#and how that went into this weird sibling position dynamic

[vigilskeep]

i think one of the things i find hard to understand about the aveline hawke dynamic is that. okay the basic setup is that aveline, regardless of her opinions of hawke, has an intense loyalty to them from lothering onwards that is almost impossible to break even seven years later. spying on hawke and potentially interfering with hawke’s brother’s career is what, in aveline’s words, saves her protectively “camping on [hawke’s] doorstep” after what they went through together. i can see what aveline thinks she owes hawke; hawke got them flemeth’s help, and helped deal with wesley in whatever way, and aveline got into the city off the back of the hawkes’ year of indentured work. although the way she shows it is weird and invasive, the reasoning all basically checks out, sure

i guess i just don’t understand what aveline ever did for hawke for hawke to let her do all that without the option to draw a boundary. fleeing from lothering, she doesn’t particularly protect hawke’s family, and all she says as long as she still has wesley is that they can all go back to hating each other when it’s over. and in kirkwall, she never does anything for hawke or hawke’s friends with her guard position, as i’ve been seeing people point out today, despite the extreme danger many of them live in day-to-day through no fault of their own. (and aveline only got that guard position in the first place because the hawke siblings were doing a year of ugly work to get her into the city at all!) she even makes hawke do the work that she doesn’t expect of the guards, and protects guards accused of rape from investigation the way she never does for hawke’s friends. i think a simple conversational mention that, idk, she spent a year helping feed your family while you and your sibling were working off the debts, or a personal quest where the protectiveness of you that she talks so much about actually happens, would do a lot.

the game often acts like she’s doing you a favour just by descending to walking around with the likes of you and your friends. but it’s not like you need that; you can leave aveline out of the party and go the entire game without getting anything from her at all. and it’s not like aveline is actually better than the rest of them to be lowering herself by working with them. the difference, exclusively, is that the privilege she was born with got her access to an above-board position and a legal life. which she shows no awareness of and you can’t point out. annoying!

i don’t just wish you had the option to kick her out of the party because i don’t want her there, although, admittedly, i’d be tempted. i feel like having the option would just make sense for her role as a companion. it’s irritating that you have to deal with how presumptuous and judgemental aveline is without any option to not put up with her, as if you owe her anything. the game lets you treat most of the other companions abysmally, but locks a lot of your roleplaying choices by for some reason always operating on the basic assumption that you and your character must like aveline and want her there, even on 100% rivalry. and i don’t understand why it expects that or what she did to earn it

[riyanne-mariie]

Yeah I watched that entry #1 - The Umbrella Academy

So many of us have watched the Umbrella Academy and were anticipating the final season and how it would wrap up the many storylines of our beloved characters. The main things to address both positive are as follows.

Klaus' story line

Lila and Fives "romance"

Production quality

The Jennifer incident

The ending

Yes, I stayed up until midnight and watched episodes 1-3 of season four. When watching these first few episodes I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel after a bleak season three which had me questioning if TUA was really my favorite show, unfortunately the worst was yet to come. The first problem I had with his season arose with the lack of screen time given to Klaus' sobriety and ultimately his relapse. What I found troublesome is that the gaps in his storyline damaged the progress made throughout the series. Weeks after the release while scrolling on TikTok I I came across a deleted scene in which Klaus went to AA after being buried alive, this scene gave so much clarity about his character development and was so touching to who Klaus is in the S4 timeline it is such a shame it was left out of the final cut. Now moving on to probably the worst romantic storyline arc ever written Lila and Five. The weird fascination the writers had with five throughout the seasons always rubbed me the wrong way from the remarks made about five by the handler in season 1-2 to the culminating of such an odd "romantic" connection forged between Lila and Five. Hundreds of fans have criticized this decision stating that it's "out of character" for both Lila and Five, i completely agree. Lila has always had a difficult relationship with family due to her parents being assassinated (BY FIVE) and the Handler lying to her for the entirety of her life, this relationship with family began to heal nearing the end of season two due to Diego's love and accepting attitude toward Lilas flaws. Additionally, Five has been very family centered saving the world and his family time and time again avoiding the apocalypse. This combination along with the sibling relationship established in the previous seasons made this plot point a verrryyyy hard watch. (not to mention the odd age gap between the actors). Now shifting toward something more positive the production value of this season was so much better compared to season three which in my opinion was the least visually stunning season. The camera work, costuming, set design and special effects made this season better in my opinion. Almost at the end I promise. Now, The Jennifer incident, I was hugely dissapointed in this storyline, Ben has been my favorite character since season one and the Jennifer incident felt rushed, sloppy and underwhelming. It was just so unrealistic, NO WAY Jennifer woud just run away with Ben after talking with him for a couple seconds. While I understand the two of them share a timeline connection it felt so disconnected and not well thought out. I also just hated the way they explained Ben's death I felt like no emotion toward it despite him being my favorite :( so sad. Last but not least the ending. I actually liked the ending, so many have said they didn't care for the siblings "dying" but I disagree because the melancholy ending felt like it encapsulated the difficulty of family and especially their complex family dynamics. The marigolds at the end were cute and it was a sweet end to a terrible season ig. Thx for reading xxx

[neolxzr]

Literally a genuine question no ill intent

What do you like about Aira? As much as people are absolutely adamant Akira is projecting (I really don't think he is (I'm not saying Akira is innocent) I just think he's trying to address the prejudiced thoughts the average Japanese person will have on the Ainu) Aira's weird comments and behaviour to Hiiro have been there since day one. And I also think Aira being the one who says all this is because he's supposed to reflect the fans and the average Japanese fan probably isn't that educated on the Ainu + there can be a good few racist enstars fans...

I'm not trying to sound heated about this I'm just coming from a genuine place, what appeal is there in Aira?

Also, as much as the Aira fans are talking about blaming Akira, I feel like there should absolutely be a focus on Hiiro right now considering that comment was... yknow said to him. I just think we should actually be talking about the Amagis considering that comment was intended to discuss the Amagis and their culture and the discrimination they go through.

i had someone ask me a similar question once but not in the context of all thats happening currently so you can read that here if youre inclined

buuuut what made me like aira so much in the first place was honestly that his concept as a character is really funny. i made a post a long while back that went into the funny meta jokes that you could make using aira as a character before i really knew much about enstars at all. having a character in your idol series that loves idols and canonically reads fanfic about them is just a funny concept in general. and as i continued to read more he continued to be funny and annoying and endearing (his little mini interaction with midori comes to mind immediately. there is something wrong with him)

also i tend to gravitate towards characters that give me like. little sibling energy. i love having a favorite little guy to dote on

but afterwards what really drew me to him was the main story!! thermometry specifically comes to mind (ouuugh,,,,). his feature scout stories are also great and so is feather touch! i wont like. go into detail really cause my blog is covered in me talking about aira already

his dynamic with hiiro is one of my favorites too, especially in mainstory. their dynamic isnt JUST aira says shitty things to hiiro and thats it. their relationship develops really far to the point where aira admits that he needs hiiro as much as hiiro needs him. they're young and inexperienced and kind of codependent as they're trying to keep themselves from going under in a sort of cutthroat industry. i think thats really neat. their relationship is really sweet to me and aira is a great tsundere type of character. he regularly is shown to actually like hiiro a lot as mean as he can be to him sometimes i.e. here. and you know the whole holding hands thing (which they also fucked up in the climax story but Whatever)

theres also this. which i think about regularly. the hiiai shipping fuel is vast

and additionally i think aira has some really great relationships with other characters too, alkaloid especially. feather touch develops his relationship with tatsumi a lot and its one of my favorite aira moments. i couldnt find my screenshots for this one but basically aira gives tatsumi his unlocked phone (something VERY important to aira since hes a little screenager) and it shows tatsumi just how much aira trusts him and he realizes how important aira is as a friend to him. being someone with a history like him aira's friendship is sort of new to him and it helps them both grow

he loves his friends so so much and he’s had a positive impact on all of alkaloid. he is its heart after all

but in any case i'm not going to like, defend myself for liking aira. i am aware that the shitty stuff has been there from the start but i've said something similar in the past that was like. aira isn't real and he cannot take accountability for what he says. he's a character written by real people who doesn't have any control over how he acts. so i guess that's why when i think the writers write something i dont think he would do or say in my own personal aira opinion i can sort of brush it off as just bad writing.

and not in the sense that i dont recognize that enstars sucks, because it does. enstars can be terribly racist sometimes and not just when concerning aira, and thats important to talk about (i.e. the orient cards, the king of thieves cards, etc). but at the end of the day the most important thing to recognize is the people and company behind the game as well as the real people who play the game and are affected by it. and not like, the specific characters in the game. cause they didn't actually do anything or feel anything you know

[anghraine]

I was just thinking about The Borgias and how one of the changes from history had an intriguing consequence for its own narrative.

