#fizzled answers

[fizzledlines]

I love how you draw lumity

Awww thank you!! :') have a little sketchie poo of them

[popfizzles]

rudy acts like my lactose intolerant friend. i don't care if this gives me a tummy ache. small price to pay to experience the joy of [apple pie]

It's a little less like "tummy ache" allergy, and more like "breaking out in red itchy hives" allergy <:)

Feeding any apple item (even things that just INCLUDE the word "apple"; like, for instance, pineapple) to a Kyrii will make it sick with a fake disease called "Itchy Scratchies".

[chiropterx]

If Man-Bat likes you, prepare to have your personal space disrespected! Vampire bats are very social, often snuggling up close to other members of their kind and even initiating grooming as part of social bonding. Man-Bat might rest his head on your shoulders, lean against you, even go as far as licking your hair if it looks very messy and out of place. It can be quite uncomfortable, especially in summer given his high body temperature.

[not-poignant]

Hi Pila! Behind the scenes 17 for The Ice Plague Book 3 please? (or 26 if you prefer!)

17. What was the hardest scene to write?

Oh absolutely the final battle.

I started planning that years before, I have a map of where all the characters are and how they converge upon Olphix, it was a massive action scene that spanned across more than one chapter and more than one perspective, and it involved two (temporary) major character deaths, so I also had to give gravitas to the deaths even though everyone knew those character deaths were temporary. Which is a big ask!

I didn't push myself to write those chapters fast. I'd write a section, walk away for a day or two, write a section, walk away, write a section, walk away. I wrote some parts out of order and then 'connected' them. I gave myself about a solid 4 weeks just to write those chapters. And I needed them.

There were a lot of hard things in The Ice Plague III, but that one started being fucky and frustrating like 5 years beforehand, so a scene that I'm noodling on for 5 years is absolutely the hardest thing to write.

~

From this meme!

[silvercrane14]

Fellas is it gay to awaken your power after thinking about a guy you just met and how he's counting on you and doesn't think you're useless.

Nahhh it's not gay dw abt it

[flowercrowngods]

.

[bangcakes]

.

[remyfire]

margbeej (just in case no one has asked yet…I must 👀)

Do I Ship It? AAAAAAAAAAA

Yes, I Ship It!!

What made you ship it? —Listen. Listen. Listen. I had stirrings probably as early as BJ swinging Margaret down from the jeep in Margaret's Engagement. But the real dynamite exploded inside of me in Eye for a Tooth, when BJ and Margaret and Hawkeye are pulling their ruse on Charles. I had already picked up on the story beats well enough to know going into that climactic scene that the three of them had a ruse going, so I wasn't afraid of whatever was about to happen on my screen. THIS DID NOT MEAN I WAS PREPARED FOR BJ TO WRESTLE MARGARET DOWN ONTO A COT. I tell this story a lot, but truly I had to go in the kitchen and stand there and stare at the wall for 5 minutes as I processed everything, this constant repeating chant of "Did I hurt you, Margaret?" "Not at all, I LOVED it!" It was so fucking much. The trust it took to be that physical with one another, the way they held hands from the moment BJ got off of her, the just sheer! Physicality! Of it all! My god! I was a goner. From that moment on, I started noticing every side moment of BJ getting snippy over her love interests, of how often they will find and support each other—the hand thing, the FUCKING hand thing, WHY do they hold HANDS so much!!!!!—and how frequently they will watch each other when the other isn't looking, and it was just an endless line of dominos. They want to fuck each other's brains out. This is just a fact of life.

