#but my brainworms are just extremely extremely specific

[fruitageoforanges]

in some corner of the red keep…

(this might be the greatest thing i’ve ever drawn. it’s also heavily based on my ‘greens survive the dance’ fic. and yes, aegon is standing on tiptoes because there’s no way he’d be taller than aemond otherwise)

[4giorno]

they are so cute <3333 yeah ignore me im just getting emotional abt this sweet fun date at the circus

[starlene]

HJ7

“Henry Jekyll literally doesn’t know what hits him when he closes the door of his library behind him. Out of nowhere, there’s a fist in his face. His lip splits from the punch.”

A what-if fic where John Utterson gets to taste formula HJ7. 

Musical verse (specifically that production of the musical that had Utterson canonically in love with Jekyll and implied they had slept together at some point that’s given me permanent brainworms… but feel free to substitute that with your own favourite production.) Extremely unhappy and generally upsetting.

~

Maybe one day, John Utterson walks into Dr. Henry Jekyll’s empty laboratory.

Maybe the door is left slightly open, as if by accident, and he decides to go inside. Maybe, when inside, his curiosity gets the better of him and he rummages through his friend’s belongings. Maybe he comes across his diary and reads some of the latest entries, a series of incoherent scribbles where Henry seems to celebrate a great success and to describe a horrible accident at the same time.

And maybe, for reasons best known to himself, he decides to have a drink from the glass bottle he finds next to the diary, holding some of the ruby-red elixir the ecstatic entries seem to be referring to.

Unlike Edward Hyde, after the effects of formula HJ7 kick in, John Utterson doesn’t go on a rampage. He feels stronger than usual, and bolder – but he doesn’t want to shout that out for all the world to hear. Instead, his newly cleared mind is focused on a single track of thought. He puts the bottle with the rest of the elixir into his pocket and goes to Henry’s library to wait.

While waiting, he methodically rips apart every single book on the uppermost three shelves of the bookcase by the door.

~

Henry Jekyll literally doesn’t know what hits him when he closes the door of his library behind him. Out of nowhere, there’s a fist in his face. His lip splits from the punch.

Of course Henry fights back. At first, he just hits his attacker without thinking. The attacker hits back, with more force and precision than Henry. Henry’s ears are ringing, his lip and nose are bleeding, he’s losing his balance. It’s only after the two of them have fallen down and are wrestling on the floor that Henry knows for sure that his opponent is John. He has never seen his friend like that, his eyes so dark with fury he can hardly recognise him.

The fight is over soon as John easily emerges the victor. Henry is lying on the floor and John is sitting on top of him, holding him down by the base of his throat. Henry’s lip is throbbing with pain, and he is panting, his chest rising and falling under John’s palm. John presses his hand down hard enough that Henry doesn’t attempt to wriggle away, but not as hard as to take Henry’s breath or speech away.

“What the fuck? What the fuck, John, what is wrong with you?”

“I love you, Henry.”

“What? Is that why you hit me, what–”

“Shut up. Just shut the fuck up. I love you. And I hate myself for it.”

Henry is hurting all over and his head is spinning. His past weeks with Hyde have been full of surprises, but running around town having his revenge and his fun has done nothing to prepare him for his best friend’s sudden assault and confession.

“I have loved you for so long. Almost half of my life. I hate it. You’re always in my mind. I can’t have a moment to myself without you there. I want you out of my mind, but I can’t, you’re always there and I can’t stop loving you. God, Henry. I love you more than anything. I hate you for it.”

John’s words are shocking, but Henry has already stopped paying full attention to them. Instead, he stares into John's eyes. His pupils are so dilated they look completely black and his gaze is wandering, not focused on anything in particular. Just as Henry is beginning to understand what might be going on, a flash of ruby catches his attention. From the corner of his eye, he spots a half-empty glass bottle lying next to a pile of destroyed books on the other side of the room.

There can only be one explanation for this.

Henry can’t help himself: he suddenly feels very inquisitive, almost frantically so. Now that he knows personally what his new formula is capable of, it would be too dangerous to even think of testing it on anyone else. But if a test subject volunteers like this, well… The scientist in Henry is already making observations and taking mental notes. It’s so fascinating to see the effects of his formula on another person, he doesn’t hear what John is saying anymore.

“John, how much of the formula did you take?”

John answers by switching his right hand to the base of Henry’s throat and slapping his face with his left. Henry feels a new gush of blood spurting from his lip.

“LISTEN TO ME! Will you for once in your life listen to me? You’re so incredibly selfish. It’s always your studies, and your experiments, and it doesn’t matter to you what happens to the people around you because you simply don’t care.

You’re so fucking selfish, Henry. When you get some idea in your mind, you act like it’s the only thing in the world that matters, and everyone else is just there to make it happen. And when it doesn’t happen, you act like it’s the fault of everyone else but yourself. Like no one else has dreams or even any sense in his head than you.

God. Some days I hate you for all that. And yet I want you. I can’t help it. I want you so much, but I know you don’t want me. It destroys me. It destroys me to remember how we tried it once, and how you ran away afterwards. Don’t think that I’ve forgotten about that. I can’t forget it. I can’t forget how it felt when you woke up and pushed me aside and ran away.

And yet I want you. God. Not anyone else, I never have, just you. I want to have you. I want to fuck you, but I can’t have that. I want to love you, love you as my husband and not as my friend, but I can’t have that. I can only have you as my friend, so I try to be the best friend I can be, though for God’s sake, you don’t make it easy. But I try, so I can have you like that. That at least as a friend, I can be closer to you than anyone else.

But now that you’re getting married to your precious fiancée, soon I can’t even have you like that anymore.”

John stops his tirade for a moment, as if to allow all his accusations some time to sink in. Henry doesn’t say anything, but he thinks, it’s not like that. He loves Emma like one loves taking a walk across a sunlit meadow on a beautiful spring day. And he loves John too, like one loves sitting by a warm fireplace after a rainstorm. He loves them both, in completely different ways, and it has never occurred to him that by inviting Emma into his life he would be pushing John out of it.

But he doesn’t love John like John loves him, that much is true. He can’t be John’s. He can’t be anyone’s. Not even Emma’s, not completely, he doesn’t want to be–

Henry wheezes as John moves his hand higher on his throat. As his assailant speaks again, he sounds very close to tears.

“Henry, I can’t go on like this. I can’t go on loving you so much. I want it to stop. Why can’t I make it stop? I can’t stop thinking how you’re the only thing that I want. That I’ve ever wanted. I live for you, and you don’t even notice it. You make it so hard for me. I can’t bear it anymore.”

John is crying now, he is leaning over Henry and his tears are falling on his face.

“I love you so much, but my life, everything… It would be better without you. It would be better if you didn’t exist.”

A wave of fear courses through Henry, sudden and white and hot, like molten lead. His formula has clearly unleashed a torrent of fury and misery within John, stronger than Henry could ever have believed his friend capable of feeling. But now, with the grip on his throat tightening further, Henry understands that simply hurting and intimidating him might not be enough for this new side of John. No. He might actually be dangerous.

And with John already being the sturdier and stronger of them, even without HJ7 in his veins boosting his strength… More and more waves of white-hot fear are storming in Henry now. He’s starting to panic, he knows he can’t fight back, but he tries to think, think, think.

Henry knows that in a situation like this, Hyde wouldn’t agree to any bargain, but maybe John’s is a different beast. Maybe he can be negotiated with. John’s grip is getting almost too tight for Henry to speak, but it’s not quite there yet. He decides to take his chance and beg.

“John, please… Don’t. You can do anything else to me. Anything you want. I want you… I want you to do it, whatever you like. Just please don’t kill me.”

John’s pitch-black eyes stare straight into Henry’s for a moment.

“I mean it. I’m yours. I’m yours. Anything you want. Just… Please…”

The hand holding Henry by the throat lets go. Henry gasps for breath as John scoops him up from the floor and squeezes him against himself. It hurts when he pushes his mouth against Henry’s split lip.

Henry’s blood flows in their mouths and seals their kiss.

[penny00dreadful]

So... some of you may have noticed my fics have come to a screeching halt the last couple of months which is not like me and I am here to explain myself.

Babygirl, I have been preparing.

The end of this month is my 1 year anniversary of posting in this fandom, of posting any of my work online after not doing it for like fifteen fucking years and it has brought me so much incandescent joy, I decided I had to do something for it.

(I've also hit like... several milestones which is fucking insane like you all know I'm just some cranky bog witch, right??)

I have been working on my WIPs for over the last two months. All... holy mother of god... like nine of them???

Some of these have been completed, some I am still writing and some are mostly done.

