#but then i don't know who else she could have manipulated so well and thus continued to be a major character

[giffingthingsss]

It's interesting for me to think of what Seska's background could have been. It's interesting that this cunning spy should be so drawn to Chakotay. A twisted person kind of desperately clawing after something. Of course the desire doesn't express itself in any way approaching healthy.

And it's interesting that she winds up in a society where she has to play submissive, although no doubt she would have ended up murdering Cullah and ruling the Kazon through her son.

[cripplecharacters]

Hi, I'm working on an Avatar OC. She is a relatively strong waterbender who gets into an accident that paralyzes her from the waist down. It's the kind of paralysis where there is no danger in someone else moving her legs around for her, but her brain is unable to control her leg muscles itself. She ends up secretly learning how to bloodbend, and decides to use it to help make her walk by bloodbending her own legs (a process which takes a long while to learn, but gradually becomes more second nature after a year of constant practice).

I thought it would be a cool way of utilizing bloodbending in a positive way rather than a negative way, however, I realize this may fall into the "curing disabilities with magic" or "disability basically non-existent due to powers" tropes. If my OC's waterbending is taken away or significantly weakened, then she can't move her legs anymore, and walking still requires quite a bit of concentration (and more advanced movements like running are even harder). But I'm still concerned. Any advice on how to make this work without perpetuating harmful tropes?

Hi!

My first advice before getting to the superpower curing thing would be to thoroughly research spinal cord injuries. It's basically unheard of to only be paralyzed below the waist with no other symptoms. An SCI could be complete, incomplete, and then it has specific levels - sometimes people assume that it's either "below the neck" or "below the waist" but there's a whole more that can happen. For the purpose of this ask, I'm going to assume that she has a complete spinal cord injury on the lower thoracic level, maybe T9 to T12. If it's higher (like T6 or above), you should definitely research autonomic dysreflexia as well.

I'm glad that you caught this! I would classify this as a cure thing, or at least cure-adjacent.

I'm not certain how bloodbending her own legs would work - unless she was manipulating her whole body like a marionette, I don't think it would help much? I don't remember how exactly it worked in Avatar, but she would need her leg and hip muscles to actually contract (or at least consistently spasm) to bear her weight, or they would just bend underneath her. Her legs would probably be atrophied, so it'd be even harder.

None of this means you can't have her bloodbend to make her life easier while still leaving her disabled! There's definitely things that could work for her while also being more authentic to the issues she could have, rather than just un-disabling her.

One of the problems that she would have - that's also related to blood flow - would be pressure sores. It's basically when there's prolonged pressure on part of the skin and eventually tissue death occurs, if it's not treated it's lethal. As you can guess, it's a huge problem when it happens and it's even worse when you can't feel a sore like this forming in the first place. She could make her life much easier and safer by learning how to push her blood everywhere to make sure she doesn't, you know, die. This is huge and genuinely life-changing, just not as spectacular as being able to walk with paralyzed legs I guess. She could maybe learn to bend her blood specifically to prevent this - she would learn of this being a possible problem very early on - and thus realize that bloodbending can be a positive and life-saving tool?

There are also scenarios where moving legs via bloodbending could be helpful! Legs weight a lot, and it can be a pain to move them around when transferring. Rather than having her manually grab them to get out of/into her wheelchair, she could just bloodbend her legs to be where they need to go. This omits the problem of her lower body probably not being able to hold her weight.

If she has complete paraplegia, she will have issues with her bladder - she could probably use her bending for that as well? If you don't want to go into a lot of detail, you can have her just empty the leg bag via waterbending. I imagine that being able to manage that whole process in a much faster way would be helpful for her!

These are just a few suggestions - I definitely encourage you to look deeper into spinal cord injuries and their symptoms, and think of some creative ways for her bending to help her other than making her walk!

mod Sasza

[rocksibblingsau]

what are your thoughts on pennywhistle, most specifically in classical branch au? i need them to be best friends

So I'm not sure if you've seen the gameplay of Trolls Remix Rescue...

But Pennywhistle is kinda savage? She forced Barb to apologize for the world tour to her personally (as she's the one who had to rebuild) in exchange for information.

"I trust you, Queen Poppy. If you're looking for that anti-classical suave scoundrel, then I can help! But I have a hard time remembering what happened. Maybe if Barb apologized…"

"Fine. I'm sorry."

"My windway must be failing. What was that again?"

Not only does she sass Barb into getting her own personal apology (as Barb canonically did an apology tour), while she properly addressed Poppy as 'Queen Poppy', she only called Barb her name.

Pennywhistle might look and sound cute, she's pretty feisty. She's not afraid to call people out and honestly is in my list of 'Trolls characters who could say 'fuck' on screen and I wouldn't be surprised'.

Pennywhistle would 100% call BroZone out.

So after checking her wiki again, as it turns out Pennywhistle isn't actually from Symphonyville! I don't know how I missed this but apparently they made her a whole backstory of how she was a wayward traveler adopted by Symphonyville, as Pennywhistle isn't a woodwind and thus wouldn't be in a traditional orchestra. (Although she refers to herself as a woodwind in the movie so... trans icon?)

With that in mind, Classical Branch's story is changing a bit. Pennywhistle stumbled on Branch and the Pop Trolls in her travels. She had plans to look for her perfect home, which she eventually determined would most likely be the Classical Trolls home.

She explained to Branch her story and he listened to her for about two seconds before going 'yeah okay you wanna play music. Well here you go.' and shoved her towards Poppy. She was happy for a bit with Pop Trolls, though they were a bit much for her at times, but she couldn't stop following Branch around like a lost puppy.

After seeing enough of how he was treated, she decided Pop wasn't for her and she went to tell Branch she was leaving. Branch was a bit stunned that anyone else would look at Pop Trolls and go 'yeah they're too much'. Pennywhistle wanted Branch to come with her because she figured he might like it there more, and she eventually got him to go by going "I'm just a poor woodwind, I'll get lost or eaten by a- what are they called?" "Bergen?" "By a bergen! I need someone who's a survival expert!"

With a little manipulation, Pennywhistle and Branch set off in a hot air balloon for Symphonyville.

"Look at this, Branch! In a short 456 pages, you'll know how to fly this thing!"

Pennywhistle sticks to Branch and becomes a bit like if you crossed Mr. Dinkles with Tiny Diamond. She's not a pet but she is a companion. Even when Branch hates music, she's with him and doing her best not to make a single whistle. Branch finds it a bit ironic his only friend is a musical instrument.

When he's grown and writing his own symphonies, there's always a place for Pennywhistle.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

Actually hang on, that AU would have so much potential.

Adora seeing Imp as her chaotic little sibling who helps out with pranks etc but might also snitch on her and Catra. Also, more internal conflict because he and Hordak are, at least on some level, family to her.

The other cadets not interacting with C and A because A is Hordak's protegee and C is SW's. Both of them are scary, so C and A really only have each other, which makes their separation in s1 only hurt more and make Catra all the more obsessed with getting Adora back bc she literally doesn't have anyone else (until Scorpia) (she could bond with Imp?)

Catra struggling to bond with Scorpia and accepting her friendship because she never had any friends outside Adora so, oops, social skills whomst? But eventually learning how to be a decent friend and growing as a person, as well as letting the sting of Adora's departure fade a little. She gets to grow as a person AWAY from Adora so that once she does join the Alliance, she is a bit more functional.

Catra worrying about Scorpia during s5.

Catra, spying at Angela interacting with Glimmer: oh ew what is this? Affection? What a cheap attempt at manipulation. -> Wait a minute, this looks... nice, actually. -> If she's the evil one, why is she such a good mom? -> Why isn't SW being this good to me? -> FUCK OFF SHADOW WEAVER YOU'RE A HORRIBLE MOM I'M OUTTA HERE.

Adora getting dragged back to the Horde in s3 and Hordak potentially acting like a disappointed father whose teenage daughter came home late from a party.

"Did you get everything out of your system? Y'know, Horde Prime would've killed me if I did what you did. You should be grateful."

