#Disney is still suffering from weak writing

[miss-stereo]

I know it's been days since Wish was released, but I finally watched it and...

I still think Enchanted (2007) is the Disney movie that celebrates the classics while bringing an original story to all audiences.

It has romance, music by Alan Menken, 2D animation, a cool villain, and a amazing cast!

[deathmybride]

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ my iron lung | mickey barnes *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

ship: Mickey Barnes x fem!oc

warnings: None

summary: After a rough death, Mickey needs some TLC.

word count: 1982

a/n: BITCH I'M BACK OUT MY COMA 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️

okay, so I've been working on a million bazillion things, not all of them fanfics, but most of them are. I'm trying to update all the WIPs, and I keep writing random things that don't get finished, but for some reason I was able to see this one through to the end. I love you robert pattinson <3

The printer feels different every time. Sometimes I’m gasping for breath as if bursting up from a frozen lake, other times I’m a wailing baby fresh from the womb. A few horrible times I’ve woken silent and trembling, lingering in a flip-book of repeated unnatural death. Invariably, the experience is unpleasant, but never as bad as dying. Mickey tends to handle it better. He sleeps in for longer, yawning and rubbing his bleary eyes as he begins another lifetime of suffering.

Anyway, this will be my twelfth print job, and Mickey’s seventeenth. As waking up goes, it’s not terrible. I don’t cry or gasp, but I feel hot and groggy, and there’s an ash of depression settling over my freshly synthesised mind. The first face I see is Dorothy’s. Her glasses perch at the end of her nose and she smiles warmly as my eyes struggle to bring her into focus.

“Good morning, Minnie 12!” She chirps. “Bright and early as always, huh?”

“Mmmmmm…” I groan, fighting the residual weakness of these baby muscles to tilt my head.

“You’re such a morning person, aren’t you?” She takes my chin and corrects my line of sight back to her, shining her awful little torch in my eyes. “Your pupils are perfect today. Great job!”

“Mm-” She hits my knee with her mallet and I aim a kick at her.

“Woah! Knees are great too, way better than usual. You’re killing it today!”

“Mickey.”My voice grates in my throat.

She sighs, shaking her head in amusement. “He’ll be out soon. He’s bigger than you, he takes longer to print.”

I gather my strength and feebly flop my hand out to point to the second printer across the room. I can hear it clicking and whirring, and I see him bumping and sliding out onto the gurney.

“Mickey.”

“Soon. I need to finish your tests.” She turns her back and goes fishing around in her pack for some fresh implement of torture.

As far as I’m concerned, if she won’t wheel me over I’ll just have to commando crawl. Though my body is too heavy to lift, I manage to prop myself on one elbow and swing one leg over the side. It hits the gurney leg with a resonant thunk.Dorothy gasps and scampers back over, owl eyes wide with incredulity.

“Woah, woah, woah!” She hauls my foot back up and pushes me down, rough enough that my head bumps on the table. “Fine, we’ll do it over there, jeez. This Minnie is so stubborn.”

I huff and try to arrange my half paralysed face into a look of deep loathing. The stupid nickname started as something sweet between Mickey and me. We were just friends then, Mickey Barnes and Clementine Young, but he always called me ‘Tiny.’ One day he let the nickname slip in the lab, and one scientist or other quipped that I wasn’t tiny, I was mini. Hur hur, just like Mickey and Minnie, the mascots of some millennia old company. Somehow it got to upper management and they thought it was funny enough to officially change my Expendable registration to “Minnie Prime.” I have never lived it down, and henceforth will forever be known by it. Just like the unofficial mantra of the folks who work for Disney Intergalactic Enterprises, ‘empires rise and fall, but The MouseTM remains.’

Mickey is nearly out. It’s just his feet that aren’t done yet. I want to reach for him, bury myself in him, touch him and breathe him. I know he will smell of printer gunk, but it’s still his DNA, his bacterial micro-biome that grows within the gooey chamber of the printer. Dorothy takes my temperature, my blood pressure, and a vial of my ‘blood,’ but I don’t care about any of that bullshit. My iron lung is peaceful, his eyes are closed and lips slightly parted, though he is not breathing yet.

Dorothy must notice my shivering, as she lays a heavy shock blanket over me, and another over Mickey.

“Dorothy,” I croak, floundering for words. “Can… you…?”

She sighs. After twelve print outs, she knows what I want without having to ask.

“It’s against protocol to leave new clones alone in the lab without performing a proper physical, you know that.” She loops her braid around her fingers, chewing her lip. “You have fifteen minutes alone with him, okay? Just buzz me in if anything happens.”

It takes some time for him to finish printing, and even longer for him to wake up. I watch his chest rise and fall and try to pace my breath with his. I reach for his hand, my limp fingers fumbling for a grip. He’s cold, but so am I, so it doesn’t really matter. Still, I shudder as my skin brushes against his. There is something vital about the first touch when one of us comes out of the printer. A grounding sensation, a spark that christens the new corpse with life and brings our identities into clarity. At my touch, his eyelids begin to flutter and his hand twitches in mine. I think he might be dreaming.

“Mickey.” I whisper. “I’m here.”

He moans softly in his sleep. I wonder where he might be right now. Which morsel of suffering is he trapped within? I hold on tighter and try, stupidly, to push my way into his dream to protect him. Control is not a thing I’ve possessed in twelve lifetimes, yet I have not felt so powerless as I do now, listening to those mousy whimpers, unable to reach him. I think of all we’ve been through, and how we saved each other every time, imagining my thoughts drifting in through his ears. I know it sounds impossible, but I swear with every new life I am thrust into, I seem to love him just a little bit more. I chalk it up to the printer. After all, we’re made of the same stuff, Mickey and me. Garbage, dead bodies, piss, and shit and vomit. All the unwanted things boiled up into pure bio-carbon. We’re almost like twins. When we die, we both end up in the same pot, so really there’s a bit of me in him, and him in me. I don’t know which of my clones had the most Mickey in her, but whichever it was, that was the best of me. My efforts to telepathically comfort him seem to have had an inexplicable effect; his brow smooths and he begins to stir beside me, bleary eyes blinking into his new life. He huffs softly, a tired smile forming the first expression of this fresh face.

“Morning, Tiny.” He mumbles.

“Hey, Mickey.” I squeeze his hand and he squeezes back.

For a moment, there is no need to do anything but look at each other. It doesn’t matter how many times I see it, I just can’t get over that face. That downtrodden expression and how it brightens just a little when he sees me, that glow of amazement that shows every single time I rest my attention on him, and the way he sets his jaw when he’s hellbent on protecting me. My suffering is nothing but an unfortunate sacrifice to every soul aboard this ship, but when Mickey lays his eyes on me, I feel as though the universe turns around us.

“I had this crazy dream.” He wriggles his feet. “You were there, and Timo and Nasha. They promoted me to be chef, right? You guys were like my food guinea pigs, sampling everything ahead of time. But everything I cooked turned into macaroons. Grey goo macaroons, mock turkey macaroons… They looked horrible, but everyone loved them so I kept winning employee of the month and eventually the kitchen filled up with plaques and medals and they started spilling out into the cafeteria. It was so weird.”

“Weird.” I agree. I have no idea how he is so coherent right out of the printer.

His eyes gloss up in a wistful sort of way. “One day, when we get our debts paid off, I’m gonna take you away from here. Somewhere warm. And I’m gonna make you macaroons with real sugar.”

I can’t speak around the lump in my throat, so I just squeeze his hand.

“Woah, Tiny.” He winces. “Crying already? You’ve only been alive five minutes.” He rolls onto his side and reaches to wipe away a tear, but he doesn’t have his dexterity down yet, so his floppy fingers just smear it down my cheek. “C’mon, you got your whole life ahead of you.”

I laugh my first laugh. It’s short and shallow, but it’s exercise for these new lungs. I wring my knuckles on my eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

He drags my hand to his lips and kisses each knuckle. “Don’t be sorry. That was a rough one, huh?”

It was a rough one. Understatement of the century. The scientists had been developing a new nerve gas, a real gnarly pesticide to combat the creeper problem. Once they were certain of its lethality, they tested it on Mickey and me to see the effect based on the weight of the victim subject. Being smaller and lighter than Mickey, I succumbed to it quicker than him, but I stuck it out for as long as I could, unwilling to leave him alone in his suffering. The process was excruciating. Searing pain, seizing muscles, shaking and twitching, suffocation, loss of voice, loss of expression, loss of everything except conscious thought. We held one another as we died, and as black specks began to encroach on my vision, Mickey’s face was the last thing I saw. He could not speak, but it seemed from his eyes he was saying ‘see you soon.’

“Did you hang on long after me?”

“No.” He shakes his head and kisses the pads of my fingers. “You know I can’t live without you.”

“Mm. Maybe we can do it again some time. Nice Valentine’s Day date, huh?”

“Sounds good to me.” I bury my hand in his hair, soft and clean. He whines softly as my nails graze his scalp. “Dorothy did a full physical on me before you woke up. They must be planning a big mission or something.”

“Oh, joy…” He sighs. “It might be fun, though.”

“Oh, sure. I can’t think of anything better.” I have to laugh. “I hope it’s just me this time, though. You die more than me. You deserve a break.”

“Hey, no… Tiny, no.” He shakes his head, trouble marring his face. “If they’d let me, I’d do it for you every time. Every time.”

I hold his shoulders and press a kiss to his eager lips, cursing the tear that falls down to land on his cheek.

“You know I’d do the same for you, don’t you Mick?”

“Yeah.” His thumb finds its place on my cheek. “But I don’t think I’ll every get why.”

“You too, Tiny.” He lifts his head and meets my lips again, mumbling soft words against them. “More than life.”

I kiss him again, and again, and again. Gentle things, like cats bumping noses.

"I love you, Mickey."

His hold on my waist tightens and suddenly I am melting into him, my clumsy newborn fingers digging into his hair and mouth eager to welcome his tongue.

“Woah, woah! I know you guys are hungry, but you aren’t supposed to eat eachother.” We burst apart, flushing crimson. “Who knew our clones would fall in love? If psychology wasn’t such a -ahem- pseudo-science, I’d say we should do a study on your relationship. Anyway, Mickey,” He’s panting and covering half his face with the shock blanket. “You’d better relax, I need to take your blood pressure.”

He freezes, eyes darting between me and her, then he ducks under the blanket completely and lets out a weak whimper. “Fuck off, Dorothy.”

[missriggie]

Six Characters that Inspire your OC - Syvillia 'Rook' Laidir

Tagged by the lovely @idunnaldwir (Thanks mama!)

Okay, I spent until the wee hours of the morning with this, because honestly, I didn't really go into this game with a plan. I just played around with the sliders, enjoyed the game and just let her personality and aesthetic build as I went. But then I started writing fanfiction, and these are the characters that come to mind when I think of my darling Lord of Fortune <3

V(alerie) from Cyberpunk 2077 - No surprise, considering my current project mixing these two worlds together (you can read here) So aside from the obvious thing they both have in common (the old-timey terrorist that they have a confusing attraction towards living in rent-free in their head), both V and Syvillia are very similar in they get the job done, hoping to make a name for themselves in a world that would discard them entirely.

Avatar Korra from Legend of Korra - Part of my headcanon backstory is that Syvillia was quite the prodigy when it came to her abilities, if a bit of a hothead. Overtime she frequently gets humbled, suffers a major injury and then mellows out to the point where she can dish out some nuggets of wisdom and bring out the big guns when there is no other option.

Nariko from Heavenly Sword - In part, it's the look - fit, tanned with red hair and free-flowing clothes? Heck yeah! But also, no one expects her to be a saviour of any kind, least of all herself. Many would count her out, see her as a nuisance, but in the right circumstances, she rallies in the face of tyranny, protects those she loves, and does some sick parkour as her hair flows in the wind.

