#I have some more followers so I'm trying to expand on the backstory

[esteemed-excellency]

Oc characterisation: I wrote a bit of character analysis to save for reference, here it is if anyone's curious.

Hiram's backstory is based on three main traits:

He was and still is a curious and inquisitive person. I chose 1837 as his birth year not only to fit the Fall timeline but also to drop him right in the middle of the century, a time full of societal and industrial changes (I'm a history nerd so I wanted to rotate a blorbo in my main area of interest). He loves to experience life to the fullest and to learn about new things.

He's always been extremely focused on his goals. He completed his studies and he got the social status he wanted, starting a promising career towards a favourable future with a lot of connections here and there.

He always wanted more. I needed him to be entitled enough to be dandyish and kind of impertinent, but still stuck in the middle class. The previously mentioned qualities turn into a degree of vanity and conceit as he strives for more. He manages to fulfill enough of his goals just as 1862 approaches.

His behaviour in the Neath developes from these three traits. He loses everything during the Fall: family, home, status. He needs to get back into the swing of things, as he's always preoccupied with obtaining more, so his focus shifts from planning to scheming. Societal rules seem to be changing and he doesn't concern himself with law abiding conduct anymore. He knows very well how to circumvent it. The problem is that now his world is a brand new place and, being still fueled by curiosity, he needs to know what's going on with the city, and for some things focus starts bordering dangerously on obsession.

Hence, the violant incident. He remembers everything extremely clearly, and his capacity to focus is even better than before, but he knows there's still more to find out, and curiosity turns into Ambition.

His final charater trait is soullessness, which I headcanon as not always being able to feel actual emotions, and knowing their intensity without being able to define what they are exactly. He knows he's feeling something but he can't always accurately identify the particular feeling, so he navigates emotions in terms of intense/mild, interesting/uninteresting, engaging/boring, instead of a more complex moral or emotional spectrum.

Despite this, he's still fueled by curiosity and he actively seeks out secrets and novelties. He plans his schemes accordingly to what goes on around town (and on the surface too via his agents), even though a good dose of control and secrecy is now needed to mantain his affairs. There are a lot of things to meddle into and he doesn't waste any opportunity.

#I have some more followers so I'm trying to expand on the backstory #I might edit this sooner or later because I'm not happy with some of the syntax but this has been sitting in my drafts for long enough #woe oc lore be upon ye #fallen london #fallen london oc #hiram hargrave #hiram lore #backstory

[sokkastyles]

I'm already seeing people saying they are gonna "soften" zuko in the first season heh it made me think of your prediction

Listen, the marketing team of this show knows their audience. Zuko is already being marketed as one of the main protagonists. His character and his redemption arc is hugely popular and known as one of the main draws of the series. Does anyone honestly think that the writers of the show are gonna be like "now, listen, we can't make him too likeable." He's their cash cow, and they know it, and of course they're going to play that up.

That doesn't necessarily mean they're going to soften the character, but we'll probably get more of him being portrayed as a protagonist and not just a villain early on.

A lot of this is par for the course with an adaptation. You have to remember that when ATLA was airing, people didn't know how Zuko's arc was going to play out. Oh, there are lots of hints early on that the writers intended for him to be redeemed from the first episode, bit they themselves have said they didn't know how it would happen. That developed along the way.

Netflix has the advantage of knowing all the beats in advance, in an arc that in the original, was more ambitious than any of the other character arcs. But this poses a new problem, because an ambitious arc that we haven't seen before is less ambitious the second time around. So what to do? The obvious answer is to change things up a bit, to play up the things we know are going to happen later. So I suspect we will get some of that.

Am I worried that Dallas Liu won't be able to quite pull off what Zuko did in the original? Yeah, but that's a testament to how good OG Zuko was. It's challenging to pull off that kind of characterization. That and hindsight are both going to affect how people view Liu's performance.

Even so, there are already people who say that OG Zuko is too soft, or that fans soften him, or try to make him seem worse even after his redemption. That's a testament to how complex of a character Zuko is. I find myself analyzing the few seconds we've gotten of Liu's performance, looking for that complexity. That's a lot to put on the young actor's shoulders.

Especially since everything is going to be more subdued going from live action to cartoon. So my guess is that we'll get a less shouty Zuko. The other thing is that a lot of Zuko's early vulnerability is revealed to us by seeing him getting comedically smashed into a wall over and over again, so there will also be less of that. Which means the show will have to show Zuko's mix of simmering rage, petulance, vulnerability and insecurity in other ways. That plus hindsight plus the netflix episode format of less and longer episodes means we'll probably also get Zuko's backstory much more early on, or at least parts of it, probably as early as the first episode.

As for specifically the fear that Zhao being present on Kyoshi Island means Zuko will play less of a role there, I think it's more likely that the show is expanding Zhao's role both as an antagonist for Zuko and as an antagonist for the rest of the gaang, in anticipation of the season one finale. That also goes back to the fact that things will probably need to be toned down in the move to live action anyway. I've said before that it makes little sense to hold Zuko burning Kyoshi against him since it's the result of reckless cartoon bending and Aang puts the fire out very easily via Unagi in an equally cartoonish way. My guess is that in the adaptation Zhao will follow Zuko there and we'll get a three-way fight, and even if Zhao does most of the burning, Zuko will still be responsible for bringing Zhao there, so it's not like they're exonerating Zuko for something the original show didn't even treat seriously to begin with.

#zuko #atla live action

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week's writer spotlight feature is: @ciriceart! They have sixteen works under the Stranger Things tag and ten under the Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson tag over on Archive of our Own!!

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following of their works by CultOfAdoration:

I get this feeling I'm in motion

Rule Me Captive, Drain Me Empty

a good age to meet the person you're going to spend the rest of your life with

to have everything you can see

They care alot about capturing the accurate voice of the characters they write about, and put lots of thought and care into character motivations and worldbuilding :} - anonymous

Below the cut, @ciriceart answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

I just like the dynamic, and getting to write dialogue and think about conflicts that might naturally crop up between the two. I don’t think that there was a chance for them to get along well at all if not for the kids dragging them both into the end of the world, so it’s kind of fun to find different ways for them to get past it. Less of a “they would never get together” and more of a “under what circumstances would they get together” situation.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

I think I just like anything that falls into character study or backstory development. I used to eat up anything under the hurt/comfort or angst tags as well, and those can all go pretty well together. Anything that even vaguely evokes Orpheus and Eurydice is also pretty much guaranteed to get my attention.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Slow burn. A lot of my writing never sees the light of day (or outside groupchats), but a majority of it is “will they, won’t they” slow burn with the two kind of dancing around the subject until it feels inevitable.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

I’m not sure if I have a singular favorite fic. “New York Hardcore” by CaptainHoney is pretty high up there. It’s part of a larger series, but that first entry stuck with me. The tag “Steve deserves to be happy and go ham in the moshpit” is the truest statement I’ve ever read about that man.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

I’ve been working on a sort-of AU road trip fic about Steve, Jonathan, and later a hitchhiking Eddie, as they go cross-country. It’s very “right person, wrong place, wrong time”. Right now it’s just a big mess of notes and writing sprints, though.

What is your writing process like?

Almost everything starts off as scribbles in a notebook/Notes app, or taken down in notes app using speech-to-text on my phone. I always have to do the worst version first or it just doesn't feel right. Everything I want to be included gets thrown in there with very little regard for eloquence or order. From there, I break everything down into bullet points that I can expand on whenever I have time, and move things around into chronological order.

Do you have any writing quirks?

There are some words that I feel like I overuse. Things like “definitely”, “just”, and “very”, which reflects my real life speech habits.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

I try holding off posting until I’m finished if only because it feels SO bad if I don’t manage to complete something. It doesn’t usually work. I get excited, so usually I end up starting to post when things are maybe 60% finished. Schedules remind me too much of school to be fun.

Which fic are you most proud of?

I don’t think I have one I’m most proud of, but I don’t have one that I’m not proud of either. “a good age to meet the person you're going to spend the rest of your life with” is one that I thought a lot about and still think about, even though it’s pretty short. I only posted it very recently, but I wrote it shortly after Vol. 2 when thinking too hard about Robin and what her personal life might be like after everything.

How did you get the idea for Rule Me Captive, Drain Me Empty?

I thought it would be interesting to explore the two of them fumbling through kink and figuring things out in a more organic way. It’s something I always find quite cute, and it feels more natural to me when they’re not exactly well versed in the ins and outs of “proper” kink etiquette and terminology. 

I’m also a Dom-leaning switch Steve truther and I’m out here in the trenches. 

When writing to have everything you can see, what was something you didn’t expect?

The response to it from readers, mostly. I had several people letting me know that the subject matter is more outside of their usual interests but that they ended up enjoying it and seeing the appeal regardless. That’s a pretty big compliment to me because I’m somewhat in the same boat.

What inspired to have everything you can see?

So, when I don’t share an interest with others, I get really heavily invested in why they like that thing, or how the interest came about. It could be about anything - books, music, shows, ships, spirituality, kinks. I just like to Know, I like “getting it”. 

I wrote that fic to understand “under what circumstances would this be A Thing for this character” in a somewhat judgment free zone. Just going right the hell into it like “alright, this is what these characters are into. Make it believable and make it fun”. It works!

What was your favorite part to write from I get this feeling I'm in motion?

I think it’s the implication of how routine hangouts like that are, with Steve and Robin. They go to her house, they get snacks and drinks, and they immediately make themselves comfortable in her room. There’s something really sweet about a best friend making themselves at home in your house, and just existing beside you.

How do/did you feel writing Rule Me Captive, Drain Me Empty?

Nervous! I get really in my head about how I go about things at first. Am I being too needlessly verbose? Too much exposition? Do people even care about all the pointless errands they’re going on, or should we just get right to the bedroom?

But then I calm down and figure, I’m having fun writing about Steve intentionally dragging Eddie around town, and everyone else is just going to have to make peace with that. 

What was the most difficult part of writing I get this feeling I'm in motion?