[some character development later] "Hey, wait a minute... You shouldn't kill/brainwash people for doing that. HORDE PRIME IS AN ASSHOLE."

The comedy of Adora looking at Entrapta and Hordak interacting like "??????????????? HORDAK??? HAVING POSITIVE EMOTIONS??? DO I HAVE TO CALL ENTRAPTA MOM FROM NOW ON?????????"

Entrapta: I fucked your dad shitlips

Catra feeling genuinely horrible for Angela getting trapped between dimensions bc of the portal not only because she learned that Angela was good all along, but because she glimpsed what it's like to have a good mother figure and she took that away from Glimmer.

Maybe even Catra knocking some sense into Bow because he's mad that Glimmer did the stuff she did in s4. "Dude, cut her some slack. I know what it's like to be in position of authority (force captain) and it's stressful as hell. We were winning back then so you guys were losing badly and she was/is grieving. You do stupid shit when you're stressed and desperate (I would know, I made the portal happen.) So just... I'm still not 100% sure how to be a good friend so take what I say with a grain of salt but... Y'know, go easy on her."

^ character growth, shows willingness to forgive and thus bridge the gap between her and Adora. Results of being friends with Scorpia, feeling like shit when Scorpia left her, and the self reflection done throughout s4 following the "oh God I fucked up" at the end of s3.

No Melog. I'm sorry I just don't see the point. Instead, I'd really want to see Swiftwind be featured more heavily. Possibly Catra initially thinking he's weird bc she's never seen a horse before and later going "hey, you're close with Adora. Can we, uh, compare notes? I spent the last 3 seasons being her enemy and I'd like to go back to being her friend now. Help?"

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. this AU would have worked so much better than the trainwreck that we got. (also the idea of entrapta technically becoming adora's mom crossed my mind too, it would have been HILARIOUS)

[rolloollor]

Thoughts about Bound by Briar

It's time once again for me to ramble about what happens after a fic is over!

This is one of the few chaptered fics I've written that doesn't have an epilogue chapter. Sacerdos also doesn't have one, but Dark Fire/From the Ashes and Dyed Dark as Night (as well as the upcoming vampire AU) do. To be honest with you, I struggled with this ending. I wrote like two or three variations before going for this one, which I felt was more fun and more… in character. Plus, I think it offers something the endings in other fics of mine don't, which is also important to me.

Anyway, onto my thoughts.

So, what happens next?

Well, the dynamic between Malleus and Rollo is shifting even further. Pet/owner to vassal and suzerain to... something else. It may look like Malleus has the power from the outside looking in, but he's ceding more and more of it over time. Rollo knows he has an immense amount of sway when it comes to Malleus and he isn't interested in giving that up. He really has nothing else: he can't go home, he can't avenge Jehan (because he can't destroy magic), so what remains? Malleus. Thus, Rollo will dig his claws into him as deeply as possible. In fact… I'd say that this Rollo would (eventually) even accept being transformed into a fae like in DDAN so that he won't have to relinquish Malleus.

Though, I will say, when Rollo figures out what the magestone ring Malleus gave him does he's going to flip the fuck out. He hardly uses magic, so I don't think he'd notice for a while, especially if the main magic he uses is attuned to him (the flames) and thus produces a miniscule amount of blot. I could have covered his eventual discovery in this fic, but I just didn't want to. It'd cascade into a lot of complicated stuff outside the scope of a weird unhealthy romance story. Whether or not Malleus/the fae will agree to maybe start disseminating these magestone rings to humans, that's an issue. I could see Malleus agreeing (purely because Rollo wants it), but will the queen? Maybe they'll start a smuggling operation… Like, they acquire the stones, slip them to the Queendom, and then the Queendom surges in power and dominates the other countries. Lots of consequences here. Maybe other countries will attack the fae in earnest to get their hands on the stones? Talk about a mess. But it would be funny if the Shaftlands, having sacrificed ships and manpower basically to fuck mages over, find themselves significantly weakened in this new magic-safe(r) world. Whoops! Eat shit!

Another key question I imagine some people might have is: does Rollo love Malleus? I think he does, in a way. But it's warped. Not only does he know he has the upper hand (as in, Malleus loves Rollo more than Rollo loves Malleus), but it's not like Rollo got to choose Malleus over everyone else--he has no other options. He's definitely attracted to him, of course. I just think that there's no starting from 0 with Rollo, he will always remember how their relationship started and how Malleus treated him. His love for Malleus is possessive and at least partially born out of survival. When that threat fades in his memory, he'll chill out some. But he'll never forget.

Will Malleus and Rollo have kids? Maybe. I think Rollo would be into the idea after a few years since it would give him another purpose in life (not to mention it would mean claiming Malleus even further). But I also think that Rollo would have to accept being a concubine. A concubine who's also a vassal...

What if Malleus has to take a fae wife? Rollo would manipulate Malleus as hard as he possibly can, ensuring that he spends little time with her. Maybe to the point that he has 0 legitimate children and instead has a handful with Rollo. I do like the idea of things getting extra fucked up because of the introduction of a wife, but it also makes me sad, so. Whoever this lady is, she doesn't deserve the horrible schemes Rollo would cook up. Best case scenario, Malleus tells her something like, "Look, I'm in love with my human, so this marriage is purely for show/the alliance/whatever. Appear at official events with me, but otherwise we shouldn't spend much time together. We likely won't even consummate this marriage." Hopefully she's cool with that. We wouldn't want any competition between heirs, now, would we... And well, it would be a nice sort of vengeance for Rollo to 'taint' the royal bloodline forever.

The gargoyles become good friends with Malle, but Rollo won't let him hang around them more than he deems necessary. Rollo visits them maybe more often because he does the cleaning.

All in all, they basically make each other worse. Rollo isolates Malleus from others while Malleus is content to get the majority, if not all, of his emotional needs met by Rollo. Meaning the threat of him leaving/dying is huge and one Malleus won't be able to bear in the future. Rollo accomplishes none of his initial goals and lives a life that is, no matter what, ultimately up to the whims of Malleus and the other fae. The whole 'human expert' thing is a job Malleus made for him, more or less. And he'll never see Fleur City ever again. He has little to worry about regarding Malleus' affection... for now. Something, or someone, could happen at any time, so he'll have to be vigilant.

Not quite a bad end, not quite a good end. They'll stay together in a codependent relationship until one of them dies.

Some of you may be curious as to the other endings I tried out. Well, in one, I was going to have Rollo accept Trey's offer and stealthily head to the docks. I thought about having him turn back on his own or having Malleus confront him there. It felt... predictable? Played out, maybe? It just didn't work for me. Another version involved Rollo reading the letter with Malleus in the room, with him learning about the content and, of course, freaking out. I also wrote a thing where Rollo and Malleus ride a horse (Rollo at the reins, Malleus behind him) together, but I can't remember where that was supposed to go. A lot of unused chunks... I even wrote out a scene where Rollo actually was leading the diplomacy effort and talking with Trey and company in their little house tree, but it deviated a lot from mallerollo time and I went, "Would anyone want to read this...?" and scrapped it. Plus I don't think it makes a ton of sense for the fae to entrust that job to Rollo so quickly.

Maybe some of those failed endings sound more appealing than what I went with, but they simply weren't working out. When I've written something and I keep avoiding continuing it, like I'll reread it and go "ugh" and do something else, that's how I know it isn't going to happen. Procrastination's normal, but I should want to continue a particular scene and it shouldn't be like pulling teeth. And if I do force myself to write something I'm not into, it'll be of lesser quality. Basically.... if I'm not having fun writing it, no one will have any reading it.

If anyone has any questions about the story or anything really, I'd be happy to answer. I know the pacing of the last few chapters was a bit speedy... so I wouldn't be surprised if there were aspects that people found confusing.

[fontainescape]

The Curse of Focalors: A Theory

I believe that despite being a god, Focalors currently doesn't have full access to her archonhood or the power of the gnosis. This might be because she had rejected herself as a god. Her self-praises skyrocket whenever she talked about the power of the gods or being the God of Justice herself, maybe because of her insecurity towards the issue. She is Fontaine's god, but perhaps she feels she doesn't deserve to be their god.

