#(Most of these now are still half formed 'potential' ideas I can use in an actual story but)

[venusdandy]

God's Rival

[Hazbin Hotel x GN!reader] [Platonic]

[Part One]

Story Summary: The Demiurge is what they decided to call you. You aren't human, angel, or demon. You're something else entirely—an enigma in each realm. The only being who had ever shown you kindness was the fallen angel Lucifer since he freed you from Heaven's prison by offering Eve the apple from your tree. You promised him a fruitful favor in exchange, but he has not asked anything from you. Until now, that is.

Chapter Summary: After the death of Adam, the residents of the Hazbin Hotel discuss ideas of how to protect Hell from Heaven's potential wrath. Reluctantly, Lucifer mentions he knows someone who owes him a favor and quite literally may be the only deity able to help them.

Warnings: Gender-neutral reader (they/them pronouns). No use of (y/n). The reader is genderless and AroAce—platonic relationships with the characters only.

The reader gets referred to as the "mother of chaos" once (in the same way one refers to mother nature). Nifty calls the reader a "bad boy" once (before meeting them). The reader is only referenced in this chapter without appearing yet.

Part 1 [Here] Part 2

The residents of the Hotel are gathered in their new lounge discussing the most recent extermination, or more specifically, Adam's death and the consequences. Heaven hasn't made any contact with Hell yet, but then again, it's only been a few days.

"I still think my idea is better," Angel smirks as he leans back on the couch comfortingly.

Vaggie growls with frustration, but Charlie quickly intervenes by gently touching her lover's shoulders. "Angel, we appreciate your help, but um," Charlie smiles tensely, "I don't think you seducing the angels in Heaven will help."

Angel shrugs. "Best idea anyone's had in the last hour."

Well, he isn't wrong. They've been severely lacking in the brainstorming department. After the conclusion that killing the first man has undoubtedly set off alarms in Heaven, for the past three and a half hours, they've all been discussing potential ideas to protect Hell from Heaven.

So far, Husk has thrown out that they should just set Nifty loose in Heaven (which Vaggie actually considered), Alastor has been making angelic puns (not at all helping), and Charlie has been pitching many civil plans to persuade Heaven (all her plans are in song form).

Lucifer has been very quiet throughout this. He's only been partially listening to everyone, as he is too focused on his worries. He's been mentally debating bringing up his idea; it's potentially the only way they'd stand a chance against all of Heaven's wrath.

But so much could go wrong. . .

Charlie must have noticed the faraway look in her father's eyes. She gently calls out to Lucifer, making him jolt out of his thoughts. He straightened up in the armchair and forced a smile. "Yes, Char-Char?"

Charlie holds one of her dad's hands with concern. "Are you okay? We can take a break if it's too much."

Lucifer sighs, letting his body sink into the chair, and his smile drops. "No, no, it's okay. I just. . .I have an idea."

Charlie perks up at this, a big smile shining on her face. "That's great!"

Lucifer opens his mouth but closes it again. He really doesn't want to mention you, but they've been shoved in a corner, and it's starting to look like only you can break down the walls.

With a reluctant sigh, Lucifer asks the others, "Have you heard of the Demiurge?"

Alastor hums with amusement as his grin stretches. "If you don't have ideas, there's no need to make up words. Just admit that little head of yours is empty!"

Lucifer, unknowingly falling for Alastor's rage bait, glares at him. "I'm not making up words, you oversized dried cherry! That's their title!". Lucifer then specifies your actual name.

Charlie clears her throat, awkwardly trying to distract the two demons. "Okay, let's calm down and hear what Dad's idea is."

Lucifer crosses his arms, still glaring at Alastor as he explains. "The Demiurge is responsible for a lot but mostly known for creating the mortal realm and overall shaping the material world. They're the maintainer of chaos."

Husk scoffs and mumbles under his breath, "Did a shit job maintaining the chaos in my life."

Charlie anxiously shifts her weight from leg to leg. 'Maintainer of chaos' doesn't sound very appealing. "Soooo, are they. . .nice?"

Lucifer finally looks away from Alastor; his smile is pissing him off more anyway, and he shifts his body to face his daughter. "Nice?" Lucifer repeats, "Maybe? From what I remember, they treated their creations with kindness."

"Creations?" Vaggie asks with a raised brow, "What does that mean? Like weapons or. . .?"

"Life.", Lucifer clarifies, "The Demiurge is capable of creating intelligent life forms."

This hooks everyone's attention. Even Nifty stops herself from stabbing a bug and looks up curiously. The little unfortunate bug quickly scurries across the floorboards, trying to escape, only for Nifty to leap at it again with her knife closing in on it.

"Like God? The fuck?" Angel asks with astonishment.

Lucifer nods. "They're powerful, so I thought about summoning them to help us since they owe me a favor anyway."

"Favor?", Charlie asks curiously and slightly worried.

Lucifer was about to explain further but decided to tell the Demiurge's origins so everyone could better understand who you are.

With a wave of his hand, a large and old book of the universe's secrets lands in Lucifer's lap. He opens it to the exact page of your tale and takes a deep breath before reading out loud.

.

"Before time, there was only the Celestial power in a realm called Heaven. But that power balance began to tip when an unknown angel mothered a deity with unbelievable divine powers that she abandoned their child in a clouded realm. The young deity lived for millennium alone, thinking they were the only being in existence. With no guidance from their mother, their power was disorganized, and they created galaxies, planets, and even complex life forms in their clouded realm.

After discovering the mysterious deity and their divine powers, Heaven deemed them a possible threat to the universe's balance. Questions rang in Heaven, wondering where this God-like creature came from. Only one angel knew who the deity was and where they came from, but she stayed quiet in fear she would be punished. It was her very own sinful thoughts and overwhelming emotions that had birthed her child.

The deity was elated to witness life forms they did not create, as they were not as alone as they formerly thought. At first, knowledge was transferred in civil conversations to understand each other's existence. The deity showed their realm, and in turn, the angels showed theirs. Heaven was more lenient towards them after witnessing their calm and happy nature. The deity behaved much like an angel, Heaven thought, so they let them remain in their realm of creation.

It was during that time the deity discovered they had a mother and how she abandoned them over her selfish desire to protect herself. The deity then lashed out with exasperated grief. The one who gave them life was ashamed of them. Their creations began behaving more aggressively and rigidly as the deity's emotions swam in negativity. Once again, Heaven became alarmed by the deity's power. They threatened the deity to stop, or Heaven would have no choice but to force them to stop by the power of the Heavenly Father. But the deity was too far lost in their rage of despair to listen. So, Heaven destroyed the deity's creations to almost extinction and trapped their soul within an apple tree. This massive tree became known as The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

After 65 million years, the Heavenly Father created the first humans within the Garden of Eden. As long as the humans didn't eat the forbidden apples of The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they would live a pleasant life under God's guidance.

But, the life balance for humans forever shifted when Eve accepted the apple from the serpent and took a bite.

The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil vibrated until it burst into golden flames. The deity stood freely with their power surging through their veins once again. There was no longer only peace; now, there was chaos in the world.

That was the rebirth of The Demiurge."

.

After Lucifer finishes reading the timeless tale, he gently closes his book and teleports it to where it belongs with cloudy red magic. It's been a few millennia since he's sat down and read the origins of the Demiurge like this.

Nifty squeals from her spot on the floor laying on her stomach, kicking her feet in the air. "A bad boy!" She giggles.

Lucifer quickly clutches his fists in his lap as he realizes he's shaking with anxiety. Honestly, Lucifer does NOT want to call upon you. So many things could go wrong, and the first thing that comes to mind is how awkward it'll be. He can't just be like, 'Oh hey, haven't seen you since Eden! Could you fight Heaven and protect Hell for us? Thanks!' ABSOLUTELY NOT!

The second reason is that Lucifer has only a vague idea of what you're capable of. He knows you're powerful; he was one of the angels investigating you and your realm of life.

You treat your creations with love and gentleness, as Lucifer's father does with his creations. But you're the Demiurge, maintainer of chaos. Your mere existence allowed chaos and evil to spread in human souls. What motivates you? What are your aspirations?

. . .And would you be a threat to Charlie?

Vaggie's eyes are narrowed, glaring at where the book just was. Having the radio demon managing the hotel is enough of a risk as is; she will not allow some powerful entity- the maintainer of chaos, that is, anywhere near Charlie.

Husk is the first to break the tense silence with a slight smirk on his lips. "That's some serious mommy issues."

Angel snorts. "Careful, whiskers, the Boogieman might just catch ya for saying shit like that."-he suddenly scoots closer to Husk on the couch, invading his personal space. "But don't ya worry, I'll hold ya real close for safety!"

Without even looking at Angel, Husk shoves him off the couch. "OOF!"

"Boogieman?" Alastor asks with some amusement.

Angel sits up on the floor and shrugs in response. "They sound creepy, like the Boogieman." Angel grins wide with a laugh, "Hey, maybe you and them will get along then, Smiles!"

Alastor only raises a brow at Angel's comment. If anything, the Demiurge will most likely piss him off like Lucifer does. But either way, he's deathly curious about you. What exactly can you do? Or rather, what can he exploit from you?

Lucifer groans and throws his head back against the armchair. "I don't know if we should ask the Demiurge for help. . ."

Charlie quickly shakes her head. "What, why? You said they can help, and they owe you a favor anyway! We have to ask, at least!"

Vaggie rests a hand on her lover's shoulder. "I'm not sure about this either, Charlie. This isn't your average favor exchange."

Charlie is about to argue more but closes her mouth. She bobs her side to side in acknowledgment. "Yeah. . .but Dad freed them from the tree, and helping us protect Hell from Heaven is sorta like freeing us, right?"

Now, Vaggie nods but sighs in exasperation. "Babe, we can't trust the maintainer of chaos who, might I remind you, brought evil into the world."

