#the one defining trait all my characters have in common with each other and me is 'fuck cops'

[malue-505]

Operators

(Just like my other posts, the info below are my headcanons! These headcanons are inspired by Slenderman’s original and contemporary Mythos, Slenderverse, The Necromancer from the “Creepy Frozen Pasta” comic by LostWight, the Slenderman in “The Seer” comic by Madame Macabre, @the-catcake’s character Red Spider and Slender Doll Ally by @the-slender-doll! I am very open to questions about this species, I am sorry if some of the info below is worded weirdly or I’ve missed a typo. This post does not indicate the final product of the species as it’s still in long development. This serves as a semi-detailed overview and introduction to the Operators.)

(Anyone can use this whole species for their AU as long as credit is given to me. Credit should not be given to me if it is something I based it off of such as the hybrid aging, the Influence, the name “Operator” and the Slender and Necromancer Class. Keep in mind that this info is subject to change as it has changed a lot over the course of the years I’ve worked on this.)

(Side Notes: The Classes, Influenced and hybrids will, hopefully, get their own dedicated posts in the future. Most of the info here is simplified for the post.)

“An Operator’s thirst is never fully satisfied. Even the ones who wish to live in peace with their Influenced are not satisfied but they do not notice due to their ignorance. Our kind is not from this world but we don’t know our true home, perhaps we don’t have one and we keep looking for it.”

- Lord Luxult, a Shifter Operator

In the presence of every Operator lives an uncanny amount of mystique and an other-worldly aura. They are often seen as symbols of power, dominion and control.

Operators are a species that are most known by their psychic capabilities to control other beings via their minds. They generate their own force, known as the Influence, that is regarded as their most defining trait.

Through their iron will and their Influence they conquer their way through the Realms and fight against other Operators for territory, servants and vanity. When an Operator is at the center of operations, others become wary as they have been given a sense of the possible scale of the operation when an Operator is in charge.

Operators come in different types, or Classes, requiring Influenced to fulfill certain specialized roles. Because of this, certain Classes of Operator require their Influenced to be specific species. These species are called Influenced Species, which are tailor made for Operators to use.

Classes

Classes are the way Operators are identified and categorized. There is no “original class” or “main class.” Subclasses exist whenever genetic mutations happen within a Class to the point where they can split off. Subclasses of Subclasses can also exist.

Hundreds of Classes exist and have various differences such as: appearance, birth procedures, behavior, abilities, symbiotic relationships, complexity and Influence control. Each Class has a Base Bloodline that originates from the first ever born Operator of the Class, beings that converted to Operatorism may start their own bloodlines within the Class they got converted into.

Attributes

Operators tend to share common characteristics, mind control being the most prominent. Mutations in the gene pool are also common amongst the species, this leads to variations in a species that asexually reproduces a lot and leads to powers that are unique to an individual. Specialized sicknesses are also common amongst Operators, specifically the parasitic Classes. All full-blooded Operators cannot talk in Human Realm and instead use their Influenced to talk for them or use telepathy.

They are immune to most stimuli but every Class/Subclass have their own weaknesses. Every Class has their own type of “6th sense” that allows them to be psychically in-tune with their surroundings. All Class Senses can detect any physical beings or objects around them.

Every Operator has a drive to control and feed. This drive is simply named as the “Operator Hunger” and it is practically impossible to fight back against. The Operator Hunger is like an urge or an itch that they have to satisfy. If not, it becomes barely livable to linger with. The only way to satisfy it is to control over beings and to continue to feed and hunt. This solution is only temporary as an Operator needs to indulge more and more. The more they give into the Operator Hunger, the more likely an Operator will lose themselves in it. It’s a vicious cycle that sees no end.

Shifters & Slenders

Slender is a Class of Operator that are most known for their extreme parasitic nature towards their Influenced. Slenders used to be known as Shifter Operators (short for Shapeshifter) until roughly about a thousand years ago when the then new generation became stuck in a slender humanoid form. Slenders should technically be considered a Subclass but the fact that they have fully replaced the Shifters has led to the entire Class being renamed. Their past Shifter bloodline still spiritually lives on in more ways than one.

Slenders are the most versatile and adaptable of all the Classes, making them particularly dangerous. Traditional Slenders usually lead lavish lifestyles often expressed through their attires and their residences.

Necromancers

Necromancer is a Class of Operator that are most known for raising undead corpses to be their Influenced. They are Parasitic Operators. Necromancers are also very sensitive to temperatures due to being made of “organic ice” that is essentially their skin.

Necromancers have to live in extremely cold temperatures which is why they are usually found on snowy mountains, giant ice caverns and frozen valleys.

Recluses

Recluse is a Class of Operator that is most known for being the most reclusive Class of Operator. Recluses become blind once they reach the age of twelve. Most, if not all, Recluses are unaware of the world they live in, much less their own bloodline. These Operators are also known for their camouflage since they coated in plants and flowers that belong to their respective habitat. Recluses are sensitive to extreme weather and climate changes due to them having actual plants on them that become a part of their skin. They are Mutualistic Operators.

Sirens

Siren is a Class of Operator that is most known for having a lot of Siren-like qualities from mythology. Siren Operators are beings that live in the saltwater oceans. These Operators don’t usually claim any territory as they keep searching for prey just above the surface.

Similarly to Sirens in mythology, Siren Operators spread their Influence by using their alluring voice to lure in prey with hypnosis to attack and to feed off of. They are Parasitic Operators.

Elves

Elf is a Class of Operator that is most known for having a lot of Elf-like qualities from mythology. They are also known for being the Class that is the most friendly with their Influenced. Unlike most Operators, Elves gather together in a group and build their own small neighborhoods known as a “community.” They are Mutualistic Operators that spread their Influence by recruiting humans to their community.

Influence

The Influence is an invisible force that is only generated and manipulated by Operators. Its main purpose is to mind control other beings to benefit an Operator. However, the Influence is quite versatile and has since been applied in other ways for different situations. The Influence can also act as an “applier” or “relay” for Operators to use their abilities whenever, wherever and on whatever is needed. Another common usage for the Influence is more marking permanent territory, both for keeping out trespassers and luring in prey.

Influence generating occurs whenever an Operator comes of age, some Classes can’t generate their Influence until later on in their development. Their Influence grows stronger the more they grow and the more they utilize it.

Influenced

Influenced are the beings that are mind controlled and/or connected to an Operator. Depending on the Class of Operator, an Influenced may experience certain side effects. Influenced of Parasitic Operators face erratic symptoms such as migraines, insomnia, dissociation, and feral outbursts. Influenced of Mutualistic Operators may experience similar symptoms but at a much milder rate. An Operator can sense where their Influenced are, what is their mental state, what caused that mental state, and (in the case of a foreign Influenced) detect what Operator is influencing them.

There are certain conditions that stops an Operator from sensing their Influenced. These conditions include: being too far away, resisting their Operator’s mental will, or a change in brain chemistry. The change in brain chemistry is usually caused by certain types of medication and drugs that can affect the brain.

Two Operators, or more, can fight for control over an Influenced in the Influenced’s mind however this will cause extreme discomfort which would result in painful migraines depending on how many Operators are fighting for control and how strongly.

As a side effect, an Influenced may start gaining some of their Operator’s abilities overtime if they aren’t an Influenced Species already.

Aging

Operators are biologically immortal, meaning that they can’t die from old age but by being killed. The more they grow up, the slower they age. Operators as old as 12 are considered children and Operators in their 90s are considered to be in the last years of their adolescence. Through their years of adulthood, they age even slower when they reach 500 years of age.

Operators are considered full-grown adults at the age of 100. This is the age when Operators are able to reproduce. Most Classes can generate their Influence earlier in life however Slenders can only generate theirs at this age.

Only full-blooded Operators from birth properly age like this.

Operatorism

Operatorism is the phenomenon of a being stepping into Operatorhood as a different species. Only full-blooded Operators can turn others into Operators. How the conversion works and how it happens is shrouded in mystery.

The current age of the being that’s being converted dictates how many years they skipped and have to catch up on when they convert. A 20 year old human that has been turned into a Slender Operator will look like a 100 year old Slender since that is the age equivalent. In this example, the former human will have to wait 100 years in order for their body to continue aging. They would also have to wait those 100 years to be able to reproduce.

Operatorism only applies to beings that turn into full-blooded Operators.

Hybrids

Operator hybrids can be a complicated situation. Considering the complicated nature of Operator genes, their hybrids can get very unstable. The only types of Operator hybrids that aren’t unstable are the Operators that are hybrids of other Classes or Subclasses of Operator since it is of the same species. They also have all of the abilities from each Class/Subclass they are, they don’t experience near any negative side effects. They exhibit all the usual Operator attributes.

Operator hybrids are at times difficult to predict when it’s a hybrid with a different species. Human/Operator hybrids are amongst the most hard to predict as well as the most unstable usually. Operator abilities are usually too much for the human soul and will cause the soul to split and develop two or more forms based on the Operator genes. This also causes them to have weak copies of Operator abilities, even then they get very few of them. Operator hybrids with other species cannot generate an Influence nor do they suffer from the Operator Hunger.

Some hybrids suffer from constant necrosis and various other side effects, every hybrid is an individual case. Some are more similar than others.

Aging when it comes to hybrids are also a one-by-one case. If they are undead, it further complicates things. Unlike beings who became full-blooded Operators, how a hybrid ages depends on if they were born or made a hybrid. Those born as a hybrid will age like how their other species would and stop aging when they reach adulthood. Beings who are not hybrids at birth will, similarly, stop physically aging when they reach adulthood. Undeads, who were not hybrids at birth, will slowly age according to how Operators would normally age albeit a bit delayed.

Operator hybrids all have one thing in common: they must possess Operator blood in their body.

Origins & Reputation

Even after existing for thousands, possibly millions, of years, Operators are still regarded as being mysterious. It is suspected by the older members of the species that they are alien in origin. Others don’t know what to make of their origins. To some, they have either always been here or just appeared with no explanation.

Over the millenniums, Operators, particularly the parasitic ones, have dominated over a lot of other species. Slenders especially have gained a fierce reputation. Due to shallow beliefs, many apply the standards and expectations they have for Slenders to the entire species.

This has made them gain their reputation as nothing but malevolent beings who want nothing but everything to themselves and to claim everything they see as their property.

Trivia

Since Operators have the tendency on getting out of control and any individual can possible be a threat, the Council decided to use the same system of identifying individuals with surnames as human society does. Their Class name serves as their surnames to further be specific on what Class of Operator they are. This only applies to the Base Bloodlines.

Operators, particularly Slenders, practice Proxism quite a lot since they use it to further gain control over their Influenced. It also helps them establish hierarchies between their servants.

There are many ways for Subclasses to be made. One of which is experimentation through dissecting and changing a Class’ genes.

Operators cannot impregnate other species through intercourse. Beings born as a hybrid Operator with another species usually happen through weirder means.

For Operators that are hybrids of other Classes, they are only made from birth. Usually by combining the blood of Operators of other Classes and combining the reproduction procedures from each Class involved.

Operators have no known creator. Their origins are completely unknown.

The name “Operator” refers to how Operators, through the mind, can potentially operate an entire being. They used to be known by other names such as “Conquerors,” “Psionic Rulers” and “Masters of the Mind.”

Operator blood is quite unique. They are often named after elements or ingredients of alchemy such as Azoth for the Slenders’ blood.

There is only one species representative for them at the Council which is Councilor Nathaniel Slender, Slenderman’s oldest brother.

#creepypasta #creepypasta fandom #creepypasta au #creepypasta headcanon #slenderman #slenderverse #creepypasta slenderman #slenderman headcanons

[entomolog-t]

Ohh we’re being evaluated huh?

My favorite scenarios are ones involving curious giants and tinies that desperately want to run away but can’t

A tiny is trapped and a giant finds them, helping them out of the trap and offering safety, food, even letting them go. The tiny is suspicious— what could this giant possibly want? There’s no way that they’re just being kind for the sake of it, everything they’d ever been told suggested that all giants were evil and they should be dead or in a jar right now. The tentative curiosity and choice to stay of the tiny toasts my eggs and scrambles my bread. The initial terror turned confusion turned curiosity turned delight. Mwah, chef’s kiss.

