Hi, you’ve probably already addressed this at some point and I’ve simply missed it, but what’s your thoughts on Hera’s ending? (Particularly, how Pryce just removes the ‘I can’t do this, I’m not good enough’ line, and she stops glitching?) Personally it always felt rather… bad, honestly, given the whole “they could’ve made me better, they made me me” thing, if that makes sense?
hi! first: that absolutely makes sense, and i'm also very sensitive to anything that seems to "fix" disability or trauma, so i understand where you're coming from. that was not personally my takeaway about hera in the finale; i'll try to explain why:
pryce didn't remove that loop from hera's head. i don't think she could have - even if it's technically possible for her to do (and she is capable of a lot more than maxwell), she just had her mind wiped and wouldn't have access to that information, and even if she did retain it on an instinctual level, that would require allowing pryce access to the most vulnerable parts of hera's mind. and she would never allow that. there's a reason pryce is still a prisoner.
hera speaks to pryce not for reconciliation, but for reclamation. she's lived her whole life in fear of what pryce (and people like pryce) can do to her, with every aspect of who she is and what she does controlled and dictated by anyone with power over her. the finale opens with pryce telling her life's story from her perspective - at once self-mythologizing and self-victimizing - and, the final time we ever hear from or about pryce, hera is about to tell her own story. we never find out what was actually said, or how pryce reacted, because it doesn't matter. hera gets to take control of her own narrative. hera gets to confront her abuser, and feel in control and safe from harm.
it's worth keeping in mind that hera doesn't glitch consistently. that's one of the things i think also makes it a useful comparison to chronic illness. when, why, and how much hera glitches was an intentionally crafted part of the sound design. it happens more often, and more intensely, when she's stressed out, overwhelmed, or upset.
and, with that in mind... the ending leaves the characters on a generally positive note, because it's the end of the show and that's the feeling it wants to leave you with: that everything will be more or less okay, in the end. but it isn't the end of their lives. once they get back to earth, a lot of things are going to be very difficult for hera. even in the final scene, she says she's not ready to go back, but "when has that ever stopped us before?" when she's able to honestly say she's good, i don't think that means she's good forever. just, in that moment, that's a crucial step in her healing process, and i hope in the future she'll have a lot more moments that feel like that one.
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🤥 LYING, ☀️SUN, 🕷️SPIDER, 🙉 HEAR-NO-EVIL, 🎭 MASKS, ☁️ CLOUD for Izzy!
💢 ANGER, 😨 FEARFUL, 🙈 SEE-NO-EVIL, 🌱 SEEDLING, 👑CROWN, ☁️ CLOUD for Archibald!
(Asks from this ( x ) meme)
(Yeah, this ask meme is originally for OCs x) I just mentioned in the original reblog that sending asks for canon characters, especially very obscure ones was okay too!)
For Izzy:
🤥 LYING - are they good liars? do they have tells to show they're lying?
Izzy can lie, but doesn't want to! People mostly can't tell she's lying unless she lets them know, and she will snap and admit bullshit because of the pure discomfort. She just prefers to be direct! The one successful lie she committed to was pretending to join the League on their own terms, hiding that her true motivation was to study whatever weird "filth" Valtr was raving about and hopefully benefit from it!
☀️ SUN - are they a morning person? what is the first thing they do in the morning?
Izzy's mornings are normally long and idle, she takes her sweet time to "properly" wake up always chilling for some more time in bed, combing her hair, thinking about her dreams, then napping some more but in another spot.. After her waking up add 1-2 hours until she actually wake up for the day (unless there is emergency). When that happens, she washes her face with a cold water. She also stretches the same way cats do xD
🕷️ SPIDER - what is their biggest fear? do they have any irrational / mundane fears?
Izzy is, in fact, scared OF irrational people! Not something most people expect from someone so beasthood-affiliated, but Izzy has plenty of logic and reason. Dangerous people that can yet provide her a coherent idea of their reasoning and motivation like Laurence (or Micolash before his 'fanatic' era) don't bother her beyond being ideological enemies. People like Logarius, Ludwig or the Choirlings, on the other hand, put a pit in her stomach...