What are your favorite things about the ship? —I love the messiness of Margaret being a blonde woman named Margaret and what that must do to BJ's brain in those early weeks of being there. I love that Margaret lets BJ get away with saying filthy things to her that she would never let Hawk get away with. I love how they clearly find each other extremely safe—they would never act on this craving! They get so so smug when they say goodbye and they haven't done a damn thing! They survived cheating! (and then postwar—) I love that as they evolve, Margaret is not afraid to take him to task when he fucks up, and I love that BJ is so protective of her in so many circumstances. I love the doors they open for each other for genderfuckery on both sides and I love that all of BJ's latent misogyny is right there for Margaret to blast holes through like a wrecking ball just by the very nature of who she is as a high-ranking hard-working woman. And as I always say, their ship doesn't work for me unless they're best friends underneath it all. Their friendship is vital. It's just a complicated one given the nature of the Everything about them.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? —The fact that I ship them at all is the unpopular opinion hkdffds I don't see BJ as a gay man, I don't see Margaret as a lesbian, and I don't see them as only friends who are not attracted to each other/sibling-coded. Obviously I respect everyone who sees them in such ways and I completely understand why they do. But to me, they have incredibly electric moments, and the cracking tension of them knowing they can't, they really can't, absolutely gets my brain running far far too fast and too hot. I will be sailing their very tiny canoe and continuing to dominate their ship tag for the rest of time.

[risingsouls]

[Wowee that's a lot. I'm flattered you're cool with sending this to me, though! I love seeing people's takes and discussing this kind of thing so I'm flattered.

I'm going to try to address all of this, and I'm going to start from the bottom and go up.

To start, yeah. The Buu saga in general is a mess. I like it okay, and would rather watch the Buu saga a million times in a row than sit through Super, but yeah. It's definitely not well done. Somehow, it is both rushed and moves too slowly and I agree that it's really lame that this looked like it was going to be the passing of the torch to either Vegeta and Piccolo or the younger generation with Gohan. Goten, and Trunks. However, instead out time gets wasted in Gohan getting his mystic form and Gotenks becoming a thing just for both of them to end up failing miserably and for Goku to have to clean up the mess as usual. Considering this was supposed to be the end of the series, I don't really understand why they went this route, but it never really worked for me either.

As you mentioned, even Vegeta and Piccolo were shafted in this Saga when it would have been nice to see one them protect the planet. I mean...they tried to make it seem like Vegeta came to care about saving the planet, so why not let him do it? Even at the end, it's Hercule that convinces the Earthlings to give energy, not Vegeta, so what the hell was the point (I have a lot of thoughts on Vegeta's "redemption" in that it's not one and his real "redemption" comes at the end of the saga, not when he blows himself up)?

Now, to focus on Gohan specifically from the end of the Cell Saga to the Buu Saga. I agree with some of what you said and other things I don't necessarily. I'll start with what I agree with: trauma. Toriyama not addressing trauma isn't a problem with just Gohan, though. Arguably, every character in this series is likely traumatized to some degree, whether it's just from dealing with being part of Earth's special forces and dying in the fight or seeing and experiencing horrific things. Another BIG example that the writers should have reckoned more with in the realm of trauma was Vegeta. Man was enslaved for a good portion of his life. Likely tortured at least mentally if not physically. But all of that gets swept under the rug, and it absolutely happens with Gohan throughout the series too. I wish there was more exploration of all of this as well, but I guess that's why people like me and other rpers are here.

That said, I propose another view of why Gohan took up the mantle of the Great Saiyaman: he has a hero complex. He saved the world. He was the only one that could beat Cell. He didn't believe his dad at first and thought Goku would be the one to do it as he always did. But that's not what happened. And then Goku died, and while Goku wasn't in the business of playing Superman, I think this did instill a complex in Gohan to feel like if he doesn't do it, if he doesn't help and save people, no one will. And once he gets to the city and sees the bank robbery up close and stops it, that sort of really takes hold in him. Yeah, maybe he wouldn't go with the costume if he could keep his identity secret with just SS, but he couldn't. And it makes sense he wouldn't want his classmates to view him as anything but average when he wouldn't even take due credit for killing Cell.

But yeah, I honestly can see Gohan doing this. He's always been willing and ready to jump in and help people. We see it against the Saiyans once he gets over his fear. We see it on Namek, and how he wants to help with the androids. He is shown saving people who cannot defend themselves quite a bit considering, so I don't think it's out of line for him to take on that role with that in mind along with me seeing a hero complex arising in him.