Because . . .

Furina turned Egeria's oceanids into humans. Not only can we correlate this Archon Quest to Mary-Ann's World Quest, the current people of Fontaine are penned as "sinners", though they don't know themselves what sins they carry. So I'm guessing they were Egeria's oceanid spies, or at least the descendants of those oceanids.

Due to the flood that occured 500 years ago, Focalors must have decided to turn oceanids into the humans who had died since the activities the oceanids carried were considered a sin by Celestia anyway. These creatures knew too much. I actually think Celestia supported Focalors on this, if they haven't suggested it themselves. There's no reason to turn a blind eye on such manipulative act if it wasn't to Celestia's liking.

To the Focalors then, that was justice. Focalors had done this to exact justice onto Egeria, perhaps in fear of Celestia's wrath.

But now her people are doomed into dissolution after having lived, created memories, and struggled as humans. And yet to later find the truth that they never were humans in the first place? Truly, this deception is cruel. How can she be composed after all these years? She's not. She deems herself unworthy of the authority of the hydro element for the grave offense she committed.

And thus . . .

Living on with pangs of conscience led Focalors to decide to exact justice onto herself as well, hence she cursed herself to live as a mortal, while locking the gnosis inside the Oratrice she created. But this wouldn't be enough. She would want someone else to replace her role as the Hydro Sovereign in order to keep Fontaine safe and to maintain it.

Furina may not have split herself per se

The Lady of Justice is blindfolded and carries a scale and a sword. So let's say that Furina is the sword , the Oratrice is obviously a scale, and Neuvillette could be the blindfold.

The scale represents evidence, facts, and balance. The sword represents punishment, truth, power of the state and rule of the law. The blindfold represents impartiality, an absence of favor.

Neuvillette's in-game character attributes and profile page text reads as follows:

The Chief Justice of Fontaine, known as the Iudex, is renowned for his unassailable impartiality.

There is no question that Neuvillette is the blindfold in this sense.

With this, we're left with Furina and the Oratrice. You might've noticed that the sword executes the punishment and declares the truth, and that is very fitting for the trailer we just saw in the 4.2 Special Program. IM SO GLAD I DIDNT PUBLISH THIS POST BEFORE I WATCHED THAT PROGRAM. The punishment for Focalors was revealed to be a death sentence, and this is the part of the story where the truth is revealed to everyone. Although the Oratrice technically declares the final verdict, in the end it is powered by Focalors' gnosis.

Now on a minor detail, observe Focalors' statue. I know that the previous things I said about the Lady of Justice must have already been analyzed by redittors but I don't know if they picked up on this:

Focalors' statue holds a sword that also resembles the oratrice with the tear motifs. But there's no blindfold and scale!

Neuvillette only became the Iudex 100 years after the cataclysm. Focalors should have been instated as the new hydro archon first, and then she would've appointed Neuvillette as the Chief Justice later in the timeline. This is very similar to the real world addition of the blindfold associated to the Lady of Justice, which was only added during the 16th century. So I just think it's neat if the statue having no blindfold is done on purpose. And whether that holds a significant meaning, I really don't know. Probably not, right? Also, could that mean Focalors herself is not completely impartial? Hence why she created the Oratrice?

She created the Oratrice to perfectly discern the appropriate verdict for the trials, even for a trial of a god. And Furina never split herself into anything. She's just really sneaky and good at fooling others, maybe. However I do think she really intended to die. But of course I think somebody would stop her.

Instead of splitting herself, she's just putting up an act. The two masks of the performing arts or theatre symbol are Comedy and Tragedy. The Furina everyone sees in public is masquerading as a comedic mascot, but the unseen Furina lives in the face of tragedy.

The Fontaine story theme's title is Masquerade of the Guilty. This entire ordeal is not just to place justice onto herself but also to avoid the prophecy from completely coming true.

Furina' secret

Here comes in Neuvillette who showed up in Fontaine around a hundred years after the cataclysm. Focalors decided that he would be a fitting Chief Justice, but in truth she also plans to return his sovereign authority. Somebody has to keep an eye of Fontaine after all.

This whole time, Focalors could have been preparing Neuvillette to take over. And the reason/s she must have waited this long, is because he has yet to be accustomed of the ways of humans and/or she has to safely turn over the gnosis without alerting Celestia. So until that time comes, Furina mustn't disappear from the stage because she has to keep the show going.

This is the only reason why I think Furina cried so bad and asked a "random" attacker not to kill her. Cause she doesn't have the gnosis with her and so she can't defend herself in that situation, but also has a reason to continue living for now.

All to deceive fate itself.

I had another theory about what the indemnitium is for if you want to read that.

[fideidefenswhore]

Who is your most hated Seymour? For me, it's John, Thomas, Edward and Jane.

roflmao, tbf, i know intellectually that there's not enough there there to justify hating john seymour, but he does give me bad vibes...whatever happened with catherine fillol was weird and i do get the sense he was involved even if not in the rumored way. and also, when siblings hate each other to such an extent, it's often bcus they were pit against each other by their parents, so i get the sense he was not a good father (there's some debate on whether he died late 1536 or 1535, tbf, but if it was the former it's strange that none of children seemed to mourn his death, that he wasn't mourned at court as the queen's father, etc) . margery doesn't have enough about her known for me to judge; it's sort of weird to me that this stereotype has fallen she and jane had a bad relationship and her favorite child/daughter was elizabeth (this occurs in like...several...novels). we don't have an equivalent positive remark to 'next to mine own mother, no woman alive i know better' (AB, about her own, and to bridget wingfield), nor any records of them often being in each other's company during significant events or eras, but we don't have anything negative either. i get you have to make choices in fiction and 'neutral' is not an interesting one but like...damn.

what's interesting about edward and thomas is that, even before their sister becomes queen, edward is not spoken of well by his contemporaries. very early (iirc, 1535) on, his 'small conscience' is decried, and he becomes such an avaricious figure that cromwell and the king have to interfere in his attempts to manipulate and loophole property laws to his own advantage and the impoverishment of others (and, not usually in his favor, despite him being a royal in-law). thomas, however, seems like he's better liked in the 1530s, although this can maybe be attributed to him being more of a nonentity (a comparative example is some tudor authors insisting GB was 'better liked' than his sister anne-- not true, it seems-- or more often, that their sister mary was...which is probably true, but also probably more indicative of relative lack of power and positions and leverage than 'kinder' personality)...it's not until the 1540s that we get comments of the same genre ("somewhat empty of manner"). thomas thus seems more like a figure of gradual corruption, his arrogance was increased by his nephew becoming king, it seems, and resentment brought out an ugly side of his character (arguably, the same with edward, just earlier on).

it's extremely unpopular to say this on here, but yeah, jane is definitely not a favourite of mine, either. but i don't think my reasons for this are really common...i don't care if she slept with henry before marriage, i don't care if she didn't, i just find her biographers weirdly contradictory in their judgements of her character, the nature of her rise, and her own beliefs. there's also like, this sense of historic illiteracy from some of her defenders...joining a royal household (as far as the most prestigious positions, that is) was not the equivalent of serfdom (as in, they could leave at any time). jane's supporters were courtiers who hated anne, so it's reasonable to assume she did, as well. so, there's this sort of moral hypocrisy about jane as a figure and her advancement and how she came to her position that has always prevented me from warming to her as a figure. 'she hated anne and all she stood for' explains her involvement in her downfall, but not her securing the position in her household in the first place. and by virtue of her close proximity to anne as queen, she also knew that it was nigh impossible that she was actually guilty of the accusations of adultery.

what else...her defenders insist that the oaths of supremacy and succession were anathema to her moral compass, yet she likely did have to have had taken them herself, just as a subject, and if not that then definitely as a member of anne's household. this wouldn't have martyred/imperiled her life, althought it probably would have her career (elizabeth darrell never took these, so i wonder if the penalty for women was different...? barton is often cited as an example but this was not in her indictment. princess mary seems to almost have been a victim of this, but it might've been more that her signing was more important since she was a rallying point for dissenters).