Eris, Greek Goddess of Discord and Strife - You can chop it up as her wrathful, tricksy side, but I chose this connection for her wicked intelligence when faced with an opponent. It takes a keen mind to see the patterns of another's actions ahead. Stir some shit, know exactly where to pick at the seams, and she'll unravel their whole plot, make them act a fool for everyone to see. Be it a golden apple and a beauty contest, or a scaffold at a ritual site, she'll sow chaos wherever she goes. If she says 'whoops' just know she did it on purpose.

Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame - yes, specifically the Disney version, because I love that movie shut up. Like Esme, Syvillia has a strong sense of freedom and justice for the weak and oppressed. She's a survivor with extraordinary kindness, giving what she has to those who need it more. (Seriously, barely had enough gold for vendors in the game bc she kept donating to the poor in Treviso and Minrathous)

Phoebe Halliwell from Charmed - specifically seasons 1-3. I aged myself so much here. As wise as she becomes, Syvillia still gives that youngest sister energy. Like Phoebe, she's creative, a go-getter, and will try anything, often coming up with a solution on the fly to fix a mess she likely started herself.

So there we have it!

I know I'm pretty late to the party in doing things like this so I'm sure whoever I tag has probably already done it so no pressure!

@sheeradarkphoenix @wickedviago and you, dear reader if you haven't yet!

[linnaearosie]

So this post is a little rant because I tried to read Crescent City 2 and it is so messy and shallow. In fact all sjm books are shallow even Tog that I like

Let me say first:

-if you are fan of sjm please do not sand hate to me ( if you want to type actual response you are welcome) if you don't want to see this block me or tags anti sjm, sjm critical anti cc, anti tog, tog critical,

-when I recognize that sjm is not responsible for quality of other people work she definitely started trend,

- sjm is probably normal but a little bit ignorant and privileged person and so if you don't like her please don't call her slurs in my comments as I think her mistakes are often result of publisher negligence or cuddles ( her growth as author regressed bc they wanted more money),

- there's political massage in every creation. We humans are social animals and politic is element of our lives. Creating something apolitical is political statement on its own. And sjm's books aren't apolitical to begin.

So here my rant (multiple mini rants):

I hate how sjm's books are just aesthetic tm and how they revert fantasy to early 00s. Her worldbuilding is atrocious. She picks and chooses elements of different cultures and she doesn't mash them well but smack them together. Just like fantasy authors did in the past. Early 00s cartoons from Disney had more respect and understanding of cultures. Her biggest crime in my opinion is creating this female predator trope (Maeve, Amaranth) just to explain bad behaviour of her male characters, bc her morally grey male fea was "forced to" act this way towards his true mate but if female character act half as bad she is crucified. Never mind, her true crime is normalizing usage of male/ female/ mating. It wasn't popular before and if you think it is normal I'm sorry but this literally men's trying to explain why they behave predatory towards women narrative "baby i need to act this way it's my instinct" (its giving Jacob from twilight toward baby).

Recently, I tried rereading some scenes from tog and Bi Aedion comparing his bisexuality to lysandra experience as slave is just sad. I legit expected him to say that he was raped by aderlan's soldiers after battle and not him coming out to her. The only logical explanation is that sjm can't understand what she is writing. Bc Aedion seems like decent guy at this point of story and this was framed as important moment in their relationship. This and whole making babies that look like aelin, so lysandra's cover as aelin is not blown are the reasons why I can't ship aedion/lysandra. This is also a prime example of sjm inability to write good lgbt characters or presenting them as equal to others in narrative. Hasar ( tod charcter) is described as ugly with long nose. She is also only semi positive, cunning, but good lesbian character that is in our main characters age bracket. Only gay couple in tog are your typical gay dads, but also one of them was too weak to become immortal so they are now living in fantasy border camp and aren't motioned after hof. There is also Manon's grandmother who is basically salling other witches to be breading stocks for demons and oh she is lesbian. So great selection. again i will stick to good luck Charlie lesbian moms from that one episode. Before anyone say that she couldn't possibly have same sex couple in main cast cassandra clare had in early 10s, rick riordan's nico had on page coming out in 2014. the answer is simply she didn't want one.

Nehemia was my favourite character in first books and I refused to believe in this bs that she chose to die. No it was retcon to make aelin poor little mow mow, that suffer so much. Nehemia literally promised to dorian that she will teach him magic (top 10 ships that never sailed), why would she made sacrifice before aelin or dorian tapped into their potential?

Elide is so confusing character bc she should be witch but isn't. But there's still some witch in her. Sjm's established that witch only needs witch mother to be full witch. But I guess it's something skip generation. Also, why sjm needs to make pregnancy to every species difficult and then make them have several babies. Witches and fea are the main offenders of this. And several times it is only to advance men (rowan fake mate being pregnant ). Sjm stop creating worlds where women have it worse than men and then have them risking their lives simply bc men want son.

Several people were praising sjm bc her characters had past relationships and didn't end up with first boyfriend they were in series. But her characters don't break up in normal way in later books. Chaol was blamed for nehemia death and his rational fears were presented as this stupid takes. Rowan previous lover was turned into this fake decoy. after mating bond is established between rowan and aelin, they are completely disregarding past experience. Everything is better, more right and simply as it should be. Aelin, who didn't start relationship with dorian bc of rationality can't wait to make out with 500 yo dude. I wonder what if rowan's child had survived? They would be older then fenrys. Why isn't aelin thinking about it? Why isn't she thinking that her husband is her uncle's age? He calls fenrys boyo. Fenrys calls aedion boyo. Yet aelin's only thinking how she and rowan will have multiple world conquerin babies and how if something happens to her rowan would be great king. She knows him not even year

It is long post, and frankly, I'm exhausted after long day. If you read it all I'm sorry for my emotional rumbling. Don't be afraid to interact and please be mindful of rules that I made at the beginning.

[princesssarisa]

I've decided not to write any more long posts about why some people don't like Disney's Belle. I've probably been dwelling too much in other people's negative thoughts that I disagree with. But here are the rest of the critiques of Belle's character that I've read, and my short, succinct thoughts on each one.

I still think it's very interesting that some critics think Belle is too sweet and gentle, too feminine, and not "strong" or "modern" enough, while others think she's too defiant, too "modern," and not sweet or gentle enough.

Her desires at the beginning are ill-defined: she wants "adventure" and "more," but has no specific goal. This is true, but personally, I don't mind it. Plenty of us don't know exactly what we want from life, but do know that we want more excitement and wonderment.

She does nothing but read and complain in the village; she makes no effort to achieve her dreams of adventure, and she never does any realistic peasant chores, which makes her come across even more as a spoiled rich girl. I think it's implicit that Belle and Maurice are too poor to leave the village – that's why Maurice sets out to gain fame and fortune with his invention. And I think Belle's never doing housework onscreen was part of Linda Woolverton's feminist agenda. Maybe it's not realistic, and maybe it's overly "second wave feminist," but I do think it was fair of Woolverton to want to break away from the Walt-era Princess model and not show Belle cooking or cleaning.

Her dreams of adventure are side-swept in favor of a mere love story. I think there are two ways of addressing this issue. One is to argue that her dreams of adventure do come true, just in a way she never expected. The other, supported more by the song "A Change in Me" from the musical, is that she does lose her dreams, but for the better, as she realizes her life doesn't need to be like a romantic storybook to be happy.

Her romance with the Beast isn't nearly as fleshed-out or as realistic as fans claim it is. This is subjective. Some people think it's one of the best-written romance arcs in cinema.

She affects meek politeness and plays games with Gaston instead of plainly refusing his advances. First of all, if Belle didn't care about politeness, she would be a hypocrite to criticize Gaston and the Beast for their rudeness. Secondly, Gaston is intimidating. Third, this is only the beginning of her journey – with the Beast, she arguably learns to stand up to someone who mistreats her, which lets her decisively reject Gaston and call him a monster later on.

She seems to blindly love all books without questioning their content, which could be dangerous, especially when the French Revolution arrives. Belle has no trouble thinking for herself. If she can open her heart and mind to the Beast, and loathe Gaston while the rest of the town adores him, then I'm sure she can tell good books apart from bad and dangerous books. And the fashions in the movie are such a mish-mosh that I'm not sure if it takes place before the French Revolution or after... or if the French Revolution will even happen in this fairy tale world.

She sacrifices her own needs for men. Yes she does, but it's not framed in a gendered way, and both the Beast and Maurice do the same for her.

She emasculates the Beast. Well, I'll admit that the Beast's arc isn't very empowering for him – that's the whole point, that he learns to give up some of his personal power and love unselfishly. But is that necessarily a bad thing? I'll also admit that sometimes, I feel troubled that the Beast lets the mob attack the castle and does nothing to protect his servants. Still, we probably shouldn't judge a character whose mental health is clearly suffering at this point: immobilizing, suicidal despair doesn't only exist in fiction, so we should think twice before we call it "weakness" or "emasculation."

She needs male characters to rescue her – the Beast from the wolves, Chip from the cellar. I respect the complaint that the Disney Renaissance movies still rely too much on the "boy rescues girl" trope, but there's no shame in needing to be rescued. Especially because in the forest scene, Belle is just one human facing a whole pack of wolves, and in the cellar scene, her father is rescued too.

She never uses her skills, knowledge, or passions to solve problems – the only purpose they serve is to unite her with the Beast. I think this is just a genre problem. The whole story is geared toward uniting Belle and the Beast in love, and every story beat serves that end.

She almost leaves the Beast to die in the snow and stays angry about the West Wing incident even after he saves her life. The former is only a split second, while the latter is only in self-defense when the Beast unfairly blames her for his injury. Besides, consider the context of how the Beast has behaved until this point!

She's a hypocrite for giving the Beast a second chance yet dismissing Gaston as a monster. She doesn't give the Beast a chance until he risks his life to save hers. If Gaston had done anything like that, she would have given him a second chance too, but he doesn't. Gaston is also far more cold-blooded and narcissistic than the Beast ever is.

She's to blame for the Beat's near-death at the climax because she reveals his existence to Gaston and the other villagers. Of course she is. It's explicitly framed as a terrible mistake and she openly blames herself. But it's an impulsive act of desperation to save her father, and she tries to explain that the Beast is kind and gentle. Until it's too late, it clearly doesn't cross her mind that the villagers could form a mob to kill him!

She plays a nurturing, motherly role to both the Beast and her father. I agree that heroines shouldn't need to be nurturing. But it's not inherently anti-feminist to be that way!

She's sidelined in the final battle. Yes, this is true, but her presence is still essential to the scene, and not every heroine needs to be an action girl.

Her portrayal falls short of the original Beauty's greatest virtues: her kindness, selflessness, and compassion. Belle still has those qualities, they're just combined with more "modern" ones (adventurousness, defiance toward unjust authority figures, etc.). Besides, Disney had already made several excellent movies about heroines defined by kindness and gentleness. What's wrong with giving Belle a slightly different set of virtues?

She's too traditionally feminine and ladylike. I think most of us can agree that "femininity" ≠ "anti-feminist," and anyone who thinks that way is a little misguided.

Her creators glorify her at the expense of the other Disney Princesses. I agree that it was unfair and mean-spirited of Linda Woolverton to imply that the three Walt-era Princesses are "insipid," but I do respect her insistence on making Belle a different, more "modern" heroine. And I agree that Paige O'Hara was mistaken when she described Belle as "the first Princess not looking for a man" (neither Cinderella nor Ariel dream of romance until they actually meet their princes), but I don't hold that against Belle.

She's too blatantly written as a role model – she doesn't feel like a real person, but like a living instruction manual for how a "smart," "empowered" woman should behave. This is valid. But I personally do think she seems like a real person as well as a role model, and I think she's engaging enough that I don't mind the obvious "role model" qualities.

[themattress]

And now, I just feel compelled to sing the praises of one of Kingdom Hearts' greatest heroes:

SHIRO. MOTHERFUCKING. AMANO!

The more time passes, the more amazed I am by this man. He's had a hero's journey IRL when it comes to his place in the franchise: jumping at the call but being inexperienced and screwing up, reaching his lowest point before rising, dealing with great adversity only to come out of it stronger than ever, and becoming a beloved hero to many who continues to do good.

