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mostlysignssomeportents · 2 days

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The true post-cyberpunk hero is a noir forensic accountant

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me in TOMORROW (Apr 17) in CHICAGO, then Torino (Apr 21) Marin County (Apr 27), Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

I was reared on cyberpunk fiction, I ended up spending 25 years at my EFF day-job working at the weird edge of tech and human rights, even as I wrote sf that tried to fuse my love of cyberpunk with my urgent, lifelong struggle over who computers do things for and who they do them to.

That makes me an official "post-cyberpunk" writer (TM). Don't take my word for it: I'm in the canon:

https://tachyonpublications.com/product/rewired-the-post-cyberpunk-anthology-2/

One of the editors of that "post-cyberpunk" anthology was John Kessel, who is, not coincidentally, the first writer to expose me to the power of literary criticism to change the way I felt about a novel, both as a writer and a reader:

https://locusmag.com/2012/05/cory-doctorow-a-prose-by-any-other-name/

It was Kessel's 2004 Foundation essay, "Creating the Innocent Killer: Ender's Game, Intention, and Morality," that helped me understand litcrit. Kessel expertly surfaces the subtext of Card's Ender's Game and connects it to Card's politics. In so doing, he completely reframed how I felt about a book I'd read several times and had considered a favorite:

https://johnjosephkessel.wixsite.com/kessel-website/creating-the-innocent-killer

This is a head-spinning experience for a reader, but it's even wilder to experience it as a writer. Thankfully, the majority of literary criticism about my work has been positive, but even then, discovering something that's clearly present in one of my novels, but which I didn't consciously include, is a (very pleasant!) mind-fuck.

A recent example: Blair Fix's review of my 2023 novel Red Team Blues which he calls "an anti-finance finance thriller":

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2023/05/13/red-team-blues-cory-doctorows-anti-finance-thriller/

Fix – a radical economist – perfectly captures the correspondence between my hero, the forensic accountant Martin Hench, and the heroes of noir detective novels. Namely, that a noir detective is a kind of unlicensed policeman, going to the places the cops can't go, asking the questions the cops can't ask, and thus solving the crimes the cops can't solve. What makes this noir is what happens next: the private dick realizes that these were places the cops didn't want to go, questions the cops didn't want to ask and crimes the cops didn't want to solve ("It's Chinatown, Jake").

Marty Hench – a forensic accountant who finds the money that has been disappeared through the cells in cleverly constructed spreadsheets – is an unlicensed tax inspector. He's finding the money the IRS can't find – only to be reminded, time and again, that this is money the IRS chooses not to find.

This is how the tax authorities work, after all. Anyone who followed the coverage of the big finance leaks knows that the most shocking revelation they contain is how stupid the ruses of the ultra-wealthy are. The IRS could prevent that tax-fraud, they just choose not to. Not for nothing, I call the Martin Hench books "Panama Papers fanfic."

I've read plenty of noir fiction and I'm a long-term finance-leaks obsessive, but until I read Fix's article, it never occurred to me that a forensic accountant was actually squarely within the noir tradition. Hench's perfect noir fit is either a happy accident or the result of a subconscious intuition that I didn't know I had until Fix put his finger on it.

The second Hench novel is The Bezzle. It's been out since February, and I'm still touring with it (Chicago tonight! Then Turin, Marin County, Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, etc). It's paying off – the book's a national bestseller.

Writing in his newsletter, Henry Farrell connects Fix's observation to one of his own, about the nature of "hackers" and their role in cyberpunk (and post-cyberpunk) fiction:

https://www.programmablemutter.com/p/the-accountant-as-cyberpunk-hero

Farrell cites Bruce Schneier's 2023 book, A Hacker’s Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society’s Rules and How to Bend Them Back:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/06/trickster-makes-the-world/

Schneier, a security expert, broadens the category of "hacker" to include anyone who studies systems with an eye to finding and exploiting their defects. Under this definition, the more fearsome hackers are "working for a hedge fund, finding a loophole in financial regulations that lets her siphon extra profits out of the system." Hackers work in corporate offices, or as government lobbyists.

As Henry says, hacking isn't intrinsically countercultural ("Most of the hacking you might care about is done by boring seeming people in boring seeming clothes"). Hacking reinforces – rather than undermining power asymmetries ("The rich have far more resources to figure out how to gimmick the rules"). We are mostly not the hackers – we are the hacked.

For Henry, Marty Hench is a hacker (the rare hacker that works for the good guys), even though "he doesn’t wear mirrorshades or get wasted chatting to bartenders with Soviet military-surplus mechanical arms." He's a gun for hire, that most traditional of cyberpunk heroes, and while he doesn't stand against the system, he's not for it, either.

Henry's pinning down something I've been circling around for nearly 30 years: the idea that though "the street finds its own use for things," Wall Street and Madison Avenue are among the streets that might find those uses:

https://craphound.com/nonfic/street.html

Henry also connects Martin Hench to Marcus Yallow, the hero of my YA Little Brother series. I have tried to make this connection myself, opining that while Marcus is a character who is fighting to save an internet that he loves, Marty is living in the ashes of the internet he lost:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/07/dont-curb-your-enthusiasm/

But Henry's Marty-as-hacker notion surfaces a far more interesting connection between the two characters. Marcus is a vehicle for conveying the excitement and power of hacking to young readers, while Marty is a vessel for older readers who know the stark terror of being hacked, by the sadistic wolves who're coming for all of us:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I44L1pzi4gk

Both Marcus and Marty are explainers, as am I. Some people say that exposition makes for bad narrative. Those people are wrong:

https://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-favorite-bit/my-favorite-bit-cory-doctorow-talks-about-the-bezzle/

"Explaining" makes for great fiction. As Maria Farrell writes in her Crooked Timber review of The Bezzle, the secret sauce of some of the best novels is "information about how things work. Things like locks, rifles, security systems":

https://crookedtimber.org/2024/03/06/the-bezzle/

Where these things are integrated into the story's "reason and urgency," they become "specialist knowledge [that] cuts new paths to move through the world." Hacking, in other words.

