#being relevant going forward i'm like. :D

[maerrine]

man i am a little bummed about how this means that all this time we thought dazai was struggling for the first time was actually all just faked though. i hope we get to see dazai out of his depth at least once before the end of the series.

[gffa]

Hiiii :D I was just wondering, do you have any good Marvel fic reccomendations? Your massive list of star wars fics is like the no.1 thing I go to when im in a star wars mood, and all of them have been amazing, so thanks so much for that!! I'm just curious if you have any good Marvel fic recs?? If not that's fine lol, thank you for your service 🙏

Hi! Lol, I had to sit with this post for a few days because "Marvel fic" is such a wide range of possibilities, like are we talking the comics or the live action shows? The Avengers movies? The X-Men movies? Which section of those fandoms? Avengers as a team? Captain America? Thor? Iron Man? Daredevil? X-Men: First Class? Just... anything? I don't actually have a lot of comics fic recommendations (mostly because it's too hard to wade through all the movie stuff because so many people cross-tag into the comics tags despite it not being comic fic that those tags are now useless), but my go-to for Marvel comics are always: ✦ Betrayal + Paradox Law + The Game of Empires by Valerie J It's hard to describe this series, other than that about ~15 years ago, it was an ambitious attempt at taking various elements of the X-Men comics and weaving them into a coherent whole, focusing on giving Remy an epic backstory to explain his origins and his powers. It probably wouldn't really fit with more recent comics, but if you're a fan of late '90s/early '00s X-Men comics, this was a hell of a ride with cool powers, surprising family twists, time travel, fun relationships, and incredible ramp ups to tense situations that explode in the best way. ✦ The Gestalt Arc by Lori McDonald Another old school fic centered around the Remy/Rogue relationship and taking them on an epic journey, in an alternate version of what happened after their kiss in X-Men #41. The ups and downs of how they work out their issues, the lives they try to lead with each other, finding their path forward together, it's still one of my favorites for the era. ✦ Anything by Traincat for the Young Avengers My favorite is grab a blanket, brother, but they're an author that I'd write a blanket rec for, if any of the summaries sound relevant to your interests! They also write Peter Parker/Johnny Storm, which isn't my area of comics, but I'd trust them with it! But primarily I'd route you to them for their super fun Young Avengers stories, the Teddy/Billy and Eli/Kate ones especially. ✦ Anything by silverspidertm2, X-parrot, takadainmate, or Mythtaken Identity for Journey into Mystery and Loki: Agent of Asgard-era fic. This is when I was in my prime era of reading Thor comic-centric fic, around Journey into Mystery and Loki: Agent of Asgard, when he was Kid Loki and then Teen Loki. There was a lot really fun worldbuilding or road trips or just feelings explosions fic from this era. Beyond that, my bookmarks are a bit of a mess, but you can scroll through them to see what you're looking for. My primary fandoms were: ✦ Daredevil TV, where I went in hard on Matt/Foggy (and some Matt/Foggy/Karen and Frank/Karen and a little Matt/Elektra), where I read voraciously for about a year before MCU burnout hit. Some faves are Double Blind by smilebackwards and Something Dumb to Do by poisonivory and jump, check parachute augustbird.

✦ Thor (MCU), which is actually the heart of who I was as an MCU fan, I spent a long time there reading a lot of fic and this will take you to my bookmarks with the pairings filtered out. I was a big fan of Thor & Loki's relationship so that's most of what's in there, and I always suggest starting with these three fics: ✦ Bargaining by proantagonist, thor & loki & odin & frigga & cast, time travel, 108.9k Faced with an eternity without his brother, Loki strikes a bargain to change the past. Post TDW. ✦ No Such Liberty by Xparrot, thor & loki & cast, 147.3k The first thing Loki said, after he had swiped his tongue over his lips to wet them, was, "You shouldn't trust me." ~ Following the attack on New York, Thor takes Loki back to Asgard in chains; but this does not mean that the god of mischief's schemes are ended, or that Thor has or ever will give up on his brother. But when Thanos threatens the realm to claim his lost prizes, on which side will Loki fall? [post-Avengers fix it] ✦ The Lullaby Singer by TheOtherOdinson, thor & loki & odin & frigga, 85k wip Odin hasn't left Asgard in over a thousand years. When he finds out Loki is still alive and preparing to launch an attack on Midgard, he could send Thor to stop him. Or Odin could go himself. As a bonus, I have a few more Thor genfic recs here.

✦ Captain America (MCU), where sure I liked some gen fic but lbr I was there for the Stucky. I mostly read during the height of the post-TWS fervor and then tapered off a lot after that (given how hard they swerved away from their relationship) and I haven't read almost anything in the fandom since Endgame, but if you want some fun TWS-era fic, I put together this list recently. (To be fair, I also liked a lot of Steve &/ Natasha, Bucky &/ Natasha and Sam/Natasha, so you can find that in there, too.)

✦ Iron Man (MCU), where I liked a mix of some fun gen pieces and some Tony/Pepper which put me in the minority, but I don't care because there were some banger authors for both. If you're interested in them, I always liked pretty much anything I read by roboticonography. icarus_chained wrote a wider variety of stuff, but I've always liked anything I've read from them as well.

✦ Avengers (MCU), where I read a lot of fic, but it's kind of all mixed in together, even some sprinkled in Black Panther fic, some Spideypool that was super fun for a hot minute, some Guardians of the Galaxy characters showing up, etc. Step carefully if you're not interested in pairings (I read a fair amount of Tony/Loki and Steve/Loki in amongst the other stuff), but honestly by the end I was probably reading more gen than anything.

✦ X-Men: First Class-verse, which is my exception to not reading much for the live action versions of the X-Men, because I am a long time Pietro Maximoff fan and while Peter wasn't my Pietro, I did love him and there was some absolute banger fic for the Dadneto trope, which was where my heart was at. Come Together by blarfkey is absolutely the first place to start!

Hopefully this is what you were looking for, but if you have further refinements on what you're interested in, let me know and I'll try to give some pointers! I've been out of reading Marvel for awhile, but I have a huge backlog from when I was in it, at least. 😂

[la-noche-cae]

I think it's Extremely Relevant right now to talk about Skylanders' military propaganda [Edit].

I will not be graphic. But your further research on this... most likely will be, at least in a descriptive way.

A. Skylanders was created by Activision, the same company that made Call of Duty. Call of Duty (among others) is a game used to reel in youth for army recruitment. Just to picture what's the typical order of business for leaders at the company.

B. The whole idea of the Academy, ranks, "Us vs Them" mentality. "Light and order" vs "Darkness and anarchy". Regardless of your opinions on Anarchy as a system, darkness often equaling Kaos' workers such as trolls (and even gyps*es), and for Skylanders meaning dark skinned creatures, is pretty clear sign of their idea of evil.

[Edit: Light=Good and Darkness=Evil is not a universal experience. Multiple cultures consider it just as sacred, an equal, instead of an opposite to Light. Symbolically and Philosophically, there's more to it, beyond the typical eurocentric imaginary.

Speaking of eurocentric imaginary: to an uncritical consumer, this could potentially reinforce their ideas of good and evil. There is little wiggle room for these ideals to be challenged. They are exceptions of Skylanders' norm.]

C. Just in Superchargers, there are references to a Border being kept between Skylands and Outlands, High Volt being this "elite guard" that protects the border. Notice he looks like a riot police, in colors and gear- one of which is a riot shield. Protesting is a right, and in these parts of the world, it is often met with unhinged police violence. Regardless of your opinions on borders, the way such a thing is enforced in the USA is extremely violent. Even here in Puerto Rico, we have border patrol and constant surveillance (mostly aimed at keeping out our Dominican neighbors).

Do not get me started on the long history of Puertorrican oppression inflicted by USA Imperialism. (Agent Orange, Forced Sterilization, Vieques Occupation).

[Edit: Just... Copaganda in My video game? No, thank you. For ME, If I portray High Volt, I'd redesign and reinterpret him. He's like, a lightbulb. Perhaps he is part of a watch tower, but for other purposes].

D. Sorry, Nightfall here goes another problematic thing about you: Nightfall is dressed like a type of Navy admiral: A long coat with yellow buttons and yellow cord epaulets. She also has a vehicle called the Sea Shadow, referencing a real-life military ship designed for surveillance.

[Edit: Not every country has a military. And those who do have the biggest budget for it are typically using it as an imperial, colonial force. This is important, more so because Skylanders' target audience is the young eurocentric USAmerican. The parent company is Activision Blizzard, stationed in USA. The way other Skylanders talk about the Superchargers is like the Air Force are talked about by others in the army- they are the more "prestigious" ones with shiny new vehicles lmao].

E. The idea is that one can be a hero through this hard, thankless fighting... in another's land, "Securing" that land from the "evil ones". Sounds like Occupation and / or a Coup to me. Goes hand in hand with the point about Borders and Light vs Darkness.

[Edit: People. I am talking about this above with Manifest Destiny in mind. I am not claiming all the Skylanders are colonizers, lol! I'm saying there's way too many references to USA military propaganda to ignore. I ask you to use your own discernment / research to make your conclusions. There are things I didn't pick up.

