#and her character and am so scared she will not be given any arc or agency and just be reduced

[mukoda]

SAEKOOOO THE CUTEST EVER!!! EVERYONE CHEER FOR MY FAVORITEST GIRL

[splonk-fox]

The flaws of Jax and Ragatha, and why they matter to Pomni's character arc.

Within the two episodes of The Amazing Digital Circus that have been released so far as of writing this post, there have been two characters who have been given the most attention and depth out of any of the cast (ignoring Pomni obviously), and those two characters are Ragatha and Jax.

The duo consisting of the kindhearted optimist and the meanspirited pessimist have without a doubt become some of the most interesting characters to analyze within this series so far thanks to how much meaningful screentime and character depth they have been given within the the two episodes that we viewers have been fortunate enough to witness with our very eyes.

But why is this? Why is it that these two have received special attention from the writers so far, and what role do they play in Pomni's character journey? Well I believe I may have found the answer, and it's unfortunately one that does not spell a good future for these characters. But to truly understand where I am coming from, we must first understand who these two characters are and how they relate to our main protagonist.

To start off with the kindest of the duo, we have already learned quite a lot about Ragatha thanks to the two episodes she has been featured in so far.

Her most prominent character trait is without a doubt her kindness. She is the first person to really be genuinely nice to Pomni upon her entrance to the circus and spends the rest of the episode showing her around the place and trying her best to help her get settled in.

She's also someone who doesn't like to be overly blunt with her responses, such is shown when Pomni asks how they leave the circus, to which Ragatha, instead of just saying that she couldn't, phrases it in a way that makes it sound as if they simply haven't found a way to leave yet, this was obviously done in an attempt to not freak Pomni out too much, though this doesn't really go anywhere thanks to Jax.

Now that's great and all, Ragatha's a nice person, you can easily observe that through casual watches of the show, looking deeper however, you can see that there is a lot more going on with Ragatha than she would like to make you believe.

Insecurity is another trait that Ragatha has that, while not shown off as prominently as her optimism, is still very important to Ragatha's character.

As we see in episode 2 of the series, one of Ragatha's biggest fears is not being liked. She vents to Kinger about how she feels like Pomni doesn't really like her that much, and that clearly scares her. And why wouldn't it? The end of episode 2 makes it clear that one of the most important things in this show when it comes to keeping the main cast mentally stable, is their sense of community.

They're all in this together, they have each other's backs and will do their best to be there for each other when it's needed. That is what is communicated to us within the second episode through Kaufmo's funeral.

This segment of the episode, while somber in its tone, is also one that instills hope within Pomni and the viewer. Because it shows that despite everything, the circus members do care about each other. That abstraction is something that affects everyone and it isn't something that is just brushed off immediately, which if you recall, was the crux of Pomni's fears as seen at the beginning of the second episode, the fear of being forgotten, the fear of no one caring.

"I don't even remember her name honestly" - Dream Jax.

So with how the importance of community has been firmly established within this show's messaging at this point, it should be no surprise that Ragatha's biggest fear is not having that community. Of people not liking you, of people hating you. So how does Ragatha solve this?

Repression, that's how. Of all of Ragatha's personality traits her tendency to not display her true feelings towards things are without a doubt the most damaging.

The best example of this is how she reacts to Pomni abandoning her for the exit. The pilot would lead you to believe that she was mad at Pomni for doing this, that she didn't trust her anymore because of this selfish act.

And yet, that's all brushed to the side in the following episode. Ragatha is back to her optimistic self and is saying that everything is fine! That it was completely understandable and that there was no bad blood between them. Yet you can tell that isn't the whole truth, that Ragatha really didn't get over what Pomni had done to her that easily.

Now do I think Ragatha hates Pomni or secretly resents her? No, not really. I do think she's being honest when she says that she doesn't hold anything against her for doing this. But that doesn't mean she wasn't hurt by it. We can see clear as day from the pilot that this did affect her, so why does she act like she doesn't?

Because, from her perspective, her feelings do not matter. The only thing that does is to make sure Pomni is able to adjust, to make sure that everyone is happy, that everyone is still somewhat sane within the circus, and so she compromises her emotions in order to do this. Gooseworx has even said it herself that Ragatha often says things she doesn't necessarily mean in order to ease tensions. She doesn't want to cause conflict, she doesn't want people to fight with each other because she understands how important community is to the members of the circus persisting.

Yet in the midst of all of this, what Ragatha fails to realize is that with how she currently handles things, she is paving the way for her own mental break.

Ragatha, in her attempts to be there for others, has walled herself off from others being there for her. By lying about how she really feels about things, by acting as if she is fine, she is not allowing herself the emotional vulnerability necessary for others to be there for her when she needs it.

The closest thing we have had to this so far is with Kinger, and while having someone she feels comfortable enough to lament her feelings around is a good thing, this is one person, one person who is... not exactly mentally stable, to put it lightly. Is not exactly an end all be all solution to her problems.

Kinger being the only person who Ragatha can rely on is only gonna work for a limited amount of time, the more she represses, the more she hides her true emotions and clear mental instability, the closer she is to meeting a cruel fate, one that no one would be able to save her from because no one even realized there was something wrong with her. For in her pursuit to make everyone else happy, she has sacrificed her own happiness, as a result.

And then there's Jax.

Jax, in a lot of ways, is pretty much the polar opposite of Ragatha. While her leading trait is kindness, Jax's leading trait is being a complete and utter asshole. And while Ragatha is all about answering things in a roundabout way to ease stress, Jax is all about the blunt answers.

This is best shown to us in the pilot when, in the same scene where Ragatha tries to answer Pomni's question of "how do I leave?" in a way that wouldn't stress her out too heavily, Jax goes straight in with the "you can't". Jax is a pessimist, he has accepted that there is no way out, and is simply riding things as they go by.

Jax's leading character trait is all about causing as much chaos as he can for the sake of his own satisfaction. He doesn't care about how others feel, the only thing he cares about is causing as much chaos as possible simply because he can.

Yet that isn't all that's going on with Jax, there's something deeper here, something more complex.

When it comes to the scenes everyone points to when saying that Jax has a lot more going on with him than meets the eye, the scene where he reacts to Kaufmo's funeral is the one everyone looks at with an analytical lens, and that's for a good reason.

For I think this little scene might just tell us a lot more about Jax than we think.

One thing that I've come to notice about Jax's brand of chaos is that it's very reliant on others' reactions. All of the chaos he causes, all of the absurd and awful things he does are for the sake of seeing how others react. From throwing Pomni over the side of a truck and attempting to use her as a human bridge, or literally everything that he does to Gangle, it's all reaction-based, and that made me realize that, despite how selfish and uncaring he acts towards everyone else, community is still the one thing that truly matters most.

He needs the others so that they can react to his hijinx, as they are what give said actions meaning. If he had no crowd to watch as he acts like a shitty person, then he has no reason to do anything. But that is also where Jax's true character flaw comes in, his selfishness.

With how Jax is constantly pushing others around for the sake of his own amusement, Jax is very clearly a self-centered person. He is someone who is in it for himself and no one else. Who cares if others don't like him? Who cares if others despise him? As long as he gets to see funny things happen to people, he is gonna be okay.

But what happens when that method is no longer effective? What happens when the others don't give him the reaction he wants? What happens when he can no longer use chaos as a way to distract from the pointlessness of his reality?

Well, as scary as this may be to think about, Jax won't really have much of anything to fall back on. His cruel actions have wrote him into a corner. No one likes him, that much is obvious. And while Jax seems content with this now? What happens when he is put in the position of needing someone else's help?

Well, then he'll have no one, and it's ironically for the exact opposite reason to Ragatha. Ragatha's problem is that she is constantly repressing her emotions, despite the fact that she has people who care about her, she doesn't open up to them because in her eyes, her feelings are secondary to others'.

Yet Jax is the opposite, he's honest, he is self-centered, and that's also why he is one of the members who are in this most danger.

In a show that seems to be about how important community is and how important it is to stay together and be there for each other? To have a character who is the complete opposite of that. To have someone who doesn't care about others, who won't be there when someone else is hurting. To have someone who is actively making things harder for everyone... that just spells out demise.

