#or as an alternative i like to like he’s info dumping to himself because he has nobody else to talk to (that he likes)

[unnerving-presence]

found it !!

i love the decision of him having guns despite having powers because it really does make sense considering how he doesn’t use his guns too often but only when the person he’s facing isn’t a clear challenge/worthy of his physical powers. it really shows that he has standards for who gets their ass whooped and who gets a simple shot in the face.

also makes sense that wesker takes his time whooping chris, jills, and sheva’s ass. he knows they’re skilled opponents and likes the challenge

also love that they wanted to humanize him since people like to assume he’s emotionless. while re5 wesker had way more potential and was done pretty dirty in both character and through the story i did like that they gave him more emotion/slight vulnerability in his cutscenes. yeah, he’s good at hiding emotions but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel them 🌝

#genuinely hope that wesker has more screen time in re5r #like is it just me or does it feel like wesker barely gets any screen time in the games?? #even ones where he’s the main antagonist he’s in like 10% of the total game #the most important re villain yet he barely gets the screen time he deserves #in re5 he didn’t show up until chapter 6-3 #also we need more files including his lore #there was like #14 files in the game i think? #not nearly enough to explain more lore which i dearly need #i liked in the little control center there a file where wesker explains how he’ll go about his plans #also reminds me of how smart he is cause i have no idea what he’s talking about but i read it anyways #it’s written in his perspective too so i’m like ‘hehe wesker wrote this more analyzing his character’ #or as an alternative i like to like he’s info dumping to himself because he has nobody else to talk to (that he likes)

[rubra-wav]

[ Entry #9 ] Various Vox headcanons

A/N I've got a post coming up about what I think it'd be like to actually date him coming up, (alongside Snap part 2 ofc, I'm just taking my time w it to try keep things accurate) so here's some points which will lead into that next post + other misc stuff I've been thinking abt.

Cw: SFW above cut, NSFW below cut - 18+ MDNI, reference to manipulative behaviours

SFW

- While drunk, he's both very affectionate and cute but also gets really sad and clingy. If you stop paying attention to him for even a second while he's gonna start bawling like a giant baby. It's also the only time he's truly 100% honest with how he feels about you.

Basically; the mask falls right off, so he doesn't like to get drunk around people. He will deny all that's been said or done during this.

- He doesn't need to sleep but likes to - when he sleeps tho he doesn't really sleep in the traditional sense but instead goes into a preset 'sleep mode' for a specific set of time. He can also be rebooted remotely if you need him up before he's programmed to wake up again. (I discuss more abt this type stuff in entry #4)

- Follow up point: when he dreams while in sleep mode, his dreams play on his screen. He often dreams about becoming essentially king of hell and having people worship him like a god.

If you bring this up, he will be embarrassed as all fucking hell and will also deny it vehemently.

- He ends up getting water damage fairly often because he really loves swimming and aquatic environments ironically.

He's of course got ways of waterproofing himself properly, but usually he will do it badly or just not give a fuck about it and go swimming impulsively.

Will complain like a bitch after getting water damaged as well, holy shit. Blames everything but himself about it.

- Follow up: if you ever take this man to an aquarium on a date, he's going to be so fucking excited about everything he's seeing.

He will be trying to contain himself, but he may end up letting the mask of calmness slip at points and just start randomly talking a million miles an hour about whatever shark, fish, sea creature, etc. He's seeing. He loves sharks so much.

- Somewhat follow-up point: If you 1. don't tell him to shut up about shit when he starts getting excited and talking really fast and loudly AND 2. Actually listen?

He's gonna be so goddamn happy. Holy shit.

He's used to being told to shut up when he starts talking about ideas he has for a new VoxTek project, so if you give him feedback and your thoughts on it once he's done info dumping? He's gonna start internally screaming because he's so happy about it.

- Follow up follow-up: He doesn't take criticism well though. In fact, he's a baby. If you're in a relationship and you've gotten him out of his bs a bit with his ego being fragile as shit about everything, it'll be better but still pretty bad.

He needs reassurance that just because you disagree or think (y) would be a better alternative than what's his (x), that you still think it's a good idea, lmao.

- If you wear blue light glasses he can't hypnotise you, and he absolutely fucking hates it. In an argument or confronting him, you just put on bluelight glasses and cross your arms, and he's so annoyed about it.

You'd need to start wearing blue light glasses, because this asshole will be trying to hypnotise you into forgetting things if you see something of him that he deems 'undesirable' about himself for you to see.

- He's such a colossal attention whore that the second you are doing something thats not to do with him or talking to someone who isn't him, he's gonna be pissy asf about it.

Think glaring at you while pouting and loudly tapping his foot. He's such a little shit 💀

- He's so intensely touch starved it's not even funny. If you're doing anything his hands are gonna be on your hip, your back or your shoulders.

He desperately wants to be physically close to you but he also will never normally instigate cuddle sessions because he thinks it's embarrassing that he wants them so badly. If you instigate them, he will absolutely love it.

Just not in public, though. If you try to be super affectionate or maybe even affectionate with him at all publicly, he'll be pushing you away telling you to wait until later.

And will get mad if you try get a bit defensive about it with him.

NSFW

- He has barely any self-control and ends up getting unintentionally excited really easily - even in situations where he really shouldn't be. If you as his partner are cuddling him, sitting in his lap, touching his neck, or god forbid the ports, he's gonna get hard so quickly it's not even funny.

Him being touch starved is really a double-edged sword because he wants to be near you, but also he gets unintentionally way too physically excited about it and ends up embarrassed asf most of the time.

- Kinda follow up point: I feel as if he's extremely repressed sexually in general. He works extremely long hours to maintain his control over everything single day, and considering his tendency to start zapping things when he gets closer to finishing / overwhelmed, he'd likely not be taking any chances at all with that.

So when he gets physically near his partner alone (and also not even alone), his body just kinda goes 'time to make up for lost time'. 💀

- Most sensitive erogenous zones on him (outside of his dick obviously) are his neck and ports. I'm not sure if him having ports for nipples is canon or not, but if it still is, those are the more sensitive ones. The ones on the back of his head are still an absolute killer, though.

If you kiss his neck even softly, he'll be tensing up, and if you're kissing him or cuddling him and gently brush up against the ports on the back of his head, or your chest brushes against his and brings him nipple stimulation - he's gonna be getting a boner as quick as it gets.

- He doesn't really care too much about his partner's height, but I get the vibe that he'd have a size difference thing and would love a partner who's smaller than him (but not tiny still)

It would trip his ego so much to be able to physically look down on people in general, but with a partner? He'd be going mildly insane about it but in a different way.

Wear his clothes, and they're massive on you? He's gonna be turned on as absolute hell by that. Especially if it's one of his button ups and its neckline is plunging and giving him an eyeful of your chest.

He can easily pick you up and pull you against him in whatever way? Goes absolutely nuts about it.

I love it when I try to go,'this will only be short', then my brainrot takes hold, and my ideas just keep flowing. 💀

Masterlist

#hazbin hotel #vox #vox headcanons #hazbin hotel vox #vox x reader #vox smut #i got multiple things im doing for other stuff but this is what came out first lmao #art takes a lot longer for me to get through

[callmedylan]

Fnaf Movie But Ness, Vanessa, Cory, Max, and Mike are all just in one big friend group and call themselves the “Fazgang”

‼️Important info‼️: okay so I’ve been thinking about this idea for an AU and stuff where Cory, ness, max, Vanessa, and Mike are all in a silly little friend group and they call themselves the “Fazgang” and they just hang out and stuff. So have some fact, headcanons, and info dump about this hc/AU cause I love it. I ship Vanessa x Max and SecurityWaiter so be prepared for those to be sprinkled in. (I ask that you credit me if you draw or use this AU pls :))) /nf )

Also petition to make Vanessa x max a ship and Call it “LockJaw” (for obvious reasons)

I imagine they all met someway through Mike. Mike introduced Vanessa to Max since him and max have been friends for a while, then Mike meets Ness because him and Abby become regulars at Sparkys and he eventually invites him to hang out with him, Vanessa, and max and the 4 just don’t stop hanging out. Then they one night decide to take a taxi to the place they are going to and Cory is their driver, and nobody really knows how but by the end of the ride they’ve all exchanged numbers with Cory and the 5 make plans to start hanging out.

ness is the tallest out of them all being 5”11 and whenever they are walking with each other down the street his head just sorta peaks over everyone.

the gang will usually hang out and play video games, and If Ness convinces them, they’ll read over random creepypasta stories and urban legends on online forums.

the group has a group chat where they all text each other during work or when they are bored.

Cory tends to rant about the weirdos he has to drive around with ness while ness rants about the rude customers he has to deal with.

Max enjoys writing and wants to be a romance author. She works at a library so she can read the romance books on her breaks.

ness gives the gang a discount whenever they stop in to sparkys and calls it a “personal friend discount” (he technically isn’t allowed to give them a discount but his boss will never know)

The group loves Halloween and they usually dress up and walk around their town to crash any party’s, parades, or to just take Abby trick or treating.

ness convinced the gang to create an online ARG with him with “found footage” recordings and everything but he eventually forgot about it and a large community started to surround it thinking it was real and he ended up having to apologize for it like 10 years later.

ness has a online conspiracy theory forum where he discusses his theory’s, the gang follows it and boosts his posts for him.

the gang likes to go to scary houses during Halloween and they each react very differently. Ness tends to grab at people (usually Mike) to steady himself when scared, Cory is prone to screaming loudly but also charging at the actors (they’ve almost gotten kicked out before because of this), max has a very slow reaction time and tends to just freeze up or swear under her breath when an actor jump-scares her, Vanessa doesn’t react at all (literally, she just doesn’t get scared by that type of stuff), and Mike just acts how any normal person would (or he tries to run off).

ness is gay, Vanessa and Mike are both bi, max is a lesbian, and Cory is straight.

since none of them are close to their families (except for Cory) the group hangs out together during holidays like Christmas. Cory usually visits his family for Christmas and holidays but on years where he can’t visit he’ll spend time with them.

cory made them all each a driving Mixtape for their birthdays.

they each have very differing music tastes. Ness preferring musical music, max prefers old love songs, Cory prefers 90’s hip hop, Vanessa likes alternative rock, and Mike enjoys any type of 90-2000s grunge rock and emo music. (Mike definitely listens to the smiths, the cure, and Alex G)

The gang ate over at Vanessa’s one night and the 5 tried to make dinner but failed and made a mess of her kitchen (they ordered takeout and spent the rest of the night listening to music and cleaning up Vanessa’s kitchen.)

Mike sometimes leaves Abby to be babysat by the gang while he’s off working and he once came back to them all dressed up with glitter makeup having a tea party with Abby (she forced them to do this)

In this AU Max does not die but Vanessa and Mike never tell Cory, Ness, or max all of the extra details. They know the robots are haunted to some capacity but not about Vanessa’s involvement or any specific details.