Lucifer, without a second thought, jumps to your defense, "Now, I wouldn't say they brought evil into the world. Evil already existed; human souls at the time couldn't comprehend evil. That's how they were originally designed. The Demiurge brought the ability for humans to understand evil, and I gave humans free will." He rubs his neck awkwardly and mumbles, "And I mean, it was their world before Heaven took control of it."

Husk scratches his chin in thought. "Sounds like they'd be eager to fight Heaven if that's the case."

Charlie claps her hands together in determination. "Exactly! I'm not for the idea of revenge, but they already aren't on good terms with Heaven. And it sounds like we- as, in Hell, are on neutral terms with them?"

Lucifer nods, but he's still not convinced he should summon you. . . Indeed, you've never shown malice towards Hell, but you've also never shown any signs of supporting Hell.

Well, you've shown respect for his family, which he is confident of. Lucifer can recall how each year, on his and Lilith's anniversary, they'd receive a generous gift from the Demiurge. They especially received a lot of gifts from you for the baby shower Lilith held for the nearing birth of Charlie.

Now that Lucifer is thinking about the Demiurge more, how'd you even know these dates? Neither he nor Lilith invited you to their wedding or baby shower, yet you still sent them gifts. Lucifer always assumed word had got around, and that's how you heard of it, but you were always so precise with the timing, too.

For instance, when their marriage started going South, instead of receiving one gift from the Demiurge on their anniversary for them to share, Lucifer and Lilith received their own uniquely catered gift. He was so emotionally distraught back then that he never realized how odd and borderline creepy that was. How could you have possibly known that Lilith and him weren't doing well? Not to mention how after they split apart, they received no gifts from you! How do you know all of this?! Are you hiding in his castle walls or something?!

Alastor knocks his cane against the wooden floorboards to gather everyone's attention. "I must agree with our dear Princess! We need extra assistance for what's to come, and it sounds like the Demiurge is the one for it."

Lucifer glares at Alastor. Well, now that he knows Alastor wants you to be summoned, Lucifer wants to summon you even less now!

"Plus!" Alastor continues with a stretching smile, "Our little King and the Demiurge are bound by a contract! They must fulfill their end of the bargain whether they want to or not."

"Preferably wanting to!" Charlie quickly adds, "Actually, only wanting to! We aren't forcing anyone to do anything they aren't comfortable doing!" Alastor subtly rolls his eyes.

Lucifer takes a breath in through his teeth at that realization. "Uhhhh, we didn't shake on it soooo. . ."

Vaggie immediately facepalms. "Are you serious right now?!"

Alastor's neck snaps at an angle toward Lucifer. "You didn't. . .Make an official deal? Then what makes you think this creature of chaos would willingly do you a favor?"

Lucifer stands from his chair with a glare and points an accusing finger at Alastor, "Excuse me for having more important things on my mind like, I don't know, getting out of Eden alive!"

Alastor's brows furrow together with irritation, and his smile sits tightly. Leaning onto his cane for stability, he bends forward to reach Lucifer's much shorter height. "You're excused."

Lucifer starts rolling up his sleeves. "Alright, you pompous prick-"

"Okay! That's enough!" Charlie quickly intervenes by leaping between the two demons with a nervous smile. "How about we finish this discussion tomorrow after thinking more about it? Sound fair?"

Reluctantly, Lucifer backs off, blowing air out his nostrils with pent-up anger. Alastor shows no further vexation as he straightens up, firmly placing his hands on his cane.

From the floor, Angel raised one of his hands. "So, question about the Demiurge."

Lucifer sighs with exhaustion but brings his full attention to Angel anyway. "Ask away; I'll answer the best I can."

Angel smirks as he asks, "What do they look like? Are they sexy?"

Husk and Vaggie groan at the question, not even surprised. At that, Husk stands from the couch and goes to the bar. He needs a drink—or maybe 12.

Lucifer, on the other hand, was genuinely pondering the question, the first half at least. "Uhh, from what I remember, the more humanoid form they take on have ears and a tail like a lion and golden scales on the edges of their face, around their eyes, and just scattered around their body, I think."

The term 'humanoid form' catches Alastor's attention. According to Lucifer, it sounds like the Demiurge is a creature that naturally doesn't look like a human and instead takes on that form, most likely for simplicity purposes. From the spiritual knowledge Alastor has gathered throughout his time in Hell, he's come to find that beings of higher ranks typically have a more abstract form. In that form, they are the most powerful, so to harness and control their magic, they take on a humanoid form.

"How interesting," Alastor hums, "A feline and a reptile."

Finally standing up, Angel whistles with a grin. "I've been with both, and I gotta tell ya, those scaley motherfu-"

Angel gets cut off by Vaggie punching him in the gut with the dull end of her spear. "Shut the fuck up, Angel!". Angel only laughs as he clutches his stomach.

Charlie winces and immediately but gently grabs her lover's elbows, making Vaggie lower her spear. "Okay, I think it's time to get ready for bed now."

The residents of the Hotel each do their nightly routine before ending the eventful day in their respective rooms. Though, with the most recent events taking place, they all find difficulty relaxing.

Can the Demiurge truly help them. . .?

They can only hope so.

[b0tsbby]

Midnight thought but now I’ve got my mind on how Tristamp has the overarching themes of identity, self-actualisation, adolescence but also a distorted sense of reality, past (Memory sweep finale) and present (Vash really telling himself Nai can still be saved, where Knives also wants to tell himself Vash needs help) , for the brothers especially.

So I look back to the last words the brothers shared, and hone on Vash’s “Who are you?” when he finally sees Nai for the person he’s become.

Yes I could talk about how the question is thematically directed to both of them throughout the entire season but there’s also an implication, I feel, there’s something, not quite right about, how Knives is presented.

Vash is an obvious “Who are you?” to the audience I think. Kinda all over the place. Masking to people half the time. Changing who he is to suit the people he’s with/ situation. Making promises he can’t really keep and then getting a lil too stuck on his own perceived failure. He only really becomes Vash the Stampede right before he blows up July.

But with Knives, he seems pretty sure of himself. Pretty sure of his goals and the work he’s got to do. Pretty linear in all his approaches. So his “Who are you?”, as a question from the audience, feels, off.

With the distorted reality idea, I wonder if, in a lot of his memory appearances as a kid we’re being introduced to someone that, never really existed. Maybe I’m reaching, but he’s entirely reconstructing Vash’s memories in the finale, and that’s, most of his appearances as a child.

He doesn’t seem very different as a kid in that he’s a lot more calculated, he’s colder, and Vash is the one that seems more interested in humanity’s acceptance. (While I personally don’t really mind that change tbh, I am aware it fundamentally alters the character). Considering he’s purposefully omitting the good and hopeful memories of Rem as their childhood, this presentation of him is so oddly convenient, helping him avoid the confrontation of a Nai, that was once well. Happy. Happy with humans. Happy with Rem.

We also see it in how he so easily takes the form of his kid self in Vash’s memories. Odd.

So I feel that “Who are you?” question has the potential to be one that kinda breaks the fourth wall. Compared to the other iterations, Knives does feel like a stranger. I like the idea that everything to do with him is a fake lie he’s orchestrated. And the creepy idea his control has extended to us as well.

It’s 2am. I may have better words tomorrow but this is essentially my long winded way of saying I can’t trust any Knives backstory given, knowing the extent of his possible control. And that sunshine crybaby Nai may still be a thing, it was just omitted by him. I could also be extending my arms across the continent with this reach…

[subzeroparade]

*chant* New fic! New fic! New fic!

So excited you’ve posted a new ER fic, and with a teaser for more to come! 🎉🎉🎉

Since it’s been awhile, maybe I poke your brain on what your thoughts on the DLC are (game play, lord, sceneries, anything you’d like to share with us really)? Has it changed your headcanon on any of the characters, or did you find ways to incorporate the new lores into your interpretations? Most importantly, did you have fun?

*tagged for spoilers but just in case - spoilers •‿•*

Did I enjoy it? YES. Did I have qualms with some gameplay bits? YES but I’m a filthy casual on NG+2 or something and generally Not Good at Game. But I beat it. 

As for lore, it’s really a mixed bag. There’s a ton of stuff I’m delighted to have new or expanded lore for - Marika’s origins, Belurat and the entirety of Hornsent culture, Godwyn’s Death Knights, BAYLE???? VILE BAYLE!!!! etc etc (sometimes I listen to Igon’s voice lines just to psych myself up for real life). There are things I need to adjust my headcanon for a little, as well - St Trina, for example, has always been a facet of Miquella himself to me, a sort of alter ego he willingly takes on, which is how I enjoyed writing her in fic. To have her elaborated here as a separate person means taking that a little further if I write him/her/them again, but I think the parallel it draws between Marika/Radagon is hugely interesting as well.  

iirc there are a couple of instances in the base game where lore almost contradicts itself, but I think in some cases the DLC got a little sloppy. The timeline is also way foggier to me now than it was previously. I was a big fan of the idea that Messmer was entirely unknown to his siblings, written out of history after the Crusade (predating Marika ushering in the Golden Age of the Erdtree), but that contradicts the lore we get on Gaius and Radahn as they’re both personally acquainted with Messmer, and makes me wonder which of the other demigods might’ve been aware of him, and under what pretences might they have met. It makes for a lot of fic ideation, but I’m of the opinion that if you’re writing fic, sticking too closely to (the sometimes unhelpful) lore will stultify the work; so I’m trying to pluck little instances of new lore that interest me to bolster the story I want to tell.  

