#at least now that family is canon in blame the hero

[rotteneldritchhorror]

One thing I love about the BRCU fandom is that sometimes, we take a minor character from one video and go absolutely crazy for them

It happened with Duke Tugger and it happened with Echo Noir (king, I love)

[phoenixcatch7]

Okay you know what actually yeah. I was tired but I had a point.

Why. On earth. In zelda fics. Do people not shut up about everything being hylia's fault forever and ever.

Like, the one deity out of a dozen odd who got cursed into this right alongside Link. All the focus on one great all being power who then gets blamed or blessed for everything that ever happens. It's just... I don't know, it just seems like a culturally Christian thing. Not even that - American catholic.

Especially Legend omg when people write him he never shuts up about how everything bad that's ever happened to him is all hylia's fault and she's doing it on purpose with no thought to her poor beleagured hero. He sounds like someone who grew up in an American conservative household who turned out to be queer and never bothered to unpack any of it and acts like he's now atheist.

But even then you could do something interesting with that!! The common headcanon that Legend is hylian royalty - of course that family would put immense worth and worship on hylia as her descendants, she who founded their kingdom. And maybe legend could feel bitter about not inheriting the magic, or the throne, or whatever meant he grew up away from the castle. Give him some unexamined religious trauma! Heck, he could bond with Flora over disappointing your family's expectations or something! They could work on unpacking it together! If you must make it part of his character at least think about why!

Because that belief is wrong, because hylia is literally the one deity we can pretty safely understand is not all seeing, all knowing, all being.

Every time she has a voice, a role, we see her make mistakes or be tricked and have regrets.

Skyward sword, she's literally zelda. She's a young protective warrior goddess (she used a sword and lead armies to battle against demise) who was created by the Three to guard the triforce and keep watch over hyrules lands. By the time ss starts she's already made several tough calls, not limited to yoinking hylians into the sky. When she was zelda she hated every second of leading Link around and even then!! It all hinged on him being completely willing! He was never forced to do anything, she didn't even have her memories with the plan until after she'd fallen to the surface! Their relationship was entirely genuine and she very nearly overestimated her own willingness to go through with the plan! And even then she still managed to get kidnapped lmao. That's not what happens when you're in charge of fate.

And in botw and totk - she's in her full divine form, her full divine powers, she's ancient and magic and worshipped in every corner of the kingdom. And (spoilers!) she loses contact with one of her own mf statues. Not just any ten apples high chibi statue you see in the towns, no, it's The Big One. She's got no idea what happened to it, but she's (rightfully) worried, and asks Link to check it out. And in an entirely separate instance, her OTHER big statue in the ToT gets overridden!! By a triangle head! And ol creep in the deep is the one who releases the statue! It's been what 20k years of power and worship - if she's not all powerful then she never will be.

Hyrule - every hyrule - is very, very polytheistic. She's not even a goddess of time to be in charge of stuff like that! There's multiple of them: Naryu, Cia (and Lana), Farosh to an extent, and many artifacts that can cause time travel, like the harp of ages, the ocarina, the big portal in ss, those time shift stones in the same game, the statue in wind waker. Please stop treating her like the magic elf equivalent of Monotheistic American Christianity God.

She was introduced in skyward sword. The game that came out before botw. She did not exist in any of the games that came before that. There was a lake hylia! In the kingdom hyrule! That's it! Her name or even existence wasn't even hinted at before that. It's actually canonically pretty unlikely any of the chain (cough cough legend) have even heard of her! And her assigned job is protector of the triforce. That's it. And she can't even use the thing. She can very explicitly as a main driving force of the ss plot not use the triforce she protects. And the triforce, shockingly, is not even in every game.

Cases that hylia often gets the most flack for (links awakening and all the trauma from that, Link failing in botw, the events of totk) hylia has absolutely zero part in. Hilariously. And she has zero power over wishes made to the triforce or who makes those wishes or what the triforce does about it.

She even gets all the blame for the cycle of the hero, the reincarnation! Which? We know exactly how that happened. Blaming her for a curse she herself is a victim to?? Demise, in skyward sword, explicitly, on screen, doing it ON PURPOSE, cursing the spirit of the hero and the blood of the goddess.

Hylia, I don't know if you've noticed, also has her own blood. Whether or not she lost that blood upon return to her divine form, she still couldn't break the curse. Link, spirit now tied to whatever demise had cooking up, is basically to reincarnate in time for whenever the Interesting Times happen. And it's demise's fault, who, again, did it on screen, on purpose, explicitly, pointing at the camera with text bolded and everything.

So why do people even blame her? I think it comes down to this:

Her name matches the kingdom. Whatever her connection to the people with the same name, I don't know, but she did found the surface kingdom as a mortal. Being named zelda at the time I wonder who chose the name XD!

Her worship in botk as a high ranking deity. Again, not monotheistic, there's temples to the Three and there's Malanya and Satori and the great fairies and the yiga worship ganon, but hylia is the most widespread for all she's basically a side character working for the new heart piece situation. Again, this is only the case in ss/botk, she doesn't appear in even aoc.

A misguided belief spread in fanfiction that in linked universe, hylia is the one opening and controlling the portals. To my knowledge, lu canon is that the portals are opened by dark link, or at least that's the working theory. I think it's assumed that hylia is the one who gathered the heroes together to combat it? If that's true? Congratulations! We have one (very plot necessary) act of hers in a fan comic. That is not canon to The Legend Of Zelda series.

An american Christian (I hesitate to say evangelican?) cultural understanding of religion. The differences between polytheism and monotheism. How one might feel if the divine was proven real on earth. Zelda is a Japanese property, it is not a Christian country. Though it draws aesthetic inspiration from western medieval fantasy it is not and never will be culturally western. The majority of ao3/tumblr users are American or at least English speaking, and that will always affect interpretation. It's giving 'be thankful to God no matter what for he always has a plan. Trust in him and your suffering will be rewarded' which is not a universal religious belief.

Something I've noticed to be surprisingly common in fandom, is where a mentor or figure of authority who is anything less than perfect or all forgiving can very quickly have their reputation ripped to shreds by the fandom. And then newer authors come, read those works, internalise that about the characters and produce new works that assume that character's cruelty to be par for the course. I will not be listing those characters or fandoms for a variety of reasons lol. But it is amazingly common and very hard to untangle, especially in larger fandoms. It's character bashing in a way near identical to cancelling people irl. It's not 'giving them depth' or 'making it more realistic' (grittier equalling realism is an ice cold take proliferated by dudebro comic authors and wrong besides.) Have some critical thinking.

Lately, I've also been running into a great many fics (not so much comics) that make hylia do some fairly heinous stuff... And then unironically blame her for it. They do remember they're the ones deciding what the characters do, right? She's not an abusive master playing with her puppets until they break, she's quite the opposite! Use the right tags (dark hylia/ooc characters/character bashing/author made them do it, idk) or dial it back. This is a growing percentage of fics and I'll never restrict content but yanno, if you're going to make hylia evil or manipulative at least understand it's a canon deviation (and do something interesting with it, I once read an amazing botw fic with evil hylia and fierce deity!).

TLDR, To summarise, hylia is canonically incapable both emotionally and physically of doing the majority of things characters in fics blame her for. Stop using her as a scapegoat especially when demise is right there. Please give your whumpees deeper characterisation than hating on hylia. Please give legend deeper characterisation than hating on hylia every time he or someone else is sad. Please remember wild can talk to hylia if he wants. Please double check anything you're not sure about :D!

[dont-offend-the-bees]

Though We're Strangers 'Til Now

And now for something completely different! Now I want you guys to do me a favour here, and I need you to picture this fic as having like, a BBC Saturday night family show budget. I’m specifically talking Atlantis, but if you’ve not seen Atlantis (like most people), think Merlin. I wrote Edwin and Charles’ voices entirely as I’d write them in canon-verse, with nearly no regard to the fact I was transplanting them into ancient Greece, so it’s VERY important to me that you embrace the Camp. This is a styrofoam dungeon. Charles is about to meet his destiny in a labyrinth that’s just a quarry in Wales. The historical outfits all have zips up the back. Get on board with the vibe. This one goes out to @every-moment-a-different-sound, who not only made me aware of Painland week as a thing but also approached me for a collab! Go check out their FUCKING GORGEOUS GIFS for this fic!!! This fic quite literally wouldn’t exist without them, Robin you fuckin' rule 💛 4.7k, T-rated, also available on Ao3. Thanks again, @painlandweek!

The dungeon was a proper dingy place. Charles wondered if that's where they got the name from. Dingy, dungeon. Too similar to be a coincidence, right?

Lying on his back on the hard wood pallet, head on his hands, he stared at the pale moonlight bleeding through the window. 'Window' was being a bit generous; it was more of a slit in the wall. Narrow, barred, so high he could've stood on tiptoes and barely brushed it with his fingertips. But at least it was big enough to let in that light. He supposed he was lucky. Between the sliver of moonlight and the sputtering candle in the hallway past the wall of bars, he was bloody spoiled. He didn't know exactly where they were sending him tomorrow, but he had a pretty strong hunch that it would be dark. The kind of dark that drove men mad. Maybe the madness would get him before the bloody great beast in the tunnels got the chance.

Seemed a bit off, really. Putting him in the dingy dungeon when he bloody volunteered for this. Maybe they thought he'd change his mind and leg it in the night. Any half-sensible person would, wouldn't they? No one had ever given Charles an earful for having common sense, though. Usually the opposite.

No running away for him, that's for sure. He was bedded down for the night, just him and a handful of snoring cellmates. Despite the panic and crying, the six other lads had managed to drift into some kind of sleep, however uneasy. Not Charles, though. Too much on his mind. The stupid idea that brought him here in the first place. The near certainty that he'd fail, in the end, and he’d have no one but himself to blame for his bloody demise.

Wasn’t all bleak thoughts, though. After all, there was always him.

The prince.

He closed his eyes, letting it all play out in his head again. Stepping off the boat, being 'greeted' (shackled and marched to the dungeons) by the 'welcoming committee’ (royal guard). Him and thirteen other boys and girls, thanked like heroes and handled like criminals. The king in all his fancy regalia, booming his solemn gratitude to the brave youths for their sacrifice — as if any one of them but Charles had any choice in it. And standing there, at the king's back...

Look, Charles may have had more important things to think about, but he knew a fit lad when he saw one.

Fit didn't even cover it. The boy was just about the most gorgeous thing Charles had ever seen — or ever would see. Unless he spotted a prettier one before he died tomorrow, that is. Bit unlikely.

There was just something about him, the prince. Charles wasn't even into the posh sort, generally. Like with the more well-to-do lads from his own town — something about the baked-in entitlement soured them. Made them ugly, even if they were objectively alright looking. He could smile politely and play nice, but he’d sooner kiss a frog than a rich merchant’s kid. And a prince was a pretty big step up from a merchant's son, wasn't he? By rights he ought to be even worse. Charles probably didn't even register as a human to him. He wasn’t worth wasting a thought on.

Except Charles could still picture him perfectly, in his head. He could play out the whole welcome start to finish. How Charles' heart, all shrivelled in fear, had jumpstarted soon as he clapped eyes on the prince.

"Charles..."

He'd had dark hair all perfectly combed into an inky shine, almost prettier than the gold crown on top of it. Eyes like sea glass, clear and green and shining with a cunning light; eyes that had scanned the line of offerings and landed on Charles. Fixed him with such an intense, curious scrutiny he'd actually felt himself blush.