I simply did Not appreciate Buzz telling Stormblade to do Psychological Warfare, or calling Glumshanks an "apple-polishing troll" when the guy just wanted to help. To me, this is not funny haha. It's funny like weird!]

___

These are the things on top of my head I've wanted to talk about for a while, but now more than ever is pressing to bring it up and discuss with intent to move forward. Don't go "You're overreacting" Please don't tell me I don't know anything about something I experience every day. Also, don't put words in my mouth, thanks. You can visit this post if you have questions.

If you can help it, don't give Activision any more of your money, for example, buying their newer games. Buy second hand.

Avoid spending at companies like Airbnb (which not just supports settlers but directly worsens my country's housing crisis), Apple, Hp, Motorola, McDonald's, Starbucks, Coca Cola, Mars chocolate, Nestle are a few others that dont have a clean track record. Get familiar with modern-day imperialist interest around you on your own, or with friends.

👋[If your knee-jerk reaction to this is to hate me perhaps inspect why that is? I'm not a big influential blog. Why you threatened? I can't force you or bully you to do anything, I'm just making my opinions known].

[starheirxero]

I am back again! :D Laes was Suprisingly lighthearted this time around-

It was really cathartic to see Earth not just stand up to the creator, but actively calling him out on his bullshit and criticizing him about it👀 He was so perplexed about it!

Hell, only Moon and Sun seem to be as cautious of him as they should be! Monty and Earth really just talked over the guy and thought of a way to get rid of em- They did NOT take his ass seriously! XD Gotta love Lunar's enthusiasm about destroying him as well-

I also CANNOT get over Monty yelling at the sky! They really went "AYO, GET YO ASSES DOWN HERE, YOUR BOYFRIEND'S IN TROUBLE-"

Sams did have me more perplexed🤔

I wonder, if Molten Freddy is gonna become an active threat. Though considering he's after Ruin, he might become more of an inconvenience more than anything. He could cause Ruin to shut down, or destroy the code Moon scanned, putting more relevance on the creator's deal? I'm honestly trying to figure out his place in this-

More so, how is he alive?? How come he wasn't destroyed with the dimensional collapse??? So many questions!!

I really, really hope, I don't annoy you with my reviews, analysis', and rambles! I'm just really excited about everything involving this show, and I think you're a really cool person! I adore listening to your own thoughts and opinions, and honestly just your general ideas! 😊 If it is too much though, please don't hesitate to tell me!

-Stardust

I KNOWWWWW THE CREATOR'S BAFFLEMENT WAS SO FUNNY TO ME. The way Monty walked in and Earth was just like "Hi Monty there's a PEST in here there's a NASTY ROACH on the premises there's a RANCID THING in the BUILDING." and the Creator just had to sit there and take it like 🧍 AND MONTY YELLING AT THE SKY THAT WAS SO EVERYTHING YEAHSHJABAHAHA they don't know whats going on but they've got the spirit!! <3

AND YEA MOLTEN FREDDY. I'm still mildly torn on him but ghod yea his involvement w/ Ruin could either end up with more problems or some sorta fascinating lil situation. I've been seeing everywhere it coulddd be a wink and a nod to Davis's other projects bc playing Molten Freddys are a staple for him?? But I wouldn't know that tho. shrug LOL

BUT ALSO HONESTLY YEA NO NOW THAT U MENTION, WHAT WERE THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT LED TO THIS THANG EVEN BEING ABLE TO SURVIVE A DIMENSIONAL COLLAPSE???

Maybe it's a matter of chance? Maybe there's certain "safe" spots? Maybe other characters that are "between life and death" like our Creator can cheat being sucked into the collapse? Idk but honestly I'm super relieved bc now it means my "omega timeline" idea can still ring true LMAOAJAOS

ALSO UR ABSOLUTELY FINE ur thoughts and rambles are such a delight to me and I look forward to ur asks whenever lore episodes drop!! Never keep it down, analyze and review to ur hearts content all day everyday if u so wish <3

[dogtoling]

✂️+❤️ for flint (no one is surprised that I'm aski g about flint)

finally getting around to this. no one is surprised that youre asking about flint

✂️ - What is one of your OC’s worst memories?

kind of hard to say actually. He has a lot of bad memories but not really *bad* memories because he became so jaded to *bad events* in his life at a pretty young age that he rarely retains upsetting memories. Generally when it comes to bad events that occur, those are just events, that occur, if that makes sense. And the same goes for most of his bad memories, those are just memories. Not necessarily nice ones, but he's had worse.

For context, Flint has a mutation from birth that causes his limbs (including all his tentacles, arms and legs) to branch out and split. So when it comes to worst memories, it boils down to childhood trauma, from before he was too jaded to be disturbed by Bad Events. BY FAR his worst memory to this day (which evolved into a still recurring nightmare and an aversion to go to the doctor) comes from when he was very little, and his mom would take him to the doctor to get his limb branches cut off. Often with local anaesthetic, but even with that, the feeling of going home with Less Body Part than what you're used to is Not Great, and then there's the pain that comes afterwards and lasts a pretty significant amount of time once the anaesthetic wears off and your body is realizing that LIMBS just got cut in half.

Additionally, it was repeated visits, so he "got used to it" over time. But going forward in life and especially into adulthood, those memories got more refined and somehow worse. It's a case where once you're allowed to think about something uncomfortable that happened in your life and REALLY mentally unpack it, it starts feeling even worse even if you initially repressed it. It also comes with the frustration with lack of agency, when it comes to if that was even something that NEEDED to be done, and obviously he wasn't asked because he was a child. It didn't exactly occur to him as a child to be mad and even consider that he COULD have a choice in the matter, largely on account of being very resilient and obedient to a fault, but he became frustrated about that aspect later in life. Especially nowadays that he actually has a split arm and split tentacles, and there's... literally no real issues that's causing. (Except uneven posture due to different weights on different sides of the body, but that's not a huge deal.)

❤️ - What is one of your OC’s best memories?

as the image above reads, Flint isn't really the kind of person who remembers things as necessarily good or bad memories. he very much tends to live in the present and just deals with what's currently happening. So like this is really hard to answer actually, he doesn't really look back and cherish things that Happened and aren't CURRENTLY happening. he doesn't really romanticize stuff (obvious) and he's not sappy (obvious) and he doesn't really care about things that aren't currently relevant a lot of the time.

With that being said it stands to reason that most of his good memories are of mundane things that are easily repeatable, because those things, rather than having to stay as memories, can actually just happen. Basically any time. It's cheating the question a little bit because instead of best memories, we're now talking about Favorite Things To Do. And most of those memories are probably food-related, because food is a very concrete thing that you can EASILY remember as not only a moment, but as a "that was very good, i'll make that again next week" thing, and you can repeat the good memory.

That's pretty much as good as it gets honestly... it's a lot of small, nice, repeat things in his life. More broad concepts and periods of time rather than specific events that stuck in his head (which rarely happens). He has a general fondness for his life in recent years though; his stress levels have been significantly lower and even though he doesn't let himself relax and JUST CHILL as much as he maybe should, it's relaxing to have a stable job and be able to come home at the end of the day and have a somewhat predictable routine instead of like, always having to be Doing SOMETHING or worrying about being able to afford rent or being stabbed or whatever.

thanks! i tried.

[sweet-star-cookie]

heyo! question time, you've mentioned in a lot of posts that Zodiacs have companion constellations (scorpio and scutum, sagittarius and centaurus, and i think gemini and auriga? those are the ones i can name off the top of my head). could you elaborate on the roles they serve and their relationship with their zodiacs? you don't have to go in-depth for all of them, but you're welcome to do so! scutum's relationship with scorpio and cassie is the one that's the most relevant to the fic though. looking forward to your long ass response like always! (/pos)

Absolutely! Thank you for the opportunity to roll out another long ass post (affectionate) about my characters :D With this many to discuss it was going to be long anyway, but I hope it's still useful/interesting regardless!

The basic idea for the companions is that they're generally younger and/or less experienced than their respective zodiacs, and thus many of them form teacher/apprentice or parent/child relationships (or a mix of those two). There are a few exceptions to this, and I will mention those when I talk about each of them! These roles aren't assigned or anything, each of the zodiac and their companions have stories about how they met and bonded, so the decision is mutually beneficial. There also isn't any limit to which constellations end up being zodiac companions for the same reason. The status of being one isn't treated like a special title or anything either, though some like to mention it as a point of pride or loyalty to their zodiac, like Lupus to Libra. Here's the WIP lineup art I have for the companions too, if that helps! Though I'm even more behind on redesigns for these than I am with the zodiac lmao

Since you mentioned Scutum specifically I'll go the most in-depth with him, but I'll still provide info/backstory for each of these :) Perseus, the Hero('s Monster) - Companion to Aries A shy but capable student under the cantankerous ram, though they first met during fierce combat. After defeating Perseus and realizing he's just a kid, Aries takes him under his wing to train him instead. With Aries having much to live up to with his own constellation's lineage, he understands Percy's desire to be a "true" hero despite outward appearances. This doesn't always go smoothly, as Aries has to do a lot of self-reflection to make sure that Perseus doesn't repeat Aries's own failures under his tutelage, but their relationship is one that allows Aries to show that his anger often comes from a place of care and passion rather than malice or hatred. The ram's loud and boisterous attitude is in stark contrast to Percy, though some of that does positively influence him to come out of his shell a bit more with time. Perseus, when not hiding from others on instinct, is usually seen training in Aries's arena or helping to maintain it.