KH1 was his first manga adaptation, and for the most part it's your by-the-numbers comic book adaptation of a story from a non-comic book medium, not especially good or especially bad. But Amano showed three weaknesses: he mischaracterized the KH-original characters (Sora, Kairi, Riku and Ansem all start out on point, but once Destiny Islands is destroyed this changes drastically: Sora turns into a spastic moron, Kairi into a bland bystander, Riku into an emotionless tool, and Ansem into an over-the-top eeeevil lunatic who actually gets himself killed without any contribution from Sora, Donald and Goofy!), he sucked at action scenes leading to many iconic battles from the game being straight-up left out altogether, and his gag manga inclinations caused him to turn scenes that should be serious / emotional into jokes.

CoM was his aforementioned lowest point. All those flaws were not only still there, but worse, turning what was once a dark, mysterious and psychological story into an unfunny farce.

Disgraceful. For a good while, I actually disliked Shiro Amano due to this.

But then came the redemption: KH2. The Prologue section of this manga is masterfully done, possibly even better than the game's version. The pace is less sluggish, the events less irritatingly obtuse, and the humor actually works to the benefit of the story's seriousness - because so much of the goofy humor is between Roxas, Hayner, Pence and Olette, you build even more of an emotional connection to them and the tragedy of Roxas learning the truth about his life hits that much harder when it transpires. When Sora returns, Amano is briefly tempted by his old inclinations and kind of backslides, with the resulting trips to Hollow Bastion, Beast's Castle, Land of Dragons and Olympus Coliseum suffering as a result. They aren't quite as insulting as the CoM manga, but still bad. However, true to hero's journey form this period of temptation and backsliding passes and only reinforces Amano's commitment to improving and actually balancing his humor and adaptational changes with drama, emotional sincerity and faithfulness to the game. From Disney Castle on, he returns to quality output. There are still mistakes here and there, but on the whole the manga is an enjoyable one. From the characterization to the action scenes to the tonal balance, Amano had improved.

And then came the hiatus between its first half and second half, during which he worked on the 358/2 Days manga. Take what I said about KH2's Prologue, then apply it x10, and you get this manga, where the writing and pacing is improved from its game counterpart and the humor is rich, well-timed and actively feeds into the drama and tragedy of the story rather than detract from it. To make the contrast to how far he's come most apparent, remember how in the CoM manga where there's an omake short that makes a complete joke out of the Riku Replica, originally one of the story's most tragic characters? Well in this manga, we get an omake short about a Dusk, which starts out hilarious but then ends up being absolutely heart-breaking. It makes me legit sad over a goddman DUSK. Now that takes real talent!

What's also apparent with the Days and KH2 mangas is that Amano had come to shine in a way that Tetsuya Nomura absolutely does not: respect for his female leads. Kairi, Namine and Xion in these mangas aren't primarily sources of support for male characters or there to make male characters feel things above all else; they are their own distinct individuals with vivid personalities and clear character arcs. Even Olette shines brighter than in the games!

Once Amano made it back to the KH2 manga for its second half, he was firing on all cylinders. Again, not everything was perfect, but much like the game itself the narrative flaws were not enough to overshadow the many more narrative strengths. And when the manga finally concluded after so many years, Amano confirmed that it truly was the end. He would not be adapting other KH games. And given that the rest of the KH series never got better than where KH2 ended, this was absolutely for the best. I could very easily imagine the Olympian gods making a constellation in Amano's image, as he had become a true hero.

However, oh no! He got persuaded into adapting KH3 when it came out in 2019! This is going to ruin everything, right? WRONG! The KH3 manga has not only been a shining example of how far Shiro Amano has come, but also a masterclass in demonstrating how acutely aware of the game's problems he is and the lengths he is willing to go to fix them. For example...

- He opens the manga with a direct adaptation of the game's opening scene with the Boy in Black and Boy in White in front of the chess board followed by the FMV intro. By doing things in this strange way, Amano invites the possibility of this being an alternate, diverging timeline from the prior manga continuity so that its ending remains untouched should you desire it to be. Almost as if the Boy in Black and Boy in White reside in some higher plane of existence and the KH3 manga is the "game" that they're playing, so it's not to be taken too seriously.

- The whole opening that semi-recaps stuff leading into KH3 is played off as a joke, and given that the stuff in question was stupid (such as the Mark of Mastery exam through sleeping worlds and Sora failing his Mark of Mastery exam on bullshit grounds), this is appreciated.

- He actually makes Maleficent and Pete more competent; rather than have Maleficent dismiss Pete's idea to take Sora out while he's still weak, he has both of them agree that they needn't bother with Sora because his weakness will lead him to being destroyed by the Xehanorganization anyway. They can find the black box while their foes fight each other.

- 0.2 BBS is adapted after the Olympus visit in a way that also recaps the most important points of BBS and includes stronger characterization for Aqua, Terra and Ventus. Stupid things like Mickey losing his shirt are avoided, and there is actually clarification on how Mickey could not have gone into the Realm of Darkness to save Aqua earlier and all the time between KH1 and KH2 he was building up his strength to obtain the Power of Waking so that he could as he promised to, making him come off so much better than he did in the games.

-Coded is not referenced, ever.

- The "Roxas and Namine ceased to exist when they merged with Sora and Kairi" retcon is completely avoided, with the manga instead saying they do exist within them as was originally the case in KH2. Giving Roxas his own body is less correcting some injustice or "hurt" and more part because he's needed for the battle against Xehanort and part because Sora's just a nice guy like that, wanting to provide his friends with all the basic comforts.

- Xehanort's master plan retcon is also discarded! Here it's said that Ansem and Xemnas' plans remained their own, as they should be, and that since Master Xehanort's return he's embarked on "a new plan" once joined by his time-traveling younger self, who never mentions needing Ansem for his time-traveling which keeps things consistent with how KH2 depicted time travel as simply a magical phenomenon that didn't need complicated rules.

- Not only are Riku and Kairi way more in-character than they were in the game, but most shockingly Axel is too! He actually feels like Axel, character flaws and all, not dumbass Lea!

- Toy Box, Corona and Arendelle, while still filler, are all adapted faithfully, which is nice.

- Various alterations are made for the better: the Riku Replica stuff is kept to an incredibly bare minimum, Ansem the Wise first appears in the scene where he returns to Radiant Garden meaning him still being alive is more of a legit twist plus he never meets Aqua only for there to be no pay-off and the dumbass plotline with him and Xehanort's Heartless is left out, the "secret Keyblade legacy" stuff with Demyx, Luxord, Marluxia and Larxene is cut, the second Kairi and Axel scene is no more, and the big reconvening at Yen Sid's Tower scene and the fallout montage is massively reworked into something far better written and paced.

All this plus maintaining his balance of humor and sincerity, including using the former to support the latter, and even correcting previous flaws (holy shit, Marluxia, Larxene, Vexen...they're all completely in-character now!) If Amano keeps this momentum going and actually manages to make something good out of the notoriously disappointing finale in the Keyblade Graveyard, then he will officially have given us the best version of KH3's story in existence.

Tl;dr: nothing but respect for Shiro Amano, who is a better writer than Nomura will ever be.

[somer-writes]

thanks for the tag swerbil!!!

1. How many works on AO3? 296 @.@

2. Total AO3 word count? 1,097,751. thats. a lot.

3. Top 5 fics by kudos:

Memento Mori: Early days Chain--they're still not used to each other. This is the follow up to Burial Rites and Twi-centric. It's Grieving: the Fic lmao

Burial Rites: Written for @a-manicured-lawn, the Chain picks up Hyrule mid-sacrifice. It's more about them getting used to each other XD

Twilight Prince: a weird alt timeline idea I had wherein Twilight actually goes with Midna at the end of Twilight Princess. I'm continually surprised it's as popular as it is XD

The Traveler's Landing: Wolfie steals Hyrule's shoe. Legend attempts murder.

Sacred Shadows: The Chain meets Twilight XD

4. What fandoms do you write for? Currently it's only LU. I've written some for Danny Phantom, Stardew Valley, and Rise of the Guardians as well.

5. Do you respond to comments? All of them! It warms my little heart to see people leave any comment at all and I want them to know how much I appreciate their time and feedback <3

6. Fic with the angstiest ending: The Suffering of the Righteous: Day 1 febuwhump 2024 where I kill twilight and wars gets to live with that lmao

7. Fic with the happiest ending: dear god this one's hard. ya boi does not write truly happy endings very often XD i'm super into bittersweet or untidy ends. so i guess i'll go with Better to Have Loved bc of it's emotional arc? most of my happy fics have like 0 emotional stakes lol

8. Do you get hate? Every once in a while but 99.99% of the time that's a no thankfully!

9. Do you write smut? is a frogs ass water tight

10. Do you write crossovers? hehehehe

Linked Universe: The Triguard was born from Dragonage: the Veilguard brainrot

@wanderlustmagician has The Sages' Journal which I wrote a fic for that's a crossover/mashup with Disney's Atlantis

also in drafts i have a crossover fic for choujin x which is ALSO kind of a crossover fic with monster hunter

11. Ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of XD

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope! i've considered translating a couple into spanish or french just to strengthen my own language skills, but it would be hard to do so while retaining the integrity of the work at my skill level or lack thereof. @artemistorm was kind enough to make a couple pod fics for me!!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic? I've written for a couple of @wanderlustmagician's aus (The Sages' Journal, Lost & Found) but no true cowriting credits yet!

14. All-time favorite ship? ooooh that's hard. hmmm. idk why my brain is blanking rn XD i read so much gay shit you'd think i'd have an answer for this but i dont! ig currently what comes to mind is Hansry (Capon/Henry) from Kingdom Come Deliverance!

15. WIPs you want to finish but doubt you ever will? oh god. Twilight Prince??? XD

16. Writing strengths? i've been told its dialogue, characters, and action! sometimes also word choice pops up

17. Writing weaknesses? plotting. PLOTTING. i am so bad at writing one cohesive fucking plot.

18. Thoughts on mixed language dialogue? i dont have any issue with it. in fact, i prefer it in context. i DO despise the like super phony cringy "codebreaking" so often seen in mass media. but i think when done well it adds depth to a character

19. First fandom you wrote for? Danny Phantom I think???

20. Favorite fic you've ever written? hmmm this one's tough. probably gonna say A Means of Self-Defense bc im proud of the prose in this one!

Tagging: @wanderlustmagician @labyrinthdancer @hyruledwarriorr

Tagged by the wonderful @zarvasace

1. How many works on AO3? 8!

2. Total AO3 word count? 132k Which is, uh, more than 10k a month. How did I manage that?

3. Top 5 fics by kudos:

Two Moon Pearls and the Master Sword the chain gatecrash Legend's first quest. Honestly, I'll be surprised if this is ever surpassed. It's my oldest, but also it's a good combination in terms of length, accessibility, and story I think.

Ocarina, Oracle Sequel to the above! The chain gatecrash OoA and OoT. There's a pipeline from people reading Moon Pearls to reading this nowadays. It'll be interesting to see how it goes, it is a longer read after all.

Mandatory Puppy Pile The funniest and shortest fic I have. This was second place after Moon Pearls for a long, long time. We love wolfbrain Twi.

Reasonable Assumptions The little fic that could. This came out after Moon Pearls and it's always done... fine. It's not the funniest, or best, or angstiest or most anything else of anything I've done, but it chugs along. Hyrule, Legend and Wild meet in Hyrule's era. None of them realise time travel has occurred.

Requiem of the Wind Ghost ship and space whales. 8.5k Wind centric one shot. I feel like this one is very me lmao. I like it! It'd be nice if it got more attention. I reckon Fortuity is going to overtake it though.

4. What fandoms do you write for? Zelda/LU exclusively at the moment

5. Do you respond to comments? Yep, all of them. The authors that influenced me tended to do it, so it just seemed the normal thing to do.

