#as far as potential compatibility might go

[beneathstarryskies]

Omg your requests are open 🙏

Could I please request some breeding kink headcanons for some of the RE men? Chris, Leon, Wesker, Ethan and Karl? That would be awesome! Thank youuuu

Warnings: breeding, pregnancy, female reader, obviously unprotected sex.

Chris Redfield

Chris didn’t even realize he had a breeding kink. He stays so busy and is often so far away, he doesn’t see himself as necessarily being ‘father material.’

However, one day, he goes with you to a family function. There, he gets the rare chance to see you interacting with your small nieces/nephews/cousins and he imagines you with your children. Would you be as patient and loving as you are with the small kids in your family? 

Chris knows this isn’t a decision to make lightly, but he also is a man who acts a lot on passion and instinct. 

When he gets you home that night, he can’t stop thinking about putting a baby in you. 

You can’t do anything for the next few days without Chris pawing at you, kissing you everywhere he can reach, begging to cum inside you every time he can. 

Are you bending over to do laundry? Oh, now you have his bulge pressed against your ass! Are you lying in bed reading? Guess who is slowly peeling your pants off and pressing kisses on your inner thighs! 

Finally, he lets it slip. He has you bent into a mating press while he’s pounding into your soaked cunt with reckless abandon. 

“Let me put a baby in you,” he growls against your ear. 

Leon S. Kennedy

Leon has been on his own for a long time. He loves the idea of having a little family of his own, and he doesn’t hide it at all. 

Every time he’s fucking you, he is going to cum inside of you whether you’re on birth control or not. He just can’t imagine not spilling his load inside of your waiting walls. 

Leon will slip up and call you ‘mommy’. He says it sort of as a joke the first time, but then the name just fits you so well. He can’t resist telling you how much he wants to make you a mommy. 

He always keeps his cock sheathed inside of you after you’ve both finished to keep his cum plugged inside your little hole. 

If he goes soft he’ll just use his fingers to push his cum back inside and keep it inside. 

For all of his big talk, if you do end up pregnant he will panic a little bit deep down. His work is dangerous and has earned a lot of enemies for him. It might take him a while to let the news set in. 

Once you are pregnant and Leon comes to terms with the reality of parenthood, he becomes so protective. You will never be out of his sight, even if it’s just him tracking your location or calling in a favor to have an agent look after you while he’s away. 

All in all, he’s very happy to have bred you. 

Albert Wesker

As an Umbrella operative/double agent, Wesker didn’t have a breeding kink. He was constantly plotting for his gain and looking out for his skin. Being a parent would only complicate matters further and give him yet another piece to move on the chessboard. 

However, when he realizes the true potential he holds within himself, to dominate the world and rule as a god, something snaps within him. 

The need to carry on his superior genes and establish a legacy grows strong. 

He can’t breed with just anyone, however. He goes to painstaking lengths to find someone who has genes compatible with his own. Oh, and once he finds you he wastes no time making his way into your life. 

You’re his precious little lover, and he goes to any lengths to make sure you’re as smitten by him as he is with you. 

He gets off to the idea of knocking you up every single time you’re intimate. Even if you’re just giving him a blow job, he will bust as soon as he imagines breeding you. 

Not to worry though, because Wesker has stamina for days. He’ll wear you out with his libido. All the while he’s growling and grunting in your ear, making sure to tell you how much he loves breeding your little cunt. 

If you beg for him to cum inside of you, good fucking luck. He will go absolutely feral. 

Ethan Winters

It’s no secret that Ethan loves being a dad more than anything. He has so much love to give, and he is naturally doting on those he loves. 

That being said, with everything he’s been through it will take him some time after your relationship begins to think about having a family with you. It will first cross his mind when someone mentions how good you are with Rose. 

The thought sticks with him for a while, and then it morphs into the idea of having another baby…

Soon, he’s picturing you swollen and round with his baby growing inside of you. He can practically hear how sweet you’d be explaining to Rose that she’s going to be a big sister. 

He’s trembling with excitement when he brings up the idea of having a baby to you. If you agree, he is going to be hard immediately. 

Ethan doesn’t do anything half-assed. The man becomes OBSESSED with breeding you. 

He’s tracking cycles, he’s pulling all the positions that are the most effective for conceiving, and most of all he is fucking you every single time he gets the chance. 

Karl Heisenberg

Karl gets the idea to breed you for entirely selfish reasons if we’re being honest. 

When Alcina is allowed to create three daughters, he grows a bit jealous of that. Why does she get a family? Why does Donna get her stupid little doll? And when he learns of the possibility of having a strong, powerful child…Oh boy. 

He won’t exactly tell you his intentions. He just starts pumping thick loads of cum into you every chance he gets. 

One night he’ll let it slip, “I’m gonna put a baby in you.” 

He doesn’t really care if you want a baby or not, the idea of it just motivates him beyond anything else. He becomes insatiable, especially during a full moon. He’ll have you bent over every surface or folded into a mating press all night long. 

The problem with Karl though is he doesn’t actually consider the reality of having a kid. When you start showing signs of pregnancy, he kind of starts to panic. He might push you away a little bit, not fully wanting to take responsibility even though he wanted it so badly at first. 

However, when certain people begin questioning how you became pregnant his protective instincts will flare up. Then, he’ll never let you leave his sights.

[sh0tanzz]

is it me or do i like men groveling

can i request riize second chance romance if that makes sense:’)

(ur work is amazing pls continie keeping us happy^^)

i love groveling men too it’s ok anon 😗

RIIZE SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE ~ based on their birth charts

reminder this is just based off of my opinion after looking at their birth charts and what I think would happen from my own observations these things are not exact fact unless they said it themselves !

Shotaro

SO MUCH ANGST OOOH MY GOF. Would be the most mature on the outside but on the inside he’d be ☹️☹️☹️. “I don’t even care about what she’s doing” [checked your instagram and other socials to see if you’re grieving as well or seeing someone new] He wouldn’t necessarily go out dating looking for a rebound he’d focus on his craft in all honesty and might even seclude himself a little bit. I see him taking a break with his s/o instead of just flatline breaking up and once he feels like he has emotionally healed as far as he can he’d return and it would be pretty serious like in a private closed space he’d want to talk everything out and NEEEDS you to be honest abt everything but he’d just want you guys back together and for both of you to be happy.

Eunseok

(I feel like Eunseok is aware that he could potentially fall victim to the “the one that got away” trope) but anyway. He’d be the biggest nonchalanter to ever nonchalant 😭 might even try to stay mutuals/cordial with you. Would date, see other people, have a mini roster and fwbs going on. But as soon as he realizes everyone else is boring him and wasting his oh so valuable time (And he hates. To waste his time.) he’d get so irritated at himself for letting go of such a good thing and would criticize criticIZE CRITICIZEE himself. Forces himself to not run from/internalize how he feels he’d reach out again, wouldn’t be the most sappy return ever he might even joke about what happened but he’d be as honest as he could ever be and would surprisingly admit where he fucked up.

Sungchan

His pride and the hurt he carried during the time apart would hold him back so badly. Would improve himself and boss up similar to Shotaro to show you what you were missing; try to find attention and praise elsewhere. But when he realizes you did the same thing and also became better in every way possible physically, mentally…and that people still have their eye on you like they did when he first met you..he’d cave. Would HAVE to shamefully put his hurt and pride aside. Cue his dramatic serious text at 11pm and him asking how you’re doing to see if the good things he’s heard about you were true (prays you say no when he asks if you’re seeing anyone) would ask you to meet him somewhere that was important to you two and nostalgic. Almost kills him to be wrong but has to accept it 😭

Wonbin

He’d be like “whatever” since he knows that so many girls want to be in your place, might even consider sliding back to that one ex. Would be torn between just letting things go back to normal but his stubborn stagnant attitude would leave him stuck in a victim state. But then once the pain slowlyyy seeps in and that what you two had was something genuine and you were one of few people that actually understood him and physically compatible with him then on the inside he’d lose it. Would have a wayyy more sappy lovey dovey way of coming back. Cue him using music in some way shape or form as his way of coming back. Would probably want to physically see you in a place that he’s most comfortable with.

Seunghan

So so sassy. Honestly he’d walk away pretty fast but would miss you pretty fast right after. He’d hesitate but only because he knows that he probably got a little mean when you two split and that you might not even want to talk to him. Tries to go dating around but wakes up and gets it together once he sees/hears that you’re talking to someone new (10 extra points if it’s someone he doesn’t like or thinks isn’t even close to how attractive he is ) . Tries to be cool about it but is hurting inside, would ask everyone for advice. The emotional side would take over and he’d just have to listen to how he feels and think later. His way of coming back is essentially him outdoing whoever has you on their sights or him showing you the epitome of affection. He’d have to force his virgo mercury to work and speak UP and apologize.

Sohee

Would seem pretty ok and normal compared to everyone else similarly to Eunseok. Talks about you but wants to jump someone if THEY try to talk about you. (“can’t believe she’d do this” “yea she’s crazy asf” “Don’t say that 🫤.” ). (Cue him singing “When I was your man” by Bruno Mars 😭). He wouldn’t want to constrict and limit himself or you after the breakup so he’d also try to date/talk to other people. Has to give in and accept that thinking about you while hanging out with someone else is a CLEAR indicator that he needs to get off his high horse and return. He’d probably word vomit about how he feels about everything and apologize but also goes on this passive lecture on how you two shouldn’t allow each others feelings to rip you two apart like that again and the principle of it all.

Anton

Word vomit pt.2. Could go two ways. Way one if the breakup was on good terms/mutual after the breakup he’d probably remain friends or still be in contact with you, then once he realizes he can’t just move on at the snap of his fingers and realizes that every person he’s with has resemblance to you whether it’s physical/personality he’d impulsively talk to you and get right back if he can. If it was on bad terms it’d feel pretty cruel ngl like you’d feel like he kinda just disappeared and made his way elsewhere..but once he’s alone with his thoughts he’d have to realize the errors of his way or the faults on his side he’d IMPULSIVELY come forwards with how he feels, would probably ask you to dinner and have the conversation there and says everything that he has to.

[sitp-recs]

Hi Liv,

Do you have any fics when an event acts as an “emotional catalyst” for either Harry or Draco? Like one them being hurt or in a near death situation that triggers some moment of clarity or confession of feelings? Thank you.

