#he can be very kind and sincere

[canisalbus]

To me, Machete kind of has the energy of a secondary villain/coldhearted side character in someone else's story that a lot of fans latch onto, moreso than the protagonist. Question is, would he be the villain in anyone's story?

Why, thank you! I'm actually glad to hear he gives off that vibe. I don't think he set out to become a villain but a lot of people certainly view him as one.

[bonefall]

I know you're keeping Clear Sky as an antagonist (and he's very compelling as one in your rewrite), but I'm curious: if you absolutely had to give him a redemption arc, how would you go about it? (Besides not fridging his sister and wives, of course.)

If I was forced to give Clear Sky a redemption arc I'd slip a femur right out of my legmeat and beat someone to death with it

I'd never write a redemption arc for him, ever. It would be a completely different character.

Clear Sky's redemption arc is not even an idea worth considering; This an extremely consistent abusive family member who drives the entire plot, a predator who will leverage the love people have for him, whose defining characteristic is that he dresses up his megalomania as "Just Trying to Protect Everyone"

And I'd give that up?! for what?

I'd rewrite the whole plot, JUST like how the writers did with TWO born evil foreigner villains so their story wouldn't get boring, so I could prove the he could be a good boy if he wanted to? WHY?

It's doing the same thing the Erins do, totally uninterested in the story of his victims to write yet another plot centered around the pain of an abusive man.

Elder Bones is disappointed in you if you even think about it, actually. I am holding the femurbone in my hand as we speak. I'm gonna GETCHA

[quirinah]

oomf was talking about this combi and I remembered the season 25 episode where they interact for like 30 seconds. and then i got progressively more invested

[penumbraal]

not sure if what i’m gonna try to get across makes sense, but something i really like thinking about is megumi's relationship with his shikigami — and particularly the divine dogs across multiple verses i have.

like, of course they act based upon megumi’s orders without needing to be explicitly told what to do — he doesn’t need to say anything, they just know. they’re also not really necessarily exact extensions of megumi’s personality or anything, like i feel like they have their own personalities, but i do think they’re very cognizant of his internalized feelings and can react accordingly.

i like to translate this into non-sorcerer verses in a way — i always imagine that megumi always has kuro and shiro in any kind of au, and to varying degrees they remain very cognizant of his feelings. i think that it’s easy for an onlooker to just assume that megumi has some energetic animals that balances his general air of calm collectedness or even apathy, but it can be very telling if they start to act a certain way.

like, zoomies when megumi’s in a good mood (maybe even… happy—), even if he’s not necessarily expressing it. they’ll be more affectionate and protective toward people megumi really cares about, but they’ll stay very close to megumi’s side when he’s more upset than usual.

with regard to their personalities — i think both dogs are generally very sweet, very attentive, and do tasks well. shiro i think has a bit more of a soft side, a little more cuddly and a little more laid back. i have this image of non-sorcerer au megumi having to carry shiro sometimes because he’s a little bit of a princess and when walk-time is over, it’s over, regardless of where he is. kuro is considerably more active, easier to excite, a bit more sassy, but also takes his “work” very seriously (be it doing tricks for treats or protecting megumi or attacking a cursed spirit).

[thebirdandhersong]

Excellent news turns out there was a miscommunication and Mr. Knight isn't still interested--learned instead that what actually is the case is that he DOES know and understand why the relationship ended. He is committed to avoiding me at all costs now so that he can move on, which is fair enough. I didn't think we could be friends after this. Bad news I have to think with nuance and admit to myself that I was not entirely blameless either and that I do need to be careful not to conclude in bouts of anger or sadness that I was an innocent victim who suffered and endured the slings and arrows of outrageous treatment like a saint and now to deal with residual negative feelings with more wisdom and care than previous fanning of flames

[obstinatecondolement]

Try though I may not to get invested in people who are Perfect Strangers to me just because they have an affable online persona, I do find myself very endeared to Brandon Sanderson. I have read none of his books, but I think his YouTube videos are very enjoyable and I am much relieved that he has both vocally affirmed his support of LGBTQ+ people in general, and trans people specifically, and has apologised (in a way that seems very sincere and earnest to me) for clumsy and unintentionally homophobic things he has said in the past. Which is, like, more than can be said of some fantasy authors.

[todayisafridaynight]

i solemnly swear not to write a fic with a similar premise as one ive done in the past but also i like it when people slow dance.....