Like most of the fandom I have a huge beef with Promised Consort Radahn, and I’m still struggling with how to work that into my headcanon. To me, there is simply no reason for it. There are no indications of it in the base game, and you have to tie yourself into continuity knots for it to make any sense - and that’s just bad writing. I’m not against retconning things if they serve a purpose, but this was neither useful nor necessary (nor well done), and that’s fundamentally disappointing for a Fromsoft game. The more people aggressively try and justify it, the more I feel like the potential explanations unravel. If we’re going along with the assumption that Miquella *needs* a lord to ascend, we’ve had Candidate #1 since the base game: Godwyn. Half of what we know about base-game Miquella is that he spent time and resources trying to grant Godwyn some form of peace, while his hideous fate hangs over the narrative in perpetuity. And we give Radahn closure literally in the first act of the game. I’m a firm believer in Miquella knowing 100% what he’s about, but in this singular instance blinded by love for Godwyn and an all-consuming desire to *fix this* by resurrecting some nightmarish, malformed version of him. There’s so much juicy story to be told in Miquella refusing to acknowledge the thing he brought back is not his brother, and for all that godhood and remaking the world into utter passivity can do, it can’t retrieve Godwyn’s irretrievable soul. All that to say, I’d even take Malenia as his promised consort - it would made more sense than Radahn, too.

Anyway tldr I don’t have to think about how disappointing that is now, because the fic I’m working on is around Marika’s ascension, and more specifically Messmer and Melina’s upbringing. There’s another on the backburner but I’m on the fence about it since it hasn’t reached an outline stage yet, and I don’t start anything unless I am 100% sure I know how to finish it, and finish it well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Ty for the ask! As is the case with me, the rest of my musings on the lore come through in fic writing, because those are the texts dumps I’m good at. Here’s a little (young) Melina and Messmer wip as thanks. 

[ride-thedragon]

You know, I'm glad they did not give Nettles' story to Rhaena.

Truth is, even if Show! Velaryons are black and therefore Laena's daughters are black, they still take part in an elitist society and part of a race considered the most beautiful and most powerful of the world that used to have an empire that took part in the Conquest of Westeros; and the Velaryons are also considered to have magical Valyrian blood like the Targaryens.

And even if Rhaena is not a princess because her relation to King Jaehaerys is that of a great-granddaughter/great-great-granddaughter through her father and mother; Rhaena is still a lady of House Targaryen, the most powerful family in the world.

Rhaena has lived with her stepmother, stepbrothers and half-brothers for so long she knows a lot about dragons and because of that she would never have to retort to herself slitting the throat of a sheep and would never get to sleep in dirty alleys and have so many scars from encounters with merchants.

Not even Baela, who is a tomboy, has the narrative of sleeping near commoners nor having a thief scar on her nose.

Rhaena has the privilege of the highborns and most specifically the privilege of being a Targaryen; whereas Nettles is a commoner girl who has had to adapt to live as a thief to survive and whose only proof she's a dragonseed is that she claimed Sheepstealer, and even then, her method is not exactly common among the current dragonriders even if the original ones did it that way.

Personally I dislike the theory of Nettles being Daemon's daughter, Daemon is explicitly described as fond and preferring of Valyrian maidens, and given Nettles' looks it's obvious her mother was not Valyrian; and if Nettles was his daughter we have to remember that's the only form of incest the Targaryens never ever had.

In my own headcanons, Nettles has more possibilities of being a descendant of Aegon the Uncrowned who was known for entertaining many maidens, or Maegor Targaryen, and she could even be a descendant of Daemon Velaryon the brother of Queen Alyssa Velaryon as they themselves had Targaryen blood.

I agree mostly. It's not a narrative that makes sense for Rhaena. No matter how they try to position her. Even if we look at her show characterization thus far, it would be unfortunate to give her another plot. I see a lot of people saying they're glad rhaena has something to do, but it's a disservice to her character. As though the show couldn't think of a role where she isn't head first in war even though she's such an important character towards the end of the dance. They just have to get a Vale plot, which could simply be her teaching the boys as best as she can and looking over dragon eggs. But they didn't give her morning.

I have no idea what their plan is. What I do know is that if it happens, it doesn't make sense. Nettles' story is important, and seeing as the fans have found a way to push her specific arcs unto every character that breathes when Nettles isn't on screen, it's more difficult to replace her in the story. It's a disservice to them both.

Nettles isn't Daemon's daughter 100%. He's a weirdo, but he isn't insane. He'd groom 100 teens, but he wouldn't sleep with his daughter. We know that because he largely ignores them in the show.

Lastly, I do see the Nettles is a bastard of theories as a waste of time. They don't make sense why George would go through all the trouble of her appearance and story just to be like she she great grand child of Aenys through a bastard that ended up on Driftmark. It's odd. But if I had to guess, I could see Aegon the auncrowned potentially, maybe even Jaehaerys or one of his sons. Perhaps a Baratheon. Who knows.

Overall, now we just wait and see. I, for one, won't be tuning in as much if she isn't included. (Rhaena and Baela scenepack folks, you'll have my subscription). They seem to have forgotten Alysanne and Sabitha as well. I do think if she is included, her arc will be different, but that's another thing I just will hold off on until she's announced. And if she isn't, it's been fun. As for Nettles' theories, my personal HC is that if she is a bastard, it's from Jaehaerys onward, and if she is, I hope it's from her mother's side.

[smol-and-scared]

G/t Analysis: Gods Among Mice

Before I begin, I want to say two things:

This post is not meant to disparage anyone or question their value as people, all of this is exploration of linguistics, its cultural implications and potential narratives that could arise from them.

It is not a statement of fact or a claim I’m making.

Also… Let’s put aside the “Step on me Goddess” bullshit that has unfortunately plagued much of the g/t community’s DMs (It deserves to be called out, but not what this is about)

I will be using ‘God’ as a gender-neutral term here.

The God-like power of Size💪

Throughout history, Gods have often been depicted as being physically massive. This makes sense, as physical power is the most easily understood form of power. Likewise, a creature's size is one of the most universally recognized sign of one's physical power. So it's a good way to instantly depict the strength of a God. And these depictions have had a weird memetic side effect: The idea that 'massive size' makes a creature 'God-like'.

This does have a bit of psychological merit. If mountain-sized Giants actually existed, (without our arch-nemesis: 🔥the fucking square-cube law🔥) their full size and strength would be so hard for humans to understand that their power is basically arbitrary. At which point it becomes indistinguishable from Godhood. Also, our primitive lizard-brains evolved to fear much larger creatures. And fearing your gods is a major part of many religions.

Because of this there are dozens upon dozens of G/t fics, comics, etc; where the larger party is compared to or (metaphorically) referred to as, a God. In the case of actual giants and characters growing larger, this makes complete sense and is usually well-suited to the narrative.

But in my eternal quest for more angst™ I’ve recently started to question it’s use in Human/tiny stories. It feels kinda… lazy? I mean, not in the context of the story, many fantastic fics do it. But it just feels like it was copied over from the giant fics and never fully questioned or explored.

Okay, but what if: 🤏 smol.

Now obviously, all of this depends on the exact size difference, scenario and world-building of the story. But I still think it applies to a huge amount of fics who play up the Human/tiny size difference as ‘God-like’.

I personally think If a tiny views their resident human as a God-like figure (with all of the fear and awe that entails) …then they are optimistically delusional.

Because Gods are, in most cultures, special.

I have yet to see a fic where the Tiny is struck by the simple and harrowing realization that the humans they view as unstoppable, God-like entities are... in fact, painfully average.

It’s one thing to live in terror of the massive entity that could kill you in an instant. It’s an entirely further step to realize that there are dozens, if not hundreds of them between you and the nearest human-free environment.

And what if the Tiny realizes that their human isn’t even average? Imagine their horror when they realize that the person who is so big and powerful that they can barely even grasp it… is some 4’ 3” (~130cm) little stick? And the average human could snap ‘their human’ in half like a stale fuckin’ Cheeto.

Objectively, the Tiny knew this. They knew that the human they live with was small and weak compared to the others. But they never had an opportunity to actually understand it. And nothing gets that message across like seeing the 'God' of their tiny little world casually picked up and playfully carried on someone’s shoulder.

And It still gets worse...

Depending on the setting, the Tiny may not know or feel connected to any kind of civilization (A borrower colony, a scavenger camp, etc). This is especially true if Tinies are rare and/or oppressed.

And if that Tiny were to realize how average their 'God-like' human was? It would break them in the most pitiful way.

Because that ‘God’ isn’t a god. They’re average. They have a job. They have hobbies and friends. Things that this Tiny could never even dream of having. And that’s normal. That’s expected. They get to live, instead of just survive. Because they’re a person and that’s what people do.

And if their ‘God’ is just a person-

“Then…what does that make me?”

In conclusion:

I believe a character referring to someone as a God/Goddess implies that the speaker is a ‘person’ and they are looking at something greater. It’s ‘Normal’ looking up at ‘Godhood'.

But given the right story, plus a healthy amount of fear and awe. I think many Tinies would start to understand how small they are. And that they’ve been looking up at ‘Normal’ the whole time.

[sonicasura]

WereKaiju

Here's the other idea that wouldn't leave my ass alone. Plus the spooky season is almost upon us so why not? Let's get started!

A 23 year old Kafka Hibino was doing his best to get his life back together. Kaiju No. 6's monstrous rampage had utterly devastated a good chunk of Japan with his home being one such casualty. The nearest homeless shelter was obviously at max capacity and any housing is still under construction.

Kafka's day hasn't been any better either. He recently got beaten up pretty badly by a few thugs because he tried to stop them from mugging a poor old lady. (The man would still do it again despite his now broken nose, multiple bruises and probably cracked ribs.)

Overall, most of the year was awful as hell. Although his luck would only get worse when a buzzing sound awakens him from his sleep. The source being a very familiar small Kaiju we all know (with some finding it cute.)

I will say that Kafka does fight back against Tiny as he's been sleeping outside in the cold and thus wearing a scarf around his mouth to help keep warm. The small Kaiju tries to pry it off while the himbo defends himself. Now he managed to catch Tiny who yanked the scarf half way down.