This is a theme Paul Di Filippo picked up on in his review of The Bezzle for Locus:

https://locusmag.com/2024/04/paul-di-filippo-reviews-the-bezzle-by-cory-doctorow/

Heinlein was always known—and always came across in his writings—as The Man Who Knew How the World Worked. Doctorow delivers the same sense of putting yourself in the hands of a fellow who has peered behind Oz’s curtain. When he fills you in lucidly about some arcane bit of economics or computer tech or social media scam, you feel, first, that you understand it completely and, second, that you can trust Doctorow’s analysis and insights.

Knowledge is power, and so expository fiction that delivers news you can use is novel that makes you more powerful – powerful enough to resist the hackers who want to hack you.

Henry and I were both friends of Aaron Swartz, and the Little Brother books are closely connected to Aaron, who helped me with Homeland, the second volume, and wrote a great afterword for it (Schneier wrote an afterword for the first book). That book – and Aaron's afterword – has radicalized a gratifying number of principled technologists. I know, because I meet them when I tour, and because they send me emails. I like to think that these hackers are part of Aaron's legacy.

Henry argues that the Hench books are "purpose-designed to inspire a thousand Max Schrems – people who are probably past their teenage years, have some grounding in the relevant professions, and really want to see things change."

(Schrems is the Austrian privacy activist who, as a law student, set in motion the events that led to the passage of the EU's General Data Privacy Regulation:)

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/15/out-here-everything-hurts/#noyb

Henry points out that William Gibson's Neuromancer doesn't mention the word "internet" – rather, Gibson coined the term cyberspace, which, as Henry says, is "more ‘capitalism’ than ‘computerized information'… If you really want to penetrate the system, you need to really grasp what money is and what it does."

Maria also wrote one of my all-time favorite reviews of Red Team Blues, also for Crooked Timber:

https://crookedtimber.org/2023/05/11/when-crypto-meant-cryptography/

In it, she compares Hench to Dickens' Bleak House, but for the modern tech world:

You put the book down feeling it’s not just a fascinating, enjoyable novel, but a document of how Silicon Valley’s very own 1% live and a teeming, energy-emitting snapshot of a critical moment on Earth.

All my life, I've written to find out what's going on in my own head. It's a remarkably effective technique. But it's only recently that I've come to appreciate that reading what other people write about my writing can reveal things that I can't see.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/17/panama-papers-fanfic/#the-1337est-h4x0rs

Image: Frédéric Poirot (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/fredarmitage/1057613629 CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

#pluralistic #science fiction #cyberpunk #literary criticism #maria farrell #henry farrell #noir #martin hench #marty hench #red team blues #the bezzle #forensic accountants #hackers #bruce schneier #post-cyberpunk #blair fix

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meraki-sunset · 1 day

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Hello, sorry to disturb you, but I'm trying to flesh out a Homestuck au and it's still in the works. My question is; Did you use any kind of application or tool to make the signs of the new castes in your au? If not, how did you make them?

Hi! I didn't use any app to make them, my process is basically this:

I went to the extended zodiac and I took a pic of all the signs, when I placed them I took, for example, Sollux's and Eridan's casts and put them next to one another

I searched for all their respective moons and aspects and put them there too.

That's the order in which the signs will be fused. I could've fused signs with the same aspect, but Erisol is a mix of a Doom and a Hope player, so it made sense to mix the rest in that order.

From there, you just take the most defining traits of each sign, and use them to create a new one. Every class has a pattern in their signs, you just have to find it and put both patterns together. For example, Gold signs represent duality, they're usually always mirrored and have lots of straight lines. While violet signs have a lot of zigzag lines to represent waves

For Arquius and Tavros i didn't have second sign to fuse them with to create a cast, i didn't have a second pattern so i made it up based on what the got fused to.

The indigo cast's pattern is they have a lot of traight lines and arrows on their signs. So i made Hal's shades and horseshoes the second patern, since the shades are canonically in arquius's sign

Tavros's cast was more dificult because his sign didn't change at all. The bronce's patern is circles and always being a perfect mirror. Since he fused with a fairybull, i just made a revamp of all the existing signs but made them fairy-like in some way, resembling wings and magic sigils.

With some signs I came up with the fusion in one try, others took multiple attempts, you gotta try a couple of times sometimes until it looks right

not too complicated, not too simple. Something recognizable but not a hassle if you have to draw it 100 times for a comic

And there's not much more than that, when i have all the sketches i choose the ones i like, i put them in order, and clean them, then i give them names mixing the 2 zodiac signs (gemini+aquarius) with the third sign that defines their aspect. Just how the canon extended zodiac did.

And that's it! i hope this helps

#csau extra #homestuck #homestuck au #meraki #hs #crow strider au #sprites #spritebloods

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aboyscriminalrecord · 2 days

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Hi friend, gotta question for you.

Cause I'm lacking on inspiration juice rn would you be willing to give any Vee's shenanigans or any character ideas?

If not that's perfectly fine! Hope you have a great day, take breaks if you need to and drink some water.