What a great ask, anon! Here are some fics that came to mind, not all of them involve danger or near death situations but I hope they work all the same :) enjoy!

the keys to your kingdom by thistle_verse (E, 7k)

It was nothing so elegant as fucking, the first time they came together. It was teeth just a little too sharp— against a collarbone, on the right-side curve of a jaw, drawing blood from the plushest part of a bottom lip. It was the doorframe digging into the curve his spine was making of its own volition: closer, harder, more.

Night Changes by Writcraft (E, 10k)

Draco and Harry have spent years dancing around one another, but Potter’s straight and married. Until one day he isn’t.

What Real Thing? By loveglowsinthedark (E, 12k)

They don’t cuddle, they don’t talk about their relationship (or lack thereof) and they certainly never fall asleep in each other’s arms.

White as Snow by bixgirl1 (E, 19k)

After a quick escape from danger, Harry and Draco find themselves trapped in a blizzard, a small cabin their only refuge from the storm. It's the perfect place to recover and regroup — and to have a long-overdue conversation or two.

Don't Stop It Before It Begins by mischieviolet (M, 19k)

“I don’t understand how this is of any concern to you, Malfoy,” Harry said, crossing his arms over his chest. Draco blinked at the use of his last name, something that Harry only used with him in jest these days. “I’m merely spending time with my Auror partner, who is from another country, and has no one here. I would do the same if it were you.”

The Partner, The Rival and The Very Big Case by oceaxe (E, 24k)

When Harry and Nott are paired up to go undercover as fake boyfriends, Draco is disappointed not to get the assignment. It's just professional jealousy that's making him feel so upset. Obviously. He's engaged to be married to Astoria, after all.

Time and Again by lauren3210 (E, 28k)

Draco has an important research assignment, and he needs Auror protection. Harry’s a little concerned, not only because he can’t even pronounce the places Draco’s dragging him off to, but because there’s the slightest chance he might do something stupid, like tell Draco all about that little crush he’s been harbouring for a while now...

(The Piece) I was Missing All Along by lauren3210 (E, 30k)

Draco and Harry have been flatmates and best friends for years, and Draco thinks life is just perfect that way. But when something comes along and threatens to take all that away, Draco has to decide what it is he really wants, and just how hard he's going to work to get it.

Potential Gravity by zeitgeistic (E, 32k)

Draco is not good at Cards Against Humanity, but Harry’s not good at being human, so it all works out. Except for the explosions. And Harry’s inability to live when Draco’s not around.

What Dreams May Come by firethesound (E, 36k)

If Harry had to get called into work on his day off, at least he was able to get Malfoy called in too.

Highly (in)Compatible by daisymondays (T, 36k)

Draco’s been shagging The Prat Who Lived on and off for a few months when his soul mark starts to change. Draco’s had to accept a lot of adjustments to his life, but accepting that Harry Potter could be his soulmate is one step too far. It can’t be true? Can it?

Merlin Works in Mysterious Ways by lordhellebore (M, 82k)

When Harry is forced to form a Blood Bond with Draco Malfoy under threat of death, he thinks his future will consist of a cold home and sexual frustration. But when a group of left-over Death Eaters decides to stir trouble, their lives change completely – and it takes them both some years to figure out whether it’s for better or for worse.

[fanfic-obsessed]

Fundemental Cultural Misunderstanding

Can I just say that there is so much humor potential in Star as far as cultural misunderstandings go. 

Try this AU on for size. 

-Note:Though it is not necessary for this idea, it is important to me for you to know that in this world Anakin did not slaughter the Tuskens. He reached Shimi in time to save her and his focus was getting her to safety. Thus his relationship with Padme is much healthier.-

Anakin on a fundamental, and somewhat deliberate, level misunderstands some parts of Jedi culture. He believes that Jedi cannot get married.  In this world, this is not true.  

Marriage in this Jedi culture includes a marriage bond between all parties that, if not set up correctly, can do a fair amount of damage (and even when set up correctly doesn’t provide more than a sense of the other person's physical condition and emotions; rarely bonded might be compatible enough that that they can track each other through the bond). This is particularly true if one of the parties is not Force sensitive, or one of the parties is particularly Force Sensitive. So there is a lot of pomp and ceremony around getting married in the Jedi tradition to make sure the bond is correctly set up. Also consent is such a large portion of Jedi culture, so extra pains are taken to make sure non force sensitives understand what such a bond might mean…to the point where it freaks out most non force sensitives.  This all culminates in, by the time of the prequels, most Jedi just don’t get married.

-It should also be noted that marriage as a legal institution and marriage as a cultural institution are actually two very different things, though they are often conflated. Marriage as a legal institution means absolutely nothing to Jedi, and in fact many cultures, because the rights granted by the legal institution of marriage either don’t apply to Jedi or are covered by other Jedi related laws.-

This is also misunderstood by the Galaxy at large.  Also, because of this misunderstanding most cultures do not discuss their marriage customs with Jedi, sure it might come up organically but no one thinks that this is a cultural norm that the Jedi need to know. Which means as much as the Galaxy misunderstands the Jedi’s marriage customs, the Jedi misunderstand most other cultures' marriage customs as well.  In fact the Jedi, through generations of a benign misunderstanding, believe that most cultures will not discuss their marriage customs with Jedi, so all they can go on is their own observations. 

Picture if you will, little padawans vibrating their way into the Archives, up to the nearest archivist, who drops everything because the little Padawan wants to report that they ATTENDED A WEDDING. 

This leads to the archives being chock full of conflicting information about the various marriage customs throughout the galaxy, because anything that happens at a wedding now becomes a TRADITION of that planet, even things might be just a preference of the people marrying, or even a happenstance. The Jedi have all collectively agreed that they are just gonna roll with it, no matter how strange the custom or if it contradicts anything else (It is not like they can get information directly from the source after all).

Now when Anakin got married to Padme, he thought that Jedi cannot marry.  He thinks that his elopement would have to be a secret. He does not realize that he broadcasted his joy at marrying Padme to every Force Sensitive in the galaxy (no seriously, there are Force Sensitives on planets that don’t even have space flight yet, on the other side of the galaxy that felt an abrupt and incomprehensible wave of utter joy-some of those were physiologically incapable of feeling joy like near humans and had to lay down for a while). Also, not that he realized it, the part of his Force Signature (which Jedi are taught in the creche how to read) that deals with identity flashed with the equivalent neon lighted dashboard in Times Square that he was ‘Mr. Padme Naberrie’ from that point forward. 

So when Anakin leaves on a mission, unmarried, and comes back very married, but clearly hiding it, it is quickly noticed. But no one thinks that it is Anakin who does not trust them. Of course not, he is family. They decide that this must be some heretofore unknown Naboo marriage TRADITION, elopement followed by hiding the marriage. 

No one, not a single jedi in 10,000, thought to ask Anakin directly. 

Several Archivists promptly write some very well written papers on this tradition, and how it fits into their other knowledge, basically filling in the gaps to create a tradition out of whole cloth (even though they are acting in earnest). 

The war still starts, with all that entrails. But every Jedi knows about Anakin’s ‘secret’ marriage. The little ones all giggle about it. Most are eagerly waiting for the tradition of hiding to be complete, because surely ‘The Man Without Fear’ and his wife would also want to marry in the Jedi tradition.  There was so little to be excited about these days that everyone bought into this notion, even those that had long decided they would not go through the process of the Jedi Marriage. 

The children in the creche insist on making decorations for the eventual Jedi Wedding.  In fact there were multiple sets of decorations, depending on where the happy couple wanted the ceremony performed. Just rooms and rooms of decorations and drawings and artwork of all kinds. 

The High Council, including Obi wan, started researching to make sure they knew all the steps and traditions for the Wedding backwards and forwards whenever they had the chance. The last time a Jedi Wedding had been performed was 200 years earlier and enough had happened since that even those who were alive during that time were a bit fuzzy on the details.  They wanted to be ready to support Anakin and Padme in any way possible.  Padme’s biometrics are quietly added to the Temple’s banks; ready to be activated as soon as the couple is ready. A plan is put together so that Padme can be quickly evacuated if there was an active threat against Anakin specifically, or Jedi adjacent beings in general. 

And the Archivists are practically having duels to see who would get to speak to the happy couple once the period of hiding is done. There is hope throughout the archives that maybe, if they ask really nicely, Padme would be willing to answer a few questions on Naboo marriage traditions (All the Archivists want to learn so badly, all they want to do is be able to learn. Can they please learn).

Perhaps if it had gone on much longer someone would have cottoned on to how stressed this secret was making Anakin. Maybe not.  Perhaps this world still could have ended in unimaginable tragedy. 

Perhaps in another world like this. In this world, we look to humor instead of horror. 

A little over a year into the war several of the youngling clans, ages ranging from about 4-6, got to go on a tour of the Senate.  One of the younglings (Age 4, species was Sabetue and was genderless) got separated and couldn’t find a clone guard or anyone they recognized. They were wandering and scared, but somehow made it up to the level where Padme’s office is. And the Youngling recognized Padme’s Force signature as Master Skywalker’s wife, so they knew they would be safe with her.  

So now Padme has a small Jedi child in her office. Thankfully she was not in a meeting. She manages to get a hold of the Guard, who send up two of creche masters, who had been beside themselves with worry.  While in her office the child said things that made it clear that the child knew about Padme’s marriage to Anakin and how they couldn’t wait to see how pretty she would be in the Jedi Wedding.  One of the Crechemasters very gently reminded the child that Anakin and Padme might decide not to get married in the Jedi Tradition, that it had to be their choice and followed up with:

“And if we forced them…”

The child piped back with a solemn “we would be meanies”

One of the creche masters brought the child back down to the group while the other remained behind. First to thank Padme for finding their lost child. Then also to apologize for the child breaking the Hiding Tradition, expressing a hope that this would not have any negative impact on Padme’s marriage. 

The Crechmaster seemed so proud at saying ‘Hiding Tradition’ that Padme did not have the heart to tell them that she had no idea what they were talking about (they are very proud of remembering what the Archivists were calling this tradition).  They continue to have a brief conversation where Padme learned a number of things:

The Jedi, every single one of them, knew about Padme’s marriage.

They are all, every single one of them, actively supportive instead of the at best disapproving she thought they would be.

The Jedi somehow believe that Padme and Anakin are hiding their marriage over a Naboo Tradition

There are rooms full of crafts created specifically to decorate for her wedding in the Jedi Tradition created by hordes of earnest younglings. 

The Jedi are very into consent. 

Anakin is not due back on Coruscant for another week, and during that week Padme made discrete inquiries (oddly enough these are actually discrete) that told her nothing important about what was going on and driving her to distraction. So Anakin comes back to Padme nearly screaming at him ‘Why do the Jedi think we are hiding our marriage over a Naboo tradition?’