Before Kafka could effectively trap the thing, the little Kaiju bites him hard. He lets go, screams, and Tiny takes that very moment to shove himself down our himbo's throat. Kafka ends up passing out as the pain of the transformation was too much for his damaged body.

When he wakes up the next day, everything is a blur. Kafka believes last night in general has been a hazy dream. The fight with the thugs and a kaiju going down his throat despite feeling strangely sore. (All his injuries obviously been healed by Tiny.)

Life goes on as the himbo is truly unaware of the monster slumbering inside. That's until the first full moon. Kafka is actually a dormant carrier of a unique condition called Hypertrichosis or Werewolf Syndrome to be precise.

It's basically when the body overproduces hair, often in localized or specific spots across the body. Why is this important? To put it simply, Tiny might have accidentally altered Kafka's dormant Hypertrichosis into something very different. A kaiju variant of lycanthropy.

Now Kafka's Kaiju operates differently than in canon. The condition of his transformation affects his overall appearance. Under sheer willpower, Kafka looks like his canon form but with a spine covered long tail. The full moon or rage results in a more monstrous version of Riot Mode.

Fur like quills growing between the armored plates, facial structure narrowing into a shape similar to a komodo dragon, fur sprouting from the back of his head/wrists/upper chest/, four dragonfly like wings, and his tail becoming similar to a pangolin but covered in spikes. Kafka acts like an oversized wolf during a Riot Mode shift. Those he considers part of his pact are met with 'giant puppy behavior'.

He scrutinizes every unfamiliar person as if waiting for them to make a move so he can act accordingly. Threats are immediately attacked with incredible ferocity so you better someone he cherishes is there to intervene. If you are guessing, Kafka's bite is infectious like any Werecreature.

Something he doesn't know until a fight makes him lose a tooth. The Defense Force analyzed and tested it on a rat to discover it's mutagenic properties. In short, a warning would be given about not getting bitten by Kaiju No. 8. Civilians are warned of deadly venom but the truth being restricted to official DF Members.

Reno tells Kafka about this ability once he officially joins. Our himbo obviously doesn't join the Defense Force. He's afraid of potentially infecting or killing someone thanks to his curse.

No.9 however is another case entirely. He WANTS No.8 for his infectious bite whether he's dead or alive. A kaiju capable of converting others is too important to ignore.

The Defense Force is more desperate to kill No.8. Such an ability could potentially end mankind itself if left unchecked. Kafka is gonna have a harder time avoiding the Defense Force.

Not just because of his scheduled shifts but also No.9 sending in kaiju to hunt him down. The Defense Force is slowly growing suspicious about these localized attacks as one Soshiro Hoshina notices a common denominator amongst each incident. A certain himbo Monster Sweeper at each scene.

He's going to be busted eventually. Although whether he turns inside an interrogation cell or in front of his childhood friend remains unknown. (Or lover if a pairing is involved like childhood sweethearts/married for a few years type. Kafka will get his needed hugs either way.)

For now, please enjoy another song that came to mind when writing these ideas: Monster By Skillet. Also if anyone wants to do their own take on the concept then go ahead! I don't mind plus there probably will be a more in-depth look sometime in the future.

@discoknack-old @renard-dartigue @drmarune @noodlesbf-blog @omniithe-deer @mechazushi @terra-sketches

[kidchaor122]

Are we sure Gohan isn't a Legendary Super Saiyan ?

Bare with me I have an idea, now for context I'm aware Legendary Super Saiyan is the name given to DBZ Broly, I am using it in place of DBS Broly's Form as it is easier and more consistent than the names he currently has for it.

Now what I mean by this is, I hypothesis that Gohan is like Broly, a mutant Saiyan, my basis for this is the sheer rage they both share.

now, that isn't to say no other Saiyan gets angry or to ignore Gohan's hybrid Saiyan origin, however in that regard if we observe the other instances of hybrid Saiyans neither (for this we observe Trunks and Goten as both are 50% Saiyan like Gohan and have been observed in combat) exhibit the same extreme power boost that Gohan experienced with his rage moments.

Remember Gohan at age four experienced a power boost with his rage so powerful he was able to injure Radius who was multiple times stronger than himself(most sources say Gohan had a power level of 3 and jumped to a power level of 1307, which if cannon is a roughly 453x boost), neither Goten or trunks received such a boost in any arcs they were in, this include future trunks as while his rage moments were more explosive than his younger self's, with the exception of super Saiyan rage which I would chalk up more to him getting Godly Ki by training with Past Vegeta ( though I fully admit this is my interpretation and could be wrong).

From what can be observed Gohan's rage is massively powerful and more potent than other Half Saiyans, which leads me to the only other massive increase Via Rage we see in the series.

In DBS Super Broly, we discover that Broly a mutant of the Saiyan species is able to access the boost of Ozaru form without having access to his tail or the full moon. We also observe the longer he fights the stronger he gets, going from getting manhandled by Ssj1 Vegeta to being able to harm Ssj blue Goku and Vegeta before going Super/Legendary Super Saiyan.

Now assumedly the reason Gohan Was not born with Broly's power level (10,000) is due to his Half human origins, shoving his potential away until his body could handle it (which granted is a stretch though possible as our IRL Bodies hold us back from functioning at 100% as well).

Which then leads me to their transformations, it is widely believed that Gohan's Ssj2 has a higher multiple than other Ssj2 transformations, especially when Gohan is in a state of Combat Atrophy(I.E Buu Saga) during the fight with Dabura who was stated to be as strong as Perfect cell, Gohan was still stronger than him and was able to defeat him. It also never takes long to train Gohan back up to his peak, (I.E Gohan's training with piccolo during the tournament of power that made him on par with that version of Ssj blue Goku )

And this becomes even more amplified when you take into account Gohan's New Gohan Beast form, which I feel like is the equivalent to Broly's Full power Super Saiyan/Legendary Super Saiyan form.

So with all that in mind while I don't believe there will be a twist reveal that Gohan was a Legendary Super Saiyan the whole time it's interesting how alike both Broly and Gohan are, maybe if Paragus was more like Goku or Piccolo Broly would have been more well adjusted and even more powerful.

[wellhalesbells]

Can you tell us about How to Breathe 101?

Ah yes, the one I am actively, actually most trying to finish (before I got distracted by this week's fullmoonficlet prompt anyway). It's one of my favorite genres in fiction and in this specific fandom it's: Stiles fell first, but Derek fell harder.

It was originally just going to be a short fic about Derek learning to breathe in harmony with his pack. Since panic attacks are so woven into TW via Stiles, I kind of wanted to explore Derek having these kind of slow motion ones. Not necessarily because he wants to be alone but because that's what he knows, that's what he's gotten comfortable with, and holy shit there are so many people depending on him now, relying on him, and actually wanting to be in his space and how does he both accept that and allow himself to rely on that when he knows how transitory everything is?

I really, REALLY love when people miss their window - or, more accurately, perceive themselves to've missed their window and are now pining for someone they know once loved them. Inject that shit directly into my VEINS, please!

The plan was to have a much shorter progression but then I added in a more mage-y magic Stiles, with his power connected to growth and potential and blossoming (because no one can accuse me of being subtle LOL), and gave him an OC love interest so there was a distraction from any possible festering - I really didn't want Stiles to have even a hint of bitterness and that was a good way to be like: don't focus on the pit of despair, have casual sex! And also a good way to get across that Derek's love isn't possessive but rather focused around Stiles' happiness, which is always a big one for me (which is not to say I don't love jealous/possessive stuff, I DO, but sometimes that's just not what ya want). Then I set Stiles' magical edification in Ireland and got distracted with the wind over the bluffs and the sea crumbling cliffs and all that wild, fresh air there is to breathe and that's where I am at the moment.

Snippet:

Stiles takes him up over the bluff, fingers trailing currents as they walk, and they can see the cottage in the distance.  A dilapidated daffodil yellow and foggy gray (once white) thing that looks uninhabited.  It’s hilly terrain but clear as far as the eye can see.  The grass is buffeted up against their calves by the relentless wind and they can hear the ocean even if they can’t see it from where they are. “It’s beautiful,” Derek says. Stiles breathes deep.  “Magic, right?”  He throws a wink over his shoulder before holding out his hands, palm parallel to the ground on either side of him, and closes his eyes.  The long blades of grass shift and swirl and shoot up and up and up, getting larger and wider and greener as they grow, striving to tickle Stiles’ fingers as they pass his knees and hips.  They keep going until Derek has to tilt his head back and the strands twist at the apex above their heads and Derek can’t help the startled sound he makes as the tunnel forms, extending further with every step Stiles takes. The grass doesn’t stay static either, it’s still rustling, braiding itself together, sliding into every empty place, forming an arch above them.  The day darkens around them as they’re sealed off from above. Derek stares, first at the living thing surrounding them, and then at the man in front of him. “I had no idea you were capable of this.” “Neither did I.”  Stiles half-laughs.  “I don’t think Maire or Ciaran did either.  Honestly, I think it freaks them both out a little so, y’know, discretion?  I’ve been trying to do that whole thing.  Cutting back on it a little, pretending everything’s a bit harder, doing a little less than I’m actually capable of.  Not that—I mean, they’re supportive and all but I get the feeling this is new and therefore different for them.”  He drops his hands and the grass unbraids, slithering, sinking back down into the earth as though it was never anything else.  He’s not looking at Derek.  “It’s nice not to have to hedge.” He waits a beat then waggles his eyebrows over the pun and Derek rolls his eyes.

Wip list is here!

[pen-and-umbra]

idk if everyone checked out latest halloween special, so SPOILER alert ahead. why do you think sephiroth stuck w/ shinra for so long with all the crap they out him thru? i mean ec is EXPLICIT abt sephiroth suffering mistreatment at hojos hands, not to mention those lies shinra created abt him being this hero figure. and he only starts thinking about *maybe* quitting on the eve of Niebelheim mission, like whyyyyy??

Who can say? There could be numerous reasons.

