#I love him but I wouldn't change THAT much about his story yknow

[g0nta-g0kuhara]

I see a lot of discussion in the DR fandom on some characters that die early having "missed potential", and while I agree that definitely a few of them could have been written better or differently, part of me wonders if that missed potential is kind of the point? A character is shaping up to be something, so you get invested in their story, which then makes their early death all the more tragic. I mean, of course it's still a tough needle to thread to get it to land as tragic versus falling flat, and I'm not sure how closely some of these characters hit the mark. But I Do think some characters aren't actually "missed opportunities" and instead played their role in the plot how they were meant to, if maybe a little suboptimally.

[ura-niia]

Yknow, on a retrospective, it is interesting how the COTL fandom puts Narilamb as a devoted and hateful relationship.

In other words, I would actually love to know why we love this ship so much.

I’d love to know your point of view!

I finally have time to answer this!! I am SO GLAD that you asked.

I was extremely interested about the dynamic of this ship, you could watch it from all angles and it would still be a lovable duo; whether it be comedic, overly toxic, unrequited love/devotion, requited romance/devotion, it would still be enjoyable for everyone in the fandom. I believe that there's no bad version on how anyone portrays their relationship!

It's kinda difficult for me to see them in a light-hearted angle. Other people in the fandom have shown this kind of dynamic very well and they have all my applause.

How I portray my vision of narilamb, I still haven't fully fleshed out their story, but basically when Narinder was still a god, Lamb's devotion is for him entirely because they truly thought that The One Who Waits was their saviour and shining grace, handing them down a chance to live once more and avenge their kind. Narinder didn't pay this no mind, then plays the lamb around like a tool, speaking of honeyed words to keep the lamb up on their feet.

And by the time when Narinder told the lamb that he was just using them for his freedom and they'd just die once they surrender the crown to him, everything just came crumbling down to them. The dawning realization that there will be no hope for lamb kind, and that filled them with so much intense emotions they ended up killing Narinder along with his disciples.

Time has passed, Lamb became the new god of Death and continued to serve for their cult. Though they still pray as if there's still any other god be because that's kinda how they cope with all the change. Unaware of the forces that were trying to come back up. Narinder has used up every last drop of his divine magic to resurrect himself with the intention of killing the lamb by his hand and take the crown, but that ended up being a fail so...

Now that Narinder was in the lamb's cult, they feel obligated to watch over him. They think it's really pathetic that the former god is ultimately struggling in the mortal life. One time Narinder tried to run away from the cult and got himself in danger during it so Lamb has to swoop in to save his ass.

“It seems like that you are still in need of me." They said, but there's no smugness in the tone, it's pure disgust and malice. “You don't get to pull the strings anymore, my lord, you're under my domain now.”

I'll make this one very quick bc this is becoming long 😭 So anyway, Narinder (begrudgingly) stayed in the cult because he didn't know how to stay alive in a mortal body, and the more Lamb took care of him, the more dependent he became of them(albeit extremely pissed about that realization and acted aggressively at first then came acceptance that he's hopeless without them), the lamb was aware of this, however thought that this was just another tactic of him to get their guard down, so they pulled the strings so they wouldn't get attached again.

Soon the lamb decided to let themselves get close to him while still being wary, then suddenly became "lovers". Narinder had thought that it was the right course considering how much time they spent with eachother, though hadn't acted on romantic actions. However Lamb thinks that this is just another one of their lovers they have to deal with, so it was still very unrequited.

Then by time it became a requited relationship, unknowingly truly falling for eachother in the process. They somehow know that they're terrible for eachother, but they still work on it. Their devotion for eachother became a devotee to genuine lovers.

[aeternallis]

Kim's Place in the Mafia: Novel vs Show

The one thing I can say without a doubt in my mind is that from the crumbs we get of Kim and Chay from the book and show, these two are obsessively in love with each other. So I'll say that now and get that squared away.

And I know, most of the fandom detest the book due to its problematic authors and will never read it, and that's completely valid. Furthermore, I will say now that the book is trash and hardly coherent at times. But as my favorite English scholar for Ancient Rome, Mary Beard, once said: "It's trash...but it's very valuable trash."

For what it's worth, reading the book at least once can provide a more nuanced understanding of why the showrunners made the changes they did in the show. The changes in and of themselves makes for a more cohesive story (SOO MUCH MORE COHESIVE), but it also goes without saying that a lot of the events in the show remain faithful to the novel, so in that regard, there is some merit to be had.

Finally, when I say the novel is "trash", I mean the narrative itself, not necessarily the translation (although it's not perfect by any means). If anything, I'm grateful for the translators who took the time to translate this novel into English, since translation is a thankless job most times in fandom (lookin' at you, MDZS). As I speak no Thai whatsoever, I can’t give an informed opinion on DAEMI's technical writing abilities, since I'm not a native speaker, nor am I the book's target audience.

But, I digress.

The more I reread the book (in all its trash glory), the more I find myself questioning Kim's views in regards to how he sees himself as part of a mafia family. 🤔

In the book, Kim is a lot more accepting of his place within the mafia, despite his initial tendencies of disappearing on his guards and staying away from the main house. In fact, that pretty much changes once Chay enters the picture.

Gotta love a Kinn who's curious about his little bro's love life. XD

Kim is firmly settled into the fold of the family business (if that scene in the secret warehouse is anything to go by) and there’s a scene in the beginning of the book where Korn obligates all 3 sons to dress up in some fancy suits and visit their chocolate factory, since he’s particularly keen on getting it off the ground. This shows that although Kinn is set to inherit (in public, at least) the other two sons still have their duties to the family.

In fact, I will say that one of the most interesting things about reading the book is finding out that Kim's sleuthing is actually canon. Lol Granted, it's sleuthing more in regards to finding the mole and not really about Korn's game plan, but sleuthing nonetheless.

But in the show, his role within the family business and how he views it are a little bit more foggy because he has his musical career to keep him occupied, besides his sleuthing into Korn’s affairs. He’s not active in the way one would typically expect a member of the mafia to be (and who knows, this may be due to limited time constraints on the part of the showrunners), but he’s active within that sphere nonetheless.