She conquered her fears to the point of being reasonably careful to not get herself harmed and killed and will turn tail if being shot at or threatened by a much stronger enemy without a damage for her pride. What counts as 'worst nightmare' is being bewitched by a Great One to the point of losing freedom and self, similarly to how Ludwig, Micolash and many Choirlings got charmed by their guy (well, girl). Thankfully, she is associated with Fauna the Great One beast that is more cooperative and on the contrary honours autonomy; even speaking or fighting in sync with him feels for her like it makes her more, not less.
🙉 HEAR-NO-EVIL - what is the worse thing your oc could hear from someone?
You should NEVER let her be aware that she is not as different from Laurence as she thinks she is. At some point Izzy does become aware and both him and Laurence are very far gone, but do NOT tell her this before she is 'ready' :')
🎭 MASKS - do they act differently around certain people? what's different between the way they act around friends, family, strangers, etc.?
Izzy is rather insolent around his 'ideological enemies' and likes to troll them for a good measure when he isn't busy trying to make them THINK, very on-edge and aggressive around 'fanatic' type of enemies that scare her, both friendly and pulling the over-familiar rudeness with strangers. With friends she is very caring and understanding, even if she might be rude or abrasive without meaning to hurt them (simply very open, honest and emotional). She could not bring herself to hurt a friend even if they ditch her or straight up betray her, the worst she will do is to have a kicked puppy attitude... But her friendship is hard to earn.
He tends to give a thought to societal rejects and straight up "bad" people, not in Djura's 'we all might end up like this tho :(' kind way but in 'I believe what we hate is natural for humans' way.. This trait of his strongly accelerated ever since Healing Church started propaganda and amount of declared "heretics" increased. When Izzy crushes on someone she doesn't know what to 'do' about it and simply shows more affection to this person... She doesn't even bother with confession, let alone understanding how relationship and dating works! But when someone attracts her sexually, she will be open with her.. uhhh, compliments, let's call it that. 98% of his family memories and interactions are his father and Izzy really resents him.
☁️ CLOUD - a soft headcanon
Izzy was the second person that accepted Garlan (Suspicious Beggar) for who he really is, a rare person with Loran descent that was born with beastly traits lurking. First was his father, lurking as kind of a Loran Cleric but electric-leaning rather than fire. Izzy and Garlan liked having friendly fights with scratching and biting, like kittens xD Also, when Garlan devolved into a beast form, Izzy enjoyed scratching his belly :3
For Archibald:
💢 ANGER - what are some habits they have that will take some getting used to?
He is a very pragmatic, often cynical man, taking calculated risks and only bothering investing emotions and time in "worthy" people. This can make people, even his friends, develop very negative impression of him and think he is an adaptable rat with no morals that just joins the winning side or the one useful for him. It would take time to internalise that he is more complex than this and does have a heart. People need quite a heart-to-heart, or to see him beat the shit out of someone that hurt his friend, to lessen the negative opinion unless they're basically mind-readers hahah. He also might be a bit snappy and rude when he is strongly focused on something, which is unbearable when you NEED to tell him something!
😨 FEARFUL - when scared, do they go into "flight" or "fight"?
He tends to retreat to calm down his senses and figure an efficient way to eliminate the threat. 'Fight or flight' refers to state of anxiety transcending rational thinking and it is extremely hard to get him be like this! But if it happens, he will rather flight.
🙈 SEE-NO-EVIL - whats a side of your oc that they don't want to show other people?
He doesn't like to show his emotional side, that he is not always so collected and pragmatic and still has weaknesses. It is one thing to need to communicate that he does have morals and heart despite using what opportunities he has, and will cheat his principles when someone genuinely needs to be punished. But it is another thing to admit that these seized, hidden emotions can be STRONG, and that he struggles all the time.
🌱 SEEDLING - what is their most vivid memory from childhood?
He witnessed a person getting struck by lightning. And not only he was fascinated, but also afterwards was a bit too eager to see the corpse with fascinating scars. He remembers both the event itself, and the reaction he received from others telling him what callous, cruel, crazy child he was. Plenty of children develop curiosity before they developed compassion and morals, and he was one of them. He still sometimes thinks back on how little he cared about that person dying before his eyes, especially since he knew him.. But at least, his interest in physics and specifically electricity got into him that day! He knew what he wanted to study since childhood, even if by such a "striking" event haha
👑 CROWN - what does your oc want to be remembered as? why?