Hadn't Charles seen him somewhere before? That chin, that nose, those high cheekbones? He could've sworn he'd walked past him at a temple somewhere, carved from pristine marble. He could see him so clearly in his mind's eye, surely he must've known him all his life.

"Charles...?"

If he concentrated, really concentrated, he could even hear his voice...

"Charles Rowland!"

Blimey, that was scary. That sounded real.

Charles blinked his eyes open and frowned. He let his head flop to the side and looked across the cell, where the stone wall gave way to bars.

There, framed by iron and flickering candlelight, there he stood. Pretty as a picture — baffling as a dream.

Charles sat up, slow, cautious. He almost said something proper stupid, like 'what's a nice boy like you doing in a dungeon like this?'

"Um," he fumbled. "Evenin'?"

Mm. Not much better, really, was it?

"Evening, your highness?" he corrected himself, with a wince. Gods, his old man would've walloped him good and proper for talking to a royal like that.

Prince Edwin, however, didn't sneer or snap or even walk away. It was hard to see his face, at a distance in the gloom, but he almost looked amused. Charles thought he could see the barest shadow of a lifted lip, anyway.

"Good evening," said the prince. He said it so quiet, barely above a whisper, but his crisp tone carried regardless. He cocked his head slightly and beckoned with a finger. "Might I have a word?"

Charles glanced behind himself. Just on the off-chance there was another Charles Rowland he didn't know about squeezed onto the narrow bed with him. There wasn't, obviously, and he was a good few feet from any of his sleeping cellmates. No mistaking who the prince was after. He swallowed, stood up, and crept across the uneven flagstones, stepping over the sprawled legs of another boy.

As he neared, as the situation sank in and the prince came into focus, a new bundle of nerves started kicking off. Nothing like the anxious dread that had been stewing in his gut all night, the 'oh, gods, they're feeding me to a monster in the morning' nerves. No, this was different. More familiar but also, weirdly, worse than the monster dread. Fuck, but this lad was gorgeous. Not even the dungeon gloom could hide it. He was almost blinding to look at — and now those clever eyes were fixed right on Charles, no one else. Nowhere to hide. Fuck, Charles probably had sweat and cellar grime all over his face, and all!

Charles came to a standstill, toes almost touching the bars. Up close, he could see that him and the prince were about the same height. Edwin might've had the advantage by an inch or so, but maybe that was just his perfect posture. Spine straight and shoulders back, he regarded Charles with his head curiously cocked and his hands steepled. For a royal, he wasn't dressed all that flashy. Hadn't gone in for any jewellery besides the gilded circlet on his head. And under the blue silk chlamys clasped at his shoulder, his chiton was a simple white, clean and sharp and draped neatly to knee length. Expensive, pristine, put-together, but not exactly ostentatious. Mind you, that's just the sliver of outfit that Charles could see — because the prince had topped the whole thing off with a thick, practical brown cloak. A peacock disguised as a pigeon.

After a moment's quiet contemplation, the prince finally spoke. "I'm told you volunteered," he said. He kept his voice down, but it stayed crisp and clear. Highborn through-and-through. Probably wasn't even capable of mumbling.

Charles supposed it was a bit unusual, but unusual enough to bring a prince skulking down to the dungeons? He reckoned he was right about Edwin's eyes, that cleverness in them — he wasn't just a pretty face under a crown. He wanted to know things. He was staring at Charles like he wanted to pick him apart, understand him.

"Yeah," Charles answered. He forced a grin. "Not my best idea."

The prince blinked and leaned a little closer, intrigued. "Why in the world would you volunteer for this?"

His attention was sort of a lot — but it felt... good. Charles wanted to keep it. Hold onto it. He wanted this clever, gorgeous lad to think he was the most fascinating thing in the room.

Charles shrugged. "I can fight. I can take a hit. Seemed like the right thing to do. The decent thing, yeah?"

Edwin narrowed his eyes. "You’d forfeit your life to... give the beast a fight for its food?"

Charles shifted on his feet. "Not... exactly."

The prince watched him, all expectant. Charles sighed.

"Years it's been going on," he said, barely a mumble — Edwin leaned a little closer still to listen. "Lads and lasses being packed off, fed to that thing to keep it happy. Not right, is it? And I thought, well..."

He'd thought a lot of things. He'd thought well, he was already getting the shit beaten out of him every other day, so what's a little mauling on top of it? He'd thought about being his father's son, with his father's temper, and how maybe that could be a good thing for once. He'd thought about how things could change for him if he came back — and about who would even miss him if he didn't. He'd thought of all those kids less deserving than him, sent miles from home to be ripped to shreds. Sent away from bright futures and families that loved them. Gentle types who'd never hurt a fly. Kids who'd never learned to take a beating. Kids who didn't have the anger to keep them alive. Kids who weren't monster enough to survive the real thing.

"I thought, well, I'm pretty good in a scrap," he said, brightly, plastering on a smile. "Pretty stubborn. Thought if I went down there, maybe I could..."

"Could what?"

Charles raised his eyebrows.

Edwin looked at him blankly.

Charles rolled his eyes, held up one hand, and punched his fist into it twice.

Edwin's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. "You mean to... slay the minotaur?"

"Told you it wasn't my best idea," said Charles.

"You have a talent for understatement," said Edwin, a sharp hiss. His voice had quickened and thinned into a hushed, incredulous patter. "I'd go so far as to describe that idea as fatuous, hubristic, and downright suicidal!"

Charles snorted. "Yeah. Sounds about right." He leaned his shoulder against the bars, brought his face closer to the prince's — which was such a brilliant idea it immediately gave him a really, really bad one. So bad it was impossible to resist.

He gave him a lax, lopsided grin — the one that he could bring out back home to make the girls giggle. "Be good if it worked, though, wouldn't it?"

Coming onto a bloody prince like he was some blushing farm lad... well, it probably wasn't a worse idea than throwing himself into a minotaur's labyrinth, but it probably wasn't much better, either. But what did it matter? They couldn't punish him, could they — they were already feeding him to a monster in the morning. What did he have to lose? Why not take a crack at the handsome prince with the pretty eyes? Sod it, it was his last night on Earth.

Edwin, to Charles' immense glee, actually seemed to get a little pink in the face. His eyes darted away and back again. "Yes, well..." He cleared his throat and straightened his cloak with a sharp tug of the front. "Have you a plan? Tactics? A weapon, at the very least?"

"Um. Well. No, not really." He dropped his fist on the bars once, twice, mulling it over. "But, I have been told my smile's pretty disarming!"

If his clumsy flirting hadn't been enough to break through the regal composure, that would've done it. Edwin's mouth dropped open a little, his brows drawing close together as he stared at Charles in abject disbelief. "Dear gods," he said, voice light and brittle. "You're doomed."

Charles chuckled, resting his forehead against the bars. "Yeah. Suppose so. Won't go down without a fight though, eh?"

He looked up through his eyelashes and found Edwin still staring, lips parted just a bit. Fuck, he had nice lips. Kissable. Charles reckoned he’d miss kissing when he was dead. What was the sentence for stealing a kiss from a prince — was it worse than death by minotaur? He might be willing to risk it.

Edwin tore his gaze away and glanced down the hall, first one way, then the other. Furtive. He seemed to come to some kind of decision. "Charles," he whispered. "Are your cellmates all asleep?"

Pulse quickening, Charles forced his eyes away from the prettiest person in the room to have a glance at the others. Everyone looked the same as they had before. Same chorus of snores and soft breaths and muttered, whimpered nightmares. "Yeah. Yeah, I reckon so."

"Right. Excellent." Edwin cleared his throat again and crowded closer to the bars.

Charles' heart was racing. He couldn't lean any closer to the bars than he already was but he wanted to. He didn't mean to, but he bit his lip, eyes flickering down to Edwin's mouth.

Edwin took another wary glance behind him, and tugged his cloak back. He reached inside. His hand closed around something under his arm and drew it out — something long and wrapped in leather.

Charles caught his breath.

"Take it," Edwin ordered, holding the hilt of the sword to the bars and looking Charles in the eye. "Quickly, and quietly."

Charles didn't need telling twice. He grabbed it, his fingers grazing Edwin's. Gods, he even had beautiful hands. Smooth on the back but a bit calloused on the pads. Didn't escape Charles' notice that the blade, though heavy, seemed to be a familiar weight in his hands.

"Cheers, mate," Charles breathed, drawing the cumbersome thing through the gap. If he was careful, he reckoned he could stash it under his thin cloak without anyone knowing.

He hadn't meant to call the gorgeous boy (who also happened to be fucking royalty) mate, but if Edwin was offended he didn't show it. In fact he ducked his head in a bashful little dip. It was so endearing Charles had to do another quick pros-and-cons list in his head about the risks of snogging him through the bars.

"Well," said Edwin, a forced lightness in his tone. "If you must embark upon this fool's errand, you must have the proper equipment."

Charles let out a ragged breath. "Thank you," he said, sincere, as he slid the scabbard through his belt. He laughed a little, rubbing the back of his head. "To be honest, I've... I've never been more scared in my life."

Edwin's shrewd gaze softened. His whole face did. It actually bowled Charles over a little bit, the difference. He felt like he ought to look away, like he was seeing something he shouldn't. A prince shouldn't be looking at him like that. Not him. Like he was something special. Something he was in awe of. "I can only imagine."

Charles bit his lip. "Less scared, now," he said, fidgeting with the hilt of the sword. Even though he felt a bit like he'd been flayed open and laid at the prince's feet, he still managed a wink. "Reckon I'll show that big bugger what's what with this thing, don't you?"

The prince’s eyes twinkled over his small, indulgent smile. "Oddly enough... yes. I believe you just might." He seemed to catch himself, a pretty blush high on his cheeks as he schooled his expression back into something a bit more lofty. "And quite a feather in your cap it will be. That beast has been a thorn in my father's side for years, holding the kingdom to ransom."

Edwin's gaze flickered over Charles, head to toe, and the pretty blush deepened. "If you were to end its reign of terror, you'd be more than deserving of a handsome reward."

"Oh, yeah?" said Charles. If he sounded breathless, it's 'cause he was. "What sort of reward?"

He felt dazed. He must've been dreaming. Five minutes ago he was accepting his fate, and now he'd been brought a fighting chance. By a gorgeous prince. Who was fucking flirting with him. They must've knocked his head on the bars when they shoved him in the cell — he was probably lying in the corner, drooling and babbling.

Edwin's eyes were restless, darting from Charles' face to his feet. His throat bobbed around a dry swallow. He looked too real to be a dream — but also too good to be true. His hand lifted, fingers resting on an iron bar between them.

"Well," he said, sounding pretty bloody breathless himself. "You could take your pick."

If this wasn't a dream, it was definitely a trick. Some rich kid teasing him, waiting to pull away at the last second and laugh at him for being so easy to string along. Or waiting for an excuse to run to his daddy and bag Charles a fate worse than death for getting fresh with him.

Except for whatever reason, he didn't believe that. Couldn't. For some reason, he trusted Edwin. Felt like he knew him. Like he'd always known him. And he knew he was kind. Not necessarily nice, but kind. For whatever reason he knew Edwin wasn't the sort to mess around with someone's feelings — or pretend to be interested when he wasn't.