So starting from my anniversary date, 23rd October, every second or third day, I'll be posting a chapter of something.

I have so much material built up this shit could go on until 2024

@hbyrde36 called it my own personal Penny00Dreadful BigBang... and yeah kinda! 😅

I wanted to do this to show just how much I love this community. Your kind words, your support, your unhinged ramblings, your obsessive love, your talent (for free??) it's all amazing it's so amazing and I wanted to explode forth with my love for it so I figured why the fuck not do this stupid idea??😅

All of these will be posted both to tumblr and AO3 so subscribe over there to keep updated or follow me here!

OH! And let me know if you wanna be tagged! If you wanna be tagged for a specific fic or for everything I'll add you, whatever you want.

You've made me so happy and so warm for the last year. The way I know if I'm having a bad day I just need to hop onto this side of tumblr and everything will be peaches and gravy again.

I love you guys so much. 😘🖤

Updated Schedule - (18th Feb 2024)

Fic list with blurbs below the cut, this will (roughly) be the order they're posted in:

Return of The King - COMPLETE

Steddie Vampire AU with a twist! Vampire Steve comes back after falling to the bats. There is two more chapters left and those chapters have been completed.

Comeuppance - COMPLETE

Dustin just wants Steve to be happy. So he tries to parent trap him with Nancy. Clearly they should be together. But Steve's heart doesn't even seem to be in it at all! How is he so bad at this? And Eddie is being less than helpful

Rookie Mistake - COMPLETE

My Steddie Established Relationship Spies AU oneshot that will have a multi-chapter prequel fic coming very soon after!

Eddie is "retired" and Steve has been injured on the job, so he's supposed to be taking it easy. How hard could a walk to the gas station be?

Before He Cheats - COMPLETE

Songfic! Carrie Underwood - Before He Cheats

I literally have no excuse for this one. The rotted brainworms were behind the steering wheel with this one.

One evening, Eddie gets a call from some guy named Steve dropping the news on him that his boyfriend has been cheating on him. With this Steve person and Steve had no idea up until that day.

And Eddie rarely takes that shit lying down.

Steddievember Smut - COMPLETE

No Nut November is here! One can play however he wants. The other just has to wait for December to roll around. I have no other words to describe what this will be, it does what it says on the tin. I blame the STWG discord server. Currently we're looking at four little ficlets for this.

Cat and Mouse - COMPLETE

The Steddie Spies AU Prequel! How they got together and the extreme ups and downs their enemies/rivals to lovers journey goes through. I had so much fun with this one.

And They Were Roommates! - COMPLETE

omg they were roommates.

Steve and Eddie don't hate each other exactly. They just... tolerate each other. But one night Eddie doesn't come home for hours. Long after he's supposed to and it's not like Steve is worried or anything... he's just... concerned for a fellow human being... that's all.

Through The Valley - IN PROGRESS

Post-Apocalyptic AU. Eddie, Dustin and Nancy have a nice little community of survivors outside of Hawkins that they take care of, surviving day to day. Everyone's a little broken, missing the rest of their Party just hoping that one day they'll find each other again.

Devotion

Dungeons and Dragons AU. Steve is the golden boy of the small town of Hawkins. Harrington in name and now a Paladin with his very own oath to hunt down the Bard, the witch Eddie Munson and bring him back to justice under High Priest Henry Creel.

[adorablebanite]

Were your Durge/Tavs inspired by characters from other movies/shows/literature?

Lilla's neither; she's more of a "side character," but here are her biggest inspirations!

Judge Anderson (DREDD): Lilla is a Knowledge domain cleric - supported by her Patron Bane (introduced by Gortash, of course). Anderson can read minds, and Knowledge clerics have the same ability, as well as other Banite-adjacent abilities like Command, and Dominate Person. She's obviously going to be different than the other Banite cleric NPC's in game, as her job is to specifically protect Gortash (she protecc but also attacc).

I wanted her to be bookish, prim(in public👀), and an over achiever - essentially a prime example of professionalism, as the boss is trying to be a politician 😈

I really like Judge Anderson's innocent competence, so I wanted to keep that Lilla's front-facing demeanor; even when her arc does stray away from the good moral alignment after being hired on by Gort - in which her moral alignment clearly gets influenced by him, but she realizes later it's literally just in her blood to be a Banite!

---

Lee (Secretary) -I love the innocent-to-confident character arc, (as you can probably see by the Judge Anderson arc as well,) but let's be real, Lilla was originally created for a smut so I could waggle my brainworms, and the Secretary holds a special place in my heart.

The movie greatly inspired Awaiting Further Instruction, and I really enjoyed having Lilla go through an adventure of finding her nature, with the help of Gortash, of course. You've got the pathetic Dom, and the pathetic Sub, and while they're both actually pathetic, they find a security in each other's world that even though it's unconventional and twisted, it brings them comfort.

---

GoGo (Kill Bill): obviously vastly different from Anderson, so you can kind of see how the arc goes - and while I don't make Lilla nearly as sadistic as GoGo, she still does have a little streak of it when it comes to anyone who is threatening, insulting, or impeding Gortash in whatever way.

Lilla's demeanor can quickly switch from prim/professional/sweet, to taking personal pleasure in dispatching a rival for Gortash, depending on the level of the crime. Like him, she has a personal perception of justice that greatly aligns with his, and if she has been sicced on someone who has wronged him, she will sentence them accordingly. This can range from playful banter/underhanded threats and blackmail, to abruptly decapitating a goblin mid-sentence because he said something uncouth about Gortash.

My vision for her was the "loyal sidekick of the mob boss," and I find it extremely fun giving her a more interesting role than "yes master, no master," specifically for smut purposes.

---

Scleritas Fel (BG3) : LOL Yes, my initial idea was: "Why can't Gortash have a little minion like Scleritas Fel?" And here we are 😅🫣

I didn't want to rip off the concept of Scleritas directly, but Lilla is still intrinsically tied to Bane because he made her - not like Bhaal made Durge - but more of a "secret, experimental ritual commissioned by Bane, conducted in the outskirts of Calimport where some Banites conceived a person designed to seek out and serve his Chosen, but she ended up being too loveable and the Banites couldn't stand treating her like Banites should, so they wiped her memory, sent her to an orphanage, and offed themselves in shame," kind of way.

Obviously Bane was also ashamed by his botched experiment, so they have a shaky relationship, but that's all been settled in the fic 😇

Ultimately I wanted to write something fun for Gortash - and give him something nice! Lilla is very nice, and likes him very much (bordering on obsession), and is actually very useful in many ways beyond smutty silliness! She does a lot of research, spies, transcribes, organises dossiers/blackmail material, and pretty much oversees his political campaign and businesses (legal and otherwise) while he does the big-boy-chosen work.

I'll do one about Destri (Durge) soon too 🥰

Now that I've prattled on, I'd love to hear about other people's inspiration for their OCs, if they have them!!

@melvinthedepressedrobot

@kaava

@obuoliukai

@walkerdraws

@ennissg

@beecreeper

@newtia

@sankttealeaf

(I have to rush now but I want to hear about everyone so please tag me if you end up doing this and you're not already tagged so I can see it!! 🙏🙏🙏)

[cyberdragoninfinity]

ok it’s time for dana to hoot and holler about zexal

finished ygo zexal for the first time last week and i absolutely adored it and am STILL thinking so much about it (as i will be probably for. a While now if my relationships with the other ygo spinoffs ive seen are any indication).....time again for me to do my little personal rambly yugioh series retrospective post as the brainworms truly start to set in. kattobingu feel the flow high five the sky build the overlay network let’s goooo!!!

more under the cut. a lot more lol. spoilers for a decade old anime, naturally

GOD. YEAH. THIS ONE MIGHT BE MY FAVORITE YUGIOH SERIES IVE SEEN YET. HOLY SHIT. 2021 Dana was really out here thinking Zexal looked kind of annoying (based on mild DL characters/plot osmosis) and not terribly interesting and I want to go back in time and shake her shoulders and say NO. NO YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND. ZEXAL FUCKING ROCKS. every yugioh has some degree of Danabait to it (probably because. watching Duel Monsters as a child was the catalyst to what Danabait even is lol) but JESUS MARY AND JOSEPH Zexal is like being hit by one nuclear bomb of shit genetically engineered in a lab to make me insane after another.

