jacksgreysays

[jacksgreysays]

This, along with preventing generative AI from using my work without my permission, is part of the reason why I have my fic as viewable only by registered users.

You can also -- if you're concerned about limiting your audience too much -- make it so that only registered users can comment so that guests can still read your fic but not comment.

PSA: AO3 HAS BEEN INFECTED WITH AI BOT COMMENTS.

Have you seen one of these dipshits? If you post regularly on ao3, chances are YES, but more likely you didn't notice nor suspect it was a bot. Sometimes they start off nice, or even praise you before getting nasty out of nowhere, like so:

But much like Grok, their newest obsession is nazism.

I don't know where they come from, or what purpose this could possibly serve other than suicidebaiting random people in the internet, I guess; but apparently they've started parroting names from real users to send these comments and shifting their general length to go by undetected. Maybe those are scrappers trying to train 'reviewbots' to be sold as part of some scam service promising to give feedback for newbie writers, who the fuck knows.

Here are more examples of the tone and backhanded compliments you can find in these:

If you regularly post on AO3 or interact with writers in it, please pass this along so they don't feel insane receiving bombs in their inbox. This is ridiculous.

[jacksgreysays]

I more often get the reverse. I'm fully an adult and when I hang out with my friends I'll still be all: Wow! Your family is so nice to each other!

And when they ask for clarification, I'll bring up some childhood anecdote which I'm like, oh, but hahaha, that's normal lol.

And the looks on their faces will tell me, oh... maybe I shouldn't have had to deal with that.

do you ever hang out with someone else’s family and you’re like ooooh. so this is what it’s supposed to be like

[jacksgreysays]

Like an actual crossover as in they are the same people with the same background and abilities or would they adapt into the universe if it were a fusion style?

Because if taken as is, I imagine the most crack crossover would be, like, The Bear or Abbott Elementary where their extremely powerful abilities/fighting prowess doesn't really matter? Something set in our extremely mundane world, but in a hyper niche industry/part of it.

It's about as fish out of water as you can put specifically Shikako in, since I imagine she's the reason they're in the other universe to begin with.

What would be the most crack crossover for Dreaming of Sunshine?

I mean, our disbelief is well and truly suspended on the mystical action and magic jutsu part. (I mean, it's Naruto. Talking pet animals, secret underground fighting ring, having radios but somehow still traveling largely by cart across unfinished roads.) Shikako could probably do just about anything with the power of math and seals, (i.e. Shikabane-hime and all the situations we've put her in.) DOS also does slice of life/contemporary fiction really well. (i.e. the Kunoichi club, workplace comedy in Intel with Aoba, realistic family drama with the Naras.)

One of the great things DOS does is explain why things are the way that they are. We see Shikako learn and struggle alongside her peers. She feels like a real person, with real problems. (Have to get myself and my friends strong enough to fight Madara and the Akatsuki when they come for the Tailed Beasts. Can't let Danzo find out. Not strong enough or smart enough to figure out the perfect plan to save the Uchihas by myself.)

Literally anywhere you pop the cast of DOS in, they either find the good in the world and beat the stuffing out of the bad guys, or they make friends through the power of kindness, blowing people's minds, and being insane.

So what would be the most crack crossover to yeet Shikako and co. into?

[jacksgreysays]

Fake Fic Summaries 33/?, the Enter Author Number Four edition

Okay, okay, okay, yes it HAS been over a year since I’ve written and this is still not a fic so much as yet another rambling outline-y not!fic that I’ll probably never write properly due to my crippling perfectionism, BUT!!! This particular plot bunny has turned into one of those massive Flemish Giant rabbits that it’s preventing me from thinking about anything else, so thus I present:

plum blossoms pressed between poetry

Within their newly made family of three, no one has lied… … and yet misunderstandings abound. Or, in which Evandel earnestly struggles with verb tenses and differentiating between dreams and memories; Hajin honestly tries to balance how much logic and loneliness rule his life; and Suho legitimately thinks his future self might be a neglectful, absentee, workaholic father and husband (if even that lucky!)

Hello, it’s recursive fic (or rather, extremely long outline for a fic) for Flowers of Agápē by DescendedGaia (@descendedgaia) a fanfiction of the Korean webnovel The Novel’s Extra (although I have currently only read the manhwa)

Brace yourselves, this is a long one and I'm rusty so you know I've gone off track multiple times.

I love this fic so much, it is so sweet but also does address a lot of the issues in the original canon that makes it better without being entirely salt (although a little salt is good because GODDAMN CHAE NAYUN has been getting shoved in the manhwa readers’ faces as a love interest and it’s just like… there are SO MANY other characters I would rather have 1) end up with Kim Hajin and even 2) get that “screen time” instead of CHAE NAYUN?!??!!)

But I digress.

The main difference in Flowers of Agápē (will be referred to as FoA onwards) from canon is that Kim Hajin isn’t as emotionally detached so which is SO LOVELY (and honestly, it would only make sense that canon Kim Hajin has from the start disassociated to such a degree just to mentally protect himself from what he knows is death or at least 10 years of danger and violence because the Kim Hajin that we see acting in the world of the novel does not match up to the IRL Kim Hajin who as an adult cried in public and was comforted by his parents. DOES NOT MATCH UNLESS SOMETHING IS SEVERELY WRONG)

I’M SORRY I KEEP DIGRESSING

Basically, Kim Hajin is more emotionally mature?—hm… maybe just emotional? … Emotive?—such that he is a much better father figure to Evandel (as opposed to the frequent out of sight out of mind “parenting style” that was shown in the manhwa)

And also, instead of Rachel’s blood, Kim Hajin used Kim Suho’s blood.

… I’m realizing how little of this will make sense unless you’ve read at least The Novel’s Extra (TNE) but also may still require FoA reading…

Let me try again, again:

Kim Hajin wrote but did not complete a novel in which his Protagonist Kim Suho is seemingly kind of perfect in the way that protagonists are when they have a lot of spotlight and pressure on them. Some entity called the Co-Author asks if they can remake/finish Kim Hajin’s novel to which he agrees because I think IRL he’s depressed and/or super stressed and does not have time to think about the novel that he wrote as a hobby/in his spare time.

In FoA there is also an entity called the Deviant Author who asks if they can write fanfiction based on his novel, to which Kim Hajin also agrees because why wouldn’t he?

(And then there’s me, Author Number Four, aka the Recursive Author so far removed from Kim Hajin but I found the idea funny enough that I named this post after it)

AH DIGRESSING!

Anyway, the Co-Author somehow pulls Kim Hajin into the world of the novel that he wrote so that he is 1) a teenager, 2) a student of the Cube which is an international (but mostly Korean) academy that essentially teaches super-powered youths to fight the supernatural threats in a typical dungeon break setting, and 3) makes things a LOT HARDER AND MORE DANGEROUS because it’s “more interesting.” In FoA the Deviant Author pushes back as much as they can—but it kind of seems like the Co-Author has more authority? Possibly based on the initial permissions Kim Hajin gave them in the set up chapter.

