i like to ramble about verses and fic ideas I have no idea if anyone is interested but sometimes this stuff will pop up lol. also questions and asks about fics and verses are always welcomed, they're a lot of fun to answer

lumine

[coolcattime]

what sort of characters do you find yourself enjoying in media? and do you take inspiration for your ocs, or do you like go a different route?

Oh this is such a good question for right now because I’m like currently in development stage of a new character for an upcoming D&D campaign!

With characters in media, is honestly a question that is broad as anything but I do tend to have recurring character tones I enjoy.

I’ve before discussed my love of “older sibling (typically brothers) who are portrayed as comedic characters but have extreme angst about their dead sister”. Which is by far the most specific tone I have here.

Example of this type of character: Skipper Redbeard (Mianite), Alice Yabusame (Your Turn to Die), Laios Touden (Dungeon Meshi), Jean Pierre Polnareff (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure)

Obviously, this could just be that I enjoy protective older siblings, but I weirdly think the comedy brings a certain aspect to it – idk.

Most of the rest of the characters I’m drawn to are on a kinda spectrum.

Of the top of my head:

Mean women. This can range from “Not really mean at all but still the meanest in the room” (Reko Yabusame, YTTD) to “This character isn’t all that mean but is kind of a bitch” (Emily, Until Dawn) to “Oh my god, she’s actually insane” (Ruraka Ando, Danganronpa 3 Anime). I think this is the catorgory where Capsize fits, probably between the levels of Reko and Emily (but tbh, Emily's level varies depending on how you treat her).

For guys, the above tends to be anime villain boys. Read Nagito Komaeda (Danganronpa 2), Shuntaro Chishiya (Alice in Borderlands), Karma Akabane (Assassination Classroom).

Chishiya, I want to particularly point out the manga portrayal as Six of Diamonds made me just fall in love with this character. I have a lot of problems with how the live actions handles some of the games and characters (like I would need the rest of the manga first but I might eventually compare the games in the series to the manga just to kinda highlight the differences and the missing games).

Then there’s the opposite end of just people trying their damn best – Kaede Akamatsu (Danganronpa V3), Seong Gi-hun (Squid Game).

Oh and then my autistic beans who I relate to Gin Ibushi (YTTD), River (To The Moon), and Himiko Yumeno (Danganronpa V3 – not canon like the others, but I think she has the vibes).

For if I use characters I like to inspire my OCs – yes 100%.

Most of my OCs are developed for TTRPGs, so I want a character I’m comfortable roleplaying and have concrete ideas of at least some of their opinions. Hence, a lot of my OCs start with another character as a base.

This isn’t always true. Medli, who is kinda my main girl, was developed over a lot of months and since she didn’t need to be real to play in a couple weeks, she developed in a way not based on another character.

However, most of my characters, I will be playing without warning so I build them off pre-existing characters, so I have a voice and a couple of opinions there.

To discuss process, because again I’m building a character right now so I can present this quite easily. Development begins typically by figuring out what’s the character vibe and working out how I wanna move forward.

The character I’m currently working on (gonna call them Suzume and Hibiki right now because those are my working names), are the first time I’ve build a D&D character in a way so, that is working out a vibe and if that vibe can fit into a class.

Suzume is being written for a distinctly evil campaign. DM (my wonderful friend Atlas who also created half the OCs in the OC verse) requested evil characters, but evil characters without any real power. So we could make a mob boss, but they would need to have been deposed if that makes sense.

So I started workshopping. My original idea was to make Jinx from Arcane, high energy, explosions, complex relationship with sister. But to be fully honestly, I could not build the character I wanted in D&D (I miss my beloved pathfinder 😭😭)

Then, back to the drawing board, I was like “hmm, I’ve always played the magic classes, I think I want to try a martial class for once.” And started looking at rogue subclasses. Then I started looking at Phantom Rogues and I started to develop an idea of a character that briefly appears very innocent then they open their mouth and they are so very clearly a murder who wants to kill people.

This was originally inspired by V3’s Kiyo – but I then begun discussing the character with Atlas who presented the idea of her being similar to Yuta from Jujutsu Kaisen 0 with a dead friend as their ghost companion and hence Suzume and Hibiki rather than just one character.

Now I had the basic vibes, I started putting together my character board and I will develop her out further from these inspirations (yes, it's a screenshot, it's saved as a TIF so I can keep adding to it, and screenshoting is quicker than saving another image):

Over time, my OCs tend to become their own things. Katherine and Capsize really aren’t similar anymore, neither are Libitina Puch and Emily Kaldwin. But Sigourney, who is still quite a new OC and overall not been used as much, is still very Reko coded.

The other way to develop OCs tends to be when Atlas and I discuss OC aus. I will sometimes throw characters in as a “Fuck it, they can fit” kinda thing and develop from there.

Taurus was originally just a genderbent version of Libra made to balance genders for our Danganronpa AU, then he became such a fucking bastard that he became a separate character altogether. (Fun fact: we have three OC danganronpa games planned, Taurus is the ONLY character who appears in all three that never makes it to the halfway point AND Logan – the man who exists basically just to be a rat bastard – is in that AU).

Rupert Delaney was put into our YTTD au basically to be Mishima’ed but then… no one got Mishima’ed and Rupert ended up developing a kinda darker edge in the lengths he’ll go to protect Katherine even if he’s still a good aligned character.

Then there’s Lance De La’Fleur. A character invaded purely for the Danganronpa AU as the Ultimate Pro Wrestler. Arguably, he hasn’t developed past that but when I say I love Lance and try to put him into every AU, I mean I love Lance and try to put him into every AU (and am so very often told no)

[just-null]

Do you ever do requests? If so, do you ever plan on drawing some Yandere with the Hantengu clones? :D hope you have a good day/night!!!