Orion, the Hunter - Companion to Taurus A similar story to Perseus in terms of his desire for redemption, though Orion searches for peace and a new sense of purpose after learning the fear of his prey while on the hunt. After he becomes one of Hercules's targets, Taurus rescues him, stating that she's one of them too. When asked why she saved him, Taurus empathizes with Orion by having a similarly false reputation perpetuated by Hercules.

When he explains that the claims about him are true, he does in fact have a kill count, Taurus offers him a chance to redeem himself, thinking that if she's caught between two hunters anyway, she might as well try to appeal to one of them. He initially refuses, feeling unworthy of such a chance, until Taurus returns with a search-and-rescue mission that could use his hunting expertise. Though there were many doubts along the way, Taurus's kindness allows Orion to heal, and he bonds with many of the creatures of the Astral Plane as she does during more of these rescue missions. Eventually, he continues on with a calm and friendly disposition, having found a new and greater purpose.

*A note if you plan to write him in the fic: Orion is blind, and thus he relies on and trains his other senses to compensate where possible, though these senses are not magically augmented in any way. Every constellation has the ability to sense the "aura" of other beings on the Astral Plane (including the Starglass) and he is no different, but this does not allow him to see anything, in his mind's eye or otherwise.

Auriga, the Charioteer - Companion to Gemini A chipper and friendly charioteer who loves to race, and also uses her chariot as a transportation vehicle for other constellations. One of the exceptions to the rule of the companions being younger than their zodiac, Auriga is instead a guardian and voice of reason to the Gemini twins when they're not with Sagittarius or Cancer, and cares for them as such. Though she can also be a getaway vehicle for them when they get into mischief, which is equally as often! To make sure she's able to rescue them at any time, the twins use a special coin that, when thrown onto the ground, creates a doorway portal that Auriga can instantly travel through. Auriga roams around quite frequently when not with Gemini, and does much to report the continued destruction of the Astral Plane, especially when it comes to the quickly dwindling amount of stable ground to travel on. *A note if you plan to write her in the fic: Auriga is paraplegic (paralyzed from the waist down) and thus cannot stand freely or move that part of her body without assistance. Her wheelchair is necessary for her mobility, and has some magical attributes that allow it to travel up stairs or other sharp inclines without a ramp, and clear some gaps in the ground with the wings on its sides.

Hydra (Hydi & Draga), the Water Snakes - Companion to Cancer Technically two constellations that manifested as one (Hydra and Hydrus), but are referred to as Hydra collectively as a reference to the multi-headed creature of the same name. They are one of the smallest and most benevolent constellations, but they received a bad reputation for their name, as most picture a massive and dangerous beast instead. They are still hunted as a result, and they first meet Cancer when she comes to their rescue, and they bond over being saddled with unfortunate titles. Originally, she was going to leave them alone after that, but they quickly chase after her and beg to stay with her, as no one would dare to attack them with her around. Eventually, she grows quite attached to the two of them and keeps them around for good. Though they are quite small, they help clean the armoury as best they can. They can fully understand regular speech, but can only respond with a variety of high-pitched chirps and trilling sounds. A close approximation of what it sounds like in my head is Chewtle's cry from Pokémon, though Hydra's sounds are often shorter. When writing the onomatopoeia for their sounds in the comic, it's usually some variant of "skree!" or "churree!". Very few things are able to get Cancer visibly angry, but threatening or hurting Hydra is one of them. The same goes for her ability to be visibly anxious if they were ever lost or kidnapped. She is at her most dangerous when her protection instinct is activated. Leo Minor, the Little Lion - Companion to Leo Sometimes called "Mini" to avoid confusion with Leo, he is the guardian of the door to the Astral Plane's relics, and his spirit rests inside a golden lion statue when not with her. Though not a sapient being itself, the statue rejects those whose spirits are not strong enough to guard the door, and the timid little lion couldn't do much to measure up at first. With Leo's help, he was able to conquer this challenge and even learn how to move the statue while inside it. Though Leo is quite young herself, she still acts like a big sister to him, and he looks up to her a lot as a result. They are usually seen running around and playing together or with the other younger constellations. Corvus, the Crow - Companion to Virgo A valued member of Virgo's court, serving as either a judge or attorney depending on the situation. He was originally known for a string of thefts of some of the Astral Planes relics (a reference to a crow's love for shiny things in real life), the most notorious being of Crater (the cup/chalice). Unbeknownst to him, the cup was corrupted by Void magic, and touching it corrupted him as well. This was the first indicator to the others that even constellations of inanimate objects could be corrupted by Void magic as well, but in slightly different ways.

After his rescue, he struck a deal with Virgo (and later Libra) to warn of any other potentially corrupted objects, and also to use his expertise in theft to track down any other thieves like him, with his craftier side coming out to see through any lies. Though their relationship started out as a very "business-like" mutual agreement, they found common ground eventually, and Corvus began to share their mutual desire for justice, despite the irony.

Lupus, the Wolf - Companion to Libra An astute and loyal assistant, helping to run her library. Similar to the relic chamber and the mausoleum, the library contains many remnants of prior constellations, and she and Lupus maintain it with utmost care. Most do not recognize him as a wolf, and though physically small in stature, his dedication to this task and to Libra herself is anything but that. He does not know the full extent of her past, but he is frequently her confidant and emotional support. He does tend to over extend himself, and at first does not view himself as Libra's equal, but he thrives on their mutual respect regardless. As things escalate with Libra's part in the story later on, his courage is tested with confronting her about it. Scutum, the Shield - Companion to Scorpio Thought to be inanimate, Scutum was originally found among some ruins and was placed inside Cancer's armoury for safekeeping. While Scorpio attempts to steal some armour and weapons prior to his first excursion to the Voidlands, he is particularly drawn to Scutum, who appears to be completely immune to his Void magic. Though Scorpio is caught by Cancer and then escapes, he finds Scutum placed at his door the next day.

Scorpio continues to test his Void magic on the shield, but doing so seems to awaken something within it, and it transforms! Turns out, Scutum is actually a talking beetle that can turn into a shield, and can get stuck if left in that form for too long. Scorpio is immediately hostile towards him, thinking Scutum was sent by someone to kill him, but the kindly beetle takes it all in stride, simply grateful to finally be returned to his other form. Not intending to keep a prisoner, Scorpio lets him go, but Scutum offers to stay, arguing that Scorpio wouldn't have grabbed a shield if he didn't need one.

Scorpio continues to be skeptical of Scutum's casual, upbeat and goofy attitude, but he serves his purpose as a shield and then some. He never views Scutum as a tool or object at any point, but still questions his strong desire to protect complete strangers, especially strangers like him. Though the beetle can't remember how long he's been around or for how long he was stuck, his overall world view implies that he's experienced enough to lack the anxiety of a newcomer. In addition to being immune to Void magic, Scutum appears to be immune to Scorpio's prickly attitude as well, and they get along better than one would expect. While not outwardly expressed, Scorpio's view of him does grow from tolerance to genuine friendship over time.

Upon Cassie's arrival to the Astral Plane, Scutum is the bridge between her and Scorpio, with his charisma saving many a conversation that would be hostile otherwise. He extends his role as a shield to protect her as well, especially when she lacks knowledge of the Astral Plane's dangers at the start. When the three of them are together, Scutum helps Cassie build more confidence in the face of said danger, making his role extend to emotional support as well. Though Scorpio pretends to be annoyed by the two's cheerful antics, he is happy to have them at his side.

As Scorpio warms up to Cassie more, Scutum sees this as an opportunity for Scorpio to gain another friend in his life, and thus supports the idea wholeheartedly. They team up frequently out of a shared desire to keep her safe, even after she's trained enough to hold her own. They form a powerful trio together, which Cassie calls "The Scorpio Squad". Centaurus, the Centaur - Companion to Sagittarius A curious explorer, Centaurus (or Rus for short) is also a cartographer, hoping to map out all of the Astral Plane someday. This gets increasingly difficult as things start to literally crumble and shift around, but he remains dedicated nonetheless.

At first Rus admired Sagittarius from afar, wishing to emulate his power and confidence in dangerous situations, and took up archery like him as well. He eventually follows Sagittarius into rather dangerous territory to watch him fight up close, and this quickly goes wrong as Rus's inexperience nearly gets him killed in the crossfire. Luckily, Sagittarius is able to save him, but Centaurus then fears that the half-bear warrior would resent him for his actions.

