#Oc-ifying them as we speak

[nylilcosmos]

*throws a kar'niss I did as a color practice some time ago in here*

[ask-commander-arild]

OOC Post:

Hi, there! I'm @jnix-2006 and welcome to my ask blog, ask-commander-arild!! I made this blog for @pkmoth's @motherbound-askapalooza, and I plan on participating the entire month of August, but if it does well, I may continue it!! But, bear with me, because I don't use tumblr much, so this is all very new to me, haha. Before we start, I feel I should give a little bit of introduction to what exactly this is. So, firstly, what exactly is an Arild? Well, Arild is an OC I created for the game Mother 3 (Heavy spoilers btw)! He can be seen below!

Art done by @pinkalliums!!! Go check them out!!

Say hello to Arild Eskildsen! A young Norwegian lad of 15 years old who, through a series of unfortunate events, was once a pigmask. I know his design may look a little... 2015, but the design quite literally came to me in a dream, and I would've been stupid not to use it. Now, as much as I'd love to go into detail about his backstory, I wanna save most of it for the asks. I guess the most basic gist is that he was taken from our time, currently in the 2010's but may change later, from a very young age, and made to be a pigmask. Yippee, child soldier! He goes on to be promoted to captain. But after yet another unfortunate event, he ends up being chimera-ified and he gets promoted to commander, but not of the pigmasks... Of what, you ask? Well, we'll get there. For now, here's him as a captain!

Art also by @pinkalliums!! Seriously, go check them out! >:)

Few things to keep in mind for this blog:

1. I don't have many artistic abilities, unfortunately, so this will be a text only blog. Some friends have kindly made a few pieces for Arild, and I will show them off, but for the most part, there won't be much in the way of visuals. If you feel like making art of him, feel free! I would actually love to see it!!

2. Quite a lot of the stuff here is going to involve my own headcanons for the Mother series, especially post-game Mother 3. For example, in my headcanon, Claus survives and becomes the leader of the army, rebranding it in the name of peace, and that is why Arild is a commander. Basically, since everyone has unique headcanons for the series, you can just consider this an AU.

3. There will be mention of a couple real life places that will have Mother-ified names. With any mention of Norway, the name will changed to Fjordland, on account of its many... fjords. Canada is also an important place within the story, and that I have decided to call Mapleland. Creative, I know. I figured I would bring it up to avoid confusion

4. Feel free to ask whatever! Though, obviously, just make sure it's on topic, of course. Silly questions are easy to answer and will usually be answered quickest! Lore relevant questions are a little trickier and may take me just a bit longer to respond to, but I will be happy to get to them!! Also, RP is okay with me, if you want to!!

5. When it comes to asking questions, please don't be weird or anything. Like... being a former pigmask, Arild is a plus-sized character, so a comment about his weight would not be great. More importantly, absolutely NO NSFW. This character is a minor, and that stuff is not okay to ask. I don't think any of this will be an issue, but it's good to mention just in case

6. I do not speak Norwegian, so if I want to sprinkle it in a little bit, I have only on option. Google Translate. I know, I know... it's not the best, but I will try my best to avoid mistranslations or misuse of phrases. I wouldn't want to be the new version of that one post about the Norwegian Butter Crisis, haha.

If you're still here, thank you for reading until the end!! As said, I've never done something like this before, so this intro is probably super chaotic in comparison to other blogs, haha. I am really excited to get started here! I've always wanted to do an ask blog, and I really needed an excuse to flesh out my OC, so I'd say this is perfect! I'd like to give thanks to all the friends, and my bf, who helped me out on this!! Thank you to Moth for setting this event up! Thank you to Hal and a few others for the art! And also thank you so much to my friend Red who helped me create this character in the first place! He didn't tell me what his tumblr was, but he is @/Doc_Glowstick on Twitter!! Alright, I think I've rambled enough now. I'll probably go through this and change it later, but for now, let the blog begin!!!

[mantisgodsart]

And with that, Side A is DONE! OCs transmuted are all from the @bug-oc brackets, again - it may or may not be Marigold's fault, still. We wouldn't worry about it. It's not like anyone ELSE is gonna mysteriously turn up as some kind of different thing, right?

We may or may not be doing these for all the losing bugs until Marigold gets beaten.

Individual pictures, names, and owners of transmuted OCs below the cut.

Starting off the batch this time is Blue Team by @hishap, as some very graceful and elegant slugcats. The explosive spear works around as well as a normal bomb, right? It's probably fine. With Wil as Discount Pikachu, Tera as "kinda sorta lizard", and Mimi as Definitely A Normal Slugcat Do Not Look Closer, they're at least going to be a fun party for Jolly Co-Op. We colored these ones while having a major case of Herr Handshakes, so please do excuse any errors - we're doing our best!

Whirr by @mothbeasts is a Black Lizard, and by far the one we took the most design liberties with - in our defence, "mole lizard" just seemed to fit! He gets bonus legs. Always a good thing. We're sure he can figure it out eventually. The lack of hands might fuck with the baking plans a teeny bit, though. At least he can glow in the dark (not that he'll be able to see it, mind you - black lizards are entirely blind).