In both the original novel that Kim Hajin wrote and the actual The Novel’s Extra canon, there is a “monster” (ie non human being from a dungeon) named Evandel that is originally the “Witch of Despair/Curses” who, uh, yeah Kim Hajin does “kill” in order to “reset” her back to a seed. Then the seed needs blood and mana to grow back into a humanoid witch again. In canon, Kim Hajin does remark that ideally he would use EITHER Kim Suho OR Rachel’s (another student, super love what FoA does with her character) and goes with Rachel’s because it’s hard to get someone’s blood without being a creep and the opportunity is there because she’s injured and I think he lends her his handkerchief and then belatedly realizes, like, when he’s about to do laundry or something that oh shit he has the blood of one of the two candidates how convenient.

In FoA, a similar blood acquisition opportunity happens but this time with Kim Suho instead and so this Evandel looks like a HajinxSuho mix instead of a mini Rachel clone. And then also because Hajin is more emotive and talks to Evandel even in her seed form and because the Deviant Author is there and lovely she become the “Witch of Dreams” instead of the “Witch of Despair/Curses.” Kim Hajin thinks it’s because of Kim Suho’s Good Boy Protagonist Blood, it’s actually because of Kim Hajin’s Good Parenting. And because she’s the Witch of Dreams instead of the Witch of Curses (and because FoA is very good about expanding on characters who really did not get enough screentime) she could kind of dream the memories of both of her parents while she was growing from seed form.

In FoA, Kim Suho shows up almost immediately after Evandel first corporates her human form and then SHE immediately spills the beans about Hajin being “Appa” and Suho being “Papa” so then Hajin likewise has to come clean about, you know, this is sort of our daughter that I made with your blood without your consent sorry, my bad, uhhhhh. BUT because this is fanfic and because Kim Suho was already pretty infatuated with Kim Hajin instead of being, you know, freaked out or something rational like that, I’m guessing in Kim Suho’s brain it went sort of like “Kim Hajin baby trapped himself to me? I’m going to be the Best Father and Husband.” And then after that, in terms of domestic cohesion, pretty smooth sailing all things considered.

ALL OF THIS TO SAY! I just really can’t stop thinking about a divergence recursive of FoA starting from Chapter XXIX (or maybe even the end of Chapter XXVIII) in which things take just a SLIGHT turn from “we are all on the same page in regard to being a surprisingly wholesome family comprised of teen parents (not currently in a romantic relationship) and their witch daughter” to “we are all somehow in entirely different genres while still being a surprisingly wholesome family comprised of teen parents (not currently in a romantic relationship) and their witch daughter.”

For the most part Evandel’s experience is the same as FoA canon in that she is being cherished and cared for by her teen parents (not currently in a romantic relationship) but there are some conversations that she has with Kim Suho in which she is saying the truth as she understands it, but Kim Suho is interpreting SO HILARIOUSLY incorrectly. I will get to that in a bit.

Kim Hajin, in contrast, would need to be a LITTLE less communicative with Kim Suho—or, at least, less VERBALLY communicative—which I will attribute guilt/embarrassment (which still abides by FoA’s premise that Kim Hajin is more emotionally driven than TNE canon). So he doesn’t tell Kim Suho immediately that Evandel is a witch made out of Kim Hajin’s mana and Kim Suho’s blood, but he can’t exactly deny that they are her parents when she so blatantly calls them Appa and Papa so he says a lot of, hm, easily misinterpreted “reassurances.” Like, for example: “She’s my responsibility, you don’t need to be involved. You’re probably busy with other things anyway.” And also, timing wise, I think I would want him to have at least a few days of taking care of Evandel by himself before Kim Suho discovers her existence.

And then, where MY fun begins (because I LOVE silly convoluted pining) is that Kim Suho truly just misinterprets the situation based on not ENTIRELY wrong inferences about Kim Hajin’s abilities and Evandel’s description of her “early childhood” which only consists of a few days of Kim Hajin single parenting, but Kim Suho doesn’t know that.

Basically: Kim Suho thinks that Evandel is their actual daughter from the future. Because he knows that Kim Hajin’s abilities include knowing the future and also being able to do time shenanigans. And he’s not wrong, really—Bullet Time does freeze time, and Kim Hajin does know A VERSION of A FUTURE (ie the version that he originally wrote before the Co-Author and Deviant Author got involved)—but Kim Suho may think that future!Kim Hajin can do actual time travel at least enough to send their child from the future to the present and that through clairvoyance present!Kim Hajin knows enough about the future situation to have accepted responsibility.

And Kim Suho would LOVE to step up in a similar manner. But he’s up against Kim Hajin’s previously mentioned guilt/embarrassment as well as… hm… Evandel’s honest but not necessarily the most accurate statements. For example, as she was growing in seed form she saw both of her parents’ pasts. And in my slightly tweaked canon, she had a few days of single parenting from Kim Hajin before Kim Suho stumble onto the scene. All this to say, she may say things like “When Appa was bigger, he was sad a lot,” (Kim Hajin IRL was an adult with depression) or “It’s nice that Papa can join us now! Before it was just Appa and me,” or “Appa said that Papa is his favorite hero, the strongest in the world!” etc. etc.

All completely true statements from her point of view, but which may then convince Kim Suho that oh no, future!Kim Suho was clearly a neglectful, absentee, workaholic husband and father. So now present!Kim Suho is like—wait, I can do better. I’ll be such a good father and boyfriend (please please please) now and I won’t make the same mistakes as that other future version of me that’s an idiot, I can fix this.

And then if we want to add a dash more angst into this, we can have Kim Hajin saying something—again, similarly to Evandel’s statements, not entirely wrong but not necessarily applicable to this new version of the universe—in reference to the original novel’s canon in which Kim Suho ends up with Yun Seungah (which I’M still kinda ugh by, because as far as SHE knows, Kim Suho is a normal, if very powerful 16 year old boy and she’s fully an adult woman and leader of the strongest guild in Korea(/the world?) and then also his future boss? That's pretty fucked up Yun Seungah)

Anyway, that reference then sends Kim Suho into another tailspin because it’s like. NOT ONLY was future!Kim Suho a neglectful, absentee, workaholic husband and father, he CHEATED on Kim Hajin?!?!?!?!?! Present!Kim Suho is going to somehow jump into the future to kick future!Kim Suho’s ass. But also! No wonder why present!Kim Suho’s efforts to woo Kim Hajin into being his boyfriend (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE) aren’t working if Kim Hajin’s had his heart broken before.