The Borgias focuses on Rodrigo's children by Vanozza dei Cattanei, and I think suggests that they are Rodrigo's only children in order to simplify things. But IRL, this core trio quartet did have older half-siblings, at least including two older sisters (Isabel and Jeronima) and a brother (Pedro Luis).

This matters to the family dynamics in The Borgias because, historically, Cesare was not the firstborn son. The various firstborn-son privileges went to Pedro Luis because that was a perfectly normal thing to do and Cesare went into the priesthood—also perfectly normal for a younger son. And then, when Pedro Luis died, his privileges fell to the next son who could receive them, Juan.

But in The Borgias, Cesare is the firstborn. So Juan getting the duchy and the military career and basically every secular advantage is genuinely quite strange.

There's eventually some blahblah about Rodrigo actually having a master plan for Cesare with a hereditary papacy or whatnot, but this seems a pretty weak retcon to me. To me it seems like show!Rodrigo just bypassed his firstborn son in all this for not much of a reason beyond personal preference, which would be a really big deal in their social context (even as depicted in the show).

I don't think their dynamics suggest Cesare was recently disinherited; I think Juan has clearly been given the firstborn son treatment for a long time.

The interesting thing about this to me is that steamrollering Cesare into the priesthood and handing everything else over to Juan would be such a weird slight on Cesare that his resentment and longing for Rodrigo's validation make a lot of sense in his context.

At the same time, all this makes Juan's position very shaky on paper, because Rodrigo could just push Cesare back out of the priesthood and actually treat him like the firstborn son if he felt like it, and people would probably think this was more appropriate. And IIRC Rodrigo actually threatens this at one point, so it's not just a theoretical possibility. I personally don't think show!Rodrigo would ever have really displaced Juan (least of all in favor of Cesare, on whom Rodrigo projects all his self-loathing). But it makes a convenient bludgeon to get Juan in line.

And I don't think Juan knows that Rodrigo wouldn't actually do it. But I do think he knows that his position and privileges are dependent on this apparently arbitrary, highly unusual choice of Rodrigo's that could easily be changed. And I suspect this plays a major role in how Juan thinks of himself and Cesare, and what their dynamic is on his side as well as on Cesare's.

[ryuichirou]

Replies

I have a couple of older asks that need longer replies, and I’ll try to answer at least one of them tomorrow… but today we have a bunch of shorter ones!

furubatsu asked:

In an ask you answered ages ago, you mentioned how Malleus threw off your Top/Bottom radars at first and I was curious, are there any other characters that made you go "their x! No, wait, y!"

Ooh, good question! The only other character I can think of is Lilia, but he wasn’t as confusing as Malleus: his design threw us off, but the moment Lilia opened his mouth, we figured him out lol

We really very rarely have problems with that, because it’s more about feeling the vibe of a character than anything else.

But Malleus really did confuse us for quite some time…

Anonymous asked:

are you two aware of league of legends? maybe the jhin x hwei dynamic would be interesting…

We know of it, but we aren’t even remotely closely familiar with the lore and stuff, but we actually went and read a bit about Jhin and Hwei after receiving your ask and YEP WE GET IT LOL to be honest we’re flattered that you thought that we might like them… they really do have an interesting dynamic, and the fact that it’s rooted in deep feelings about art and has some much despair and inner and outer conflict honestly makes it very spicy.

And Hwei’s design 👌💖💖💖 instantly love him.

Anonymous asked:

Even though Regina George isn't really fitting for Vil, I bet the in universe rps/rpf community loves casting him as her in Mean Girls AUs and frequently make comments about how Vil should've been cast as her in the musical version and/or remake.

Anon, I 100% agree that the in-universe fandom fancasts him as Regina all the time. He should start asking Mira who is the most “he should’ve played Regina in the musical omg” person in the world lol

But at the same time I feel like this is the reason why Vil doesn’t read comments under his posts sometimes…

Anonymous asked:

One of my favorite 'Kalim Overblots' I've read, we don't even get to see him Overblot.

He overblots after an enemy tricks him into thinking he murdered a comatose Jamil right in front of him, leading him to attacking the 'culprit' in a rage with Oasis Maker and then-

Cut to the aftermath.

There you go, another interesting way to make Kalim overblot! I like how it’s still related to him feeling responsibility + despair because of Jamil’s death, it seems like this is the main trigger for Kalim to get an emotional reaction of this magnitude.

Anonymous asked:

Najma and Jamil are basically siblings who like to mess each other but still love each other. I mean Jamil has a better family relationship to her than his parents. That doesn't mean he doesn't like how she often annoyed him.

Azul will likely try to win Najma over for her to accept her brother's relationship to her. I mean having inlaws together is worst.

Aw this is very sweet. I’m glad Jamil has a sister like that.

God I didn’t even think about the Azul-being-into-Jamil aspect of all of it, oh god this guy is going to annoy Najma too, although for some reason I get the feeling that she’s only going to be nice to Azul to annoy Jamil.

But then again, I can’t say anything concrete about her – haven’t met the girl yet.

Anonymous asked:

IDK why but I really like the idea of Ruggie unintentionally 'stealing' Azul's 'boyfriends'. Like Azul is already upset that Jamil prefers Ruggie over him and then finds Ruggie on top of Idia when he arrives at the Board Game Club room (in reality they fell over and accidentally landed in a compromising position).

Poor Azul, this is going to make him overblot again lol  I like how this is turning into a weird romcom, although with how petty Azul is, it could end up turning into an entirely different kind of anime.

Anonymous asked:

when i was starting twst i thought neige was the name of jamils sister

Jamil and his randomly French sister…

[earlgodwin]

Just wanted to say that all your posts about Juan and insight has made me appreciate his character more. I haven’t watched The Borgias in a while and while I never hated Juan I didn’t think of him as more than like a plot device or foil to Cesare. But now I see him in a new light and I’m planning on a rewatch soon with the nuance to his character and the deeper sibling dynamic. Thank you for your analysis, it definitely makes the show more intriguing than it already is!

thank you ahsjsjswh i felt like it was time for someone to bring something new to the table because, despite him being one of the main characters in the show, he was never discussed in depth in the fandom (and to be fair, most of the characters excluding our main couple have never been discussed properly, but juan is my priority besides my renaissance it girl so...)

i'm honestly a little bit ??? at people never noticing how absolutely weird and invasive towards both lucrezia and cesare and making sexual comments like for quick example him being psychosexually obsessed with lucrezia and her purity, or when he went full-on drunk and getting way too close to cesare and making him uncomfortable, trying to elicit some sort of admission/expression of brotherly love from him...the fixation on his siblings was too serious for him!!

i don't think he was ever a plot device, as he had his own storylines and scenes where we see him alone, and we see what he's been thinking/up to as an individual. it's just giving main boyism tbh, but he's only been overlooked by some of the audience lol. despite him having such insane ego and cockiness, it all goes back to masking his own self-hatred and insecurity over his own birth status, not only being a bastard but even a rumored peasant (with vanozza's first husband)

also you're not entirely wrong!! he has been indeed used as a foil to cesare by their own father (or as a grinding stone so to speak), and if you read the script, he's been introduced as cesare's brother specifically. it's almost like a foreshadowing that cesare would be the one who decides his fate. and after cesare murdered him, he still haunted the narrative till the show's finale, with the important aspect that his murder was indeed what made cesare 'the perfect prince' to quote machiavelli (and a reference to his book the prince and cesare being the muse), so like yeah, people like it or not, juan borgia is indeed a main and key character in cesare's journey, and his death changed the family forever.

but to some point in s2, neil jordan feared the audience would stop sympathizing with cesare since he was deliberately backstabbing juan over the siege of forli and maneuvering his way to seize juan's position in the most envious way possible, and juan was already started to get the audience's attention and sympathy, specifically after the knife scene where he felt helpless and threatened to kill himself in front of rodrigo. therefore, neil flipped his character in the final episode and propped cesare up at juan's expense in a sense that everything cesare does would seem 'justifiable', or to quote david oakes' rightfully bitter statement about cesare's writing, "he has always had the writing on his side while they had to make my character a dweeb." and don't get me wrong, cesare borgia is an absolutely fascinating antagonist, i just wish the show was a little bit brave about making him "unlikeable" (as if the girlies were gonna dislike cesare anyway like asfsrfs)

personally, i've always thought it was super disingenuous and completely to cater to the cesarewives who deeply hated juan's character and were even attacking the actor on twitter

i love the show so much obviously (duuh) but that doesn't make it immune to criticizing it. like catering to fans has always been a bizarre move, considering how ursula's character received the poorest treatment and she became nothing but a plot device for a man's pain (after cesare himself attacked her for cutting her hair aka not looking like his sister anymore), and ended up being mutilated and raped and the fans were happy with that which was as disturbing as its incredibly misogynistic

honestly i admire david's fearlessness and how he stood by his character through and through despite how unfair the writing was to him so he'll always have a fan in me (both actor and character)

[thenugking]

✨🌊🌸🌿

✨Which is your favourite platonic BG3 dynamic and why?