Anakin very much does not know but suggests that they ask the Chancellor (Anakin has very much been conditioned by the Chancellor to turn to him first in any instance of confusion).

Padme stares at him for a moment, tells him that is a stupid idea and to call Obi Wan.

Anakin does not want to call Obi Wan. He does not want to tell Obi Wan about their marriage and get in trouble. 

Padme stares at him with the dead eyes of someone dealing with too much ridiculous information at once, then says ‘Call Kenobi’.

Anakin obeys. 

Obi Wan comes over, they all sit down and Padme very calmly tells Obi Wan that she and Anakin are married. Obi Wan immediately begins radiating blinding excitement.  He congratulates them and starts to ask about having a Jedi wedding before deflating again and asking if not pretending he was surprised would ruin anything. He offers to go out and they can do it again, he can pretend to be shocked. 

Padme reassures him. Anakin starts to express his surprised (in a way that would have made it really clear about why he was hiding his marriage) but Padme quickly interrupts him, asking about Jedi Wedding traditions and lets Obi Wan ramble really happily about the research that the High Council had been doing to make sure they can recreate those traditions if Padme and Anakin want.

Obi Wan leaves with a promise that Padme and Anakin would come to speak with the High Council to make sure all the legalities (making sure everything is set up so that Padme can come and go as she pleases at the temple, and have a login to access the Archives, and would it be possible for her to come in for a baseline check up so that medical their records are up to date) are taken care of. As soon he is gone Padme grabs Anakin by the collar and goes ‘we can never tell them’

Anakin goes ‘what?’ 

‘We can never tell the Jedi why we were hiding our marriage. I’ll contact my parents as soon as it is morning on Naboo. They can back us up. We can say it is an old family tradition to hide the marriage for the first year. It isn’t used much, but after being in the public eye and with the War I was feeling superstitious, ok?’

Anakin goes ‘What, Why?’

Padme shakes at the arm in her hand, ‘telling the other Jedi that you didn’t trust them with your marriage would break their hearts. Do you want to be the reason small children are crying?’

Anakin looked far too considering for Padme's piece of mind, and what little sanity she had left. 

‘Let me put it this way, do you want to be what finally break’s Obi wan’s heart? That man was vibrating with excitement to celebrate our wedding so hard I could feel in the Force.’

Anakin deflated, ‘Oh. No.’

Padme’s parents laugh their ass off that she needs to create a long held family tradition because she doesn’t want to admit to the Jedi that she had thought they would react badly to her marriage.  They agree to do it. 

<Somehow this does derail Palpatine’s plans. Personally I want it to be in a way that leaves people unaware that he is a Sith, so for the rest of his life he needs to maintain the kindly old grandpa look and suffer for it- maybe something that means he has to actually live a clean life; no more crime or torturing for him.>

Twenty four years later Obi Wan helps Leia Naberrie meet up with Han Solo in order to Elope in the long held family tradition (Bringing with them only R2 to follow the actual tradition closer than they realize). Obi Wan very carefully leaves before Han arrives, so that he can truthfully say he does not know that they eloped. 

Leia’s twin Luke does not need to elope, as he followed his Uncle Obi Wan into the Jedi (an unrelated note he also followed Obi Wan into the mindset of ‘Why Monogamy when Harems naturally occur’-From that day the war ends Obi Wan has no less than three clones with him at all times; he also appears to have a lover, a friend, or an antagonist that he has weirdly sexual dialogue with on every planet he visits. Or Hondo Ohnaka, who has a category all his own. The years that Boba Fett comes to the holiday meals as one of Luke’s plus 6’s-He couldn't choose just one and no one would think of making him- are among the most awkward of most of their lives.)

[alexandraisyes]

If you could, what would you change in TSAMS? For example, would you add a new character or remove any of the already existing ones, make some ship canon or make two characters who are in relationship in canon to break up, make characters to be different either personality-wise or design-wise, focus on some characters more? (I want to hear you ramble about this please 🙏🙏)

The VERY FIRST THING I WOULD DO

Is put Monty in cognitive behavior therapy. And I mean that so fucking genuinely, that gator has a lot of thinking errors that make him so infuriating, and if I could get him assigned to a therapist that's NOT his girlfriend, that will actually work with him on being mindful and self-awareness and shit I would literally die happy.

My reasoning for this is that it would be so fucking unsatisfying to just "fix him". Personally, I think that would be an insult to what his character is supposed to be, and if Eclipse can get better and more empathetic and more aware of how he affects other people than so can Monty. I don't want to change his personality, I just want his character to be more aware of how big of an asshole he is and actually try to be a better guy. It 100% doesn't even need to be something in the foreground, just knowing that he's speaking to a professional about stuff would be enough.

As far as characters go, I personally don't think it's my place to suggest adding or removing characters. Mostly because I don't think it's necessary. I would push for more random lore for characters that we've met but don't know that well, especially one-off AUs that already exist in canon. We've gotten to see Gaia and Nyx again. Helios is one of the main characters now, and Kronos has been made relevant again, so they definitely remember the other dimensions. I think it would be a nice break from the heavy hard lore of the main universe, while also not being so obvious of filler content that people would throw a fit. It would be a treat for the audience to get to know more about the different canon AUs. I might prod to bring back Solar Flare, just because of the potential in his character (and yes I am biased) but even that's a coin toss because I also feel like he's served his purpose in canon.

I do think clearing up character ambiguity would be important, especially for characters like Jack where it's just so convoluted as to how we're supposed to interpret them. When the VAs say we're supposed to view a character as one thing and then portray them as another it gets really confusing for the audience. It is also really confusing for writers most of the time because they have a character that they aren't in (internal) agreement as to how they want to write them, which leads to a messy character. This is just a general statement about writers, and not specifically TSAMS.

Okay, the shipping question. I wouldn't make any ships canon or non-canon. Yes, that includes Monty/Earth. Yes, I know that I am well known for writing about ships and making AUs about ships, however, that's specifically non-canon and I know it's non-canon and I know that when I write about my silly little ships I am being delusional about characters' compatibility. It is my pride and joy to be unhinged and feral, and that would not change, but there would be a clear divide between professional work for the show and my silly fan AUs. Especially because, as I've addressed in the past, I see TSAMS as another DCA au just like all of my AUs I view as just more DCA aus, even if they are inspired by TSAMS. And considering I have multiple AUs with severely different plot lines and dynamics, I can trust that I would be able to keep them separate, and my personal work wouldn't bleed into my professional work.

Personalities? I like the characters' personalities, and I don't see a reason to change them. After all, it wouldn't make sense from a psychological perspective, which means that it doesn't make sense from a narrative perspective. I genuinely do enjoy the characterization in the show, including character flaws and things that make my skin itch. Yes, this includes Monty. As much as I say "Oh I hate Monty so much", I still really like the characterization, and I'm glad that they're willing to have such an asshole of a character. Moral ambiguity is extremely realistic, and like I've said before, I think Monty meets a lot of the requirements for narcissism or even narcopathy. Which is, again, extremely realistic. People with the kind of moral ambiguity like Monty, who are just as frustrating as Monty, are real. And they exist. And they are infuriating. But because they seem to want to portray Monty as a "good guy" I want him to do the therapy thing as earlier mentioned.

Design-wise, it's no secret that I'm an artist. There are a few designs that are just genuinely eye-sores, but I currently don't have that great of blender skills so I cannot pass judgement in that area when I literally cannot do better ajdsf;lgjafsdl. I can draw up designs, I can do 2D models and sheets and shit, but I'm currently useless when it comes to VRChat models. I want to learn, but that's such a process that I'm trying to find motivation for and I don't even know where I would start. which is part of the issue because it makes it seem even more impossible.

[caterina-celestia]

I asked ChatGPT why Dmitry asked Lane to help him with the holster in the diamond scene and that was the answer: 😂😍🔥❤️

Dmitry asking Lane to help him with the holster seems to be a calculated move with multiple layers of intention and potential outcomes. Here are several reasons why he might have done so:

Testing Boundaries and Reactions

- Assessing Compliance: By asking Lane to help him with something as personal as a holster, Dmitry is testing her willingness to comply with his requests. It’s a way to see how far she’s willing to go to maintain her image of being harmless and agreeable.

- Provoking Emotion: Dmitry likely wants to provoke some sort of reaction from Lane. Throughout their interactions, he appears interested in seeing genuine emotion from her, whether it be discomfort, irritation, or nervousness. Helping with the holster is an intimate task that’s likely to elicit a response.

Power Dynamics

- Asserting Control: Dmitry’s request reasserts his position of authority. By making her perform this task, he reinforces the power dynamic between them, reminding Lane of his control.

- Creating Vulnerability: The close physical proximity required for the task puts Lane in a vulnerable position, both physically and emotionally. This can be a way for Dmitry to subtly exert his dominance and see how she handles the situation.

Building Connection

- Increasing Intimacy: Despite the power dynamics at play, Dmitry might also be interested in building a more personal connection with Lane. Physical closeness, even in a professional context, can serve to deepen their bond and create a more complex relationship.

- Subtle Flirtation: There’s an element of subtle flirtation in this request. By creating a scenario where they are physically close, Dmitry may be exploring the potential romantic or sexual tension between them.

Psychological Strategy

- Reading Her Reactions: Dmitry might use this moment to read Lane’s reactions more closely. Her body language, facial expressions, and the way she handles the task can provide him with insights into her true feelings and thoughts.

- Manipulating the Interaction: This request could be part of a larger strategy to manipulate the interaction in his favor. By putting Lane in a position where she has to touch him and be close to him, he might be trying to unsettle her and gain the upper hand psychologically.

Personal Curiosity

- Interest in Lane: Dmitry might have a personal interest in Lane that goes beyond their professional relationship. His request could stem from a genuine curiosity about her and a desire to see how she responds to a more intimate and less formal interaction.

- Testing Chemistry: Dmitry might be testing the chemistry between them. Such an intimate task can reveal a lot about mutual attraction and compatibility.

Strategic Intimacy

- Instigating Trust: By asking for her help, Dmitry creates a situation where she has to trust him to some extent, even if it's just a simple task. This can be a step towards building a complex relationship where trust and mistrust coexist.

- Layered Communication: This request serves as a form of layered communication. On the surface, it’s a simple task, but underneath, it’s a way to convey interest, exert control, and probe her defenses all at once.

In summary, Dmitry’s request for Lane to help him with the holster is a multifaceted move designed to test boundaries, assert control, provoke reactions, and explore the potential for a deeper, more complex connection. It’s a blend of professional dominance and personal intrigue, revealing Dmitry’s strategic and nuanced approach to their relationship.

