#as far as the most story relevant ocs SO FAR that i have- 10 of them are dudes and 14 of them are grrls

[liquidstar]

I'm working on my next oc set rn (as always) and this one is going to be the first, like, trinary guild to have more than 8 characters on account of twins sharing a spot lol

[snekdood]

gonna be very annoyed if ppl insist on tryna turn all 5 of my dude characters into women when the majority of other characters in my comic already identify as women

[ranticore]

hello... 5-15 of those asks if you'd like for John (any iteration!) and Nico... hehe

yay 🧡

5. Is there any significance behind their hair color? 

not really lol. john's hair is brown because it's the most common hair colour, nico [pascal's object of obsession from 2017 inver] has black hair because i wanted to further visually distinguish him from bowman. both have visible grey streaks because it's an easy way to help define the shape of the hair when drawing it

6. Is there any significance behind their eye color? 

yes but only in that they (and all my characters) have brown eyes because i got tired of ppl seemingly on purpose avoiding brown eyes for their interesting characters. so i only make brown-eyed characters on purpose. the only exception is cuinn (harpy) because he has albinism but typical members of his species have dark brown eyes.

7. Is there any significance behind their height? 

yes, john is my height on purpose (5'4") and nico is 5'3" because i'd unintentionally made my previous trans man characters pretty tall so i thought well let's make one who is short hashtag representation

8. What (if anything) do you relate to within their character/story? 

i relate to john because i'm also a beautiful brunette who sucks so much. nico is unrelatable to me because he's a cop (he's not really but the plot does follow a buddy cop format)

9. Are they based off of you, in some way? 

john from long long ago (2011, my first major setting) was a direct self insert thus the similarities in appearance. he has some parts of me in him because he's my main dnd character and it's hard not to project when doing 5 hour improv sessions once a week but he has never been less like me tbh. nico ehhh not really, we don't align personality-wise because i would not tolerate pascal for more than 5 seconds without wanting to hit him with my car

10. If they have an LI, how much of their character is tailored to be compatible to that person? 

for john yeah 100%, they were made for each other. the angle i'm going with for their arc is a "perfectly synchronous" relationship being no protection for some bad shit going down between them, showing that if two people are SOO perfectly made for one another, it can often lead to one person taking the other for granted, assuming they can predict how the other person will react in any given situation, and ultimately it all results in a messy breakdown of communication.

for nico i meannnnnnnn he is a horse trainer and pascal is a horse so there is that, but in terms of personality they are intentionally very opposed and clash frequently, get on each other's nerves, fight, and not always smooth over those incidences. they are not very compatible.

11. Did you know what the OC’s sexuality would be at the time of their creation? 

yep

12. What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: writing, drawing, edits, etc.)? 

I'm going to be real with u I could draw and write John in my sleep. Nico i find difficult to write, I have a hard time finding his voice. The ranger uniform also annoys me.

13. How far past the canon events that take place in their world have you extended their story, if at all? 

john as a dnd character has no future whatsoever aside from a planned multiclass, he could fall off a cliff next session and die idk. Nico is one of the few characters i haven't thought much about post-canon, i don't feel like it's relevant.

14. If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep in mind while working with your OC, what would those things be? 

john: 1. literally just say the first thing that comes to mind, always. 2. keep em guessing

nico: 1. hes scared of boats and this is surprisingly relevant, i keep forgetting it lol. 2. i try to keep in mind my studies of horse trainers & their work, how they interact with their animals and what subtle body language they might use; these are people who frequently have to convince giant frightened animals that they are in charge here, this translates into how they hold themselves, how they speak, how they approach conflict etc.

15. What is something about your OC can make you laugh? 

john's secret fear which we have discussed in dms (iykyk)

nico let himself get tricked into going on a theme park date with pascal while on duty and didn't even realise until afterwards that it was an elaborate setup of fabricated evidence all so that pascal could get him in the tunnel of love

[luna-the-bard]

this is an oc x canon lore dump, you've been warned

-> Act II

Just for organization purposes, I'm calling this Act I. I'll add links to other parts as (and if) i write them. Anyways let's hope Tumblr can fit 11 pages of text into one post! :)c

General lore:

Te’rra is a small planet that stopped participating in Big Space Politics about a century ago. Due to this, its existence has been forgotten by most.

It doesn't help that the planet is in the middle of fucking nowhere

It’s fine they chillin

The society populating the planet are called terraninans, and they are an avian species - humanoids with feathered wings and tails, and some other features like blue skin, striking, cat-like eyes, or elaborate skin patterns that are unique to each individual, akin to birthmarks.

Here’s a couple examples:

Note that the Head Priestess (pic. 1) lacks wings, which is normally not the case for the species. Lower image shows more patterning on parts of the body that aren’t the face (mainly arms).

Fun fact: this species is entirely female! This is not relevant to the story tho, so I won’t dwell on it.

The life expectancy of a terranian is somewhere around 1k years. There are old folk still alive who remember Te’rra before it isolated itself from the rest of the world.

Te’rra has pretty high levels of technological progress. However, culturally they put a large emphasis on co-existing with the ecosystem, which makes their technology rather different from what you would normally expect. There is a very developed culture of artisanry, with most goods being produced by individual masters or small guilds.

Main storyline:

Skeets is a relatively young terranian huntress. She is part of a small, about 10-person, hunting group - a common occurrence for her city, as they are located on the edge of a vast jungle. 

She is neither a newbie nor a master of her craft; her position is more akin to a promising junior - not quite ready to lead her own hunting group, but experienced enough to hold a certain amount of weight and respect among her peers.

Hunting groups normally alternate between staying close to the city and going further out into the jungle to balance out their impact on the flora/fauna. Skeets’s group has recently started going further out, as more experienced hunters.

Meanwhile, there is a Space Pirate ship that happened to be passing the planet - a rare occurrence, considering there were no trade routes nearby and ships of any sort were almost never seen in this sector of the galaxy. The Space Pirates were likely taking such an unusual route to avoid a police or military patrol; the reason is really not that important. Identically, it doesn’t matter why exactly the Space Pirates decided to take a closer look at the little blue planet before them, because the impact is the same nonetheless: the small hunting group that ventured a bit too far from the city catches their attention.

Skeets and her group were actually sent to investigate a disturbance in the ecosystem - because of course the Space Pirates have made quite a ruckus, scaring away the local wildlife. What was a result of their ship’s landing got mistakenly interpreted by the city’s lookout post as a sign of a large predator, which would have to be warded off to avoid causing damage to the area.

Unfortunately for everyone, it was not, in fact, a giant blue dino-chicken. 

The Space Pirates decide that “exotic” humanoids would fetch a good price on the black market - especially considering no one has seen their kind for almost a century, and most have forgotten what they look like. This leads to an ambush and the subsequent capture of Skeets’s hunting group.

Having got what they need and not wanting to attract more attention, the Pirates promptly take off; they’re gone from the planet before anyone has time to react. 

—-

Unfortunately for everyone. But especially the Pirates. The ship experiences an engine malfunction, forcing the Pirates to land on a desolate planet that has long been abandoned by civilization; in hopes of either fixing the engine or finding parts to fix it, the Pirates with their precious cargo have to descend into the deteriorated catacombs under the planet’s surface (as the surface itself is inhospitable). They make their home in an empty room that is still structurally sound and fairly close to the surface. It even has some of the basic technology still functioning, likely from an emergency power source (they attempt to locate it, but to no avail). The room only has one entrance, so it’s easy to guard; this was not the last reason on the list of priorities. The bunch of terranians are placed in that room for the same purpose - easy to make sure nothing gets in… or gets out.

Now, you were probably wondering why this circumstance is especially unlucky for the Pirates. As it turns out, the catacombs aren’t as desolate as they appeared. 

As the Pirates find out from their own experience, deeper in the catacombs dwells the apex predator of this planet; whether it’s a result of a genetic mutation or a creature native to the ecosystem is unclear. But the monster is at the top of the food chain for a reason; it’s fast, its spider-like lower body giving it the ability to climb walls and dwell on ceilings. Its limbs have a poison canal underneath each claw, making even minor wounds lethal - the only difference is that this death is much more slow and painful than getting mauled. The creature has a humanoid upper body, but there is nothing human about it: a demethor would be prettier; those at least lack rows of sharp, curved teeth and even more prominent fangs. Its mouth and skin can secrete a slimy substance saturated with its poison; it leaves a wet trail on the walls of tunnels it frequents most.

Not able to retreat back to the surface, and desperately needing to find resources to fix their ship, the Pirates are forced to witness their crewmates being plucked one by one each time they venture out into the planet’s depths; those who manage to escape are subjects to the unsightly fate of being slowly consumed by the poison. The creature knows these catacombs far better than the Pirates do; it calls them its home. The only reason Skeets and her kin are in relative safety is due to the lack of worthy prey closer to the surface - the spider-like abomination has no interest in rodents and other small animals that scurry along the industrial pipes. Terranians see the state in which the Pirates return from their missions; watch their numbers grow smaller and smaller. The ruins are cold, unwelcoming. While the Pirates have to deal with injuries and worry about their resources running low, their captives are faced with a survival issue of a different kind: none of them are suited for the climate. Te’rra is a warm planet. The temperature in the jungle never drops past zero or even close to it; it has no winter.  Hunters almost never have to go into freezing areas, and when they do, they are heavily equipped - a complete opposite of Skeets and her team, who were dressed very lightly. 

For most, it starts as a cold. The average body temperature of a terranian is slightly above human; it runs around 38-39 ℃, and being constantly exposed to the chilly, humid air of the catacombs is taking its toll on each of the ten captives. Colds grow into acute bronchitis; Skeets, who has been secretly sneaking out to look for resources, develops pneumonia.  Before it gets bad, she continues toying with fate: having a much smaller build than Space Pirates, she can fit into tight maintenance corridors and dried-out pipes. Those on guarding duty are delirious from poison, and sneaking out gets less and less challenging with time. Once, early on, she gets lucky and finds a sealed first-aid box - most of the things there expired long ago, but rubbing alcohol and bandages are still safe to use. She brings them back to mend some minor wounds received during the pirate ambush (they were so, so lucky to avoid any serious injuries). Later on, however, her condition worsens too much for her to continue. At this point, everyone is sick, and Skeets and some of her teammates are rapidly declining. The Pirate numbers are so small there is only one of them guarding the door; and even he is near-comatose from wounds and poison. The Pirates decide to take their chances and send out a distress signal - it’s better to get arrested by some Federation patrol than become food for the monster that lives below. Although, the Pirates hoped that the signal would attract a less armed, civilian ship - so they could kill the unsuspecting crew and get off this planet.

Fortunately for everyone but the Pirates themselves :)c the distress signal is received by a lone gunship that happened to be passing through the area. The gunship that, of course, belongs to the universe’s best bounty hunter - Samus Aran.

To no one’s surprise, Samus traverses the catacombs with ease. This is far from the first time she’s had to navigate a labyrinth of rooms and ruins. There is so little left of the Pirates that Samus almost gets suspicious of how… unchallenging it is to defeat them. Then she finds out the reason behind the Pirates’ weakness; whether or not she kills the arachnid creature is unknown. On her way back up, Samus finds one last Pirate - on the brink of death, guarding the entrance to a room. Compared to being slowly digested from the inside, death by Samus’s hand is almost an act of mercy for him.

However, instead of an ammo stash or a navigation room, Samus finds a bunch of very sickly-looking blue humanoids. The readings from her suit indicate that, although their species is not in her database, they clearly require medical attention - even more so since Samus doesn’t know that terranians have an above average body temperature, so to her their state is not much better than the Pirate’s. 

Luckily, the room is close enough to the surface for Samus to be able to contact A.D.A.M. without having to re-emerge. She sends out a request to the Federation - although, really, it’s much more like a firm order, - to direct a rescue vessel their way; she includes just the necessary minimum of information in her message - that there are about ten individuals, species unknown, in need of immediate medical attention; the coordinates of the planet; the instructions on where to safely enter the catacombs.

She does have to leave the terranians briefly, to clear out the path for medical personnel - the last thing she wants is them getting hurt by the local wildlife. She returns quickly, however, making sure that everyone is still there and that no one has declined to the state of comatose (luckily, things are not that dire).

—

It shouldn't surprise anyone that the ship the Galactic Federation sends is not an emergency vehicle. Or even a military patrol vessel. Or anyone directly affiliated with the Federation.

Because, simply put, the Federation officials are cheapskates. 

Why spend money and resources on sending a warship somewhere, when they could just find some cruiser that was the closest to the disclosed location? Paying a random merchant ship is much cheaper than paying for all that fuel.

So, the ship that enters the planet’s atmosphere is not full of paramedics; in fact, there are only two doctors on board, the minimum legal requirement for a small merchant ship like theirs.

Samus has to cast her frustration aside and work with what she’s got. Terranians get evacuated from the catacombs; some on their own two feet, some - on a stretcher, being too weak from fever to properly walk. In case of the latter, the doctors have to make several trips - there’s only one stretcher (they never needed more). When they descend into the catacombs the third time, Samus, who has to accompany the doctors for safety reasons (she already cleared out the path, but it’s better to be safe than sorry), decides that she doesn’t want to do this a fourth time. There are only two terranians left that still needed to be carried to the merchant ship. One of them is being carefully placed onto the stretcher by the medical personnel. The other has spent the entire time that Samus has been there huddled alone in the furthest corner of the room. 

At this point in time it should be obvious to you that the one in the corner is Skeets. The reason she’s distanced herself from others as much as possible is because she is sick. More than others - her pneumonia worsened violently due to her frequently exposing herself to the cold of the tunnels. She was doing her best to not pass it onto others - somewhat successfully, I must note - the other three terranians who were in a similar state suffered from acute bronchitis, not pneumonia.