For one thing, I believe Sephiroth understood he couldn't truly escape ShinRA's clutches and sever all ties with the organization. He was too valuable to lose, the pinnacle of ShinRA inventions, a source of non-degradable cells; they wouldn't let him go. At best, he could hope for a life like Aerith's: loosely free but on a leash, watched over by Turks and whatever other means of surveillance were available. It doesn't help that half the places in the area have a strong ShinRA presence, and Sephiroth is a well-known public figure with an eye-catching appearance. He couldn't just blend in with the crowd because he was too famous and well-publicized. Perhaps Angeal and Genesis were not the first SOLDIER members to desert active duty, and younger Sephiroth witnessed other deserters being chased to hell and back (I have a theory that the FS trio might eventually face this fate). If such an incident occurred, it could have left an indelible mark. After all, living under constant surveillance or a threat of pursuit is not exactly the normal life Sephiroth desired.

One could argue that ShinRA couldn't do anything against him if he chose to quit or flee. I disagree to a point. They did manage to bring down Zack — it took an army, but they did it, and Zack, mind you, held his own against Genesis. Now Sephiroth is on a whole other level, but he is still human — at least before Nibelheim events. He requires sleep, sustenance, water. If a direct confrontation is out of the question, ShinRA could always resort to subterfuge. Poison, gas, sedatives, in water/food/air when he's less vigilant — you name it. The only issue left would be containment. If they wanted him for cells and tissue, they could just arrange something to keep him comatose. Not to mention that the remake makes it abundantly clear they have no regard for collateral damage. They could burn down an entire town just to get to him. ShinRA most likely had dirty tricks up its sleeve that could cause problems even for SOLDIER members — not necessarily in the form of firearms or other weaponry.

Another reason could be one of existential nature. Sephiroth had been raised his entire life to be a killing machine. He lacks both the vision and the skill set to be anything else. Ever Crisis openly states that Sephiroth had little prior experience with people prior to his first field mission with the FS trio, meaning that it was mainly lab and training staff that influenced him during his formative years. As a true psychopath, Hojo is a master manipulator; in FF7R, it is he who suggests using psychological torment to break Aerith, so it's fair to assume a young child might have also received a chunk of that. Knowing Hojo, I wouldn't be surprised if he made it a point to instill this belief in Sephiroth: you're only good for killing, and without ShinRA, you're nothing (or maybe it was even more personal, with Hojo substituting ShinRA for himself). Those ideas are very likely to have become absorbed into the very core of Sephiroth's sense of self as he matured. And once something has been drilled into your head since childhood, it is difficult to break the mold. When you combine that with the fact that his legend began as a deceptive marketing ploy, you have a potentially damaged sense of self-worth. You'll get someone who is confident on the battlefield but lost beyond it. Fighting, as short-sighted as it was, gave him a sense of purpose. It sufficed for a while, being as good a reason as any other.

There's also the matter of belonging. Sephiroth's obsession with finding his family stems from a sense of rootlessness and an unsatisfied need to belong. The game is subtle about it, but it's still there: it's his sense of being different from others, his inability to relate to normal experiences (having a hometown, for example), his sensitivity to cyborg comments (the implication here being that the question of his own nature was salient for Sephiroth already back then), and his reaction to "it's not cool to ask about mother" (which implies that people teased or berated him for wanting to know). Still, as bad as ShinRA was, it gave him purpose and provided whatever meaningful relationships he had. It gave him stability. Unlike the world outside, it was a known variable, and as the saying goes, better a devil you know. As far as my guess goes, Sephiroth was in no small part simply reluctant to shift the status quo and go for drastic changes, which is very human in hindsight. Humans are conformists by nature; uncertainty generally frightens us, so we avoid it. To him, the outside world may have appeared to have no place for him: no place to belong, no place to mingle, no skillset for a living other than wielding a blade. He eventually considers leaving once he realizes that whatever anchored him to the company is no longer there, with his friends gone and ShinRA completely discrediting itself with human experiments.

It's tragic in retrospect, too; as Ever Crisis points out, Sephiroth knew the company was using him from a young age, but his need to belong and have a purpose was strong enough for him to willingly turn a blind eye to its questionable ethics.

[breakfastteatime]

Cere leans against the engine room door, watching Cal at the workbench. She'd come to fetch him for dinner and found him tweaking his lightsaber, most likely to keep what remains of the weapon functional. She's seen some busted lightsabers in her time, but nothing quite like his. She'd known Jaro Tapal, remembered his dual-bladed lightsaber that Cal now wields. Cere has not, and will never, ask him what happened to damage it. She doesn't need to, just like she doesn't need to ask him what happened to his own weapon, one that would've suited his stature far better. Cal's obviously grown in the past five years, but he'll never be Lasat-sized.

BD-1 dances across the workbench and spies Cere. He greets her with a cheery whistle and Cal finally looks up from his work, blinking as his eyes shift to a more distant focus. "Oh, hi, sorry. I didn't hear you."

Deciding this is all the invitation she needs, Cere steps in. "Don't worry. It's dinnertime. I just didn't want to disturb you while you work."

"Oh. Sorry. I just wanted to tune the emitter. It feels a little off."

"I see," Cere says. She doesn't, given that she's never used his lightsaber, but Cal's a born tinkerer. She's amazed he hasn't fixed the bottom half of the 'saber yet. She laughs inwardly, knowing as soon as he has the right parts he'll be doing exactly that. "Fixed it?"

Cal ignites the weapon, brilliant blue light shining across the engine room. He lacks the space to swing it, instead listening intently. "Hmm, better," he says, deactivating it and clipping it to his belt. He looks at Cere. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Don't worry about it," Cere tells him.

"Master Tapal always told me if I spent as much time practicing my forms as I did maintaining my lightsaber, I would've been able to beat Master Drallig before my eleventh birthday."

Cere laughs at that. "That man was unreal. I sometimes felt sorry for whichever Knight got it into their head to try and defeat him."

“Did you try?” Cal asks, not quite pulling off the naïve waif act he’s aiming for.

“Absolutely not,” Cere says. “And neither did Jaro Tapal. He was far too wise for such an idea.”

“What about Master Cordova?”

Cere almost chokes herself when she bursts out laughing. “No!”

Cal surprises her with his next question. “Do you… do you still have your lightsaber?”

“Only the hilt,” she says, an old wrench of anguish tugging somewhere deep inside. “You can see it, if you’d like.”

“Are you sure?” Cal asks, leaving the question hanging.

Cere realises what he means and nods at the workbench. “I’ll leave it there for you.”

After dinner, while Cal helps Greez with the dishes and BD-1 watches on, Cere returns to her cabin and pulls out her lightsaber hilt. She stares at it, wondering what Cal will pick up from it. She’s curious to know if she’s being brutally honest. Curious, and perhaps a little terrified. As promised, she leaves it on the workbench for him and spends the rest of the evening fighting the temptation to tell him to go pick it up and report back what he saw.

He doesn’t talk to her about it until the following morning, when he comes for breakfast with a poorly concealed smirk.

“What?” Greez bites out before Cere can even get there.

“Oh, hi, Greez!” Cal says with far too much cheer. BD-1 snickers on his shoulder.

Greez stares at him. “Have you been eating my plants? Did we not discuss the potential side-effects they’d have on Humans?”

Cal folds himself into a chair at the galley table. Cere stares at him, wondering what exactly it was he saw. Nothing bad, based on the look of him. He catches her staring and his grin widens. “Greez, did you know Cere once considered herself such a master with the ‘blade, she contemplated taking on the Jedi’s actual renowned lightsaber master?”

Cere stares. No. He hasn’t. Of all the memories, it’s that one?

Greez is suddenly very interested, and he serves up Cal’s breakfast eggs with a little more flourish than usual. “Go on.”

Cere sighs. Of all the damn echoes…

Cal pours himself tea. “Yeah, she’d just been knighted. Figured she’d better really test herself before she set out into the big ol’ galaxy.”

“Uh huh…” Greez is loving this.

“Cere was on her way to the dojo when she heard the sounds of a pitched battle. It was intense, and the Force burned with energy of the duel. Other Jedi gathered too, knights and masters, all of whom wondered who was mad enough to take on none other than Master Drallig, the Jedi Master who trained all others in the ways of the lightsaber.” Cal’s so caught up in his tale, Cere’s amazed he isn’t re-enacting it with his own lightsaber. “She steps in, and who does she see?”

“Don’t say Master Yaddle, kid, my heart couldn’t take it.”

“Oh no, it was Jedi Master Mace Windu, considered to be one of the top five duellists in the entire Order.”

Cal can’t keep his own wonder out of his voice. Cere remembers it only too well, remembers watching Mace Windu get absolutely wrecked by Master Drallig as her hand squeezed her own weapon, suddenly grateful she hadn’t arrived before Mace. He was indeed one of the greatest duellists in the Order.

But not the greatest.

And Master Drallig reminded him with ease.

“Top five, huh?” Greez says, pouring himself a fresh mug of caf. “Where’d you rank, Cere?”

“Not that high,” Cere admits, more grudgingly than she expects.

Cal’s smile is somehow broader than ever. Who knew there was such a smug little shit hiding under all that Bracca refinery? “When Master Windu finally yielded, Cere decided against her decision and opted to find someone else to spar with that day.” He leans forward, elbow on table, chin on hand. “So I guess what you told me yesterday was true, from a certain point of view.”

Cere musters all her dignity. “Indeed. I never challenged Master Drallig, and I felt sorry for anyone who did.”

[ariel-s-awesome]

I'm rewatching Kid Cosmic and man, the one complaint I have about that show is the wasted Chuck potential. It would've been great seeing Kid adjust to Chuck trying to be a friend, or Chuck, Tuna and Rosa all going out on their own space adventure. Or heck, he seemed to have a bit of a thing with Biker Girl Carla in latter half of the series, give them their own adventure! Overall, I def missed the 'filler', even if the main story in KC was good.