GLADLY 😍🙏

Vague but- both Valentino and Vox have mind control-y powers, smth to do with that could be fun

The vees fighting for your attention is always fun 🤭 like reader just trying to work while one the vees is constantly pestering them about “come model for me”, “I’m bored come entertain me” etc

Date nights 🤭 Velvette dragging you off to choose your outfit, makeup etc. Vox renting out an entire restaurant just for you. Valentino…being there idk 💀

Gifts!! these mfs 100% spoil the FUCK outta you. Like wasn’t fat nuggets a gift to Angel from Val (idk if that’s canon or a headcanon but the vees constantly buying you shit eeee) like jewellery 100% I can imagine Vox buying reader a choker with his name on it or smth

Valentino taking you with him to bars, or to his studio while he’s filming porn so he can show you off

Vox watching you through cameras, there isn’t enough smut of him getting off to watching you (consensually)

Val or Vox sitting you in their lap while they work 😩

Velvette purposefully dressing you in outfits that are too revealing just to watch you get all flustered

Wearing any of the vees clothes and them going absolutely crazy for it: Vox spending the entire day thinking about you wearing only his shirt. Valentinos shirt is wayyyy to big it’s practically falling off you (bro is taking that as a ‘I should take it off of you’). And velvette using it as an excuse to dress you up even more

Bonus:

Alastor watching you with his shadow (it’s totally to make sure you are ok and not because he’s just a lil creepy)

🤭 I hope I could offer at least a lil inspo 🙏

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elsa-fogen · 2 days

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i just wanna say first of all. you have been feeding my brainrot for the past month, tHANK YOU for that

2nd of all, do you have any head canons for Al about when he was alive? how do you think the story played out leading up until his death? I personally love hearing ppls takes on this

THANK YOU for enjoying my things ^^ 💖💖

Oh boyy that's a question about human Alastor. That's probably a great opportunity to draw him, huh? But i'M SO SCARED FOR SOME REASON?? You see, i saw many human versions, and very few of them actually looked like Alastor, SOO YEEAHH. I'm afraid to lose his vibe when i make his human form. But OKAY. I'LL TRY.

here we go. You have no idea how long it took for me to make my self to draw this fdolfdljfldsfsd

soo........ is is still Alastor or should i work more on his human design...

btw, guess where did i get colors for his hair and eyes :> (*pointing at myself* hehehehehehrehhwhrhhwhe there)

I don't actully have full story/headcanon for all of his life, but i have some points (tho i'm still ot sure about some of them)

I know that he was mixed, but let's say he also whitepassed for the sake of my own sanity

His first victim was his father, and he was 17 when that happened (his father killed his mother when was drunk)

- Alastor burned his house with his dad inside and enjoyed his screams

After that he faked his age and went to the WW1

He injured his leg there and was sent home (also his eyesight might worsen there)

he's enjoying beating the shit out of people with his cane

I don't have any solid headcanons after that because it needs researching and UGHSHDG i'm so lazy for it... But yeah, he became a radio host, he killed people and he were a cannibal. And then was shot while burring the body. the end.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin #alastor hazbin hotel #alastor the radio demon #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #alastor #the radio demon #radio demon #human alastor #hazbin art #hazbin hotel mimzy #hazbin mimzy #hazbin headcanons #the deer in headlights #sudden ask lol

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stephaniebrownslover · 2 days

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MY MAIN CREEPYPASTA AU

Guys guys this is kind of my biggest AU project so far,.

I was wondering why I can't write a nice and long fiction like everyone, and I think I found one of the reasons. It may be that I have so many AU's.

So I decided to create a basic base AU. You know some of my side AU's, and while they'll also exist, but there are no such AU of mine where I can say "oh yeah, this is like that.".

Every time I write a fic, I design a different past story or something for the character or change the details, so basically in my AU, I can't say Clockwork doesn't like this or something like that.

So I'm doing something like this so that I won't have to go experience this anymore.

Again, there will bestories where I change these details and so on, but I will try to stick to this AU most of the time, no matter how difficult it will be for me at first.

So that's why I won't give details like ficlets, saying things like this will happen, that will happen, and I'll probably do background information or something instead.

This is what happened when I couldn't decide between 2-3 ideas for a character, but I finally decided to take a hand to fix this mess.

Maybe this AU will be used only in 1-2 stories, and I won't use it any more. I don't know, so it depends on whether I like it or not and my indecision.

I know that Masky and Hoodie are not in creepypastas, I will try to use them in a mixed way of creepypasta and Marble Hornets.

DEATH TO TWINK MASKY!!!!!!

Offenderman doesn't exist in this universe because I hate him for being pedo and rapist. Don't come and try to defend him to me.

Also I'm starting out with the idea of designing a main AU and I'm waiting for your questions whatever you want to ask!!!

I'm going to make separate posts or something to answer questions, and I'm going to try to create a past story about the characters by trying to use the order I wrote here.

WARNING: I don't think about sticking to canon in most things, because the characters' stories are really bad and cliche and need to be rewritten. So if this AU is not 'realistic', you may not read it, I'm not forcing you to read it.

...

Main characters

-Jeff The Killer

-Clockwork

- Hoodie

-Masky

-Ticci Toby

-Eyeless Jack

-Jane The Killer

-X-Virus

-Nina The Killer

-Kate The Chaser

Total: 10 characters

Main supporting characters

-Homicidal Liu

-Sally

-Ben Drowned

-Puppeteer

-Zero

-Nurse Ann

-Bloody Painter

-Judge Angels

-Mary Vaughn

Total: 9 characters

Supporting characters

-Lulu

-Laughing Jack

-Nightmare Ally

-Kagekao

-Rouge

-Jason The Toymaker

-Laughing Jill

Total: 7 characters

Background characters

-Slenderman

-Emra

-Dr. Smiley

-Cat Hunter

-Zalgo

-Weeping Forest

Total: 6 characters

The sum of all: 32 characters

You can ask questions and things you are curious about my ask box as anon or yourself, I will make a post about it!