And because of this, contrary to the general fandom consensus, I never really got the impression that Kim wanted to be out of the mafia, yknow? Personally, I think it’s too big of a leap to say him moving out = him not wanting to be in the mafia. Having that sort of character motivation wouldn't really make sense either, because then we would have had stronger hints of it, I think?

At the very least, by the end of the show, Kim--just like Chay--has more reasons to stay than not. The way I see it, Kim wanting to be out of the mafia would actually somewhat contradict his actions in the show.

Despite his effort in staying away from the mansion his father and brothers live in (and later on, Chay), Kim benefits from being a Theerapanyakul. We see this in a lot of different ways: the penthouse he lives in, the cars he drives (he gets his own set of the Maserati fleet, yo), his private studio, the freedom of movement he has in being able to easily get information (although this may be debatable), using Big as a gopher.

I highly doubt his career as a young musician is maintaining his luxurious lifestyle (perhaps only a part of it, like the fame); imo, there’s a calculated reason why BOC chose to keep the level of his fame as vague as possible. The way I see it, Kim moved out and pursued music simply because, due to his unique position of being the youngest son (aka the spare), he just had the luxury to do so.

If he truly wanted out of the mafia, I'm firmly on the camp that he could have done so already. We've seen in both the show and the book that unlike Kinn who's constrained by his duties, Kim does have the freedom to disappear, even to the point that it's to his detriment at times. Lol

Maybe I can go even further, and suggest that perhaps the reason he chose to move out is to get a better vantage point of the circumstances surrounding his father's schemes and the ongoing tides of power. Kinda like, he has to move away from the trees, in order to see the entire forest.

I wouldn't go so far as to say he wants power for himself (although this idea would be fun to entertain, especially within the context that he now has Chay in his life to protect), but again, being a member (a high-ranking one, at that) of the Theerapanyakul family benefits him in a lot of different ways.

In one of BOC's interviews and then in Jeff's goodbye message during the last KPWT, he mentioned something about Pond changing up Kim's character in order to make Jeff Satur shine. Idk about y'all, but that's quite a touching gesture, and one I definitely approve of, whilst I get a better understanding of the similarities and differences between novel!Kim and show!Kim. It's obvious from the show that besides changing Kim's maturity level and changing his image from a fuck boi to a cool prince, giving him a passion for music definitely humanized him and served as a way to balance out the other two love stories.

But be that as it may, although we the audience don't know as to what extent Pond changed Kim's character to better fit the story, at the very least maintaining Kim's position as a legitimate contender in the politics of the mafia world remains consistent in both the book and show.

Whether that observation lines up with the idea that he wants out of the mafia though, is entirely up to you. XD

[menelaiad]

can I prompt you to talk about Menelaus sparing Helen I'm just like :chinhands: about everything u say about the house of atreus

hey, if you're willing to listen, i'm more than happy to talk - thank you!

so. again. we got Big Three versions.

menelaus says 'guys it's chill i'll kill her at home. let's all cool our jets' (this is the version in euripides)

menelaus goes to kill her himself. helen shows her boobs. menelaus suddenly very chill (this is also implied by euripides)

menelaus gets men to kill her. helen shows her boobs. men suddenly very chill (stesichorus)

CAN YOU GUESS WHICH TWO I DESPISE? no. fr. the last two (the boob two) are far too dependent on helen being vain. and helen .... almost not feeling any guilt or shame from what's happened. and we know that's not true from the iliad. these two, to me, are classic. THIS IS JUST HOW HOT HELEN WAS propaganda. cause yknow. ur a greek/roman/ancient dude and you hear that helen of sparta showed you her boobs like 'damn bro i wouldn't kill her either ahahahaha pass the wine, maximus'.

but helen was never vain. she was never arrogant. she was confident and self-assured. but it's pretty much everyone AROUND helen that comments on her beauty and stuff. she never really does herself? which is another fascinating element of her character tbh. so her doing THIS as a means to be spared? doesn't suit me. do i think helen wanted to die/was willing to die? no. but i think she would have gone about pleading for her life a different way, y'know? also i hate the whole 'her tits got her into this mess they'll get her out of it' like shut UP. menelaus is not 12. he's fucking 60 odd at this point. he is tired. he is wounded. he is so beyond mentally well. give him some respect. he wouldn't have been blind sided by this.

but i don't think menelaus EVER planned to kill her. i can accept euripudes' version cause i think there would have been a lot of greek men that would have wanted to see helen dead. it makes sense yknow? they dont see the full narrative. the big picture. as far as they're concerned helen ran away. loads of people died. and now she's gonna get away with it. they're not narrative aware enough to see all the cogs of fate and the gods and all this. so i can respect that some greeks would have wanted her to suffer and menelaus would have risked a fuckin riot if he outright said 'nah lads she's fine lets crack on' so the whole 'wait til we get home' narrative is a good way for him to save time. to buy him and helen some time to come up with a plan, a story. to hear each other out. to work through stuff. they don't get back to sparta for like. 10 more years. they can EASILY have come up with some reason why she's not been killed yet. or why he's not gonna go through with it/why it's all worked out.

in regards to menelaus never wanting to kill her, i believe that because of how menelaus behaves in the iliad. menelaus is constantly lamenting the deaths of the greeks. the needless death and suffering. how these men are working and sacrificing to get helen back. to bring her HOME. what would killing her do? another senseless death. all the sacrifice for naught because menelaus doesnt get his wife back. he goes back to sparta alone. as if he never even went to fucking troy and tried to get her back?????

and also because menelaus loves her. despite everything he loves her and he never stopped. it's why i really like his portrayal in IOA even if he is a giant ass clown. he's a man desperate to get his wife back. and he's under the impression they're just gonna go to troy and get her back. simple as. two months tops. he's frantic and desperate and willing to try anything to get her back (yo bro kill ur daughter for me kthx). and i don't think that desire to get her back changes. menelaus grows more subdued and quiet. and has less fire. but he's still trying. he goes toe to toe with paris, is willing to take on hektor. menelaus is very much: 'i am dying at troy or i am leaving with my wife' and how is that not love? it's literally. he is going to get her back or die trying.

