#which I headcanoned anyway but it's nice to have canon basis for things

[penofwildfire]

Nya can't be more than 3 years older than Lloyd, y'all ever think about that? Like it's impossible. Because we know she was 3 when her parents disappeared, meaning Wu had to give Ray the map to the Golden Weapons before that happened, meaning Garmadon had to try to steal the Golden Weapons before that, and we know Garmadon was there when Lloyd was born because of things Misako has said so he can't be in the Underworld before Lloyd is born. Meaning Nya is either 2 or 3 years older than Lloyd (depending on when her 4th birthday would be), but cannot be older than that.

This is very helpful knowledge but also complicates things a bit.

[fancyfade]

Thinking of the way that fandom perceives Dick and Damian's relationship vs Bruce as Damian's relationship as very different even though there are really more similarities than we often give them credit for.

Like this is b/c I saw a fanart where someone was like "oh mean Bruce ignoring Dick when he got injured, nice Dick comforting Damian when he got injured" but... canonically, the Dick and Damian one has no basis.

We see Bruce emotionally lock dick out after Dick gets injured in robin: year one. we see Dick ignore Damian when Damian is shot in Batman and Robin 2009, focused mostly on talking to Jim Gordon and then going to England to lazarus-pit Bruce. Even in Battle for the Cowl, Dick doesn't comfort Damian, he just talks to Alfred about how he realizes Damian is his responsibility after Damian gets shot, then leaves to fight Jason. Dick's experience with Bruce after being injured as a child would be that Bruce emotionally locks up and is avoidant and controlling (saying he can't be Robin anymore). Damian's experience with Dick after being injured as a child would be that Dick is more focused on the mission than on him and absent. Which, I think the generally being absent is easier for the fandom to imagine something else happened than being emotionally locked up and controlling, because you can just say 'oh well maybe dick comforted Damian behind the scenes'. And it's fine to make that headcanon! I sure prefer it to what we have in canon! But that doesn't change what we actually see in canon.

I also see fandom reasonably drag Bruce for viewing Damian as something that needs to be fixed and a threat in B&R 2011... But Dick also views Damian as someone with an arrogant supervillain sneer and someone who needs to be saved by him in B&R 2009 (and the dialogue is when Damian is not there, but Dick doesn't have reason to believe he's in danger). He talks over comms to other people about Damian "See what I have to put up with?" (when Damian is still on the comms and can hear) Even if the most fluff Dick and Damian canon thing we have, Nightwing Must Die, Dick throws Damian to the ground in frustration when Damian is getting on his case (Verbally) and then yells at him, like I know if Bruce did that fandom would have his head XD like this isn't to Dick hate, it's to point out how fandom often glosses over the instances where Dick views Damian similar to how Bruce does, or when Dick is rude, for a 2-D "Dick good Bruce bad" sanitized fluff that does not really exist in canon.

anyway I wish fandom would let them both be complicated people and not demonize 1 or the other. they each can have good moments and bad moments, and good writing and bad writing.

[edwinspaynes]

share your hcs about Anna please! :D

I'll give you some Anna and Matthew headcanons because that's what I've got! It's the primary context through which I think about Anna, lol, so.

They try out new clubs and salons every month and see which ones they like. The Hell Ruelle may be their favorite, but they have other haunts, too.

Matthew constantly lends Anna nice clothes to wear out, and she lends him some periodically, too, when they fit. She has all of her men's costumes tailored to frame her curves better, and this leads to them not always fitting Matthew's masculine frame.

They have tea and gossip about everyone in London once a week.

Anna is one of the first people Matthew came out to, and Matthew is one of the first people that Anna came out to.

Anna was always trying to warn Matthew away from certain men and women that she knew wouldn't treat him properly, but this just gave him fuel for his self-destructive tendencies. She never figured it out.

She definitely yelled at Kellington once or twice.

Every time Matthew had some passion that didn't pan out, Anna would show up at his door with a Charlotte Russe cake (canonically Matthew's favourite dessert per an old newsletter). They would each grab a fork and eat it straight from the tray, no slicing necessary.

Matthew admires Anna because of her "hardness" and seeming inability to get a broken heart. Matthew always has a broken heart. It feels like an impossibility to him. Little does he know...

Matthew helped Anna decorate her flat when she first moved in. He took the job very seriously and did all in his power to make the tiny space look aesthetically pleasing. He made sure there was a lot of natural light to bounce around the space and gave her old plush furniture from the Devil and his own house.

When Virginia Woolf gave Anna Percival, she didn't tell Matthew. Instead, she invited him over and put him in the entryway of her home. Matthew almost pissed himself and screamed bloody murder, but eventually thought it was a hilarious lark when he calmed down. He was proud of her.

Matthew would give Anna things that made her feel more masculine as a child. There's some canon basis here, what with him handing her menswear in EET. But like, if there was a party with "boy favors" and "girl favors," he'd trade with Anna. It was no problem for him - he secretly liked the frills and flowers anyway.

After ChoT, Matthew plans meticulous romantic dates for Ari and Anna. He lets Anna take all the credit, of course, and Ari swoons.

Matthew is Anna/Ari's first child's godparent.

Matthew and Anna go to Paris together every couple of years as adults. Even when they live far apart, they make it a point to meet there sometimes. Periodically, Thomas and Alastair come along, as do Ari and Matthew's partner. It's basically the Big Gay Club France Meetup. They have croissants.

Writing this out has made me remember how much I love their friendship, lol. Thank you.

[everythingsinred]

27, 12, 42 for the ask game

i'm not sure if i have to ask for a character or you get to pick one but how about this for natsume and mikan

nice! thank u for asking!

Natsume

12. Crack headcanon? he uses axe bodyspray and is really scared of bugs after his encounter with yakumo during the new year's arc. i have NO evidence for either, just a vibe.

27. Their guilty pleasure? idk if i can think of anything he'd be actually guilty or ashamed about? boy reads yaoi and shoujo in class without even a flicker of shyness so i don't think there's much he's ashamed of.

42. 3 comfort items? the healing alice stone his mother gave him, the little pebble of an alice stone mikan gave him, and the hourglass ruka gave him for his birthday. i think those items would make him feel a lot better, if for no reason other than bc he likes the reminder that those people care about him.

Mikan

12. Crack headcanon? see idk abt the "crack" part bc i just consider that "headcanon with no real basis in canon," not necessarily something ridiculous so if i'm using that wrong... oh well. anyway, i feel like she'd be a fan of disney channel original movies

27. Their guilty pleasure? idk if this counts but once she and natsume are dating, she spends an embarrassing amount of time trying to think of cute date ideas for the two of them, which she's only self-conscious abt bc of how little she cared about romance before. it's the only thing i can think of rn--mikan wouldnt have a lot of guilty pleasures either i dont think.

42. 3 comfort items? DEPENDS on the time period ig, but i know her promise ring with natsume/natsume's alice stone, the letter she received from her jii-chan, and i think her genie's lamp from the special ability labyrinth.

Send me character asks if you'd like!

[cursemewithyourkiss]

you've spoken a little about holmes headcanons... what do you think of autistic and/or adhd holmes? it's technically still a headcanon, albeit an extremely popular one that i think has a lot of canonical basis.

ps i agree with you on aroace holmes, and tbh i find it a bit hard to engage with any fan content sometimes since i often feel i'm in a very different universe when it comes to my interpretation of him. it's nice to see i'm not alone in this. i was starting to feel gaslit lol :)

Hi! Always happy to talk about Holmes!

I have honestly no idea whether I'm neurodivergent or not, so it's not something I feel as strongly about, nor can I therefore make as good a judgement of, but I can definitely see it! As you said, there is a lot of canonical basis, and it's honestly quite hard to argue against. Such things often went undiagnosed in those times anyway—and indeed still sometimes do today—which I think adds to the validity. If someone can see themself in Holmes like that I think that's really cool! I personally like the idea as well as I think it makes his character more interesting and as I know there is quite an overlap between neurodivergency and being aroace.

I totally understand that! I feel the same way. Glad you feel a bit more seen. I know there's more of us out there but it does feel like a small minority...

[ghostofnibelheim]

A note from a secret admirer: I admire how you RP Sephiroth! I've read your headcanon on his love language of knowing the little things about him (his order in particular) and it made me think. That probably has some canon basis! In Crisis Core, when Genesis was reading a verse from LOVELESS, Sephiroth knew exactly which act it came from. English ver made this sweet thing hard to pick up on, since it made Seph even more sarcastic than he was in Japanese. It seemed like an important trait to show how thoughtful he is. He would probably admire someone who does a similar thing for him.

//Why thank you for your sweet words! Reading this honestly made me go back to re-read my headcanons too. Amazing how some had almost gone forgotten in my mind.

The headcanon you mention came, I think, from a dash game, one of those personality quizzes. It’s always a nice feeling when the results actually match your idea of the character. Sephiroth did certainly care a good deal about Genesis, possibly enough to read the epic himself. But it’s also very possible that the man quoted the book so many times, it got stuck in his head (I think Sephiroth actually said something along those lines in the training room cutscene, didn’t he?).