THE ART STYLE. OF ZEXAL, FOR ONE. makes me absolutely rabid animal bonkers--I LOVE seeing the way the ygo art style has been honed and developed and evolved over time. YGO influenced my art style more than I can articulate, and then zexal comes in swinging with the ygo art style at its Most Zany. The EXPRESSIONS in this show!!!!!!!!! Fucking rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A MASSIVE CHUNK OF THE CAST DOESNT HAVE MOUTHS HALF THE TIME AND YET STILL ARE SOME OF THE MOST EXPRESSIVE YGO GUYS EVER!!!! Constantly making expressions I LOVE to draw!!!! and oh my god the COLOR DIRECTION OF YUGIOH ZEXAL?!?!? genuinely absolutely phenomenal and one of my all time favorites i’ve seen in any cartoon, western or anime. you mean to tell me we got a lighting and color budget now??? we get yugioh scenes looking like this??!??

THE BEST. THE BEST. THE BEST. OBSESSED WITH IT. ABSORBING ZEXAL’S COLOR AND EXPRESSION PROWESS. STEALING ITS POWER.

ANYWAY as usual with my ygo watching i was primarily watching the dub (absolutely thrilled to have a Completed Yugioh Dub to watch for the first time since DM, MAN.) but I did end up watching...over half of Zexal II’s sub; stuff just gets so absolutely insane with the Barian Emperors that I desperately wanted every possible inch of their lore so I ended up watching both (sometimes back and forth at the same type like an unhinged wild animal) for the full picture. I like Zexal’s dub a lot!! its comedic timing is ON POINT, EXTREMELY FUNNY DUB. and really like..all of the main dub VAs are so, SO good (as they usually are.) There are a lot of bizarre things they cut though, a lot of childhood flashbacks and little character moments and the like. It’s a shame! I can only imagine a lot of them were cut to leave more room for ad time which. Sucks a bit 🥴A lot of duels do whip a lot harder in the sub too, especially in the back half..... still though, enjoyed my time with the dub. there’s a remarkable amount of stuff i am SHOCKED they actually did keep in?!??! The car crash that killed Shark’s parents is just straight up presented as is with like one or two small cuts. A LITTLE GIRL’S DEAD BODY IS SHOWN?? ON SCREEN??? ZEXAL DUB!! KIDS LOVE IT SO!!! MY GOD!!!

ok enough on that. some breakdowns/specific points like I usually do with these roundups:

Stuff I Didn’t Like: always get this one outta the way first. There really wasnt a whole lot I straight up disliked with this one!! It’s extremely solid all around. It does, of course, have some...Choices, being made, like. Girag’s lips. and. Girag’s backstory. Love the guy but oh my god why did they do that to him 😭Yugioh Racially Questionable moments ride again!!! At this point it’s just par for the course, definitely not the first time a ygo has. Done stuff like that. Ah well. Worth mentioning though.

What’s really a shame is that Zexal has some of the COOLEST, MOST FUN GIRL CHARACTERS, and time and time again they just dont do anything with them!!!!!!!!!!!! IT’S SO FRUSTRATING. i LOVE rio but the poor girl is fridged for literally 2/3s of the series!! She’s in the hospital like five times!!!! Rio and Anna and Tori and Dextra and Kari are all like, some of my favorite ygo gals YET but they have maybe 5 duels between them. Konami let your girls DUEL CHALLENGE. PLEASE.

hm what else. I guess also the final showdown with the series “Big Bad” was. uh. kind of let down lmao. But to be fair I was positively spoiled last series with the Z-one duel lol. Can’t win ‘em all. As cool as the concept of “the protag and rival team up to duel the Big Bad” is, and as cool as Don Thousands Entire toxic manipulative dynamic with the Barian Emperors is for like the Entire Rest of Zexal II is, they just....don’t. Do much with him for that last Donny T duel?? Would have loved more backstory elaboration or just like. Anything. It was over so soon and I was like “...that was it??” HDFHGSDFG thankfully the last two duels of zexal whip like hell so we bounce back!!

i also kind of wish don thousand kept his sick as hell demon armor form but c’est la vie i suppose. sad! well there’s other guys.

Favorite Season: I actually have no idea how Zexal is split up into seasons, so I guess Fav Arc would be a better term? Anyway I loved the World Duel Carnival Arc, I’m one of like 5 people who actually enjoy tournament arcs but i think theyre FUN and this one is a blast. There’s Arclight Family Agonies coming from every direction and there’s the INSANE DUEL ROLLER COASTER and Vetrix is bouncing around being a little freak, it’s GREAT

anyway and then Zexal II came in and grabbed me by the head and threw me into the drywall

LIKE. MY GOD. ZEXAL HAS THE FUCKING EMOTIONAL PACING OF MORAL OREL. YOU HIT Z2 AND SHIT STARTS GETTING REAL AND GOING HARD AS HELL AND IM OUT HERE GETTING MY BRAIN SCRAMBLED. I love like. All of the arcs of zexal II it’s hard to pick a favorite but I DO really like just that first third or so where the Barians are just starting to show up and the horrors haven’t quite begun and everything’s so silly and Ray Shadows is Very There. gives me gx season 1 vibes a little bit. it’s a delight.

Favorite Characters: oh right I should. talk about that. pained smile.

i joke about this a lot but usually every ygo series has like. A Character That’s My Actual Favorite, and A Character That Makes Me Absolutely Insane (syrus vs. zane, leo vs. aporia, etc.) but, uh. this time I GUESS THAT’S JUST. THE SAME CHARACTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SORRY. TO BE BASIC. BUT WHY DID THEY DO THAT TO ME. WHY DID THEY PUT A CHARACTER IN ZEXAL WHO ALREADY LOOKS LIKE MY ART STYLE. ALREADY LOOKS LIKE I DREW HIM. AND THEN MAKE HIM FUCKED UP AND SILLY AND A SAD LITTLE JACKASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ABSOLUTELY NEFARIOUS!!!!!!!!! 2021 dana had no CLUE they were hiding this fucker in the back of one of the ygo spinoffs. never could have predicted it. vector’s genuinely one of the best ygo characters of all time to me. what if a yugioh character had the most absolutely bonkers expressions youve ever seen and he was constantly doing little bits and acting like a little funnyman and then the devil fucking Kills Him. he’s perfect. the madness has only just begun to infect me i fear.

ANYWAY other than The Carrot in Question, I fucking love like...all of Zexal’s cast; I think this is the first time for any ygo where a series just didnt really have any characters I straight up Did Not Like. it’s such a solid, colorful cast that just checks so many boxes for my fav kinds of characters. I didn’t think I was gonna like Yuma but I ended up LOVING HIM!!!! I LOVE SEEING A YGO PROTAG THATS LIKE..ACTUALLY BAD AT THE GAME, THAT GROWS BETTER AND STRONGER OVER TIME BUT STAYS SO SILLY. I love what Zexal does to “traditional” yugioh character archetypes--Shark and Kite are both such cool rival characters and the shit they do with Shark especially?!?! NEVER COULD HAVE IMAGINED THEM DOING THAT. WITH A YUGIOH RIVAL. KAIBA COULD NEVER.

Narrowing down a top five fav Zexal guys is so hard, they really came in swinging with Catostrophic Families AND insane alien guys, but after pondering I think I’d have to say rn it’s Vector, Shark, Nistro (my fuckin  MAN!!!!!!!), Trey, and Alito. Immediate runnerup also being Tori. I fucking love Tori, new favorite main ygo girl. She bore witness to All That Shit and never folded. SHe’s Yuma’s FRIEND his CONFIDANT his EMOTIONAL SUPPORT!!!!! Absolute boss. Yuma would be dead in a ditch somewhere by episode 20 without her around.

Favorite Duel: BEEN GOING BACK AND FORTH ON THIS A LOT but I think my favorite duel was and still is the Trey vs. Yuma duel in zexal I, it’s just fantastic. The COLORS AND LIGHTING!!!!! The stakes!!! The SICK DUEL ARMOR!! Trey literally threatens a world-ending murder-suicide because he wants his family to be proud of him and well i’ll just explode into bits all up and down the road about it. Goes hard as hell. Trey and Yuma’s dynamic is one of my favs in Zexal but that’s it’s own post.

I also love all of Alito’s duels (especially the tag duel with Nistro, which is one of the most atrociously danabait duels ever (slash pos) and his last duel against yuma, which ALSO has some of the fucking coolest shots and lighting of any yugioh duel to me) and the last duel between Shark and Yuma. Shit rocks.