(also idk how much people value to fall of troy texts that are around but like. menelaus kills deiphobus in those. when dei is with helen. the man is insane in those moments he could easily have took helen out too in his madness. but he doesn't. also also. when he's in the horse and he hears helen, he's said to 'groan' when he remembers her and given the context of the other men weeping and stuff. this is like. a groan of pain. hearing helen's voice after so long and remembering her. HURTS him. he's missed her so much.)

menelaus and helen loved each other. you see it in odyssey 4. the healing they must have gone through in those 10 years. is so admirable and powerful. and they did it because they wanted to. because they were gonna see this out. they were gonna make this work. and even zeus acknowledges it. because he lets menelaus into elysium just to be with helen (his own DAUGHTER) for eternity. even though menelaus has LITERALLY no elysium qualities. not even zeus cant bear to separate these two.

they're just so fucking powerful.

[dufferpuffer]

OKOKOK

I read your post on Remadora yesterday and stumbled on this today on instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/C-S1DTwq6dZ/?igsh=cHRtcTEyMXYxbDht

IT JUST WORKS SO WELL WITH WHAT YOU SAID. I am a sucker for Remadora (and Snupin). What you wrote about them is so true. Please tell me more 🥹

that is such a sweet little comic there's my man, there he is!! He'd need a drink after doing that... I cant stop laughing though the last picture gives this energy

IDK what to say, so I'm gonna Remadora ramble, aight? B^) I actually like how their relationship in the books progressed - but is only glimpsed at. It's nice when romance takes back seat. Their relationship issues felt grounded and adult - when even most adult media has romance feeling immature.

Harry wouldn't have been able to understand what was going on with them anyway. He didn't even suspect it, when all the adults were dealing with it all the time. He was a kid. It's a good reminder of his immaturity that he didn't pick up on it until Tonks was literally grabbing Remus by the robes and shouting her love at him.

I don't wanna too personal on here, I guess... but I like how Remus reacts to Tonks' love. Having lived that - twice - I suspect the author has lived it too. I have two boyfriends, both of them are older than me (9yrs and 17yrs older) and love was scary for them!!! The societal prejudice we have faced adds more pressure on them as the older males... and they aren't even werewolves, or pariahs. Positive representation really does feel nice, yknow?

That makes the tragedy of Remadora hurt so much more. I like that HP isn't a story that pulls its punches. That it's not a narrative about fixing a broken world, just surviving it. But so much about the way HP ended... feels hollow. Like quickly tying up all the threads without much thought to the themes.

I am a firm believer that Tonks should have lived. Remus can die - as much as that hurts my soul - to tie up the 'previous generation'. He shouldn't be the only one to survive, thematically. If anyone that should be Severus. If Teddy was supposed to be a mirror to Harry, but gets to live in a more hopeful future with a huge family... that should have been shown in the Epilogue. But it wasn't. He is brushed over.

Tonks' story would be phenomenal: a young widow who chased a doomed love that changed her, who will make a better world for others like her husband in his memory... A talented mother balancing a tough career and her son. The last Black - who rejects the name. The widow of a werewolf. Teddy, who grows up so much like his mother - with a complex connection to a father who is both a hero and a monster... who ran off and died rather than survive with them. His mother's love protects him, but its his father he years to understand.

I just think??? That's wonderful??? And it's such a fucking waste to kill her off for... what??? Just to make an orphan to ignore???

Tonks herself is fine. I like her. She doesn't interest me heaps, she feels custom-fit to Remus... and I suffer from cishet-woman syndrome of obsessing over men because horny. Oopsy. But LIVING would make her amazing. Remus wouldn't DEFINE her - but it'd show how worthwhile his love was to her life, that she keeps living it as a wolf rather than a rabbit. As it stands... Remus' fear that he is bad, that nobody should know him or love him, came true.

[fictionfixations]

can i just say

you know those transmigrater(?) grator?? i odnt. i dont know the terms for this man

but you know the the the. transmigrates into usually the villain kinda stories?

you know whats my favorite for that kinda stuff? where we were the actual character all along (i think its.. regressor...? ??? either going back into your past as yourself or living another life and then backtracking to a past life of yours that being of generally the villain? idont know if thats what it actually means)

ive also never seen it but i just. think its really cool. and i like reading fics where theyre the same person

in the same way i like it when they have motives. let me be clear, ive NEVER seen the source material so i have no idea whats canon and whats not

but you know what id like to think is canon? shen jiu being a former slave and being super bitter at the world for being very cruel and thats why hes an asshole in like. book canon.(? canon. of. the book. ..in the story.? i think the the the book in that one is like Proud Immortal Demon Way...? IDK man)

or like like. og cale henituse acting like trash because he cares about his siblings and doesnt want negative attention on them also dont know if thats canon. but yknow what? thats my canon

now about time travel in general since it kind of relates, romance is always iffy because its like you know everything that'll make this person fall in love with you. or like, theres an age gap now, and it might not bother them but its not like they know. i know. (its worse if youre like back in your teenage years while youre already an adult cause at that point it feels a little gross)

its that sort of discrepancy(?)

so like. i dont like that there needed to be an entirely new person to be in that body to make change or do things for the better or make everyone like that person

it feels like a cop out.

and also people believing that that person suddenly changed for the better when they arent that person at all???

which. ow.

maybe thats my bad. maybe im secretly an apologist for them, idk, maybe im projecting

but like idk man. the world telling you youre not enough so someone else ends up in your body and then fixes literally every issue in the world (and everyone liking this 'version' of you better). like ow me heart

in all fairness the og's wouldn't have knowledge of the book they're living in??? which is why the transmigrator can do so much

but. THUS. new life AS the transmigrator, then regressing(?) back into their past life with that new knowledge. and probably character growth cause maybe they experience what being loved is like (familial. imagine how cruel itd be to have a lover then one day waking up in a past life of yours that you can only associate as cruel and punishing, and you genuinely cant be sure if that person was made up or not. like was it just a dream? also 'oh god the people i thought mightve been dead are alive')

tbh though it might be because while op time traveling shenanigans (or anything in between) is cool with me, i also like the angsty time travel of 'when i look at them, i keep seeing their dead faces'

of 'how do you know this' (accusatory, 'are you a traitor?')

