#honestly now that i think about it the most likely scenario IS corruption but this is for the DRAMA

[4sh-n4]

Scenario for a Batman Identity Reveal™-

Takes place before Batman has revealed his identity. The rest of the JL know each other's identities, except Batman's. They've just received news of a threat against Bruce Wayne.

Maybe a rogue or an intergalactic enemy or someone has found out that Bruce Wayne funds a majority of the League and thinks that killing him will severely weaken it. Fair enough, I mean it's easier to kill a civilian known to be an idiot as compared to the greatest heroes, right?

So now obviously the JL feel obligated to protect him. They don't particularly want to do it, and usually they'd just set up police protection, but everyone knows how corrupt Gotham police are, and Wayne is being targeted bc of them. They'd ask Batman, but he only comes out at night and has publicly expressed disdain for Bruce. So they've got to do it themselves.

They take it in shifts, and while Wayne seems very welcoming on the outside, it's a little obvious that he doesn't want them poking around his house. In addition, the first night they were on shift, Batman gave them a very strict warning about what is and isn't allowed in his city. He tried to get them to leave, but they overruled him.

At first, Bruce spends all his time acting like an air headed idiot, flirting with everyone that tries to talk to him and refusing to cooperate bc he doesn't believe the threat. 'Coincidently', he's always in the room every time one of them try to talk to talk to any of his children.

Then as time passes, he lets his guard down. They start to see a gentle, kind, Bruce Wayne whose children are his entire world, not token trophies. He speaks in a soft voice, one made out of cotton and clouds. He cares about the underprivileged in Gotham and genuinely works to make life better for them. He's smart and actually involved in his company. He's also incredibly slippery and tries very very hard to lose their tail at all times. The only reason they can keep up with him at all is because most of them have special powers.

One day, while they're trying to look for him after he's lost them yet again, he gets kidnapped. The entire JL rushes to find him and rescue him before the person they've come to honestly respect and enjoy the company of gets murdered for trying to help them. They search for and reach the place he's being held after 2 days, only to find him tying up the criminals- who definitely all have broken bones- surrounded by the horde of younger Gotham vigilantes.

He turns to look at them and growls, "You're late. Civilian rescue time needs to be much shorter, these people weren't even experienced kidnappers. You're lucky it was me they were after otherwise you'd have found a corpse. We're running drills back at the watchtower."

They're all shocked because... that's Batman's voice?? Coming from the richest man alive, known playboy, not so known gentle father, BRUCE WAYNE??? BATMAN HASN'T EVEN BEEN OFF DUTY SINCE THEY BECAME BRUCE BODYGUARDS????

Turns out his children all ganged up on him and forced him to reveal his identity, especially since the JL had become friends with him both inside and outside the mask.

[raayllum]

I know you were ready to lay CHET to rest after this season but… Callum still has the cube, we still don’t know *exactly* what it does but Aaravos will presumedly need it, and all that foreshadowing about Callum choosing Rayla over the greater good? I still believe

i'll have a more coherent post about this when i'm not running on under 7 hours of sleep for 24+ hours (close to 30+ now honestly) but no i feel so Fucking Crazy right now precisely because i went into s6, our penultimate season, expecting to finally get to lay CHET and its variants (5x08 my beloved) to rest after 4+ years, every season for 3 seasons in a row i've been ready to lay it down, and yet it's still on the Goddamn Table arguably more than ever before

Obviously certain things have changed — Callum's thematic associations with freedom would switch probably to having a role to play in 'unlocking' Aaravos' full power and/or giving him access to the other Startouch elves somehow — but both of those things are stuff I've considered being related to the cube before (as well as dark magic) so not much is actually changing there fundamentally.

What continues to change is the sheer assortment of evidence that Callum is going to play into Aaravos' hands for her (the initial basis of CHET), and Rayla is likewise going to refuse to sacrifice him (thereby shortly followed by mutual salvation theory), and 6x03 is a Giant Sign blinking Pay Attention in bright neon.

