#and that's very valid of him!

[egophiliac]

WAIT when did he get FANGS

[exhausted-undead]

young silco..... water theming.... hrrrgh

zoom for details

[tinyfantasminha]

Recently I saw an user say they feel weird about the brazilian Ruggie headcanon because “poverty, thievery, and misery are often associated with Brazilians.” I've also seen non-brazilians hesitate to embrace this headcanon out of fear that it might come off as xenophobic or racist. So I wanted to give my perspective on the topic as a brazilian and why the BR!Ruggie hc means so much to us 🫶

If we were to assume that Ruggie is a shallow character whose only traits are “grew up in poverty, lives in a slum, and steals to get by,” and then directly link that to a nationality? Yeah, obviously that would be xenophobic. But that’s not what this HC is about. It’s about how he navigates life and survives despite a difficult background. Reducing Ruggie to just a ''poor pickpocket” does a huge disservice to his character. He’s a hard worker, works in multiple jobs at once and is constantly adapting to survive. This is the reality for millions of brazilians (and many other latinos too) GROWING UP POOR IS NOT SHAMEFUL. No one chooses poverty. People from underprivileged backgrounds often have no choice but to do what they must to survive. In a capitalist society being clever and even deceptive is often a survival skill. It's the PERSEVERANCE to succeed and the resilience it takes to fight for a dignified life that makes them admirable, not the methods they use. If you live in any Latin American country, it’s nearly impossible not to know someone who lives a life similar to Ruggie’s (or to have lived it yourself) And again, it’s not just about being poor!! It's about having to be creative to make resources/food/items last as much as they can, about teaching yourself new skills (like learning a new language on your own without access to paid classes), about being quick-thinking and cunning so you don’t miss out on opportunities, about the shared warmth of community food, and about keeping your humor and playful spirit alive even when life is hard. So when we say “Ruggie feels brazilian,” it’s not because of stereotypes even though we don't really feel offended with stereotypes most of the time tbh it's because he embodies a spirit we know so intimately, the hustle, the laughter through hardship, the cleverness born from necessity, and the hope for something better. It’s representation of a kind of resilience that deserves to be seen with pride, not shame.

[vaguely-concerned]

My two cents on how much of Mind!Varric is Rook’s mind trying to fill the blank space and how much is Solas actively talking through a convenient blood magic paper doll of the mind: I think it's a mix of both, a truly collaborative psychosocial horrorshow if you would, but waaaay more towards the second. It feels too directed and tactical at times to be anything else. Rook's mind is willing to go along with the denial phase as far as it can fucking carry them to not have to face the grief and regret and does its part in papering over details that don’t make any sense, the way brains will strive to create coherent meaning even out of deeply confusing input, but to my understanding it's a collaborateur in how that plays out, not the instigator or control center. Solas is using it as a path to agency and to gather insight into Rook as a person unguarded as he can't count on in his own guise. (That stoic option that leads to him being like 'oh I see you're cautiously denying me access to your inner life. well. at least you still have Varric to talk to. y'know as an outlet :)'. You absolute BITCH Solas! That alone convinced me that he HAS to have an active hand in it on some level.)

My guess is that it takes considerable effort on Solas’ part to make Mind!Varric do anything more involved or complicated than seeming to sit up in bed and give casual commentary, and that’s why he keeps having eerie five minute shallow pep talks with you before he announces he conveniently needs a nap aaanyway good luck kid you got this haha. When he’s just spouting NPC lines from his bedrest, I’m ready to believe that could be Rook’s mind being allowed to improv lines for him more freely because it’s less about Solas trying to get something out of them or working an angle and more ‘Still here! Still totally alive and fine and the mentor figure you know and love and trust :) don’t even worry about it! Thankfully there is no war in Ba Sing Sei, as we all know’ upkeep work lol. Rook’s mind is allowed to set the tone of Varric, the outlines, but not always the content. 

AND, on a (beautifully fucked up) character psychology level, I feel like Solas is indulging in actually getting to be the good supportive mentor figure to Rook with one hand to assuage the guilt he feels about what he's done -- and what he's going to do -- to them with the other. Same internal logic as he uses in Trespasser about the Qun. ‘Almost everyone is going to die from the course of action I’m doggedly pursuing eventually. But at least I can make their last years happier and freer and kinder than they would have been otherwise. and that kind of makes up for it right. a little bit. doesn't it. doesn't that make it better at least. I need that to make it better)'. Did I really take your beloved mentor and friend from you if you don’t know yet that I did? Some philosophers would argue not really! So it’s probably almost ok actually. Isn’t it even a little noble that I’m taking all this grief and guilt on myself and shielding you for now. With undertones that I’m not sure he would realize himself (and might be mortified by if he did) that he is so incredibly lonely, and even a dishonest and indirect emotional connection is more than nothing when you’re that desperate. In this setup he gets idk. Both the control he craves so incredibly badly in relationships and over himself, and the scraps, the fading afterimages, of intimacy and warmth and companionship, even second hand. The one thing Solas and Rook agree on deep deep down is that they really wish Varric weren't gone. They're handshake memeing this in the saddest and most creepy way possible.