of also grudges and stuff

but also. more character growth refacing trauma theyve faced before

also maybe probably very much selfish because they kindaa probably just wanna protect their family and will do anything to do so (and thus embrace the 'villain' part that people think of them as)

i dont know if im making sense anymore

now LET ME BE CLEAR i dont like that shen jiu hit his students and shit and was a huge asshole and its not going to suddenly go away. but. its acknowledging what you did wrong, making up for it, but knowing that it'll still stay there. that he still did it even if he deeply regrets it and even if everyone forgives him. because i really dont know in what situation itd be okay to be hit? and also that hopefully hes not that person anymore, but that he wont hide it and will own up to it as a thing he did and shouldnt have done.

anyway i dont know what og cale did besides act like trash but its either the fics im reading are downplaying it or like. thats really it. i have no clue. but still the same thing. if he did some horrible thing, ABOVE.

i just like redemption. and revenge stories. and character growth-ing.

and maybe thats on me for liking villain-ish characters. (im saying villain-ish though because supposedly og cale didnt play a huge part in the book? ....Birth of a Hero...?????? like he just happened, got beat up, and dipped? i think? thats what ive heard anyway. so i dont know if he really counts as one since like uh. white star.????????? ????)

anyway uh thought dump over

feel free to correct me in comments i like learning about things

[plounce]

i havent talked about my wol on here in a hot minute but ummm her lore has developed a lot :) she's co-wols with my friend hawke's wol and she has terminal tank disease and of course it goes without saying that she's hopelessly dependent on the catboy bestfriend. she's selectively mute (silent player character = autism legend) and mikh'a, because he has the echo, can understand the sign she uses (which is half cobbled out of sign languages from the shroud but also from around eorzea and half her own creation) without many wrinkles and also he's just very nice and shortly before she met him she got ejected from her family group so she was like YOU'RE MY PERSON NOW and imprinted. also in ARR she was deeply uncomfortable with any social stuff and so mikh'a handled a lot of it for her. it was a very vulnerable time in her life and she will always feel deeply grateful to him for that. but then we get to hvw and mikh'a (that's the other wol) was engaged to haurchefant before That Happened and it destroys him and he's basically out of the game for the rest of hvw msq from the debilitating grief. so that's the real genesis of her life attitude being "i have to take care of everything and shoulder all of the burdens and duties so that mikh'a has room for HIS burdens". also she has that autism feeling of like "i don't feel as much / as strongly as other people" (yknow) and it's something she really admires about mikh'a, how strongly he feels things (even as the trauma starts to make him an asshole), so. yes. he's the face and she's the shield. due to her terminal tank syndrome. anyway in shadowbringers she gets brought over to the first right before mikh'a does, like 6 months in first time, and the way that their deal works out is that mikh'a is the one who is able to channel the light into tomte so she contains it, leaving her with light poisoning and him with the light aether scraped out of him, so that she's gradually growing more and more blank and stoic and unfeeling while he gets more volatile and emotional (light = stasis, dark = change). anyway tomte decides to go off the empty alone because she's operating on her most basic MO of "other people cannot handle this burden, but i can, i must, i will" and just wakes up, has a very one-sided argument with mikh'a, and then teleports away without telling anyone her plans. and then has an even bigger fight with mikh'a in the tempest as all the scions watch in distress and discomfort and then ryne manages to get through to her and tomte like. cries. and that's a big deal. we've rp'd much of this and more.

hawke (my friend if you forgot) has been ensorcelled by bg3 so he has not played past 5.1 so my further building of tomte's co-WoL story lore canon is sort of on pause right now but i think the end of shadowbringers really freaked her out and she stops tanking because she couldn't handle it. she wasn't able to. it didn't work out and it wouldn't have worked out, and she realizes, when the light is no longer poisoning her brain, that she probably would have doomed everybody if she had gone through with her plan and walked into emet-selch's lair alone. she needed her loved ones to hold her back. and in endwalker i switched to samurai because i capped on warrior so im imagining that in endwalker she also puts down the axe and takes up a sword. still throwing herself into the middle of things, but uncertain about taking responsibility. i think this general level of uncertainty and anxiety is compounded by the fact that she's the WoL zenos is fixated on - she's the muscle, she's been the one really taking on most of the primals and lightwardens. so it's like arrrghhh everything is my fault and my arrogance and my hubris (which is so sad because she is so quiet and humble). anyway. idk how we're gonna do the azem of it all (i have numerous ideas and possibilities in my brain - maybe emet tried to resurrect azem at some point and botched it, leading to the rejoined souls splitting from the source soul, and tomte is the rejoined souls and mikh'a is the core source souls? maybe it's a 3 and 4 split? maybe tomte is a different person altogether? i just know that mikh'a should definitely be azem since his themes and story of destructive grief align really well with emet)

anyway. that's a glimpse of the evolving tomte lore. click and post

[rosencrantzsguildenstern]

for the character ask i'm going to be selfish and ask what your impressions (etc) of...I'll say Hope? are

OOO okay for anyone else reading this this is going off of the thrones of stars on ao3 I haven't read the og kuji

First impression

I DIDN'T REALIZE HE WAS MOMO initially i had no mental image and then i thought he was riku? which is wild because now i can't imagine him as looking different even though he's not too closely tied to actual momo in my mind. anyway but other than that... he felt very protagonisty so i was like hmm a bit generic so let's see where it goes?

Impression now

HOPE MY BELOVED i love characters who have a good heart but have to go through ALL the bullshit i love seeing em stand firm for their goals. he's so sweet and i love all the little character notes throughout the story, he's got a unique pov. i woulddd say re my first impression i get attached to characters who have a super unique premise and personality and he's not necessarily either of those (though the premise of growing up with curse is fairly unique!) so i was kind of right but he definitely grew on me a LOT

Favorite moment

i'm sure there are much less random moments to say or much more little and sweet moments to bring up but i like how he just fuckin. falls into the water in sirena. poor guy + shows his devotion to curse + i love how he doesnt know shit about water or swimming. also i predicted it 💯

Idea for a story

i want to see him try and impress taxes and a general government rulership on a bunch of eternan bandits. politics 👍

i'd also love if there was a little story with a post canon conversation or two with curse. and ofc im hyped for meteor showers

Unpopular opinion

HIS CLOAK SUCKS why is it blackkkkk it'll collect all the heat (also the stuff about him being a little less standout of a character. he does have Protagonist Energy & that enthusiasm isnt necessarily what i gravitate towards in a mc). also u said yknow he's still japanese but just more tan but as long as he's not momo and lives on a diff planet i think it's fine to hc him as another race!* which i lowkey do but i'm still figuring out what