Then, if we need to ease off of Kim Suho’s self flagellation, we could have Kim Hajin (attempt to) clarify the situation by informing him that they were never together. That Evandel is only biologically Kim Suho’s. And more easily misconstrued but true statements from Kim Hajin like “even though it was a surprise to see you that night, you treated me well,” and that he’s “sorry for using that night as an opportunity” and "not asking for Kim Suho’s consent in contributing to Evandel," etc. etc.

Now, Kim Hajin is referring to Chapter XIV, aka when Kim Hajin and Kim Suho first encounter the djinn Yoon Hyun, but depending on how much we want to string Kim Suho along in his internal suffering he may interpret it as: they had a one night stand which somehow got Kim Hajin pregnant (maybe not actually, but here’s looking at DescendedGaia’s extremely sexy omegaverse mpreg series) and then future!Kim Suho FAILED TO FOLLOW UP? LET THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE DISAPPEAR? SETTLED FOR YUN SEUNGAH INSTEAD?

Basically, all of the same domestic cohesion and bliss of FoA but just add some Kim Suho internally suffering (but in a fun way?) due to him jumping to conclusions and imagining a bleak future because his imagined future self is an idiot or a scumbag or both.

… if I rally my mental fortitude, perhaps I will try my hand at actually writing this (or other TNE fic? I love the premise and the characters but given what’s been spoiled of the ending it does seem like one of those teeth gritting, just ignore the ending and live in fanon kind of media. RIP).

Anyway, thanks @descendedgaia for writing such a lovely fic that has taken over all of the free real estate in my brain :D

[jacksgreysays]

genuinely wild to me when I go to someone's house and we watch TV or listen to music or something and there are ads. I haven't seen an ad in my home since 2005. what do you mean you haven't set up multiple layers of digital infrastructure to banish corporate messaging to oblivion before it manifests? listen, this is important. this is the 21st century version of carving sigils on the wall to deny entry to demons or wearing bells to ward off the Unseelie. come on give me your router admin password and I'll show you how to cast a protective spell of Get Thee Tae Fuck, Capital

[jacksgreysays]

Proof of life of sorts, lol.

I went to a birthday party and there was a crafting area so I spent some time making these and wanted to share. The sheep and whale are just generally delightful. The Mentos one is a bit of an inside joke: but basically, a combination of Mentos' absolutely WILD 90's commercials and a Snickers-esque "you're not you when you're hungry"

I hope everyone has been staying as safe and sane as can be in this year.

[jacksgreysays]

Happy Holidays!

Slightly belated Happy Holidays to you as well, anon!

I realized a week ago that I didn't do an Ask Box Advent Event for this year, then realized my realization was extremely late, and then realized that even if I made a post, I would still be too swamped to even distractedly fulfill prompts which is somewhat of a bummer.

Nonetheless, I hope you have had a good year and wish you a great 2025 regardless :)

[jacksgreysays]

I'm not sure I've ever told you about the idea, but I did end up getting permission to write a poly Kushina/Minato/Shikako for UnexpectedSensei!Verse. It's been a while since I thought about it though. Have you read UnexpectedSensei!Verse? If so, do you think I should go the funny/crack route or the serious route?

There's this specific version of the song "Still Here" that's Nightcore (but it hits different), and it's giving me serious UnexpectedSensei!Verse Shikako vibes. It's created this incredibly unlikely scenario where the initial candidates for Hokage are decided by some artifact or something playing super epic AMVs of those worthy, and Shikako shows up like the dark horse she is when Sarutobi is looking for a successor. If that makes any sense.

Unsure if these asks were directly related--it would be interesting if they were, but I'm guessing not--but I decided to bundle the answers together anyway, if that's cool.

First, I have read UnexpectedSensei!Verse and very much enjoy the series! It's one of my favorite DoS recursive series and truly contains the perfect amount of serious blended with Shikako's I am seemingly omnipotent and omniscient to everyone else but so blasé about it that it reads as funny/crack.

A poly Kushina/Minato/Shikako for UnexpectedSensei!Verse does sound like a fantastic idea! It kind of hearkens to... and I apologize for how CONSTANTLY I am self referential about these things... the spirit of this extremely short ficlet I wrote in which Kakashi overhears Shikako basically imply that had he bothered to learn fuinjutsu from either or both of Minato and Kushina then so many of his life's tragedies would have been avoided. I mean, but less Kakashi self-blame oriented of course. The spirit behind it being that Shikako, Minato, and Kushina would be an absolutely OP triad of mischievous genii, but with vastly different personalities and thought processes who maybe don't always agree but nonetheless respect (and eventually love) each other.

I may need a link for that nightcore "Still Here," lol.

I think an artifact--or maybe, to lean into that whole... Hidden Leaf and the mysticism of Mokuton, it's an ancient semi-sentient ginkgo tree--that decides the next Hokage or at least generates a report (whether that is in the style of an epic AMV, lol) or something that significantly contributes to the decision of the next Hokage is also very fascinating.

Like, this is a little reverse of what we're going for, but in the show Trese, the main character undergoes a coming of age ceremony by entering an ancient balete tree and basically receiving a vision, but it appears to take YEARS before she comes back out. Which doesn't seem to surprise people. So, it could be something like:

current Hokage (in this case the Sandaime--or, if we don't want to deal with him, we could just say, "person who is potentially deciding on the next Hokage") enters/touches/kneels before the secret semi-sentient ancient tree that lives inside the Hokage mountain somehow or whatever

person speaks a potential candidate's name --> tree gives a vision of whether or not they'd be a good Hokage (perhaps in the style of an epic AMV--I mean, ideally we're looking for cool inspiring hero, but even villains and tragedies have epic AMVs, you know? You can still be entertained even while knowing that person probably shouldn't have control over a military dictatorship)

repeat as needed for however many potential Hokage candidates there are

at end of person's list, perhaps the secret semi-sentient ancient tree offers their own suggestions

perhaps the secret semi-sentient ancient tree, being so ancient and mystical, isn't beholden to time and so doesn't really know how time works for mere mortals

perhaps the secret semi-sentient ancient tree, has been continuously showing an epic AMV of Shikako to EVERY PERSON who has asked for potential next Hokage candidates and is confused as to why it is CONSTANTLY being ignored only for it to FINALLY be given the name Nara Shikako and it's like... YES! THIS IS THE ONE! YEAH! I'VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU THIS WHOLE TIME! HERE!