(This is not canon to the au, just a “what if” scenario) if max were to still die in this AU, Vanessa and Mike would not tell Cory and Ness what happened, out of concern for the twos genuine well being and because of how absurd it seems.

all of them visited Freddys some time in their childhood

Max and Vanessa have a fear of mascot outfits

Ness wanted to do a “paranormal investigation” at Freddy’s for theorizing and emailed the owner several times for about 2 months leading up to the events of the movie (he also begged Mike to sneak him in during his working nights but Mike said no cause he didn’t want to get fired).

cory called them the “Fazgang” once as a joke and it kinda just stuck, now that’s what they and everyone who knows about their group refers to them as.

when Cory and the group went for a drive in his taxi they went on a back road and ended up breaking down in the middle of a dirt road in the woods. (They just finished a movie marathon where they watched the texas chainsaw massacre and Wrong Turn 1, so now half of them refuse to leave the car.)

Abby slept through the entire situation.

Lots of trauma, it’s like a group therapy session 24/7.

all of them get along with Abby, she actually gets excited whenever they hang out (since Mike takes her with him due to not wanting to leave her home alone by herself).

They all share a single braincell.

Ness and max are both 25, Mike is 26, Cory is the youngest at 24, and Vanessa is the oldest being 26 as well but older by a month.

#Fazgang #lockjaw #securitywaiter #fnaf au #fnaf movie #ness the waiter #mike schmidt #abby schmidt #vanessa afton #vanessa shelly #Coryfnaf #Maxfnaf #au fnaf #i love them they are so silly #They are all gay and Cory is just kinda there #“Ally! :3” #Ness is a theater kid and doesn’t shut up about it #Srry for making the fnaf movie gay #might draw this later

[writingquestionsanswered]

How do I make a good beginning monologue from the perspective of a character from the future? I.e. Spider-Man talks about himself when he was in his 20's while he is currently in his 40's

Avoiding Info-Dump with Monologue About Past

No matter the purpose of this opening monologue, you want to go easy on beginning the story with exposition, because generally you want to avoid starting with a big info dump.

The best way to avoid it is to find an interesting source of action within which to frame the delivery of the information. In other words, you want to show this character existing in/interacting with this world (and potentially the people around them) so they're more than just a disembodied voice dumping a lot of backstory on the reader. For example, maybe they're watching people train for some sporting event, and that is the thing that leads them down memory lane and gets them to think about their past. The backstory delivery can be interspersed with moments where the character stops to interact with what's going on--maybe shouting encouragement to the athletes, or maybe having a conversation with another viewer.

Something else to consider is moving from a monologue to a dialogue, or alternating between the two. So, using the example above, maybe the other viewer says something like, "Is your kid out there?" And your character says, "My niece, actually, but I love to watch the athletes train. I used to play myself once. Got pretty famous for it in my 20s..." and then that leads to your character giving some of the backstory information to the other character in conversation, rather than it being just a monologue. And there can still be bits of monologue, but having both (along with the interesting external situation for framework) makes it more interesting.

I hope that helps!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

LEARN MORE about WQA

SEE MY ask policies

VISIT MY Master List of Top Posts

COFFEE & FEEDBACK COMMISSIONS ko-fi.com/wqa

#writing tips #wqaadvice

[phykios]

Review: "We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium"; "I Plunge to my Death"; "A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers"

Hey y'all! I'm back. It took a while to write this review, and not just because I had a busy holiday season. The more I tried to consider episodes 3 and 4, the more I realized that a lot of my critiques of them were things I had already touched on in the last two–poor exposition, bad lighting, rushed plot, etc–and so it felt a little redundant to say the same thing all over again. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how annoying you find me), episode 5 was such a cut above over the rest of the season, I finally have new things to say! With that in mind, the format of this review will be a little different, as I will compare the episodes side by side, rather than consider each one individually. 

For a brief, brief recap, the three episodes follow fairly similar plot beats: the trio travels a little, meets a mythological being that tries to mess with their heads, then they all try to sacrifice themselves for the good of the quest before figuring out an alternate way to win. This isn’t a criticism, by the way–the book chapters have similar formats, and repetitive framing is a great way of demonstrating character growth. And of course, there’s no better way to spruce up a travel montage with a little lore dump. 

What makes for effective exposition? It’s a delicate balancing act between making sure that the information you need to get across gets to the viewer, but not letting them know that you’ve done it. “Show, don’t tell” is the most common expository technique, and for good reason–information is better retained and more effective when it’s not delivered to you like someone reading off cue cards. And it’s most effective when it’s withheld until just the right moment. PJO TV is not… great at this. It’s mostly little things, one-off little lines, like Luke saying “I’m the best swordsman” or “Annabeth is the smartest,” but there are some more egregious examples, mostly with Chiron explaining the world to Percy. This, I get, and it’s not like Riordan did it that much more elegantly in the books. But I’m more annoyed about Luke info-dumping than anybody else.  

I was re-reading The Lightning Thief for several reasons, and one of the things about Luke is that he keeps things very close to the chest. It’s partly to conceal his villainy, but it also makes sense from a psychological standpoint, hiding his emotions not only to keep everyone from finding out the truth about him, but also to recruit kids for the upcoming war. Luke only opens up about what happened to him and Thalia once: at the very end of the book, just before he tries to kill Percy. It’s a powerful moment–the specter of Thalia haunts Percy throughout the book, the ideal of a hero he’s afraid he’ll never be able to measure up to, and we find out that she’s been haunting Luke as well, but for very different reasons. (She haunts the TV show as well, which I like very much–I just hope it pays off!) We are shown hints of his darker side earlier, but withholding the heel turn until now, and pairing it with the first time we see him actually talk about himself, is part of what makes this scene so good and so heinous at the same time. The first time we get glimpses of Luke’s true self, his motivations and what drives him, is the same moment where he crosses the line. And in the meantime, TV!Luke just lets it all hang out. 

Consider: 

Before camp, I was on the road. Me and a forbidden kid I met along the way. Her name was Thalia… A long time ago, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades agreed their children were becoming too powerful, so they made a pact not to father any more. And it held for a long time, until Zeus broke that pact. Until Thalia. A forbidden kid attracts trouble. Monsters everywhere, it's just a constant battle to stay alive. One day, we, uh, find this little girl hiding in an alley. Annabeth. We were worried about taking her in, exposing her to all that danger. Then we saw her fight. Thalia didn't make it. But Annabeth and me... we did. And we've been family ever since… Annabeth is the strongest warrior in camp. The only way left to prove herself is to go on a quest. [S1E2, “I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom”]

Why is he saying all this? Is it for Percy’s benefit, or the audience’s? What does this reveal about Luke’s character? What about this monologue reveals what Luke actually thinks about the pact, or Thalia’s death, or even Annabeth? We’re told he sees her like family, but what does he do to show us? 

For contrast, here’s Ares’ lore dump a few episodes later:

You're new to the family, young one, so let me fill you in on how we work. See, years before I was born, my grandpa Kronos ate my aunts and uncles. Yeah. Then my dad made him puke them back up, then chopped him into a million pieces and chucked 'em into a bottomless pit, so that kinda set the tone right outta the gate. Olympians fight. We betray. We backstab. We will push anyone down a flight of stairs to get ahead. And that's why I love my family so much. My dad knows he's not getting this bolt back with quests or goose chases. He knows there's a war coming. And in reality, I think he's okay with that. I think he feels it's just time for a war, so we're gonna have a war. Isn't that great? [S1E5, “A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers”]

What does this reveal about Ares’ character? That he loves violence, and that the threat of war is exciting. That he doesn’t exactly hold his family in high regard. That this is something that is central to who the gods are. All of this is supported by Adam Copeland’s performance, which is flippant, funny, and immature. The details work in concert to show us who Ares is and what he wants, all without ever having him say it out loud. 

For all of its clumsiness, though, I actually really like Grover’s little monologue about the nature of questing as we follow the kids into New York City in episode 3. It has a very Fellowship of the Ring vibe (which I’m pretty sure is deliberate) which fits on a meta-level too, with Percy Jackson in conversation with epic stories of the past.

But you know what wasn’t in conversation with the past? The shortest Medusa battle ever recorded. 

I’m being a little hyperbolic for comedy’s sake, but genuinely I hated the Medusa fight. Not the Medusa backstory–sidestepping the sexual assault in a middle-grade book was the correct choice, and it’s not like a post-#MeToo Medusa is a shocking or novel idea–but not only should the fight have been at least twice as long, it was missing a full fourth of the mythological ingredients. The mythical Perseus has four gifts: the sword, the mirror shield, the helm of invisibility, and the winged sandals. The book reinterprets the shield as a glass ball. And the show doesn’t use it at all. Is this a nitpicky critique? Maybe. But some of Percy Jackson’s strongest moments are the reinterpretation of mythological scenes, and for those to work, you should incorporate the key details. 

Also, again, cannot stress this enough, it was way too short. At least the Echidna fight scene had some blocking involved. And acting. 

Speaking of acting, I will say that it’s very consistently well done. I think the kids are more than holding their own against the adults, and they walk the line between playing maturity and still being young very well, which is a very difficult thing to do. In fact, rarely is the acting ever a problem. Because, once again, it’s the writing that makes it fall short. 

Let’s do another comparison: Percy sending off Medusa’s head and Percy and Annabeth with Hephaestus’ chair. One is from the books, and one is new. Both are given the appropriate amount of weight in the episode’s runtime. Both are well-acted, well-blocked, well-scored. But the new scene feels out of place to me. Part of the problem is that, being a scene lifted from the books, Percy sending off Medusa’s head feels earned and supported by the material of the last few episodes. He’s pissed at his dad for ignoring him, and pissed that the gods are forcing him to do all this nonsense for reasons he only barely understands. Of course he’s going to foist a magical WMD on them. 

But the chair scene doesn’t have that prior support. Consider: 

Eat or be eaten. Power and glory and nothing else matters. Ares is that way, Zeus is that way, my mother is that way. He isn't that way. He's better than that. Maybe I was that way once. But I don't wanna be that way anymore. I won't be like all of you. I just won't. [S1E5, “A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers”]

In a vacuum, this would be a great scene. Walker’s fear is palpable and real, and Leah delivers a heartfelt performance in anguish at her friend’s supposed fate. That’s all well and good, except that these characters have known each other for… what, three days? A week? And for all her talk of glory, Annabeth dispensed with that idea pretty much right out the gate, as she killed a Fury rather than hand Percy over to Alecto. She tries to sacrifice herself for the quest all the time. What power and glory is she seeking? 

This is an excellent scene that unfortunately doesn’t belong in this season. This scene, as my dear @frenchswissborder pointed out, does not belong after the Thrill Ride of Love (before the Zoo Truck scene as well!) but instead feels like it should be in the Battle of the Labyrinth’s Mt. St Helen confession scene. Putting it there at least would build on three years of friendship, rather than a handful of days of not annoying each other. 