Hmm. Based on purely in-game stuff, it’s got to be Wyll and Karlach. Enemies to BFFs in like three days. Out of game, I love my Durge Lee with Astarion (they are like when you have two pets or perhaps siblings who sometimes just slap the shit out of each other for no reason before going back to chilling together) and my first Tav, Val, with Shadowheart (bitchy goths who don’t care about people except actually they care So Much). Would love to get around to writing them someday.

Also the dynamic I’m writing between Orin and Ketheric in No Highly Esteemed Deed. This is Ketheric’s emotional support surrogate daughter figure with zero red flags!

For my favourite dynamic not in the game or made up by me… we’ll get to that in question four!

🌊What moment in the game had the strongest emotional impact on you? 

Karlach’s breakdown after killing Gortash gets me every time. And I was sobbing in my Shadowheart Origin playthrough when I saved her parents. That storyline is so comforting to me, especially when, if you’re not playing as her, it’s Arnell who goes, “Ohh you don’t want to go by your old name anymore, of course we’ll love you for whoever you are now.”

🌸Rec one of your fics and tell us what you like about it!

My series No Highly Esteemed Deed Is Commemorated Here is my baby at the moment. So I’m actually reccing two fics but look I spend half my time thinking about this series and I want some validation. But, uh, warning for incest and every relationship here being at least toxic, if not downright abusive. If you like your doves dead, come and give me some validation, if you’re not into that shit, understandable, have a nice day.

What Is Here Was Dangerous And Repulsive To Us: Gortash and Durge take a nice romantic carriage ride to Moonrise Towers except that lol no they don’t, Orin Is Also Here, and gortash isn’t positive she wants to fuck her sibling but The Vibes Are Fucking Rancid.

Super proud of the slowly building Well This Is Fucking Uncomfortable in this one! And that multiple people have told me “damn how did you make me feel for Gortash here?” He’s still very much a bastard and I loved writing him hating the whole world, but he’s fucking Going Through it.

One of my favourite reviews: EXCUSE ME ORIN> MA’AM. THIS IS A WENDYS

This Place Is Not A Place Of Honour: The multichapter sequel that I’m currently working on! The events between the gang arriving at Moonrise and Orin stabbing my Durge in the brain (and the aftermath of that, if I ever get there). They’re all doing their evil plotting in the background, but it’s mostly focused on the relationships between Durge, Orin, Gortash and Ketheric, and the various ways in which these characters are deeply fucked up.

Like I mentioned, I’m really enjoying writing Orin and Ketheric’s weird fucked up friendship. Ketheric imprints on Orin as his New Daughter Figure after Isobel runs away from him (just because he told her that her wife who he is currently torturing was dead so Isobel should get over her) and that’s going about as well as you’d expect. Ketheric is trying to fix Orin while ignoring most of her underlying issues, Orin’s worrying that she’s going to lose Durge to the Gortash and the Absolute plot, Gortash is determined to Win his relationship with Durge despite the constant red flags, Durge is causing problems on purpose.

Another of my favourite reviews: i went into that scene like "hehe the horrors" and i went out like "OH DEAR GOD THE HORRORS"

🌿Rec someone else’s BG3 fic and tell us what you like about it!

here there be dragons by shadowfell

13 year old Orin ends up the ward of the BG1/2 protagonist and under a geas stopping her from murdering people, and becomes friends with 14 year old Wyll. Two Weird Theatre Kids with no other friends hanging out while Orin puts a lot of effort into drawing Wyll’s thematically appropriate gruesome death. They work so well together and their dynamic fucking delights me. And I love getting to see my two blorbos who fandom often doesn't give the love they deserve fucking shine.

There’s also a multi-chapter sequel of the two of them as adults going through the game plot. It’s still early on, but chapter four got posted last night and that’s my read for this evening, once I’m done killing Orin in my current BG3 game and need to go and read a kinder AU for her.

[murkycran]

Human Dreamling AU (Part 2)

Despite realizing his feelings, Hob very much tries to continue on with life as it had been so far.

For one, he doesn’t even know if Dream likes men. All Hob knows is that Dream used to have a wife.

So a little background:

Both Hob and Dream used to be married. Hob’s wife Eleanor and son Robyn died in a car crash. It happened after Hob finished his master’s degree and had been teaching as an associate professor for a few years, taking a break on getting his PhD until Robyn was a little older and Eleanor didn’t need as much help. After Robyn and Eleanor died, Hob put off getting his PhD indefinitely and sank into a bad depression. Bills went unpaid, the house he planned to raise his family in went into foreclosure, and he became homeless for a short time

When the 1 year anniversary of Robyn and Eleanor’s deaths comes around, Hob is at the lowest point of his life. He’s been homeless for a couple of months at that point and is feeling pretty hopeless. Initially he’s overcome with shame on the anniversary bc of how bad things have gotten (thinking about what Eleanor would think of him). That night, though, he’s approached by Mad Hettie. Almost everyone avoids her, even the other homeless, bc she has a reputation for being Odd.

Hob REALLY wants to be left alone, but he’s still not a complete asshole, so he humors Hettie and listens to her ramblings. She gets worked up talking at him (not to him, AT him), going on and on about how Hob has “been here before” and she knows he’ll recover like he always does, him and Hettie, so similar, they don’t just give up the two of them, they keep going no matter what, and she knows Hob will get back on his feet-

Hob listens and is just like: “what”

He’s PRETTY sure he had never met Hettie until just a couple of months ago

After a few minutes Hettie seems satisfied, finishes with “this isn’t the end, Hob Gadling”, and putters off into the dark.

That night Hob thinks about what she said (at least, the last bit, not the rambling bits) and decides she’s right. It’s not the end. He still wants to make Eleanor and Robyn proud by being the man he would have been if they were still alive.

It’s hard work, but within a year Hob has a small apartment and is interviewing for a substitute teaching position at a high school. (Side note: I’m not trying to make it seem like it’s easy to get out of being homeless. Hob would have resources many people don’t, like presumably veteran benefits, and I imagine he would also have people he could ask for loans to help him get back on his feet. It’s just that he previously didn’t have the motivation to do so.)

After a couple of years of teaching high school history, Hob decides it’s finally time to get back into teaching at the university level. He also starts working on his PhD.

It’s ten years after Robyn and Eleanor’s death that Hob meets Dream.

NOW FOR DREAM’S BACKSTORY

Grew up in a REALLY weird, really rich family. He and his siblings were all adopted as infants by Night and Time. Yes, all of their names are the same as canon. Like I said, a really weird family. No, I don’t know why, and neither does Dream, but it was never really an issue growing up bc they were all homeschooled so it wasn’t like there were any normal kids around to make fun of them or point out how weird they were.

This has kind of led to all the Endless siblings being a bit Odd compared to outsiders (Night and Time fully encouraged the Oddness). They all have really weird sibling dynamics, but are still a family. (Important side note: I don’t think human!Dream would have as horrible relationships with his siblings if they were human as he does in canon *cough*Desire*cough*. For one, the Endless being human takes out all the high stakes of being anthropomorphic personifications in charge of human existence. So. SURE, they have their fights and petty squabbles, but what siblings don’t? So, in other words, the Endless are def more familial in this AU.)

At the beginning of his writing career Dream met Calliope, a fellow writer. Calliope was an upcoming poet and playwright. She and Dream have a pretty short courtship before they get married; I’m talking like less than a year. (Desire makes a point of saying they don’t think the relationship will last, which naturally pisses Dream off. Unfortunately, they’re right.)

Calliope and Dream have a son (Orpheus - the tradition of giving kids weird names continues), but within the first few years of his life Orpheus gets really sick with an incurable disease. He dies just before his sixth birthday. Neither Dream nor Calliope cope well; Calliope refuses to leave the house while Dream starts distancing himself from her and burying himself in his writing. During this time (fueled by angst and anger), Dream writes the novel that would make him famous and kickstart his writing career.

Mutually, deeply unhappy (and resentful on Calliope’s part, bc she feels like Dream abandoned her), they get divorced. Desire doesn’t gloat or anything about it, but Dream is angry enough at the world that it doesn’t matter, he refuses to speak to Desire (but really he’s angry at himself). He never was good at keeping up with his siblings in general, but it becomes even worse afterwards and Dream only regularly speaks with Death (read: Death knows where to find the spare key to Dream’s house and regularly breaks in for mandated sibling bonding).