Also the reverse, where a giant who hates tinies gets stuck with one and slowly comes to realize that they absolutely adore them. I love those equally as much.

Dying to know if this says anything about me, assuming you’re still doing these ^^ /nf

BACK IN OFFICE BABY

This is quite the interesting scenario to discect.

So the main theme of note would be subverted expectations- interestingly, this tends to crop up quite frequently in G/t media.

Typically, this can imply some sort of projection of the self, or some reframing of another.

The main thing I would suggest to consider are the traits associated with the giant, as well as what the tiny/and possibly others think of the giant.

Even if you are more tiny aligned, I would still take the time to consider what traits are shown, and ask yourself if any of those reflect personal feelings.

A regularly occurring theme is to project ones own attributes that we see as misunderstood or overlooked onto the giant. Being shy, or intimidating can lead to us feeling unapproachable, and plant that seed in our subconscious that "If only someone got to know me, they would see that I'm [Defining Trait]"

Though that is certainly not the only route. There is another common trend in G/t, and fantasy as a whole, to reframe negative emotions- even fantasizing a different resolution. Do the "scary" traits of the giant remind you of a time you were wronged by someone? It might be that your brain is trying to reframe it to help with coping. The reframing allows for fantastical leeway to suggest they were not actually wronging you- their intentions were just misunderstood. Those thoughts help the mind to feel more in control because it shifts the blame from someone not liking you or intentionally hurting you to being a misunderstanding- a far more comforting concept that being malicious.

Reframing doesn't have to just occur with the giant archetype either. The tiny holds bias and preconceived notions of how they anticipate someone "dangerous" to act. Does the tiny remind you of anyone? perhaps someone that judged you over something you could not change?

As weird as it may be to say, the brain likes metaphors. There is a great deal of meaning within our subconscious imagery. Peeling back the layers and trying to determine what each character represent is quite the peak into the inner workings of our psyches.

Theres also another very interesting projection that could be occurring on the tiny. Do they share any negative or mistaken traits? Are these traits mirroring traits of your own?

The fact the tiny cannot comprehend why someone would be nice for the sake of being nice to them could be very telling about our own internal self reflection- and its important to analyze what traits of our own we might see of as unworthy of unconditional love/kindness.

I hope this breakdown could offer you some insight into the inner workings of this dynamic trope!

Thank you for attending this session, please see my secretary on the way out to book any follow up appointments.

#g/t #giant/tiny #g/t community #g/t prompts #g/t shitpost #G/t tropes #G/t trope psychology

[peachy-cheeks]

We Still Have Time (week one)

week: arrival | two | three | four

word count: 1,785 words

characters: gojo satoru x afab reader; (minor: Miwa Kasumi; Nishimiya Momo)

warnings: nsfw! also a little angsty and contains spoilers from chapter 222

a/n: well... against my better judgement, i'm making this a six chapter series. i'll go slow since i do want to know where gege is taking this whole thing... its just been a really good writing week and ive been thinking about sleepy sex so! enjoy!

The first week of Satoru's return was a volley between enervation and relief. The dust around his release was gradually settling and the days steadily filled by establishing a rhythm of hypothesizing, strategizing, then training.

Week one of five. A collective, unspoken countdown was the tensed thread between the students, mentors, and the other sorcerers caught in the mix. The recognition of this D-Day prompted vigilance amongst the group and a want to be at their fittest, god forbid, if anything were to go awry.

Vigilance... this was a double-edged sword as you had incrementally lost more sleep as the days drew on.

A lot of your immediate, guttural fear in understanding the gravity of life now had dissipated, so you figured. But the unpredictable stretch of sleeplessness made you aware that fear, at least for you, had manifested as wakefulness.

Satoru, on the other hand, was wakeful out of making up for lost time. So much had happened in those three weeks of his absence. So much... due to his absence. He tasked himself with carefully vetting and reaffirming his alliances, even in the small group of allies present. It would take a while for him to lower any kind of guard... sadly, even with you.

His insomniac habits manifested in him sitting, standing, pacing... while yours were placing all of your might into keeping your eyes shut and, unsuccessfully, attempting to sleep. The common trait between you both being an overactive mind, continuing to hypothesize.... strategize... in preparation for another day of conditioning.

It had been six days since his return. Most of those nights had been spent like this... minds cloudy and unable to shut off for needed restoration.

Your first night next to each other was spent cradling the other, sharing the typical warmth that you both missed. Despite the clinical and unfamiliar environment of your emergency shelter, pure exhaustion and desperate clinging allowed you both to sleep tightly in each other's arms like swaddled babies.

Night two was also warm, but much less peaceful as you both fidgeted, switching positions seemingly every 20 minutes seeking deeper comfort. Energy and focus regained from the night before gave way to a mutual self awareness that the weeks apart allowed your bodies to become more accustomed to sleeping alone than not.

At one point your eyes finally felt as heavy as your spirit. The image of Satoru's tired face peering at you from under his own weighty lids and lashes lulled you closer to sleep. Only moments later, your eyes begrudgingly opened, subconscious sensing the slightest movement.

Your blurry vision could make out the image of Satoru's naked, broad and defined back facing you. So still... apart from paced breathing; slow enough to know that he wasn't in panic... but noticeable enough to make you wonder what was keeping him up. Unfortunately, you had several ideas.

"...you okay?"

He unexpectedly tensed, slipping out of his mental solitude. You could feel him thinking, really contemplating how to answer, which in many ways told you some of what you already knew.

"no... not really. more tired than anything."

An honest answer said with a faint smile. He looked a bit over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of your face which was paying him every last cent of exhausted attention you could.

"me too... "

Your voices matched in whispers as if to not wake yourselves up.

"'...kinda difficult being out... the dark feels different here..."

He was overstimulated. Likely had been since the moment he was freed.

"...'m gonna take a walk..."

You couldn't stop him. Maybe it'd help to let him run through the scenarios and varied endings of what was to come without feeling your presence there.

"okay."

"i'll be right back, promise."

"...it's okay... i know."

Night three took you both by surprise, after finally finding a way to stay more static in sleep. You two counted it as a win, only waking up briefly every other hour, eventually crashing into REM around 6am and, remarkably, sleeping until noon.

"They've been sleeping for a while... should someone-"

Momo intercepted Kasumi's understandable concern as they walked passed the room where you two rest.

"Don't bother... they both look like they haven't slept at all. It's really starting to show in their under-eyes..."

Nights four (better) and five (worse) resumed the disordered pattern with bursts of consciousness segmenting ounces of sleep. As one slept, the other watched.

Night six. It had nearly been a week, a torturous one, and the determination you both felt to catch up on your debt rivaled the overactivity of your anxieties.

Deciding on a new method, Satoru laid toward you in a fetal position; his face inches away from your exposed midriff. Exhales from his nose lightly tickled the shown skin, subtle evidence of his vitality comforting you but not enough to take your sleepy gaze off of the wall. Your palm rested on the crown of his head, fingers lightly playing in the snowy tousle of hair.

He forgot how much he loved this sensation.

With powerful arms wrapping around your waist, he closed the distance between your belly and his face. The pressure of his exhales warmed the surface of your stomach as other sections were blessed with delicate, apologetic kisses. Your fingers massaged the top of his head as his lips pressed further into your skin. His hands reached under your shirt to lightly stroke the expanse of your back and draw you in closer. His desire to suffocate in you halted only by the need to propose a question. Or rather, a solution.

"Can I have you?"

His words followed by another kiss caused a stir in your lower stomach and elicited a hitched gasp from your lips. The pent up rage, mourning, and raw, reactionary emotion had way-sided the common physical desires you had for each other. Desires that you two were unable to express and act on for weeks.

"Of course."

His tongue dragged across small areas leading to your hipbone, punctuated either by a kiss or playful bite. Your vocalizations motivated him through his sleep deprivation.

Pushing at your hip to lay you flatly against the futon and hiking your thighs up and apart, he continued to mouth at your pantyline and inner thigh. You felt drunk off of the lack of sleep and the soothing touch his soft lips provided. His wide hands gripped the back of your thighs, practically pinning them to the areas of the futon around your torso.

Sleepiness stole the memory of your panties slipping off of you. A louder moan fell out of you as his tongue reached the bare and wet folds of your core. While you lazily wondered how he had so seamlessly reached the most vulnerable and sensitive part of you, his tongue dragged deeper across your entrance. Two thick fingers followed, pushing slowly into you.

"...'his okay?"

His lips barely parted from your body, breaking to gauge where your stamina laid. The two digits, surrounded by the wet love that streamed out of you, curled upwards to press against your g-spot.

"fuck... yes... 'toru... yes..."

Your affirming voice and the squeeze of your walls around him intensified the rush of blood to his groin. His hips pushed into the surface below him for friction, moans traveling from his throat, to his mouth, and against your clit. He looked towards your face with deceivingly innocent eyes and when your head wasn't titled back in ecstasy you caught a glimpse that melted you onto him further.

Satoru's persistence despite the lack of rest inspired you to muster strength to reach into his hair again and offer the most provocative tug you could. Your nails sweetly scratched at his scalp before firmly tugging, pushing his lips closer to you. Precum dampened the font of his sweatpants and the pace of his fingers quickened, plunging deeper inside of you pushing you closer to the edge.

Pleasure and sleep pulled at your brains as you drew closer to a climax.

"wait... wait."

You felt Satoru's grasp on your thigh loosen and he immediately stopped, raising his eyes to yours. You pushed to drop your thighs and motioned for his lips to meet yours in a messy, languid kiss. The shift of his body pressed the dense muscle of his torso into yours. His painfully stiff and covered length rubbed against your soaked cunt and across your thigh as he slowly settled next to you.

Your hand idly reached beneath his waistband to cop a feel and slowly expose him. The wet tip met the air and your thumb pressed into the ooze before you stroked up and down. He held onto your face, hungrily kissing and mumbling into your cheek.

"mm... mmuh... fuck..."

He relinquished himself to the feeling of your palm and fingertips massaging the pink tip of his cock for an all too brief moment. Tearing away, he turned you to your side, spooning you, and snuck a hand between your legs to feel your wetness again. You felt his hardness as it poked at your buttocks before slipping between your inner thighs. Wet fingertips reached under your shirt to roughly knead at your breasts and lovingly pinch at both nubs.

The press of your ass against Satoru's lower stomach made him dizzy and he buried his face into the crook of your neck, entering you with a mutual desperation. Touches traveled across your lifted thigh, your breasts, throat, mouth, and hair. Slapped skin and heavy breathing created a lewd lullaby that further intoxicated you two. Tears welted up in your eyes as he fucked into you harder.

Repeated expletives and moans syncopated the sound of your bodies meeting. Your voice hit higher notes and your insides pulsated tighter against the pleasing friction. The closer you were, the foggier your consciousness was. Your climax gave way to a domino effect of Satoru giving his all then (abruptly, to you) pulling out to paint across your nether regions.

And then, silence. Slowing beats of your heart grounded Satoru.

“…Are you already asleep?”

“…mm..uhn…”

You hadn't quite made it down yet.

“Heh... gimme a second.”

With a pat on your rear, Satoru got up and searched for a towel. He returned to the beautiful image of you, blushed all over and unconscious.

“...What a dream.”

So few people were privileged enough to feel the careful touches that swiped your skin as he cleaned you. Even if for just that night, there was alleviation… some sort of pardon (or pity) for your souls. Satoru rested next to you, giving you a final watch before setting his eyes to the ceiling and drifting to wherever you were.

#jjk fic #jujutsu kaisen fic #gojo satoru #gojo satoru fic #gojo x reader #satoru x y/n #jjk x reader #gojou satoru x reader #gojo #jjk angst #jjk scenarios #jjk smut #gojo satoru x reader #gojo satoru x afab reader

[narcoticwriter]

Every Geo User Holds the Universal Trait of Having No Practical Application of Common Sense Whatsoever.