6. Fic with the angstiest ending: Hero of Hyrule The fic people skip, presumably because it's dark. I wouldn't say it's an unhappy ending though.

7. Fic with the happiest ending: Fortuity Shot story, happy ending, and co-author who would happily write the fluff for me <3

8. Do you get hate? Nah. Shout out to the bookmark that called OcaOra a solid 7/10 for being complicated and not as emotional as preferred though LMAO

9. Do you write smut? I have not written fic smut 😐

10. Do you write crossovers? Nope

11. Ever had a fic stolen? Nope, not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope again!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic? @whitewinterstar and I wrote Fortuity together! It was a fun time <3

14. All-time favorite ship? I'm not much of a shipper to be perfectly honest! 'All time' is a big ask too!

Uhh, I loved Nagisa and Tomoya in Clannad After Story.

15. WIPs you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Ha haaa... I'm gonna work on Completionist again one day, really I am.

16. Writing strengths? APPARENTLY PACING??? I've had several people complement this recently so huh. Dialogue, characterisation, having a couple of genres going at once.

17. Writing weaknesses? Painting a picture of the setting, generally setting the environment, fights probably, too much telling and not enough showing sometimes.

18. Thoughts on mixed language dialogue? I don't really have thoughts on mixed language dialogue. 🤷‍♀️ Maybe I should get some.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Technically I have a single Naruto one shot out there...

20. Favorite fic you've ever written? Two Moon Pearls and the Master Sword will always be my baby.

Tagging: @needfantasticstories @nyastri @not-freyja @zolanort @somer-writes

[oceansprompts]

text message prompts

[text] You okay?

[text] GO TO BED!

[text] hey you better be alive in there

[text] SOS save me please holy shit

[text] call me this date is going so bad

[text] I have way too much shit to do.

[text] Honestly I'm really worried about you.

[text] Why are you trending on Twitter?

[text] Please let me come over and pet your (pet).

[text] We are in the same building, you could come talk to me.

[text] It's not going to work out.

[text] This is a terrible idea.

[text] people have fetishes

[text] They really do crucify anyone these days huh

[text] I don't know why but that really means me want to stab you

[text] That movie was awful.

[text] For the love of god please help me

[text] I fucked up. I fucked up really bad.

[text] I'm blocking you.

[text] YOU ONE BRAINCELLED BITCH

[text] I regret swiping right.

[text] Everyone lies on their dating profiles.

[text] That absolutely can't be an actual picture of you.

[text] This forced open my third eye and I saw the devil

[text] I'm like a child in line for the newest fucked up disney ride

-

[text] That's just all fucking sorts of fucked up

[text] Why are we here? To suffer? Every other day I get messages that cause pain

[text] In the department of old man fucking, we've got you beat.

[text] have you gotten any work done?

[text] I am beyond shame, try again

[text] You left your left your underwear at my place.

[text] Don't you dare put this on Facebook.

[text] My brother in Christ you're being haunted

[text] I want to wring you like a wet towel and slap you against a wall

[text] The mind is weak but the body is funky

[text] I'm a zombie the law can't stop me.

[text] Jealous of my massive honkers

[text] We left you to die to play minecraft

[text] She would never ever take away one of these stupid fucking hats

[text] I puked all over the Uber driver's backseat.

[text] I just took a screenshot of that and posted it to Reddit

[text] You said you'd be right back and it's been months.

[text] Can't we talk about this face to face?

[text] Yeah, you'll come learn I just have a thing for milk

[text] Why did you like one of my pics from 2014?

[text] Now's as good a time as any to exchange nudes.

[text] Why would you send me an eggplant emoji?

[text] I write five paragraphs, pouring my heart out, and all you reply with is k?!

[text] Who would dare to lie on the internet?

[text] When I die, please delete all my shit off the internet

[text] He's so hot, I briefly started texting like a straight person

[text] And because I'm god and I've decided that; no, in fact, I'm not done.

-

[text] I know you love bloopy reggae jams, now is not the time.

[text] You better not be standing catatonic in your room again.

[text] God has abandoned his children but unfortunately for you I pay child support and I will smite thee.

[text]: My neighbor just told me he can fix my water heater for 50 bucks. I’m skeptical.

[text]: Do you have any idea how much it costs to buy apples? I paid 10 dollars for 6.

[text]: I mean, I wouldn’t say I have a problem with buying Squishmallows..

[text]: Hey, so you know how you told me no dog? *sends pic* I don’t do well with no’s.

[text] Stuart Little is a bitch and Remy could take him any day.

[text]: My roommate just said that Lola Bunny is hot. I’m moving out.

[text]: Hey I posted that vid of you drunk, singing Ariana Grande, wearing all black and people said not to do it again. Sorry.

[text]: Do you think the price is ever right? Like, I feel like it’s not.

[text]: I booped your nose. Boop the last five people you texted or–nothing happens really.

[text]: I’m actually in the ER and it’s a long story that involves Best Day Ever from spongebob.

[text]: I fucking hate you–wait you’re not my ex. Who are you?

[text]: You ever ask yourself if birds see a bee and just go ‘wow a bee’? im high.

[text]: sometimes all i think about is–sour patch kids. bet you thought it was you.

[text]: I love you—not as much as I love my dog. But still a lot!

[text]: I found a cat on the way home and now it’s mine. But it hates my guts so this should be fun.

[text]: I have questions about the marvel cinematic universe…how long do you have?

[text]: why do donald duck and winnie the pooh not have to wear pants but other people do?

[text]: Hey you know that show floor is lava? I may have turned the apartment into that..this isn’t a joke, btw. the floor is sticky.

[text]: I bought too much soap off etsy and now I don’t know what to do with it…I smell like Captain America.

[text]: On a scale of one to ten, how many drinks would you need to sleep with me? This isn’t a tiktok trend…or it is.

[cyberrose2001]

What’s worse than one Yandere parent, you may ask? Two Yandere parents!

Imagine, if you will, the Bots gaining a new human ally - a girl Jacks age - and things start getting…weird…

The girl suffers from amnesia, stemming from the night her mother was killed some years ago, and now lives with a close relative in Jasper.

The girl knew what she was getting herself into when she decided to stay with Team Prime, she assumed the paranoia of constantly being watched and being targeted whenever she found herself in a active battle was just apart of it. But the look in Megatron’s eyes whenever he saw her, how he always tried to go after her himself. And according to the others, Soundwave is more active in the field now then ever, and followed Megatron in his pursuits.

Optimus and her guardian was adamant that she stay away from any future battles if it can be helped, and to be observant.

She should have listened. Miko had gotten through a ground bridge, Jack and herself went after to her. There was an explosion, she fell down a mind shaft and hit her head. Then, she’s waking up somewhere she doesn’t recognize but it reminds of Ratchet’s medbay. It was the Decepticon warship.

With weak legs and a throbbing head, she stands up, removes blanket and takes off the wires connecting her to a monitor and climbs down and hatches a plan to escape.

But she runs into Megatron and Soundwave. She tries to run but Megatron picks her up, with a disturbing amount of gentleness one should not show to one’s enemies, and a struggle that reminds of that one scene from Disney’s ‘Hercules’ of Statue Zeus trying to hold and calm his long lost son comes to mind.

Megatron eventually cups her over his chasis, and she’s still freaking out and trying to get away. She freezes when Megatron begins to purr, soon followed by Soundwave gently rubbing her back with one of his freaky narrow fingers.

Than came the revelation of them being her fathers. Fathers. Plural. Later she would find out that it was possible for a sparkling to have more than one sire, even with a human, with her mother.

Tears were pouring her face, claims of denial racing through her mind. Soundwave was using his tendrils to wrap himself closer to his reunited ‘family’ and Megatron had placed a kiss on her head, when she fainted.

the complications of this is insane oh my god, low key wanna write something abt this

just IMAGINE finding out that your mother banged some bad bots (and also got killed by one of them im assuming) and you were the outcome of it, god the dynamics of your entire life would change….

[cocoabubbelle]

My overall impression of this guy + the fandom’s reaction to him:

Oh cool, Twisted Wonderland made another character.

Hmmm, Judge Claude Frollo you say? This could either go really well or really bad.

Ok here’s his design; hehe they really nailed that weird bowl cut and dark eyeshadows. Nice hat m’dude.

Oh he’s from an entirely different college is this going to be an official thing and we’ll see more characters?

Student Council President. Checks out.

Does he have a name ye-! Oh wait here it is.

My brain: Rollo Flan??

*reads again* Ah, Rollo Flambé….?

*reads again to make sure bc third time’s the charm*

Rollo FLAMM.

Is it pronounced like FLAME or HAM??? Or DAME (the way the French pronounce it)?

Voice actor. Do I know this guy?

*sees the voice actor has worked on Haikyuu!! so immediately play his voice for my sister (who’s a fan of the show) to see if she can tell who it is.)

Also showed this character to my sister for her opinion:

“He looks like he’s 12.” 🤣🤣🤣🤣

He’s interested in Malleus Draconia I see. As a rival? As a recruit of part of the student council?

Ngl him sniffing the hanky looking like Esmeralda’s scarf is sus (of course maybe he’s chronically sick and has a thing against germs, but still. Sus.)

Hmm, Jack Howl, Rook Hunt, Trey Clover, and Malleus Draconia are still my favorites visually and personality-wise, but I’m interested in how Twisted Wonderland is going to portray this character and add depth to him to make him likeable 😌

*checks to see what the other members of the fandom think of this guy.*

*lots of hate-projection from the haters already bc of the character he’s twisted from.*

*despite how the other beloved characters are derived from villainous characters.*

*also apparently he’s not allowed to be tall.*

*to be fair, calling back to my sis’s comment, “he looks twelve” 🤣*

*portion of fandom who like him and still bully him affectionately.*

* remaining fandom peeps already writing Rollo x Reader content.*

haters: THE OTHER DISNEY VILLAINS WERE ENTERTAINING FROLLO IS BASED OF REAL LIFE RELIGIOUS AND PREJUDICED JERKS IN POWER

Other disney villains:

Evil Queen Grimhilde: a fully grown woman and narcissist who 1) was an abusive, neglectful stepmother, and 2) felt threatened by a girl who BARELY entered her teens and reacted by trying to murder her in gruesome ways. A jerk in power.

Maleficent: a sadistic being who enjoys looking down on those she deems inferior to her, (but heaven help you if you don’t treat her with the respect she’s entitled to), who *1) felt insulted for not being invited to a birthday party for a baby, so takes it out on the baby to get back at the parents, **2) takes advantage of the other heroes’ gifts and attempts to prolong everyone’s suffering out of a sick amusement from everyone’s misery but hers, and 3) is less concerned about her henchmen and pet crow’s vulnerable states and more offended by the audacity of the heroes finding loopholes and weaknesses in her magic so doesn’t cut her losses to back off and try helping her people and instead keeps trying to assert her dominance because she HAS to win. A jerk in literal power.

Lady Tremaine: An emotionally abusive woman who sees her children as a means of success and will not tolerate her stepdaughter having an ounce of happiness. A jerk in power.

Queen of Hearts: temperamental woman-child in power who 1) resorts to threats and violence when things don’t go her way, and 2) makes sure the system is ALWAYS in her favor and not for anyone who’s “wronged” her. A jerk in power.

Cruella de Vil: would have happily murdered newborn puppies had they had their spots. Uses her riches and influence to endorse Animal Cruelty. A jerk in power.

Gaston: Violent, Entitled, Narcissistic Misogynist/Sexist Womanizer who will turn on the charms long enough to try to get the woman he wants. Can’t take no for an answer. Is able to sway mob opinion because of his charisma and skill set and be one of the top dogs so to speak. A jerk in power.

Dr. Facilier: Conman extraordinaire who hates successful people and uses others to weasel out of debts he put himself in. Will aim for a willing stooge to aim for the top and seize control/influence from a person of perceivable authority. A jerk in literal power.

Ursula: Conwoman who makes sure that any deal she makes will always work out in her favor and will do anything to bring you down if it looks like you’re going to succeed. A jerk in literal power.