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avonne-writes · 2 days

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What do you think Buck and Bucky would’ve done for work in the modern era? Would they still have joined the military at any point?

Fun question! I think there's a wide range of possibilities here, because we can headcanon various ways in which the modern world with its social and historical context affects their canon backgrounds and interests. Some ideas:

Gale as a professor/scientist - if his intellectual interests have the most freedom to grow

Bucky working in finance - with his people skills and the mix of risk taking and an ability to assess situations well

Bucky as a project manager - charisma + leadership skills. But needs an assistant to do the administrative stuff that he couldn’t care less about

Artist Gale - trauma coping (my painter Gale WIP)

Social worker Gale - if he goes "no child should ever go through what I did"

Firefighter Bucky - seeking heroism and danger (see @trashbag-baby666 's firefighter AU)

Coach Bucky

Bucky as an athlete - @r-catsby 's baseball AU

Pilots - I really like @hogans-heroes headcanons about this

Both still joining the military - @bcolfanfic's young vets AU

Both drifting in their own way due to their issues - @swifty-fox 's priest Gale x burnout John AU

This turned into a rec list haha 😅 This is just a quick list, there are so many other possibilities! I'm particularly fond of scientist Gale. 🩷

#mota #buck x bucky #clegan #gale cleven #john egan #anon #job headcanons

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greenerteacups · 2 days

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I’ve meaning to send this ask for ages and finally found the courage to do so :) I started reading lionheart on a whim in the beginning of November and since them after reading everything a couple of times, all I can say is that it is a masterpiece. I am so in love with your writing, especially with how you give Draco the space to be gracious and grow up. I love for example when they are in the Slytherin common room and Draco see for himself that the mermaids are sentient beings just like him. Also, I am completely enamored with the golden quartet (?), the relationships between them feel much more balanced, and I have so much love for Harry, Hermione, and Ron. I do think you does the characters justice, if not written in a better and more honest, human way. Btw, I love your Narcisa because I am such an apologist for her and her crimes. (If Narcisa has million fans, then I'm one of them. If Narcisa has one fan, then I'm THAT ONE. If Narcisa has no fans, that means I'm dead.). This also aplies for hermione. Anyway, all I am trying to do is to put into words what the world you design means to me, but alas I do not seem to have. When the time comes for my unborn children to read the Harry Potter series, I am showing them your books and telling them it is canon.

Now that I am done showering you with complements, I have a couple of questions. First, after reading the last chapter (which I adored), the fight between Draco and Sirius, one of my favorite moments, kept coming to mind. Was it intentional for Draco to give such honest wake up call for Theo basing himself from the talk he had with Sirius years ago? Secondly, I am not sure with you already answer this, if so, feel free to tell me, but if you could choose Poet, Soldier or King for each – Draco, Harry, Hermione, and Ron – which one would they be?

Thank you for taking the time to read. I usually download each chapter because I like to highlight my favorite parts, I will try to be more present on AO3! And sorry for any English mistakes, it is not my first language!

Thank you, my friend! This is a completely lovely ask, and as I often do with lovely asks, I've hoarded it for a while to re-read whenever I want a nice treat. However, I've left the question unanswered long enough.

If we're going to do the Soldier/Poet/King test, I want to complicate it a little. You can either do it by personality (the way we do when we say "I'm soldier!" or "I'm poet!") or you can do it by narrative role, i.e. what you actually do in the context of the story. Those can be different. For instance, you can be a poet-coded soldier (your chosen weapon is your word, but you're pushed by your circumstances to fight), or a soldier-coded king (you carry a mighty sword, but you're forced off the battlefield to rule, i.e. you want to fight but you can't). That opens up the range of ways to fill the role. So it's like:

Obviously, the central axis here is going to be the most satisfied/content with their lot in life, but there's a broad range of happinesses.

If you ask me, Harry is a poet-coded king, because he's incredibly reluctant to take leadership, and he doesn't want anyone to fight for him. He runs away in Deathly Hallows because he can't stand to be at the center of a war (which is going to happen anyway) and has only accepted Ron and Hermione's sacrifice begrudgingly. It's also worth saying that Harry's best moments come when he's trying to talk someone down: he's telling Remus to go back to Tonks, he's telling Slughorn to preserve Lily's memory by being noble for her sake, he's telling Riddle to "try for remorse." Harry is at his best when he's giving consolation and understanding, not when he's fighting; his signature spell is Expelliarmus. Kid's not a soldier. And he hates the idea of being a king. (This is, not coincidentally, one of the unhappiest combinations.)

I read Ron as a true soldier, not because he enjoys fighting, but because that's almost always his knee-jerk reaction to conflict, and it's also where a lot of his strengths lie. Ron is brash and bold and he will swing if you step to him, and that's why people love him (or hate him, if they do). Even in his best moments, when he's being a strategist and tactician, he's employing his skills in the service of battle. And the narrative is happy to put him in positions where that's the skill he has to contribute. He thinks of the basilisk fangs and the house-elves in the kitchens; he's good at tactics, but he doesn't do broad-strokes strategy.