Right!? Dave Thomas said that his story had been told (was gonna link you until I realized you were the one that asked him about it), but it reeeaally wasn't. They just didn't seem interested in his story.

His life just started after his old one got shattered. And him becoming a side character was really abrupt.

Then there's him trying to atone by straining himself to speak without a translator and bud. Bud bud bud bud. That's self harm! Let's work on that dangerously low self esteem!

The crew should of either addressed that to show that it's not healthy or left it out. Because now that I think about it, that's not a great thing to normalize in a kid's show. Or any show, but kids are still developing.

It would be pretty easy in universe to get him a translator. Or maybe he could've learned a form of nonverbal communication that the cast picks up so he can be included without hurting himself.

The process would help with his healing too since first he'd have to accept that he doesn't need to hurt himself to become a better person. Then he'd grapple with how being raised in his empire affected him, and that he isn't an inherently bad person for being one of their loyal soldiers.

The rest of the cast helping him find a form of communication he can use and learning it with him (along with showing concern about him martyring himself out of guilt) would reassure him that they care about him despite his past. And that they're a far cry from his old comrades who wouldn't even react if he got killed.

Anyways, Kid Cosmic's biggest flaw was having too large of a "main" cast. None of the Local Heros aside from the original five (minus Chuck after he got shoved aside) had enough focus to become actual main characters.

Building up a huge main cast like DC and Marvel's superhero teams requires hundreds of chapters/episodes where they're gradually introduced so people have the chance to get to know them. And plenty of character-focused "filler" episodes.

Unfortunately Kid Cosmic didn't have that kind of time and instead of giving up on the idea Craig brought 7 background characters into the "main cast" at once.

Frankly, with how Netflix cancels most of their cartoons after a single season (especially the ones they don't promote) Kid Cosmic was lucky to get three seasons. And while I do think Wander Over Yonder's cancellation taught Craig a valuable lesson about not expecting networks to give him ample time to complete the story he wants to tell, he was still overly-ambitious non-plotwise.

[merchantziro]

Since a good few of y'all liked my Danny Phantom post about wanting a less angsty spin on Danny being dissected/vivisected by his own parents or the Guys in White. I might as add this idea that's been bumping around my brain for a little while now.

Danny Phantom X Castlevania AU

Basically the idea of this is that Danny Phantom exists in the Castlevania universe. I imagine given even his ancestors were Ghost Hunters, there would probably be a few Fentons that probably met or were at least aware of the Belmonts and their battles against Dracula over the century.

Maybe Count Dracula and Pariah Dark were both servants of Chaos, acting as the Dark Lord and the Ghost King respectively under Chaos (the true big bad of Castlevania and source of Dracula's powers and potentially Pariah Dark as well in this AU).

So anyway, flash forward to the 2030's where Danny Fenton is now in college and roommates with an exchange student from Japan named Soma Cruz.

Unbeknownst to each other, Danny has earned the title of the new Ghost King after defeating Pariah Dark but he doesn't want the throne yet, meanwhile Soma is the reincarnation of Dracula himself and the candidate to become the new Dark Lord but Soma has fought Chaos itself just to defy his destiny.

Soma and Danny are completely unaware of each other initially but still deal with supernatural threats separate from each other and sometimes dealing with each other's threats.

Like Danny could be on one side of town fighting a skeleton monster or something and wondering why it's not going in the thermos, while Soma is on the other side battling some high tech ghost guy talking about a whelp.

How this AU plays out can honestly go a lot of interesting ways so here's a few of my favorites.

Danny and Soma find out about each other at some point and both find a friendship now that they can abuse their powers freely in their own dorm room for the most mundane purposes or just showing off to each other, like Soma eating completely rotten food using his Ghoul soul while Danny just causally uses his ice powers to cool things down. Maybe both also bitch about the responsibilities they never asked for nor want to deal with among trading stories of adventures.

Danny is made aware of the Dark Lord hiding in Amity Park by a local cult claiming they plan to reawaken him while Soma is made aware of the Ghost King hiding among the living by Genya Arikado (Alucard). Shenanigans ensue until both finally meet and are confused but during a battle they realize the other isn't evil and both meet with Arikado to clear things up.

Alternative to the above it has rival cults attempt to summon the Ghost King and Dark Lord to them to battle for them and both Soma and Danny appear in forms showcasing their dark powers, stare at each other with recognition and confusion, and are just processing what the fuck is going on and why these cult people are yelling at them to fight.

Soma and Danny eventually accept their titles as Dark Lord and Ghost King because they both come to an understanding, accepting their burdons so nobody else should have to and use their dark powers to protect the world to spite Chaos. With Fright Knight and Death as their right hand men (both of whom also might be dating each other).

There's probably like a bunch of other ideas this could include. Such as Genya Arikado being contacted by the Guys in White to assist them. Which leads to GIW operatives showcasing to Arikado their plans for destroying all sorts of paranormal beings such as Danny Phantom.

Meanwhile Alucard, a half vampire who knows from experience that not all supernatural beings are evil, is just staring at them blankly and wondering what's the best way to completely sabotage and destroy this entire government branch before they do something they will regret.

[nokingsonlyfooles]

Head-Wigs and Not Even an Inch

Abigail Thorn made me cry last night.

I mean, I knew this was not outside the realm of possibility. I presumed she would produce a work of stunning artistic beauty and overwhelm my jaded brain with some Profound Meaning. Or, fat chance, maybe she’d trip over something I’d written and tear it to pieces like a hamster going to town on a cardboard tube. Or maybe I’d go back to London, and spill my drink on her shoes in a dark club, and she’d thrash me with a riding crop — that’s slightly more likely than someone with a decent platform noticing my writing, at this point.

But, uh, no. That’s not how it went.

We pay money to get the bonus episodes of Kill James Bond. You should too. In fact, if you don’t, you’ll be lacking some context for this. But most of my work goes out into the void without context, so to hell with it. You can watch a theatrical version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch for free, on YouTube. Or you can probably pirate the film version with a clean conscience, I don’t think any of those performers are seeing much compensation from sales at this point.

We haven’t been listening to the bonus episodes in order. We often try to watch something close to the version of whatever-film they’re doing, and then listen to the episode with context. We’ve heard them mention Hedwig, and it seemed to be a profound, emotional experience. I really wanted to see Hedwig first. Well, we found a Hedwig available for free and we watched it. They tried to update it a bit, and I found that off-putting. A lot of the tropes in play are dated — “#problematic” in some ways, and genuinely hurtful in others. If you’re going to update something like that, you can’t just throw in a reference to Harry Potter and Title 42 and call it good. Preserve it in its original messy form for us, or rewrite the whole thing — if they’ll let you.

The way the actor playing Hedwig moved and sat in her (the character uses she/her and I have no idea about the actor) short skirt bothered me too. She had shorts on underneath, but I don’t think we were supposed to know that yet. “Nobody has ever told this person how they’re supposed to sit in a skirt,” I said to the spouse. Like, it wasn’t even as if she knew and had decided to ignore it. If one were transfeminine, or faking it to get out of East Berlin, someone would’ve mentioned it. “Maybe it’s for the character,” he said. Maybe it was. You could read it that way. But there’s a read on this where transness is artifice, and I don’t like that read very much. I hope that wasn’t what they were going for.

The ending could be read that way too. It’s all very surreal and that has the potential to be read a lot of different ways, but a male (or male-presenting) actor winds up bare-chested in shorts and the female one ends in a wig and a dress and they both seem very happy about it. One could say, “Well! Glad all that gender confusion’s cleared up! Now they’ve stopped pretending to be something they’re not!” I don’t like that the possibility is left open like that. It feels slimy and centrist.

But the music was great and there were some excellent moments and I was eager to hear the whole thing get dissected by some trans folks.

About a half hour into it, they were discussing John Cameron Mitchell, who identified as a gay man at the time and has since refined it to nonbinary with he/him pronouns. Hedwig’s gender is messy — she’s a fictional character written by an enby who was still in egg form, from a time before people were expected to define their transness as binary or nonbinary. Abi acknowledged the nonbinary actor/writer/director, and mentioned that there’s a lot of pressure to define your gender neatly these days… And said, “No.” That’s not it. Hedwig is a woman like her. Period.

I had been saying to the spouse (we talk over the podcast; we get excited) that I saw a lot of myself in Hedwig’s disaster gender, and in that way you could read the ending as her deciding to stop splitting herself between her popular, cis-passing, sellout persona, and the real, messy her. And then Abi cut me off, and I said, laughing, “Oh my god, just hip-check my identity right into the orchestra pit! What… What…” And I started to cry.

I didn’t have my guard up. I didn’t expect it. And I’d never taken a hit quite this way before. This wasn’t being denied the validity of my existence, this was the validity of my artistic merit. Abigail Thorn, a demonstrably smart person with a lot of theatre experience who loves writing and acting, will not be requiring me or John Cameron Mitchell for her interpretation of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Not even as a possible read. Please, go find yourselves in some other character, enbies. Let the transwomen have her.

…To the point where “Hansel” is treated like a modern-day deadname of a real person, when all we know for sure is that the character got rid of it to get out of East Berlin and she doesn’t use it anymore. It could be like that, but by the end of this, “Hedwig,” another name and gender she did not choose for herself, might be a deadname too. I’m not saying it has to be like that, but it’s not so ridiculous that we need to dismiss it unsaid, is it? Especially given that the goddamn originator of the character has been on a similar journey and decided to keep “John” and he/him for the moment. A person can do that and still kick their assigned gender to the curb, you know?

I didn’t need Hedwig to be about me and only me, I just needed the possibility to be left open and discussed a little bit. Another trans egg movie, but perhaps a nonbinary one this time. Like Speed Racer, it went hard and fell short! That’s all. I didn’t even know I needed that! Until Abi said I couldn’t have it.