Does it feel out of place when you consider that this kid would be traumatized? Of course. And I wish we got to see more of him and his family grieving. Goten growing up only hearing stories about his father (what they do with this is actually pretty good I think; subtle in how Goten has put his dad on a pedestal thanks to Gohan and probably Chi Chi to some degree only to see him not be able to take care of the monster after all, but I like how they handle Goten and Goku meeting). I wish we got more of how Gohan's and everyone else's trauma affected them (I guess we get a little with Yamcha? But that's another convo probably). But, like I said, unfortunately they didn't want to write that. Which is lame.

But yeah. It sucks that after this we get a stagnation of characters in Super. Nobody grows or changes because they gave them no room to do so. Even Goten and Trunks haven't changed and they're meant to be growing up (Goten maybe seems a bit more mature from bits in the manga but it's debatable). Goku regresses, many would argue Vegeta is better, but he's also just been stagnant since the narrative they decided to hammer home was family man instead of him coming to terms with Goku being better than him and FINALLY dropping that old grudge so he CAN grow and become his own man. They've made the same joke about Gohan not training three times in Super, even though his failures against both Cell and Buu likely SHOULD have convinced him to at least try to keep up with his training AND his studies imo. But instead, because they want their funny hahas, they have him stagnate as well. Hell, they even make him the leader of U7 but that basically doesn't matter because, outside of a few blips, it's the Goku and Vegeta show (along with Frieza ew). Videl gets the DB Woman Treatment, arguably, like you mentioned in the Buu Saga (unless you count the last few movies). Piccolo is almost nonexistent in Super until the ToP. Bulma has regressed so much I hate everything when I think about it. Tien is basically forgotten until the ToP. Yamcha is just a joke flat out. I could go on and on but I think you get it.

So, to end before I really start rambling more, the Buu saga could have been really great and handled so much better. However, the thing is, this was meant to be the end. Even though I don't agree with a lot of what they did, they were just trying to wrap it up and call it good. And that shows. That aside, it was just a mess in general with a ton of pacing issues and just general, "but why" feels. I like it in its own way but it is very flawed as you've said.]

[thedeadthree]

— CHARACTER RED FLAGS.

TAGGED BY my dearies @denerims, @echo3-1, @phillipsgraves, @jendoe, @chuckhansen and @adelaidedrubman to take this cutest uquiz for the loves! ty ty so much <3

TAGGING: @feystepped, @griffin-wood, @kingsroad, @marivenah, @50sjello, @risingsh0t, @queennymeria, @aartyom, @jackiesarch, @florbelles, @unholymilf, @leviiackrman, @confidentandgood, @pheedraws, @morvaris, @malefiicarum, @arklay, @fragilestorm, @impales, @jacobseed, @blissfulalchemist, @heroofpenamstan, @shadowglens, @shellibisshe, @aceghosts, @loriane-elmuerto, @belorage, @rosebarsoap, @lavinet and you!

LACK OF TRUST

this one isn't that difficult to understand. you're extremely secretive, and you're afraid that if you open up you'll get hurt (again?). you probably raise suspicion against others and accuse them of something they never did. you let your anxiety and worry influence the way you view people which is never good.

MANIPULATIVE

you're probably a passive aggressive person. you frequently lie, and gaslight to get your way. you never want to be held responsible for your actions so you avoid situations by either victimizing yourself, belittling others concerns, hiding the truth, and using threats to harm yourself or others

VIOLENT

when something makes you upset, it could even be the tiniest most petty reason ever, you yell, rage, and possibly throw stuff in anger. your actions think quicker than your mind, and it could probably not even be intentional but the next thing you'll realize is that you've hurt someone

LACK OF TRUST

this one isn't that difficult to understand. you're extremely secretive, and you're afraid that if you open up you'll get hurt (again?). you probably raise suspicion against others and accuse them of something they never did. you let your anxiety and worry influence the way you view people which is never good.

STUBBORN

you don't recognize the opinions and beliefs of others, either that or you don't care about them. you stick strongly to what you were raised to doing, and don't realize that the world can change. you have extremely strong beliefs, and you think that if another's beliefs aren't the exact same as yours, they're wrong and you automatically hate them. you also might be political and close minded

[south-sea]

J and K for that character meme. What character? How about your Black Doom guys (Aruna and otherwise?)

THANKS I LOVE COMPARING ALTERNATES (genuinely it's one of my favorite things to do, and ones like this are especially fun because it helps demonstrate just how different they truly are while still having threads that connect them)

from this!