Mentioning an unfamiliar name

yes!! I love yanderes.. and these guys.. these guys are such good material...... nods nods..

I'm not sure about requests..I assume you mean drawing requests? I suppose if it REALLY catches my interest enough, I'd do it, but it'd probably just be line art/sketches.

[stolenviolet]

ok ok i just stumbled upon your baby death au (and im feeling things idk what)... and just wanted to ask, what is voldy's relationship with harry here? not sure if i made sense but eh im curiousss-

You made perfect sense!

(And I hope they're good feelings? Maybe?)

As for their 'relationship' in this AU (my version anyway) well… let's just say it's complicated haha

To start, they basically just co-parent Death.

Obviously, they can't stand each other in the beginning. Being, y'know, enemies and what not, on top of navigating peace talks and treaties to end a war, isn't exactly a recipe for romance.

So yeah, nope! No butterflies in the stomach for these two (yet).

However, raising a kid together kind of forces them to adapt to one another, and that's when they start to notice the little things.

Harry notices Voldemort takes his tea straight in the mornings but prefers it a little on the sweeter side in the afternoon.

Voldemort notices Harry's love of flying and that he tends to get a bit antsy if he hasn't touched a broom in a while.

Harry notices Voldemort, while great at most things (his words not Harry's), is actually a pretty terrible cook.

Voldemort notices that Harry can only really sleep with the doors open or if there's another person in the room.(trauma from being locked alone in a cupboard, I'm sure.)

Both notice how, despite not having the best childhoods themselves, they ultimately want what's best for their son and tend to compromise on most things where he's concerned. (though this was incredibly difficult for Voldemort in particular to grasp. especially early on.)

Then came the lingering glances. The slight brushing of fingers when handing over a book. The casual teasing that leaves them both feeling bit warm.

Needless to say, eleven years of being domestic with someone, some type of affection was bound to take root and sprout. Not all at once, mind you. Voldemort is still, well…Voldemort, so there was quite a bit of emotional baggage to unpack (y'know the whole 'I killed your parents and tried to kill you' thing).

So it's not until their son leaves for his first year at Hogwarts, and they're truly left alone together for an extended period of time, that they both realize 'whoopsie! there might be more going on here than we thought!'.

Because now there's no lingering excuse of 'Well, clearly, we're only speaking/spending time with each other because Thomas is here'.

No. Now they both have to face the fact that something has been building between them.

And from there, things get a little, shall we say…romantic~

(kids out of the house, time for the parents to have some fun *wink*)

Long story short: Slow Burn, Enemies to...Co-parents? to Lovers.

[outer-andromeda]

Pretty generic question but does your player and the toys accompanying them ever have any moments where there’s nothing crazy going on in the factory and they have a moment to relax? Do they try to talk things out with the others during this time? Or is it just a moment of silence and taking in the peace of the quiet factory?

Oof, it's AU ramble time again. Also another question mix!! Hope you don't mind @an-eggs-quest & @tallahatchet (sorry for the tag sjkdfhskfhd).

Back in Safe Haven, they had tons of quiet moments, compared to what Gabby would've have while descending deeper and deeper in the factory, which was... pretty much equal to zero.

The guy took to heart what Doey told him about "catching his breath". He would want to sit around the kids, maybe manage to cheer them up a bit and get them to laugh somehow. He'd also get curious about the drawings on the wall and would want to add his little contribution. Poor guy needs to feed his artistic brain a bit lmao. I like to think the critters would be intrigued and watch, maybe some of them would even join him. And maybe they'd make a drawing all together. It distracts everyone for a little while.

Gabby tried taking things easy. As much as feasibly possible in their situation. It brought him a sense of normalcy he realized he terribly needed. And for a little while, he felt like genuinely smiling again.

After the Safe Haven incident, breaks are less frequent. The whole gang is tense from 1. everything that's already happened 2. the loss of their friends and 3. knowing they're being tracked down by Huggy and (presumably) the Prototype.

But when they find a remotely quiet and well-hidden spot, they let themselves relax. Catch some sleep. Even if just for a bit. They need the energy after all.

... Catnap usually keeps a sleepy eye on everyone. As for Gabby...

... Let's... not talk about sleep. For reasons. (Bonus rambles in the tags !)

(Pattern banners by @cafekitsune ! Thought they'd add a nice aesthetic look to the post. Might use more for future rambles.)

[aliusfrater]

(TW incest, rape and SPN discourse) Feel free to ignore this ask if it makes you uncomfortable. But what’s your thoughts on the idea of Soulless Sam losing his inhibitions and so giving into his darkest desires, and sexually assaulting Dean (which is how the vampire turning scene is read). I often see this tied to the idea that because of the incestuous deal and Azazel’s blood, Sam’s tainted and has this inherent darkness, specifically playing around the idea Sam’s sexuality is dark and perverse, and he harbours these feelings towards Dean and desires to assault him but feels shame and guilt for it. But as Soulless Sam he doesn’t. This reading always felt a little weird and uncomfortable to me but I couldn’t put into words why