I don’t mind new scenes. I want new scenes. If I wanted a one-to-one adaptation, I’d just read the books again. But the new scenes have to matter. They have to bring something new to the table. Let me put it this way: when The Lightning Thief musical said, “Fuck it, Cerberus is a DJ,” it was both leaning into its own medium as musical theater and riffing on the idea of the underworld being under a recording studio. When PJO TV says, “Fuck it, exposition time,” it feels like they’re reading off Mythomagic card stats. 

What makes an adaptation great, in my opinion, is how well it speaks to the subtext of the original work. The musical is excellent at this, in particular how it uses the conventions of musical theater to highlight the parallels between Percy and Luke by giving them variations on the same “I Want” song. Where PJO TV shines is how it speaks to the subtext of abusive adults. Abuse of children is sadly not always so obvious, and I like how the Mist lets Alecto, Echidna, and Ares act pretty much with impunity. They are predators, and they are able to move without fear of detection. This even applies to Medusa, too, having her pretend to offer Percy a way out, when she really is only interested in herself and her needs. 

But, as the show tends to do, this only causes the story to kneecap itself by neutering Gabe as an abusive figure. I understand why it is this way, as book Sally, for all her kind and loving nature, wasn’t exactly written with a backbone. Part of this, I assume, is just that The Lightning Thief was published in 2005, and that a) the conversation around intimate partner abuse simply was not in the mainstream, and b) Riordan just got better at female characters over time. So the trade-off is that by making Sally a more formidable, dynamic character in the show, they had to dial down Gabe’s uglier, abusive nature–which is going to be really awkward in a few episodes when Sally kills him just for the crime of being annoying. 

Stray thoughts: 

Just taking a moment here to say that I think the set design has been really gorgeous so far. Shout out in particular to the attic in the Big House!

I’m only just noticing this now, but the trunk of Thalia’s pine tree looks like there’s a human in there–bent knee, arms outstretched, head bowed–and I think that’s awesome. 

The idea of monsters sensing a demigod’s weakness and responding to that is so good, and I’m taking it. 

Earlier versions of this review had a long and annoying rant about Medusa’s origins, so allow me to tl;dr: there is no original Medusa myth. Ovid’s Medusa myth in Metamorphoses comes about 800 years after Hesiod’s Theogony, which comes after Homer’s Iliad. It’s not a question of Ovid against Hesiod against Homer, it’s a question of these authors plus thousands of pieces of pottery depicting hundreds of variations on the Medusa myth, and we cannot definitively say which one is the source of the myth. That said, I don’t dislike a #MeToo Medusa, I just mostly hate the discourse around it.

It’s nice to see some architecture nerd Annabeth, but between the way the show glosses over it, and the lack of crippling arachnophobia, her character is being reduced too much to “prideful” for my tastes. It’s not that Annabeth isn’t prideful, obviously, it’s just that she has more dimension to her than the show is currently presenting. 

Annabeth and Grover throwing water on Percy like a beached whale is very funny, but it did make me realize that they haven’t introduced nectar/ambrosia in the show. Maybe they’re saving it for the finale? 

Ares calling them all cousins makes me extremely happy. This was something that Riordan did in the early books, but he kind of petered off, presumably so as not to imply weird pseudo-incestuous things once Percabeth started, but I always loved it.

I’m saving the Percy and Annabeth relationship breakdown until after the season, but it is coming! (But I am sad that “seaweed brain” came out of nowhere :( we just rolled right over it!)

The lighting is really bad, especially in the dark, and I am learning to live with it, but I am not happy about it. 

Aryan is the breakout actor of the trio, in my opinion. Playing awkward is so, so easy to overdo, but he brings a sincerity and a quickwittedness to Grover that I absolutely adore–he’s a sweet kid, and he’s clearly scared, but he knows when to summon his courage and do the brave thing for him and his friends. 

Also here are some screencaps that I like. They don’t have anything to do with the review, I just think they’re neat :3 (IDs/thots in the alt)

#pjo tv #pjo spoilers #pjo tv spoilers #sasha review #this is a long one lads!

[apostlearcana]

Info Dump. Now *holds gun*

Okay, okay! ;; Under a cut! ...but first, some history. (Also under the cut!)

Zenkichi's big turn and the first time I saw the August 14th scene was two days before my birthday, March 20. My friends were telling me that he was gonna be the one I would yell about ridiculously, and I snorted it off. How could anyone think that the dorky cop was gonna be the one I liked the most? I liked the single dad sad cops that would absolutely tear down the country for their kids. … …and then I saw the entire scene with Zenkichi after Sapporo, and I was absolutely thrown headfirst into 'wait, what in the fuck is this?' Needless to say, I had to stop after the save point because I was crying. A lot. Goofy old dork is actually- really fucking messy on the inside? Oh no. Oh NO, I suddenly latched on like a fool.

It sort of became a big spiral from there about him, and I began to come up with a ridiculous degree of sad with him that the game never explained because- it's a month long experience. And not enough time to really dive into the meat of the whole "EXCUSE ME, THE NEW DAD WE PICKED UP IS ACTUALLY FULL OF SELF-LOATHING AND BULLSHIT" sort of idea. (And about how Joker/Akiren was somehow okay with working with a fucking cop after. Y'know. All of P5/R? MUH?)

As per this introduction of Zenkichi and in my time crying about him for the last three years, I have thus come up with the following... headcanons and sobbing ideas.

🅱️LEASE NOTE A LOT OF THIS IS FIXED IN MY SILLY ALTERNATE UNIVERSE FOR THINGS, BUT IF IT SOUNDS NEAT, IT CAN BE APPLIED IN OTHER CONTEXTS.

🌸-🐺-🌸-🐺-🌸

Zenkichi and Valjean have had a connection for the last some twenty plus years. It started as that little voice in his head that would tell him to push the envelope, chase the bad guys, indulge in his anger. Zenkichi would often rebuff these advances, and over time, the voice got louder and angrier at how he wouldn't speak up a lot for himself because of 'how he just sits like an obedient dog and takes it.' It's only in Akane's jail that he finally breaks free of his chains and begins to really make a man out of himself.

Zenkichi does have some mental illnesses, mostly due to childhood trauma involving emotional abuse from his father. Emotions were pretty much a way to get his dad to yell at him about how weak he looked; being sad or angry or even melancholic were good ways to get the 'boys don't cry' talk of sorts often, and he bottled his emotions at a very early age. (And he still does many times, mainly because he doesn't want the kids to see him breaking down. The Thieves often help him with this, as does Maruki to an extent.)

There's a saying that your anger can hurt you more than it can hurt others, and it actively applies to Wolf's Fury mechanic in the Metaverse. As it stands today (04/03/2024), the kids vaguely know of his power and how it can fuck him up in the Metaverse. What the kids don't know, however, is that his wounds carry into the real world and give him many scars. At first, he tries to chalk them up to wounds he got when he was on the force for years, but it eventually will catch up to him: when the Thieves see the damage it does to him, they get… very concerned, to say the least. And they will hound him to get scar cream for some of the worse ones.

Zenkichi has smoked for a few years, but he did stop before he met the Phantom Thieves; he can't do the mile for shit, but he can jog fairly okay. His drinking habits aren't that great, though, to wear he can actually have enough to pass out. ...he's getting better though. Trying to get better. (He can get to be too lazy to get up and get one.)

Each time Enduring Soul activates for Zenkichi, it fucks him up pretty badly. I know the game mechanics say he survives with one HP and bounces back, but I've taken it a step further to say that yeah. He dies. He does die, and he comes back with renewed fervor. As the only known playable character that isn't a protagonist to have this ability, I have once more taken it to a higher degree of fuckery and made it worse.

Every one of the Phantom Thieves's experience with a shitty dad makes him want to go and punch a bastard, but they convince him not to do so... so he won't go to jail. However, he doesn't listen and visits many of them. And while he doesn't get physical, he instills the fear of Valjean into every one of them.

To help deal with his anger issues he's unlocked since his awakening, he's since remembered his hand-to-hand combat training from being on the force; with Valjean's (genuine) gentle nudges and coaxing, he finds himself slowly going back into combative sports. He finds it liberating when he can go wild in private away from the kids, knowing that many of them have some kind of trauma from adults being angry or violent.

THAT SAID… when the kids find out about his habit, I'd like to think that Zenkichi admits that he didn't want to tell the kids out of fear and their traumatic pasts and whatnot, but they're far more relieved he has an outlet for said rage that's healthy for him and not doing worse things. (It also comes in handy for other things- because these kids can't stay out of trouble too often, but that comes down the line much later.)

Gramps- does leave the force, but only after he and Miyako speak about it at length for a long time. He ends up becoming a private investigator with quite the name for himself that gets mumbled through the streets: the Wolf of Kyoto.

I have quite a number more but... this is getting long.

#zenkichi hasegawa #persona 5 #persona 5 strikers #;anonymous #;answer #this took so fucking long and I am sorry nonny

[myersesque]

hey can you info dump about hobie to me please :D

hello!!! sorry this took me a while to get around to, i got SO nervous that i'd get smthn wrong n an army of comic book dudebros would emerge from hell to smite me down - but then i remembered that i don't care and hobie is fun to talk about, so hello!!!

[quick note before we start: hobie will be referred to as either "hobie" or "spiderpunk", for the sake of not being confusing, since there are 47385783643 spidermen in existence. yes, he prefers "spiderman" and initially took spiderpunk as an insult, but as of his latest solo run, the battle of the banned, he really could not care less n actively refers to himself as spiderpunk. i'm noting this now so i don't get 50 people correcting me in the replies lmao. i also don't hyphenate spiderman because i'm lazy]

you didn't ask for anything in specific so i'm gonna just Keep Going until i lose steam, hope that's alright!

first things first: hobie isn't an original character created to be spiderpunk! he's actually a variant of hobart "hobie" brown, earth 616's prowler, which i think has a LOT of interesting potential for btsv, if you catch my drift:

why did they choose to make him a hobie variant rather than make up a new spiderperson? who knows! could be that they saw how painfully fucking close hobie was to his "capitalism is the real enemy actually" breakthrough before deciding to become a supervillain about it; maybe it's easier to get comic book nerds into new stories if they're vaguely familiar with one of the characters involved. who knows. i can't actually find any source on this one.