J. What is their greatest weakness?

aruna resistance to change, the tendency to get desperate when push comes to shove, and just about anything to do with food.

compared to the alt arms, his hive was primitive, and it's entirely because he was too stuck in his old ways to truly allow them to prosper. even now this tendency to stick to tradition tends to bar him from progressing, but he's getting better at making compromises. especially if it's in the interest of Not Dying.

relatedly, he will do just about anything if it means securing a meal. this has been a trend for nearly his entire life, and that desperation is exactly what led to the downfall of his kind. if anything, his time as a mobian just made it worse. already it has led to him doing a few reckless things that have gotten him more than a few scrapes and bruises. also some pretty wicked food aggression. if he doesn't know you, it's wise not to go anywhere near him when he has food, or even for a little while after. this weird squid can growl, and he will reflexively growl even at "safe" people to keep their distance especially after he's eaten.

alt doom isolation, arrogance, complacency.

for the leader of so many, he is not very social. if anything, the more his hive(s) grow, the more reclusive he gets. in a sense it's understandable; his people became truly self-sufficient, so he's gone more hands-off and just watches from the background.

but the domino effect is that that success has made him nearly complacent. as if he and his kind are truly at the top of the food chain now so to speak, as if there's nothing left to go wrong and endanger his people. they have multiple settlements, have even branched off into sub-hives that're too far away to even connect to the main hivemind anymore. his one major almost-failure resulted in this much prosperity for his kind. surely that means he's always going to find a way to come out on top. what's there left to be worried about?

K. What is their greatest strength?

aruna weirdly, his adaptability. like no, he doesn't like or want to change, but if he's forced to, he can and does so relatively well. not easily, but well. he's learned to blend into a new society near-flawlessly, learned how to utilize weapons he's never even thought of before, will straight up use his knowledge of chemistry to find the next-closest-thing to tradition as he possibly can (silks, for example).

i could just say he's good at chemistry/calculating distance/things like that, but that's boring. it's more about how he uses those things, not just the fact he's "good at them". he learned how to chart maps in like a day and a half by utilizing skills he already had. solved some chemical issue with some other alien species that made them overly susceptible to the planet's atmosphere in his spare time over the course of a few months (for fun!).

ultimately it comes down to a selfish little bastard whose greatest strength is balancing his self-serving nature with keeping himself likable/useful enough he doesn't just get run out.

alt doom charisma, innovation, and the ability to keep a cool head. he is the polar opposite of aruna in this way; where aruna refused to break from tradition in his hive, alt doom embraced it. while aruna may be good at blending in, he is not charismatic; and while alt doom may be reclusive, when he does appear, he is deliberately as warm and likeable as he can manage despite his emotional/empathetic distance.

it is exactly what led to his hive growing to what it has. it's gotten him allies, contacts who can get his kind even more allies, affiliates who can make life for his kind a breeze, the list goes on. if aruna is a master at manipulating others for now only self-serving purposes, alt doom is a master at manipulating the masses for his people.

most importantly, he knows when he's been beat, or when it's time to reapproach a situation to ensure he does come out on top. if his goals had been anything like canon doom's, he would be goddamn terrifying.

[fizzledlines]

your artstyle reminds me of a thick quilted blanket

Wow that's so cool thanks so much!! <333

[popfizzles]

i didnt even know you HAD sonic ocs, i'd love to hear about them! i saw splatters in your sonic oc tag, do you have any others?

Splatters was actually sold as an adoptable and they belong to someone else now <:)

BUT I do have a small bit of old art of Sasha and her chao, Calzone:

She was of course, my first ever sonic oc. :) Started her life as a Sonic recolor, went through some awkward redesigning and attempt at finding some other story placement for her, and then wrapped right back around to being a parallel to Sonic. But this time, it's on purpose!

I like to consider her the youngest of her friends, but the most energetic and extroverted! She's extremely caring, with a gentle hand (to a fault at times).