Yes, I said it and it's about damn time someone did because this really makes too much sense.

Before you stone (lol 'stone') me to death, take a moment to look at the title. The words 'practical application' and 'common sense' are defined as read.

Practical application refers to the efficient execution of an idea as it pertains to something, typically a problem or issue. Common sense refers to being able to infer that certain things are not to be done just by looking at them instead of acting on the said thing that should not be done.

This also applies to self-awareness and self-preservation as well as the connection of being perceived. So to say that they lack the practical application of common sense in their day-to-day is absolutely fair because if you look carefully at their lives, they do not practice this as much as they should.

Geo Character enjoyers, this one is specially made in mind for you. 😉

Thesis - Hypothesis

So how did I come to this conclusion? Let's start by looking at what I believe to be the universal personality traits and internal character of those who have Geo Visions. If you look at the way that they conduct themselves, you will notice these traits among all of them:

An immovable will and unbending devotion to their goals

Strong and uncompromisable fundamentals

Sees their Visions as more of a tool than an ambition

Every single person who uses Geo exhibits these traits in either how they conduct themselves around others and themselves, what they do for a living, or in their personal philosophies. This does not mean, however, that they are free from any flaws. In fact, that assumption is far from the truth, as all of the traits aforementioned can exasperate and intensify genuine problems and negative traits that they have, such as:

A stubbornness that cannot be budged in any situation

Must do things in a certain way

Do not usually rely on others and take on burdens themselves instead of asking for help when it's perfectly reasonable to do so

And, of course, the whole point of this to begin with:

No common sense whatsoever

I will be going over all of these traits and how each individual has displayed these traits, as well as a little bit of speculating as to how they conduct themselves (while staying as true to the canon as much as possible).

Let's start this off with the most foundational person out of these individuals and how he established the expectations and criteria for receiving a Geo Vision in the first place.

So if you will, Exhibit A.

Zhongli - Vago Mundo

Ah yes, everyone's favorite Geo Daddy. I've likely provoked the ire of his fans in particular with my audacious claim, but now that I have your attention, hear me out. As he is the Geo Archon, he almost certainly established the standards of obtaining a Geo Vision as well as the desirable traits of the users this is granted to. He flawlessly exhibits the three traits I noted up earlier as such:

An immovable will and unbending devotion to their goals -

Zhongli - or rather Morax's entire existence was centered around Liyue and its prosperity for over 3,700 years.

He dutifully protected Liyue from other gods, monsters, and cataclysmic events such as the Archon War and the Cataclysm.

Up until recently, he also served Liyue by annually descending to Liyue Harbor to guide the people to another year of prosperity.

He set up a way to ensure that Liyue would still prosper even if he was gone and he succeeded more or less.

Strong and uncompromisable fundamentals -

He is the God of Contracts.

Anyone who breaks a contract is to be subject to 'the Wrath of the Rock'.

He has yet to break a single one of these contracts, even to the point of making contracts dealing with his very own city.

He is utterly devoted to the people to this day.

Sees their Visions as more of a tool than an ambition -

Zhongli willingly traded away his Gnosis.

Please note that he literally signed a contract and gave it away.

He's also expecting something back, but seeing as a Gnosis is a sign of an Archon's divinity, then . . . it's a pretty big deal.

So what about the other traits? I believe that he abundantly exhibits these on a regular basis as he:

He sees contracts as a way of life.

He absolutely refuses to go outside of a contract.

He always expects things in return and will get even if he has to.

He has stood the test of time and eventual godhood for over 6,000 years and he has shouldered that heavy-laden burden alone for the most part.

He does everything for Liyue and as long as the land is okay, he does not care who is hurt, dies, or is sacrificed for it to stay that way.

This is arguably foundational enough to be legitimate and to be able to accuse this man of heavily projecting onto the recipients of a Geo Vision. However, this is not his worst crime as he shows an almost depressing lack of common sense in this area in particular:

His complete lack of thought when it comes to Mora.

Before you come at me, let me remind you that this man has encyclopedic knowledge about virtually everything in Liyue and its history.

The man even prepared his own funeral rites in the traditional way that had been somewhat dead for centuries.

I'm not even going into that nonsense because I could dedicate an entire essay to that stunt alone.

How do you know everything there is to know about Liyue and not the Mora that it runs on?

And how would he not understand that objects have a value attached to them? A value of Mora?

Tell me in no uncertain terms how a god of Mora, a god that created Mora, and someone who has been around for over 6,000 years is not going to remember to bring a wallet?

Folks, this is what I mean when I say that Zhongli has no common sense whatsoever. But the most egregious crime of them all was this.

"Zhongli, what's going to happen to all of the mora in Teyvat if you aren't making it anymore?"

"The Liyue Qixing will have to figure that one out."

"Did you at least set some mora aside for yourself?"

"Oh? That seems like a good, logical, common-sense idea."

"What a shame that I didn't happen to think about it at the time."

I rest my fucking case. Exhibit B, please.

Arataki Itto - Hanamizaka Heroics

You know, the fanbase as a whole loves to pick on this one for being the odd one out, but as observed, if the Geo Archon can forget that things have a value of Mora, then I think he deserves some slack. Itto is a simple oni who doesn't really need much to be content and though he is somewhat of an airhead, he shows all of those good traits in abundance if you look close enough:

An immovable will and unbending devotion to their goals -

Itto wants to show that he has his pride as an oni. He's done that.

Itto wants to show that he can live peacefully alongside humans. He's mostly done that.

Itto wants to beat Kujou Sara in a rematch. He's working on it.

Strong and uncompromisable fundamentals -

He has not once broken the code of not using his strength maliciously as he only uses it in self-defense.

If he loses, he loses. But he doesn't whine about it, as he might lose, but he'll never admit defeat.

Contrary to popular belief, the man knows when to back down. He is capable of acknowledging someone who is stronger and he simply vows to get better.

If someone is being maltreated, neglected, or disregarded in any way, he will do something about it.

Sees their Visions as more of a tool than an ambition -

Upon receiving his Vision, all he thought was 'hey that's pretty cool' and then promptly told everyone about it. He also wanted it to look better than the others.

When everyone else in the Vision Hunt Decree fell into a depression upon having their Visions taken from them, he simply said 'I guess I have to get stronger to beat the general another way'.

He didn't even blink upon his power getting taken away and wasn't in much of a rush to get it back; the only reason he was upset was because he lost.

I don't really know what else to say except that maybe he's just built different, but again, his core traits hold up extremely well when it comes to the criteria. Now to get to the more touched-on stuff in his characterization concerning the other criteria:

This dude does not think outside of the present moment at all (i.e. his goddamn story quest)

He takes his competition so damn seriously that he will often beat kids out of their snacks. Literal children.

"If you win in a duel against me, I will let the Tenryou Commission arrest me and take me into custody" sounds a whole lot like "If this isn't done in a way I like, I simply will not do it"

He doesn't burden others. He puts all their burdens on him and takes full responsibility, as bastardized as the methods may be. He will do it himself.

His pride will not allow him to ask for help.

All of this should point to him having no common sense as his intentions are good, but the way he goes about acting on them is nothing short of hamfisted and generally on the fly. This, however, is not the incriminating event that is on this list.

When Itto said that oni would rather die than sacrifice their pride, he was rather serious apparently, as he really has no reason still being alive after he ate 16 bowls of Kitsune Ramen.

To prove a point, I'll do some quick math and a rundown on why eating Kitsune Ramen is bad for Itto:

Each bowl of ramen has 12-15 ounces of tofu in it.

Each three ounces of tofu has 13 grams of soy in it.

13 times 5 is 65 grams for the tofu content.

65 grams times 16 bowls of ramen come out to be a whopping 1,040 grams of soy.

Arataki Itto is deathly allergic to soybeans.

If a soybean touches him, he will start to itch and have difficulty breathing.

What's made of soybeans? Tofu. Tofu is made of soybeans.

What has tofu in it? Kitsune Ramen. Kitsune Ramen has fried tofu in it.

So why would he eat Kitsune Ramen?

Because Yae Miko wanted his seat at a ramen shack.

His blockheaded-dense Pound Cake self is lucky that he was only bedridden for a month because this motherfucker should be dead. And do you know what his response to this is?

"At least I didn't have to pay for it, lol."

Before I start dry heaving out of Pavlovian response, no I am not covering the clownery at the Irodori Festival, The Chasm, or Heizou and Shinobu's hangout events because I will become irrationally angry if I do so and Itto would need an entire post of his own.

Onward to Exhibit C.

Ningguang - Eclipsing Star

This certainly serves as a surprise to most - if not all - of the community, but she too has had her fair share of clownery and tomfoolery. A true mashup between civil servant and Top Fortune 500 Company CEO, Ningguang consistently treads the line between economic prosperity and complete ruin and she does so flawlessly. Now let's get into why I think she was given her Vision:

An immovable will and unbending devotion to their goals -

Ningguang's goal in life is to obtain one thing and one thing only: Mora.

She did this in any way possible, from stealing glaze lilies from the wealthy elites to selling fruit on the streets, up to the point where she now dictates Liyue's economic policy.

Zhongli's entire spiel about Ningguang rising from poverty only solidifies this goal and its legitimacy.

Strong and uncompromisable fundamentals -

I wish I wasn't dead serious but really the only things she serves are Liyue and mora, preferably if Liyue is making her the mora.

Ultimately, however, she will always choose Liyue first. (as yeeting her first Jade Chamber into Osial is any indication)

Other examples of her serving Liyue are signing important things into law such as dealing with the availability of drinkable water and overall sanitation, showing that she cares for the common folk as well.

Sees their Visions as more of a tool than an ambition -

Oh, we're going to talk about this one to the extreme because this honestly goes under clownery.

So which traits does she exhibit in particular that are negative in any way? To be fair, there aren't many and this would be mostly subjective. Despite this, I feel the need to point these out as they could be fatal flaws in any capacity:

She doesn't see business as business. She sees it as entertainment and a means to an end.

"Adding another Mora to the pot can hardly make it any less wonderful, now, can it?"

Engages in trade wars for no other reason than that she can.

Lacks a certain sense of self-awareness (look at her hangout)

So what am I saying here? She seems pretty full of common sense to do some of these things, yes? Well, I'm here to tell you that she is not. Her list of offenses may not be long, but they are absolutely worth writing home about. This one, in particular, irks me in the soul:

She made the chess equivalent of Shadow Run.

For those of you who don't know, the Shadow Run handbook is notorious for having been, to this very day, unplayable.

It is unable to be interpreted according to the rules in it and the system is broken in the way that every masochist shudders at the thought of putting themselves through.

Ningguang's personal interpretation of chess is currently on Version 32.6.

If you happen to be playing against her at her own game, she will actually change the rules in tandem while the game is still being played. And she wonders why no one plays with her.

The version available for the public to enjoy is the 8th Edition, but even they buy it only for the pretty pieces.

For someone who runs a successful business empire, you can be happy about people buying it off the shelves, but surely you would feel a bit of embarrassment for making a game that can't be played by the majority of the population. She says she doesn't care and she can afford not to, but after knowing how she felt about the first Jade Chamber, one can't be sure.

I wish that this was it because you would be right if I chose to ignore how she got her Vision in the first place.

So, I made the claim that Geo wielders see Visions as a tool, right? Well, she took it a step further and tried to sell it, only to get mad when she couldn't.

To be fair, it was already 'dead' and she thought that she could profit off of selling some dead Visions to people.

The only reason that Visions would be dead was that the wielder themselves had passed on.

The hamfisted thing about this is that the first thought that popped into her head was "oh, look, a new business opportunity."

That's ruthless and almost cutthroat on her part.

Almost as if to prove a point, the Vision awakened and now it was hers to use as she saw fit.

The most ridiculous thing about this was her response.

A gift from Celestia, a call to godhood, the favor of the higher beings of Teyvat:

Is a goddamn inconvenience.

