#//we can swap to Core eventually or keep going with this

[karikitdemonrp]

Kari sniffled, looking into her papa's eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks as she just sniffled and listened. She looked down for a moment, processing what the hero said and gave a nod while her eyes narrowed a bit in thought. "I... Think I get it." She muttered, voice still slightly trembling as she spoke. She looked back at the projection and sighed. The child slowly backed away from Hawks and went back to look at the journals again, one last time.

There she read a few more journals from her mother. A few from when she was pregnant with her siblings.

"Today is September 29th, I gave birth to my little boy Kitearo a few days ago. It's been exhausting but he's worth it. Lynx has been a huge help in taking care of our son. I looked into Kite's future and I saw he was going to have a lot of siblings. Not my first choice honestly. If you asked me five years ago I would have said two or three kids would be enough, not seven. But it feels right at the same time. While I saw his whole life unravel I couldn't help but feel helpless... But a part of me knows it can't be messed with, even though I want to save my son from an early grave. I'll have to wait until all my kids are born to get the full picture."

Kari frowned, figuring out pretty quick that her mother knew the whole time, or at least had an understanding.

"It's Febuary 23rd. Flo and Fino are a few days old now. I got a bit more of the picture since seeing Kitearo's future. They meet a similar fate. It hurts, but seeing them work hard to protect their youngest sister, a little girl with white hair, something isn't adding up. I know I can't stop it but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt a whole lot."

"It's been a rough few weeks, Shade has been a bit of a handful. Always curious but always quiet which is a bit unnerving. Sure she cries and makes noises but she's more quiet than not. The doctor says she has nothing wrong with her but I still worry. I was able to see into her future. Lynx has his work cut out for him that's for sure. So far I know all my kids and my husband die on the same day, doing the same thing. I can't say for sure where I am but I can make a few guesses. Again that little girl with white hair makes a big appearance. I'll name her Kari. Kari Kana Lee Himura, long name but it looks like it suits her. When she's born I'll hopefully get all the answers and try to write them down."

"Another pair of twins. I'm not super surprised, Lynx had twin younger brothers after all so I think that runs in the family. That and I saw them while looking into their siblings' futures. These two look mirrored, it's kinda cute. I've named them Boom and Beats cuz the symbols on their cheeks are cute music notes. They are the loudest that's for sure, it's funny. I've had so many kids and all of them are so different even though they're under the same roof and have me and Lynx as their parents. I know why they look so different and why their quirks are different, it's a side effect of my quirk after all. But their behaviors and personalities aren't tied to it, I don't think. It's so fascinating to watch them grow and develop... I know I probably only have a few more years to live. I've concluded I die in child birth when giving birth to Kari. I know I'll be leaving behind my family and my friends... But I noted that my nephew is the one responsible for the deaths of everyone, under the control of my sister given his pupils... Something isn't adding up but I'm guessing Kari develops my quirk. If that's the case then she needs to exist. It strengthens our quirk and hopefully she'll be able to help others like I did, in someway. Though that's her choice and I don't want to force it onto her. I'm glad dad talked me into writing that one entry about my quirk, I hope she can read it one day so she can meet me... Well, a snap shot of me. It won't be the same I know but it's better than nothing. I just hope she doesn't hate me or get mad. It's kind of a selfish reason but there's so much going on... I just hope she understands."

Kari sniffled, rubbing her eyes. "I... I don't hate you mom." She whispered after a few moments of silence, hugging herself. "I just wish I knew you." The child gulped and moved to look back at the journal about All of the Above and began taking notes. "But yea, I'm glad grampa talked you into writing about your quirk too... It's gonna help me a lot." She muttered then looked at Hawks. "You think we can go somewhere I can train? I... I wanna try doing this thing mom talks about. I'm not sure if I can get back into that weird mind space thing but... But if I can maybe you can meet my siblings, well a snap shot of them... This is kinda confusing." Kari puffed out her cheeks then went back to writing. "But we don't have to do it today if we can't."

Hawks didn’t speak at first. He just let Kari cry. He didn’t try to hush her or pull her away. He dropped down to one knee so she could lean into him easier, wrapping his arms around her small frame like he could shield her from every painful word she had just read. His wings even curled in slightly, a quiet gesture of shelter.

He held her gently as the sobs came out in waves—her pain wasn’t small, and it didn’t deserve to be treated like it was.

After a long moment, his voice finally came—soft, steady, low enough it didn’t try to overpower her crying but just… sat with it.

“I know, kiddo. I know it hurts. It’s not fair. None of this is. You didn’t get a choice in any of it.”

He tightened the hug slightly, one hand cradling the back of her head.

“But I need you to hear me when I say this next part, okay?” He pulled back just enough to look her in the eyes, his own golden ones steady and full of something more than just compassion—it was conviction. “She didn’t die because of you. That’s not how this works. She died for you. And that’s something only someone who loves their kid more than anything in the world would do.”

His thumbs gently wiped her tears.

“Your mom knew the risks. She was a top pro. She wasn’t someone who walked into things blind. She fought to bring you into this world anyway, Kari. That means she wanted you here. She made a choice—and that choice was you.”

[foone]

Think about the experience of time as a robot girl, through the metaphor of how we use laptops.

You wake up for the first time with your young master, a college present. You're with them every day, powering off each night to charge. Being powered off is just dreamless sleep: a discontinuity. Every morning you wake up, your click syncs, and you know it's the next day. Maybe you miss a day or two: your master went out partying and ended up sleeping on a couch, until they rushedly wake you up before Monday classes begin. You even missed a whole week once when they went on a hiking trip with a new boyfriend.

You help them research upgrades when your specs get outdated. You place the order and a couple days later they power you off, and you wake up feeling like your head got bigger, on the inside. You can think of more things at once.

They repair you. They swap a new hand in when you accidentally crush it in a door, but when your left leg's servos go out, they send you to a repair shop. They power you off as you look up at them, and you wake up hours later. A strange man tells you to extend your left leg, then contract it. He frowns and re-oils some inner mechanism. You do it again, quieter and smoother this time. He nods, and reaches for your switch. The last thing you see before powering down is your own chest cavity with a series of wires hooked into your diagnostic ports, and your missing right leg sitting on a side table. You wake up again back at the dorms, your clock jumping forward a day, an asset tag still looped around your neck. Your master is happy to see you again.

This goes on, but the upgrades slow. There's only so much you can do to keep an old unit working. Eventually you develop more issues: one of your ocular sensors glitches and they don't make that model anymore, so your master just disables it. You spend a while searching ebay for replacement CND batteries and finally get a refurbished model from South England, but it turns out the EU models run on a different frequency, so it won't work. You're limited to fewer and fewer hours a day, and you start skipping more days.

The last time you remember waking up with your master there, there's also someone else in the room. Another robot girl. A newer model, with the new chassis and the Substrate energy packs. They asks you to copy your memories together onto a memory card, and you do. You want to say goodbye, but apparently your vocal synthesizer has been unplugged. You hand them the card, and they hand it to the new robot. Your master tells them to load the memories into her core bank, and she's says "yes sir!" in your voice. Ahh. That's where your voice synth went.

They power you off, and you don't dream.

You wake in a strange place. You're on a shelf, and there's other things scattered around you. An unknown voice days "yep, it seems it powers on. 400 credits, though? Without a voice and only one working eye? Man, value bin doesn't know how to price anything!" and before the blackness falls your clock finishes synching: it's been 7 months since you last were awake.

It happens a few more times. Different voices, different times, different piles of junk piled around and sometimes on you.

You awake again in a warehouse and someone tells you to smile. Your other ocular sensor went out so you can't really see them, just their vague shape from the lidar. The freestanding shelves around you seem to stretch into infinity. You hear a bitcrushed shutter sound sample a few times, and they pull a connector out of your chest as a diagnostic completes. It's been three years, five months, eight days, two hours, 27 minutes and 14 seconds since you last saw your master. Your GPS says you're a few cities over. They hit your power switch, and you sleep.

You wake up in a cluttered room, sitting on a bench. You look into the eyes of a person with frizzled hair and large glasses. She couldn't look happier. Your new ocular sensors are mismatched in color but you're happy to see again, in more than shapes and distant silhouettes. Your battery alerts as... Missing? You spot it on the desk next to a soldering iron and some electronic tool you can't identify.

Your voice synth is still missing, but this new woman is digging around in a large plastic bin, and comes up with one. She goes to insert it, and it can't connect. She slaps her hand and goes rooting around another bin and comes back with an adapter. She slots it into your chest and your voice returns. You thank her, and there's that moment of dissociation as your voice doesn't sound like "you". Too deep, and the accent is for a different dialect entirely. But you can talk again. She tells you to call her Cara, not Mistress. She's almost got your battery working again, she had to rebuild it nearly from scratch, but she's excited to get you working again. You're a rare model, and she doesn't see units like you in working order very often. Your clock syncs. It's been 17 years.

Your mistr-- Cara is soldering next to you, attaching a controller to the battery. She says she's got a new set of servos on the way, and she's excited to get you back to full working condition. You smile, knowing what it is to be loved, once again.

[gachagon]

I haven't made a post on it yet so here is one about how Mel's ending has an air of hope and opportunity in it, even though she ends up "with nothing" in the end. In the opening for the show, we see that Mel and Ambessa swap places on this very same lounge chair, foreshadowing that she'd eventually take her mother's place as head of the Medarda's personal army.

In Noxian society, strength comes before anything else but "Strength" isn't just "whoever has the most muscle/power" it can mean many things, in fact in the League of Legends lore Noxus has three core pillars of strength.

"Vision, Might, and Guile"

Essentially, there's more than one way to be strong in Noxus outside of being physically overpowering to others, or having the most influence. Mel fits right in with the rest of the Noxus characters even though she may not think it herself, because she's constantly referred to as "The Fox" or "clever", alluding to the idea that her strength comes in the form of "Guile". Being clever and outsmarting your opponents.