The spouse stopped the podcast and comforted my surprised tears. He gave me a nonbinary read — which is not hard to do! — and said I deserve to be seen. I said, “I know why she said it. I do. It’s too close to their (hers and Alice’s) own experience and they don’t want to see anything else. It’s emotion-based. But… But… Nonbinary actor (and writer/director/producer/singer)! …What about Dev?” Dev really took a backseat on this one. They saw themself in Yitzhak, and Yitzhak isn’t the main character, and Abi and Alice were so into Hedwig, and they’re all friends. Yeah. I mean, I understand that too. Back off and let your friends have this one, it’s clearly important to them both.

I wanted to hear the rest of it, because it made Alice and Abi feel seen, and a lot of other trans folks too. Yeah, there’s a lot in it that aged like milk — cringy and outdated even when the film was made — but there’s a lot of valid queer experience in there, too, warts and all. I was surprised as hell that, in the end, Abi supports the “Tommy isn’t real” theory and believes this is a story about uniting one person and making yourself feel whole. And yet, she reiterated, “No.” It’s not about being nonbinary. It’s about reconciling with the male-gendered stuff you try to cut out of you when you transition. Dev and Alice were at least willing to allow that nonbinary was possible, if not quite willing to delve into it, but not Abi. Splitting yourself in two is a binary trans thing! As are many, many other things about Hedwig that I related to.

As an enby who came up with the “splitting yourself in two” metaphor while still in egg form, for a fictional character of my own who is also still in egg form, please let me tell you — please let me tell someone — that that’s not true. I didn’t meet Hedwig until last night, but I know about performing your acceptable, cis-passing, assigned gender and hiding all the “garbage” that doesn’t fit. I know what it is to be crammed into a false persona that gets a lot of love, while the real you, when you let it out, is only worthy of snarling punk lyrics into a mic at a dingy seafood restaurant with a hostile audience.

And, oh my god, do I know what it is to have a piece of you that will not come off, and prevents you from fitting fully into either binary gender. It can feel like a broken piece, like a scar, like a botched surgery you didn’t need that was inflicted on you… But it doesn’t have to be literally that. Hedwig, both the play and the person, doesn’t seem to have much use for physical reality. She’s here to unload her emotional reality, and she doesn’t care about any other real things she might damage along the way.

KJB were rather amazed that Hedwig chose to redefine herself by a (medically impossible) surgical accident. How brave of her to own her trauma like that. But I wonder, is it trauma? Or is it the only path a nonbinary egg in 1998 could see to gain an outside that expressed his inside? This isn’t what any of you wanted me to have, this isn’t even what I want to have, but it’s still me. It’s what I have to work with. (All signs point to “Tommy,” as a character, being at least a closeted gay guy who would’ve been fine if the “front of” Hedwig had been a penis, but it isn’t. It’s not quite anything at all, and he flees because that’s just too much for him to handle. Hedwig already is one of those androgynes she envies; she doesn’t need an Adam, she doesn’t need him. But she loves him/her cis-passing self, and she’s not yet ready to let him go.)

I don’t know what it is to actually try living as the other binary gender, I wasn’t active enough in queer circles to really feel that pressure to conform to the binary before I hatched. But I see it now, and I feel the same instinctive revulsion that Hedwig feels about being a divorced housewife in a trailer in Arizona. That’s not me either! Did I spend all this time and energy escaping one box, only to be trapped in another? Must I content myself with this simply because I don’t want to go back to the way I was? Is this only way I can get a green card that lets me access a queer space? To put on an ugly wig and pretend I’m more palatable?

To me, the revelation about wigs is not “I could be happy as ANY woman!” but, “This is a performance… This is all a fucking performance! This isn’t me, this is a hat someone put on my head. It comes off! I can have another hat! I can have all the hats!” And, selfishly, she denies Yitzhak that same joy, because he wears it better and seems happier. Hedwig clings to her suffering so tightly, it’s such a fundamental part of her identity, that she can’t bear to be around trans joy. No. There is no room for trans joy here, only trans spite. This story is about me. I don’t like transwomen, I don’t like transmen, and I sure as hell don’t like myself (yet)! In the end, after a lot more suffering, she’s willing to let that go.

In the end, Abi says she knows a lot of transwomen who seem to model themselves on Hedwig, and she wants them to know that isn’t how they have to be. They don’t have to choose between being just like a cis woman, or being a monstrous, chaotic, damaged other. You can be… Better than cis! Yes, says the cast of KJB, laughing, we are better than you! We are THE FUTURE! Three friends, having a ball on a podcast, trans joy at its finest — but you don’t find humour in feigning cruelty if you haven’t had some of that cruelty directed at you. This joy formed around a grain of spite. Not only does one often feel they have to be better than cis people, but when you’re still unhatched and stuck on the outside looking in, trans folks really do seem better than you. At least they know what their deal is.

I get it. I do. Because Hedwig fits me too. We all have our reasons to put on that perfectly ridiculous blonde wig and take the form of Hedwig, the Destroyer. Hedwig, the Chaotic. Hedwig, the Liar. Hedwig, the Truth. Hedwig, the Unrepentant Disaster. Hedwig, give me strength! But, it comes off. Look. It is literally a head-wig, a costume for your brain. I know sometimes you find a new wig and you really, really like it, and you become very attached and you want it to be just yours forever and ever, maybe even to the point of calling it your real hair, but… Someone else could still wear that same wig and feel just as happy as you, or maybe even happier. Maybe you’ll find a wig you like even better too. Transitioning isn’t just one and done, and Hedwigs don’t have to be forever. We do know this, don’t we?

Gender is a performance. Gender is a Hedwig. A lot of other things that you consider immutable parts of your identity are Hedwigs too. They are as real as any other social construct, but if you don’t like them or need them, you can just take them off. Sometimes it’s hard and it hurts, but I promise you can. Like Hedwig the character, or whoever that is, does. Inevitably, she must pick some new clothes, maybe new pronouns and a new name, too, but she’s not obligated to do that on camera for us. We can’t force her to say “Aha, see? This identity suited me all along!” No. We’re not entitled to know her or define her. She will be doing that for herself, later, as a whole person. What is so scary about the ending, what makes it look like a detransition instead of a synthesis, is that we insist on gendering her naked body as a male head-wig. Wouldn’t she wear something else if that wasn’t who she was? Well, maybe not. Or maybe so, but it’s her decision, not ours. Self-expression is not the Self, it just helps to define and validate the Self. Hedwigs are extremely fucking important for defining and validating the Self!

So, you know, you have to be willing to share.

[drikadreemurr]

Tim Drake - A AU rant-thing

Greetings there Tumblr! This isn't something I usually do and I often get hesitant on sharing things with others... but this has been eating up my brain in a bit and I just need to get it out there. So I am really new to the DC universe, but I have always loved Robin. I remember going wild watching the Original Teen Titans and The Batman from 2004 on TV. And now that I know at least the basic ordeal of the 4 Robins, I can say that Tim is my favourite.

The last month I decided to check out what they were trying to do with him in Tim Drake: Robin and like most I didn't really liked it, but also saw that it HAD so much potential on trying to build a solid base for who Tim can be in this new universe.

I guess that's what most -if not all of us- Tim fans have been waiting and wanting to see: WHO is Tim Drake here? I get that today characters suffer a lot from being brought to a FLAT portrait like Jason being the "angry one" or Damian being the "spolied brat" one, wich we all know it's not the ONLY thing they are, SPECIALLY Jason -- and Tim is over and over being portraited as the "lost and insecure" of the bunch. And we know he IS that too, but that's not all there is to him. Reading Superboy - The man of tomorrow (Even as it being a bit... eh?) I thought: why not make Tim go through something big like this too? What I liked about the Tim Drake: Robin run is how he was set out in a entire different enviroment from other comics: He's not at the Mansion, not at his or his dad's appartment or some other random house. He's still in Gotham, but in a new separate part that seems mostly overlooked by others - including the vigilantes. And as for foes... The Chaos cult really needs to go, or at least suffer some huge overhall to be a REAL, SERIOUS threat to Tim. I mean c'mon, he is the guy that EXPLODED half of Ra's al Ghul bases, he can deal with a 16th century cult.

I know it's "hard" to built a decent threat to Tim if we take into account his hacking/fighting/detective skills, but not impossible. I keep looking back into that comic where Tim and Jason get stuck on that loop of their nightmares and the one thing I like about this comic is the two of them working together. I think that instead of focusing on making threats in form of real villains, would it not be possible to make them something else like in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish?

The way I see it, Puss had way to many lives and Tim... has way too many personas, leading to the point where he doesn't know WICH one makes up Tim Drake in the end, and THIS is what I consider to be his biggest threat.

I have this idea cooking in my brain: Thanks to some dimensional-travel shenanigans (Don't know exactly what could have happend here), Tim ends up in a dimension where almost everything is identical to his own, but: 1. Batman and Robin are nothing more than a discontinued series of comics and TV show; They were never real, living breathing heroes and this line came to a abrupt and bitter end when a tragedy happend on the TV set.

2. The only existing heroes here are the Supers (Superman / Supergirl and Superboy).

3. The Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson of this place still met eachother and currently run WE together. Also, Bruce is the owner of a museum dedicated to The Batman Series in honer of his father.

4. His parents are ALIVE. Still, that doesn't mean things are perfect - He lives with his mother who is now a history teacher in Gotham while his father lives on the other end of the country running Drake Industries all by himself.

The main thing I thought of this whole deal was for Tim to be put on a situation where he NEEDS to figure out who he is taking into account that:

- No Batman means no Robin. No Robin means he never had anyone to stalk throught the nights, and so, he could NEVER become Robin in the first place.

- His parents being alive, while still in VERY BAD TERMS, means he would no longer be a lonely only child. In fact, he would much rather do anything to get away from the galas and parties his mom would often drag him to.