(interesting sidebar: in the spiderverse movies, peter b parker is from earth 616, and intended to be a direct page-to-screen adaptation of classic comic book peter parker - which makes me wonder how he reacted to meeting hobie for the first time. i doubt we'll ever see that first interaction, but it's cool to think about!)

spiderpunk's design actually originated as concept art for spider-UK, as drawn by olivier coipel (the punk movement is often credited as having started in the UK - more accurately, by black british punks, using elements of jamaican reggae - so it makes sense that they explored a punk angle for spider-UK at some point). they felt it didn't fit the character, but still loved the design, and so they wrote an entire character to fit around it! (that's also why hobie is often portrayed as british despite being written as american in the comics - his whole concept is essentially a love letter to black british punks, and tbh even when i'm reading the comics i pretend he just ended up moving to new york from london bc i cannot imagine him as an american lmao sorry)

a lot of people who learnt of hobie from atsv seemed surprised that he's genuinely punk and not just using the aesthetics - but, like, he's genuinely punk, guys. he lives in a fascist dystopia (the spider that bit him was irradiated from all the toxic waste the government illegally dumps) where norman osborn is president of the united states (and referred to as "ozzy osborn" lmao) and also a massive fascist dickbag (and venom's current host!). he then proceeds to beat said fascist dictator asshole to death with his guitar! by which i mean quite literally hit him so hard his organs come out ✨

(like - i saw someone theorising that hobie would be the twist villain of btsv and actually just using miles for his own benefit, and i had my own little "he would never fucking do that what the fuck 😡" moment before realising that they were probably just some 14 yr old kid who's never seen hobie before and is trying to come up with a dramatic twist. so i'm not taking it to heart! but please know that it was very bad and incorrect, hobie is a real one and would never 🫶 /lh)

if you get a chance to pick up any of his comics (or, uh, discover them in alternative ways, wink wink nudge nudge capitalism is a prison but seriously please consider buying them from small local comic book stores if you do - that way your money goes to an actual local business & the writers rather than a massive chain store corporation) then i highly recommend - not only are they super fun, but they're gorgeous,

(i know that the covers are always rendered differently to the actual comic pages but i just needed you to all look at these images, please, especially all the intricate details on the second one. i literally paused midway through reading my comic to stare at that cover with hearts in my eyes. he's so cool i adore him)

and they're also full of lyrical references to punk music, such as these (the first two off the top of my head - there are TONS more):

and they're pretty dang diverse, too! including, like, explicitly and undeniably queer characters (note: there's been a lot of misinformation spread around - hobie and karl (captain anarchy) aren't explicitly confirmed to be anything but platonic friends. karl DOES have a boyfriend whom he is explicitly romantic with, but it's not hobie! he's still totally queer though and nobody can convince me otherwise), which is pretty neat.

this isn't really relevant to hobie in specific, but it's part of his universe and i'm a massive daredevil fanboy, so i NEED you to witness his daredevil variant, mattea murdock:

tumblr isn't gonna let me add any more images (sob) so i'm gonna try n wrap this up fairly quick !!!

lightning round of just. fun and unfun facts, i guess:

hobie's homeless and lives in a community centre with the rest of his band

iirc "spiderpunk" was essentially his equivalent of "spidermenace", which he eventually adopted for himself because, well. they aren't wrong. (he got the name for the obvious reasons of his style and politics etc, but also because he can be quite brutal when he needs to be - see norman's very bad no good day above.)

his band is referred to as both "the spider-band" and "the daredevils" (after meeting mattea), which made my little daredevil fanboy heart soar a little ngl

in spiderverse specifically, hobie took 3 years to animate due to all the specific ways they stylised him and his movement! i am not an animator and cannot put it into actual technical terms so here's a tweet of one of the animators discussing it for anyone who's curious :]

he has a van called the spider-van, and sings the spiderman theme song at it sometimes ("🎶spider-van, spider-van, driving cross-country as fast as we can!🎶") which is ADORABLE. i love how cool he is in atsv but i need you to understand he's a DORK he's a NERD

another one for the dork point: he doesn't swear unless he's yelling at fascists (he's instead prone to a good "frick" "heckin" "motherlovin" etc). which i realise is probably just comic book censorship and them only being able to get away with a certain amount of tastefully censored swears and gore before someone gets in trouble and/or has to bump up the age rating, but also it drives his bandmates INSANE so i like to think he just does it for a giggle tbh. again, massive dork

and finally, to end things on a fun note: his current solo comic writer, cody ziglar, made him an official spiderpunk playlist so maybe we can stop having pointless playlist discourse and let people have fun!

i hope this infodump was alright and didn't disappoint fjdnfjfn!!! i definitely forgot (and/or ran out of space for) a bunch of shit but that just means i get to do this again, so :]!!!

#now i need the btsv writers to have hobie's bandmates out him as a total nerd /j #anyway i hope this is ok!!! #ask #infodump #fav

[ne0nwithazero]

was tenna created before or after the real tenna's name reveal? :>

He was created after! :) I feel like info dumping on the whole thought process of creating Tenna, so here's a wall of text

For a while, I debated on the idea of renaming Host to Tenna... And while it is canon that Host isn't their real name, scrapping their real name also felt kind of meh even if I never properly announced it?

It didn't help that for a long while I kept getting messages from people asking if I'd ever make a lovechild for Mike and Host, and I was mostly meh on it

Then Sweepstakes happened and Tenna designs started appearing and I kind of started floating this idea of having a Tenna as a final boss you'd meet in the Cable after Mike and Host and oooo big reveal, it turns out he was M&H's kid all along!!

But they don't talk because errr family drama, and he distanced himself during Big Shot era (Which was my Tenna's original backstory before his timeline was adjusted to make him be born after Mike and Spam's falling out)

But yeah, for a while it was this idea of the "real" boss at the end, just this arrogant more modern TV who's all about showbiz, and thinks M&H are outdated and doesn't want to be associated with them. In an alternate universe, this is what Tenna could have turned out like lol

But I kept getting stuck on the design, and particularly the Light World form. I was set on the Mic-TV darkner hybrid, but to make things easier, they had to be more TV than Mic, but as far as we know, there was only one TV in Toriel's house, and the only other TV we see is... well...

In Asgore's flower shop (If there are other TVs in the Light World, then I am 100% forgetting about them so correct me if I'm wrong lol)

But yeah, the fact that it was Asgore's TV, still kept the connection with the Dreemur House and Tenna ended up being concepted as a TV that used to be in the main home, but was moved during Asgore and Toriel's divorce. The TV has this washed-out brown colour, so it has enough believability to the idea that it maybe used to be grey just like Mike is.

And considering that Mike and Host are intended to reflect Asgore and Toriel in some aspects (Minus the divorce lol), it made sense that their kid would end up reflecting Kris and Asriel, so that kind of ended up all properly tying into place :)

Tenna might have he/they pronouns to match with his parents, but it's also meant to have that connection with Kris and Asriel who use they/them and he/him

idk, I know it's a big ramble but I really enjoy talking about my thought process when making characters....

But I think Tenna's connections with Ralsei are a bit less subtle hahaha Especially when both reflect Asriel and Kris' family in some way...

#jay asks #seven-oh-four #Tenna #Host #Mike #Kris

[dgknightblue]

I made a crossover post where Leo says, “Why am I so hard to love?”

He would frown and follow up with, “and why does no want to love me?”

He sees all these other Leo’s in pain and he’s sad. They don’t have anyone nice in their life and it’s all manipulation, threats, and anger.

So he’s genuine with them. He doesn’t try to hug them or say too much, he just says hi and a small compliment and walks away.

The one that heard him murmuring to himself is very concerned.

He’s smart and someone notices.

Then someone pops in with injuries and he’s in medic mode. He’s focused and calm. He’s making calculations over theoretical doses and answers questions with no bite.

One thing I really want to see is Leo confronting a Draxum.

“Why would you try to silence them? Why would you try to take way their voice when you didn’t like it when they tried to quiet yours? It’s hypocritical! The counsel tried to shut you up and you did the same to your kid? You are no better. No matter how noble you call yourself, you’re just as complacent and tyrannical as the humans you hate so much.

Are humans really that bad? Are they that unchangeable? You make them seem like horrible monsters, yet you’ve done what humans would condemn each other for, child abuse. You hurt your child. He has injuries that’s more than just from training. You try to control a living being and treat them like they aren’t anything good or amazing or intelligent. He’s your son and you don’t even love him.”

The Draxum attacks and is surprised when he doesn’t connect.

“I was raised with love, you can’t touch me. I will always have someone to back me up. I will always have someone believe in me. You? You’re a lonely old man that pushed people a way.”

He walks a way.

“A Draxum may have made us, but we aren’t bound by him, we are our own people. Have fun being a sad, angry nobody!”

—————

I think Leo should find someone to talk about medical stuff with. Info dumping with the correct scientific names for medical equipment and medicines and stuff. Leo would also know alternative medicines along with mystic medicine because that’s an option too.

Donnie hands him this pack of paper and tell him it’s a brain teaser, but it’s actually a test and he passed. If he thought every test was just a game he’d pass them.

He likes puzzles and brain teasers and stuff like that. Critical thinking stuff.

I can imagine them putting something hard in front of him and he knows the answer because it’s just so obvious to him. Doesn’t think it’s hard at all.

#rottmnt #crossover #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #au #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise Leo #Draxum #baron draxum

[berry-hwa]

Well well well. Look who returns

WITH A PART 2 OF THE MERMAID AU FANFIC!!! im still not sure if ill continue this. I have a lotta stuff going on. I dont think my brain needs any more plotting and thinking about a fictional idea. Thx. This is more of a lore and info dump that i wanted to elaborate on and because of that it also isnt as long as the first part butt to be fair i planned to cut that down to 2 parts sooo...anyway. Enjoy!!

"Is that enough proof for you, Ichinomiya?"

His bewildered face was very telling. But he actually quickly looked away and closed his eyes, as did the others in panic.

"Okay, okay— cover up, I didn't ask to look at your bare chest."

Her bare chest...?

"...Oh. Right." She looked down at herself. Her transformation didn't give her any more than a tail since it was her true, unadjusted form — so she was left topless. She didn't understand why her tail couldn't just grow from underneath her clothes. "My apologies."

"Gosh, these tails you guys have are so heavy...!" Baba adjusted his hold on her, hoisting her up. She knew he was pretty strong, so the weight of her really must've been something. Or, alternatively, could've been his age catching up to him.

"Actually," she raised her hand, slowly collecting all the water up from her person droplet by droplet, returning it all back into the glass as she transformed back into her human form, "siren tails are usually much lighter than normal mermaid ones, even with how long they are." She explained, looking to Baba to let go of her.

Soryu coughed as he looked back at her human form...with less to reveal this time, "Well...you wouldn't be wrong about that," Eisuke looked over at him with a questioning glare, "why is that though?"

She stared at the man, wondering how to explain this to him and the others.

"Well, sirens evolved to be deft and quick in order to efficiently capture their prey. Their tails are longer and lighter to aid in swimming and their fins have little to no drag under water, to maximize speed. Very much not like the tail of mine which you saw." She quickly answered. And she had to stare at the men's faces, who didn't utter a word in response. Eisuke however, seemed to be really taking everything in.

"...Huh. You really know a lot about this stuff, huh." Baba looked at her after taking a seat next to Eisuke.

"Well, I was born at sea, this is common knowledge to us all. Not to ordinary people, nor to ordinary people with unexplained tails, though." She crossed her arms, locking eyes with Eisuke.

"...Now that I've proved myself," She continued, returning to her task at hand, "any questions you might have?"

Eisuke blinked at her, visibly still puzzled. Did she not give him enough information? Was he going to reject her plea?

"...How am I even supposed to help you and your people?" He began, staring at her very incredulously, "you say I am a siren but I don't know what new information that knowledge gives me."