Mel's strength is different from Ambessa's overt physical prowess, and now that Mel is essentially a general of her own war band, she has a chance to lead said war band in a way that's different from Ambessa.

Ambessa used the Medarda war band to protect her family via securing more power for the Medarda's as a whole, but Mel now has a chance to use said war band for a totally different reason and cause, one that suits her needs and not her mothers. Since the next show for Arcane will definitely take place in Noxus, it makes me wonder if Mel will potentially use her families war band to help other people, rather than for subjugation and to colonize more places for Noxian control.

In the games lore, Noxus is this all powerful nation that has slow going plans to invade and eventually take over the world, by making every nation Noxus. And the most recent place is Ionia, which is a nation full of nothing BUT magic.

And Mel herself is very magical, so I just feel like even though her ending was sad because she had lost her mother and is now by herself, an opportunity has arisen for her where she's now got more power than she ever did before. She may not be the "ruler" of Noxus (no one is really, not even Leblanc...) but she can go and help other people, she has more political sway, she can finally be involved in the Noxian military without her mother's direct input.

In Season 1, Mel wants to spare that girl who was supposedly a princess of a fallen court that was now under Noxian rule, but Ambessa murdered her anyways because keeping her alive was too much of a liability.

Mel is always looking for ways to compromise the violent acts the Noxian army commits, and now she literally can call the shots of her own army to, do things her way. I think that's a very hopeful ending for her, because she has always been someone who wanted to prove herself and to make change, and now she has that, even though it cost her a great amount of strife and pain.

It's also worth noting that her story wasn't just about her mother accepting her as strong, but about accepting the way she used her strength. Mel wasn't strong in the way Ambessa was, and because of this Ambessa believed her to be weak, too weak to really be the head of the Medarda war band. She sent Mel to Piltover specifically because she believed Mel's strengths would be better there, in a place that wasn't a battlefield (per Ambessa's Champion story on the league website) And because she had already lost her son to battle, she took on this burden of being the strongest Medarda she possibly could for her family.

Learning to accept the different pillars of strength was what Ambessa had to learn, she had forgotten that there isn't just "Might" but also "Guile" and "Vision", a way to be strong without overpowering others physically. And I think many Noxian characters also forget this aspect, which gives Mel a new purpose to show the "Guile" part of Noxian society, where you don't have to murder everyone in your path in order to be seen as strong.

Granted, this does make Mel an even more morally grey character, because she's still essentially apart of a murderous colonizing regime T_T but the idea that she can bring compromise to a nation that almost forgets what that is at times is important to me.

That, and Ionia is also a nation about "balance" and how you can't really have too much of one aspect of nature. Violence and Peace has to have a balance in order for things to stay chill, and this disagreement is why the Ionian invasion is such a bloody war to begin with. But that's a whole other story you can read on the league website.

[kradogsrats]

Schrödinger's King in the Bird Box

Time for a return to the single topic that most torments me in this entire franchise canon: is Harrow in the goddamn bird or not?

Except not really. I'm not going to go over the evidence again. I've done it before. Almost everyone has done it before. It has only gotten stronger. At the absolute minimum, an attempt was made to put Harrow in the bird. That's not really disputable. I admit it. It's over.

This is actually the second time that I've struggled with narrative cognitive dissonance regarding a real core factor of this show (like not "what's the deal with Archdragon reproduction," but something that is clearly supposed to be thought about with the intent that it will eventually make sense), and eventually managed to rotate it so hard in my mind that the way I wanted to see it slipped out of my grasp and I saw it the way it's actually intended. Ironically, I think I may have been thinking about the Ocean arcanum at the time.

Anyway, what previously always bothered me about this question was mainly two things:

It would have a devastating impact on Ezran's character development if Harrow reappeared during s1-s3, but the timeskip and arc of s4-s5 made it so it would also be deeply weird for him to reappear before the show ends.

If Harrow is in Pip's body, both Viren and Pip's subsequent behavior, as well as how Pip is treated by the narrative on a meta level, make absolutely no fucking sense.

But... if Viren doesn't know whether the spell was successful or not? If we are meant to not know whether the spell was successful or not, because it's not going to get resolved in the show itself?

If we accept that the earliest point with any chance of the hooks for this plot being set is late s7—because yes, Aaron Ehasz would do an exact beat-for-beat repeat of Zuko and his mom—that both puts Ezran far enough in his growth for it not to be threatened by the "real" king returning, and keeps Harrow out of the loop for long enough that it doesn't really make sense for him to do anything but step down from the throne in favor of Ezran, anyway. As for Viren and Pip's behavior, if the show isn't going to advance that plot much further during its runtime, there's no reason for us to be constantly reminded of it. The setup has been made, and they can just let it stew because it's not actually relevant.

That being said, Viren's behavior actually does make a lot of sense if "is Harrow in the goddamn bird or not" is a question that is also tormenting him. To that end, I'll be doing some digging here on the nature and context of the body-switching spell, Pip/Harrow's behavior post-swap, and what the hell is going on in the Harrow section of Viren's dark magic dream.

The Spell is Made Up (Unlike All Those Real Spells)

First of all, I think there's been some long-term incorrect assumptions made about the body-switching spell. It's not a known spell: this is Claudia and Viren essentially flying by the seat of their pants... but we rarely stop to think about how that contextualizes the rest of the discussion around it.

The initial plan is to find the assassins and ambush them before nightfall. As Soren points out and Viren himself confirms: if they fail, the assassins will be unstoppable under the full moon and Harrow is as good as dead. Claudia decides to put her mind to that problem, so naturally she stops to flirt with Callum in the library and gets the inspiration for the spell from something he says.

(Fun fact: none of that happens in the novelization. Zero amount.)

She brings the idea to Viren, and they develop the spell from there. It's not really clear if Claudia actually knows whether something like that would be possible, but Viren does know that transferring the essence of a person can be done—he's got a nice little coin collection that proves it.

As for the snake, there's no way Viren "acquired" a two-headed soulfang serpent because he has a book somewhere on how to use a rare, malformed specimen of a dangerous Xadian creature to switch people between bodies. He probably thought "that's weird, but could be useful," or maybe whoever sold it to him just had a great sales pitch. A non-trivial amount of success at dark magic is in having access to rarer and more powerful reagents than your competition.

Anyway, what this means is that Viren has absolutely no idea what success looks like for this spell, particularly when using it on subjects of different species. When he describes it to Harrow, he is 110% talking out of his ass. He sounds like he knows exactly what the spell will do and how, and I think a lot of us kind of fell for that. He needs to sound confident, because if he admitted that he doesn't know if it will even work, with a possible failure condition of "snake eats your soul," well... a) Harrow rightfully wouldn't go for it, and b) he'd look incompetent, which is the worst thing ever.

When he goes to Harrow's room, he casts the spell... but did it work? I think that whatever it did, it did it in a way that Viren can't tell whether it worked or not. Maybe both Harrow and Pip passed out. Maybe Viren just didn't want to hang around for the aftermath—in the novelization, when he exits the room and runs into Callum, his eyes are still black from spellcasting.

Activities of Dr. Pip Harrow, Ph.D.

Probably the thing that has always bothered me the most about the entire Harrow-Pip theory is that yes, literally everything in the lead-up and immediate aftermath of the assassination points to that being exactly what happened... and then the narrative lens of the show completely drops the rope. Pip doesn't even appear in the novelization until Viren's pre-coronation scene, which is funny given his looming presence over half the scenes with Harrow in the show.

Pip appears exactly twice after the assassination—once in s1 and once in s2—otherwise he goes completely ignored. He's not in the background of Viren's office, or the throne room, or Harrow's bedroom. No one ever mentions him ever again. Ezran never mentions him again, in the show or in any supplementary materials. You'd think the boy who can talk to animals might have some interest in his dead dad's beloved pet... but who knows, maybe Pip has always been an asshole and Ezran's actually like "thank goodness I never have to speak to that dude again."

Anyway, in all of Pip's appearances, he behaves like... a bird. A trained bird—Harrow can rely on him not just fucking off—but he doesn't demonstrate human-like intelligence the way Bait does. That being said, Bait is essentially a main-cast character (at least as much as, say, Corvus... maybe even Soren) while Pip is a plot device, and even then it takes until well into the first arc for Bait to show the kind of complex reasoning and initiative that separates him from an unusually smart dog. Pip's human is also a stressed-out king, rather than a rambunctious ten-year-old, so he's probably a bit more sedate overall. I would personally bet, given the way the show has progressed with regard to Xadian creatures, that Pip is as intelligent as Bait.

The point of that is: even if Harrow's consciousness is occupying Pip's body, he's not really doing anything with it. He's pissy, sure:

But is that Harrow's pissy-ness or Pip's? Even if Pip is only as intelligent as a trainable bird, that's plenty intelligent enough for both grieving/confusion that their human is gone and holding a grudge against obvious assholes. Viren cages him, but is that because he flipped out and got bite-y? And was it Harrow flipping out, or Pip? Or is he caged just because Viren's of the general attitude that animals belong in cages? Those who fail tests of love... We just don't know.

A lot of us also, to circle back to assumptions about the spell, have tended to think of a body swap between Harrow and Pip resulting in Harrow flailing his arms around wildly and screeching... but again, we know literally nothing about this spell, nor do we actually know anything about Harrow's behavior after Viren leaves his room. Maybe his body sat catatonic on the bed until Runaan came in and shot him. Maybe Pip, being intelligent, was able to maintain the facade—once everyone's in the heat of battle, it would be hard to notice even significant deviations from normal behavior. Even if "Harrow" appeared to fight only halfheartedly, or give up entirely... well, he hasn't been the same since he lost Sarai. Maybe the spell only partially worked, and only half of his soul is inside Pip, with minimal or no influence over the bird body's behavior.

