#and it helps that he doesn’t want our protag dead he just wants to mentor her but his methods dehumanize her and he sees her as a pawn

[cottonpuffmouse]

Now I’ll say this.

It would be a great way for Dazai to actually be dead. He’s done what he set out to do: right some wrongs, fuck around with Chuuya a bit, help out a few Orphans, etc. He’s had, more or less, a ‘character arc’ even if it’s not in the main story proper. And after we’ve seen the Atsushi can use the vision of Dazai to move himself, we know our protag doesn’t need his physical mentor as much. We’ve also learned Atsushi’s claws can more or less do the thing we rely on Dazai to do in the plot(nullify problem abilities).

This is a fine time to retire Dazai’s character.

I don’t want it retired, mind you, I’m just saying I can see the vision.

And I can say all this with a handwave and a shrug because like. If I had a nickel for everytime my favorite mentor character was literally shot in the head and then is considered alive somewhere off scene-I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot but…

So I don’t think he is dead. Critically injured, definitely. Dead? No.

[vaugarde]

been reading rise of kyoshi and can i just say that jianzhu is a cool ass concept for an avatar antagonist

[fencesandfrogs]

some thoughts on dovewing and hollyleaf

so i was like 1k words into my au for dovewing where she’s cloudtail and brightheart’s daughter and it was really good and then i lost it because tumblr doesn’t understand the concept of “are you sure you want to navigate away from this page?” and i can’t tell you how sad that makes me but i’m not going to despair, because i think the world needs this.

[1.5k words. 5 minute read. wall of text.]

right. so. basically. dovewing is going to be born to cloudtail and brightheart. i have Thoguhts on what other things could be changed in po3 but this isn’t about that.

also ivykit is red now sorry i don’t make the rules. (brightheart OR dovewing are now tortie to compensate for the change in genetics, not that warriors cars about that, but i do. cloudtail inherits brown from his mother and ??? from his father because i haven’t traced all of their litters, but i don’t see why dovekit couldn’t be grey.)

so cinderheart gets dovepaw because dovepaw is anxiety child. lionblaze gets ivypaw because that’s going to be a drama engine when he’s obsessed with her sister(’s mentor, but ivypaw doesn’t know that, also later it is dovepaw bc propehcy)

cloudtail and brightheart and cinderheart work out some Sensory Blocking skills. beavers happens. dovepaw, who spent most of her time as dovekit hiding in big fluffy father’s fur because Sensory, takes one look at big and fluffy and kind tigerheart and says: yes, he is safe. i will be his friend.

(i’m a fan of tigerheart and dovewing don’t @ me, they are the cutest, and after everything bramble and squirrel put me through, i deserve some pure kind love.)

anyway lionblaze figures out dove is 3rd cat, jayfeather is like “oh sick my sister’s back” dovepaw is anxiety child, everything is fine.

nothing happens in omen of the stars i stg

tigerheart and dovepaw continue to meet up. ivypaw goes from “sister worshipped i am unloved” to “sister fragile. must protect. (also i am unloved)” bc skirmish on border patrol and dovepaw just...can’t.

everyone is kind of wondering if dovepaw should maybe be med cat? i mean she has a good ear for prey, but she can’t really catch it, and, like, she’s weird.

she’ll mention snippets of information she shouldn’t know. she knows what you were coming to talk to her about before you get there. she’s never surprised, by, like, anything far away, but she barely notices if you sneak up on her.

something is not right about her.

but dove doesn’t really want that (reminder: tigerheart and her are still flirting-friends. he’s aware that she’s got some kind of, well, problem seems cruel, but what else should he call it?, and wants to help her, but has no idea what to do), and so cinderheart is like “well. we can do this. we can.”

idk filler stuff. ivypaw finds out about dovepaw and tigerheart. like, she knew something was up, but she gets explicit confirmation. ivy gets very protective of dovepaw, dovepaw is like ‘ur not my mentor’ ivypaw sees tigerheart in the dark forest, and she goes all

bluefur being like “snowfur ur bf has rabies” in bluestar’s prophecy

and it goes about as well now as it did then (altho tbf dovepaw is more close to being in the right than snowfur was.)

