#but! nothing I love more than a tragedy :)

[corsairspade]

I was going to say we need to be weirder about Maglor but then I remembered crablor. That’s on me. We need to also be DIFFERENT weird about Maglor.

Maglor who walks along the coast for thousands of years and does not stop singing. Maglor who after ages of the world have passed, has a voice that is made only for music. When he speaks, there is something too lyrical to the tone. He sighs and the world accompanies him. His raised voice sets the ground shaking, his laments call water like tears from the sky. He has to be careful when he speaks to people, however rare that is, because of it. He weeps and those who can hear him cannot help but weep as well. Maglor with a voice so powerful that he can no longer use it the way he could when the world was young. One more thing lost to the Oath.

[gingermintpepper]

"I wanted, more than anything, to make you proud." No longer does his son bend his head. He meets him in his eyes - richest brown to clearest blue. Zeus cannot help but search for that little toddling thing that once sough refuge at his knees. When did Ares grow so large? When did his shoulders get so broad? "Why can't you just be proud of me?" What is it that Phoebus always says? That children can tell their parents have favourites even when they themselves don't know? It almost brings a smile to his face. How alike they both are, even now. Mirrors, the two of them, and they don't even know it. "What good would my pride do you now, Ares?" Ares recoils as though he's been struck. As ever, it is the wrong thing to say. Maybe there's never been a right thing to say. Or maybe the both of them are fools. Caught up in this perpetual dog-and-horse show; the son who wants his father's approval and the father who does not know what that means. All the wisdom in the cosmos can't give him that knowledge. "...Good talk, Father. Truly." That blood-red hair is a windswept flag as Ares leaves. Zeus swears it had been only up to his nape when they'd started speaking. The door slams shut, it rattles all his charts and maps, the vases with Hera's flowers sat pretty on his table. Then, there is silence. Then, there is regret. Well, Metis, look what a mess he's made now.

[stardustedknuckles]

It would just be so easy for Steel to start behaving overtly controlling and War-minded at literally any point (seeking control and owning up to what that means) and at that point it would become easy to dislike her and her sway over Suvi but that's not the POINT, she is GENUINELY wise and so, so brilliant and she loves Suvi so truly and she is infuriatingly level headed and sincere in her efforts to help and so very kind, and I love her character more than I can adequately put into words and the inevitable clash of ideals, the rift that will and must develop, is going to destroy me. Because I genuinely don't know if Steel could choose Suvi over the empire and in fact I think it's pretty clear that she wouldn't, but that does not diminish the love she has for Suvi and the two things being true simultaneously have me biting the air. Steel is a goddamn masterclass in examining characters who act from fundamentally kind intent within a twisted framework of lifelong indoctrination and beliefs that have taught her a distorted view of what that should look like. Bringing the empire's light to the world is the ultimate kindness to her, and she wants nothing more than to be a key part of the mechanism by which that will happen. Because it will happen. And we're not told this, we're shown a brilliant and devoted mother figure who will stop at nothing to make a better world in the image of the empire her life belongs to.

Every single time something goes wrong with Ame and/or Eursulon (and even Suvi) I brace for the kind of overbearing "us VS them" mentality that never comes. She genuinely wants collaboration and answers so she can help. she very much means well, as do they all. It compels the absolute hell out of me.

[abelllia]

Transcript:

[From MAG 92]

Elias (Statement): -if I leave a letter here, in your institute, you might find it, you might be able to save me. I have no other hope. I have no other hope. Please, Jonah, if you have any compassion within your heart, you will not leave me in this place. Your loyal servant, Barnabas.

Elias: Jonah Magnus did leave him in that place, Jon. He got the letter, oh yes, and was on good terms with Mordechai Lukas. He could have interceded, perhaps even saved him, but he did not. And it was not out of malice, or because he lacked affection for Barnabas Bennett: he retrieved those bones sadly enough when the time came. Bones that you can still find in my office, if you know where to look.

No, it was because he was curious. Because he had to know, to watch and see it all.That’s what this place is, Jon, never forget it. You may believe yourself to have friends, to have confidantes, but in the end, all they are is something for you to watch, to know, and ultimately to discard.

[From MAG 159]

Jon: Martin. He’s gone, Martin. He – he’s gone. 

Martin: His only wish was to die alone.