Jax's true weakness is that he does not have a community who will be there for him when he needs it, he was never there for others so why should they be there for him? Meaning that when Jax is at the end of his rope, crying out for help, no one will listen, because as cruel as it sounds, most of the members would probably be happy that he's gone.

While this does admittedly rely a bit on speculation, I think what I've stated above might be the true reason for why Jax looked sad for a moment when the other characters were talking about the funerals held for those who have abstracted. Because in that small moment, he realizes he might not get a funeral of his own when he "dies", or if he did, no one would really have anything nice to say about him.

And that fear, that knowing of how the way you've built yourself up by putting others down has lead to everyone hating you, to everyone not having a single good thing to say about you... that is terrifying. And yet he hides it, he walks away, he refuses to attend the funeral because then he will have to be confronted with the uncomfortable reality of the fact that he won't die as someone who was remembered for doing good things.

The only thing he'll be remembered for, is how much everyone hated him. And all of that brings us right back, to Pomni.

I said at the beginning of this post, as well as with the title itself, that Ragatha and Jax matter to Pomni's character arc, but why is this? Sure they're both main characters so obviously they're going to influence her journey going forward, but how exactly does any of this matter to Pomni? It's simple really.

Ragatha and Jax represent two extremes, they represent what happens when you lean too far in one direction. In one case, it is caring too much about others and not caring about yourself, and in the other, it's caring too much about yoursef and not caring about others.

Pomni has already shown traits of both Jax and Ragatha. She has shown an empathetic, kindhearted side as seen in her interactions with Gummigoo, and she has shown a selfish side, as seen when she abandoned Ragatha for the "exit" in the pilot.

Pomni has shown herself to be both selfish and selfless. But what part of her matters more? Simple answer, both. It is important to care about others while also taking time to take care of yourself. Ragatha and Jax show what happens when you forget to do one of these things.

By always taking care of others, you're forgetting to take care of yourself, and by always taking care of yourself, you fail to take care of others. To find a healthy balance is to do both. To be aware of your own mental health while also making sure that others are doing okay too. And this is something that Pomni will need to realize if she is going to make it in the circus.

And this is where Jax and Ragatha become important. I believe these two will show Pomni how important it is to keep a balance of things. To not lean too far in one direction, as if you do, it spells bad news for you either way. And how will this be communicated to her and the audience?

Abstraction.

Think about it. If Ragatha and Jax's harmful practices continue without change and they end up abstracing because of it, that will be a wakeup call to Pomni, it will show her the flaws of being too selfless, and too selfish. Is it an extreme way to communicate such message? Sure, but it's also one that can't be ignored.

We, the audience, and Pomni, would see first hand the consequences of leaning too far in either direction, that if you don't find a balance, you will end up like Jax and Ragatha did.

And that's why I think these two in particular have been given so much screentime and attention these past two episodes. Because they are meant to show us the most extreme versions of Pomni's most prominent character traits.

The ability to care about yourself, and the ability to care about others.

Of course, I might be wrong in this assessment. We are far too early in the show's runtime to truly predict any big events like this. But from a narrative standpoint, I believe this interpretation makes the most sense in the way of showing us the audience, and Pomni, what truly matters. It's not just about you, it's not just about others, it's about both.

Thank you for reading.

[hms-no-fun]

i just want you to know that i read... i think Most of godfeels and had to stop because i was not enjoying it. but i think its really good and i really respect what you do. i think it's all too easy for people to mix up "this is not my cup of tea" with "this is bad and/or problematic". they dont take the time to see the artistry in it, why it is what it is, what it might be saying beyond their surface level read and the kneejerk reaction to it.

i also wanted to note that ive always been kind of scared of sharing fanworks for fear of writing "out of character" - and ive also even been afraid of it in original works. character isn't real and concrete, so anyone can decide something's out of character. so your exploration of that concept gives me more confidence as a writer. i really appreciate that and everything else you do. :)

thank you so much for this message! i'm glad you tapped out rather than force your way through something you weren't enjoying, that's a very mature response and something i wish more folks would recognize as a perfectly valid option. in fact i think pushing through and reading long after you've given up on the material, so to speak, is a great way to wind up angry at a writer for having "forced" you to endure such a trying experience. as i've said before, an author can't force you to do anything. you can close the book any time you like.

as far as the tension of "in character/out of character" goes, i think a lot of people in fandom struggle with the fact that "character" is very much in the eye of the beholder. sub-groups form within fandoms based on identities, politics, sexual predilections, etc, and typically gather around the fire that is their particular interpretation of a character. but from within that sub-group, it's rarely considered "an interpretation" so much as the obvious intended truth of the text. it's that intoxicating mood of finding people who share a perspective you rarely see elsewhere, like oh my god, you GET it, finally someone GETS it!

in homestuck fandom, for instance, quite a lot of people hate vriska and think she sucks, with a vocal sub-group of that sub-group still actively beating the drum that everything about her arc after [S] Game Over is the worst part of homestuck. but i love vriska, and my corner of the fandom very much organized around a full-throated defense of her. some folks think homestuck did tavros and gamzee dirty and that this is a fatal flaw in the text; when i countenance these people, i am convinced we read two very different comics. who's right and who's wrong? there are degrees. i can pull out any number of quotes from andrew hussie about the importance of vriska and the weenieness of tavros, but then, authors love to say things, and there's plenty of stories i love in ways that directly oppose to the authors' stated intent. the debate can never end because we are only ever talking about the version of a character or story that exists in our heads, based on the things that stuck with us when we read the thing (however long ago that was-- which is important because i find a LOT of people adamantly defending their headcanons haven't read the source text in a number of years. as time passes, your perception of the media you've experienced in the past morphs and distorts. someone who was right five years ago can be wrong today and not even notice the difference).

something i've realized in the last year is how much godfeels emerged from a very specific milieu, not just in terms of how we interpreted certain characters but in our approach to analyzing and talking about the text altogether. i believe most of the important stuff in godfeels is "in character" in most of the ways that matter, but it's built on a very specific meta that centered vrisrezi and transness and radical leftist politics and experimental hypertext. really, it's a post-Epilogues fanwork even despite the fact that godfeels 1 predates their release by a few weeks. and i think to this day a lot of homestuck fans haven't read the epilogues but have read fandom posts about how terrible they are (quite a lot of which will have either been written by teens, by people who already didn't like homestuck very much, or by one of the regressive stalkery weirdos prominent in the homestuck reddit/discord), and that misapprehension keeps them in the dark about just how many amazing tools the epilogues introduce to the homestuck formula that exponentially expand the expressive possibilities of attentive fanworks. and it of course elides the fact that the homestuck epilogues are a story about being in your 30s. i think we'll be getting a big re-appraisal of the epilogues in 5-10 years. it'll be the "twin peaks: fire walk with me" of homestuck, just you wait.

so these readers see my version of dirk being an unhinged murderous dick to a newly-out trans woman and go "he would never do that." then if i point at the epilogues, they'll say "i didn't read them/they're not even canon/that wasn't in character either." at which point there's nothing really to say, because we have two completely different perceptions of the text. who's right and who's wrong is almost always infinitely subjective, a circumstance that humans are notable for being very good at handling in a mature and politely discursive manner.

so i've got an "author's introduction" to godfeels baking in my docs to provide some context about the meta this story is built on, the milieu it came out of, that sort of thing. it won't make much of a difference in practical terms, but it'll at least be something i can point to.

in any event, thanks for this message. all i ever want is for people to give it an honest shot. i hope you can continue harvesting confidence from wherever it can be found. it takes a lot of audacity and backbone to be an artist, especially when you have something worthwhile to say. remember that you're not writing for the haters, you're writing for the kind of person, like you, who wants to see more stories like the thing you're writing. they're the ones who'll get it, they're the ones who'll stick around long after the haters have lost interest.