Anyway, thanks for the asks, aryaokayfriend! I know these were pretty short responses, and squished together, but I hope you got some fun out of them :D

[jacksgreysays]

I also wonder if there could be a spell that's the equal but opposite of Water Walk--like an Air Swim or (a Sky Swim if you want that alliteration)--but maybe cheaper/lower level than either Water Walk or Fly. Like maybe it's level 1 or 2, it lasts longer a (on the scale of hours instead of minutes), and its not concentration, but you get a level of exhaustion when it ends/gets dispelled or it requires a specific magical component/item/equipment(/worship of a deity) or it requires you to start and end the spell in a body of water (not the same body of water, but probably--unless there are convenient series of oases along the path--your merfolk isn't going on adventures in a desert)

[jacksgreysays]

Hello, this is Mergen! I read your response to my comment in Ao3 and really, there is no need to apologize, considering that I am also not giving my answer soon. Since you spend more time on tumblr, I decided to respond here, and then I got sucked into your other passages for weeks. Thank you for giving this idea a chance and if you don't mind, I'll throw some more in for you.

Even if the math doesn't work for Souichi to be Shikako's son, you mentioned that you see the solution to the Konoha civil war in Shikadai becoming Hokage, but he is still young and there is no guarantee that he will become strong or respected enough for the title of Hokage to replace Naruto. He will have the support of half the clans, but this is just politics. So I will again turn to your OC Nara and propose to make Souichi Hokage, he is much older and judging by the description, have the will and motivation and intelligence, some can even get Deja View second coming Shikako.

The second idea was inspired by your fic about Shikako meeting Shinki's mother. I love Gaara and Shinki's relationship in canon, the best thing in Boruto, so I want to reunite this duo and while one is not born yet, we need to confirm Schrödinger's Gaara status. Since Shikako is the only one who has the opportunity to continue the search for Gaara without drawing attention to it, without hope ti find him alive, I wondered what could kill Gaara in the desert. After Gelel, he is the strongest being in Suna. So...

...what if he's not dead?

Back in time, when the war is over, his sister recently married Shikamaru and is about to have a child, everything is going well, Suna is strong and the world is at peace. What if Gaara wanted to sign the summoning contract after seeing how well Naruto and the others did with their summons and how effective they were? Perhaps he lost Shukaku and decided to compensate for his fighting strength by becoming a sage. So he uses reverse summoning and moves to some kind of summoning world. Then there are a dozen developments of events to suit your taste:

1. Gaara failed the test, he was eaten and his body will never be found. Dark enough for a primadonna Au to be real but if you go this route I will cry. Just saying.

2. Time flows differently in the world of Summons and for him 12 days may have passed when for others it is 12 years. He returns to meet a much older and tired Kanuro wearing a Kazekage hat.

3. Shikako finds the domen of the summon, which is located in their world, just very well hidden. Gaara either turned into stone and she will save him in her sage mode, or he meditates for a long time to become a sage and didn’t even notice the passage of time. A punch to the jaw from Shikako is part of the reunion.

This may be an unnecessary plot point, but it will clear the air for Gaara's family and friends.Feel free to use the ideas or not, anyway thanks for your attention!

Hello! I’m glad to see you over on tumblr since, like you said, I really am better at responding on tumblr than I am on ao3—but I do still very much appreciate your ao3 comment as well!

I do love your enthusiasm/affection for my silly Nara OC Souichi, I’m glad that he’s endeared himself to someone besides creator, lol. However he’s not actually THAT much older than Shikadai—or, well, I suppose in the world of shinobi he could be considered much older—I’ve mostly been vague about the timeline, but Souichi is 18 and Shikadai is probably 10ish. He’s due to graduate from the Academy soon. So eight years for a shinobi is a lot, I guess, especially so early on in their careers, but I would still consider them the same generation. Additionally, while he has the motivation and intelligence (and quirkiness) he really is “just an average Nara chuunin.” He made chuunin at 16 years old which isn’t BAD per se, but I think in terms of “Hokage potential” is pretty late in regard to making that international name for himself. Additionally, I know I haven’t explicitly said so, but Shikadai is ALSO motivated and intelligent. The way I see it, Shikadai is more similar to Shikako in her more desperate times, than Souichi is to Shikako in her fun relaxed times, and considering this is the bleak!Primadonna AU, it’s that desperate, battle-oriented Shikako that people would be looking for than an eccentric innovator.

Also, Shikadai doesn’t have the strength/power or the respect/influence NOW, as an Academy student, but that is roughly why if I were to write a “how to resolve the situation in Konoha” it would be a Shikadai-centered fic about how he gains that either through missions or over time or by interacting with other will-be-important figures his age.

As for your second idea—actually it was your initial theory about Souichi that made me bring up Shinki in this series, because the way I’ve written him, in my other DoS Shikaara future fic he is raised by Shikako while Kankurou is his clan head. And I realized, with your initial Souichi theory, that Shinki is probably the closest thing to a child that Shikako and Kankurou could feasibly/safely have in this bleak!Primadonna AU. Especially since Shinki, with his confirmable Magnet Release (as opposed to Shikadai with his probable-but-not-tested Magnet Release) would be the Kazekage heir and thus slightly alleviate some of the stress on Shikadai.

In the ficlet in which Shikako meets Areki (made up name for Shinki’s mother because I don’t know if she has one in canon but I kind of assume not considering what the source manga/anime is) Shinki is definitely already alive. It’s also earlier in the timeline than the first installment/ao3-chapter, so Shikako meets Areki when Shinki is probably about 8 (putting Shikadai at about 6?) and then basically adopts both of them and sort of mentors/helps raise Shinki so that he can safely be introduced to the world as the heir to the Kazekage when the time is right (as opposed to putting that target on the back of an untrained child before he’s ready)

But, that’s not your point: Schrödinger’s Gaara. I super agree with you that after Gelel he is the strongest being in Suna. I also agree that he’s probably not dead so much as like… transported elsewhere (or else-when if we’re getting time travel-y with it) or trapped somehow.

I had briefly though of Gelel Empire related things—like, just because the Dead Wastes are where the “heart” of Gelel’s power was, doesn’t mean they didn’t have other sealing arrays elsewhere through their vast empire. Also, considering sandstorms and since Gaara can control sand, it wouldn’t be to surprising if something was uncovered and Gaara went out to investigate it alone since, after all like you said, who could possibly be a threat to him in the desert where he is strongest? And then mumbledy mumbledy he gets transported somewhere (or some-when) and either can’t find his way back, or doesn’t realize how long it’s actually been, or is stuck. (I did, even more briefly, consider a sci-fi vibe, in the sense that Gaara discovers a Stargate or an old Jedi Temple or something like that but abandoned that since it would be bringing in a crossover and huge genre shift to something that already required a lot of implied background/worldbuilding from readers)

But the summoning realm is very good. And I’ve also previously posited that maybe the summoning realm is not necessarily just for summons. Like, perhaps it should more accurately be called the Spirit Realm, because while most of them are summonable creatures that theoretically look like animals, there could be other non-animal/non-contractable spirits there. I think I also considered writing a fic where the Shinigami and other gods kinda lived in that same alternate plane of existence? However, like you said, the summoning contract card is already so plentiful by itself that I don’t necessarily need to throw in spirits.