and even if jane never took these, the presence of noblewomen serving anne as queen lent to her greater image of royal legitimacy. she had to have known that, and if she didn't believe her position was legitimate...then why be part of that tapestry? there's not an equivalent to her predecessor to be made here, not when anne left her own predecessor's household and began her own as soon as she came to believe catherine was not legitimately queen or henry's wife. any credulousness towards contemporary report of this time would suggest anne was extremely hostile towards her rival, but there is a difference between declaring that you'd sooner watch your rival hanged before revering them and, well...actually doing that (...effectively, if not literally).

actually, i don't think there's actually much to suggest jane was set against the religious supremacy unless you make some suppositional leaps (the dissolution wasn't so explicitly connected here, her support of mary as princess, even if rather cosmetic, could be seen as support for her decision not to take those oaths herself for nigh on two years...). nor against succession acts as brought by parliament, since the same illegitimized any potential rivals to her future children, and she seemed to make a point in one of her only pieces of writing we have in emphasizing edward's legitimacy (implicitly, at the expense of her stepdaughters).

the narrative fiction i probably dislike about jane the most is this idea that she was so reverent of catherine's memory, it's really fucking weird, honestly... it bothers me because i know it's embellished to increase reader/viewer (the tudors comes to mind) sympathy and somehow for me it does the opposite, lol. there's something about the concept of her trading on the memory of this beloved woman (who, herself, probably didn't even remember jane, there's nothing to suggest any kind of friendship between them) who was exiled, this woman whom jane did not a single thing for (not even abstaining from joining the household of her rival), that just really grosses me out. henry was the one who was her husband, and obviously he was a fucking asshole to and about her, but there's at least something more...direct, in his attempted erasure of her memory. it's always bothered me that it's never acknowledged that the antecedent (which was carried on throughout) to jane's queenship was the erasure of both her predecessors, the illegitimization of both their daughters, both of them being subordinated, and, more or less (mary present for christmas, elizabeth not, but both there during the rebellions) equally expelled from court.

[gimblestank-the-goblin]

Andy and Leyley Analysis

Both of Andrew and Ashley's "core" issues seem to stem from the conditional love their mother provided. Its clear from how she (and they) talk during the home invasion that while their mother wanted kids, she didn't really want to put in the work of *raising* them. Thus, she only really loved them when they weren't being a bother (which isn't love at all).

Andrew reacted to this by learning not to be a bother. He became passive.

Ashley reacted by acting out for attention, which pushed her mother and giving her abandonment issues. These then manifested in her constantly *testing* the people around her. Trying to make them leave both as a way to protect herself from harm (by pushing them away before she could form an attachment) and to reassure herself that they *wouldn't* leave. This, obviously, is not a healthy outlook and her coping methods for her issues only exacerbate said issues, but if that were all that were wrong she would be... not fine but a lot less worse than she is. Notably, however, by the time we first see her at about 5(?) years old, she is already displaying an extreme lack of empathy, a distinct cruel streak *and* that she can manipulate her brother via emotional abuse in the form of guilt and threats of self-harm. None of which seems to have *changed* over the course of her life.

Ashley is - at least so far - a relatively flat character. Who she is in the flashbacks is who she is in the present. Even the murder of Nina - the siblings first real crime - does not seem to have affected or changed her in anyway.

This is *very much* in contrast with Andrew. If Ashley's story is that of a flat character arc, then Andrew's story is a descent into darkness. Each flashback - as we move closer and closer to the present - Andrew is becoming *worse*. Doing more and more questionable things, all stemming - it appears - from Nina's death.

And here we get into a bunch of complicated stuff which is all inter-related so I may struggle to lay it out well. But the key point here is that this is when - in the eyes of both Andy and LeyLey - Andy becomes *as bad as her*. And this belief starts his descent into a worse and worse state of mind because he internalizes the idea that he is a bad person.

So I want to lay out the scene. The two kill Nina. Andrew's guilty, but he's also scared. He's scared of being found out. And he's scared of that because he - and Leyley, this will be important later - has internalized the idea - both from watching how his mother treats him and how she treats Leyley - that people who cause problems *are unworthy of love*. He knows, they both know, that if this gets out their mother won't protect them. She won't love them. Leyley says this explicitly

"It's you and me now! No one else will like you. You're a bad person Andy." It is at this moment that Andy internalizes the idea that he is a bad person, unworthy of love. That no one can ever know the real him (and so he can never form a real, meaningful connection) because anyone who knew the "real" him would see him for the monster he is and reject him. No one, that is, except for Leyley.

Again, she says this explicitly. "Andy I know you don't like me... But that doesn't matter anymore. Because from now on, no one will like you either. So let's always be friends okay?"

She is now his *only* support network (as he is hers) and she can use that to control him. Weirdly, this does not create a power imbalance between them, but rather normalizes their relationship. He is now as dependent on her as she is on him, they are *each others* only support network. She does try to push the balance of power between them in her favor by blackmailing him, but he correctly identifies that she is unwilling to lose her only "friend" and so they work out their blood oath.

So that is the story from Andrew's perspective. But what is the story from Leyley's? Well its largely the same, but with a few key differences. See, Leyley had *already* internalized the idea that she was a bad person. Long before Nina's death, Leyley's acting out had isolated her from first her mom, then her friends at school. Because she was a "bad person" and bad people don't deserve (or get) love. Presumably, she reacted to this by embracing it, and by latching onto the only person who didn't push her away (because she had learned to manipulate him) Andrew.

And so Nina's death, which to Andrew was a tragedy, was to Leyley a *miracle*. Because it brought him down to her level. Made him her *equal*. And in doing so it created the co-dependence which led to... well the rest of their problems.

Notably, and I think the core reason why I view Leyley as “worse” than Andrew is that Leyley’s issue can’t be pointed to any singular tragic event. Andrew has the “excuse” of a tragic death, guilt and fear - not to mention Leyley’s manipulations - to explain away why he turns from timid boy with some issues to absolute monster. Leyley, as far as we can see, was always this way. And I can extrapolate outwards to see how this is a reaction to her mother’s lack of love, but it’s clear there was no singular event which drove her to act the way she did. She doesn’t have the excuse of singular tragedy, and so I find her less sympathetic (even if I like her as a character more). 

---

Related, I think it's worth talking about their relationship and blame. Because it's true, to an extent, that Andrew uses Leyley as an excuse for why he “has” to do awful things and deflects the blame onto her. But it's equally true that the Andrew we see after Nina’s death is not the same man who butchered a cultist for meat or murdered his parents. We see his descent through flashbacks and gameplay, watch as he crosses line after line and becomes worse and worse. And I think it's worth noting that Leyley is there every step of the way, pushing him further along. Working to isolate and abuse him so he has no-one to turn to but her. This is most clear in how she works to isolate him from his other female relationships (sending them death threats and threatening phone calls and making up emergencies so he cancels plans) but it is just as easily scene in her threat of blackmail.

And so why they are both bad people - especially at the time of game start - it's clear that Andrew is that way because of a combination of a so-so mom, a terrible tragedy and active abuse by someone close to him. And I find myself more sympathetic to someone whose spent their whole life living with an abuser, then I do with the abuser. Even if by game start they are equally abusive to each other.

[ansbobcar]

will ppl kill me if i say i wrote another oc to write a fic with orter??? and it could be in the same universe as my loser=lover fic???

I swear it's because I'm addicted to those "hey let's get married out of convenience" plots and the thought of Orter getting beaten at a drinking game is funny.