[oscconfessions]

i fucking hate the "why cabby's arc is lesbophobic, misogynistic, ableist, etc etc" post so so much. like okay listen i usually don't care about bad takes it's whatever, the ii fandom usually has terrible ones, but that post specifically has so much misinformation about cabby and takes things that aren't canon as canon (such as, cabby only "caring about fem-enby characters", when a lot of her friendships are with masc characters and she generally cares about people, or that she was treated badly because she "wasn't of help for any male character", when like, no, she was treated badly because she wasn't the best person at the start of s3 and people also forget that, etc) + she was like. actively not the greatest person due to the fact that taylor was in charge of her storyline, and when he was fired, they changed everything completely, and also, cabby's arc being lesbophobic's only proof being her VA doing Cabby's lines with a sapphic intent, which, 1- sapphic doesn't mean lesbian necessarily, there are mspec sapphic people and 2- whatever the vas do or say doesn't meant that it's canon to ii 3- again, it's literally not canon, please don't consider headcanons/ideas the rest of the crew has as canon (since justin did specificy back then that, unless if established by the three of them, it's not canon, or something along the lines of that, it's like saying that cake/brunch's hcs are canon just because he's part of the crew but like, no, they are not)

and meanwhile i can agree that cabby's portrayal of disability is not the best, and could've been better, i think that what people often forget is that. treating issues such as ableism on media doesn't mean that the creators themselves condone those. like yeah the characters (mostly silver and test tube) were assholes to cabby because of her disability, but AE never glorified it nor did they intend for others to feel like it was like that. hell, even the bot and cabby thing, people immediately assumed that it was an intentionally ableist (which, i get it, it could've been executed better) but like. People also forgot that Bot was going through severe identity issues and was strongly struggling with being written down as one thing (because 1, they were made to be the replica of someone. they were LITERALLY written down to act like someone. 2, they recognized that they were terribly attached to test tube and that's why their view on cabby was so complicated. 3. bot immediately recognized that what they did was wrong, and didn't intentionally want to hurt cabby, again. they ARE going through their own troubles as well. AND 4, in the next episode, bot immediately apologizes when given the chance and gives cabby a file they made themselves, because they understand cabby and don't want her to struggle.)

i specifically hate that post so much because it made people be insufferable regarding iii and also made people worse when it came to AE. It is filled with so much misinformation on general and I could break it down completely, but the person who made it just has terrible takes and it feels like they don't even like II and just like the fanon versions of it (and also i refuse to look at it again fully because it is genuinely just. so so weird). also it did make people be worse about Cabby, to which her treatment in the fandom fucking sucks already. like it actively made the fandom worse and it sucks so much.

i shouldn't be this angry about something this dumb because it is kind of stupid but like. oh my god that IS a terrible analysis AND a terrible post that did horrendous damage to the fandom. going on anon because i am too scared to go main. 👍

- 💛🎤 anon

.

[wasted-women]

ROUND 1B, MATCH 3 OUT OF 8!

Cause of Death & Propaganda Under the Cut:

Sky Young

Cause of Death: Disintegrated while attempting to save her friend/crush

Propaganda:

She literally only exists to be fridged, which is a shame because her death by probably the void would have made her an excellent tie-in champion for League. But no, she just gets dusted for Viktor’s character arc.

Her death was pointless aside from making Viktor feel guilty. Her whole character was that a) the was a brilliant scientist and b) that she was in love with Viktor and he didn't know. He was pursing dangerous magic for himself, and it's shown that the magic wouldn't have even killed him because he's now connected to it (through choice!). Sky died trying to save him from something that wouldn't have even killed him. Her death was literally just to make Viktor realise that the magic was bad/dangerous. Even though it clearly already was, but now it really is.

Princess Allura

Cause of Death: Sacrificed herself to save the universe

Propaganda:

The show has so so so many issues, but taking the black female lead and reducing her to a love interest and then killing her???? I never even got to the finale (bailed on the show seasons before) but I am still so fucking mad about this

The first case of fridging that many young girls saw.

Pyrrha Nikos

Cause of Death: Turned into dust after being defeated in battle

Propaganda:

Badass, powerful, beautiful. A warrior of virtue who tried to do the right thing. Was willing to risk having her entire personality overwritten in order to protect the world even though it scared her and conflicted with her ideals and concept of destiny. Everyone looked up to her. She was kind. She was smart. She was strong. She was one of the best characters in the show. And ever since she died, her death has only ever been brought up when it pertains to how it affects the one blond haired blue eyed author insert. Pyrrha deserved so much better.

There was SOOOOOOO much good build-up for Pyrrha's death. Like she's literally ACHILLES. With her trying to decide whether she should sacrifice herself to become the maiden or not and then when she finally decides to but it's taken away from her at last second when Cinder comes and kills Amber. How that contributes to her decision to fight Cinder even though it's certain suicide; that's sort of what she wants. She thinks she should have died before so she's going to fight Cinder to the death. And her final battle and ultimate death!!!! But then after her death happens we only see it in the lens of JAUNE. Like to an extent I get it because Jaune was close to her and he was the last person to talk to her. Him melting down the gold in her armor for his armor is a good moment. BUT ONLY JAUNE??? Volume 4 onwards, the only time we see any main character grieve it's always Jaune. RUBY LITERALLY IS THE MAIN CHARACTER AND THE PERSON WHO WITNESSED PYRRHA'S DEATH but she is barely given any screentime grieving!!! It's all Jaune and his manpain and how he is sad that she is gone and how they loved each other and it's like God give me a break. Even Pyrrha and Jaune's other teammates, Ren n Nora, never are given any screentime to grieve besides a quick second after Jaune looks at Pyrrha's statue. They don't even have a real good conversation about how fucked it was that Ozpin's team put Pyrrha in the situation that made her so suicidal in the first place other than outright dismissing it. For a show that loves to dissect and criticize Ozpin and his decisions they really didn't come back to that. Can a death retroactively become fridging? Because that's what this is.

[anxiouslynumbme]

Will I ever be able to watch the final season of Criminal Minds and continue with the show after that season 14 finale? Well, it's been years, and I honestly don't think I can, which sucks, 'cause I've been watching that show for so, so long and I wanted to see its conclusion. I mean, I assume they address the atrocious JJ "big confession." But they don't go anywhere with it, right? Please tell me they don't. I've managed to avoid spoilers for this long and honestly, I just don't want to know.

Do they even realize what they've done to the characters they've disrespected and ruined?

I just genuinely don't understand. If they had ever wanted to take Spencer and JJ that route, they'd had so many opportunities over the years to make it work believably.

For example, before she'd met Will, or even after, but maybe it didn't work out between them. They could've shown Reid jealous, or given any kind of indication that he still felt something romantic for her. Any indication that she'd felt something romantic for him, which JJ had never once shown, even when he had a crush on her.

But she fell in love with a wonderful man and got married and had kids. And you want to tell me she'd done all of that as a means of settling for second best because she was too "scared" to tell Spencer her feelings before? Why was she scared? Seriously, there's no reason for her to hide her feelings if she'd actually felt them. They didn't even give a proper reason for that supposed fear that made her start an entire life with someone else instead of just letting Spencer know how she felt. What was so fucking scary, writers? Why did she start an entire relationship/marriage if she was secretly in love with her best friend? Am I supposed to believe that JJ is that selfish, cruel, and dumb? They really fucking ruined her character in a way that's really hard to come back from.

This is a TV show, things have to be shown to the audience to understand a character's motives and actions. You can't just make a character say something after years of nothing, and tell us that was how they'd felt all along. The audacity to even imply that it was some kind of a slow-burn love story.

Have you ever watched or read a slow-burn story before? JJ and Reid did not have a slow-burn arc, in any way. Shape or form. We'd had nothing to show or indicate that for 14 seasons.

And I know that some people think their scenes were a bit more insinuating and hinting at something in later seasons. And you know what, yes, I can honestly pinpoint the moment the writers were like, we need to add a few more hugs to their scenes in case we decide to make them suddenly fall in love. And that was when Reid was in prison. They had given them a lot more scenes together where they hugged and touched a lot. But we, the viewers, had no reason to read into it because at that point we completely believed their best friends/siblings' relationship that had been going on all that time. It had been 12 seasons at that point. She's in a loving marriage with kids! Oh, and then after that, they decided to wait two more seasons to, you know, ruin their characters.