Larry by @ultimaxinatank is our preview, and also a slugcat. That makes two wasps who got Slugged here, too - two and a half? In our defence, Slugcat seemed the best fit for all of them. Maybe it runs in the wasp hive. There are a startling number of wasps on this page in general. Popular bug to OC-ify, we guess. Very fun to draw!

Ari by @aridis is a Scavenger - a very, very blue one at that. We took a bit of liberty on the color scheme here, but hopefully it still reads - she's got hands! She's got fluff! She can stab people with spears while residing in a small community! Might pick up a tiny bit of fascination with pearls, but that's normal. Just... make sure they don't steal the pearls off of someone's mask. Bad diplomatic move.

Speaking of Scavengers, Kivik by @fallenvoidhere is a Scavenger Chieftain, and one of two bosses on this sheet - those pearls are incredibly fiddly to do, but at least they make him more impressive? He gets off better than most of the other people here, at least - he's got hands! Dexterity, even! He's better off than his teammate, at least. The symbol on the mask here is The Pilgrim, though it might have photographed a bit oddly - the cloak is a bit more gray and less green in person.

Last but certainly not least, Cherry Blossom by @w-krajobrazie-zapomnienia is a King Vulture, and by far the biggest undertaking as far as technique goes. All those feathers are hand-blended. Wouldn't recommend doing this. Our markers are alcohol-based and we were using a wet paintbrush to blend. At the very least, the markings were fun to do - very swoopy and whirly! Being Marigold's former opponent, the least she can do is offer a quality form to hang out in, and though the lack of hands is difficult... oh, well, we're sure he can figure something out. He's got spears now! That's a plus, probably! Who needs to hold things when they can fly?

[youhavehitawall]

Wait, BWD is your ocs?? DUDE!! I THOUGHT IT WAS OBSCURE SHOW YOU'D CARS-IFIED/CROSSED OVER I HADN'T WATCHED AND WANTED TO, I DIDN'T KNOW YOU CREATED IT, HOLY SHIT THAT'S AMAZING!!!

Have you written/made a comic or anything for it yet, or is it more along the lines of "ah yes, my ocs, time to create art with no context for anyone else" (because I do that too if that's the case LMFAO)

AHHH THANK YOUU <3! We have achieved a Professional level of Quality.... hoyl sit !

the stuff on Here is currently just art with no context, but i've got quite a bit written down around them and even more is waiting to be lovingly waxed and polished. These guys have been living in my head since 2019 and aren't going anywhere, but im still ironing out their personalities and the plot of the actual Story Itself- i originally intended to Write the story, but a Comic would also fit for a lot of the scenes i have planned

at the moment these are all future hypotheticals though. for now have a snippet of Ratchet's Horrible No Good Very Bad Day :)

[Before moving to BWD, but after escaping America, Ratchet and Austin are keeping a low profile in Melbourne. Ratchet suffers catastrophic injuries after being pushed off the freeway by a client of their American enemies. Two days after, he's released from surgery.]

Austin’s the first thing you hear. You’re dizzy and you're tired, but Austin’s light, smooth voice is nearby and you know he’s safe. Their voice is steady and constant, and you drift, aware that something is very wrong but not awake enough to parse it out. Whatever the issue is, Austin will fix it. They're good at that. 

The next time you’re aware, someone has pinged your proximity sensors. You crack your eyes open to see your hood has been removed and your engine is exposed to the open air, and you trace the lines, trying to fit the parts into a pattern, into recognisable individual components and failing. The engine is an enigma to you, warped and misaligned like it had been made of magazine clippings. 

The car that woke you is gentle, or maybe not- you realise dully that your engine is numb and cold. She isn’t a threat, poking around with something and humming at the screen, so your attention sways to the warmth along your left flank. You know instinctively that it’s Austin. You recognise his wax’s scent and the slight curve of gold in the dark, and you can feel his fuel lines pumping slowly in sleep like they’re your own. It’s night- the room is black except for the glaringly bright screens of the machines you’re hooked up to. Your vision is too blurry to make them out.

All this information is as warped and piecemeal as the engine in your chassis, like your mind is trying to solve a puzzle-box with no edges, details slipping from your grasp. You’re still not sure why you’re here so late in the night, Austin so close it feels like your flank and his are the same piece of metal.

The nurse sets off your sensors again, and you make eye contact, though barely. Her eyes are so bright in the gloom. She bares her teeth at you- no, she smiles at you. It’s meant kindly. Her teeth are flat and clean and not a threat. “Don’t try to speak, you’re not out of the woods yet.” She says. The meaning is abstract and strange. You couldn’t speak if you tried- the nerves in your mouth were just as dead as your engine, like they’d been pulled out and rewired. You’d bite your own tongue before forming a word. And you weren’t in the woods. You were in hospital, with Austin, who was alright, and you, Ratchet, were injured. You had been falling, and now you were in hospital, but alive.

“You have a roll cage, don’t you?” She continues, and this does make sense. Yes, you have a roll cage. You can normally feel it, like wearing thick armor. Its weight is a comfort.