Zexal is also pretty unique to me in that it’s the first time i can really concretely say ive had favorite EPISODES as opposed to just favorite duels. There are so many episodes left and right that just make my fucking head explode. The BASEBALL DUEL FRIENDSHIP GAMES EPISODE. The EPISODE WHERE YUMA AND SHARK ARE IN THE HOSPITAL. The “VECTOR GETS STRAPPED INTO THE ALIEN GOD THRONE AND MR. HEARTLAND IS BEING INSANE AND THE ARCLIGHTS ARE IN A SUBMARINE AND ERAZOR IS GOING TO FUCKING KILL YUMA’S FRIENDS” episode. THE. UM. THE EPISODE WHERE THIS HAPPENS

^BROKE MY WHOLE DAMN BRAIN IN HALF. I AM STILL RECOVERING FROM THE DAMAGE zexal II comes in swinging with episodes that just knock your tits clean off and you LOVE to see it!!!!

Miscellaneous Other Zexal Gushing: IT’S JUST FUCKING GOOD!!!! THERE’S SO MUCH TO LOVE!!!!! I love the cast, I love Yuma and Astral’s dynamic and just how much love is there. I LOVE yuma’s friend group, they are SUCH perfect dweeby little middle schooler weird kids. I love the ways Zexal parallels Duel Monsters (and imo takes a lot of elements from DM and does them even better), I love Yuma’s grandma and Kari, ABSOLUTE REAL ONES!!! I fucking love Orbital 7. I love the Number cards and how theyre just completely thematically not related to each other at ALL (sometimes it’s a bug! sometimes it’s a guy! sometimes it’s an entire floating civilization!!!) I love the ABSOLUTELY BONKERS RELIGIOUS MOTIFS AND SYMBOLISM FLYING AROUND IN ANY AND ALL DIRECTIONS. THEY DID THAT FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! ASTRAL CHRIST ALLEGORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I just...adore how fundamentally Zexal is about kindness and hope and love, and also about how it’s so important to not lose yourself or your sense of fun as you grow up!! That theme absolutely EVISCERATED ME when gx came out swinging with it in its last season, and it’s GETTIN ME AGAIN HERE!!! IT’S ABOUT HAVING FUN!! IT’S ABOUT THE BONDS WE MAKE WITH OTHERS!!! IT’S ABOUT HOW CEASELESS KINDNESS CAN BE AN UNSTOPPABLE FORCE THAT MAKES EVEN THE IMMOVEABLE MOVEABLE. yuma has SO much joy and love and forgiveness in his body and it makes me WAIL.

Duel Monsters really ends on this note of “goodbye” with Atem leaving, and it works well for that story’s themes of grief. Meanwhile I think it’s very special that while Zexal also ends on a goodbye with Astral leaving, it feels so much more like a “see you later.”  That hanging note of “we’ll meet again.” It’s so sweet. The themes of past and future at play really just make you root for these kids and hope they grow up into the best versions of themselves.

Also it’s so fucking funny that like All of the Cast That Died and Went to Hell Came Back Except Mr. Heartland Who Definitely Died For Real. gay WRONGS.

God. what else. I’m sure I’ll think of 8352389 more things I love about Zexal immediately after I post this. It’s just that good. So thrilled I gave it a go. I love you Xyz Monsters I love you Dyson Sphere I love you Vector’s dub and sub voices I love you Duel Monster Based Off of the Titantic I love you Dr. Faker’s absolutely insane character design I love you Barian World I love you Arclight family I love you Zexal II Dub Opening Song That’s Sung By Bruno 5D’s VA I love you YUMA AND FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!! ZEXAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cant wait to port all these kids to the college AU. it’s already happening. I love them so much

[ursafootprints]

*eagerly holds up microphone ;D

1, 3, 12, 13, 17, 22, 24, 26, 27, 29, 30

Sldkfjsdf 💖💖💖 THANK YOU FRIEND you're the sean evans to my weeping-while-answering-questions interviewee

1, 12, 24 have all been answered!

3. What’s something you learned about yourself as a writer? Oh, gosh. That I can finish something longer than five chapters? That banking all my oneshot ideas is a great way to focus on a main project but means I will be extremely scattered from having too many WIPs in the aftermath? I feel like I'm much less thoughtful/self-aware about this kind of stuff than a lot of other authors, lmao.

13. What fic was the easiest to write? Cheating because it was by far the shortest, but it happens here every day (and its soon-to-be-posted Part 2, as they were actually originally written as a one-shot, haha.) I finished each scene in one sitting of CLAMP-fuelled brainworms.

For the ones that are on more equal ground wordcount-wise, Pyrite was the easiest! I had a pretty solid idea of what I wanted out of it and didn't struggle overly much with any of the individual elements.

17. What were your go-to writing snacks? Salt & vinegar chips are my favorite snack, but I don't snack while I write! I don't wanna get chipfingers on my keyboard.

22. Share an excerpt from your favorite scene I can't actually pick a favorite from the last two chapters of YNYD (Peter's talks with May? Tony and Peter's final date night before Peter moves for MIT?? the final scene?!), so instead, from Pyrite:

"I accepted that I had no fucking clue what Dad would let you get away with all the way back when you were three and I didn't revert to being an only child after you drew all over his Shelby Cobra with a screwdriver," he said, rolling his eyes at the memory. It's not like he'd at all wanted his baby brother to get slapped into next Tuesday, but— "For all I know you could blow Norman Osborn right in front of him and he'd just compliment your technique." "Tony!" Peter squawked with a peal of horrified laughter, twisting up out of Tony's lap to shove at his shoulder in protest. "'Hmm, excellent work, son,'" Tony intoned in a well-practiced imitation of their father, catching Peter's wrists. "'See how he's working the shaft, Anthony? Now this is how a worthy Stark successor sucks cock.'" "Oh my god," Peter wailed as he struggled against Tony's grip to try and shut him up, beet red and laughing.

Despite being wholly inappropriate, Tony was actually just being a big brother rather than trying to flirt with Peter here, and so this part actually struck me as being weirdly charming as a look into what their sibling relationship could've been like if not for… everything.

26. If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year? Oh finishing YNYD for sure. I've never written anything near that long or complex before (my next-longest work is only 37k vs YNYD's 166k,) much less finished it, and it felt like a massive accomplishment.

If we're talking something more specific to the writing process, coming up with the idea of using Hanahaki as the premise for the wicked love sequel was also super satisfying! I was pretty content with the idea of just letting the first part stand alone as a full-on tragedy, but I did keep rolling the idea of "but what would their relationship look like after that" around in my mind just out of sheer fascination with it.

I didn't think my answer at the time ("they'd get therapy but Tony wouldn't really ever open up to talk about it and things would never really be the same I guess???") would be that interesting to write or read, but landing on "Tony would be forced to talk about it because his son got Hanahaki" was immediately exciting!

27. Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic? I live in a constant state of buying myself a little treat, so I probably did that, but otherwise not really actually!

29. If this were an awards show, who would you thank? Lolll oh god. You and @shivanessa for sure for all the lovely gifts and for being such thoughtful and supportive readers and friends, my sibling for listening to me ramble about my fics, Rome for letting me bounce ideas off of them and being a wonderful friend and cheerleader, allllllll of my regular commenters…!! You guys are what makes being in fandom so fun 💖💖💖

30. What’s something that you want to write in 2024? Lmaoooooooooo

People were sharing their WIPs lists in the Super Starkers server a while back so I threw one together and, well…

…We'll see what happens!!

[kraefishh]

figured i'd post mine and my friends wols on main for the time being while im still stockpiling stuff for when i eventually make that side blog for em

basic stuff is - 1) there's more than one wol 2) by more than one i mean there are seven of them 3) each one/two of them are designated for a specific expansion 4) i have so much stuff planned for them all and have not even finished stormblood (please help me)

also im putting them under a cut so the post isnt naturally extremely fucking long

SO WE'LL START IN ORDER!!!!

Alidae Mendica -- ARR WoL. only one without a "traditional" name convention. SMN/MCH/GNB. bloody banquet happened and she got to ishgard and went "NOPE. I'M DONE." and goes and spends most of her time at the skysteel manufactory with garlond ironworks.

i love her very much she was the first i made. i nearly played an elezen but then really wanted to be small. so after finishing the opening cutscene i restarted and well!! shes here!! shes ready to kick some ass!!!

T'lyr Kho -- 1/2 Heavensward WoLs. is half miqo half garlean, possesses the third eye as well (hence the shaggy hair+forehead coverings). PLD/DRG/DRK/SGE. is never doing well at any given moment. he is (not) coping.

he's the one who made me spiral and make 3 more characters. i love him so so dearly.

Touya Kawa (@twisted-solace's wol) -- the other Heavensward WoL. WAR/DRG/RPR. the most shy and well spoken but will not hesitate to cleave you. works himself to death (quite nearly literally!).

i wish i had more to say about him other than he is very silly. him and t'lyr picked up lancer as a bonding experience and then got roped into dragoon lore (whoopsie!!)