Scar: Jealous brother and uncle. Fratricide. Attempted Nepoticide. Wants to be in a position of power purely for the perceived personal benefits with no regards to his citizens’ well-being. Shifts blame from himself to others if things aren’t working out his way. Will only engage in a fight he’s started if there’s anything to put the other opponent at a disadvantage. A jerk in power.

Jafar: arrogant and jealous second-in-command who uses means to manipulate things to his favor. Classist jerk who will not follow up on his end of the bargain even if you fulfilled yours, or will use ambiguous words so that he does fulfill his bargain only at your expense. Will abuse his authority to objectify others. A jerk in power.

Hades: Bitter and Temperamental Boss man who rather make the most of an unsavory position thrown upon him, takes out his temper on others and makes elaborate schemes to overthrow his bosses, while making others do his dirty work for him as opposed to doing it himself. Makes deals for his own benefit. Sore Loser. A jerk in power.

Twisted Wonderland has been able to create characters TWISTED from their villainous inspirations and make them have reasons for their initial attitudes before overblotting, receive consequences for their actions that make them reflect on themselves, then actually go through character development that help them to become more heroic/tolerable. Not even all of them are shown to be remotely close to their original villain in motivation or personality. Again, I don’t think Rollo Flambé Flamm will be one of my top favorites anytime soon, and his predecessor is one of the most vile villains to exist in animated films, but I am willing to wait and see what Twisted Wonderland does with him and how he will contribute to the story.

Edit: Help why is this post so popular?

Also Spoilers below.

Rollo is indeed cray cray. But it is thanks to his cray cray that Malleus calls out to us by name.

See? He has a positive contribution to the plot 😆

Also, it looks like this version’s backstory will be mostly pulled from his original literary counterpart as well as his broadway counterpart.

So.

Looking forward to see how, if at all, Rollo overblots and/or gets redeemed following the other characters who overblotted and tried to kill everyone.

More Spoilers!

Rollo got his just deserts after the shenanigans he pulled, and with an appropriate callback to the words the Archbishop/deacon(?) threw in Frollo’s face in The Bells of Notre Dame song.

Mwahaha!

Something that piques my curiosity though. The other housewardens + Jamil were given opportunities to redeem themselves after the mess they caused.

Rollo looked like he was going to confess his sins (so to speak) when the other NBC students asked what happened.

Malleus doesn’t let him because he wants him to rot with his guilt a little longer.

Justice? Or is Tsunotarou still mad over not being invited and decides to be petty? 😆😆😆😆

* “felt insulted for not [actually] being invited to [the Festival for the City of Flowers], so [initially] takes it out on the [City of Flowers via angry lightning storm temper tantrum before he calms down so he can redirect his anger at the actual culprit, Rollo]”** “attempts to prolong [Rollo’s] suffering out of a sick amusement from [Rollo’s] misery”

Ah whatever Rollo kinda definitely in this case let’s be real had it coming.

Now we will see if he will forever stew in his guilt and self-loathing, or if the rumors over him transferring from/getting kicked out of Noble Bell College and attending Night Raven College are true and if he gets a redemption arc/becomes much worse.

Only time will tell since Twisted Wonderland so far has failed to disappoint regarding character arcs and story development!

[wearenot7withu]

pairing: ex!jungkook x f!reader

wc: 2.4k

warning: curse word like once, pure angst, exs2??

a/n: ngl i wrote this quickly. iwas home one day after my exam and I was listening to this song when I got inspired.. it didn't really turn out how i wanted and i'm not really happy with it but i need to write and share it here because i was always insecure about my writing.. so this is me oiling my skills with angst..

feedbacks are welcome, good and bad too - as long as you’re nice about it. english isn’t my first language but i hope the story is enjoyable even like this. have fun reading the story and i hope you like it.

masterlist

✩✩✩

But does he know you call me when he sleeps?

You were laying in bed wide awake, reflecting back on your day. Your phone is next to you, illuminating the room in a blueish light.

A conversation is open on your phone, the last message being from your boyfriend, in which he wishes you good night.

You started going out with Haewon officially a couple days ago, unofficially maybe a month or two. As time passed by he asked you to be his girlfriend.

He was everything a girl could ask for - sweet, caring, a gentleman. You're aware that that's what you deserve. All of your friends say that Haewon is the one, that his love for you is true… and despite it all, he's not the one you want.

You thought maybe you'd come to love him, feel a little more towards him than friendship. That moment still yet has to come.

Because every night when you're alone, all you can think about is him. The one who you love, the one you crave and want. The one you miss.

So in a moment of weakness, you open your drawer on your bedside and take out a small piece of paper with numbers on it. A phone number that you swore you'd never dial again.

Against your better judgement, you knew you'd call again because even if you deleted the number from your phone, you still kept it on a small piece of paper.

A few rings in and the person on the other side picks it up.

"Y/n?" He sounds surprised.

Bet he is. You two didn't talk for two months, since you broke things off.

How stupid it was to call him. He probably moved on and is in a happy place, why did you want to make a fool out of yourself?

"Y/n are you there?"

"Yeah…" Your voice came out unevenly. Your eyes became teary.

"Is everything okay?" His voice changed from surprised to confused. Of course, he's confused. "Are you okay?"

And that question was the last drop for you. Two months of suffering, missing came to the surface. "I miss you" You cried to the phone.

"I miss you so much it hurts" He sighed. You could imagine him running his hand through his dark hair. Maybe it's even longer than when you've last seen him. Maybe he'd cut it back. Both ways he was breathtaking.

"Let's not do this to each other again" His voice came out strained too, but you didn't realize that because of your breakdown. Then, he hung up the call, but you were determined.

✩✩✩

But does he know the pictures that you keep?

You've sat in your car in front of the old brick building for ten minutes, looking through the pictures you couldn't delete.

The first picture was from your first date when Jungkook all those years ago took you to the city fair and won you a small plushie - the one you still sleep with until this day. It makes you feel closer to him like you still have some part of him.

The second picture was from Jungkook's brother's wedding. You two were actually broken up during that time, however, at the end of that night you let your first I love you known.

The last picture with him was a couple hours before your break up. You were having a marvel marathon, watching the movies in chronological order from Disney+. You were happy, smiling in the picture while he was laying down on the couch with his head in your lap.

So how did you two end up breaking up? A guy from work called you because he needed help with a project. Then came the fight, the tears, the yelling and the defeat. He said maybe it would be better to end things, for good now.

You two ended things a couple times in your four years together, but this one really felt different. You never had an official break-up before.

Every time a fight like that came, one of you said I'm done, the other said yeah, okay and a week or two later, when you gave enough space to the other, one of you would reach out.

This time, however, none of you did.

Drying the tears on your face you got out of your car and headed inside the building. You've entered the code and went up to the third floor.

You have walked those stairs many times, but you have never felt as nervous as now. Not even when you broke Jungkook's favourite mug and had to face him - the mug was an Iron Man one, by the way.

You knocked on the door with the A13 on it. Your thoughts were running wild, trying to figure out what to say to him when he opens the door. However, you didn't need to say anything because instead of Jungkook a young girl stood in front of you.

Turns out he moved away, and you didn't even know where.

So you walked the stairs one floor higher and knocked on another door. Jungkook's best friend, Jimin was living there with his girlfriend.

"Y/n? What are you doing here?" You could clearly see the confusion on his face.

But you didn't care, you had a question to ask.. and you weren't leaving without an answer.

✩✩✩

But does he know the reasons that you cry?

Again, you were in front of a door trying to think about what to say. This time, however, you were in a much nicer building in a much nicer part of the city.

You have many questions, although you know the answer is obvious - they're not concerning you.

You put your hand up to ring the doorbell and put it back down three times already. Should you or should you not?

Maybe you should not. There's a reason he moved without telling you. For some reason, he didn't reach out to you.

"Y/n?" A very familiar voice came from behind you.

You turned around and that's when you saw him. Jungkook was dressed in a hoodie and jogger, holding a blue plastic bag. You could see ice cream in it, the one type he eats when he feels sad or down.

You opened your mouth to say something but nothing came out. You felt like crying again, and when you tried to keep your sobs in, Jungkook came up to you and hugged you.

He opened the door and let you in. He went to put down his bags, poured you some water and led you to the couch, while not even once letting go of your hand.

He sat next to you, moving his hand up and down on your back. When he thought you've somewhat calmed down, he quietly asked you. "What are you doing here?"

Jungkook's heart was breaking. When he saw you calling him, his immediate thought was that something bad happened. Why would you call him at 11PM on a Friday night?

When you told him you miss him, he felt like someone punched him in the guts. He misses you too, if not more than you miss him. But what you had wasn't healthy.

Neither of you could change your ways, and your differences were crashing so much.

He was laid back, and you were a planner. He let everything go as it is, you loved to control - or at least try to - how things go. He didn't give a fuck about what others thought, you always cared about others' opinions. He was not giving more than necessary to others, well except his close friends, you were giving everything to everyone.

Deep down, you both were just insecure because you both knew that the other deserve the change you were not willing to make.

"I tried. I tried so hard to just start anew." You started to answer his question with a shaky voice "Everyone is telling me to forget you, everyone was pressuring me to go out with Haewon. And I did"

Haewon is the dude who got you into this mess in the first place. If it wasn't for him, Jungkook wouldn't have flipped out that faithful day. Hearing that you went out with him, Jungkook couldn't help but feel some kind of betrayal.

Jungook's eyes were always so expressive. Even if he tried to hide what he feels, one could always see it in his eyes. This time was no different.

"I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry" You've cried "They were telling me all these things. That I deserve better, that maybe I really need to leave us behind." You inhaled a deep breath "And I thought you want an out. So I tried. I tried to give you that space."

Jungkook looked straight ahead, he felt like crying too. "I think" He started, "I think you deserve Haewon. Even when we were together, he always knew how to help you with work and you two were so compatible, so alike"

You stood up fast. "So just because I'm alike with someone I should be with them? Why does everyone want me to be without you, including you?" You were now pulling on your hair in frustration "He would be a good husband, he would be a good father. I don't doubt that, but why do I have to be in the picture for that?"

Jungkook let out a humourless chuckle "Your mom always wanted grandkids early, you know that"

"She wanted it with you too, she just realized we're not going to give her that"

"And she decided it was because of me" He rolled his eyes, but you could hear the accusation in his voice

"I've never let her think that it's because of you. I always told her that we're just not ready for marriage or children" You were hurt that he thought you'd let him be the bad guy in your mom's plans.

"So why did you cry on the phone for Jaeri that you want to be a bride? That you don't know why you're with me if we're not going anywhere with our relationship?" He asked with slight anger in his voice

You looked at him with a confused expression. What is he talking about? "What?"

"I went to visit you at work a couple days before we.." He didn't say it out loud, before we broke up "And Haewon asked me when am I planning to propose because he heard you crying to Jaeri"

You sat down next to Jungkook and looked straight into his eyes. "I've never, ever said anything like that. Obviously, if you'd asked me I'd have said yes in a heartbeat. But I was content where we were. I was happy with you, didn't matter if husband or boyfriend… what mattered was that it was you."

You sat next to each other in silence for minutes. "Do you still love me?"

He didn't look at you. He turned his head away, biting his lips. "I don't"

✩✩✩

Or tell me, does he know where your heart lies?

The next day you called Haewon before work to meet up for breakfast with him.

You had a rough night. You came back from Jungkook's after 2AM and you continued to cry until the morning.

Your eyes were puffy and red, and you're sure your face is swollen too.

"Hi beautiful" Haewon tried to kiss you on the lips, but you turned your head.

"Why did you tell Jungkook that I want him to marry me?" You wanted answers, and you wanted them now.

"I didn't say anything like that to him," He said, reading through the menu, not taking you seriously.