ivypaw and dovepaw now aren’t speaking. cinderheart is trying to get some space from lionblaze because dovepaw is anxiety child, training with ivypaw isn’t helping, and lionblaze needs to focus on ivy dammit.

anyway yeah in this ivypaw, after dovepaw’s initial success hunting, quickly surpasses her sister, and continues training in the dark forest because must protecc also need affection

(ivypaw is very pro dovepaw be a medicine cat. the fact that it keeps her away from tigerheart is a major bonus.)

cinderheart doesn’t know what to do. finally someone is like “hey what if we go to the tribe.” because the tribe deserves to fix clan problems for once.

the tribe is like “yeah the world sure is a big place with a lot to look at. that’s why only half of us look.” (i know that’s not exactly how cave guard’s work but close enough.)

cinderheart is like “hm. what if, dovepaw, just a thought, what if you just, you know, avoid battles? i know it’s part of clan life but judging by the two souls crammed into my body, i’d say there’s been very few major conflicts over this and, reasonably, you should be able to avoid being chosen for battle control.”

dovepaw says, “but cinderheart, i’m a main character! unless i’m being punished or taught a lesson about duty, i’ll be automatically registered for every battle patrol until i die!”

cindheart says, “you’re right, i’m so sorry. hey ivypaw, [whoops yeah ivy and lion are here too sorry i forgot to mention that] what if you two learn to work as a team.”

dovepaw says, “i don’t want to work with her.”

ivypaw says, “that’s a great idea.”

because dovepaw talks very quietly (she forgets not everyone can hear as well as her), ivypaw wins.

they work out their issues, return to the clans after quite some time.

(this also gives dovepaw a good memory for a long time in the future when shadowkit is born. i don’t actually know when that happens because i just finished tigerheart’s shadow and it’s not there, but i’ll find it eventually)

anyway dovepaw and ivypaw haven’t settled their differences, but they have a peace treaty. no one is sure how to integrate the team style in most effectively, but with her senses dampened from the tribe, dovepaw gets a bit better at hunting.

she’s also now 200% anxiety, meaning she’s basically vibrating all the time, but at least she’s learning. and she’s got the technical skills, too, she just couldn’t focus on applying them.

so dovepaw gets to really earn her success.

alright they become warriors, the battle is approaching.

this is like at least 3 books worth of content when you consider that jayfeather and hollyleaf are alive and hollyleaf is kind of, either dead or alive, tunnels or not, on top of shit in this universe. she knows shit gon go down. she’s going to be ready.

anyway right so dovewing and ivypool. that’s pretty much it except dovewing is more useful during the final battle. i’m not sure how i just know she is.

alright now i’m very tired and wanted to be done half an hour ago but here’s most of an au for you.

i came back like ten minutes later to add: the later three books would focus more on ivypool, hollyleaf, and jayfeather. dovewing is off in the background flirting with tigerheart. she and lionblaze have like one and a half brain cells between them. ivy holly and jay are the brains of the operation, and everyone knows it.

so they’re making plans and preparing and dealing with trust issues and lionblaze is like “what if? cinderheart. who is the best cat. what if she and i. had children. would they be. the best cat. squared?”

and dovewing, thinking of tigerheart, is like “no you idiot bestness is additive. that’s why my kits with tigerheart would be at least two times better than any other kits.”