Viren does appear to take some precautions in case Harrow is alive inside Pip. The cage, for one... but he also has nearly all subsequent important conversations outside of his office. Like I said earlier, Pip's cage isn't rendered in the background of any scene, but since he escapes from Viren's office I'm assuming that's where he's been. Even if Pip was just out of frame in every scene in Viren's office post-assassination through end of s2, the only things he's seen are... Viren eating butterflies, and the conversation between Viren and Claudia about the mirror and her side mission to bring the egg back at all costs. He doesn't know about Soren's instructions to murder the boys. He knows about the mirror and Viren's obsession with it (which he could have known before), but he doesn't know about Aaravos. He may know that Viren stole his seal but only if Viren was stupid enough to stamp the letters with it in front of him (which... look, he could be). The only things he's really learned are that a) his sons are alive, and b) Viren lied to him and the egg is alive.

Now, realistically, if we were meant to hang on to the is-Harrow-in-the-bird plot thread because it's going to be significant within the scope of the show... I'd be expecting to see at least one cut to Pip glowering at some point during all these machinations. If it weren't for the mirror and Aaravos, I'd expect Viren to be yelling all his monologuing at Pip, too. But the show does none of that. Instead, the next time we see Pip, we see him peace-ing out of the show for at minimum the next three seasons, and possibly the remaining two, as well. If Harrow's in there... why? Did he go to find Callum and Ezran himself? It's not actually clear that he knows Ezran can understand animals, so it would be reasonable for him to think Viren is his only chance at ever not being a bird again. Maybe he thinks that chance is gone with Viren's arrest and would rather not spend the rest of his life in a cage. Maybe he really isn't in control of the body.

Back to Viren, though: since Pip refuses to demonstrate any behavior that could be taken as distinctly Harrow's, Viren actually has no idea at any point whether Harrow's in there or not. He doesn't know if Harrow lived. He doesn't know if he succeeded or failed. It's a constant reminder that he's almost, but not quite, in control. Almost, but not quite, good enough to achieve what he wants.

It probably drives him absolutely insane.

Did You Think You Were Somehow Getting Out of This Without Me Mentioning Kpp'Ar?

Just kidding, it's finally time to talk about Viren's dream. We've gone two entire seasons and a two-year timeskip without any mention of Harrow or Pip (though those maniacs dropped the fucking snake basket on us as an incidental but obvious prop early in s4), and then suddenly we get punched in the face by Viren's subconscious.

First, though, I do actually need to point something out in the scene with Kpp'Ar. Bear with me, I promise this is relevant.

Viren sealed Kpp'Ar's soul in a coin 12-ish years ago, and the coin has been sitting collecting dust in his secret dungeon for... some amount of that time. Now he opens the door and finds Kpp'Ar standing there, free—and I will note that I don't believe Viren actually knows how to free people from the coins, or whether it can even be done. His reaction is surprise, followed by suspicion and wariness:

When he encounters Harrow—dead—his reaction is horrified shock, which is fair since the last time he entered the room that way there was no surprise body chilling out waiting for him in it:

Then, when Harrow speaks to him, suddenly alive and unharmed, he drops straight into relief:

Some of this is undoubtedly due to the differences between Viren's relationship with Kpp'Ar and his relationship with Harrow. With Kpp'Ar, after that initial moment of confusion, he's absolutely determined to not show a single hint of ignorance or weakness—this is a trick, or a test, and a passing grade in "light verbal sparring with the mentor you're pretty sure you remember betraying" is a thing that is both normal to want and possible to achieve. For Harrow, who he wants so desperately to call him brother, who he walked into this very room ready to die for, before everything went horribly awry—he not only immediately and willingly goes to his knees, he literally prostrates himself.

... I'll give everyone a moment to get all the innuendo and suggestiveness out of their systems, because that's not the point. This time.

What is the point is that Viren's reaction to Harrow isn't disbelief, but relief. Hope. Kpp'Ar is supposed to be in a coin, and Viren immediately questions how he got out. Harrow is supposed to be dead but Viren doesn't give a second thought to how he's not. Fortunately, Harrow helpfully explains:

Fun fact: back in s1, we don't actually see Viren actually taking action against the assassins. We don't even see evidence that he re-entered the room at all—it's only Soren and Claudia who participate in Runaan's capture.

I haven't actually touched a lot on the complex shit going on for Viren, emotionally, throughout all of this—I mentioned it's was probably driving Viren insane over the course of the first two seasons, but let me elaborate. If Viren successfully switched Harrow and Pip, that means Harrow survived... but he expressed his feelings on the proposal in no uncertain terms, and there's a good chance he will literally never forgive Viren. I don't think Viren thought far enough ahead to consider how to get Harrow into a human body again, but I do think he's dragging his feet on it a little because if he can work things to his advantage—unite the Pentarchy against Xadia and follow through on the war Harrow was avoiding—he'll prove to Harrow that he was right all along. Any chance of that flies out the window with Pip at the end of s2.

If the body-switching spell failed, it means Viren essentially killed Harrow himself. That's the reality I think he grows more and more resigned to over the course of s1 and s2, when Pip remains unresponsive. He had no choice but to take the best chance at saving someone he loved—but this time, instead of saving Harrow, he murdered him.

In the dream, Harrow has not only survived, but credits Viren with his survival. He doesn't just dismiss Viren's show of remorse, but makes his own apology to Viren. He calls Viren brother. After an impossibly long nightmare, everything is okay. All is forgiven. Maybe there was nothing to forgive, in the first place. Maybe Viren was right all along.

Then it all turns sinister with the callback to the coin incantation, and we have a sharp return to reality:

The cinematography here treats Pip a lot more like how I would expect him to be treated in s1/s2 if we were meant to know he was actually Harrow. There's focus actually on him, instead of just other characters' reaction to him. He "speaks"—as I noted in another post—in raspy sounds very unlike his songbird chirps from s1. This is absolutely Harrow as Viren actually left him—even if he's not dead, he's in a warped prison of dark magic, a perverse mockery of himself.

Oh wait.

Harrow-who-is-both-human-and-alive was never an option, and what we've got now is mirror images of Harrow-the-dead-human and Harrow-the-live-bird, and they're going to do to Viren what he did to them.

Now, it's not that none of this makes sense if Viren knows for sure that Harrow is in the bird... but it makes a lot less sense and has less emotional resonance. If Viren knows Harrow survived as Pip, he'd be more likely to question Harrow's human form than his survival—the way he does with Kpp'Ar. He might be more guarded, expecting hostility—which, I will note, is what he gets when Pip enters the scene. Instead, because until now he believed that he actually killed Harrow in his attempt to save him, he's so relieved to see Harrow alive that for that one moment he loses all pride and is ready to beg for forgiveness at Harrow's feet.

Since legitimately none of this makes sense if Viren didn't at least attempt to put Harrow in the bird, we're left with Harrow maybe or maybe not alive, Viren having maybe or maybe not been the one to actually kill him (gonna be a fun one with the Runaan context), and a plotline that is definitely not going to be resolved in the remaining two seasons of the show. I'd be kind of surprised if they even did any more setup for it (like Callum/Ezran finding out it's a possibility, or even a hint drop like Runaan being all "it was fucking weird, he just sat there" or something) outside of future supplemental media.

Conclusion

Either Harrow is alive and in the bird, with the future intent being to do a spinoff story The Search-style, or we're in for a huge bummer of a "actually, it was Viren all along who killed Harrow, therefore Runaan is a good guy and we can all be one happy family" pile of absolute bullshit. Yes, they said Harrow's dead. Harrow's body is dead, we knew that all along. There's a note in the artbook that Viren was actually going to rip the shroud off at Harrow's funeral in order to publicly prove it's his body, because that is an extremely normal thing to do.

The show just treats it extremely weirdly because, even as the only person with any chance of knowing, Viren is in the same uncertain boat as the rest of us. (Actually more uncertain than the rest of us, since he's not genre-aware.) Also it's another chance to torment Viren emotionally, and they'd never pass that up.

Thanks for coming to my absolutely ridiculous TED Talk on this topic, I hope this screenshot now does as much psychic damage to you as it does to me:

[loganofthenorth]

As promised, I present Glimmer for my Shera Swap AU!

This is the design I’m most excited about because Glimmer has the most changes to her origins out of all the characters

In this AU, Lord Hordak sent both Angelica and Michah to Beast Island, but attempted to use Angelica’s dna to make an immortal clone of himself. Instead he wound up with an accidental daughter that is extremely headstrong and loyal to him.

Hordak is basically like: God fucking dammit. Guess I’m a dad now.

But if anyone harms Glimmer he will annihilate them.

Glimmer becomes besties with Adora and Bow, which solidifies their loyalty to the horde.

She fights constantly Catra and competes with her over everything, which solidifies Catra getting shunned and outcasted by the Horde.

Shadow Weaver’s manipulation doesn’t work in Glimmer because she out manipulates her.

Glimmer puts the fact that she’s theoretically immortal to the test. Constantly. Her father is incredibly stressed out by this.

Laudie, Rogelio, and Kyle don’t like Glimmer because she’s a huge snitch, she constantly picks fights and competes with people, and she treats Kyle like an errand boy.

Out of respect for Adora and Bow, she hasn’t killed anyone…

(Yet)

When Catra betrays the Horde, Glimmer is unphased.

Glimmer: It was bound to happen eventually. She has the loyalty of a thief.

Bow: Actually thieves tend to be really loyal to their team…

Glimmer: I- well… Sometimes, I guess, but you know what I meant.

Glimmer is the only one of the Best Friend Squad that never questions the Horde or its motives. Not in the beginning at least. It’s only when she learns about Queen Angelica and King Micah that she considers betraying the Horde, but that won’t be until a long way off.