"Well, he said you did"

"And you rather believe him than me?" He put the menu back on the table

"Yes" You answered immediately "Look Haewon, you're a nice guy. But I don't like you like that and I… I still love Jungkook. It wouldn't be fair to you"

"I see" He let out a small laugh "You know, it's such a shame that you are hooked up on that guy. He doesn't have a good job, and he never treated you right… I don't know what you see in him."

"Don't talk about him that way. Don't ruin my opinion about you please, I love working with you and we make a good team - don't ruin that." You said with an edge in your voice. You're not letting anyone talk bad about Jungkook. Then you softened your voice. "Are you still up for breakfast?"

So you two ate and went to work together. After you were done, you didn't go home. Instead, you drove back to Jungkook's place.

You were thinking all day about the previous night, and you came to the conclusion that you didn't say everything you wanted.

You knocked on the door, hoping that he was home. When he opened the door you didn't give him time to react, you slipped into the room next to him.

"I know you said you don't love me anymore. But I do. I love you. Since we met in the library during college. I loved you every day for the past years. No matter if we were together or not, if we fought or not. You're it for me. And I don't believe you don't love me. So look me in the eyes and tell me that you don't"

One moment you were telling him how much you love him, the next he was kissing you.

You've kissed him countless times before, but each kiss gives you the same feeling. It's magical and you can feel the love through it.

"How could I not love you? I've tried to give you an out, but you're it for me too. I don't want anyone else if I can't have you. I rather am alone than with someone else."

You kissed him or at least tried because you couldn't stop smiling. "I know we have a lot of things to work on. There are a lot of things to fix and grow from. But I'll rather work on us than leave us fade away"

Maybe you're running in circles and nothing will change. One thing is for sure, you love each other, and right now you're not near ready to live without the other.

✩✩✩

Right here with me, babe Where it truly lies

That night you stayed over. You were laying in bed, cuddling with Jungkook.

"So why did you move?" You asked out of curiosity. It's been two months but he never said anything about moving before that either.

"Yeah, about that…" He started and you looked up at him, waiting on him to finish what he was saying "I actually wanted to move in with you"

[amyhayanora]

@khoc-week​ Day 6 - What are some special connections your character has?

A very special connection the twins have is Merlin. and they don’t even know it. I’ve expanded The Sword in The Stone’s world, which is their original world, with some Arthurian cycle’s lore inspirations and so they were basically raised by Ambrosius (one of the old names of Merlin) and Nimue (Viviana/Lady of the Lake and in some versions mixed with Morgan). Ambrosius and Nimue taugh them writing, reading and magic on the island of Avalon, and according to both legends and disney movie, he has prophetic powers and is a time traveler: that’s how, even if his powers were not so accurate yet, he predicted the betrayal of Nimue and settled a plan B to save their kids, sending them to Daybreak Town and applying on them a spell to help reversing their transformation in Dream Eaters after khux. The twins have no idea Merlin is ambrosius, they can’t imagine he’s still alive after all that time, and even if Merlin recognized them immediately, he doesn’t want to tell them the truth about Nimue and the end of Avalon, and ruin the memories of the woman who basically was their only mother figure. I’d say Merlin has his share of fun playing dumb with the twins, noticing they still keep their hair pink after a funny accident happened during a potions lesson as children, an still using the names he and Nimue gave them...

Chirithy: once in Daybreak Town, they were alone, the two of them. living alone in a small apartment, sharing the same room and paying the rent with money gained killing monsters. Chirithys are always the ones who give them wise advice, and kinda acting like life coach. Tia’s chirithy kicks her out of the bed when she’s late, and scold her when Touma isn’t there. they are friends, but they are mostly a family.

speaking of friendship, out of the circle of their friends/party in union X, someone who they both can address as friend is Kairi. They train and live together with her and Lea for most of their KH3 storyline. Tia is just happy to have a girl so close to share love torments, treats and jokes. she shows her all the pictures Sora sends them from different worlds. with Touma wasn’t so easy, but they are the firsts to wake up and Touma usually cooks for everyone in the morning, so they started to share time in the kitchen. Sometimes they sleep together if Tia isn’t around, because the twins suffer insomnia and nightmares when alone.

Touma has also a strong particular friendship with Ienzo, so particular that if riku didn't make up his mind in time, it could have defeloped in a romantic relationship. Ienzo anctually has a crush on Touma, and when I have Tou interacting in Friends’ AUs where their ocs are already paired with Riku, Touma is usually dating Ienzo. Riku is with Hinata in the picture below, lovely @hinataoc​ ‘s OC.

Otherwise, they are usually paired with Riku and Axel. tia and Axel are partners in crime for pranks, betting and challenging each other for every stupid thing. She calls him ‘her sidekick’ . They aren’t a couple yet, Tia just thinks isn’t fair confess her feelings now that Axel isn’t still used to human emotions.

Touma developed his crush for Riku during DDD, confessed at he start of KH3 and rejected. Riku simply never had so much time to focus on his own sexual preferences, or if he can date a boy or not. in that moment sounded weird and anyway he saw Touma only as friend, so no, except for slowly changing his mind later. They are both the ‘big brothers’, the responsible ones, so it’s easy showing weakness to someone who understands the same burden.

[ordinaryschmuck]

Starkid Musicals Ranked from Worst to Best

Salutations to you, random people on the internet who most certainly won’t read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

Welp. I finally did it. I've watched the entire Starkid musical library, and I must say, most of these plays fit my writing style perfectly:

Humor that is cynical yet random

Leaning in with comedy while sprinkling in some well-executed drama

An understanding that any type of story works as long as the cast of varying personalities of characters is dynamic enough to result in some phenomenal chemistry.

This is in almost all of their plays, excelled through fantastic writing and stellar performances driving the overall quality. And it inspired me not only to review each musical, but also ranking them all from worst to best. Or, more accurately, least good to most good. Because even at their "worst," Starkid still provides a funny, enjoyable experience that will keep you laughing with its comedy and your toes tapping with its catchy music. So strap in as I go in-depth into how Starkid proves how they are the masters of humor and melody.

(I'll also provide links to each musical, which is all for free on YouTube, so you can check them out yourselves. Just know that their early work is impossible to enjoy without subtitles, so you might want to have Closed Captions on when watching.)

#12-Holy Musical B@man-Everything about this play makes it seem like it's the weakest to me. The jokes, songs, and characters in Holy Musical B@tman just don't hit as hard as Starkid's other plays. It's still good, but compared to their best, the cracks show a lot more. That is, except for the ending. Not only is there a great speech that shows what makes superheroes so beloved, but "Super Friends" might just be my favorite finale song Starkid has ever put out. Holy Musical B@tman may not be the best, but it's at least worth the time.

#11-Firebringer-This was stupid. Really stupid. Funny as f**k, but still pretty stupid. Although I will give credit to one of the central pairings being LGBTQA+...Even though it makes little to no sense based on the characters' previous interactions. But in fairness, Starkid really sucks at writing good romantic relationships, so at least Firebringer has the benefit of being gay. And as we all know: The gayer, the better. The play is still stupid, though.

#10-Me and My Dick-The world in this musical makes little to no sense. Penises and vaginas are sentient and can communicate with their humans. And yet the penises and vaginas can also talk with each other, form relationships, leave their humans, and reinsert themselves into others--Yeah, it makes no sense...But, DAMN, is it funny! Every joke and innuendo Me and My Dick has about human anatomy works, and I could not stop laughing at each of them. Especially the names that were given to the vaginas, which are just...I mean, I'm laughing just by thinking about them. That should tell you how funny they are. This play might be illogical in every way, but if you turn your brain off and watch it for the humor, you'll definitely be in for something fun.

#9-ANI: A Parody-What's weird about ANI is that its best qualities are also weaknesses. A good chunk of the jokes are hilarious and expertly delivered. The issue is that most of them are about taking potshots at the Star Wars prequels, which might be the laziest jokes to make in a Star Wars parody. Then there's the soundtrack, having several songs that are a bop to listen to. The problem is that ANI suffers from the same issues as Tarzan and Brother Bear: Yes, technically, it is a musical, but it's one where none of the characters sing, and some people in the background do all the singing instead. It's all an odd balancing act of quality content made through questionable choices. ANI is still an entertaining play, but the force isn't as strong with this one.

#8-Black Friday-This might be the least funny play that Starkid has ever put out. Not just because it leans extra hard into drama, which was pretty effective during certain scenes. It's just when there are jokes in Black Friday, they tend to fall flatter more here than they did in other plays. Also, the plot of Black Friday might not be the best one to play straight. The serious moments work best when focusing on the characters and their personal struggles, but through the big bad that's supposed to be threatening? Not so much. Even if it was meant to be funny, well, I wasn't laughing. And believe it or not, I consider that to be the best judge of whether or not something is funny. That being said, while Black Friday isn't the most humorous Starkid musical, it's still pretty good. The characters are excellent, the songs are awesome, and the story is somewhat easy to follow. I would have appreciated a few more laughs, but I can respect these talented people wanting to challenge their strengths.

#7-Starship-This play feels very...Disney. It follows a familiar formula we've seen several times: The main character wants more than what he has in his crappy life, miraculously gets the exact thing he wants, falls in love with a girl in a short amount of time, faces off against a campy/over the top villain, realizes the hand he's been dealt isn't so bad, and in the end, gets what he wants anyway. Starship is still pretty entertaining through its jokes, characters, and songs, but it also feels weird that Starkid leans into these tropes when they would eventually make a much better play by making fun of them. The end result is not bad in the slightest, but it's also nowhere near their best.

#6-A Very Potter Musical-Starkid's first production, and boy, what a start to something wonderful. Every one of their gimmicks and motifs is present in A Very Potter Musical. The use of parody to playfully mock characters and stories they love, making songs that are as funny as they are emotional, and creating characters that work because of their lines and the actors' performances. Oh, and also, it's funny. And it’s not just through a parody angle, like making Cedric be a perfect boy who's always smiling. It's also funny through its jokes that work, even if you ignore the fact that it’s a parody altogether. Case in point, there are these two bits, one involving Voldemort and Beatrix with the other involving Ron and Hermoine, that are written and delivered so well that I was in tears much more than with any other Starkid play. When watching A Very Potter Musical, you'll not only understand how parody works, but you'll also gain an understanding of why Starkid turned out as successful as they did.

#5-The Trail to Oregon-What can I say? I'm a sucker for comedic dysfunctional families. And seeing a family of idiots make their way to Oregon via The Oregon Trail parody? Yeah, that's a win for me. The play may be another family road trip narrative, which some people might get sick of at this point. But because the dynamics and comedic chemistry everyone has with each other are on point, the end result proves that you don't need an original story to tell an entertaining one. Although I will say that out of all of Starkid's productions, The Trail to Oregon has by far the worst ending. Without giving anything away, the play spends way too much time on this one stupid joke that any of the characters could make. Comedy is defined by personalities, as are most things, so making the joke work for anyone is a bad move when this one, in particular, doesn't fit as well for some characters as it would for others. Plus, the finale song "Naked in a Lake" is a really poor choice to cap off this musical. It's catchy, but to me, a finale song should encapsulate everything about the story, characters, and themes. Not paying off a joke that I honestly wouldn't want the payoff for. So while the ending could have used a lot more polish, that doesn't change how The Trail to Oregon is a pretty funny play that I won't mind revisiting when I have the chance.

#4-A Very Potter Sequel-Hey, sometimes a sequel is better than the original. Sure some jokes don't land, and some story beats aren't as impactful as they thought they were (Serious Black's introduction, for example), but there are far more improvements to this play than the last one. The performances are stronger, the jokes are funnier, the music is catchier, and the characters are much more entertaining in this play than in A Very Potter Musical. Especially new additions like Lupin and Lucious Malfoy, who provide great comedy and sublime drama at times. And Umbridge. Sweet Mother of all that is holy, Umbridge. While A Very Potter Sequel never made me laugh to tears as the first play did, twice, Professor Umbridge carries the comedy so well that she surpasses all of that. Plus, on top of it all, this play nails its ending through a bittersweet note that really captures what makes Hogwarts so special to these characters. I always feel like Starkid's plays tend to lose steam during the last few minutes, but A Very Potter Sequel is one of the few instances that it just builds and builds to a perfect ending. A Very Potter Sequel might not always hit the right marks, but the results are just magical when it does get it right.