1) Oh noooooo, don’t eat Gaara! He’s a good lad TT_TT But that is maybe a little too dark for the bleak!Primadonna AU. Like, I know I have Shikamaru being assassinated, but the idea of Gaara being eaten by summons and never found again is just too dark for some reason? The assassination has political causes and ramifications at least D: Gaara in some boss summon’s stomach is noooooooooooo

2) Time flowing differently is almost… ooh… like, if he were to come back after 12 years and it’s just because time flowed differently. Like, obviously it’s not his fault, but I can see how frustrated Kankurou and Temari and Shikako (and maybe even Naruto?) would be with him if it’s like. THIS ALL COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF YOU HAD JUST COME BACK SOONER. There’s something to be said about those Fair Folklore and similar mythologies about a human going to another world and dancing for a night and then coming back and realizing a century had passed. Like. It’s almost more forgivable if Gaara comes back AFTER Shikadai is an adult (and possibly Hokage) and everything has resolved itself in one way or another because that’s a scale of time that almost seems like—well, there’s nothing he could have done. Versus any time before that would be frustrating. They wouldn’t be mad at him, but god it would be so frustrating.

3) I will always be so fond of Shikaara, so my heart does love the idea that Shikako—who is the only one who can/still believes enough to keep searching for Gaara—does find him trapped somehow (either turned to stone or in a seal or a sand cocoon that was meant to protect him but then backfired, etc etc) and not freeing him with True Love’s Kiss but, like, practical treatment either via Earth chakra or seals or, as you said, a punch to the jaw, lololol.

It’s the mystery of the ages, truly :)

Thanks again for your comment/asks, Mergen!

[jacksgreysays]

The fact that Brennan's limited outfits are a major key to figuring out the filming order is so funny to me.

I haven't checked, but how frequently do Sam's ties change? Could that be another key?

Okay, so leaving aside the actual game content for a while here…

Is Dropout giving this season of Game Changer a MUCH higher budget?

Like, I’ve been having this thought for a while, but there are so many little additional costs this time that add up:

Half the episodes have fully-custom replacement podia…

I assume they had to completely repaint the back wall after Pencils Down…

The SINGLE day of shooting covering Bingo and Déjà Vu required SIXTEEN actors, not including Sam. (9 Bingo players, the PA, Siobhan, Ify, Zac, BDG, Josh, and Kevin).

Of just THOSE two episode: the huge number of cameras and storylines in Bingo was a huge production burden… While the AMOUNT of editing required for Déjà Vu is above and beyond anything they’ve done in this show before (EVEN including Escape the Greenroom, which is in some ways the prototype for both of those episodes, featuring both the unusual camera setup and the editing interstitials for backfilled story)…

[jacksgreysays]

#probs why sam mentioned how prizes had to be scaled down for budget reasons - @boom-katsuki

Also, they probably filmed Pencils Down last because of the back wall but for the sake of the season's overarching narrative, that episode was released in the middle. And I think they used the same "easel" podia in Pencils Down as they did in Bingo.

But, yes, I agree that the prizes being scaled down mean they can reallocate that money into production value.

Okay, so leaving aside the actual game content for a while here…

Is Dropout giving this season of Game Changer a MUCH higher budget?

Like, I’ve been having this thought for a while, but there are so many little additional costs this time that add up:

Half the episodes have fully-custom replacement podia…

I assume they had to completely repaint the back wall after Pencils Down…

The SINGLE day of shooting covering Bingo and Déjà Vu required SIXTEEN actors, not including Sam. (9 Bingo players, the PA, Siobhan, Ify, Zac, BDG, Josh, and Kevin).

Of just THOSE two episode: the huge number of cameras and storylines in Bingo was a huge production burden… While the AMOUNT of editing required for Déjà Vu is above and beyond anything they’ve done in this show before (EVEN including Escape the Greenroom, which is in some ways the prototype for both of those episodes, featuring both the unusual camera setup and the editing interstitials for backfilled story)…

[jacksgreysays]

Extremely late, completely unnecessary opinion of the Watcher situation, (2024-04-24)

So this is a relatively belated post — several days after the initial “Goodbye Youtube” and one day after the “An Update” videos — and surely by this point there are more interesting/insightful op-eds (both in written form and video form, especially penguinz0’s fairly objective POV as, essentially, a YouTube expert) but there is something about the Watcher situation that made my brain itch. Thus, I wanted to write about it in order to make sense of it all as well as get into a philosophy that seems to be haunting me in recent years and which I think applies greatly here.

This may seem completely out of left field considering 1) definitely not fanfiction and 2) about Watcher Entertainment, a YouTube channel which—as far as this tumblr is concerned—I’ve not engaged with whatsoever, but I don’t know where else I would put this, and weirdly enough I think the general tumblr response to this whole predicament is maybe the… if not objective… then at least, most thoughtful?—or, perhaps, least immediately reactive?—amongst the various social media platforms, that I think some people might appreciate this anyway.

In terms of my relevant background: I majored in Management Science (which is just a fancy way of saying Economics + Business + Accounting because they are, weirdly enough, separate things) and minored in Film Studies in school, I am currently working in the stage tech industry (which, I know, is obviously different from film/video industry), and I like to think I am a fan/consumer of a wide variety of independent creators, some of whom I am lucky enough to be able to afford being a patron/subscriber. I won’t go into all of them—because it is a lot—but there are four in particular whose business models I want to analyze in comparison to Watcher’s admitted blunder:

A) RocketJump (known for Video Game High School and Anime Crimes Division; the core group which turned into the podcast Story Break, then became Dungeons and Daddies) B) Dropout (formerly College Humor, we’ll get into their discography later) C) Drawfee (previously an offshoot of College Humor, now fully independent) D) Corridor Digital (used to be mostly behind the scenes of how VFX studios work, have since become a mostly original content creator)

I will say, right off the bat, I am a patron of Drawfee as well as Dungeons and Daddies, and I am a subscriber to Dropout. I am not subscribed to Corridor Digital’s streamer, which I will get into why later. I understand that being able to sustain those two patronages and one subscription is a luxury that not everyone can afford and so my point of view is already skewed by being such a person who could theoretically afford another streaming service if I so chose. I also acknowledge that many fans of Watcher are not in similarly financially secure places as I am and that regardless of the business model, any monetization that comes from fans would have been a rough ask. However, I wanted to go into this essay in a way that accepts Watcher’s statement—that they needed more funding—in relatively good faith rather than assuming the worst (although that is another point I’ll get into later, largely related to the philosophy I brought up earlier.)

All four of the above listed content creators started or, at least, hit their stride on YouTube:

RocketJump and College Humor were, if not household names, then the digital equivalent of it in the “early days of YouTube.” They were part of the wave of content creators that made YouTube seem less like a bunch of eccentrics with cameras making videos on the side and more like a viable way to support yourself/your team with the art you create.