________________________________________

I didn't think that it's possible to fall in love with this man even more, but here I am... 🥲😍❤️

[theresattrpgforthat]

This is slightly off-theme for you, but: *not* horror fantasy *adventures* by small companies, for systems with combat? (Compatibility doesn't really matter; creatures can be tweaked from existing and/or created.) Finding games has become easier than adventures, and most adventures I find are on the horror side of things (The Isle, etc.). Thanks/apologies for going off theme!

Theme: Non-Horror Fantasy Combat Adventures.

Hello there! I have less familiarity with adventures, but I follow some folks on Itch who compile some very useful collections. I noticed that in many cases these collections included dungeon crawls or system agnostic settings, so I hope you find these to be useful!

Mount Zorgoth, by Highland Paranormal Society.

Zorgoth, the Cyclops godling rules from the highest peak. His star magic keeps the world below shrouded in darkness! Can the spell be broken?

This is a one-page mountain-climbing adventure with a goofy look to it and a light-hearted tone. There is no named system for which this adventure appears to be designed for, and as a result there aren’t any stats for the monsters that show up - such as the Slug Shepard and his 2d4 spider goats. But for a one-page rpg there’s certainly a lot you can glean based off of the different locations you can go to. I think this might be a fun game to try with Brave Zenith, as tone-wise both games feel a little bit goofy.

Welcome to Candy Mountain, by cog5games.

Created centuries ago with dark magics informed by gluttony, cast by a wizard who has since lost interest, Candy Mountain stands as a blemish of sweetness protruding from an otherwise bland countryside. The inhabitants of the mountain, who were also affected by the strange enchantment, went about their daily lives. Until…

Side with the Candy Crone and summon a gargantuan Lemon Titan to crush the Sugar Queen. Or! Bow to the Sugar Queen and stop the Candy Crone from exacting her revenge. Or! Forget all that and seek out a source of pure sugar crystals for Doctor Xaraqus and complete the lens of the temporal telescope.

There are honestly a lot of Troika supplements that you would probably find interesting to flip through in your search for non-horror adventures. Troika is a science-fantasy multiversal ttrpg, so there doesn’t have to be a lot of cohesion in terms of setting details. This also means that while not every Troika supplement may work for you, there’s bound to be something out there that does! If you want to check out more troika adventures, you could also look at the Troika! Pamphlet Adventure Jam that this game was submitted to.

Flowers Beneath The Mountain, by BPB Games.

A Casual Stroll Through a Wondrous Locale. Time to Hit the Road!

Flowers Beneath the Mountain is a licensed adventure for Ryuutama. Designed as an evocative introductory adventure for new players who want to explore a region that has more magic and whimsy than the standard setting, Flowers Beneath the Mountain is a simple adventure that provides useful information to help veteran or first time Ryuujin to fill out sheets on their own.

I know Ryuutama has a reputation for being a bit on the cozier side, so I expect this adventure to be fantastic and cute, even if there are monsters for you to fight. The game also comes with tokens for you to use on a Virtual Tabletop of your choice, if you are looking for that to add to your game!

Almanac of Lost Places, by Fantastic Jean.

A mountain coveted by rival kingdoms. A city where information is not a synonym of truth. The ruins of a civilisation far from being abandoned. A valley bending reality to protect itself from exploitation.

This is a loose outline of a number of places with conflicts waiting to be expanded upon. The Almanac holds story seeds: how you describe people and places, and how your players decide to respond will determine what conflicts they find themselves in, which allies they make, and what powers they will bear witness to. There's potential for horror, but I don't think this setting is beholden to it. I’m also wondering if perhaps combining this with something like the Big List of RPG Plots would give you enough to get a story in motion.

Overdue! by seedling.

In this system-agnostic game in a fantasy world, the players are all agents of the Library, sworn to carry out its will.  In this one-shot they can become entangled in book-themed royal intrigue, outwit a dragon who has taken control of all scientific journals, save the kingdom, and, most importantly, retrieve an overdue library book.

This is a system-agnostic dungeon-like adventure that looks to be less focused on combat, but I have a feeling that if you wanted to involve some combat, you could likely change some of the encounters within the game without necessarily having to change the core premise of the adventure.

[daceydeath]

Cigarettes and Cliche's

Pairing: Felix x Reader Word Count: 3.4K Genre: Slow Burn Romance, College Au, Warnings: swearing, drinking, mentions of a fight, minor injuries

He was the most impractical guy for you to be interested in, the incredibly handsome cliché bad boy who collected girls like trophies. As hard as you wanted to hate him his persistence and hidden softer side just could be your undoing.

You had never claimed to be the perfect student, you were never the top of your class, but you were close, trying to get the best grades possible to allow you to go the best collage which in turn you hoped would get you the best job you could. Your parents had pushed you to become an accountant since you already knew you would not get marks high enough to be a doctor or a surgeon, and you dutifully followed their suggestions. Even applying to the university they wanted you to attend so caught up in making them proud of them you never stopped to think you might have been missing out on anything.

You knew that your parents loved you but they were not the most loving of people which is why you had always strode to please them, failures in grades were not tolerated. Once you hit puberty your mother had sat you down and told you that boys would ruin your life, dating was a waste of time and you would end up an unwed mother who didn't finish school which as far as she was concerned was the lowest of the low. You knew very well that if you were to even mention a boys name that was not a potential tutor or rival that you would be lectured again, leaving for university had brought on the same lecture and you had promised that it would never happen.

Which is how you came to find yourself sitting in a shared dorm room with a girl you liked but at the same time couldn't share a dorm with desperately trying to find somewhere else to live so you could maintain your grades and not fall behind with the amount of nights she had kicked you out so she could hook up. You didn't care that Nali enjoyed herself, it was her right to do so, but you did care that she often turfed you out before you could even get all of the things you needed before she did so or when she kicked you out still trying to wake up enough to know what was going on. The last time Nali had barely even let you pull a hoodie over your pajamas before she unceremoniously tossed you out into the hallway passed a stupidly handsome guy in a leather jacket who just smirked at you before walking into your dorm room and locking you out, it had to stop. So you started looking through the campus noticeboards calling anyone that sounded like they might be a good roommate or had a separate room for you to stay in.

You had called about 15 different people today either being too late to get the room or unable to afford the rent, but it hadn't phased you and you knew that you were going to have to get a proper job to support yourself and had been more successful on that front at least. You had a shift later that afternoon at a café about ten minutes from campus. The place was a small but fairly popular location for students to meet up away from the shared dorms but close enough that everyone could get there easily on foot. The last call you had left a voice message saying you had seen his notice and if the room was still available to call or message you but you would be at work so you might not be able to answer.

Work had been busy as usual people everywhere, rowdy student meet ups, study groups and quiet dates came and went until your break which gave you a little while to sit in the back and relax checking your phone to see if anyone had gotten back to you. The last guy surprisingly had messaged you:

Yang: Hello, the room is still available Miss Choi, would you like to meet after you have finished your work day for coffee to see if we would be compatible roommates?

Choi: Yes of course, would you like to meet at Counter Culture Café at 8:30?

Yang: I know the place I will meet you there, my other roommate can't make it but that won't matter we are very similar.

Choi: I will meet you at 8:30 then.

You were excited that it might actually work out this time but only if he wasn't creepy or weird, you would have to ensure that you met his roommate before you actually agreed to move in.

Time passed quickly for you for the rest of the shift not giving you too much time to get nervous about what this guy Yang might be like, so before you knew it you were almost clocked off as yet more people came and went but it was finally quietening down for the late shift. You went into the back to get out of your apron and made yourself a hot chocolate before going to sit at one of the empty table to wait for him scrolling your phone. At exactly 8:30 your phone rang which you answered quickly looking around at the café patrons.

"Miss Choi?" a young soft voice asked over the sounds of traffic and talking.

"Yes hello, I am sitting inside if you want to come in" you chirped in response feeling hopeful that he at lest sounded nice. The door opened and a very handsome young looking guy walking in still holding his phone to his ear.

"I'm in the doorway" he said quietly not wanting to disturb other patrons you guess.

"I'm waving at you now" you replied waiting for his eyes to land on you, when they did he gave you a tiny wave and ended the call dropping his phone back into his pocket.

"Hello Miss Choi, I'm Jeongin" he smiled giving off very friendly vibes which put you at ease quickly, the two of you making small talk while one of the other staff made him a drink.

"So Jeongin, what kind of roommate are you looking for?" you asked hoping it was going to line up with what you needed because he seemed like a genuinely nice guy.

"Both Seungmin and I are fairly reserved most of the time so we need someone who isn't going to want to throw parties, be rowdy or dramatic. Both of us are serious about our studying but also like our own space so it's important that we can all respect that about each other" he summarized for you.

"Good that is pretty much exactly what I need, I pretty much spend all my time studying, attending classes or working so you won't have any trouble from me in that sense" you smiled "What about rent and utilities?"

"The rent will be split three ways and you will just need to deposit it into the landlords account at the start of each month. He is pretty good if there is going to be a little delay as long as you warn him first and the utilities are covered currently if that changes though we will get notice about it" Jeongin explained softly before taking a sip of the chai latte he ordered.

"Are you sure you are ok with a female roommate?" you asked a little nervously.

"Of course, our last roommate was female, but she has gone overseas to finish her studies" he continued.

"Will I be able to meet Seungmin before I agree to take the room?" you questioned drinking the last of your hot chocolate.

"Of course, do you have classes tomorrow afternoon? Seungmin only has morning lectures and I only have night classes tomorrow so if you could make 3 o'clock that would work out for both of us" Jeongin explained looking at the schedule on his phone.

"I only have morning lectures too tomorrow so that should work out" you smiled feeling relieved that this might work out and you might actually be able to get beck to being ahead in your classes.

"It was lovely to meet you, I'll text you the address tomorrow and we can go from there" He grinned standing up and saying his farewells before you made your own way back to your dorm. You had a really hopeful feeling about how this would turn out which was a godsend after you got back to the dorm to find Nali on her knees in front of the hot guy in the leather jacket again.

After your first lecture you received a text from Jeongin saying that both of them would be home for 2 pm if you could make that and sending their apartment address, which you looked up and found was just a further five minute walk from your work which would be more convenient for you after late shifts. You arrived ten minutes early and texted Jeongin that you were there and just waited scrolling through your future course work on your phone and figuring out how and when you would be able to study between shifts at the café.