*and it's cool to hc japanese characters as other races too lol but presumably mixed in those cases and i wouldn't do it all the time

Favorite relationship

i like him and coda a lot, how their relationship grows and develops, and how sweet they are by the end... especially because at the beginning coda feels like he's kind of alone in the world except for fang, even with an expanded crew. in contrast hope is so nice and open and can have a real positive impact on him

Favorite headcanon

i like giving him more desi and middle eastern elements, like a nose ring and other fitting jewelry, & changing his appearance a bit from momos because he's kind of his own guy <3 aside from visual things... i think he gets into some kind of craft so he can give things to people :) he is a blacksmiths apprentice so probably metalworking but in aus or different contexts i could see him getting into visual/pencil-paper art or pottery

[chipistrate]

Alright- been talking about Riri protag all day so I'm gonna throw my 2 cents out there about my opinions on the protags (while trying to not be biased towards any character)

I think Vanessa is the most plausible considering everything- putting aside the hand saga, I think there's a lot that points to her being the protag, a few examples being the wording in the trailers (Handunit saying 'welcome back' and the entire new trailer talking about being employed and trained at the Pizzaplex) and just the fact that this is a sequel to HW1, the game where Vanessa was first introduced as the protagonist. I wouldn't be against that- I just think we've gotten a lot of Vanessa content as of late (movie, HW1, SB, Ruin hints, her ending being confirmed canon which means she'll show up even more later)(all of which I love ofc) and it might be better to throw someone else in as the protag this time.

Cassie protag seems very unlikely imo- there's nothing in the trailer that really screams 'Cassie', all there is towards the theory iirc is the hand model change (which could be her or Gregory), and the first teaser for HW2 that kinda paralleled the elevator ending in Ruin. I don't think she'd be a bad choice- I'd love to see Cassie back as a protag and find out what happened post-Ruin! But I think that compared with Vanessa and Gregory, going off evidence, she'd be the most unlikely choice. Plus she just got her time in the spotlight a few months ago, so it'd be nice to focus on someone else for a second- give her cliffhanger a bit more time to breathe yknow?

Gregory protag, while definitely not as likely as Vanessa protag, still feels possible to me, and, putting aside character biases, would be the best choice imo. Gregory is a generally mysterious character, even though he has an entire game and book story (though a lot of people doubt how canon said book is), not a whole lot is known about him. Taking this game as a chance to finally explain more about Gregory after, at the point of HW2's release, almost 2 years since his introduction, would be great and very much needed for his character! Especially after the cliffhanger in Ruin- it could give more context as to why and if he really dropped the elevator. The boy needs more fleshing out and, if we're going with the events of HW1 where we watched Vanessa get glitchtrapped, HW2 would be the Perfect time to introduce GGY into the game canon, same way Ruin introduced Mimic, while paralleling the first game (either with Gregory getting glitchtrapped or Gregory freeing himself). But even discarding throwing book lore into the games- I still think Gregory is the character in the most need of the spotlight again.

TLDR;

-Vanessa is the most likely based on evidence. -Cassie is the least likely and needs a bit more time before we pick back up on her story. -Gregory is kinda likely and needs the spotlight the most.

I'm curious what others think though! ^^

[ohbo-ohno]

How do you write fanfiction without going ooc?

Personally I think you're the best cod writer, I'm considering writing some fan fiction but I'm scared the characters arent in character

"best cod writer"??? when i haven't posted in like a month?? oh babe we are getting MARRIED ilysm thank you <3

im actually like fucking terrible at giving advice (i am not a well spoken person lmao) but i can talk At you for a bit about this!!!

grasping a character's voice is actually like. deeply difficult, and it's maaaaybe the thing i struggle with most when writing (or at least one of the things lmao). especially bc literally every single writer has a different voice for every character, so you have to find what works best for your story and your style. your ghost shouldn't look/sound exactly like someone else's ghost, because he's yours, yk?

that also being said - things that are ooc to me aren't necessarily ooc to someone else. the ghost in my mind would never let you call him a cheesy pet name like "sisi", but that doesn't mean that someone else's ghost wouldn't, yk? and to them, they're in character! so you've kinda got to decide what you think being in character is, if that makes any sense

i read a looooot of fanfiction before i started writing my own cod stuff. i've only watched the full campaign once, but i've read what's probably dozens of fics lmao - my ghost and soap are an amalgamation of the things i enjoyed most in other people's fics. think about the things that you love the most in your favorite fics, and see if you can replicate that tone/vibe

i also think that getting a character's Voice is a lot more than just dialogue. i write in either second person or third person limited, but for the sake of this i'll talk a bit about third person limited

if i'm writing smth like i'll eat you whole, im technically writing from johnny's perspective, right? so i don't write his internal monologue in his accent, but i do use certain adjective he would - like instead of describing ghost as "broad" or "hulking", i said he's "a big motherfucker" bc that's how i think johnny would talk. this doesn't matter nearly as much with second person, but letting johnny's voice float into the internal monologue helps keep me in the right headspace for the fic. it's easier for me to maintain his voice if i never really let it go, yknow what i mean?

also i know this sounds sooo stupid but i think a big part of writing in character is literally just thinking "can i see them saying this? would a person like this do this?"

like. okay. ghost is a 6'4 special forces lieutenant who is willing to do literally anything if it means completing his mission. he's a big man with an even bigger reputation. can you see him begging for your forgiveness at the slightest argument? can you see him stuttering on a first date?

and soap is an incredibly accomplished sergeant who's set records in the military, he's a demolitions expert and a skilled sniper with a hell of a temper. can you see him giggling? can you see him crying when his girlfriend is mad at him?

sometimes making sure you're not writing ooc is as simple as "They Would Not Fucking Say That", and as unhelpful as it is, that's literally just based on vibes

is any of that coherent at all?? i genuinely don't know. hope i didn't make things worse! ily!