Jon: Tough. Now – listen to me, Martin. Listen.

Martin: Hello, Jon.

Jon: Listen, I know you think you want to be here, I know you think it’s safer, and well – well, maybe it is. But we need you. I need you.

Martin: No, you don’t. Not really. Everyone’s alone, but we all survive.

Jon: I don’t just want to survive!

Martin: I’m sorry.

Jon: Martin. Martin, look at me. Look at me and tell me what you see.

Martin: I see…

I see you, Jon.

I see you.

Jon: Martin.

Martin: I… I was on my own. I was all on my own.

Jon: Not anymore. Come on. Let’s go home.

Martin: How?

Jon: Don’t worry. I know the way.

[CLICK]

End Transcript

Going insane about this for a multitude of reasons

[sincerely-sofie]

Ruby anon again! I’m glad that I haven’t been interrupting your creative process or intervening at all. I can’t wait to see what you do with Ruby and her siblings!

The siblings, btw, were a piece of work for me to write and develop until I decided to peace out on really doing anything with them. The only two things I remember about them really are:

• They’re bounty hunters and their parents did the same thing to them that they’re doing with Ruby. They’re repeating behavior taught to them and they legitimately think they’re helping Ruby. I scrapped that idea quickly because I felt like that could push out the problematic “the abused become abusers” message and that it could possibly make the siblings sympathetic, and I did not want to make them sympathetic in even the slightest way. Anything I had involving the backstory of Ruby’s siblings and/or what happened to their parents was just tossed out after that.

• I thought about the siblings having opposite personalities and looks: one is more loud and aggressive and the other is more quiet and passive aggressive. One is shiny while the other is not. One is the physical abuser while the other is the emotional abuser. Despite their personalities contrasting, they get along well with each other. I wanted it to symbolize that abuse can look different, but it’s still abuse and can often come with other forms of it. I was still on the fence about that idea because I wasn’t sure if I liked it.

I hope you can write the siblings better than I ever could. I can’t wait to see more of your work! It’s amazing! I hope you have a good night. ^^

OHHHHH MY WORD I CAN’T BEGIN TO TELL YOU HOW AMAZING THESE NOTES ARE AND HOW EXCITED I AM TO INCORPORATE THEM

I love the idea of the siblings embodying different forms of abuse and the significance of how their differences ultimately play off each other in a way that they get along swimmingly. That’s a brilliantly layered piece of storytelling, you’re a genius! And thank you for the compliment, you’re super sweet :>

Real quick, an important thing to note about the possible problematic message that “the abused become abusers”— it’s a heartbreaking fact that many cases of abuse are generational in origin. The documented fact that domestic abusers are frequently victims of corporal punishment is one of the most devastating examples of this. To write a couple of characters who reflect this fact doesn’t automatically push out the idea that the abused become abusers— heck, it could be written as an important insight into the devastating effects of abuse and how it impacts its victims, and how breaking the chain of abuse is even more significant than its already seen.

Just because you write a reason for a character to be a horrible person doesn’t mean they’re automatically sympathetic, or even that they’re sympathetic in a bad way. Villains people can relate to are very powerful from a writing perspective because they make the reader stop, stare into the abyss, and see it staring back at them. A sympathetic or “understandable” villain who is still clearly villainous is terrifying compared to one that’s cartoonish pure evil. I can’t think of anyone who wants to blow up the universe, but I can think of a good few people who are xenophobic to the point of dehumanizing even themselves through their hatred. An origin story isn’t always an excuse. Sometimes it’s nothing more than an explanation— a cautionary tale that says “this could be you, so watch yourself.”

The fact that this is a possible backstory for Ruby and her older siblings is very relevant to Twig’s character in particular. I haven’t talked about Twig’s aunt Rue or mother Rowan’s backstories very much, but Rue was very similar to Twig while growing up— and Twig resembles Rue as a child more than she does her own mother. In a piece I haven’t finished yet, there’s a flashback that reveals the lighter that featured so heavily in the abuse Twig suffered is printed with her grandfather’s initials. Ruby and Twig could talk for hours, I think, about the torrential emotions that come from knowing your tormentor was a victim as well.