"Hello again" Jeongin greeted you from the large glass doors that marked the lobby of the complex.

"Hi Jeongin" you smiled at him his dimples appearing as you walked over to him.

"Seungmin is upstairs I thought it would be easier to come and get you rather than buzz you up in case you got lost" he grinned, you giggled in response and followed him to the lift and then up to the 10th floor. "Were apartment 102, 10th floor apartment 2". As he spoke the door swung open revealing another handsome although taller guy, both looked so young but you wouldn't complain unless they were slobs.

"Afternoon" the guy you assumed to be Seungmin smiled warmly letting you enter the apartment as he held the door.

"Hello, how are you?" you replied politely removing your shoes and stepping into the hallway.

"I'm well thank you, let me give you a tour" he stepped ahead of you and walked down the hallway "This door is my room, the door across is Jeongin's" you nodded and continued into the open plan area of the apartment "This is the kitchen and living room the bathroom is that door there and your room would be the door at the other side of the kitchen" he pointed out for you.

Walking over to the room that would be yours you opened the door and stepped in to look around. It was a basic room just a bed, desk and wardrobe but it was still bigger than what you had now and with a small private bathroom which meant no more sharing bathrooms.

"Which department are you guys in?" you casually queried hoping they were at least serious students.

"I'm in the Department of Medicine and Jeongin is in the Department of Engineering" Seungmin gestured between the two of them "What about you?"

"I'm in the Department of Economics" You nodded glad that they hadn't listed of something that would take up loads of room or be loud.

"What are your household jobs plans? do you have a schedule of who does what or is it just clean up after yourself?" you asked grinning back at them.

"There is a maid who comes in but we take care of our own rooms and we will just share the cooking and cleaning up. Seungmin and I just share the food bill so if that works for you we can split it three ways or you can buy your own if you would rather" His smile was growing with each question you asked.

"What about guests?" you asked trying to not seem embarrassed at the prospect of asking about their private activities.

"Neither of us have girlfriends, but our general rule is that guests are allowed as long as they aren't noisy or messy" Jeongin explained trying to seen as casual as he could.

"Oh that's great then I'm not seeing anyone either" you quickly reassure him "it's just that is the reason I need to move".

"Anything else you would like to know or see?" Seungmin asked softly.

"When can I move in?" you beamed happily at them.

"Would next weekend work for you?" Jeongin chuckled at your enthusiasm "both of us can help you with your stuff that way".

Meeting Jeongin and Seugnmin had been a stroke of luck for you and after a few months living together you were back to being in the top 3 of your class which is where your parent's were happiest with you. You had taken over a lot of the cooking for the three of you since you enjoyed it more than the cleaning and you could also bring leftovers from the café home for them which they always liked. They had turned out to be terrific room mates quiet, easy to talk to but also happy to not interrupt if you were studying and they had decided that on the weekends that you had Sunday night off you would watch a movie all together you were fast becoming close friends, despite your parent's constant protests that they would only distract you from your studies.

You knew that on the Saturday you worked they both went out, you often came home to an empty apartment or is you had worked an afternoon you would cross as they headed out but it never bothered you they never brought anyone loud home. That changed though when the summer break came and you could work more day shifts instead of weekends and evenings, you took up your bosses offer to allow some of the others to take the later shifts to give them more experience after promising you would get them back after the university year started up again.

"Come on, you never come with us to parties" Jeongin teased as he asked your opinion on his outfit choice.

"She never goes to parties" Seungmin quipped dryly making you roll your eyes at him.

"Seung is right I am the most boring person alive" you sighed dramatically turning your attention back to Jeongin "wear the denim jacket not the black one it looks better with the lighter color pants".

"What about you come to just this one party and I will never ask again?" Jeongin pouted changing his jacket at your suggestion.

"Or how about I don't and you still don't ever ask me again?" you countered poking his soft cheek with your finger to stop him pouting at you.

"Fine I will just keep asking forever then" Jeongin huffed poking his tongue out at you as he grabbed his wallet and keys. "But can you take an outfit pic for me?"

"Of course you big baby" you laughed at his about face you took several shots of each of them knowing they would be up on socials later and waved them off settling down to make some dinner and then watch a movie before you decided if you would take the night off studying or not.

Ending up studying before the movie you realized that it was almost 11 before you even thought about what to watch so instead you just on the drama Seungmin had been raving about so you could at least try to figure out what is was that was so addictive to him. Halfway through the episode your phone rang, fishing it from you pocket you glanced at the screen before answering.

"Jeongin I already told you I am not going to the party" you sighed into the phone.

"Hello?" a strange male voice asked on the other end.

"Jeongin this isn't funny" you replied dryly "you are too old to be playing stupid pranks while drunk".

"Hi this is Jeongin's friend Chan, is this his room mate Choi?" he asked seeming confused by your reactions.

"Yeah this is her, why are you calling me?" you were suspicious of whatever the motive for this call was.

"Look I'm downstairs with a few friends, Jeongin can't remember the door code and Seungmin got into a fight as is a bit out of it" he explained as you walked over to the intercom.

"Ok I can see a bunch of you on the camera where are Seung and Innie?" you asked slowly not willing to let them into the building if this was some kind of scheme.

"Guys wave to your room mate" you heard him say as Jeongin stumbled towards the camera and held down the button to speak to you.

"I had...soooooo much fun.....Seungy got punchy...such prick" he giggled smiling brightly at the camera.

"They fucking started it" Seungmin yelled in the background "fucking dicks"

"Yeah, yeah tiger" one of the other guys helping Seungmin stand up chuckled.

"Ok can you remember what apartment we live in?" you sighed already fed up with them but knowing you would still be looking after them for the rest of the night.

"102, we already know" Chan chuckled as you buzzed them in the main door and waited for them to drag the two boys to your apartment, getting out the medical kit, some painkillers and bottles of water for them. They announced themselves with a loud bang against the door and mashing of key code buttons before you opened it trying to hide your laugh as Jeongin swore at the door handle.

"Boys, not cool" you groaned teasingly stepping aside to let the other boys drag them into the living room. "Jeongin drink some water and take those pills, Seung let me have a look at you". They both just grunted at you as they were sat down by their friends Jeongin looking like a puppy getting scolded and Seungmin like he wanted to argue but knew it would be pointless.

"So what happened?...." you turned to the others looking at them patiently waiting for one of them to fill in the blanks for you trying hard not to be distracted from your own question by how attractive they were.

"I'm Chan" the guy who was the voice on the phone introduced himself easily making you smile at him "Jeongin is just drunker than usual but Seungmin got into a fight with some guys over a girl, I didn't see the fight".

"Did anyone see the fight?" you blinked a few times as you moved Seungmin's hair out of his face to look him over quickly.

"Yeah Seung was pissed that some guys were disrespecting some chick when he said something about it one of them pounced" the buff one answered "Oh Changbin by the way".

"Thanks Changbin by the way" you chuckled still trying to not openly stare at his large arms so you began looking over Jeongin as he giggled at something on the floor "and thanks for bringing them home".

"Seungmin didn't take any punches to the head, it was all body damage but he's ok" the pretty one in the leather jacket smirked his voice deep and smoky "Think its the booze and the punches that has made him unsteady" you turned to look at him and your eyes widened when you recognized him from coming home with Nali and instantly your mood soured.

"Good to know" you mumbled turning back to the others "Thank you again for getting them home I can take it from here" you turned back to Jeongin, and heard them walk back down the hall to the front door.

"She's cute for a nerdy little mouse" you heard the pretty one mutter but you ignored him feeling like your body was betraying you head, he was easily the prettiest man you had ever seen but you knew he was not the type of guy to look twice at you.

"Felix" Changbin warned softly his voice harder than it had been a second ago.

"What she is though, no wonder they have been keeping her secret" you could almost here the smirk in his voice making you frown.

"Dude you can't fuck their room mate" Chan scolded quietly all of them probably assuming that you couldn't hear them "You will just fuck everything up for them again like last time".

"The last one wasn't my fault that was all Hyunjin" he coolly snapped as the front door was closed behind them ending your eves dropping.

"Now boys lets get you cleaned up and off to bed yeah" you smiled sadly as you looked over Seungmin's knuckles to see if they needed disinfecting.

A/N: Thanks for reading there will be more interesting stuff in the next part this was just the scene setter. As always my darlings any likes, comments and reblogs are eternally loved xx

Taglist (open): @christopher-bangnaldoskzz, @armystay89, @damnyouficc, @roamingpolar, @tara-skyhold, @bakedlilgoonie, @krishastumblernow

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

i couldn't find anything about time tots so I'll ask now, sorry if it's repetitive. How long does a pregnancy span? And are there specific stipulations for a child to inherit their parents genes? (P.S. this is in regards to non looming offspring)

How do natural Gallifreyan pregnancies work?

Weirdly enough, while we have some fairly OK info on hybrid Gallifreyan-Human pregnancies (we're calling these babies Chronosapiens until told otherwise), pure Gallifreyan pregnancies—those occurring naturally without using a Loom between two Gallifreyans—are much harder to come by. Below is a bit of a speculative look at it based on what we know about their reproductive biology.

👶 Gallifreyan Pregnancies

🕒 Duration: Due to their complex physiology and the nature of their DNA, the gestation period for a Gallifreyan carrying a Gallifreyan baby is probably a bit longer than in humans. It could extend up to a year or so, reflecting the time needed to fully form a being with all the bells and whistles of Gallifreyan biology.

🧬 Genetic Transmission: In non-looming reproduction, it's critical that specific genetic traits—such as the triple helix DNA structure fundamental to Gallifreyans—are successfully passed on. This genetic makeup is crucial for the child to inherit typical Gallifreyan traits (this is obviously far less of a risk for pure Gallifreyan tots than it is in hybrid pregnancies).

⌛Temporal Sensitivity: Given their intrinsic connection to time, Gallifreyan fetuses might develop temporal awareness early in the gestation process. This could necessitate a protective environment to shield both the fetus and the mother from potential temporal anomalies.

🧠Accelerated Cognitive Development: The fetus might begin interacting with its environment or even exhibiting telepathic abilities while in the womb.

📜 Stipulations for Genetic Inheritance

There aren't any notable stipulations beyond the absolute necessity of the tot having the triple-helix DNA. However, it could get more social and political when you start talking about Gallifreyan-Gallifreyan time tots.

🔬 Genetic Compatibility Testing: Since Looming is usually such a controlled practice, parents might undergo genetic compatibility testing to ensure their offspring will inherit desired Gallifreyan traits.