Dream keeps writing, channeling his emotions into his work. Even though he’s using a pen name, the overwhelming success of his book becomes too much for him to manage alone and he hires Lucienne as his manager, who in turn hires Jessamy as Dream’s personal assistant.

Dream settles into a new normal, telling himself he needs no one, all the while coming to rely heavily on Jessamy and Lucienne (whether he realizes it or not).

If he didn’t already, BOY DOES HE REALIZE IT when Jessamy is involved in a wreck with a drunk driver. (I’m actually not entirely decided on whether or not Jessamy dies; on one hand, there’s canon. On the other hand, she could just become disabled from the wreck, is unable to work for Dream anymore. When Dream refuses to hire another PA bc he feels like he would be replacing Jessamy, she would pick out her own replacement and tell Dream to get a grip. Hm, I’m undecided. Feels like my want to give Dream more friends is leaking into this AU lmao.)

Dream doesn’t make it easy on Matthew. Matthew doesn’t make it easy on Dream either though. He takes his job REALLY seriously, especially after he feels like Dream thinks he can’t be as good of a PA as Jessamy. Jessamy and Lucienne aren’t afraid to call Dream out on his bs, but Matthew straight up *says* “bullshit” to Dream’s face and is a lot more brute force about getting Dream to take care of himself. Where Jessamy and Lucienne use passive aggressive persuasion on Dream, Matthew is just annoying as hell to get Dream to do what he wants.

Okay, that’s enough backstory and exposition for now. Now to the Present again ->

When Dream starts observing Hob, he’s actually between publishing contracts, so there’s no rush or deadline for the book he’s researching. Perhaps that’s why he allows himself to be so drawn in to conversations with Hob.

When they have their first argument where Hob gets frustrated at Dream’s aloofness and says he’d be better off talking to a different, more experienced professor, Dream takes it as Hob saying he doesn’t have the time or patience to deal with Dream’s questions. That’s not what Hob says, but Dream is Dream and takes it that way.

Cue them resolving their issues with help from big sis Death.

After that, the meetings between Dream and Hob are easier and less formal/more relaxed.

Somehow a lot of their conversations circle back to somewhat philosophical arguments. Dream has a pessimistic, darker outlook on humanity and history, while Hob is more optimistic and generally looks more towards humanity’s achievements than the shortcomings.

They also talk about other, more personal subjects. Never getting too deep into explanations, Hob tells Dream about Eleanor and Robyn, while Dream just says he got divorced after their son died. They bond over their loss, but bc they’re themselves, they don’t dwell or talk about it in-depth.

Nonetheless, Dream is quietly surprised at himself for opening up (even if it only was a tiny crack) to someone that didn’t either A) work for him or B) was related to him. When he realizes this, it’s a little easier to admit to himself how much he looks forward to his talks with Hob.

Part 1 of this AU!

Okay, that’s it for now. Sorry it was so much exposition and backstory, but I felt like to properly establish a human AU I needed to cover some stuff. Coming up: more insight to the Endless family dynamics! Some good Dreamling pining! And probably some fluff, too, just for good measure. I’ll be tagging this AU as “human!dreamling AU” btw, so it’s easier to find. I’ll also try to remember to add links to new posts on the older posts as well.

Thanks to everyone who liked, reblogged, and left comments in the tags or on the post!! I had no idea this would be so appealing to fellow Dreamling fans. 😊 y’all are the best.

(As a final side note: someone brought up how I was going to handle Dream’s entrapment by Burgess in this AU. Tbh, I hadn’t thought that far originally bc this started as a cute little idea, but it’s now become a fully-fledged fic plot lmao. I have some ideas of how to handle it, I just may not get around to it next time yet bc I’m still not super sure.)

[saintbehemoth]

Okay, okay, late with this ask, but I wanna unpack the sentiment that Daemon may have been preyed upon by an adult in his family as a child which led to his strange view of ‘sparing’ Rhaenyra from what would have been a consensual relationship with him.

So, who are our potential suspects?

In terms of family they had a lot at the time of Daemon’s childhood, but steadily lost more as time went on.

In no particular order:

Alyssa: the likelihood of Alyssa preying on her child in such a way, given what the book established about her love for her sons, seems very unlikely.

Baelon: if we’re framing daemon’s potential exploitation as a result of Alyssa dying Baelon potentially trying to “cope” 🤢 with her absence. Out of both of their children I picture Daemon physically resembling Alyssa the most (see: big ears). With this in mind, I’m not sure how likely or unlikely this would be. Baelon didn’t seem like the most present father, though both of his sons seem to remember him fondly.

Aemon: this one is a bit strange in the sense that daemon could have also become a coping device for the loss of alyssa. It could also attribute to some of the unnamed tension between rhaenys and daemon. Maybe she saw her father and her cousin acting strangely?Additionally, if it was Aemon that makes daemon’s taming of Caraxes that much more interesting. Claiming a piece of the uncle that tarnished him. That being said, Aemon was consistently described as being a protector within the family, so 🤷‍♀️.

Dishonorable mention: not family, but Otto. Just saying…

Let’s just say this interpretation of daemon (perpetuating a cycle of abuse) is making my abl brain light up

thrilled to talk about it!! always happy to. cycle of abuse goes crazy

edit: read this through and supposed i should add trigger warnings 😬 incest. childhood sexual abuse. grooming. dd:dne

i agree it’s not alyssa, who also died when daemon was about 3. she definitely haunts him for the rest of his life though - apparently being her favourite despite not being able to remember her, looking like her, both wilful + bold…..

yeah, i think baelon was a fine guy, but not a particularly good father. preferred making children to actually having them yk. i do think he was weird wrt family dynamics, in a targaryen way. way too close/familiar/intimate with (also dependant on) his siblings. currently playing with the idea that baelon was the one to get gael pregnant, because he ‘needed’ a new sisterwife…

ooohhh, i hadn’t thought of aemon. i always attributed the rhaenys daemon tension to him claiming her dead dad’s dragon. i always pictured it a bit like a cycle of vengeance, like rhaenys claimed daemon’s dead mother’s dragon p much right after her death, so daemon did the same and stole caraxes as a memory of aemon from right under her nose. and then of course that daemon raised an army for/supported viserys during the inheritance council and not her. brothers before cousins i guess

speaking of viserys….. can you guess who my number one suspect is…. 🤗🤗

yeeees, i think it was viserys. my friend worked out the age difference in the show and i think it’s something like 11 years ??! all guesstimation of course. in f&b the difference is 4 years. i like to place them 7 years apart. anyway the point is viserys is much older and in a position of power over his younger brother, both by placement of birth and then he becomes the heir…

some things that i think come into play here:

1. the targaryen obsession with having a daughter to match a son. see alysanne’s comment that alyssa “is for” baelon. the second child ‘ought’ to be a daughter, so technically daemon was supposed to be a girl anyway and thus viserys’ wife :/// also i think viserys would, perhaps subconsciously, blame daemon for not being a girl and causing him problems with finding a wife and eventually having to marry his not-sister aemma arryn, so that blame would manifest in… evil ways. ALSO what you said about daemon resembling alyssa - he’s basically a girl anyway, right? 🤔

2. daemon’s sudden not-banishment from court aged 16, to marry rhea royce. coincidentally the year of rhaenyras birth. how he and rhea never consummated. daemon’s subsequent back and forth in viserys’ court - one minute he is favoured, the next cast out. his complication relationship with his brother, clearly resenting him and his weakness but still crawling back like a dog every time, no matter how furious viserys was when he sent him away…… the complicated love/hate towards a once-beloved abuser…

and so, daemons sad attempt at ending the cycle. my brother badtouched me → i will badtouch his daughter. i think there’s smth to be said about daemon having two motives in the brothel scene at first, firstly he does love and desire rhaenyra but secondly he wants to ‘get back’ at his brother, but then of course realises that he doesn’t want to use rhaenyra as a pawn in that sense at all. crazy that years later he claims it was a sparing but at the time we know he asked viserys for rhaenyra’s hand… in his mind to be spared is from a rough reputation-ruining fuck, not from publicly recognised and supported incest…. can’t remember where i was going with this ^-^ something about secret/private vs public

okay last suspect. personally i think a combination of this one + viserys is [static sounds] x_x : corlys. daemon fought in the first stepstone war at about 16, corlys was velaryon commander and much, much older. perhaps the source of that tension between daemon and rhaenys you mentioned….. how to reconcile your husband with the solider who took advantage of your younger cousin on the battlefield. can see the excuse of ‘war’/‘all men do this during fighting times’ being used on daemon. older respected man in a position of power vs young second son desperate to prove himself….. what a combo

SLSMAJHD OTTO. i am a believer in otto ‘groomer’ hightower, but i think daemon wouldn’t stand for it from a non-family member…. like with otto he can complain to the king, but what can he do when the king is the one molesting him…

hope this made sense i wrote it in two sittings so it might be a bit garbled ;_; ty for asking ❤️‍🔥

[xsoulxsilencex]

So yeah, we're done with arc 9 and well... you can count me as one of the "wtf was that arc final" people.