And giving them more hugging scenes does not warrant the potential of something romantic. Friends hug each other. Especially, JJ and Reid, actually. So I think the writers were just lazy, or just wanted to do something shocking for ratings or whatever. If they'd wanted to go for it from the start, they would've shown way, way more from the characters to convey hidden/secret romantic feelings and mutual pining over the years.

What a waste of a beautiful and pure friendship. They honestly went and threw 14 seasons' worth of character development, moments, and awesome dynamic down the drain.

I know that some people ship it, and that's fine, of course. But personally, I don't think I'll ever forgive it. This kind of reminds me of how I met your mother a little bit, only this is way worse. Because at the very least, Ted and Robin were together at some point, and you know, actually had romantic moments throughout the show. But Criminal Minds had no grounds to stand on, in my opinion.

[bonefall]

Any changes to Gullswoop in this? I love her so much and was so happy to see her given character this arc… I do try to ignore how disappointed I am that the Erins made her xenophobic in Sky. Strongly disagree that she’d be like that.

I'm sorry Anon, I'm completely and utterly in love with Gullswoop and where she's gone. For one it's good and healthy for the story for 'clan dynamics' to involve harsher characters, and for second, she's HILARIOUS, I love this gossip-obsessed queen and how she made fun of Shadowsight for being scared of a bee

For a background character I actually have a ton of backstory for her in BB!

[ID: Better Bones Gullswoop. She is white with black points, and red-orange eyes. She is resting her chin on her paw and grinning like a cheshire cat.]

Her name in Clanmew is Rewpiorru. Bird names are usually strange translations because of the fact that Clanmew has a TON of different words describing the flight and behavior of birds.

This is because they are a hunting culture and classifying prey behaviors, especially the way they escape capture, is extremely important.

Rewpiorru is "Black-headed-gull flying leisurely." This could have been translated as "Gulldance" or "Gullhover" or even "Gullflight."

It's a reference to her generally laidback nature. Heartstar has a love of dramatic and evocative names like this.

The ShadowClan family tree is NOT done yet, but it's so bad the entire thing is getting thrown out. Gullswoop is one of the only cats who I am 100% committed to something with.

She is the daughter of Ivytail, daughter of Fernshade and Wolfstep, niece of Blackstar.

And thank goodness for that, because having the OTHER well-known black-point cat as a famous relative is good cover for the fact her biofather was Darktail.

Ivytail joined The Kin happily when Yellowcough ravaged the camp, though she would come to regret her choice as people started vanishing.

Darktail was just an honor sire, though Ivytail wouldn't have been sure which of the Kin cats was the father if Gullkit hadn't been born looking just like him. Blossomfall's Stemkit, Plumkit, and Shellkit were in a similar boat.

For the record: Darktail was vaguely happy about this, but died when Gullkit was very young and so didn't have the time to explore those feelings.

I am still working out the Kin Drama of BB!AVoS and its related technicalities. I'm not sure if Ivytail survives the Kin ordeal or not, but I do know that at some point three litters of kits (Blossom's, Ivy's, Yarrow's) were separated from their mothers and had to be taken back.

Gullswoop is loyal to Heartstar more than ShadowClan. Even if she doesn't always agree with or understand Heartstar's choices, it takes a lot to make her loyalty waver.

She doesn't really "have political opinions" which basically means she leans Traditionalist, on the harder side.

More than anything, Gullswoop wants drama. She wants to know eeeeverything. She wants to taste all the tea.

I don't rewrite arcs until they're done, but Gull would make the perfect spy for Heartstar... which is probably why she's not involved in Berryheart's schemes despite being a bit xenophobic.

Conefoot and Frondwhisker might remain her brothers, but I can't say for sure yet. In any case, Gullswoop is FREE from Snowbird blood.

And that's Gull so far! Some of it is prone to change, especially since AVoS remains the most unsolidifed BB!Arc as of writing, but she's a background girlie I'm fond of.

[astral-nautical]

cant believe i havent seen anyone do this yet but. riptide pokemon au. heres my fucking thoughts

gillion's team is a solid mixture of electric, ice and water types. probably something built for competitive play but i aint that kinda smart so idk. BUT i do know his ace is a gyarados

gil's team was given to him by the elders over the years, and he was trained to be the best pokemon battler of the undersea

despite being told not to, gil is very close with his pokemon. he has a soft spot for all of them and can't Not be empathetic for them. theyre his babies :)

pretzel is a clobbopus. i know theyre not pink but listen. its literally a punching octopus. its also the cutest octopus pokemon LOL

pre-character arc gillion has a one track mind for competition Only. he loves his pokemon but they are also his weapons, in a way

as he spends more time in the oversea he adopts a more relaxed team. theyre still extremely strong and he still has his competitive pokemon but he stops caring about their stats and movepool and starts caring more about their personalities and bonding with them

chip didnt have any pokemon until he joined the black rose, where arlin gifts him an eevee

after the hole in the sea, it's just him and eevee against the world

his eevee refuses to evolve - especially during his time with price's gang, but even afterwards when theyre by themselves on the ocean eevee won't evolve

chip had his heart set on being a water type trainer, like arlin was, so he tries to convince eevee to evolve into a vaporeon. this is a running bit

its also a running bit that the team chip builds are all different types and use different strategies. members of the crew are pokemon btw i think gryffon is a pangoro LOL

his eevee is a little SHIT just in general. has cute privilege and knows it.

when gil is trapped in the dunjon, instead of taking his sword chip starts using his pokemon. he discovers that water types never really were his thing, after all.

its here, where chips at his lowest in a long time, demotivated and thinking of leaving his crew behind, that eevee evolves. into an umbreon - a dark type, but also a friendship evolution.

it evolves to show him that someone does care, that someone does want him around - his oldest friend, his pokemon.

chip learns to use all his pokemon to their greatest ability. i think he would have a bias for fire and dark types, but he becomes a well rounded and skilled pokemon trainer

jayjay! the ferins have a tradition where they breed their corviknights and pass the rookidees down to their kids. family pokemon :)

ava happens to get a shiny rookidee! she gets her rookidee right when she joins the navy and starts working under her father

this rookidee is...very nervous. greyhound energy. it's a shy little thing that has trouble battling and is very attached to ava and her little sister jay

ava takes the time to work through rookidee's issues and try and build it's confidence, jay acting as babysitter when ava is away at sea

at some point, after rookidee evolves into corvisquire, ava never comes home.

this ofc fucks with both jay and corvisquire. it puts corvisquire's training back by a lot and leaves jay grieving and angry

once she leaves with chip, she takes corvisquire with her. its too scared to battle and needs to be on or near her at all times, but it's a piece of her sister jay can't bring herself to leave behind.

jay ends up building a flying/steel type team, with corviknight growing and gaining its confidence as a pirate pokemon rather than a navy pokemon

its still got mega separation anxiety tho. it wears a nervous dog vest LOL

if anyone has anything to add i am all ears i fuckignlove my sillies and i love pokemon so. woe

[konohamaru-sensei]

To me, Kimi ni todoke is a perfect story

What can I say now that I have finished season 3? The season 3 we didn't even know we would be getting? Well, I used to tell friends that I am happy with whatever comes, but now im greedy and I want it all. I am very Kazehaya about new KnT seasons, I guess.

Anyway, I have been browsing the tag a little to find gifs and reactions and such, and I already see discussions (not much tbh but still) about how this and that in the story should be different and while the anime did skip things (Rip to "you are mine now" Nakamura-san would have sounded SO GOOD!), people are satisfiedI think. I am, at least, very happy.

But to me, Kimi ni todoke is perfect. and not perfect in this way that i have small problems but overall I'm happy. No, I find it perfect perfect. Every storyline every character development from beginning to end is perfect. I guess people complaining about Ayane or whatever, even if its not here on tumblr that much, just show me that I can't interact with fans of this fandom either.

See, ever since I found KnT in 2009 when I was just 17 (about the age of the characters in the story funnily enough) I have always rewatched it when I was doing poor mentally. I must have seen it 12-15 times over the years, I've probably watched it twice after my fathers death alone. These characters mean the world to me, all of them. I love all of them.