Why he'd be interested in Charles of all people was another thing, but... sod it. Charles was probably gonna die tomorrow, anyway. Why not pretend it was possible for a minute? What the fuck did he have to lose?

Feeling once again like the undisputed king of bad decisions, Charles took a breath, and put his hand on top of Edwin's. He almost couldn't believe his luck when Edwin didn't pull away. His hand was soft — like the little gasp he let out when their skin touched.

Swallowing past his dry mouth, Charles laced their fingers. He let them lay there, woven on the bars; the warp and weft of it felt so right he wondered how they hadn't been doing this for years. How'd he gone this long, not realising how empty his hands were without Edwin's tangled up inside them?

He looked at Edwin's face and saw all his own thoughts reflected. Saw Edwin staring at their hands like they were a bloody marvel. Like the last piece of a puzzle had clicked into place. His face was so open, so alive — so gently amazed and Charles had never wanted to kiss someone more in his life.

Charles laughed, quiet, awed. "Handsome prize, alright."

That earned him another quick, coy duck of Edwin's head — but Charles could see him preening clear as day. "Be sure you're alive to claim it," he said, soft and serious. He squeezed Charles' hand once before breaking the hold.

Charles sketched a lazy salute to distract his hand from how empty it felt. "No dying. Right-o."

Edwin smiled. A proper smile; a quick flash of teeth breaking through his tight-lipped, regal composure. Charles would've fought the bloody titans to get another glimpse of it.

"You are... odd," said Edwin, matter-of-factly. "And quite mad, I suspect."

"...Cheers?"

Humming, Edwin reached into his cloak once more. "There is just one other thing..."

He brought out something small from a pouch at his waist. Something round, with a leather cord threaded through the middle and tied off in a loop. Edwin held it aloft, thumb and forefinger pinched through the handle. The little round something glowed silky gold in the candlelight, and Charles squinted at it.

"...String?" he asked.

Edwin nodded, reaching into the cell to take Charles' hand and draw it through the bars. His touch lingered as he placed the generous clew of fine, shimmering string in Charles' palm.

"I had the idea that if you were to unspool it behind you, perhaps you might be able to navigate the labyrinth with greater ease." Head bowed, he looked at Charles through his lashes. Pretty, fluttering things they were, charcoal black. "So that when you slay the beast, you might find your way back."

Charles gawped at him. "Mate. That's proper smart."

Edwin preened again — actually, he preened more than he had when Charles' complimented his looks. Handy to know. "Yes, I thought it rather a sensible idea. I spun it myself; I’ve been experimenting with the tensile strengths of different fibres. It shan’t break."

Charles grinned, closing his hand around the clew — and Edwin's fingers, too. "Brains and beauty, eh?" he said. "Where've you been all my life?"

Edwin went pinker, his eyes twinkled. Warmer than the candlelight, brighter than the moon.

Charles would have to offer up a prayer tonight to any god who might be listening. He'd do anything, give them anything, if they only promised to get him through tomorrow alive. He needed at least a thousand more days ahead of him, just to spend finding more and ingenious ways of making this boy smile at him.

Soon, too soon, Edwin sighed, reluctantly extricating his hand from Charles'. "I must go," he said, apologetic. "Questions will be asked if I'm discovered down here in the dead of night."

"Yeah. Yeah, 'course." Charles let his hand fall to his side, clenching it around the thread — still warm from Edwin's hand. He laughed, softly. "Well, um. Thanks for... dropping in?"

"And thank you for your discretion," said Edwin, raising his eyebrows as he drew his cloak back around him. "I'm sure I need not impress upon you the fact that I was never here."

Charles mimed locking his lips and throwing away the key.

"Good. Very good." Edwin shifted his weight between his feet a moment, finger lifting, mouth opening as if he had more to say. But whatever it was, he thought better of it. He drew his hands into fists in front of him, pressed together knuckle to knuckle, and offered a tight smile instead. "Well... best of luck, Charles Rowland. I truly hope you find fortune on your side."

With a stiff bob of his head, he turned fluidly on his heel to walk away. And it hit Charles again, hard, right between the eyes. The possibility that tomorrow could be his last day alive. A few minutes ago, the idea hadn't bothered him much.

Fuck. It bothered him, now.

"Edwin," he said, almost losing control of his volume as desperation sunk its hooks into him. He grabbed the bars, white-knuckled. "Edwin, wait —"

And he did. He waited, his back to Charles, his posture so, so perfect. Still as a statue.

Charles swallowed. "Can..."

Edwin turned his head, just slightly.

Charles' courage abandoned him. He huffed, shaking his head. "Nah. Nothing."

Of course, if there's one thing Charles knew about Edwin by now, it was that he couldn't resist a mystery. He turned to face Charles, eyes bright and curious. "Is there something else you require?"

Charles forced a smile. "You've already given me two gifts, mate. Bit greedy to ask for another one, yeah?"

"Perhaps." Edwin paused, and took a cautious step closer. "But, between ourselves... I can see little harm in the asking."

Charles' grin bloomed into something more sincere, something real. "No standing on ceremony, eh?"

Edwin's eyes crinkled at the corners. "I hardly see the point. I think perhaps you and I might dispense with formalities."

"Right."

Well then. Why not? Last night on Earth, and all that.

Charles ducked his head, laughing softly at himself. "Well. I was gonna be a bit cheeky, actually. Ask you to gimme a kiss for luck. But I reckon that's a bit — mmf!"

Quick, quicker than Charles could've imagined, Edwin was right there; reaching through the bars, taking Charles' face in his hands, and pulling him into a bruising kiss.They were lucky neither of them broke their noses against the iron strips.

Charles startled, gasped, so blindsided he didn't even know what to do with his hands — so he ended up just sort of clinging onto the bars. But soon enough his eyes fluttered closed, his breath rushed out of him and he melted. He kept his grip on the bars, though, holding on tight just to keep his knees from buckling. Edwin's lips were soft, and hotter than fire. His kiss was clumsy and overeager and not even slightly what Charles would've expected from someone so elegant, so refined. But he tasted of honey and home and Charles could've got lost in him, happily. Charles felt like he'd been shoved against the wall and plundered, in the best possible way. He felt like Edwin was everywhere, filling his senses. Hard not to feel wrapped up in him, with the way Edwin had his hands cupped round Charles' face, covetous and claiming. Like Charles belonged to him.

Fuck, maybe he did. Maybe he always had.

Edwin broke the kiss, but he didn't let Charles go. Just pulled back a little, still framing Charles' face with his fingers. His eyes were dark, hooded, his pretty eyelashes fluttering as he stroked Charles' cheek with his thumb. Face flushed, breathing hot and fast, gazing at Charles like he could devour him with his eyes. Charles shivered under the possessive weight of his gaze. He felt seen, admired, treasured. He felt owned.

He wanted more. More, more, until he suffocated under it.

Edwin took a shuddering inhale. "Come back to me," he said. And just because his voice was high and wavering with feeling didn't make it any less commanding. It wasn't a request; it was an order.

Charles nodded, in a daze. "I will," he promised.

He was as surprised as anyone to find he actually meant it.

Edwin nodded, and pulled him in close once more. Quick as you like, for just one more kiss — this one dry and fleeting, almost chaste. Bit of a departure from the one before, but somehow all the more devastating. Charles could feel Edwin's palms against his jaw, pressing so tight they ought to bruise. He hoped they would. A sword and a string weren't enough; he wanted everything Edwin could give him. Every tangible reminder that this was real, wasn't just a mad dream.

When that kiss broke, so did Edwin's hold. When he stepped away, he went all the way. And with one last lingering, longing look, he was gone, fading into the night. A mirage. A ghost.

And like a broken amphora, Charles remained right where Edwin had left him. Off-kilter, rooted to the spot. His outer shell shattered; his insides pooling at his feet for all to see.

~

It would be a sombre morning, just as the others had been. A familiar and predictable tragedy; as it always was, and always shall be.

At dawn's early light, just as they always had, seven young men and seven young women would be led — marched, bullied, carried — to the mouth of the labyrinth. There, the trembling gathering would be ushered into the embrace of the earth and stone. Pushed by the merciless hands of a royal guard, who'd long learned to look past the blood upon them.

But on this occasion, quite without the guards' knowledge, one youth would hang back from the crowd. From his cloak he would draw a small token, round and bright like a golden apple. A ball of fine yarn — spun in strong, beautiful fibres by strong, beautiful hands. He would find the end of the thread and fasten it, tightly, to an old iron ring within the threshold.

Then, with the clew unspooling from his fingers, painting a trail behind him like a steady drip of molten gold, he would walk into the jaws of death. Not with fear, not even with resignation, but with purpose. He was no hapless sacrifice, no tragic victim. He was a youth who'd grown accustomed to treading lightly through the dark, lest the monster in his house leap from the shadows. A youth with steel in his hand, and his own monster in his belly; a monstrous rage, and monstrous desire. A hunger to rival that of the minotaur’s.

A youth with a promise to keep in the dark; and a path waiting to lead him back to the light.

~~

A ball of thread is known as a clew or, in an alternative spelling, a clue. To this day, we talk about following the ‘clues’ to discover something, and it’s all thanks to the story of Theseus and Ariadne’s thread. — things I didn’t even know when I came up with this idea but make me insane… everything is connected… detective boys forever… Thanks for reading guys! You know I adore your comments 💛 and don't forget to give Robin's amazing gifs some love as well! Dunno if I'll get anything posted tomorrow, but if I do it'll either be something much shorter or maybe some sketches. I will defo see you for another fic on day 4, though! Any encouragement very much welcomed, it's been a rough couple of weeks💛 Painland Week Prompt List

[thenightwolf51]

So i just read this post about the Bats being Warlocks with Danny as their Patron and its super great, amazing work @aziraphale-is-a-cat and @percyisawesome

At first i thought Lady Gotham was going to be their Patron, because i immediately forgot i was reading a crossover, and that sparked an idea.

What if Lady Gotham doesn't exist and Phantom was the Gotham city spirit.

So DPxDC idea where Phantom was the first recorded Hero/Meta way back before the Justice League members were even born, because i love those stories, but if course no one knew that back then. Metas weren't a thing yet.

So things go as canon but eventually the GIW get worse and worse, especially as more and more of Amity becomes Liminal from ambient ecto leaking from the portal.

And the GIW, way too confident with the Anti Ecto Acts in place, decide that Amity Park is a lost cause. They launch a major attack the town and destroy the portal in the process.

And even though i think the surviving Amity Parkers would buckle down, stand strong, and rebuild their town. For the sake of this idea, lets say they don't do that.

Instead the survivors band together and decide they need to leave, get as far from the GIW's main base of operations as they can.

They go right.

They end up in Gotham, New Jersey.

Now, im messing with the timeline a bit. I still kinda want the DP parts to be early 2000s, maybe late 80s/early 90s at the least, so the uniquely DC events im pushing to later in time a bit.

So lets say Gotham, while still pretty old and with its history and subtle curses, never really expanded into the huge city we normally think of. No towering skyscrapers or really any huge buildings, is barely a small city at this point.

And then an influx of new residents from the west cause a need to expand. Over the generations the former Amity Parkers help Gotham become what we know in Bruces time. By then they're just Gothamites, and if their subtle limiality is to attribute for the modern Gothamite's durability and the eventual rogues' whole... thing well its been way too long to place blame on that random group of refugees.