HERE'S MY NEWEST MASHLE OC Y'ALL

_ _ _

GENERAL INFO:

Name: Rinka Ontarin

Other names: Rinka Onoji, Looney Vision, The Blood Cane, Bloody Sicko, The Devil's Child

Sex: Female

Age: 25

Birthday: December 5th

Blood Type: O

Height: 170cm

Weight: 68kg

Occupation: Vice head of the Magical Power Administration, Divine Visionary

House: Adler

Affiliation: Bureau of Magic (current), Easton Magic Academy (former/drop out), the Onoji Family (former)

Dominant Hand: Left

Foot size: 25cm

Good Subjects: Magic Geography, Broom Classes

Bad Subjects: Magic History, Magic Zoology

Hobbies: Drinking, Doodling

Favourite Food: Baked Sweet Potatoes

Favourite Word: “Irrational Judgement”

Favourite type of the opposite sex: “Ew.”

Dislikes: People turning back on their promises, Irrational decision making, Drunk people

Frequently visited spots: Casino, Bars

Appearance: 

She has her blonde hair up in a half ponytail with frosted lavender tips and yellow eyes. She wears black gloves and wears a grey dress shirt paired with grey pants with a muddied orange trench coat with her DV emblem (don't know what the design is pls help). Line wise, it's a singular line on her left cheek which bends like a J.

Skills/Abilities: 

Personal Magic:

Contracts - In a similar fashion to Stars and Stripes, she’s able to force laws/deals onto anything she chooses, the only restriction being the amount of magical energy she pours into one increases the potency, permenancr and serious effect of the laws/deals. Her personal magic is barely utilised because it’s absolutely demonised in her family because she caused the death of her father which was ruled to be suicide. Why would someone’s personal magic be so legally binding? It’s so backhanded but as a result of this, she’s an invaluable member of the Bureau of Magic having managed to force everyone into a vow of secrecy if they know about her magic.

Sangs - The rest of the world believes her personal magic to be blood manipulation, she is capable of manipulating her own blood internally, externally and those within a nearby vicinity.

Sangs Bindings - Blood chains

Summon:

Eris (Goddess of Discord) - If she had a summons it would be Eris. Her wand transforms into an ambiguously defined golden staffed mallet. Eris does not appear behind her in the slightest.

Equipment: 

Basic Wand - Like everyone else, she wields a basic wand, however unlike most. She doesn’t utilise a wand for her ‘personal’ magic. She finds wands stupid though and only utilises it for show half the time.

Paring Knife - She draws blood quite a lot.

Family History:

Her father was a member of the Onoji, which was well known for being a part of the Bureau of Magic and producing natural 2 liner magicians.

However, when she was 4, she practically killed one of her many aunts right infront of the others by playing Old Maid as a natural 1 liner. And thus her personal magic was demonised and personally restricted to be unused, making up a new personal magic to hide the true nature of her magic.

She wasn’t completely mistreated, but by rejecting her personal magic, she felt emotionally neglected and as a result has an irrational fear of other people knowing her personal magic. Due to her mistreatment, her mother divorced while she was attending Easton Magic Academy.

WEAKNESSES:

Bloodloss/Anaemia - The moment she stops circulating her blood by solidifying it is the moment she loses a shit tonne of blood circulating in her system. Sure she may never run out of blood but it doesn’t circulate. So she’s prone to fainting through bloodloss of just lack of circulation.

Overreliance on Magic Enhancement - If she’s up against someone who can cancel her magic, she’s fucked because it’s what makes her invincible to majority of opponents.

Often forgets to keep a defensive stance- This is mostly because she has been training to be physically fit/strength being able to maintain speed under increased gravitation force.

Extra Info:

She’s a drop out from Easton Magic Academy due to lacking the funds to attend the school and her mother encouraging her to just live her life like she wants to instead of following the footsteps of what her father and the others want her aka being Divine Visionary. However, she drops out of Easton magic Academy to focus on being Divine Visionary full time.

She’s closer to Ryoh and Kaldo because they were the most welcoming of her at the time she and because as a barely 20 year old, she was placed with the Magical Power Administration of all things and the two of them helped her out. She was also the youngest Divine Visionary at the time before Rayne Ames took that record.

Ryoh and Kaldo know her true personal magic and are sworn into secrecy through it. Ryoh acts as a better father figure towards her, that’s why she’s close to him but he’s busy with his wife and kid so she feels bad to keep him away. Kaldo’s more like a brother figure for her, they’ve got the typical sibling banter.

She’s a heavy drinker and takes at least 6 hours of continuous drinking of the strongest things to get tipsy. 

PLOT IDEAS:

Orter Madl's parents want him to be engaged before he turns 24 otherwise they'll set him up with someone against his will. But obviously, this guy isn't interested in anyone even tho he's gone on like 5 dates just to get them off his radar and work.

Rinka, his trusty vice head/former head of Magical Power Admin, suggests and offers him to try dating her to solve his problem. He ends up accepting her offer after he realises his parents will literally set him up with a high schooler.

They both suck at dating though having literally gone to the bar to get drunk for the past 3 weeks and he feels miserable because she's a better drinker.

Ryoh becomes the idea man and suggests they do a picnic date but ahah... these are the heads of the magical power administration and end up having to settle a dispute between Giants and Orter is reminded of why she was called The Blood Cane as she bursts the Giant into pieces before it could attack her.

"Don't worry, now you don't have to worry about losing game."

They make stupid bets to pass the time but Orter quickly discovers her secret when her father/other aunts greet her and she ignores them without knowing what's going on.

"Do you... know them?"

"Don't even recognise their faces."

I wanna make her slowly open up to him and vice versa BUT THEN BIG PLOT TWISTS OCCUR TOWARDS THE END OF THE MASHLE CANON STORY—

_ _ _

Ye that's all.

[an-archaic-archivist]

Glitchtrap the puppet master

You ever think about how it must feel being possessed? Not being in control of your own body? I always thought that idea was horrifying. Fnaf Security Breach dabbles in this concept a little and leave some very dark implications as to what it's like. And because of the unsung main antagonist of the game, Glitchtrap.

It seems to me like Glitchtrap gave Glamrock Chica the ability to feel hunger just so he could torture and manipulate her into listening to him. She's always talking about working off those calories. Why else would she be able to feel hunger if she can't even process the food? What would be the point? It's to give Chica a stronger motivation. It's very common for people with anorexia to feel lightheaded and thus, more suggestible. Then, when Gregory crushes her, He amps up that feeling of hunger even more. no living thing can resist the feeling forever, after all. He would egg her on how she isn't good enough, that she isn't as pretty as Roxy. That she would only be useful if she caught Gregory. Speaking of Roxy...

Roxy seems pretty self absorbed most of the time. She's always talking about how she's the best and that no one can beat her. Glitchtrap probably amplified that trait of her so make her easier to control. All he would have to do is keep reinforcing the ideas she already has. You can even see her talking to herself in the mirror at the start of the game. I like to think that's Glitchtrap talking through her in that moment, sensing that Gregory showed up and getting her ready for it. Later on, when Gregory steals her eyes, Glitchtrap decides he's had enough of her failures and drops the kind act. Instead, he constantly berates her, telling her that she's worthless and that no one loves her, which Roxy echoes as she chases you.

I honestly don't have much to say about Monty. I feel like his is more self explanatory. He's somehow even more egotistical than Roxy and is also very aggressive. Glitchtrap heightened both aspects of Monty's personality for the same reasons as Roxy, except now, he wanted to created something much more mindless and persistent than Roxy. Like a wild animal on a leash. Who knows? Maybe that's why Monty might have killed Bonnie. Or maybe Bonnie broke free like Freddy did and tried to save someone. Except Freddy succeeds where he failed. But Gregory was already broken before he had the chance to help him...

While Gregory was Dr. Rabbit, Glitchtrap most likely magnified Gregory's stoicism and lack of empathy. Gregory isn't shown to be the most empathetic person in Security Breach. When Freddy is having an existential crisis when seeing the endo basement and he looks to Gregory for help, Gregory just says that he's a kid and doesn't know these things. Then when Gregory suggests stealing parts from Freddy's friends and Freddy is upset about this, Gregory just says that they're trying to kill him anyway. Keeping in mind that Gregory knows by now that all the animatronics are brainwashed and not acting of their own free will anymore, but he just ignores that. We also see him act very coldly at the end of G.G.Y. Telling Tony to meet him at the Pizzaplex, knowing well that Tony will probably die there. Likely at the hands of our favorite, criminally underutilized character, Vanny.