Hermione is king-coded soldier, because I think in a different series of novels, she is absolutely the protagonist, and she kind of thinks she should be. She's proactive, driven, clever, and calculating, and she orders people around like she's the boss of them — usually with good reason, but she still does. She sees herself as the HBIC, and she often gets a bit irritated when other people don't jive with that idea. It's funny how often Harry gets along by just doing what Hermione tells him. That being said, her narrative role is being sworn in Harry's service, and as the books go on, she increasingly embraces that. She defends him and offers to risk her life for him, sacrifices volumes (her parents!!) and compromises her safety (gets tortured!) for his sake, all without complaining or seeming to begrudge Harry at all. He's her king; she's his knight. Which is another way of saying soldier.

Draco is a poet-coded soldier, or possibly a poet-coded king, depending on what direction you take his arc from the source material. In the books, he's kind of a flop, God bless him, he doesn't really manage much in the final days of the war. Besides refusing to identify Harry (after identifying both of Harry's well-known travel companions... booboo you tried), he's basically fit for neither use nor ornament from Book 6 onward. But taken more broadly, he is someone who absolutely does not want to be here — he doesn't want to fight, he doesn't want to be in danger, he doesn't want to risk people — getting conscripted forcibly into a conflict that was running for years before he was born. And he's conscripted, like Harry, because of his heritage; it's a position he was born into. Depending on how you read his relationship to power, and having it, he can either be a soldier or a king, or someone teetering on the cusp between them.

#i've deliberately leaned into their canon characterizations here to avoid spoilers #but I don't think they're fundamentally different in LH #I think of LH as just... sitting down at the DJ booth and changing the mixing #also by the way you never ever have to apologize for your English to me. I make typos all the time #and I don't know what your first language is but I'm willing to bet you speak a lot more of mine than I do of yours #so you're the one putting the effort into allowing us to communicate with each other #the correct response to that act of generosity is gratitude #greenteacup asks #lionheart spoilers

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neonbyte-if · 1 day

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I just realized that getting turned into a vamp, has to suck to some extent for a trans person right? Previous surgeries, would they heal? Would future ones even be possible? I know this is also a Cyperpunk setting, but I have so many questions. Can vampires take hormones? 🤔 So, so, so many questions, haha.

So I had a conversation with my close friend who's a trans woman back when I first had the idea of turning this into an IF!!

We came to the conclusion that basically, if there's a glaring solution here to make it easier on trans people, the only reason I wouldn't take it is if I had the inherent belief that part of being trans is to struggle.

So this is set like 150 years from now. Technology is fuckin' advanced. We decided that yes, I should just have a way for the MC to have a permanent hormone replacement treatment 'installed' before the facility, if they decided that they wanted to physically transition. No need to keep taking it for the rest of their (un)life.

You can choose the combination of genitals your MC has and their pronouns separately, and we're operating on the timeline that any gender-affirming surgery/HRT that the MC wanted, they got BEFORE the facility. This is part of why I aged up the MC a few years, to allow time for such a decision and their possible surgeries.

Also, a person doesn't revert to their 'default' when they become a vampire, so any surgeries they had pre-vampire will still be there post!

(I sorted out different canon ways each origin would be able to afford and access this, so that's not a worry either!!)

I'm not trans myself, so I'm constantly trying to make sure that I'm being respectful and taking everything into consideration with this topic. If I do ever say anything that doesn't make sense/comes across as insensitive, PLEASE let me know. I promise it wasn't intentional.

#answered #alliebutt-writes #neon byte

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scarletsinnerz · 2 days

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FREE MLP COMMISSIONS.

EXAMPLE OF MY ART BELOW:

[I did not draw the background, it's a screen shot from the MLP fim series]

Howdy guys!

I'm opening a Instagram store for LPS and MLP commissions, adopts, pfps, and more! It's still a wip so nothing is for sale yet. And because I don't have too many MLP drawings to show for example, I thought I would open a few FREE commissions!

Instagram store link here.

[I'd also like to sell LPS clothes, stickers, customs, etc. eventually as well, but it'll be a while before that happens-]

I can draw an original character of yours, whether that be a random MLP OC or I can draw your pony sona/self insert. I can also draw any of the canon/fandom ponies from the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic series.

Or if you'd rather, I can make/design an adopt for you! You can give me some details/ideas you'd like included, or I can make the character from scratch and completely surprise you! I can also make a pony sona for you if you don't have one already. You can give me some details about you (things you like, fave colors, etc). And again, I can surprise you or you can tell me what/how you want to look like and I can draw it for you! (coat color, mane and tail color, length and style, cutie mark, whether you want to be a pegasus, unicorn, or Earth pony).

And if you don't know, I can choose for you on which I think best suits you out of the three! Whichever you'd like. We can go over and discuss more details if you want as well.

Don't be afraid to ask me any questions you may have!

The commission will be done digitally by me on procreate. It'll probably take me a week or a few to complete as I can be busy irl and I'll have multiple comms to do. So I ask you for your patience as I make this for you. Thank you.

I will be taking a total of 3 FREE commissions for now. But I may take more in the future. I'll make an edit on here and on my profile once all of the slots are taken. It is first come first serve, to make it fair.

Now for commission rules:

You can post it anywhere you want, but you MUST give me credit.

You cannot remove or alter my watermark/signature in anyway. This includes if you're using it as a pfp.

You cannot claim the drawing as your own creation, even if it is your OC, as I was the one who created it. Especially because the drawing is free, I think it's only fair that I receive credit in exchange.

I have every right to decline your comm for whatever reason.

I will only draw one character per commission. And it will be with a plain background only, as I don't have the time to draw backgrounds for everyone.

Please give me everything you have on your character that you want me to have in mind when drawing them.

You can print the artwork, but you cannot claim the drawing itself as your own creation. Again, please give me credit.

I reserve full rights to the image and it's use unless otherwise agreed upon.