🧪 Gene Therapy: In cases where there is a risk of not passing on "desirable" Gallifreyan traits, prospective parents might consider pre-emptive gene therapy to correct or enhance genetic material before conception.

🌌 Ancestral Lineage Considerations: The child's rights to certain family legacies or positions within Gallifreyan society might be contingent on demonstrating a pure or enhanced Gallifreyan genetic lineage.

🏫 So ...

As stated, Gallifreyan-Gallifreyan pregnancies are a bit of an enigma compared to hybrid pregnancies, but we can assume they're probably longer than in humans because of the more complex pie they have to bake and the potency of the natural Gallfireyan abilities in a non-hybrid embryo is probably going to have an effect too. Then, there are all the political and social factors to consider.

Related:

What would a Human/Gallifreyan pregnancy look like?: Details on the possible gestational aspects of a hybrid pregnancy.

Could two Gallifreyans from different Houses have a healthy loomed child?: Biological and cultural implications of inter-house breeding.

What happens to a foetus when a Gallifreyan regenerates?: How regeneration during pregnancy could work.

Hope that helped! 😃

More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →😆Jokes |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired 😴

[givemewallywestorgivemedeath]

Hey. Hey come spiral into madness with me. I have another bonkers theory.

So I've been wistfully thinking up twin headcanons for Wally because he is, inexplicably, one of the only speedsters without a twin or a clone.

Of course, it makes sense. Rudy West is a sociopath and he, very specifically, only wanted one son. You see, Rudy was a member of a cult and that cult had told him that his son with Mary would have godlike power. And Rudy? Rudy craved power.

Rudy wasn't a stable individual and he held no actual love for Wally. Wally was just a way to grab power. So if Rudy and Mary ever did have a second child? Rudy would want nothing to do with them. He would probably sell the kid into a metahuman trafficking ring or something.

That's not a joke. This man hired a hitman to kill his wife, hired a meta gang to beat and kidnap his son so that he could enslave him for a cult and he ran a child labor camp and tried to blow up children with landmines. When I say that Rudy would sell a 'spare' child into metahuman trafficking, I mean that Rudy would sell a child into metahuman trafficking.

Now of course this is all extremely far fetched. It's not like we know a speedster who is Wally's age, looks like Wally, was sold into metahuman trafficking as a child, was selected to be a speedster due to a genetic predisposition for it and has ties to Rudy West... right?

What if I said that you've already seen this speedster? And on this very post no less?

Yes, guys gals and nonbinary pals, I am talking about Christina. The ginger cult speedster.

You see, in 1968 the Russian government began to get jealous of one Barry Allen. They wanted their own speedsters. Barry himself sighs in this issue and wishes that he wasn't the only one. (Boy he's in for a 'shock' in a few months)

At roughly the same time Wally gets his powers three other children the same age as him are being hand picked to endure the same experiment.

And I do mean hand picked. Their genetics, metabolisms, their health, everything had to be perfect. These three children might as well have been born to be speedsters. And there is little red headed, green eyed 'orphaned' Christina. Already flagged as a potential metahuman and ready to go for experimentation.

And. Well. Genetic predisposition is kinda super important? Not everyone can be a speedster. Ask the doctor himself who decided that he'd actually like to be a speedster, compatibility be damned. Course you'll need a seance or a medium to ask him...

Yeah. Not everyone is cut out for it. And hey, Christina's adopted brothers might've done better than good ole doc over there but they did not escape unfazed. One developed friction burns and blisters on every inch of skin and one completely mutated, arms stretched out and head bulging out like a turtle. Not. Fun.

Actually Christina was the only one that was completely fine.... weird.

Anyway, have I mentioned that Rudy and his cult knows these three? Knows them very well actually. They frequently work together.

And Rudy, that weirdo, is very fond of calling them 'kids' and comparing them to Wally. He tells Wally that he should be a good child and be obedient like them and that Wally will be great friends with them eventually.

The other two meet a bit of a sad fate. Velocity 9. Don't do drugs kids. It's interesting though. Christina did Velocity 9 as well and yet she survived what the others could not... again.

And when Savitar comes around Christina works for him and we learn that Christina is actually fairly strong in the speedforce. Like, going toe to toe with Jesse strong.

Eventually Christina has a change of heart and Wally... Well... Wally gives her a Flash costume. Because that's a normal thing to do Wally.

Christina became 'Lady Flash' and did her own thing as a hero in Russia. Barry killed her at one point but she came back

What I'm basically saying here is that we have a small red headed, green eyed child the same age as Wally who was plucked from metahuman trafficking because she was 'genetically perfect' for speedster experiments, was the only survivor of said experiments and was found to be really strong in the speedforce, became obsessed with Wally and became a hero for him, was given the title of the Flash and, oh yeah, SHE WAS WORKING FOR RUDYS STUPID CULT.

If Wally has a secret twin it's Christina

[utilitycaster]

Seeing your post about Orym reminded me of something that's been confusing me. You mentioned the gods' debate had a small influence on why Orym was getting so much push back in the fandom, and it brought to mind an observation I've had about FCG the past few episodes. The fandom seems to have put the weight of the gods' side solely on Orym, but in the actual show, FCG is the character getting the pushback on this topic from the other characters. Do you think your points from your post about Orym are the reason the fandom latched onto him over FCG as the gods' supposed number one fan in the group or if there might be some other reason?

I think it's in part because while FCG is more attached to the gods, it is less of a political stance, if that makes sense - it's much more an emotional/faith connection to the Changebringer. and it's also easier I think for people to not take FCG seriously. Especially if you're someone who is discrediting religion in general, FCG can be brushed off. Orym, on the other hand, is one of the more politically astute members of the party (arguably the most in fact; Chetney is smarter but his intelligence is more oriented towards investigation than knowledge - quicker on the draw but with less book learning). Orym is also not specifically beholden to the gods, and so it's harder to write this off as him lacking objectivity on this topic, which is why the argument has been focused more on him being too close to the case to be rational, even though that argument is deeply hypocritical if you granted Imogen any leniency about the role of her mother in the Vanguard, or the fact that she is of the elite class of Exaltants and would be granted power in the Vanguard well beyond where Orym ranks on the opposing side.

A viewpoint I saw in the fandom, especially surrounding Bor'Dor, was one that I think might be driving this. It's potentially compatible, actually, with Ashton's viewpoint, though it fails to recognzie that said viewpoint is both just as emotionally charged for Ashton as Orym's is for Orym: that Ludinus is undeniably evil and must be stopped, but perhaps the Vanguard might have points.

This, as far as we can tell, is, if not total horseshit, at least a pipe dream. Bor'Dor showed that even kindness, acceptance, and not being terribly in favor of the gods was completely insufficient deprogramming. It might be possible to render the group much more ineffective by taking out the heads (Ludinus, Otohan, and Liliana), but as Keyleth pointed out, the Vanguard has been running a massive network of cults and is fomenting unrest across Exandria in the service of the goals of their leadership in the meantime. And, as Keyleth also pointed out, there are likely ramifications of doing away with the gods she does not wish to even learn. I don't think that you can just be against the top of the Vanguard without at least being prepared to fight the rest of it. It's a very true to life quandary: while extremist political organizations and cults often prey upon vulnerable people, when those now-indoctrinated vulnerable people are trying to kill you, you can't stop and weigh the fact that they did not have every possible privilege because, well, they will kill you while you do this. Anyway, FCG is not having this thought process to my knowledge; he just trusts the Changebringer. Orym, however, does understand the above.

But also, again, look. We can talk about the characters' philosophies and politics and the role of the gods, and I enjoy doing that, but I think it's again worth pointing out that there are people within the fandom who, when you strip away the big words used as cover, really just think that the only "good" stance is to let Imogen and Laudna, as both individuals and a couple, run roughshod over the world unquestioned, or else you're horrible and evil. FCG's choice to go into the Grand Disc received similarly disproportionate hate for something that should have been an utter nonevent. I've seen people mad at Chetney, even though, truly, the most he has ever done is have his own thoughts and opinions that aren't revolving around Imogen or Laudna's lives. Orym is not even being unkind or in direct opposition to Imogen nor Laudna, but nor does he believe the sun shines from either of their asses. He is simply resolute and not going to be swayed by their viewpoints on this specific topic, and that alone is enough for some to condemn him.

[deeply-unserious-fellow]

In the mood to give my weird, probably biased WOY hot take rn so here it goes: Wander and Hater would not last in a romantic relationship.

Like, I do GET the appeal of them as a pairing? It's enemies to lovers! Everybody loves a good enemies to lovers. Plus, WOY really LOVES doing that thing where they throw a LOT of romance coding into non-romantic relationships(Deathglare gets a lot of this too lmao), and Wander is just like. Weirdly flirty? With Hater especially but also just in general. Like I get the impression that that man fucks. He and Jeff have probably had a one-night stand. But I don't think their personalities are compatible for a long-term romantic relationship.

First of all: they're both really impulsive and flighty. Which I guess could work in a relationship if both partners were completely insync with eachother, but Wander and Hater. Aren't. They are not. Plus, putting two people with short attention spans together with nobody to keep them in check is a RECIPE for disaster. There's also Hater's temper, which I don't think any amount of character development would be able to take out completely, and Wander's penchant for frustrating. Everybody. He is a very frustrating person to be around. And while I don't think a long-term romantic SkeletonDance would turn ABUSIVE, like that is ABSOLUTELY taking it too far, I do think it would be VERY unstable. They have the EXACT wrong traits in common, and the traits they DON'T have in common just straight up don't mesh well. I could see them getting together impulsively, because there is some chemistry there, but eventually the relationship would deteriorate from a combination of opposing values and goals, mutual short attention spans, and Wander getting on Hater's nerves. They'd break up, and depending on the circumstances it could end up VERY MESSY. They work better, in the long term, as friends then as romantic partners.