Does “not immediately oversharing all of my personal hang-ups in the author's notes” count?

Actually, it was probably making the “repercussions” of Steve’s actions still be scary enough for him to internalize as a kid, but not be too disastrous or dangerous for him. I’m still not sure how I feel about it. 

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

It’s very small. In “a good age (…)”, Robin thinks about what it might’ve been like if Steve were her brother and they (affectionately) come to the conclusion that they would have been little shitheads to each other as kids.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I have a handful of steddie illustrations based on fics that I’m waiting for the green light on to post, and quite a number of fics I’m chipping away at. Watch this space!

Thank you to our author, @ciriceart, and our nominator! See more of @ciriceart’s works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

#steddie fic recs #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #steve x eddie #writer's spotlight #writer's wednesday

[wsdanon]

so curious about all of these but ill stick to asking about the among us au for now. im intrigued

okay among us au would be a multi-chaptered fic and i have about half of chapter one written and a tiny bit of chapter two. unfortunately a big part of it is a character i no longer want to write. fortunately, i wrote up a lot of backstory notes that don't involve him. some things will be kind of awkward because i haven't fixed the absence yet

i'm just going to put all of this under the cut because it's quite long but quickly i'll say that this is using a very basic framework of among us and i have kind of expanded the universe/politics from there. i think this is what a lot of among us aus do, too, but yeah the actual story of the fic is not inherently based around the gameplay--that's more backstory stuff if anything

(please keep in mind there will be spoilers here, but i will try to keep them minimal. also keep in mind i have no plans to write it out fully right now, but i may come back to it later)

Felps: actual imposter. Doesn’t really kill. prefers to just kind of watch the chaos but doesn’t want to work for it. Became friends with cellbit and hid + kept him safe from other imposters and now just smuggles him around on every ship he gets sent to. He’s the pilot of their ship in the plot

Cellbit: Human. was on a prisoner transport ship when he met felps (10 years ago). Cannibal and murderer. Happy to murder people on behalf of felps. Throughout their years of doing this he’s become more adjusted than at the start and he's mostly now just killing to keep cucurucho off of felps. On the side working at ways to get out from under cucurucho's thumb

Tazercraft: engineers for the current ship. First people to find out about felps being an imposter (and make the connection that cellbit must be too) but keep the information to themselves because pac is queer--love wins \o/ Mike as an anarchist is going to be important but i need to figure out the politics more (helps him connect with cellbit a little)

Bagi: officially she’s here on government business. Unofficially she’s continuing her investigation into finding her long lost brother. Not sure whether the amnesia is going to come into play or not but she can’t recognise cellbit as the person she was tracking down. Knows her brother disappeared in an imposter attack and is trying to follow that lead

I'm uncertain entirely of the politics with both the humans and imposters but to mimic the regret arc: cucurucho is part of the imposter government--they are not aligned at all with the human government

fuga backstory:

Pac e Mike were on a prisoner transport ship (8 years ago) at the same time as Cellbit and Felps (imposter duo) (not the one where cellbit and felps met). Tazercraft + JV + Guaxinim were trying to use the escape pods to escape--not because of the killings originally just to get out of going to jail. Cellbit and felps try to hang out with them a bit for marination reasons. Cellbit kills JV because he gets too suspicious lol. Felps falls in love with pac and when cellbit goes to kill pac he only manages to get his leg before Felps stops him. It was dark so pac doesn’t know it was them (otherwise there'd be no mystery in the actual plot oops). Tazercraft + guaxinim manage to escape and cellbit kills the rest of the people on the ship

this fic would have three povs for the three different "factions". Bagi's for the government/investigation side of things, Felps for the imposter side of things, and then either mike or pac for tazercraft's side of things--not sure yet

i don't want to spoil the entirety of the actual plot so i'll leave it here! also someone else asked about among us so i might try and clean up a snippet of the wip to post for them so keep an eye out for that if you're interested \o/!

#wsd/a.sks #saiiboat

[laufire]

march reading meme!

BOOKS

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle. Letters from Watson sent this from January to March, alongside a couple of other shorts ("The Field Bazaar" and "The Man with the Watches"). An interesting thing about it is that Sherlock was portrayed as somewhat bitter on the issue of credit (he does all the work, subpar investigators take underserved glory), while he's usually, in both ACD's later works and adaptations, portrayed as ~above such feelings. "The Field Bazaar" was interesting in that, in describing why Watson is a good "foil" for Sherlock's smarts in the books, actually illuminates why I think the smart investigator/fumbling idiot dynamic just. Fucking sucks for me lol. I don't get a kick out of it, I much prefer when they pair two investigator of different talents and portray those as both interesting and helpful in their investigations.

Investigating Lois Lane: The Turbulent History of the Daily Planet's Ace Reporter by Tim Hanley. Amazing read. It takes you through the history of the character, often looking at it through the lense of real-life issues and movements, getting into the different eras, adaptations, etc. It's giving me a lot to think about, both within the dc fandom and outside it.

Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. This one I also read in substack newsletters, going for about a year, the last one being sent in March. It was a reread, and I maintain it's a book everyone should at least try to read. Inferno is by far my favourite part (the theology lessons in Paradise grate on me, in comparison).

Batman: The Ultimate Evil by Andrew Vachss. This book was written by a crime fiction author and attorney that specialices in representing children and in child abuse cases, who was approached by DC to write a book featuring Batman facing child sex trafficking. In the book, Bruce ends up discovering that his mother, Martha Wayne, was a sociologist who was investigating a child molester ring, and that's what caused their deaths. That's what caught my eye first, because really, how many canons give any weight and importance to Martha? If they opt to make the Wayne murders a conspiracy, it's always about Thomas's actions. I also appreciated that, even though the author clearly had to follow some dc-mandated lines (fictional country, individual villain), he practically hits you with a hammer when it comes to dispel a lot of the myths we have about child molesters and how they operate, specifically to challenge those dc-mandated lines. I wish we'd seen more of the social worker character, but I liked her as it was.

Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata. I picked this novella exclusively for vibes and not plot, and it's what it gave me. It's also made me think a lot about how men see women, and how through their eyes our selves are twisted. Komako and Yoko are fascinating characters in part for how inescrutable the male lead finds them and how he might be misunderstanding them. There's so, so much hinted under the surface, about their persons and about their relationship.

The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal. Short novelette I picked on a whim. A 60+ yo astronaut is offered a chance to travel to space again, her dream come true. She has to choose between taking it, or staying with her ailing husband, who has little time left. The story apparently later expanded on some novels/prequels, I might pick them up.

COMICS

Secret Origins 80-Page Giant. I picked this one up for Steph's story (I'm going through her comic arcs), but ended up reading all the others. It's cemented my desire to pick up the Young Justice comics. These teens are sooooo chaotic and fun lmao, all of them (back then) with such weird and interesting backstories.

Lois Lane (1986). A two-part issue that shows Lois getting in deep in an investigation about child abductions. It's gets gruesome and heavy at times, but it's a great read, specially for her character. It shows Lois at a moment that the mainline comics seem to have ignored (she missed out on a great professional opportunity due to Superman), and it shows how obsessive she gets and how that is what makes her a great investigator and reporter. I also liked the glimpse at the dynamic between her and her sister Lucy there, how dismissive Lois was of Lucy's stewardess' job, for example.

DC First: Batgirl/Joker. I don't like it as much as the early-Batgirl (2000) run but it's kind of on that vein. Barbara tells Cass about her first encounter with the Joker, and Cass is determined to prove herself against him. I loved the art as well (very different than in the cover).

#reading meme #books #comics #dc comics #my thoughts #dc thoughts #id in alt text #captioned #lois lane #investigating lois lane: the turbulent history of the daily planet’s ace reporter #divine comedy #arthur conan doyle #batman: the ultimate evil #snow country #the lady astronaut of mars #secret origins 80 page giant #lois lane (1986) #dc first: batgirl/joker

[canonsinthehead]

My Review of Yakuza 8/Infinite Wealth.

I'm back! Few days I've completed the game Yakuza 8 and will take the time to share my thoughts on it. Brace yourself!

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD. I ASSUME YOU’VE PLAYED THE GAME BEFORE READING THIS.

THE STORY: 4/10

A 50/50 roller coaster between clutching your pearls and an abyss of nuclear waste storytelling trash.

The whole story sounded good on paper, but its execution was poor especially past the first part of the game with Ichiban. Going between his lowkey undermined POV and another attempt (for the 124654th time) for a redemption story for Kiryu like almost all previous Yakuza games. Oh no! Am I dead?! Looks like I am. See you next game!

Many plot holes dragged the story to filth. Minor points/elements were expanded on meanwhile important ones were ignored.

WHAT I LIKE & DISLIKED ABOUT THE STORY:

LIKED & DISLIKE: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT It’s the game’s strength but also its weakness as this game greatly focuses on the character development of the protagonists. Like how in one minute, I was clapping for Kiryu’s newfound maturity and admitting his past faults (something he failed to do since the start of the Serie in my opinion) to the next 5 minutes I’m vomiting at full force because Mr. Repeat-the-same-mistakes Kazuma wants to (yep you guessed it...) go back to the Yakuza. He went as far as disrespecting Daigo, Majima & Saejima for it as if they were obligated to follow him in his shenanigans. He is so hell-bent on being the 1# Yakuza mammy AND CONTINUE TO PUT HIS ADOPTED DAUGHTER HARUKA TROUGH HELL. Thank you Akiyama for trying to punch some sense in him, i would have done the same.

I understand the theme of shame was prevalent with Kiryu but at this point hurry up and die to take the Yakuza out with you (his words not mine). We fell for the clickbait since Kiryu is still among us smh.

As for Ichiban, many points were missing especially a more organic/verbalized connection and relationship with his mom. As much I liked Chitose’s act of redemption at the end, the “lets-stop-everything-so-i-can-disclose-my-boohoo-backstory-so-yall-can-feel-bad-for-me” had me shaking my head into an earthquake (ok I’m lying cause I was snoring). On a positive note, this is why I like the character of Tomizawa since he often came into opposition to Ichiban’s opinion and morals giving unfiltered thoughts.