You try to nod, your suspension making a low wailing shriek of protest like the springs were missing, and she smiles, and you don’t realise it’s closer to a frown. “You’re lucky to be alive, you know, that rollcage saved you.” She cycles air through her vents, watching the monitors you can’t decipher with an expression equally as confusing, before she bares her teeth again. “I’m done for now, so you sleep well and keep healing. I’ll be more careful of your proxies next time.”

She leaves, and as soon as she’s gone you can’t remember anything about her, though you try to, but her face is blurring in with the entire magazine-collage of the night. You’re lucky to be alive- that’s the part that sticks.  Now the dark and the quiet is drawing your mind out and idly, you wonder if this is the dream and that you’re still falling. Still hung in that moment before it all ends, body weightless, engine stalled. But the darkness is comforting and Austin’s fuel pressure is a steady, decipherable rhythm, and you fall back into sleep before the thought can complete itself.

[vegalocity]

Hello. I hope you don’t mind me asking but I was wondering something about the Tyrant Prince Oblivion au. You see there was a recent ask from @unseelie-robynx about Syntax in that au and in it it was mentioned that her for of “wifed-up” design was being thought up and it got me wondering if there where other interesting things about the other characters who will be “wife-ified”. So can you tell us anything? Also I’m asking you since you did Wife Red’s design so…yeah

I will say first off both me AND @unseelie-robynx are making the Tyrant Prince AU, we're mostly fleshing it out via an extended rp between us, so you can ask either of us and we'll have roughly the same answers about this kind of thing give or take a bad end or a differing timeline one of us came up with on our own (the Red Wakes Up Bad End was almost entirely Robynx's for instance and I've been plotting out one I like to call The Cavalry Falls)

But in relation to the question, i will say we do have a couple of 'Wife' setups depending on the timeline, and all of them have specific Vibes and Aesthetics that are brought to the table.

So obviously there's Red, and his 'wife' look is very... 50's traditional i suppose you could say, very 'summer home in Stepford' as we call it

But you all already knew that, Wife Red is one of the main visual draws for this AU lmao

Huntsman is another person that got wife-ified, and he and Red are the only two that are always put in this position no matter the TP Timeline. (since Huntsman 'willingly' went into things to get the rebellion access to the music for an eventual reverse to be made and then getting left there for too long on Spider Queen's call to call off the rescue to avoid detection is kind of the real reason why any PLOT can happen at all after a certain point)

But Huntsman's design is based mostly on the fact that Xiaotian is still decently arachnophobic, and from his bias it lead to Red's bias, and thus they directed Huntsman toward looks that 'covered him up' so to speak. we settled on a 'gothic lolita' type aesthetic and... ngl when i was drawing it out...

he honestly kills it

(though my own art style might have some part in that since my artistic influences have a lot of Shoujo in them so my character art tends to come out a fair bit softer)

In the Bad End where Syntax gets wife-ified just by getting caught, we went for something kind of 'victorian' since, as Robynx has said, the Court (mainly Xiaojiao and Xiaotian, but Red's not innocent in this either) kind of took a lot of frustration out on him for how much of a troublesome prisoner he was, thus he'd be specifically put in stuff that purpousefully gives him some constant low level misery.

Corsets that are always a bit TOO tight and press the implant against his spine, big poofy skirts that are super NOT Good texture and he's the only one we agreed would be put in heels (since Red probs rarely wears shoes at all and Huntsman would more likely be in Mary Janes for The AestheticTM) all specifically to restrict his movement and make life as baseline miserable as possible but in ways that people wouldn't notice.

but he IS more protected in the Red Wakes Up ending since these freaks do still consider themselves heroes and thus would probably honor the deal Huntsman struck with Red to come quietly in exchange for Syntax's general wellbeing

as such I think they'd probably put him in something softer, less specifically put together to hurt, though I personally do still like the 'period peice' concept for like irony's sake, so personally i'm fond of like, a 'turn of the century Gibson Girl' type look in that particular ending

Robynx already told y'all our general ideas on what would happen to Spindrax in either of the ends that she appears in, but in a few of them she doesn't really show up at all, and in THOSE timelines we do have an alternate wife for Xiaojiao with her own aesthetic niche

She's a fully OC character named Shuyin, we've mentioned every so often that in the Tyrant Prince world there IS a growing cult full of people that know that Xiaotian is brainwashing people and are doing so to themselves willingly, and one thing lead to another until they were convinced that 'the court' was in fact a 'Pantheon' instead. and they became a real fucking Cult.

Shuyin was made as a way to examine the cult from the inside, but we accidentally got attached to her and so did Xiaojiao so in timelines where the court are made fully aware of the cult and as such are made fully aware of the whole 'brainwashing' thing (but since the cult is very good at recruiting people they tend to be able to get them On Board with the whole thing so now whoever discovered it goes from unknowing pawn to willing accomplice) Shuyin gets that 'coveted' title of 'Xiaojiao's Wife' first due to her worship of her making the idea of 'owning' someone particularly alluring.

But since she didn't catch Xiaojiao's attention by being a pain turned obsession and also has a physical disability Xiaojiao is far softer to her than she is to Spindrax in other worlds. And as such has a softer aesthetic to go with it. Specifically Xiaojiao likes elegant looks on Shuyin, long flowing peices that show off her height and such. Shuyin is CONSIDERABLY taller than Xiaojiao and it makes for a fun visual.