RocketJump’s Video Game High School went from short (less than 10 minutes) minimal location episodes in season one, to 30 minute plus episodes with full on fight scenes and car explosions by season three thanks to a Monster Energy brand deal. They also had two seasons of Anime Crimes Division, a literal TV quality show, thanks to a Crunchy Roll sponsorship. Unfortunately, RocketJump shut down not long after (their videos are still up on YouTube but they obviously don’t add anything new) but the core creative team behind that have been involved in several projects outside of YouTube (Dimension 404 on Hulu being one of the biggest ones so far) including the podcast Story Break (part of the Maximum Fun network) and now the independent podcast Dungeons and Daddies, the episodes of the main campaigns which are free with ads or, for patrons, ad-less along with additional mini-campaigns and other benefits.

I will say, during RocketJump’s decline, they did try their best to keep going. The partnerships with Monster Energy and Crunchy Roll were the big swings to get the funding to make those TV quality shows they wanted. I believe they lucked out with those brands in particular, or, at least, those brands didn’t seem to inhibit the creative process or ask too much of them that it felt like “selling out” but I also don’t have insight into why they didn’t pursue this model of, essentially, very weird but interesting season long commercials. Maybe they just couldn't find the right brands or maybe they did feel like it was too stifling. Regardless, before they shut down completely, they did also downsize—moving out of the actual city of Los Angeles over to Buena Park. Which is in Los Angeles county, and basically counts as LA still, but is way cheaper than literal Hollywood real estate. (I should have added to my relevant background that I’m born and raised LA county, and have relatives and friends in the film/movie industry, so trust me when I say literal Hollywood/city of Los Angeles is so overrated and unnecessarily expensive. There is a reason why LA traffic is the worst and it’s because everyone is commuting INTO the city. Respectfully and with affection, no one should live there. No one’s start up should be located there.) Obviously the downsizing didn’t necessarily work for RocketJump, but they also didn’t have multiple successful revenue streams the way that Watcher currently does.

In contrast, College Humor was acquired by InterActiveCorp and was turned into CH Media which was three pronged: College Humor, Drawfee, and Dorkly. In 2018 they made Dropout, which had exclusive content separate from their YouTube videos which involved all three prongs. Then some financial shenanigans happened early 2020—IAC withdrew their funding—and there were a bunch of layoffs right before the pandemic which extremely sucked. It has been stated by multiple people involved that it was basically a miracle that Dropout survived through all of that, but there were definitely some sacrifices along the way to make that happen. Currently, Dropout seems to be thriving with mostly exclusive content with the occasional “first episode of a season” posted to YouTube, OR if Dimension 20 is doing a “sequel season” in an already established campaign they will put the entirety of the previous season on YouTube.

IAC withdrawing their funding did put CH Media in a bind. They had to layoff a lot of people right before pandemic and, understandably, a lot of trauma was had. There were also weird issues with who controlled certain IPs/brands/digital assets (I mostly come at this from a Drawfee POV, it took several years for them to own the Drawga series and be allowed to host all of the episodes on their YouTube, and there was also something about the sound file for their opening animation?) but mainly the difference is what kind of content they generate. Originally Dropout had multiple scripted shows with high budgets and pretty cool effects/animations/stunts (Troopers, Kingpin Katie, Gods of Food, Ultramechatron Team Go!, Cartoon Hell, and WTF 101) whereas now almost all of their shows are variations of improv comedians being put into different scenarios or given different prompts. I’m not just talking about Game Changer and Make Some Noise, because Dimension 20 and Um, Actually also technically fall under that description as well. Which is not to say that these shows are worse than the scripted shows—I subscribe to Dropout, so clearly I’m a fan of their current shows—and the budgets for them have since increased to resemble, if not match, those early shows, but it is a noticeable shift in their content creation strategy as a response to the lack of IAC funding. And I will say: Dropout releases at least three videos a week if not more and at least two of those are long form at 30 minutes plus (Dimension 20 being the longest, of course.)

So, these first two business models are not really the most applicable to Watcher Entertainment considering their origin was to get away from Buzzfeed—they’re probably not keen to be partnered with or purchased by a larger company—but there are some aspects to both that I believe are valuable in at least showing the strategy in how these former YouTube creators could successfully extract themselves from YouTube or how they still utilize YouTube even if it is not their main hosting platform or revenue stream.

Then there is Drawfee and Corridor Digital, both of whom are currently—if not primarily—on YouTube, whose situations are more comparable to what I believe are Watcher’s goals.

Drawfee had to rebuild themselves like a phoenix from the ashes of the CH Media layoff during the beginning/worst of the pandemic. Side note: I’m happy that Nathan (one of the four main artists of the current Drawfee team) at least has forgiven(? or let bygones be bygones) Dropout enough to be on an episode of Game Changer (although I will say that this happened after Drawga was “returned” to Drawfee, and after Dropout officially split from College Humor as a brand.) All that being said, Drawfee was a team of four artists plus their editor who wanted to stick together but basically had all of their support system taken away from them. They took a bit of a break to assess their goals and options, announced a patreon with several tiers with great perks, and stuck to their upload schedule. In addition to two videos a week, they also stream on Twitch weekly, have a patron only stream once a month, and a draw class (for one of the higher tiers) once month. After asking their patrons on the relevant tiers if they were okay with it, they began releasing the patron only stream and the draw class to the general public for free after a month. The patreon perks also include things like merch discount codes, high quality PNGs of the final rendered art, access to the draw class with live interaction/critique, and a commission from the artist of your choice. The only “ads” they run are for their own patreon and merch store and, even then, they’re usually at the end of the videos with a credit scroll of the patron names during their exit banter.

Admittedly, they only have MAYBE eight employees—that’s including their video editor(s?) and their discord mod(s?)—with the main four artists doubling/tripling up duties as additional video editors, CFO, and marketing/merch leads. It’s a very streamlined crew and their production costs are not very high since it’s mostly screen recording of their drawings with their audio recording overlayed onto that footage. Although the video editors do sometimes have clever cuts to relevant images depending on their vamping. Sometimes they will have a guest artist but, again, since it’s screen and audio recordings, there’s no travel/housing costs. So, very minimal expenses due to low production costs and small crew but, again, their only revenue source is the patreon/merch, they don’t do outside ads and they very rarely do live shows.