DISLIKED: DÉJÀ VU & REPETITION DÉJÀ VU! DÉJÀ VU! DÉJÀ VU! The story’s white shirt is so stained with déjà vu spaghetti sauce it's giving rubber bullets, and my undisclosed brother is a CIA agent (if you know you know). Family dysfunction leading to resentment, daddy issues, Maury Povich, Tojo Clan conflict of the day word salad, The Big Bad Chinese™, etc. I know these topics are broad, but many were seen before IN THE EXACT SAME WAY but with different characters along with scenes being replayed as well…

DISLIKED: OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR: KASUGA ICHIBAN! as we could see, they gave Ichiban the Shonen protagonist/Jesus treatment (he is video game Luffy with the outfit too and the ultimate powers of Baryon Mode level Talk no Jutsu). It was all foreshadowed by the blasphemous promotion pic they released. Ironically this same image told us about the presence of a traitor (also the choice of name; Ebina. Hebi = Snake in Japanese) but I digress. Not only the trope is overdone in general, but the issue is also that they are taking away from his realistically “human” qualities and lowkey dehumanizing him into the untouchable unbreakable hero. I’m saying this because in Y7 the dream of being a hero was more him tapping into his inner child and resolving the lost time but now it's my hero = I’ve never met someone like you, Jesus. This same trope was an important point of Kiryu’s demise and (literally) suicidal tendencies. It’s like he’s too good for tears outside of being weaponized during talk no jutsu.

HATED: THE TOJO CLAN IS IN TROUBLE! No matter how much the disbandment of the Tojo and Omi was official we are still talking about the Yakuza conflict as if it’s not 2023-2024. I understand a big part of its presence it demonstrates how much people hold to past ways of life, but I am TIRED of the “Tojo this, Tojo that” like it never disbanded. This long sequence of rambling about hierarchy and the fight for power always sends me into a deep sleep. It always takes 2-3 business days to build everything back in place as if it never disbanded smh and it happens EVERY TIME. Ok, I’m being a hater. I’m sick of the Tojo Clan.

To be fair, it gets worse and worse as the game continues. the first half of the game is fair to display realistically the life of an ex-yakuza in a coherent way in the first part of the game. it may sound like i'm contradicting myself but everything akuza-related gets lost in the sauce further in the story. i just blinked and now it's all about a white saviour and Japanese nationalisim (mentionned by Daidoji family). TF?!

DISLIKED: TEENAGE DREAM ROMANCE I’m not a fan of the romance between Saeko and Ichiban. It seems forced and something the authors came up with for a plot device. Saeko always served One Piece’s Nami when it pretended to her follow male party members (not romantically attracted regardless of proximity). Ichiban you are too old to be this clueless, but I thought this aspect was both at the same time cringe as hell and deeply hilarious.

DISLIKED: FORGIVENESS I think I've said it before, but forgiveness was a big theme but why its always extended to people who need to be thrown in a dumpster and set on fire? This showed how much Ichiban wanted to successfully accomplish the redemption mission which failed with Masato. Which is cool I guess and measures up to Ichiban’s character. It would have been nice to see villains being villains (to the exception of Yamai, protect him at all cost) like Ebina could have openly rejected Kiryu’s teary kabedon, Eiji being left in the dumpster where he belongs or let him surrender himself on his own accord. I was praying for Dai-Jima-Jima to stand on business and reject Kiryu after being disrespected but mam I was wrong. Not saying people don’t deserve a second chance but it was overdone.

Also, the “naïve-and-my-friends-can-do-no wrong” theme with Ichiban was frustrating at times but paid off sometimes. i will lay off the hater train since characters like Sawashiro got what he deserved many times.

NOT A FAN: FANSERVICE & PLOTHOLES The entire presence of characters like Zhao and Joongi was for fanservice (let’s bring back these fan favorites!). they had no real reason to be there ESPECIALLY Zhao. What is he a cook? You are not part of or the leader of the Liumang anymore. Plot holes were filled with Joongi and “the BBC-Sherlock-Holmes-logic” If he could get so much info, why not include him earlier? I’m sorry to go there but the over-focus (and even further) Seonghui’s whole endeavor was to satisfy the male gaze. It’s a Yakuza game after all catered towards the straight male demographic, I’m not delusional. I'll tolerate it to some extent since they have beaten the character assassination allegations for her but WHY AM I SEEING HER BARE FEET?! Let’s be honest, Dai-Jima-Jima appeared for fanservice as well (like they already did in Y7 smh)

HATED: RACISM Chitose. I’m not gonna say more…

DISLIKED: THEY HAD TO INCLUDE THEM VTUBERS! The concept of Vtubers seemed out of place and unserious compared to the story. The protagonists are suffering under the weight of defamation… OOPS! Let’s cut to this Donald Duck Opioid voice having Vocaloid exposing the government. The most valid source of information around! NO FAKE NEWS HERE! Like What?!

ADORED: THE HUMANIZATION OF KIRYU KAZUMA I love how the sensibility, and vulnerability of Kiryu were put to the forefront. Regardless of this game's bad attributes, seeing the man behind the Dragon of Dojima was heartwarming admit his prominent flaws was amazing. This game turned me into an avid Kiryu’s stan. I love his new design, dark colors, and grey hair fit him and his fat ass. Hence why it was painful to see Kazuki and Yuya being avoided by him when they recognized the man’s humanity and pained heart. I will not forgive Kiryu for that.

LIKED: ALL THE PURISTS, DEAD IN A DITCH! I’m rejoicing as this game is RGG/Yakuza games purists’ worst nightmare. The Reddit bros and the “lets-keep-RGG-Japanese” crowd are suffering. First when Ichiban was released for looking “foreign” but now that he is biracial confirmed, THEY CAN PACK IT UP! A game in the USA and moments with pseudo woke agenda (their words not mine). I am feasting on their tears. Again I’m not delusional, RGG will always stay true to their main target audience but I'm celebrating every loss they get, IDC.

ADORED: FUNNY MOMENTS there were many funny moments. Going from unhinged Seonghui, Adachi & Nanba goofing around and Joongi revealing more of his personality. I had many good laughs. Of course, nothing tops all the overprotective toxic boy mom/dusty 40yo son interactions with Kiryu and Ichiban. i almost fell from my chair with the whole "policeman help! this scary tourist is trying to attack me as an america" and the infamous Bruddah!

ADORED: KAZUKI & YUYA perfect style update. They look amazing and better than anybody else. They give TVXQ on 10000% and they got fangirls. I’m dead.

ADORED: YAMAI if there is one thing RGG never fails to deliver on is their antagonists and vilains. i love his unhingedness, his class and how unpredictable he is. the drip is immaculate. aside from that, he has a interesting back story. his role fills up as both a father figure-like to Ichiban keeping him in check and an aloof ally. His taste in women is 124684/10 automatically making his a king.

ADORED: YU NANBA & ETC i really need to take the time say it but the character of Nanba in this game is crucial. His unmatched personality is allowing to revealed others' character. his conpassion (along with Seonghui, Saeko & Zhao) almost form a better party since they act like real friend.

GAMEPLAY: 5.5/10 The RPG-esque gameplay depends on the player's preference. Since I was watching my sister play, I could be biased and stopped after the completion of the main story but here’s the points I liked and disliked about it:

LIKED:

New Attacks. Many of them are super effective in defeating opponents fast.

Pound mates: they were super fun and helpful. While I wished for Yamai to have one as well. My favorite was the one for Kazuki & Yuya.

Kiryu’s Bucket & Memories.

Talk around the city & Bond Bingo.

Throwing Sawashiro in the river

DISLIKED:

LONG AS F. FEELS LIKE AN ETERNITY (AS A VIEWER)

TOO MUCH DUNGEONS

THANKS FOR THE INFO, THAT LED US NOWHERE. (INFORMATION FETCH QUESTS)

ANIMAL CROSSING ISLAND

FINAL THOUGHTS & OVERALL NOTE. A Disappointment. i maybe forget certain things but this game missed the mark. In my opinion the negative out way the positive to the point of being bad. Especially when it comes to the story alone (the gameplay is great regardless of its flaws). I’m not going to repeat my previous point the game is not passing the vibe check. Now all the hype before its release makes sense, RGG made sure to drop spoilers to feed the thirst and so-called “mystery” of the game. The joke is on me since they already got my money and it's only now that we realize this game is not the best (not worth 130-ish$). It all felt like a Yakuza Gaiden extension while actively refusing to give Kiryu a close casket death.

Overall, 4.5/10. Do not recommend it. I honestly don’t knows if I will be there or care for any future RGG game release, it doesn’t look promising.

#rgg #rgg7 #rgg studio #yakuza infinite wealth #yakuza #yakuza like a dragon #kazuma kiryu #kiryu kazuma #ryu ga gotoku #ichiban kasuga #seong hui #joon gi han #han joon gi #jo sawashiro #reviews #my reviews #video games #kazuki #yuya #koichi adachi #yakuza imagines #yutaka yamai #yu nanba #nanba yu #tianyou zhao #zhao #seonghui #yakuza 7 #chitose fujinomiya #sawashiro jo

[sjofn-lofnsdottr]

Alright, I am going to TRY to do a BRIEF overview of Dusk's backstory, I guess. Just hit the highlights, up until he started actually adventuring. I will tell myself I can expand on everything later. Later!

Here's a picture that has nothing to do with anything, just because I like having a picture above the fold:

Alright, first off, Dusk's real name is Bellinor, and his sister is Oriane. Their father, when they were very small, started calling them Dusk and Dawn for reasons he never explained, and it stuck. Their grandparents use their given names, and basically no one else does.

He was born in Ishgard. I have thought a lot about his family and where they were in the Ishgardian hierarchy, but I am being BRIEF, so suffice to say, the fanciest of his relatives is his maternal grandmother, who was a knight in service to house Haillenarte.