He always wanted to be of help for humanity and simply be credited as progenitor of many follow-up inventions and inspiration for follow-up scientists! He knew his name would be in every book about physics... Well, due to circumstances, most of his inventions were weapons or otherwise helpful in military. He has some regrets, becoming the 'guy that invented more ways to kill' more than someone known for his inventions that would turn useful whenever Eldrich Nightmare ends. As a person, he wanted to be remembered as someone with the heart and morals despite how many deals with coincidence he HAD to make to proceed, and that can come true since he not only conducted research that was "heretical" amongst Healing Church hunters but died taking down a Vicar that was somehow even more evil than Laurence. Depends on what the descendants will think of the Healing Church!
☁️ CLOUD - a soft headcanon
Paarl didn't eat or otherwise kill the guy! Archibald gave Paarl his badge because he just gave it to all his friends, and even though he never knew Paarl before beasthood he counted him as a friend as well!
________________
Thank you for the asks! o: Sorry I don't have new doodles of these two, just old drawings. This ask meme is extremely handy to use though wtf
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Heyy, for the ship game - soukoku and ranpoe?
Thanks for asking!
Soukoku
Don't ship it
Why don't you ship it?
I am like, constantly at war with myself on this ship to be honest. I was really on board with it when I first started BSD, and then I really liked Oda so I was like, hmmm, Dazai has two hands man. But that gradually fell away, and now maybe for a week one month I'll be really into it (mainly cause one artist or writer really just gets the dynamic right and piques my interest), but then most of the time I'm like, eh, so I went with this category. I agree with others who believe the fandom has really dumbed down the complexities of Dazai and Chuuya's characters for the sake of the ship and amped up the stereotypes. My biggest issue with Soukoku is the Chuuya feminization problem and how overly sexual their relationship is always portrayed. I once saw a post that said something about how Chuuya in canon embraces his masculinity and loves being a guy, and I hate when people take that away from him. For Dazai's part, I also don't love how he's always the one in control and who has a plan, etc. Just, a lot of reasons.
2. What would have made you like it?
If it wasn't the most popular ship and the fans were more chill about them. If they were just more open to other ships with potential too. Soukoku is literally in the top 100 (I think 20-30?) ao3 ships according to ColeyDoesThings's 2022 summary video. I like Dazai and Chuuya and their partnership, but I've grown to prefer their dynamic as best friends who argue like siblings.
3. Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?
I'm sure I could think of something, but I've spat out a lot of my brain capacity already tonight. I like it sometimes, just trust me😅.
Ranpoe
Ship it
What made you ship it?
Oh gladly! I mean, it's Ranpo and Poe, how do I not ship them? I love opposing dynamics like theirs a lot, like where there's one outgoing half of a ship and the other is more introverted and they can help each other grow socially because of their differences. That was a big appeal for me, and them having some history aside from the main story leaves room for interpreted events which is always fun imo! Of course, the fact that they're in opposite organizations but it really does not matter to either of them past their second meeting is so funny and wholesome. Poe just continued to show up at the ADA and he and Ranpo share mysteries and cases, leaving room for inspiring each other.
2. What are your favorite things about the ship?
I like that it's wholesome and seems very natural I guess? I like that they have things in common and how it's actually healthy. I have stickers of them on my laptop actually! I've been trying to get through a 100k+ fic about Poe's life since summer and it's really good, so I'm glad there's balance in Ranpoe's relationship and appreciate how people can imagine them without each other too. And they're both so funny with each other?? Poe taking small competition things seriously that Ranpo doesn't, Ranpo being stunned at Poe's paycheck, I can't explain it, they just immediately become more enjoyable in each other's presence.
3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?
Not really on the ship, but Ranpo's not one of my top favorites, so I don't talk about this ship or draw for it very often. It's kind of just there in my mind as fanon and I feel like my brain is not creative enough to wonder about them day to day to find the intriguing and fun bits. I did think Ranposano was better at one point, but that was a very very brief time.
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Hellooooo! Talk to me about Lucas? 💖
Hello, my adored Debby!