(also just as general writing advice - practice!!! don't post everything you write!! i cannot tell you how many things i've written will never see the light of day, but all my little failures in writing have given me a better grasp on the characters, yk? you have to do badly and recognize what's bad before you can be super happy with your writing. write something and then focus on exactly what feels off to you, and change only that. idk. maybe im spouting bullshit)

[flowerslut]

Haha despite not having posted in 10 years, my blog shows my teenage angsty self so perfectly i will never delete it :) I have a question if its alright, one of the things I love is the way you've written the relationship between Rosalie and Jasper. I always felt they must be close and Rosalie wouldn't share her human last name with him if they weren't. However they both had a very different violent past and i imagine it being difficult at the beginning. How do you think they bonded?

THE PERFECT TIME CAPSULE BLOG I love to see it thank you for preserving such vital history 🤝

I'm so happy you asked this because I answered this pretty thoroughly a few months ago here in this ask. but I love that you ask it in reference to their starkly "different violent" pasts, because like yes!!!!! they're on opposite ends of the spectrum there! sure they both have 'fucked up' backstories, but in this case Pretzels is Not The Same and I looooove zeroing in on this to add another layer of "rosalie was definitely not okay with their arrival NOR SHOULD SHE HAVE BEEN! *gestures to jasper's Everything*"

rosalie was a victim of a horrific crime who was changed via carlisle to save her life. jasper was very much not a victim at the time that maria found him and was changed as a form of recruitment for a very different army in a very different war. now of course there are arguments to be made about jasper being a victim in this circumstance, and while there is nuance to it (after all, what would drive a 16 year old to run away from home in the 1860s to join a brutal, deadly war that they'd probably end up dying in if they stuck with it?) I typically have to disagree when people like to try and pass jasper off as this innocent little baby Who Knew Nothing Better 🙄. but I digress, this isn't about jasper. this is about rosalie's and jasper's contrasting starts to immortality which I find so interesting

I love rosalie and jasper's relationship for sooo many reasons and this completely different start to 'life' is a big one! rosalie was a victim of intimate partner violence who was changed into a superpowered bloodthirsty immortal vampire. after this she sought revenge, killed her killers but did it without spilling their blood, reclaiming some measure of power despite now existing in this life she never wanted and pretty goddamn miserable because of it. jasper was a perpetrator of violence even before he gained immortality (even without "seeing any real battle" or whatever bs line they gave him in the movie) which only escalated when maria found him and he was gifted with his own superpowered bloodthirsty vampirism. then, surprise! his has an extra superpower! which helps him to control this army and continue this cycle of violence, but slowly it begins to wear on his mental state until this "monster of the grisliest kind" becomes a depressed meandering nomad destined for suicide if we're being real here

again, I won't get into it too far or this answer could be another 1k+ words long, but even in eclipse, jasper doesn't try to dodge responsibility or moralize when he's telling bella his story, he just tells it as it is. (which I've said before but I adore as a character choice. it makes him so much less bastard-man-coded than edward because of it. and thank GOD 💀) but I find it so so so interesting that the two cullens (hales) that bella has less of a grip on are the ones who come from such violent backgrounds! but! on different ends!! of this spectrum of violence!!! it makes it that much more meaningful to me when you see them take each other's sides in midnight sun, as they seem to acknowledge that if someone's gotta make the tough choices, it'll be them 🤩 ugh I just love them so much, yknow?

[digitaldoeslmk]

I just have to say I love your art and your AU! As someone who is a big fan of LMK, but also reading JTTW right now (Anthony C. Yu Abridged Version since thats all I have access too right now), you have effectively mixed two of my favorite things right now!

I enjoy LMK because it's a fair intro to the stories while still being altered for the enjoyment of the viewers (and a younger audience). Things are definitely far from being one to one with the books, but I see it as a good starting point for people who have no idea about the culture or original story. I will admit Macaque is one of my favorites in the show, I'm a big fan of bastard characters, but even I can see that the mischaracterization of him is quite heavy since they altered the story so much. It's why I separate LMK!Macaque from JTTW!Macaque.

That being said I do also absolutely love JTTW. I'm from America so I'm used to westernized versions of stuff, but reading JTTW has been a blast. I love the characters and the story because it's a way for me to learn about a culture that's not my own. That also being said it's not the easiest read I've ever had, just because it isn't my culture and I went into reading it havign very little knowledge of the religions they touch on in the books. All the same it's still amazing. I also enjoy Macaque in JTTW. I mean who wouldn't love the cannibalistic and antagonist monkey who's actually super intelligent?

All in all I love your AU and I love that it still holds that ability to tell the story more in-line with JTTW's events (also give Macaque a more predominant role and characterization) while still holding the behavioralisms I loved to see in the characters of LMK.

- Lycori 🌸

thank you so much!! i'm happy that you enjoy my au! :DD

personally, i think that some of the changes made by the series go too far, or make it harder to get into jttw rather than easier, but i can't deny it has introduced a whole lot of new people into his wonderful novel! i think if they have kept some buddho-daoist cosmology fundamentals rather than westernizing it, maybe folks like you wouldn't struggle as much with some of te cultural contexts, yknow? and most importantly, chinese fans wouldn't feel alienated from the western fans.

still, i'm glad to hear you're able to separate the two, and that you can enjoy them both in their own merits!! i think that lmk has a lot of good qualities, not just the animation and voice acting, and hopefully my au can make a compelling point for how it could have been an overall stronger narrative if it had leaned harder on the source material and culture without cutting off those good qualities :D

if you'd like, i can always offer some good articles and meta posts i've come across related to jttw! i'm also working on a post of my notes and annotations of Oedipall God by Meir Shahar, which gave me a lot of cultural context that helped me make sense of a lot of plot beats in both jttw and fsyy (Investiture of the Gods), so people can't read the book can have access to some of its material :D

again thank you for the ask, it was very sweet! <33

[sharky-the-idiot]