After a certain point Shuyin also starts regularly wearing Xiaojiao's classic varsity jacket since in this AU she tends to wear her armor more often she doesn't wear it herself much anymore

Thats it for all the Main characters that get 'Wife'-ified though, there are a few minor characters that play out the 'husband and wife' dichotomy that are in the cult, but there's only a FEW people where you're horrified but also looking at them like 'they're killing it in that look tho'

and i will say that there ARE others that get OWNED that don't get Wife'd of course. any given bad end has Macaque getting Little Brother'd of course and there is someone else in a Bad End we haven't made public yet, but it's fine it's fine

[pangolinheart]

Ship with... M'zhet Tia

[[First, I think we should all count ourselves lucky that I remembered who M'zhet Tia was. Second it was through re-familiarizing myself with his character for this that I finally realized M'zhet IS JUST CATBOY-IFIED RED XIII FINAL FANTASY VII OTL. I also told myself that this one would be way Shorter than the Cid one but... it's actually longer... I tried to edit it but I go]]

From the "Send Me a Character and I'll Describe a Ship Between Them and My OC" ask meme!

| Cid | M'zhet | Lahabrea

M’zhet broke the surface of the water with a gasp, thrashing wildly and flinging water in all directions as he struggled to right himself without losing his grip on his spear. His shaggy hair was plastered in dark streaks to his forehead, the longest bits falling in front of his eyes and obscuring his vision.

“Well you’re never going to catch anything like that!” His companion chided from the shore. He was thankful his back was to her so she couldn’t see the way his cheeks darkened.

“I almost had it!” He yelled back. Well, “almost” might have been charitable, but he was confident that she was far enough away that she wouldn’t have been able to see him miss the fish by a yalm. UGH! He just wanted to catch one fish. That wasn’t too much to ask, was it?! He had watched her do it so many times. So. Many. Times.

He scowled down at the now empty water below him.

“Well, all of your splashing has probably scared the rest of the fish away, so why don’t you come back to shore and take a break?” She called.

He groaned in frustration but knew that she was probably right. He could detect no more movement in the crystal-clear depths of the Ruby Sea around him. Oh well. His arms were getting tired from all of the swimming and thrusting and throwing, anyway. Pushing his hair up and out of his face with the heel of his free hand, he turned and started the short swim back to the beach.

When he waded inland, he found Z’rhiki lying on her back in the sand, propped up on her elbows, sunning herself. She opened her eyes when she heard him slump down next to her.

“You were doing pretty well before you realized I was watching,” She commented with a knowing grin that made him bristle with embarrassment.

“My arms were getting tired!”

“Well, you were out there for a long time.” She agreed. He didn’t know how to respond to that, so he simply sat there, catching his breath. When he didn’t speak again, she shoved herself upwards into a sitting position, folding her legs in front of her. “You don’t need to try so hard to impress people,” She said, voice softer than before. Or maybe he was imagining that.

Water dripped from his hair to his face, and he scrubbed it away with the back of his hand. “Well-“ He hesitated. His face felt hot, though not from the sun beating down on them. “Well, what am I supposed to do if I want to impress someone, then?” He blurted out the words slightly too quickly for them to sound casual like he had intended.

She stifled a giggle with the back of her hand – thankfully not a mocking one.

“Well, I can’t say I would recommend spearfishing.”

He groaned and let his upper body fall backwards into the sand. “We can’t all be good at everything, you know?”

She stretched one leg out and brought the other up to rest her arm on her knee. “I’m not good at everything,” She pointed out. “I’m good at spears, and I’m good at fishing. That’s only, like, two things.”

“Sure.” He could probably think of at least a dozen more things she was good at if he tried, but he decided to let it go.

Why did she even invite me here?

The question had been on his mind since… well, since she had invited him. She was the bloody Warrior of Light and he was just… M’zhet Tia, weakest member of the M Tribe. Future Nunh, he corrected himself. His name might not command much respect now, but someday it would! Why shouldn’t the Warrior of Light invite him personally to join her on her Eastern Sojourn?

Because she probably thinks I’m pathetic, the treacherous voice in his head unhelpfully supplied. But no! He couldn’t think like that! She had asked him, hadn’t she? If only because, according to her, she had already asked M’naago and then J’ohlmyn, but neither could spare the time away from their duties. Still, the greatest hero in Eorzea must know lots of people, so if he thought about it that way, third choice wasn’t bad at all!

Though… thinking back to the night before, he couldn’t help but wonder exactly how much her plans had changed from when she had first invited M’naago….

“Oh, don’t sulk Zhet!” She swatted his arm playfully. “Since we’re taking a break anyway, why don’t we have a snack? I’m starving.”

Zhet was it, now?

Some food didn’t sound half bad, actually. He hadn’t realized how hungry he had gotten until she mentioned it, but now the sensation was impossible to ignore. He sat up, brushing off the sand clinging to the back of his head and ears. His gaze traveled to the large basket of fish sitting near the waterline, the product of her own efforts. “Are we going to cook up one of those?”

“What? Ew, no! Why would we do that?” She made a face and pretended to gag,

“Wait, you don’t like fish?” He blinked as his mind put the pieces together. Or rather, didn’t, because they didn’t fit together. “Then why did you want to go spearfishing?!”