Goodness. Had he never heard of a siren and what one does? It could explain his cluelessness, though.

"Sirens preyed on sailors by luring them in with their voice and song and dragged them under the sea when they'd get close enough to attack. What do you think you have those fangs for?" She exclaimed, pointing at his mouth, "They certainly aren't meant to be for consuming fish."

Eisuke blinked. He sure was very clueless, huh?

"...I'm supposed to be preying on humans?"

"Just think of it as a food chain. Sirens need to survive too, you know." He blinked even more at that.

"Why were you looking for me throughout these years? Are there no other sirens like me out there?"

"If there were, do you think I'd be standing in front of you now?" She crossed her arms again, raising an eyebrow at him.

"No?" He answered, seemingly thinking to himself.

"Correct." She sighed, looking at the glass full of water. She missed home. "Sirens have been going extinct for decades. If there are any remaining still, they choose to seclude themselves deep under the sea, not even daring to look at the sun above — those sirens live off of the creatures that lurk deep in the oceans, until they eventually reach the end of their lives."

"...Interesting bit of information." Baba interrupted, probably aiming to lighten up the atmosphere a bit. She can't say it worked.

"I've desperately tried to find them myself...but mermaids aren't fit enough to be so close to the ocean floor. Its one of the reasons we can't relocate under the sea and why humans keep finding us." All those days she spent trying to reach as deep as she could before her body couldn't stand any more pressure, before the ocean became so dark she could barely keep on swimming, all in vain. Her last hope in the end was but a siren-turned, ordinary human man.

"So I'm your only chance as of now."

"...Yes, you are." It was actually a bit pathetic to admit that now.

She stared at him as his gaze lowered. This was a lot of information to take in but she hoped he was at least a bit sympathetic of her situation and could offer some assistance in any way. She'd understand if preying on humans wouldn't end up on Eisuke's to-do list.

"Your explanation does give some understanding as to why so many foods have become so unappetizing over the years, if it's not the required diet for...sirens..." Eisuke muttered, deep in thought she presumed. "And everything you've said and...shown here, as insane as it all may sound, seems...true."

"Aren't ya fast to believe her, mister siren." The detective chimed in, getting up from his spot near the window and making way to the group.

"I don't need your commentary over here."

"Would your dick fall off if you were a little nicer to your acquaintances?"

"...pfft-"

"Hey! Who are you to be speaking to me with such words?" Eisuke was very clearly fuming, no doubt a reflection of the power he gained with his transformation. "Watch your mouth or I won't even consider aiding you."

Ugh. How annoying.

"Fine, fine. I'll do my best." For her family.

"Actually, go back to the "who are you"," Baba interrupted suddenly, "is your name actually Misaki? I feel like I got really bamboozled today so I wanna make sure..."

Ah, right, the fake name she gave him and Ota...speaking of, the artist hadn't said a word this whole time. Actually, his whole behavior seemed a bit...off, not very much like him at all, she noted.

"I lied about that. My name is actually Mira." Obviously she picked the first name she thought of but it wasn't a coincidence that she had picked a similar sounding name to the one her family gave her.

"...You said you were from Britain, but you speak perfect Japanese...how is that possible?" Baba questioned. Quite the curiosity he had.

"Well...to clarify, I'm not from Britain, I was born in the sea surrounding the land, but I know some english because I was forced to live above land after my family was taken away."

"Taken away?"

"Killed." Admitting that hurt. "I knew I had to find you after your transformation, so I began to learn japanese in hopes of coming here one day and confronting you."

"You really held out hope that I would be generous enough to help you, huh." Eisuke locked eyes with her, his gaze fierce.

"Was I not supposed to?" She mirrored the fierce gaze of his and narrowed her eyebrows, daring to question him. He could choose to rip her apart right then and there but did she care?...not that much. She had nothing to lose.

"Just saying you might've wasted your time and my money."

Lovely.

"...So is that a flat-out no?" She muttered, already feeling dejected.

"I need to think it over some more..." She breathed a heavy sigh, preparing herself for disappointment, "but, only while you work under me."

What.

"Wha...?" She looked at him in disbelief.

"Riiight...about that!" Baba interrupted once more. "Remember how we bought you back there? Yeah...there's no way we're letting you go back out in the wild just like that. I'd argue its for our safety but with all that you've told us, it'd be best for you too!" Did he just attempt to flirt with her amidst that???

"...Okay...and if I stay here, I need to work?"

"Obviously." Double lovely.

She frowned, going over her options. Baba was right even while trying to swoon her, since she was sought after, she couldn't guarantee her safety in the ocean, nor could she stay in touch with Eisuke — and of course, they'd want to keep an eye on her after she witnessed such an auction in the hotel depths.

So really, her only hope was to stay with these strange men for the time being — in exchange for Eisuke's potential partnership.

"What do you say then?"

She sighed once more.

"I'll stay."

Such simple words could never make her think they would change her life overnight.

*************

In the quiet of the night, the angelic artist locks the door behind him as he processes all he heard from the woman, who had now been placed in the room next to his own. Standing frozen against said door, he feared he had zoned out at some point in her talking, but one thing was very clear to him anyway.

He wasn't normal.

And it made him worry.

#voltage inc #love 365 #love 365: find your story #kbtbb #kissed by the baddest bidder #eisuke ichinomiya #soryu oh #baba mitsunari #ota kisaki #mamoru kishi #kbtbb ota #kbtbb baba #kbtbb soryu #kbtbb mamoru #kbtbb eisuke #kbtbb fanfic

[sweetlikehoneystingslikeabee]

Howdy!! How about some platonic headcanons for TF2 Medic? I just really wanna hug him and infodump to him fr fr JENDJDHDHDHB :3

Platonic HCS w/ TF2 Medic

You're so valid! SO valid. If I wouldn't be afraid of their stupid bullshit resulting in an early death for me, I'd totally want them as a big family.

TW: Death, medical gore

Klaus (red)

Klaus plays around way too much for a man in charge of medical care. Making jokes as he handles organs, using his temporarily dead teammates like a sock puppet during surgery, replicating things like their teeth and then displaying them... it's all very morbid.

He'd probably let you do surgery under his guidance if you wanted! Think of it like bonding! He's sure Scout won't mind. And even if he did... eh.

Hopefully, you don't mind super unsanitary hugs with a lot of blood! If you encourage hugging, he will forget to change his clothing and greet you with a squish! Between him and Heavy, you'll be filthy and your back feels like a cracked glow stick. It's affection.

He doesn't always understand the info you're dumping on him, but he definitely listens with rapt attention... As long as you're prepared for his practically unhinged ramblings on medical procedures that absolutely should not be performed on people. Why he doesn't have a license, silly things like that. You'd give him a license, right? Right.

Sometimes as his friend, you might have to help find Archimedes. For whatever reason, Klaus's dove has this penchant for burying himself into patient's body cavities. It is what it is. Like his owner, the bird loves giving affection while he's still covered in viscera. You might as well start wearing scrubs whenever you're coming to visit your friend.

His other doves surround you on your shoulders when you come by. Not as tall as Heavy, but still a nice perch!

One way you notice his care for you is how he fusses about your health. You aren't like the team, you know. You won't just respawn if something bad were to happen. Better let him check you out if you're ever feeling poorly! That being said, wouldn't recommend it given his... alternative methods for fixing things, sometimes.

Ludwig (blu)

He doesn't take his work much more seriously than his red team counterpart. However, he seems to have this odd fascination with death and "true death." He's not suicidal or anything like that, just. Sometimes he'll wax poetic a little too often about how exciting it'll be when he finally reaches his end. He looks at you with affection that one day you might die and he can hold a ceremony.

He wouldn't let you do surgery per say, but he'd be down to let you assist and hand him tools as you tell him all about your hyperfixations. Spy might be on this table for hours, it's fine!

He's a little more mindful of the bloodstained hugs than Klaus. While he doesn't mind aseptic technique the way he should, he does recognize you could get sick if he doesn't change and he doesn't want that to happen to his little friend! If you got REALLY sick, he'd have to install that little respawn chip all of them have and it's not... pleasant.

Do you like reading? Does he have a collection of books for you! Old ones, some quite rare. If you ask where he found them, he just smiles. He's traveled the world, you know! He totally stole them.

Once the two of you are really close, he'll even let you help him give Archimedes his "bath" aka a little water spritzer hose that the dove likes to dance in. He still likes being pristine and clean outside of his owner's work, being a former wedding dove and all.

Archimedes bugs you for treats because he thinks you can convince Ludwig to hand over the goods. The other doves have started doing it, too. They all coo in unison when you enter the room.

#tf2 medic #tf2 red medic #tf2 blu medic #foxwriting

[silver-wield]

Can you do a deep dive/explanation on the newest Rebirth trailer? Because I feel like people are gonna be screeching "alternate timelines/worlds again."

Okay, I have some thoughts. Especially since people seem to have forgotten a few things. Like this isn't the first trailer.

This was in the first trailer, which also revolved around Zack's supposed survival. It also brings up Cloud's fragile mental state. We know he's delusional. We've seen it. Cloud dragging that sword to Midgar in CCR, EC and then being shown at the station with Tifa bringing him out of his zombie state, which the devs have said is canon to Remake.

If Zack's alive and dumped Cloud on Kyrie, and kept his sword, how did Cloud get it and himself to S7? And do people really believe Zack would dump Cloud on a stranger? Or is that something more in line with the pessimistic Cloud who believes eventually everyone will abandon him because he's just "not good enough"?

We're supposed to believe Elmyra is talking to Zack here because we can see her in the BG. She's not talking to him though.

As @enigmaphenomenon pointed out on twitter, nobody talks to Zack. Not in this trailer or any other.

Did we see Kyrie reply to his request? We did not. All we saw was Cloud's body fall on her, much like the black cloaks do when they're shambling around.

As for the key art, that's a metaphorical world being talked about, not a physical one.

And then there's the character intros that some people are taking as confirmation. Since when does SE drop huge spoilers in intros?

Zack being assumed alive is how they've portrayed him the entire time. That's part of the mystery that needs solving for Cloud to be whole. It's the same as calling Cloud a soldier when he isn't, and saying Biggs, Wedge and Jessie are dead when we were shown Biggs alive at the end of Remake.

You can't take that info at face value.

It's like when people said Jill is a sibling to Clive then stfu when it turned out they were suuuuuper wrong 🤣

All we know for sure is Cloud is delusional and believes and sees things that aren't true. He's the unreliable narrator, Sephiroth is the liar and Zack is the mystery.

They've always been shown as those things.

#final fantasy 7 remake #ff7r #ffviir #cloud strife #final fantasy 7r #final fantasy viir #tifa lockhart #final fantasy vii rebirth #final fantasy 7 rebirth #ffvii rebirth #ff7 rebirth

[crush3dmary]

A bit late for the ask game, but I'm gonna throw a freeform at you.

What is one question on the list that no one asked, but you were really hoping they would?

If none apply, use this as an excuse to just info-dump whatever thing you've been wanting to go crazy about!