And where was Phantom in all this? Watching over his people. The portal and his family are gone, he cant be Danny because the survivors believe he died when FentonWorks exploded, all he really has at the moment is these people who's lives he believes he inadvertently destroyed.

So he watches over them, then their descendants and the seemingly unfortunate people of their new home. This little city has afew old curses that are holding the residents back and making them miserable, its the least he can do to take some of them on for himself, just make things easier for the people.

Eventually the city becomes his new haunt, becomes a part of him as he helps it grow and expand. And some Amity descendants still spread the urban legend that is the Phantom of Gotham.

(Just a little side detail that im not sure how to add in but i really like the idea of Liminality eventually evolving or mutating into the meta gene if there's not enough ambient ectoto keep it active. Maybe the portal sent out a shock wave of radiation when it was destroyed. Not everyone was affected but for those who were it either was so subtle the effects fade within a month from the lack of enough ambient ecto or went dormant until it became a meta gene and no longer needed ecto.

I dont know, i mostly like the irony of Batman's "no meta's in Gotham" rule when most of Gotham was unknowingly built by the original "metas")

@hdgnj @dcxdpdabbles @nelkcats @nerdpoe @ailithnight @tathartiel

And @omnicrafts , hope your feeling better

[just-a-gamer-daydeamer-girl]

So now I’m hyper fixated on Rayman again I should probably post some of my head canons on the limbless guy

Rayman is a master at playing all the instruments in the plucked string family. Including the harp. Every time I hear his theme in Rayman M I keep thinking he is the one completely rocking the Banjo.

He also has a hobby in painting. Just anything he feels like painting he paints, he mostly just does it for himself and doesn’t give any of his paintings away even as gifts. It’s more a hobby for himself and he either doesn’t feel comfortable with giving his works away or doesn’t think that there good enough.

His love language is quality time, he doesn’t care what they do he just wants to spend time with others. Weather it’s sleeping together with globox, helping Ly or listening to murffy ramble.

He does have a spa day at least every week.

Rayman often leaves his home, no one in the glade knows where he goes or how to find him but he always comes back after a few days. The popular theory is that he trains his skills in private during this time but no one knows.

He gets really angry when others blame him for things he has no control over or when he ends up failing and telling him that it’s his fault .

Rayman and Barbara have a bit of a toxic relationship. They both enable each other’s reckless behavior. But their friendship is more of a friendly rivalry more than anything. They are adventurous buddies to the end.

He knows how to fight with a battle axe, and other weapons, Barbara and the other princesses taught him.

In legends he ended up getting captured several times and Barbara had to save him. (Like from the giant toad in the Rayman legends trailer)

He and Barbara often wrestle and have some playful fights together. Sometimes this goes on for hours.

Rayman has a strange relationship with Betilla, she is both his mom but also kinda not. Betilla is conflicting because she genuinely thinks of Rayman as her son (even if she doesn’t realize it) but her duties as a Protector kinda conflict with that (basically her feelings are conflicting with her logic) as she created Rayman to save the world. They really need to talk about their relationship but Betilla kinda keeps pushing the subject away. This is one of the main reasons why Rayman left the valley, he was sick of not getting a straight answer. But he does genuinely care for her.

This odd relationship extends to the other Nymphs, who all adore and care for Rayman but due to their duties keep bit of distance from the limbless boy. Except Voodoo Mama, she full blown calls herself Auntie Voodoo to Rayman and insists on calling Betilla his mother. She is the one who helps Rayman leave the valley, understanding all of his reasons to do so.

The magician (Rayman 1) actually helped raise Rayman if Betilla was too busy. He taught Rayman important lessons about morality. He also liked hyping him up with dramatic speeches and was the first one to call rayman a hero despite, him haven’t done any heroics yet.

Rayman keeps his past and his relationships with his mother and aunts a secret but he does let some things slip every now and again. Hence why the Phantom knows about Mr dark.

Rayman is a foodie, he loves all kinds of food and enjoys eating anything. And he can technically eat anything with no problem, but that doesn’t mean he likes the taste.

He sometimes visits has conversations with both Polokus and Jano.

He is asexual (I don’t think he ever shown any interest whatsoever) but he may be open to a romantic relationship.

Some nights he can’t sleep and just watches the sky.

Hates being picked up and held like a doll or a kid.

The way he ‘ages’ is different from others as instead of growing up naturally he instead incorporates energy, lums and magic into his body which allows him to get bigger and changes his appearance over time. (I think the limbless are creatures who are unable to age)

Rayman makes a majority of his own clothes or gets them custom Made. Not a lot of shops made for limbless people around.

He likes a wide variety of music, mostly he likes 2000’s music though.

Rayman loves to enjoy the little things in life, he likes the idea of riches and glory but doesn’t love it.

He loves children, and is a really good babysitter.

He actually gets really scared when facing threats, he gets scared when fighting Mr Darks forces, the robot pirates, the hoodlums, the knaaren, even the Rabbids scare him. But he knows that fear isn’t something to be ashamed of, embraces it, and manages to act despite of it. That is genuine courage. 

He is clever, and can be an absolute troll when he wants to be, using his extended reach to pull pranks.

He takes care of the walking shell like a pet, it has a weird power of putting itself back together.

There are a lot of legends and rumors about him from what he accomplished and what he looks like to his backstory. Some of them are extremely wild and a lot of people don’t realize that the Rayman in the rumors is the same guy when they meet him in real life.

His hands and feet sometimes wanders around with out his knowledge when he is deep in sleep.

He is very aware that one’s species and looks do not attribute to how good or evil they are. He learned this lesson from others who judged him purely on looks, many people have attacked him in the past due to his appearance and thinking he is a monster.

He ended up ultimately failing to save Globox’s children from the Rabbids, someone else saved them. But he did in up accidentally saving the Rabbids by unknowingly teaching them to enjoy the little things in life, that it’s okay to make mistakes, enjoying their own sense of fashion and getting them into hobbies, allowing them to actually be happy and Turing them away from their conquest and destruction in the long run, and this all eventually leads to the Rabbid heroes in Mario + rabbids. Some Rabbids actually worship him as a god for opening their eyes to the wonders of the universe. To bad no one really knows about this connection.

After the Rabbids invasion Rayman starts having trouble sleeping (Ubisoft gave him eye bags in sparks of hope) and his friends (minus Barbara who hasn’t been aware of this situation due to reasons) were a bit disappointed in him after failing to defeat the Rabbids, not offering him any comfort or compassion to him, treating him differently then they used to. This did not help his mental health, and he started taking longer trips from home. (This is not my original idea but I love it.)

Rayman went to the phantom show because he had nothing better to do.

The Phantom invited Rayman because he as a few memories of him before he got fussed, he is also a bit jealous of the limbless hero.

There is quite a bit of distrust between Rayman, Rabbid Mario and Rabbid peach. Beep-o has to play peace keeper. (There is no way he instantly trusts them just because they say they’re heroes.) They do end up forming a genuine friendship by the end of the game but there was a bit of drama we didn’t get to see.

Rabbid Mario is the most friendly to him, liking Rayman’s vibe. But it takes awhile for Rabbid Peach to warm up to him. Rayman is visibly untrusting but civil to all the Rabbids.

When asked about why he doesn’t like the Rabbids by Beep-o he tells the truth about how they originally came from the glade of dreams, invaded and captured others and all the other horrific stuff. He says that he knows that it’s silly to judge if someones good or evil because of their race, but that’s not gonna stop him from being weary of the Rabbids. Rabbid Mario just looks horrified, Rabbid Peach just scoffs saying that she would never be apart of some dum- but never finishing her sentence.

Rayman is technically a demigod.

If he ever met Ramon he would except him as a family member.

He knows the value of listening

Might do more later

[imthepunchlord]

So, out of curiosity, what's Zoe's set up in the Zodiac Heroes story? Is she still Chloe's half-sister, or are they full siblings? Is she a stepkid, an affair baby, or maybe an orphan/adopted kid the Bourgeois family adopted for good PR and only really picked her specifically because she just happened to look like she could fit in with family (appearance wise)

So, this answer will also extend into the future Rewrite, as Zoe's whole thing is (from what I've heard and gathered) is really vague, confusing, and inconsistent.

But Zoe I'm ultimately going to go with being a stepsister, as, ultimately, it really feels like Audrey and Andre should just straight up be divorced. And Zoe just wants to keep and get along with her stepsister, which is why she joins her stepmom to Paris to connect with this extended family.

I think that's the best solution working off them being sisters, and the messy relationship that is Andre and Audrey, and working off Audrey being gone for so long. Especially as the wife of the mayor of Paris, I would expect the spouse of a big political figure to be more present. So them being divorced just makes sense, and it can work off Andre spoiling Chloe even more to make up for it, plus she's now the remaining precious family member in his life.

I will say, I did consider having Chloe and Zoe being cousins, having Audrey's last name be Lee and Mr Lee is her brother; but wasn't really sold on the idea. I think I'd rather do that for the Couffaines, especially as I did think Jagged was potentially Anarka's younger brother and he just felt younger than her (so canon's choice of making him the dad was so awkward, and from the little I've seen, I don't really like it so I'd rather skip out on that romantic history from Anarka and Jagged, just overhaul it).

And, yeah, recently, adoption came to mind, given what I learned recently on how s5 ends. Only thing, by set up, that can give Zoe a lot of attention and investment plot wise, and this is a character I just don't really have strong feelings for, and I'm not that interested in her at all. I also don't like the outcome of Andre adopting Zoe.

Like, wth ML crew.

I know Mr Lee isn't really brought up much, and we don't know anything about him as a person or parent, but he was established. But you can't just hand wave away his existence so Andre can adopt her. If this is keeping Zoe in Paris, just have her attend school abroad.

And I also call bs on Andre dropping the monster of his own creation for a "better" child. I know Audrey gets a lot of rightful blame for how Chloe turned out, but between the two, I blame Andre more as he's the active parent in her life, and we see he spoils and enables her. To me, he's more at fault for how Chloe came out as he actually raised her. He can't just wash his hands of her and have a different kid. That's not how it works.

Especially when this show confirms over and over again how terrible he is as a person. Honestly, this whole family sucks. Andre should've just ended up in jail for corruption. I don't like this route of him being a victim/the good Bourgeois cause no, he's terrible. He's freaking ending s5 kidnapping a kid. And given his history of parenting, I'm not sure I'm going to like where Zoe ends up.

Anyway, the adoption thing could've been better if Mr Lee didn't exist and Zoe was an orphan and picked for publicity and because she looked like she could fit in, but they didn't plan far enough ahead for that. And I guess decided they liked Andre enough to be officially adopt Zoe?

But that set up does mean she should get a lot of attention for her situation and I am just not invested in her that much.

So, stepsisters it is!

Attending school in Paris for at least a year (for ZH anyway, not for Rewrite as Zoe is not going to stay) and to get a chance to bond with her sister. It just makes the most sense to me given her initial intro, Audrey and Andre's relationship and them being divorced just makes more sense, and you can still get that same sort of drama you expect between the two very suddenly now sisters.