okay first and foremost, fundamentals: i'm always going to dislike interpretations of canon that involve anything adjacent to ideas that 'because of the incestuous deal and azazel's blood, sam's tainted and has this inherent darkness' because much of my own interpretation of canon surrounds the idea of breaking down the hunting dichotomy of monstrosity, us vs them/innocent or hunter vs monster that subscribes to the idea of 'inherent evil' or 'unknowable darkness' as the imaginary dichotomy that it is and sam as the original monstrous character of the narrative that represents both 1) the inherent falseness of said dichotomy and 2) how the structures (patriarchal, familial, hunting, abuse etc.) surrounding this dichotomy are fundamentally rotting and are, themselves, the perpetrators of power dynamics that promote the same violence they allege to want to put an end to through the motivations and actions of his character and characters who mirror him. to think of sam as having any kind of inherent monstrosity rather than as a victim to a (quadfold, because samuel, mary, and john were victims here as well) violation of autonomy, or even within the context of sam as a victim, is to uncritically subscribe to this false hunting dichotomy that gets disproven over and over again within canon with sam at the centre (then mirrored within other characters as well) of how this hunting ideal both initially crumbles but reinforces itself. to be frank, sam's motivations are pretty transparently laid out within the arcs that he uses his monstrosity as agency (seasons two, four, six and eight) and the exploration of his motivations and actions in conjunction with other characters ideas and ideals about him as well as how they clash/contrast is majorly important to the falseness of the dichotomy. the usage of the word 'tainted' especially tickles me—this perspective is so unsubtle about its roots in purity culture and how it connects to the us vs them dichotomy, 'us' as the innocent to be protected and the noble/righteous knight that does the protecting. i'm sorry but that's just dipping your toes in the same usamerican fascism that's evident in the show. unfortunately that's not picked up, i guess. anyway the uncritical subscription to this dichotomy also results in the same thought and emotional reaction criminalisation to abuse (in sam's case, largely perpetual autonomy violation) that the narrative utilises within dialogue or filmic/cinematographic techniques within attempts to attribute sam to some kind of unknowable evil that runs in stark contrast to what the same narrative portrays sam as reacting to and what his motivation and literal actions were within these agencies. the dichotomy of monstrosity is also, an entirely unsubtle yet unexplored mirroring of actual bigotry—sam's character easily becomes an allegory for queerness, for brown people (in the context of supernatural as post-9/11 usamerican reactionary media), for other people of colour, Othered people within specific corners of societies, etc. i'm always going to view sam's character from outside of this box.

second of all, 1) this idea sounds like it's coming from a place of interpreting the show through a perspective that intends on finding aspects of canon that align with an idea of sam and dean as a ship which is something i don't like doing because it often hinges on omitting singular explorations of characters and their respective relationships with people within the way that's explored within canon in favour of what is not a canonical relationship/a cononically explored aspect of a relationship. soulless!sam's sexuality and how it differs from sam's is just as canonically explored as sam's motivations about his letting dean get turned and manipulating him about it through a lack of information. the differences between soulless!sam and sam's ideas of their sexuality is so fundamentally different and contrasting due to the 'lacking in inhibitions' factor that it becomes part of soulless!sam's monstrosity which does amount to the deciding of his (functional) execution but the way in which it works is already laid out—it fundamentally includes an aspect of satisfaction that lines up with soulless!sam's Task To Be Conquered/Completed + Self Preservation view of the world and himself. there's the misogynistic aspect/belief of Getting The Girl and/or pleasing her as an accomplishment and, further, sex as pleasure, release, and/or convenience (6.03, 6.09, 6.13, and later mentioned in 7.19) regardless of the contextual relationship between sam and his sexual partner or even consideration for the partner themselves (outside of the sex of course). sam's idea of sex is loaded with both implications of autonomy and while there’s the aspect of what He (believes is his fault) Has Done, as the interpretation seems to imply wrt how it frames the way his shame and guilt complexes work¹, but because what's been done to him and the resulting fates of the people he's had sexual relationships with (sam does believe these deaths are completely his fault and they’re fundamental to his guilt and shame complexes). there's that fundamental difference. while soulless!sam and sam are aspects if the same identity, and have the same memories and abilities—their ideas of themselves, the world around them and their values are drastically changed by a fundamental difference within their metaphysical being—the literal lack of a soul—and it presents within their differences in agencies and where they prioritise those agencies. soulless!sam’s concern was less so his brother and more so the completion of The Job and therefore the usage of his brother as the opportunity presented itself became a viable option, which is something sam with a soul would not have, and is shown to not have (3.15), executed without dean's consent. i'm just checking but we all saw the scene happen, right? sam and dean were working together, they split up, sam got there as it was happening and didn't attempt to stop it.²