[anaer]

i really do hate jjk

[spanishinfluenza]

No one is more mad about havng to wait for a chapter of Rope than me. I NEED to convey this story, i need to put its tragedy on page and every minute i go without it finished i go more insane

[grimtrespasser]

True forms and auras

[juniperhillpatient]

Call me a basic bitch but I’m such a sucker for forbidden romance. Doomed romance. We know it’s wrong we know it’s not destined to last we know we’ll both get hurt & maybe so will other people too but we can’t stay away from each other. God. I watched the 1968 Romeo & Juliet movie in ninth grade English & I haven’t been the same since

[quatregats]

Honestly kind of lame of CS Forester not to go in for the weird Narnia ending. Think of how fun that could have been

[goreforum]

like no other to you, what you've done you cannot undo

[lesbianlenas]

at the end they wanted to be together so badly that the only way to save their friendship was to be apart ok 😭 what they wanted was incompatible and even though what they really wanted was each other they couldn’t have that and also be happy so they had to let each other go kmsing RN!!!!!!!

[kulvefaggoth]

ffxiv players stop trying to gaslight me into thinking Werlyt wasn't one the most atrocious questlines in xiv

[sdwolfpup]

Just sitting here, thinking about Brienne of Tarth out there doing good in a world that constantly tries to tell her good isn't possible or worth doing, and by sheer force of will changing the world around her. Reshaping what can never be into what is.

[delicourse]

dude i was just goin thru my old saved images and ur art from 2018 was there !! UR MERMAID LANCE I LOVED SO MUCH im srry for saving i swear i never reposted !! but omg ur art has evolved s much!!

oh wow that really was some time ago!! i havent looked at my old art in ages so i forgot abt that era… i should probably do a revisit some day, i remember having a lot of fun drawing those mers, so not much has changed there.. btw thank u for sticking around for such a long time!!

[manofthepipis]

Also so so sorry for writing for so long and clogging your askbox (I’m literally so obsessed with your story) :’) but there’s one more thing that I wanted to add, and that’s the relationship between Clicks and Spam. Like hooo Boy, Theres a lot to be said about those two. One thing that Ive noticed with Clicks and Spamton respectively is how… similar they are. Like, even the other Addisons make remarks on how those two behave like one another. “It was one of the things Clicks and him shared. The most impractical way to handle practical problems.” I think that this is why Clicks has such a strong resentment to Spamton in the beginning because he sees too much of himself in Spam. Maybe he might have felt the most hurt by Spamton’s abandonment. Like, maybe they were really close pre-bigshot era and Clicks just thought that Spamton was becoming too self centered or something? Or maybe it was like the typical why not me mentality? I honestly think that if Clicks and Spam want to have a better development with one another. They need to have a heart to heart y’know? Like with no one else present. Clicks having the chance to express all of his emotions, and Spamton having the chance to tell him that his life in the mansion wasn’t a bed of roses like Clicks initially thought. Like, these two need a therapy session together or something!!!! Love them tho!!

cries never ever apologize ur completely fine!! honestly i love the questions and such it makes me feel so validated as a writer ;v; (also super enthusiastic as i get a lil excuse to talk about these guys that i love so)

also i'm living for this analysis like i'm rlly glad i could get their similarity across :D I feel like the fact they're both addisons (or in spams case, former addison), clicks would understand how self-centered spamton is, as selfishness just kinda runs in their darkner type (makes for the best salesmen) but instead i think you've rlly hit the nail on the head when u brought up his 'why not me' mentality.

Like in addition to stemming from how hostile he was to spamton in-game, I tried to paint him as just feeling superior to spamton from day one. I thought it would fit better if he was a newer addison, and seeing both banner and survey excelling above the addison that's trying to still gain a semblance of respect in their group, clicks joined the winning side of not really taking spamton seriously and just seeing him as "that guy". so when the insufficient-email-addison finally surpasses them, it leads to the intense jealousy and resentment when spamton made it big.

tho now clicks is coming down from this superiority pedestal he's been on for so long, partially because he truly cares about spamton, but also, because they're so similar, and because he's still kinda selfish, he's thinking instead of "why not me" it's "oh shit THAT could have been me".

i do plan to have them talk, bc i think out of all the addisons, clicks would benefit the most from a one-on-one :) i have all of them talking next chapter that's super duper late bc of life but if everything works out, I'll have it up sometime soon!