#3-The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals-This one is pretty clever. The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals is one of those stories that manages to be explicitly hilarious yet implicitly disturbing. For instance, people suddenly bursting into perfectly choreographed musical numbers in a world where songs are exclusively diegetic is pretty funny (especially through the characters' reactions to it). However, knowing what happens to these people and why they sing and dance so expertly helps make the whole situation pretty dire. It's an excellent balancing act that not many stories can accomplish. And while The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals leans one way or the other at times, it's still all handled really well. Oh, and also, you know how most people say the villain song is the best one in any musical? Well, technically speaking, nearly every song in The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals is the villain song. Including the finale, which is just too brilliant for me not to give a round of applause. If you're a person who unfortunately doesn't like musicals either, I'd say be more than willing to give this one a chance. It's funny, catchy, and if you think of the implications, pretty damn disturbing.

#2-A Very Potter Senior Year-...You know how Avengers: Endgame is a bit of a mess, yet people still love it for how much of a perfect (sort of) finale it is? It's the same regard with A Very Potter Senior Year in my eyes. It's far from a masterpiece, but the many, many solid scenes that cap off this series help make me willing to overlook the mistakes. The characters, callbacks, and overall message about how things end was done so expertly well that I physically can’t hate this one. I can understand how it's more of an ok play when compared to the rest of Starkid's productions, but sometimes, ok is wonderful.

#1-Twisted: An Untold Story of a Royal Vizier-...It's Twisted. Everyone loves Twisted! And how could they not? Everything about this play just screams Starkid at their best. The comedy is uproarious, added with the fantastic delivery of the actors and the characters' personalities. Everyone feels as though they have one step in reality and the other in insanity. This, to me, seems like the best type of character work when going for the parody angle. Parody is about giving slight yet snide remarks toward the work you're mocking, which I feel works best when characters drop the suspension of disbelief audiences have when enjoying such a story. And Twisted definitely nails its satire in not only poking fun at Aladdin but also making jokes towards Disney as a brand. From their movies to their inside jokes to their formulas to even their corporate dealings with Pixar, nothing about Disney is sacred in Twisted. But on top of being funny, Twisted might just be the most successful Starkid has been with telling some really compelling drama. The jokes allow themselves to take a back seat to let serious moments play out, and even comedy is added, it provides more for the experience rather than taking anything away. You see this not only through the actors giving it their all but even through some really gorgeous and heart wrenching musical numbers. Oh, and also, Twisted has the best Starkid soundtrack, featuring songs that are epic, funny, and, as I said, heartbreaking. You cannot get better than this and, if you want to get a friend interested in Starkid as a whole, this might be the play for them. Scheherazade may have a thousand tales, but his one is a tale I wouldn't mind hearing for a thousand nights.

And that's about how I feel about Starkid and each and every one of their plays. Odds are your ranking would be much different from mine, and I'm all for that differing opinions. Feel free to make your own ranking if you want because I'm honestly curious where fans would place these plays above or below others. I'm relatively new to enjoying their work, so I have no idea what the consensus is. I do know one thing, though: If Starkid can still be incredibly entertaining through over ten years of content, then I am excited to see what they can accomplish next in another ten years.

[tearlessrain]

Giant Masterlist of Cathar Facts (that I completely made up but nonetheless rigidly adhere to)

I am an unstoppable force and disney should have killed me when they had the chance (that chance was splash mountain when I was seven and as you can see I survived).

Under a break because it is way too long and covers really quite a lot, much of which I will probably never even need. But researching and writing this kind of thing is what I consider a fun afternoon so here we are.

General basic stuff

Cathar are basically felids evolved to fill a similar evolutionary niche to humans in the absence of any viable apelike species on their native planet, in the same way hyenas evolved to fill a niche normally occupied by canids. 

They are pursuit predators but not terribly efficient ones outside their home planet. In terms of both speed and strength they can outperform humans on average in the short term, but have noticeably less stamina especially when it comes to running or walking long distances. They greatly outmatch any quadrupedal felids for stamina, however. (Mandalorians are an invasive species)

They run hotter than humans, around 100-102F.

Though height varies quite a bit, cathar are taller on average than humans and build muscle easily, making them extremely formiddable opponents in hand-to-hand combat.

The average face/skull shape of cathar is largely based on assumptions that they evolved under weirdly similar conditions to humans evolving from early hominids, aka shortening of the face, larger cranium, smaller mouth, etc.

While they are obligate carnivores and do have elongated canines, their teeth are more even in size than wild felids, and while they do still have barbed tongues, the barbs are relatively small/soft and more similar to a housecat than anything of comparable size (aka they won’t literally take your skin off if they lick you).  They also have somewhat thinner skin than wild cats, though they are still more damage resistant than humans.

They do not have retractable claws because that’s not how fingers work, but they do have narrow, naturally pointed claws rather than humanlike fingernails. Many cathar choose to either dull them or file them down for convenience, but losing/damaging them, as per that one ambient dialogue on Dromund Kaas that I can never find when I need it, is extremely traumatic for them. 

They have tails because I want them to, used for both balance and communication. Cathar tails are approximately lion-like, thin with a coarse tuft at the end regardless of markings (ie. a cathar with stripes won’t have a tiger tail), with the tip the same shade or a few shades darker than the darkest part of their coats. occasionally those from colder regions will have longer fur over the whole tail, or look like they don’t have a tuft due to longer fur overall. 

Variation and a lot of bullshitting about genetics

Wookiepedia describes Cathar as “a planet of savannas and rough uplands” but I refuse to believe that all these habitable worlds are all one consistent climate/temperature across the whole globe. The weirdly ubiquitous infrastructure/cultural info I can kind of forgive since 90% of them were wiped out by Mandalorians and the rest left, and I’m charitably assuming there were a lot less than 7 billion cathar to begin with, so a lot of smaller or more isolated cultures across the planet were lost entirely. 

They have less sexual dimorphism than SWTOR implies, though females are a little smaller on average and tend to have shorter/finer manes that are closer to their base color. In terms of relative strength/mass the difference is minor and female cathar are still very capable of fucking you up (the conventional assumption in the Empire that females are weak/docile and males are too uncontrollable to enslave is not remotely true in either direction). 

Variation in fur/metabolism/ear and nose shape depends on which region/s of Cathar they come from (or their ancestors come from), but they don’t recognize different “races” the way humans do, particularly in the wake of the Battle of Cathar. 

On average, cathar originating closer to the equator have shorter, finer fur, larger and more tapered ears, a tendency toward slender, lanky builds, and coloration that leans more toward golds/reds and higher pigment density. whereas those closer to the poles are much stockier and can be extremely fluffy, sometimes with an undercoat, with paler colors and less vivid/extensive markings. None of the above is universally true and cathar didn’t necessarily always stay in the region where their ancestors come from (and thus sometimes you get people like Riska, who is all limbs but has fairly northern features and entirely too much fur)

Cathar mostly left their planet in groups, so in some parts of the galaxy you’ll run into whole colonies that originate mostly from one part of the planet and have distinct appearances/cultural idiosyncrasies from other colonies.

They mainly follow the same general rules that apply to most felids in terms of coloration/pattern.

Markings can be stripes, spots, or less commonly rosettes (definitely some version of Taqpep variants) and mostly lie along Blaschko’s Lines, though it’s more obvious on some individuals than others and it isn’t always perfectly precise. Even spotted individuals usually display some striping on the tail and around the eyes, though not always. 

“Default” coloration is black-based, with dark markings on a greyish or brownish base. 

Countershading falls pretty much along patterns you’d expect and usually lightens the chest/stomach, lower face, palms/soles, and inner thighs. Specific distribution and patterns vary quite a bit, and sometimes express in odd ways (hence whatever is going on with Khatte). Darkest points tend to be the tail tip, nose bridge, and mane.

Genetically solid cathar are incredibly uncommon; much more common are genes that affect the appearance/distribution of markings, sometimes rendering them almost invisible. Even ones who appear mostly solid (aka Khatte) usually still have some faint striping around the face and/or tail.

Khatte is basically some loose equivalent of ticked tabby, which mostly just looks like weird countershading but leaves some faint striping on his face and tail.

Jial-ro’s coloration is the result of a gene that suppresses all eumelanin production, and a sepia-like form of partial albinism. 

Riska has something similar, along with something that reduces the size/spread of spots.

Food 

They’re mainly carnivorous and have different nutritional requirements from humans (similar but not identical to those of a cat), which can be a problem in places like the military where standardized rations are the norm. In the Republic a cathar can usually put in a request for rations designed to accommodate carnivores (or supplements, failing that), though they might have some trouble on more isolated or undersupplied planets. The rare cathar in the Imperial military have to procure supplements out of pocket, though it’s technically possible to get reimbursed for it if they’re willing to wade through the bureaucracy.

Cathar are perfectly capable of eating raw meat with few to no ill effects, and have a subgenre of cuisine centered around it (and while they didn’t invent sushi, they have enthusiastically embraced the concept). They also have plenty of ways of cooking meat and readily adopt any new ones they come across. 

Their “natural” diet apart from meat mainly consists of fruit, root vegetables, and eggs, though the closer to the poles you get the less likely you are to encounter fruit in a dish. Cathar never cultivated grain and it holds no meaningful nutritional value for them, so bread, rice, and similar products simply do not appear in traditional cuisine. This does not stop some of them from eating grain products in small amounts, as they can still enjoy the taste, but it isn’t any healthier than processed sugar is to humans and they have a high rate of gluten intolerance as a species.

All cathar have a heightened and refined ability to detect savory/umami type flavors, but around 30-40% of cathar, and the vast majority of those from colder regions, have no taste receptors for sweetness at all. This has resulted in the cathar equivalent of the Cilantro Debate centering around desserts, even though they’re all perfectly aware that it’s genetic, and some who can’t taste sweetness still enjoy some desserts for the other flavors present. Those who do have sweet taste receptors are about as sensitive to it as humans, but it tends not to have the same addictive quality for them and a lot of them don’t like processed sugars in anything but small doses. They would appreciate a lightly sweet creme brulee but most of them would find soda absolutely disgusting.

Citrus is right out.

They suffer no more ill effects than humans from drinking alcohol, and due to generally having a fair amount of mass they can usually drink a lot of it.

Social minutiae

They use a fair amount of feline body language, particularly with others of their own species. While facial expressions play a part and they do smile, scowl, and generally express broad emotions, they have a reduced range of facial mobility compared to more humanoid species and no eyebrows to speak of, which leads to a lot of them having what humans perceive as resting bitchface. It also results in humans underestimating the range and depth of their emotions, and can be a problem in the medical field with human medics/doctors who haven’t been trained to work with less humanoid aliens and won’t necessarily recognize severe pain or distress.

Their ears are less articulated than a cat’s but still have some degree of mobility that serves more of a social function than a practical one. They also express a lot of emotion through their tails, to the point that it can be a detriment in some situations if they haven’t practiced consciously keeping control of it.

Bumping foreheads is a common way to express platonic/familial affection, or can be the equivalent of a chaste kiss between partners. They also squint and slow blink, though it doesn’t always translate clearly to other species.

They have a wider range of vocalization than humans; while their voices are often humanlike and they’re just as capable of articulate speech, they can also growl, purr, and make sounds outside human hearing range. Those raised among humans or near-humans tend to do this less, if at all, while cathar raised in more insular communities of their own kind can come off as very taciturn due to heavier reliance on nonverbal communication.

Sense of smell is much stronger and more refined than a human’s and plays a more significant role in how they perceive and navigate the galaxy. They can occasionally be mistaken for Force-sensitive by humans due to their knack for picking up on emotional distress or the presence of particular species/people by scent. This is more true with people they’re familiar with; they won’t pick out distinct members of the other species by default but will eventually be fairly reliable in identifying the scent of a friend or anyone else they spend a lot of time around.