She shrugged, evidently not bothered by the obvious contradiction. “Because it’s fun. Don’t worry, I was planning on giving the basket to the villagers in Isari, or maybe the Kojin, so these poor little fishies won’t have given their lives for nothing! You can have one if you want, I guess. But go somewhere way over there to cook it – I can’t stand the smell.”

“I-I see.” He didn’t. “Do they, uh, teach dragoons how to fish with their spears? Is that how you learned?”

A beat passed. Then she burst into a fit of laughter, not even trying to disguise it this time, He didn’t think the question was that stupid, but apparently she thought it was hilarious. “No, they don’t. That’s hysterical though! Imagine taking a bunch of Ishgardian dragoons with a spear up their ass on a trip to the ocean. Gods, I should ask Estinien that question. I bet he’d try to do it in his armor…” He watched as she composed herself, relapsed into giggles, and then finally caught her breath. “In all seriousness, though, I didn’t learn from the dragoons, or even the Lancer’s Guild in Gridania. My friend, Govv, taught me, actually. He’s a sahagin.”

“Of course he is.” M’zhet replied flatly. Why should he be surprised, at this point? He’d already met some of her other friends: Alpa, the ananta, Kabuto, the kojin, and several Namazu whose names he couldn’t quite remember. “You do keep strange company,”

“Well, I suppose you would know,” she teased, climbing to her feet. “In any case, I brought something way better than stinky old fish for us to eat.”

He watched curiously as she dragged over the large pack she had brought with them on the boat that ferried them from Kugane. She grappled with an item inside of it for a second or two before pulling out something large, round, and green. She presented it proudly. “Ta-da!”

“Um, what’s that?” He asked. Whatever it was, it wasn’t native to Gyr Abania. Of that, he could be certain. He’d foraged almost every edible plant that grew in the fringes – and a handful of non-edible ones early on, too.

Her gaze flicked to the green sphere, then back to him. “It’s a melon!” She declared with the same level of enthusiasm as before. “An Allagan melon, actually! I asked around in Kugane when I was buying supplies this morning, and the grocer said that these are a popular choice for picnics at the beach in the summer!”

M’zhet nodded. That made sense, he supposed. He regarded the melon’s smooth, unbroken exterior. “Did you bring a knife or something to cut it with?”

“Sort of. I did bring a knife.” She grinned, “But that’s the fun part! Apparently, when you’re at the beach you’re not supposed to cut it open. You just… hit it real hard! With a stick or something, Until it breaks open!”

“Really?” His ears perked up. That sounded like it could be fun. He may not be able to hit a fish swimming through the water, but a large, stationary melon seemed much easier. She tossed something in his direction – a smooth stick he had earlier in the day assumed was part of her spearfishing equipment – and he was barely able to raise his arm in time to prevent it from hitting him in the face.

“Sorry!” She had already moved on to spreading out a small square of tarp to place the melon on and didn’t seem particularly sorry. He clamored to his feet, trying awkwardly to wipe off the wet sand sticking to the backs of his legs, and joined her looking down at the melon.

She glanced up at him, grinned, and took a few steps back. “Well, have at it!”

“What? You want me to go first?”

“Well it won’t be any fun if I go first, now will it?” She snickered. “Besides, you said you wanted to impress someone, right? Maybe you could impress them by smashing open an Allagan melon with a stick!”

Is that really all that impressive? It seemed like a highly situational talent, at best. But maybe it was a good place to start. That was something he had learned from M’razh Nuhn’s lessons – start small and work your way up.

Alright! He could do this! Energized with his new resolve, he adjusted his grip on the stick. “You might want to stand a little further back,” He declared. “I wouldn’t want you to get covered in melon pieces with how hard I hit this thing!”

“Ooh, good idea!” She took a few more steps back. “You know, I was told you’re actually supposed to do this blindfolded, but that, um, seemed like a bad idea.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“F-Finally!” M’zhet staggered, almost collapsing to his knees. If his arms had been tired before, they were burning now. Just what was that thing made of? And when did it get so hot out? The fatigue, though, could do nothing to dampen his spirits as he stood triumphantly in front of the partially caved-in melon. Z’rhiki was clapping for him from her place in the sand – she must have sat down at some point – having dutifully cheered him on even as his attempt stretched out into minutes. He could have sworn the thing kept moving …

“Congratulations!” She beamed at him, somehow managing to not sound at all patronizing. He bowed with a flourish. If she didn’t share his enthusiasm, he thought, she was certainly good at faking it. While he caught his breath she scrambled back to her bag and returned with a knife, which she used to cut free a large slab of melon. She offered it to him, but he waved her off.

“All yours, my lady!” He said with a wide grin. “If I could borrow your knife, though…”

She offered it to him, and he hacked off his own hunk of melon flesh. It was surprisingly… wet. And he hadn’t expected the inside to be so red.

Z’rhiki settled back into the sand and took a bite of her melon, looking out at the water. He followed her lead, biting into his own. He could see the appeal. It was sweet, but surprisingly refreshing after the day’s exertions.