Instead, Sagittarius allows him to explain himself and cared more about his safety in that moment than anything else. He admires Rus's courage, even if it was misguided here, and agrees to be his mentor going forward. Rus is elated, and while he never truly loses his penchant for ending up in uncharted territory, Sagittarius teaches him how to survive rather than trying to stop him outright, knowing Rus's adventurous spirit would lead him there at some point anyway. Being both a horse centaur and an archer-in-training, Rus is often mistaken for Sagittarius, but he views this as more of a challenge than a detriment, hoping he'll be as admired and respected as his mentor someday. Pegasus, the Winged Horse - Companion to Capricorn An equally dramatic and cheerful player of the Caprian Theatre, and one of its main showrunners to boot, drawing from many of the tales associated with the mythical pegasus as a base for her plays. Though she initially lacked the confidence, Capricorn's faith in her came with her chance at stardom on his stage. Capricorn himself focuses a lot on the beauty of the Astral Plane, and while it may seem frivolous to some in times of crisis, Pegasus shares his dedication to keep the masses entertained in trying times. If you're familiar with G4 My Little Pony at all, picture a mix of Pinkie Pie and Rarity for her personality. Energetic, loud, highly emotional and forever intrigued by a good story, especially one rife with show-worthy angst or drama. She's pretty terrible at keeping secrets due to her inability to keep her mouth shut most of the time, but loves good gossip regardless.

Though Capricorn can be a tough customer due to his high standards and is quick to critique, he does genuinely respect her opinions and values her contributions to the theatre, viewing her as an essential part of it.

Aquila, the Eagle - Companion to Aquarius A large and powerful eagle, once a scourge of the astral skies through her dangerous lightning storms. But once Aquarius arrived on the scene with her own lightning powers, a rivalry was born.

Through their various fights, Aquarius is eventually able to best Aquila, but rather than attempting to stop her storms altogether, she instead offers to be an outlet for them instead, so long as the eagle agrees to not let them harm anyone else.

They form a bond of mutual respect for one another's power and though they spar quite often, it is now a friendly rivalry, akin to wanting to see each other at their fullest potential. When together, they can combine their energies for more powerful attacks, and Aquila can be summoned with a lightning strike from Aquarius's sword as backup or to escape by riding on her back.

Aquila is airborne whenever possible, sometimes blending into the clouds of stardust entirely, but on her moments of rest she always has a place to stay with Aquarius and Pisces via a large nest on top of one of their buildings.

Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fish - Companion to Pisces Going by Austri for short, she was originally a member of Uranoscopus's travelling circus. Her amorphous body shape proved useful for more than just her acts, however, and Austri was pivotal in the theft of Urania's Mirror, a magical artifact that Ura believed was rightfully hers. Austri soon regretted her decisions once she saw what Ura planned to do with the mirror, and sought to steal it back. Not sure who to ask for help, Austri settles on Pisces, who is essentially the queen of the seas and thus quite powerful in that regard, and seemed to have a history with Ura as well. Pisces, known for believing there's good in all of us, believes Austri enough to see the situation for herself, and helps her return the mirror to its rightful place. With Uranoscopus and her crew still at large, Austri fears she'll be targeted, but Pisces assures her protection.

Considering that Pisces and Aquarius are a couple, they've essentially adopted Austri as their own. Her ability to change her body shape at will allows her to help in their clothing studio, serving as the perfect mannequin for any occasion. When not doing this, she can usually be found doing various imitations for the amusement of others. *A note if you plan to write her in the fic: Austri can't speak, so she uses a variety of expressions, gestures, sign language, and changing her body and face to communicate instead. She can imitate the shape of a mouth, but doesn't actually have one.

------

Though Ophiuchus is only an honorary zodiac at one point, he has companions of his own that I might as well mention here too! Serpens, the Snake Serpens is a constellation that is a part of Ophiuchus, being the serpent to the serpent-bearer. And while they function as separate entities here, this connection is how they meet. When Ophiuchus appeared on the Astral Plane, so did Serpens. Brought together by these circumstances, they quickly bonded over their shared kind-hearted natures. They share similar naiveties as well, for better or worse, but they are loyal to each other regardless. Even well after Ophiuchus's downfall, Serpens is one of the few who still believes in him and his original goal to heal and save others. Cetus, the Sea Monster Once a hulking beast like his namesake, Cetus was also another target of Hercules via his connection to Perseus (mythologically speaking, Perseus killed Cetus). Cetus didn't think much of it at first, simply revelling in the freedom he had to destroy things and would attack anyone who tried to stop him. In an attempt to stop his rampage, Ophiuchus uses his magic to transform Cetus into a snake, allowing him to live, but as a much smaller and (mostly) harmless creature. This transformation is one of the first indicators of Ophiuchus's magic not only growing in power, but doing a lot more than simply healing. Though Cetus viewed this as a "hostile takeover" initially, he eventually forms a bond with Serpens as his adoptive brother, even if a lot of his destructive tendencies remain intact.

[cewyll]

hii! i found your blog by accident and i'm mesmerized. i used to play rp on twitter and i really wanted to start doing the same here but idk where to start. could you please give me some tips?

oh hey, thank you so much for reaching out! :D i'll admit i'm not as active on this blog as on others, but it makes me happy to have reached you nonetheless. <3

i'd be delighted to give you some tips to start out! it's definitely a process that feels a bit alien at first, but over time you get a feel for it. :>

i am soooo sorry in advance, this is going to be super long — you picked a wordy bitch to ask 😂 but i'll try to format this in a way that's easier to read!

take your time to go through stuff & no need to read or absorb it all right away. feel free to keep this post bookmarked to look back on whenever you need it as well.

💖 welcome to raine's stupidly-long guide to starting tumblr rp! 💖 qualification: i've had this blog for 11 years. fml disclaimer: still all just from my perspective, i'm just one gal with opinions hehe

start out by making a new blog for your character. (i wouldn't recommend starting out with a sideblog personally, since you can't send asks from them). choose a url that feels relevant. i'm always a fan of the ol "smush two words together that sound nice" technique — ie, my other blogs are huntershowl and icarusplunged — which never seems to fully go out of style. really you can do whatever feels right to you :)

the most important part of setting up an rp blog is creating a rules page and, if you're writing an OC, an about page. the rules set up your boundaries, your wants and don't wants, anything you want someone to know before they follow you. the about page should give new partners everything they need to know about your character — personality, appearance, setting/lore, any backstory you want to display publicly.

feel free to look around at different rpers' rules pages and use them as inspiration! as long as nothing is copypasted and everything is your own original content, which brings me to etiquette.

etiquette!

'tis largely an Unspoken Thing in the rpc (rp community), and breaching it can def make people feel uncomfortable (even though that's something that Should be in rules pages, most of us forget haha). here are the things i can think of off the top of my head:

the way to reach out to new people is simply to follow them. that's all you gotta do! if they don't follow back, don't push, just unfollow them after a few weeks and move on. it's almost never personal!

in that vein, if someone's blog is private/selective/mutuals-only, wait to interact until they follow back.

once they do, it's up to you how you want to move forward — usually i'll wait until they post some sort of interaction call for you to like. a starter call, a plotting call, orrrr if they reblog an ask meme (which is like a list of sentence prompts! you can choose one from the list and send it as an ask, which they can use as an rp starter.) you can also just IM them though :)

don't reblog non-rp content (ask memes, quotes/imagery, etc) directly from another rp blog, it clogs up their notifications! just reblog from the original post instead.

don't interact with other people's threads (liking or reblogging, but feel free to read them and talk about them ooc!), and only respond to a starter if it's labeled as open — otherwise it was probably written for another rper specifically.

try not to prod people too hard if they haven't responded in a while. some folks are okay with being reminded about a forgotten thread a few weeks after replies stall out.

always tag nsft (not safe for tumblr, the other acronym gets flagged/hidden) and very upsetting content — gore, SA or abuse mentions, etc. i've seen some people starting to use "dead dove do not eat" as a catch-all for super dark content, but honestly that phrase gives me the heebiest of jeebies so i prefer to go with individual tags

general platformless rp etiquette rules apply: don't steal other people's content, don't assume or control the other character's actions/thoughts/etc.

be kind to each other, most of all. communicate when you have a problem with someone, rather than making a vague/callout post about them. that being said, i'm a proponent of the block button — blocking people is okay! it's not a big deal. this is a hobby space and no one is entitled to you. advocate for yourself!!

okay that was a long section, whew! lil break. take a sip of water. have a snack mayhaps.

now: RP STRUCTURE (the fun part)

we don't really do "script" style rp on tumblr — it'll usually, if not always, be in prose/paragraph form. formatting is a fun touch, but not necessary. as you can see, i'm using small text here with some little chunks of text in bold/italic or regular size text to add some visual interest. again, not necessary! experiment, figure out what you like!

lots of people will use icons of different sizes — 100x100 is the most common, but they really do vary. i would suggest going smaller rather than bigger (like don't use full post-width gifs or icons, try to keep them under half the size of the post? that's the most common vibe at least.)

icons can be used to "illustrate" your character's expression among a bunch of text, if you want Visual Spice. but they are soooo not necessary! totally up to you.

here are some examples of my icon styling!

there are lots of rp resources out here for cool coloring psd's and graphic templates for ya blog. create something fun and pretty that you like! <3

to reply to a thread, reblog it and add your post.

important: i highly recommend downloading and installing XKIT in your browser. it's an extension that lets you trim posts to the last two reblogs (common around here), customize your blog experience, and just makes it a lot easier to exist on tumblr haha.

ummmm i think that's it actually! you're finally free of my rambling. i really hope this helped!! please let me know if you have any questions, and gimme a follow when you start up a blog — i'd be happy to help you out however i can.