I also have some old concept art of Taiga Ounce (which I think was made some time in 2019, I might tweak her outfit or design soon);

Taiga is a gentle giant type! Very strong, but a little timid. Wouldn't hurt a fly, even if you asked her to. She depends on Sasha to initiate any sort of adventure or outing. I really enjoyed the large build Boom Knuckles had, which inspired Taiga's design slightly!

You can sorta tell I'm a defender of "sonic characters don't have to wear clothes if they do not want to. sally acorn had it right" sjkfhgjkfd

i also had an idea for a little sugar glider, mean-girl-turned-friend type, but I never got too far into a design I liked. I do have this doodle though :)

They make a trio! Like Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails. :)

I might set aside some time today to try and redraw them and tweak their designs!!

[cultivatingyourfuture]

grins. haha

33 for cherry fizzle vallen neil holly, 49 for cherry vallen paige, 28 for toni emily, 15 toni, 10 pierre, 37 scott (can be answered separately ik this is a lot. LOL)

GOOD LIRD..... okay i can work with this. Ok

33. Do they play ttrpgs? If so what kind of characters do they play? Or are they more likely to GM?

fizzle - YES probably since she was super super young. has moved on to GM'ing and writes the most batshit plots featuring the silliest of gags ie bard npc first name oingo last name boingo. loves when her players go off the rails because it means she gets to pull out the craziest stops that may or may not derail the story but who cares there's no time to remember that this was a by the numbers save-the-princess plot fight these 3 bean bag mimics you found in the forest NOW

cherry - no, not really. they've tried but they dont quite get the appeal. but they do like to watch and sometimes helps fizzle gm (super handy to have a friend who is a calculator/randint generator during dnd)

holly - nnno? not unless someone ropes her into it first but then she is ALL in. makes a """mary sue""" (i use that in the best of terms i hate when its ever used as a form of criticism) oc with 13 boyfriends and rainbow hair and flame hands and has the time of her goddamn life. shed forget when her turn is / what's going on in the story all the time though lmao

vallen - would pretend like he's not interested. would join and pretend like it's just to make fizzle and/or cherry happy. would get super invested about 20 minutes in and make an impressively in-depth character and then either make it to every meeting after that or never show up again

neil - YES lol ttrpgs are right up his alley. itd probably love writing stories to gm but would hate gm'ing himself. has multiple preestablished characters that he just pulls from whenever it needs them for a campaign. deliberately brings the silliest things it can find to act as makeshift minifigs (legos, action figs, thimbles, board game pieces he just Took, rocks, whatever. anything can be a player character if u use yr imagination <3) and gets really into his characters, especially the gag ones

49. Do they have trouble keeping their enemies and their friends straight?

cherry - no. cherry knows who he loves and who loves him and who he hates and who hates them, and theyre content with that and its changes, for the most part. he makes an effort to understand everyone but that isn't always enough to make her like them in some circumstances it just makes her hate them more

paige - It's Complicated. people tend not to like her since, yeah, she's not very graceful or charming and she sure as hell comes off as abrasive at times, but that's compounded by the fact she's very bad at reading or predicting people so she never knows what to make of certain behaviors towards her. is this person being genuinely nice, or do they want something out of me? is this person rude because they're having a bad day, or because they're just a rude person? is this person kind, or just a pushover? you could be the nicest person ever to her and she'd still bend herself into knots trying to figure out Why, if you're just too weak willed to say no once in a while or if you're just trying to suck up and get something out of her. and she tries sooo hard to not need anyone, to stay in her own self-sufficient bubble where she can leverage her own power over people to get what she wants out of them that she kids herself into thinking any kind of relationship would just slow her down as if the fact of the matter is that she just doesnt know how to connect with others on a meaningful level and would rather stay that way then ever admit she needs help. so she just stays like that, viewing everyone as either adversaries or assets or sometimes both, if youre her brother. having friends does not agree with paige jensen and having enemies is a hell of a lot easier, so making enemies it is. toni is a slight exception but let's not worry about that

vallen - ohh boy. yeah. yeah. they have so much trouble fathoming ideas like [checks smudged writing on hand] Genuinely Likes Him, or Has No Ulterior Motives. fizzle and cherry throw them the fuck off because no they're just sorta generally kind, understanding people who don't expect much and he does not understand that. like yeah ok they Get what has brought those three together I Guess but its still like. why are you inviting me over for fucking movie night. why do you want to hang out with me. what do you want? and cherry will outright say "I like you. I like spending time with you." to his FACE and theyll be like ???? ok. whats the catch motherfucker. spoiler alert there is no catch and vallen has to come to terms with the fact that they are deserving of genuine love even if he thinks he isnt lmao get CARED ABOUT YOU IDIOT 💥💥💥💥 <- this goes totally fine for cherry btw vallen is not an (unknowingly on his part) well laid trap at all. it's ok. they're ok❤️ (they are)