At the same time I’m not so sure if Sephiroth would be impressed by someone who knew him well. With how famous he is as a celebrity, complete with his massive fan club, I’m quite sure many facets of his privacy have been leaked and ravaged on by his many obsessive fans. Much like in modern times, parasocial relationships were probably a thing he had to deal with and reject time and time again. I imagine after meeting the upteenth girl claiming she knows everything about him, he’d be sick and tired of hearing it.

Of course this is all speculation and headcanons since the lore left so many holes in Sephiroth’s character and his life, so it’s really up to your personal take and flavor what he’d be impressed by. Personally, my portrayal of Sephiroth has him crave two things the most: the unconditional love akin of that of a mother for her child (or his idealization of it, anyway), and just as importantly: to feel actually needed. It is a tough life in ShinRa, a place where he was raised and “programmed” to meet expectations out of his own control. His superiors give his service for granted, and his subordinates keep a safe distance in respect. For being praised as a hero, Sephiroth feels pushed away from all sides.

Someone who can make him feel loved and able to fill an irreplaceable role in their life would represent true salvation for his yearning heart. And perhaps this want is also his own doom, paving the road to the epiphany of madness and destiny he will conjure for himself once his whole world shatters in Nibelheim.

Dr. Saru\\

[genshinology]

Hii hot babe~~ *leans against a trash can*, can i request a headcanon where xiao (or any other genshin characters that u would love to write abt them) comforting their s/o who likes to bottle up their feelings and at some points, they just can't keep their normal demeanour and broke down. THANKS BESTIE<333333 ily~~

THEM COMFORTING THEIR S/O.

ft; ayato and xiao.

notes; omg kai what's wrong with you and this ask. I'M WHEEZING WITH THE UNNECESSARY TRASH CAN PART. anyways, i am truly sorry for the long wait (pretend like we're not irl friends haha) and i am going to put ayato here for you just because (iykyk) <3

+ it's my first time writing in 'headcanon' format so i am truly sorry if i did awful <33

AYATO.

so, kamisato ayato, or better known as a busy guy who dislikes small talks.

the only thing he thinks of is work 24/7 and trust me, when it comes to his own s/o, he swears he tries his best but work often comes up every single time he wants to spend his "free" time with you.

he never has a free time, sometimes he just makes an excuse to go and do little things with you.

which honestly makes he feels very bad because all he wants to do is asking you how your day goes, wants you to tell him countless events that have happened but he just couldn't, often restricted to his own workload that he accidentally neglects you.

nevertheless, he swears he tries his best to find the perfect timing with you.

you, on the other hand, are so understanding of his position of course. he is the commissioner, the head of kamisato clan. of course you slowly tone down your own selfishness of wanting to be with him all the time and your own feelings, because no matter how many times he apologises to you, you give him a smile and say it's alright, the people need him more than you.

until one day, when you went a terrible and horrifying day, from being lectured at for submitting the trading reports late to the shogun to accidentally got the dango milk spilled onto your kimono by a nearby vendor.

even your hand fan went missing—the precious hand fan ayaka gave you as her gratitude of being the source of happiness in ayato's life—got stolen whilst you running an errand to help yae publishing house.

you come back to the estate, exhausted and frustrated, feeling on the edge as ayato quickly holds you in his arms, noticing the way your eyes are lifeless, unlike your usual persona.

cue, "darling, are you fine?" oh he definitely calls his s/o darling, little one, angel, etc. on daily basis

"huh?"

"angel, look at me," he will definitely lift your chin, eyes worrying seeing you pliantly follow his orders without your precious smile given to him, "you look tired and sad," you feel so emotional having ayato treats you this way. it is nice to feel him holding you like a gentleman he is.

and it ends up with you giving him a big hug, before ayato pats your head multiple times and catches off guard when you muffle your crying noise and tears on his white uniform.

it breaks his heart to see you in this light, reminding him how bad he is as a partner, "keep on crying, little one," he doesn't care whether his outfit is ruined by you, all he wants you to know that his darling is loved by him as he reciprocates the hug with a comforting one.

he knows he is bad with words, especially when it comes to romantic relationships, but hopefully, his actions are more than enough to convince you that he will always by your side whenever you need him the most.

"people cry not because of their weak heart, they cry because they have been strong for too long," he gives a peck to your forehead and it oddly calms your racing thoughts, "so are you, angel," canonically ends your day with him being clingy by your side the entire night because he is worry about you and often reminds you that you should come at him when you feel at your lowest.

oh, i forgot to mention, he will definitely cook dinner under ayaka and thoma instructions if that what makes you feel happy again.

ugh i want ayato so bad it hurts

XIAO.

xiao, xiao, xiao, our emo and angsty boy.

first thing to note, he is either really awkward and shy when in a relationship other than those platonic ones, or, he just maintains his cool and the 'tsundere' vibe. there's no in between.

and i, wholeheartedly believe in the latter. the 'does not care from the outside but has a soft spot for you in the inside', he is rightfully in this trope.

he may know you as an extroverted, often the first one to reach him out, the first one to strike an empty yet random and interesting conversation, basically the first one to do all kind of things with him, the first one to confess and yes, you are the first one to ask him out as more than friends, as an official couple.

he may know you as a hard-headed person, he couldn't count how many times he rejected you, because he didn't want to get emotionally attached with any mortal figures, yet you would ask him, again and again, for him to accept you.

constantly and lowkey provoking him that he was being immature, because you promised him that spending his days with you would bring joy towards his solitude, dull life. that he should open up his heart more, and you did say that he shouldn't worry about his main concerns and instead focused on what was happening and living the current moment to the fullest.

surprisingly, he was sold when you said that. the constant efforts had finally paid off and you were practically flaunting to everyone at the inn that xiao was yours back in your earliest days in an official relationship with him.

despite him living for decades, he is such an amateur and so inexperienced in this weird yet loving relationship.

especially when you are the one initiating romantic things once again, and those moments actually make his heart beating uncontrollably fast.

imagine his shock, and confusion, when he sees you acting cold after you are back from your daily commissions back in liyue harbor.

it's hard, but xiao tries to approach you, although there are no words coming put from him, he tries to ask you why you are acting like this.

it shouldn't hurt him, but the way how you accidentally give him a scowl, as if you mentally say to him that he shouldn't have come closer, makes his heart almost drops, it pains him seeing you suddenly becoming like this when he perfectly knows that the way you treat him is unintentional.

it takes him some courage to finally voice out, and although his words are only, "hey, are you fine?" or, "did something happen?"

it means a lot to you hearing them directly from xiao.

and you become so emotional that you actually break into tears, "xiao," your whiny voice makes his heart shattered. oh, he did get emotionally attached to you alright. you do make him feel dejected when you aren't being a ball of sunshine towards his life. he never knows that it would hurt this much.

the only rational and logical thing to do is making you lay down on his lap after he signalled you to do so.

caresses your hair and cheeks occasionally, and hearing you patiently as you pour your heart content to him, much unlike xiao who you already knew.

how people treated you like a servant beforehand, and you emotionally and socially exhausted when accepting those commissions of doing this and that.

it hurts xiao hearing how you were being mistreated when you are just a mere adventurer, "i'm here," despite your teary eyes, you couldn't help but find this awkward side of his to be cute.

all flushed red for you to see yet he is avoiding your eyes. i'm screaming T-T

"call my name, if you only need help of course," he awkwardly plays with your fingers, before you give him a cheeky and sly kiss to his reddening face, "i love you, xiao. that means a lot."

xiao doesn't understand the meaning behind your words, he only did this and said a couple of things but you already appreciate his actions that much.

maybe if he does more to comfort you, maybe he could drown himself with your kisses.

he doesn't mind it though if that what he gets from you.

extra notes; thank you for 500 followers everyone! this is more of a filler post—and my first work in 2022—until my new ayato fic is released (stay tuned <3) reblogs are greatly appreciated as always!

all rights reserved © genshinology 2022 strictly on tumblr only. any form of wrongdoings under the copyright law is strictly prohibited.

[mrs-nubenueve]

What are your top three headcanons or for any character/show/movie/piece of media you have them for?

Ooooh, nice! We’ll keep it Hq!! for relevancy~

Kenma has nice cars. This is one I had to wrestle with myself on, considering he’s a Tokyo bby and his most familiar mode of transportation is most likely the public one. But, time-skip wise, he definitely has the money to splurge. And maybe high school volleyball traumatized him to the point where, out of spite, he’s vowed to never walk anywhere again (I’m sure the experience of riding on public transportation didn’t sway his resolve, either). So, yes, I like to believe he’s got some trendy cars. I imagine models like Toyota Supras or even Acura NSX’s—sleek, fast. They don’t have decals, and they aren’t chrome wrapped (I wish), but they’re shiny and dark and absolute beauties.

Imagine the gang decides to meet up for some McDonald’s. They’re waiting up. Suddenly someone’s like, “Who tf brought a Corvette stingray to the McD’s??” And, of course, it’s Kenma. Kenma, in all his messy-haired, raggedy-clothed glory. Hinata, passenger princess, pops his head out from the window with the largest grin on his face. 