But the girls! At different times of my life I could always connect to another one of them. So much so that while I like Chizu best and think she resembles me the most (in fact, I think she is the anime character that is closest to me in personality), I find a part of me in all of them.

When I found the story I had just lost my friendgroup (because an ex lied about me, it happens) and I had to go back to being alone, so I emphasised with Sawako (and her distancing herself from her friends always makes me cry, without fail, always).

When I moved out to study in 2011 and was mentally so low in 2012 and dated guys because I thought otherwise they wouldnt be my friends, I reread Ayanes okinawa arc over and over and over again.

And of course I have my friends call me by a different name than my given name because my given name is boring lol Kurumi and me.

And ah, Chizu, it would be too long to explain. Too personal. Nobody would care. I had a best friend once that I lost because I was scared of our friendship ending. I love Chizuru because we are the same, and I'm jealous of her because she is better than me. I don't have time or space to express my feelings. Level up to Nisi friendship level 6 to hear tragic backstory.

Also, I can't talk about this show without mentioning how much the voice actors mean to me. Long before I knew any seiyuu-names I knew Kazehayas-voice. In fact, I hated oikawa in hq SPECIFICALLY because he has kazehayas voice and isnt nice! You gotta be nice with that voice man! Their voices are tattooed onto my soul and when I hear them in other places I always think of KnT first.

I love them so very much that when I watched the Tokyo E ncounter episode with Nakamura Yuuchi (Ryu) and Sanpei Yuuko (Chizuru) when they are playing Halo and he is teasing her for having bad aim, I started crying - like sobbing. It was so weird I have you know but I just sat there and I couldn't get it together.

Anyway, Kimi ni todoke is perfect to me. Everything about it means the world to me. I have to physically restrain myself to not rewatch the season again.

Please netflix, finish it, please. You may cut some things. I will forgive you if you cut some things, but give me the end.

[crithaus]

Percy being 'like that' in perpetuity is so very in character and funny and I'm still not over it truly. He's a shitty little bastard to literally everyone he knows, this coming from someone who loves him dearly, he's a bratty, snooty posh dickhead to everyone and despite that he had Keyleth, Vax, Vex, Pike and god only knows the guests and NPCs crushing on him at least a little bit, yes his heart is very big and he can be so so so sweet and kind and loving to those who have earned his affections but even to Keyleth, his best friend (re: every moral argument they have ever had), and Vex his beloved wife, (re: truly god I can only remember him flat out telling her absolutely not you scrub go bother someone else when she wanted to help him build her broom's seat but I know there has to be more) he's always had the capacity to be an asshole. Capacity and will without fail or hesitation fall back on being a snooty, aloof, uptight prick. (Edit: no hang on it's time to dogpile on mommy's special little man, in one of the prestream vines he literally threatens to skin someone and make a book out of the people leather and no I don't know the context and I don't need to, there's no way it was justified, this dramatic numbskull has literally always been like this)

Percy's traumatic start was not his fault and I would say that Im on the fence about Orthax being his fault because he says himself that he thought the deal was just a dream, but he does then choose to kick off the whole briarwood arc (starting a fight in Uriel's backyard almost getting them jailed for treason, defingering that one guy, setting that house full of people on fire for a second) and then just go full supervillain for a very long little while, and that most certainly is his fault even if the influencing factors were out of his control, and he fucked up a lot. A lot. And VM, his family, forgave him. Plenty of times. Ressurected him despite the dangers and loved him through his truly worst moments and saved his humanity alongside his life. And now here he is denying Laudna that same chance (while she has altogether done far far less to deserve her death) and I am not at all surprised because he lets his fear direct all of his decisions to an alarming degree. And! Not only that but he is wildly impulsive and has a bad habit of making decisions by himself because by Taliesin's own words Percy always thinks he's the Smartest person in the Room at any given time. He lets fear rule him, he's impulsive, he thinks he knows better than or can outsmart the consequences of his actions, and he's unfortunately very good at eloquently explaining himself. A true recipe for disaster. But, he's scared under it all. Has been for a while.

He's scared of Anna, Delilah, Sylas, it might come off as anger but I'd put money on the fact that that's because he could afford to be angry or at least focus on the anger, cuz he had Orthax gassing him up making him think he actually stood a decent chance at killing them all, he had his family besides him and some decent kills under their belt, he had Anna down an arm locked away in his dungeon cell and they had Pike on their side and Sarenrae with her, but I know they scare him far more deeply than he ever wants to admit (because he doesn't like having situations be out of his control either naturally, cuz the first time that happened he was brutally tortured, orphaned, kicked out of his ancestral home and beset upon by a demon taking maaaajor advantage of him) and now that he's free with most of his soul intact, now that his whitestone is once again full to bursting with life and laughter and children (children he never thought he'd deserve), now that he's settled into the leadership role he never thought he'd be ready for, now that he's settled down into domestic life with his wife whom he loves so much she brought him back to life, he is once again letting that fear (and the certainty as always that his every idea is the only one to have) rule all of his decisions. This is so incredibly on brand for Percy I could puke, and I know he's gonna apologize to Vex for being snippy later so fine Matt, well played I suppose.

Percy might be a dick but he's also a pillar of Vox Machina, these selfish dickheads brought out the very best in that bright young man and I know that with a bit of time he'll pull his enormous head out of his ass and get down to business, righting wrongs and writing lefts in true Vox Machina fashion. He's a hero at heart, even if he is retired, he just needs a bit of time to (over)think it all over.

[vampire-exgirlfriend]

Ten characters. Ten fandoms.

Thanks for the tag @theradioactivespidergwen 🖤 I love this!

1. Aemond Targaryen

I don't think any of us are surprised by this. Aemond is...the boy is everything to me. He's let himself become so warped and tortured by his trauma that recovery and self betterment were never an option. He's full of rage, he's cutting off pieces of himself to stay Mommy's good little boy, he's begging his father via his actions to notice him, notice him, notice him. The toxicity is off the charts and I would give my life for this scared child in a man's body.

2. Nesta Archeron

Nesta is a stone cold bitch and I would die for her. This woman, barely not a girl, was ready to sell her body to ensure a better life was possible for her sisters, and the entire time she was denigrated by Feyre for "doing nothing" because what she did was woman's work. Who do you think did the cooking? The cleaning? The clothes mending? She helped end a war. She was violated. She had her autonomy stripped from her. She was not allowed to process her trauma in the way that came naturally to her because it was a mirror that Rhys couldn't handle looking in. Very few people deserve a happy ending as much as she does.

3. Kylo Ren

Give me a character that is tortured by their actions and the legacy of their past and I will show you my favorite little baby in the whole world. He's so alone. He doesn't know his way in the world. He can't live up to his mother or uncle or father or grandfather and it's eaten away at something vital inside of him, leaving him rotting. The mental torture and abuse he's endured at the hands of Snoke have twisted him into something unrecognizable. And I love him, damn it.

4. Ophelia

She is hope. She is madness. She is full of life and love and all of the things the people try to chip away at as we grow up. This rendition of Ophelia stands above the rest for me because she was finally given the opportunity to set aside her suffering and continue on, even if it's with the knowledge of what genuine pain feels like.

5. Zuko

Are we really surprised by the addition of another angry young man searching through vindication and the reclamation of his honor by living up to the expectations of people who never truly cared about them? This list has a theme apparently. Zuko had one of the best and most rewarding character arcs of all time and his journey is one I literally watch over and over. Also Zutara forever.

6. Sansa Stark

Sansa is all of the things that were conditioned not to like when it comes to a character. She's feminine and a little whiney and naive. She's fodder for torture. And yet she's also one of the strongest characters in this entire series, both book and show (boo hiss). Sansa Stark turns her fear into hope and her hope into strength and I will never not love her.

7. Fleabag

I am her. She is me. Fleabag will never fail to rip my entire heart out and feed it back to me. She's awful. She's incredible. She's in pain. She's stumbling through life in the dark and using her suffering as a marker on the map.

8. Astarion

The theme continues. Suffering? Check. Insurmountable pain? Check. Using his body as a way to ensure his safety? Check. Saved via the power of love and friendship? Check. Astarion's arc follows a typically feminine-coded route and I was obsessed from the get go with this cunty little man. I want to wrap him in a blanket burrito. I want to sink my teeth into him. I want to spray him with a hose.