I'm gonna talk about Yuamu, the Darkmen but also how I feel about this arc as a whole but first of all:

If anyone sides with Yuamu/thinks she's valid for her actions? Fine? But I really hope that I don't have to see anyone throwing a "you just hate on Yuamu because she's a girl, you would let it slide if a guy did the same" at me because put Yuhi in her place instead and you can bet that way more people would be ready to call him a traitor and a-hole than Yuamu. (and yes, I would call out Yuhi too since that behaviour is shit imo and it doesn't matter that I like him) Like honestly, playing the misogynist/sexist card in this case is silly.

But with that said, I can start with the actual post.

Most people might have already seen my posts about ep 115 so my general thoughts on Yuamu/her reason to become the main antag should be clear. But seriously, Idk why GR does that with Yuamu. Is this some weird "make up" for doing barely anything with her in season 2 besides making her get possessed by darkness twice? Turning her into the new main antag to give her some relevance? Yuamu as a villain could've worked but I really can't with the execution we got. She says she wants to be the new Otes and save Yuga and his future and I just can't buy it. Also: What would Yuga think of her actions? I doubt he'd be proud of her becoming Otes in his place. Heck, imagine Yuamu at her "villain peak" just for Yuga showing up to tell her to stop and she eventually does? Like we all know Yuga isn't gone from GR for good. He's coming back and at worst, he's gonna bring his Sevens friends. And as a Sevens fan I say to this: This better not happen at all. Also is it just me or I don't get the feeling that Yuamu truly cares for the Darkmen besides Kuyamuya? So if they died to revive the Velgearians, I doubt she would cry for them.

Speaking of the Darkmen: Oh boy, where do I start? They had potential being an interesting group but from the current point, they're just existing besides Fukamura who stayed behind instead of joining Yuamu? Sabyuas went from sadist for "pretty weird reasons" to Zwijo simp, Bruyea is just a walking mama kink and Zeyet shouts "osu" here and now. Oh, and they all lost their duels. The only "Darkmen" winning were Yuamu and Zwijo - who aren't og Darkmen. Heck, even the Goha Siblings felt more threatening as the Darkmen and also showed a more interesting dynamic despite having to share their debut arc with Lukeman who ended up as the "main antag" of said arc. Can I expect anything from Sabyuas, Bruyea and Zeyet for arc 10? I don't know. Also disappointed how there was no good dynamics between Team Yudias vs Team Darkmen. Sabyuas vs Yuhi? Well, nothing besides Sabyuas enjoying the sight of Yuhi needing to piss. Bruyea vs Nyandestar? Bruyea was all about making Nyandestar his new mama even when he lost but when he sees her again, there's zero interest? Fukamura vs Manabu? I still think Fukamura vs Epoch would've made more sense due to them both having shut-in experience and while Manabu respected Fukamura as an opponent, Fukamura didn't show much interest in Manabu. Zeyet vs Yudias was like the only duel where there was hope for friendship but she doesn't really care for Yudias later so...

And besides Yuamu and the Darkmen: This arc was so boring imo? I thought this could be interesting with the search for Yuamu, trying to find a way to revive the Velgearians, Manabu being back as a proper part of the main squad (him being clowned less is like the one big positive point I can say about arc 9)... but instead I get what? CPT who was annoying af and turned out to work for Yuamu from the start? The huge focus on curry bread? Almost half the arc spent on Pawtner for no good reason? Epoch finally leaving her box just to become more like Tiger (looks and breath power) than she initially was? Yudias and co. not reaching Velgear and visiting the Go Rush Yu since all the dead Velgearians are somehow in the Dark Matter Zone to play shield?

Kuaidul being back is also something I'm not sure of. I mean I expected him to return but like *that*?

Now Yuamu is heading towards Earth with most of the Darkmen, Zwijo and Yuhi (to get Monster Reborn?) while we dont know what Yudias, Manabu, Nyandestar and Epoch will do. Likely follow the others but since Yuamu took Valvelgear with her, the only way I can see them leave the Dark Matter Zone is either by making a new space ship out of dark matter or fixing Zaidavelgear.

Since Asaka also seems to prepare Mutsuba Town for a battle, we should get more old characters getting involved again. Man, feeling bad for the UTS 8 when they're gonna see Yuamu acting as a villain but also for Manya (as Yuamu's childhood friend) and Sky (who had so much respect for her). And we can't forget about Yuna since I really believe in her scheming something on her own since Yudias and co. left Earth and it's gonna be Yuga-related. Who knows, she might either bring Yuga back or managed to stay in touch with him somehow.

I know this post is mostly negative thoughts than positive and honestly, I wished I could be more positive about GR - but that show's writing really makes it hard for me.

If anyone still loves Go Rush then cool? But I do hope that even those who love the show can at least admit that it has some flaws. Idk why I have seen people who still want to act like GR is an almost masterpiece.

[bellamyblake]

Bellarke and leadership

something i wanna talk about now that I’m rewatching s1 and perhaps awfully late realizing for the first time is the part about leadership and especially when it comes for Bellamy and Clarke to take up on those roles.

While yes, it’s true that when Clarke comes down, she tries to take charge and make the others listen to her, I don’t believe she’s in an absolute leadership position, not even when they decide to banish Murphy in 1x04. It’s interesting for her because the progression that’s happening there for her is a bit different-she loses her dad, then she’s locked up, then she comes to earth where she does try to take care of the people but in fact just kind of gets caught up in some personal problems. The first of which is the one with her mom, dad and Wells-it takes some time figuring out what happened there. The other one is a newly created problem that is Finn, falling in love with him, then Raven coming down and her having to first swallow down her feelings for him and then save his life and keep doing that for the good of him and Raven as she can see how much they mean to each other.

In other words, I don’t think she fully assumes the role as a leader until 1x07/ or maybe I dare say 1x08 where she 1st-decides to agree on torturing Lincoln for information which is a big step, a leader step where the decisions weigh on you and it’s not just maps and runnign around trying to find Mount Weather or being in the weird dynamic place beteween an old friend who’s in love with you and a new guy who’s interested in you.

She actually takes a step towards real leadership there and later absolutely fills in those shoes when she meets Anya.

But What I want to talk about here is Bellamy. I believe he assumes the real leadership position at first and carries it on a bit longer before Clarke joins him in. That is of course, a product of the circumestances-he has taken charge a long time ago when his mom put his sister in his hands and told him she was his responsibility. She makes him name Octavia and take care of her, promising to keep her quiet and safe. The whole reason why we were lucky enough to have a Blake siblings flashback was, I believe, because of that-showing where it all came for for Bellamy but not just the understandting behind his current actions (aka taking off the wristbands for his love for his sister) but also why he fits in the leadership position from the moment they hit the ground.

He had already been a parent and a leader for the past seventeen years. With a mom who made sure she did just enoug hto survive but offered no love, he had to fill in a gap between Auora and Octavia, while putting himself away from experiencing what a real family was in order to take proper care for his sister and please his mother. 

When he comes to the ground he tries to ensamble his people, then convinces them taking off the wristbands is good for them (even though he is indeed trying to save himself here FOR Octavia, a part I think people forget often), he surrounds himself with people he trusts but also helps built this camp-organizes the delinquents to build a wall (remember 1x04 “If it wasn’t for her, those idiots would still be building a wall” when he talks about Clarke saying the truth about Wells;), He quickly realizes what’s good for the people-the truth and omitting it in the case with Charlotte because it will safe them in this unstable situation; He cares for them which is shown when he goes out to look for Octavia and Roma and Mbege die. (I hate when ppl say he only started caring about the delinquents later-he did, from the beginning), he went hunting with them, made them work on rations, etc. 

He also makes some very big leadership mistakes-the first one being hanging Murphy and the second one-throwing the radio away in the river when Raven lands. Now that second one is a really big and very heavy decision, one that Clarke if you think about it doesn’t get to make until the end of the season where she agrees on Raven using the hydrozyne to kill the grounders. Yes, he does make it so he can save himself but his personal decision weighs on the whole camp because if the rest of the Ark doesn’t come down, how do they survive. The whole conversation with Jaha in 1x08 where he hallucinates him just proves all that. While for Clarke it’s her dad she sees and misses, Bellamy is the one already beating himself up for mistakes akined to someone who’s ruling and leading. (and who feels the same amount of guilt the council on the Ark does, aka the parallels between Kane and Bellamy starting here)

Then there comes Lincoln and I think that’s the moment that kind of glues Bellamy and Clarke as leaders which is concluded in 1x08 when they bring the guns back home and it’s quite clear and established who is in charge of those kids. 