Not willing to make another trip through the catacombs, Samus simply picks the little avian up - her suit is enough to avoid the biohazard, she is in no danger of getting sick. In a different setting having both her hands - arms? - full would compromise the crew’s safety, but having made close to five trips down and back, Samus knows that there is nothing dangerous left on their path. So she simply trails behind the medics and their stretcher until they’re back on the surface.

No one wants to stay there longer than necessary - the atmosphere is mildly toxic, and it is not recommended to be out in the open for more than a couple hours - the toxins would accumulate in the body. Thus, the two doctors situate their new passengers as fast as they can - and this is where the first issue arises.

In the best traditions of fictional tropes, they are one bed short. 

It’s a small merchant ship. They’ve done what they could. Took in as many people as safety regulations allowed - and even if they could take in one more, their medical bay was simply not equipped for handling this large of a number of people. They would simply not have enough medication.

The nearest multispecies hospital is a week away from this desolate planet. It would just be futile to try and accommodate everyone - someone would inevitably decline beyond what they could heal in that timeframe.

Samus, on the other hand.

Surely, in her line of work, she had to be as self-sufficient as possible and equip her gunship with top-quality medical equipment and supplies?

Judging by the size of it, she can take in one more person no problem. So do you really have a choice, Samus Aran? Are you going to let someone unfamiliar into your personal space because she desperately needs your help, or are you going to refuse and have that on your conscience for the rest of your life when, inevitably, someone dies?

If you don’t know the answer to this, you don’t know Samus, lol.

The second issue surfaces right before Samus is about to bring Skeets over to her ship. 

None among the present know what species they just rescued. There is an apparent language barrier. Skeets, barely even conscious from fever, is still able to see what’s happening -  and draw her own conclusions.

The Pirates disappeared.

There are new, unfamiliar people, and they took all of her kin into their ship - she can’t understand a word they’re saying, and thus their intentions are unknown.

Sure, there are what seem to be medics - but is that really a sign that they are coming to their rescue?

After all, someone who illegally buys sentient creatures to show off their wealth would want their new exotic decor to be in good, presentable shape.

It doesn’t help that she, alone, is not joining her group. No, she is held firmly by someone else - the same person that first entered their shelter. Tall. Imposing. Armed.

Perhaps the mystery byer only wanted nine specimens. Or could afford just this many.

It’s not unusual to divide the product and sell it to several highest bidders, is it?

Samus is almost taken by surprise when the frail, sickly creature in her arms tries to struggle free. Almost. For someone with her reflexes, however, this is more of an annoyance than anything - all she has to do is adjust her grip so that the alien doesn’t accidentally hurt herself.

It is rather uncomfortable, however, when someone you’re carrying is frantically flapping her wings and trying to wriggle out of your grasp. It is also even more annoying when said someone is desperately scratching at your suit - this doesn’t leave so much as a scratch, the powersuit is so much more durable than claws, but the prospect of it is still… irritating. 

Skeets doesn’t stop thrashing around after her first failed attempt to break free. She has to do something, she has no choice - how could she just let someone separate her and her kin? They were all she had left; they depended on her. They could be facing a fate far more terrible than starving to death in abandoned catacombs.

So she scratched. And she kicked and she flapped her wings and she tried everything she could to get away, get back to her group - to her people, whom she may never see again - until she could do it no longer. Until her body harshly reminded her that she was ill; that adrenaline alone is not enough to fight someone far stronger than you.

And so Skeets cried.

She wasn’t trying to accomplish anything with her tears. They weren’t a tool, or a message, or anything intentional at all - they were tears of frustration; tears of powerlessness; tears of anger and tears of giving up; they were the kind of tears that you simply have to cry, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

She did not expect her carrier to stop.

Samus was beyond capable. She was The Ultimate Protector, she was a top-class bounty huntress, she was an unmatched warrior; she’s been on the brink of death and came back, she has saved entire planets and, on the larger scale, the galaxy as a whole, she knew how to survive and get through the most hostile of environments, and then save the universe on top of that.

She had no idea what to do with feelings.

Even less so when she had no ability to verbally communicate. Samus understood that she had to do something, it has become apparent that the girl in her arms was in intense distress, and she couldn’t put it off until they’re at her ship anymore. Sure, she could just ignore the issue and keep walking to her ship, but that would likely only create more problems - ones she would have to deal with until she can find a way to communicate what she was doing. (Which would take weeks; she’d have to identify the girl’s species of find someone who could identify it, then find a translator or at least a textbook on their language, learn said language, all the while potentially fighting off a scared avian who she’s supposed to be treating so she wouldn’t die on her before they got to a hospital - it was clearly a better course of action to solve the problem now).

Regardless of how much Samus would like to get back to her ship and get this whole ordeal over with, she walks back to the merchants. The two doctors are standing at the entrance ramp, talking - no, gesturing, - to one of the rescued aliens. This must be one of the less sick ones - even so, one of the medics has her arm over his shoulder, supporting her weight. The other is holding up a small screen; when Samus gets closer, she can see that the screen is actually a drawing pad filled with doodles. The doodles are… ugly, but readable, and Samus takes note of this being a working form of communication - at least the alien seems a lot more calm and composed than the one currently shivering in her arms. Samus mirrors one of the doctors, carefully lowering her burden so she can stand - still, however, firmly holding her so she doesn’t fall. Even so, the girl can barely stand - but at the moment this was far less important than making sure she can get an explanation of what’s happening. 

It works - even without the help of the crude drawing of nine beds and ten stick figures (no offense to the doctor), the other person immediately starts talking in an unfamiliar language, the avian that Samus is holding answering in a hoarse, strained voice. Samus pretends her and the medic’s arms aren’t in the way when the two aliens awkwardly hug and put their foreheads together. She even ignores the fact that that’s a biohazard - honestly, she just wants to get outta here.

Which she eventually gets to do; finally being able to carry the exhausted alien girl to her ship, get her bed set up with medical equipment (she has to dig out an oxygen can), and leaving the planet. 

Samus charts a course to the nearest hospital and prepares an array of medications - from fever reducers to cough suppressants to an IV (all of the aliens are malnourished and dehydrated after spending a month in the ruins; the Space Pirates didn’t exactly provide them with a five-star buffet, if you know what I mean).

She makes peace with the fact that she’s going to sleep in her pilot’s chair for the next week, since her bed is taken; one thing that kind of compensates for this is the opportunity to research a species she’s never seen before. Samus is a nerd at heart (if Prime logs are any indication), so diving head-first into research is a nice way to spend her time while she has to care for her passenger. Besides, she’ll have to at least try to learn her language. Out of necessity, of course, simply to be able to communicate - this is what she tells herself, but we all know it’s not the only reason, haha.

Now, some closing notes for Act I: 

This storyline takes place after Fusion, but before Dread (closer to Fusion in the timeline). 

Samus definitely saw something vaguely resembling her suit in the doctor’s doodles. It was lopsided and had her arm cannon on the wrong side

The terranian they were communicating with is the leader of the hunting group; Skeets sees her as a mentor figure

Due to being a solely female species, terranians don’t really have a concept of gender. They don’t even have words for it (or men lmao) - when they need to describe a male specimen (like some insect or mammal that inhabits the jungle) they just say something like “non-female” or “opposite” or some other word (I’m still working on a better term for it bc I came up with this literally just now) (also this is completely unrelated to the storyline, just a fun lore fact)

This ship was born before I even knew what metroid was. A friend of mine was infodumping about it, and I thought: Hey, most people probably ship this Samus gal with other humans or themselves; looks to me like she needs a cute alien wife

And so Skeets was made. Literally because I decided to be Not Like Other Girls™ . You're welcome people✌️

-> Act II

[cauldron-burn-and-fire-bubble]

I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT NINA!! anything you want to share about her, i want to collect

OOH OKAY ALRIGJT. (btw sorry this took a while i wrote up most of it days ago but The Tasks. you know how it is. here's a sketch for now)

so the thing about nina is that she is a really really old oc that i decided to revive over the summer to see what i could do with my current understanding of science and techmology so she doesn't really have an actual storyline. but here's some tidbits (under the cut because I have a lot to talk about). also warning for discussion of some unethical biomedical practices

- she's from kind of a cyberpunk dystopia where extreme human genetic alteration is possible (in embryos only ofc) but very very expensive because of not only the procedures needed to make an altered zygote but the resources required to incubate it for a full gestation period and because only some will end up viable the lab will have to create and incubate a carefully calculated number of embryos often with slight differences to ensure at least one will fully develop (this will be relevant i swear)

- so the technology is basically only available to the ultra rich

- nina was intended to have superficial birdlike features (think feathers instead of hair, high visual acuity, some minor skeletal alterations) but the lab done fucked up and she's much more bird than intended. im not an expert on emerging gene editing technology maybe the targeting sequences they used were a little off due to a glitch but you can see how she turned out

- the person who commissioned her didn't accept her and culling a fully developed altered human is well. murder. so she ended up in a care facility for rejected lab kids like herself

- she took way longer than a typical human child to start actually communicating when she talked but she was able to mimic words and phrases very very early. kind of creeped a lot of her caretakers out to greet her and hear their own slightly distorted voice repeat the greeting back from the mouth of a like two month old

- she eventually settled into her own voice but you could potentially identify the person who taught her some phrases if you knew them already. she's still a great mimic since she basically has a syrinx in there

- she struggles with verbal and written communication in general, a little better with body language at least for interpreting intentions/tone but different people can have very different body language ofc

- she also tends to be hyperactive (partly due to extremely high metabolism) and sort of impulsive

- incredible vision and spatial reasoning (those big bird eyes)

- technically with how large she is (about 4'3" if she could stand up straight without falling over and 70-80 lbs?) she shouldn't be able to fly but i ignore that

- remember how i said the duplicate embryos would be relevant well she has a secret not-quite twin another survivor from the same batch. idk how they got separated (remember i came up with the bones of this when i was like 10) but her twin had a messier life

- nina herself ended up as some kind of specialized government operative (cue booing) no she gets out of it in the end i swear

- the twin is a major figure in the conflict around rights for altered humans

- at some point the two of them meet and eventually join forces idk like i said there isn't a real story to this

- she has 2 fingers and the thumb free to move on each hand but they aren't very dextrous so she mainly uses her feet for fine motor tasks

- she also has difficulty emoting in a way that most humans can interpret due to the beak

- i have also made nina as a dnd character (her human parents gave her up to a monastery as an infant having frankly no idea what to do with her which she left as a teenager and became a highwayman as her appearance leads most potential benefactors to believe she's cursed) she has +5 dex and -1 con

and here's a little portrait for anyone who read this far. my beautiful daughter who i love so much <3

[blogger-yura]

Entry #49 Aug 14th '23

#YurasLife #MovieMonday #Horror #Psychological #Thriller #Mystery #Religion #Abortion #Tin&Tina

𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 - Tin&Tina (2023)

Title: Tin&Tina - Screentime: 119min - Director: Rubin Stein

Rotten Tomatoes

After a traumatic miscarriage, a young couple adopts two peculiar twins from a convent whose obsession with religion soon disturbs the family.

Film Affinity

Two very special twin siblings, after being orphaned and being welcomed in a convent where they receive a strict education, are adopted by a young couple.

Hello, hello, my pretty butterflies~! How are you guys doing? How did the weekend treat you all? Me... Well, the weekend brought a lot of new movies for me! And as always, I can't let slip the chance to share one of the many with you guys~. (　＾∀＾)

Have you heard of "Tin&Tina"? Apparently, the movie wasn't super successful when it was first released in Spanish theaters and festivals, but has been getting a lot of attention lately now that's been put up on streaming services.

Currently streaming on Netflix, tells the story of this spanish couple, Lola and Adolfo, that can't have kids, so they decide to adopt. For some –ironically– unholy reason they take home from a convent the most odd looking and behaving twins in existence– Tin and Tina who are fascinated with religion, god, the bible. As if them playing creepy music wasn't enough of a giveaway (*｀Д´)ノ！

Plot wise, the movie is just weird. It touches really sensitive topics, but never with enough depth. Other than religion, of course, since that's the main focus in the movie as the kids are literally obsessed and sadly lack the common sense to understand the bible. You have their tragic miscarriage. You have a bit of dysfunctional marriage, an absent husband, and even a bit too aggressive for my liking. ( I spent the whole movie telling Lola to get a divorce!) Of course, he doesn't believe anything his wife has to say, ever. Though I agree she had some untreated traumas that also built up a bit of paranoia on her side, we have overall a weird family dynamic.

Being based on a short film by the same director, I think the plot remained very consistent, at least. It becomes a bit confusing at times, but that, in my opinion, only helps build up the suspense and discomfort you feel watching the movie because you never know for sure what's going on. (* ﾟーﾟ)

I'm not sure how much budget they had, but production wise, I really like the whole aesthetic they had going. It's a movie based on the middle to late 80's, a place far away from the city, very rural. The coloring, the decoration, the little details like the shows that played on TV, the lightings, the music, the everything really. I found it very pleasant.

More than a horror, other than the one gore scene, I'd surely call it a thriller. It's very psychological, very unsettling when you put the scenario in context and you try to make sense of it all, but it's not scary in itself. It builds up tension successfully when needed. I wouldn't give it a 10/10, but I definitely enjoyed it and would watch it again in case I missed anything of relevance.

Would you watch a movie like this one? Is it down your alley at all? I didn't think I'd enjoy it as much as I did, honestly. If you do watch it, let me know your thoughts on it! (＞∇＜)ﾉ

This is all for today, lovelies! I'll see you guys around soon~. Hope you have a wonderful week ahead! Stay hydrated, and make sure to look after yourself well. Until next time!