His father is a spearman, and when Dusk and Dawn were eight or so, he began to train them how to use it. Their mother, a chirurgeon who was starting to break under the strain of being a healer in a Forever War, was still taken by surprise by how visceral a negative reaction she had to this. After talking it over with her husband, they began to plot an extreeeeemely slow desertion from the city. The timing turned out pretty good ... they were finally intending to leave for good when the twins were ten (who had no idea, of course) and during their very last trip outside of the city as a sort of dry run ... the Gates closed, and they couldn't go back, even if they had wanted to.

Dusk never thought of himself as not-Ishgardian, in spite of spending so much more of his life outside of the city than inside it, and he understands why his parents left, even if it was confusing and scary at the time. Unfortunately, part of why it was scary was ... they had fled to Gridania. I have a lot to say about his adolescence being spent in pre-Calamity Gridania and the stresses involved, but suffice to say ... sure, there were no dragons trying to kill them, but at least the dragons were somewhat predictable. The elementals were not.

Dusk and Dawn's parents never wanted them to have to fight, even though their father did continue their training with spears. Just in case. After the Calamity, the twins travelled to Limsa Lominsa. The plan had been for Dusk - who was already a fairly good carpenter - to train as a blacksmith there to supplement his skills. Dawn, a botanist, went with him for company, and just to spread her wings a little, the Calamity giving her an urge to travel while she could. Neither intended to adventure, although they were certainly dressed the part, the whole family still in the habit of being Ever Vigilant. None of them want to be caught unarmed when shit hits the fan, if you will.

As a result, though, while they were bumbling around the city trying to figure out who to even talk to, H'naanza spotted them, and thought they were new adventurers. She called them over and asked them to kill some wharf rats. Dusk agreed to it without correcting her, which made Dawn feel too awkward to correct her herself, and it all kind of spiraled from there.

It all worked out, at least.

I generally follow canon as far as his actual WoL career goes, filling in headcanon in the spaces the narrative itself provides. The biggest 'change' that isn't really a change regards his twin. Dawn, who also has the Echo, did not want to be a Scion, but she is extremely protective of her brother. So when it makes sense in my mind for her to be around, being very clear she is helping him and not the Scions, she's there. The big exception is Shadowbringers ... she's stuck at home and hating every second of it.

He was 30 when the Calamity hit, and was 35 when ARR began. I'm a one expansion = one year person ... except again for Shadowbringers, which in the Source timeline I think of only having happened in a couple of weeks. Which means he'll be turning 40 when 7.0 hits, I'm sure he's excited.

#ffxiv #ffxiv oc #just dusk #character ramblings #I meant it when I said he will Always Help #Dawn's kind of in denial on the Scion front

[starmonsterrr]

Introducing: Undertale self-insert #102480124 • (Update 2.02 - Miscellaneous changes)

HELLO PEOPLE

I may have disappeared for a maybe long while

And that is because of 3 reasons:

Ink appreciation server

running @ink-simp-shenanigans (surprise surprise it's me)

And school just started a week ago (which is more recent but i guess that may have added)

Except there is a 4th one and that is,,,,,,, I MAY have been working on a little Undertale AU,,,,, and then made an OC out of it,,,,

The AU will get it's own post and i'll reveal as much info as needed at the moment to explain who even is this new character that will be one of my faces on this blog (because i'm gonna have 2 OCs representing me. yeah- second one's design is still W.I.P (nevermind this is future me i finished the design but i might make a separate post for it))

And HERE IT COMES

A FURRY. What's cringier (affectionate /gen) than an Undertale self-insert in mid 2023? A FURRY Undertale self-insert that can shapeshift (WOW OP WHAT A MARY SUE) and exists for SELFSHIPPING

YEAH

THAT'S IT

TH- THAT'S THE CREATURE

And speaking of selfshipping if you scroll in my blog for a bit you might notice that i very much like Ink

and also reminder that I run a blog that has the purpose of feeding Ink simps

So uh I think you get what i'm trying to say

what the flop is a star-born monster????

It might take me a little while (or until i get asks about it) for me to open up about the selfship shenanigans, but meanwhile, here are some bits of explanations and stuff!

which AU is this menace from?

OuterRenaissance. It's still being fleshed out (asks would help a lot), and I plan to later on make an outcode expanded version, and even have some basic stuff for that version. But in simple words it's Outertale but in addition of the space themes, i added themes of the Renaissance historical period, as it brought great advances to science; including astronomy!

I have a post explaining exactly this!

And here's some trivia to finish this off!

(also, Io can shapeshift out of this appearance because shapeshifting powers)

Backstory???

Its AU died (destroyed by Error), and it almost did too, but i possessed it and fused my soul over time with its own using my creator powers and it is now technically a walking corpse puppeteered by me so I can interact with the UTMV, while also forcing it to change its form into the Doppelganger form; giving it the ability to, well, shapeshift. Also ink snas selfship shenanigans i haven't properly written yet (yooo two walking corpses that love eachother!!!!!1!!!1). that's the fewest words i can put it in

IS THAT A 'THE STARRY NIGHT' REFERENCE???

Yes. Yes it is. and fun fact: the ship between Io and Ink is named exactly that. The Starry Night. how clever of me, i should get a prize

Does it have a personality?

Yup. I just don't know how to describe personalities, but here's an attempt at that.

Io is a passionate artist, but struggles with some degree of perfectionism driven by the pride of its art skills which are, by far, its best ability. It also tends to be (sometimes dangerously) kind-hearted at others. It might act one of two ways in social spaces: kind of awkward, not talking much, OR ABSOLUTE MENACE as in SUPER SILLY. No in-between.

Also, it is a quick learner, and could be considered quite intelligent. Thing is ... It carried over speech from the Renaissance time period and is still adapting to modern words. A bit of an overthinker too, which can lead to communication issues, and tends to plan elaborate strategies to perform the simplest of things...sometimes not even following them.

Pronouns/gender identity?

Io, like me, goes by it/its pronouns and identifies as non-binary! (Subject to change as I occasionally explore my gender identity)

Io, due to being puppeteered by me; a Creator, also has the powers of one, but either doesn't use the powers at all or uses them in subtle ways to try and steer things to its/my favour. It may sometimes disguise it as "art magic" shown in these doodles i made a bit ago:

also. autism. i'm autistic and because i take control of this critter i'm dragging it into the spectrum.

And I think that's everything that comes to mind right now! Thank you for listening to this bunch of rambling that i did not beta read prior to posting.

#cringe warning: undertale (multiverse) self insert made for self-shipping and also potentially a mary sue #Also reminder that the block button exists #i don't care about cringe anymore #just wanna have fun #corv rambles about lore #corv's OCs #one mention of OuterRenaissance so like #because it's like one or two mentions i'm not really tagging it as an Undertale AU #undertale au #i lied #Corv's OuterRenaissance mentions #Corv's OuterRenaissance #undertale au oc #undertale oc #utmv oc #original character #oc

[honey-minded-hivemind]

I would love to see how you would expand upon the haunted mansion au!! It has so much potential and it’s so good

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it! Honestly, I imagine each ghost character has their own backstory, era, and macabre death...

I'm not sure how many characters knew each other in life or not, but I know for certain that yes, Magneto and Xavier knew each other, Logan and Victor knew each other, Scott and Jean knew each other, and Gambit and Rogue knew each other, too. (And Laura is still related to Logan! She is in this, too!)

If I were to use X-Men Evolution as the chosen media, then there would be more tragic deaths involved, with Reader being seen as a sibling by the teens/tweens, and the adults being overprotective due to how exactly everyone died. Lighter tone, but still a somber undertone.

If I used X-Men: The Animated Series as the chosen media, then it would have darker and more dramatic deaths for the ghosts. Not to mention the majority would be adults this time, so you have all of them trying to parent the Reader or be an older sibling to them. Darker themes, and a little more trauma are to be expected if I took this direction.

You have the X-MCU, and that would have dramatic/terrifying deaths and disturbing themes. Surprise, there are kids and adults, all of whom are stuck there together, some hold grudges, but all are willing to save it for after the Reader isn't there. Extra over-protective and some possessiveness. Gets really dark, really fast.

I haven't set much in stone yet, but I can say I like the X-Men Evolution version, simply due to at least some slightly healthier relationships than the other two possibilities... I might do an au for all three medias, but as of now, the 👻Haunted Mansion🔮 AU is on the backburner. Not forgotten or abandoned, just in need of some TLC...

Buuuuut... as a sneak peak...

The three who end up as the Hitchhiking ghosts would likely be (if we do X-Men Evolution): Kurt, Kitty, and Todd.

Those three would be the sort to actively leave the mansion grounds just to follow Reader around and see what the present world is like after so many years (and spy on their new friend/sibling). Like to play jokes on each other, and the Reader, move stuff around their home, and as compensation for scaring the other ghosts by leaving, they tell them all about what the world has become, and how Reader lives and acts outside of the mansion and its grounds...

Other bonus for you😊:

Reader is a reincarnation of the ghosts' old friend... But the question is... who did Reader know, and how did they die...? And... do the ghosts know who they truly are?

(I hope you enjoyed this! Thank you for your kind words, and for taking the time to ask a question! I love answering them! Have a good day, and drink plenty of juice and water😊💛

#honeycomb thoughts #platonic yandere marvel #yandere platonic marvel #platonic yandere xmen #yandere x-men #platonic yandere x reader #platonic yandere marvel x reader #👻Haunted Mansion🔮 AU

[dovelydraws]

Tell me abt your ocs 👁👁👁👁

oh GOD I have so many asldjfljk um!!!

I'll start with my dnd/pathfinder character Revun, since I've been posting about them a lot recently!! I'm no longer concerned about sharing spoilers because I got all my party members to block campaign spoilers hehe 💕

^ Made this little icon of them for discord recently (he/they/she)

The backstory doc i originally handed to my GM was over 5k words long, (plus there's also been several nights of me rambling in their dms expanding on all the stuff I'd Already Written) so I'm gonna try my best to. condense this lmao

Revun's bio parents were both human; their mom made a deal with a daemon while she was pregnant to save her father's life from a severe illness that would have killed him, and as a consequence of that her child was born a tiefling.