Ahhhh my treasured mutual thank you so much for the ask!! I think I'm going to use this opportunity to info dump about my current longfic wip, because I'm really excited about it!

Philosophy of a Knife is a yugioh canon rewrite au where Bakura wins and Ryou becomes a vessel for Zorc's power. I have a lot of big plans for it, but it's really a glorified character study with an alternate interpretation of Ryou. I once heard the interpretation that Bakura is a manifestation of Ryou's own intrusive thoughts and I thought this could be an interesting thing to explore alongside the concept of an unreliable narrator as he starts to lose his grip on reality more and succumb to his more carnal urges, inspired by my very real experiences with ocd/intrusive thoughts. The first chapter is pretty canon compliant so far to the manga but I'm planning to have it diverge pretty significantly around battle city. And there will be card games! I learned how to play Duel Monsters for this! I really committed to the bit for this one. If you guys want a preview of the first couple paragraphs, I shared this in a few servers so I don't mind sharing it here too. Under a cut to be safe.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Ryou would learn this the hard way—he'd always considered himself the kind of person that others don't remember, someone forgettable, his anonymity nearly paralleling invisibility. It was only when he lost that resource that he would realize how much of a divine sanction it was.

If one had asked him seven months prior where he imagined his sorry life, the last thing he would have said was "acting as a vessel for the dark God Zorc Necrophades", but even if his life before the Ring was relatively mundane, going about the motions like it were a series of small tragedies, ever since his body became communal, all he could say for certain was that his days were unpredictable at best.

Nobody had told him when he accepted Zorc's soul that the Darkness felt like fire and ice in his veins, something swimming through his arteries like the aftertaste of grief that had clouded his senses since the day he got the phone call saying they're dead, and now you're not just lonely but alone. Nobody told him that he'd feel it skittering across the hairs of his neck like the most graceful of insects, and more than that, nobody told him that nothing would slow the process of his own decay.

A panic that wasn't his washed over Ryou's body as he doubled over, coughing and choking, a malady that had nowhere to go. Jagged nails dug into the pale skin of his forearms, drawing blood that stained the tips of his fingers onyx. Soon after, one of his hands came up to rest over his open mouth, and he retched.

The moment he pulled away, he cowered with revulsion when he saw that his blood and bile were black.

[thewarriorspecial]

Greenhill Chapter 7

*Archive Edition* Previously only linked to AO3, full work now available under the cut.

Read on AO3

Rating: Teen | Guy Gardner/Kyle Rayner, Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Dinah Lance, Oliver Queen, Wally West, Katma Tui

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

A little something special for @hobicat!

The interpersonal drama continues to unfold at the table and Guy gets his spy gear out.

It's here it's finally here!! I deed it!!

Guy watched as Kyle lowered himself into a seat at the table. Kyle fiddled with the silverware roll, opened it. He pulled out the knife first because of course he did. No surprises tonight, Guy thought as he turned on the recorder he had hidden in his sweater vest. He folded his fingers under his chin as he studied Kyle’s movements scrupulously. He’d play back the audio to listen carefully for any other telling inflections in his speech that he might’ve missed as he professionally navigated the sometimes hostile waters of a coworkers’ night out. I’m in my silver fox James Bond era, Guy smiled to himself. 

Kyle fiddled with the butter knife as he thought both of his painting knife at home where he’d be far more comfortable and also of the fact that for many years his mother forbade him using an actual knife at the table after too many dinner theater tragedies. Kyle had learned early in his life that he did not possess the full body dexterity to become an actual fruit ninja and that was not an actual job. Kyle faked a bright smile at his quiet coworkers. What have I gotten myself into, he thought 

“So,” Carol said, finally breaking the silence, “Not a vampire fan, John?”

“Ah, no. Just not my thing. Too much D&D in the past, I guess.” John replied with a shrug.

“Paladin?” Guy asked.

“Always.” John answered.

“Knew it.” Guy said with great conviction, banging his fist on the table. He’d have all his coworkers figured out by the end of the night.

“What exactly is D&D, anyways?” Carol asked.

Hal gently touched the place where his glasses used to rest, and then suavely pushed his bangs out of his face, “Well, it’s a tabletop role-playing game, or TTRPG for short—“

Ah, fuck. Here we go, Guy thought with a fake smile as he started looking around for the waiter.  As his eyes scanned the area, he caught Kyle returning the same already-tired smile. He liked the kid more by the minute. Shame he was a criminal. Which was also, admittedly, kinda hot.

A young girl with multi-colored hair and facial piercings greets their table with exuberant friendliness. She talks extensively with John and Carol. Guy knows her face but can’t think of her name. She was likely an upperclassman, then. The trio nattered on, unpressed for time as Guy’s knuckles whitened on the back of the empty chair next to him. 

Kyle pulled out his phone and started texting someone. Guy could almost read the texts in the mirrored lampshade behind him. He cursed his old crusty eyes and wondered if he could somehow use the selfie stick to get a good look at the screen without being too obvious. He reached into his pocket and slowly, obviously pulled the thing out. As curious eyes fell on him, he pretended to scratch his back with it, “Carry on. Just…itchin’” Guy said with a weak laugh. As the chatter—which is to say info-dump via Hal—carried on, Guy put on a show of seeming to examine the selfie stick with great concern. He held it up in the air, trying to find an angle that would allow him to see what Kyle was typing. 

Unfortunately, the support of the selfie stick was painted a dark color and even less reflective than the lampshade. To Guy’s cloudy eyes, it appeared that the letters WOWanBAB were in the text bar at the top of Kyle’s screen. If the text is mirrored that means it’s upside down! Guy rationalized. As his brain made the Windows fail sound he thought, Mom and Dad?! But aren’t they…? Is it someone else’s Mom and Dad? Is he seeing someone?! Fuck! Not that it mattered because Kyle was a criminal. And this investigation was absolutely about protecting the students. From this dangerous, hot, bad criminal man. 

“Ow! What?!” Guy exclaimed suddenly, again interrupting Hal’s attempt to woo Carol with his knowledge of emotionally mature Dungeon Mastering. 

“Tst!” John made the sharp sound as he kicked Guy’s foot under the able a second time. 

“What?” Guy stage whispered.

You know what. Stop it, said John’s Eyebrow of Paternal Disappointment (emotional damage +5)

“So issat like, your mom, or—“ Guy asked, impatiently waving his hands towards Kyle’s phone, hoping to get the conversation back on track and away from Nerds and Virgins or whatever.

“Oh,” Kyle smiled sadly, “No. No my mother passed away.”

Guy made a noise somewhere between choking on a chicken bone and being hit by a truck. John’s lips pressed together as he tucked his chin to his chest and raised both of his disappointed eyebrows even higher. Now look what you’ve done.

“Ow!” Guy exclaimed as a flank attack struck from Hal’s side of the table. 

“Its okay! Really!” Kyle raised his hands in supplication, “It was a long time ago. I’m fine.”

“Hardly appropriate dinner conversation,” Hal said.

“Ooh, what’s inappropriate?” Their server reappeared, a full tray of their orders perched over her shoulder.

“Well, Guy’s put his foot in his mouth I think,” Carol offered.

“He went and asked about poor Kyle’s dead mother!” Hal was offended.

“It’s okay, really. I brought it up!”

“Yeah he brought it up!”

“Oof,” said their server as she quietly passed out their plates.

“He brought—! Alan. How you been? You got anything you wanna add, here?”

“Not at all,” Alan said, bringing his drink to his lips and taking a long, luxurious sip. “I’m enjoying watching you fine, young people exercise your conflict resolution skills.”

“Guy’s could use a little work,” Hal snipped.

Guy’s ears turned as red as his hair as he folded the selfie stick back to pocket size and returned it to his secret spy pocket. Mission Failed, clearly.

“It’s okay, honest. I don’t get to talk about her much. Most people are too afraid to ask.” Kyle rested his warm hand over Guy’s sweaty knuckles. The Defensive Debuff hit home as Guy began to fully blush and sweat. He whipped his gaze over to John, his rock, who rolled a nat twenty on the second Eyebrow attack. Critical damage. Guy swallowed heavily, mouth dry, speechless. He should’ve never multi-classed into Rogue. “My mom was really cool. I miss her every day,” Kyle continued. He pulled his hand back to brush his hair behind his ear, “I wish you could’ve had the chance to meet her.” Kyle looks down for a moment and something else bumps Guy under the table, but pain-free this time. Kyle’s knee. Kyle’s knee. Kyle’s knee. When Kyle’s big, sad brown eyes find their way back to Guy’s it’s direct Constitution damage. Guy wants to wrap him in a blanket and drive him home. “I was just texting Wally. I didn’t mean to be rude.”

“It’s on me, buddy.” Guy stammered. He dearly wished he had his Oakleys to hide behind. “My bad. We still cool?”

“Of course.” Kyle’s smile is bright and devastating. Guy wonders if he’s the kind of monster that sparkles in the sunlight. Maybe it’ll all be okay? Just a little peril?

Everyone resumed eating and Hal resumed telling the Tale of Games Past That No One Asked About. Carol’s smile is thinly polite. Hal barreled on in his futile attempt to make her laugh or maybe even impress her. He switched tracks, insisting on the Much Cooler Time He Was One Of The Knights At The Renaissance Festival. This captured her interest but not for the reason he had hoped. After all these years Hal remained unable to discern actual interest from confused horror.

“Wow,” said Carol, “That’s crazy.”

“So,” Kyle said softly to Alan, “History, right?”

“Unfortunately,” Alan grumbled as he took full advantage of Guy’s stun-lock to continue pilfering fries from his plate. 

“Alan’s been teaching for us since the school opened,” John offered, “Anyone could understand he’s a little tired or bored maybe?”

“I’m just old.”

“Maybe you can find a new way to present the material? Or tread new tracks so to speak? Novelty really keeps kids invested.” Kyle beamed with his idea.

Guy tried not to melt. He loved the kid’s enthusiasm.

“Kyle, it’s History. It’s not new.”

“Maybe you could use a little somethin’ new, pops. Might put some spring in your step,” said Guy.

“It won’t.”

“With respect,” Kyle began carefully, “You can’t possibly know everything there is to know about your subject.”

“I do. I was there. I remember.”

“You’re not…that old?” John wondered.

“The things I remember would curl your back hair, boy.”

Oh no, the warning bells went off in John’s mind, not the Nazis. No one wants to talk about the Nazis over dinner.

“You ever climb a bridge to dismantle a mine under heavy artillery fi—“

“Oh! Look!” Hal suddenly interjected, “They have tapioca pudding here. See?” He shoved the dessert menu in Alan’s direction. 

“Ooh,” Alan cooed, placated for the moment. The only thing he loved more than bitching about Nazis and pontificating about the brutalities of war was tapioca pudding. 

A loud crash near the door grabbed everyone’s attention. 