I will do everything I can to make my customers happy! If you have a problem with anything, please let me know. I'm sure we can figure it out together.

That is everything for now, sorry for writing so much. ^^

REMEMBER THE COMM IS COMPLETELY FREE. 3 SLOTS OPEN ONLY!!!

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autistichalsin · 1 day

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I'm curious, what's your thoughts on Halsin actually being (or becoming after everything) Silvanus' Chosen?

This is a complicated question. I subscribe to the idea that Halsin IS Silvanus's Chosen during canon (there's just so many things that would make it make sense narratively), but I think he very much gives that up at the end, and I can't see him taking it up again after the end of canon for the same reason I can't see him returning to the Grove. I think that he's finally ready to retire and give the work to the next generation. He COULD very much still handle any crises that arose- and definitely would if needed- but doesn't want to unless absolutely necessary out of fear he wouldn't be able to relinquish them for years again, like being Archdruid.

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mintytealfox · 2 days

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Hi! I'm super new to IDV and keep seeing a lot of art (official and fan) with Fools Gold and Alice! I love it all, but I was wondering is there a canon or fanon reason for their connection, or is it just a ship that developed based on their personalities? :)

EEYYYYYY~ I would LOVE for nortalice to be canon but I will be shocked if they make any coupling canon outside of psychologist (Ada Mesmer) and patient (Emil) and if they throw in Geisha's husbando and AKA mostly those who were already coupled before the manor games~

But I personally think there is potential there~ the Da Capo game (the one they are concentrating on in the main story) heavily leans on the Greek Lore of Orpheus and Eurydice~ with the cast consisting of The confirmed roles are these two: Orpheus: Novelist Eurydice: Alice/Journalist then the potential roles are as follows: Hades: Norton/Prospector/Fool's Gold Persephone: Melly/Entomologist not sure where Frederick goes, he will probably throw a wrench into this entire thing LOL

EDIT: So technically Melly and Norton could fall for each other cause of Hades and Persephone (I wouldn't be opposed to that either honestly cause that ship is my second love LOL I don't necessarily see them as romantic but I wouldn't be upset if they got together cause of the hades and persephone thing. plus whenever they are in anything together they are constantly memeing on the other and trying to get ahead at the cost of the other loool so I think they meme on each other a little too much for things to get romantical lol but who knows they could prove me wrong one day)

BUT WE AREN'T HERE TALKING ABOUT NORTMELLY RIGHT NOW LOL right now is NORTALICE TIME LOL

but I love em cause of their personalities and I feel like they would balance each other pretty well~

for example, Alice with her OCD would be calmed by Norton's matter of fact and 'it will be fine just work hard' view on things. ((that is what helps me with my OCD anyways lol is someone I trust taking my hands and saying its fine) I have an entire post about hand movements and I went into how Norton's movements are quick and precises and deliberate and Alice would need that for grounding 👀 While Norton needs a gentle touch cause that would be so unfamiliar to him that it would make him stop in his tracks I think~)) ANYWAY OFF TOPIC

Then vice versa with Norton and his gloom view on the world and Alice comes in with optimism and cheery-ness lol. She will protect her lil grumpy people LOL

Alice 👇 Norton👇

So I guess to answer your question, its definitely on their personalities and completely based on potential~ The potential and nuance is there with what we know about them so far and there is the hope that Norton will turncoat in the story, with Melly convincing him to help her save Alice 👏👏 I just like adding the little bit of spice of 'you two get together and heal together okay' I feel like they would balance each other out well~

Norton needing that softness and Alice needing that wall to lean on. And I think they would work so well together~

I hope I somewhat answered your question, I feel like I was all over the place LOL my baaaad

also I have no idea why they keep having Alice looking so down bad for Fool's Gold 🤣🤣🤣🤣BUT I LOVE IT SO DARN MUUCCHH LOOOOL (and added to the fuel for this raging fire that is my love for Nortalice)👏👏👏🤌🤌🤌🤌💞💞💞but it has me LAUGHING at the fact that on hallucinogens drugs she STILL sees Norton as a knock out BABE -WHEEEZZEEE-

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fariesoiree · 2 days

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Lately I've been thinking alot about lovestruck Hobie with an oblivious reader. I'm talking like, man's completely WHIPPED. Doing backflips on his eyelashes to get reader's attention and they just brush it off as 'he's probably like this with everyone'. Bro's furious, desperate even. If you're still in the getting to know each other stage, he acts like a complete idiot. I don't see him as a person to blush or stutter around their crush, but probably do his best to make you laugh or smile, even at the expense of his own dignity. To me, in the movie Hobie seemed like a very physical touch kind of guy. I assume it would be the same with reader, his arms always looking for excuses to end up around theirs waist or shoulders. You best believe he's always got you in the back of his mind (you make him question his beliefs around relationships at least once a week).

Pls give me your thoughts on the matter 🙏 obsessed with the idea.