SO, now to address my biases, because there are a few, and I think it's important to acknowledge any potential flaws in your perspective while making an argument. First one being: I just prefer other Hater ships? Like yall know me, I'm a Deathglare girlie til the end lmfao. They're LITERALLY my OTP, you can see the influence the pairing has had on me in pretty much every other ship I've obsessed over since. But like... I'm also a multishipper, and Deathglare isn't exempt from that. I don't have any alternate pairings for Peepers(because he doesn't really interact w/ anybody outside of the main 4 and Dom for some reason and I don't like him w/ any of them except Hater), but I DO have a pretty big one for Hater, and that's Skullhunter(Hater x Ripov). Idk I just think they're kinda cute! And uh. Also a rarepair. Like there's NO content for them omfg- probably because Ripov only had one episode and there are already much more popular Hater pairings... bUT I'm getting off topic, what does this have to do with my potential anti-Skeletondance bias? Well, both of my Hater ships are VASTLY overshadowed by Skeletondance. Like I think Skeletondance is the MAIN pairing in the WOY fandom, and both of my prefered Hater ships kinda get left in the dust, at least in terms of content volume. I believe that at least part of what leads people to hate on popular things in a desire to have what THEY like be mainstream so it's easier to find a community, and I am not exempt from that. I generally like to believe I'm neutral on Skeletondance overall, but there might be some subconcious jelousy directed towards people who prefer Skeletondance that makes me think the pairing just wouldn't work. Also, I headcannon Wander as aromantic, which definitely influences my interpretation of their relationship akrngosmfmekkfoemfke

So uh, yeah. That's why I don't think Skeletondance would work long term, plus a little dissection of things that might've skewed my perspective a bit! Idk why I made this tbh, I might be going insane-

[fanfic-obsessed]

It's in the eyes

This one focuses on a character I generally don’t, Pong Krell. 

Now this is going off the premise that Pong Krell was not always an unmitigated bastard. It also goes off the premise that to Krell, beings that he does not at least share one recognizable trait with are not quite real. It is not particularly noticeable because he is generally only around Jedi/Force Users (with whom he can identify because of the Force), other Besalisk (with whom he identifies because of species), or beings that Krell could identify with in some way. 

This is, in part, why he so easily dismissed the sentience in the clones. He does not see anything he identifies with in them.  Look, he has always been a little low on Empathy, as in the ability to understand beings that are entirely different from himself, but he was trying, OK.  So for the first few months of the war it goes as you would expect, Krell starting to darken over time as he spends Clone lives far too easily. 

Then he gets a new batch of shiny’s, and in them is a trooper that is visibly too young. Like Krell is bad at near human ages, but this was visibly a child (physically about 8 years old) in armor. Krell is not far gone enough to not care about a child being there. He orders the child to remove his helmet only to be confronted by Jango Fett’s young face with Besalisk Eyes (set too wide for human face, a heavier brow ridge that mimics the shapes of a Besalisk’s forehead, yellow iris), he is confronted by Jango Fett’s young face with Pong Krell’s eyes. 

He gets the story in fits and spurts. The Clone, called CT-9659 (still too young to choose his own name), had a mutation caused by Jango Fett's varied gene pool (going off the personal headcanon that the Mandalorian tendency to interbreed with anything even remotely compatible  had left Jango with interesting DNA and that he might have appeared near human, he really wasn’t even remotely) that caused his facial features. The mutations had only started to develop in the last 6 months (1 year of development), and his batch mates had made a near herculean effort to hide the changes, so they could keep him from being decommissioned. Which culminated in them hacking some paperwork to get the clone assigned to a battalion with a Jedi (They had been trying to get him assigned to the 212th, since Obi Wan Kenobi had already developed a reputation, the clones knew that if they got CT-9659 to General Kenobi, he would be safe).

Krell…Krell is still a good Jedi, still months away from the darkness that would eat him. Because of that he is able to push his outrage to the side at the thought that the Kaminoans would dare kill someone over being Besalisk-like. Over being non human (Which isn’t quite what they were doing, but close enough that the point is moot). 

Plans are made that after this battle he and his troops would escort the child back to The Temple, where Krell would register his displeasure at the culling of non-human troopers and see about getting it stopped (Krell is not yet far gone enough to convince himself that any Jedi are aware of what is going on). 

As Krell and the officers begin to plan for the upcoming battle, Krell notices the projected casualty rate of the plan (somewhere around 65%, neither the highest nor the lowest that he had seen) and begins to feel uncomfortable. His mind goes back to the Besalisk eyed clone being distracted in the barracks, time and again.  If one clone had Besalisk genetics, then they all did. Now instead of each life being a number in a spreadsheet, each had the potential to be one of Krell’s people.

To the astonishment of the clones, Krell adjusts the plan, dropping the projected loss to under 20% (In the entire GAR the average projected loss, depending on mission parameters, tends to be about 15%. However this figure is drastically lowered by Obi Wan Kenobi, who rejects-then re does- any plan for his mission where the projected loss is above 10%. He is an outlier and without him the average sits at about 22%). And Krell is an above average tactician, who is very good at planning that will accomplish his goals. Before this point minimizing the loss of Clones was not one of his priorities. Because they were numbers to him, not living beings. But now they were living beings, and as a Jedi he did prioritize lessening the loss of life. 

They completed their mission, it took only a few hours longer than the plan that would see a 65% casualty rate. Krell almost bodily throws one of the nat born officers for a crude joke about the clones (a joke Krell himself would have made and thought hilarious not even a day before).

Upon returning to Coruscant and by sheer happenstance the entire high council is on the planet when Krell escorts CT-9659 into the chamber to see them. As Krell gently (he is actually very capable of being kind and gentle, with beings he sees as sentient) coaxed the boy’s story from him. There is something satisfying to Krell about the way every member of the High Council blanches at the child's words. At his fear of being murdered, if in other terms.

This is decidedly before Shaak Ti was assigned to Kamino. This is also early enough into the war that the High Council is not so bogged down with the larger picture of the war, that individual lives have not become blurred details (This is not a slight against the Jedi, I very much am a ‘respect the Jedi’ kind of writer, but the reality is they have been drafted into a war, and drafted at a high enough level that the High Generals have the illusion that they hold some choice, and thus culpability, for the lives lost. It is either let individual lives become blurred details to a certain extent or suffer a psychotic break). 

It is decided, relatively quickly, that Shaak Ti would go to Kamino, bringing with her members of EduCorps and a few knights up for a teaching rotation, where she would take up the education of the Clones (at first).  Knowing that the Kaminoans would become defensive at the implication that their process or product was in anyway deficient, instead would imply that the training the clones received was the problem (training had been the sole purview of Jango Fett and the trainers) and it was only the grace of the Kaminoans superior process that allowed the clones to be as successful as they were. 

The decommissions would stop immediately (barring the truly non viable-thought it was less than half a percent, there were still clones that had mutations that would result in missing vital organs or lives that would be excruciating and measured in hours), with the argument that every clone had part to play in the war (it galled the Jedi to need to make that argument, but, while the ends do not always justify the means, the Jedi will use most means at their disposal to save lives). For instance the boy with the Besalisk eyes would be able to see in different spectrums than the standard, which could be valuable for specialized mission. 

CT-9659 would be returning to Kamino with Shaak Ti (to the visible disappointment, but understanding of Pong Krell-A war zone was not safe for a child and while the creche may have been a viable short term solution, his double aging means that they do not have the facilities to care for him properly). In order to protect him while the changes were being made, Shaak would be insisting that he is her personal assistant. Pong says goodbye to the boy, but also insists  that they exchange contact information, and request CT-9659 to make regular reports as to his progress. 

I am not sure if it changes anything in the real long term (Vader, Order 66, or the Empire) but I know it would change things in the medium term (Krell does not fall so no Umbara). 

[furinana]

"Why is this SMT4 character blushing?"

Disclaimer: I won't be counting scenes where characters are possessed, under a spell or the obviously fake beach DLC because this is for accurate character analysis purposes.

Reaction after Hikaru says she's interested in their group. After receiving rejection after rejection from Isabeau, Walter instantly gets his hopes up with another girl with (seemingly) the same age.

Hikaru means light. Morning light... When you think about it, does the fact that the Ring of Gaea is comprised of many female warriors (to the point of being under leadership of matriarchs) has also something to do with Walter getting bewitched by the Chaos alignment so fast? Lucifer's disguise being a highschool girl in this universe doesn't seem like a coincidence.

Law boy gets flustered whenever Walter insists on asking stuff that he, well, isn't compatible with.

In both scenes it's ambiguously conveyed but with sufficient lore in mind, a player will deduce the reason for the red cheeks is due to Walter assuming both share the same type of thoughts towards girls. Jonathan becomes nervous because he feels too embarrassed to be frank on the reasons he doesn't. Possibly something else is added on it, but ultimately it's up to the player...

Isabeau becomes stiff over showing a vulnerable side and breaking her serious warrior front that is needed specially as the sole female Samurai of the group. Hell, the only women we see dressed in Samurai garb around besides her are zombies

The majority was shame over her otaku hobby but in two occasions she becomes nervous at the sight of undressed men and in one from when you're done with the Ring of Gaea's training she lets out her bashful admiration for Flynn (that might get missed by a good portion of players due to the necessity of Flynn being neutral for this scene to play).

Asahi's dad getting the blushes after Flynn throws a flattering remark at Asahi and Nanashi becoming full-fledged Hunters as if he said "Look how far you got as their father!". As evident by how grumpy he becomes when Asahi calls him "dad" when he's working, he feels uneasy at the prospect of not being taken seriously if he's anything but a tough Boss.

It's possible that this behavior rubbed off on Nanashi...

Asahi's crush is straightforwardly part of her character rather than open to interpretation (or an easter egg even) so there's an element of predictability in her case over others.

Everyone recognizes she's super close with Nanashi but something about the fidgety way she acts gives the impression she might be afraid of potentially making Nanashi grow distant in case it happens that he doesn't return her feelings. She also showed to be reluctant in accepting compliments (be they coming from Nanashi or Cleopatra) which exposes a sense of inadequacy from her part.

For a character that was supposed to be Ashura-kai's "spy", Hallelujah soon reveals himself to be a boy with a heart of gold easily vulnerable with Asahi and Nanashi for both heavy and lighthearted subjects, to a point where one could mistake him as being close with the duo for longer than what he's been.

A player will deduce that a reddened Hallelujah is from imagining himself getting made fun or looked down by others since such scenario might have constantly played whenever he showed an exploitable demeanor to Abe and other Ashura-kai members. It's nothing short of a miracle that he didn't let the toxic masculinity of a yakuza group change him

Toki is the "odd" one out of this post because even if you carefully curate the parts where she's not possessed by Inanna, her infatuation nonetheless starts to exist specifically because of the Aether thus it's intrinsic to her character differently from one-time comedic scenes.

In one interpretation, you could say the Aether set free the "devil in the shoulder" and made Toki's inner thoughts become amplified. Even after going separate ways from the Ring of Gaea, Toki directly states she will stay aligned to Chaos in her own terms. In the end, she might not need deep reasons to be attracted to Nanashi similar to Walter jumping onto pretty girls he just met...