[sweetmage]

I was talking to my friend about DAI's treatment of Anders the other day and how it drives me INSANE. This game is SO cruel and uncharitable to him! Firstly, the only time we EVER see his manifesto in canon (as far as I know) is in the house of a crazed murderer with a pile of bodies in his basement. Every single mention is placing the blame firmly on his shoulders. I know some people subscribe to the "Varric is distancing himself from their actions for his/their safety" which I subscribe to as well simply for my own sanity, but it does sometimes become hard to swallow when it's been revealed that (assuming you romanced him) he knew where Hawke and Anders were the entire time yet he continues to let others trash Anders while he chimes, etc. And I DO understand and sympathize with Varric in a way, Kirkwall was his home and when the war broke out there was mass death and destruction and he had to leave. Anders did play a role in that, but he only sped up the process, he was not the root cause and they were heading that direction anyway. Also, he saw Meritdith's red lyrium nonsense firsthand, he saw the cruelty that preceded it, and everything she did aligned with what Anders was so concerned about. The Thedas-wide fighting is not "blondie's mess". I originally had my imported Hawke set to "supported Anders" but I had to change it to "didn't support Anders" in my next playthrough because the supportive Hawke straight up calls him a "monster" so I found the alternative to somehow be the lesser of two evils. In the end, I guess that's more accurate to my Hawke anyway because he was upset that Anders went behind his back and didn't tell him first, he would have liked the time to prepare for the aftermath and all that. But yeah, the "I don't know if there ever was an Anders" from a conflicted but still loyal Hawke is easier for me to roll my eyes and ignore than "he wasn't a hero or a monster, maybe he was both" from a supportive Hawke. But ugh, I digress... As for the other main characters, I do understand that none of them knew Anders personally, they only know him from the big action he took with the chantry and nothing more. So I think it makes sense that they don't necessarily have a favorable view of him, some of them seem rather confused if anything. Not to mention a lot of them did not personally endure the circumstances that led Anders to do what he did. But I really would have loved for there to be more NPCs that supported him, especially when DA2 introduced "The Resolutionists" who seem to align pretty damn well with Anders.

And we got a character that supported Loghain which is a 10+ year old topic but not a single one that supported Anders who seems to be a hot-button issue atm? At the very least, I wish there were at least some people that questioned the whole "Anders did this, this is all his fault" narrative (especially once DAI itself revealed that the war did not, in fact, start because of Anders) or at least SOME differing opinions on him?? As far as I can tell, the only person who has been remotely charitable to him is Solas in this conversation (the thing my friend sent me that got me talking about it):

And the only other mention I could find of people that may have supported him is in the Annexing Kirkwall wartable mission where Sebastian mentions "Anders's associates" who he believes might know where he is. But then again, this is coming from the man who wants to march on a city of innocents for to find a man who probably isn't even there so should be taken with a huge grain of salt.

FWIW I now play with the mod that makes Aiding Kirkwall trigger every time because it better aligns with my HCs for Seb and I will never in my life kill Anders so... I actually like Sebastian even though I don't agree with him most of the time. I get his immediate hurt and betrayal at the end of DA2 because he effectively lost his family again, but I'd like to after 3 whole years of being prince he'd have cooled down enough to uhhh... not march on a bunch of innocents??? Which seems very antithetical to his character and development in DA2?? Annexing Kirkwall is silly, so I do not see it. But I digress, this is an Anders post!!

Anyway, I know I am not saying anything that hasn't been said to death by this point. I love each and every DA companion in their own way, regardless of whether or not I agree with them. But I feel like this is less an issue with them and more an issue with how the writers chose to frame the narrative. I do have to wonder if the fact that so many people hated and were averse to Anders made them think that this is what the people wanted. I have quite a few issues with Anders's writing and handling in DA2 as well, don't get me wrong, but at the very least I enjoyed the ability to support him all the way through.

[crim50n-r8er]

Hmm…I guess with myself talking about Sonic from my Fursona. I think I should let you all know about an AU I made for it while I was gone.

The AU is called “Blockbuster,” and no, it has nothing to deal with the Sonic movie, given that term is normally used for such things. No, Blockbuster is a roleswap AU. I’ll write down the premise of it in a new paragraph.

Blockbuster is a roleswap for all the Echidnas being swapped with the Hedgehogs (Sonic and Knuckles, Amy and Tikal, Silver with Shade, and Shadow with Imperator Ix) along with other swaps and some symbolism and inspiration over cults, religions, and mythologies

If you wish to know what I swapped with what. I shall post them under the cut.

Sonic 🔁 Knuckles

Everything’s the same for Knuckles, but he doesn’t have the aspects of his personality that were due to being reclusive all his life, that being a bit shy and socially awkward…at least I think that’s something that would be caused by being a recluse.

Sonic is the same, but due to being the ME Guardian, he can’t leave the island for adventure. So he explores every nook and cranny on Angel island until Towers arrives, meaning anything from the future games such as the Ancients with their cyberspace portals, he has knowledge of that from the get-go.

Eggman role = G.U.N. Commander Towers

G.U.N. Commander Towers Role = Maria Robotnik

Maria Robotnik Role: Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik

Commsnder Abraham Towers goes by Commander Noah and wants to be dictator of the world as he sees it as too corrupt and sinful.

Maria in this AU no longer has NIDS and is able to live to the age of 62 (yes, going by Sonic X ages, sue me). Maria is very caring for her troops, even with a militaristic discipline, and she would be smart enough not to blame Knuckles in the events of my SA2 adaption.

You see that correctly. Eggman is now the one with NIDS and is the one to hang aboard the ARK with his grandfather to find a cure through “The Chaos Cure Project” (I would acronym this, but I don’t think that would be wise as it could get confused with a…party of sorts.) He would also meet the same fate as Maria in canon, that being shot down by G.U.N. Agents while saving Ix, all at the age of 9 years old.

Tails 🔁 Ray

Ray: Ray is the sidekick to Knuckles, but he’s not a mechanic, so the two would meet by Ray finding Knuckles gliding across West-side Island and admiring his gliding skills.

Tails: Due to Ray going silent after SegaSonic and Knuckles Chaotix, I had to improvise with Tails, so I decided on him being a nurtured and/or brainwashed personal scientist and researcher for Commander Noah, giving him all his mechs, robots, and studies into ancient history.

Vector 🔁 Vanilla

I only swapped the two to have Vanilla simp for Vector like how the latter does to the former in Sonic X lol

Vanilla is a member of the “Chaotix Adventure Group” (the CAG for short) along with her daughter, Cream, and their leader, Mighty.

Vector is just a calm, cottagecore man living out in the wilderness with his found family younger daughter, Marine the Raccoon.

Espio 🔁 Mighty

Mighty: Due to not being trained in stealth like Espio, The Chaotix would now be the an exploration group instead of a detective agency. He would behave like normal as he adopts Knuckles’s hat from the OVA and uses a reusable warp ring that can duplicate itself for great blitzing in his ball form.

Espio: He will just be a normal dude on the sidelines until the events of Heroes where he gets killed by Neo Mecha Knuckles for his camouflage bio-data.

Amy Rose 🔁 Tikal

Tikal: A more mellow fan of Knuckles and his accomplishments as a hero, but still finds her way to Little Planet to be kidnapped by Mecha Knuckles. She has a crush on him as well but is a bit more mellow about it. She also wields a giant Kendama instead of Amy’s Piko-Piko Hammer

Amy is now the daughter of Pachacamac (yes he still exists. I just changed him from an echidna to a hedgehog) and is the one who guides Knuckles and friends through the events of my SA1 adaptation. She still keeps her personality, so things might get a bit hectic between her and her father, probably a fight, even.

Metal Sonic 🔁 Mecha Knuckles

I don’t think I need to explain this 😅

.

I’m not sure if I want to put ALLL of my swaps into one post, so I’ll split it into parts to make it more…digestible, I guess. So I’ll be back in a bit with a few more. I won’t say that it’ll be the rest of them, but it will be a significant portion.

Anyway. Have a good morning everyone!

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]

[snackara]

UaS!Asha’s Character Arc

Please keep in mind this all just personal opinion. Despite what I may say I don’t hate the movie Wish. If I hated it I wouldn’t be making this Rewrite/AU in the first place.

Hello everyone and welcome to my TedTalk. I’ve had this ruminating in my brain for a while, and now that I’m back to writing in Asha’s POV I feel like I need to talk about it.

I’ve said before how I don’t like Asha’s personality and character arc in the movie. There’s nothing wrong with the adorkable leading woman trope in Disney films, it’s just that they’ve done it so much throughout the 2010s and 2020s. So sort of as a joke, I thought “Hey, what if we subverted that trope and made Asha a sword-wielding badass?”. (I blame watching The Mask of Zorro around that time.) And so that’s what I did.

As I began my rewrite and started taking Asha’s character more seriously, I realized there was a lot of potential for a really interesting facet of her character arc. One that I haven’t seen too much in Disney films. Not having to bear your burdens alone, which ties into her arc about trusting people. Let’s dive into it.

Canon Asha and Strong Women

I have a few problems with how the writers went about portraying Asha. As I’ve said before, she has little to no character arc in the movie, and she suffers from it.

Now, it is possible to make a protagonist an audience can root for who doesn’t have a character arc. My favorite example is Cinderella. However, there’s a key difference between her and Asha. Cinderella was in an abusive situation, but remained kind and caring to others. It made the audience root for her and want to see her go to the ball. On the other hand, Asha lives a perfectly content life. Her family isn’t struggling to get by or act abusive to her, and the most people would kill to live in her home of Rosas. She can come across as very annoying and selfish, so you root for her less. It also feels like Asha was meant to have a bigger arc, but in the movie she changes her mind about Magnifico and Rosas in the first twenty minutes. It just makes her feel flat and less compelling.

Something that pops up a few times in the Deleted Scenes of Wish is how they wanted to be her own hero and feel like a stronger protagonist. Hence cutting Starboy (R.I.P). And it really frustrates me for two reasons.

1. There are several instances of Asha’s problems being solved for her or things just happening to her

2. Sometimes the strongest thing you can do is ask for help.

I’ll only focus on a couple instances of Asha’s problems being solved for her because this post is long enough. Early in the movie, she has the interview with Magnifico and gets to see the wishes. But it feels unearned. She doesn’t demonstrate any knowledge of magic or qualities that would make her a good fit for the position. She just gives Magnifico a short sob story about her dad and he just lets her see the wishes. If she had shown an unusually high knowledge of magic or a deeper desire to protect the wishes it would have felt more justified. But no, she just bumbles around like an idiot. The second instance in the climax. Asha starts singing “This Wish (Reprise)” before Magnifico stops her. Then Dahlia starts singing, and all the other people in Rosas join in, which starts to break Magnifico’s magic. Asha only sings again during the last verse, which feels really dull and underwhelming. (Which goes for the climax in general). There was nothing stopping her from continuing singing, she was just laying there. Hell, Dahlia gets knocked over once and immediately gets back up to continue. It just doesn’t make sense to me why the person who does the least in taking down the movies villain is the hero, especially after saying you want to make them stronger and more independent.

Going back to Cinderella, a common complaint I hear about her is that she did nothing in the movie and needed the fairy godmother’s help. It boggles my mind, because…how do you expect her to get out of her situation? She has no money and no one to turn to. She’s practically a slave. Without the fairy godmother she would have stayed in an abusive household for the rest of her life. Sometimes in life there’s no other option but to ask for help. It doesn’t make us weaker, quite the opposite in my opinion. This is what the writers of Wish seemed to miss. It’s not an inherently bad thing to have Asha solve all of her problems on her own, but it sort of reinforces this stereotype of “strong women don’t need help from anyone”. Which really sucks, because you can make a good female character who’s strong but still has flaws and needs help. Just look at some of the woman Hayao Miyazaki writes. Someone Disney could learn from in those regards. *cough* Star Wars *cough* Marvel.