2) this interpretation is just also, plainly, inconsistent with sam's character and how he changes as soulless!sam. getting off tangent but i’m poking hole here: even within the assumption of the narrative's dichotomy of monstrosity and how it manifests within sam's sexuality, there's been no expressions of these factors of his sexuality within the actual arcs that related to the usage of his abilities within his agency. his relationship with ruby Could Have worked here if not only for the fact that it represents the further extension of azazel's deed as an autonomy violation within the abusive dynamics of their relationship, down to the fact that a) she raped him and b) twas without his being under the influence of demon blood as well as the idea that their abusive dynamics perpetuates, within sam's perspective, beyond filling dean's role within his life during his grief. if sam's 'darkness' is inherent i don't think the expression of it within his sexuality would only be evident within the singular instance of his monstrosity that is unrelated to the demon blood. further connecting the idea of sam's autonomy violation as a baby to the idea of an inherent monstrosity that manifests within his sexuality then within this same idea of applying azazel's blood as a childhood sexual assault allegory, victims of csa do not inherently inhibit a sexuality that is dark and perverse as a result of what had happened to them. anyway, soulless!sam has been seen to take initiative before both on his own behalf either personally or to serve a hunt (and will be seen doing so well past his time in 6.22) as well as in his sexual relationships; there's the idea presented here that sam wants to assault dean and that the evidence is within the fact that soulless!sam, who has less inhibition than sam, lets dean get assaulted by someone else through nonaction, which just isn't canonically consistent with how soulless!sam's agency works. i think that if sam truly and deeply had a desire to rape dean and he was within a position where he lacked the moral compass³, shame, and guilt that we're assuming is the rasson for which he has not with a soul, he would have quite literally done so or at the very least initiated it himself rather taking advantage of dean being turned into a vampire as it happened. in 6.05, soulless!sam didn't set that up, he didn't time anything perfectly just so that he could get his rocks off at... watching dean be metaphorically raped when he indeed really wanted to do that ?? ²he took advantage of the situation as it happened and his reaction ties back to the idea of dean's violation + The Job as a Task To Be Solved. supernatural is also a show that loves mirrored and foiled circumstances/characters; if there was an intent to explore soulless!sam’s character as harbouring those feelings about dean then i think that there would've been a circumstance directly or indirectly involving soulless!sam, or maybe even sam after his ressurection, that narratively mirrored dean's forceful ingesting of vampire blood as metaphorical rape that places sam within the role of the abuser. back to the point, i do think the boundary crossing aspect of sam literally watching it happen and using its result is the point and ultimately a part of the gothic horror framing of the show and their relationship, but i just don't think the aspect of it being what sam 'secretly desires' is canonically supported but it does comes from an incredibly shallow or straight up noncanon assessment of soulless!sam’s character, intentions, and motivations for the purpose of (and this circles back to point numero uno) placing him within a specific role within a shipping interpretation of sam and sam and dean's relationship despite them literally being laid out for you in the show both within dialogue and action.

the thing about this interpretation is that it could be really interesting to me, especially regarding the mention of azazel's deal as 'incestuous'. i'm generally a fan of interpreting azazel feeding sam his blood + other aspects of the way it's narratively framed both regarding the inital event as well as how it perpetuated through sam's life—especially regarding azazel and john as foiled patriarchs and how the existence of the dichotomy of monstrosity within the hunting as existing synonymously with the winchester familial dynamic and how what hunting meant to sam within his childhood and how that itself is also framed by the narrative—as child sexual assault and the idea of sam allowing dean to have his own autonomy violated, despite not making the decision himself but ultimately indeed weaponsing his nonaction and omitting information (another instance that breaks the dichotomy btw. dean is a victim and he is still quite simply treated as dean both to be saved and as the saviour (which i'm not mentioning to negate him as a victim but the framing of his monstrosity is important to me)—in stark contrast, sam's identity is compartmentalised into the monstrous soulless!sam vs the sammy that needs to be saved, which is exactly what the interpretation you've described also does) could have been seen as a perpetuation of the abuse he was subjected to, much like how ruby herself as a perpetuation of azazel's autonomy violation and much of her relationship with sam runs concurrently with how sam's relationship with azazel worked—granted that dean is cured by the end of the episode and sam does admit to using dean's violation for the job one episode later. the thing is though that this perspective isn't particularly canon compliant either because, again, we're already privy to sam's what motivations were in 6.05 both in terms of knowing how soulless!sam's ideas of other people have changed with his lack of a soul + how his agency works as well as his literal confession lining up with how the audience knows his agency works.

i don't really know else to convey my ideas without just eventually regurgitating the episode in words.

there's also a hint of an uncritical adoption of dean's and the narrative's dean skew perspective in here somewhere that i can't put my finger on. like the attribution of sam's— the monstrous body—sexuality as something inherently Wrong and inherently having ill intent is very much how sam's sexual endeavours are treated by characters within the show that subscribes to the dichotomy of monstrosity, namely dean, as well as audience members who uncritically adopt his perspective + attribute it to sam's 'inherent (unknowable potential) darkness' (ultimately false ideology ->) despite the linear and canonical events including surrounding sam's character exploration. there's also that aspect of dean's rational canonical distrust of sam that translates into ³dean's re-assumption of authority over sam's autonomy that starts out as a teamwork effort while hunting but quickly snowballs (and soulless!sam lets him until it presents as a threat to his self-preservation)

as well as the careless yet somehow popular audience attribution of dean's facade to sam in an attempt to understand sam's character. there's the application of sam' soullessness outwards and onto aspects of sam's character that are crucial when he Does have a soul and the assumption that soulless!sam is what sam is 'truly like' when despite the obvious missing metaphysical factor that is a lack of a soul. there are other examples of characters without souls on the show and it's very easy to acknowledge how it might change a person. quite frankly i think it's kind of funny that they had sam be the most inherently capable soulless person on the show because even he channeled his 'lack of inhibition' into surefire agency rather than descending into a version of himself completely without agency. tbh the more i think about this answer, the more it becomes that thing where through applying an understanding of dean's character and how dean's character supposedly works to aspects of sam's character, and certain factors, his motivations in particular, are attributed to other factors of his characteristics unfaithfully, thereby flipping the roles of their relationship and woobifying the version of dean that's actually presented to us. like this perspective of sam is impossible to unravel because they have the ingredients but they're putting them together with the wrong combinations.

just quite fundamentally, this version of samdean just isn't canonically compliant which is like fine and cool and fun. if subscribing to the dichotomy of monstrosity within your interpretation of samdean as a ship makes you hard then go right ahead <3 but the pretense of canon compliance is what really irks me as usual

¹hilariously i've never seen this one in a samdean interpretation before. an uncritical adoption of sam's own guilt and shame complexes ?? usually people have the ability to see right through these even if it's not all the way to how dean affects it lol

[shkika]

W1 wombo combo Gabriel.

But on a more serious note, do V1 and V2 have differing opinions on anything? And if so, when interacting with someone, would they express both opinions equally?

They do have different opinions on some things yes! As long as they agree on how to act they are fine.