In the other hand, I would like this "AU" to also focus on other characters like Bernard and that other girl that would often help Tim on some occasions - While Tim was gone, Bernard could very well try to fill his empty spot with his own hero persona, he did learn how to fight to protect himself, why not put this to use in a time of need? Also, I would really like to JASON be the one travelling to the other dimension to drag Tim back, but not as the Red Hood - No Batman and no Robin also means no Joker, wich means no death and no Red Hood - but just as Jason. Out of all the Batfamily, I think he is the one to mostly be able to talk through Tim and relate to him. I often think of that scene of Vee and Luz at the museum and I just think that it suits both:

They both know what it is like to be left behind and alone, still, THEY ARE NOT THE SAME, one of them never really had a choice.

ANYWAY, I have some small "points/scenes" on my head for this crazy idea and I could develop more about them later, I still have no idea if something in this line had been done already.

If you reached this far, thank you for reading my insane ramblings about Tim and let me know if you would like to see more about it :D

[kajaono]

Holmes & Watson

Actually it should be common knowledge that Sherlock Holmes stories can not work without John Watson. Because without John Watson Sherlock Holmes would just be a weird nerdy crow solving cases. It is John Watson who makes him famous, who tells his story, who gets him away from drugs eventually.

Nevertheless we still get adaptations where John Watson is erased because he is... boring? I don’t really know to be honest. One of the most recent adaptations who also erases John Watson is ENOLA. In the Enola movies Sherlocks cases are always discussed in the press, he is a superstar... even though he has no partner who writers down his cases for him. Weird plot hole, but thats not my point today

But - even though the movies erase John Watson - they still drop a really interesting line why a Sherlock Holmes story without John Watson can never work. Sherlock offers to work together with Enola and says:

Enola rejects the offer and responds with:

But why does she rejects the offer, even though she also admits that it would be her dream to work alongside Sherlock? Yes she says “I would be always in your shadow”. But thats only half of the truth. For Enola a Holmes&Holmes relationship wouldn’t be good because she would always be in Sherlocks shadow. But what about Sherlock? Why would a Holmes&Holmes relationship bad for him? Would he really be lonley if he would work together with his sister? Sadly the show never really gives an answer to that and “only” uses this scene as a set up to introduce Watson.

Good for us CBS Elementary my beloved also had an episode with the same topic and digged a lot deeper into the question why Holmes on his own (aka Holmes&Holmes) is super hurtful for Sherlock. The episode is season 3x19 and has the glorious title “One Holmes, One Watson”

Short summary: To cope with a trauma Joan tries to turn herself into a second Holmes, to get rid of friends and emotions that can potential hurt her again: Holmes&Holmes. Sherlock realizes that this isn’t a good idea and give a beautiful and very on point summary why a Sherlock Holmes story can never work without a Watson:

But why doesn’t it work? Whats so problematic about Holmes on his own aka Holmes&Holmes? Enola sadly didn’t gave us an answer to that. But Elementary did a few scenes later:

This is why every Sherlock Holmes story needs a John Watson. Because Sherlock Holmes on his own is not complete. Sure, he is a brilliant problem solver, a lover of dogs, a chemist. But he is also anti-social, has a drug problem, has a little EQ and a fucked up night&day rythm.

John on the other hand is emphatic, nice, friendly, makes friends easily, enjoys his sleep. But he is also traumatized from the war, struggles to get back on his feets and to face his trauma.

You know the theory in greek mytholgy about the spherical humans? The spherical humans contains of two humans, fitting together perfectly, forming a round body. The gods were jealous at the humans because together the spherical humans had a really strong power. So the gods cut the spherical humans in two parts and placed the parts all over the world so they would have problems finding their fitting part again. And now every human is searching for their missing part, so they can eventually form the spherical human again and become stronger together.

John and Sherlock are a spherical human. Sure, one half can work without the other, but they are weak like this. And so is the story: weak.

You always need both of them.

This is not something I made up. It was also already written down in the ACD canon:

“It is both, or none," said he. "You may say before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." - A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA

Of course I do not expected the Enola Holmes writers to be familar with ALL Sherlock Holmes stories (of course I do but if I say that out loud I sound like a purist again), because it is about Enola but you should at least be familar with some basic concepts/rules for the original ACD canon characters. That includes the scene above... and of course The Three Garridebs and the CAM case. Hand holding behind closed curtains!

And I honestly fear that the writers of the Enola movies have not understood yet that it is always “both or none” and only introduced John Watson because he necessary for the next storyline to come. I fear that they only know what to do with John Watson as a character when he is relevant for the story, and do not know what else to do with him... On the other hand: Sherlocks lonliness is mentioned around three times in Enola 2, so the writers do seem to be aware that Sherlock needs his Watson? But why wait until the end of Enola 2 to introduce him? Didn’t they knew where he fits into the storyline of the second movies?

Anyways: I hope that when writing the script for the third movie they slowly will become familiar with Watson as a character and slowly find out where his place is in the Enola movies. (At least I hope so, movies where they are just cold distant friends, is the most unpleasant thing to watch imo... IF we get Enola 3).

TL:DR: Don’t seperate Sherlock Holmes from John Watson

[katyspersonal]

Some DS1 girls thoughts

So I asked @val-of-the-north where Dark Souls 1 yuri, or just ANY relationship between female characters, was at (for a second time gfgfjf) and here is what we figured:

* Elizabeth and Alvina actually would make such cute silly old ladies couple? Especially since they more or less share a daughter figure (Dusk). It is FUUUNNNYYY tho how they're both not humans!! Feral yuri!

* I came up with the idea that since both Reah and Sieglinde are captured because of Seath's people, what if Darkmoon Knightess was the one to rescue both! Or Sieglinde could have rescued Reah since she is around those parts! But Darkmoon Knightess will lecture them anyways hfgghfh

Darkmoon Knightess: I told to not snoop around where Seath's people are hunting!

Sieglinde: You mean literally EVERYWHERE? 😭

Ggfgyfyg but also imagine if Reah and Sieglinde formed a significant bond! They could even have adventures together all along! Sieglinde is probably still a competent fighter except for exactly one fiasco since she got to Lordran on her own, and Reah is a healer XD Besides Sieglinde would sure do better work protecting her than SOMEONE :/

She also could take Reah to her home at the end now that Reah doesn't have place to return to anyways!

* Darkmoon Knightess is quite bound by duty for the time being and has her own struggles with slipping Humanity, but she works well like third wheel a cool friend to always return to! She and Sieglinde can still instantly clock Petrus from exactly 1 sentence about him from Reah and kick him to half death in the alleyway tho hfhfhhcn

* I took closer look at Anastasia as I still needed to figure her out, and came up with the idea that the worst thing a Firekeeper logically could've done, deserving self-mutilating, self-loathing and self-isolating had to do with envisioning Age of Dark! Think of it: Firekeepers didn't have their eyes removed until DS3, but removing her tongue would still imply speaking of "dangerous" things. And considering the implication she either isolated self or fully agreed with this as punishment, maybe there were tangible consequences to what she was speaking of!!

I grasped to this line of thinking but was not quite sure what could the "consequences" be, and Val suggested maybe she accidentally gave Kaathe his ideas by simply sharing her vision and concerns. Since apparently Primordial Serpents are Just Vibing and only care about anything by personal choice (like how Frampt just was a good friend to Gwyn). So.... she'd feel guilty for Oolacile and New Londo. It wasn't her fault, but she FEELS this way, and honestly, most people would probably agree.... т.т +We agreed that back then Firekeepers envisioning Dark was an exception rather than the rule, probably because the cycles haven't worn down this badly yet.

* That puts a massive roadblock in the way of Anastasia finding any love ever, she is stuck in endless guilt and self-hatred, and many would agree she got what she deserved. I am just giggling at how sometimes I try to think of a ship and end up developing the character lol

* Like I said before, Pharis and Beatrice have potential for both doomed yuri or sad found family that fell apart! (Yeah Pharis is female not just in NPC model apparently, as confirmed by surprise throwback in DS2, didn't have pronouns in Japanese but English always defaults to 'he' in this case *looks at accidental he/she Lady Maria*) The latter idea is good on the account of using Beatrice's cut child version (damn I wonder what WERE Fromsoft planning for her....)! And also could explain why she was so reckless with the Abyss stuff; whereas she is herself connected with Oolacile magic rather than how sorcery is now, if she was just a kid she'd be clueless about the horrors, and not listen to her "mom"'s warnings in classic fashion!

OR they could have been two "moms", because imagine if Pharis and Dusk dated! So not much was salvaged, but Beatrice was.. Dusk died earlier than Pharis (just assuming Pharis is an Undead if she is still alive though she knew Gwyn's Knights). Maybe after that, Beatrice started to really slip away from any attempts to protect her as Pharis was bad at it on her own.... so she'd lose both wife and daughter figure in short timespan....... guys.....,? *sobs*

* Another cute idea is sort of rebound ships with Ciaran who had her heart broken having lost Artorias to the Abyss! Either Pharis or Dusk work within the timeline and context! Dusk one is of course less tragic since they likely died around the same time. Pharis though is screwed no matter what.. 🙄 truly a Soulsborne character lol

Ciaran does give me an impression of someone that would be too struck to move on, just some 'happier' thoughts

* There are also less apparent characters, like iirc Carmina and Yulva were around the same time? For the context; Carmina was an apprentice of Salaman who was an apprentice of Queelana, Yulva was one of the three people that sealed the Four Kings but she left to become a healer (likely too much guilt for people in New Londo that had to get sacrificed). Both are 99% long dead by the time Chosen Undead steps in, but clues for both are found in the same game area.. who knows

* Also it is apparently a popular interpretation that Velka adopted Priscilla, I absolutely believe this

* I am probably not finished but basically having many thoughts and HATE it because instead of multishipping like a normal person I have mentality of "choosing"....... when I am incapable of choosing 🙄 I am yet again asking for Val to tell me what to think lol