And if Kuroo ever wants to go cruising, sure, Kenma concedes and tosses him the keys. But he says, to Kuroo’s horror, “Start up the Nissan.”

Akaashi’s long-hair is a choice. I think a lot of fans interpret time-skip Akaashi’s long hair as something he has because he just can’t find the time to cut it. And I definitely can see that being canon; it feels in-character, for sure. But I’ll offer a different perspective. A lot of the time-skip characters were given haircuts—probably to signal their maturity/aging. It might even be because it’s a trend right now in Japan, to have shorter hair (can’t say for sure, though). Whatever the case, Akaashi was one of the few who didn’t get this haircut treatment. But if you want to hit me with, “Well, that’s because it couldn’t get any shorter without us rioting”—you know what. Yeah. I’ll give you that one.

Anyways, his hair is probably one of the first things we all noticed when we saw his time-skip design. It’s a major change. And it’s lovely! It looks deliberately styled (if fluffy), not as if he’s too busy to take care of it. For Akaashi, who wanted to right-off-the-bat work in a ‘traditional’ literature department, it makes sense to me that he perhaps wants to experiment with longer hair—something that also holds traditional significance in Japan. I’m also of the mind that his parents are strict fellows and think that, while they could enforce their expectations/rules on him as a minor, they disapproved of their son running around with long hair. So, that’s why we see this change in adulthood only. 

Kiyoko had to like Tanaka in high school!! OK, OK. I know this one seems like it’s coming out of left field, but I’m putting it on here because I genuinely do find myself wondering about their relationship on a regular basis. Maybe ethnocentrism blinds me when I say this, but I don’t find the idea of “I’m gonna keep trying until she falls for me” romantic at all. Especially considering the fact that Kiyoko legitimately showed no interest in Tanaka, ever, and his and Noya’s gushing over her typically centered on her appearance. Another disclaimer: maybe I’m missing something that’s portrayed differently in the manga, which I began reading at the nationals arc because I wanted to know what happened after the events of s1-4 of the anime. But, yes, Tanaka’s fanning over her felt like a running gag retconned into seriousness. And for me to reconcile their relationship, I have to believe that Kiyoko in her journal was secretly doodling “K+R” and “Tanaka Kiyoko” in hearts. We love a cool, calm, collected love-struck queen.

[potahun]

(i continue to be anon bc i don't want the asks coming from my main and not my pokemon sideblog but hi i made the alain art and had the ask about the tsme tag last time! i return flaksdjf)

idk if you're still taking tsme asks bc technically the months ends today? so if you don't get to this that is. totally totally cool

but i was wondering if you have like. headcanons or ideas or anything about connections between oras (esp the delta episode) and tsme acts 2 and 3?

basically i'm novelizing tsme rn and i've got the first act done but the second one has me kinda stumped bc what is the logic behind magical staircases activated by rainbow rocks and all of that shit flkasjdf and there's so much lore potential but idk how to Lore and so much more one could do with steven's character then what is properly done in the anime so idk i was just wondering if you had suggestions or headcanons to get my brain gears going flkasdjf sorry if this is a weird question

gonna flat out admit that i never even got to play the delta episode so. struggling haha

anyways also just wanted to say tysm for doing tsme month and providing sm content it's literally the happiest i've felt in the pokemon fandom in what feels like forever it was just so nice to see that other people like tsme too! this was so much fun even just to follow along and i had a great time :DD

First thing first, I TOTALLY GET THE FEELING im on secondary blog too, so I can never do asks from potahun and it makes me sad sometimes ;__; but HI! Thank you so much again for the lovely tsme month art aaaaaaa

Secondly, your ask is hitting me right on the head like a whack-a-mole, because I DO have a lot of thoughts about oras being linked to TSME 2-3 and I am so happy to be able to talk about it all :D

I already used this headcanon as the basis for The Elevator Pitch (sorry for the self-promote here) and set out details in the end notes of that fic But the narrative I believe to be true (and I dont believe ive seen it before) is:

The Megalith originally landed in Kalos through unknown means (from space?) and was used by AZ as the core of the Ultimate Weapon. (headcanon)

Firing the Ultimate Weapon poured energy - a mix of Pokémon life energy and Megalith energy - onto Kalos which mutated certain rocks into Mega Stones. (canon/headcanon)

After regretting his acts, AZ hid the Ultimate Weapon, and possibly broke the Megalith into pieces, to avoid another UW and one part was moved to Hoenn. (headcanon)

Some people accepted to keep the Megalith in Hoenn (headcanon) But with its Primal Energy, the rock caused trouble with Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza (canon). In this overall chaos, Mega Stones appeared in Hoenn: Rayquaza does Mega-Evolve and make attacks rain whenever it detects the Megalith. Does that mix of Megalith+Pokémon energy do the same thing to rocks as the UW did? Maybe. (headcanon/canon)

To avoid having Hoenn wrecked constantly, some people must have hidden the Hoenn part of the Megalith in a system that we see in TSME2. (headcanon) I am not sure how the rainbow stairs work either. Could be Mega-Evo energy-powered technology from back in the days. Or magic. Either way, that Megalith is hidden in Hoenn, and the key to it broken into two halves. (canon) 

AZ could have been in Hoenn to witness the Rayquaza phenomenon (basically canon) and taken half of the key with him back to Kalos. (headcanon) As he is Fleurdelys’ ancestor, this could explain why Fleurdelys found half of the key (while Daigo found the other) in TSME2 (canon)

The other half of the Megalith is left in Kalos, hidden within the Anistar Sundial. (headcanon)

Based on this, one could say the Megalith is “the root of Mega Evolution”

Most of these headcanons are based to an extent on canon information or would fit within canon narrative: For instance, we have canon indications from ORAS that AZ has been in Hoenn (tree near Cave of Origins, and Zinnia’s dialogues). Also, in XY games, the Anistar Sundial is shrouded in mystery, but is linked to Mega Evolution, and is rumoured to be from outer space (Megalith?) Also, in XY&Z, the Megalith headed straight for the Anistar Sundial in order to absorb it: given Fleurdelys’ plan (in-game) to revive the UW, that would tie the loose ends together and make a coherent narrative (i.e. the Hoenn-Megalith wants to fuse again with the Kalos-Megalith and their fusion + whatever process Fleurdelys made the Megalith undertake, together, “revive” the UW and destroy Kalos). Also! Devon used Pokémon life energy to create Infinity Energy, inspired by the story of AZ and the Ultimate Weapon. But why did Devon never somehow create Mega Stones through that process? Life energy itself is not enough; they lacked the Megalith. etc. 

I believe this theory holds up fairly strongly, but there is of course speculation involved. I hope it can spark some ideas...? :’)

As for Daigo’s role within this big conspiracy theory, I also have my take on it in The Elevator Pitch :’D but that is NOT canon and is just one take among many possibilities haha 

In any case, good luck with your writing process aaaaaa!! And thank you again for this ask!! I am so, so glad if you enjoyed tsme month ;w; and thank you so much for telling me that you did. *holds heart* It was such a pleasure for me to scream, reminisce and share the love for tsme as well, and it was so nice to see all the warm responses, to see that it’s been years but people still care about the source material. Even without tsme month, I hope tsme continues to be loved by all

[martelldoran]

unsolicited tfatws opinions because i have them vol. 1

warning: here be spoilers

starting on the positive because there were things i did like in the episode

things i liked

sam wilson: *exists*

me:

sam's storyline was definitely the strongest of the two in this ep and i liked pretty much everything he did.

the opening aerial fight! was! so! cool! seeing batroc again was a nice nod to tws too and an interesting parallel to steve's lumerian star fight. i loved seeing his quick tactical thing, seeing how he fights, and the way he utilises the wings even in close quarters.

sam speaks arabic!

sam fixes redwing! (validation of a hc of mine that he's good with robotics. maybe that's a widely held fandom one as well? idk)

i instantly found torres to be really endearing and i'm looking forward to seeing more of him throughout the series. the relationship between him and sam has a lot of potential.

the manipulation of the government and general set up for sam's storyline felt strong. good basis for a story and pertinent to the current political landscape.

sam's speech as he handed over the shield was well written and gave me the same kind of vibes as the 'the price of freedom is high' speech. they could be quite nicely paralleled side by side.

sam's family! look, i'm a sucker for domestic moments for our faves so the entire sequence where we got this insight into sam's past, his relationship with his sister, and where he's come from was brilliant. i like sarah a lot and seeing her frustration with her brother for trying to come in and fix things when he's been gone for so long felt really realistic. i felt for her a lot. because you can tell there's so much there bubbling under the surface, a mix of love and resentment and frustration that was palpable as they talked about what to do with their parents' house/boat/business. so, give me all of the sarah wilson moments pls n thnx.

seeing the consequences of the snap (hi, i am refusing to call it the fucking blip. marvel, my god, get better names for shit.) idk how in depth they're really going to go into it all but at least they attempted something here with the scenes at the bank.