Vanessa is described in the emails as being a stereotypical girly girl that gets excited about everything and loves glitter and pink and rainbows. She's shown to have a childish side to her. So our old pal Glitchy focused on that part of her. Making it so that his new puppet would not only obey him without question, but would love doing so. Children require attention, Something only Glitchtrap will give her, isolating her from everyone else. Speaking to her like a showman would. Telling her that it's all one big game. A play where she's the star. A game she must win for his approval.

[ethicaltreatmentofcowplants]

previously

Earlier Rory had encouraged Amelie to use her VAMPIRIC ALLURE, and is now finding themselves wondering what on earth they've unleashed upon the club.

"Um, kid. A word?"

Something that had never been fully appreciated, especially not by their father, was that when one had a lot of Fury, one also got real good at keeping that same Fury on a tight leash. When they wanted to. She liked to swim in it, sure. To be surrounded and kept afloat by it. But she always kept the shoreline pinned in the map of her mind and likewise knew how to make her way back. Well, mostly. So perhaps that was why that even though they could scent the uptick of pheromones in the air, they had been keeping their snout and their wits free of it. Those regular normies, however...

JOAQUIN: I'm being truly sincere when I say that you are absolutely the prettiest girl I see here tonight. RORY: Didn't I catch you saying that very same thing to some other unfortunate all of five minutes ago? Also not 'girl.' Don't infantilise an actual grown woman, my guy. GHOST LADY: Ooooh, you got him good....

He and Amelie continued to develop a friendly relationship. In that one of them was very much just being friendly, whereas the other appeared to want something more akin to a relationship.

JOAQUIN: Interesting cocktail you have there. AMELIE: Thank you! It's less unseemly than someone else's neck, don't you think? JOAQUIN: Actually, I don't mind if you get a little unseemly... AMELIE: Actually, I prefer the wrist. Is that all right? JOAQUIN: Unconventional but whatever. You're hot, I'll roll with it.

And that was the story of how Joaquin gave his first ever blood donation.

No one seemed all that bothered, except for this one lady. Who always seems to be perpetually bothered anyway (in my saves at least).

LADY: EXCUSE YOU, HOW IMPROPER- LILITH: Ma'am, you came to a night club in Windenberg and you expected propriety? Although I'm not quite sure what you were expecting, considering that outfit. Fly fishing hat, really?

Across the room, Rory observed as Amelie remained the oblivious calm eye in a storm that was entirely of her own making. Really, she had been concerned that the child was manipulating Lou? This kid truly had no ducking clue.

"Uhh, Amelie? Maybe tone it down a little? You've got Lemon McSqueezy over here looking like he'll never smile again a day in his life."

(I still have no idea why 'Lemon McSqueezy' was pouting so much.)

With the VAMPIRIC ALLURE now safely on 'standby' mode (or... however it worked) Rory was free to attend to other matters. They had of course sniffed out Lilith's significantly more pronounced undead presence the moment they entered the club (Amelie as a newfanged vamp was so much easier on her snout) . But they were in neutral territory and so far, the vampire matriarch was behaving... neutrally. Thus Rory figured that they could be cordial. Ish.

RORY: Everyone has an Opinion on it, I'm sure, but you've kept out of Moonwood business and you've never said shit about my pack or how I raise my pups. So likewise I can't give a duck what you do with your...fledgling. But seriously. She thought that a 'honeypot' meant bees... LILITH: [eternally suffering sigh] Tell me about it...

Rory must have caught Lilith in a rare vulnerable mood, with Lilith likewise catching them in an even rarer vulnerable mood, because they had as close to a heart-to-heart as two bad bitches from such opposing occults have likely shared across the ages.

LILITH: Caleb and I never intended for her to be so... isolated. But she's only recently acquired even a small degree of solar resistance and - well, you know how people can be. With us. RORY: Suppose I do at that, yeah. LILITH: Anyway, while I doubt it was your primary purpose in bringing her here, thanks for looking out. RORY: Anytime. [squints] Is this the part where we're supposed to... hug it out or something? Because I'm passing. LILITH: Oh, with that I can concur.

What happened in the Vatore household later that night, I can only imagine. Likely Amelie went to bed wondering if people in nightclubs were normally so friendly and obliging, while Lilith interrupted one of Caleb's many waterworks fests for a Chat.

[tokiro07]

@giltheweebzard replied to your post “Starting the year off right: thinking about...”:

Don't forget Monet incapacitated Robin before she could use her abilities against her. And while Nami could use heat effectively, she and Chopper got bailed out by Zoro who drew attention from Monet.

Monet is definitely one of the most pragmatic characters in the series, which is in turn aided by the fact that she's well aware of where she stands relative to everyone else

She was able to "beat" Luffy because he wasn't getting serious against her; if he'd actually made a real effort to overpower her, he definitely could have, and she acknowledged that, so she made sure to go for a capture rather than for a win while he was still underestimating her

The circumstances of the fight play just as much of a role as the fighters, but let's take a look at how the match-ups might go if everyone were just plopped into battle without any context

Luffy: his Haki and overall strength easily overpower Monet if he's actually making an effort, as we've established

Zoro: same as above, and seen in canon

Nami: her Heat Eggs definitively give her an advantage, and the heat from her lightning attacks should work on Monet as well, but given Monet's speed, she should be capable of maneuvering around Nami's attacks once she knows to be cautious of them. Nami's weather manipulation could likely prevent Monet from conjuring a snowstorm and gaining a field advantage, but that might also just lead to a stalemate. If Nami lands a lightning attack, she wins, but she'd have to really strategize around Monet's abilities. I'm gonna call this one approximately even, but I'll give the advantage to Nami on the basis that weather is her entire thing

Usopp: I don't know how well his Pop Greens would work in a cold environment since they're from a tropical one, so there's a good chance that Monet could make her surroundings too inhospitable for them to be used properly. Usopp has used flame-based attacks before, so he definitely has a way to harm Monet even without Haki, but again, it's a matter of actually hitting her since she's very good at outmaneuvering her enemies. If he ever learns to actually utilize his Observation Haki, he'd probably be able to find where she hides in the snow, but if she's being cautious of long-ranged attacks, she'd probably be able to catch him before he can use his arsenal effectively. Usopp has a way to win, but advantage to Monet

Sanji: in terms of strength, Sanji wins - fire powers, Haki, iron skin, no contest. Buuut it's Sanji. He can't hit her, he won't hit her, he'll let himself die. Best bet is to tag in someone else

Chopper: no Haki, no heat-based abilities; he might be able to concoct a medicine of some kind that would allow him to produce heat, like a reverse version of Queen's Ice Oni, but Chopper's never been shown using medicine offensively aside from the Rumble Ball, so I'm not inclined to believe that he would. Even in Monster Point, Chopper doesn't have a way to hurt Monet and would really only be giving her more surface area to hit, though it might make him durable enough to resist most of her attacks. Monet has the advantage, though it would most likely come down to a battle of attrition more than anything else

Robin: Monet being a Logia-user gives her a distinct advantage, as Robin's grappling techniques are rendered completely moot; Robin's best hope against Monet is to use Fishman Karate, which can damage Devil Fruit-users the same way that Haki does, but Robin has thus far only used Fishman Karate strikes as a set-up for her grappling, so we don't have much reason to believe that she has anything in her arsenal that would allow her to land a definitive blow. If she has more techniques up her sleeve, sure, but as it stands, Monet most likely wins

Franky: Multiple methods of taking advantage of Monet's weakness to heat (fire-breath, laser beams, etc.) and a near-invincible body give Franky the distinct advantage, though Monet's cunning and strategy could eke her out the win. Still, I'm giving this one to Franky since I don't know if Monet's offenses have a way to get around Franky's iron constitution. Edit: Reevaluated this, I forgot that Franky's back is still his weakness post-timeskip. Monet would definitely figure this out since she favors attacking from behind. Franky is also canonically the second-slowest Straw Hat and almost exclusively wins his fights through brute force instead of strategy, so Monet would definitely land her hits with little difficulty. In the worst-case scenario, Monet would likely figure out that she can freeze Franky's cola to render his weapons useless. Monet takes the advantage