All the love, -Yura ♡

Personal score: 🌟🌟🌟🌟☆

💗: @clubwnderland [💙] @jinju-oc @moonlightchn @kimheebby @nana-n-nono @coffeexdreamcb @silcntxnight @livealittleoc-cb @minsour-r @multi-esme @urtwice @san-cb @reve-rv @domrachaa @oppositesattraxt @lunaaofthemoon @badbf-cb @thepatchedpaw @domxbot @the-hellhounds @monsterhigh-cb @theinvitation-bot @hwangroyaltycb @welcometosector1 @multi-joong @vanilladaises-rp @beastfights-starting @halloween-idols @redlight-cb @yourmysticalgirls-cb @theonesxcb @hybridsheltercb @3rachabot @kardpackcb @beaconhillsxbot @yandereyeri @glamrockpop-cb @angelsxdemons-cb @screamcb

[skytheninja]

OC outfits [1/3]

First page of outfits for Mika is done. The next one will take me about… two more weeks to make.

This page has most of the first phases outfits from my story in it. That phase was far the longest, but the least eventful one…

Anyway, here are her outfits for each season. The first few had the biggest redesign from when they were first made. I was 10 when this OC was made, so I wasn't very creative, and they were just recolours of original ninja outfits. But around season 8 my designs improved, so nothing changed in the designs from then on. One thing that didn't change is hair. For some reason, I was always good at making hair designs.

Mika is HEAVILY inspired by me, what colours and styles I like. So her hair colour is exactly like mine (And yes, I had my hair dyed into red ombre twice, so OC had to have red hair too. But probably not at the exact same ages listed here) That makes me remember how at 11 I REALLY wanted to have half of my hair shaved like in the OC design lol

There is an in story reason why Mika's hair changes so much so quickly, and why it goes from super short to long, but I'll explain it under the next sheet. It becomes relevant to the next designs.

Mika doesn't have a very ''ninja-like'' outfit for season 12, because they mostly sat in the sidelines. But again, it will be explained later on.

The colour purple that starts appearing in the designs also has some significance. Because from season 6 her powers become... well, different in some way. But they really take a turn only after 5 seasons later.

So yeah, the designs really reflect how Mika was at each stage, and it reflects changes that happen.

I guess, this OC kinda grew up with me. Each year another new design.

Well, I think that's all for now. Hope you like the design!

[house-of-mirrors]

The second of my OC introduction posts is ready! Meet Samuel Weatherbee, the Laconic Captain. The appointed Dad of the friend group, but if you think that makes him more responsible/less chaotic than everyone else, you’d find the opposite to be actually true. Picrew link

Edit: Notes on his past as a zailor and a possible future after playing Irem

Quick Facts:

•       Was already orphaned before London fell. Didn’t know his old surname, so the urchin gangs came up with this one for him

•       What we’d call in modern language to be semi-verbal. Can’t get two words out of him most of the time [though he is good at letter writing], but he’s the best at his interests: navigating and monster hunting

•       Spent much of his life as a zee-captain before retiring to run a modest bar [I had already decided he was a bartender before playing BAL, and I was repeatedly amused by the plots of obtaining rare bottles and interactions with Mr Wines]

•       Hasn’t considered himself human in 30 years and isn’t bothered a bit by that fact

•       Rumored to be immortal, whether that’s from something he found in his days at zee, a deal with a devil, a deal with a god, or a certain card game. Really, he fears the true death more than almost anything and has taken great measures to avoid it.

•       Refuses to phrase any statement as a question. One may ascribe this to his lack of interest in conversation, or one may wonder just how far East he almost went, once

•       Not quite religious, but superstitious about Stone, Storm, and Salt

•       Since he’s been in the Neath since London fell, he feels he knows it better than most. He generally believes it to be futile to challenge cosmic powers and is happy to spend his days as an NPC running a rest point for others. That is, until he meets “his kids.” [My OC Orsinio as well as a few of my friend’s OCs, and later April]

•       Had a bit of a midlife crisis (as much as that means when you can’t die) and wanted to have new stories to tell his young friends, so walked into the Medusa’s Head on a whim one night to begin hunting the Vake. Regrets it immediately and spends most of the ambition wishing he had never left his bar

•       The ambition journey made him realize that it is possible for humans to take a stand against cosmic power. He can’t change everything or save everyone, but he can do something about this immediate problem and save someone.

•       Yes, yes, putting an end to millennia of senseless violence is well and good, but really, he wanted to fight Veils for flirting with his kids (Paisley sure did happen) and calling him “Sammy”

•       Before Bag a Legend, he would walk away from any problem he couldn’t solve. Now, his method is something of, “forceful first, ask questions never” 

•       Now, he’s officially back on the playing board, making waves in the Neath again rather than flying under the radar. The Masters somewhere heard saying, “Oh no, he’s back” before proceeding to pester him for help with everything. Maybe he’d actually say yes for once if they hadn’t picked up the trend of calling him “Sammy” [The one time he actually speaks for more than a single sentence at once is yelling at Wines during railway. 10/10 funniest moment for that to happen]

•       Can be impulsive and stubborn. Because he knows the Neath so well from experience, he feels like his decisions are the right ones, and he struggles to compromise when others have different sources of knowledge and plans

•       Exemplifies the adventure hero archetype of period-typical literature. He’s not too interested in lore or power, only the thrill of discovery. Never wonders if he really should be somewhere, only that it’s his right to explore

•       Doesn’t have bad intentions, but was indeed raised on Victorian British imperialist propaganda, which I imagine only got worse after London fell. His “kids,” especially Orsinio, help him to unpack some of that and challenge the ideals he was raised on. This will become relevant during Evolution arc

•       No matter where London goes, he’ll be there, keeping the home fires burning. He wants to be a sanctuary for everyone with no exception, a protector. It was a spur of the moment choice, but this is the reason he chose to make his double into a city at the end of the railway. Dabbled into the Discordance because what better fit for him than language that revolves around not speaking?

•       Plays red with a black lean on the chessboard. Not too fussed about cosmic forces, but he grew up on the streets and spent much of his life working class. And he sees death as something to be conquered, so naturally, he opposes light.

•       “A mix of voices” railway ending, he can’t be bothered with strong political opinions [I really wanted to get the perfectly balanced ending but I was ONE off, alas]

[chocomd]

3, 5 and 10 for ao3 wrapped? 😊

Thanks for the ask, pottyospanna 🥰

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

I would have to say Drag You Down, my ongoing multichapter Kataang breakup/make up fic! I'm proud of it because I'm exploring what (to me) could believably make Kataang break up and what would get them back together. I'm drawing from canon sources of potential conflict for their relationship and going as far as I can with that. A Kataang breakup is also going to be a big deal, so it's pretty angsty and I'm definitely not holding back in that department 😅

It's also the longest fic I've ever written by far, clocking in at least 140k words in total. I never meant for it to get this long, but I think it got long because it would take a lot to break up Kataang, and it would take a lot to get them back together again. I also have several OCs with fleshed out backgrounds and a good dose of political maneuvering, which Kataang gets entangled in and serves to distance them further. But all of that will eventually be relevant to driving the resolution of the story (when they get back together). It's also one of my more tightly written stories, with a lot of elements that seem unrelated at first, but there's a purpose for everything and what that purpose is will become clear as we get close to the end!

5. What work of yours got more feedback than you expected?

My Song-centric fic, To Owe an Ostrich Horse, got WAY more engagement than I was expecting! It has less than 30 kudos, but it has more comments than any of my Kataang fics that aren't long multichapter fics. Which is pretty wild, since the fic is about Song, a minor character who shows up in one episode. Not only that, it doesn't portray Zuko in a positive light, which I didn't think would attract many (or any) readers in a fandom that adores Zuko.

10. What work was the quickest to write?

The fic I wrote most quickly this year was Everlasting, for the Kataang Week 2022 prompt Drunk Kataang! I wasn't originally planning to write for that prompt, but I was inspired by the adorable drawing you did for Drunk Kataang. I completed the first draft (4200 words) in less than 24 hours. I don't know how I wrote it so fast, and I don't think I could write a fic that fast again 😂

Ask me a question from the ao3 wrapped ask meme!

[fandom-with-no-hope]

Ranting about that pokemon rp because I can't be normal anymore. We've had this going for two years. And a lot of shit happened

-All the drama from Unova and the bw games is canon + some things that we added for fun. It was with our main ocs

-we created a new region called Akkosia, with two legendaries & all. Unethical experiments & shit happened, someone was fusioned with his pokemon (it was my best friend Polaris), we overthrew the government, had to murder some evil people, took over the damned league, and had about 16 near death experiences. The whole Akkosia arc was insanely fun except that I probably cried 17 times because of Polaris alone.

And this is where it gets messy because we have like. 5 perspectives, all at once.

- had a sort of "beach episode" where our main characters spent a few days planning a festival in Alola. One of my oc (Sacha, whose best friend is Hoopa), met the love of his life (Marisa, whose best friend is Celebi). They also met Fukaku (he'll be more relevant later) *

-while this was happening, a guy from Akkosia (Mizuki) went to Kalos with his girlfriend (a former member of the Akkosia league / she was a villain but then she was spared). Most events from the Kalos games happened except like. 10 times worse. There was a second criminal organisation at work.

-Eden (former team Flare member, who was badly injured when the Supreme Weapon fired) was saved by Ringer (former member of the Black Eagles, the second evil organization) and they both had a lesbian escapade in. Spain. Where, after they got engaged, lost their house to a dramatic incident involving Darkrai (note: Darkrai used to belong to Mizuki).

-Darkrai Was caught by someone who can casually break the fourth wall, who gave an existential crisis to Eden, before she tried to find an "entertaining solution" in order to avoid catastrophes.

*going back to the main cast for a second. They went to Kalos because Sacha is looking for Hoopa's vase. Did I mention there's a cult in Kalos? Marisa traveled back in time hundred of times, in order to prevent Sacha from getting KILLED and he couldn't remember any of it

After this, they avoided problems a bit. Oh. No they didn't. Sacha and Marisa left to go on vacations in Kanto. It ended up terribly.

-Ringer faked her death. Eden joined team Rocket alongside Livio and Ekuren. They took over Kanto, became literally the best trio. Until they found Polaris (who is an escaped experiment), so Livio went ballistic (he's an experiment aswell and used to know Polaris until he abandoned him) so there was an entire arc where team Rocket was after Polaris (and they succeeded in catching him)

-The leader of team Rocket was eaten by Giratina and thus set Polaris free.

*A big cult, calling themselves "The Family" gained in influence. A small girl ran away and met the main group. Unfortunately, she's always been a bit different, but she befriended Fukaku, and they had a sibling - like relationship.

-Fukaku hunt down. And killed. All leaders of the Family. With one exception, being Mei, since she was mostly endoctrinated and not beyond reasoning

-Got tracked down by one experiment / daughter of one of the leaders (Orion), who was, in fact, spared. And who had to live with them, in order to repair her mecha

-Every single character was invited to a wedding (Sacha and Marisa). Even team Rocket.

Team Rocket got their redemption arc when the leader almost died so it's fine.

ALL THESE STORIES HAPPENING ALL AT Once and it's so hard to keep track of everything. I can't I legit cant'.

I have been mentally ill about this rp for. Years. And. Lukas. My bestie. Has the audacity to kill Fukaku after shit went down

So many character I didn't even mention Arael & Prismo, nor the Kalos dlc with Lyn & Floyd. I didn't even mention Yumeko (my boy) & Mikoto (Livio's lost brother)

So many things.

And the main characters

None of them had died thus far.

Unti' NOW.

But hey, at least I get to be happy Sacha and Pola are finally together again and this time they have something in common: they're both trans.

[larytello]

(( is the rest a 2% chance at finding it? ))

That depends...?

There's some good bunch of stuff about my old OCs posted somewhere in the depths of this Tumblr account and a few other sideblogs or actually other blogs I own (like Kouri Turtles and/or Neat Saviors, though this last one isn't much about OCs) I made a new sideblog to try and get back into RPing or just interacting through asks, but it's nowhere near ready yet. I haven't touched it in a couple ages by now. My friend Myrna is so gonna kill me at some point because of that lmao

I have a lot of things about my OCs that's just been in my mind and I never did anything about it.

And then there's the new Transformers OCs I have created during these last pandemic years, especially in the last 10 months or so, but the only thing one can find online so far is my fanfiction "Back To Life". I actually have planned like three fanfics + some side stories like spin offs and extra/bonus stuff, I have been coming up with ideas, lore, plots, developing the characters and stuff, I even drew some cool artworks and doodles and didn't publish them because they would be spoilers about the fanfics, BUUUUUT, ONLY ONE OC HAS MADE IT INTO THE STORY SO FAR. Others will come up soon, but the whole shit I have planned will flesh out only when I begin publishing the second fanfic.

Which I didn't start writing yet because I'm busy re-writing the first one as I publish it.

Which means everything I've been planning will take ages to come to light.

:')

I''d be happy to post more about all these little shits living rent free in my brain but I'm still trying to actually find my will to stay online. Most of my social media has been like a ghost town lately and I have no strength to keep creating content in a pace fast enough to be relevant in the eyes of the all-mighty algorithm which decides if you're worth exposition in the search tools or not. I feel no motivation to do anything about all this, it's annoying tbh.

Also thanks for the ask, I wasn't expecting anyone to be up now, it's past 3 AM here and it's one of those times when I really don't see anyone active/online... Wow

[gothicthundra]

Gothicthundra KP Fanfics

Okay SO. I have had no less than 10 PM’s about this over the months and another last night. Finally going to do it. Also. A mini OC guide at the bottom (relevant only).

Head Cannon-Cannon Compliant! ( Chronological Order!)