*to be clear, kits are here the figurative marker of a relationship since warrior cats don’t have marriage. dovewing is basically like the fifteen year old doodling her name with tigerheart. she’s not serious about having children with him (yet), but it makes a tangible concept to picture their relationship in.

and meanwhile ivy is like “so if xyz is a taitor, that means i have to win over birchfall to make sure our numbers are evenly matched,”

(dovewing. i lovewing the dovewing, but she’s, well, not that smart.)

so yeah i think book protags would go:

dovepaw (i’d like to save her for later but unfortunately i think we need her deep characterization to provide context for her and tigerheart and sensory overload), ivypaw secondary

lionblaze, hollyleaf secondary (this is kind of a filler book while hollyleaf is set up as not a permanent resident of background character hell so lionblaze is just interpersonal drama moving the plot forward and filling in propechy info)

cinderheart, lionblaze secondary (i want them to be sorted faster, and dovewing’s second book needs to be later for tigerheart drama)

hollyleaf, jayfeather secondary (transitional book in focus, sharp narration turn because i have this working as 2 3 book arcs with a weaker overall arc, and since this is about dovewing i focused mostly on the first)

jayfeather, cinderheart secondary (dove+ivy need to close the arc together, also, cinderheart is like a central character to everyone else here, so she can sustain a whole lot of b plots)

ivypool, dovewing secondary (sisters, also, in this ivypool is far more important in the battle tha dovewing is. i mean sure dovewing is doing something, but the whole success of the battle hinges on ivypool, and everyone knows it.)

*in case I post more about it this au is tagged cloudtail's daughter. I already found calico dovewing that's gorgeous.

[yarrowleef]

Read Darkness Within all in one sitting last night and then passed out so here are my scattered thoughts i wrote down as i read, (afterthoughts in parenthesis)

Darkness Within Spoilers, obv

UGH GOD THE SECOND HAND EMBARRESMENT FROM SQUIRREL FAKE FLIRTING WITH ASHFUR IT HURTS

Just remembered Sandynose died and got a small boost of happiness (will Hawkwing and Plumwillow ever be allowed to talk again now? I mean probly not b/c they aren’t protags and non-protags don’t rly have friends but I can hope. Sorry, Hawkwhing and Plumwillow’s short-lived friendship in Hawkwings Journey was one of the last times I felt something)

Ghost fleas lol

Mothwing: i’m rude now. (but more importantly, Fuck Tigerheartstar for forcing his son to be around the cat that hurt him so badly, like he HAS to know how upset everyone is regarding Shadowsight and his accidentally helping the imposter, and he’s making him be the sole one to tend to him??? There is NO REASON Puddleshine couldn’t have done it. You think Puddleshine is going to try and murder someone?? )

Oh no don't make this a traveling book, and a ROOTBRISTLE traveling book this is going to be insufferable

BACON AND EGGS

Lightleap Is Good (Hey didn’t Shadowsight have another sister? lets be real we all knew Pouncekit was going to end up as the forgettable 3rd one)

Bristlefrost’s crush continues to feel unnatural to me. It’s like she’s grasping at straws romanticizing the most generic things.....wow....I love how ur just so...bare minimum competent....being polite to the loner we came all this way to ask for help like any somewhat reasonable person would....How admirable...I love the way you just *clenches fist* exhibit some basic traits of loyalty and skill that literally every warrior has (I s2g I’m this close to head canon-ing Bristle as a clueless aromantic who doesn't understand what romance is actually suppose to feel like so she just looks at feelings of low-bar admiration and assumes “oh I guess this is that “romantic attraction” everyone’s always talking about? guess I must be in love???” because both her crushes have felt out of nowhere and like. Idk fake/forced sounding like she’s just telling me that that she’s In Love Now while I continue to not actually feel it at all from her end. I know it’s just that I hate the way Erin’s write female characters in love but this head-canon makes me laugh)

Got scared because I thought they were going to villainize Spotfur for not wanting kits for a minute, but also excited at the concept of maybe exploring a female character that doesn’t want to be a mother, but it turns out she was just pulling a Sparkpelt and actually DID want the kits all along and was only hesitant because she’s sad. Shrug oh well.  (the only female character in warriors that was distinctly upset about pregnancy and motherhood was Lizardstripe and as we all know she was eeeeeevil and abusive and “overly ambitious” because why else would you not come around to being happy about motherhood?? YES I’M STILL SALTY ABOUT YELLOWFANG’S SECRET, BAD BOOK)  Whatever it’s fine so long as Spot doesn’t lose her rebel leader spirit forever and default to “soft mom” personality for the rest of her life, I gotta have hope because I actually like Bristle and Spot’s current relationship. Also I am actually very grateful they never made Bristle resentful at Spot for getting with her crush, as lots of middle grade/YA media has a very bad habit of demonizing female romantic “competition” and its super gross, so I rly do like that Bristlefrost is so protective and caring towards her instead. )