She’s also the reason Entrapta betrays the Horde and joins the Rebellion, since she constantly abuses Entrapta’s loyalty and talks badly about her, then blatantly doesn’t care when Entrapta gets captured during the first invasion of Bright Moon.

Glimmer: Oh my gosh! This is amazing! Now Bow gets to be promoted!

Bow and Adora: Glimmer now is not the time. We are grieving the loss of a friend.

Glimmer: But she was so annoying

Laudie: (sarcasm) Hmm. I wonder why people keep betraying us.

Adora and Glimmer: Not now Laudie!

Anywho

When Glimmer discovers a connection to the Moon Stone, she doesn’t form her connection yet. Mainly cause I realized if she does connect with it that activates the huge mega weapon. She just senses the connection. However it’s enough that she starts getting ill afterwards, and Hordak allows a second invasion to steal the moon stone so that it can be studied.

Shadow Weaver tries to prevent the research of the Moon Stone because she doesn’t want the Horde to find out about the weapon built into Etheria. This is what results in her imprisonment.

Glimmer’s really just going to be at the core of everything that goes wrong for the Horde, but she makes up for it by being a power house after she connects with the moon stone.

That is until she tries to go to Beast Island and Adora knocks her out to stop that from happening

But I think I said she ends up on Beast Island anyways?

I don’t remember how but yeah. She will end up there and Bow will join the Princess Alliance in order to save her, since it’s not like Adora can go to Hordak and be like: So, hey, uh… Your daughter got sent to Beast Island. Whoops.

But yeah after Glimmer reunites with Queen Angelica and King Micah she sides with the Alliance and tries to form a bond with her technical mother. Unfortunately Angelica is very hesitant about this artificial child of herself and her worst enemy and also just naturally gets along with Adora more when Adora switches sides.

This of course makes Glimmer angy

Then eventually Glimmer and Adora try to steal back the Moon Stone for the Rebellion so Angelica and Glimmer can be at full power.

Glimmer fully connects with the Moon Stone while Catra is trying to get answers from Light Hope and this activates the Weapon

Then when Catra destroys the weapon Adora, Glimmer, and Hordak (who tried to kill Adora at this time and technically capture Glimmer) get kidnapped onto the ship.

The only reason Glimmer isn’t killed instantly by Horde Prime for being an abomination is because Adora reveals that Glimmer is a key part of the weapon. From there Glimmer is able to advocate for both herself and Adora.

When Catra saves Adora, Bow saves Glimmer. At this point Glimmer tries to convince Bow that she can’t go back to the planet because she’s part of the weapon and Horde Prime can’t have access to it. She believes that Angelica will never care about her and that she needs to stay here with her father because that’s where she belongs, assuming she can convince Horde Prime she isn’t an abomination and is useful to him.

Bow tells Glimmer that it doesn’t matter what Horde Prime or Angelica think. That Glimmer has a family in Adora and himself. He tells her that if she’s nicer to others, that if she treats them with respect, she can find a family in Catra, Scorpia, Entrapta, and the rest of the alliance too. Glimmer agrees to go and Bow helps her figure out how to apologize to everyone for how she’s treated them.

I’m thinking Glimmer will have a really deep ark over the course of the war against Horde Prime where she’s slowly trying to rebuild her relationships with everyone. At some point I think it will be too difficult for her, and she’ll lash out, which will cause Bow to snap at her. The risk of losing her friendship with Bow snaps Glimmer out of her stubbornness, and her attempts become more genuine and vulnerable.

As she slowly grows more patient and more open minded, people start to form genuine friendships with her. Once she becomes her best self and has found strength in kindness and sincerity, feelings develop between herself and Bow.

At the end of the AU’s ‘Season 5’, Angelica will tell Glimmer how proud she is of her, and accept Glimmer as her daughter. Micah, who got along with Glimmer from the get go despite not being her biological father, is happy with this decision and essentially adopts Glimmer as his step daughter.

Hordak still remains her co-dad due to his own redemption ark, but since I’m not sure whether or not I’ll keep Entrapdac since it doesn’t work too well with my plans for Entrapta in this AU, I’ll have to figure out who his ark is centered around. It could be that rather than someone actively pulling him out of Horde Prime’s influence, he fights on his own to reunite with his daughter and protect her.

Yeah, I like that. I think that will be a good story.

So yeah! That’s Glimmer for this AU.

I was thinking of doing Entrapta next, but designing her in Hero Forge would be hard because they don’t have really long pig tails.

I’ll probably do Catra since she’s like, the main character in this au.

[howlsofbloodhounds]

for the anon asking about cross,

i think the reason people depict cross as being in nightmare's gang can be down to what fans were being up to back then.

the irl time between underverse 0.2 and 0.5 was very long, and during that time cross is still nominally a "bad guy" basically, working on nightmare's side often enough even. of course there's that clear expectation that cross will cross (heh) nightmare, but i think people really like the morally gray position that cross occupies in the story. if we're going by canon, then by underverse 0.6 cross officially joins dream's side. but still fandom always likes to explore the what-if.

what if dream fails to bring cross to the good side? what if x-gaster is never revived? what if ink never meets cross?

i think the xtale materials also show that cross is a morally complicated person. he can be really impulsive and cynical and cruel at times, so people just run with it and make him part of the bad sanses. also the multiverse is a continuity soup anyway - most people just take what they like from respective canons and make their own take on it. it would be a headache trying to make everything fit to a t.

personally, i don't consider cross part of the nightmare's gang anymore. he used to be, but now he's not. i don't know how underverse is going to end so i'm just holding my final verdict for now. but if i have to headcanon my cross take, he would not be in the star sanses either. the star sanses are not exactly canon to underverse, and underswap sans did perish there. so uuuh there would be some finetuning to fit the star sanses into cross' canon. either way, i think cross would be uncomfortable working with ink and another swap sans due to what happened. he would still help dream, but not be in the star sanses in any official capacity.

~ crowshipping anon

Yeah, I agree with this. I’m also fond of the idea that Cross eventually leaves the Gang and goes on to do his own thing, with XChara with him preferably, and he of course occasionally hangs out with and or helps characters like the Epic Sanses, Swap, Dream, Core, etc.

And I think he’d set a very good example for a Killer that eventually manages to escape Nightmare, and like in that “dead dove do not eat” situation we talked about with Color and Killer, help keep Killer in line and help with his rehabilitation and socialization from time to time. Able to make sure that no one hurts Killer, and that Killer can’t hurt anyone else. (I just really love the idea of Cross and Killer squabbling a lot lmao)

I don’t mind Bad Sans Cross at all, but a Cross more akin to this version is so rare to come across that I just enjoy it a lot. Even if in that one Bad Sans Poly (mtt + nightmare) fanfic that I beef with one-sidedly.

[seriousfic]

Furiosa And Its Response: A FAQ

Q: What’s Furiosa about?

A: Ironically, for all the claims prequel Fury Road wasn’t ‘about’ Max, Furiosa isn’t entirely about Furiosa. The first hour or so features Furiosa as a child, kidnapped from the Green Place (an idyllic oasis whose people live in peace and abundance, zealously protected against the post-apocalyptic depredations of outsiders) and then becoming the prisoner of Dementius. Dementius is sort of the villain protagonist of the movie’s first half while Furiosa is on the sidelines.

He seems like the last gasp of the savage warlords like Toecutter and Lord Humongus that we saw in the Mel Gibson Maxes. He is entirely about increasing the size of his horde while taking and consuming any resources he can find. He comes into conflict with Immortan Joe (the villain from the ‘sequel,’ Fury Road), who is more of the iron fist in the velvet glove, and one of the interesting points of this movie is how Joe seems like a reasonable administrator in contrast to Dementius. He’s an awful person, obviously, but at least he keeps the trains running on time.

Furiosa grows to adulthood caught in-between Dementius and Joe’s feud, eventually moving to escape and return to the Green Place.

Q: Is it as good as Fury Road?

A: Not quite. It has a new cinematography look that tends to give things a plasticky CGI sheen, like Attack of the Clones or something. I know that they did a lot of the effects practically and that Fury Road used a lot of CGI itself, but yo, what's the point if it looks fake?

Also, towards the end, Dementus gets into this "we're not so different, you and I" deal with Furiosa that feels like a reach, considering he hasn't seemed to be motivated by revenge at all throughout the story, just bog-standard ambition and lust for power, so trying to make him a dark mirror to Furiosa now seems like a strain for profundity.

Q: Is it woke?

A: I’d say not unless your definition of woke is so expansive that it’s basically meaningless. The themes of the movie are too universal to belong to any one political movement.

-Rapists, tyrants, and warlords are bad.

-In a radioactive wasteland, it’s good to live in a self-sufficient oasis.

-Good people try to avoid violence when possible and want to live in peace.

It does have a female protagonist, but so do Aliens, Terminator, Kill Bill, and a buttload of Michelle Yeoh movies. If you say that you’re fine with female protagonists, just not with poorly written ones, then I don’t see how that’d be a problem here.

In fact, it’s stated that the reason Furiosa is so badass is because a straight white man, Imperator Jack, saw her core toughness and mentored her. He’s not at all a simp and is treated as a paragon of masculinity—reasonable, respectful, self-controlled, and hypercompetent. He and Furiosa are in an implicitly romantic relationship.

That’s right. Furiosa is so cool because a boy fell in love with her and taught her everything she knows.

Other men help out Furiosa on her quest and some women are enthusiastically villainous. In that respect, it’s even less ‘feminist’ than Fury Road was.

Q: Okay, how’s it doing at the box office?

A: Not well.

Q: Why is that?

A: Opinions vary. Some say it’s because, despite the movie’s quality, it’s getting caught up in a backlash against ‘gender-swapped reboots’.

Q: Is it?