"What's there to be happy about? Once broken, considered sold!"

. . . Exhibit D.

Yun Jin - Stage Lucida

If you thought that I was audacious before, you were wrong, as I went straight for the jugular on this one. Yun Jin is the current director of the Yue-Han Opera Troupe and is renowned for her plays and performances in Liyue as well as her elegance and conduct. Now let us go into why she was given her vision other than perhaps Zhongli enjoying opera:

An immovable will and unbending devotion to their goals -

Yun Jin worked tirelessly throughout the entirety of her childhood in order to get to where she is now.

Despite others thinking that at the time she decided she wanted to do opera that it was a childish fancy, she proved them wrong, to everyone's utter delight.

Strong and uncompromisable fundamentals -

She actively indulges in other mediums outside of opera as a true enjoyer of the arts, much to the chagrin of her elders.

The belief that everyone's story is to be told, specifically towards the common folk, is something she takes very seriously and has made efforts to realize.

How far she is willing to go in order to fully immerse herself in her roles for any plays and operas.

"Who cares about me? How was the performance? Isn't that what matters here?"

Sees their Visions as more of a tool than an ambition -

To be completely honest, she hardly uses her Vision at all in her story.

And even if she wasn't able to use it anymore for whatever reason, it wouldn't hinder her career in the slightest.

It is, for all intents and purposes, a sign of favor and a sign of favor only.

These are great things, really, so what negativity is there to be had? Rest assured that there are traits that could be concerning.

She pushed herself to the brink constantly as a child and still does to the current day, so if she isn't careful, this can have consequences.

In the beginning of her hangout event, she was trying to actively get to the point of fighting for her life with some hilichurls to understand where Shenhe was coming from.

Let me repeat that second bullet point again and paraphrase it a bit more: In order to understand where Shenhe was coming from, she sat there and waited to be put in between wanting to live as opposed to dying.

There's something to be said about dedication, but that's taking it way too far. She really takes the phrase of 'one must suffer for the sake of true art' to another level.

As this is the only thing of real note I can find, you're probably wondering if that means that she hasn't clowned more than this already, to which I must respond, she most certainly has.

Despite her intelligence and tact, she is possibly the executor of the most hamfisted deception I've ever seen in the game.

Remember the fact that her elders don't quite like rock and roll and anything associated with it?

Presumably, they don't like Xinyan and have told Yun Jin as such.

So Archons help them and their high blood pressure if they found out Yun Jin was her fan and good friend.

So how does she circumvent this?

Well, obviously she's not friends with Xinyan, she's friends with Xingyan.

She's great at cooking and embroidery and her 'adoptive father', Fan Ey're, can vouch for this.

And it's not like she's wrong, but come on, when have the elders cared about that?

So she's able to go to all of 'Xingyan's' concerts and they would even bat an eye because they think she's great.

It's going to be one hell of a field day when the elders finally catch onto this.

"No one's gonna call me out on this, it's a solid plan that already has all the details worked out!"

Exhibit E.

Albedo - Kreideprinz

With a vast knowledge of Khemia and an endless drive to understand the world around him, this genius alchemist and soft-spoken intellectual has managed to tuck his way into everyone's hearts and prick the brain of every name theorist in the fanbase at some point in time. Here is why I think he got his Vision:

An immovable will and unbending devotion to their goals -

Albedo's goals are centered around his master's last lesson, and as such he is tireless in pursuing this to the best of his abilities.

Albedo doesn't appear in public unless he has to, as he's off doing things pertaining to alchemy and his own studies.

If you look at it, his entire existence is wholly refined and dependent on the study of alchemy and his search for the truth of the world and his reason for living.

Strong and uncompromisable fundamentals -

He desires to make the unknown known and to understand the truths of that world.

He's done nothing but that the whole time we've known him in canon, and he'll go the distance for it.

Sees their Visions as more of a tool than an ambition -

The instant he got his Vision, he proceeded to go "Nice, another tool I can use to further my alchemy."

Losing it would be a minor setback at the worst.

He seems like a decent guy and seems to genuinely have the common sense-centric mindset to be functional, but one fairly minor detail is missing from this:

He can and will go beyond the boundaries of what's acceptable to himself and others if it means he's further toward getting his end goal.

And if you have an assassin, an Archon, and your own damn assistant saying that they're keeping an eye on you, it'd be good to be careful about it.

He means no harm initially, but his attitude towards how his actions can affect the greater good is not the best for someone who holds so much power. He says so himself in the story quest, as he wonders if the Traveler could put him down if he ever goes off the rails. But this, surprisingly, doesn't make it on the list of clownery, as you will see below:

This man was sketching aggressive and characteristically hostile hilichurls that were a short distance away from him.

"Oh, there's a discrepancy in research? Let me summon some slimes or a couple of oceanids so we can have data."

He canonically drinks his own damn concoctions without even thinking about it.

So you'd think that this would be it, right? No. And before you write this off as biased or obtuse, please note that I did the equivalent of this in real life a couple of times and I also understand that yes, this can reach into the depths of things that make no common sense. For example:

"After making you kill slimes, do a complex puzzle, and throw yourself off of a cliff and glide down a mountainside, I can conclude without a facet of a doubt that you are indeed built regular."

"You couldn't tell by looking at 'em?"

Yes. He threw the Traveler into a myriad of experiments to confirm their 'alleged' humanity after latching onto the fact that they can manipulate the elements without a Vision.

But that's not all! The fucking audacity of this man is incredible and it rests on one thing and one thing only:

"Can you use this cursed sword on some hilichurls around the area? I wanna see what happens."

This same sword is also known as Festering Desire, made from the remains of a dragon, the same dragon that was a menace to Mondstadt before Barbatos and Dvalin put it down.

Sure, you can say that as Albedo was seeking that knowledge that it would be totally justifiable, but does it really make common sense to take a gamble and see if the Traveler won't die or be damned upon contact with it?

Think about that for a second.

"No one usually gets hurt during my experiments . . . most of the time."

I think it's fair to say that we can move on to Exhibit F.

Gorou - Canine Warrior

Some people haven't read his lore and it shows. Painfully. As the reliable general of Watatsumi Island's rebel forces against the Shogunate during the war and a handy ask-and-answer columnist in peacetime, Gorou shows genuine care for those he has under him and those who inquire after his advice. So let's look at why I think Gorou got his Vision:

An immovable will and unbending devotion to their goals -

His first priority is almost always his orders from Kokomi and he always goes out of his way to go above and beyond.

It takes a certain kind of unshakeable mentality to keep most of your mind intact in warfare and Gorou has done just fine with that.

Strong and uncompromisable fundamentals -

If his absolute stalwart loyalty to Watatsumi Island and its people isn't this, then I don't know what else could be.

He's always trying to master the role of the general and improve himself to be more effective, but he is also a staunch believer in taking care of his men and does so that much more.

Sees their Visions as more of a tool than an ambition -

He sees his Vision as an enhancer of his abilities but doesn't rely on it completely, preferring to trust in his troops and men.

While there's not much more than that from him personally, the in-game applications show it as an amplifier to others instead of himself, which is again showing that he views it as an advantage.

If lost, he would adjust and work with what he has as he always has.

These are all excellent qualities for a general and someone beloved by the people, so what flaws does he have? He describes quite a lot of them in terms of himself, but I have a bit more grace when it comes to his own personal shortcomings. Here are a couple of them anyway:

The loss of his temper in the midst of battle.

Refuses to 'burden' others with his own problems.

His complete disarmament upon being teased by a certain kitsune.

The bemoanable state of his naivety when it comes to mora.

You heard me on that last one. It's almost depressing. I'm starting to notice a theme of airheadedness amongst some of these characters, and it's either risking their own lives and things or financial means. With Gorou, it's not being able to really process that certain things are a scam in terms of monetary value.

The most notable example I can offer is the fact that this dude was really going to shell out 100,000 mora for a slice of cake. His reasoning is even worse than his willingness to see things through as he genuinely thought that some trade hub in a place that's not even known for pastries is going to have a cake that's even considered to be worth that much.

This, however, is far from his most ridiculous stunt, as there is one more that inexplicably got on my last nerve:

Despite everything we've seen in-game and concerning canon, he has yet to connect the dots about Yae Miko's constructed persona of Ms. Hina.

If you genuinely think that it can be excused, you're wrong and I'll tell you why in these rudimentary sequences of events.

He is writing replies to people who send him letters asking for advice, which Yae Miko asked him to do.

These letters are given to him by editors from the Yae Publishing House.

There is a literal advice column in said publishing house's serialization and magazine.

You would think that this is enough to tip him off to what Miko's doing with this whole setup, but as if his blatant and enhanced ignorance could not be made more obvious, he interacted with his fan club and didn't pick up on a single thing.

The fans noticed how he looked similar and speculated that Ms. Hina had a sibling that looked a whole lot like her, that being Gorou.

Gorou legitimately complimented her attributes when they were giving a textbook description of him.

Everyone at the event took pictures with him and nothing occurred to him to bother to ask why.

The worst offense of all, potentially, is this: Yae Miko is going to make him wear a dress. If it doesn't click then, then I'm going to have to reach into Teyvat and tell him myself.

"This Ms. Hina person sounds real nice to be around! I definitely understand why she has such a large fanbase now."

And now, without further ado . . . Exhibit G.

Noelle - Chivalric Blossom

With a gentle composure, a dutiful approach to all things, and the strength of a legion of soldiers, the widely known Maid-Knight of the Ordo Favonius has earned quite the reputation for staying the course and seeing every single task she's given to completion, going the distance every time. So let's look at why I believe she received her Vision:

An immovable will and unbending devotion to their goals -

Has she wavered from trying to become a Knight of Favonius even once?

If she says she'll do it, is it not done with no questions asked?

This in of itself says more than enough.

Strong and uncompromisable fundamentals -

Her code of conduct is the Knight of Favonius handbook and her personal creed of excellence. She never wavers from it once.

Refuses to assume anything until there is certain and insurmountable proof of the contrary.

"The Warning of Roses: My Lips Are Sealed"

Sees their Visions as more of a tool than an ambition -

Noelle doesn't even see her Vision as a tool, as her sheer strength alone is more than enough.

She took it as a sign that her hard work was recognized and just kept on trucking as per usual.

Folks, you know in your heart of hearts that I've saved the best for last. Her list of offenses and grievances to herself eclipse every person I've gone over combined and have undoubtedly snatched what was left of my scalp.

If her work isn't the best, it simply will not be considered done until it is.

Y'all aren't ready for her shenanigans in 3.1 when Ludi Harpastum's around the corner, because she will be clowning with how much food she's sampling to ensure it's 100% good.

She is incapable of saying no to people to a chronic fault.

She makes naivety look skeptical with how trusting she is.

She would have soloed D'valin if someone didn't tell her to do something else.

She takes going the extra mile and crosses the entire countryside and back.

She does not care if she collapses from exhaustion, illness, or injuries as long as whatever task at hand is done, self-induced or otherwise.

The word 'breaks' is not in her vocabulary.

She takes everything upon herself. Every single thing.

What frustrates me the most about this is that she is actively running herself into the ground and does not stop to think about this is hurting her. Out of everyone on this list, she takes care of herself the least. She doesn't know when to stop.

You know, maybe the writers wanted to emphasize this point because she's the only character with two acts of hangout events and in both, she's on the verge of passing out. There is a damn reason why she's not in the Knights yet, and while this list certainly explains it, there's one more fatal flaw that not only lays it out clearly but is why she is the most audacious out of them all:

In her eyes, you are innocent until proven guilty.

There are many incidents involving certain people. And all of them can be attributed to one thing and one thing only.

To Noelle, it does not matter who you are or where you're from or what you're associated with.

You will be considered completely fine in her book as long as you don't do something blatantly illegal in her presence.

So she will serve anyone as she serves Mondstadt, and as such, this has unintentionally led to a multitude of strange encounters:

A merchant trying to wriggle their way into the wine industry was too humbled by her inability to see them do wrong and either runs or leaves of his own will.