Koren Cadoret -- 1/2 Stormblood WoLs. has 1v1'd Zenos too many times to count. very very protective of his sister and friends. MNK/SAM (plus blue mage and soon to be viper!!).

I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM!!!! punch first ask questions later. wants to be everyone's friend. separation anxiety got his ass in shadowbringers cause he was the last wol to be summoned to the first.

Raana Cadoret -- the other Stormblood WoL. took her brother and left her village the moment she was declared to be the next matriarch. DNC/AST/RDM. likes to give koren shit about his poor decisions.

she makes me go :) !!!!! we really cant decide if she picks up astrologian on the first or if she does it beforehand.

Sthallona Dhemskyltwyn -- 1.0 WoL and also Shadowbringers at the same time?? shes going through it. WHM/BLM. grew up the daughter of a famous pirate. Thancred's childhood best friend.

feigned death after the calamity until she gets pulled to the first and is like "AH SHIT. HERE WE GO AGAIN." she gives me perhaps the most brainworms.

AND FINALLY

Sarangerel Malqir (@trying_to_cosplay on insta's wol) -- Endwalker WoL while also being a whole can of worms by herself. was her universe's only WoL before shit collided in shadowbringers and she met everyone else

the love of my life-- ahem. currently only Warrior canonically because my friend is not even halfway through ARR. very much younger sibling energy to the rest of the scions/wols.

last notes - 1) t'lyr and touya are gay (lovingly referred to as 'the boyfs' by me and @twisted-solace) touya nearly fucking dies for t'lyr and t'lyr proceeds to go oh wait fuck i dont want to lose you. normal shit for their line of work. 2) koren canonically says "you wanna fuck me so bad it makes you look stupid" to zenos. and zenos proceeds to get very confused. zenos isnt even who he ends up with koren just likes fucking with him. 3) raana went through 4 different wol/npc ship ideas before we finally landed on hien. that was hell. 4) alidae and cid are best friends!! stamp of approval right here!!! alidae also hates nero's guts. 5) if biggs and wedge (who i lovingly refer to as the 'lab boys') are around, alidae is not far behind. 6) alidae was named before i realized there was a character named alisaie. this is canonically a struggle for everyone. 7) sthallona swam her ass to sharlayan upon realizing that thancred had been taken under louisoix's wing. insert LET ME IN. LET ME IIIIIIN gif here. she wrote a thesis on how to combine conjuring and thaumaturge magic before ever knowing what a red mage was. (she is very stupid but also unnaturally smart). 8) t'lyr can't use magic. point blank. his third eye fucks that up for him. only reason he can be a Sage is because the magitek does it for him. on the bright side he's really good at parkour!!!

anyway if you got down this far thank you for looking at my blorbos. i am working (not very) hard to get that sideblog set up for these weirdos. i appreciate them very much they consume my every waking thought.

[muffinrecord]

What’s your recommendation for Arc 2 Events/Side Stories worth watching the translations for? I’m trying to catch up but some are so long, I’d rather just read a summary if they aren’t great.

Ohh I actually have a great resource for you!

The Magia Record Event Guide!

It's updated frequently (not by me) and has summaries and lists of characters and such for each event, including NA stuff if that tickles your fancy. I definitely recommend taking a peruse through it!

As for what I would recommend personally, hmmm. Well, this is for my taste specifically but:

The Peaceful Daily Life of Nayuta's Family - Probably my favorite arc 2 event! It's surprisingly funny and wholesome. Nayuta and Rabi have a good dynamic. Mikage is adorable.

My Little Bird's Star - Kuroe's event! I think it does a nice dive into her character and it has some cute Mikazuki moments.

The Green Jasper Diviners - This one feels very classic PMMM to me. I could see this one (and See You Tomorrow) being especially good in print/manga or a separate anime or something. It's just very solid overall.

Girls in the Hood - This is extremely popular online and for good reason. A lot of people I know have brainworms for Jun/Mitsune and if you're looking for something with a surprising amount of depth, I'd recommend this one.

Angels on the Road - THIS WAS HAS NO GODDAMN RIGHT TO BE AS GOOD AS IT IS. IT'S PRACTICALLY INFURIATING????

The Legendary Story of the Paper Mulberry Leaf - I have a real soft spot for this one ;_; 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

-

I also recommend basically all the Puella Historia stuff, save for maybe the Egypt one (it's not bad but it's also not a standout to me). That's more Arc 2.5 though.

Good luck!

[kyriathanatos]

How do I get more comfortable with the Horni? I feel like I have trouble saying things cause my brain's like "NOPE! Can't say that, they will put you in the gulag!"

i dunno! i simply don't have that brainworm. a long time ago i ripped it out.

to me, horniness and porn and sex and sexuality is all inherently funny. Like, 2 people plap sweaty meat together and that makes a kid and it lasts maybe 5 minutes on average and that's considered by many to be the pinnacle of a good time? hilarious.

someone has to see a specific scenario that is extremely picky and personal to them before their brain can even THINK about supplying blood to their genitals? you couldn't write better comedy if you tried, thats so stupid, why are we like that? its so fucking funny

obviously i know there are places to not be horny because others have a less relaxed view of it than i do, but in my own streams or spaces? i'm openly horny about a lot of stuff because i just genuinely think it's funny

(also im kind of autistically specially interested in learning about the psychology of fetishes and methodology of kink so that helps lol)

[lobpoints]

honestly i’ve recently been brainworming about how even though carmen’s colour is obviously red, in LC her speech box is blue??? both the memories of carmen and angela are just his interpretation of her… i love how on the surface its a hint for the player that they are connected but if you dig deeper it is one of the main reasons he failed w angela!! he only ever knew the version of carmen that existed in his own head, he could never replicate her in her entirety, angela is blue just like his carmen, but his carmen is flawed by design…….

SORRY IF I ANSWER LATE SINCE THIS ASK MAKE ME SIT DOWN AND THINK(TM) A BIT but here are my thoughts on them though it super long and super incoherent since I dont know how to necessary connect points smoothly

On the topic of color coding I actually did talk with my friends a lot on how Carmen's color or at least one that has big impression on Ayin or an indication to their relationship or connection are all red but I didn't know if I was reading too deep in it

For example:

• her eyes

•The red hairband that is said in the artbook to be a present from A

• Bloodbath

And to specifically talk about Bloodbath it is also how Angela offered the manager champagne which resembles the color of her eyes after one of your employee presumably died which is an obvious call back to that one specific passage in Bloodbath but the alcohol that was used in the past scenario was red wine which is the color of Carmen's eyes. I personally interpret this scene as Angela venting her own frustration and despair at the presumingly oblivious manager in the form of her mocking his own sad little story as well

That along with you can see how each sephirot and even including Angela has their own specific color coded letter box that fits their own respective theme while Carmen's is blue which like you said signify her connection to Carmen despite her character color theme have little to do with it and Ayin's color box is red despite his primary color being black and white (additionally I thinks that the way the characters are color coded in LC have to do with their association with respective sephirot in the tree of life in Kabbalah as well but I have not read many researches on this so I cant say for sure im qualified to speak on this topic)

And another thing of the fact that after Angela escaped from her role from lc in lor you actually don't get to see any red accessories or clothing pieces on main her design anymore being not only the red hair band is gone but also the red tie and the red shoes is also a very interesting detail to me and again as seen

I'm still warping my head around what this all mean in full extent and my personal contemplating have me agreeing it does play into Ayin and to an extent Angela's own perception of Carmen that heavily associated with their traumatic association with her seen by how most of the examples I given you here are all extremely emotionally distressing moments or sweet moment that turned distressing/become a bad symbol after bad trauma. Along side with calling to their side of characters that actually resemble and connect to her own. There are parallel to be drawn between Ayin Carmen Angela all together like you once said there are so much Carmen in Angela and Carmen in Ayin and Ayin in Angela and vice versa also literally this

Into the question of Ayin failed with Angela in like, if I understand your question right, is on his attempt to actually create an AI of Carmen out of nothing I personally think that no matter what kind of perception Ayin had of Carmen (though I do agree that it played a part in it) he would still end up with the same type of failed sentient AI because what stopping him from making said AI was not only his own comprehension of Carmen's character but also because he personally view the act itself as something inherently disgusting and morally reprehensible. Abram talking about the making of Sephirot which is the closest to an Angela's creation something only a sick twisted person would do in the main story and Ayin's monolog in Snow Queen saying that Carmen would have been disgusted by him knowing he would do this which indicate that he personally see the act itself as disgusting too. Despite him saying him feeling no guilt here player with full context of the game can immediately deduce like yeah, he was like actively lying to himself about the fact that he feels no guilt in the narration because the whole game is him lying making up scenario for himself in favor of an ultra realization for completion of Carmen's life dream and him being unsure and lying about everything he feels which I personally think would effect his decision in making Angela as well as literally everything he does