That is where they take their first big decision together (yes, I scartch Murphy because while he was a hard choice, he was one of them, he made mistakes, a kid died because of him and banishing him was the only thing they could figure out at the moment but Lincoln is an outsider, a grounder, the enemy. And this is their first time trying to decide how to deal with that.) You could see how new in it all they were, how uncertain-they argue and they do not want to do any of that. They are both mentally torn-you could tell so by the looks in their eyes but they’re also fighting with the new reality-the one where the world is cruel and those people out there already killed 10 of their friends and what is there to do?

What is the RIGHT thing?

And all of that was solidified in the last conversation they have in 1x07 where Bellamy picks her hand holding the screw he put in Lincoln’s hand and he says “Who we are and who we need to be to survive are very different things.” I believe this is the first time he’s being honest with her, basically screaming ‘I am not this person, I am not a killer, I’m not a torturer but I have to be this now. For my sister. For us. Do you understand?” but she’s lost herself and doesn’t know what to respond so he adds, shyly, almost as if he didn’t want to give himself away “It’s not easy being in charge, is it?” because he already HAS been in charge but now she truly IS too. Finally, in that moment.

[haleigh-sloth]

I hope you don't take this as a troll question but I see people argue over Touya some saying he isn't an abuser or didn't become an abuser and some say he became an abuser. I'm not sure where I stand, because in a way I get it he's gone down a destructive path - murdering people, displaying his families trauma national wide not just his won but Shouto's and the others, it's like he didn't break the cycle but continued it. yet, a part of me is not sure?

I will answer this as politely as I can, but honestly this type of "debate" makes me want to bang my head against a wall lol.

This debate exists because some people just simply don't know what abuse is in this context.

Touya is not an abuser. Who is he abusing? Who??? The murder victims??? He didn't abuse them. He killed them. Get it right lol.

The abuse being discussed in this story is the abuse of a power dynamic in a relationship. Enji is Touya's parent, therefore he has the power in the relationship, the upper hand in every single way. He abused his position of power over Touya. Who in this manga does Touya have a power dynamic over? Nobody. Committing murder is not abuse, it's murder. People need to establish this in their brains.

Abuse in this context is chronic, long-term, and repeated, and the abuse of the power someone has over the other person. There is just no scenario where Touya is in this position over someone else, nor does he use it, none. None of the villains, save for AFO, are in that position toward anyone at all.

Being violent does not equal being abusive. Please please I need people to understand this for the love of god.

"displaying his families trauma national wide not just his won but Shouto's and the others, it's like he didn't break the cycle but continued it"

Okay first of all, I'm not sure what "cycle" he is continuing, but it certainly isn't a cycle of abuse. Cycle of violence? Yeah, sure, but so are the heroes.

I'm a little tired of people acting like Touya is the bad guy here for telling his abuse story.

I'm so sorry to say but the unfortunate part of abuse in families is that more than one person is always involved, and therefore when someone shares THEIR story, someone else's story is bound to be shared too. Is it fair? Nope. But you can't tell Touya to keep his mouth shut so Enji can just carry on his merry way.

Touya did not ask to be born into the Todoroki family. He didn't ask to be Endeavor's and Rei's son, nor did he ask to be Shouto's, Natsuo's, and Fuyumi's brother. Touya didn't make his dad beat his brother and mother and lock Rei in a hospital for ten years. Unfortunately when Touya tells his own story, which he has every right to do, the rest of the family gets dragged under.

Literally no matter how Touya told his story, whether he left his siblings' names out of it or not, people were going to know.

Maybe perhaps assign blame to the right person--the person making it to where there was a story to be told in the first place.

That's what sucks about abuse survivors. There is no perfect solution that satisfies everyone. There is no fluffy, happy-go-lucky way to tell your story without other people getting dragged into it.

It really irks me that Touya is the bad guy for telling his own damn story. I see it a lot and it's just weird how blame is being assigned to him when Endeavor is literally right there. Endeavor is the reason his family is getting dragged through the mud right now. If it were just because of the fact that Touya went full-on villain, that'd be one thing. But it all goes back to Endeavor and the shit he started 24 years prior.

No, Touya is not an abuser. Idk who is saying that but that is just objectively incorrect.

[tadpolesonalgae]

After reading Please... part 4, is it weird that i want to see more interaction between Mor and reader? like even more than i want to see interaction between Az and reader??? i think it's just such an interesting dynamic,, their situation lowkey resembles one of siblings that grew up in an abusive household but the older sibling went to college/moved out first and the younger sibling feels abandoned. like, no one is really in the wrong because the older one is just as much of a victim as the younger one, but feelings and emotions don't necessarily work as strict and logically as you'd like them to. plus in the case of the fic, reader wasn't even born when the whole ordeal of Mor being traded off to the Autumn Court and eventually saved by Rhys, but there's still the underlying current of "i know what you're probably going through bc i've gone through it too but i also barely saved myself from it so i don't know how to save you"....... even if Keir & his wife's abuse is not Mor's fault nor responsibility.

and with the unbothered demeanor that reader seems to have, she probably doesn't hold too strong of a resentment towards Mor (tbh reader seems like she doesn't hold Any type of strong feelings towards anyone or anything both negative and positive.. other than like being touch starved and the occasional fear of pain which only further solidifies my theory that she's probably physically abused in some capacity to the point that she has an insane disinterest in her own safety and it made her numb to most emotions as a defense mechanism but i feel like now this is just me projecting 💀💀) but there's got to be Something.... right..?????? like, the part where reader mentions Velaris and asks about how the world is like outside of hewn city to keep egging Mor, i wonder if Mor's agitation was purely because she felt her safe haven being threatened or if it's also because she somewhat feels,, guilt that she got to escape from her parents and hewn city but reader didn't. and i wonder if reader chose that particular topic because she's subconsciously aware of that. or at least she can tell it makes Mor uncomfortable even if she can pinpoint exactly why.

anyways, im just happy and thriving that this series is back on the roll 🎉 it's honestly been my roman empire ever since i first read it lol

I’d say she’s probably just focusing on surviving in her court and keeping herself as far away from her parents as she can without bringing attention to her deliberate absence? And while it’s definitely been awful for her growing up with them, she has managed to find an escape of sorts—that being her interest in ancient artefacts and the Things Kier keeps locked away which is how she’s kept herself together.

In terms of reader’s relationship with Mor, and being interested in some more details, given what can occur in the next couple of parts, that might happen? I only say might because please… isn’t planned out or anything, so while I know where the story can go, there aren’t any set Moments that are going to be written :)

It would be nice to write some things with them though, as well as with Az :)

‘anyways, im just happy and thriving that this series is back on the roll 🎉 it's honestly been my roman empire ever since i first read it lol’

Thank you so much 🧡💛 I’m honestly really happy to be writing it again (as well as the other fics I’d maybe forgotten about) so it’s lovely to hear that you’re enjoying it 🧡💛🫂

[raininyourblackeyes]

do you have lots of wips at the moment? if you do, can you pick a favourite or is that like asking to pick a favourite child lmao

When I saw this ask I was watching a movie with my mom and thought I'd answer it later, but I was tired and just went to sleep. In the morning I realized I forgot to do my lab report and by the time I was done with the lab for that day and returning home I had forgotten about it... and that's how I find myself here, 5? days later answering it. Idk how I remembered it honestly.

Apart from some short stories I usually write in my notebooks when I get bored in class, I have two wips I'm working on. One is an orginal fantasy story that I've been slowly writing for a while now and the other is a fanfic that I'm writing for the audience of exactly 4 enthusiastic readers. Honestly it's easy to pick between them, it's my original wip. And now I'm going to rant about both because I'm in a good mood.