bucky's nightmare sequence as the winter soldier. it was such a brilliant reminder about how terrifying tws actually is. he's silent and ominous and THAT MUSIC. his presence is legitimately unsettling from the moment you see him. (but he runs around like a bull in a china shop which does make me 🤔 when i remember he's supposed to be a g h o s t s t o r y. idk. not exactly stealth and shadow work. but that doesn't look cool on screen so 🤷🏻‍♀️)

and on that note, vindication of my 'they sleep on the floor after coming back' headcanon. literally had raymond holt screaming in my head the second i saw bucky wake up on his living room floor. does my heart break for him? yes. was i smug about being right? also yes.

leah seems cool. could she actually be telepathic??? since she hit every single one of bucky's boats while they played battleships? i would like to see it. 😂 there's def more to her character than meets the eye since she's slated to be in all six episodes.

bucky having one (1) old man friend even if the reason behind it was heartbreaking.

so, yeah. these things i genuinely liked.

things i didn't like

the therapy scene. i genuinely hated it. there's a different between a no nonsense therapist and someone being deliberately antagonistic and that definitely erred on the side of the latter imo. she tells him to 'get over it' and mocks him for not reaching out and meeting people. media in general doesn't do a good job of depicting therapy so this is just yet another poor offering into the canon. i'm tired. i want healthy depictions of therapy already. it's supposed to be a supportive environment ffs.

plus she kept calling him james 🤮 genuinely wouldn't be surprised if she turns out to be a bad guy plant. which i think is a cliche at this point? 🤔

bucky's new look. which i know we've seen before now but i've not offered my unsolicited opinion on it. it's just sebastian stan in an ugly leather jacket. it's generic male lead#346. it's broification. someone said they made him look like brock rumlow and now i can't unsee it. 😭 rip to bucky with the good hair. i'd have loved to see him with some curls tbh. or a wave that kind of calls back to his pre-war days. anyway. i digress. character design is 0/10.

would have been nice to see him cut his hair as a marker of him starting a new chapter and coming into his own personhood.

rhodey's disability was just? glossed over? no visible assistive tech at all?

the date. just the fact it was there at all. it was heavy handed and not subtle and we know why they put that in there within the first 10 minutes of bucky's screen time. that's all i'm going to say about it. if you follow me, you know where i stand. we don't need poorly written romance. get it in the bin.

there was no acknowledgement of bucky's relationship with steve. if there was a memorial to be had then bucky should have been there. maybe these will come later but i'm not holding my breath.

is steve dead? i assumed that the party line was that young steve died in the battle and no-one knew about old steve . but did they actually kill steve off-screen? what a kick in the teeth if that's the case. let me just cut open a wound for them to pour the salt straight into, shall i?

things i'm mostly neutral on

john walker. he looks like a cop and his wink at the camera gave me the creeps but i'm interested to see how that pans out. i hope sam beats 50 shades of star spangled shit out of him.

the flag smashers. premise of a world without borders is interesting and a believable concept given what's happened in universe. there's a lot of scope there i think. that said, the name is dumb.

right. i think that covers everything for now. my expectations going in were really low, i won't lie. before the premiere i tried to stay away from the trailers and tv spots and the hype in general so i was pleasantly surprised at how much i enjoyed certain aspects of the show.

in conclusion, some good, some bad, some ugly and i will be cherry picking my favourite nuggets for fic at a later point. also, i'm still a skrull!Steve truther. real steve is chilling with some wakandan goats 😌💖✨

[deadwriter16]

Got another one for you :> 001 kirimina 002 yaomomo 003 aizawa, all might, present mic, midnight, and thirteen

yay more!! keep 'em coming lol

for this ask game: https://deadwriter16.tumblr.com/post/668336716376080384/question-meme-001-send-me-a-ship-and-i-will

001: kirimina

when I started shipping it if I did: during the overhaul arc. what can i say i am a sucker for childhood friends/acquaintances

my thoughts: underrated as hell?? they're so freaking adorable

What makes me happy about them: they encourage each other to be better and inspire and support each other as well

What makes me sad about them: that toxic shippers make them seem so awful when in reality they have a decent amount of canon basis and they're really cute

things done in fanfic that annoys me: making kirishima seem more wimpy than he actually is once they're in UA (he gets a confidence boost and him and mina are 100% actual friends now!!)

things I look for in fanfic: i dont read fics of them but if i did i know i'd want to see fics of mina admiring kirishima cuz thats cute

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: mina: jirou, hagakure, ochako, bakugou, kaminari, sero (she has chemistry with everyone ok) - kirishima: kaminari (im not a big kirishima shipper lol)

My happily ever after for them: they get together really fast and they're the first people in class 1-A to get married, which means they get the hugeass party thrown for them and their wedding is wild. they get some pets and some kids and are also kickass heroes

who is the big spoon/little spoon: they switch like. every night. neither of them can make a decision so they just wing it

what is their favorite non-sexual activity: i think they'd be really into like. watching sports together. like going to baseball games or watching games on tv and stuff. i feel like they'd get really into it

002: momo

How I feel about this character: very good. i love momo. she's a badass and deserves more screen time cause she's actually awesome. girlboss !! anyway in seriousness i think she's really great and underrated and she's so sweet and so kickass and i love her

All the people I ship romantically with this character: todoroki, bakugou, jirou, uraraka, shinsou, iida, kendo

My non-romantic OTP for this character: kaminari & momo

My unpopular opinion about this character: i actually think. her costume isn't that oversexualized. it's definitely revealing and she's definitely written badly in general, but in-universe i think its fine

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: more screen time??? more on the todoroki-momo relationship too cause they have a nice dynamic but its like never mentioned again and i think they work really well together

my OTP: i can't pick between momojirou, todomomo, and iidamomo

my cross over ship: don't have one

a headcanon fact: momo likes to learn about/how to do things her friends/crushes/partner(s) like because she wants to be closer to them by learning the things they love. its very endearing

003: characters

present mic, all might, aizawa, thirteen, midnight

[pilferingapples]

Bodycanons ask: Lesgle or Joly and/or Lesgle and Joly!

sdlfsdklgh had this 90 percent done and then we lost power /internet TWICE

Extremely Legle Post

anyway BOGO headcanons XD

Legle/Lesgle/Laigle/Bossuet

Headcanon: he has almost passed any number of law classes, but Something always comes up before exams-- a death in the family, a financial disaster, an arrest, a severe injury or illness , someone else being arrested or injured or ill and needing help, etc, etc (he was really very relieved the time it turned out the Semester's Disaster was just Marius Pontmercy) . He may be nowhere near graduation, but he is very well-informed about a lot of classes and has a semi-lucrative gig going where he either tutors nervous young students or, more often, does a lot of their work outright-- a thing that might trouble his conscience if he or anyone whose opinion he values thought law school was anything but a joke.

Heartcanon: he's actually got sort of a fondness for some of the nights he's spent/ still sometimes spends just wandering around outside, no particular home to go to, nowhere to be. He's not about to romanticize it; he'd be the first to say that it really depends on the weather and he knows there is a huge difference between being out on the street when he knows, really, he could go stay with any of a dozen friends, and being out on the street and having zero idea where his next solid bed is, he's experienced a Wide Range of situations on that scale and he knows , and he's also quite sure already that what's sort of meditative and relaxing at 25 will probably be much less so at 45, but all the same, such is the Human Experience that , yes, actually, some of those nights have been very dear to him, and really helped him recover from some major emotional hits rather than otherwise. (It's all one of the things he never really talks about--unlike Grantaire, he's really good at deciding what he'll talk about ,however long he rambles on-- and he's only ever really connected with Prouvaire on it, and even then, it never feels satisfying to talk about it, so they mostly don't . But it's nice to know someone else understands.)

Gutcanon: he and Grantaire had many FWB makeouts in their early college-ish years, of Mixed but Generally Not Great quality, since it tended to happen only when they were both Kinda Messed Up in one way or the other. They razz each other about Sexual Prowess from (outdated, mostly drunk/Young Fools Doing an All-Nighter) experience :P

Spleencanon: somewhere between Actual Canon and General Spleen, I guess? -- he's actually really graceful (that's canon! all the descriptions of his movements involve him being graceful and elegant, even when he's absolutely plastered!) and one of the more effective fighters in the group. IMO there's a sharp edge to Legle that is largely unseen , but he wouldn't be where he is, hanging out with who he does, after everything in his life, if he didn't have a solid core of Fight in him..

Joly

Headcanon: not only prone to catching Everything Going Around now, but spent most of his childhood catching every illness going around-a terrifying experience for his parents and a plain unfun one for himself. This is why his parents are fairly undemanding about the pace of his studies--they know he gets sick a lot and will be happy if he's able to graduate at all. It is also why he started life in Paris with a bizarrely high capacity for just about every drug available-- a childhood spent having Helpful 19C Medicines on a daily basis got him accustomed to concoctions that would worry Dionysus.