Brook: Brook's ice attacks shouldn't have much effect on Monet given that she's already frozen, though it's been stated that Aokiji's ice Logia would overpower her snow Logia the same way that Akainu's lava overpowered Ace's fire, so it's certainly possible that Brook could freeze Monet's snow into solid ice to force her into having a corporeal body, but that depends on how adept he is at using cold, I think. Brook's speed also gives him a good counter to Monet's, but a lack of Haki makes his offensive options a lot more limited. He uses his hypnosis abilities so rarely that it's hard to say whether they would affect Monet, but I'm inclined to believe they wouldn't since he only really uses them on fodder enemies. If ice overpowers snow he has a way to harm her, but being able to harm her isn't the same as being able to beat her. I'm going to give this one to Monet, but cautiously. Edit: after much thought, I've decided that Brook's ice should be able to harm Monet, and his speed should be more than enough to keep up with her, even if only via reaction time. Brook has shown resistance to being frozen (as he has no flesh or blood), and his lack of organs makes him resistant to stabbing attacks. Only Monet's bites pose a real threat, and they're her slowest attacks (Nami could move Chopper out of the way while otherwise immobilized by Monet's cold, which wouldn't affect Brook). This one goes to Brook, but Monet's strategies still give her a decent chance

Jinbe: no contest, Jinbe's on at least Doflamingo's level and is both skilled in Haki and the foremost Fishman Karate master. He's so serious that I don't even see a way that Monet could get the drop on him in any situation, either, but perhaps her binding-based abilities would let her hold her own for a while

So that's three definitive losses (Luffy, Zoro, Jinbe), three solid wins (Usopp, Chopper, Robin), two shaky losses (Nami and Brook), one shaky win (Franky), and one default (Sanji)

Huh, that came out a lot more balanced than I was expecting to be, actually. Basically three each of losses, wins and possible draws. Honestly, though, if Oda put any of the Straw Hats against Monet, he'd probably find a way for them to win, since generally the crew doesn't lose their arc fights, but that should only strengthen the argument that Monet isn't too weak to join. They're all dolls that Oda plays with as he sees fit, he can just write a way to win any given fight. He's skilled enough to do so with logical consistency between battles, but still, if Monet joined, he'd make sure that she's a competent enough fighter to beat whatever opponents he'd have her up against and would make her just as viable a combatant as anyone else on the crew

In short, "too weak to join" is just an excuse that people use to derail the argument

[waywardangel-13]

I need help with a fic :)

I'm planning on writing a fic series that is basically the show My Babysitter's a Vampire (MBAV) but with Supernatural characters (all in their teens). I need help figuring out two parallels. For those who do not know about/aren't familiar with My Babysitter's a Vampire, aka the show that shaped my childhood and single-handedly explains my fascination with supernatural ensemble mystery/drama shows, I'll explain the characters I want to parallel and the issue I am having.

Jesse: Jesse is the very first bad guy/Big Bad of the series and has recurring cameos throughout MBAV. He is the ex-boyfriend of one of the main characters, Sarah, and is responsible for turning her into a vampire, thus creating the premise of the show. His character is an absolute asshole, but he's still an entertaining enough villain (who has the capacity to be super creepy/has issues with consent). Jesse is a leader and is very charismatic, as well as 200 years old.

Erica: Erica is one of the core five of the group. She goes from likeable nerd to villainous vampire in the beginning of the series due to a manipulation of her insecurities and a deep-seated desire to be as powerful as the bullies who tormented her her whole life. She is good at heart, though, and has a soft spot for her best friend (Sarah), which ultimately causes her redemption arc. Regardless of if she's on the side of good or not, though, she's a bitch and I love her, which brings me to the main issue.

I can't decide whether to put Meg (from Supernatural) as Jesse or Erica. For context, the role of Sarah is going to Castiel, and he obviously has a profound connection with Meg in SPN. If Meg is Jesse, I can make use of her villainous aspects, because in the show she is highly charismatic yet temperamental.

However, on the other hand, Meg as Erica would be interesting because they both have similar redemption arcs and they have similar attitudes. Also, and this is not a huge factor behind my reasoning, Supernatural is a bit of a boys club? Like don't get me wrong, I love all the guys, but it'd be nice to actually have some female main characters (the only one I have is Charlie for the main characters).

HOWEVER.

I would like to use Gabriel as a main character. I had him as Erica in my early fic ideas, and he worked because he has villainous aspects to his character and a heart of gold (but is capable of being selfish). In that version, he was Cas' brother as well. If I use Meg for Erica, I wouldn't know who to cast Gabe as, because I love writing him. (Also, he could be a potential love interest for Sam, because I do ship Sabriel. I am trying to stay close-ish to the source material, so, if Gabe isn't in the core five, Sam would never find love...super dumb reasoning buuuuuuut anyways.) Obviously, I would not use Gabriel as Jesse cuz that is kinda gross.

If you hit someone else as ____, please write it in the comments :). Any help is greatly appreciated. Also, if there are any questions, I can probably answer them.

[rotten-hearts-sharp-teeth]

do you have a favorite oc or one you relate to the most? :)

Thank you for the ask anon! You probably were not expecting this, but I actually have a MASSIVE catalogue of OCs. Tumblr allows 10 images so that's what I narrowed it down to. All images are labeled for the creator, but the characters belong to me.

OK! First up is my most well known OC. I made Sabine for my Alone Wolf Hellsing AU. If you've read the first story, then you know that she (spoiler) didn't make it to the end. I grew to love the character so much and the demand was so high that I started an alt end AU for my AU. If that isn't love then I don't know what is. Her son, Barrett hasn't been born yet in the story (new chapter is coming I promise) but I have big plans for him.

*art for an ask created by @crooked-incisors*

Next up is my cyberpunk cyborg Kade Pax. I just love their personality and design so much. Their story is tragic but has a happy end. I think. I really relate to Kade because of I also suffer body dysmorphic disorder

*ref by crooked for our closed universe*

Marianne Dubois is my plus sized, French Canadian final girl. I plan to write her story 'Road Kill' once I finish my Alone Wolf sequels.

*The art is mine. Slasher BF Steven Locke belongs to crooked*

Next up is another pair for the Slasher fandom. Flora and Veronica Galindo are WOC slasher twins. Flora is evil and manipulates Vero in the worst ways. I have a story for them that I would also like to write one day.

*art by crooked for our closed AU where they both get a happy ending*

*design of Veronica's Slasher look, Santa Muerte. Old art created by me*

One last OC from the closed universe I share with crooked (even though all of them are my favorite) My little yandere bimbo Bambi Dearie. She has... quite an interesting story.

*art by crooked*

OK! Now on to my Harem OC. Vral, Scourge of Delano is a savage hare barbarian. He's interested in fighting and fucking and not much else honestly.

*ref by crooked*

Bring in the clowns!

Mad Mage Meddle started a Kings of the Wild OC. It's a great book and everyone who likes fantasy should give it a read. I've considered using him for DnD, but since he's a chaotic evil user of body transformation magic that makes it a little difficult. Honestly I could go on about him so if anyone is curious shoot me an ask!

*commission*

Delilah the deadite clown is a very special OC for me. She was the first one I ever created way back in July of 2018. Happy Birthday!

*commission*

Last, I have Paisley. She was never going to be an OC. I actually just picked a name for a reader x fic that involved clowns, but crooked asked for details and thus Paisley was designed. She is very near and dear to my heart because of what she brought into my life ❤️

*commission*

And that's it! Honestly, I had a hard time narrowing down the list. I put a lot of care and pieces of myself into each and every OC I design. In a way they are all my faves 😅

[l-egionaire]

I saw one response to a post I made talking about a universe where Luz never went to the Boiling Isles be "then Belos would've wiped out all the witches" but....I'm not so sure I agree with that.