“Ah, fu—shticks! My bad!” Wally appeared directly in the path of the waitress, sending most of her dessert tray clattering to the ground. Kyle noticed, as Wally caught several of the glasses with incredible speed, he seemed to choose to let a few fall to the ground. It happened so fast. Maybe Wally was just very agile. Maybe he was an athlete as well. “Here, chief,” Wally held his credit card out over the bar, towards Radu, “Just ring it up. I gotta watch where I’m going.”

“Oh Wally!” Radu cried, “No trouble at all for one of my favorite customers!”

“You’re too good to me, man.” Wally said over his shoulder as he approached the table. “Sorry I’m late guys.” He took a chair from another table, behind Hal and Carol, even though there were two empty seats next to Kyle. “‘Scuse me real quick,” he said as he grabbed the back of Hal’s chair and slid him away from Carol, making room for himself.

“Hey!” Hal shouted, the picture of indignant. 

“Did you see Tru Blood last night?” Wally asked, sitting backwards in his chair and fully turning his back to Hal.

Carol lit up, clapping her hands, “Oh I did! It was so good! I loved when—“

“Aren’t you married?” Hal hissed at Wally’s back.

“Ew!” Wally snapped, whipping around suddenly and at an odd angle like an owl. “Don’t interrupt! It’s rude. Anyways.”

Hal harrumphed and sunk down in his chair. 

“So, tapioca is your favorite?” Kyle asked.

“It is. One of my earliest memories.” Alan said, chewing thoughtfully. 

“Oh?” Kyle tried to press for more detail. He let Alan slowly share some of his oldest memories—happy and full of detail of his childhood home.

Guy caught Hal’s gaze and jerked his chin up once, You okay?

The one corner of Hal’s mouth pulled downwards and he shrugged one shoulder, Yeah I guess so.

Guy stabbed his fork into his apparently child’s size portion of fries. He stuffed them into his mouth and nodded sharply, At least the food’s good.

Hal nodded in agreement, taking one of his chicken tenders off of his plate with his hand and breaking it in half. 

They watched as Wally dumped dessert after dessert into his face while Carol gushed about the TV show. Something was off about that guy. He seemed way more nervous than usual and he kept looking at his watch. He stood up suddenly, “Hold that thought,” He said to Carol, almost too fast to understand, “Gotta use the bathroom. Berightback!”

Kyle was still in rapt fascination with Alan’s story. John was concentrating on his Boba hunting experience. Carol chose this moment to use the restroom as well. Hal huffed again. 

Guy looked from Kyle back to Hal, a concerned expression on his face. He raised his eyebrows, tilted his head to the side, pointed one finger from his folded hands at Kyle as he jerked his head in the opposite direction and then made a steeple with his two index fingers. You don’t think she’s still in the house?

Hals lips flattened in a grimace. His eyebrows furrowed and he nodded his head towards Guy. He unfolded his hands, flattening his palms in parallel like he was showing a measurement. His eyes widened to accentuate the size. He then curved his fingers and touched the tips together. You're being a huge asshole.

Alan smiled as he watched the silent conversation unfold. He was the only other person at the table who was also versed in bitches’ cant. He also noticed that Wallace hadn’t gone to the restroom at all. He had vanished out of the skate park door. And at an incredible speed. Perhaps he wasn’t the only one with interesting powers. Something was indeed afoot at Radu’s Cafe. 

#*myfic #guykyle #highschool au

[holyshonks]

Okay, another info dump, since you seem okay with it-

I can't get hyperfixated on something, without thinking of a multiverse, and I want to get a second opinion on something I have dubbed "unexpected trios"

Atriox, Thel, and John have become my favorite characters just from the clips and lore I've seen. But what if there were alternate worlds, where they were in each other's shoes?

Thel as a spartan, Atriox as the Arbiter, John as leader of the banished. Atriox as a spartan, John as Arbiter, Thel as the leader of the banished.

Their origins are relatively the same, with a little flavor from their original variants. The Spartans being the same or similar ages, the Arbiters all still marked, the LOTBs all eventually lose their planets. But their personalities are a tiny bit different, and their cultures and biology have some influence on them.

Like maybe spartan!thel would have slightly less baggage or taboo around being made a warrior so soon, because of his warrior culture. But I think I remember vaguely hearing about a Sangheili that was shunned for having some augmentations, so there might be something with that?

Spartan!Atriox would probably have more ick around him, due to Jiralhanae being a pack species. Him being taken from his family so early would probably cause more controversy with the UNSC of this timeline.

Arbiter!Atriox would probably be more... idk how to word it- defective? He would probably be more prone to shifting blame, while it eats him up internally. Since he seems more prideful than Thel, despite his actions. But there would definitely be obvious guilt he'd deal with, just constantly bottling it up. He would probably be one bad moment away from dropping his weapon and punching someone, or having a mental breakdown.

Arbiter!John would probably be slightly more depressed than the og Arbiter. I remember reading somewhere about how one of OG John's passwords is a reference to one of his failures. So an Arbiter variant of him would definitely be NOT okay- but maybe he would be slightly more emotionally intelligent, since he would have made the choice(?) to he a soldier in the Covenant. So he might be more emotional than OG John, OG Thel, or Arbiter!Atriox.

LOTB!Thel would probably be colder and more intelligent. Atriox is already smarter than the average Jiralhanae, and Sangheili are already very intelligent battle wise. I could see him losing Sanghelios by testing waters too much, to see if Cortina was bluffing or not. Accidentally pissing her off anyways (or whatever her name would be in this timeline) and losing his planet.

LOTB!John would probably be a bit more aggressive with a slight inferiority complex. A mix of OG John's inability to process guilt, and OG Atriox's pride would be catastrophic. He would probably put most of his pride in the banished, and less into himself. But any grief or sorrow he has, would translate into rage, so he might take out any bad feelings on the battlefield. He might be more... childish? Again, not a good word for what I'm thinking, but I could see him being slightly less mature than OG Atriox or LOTB!Thel.

But adding on this, the banished, Swords or Sanghelios, and the UNSC would probably be slightly different.

Sangheili might not have a warrior culture as UNSC, or it could be dying out in their timeline. I could definitely see them being a little sillier, since I don't know if the Sangheili in the OG timeline have memes.

They would probably be stronger and more violent in the universe where Thel leads the banished, and have a more violent warrior culture. But they also might be closer to their "egg brothers", since I remember reading somewhere that they aren't too close with family, getting raised by mothers and uncles, and having so many siblings. In that timeline, maybe Jiralhanae pack habits in the og timeline would effect their culture slightly?

The Jiralhanae in the UNSC again, would probably be more silly. They'd also probably be less prone to anger, cause in that timeline, they would have some similar tech to humans in the OG timeline.

Where they are like Sangheili, both humans and Jiralhanae in their separate timelines would definitely be sassier, and more honor bound. Also, the very bold "flirting" would definitely be much funnier. A Jiralhanae or a human saying "if you keep staring at me like that, we might as well exchange fluids!" Tickles me just as well as Sangheili saying it.

But to the unexpected trios I wanted to rant about-

Whenever I think of these three timelines interact in my brain, I just can't help but imagine the Arbiters, Spartans, and LOTB leaders would share a braincell. The banished leaders might not hate their own Arbiter and spartan variants since... they have the same face. They might even be like mentors (or try to be) since while it isn't technically younger thems, it's their face, they have no real pack, and three of them (spartans) are probably in need of some fatherly bonding (which would probably involve a lot of fishing, from what I vaguely know about Jiralhanae culture/Banished culture.)

The Arbiters would probably get some pep talks from their Banished selves, which would be weird, cause they're technically enemies. But again, their face, different age and different life.

Arbiters and Spartans would get along, since they have an alliance in their timelines anyways. But the Arbiters might feel slightly uncomfortable with their Spartan selves, since they would actually get the more uncanny feeling around them, than with their own Spartans, since their Spartan variants are them if they had the origins of the Spartans. Plus if they were a similar age to John/spartan variants. They might get an even better idea on what's really going with their friends, and grow to have some distaste again for the UNSC, or at least the scientists that allowed the Spartans to exist.

The Spartans might be indifferent and only care about getting their missions complete, but the Arbiters and banished leaders getting concerned might slowly spark a crisis, and a bunch of bottled up trauma might accidentally start being processed.

All 9 of them are not okay, probably a few seconds away from a mental breakdown, and they would need to keep each other on leashes. They would keep the banished from getting revenge, the Arbiters from dying honorably I'm battle, and the Spartans from sacrificing everything again... or from risking it all for their Cortinas-

What would Thel and Atriox's Cortinas be, in your opinion?

Sorry for the essay on AUs, this has been in the crevices of my mind, and I'm tempted to draw stuff for it when I get time-

Forgive me if I don't have much input on this, I feel like I missed the peak of mutiverse mania. But, some thoughts based on a few things I picked up from what you wrote here:

I agree that Spartan!Thel would lack a lot of the shock factor that it has with humans. Sangheili are taught to fight from a very young age, and are raised to aspire to fight. The Spartans are considered one of the only physical matches to the Sangheili as well, so I wonder if they would be deadlier, or just a match? And if they are even deadlier, could anyone stop them? But yes, Sangheili frown not just on augmentations, but even prosthesis, so voluntary, unnecessary augmentation would be especially taboo.

Jiralhanae would make great Spartans, imo, because of their pack mentality, but it would also scrape against their culture to be fully committed to one cause rather than the causes of their pack. There reason Jiralhanae did not advance as quickly as other species is because they were constantly at war with each other, so the idea of a specialized force, serving one entity, might be strange. The tendency to fly into a rage and eat their enemies would also be unbecoming of a Spartan lol.

I think Atriox as an Arbiter would lack the supplication necessary for the job, at least after the Covenant was established. Even your brutish Arbiters like Ripa 'Moramee still were obedient and unquestioning, and Atriox would struggle on both fronts.

John would make an excellent Arbiter. Walking around as a pillar of atonement? Shamed for his (or other's) mistakes? John is great at taking the blame. He would be in his element while also being in the worst mental state of his life.

Thel as a Banished leader is interesting because it would get him out of the Covenant faster, and therefore he'd skip having to learn about the Halos the hard way. I agree that he'd still be more like he was when he was Supreme Commander--cold and calculating. I do think the Banished would be less brutal and would probably not employ torture under his watch, though. He had some scruples.

It's hard for me to imagine John as the LOTB because we've never seen him in a leadership role that didn't also involve oversight from the top. John is willing to break a rule or two, but his outlook is still pretty rigid. More rigid is his belief system, so I think the Banished would look very different under his command. The Banished as we know it has rules and leadership, but there seems to be less oversight, and the rules seem to depend more on the particular leader of a group more that overarching rules, making it a more unpredictable and haphazard. That would not fly with John.

I think the way this character salad would interact has more to do with the particulars of the universe they are from more than their personalities. For example: in OG Halo, the Sangheili and Jiralhanae were rivals in the Covenant. I don't think the formulation of the trio matters so much as whether or not Thel and Atriox's species have this history to contend with.