The social stigma of having a tiefling child (everyone just immediately knows she made some kind of deal with a fiendish entity) became too much for them to handle, so their mom and grandfather chose to abandon them four years after they were born, and start a new life elsewhere where no one knew them. Revun spent the next seven years in an orphanage, until they ran away to go try and join a mercenary group that passed through town at one point.

Throughout Revun's life, they've been haunted by a spirit in the shape of a black wolf with gold eyes that match their own. It only appears when they are in the middle of having a near death experience- so far, that's been twice. The first was when they were 11, and they nearly froze/starved to death out in the woods after running away. The second was after a disagreement with their boss/somewhat father figure lead to him nearly killing them at 25.

While Revun never learned all the details of their mom's deal, they at least are somewhat aware that whatever she did saved their grandfather's life. They are convinced at this point that whatever happened must have created some sort of imbalance in the afterlife or something, and this wolf was expecting a new soul that day that never came. And now, it's stalking Revun waiting for them to drop dead, to take them as a replacement like some sort of debt collector. I'm unsure if this is actually the case since I decided to leave the details up to my GM, but this is what Revun believes and they are absolutely terrified of it.

Speaking of that mercenary group, they did take them in and save them that night, but it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Revun ended up spending the rest of their childhood in a pretty toxically masculine environment, and with an expectation placed on their shoulders to always follow orders and never try to argue, even if they may be uncomfortable or feel something was a bad idea.

A portion of the mercenary company was hired to act as bodyguards at a prestigious vineyard, of which had recently made some enemies with their business competition. Revun spent about a year and a half there, becoming very close friends with the winemaker's daughter, until the deal fell through and the company was offered more money to destroy the vineyard and kill the family/any workers on the property to make sure there were no witnesses. Revun nearly died getting their best friend to safety and trying to help any workers they could find, fighting against the only family they'd really had the chance to know.

They somehow managed to escape, and were found laying on the side of the road a couple miles away from the vineyard by some passing travelers, who were able to patch them up and drop them off at the next town. They'd been separated from everyone- their entire social safety net was gone, their worldview completely changed overnight. That was a Lot for them to handle, so they kind of just... Didn't.

They've decided to just try to move on, forget everything that happened and everyone that was ever important to them. Start a new life somewhere else. Don't think about it. Pretend it never happened.

All of this has ended up creating a guy with a lot of self loathing, abandonment issues, anxiety and paranoia, and a Very Stubborn "don't worry about it! :)" attitude.

I love them so much. They make me feel like this:

#campaign spoilers #asks #thank you. thank you so much for asking. you have no idea how much i've been dying to talk about this guy. #putting them in a little jar w/ airholes and then shaking them around violently #dove speaks #revun #I'm keeping it to just them for now bc otherwise this post would get insanely long #but I'm hoping to start posting art of my future webcomic characters soon! I'm currently working on character sheets for them

[liskantope]

The webcomic Questionable Content dropped its 5000th comic on Friday, and throughout the weekend and today I binge-reread all of the most recent thousand. I've never had the impression that many of my followers care about QC (not ~8 years ago when I started to blog about it, nor today), but I do have a tradition, after each thousand of its comics, of writing a post reviewing that thousand. Here is where I blogged after the 1000th comic, reblogged after the 2000th comic, and reblogged again after the 3000th comic (this was all during my early months on Tumblr when I was more into reblogging my own posts), and here is my post from 2019 from after the 4000th came out.

When I look back on the pivotal moment clearly scheduled for QC's 500th comic, when it seemed that QC had already been going on quite a while and developed into a really involved storyline that had built and built to this moment when Faye would finally reveal her traumatic backstory, it's astounding to take in the fact that QC has now reached ten times that milestone.

I'm not sure I have a ton to say that isn't essentially a (perhaps more refined) regurgitation of some of the things I've said in the previous reviews, but I do feel like the webcomic has evolved somewhat significantly in its last thousand comics (though perhaps less so than in the previous thousands), and I have a few thoughts/feelings/opinions.

[Note: all of this post is substantially edited since a few people reblogged the original version.]

I would say that this is the first thousand-strip period where my enjoyment of the comic actually went downhill. (Although I would say my feeling is more positive when skimming back over the most recent thousand comics at once; it is still overall fantastic and there's a reason I've stayed so dedicated to reading it.)

It's hard to entirely pin down why I feel this way. I think it has a lot to do with the continued introduction of new characters, at a pace which has never shown any signs of slowing despite the massive accumulated cast the comic already has. While this means that some old characters are more or less abandoned or kind of shoved to the margins (which in some cases I'm quite sorry to see), by and large the comic has stretched out to make room to be shared by an ever-growing cast. At the 4000th strip, I was still doing fine with this, but by the 5000th, I'm starting to feel a little fatigued and past my capacity for keeping track of who's who (and also who knows whom; I have to give the artist credit for keeping careful track of this in the storyline and bringing it up in the dialog when long-already-established characters meet each other for the first time). Many more of them are AIs now, and I guess it may one day be judged as something-ist on my part that I find them more difficult to recognize and distinguish in my memory. Too many of the personalities are somewhat interchangeable too, which is something I should try to expand on just below.

I continue to describe the QC universe to myself using the term "utopia", even though I know this has to be somewhat of a misuse: as I've pointed out before, the characters in that universe are very aware that the broader society they live in is unjust in many ways, and some story arcs (though thankfully not most) are focused on rather futile battles against that injustice. But within the (quite large) social bubble that makes up the immediate QC universe, I have a hard time coming up with a better descriptive word than "utopia" -- maybe this could be modified to "social micro-utopia" or something? (I'm reliably terrible at coming up with terminology.) As I've been reading Peanuts steadily starting from its debut throughout much of the same period I've been reading QC, I actually see a likeness in these "social micro-utopias" and have been meaning forever to write an effortpost delving into this, but as it happens the 5000th-comic milestone has arrived first and that other post will have to wait for another time.

The attractions of indulging in the dynamics of a fictional social bubble which is this idyllic are that it provides a sort of pleasant escapism and that it's inspiring in a way that might enable someone to enact some of the practices and values seen in QC in their own IRL social lives. QC is a feel-good comic; it never tries or pretends to be anything other than a feel-good comic; and (at the risk of sounding trite and cliche) we all need more feel-good things in our lives, and I clearly continue to enjoy it after 8 years of keeping up through 5000 installments. At the same time, some of this... constant and slightly implausible pleasantness... has just gone a bit overboard for me by this point. Maybe a lot of this has to do with the fact that what little I have of a social life feels a very, very long way from satisfying (and I see that I remarked this in my post after comic #4000, with some language reflecting some optimism related to the fact that I was preparing at the time to move back to the US, and it's a reminder of how things really haven't improved for me to any significant degree. To state the obvious: completely unexpected earth-shaking pandemics really don't help. Neither does continuing to get only temporary jobs.) But back during the first half of the 2010's when I had a happily thriving social life, there was no lack of serious drama, tension, real struggles to tolerate one another's eccentricities, and undercurrents of discord. I keep waiting for the social dynamics between the QC characters to get a little more gritty somehow, to feel a little more real. I know this is an unfair expectation, since as observed above, QC never purports to be genuinely gritty.

One thing that has become a symbol for me of the seemingly incessant cheerfulness that characterizes around half the personalities in the comic is... I don't know if there's a term for this that cartoonists use, but you know the technique of drawing closed eyes so that they're concave down, meaning that it's the lower lids that are showing? Maybe this could be called "upturned closed eyes" or something? In cartoons they signal cheerfulness and easy-goingness. And sometimes it feels like half the QC characters go around showing this on their faces all the time, to the point that it's gotten monotonous and maybe a little sappy for my tastes. (This is part of what I meant above about personalities being interchangeable.) It's a constant reminder of how all the characters are pretty much automatically and immediately in lockstep on Major Social Values / Preferences, which I find pretty unrealistic for a hodgepodge of young-ish people who all gradually met kind of randomly. I honestly feel bad that this bothers me quite as much as it does, but it does kind of bother me. There could actually be some dissonance between the characters in terms of their beliefs, values, and ideas of a good time (example: a few, leaving aside Faye who is a recovering alcoholic, could view getting really drunk in social situations as kind of immature, unhealthy, and un-classy behavior -- even some 20-something people do see it that way!).

(Of course, as always, there are occasional characters who everyone has serious problems with, but they are either complete villains who get dealt with and then written out, people who are pushed to the periphery of the social circle but are visibly Trying To Be Better (actually, Sven seems to be the only one in this category), or once-somewhat-hostile characters that the cartoonist obviously wanted to keep around so had to immediately and pointedly mellow and humanize, like Yay a.k.a. Spookybot and probably like five others.)

The comic continues to follow tropes that I call Everyone Is Hot (and half of them are openly attracted to each other), Everyone's Parents Are Remarkably Cool (by the standards of young, socially progressive culture), Everyone Is Woke (in both an ideological and a "young and with-it" sense), and Most People Are LGBT+. I find the first two slightly irritating from time to time and don't mind the last two, but find all of it somewhat unrealistic.

While there is much less dramatic development regarding Faye and Bubbles, I'm glad that Faye remains sober, and that their relationship is still going strong. The profound and powerful love between them is exhibited by the most exquisite writing that the artist has done in all of his work on QC, I would say. Other relationships are going strong, too, and I'm glad. I seem to be asking for more social drama above, but I don't actually care to see loving relationships fall apart. The deep friendship between Faye and Marten is still visible although very much sidelined compared to the comic's old days. The big new relationship is between Clinton and Elliot, and it is adorable from beginning to end (although, see the Everybody Is LGBT+ trope above; there has IMO been a rather unrealistic proportion people convinced they were straight but conveniently discovering they weren't).