If you were to interact with W1 it’d be a terribly confusing experience. Which I love so much. They do not really care or try to make the way they work accessable to anyone outside their own head.

Inside of which VV1 constantly talks to itself. So you’d be met with mostly silence as it discussed you in detail in there. It’s very aloof and expresses contradicting opinions sometimes.

That’s because they are both quite lenient with what the other can do or say. So if V1 wants to say that rodents are fucking awesome. It will.

But then 10 minutes later you asked it what it’s favorite animal is, V2 could say that they don’t particularly care for any of them. Like at all.

And that’s fine. Both are correct.

If V1 wanted them to watch a rodent run around for 2 hours we’ll do that anyway.

VV1 can say it hates sitting still, but then you could observe it scanning books for a while.

If you had no idea it has 2 brain, W1 makes very little sense.

And W1 doesn’t care about making sense to anyone, because it’s simply happy to be itself.

[king-candybug-backup]

I saw a post recently about Roadblasters feeling like an NPD collapse for Turbo, and it got me thinking of a couple things I wanted to ask you, if that's ok? So 1, how do you do your research in regards to writing about NPD? I've done some casual googling about NPD before (just out of curiosity) but vast majority of the answers I get look like they're from people who blanket-statement the whole disorder or smth, like they appoint themselves an expert because of having experienced narcissistic abuse, but feels like they don't actually know what they're talking about. Example being smth like say I'll google "Can person with NPD change" and all answes will be along the lines of "No, they'll be awful forever because they're evil and incapable of love or improvement" (extreme example, but that's the underlying vibe coming off from a lot of what I see but it feels like a very shallow and uneducated take on it)

And 2, what would you say is the most challenging part about writing a character with NPD?

GHFGFGDSFCHG I SAW THAT POST TOO, OP is so based 😂

Okay, so, for the first question, I've had a lot of the same issues before while researching, as NPD is unfortunately still extremely stigmatized, as are pretty much all Cluster B disorders, so there's a looot of misinformed people out there throwing out random bullshit as if it's fact. Hell, even in the medical/psychology field, there's a lot of demonizing going on with Cluster B folks, so it's really about filtering out the obviously-demonizing stuff to try and find sources that are legitimately wanting to be helpful/educational. One thing I'd say for sure is, do not use Quora for this topic lmao, I'm assuming Quora is where you're getting a lot of those kinds of answers because Quora is FULL of that sorta BS. While there can sometimes be helpful answers over there, it's mostly just full of people who want to brand the entire disorder as "evil" because of their own negative experiences. And I don't say that to try and discredit the experiences of those who've suffered abuse at the hands of people with NPD, it's just that painting the WHOLE disorder as "pure evil" because of it helps LITERALLY NOBODY. All it does is worsen that stigmatization and make it WAY harder for people with NPD to actually get help if or when they need it. In a convo I've had about this with a few moots, they also made some GREAT points that, like, turning the disorder into some "boogeyman" that you can blame all the abuse on just makes people wrongly assume stuff like "Only people with [x] disorders can be abusive, therefore if I see these behaviours in people later on they must have [x] disorder" EVEN THOUGH THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS AT ALLLL, ANYBODY WITH ANY KIND OF DISORDER OR NONE AT ALL CAN BE ABUSIVE, STOP TURNING IT INTO A LABELS THING I BEG OF YOU, anyways I'm getting side-tracked, sorry lmao

One thing I would HIGHLY recommend is checking out the r/NPD community on Reddit, that community is specifically for folks that actually have NPD, and there's a lot of good discussions in there that can be helpful in understanding how it works a lot better. So like, next time you google an NPD question, try adding r/NPD into your search or something, and it should show you discussions about those topics more specifically. Listening to discussions about the disorder from people who actually have it is about as good as you can really get when it comes to this stuff, lol. I'm also lucky in that I have a friend who has NPD and has felt comfortable enough with me to open up about their struggles with it, as well as knowing an extremely talented and well-educated writer that is very well-versed in Cluster B disorders that was willing to help me out with some of the things I'd been struggling with. (I talked a bit more about that and about some general Turbo NPD stuff in this ask) Also it's important to note that people with NPD, just like anybody else, are all different and may interpret/react to things differently. (I know that may sound painfully obvious, but you would not BELIEVE the amount of people that actually think "You HAVE to behave exactly like [x, y, z] or else you don't really have NPD" unironically, lmfao)

You're also probably better off using Google Scholar search results for NPD rather than vanilla Google, since the scholar version has a higher standard of research and education involved in the kinds of results it shows you. (That being said, as I mentioned before, there's still a lot of stigmatization towards NPD even in the professional fields, so always take what you read with a grain of salt, and take into consideration the way in which people talk about NPD.)

As for the second question, tbh, all of it has been pretty hard, it's really difficult to write a character from such a different mindset that I myself have never experienced, but that's what the researching part is for, ofc! I think the hardest part for me is like, writing the "extremes" of NPD thinking in an accurate-feeling way? Like, the extremities between "narc high" and "narc crash", I feel like sometimes I put Turbo in too much of a middle ground, which isn't super accurate to how NPD generally works. 😭 (It can be easier to healthily cope with those extremes for those who've been formally diagnosed and given the proper tools and support to handle navigating this stuff more healthily, but given that I'm writing KCB from an undiagnosed/uneducated-about-it kind of angle, it doesn't quite match up as well as it probably should) Another thing that's also been kind of difficult to work with is like, Vanellope being pretty much the only one willing to hear him out and (try to) support him, because like, she is nine and should NOT be taking on that level of emotional labour, especially for somebody who wronged her so badly, and I don't want it to seem like I'm making it, like, her "responsibility" to deal with this dude's mental health problems, because it's also important to note that she really REALLY does not owe him ANYTHING and has already been WAY too gracious, all things considered asghdfjvh..... Like, yeah, part of her motivations are selfish in that "This guy is basically the only thing stopping Sinistar from eating me, I should probably stay on his good side" lmfao, but even still, it's like... yeah, just not an ideal situation, she should not have to be worrying about this stuff, lmfao. Anyways, idk man, I'm still likely getting a few things wrong here and there, I am certainly not an expert by any means, but I'm gonna do my best the whole way through, that's for sure

[jovialsnerdzone]

Hiiii . I just have a random question to ask about the Slasher au your cooking up. So what age did he kill his father? And if he was young (when he fled) does this mean he didn't get the glass eye and braces? And wth was he eating to survive?