He dropped himself into the sand next to her and took another bite. “You know,” He said, still chewing, “That was pretty good training, when you think about it! I should tell M’rahz about it!”

She turned her face towards him, and, though she still wore a small smile, he couldn’t help but feel that he had said the wrong thing. Something shifted behind her eyes, though he couldn’t put into words what it was.

They sat in silence for a while, eating and staring out into the waves, before she said, “This has been fun, right?” Her voice was as jovial as ever. Maybe the change in mood had been all in his head.

Fun? That was certainly one word for it. The past day and a half felt like a dream – every moment flowing smoothly into the next until he actually put any thought into it, at which point the memories collapsed into a jumble of disjointed scenes that didn’t quite make sense. Stepping off the boat onto the pier, his knees buckling at the sudden transition onto solid land. The shouting of dozens of stall minders and shopkeepers as they weaved through the streets. Her tucking a few strands of his hair back with nimble fingers, pinning a jade green ornament in place next to the rest of his braids, and declaring that it suited him with her face just a little too close to his. The hiss of food on a skillet, the smell of oil and spices, and the burn of alcohol in the back of his throat. The night illuminated by the orange glow of paper lanterns and the light pouring out of bars and restaurants. Her kissing him in the shadows just outside of all of that light, the feeling of the  cool stone of the wall against his back through his clothes. The deafening pounding of his own heart. Had that really happened? He had been drinking - maybe he had imagined it. Or maybe it was a drunken mistake. He had been drinking and so had she. He could taste it in her mouth, but the intensity in her eyes in the dim light of the inn room made him question just how intoxicated she really was. Or maybe he had imagined that, too.

“Yeah,” He said, finally catching up to his present self. “It’s been fun.”

He bit the last bit of watery flesh off the melon rind and leaned back into the sand once again. He closed his eyes and took a moment to bask in the feeling of sunlight warming his skin. Waves lapped at the rhythmically against the shore and somewhere in the distance he heard the caw of a circling gull. He sighed, contentedly. When he opened his eyes, she was looking at him again. The sun had drifted lower in the sky, Maybe that’s what made this smile look so bright.

“This is great,” He mused. “I almost don’t want to go back.”

“Almost?”

The question, as simple as it was, carried its own gravity. For some reason, it felt like the most important question he had ever been asked. For an instant, he was back in the inn room again, with her looking down at him with that same intensity, one of her hands tangled in his hair. He blinked and he was lying on the beach again. She was still watching him. The seconds seemed to yawn into a chasm between them until he had no idea how long the silence had lasted.

“Yeah,” He finally said. “Almost.

So, long story long, I feel like this ship is kind of a non-starter, for a couple of reasons. The big one is that M'zhet's life goal is to become the Nunh of the M Tribe. Even when he realizes he doesn't have to "reclaim" the title on behalf of his father, he still chooses to pursue his dream of becoming Nunh, just with a different reason and through less adversarial channels.

Z'rhiki, on the other hand, Does Not Vibe with Sunseeker culture. She has absolutely no desire to be part of a Seeker clan. She doesn't necessarily think the traditional Seeker family structure is bad for everyone, everywhere, all the time, but she knows it's not for her. She doesn't like the rigid gender roles or the real lack of agency "female" Sunseekers have in their own lives. They're all expected to reproduce with the tribe's Nunh (or, at least, that's how it seems) and raise children, and they don't even usually have a say in choosing the Nunh - he's either appointed by the previous Nunh or defeats the old Nunh in physical combat. You're essentially expected to have sex with whoever is strong enough to beat up your dad. And, while she's not at all opposed to some polyamory, the idea of sharing her appointed spouse with potentially dozens of other women doesn't really strike Rhiki as particularly romantic. It's just not for her.

So, even if they were to initiate some sort of romantic relationship, it would have a hard end-date of the day M'zhet finally deposes M'rahz. One or both might be able to delude themselves into thinking that it doesn't, but there's really no way around it. If they were to stay together, either Z'rhiki would have to join the M Tribe (or at least be okay with M'zhet fathering children with however many members of the M Tribe there are at that point) or M'zhet has to give up on the goal he's been working towards his whole life. Even if he would consider it, I'm not sure Rhiki would want to be the one to take that away from him - especially if she really does care about him.

With that in mind, it seems unlikely, but not impossible, that Z'rhiki and M'zhet would even end up in a relationship. Unlike with most NPCs, I don't think it's that unbelievable that M'zhet might have a romantic interest in Rhiki - he clearly has a crush on J'ohlmin, so female miqo'tes that are more competent than he is does seem like his type. And I don't think Rhiki dislikes M'zhet at all - he definitely has some endearing qualities: he's funny, he's dedicated, he's tenacious, and he doesn't let failure stand in his way. He's even willing to admit when he was wrong and change his behavior accordingly. That being said, I don't know that M'zhet really doesn't do that much to distinguish himself from all of the other generally-likeable people in Rhiki's life. He definitely experiences some character growth through finding out the truth about his father, but he's still kind of an average guy. His comic relief angle is played up a lot, which unfortunately doesn't paint him in the most flattering light. He's... a little dumb, but so is Rhiki so she can't really judge. He's good looking enough, but he probably wouldn't be Rhiki's first choice in potential datemates. I could see him maybe being a fun fling that somehow turns into something more, but that's the only real avenue for them to get together, because based on his behavior around J'ohlmin, he's not really the type to be up-front about his romantic interests. They also both have some abandonment issues that might complicate things a bit.