Heartcanon: he has a great love and appreciation for puns (obviously) but no flair for them on his own. It's all about at the habit/ami level. He still laughs every time, and everyone else usually laughs too, because he's just so pleased about it that it's delightful anyway.

Gutcanon: ..honestly feel like he's not on the Surgeon track? he's. The other thing. I've looked it up like three times and then the computer crashes, but like..the equivalent of being a General Doctor But Not A Surgeon. I'd even think he was going on the Pharmacist track if the way Hugo introduced him didn't make that seem Off. It just seems more suited to him somehow?

Spleencanon: haha it's very funny that despite his chronic health issues he's going to live to a very happy old age! Wacky!!!1!!!

Bini!

Headcanon: oh they absolutely met for the first time in a Very Awkward Mixup over who was supposed to be dating Musichetta that night. For Legle this was already very normal; for Joly it was the first time anything of the sort had happened. But it worked out Very Well for everyone involved, eventually!

Heartcanon: both of them individually had the sense and practical wisdom to not start feeding the neighborhood stray cats. Their Forces Combined were utterly susceptible to the plaints of little mewing voices under the window, and now there's a small army of Technically Strays that visit regularly. There has been a distinct improvement in the apartment's rodent issues, so the landlady isn't complaining...

Gutcanon: Legle is still prone to worrying about Overstaying His Welcome, a holdover reflex from several years of couchsurfing, and occasionally just absents himself for several days no matter how often Joly assures him that really it's fine, why do you think I gave you a spare key (and then another spare key and another one when those vanished) . They're gonna iron it out eventually, it's just a question of time and habit.

Spleencanon: THEY ARE GOING TO IRON IT OUT IN TIME. WHICH THEY WILL HAVE.

[touchstarvedsam]

hi. i am sending this on anon because i want to talk and not to bring anon hate on myself immediately. i am literally from the other side of the fandom, i have no idea how your post ended up on my dash. but i am literally curious, so i want to ask you a couple of questions, you obviously don't have to answer at all, your choice. 1/

"they complain about misogyny and then go and refer to Sam’s wife as a walking uterus." isn't it an issue though? she is never introduced, we aren't even shown her face. this is a new character in a 15 year old show, introduced only for the purpose of being The Mother to the protagonist child. what they did is misogynistic enough, she has no name, no face - us laughing about it is not misogynistic because we are laughing about what they did which is insane. that is how i see it. they introduce2/

"Pay attention when Dean blatantly says “I don’t swing that way,”" and the rest of what you said in that paragraph ok i know i am on anon but are you. are you sure that when someone says this. this is always true. i know numerous peoplei, i am one of those people myself who were in such denial and told so many lies about themselves when it comes to sexuality and sorry but Dean makes an impression of some who would be in denial about many things but okay this is in headcanon territory 4/

this is in headcanon territory and everyone can have their own headcanon so why do you have such problem with people headcanoning him as bi "And besides that... the way they portray Dean in fics? They feminize the everliving fuck out of him, to the point that the character they’re writing isn’t even Dean. Like, in any way, shape, or form. "this is one of the things i can actually 100% agree with because Dean in fics is often feminized yes, it is usually ooc, yes, though if we are talking 5/

okay :* i know i didn't click anon on one of them because i am not used to sending anons but i did explain why i wanted them on anon in the first place - i have enough anon hate on the daily basis. i am counting on you to answer me or just leave it but still i think my asks weren't hateful. i am genuinely curious. and how did they ended up on my dash is a mystery for both of us

So, tumblr ate at least TWO of your asks, which tumblr does if you send too many sometimes. I’m just curious why it gave you a character limit? Tumblr lets me post long asks now and separate them by paragraphs, lol. But anyway. Ask number 3 and whatever is after ask number 5 is missing. But I’ll go with what I’ve got.

The one marked as number 5 is the one that bothered me first because I actually covered it in my post to which you’re referring.

Your question: this is in headcanon territory and everyone can have their own headcanon so why do you have such problem with people headcanoning him as bi

What my post said, a direct quote so you don’t think I’m cursing at you specifically: Like, whatever, you can headcanon a character whatever way you want. Write them however the fuck you want in fanfiction. But for the love of god, respect the actual fucking canon.

My point was Dean is straight in canon and people should respect that instead of forcing their headcanons down everyone’s throats. I headcanon Sam as demisexual. But is he in the show? No, he’s canonically straight. Does that sway my headcanons and keep me from enjoying the show the way I want? No. Do I shout that to anyone that will listen and try to get them to share my beliefs? No. That is the difference between canon and headcanon, and respectful fans and disrespectful fans. Too many people refuse to acknowledge that Dean is canonically straight because of the color of a flannel he wore, or strobe lights he’s standing in front of a bar, or the fact that a diner was out of pie and he had to eat a slice of cake instead. I am not kidding, those are reasons people have considered him bi. That is harmful to actual bisexual people like myself.

Now, in response to ask number 4: Dean is comfortable in his sexuality. If he was bi and was closeted, or hating himself for being bi, or in denial about it, do you think he would be so comfortable around gay people? He would most likely be repressing his sexuality so hard that he would come off as standoffish or lashing out at gay people because they are what he dislikes about himself. He wouldn’t be as comfortable as he was with the gay characters he did spend time with. He’s not hiding anything. He’s completely open. His dating profile says Interested In: Women, not Men and Women. If they wanted Dean to be bi, or give a nod to it, they would have said it in that tiny scene. Supernatural hasn’t queerbaited anyone, so the majority of the audience didn’t even see a possibility for Dean to be bisexual, because there wasn’t any subtext for it.

Ask number 2 (I don’t know why I’m going backwards, I’m a whole mess):

While I didn’t think the blurry wife was the best idea, I liked that Jared said that the intention was for Sam’s partner to be whoever we want them to be. They left it open because it wasn’t about Sam starting a family without Dean; it was about Sam’s half-life after he lost his most important person, and the buildup to when they would finally meet again. So they left the blurry person open to interpretation, just that they were not Eileen. You can laugh about it all you want, but calling the person a walking uterus is disgusting as fuck. Supernatural as a whole has been a pretty misogynistic show sometimes, not just to women, but to Sam who they have woman-coded throughout the show. So.

That’s my take. I hope I was respectful enough for you. Like I said, I don’t care what you headcanon, but when a character, the actor, and the creators specifically state that the character is straight, I suggest you pay attention to that. Don’t let it ruin your experience or your headcanons because that ruins all the fun, but also don’t disrespect the writers by denying what they have stated.

Have a nice night.

[laurelnose]

monster! parasites!

you know how a few days ago i said we weren’t going to talk about monster parasites? that was a fucking lie.

the basis of my monster parasite thoughts are: every organism comes with its own internal ecosystem that goes with them everywhere. it’s like having built-in friends! ergo, when monsters crossed over to the witcher dimension during the Conjunction of Spheres they must have brought many new and delightful parasites with them. you know what fiend manes are full of? MITES. you know what drowners got on their skin? COPEPODS. what can we do with this information? anything we want.

i promise there are no pictures below the cut. i have tried to put warnings on all my sources but click any of the links below at your own risk. warning for internal and external parasites of animals, monsters, humans, and witchers; parasites altering the behavior of their hosts; and probably general body horror. if you read the eating-liver-flukes post that’s probably a decent baseline for how revolting you will find this post. 

also, super obvious bias towards aquatic parasites as referents. my degree is fisheries science not terrestrial ecology so that’s primarily what i’m drawing on even though nearly all of the witcher monsters are terrestrial. there is a TON i’m missing here bc of that bias! specifically i really wish i could talk about how parasites of invasive species often act as co-invaders with their hosts and monsters definitely count as invasive species and would have majorly reshaped ecological interactions on the Continent but i don’t know enough about terrestrial ecosystems to speculate properly. (ETA: while i still think monsters would have majorly reshaped ecological interactions on the Continent, I don’t actually think they’re invasive species anymore!) hopefully you enjoy it anyways!

it is, hilariously, canon that parasites are used for alchemy. according to The Last Wish, the Temple of Melitele’s grotto grows a bunch of different “rare specimens—those which made up the ingredients of a witcher’s medicines and elixirs, magical philters and a sorcerer’s decoctions” and some of those specimens are, uh, “clusters of nematodes.” nematodes being parasitic roundworms. this is really funny because it’s so fucking weird. also everything else in this description is a plant or a fungus and nematodes are definitely animals? i choose to believe the world makes sense and nematodes aren’t plants in the witcherverse. therefore parasites are alchemical ingredients, it’s canon, give me more witchers digging through monster intestines in search of worms and put a nematode colony in the basement of corvo bianco please and thank you

this actually leads right into my personal favorite drowner headcanon (hello yes i’m tumblr user Socks Laurelnose and i am always thinking about drowners)—you know those bits where drowners kind of have red blotches in their skin? those are nematodes, actually, because i said so. the reference is Clavinema mariae, a nematode that infests English sole. the worms are basically harmless but they’re dark red and you can see them through the skin. it freaks people out and makes it hard to sell sole. (IMAGE WARNING: a picture of an infected flatfish. it looks mostly normal but there’s a dark red lesion near the fin.) said lesion is probably a coiled-up Clavinema. sole have so many of these, it’s not even funny (PDF article link, IMAGE WARNING for worms visible underneath skin of flatfishes. relevant images pointing out exactly how many worms on page 5). “but the red parts of drowners could just be flushed from blood”—no. worms. 