I think an important element too is that Solas needs Rook and their team to *succeed* —  up to a certain point. He needs someone to hold the two other elven mean girls off until he can get out of here. Ideally, in a perfect world, even do all the hard work of killing them so he can swoop in at the end and do his thing when both sides are exhausted and out of resources to stop him, and then Bob’s your uncle! Same logic as he was using with Corypheus, and after that worked out so well, too! King of choosing to never learn from a single solitary mistake he’s ever made even though i fully believe he could have the capacity to Fen’Harel <3 The underlying idea isn’t flawed, you see, it was just unforeseen circumstances getting in the way. This time for sure it’ll all work out the way I cleverly imagined it in my head beforehand. Cue By Talos this can’t be happening etc. in the form of a statue almost crushing him like a bug. 

So he's providing guidance and forging Rook into a leader from two angles: one Rook might not trust, and one they probably will. Shaping them into what he needs slowly and carefully. He’s helping you hone your team into their most effective state, as he might have done with his own agents back in the day, setting up his chess pieces even if he has to squint through two glimpsed realities to do it haha. Pincer maneuver of an insidious stealth mentor you never asked for. Also… at one point mind Varric gives you a whole little monologue about how Solas' problem is that he’s always seen his interpersonal connections as flaws and see where it’s landed him, all alone and the worst part? it hasn’t even worked. it’s all been for nothing he’s back where he began with nothing to show for it but his mistakes. Like...that has such strong 'uh okay happy to play your therapist from two rooms away here what the fuck kind of traumadump is this' energy to me, I’m not sure Rook like. Thinks that much about Solas as a private person. So much of Solas' self-loathing and futile insights into his own flaws seem to shine through in Mind!Varric's dialogue all the time — I just can't believe that there's no guiding hand behind it as it were. 

Most of all. I feel like people underestimate the degree to which Solas is incredibly funny. As in, he has a very consistent and recognizable sense of humour. It’s one of my very favourite things about him. We must remember — it is crucial that we always keep in mind — Orlesian accent and wig Solas from May The Dread Wolf Take You (my beloved, the explanation for why I love this dude even with the. All of the everything else. No one does it quite like him). He is not at all above doing things or adding little flourishes for his own obscure amusement, in fact that seems to me to be one of his most consistent traits. The Randy Dowager Quarterly comment Varric has? The ‘Maybe this is the Dread Wolf’s revenge. Forcing us to house sit for him’ thing? To Me this is 100% Solas amusing himself in his boring Fade jail surrounded by the screaming hellscape of all his regrets. Source: it came to me as divine revelation through pure vibes trust me bro 

If nothing else I find it much more narratively interesting personally if the connection between Rook and Solas really is that defenselessly intimate and entwined (and so unbalanced!), and the sense of violation and invasion and betrayal afterwards consequently all the more nauseatingly intense. Even if you kept him at arm’s length in the open, he’s been under your skin the whole time, looking around, gathering what he needs to destroy you, wearing the face of a friend. Regretfully, probably, but choosing to do it every step of the way anyway. (Sound familiar, Inquisitor? Solas doesn’t have that many tricks when you actually look at it, he keeps returning to old tried and true ones like a dog with a bone haha.) Maybe he even genuinely meant some of it as mercy, which only makes it so much worse. It makes his sin against his own core principles of autonomy and the freedom of all beings in mind, spirit and body so much more juicily grave if it’s something he pursues actively and consistently, rather than it half-falling into his lap as a happy accident mainly orchestrated by Rook’s own subconscious. Solas, too, is at his very lowest point, the closest to giving in and becoming his own antithesis fully that he’s ever been, and it makes the choice of whether you still reach out your hand to him one last time or not all the more impactful and difficult.

[balfeys]

Athena. I don't want to rebuild this house.

[gunsatthaphan]

#ready to be shaking & quaking.

[clockworkreapers]

so we all know the main characters of course... but these two I really like in the books- for very different reasons

[levemetal]

@sillyxaly suggested Jw adopting SJ and it was too fun to brainrot about with @ace-shenanigans too.

Rest assured, no matter the au variation, as long as SJ is adopted by a tgcf character, he shall be the bane of Jw's existence and make him consider early retirement.

[here-comes-the-moose]

Tech is and was always Cid’s #1 hater. It’s lucky for her that he was dead when she sold out Omega because he absolutely would have fucked her up I said what I said.

[fieldofheathers-stuff]

Rebels sketchessss!!!! Fighter pilot Hera, Hera meeting her n. #1 fan, and Jacen (with lekkus, he should’ve had lekkus I’ll die on this hill) & the Funcles.