[bbcphile]

For the WIP title game - I would love to hear about "FDB 5+1"

Also I am 👀 about "DFS and LLH talk (finally)" - I guess it's against the rules to ask about more than one, just wanted you to know lol

(and thank you for tagging me!)

Hi! Thanks for the ask!

The FDB 5+1 fic is a "5 times DFS and FDB failed to share a bed and one time they did" fic that starts from the first night they're supposed to share the guest room and covers the entire show up through the end of the special episode (so I guess it will actually be more like a 5 +1 (+1 special episode HE)).

I was really interested in the ways DFS (as a-Fei) says he doesn't sleep in unfamiliar places and the fact that he'd probably feel particularly hypervigilant in his early Lotus Tower days without access to his qi because of the Asura grass, and how that would interact with him having to share a bed with someone (especially someone who is not used to having to share because of being a rich young master). And having FDB be the POV character makes it almost an outsider POV situation for the opening sections (even though he's one of the two people involved in the bedsharing), because he has no idea what's happening in a-Fei's mind and he's observing a-Fei's interactions with LLH and being very confused about their history, and I'm excited about having him stop being an outsider POV as he learns more about their history and grows closer with DFS. And the premise enables FDB to run through the full emotional gamut (especially during the section where LLH is missing), and I'm looking forward to the writing challenges it will pose. The early sections are outlined in a lot of detail (including having most of the relevant dialogue), but the later bits are just a very rough sketch of what will happen, when it takes place, and the themes/emotional beats I want to hit. I'm planning on playing with it more after I've made more progress on my MLC long fic. :D

And for "LLH and DFS talk (finally)," that's the file name for chapter 9 of my MLC long fic, where LLH is finally conscious and medically stable enough for conversations, and they have to work through some BIG misunderstandings (eg. what the reunion duel meant for each of them, what the wangchuan flower meant to each of them, why the hell LLH was planning on attending the duel if he was mostly dead and a single blow would do him in and how mad DFS is about that, etc.) It's a fun writing challenge, because neither of them has much experience communicating openly (LLH is as allergic to honesty as he used to be to peanuts and DFS doesn't like disclosing information unless he has a fully completed plan), but DFS is mad, hurt, and desperate for LLH to live, and since he's realized that at least trying to explain his side is necessary to LLH's continued survival, he's going to do it even if he hates every minute of it, since he refuses to back down from a challenge, especially if it will help LLH.

[reachexceedinggrasp]

Yes the Twelve/Clara stuff I specifically heard is that there's the travelling together/personal enmeshment/the presence of a third love interest representing the mortal world she tries to balance with the new world type of thing, but there's not (yet) the burn-down-the-world investment you have with that pairing, which as I can glean from your posts is very necessary to understanding Twelve/Clara hahaha.

But yeah, I, too, have been trying to resist it, Because I Don't Trust Like That Anymore, and I'm still preoccupied with another pairing eating up all of my fandom energy, but I would never turn my nose up hearing more from people with good taste. I also played New Vegas when I was a teenager, which is considered the best of the Fallout games, and I think it's probably more hopeful than the others? It's also going to be most relevant for the next season, so there's that. You probably know that it needs fan-made patches to run properly without crashes (actually one of the developers released his own patches for it as mods, but they're obsolete now).

It's really funny to see all the fantasy romance enjoyers now being lured into the post-post-apocalyptic setting, lol. When there's a will (a Beauty and the Beast ship) there's a way.

I was initially very hesitant about the show because of the established media property mill, and having watched Westworld, the bad man/nice lady ship was straight-up dark, and after the second season descended into total nonsense. My hope is that the different writer for Fallout doesn't let Jonathan Nolan ever do that again. But it's pretty faithful to the games and one of the original creators, Tim Cain, gave it a pretty glowing review, and that's actually nice to hear. I watch his videos on the YouTubes (they're no frills and actually pretty good) and it's so funny that he doesn't like romance in RPG's because he feels like they're never done very well. Now we put romance in your television show, how do you like that

I'm personally extremely ambivalent about the likelihood of the Fallout pairing evolving beyond flirtation with evil, but who knows? I would love to hear your thoughts on it if you get around to it!

I thought it might be something like that. Yeah, I wouldn't say they were really comparable because the dynamic is very different, but there is the immortal/mortal aspect and him as the knowledgable and hyper-competent native of the larger world versus her more sheltered and ordinary experience. There's the inherent B&tB conflict over power dynamics and emotional vulnerability. But yes lol, part of the essence of Twelve and Clara is us-against-the-universe, being all things to one another, deeply entwined in each other down to the foundations of their identities. Unconditional and unhinged devotion. Which isn't where Ghoulcy is (yet? :D? one can dream).

Oh yeah, just to get further than the menu and actually start a game for Fallout 3 I had to install a mod lmao. My brother was also telling me stop playing that, play New Vegas, it's the best one. But I didn't have NV sitting free in my gog.com library. I got a PS3 version from ebay coming. Hilariously, it's easiest to play the original game, the oldest one. I had zero problems with that on a modern PC.

I know, man. So many times I've sworn off getting invested in anything with such high likelihood of going south or otherwise being disappointing, but the temptation is real. I mean if the second season drops and it goes in a direction I don't like, I would just not watch it, but if they set up something super interesting and squander the potential that's always so frustrating. At least there will be a lot of fic before anyone can rain on the parade.

People are calling attention to the parallels between the characters, but I think we can take for granted they will have a significant relationship going forward, the question is more if it having a redemptive, healing, and/or romantic component is something the writers have considered. If it doesn't hit the first two, I wouldn't want to continue with the show, because that's what's appealing to me about it. If there's a flat token romance with another character for Lucy while her most important and transformative relationship is with Cooper, whom her influence helps reclaim his humanity/decency/hope, that'll annoy me as a missed opportunity but won't make me as sad as if he just stays the same or dies getting revenge or something.

I, too, would have dismissed it as unlikely to be canon (even in a foyay way that doesn't go anywhere) except for how much the creators have emphasised that they wanted him to be attractive and how he's framed very romantically, even heroically by the cinematography (I've seen gifs). That isn't, like, hugely compelling evidence the ship will happen, but it does make it seem like a possibility. It makes me (perhaps foolishly) hope his arc is going in an optimistic direction. If he's literally still wearing a white hat, it's just dirty? I'd honestly put a lot of stock in that.

And maybe I'm basic, but I want my ships to be canon. They don't have to be, I have some that aren't even close, but I do prefer it lol. I like the relationship to be a formative part of the character arcs. If it seems like a good/interesting/satisfying place for the narrative to go, I want it to go there.

[everybodyknows-everybodydies]

2023 Year-End Fic Roundup

tagged by @rakaiawriter (thank you! :'D)

if you also want to do it. consider yourself TAGGED 😎

(sticking it under the cut to save your dash ^^')

Words written (published or otherwise): oh dear - I've been adding to my wip docs this month so I don't have an exact count for just 2023 anymore, but for a comparison, AO3 says I published 15,944 words in 2023 and my combined word count for the year when I checked in at the end of November was 45,897, so... maybe around 50k by the end of December if I'm being generous haha

Smut scenes written (if applicable): definitely not applicable lol - I am reasonably sure nobody else wants me writing smut either XD

New things tried: wrote for several new characters in 2023 for sure! technique-wise I think the most notable new thing tried was probably the little epistolary piece with Hallie though? first-person POV and I are still not likely to be friends, but I do think I learned from it!

Fic I spent the most time on: from what's posted, probably twiw! one of the first ones I started; worked on it for a couple months on and off as I got a better sense of everyone and figured out how I wanted to articulate some things. close second place to Kharish and Tolfdir's field trip though for sure (more plot-relevant pieces always take significantly longer than my natural habitat of "people talking about things, often to avoid talking about other things" ahaha)

Fic I spent the least time on: the wizard divorce arguing happened in a fugue state over like. three or four hours. somehow. no I cannot replicate this on command dghsdklf

Favorite thing written: I'm really proud of a lot of what I accomplished this past year, but. is it cheesy if I confess that I go "ehehe ;u;" whenever I think about so-fish-ticated...

Favorite thing read: GLADLY taking this opportunity to plug A Study in Self-Immolation by @ehlnofay and Corners by @jiubilant, both of which lodged indelibly in my ribs on impact <3 :')

Writing goals for 2024: more of it in general!! I know I say it all the time lol but I'm genuinely so thrilled to have been able to pick it up again in 2023 finally and really looking forward to seeing where I can go now + getting braver about sharing things again ;u;

[matan4il]

Hi! Big fan of your blog, your takes are always so refreshing and lovely to read!