(Literally examples for his "I lied, lmao" moment)

And in one QnA where the writer did straight up say that "Ayin simply couldnt and wouldn't make anything resemble Carmen" which can be interpret in a multitude of ways but at the same time PM have not been consistent with their lore answer in QnA in comparison to their plot development as well so take it with a pinch of salt as well. There are many reasons for Ayin to make Angela like That and I have my own personal interpretation of How Ayin Views Carmen personally since many things be affecting his view on her I agree with you but also don't know if you can pinpoint it as the Exact Main Reason to why he failed since not only was he flawed in perceiving Carmen he is flawed in being like, a Committed person along with him being actually very emotionally perceptive of people that he rather just look away from them for his own personal comfort by actively lying to himself about the reality in which he experience along with many other thing

[theygotbitchesinmedia]

hi hi!! i’m very sorry if any of these are repeats alr on your list, my old rickety ass phone didn’t want to load the doc 😭 i wanted to recommend (& have epubs for all, lmk if you need em!):

- the burning kingdoms trilogy by tasha suri (last book comes out this nov). two women protagonists who are both Kind Of Fucked Up and neither makes great choices most of the time, both driven by revenge. another woman who also is Kind Of Fucked Up also plays a major recurring role and has her own PoV chapters throughout. it’s not on the level of the traitor baru in terms of writing style, mostly just in themes, but if you liked that i think you’ll enjoy these books!

- she who became the sun by shelley parker-chan: SOOOO good, gave me brainworms. it’s sold as “mulan meets song of achilles” but that’s extremely broad and doesn’t get to the true heart of it, which is an exploration of gender and fighting to be recognized as more than/better than “just a girl/woman”. (unfortunately the sequel to this kind of sucks imo!) the first is much more focused on the women/lesbians with a side of tortured self-hating gay men as the parallel antagonists, and it can stand alone pretty well despite it being a duology.

i hope you’re enjoying your journey so far in focusing on women-centric media!! some friends and i have been doing the same for the past few years altho more specifically focused on books with lesbian characters or relationships, and we’ve def read a few clunkers LOL but it’s been fun overall :^)

thank you for the recs!!! ill stick these on the list. i appreciate having more books on my list because that's one area im really trying to flesh out here. im glad you and your friend have been on the yuri warrior grind too feel free to pop back in if you find more good stuff

[sucrows]

I'm so fake bro I should've checked your blog during the naru banner ................. the lesbianism is lesbianing again nevermind that she made me spark her card. She was so mean to me, which is kinda funny to think about in the context of sex. I think Naru Could be mean to you if you really wanted her to, but it'd be in her very own brand of mean + leaving more extreme, painful bdsm stuff off limits (no knifeplay with her! She would never do anything that could leave scars on you). All this to say I would let her dig her heel into my clit and spit in my mouth. I'd let her treat me like a dog. She would literally call you a needy bitch in the sweetest way possible I think she could pull off being a harder domme. Of course I want her to bruise me choke me make me bleed and do a thousand other unspeakable, painful things to me bc I'm a huge masochist but LMAO..... I think it'd be too much for her. She loves you too much to go to that extent even if you tell her it's fine. This is me analyzing exactly why I wasn't mad at her and only sad for a while when she made me lose all of my savings. It's because I would let her kill me brutally if she wished to. But she won't because she's a very nice lady ! I love you so much Naruchan..... but you don't love me back.....

(I'm moots with u btw i just turned on anon bc I got unhinged with this one LMAO)

first off: congrats! I have no idea which mutual this is (i mean, i have ideas but i can't really narrow it down) so the anonymous button has served you well today!

Second off: I agree that most sadistic acts might be a bit too much for her. I wouldn't say she's capable of none (especially if you were to beg for it) but for the sake of indulgence, let's pretend she would ^^

She would absolutely combine some harsh names with the sweetest praise ever. I could see her being a faux-sympathy dom too? Like being mean to you just so that she can coo at you and baby you for being sad or crying (ignoring the fact that she's the reason why you're upset in the first place). For some reason actually this makes my brain come up with a specific scenario of Arashi going away for a while on some modeling and idol business and not having any time to see you for a while. When she leaves she makes you agree not to touch yourself at all until she comes back. Of course, even just the thought of her proves to be too much to resist and you give in. She comes back early and walks in on you having a solo session and immediately goes to punish you... is that cooking? maybe i should make this little brainworm into something

i'm not that much of a masochist myself typically but... naru... ♥

[film-in-my-soul]

listen i'm extremely indecisive so i really couldn't be stopped so no pressure but i may have gotten just a little... little.. bit carried away with the Get to know your fic writer! thing you reblogged...

anyway i apologize for what im about to do

1, 2, 13, 17, 41, 51, 72, 74

swiftly running away now o7

Well shucks! I'm just delighted you're asking :3

1. Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?

It's less of a preference and more of what I have the stamina for. Generally one-shots are easier for me to manage so that's what I lean toward but I've been trying to do more long-form pieces as of late :3

2. Do you plan each chapter ahead or write as you go?

For short pieces, I usually have a couple of slapdash bullet points of what I want to happen, and for long pieces, I have a more intense breakdown for the plot.

13. What’s a common writing tip that you almost always follow?

Mmmmmm. The only one that comes to mind is probably 'if a character who is not speaking does an action after another character speaks, put that action in a new paragraph'.

17. What do you do when writing becomes difficult? (maybe a lack of inspiration or writers block)

Typically I'll take a couple days off if I can, just to do a little reset and try to get the brainworm wiggling again, but if it's a problem where I'm just getting stuck or a bit uninspired with what I'm working on I'll either do a sprint as motivation to push through, or I'll jump to a different section in the piece that I have a more active idea for and that part written instead.

41. Do you tend to reread fics or are you a one-and-done kind of person?

Typically I'm a one-and-done, at least for a good while. I'll go back in a couple of years and read again probably.

51. What’s your total AO3 word count?

Currently: 935,200 [That's from 2015 to now :3]

72. What order do you write in? front of book to back? chronological? favorite scenes first? something else?

Typically I do front to back, but if I get stuck I'll jump around and then add the connective tissue between scenes later.

74. You’ve posted a fic anonymously. How would someone be able to guess that you’d written it?

I guess it would depend on the fandom? I don't know if I have a specific tell or phrase or anything, but I think my style of narrative voice is distinct enough for the pieces I put out. Or I could slip up and put the 'Grammarly is My Wingman' tag in there XD

Get to know your fic writer!

[curiouschaosstarlight]

yessss do all of them. For gensh <3

(I had to take this off of the official numbered list because my rambles are just too rambly, and tumblr started yelling at me......) 1.) my beautiful cinnamon roll too good for this world fave: Bennett!! Bennett, Bennett, Bennett, I choose Bennett-- Also Chongyun and Freminent. Somft boys. Doing their best. Also could kick your ass. Also I have all of them. :3c (...Very sad that I had to take Chongyun off my main team, because Bennett's about to C6 and render him useless.)

2.) my trash-shit fave: I have no idea what this means, but I'm gonna guess that Dottore and Scaramouche belong here-- Especially Dottore; he's the guy giving me the MOST brainworms right now. (But I can't share most of the brainworms because I'd have to explain all the reasons why my version of him turned out the way he did, then be told I'm wrong anyway, so.) Anyways, I love Scaramouche/Wanderer's entire story, I love that he Has Problems but those problems aren't JUST that he's a little asshole bitch for no reason like fandom keeps trying to claim. Also I want!! Playable Dottore!! I want him so bad. Sure sure, to some people having him redeemed would be soooooo boring, but- Personally, I only have a certain amount of fun with villains that are villains for the evulz, and I LOVE characters with Potential (potential for both better and worse, sometimes even for the same reasons); also a lot of certain little details about Dottore gives me the vibes that he isn't the one-note crazy man basically everyone writes him as, which is apparently, supposedly backed up by the actual og Chinese writing of a few things. And I genuinely think that ANY way they go about redeeming him/making him playable -- be it revealing Tragic Backstory reasons, or a begrudging process, or "well I've decided I like and respect you, so sure, I'll behave, for now >:)" -- would be interesting no matter what they go for!! ...I'm genuinely gonna cry a bit if they do opt to just kill him off ;v; but if Gensh goes that route, I do hope it's at least to an epic boss fight or something. Full monster transformation, if possible.