~☄️ comet anon

ahhhh my first emoji non! this is so exciting 2 me c: okok so i haveeee a fic kinda like this — not really ( he kinda stalks reader to keep her out of harms way )— where hobie is OBSESSED but i like your take on it too

to me, hobie is the textbook definition of a lover boy and it takes him a while to make it look cool bc he’s inexperienced in the actual real world relationship stuff. like, he’s had flings, he’s had short-term relationships, if you can even call it that, in the past. he’s had crushes bc he’s human. he’s not locked down emotionally. if anything, he’s wayyy more open than your standard run of the mill person would be.

i think he wouldn’t be confused when he first saw you and got that little drop in his stomach bc he’s not an actual dumbass. he knows what having crushes is. he’s confused bc he can’t get his shit together and can’t seem to leave you alone. he’s liked plenty of other people before but he’s stuck on you and your pretty smile and your shiny curls, as if handcrafted by a higher power.

and everyone else is like “hobie wtf” when he does shit so blatantly out of character but you think it’s normal bc you just became friends with him. like he’s laughing at every little thing you say even if no one else is and you grin pridefully bc the positive reinforcement is nice. it’s encouragement and you feel like you’re being accepted by a very kind guy but in actuality, he’s dying to get you to look at him.

like he’ll get so desperate he’ll start googling stupid shit. “how to get a girl to like you back” “law of attraction for your crush” and he knows he looks so stupid rn but any opening he can get, he’s gonna take it. he, himself, is thinking “hobie wtf” when he’s walking down the street and swears he gets a whiff of your perfume. and when you’re standing close enough, he’ll wrap an arm around your shoulder in what you think is platonic, and use it an an excuse to inhale the scent of your hair products.

this man is completely and totally star struck and it’s not like him. i’m convinced he loves so hard. he has too w the way he acts canonically. and it’s not like he doesn’t believe in love, he just doesn’t fw the way society tries to force it down everyone’s throats. he sometimes catches himself imagining what it would look like if you two were actually together and if it’s something he’s willing to do, to actually work towards. ofc he is, btw. without a shadow of a doubt.

my hobie, the way i view him, is so unconventionally chivalrous. he’s not laying over a puddle so you don’t have to step around it but he is working behind the scenes, doing subtle things he knows you’d appreciate without asking and could possibly be overlooked. there’s not a single hobie variant that isnt absolutely star stuck all of the time around you. alllllll of the time.

#⋆౨ৎ˚⟡ 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓵𝓮𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓻 . . . 𝓯𝓻𝓸𝓶 . . . ☄️ 𝜗𝜚⋆#hobie x black!reader #hobie brown #x black fem reader #x black reader #astv hobie #x reader #hobie x reader #hobie x y/n

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the-valiant-valkyrie · 2 months

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UMM okay I have a question for. You: if prism was in some perilous situation and her robots were present, do you think they'd actually do what she says and leave her to die? How would they feel about the whole thing?

i think they would be incredibly hesitant, but ultimately i don't think they would have much of a choice. as lifelike as they are, they are robots, and they follow prism's instructions to a tee when she gives them any. in a best case scenario, they might find someone else who would be able to help prism for them.

i think they would feel very guilty regardless of whether or not prism survives a circumstance like that. for entities who can essentially reanimate as many times as they need to- so long as they have back ups of themselves- losing someone permanently has got to be a very unexpected and traumatizing ordeal for them.

... though, now that i think about it. if prism did die, i think that would be the equivalent of striking a hornet's nest with a baseball bat. canonically, the robots care for her very deeply, and canonically they're physically capable of getting very, very mad. and without prism to tell them to hold themselves back or flee, i don't think its out of the question that they might want to avenge her- even at the expense of some of their lives.

#ieytd #robutler #roxana prism #sort of #ask #the fact that none of the little bobots fear death is a very interesting tool that phoenix (probably) does not have at their disposal #ultimately so long as the proper conditions are met they can come back as many times as it takes #i'm picturing a hoard of seething robots like a swarm of locusts. clawing and charging and firing their beams and such #... though now a part of me is wondering- for the phoenix reanimates headcanoners- why no one's claimed a monopoly-#-on phoenix and any of the robots sharing experiences on coming back to life again. i think they would believe him no questions asked #seeing as they're canonically willing to believe they have a factory they can just respawn from #anyways im digressing. bobot swarm

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sylviareviar · 5 months

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Curious but how did you come up with your OC? Is she her own fandomless OC you have verses for, or has she always been one in the Persona universe?

Truth be told, Sylvia is a self-insert OC. I have other verses of her, and her background is usually different in every one, to better explain her circumstances. It's just, her Persona verse is the most active one I have on Tumblr. I came up with her in middle school, when I was at my lowest point, and Sylvia became my go-to comfort character ever since, because... she helped me escape.

But the truth is, I have lots of verses for her. Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's is one (which I don't actually use on here since I don't have any 5D's moots, but I am writing a fic about it on Wattpad-- it's the kind of fic that I'm not really proud to have, but I'm too attached not to write it, so into the trash bin it goes, I guess). I also have verses like Pokemon, in which she only accumulates her trauma after going out on a Pokemon journey, or Fire Emblem, where she's a glass cannon mage tasked with defending her lord (and maybe falls a little ill because of all the magic she's got inside her).

There are others, of course, but at the moment I can't think of many, since right now I'm hyperfixated on the Persona series, but if there are any other fandoms I like that I want Sylvia to be a part of, chances are she's there, with at least a basic background that I can build on if I start focusing on it again (like My Hero Academia). Oh, but I don't actually watch popular anime like One Piece, Bleach, Death Note, or Demon Slayer. Especially not Fullmetal Alchemist; I watched it when I was younger and got traumatized by the chimera dog. It's a little bit tricky, but I mostly find myself attracted by JRPGs, which is when I start to wonder, "I wonder what it would be like for Sylvia here? What kind of background would she have? How would she interact with the characters?" Building her up from there, coming up with funny scenarios with other characters, creating mischief and angst and blending the two into a believable character... It's all a lot of fun for me.

Sylvia being a self-insert doesn't mean that I take everything personally when I RP. Instead, the way I act with her feels more like she's a "doll" or an act that I play with. If other characters have personally hurt her, that's not an attack on me, nor is it an attack on her. It is an in-character interaction, much like how two actors who act out characters on stage that fight one another doesn't mean that the actors themselves are fighting.