This series is trying to tell me that Rootspring is actually Big but I refuse to accept that. he has dumb scrawny bitch energy and we all know it

Sunrise: “Thunderclan may be better with a new leader” lol go off (i mean........they right tho...It’s unfortunate that the tension in this whole plot is a bit dampened by the fact that i DO in fact want bramble to die v badly. I don’t even have special hatred for him, I’m just bored of him.)

Yes Lionblaze beat the shit out of Ashfur

*HOLY SHIT THAT’S FUCKED!!!! (I wrote this in reference to the ghost summoning scene, this was all I could manage at the time, that scene was WILD and I am VIBING WITH THE HORROR OF IT ALL)

* Brashfur: Oh yeah? Could Ashfur fake THIS? *stands up with slightly better posture* Shadowsight: oh damn you got me there...... (asdfhhfhhgh im sorry that was really funny, how did that prove anything?? ONLY A ~REAL~ WARRIOR COULD STAND UP STRAIGHT WE ALL KNOW ASHFUR IS INCAPABLE OF GOOD POSTURE!)

End of the book: *LAUGHING NERVOUSLY* WHAT THE FUCK??? (I thought he was just gonna kill Squirrelflight right there holy shit can you imagine the RIOTS that would ensue in the wake of all this Squirrel/Bramble discourse I was so scared for a second.  

 But it’s fine, she just....went to super hell instead......Warriors has come so far lmao WHAT IS HAPPENING

Final Notes:

*On Mothwing, I don’t think her behavior struck me as “CHARACTER BUTCHERING” as much as it did for other people? I mean.....Warriors fans will say that literally any time a character does ANYTHING less then perfectly nice I think her actions just seemed that much harsher because we are reading from Shadowsight’s POV, and Shadowsight is taking everything 10x more personally right now (understandably so, but Mothwing isn’t inside his head) she wasn’t trying to hurt him. Also... like... Shadowsight DID get his name too early. It’s not Mothwing’s job to put his feelings above everything else, she’s not even his mentor, Puddleshine on the other hand, as his main mentor, I don’t understand what his deal is ignoring Shadowsight, that’s not how you help an apprentice but I suppose I chalk many of his mistakes up to also not being the most experienced medicine cat (he barely even had his own mentor.) Maybe he’s distant because he feels guilty and actually blames himself for not guiding Shadowsight better?? the two of them haven’t communicated about it yet so idk

 any way I give Mothwing a pass to be a little short tempered right now as a cat who has had her abilities periodically questioned all her life no matter how hard she works or how much experience she has, just because she doesn’t vibe with the spiritual cult side of the clans, I can understand why she’s a bit defensive of being questioned and frustrated watching so much hurt happen Yet Again due to reliance on StarClan visions over common sense, and I for one still stan her for slandering StarClan and refusing to accept Mistystar’s bullshit banishing like everyone else. Sometimes a character is at the end of their rope and can’t manage to be 100% nice 24/7 and that’s maybe not inherently bad writing? idk just my hot take. At a certain point we all gotta reckon with the fact that our perception of most popular supporting characters in heavily colored by fanon and we can’t always get mad at the authors for not adhering to it

*The sisters magic shit is my fav worldbuilding warriors has had in AGES, I love the way it’s described and it actually feels like it adds something to this world. I love this horror imagery with the ghosts, very excited for that. 