3.) my I love to hate them fave: God, I have no idea, I'm not usually the type outside of very specific characters. I guess Signora might qualify? ...I'm not gonna earn much love with that one-- She's just, like...tragic backstory? Check. Pretty lady with beautiful theming and massive tits? Check. Front-story bitch? Yeah that's pretty fun! ...Why is it so hard to force her character to shift in writeys. Like, even thinking about alternate ways events could go on my own, it's like...she owns her own girlboss so hard, it borders on Ungrateful behavior (which tends to be one of the few kinds of behaviors characters can have that grind on my nerves). Apparently there's a chance she might get revived in Natlan, and honestly I'm hoping. I don't think it'll be the worst thing in the world if it doesn't happen, but I sure would like the excuse to put her back in the oven to bake some more, without having to wait for my brain to become actually hooked on her to do it.

4.) my I hate to love them fave: This one's gonna sound weird; Faruzan. ...Okay, okay, let me explain- So, y'all know how Faruzan had a boosted drop rate when Wanderer was first released? (...And I think it happened again when his banner came back around, but that's not important--) I was. SO. DAMN. DESPERATE. to get Wanderer. I had picked out a name for him months in advance (well, tentatively; some leaks a friend was looking at said you could name him, and I wasn't 100% convinced but I wanted to be PREPARED in case it really was true, and then it was!), both of my friends (including Devoid here <3) were pulling for him as well, and both got him before I did, which intensified my desire to get him. I had been saving up. I was doing SO MANY TEN PULLS. And I got. SO. MANY. FARUZANS. I think I had one ten pull that was, like, four Faruzans in a row. I had her C6'd extremely early on into my pulls, and then she just kept showing up. It was driving me mad. I don't really get too bothered by a character's in-game actions unless they're a specific kind of irksome, but messing with my pulls? That bothers me a lot-- Eventually I did get Wanderer, but I'd also gotten like...twenty or forty Faruzans in the process or something like that. It was ridiculous. And I was all set to just hate her forever. ...But then, like...her hangout comes out and that was really good. And then the event with Wanderer, Kaveh, Tighnari, and everyone happened, and THAT was also really good, and she's so affectionate towards Collei and hnnnnnn...Why's she have to be such a good character with such great taste in other characters?? Save me--

5.) my I wouldn’t piss on them if they were on fire non-fave: So, you know how I said that character actions don't tend to bother me outside of certain traits? Fucking. Royce. I hate Royce. I mean- I view Benny's entire ex-team rather unfavorably, but Royce's "almost-has-a-realization-just-to-backtrack-and-yell-at-Benny-again" behavior drives me up the goddamn wall. I'm sure there's other NPCs that piss me off but no one else I can remember by actual actions or name. I do have some playable characters I don't really like at all, but this category is very strongly worded for those feelings. (No hate to any Royce fans out there >////////< And also apologies, but this is probably the only time I'm gonna talk about him anyway, at least by name)

6.) my I didn’t care about them either way at first but the fandom makes such a big deal about them now I can’t stand them non-fave: I've been avoiding most fandom content precisely for this reason!! (...Unfortunately I've still gotten exposed to a bunch of shitty fan takes, but it for the most part hasn't shaken my character opinions much. My ship opinions however...) ...The most popular takes of Scaramouche and Dottore (by fans and non-fans alike) have only further solidified my personal vibes of wanting them more sympathetic and avoiding one-note portrayals like the plague. Signora has been on thin ice for a while because so many people are really fucking aggravating in regards to her, but she's yet to budge because I do feel mildly compelled about her. So hopefully that sticks. But I WILL absolutely despise Capitano out of sheer fan spite if he's revealed to be the 1st Harbinger, and there's a ~secret 10th Harbinger~, that is just, like...It's almost kinda neat, but so many people are being so bullheaded and shitty about it (mostly on reddit, I think), to the point it's invaded the wiki that I otherwise really respect for all the work that goes into it, that he just better fucking be the 10th or I will be UPSET.

7.) my I could take them or leave them kinda non-fave: Honestly, most of the cast. Up until about Sumeru, I really only cared about 2-5 characters per nation. Then with Sumeru and Fontaine, they've really knocked it out of the park with characters I absolutely adore and only one or two that kinda just fade out of my memory. I won't say which ones. !!!!!! IMPORTANT NOTE!! This has nothing to do with writing quality or design quality or "oh my subjective opinion is absolute fact and anyone who disagrees with me is a dumb stupid idiot with no taste" or anything like that- It's just that I wasn't vibing too strongly with most characters; not for any necessary particular reason or failure on Mihoyo's part or anything like that. Just how it turned out.

8.) my I will go down with this ship and I won’t put my hands up and surrender, there will be no white flag above my door. I’m in love and always will be fave ship: Dottore x Scaramouche is my BIGGEST ship right now, especially onesided. Especially reluctantly reciprocated. Primarily on Dottore's side. Also Fem Traveler/Lumine/Lillian x Everyone. Also Enjou x his weird "go ahead and beat me up" fetish-- Keep being funky you strange, fiery demon man. Love him. (Also Alhaitham x Kaveh, though I generally don't like looking at the fandom art for it unless my friend handpicks out the art for me, because their ver of Kaveh did irreversible damage to my brain and now when I see trans!Alhaitham and cis!Kaveh, my brain gets SO CONFUSED. It's just like "????? But that should be reversed, tho, obviously???" Like...no brain...it's not obvious. It's fine. You're just Attached.)

9.) my dirtybadwrong fave ship: Apparently Scaramouche/Kabukimono x Niwa is real controversial, which is very sad because I fucking love it, and also it seems like such an obvious and easy-to-like pick to me :P Also Kaeya x Diluc, which I know would/will? get me headhunted if this post shows up for the majority of the fandom. I'm probably forgetting a good amount of ships at the moment, but... (+ Bonus for both 8 and 9, but my extra myriad of Dottore ships where I'd probably have to explain how I ended up where I ended up, which means I'd have to explain the way I write Dottore, which means I'd have to explain-) ...Also Neuvillette x Furina APPARENTLY fucking qualifies, because as we all know, if the girl is short and cute and femme, she's automatically a child!! :) Don't y'all totes know she's Neuvillette's little baby girl daughter and not an adult and totally wasn't RUNNING AN ENTIRE NATION AS THEIR ARCHON for LITERAL FUCKING CENTURIES? Nope! Neuvillette, the person that totally wasn't working under her that entire time, has all the power in that dynamic, and totes sees her as a daughter, so it's problematic!!

10.) my they’re cute together and I dig them but I’m not all that terribly invested kinda fave ship: Most ships in the fandom, tbh. See- the problem is I don't really like protag Aether takes, and I'm just amicable to about 70% of the cast. And I might be a massive multishipping slut with few standards, but I do need to Feel Something towards characters to then Feel Something towards the ships, and when the general vibes I have with a character is "ah, they're neat" or "I like 'em well enough" or even "I don't really like them", that's just the kind of ~amicable vibes~ that lends to me going "that's cute! ...Anyway"

11.) my I didn’t care about this ship either way at first but the fandom makes such a big deal about it now I can’t stand it non-fave ship: Well, I have two. I won't say one because I think my vaguing gets more obvious if I say it outright, but someone I was following seriously bashed [ship I like a lot] while going "why dont people like THIS ship instead??? It's WAY BETTER!!", and. lemme tell you. If you want me to UTTERLY DESPISE your fave character or ship, the best way to do that is praise your fave while bashing another character or ship!! Fuck me, it doesnt even have to be a character or ship I even like, but for some reason it always fucking is. Like the sheer amount of people that go "Why dont people like [character] more??? They're much better than ITTO!!" like. 1. fuck you. 2. Itto has a MUCH LOUDER presence than whatever character you're trying to praise. 3. why does everyone always try to go after [specific ship I like a lot], or Itto? It's always them. Like they're making some big sweeping statement of "oh THAT dumb thing is getting attention for no reason!!" when like...entertainment factor, you knuckleheads. They're just onscreen and instantly make an impression. I'm really, really sorry your fave doesn't get as much attention, I get it, I really do, I've had barely popular/outright bashed faves before, but y'all actively hurt your case rather than helping it when you try to tear other characters/ships down to build yours up. I get that you're frustrated, but it's not fucking helping. Cut that shit out and then get back to me. Anyways. The other one that bothers the shit out of me for far more petty reasons is Wriothesley x Neuvillette, which. I feel bad about, to be fair. I feel sorta guilty for not liking it, because it definitely has potential. There's just one problem-- one of my biggest fucking pet peeves is ship bashing/attempted ship sinking (-gestures at my sarcasm a bit earlier-, which also sums up half of why I despise "child-coding" and "oh!! this small girl character is TOTES the daughter to these two gay men and definitely not responsible or mature in her own right uwu totally needs to be babysat by her two gay dads!!") in conjunction with people obsessing over other ships, and with Wriotheo and Nuevy, it started BEFORE the update happened and we actually saw any interactions. Like. I get it. They're two hot men and gay ships are hella popular. But with it occurring way before the update, thus way before any canonical interactions, it just felt like people were fucking desperate to make sure neither character could be straight-shipped with the two "children" they were actually working with (two full-ass adults, Furina and Sigewinne), which just drives me up the fucking wall. (And I can understand being uncomfortable with shipping characters that kinda resemble children, but I've seen way too many people go above and beyond any reasonable reaction to that sorta thing.) I want to like this ship. I really do. It could definitely be really good. But it's gonna take, like, a year or two, when we're in Snezhnaya and my frustration becomes a petty dumb memory instead of something I want to rant over. (...I'm sure this is gonna come back to bite me pretty hard, 'cause if this post makes the rounds people are gonna rush to be like "oh you're not OPPRESSED by gay ships!!" -> No one ever says they are unless they're a real smooth-brained fuckhead, "Oh, so we can't just have fun anymore??" -> I'm apparently not allowed to have fun, so neither are y'all. :\ If I can take fifty-million fans constantly trying to call me a terrible person for liking any of the ships and characters and takes I like, y'all can take one "this got on my nerves and I'm still mad even though I know it's dumb and petty")