[itsahotminuteinbetween]

two of many sunspot doodles because my brain decided to latch onto him for some reason

sunspot is by @venomous-qwille ofc! (Feel free to ignore the tag sorry!)

[rhiangalaxy]

I hope its not too late, and I know I already submitted one, but if this is okay, could you draw Shen Jiu and Shen Yuan from your Plant Baby AU? Maybe a very little A-Yuan being delightful (that can mean whatever you want it to mean. Laughing and playing? Drawing and making a mess? Bringing beasts into the house? Bringing The Beast into the house?) and Shen Qingqiu reacting to it. Bless, have a very nice evening!

Unfortunately for Shen Jiu it was not the last beast 😔Thanks for the request!! :D

[ID: A Scum Villain doodle. Plant!Shen Yuan at about 5 years old is sat on a cushion as his demonic butterfly rests on his cheek. SY has his hand raised up towards her, with a bright smile and one eye closed on the side the butterfly is on. On the right side is two small headshots of Shen Jiu!Shen Qingqiu. The top one shows SJ with a concerned but flushed expression as if deciding whether to be mad or awwing at the cute moment. It then shows SJ closing his eyes in reluctance as he says "Fine. But no more beasts!" End ID]

[secretlysimpash]

It's canon that König has severe social anxiety. He's suffered from it throughout his entire life. As someone with severe anxiety (social + generalized), I have some thoughts and headcanons (everything after this lil blurb is not 100% canon).

Okay so I know I said all of these aren't 100% canon but may I draw your attention to this:

"Inability to stay still". Severe anxiety can and will make someone fidgety as fuck (speaking from experience). So he definitely still fidgets when he's not completely in the zone. Leg bouncing, messing with his gloves or the hem of his mask/hood, constant checking of belts and straps, ect. Also, pacing. König paces a lot.

In some cases, even severe social anxiety can lessen with time. This is somewhat the case with König. While it's not as bad as it was during his childhood, he still gets flare-ups that make him feel exactly the way he did back then. He's a 6-foot-whatever giant, but his brain will bring him right back to being that bullied kid again.

From his in-game dialogue, it's kinda shown that he's cocky. It started as a masking tactic at first until he genuinely became cocky...But is also always seeking validation, and realized that confidence is more praised in his field of work.

While anxiety and shyness are normally seen as going hand in hand, this is not the case for König. This man is NOT shy, or timid, or even that much of an introvert (he's an ambivert, imo).

That being said, I do see him as being more reserved outside of missions. Not because he's shy, but just because he's more in his head most of the time.

Back to the fidgeting bit, I see him as having a bit of a skin picking habit. Scarred lips and cuticles for sure. Plus cracking knuckles and cracking his neck.

Has torn up gloves from tearing at frayed bits on them.

Social anxiety will make someone irritable as hell. Anxiety can come out as anger or irritability sometimes, and this is the case for König.

This man bottles his emotions like a fine wine until it culminates into anxiety attacks.

Will come off as not giving a fuck and being confident as hell, but is usually nervous about what people think of him. Internalizes the hell out of it, though.

Can be very dismissive of his own anxiety. Likely grew up around people telling him that he needs to get over it, suck it up, and other similar sentiments.

Does have useful coping mechanisms now, certainly more than he did when he was a kid or when he first joined. And while he probably doesn't keep up with going to therapy now, he was given some coping mechanisms that stuck with him when he did go.

Diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) when he did finally go to a therapist (I feel like his bio describing it as "SEVERE social anxiety" makes this canon in a way, but,,,it's definitely canon to me).

People get shocked when they find out he has anxiety at all, let alone severe social anxiety...Which is fine, understandable even, but hates when anyone makes a big deal out of it and starts prying.

(König x reader headcanons under the cut)

Some people hate being touched while they're going through anxiety attacks or flare-ups. König will unleash the full force of his anxiety-induced anger onto most people that try to touch him when he's going through it. You are not most people.

Let him play with your hair, or play with his. The choice is yours, because he'll be content with either. It soothes him.

Anxiety can be so fucking draining. So when anxiety hits him hard, König is going to be tired. So hypothetically, if he were to pass out after a long day of his brain being the worst liar and he woke up to chores being done/dinner being cooked/sees that you just did something for him...He'd love you so much.

On the other side of that coin, he does have trouble sitting still. So more often than not, rather than staying in bed with you, he'll drag you out of the house for a hike or a walk. Something so you're both moving, focusing on each other and the world around you.

Also, loses sleep from his anxiety. If he's up in the dead of night, he won't wake you up. But if you're awake anyway or wake up and decide to stay up for him, expect to binge watch something mind numbing and/or soothing. Something distracting. Just a casual 3 AM scrolling session through TikTok or YT shorts, watching the most random shit until you both pass back out.