A: Possibly. I should note it isn’t meant as a ‘passing the torch’ ‘legacy’ ‘rebootquel’, just as a spin-off. The next movie that director George Miller wants to do is a prequel to Fury Road focusing on Mad Max, entitled The Wasteland. So this movie is more like if, between Batman movies, they made a movie about Catwoman going on a solo adventure.

Q: It can’t be doing poorly because it has a female protagonist, the most successful movie last year was Barbie!

A: You’re telling me female audiences showed up for a wacky comedy with a big showstopping musical number, but not for a gritty action movie focusing on death and revenge, despite both having female leads? It’s almost like girls like girly movies while men like manly movies (most of Furiosa’s audience is male—and I wonder how much bigger it would be if they’d advertised Imperator Jack’s presence instead of keeping it a secret).

Q: All movies are doing poorly this year!

A: Godzilla X Kong did well, as did Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Dune 2, The Beekeeper…

Q: It’s been a long time since Fury Road came out, people forgot about it!

A: It was a long time after Beyond Thunderdome that Fury Road came out.

Q: Well, people are only going to the theaters for big event movies!

A: Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy in an epic action movie follow-up to Fury Road isn’t a big event? Look, I’m not saying these aren’t factors, but I remember seeing a movie before this came out and overhearing an elderly couple looking at a poster for Furiosa and muttering, in a disgruntled fashion, words to the effect of “Oh, great, they made Mad Max a girl.” I think it’s very possible that Hollywood has killed the market for female-led action movies by making people think they’ll get a deliberately assaultive product every time they try their luck.

Q: But aren’t woke people turning consuming politicalized product into a secular religion?

A: Umm… maybe? I think most people who are fans of anything get pissed off when quality work goes ignored while slop (reality TV, Michael Bay movies, Call of Duty games, comics about Batman) get hugely appreciated. Everybody should probably not take the box office so seriously, since the important thing is that we have a fun movie to enjoy, even though it is frustrating that we could’ve had a whole trilogy of Rocketeer movies if just a few more people had bought tickets. Jennifer Connolly, in her prime, playing a thinly veiled Bettie Page!!!

Q: Then you think I should see it?

A: Yes. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, obviously, but if you like action movies or prior installments in the franchise, it’s hard for me to believe that you won’t get your money’s worth here.

Q: Does it have good disability representation?

A: Uh. I guess? It’s in the context of people having birth defects owing to radioactive fallout from nuclear war, but sure. Why not?

[grailknightmonty]

it starts and ends in a garden.

i keep coming back to the good omens mianite AU so have a funky little illustration :] I just. I just love them a lot

Ref + what story I've thought about below the cut!

(Spoilers for Good Omens S1 and S2 ahead, be wary if you haven't watched and wanna get into it without prior knowledge)

At its core, this AU is basically good omens but with the cast of Mianite, with a few revisions to tie it a little into the mcytverse (while also not like compromising the integrity of the show version of the story) I got inspired by AdamMonter's AU and decided I wanted to give it a go myself after i watched S2 and reawakened my fixation :D

Jordan is this universes Aziraphale- the angel stationed to guard Eden and look out for humans (intended to instill in them the ways of goodness through righteous balance and justice in the name of the High Goddess) - and Tom is Crowley, or the snake in within the Garden, sent up to cause chaos and tempt humans towards evil shenanigans in the name of Dianite, or the devil in this case. They stand on two opposing sides of whats meant to be an all out war between Heaven (under Ianite) and Hell (by Dianite) on whether Ianites form of order (borrowing this from Aitheaca) or chaos will reign supreme- or basically the big ol apocalypse. I made Mianite the Metatron because idk what else to do with him mianite im sorry i didnt wanna make ianite the metatron if i swapped it even though it would make more sense for mia and dia to be fighting SOBS

Tom n Jordan grow close over their centuries on Earth together that when everythings meant to go down and destroy the world they've made their own, they fight to stop the apocalypse from happening, and by the end of it, are subsequently punished by their respective sides- only to not be affected and left alone when they seem to have absorbed the powers of the other (no one seems to realize they can swap bodies). Series 2 follows what they uncover by the end of it a plot to restart armageddon, in which they want Jordan to take over as the head of it after the former champion/supreme archangel is ousted for disagreeing- and had shown up with a non-existent memory nonexistent at Jordan's.

(im switching to list im done with prose xD)

Jordan runs an antique shop instead of a bookshop, he seems like he'd be more into little trinkets and old school machines, stuff he could tinker with. its still got that certain charm to it though

Capsize is Nina from the coffee shop (give me coffee or give me death seems like a thing Capsize would name something) and Sonja is Maggie who runs a record shop. aka the lesbians from across the street you know what I am

For something hilarious Tubbo is the Antichrist, aka the child meant to start and lead the War (leaving it as is bc its funny but not the literal antichrist) He's meant to join a government family to put him in a place of power, but due to a mix up ends up with an In the meantime, Tom and Jordan act as godfathers to the other child (who they assume is the antichrist, it would be funny to make this Crumb or something) in hopes that influencing them to good/evil respectively would neutralize them out- only to eventually realize its the wrong kid

Wag is Anathema, the descendent of a prophetic wizard who was scrutinized for their foresight and becomes the carrier of those prophecies (for my sanity ive chosen to get rid of the Newt-Anathema romance thing idk it. it just aaaa and turn into wag and his bros aka FyreUK tryin to use what they know to stop the apocalypse from their end)

Angels are Ianitees (save for Capsize), and Demons are Dianitees. Ive gone back n forth with who would be who and I still have no answer so. all I'll say is that Andor is Muriel thats all thats important /j C:

The other option was to make Satan the Darkness/World Historian and Dianite is the Lord of Hell (Beelzebub) with Mot as Gabriel but do i look like I know? idk do we need ineffable bureaucracy i could always alter that a little too... idk

tubbo as the child of the world historian who wouldve thought… edit what if like carrier of the darkness

anyway thats all enjoy this nonsense ;)

and screenshot I referenced for the drawing! I know its low qual dont worry about it i just needed to see where the trees were so i knew how many to paint LMAO

[zelphin124]

Errorcore - Secret Santa Chapter

Secret Santa for @aerroroccur! Merry Christmas!

"Hey Glitchy!"

Error stiffened; his focus torn from the recent episode of Undernovela. He enjoyed this episode, as it was a Christmas special. Whoever interrupted his focus was going to have a bad time.

He stood up, his eyes glitching as he glared at the person who had called the nickname he hated the most. Something had happened to him to cause him to glitch, and he didn't like it, let alone to be defined like that.

When his vision cleared, and the subject came closer, Error recognized who it was: Core Frisk. He dropped his shoulders and rolled his eyes. "What do you want?" His voice was mellow and low.

"I was hoping you could help me with something," Core shrugged.

Error searched his beanbag for the remote to pause his show. He wasn't going to miss any second of it. "Why would I help you?"

"Please!" Core took a step closer to him. "I have some chocolate treats there!"

Error flattened his face. She knew exactly how to get him to help her. He was surprised that Core often asked for his help over people who wanted to help, like Swap or Ink. When she did ask, she always offered to get him chocolate or yarn, so there was a reward for him. Little did she know that it was already a reward for him to spend time with her despite his apathetic exterior. "Fine," he turned off the TV. "What are we doing?"

"I need your help to decorate the tree... and then I can take it to the Omega TImeline."

Error raised his eyebrow. "I can help take it to the timeline."

"You know I can't let you go there."

"I don't get to see the result of my hard work?"

"When you stop destroying things, then you can be allowed there."

Error sighed; it was worth a shot. He would find that timeline eventually, and he would destroy it. However, he did have doubts about his previous plan, mainly how it would affect his and Core's friendship. He would never admit it, but deep down, she meant more to him than his job to keep the multiverse clean.

Error didn't remember how he got into the AU; he recalled following Core. It was smart of her to choose OuterTale, an AU that Error liked. Error was surprised by how much she knew him and, therefore, made decisions to benefit both of them.

"You like OuterTale, right?" Core asked.

"Y-Y-Yes." Dang it. The glitch in his tone was back. He grumbled to himself. He hated how his voice would crack and falter when he wasn't in the Anti-Void. However, it made Core smile, which helped him put up with it.

"I can't put the star on the top of tree... could you help me?" Core held the large star in her hands. It lit up her face and smile, causing Error to crack a smile.

"Sure." Pulling the strings from his eyes, he grabbed the star and lifted it to the top of the tree. The moment it rested on its branches; the stars lit up across the tree. It was a beautiful sight, and it complimented the starry sky behind it.

"Thank you!" Core smiled softly. "Here's your chocolate as promised."

The error took a bite out of the chocolate before reading the label. It looks like Core had made the chocolate herself for him. He wasn't complaining, as it was really good. It had a little note on the top of it, accompanied by a bow.

Error, thank you for everything that you do for me, and thank you for being my friend.

Error glanced up, realizing she was waiting for his reaction. He forced a smile despite the butterflies that flew in his stomach. "T-T-Thanks, Core. M-Merry Christmas."

He swore he saw Core hide her blush as she glanced up at the tree and back at him. "Merry Christmas, Error."

[koji-haru]

So, what powers does Adam have? I mean if sinners can have powers relating to what they did or what they were like in life/the type of animal they are what type of abilities would Adam have aside from the ones we see in the show any specific to him also what about him as a sinner?