okay that was my main specific-parasite-for-specific-monster headcanon (except also succubi probably have a unique species of lice for their hairy legs. but that’s barely even a headcanon, basically all terrestrial vertebrates have a unique species of lice.) i wanted to start with it because i think that everyone should feel free to arbitrarily assign a totally benign but conceptually gross worm to their favorite monsters. why not, yanno? also it probably sets the tone for the rest of this post. 

carrying on: “what monsters might have nematodes, besides drowners,” you may be wondering? probably all of them! all of them are full of nematodes. nematodes are fucking everywhere. allow me to share a deeply unsettling quote from nematologist Nathan Cobb: 

“In short, if all the matter in the universe except the nematodes were swept away, our world would still be dimly recognizable, and if, as disembodied spirits, we could then investigate it, we should find its mountains, hills, vales, rivers, lakes, and oceans represented by a film of nematodes. The location of towns would be decipherable since, for every massing of human beings, there would be a corresponding massing of certain nematodes. Trees would still stand in ghostly rows representing our streets and highways. The location of the various plants and animals would still be decipherable, and, had we sufficient knowledge, in many cases even their species could be determined by an examination of their erstwhile nematode parasites.”

jesus christ! thanks nathan, I hate it. nematodes are usually both benign and microscopic, but we’re talking witchers, we want some parasites we can fuckin get our hands on. sperm whale placentas are sometimes infested with nematodes up to 28 feet long but only a centimeter in diameter (Wikipedia link, no images). like an incredibly awful spaghetti! we don’t really seem to know if this bothers the sperm whales. also, i unfortunately do not know enough about the size of whale organs to tell you how big the placenta is in relation to this worm. the point is: real big monster? REAL BIG NEMATODES.

moving on from nematodes—okay, you know, since i mentioned eating deer liver flukes at the start of this post, let’s just go there. real life flukes max out at about 3 inches long, but hypothetical monster flukes could be much bigger and equally edible if desired. (if you’re wondering what a liver fluke would taste like: the flukes feed on the liver and they have very few organs of their own, so they would taste basically just like liver, just also long and flat like a fruit roll-up. if you’re going there, a witcher should not eat any flatworm live. if they’re digging them out of cockatrice livers or whatnot they should kill them before munching or save to cook later. it would probably be safe to eat one live, but you know that cliche “their tongues battled for dominance”? handling a live flatworm is like a handling very strong and energetic tongue complete with slime, okay, it wouldn’t be nice.)

parasites often need more than one host to complete the life cycle—for instance, Leucochloridium paradoxum (VIDEO WARNING: you may have seen this, it’s the one that makes snail eyes pulsating & green) has a bird stage and a snail stage, and it makes the snails look and act really weird in order to attract the birds. parasites altering host behavior to attract the next host in the life cycle is pretty well-documented; for instance, there’s an eye fluke that can make fish swim near the surface where predators can eat them (New Scientist article link, images of a microscope slide & a normal-looking fish) and a tapeworm that does the same and makes the dark silver fish turn white (JSTOR article, no images). i posit that at least some monsters are accompanied by “ill omens” of animals looking or acting strangely because they become infected with a stage of one of the monster’s parasites—usually, the mechanism is that internal parasites lay eggs that are passed in feces & transmitted that way. witchers who are up on their parasite ecology might be able to identify what monster is hanging around by observing exactly what kind of freaky-looking animals or animal behavior is going on around the area!

(if geralt is involved you may desire to have him explain this totally non-supernatural mechanism for abrupt animal appearance or behavioral changes at excruciating length to the chagrin of all present. or maybe that’s just what i desire. it would be funny okay)

potentially even more hyperspecific application of dual-stage parasites: there’s a dinoflagellate parasite that, when it infects crabs, makes the meat chalky and bitter like aspirin (Smithsonian link, images of healthy crab and microscope slide). geralt hunts down dinner, digs in, and immediately sighs and grabs jaskier’s portion away from him to the poet’s complete bafflement before going to get his swords because judging by the flavor there’s definitely a shishiga nest in this forest. 

like. parasites are one of THE most hyperspecific things in biology. the majority of them have very specific hosts and life cycles, many of them are completely unique to a species, if you think a fictional parasite is too specific to be plausible you’re probably wrong, make it even more specific. “the witcher monster lore is so hyperspecific lol” IT AIN’T TRULY HYPERSPECIFIC UNTIL YOU CAN IDENTIFY EACH MONSTER SPECIES BY ITS UNIQUE PARASITIC LOAD, OKAY.

and, with regards to behavior-affecting parasites, before anyone brings up Cordyceps (Ophiocordyceps, as of 2008): yeah that sure is a thing! if you weren’t aware, just a couple of years ago we found out it actually is not a mind control fungus!! it bypasses the brain entirely and affects the muscles (Arstechnica article, Atlantic article—photos of fuzzy ants and electron microscope pictures of fungi). or as Ed Yong puts it, “The ant ends its life as a prisoner in its own body. Its brain is still in the driver's seat, but the fungus has the wheel.” which is. significantly worse than the brain thing. awesome!! i bet there would absolutely be similar fungal parasites of endrega and arachasae. real Ophiocordyceps still very much does not affect humans, but you know what, if plants can be cursed into becoming archespores and cultivated by mages i see no reason why mages could not also curse endrega fungus to affect humans, just saying

aaaand quickly back to hyperspecificity: monsters in different geographical areas having different abilities because of their symbionts. forktails in vicovaro acquire a bioluminescent symbiont in their diet that forktails in other parts of the continent can’t get, and they can create flashes of light? that’s sure gonna fuck a witcher on Cat up when he comes in the cave expecting a normal forktail. (geographic location affecting bioluminescence is a thing that actually happens in midshipman fish—Wikipedia link, no parasites.) geographically-dependent symbionts can also produce different toxins and such for their hosts! this isn’t exactly a parasitism thing per se (although parasites are also symbionts because ‘symbiosis’ refers to two organisms in close association not two organisms in positive association) but like. it’s cool okay ecology is so cool

writing fic and tired of all these same-old monsters-of-the-week? quick and easy way to spice up either the horror factor or just make the hunt stand out slightly: just add parasites!! i know i’ve read fics where monsters were described with distinguishing old wounds. you can do the same with parasites! i would fucking swoon over a detail like an ancient water hag’s eyes glowing in the dark, one of them marred by a dangling parasite—geralt notes the blind spot and presses his advantage. (Wikipedia link, no images: this one is referencing an aquatic copepod called Ommatokoita.) also, please put barnacles on skelliger drowners, i want it so badly. just—some percentage of monsters should be Extra Grody on the inside and/or the outside, that’s how nature works. spicing up a mundane hunt by making the monster a little extra gross for its species is Valid, is what I’m saying.

also, every single time frozen specimens with obvious fungal/ectoparasite infections come into the lab we absolutely always take extra close-up pictures of those suckers and make sure everyone else gets to see them. witchers bringing field sketches and notes of the weirdest shit they found on the path back for winter. lambert declares they’ll never know if this alleged fiend tumor was a fungus or mange because geralt sucks at drawing. eskel, the man who hauled a katakan corpse all the way up the mountain so he could dissect it, produces actual skin samples of his own encounters for examination, possibly in the middle of dinner. this elicits mixed reactions.

quick detour into preservation, since I went there—witchers are probably immune to parasites that infect humans by virtue of having pretty different biology to begin with, and probably immune to parasitic infections from other sources by virtue of superhumanly boosted immune systems and all the poison they put into their bodies on a regular basis. picking up a monster parasite would probably not be a big deal for witchers, either in that they have total immunity or that they would only be minimally and briefly affected, but the field of monster biology is likely such that they probably just don’t actually know what would happen to them in the majority of cases. this has potential as a source of battle stories and/or stories intended to freak out trainees, i think. therefore, out of caution, a witcher harvesting/preparing parts for alchemy might want to be sure to treat them first. personally i think all monster parts should be preserved immediately anyways to avoid attracting necrophages, and given that alchemical concoctions in witcherverse are alcohol-based, preservation in strong alcohol is probably the best way to maintain potency and kill basically everything. (cons: alcohol is SUPER heavy and jars are fragile. tissues or organs which are thicker than perhaps half an inch or an inch require additional preparation for the alcohol to penetrate properly. other preservation methods are more efficient for travel. depends on how soon your witcher intends to use or offload their stash.)