Sorry if it's a lot of questions. You aus are so interesting, to the point I just wanna ask so much ,so I can learn everything about you aus.

Don’t apologize at all for asking!! If anything, I’m THRILLED that people are taking so much interest in my idea! I’m happy to answer any questions about it :)

So, he was roughly around 16-17 when he killed his father - around the same age as he was when the tv head incident happened (or at least, how old he was in my interpretation). And yes, that means he never got braces or got his eye removed. His teeth are still extremely crooked, and the cataract spread and completely blinded his left eye.

And for what he was eating this whole time, it was basically anything he could find in the forest. Berries, plants, small animals, maybe a fish from the lake if he’s especially lucky. He’s been entirely living off of the elements to survive since he took refuge in that cabin in the woods.

[breadandlottery]

Hi so I wanted to ask about your Gihun/Inho analysis post if that’s ok? Curious if you don’t see Inho as the antagonist as it says in the last bit he’s adversary but not antagonist? Sorry if this will not make sense English is not my first!

Your English is great, don’t apologize! This is an excellent question, anon, and something that I’ve thought a bunch about. Sorry I’m about to ramble a bit here.

So. From an in-universe Watsonian perspective, I think sure, In-ho/Frontman can be viewed as an antagonist, especially in season 2. He’s the one that our hero is trying to get to, the one that he faces off with, etc.

From an outside Doylist perspective (in my opinion) he’s definitely not capital "T" The villain or The antagonist.

So there's this concept called the myth of meritocracy or the meritocratic illusion, that argues that in capitalist systems, the ability of those on the lower rungs of the social/economic ladder to move up or jump to a higher social class based on merit is not attainable for most people. This myth benefits the ruling class in several ways:

it implies that they have earned their place at the top.

it upholds the belief that those that are struggling economically are in that position due to their own failures and not because the ruling class is exploiting their labor and hoarding resources.

it gives people the illusion of opportunity if they just "work hard enough", which pushes people to devote their labor and resources to the system, ultimately benefitting the ruling class more than themselves.

it sows division among those not in the ruling class, and gives people permission to look down on anyone lower than themselves as lazy, unworthy, etc.

Given the benefits of upholding the myth, the ruling class propagandizes. In order for the propaganda to work and maintain the myth, some people from the lower rungs do need to move up, so the ruling class can tokenize them, and say “Look, it IS possible”, and so those that move up, even a little, pledge loyalty to the ruling class and help maintain the myth.

That’s what happened with In-ho (and the recruiter to a lesser extent), and In-ho was a prime candidate for tokenizing for two reasons:

He was in law enforcement. Without going all acab on here, law enforcement generally exists to maintain the assets and safety of the wealthy, even though those who work in law enforcement are not from a wealthy background. (If you hear cops call “class traitors” or the like, this is why)

His financial trouble was a result of his wife’s illness. Even though he himself was in the same predicament as the players he calls trash, he really believes that he is better than them, because he didn’t gamble away his money or go into debt because he was lazy, stupid, unemployed, etc. This is because he believes in the meritocracy, but believes that his circumstance was different and special and unfair and everyone else's was their own fault.

So In-ho believes the myth, and he upholds the myth and the oppressive system that perpetuates it. BUT, sadly, so do many many many people who are suffering under the same system. He’s ultimately a victim of capitalism, just like the other players, the guards, the recruiter, basically everyone who is *working* and not *watching*.

From out here in the Doylist world, none of those characters are the antagonists except the game creators and the VIP/game watchers.

I believe Gi-hun understands this-- this is what he meant in telling the recruiter that he is nothing more than their dog. So if he learns how In-ho became the Frontman, he'll see that In-ho is the same. Maybe the top dog, but still a dog.

This is also why I think In-ho will have some kind of, if not redemption, at least tragic epiphany, where he realizes that the way he's justified his actions and touted the "fairness" of the games is all bullshit, and that he's ultimately no better than the people he called horses and human trash. I want an Inspector Javert soliloquy from him, to be honest. Some redemption would be nice because I like him as a character and would want that for him, and the subplot with his brother kind of sets up the opportunity for him to sacrifice himself… but we’ll see.

(I’ve considered that this perspective on the antagonists could be taken even further to make the argument that those in the ruling class are ALSO just victims of the system, and the system itself is the antagonist that we need to overcome, but I honestly don’t have coherent thoughts on that, it’s kind of a nebulous idea to me that *feels* like it might be correct but I don’t have the words/knowledge to go into depth.)

Anyway yeah sorry for the dissertation, I think this is such a great question and something I thought A LOT about after watching season 2 for the second time. It has actually pushed me to be a lot more cognizant of this concept in the real world as well (and given the current climate in the US right now it’s been VERY hard to see some of the opposition as victims of the system and not villains… but I am trying because I believe that’s the only path to a better system).