There’s quite a bit to fix when it comes to Asha’s arc. It feels at best flat and at worst nonexistent. Which can work, just not for this story. So, how did I go about writing UaS!Asha’s arc? Well first, we need to look at a certain fearless hero and his character arc.

Puss in Boots and Vulnerability

(Who knew the Spanish cat from Shrek would have such a huge influence on my rewrite?)

Okay, now for the stuff I really enjoy. I’ve joked before about how similar UaS!Asha and Puss are, but I think there really is something to be said when it comes to their arcs. A smaller part of Puss’ arc in The Last Wish that I wanted to expand upon in this rewrite is vulnerability. There are a few scenes in particular that highlight what I’m talking about. Spoilers ahead of you haven’t seen The Last Wish.

In the opening song of the film Puss sings about how he’s "Never been touched by a blade". Then in the scene where Kitty shaves him, it's shown as a moment of vulnerability as he's asking for her help, and she uses a blade to cut the beard. While the first encounter with Death is definitely the intention for that line, you can also interpret it as he's never allowed himself to be vulnerable on that level before. It’s a nice scene and from that moment of vulnerability Puss gains something: the gatito blade, which saves him in his final fight against Death.

The next scene is obviously the panic attack scene. This one is a little different, since Puss has no choice in how vulnerable he is in the moment. But it does lead to Puss opening up to Perrito about his fear of death and and how he regrets leaving Kitty at the altering Santa Caloma. Kitty happens to overhear this and reconsiders her view of Puss. It also results this exchange, which I think perfectly encapsulates Asha’s mindset in Upon a Star:

In Puss’ mind, he has to be fearless no matter what. He’s a legendary hero, he can’t afford to be vulnerable.

The last scene I feel is worth going over is the tree scene. In this scene Puss apologizes for leaving Kitty at the alter and admits he was afraid that day. And she forgives him, admitting she didn’t come to the wedding either. Through this moment Puss is able to mend his relationship with Kitty and get that day off his chest.

The main takeaway from these scenes (moreso the panic attack scene the the others) is that it’s okay to be afraid or vulnerable, as long as you can get back up and move forward. This is especially true in the final fight with Death. Puss is still afraid and even falters, but pushes past it. And in the other two scenes, it ultimately helped him to open up. This is what I mainly wanted for Asha’s arc. Speaking of which, let’s take a look at her. She is the main subject of this post.

How Does UaS!Asha Tie In?

I’ll try to spoil as little as I can here. Like I said, my message through Asha’s arc is that you don’t have to bear your burdens alone. Part of why I made her a sword-wielding thief is to emphasis this point.

At first, she seems pretty formidable. She takes down several guards and gets away from the remaining few easily. Later she continues to show her battle prowess and cunning. Until she meets with our antagonists and…well, you can imagine it doesn’t end good. Think back to the first fight with Death in The Last Wish. A couple scenes prior, we see Puss take down several guards and a giant 100x his size easily. So when Death comes in and absolutely wrecks him, even drawing blood, it makes it so much more impactful. It still works without the giant fight, but there’s a lot less weight to it as a result. As well as the scenes I’ve already talked about. That’s the effect I’m trying to achieve with Asha.

It’s also worth noting that she doesn’t mean to call down Earendel. I mean, I don’t think any of the Asha’s meant to, but they were still seeking guidance. In my version of “This Wish” however, Asha is just trying to gain some confidence and makes a wish for good luck. So when there’s suddenly a random glowing kid in front of her insisting on trying to help her, she’s a little frustrated. Because in her eyes, she shouldn’t need help. She’s the Alondra of Rosas! She’s the one who’s supposed to be helping other people. It’s also why she turns away from other people, fearing they’ll think less of her if they realized how vulnerable and insecure she is deep down. Through a new pseudo-sibling relationship with Earendel and a blooming romance with Flazino however, her walls start to finally come down.

Final Thoughts

send help

If you’ve read all the way through to this point, thank you so much! I enjoy talking about how I develop ideas for my creative works a lot. It helps me break down and understand aspects of my work better. The problem at this point in time is spoilers. Like I have a whole backstory for Manuel and Tomás, but talking about it messes up the big reveal later in the main story. Most people will probably have guessed it by then but still.

@rascalentertainments @hopeyarts @chillwildwave @wings-of-sapphire @tumblingdownthefoxden @oh-shtars @annymation @uva124 (+others)

I hope you all enjoyed my rambling :) One day I’ll I more of these, I swear.

[wilcze-kudly]

Do you think after Su left, Lin disowned her saying she "isn't her sister just a selfish girl her mom was forced to deal with?"

This is quite canon in my opinion. Lin clearly distanced herself from Suyin and her part of the family, minimising her relation to Su as much as she could. She puts heavy emphasis on her and Su not sharing a father, despite them having been raised together by their mother and having no contact with their fathers.

Korra : I found out why you're so against coming here. Why didn't you ever tell me you had a sister?

Lin: Half-sister.

Suyin: Same mom, different dads, so what? We're blood, Lin, and after thirty years, the least you could do is say "hello".

I think Lin, due to idolising her mother to some degree, sees Suyin as having ruined Toph's career.

Lin: When we were in Mom's office that day, you could've taken responsibility for what you did. But instead, you stayed quiet and let Mom throw her whole career away.

Suyin: Mom didn't throw her career away. She retired the next year. She was a hero.

Lin: You think she wanted to retire? She was so guilt-ridden about what she did to protect you that she didn't feel worthy of her badge.

Frankly, I don't think Suyin is the reason Toph quit. Sure this incident could've expedited the process, but I don't believe Toph was happy as chief of police. I think her job changed a lot since the beginnings of Republic City and when she realised that she went from protector of the people to cog in the machine, she fucked off to the swamp.

However, Lin seems to have created a reality (most likely as a coping mechanism) to see all bad things in her family as coming from Suyin. It's easier to see your criminal younger sibling as the problem than the parent who's approval you've been chasing for your entire life.

I think post Old Wounds, Lin starts finally realising that her mother is a flawed person and very much to blame for a lot of stuff wrong with both sisters. I like to think that's why Lin is so hostile with Toph when they meet in B4. She's knocked her mother off the pedestal she'd put her on and all that resentment is bubbling up to the surface now.

[mitano-omori]

SUNKEL WEEK: Day 1

For SunKel week (on Twitter and Instagram), I'll be posting some oneshots for our Mitaño Mod!! These writing snippets are canon events for our mod, it's just typically behind the scenes! Eventually, I'll be posting these oneshots to an ao3 fic to keep them all together, but for now... They're here!!

Anyway, Day 1: Ignore / Answer.

The "For Sale" sign has sat in the driveway for a few months now, but only recently did it have the "Sold" addition. Seeing it there made Sunny's stomach twist, an unfortunate happenstance as he passed by this house every time he had to go anywhere in town.

Soon, Kel would be gone...for good. That brought a different feeling than the one Sunny has felt these past four years. At least back then Sunny knew that Kel was right next door. He--and eventually Mari too--could go up to the door, knock, and know that Kel was still inside even as his mom told them that he "wasn't feeling well". But once the Cardozos are gone...they will really be gone.

Sunny wanted to do something about it, to try and make one final stand. But what else was there to do? Their old group of friends has crumbled away, each of them going on a different path. Kel never left his house anymore. Aubrey pushed everyone away. Mari went off to college. Basil was...Basil, and Hero... Sunny swallowed, trying to manage the emotions that formed at the mere thought.

Regardless, they were all separated now. Perhaps Sunny should have made more of an effort in the beginning to keep them all together, but he had been affected as well. They were all grieving. But by the time he was stable enough to try and help the others, they were all gone. Still, he knew he shouldn’t blame himself for that. He was mourning, just as they all were. There was nothing that could be done to fix it except to make an effort now.

Sunny refocused on his surroundings and found himself standing right in front of Kel’s door, his feet having carried him there while he was lost in thought. Kel must be struggling the most out of all of them. For years, he kept himself locked inside. It wasn’t like Kel to isolate himself. It was scary… Sunny used to see these same symptoms in Mari, shutting herself in their room and barely interacting with anyone around her.

He was able to help her. Maybe he could help Kel too.

Sunny took a deep breath as if he was calming his nerves before a concert, fist raised at the door. He couldn't chase away the irony of the situation. Kel must've stood at Sunny's door hundreds of times like this when they were kids, a few knocks and a hope that he would see his friend's face on the other side. It suited Kel, taking matters into his own hands to see his friends every day. But Sunny felt nervous, somehow.

He was never the talkative one in the group--Kel was. Sunny had always been a quiet kid, and now that he's grown, he has gotten better at managing his preference for silence. But that didn't mean it was easy, especially not when rejection was so likely. Even so, because he spoke up, he was able to help Mari recover from her grief-ridden depression. He had to take this chance to help Kel too, before it was too late.

Sunny took another deep breath with his knuckle pressed lightly against the wood of the door. Kel's family car wasn't even in the driveway, so for all Sunny knew, no one was home. No, don't talk yourself out of it. You'll never know unless you try.

Before he could allow himself to hesitate again, he brought his fist down on the door, not too loud yet not too quiet either.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Just like Kel used to do.

The teen exhaled, his arm falling back at his side. Back then, Kel would knock repeatedly until someone answered the door, but that seemed a bit too excessive for this circumstance. Or...perhaps Sunny should knock again. He couldn't hear anything inside, so maybe no one heard him? Or maybe no one was even there.

Sunny had half the mind to leave it be. This wasn't the first time he stopped by to try and see Kel, but it had been a long time since he was last here at this door. There was the possibility that something had changed, that even Kel himself would open the door, but Sunny was getting less and less sure with every second of silence. He almost turned and walked away, but... He didn't want to give up too easily.

Another deep breath. How ironic that he was the one to try and incite a conversation for once.

"Kel?" Silence, but Sunny didn't expect to hear an answer. He took another deep breath. He didn't even know why he was so nervous when there was a good chance he wouldn't get a response at all. Still, this felt like his last chance to reach Kel, and if he messed it up... He would never see him again. Take another deep breath... Just like you do before a concert. Calm down and overcome.

"I...keep seeing the 'for sale' sign outside your house. I thought...maybe we could spend some time together before you moved away." Nothing. He felt his throat grow tighter. "Like back then..." It felt like he was standing beside Mari's bed again, reaching for nothing as he tried and failed to get any sort of response.

Another breath.

"It's me, Sunny."

His hands trembled, he felt that fear all over again. Once, he had been afraid of losing Mari like they lost Hero. And now, Kel... Sunny had never been good at any sort of direct confrontation, especially when it mattered as much as this. He wanted to give up, but he knew he would give anything to see Kel's smile again. It always felt like sunlight, chasing away any dark clouds Sunny had over his head... The image in his mind allowed him one last attempt.

"I miss you, Kel...Please..."

If Kel was on the other side of that door, maybe he would open up for once and let Sunny in. Maybe Sunny would be able to fix what was wrong, or at least try to rekindle their friendship before Kel was gone for good. He had been able to go on by being level-headed and calm, but standing here like this... Sunny realized just how much he missed Kel. He lowered his gaze. Maybe he was too late after all.

But the teen's eyes shot back open the moment he heard the lock shift, the door slowly creaking open. Sunny didn't say a word--he didn't even think. He simply watched wide-eyed as the door inched open, a tall man staring back at him from the other side.