And now... there has been a really long story arc about Claire getting offered a job at Cubetown and visiting there with Marten, and all the while, through the very real possibility that Claire would take the job and she and Marten would move away, I have found myself steadfastly rooting against this happening. Because while I complain about there not being enough drama and dissonant changes and it being unrealistic, etc., I don't want that much of a change. The lack of turnover among the social group is absolutely unrealistic in my experience (perhaps partly because I'm a young academic who tends to know other young academics), but I guess it's a part of the escapism that I unreservedly love. Despite my criticisms (and as I've said, it's always easier to expand on criticisms than positive things in reviews!), I've obviously come to care deeply about these characters and their wonderful (if sometimes sappily and implausibly peaceful) dynamic, and I can't imagine the comic being the same with the initial main character and his girlfriend out of the main scene. Plus, their visit to Cubetown has already introduced us to a raft of new characters and... ugh, this comic's world is just getting too big for the comic to hold up.

And (spoiler), as of just the most recent five comics out of the 5000, it looks like Claire is taking the job and this move -- the most drastic change in the QC universe -- is really going to happen. I wonder if the cartoonist draw out the interim period of Marten and Claire preparing to move, have Dora and Tai's wedding as the last major event with them all together, and then retire the comic altogether. (He is certainly not retirement age yet but may have been planning to bring it to a close one of these years.) We'll see, but I can't say I'm thrilled at this very, very recent development. It's hard to imagine what kind of (questionable) content I'll be commenting on if/when the comic reaches its 6000th installment.

[EDIT: I just saw an announcement by the cartoonist that he does not intend to wind QC down, that he initially wanted to get Marten and Claire riding off into the sunset, but now he feels investigated in following both the original setting and the new Cubetown setting. The groaning-under-its-own-weight situation is about to get much worse... *sigh*]

Anyway, here are a few stray observations to finish things off:

The very slight drama that transpired when Clinton and Elliot were trying to feel each other out and there was sort of a romantic interest triangle -ish with Brun is another example of a subcultural norm that has always been baldly present in QC (and that I'm pretty sure I've aimed at describing before), and that I've come to realize is common in poly and queer groups, where people are much more open than I'd be inclined to be about their romantic/sexual interests in each other. Not only that, but it's the way they treat it as something rather matter-of-fact, not in the sense that they don't get worked up over it (they obviously do), but in the sense that it's dealt with sort of... practically? Where everyone is able and expected to just get over their feelings once they find out the party they're interested in isn't reciprocating, because it's not rationally helpful or constructive to hang onto those feelings? I don't know, I'm probably not expressing this well, and I can't judge that norm (it seems like for the most part it would be really nice actually and make for healthy social groups and I'm all for the people who can pull it off), but it's another one of those things that doesn't reflect the way the world really works for me. And I think I bear a grudge against it because it's in line with the fantasies of the anti- Nice Guy activists of a decade ago, who would go around saying, "And he should just get over it and want to still be friends even if I'm not interested in anything else! Otherwise he was just objectifying me the whole time. I'm entitled to the guy who I just spurned to feel like still being friends with me anyway!"

Every single thing about Aurelia as her Mommymilkers avatar is hilarious, the most I've laughed out loud over the last thousand comics. Sure, she's an implausibly "cool" parent, but she's a really enjoyable character.

Bemused nitpicky comment: the cartoonist Jeph Jacques makes a point of making all his characters very much "in the know" about what is "woke"/PC these days (e.g. Renee gently admonishes Brun from using the word "crazy" to describe someone) but appears to have a blind spot with the word "janitor", which I thought had been replaced by "custodian" in socially conscientious circles quite a few years ago.

The term "goblin" comes up a lot. A lot. (Half the time relating to Marigold somehow, but also in a bunch of other contexts.) I didn't entirely notice this until the past few days when I was doing my binge-reread. I'm not sure why Jeph Jacques is so amused by the word "goblin" that he is this fond of using it to refer to characters.

#qc #utopia #social life #drinking culture #queer culture #social drama #nice guy discourse

[throughtrialbyfire]

Hi, can you tell me what was your original inspiration for Cycle? Where did you start with the ideas? Plot? Characters? A little of both? ❤️

hi winter!!!! <3333

i think the idea for CotS kinda just… happened. it was a speculative concept of what it would look like if there was more than one "last" dragonborn, and how that would fit into the world or change the narrative of skyrim!! i already had some concepts for a few characters and some scattered story ideas, so i decided to make a trio and send them on adventures. athenath was the first one i made, though, since he was originally going to be a self insert i tossed about like a ragdoll into various situations (especially involving cicero), then they decided that they had their own story to tell, and here we are! the trio's backstories and personalities blossomed as i wrote more about them, which is what lead to a rewrite of some chapters, but i love them a lot. it really was just gonna be a little side project from my original writing that i had no intention of posting anywhere, but, well, we see how that went AHAH

as for the plots, i was genuinely going to write out every quest and side quest. i thought that in order for the trios adventures to work, i had to do that, and follow canon exactly. then i engaged in the fandom more and read more fic and realized that, no, i can be canon-divergent and not write every quest HAHKJGDHKJFG. i still have drafts of chapters where they talk to characters to initiate certain plots, and maybe i'll put them to use one day. it went from following canon, to canon divergence, to using canon as my guideline and making my own arcs and storylines, altering existing ones, and toying with the framework of bethesdas writing as much as i feel necessary. i still try to adhere to the lore and keep it grounded in the world of the elder scrolls, but i'm allowing more room to play with that lore as the story goes on. for example, since solitude as a city doesnt have much in the way of a city-wide quest like some others do, i'm writing from the ground up an entire arc for the town based on several quests in the game and just expanding upon those.

of course, a lot of alteration has to be done in order to make room for three heroes. i have to rewrite dialogue and even rework some quests to make room for them to fit into it, or decide which one of them is gonna be handling a solo mission. for example, i planned for athenath to get dawnbreaker because that's one of my favorite weapons in skyrim, so i had to decide why the other two wouldn't be able to follow into meridia's temple. so, i decided vigilants of stendarr would be trying to stop the trio from going inside because the vigilants think the trio are "aiding the daedra", and only one of them could run in while the other two held the vigilants back. i'm slowly dividing up the daedric quests between who gets what, or if all three do the quest. it's a challenge to be sure everything still flows smoothly, but i love it >:3c plus, i've come up with a hell of a lot of other OCs as i've gone along to flesh out the world, and as i get to know those characters, too, skyrim feels more and more like home.

i hope any of that made sense <3 thank you so much for the ask!!!! i could legitimately ramble abt the writing process with this fic for so, so long AHAH so thank you for letting me do that!!

ask game

#bishop.txt #cycle of the serpent #asks #ask games #skyrim fic #tesblr #skyrim fanfic #oc ; athenath #oc ; emeros #oc ; wyndrelis

[secret-engima]

Wait wait, can I hear more about the itachi not using shisui’s eye thoughts? Because honestly, for a character that’s supposed to be a pacifist, itachi seems to be written much more like an Angel of Death esque serial killer?

Uhhhhhhh okay I'll try to get this down before tumblr makes me wanna gouge my eyes out (why is dark mode just as painful to look at as light mode make it stopppp)

-It is very clear that Itachi was originally intended to be a Pure Evil character with different motivations. In Naruto OG we *really* have no reason to think he is anything other than a nutjob who murdered his family and tortured his brother for the lols. NOW. This isn't actually an irredeemable factor for him as a character, with a show as long as Naruto it is perfectly possible to rewrite him and tweak him into a tragic villain or even the tragic hero Kishi wanted us to later believe he was. *IF* proper work is done to explain why the so called pacifist resorted to so much violence.

-Which obviously never explicitly happens even though with how Itachi's backstory is set up it honestly wouldn't be that hard.

-Moving on from the meta perspective may I put forth to you this answer to All the Itachi Questions:

-Danzo.

-No seriously. I already suspected this when I was reading just the fanfic, but actually watching the arc where we see Itachi's spiral there are some Key Things I noticed happening that are literally never mentioned or expanded on that would make Itachi choosing Massacre over Brainwashing make perfect sense.

-Gonna have to backtrack just a bit for this, but when I say that Danzo wanted the Uchiha dead, I *mean he wanted them dead*. Not just in a "the village and the Uchiha were starting to butt heads anyway and he took preemptive murder action" way but like- "intentional years long plan to kill off this entire clan" way.

-One of the big things that fueled the rumor that the Uchiha were at fault for the Kyuubi attack, other than the old story of Madara controlling the Kyuubi, is that the Uchiha were not present for the defense against the Kyuubi. A lot of clans took heavy losses trying to fend the biju off or drive it out of the village until Minato could arrive, but the Uchiha were literally not there, and people got suspicious as to why. The answer is literally Danzo. Fugaku was planning to marshal the Uchiha *because* he hoped he and his clan would be able to mass genjutsu the Kyuubi into being docile, but at the last minute he received orders from *Danzo* through one of his Root, to instead take his clan and.

-Guard the civilian underground shelters and the village outskirts "in case an enemy tries to sneak in in the chaos". I'm sorry but uh. YOUR CHUUNIN COULD DO THAT WHILE THE PEOPLE WITH MIND CONTROL POWERS HELP WITH THE BIJU PROBLEM? But no. Danzo specifically ordered them to the two places they could not help against the Kyuubi and would be mostly out of sight/would be accused of using civilians as an excuse to save their own skins.

-No explanation is ever given to the general populace for why the Uchiha were not there, even though it was a direct order from the man who was, at the time, Sarutobi's known SiC and primary advisor. All Sarutobi would have to do is say 'they were following my orders' and it would clear up. He does not. Which indicates that Sarutobi *possibly* did not even known Danzo did what he did, and the Uchiha never told the Hokage because Danzo is his SiC and this would not be the first time people just assumed Danzo is operating on Sarutobi's orders/permission.