*Good Girl in A Bad Place (LFS, Mama Lipsky-1964) *Good Girl in Big Trouble (LFS, Mama Lipsky-1964) *Good Girl and the Bad Guy (LFS, Mama Lipsky-1964) Happy Sweet 16 (Tumblr Go City Short- 1990) (RTD) Random Tales of Drakgo  (2003-2012) *Ongoing | All Characters and More! *Touch and Go (LFT Drakgo-2008) *Thunder (LFT, Drakgo-2008) Come In (K/R 2010) Things Change (2012) Adventures in Babysitting *AiBS (2013) *Doesn’t Sprout Far (DrakOctober Tales-2013) *Canned Chaos (LFS, Drakgo- 2014) Bloodlines (2014) *What A Twist (LFT-2014) *Heat Wave (LFS-2015) *Camping Chaos (LFS-2015) *A Wee In Convenient (LFS-2016) Blindspot (Drakgo-2017) *Trick or Treat (DrakOctober Tales-2018) *My Fair Candy (LFS-2019) *The Gift (LFS-2019) *Christmas Peace (LFS-2019) Save on Time (Drakgo-2020) *Ghost Stories (LFS-2020) *No More Karaoke (LFS-2020) *Nightmares (LFS, Drakgo-2021) *Memory Lane (DrakOctober Tales-2025) *Principle’s Office (LFS-2025)

Gifts/AU’s

Wrong Tables and Walls (Drakgo, Mature Content) Witches and Demons (Fantasy Drakgo) What Matters Most (Drakgo) The Rain Isn’t All that Falls (Drakgo) The Playlist Testing Theories (Drakgo-Multi Chars) Misunderstandings (Comic/Cannon) How About a Drink? (LAM Based) Aftermath (Cannon-Drakgo (Re-done version in RTD) *DrakOctober Tales (mini series various AU/Cannon Tales set in October) (LFS) Lipsky Family Shorts and Other Tiny Tales *LFS (Au/Cannon mini series of various Chars)  *Mama Lipsky’s Man (ML/DK) - Humor *The Rocket (Kid Drakgo AU) *Date Night (Drakgo Teacher AU) *Drive-In (Drakgo) *Blue Moon (Drakgo) *It Takes Time (Angst-Drew/Drakken-RTD/Cannon-ish) *Ramifications (Genderswap AU-Drakgo) *Phone Call (Drakgo) *Perfect (Drakgo) *Eavesdropping (Drakgo)

OC’s Cleopatra (RTD, DrakOctober Tales) Dr. Carmella Sweets (RTD, DrakOctober Tales, LFS) Hermes (RTD) Pandora (RTD) Dweller (RTD, DrakOctober Tales, LFS)- Go City Villain Hush (RTD)- Go City Villain Dr. Stitches (RTD)- Go City Villain Dr. Botox/ Dr. Taxley (RTD) Dollmaker (RTD)- Go City Villain Devious Shark/Dr. Botox (RTD) The Gardner (RTD)- Go City Villain Protonia (RTD) Misty Trust (RTD, AiBs) Dean (RTD) Maria (RTD) Shawna/Shay Valentine (RTD) Connor (RTD) - Villain’s Inn Worker Gina (RTD)- Villain’s Inn/ Underground Worker Maisie (RTD) Villain’s Inn Worker Marley (TBA)- Underground Worker Bruce (TBA) - Underground Worker Dion (Dionysus) (RTD) Sal/Silenus (RTD) Dr. Pulse (Things Change, AiBs) Toxis (Things Change, AiBs) Dr. Sandradottir (RTD) Paulson and Dwayne (RTD)- Drakken’s former Assistants Lipsky Family Theodore Lipsky (RTD, LFS)-Drakken’s Father Dr. Prudence Drake (RTD)- Drakken’s Paternal Grandmother Emily Lipsky (RTD)- Drakken’s Missing Aunt Lydia (RTD)- Drakken’s Cousin-Emily’s Daughter Michelle *Lipsky (RTD, LFS)- Motor Ed’s Mother Bart Lipsky (RTD, LFS)- Motor Ed’s Father/Theodore’s Brother Stew (RTD) Michelle’s Brother/ Motor Ed’s Maternal Uncle Stephan and Stephanie (RTD) Stew’s Children-Motor Ed’s Maternal Cousins Denise (RTD) Motor Ed’s Mother’s Second Cousin  *Michael 

Henchmen Lucius Hector Mitchell Williams Davis Clark Vex* (Motor Ed’s)

One-Off Villains| Mentions Giggling Glen (Come In) The Leprechaun (LFS) June Key (RTD) The Chuckler (Bloodlines) The Baroness (TBA) The Fool (TBA) Dog-Man (TBA) Shadow Collector (TBA) Dr. LongFinger (TBA)

[somerandomdutchfangirl]

Hetalia Family Week - Day 1: Hobbies

This is my entry for @hetafamilyweek day 1 - hobbies (and hugs)

Summary:  They didn't have time for family hangouts often, with them being nations and all that, but whenever they did, it was safe to say it was the most fun any of them would have that week.

Sometimes, they would just go for a coffee or lunch or have a picnic. Other times, they would binge-watch a series while cuddling on the couch. And then, there were times like this.

This has also been posted to my a03!

Disclaimer: the opinions of the characters aren’t necessarily the authors opinion. Also, some of the sentences have been translated with Google Translate. If there is any mistake, please let me know and I'll fix as soon as possible! The translations are at the end.

Names used:

Willem = Netherlands

Femke = Belgium

Laurent = Luxembourg

Antonio = Spain

Matthew = Canada

Abel = Holland, @starflight-blog oc

Sjoerd = Friesland, @starflight-blog oc

Lieke = Groningen, @starflight-blog oc

Relevant headcanons time!  

- Femke owns a cat named Mika

- Matthew and Willem are married (see end notes for more info)

- Matthew uses he/they pronouns

:readmore:

They didn't have time for family hangouts often, with them being nations and all that, but whenever they did, it was safe to say it was the most fun any of them would have that week.

Sometimes, they would just go for a coffee or lunch or have a picnic. Other times, they would binge-watch a series while cuddling on the couch. And then, there were times like this.

"Can't you two sit still for like five minutes? If you want this painting to actually look good, you're gonna have to let me actually have time to paint you!"

"What if we want it to look like Picasso?"

"Laurent, hoepel een eind op, Picasso sucks and so do his paintings."

"Don't let Antonio hear you say that."

"Antonio can go fuck himself."

"Guys, let's keep this fun, alright? I want to enjoy this day," Femke chimed in. Willem huffed but didn't complain further. Laurent grinned and continued composing a piece for the harp standing next to him.  

(When Laurent had led them towards his "inspiration room" as he liked to call it, which was just a room filled with instruments, art supplies and more, both siblings had been filled with dread at the thought of Laurent playing the tuba, or god forbid, the trombone. Willem had said: "Laurent, I swear to god, if you're going to play the tuba or the trombone, I'm going to throw both you and the instrument out of the nearest window." To which Laurent had been a smartass and replied, "Can you even lift all that weight though?" That had ended up in a chase through the house that ended when Femke tackle-hugged both.)

The comfortable silence continued for a while, broken only by the occasional sigh from one of the siblings or Laurent trying the piece on the harp.

"Hey, Fem," Laurent walked up to her while he was taking a quick break, "What're you making?"

"Well, I'm trying to embroider our pets, but this stitch just won't work, godverdomme-"

"Maybe you should take a break and come back to it later? It's getting late anyway, we should eat dinner soon," Laurent suggested. Femke nodded. When no conformation came from Willem, they turned to him.

"Hey, earth to Willem! Did you hear what we just said?" Laurent asked, walking up to him and quickly stopping next to him. "Nondikass!" He exclaimed. "Willem, that looks amazing! How'd you do that in such a short time?!"

Femke, now curious, walked up to her brothers and peeked over their shoulders. "What the fuck, Willem," she gaped at the painting in front of her. It was clearly her and Laurent doing their respective hobbies, with beautiful lighting and background. The vibrant colours of the front of the painting was a stark contrast to the background, which had much softer tones. "You told us you were rusty! What part of this is rusty?!"

Willem, who was now looking more like a tomato, opened his mouth, no doubt to point out all the things that were wrong with it, but Laurent cut him off. "Nope, Mr. Perfectionist, you're not pointing out all the imperfections of this, and that's final. This is a masterpiece, seriously. Don't give me that look!"

"You know," Femke mused, "I might actually hang this in my house once it's dry."

"Guys," Willem said, flustered, "It's not that good. Really. Thanks for the compliments, but-"

"No buts!" Femke exclaimed at the same time Laurent yelled: "Not that good?!"

"Yeah, it's... the colour's off, the perspective is weird, and-"

"I am this close to actually strangling you with your scarf, Willem," Femke cut him off, her hands on her hips. "So what if it isn't perfect? That doesn't make it look any less amazing! I'll tell you what, we're gonna take a break, then we're going to come back here, and you'll see how amazing this actually looks."  

Willem looked at her for a few seconds before sighing. "Fine..."

"Now don't go around brooding like that, it's no fun," Laurent said while shooting Femke a quick thumbs-up. Femke grinned.

"Now, come on! I'll make waffles!"

---

"Hey, Matthew replied!" Laurent exclaimed, effectively cutting off Willems' story on the antics of Abel and Sjoerd.

(Apparently, they had gotten into a fight over who had the most creative curse words. This had ended in Abel singing along to the curse word song in Dutch, until Lieke walked in. Sjoerd had promptly slapped a hand over Abel's mouth to stop him from ‘tainting Lieke's innocence’. It was weird.)

"What do you mean?" Willem asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, dearest brother of mine," Laurent replied with a shit-eating grin, which did absolutely nothing to ease Willem's worries. "Because you didn't seem too convinced by us literally shouting how amazing your painting was, we decided to send a picture to Matthew-"

"You what?!"

"-to see what he thinks of it," Laurent continued, unfazed. "Since, you know, you seem to care a lot about what they think, about as much as you care about what we think? I mean I would hope so, considering we're your siblings, but-"

"You're getting off track, Laurent," Femke cut him off. "Anyway, we figured that if anyone other than us would manage to convince you that your painting is amazing, it's gonna be Matthew."

"I-"

"Don't even try to deny it. We went to your wedding, remember? We know how much you care about him. Which is a good thing, by the way. So, Laurent, what did they say?"

"Well, there's an all-caps keysmash, followed by an all-caps 'what?!'. Scratch that, basically everything is in caps. So, the general train of thought is 'what the fuck, this is beautiful, how the fuck did he do this, he calls this rusty?!' And finally, 'I love it 10/10 would hang in my living room and/or show off to my family and friends. It's beautiful and I'll physically fight him on that.'"

"Awww, that's so sweet! See, Willy, your painting truly is amazing!" Femke, sporting a somehow genuine but shit-eating grin, patted her brother on the back. Said brother had his head in his hands and may or may not be crying.

"I hate you two," came the muffled reply with no real heat behind it. Femke and Laurens laughed.

"We love you too, you softie! Now come on, who's ready to spend more time together!" Femke cheered, already halfway across the room.

---

"Jezus Christus, Femke, that looks amazing!" Willem said, looking at the embroidery his sister had made. It pictured their pets, Pelutze, Mika, and Nijntje. 

"Aww, thanks Willem!"

"Wait, let me see- wow, sis, this is really good! I love it!"  

"Thank you, Lau! By the way, is your composition nearly finished? I want to hear it!"

"Me too, actually."

"Well, it's not done yet, but I can play what I have so far?"

"Yes please!" Femke smiled.

Laurent sat down and started playing the piece of music he had written on the harp. Moving his fingers delicately along the strings, the beautiful melody carried along the room. Once he was done, he looked up.

"So... what did you think- Femke are you okay?!"

"Yeah, sorry, it's just... it's so beautiful!" Femke cried, flinging herself at Laurent and crushing him in a hug.  

"I agree with Femke, it was wonderful," Willem chimed in, walking over to his siblings. Femke quickly included him in the hug.

"You two are so talented, what the hell!"

"Fem, you're crushing me," Laurent gasped. "And don't you dare exclude yourself, have you seen what you just made?!"

"Yeah, but-"

"No buts, remember," Willem said, parroting her words back to her with a smirk.

"Why are you like this?"

Willem laughed at this. "You still love me despite it, though!"

"That's not an answer!"

"Is it not?"

"Absolutely not!"

"Guys, please stop. This is a stupid argument," Laurent rolled his eyes.

"Rolling your eyes at us? How rude, Lau," Willem said, locking him in a headlock and ruffling his hair.

"Hey, let me go!"

"Hmmm, let's see... Nope."

"Oh, come on! Fem, help me out here!"

Femke just laughed in response.

"Betrayal!" Laurent screeched, struggling to get out of his brother's headlock. Femke just laughed harder in response, almost falling over.

"You know, you could always just say the magic word to get out."

"The magic- What am I, five?"

"You certainly act like it sometimes."

"Fëck dech."

"Real mature, Laurent."

"Oh, like asking for the magic word is so mature."

"Absolutely. I haven't heard it yet, by the way. Femke, are you doing alright?" Willem asked, as his sister was now lying on the floor, tears streaming down her face. Gasping for air, she shook no.

"Seems like you'd better let me go before we make Femke choke," Laurent commented. Willem tsk-ed.

"Fine, fine. Fem, get up," he said, letting Laurent out of the headlock and extending a hand towards Femke.

"Give- give me a... minute," she said, still gasping for air. After she managed to get enough air in her lungs and not burst out laughing after she saw her brothers standing in front of her with worried (albeit semi-irritated) looks, she finally took Willem's offered hand.

"You two are utter morons."  

Willem gasped. "Are you hearing this, Laurent? Slander, complete and utter slander!"

"Well, she's right about one of us, and it isn't me."

"Laurent, ik tyf je de Noordzee in als je niet ophoudt-"

"Try me, old man-"

"Who're you calling old you little-"

''Oh for- hou uw bakkes! If this becomes another argument, I will smother both of you!''

''You wouldn't dare,'' Willem said. After a beat of silence and a fierce glare from Femke, he added: ''Would you?''