Or in another way of seeing it, Toki's thoughts became distorted or possibly even amalgamated with thoughts of other people considering the Aether is stated to be produced from thoughts of humans of Tokyo. Which gives validity to why some players think Toki's consent in this scenario is debatable, similarly to Dagda's influence on Nanashi. But Krishna did comment that humans were supposed to have free will...

Gaston becomes rigid in the context of being thanked by or transparently show concern for his young teammates, possibly from desiring clear boundaries as the "Samurai figurehead" of the group.

In a later private message sent for Nanashi it's made clear that deep down the main reason he gave up on Mikado was because it was through providing protection for your party that he could keep accomplishing his duties thus where he felt needed. Behold the most monumental example of tsundere in the game

[commehter]

Does Zu-Ozai ever get to have a romantic partner again? Losing Mai (and their not-yet-born child) seems like it would be profoundly lonely.

Ah. Well...

The short answer is that I don't have any solid plans on including a romantic interest one way or the other for Zu-Ozai in SToFLO. Let alone a particular who that would fill the role. I'm open to options, but I'm not married to any of the ideas I've had thus far.

Long answer (and potential spoilers) under the cut.

The thing is, it's kind of an awkward topic to tackle. I understand the desire for Zu-Ozai to have someone, but... Simply put he's a 19-year-old in a 35-year-old body, tossed 6 years into his own past and grieving the loss of his first wife and child. No matter what I choose to do, that's going to be messy.

The entire main cast (and the bulk of the rest of the cast for that matter) is way too young. A good chunk of the remaining cast is too old. In the leftover sliver of the canon cast, that isn't already married... Frankly, I'm not seeing any options that I'd care to write.

Maybe I've missed someone, but I can't think of a single canon character I'd be happy pairing with Zu-Ozai.

That leaves the OC route and... Welp, I haven't ruled it out, but I am highly aware that main-canon-character/original-character pairings aren't terribly popular and put a lot of readers off. (I should know. I'm one of the folks that typically avoid them like the plague.) I could get into the weeds of why, but that might easily spiral into a rather long rant... Suffice it to say that MCC /OC pairings tend to be poorly written about 98% of the time before we ever get into other reasons someone may not want to read such a pairing.

I'm still playing with the idea though because I have read a few fics that did it right. (Vathara's Embers comes to mind for giving Iroh an OC girlfriend that I rather liked.) But the "trick" to doing it right largely comes down to the OC in question having a life and purpose outside of being shipping fodder, so I can't just make a random OC on the sole basis of "Zu-Ozai deserves a wife."

That comes with its own tangle of problems. What is the OC's other (read: main) role in the story? How does this OC enter Zu-Ozai's life? Why does she stay? Are they actually compatible personality wise? What about principles? What are the political ramifications? Can I, as the author, write it in a manner that is organic rather than forced?

Honestly, the answer to that last one is probably "only if you actually let it happen organically instead of pushing it."

So... Yeah. I'd like for our boy to find someone, too, but it's not something I'm going to focus on for fear of producing something truly cringe-worthy. (Either way, I write at the pace of frozen molasses, so it will be awhile before Zu-Ozai is ready to move on and try dating again, anyway.)

**As a final aside, my current leading idea (as of writing this post) for a potential OC match is Suki's mom. -- It's my understanding that Netflix actually made a character for that role (Did they axe Oyaji as village leader or something?) so I might end up stealing Yukari's name. Pessimist fish already decided we were stealing Raava's name from TLoK for the Avatar Spirit, after all. -- A warrior from a small, neutral nation that no one cares about seems about his speed for someone he might actually be interested in without creating a political nightmare in the process. Comes with a bonus excuse to drag an itty-bitty Suki into the narrative, too!

...Someone is going to have to explain to Zu-Ozai that children "playing" hide-and-explode(-plus-blades-for-the-nonbender) across palace rooftops is NOT a normal "sibling bonding experience." Just imagine, three little hellions and their dad who doesn't think they're doing anything all that unusual. Mom be like "no that's definitely not normal... keeps their skills sharp, though." ...Okay, so I'm half-tempted to do it for the hellion step-sibling trio alone. So adorable and yet terrifying!**

[sirfrogsworth]

Regarding your Plex server, do you have any tips for compressing media to save space?

Right now, almost all 1080p content is encoded in the H.264 codec. So my biggest tip would be to convert all of your H.264 content to a newer codec called H.265 10-bit.

First, you'll want to make sure that all of the devices you play media on can handle the H.265 10-bit codec. Pretty much any device that says it can do 4K HDR will suffice. It's okay if you have a device that can't do this, as Plex can transcode your media as you watch it, but you are going to use up a lot of computer resources and it can also be slow and buggy.

So to get the best experience, I would definitely recommend upgrading anything that cannot do H.265 10-bit. Thankfully, even the cheapest $30 4K Fire TV Stick is capable.

H.265 allows you to heavily compress your media and maintain quality. The 10-bit color, even if the original file was 8-bit, can reduce color banding in gradients which can often be a consequence of compressing video.

The rule of thumb is you can reduce the file size by 50% of H.264 and not take a hit on image quality. But you can actually go beyond that and still get acceptable quality.

Yes, H.264 will play on pretty much any device these days, but eventually that will be true of H.265. So if saving space is more important than dealing with a few compatibility issues that may crop up (and are usually solvable), then you can definitely shrink the size of your media library while maintaining image quality.

The bad news is that converting your media, depending on how much you have, could take a while. Even with a super beefy computer, compressing in H.265 is a slow process. And you can't use hardware encoding because that is meant more for streaming than media preservation.

Also, I do not recommend compressing 4K content at this time. Only 1080p. Re-encoding and compressing a 4K file takes more time than it is worth. A 4K movie could take 12 to 24 hours even on a very fast computer. Though if you have a 4K file and you don't care if it is 1080p, that might be worth it.

Handbrake is pretty much the only game in town as far as re-encoding your media. It can have a learning curve if you want to use it to its full potential, but there are a ton of decent presets you can use if you don't have the time to learn the fine details of what everything does.

I can give you some recommendations for a few important settings.

In the video tab...

I'd start by finding a preset that is close to your end goal. In this case I chose the H.265 MKV 1080p30 preset in the "Matroska" presets that I will slightly tweak.

I usually want to make MKV files because they can hold subtitles in the file container without a separate subtitle file. I want H.265 10-bit. Most of my content is 1080p. And most of it is 24fps, so I'll just ignore the 30 frames the preset uses and change it later.

So once you select the preset, change framerate to "same as source" to just carry over whatever it was originally. You do not want to monkey with the framerate unless you have a really good reason.

You'll want "constant quality" selected. And then the RF or "rate factor" is basically how much compression you want to use. A lower number is less compression and a higher number is more compression. Once you have experience using Handbrake you'll be able to make a pretty good guess at what RF you should use, depending on the content. But I can give you some basic guidelines for you to test out.

When picking an RF, a higher number will give you a smaller file and a lower number will reduce the chances of creating unwanted compression artifacts. Since you are doing 10-bit, that will help a lot with color banding, but if you overcompress you may get unsightly blocks, especially in dark and fast moving scenes. If you watch dark content on YouTube, you probably know what I mean.

So before I compress media, I ask myself a few questions...

How important is this content to me?

Is good image quality what makes this content special?

Does this content have a lot of dark or fast moving scenes?

If this is my favorite show or movie, then I am going to want to preserve it at the highest possible quality. Or if the content is a visual spectacle, like Avatar, then I am going to want to make sure I preserve visual fidelity. And if this content is prone to compression artifacts due to dark and/or fast moving scenes, like a horror movie or an action movie, I am going to want to use less compression to avoid distracting artifacts.

However, if it is just a game show I like to put on in the background, I might not care if I compress it more. As long as it is watchable, I am not going to be precious about the compression quality.

Typically I choose an RF between 17 and 24.

17 will give bigger file sizes but will almost never create compression artifacts that were not already in the original content to begin with. This is for the stuff you really care about. Your absolute favs.

And if it is the game show I play in the background, I will probably choose 24.

But all of that space in between 17 and 24 is where you have to figure out what you can tolerate for different media. It may take some trial and error and test encodes to figure out what you prefer.

Like, when I compressed Law & Order for my mom, I knew that wasn't a huge visual spectacle. So I did 22. But for an action movie for my dad, I'd probably do 20 because of all of the fast moving scenes. And for my precious Batman TAS cartoons, I went with 17 because I wanted those files to be as close to perfect as possible.

The final slider I will talk about is the encoding speed. In the image above the preset is set to "slow." This ranges from "very slow" to "ultra fast." (Don't use placebo.) This setting basically allows Handbrake to either take its time and figure out the absolute best and most efficient compression... or to hurry up and just get the job done.

Think of this as the efficiency slider. If you give your computer more time to think, your compression will be more efficient. It will be the best compression possible for the quality RF you chose.

If you set it to a slower speed you will be able to get smaller file sizes with fewer compression artifacts, even if your chose a higher RF. But it could take one file many hours to encode.

At faster speeds your filesizes will get a little bigger and there is a chance some compression artifacts may sneak into your video, even if you chose a lower RF.

It's a little confusing, because the RF is supposed to be the only factor in image quality. But the encoding speed does factor in a little bit too. Especially in difficult to compress dark or fast scenes.

I was pretty happy with the "medium" setting. I have a fast computer with a lot of CPU cores and a lot of free time. So I didn't mind how long it took. But I actually think the "fast" and "faster" setting still gave great results while still shrinking file sizes.

Again, if it is super important to you, maybe do medium or slow for those files. Otherwise the fast setting is probably acceptable for most other things.

And finally the audio tab...

You are not going to get much benefit from compressing the audio. You might save a few megabytes. So I highly recommend just preserving whatever the original audio was. And you do this by selecting a "Passthru" codec. Handbrake will not touch the audio data and just copy it exactly to the new file.

However... if there is an audio codec that you know does not play nice with one of your devices, then you might want to convert it to something that works better. Though if you are using Plex, it can usually transcode audio without using significant CPU resources.

When I finished converting my media collection, I think I calculated that I saved myself about 20 TB of hard drive space when all was said and done. I think I have around 250 shows and 2000 movies. This left me a lot more room to keep more 4K content that is not worth compressing.

I definitely recommend watching some Handbrake tutorials and learning about some of the other functions. I also recommend learning how to do "batch encoding" so you can set up a bunch of files and just let your computer compress while you aren't using it.

But I covered the most important settings to get your started. Definitely do some tests and familiarize yourself with the process before you start converting your entire media collection.

I hope that was helpful. I promise explaining it is a lot harder than picking a few settings and hitting "start."