*still won’t be thrilled if Ashfur is working alone, because his motive doesn’t make sense right now. I mean the trying to get Squilf thing, sure, whatever, but the “I will make everyone pay for what they did to me”???? cause like?? Who??? they didn’t do anything to him?? Ashfur’s grievance was very specifically JUST Squilf. He has no other cause for revenge, he had no other beef or complaints about the clans to my knowledge? The cat that killed him is dead, and she’s like, the only other one that I could see as having “wronged” him?? I guess he also didn’t like Firestar much according to Graystripe’s Vow (and on account of how willing he was to kill him w/ Hawkfrost) but Firestar is ALSO dead. I don’t understand his angle. Will have to see last 2 books to judge i suppose.

*All in all I am interested to see where this is going!! but also the pacing as I feared is becoming a major issue. It’s better then ending the main conflict on book 3 like Vision of Shadows did, but omg. Hardly anything happened in all these pages. I realized I was over half way through and nothing about the situation had actually CHANGED or advanced at all in all that time. Similar to the past 2 books which I believe could have been combined, this plot felt like it should have been the first half of a book. Discussing whether or not to kill the imposter isn’t much of a standalone plot, it’s just the set up to a plot. Finding the sisters didn’t need to be a whole long thing, the debates about the Imposters fate didn’t need to be repeated 10 times, all those chapters illustrating that “Shadowsight is sad” were also drawn out, repetitive, and interchangeable, we probably only needed 2 or so chapters showing his struggles to get the necessary information across. It felt like a lot of padding, it was really slow and I did a lot of skimming. I am still very interested in the overarching plot and mystery behind the ghosts so that kept me reading but man this “will they won’t they kill him” plot did not justify it’s own whole book. Alas this is a persisting issue that will never be resolved while they continue to force 6 books into 1 series that doesn’t need 6 books. I’m sure the writers are doing the best they can with these unfortunate constraints but still, it’s a wonder this slow padding isn’t more of a detriment to their younger readers that the books are supposed to be marketed to.

[em-exceeds-change-zearu]

These are the obvious choices but! Logi or Roy for the ask uwu

uwu

Logi

how i feel about this character: the plot needs to stop bullying this poor child pronto but i also want it to bully him more. he deserves none of this suffering but god if it doesn’t make him all the stronger for it

all the people i ship romantically with this character: edgar. full stop.

my non-romantic OTP for this character: sabareta! he was such a good foil/mentor to logi in chapter one, such a good mirror to show how even a good idealistic boy can be twisted into what he was. the fact that logi was able to revive his old idealism but he was still able to be the practical, battle-hardened rebel in the end was great.

also this makes me cry every time the first time i noticed timeskip!logi’s bandanna was similar to sabareta’s and then his J+ story came out and flat out confirmed it’s there to help him keep the same resolve and i just…cries. cries forever.

my unpopular opinion about this character: logi wasn’t an idiot in chapter 1! he was just really naive! naive  =/= idiocy ok. and he had his requisite character development in chapter 1 after facing his own powerlessness and while you think that would result in the typical Shonen Protag Triumphs it does not. instead it ruins everything because he isn’t able to recognize dias’ slipping into the darkness until too late and then he has to retreat into hiding after being unjustly branded a traitor and has to genuinely confront his own weakness and inability to make hard decisions to achieve the peace he sorely wants, etc. he wasn’t stupid but his naivety cost him greatly in the end and that was something he had to face. and he does and comes out all the stronger for it.

however the general opinion that he becomes a more well-rounded and nuanced character in chapter 2 onwards is one that i accept wholeheartedly i’m so proud of him

one thing i wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: i want more of Logi & Edgar’s Fantastic Adventures. please. they bounce off each other so great. but also i want to know more about the one and a half year timeskip and what he did. because while he was severely depressed in his J+ event by the end of it he seems to be able to look forward to the future somewhat optimistically and hasn’t lost all of his naviete. But when he shows up again in Chapter 2 he’s somehow managed to revive the Blue Flame Guard as a voluntary corps and has also become quite the negative nancy.