''I don't know, why don't you find out?''

''Fem, you're scaring me a bit here,'' Laurent said nervously. Femke hummed. Laurent looked at Willem, wide-eyed. Willem just looked back and shrugged.

''Could you even reach me though?'' Willem, who apparently had a death wish, asked.

Femke whipped around, glaring at her brother. Willem just glared back.

''Guys, no, no one's getting killed today,'' Laurent interjected. ''This is supposed to be a fun family meeting, remember? If there's any way anyone's going down,'' he added on, a devilish grin on his face as he slowly inched closer to his still glaring siblings, ''It's going to be this way!'' he yelled as he quickly poked Willem in his side, who immediately yelped and tried to get away. To no avail, because Femke quickly latched onto his arm and started poking him in his side too.  

''No, Fem, wait- What did I do to deserve this?!''

''Well, uh... you took the last waffle?''

''Are you asking me, or-'' Willem started to ask, then yelped again as his siblings started to tickle him.

''No! Please, mercy!''

''Hmmm, Lau, what do you think? Should we stop?'' Femke asked, looking at her younger brother.

''I don’t know, Fem,'' Laurent answered back, devilish grin still on his face. ''He hasn’t said the magic word yet.''

''Godverdomme, natuurlijk is dat het antwoord. Kut! Laurens, stop!''

''Hmm, let me think. Nee.''

Femke snickered. ''He looks like a worm, wiggling like that.''

''How the fuck-''

''Oh my god you're so right,'' Laurent said. ''Willem the worm,'' he started to say, but burst out laughing halfway through. Femke laid on top of Willem, wheezing. Willem, meanwhile, looked absolutely mortified.

''You two are so immature,'' he said.

''Says the guy currently laying on the floor because he's ticklish.''

''I will strangle you,'' Willem threatened.

''Try me, bit- Hey!'' Laurent started to say, before Willem had reached forward and pulled him besides him.

''You know, this is actually surprisingly comfortable,'' Femke commented after a beat of silence.

''No, you're heavy. Get off me- Lau don't you dare lay on top of Femke or I swear- oof!''

''Hmm? What was that?''

''I'll kill you.''

''Aw, we love you too!''

''... Ugh, fine, if I say it, will you get off?''

''Maybe!''

''You two are gremlins, oh my god. Fine, I love you too.''

''He said it! Lau, he said it!''

''Yeah yeah, we all heard it. Now get off me.''

''I mean... technically I never promised I'd get off-''

''Off. Now. Or I'll never bring you stroopwafels again.''

This earned him a scandalized gasp from both of his siblings.

''You’re so mean! How dare you deprive us of stroopwafels?!''

''You can't do that!''

''You two are impossible. I said off,'' Willem complained, trying to sit up. Which was hard, considering Femke was literally laying on top of him.  

''Say the magic word first.''

''Are you serious right now? Femke, we are not five.''

''So?''

''... Fine. Femke, can you please get the fuck off me?''

''Fine, close enough,'' she said as she got off Willem, who immediately took a deep breath.

''Finally, oh sweet air how much I've missed you.''

''You’re so weird. Anyway,'' Femke said, turning towards Laurent. ''You recorded the whole thing, right?''

Laurent laughed and rolled his eyes. ''Like you had to ask.''

Willem gaped at them, before jumping up. ''Godver- Laurent give that camera here, right now!''

''No, I don’t want to. I must say this is great blackmail material.''

''Laurent, als je nu niet die camera hier geeft, dan-''

''Du muss mech als éischt fänken!''

Needless to say, Willem ended up chasing Laurent through the house, Femke following closely behind. In the end, all three of them ended up in a dogpile on the couch, laughing. Yeah, family meetings were fun indeed.

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

Translations:

Hoepel een eind op (Dutch) = a nice(ish) way of saying ‘fuck off’ or ‘go away’

Godverdomme (Dutch, Flemish) = goddammit

Nondikass (Luxembourgish) = used as an exclaimation, meaning something like ‘damn’.

Jezus Christus (Dutch) = Jesus Christ

Fëck dech (Luxembourgish) = Screw you

Ik tyf je de Noordzee in als je niet ophoudt (Dutch) = I will throw you into the North Sea if you don't stop. (The word ‘tyf’ is pretty rude though, albeit used by a lot of teens in my experience, so I would not recommend going around actually saying this.)

Hou uw bakkes (Flemish) = shut up

Godverdomme, natuurlijk is dat het antwoord. Kut! (Dutch) = ‘Goddammit, of course that's the answer. Fuck!’ (even though the word 'kut’ doesn’t mean ‘fuck’, it's used as a replacement pretty often. The more accurate translation would be ‘vagina’, as that is literally what it means, but it's used as a curse word more often than not.)

Nee (Dutch, Flemish, Luxembourgish) = No

Laurent, als je nu niet die camera hier geeft, dan- = Laurent, if you don't give me the camera right now, then-

Du muss mech als éischt fänken! (Luxembourgish) = youre gonna have to catch me first!

Stroopwafels are a Dutch delicacy, I love them so much. Basically, they’re waffles with syrup in between. Google them for examples and probably a better explanation.

I am physically incapable of not adding in a sprinkle of NedCan. I'm sorry (but actually not really,, as stated, Willem and Matthew are married so technically Matthew is family- *gets smacked*)

The ending is more crack and longer than I intended because I have no self-control. Sue me.

Moral of the story: don't anger short ppl. They’re angrier cuz they’re closer to hell-

Yes Willem is ticklish, I said what I said.

Bonus scene: ''Wait, so if Willem is a worm, would Matthew be like... a moose?''

''I am begging you two to stop. Laurent, stop laughing!''

[stillness-in-green]

The MLA(/PLF) Headcanon Post (1/2)

In response to this nice ask about whether I have any headcanon or thoughts about the current members of the MLA/PLF, I spent two weeks blithering 16.5K words of exactly that into a Word file, because when it comes to underappreciated characters I love, I do not understand restraint.  This post and its follow-up will cover all ranked ex-MLA members of the PLF, as well as Original Flavor Destro and Curious, since I wasn't going to leave them out of a project like this even if they aren't "current."

The ask only mentioned having previously read The Lore Post, the last exercise in ridiculousness that I wrote at the tail end of MLA Week, so I wrote this to summarize everything that doesn't appear there—which is to say that a lot of the material in these two posts will look familiar to anyone who's read my fanfic about the MLA cast.  There’s still plenty of new material to go around too, though!

So, I don't have much in the vein of askblog-style headcanons where I can randomly tell you stray trivia about a character’s favorite foods or their love languages or what have you; that stuff either comes up when I'm writing fanfic or it doesn't.  That said, below, please find a mix of thoughts I keep in mind when writing characters, facts that have only turned up in my fanfic/notes so far and not the Lore Post meta, and a selection of lightning round headcanon provided by cross-referencing a random number generator with some old questionnaires I keep around for OCs and tabletop characters.

In this post: Destro, Re-Destro and his advisors, and Geten.

Destro— 

General Thoughts The whole "revolutionary leader" thing came very naturally to him. He was committed, charismatic, very willing to risk his life and safety for the cause, and he cared about his people. All that said, he absolutely had a pompous, prideful streak, especially where it came to his justification for terrorism.  You only have to read his own words to see that.  Still, he was in large part reacting to the world he lived in, one of greater violence and danger than the current day. 

I like to think that—because he was genuine in wanting freedom for all—he would not approve of what became of his Army.  He'd be able to see how they got there, and he would probably have made much the same choices if he'd been there with them, but while he would have agreed that his role should be remembered—that's just Due Credit—he would never have wanted to become the nigh-on religious figure his followers turned him into. Continuing to fight the good fight for his ideals is one thing, but secret salutes and isolated villages and being raised from infancy to know your life has only as much worth as it can contribute to Liberation…  Well, it's just not what he would have wanted for his people, much less his descendants. 

Family Situation Chikara was only around 7 when his mother was killed, the event that would shape the rest of his life.  He wasn't hiding in the closet from the mob, either; he was kicking and punching and biting, his motivation to save her overflowing—but he was still only 7, and eventually overwhelmed.  His own life might well have ended there with hers, but for a group of neighborhood vigilante types (at least one of whom probably went on to a career as a hero, after legalization).

He went most of his adolescence without getting involved with anything more sinister than student newspapers, founding a secret meta-rights "club," and attending the odd larger protest, but when the government started talking about passing laws restricting the use of meta-abilities, he started getting very radical very quickly, and when some absolute snake started to use his martyred mother's words to bang the drum for banning quirk use outside the home outright, he went off the deep end.

Lightning Round (Randomly Selected Headcanons)

Favorite book genre?  Memoirs and biographies—he wouldn't have written his own if he didn't appreciate their value.  The intimacy of the personal juxtaposed against the broad scope of history appeals to both his regard for individuality and his revolutionary mindset.

Most prized possession?  Thoughts on material possessions in general?   He doesn’t generally prize material possessions—in fact, he’s something of a skinflint.  His most prized possession is an old pair of gloves that belonged to his mother, which he'd been wearing at the time of her murder.  He didn't come from money to begin with, but his mother’s story made enough of a splash that his financial situation was improved by well-meaning sorts sending along donations and contributions and the like, as well as government officials knowing they needed to be sure that he wound up somewhere at least semi-reasonable lest they court further outrage by mishandling the son of a martyred woman.  The money all went towards school and living expenses, though, leaving him quite experienced at balancing a budget, which would come in handy for that whole ‘leading a violent uprising against the state’ thing later on.

Academic Background: Got all the way through college!  Was involved in student groups as far back as middle school, and only got moreso the further in school he got.  Majored in Human Development; he was intending to go into the public health and policy sphere before the appropriation of his mother's language pissed him off so much he got into terrorism instead.

THE MODERN MLA

Re-Destro—

General Thoughts A huge amount of the way I write him is influenced by one single thing—his characterization as described in the second data book.  His personality is summed up there as "sokoshirenai yami"—bottomless darkness, or, as a friend translated it for me, "unfathomable gloominess."  That really, really stuck with me, because on the one hand, it's so opposed to virtually all of what we see of him on the page, where he's being cheerful or scornful or sycophantic; the closest he ever gets are his brief tears for Miyashita, Curious, and his other followers.

On the other hand, it makes so much sense that the man we see—the man who talks about the heavy burdens of his legacy, who was handed that legacy when he couldn't possibly have been any older than 6 or so, who willingly straps on a self-designed torture device to wring out more power, who all but worships the ground Shigaraki walks on even though Shigaraki is the reason Re-Destro no longer has legs to walk that same ground with—should be "unfathomably gloomy."  Of course he's gloomy!  He was never allowed to be his own person!  He has never in his life known true freedom, only existed as a vessel to bring that freedom to others!  And he can't really even talk to his closest friends about it, because his closest friends are still his followers, and he wouldn't want to weigh them down!

With that context, it makes all the sense in the world that he'd be so devoted to the man who relieved him of that burden.

Family Situation He loved his mother Yukie a great deal, despite knowing from early on that he was carrying the weight of the title because she believed she couldn’t.  (Perhaps growing up hearing about the martyrdom of Destro’s mother left him wanting to ensure the happiness of his own, for her happiness was very rare.)  He was 10 when she was killed in a Villain attack; she’d been on a daytrip over to a neighboring city to visit some of her erstwhile school friends.  The requisite mourning period was 49 days, and as the only surviving family member, quite a lot fell to him even before considerations of his role as Re-Destro.  it was perceived as better—for both the Army’s morale and for his own stability—for him to be involved with as much of the work of transition as possible, but obviously he couldn’t do it completely alone, nor should he.  Thus, for two months after Yukie’s death, the previous generation's Sanctum[i] stayed with him in his family home. Afterward, he moved in with Anchor (one of his grandfather's advisors), where he would spend the rest of his young adulthood until moving away for college.

Claustrophobia The name of that literal-iron-maiden deathtrap he brings to bear against Shigaraki is no coincidence: Rikiya developed claustrophobia over the course of a stint of abusive training when he was thirteen. He generally has a pretty good handle on disguising it, thanks to a combination of people being unwilling to ask him questions they don’t actually want the answers to and the fact that he had to learn how to operate through it in order to complete the training at all. He has never told anyone, largely because he’s never been able to recognize that it was abuse, and so his abuser remains a figure of some influence.

Education He was largely taught by private tutors, in his home and in theirs, rather than attending school, but I think he probably wasn't completely home-schooled.  Particularly once he'd decided that he did want to attend university—and not just some little local technical program, but a major school in a proper city—he probably attended classes a few times a week at his local high school just to get a feel for being around other people his own age. He'd been friends with Koku for several years by that point, otherwise he probably would have been pretty hopeless, but he was still a pretty odd duck by the time he got to university.

This, incidentally, is why he never pushed Geten too hard about school—his own experience of it was so weird and piecemeal that he mostly thinks of school as relevant only for the education it provides, and less so the crash course in social dynamics.  Since Geten doesn't care about getting an education (nor, indeed, about learning how not to be a rude little troll), and has a strong enough quirk that he'll never lack for a position in the Army even without a formal education, Rikiya is perfectly happy to let Geten have his way and just be minimally learnèd.

Stress His powers operate by infusing his body with the characteristic black matter of his manifested stress; he can increase his size with this (his so-called Liberated Form isn't just armored up; he becomes physically taller and bulkier), as well as throw handfuls of the materialized power.  A side effect of this is that his stress can also infuse itself into his bodily fluids. The stress matter is a highly dense particulate, so if Rikiya is not in proper control of himself, his proverbial blood, sweat and tears can be literally heavy with the weight of his power.