28. Are they a #gamer?

LMAO? toni spent a lot of time in and out of hospitals and would have dreamcasts and nintendo 64s wheeled in during the times she was bedridden. she's played a few very specific games back to front forwards backwards 100 percent completion any% WHATEVER because the hospital only had starfox and super mario 64 and by god was she going to make the most of that

emily has a shitty little nokia that can play snake and tetris. helps when she can't sleep. gives her horrible Tetris Effect and the stupid song gets stuck in her brain at work which is just great

15. What kind of sense of humor do they have? Or do they have one at all?

she tends to joke about things no one wants to talk about. will make jokes about paige turning people into cyborgs to her face and will bring up that one families lawsuit who swear up and down your company is responsible for their daughters disappearance and will do it in the most chipper, sweetest voice and then will move on just as fast as she's said it to some entirely new topic rather than let the other person even process what she's said. her humor operates on saying the quiet part out loud and making people uncomfortable with it lmao

10. Do they have any regrets?

you think you're so funny dont you

pierre spends roughly 10 years in that company which means 10 years to reflect on how he got there and what person-- whose sacrifice all of this research and development is all built upon and it kills him every single day. he will never stop thinking about the what ifs, about what he did when he was young and stupid and thought he could get what he wanted in the end if he pulled the strings just right. and now he's here and he's loved and revered, sure, but it's not how he wants and it's all built off of her. which i find interesting, because even in death* eveline is less a person in his mind and more of an escapism. something to mourn, lament over, not something to remember as it was but as it could have been.

37. Are they religious? If so do they have a strong sense of faith, are they uncertain, or are they somewhere in between?

oh this one's interesting. scott gives me the vibes of someone who was raised in the church which was then used to supplement his own abuse, became really bitter toward religion as a whole for a good chunk of his youth, and then grew up a little and met people and thought about how people use and misuse it and reconsidered it and is just overall very chill and respectful about it now. never sent his kids to any kind of church, never pointed them in the direction of any religion, but never discouraged them for exploring that sorta thing or asking questions or coming to their own conclusions as long as it stayed in the range of 'be kind to people'. scott marshall is an ex hippie who had to buckle down and work and find time for his family but he never really grew out of the ideals of it so he really is more respectful towards other people's dispositions than a lotta ppl wouldve been in georgia circa 1998. that being said i think that guy probably hotboxed his old churches basement when he was 17 and spraypainted stupid shit on the walls there and like, 20-30 years later he's still hearing the local urban legends about the pentagrams that mysteriously appeared on the church walls drawn in blood back in '71 and he sooo badly wants to say "that's ridiculous! i could barely afford the can of paint back then, let alone blood!!" but he cant. and it kills him

[seaofserene]

How she become a siren? Was that apart of the reverse 'healing'.

yep! more or less. she started heavily leaning into that vitality sapping ability she discovered. the thing about that though is when she does that, she essentially takes that person's life force and uses it to suspend her own, prolonging her immortality, which is a complete abuse of the gifts their deity allowed this civilization to have. it prevents that life essence from flowing into the next. as a result, she became actually cursed. now, she can't stop doing it - because if she does, she will deteriorate into nothing, and so will her 'soul'.

the uh.. siren thing? a callback to her talent with singing - that became something she developed into another power under her belt (hypnotizing people with her voice). i'll be honest, she's probably more of a vampire than an actual siren with the way she's developed since i conceptualized her, but ah well. serenity the siren just has a certain ring to it.

[thetrikeywarp]

do you guys think Michael ever got fucked up on lean or is he too much of a boomer to know what that is