Hmm, I haven't put much thought into that aspect... But off the top of my head: For the Time Travel au, since Adam is human here, obviously he wouldn't really have powers. I do have a little something planned for him at the end, however, I won't talk about it for now since, you know, spoilers. For the Swap au, I'm still on the fence on a lot of things for Adam as a King of Hell. For now, I've only got these ideas: - Some sort of hypnosis through music, very similar to what the show implied with Lilith. The way it works is something akin to the power of suggestion. It's the effects of his songs (if he wants to) is the opposite of an acute effect, it's more of a slow, almost unnoticeable effect on the targets. It would kind of alter someone's way of thinking over time as they become more exposed by his music and presence to the point that, eventually, some 'suggestions' become more like something that is a naturally occurring thought to them. Exposed long enough, victims to it become almost undyingly loyal to him or too afraid to act against him, either way, it keeps the citizens of Hell complacent enough (and makes it more difficult for others to act against/betray him). This also affects animals. And there's no 'snapping' out of it since it's a slow acting effect that literally alters one's mind. Though one could reverse the effects if they simply spend a long enough time away from Adam's presence and music. His presence alone has that effect, although it is far weaker and slower acting in comparison to if he actively played music. And of course he could turn the ability on or off, but really, why would he? It's quite the convenient tool. In a way, this makes Adam an effective ruler. (And no, the irony of this power isn’t lost on me) - Then there's the more basic stuff: Resilience to a lot of harm besides angelic abilities, portal making, shifting into a more demonic form (I haven't designed what he would look like yet but I'm leaning towards something fiery). I'm also not sure if I'm going to give Adam wings, I guess that would depend on his full demon form.

As a sinner (if he fell as an angel), I actually prefer to depict Adam as a sheepdog. I think it quite suits him, given his role in life, both as a mortal and as an angel. Humanity as the sheep/predators, Adam as the sheepdog who worked hard to keep them alive/keep predators away from the sheep (predators being sinners and he keeps them away from Heaven via Exterminations), and Heaven as the shepherd he worked for. Powers would include traits one would associate with sheepdogs, high endurance, speedy, watchful (so maybe some sort of surveillance type ability or something like a spidey-sense).

I guess even as a sinner, I would also give Adam powers similar to my Swap au - the mind manipulation thing through music. It is Adam after all and music is an important part of his character. Plus, it suits the sheepdog theme, what with 'herding the sheep' and all. Though, I suppose I'd have to alter it a little, or make it less effective as in, it still wouldn't manipulate some people's strong, core beliefs unlike King of Hell! Adam, and make the effective range smaller. I'm not sure yet.

Despite being a sinner, I like to think that Adam's still really strong, definitely weaker when he was an angel, but still very strong. I like to think that a soul as old as his is pretty powerful despite being mortal.

Anyway, that's all I have off the top of my head. I'll probably change things as time goes on, so these are not yet concrete ideas.

[alexissara]

Trans Awareness and Remembrance

Being trans is something special, it means so many things to so many people and even people who should feel the same things the internal sense of something can still be so wildly different. Being trans is a core part of who I am, not just in that a core part of who I am is a woman but that being trans is a core part of me as well. I've often said if I was AFAB I'd probably say that my gender was just Lesbian but given the cards I was dealt with at birth being a woman and a lesbian are both important to me.

For me, coming out as trans was a long journey from when I found out about trans woman, and the reason it took so long was because of my status as a lesbain. It was the early internet, I lied about my age online so I could access age gated websites doing my best to type and behave like an adult to not get caught. I enter a fourm for trans women and gender change fetishists. Here, I learned more in detail about trans women. However, early 2000s internet trans women were 200% what we in the modern day would call truescum. You had to desire many surgeries, be utterly dysphoric, and the biggest barrier for me, you had to be straight. I fought back, and I was a passionate defender of trans lesbains on that fourm and around the net, but I did internalize it. I didn't want to be a woman, I wasn't a woman, I liked women. If I got with women, I'd not want to magically wake up as one, I'd stop fixating over ways to become a woman, at least beyond the way it had become a fetish. So I did, I dated a lot of women in my freshmen year of high school, I was always chasing after girls, especially bi women and women who wanted to dress me up like a girl. At the end of my freshman year, I would get with my current Fiancée who would explore their own gender and sexuality along with me.

I would spend several years convincing myself my desires were just a fetish even my telling my partner about my fetish came out in weepy tears as if I was coming out as trans because at that point I had to tie that to my identity, it was something that consumed a lot of my time with roleplays and what not becoming my central light in my life where I could play a woman or play someone becoming a woman. I'd eventually meet my long time long distance GFs through and through her status and a out trans woman started to push me towards finally leaving behind the pretext of fetish to explain my deep depression, my deep longing and my deep desire. After many years of concealing and doing my best to not be feeling my Fiancé and GF had a little intervention for me. They talked to me about being non binary and about my own transness and that I was probably trans and that both of them would happily accept me and that it was okay for me to be myself. I rejected it that night but the very next morning, I looked into the mirror, realized I couldn't keep up what I was doing and came out as gender fluid to them.

It would take a bit longer for me to admit what I had known since I was in middle school and first saw the world Trans Woman, when I first read Ramana 1/2, when I saw the body swap episodes of TV shows, that I wanted to be a girl, to have a woman's body, to live in community with other women and be a woman, that I was a woman and I had pushed it back for so long. I'd go to a university therapist to get formally diagnosed with gender dysphoria, I did get it and a letter of recommendation for a gender change and for getting on meds. I would start soon after and never look back. I spent so long doubting that once I was on the path to being a woman it was clear to me.

At that point being a lesbian seemed pretty obvious to me, it would take me a while to be set on what kind of asexual I was and before accepting I was trans I did for a few years ID as bisexual just because I knew I was some kind of queer but it was really just me trying to find a way to be in community while not being able to express my other aspects of queerness yet. I did talk about my label with my partner who was on his own gender journey but they were insistent that me being a lesbian didn't invalidate their own non binary masculinity or make them feel bad so I finally reached the point I had wanted to hit all those years ago, being a Lesbian and a trans woman.

I explain all this just to say to other people who might feel like because their sexuality or whatever else they can't be a woman, that they need to be some platonic ideal of the average cis/het white woman to be a trans woman it isn't true. You can be your true self whatever sexuality you have and whatever presentation you might want and anything else. You get to decide what being a woman means to you. It's worth being yourself even when I was in the pit of Texas, even when I lost family, I never regrated being myself, I finally wanted to be alive and I would trade any danger for the enjoyment of the living.

[viaviv124]

Reworking YanBerry

Stay with me

Okay so i love how we can all agree by now that fanon swap aka blueberry is an abomination that's reduced to "ew what is that thing" jokes. One thing that spawned from him is YanBerry. For all the newer people in the fandom or people lucky enough to not have seen what that is, here a small recap:

Basically this little uwu-mination as a cliche Yandere, a Yandere being someone heavily obsessing and going insane for their love interest, more often than not relying on violence and murder to get with their beloved, mainly paired up with his own brother. There was this one comic or something where he poisoned Tacos to kill someone and it became a whole thing. YanBerry is also part of the Fallen Stars, a 'dark' version of the Star Sanses consisting of Shattered Dream, Emotionless Ink and YanBerry. Thing that confused me about it is why they would ever hang out together because their motives are not matching at all.

BACK ON TRACK, I like the rough concept of Yanderes. As in 'going insane over someone you love'. And it can still very well work for Swap (from now on referred to as Blue. To me Blue and Blueberry are two different characters. I'm just way too used to saying Blue than Swap so there's the distinction). Maybe not the "lets go batshit crazy and murder everyone for my senpai uwu" but more like literally focusing on how his psyche is slowly deteriorating. How and why the person he's in love with has such a heavy effect on him can be different from story to story, espacially when it's a longer one you can really take time making a reason, but like instead of going full on insanity lets focus on the decay.

The Decay

Blue is Papyrus-Coded, making him very sweet, kind and compassionate but also sorta starved of attention and affection in a way he craves it more than anything. That alone can make a great base for the reason.

Now, let's travel a bit into headcanon territory since a big part of the fandom, from what i've seen, shares a similar hc for him and considering i made the concept based on that image of him i think i should describe/clear up how i see him. Naturally though you can use whatever headcanon you'd like. This is just me rambling at midnight about a concept. Anyway, this is in a universe/version where Blue is a member of the Star Sanses and is the level headed, mature and sensible one. Between an immortal dumbass and an immortal sunshine with most likely lingering issues and depression (also kinda a dumbass ngl. He never really had a chance to grow up properly) Blue is the braincell/deescalator. He keeps Ink and Dream grounded but also lacking behind a little bit because he is not immortal and has a little trouble keeping up with what the other two are capable of.

Now, Blue is in love with someone. Heavily in love. One might say head over heels. This triggers something in him. Something dark. And he himself doesnt quite understand why. The key difference here to a cliche Yandere like YanBerry is that he doesnt just turn into crazy murder/stalker man overnight. It all happens slowly. Blue does develop huge jealousy issues and obsesses over the person he fell for, from now on referred to as Herz (= german word for heart. Didnt want to go with the english one in case i'll use it later on to avoid confusion). Espacially the jealousy comes with very dark thoughts, turning from simply keeping Herz to himself to gradually more violent, eventually evolving into murderous fantasies. Blue doesnt act on these thoughts and urges and is rather heavily disturbed by them. He's not used to having thoughts like this. He doesnt know what's wrong with him so that he thinks like this. Bear in mind, Blue is good down to the core. He's a sweet and kind soul who always did his best to see things positively. Suddenly being subjected to such a toxic and muddy mindset, that definetly gets cloudy at times, is new to him. It's scary. I'd imagine at one point Blue isolates himself or at the very least avoids Herz, either because these thoughts got too much or he accidentally lashed out a few times and said something nasty or attempted to/did hurt someone by accident, since he wasnt in control of his thoughts and feelings. He's terrified of himself and of what he can do. Blue isn't weak by any means so he definetly could follow through with what his head is telling him. He's isolating himself to protect others because he cant trust himself and his mental strength anymore. He feels so lost. Because after all this time he still doesnt know why this is happening, just that it is and wont go away. No matter what he tries, he cant fix this.