[waywardmillennial]

Oooh can you please go on PH crew tangent because I don't think I realized why that's the most expensive show they make. Like I believe them and I guess the lore scenes take a lot of work but other than that idk why it takes them a year to produce 6 episodes.

Hey nonnie! Thanks for the message (based on my prev ask). I've been rotating it in my head to figure out how best to respond - sorry if this is a longer tangent than you were looking for!

To clarify: PH is probably the 2nd most expensive show that Watcher produces. The most expensive would be GF, and that's because they have to cover travel expenses for a whole crew for multiple nights at each haunted location (also GF has the most related "spin-off" shows with Debrief, Road Files, & Evidence Room making it, in Lizzie's words "a big unbankable bitch" of a show)

There are several reasons why it takes so long to produce six episodes of PH. Part of it is Shane's time being spent on nearly every other Watcher show in some capacity, so he has less time to spend on PH. It's also probably why PH has added so many more crew members - to give Shane more time to work on everything, which in turn makes it more expensive to produce

Also, each season of PH the average runtime has gotten longer. Season Six was the longest so far at about 4 1/2 hours overall, with each episode being about 44 mins - putting it on par with many network and streaming runtimes when you think about it!

I checked the credits for PH 6x06 and there are 22 crew members listed. For example, the episode was Written by Garret Werner, Researched by R.J. Blake and has three people working on the graphics (Mike Fox, Mattea Guldy, & Crystal Cheng). And this count of 22 people doesn't include the guests or voice talent for the episode, the puppet makers (Madison Girifalco and DLUX Puppets), or any of the above-the-line producers or show elements that have been locked in for years now, like the logos or stock sound effects!

And Season Six barely had any Lore!

Special Watcher Crew Shout-Out: Charlie Clay, Editing Wizard! She worked on almost every episode of Season Six, and when I checked 6x06 only one other editor (Frank Parker) is listed. I don't know if you've ever tried to edit video, but there are so many elements that go into it and she makes it look so good!

I also don't know if you're on WTV but we're getting basically a short film's worth of Lore at the end of each Season Seven episode (the two episodes we've gotten have both been closer to the 50 min mark) so of course that's more filming time and editing in post

TLDR; Each season of PH has increased in quality and runtime, adding more crew, because Shane is working on many of Watcher's other shows, but they're still producing a full season with a crew of about two dozen people!

Note: I did want to shout-out this comment from Shane in Pod Watcher #055, when he pointed out that PH and GF are both more expensive to produce than TS. I was a little surprised to hear this, since PH doesn't have the travel expenses of the other two shows. But PH has the largest crew out of the three shows (mainly in post-production) so that must be where the difference goes

Good for Watcher for hiring and paying artists and creators!

[okay some PH quality talking points because I couldn't resist]

DISCLAIMER: I love PH and Shane! He's so creative and what he made with the early seasons is very entertaining, so these aren't meant to be critiques. But if you look an early episode (I picked 1x02 because I enjoy it so much) you can see how the show has increased in quality as the years have passed

For example, The Professor's glasses had to be held on with gaffer tape, the theatre didn't have the Watcher logo on top yet (maybe it hadn't been finalized yet? not sure) and the Pile of Diamonds was a literal sock puppet

I love the Diamond puppet! and I would die for him and his crush on the God puppet!

But when you compare these Season One puppets to ones that Madison Girifalco made in later seasons, like Asmodeous or the Hippo, the increase in quality is obvious - and it should be! Because they chose to hire a professional who specializes in making puppets instead of Shane making them on top of all his other jobs at Watcher

The early seasons was when Watcher was just starting out as a company so Shane had to do most of the jobs himself. He's credited as Creator, Writer, and Editor of 1x02, but we know he also built the early puppets and theater himself, was writing and recording the music (with help from Patrick Volker) and so much more! (remember how he had to trigger the question lights himself and pull the curtain up and down on the rope he built in?)

And I support all versions of the show because it's what Shane wanted to make with the resources he had at the time!

I don't think I've seen anyone point it out but in Season Seven it looks like the whole theater got a facelift. It looks scaled up a little to fit the larger Professor and the constellations light up now! And the curtain rolling up is much smoother too

I don't know if this build was done by Shane or with help from other crew members, but it demonstrates that Watcher is continually re-investing into their shows to add to the production quality and I respect that so much!

Edit: Also good to note that Season One was only four episodes

/end rant

[serenpedac]

Beloved Seren!! I'm curious about if you have theories/predictions about MC's condition, like from an astronomy point of view? You mentioned that you view how the energy comes and goes kind of like solar flares! And I've been predicting that the powers being too much for the MC to survive would be sort of like they were turned into a dying star...but I know like 0.1 astronomy thing and only for fic purposes lol. So I'm curious if you have an opinion/perspective/prediction on what is happening to MC? (I'm not sure if my question even makes sense and zero pressure at all to answer this haha ❤️ I just figured you would have a cool perspective on it!!)

Lovely PD, thank you for the ask <3 This is a very good question and I have been thinking about Li-Sar and the MC's power, but my theories are somewhat fuzzy.

First, the theory that is related to my comment about solar flares. One of the things that caught my attention was how often the demo mentions electricity in regard to Li-Sar's powers, while also mentioning their power is "solar magic". This made me think about the Sun's magnetic field lines, because the Sun's electric currents and magnetic field are linked closely together. Because of turbulence of the Sun's plasma, those magnetic field lines get all tangled up. This can lead to them breaking and connecting with others, a process that releases a burst of energy (magnetic reconnection, see v cool video here, though the image below is clearer), accelerating particles, and causing bursts of electromagnetic radiation: solar flares.