9. Eddie Munson

I'm not sure I've ever loved a character quite like I've loved Eddie Munson. The absolute heart of gold inside that poorly tattooed chest literally fuels me. He's insecure. He's an asshole. He's kind. He's angry. He's unsure of his place in the world. I will forever ignore the senseless tragedy of his death. It never happened. Nope. No. If I loved him less, I could talk about it more.

10. Dani Clayton

Dani Clayton, the love of my life. Though she weeps and trembles and avoids at all costs, there is no one stronger than Dani. She's suffered since the beginning and never let it stop her, not until she had to save the woman she loved by giving her very life. Tortured, haunted, so full of grief that it had nowhere to go. I would literally die for her.

No pressure tags: @jadore-andor @emilykaldwen @massivecolorspygiant @corrabell @cheesybadgers @ladylannisterxo @niocel @middimidoris

[sonadowkismesis]

tell me about the gun commander! I need to hear your opinions I am deeply curious

hi! i really apologize for taking this long to respond. truth is, i didn't know where to start. given how bare bones the writing is when it comes to the commander, it's difficult to talk about his character without immediately dipping into speculation territory... and i'd end up asking myself things like "is this an actually widely accepted hc or just something i've thought about?"

so, i'm gonna lay my cards on the table here and say that this will mostly me sharing my thoughts (some more speculative than others) about unexplored aspects of his character, or things i think would have deserved to be expanded upon.

but first off, i'd like to advertise this post (the one that got me thinking about this in the first place!) so you can see where it is i'm coming from, and so i don't have to reiterate the points touched upon there

the first thing i noticed about the commander is how... he feels like a near perfect mirror to shadow, in a way that i don't think many people have noticed.

they're two people who lost the one most dear to them and thus blames the other for this tragedy, determined to take their revenge on those who wronged them. shadow blames gun, humanity -that of which the commander is a part of, meanwhile the commander casts gerald and the black arms, and therefore shadow, as guilty. while the commander has sat with his anger and sorrow for decades, shadow still holds the memory of the massacre fresh in his mind.

do you ever think about the fact that they might be the only people still alive who knew maria? the commander literally says he saw maria as an older sister figure. not friend, a sister. when you take into account that shth is the same game where shadow and maria are first referred to as siblings, it's hard not to see this detail as... deliberate.

it's almost like sonic team looked at shadow's grief and revenge arc from sa2, and thought "what if we did that again, but from the other side of the equation this time?". i'm not crazy it's right there dude. it's compelling as fuck and probably why i'll never think of the commander as the flopburger character others see him as.

something people might bring up as a plothole is the fact we never see the young commander on the ark before shth. if he and maria were this close as kids, how come we never see them together in sa2?

the commander is an obvious retcon (and not the only one in this game tbf), but that elephant aside, the shadow and maria scenes from sa2 are short and few enough that i don't think it's asking too much from our suspension of disbelief to imagine that young commander just. happened to be away during the duration of these scenes. in fact, i can think of at least a few good reasons for why it makes sense for him to not be around them at this time.

given his status as a top secret project, it's reasonable to think shadow would have had limited contact with anyone on the ark who wasn't a scientist. maria being an exception speaks for itself as she is gerald's granddaughter, and to some extent the person shadow was "made for".

but above all, i think when taking into account young commander's apparent terror from seeing shadow... i could easily see him try to avoid the hedgehog as much as he could. not yet out of hatred (the way i see it, his grudge against shadow and gerald would only grow after the ark raid happens) but more out of suspicion, distrust, and especially fear. he's so offput by the fact maria keeps hanging out with this guy, that he declines any of her suggestions to spend time with them.

sidenote: although it seems silly to us, i like to think most children would be scared of shadow, and the commander was no exception (especially considering black doom was like, right there which probably made the scene feel a lot more sinister). maria would then be a rare exception, as her bouts of compassion/sympathy towards the experiments on the ark seem to suggest. i could see her as the type of person to catch a bug and show it off to you for a bit, going on about how cute it looks... if she's a creature enthusiast, it would make sense why she clicked with shadow so well, in contrast to the commander.

i could imagine that in the event where shadow and young commander would have to pass eachother down the halls, yc would immediately try his best to put distance between him and the (dreadful) creature. switching lanes, changing directions, walking very close to the wall, you name it. (in my mind, shadow doesn't pay much mind to yc, but the fact that this kid seems to be that terrified of him is somewhat amusing)

anyways, it's that tendency to keep shadow at arm's length that leaves me thinking that his confrontation with shadow 50 years later could very well have been his first time... actually talking to the guy. because he never actually got to know shadow personally, his entire perception of him was built on unchecked biases given space to fester for decades on end. in these conditions, is it surprising that the commander ended up holding that grudge against shadow for all these years? how easy it is to project all the evil in the world onto someone you know next to nothing about?

the semi-hero story is the only path where the commander actually gets to talk to shadow face to face and... the shadow he meets feels lightyears away from the monster he had made him out to be, from his quiet and measured demeanor, to the graceful acceptance of his sins. and worse, shadow doesn't even remember the massacre the commander had been so eager to blame him for.

it's a brutal clash between reality and the fragile narrative he's constructed, one that literally leaves the commander to collapse on his knees. in that moment, it doesn't matter if shadow truly is responsible or not when the commander's biases and resolve have been shaken regardless. how could the hedgehog who spoke with so much truth and integrity be the evil demon he's been chasing after for so long? it just doesn't make sense.

i think for the most part, the commander's change of heart about shadow as it is depicted throughout the game does the job, and that string of dialogue where he invites shadow over to make amends is really sweet (although you can only hear it when playing the expert mode).

the commander hasn't been utilized again as a character after shth aside from a few scenes in chronicles, which is kind of a shame... because if there's one thing that i think should have been explored further, it's the commander's involvement with GUN. while we get a somewhat substantial exploration of his perception of shadow and its evolution, the same can't be said for the other side of the coin.

think about it, do we ever actually see him reflect on the fact that GUN was the one responsible for the ark raid all along? how does he feel about working for the organization who literally killed his family? does he even know about it for that matter??

personally, i often feel like a lot of the complaints about this plot point are done somewhat in bad faith? i've always held the opinion that young commander likely didn't know better or was misled on GUN's involvement on the ark, deliberately or not. i don't know about you, but to me, an 8yo child trusting a human-led organization who we know to lie to the general public in order to cover their tracks, over a scientist whom he personally saw create an all powerful creature with the help of an even more terrific alien demon kind of... speaks for itself. listen, my point is, it's not that hard to think of a reason why the commander would have this perspective on the events that transpired, especially given he was a small child when they happened.

but.

even putting sonic fans' obtuseness aside, the fact that none of this is touched upon in the actual game is such an oversight... like, it's a setup that never sees a pay-off or is ever called into question, and i understand shth is about shadow's character first and foremost, but jeez if you're gonna create a brand new character from scratch with their own backstory and motivations maybe don't leave a huge blank space right in the middle of it? it's sad because by diving into the circumstances of his enrolment at GUN, they could have covered some interesting themes like that of military indoctrination. and it would have added another layer of parallels between him and shadow, who is also deceived throughout the game and struggling to find the truth...

i think i've exhausted all the points i've wanted to make, so here are some dumb hcs i came up with that i didn't know where to mention

- since the commander was a child on the ark like maria, he might not have seen a lot of the earth so it's totally possible that shadow is the first mobian he ever saw, which would add to the spook factor

- the commander's parents were scientists who brought him along on the ark when he was little more than a toddler (i'm thinking around 4yo?). they were killed by GUN as part of the initiative to stop project shadow (afterwards the young commander would be told it was because of a freak accident involving gerald's roaming experiments, something he would believe for most of his life)

- after the ark raid, the young commander would be sent to live with distant relatives back on earth, all while being closely monitored by the organization (as they must have done with the other rescapees)

- the grandchild he mentions in expert mode is a little girl named alice, aka alicia. she was born on 30th october 2005, a few weeks before the game takes place (her parents were trying for an halloween baby and missed the mark by a day) (i may have kind of designed a whole family for the commander? if anyone's interested, maybe i'll post them eventually)

- the commander was granted access to a secret safe after rising through GUN's ranks. it has a ton of memorabilia that was locked in there after the ark shut down, away from prying eyes. as part of his effort to make peace with shadow, he invites him to go through it so he could recover some of his memories. among the countless toys and photos of maria he thought he'd never see again, there is no mention or pictures of project shadow at all, which was likely destroyed forever.