So Maria is the granddaughter of Dr.Gerald robotnik, who is also the grandfather of eggman. Maria and eggman are cousins I believe, unless it's been changed as of like 2018+. Maria has N.I.D.S, an illness that causes the affected person to get weaker and weaker and need constant medical attention as it progresses, and so her and her grandfather are in space, due to the anti gravity helping the symptoms to not progress as fast. While up there, her grandfather, who was actually the opposite of eggman, a kind caring person who wanted to use science for good and help cure his granddaughter was put on a task to create the ultimate life form by the government. So he created shadow, Gerald gave Shadow a soul so that humanity would not abuse his power for monstrous acts. Little did Gerald know that in the end, he himself was still only human. the plan was called off while still being worked on, and he was taken away and executed by the govfor creating shadow and 'putting humanity in danger' despite building its best protector. They interrogated him, before asking "is that all?" And it cuts to black, them prolly shooting him off screen. He didn't get a trial either, so it was straight up murder. While all this was happening, it's seen in the cutscenes of both the games and anime, that Maria was standing above a control panel weakly, before it cuts to a scene of shadow in the tube thing, in shadows flashback it showing maria saying how she wanted revenge on humanity. this is seen altered a lot though And YKNOW WHAT REALLY FUCKS ME UP? The fact that Gerald altered shadows memory so he wouldn't feel as pained, only the true meaning and stuff coming out when Amy says something that triggers it. And because of eggman being related, imagine if that's the reason he's so fucked up now This actually would explain why Eggman has so many childish characteristics despite being a grown man - since people who have experienced severe trauma as children often carry on childlike traits well into their adulthood to cope with the fact that the innocence of their childhood was cut short. It makes the concept of his "Eggmanland" amusement park SO much more tragic when you think about how it's probably a manifestation of the final drops of a traumatized childs innocence seeping through the cracks of an angry, bitter and broken old man's rampage of revenge against a world that wronged him and his loved ones so brutally, suddenly and pointlessly that he lost his goddamn mind That might also be why he hates sonic so much, due to him striking a resemblance to shadow. Oh and btw Shadow's design is based on the Prophecy of Super Sonic. In otherwords, Shadow almost owes his existence to Sonic in every way. but also due to Gerald coming into contact with Black Doom during his experimental processes, who offered up his immortal alien DNA in order to create Shadow. That's why Shadow looks like Black Doom and its why he's immortal while being able to channel the power of the Chaos Emeralds. Black doom is also why they shut down the project AND HIS FUCKING LAST SPEACH FUCKS ME ALL THE WAY UP! YOU DONT EXPEVT LINES LIKE "You ungrateful humans who took everything away from me will feel my loss and despair…" FROM A GOD DAMN SONIC GAME WHERE SOMEBODY IS CHAINED UP AND ABOUT TO BE KILLED Oh and Shadow tried to retcon certain details; such as wanting to remember Gerald fondly. The same man that nearly destroyed the entire planet from beyond the grave due to being driven mad with grief. This entire story line (not including silvers, knuckles backstory, blaze's lore ect) is why I'm still so into sonic.

infodump on shadow the hedgehog lore ehe

I saw Maria and thought both "SPLATOON⁉️⁉️⁉️" AND "OMORI⁉️⁉️⁉️" at the same time I need help

anyways BUT YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO CUUUT ME OFFFF /ref

[thedawningofthehour]

Tbh I just love how Deep In The Shit Draxum and Galois are at this point with whatever the outcome of all of this is. I think, in a lot of stories where a main character is brainwashed and joins the bad guys, they always pull their punches in how long it lasts and what they do while they've switched sides. But here, not only has Draxum gotten Donnie/Galois to do some Heinous Shit (not only to his family once he figures all that shit out, but like. Yknow. War) but also??? The genuine emotional bond.

Like. In terms of long term damage and pain, the genuine care and rapport Draxum and Galois have is probably my favorite* part of DOTH because how do you 1) resolve the idea of someone who you think loves and cares about you and you have more in common with than almost anybody doing THAT to you and 2) how do you process that part of your life where things were undeniably good (and in some ways better) with the fact that it only came from pain and led you to do horrible things?? Every single twist in this story has me on the edge of my emotional seat Donnie is going to have psychological issues beyond comprehension when this is all done

*this is technically a lie because my real favorite thing about DOTH is your fantastic hidden city worldbuilding. Its become canon to me and also I could hear about how yokai society works forever. You really make it feel real in a way that really makes the story click. I also lump Draxums family under here bc they are legit fantastic break Bella out of jail so i may propose marriage

I very much dislike it when authors so clearly try to keep their precious darlings from doing anything problematic. Especially when they're trying to portray them as being morally grey or in the wrong, or even just showing poor judgement.

Katniss kills a civilian woman without hesitation to protect her squad. Zuko burns down Kyoshi village searching for the Avatar. Daenerys throws an entire region into chaos in her noble but naïve attempt to wipe out slavery. These are all characters we're supposed to like, that we generally do still like in spite of their problematic actions. (unless you're a Dany hater, in which case get off my blog and learn some reading comprehension) Their misdeeds give them depth, places to improve themselves and mature. That's what characters should be doing. If your protagonist keeps their hands clean the entire time, not only do they end up passive observers in their own story but it gives them no opportunity for growth. Daenerys learning from her ignorance and sculpting herself into a better ruler is not only a major component of her own story, but it's what sets her apart from the five kings. Avatar wouldn't be half of what it is without Zuko's redemption arc. And Katniss had to be that merciless, fatalistic Mockingjay to kill Coin-and killing Coin changes the meaning of the entire story.

The fucking world-building. I just watched a video today on world-building tips, and the guy doing the video essay used a Rubic's Cube as a metaphor for putting together all the different parts that make up a living, interesting fictional world and making them work together, with the disclaimer of DO NOT BUILD YOUR ENTIRE GODDAMN WORLD IN FULL DETAIL FOR THE LOVE OF GOD THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE YOU WILL DIE. And I felt that on an emotional level. I've been re-reading ASOIAF lately, and I'm starting to develop more sympathy for Germ taking 'checks notes' twelve years so far to write the next book. I think he's legit weighed down by Worldbuilder's Disease and now the story is too big for him to hold up. I very much enjoy the world-building, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't. But oh my god it is a well with no bottom and I am pressing my feet and shoulders against the side trying not to fall.

[waterfall-ambience]

i will not put noli me tangere and el filibusterismo in perpetua, i will not put noli me tangere and el filibusterismo in perpetua, i will not put noli me tangere and el filibusterismo in perpetua, i will not-

rambling under the cut because i need to figure out something to finish this scene:

the reason why i bring it up at all is because i want to show what a mundane conversation between damien and avery is like when there's not really much else happening in their lives.

much of their conversations in arc 1 were mundane yes but it was like 'getting to know each other (and also letting damien heal a bit after going through the horrors)'. also i will probably need another pass at arc 1 act 2 because i think things are a little messy thematically and i start juggling quite a lot.