Corridor Digital is, I think, the most applicable to what Watcher would ideally do, which I suppose is somewhat ironic for this essay in particular considering they’re the only one of the four that I don’t financially support. They have two YouTube channels: their main one being where they show the “final product” videos, but I believe their Corridor Crew channel which started primarily as behind the scenes type of videos is where most of their views come from. Especially their React series (VFX artists, Stuntmen, and Animators React etc.) On Corridor Crew they usually upload two videos a week — one which is a React and the other which goes into fun projects/challenges (involving VFX or not) or using VFX to explain scientific concepts — as well as the first episodes of their exclusive content on their streamer. Also behind that paywall are longer and ad-less versions of the videos on YouTube. They also have merch. All of them have merch, I don’t know why I’m stating that. They don’t have a patreon as far as I know, but I also don’t know if their subscription to their website comes with similar perks like discounted merch or something similar.

Anyway, their studio seems to be about 15 to 20 people — not all of them are VFX artists, of course. I believe they have higher equipment costs than Watcher since, understandably, Corridor has to be on the cutting edge of video editing technology. They do occasionally travel for shoots, but it doesn’t require big teams, and that’s only when the local locations available to them don’t match the requirements for the “final product” videos. Otherwise most of their videos are set in the studio or in the alleyway outside their studio in Los Angeles (the city itself, not just the greater county, though they are in a rougher and thus probably cheaper part of Los Angeles). I personally don’t subscribe to their website primarily because their exclusive shows don’t appeal to me—either they’re too technical or a little too dry; to be fair, most of them are VFX artists first before they are performers—and I don’t particularly feel the need to see the extended cuts of the videos uploaded on YouTube. Also I sometimes get a little bummed out by their lack of diversity.

All of this to say, from these four different business models, a bespoke Frankenstein business model for Watcher could be cobbled together. But also, even with that bespoke Frankenstein, there are some changes that Watcher would have to make: primarily their upload schedule. As of right now, I think they do MAYBE one video a week if not, perhaps, one video every TWO weeks. If they want a monthly subscription model, their rate of content generation would ideally be higher to double/quadruple their current upload rate. Obviously they want to create videos with higher production value, but at that rate of generation, something’s got to give: supplement their TV quality shows with either a behind the scenes type series or an increase of “we get four episodes out of Shane and Ryan get increasingly drunk in someone’s backyard” or something similar. Leaning into shows like Worth A Shot (the first season in which Ricky Wang makes cocktails based on a random ingredient, the second season threw in some competitive aspects which I didn’t really find necessary) or the Beatdown which has relatively low production costs (no travel, one location, maybe two cameras at most therefore smaller crew requirements) but a higher polished look. Otherwise, for a separate streaming subscription service, 2-4 videos a month is not going to cut it.

As of right now they probably can’t back out of the separate streaming subscription service because those set ups usually require some level of contract/paying for servers for the website and whatever is hosting their videos for a set amount of time. However, what really strikes me is that I literally didn’t know they had a patreon until I scrolled through the comments of the first Goodbye Youtube video. Maybe it’s been linked "tactfully" in the descriptions of videos, but considering they claim to be lacking in funds, the fact that they weren’t plugging their patreon at the end of every video is not just strange, but also irresponsible considering they do have 25 employees that they don’t want to layoff.

Additionally, I understand artists needing to be in a space that promotes creativity, but there are cheaper places that must be comparable that aren’t in literal Hollywood. It’s an unnecessary expense. On top of that, other people have already brought up that it was fairly crass to introduce this paywall, attributing it to the increased production costs, when the next planned “new series” is a reboot of an old Buzzfeed series in which people travel and eat expensive food. I’m not even talking about the personal expenses of Steven, Shane, and Ryan; what kind of car they drive or the cost of their wedding venue doesn’t matter on a business model basis.

But getting back to the patreon: again, I literally didn’t know they had one. I’m looking over their tiers— they have $5, $10, $25, and $100 — and for the most part they seem okay, although I think they have more to offer that wouldn’t necessarily cost them more. Ie, something that has baffled me for a while: the fact they don’t sell the mp3s of the Puppet History songs; they already exist and it doesn’t cost them anything additional because they don’t need to put it on physical media. Or maybe they do and they’re not marketing it similarly to how they weren’t overtly marketing their patreon?

And, okay, maybe they didn’t want to seem desperate — in the early days of Dropout and independent Drawfee, they both were very blatant in getting people to subscribe/join their patreon. As they should be. Desperation maybe doesn’t look cool and sexy, but it is earnest in a way that conveys equal effort that fans who can afford it would want to see. The fact that we weren’t getting rotating ten second clips of Steven, Shane, and Ryan asking people to join the patreon at the end of every video — even if its the same clip every three videos — is wild. And yes, the $25 tier includes a shoutout every 3 months on Watcher Weekly+ (which I don't quite understand what that is,) but the fact that they weren’t doing a quick post movie credits scroll of all the patreon names is, again, wild. Once you have that initial list, it’s not too difficult to add any new names that join and put that title overlay on top of, again, those nonexistent ten second clips of the three.

As others have already stated, it seems like an extreme mismanagement of their existing successful revenue streams, if they are actually struggling to pay all of their employees. Which goes into the philosophy part of this essay: don’t assume malice when it might just be incompetence. It’s something that I have to remind myself of often because I do get paranoid about people’s intentions sometimes and I have to check myself. Am I being overly suspicious of what might be just an honest mistake? Am I assigning ill will to an action just because it inconvenienced me?

Yes, of course, a lot of this situation could be misconstrued as straight up greed. But, also, Watcher is a relatively young company, helmed by three people who certainly don’t have experience running their own company:

They like to travel. They like to bring a full crew around with them. They’re renting out a shiny office in the heart of Hollywood where everyone knows is where real show biz happens. They’re adding more employees to the team because surely more people means better. And they want better productions values because the prettier the videos the more people will like them right?

It’s naive. It’s a level of inexperience combined with giving responsibility to officers whose main priority is to entertain. And if that means entertaining themselves and their staff, then they might not know the difference. It’s the kind of mistake that first time managers make—trying to prioritize fun over getting the job done. Prioritizing making friends with their employees rather than making sure the work the employees put in is equal to (or greater than) what you spend on them whether that is in paycheck or bringing them to cool locations for fun shoots. It’s a mistake anyone can make, it's just unfortunate that they made this mistake in front of millions of people. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s solely a greed induced cash grab.

But then comes the catch-22 of the philosophy—is it worse to assume incompetence than it is to assume malice? Or, in this case, greed. Especially for the heads of a company that holds the livelihoods of 25 employees in their hands. At what point does it not matter if it’s incompetence or greed if the end result is the same?

Is it better to think that Watcher knew about the various other business models of independent creators and just ignored the efforts put into achieving those successes or is it better to think that they didn’t know and just stumbled into one of the worst moves they could have done. Again, other people have mentioned that Great Mythical Morning—which Watcher has had multiple collaborations with—has managed to make the YouTube subscription/tier system work to the point that they can sustain themselves as well as spinoff channels. Is it incompetence or greed that led to Watcher thinking they could bypass that completely in less time and with less content?