Another Snezhnayan merchant liked her at first until she memorized everything about them and their family, causing them to flee.

They were rightfully terrified.

What else do I have to say? Can I make this any clearer? Because I don't think I can unless I also tell you that she feels crushing guilt when she feels like she failed when they disappear.

"I must have done something wrong! Our visitor would never have left in such a hurry..."

. . . and so with that, we finally arrive at the conclusion.

Statement - Conclusion

With the evidence I've gathered within the respective character lore, hangout events, limited events, voice lines, and other things of that nature, I can say with confidence that it is beyond a shadow of a doubt that these guys have the attitude of Geo as an element.

Stone is stone, rock is rock, and that can never change. Their core willingness and perception of themselves know no outside influence whatsoever, as they themselves are driven internally.

They don't really care much about what people think as much as they themselves say they do because they know what they are there to do and by Celestia, they will do it. So naturally, they are also bound to stay stuck in their ways and approaches when that's precisely what the occasion does not call for. Such are their flaws and hubris.

Rocks can get worn down with rain and wind, thrown and tossed about, and even cut along with others, but the core elements will always stay the same.

TL;DR: All will rise and all will crumble. This is the creed that they live by and will die by.

---

Final notes:

This took me the better part of a few spontaneous bursts of motivation, so if it sounds like I started this in the midst of 2.5, you would be right. I was going to just do this as a fun little thing, but as it usually does, it escalates until I get into the nitty-gritty of their character and get invested.

Until next time, I guess.

#genshin impact #geo supremacy #going ham #zhongli #arataki itto #ninggaung #yun jin #albedo #gorou #noelle #narky thinks

[sofoulandfairaday]

What do you think about Bella’s relationship with Narcissa/how it changed after her return from Azkaban?

I am so sorry, anon, I completely forgot about this post. I had started answering, then saved it in my drafts and only found it today (months later) when I opened them. Forgive me.

Great question!

I used to love Narcissa as a character but lately, I've started disliking her a little. I think most of the fandom sees her (wrongly) as a victim, even of Bellatrix, when actually the most Bella does to her is be a little rude to her husband and son. The worst Narcissa does to Bellatrix is indirectly causing her death. One of my worst pet peeves is when people write her as cruel to Narcissa in fanfictions when, in canon, it's almost always the opposite.

In the series they only have two interactions: in the first one, she goes behind Voldemort's back (!!!), accompanying her to Spinner's End to protect her (from herself, possibly Voldemort and even Snape), and Narcissa physically attacks her. In the second, she thinks that the Cup has been stolen (which will promptly cause Voldemort to kill all of them if he comes) which makes for a snappy exchange. And still, she doesn't curse Lucius' head off when he puts his hands on her.

Based on these interactions and the fact that they are respectively the eldest and the youngest sibling, I think Bella was always very protective of Narcissa. I always headcanon Bella as closest to Andromeda growing up (thirty years later, she still calls her sister) but Bellatrix's defining trait, contrary to popular belief, is - just like Cissy - her loyalty to her family. It's as much a part of her character as her love/obsession with Voldemort. It's tragic that Narcissa doesn't extend the same devotion to her. Draco and Lucius are very much her priorities while Bella loves her above everyone else but Voldemort. Andy's betrayal probably brought them close together.

I can see them being close during the First War, or at least trying to be, while everything pulls them apart - most of all, themselves and their personal aspirations: Cissy marries Lucius and gives him a son, Bella becomes a terrorist (and while my hc is that she likes Rodolphus and has a good relationship with him, nothing supports that in the text; maybe they fucking hate each other, or are indifferent to each other and Bella outright refuses to give him a child; after a certain while, the sisters had little in common). One can come up with a hundred different headcanons for this period, but I have noticed that a tendency with new mothers is to surround themselves with other new mothers. Bella probably didn't fit in with this crowd, maybe was even hurt and jealous that she was now quite far down her sister's priority list.

After Azkaban? Narcissa doesn't look very happy to have her traumatized sister, fresh from a horror-filled, decade-and-a-half-long reclusion in her home. (Bella was probably hurt by this.) Bellatrix, on the other hand, is very contemptuous of Lucius and doesn't respect his authority at all, especially after the DoM fiasco. From the way Narcissa admonishes her in Spinner's end (“Don’t you dare — don’t you dare blame my husband!” said Narcissa, in a low and deadly voice, looking up at her sister.) we can infer that this was probably a common disagreement between the two.

I don't think Narcissa liked Bellatrix at all, after Azkaban. If I want to believe the best of her, I think she felt guilty for wishing she had stayed locked up. After fifteen years, I think Narcissa had already mourned her, she was as good as dead to her. Seeing this new, unstable version of Bella probably made her feel things she didn't want to feel: guilt, shame, love, and everything in between. The peculiar mix of profound love but also dislike you can only feel for a sibling.

As I have said before, the Black Sisters likely loved each other, viscerally, but didn't really understand each other, or each other's life choices. And both Narcissa and Andromeda strike me as very selfish people.

Not to continuously quote Succession, but when Shiv tells Kendall: I love you, but I cannot fucking stomach you? Yeah. That.

#bellatrix lestrange #bellatrix black #narcissa malfoy #narcissa black #asks #answered #hp meta

[andersdotters]

Hi! I recently found your blogs, and can I just say how much I love your character analyses? Your portrayal of each character is always so in depth to the point where I can even picture them acting and speaking the same in game! I'm so impressed and I seriously don't know how you connect to each and every one of them so perfectly :O

If I may ask, what does your research and character profile process look like? As someone interested in writing, I hope to be as skilled as you with analysing characters (and writing plots and writing in general--) one day :) Any tips would be appreciated!

Thank you so much for all the hard work you do. I know I'll enjoy the story you come up with next!

Aww thank you so much!! Honestly sometimes I worry that my analyses won't be to everyone's tastes, so I'm very glad you think that they're good! I feel the same way about my writing because I know they're not the most romantic, so it's a relief to know you like it. ;v; <3 I have a lot to say about your questions though, so I'm going to put it under a readmore. It's an uh... infodump HAHA

When it comes to research, what it basically comes down to is reading everything. Read the character's lore, read their voice lines. Read what other characters have to say about them. Even talking to every NPC you see in the hopes that they'll talk about a character helps out a lot too HAHA. I also recommend going back to old events when doing research too. Reread them. Listen to the voice actor's portrayal of them. Read everything you can.

This is take three of trying to explain my character analysis process, but I'm going to give up and just explain to you the main logic that governs it. Basically what it boils down to is: we are not unique. Humans are not unique. What do I mean by this? People that are certain ways--for example, they have a low self-esteem, consistently overwork themselves, they want children when they get older, etc--they will typically share common characteristics. When you know the defining characteristics of each trait, you can potentially apply that trait to everyone you know that displays those characteristics.

For example, people that constantly overwork themselves typically have unhealthily high levels of perceived responsibility, typically with a self-deprecative trait that they don't deserve to be happy and rest. People that are very showy tend to care a lot about what people think of them. People that are extremely close to their families typically lose the ability to function properly without them.

If you know people that are like the examples above, you know that these observations are pretty accurate. And these examples represent pretty common types of people as well. Once you've seen one of them, you've seen them all. Nobody is unique. And because of that, you can apply these observations to characters because characters are meant to be human. Example one is Kaveh. Example two is Itto. And example 3 is Lyney. Now you've gotten a deeper dive into their psyche.

The way you become better at character analysis is by broadening your internal library of traits and their defining characteristics. This involves three steps: observation, drawing connections between observations, and fine tuning these connections by applying them to other people.

These steps are easy to understand, but let me go a bit more into step one. Observations come in two categories: physical observations and intuitive observations. Physical observations encompass things they physically do. Intuitive observations are larger statements that can't be tied to just a single physical observation. For example, physical observations may be that they don't go out much, they don't talk much in groups but do one-on-one, they wear bright colors, they're rude, etc. Intuitive observations are more: they seem to be uncomfortable around children, they act like they're scared to contact first, they're always on the move, etc.

The second step involves drawing lines between observations and trying to deduce meaning. For example, [they end their sentences using a rising intonation] + [they ask me my opinion a lot] = [this person cares about not sounding rude or unwelcoming]. Or, [they have a low self-esteem] + [they care about being seen as morally good] + [they engage in fandom] = [I probably should not tell this person I think Dottore and his penchant for human experimentation is hot].

Typically the logic goes: [physical observation] + [physical observation] = [intuitive observation]. [physical observation] + [intuitive observation] = [mid-tier intuitive observation]. [intuitive observation] + [intuitive observation] = [top tier intuitive observation].

But it does not end at step two. Step three basically tests to see if your observation from step two is valid or not. When you apply your observation from step two to a multitude of people, you're able to fine tune your observation to make it more generalized and more accurate. Maybe you realize that not everyone that ends their sentences in a rising intonation is necessarily polite, but it's more of a cultural thing. Maybe you see that having low self-esteem isn't always a symptom of having a high moral code. Test, revise, then test again. The higher the tier of your observation, the greater the chance it has of being wrong.

When I analyze characters, I go through my mental library and see which traits and characteristics I've catalogued before. And for things that don't have an exact match, I try to find ones that shares at least a few things in common that may follow the same logic. For example, I don't know anyone like Zhongli. However, I do have a friend that's very outgoing, but you can have a full on conversation with them and leave not knowing anything about them. Can I apply the logic of my friend to someone like Zhongli?

I will say this and I will say this again. People are not unique. Everyone is a copy of someone else in some way. When you treat the characters as if you were analysing any other normal human being, you can quite easily draw conclusions from what they have in common with people you know and have seen.

Anyway, this is so long I am so sorry. Hopefully I didn't completely bowl you over with information. OTL

#interactions #anon #another thing i want to say is like.... #don't try to hold back the frankness of your observations #if you've ever read my analyses of kaveh they're uhhh.... not the nicest (tho idk if i only posted them on my personal...) #in order to become aware of flaws of characters you need to be able to accept the flaws objectively in others #if someone is mean then say they're mean. if they have a martyr complex then say they have a martyr complex #don't be afraid of being objective. that only hurts the process #some people think that it's not nice to give attention to the flaws of people you love #in my opinion that's complete bull #when you are aware of a person's flaws you understand them better and they become easier to forgive #you can rightfully say #'yes you may have flaws but knowing them makes me love you even more' #you get me? #also what helps is sharing your analyses with others and have them help you to refine your observations #also don't be afraid to observe and draw conclusions in general #sometimes you may feel you're invading a person's privacy #and uh..... to that....... um... #you have to decide what matters more to you. getting better at analysis or giving someone their privacy HAHA #by this i don't mean like... be a stalker or anything #but i think the biggest thing to actually remember the most is that.... #CORRELATION DOES NOT IMPLY CAUSATION #just because a character shares all the traits a pattern you've seen in real life doesn't mean that's their issue #take everything EVERYTHING you deduce with a grain of salt #this is ESPECIALLY so when you are analyzing real people #no matter how accurate you think you may be you are not an empath nor are you a mind reader or god #do NOT act upon your deductions or think you know what's best for people from them #in the end analysis is purely theoretical so like... don't take yourself too seriously and have fun uwu

[algumaideia]

Heteromantic views on gender and homosexuality on classical Brazilian literature

What a pompous title. Ignore it because I'm a teenager studying stem on college, all the shit discussed here is from my head. Also, I'll only talk about how relationships between men were represented, there is only one classical Brazilian book that shows attraction between women and I haven't read it yet. Maybe other day.

Also for reference, my other post who gave me idea to do this one. On it, I discussed how even on a relationships between two men the authors of Bom-Crioulo (Adolfo Caminha, 1895) and O Ateneu (Raul Pompeia, 1888) seem to not be imagine how a relationship could work outside of the heteromantic moldes. Now, I'll talk about how those views on gender could have impacted the creation of the dynamics the gay couples.

I understand that the way gender was viewed back then is different from how we see it today, and this post will be full of assumptions based on the knowledge I got from high school and some youtube videos which is another reason for not taking anything I say too serious.