also, here’s an absolutely wild marine parasite that would make it worth a witcher’s while to make certain everything was dead! pearlfishes are long eel-like fishes that live inside the anus and respiratory organs (which are attached to the anus) of sea cucumbers, and they have pretty nasty teeth (PDF article link, IMAGE WARNING: dissected sea cucumbers literally stuffed to the gills with pearlfish). the highest number of pearlfish discovered in a single sea cucumber was sixteen (ResearchGate article, free PDF; no images). a different fact: we discovered tiger sharks eat each other in the womb because a researcher got bitten by a fetal tiger shark while he was dissecting the mother (NYT link, no images or parasites). what i’m saying is: parasites are often very small relative to the host and usually harmless to things rummaging around inside, but what if the monster’s parasites were also monstrous. give me a monster that has to be very dead or when you start rummaging around for alchemy ingredients the things in its intestines will lunge out and bite you. 

what happens if a human becomes infected with a monster parasite? bad things, probably, i mentioned before that parasites in the wrong host, if they don’t just die, often super fuck things up internally (if you get tapeworms outside of the intestine where they’re supposed to be... it’s not good y’all. CDC link, no images). host-jumping for parasites is actually fairly rare since most of them are highly specialized for their hosts, but it does happen. humans are very not my strong suit so i’m not going to dwell on this but it is entirely possible that something like necrophage infestations or monster-contaminated water sources or just being a little too involved on a witcher’s monster hunt could produce strange parasitic diseases in humans. up to you how well-known and/or how clouded in superstition these effects might be! opportunities for hideous whump? gross body horror? messy and horrifying parasite-driven behavioral changes? terrifying and potentially prolonged uncertainty over what the issue actually is because of minimal information about parasites? the decision whether or not to dose with a witcher potion? excellent possibilities.

okay last one, just because i think it would be fun: myxosporeans and sirens. Myxos are a parasitic relative of jellyfish that produce whirling disease in baby salmon. whirling disease causes neurological and skeletal damage and has a pretty high mortality rate, but it also makes infected fish do this, well, whirling behavior and it’s honestly fascinating. (video link: a pretty normal-looking young trout spinning like a fuckin top). imagine a siren doing that in the sky. i just think myxos are neat!

tl;dr: extra grody hyperspecific biology of monsters!!!

[laulink]

So I've mentioned before that usually poly ships don't really appeal to me because there's always one of the relationships that I like more or less than the others and so the ship entirely loses its appeal for me because of that

But you know what poly ship I actually DO like ?

Zelda x Lana x Link from Zelda Hyrule Warriors

They're just- They're great together, ok ? All of them

Zelda and Link are some kind of fated lovers, two souls bound by destiny and powers beyond comprehension and the two we meet in Hyrule Warriors really give off that whole soulmate feel since their very first meeting, it's adorable. Link's expression when they fail to find Zelda says it all : he's not just looking for his princess, he's looking for someone he's genuinely worried about, someone he feels a connection with, and he's scared he'll lose her before he could even properly talk to her.

Lana has been in love with Link for... well, we don't know how long, but she's been in love with all of his reincarnations, she watched their lives to see more of him until the day she couldn't stand it anymore and Ganondorf used the power of her love to turn her full evil, so that says something about how strong her feelings are. Also she values Link's happiness over her own feelings because she knows she can't destroy the link he shares with Zelda and she just wants him to be happy even if it's not with her and that will always be my #1 sign that someone is a good person and their feelings are real and genuine.

Zelda and Lana don't interact much in the game's story, but the few times they do, Zelda is nothing but kind and friendly to Lana, even being the one to ask her if they'll ever meet again, even though they had just heard Cya say that Lana wants to make Link hers and at this point we're supposed to have accepted that Link and Zelda are soulmates, so she'd have pretty understandable reasons to not really want Lana around the boy she's supposedly attracted to. And you know how the characters have little cheering phrases for each other when the player character reaches a certain amount of kills in a battle ? I just find the phrases between Lana and Zelda to be absolutely adorable. I think they're the most admirative bunch of the game (aside from Zelda's line to Link and Proxie's lines for Zelda, but that works in the poly ship idea's direction)

Also by the end of the game all three of them hold a piece of the Triforce and I think it would be pretty great to see the three holders coming together, loving each other, forming a whole the same way the three parts of the Triforce are meant to.

So that's for canon information, which admittedly is just a basis for headcanons given how scarce it is, so here are my own :

- Zelda is attracted to Link, sure, but I also think she's really attracted to Lana for the reasons cited above : she's always kind and friendly to her, never suspicious even when she learns that Lana and Cya used to be the same person, she's the one who speaks out when Lana is leaving to express her desire to see her again, etc.

- Zelda's feelings and behaviour toward Lana would surely have an effect on her because, honestly : look at Zelda, look at her smile, imagine being on the receiving end of it, and dare tell me you wouldn't propose to her in the same breath. Anyway, I think Lana would develop a bit of a crush on the princess, especially if she's trying to move on from her feelings for Link because she thinks it's hopeless. She wouldn't be trying to fall for someone else, much less the princess since she's just as inaccessible as the hero, but I think she'd be trying to put some distance between herself and her feelings for Link, try to talk to her friends more and do something other than obsessing over the boy, and develop her relationship with Zelda as a consequence. When she realises she has a crush on Zelda now ? She just screams and hits her head on a wall because GODDAMNIT she did it again. Of all the people in Hyrule, her next crush just HAD to be the one her old crush was fated to be with.

- Meanwhile, Link is around two gorgeous, smart, kind, supportive girls who seem to like him and while he's been attracted to the princess since the first time he saw her, I think he would have developed a close bond with Lana too while fighting together. She's playful and cute, but also strong and reliable, and I think, in the weeks where he fights with Lana and doesn't know where Zelda is, he would develop a small crush on her, which wouldn't really leave even after the princess' official return and would actually only grow when he learns the truth about Lana's birth and feelings.

- now fast forward to the end of the game, the three had some time to sit down and think through their feelings and realise that they like both of the others and have a hard time deciding what to do about it. Or rather, Lana thinks she should just exile herself before she falls in love with the Goddess or something, but Link and Zelda do ponder what they should do, because suddenly, the obvious, fated love they've heard so many tales about doesn't seem so certain and they don't know if they could ever be truly happy without the witch who's wormed her way into their hearts.

- I think Zelda would approach Link to tell him about it first. She's a reasonable, mature young woman who tries to talk things through and see from other people's perspective, so I think her go to move would be to talk about it, but Lana's feelings have been hurt enough as it is, so she'd go to Link first to try and see things a bit more clearly before saying anything to Lana. Thanks to that, they realise that they both like each other and Lana as well, and so they decide to try and see what Lana thinks of them.

- Problem is, like I said, Lana thinks she should self-exile before her stupid heart makes one more stupid decision about who she should be in love with, and that starts by avoiding her crushes at any cost. Luckily, Zelda and Link end up cornering her, but her emotions are so volatile at this point that she just blurts out that she likes them both and doesn't know what to do about it anymore (among many other things and in a way that's a bit hard for the other two to understand until something clicks and a lightbulb goes off in their heads). Of course, Zelda and Link are elated and quick to tell her that they both like her too and maybe they could try all loving each other ? There's a lot of smiles and tears and hugs and they're all really happy.

- They thought it would take some time to adjust to this new kind of relationship, but not at all : they clicked together like pieces of the same puzzle, loving toward each other and comfortable showing it. Lana was the shyest of them at first since she was still half-convinced this was a dream and she would wake up any moment, but one adoring look from her partners (because let's be honest, Zelda and Link, once aware of their feelings and knowing that they are returned, would be the loveliest, dorkiest, goofiest, most adoring partners anyone in Hyrule has ever had) would reassure her right away, and before long she starts being more open about her affections and showing her love for Zelda and Link more easily.

- since they're all cinnamon rolls but two of them are socially awkward and the other is leading a country at age 19 and probably has A Lot to deal with, I think them trying to comfort each other when one is looking glum or stressed would be pretty fun. Like, when Zelda is overworking herself with the kingdom's affairs, the other two will team up to try and ease off her burdens by taking some themselves, but after reading the same piece of paperwork 5 times and still not understanding what it is even for, they give up and just work with Impa to clear off Zelda's schedule for one evening and prepare a nice dinner and relaxing bath for her so she can at least recharge her batteries. Sometimes though, she has so much to do they can't even manage that, so they at least try to support her as much as they can in the little ways (bringing her tea and cake when she's been holed up in her office for hours, taking her to bed when she's fallen asleep on her desk, taking care of the minor demands that can be time-consuming but not really difficult to resolve, etc). Zelda loves them for it and always makes sure to let them know.

(- they try to cook dinner themselves and this in itself deserves a whole post because they try to do something GREAT and that Zelda will love but they are NOT royal level cooks. Far from it. In a modern AU, they'd be living off of ramen noodles. In the end nothing they prepared is edible so they end up asking the cooks to prepare something, but Zelda is still very touched (and amused))

- When Lana is depressed (because she thinks of Cya or has a moment of self-doubt), Link tries to cheer her up by taking her on a nice walk, going to the market together, playing games, or something like that, while Zelda will bring her flowers and tasty treats or just cuddle with her for a while, which is often enough to make Lana feel much better. On the worst occasions, Zelda takes one or two days off and Link and her take Lana on a trip, just the three of them, to have fun and just be together until the bad moment passes. But the first time Lana said she was sad because she was thinking of what happened to Cya and the fact that she couldn't experience the happiness Lana now had with Zelda and Link ? Dumbass princess who thinks she can do anything because she runs a country decided "hey, how about we try to raise the dead ?" and Link had to do damage control. Impa had to step in at some point to prevent Zelda from desecrating holy grounds.