The Value of Life He cares very much about the lives of his followers, but those genuine feelings are filtered through both the mental compartmentalization required by an emotion-based quirk, and an upbringing that taught him to care about his underlings in the same way one would rare goods.  Valuable goods, certainly, goods worth being proud of, goods to be maintained with care, but still, ultimately, things that can be sold or traded or bartered off as necessary to further one's goals.  Even his own life, while "objectively" the most valuable of them all, isn't an exception to that policy—the Great Cause is more important than any individual life, up to and including his own.

On a Personal Note He’s something of an obvious weirdo to outsiders—his enthusiasm comes off as strident, his smiles overly polished—but despite that, he's bizarrely hard to dislike once they start spending real time with him.  He's not anywhere near as prideful about himself as he is the legacy of the MLA, for a start; he's actually pretty self-deprecating when he's not performing the whole Heir of Destro's Great Bloodline routine at people.  He's also happy to go along with other people sharing their hobbies (because he doesn't have any of his own).  The more you get to know him, the more obvious it becomes that he's a total basket case, but “total basket case” is still an improvement over “self-absorbed 1%-er CEO” that people like Spinner come in expecting.

What Are Boundaries? He has very little understanding of how to enforce boundaries around his private life, or, indeed, of why such boundaries might ever be necessary.  Oh, he can do the double life thing, keep the CEO of Detnerat separate from the Grand Commander of the Metahuman Liberation Army, but when it comes to the MLA itself, he's so groomed to devote himself to the cause that he doesn't really distinguish between the responsibilities of Re-Destro and the needs of Yotsubashi Rikiya.  Rather than being the egomaniac you might expect of a man with the absolute power over others he has, he instead struggles to assert himself as his own person at all.

Issues with boundaries are not uncommon with the MLA—they're all raised to see themselves as warriors to advance the cause before they are, like, “human beings”—but Rikiya’s are particularly exacerbated because he was raised by adults who were getting pretty paranoid about his bloodline's tendency to die young, and thus were always checking in on how he was doing, dictating his schedule, weighing in on his plans, and so on.  He just wasn’t raised with reasonable expectations for privacy.  Even as an adult, he'll give his apartment door code to pretty much anyone in the MLA who has even a semi-plausible reason to want it—certainly quite a few of the elders know it!  And it isn’t only the elders, either; Rikiya's phone and several of his accessories carry tracking chips courtesy of Skeptic, which Rikiya knows about and doesn't think is at all untoward.

While his experience dating Koku definitely taught him some hard lessons about how much he could allow himself to ask of people who would obey him without question (they broke up over Rikiya’s realization that Koku would never deny him anything, thanks to a cracked rib Koku didn’t see fit to tell Rikiya about until Rikiya hugged him a little too hard), he never learned how to value his own autonomy in turn.  Oh, he's the Grand Commander, and everyone around him has been raised to venerate his bloodline, so most of them would never even think about trying to take advantage of him as such, but it's absolutely the case that people who are bold or familiar enough to try can basically run right over him with minimal efforts made at obscuring the fact.  His life is full of people who do and have done exactly that, some to a net positive effect, and some—well.  See again the entry about his claustrophobia.

The abjectly terrible state of his sense of self-worth is also the reason the Claustro exists.  While he was relatively capable of trying to work around his phobia when he was younger, the older he got, the more it started to feel like leaving doors cracked behind him or only working in offices with big spacious floor plans and oversized windows was, in some way, Letting Down The Cause by allowing his fear to control him, rather than embracing it so he could properly stockpile it for later use.  A dinnertime chat with Curious about turning one’s trauma into a weapon for the good of others catalyzed this, leading to the development of the “burden-enhancing steel pressure mechanism,” Claustro. 

(It also means the clone of him made by Twice to handle Detnerat after Deika is bizarrely okay with its circumstances, which I will almost certainly write more about one of these days, but I’m still kind of reeling from that reveal, so more on that another time.)

Lightning Round

Religion?   He doesn't identify as being of a religious faith, but he was brought up in the same peaceful marriage of Shinto and Buddhism that the majority of Japanese people are, and like many, he adheres to a number of traditional practices more out of habit than devout faith.  There are two celebrations that demand significant emotional investment from him.  First comes the New Year's celebrations, important because the MLA prides itself on looking to a brighter, freer future, and it's a period when he can let himself think that maybe he'll be just that little bit closer to Liberation by the end of the year than he was at the start.  Second is Obon, a summer festival for honoring one's departed ancestors. Since his authority and his life's work derive entirely from his bloodline, he's obligated to care about this one, though in practice, he tends to shy away from thinking much about Destro (who he has very twisted-up feelings about indeed) in favor of less emotionally fraught waters.

What did he dream of being or doing as a child? Did that dream come true?   He never really had a significant period where he thought about being e.g. an astronaut or a doctor or a hero; in fact, it came as something of a surprise to him the first time Koku asked him what he was planning to do when he grew up.  He always just had the nebulous expectation of, "Be the Grand Commander," and the elders were happy to leave it at that until he brought it up on his own.[ii]  

How does he behave around children? He likes kids!  He’s wistful about the freedom enjoyed by happy children while also being sympathetic to ones that seem overly burdened.  He’s not the most natural person in the world with them, but most of them can tell that the awkwardness comes from a well-intentioned place, and will treat him as a funny-looking man who’ll let them bother him at length without getting mean.  It turns out he’s actually pretty good with them, then, if only by virtue of being easily bullied.  (This, notably, goes for non-MLA-affiliated children.  Everything’s much more formal within the cult, though it didn’t Geten long to suss out the “easily-bullied” part, either.)

Trumpet—

General Thoughts The largest factor in how I write Koku is, of course, the headcanon that he and Rikiya are ex-lovers, and neither of them is 100% over it even all these years later.  Beyond that, though, Koku is the most temperate of the group, the one with the most easy charisma (MLA members are more swayed by Re-Destro, but Koku does better with outsiders who aren't predisposed to hanging on Rikiya's every word).  He strives to come off as The Sensible One, and given the extremes the rest of the inner circle are capable of, it's not hard for him to maintain that title.  He's as messed up as any of them, though, second only to Rikiya in levels of childhood grooming.  He thinks of himself as a practical man, but he is deeply indoctrinated, the boundaries of his expectations very much defined by his upbringing, so he never really sees it coming when he gets clobbered by something from out of left field.

Family Situation: Koku has the largest family of the identified members.  Aside from his grandfather (called Old Man Hanabata, the founder of the Hearts & Minds Party, and passed away by the canon era), Koku has cousins, nieces, nephews and more, courtesy of his uncle, his older sister and her husband, and other extended family.

He’s also the member most accustomed to wealth, power and influence.  He's from a rural area, certainly, but being in a family of hereditary politicians (and with that family not suffering a string of untimely deaths and disappearances like Rikiya's did), he was raised from the start with ready access to money and nice things.  Still, for all his family's sway in a major branch of the MLA's operations, they're not First Families, and thus don't have any elders in their ranks, making them still somewhat subordinate to said elders when it comes to orders about the Great Cause.  (He’s working on it.)

Meeting Re-Destro Koku and Rikiya met at 12 and 10 respectively, when Koku tagged along with Old Man Hanabata for a meeting RD was likewise accompanying Anchor for.  It had been the better part of a year since Rikiya's mother passed away, but he was still strikingly melancholy for a boy that age, which—along with all the weight given to the importance of the meeting—left quite an impression on Koku.  Koku thus became Rikiya's first real friend in his own age group, a friendship heartily encouraged by everyone around them.  Koku was well-behaved, intelligent, a little older but not too much so, and set to become influential without a danger of becoming too influential; he was seen as a good choice for a friend.[iii]

The Break-Up Painful as it was at the time, there was a silver lining to his and RD's post-college break-up: it got Koku out of the elders' pocket.  He’s been groomed for one thing or another all his life, but after he became friends with Rikiya, he was always getting leaned on to report back to the First Families about how Re-Destro was doing, and to try to influence him towards actions the First Families approved of.  In a very real sense, Koku was part of the apparatus keeping Rikiya from any real freedom.  Their break-up and subsequent estrangement meant that the elders had far less to breathe down Koku's neck about, and by the time they reconciled, Trumpet had gotten his feet under him, as had Re-Destro, and they were both better able to fend off such background meddling.

This doesn't mean Trumpet's not still carrying a torch, however.  He thought he was handling his long-banked feelings pretty well—being Professional, being the advisor Re-Destro needed and as much a friend as Rikiya would allow—right up until Rikiya scared the life out of him by nearly dying in Deika.  He's all but glued himself to Rikiya since, as much as he can get away with given their respective responsibilities.

As an Advisor Other than leading the HMP, he does some work with internal politics and reputation. It's not, strictly speaking, his actual job as advisor—Re-Destro or the elders would probably be sought for more formal or critical mediations—but he and the people who report directly to him do enough travelling around to see constituents that they're often in a position to field those tensions before they get big enough to require attention from higher up.  Koku's happy to do so, in fact—not because he just loves handling petty arguments about resources, but because the HMP is a faction of the MLA in and of itself, and mediating is a boost to that faction's standing and autonomy.  (Also, it's that much less on Rikiya's ever-overburdened plate.)

Lightning Round

What would he do if he needed to make dinner but the kitchen was busy?Ahahahahaha, “make dinner but the kitchen was busy,” please.  Any time there could feasibly be someone else occupying a kitchen he has any business being in himself, it would be a housekeeper, and s/he would be making food for him/his family.  It’s not as though Trumpet has never cooked—he did live alone for some years after school—but outside of a scant few years in university, there’s never really been a time that kitchen use overlap would have been a problem for him. 

Favorite indulgence and feelings surrounding indulging. Probably gourmet cuisine, especially imported stuff. He’s had tailored clothes all his life; they’re just part of the job.  Expensive alcohol also doesn’t wow him; it wouldn’t be strange to find some sake maker whose family has been doing it for sixteen generations in the village he grew up in.  It’s a lot harder to cultivate a true gourmand’s palate out in the sticks, though, no matter how rich your family is.  Living in actual civilization affords a great deal more variety—and anyway, nice dinners are one of the few things he can reliably tempt Rikiya into accepting.  As to his feelings about indulging in general, he’s broadly For It.  He works very hard, he seldom gets real time off, and it doesn’t help the Great Cause for him to deny himself nice things, unlike some people.  (He’s maybe a bit bitter.)

Does he like to be the center of attention all of the time? Not especially.  Oh, he’s very good at it, certainly, and he doesn’t dislike it, but being the center of attention is practically always going to be tied up in The Great Work, so he desperately needs to get out of the spotlight from time to time, if only to be able to turn off the persona.

Curious—

General Thoughts There are two main factors in how I write Chitose: her practicality and her rapaciousness.  I write her as having an appreciation for good moral character in other people, especially when it makes a good story, but not considering herself particularly bound by conventional morality: her moral compass is Liberation, and she follows it unswervingly.  I also write her as predatory, lusty about a lot of things, often to the point of overstepping.  It doesn't hurt anyone that she likes hearty foods and strong alcohol, but she also doesn't have much regard for peoples' boundaries, and even less so when she thinks they have something to offer the Great Cause.

While that trait isn't without its benefits, it can get pretty ugly, too, as we see in how she treats, and talks to, Toga.  Even with Rikiya, the only person she thinks of as 'above' her in any meaningful sense, she's not at all above manipulation.  She's respectful of him, but knows him too well to always take him at his word.  He plainly can't always see what's best for him, but what's best for him is best for Liberation, and therefore, as a Liberation warrior, it's her responsibility to sometimes make decisions for him.  He'll appreciate it in the long run—he always does.  (Skeptic and Geten have similar views—Rikiya makes it easy.)

Family Situation She probably has the best actual relationship with her family of the group—her mothers are removed enough from the heart of MLA politics that her relationship with Rikiya doesn't color her family life the way Koku's does his, and she's much more sociable than Skeptic or Geten.  She doesn't get home much—just the major holidays, work permitting—but she's in frequent enough communication for a grown woman, and chats with her younger sister more often than that.

Meeting Re-Destro She met Rikiya properly when they were 21 and 27 respectively.  They were living in the same city at the time (him running Detnerat, her in university), so of course she'd seen him at the odd MLA event he turned up at, but when she landed an internship in her junior year, she cheekily turned up one day in her reporter capacity to interview him as “a local rising star of industry.”  It was the first chance they'd had to talk one-on-one, and would not be the last, as she frankly elbowed her way into his life and gradually sussed out that here was a man with Problems.  He and Koku were still in a distant patch at the time; she is largely responsible for getting them back on friendly terms as a way of showing her Pure Intentions.

The fact that her Pure Intentions both land her a square position as one of RD's advisors herself and get Rikiya to a better place emotionally is calculated, but not, therefore, untrue.  Ironically, while she was concerned about looking like a gold-digger, the MLA elders were probably thrilled and relieved to hear rumors that Rikiya was getting romantically involved again.  And with a lovely young MLA woman!  They wouldn't even need to worry about surrogacy arrangements!  (Not having grown up around the Yotsubashis, Chitose is unaware of exactly how pointed an interest the elders take in the matter of securing that bloodline.)

Feelings Today She loves Rikiya dearly, and prizes his regard more highly than anything in her life, but has not devoted much thought to the idea of being in love with him. She's married to her work, as they say, but she's also keenly aware that Rikiya would, for a great many reasons, be a lot of work to be in love with.  She's decided it's generally better for his mental well-being, and therefore also better for the Great Cause (she’s much more capable of reading that relationship reciprocally than Rikiya is), to make sure he's eating at least one good meal a week and getting some proper socialization in outside of MLA meet-and-greets.

As an Advisor She handles external politics and reputation--it's her job to prime Japan culturally for the Liberation agenda in ways more wide-reaching than Trumpet (he's head of a political party, and that's not nothing, but that party is still a small minority on the floor of the Diet).  She pulls attention to stories that benefit the MLA, and diverts attention from stories that don't.  This is far broader than just publishing Destro's memoir; it also means poking holes in the broader Hero Society narrative.  She does this by providing as broad a platform possible for stories about the tragedies of excessive regulation, the evils of quirk-related bias, the abuses of power heroes are capable of, and so on.