So, I HC Lucas liking the kitchen answer to his question on the first date (the one he never answers). I believe it's a bit of an unpopular opinion, and I can 100% see why the popular ones make a lot of sense. But I have a point. In this essay I will talk about why Lucas actually craves a domestic life. Don't kill me.
So, let's begin with what we know about Lucas: he grew up travelling around the world, he doesn't hate his parents but the relationship could be closer, he likes good food, and he's very organized down to waking up early on weekends to keep his routine.
He's also described in the game as "the handsome daredevil" or whatever the hell when you have to pick someone for the wedding. He rides a motorbike he likes so much he got an ugly tattoo of it. He tells MC he "likes a little danger" and he hasn't regretted anything majorly since year six. He's a bit jealous, and fairly particular about his hair. He hasn't slept around much. He can get insecure.
Yet, what I read in Lucas is a tendency to control. Not in the bad way, not in the sexy way either, but rather in the stability way. Sure, he likes "danger", he's "a daredevil", but I believe all of this is strictly under his own terms. The risks are extremely calculated, which makes them, well, not very risky.
That's why he doesn't regret much. He owns his mistakes as such, he has his own back when he makes wrong decisions because at the very least he made them himself, and he wasn't persuaded by anyone else (I do think he's more easily influenced than he likes to believe, but that's a different discussion. I mean, the bike itself…). That's why his "number" is lower compared to the other boys; you think he'll just sleep with someone he barely knows? Think about all the unaccounted "what if"s!
Sure, he will take off on his bike just because. But it won't be to the middle of nowhere where night will come and he'll have to find a place to sleep on the fly. Oh, no no. Maybe he picked the location at random, to be adventurous, but rest assured, he booked the hotel before he left his house. He's prepared for every contingency, always. Again, not very risky. Lucas is not a risk taker, he likes control. I doubt he has a good tolerance for uncertainty (cough cough Casa Amor cough cough).
But this was about domestic life, right? Well, he's travelled a lot, and can you imagine what his friendships must have been like growing up? Any girlfriends? His neighbours? His bedroom? The only constant he had was his family. Then came college, and the relationship got tenser. We can assume he's been living alone for a while now. Who thinks he has a roommate? Anyone? No? That's what I thought.
So, if we don't equate "domestic" to "marriage, kids, and a dog" but to "stability"… Watch when you tell him that what you imagine when you think of the love of your life is just doing something mundane, in quiet and comfortable silence because you already know everything about each other, with no tension because you know how he folds the towels, in a kitchen – your kitchen – that has been the same one for so many years you both move around it like it's second nature. That you're not only happy when he brings you presents or takes you on vacation or parades you proudly in front of other people, but that something as simple as a new day with him, that makes you happy, because you don't need more than him being him by your side.
That. That is stable, and true. That saves him having to wonder what tomorrow would be like, because after all you're a person and as such he can't control you or your choices the way he can control whether or not he has a spare tire for the bike, and that's a bit scary for him. And we know the boy gets anxious af, so the best thing you can give him is security, and take the pressure off his shoulders that you love all he does for you, but you don't love him because he takes you on a trip around the world.
He would never show it, and he would never ask for it, but I believe people like Lucas need permission to relax a bit every once in a while. Think of it like this: each thing you could do in life is a coin, but for the million coins in existence you only have ten fingers. If those fingers are occupied with basic coins, logically they're taking the place of more interesting ones. So, how do we solve this? What if I told you that you could move those basic coins to the palm of your hand, and not worry about them anymore. Now suddenly you have all those free fingers you can use to hold a plethora of actually fun and interesting things because the basic ones are secured. Maybe that's a shitty metaphor, but I hope the point gets across.
What I mean is that doesn't mean that Lucas wants a "boring" life. He will be his extra af self regularly, but again, it would be different when built on this foundation of, yes I'm gonna say it again, stability. Something he for once doesn't feel the need to control because of the thing's very nature; it won't move, it won't go anywhere, you can rely on it and redirect your energy somewhere more productive.
There are a million contra points for this, and different ways to interpret this. Some people might say that he hates the answer because "That? That's all you want? You could say anything, and that's what you chose? That's mediocre" and that would also be very valid. But I like this alternative, for whatever reason. So yeah. That's why I always pick the kitchen in the first date.
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