-We see multiple mULTIPLE times in this arc that over the course of literal years, starting from the Kyuubi attack and on to the Massacre, that Danzo was intentionally orchestrating the tension in the village. The isolation of the Uchiha compound wasn't Tobirama, it was Danzo, who had them relocated post the Kyuubi attack for "better reconstruction of the village". They were so far removed they were outside the chakra barrier/radar thing that Pain used Itachi's passcode for in the Pain Arc. That's how far removed they were from the village proper. They were under 24 hr, intense surveillance, cameras on their streets, watch towers hidden around their compound border, cameras even looking *into* the windows of their houses. And they were aware of it, because the Uchiha are not dumb and also have really good vision thank you. They can see that. Their one foundational position in the village, the Police Force, was being forcibly and slowly taken from them with Danzo pushing Sarutobi to insist they take on officers from other clans like Inuzuka and Aburame, and some of their traditional patrol beats were being straight up reassigned to ANBU. You know, the guys who are supposed to be busy assassinating Konoha's enemies, not breaking up bar brawls.

-I could go on with this but if you actually watch that arc and watch Danzo, he is very intentionally *trying* to force the Uchiha to plot a coup. He is trying to get an excuse to kill them all. AND on top of that, we already know he has a sharingan eye already, yes even before Shisui. In fact he steals Shisui's eye because his current one is going blind *presumably from overuse*, which means he's already spent who knows how long subtly influencing/genjutsuing Sarutobi and other high ranked shinobi into looking the other way or agreeing with him on policy stuff.

-Enter *Itachi* and Shisui, who are trying to juggle this entire situation at ages like- 11 and maybe 14 when this starts and later Itachi at a lonely 13 by the end. Every time they come up with advice on how to help lower clan tensions to Sarutobi, Danzo railroads it and makes the situation worse instead. There's literal dialogue for it, where he'll interrupt them or just later on dismiss the idea and bully Sarutobi (who lets himself be bullied) into doing something else that is clearly just going to make the Uchiha madder.

-Somewhere about ... halfway I'd guess? Halfway at the earliest through this train wreck, Itachi gets pulled from Kakashi's ANBU squad and given, by Sarutobi, *to Danzo* and his ROOT shinobi, who at the time were not only known about by Sarutobi but implicitly approved of, they've worked alongside normal ANBU for several missions in the past. So now Itachi, the pacifist, the clan heir, the linchpin to this entire disaster, is directly under the command of Danzo Eye-Stealer and Genjutsu User Shimura, is within his reach and probably in his presence for *long periods of time* to receive orders/get pontificated at. Remember that point.

-Okay so now, NOW we get to Shisui's eye and Itachi not using it. To start with, Itachi was fully on board with Shisui's plan, he *wanted* this plan to work, he and Shisui were gonna meet up, go to the Clan Head, and do the thing. But Shisui, poor naive soul, reported to Danzo first, to inform him that "hey we're going to fix this problem". Danzo's response is to attack Shisui and rip out his eye to replace his now mostly blind current sharingan. Shisui runs, suicide by dramatics yada yada, his dying words are for Itachi to take his remaining eye and DO THEIR PLAN.

-Itachi straight up ... does not do it. In canon there is no actual reason stated. I don't thing we even get Itachi doing a long-winded monologue (which Kishi usually adores doing to kill us with boredom) about why he thinks the plan will fail. Instead we hit a *timeskip* of anything from a few weeks to possibly a few months, and then we have Itachi approaching "Madara" for assistance in the massacre.

-Madara who, iirc, Danzo is also aware of, I believe he bargained with Madara at least once in canon for something but I don't remember where that shows up.

-Funny how the guy who now has a fresh new brainwashing eye suddenly is not going to be responsible for the final blow to the Uchiha. Funny how the 13 year old who is under his direct command and influence goes from wanting to fix the problem without bloodshed to *recruiting a rogue shinobi* to help kill everyone, and then handily removing himself from the village entirely to go spy on the Akatsuki and make himself Konoha's enemy #1 for years to come.

-Funny how no one ever heard the massacre take place, and how the Uchiha compound was already conveniently outside the barrier radar so no one would notice the Uchiha chakra signatures going out en masse.

-Funny, how the first people on the scene of the massacre? Are Danzo and his root agents.

-Funny, isn't it, that the man with years of experience using a stolen eye to influence people in secret suddenly has everything he wants, and the talented but much less experienced *child* directly under his command goes against all his previous ideals of pacifism to do something that will fully benefit Danzo and then removing himself from the situation entirely to serve as a spy against Danzo's other potential problems.

-Funny isn't it that the one thing Itachi loved enough to defy orders for, Sasuke, almost *died* from the trauma of the Tsukuyomi anyway (iirc he was in a coma for a few *days*, but that could be fanon I'm misremembering).

-Funny that, over the years, this one single loose end of Danzo's, this one last thing Itachi would be willing to destroy Danzo for even after all he has done and abandoned, is systematically isolated and then later hunted by a missing ninja who *also* spent a lot of time in the past working for Danzo. Including being able to send the Sound Four in to get him in the heart of the village without any alarms going up in the barrier radar thing. For which Danzo has the codes for his root ninja who are also now not supposed to exist.

-Funny how this one loose end keeps running into circumstances that by rights should either kill him or make him *also* a missing ninja that Konoha should hunt down, and the only thing that keeps Sasuke from being declared an enemy of the village and slaughtered for a bounty is the unanticipated attachment of Tsunade to Naruto, who loves Sasuke enough to beg for clemency for him.

-Funny how one of the *first* things Danzo does after becoming temporary Hokage is put out a bounty on this one boy that survived his plotting and was the only threat left to him from Itachi, even after Itachi has died.

-But sure. It was all Itachi's idea to massacre the clan and never use Shisui's eye to fix the problem. No sir definitely no brainwashing of a baby Uchiha involved there, nope. Nada. What are you talking about. Itachi totally did this all of his own choice and volition.

#SE asks #anon asks #Secret Engima Rambles #SE Rants #uchiha massacre #naruto #danzo shimura #hi i have thoughts and today i will be saying them. #can you tell i have issues with how ppl in canon and fanon characterize Itachi and the massacre #when danzo is #right there #with canon mind control powers

[tyesteban]

Damien Rozenwood is the name I give an oc if they're supposed to be me but I still want it to be an oc to do fun stuff with.

So this is Sandrock Damien. The social is from before the final twist (so far who know really [shrug])

I put the template on my main blog: @lucifers-paramour

More explanation under the cut so there isn't a block in the search/dashboard

First thing first, I wanted to adopt the hog so badly I decided I get him anyway.

Okay more background explanation:

Idk if there actually is someone who runs Portia Cafe, and I don't care if they ever add someone, since there isn't anyone in actual gameplay right now, that's what I'm going with

His mom insists that a mutant isn't his father, and most people accept it (but not fully believe it) except the church who treated him badly for it

His hates are mostly all related to how he was bullied by the church and some kids who just saw the church being mean and followed suit

The mushroom and snail hates are just because I personally hate those

He wears concealer for the small areas that have scales, but if someone gifts it, it makes him paranoid, and makes him feel shame as if someone is saying he needs to hide something

Idk if there actually is someone who runs Portia Cafe, and I don't care if they ever add someone, since there isn't anyone in actual gameplay right now, that's what I'm going with

His mom insists that a mutant isn't his father, and most people accept it except the church who treated him badly for it

His hates are mostly all related to how he was bullied by the church and some kids who just saw the church being mean and followed suit

The mushroom and snail hates are just because I personally hate those

He wears concealer for the small areas that have scales, but if someone gifts it, it makes him paranoid, and makes him feel shame as if someone is saying he needs to hide something

His dislikes are more associated with his personal association, and dislike of said association, with his nonhuman half

If someone tries to spar with him he will throw the fight so not to arise suspicion

I was gonna make him taller for self fulfillment but I made him 5'7" like me anyway 'cause I felt it was just better Idk

Arvio tried to be his friend, and for a little while he was, but Arvio VERY quickly confessed to him which made Damien suspicious due to how quickly it all happened, and how easily he came up with lies to make his surprise

Since Amirah was also helping him hide it he just couldn't be her friend since he felt he couldn't trust her, even though he wanted to be her friend

He is outgoing, but also an introvert.

He exaggerates his outgoingness, kindness, and annoyingness to overcompensate but he's so in habit of it he doesn't know how to stop

People, outside of Portia, just assume his eyes are just an aesthetic change he did professionally so he doesn't have to try and hide them

I decided that Damien works best in Sandrock because the one singular oc I have in the My Time series is a repurposed oc that I made a Duvos escapee, so I felt since Portia and Sandrock happen at the same time, it would make more sense for that oc to be the Portia and Damien be Sandrock.

For a little bit of explanation on the Duvos oc in Portia, since I'm probably never gonna expand on it fully, he's still Maurice's son, I'm just changing the backstory a little. It's not important, he still tells people he came from Barnarock, it just makes his and his father's story just a tad sadder.

I'm tired, it's 3:30 a.m., so hopefully this is a good enough of information

If anyone has any questions on things I didn't address I'll answer them

#fandom #my time at sandrock #mtas builder

[concealeddarkness13]

Wow, I Can't Believe it's Another Story Idea!

I have way too many, but this one feels really promising, lol. And it's a lot of fun as a concept! Tagging: @ratracechronicler, @maple-writes, @pen-of-roses, and @drabbleitout!

This'll probably be a long one. So, this story happens about 20-40 years before the start of any of my other stories. It follows this one continent on this world (might move to more continents, but right now, just one), and they're in the middle of a war. The Arcadian Empire is totally trying to expand its reaches and pushing into other countries, and the other two main countries are called Terithia and Liliquen. I'll detail these three first and then get into characters and plot.

First, the Arcadian Empire. Honestly, not a terrible place to live. The emperor, Vyxis, gives freedoms and protected leave and breaks and living wages to his citizens. He's learned from his father--who was killed by his overworked and starving citizens--to give the citizens good living conditions and make them happy. However, he is ruthless when someone acts out against the empire, and anyone with very powerful magic is taken to be used as a weapon for the empire.

Terithia is more lenient on citizens, barely seeming to have a presence in their lives. They generally worry more about the local governments than the national government. At least, in most things. The government is initiating a program to rid every citizen of their magic and even extend that beyond their boarders. The leader believes that magic is the root of everyone's problems, and since everyone on this world has some kind of magic, everyone should be purged of magic. There are ample underground areas for refugees from other places to hide out in and also not get purged, but those places are starting to get more crowded and in danger of being found because of that.