So I'm about 86 percent certain that having expectation about this is just setting myself up for disappointment because I don't really think anything canonically confirming buddie will happen before the last couple episodes of this season (if it happens this season at all) but what do you think about 6x13 being called New Sensation👀

Awww, hi lovely Nonnie! Thank you SO MUCH for the kind words! I hope you know you're awesome, too! :D

I'm glad to meet another person who's in the camp of trying to temper our expectations! *hugs* I hope that like me, you're still having tons of fun watching the show! As for the titles of eps... Yeah, I usually try to avoid reading too much into them. For one thing, they try to include a theme that would be relevant to all the emergency calls during the ep, as well as to our characters, and that means that sometimes the fit is kinda partial. Sometimes it's totally meaningless. I remember how, when we learned that 510 was called Wrapped in Red, a ton of people (for obvious reasons) dug out the lyrics to the love song that the ep title is referencing. So of course they were very hopeful that this was the ep that would bring us one of the guys realizing he's in love and daring to declare it, since that's what the song's about. Turns out, it was more to do with the general theme of gift giving, joy all around and the big party the team ended up throwing for the people who lost their home. And how was the song connected to Chris throwing a tantrum 'coz he was scared, and Eddie deciding to leave the 118? Well, it just wasn't. So yeah, I'm bringing all of this up as a way of saying, we should always limit our theorizing based on ep titles, they're not that reliable.

That being said, I am kind of carefully looking at 'Recovery' because that one is pretty straight forward and, since the theme of an ep has to connect to the 118 as well, it strongly suggests that one of our protagonists will be in recovery, so it seems to imply one of them would have been hurt in one of the prior eps. I wrote here about the possibility that it's Buck who's injured. In addition, I later thought about it possibly being Bobby, dealing with his own recovery from his addiction and how hard it is to maintain that, given his loss in 609 and the dark path it will take him down. IDK if either one will turn out to be true, but this is an example for where I am more ready to believe that the ep title is giving us an indication of what will actually happen in the ep itself.

However, 'New Sensation' (ep 613) is... it just feels too broad and ambiguous to try and extrapolate anything from it. I know where my head's going to immediately as a hopeful Buddie shipper! Buck or Eddie recognizing that they're feeling something for the other man. In terms of when I tend to assume we'd have such a revelation, I always kinda thought 911 would wanna really cash in on this if it went there, so it would use it during a season finale. Which NS is not going to be. So I'm doubtful that's the direction the ep will take. If we are going to get a Buck who gets injured and goes through recovery, new sensation might be about a new direction he takes on following that. Not necessarily in a romantic sense? It could be about him and his journey with his self worth. It could be a continuation of Bobby's storyline. And it could be something we're not seeing coming at all, because it will play off of events that will only start unfolding in 6b. I also have to say that if Buck does get injured in the ep titled 'In a Flash' and then going through a vision of an alternate reality in the ep 'In Another Life' followed by the story of him healing in 'Recovery,' then I just can't see every ep title in 6b being about primarily about him, and I would think that makes it more likely that the new sensation in the title has nothing to do with him.

It might have to do with Eddie, who we know from Kristen's interview will try dating again in 6b. That would fit with NS breaking away from whoever 'Recovery' is about. My other Buddie shipper thought is, what if Eddie's discovering his attraction to men and that's the new sensation in the title? It could be, especially since just having a repeat of the arc where he dated Ana would be too boring, so this one would have to offer something new, some different revelation and/or experience. I don't think that this is an unlikely option, but I'm also afraid it might be my wishful thinking. Because as you can see, there are so many possibilities! And also, I have to admit that if Eddie does discover he's into men, I would expect that to be unveiled quite close to him realizing his feelings for Buck. And like I said, I would assume that to happen in a season finale, so for s6, that would be 618.

Sorry, I know this is long, but I wanted to do the most for you, so I threw out there all the thoughts that I had when I heard the title and that I then put aside. I hope this is at least somewhat helpful? Have a great day! And here's as always my ask tag. xoxox

[mochiwrites]

hello! I have a question about characters like how do you know when you should drop a character or keep them or how to know what their use is gonna be for the story because (for ex) the story I’m writing has a dozen characters I’m pretty sure and I wanna keep them all but they have like 1 use not even for some so idk what to do, sorry to be so specific and whatnot

hi!! being specific is totally fine!! it helps me answer a lot better :D

this got long again so I put under a read more <3

characters are. a fun little thing. I'll use crime au as an example since it's the only au I have atm with the most public character work.

I work with characters in two ways:

Characters I want to write

Characters that are important to the plot

naturally, we have our main characters, grian, scar, and mumbo. and then we have our secondary cast of characters like bdubs, impulse, scott, jimmy, martyn, ren, pearl, cub. and then our tertiary cast, like skizz, cleo, and so on.

the thing with characters is you have to know who is important to your story, and who isn't. which character is going to make reoccurring appearances and help drive the story forward, and which character isn't.

I use crime au for this example because crime au has a lot of character work in it; everyone is connected in some shape or form. and there are. a lot of characters in crime au, and most of them are all connected in some way through either backstory or plot.

having multiple characters is never a bad thing! it just means you have a big cast of people to work with. you don't necessarily have to cut them from the story, just need to find ways to work them deeper into the plot !! whether that's through getting them more involved in the plot by having them be involved in situations, or tying them to the story through backstory.

for me, the big factors on when I know a character is going to be important to the story is backstory and/or what their role is. take bdubs in crime au. he's important to the story less because of backstory and more so because of his role. he's scar pr manager, he works closely with scar for things outside of official mayor stuff. but I don't consider him a main character because the story doesn't revolve around him.

and then you have the more obvious ones of grian, scar, and mumbo, the core characters who are driving the story forward.

basically, the key things I think may help you are:

take your cast of characters and figure out who the main characters are. and then who the secondary characters are; these are your guys who help the plot advance, but aren't around all the time, maybe they don't have as big a role as the main characters do. and then your tertiary cast; the ones who may appear every once in a while and have relatively small roles.

determine who's directly important to the plot and how -- backstory? plot relevance?

what is their role in the story?

I hope that helps!!! you're always welcome to send more questions !! I'm more than happy to help :D

[dirtyoldmanhole]

so while it is true that you cannot "technically" support gunter in revelation ...

you can, however, wander over thisaway ~

oho, what's this?

:D

anyway, let's talk gunter's C support, shall we ~

(under a cut for length of the post/images. mostly meta!)

fun fact: did you know if you're looking at past support logs in a different route, your avatar name will update to whatever is your current name? (Corrin is so much her own person / personality it didn't make sense to do "krad" there, tbh.)

anyway, in the slowburn fic, this hits right before Fort Jinya.

(it should be said i'm not writing 1:1 supports or scenes, that'd be boring as hell. but sharp eyes are going to grin and know exactly what scenes I'm riffing off of, vibe-wise.)

there's a shippy headcanon for reasons(tm) I have of him avoiding Corrin after they come back from the bottomless canyon the first time. (tl;dr chemistry and denial lul~~~)

but even disregarding that, it's kind of cute that corrin goes to check on him, and evidentially keeps an eye on him. ;_____;

they keep talking about memories; ime it's also really well done/relevant that so many of their scenes are about that reoccuring theme, when you consider what a big deal "memory" is to Corrin, and what she's been robbed of.

Gunter: It's seen better days, but it's still in pretty good condition, don't you think? Corrin: It really is; I'm impressed. I didn't realize that you'd kept it after all this time.

Gunter: We played so many games of catch with it. Corrin: It really does stir up all those old memories. Gunter: How does a round of catch sound to you? For old times' sake. Corrin: I'd love to! Gunter: Excellent. I have a few tasks to deal with today, but we'll play sometime soon? Corrin: I look forward to it.

(god, gunter, you are so sentimental and it's feelsy as hell ;___; how the hell did he manage to keep that ball with him all the while falling down the literal bottomless canyon? )

anyway

it wasn't until i started writing Corrin's horrific mind wipe ordeal(s) that i started realizing Gunter was kind of a fucking genius for starting their whole game of catch. I'll go into this more in the B-A support, but in addition to the game being a gentle "carrot" method of getting young!Corrin to cooperate that set him apart from Garon's punshiments (eg, not stepping on her triggers), it's kind of like physical/trauma therapy for a kid that doesn't feel like therapy.

idunno about y'all but i've spent Way Too Much time in a similar situation in a similar time span. it ain't fun! at all! you got these scary adults in a scary new situation and everything hurts from poking and prodding and you just want to go home and they keep wanting you to do weird random shit like walking in loops or parallel bars or other shit.

(obviously in hindsight it makes sense, but you get a scrambled kid in a new scary situation, and they usually end up having meltdowns, for good reason.)

something familiar, that feels concretely like play, and is very clearly a routine for both of them with a set goal/reward, is something almost literally out of a textbook to help her recovery. caretaker daddy here has a galaxy brain considering he hasn't been trained for this shit at all, kudos to him ~

(... of course, a lovely piece of fridge horror is that it gets way sadder when you realize he's probably cobbled together most of this knowledge from raising his own kids. who are. you know. now dead.)