The radiation sickness, together the mentions of Li-Sar---and now the MC---wields solar radiation, fit with the idea of solar flares. Only it seems Li-Sar can control this, while we see that the MC cannot. Looking at Li-Sar's comment on how a human body won't be able to handle the building magic, my theory would be that the "flares", like that burst of power in chapter 2, will get stronger and more frequent, eventually tearing the MC apart. It wouldn't be the radiation itself, as that doesn't seem to be an issue so far, but rather the energy involved in powering those bursts. Obviously, I assume a solution will be found.

My second theory fits with you say about a dying star, because it could be like a supernova event! A supernova type Ia is what comes to mind, with a white dwarf (the MC) and a companion star (Li-Sar). The MC siphoned mass (this power) from Li-Sar, causing them to cross a certain threshold, which then leads to the explosion/death.

And another theory that no one asked for, but Li-Sar reminds me of an O or B type star, as they are blueish-white, fitting with the blue and white colour scheme that keeps popping up in the demo. These stars have masses between ~3 - 200 times the mass of the sun, so like Ostin said, they have the power of "a dozen suns" or even more.

Such high mass stars can end in supernova explosion without the need for a companion star. Ignoring ethical considerations and the canon lore behind the Agency not killing supernaturals, this might be a reason the Agency didn't kill Li-Sar. Their death might cause so much destruction and make the planet uninhabitable. But that's just me being speculative.

[bitter-hibiscus]

Hey hi you have piqued my interest and I would love to hear your thoughts on Jason and Roy's interaction in New Titans #20-21 :)

OKAY OKAY OKAY!!! SO THOSE ISSUES ARE SO SO SO IMPORTANT TO ME BC THEY SET THE FOUNDATION OF JASON'S RELATIONSHIP WITH AUTHORITY HERO FIGURES AND. ROY IS PRETTY MUCH THE ONLY POSITIVE ONE

Sorry for rambling about more than just Roy and Jason but I had to set a foundation for my points.

The only three people who actually speak to Jason at any point for more than a single line in those issues are Donna, Hank, and Roy.

Donna, as is plainly stated in the text, is not actually talking to Jason, but to Robin, and she expects him to act exactly like Dick Grayson does.

In the beginning of the story, this isn't particularly an issue, since Jason is very excited to be included and Donna isn't actually putting any kind of pressure on him. HOWEVER, as issue #20 progresses, it becomes really, really serious. Particularly in this scene:

Donna, who up until this point Jason generally worshipped in that way children always do, just showed him she's not only capable of extreme violence against her teammates, but also willing to completely leave the people depending on her behind. (I may not be the biggest Donna lorehead but I'm pretty sure this isn't something she does often. It is, however, what Jason sees her doing, and that's important.)

Jason, kindhearted, boneheaded Jason, immediately calls her out on this. He trusts that Donna is a capable and trustworthy hero and team leader, but the image of a perfect heroine has been broken.

Donna puts almost the... complete opposite kind of pressure on Jason that Bruce does. Bruce has trained Jason to obey, and to try and force him into a leadership role while three of your teammates are literally unconscious is, to say the least, stress-inducing to a little kid.

(oops, the Donna part got long. I have a lot of feelings about them, okay?)

The second person who interacts with Jason in those issues is Hank, who is, you know. Hank.

The first thing he says to Jason is mocking his age, which Jason seems to be pretty self-aware of in a negative way, being the only child in a group of 20-something-year-olds.

Then, he actively stops Jason from joining a fight and doing his part as a Titan:

It's the polar opposite of how Donna treats Jason in this issue. Hank sees Jason as incapable and unfit for being a Titan. It's both demotivating and incredibly insulting, especially when Jason was trying to do the right thing.

So we're 0 for 2 for grown-up superheroes being dicks to Jason.

Enter Roy Harper, stage left.

Roy is the only member of the team to both acknowledge Jason as a teammate and still speak to him like the child he is without being patronizing or mocking, despite his conflicting and complicated emotions on the mission they're going to, because Cheshire. He keeps himself friendly and inviting to Jason, forces himself to joke around, because Jason is a child who shouldn't be responsible for Roy's Whole Ordeal.

He actively humors Jason's worship and wonder of superheroes, but still jokes around with him like Jason is an equal and not a kid he's babysitting.

He offers Jason company and empathy, and encourages him to share his view of the situation, once again treating Jason as a team member worthy of being listened to, but not particularly of being in charge of anything. Jason, for his part, pays attention to what's happening with Roy, and expresses concern over what Roy's feelings on the situation might be.

(long pause to admire how beautiful Jade looks in this story. anyway)

This scene is also really important, I think. Not only for the obvious reasons of Lian Being Revealed, but because even though Roy is reeling from the knowledge that he has a child, he still has space in his thoughts to care about Jason and want him safe. Even though Jason's attempt to lighten the mood was... less than optimal. Lol. I love him so much

Jason is there for what some may argue is the biggest part of Roy's development as a character, and even though he's secondary to everything that's happening, Roy still considers Jason an important part of the situation. He still takes Jason into account, despite desperately wanting answers from Jade.

I have nothing to say about those panels but look at them. my babies. jason is so so worried. his new friend is not ok and he cant help :(

TLDR: Jason's interactions with most adult heroes are.. pretty bad, (Not all. Shoutout to my men Joey Wilson and Garfield Logan,) but Roy is a major exception to that rule. He's compassionate and funny and a hurricane of emotions, and he's the first adult outside of Batman and Nightwing to canonically show Jason a little bit of kindness. While not in any way backed by canon, I do think that Jason's interactions with Roy filled him with determination to be a good hero and earn other people's trust. Those two issues have very small interactions, but I do believe they're some of the most important pieces of original Robin Jason content, largely due to Roy's presence.