Lightning Round

Does she remember names or faces easier? She’s quite good with both, actually, but I’d give names the advantage because she works primarily with written rather than visual mediums.  (Also, BNHA names being the ridiculous puns that they are, you can probably tell more about a person in HeroAca Land by analyzing their name than their face anyway.) 

Is she more concerned with defending her honor, or protecting her status? Her status, absolutely.  Impugning her honor hurts no one but her; she can laugh that off because honor is a silly social construct anyway.  Threatening her status is a much more dangerous prospect—her status is long-cultivated to enable the advancement of Liberation ideology; it lets her keep an eye on Re-Destro, who needs as many people looking out for him as he can get; it’s what she’s worked for all her life. Curious will fuck you up if you threaten her status.

In what situation was she the most afraid she’d ever been? The time she got in trouble for nearly exploding some dude’s face off for stealing her purse.  She was 17, had spent very little time in non-Liberated territory before, and was not raised to wait on heroes to solve her problems.  She wasn’t afraid of the thief or the hero, really, but she was completely terrified that she might have just blown over half a century of secrecy by not performing Helpless Civilian well enough. The terror was pretty convincing to the police interviewing her about it, anyway.  On the whole, it was a very valuable learning experience!  

Skeptic—

General Thoughts Tomoyasu is a character I haven't written extensively yet, but what I think is most interesting about him so far is the contrast of his hyper-modern methods with the bone-deep zealotry for the cause.  See, Rikiya, Koku and Chitose all grew up in the sticks; Rikiya and Koku had money from a young age, but it was old money, tied up in trusts.  (Geten didn't have any of those, but Geten's a different story for other reasons.)  Tomoyasu grew up in a major city from the start; he was a technological prodigy from practically as soon as he could hold a tablet.  He has very little respect for the old ways of doing things when he knows there are newer, better ways of advancing the Cause. However, none of that makes him more likely to break from the MLA's ranks—if anything, his idiosyncratic approach just causes him to approach Liberation in really weird ways, ways no one else would ever come up with.

Pressganging Bubaigawara Jin based on a plan to clone Re-Destro?  Who else would that ever even occur to, much less such that it became the basis for an elaborate psychological assault?  But that's Skeptic in a nutshell—respect the old for what it did at the time, but don't think that means you have to use the same methods they did forever as you pick up the torch to carry it forward.

Family Situation He has an amicable but not intimate relationship with his family.  His parents are very proud of what he's done for the cause and how he won the confidence of Re-Destro, but they don't make much claim to understand how his mind works.  In turn, he recognizes the value of their support over the years—he certainly made a lot of waves with his unabashed venom for the MLA leadership's hidebound traditionalism, and his parents' staunch backing meant a lot for him being able to take the stands he did—but is not very emotionally close with them.  Might find himself with an older brother, if I ever occasion to write about his family situation in more depth.

Education He graduated a four-year university program for getting his computer science degree in two very intense years, during which he did virtually nothing for the Great Cause, his intention being to better position himself for maximum ability to advance Liberation afterward.  See above re: battles his parents fought for him while he was busy modernizing.

Meeting Re-Destro He met Re-Destro via Curious.  He was 22, just a year out of university and already climbing the chain of command at a young telecommunications company.  Rikiya was 33, working on the Claustro, and needed proprietary comms built to a higher standard of security than Detnerat was focused on.  Curious, who was always better positioned to be keeping up with the local personalities, introduced them.

Tomoyasu attempted to keep a civil tongue in his head the first few times he and RD met, but he'd been running on bile and energy drinks for years by that point and was hard-pressed to stop just because he was meeting his Grand Commander.  If anything, finding out that Rikiya was okay with his direction and his mouth eventually helped him chill the fuck out, marginally.

On that note, Skeptic is absolutely the advisor most willing to backtalk Rikiya right to his face.  (Rikiya loves him for it.)  Oh, he'll still accede to Rikiya's wishes, and Re-Destro's orders are his highest priority, but that doesn't mean he feels obligated to be diffident about it.  Like Curious, he has a highly developed sense of, "It's fine if it's for the greater good," which will and has led to him taking things into his own hands when he thinks he knows best (which is always).  He's not going to explicitly disobey orders, but he will creatively interpret them if he feels strongly about them, and he will try to "anticipate" orders before anyone has time to give him specific ones, the better to tailor his efforts towards proving his methods and goals correct rather than being stuck with orders he hates.

On Names I’ve definitely evolved some in my approach on this since I started writing the MLA cast, but at current, Skeptic and Geten are the only ones I consistently write as using and thinking mainly in terms of code names rather than given names.  Trumpet is too familiar with the public/private divide, and has too much intimate history with Rikya-the-person, to default to Re-Destro; Curious is too trained to look for The Human Heart of the Story.  Re-Destro himself, ever since breaking up with Koku, has always tried to use code names for people (himself excluded, because he has enormous self-confidence issues about measuring himself up to the original Destro), but can slip into given names when he’s vulnerable.  To Skeptic and Geten, though, the code name is the real name, for all intents and purposes.  The cover identity is a fake; the whole point of the code name is that you’re proving yourself worthy of taking up your proper place in the Army.  Of course the name you win for yourself is the name that counts.

Lightning Round

Given a blank piece of paper, a pencil, and nothing to do, what would happen? You’d pretty much have to lock him in a room with nothing but paper and pencil in it for that to be his first resort rather than whatever item of personal electronics he’d otherwise have on his person.  But assuming some actual plausible scenario—couldn’t bring his electronics into a government building, let’s say—he would find trying to do something productive on paper and pencil rather beneath him, and he’s an inveterate fidgeter.  I mostly see him folding that ludicrously tall frame of his into a chair and setting to using the pencil to poke about three hundred holes in the sheet of paper, meticulous and orderly, while muttering complaints to himself the whole time until something annoys him a bit too much and he jabs the whole pencil through the page. 

Who does he see as his best friend?  His worst enemy? I headcanon him having a very reasonable, functional, productive relationship with his No. 1 advisor, Red, and being reasonable, functional, and productive probably goes a lot farther on making you Skeptic’s “friend” than any amount of emotional intimacy.  But “best friend” is not really the kind of language Skeptic uses for his relationships; if you were to ask him who his best friend is, he’d probably tell you, “Iced coffee.”  As to his worst enemy, that’s just whoever is annoying him most on any given day, from difficult clients, to people annoying Re-Destro, stodgy elders, that hero grinning like a tool, that couple walking too slow in front of him on the sidewalk, etc. And Skeptic is pretty proactive about dealing with enemies, as much as he can be.

Has he ever been bitten by an animal? How was he affected (or unaffected)? lol he is a city boy and always has been.  He probably tried to pet a stray cat once out of curiosity, and because it seemed like the sort of thing people did, and then has never forgiven Animals In General when it bit him and then ran off. 

Geten—

General Thoughts Another one I haven’t written a great deal about yet, particularly in the present day, though I’m looking for that to change soonish.  One thing I’d like to explore is Geten when he’s not seething with rage and shame because he failed to bring Re-Destro a victory in Deika. The fandom tends to write Geten as an always-angry attack dog barely contained beneath a chilly veneer, and that’s fair—ever since we got the face reveal, ever since the MLA’s defeat at Shigaraki’s hands, Geten has been an always-angry attack dog barely contained beneath a chilly veneer.

But if you look at Geten from before we knew what was under the hood, you find a different story.  “Chilly and angry all the time” is not at all how he acted when he was fighting Dabi!  At that point, he was talkative, even chatty.  He engaged in a lot of snide smack-talk; he was obviously confident in himself and he spoke very proudly of the MLA as a collective.

He was still quiet at the dinner he attended with Rikiya and his advisors, yes, so I don’t think Geten’s done some kind of full 180 on characterization.  I do, however, think that Geten has a sense of humor in there, has a sense of camaraderie with the MLA rooted in more than just his relationship with Re-Destro, even if Re-Destro is obviously his most important person.  I don’t know if we’ll ever see that in the manga proper, given everything that’s happened, but it’s worth remembering in terms of what Geten is like when he’s solely among allies.

Family Situation Orphaned at a young age, and a problem child from then on.  He passed through a series of foster parents and state facilities before eventually crossing paths with the leader of the local MLA branch in Kesseru, Beacon (more on him next time).  This encounter would lead to him being sent to a group home with a reputation for being good with such difficult cases, giving them Structure and Companionship and Meaningful Work.  (Spoilers: It’s Liberation.)

Despite evening out considerably after a significant meeting with Re-Destro when he was 7[iv], Geten never got particularly close to his adopted family/the other kids at the group home.  He's very favored by the Grand Commander, for one thing, and he has the strongest quirk in the home for another—and since he learned the quirk supremacist stuff from them, that’s a pretty significant part of the dynamic!  Both of these factors mean there's some distance between him and the rest. Still, he's not on bad terms with them—indeed, his foster parents are quite proud of him—and he would probably tear out someone's throat with his teeth for threatening them, if only as a matter of pride.  

There are 4-6 other kids there at any given time; for the bulk of his young adulthood, there were two older than him, the others younger.  He doesn't have much time for Big Brother Pastimes, but is not completely immune to them, either, particularly where the youngest kids are concerned.  His tolerance for Little Brother Antics, however, is nonexistent—if the older kids think they can ruffle his hair and treat him like a kid, they can square the fuck up; he is Number One around here and don’t forget it.

Education Geten never went to school, but he's not completely uneducated.  He had some tutoring in the group home, some more from Re-Destro personally, and has a pile of books he keeps at his bedside, mostly strategic in nature.  He finds them vexing at times, but is slowly reading through them anyway because Re-Destro asked him to.  He’s been a bit more diligent about it since he was made a regiment leader, because lord knows Dabi isn't contributing much.

On Re-Destro Re-Destro became fond of Geten for the same reason he became fond of Skeptic and Curious—Geten was willing to push back.  He really did make some attempts early on to keep Geten at a proper distance, mindful of anything that would look too much like favoritism.  And Geten knew, in the hard-headed way of a child, that Re-Destro was being a grown-up about things, trying to be mature, trying to be impartial.  Geten just didn’t care about any of those things.  Every time, he would listen very seriously to the things Rikiya told him, nod attentively, repeat back what he’d been told, and then go on about doing his own thing anyway.  And his own thing was, typically, to keep coming back.

Of course, if there’s anything we can tell about Re-Destro from the way he treats Shigaraki, it’s that Re-Destro loves people who take the choice away from him.

Eventually, of course, Geten grew up (mostly; I peg him at 19 now), joined the MLA officially, and had to settle into the structure of the Army.  It began to lead to trouble for Re-Destro, when Geten blatantly disobeyed him; it stopped being cute.  Still, the sense that he Knows What’s Best lingers, so Geten works himself very, very hard to be everything Re-Destro needs him to be and more, so that maybe Re-Destro’s burden will be just that little bit lighter.

On Quirk Supremacy (and Re-Destro, still) Here’s the thing about Geten and the whole, “A life without a strong meta-ability has no value,” line, and this continues to drive me mad because of how people getting it wrong influences the bad takes on the MLA in this fandom: Geten is not a reliable witness.  He is not one of the leaders of the MLA, nor does he speak for its rank and file. Even if you assume the absolute worst about his implications there, far worse than is justified by the text, Geten’s very name, Apocrypha, means that he cannot be presumed to be aligned with MLA orthodoxy.

The only one of the people close to Re-Destro who wasn't born and raised MLA, he still manages to come off, in some ways, as the most zealous of the lot of them.  But really, it’s very noticeable that Geten—unlike Re-Destro himself, and unlike even Re-Destro’s close cohort—never talks about the original Destro, never even mentions him.  When he thinks about his leader, he only ever thinks about Rikiya.  Geten doesn’t follow Re-Destro because of his bloodline, because of the tenets; he follows Re-Destro because of personal loyalty.[v]

So how best to do that?  Well, think about it: Geten is not terribly intelligent, nor wealthy, nor well-connected. He and Trumpet are the ones most influenced by the quirk supremacist line of thought, Trumpet because his relatively weak quirk comes off as exponentially stronger the more he can surround himself in people it works on, and Geten because his strong quirk lets him mentally justify Re-Destro's investment in him despite his other insufficiencies.

Compare this with Re-Destro, who only ever talks about quirks in terms of freedom. Even more prominently, look at Skeptic and Curious, who are not at all defined by their quirks and how strong or weak said quirks may be.  Indeed, those two devote scarcely a thought to the matter because they contribute to the cause in much more important ways and seem to be perfectly comfortable with where that leaves them.

Geten may not be very smart or influential, but he’s very capable of looking at what strengths he does have and focusing hard on those.  That, I think, is what really lead to his embracing quirk supremacy, even in the face of evidence that he doesn’t have the whole picture: the search for a way to measure himself up to the movers and shakers Rikiya is otherwise surrounded with, and not come up drastically wanting.  

“Apocrypha” Geten has been Geten for a long time, since long before the MLA types usually take up their code names. He’s also an outlier in the MLA for having a name in Japanese instead of in English—the only one who does!  My headcanon, unless and until we get some other members with Japanese code names, is that he got the name directly from Re-Destro—possibly even in the conversation that lead to him imprinting so hard on the man when he was 7—and insisted on keeping it before any other code name that was suggested to him in later years.

But yes, he does have a normal Japanese name on file at the group home, which he’s obligated to answer to on the rare occasions that someone from Child Services is checking in or he and Re-Destro are out in public.  I don’t plan to bother coming up with it unless I need to, as I expect we’ll get it in a character profile one of these days.