Now to the essay per se.

In antient Greece, a relationship between two men was not uncommon and was not frown upon if you weren't the one in "the woman's position". The reason for this "strange" way of dealing with the situation could be summerized by this phrase: “Everything in the world is about sex, except sex. Sex is about power.” and how gender is perceived because of it.

If men are seen as rational, powerful and women are seen as emotional, weak , sex an act of dominance, and subsequently desire, become attach to the masculine. Which means this action is deprived of emotions and vulnerability. That is why so many men can brag about their conquers, having sex is nothing more than a challenge, something to dominate. With this we end up having sex and sexual attraction to women being deeply linked to masculinity as they are another way to show and exert power.

Of course the way women are shamed and disencouraged when it is about sexual activities cannot be explained only by what I'm saying here, there is more nuance. However, if we look through how homosexuality is portrayed in the books by those lens much can be explained on my opinion (also I'm teenager not a researcher on the area).

But first, let's discuss why in the two book plus O Cortiço (Aluísio Azevedo, 1890) represent homosexuality with emasculated men. It is quite simple actually: if manliness is defined, to a considerable extent, by sexual attraction to women, lacking this trait makes a man incapable of being "truly mainly". Not only that but as we defined, sex is about dominance and by being attracted to men, a man puts himself on the position of being dominated, of being weak. In those simple and reductive ways of seeing gender, a gay man ends up having much more in common with a woman and that is why we get the emasculation and the feminization.

But there is a catch. Sexual attraction is not a characteristic of womanhood and if gay men are put with woman they can't express sexual attraction to men. Sexual attraction and the power game that comes should not be displayed by weak and emasculated men.

That is why the "mainly" characters on the books are the ones who show sexual attraction not the emasculated ones. Besides the ideas complement each other. Sexual attraction is a thing for men, not only that but sexual attraction to the feminine. Therefore the manly gay man shows attraction to a emasculated and feminine men.

#bom crioulo #o ateneu #brazilian literature #me being brazilian #I swear this made sense on my head #I wrote it all on my head like 3 times and then I just failed at transcribing it here

[bitimdrake]

Could you expand on how you think Ravens chaveater has changed from the show? I started reading NTT after your comic guide and she still seems to behave somewhat the same way so maybe im just missing something. This is fully in good faith btw not trying to like say youre wrong or anything <3

Yes! Sorry this one took me a bit. Trying to get my thoughts in order. I watched the animated show as a kid, got into comics later, and I thought the differences between Raven in the show and in New Teen Titans were so huge and clear that I'd never really tried putting it to words before.

Context for everyone: imo the original version of Raven existed from her introduction in New Teen Titans 1980 to the early 2000s, before they heavily changed her for the 2003 cartoon, and then that popular depiction bled into her comics counterpart ever since.

So I think the best thing is to just contrast NTT Raven and animated Raven. I'm going to start with three concrete differences:

Ages. Raven, like most of the team, is notably younger in the show than NTT. I don't think the show ever declared ages, but they definitely come across as in their young/mid teens to me--teenagers, but still kids. On the flip side, Raven was already ~18 when introduced in the comics. NTT is very much a story about young adults (plus their kid teammate Changeling), and that's inherently a different vibe.

Style. Animated Raven is ultimate goth girl, dark and edgy. NTT Raven is more boho in style, wears a lot of bright or light colors, is vegetarian, etc. The costuming here isn't so much the important part as that personal style is a fundamental part of character design.

Powers. Both Ravens have general magic powers including various utilities like teleportation. But her primary power in the show was a newly invented telekinetic one, visually represented by turning things black. That didn't exist in the original comics. NTT focused largely on her empathic and healing powers: she can sense people's pain, and she can take that pain into herself to heal them. iirc I think she heals at some point in the show, but it's a minor piece, whereas it's her Main Thing in the comics run.

(Tangent here: most of these changes have very clear reasoning for fitting with the show. The characters are younger because it's for a younger audience and has a wackier tone. Raven was given a new fight-based power because it's an actiony cartoon with lots of fighting. But the goth thing seems purely by choice.)

Those three things are all in some ways aesthetic, but each one influences or reflects her personality as well. And they come together to indicate the overall character. So, to the slightly more subjective analysis:

I would say animated Raven is defined by being monotone, wry and sarcastic, secretive, and reserved.

I would say NTT Raven is defined by being gentle, compassionate, shy, and reserved.

The only thing in common on those lists is "reserved"; they're both introverts. They do have other personality details in common: sometimes feeling overwhelmed by their empathic powers, keeping friends at arm's length out of fear, sometimes coming off as exceptionally mysterious.

But they're very different character concepts! Animated Raven is the snarky goth girl; NTT Raven is the sweet wallflower. Suppressing her every emotion is a key element of Raven's character concept in the show, but not so present in the comics. Constantly taking other's pain onto herself is a key element of Raven in NTT, but not really part of the show.

Animated Raven is prickly, deadpan in her humor, has a lot of defenses to get through; she can never truly emote because of her powers. NTT Raven is earnest, keeps herself separate mostly just because she's shy, and doesn't have to worry about expressing herself when she feels confident enough to do so.

You may disagree with this reading! Personality analysis is always subjective! It's also possible that the aura of mystery around Raven early in NTT obscures some of these traits until later!

But imo, they are very, very different characters.

And after the show started airing, I see a distinct shift in Raven's comic appearances to match. She's aged down to be younger than she ever was, ~16 instead of long-since an adult. She's more snarky, less sweet. She adopts the goth thing. And her visual design has slowly shifted away from its first incarnation as well.

To end on a note of pure personal opinion: I love both versions. I was obsessed with Raven from the show as a kid. I adore the Raven in the New Teen Titans comics. But I kinda wish they had never been blended together. Goth Raven is cool, but her becoming the overriding default has wiped out the old Raven entirely, and I miss that sweet girl </3

#* #ask #anon #*dc #dc #dc comics #teen titans #teen titans 2003 #new teen titans #raven #side note i am THRILLED to hear someone is using the rec list you don't even know #i hope you are having a good time with comics!! #the titans are the best and i just want everyone to read them <333

[zedecksiew]

D&D's Obsession With Taxonomy

Like virtually everybody else in the TTRPG space I downloaded One D&D's playtest document to see what the fuss was.

One of the eyebrow-raising bits in that document is the boxed text titled "Children Of Different Humanoid Kinds":

"For example, folk who have a human parent and an orc or an elf parent are particularly common. Many other combinations are possible ... Finally, determine the average of the two options’ Life Span traits to figure out how long your character might live. For example, a child of a halfling and a gnome has an average life span of 288 years."

Many people have problems with this passage. I can see why. But when I read it I laughed.

Of course D&D would handle this thing this way.

"Determine the average of the two options' Life Span traits to figure out how long your character might live"; the ludicrous math precision of "288 years"?

These bits are quintessential D&D.

+

"D&D is racist!" discourse returns again and again, like a pair of annoying missionaries.

(I've used this metaphor before. I'm pleased with it. I will repeat it as often as people repeat "D&D is racist!" discourse online.)

But a conversation that Flo began on Discord about the thoul has given me a way to talk about "D&D is racist!" in a way that doesn't bore me.

+

What is a thoul?

"Thouls are magical crosses between ghouls, hobgoblins, and trolls. In spite of their ghoulish blood, they are living creatures, not undead."

Gus points out that "thoul" is likely a typo -- "transcription error (first use of thouls replaces 'toads' as entry above 'ghouls' on table transferred from Monsters and a treasure to ready ref sheets)"

(Here's a fun link about the thoul's possible origins.)

The Discord conversation descends into laughter.

Flo: "I think D&D does not need as many humanoids as it has."

+

Here's my thought:

D&D is racist is really: D&D is obsessed with taxonomy which is really: Nerds are obsessed with taxonomy

+

People arguing over the differences between a wyvern and a dragon; or

People insisting that Tolkien made a categorical distinction between orcs and goblins (no, he did not, go read "Lord of the Rings" again); or

People arguing about whether "Star Wars" is science fiction or science fantasy, and then arguing about the boundaries of science fantasy; or

What Are The Differences Between High Fantasy And Low Fantasy

Etc, etc, etc.

All of the above cliche-nerd-arguments are about more-or-less arbitrary distinctions. The utility of these categories tend to be vastly overblown.

+

Categories are useful.

There is a distinction between performance art and the performing arts because they arise from separate traditions; ditto the many strains of music genre.

But these are useful precisely because they communicate a history of people exercising agency -- creators choosing to define themselves in relation to history / tradition / peers, letting those things define their work.

Categories are subjective actions, not objective facts.

+

What the nerd approach to taxonomy ("a dragon is NOT a wyvern!!!") does well is make a field of knowledge / phenomena predictable, quantifiable: "This is the way the world is."

Therefore fully understandable: "I know the world."

Therefore possible to act on: "I know what do with the world."

You can solve it, apply best practices to it, optimise it, own it, possess it.

Definitive taxonomies like "goblin / hobgoblin / bugbear" is better for you because then you can shorthand these creatures into three separate and discrete scripts.

Instead of: "goblin people come in a lot of different sizes -- some are big, some are puny, some are kind, some are not -- it all depends. You got to just pay attention to each one."

Which makes things messier, more unpredictable, meaning you have to pay attention, exercise discretion / empathy more, possibly accommodate new perspectives.

"I know the bugbear better than it knows itself, I got this." vs "Okay so how do I get to know Ms Goblin better?"

+

When I posted these thoughts to Discord, Marcia observed:

"The connection between taxonomy and power, that nerds find it empowering to possess an abstract knowledge which they impose onto things, seems related to what has been identified as phallic desire ..."

(Meaning that this blogpost should really be titled D&D's Obsession With Phallic Desire , for maximum clickbait -- but this is Marcia's thought, don't wanna steal her thunder!)

+

One advantage to quantifiable, objective, abstracted taxonomies in games:

It helps with logistics in play.

The mental load for players in TTRPGs is already so high -- at least it is for me, weak-brained nerd as I am; I need some shorthand just to help my imagination along.

BUT!

If helping with mental load was the purpose for D&D obsessive taxonomy -- it'd be way simpler than it now is???

Tracking all the split hairs between D&D FINAL EDITION's ten thousand different Conditions is empathically not making play easier.

+

Back to the thoul. Gus again:

"Thouls - my take is they are interesting as a set of mechanics - but incoherent as a creature. The need to justify their abilities via existing monsters makes then nonsensical- better just to have them be some sort of manifestation of goblin magic or science ... That D&D chose instead to taxonomize them says something about D&D."

+

The thoul's "part ghoul, part troll, part hobgoblin" thing is much like the "half-dradkin half-celestial ranger 5 / paladin 7" NPCs you see in mainstream RPG adventure-path-type books.

Which is much like: "determine the average of the two options’ Life Span traits" and "288 years".

Aesthetically and ethically incoherent; mechanically convoluted -- but absolutely sensical if your purpose is to safeguard access to a highly taxonomised "objective" worldview.

Nerds don't mind figuring out complicated fractions of abstract objective absolutes. Because this means you can still ultimately sort reality into absolutes.

You can still grasp (in all senses of the word) the world.

That thought is safer / more advantageous than: "yeah you just gotta deal with things being a messy soup, people are not lines of code, you gotta pay attention to everything in its own context."

+

This is turning out to be a post assisted by Discord chorus.

Re: the drive for taxonomy-based worldbuilding -- and concurrent to thoughts about how Non-Diegetic Objective Maps Are Naff Actually -- Ava:

"the whole "fantasy worldbuilding, with its concrete ontologies and god's eye histories and maps replicates + reifies colonial epistemology" was the whole deal of my thesis."

(Ava you need to write a blogpost about this thesis!)

Re: literal scientific taxonomy -- Dan:

"D&D's obsession with taxonomy is weirder to me than normal taxonomic obsessions because of how hard it tries to ape natural sciences and then leaves out every possible interesting thing actually studying ecology could lead to."