Some sort of a summary for my fantasy wip would be: Sixth year of reign of high empress over the newly conquered empires begins with her murder and a heart of the former crown prince of the enemy empire missing from the shrine. What follows is the return of her exiled younger brother to take up his position as the new high emperor, and a violent rebellion fueld by old uncommon illegal forms of powers and lead by a group of batshit insane individuals whose leader is the dead crown prince with a personal vendetta against the new emperor on top of wanting revenge for his empire getting decimated. My personal fave characters to write are the faithless priestess whose entire family is a casulty of war so she got sent to the altars to serve gods as all orphans do except she started dabbling in uncommon powers for fun because they keep a lot of top government secrets at the altars (politics and religion are closely intertwined) and the more she was listening about gods the less she believed in them. That eventually lead to the main goddess becoming interested in her and assigning her as a babysitter to the main character/villain who decided he will simply not follow the normal life cycle and you know.. just not die even though he had his heart ripped out until he gets his revenge (it's a bit more complicated than that). She becomes his most trusted advisor and general and spy and weapon all in one. I also LOVE writing his sister so much, she went from being a little well sheltered princess in the times of war to being gifted to this pirate who helped empress in her war efforts to slaughtering that pirate and becoming the most feared Imperial Storm Mistress. Love the extremely fucked up sibling dynamics she and her brother have going on. Also the emperor! He is so incompetent in running a country but he is trying his best. He is a cringefail, he should have died when he was seven at most (that's the max life expectancy for kids born with his condition - if I'm giving people magical powers but relating that to the physiology then I must give them magic related illnesses), he is super smart, he's been in love with the enemy crown prince since he was like 15-16, he killed the enemy crown prince personally, he is the reason his sister won that war, he does nothing but laze around all day but he will commit mass murder if needs must, believes he's a better person than his sister but is actually much much worse. I'm not even going to get into the main villain/character because that idiot is severely fucked up. Honestly the actual chapters of the story come together with pages long documents on politics and history accounts and explanations of school and law systems, religion, the customs and etc. You know you're in too deep when you send your friends a report on agriculture in a fantasy setting you've made up in your mind. Oh and the magic system is a government scam. There's necromancy and human sacrifices, and weird immortality principles in a society that seems to be perfectly functioning but is actually severely messed up up. The main character is obviously doomed by the narrative, but he's fine with that.

The fanfic I'm writing for my friends is a Bungou Stray Dogs fic I've started in 2020 after a series of funny circumstances and I finished it but one friend who only started watching it this winter because the rest of us wouldn't shut up about season 4 and after she finished watching it, she was sent the famous word documents and she was like wait that's it? Because it ends around the point in plot where season 4 starts (she hasn't read the manga), and she kept spreading the gospel of how messy things could get if I continued it and what am I but indulgent. So I recently continued working on it, except I'm an extra slow writer. It's a story that starts as a canon divergence, then follows canon for a bit but makes things more unhinged, and then diverges from the canon again. Friends have also been bothering me to put it up on ao3 because who wouldn't want to read about "a character doomed and haunted by the narrative is actually the one narrating the narrative but it's unclear whether the objective is to fix or destroy the narrative". I don't think I will upload it tho, so that's it about that.

[mythvoiced]

len!! time for me to enable you- TELL ME ABOUT SARANG'S CONNECTIONS >:3 who is significant in her life and why and what does she think of them?? <3

@clemencetaught | FERRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got so excited at seeing you in my inbox that I pressed a weird keyboard shortcut and got kicked back to dash which is quite something I have no idea what happened, BUT THANK YOU FOR ENABLING ME BECAUSE, GUESS WHAT, MYUNGDAE AND NELL ARE ON THIS LIST, PLEASE HOLD---

Ahem~ This includes canon verse connections & as well as rp partner muses

The Order as a large entity is her most prominent connection, I won't go into much detail because it's just... her position in it is central aspect to her story, so I'd just be spouting wildly if I went into it again here~ BUT I NEED TO MENTION @theimpalpable 's Nae-Gil (fellow knight!!!!!!!!!!!!!) because he's fucking everything to me, they haven't gotten to interact, to establish a dynamic but he means so much to me and I love Alex so much

Sköll/Jeon Hui & Jeon San Her brothers, one you might recognise as another muse of mine, the other is her late older brother; they were a situation of Three, San was a bit older than Hui & Sarang, while Sarang was perhaps only one, two years older than Hui. San was the one she felt she could rely on in terms of a sturdy, present male figure in her life and formative years, even though he was a teenager when she was a child, he still gave her more sense of worth, of being deserving of respect than she could have asked of her parents. She looked up to him, and while she had a propensity for trying to escape the role society demanded of her in lieu of being a yangban woman, she'd actually try to 'play the part' for him, to facilitate his existence as the oldest. She was much more... content, for lack of better terms, in living that womanhood at the time, because even though San's ideals weren't too progressive (as in, he was the type to say 'it is what it is') and since child her had trusted him to want what's best for her, if he thinks perhaps it's best to play along to make sure she can stay safe and live well, she'd felt it easier to go along with it. Hui, on the other hand, was her baby. As someone with the inability to feel pain, Hui had always been a terribly accident-prone child, so he was coddled by the family, Sarang included. She felt protective of him, and since he couldn't be treated like any regular yangban son since he was a mess and couldn't be left alone according to the Jeon's, even as adults they spent most of their time with each other, she as the daughter who'd have to wait to be married, and he as the hopeless youngest. She learned a sense of belonging through him, responsibility, cameraderie. Partners in crime, sneaky siblings with a knack for lying. Her brothers were everything to her and she misses them dearly.

Black Knight/Shin Myungdae (YOU ♥) NOW I do NOT in the SLIGHTEST demand this is an actual connection, but I do need to say that meeting Myungdae has added something to Sarang's character that I couldn't have found without you. Writing her as a femme fatale was 'easy' enough with the setups I already had, but having her face off against a mysterious man with a righteous cause and so much baggage to carry around, especially as the Black Knight before getting to meet him as Myungdae on that bench? Meeting the Black Knight evoked in her this potential of... I can't quite explain it. She's an assassin, a con-artist, but that chess game against Myungdae put her in a new light for me? She seems much more fleshed out, all of a sudden, with deeper motivations, with expressions of sorrow that make me think so much more about her. His class, the way he moves, the way he handles himself, if she ever were to stumble into anything that would reveal that he's an outlaw for good reasons, there's something about getting to figure out how she reacts to Myungdae and Black Knight that is revealing something hidden deep within her. A sense of justice she can't allow herself the luxury of having, the longing of being more than a pawn not just for freedom but also because maybe she wants to be part of something bigger, something good. Maybe she wants to use her skills and fight on the right side for once. It's a very dormant thought, she can't afford looking at it and feel all the frustration that comes with not having the option to follow this path. But even beyond what I'm discovering of her, I just truly love that I get to sneak Sarang a little bit into this verse, THROUGH NELL TOO. Because it's?? It's so very HUGE, it's so incredibly well-written and developed, having any of my muses interact with it makes ME feel like I'm part of something bigger. She truly spends a lot of time thinking about Black Knight, wondering about him, what his deal is, she can't figure him out, but she'd like to.

Nell Jones (@ofgentleresolve tagging even tho it's u so i can Promo™) SAME THING here, not demanding an actual connection, you simply write such amazing characters that they INSTANTLY impact mine; Nell is dragging Sarang through the gutter for the sole reason that, even in those few replies I wrote you, she's forgetting herself. Nell has such an incredible presence, energy when Sarang gets to interact with her, that she has to constantly remind herself of the act she's putting up. It's so easy to get lost in Nell's smiles and awkward demeanour that Sarang constantly analysing it is written out on purpose to underline how hyperfocused she's forcing herself to be, to avoid slipping up and forgetting that she isn't who she's claiming to be, that she can't be allowed to be who she was before Sarang. It doesn't happen often that Sarang will forget... about Sarang. But something about Nell makes her want to. I'M NOT trying to push for anything either, this doesn't have to mean anything, it's just the effect Nell has on her~

Calixtus Orion (@uroborosymphony Lynnie ma chère~) Calista, oh god, Calista, CALISTA!! Have I mentioned -clears throat- -starry eyes- Calista? Lynnie has irreversibly blessed me by allowing me to create a connection to her Calista, this plot, this connection, the dynamic, the fact that I'm obsessed with Calista, everything here is so deep and fucking amazing, I truly lack the words to be able to describe them. She's blessed me with a catalyst, nonetheless. A desire beyond her understandable desire for freedom. Sarang sees in Calista righteous anger, even though she's not kind, even though she's a powerful bloodthirsty unhinged mass murderer and war criminal, Calista is the first in a near endless plethora of encounters to make Sarang feel something, to make Sarang feel human in her inhumanity, make her fear for her life, make her reach for something deep within herself that she does acknowledge but not allow as much outlet as she thinks she does. Yes, Sarang is angry, yes she knows she deserves better, but even that instinct has begun mellowing out, numbing with time. The Sarang we meet today is much more... alive than the Sarang prior to meeting Calista. Sarang had set out to free herself and then nearly lost herself in the drag of routine carried on for centuries. Then, Calista came, powerful, angry, beautiful, and Sarang can't get her out of her head. She's the reason Sarang's fire burns again and no matter who she's with or what she does, she can only bite as fiercely and snarl this powerfully because Calista reinvigorated it within her.