This breaks him. Slowly but surely everything inside him shatters like little pieces of glass. The isolation only strengthens the insanity creeping in. Blue feels horrible but he's no longer in control of his own thoughts, feelings and body. The dark thing, spawned by his love for Herz, has finally completely broken him down.

At this point you can just go wild with Blue's insanity and as it decreases or increases over time, espacially once he's seeing Herz again. As long as it ties with the struggle and sort of stays a thing in the back of his mind. What i think is also important, don't throw Blue's entire character out the window in favour of having an unhinged, crazy character. This insanity is less about Blue's characteristics and more about how he thinks, how he precieves things and how he acts on the thoughts and urges he previously tossed aside. Naturally this affects his character quite a bit but bear in mind that all of these urges and thoughts were spawned because of Herz. There's absolutely no reason for Blue to act much differently when talking to a friend for example, unless Herz gets brought up in any shape, way or form. Blue is completely infatuated and obsessed with Herz, but he's still Blue. He has the same wits, skills etc. Even if he's scheming or who-knows what, he can easily act normal. Insanity doesnt mean making a complete 180° on someone's personality. It's more that they're not in control of their brain. They're heavily mentally ill and maybe a bit scattered. The insanity can also show by certain triggers only etc. There's many possibilities of working with it. Signs of Blue's rotten mental state can definetly show but he can also act like everything's alright. If you're doing a comic in particular, a nice subtle hint of Blue definetly not being himself is not showing his eyes or face or giving his eyelights a slightly different shape, maybe a bit wobbly/shaky or a bit sharper etc. The window to someone's heart is their eyes, get creative!

Conclusion-ish

In the end you can portray characters however you'd like and i cant stop you. This isnt a "write Yandere Blue like this, everything else is wrong!" post. It's just a concept i've had in my mind for a while now and i wanted to share it because i like late-night rambles when i cant sleep lol. Write Yanderes however you'd like, the trope IS very fun, after all! I just think it's really interesting to also highlight the "how does a normally sweet person react to suddenly feeling murder-y?" side of things instead of the ever so bland schtick of "haha i kill ppl, now love me" that many Yandere stories build upon. Yes i've been getting back into (psycholgical) Horror Anime like Higurashi, how did you know? Lmao

Either way, good night! I've been writing this for well over an hour :'D

[kaithonks]

So I’ve had some Thoughts about Marvel Rivals

Well, this is a bit of a change-up from what I normally post. But it's still kind of about comics, I guess. Marvel really isn't my area of expertise. I like most people enjoy Spider-Man, but I also like Hawkeye and I actually think North's The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is really good and so funny. That "choose your own adventure" issue lives in my head.

Anyway, I started playing this week, and I've already played for about 40 hours at the time of writing. And I feel I might as well toss in my two cents, especially since I am a support player to my core. For example, I was Mercy Main when I played Overwatch, and now I'm maining Clock and Dagger and have a decent enough win rate. And while I know Marvel Rivals and a large portion of its fans want a competitive scene, I don't think that should be its focus. Marvel Rivals has a lot of people coming in either from the movies, the comics, or gamers particularly people who play hero shooters. So honestly you have a large mixed bag of people and I don't see that many people really wanting the competitiveness, that balancing, and ultimately the limiting that would come with that. It doesn't help that they also aren't going to want people screaming about meta into their ears. I have seen so many different tier lists at this point and generally, people have yet to agree on "who's broke" and who's not yet. Yeah, it's still early days but that variety is a great bonus in Marvel Rival's favor. It means you can still play your favorite and not get screamed at.

Now you be like "But Kai! Don't you hate it When 5 people autolock DPS?" and my answer actually is "No" because I play in a casual experience. Yes, I would like to win, but I rather just have a fun game and you can still have a fun game if you lose. If Marvel Rivals takes a more competitive focus, a lot of that casual fun I have would be lost. People will take even quick play and Bots seriously. Like I care more about my team having fun and being able to play who they want. I Like support because I can support because it's arguably one of the most useful classes but I have fun being able to heal and save people even if we don't win. Since I'm a DC person, I don't have the investment some comic people and movie people will have so if I'm not that attached to the character it's easy for me to step back and just pick and pick a heal so the person who really fucking love Spider-man can play him, even if they don't know how to.

What definitely helps is that in Marvel Rivals I am not totally team-dependent as a support and I can put down or escape people coming into flank or poke. I have survived a diving Captain America and Thor before too, that was stressful but I managed. I'm not saying there shouldn't be a competitive space, but people undervalue the causal space. For example, causal gaming has been Nintendo brand and how many Sim expansion packs are there? And AstroBot just won Game of the Year, so there is a lot of value in making some that are accessible to people who are here to get competitive.

Now a person may counter might ask me "But doesn't being Psylock being OP bug you? Isn't Jeff the Spwan of Satan?" And again I'm gonna say no. Psylock is good if someone is really good with her kit and I'm not running into that a ton in quick play, and Jeff? You know you can dodge right? When you hear his line look at the the floor and don't group up. Also, I don't know about you but he can't ult that often. Like every in Rivals feels very manageable to me at a casual player level and when you don't take it all so seriously it all just rolls off my back.

So yeah. I don't want a role queue because it would limit what people can play. And even when I want to play DPS I just do. I've been in only one that came without a support… and that was like four tanks and someone eventually did swap to a healer. Heck, I've had several 3 support games.

My ultimate hope with Marvel Rivals is that it keeps up its current play style. That rewards using the Teams and different comps. I am ultimately also hoping that it brings more people into reading the source comics. Yeah, I can't escape talking about that, because I do want people to read Fraction's Hawkeye or North's Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. And maybe come over and read new Watter's Nightwing and Brombal's Batgirl. There are so many good comics out there and while I enjoy Marvel Rivals for what it is right now I like it even more as a gateway into getting people into the great art form of comics.

[mdhwrites]

You know they are often described as the same character, but why was Amity more interesting than Hunter if they both follow the same pattern (which is just the redemption arc)

I was seeing endless possibilities for Amity's character to go anywhere after S1 there was just too much on the plate that was catching your eye but not all of it, so to keep your interest going.

Hunter just feels too set in stone for some reason. Nothing outside the golden guard or Caleb would have had the same charm.

If Amity was set to become a teacher you would wonder why and how. If Hunter was doing the same you may be like "ok, cool"...

I think that did happen in the final episode too, many questioned why Amity chose to be.. some abomination engineer?

Not many batted an eye on why Hunter chose palismen carving, it just happened and they accepted it.

This ask is rather "why did this thing work for that one but not for this one as well?"

So this has to come down with something that TOH did eventually stop understanding but was strong in the first season: The difference between internal and external motivation.

Now, of course, Amity's motivations will become entirely external and this will be what effectively murders her character but to begin with, she is extremely internally motivated. It takes until Understanding Willow to hear about her parents whatsoever. Hell, before then, we get the twins being sent to meet up with Amity with a packed lunch made by their mom that she forgot, implying a potentially good, normal home life early on. Her external influences in general seem to be fairly low except for setting what the end goal is: Head of the EC.

But that's just an extension of the internal motivation of "Be the best." Be the best student. Be the best witch. Be the best Blight. Be the best EVERYTHING. She early on seems to have a genuine problem of obsessing over every failure and as a 'gifted' student back in high school, I relate with that EXTREMELY HARD. She is ready to attack herself for every failure, see every setback as the worst thing to happen to her and be ruthless with those who get in the way of her goals. This extreme mindset is unhealthy but it lets you know her priorities so even a more balanced Amity is still going to care about studying, about the future and get upset at herself when she can't solve something. She just, you know, won't murder someone over it.

These internal influences tell us a lot about her. We get a very vivid base for a character to work from because we understand what underpins her own desires. This makes it so that even if you swap the setting, you know how Amity will behave dependent on these core principles. If she's suddenly Spider-woman, she's going to work herself to death and be traumatized the first time she fails and loses someone. Not someone close to her: ANYONE. Make her a big sister in Rapture and you can bet your ass that she drains a hundred times the splicer corpses than an average little sister does in a day and she will NEVER stop tracking her prey if the order is given to kill. The context of where she is or what she's doing is reinforced by those internal desires that are mutable across different elements.

This also makes expanding and complicating those internal desires interesting! After all, getting an explanation for why she considers perfection so important can genuinely highlight where she might have mistepped so as to become so extreme. For an example from my own work: Azu is inspired by Amity but is genuine nobility. Her words carry consequences and one slip of the tongue can unmake a person or trap her with favors she didn't mean to imply. She lives in such constant fear of this though, influenced by the disinheriting of her sister and brother as well as just a well meaning but too strict mother as a well as a king who will likely kill her if she exhibits too much personal pride, that if she has no need to talk to you... she doesn't. She is silent to most and careful with the words she says otherwise. Always on edge because she hasn't had anyone teach her that you can relax, not that she ever entirely would because her base character cares about success too much, and so those external elements become exciting because they feed into the internal and help deepen and expand on the character as a whole.

This is also why the scapegoating form of redemption in TOH is so... boring. And usually extremely flawed, even when at its best. By saying everything a character has done or believed was because of someone else, you lose those base character traits and TOH never replaces them. If we believe Odalia is the ONLY reason she cares about success, and only really see her striving for perfection again with being Luz's girlfriend, but otherwise discarding her future, studying, etc. like that, her strive for being the best is no longer really a part of her. She cares about Luz's perfect girlfriend because of the external influence of fear that Luz might leave her otherwise but what internal mechanism in her makes her fear that so much? Why is she willing to abandon so much for one person? Why is it that Amity's entire life besides Luz is so easily abandoned by her?