[skrs-cats]

I have reread sunrise (the first actual wc book I've ever owned) and it's been WILD reliving a few of my memories with all the made up stuff I've accumulated in brainrot over the three, now I have all these thoughts that I have to vomit out. Aka a REALLY LONG incomprehensible ramble post abt the ending book of po3. Mostly about lionblaze though. I'm sory

*IDK how many times I've mentioned this, but chapter 1 starting out w lion leaving the df for good and beating tigerstar in a fight ALWAYS makes me wonder how things would have been affected if he just straight up went for the killing blow. I've only ever read books 1-5 once, so I don't have the best memory, but I think it's interesting to note that tigerstar managed to actually injure him, and lion was scared that if he died here he'd be dead for real, and then lion was surprised to see the wound when he woke up. I'm just wondering if these facts were first introduced here or if I just have tunnel vision towards this book (which is also true)

*'lionblaze always knew there was something wrong between him and ashfur' no shit bitch 😩😩😩😩😩 and then there's lion wondering if cats suspect him as ashfurs killer, something to do about everyone realizing how they never got along. and NOW I'm thinking about lion ending his df dream w tigerstars blood on his paws, and how that might have made the READERS suspect HIM to be the killer (leafpool prolouge chapter contributing to this supicion seeing as lion is also her kit) Only to end as a red herring when Holly is revealed to be the girlie w mascara running down her face (u can't see it clearly but my point stands)

*interesting lines about ashfurs death that I think about regarding what a warrior means for the clan (nonverbatim):

-'Ashfur never mattered this much when he was alive'

-'Ashfur's murder now made the clan determined to make him into a hero.'

*lion is posited to be the brave one of the three, in regards to physical danger and such. I am taking this character trait and cranking it up to a million

*I forgot smoky and floss existed :( IDK if they're still alive in the latest arcs but I hope they're doing ok

*brambleclaw trying 2 be nice to his kids and tell them that they can confide in him bc clearly they're all hung up about something but being denied it is funny and sad to me personally. He didn't talk w Jay, just as leaf didn't talk much w lion in this book, but I think it's given an interesting ending when in the end, its officially revealed even squirrel didn't tell him of the truth, which ends their relationship for the most part. I really do wonder how well he could have taken this if he was in on the secret from the very start.

*outside of that they sure do like to crank up the dramatics and mention bramble / squirrel as their parents any chance they get so that the three can be Emo about it like. 'THEYRE NOT MY MOTHER/FATHER.' 'WHATEVER SKILLS WE HAVE DIDNT COME FROM YOU.' 'WHY DO YOU CARE SO MUCH? WE'RE NOT EVEN KIN!' last one is abt leafpool which is honestly a lot. I think.

* one of the saddest parts about this book was how lonely they made purdy 😭😭😭 this poor old man. I'm glad they brought him back to the clan. But also I think they just forgot about him bc for someone being so vocal in defending Sol, he was outright just not mentioned when it was revealed Sol 'escaped'

* more lines that I think about regarding clan cats (also nonverbatim)

- Clan cats' instinctive distrust of outsiders

- why do clan cats have to think they always know what's best?

* Sol. He's just there to me ig.

* I liked jingo. I hope she's doing ok even now

*criminal how this book barely has any sibling bonding w the three when that is my blood sweat and tears. Maybes that's why I got so obsessed w the three of them being happy together bc I was STARVED.

* honeyfern 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

* call it the thunderclan bias in me but I was sorta annoyed when the three other clans walked in and told them that they should get rid of Sol or else. But also thunderclans reaction to Sol seemingly having run away is like. Giving back stolen candy to pre schooler vibes. Or something. This makes no sense I'm sorry

*I think it's interesting that Jay and Holly manage to find out who their mother is thru their own way. With the former deducing it on his own (I actually enjoyed the detective esque work he did in doing it) and Holly straight up asking leafpool. So now I propose lion being informed someway or other thru SQUIRRELFLIGHT BC I WANT FOR HER TO TALK W ANY OF THEM AND THAT LION FIINDING OUT THRU HIS SIBS WAS SO BORING OKAY I WANT HIM TO HAVE A SHOCKING REVELATION TOO-

* ahem. Also can I mention Holly confronting leaf abt who their parents were and leaf thinking it was about ashfur is so unbelievably ????? KHADHD, I'm not saying it was bad. but MAN. Talk about awkward huh

* anyways. When they all find out that leaf is their mom and then squirrel and leaf are mentioned to have looked at the three in the same familiar expression they have always had; love. And that line hurt me as much as Holly refusing to acknowledge or listen to it and running away. Lion and Jay werent against listening to what their 'mothers' had to say, but they loved Holly more than to just let her go on her own

* I always blabber about how they should have tried to talk thru their issues but man. They tried multiple times. They tried so hard. I'm not gonna specify who but they tried.

* Holly and lion changing their view of Sol in opposite ways in the two instances they meet w him is interesting but also a bit confusing. The last time we get a pov of lion is when he helped Sol escape so we don't really get a clear idea of his own thoughts anymore w everything after. That's why I can't help but just think abt him I guess

* reading Hollyleaf spiral more and more into her grief and despair sure was something.

* out of the three, jayfeather was actually the calmest in this book. Which is saying something, I think. I'm now taking this and making it my mission to have all the three of them as short tempered grumpy schmucks.

there's a lot more to talk about for me regarding these three, but I think I've used up all the words in my brain. My last thought though, is that after going through All That as an ending, it was really funny to just have this as a preview of the next book.

Also a bonus picture of what this book looks like too, sorry if it hurts u but it's testament to me on how much I adored this thing when I was younger </3

[she-likesorchids]

10 Characters • 10 Fandoms • 10 Tags

Thank you so much for the tag @bellaxgiornata !!!!

These are in no particular order and I am about to absolutely GUSH about my little meow meows (some of them committed crimes so the fuck what) so, putting this under a cut.

1: Elektra Natchios

Alright, so I know most of the Daredevil fandom doesn't see eye to eye with me on this one, but HEAR ME OUT. Until I started reading the comics, I too thought she was just Matt's mean ex girlfriend that came to town to wreck shop, but she is so much more than that. She's an orphan. She's not seen as a human being, but a weapon. All she knows is to kill or be killed. She's a survivor, and she's incredibly self aware. One of my favorite arcs is when she becomes Daredevil in the Zdarsky run and she takes another orphan under her wing as a sort of apprentice, but the girl ends up running away, and Elektra thinks "maybe it's better this way because I'm poison". I didn't think I could cry at comic books, but Elektra just makes me feel all the feelings. Also, Elodie Yung is MY Elektra. I don't even recognize Jennifer Garner as Elektra.

2: Matt Murdock

My DARLING disaster Catholic lawyer vigilante. Oh, he's got a savior complex deeper than the Mariana Trench, but I just wanna cuddle him and stitch up his wounds and tell him it's gonna be okay.

3: Shiv Roy

SHIV DID NOTHING WRONG. She was never going to be given a seat at the table so she had to take it by force. She's just trying to play the game in the world her daddy created. Yeah she's a tough boss bitch on the outside, but she is deeply flawed and she feels just as deeply. I SOBBED at the scene when she reverted back to being a scared little girl when talking on the phone to her dying father. Give Sarah Snook all the Emmys.

4: Gwen Stacy

My blog handle isn't "theradioactivespidergwen" for nothing. Honestly, the Earth-65 Spider Gwen comics are my favorite. I love Gwen so much. She's a drummer, she's a superhero, she's a daddy's girl, she's deeply misunderstood, she's EVERYTHING. I could honestly talk about my dear "Gwenzelle" all day, but I shall refrain.