[secriden]

Not to be a Style apologist, but I feel like some viewers haven't quite picked up that Style's brand of wooing Fadel is quite literally intentionally designed (by both the writers and the character) to be as annoying and frustrating as possible.

Lets consider:

Style thinks his bff is in love for the first time in his life. He thinks Kant is genuinely down bad for Bison: let’s not forget his clear surprise when Kant agreed to give up the car. As far as Style is concerned, Kant is acting really out of character and it's because Kant desperately wants to be with Bison.

He also thinks the only thing standing in the way of True Love™ is Fadel, who according to Kant is being unreasonably difficult about Kant and Bison dating. He doesn't know that Kant has a secondary motivation, nor does he know about the mind games that Bison is playing with Kant. Worse, he has no frame of reference or context to make any of Fadel's animosity towards Kant reasonable.

Moreover, while I think we all agree that Style made a terrible first impression on Fadel, the same has to be said of Fadel towards Style. Like, yes, absolutely Style was in the wrong, but Fadel came off as not only condescending and impatient, but unreasonable (and very weirdly cagey) when Style tried to immediately offer a resolution. Again, Style has no frame of reference for why Fadel would first demand that he take responsibility for his actions and then immediately after claim to have no time to entertain Style's attempt to take said responsibility.

Also, it doesn't help Style's wounded pride that Fadel keeps 'besting' him at every turn. So at this point I think a significant portion of that initial attraction (in ep 1) has shifted to annoyance when it comes to Fadel. By the time he gets his hands on Fadel's information, I think he's more than a little invested in some payback. While I think Style very much still wants to help Kant (and Bison) out, at least a part of him figures as long as he keeps Fadel busy, he kind of meets his goal. And if he gets to embarrass, frustrate and otherwise harass Fadel along the way, all the better!

You can see him start to have some fun with it. He ramps it up SO much in ep 2. He gets to lean into that wild, brash, playful personality because he doesn't really care if Fadel likes him. Style gets to be dialled up to extremes, and I love that for him because he's honestly kind of justified because he knows so fucking little about what's really going on. I think it's only fair if the other 3 are playing 4D chess while Style only has the Uno game rules in front of him, he gets to be the most Unhinged about it.

So, yeah, while I absolutely agree with all the posts out there that recognises just how reasonable and polite and tired Fadel is, I do think we need to give Style some credit here. He's absolutely SO extra, but he's also the one, arguably, that has been lied to the most and I feel that he deserves some slack for that.

[alexhatessupermarketcola]

AR fic writers trying to get inside Yassen's head when his two canon motivations are that Alex Rider should:

a) go home

and

b) join Scorpia

[eternitygarden]

[about kamimura] is an excellent episode not just because of how devastating it is, but because of how it hints towards hasegawa’s unreliability. while talking about how smart and funny kamimura was, he says something very interesting: “it’s like nobody else even talks about you anymore … the fact that i’m the only one who still think about you makes me feel so—”

hasegawa feels as if he’s the only person who still remembers kamimura. that he’s the only person grieving him. but we, the audience, are told time and time again that that’s not true. most evidently, we’re shown that it's false in tamba and hayashi’s student interviews.

when tamba is asked who’d she bring back she—without a single second of hesitation—says kamimura. she claims that she thinks that she misses him. she claims that she felt as though kamimura was practically the only person that she could call her friend. just like how kamimura was hasegawa’s only friend. and we saw how, despite the rough start and constant bickering, tamba and kamimura got along. they were friends, and tamba misses him.

when hayashi is asked about her thoughts on those who’ve died, she ends up saying a lot about kamimura. what’s most interesting here is the fact that a lot of what she says actually mirrors some of hasegawa’s own comments in [about kamimura]. when talking about what they liked about kamimura, they narrow in on the same two traits: he was smart, and he was funny. hell, hasegawa even claimed that he knew no one else found kamimura’s bluntness funny, when hayashi directly contradicts that by saying she loved his snarkiness! she also loved how kamimura made her feel normal—that she could talk about things like bodies with him, without being judged. they were friends, and hayashi misses him. 

hasegawa thinks he’s the only person that really misses kamimura, but then we have tamba and hayashi on the record talking about how much they miss him, too. hasegawa makes claims about the others that end up being false, because he’s isolated himself so much and he doesn’t care about them. he only cared about kamimura. he believes he was the only person to have cared about him, when that’s ultimately far from the truth.  it’s also interesting, then, that hasegawa kills hayashi. that he nearly gets away with framing tamba for it. the two people who could understand his grieving the most. the two people that clearly missed kamimura, too. he’s so blinded by his apathy and anger and false beliefs that he never realized that. and that’s such a fascinating aspect of his character. how, for as smart as he is, he’s very often wrong. especially when it comes to other people.