12.) my MAKE IT STOP non-fave ship: Ready for me to burn another bridge? ...Can't stand Yae Miko x Raiden Shogun. Like- I see it, I absolutely see it, and I think it absolutely works, but. well. guess what? Guess that happened?? Shitty fans. Shitty fans that INSIST Yae Miko is canonically a man-hating lesbian and froth at the mouth if you dare even imply she MIGHT be the tiniest bit interested in a guy. I can't quite articulate how much I HAAAAATE when people try to claim their headcanon as canon and then treat other fans like shit for "violating canon" (that doesn't actually exist -- and god, even if it did, some of the behavior I've seen really goes above and beyond any realm of acceptability), and yeah. This is one of the biggest offenders. In general, I've noticed way more vitriol and toxicity out of f/f fans than any other kind of fan lately, and that is...ugh. again, I get it. Out of the ship combinations, f/f is probably the least popular in general and all that, and when you feel like your favorite stuff is getting passed over again and again for stuff you can't see the appeal in (trust me, I can relate, I've been in a LOT of fandoms), it's really, really frustrating. But also can we stop being shitty to other fans over subjective opinions? Fandom's supposed to be fun. I shouldn't feel like every other fan I follow would hate my guts over the pettiest of preference differences. (Yes this goes for more than just f/f fans, ofc, it's just those are the ones I've noticed the most recently.) !!! -> Please don't feel bad about liking any of the ships I listed ;v; For any reason-- I did Not put them down to shame anyone, and I don't judge anyone for liking ships and characters I don't like. I do judge behavior towards other fans, and if someone's really hostile to "competing" ships/characters, that also bothers me, but that's it. It's not the content itself that has or will ever bother me, so I really do hope no one who's reading this feels bad about their preferences...

->-> Primarily Unrelated but One thing that I lovehate about this, aside from the fact that if a bunch of people see this entire thing I'm DEFINITELY getting hatemail/a callout/something, but it also gives the impression I'm massively into m/m, which is amusing and frustrating at the same time. (Not the first time this sort of thing has happened, and I'm always self-conscious about it, because I hate when people have Incorrect Takes about my feelings/opinions, especially when I've openly described them but the other person's like "lol nope, I associate you with this more, so this is the truth now". Hate that shit.)

I'm actually primarily a m/f shipper (which honestly might be more controversial on tumblr, specifically tumblr, I'm not an ignorant dumbass about other places on the internet), that's just not how it turned out for Gensh, where I wound up mostly into the guy characters. Before I got extremely into Scaramouche (and then Dottore), Lumine/Lillian was my primary favorite character and the one I was focused on shipping with. She was also, like...the female character I liked the most, which I'm given to understand is an odd thing to say, I guess? Because western people don't usually like the protags of games?? Which is so weird to me. (<- Fresh off the Persona fandom where the Persona protags are also in my, like, top 5 characters of their respective games, and that is a hugely unpopular take for some reason.) (Though I guess I'm pretty weird in how I tend to play games and develop the protagonist's personality in my head + I usually prefer to play the fem character -> the fem protag of a game tends to be in my top 10 favorite characters)

For anyone curious, my preferences go m/f -> f/f -> m/m (least favorite), but that is also extremely arbitrary because of a few different factors, but primarily because I will write basically anything and everything. If I'm writing it and I'm having fun, then nothing bothers me, and I'll come up with all sorts of ships for all sorts of reasons. (Usually ships occur on a whim during rps, which then makes it hard to explain how I got to that result outside of rps...)

Anyways, I hope I explained my reasonings well enough m(_ _)m I could definitely ruffle more feathers if I, like, posted a character tier list or something, and I'm kinda tempted anyway, because...I dunno, a tiny part of my brain is like "hehe, stick it to the man >:3c", I guess? Despite the fact I would definitely not be actually "sticking it" to anyone, like If no one cared what I thought before, they're super not gonna care after this--

[justmenoworries]

Yo, check out my Isekai OC! (art by @lionindenial, check out their blog, they do lots of cool stuff!)

A few weeks ago, a friend and I were joking about how pretty much every op RPG-Isekai protag is a light-skinned dude and how it would be cool if an RPG themed Isekai had an op lady protagonist and from there the brainworms started developing.

For more info on Miss Isekai Protag, check below the cut!

Makaira Gushiken

Age 17

November 15th

Scorpio

6′0/1,80 m

Uses a war scythe in combat and to channel her powers

Dark Magic User

Backstory

Makaira grew up in Okinawa as the child of a Japanese salarywoman and her husband, who migrated from Mexico. She didn’t have it easy, both due to being afro-Japanese and living in perpetual poverty. Makaira dropped out of school to support her family, despite having good enough grades to go for higher education.

One late evening, when she was walking home from work, Makaira witnessed a mugging. Due to her phone’s battery being empty, she couldn’t call for help. Unwilling to just let this happen in front of her, Makaira intervened - and ended up getting stabbed by the mugger and bleeding out while the victim tried futilely to help her.

When she died, her soul was snatched up by the deity of another world and transported to said world, Gehenna.

The deity in question is Nyx, the God and personification of Death. Years prior, he was betrayed and banished into an abyss by his siblings, the Gods of Life, Nature, Wealth and Light specifically. As a result, no one in Gehanna has been able to die for over a century.

While the rich have enjoyed this state of being, the poor, those who cannot afford things like healers and healing or youth potions, are suffering immensely. People are often left to age into oblivion until they can no longer move and are eventually buried alive, to make room. Slavery and human trafficking are also blooming, due to slaves dying from being overworked or starving no longer being an issue. You can hit, starve or otherwise mistreat a slave, and the most you’d have to do afterward is spend some money on a cheap healing potion or hedgewitch to get them back on their feet.

Non-human races aren’t having a particularly good time either, as humans are no longer scared of dying when hunting them down.

Nyx felt all this and tried to reach out to a mortal, in order to right things, but his imprisonment made it impossible for him to affect the mortal realm of Gehenna in any way.

So he used his powers to reach through the veil between worlds for a vessel. And he found Makaira.

Makaira was resurrected as Nyx’ vessel and an Angel of Death, basically a Grim reaper. She’s nearly impervious to physical and magical harm. Only extremely high-tier weapons or spells can even get a dent on her. She herself is a wielder of literal god-tier dark magic. Her new body has also enhanced her physical srength, speed and durability. She could deadlift a horse with one arm and not feel tired at all. Some of her other powers inculde the ability to set trapped souls free, or in other words: Grant death to people who are desperately waiting for it, and reading the surface thoughts of any person if she concentrates a bit.

Due to Nyx not ressurecting her quick enough, her right eye has rotted away. In her new body it’s been “replaced” by a will-o’-the-wisp like light blue light, that she usually covers up to avoid attention. Once she makes a name for herself, the eye becomes her iconic feature that other people use to identify her.

Personality

Makaira is of the ruthless anti-hero sort. She won’t hesitate to strike someone down if they pose a threat to her or those she cares about. Due to growing up working class, she has a bunch of emptahy for the poor and none for the rich. She’s fiercely loyal toward her party and her friends. And also just a teeny bit traumatized from, you know. Dying in her old life.