I think Rhiki is also a little wary of getting entangled with male Seekers in general. In her opinion, Nunh's don't need the attention and already have too much on their plates, and Tias tend to have... complexes. Even the ones that have left Seeker life behind might have some Feelings about the way things work in Seeker clans. So, that would also serve to put her off M'zhet a little, through no fault of his own.

I think they could have a fun time together for a little while, though! M'zhet seems like he's up for pretty much anything, and I think Rhiki could help him to build his self-confidence a little. And I'm sure a few extra sparring sessions with the Warrior of Light wouldn't go amiss!

I do like M'zhet, though! I'm not sure if we'll see more of him in the story at any point, but I hope we do!

Thanks for the ask! I hope you liked the "Drabble!"

[kindlespark]

did i ever tell you guys that me august and faust oc-ified calroy/amethar lol...... we turned them into gods for august and faust’s brightmyth universe, and i did hades game screenshots of them for funsies.... ibra’s was from last year, and imir’s was from last month!

they were mortal lovers; ibra betrayed imir so hard that they became dual minor gods. ibra can only speak in lies :)

[ID: Four paintings of original characters, Ibra and Imir. The first two are in the style of the game Hades with drawn portraits, the first reading IBRA, GOD OF LOVE LOST AND BLOOD SHED, with “How loathsome it is to see you again” in the dialogue box. The second reads IMIR, GOD OF LOST LOVE AND CONVICTION, with “Be wary, cousin. We gods make mistakes as often as mortals do.” in the dialogue box. The second two images are close-ups of Ibra and Imir’s god portraits. Ibra is a black man with a pink cape and hair and scars that cut across his left eye, and wields a blue flamberge dagger in one hand while he crosses his fingers with the other hand, smirking. Imir is a black man with a blue cape and dark brown dreads obscuring one of his eyes, and wields a huge pink dadao sword, hunched over in anguish. End ID.]

[deliciousscaloppine]

Hot takes galore 2: A brief overview of fandom backlashes that influenced fanfiction writing traditions as I have personally experienced them.

In this segment we examine...THE INDOMITABLE MARY SUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, as I was entering fandom in 2008 (Bleach, a manga by Kubo Tite), the hottest, sweattiest discourse pertained perhaps to Mary Sues. I thought the hatred of Mary Sues had completed its cycle and it was dead and gone in our days, BUT I happened upon a post that said that we are all stanning Moxiang Tongxiu’s OCs (original characters), in a sort of admonishing tone, and I couldn’t help but smile.

For back in the day, OCs, were termed self-inserts at best, and if they were a female protagonist that would sideline the canonical cast of characters then they were Mary Sues. And there were as many people hating original characters, and Mary Sues in particular that I remember sitting up all night thinking on whether I should post or not this fic that had some OCs in it that were there to just deliver some messages.

And of course this bled into accusations of writing canonical characters as basically “original characters” or “self-inserts”, by use of the term “ooc” (out of character). Personally, I thought this was over, but recently Riri accused me of disregarding the existing characterization and turning the CQL characters into my own original characters...for KINKY HAVOC IN VOLCANO PALACE!

An unjust accusation, I feel, Riri, because I do my damnedest to maintain characterization even under the wildest circumstances. 

People were looking to extend their enjoyment of the existing characters and story, and for some reason fanfic authors could come under fire for not catering to that, and writing for their personal self-fulfillment. 

And there were as many people writing oc’s and Mary Sues as there were people hating them, and the writers for it. It was chaos, there were journals (i was in livejournal) devoted to roasting mary sues, laughing at authors etc. If you came in fandom after me, you live in much much gentler times, and perhaps you have the Mary Sue to thank for that, because the Mary Sue kickstarted a lot of fandom feminist discourse.

Back in the day they usually determined “Mary Sue” as an overpowered, female character, whom everyone loved even though she might not be particularly charming (by whose standards?), who was adept at everything, knew everything, felt everything etc. 

The thing is that Mary Sues did not seem to exist only in fanfiction, but everywhere around us, whenever there would be a project film/show/comic/book that had a strong female protagonist.

And that was because fandom and male nerd culture were intertwined. Anime, games, comic books were heavily “invaded” by swaths of girls who were not quite fulfilled by corny pop stars, or saccharine rom coms, and seeing that there were no female power fantasies available in these media, they created their own.

It was a very interesting time because if you remember, Marvel Movies started getting made around that time, riding on that convention power, which was dominated by male nerd culture - and that is why they gave so little screen time to female characters, because the demographic was pretty thoroughly examined and they were found to dislike any and every female character that was not there to validate the male character’s cishetero sexuality (YEAH BABY)

I mean women, actresses, female characters had a good portion in media, and the marvel cinematic universe and its imitators pretty much sidelined all these people very aggressively. Male stories started exploding and taking over during this time, exploiting that very vocal male nerd demographic. 

But where is the backlash you ask, because so far we’ve only seen the oppression. 