As to your last question, about who everyone's Cortana would be:

I've always thought of Cortana and John's relationship as that of soulmates, but not in the traditional sense. Something greater and deeper than romantic love, but not so simple as "platonic soulmates". If I can get esoteric, I think of them having a "higher" love, the kind of soul connection that transcends conventional understanding.

Is there anyone in the universe that fills that role for Thel and Atriox? I'm not sure. They have advisers, good friends, loyal followers but nothing quite so intense. The ball might be in your court for that one.

#asks

[gu3ntzel]

how every player on my (fake) nhl team would react to winning the stanley cup

please see end notes for an explanation / more info

casey: initially, directly after the final buzzer, he'd be pretty stunned. he'd be happy, but he'd have a moment where he was melancholy, before he remembered where he was and would put on an mask for the moment. he'd also feel immensely depressed that everyone else had family there, but he only had freddy's (his gf's). once the celebrations would move off-ice, he'd find a quiet place where he could process what he did and what this meant. after this though, he'd go full on rager and wouldn't remember at all the following 24hrs. he'd wake up the next day in nate's guest room spooning with julian, probably.

julian: would be so wrapped up in the fact that he won that everything else would fade away and he'd forget where he was. he'd be so incredibly proud of himself, and feeling like he lived up to the expectations set on him. he'd take a moment to comfort casey when he noticed him go off on his own before he went back to partying. he wouldn't be as drunk but he would still be pretty plastered (may or may not have dumped a bunch of liquor in nate's pool). would end up crying and telling toller that he loved him before he'd pass out in nate's guest bedroom.

nate (c): would absolutely tackle miry and ukko and end up having a moment like landeskog did when he won the cup where he's like, pinning miry and ukko on the ground and holding them because oh my god, they did it together. they had been teammates when they first got into the league but had been traded before being reunited on the newfies w/ the expansion, and only nate and ukko had won cups (on diff teams) so this was incredibly special for all three of them because they never thought they'd have this moment. he'd break tradition and allow miry to take the cup because it was his first one. he, ukko and toller take turns looking after everyone (coughcoughmirycough) and like, half of the team end up passed out in nate's backyard/around his house. he doesn't go to bed till like 5am but he's incredibly happy.

miry (a): literally freaks out and cries and squishes ukko in a hug before they're tackled by nate. he's literally shaking and is just so relieved that he's finally won one that he literally doesnt know what to say. literally roars when he hoists the cup as like a big "fuck you" and is so honored that nate would break tradition like that for him. despite wanting to be a good alternate he gets absolutely plastered and makes out with the cup (depending on who you ask, of course). he ends up floating in nate's pool a good portion of the night with a beer in one of those weird floaties, and misses his mouth 90% of the time. he tries to fall asleep in a bush but nate and ukko make sure he makes it to a bed (because he's an "old man")

ukko (a): smacks a big kiss on miry's cheek and says "i told you you were going to do it" and literally stands there absolutely beaming at miry when he hoists the cup and feels so incredibly proud. in the whole chaos he makes sure that they get a photo of the three of them with the cup. he plays with a lot of the other players' kids and has to fish miry out of the pool. he's also the one who makes sure julian and casey end up in nate's guest room. he ends up taking four or five players home so they're not all at nate's house and makes sure no one drowns in their own vomit. he sends a text to his (dead) father's number that he's still paying for to let him know that they did it again.

cale: literally loses it. probably destroys mason's ear drum because of how loud he screams and the team's 100% convinced that one of cale's gloves ends up in the rafters (either that, or some lucky fan took one of them home). both his parents were there and they're all in tears because he knows how much they gave up for him and he doesn't want to let the cup go, but does because he knows how much longer miry had to wait for it than him. drinks the most beers out of the cup that night and tries to shoot fireworks off in nate's backyard (nate literally has to hide all the lighters because somehow caleb keeps finding them and trying to light them). is one of four people who want to try to take the cup in the pool in ohmage to past times but is barred from doing so. falls asleep in a beach chair and wakes up with an absolutely brutal sunburn.

mihails: poor mihails sneezed and missed kola scoring the game winning goal and honestly is more than a little embarrassed about it and hopes no one noticed (dusek does but thank god dusek is a kind soul who doesn't tell anyone (he does. he tells his wife and his wife tells mihails and mihails is so upset)). is so stunned that he's literally the last person off the bench and toller has to come over and be like "hey, man, we won," and then he's an absolute maniac. he goes around riding on dusek's back for most of the night and drunkenly sings in latvian and pinches kola's cheeks and telling him that he loves him. he goes home with ukko, and wakes up with nils' ass in his face.

dusek: totally saw mihails miss the winning goal. he's just so happy to have won, though that he doesn't tell him that he knows and goes out to celebrate. he's clasping everyone on the shoulders and calling them kid and gives incredibly weird interviews to the media (they love that he's slovak and gives them "sayings that are popular in slovakia"(they arent. theyre just random shit he makes up and the media knows is mad up but they all think is incredibly funny bc they all know hes just bullshitting them)). he smooches his wife and parades his kids around on the ice and goes to nate's and drinks and jumps in the pool but then also gets out and reminds his kids to not be like these "poor excuses for men" even though his kids are too young to understand wtf he's talking about. goes home and has absolutely amazing stanley cup winner sex.

kola: scored the game winning goal. literally collapses, screaming on the top of his lungs. it becomes the iconic photo of their cup run--kola on his knees on the ice, the crowd behind him erupting, players around him throwing sticks and gloves and there he is, a man overwhelmed with the fact that he absolutely carried that team on his back the entire playoffs (with the help of julian's goaltending). it took a while for him to regain himself but when he did he was ecstatic, screaming and yelling and enveloped in hugs. was told so many times how good he was, how the team was so incredibly grateful to have him. ends the night with so much liver damage with how much alcohol he drank. the next morning he walks to nate's big-panned windows, sees the cup sitting on a table shining in the early morning light, and thinks, wow, i did it.

nils: looks like a little kid on xmas day. he was brought up late in the season due to injuries and worried the entire time that they wouldnt win because of him, because he wasnt good enough, but he was and that meant something. his grandparents are there and theyre so proud of him and he's so glad that he gets to share this with them, that he got to win this before they passed. is one of the four players that tries to drown the cup. he goes home with ukko and tries to get mihails to shut up because hes absolutely sick of his singing, ok, so he tries to sit on his head but misses and just ends up falling asleep with his ass in mihails' face.

jesse: hits mason in the face (on accident) with his stick and ends up missing parts of the celebration because he's hanging out with a bleeding-faced mason and apologizing profusely. he has to take some interviews for it because apparently thats more important than the fact they literally won the stanley cup. he gets drunker than a skunk and ends up falling into one of nate's bushes and somehow ends up getting lost in the scuffle and everyone literally forgets about him until nate stumbles upon him at 5am and ends up being left there because nate's got no more energy to deal with it. he wakes up with twigs and bugs all over him but its better than the time he woke up in a random woman's house literally two hours away from quebec city, so. could be worse.

murphy: literally first thing he does is stuff his baby who's like a couple months old (and named stanley, but didnt tell anyone else hes named stanley because he didnt want to be yelled at for it) in the cup and hoists him around and proudly proclaims that his baby's name is stanley and that his baby's the reason why they won while everyone's else is like you named your baby fucking stanley? but he doesn't care he's just glad he gets to put his baby in the cup and that he got dad strength. may or may not have tried to drown the cup (what are you, a lawyer?)

faddei: puts his puppy in the cup and then he and murphy put both in the cup and he's literally in heaven. he puts toller and the others in charge of his puppy and everythings just fucking great for him. may or may not lose some eyebrow hairs from cale trying to light fireworks but who fucking cares!!! hes a stanley cup champion!!!!!!!!!!

mason: takes a stick to the face on his own bench and takes a moment to join the rest of the party because of jesse. joins them and is literally accosted by journalists because they want to ask him about his injury and not his sick two points that he got that game (fucking thank you, jesse). everything turns out okay though because apparently some of his reactions turn into a meme and he gets a lot of popularity for it. jesse makes it up to him by buying him a ton of drinks and everything ends up being okay. he goes home with ukko and the others and sleeps in ukko's dog's bed.

simon: tries to be funny and say IM GOING TO DISNEY WORLD during an interview but due to a long history of concussions (like so bad they thought he wouldn’t play again and that at times after them he’d be confused where he was) that he got whisked away by medical and had to do a bunch of tests to prove to them that he didn’t have a concussion and was just trying to be funny. the team did not find it very funny. so by the time he got back he had to make up for lost time and ends up spewing chunks by like 12am and has to be tucked into bed by 1am, but he doesn’t mind. he’s just happy to be included.

charlie: is literally overcomed with emotions and finds it hard to speak for literally hours. he just smiles and nods and hugs and drinks and just has a good time. he thinks a lot about how this could be his final time with the team and then throws himself into enjoying it, making sure to take selfies and videos with everyone. he sends them to his gf who lives overseas as she’s studying abroad and he ends up not being too drunk at all. he manages to go home and cries in his car alone, just thankful to be apart of everything.

valdi: is a grown man and totally doesnt cry when they win. but in reality he sobs like a baby and holds his wife so close and then cries even more because she then reveals to him that they’re finally having a baby!!!!! that she’s finally pregnant!!!! and he’s overjoyed and he tells everyone and he gets drunk and plans out baby names and drunkenly orders a bunch of baby stuff off of amazon.

hershey: only goal in life is to shove as many hershey bars as he can into that fucker and make it into a big fondue sort of thing. the guy that's supposed to be in charge of the cup is like absolutely not but hershey's like FUCK YOU MAN I WON THE FUCKING CUP. decides against it when reminded about how many people probably peed in it or did other heinous acts. considers for most of the night just how he can make his dream come true. is another one of the four that try to drown the cup.

cam: gets so black out drunk that he literally ends up hanging out with toller most of the night and calls him "dad" because toller's the dad he never had. wants everyone to know that he loves them and he hopes he gets to stay in quebec city forever because these are his guys and that he's glad they gave him a chance when other teams havent. he ends up kissing miry at some point but neither remembers it and its probably for the best. (toller did have a photo of this and thought about keeping this for blackmail, but instead decided to delete it and let it be one of those things that died. after all, no one else needed to know cam's secret before cam was ready). has to be put to bed at toller's house like a little baby. toller's kids make fun of him for it the next day.

toller: is happy they won but not really in a celebrating mindset, as he feels he didn't do anything to contribute or deserve it. he decides to babysit everyone and be helpful in that aspect. he makes sure that everyone's accounted for and that no one's doing something they shouldn't be, and he's also taking photos for everyone so they have something to remember from the night (because he knows sure as shit no one else will). after checking in with nate and that he can handle it, he goes home, taking cam with them (as cam lives with them) where he kisses his wife and tucks his kids in after filling cam with water. he decides that night to retire, and resolves to call his agent the next day and make it a reality.

notes:

these are my ocs for my novel, and this is purely an exercise for me to experiment and figure out their personalities, and perhaps some of their backstory as well! this is all in good fun. :)

#also feel free to ask me any questions about any of them if you want!!! #quebec city newfies #my ocs