Nakamura Suki (@kamipyre Ferre?? OMG Ferre~ it's you~ ♥) Another God-Tier character design that impacted Sarang two seconds after meeting her. It's violently implied, but did you know that Sarang doesn't have friends? That Sarang never had female friends? That Sarang never got to experience the epic highs and lows of casual friendships? Suki is violently important to her as a character because she's... well, to be honest, simply because of her personality, how she presents herself. Suki drags a part of Sarang out of her that hasn't existed since... before her death? Youthful Sarang, a Sarang who liked to play harmless pranks on San and gang up on him with Hui, who'd get scolded for getting dirty in the internal gardens, who's always been bad-ish at singing but enjoyed doing it in secret just because she was told it was a ginseng thing to do and a yangban lady should not favour the arts (she doesn't, but yknow). Suki makes her... young, energetic. Like she might be allowed to have fun.

Lee Hyuk (@jeoseungsaja ALEX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Here is where Sarang truly gets to shine as the brat she's secretly capable of being. This connection, minute as it may be, AND OBVIOUSLY doesn't have to be official, he simply has impacted her, sticks to my brain like Glue™. Not only because I'm a huge hyurick fan and the idea that I get to interact with both involved parties in this very painful Black Knight verse via the same character, meaning Sarang has met both figures in this fantastic ship that has me glance through the window at you guys just sort of choking on how amazing y'all are, but Hyuk as a whole is completely unlike any personality type Sarang makes herself actively interact with over and over again. She puts up a lot of acts, but when it comes down to it, some just... tire her out. If she were forced to butt heads with Hyuk, she'd probably grow tired of it pretty fast. Truth is, though, she doesn't have to. She just likes messing with him. He's an interesting fella with the most stubbornly kept frown in the entire world, poking and prodding at him to see what might make him burst is fun. Going up to him to mess with his day is like... going to the beach on a day off. It's relaxing and fun. I'm so sorry Hyuk.

Amelia Sinclair (@astremourante Ami I lub you SO SO SO SO SO MUCH) Amelia is... -lies down on the floor- how will I ever be able to explain my feelings for her. Sarang and Amelia are... they're not exactly alike, but they have quite a few things in common that makes it violently interesting to see them face each other. The coping mechanisms, the being made into a weapon, the lack of female agency, the lack of escape, the using charm and physical promises to further goals, the violence. At the same time, though, their backgrounds are very different. Amelia did not have a SINGLE GOOD DAY in her childhood GODDAMMIT AMI; Sarang had been forced into fulfilling Womanhood in a way demanded of her during Joseon but she's never been... abused. Perhaps made to feel slightly lesser, or scolded with cold detachment, but she had a support group nonetheless, she had her older brother as pseudo-father figure, her pain starts when she's effectively an adult. Their trauma is violently different and as such, it impacts them differently, too. So, while they use similar social and actual weapons to fulfil the roles imposed on them, there's no actual guarantee that they'd understand each other as well as Sarang feels they might. There's chemistry here, if I may say that~ but there's also a fundamental misunderstanding on Sarang's part that she's figured Amelia out, or partly at least, that they're very much alike, that now she's just got to figure out who's going to win this game. She underestimates not Amelia herself, but the pain she went through, effectively fooled by how much work Amelia puts into not letting anyone see it. This makes this connection so very fking interesting because Sarang could learn something here, and also because I can't WAIT to see what Amelia's reactions to all this will be, I am obsessed with that woman oh god.

AND.... UH YEAH THIS POST IS GETTING LONG and I think I've covered connections/plots/threads I feel are deep enough that I'm allowed to yell about them, so.... thank you Ferre ♥

[cynicallyscorned]

Ship Bias!!

5 ships i'm biased about for my muse! ( accepting. )

and the #1 contender is... shocking nobody,

Sonic X Cynic.

listen. okay. when i first conceptualized cynic, I went in with absolutely no expectations when it came to ships. the goal was just to play a version of sonic that was fun to hate with a warped idea of self image and right and wrong. I was not expecting cynonic (and every variation it can come in) to be one of the main OTPs here. Tbh I didn't even care much for dupe-shipping since part of me thought it was a lil weird, and the other part just had no experience w the concept. enter my friend Jeremy, who came up with an AU sonic on the spot as I was sharing a bit of info about cynic that is basically the polar opposite to his rugged bad boi persona. a couple impromptu improv charming exchanges between them later and I was sold LMFAO. I haven't been the same since. and since then I've developed such a soft spot for the idea of this traumatized lil rat learning to become...okay with himself and who he is and come away from the darkness through Sonic's help. (frankly, sonic being such a strong influence in the other character's life in a positive way has always been one of my favorite things abt his pairings) I've adored every interaction he's had with every sonic! platonic, romantic, sibling like, enemies -- it does not matter to me. it will always fascinate me and I will always get a kick out of writing this guy's complicated and messy feelings abt his alternates because it's always so unique every time.

Shadow X Cynic.

I'LL BE REAL CHIEF. the OG plan was so far away from this pairing. I came up with cynic during a period where sonadow had been a bit soured for me due to bad rp experiences. part of the way I established cynic and his dynamic with his own shadow from his dimension was a little influenced by this fact. WITH THAT SAID - I've been completely sold on the pairing I have going with seiko's shadow (@somewhereinchaos) because it's like a completely different spin on sonadow. at first it just seems like two edgy moody assholes that somehow get along but then the nuance and actual sonadow undertones start coming out as their relationship develops. cynic and shadow are quite similar and they find comradery in their shared grievances with the world - yet at the same time also have strongly different personalities and they manage to strike an unexpected balance of lifting each other up and leaning on one another for support. I love that cynic brings out a soft and emotionally consoling side of seiko's shadow that had nearly been forgotten, while shadow brings out more of the heart and passion that makes cynic A sonic! its so fascinating... their relationship has also made me fall in love with sonadow all over again and I just care them so very much. 🙏

Scourge X Cynic.

You are strongly responsible for this brainrot turning into a full fledged otp because I was not prepared for how much these two would have me in a choke hold HDGLJ. like, I already knew cynic would think scourge is cool, that he'd have a person crush on him. I've said before while describing him that cynic is of a similar concept to scourge if he just never changed his identity. radical differences aside, they both understand what it feels like to be told (indirectly or otherwise) that they are inherently wrong and their version of 'sonic-ing' is bad. but where cynic desperately clings onto his identity as sonic with a struggling grip, scourge cast that life aside and became something bigger. that suggestion is so dangerously tempting to cynic as it is painfully relatable, to embrace your worst side because it's 'all you'll ever be.' BUT BESIDES ALL THAT - it ALSO is in a hilarious yet tragic way, a dark spin on cynonic. scourge has all the personality traits of sonic that pull you in, make you wanna like him, which is.. infectious to cynic. they are doomed by the narrative but you still can't help but go 'aww' when scourge gets cynic to laugh or when they riff off each other in their dumb competitive natures.

Surge x Cynic.

THIS ONE CAME COMPLETELY OUT OF LEFT FIELD FOR ME BUT I AM NORMAL. ok, maybe not normal. I haven't caught up on IDW since reading the first issue for imposter syndrome so there's stuff I'm missing here -- but the bottom line is @synnrrgy's surge has wormed her way into cynic's tiny little brain and he is down bad. they somehow bonded through beating the shit out of each other and sharing that same brash attitude, not to mention their mutual dislike for sonic and feeling the inferiority complex. they are the kind of pairing where one part of the ship is always pushing each other's buttons and vice versa but still can bond over doing dumb and reckless shit. what's more, cynic is hopelessly drawn to dysfunction, and still has that deep seeded ache to help people deep down. the situation surge is in with starline aches my HEART because it seriously brings out the desperation cynic has to protect the ppl he cares about, making him pull a complete 180 to the closed off and aloof demeanor he usually has. and the memory loss.. augh. I love me a good angsty antag pair that motivates one part of ship to try to be the 'hero'

Blaze x Cynic.

THIS ONE.. KINDA JUST HAPPENED and it's not exactly the setting you'd expect either. in the TBC au ive mentioned dozens of times on this blog, cynic who is a misunderstood outcast at school develops a crush on @warraigoe 's blaze, and due to tragic circumstances leads to them both being put in a position where they have to sorta set aside any growing feelings so they can prioritize 'leading' the one standing force against CHORUS tech. blaze is both cynic's rock and also someone he trusts to watch his back, but she is also nearing dangerously close to hosting age (essentially when a teenager comes of age and falls victim to the brainwashing hive mind psychic force known as the Song. it's like an invisible illness that comes for almost everyone at some point in this verse) and so cynic is deeply afraid of losing her too. it's another very doomed by the narrative pairing and it's their softer moments with each other that just makes all the upsetting things that end up happening to them hit even harder. in another life they are happier and able to maybe get a chance to actually enjoy each other's time without the threat of inescapable doom bearing down on them...