I’ve been at this mess of an essay for several hours when I should have been asleep. Ultimately I want to say, regardless of incompetence or greed… yes, Steven is CEO and yes he is ultimately the one who makes the final call but it is disheartening to see the pointed vitriol at Steven specifically and the infantilizing of Shane and Ryan in comparison. Either they’re all silly uwu boys who are messing around not knowing how to run a company, or they’re all complicit in a crass cash grab in an extremely busted economy.

I think what’s most frustrating to me in all this is that there were so many other channels and creators who have literally walked this path before them and, again, whether through incompetence or greed or arrogance, for them to just ignore it… It’s not betrayal because I don’t know them and so there’s no relationship to betray, it’s just so inefficient and convoluted that I don’t understand. Or, no, even if it was greed, it’s an incompetent greed because at least pure greed would have been pushing that patreon every second they could. Their ratio of YouTube subscribers to patreon members is less than 1% and I bet that’s because a lot of their audience, like me, literally didn’t know they had a patreon. I probably would have become a patreon member of theirs had I known earlier, ESPECIALLY if it included access to those Puppet History songs. Drawfee has half as many YouTube subscribers and nearly double the patreon members as Watcher. I’m just baffled, is all, and maybe by this point sleep deprived.

Anyway. That’s my extremely late, completely unnecessary opinion of this situation.

Edit (several hours later after some sleep): I forgot to mention, because they did walk this back almost immediately, even before their "An Update" video, but I believe the original plan was to put EVERYTHING behind that paywall and pull their content from YouTube entirely. Which is, again, extremely baffling, because if ALL of their content is behind a paywall, how would they possibly gain new fans? Even if all of their current fans were able and willing to pay for their separate subscription streaming service, how would a brand new person even stumble on their content enough to want to subscribe if there wasn't a significant amount of "proof of value" free content on YouTube? Again, extremely baffling, and a level of incompetence that overshadows a "cunning" greed. But, like I said earlier, they did walk this decision back almost immediately. If I've misunderstood this and that was never their plan, please let me know, I don't want to be spreading misinformation in a situation that is already so convoluted.

[jacksgreysays]

to clarify on my previous prompt: I was thinking something like 5 times Shikako used something she SHOULD NOT HAVE, and one time she actually managed to get some food (it usually gets eaten instantly)

... what previous prompt are you talking about, anon?

[jacksgreysays]

Post garden-split leads to Shikako taking up acting probably forking off of first primadonna post rather than bleakAU but because gardens! Bleak in its own unique way - anonymous

Ok, I think I see why you mention primadonna in the sense that this is a Shikako that leans hard into acting/deception skills, but I don't think it really relates to my specific sandbox that I call "Primadonna 'verse."

Hm... so what I'm imagining from your prompt is a Shikako that... ok, similarly related to the various verses in the garden!verse post in which EVERY universe that has a mortal Shikako will eventually get its own post-Split Gardens!Shikako...

In a world SO close to the one she just left, so ALMOST the place she truly wants to go, a post-Split Gardens!Shikako ends up in Land of the Moon where native!Shikako almost but not quite single-handedly besieged a castle and reversed a coup. Or, rather, native!Shikako succeeded but died in the process. And, look, Land of the Moon was, what, only a few weeks before the Land of Hot Springs and thwarting Jashin and the endless multiverse garden jumping--this is almost her world, right? Just a few months before? She could just... slip in there. Just tuck herself right in where the native!Shikako left a hole that no one was around to notice being filled in with a... slightly different Shikako.

A slightly different Shikako that has a little bit more techniques than before (although hasn't she always been secretive about her newest techniques?) A slightly different Shikako that seems a little bit older, a little bit more detached, a little bit more prone to swift solutions over kinder handling (but no one expected to solo besiege a castle and reverse a coup either, and that was native!Shikako, not this new, slightly different Shikako)

Shikako's finally almost home.

... but maybe this PSG!Shikako does feel a little guilty. This world's Shikako will never be mourned because as far as everyone is concerned, she never died. She just changed, understandably, from the trauma and stress of the Land of the Moon mission.

But PSG!Shikako knows. And something something the metaphors of cuckoo birds and imposter syndrome and how even though native!Shikako was lying to her loved ones (how could she possibly explain being reborn into an anime?) PSG!Shikako is now lying twice over. Stealing her life like slipping on someone else's clothes and playing pretend that everything is fine.

So this Shikako would still continue onwards--she bypasses the Jashin incident entirely by taking out the priests and altering their village-wide seal before they even start the ritual--but maybe she pulls away from everyone out of guilt. Maybe, in realizing she is a liar anyway, decides to take the Director up on his offer for a Princess Fuun spinoff. And that's a success that doesn't involve stealing native!Shikako's life, so she just keeps doing it--more movies that take her away from Konoha, where her lying isn't so guilt inducing, where at least everyone is in on the playing pretend as opposed to just her biting everything down so as not to hurt her loved ones.

... it's still not quite "my" Primadonna 'verse, but I think that's how I would do a Primadonna-esque Gardens 'verse and it's also almost as bleak :D

Psst My muse decided to be the bad decision fairy: A Primadona Garden AU Basically Garden!Shikako figured out what happened to Native!Shikako and nopes out of Kohona or maybe Danzo psychological warfare ghost haunting idk? But heavily inspired by the lyrics "All she ever wanted was the world" theme wise. Maybe using garden angst to step into the disparate lives of characters and their desires??

Sorry, anonymous, can you clarify this for me?

It mostly seems like a Garden 'verse concept, not really a Primadonna 'verse concept. Or, rather, I'm not sure where the Primadonna 'verse part comes in?

[jacksgreysays]

Psst My muse decided to be the bad decision fairy: A Primadona Garden AU Basically Garden!Shikako figured out what happened to Native!Shikako and nopes out of Kohona or maybe Danzo psychological warfare ghost haunting idk? But heavily inspired by the lyrics "All she ever wanted was the world" theme wise. Maybe using garden angst to step into the disparate lives of characters and their desires??

Sorry, anonymous, can you clarify this for me?

It mostly seems like a Garden 'verse concept, not really a Primadonna 'verse concept. Or, rather, I'm not sure where the Primadonna 'verse part comes in?

[jacksgreysays]

I apologize for my immediate instinct to make melodramatic angst for this character but:

Oh, to be a prince in the Princess Zelda lineage and see how your kingdom is struggling but you can't do anything because YOU aren't the reincarnation of your family's chosen one, can only watch your little sister be pressured by your father, your kingdom, the oncoming Calamity. The goddesses do not respond to her prayers, but they don't even hear yours.

(Likewise, the Hero of Hyrule is for the kingdom, for Princess Zelda, not for you)

..just went through old stuff and i found an old botw oc who’s zelda’s big brother. The only thing written abt him was that he died and did not survive the calamity also he was in love with link lmfao.