Could Belos have taken power without Luz being around? Probably. He seems like the type who'd be able to manipulate someone else into helping him get the collector's prison and take over. But getting the portal door? I don't know if he'd be able to do that one without Luz.

Remember, Eda was the one who had the door before and she kept it pretty well hidden. Even when she'd gotten captured by Belos and about to be petrified, she had the door on her the WHOLE time and he had no idea. If Luz haldn't come along and rescued her, he'd probably have destroyed the door along with her.

And in a universe where Luz doesn't come? Where Eda no doubt succumbs to the effects of her curse and thus has no reason to remove the door from its hiding place like in canon? Belos never gets the portal door. And with no door, ge can't pull off his big "day of Unity" scheme because without it he has no way of getting off the isles once he's destroyed it.

So, no Luz, no portal door. No portal door, no day of Unity and no witch genocide.

Of course, that doesn't really make things better since that means that Belos would continue to rule the Boiling Isles well into the future....but hey, silver linings.

[speakyskelly-1999]

i lied

so i finished sailor moon today thus why the review is now

i did finish my happy marrage yesterday but i was too busy to wirte a review so i'll bang that out after this

now without further ado

sailor moon r

omg guess what; theres gonna be spoilers

and with making sure this goes to the right blog

i'll strucuture it like how i did the full synopsis of the first season

so characters then plot

also imma split the plot into what i consider to be the different acts of the peice (and no these are not compliant with the manga acts)

good? good

usagi:

fuck maaaan. as i said in my review of the fist 13 episodes sh'es matured a lot and you can really see that the events of the previous season has effected. even in the climax of this season she's way more mature about the impending threat and increadibly willing to sacrifice herself to protect her friends and the planet incomparion to her wanting to give up the silver crystal to save them in the first season. obviusly the cerumctanses are different but still beautiful character developement. her relationship with chibi usa is facinating. they start out as siblings who hate each other and then grow into really good siblings. even once knowing that usagi is actually her mother they still remain mainly with a sibling vibe as while usagi is her mother it's not this verson of usagi that is her mother with i aprechiate. and don't worry she still feels her age. i believe she's still 14 by this point but would soon be turning 15 (checking the wiki roughly) and she definatly feels that age if i'm correct. she's such a well written charcter it's insane. i don't have much else to say about usagi. she's fighting hard to end up on my fav list for sure

chibi-usa (small lady):

man i wanted to hate her. like as a concept i did not see how they were gonna exicute that well. but holy shit she did it. like don't get me wrong i hated her at the begining. her anger and distane for usagi is really interesting. but the way she grows throught out the seires was marvilous. her hating usagi at the beinging and adoring sailor moon. finding out that usagi is sailor moon and how that destroys her world view a little, and then at the end when she's leaving calling usagi her mother, ah so cute, great characterisation. her relationship with mamoru is interesting. she's initially implied to have a crush on him. at some point i do believe this fades but it's still a little weird considering it's her future dad. when she demands to hang out mamoru to annoy usagi, once she's over the crush, it's fine and quite funny. her relationship with the other sailor soldiers is sweet. she likes them as much as they adore her. and tbf it's the same with usagi's family. yes she manipulates them into thinking she's their cusion, thus causing them to like her, but even with that they would have liked her anyway

ami:

she keeps getting more and more things to do it's great. genuinly thought they'd just forget about her but her focused episodes have been great. the one where she deats the vilain by not giving into the illusions she's being shown of her friends hating her. great stuff. more than what chibi USA could do. and usagi to a certain extent. her dedication to studying as well is still very fun. the way she keeps bringing it up is great each time. i'm not borad of it yet. mercury very much trying to buy a place on my favorites

rei:

this ones really interesting. as she gets a lot of focus in the first season she takes a back seat in this one. which definatly allows the others to shine but (asides from in the 1-13 blokes of episodes) i don't recall her having an episode fully focused on her. which again, not bad as it allows for others to be shown I REMEMBERED HER FOCUSED EPISODE. in my mind it's more of the another characters focused episode and i'd probably class it as much. but she is the other focal character and it does a great job of showing off her character. again still a very stong character albet with less to do. okay but her relationship with chibi usa is quite cute as she seems to be the sailor soldier chibi likes the most and they get along accordingly

makoto:

i love her but (asides from the episode in 1-13) has no episodes to herself. it's tragic. yea she a fun character but she just gets nothing to do. like they put in work to flesh out ami who also initially didn't get much but no effort into doing more stuff with makoto. i like the fact that despite being the tallest and most 'boyish' (at the moment) she's actually the best at cooking, cleaning, ice skating etc. like she a better cook than minako, usagi and rei (I don't think we've seen ami cook but i'd assume it was pretty calculated). but yea, I like her but she has nothing to do

minako:

again you can tell, once she has an episode focused on her that we was initially meant to be a protagonist herself. the episode where everyone is sick and she has to take care of all the other sailor soldiers, so good. it does a real good job showing her relationship with chibi usa and her dynamic with the rest of the soldiers. i wish we had more episodes focused on her but I get that she kind of steals the show a little considering she is essentially a sleeper protagonist thus focusing on her too much would probably feel a little weird after a while.

luna:

she has less to do but as ever a grace to have on my screen. side note my friend has a bunch of screen caps of luna just being cute from the show and while yes I'm calling her out I also totally understand and would have done the same if I was watching it on my phone (I mean luna is my current wallpaper)

artimis:

omg look i named him this time. yea he gets better...

mamoru:

man really wanted to make me hate him for a while. so after he gets his memories back hima nd usagi start dating. but oh no, he starts getting weird dreams about if they stay together only bad things (the probably death of usagi) will occur. oooh nooooo. so he breaks up with her with no explanation. so usagi is destrught and keeps trying to win back his affections. now how much of this could have been solved if he had just told her what was happening. so much. now you may be thinking maybe he couldn't tell sailor moon. she ends up getting the same fucking dream as him and then they have a conversation about and they start dating again. so all of that was pointless. but anyway after they get back together again it's really cute. and the way he interacts with chibi usa is great and whatever. he's back in my good books but on thin fucking ice. oh and it was future him that told him warmed him about the future saying "he had to test their bond" or some bullshit. whatever.

koan:

honestly really interesting that she turned good first. like it made sense but I also found it interesting. she has mycolour scheme out of all 4 sisters and her episode when she turned good due to rei was beautily done. really enjoyable to watch

berthier:

has my favorite design out of all the sisters. her feeling betrayed and abandoned by koan was really nicely done and the fact that she couldn't get over losing to ami was very funny

calaveras:

honestly i care about her the least out of all the sisters and that's due to her having very little to do incomparison. her feeling betrayed by petz was a nice touch

petz:

girl calaveras wasn't gonna betray you what are you doing. but in all seriousness her betraying calaberas due to her previous sisters 'betray' was very well done. and then later on when she tries to save saphir. damn that was good

rubeus:

fucker deserved it

esmeraude:

okay like she deserved it but i did feel bad for her in the end

saphir:

man did not deserve to die. he was part of the problem yes but he helped the solution

dimande:

creep. look i don't even care that he helped sailor moon at the end he was just a creep. man got so turned on by queen serenity he just ignored is bother telling him that they strayed from their original plan and that wise man was betraying them/ absolute fucking creep

wiseman:

he was fine

black lady:

it's a crime that her design is that good considering she older evil chibi-usa. okay but in all seriousness I quite liked her. she was interesting enough. ngl I thought she'd have more to do/have more screen time considering she seems to be some what of a fan favorite

naru:

damn. like considering they really didn't need to keep bringing her up I'm glad they did. she might not really deserve I singular placement here but fuck it I want to include her on her own. man, the fact that she kinda knows usagi is sailor moon (she at least understands that usagi knows whats going on at the end) but accepts that usagi just can't tell her. so good.

others:

errr lets see. umino is still here. vibing mainly. usagi's family donm't do much this time round. And motoki has like one appearance which is sad but understandable