The way she looks and is as a character is built in ways I can relate to, and it helps me to cope with the real world and real traumas I have. In a way, Sylvia could actually be my own personal Persona-- a mask I wear to get through the real world.

Sylvia's appearance is based purely on what I would find ideal on myself, and is sorta like what I think my personality looks like if it were a person. Her background, though, is something I have fun playing around with and building with the world, and I do my best not to break the boundaries of whatever world she's in, but bend them a little bit to make her seem unique without trying to take attention away from other, more important characters.

I guess you could call Sylvia almost a "trauma response," but I prefer to think of her more as a "special interest," because through her, I can learn better how to write, how to behave myself, and simply have fun interacting with canon characters.

Also, exhibiting some of my own personal habits through her helps me identify my faults as a person, and figure out things that I need to work on versus what things may be cute or fun in an objective sense, which I could leave alone after a bit of moderation. Such as...

...m-my habit of rambling. Or my dislike of loud noises.

But not everything Sylvia does is the same as me! For example, I don't actually live on a farm like Sylvia does in both the Pokemon and Persona 5 verses. My home is actually in a suburban area. Sylvia's location also isn't exactly the same as mine, and depending on the verse, her skillset isn't the same as mine either-- the only things that remain the same are her like of drawing, singing, and writing. Sometimes it isn't possible for her to play a flute, or to play video games, or even to just ride a bike. So really, how close she is in depiction to the actual me depends on the verse, but all of it is simply to have fun.

I hope that explained Sylvia as a concept sufficiently. I know a lot of people are uncomfortable RPing with self-inserts, so I'm already very grateful for the people who are willing to RP with her, and who haven't dismissed her as cringe or disgusting. Believe me, I've tried to let her go years ago, but every time, it never worked. So I'm sort of stuck. But I think if I practice with Sylvia long enough, I could start writing other characters with their own silly nuances and overly specific habits too.

#🌸 ~ out of character ~ 🌸#thank you so much for the question!#it's really nice to know people like Sylvia #and that they are genuinely curious about her #that's why i think it would be best for me to be completely honest about what she is #for anyone who dislikes self inserts; i completely understand why #not only does it feel weird taking your canon muse and setting them up with a stranger #there's no guarantee that stranger will be respectful of you or anything #you could get into dangerous situations because there are a million kinds of people on the planet #and you don't know which one any given person is at any time #some of them could turn out to be aggressive for instance #but with other canon characters you're at least somewhat guaranteed that you know what their personality is #so it feels a little more trustworthy and secure #thank you to everyone who gave me a chance and allowed me to rp with you <3 #i'm glad i found myself in this community

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zabiume · 6 months

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Do you think Ichika has a crush on Kazui?

who knows!

#personally....i don't care since they're both still so little #and as objective as i am about bleach's strengths and flaws i have always loved ichihime and renruki lol i think it's going to take a lot #for kubo to get people (or at least me) to care about them as much as i did with their parents #they're not fully 'characters' yet so any guess i make would just be me taking a shot in the dark #boring answer as always but my standard reply for anything post-canon is: we don't have information #check back with me for a solid answer in maybe 30 years if he ever gets around to finishing the arc and i'm still around somehow #but until then i'm going to go with a cop-out answer🤷🏽‍♀️ in my head they probably grow up to be mlm/wlw besties anyway so...#if he IS building something there it's got to be astronomical for me to care #especially after we got orihime's confession and renji's narration of his backstory with rukia like that was PEAK to me idk #and if there is a post-canon arc in the works i would still like it to focus on their parents. not sure if i'm ready to pass the baton yet #sorry i know this did not answer your question at all but i didn't want to lie with a yes/no answer😅#asks

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voloswag · 1 year

Text

some worldbuilding snippets continuing off the last post im sorry this barely even feels like a pokemon blog anymore but here I am. for every word I add to this post I am having to remind myself that cringe is dead, cringe is dead, I am actually sooooo sexy and powerful for putting my silly brain creations out for the world to see! and volo is there so it’s still relevant anyway, it’s fiiiine

but anyway yes. some worldbuilding, specifically about the ‘deities’ of the setting (which isn’t strictly the ironsworn setting cus I’m also throwing in tons of salvaged bits of my old dead headworld)

cue incoherent ramblings after the cut!

this setting’s equivalent to gods would be the celestial bodies, which from strongest to weakest are suns > moons > stars. real world astronomy has no power here, don’t worry about it

every celestial body is/was a very powerful living, sentient being with a life cycle and everything. the planet the characters live on is a horrific mishmash of ‘stars’ that have been so tightly jam packed and fused together by the moons that over time the biggest, oldest of these stars have lost their consciousness and become nothing more than forces of nature; the earth, the ocean, the air/atmosphere... yknow, the basic elements

however there is One ye olden god that is very desperately clinging to what trace of individuality and consciousness it has left, and as it weaves in and out of consciousness it can influence the dreams of its descendants and it is trying to manipulate them into doing its bidding with the end goal of gaining a new body, as right now it’s basically just....... haunting the blood of its descendants. all of their blood. it’s in there snoozing!

#ambition au #'but cuil if the other gods became the elements like earth and air and water then what element is that one??'#the element of surprise #(no it's not glkjdfhgihdfh)#anyway i am accepting any and all questions about the setting/au/volo/sanctus or what role other canons might have in the setting #or like. what role they would have in the setting whether or not they actually ever come up #listen. every canon character is just a barbie doll to dress up and play with however u want so I'm taking pokemon characters and living my #best life

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