His Quirk While a lot of people like the vibe of Geten and Dabi being somewhat equivalently vulnerable to their own quirks, and I agree it makes for good fanart, in truth, Geten is only as vulnerable to his ice as Endeavor is his flames.  Which is to say, he isn't immune, but he's certainly more resistant to it than the average person would be!  There’s already plenty of good material to contrast Dabi and Geten without pretending their quirks are more mirrored than is actually the case.

Lightning Round

How does he treat people in service jobs? He doesn’t, because he’s never in a position to interact with people in service jobs.  There have been times he’s gone out with Re-Destro, but in those cases he’s mostly let Re-Destro handle the human interaction.

What does he dislike in other people? Laziness; the lack of a higher purpose of some kind.  (It’s possible he’d thaw out on his disdain for Dabi considerably if he knew more about Dabi’s plans to undermine the whole of the Hero System than Dabi is inclined to tell him.)

Is he always there for a friend in need? Sure, as long as by “friend” you mean “fellow Liberation warrior” and by “need” you mean “in need of an icicle punched through one of someone else’s desperately fleshy body parts.”

Footnotes

[i]  Sanctum II's tastes being what they are, this probably means Rikiya is the MLA member most likely to be able to perform traditional Japanese tea ceremony.

[ii]  And there were elders who would have been happy to leave it at that permanently, I'm sure.  There are always going to be those regents who have trouble relinquishing power back to the boy prince when he grows up and becomes king, you know?

[iii]  And, when it eventually got out that they were dating, a relatively solid match, give or take the surrogacy arrangements that would eventually need to be made.

[iv]  I’m hoping canon gives us some details on this eventually, so I’m not planning to iron out more headcanon on the matter unless I absolutely have to.

[v]  This, incidentally, is a large part of why Rikiya does keep him around—it’s soothing to have someone around who never brings up his ancestor.  Anyway, after Geten evolved his quirk, people stopped complaining so much, even though RD never did get around to, like, giving Geten any formal responsibilities.  Geten, who knows very well that Re-Destro’s real advisors have real jobs, mostly took this as reason to be all the stronger, in hopes that he’d eventually be given one.

[yurileclercseyeliner]

A Dumb Rant About A Webtoon

Okay so I’m actually super into reading webcomics (I read them on both Webtoon and Tapas), and although this has nothing to do with my blog (I AM considering making a side blog for webcomic content/reviews tho) I sort of feel like ranting about one that I saw. I’m sorry, but if you like Athena Complex this is probably going to piss you off. Admittedly, I couldn’t get far into the comic without being upset about this so I stopped reading a few chapters in, so that may affect my opinion here. This is mainly my opinion though, and if you disagree with me it’s fine.

So I did mention in my Fire Emblem kelpie beast unit post my opinion on mythological adaptation. Essentially, I believe that when you adapt any sort of mythological being into your story you need to keep these two things in mind:

The recognizable features/symbols/abilities: by this I mean what physical features is this being known to have, what are their physical/magical abilities, what objects are they most associated with, etc. You don’t need to have every single thing that is mentioned in the source material, just a decent combination of them that can allow the reader to easily connect the adaptation to the source material.

This factor mainly applies to individual characters as opposed to a full species or classification of creatures (I have read a decent number of mythological adaptations and have seen a mythical species depicted as evil in one adaptation and benevolent or neutral in another and enjoyed both, it all depends on if it makes sense in the context). What are the character’s main personal views, goals, and motivations? By this I mean how do they think and what are their views on the world around them, and what is the context surrounding that? Essentially, what can their main personalities and motivations be boiled down to and why?

After those two factors, I think that you can then go buck wild with any other characterization as long as it isn’t contradictory and makes sense in your story.

Now that I have set that down here’s my deal with Athena Complex. Athena Complex is a Webtoon based on Greek mythology that follows Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and strategy. She falls in love with Poseidon, the god of the sea, and is rejected by him. Fueled by vengeance and a desire to win his heart she takes the form of a high school boy in order to take revenge on his reincarnation. Basically, this entire Webtoon is practically a public execution of a large part of what makes Athena, well, Athena.

First off, I will give credit to Athena Complex for at least getting the symbolism correct, Athena is a goddess of wisdom and war and when in the form of a goddess her design reflects that with her armor, among other things such as her association with owls, so the first aspect that I mentioned is fine.

Additionally there is the fact that they also did heavily tap into the prideful aspect of Athena’s nature. Essentially in the source material Athena is a VERY prideful goddess and will take any opportunity to prove her worth if someone attempt to upstage her, and gets very angry when she fails or is insulted in the process (ie the story of Arachne, the story behind the double flute). This aspect could also be seen slightly in Athena Complex’s Athena’s behavior, which I can also give them credit for.

But that’s where a lot of the similarities end. Tbh a large majority of these issues surround the second aspect, the basics of the figure’s personality and motivations.

First, Athena’s stance on romance. Original Athena...literally wanted nothing to do with any sort of romantic relationship. Seriously it’s one of her main things one of her epithets is literally “Parenthos”, which means virgin. No lovers, no sex, no marriage, no intentionally created children (I say intentionally bc she and Hepheastus accidentally created a child when his snot got onto a torn piece of her cloak, but that’s a different weird story), nothing. She solely focused on the expansion of knowledge and learning. She had no time for any sort of relationship. Making Athena in Athena Complex heavily motivated by an unrequited romantic attraction literally rips one of her main core values to shreds.

And this in my opinion one of the worst offenses, MAKING THE SUBJECT OF THAT ROMANTIC ATTRACTION POSEIDON. Literally one MAJOR thing for the original Athena and Poseidon is that they HATE each other. (Also Athena is literally Poseidon’s niece, but tbh that’s a less heinous crime bc Greek mythology was weird about that shit, multiple gods married their siblings/cousins/uncles/aunts/nieces/nephews/etc., it’s weird. Also in Athena Complex Poseidon acted the main person raising Athena, which is ALSO really fucking weird and concerning, anyway back to why they hate each other).

The Contest for Athens: Basically before the Greek city of Athens was called Athens the people were looking for a patron deity, and both Athena and Poseidon tried to lay their claim. In order to determine who the city would go to, they decided to have a contest of who could give the city the best gift. Poseidon gave the city some horses (for transportation and farmwork) and a small spring in the middle of the city (note: the water in the spring was salt water and therefore undrinkable). Athena gave them olive trees (for food, making oil, wood, etc.). The peoplr decided that Athena’s gift was better and thus named the city “Athens” after her, leaving Poseidon incredibly salty.

The Medusa Incident (TW: possible rape/non-con): So Poseidon was having a nice little affair with a mortal woman named Medusa (you notice how this name is familiar, right? that’s important). It’s a little iffy on whether or not this affair was fully consensual on Medusa’s end due to the sort of victim blame-y aspects to this story, hence the trigger warning. So Poseidon his having his fun and decides to find a nice little place they can go to do the nasty. Where does he think would be a great idea? One of Athena’s temples of course! You know, a literal place of worship dedicated to his rival who is known to dislike involvement in romantic/sexual relationships? Nothing could go wrong at all! They of course get caught, and Athena, being pissed, decides to curse Medusa with snakes for hair and the ability to turn people into stone just by looking at them (see why the name was familiar?) For good measure she also curses Medusa’s two sisters with the snake hair. The sisters are then dubbed the Gorgons and then go live in isolation on a island until they are killed by Perseus (a hero that Athena was helping).

So this Webtoon completely ignores the context behind this hatred and decides to make it into an enemies to lovers story based on unrequited feelings (the feelings of a person for their childhood caretaker too...still weird). I guess they wanted to do enemies to lovers and such based on a rivalry dynamic, but in doing so they erased most of the actual substance behind that rivalry by making it romantic and destroying the characterization of one of the main characters.

I can understand taking creative liberties, but before you do so you NEED to have a full understanding of the characters that you are adapting. If a mythological character is known for a certain practice (refraining from romance) or for having an extreme distaste for another figure (Athena hating Poseidon), INCLUDE IT. You NEED to have all of the bare bones basics before you start taking liberties.

For example, the original Athena:

Goddess of wisdom and strategy

Association with owls, olives, carries a shield known as Aegis

Highly values learning and knowledge

Prideful to a fault

Virgin goddess with no interest in romantic or sexual relationships

Extreme hatred for Poseidon as a result of repeated negative encounters

Those are the bare bones basics, after that you can do what you want.

Honestly I don’t think that this Webtoon is necessarily BAD, but it is VERY annoying when you have the context behind these characters (hence my frustration and inability to make it past 10 chapters). In my opinion, if the author wanted to write this storyline, they should have made their own OCs as opposed to butchering a pre-existing figure’s characterization.

(Also I’m so sorry I know that this isn’t relevant to my argument BUT THE POSEIDON REINCARNATION LOOKS SO BORING HE LOOKS LIKE A BACKGROUND CHARACTER WHERE IS THE FLAVOR????)

[dearophelia]

For the fic ask, would it be terrible if I asked for all of them for 'gonna set your flag on fire?' If that's too many, any and all of the ones that excite you the most.

HI NO NOT TERRIBLE AT ALL

gonna set your flag on fire

1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

I didn't want to write an entire family history story that was required reading before anything for this story made sense, but also wanted everyone to know who the hell these people were and where they came from and what all the relevant history is. Hence, important flashbacks.

2: What scene did you first put down?

It's been a long long time since I started writing this fic, so I'm not honestly sure what the first scene was. Probably that very first moment, with Nora on her grandparents' porch, because I felt it was really important to show everyone from the very beginning that she was going to be okay.

3: What's your favorite line of narration?

Holding up his hands in defeat, Hackett gives in. “I will bring it up with the others,” he says. “But,” he softens his voice, and she knows that it’s now Steven talking to Olivia, not Admiral Hackett talking to Captain Shepard, “are you going to be able to give her up to us if something does happen?”

She squares her shoulders, looks him right in the eye, and lies. “Yes.”

4: What's your favorite line of dialogue?

bear (ha) with me here, but this interaction is fucking gold:

“Two o’clock,” Alle says. “Vakarian, check it out.”

She scopes in where Alle indicated. Nothing but trees. “I don’t see anything,” she says. But then movement catches her eye. “Wait,” she flips on her scope’s infrared sensors. “That’s…large,” she says, flatly. “It looks kind of like a bear.”

“Grizzly bear or black bear?” Carlos asks.

“It’s a bear,” Micah says, “what does it…?”

“They act differently,” Carlos says. “A grizzly would –”

“Neither,” Nora says, cutting off the incoming discussion on Earth-based bear behavior. “It’s got a long tail, for one thing.”

“Then it’s not a bear,” Carlos says.

“You have binoculars, you look at it.”

There’s a quiet shuffle as Carlos pulls out his binoculars. “That’s…Nora, what the hell, that doesn’t even look remotely like a bear.”

She glares in Carlos’ general direction. “Oh, you know what.”

Jonah coughs pointedly. “Let’s table the classification discussion and focus on whether it’s going to eat us.”

A few moments pass in silence, and then the shuffling noise repeats as Carlos puts his binoculars back. “There wasn’t anything about this in the planetary file, so it’s probably not an issue.”

“Because that’s not logic that hasn’t bitten us in the ass before,” Alle scoffs.

“I’m just saying, if the vorcha knew about the mutated pyjaks, the venomous snakes, and the extremophile bacteria that causes both, they would probably know if an eight-foot-tall predator was making its home in the jungle. They’re dumb, but they’re not that dumb.”

Nora practically hears Jonah rolling his eyes.

“Well, let’s hope that they’re dumb, but they’re not that dumb is an accurate analysis, but let’s go a little out of our way to avoid the bear anyway,” Jonah says. “Move out.”

“It’s not a bear,” Carlos starts.

5: What part was hardest to write?

Trying to write this rescue sequence has been the worst. Like I'm sure it'll turn out great. But right now it's a lot of tedium. I literally filmed the blocking with post-its and action figures on my phone three years ago (before we were anywhere near there in the plot) and have not gotten it written down.

6: What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?

It's long. I normally write in the under-2k range but this is lengthier. It also noticeably has plot. Normally I write scenes or feelings or aesthetics. There's plot in this one, despite my absolute hatred of plot.

7: Where did the title come from?

my flag boy said to your flag boy, sittin' by the fire. my flag boy said to your flag boy, i'm gonna set your flag on fire.

Legit though, Phoebe Tonkin is Nora's faceclaim, and there's an episode of The Originals named "gonna set your flag on fire" and it got stuck on my head on loop until I decided it would be the title of the at-the-time-untitled Norafic. Serendipitously, it works as a taunt between Cerberus and the Alliance.

8: Did any real people or events inspire any part of it?

I'm sure that something or someone was inspired by real life interactions I've had with people, but I cannot for the life of me pinpoint anything specifically.

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

There are a lot of cut scenes and I've worked and reworked pieces to the point where the original isn't recognizable anymore, but that's just editing. There aren't any true alternate versions.

10: Why did you choose this pairing for this particular story?

Besides the fact that it's their daughter, no other pairing, and I literally mean no other pairing, that I write would be standing after this story. None of them.

11: What do you like best about this fic?

All the stuff I got to make up because this happens 30 years post-canon. Nora's squad, James as CO, galactic politics, several space stations, etc. World-building is the best part of fic, as far as I'm concerned.

12: What do you like least about this fic?

That I actually have to write it instead of just opening up my brain and dumping it out onto a page and having it magically create itself. I have the whole thing filmed out in my head, it's just a matter of writing it down and that's hard.

13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn't listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?

It changes depending on what scene I'm working on. But here's the official soundtrack.

14: Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?

Go absolutely wild with OCs, it's fine.

15: What did you learn from writing this fic?

Plot is hard, which is less a lesson I learned from this fic in particular but more a lesson I learned several years ago that got even more cemented by this fic. I hate plot, but it really pays off.