Which sparked a discussion about the politics of binomial nomenclature, how there's a great deal of re-classification going on in scientific fields.

Syd:

"there’s actually been a lot of big reshuffles that have come out of the fact that people realized certain classifications had been from phenotypical similarities (physical characteristics) but not genotípicas relationships. And even when it isn’t political in the sense of changing names that we’re given as honorifics there’s actually a huge pushback just from people who think it shouldn’t change bc that’s historically how it was, even if it doesn’t fit our current models of what taxonomy is actually useful for in ecology and biology."

Something something, categories are subjective actions, not objective facts, something something.

Flo, with the final word:

"It's the same thing that gives the Internet sandwich discourse. 'Is x a sandwich?' A sandwich is not an objective fact. A sandwich is an idea. A sandwich is a category we choose to make."

+

( Image source: https://dmdavid.com/tag/the-strange-mystery-of-the-dd-monster-called-a-thoul/ )

#fantasies #rpgs #d&d #racism #taxonomies #discord #discourse #monsters #nerds

[jaybarou]

I have been reading x reader fics lately because, same as everywhere, there a bunch of them that are incredibly good.

But there is something that I've noticed that is not being addressed, and maybe I'm nitpicking, but I think it is important.

Make OCs, please. Don't be afraid of making OCs. Insert your creations, give them names and make them fall in love with canon characters. It's fine, keep the second person point of view.

Why do I say this?

Well, I've read fics where OC, self insert, x reader, y/n all blur the lines and become the same thing, when each exists for different reasons. So let me add a few definitions.

X reader and y/n (your/name)

are virtually the same thing. The difference is mainly in style. This is a writing exercise focused on the creation of a character carefully devoid of defining traits, so any reader of any age, gender, or background can project themselves into this character.

This is usually written with a first or second person point of view, and works better in short stories, because it is extremely hard to mantain a blank character blank and at the same time make them engaging in a long story.

Smut stories of this kind are amusingly tricky; kudos to the writers who manage to balance explicit sex and vage gender.

A perfect fic of this kind is extremely hard, requires a lot of thinking and the result (by design) is a bland pasive character without background, who makes little to no decisions, but the other characters pop and shine.

The style difference is that y/n expects the reader to add their name explicitly. The forms of address here are more direct and natural, but it is also blunt, and seeing one's name can take some readers out of the experience.

Meanwhile X reader has a more oblique approach. It avoids any mention of any name, it relies more on terms of endearment (or insults), which make the dialogue less natural unless it's written masterfully.

(also x reader is quite focused on shipping while y/n usually has a little more room for gen and non shipping content, but both are strongly shipping oriented so that is a minor thing)

With the rise of neopronouns and the neutral "they", the use of (female reader) and (male reader) has gone down and most writers try to make gender neutral characters. (Not to be confused with non-binary characters despite the common pronouns)

Self-insert

is different, because while in the previous one we deal with a neutral version of the reader, now we find a fictional, non-neutral version of the author. This may be accurate to the author's life or a complete fabrication of the author. They may choose to give their insert their hobbies, or their sickness, or their looks... Maybe even their name. Maybe just the version of themselves they wish to be.

Most characters have at least a smidge of the author in them. This is the same but crancked up to 11. A self insert usually has a LOT of personality and opinions because the author has a very easy access to this character's traits.

It can be written in any form, but the most common are (used to be) first and third person. This is changing because self inserts got the mary sue treatment, so now I've read second person self inserts (ex. Of one of tjose blurred lines (On a x reader fic) "I was on my period so I wrote this to feel better, because I want someone to treat me like [canon character] treats the reader")

OCs (Original Caracters)

This is the kind of character creation with least restrictions, but it also requires a lot of work. X reader and y/n are an excercise in restrain, an exercise in moving the story stepping around the information about the protagonist.

Here is where you need to think of all the little details that make a character tick. Why did they end in this situation? If I make them wear glasses, how will this impact the story? Does this character have a background that will make them crumble when faced with this situation? Or flourish?

The more a self-insert deviates from the author, the closest it gets to being an OC (although truth be told, all self-inserts are just a flavor of OC). And in the same sense, the more fleshed-out a y/n, the closer it gets to being an OC.

(Mary Sue

A term that shouldn't concern you, keep writing.)

*****

So if you find yourself writing a x reader or a y/n and your character uses a binder, has freckles, has family drama, has a background, hates lettuce, comes from Florida, gets catcalled often and hates it, dropped school because of stress, is autistic, has a childhood scar, has a trauma with blades, is young, is fat, has glasses... you have an OC.

It just needs a name. You did all the right steps to create a character that most readers won't be able to cleanly project into, but that they will relate to and love because they have an actual personality, charisma, flaws, and participate actively in the story.

It happens! You start writing an empty character and then they come to life and demand to speak and do thinks and be a protagonist instead of a recipient of things that happen to it.

It's the natural evolution of quite a few characters in literature, and it is the reason why I said y/n and x reader are better suited for short stories.

Keep writing your OCs, your reader inserts, your author inserts, just keep writing. I want to read it all.

This is just food for thought, because maybe you have worked very hard in a character, and you deserve to know you have done a great job doing something much more difficult than what you set out to do.

#Fanlore #X reader #y/n fanfic #Y/n fics #And if you ever shamed anyone for writing a Mary Sue... #see? See what we get? People will do the same thing but now calling it with another name and pouring the same energy into different categor #Writers were shunned from certain clichés and ways of writing and we are paying the price with these blurred lines #Discussion welcomed

[ihhfhonao3]

Hello, I'm a fan from AO3. I was just curious what your favorite fandom and character are for writing? Also, do you have any Ace Attorney headcanons you like and are willing to share? Love your work!!

oh hello!! It’s always nice to meet fans, I’m glad to have you here :D

if it isn’t already obvious, I LOVE writing for ace attorney. The thing about the characters is that, with the witnesses especially, you have a lot of wiggle room to mold and shape them how you wish, because with the witnesses a lot of them only have a few defining traits since they only show up for such a brief period. I also just love expanding on and exploring the relationships between the characters- how they all interact and bounce off each other is fun to play around with to me. I also actually really like writing for dislyte, since it’s still a pretty new game with not such a large fandom, so I have a lot of space to toy around with the characters. Plus its lore is pretty interesting to me!

favorite characters to write for of course are Apollo Justice and Klavier Gavin. They are my favorite characters in general, but there’s also a lot of potential for exploring and expanding my writing- in a way, they challenge me to restructure how I write and change how I see them, so much so that Apollo in one fic of mine could be VERY different from Apollo in another fic of mine! They’re my favorite little guys and I can do so much with them.

headcanons-wise, I don’t have a lot that aren’t already sorta common (such as Apollo is trans and Klavier is nb), but I do think that Miles would be a gay-oriented aroace. I am the type of person to have a lot of contradictory headcanons for a lot of characters, so my agreement with “miles is gay” and “miles is aroace” mashed together into him being gay-oriented! Another headcanon is that klavier and Athena bond and are really close friends and Apollo is TERRIFIED of the power they have together.

OH ALMOST FORGOT I think that Athena is much taller than she canonically is, clocking in at around 5’10” ish. So yes Apollo would be shorter than her hehe

thanks so much for asking, and I’m glad that you enjoy my stuff!! :3

[thewertsearch]

Asks Compilation 16/6

The best thing about categories like Sburb Titles is that once you have a big enough sample size of Person/Category mappings, you can extrapolate their traits to any character you like. 

Example: I got an ask a while back asking whether I have any Titles for my own OCs, and to be totally honest I can’t stop thinking about it

Oh, that is awesome. I’m bookmarking that for reference, when I’ve finished the comic. Biology is not my strongest suit, but I do find it fascinating, and speculative biology is my jam. 

It’s a balancing act, trying to make a quirk both unique and readable. i thought about a capitalization quirk WHERE i only capitalize common programmINg keywORds, but it looks kind of funky, and I wasn’t sure how to define what keywords to include. 

@capribornio​ submitted: Part 1! Terrible memes to help you cope with what just happened.

Part 2! (Dunno why tumblr wouldn't let me submit you the two images at once, but.)

jettison to the moon drop it on those stupid pawns bye bye kids, you're gonna die now your session's dead and gone

That was made by abysswarlock! Their blog is linked below the main links in my bio.  It’s great, isn’t it? Really makes the Land come to life. 

Man, I’m really mad I missed the Club Penguin craze, because if I’d played it, I would absolutely have answered this ask with penguin designs for each of the kids. 

Classic Tumblr. When you edit you blog description in the appearance editor, it actually scrubs all the HTML you added, and replaces it with plaintext. To update your description properly, you need to do it in the theme editor. 

I fixed the blog description on desktop, but I don’t think it ever worked on mobile, since tags generally don’t work properly on the app. I think it should work if you access the blog through say, Firefox, rather than the app itself? 

So do I!!!

That’s one of my favorite anime tropes, and it’s vary Homestuck-friendly, considering how many characters are bespectacled. I’m glad that my ‘sona is continuing this proud tradition. 

Thank you!  I think a big part of it is just that Homestuck happens to deal with stuff I’m really into. I love time travel and alt-self/identity shenanigans, so I was already looking at the Paradox Clone system from every angle even before the Veil. Once that cursor targeted Nanna, a lot of things immediately clicked into place. 

I didn’t see the paired tubes coming, though. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that moment. 

Maid! That was the first class I chose for myself, because I liked the connotations around ‘organizing’. 

I’m planning on doing a bunch of Title tests over the weekend. The Official Sally Classpect will be an open question for a long time, but I am interested in how much the various tests will agree. 

We’ve already talked a bit about it on the blog, but Homestuck is a kind of meta story on a lot of levels. 

We saw it with the reader suggestions at first, but there are other things too, like Hussie’s narration interacting with WV. Is that ‘canon’, per se? Much to think about...

[ sent on the 12th! - Cat ] 

Happy belated birthday Carcino ‘Cancer’ Geneticist! May this year bless you with Grist, Boondollars and a successfully salvaged Sburb session!

Honestly!!! 

Hussie is very good at turning on the waterworks. It doesn’t happen much in Homestuck, but when it does, it hits hard. 

True, true. But that was just John’s opinion - now Hussie’s narration is saying she sucks!

These guys really have been great recently. It’s like Hussie has spent a while giving them improvised character traits based on reader commands, and now that their personalities are fully established, they’re actually getting full arcs with awesome moments of development. 

I honestly can’t wait to see what the Windswept Questant’s real plan is. She’s abdicated to PM, and seems to be putting a team together. Did she know WV had the Ring all along? What’s up next? 

#full liveblog #act 4 #asks #classpect

[funkymbtifiction]

It feels weird having Fi as a function. More or less a dominant one. Cuz it doesn’t feel like I use it, but at the same time I also do, if that makes sense. Like I’ll care about what others think of me and I still do, but like I can think that’s Fe sometimes...

Being Fi doesn't mean you don't care what people think. Most people care about how they are perceived to some degree, either by people in general or by a handful of people whose approval they want to win, regardless of their type. Fe is about seeing everything through the context of "we/us" rather than "me." Thinking in terms of what's best for us, and putting oneself as secondary to the wishes of others. If not careful, FJs can "live for others" -- repressing what they want out of life because they are busy ensuring their loved ones have a high quality of life. At its best, Fe is all-inclusive because it focuses on what we have in common rather than what separates us and seeks to unite people through bringing that to the forefront; at its worst, it wants to repress individualism for the sake of keeping everyone comfortable (you are not allowed to be different, or have a difference of opinion from ours). Fe isn't what "other people think of me," it's a tool used to get people to work together, by focusing on their needs and adapting your behavior to it. The strongest and healthiest Fe's I know can figure out what each person in their life needs to hear from them and say it, to build them up or give them the push they need to break out of a bad situation. Fe's can temper strong messages with kindness, by asking "what does this person NEED from me?" That's Fe. :)

But there always feels like there is this sort of factor that distinguishes me from having it. Like I express myself better with writing; I can express more of how I actually feel and my thoughts rather in person.