(y e a h)

[awkwardgtace]

What inspired you to create the seer au? It's such a cool idea to dive deep in and see how Delphia interacts with the gods while also being a "background character" in the human world. How long did it take you to map out Delphia's relationships to the gods?

this got very long and probably very much ramble so I'm sorry. I put a tldr and have left most of it under a read more. I'm not even sure if a lot of my rambles are relevant to the question

tldr; I've always liked gods and the idea of false deaths seemed fun. So I ran with that and the overall development probably took a month for Rhys, Vitus, Dabria, Ash, Alessia, Delphia. With everyone I'd up it to two or three months total for the basic plot and relationships I've run forward with since. A lot of times I get an idea and just run with it so that definitely happened here and the lore or ideas come while i'm failing to sleep or bored at work.

ok this is actually a long answer (and i'm super excited to type it out) so i'm gonna just put the short answer of the first story with her before a read more that goes into like the world

So Delphia's original story was actually started by thinking about this post. It talks about giants reaching in through doors and windows and i wanted to write something with that. My brain didn't like the simple idea so it slowly morphed into someone who sees their own death and tries to escape saved by a being of protection. This kept evolving until that original post didn't work as a base anymore. I actually still have like saved snippets from when I wrote up Little Seer and all the ideas that I jumped between. A lot of it was like well she sees things, maybe she helps people and that makes her stand out. When I finished that story I didn't have everything in my head how I do now with the gods and Delphia's relationships.

I think overall it took me a few weeks to actually finish her first story. I only really had the ideas Vitus and Dabria are parents, Rhys is a brother, Ash and Alessia are partners to Delphia (the full all three with each other came later), and Delphia is more human than they are by the end. Then I ran with it, just thought about how she got there and the life she had that would make her give everything up blindly. I also did always want a more full pantheon, gods of war, prosperity, sky, fate, all the fun stuff (cause i was a greek and roman myth nerd as a child and even made pantheons for a class once. If my project partner somehow sees this shout out to the god of war and moist things)

Ok now onto the really long parts going into a read more. It may have turned into rambling. Hope it actually answers your questions :D

So once I decided I wanted Delphia to see the future and be saved by a god of protection I started to kind of dive into things I always thought about. Death that doesn't stick, names holding unbelievable power. I also always had story ideas of someone powerful always ready to sacrifice themself for whatever cause they wanted regardless of how minor or major it may seem.

So basically I made Del and I liked the idea of avoiding her name. I wanted her name to do something when she remembered it. I actually made a note of her name early on because it was going to reveal her connections to the gods in some way with a few that held more significance for her. I spent probably a day deciding how I wanted her memories to act and I liked the idea of an unexpected side effect. So I figured what if it builds up each time she dies. The spell itself gets stronger and stronger until finally the release causes a burst. I also thought it would be a good way to give gods an insight to how a human was feeling. I liked that set up to sort of propel relationships forward if I kept writing about them (which I already knew I was going to)

For Delphia as a character I wanted her to have minimal ties to humans. To give her a reason to see the gods giving her this life among them and taking it. She was also supposed to be the kind of person who sees the worst of people and continues to make the choice to help them. I wanted sort of a martyr who's choosing to be one and knows the consequences of her death. She's also supposed to be a person that if you know her you have good things to say. The stories of a witch or curse bearer doesn't match up with her. People would be overcome with guilt if the thing that turns others against her didn't make her sort of fade away. They don't remember Delphia, they remember someone with magic and a cloak.

A lot of the lore of the world I came up with as I went along. First I wanted a reason for everyone to be afraid of the gods, but I wanted it to be wrong. Easiest path is old gods and it fit in with the myths I loved too. Then I needed a reason they were gone so I figured they had to go too far. And I needed someone to stop them so Fate gives power to Life and Death.

For the actual gods it was kind of easy. Love, Fate, Life, Death, Nature, War, Prosperity, Sky, and Protection. Then I figured it's more fun to have some things not match up. Life (Vitus) looks cold, stern, and stoic, but is warm, caring, and kind. Death (Dabria) at first glance looks warm and bright, but she has to take care of death and those paths. War (Ryder) hates war and fighting despite the view that he'd encourage it and his odd way of speaking. Prosperity(Felix) looks aloof and materialistic, but cares more about others than he lets on. For the sky( Luna and Sola) I liked the idea of the two being children because the skies are ever changing and children just fit that image in my head. Love (Rhys) struggles with his own emotions and anger, while managing the feelings of others well. Nature (Ash) looks intimidating and harsh, but they are soft spoken and kind. Protection(Alessia) was different, for her I wanted her to immediately come across looking warm and welcoming, but strong and commanding too.

On top of all of that I wanted the gods to be human. There's a bunch of lore in my head about why they are how they are and what makes them different from the old gods that I plan to write more eventually. Gods aren't fun when they're perfect, they're fun when they're flawed. They're interesting and make you curious so that's what happens. I've still developed things as time goes on (such as I can't say why but at some point I've decided my gods are always prepared for war don't know against what).

Ok so after all that ramble here's the one about the relationship with Del and each god.

Short answer I'm still working on them all! For the most part I figured it out over a month for the basic interactions. This month based off when the god was developed.

Alessia, Delphia, and Ash have the most defined relationship overall. Alessia and Ash are opposites with Delphia being someone who meets in the middle. I liked the idea of that, also with all of them it's more been deciding how all of them work. For Rhys it's been a little longer than Ash and Alessia to figure it out. I wanted siblings with Rhys a bit more of someone to mess with Del. An objectively normal relationship compared to the reality they're in. I've figured them out more as I work on Rhys in other stories. Felix and Ryder are still being worked out. I know most of how I want them to interact, but their personalities aren't as solid compared to the others. Felix and Ryder fill in the role of older siblings more solidly than Rhys. For Del it's definitely how she sees them. Felix just being aloof and caring preferring to be disliked as long as he can keep the important people safe and Ryder taking blame on himself for things out of his control are newer ideas and change how they'll interact with her. I'd say those two show both the least concern and hold the most in interactions with her. Luna and Sola were instantly younger siblings for her. For the most part the relationship with Delphia is still in development. I don't actually know if I'm great at the whole writing kids things but I try :). I'm actually a younger sibling so I take a bit of how I remember thinking with my older sibling to figure out how they act. Sola needs more work than Luna though. Sola is bubbly and almost naive in ways Luna isn't which is a different thought process for me to write (i have ideas for her though I swear they are coming.). It's taking more to work out how exactly each will interact with her with those mannerisms while being gods. They aren't children forever, but that mindset they have now is the one I plan to focus on longest. Vitus and Dabria are honestly the odd ones here. Maybe the only OCs I have that are developed to a point it's kind of fine tuning when I think about a new fact for them. I think they probably took a few months to get to this point total, but their relationship with Del was pretty much immediate. In old drafts she was their actual child who ran away. I wanted good parents that are over protective at times.

I think the general relationships were all mapped out within a month or two of creating the god or Delphia. A lot are still sort of living ideas too. If it hasn't been obvious I really like found family and I see almost all of them as siblings with Vitus and Dabria as parents. Fate is left out a lot, but i actually do have ideas for them I just haven't gotten to them yet.

I don't think I actually answered your question like at all, but I also don't think I'll be any better if I wait on answering. Feel free to keep sending asks and I will continue to try and answer (hopefully on topic since I have no idea if I am anymore)

[mythvoiced]

-. Bonjour~ below the cut another messy character post before I dive into finally completing all intro posts because I can't be made to fill out a proper about page at the moment, please forgive me flhkgfhlg~

the doomed;wolfwood

name. Nicholas D. Wolfwood (according to Nightow, the D stands for a fuckload of things ranging from Dangerous to Dokonokuminomonjawaresumakinishiteshizumetarokakora, he's insane) gender. male (I'm debating--) pronouns. he/him age. -big sigh- Trimax: 30s/40s (physically), early 20s (actually); Trigun 98: 30s; Tristamp: 20s/30s (physically), probably??? much older????? IDK?????? (actually); Badlands Rumble: don't, let's not even-- orientation. terminally bisexual

faceclaim. Nicholas D. Wolfwood from Trigun/Trigun Maximum/Trigun '98/Trigun Stampede; Badlands Rumble is excluded because 1. ?? 2. the whitewashing of this film is criminal; primarily Tristamp Nicholas unless specified otherwise, because-

-The primary iteration you will find featured on this humble blorbo blog of mine is the Tristamp version because that is the one currently most popular and most likely to have a demand, I will be shoehorning things from Trimax into him as I see fit, in particular if handling post Tristamp timeskip Wolfwood, and maybe I'm just gonna turn this man into an insane amalgamation of all various takes on him.