I saw a lot of writers struggle with the validity of the female character, and then the validity of female writing. They conflated writing female characters, as writing without examining themselves, or attaining a neutral voice and a role of representing accurately reality (lol). Writing Mary Sues was bad writing, and at some point all women were Mary Sues.

...So can you guess what happened?

A lot of these people turned to male slash in order to cope. Before the Mary Sue hate, male slash was a considerable but not dominant piece on the fanfic pie, which was mostly dominated by main het ships. Male slash was already enjoyed by female heterosexual audiences, but it started gaining more and more traction until a term was coined (shipping goggles), and accusations were once more flung: that fangirls will ship any two white dudes - not untrue. 

This audience was not very friendly to actual gay people. There were all sorts of strange views passing before my bespectacled eyes at the time. People proclaiming that they loved yaoi (i was in manga, so this was the term used), but would not watch gay porn, and thought gay people were gross. And in the case where gay people were in fandom these people often complained of not being included/invited in fandom activities, or having minimal readership from groups that promoted male slash, but not gay writers.

This is why I often say fandom is not a friendly place for lgbtq people, because this type of audience still exists, even if it had to suppress their discomfort and assimilate the rhetoric of allyship at some point. And sadly a lot of people who dominated these early discussions about fandom becoming more lgbtq friendly since it consumed such relationships in media, managed to set this climate of dishonesty where everyone is pro-lgbtq in theory, but not in action.

Meaning a lot of stereotyping that is not endemic to actual lgbtq communities. Like top-bottom (most people are verses), whiny bottom, subby bottom, violent top, aggressive sex, hypersexual gay characters, almost complete erasure of bisexuality, lesbians what are they?, a complete and absolute fear in portraying trans characters, suppression of genderfluidity, accusing people of writing male gay characters as female characters as a form of wish-fulfillment or supposed homophobia.

A while ago I saw this article asking why lgbtq people are so mean to each other that confused me thoroughly, until I remembered this call out phase that happened a while ago and still goes on, where everyone blames everyone else of abusing and gaslighting them, friendships falling out etc, which is not at all the reality of older lgbtq scenes, because these were not formed online under this climate. 

And because fandom is a vehicle for self-exploration a lot of people to this day conflate consuming lgbtq relationships through media as being lgbtq themselves, or these “actual” relationships being set as these other fictional “idealized” relationships. Whereas in older lgbtq scenes a lot of people come into them by realizing their attraction to actual, real, live people and not characters, or hot celebrities.

I am not saying that current lgbtq people who discovered that about themselves online are lying, or lying to themselves, but they definitely came out in an environment of fake acceptance, and have a hard time reconciling reality with that lie of acceptance through no fault of their own, of course, because they never developed the language and the understanding that language brings in order to communicate amongst them. The characteristics were set by a group outside of them that might be pro gay marriage, and having a cool gay friend, and the inherent tragedy of homosexuality or something, but are not really for it - as a very wise queer eye contestant once said. 

And so every trespass by their own people, becomes a proof of this generalized rejection with tremendous consequences for young people’s mental health. YOU ARE BEING GASLIT IT’S TRUE - but not by your own people, it’s just a miscommunication going on there.    

BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MARY SUE. She changed. She stopped seeking love, sex, and power, or at least pretended that she did not want any of these things, or did not understand them, she stopped speaking, and became more stoic so people wouldn’t judge her opinions, and finally one day she went on to accomplish great things, because women seeking representation was also a pretty set demographic, and somebody could and would exploit that!

The Twilight Saga, Fifty Shades of Grey, even Hunger Games, are the media progeny of the Mary Sue powering through the entirely of male nerd culture. In a whole decade where people wanted Marvel to release a Black Widow movie, there have been three major spy/action girl movies that did very well in the box office, and since producing and releasing a movie usually takes three years, i’d say the audience was heard loud and clear - even though not by Marvel. 

And the side girls in these Marvel movies, or other action movies, became more and more badass - they all went from damsel in distress, to saving the hero, and of course the male characters were subsequently “queer-ified” until everyone was finally happy, and nerd culture was exposed as having been infiltrated by neonazis and that’s why it was making those unreasonable demands for no women ever in the first place.

And everything was right in the world, except that it was not. Because...girls had also been infiltrated by “neonazis”. A lot of these media, and a lot of these “white” Mary Sues, fall under many conservative criteria. Conservatism being a nice word for fascism. 

A few examples is the person of color always dies, or is brutalized, or is admonished constantly even as they shadow the protagonist in order to reinforce their inherent radiance. Characters who might be poc in books or in the anime (hur hur), are whitewashed in the visual media. The women are almost never comfortable with sex or romance, always thinking about the future and amassing power, not for themselves, but for the benefit of the resistance, or the family, or any other entity they belong to. And of course they are forever incredibly flawed - as opposed to idealized versions of male heroes always on the side of good for the right reasons! Also a minimal cast of women, with one woman being the protagonist, and the rest functioning as side characters or mostly antagonists.

So every time you feel a slight trepidation for not being the right type of lgbtq for writing something that is not strictly anal, or fear to include feminine characters, every time you erase yourself from the narrative it is it, the spectre of the Mary Sue coming to haunt you with a “We won, what more do you want?”