- When Link is glummy, it's usually about pretty deep stuff like destiny and his past lives (for example, the fact that his past lives and the princesses from the past never met their Lana causes him great distress because now he can't imagine his life without her or Zelda, so he gets anxious thinking that his past incarnations might have spent their whole lives feeling a hole somewhere in their life). Zelda and Lana usually try to cheer him up with cuddles, afternoon naps in the gardens, reading together in the library or other quiet, relaxing activities, which he loves and helps ease his mind, but the first time the gloominess lingered... Let's just say that dumbass princess moment 2.0 + time witch are not a great mix when trying to cheer up a man worried about his past lives. Impa had to step in again, this time to prevent some really fucked up changes to the space-time continuum or whatever.

- I kinda doubt that Hyrule has laws about poly marriages, and doubt even more that poly marriage is something that's happened in the royal family before ("but what if the first born is a child between the King consort and the Queen consort, without a drop of royal blood ?"), but in any case, this is dumbass "I raise the dead and travel through time" princess we're talking about, so she manages to pass a law that makes it legal for multiple people to marry, including the royal family. She did that after Link, Lana and her had expressed interest in getting married, and the second the law was passed (in secret, she wanted it to be a surprise for her lovers), she drags them to their favourite quiet spot to relax and cuddle away from castle trouble and responsibilities and she proposes to them. Link and Lana tackle her to the ground and cover her in kisses while laughing and crying and- ok, it's a bit of a mess, but they're happy and they're gonna get MARRIED ! The first time the girls call each other "wife", Link their "husband" and Link calls them his "wives", they cry a little and hug the breath out of each other.

That's all I've got for now in the SFW section (do tell me if you're interested in the NSFW headcanons) so

TL;DR : they're cute and goofy and happy and I love them.

[rpbetter]

someone i rp with keeps sharing hcs about my own muses that don't fit with what i believe and every time i say i don't agree with that, that my hc about that situation is "whatever", they get kinda sulky, but its usually over small things like 'your muse has no fashion sense' and not big stuff (which i did shut down the second time they did bc it almost triggered me) so i don't know how to address the pattern without sounding like a bitch

Oh, no...I'm sorry to hear that, Anon! That is an uncomfortable situation right there!

I'm going to go ahead and preface the bad part here - if they're sulky about you correcting them like you've said, there is a high chance you're going to sound like a bitch to them. No matter what you do, I mean. No matter the reality of how politely you've addressed it, if they're viewing this in a negative light already, that's unlikely to change. They want to keep doing what they're doing, do not see the problem with it, and apparently, don't care how uncomfortable it is for you. Unfortunately probable that shutting them down is not going to be received well.

Just be aware that, while I'm going to try to combat that specifically in this suggestion, it is possible that it's going to happen anyway. Know that addressing it is the right choice regardless! The way you're feeling is not okay, it needs to be addressed, and preferably before they do make you so uncomfortable and frustrated that you stop caring about how you come off to them. In the end, the variable in how one is perceived is important, and that variable is always the person on the other end and their particular attitude, biases, and so forth. At some point, you have to say that you approached it reasonably, maturely, and politely...the rest is up to them, out of your hands.

What I'm saying is that if they want to be pissed off at you and take it the wrong way? You did your best, you're not being a bitch, and you have a right to have an issue with this behavior of theirs. If they freak out about it, they're someone you're better off losing.

Alright, so, since it's expressly part of the concern you have that you don't want to sound bitchy, let's try to concentrate on that!

A good way to subvert that idea is to try to make it clear how this is making you feel. Make this the basis of why it is a problem. Remain positive sounding but honest about it.

So, let's say, you want to say something like, "it really pisses me off when you make stupid headcanons about my character, you're making me so fucking uncomfortable with this, stop." True, but not positive. Likely to make them defensive and to hurt their feelings (as it's also possible that they're doing this because they want to be really into your character and you, despite all the full irony of clearly not knowing jack about your character).

Instead, try something like this:

"Hey! I need to talk to you about something." If they're not online currently, consider adding a respectful, "It's important, so, I'm going to just leave it for you to respond to whenever you have time. Hope that's alright, I'm not trying to stress you out or anything!"

- Then, you can proceed to the problem.

"I really appreciate that you are so into my muse that you want to create headcanons for them, that's a nice thought. It's a problem for me, though. I don't want this to come off the wrong way, which is why I haven't said much about this before. I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that it was something I was comfortable with, I was just worried about hurting your feelings."

- Even if you don't entirely feel this way, you're not lying...this was a concern, you didn't want to come off hateful to them, a thing undoubtedly making you even more uncomfortable, putting you in a worse position. By phrasing it in a way like this, you're heading off ideas about being unappreciative (of something you didn't want lol I know, but people have weird ideas) and callous. Instead, expressing concern for how they feel and appreciation that they're this interested in your muse and being a part of your creativity - we just want them to keep it to the threads, and, hopefully, they're not also into godmoding.

"It is really uncomfortable for me, though. This is my muse, I'm pretty invested in them, and I don't want other people writing their headcanons. They've been inaccurate before, and at least once, I did have to say something to you because it was close to triggering for me. It's not always that serious, but it can be offensive in some of the ways these headcanons are inaccurate. Those are important parts of my muse, no matter how small or silly seeming they are. It's a little hurtful, and I'm not going to lie, makes me a bit upset to think that you don't care when I've tried to talk to you about this before."

- Alright, you've told them how you feel, but were not hateful about it. Now, give them the desired outcome and more honesty, avoid coming off as giving them an ultimatum - even if you are. Because you absolutely are, just politely.

"Anyway, I appreciate having you as a writing partner and am happy that you are interested in my muse, but I can't feel this uncomfortable all the time. I think maybe we just weren't addressing it as directly as we should have been? Sorry again if I wasn't clear enough or anything. Could you please stop writing these headcanons? If there is a headcanon topic you are interested in, I would love to write it, just let me know next time and I'll do that! We can create things together that way, and in what we're writing together. Otherwise, I really do need to be the one doing the development on my muse to feel comfortable. I hope you understand!"

- You've said a couple of times politely that you need them to stop this, if it doesn't stop, they'll have to go, while reiterating this is personal comfort problem for you. You appreciate what they're trying to do here, but it's got to stop. There is an acceptable alternative that has been offered in having them send you a topic for a HC instead, as well as a reminder that you are involved in creating something together in your interactions.

Just, you know, make it sound like you, not me! Take those points and write them out in your own way, use it for inspiration as to how to discuss this.

Now, either they're going to stop...or they're not. Them being kind of "whatever" about you having an issue with this is concerning. As in, I think they're likely to not stop it. However, you've at least laid down the problem, offered solutions, and told them it's not a situation you're willing to continue dealing with. So, if/when they do it again, you can feel a bit better about either dropping them or messaging them with a, "hey, we've talked about this, it isn't cool. If you do this again, that's it. I'll have to unfollow." They've made their choice, you're not the one in the wrong here.

Total honesty, Anon? I'd be annoyed enough to drop them at this point lol so you already have more patience than I do!

Yeah, they're not unlikely to feel you're being "controlling," but that's outrageous. Look, it's your muse. That means your muse to create and/or develop as you, and only you, see fit. Other muns and muses can/do/should contribute to our characters' development, but they don't do it by overstepping like this mun is. They do it with conversations you have together about the muses and by writing with you, not by writing your muse for you.

I think, sometimes, muns feel strangely entitled to a muse because we're so used to picking up the fiction of others and running with it (canon muses and universes, fic, fanart, etc.). Don't ask me why anyone would think it was appropriate to rewrite what you've either picked up in this way or created entirely yourself lol it's just an observance. I know I've experienced it on muses canon and OC alike, and there is this attitude that I don't want to share or something? Okay, when that original fiction is published, if you want to RP as my OC, go for it. Alright, if you want to write this canon your way, no one's stopping you, but this is the way I'm writing them.

Nothing about that is unreasonable! Even if it is a canon, that's still your unique take on them, it isn't okay to do this. The only time it's alright to make a HC for someone else's muse is when you've come to them and asked if something discussed in jest or just casually about the thread (maybe an event we didn't see play out, as an example) can be HCed by you. If something like that happens, and they accept happily? Great! Totally acceptable and normal thing that happens in RP!

This is...not.

Again, I'm really sorry you're experiencing this! I wish you the best of luck, it's a tricky situation, and it doesn't sound like they're a particularly caring person. More like they have a real self-interest problem going on.

Hope for the best, expect something less than that, but don't let it impact your tone when addressing it. If they get irrationally upset at you for politely asking them, yet another time, to stop doing this, get rid of them, Anon. No one deserves infinite chances, and you deserve to enjoy your RP!