[senselessalchemist]

apparently I preordered an audiobook when I had a free one from audible (yes I know but if they want to give me a poor person an audiobook I am too weak to resist, also it's how I get my stormlight archive fix every few years) and I don't know what it is and I am also afraid to check because I am a very weird coward with issues about notifications

[misskamelie]

Having a cousin with a newborn child really makes you realize how out of touch you are with societal expectations

[electricpurrs]

i keep having embarrassingly deeper-than-they-should feelings about caboose that im not sure what to do about, with how i feel like i relate in a pretty genuine and sweet way to him in an autistic level and i do feel like reading him that way makes real sense but im just incapable of feeling very good about it when its very very clear caboose's neurodivergent esque behavior is applied exclusively to make the butt of the joke off how stupid he is. i care about him a lot as a character but i mostly just wanna rip him off r-slur-loving rooster teeth's hands and handle him with a minimum level of respect

[ashrifts]

───ㅤ»ㅤwhat does your heart look like?

YOUR RESULT: ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ* A GUIDING, GOLDEN LIGHT.

Just because you cannot see your own heart doesn’t mean that others can’t. Your heart is blinding, captivating, a fire so bright that others can’t bring themselves to look away. It illuminates the path they follow and cements you as a guiding star for their own wayward hearts. Every experience you’ve lived through has built your lighthouse heart up just a little higher. You are inspirational, a light that doesn’t go out.

and─

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ* A TANGLED BALL OF RED STRINGS.

Who are you without the company of others? You aren’t sure, but you know that you aren’t fond of whoever it is. You are an actor, a pretty face and a pleasant song. Many idolize you, or love you, but you can never be sure of how sincere it is. Your heart is buried under the letters they leave you, sealed with a kiss. It can’t be untangled from the red strings they’ve attached to you. You deserve to find something, someone, true and faithful to hold your heart in place. You don’t have to be everything to everyone.

tagged by: @deathfavor 💕💕 tagging: idk who hasn't been tagged yet - take it from me and say i tagged u!!

[dravencore]

i think a lot about the exchange between vash and knives in episode 26 where knives asks if vash had a good time with the humans and vash says yeah it was the best thing i ever did

[hanzajesthanza]

i tend to focus on regis making angouleme a little less insane. but the underrated dynamic in my head is angouleme making regis a little more insane. this mentorship goes both ways.

[audreythevaliant]

I’ve come to the hard realization the last few months that the ways I struggle with self-confidence/perfectionism/pride actually have a bigger impact on how I’m able to love others than I thought they did.

[femmefaggot]

genuinely very very happy about maya still Do Not get me wrong. I simply wish... the world was better and less cruel. and that I was not complicit in that cruelty. and that honorspren in shadesmar werent such hypocrites.

[crownconstellation]

rewatched the action button 6 hour tokimemo video over the course of my shifts yesterday + today and it really, Really made me want to play the game myself. both to see this incredibly intricate game that pretty much set the standard for social sims going forward (gestures at my being a longtime harvestmoonstoryofseasons / rune factory fan, two series that were undoubtedly part of the many influenced by this) but also to see shiori through my own eyes.

not to court her. i am very bad at management sims & don't have the interest in achieving this. i just want to see her because i think she's incredibly fascinating from a metatextual standpoint based on how she's presented in the game and the review both. she's more of a goal than a person. she's certainly very popular amongst fans, but is it because of who she is? or because of what she is? she's the True Route. she's the hardest character to court bar the girl you meet specifically through pursuing her, her best friend, her own greatest foe in the race towards the finish. she's the protagonist's childhood friend. she's the face of the series. she's the stepping stone to bring you towards every other character in the game.

she is so, so many things, and i think it's very interesting to think about her from that perspective. especially if the protagonist goes for someone else -- he starts off liking her, and despite their estrangement she clearly holds affection for him. she even says in her ending that she’s probably always liked him but was afraid to admit it, & that he’s the reason she’s never dated. yet despite this affection, in the back of her mind, her doubt (and, hand-in-hand with it, her reputation) matters more to her than he does -- her reason for turning him down when he asks to walk with her is that her friends would gossip, and she mentions in the christmas event date that it was her who first broke their tradition of celebrating together to spend the day with her friends instead. she’s consistently holding him at arm’s length and prioritising other things and people, and he has to fight for her to look at him in a way she’s never let herself look despite knowing him for so, so long.

she, on a meta, game requirements sort of level, wants a guy with high stats and so little stress it proves he's balancing everything well. she wants a guy who'll get into the best university possible. she wants a guy who can manage a wide social circle. she wants the protagonist, at her core, but the requirements mean she wants a version of the protagonist he has to spend all of high school becoming to meet her expectations to convince her that her interest in him is genuine, and in every timeline but one, she is not getting that protagonist because he either cannot or will not become that man for her. whether he ends up alone or with someone else, he is as much her lost lenore as she is his. it makes tokimemo a very interesting narrative about growing up and growing past your childhood and first love and whatnot and having to realise things are not the same and will never be the same. etc etc

interesting to think about to me! i love overdissecting this kind of stuff. my favourite rune factory character is actually my favourite specifically because of this, me overthinking the meta associated with her being The Canon Bachelorette to the point where it punted her up my favourites list, so this kind of stuff is very much up my alley characterwise.