5: Kate Bishop

Y'all should have heard the SCREAM I scrumpt when I heard that they were bringing my girl Kate into the Hawkeye series! The Avengers' best annoying little sister. I hope to see more of her and I hope that she takes up the Hawkeye mantle from Clint in the MCU.

6: Amy Santiago

Yeah, ACAB and all that, but I have never been so seen in my life in a character. Just, the awkward nerdiness, the need to prove herself to the boys, and the absolute mega type A personality. I like to think I'm Rosa Diaz, but I'm actually Amy Santiago.

7: April Ludgate

"I only like dogs and sleeping late."

Same girl, SAME.

8: Tina Belcher

How can you not love Tina?! I will not hear any Tina slander, NONE.

9: Frank Castle

Another disaster vigilante. He's driven by revenge, but he's still got a soft side. He's a protector at heart, and he loves animals.

10: Lestat de Lioncourt

So, I fell in love with the 1994 movie adaptation, and I attempted to read the books at one point, but life happened. I recently finished the IWTV series on AMC, and Sam Reid's take is just SUPERB. I love that this version delved into the hurt he's endured over his long lifetime, and that there is a reason for his madness. There usually is, but this is nice to see.

No pressure tags and apologies if you have been tagged already: @acrossthesestars @withahappyrefrain @moongirldreamer @spiderispunk @virginiaisforvampires @chvoswxtch @castlesnchurches @peterman-spideyparker @magpie-to-the-morning

[arospecbandgeek]

You posted abt an OC, I am already eating good 🤭🤭

Anyway, time for questions!

1- Has she ever been in a fight? If so did she win or lose?

2- If she's dating Carcrash, has she met Giovanni? What did she think of him?

3- If bribed with 30$ would she eat dirt?

4-Given her status as a senior at SJHS what does she think of the underclassmen? And what does she plan to major in once she goes to college?

Lastly (ik your new here I don't expect you to know much Abt my ocs, but I wanted to ask it anyway. You don't have to answer if you don't wanna :)) If she met any of my own OCS, what would she think of them? Would she have a favorite? Maybe she finds them annoying because they're all sophomores?

this took me much longer than it should’ve, ill be honest. but i love my oc too much to care. length warning.

1- Has she ever been in a fight? If so did she win or lose?

Yes. Blaire got into a fight with her ex-best friend, Veronica in her sophomore year. Not a fight fight, like in the series, like with epithets, but a regular in school fight. She ended up losing, getting part of her hair ripped out, and suspended for two weeks. There’s more to this, but I don’t have all the details figured out yet.

2- If she's dating Carcrash, has she met Giovanni? What did she think of him?

Yes. Since Giovanni’s two years her senior, the two didn’t interact much pre to her dating Car Crash. Before then, they only interacted once when Giovanni threw a sword at her in middle school. But they’re currently acquaintances. The two don’t have much in common, so their conversations are mostly just small talk.

3- If bribed with 30$ would she eat dirt?

No. She’d probably get angry at whoever asked her to do that.

4-Given her status as a senior at SJHS, what does she think of the underclassmen? And what does she plan to major in once she goes to college?

She doesn’t like freshman (basically the “freshman = bad” mentality). Jennifer (her current best friend)’s sister is a freshman. She’s essentially one of those who act entitled and tough since “she’s in high school now”, and Blaire uses that as basis for all of them. She’s fine with sophomores. She sees them as “immature”, but doesn’t care too much about them. For the second part, she has no plans after high school. Being a cheerleader is really the only thing she’s passionate about. Blaire doesn’t really want to go to college, since she hates essentially every subject and is barely passing. She only applied to community college, mostly just to get her parents off her back.

Lastly (ik your new here I don't expect you to know much Abt my ocs, but I wanted to ask it anyway. You don't have to answer if you don't wanna :)) If she met any of my own OCS, what would she think of them? Would she have a favorite? Maybe she finds them annoying because they're all sophomores?

Something to add is that Blaire somewhat of an ego (not as much anymore, she goes through a whole ass character arc before the series, which is a story for another time). She’s willing to double down on almost anything, from compliments to insults. So if any of them hated or insulted her, she would hate them or insult them back by default.

But assuming they did like her:

Sabrina - Blaire would talk to her if Sabrina did first. They would be on okay terms, mostly because Blaire sees her as immature and doesn’t want to talk to her much about her day to day life, believing that Sabrina wouldn’t understand.

Bonnie - In all honesty, she’d be deathly afraid of her. Blaire used to be a bully, and has gained reputation for doing such things, but has never been too physically violent (other than that one time). So the idea of interacting with a former juvie convict scares her. She’d likely hide behind her fellow cheerleaders whenever she’s around.

Parker - They’d be the most likely to be friends, even though she sees sophomore’s as lesser. I can’t decide if she would see her as an acquaintance or would want to “adopt her” as a lot of seniors will “adopt” underclassmen to ease them into high school.

(I’m just going off the ones on your wiki since there’s a lot of them.)

thank you for the ask! 💞

[acourtofthought]

I came to a realization/prediction/hope this weekend which I feel the need to share with you.

I think there’s going to be a moment in the Elucien book when Elain is going to hurt Lucien, badly. Idk if it will be telling him about Azriel or something else, but I think Lucien is going to tell her he needs time.

I think it will be obvious how hurt he is, and Elain is going to feel terribly about it. Whether or not she comes to this conclusion herself or someone else will remind her (Vassa? Jurian? Eris? An entirely new character?) I don’t know, but she’s going to remember that when she needed time, Lucien gave it to her. So, she’s going to need to swallow her wants (& maybe pride) to give him that same courtesy in return. And in doing so, she’ll gain a new appreciation for him, and his character.

I believe this will be after they’ve built a banter, hell maybe even after they’ve already kissed and been quite intimate. Something which truly makes her scared that she might loose him for good, and forces her to face that deep seated fear of rejection. A similarity between herself and her mate, but something she’s previously avoided and now can’t.

Obviously, I think they will end up together. I think Elain will let Lucien come back to her, and when he does, force him to hear her apology (because he never gets the apologies he’s deserved, and can be too forgiving, somewhat to his detriment.) And, I think this will be the foundation of her protectiveness of him. Not that she wouldn’t have been be before this situation, but that now she’d have a newfound fire in facing anyone who came for him. A loyalty and fierceness equally matched by her mate.

Anyways, I just wanted to share and ask what you think!

🧼💖

NTSSM!!!! I wouldn't be surprised if we already had that happen in SF. That scene where Cassian says, "Where's Elain?" and Lucien responds (voice dripping with discomfort), "I am not always in this city to see my mate" then he later goes on to look at her with longing on Solstice but the whole thing with Az happens. I'm not sure how much Lucien is aware of what nearly went down that night but he must have sensed something in the last year. I imagine he's gotten to the point, regardless of how much he longs for her, where he's frustrated with the situation, where he is hurt with the situation. And I think the start of their book will be with him fed up with her actions and where we maybe see a little bit of a temper from him. Where he's kind of given up on the idea of there being hope for them. Though I'm not sure I see them having progression in their book only for him to be hurt by her and him telling her he needs more time (at least not in a major way) because that halts the story overall. If Elain and Lucien's arc involves them traveling to Spring, the human lands, the continent, etc., they're going to be forced to interact for that fact alone and I don't see either Elain or Lucien being the one to hold a grudge during that time. I also don't see Lucien being so hurt that he would shut her out for any reason. Normally mated males would rather sacrifice their own happiness than cause distress to the female. Though maybe it would be something along the lines of what we saw with Feyre and Rhys, when she lashed out after their visit to the CON or Nesta and Cassian after he said he didn't have a choice in being shackled to her and she called in their bargain. Both Rhys and Cassian were hurt by some things their mate said and though both pairings need a few days to clear their minds, it didn't make the guys question wanting to be together. With her endgame pairings, she usually has the FMC apologize for her past behaviors but she doesn't have the male typically push her aware for anything. I do think though, when Elain finally lets go of her stubbornness in regards to the bond and she gives that big apology to Lucien for her behavior the last two years, that's when we'll really see the protectiveness you mentioned come into play.