The exception to the above is other cathar, who they can easily tell apart on an individual basis. They have scent glands around the jaw/neck that come into play for identification, conveying broad emotional states, in some situations can aid medical diagnoses, among other things. They also play a part in building connection and familiarity between friends, family, or romantic partners.

The ~horny section~

Cathar don’t really kiss the way humans do by default, but they can, and usually do so unless they’ve somehow had no contact with any near-human species at all. Their equivalent is gentle biting around the neck and jaw, which is another situations where the scent glands are relevant, and when aroused that whole area becomes an erogenous zone for the vast majority of cathar. 

Plenty of humans (particularly if they don’t encounter a lot of aliens day to day) will avoid kissing cathar anyway because they have sandpaper tongues and dry mouths and fangs, and it feels fucking weird if you aren’t prepared for that. 

They tend to be very bitey in general unless specifically asked not to. It only becomes a problem if the cathar in question is inexperienced with humanoids and hasn’t figured out how much bite force is acceptable for a species with thinner, more sensitive skin.

Their dicks are fairly humanoid in size and shape, though somewhat more conical at the head, but they do have a sheath rather than a foreskin. after maturity they don’t actually retract into the sheath more than about two inches when flaccid, and tend to be slightly less sensitive than the average human (same keritinization factor that affects circumcised humans). It also makes them more vulnerable to damage, but since it’s customary to wear pants on most civilized planets, that never really becomes a problem in the course of a normal day. The base of the shaft that’s usually covered has noticeably higher sensitivity. There are probably individual exceptions to most of the above.

Conventional understanding is that cathar don’t have barbs, which is true the vast majority of the time, though about 60% of them have some amount of vestigial non-keratinous bumps over their head that have no noticeable affect on anything aside from occasional increased sensitivity in that area. Rarely an individual might develop a few actual barbs at the onset of puberty, but they have no practical function and pose a risk of discomfort and injury, and can easily be removed via a fast and mostly painless medical procedure, so the number of adults who have them is close to zero.

Females do have (mild, easy to suppress if desired, and mainly not at all disruptive) heat cycles. Other cathar can generally tell by scent, but not to a distracting degree, and it’s considered rude and inappropriate to point it out with anyone but a close friend or partner. It should go without saying that males don’t have heat cycles, but I’ve gotten enough weird DMs about this to know that I need to say it. Unless said male is trans, and not on any sort of HRT, that’s not how that works. 

They kind of have breasts but unless actively nursing they’re barely noticeable if at all, especially under clothing. Cathar have much fewer hangups about going topless regardless of gender than certain human cultures do.

[sl-walker]

If I may ask; what is your opinion of Rebel's Era (canon) Maul?

Whilst I didn't feel like he was written out of character per se and I understand that Rebels aired prior to TCW Season 7, I felt like it was somewhat disappointing after what happened during Order 66.

I understand that he has lost hope and is, very reasonably, afraid of Sheev, but there's a few things that confuse me like the fact that whilst running the biggest criminal empire he never looked for Kenobi prior to Rebels (he knew Ashoka survived, so why shouldn't Kenobi?) or how exactly he ended up on Malachor and nobody came to look for him their criminal boss. Now the Dathomir-part was actually interesting, but I do feel, yet again, like it could have used more exposition and explaination considering he was there like 3x times in his entire life and everyone's dead, so who even sustained the Ichor after Talzin's death? Maul wasn't on Dathomir for at least some time.

It just felt like they knew Maul would draw in viewers, not like they had a plan for his character and that was kind of a pity?!

Obviously Maul couldn't interfere with pre-existing canon but at some point I really wondered why he was still in the story considering that Ezra's literal use of the darkside, due to Mauls prior influence & the holocron, for what we can assume to be months never mattered again after a single episode for some reason.

I love seeing Maul but I wished they did more with his character? I mean, it hurts to read e.g. Son of Dathomir, but it's still good and builds his character.

The only major thing I found consistent was him missing Savage, which obviously just broke my heart.

Dying by Kenobi's hand was poetic, but of course really sad and I wished there had been more to this scene - either conveyed through animation/dialouge or by having them part ways differently.

Also I can't believe Maul - a criminal mastermind - didn't manage to figure out that Kenobi was on Tatooine after seeing Twin Suns for almost the majority of a season. You know. The guy who used to track and hunt down whomever Sidious required him too for years. The same zabrak that basically ran a prison into the ground in lockdown whilst not/barely even touching upon his force powers and finding the dealer who managed to stay undercover for probably decades. Also the planet they literally first met.

I know the creators and Sam Witwer have repeatedly liked Maul to Sisyphus, but I don't think this applies to Rebel's Maul. Rebel's Maul, besides his motivation/need to find a new brother apprentice, just seems so hopeless and borderline suicidal? He doesn't know if it's worth trying anymore, which makes the idea of running a criminal empire so odd, seeing as he knows his insignificance to Sidious, whose downfall is all he is really yearning/hoping for. I know that his desperation always rivals his intense need to survive, but I really didn't got the latter from Rebels.

Idk, maybe it's just me, but I'm very keen on your thoughts.

(2/2) I'm asking you in particular about Rebels Maul because I feel like maybe I might be missing something or am lacking a certain insight into his character which you might have.

I think Solo made about as much sense as tits on a boar. I even said that when it came out. Maul's whole purpose to building a criminal empire was to have enough power to get to Kenobi. He had no interest in being rich or anything else, and frankly, even in TCW, he left Almec to run things on Mandalore while he nursed his grudge. So this whole Crimson Dawn crap is just-- weak. It makes no sense. It was fanservice.

I'm sure I've written my opinions on Rebels before, but in brief:

1.) Maul's characterization wasn't terrible, but the writing was super fucking lazy. No kidding. Especially his ending. That was Filoni basically splooging all over himself about how dEeeEEeP he was being without realizing... man, nothing here even makes sense. He took a character he didn't create and didn't want to bring back in the first place and giggled to himself behind his stupid hat because he got to kill him off. Since Disney's shit, they're like, "Oh, sure."

2.) Maul already hurt Kenobi and took his revenge when he skewered Satine. Like you, I think the only reason he would have sought Kenobi out would have been because he wanted closure. Be it death or simply some ending. I explored what would have happened had Kenobi been a proper adult and apologized for his part in Maul's suffering when I wrote In defiance, because I absolutely believe they could have done some considerably more interesting with all of that.

3.) Honestly, like-- every time they've killed Maul off in canon, it's been a dumbass mistake. Because he's popular and once you close-end a character, it becomes a lot harder to do anything meaningful with them in canon. Because they offed him, he will never have a genuinely meaty storyline again and will forever be relegated to cheap cameos that capitalize on his popularity.

Dunno if that's what you're looking for Anon-buddy. Mostly, I just think the ending of Maul in Rebels came down to super lazy writing.

[sagemcmae]

20 Questions - Writer’s Edition

Thank you for tagging me @chierafied​ 💕💕💕

How many works do you have on AO3? 79

What’s your total AO3 word count? 1,820,522

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? Technically, 2 (Star Wars and Inuyasha), though it looks like (5) because of the cross-overs

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Hit Me With Your Best Shot (Reylo) He angled his head away just enough for her attempt to miss before he brought both her arms down in front of her, so he could wrap his hand around both of her wrists. With his free hand, he cupped her face, forcing her to look at him.  “It’s done.” He had a warning tone in his voice. “Yield.” MMA fighter, Kylo Ren is suspended from the league and sentenced to community service at his uncle’s martial arts academy. There he meets Rey Niima, a recent graduate with a natural ability and incredible potential. Two Truths & a Lie (Reylo) “My favorite color is black.” “I prefer pizza over cake.” “I think I'm falling in love with you.” Or in others words, Kylo Ren, Editor-in-Chief, should not drink alone with his beguiling staff writer, Rey Andor after hours. Silver & Gold (SessKag) Kagome finds a wounded stray in the park and takes him in. Seemingly indifferent to her, the dog serves as a quiet companion who eases her loneliness. He becomes a constant in her routine until one night changes everything. Kagome wakes up to an arm draped around her waist — a pale arm with purple markings. Lessons in Parenting (SessKag) Sesshomaru finds Rin not as a child but as an infant. Unsure how to care for a baby, he seeks help from the only trustworthy human he knows: his brother's miko. *2nd Place Winner - 'Best Characterization' for Feudal Connection's 2021 3rd Quarterly Inuyasha Fandom Awards!* If Found, Please Return (Reylo) Rey knows what it's like to be abandoned, so when she returns a lost dog to his posh Manhattan address, she gives his owner an earful. The only problem is, the dog's owner isn't the arrogant redhead she screamed at. It's Ben Solo, the world-renowned actor. And he's just offered her a job.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not? Yes (or at least I try to). If someone takes the time to read my story and leave me a note, I want to thank them. Each time I see a new note in my Inbox, I’m like 😍😍😍 And I understand how busy RL can be so I appreciate anyone who takes the time to let me know their thoughts.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? If you’ve read my work, you know I’m not big on sad endings. I prefer happy ones, mostly because life is draining enough as it is. But in terms of fic endings, if I had to pick one, I’d say: Before the Dawn.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending? This is a tough one. I guess it depends on how you define ‘happiest’. If you categorize it by the fluffiest (it’s all about the feel-good vibes 🥰 ), then I’d have to go with Melt or First Words for the SessKag fandom and Sight Unseen for the Reylo fandom.

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written? Yes. I’m not sure if it’s the craziest one, but the one I’m most proud of is Happenstance which is my Inuyasha/Harry Potter crossover, featuring SessKag. I put a lot of research into it to meld the worlds together without compromising what makes each fandom so special to me. It’s definitely the fic that I’m most proud of writing.

Have you ever received hate on a fic? Yep, a lot of people think Reylo is a toxic relationship. And there are those who have strong feelings about SessKag too. Some have commented to me about the fact that Yashahime is canon and SessKag is dead....which makes me laugh but whatever helps you sleep at night.

Do you write smut? If so what kind? I have but lately it’s been a struggle. I focus more on intimacy (in whatever form that takes depending on the pace of the story).

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I’m aware of...

Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes, a few have been translated into Spanish and Russian.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Waaaaaaay back in the FFnet days, a friend and I co-wrote a fic together but between our RL schedules we never finished. I actually don’t even know if it’s still posted since it was under her account.

What’s your all time favorite ship? That’s another tough one. TRoS really burned me and my love of Star Wars has suffered for it.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? Of Scales & Sky. I was so excited about this fic but my motivation has died from all the discourse in the fandom and the on-going saga of bad decisions Disney makes in regards to the SW franchise.

What are your writing strengths? Characterization is very important to me. Even if I’m putting the characters is a very non-canon premise, I want them to remain as in-character as possible.

What are your writing weaknesses? Finding the time to write. 🥲 This year has been particularly chaotic for me for several reasons.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I did write some Japanese when I re-entered the SessKag fandom with Silver & Gold. I had one very adamant reviewer who kept DM-ing me that I sounded stupid and should stop. It was very discouraging. After asking around in the fandom, other writers suggested doing what I wanted but if I’m writing in English, the primary language should remain English.

What was the first fandom you wrote for? Labyrinth. When I was 13, my friend and I used to go to her house after school, sit on separate couches across from each other on our separate laptops, and write fanfiction. (*smiles* those were great times!) I often wrote in my notebooks (instead of taking notes in class) and was constantly posting on FFnet. But I also never finished anything because I was constantly distracted by other things.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? That’s like asking which child is my most favorite. 😂🤣😂 Happenstance is the fic that I’m most proud of. I feel like as a writer, it was the most challenging for me because of the continuity of the story line with the element of mystery. Shadow Song was written on a whim and quickly became one of my favorites and then there is Sanguis Sanguinem Meum which flowed so naturally that I wrote the entire thing in a couple of months.

Tagging: @sereia1313 @harlecorn @tmwillson3 @reysexualkylo