Nicholas D. Wolfwood is a child soldier. First and foremost. For those unfamiliar with Trigun, it's a Western Sci-Fi show (underSTATEM-) where humanity had attempted, a truckload of hundred years prior to the present timeline, to shoot itself into various corners of the universe after effectively Killing Earth to try and settle on another planet hospitable enough to harbour them. Everything goes to shit for one fleet of spaceships when they crash and burn onto this desert planet with two suns and five moons and no natural resources humanity needed to survive and thrive. To accomodate for the lack of water, for example, humanity makes use of these man-made organic beings called 'Plants', self-sufficient sometimes humanoid appearing entities that can produce and produce and produce, whatever it is humanity may need. What humanity did not know, until much later, was that the Plants are more than just... personal batteries, they're sentient, hive-minded creatures who should be treated with the basic respect you'd forward to living beings. Without going any further into the lore, Nicholas is dragged into the moral questions of Humans & Plants & Co-existing & Slavery and whatnot by being quite literally adopted into it (in Trimax it looks like a legit adoption until he gets to the place). The Eye of Michael, a cult of plant worshippers who trains and redesigns children from orphanages they claim no one will miss (Nicholas, included) into superhuman killing machines with enhanced strength, speed, durability, you name it, and healing abilities further augmented by this lil drug they're equipped with that they can gulp to help themselves heal even faster.

Nicholas is dependent on these drugs to heal in Tristamp, where the show made a point to differentiate Livio's ability to heal without the need of drugs; in Trimax, it's more implied that every child soldier/assassin from the Eye of Michael has regenerative abilities and the drugs augment them further or are used when the abilities can't catch up with the amount of damage taken, they're boosters. This is relevant to my portrayal only because I might occasionally have him get away with a few scratches or hits to allow for a thread to flow a certain way and not have to explain where the hell he keeps all those damned flasks.

Important to note, though, is that a drug is a drug. That shit will kill him if he overdoes it. I'll be honest, he throws that stuff back in Tristamp that it made me wonder whether it can kill him in this iteration, maybe I missed something, but know I for one am biting down on this fact and will not let go.

So, he was raised in this orphanage and then dropped off at the Eye of Michael, Tristamp implies the orphanage belongs to the Eye, so it's less an adoption thing and more a being picked out as the fattest among a flock of chicken. He's instantly tortured, deformed, reshaped and refitted into this sturdy hitman the Eye can use to further they're Plant-worshipping related missions, as well as simply to get some cash by selling his (and other EoM assassins') services to others. The drug, the modifications, everything done to him has forced him to age faster physically, which, fun fact, is source of heated ship debates in the fandom because it's used to portray Wolfwood as a minor to keep him out of whatever ship you don't fuck with. Important for me to mention, because Wolfwood is an adult. Especially in Tristamp, where some hints suggest he's been around for much longer, sort of implying he might be older than his body's age, which might have just... stopped aging at one point, considering Tristamp has the Eye use Plants to torture their kids into what Nicoholas now is.

SO, yeah, the age debate is a mess.

For most of the canon of the show, Nicholas (referred to as Nicholas the Punisher as assassin of the Eye of Michael, in typical Gung-Ho-Guns/Nightow naming fashion lmao) is hired as a guide to the main character, Vash the Stampede, by both the Eye and perhaps directly by the main antagonist, Millions Knives (Vash's twin brother), to escort Vash to the city of July unharmed and to actually make sure he's headed for it... or the city JuLai, if y'd rather~ though... the 7 cities are actually named after months (December, Augusta, May, Octovern, Juneora Rock, April), so, I'm used to 'July', though let me know if that throws you off, I fuck with JuLai just as hard~

Obviously being directly exposed to Vash the fucking Stampede, a person/being so violently pacifistic he'd rather see himself decimated ten times over than ever shoot back, does something to the worldview and the confidence in that worldview of a man who'd given up on himself and the idea of salvation, both spiritual and physical in nature. Wolfwood effectively settled himself into the monster's shoes fitted for him, this is why he looks so fucked up in Tristamp, his lack of interest towards his own appearance, himself as a whole, the suicidal thoughts/ideation bubbling always below the surface (his speech about Rollo after killing him? the implications he was talking about himself?), my boy is not having a good time, ever.

Wolfwood is an oldest brother, deeply frustrated and depressed, has canonical (Trimax) nightmares of going back to the orphanage but not being allowed to touch the children, hold them, because of the blood he can't get off his hands, he's a Judas, he's the narrative's martyr, he's too big of a coward to walk away from it all, he's too tired to fight for himself, he's tired, angry, and just wants to be stopped.

He's my fucking blorbo.

And yes, his cigarettes are always crumpled. This makes more sense in those iterations where he shoves them into a fold in his shirt instead of carrying an actual pack around, but it's funny as fuck nonetheless. He's got that Kansai accent situation and cusses like... well, like the type of character he is, and it may look silly that he's always wearing those damned sunglasses, but consider the following: No Man's Land (Gunsmoke, though this name is inaccurate/non-canonical, some have adopted it as an alternative anyway) is a desert planet with no natural water resources and two suns, there are no clouds and no rain, the sunglasses are a necessity.

[cilantrospirit]

@girlpetrarca tagged me in this so here goes! (thanks <3)

1. Are you named after anyone?

sort of! my name has the same meaning as my favorite aunt's name, but in Latin because I come from a long line of total nerds

2. When was the last time you cried?

due to the wind and weird sleep my left eye has been randomly weeping out a long and dramatic tear every 40 minutes or so for the past three days. looking forward to that being over because it makes my mask wet (horrible texture) and every time I go to wipe it I smudge my glasses (I have suffered more than jesus)

3. Do you have kids?

not in a literal sense, but I do have some ambiguous form of dissociative multiplicity and in that context some of me is the kid of other parts of me. it's how I think of myself, and it does mean that I do some stereotypical young parent behaviors but directed at myself, on the other hand I materially do not have the ability to take care of another body right now, even if I think I'd be a great parent to an actual kid. I respect kids a lot but I don't get along with them easily, so I'm afraid that when I become a parent (with my qpps) I won't be preferred by my kids for anything! but that's okay as long as they know they are loved. it does give me pause about fostering, though. :(

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

yes, but not very much over text unless it's extremely clear, because I struggle with understanding it. honestly being sarcastic very often but barely able to figure out when other people are is perhaps my most annoying trait.

5. What's the first thing you notice about people?

depends on the context? if there are other people around the first thing I notice is how they are positioned in a group and how they talk to others. are they being left out? are they excluding someone else? are they comfortable? are they goofing off? are they earnestly trying to stop their friend from goofing off so they can be on task? it's usually the most relevant information about that person in the moment.

if I'm meeting someone for the first time and no one else is around (usually when hiking or in elevators) I notice their shoes first, then either the rest of their outfit or where they're looking at me.

6. What's your eye colour?

a grayish green-blue

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

as long as that choice has a reason for it and makes sense I think I like both equally. if I had to choose one for this exact moment, scary is my move.

8. Any special talents?

ask your mom um actual answer is I have a hard time delineating between a talent and just being better than average at something. and I hate saying "oh I'm a genius" or "oh I'm so good at writing" when both of those measures seem totally arbitrary, but gun to my head my talents are creative writing, comedy/wit, and understanding and applying the humanities. so... being a nerd? I feel that I lack talents in the way most of my friends have them, because for a variety of reasons I have trouble applying my ideas, but people tell me I have innovative ones, which could be a talent if it could be applied to anything!! tldr I have no talents outside of my own head

9. Where were you born?

a hospital in Oregon

10. What are your hobbies?

writing, exercising (does this even count as a hobby? for me it does), reading, stampmaking, canoeing and kayaking, ttrpgs (my favorites are homebrew by my friends, but I play monster hearts and d&d too), backpacking/camping, and going on expeditions (I give myself quests and go out exploring until I can achieve them, ex: ask 15 people and see for how many of them their coat is their favorite color, identify a new moss, fill a notebook page with overheard dialogue)

11. Do you have any pets?

not at school, but I have a cat named Kangarudy Purrfuzz a.k.a. Mr. Limousine Legs who is wonderful, and my grandparents live in town so I get to see their cat, Pienza, fairly often. she's fun to be around but should not be allowed outside and I hate how many birds she kills

^ two Rudys and a Pi, they are on opposite ends of the hedonism spectrum

12. What sports do you play/have you played?

I'm not in any sports right now, but I have played soccer and basketball, and been on a dragonboating and outrigger canoe team before. I miss paddling, but I have no way to travel to the practices of my city's team until I get a car. I do go to the gym pretty often and weightlift, which I know can be a sport.

13. How tall are you?

5'2"/158cm

14. Favourite subject in school?

paleontology and cartography; outside of my major it's literature hands down

15. Dream job?

museum curator at a natural history museum with good funding; my dream is to make connecting with the natural world more accessible for all, not just physically but also in terms of how information is shared and presented. I see a lot of issues with how curation is handled now in that many museums are very focused on explaining what we know, but not able to present how we know things about the world with any ease, and it does nothing to combat distrust of science! I also know for a fact that people of all ages learn best from play/practice and the trend of reserving that style of display for kids' sections is a waste of potential engagement. I could go on about specific exhibits I've drafted and other issues I see, but this is not the place for all that!

my very unrealistic dream jobs are poet laureate and stay-at-home foster parent

@ anyone who wants to answer these please tag me! bit tired to actually tag anyone I'm just a little guy in a huge sweater on a snowy night. drinking my little jasmine tea from my moomin mug. so don't expect me to do anything!!