Same. Fi. :)

Sometimes I do wonder if I’m an extrovert, and I did call myself one for a bit of time. I feel like the pandemic kinda made me question more of my identity because I used to call myself an introvert for a long time but now I mean I’m kinda unsure. And I can get pretty loud and stuff at times with friends and I can be energetic and weird and playful, like it seems like people wouldn’t associate those traits with ISFP rather with ESFP or ENFP...

Introverts can be loud and outgoing; extroverts can be shy, reserved, or quiet among a group of people. Your personality type is defined by how you think and process information, not how boisterous you are. The pandemic and enforced isolation has made a lot of people long for company that did not before, because of not being allowed to have their normal socialization. Even introverts need and want to be around people sometimes and to be out of their house doing things. SPs need a steady diet of trying new things and being hands-on. Beyond that, an ESFP would find themselves through participating in situations (as I said earlier today in response to another asker), whereas an ISFP starts from a position of knowing who they are and what they want and feel and moves toward sensory engagement based on those parameters (ESFP - not sure how I feel about this, I'll do it and find out!; ISFP - this is not for me, no way).

Being a 6 brings out natural judgment regardless of being Fi-dom or not; but the fact that you were so firm with a friend that crossed your boundaries and haven't second-guessed it probably supports ISFP, since an ESFP 6 might have second thoughts.

I wish there was more representation for ISFPs, especially for ones who break the stereotype. Yes, I can be quiet, but I can also be loud. No, I will not be a pushover to you all the time. The only person I can relate to who is an ISFP is Riley from Inside Out and maybe Eleven from Stranger Things.

There's a ton of ISFPs in the tags, since ISFPs are one of the most popular characters to use in movies/television (they are the archetypal "hero" trope"). Maybe you'll find more to relate to. :)

#question #isfp #mbti

[winterinhimring]

The Art of Character Development in the Republic Commando Series

As many of you know, my love for the Republic Commando series is deep and enduring, and a large part of it centres on the characters of Kal Skirata and Walon Vau. Because when I love something I analyse the heck out of it, I decided to take a dive into what, from a writer's perspective, makes the two of them so interesting. After several weeks of thought, at least one rant to my parents about how these guys are SO COOL, and lots of internal monologuing, I have come up with an answer, which is that both of them are well-written examples of character archetypes that are very easy to write wrong.

Kal Skirata is a very simple man. What you see with him is pretty much exactly what you get. He's a father out to protect his sons against any and all threats, and Force help you if you are one of those threats. There. I've summed him up. This type of character is easy to turn into a cardboard cutout with no real personality beyond his overriding, defining trait, and yet - of all the many, many accusations levelled against Kal (several of which I have addressed here and here) - I've never seen anyone accuse him of being uninteresting or one-dimensional.

I believe the reason for this is that Karen Traviss made his flaws logically proceed from his strengths. Kal's single-minded love for his sons is simultaneously a strength and a weakness: it motivates him to rescue them from the Empire and set up a network to get out other clones, but it also leads him to keep information from them and make decisions for them, sometimes in ways that he shouldn't. His habit of making (often correct) snap judgements of people and situations leads him to step in and rescue the Nulls, but it also causes him to misjudge some of Etain's actions. The end result is a character who is deeply, painfully human, despite the deceptive simplicity of his motivations.

Now on to Walon Vau. Where Kal's motivations are almost entirely transparent, and a lot of what he does, you can predict from them easily, Vau frequently subverts the reader's expectations. The first time you meet him, he's been built up as a bogeyman for almost the first fourth of the book. You learn that he's responsible for Atin's scars, that he's a man who specialises in interrogation, that he makes Kal (a hardened mercenary) visibly uncomfortable...and then the first time you see him, he has this massive six-legged dog sprawled over his lap and is rubbing its ears and generally doting on it, as it drools on everything in sight. Allow me to add that this is in the middle of a military planning meeting. Huh? What happened to the bogeyman?

And that's only the first time he goes in a very unexpected direction. As soon as he's been established as a hard, cold, closed-off man who doesn't get involved with his trainees' lives more than he needs to in Triple Zero, he goes off in True Colors and (a) empties out an entire bank vault - when he is notably averse to stealing in general - to fund Skirata's clone ageing cure, and (b) gives Ordo a multi-million-dollar engagement gift for his girlfriend, just because he can.

Despite his habit of going off in entirely unexpected directions, however, Vau's actions actually make more sense the longer you think about them and the more you know about him. Each book casts new light on his past actions by revealing a new level of motivation - often one based in tragedy. However, he is never reduced to the sum of his past trauma, which is another common mistake in writing a traumatised character. He slowly but surely shows himself to be able to recognise his poor coping mechanisms and their impact, and by the end of the series he's beginning to improve them.

All in all, both of these men are excellent examples of how to take a character type that's often reduced to something that feels less than real or human, and make it both real and deeply compelling.

Taglist: @leias-left-hair-bun-again, @trashcanmando, and @kanerallels. DM me to join (or leave) the Repcomm taglist.

#star wars #republic commando #kal skirata #walon vau #kal skirata positive #character analysis #meta #winter says things #writing

[aroacesafeplaceforall]

Re: aspec headcannons

I strongly believe that two of my favorite blorbos are aspec (specifically arospec):

The first is Link from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (minor spoiler warning for this paragraph). Most Zelda games' iterations of Link can easily be read as aspec-coded in some way, but Twilight Princess's emphasis on Link's relationships made his lack of romance really stand out and resonate with me as an aromantic. Over the course of the game, we see countless instances of him caring deeply about the people around him, friends and strangers alike. This is so prominent that it's honestly a defining trait of his; he even stands out from his other iterations in just how much he's a Guy Who Cares. Yet for all his personal and emotional investment in people, there is a striking lack of romance in his relationships, much to my delight. Instead, his relationships are founded on his caring nature. The best example of this is his friendship with Midna. Introduced near the beginning of the game and serving as Link's companion until the very end, Midna initially establishes a very transactional relationship with Link; a sort of "I help you, you help me" dynamic. At that point, she is closed off to Link and confides very little in him, while Link probably isn't thrilled with her demeaning treatment of him or how much she asks of him, but puts up with it anyway out of the goodness of his heart. They're reluctant allies. However, they gradually come to respect each other as Link's kindness and courage inspire Midna, and Midna's disparaging behavior slowly gives way to benign, endearing snark. Before long, when Midna is brought within an inch of her life, and Link carries her off in search of help (because of course he would), he does so with desperation, dashing frantically on foot across Hyrule's vast fields in the dead of night, worried for the acquaintance he had only just begun to appreciate, having seen her grow over the course of their adventure. That experience—Link fearing losing Midna, and Midna having her life saved by Link—brings them closer than ever. After Midna recovers, the two are best friends. She eventually opens up to Link about her identity, past, and insecurities, and Link is understanding of her plight and committed to stay by her side through everything. At the end of the game, Midna's plotline is resolved, and she prepares to return to her realm. Never to see each other again, she and Link share a heartfelt goodbye. Common tropes would have them be lovers by this point, and lament being torn away from their soulmate. Instead, Nintendo gave us something that's a precious rarity in media: a bittersweet ending for a pair of dear friends.

The other is Big Boss from the Metal Gear series. I haven't finished every game he makes an appearance in yet, but as far as I can tell, he never has any explicitly romantic relationships. However, he does have a wide range of other kinds of relationships. Plenty are sexual, plenty are platonic, and plenty are... something else. Furthermore, there are certain details throughout the series that, from my perspective, give him strong aro vibes. For example, in Metal Gear Solid 3, he is asked about the nature of his relationship with another character, in terms of an amatonormative false dichotomy. His response is "Does it have to be one or the other?" In Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, there's a sexual dynamic between him and another character, which I would describe as "brothers-in-arms with benefits." In Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Big Boss's relationships are pretty much all based on his desperation to hold on to the people he still hasn't lost yet. His relationships don't take on very clear forms; he's just trying to cherish the ones that are left while he still can, in whatever way he can. So yeah, I think Big Boss is aroallo, and that's pretty cool.

^^^^

#daily aspec question #asks #ask

[jyndor]

Sorry but maybe it’s time to stop trying to find parallels between literally everything. Bix and Jyn are nothing alike, their relationship with Cassian are nothing alike and their arcs are completely different. How is Bix being tortured by imperials a parallel to Jyn being interrogated by the rebels? How is Jyn being sent to a labour camp a parallel to Bix getting arrested for informations? Yes I agree that people should stop this bullshit of comparing them, mainly because they have >nothing< in common besides having some kind of relationship with Cassian at some point at their lives. But they’re not defined by what they mean to some man, just stop it. Also these ‘parallels’ will just make people compare them even more, so if it wasn’t your intention you should reconsider what do you want with that

eat my asshole since you’re so far up it already anon

the interrogation wasn't the point, it was about how they're both hiding how they are actually resisting the empire behind the smokescreen of petty crime/black market business. don’t act like you care about the details of any of this, if you’re the same anon (and again anons don’t get a shred of benefit of the doubt from me) you’ve proven yourself to be uninterested in the film and its characters.

part of character analysis IS comparing and contrasting, just not the nasty ways that a lot of fans do it - in misogynistic, racist ways. ever heard the term foil? it's a character that contrasts with another character to highlight these characters’ traits. comparing and contrasting characters is not necessarily a bad thing - it’s about how are we handling it? for instance: i’ve seen some racist, xenophobic behavior from jyn fans through the years (and honestly i’ve not even seen the majority of the early fandom shit because i wasn’t on tumblr as often - i saw that later on) that makes me question some jyn fans’ thoughts on bix because i know how this shit goes. and of course shippers are incapable of respecting the fact that people can have multiple important relationships in their lives without devaluing them, and often women characters get backlash for being *barf* in the way~~ of their ship or whatever.

what they mean to some man. are you serious right now. first off i have critiqued andor for bix’s arc in particular being pretty shallow in comparison to other characters’ arcs, and how she suffers an extreme amount in the service of pushing a man’s story forward. but also... the show is about cassian andor. it’s his show. in some way each of these characters will be there in service of CASSIAN’s story.

a big part of andor's thesis is that cassian is a mirror to the lead from rogue one as well as a foil. parallels aren't necessarily intentional by writers or even real parallels, and fans have a tendency to point out like things where a writer is just unoriginal and call it a parallel (see: steven moffat’s doctor who lmfao). my guess is when it comes to bix, they aren't entirely intentional - except of course the shots that are similar to shots of jyn. i understand how some people might find it annoying to see people pointing out random shots and thinking the fuck the context is totally different - but i deliberately made the gifset with some meta in mind. like i’ve got explanations for all of those scenes. maybe i should have just included it in the original post instead of writing it on a reblog like i’m currently doing but whatever.

i’ve been trying to give a lot of space to bix fans on this because i’ve seen jyn fans act up and i don’t want to spark some bullshit or play on racist, xenophobic and misogynistic shit in fandom. and frankly some bix fans, or people who claim to be idk yall don’t get to claim anything if you take the cover of an anonymous identity, have been horrible to cassian fans and jyn fans, and its felt similar to the melshi/cass shippers who have been harassing wlw rebelcaptain shippers and...

idk some of you either need to learn to block people whose content you don’t like and/or blacklist tags you don’t want to see. i tag really carefully so if you never want to see jyn erso content, you don’t have to. you don’t have to see my content because guess what? you can block me. i won’t miss your ass. if you were someone who actually liked my content or my blog or whatever, you’d have dm’d me with your concerns privately. because i’m gonna consider criticism from people who do that a lot more thoughtfully than some anon. i get not everyone feels comfortable contacting people off anon, which is why i always keep it on because really lol most of the time even idiot asshole anons are funny to me. but in all seriousness if you don’t feel comfortable saying this shit off anon, then maybe you should reconsider who you feel comfortable following and engaging with.

#asks #anonymous #answered #andorshitpost #thats the tag for idiots now lol #fandom critical #ship drama is embarrassing bro