-> anyways i wanted that mundane friendship conversation to be about a piece of media. i think literary analysis is something the two of them would talk about (because that's exactly the type of nerds they are, and you've gotta write what you know, yknow?)

there is a precedent for including real books and pieces of media in perpetua. i did it early in arc 1 with mary shelley's frankenstein, to establish perpetua as an educated community, suggest at minerva's sense of humour, and introduce ideas like the rage towards one's creator (with a parent-child / mad science twist).

> haunted hollow (the owl house, but i can't just name drop that one because it's too recent) was mostly used to establish the kind of nerd that avery is, give damien an in-universe blorbo in the form of a zuko/hunter-alike.

>> i might go back to this in arc 3 when the gods chew damien out for not living up to their expectations and compare him to his own blorbo.

> ponyo (which has no in-universe name as of now) was also used to bring in the general theme of "it doesn't matter what you are, i still love you" to the context of damien and avery's friendship. i just needed it to work for a scene and i think it does?

so i absolutely can use real books. the question is whether i should use noli me tangere / el filibusterismo specifically:

el noli came to mind because i'm pretty into it at the moment, and it's thematically rich enough for damien to passionately talk at length about just how hard it goes.

> i'm trying to do this to show that he hasn't just been thinking about haunted hollow for the past 8 months or so, lmao. not that its unrealistic for that to happen, i just think he wouldn't. he's more the type to have a broad knowledge of a lot of different things and then excitedly draw connections between them, rather than fixate on one thing for a long time if that makes sense.

> on a meta level i want to show infodumping and passion in a positive light (avery finds it cute, etc.) because some of my family members don't really appreciate it. i feel like a freak sometimes, i really do.

BUT ANYWAY. the implications of the books

both noli me tangere and el filibusterismo are very much rooted in their socio-historical context, that being the philippines during the late spanish colonial era, and the way it portrays society and the systems in power is unfortunately evergreen. sometimes it feels like hardly anything has changed 137 years later.

in relation to perpetua, the books show a world that the characters have never experienced, whether that be past or present. damien has filipino heritage but the disconnect is apparent (so ironically it loops back around into being a pinoy diaspora experience?). its something to consider when the gods judge him for not being 'good enough representation'.

i dont know how this is going to play out because captain luna is broadly similar to ibarra, in that they're idealistic, upper class illustrado filipinos who studied abroad and had childhood sweethearts named maria-[something], neither of whom they got with in the end. with bonus queer aspects of their stories because tbh it reads like there was Something between ibarra and elias. but anyway. i dont think luna would've read noli and i dont know how he'd feel about the parallels between him and ibarra. probably not very good!

maria-isabel was named after maria clara YES, but i read noli and fili recently so everything surrounding the luna/ibarra parallels are a coincidence.

> damien will likely pick up on these parallels and that opens up an entire can of worms!! worms that i don't know what to do with! but also its an interesting book and i want more people to read it because it fucks severely.

if you have any suggestions for works that damien can be interested in (thematic relevance to greater story ideal) i would love to hear them

[frankenfossil]

for the space related asks, ⭐️ & 🛰?

whee!! thank you!

⭐️ Star - Do you have a favourite character? If so, why are they your favourite?

Oh no a very hard question actually... Probably the answer is evidently Emily and Dee since I spend more time thinking and writing about them than any of my other characters. POSSIBLY if I had to choose out of the two of them I'd pick Dee because I am kind of a sucker for a sad sack loser with emotional problems and I deeply enjoy thinking up situations to make him happy and/or traumatised. I also enjoy overthinking his powers and what kinds of things I have to tweak about physics for him to exist with the functions I've given him. (Such as recently I've thought of new objections to the plausibility of time travel but I think I've also thought of a way to resolve them storywise which I personally think is very funny, but if I learn more about physics before it comes up it might change.)

I love Zoe a lot but she is much harder to write and to draw for some reason? I feel like she is clear in my head but never comes out right somehow. It's weird.

I have other characters from other stories that I love too... another favourite who is unrelated to this story is a guardian angel whose first guardee died prior to the story beginning; clearly the angel fucked up a bit with that but gets a second chance, but then is pretty lousy with the second person too!! Trying to push them to fill the shoes of the first person.

Recently I found out that the person who inspired my first 'canon nonbinary' character (I didn't know that was a thing at the time tho) has since come out as for real nonbinary, which obviously makes a lot of sense lol. It was mostly about this one very cool jacket they owned. But that character was a strong fave for a long time... the story was terrible and really problematic lolol but ah well. Probably all the good parts of that character have gone into Dee and Zoe anyway.

I LOVE THEM ALL ;_;

🛰 Satellite - Do you have a character who is very dependent on another character? Is it healthy or unhealthy?

WELL. Again... Emily and Dee are each other's most emotionally intimate relatinship... Dee again is more dependant on Emily than vice versa, and less healthy about it, although I would say it's overall good for them both (but I would say the healthy/unhealthy balance varies over time and may be affected by external factors...).

Zoe is still on the periphery a bit but.............. well there are/will be some dynamics of questionable health there. She doesn't have particularly healthy attachments and is still not exactly over her previous friendship dynamic of being the second best friend of two besties who were shitty to her, and is still kind of stuck in the mode of 'trying to be exactly what the other person wants so they will like me'. Which Emily is not really aware of because she doesn't ever do that. Although the kinds of things Zoe plays up to try to be friends with her probably aren't as bad as what she has done to get OTHER people to like her, and she's relatively confident that Emily isn't going to use any of the stuff she knows against her.

Again, in terms of OTHER characters I have a couple where they are both disabled in various ways but one has more problems with mobility and communication than the other, and also had to be rescued from a kind of slavery by the other, which naturally gives the rescuer some pause for thought about the power dynamic there and whether she's ~taking advantage~ by falling in love with her at the same time (I mean by the time she even gets aware enough of her feelings lolol, gotta sort of pine without realising first!!)... but I'm trying to write that one as pretty healthy tbh, they're just trying to support each other through a difficult world yknow. And anyway the one who used to be a slave deliberately tried to square that debt immediately so it wouldn't be hanging over them both and is now mostly consumed with a quest for revenge lol. But also love.

I am going to.... stop rambling for now lol!!