Liliquen has a great emphasis on the arts. Every city will be filled with art and singing and dancing wherever you look. It's as if they aren't at war. Which, for the citizens, it's as if they aren't. The queen, Requiem, and her sister, Soliloquy, have unique magic. Requiem can reanimate the dead, and Soliloquy can move someone's soul into another object. They ran a campaign to have their citizens die for them so they could take their souls and put them into androids and have an undead army! And it worked well for a while, totally not sketchy at all. But now, after a few years, the androids are rejecting the souls, which means the souls are getting destroyed, and the androids are growing souls of their own. Which is a problem. That Requiem and Soliloquy are pretending is not happening.

So, those are the countries! I will go into the plot first to try and explain what this story is about. I'm going to try to make a story where a lot of the characters are morally gray and readers root for them anyway, and we'll see how I do!

So, plot! Basically, Fate is one of the Variants of the universe. And it controls the fate of the different worlds. It makes sure those worlds stay on their chosen paths and will correct if any of them try to get off course.

About 20 years before the start of this story, the strings of fate were somehow cut from this world, causing a major change in the story initially and the world veering off the course Fate had for it. Basically, in one day, a lot of the young heirs' parents were going to die in a tragic accident, but that didn't happen, so the parents lived! Reverse protagonist backstorying! And that changed these heirs in small but important ways. Which I'll detail the ways it changed one of the heirs when I talk about the character.

So that happened, and Fate came to fix it back on course. It made a follower on this world, and that follower has the power to move in the world and infect others to make them into Fate's puppets. Which means that they'll feel compelled to do what is supposed to happen in the story. Which sucks because I think this whole story ends with either the planet getting taken over by Polaris and used by them or it ends with the planet getting destroyed. So, no one should particularly want that.

So, basically, the story is gonna be fighting against Fate and choosing the future on their own terms. There are gonna be a lot of characters, but I don't know all of them yet. I'll detail the ones I know.

Vyxis! My boy, Vyxis. I adore him, even though he is a piece of shit. He's the emperor, and he is also a trans man! We'll get back to that soon. So, he actually knows about all this Fate stuff and is the one specifically fighting against Fate. Because in the Fated story, he dies alone and humiliated, and he wants to win. He's totally not doing this because of any good intentions. Really, he just wants to win. I'm thinking he has magic that gives him a cool monstrous form that does something cool, but he has to feed on magic when in that form. Because of the strings of fate getting cut, his mother survived, and he didn't grow so isolated and unwilling to tell anyone anything, so he actually admits to his family and closest friend that he's a trans man, and because of magic, he transitioned quickly and is a lot happier like this (in the Fated story, he never transitioned or told anyone he was a trans man). He has a wife named Ishnir that he trusts with his life, and he honestly only truly loves her. Everyone else is more of a pawn to him. He's cold and calculating, doing things only for his benefit, and in most any other story, he would be the villain, but because of a shared enemy in Fate, he has to join with the other more moral characters, but he'll endlessly complain about it.

Ishnir is Vyxis's second in command and his wife. They both know it was a marriage of convenience, but they do both care about each other. I'm toying with the idea of Ishnir being bisexual and aromantic, but I do need to do more research before I can say for sure. She takes care of the day to day issues that pop up in the war and in the empire. She's blunt and pragmatic, never really letting down her walls except when she's alone with Vyxis. She has magic that allows her to create snakes made of shadow, and those snakes can have venom that can kill someone in seconds, if she so wishes for them to. She loves her snakes too and usually keeps one around (which she has named Cici), and she loves wrapping around her shoulders. In the Fated story, Ishnir is supposed to be the last one to betray Vyxis, leaving him entirely alone and desperate, but in this timeline, they actually have opened up to each other, so there is no way that will happen this time. Unless she gets infected to be Fate's puppet...

Espa is the resident Chaotic Gremlin. The first aesthetic I even thought of for them was just a set of vampire fangs. They are actually the one who can see what's fated to happen, and they realized that Vyxis had the highest chance to affect change, so they went to him and gave him the info. They stick around, in the cells because they agree with Vyxis that he can't trust them, and they keep advising him how to keep away from the Fated story. They are also telepathic and potentially also can loop backwards in time, not sure about the latter one yet though. They have a vested interest in this world surviving (because they live on this world), so they're working with Vyxis and Ishnir even if Espa doesn't particularly like them. But maybe Espa will warm up to them eventually. Sarcastic and seemingly having no survival instinct, they banter with Ishnir whenever they see her.

Keir and Arik (both he/him). Since I don't know tons about them, they'll be in this paragraph together. They were soldiers, one fighting for the Arcadian Empire, and the other fighting for Terithia, but they both figured out that both places were terrible, so they defected. And they also fell in love and got married unofficially, since no one would marry two defected soldiers from different countries. They have made it their life missions to fight against Terithia and the Arcadian Empire as best they can while also adopting as many orphans as they can. As luck would have it, they've found some very powerful magic orphans, and they love all of them dearly and want to protect them as best they can. In the Fated story, I think these guys and their kids were the sole protagonists.

Stafri is the oldest orphan Keir and Arik adopted. First, I need to explain that there is one constant in the magic of this world: there will always be four elementals: people who have fire, ice, ground, or storm magic. And lesser naturals, who have aspects of those four magics, but not as powerful and more energy-draining. Of course, the countries all really want to find the four elementals, with the naturals being not as important to them. Stafri is a water natural, which means she can control water and listen to it, but controlling it uses a lot of energy. She has harnessed it well enough to not have to use as much energy, but it's still not ideal. She's very protective of the other orphans and of Arik and Keir, but Arik and Keir don't let her come along on their nightly missions, and she wants to help. She's kind and calm and just wants to fight back against the countries who have hurt her and her friends.

Renfel is one of the oldest orphans. He has magic that basically allows him to voluntarily shapeshift into a huge, bipedal wolf, but when he isn't transformed, he's still as scrawny as when he was first adopted. Because transforming uses a lot of energy. He's nervous and shy, but he also wants to help Keir and Arik with their nightly missions, so he convinces Stafri to help him sneak after them and help them. That's all I know about these two yet, lol.

Chesten was picked up by the Arcadian Empire a few years ago, and he has become a loyal assassin and spy for Ishnir and Vyxis. I think his magic has something to do with shadows, but I don't exactly know it yet. He's serious and always hides behind his mask that covers his mouth and nose. He's especially been tasked with finding the elementals, and he especially wants to find the storm elemental, but he won't tell Ishnir why. It's because...

Kirsa is the storm elemental and also Chesten's twin sister! A few years ago, when they were separated, Kirsa was taken by the heat natural and tortured for some reason, not sure yet, but she has a scar like Zuko's from a burn she got from the heat natural. And a scar on her chest that reads "monster". She was rescued by the lightning natural who is trying to help her from getting enslaved. She's sarcastic and loud and smiles easily, but it never reaches her eyes. She doesn't know Chesten is working for the Arcadian Empire, and she won't be thrilled to find out.

So, these are all the characters I know right now! Besides Requiem and Soliloquy, who I just don't know enough about to have a whole paragraph about, and I do have glimpses of other characters, but not enough to talk about. Thanks so much for reading this! If this happens to sound similar to We Stand United, We Fall Together in some ways, it's because I think I'll absorb that story into this one, maybe making WSUWFT into the template for how the Fated story went. But thank you so much for reading!

#writeblr #I am having fun figuring out this story

[nno-user]

i saw "this demon will be easy!" and p a n i c k e d

so tell me more about the au :3

I honestly just think up AU's and never expand on them but since you asked, I've had a few ideas.

So basically, from the beginning Kaito and Shuichi were childhood besties. One day during new years, Kaito invited Shuichi and his uncle to his cabin in the mountains that was a little over from where the village was. Kaito decided to go and sell some charcoal for his family and Shuichi's, and said he'd be back by the end of the day (which if you've seen the story, he does not). Anyways he sells the charcoal and it was about nighttime when he gets back up toward his house when someone stops him and tells him it isn't a good idea and that there's been rumors of a demon loose and stuff so Kaito spends the night there. I think Kaito would kinda have Tanjiro's sense of smell, so the story basically continues the same as Tanjiro's but it's 2 families that die instead of one. He tries to get Shuichi to a doctor but boom !! turns out he's a demon now.

But besides the backstory I'm still deciding if I should make new breathing styles to match the characters or match them with the already existing styles.

Anyways, here's my idea

Kaito - MC, trying to save his best friend. Good sense of smell an' stuff

Shuichi - Demon, trying to control his urge to kill (I don't like how Nezuko basically acts like the MC's pet it's kinda weird, she's not like a demon at all)

His group would probably consist of Maki, Kaede, and Rantaro (Kokichi tags along sometimes but he seems like the type to be like "I'm not following you cause I'm super independent")

The Hashira would probably be the Dr1 survivors.

Kyoko has been there the longest, Byakuya next, then Toko, Aoi, Hiro, and last Makoto. They'd all have different strengths and weaknesses but it'd all work together. (and MAYBE some of the dead characters can make hashira appearances)

The demons would be the Dr2 cast, I still don't know whether to make Junko the leader or Izuru, I feel like Izuru would fit the whole mastermind leader role Muzan gives off but maybe he would be Upper 1 and Junko would be the leader?? I might go with that but who knows.

Upper ranks(in order): 1 - Izuru(?), 2 - Nagito, 3 - Fuyuhiko and Peko, 4 - Sonia, 5 - Nekomaru, 6 - Mikan (or Gundham??) If you have a better list idea I'd be happy to here !!!

That's all I have right now, sorry for rambling.

#danganronpa #danganronpa 2 #danganronpa v3 #dr1 au #dr2 au #drv3 au #🔍 ; no username asks #🔍 ; no username // au tag #I'm serious though #if you have ideas for my AU's. not just this one I mean any AU #make sure to tell me about it !!! I love hearing them