this hurt my heart so badly the first time i read it my poor baby i’m so glad he’s regained the will to fight for those naive ideals again. seriously child what happened to you how did you accomplish all this and got so sad as a result I WANT TO KNOW WE’VE GOT AT LEAST THREE MORE CHAPTERS OF STORY TO GO THROUGH WILL I EVER FIND OUT??? I DON’T KNOW  !!!! !1 WHY AM I SO INVESTED IN THIS GATCHA GAME WHEN THE STORY CHAPTERS ARE RELEASED AT THE SPEED OF MOLASSESS I’M SO MAD

my OTP: you can guess at this point. look. looooook. they just mesh so well with each other and i love their interactions and they’re really cute and edgar’s one of the few people that timeskip!logi laughs around and they have a combination attack and it’s super cute 

look at the casual teamwork and how well edgar’s spontenaity and mind for improvisation balances with logi’s steadiness and power and and and cries

my cross-over ship: funnily enough despite all the crossovers tagatame has had so far, edgar and dias have had crossover storylines before logi does. i wanna see a crossover storyyyyy whiiineeesss. does he get the radiant historia one. i hope so. i wanna see him interact with stocke and co. pleeeaaase . .  . . 

a headcanon fact: i want to believe so many things about logi having leviathan in his possession but i don’t know how many of them have been/will be jossed by canon. really what the big point is what did leviathan dooooo. did it revive him after he was straight up killed by dias. did it save his life instead. will it exact a price from him later. has it bound itself to him. i don’t know i don’t knowwwww. hhHHH I HAVE. SO MANY IDEAS AND NONE OF THEM WILL BE TRUE BUT UNTIL THEN THEY REMAIN HEADCANON FACTS TO ME

Roy

how i feel about this character: GOOD SON BOY! THAT’S OUR BOY RIGHT THERE!!!! OUR BOY ! ! !!! !!

all the people i ship romantically with this character: okay look. there’s lilina of course, but also i ship him a little with sophia because shared dragon ancestry. my Heroes ship for him is with Julia though because in my Heroes roster they’ve been together since almost day one and they’ve grown stronger together and you all know about the shitpost joke i’ve made with them so

my non-romantic OTP for this character: guinivere. i’ve already made a longass post about this but look. Look. meeting her on a chance routing to pick up some mercenaries is what led to their parties meeting and both of them wanting to stop this war was what led to him taking her on as part of his party despite her clearly being part of the enemy faction - not only that, but the literal Actual princess of the enemy country and just. watching them both grow into people who can lead an army and a country over the course of the war is just real fucking good and you know they share a real strong intergenerational friendship because of it all okay? okay.

my unpopular opinion about this character: i actually don’t have a problem with roy’s Shitty Stats? i’ve always seen fire emblem as a kind of chess-like map game: he’s the king piece you have to get to the end. he’s not necessarily meant to go around killing things and getting stronk, that’s what you have the other characters around him for. his even stat growths contribute to that and they also make sense plotwise too: he’s a Baby, only fifteen. even compared to other young Lords he’s absurdly young and still in the middle of his studies. so the trend growing to Strong Lords in more recent games, while it’s not something i’m super pressed about, it’s not something i care for much either? weak chesspiece lords are also valid

i do have a problem with his absurdly late in-game promotion though urgh. either give him another promotion halfway through the game OR MAKE IT EARLIER, OR SOMETHING??? GOD. plotwise it makes sense BUT GAMEPLAYWISE IT’S STUPID

one thing i wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: [SLAMS HANDS ON TABLE] CONFIRM. THE DRAGON. HERITAGE. I DON’T CARE IF BEING A QUARTER-DRAGON IS TOO LITTLE TO HAVE ANY VISIBLE EFFECT ON HIM I JUST REALLY LIKE THE FACT THAT BLAZING BLAZE GIVES THE OPPORTUNITY TO RETCON ROY’S ACHIEVEMENTS IN BINDING BLADE INTO AN INCREDIBLE SHOW OF IRONY, OKAY

my OTP: lilina. first girl is best girl. 

my crossover ship:  does the ship with julia count? yes? no? it’s technically crossing games over. 

a headcanon fact: this child spends millions of years in any library he can get his hands on and you will pry that truth from my cold dead hands