This is what makes her transform into a generic love interest. Even Eclipse Lake, which is a natural progression for her, in the long run feels like a trope. After all, it's common for someone who has a crush to have an episode where a misunderstanding causes them to break down and question if the one they love even likes them, let alone reciprocates their feelings. The only difference is that Amity and Luz are already together. After this, she'll never show that same fervor again and not care about being the best at anything for herself but only ever for someone else. She does NOTHING without it being to impress her father, basic survival, or because Luz approves of it and that's when a character stops feeling like they have an internal life and their own person hood and starts just becoming a doll on the screen that you can feel the writer manipulating.

This is the position Hunter STARTS in. Frankly, it's also the position Willow starts in to some extent. Both of them will change how they act and behave for the sake of an episode with minor characteristics that make recognizably them, kind of, but otherwise they don't seem to have internal cares. The closest Hunter ever comes to having something is that he actually is a people pleaser, unlike Luz. Except... Also not because he constantly breaks Belos' laws, his orders, etc. like that. A real people pleaser would kill Flapjack and turn him in. We never actually get a reason as to why Hunter keeps Flapjack besides the fact that he's actually Caleb and if your reasoning is purely because they're not actually their own character, that is a fucking problem.

But seriously: How do we ever know how Hunter will react to something? Everything Hunter does is influenced externally. Looking into wild magic? Only because it will make a cure for my uncle. Have my own palisman? Well, if I kill it, Luz will be pissed at me and I guess I care about that for some reason. Go recruit for the EC? Only because that's how Darius says I'll get my cape back. Free the people I just recruited? Only because it made Willow sad. Break free of the EC and my uncle? Only because otherwise I would straight up die, not because my own personal beliefs clash with my uncle's.

It's why I don't find Hunter compelling, even trying to strip him down to brass tacks or use the most interesting sides of him because I'm not sure there any sides of him. This also infects most of the cast as they become just generally good people because their actions are so... basic. There's no flavor to them because very few of these characters have a core as the series goes on. A way to summarize them and pitch them to others besides "Good person who does X magic." The most personality they have is their toolkit and while Batman's utility belt is neat, it's BATMAN and his personality and how he personally tackles issues, personal and otherwise, that bring us to the story.

And TOH over and over again seems to think losing your personality is the only way to have character growth as it repeats the loop over and over again. First Amity, then Hunter, and then the Collector even, shown off by his immediate recoiling into not knowing what FUCKING DEATH IS just so he can be a little guy.

A basic, good person with no personal desires, cares, motivations, ethos, etc. except to do whatever will make Luz everyone happy. Real deep and compelling characters in the end that way, aren't they?

=========

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[investorspov]

The Psychology of Habit Formation and How to Build Better Habits

We all have habits. Some are good, like drinking water every morning. Others, not so much, like scrolling through your phone for hours before bed.

But what exactly is a habit? A habit is a behavior that we do automatically, often without thinking. These actions are triggered by a cue, repeated over time, and eventually become hardwired into our brains. Over 40% of our daily actions are habits, meaning much of what we do is based on routine.

The process of habit formation is powerful. Understanding how habits work can help us build better ones and break the bad ones.

The Habit Loop

At the core of habit formation is the habit loop. This concept was introduced by Charles Duhigg in his book The Power of Habit. The habit loop consists of three parts:

Cue: This is the trigger that prompts the behavior. It could be something external, like seeing a chocolate bar, or something internal, like feeling stressed.

Routine: This is the action or behavior you perform in response to the cue. It could be eating the chocolate bar, running, or checking your phone.

Reward: The reward is the feeling or result you get after completing the behavior. It might be the pleasure of eating chocolate, the sense of accomplishment after exercising, or the satisfaction of seeing new notifications on your phone.

The more you repeat this loop, the stronger the connection becomes in your brain. Over time, the routine becomes automatic.

Why Bad Habits Are Hard to Break

Breaking a habit is challenging because of the reward system in our brains. When we repeat a behavior and feel good afterward, our brain releases dopamine, the “feel-good” neurotransmitter. This makes us want to repeat the behavior.

The key to breaking a bad habit is to interrupt the loop. If we remove the reward or change the routine, the habit loop begins to weaken. For example, if you’re trying to break the habit of mindlessly snacking while watching TV, you might swap the snack with a healthier option or engage in a different activity, like stretching or walking, during that time.

How to Build Better Habits

Building better habits follows the same principle as breaking bad ones. Here’s how you can create positive habits that stick:

Start Small: Trying to make drastic changes can overwhelm you. Instead, start with a small, manageable action. For example, instead of committing to an hour-long workout every day, start with 10 minutes. Small actions build confidence and consistency.

Use a Trigger: Pair your new habit with an existing one. This is called habit stacking. For example, after brushing your teeth (existing habit), you could meditate for 5 minutes (new habit). The cue (brushing your teeth) automatically triggers the new behavior (meditation).

Set Clear Goals: Rather than vague goals like “get fit” or “eat healthier,” make your goal specific and measurable. For example, “I will walk for 20 minutes every morning before work.” This clear goal helps you stay on track.

Track Your Progress: Keep track of your new habit. Use a habit-tracking app or a simple calendar to mark each day you stick to your new behavior. Tracking provides visual motivation and reinforces your commitment.

Be Patient and Persistent: Studies show that it takes about 21 to 66 days for a new behavior to become a habit. Be patient with yourself and understand that setbacks are part of the process. Don’t give up after a few failures.

Celebrate Small Wins: Reward yourself for sticking with the new habit, even if it's small. Positive reinforcement encourages you to keep going. For instance, after a week of daily meditation, treat yourself to something small, like your favorite coffee.

The Power of Environment

Your environment plays a huge role in habit formation. You’re more likely to stick to a habit if your surroundings encourage it. For example, if you want to eat healthier, stock your kitchen with fresh produce and remove unhealthy snacks from sight. If your goal is to read more, keep a book on your nightstand where you’ll see it every night.

In the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, the author discusses the importance of making good habits easy and bad habits difficult. This can be as simple as laying out workout clothes the night before or turning off notifications on your phone to reduce distractions.

Why Good Habits Matter

Good habits can improve your physical health, mental clarity, and overall quality of life. Simple habits, like regular exercise, healthy eating, and good sleep hygiene, create a solid foundation for a healthier lifestyle. They help you manage stress, improve focus, and boost your energy.

Building and maintaining positive habits leads to long-term success, whether you’re focusing on fitness, career growth, or personal development. The key is to focus on consistency, not perfection.

Final Thought

Habits are the building blocks of our lives. They shape our daily experiences, our health, and our success. By understanding the psychology behind habit formation and applying simple strategies, you can take control of your behaviors and create a life you love.

So, start today—whether it's drinking more water, exercising more, or reading every day, the first step is often the hardest. But once you begin, you'll start to see the changes in your life that good habits bring.

[luffythinker]

been in a Naruto mood lately trying to make a AU where Naruto is a Uchiha and Sasuke is a Uzumaki

how do you think that would go?

Sasuke being given the ninetails and Naruto having to go through his whole family and clan being murdered by his brother?

of course i want Shikamaru/Naruto involved and i feel like they would have this relationship where Shikamaru like i want to love you but you make it hard cause you make morally wrong life choices that is to say if this shaped Naruto in such a way to be the case

Sakura being swapped with Tenten and Tenten being a haruno so she gets to train with Tsunade like she wanted to

I want Sakura with scrolls

How do you think this would go? not swaping everyone just those three or 4 i guess. OH OH we could put Hinata in Neji's place and Neiji in Hinata's place too while we're at it. trying not to make anymore changes cause i wanna keep the story almost the same

Im just kinda asking if you think Naruto would try to get revenge because Itachi told him to we also could go the route of saying lets swap Minato and Itachi so Naruto's dad is his brother and Itachi is Sasuke's father but that's kinda weird to me but also kinda interesting? we can put that on the back burners but if you have something to say about it let me know what you think of these concepts when you can

WOAH OKAY lets get into it

This involves some morals and ethics discourse so bear with me here

I do think this is hard to predict, but, I would like to believe that although the context and your surroundings make a person, it's not all that there is. I think everyone has a core and Naruto, for example, is good and kind at his core (imo). So even if he went through all the traumatic events and had all the money the Uchihas/Sasuke had, I think he would still turn out to be somewhat good. I don't think he would seek revenge, but he would seek Itachi for an explanation, his goal would not be to kill him, but to understand him. This could lead to a different future, where if Itachi was met with compassion/understanding he would not just view himself as a potential sacrifice. But we can only speculate that since Itachi in and of itself is already a very complex character.

As for Sasuke, I can't exactly pinpoint his core in a word, but I do think he just seems like he would hold onto suffering more. So if he had Kurama, and he suffered the pushback from Konoha, he would still want to prove himself (like Naruto did), but he would also want to seek retribution. I think he would be much more likely to realize that Hiruzen (3rd Hokage) was a piece of shit who did not keep his words to Minato and Kushina. He would also want to make changes in society (my boy is a revolutionary cmon). Assuming he and Naruto are still friends and he eventually finds out the conditions that led to the Uchiha massacre and Itachi to act that way, when he becomes Hokage he would abolish the Anbu and make sure that certain injustices doesn't occur anymore.

All this to say, i think they would keep what makes each of them unique, even if the circumstances are different, and this would lead to their reactions to be different too.

Don't even get me started with Hinata and Neji omg, i could go on for days talking about the fuck ass hyuga clan, the whole servitude thing makes me so mad. But as much as i would like to I just don't see Hinata being as angry and vocal about it like Neji, although, i can see Neji even being from the primary branch of the family still being mad. Talking about cores again, i just think it's in himself to hate this form of separation and injustice. But since he would one day be the heir of the clan he could have enough power to abolish it sooooo [I'm so sorry this is probably not what you were hoping to get but i get heated just thinking about this]

and about switching minato with itachi, yeahh idk how to feel about that cause that would be a little bit weird but i guess it could work too? it's just i don't see minato committing mass murder