His gaze slowly rose up to meet the man's face as he took a small step backward. No, it wasn't just some stranger. Was that Kel..?? His hair was a bit longer, messily pulled back into a low ponytail. He wore a baggy sweater with orange plaid pajama pants. He was so tall, standing at least a head taller than Sunny even while slouching like he was. His eyes looked heavy, dark, and his skin almost looked grey. But Sunny could see some of his own surprise reflected in the other's gaze.

The two were silent for a few moments, taking each other in with equal measures of shock. Despite all of the changes in his appearance, there was one thing that surprised Sunny the most--he actually opened the door.

Silence.

"It's...you."

Kel smiled, a hollow grin absent of his usual light. The darkness in his eyes only seemed to worsen. Sunny felt sick.

"...Hey, Sunny."

[rozonrozark]

1- soooooo about Bread growing feathers... Was it a one time thing or something permenent? Since Adrien alergic to feathers will he get sneezy around her? That might be one last fuck you from wish lmao.

2- We know wish forces cat miraculous wearers to always be against Order, since Order is gone does that mean they can finally take some steps to fix their relationship?

3- I feel like every hero's secret identity (other than Bread and Adrien) is known by their family. Nora seemed like she was about to punch and drag her sister in safety but held back because of... reasons...

4- (Early Discovery au) Can we say marriage counseling can save the Paris? That au spesificly is very funny to me because its just a rich family failing to communicate properly while looking for an underage girl with most inconvient ways possible so they can recieve magic macarons. Meanwhile Adrien stares at his parents who is one argument away from divorce, nods then leaves. Magical chibi sized gods are here too i guess.

5- Watching inside out then reading the series made me realise if we could see Mari's head anxiety would hold the reins in her head. Poor girl.

6- (joke) How much more time needs to pass for Plag to be able to ask for child support? Can he claim he raised his kitten? Will he and Tom fight against each other? Will he get much much emotional during important events in Bread's life compared to canon Adrien's? (okay last one wasnt really a joke)

7- (Early Discovery au) I noticed Mari was quite nervous while talking to Adrien... Was it because she is afraid of possible backlash or she is really uncomfortable about trying to decieve him? I feel like it's more likely social awkwardness but there is more...

8- (Early discovery au) Emilie seems very insecure as a mother. Is there any spesific event that caused that?

9- Let's assume Wishmaker gave Mari her childhood dream. How much different it would be compared to canon? And how much knowing it would screw Luka?

1: The feathers are magic so, maybe they are non-allergenic. Yes it is a partial F U from the wish but it is more just the punishment of using the combined Catalyst.

2: Misterbug is no longer under the Wish's influence that does not mean that the Wish is gone. Remember Feast was defeated...

3: Nora held back at that time due to not being a hundred percent certain and needing to confirm it. It would have been very awkward/rude if she was wrong after all.

4: For the most part yes, marriage counseling could save Paris. At least for a bit, I won't say much but Emilie does still need her medicine. Adrien is in the background with the kwami getting there help.

5: Anxiety is working overtime in Marinette's head. Meanwhile Fear has a conspiracy board set up and Sadness's has a room full of memories.

6: Plagg will have a full legal battle so he can get custody! His lawyer, a clever fox named Trixx is more than ready to help! The rest of the kwami are getting tissues and will have a party for her at each major millstone.

7: A bit of both. She was walking into a situation that could have easily backfire, Marinette hates lying/deceiving people but there was also a third thing. This Marinette hasn't had any good social situations with anybody in a long time.

8: Well, she is slightly insecure because she started to release that she wasn't the best mother before the events of the series. Remember she was fully onboard with essentially isolating her son and now whenever Adrien has trouble with social situations or connecting with people Emilie blames herself.

9: Hmm, now that is a question. On one hand younger Marinette would still have the wish of being the knitting fairy due to how young she was back then. However, that wish would be overshadowed by her other childhood wish of being the best cat hero and making Plagg proud of her! So she would become Super Cheshire! As for Luka if the first situation happened he would investigate who Cheshire's civilian identity is then proceed to be horrified by what is going on followed by being beyond pissed at Juleka for her part in this girl's broken heartsong.

[astoundinglyhugespaceobject]

jonathan ohnn/the spot headcanons

i made these sleep deprived on december 19th of two-thousand-twenty-three and i compiled them up!!! mostly non serious but some are a little sad

 • eats (or used to eat, i dont think he can eat anymore) peanut butter and jelly sandwiches like a FIEND, pretty sure he wouldnt have any problem whatsoever eating them for breakfast lunch and dinner and would if it werent for societal judgement😔😔

he still ate them for lunch when he was working at alchemax though

• he hates hot pockets i dont know why dont ask. he's also transmasc and bisexual but in denial about it (the being bisexual part) (unrelated)

• he definitely climbed a lot of trees as a kid, gave at least one person a heart attack by doing so

• while working at alchemax he was 100% not taken seriously/was disrespected by his co-workers, specifically olivia octavius (this is semi-canon, it's in his art book paragraph somewhere) because theres almost no way a respected scientist in his field would've gotten completely shunned by his co-workers and family for something that was admittedly reckless but still???? he probably ate lunch in his office tbh i dont blame him

• under different circumstances (miles not being partially the reason he is the way he is) i think he would've had a silly little dynamic with miles as a hero/villain sort of camaraderie?? and also if he wasnt trying to destroy the universe/kill everyone miles loves... L

• won first place in the science fair in 7th grade and still looks at it as a fond memory

• surprisingly good driver, fairly patient i think (probably not so much post act 2 of atsv but maybe!!!!)

• favorite holiday used to be thanksgiving but now he doesn't like it (woops family trauma D:) at thanksgiving dinner though he definitely gossiped and drank tea in the kitchen/helped with the food to an extent

• cried like ugly hiccup sobbed when the earth 42 spider died and he found it and didn't leave his apartment for like a month and 3 quarters

• terrible dancer you cant look at him and say he knows how, im sorry.

• he's okay at cooking he just never had the time to do it, knows how to make a disgustingly good ravioli though

• he was an avid the mr. peabody and sherman show fan and had a funeral for it when it got taken off of netflix

• ate dirt as a kid

• 100% cuffs his jeans (he wears absurdly silly socks and shows them off i can attest to this because i have a pair of bright purple long socks with yellow ducks on them)

[imnotoverlyobsessive]

Don’t Blame My English Blood For This American Heartache

Info, author’s note, etc

AO3 info prologue one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve

All my work is 18.

Summary: Seraphine Malfoy had been raised in California by her Squib parents with no knowledge of her family's magical heritage, though she has received lessons from a local family. When she discovers she’s the sole heir to the Malfoy family, she leaves for England to step into that role. She can handle the balls and the responsibilities and her new family members. The only thing that throws her completely off is the appearance of Death Eater turned war hero Regulus Black, who, despite being ridiculously full of himself, is far too good looking, charming—and far too persistent—for her own good.

Author’s Note:

So you may or may not be aware of this already, but I’ve been working on this for awhile. It’s not done yet, I’m just posting it in honor of Sera’s birthday, which is today. I’m currently working on chapter nine, and I suspect I’ll need at least another three. I’ll be posting every other day, I figure. Also part of the fun of writing this for me was seeing how much stuff I could put in there that would piss off JKR. So the OC is Jewish (her parents converted prior to her birth), and if anybody @s me about how I wrote it incorrectly (I don’t think I did, though) please know that I’m writing her growing up Jewish based how I grew up. You don’t need any understanding of Judaism in order to read the fic, I don’t think. Her best friend is a trans woman, too, which is fun. The trans woman in question is based on my irl best friend, who worked closely with me on “her” character.

Other things to note:

I play it fast and loose with the lore; I change what I don’t like and treat canon as fic inspo. I have indeed read the books, I’ve done tons of research, and I have a family tree made for the fic, same as I always do. I also have every outfit I describe of Sera’s as well as 3D tours of most of the houses described.

Sera was raised entirely separate from Wizarding society, British or US. She has no knowledge of it. This means she’ll use different words for things and spells (relocate instead of apparate, blue animal instead of patronus, that kind of thing). If something seems a little bit odd to you, chances are I explain it later.

Sera does not use a wand. She is not necessarily more powerful than your average witch, it’s just that she learned without one. You may be aware that canonically, Native American witches and wizards (Sera learns from one such family) didn’t use wands, and supposedly their magic was less powerful. I think that’s stupid. If a wand is a lightning rod, that doesn’t mean the lightning isn’t powerful outside of it, it’s just not as concentrated. As a result, the way Sera learned was without a wand but with more force behind each spell. She also learned in Awaswas, the native language of the Uypi tribe (historically they were a tribe living in the Santa Cruz mountains of Northern California, but unfortunately they are extinct now. However, I figure there’s no reason that magical families wouldn’t have been just fine against the colonizers), but she uses nonverbal magic almost exclusively now.

I think that’s everything. If you have any questions, please lmk.

Tag list:

@ellamaianderson @shika1200 @blackqueenstarseed1 @gatoenlaciudad @esmaada @mariaelizabeth21-blog1 @softhecreator @timolaurence @timmymyluv @oddlyenoughiamweird @leecrunchybones @s-we-e-t-t-ea @almostg @leespparker @bubblebuttwade @glizzymcguirex @starberry-cake

To be added, please ask 💗

[yolowritter]

In Offense to Lila Rossi

O...kay! Am I the only one who sometimes takes offense to Lila's entire existence? Even if she just stands there, looking at her on screen makes me want to grab the nearest pitchfork! So please, allow me to explain why I despise Lila Rossi in Miraculous Canon, and what my delusions say should happen for Season 6 regarding her character! Call it a stich, I'm still doing it because I can!

To kick things off, it's worth establishing what kind of antagonist Lila is supposed to be in the show. She's introduced in the finale of Season 1, Volpina (yes I know some lists have Origins last, but Collector picks up directly after so it's the finale), and from the moment anybody even mentions her, we get the hint that something is fishy. I'm quite sure it's Alya who first approaches Marinette and tells her about this "new girl" who's showed up at school. Apparently, "she" knows famous musicians, is very talented, etcetera. Marinette raises an eyebrow at this, but there's no real reason to question it yet since the audience has already seen that some of those things are true for her as well (see Jagged Stone). All in all, good little bit of foreshadowing and getting people intersted without going overboard.

Then we actually meet Lila in the library with Adrien. She seems pleasant enough, if a little infatuated, but this is Adrien. He has more fangirls that there are ticks on a goat, so he takes it in stride. All in all, Lila is cheery and excitable, happy to spend time with him. Not the most likable character in history, but also not malicious in any way. This is the expected behavior for some random teenager learning she's classmates with a supermodel. And since we get this whole thing from Marinette's point of view, the audience is encouraged to share her suspicions about Lila. We all know how the rest of the episode goes, and I'll get back to this in a sec.

Point is, when Lila first shows up, she seems interesting. Her lies aren't immediately obvious (or at least like 20% plausible given past events), and she appears to be infatuated with Adrien, just like Marinette. Sure, it looks a bit superficial, but who can blame her? We don't know anything about her yet, and it isn't completely outrageous to think that she might be giving out small lies to make herself more popular since she's the "new kid" and all that.

But after Volpina...we don't see her again until Season 3! Excepting Heroes Day Part 2, where she gets re-akumatized into Volpina for the whole illusion thing, I mean. Lila remains a mystery, and so far has been a nuanced character who we have questions about and know to be a cunning liar. Especially since in Volpina, Lila actually is being smart with her lies to Adrien! She plays up her persona of infatuated fangirl and extracts general information about the book he has, and plays off it by giving minimal details and still attracting his interest. It's only once Adrien has shown her the page about the fox heroine that Lila makes up a story about having the Miraculous in her family, and then she immediately goes off to cover her back by buying a fake Fox Miraculous from a "Gabriel" store.

Side note: This is the one and only time we see this happen, and I still have questions as to why Gabriel Agreste is selling jewerly that only someone with the Guardian's Grimoire would know how to design. Dead giveaway, but that's a general plothole in the show, and irrelevant to Lila.

The thing is, I love Lila in Volpina! She actually does manipulate Adrien pretty well, makes sure to subtly get all the information she needs, and then plays her part perfectly, to the point where he's on her side when Ladybug swings by to berate her for lying about having a Miraculous. Granted, Marinette's intense reaction doesn't do her any favors, but nonetheless Lila is actually good at lying in this episode! Now prepare to throw this out the window with Chameleon! Oh, Chameleon! What is even left to say about this episode that the fandom didn't tear to shreds back when it first aired? Welp, doesn't matter! I'm grabbing Hawkmoth's cane and beating the dead horse one last time, just because Lila pissed me off this badly when I re-watched it recently!

I have genuinely researched the lies that Lila spouts out in this episode, and I'm honestly baffled as to why the writing team even put them there? I'd think it takes more effort to think of something this ridiculous rather than a semi-believable lie? Let's break the two most ridiculous ones down real quick. Getting tinitus from being behind a plane engine while it was taking off. Now, I'm assuming Lila also lost a few braincells in this episode, because while while yes, if that were to happen one would have severe hearing damage...we're talking about going completely deaf. Not to mention that you'd have to ignore countless airport security measures to even get there, and that in some countries, it's very much illegal to be on the runway when a plane is taking off. So Lila would have gone completely deaf, forever, not to mention sustained actual injury from being right behind a plane as it's taking off. Do you see why this is so ridiculously unbelievable? And okay, for the sake of argument let's say that people do believe her. Miss Bustier has zero reaction to this information, which would have presumably caused a responsible adult to panic at the idea of a child sustaining such an injury. Clearly, this episode is designed to devour braincells from everyone present.

Then we move onto the moment that still infuriates me, the Napkin Incident™. I'm not going to go into too much detail because we all know the gist. Lila catches a napkin thrown by Marinette with her supposedly "sprained" wrist, and explains the reason she "hurt herself" was to protect Max's eyes from being gouged out! By a napkin, while he's wearing glasses! In addition, Lila blatantly lies about being best friends with Ladybug and having sustained other minor injuries, and all of this makes me honestly upset because I see what they were going for! I can see the vision here!

Lila lying about being best friends with Ladybug to gain Alya's interest! Lila making herself the victim and exploiting Marinette's eagerness to expose her to gather support from her classmates and take away her friends! She even says that's what she plans to do at the end of the episode! But...this never goes anywhere. Lila is almost entirely absent from the remainder of the season, and just...doesn't follow up on this? Instead all we get is Lila getting outrageous lies that require every other character in the room to lose the entirety of their IQ to even be plausible in the slightest. And the plot wants to pretend as if she's a master manipulator when all she does is tell extremely obvious lies that can be very easily disproven!

Even when she pretends Marinette pushed her down the stairs, nobody reacts in the way they should! Bustier and Damocles should have called in the school nurse, or a doctor to check her over, especially since Lila claimed to be in severe pain. It's completely unreasonable for adults to behave they way these two do whenever Lila is involved in anything. My point is that for Lila to be what the show says she is, she needs plot armor. People believe her just because they have to. It's demanded by the script. And it's infuriating!

It would be another thing entirely if Lila slowly approached each and every classmate and systematically inserted herself in situations as the "friend", or used small lies to slowly degrade Marinette's connections with others. She could ensnare Alya with little lies about Ladybug, and then act concerned and worried when Marinette denied everything without any proof (like we already see her do multiple times). And yes, obviously they can't devote another dozen episodes to focus solely on this, but the fact that we never see Lila even try to do it very much undermines her character. The narrative presents her as a master manipulator who pulls the strings from the shadows, and addmittedly she has some good moments like when she frames Marinette for stealing her necklace...but that can easily be disproven by checking security cameras, or by Adrien speaking up. Remember, he was there in Volpina when the necklace was proved a fake, and Lila is using the same lie here.

Not to mention that in each and every case where Lila lies, even in Season 5, the believability of that lie is solely dependant on the sheer incompetence of every (allegedly) responsible adult around her, and the fact that Marinette's classmates are contractually obligated by the script to believe her without a second thought. The problem here is that Lila isn't good at lying. What she says is either outrageous enough to warrant genuine concern if believed (ex: Marinette pushing her down the stairs. No adult would have made this girl walk back up that staircase without first asking if she was hurt and calling in a medical professional) or so plain stupid that it has everyone wondering where their lost braincells may have slipped off to. To give credit where it's due, Lila's manipulation of Chloe in Season 5 is actually pretty great and consistent with what we've been told she's supposed to be.

But...considering that by this point, (regarding Marinette's friends now) Alya knows her best friend is Ladybug, hates Lila, and was clearly right about the girl being a walking red flag...why does it take a DIY bathroom and a literal 300 IQ scheme to prove that Lila has been lying about things? Like, Alya, Adrien and presumably Nino (if anybody bothered to clue him in) should know that she's full of crap, and suspect her. Don't get me wrong, I love Marinette's whole fake bathroom plan. Genuinely made me marvel at how smart she is. But it also shows that the script still treats Lila as an Avengers-level threat...even if at this point in the story, her lies are just bad. We know from Chameleon she can't even keep her own stories straight (see Lila forgetting which ear her tinnitus was on), and this could have been an amazing detail the gang utilized to start convincing the others that she is lying.

The general problem with Lila's canon character is that she's underutilized, barely appears outside of when she absolutely needs to, and fundementally fails to be what she's been writen as, requiring her Villain Plot Armor™ to kick in and steal everyone's braincells away. I absolutely love the whole "Lila is a fox" characterization, because Volpina was literal genius! The metaphors and symbolism of Lila being cunning and always scheming? Amazing! But...what we actually get to see of her in action? Really, really bad. Also, I am not touching her three mothers with a ten foot pole, not until we get a canon explanation. Personally I ascribe to the Scarlet Lady AU version, but we'll see. Even the more obviously ridiculous things, like Lila having a whole secret lair in the Parisian Catacombs...I'd buy it. If there's IRL raves happening down there, then she could totally have a secret villain lair tucked away behind a few crypts or something.

What I wish we had gotten from Lila is honestly not a lot. Instead of just walking up to people and lying her ass off, I'd prefer to see her be more subtle about it. For Nooroo's sake, just get this girl to actually be cunning like all the fox metaphors want you to think! It isn't that hard to write a scene where she plays the "concerned friend" as Cerise to plant seeds of discord. Buggachat did it very well in "Open my Eyes", and it made me absolutely hate Cerise! And that's a good thing! Lila/Cerise/Iris/Whatever-other-identity-she-has-in-her-closet is meant to be hated by the audience! She literally is a "love to hate" character! And in Open My Eyes, Cerise actually did act as the concerned friend, she was subtle, she didn't always lie but sometimes twisted the truth just a little bit, enough to get the doubts to creep inside someone's head. I got so frustrated because I wanted Adrien to figure her out, but couldn't find a logical way for him to do so in the first place! Do you guys get what I'm talking about yet?

Subtle but convincing. Small and unnoticable until it's too late. That's how Lila should be, because it utilizes the most plot threads made by her lies. I can go on and on with specific examples, but I want to actually post this someday so I shall refrain. In conclusion, there are only two types of Lila. "I'm going to burn your house down and smile while doing it, then find a puppy and kick it into a sewer before emotionally scarring someone to the point of needing life-long therapy" Lila.

And the "cunning, sneaky and subtly manipulative fox who drives people insane slowly but surely as she makes them have an existential crisis" Lila.

I vehemently refuse to accept her canon version, and fear for Season 6 if she doesn't change into one of the above, or at the very least stops being so incredibly in-your-face about it. It's infuriating (in a good way) when the characters don't know, but if the lie is as obvious as "How was my weekend? Oh, nothing much! I just went skydiving on Venus, that's all really!" ...do I even need to elaborate? Because that's what Lila sounds like 96% of the time!

Alas, I digress. Feel free to give your opinion about our resident lying wretch, I need to go take a break before her incompetence drives me insane. I'll see you all soon...but until then, Stay Miraculous everyone!

[controversial-blorbo-bracket]

So it’s 5am and I currently can barely read but I thought I’d share my thoughts on Adrien as someone who hates him for who he is but also because of the writers (apologies if this ends up incoherent).

So this guy is rich, 14, and has family issues. I don’t want to put too much spoilers (idk the rules if I can) he grew up in Paris with a supposedly loving family that was overprotective and homeschooled him and only let him have two friends. One year before canon, his “mom” disappeared and his life changed to having no mom and an overprotective yet neglectful (at best, at worst abusive) father. NOW WITH ALL THIS IN MIND- people will defend any and every poor action he has ever made between three options: he’s only fourteen/a kid, he doesn’t know better, or he’s hurting (but stans won’t give the same leniency to the main character who is also fourteen, might not know better, and is hurting)

While these are fine explanations, let’s go over some of things he’s done in canon (or slightly off-canon for tv specials): attempted to kill multiple people for poor reasons, did kill someone (accidentally) because he wasn’t focused on a fight after being (rightfully) called out for a major error (leaving his city unprotected and not even trying to inform the main character who also had to leave but at least had counter measures and informed him), shamelessly continued flirting and harassing the female lead/main character despite multiple instances where after she realized he was serious/in love with her and told him to stop/that she loved someone else/or that she didn’t like him doing that, destroyed property multiple times intentionally due to emotional reasons without remorse, abandoned his duty multiple times either by not helping to fight villains for petty reasons (main character got additional to help beat the villain, couldn’t tell him a secret that wasn’t hers to share, main character didn’t reciprocate his feelings or bend over backwards to tend to his needs) or completely gave up/or threaten to give up his duty (if I remember correctly four times), manipulate the main character both in and out of the suit, side with bullies and victim blame because either they were his friend and didn’t know better or they just wanted friends and he didn’t want them to be hurt/cause more work for the heroes, leave his ring that gave him his superpower in a place during one of his quits in a place where nobody might have found it or anybody could have just picked it up (despite it giving him the power to destroy anything and one half of a pair that could completely alter reality if used together), almost never gets lasting consequences, and is almost always depicted as perfect or correct, EVEN WHEN HES NOT.

I could go on but I think I may have overdone it.

In his defense, or rather in the offense of the writing staff, the creator of the show not only has ruined many characters over the years of the show for a variety of poor writing decisions, but he deemed Adrien perfect as he was and didn’t need to change so from the very beginning this boy was doomed to fail in my opinion rather than fall from grace like other characters. So while I may dislike the character, I understand that people might go to fanon stuff instead of write him better than the creators ever did. Still doesn’t mean I like him or ever want to read about him (especially positively or involved with the female lead) ever again.

wait the miraculouses are killing people???