Rayla: Listen to me. If you ever have to choose between me and the greater good, do the right thing. Make the sacrifice.

Nevermind that 'right thing' is subjective and that sacrificing loved ones is routinely seen as Bad ("We must be willing to sacrifice, even the things we love" / "My daughter [...] and I tried to kill you") and that Aaravos (one of Rayla's primary foils) likewise demanded for Viren to 'make a sacrifice' regarding Sir Sparklepuff in 5x09. It'd be one thing, mind you, for Rayla to just bring up this Hypothetical and it could conceivably be dropped, but then Callum makes the basis of CHET's adjacent Mutual Salvation Theory explicit in tethering Rayla's request to his own:

Rayla: What? Callum: If Aaravos ever controls me again, if he ever uses me, promise me you'll kill me. Rayla: Yes. I promise.

(There's a few different things we can read both into Callum's renewed approach and Rayla's changed response, but meta for another day).

What this conversation does, though, is link these things in the audience's mind. If half is called upon their deal in a scenario, it's only logical that the other will be too. And, of course, Aaravos has to inevitably possess Callum, and Callum (as a main protagonist and usher of a new age of magic) cannot die, so Rayla has to break her promise (a la TTM) to keep him alive, freeing up room in the narrative to Callum likewise break his (more thinly made tbh) promise as well. The easiest order of events, therefore, is for Callum to break his promise first in order to save/protect her, be possessed, and then Rayla breaks her promise in saving him. Mutual salvation and all that

The fact we have other characters and plot threads routinely referring back to and building up Rayllum's thematic basis for each plot turn in S7 is just the cherry on top.

(We also see Rayla talk not just one but two 'monsters' down corrupted by desperation and grief, so while it may retread more territory if she does the same to Callum, there's certainly more than a precedent. For Callum, 2/3 dark magic times were for Rayla, and you don't introduce Big Extra Scary 'permanently ruined by dark magic' Stakes if you're not gonna use them as a way to escalate things, either, even if of course given that it's S7, there will be ways out and a happy ending).

Insert Callum putting the star rune sign directly down against her palm.

I think it's likely the cube is still involved somehow (all the ominous foreshadowing including and most prevalently featured in the pawn intro doesn't suddenly go away, and was only added to in S6) and really, this is about the only parallel I personally need anymore to keep chugging along theory wise:

Like it's Over and at this point we just gotta wait for S7, tbh, especially when a big juicy angsty mutual Rayllum plotline is more than in order after their relatively fluffy (loved) plotline in S6

[xamiipholia]

okay y'all seemed to like the last one so here's a few more Horizon 3 thoughts:

Aloy won’t die. It would completely upend the series’ themes and just be really nihilistic.

Since Nemesis is a gestalt entity I think it’s a safe bet that we’ll see Sam Witwer, Carrie-Anne Moss, etc again. I’m curious how they’re going to do it because at least structurally, it’s basically a reaper. Maybe it’ll use different Avatars when communicating like the Leviathan in ME3. 

It's gonna take some work to make a flashback/dream/vision not contrived but I would love to see Varl and Rost again. I think we deserve that.

Minerva is gonna have its work cut out for it blocking access to both the dormant Faro Swarm and the ZD terraforming system. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Nemesis has some sort of corruption function that becomes the equivalent of the corruption in HZD. It would be a really fun tech showcase if GG uses Zenith nanotech for machine corruption and leans into mechanical body horror.

If we’re going to Ban-Ur I really really hope they do the work to make the Banuk less problematic and more fleshed out as a culture. A quasi-Spartan society absolutely would not survive in an extreme environment, *especially* without megafauna to hunt. The Banuk characters are lovely and well-written; they deserve a society as well thought out as the Utaru or Carja. I’m honestly fine if there’s retcons or revamps to the cultural lore because the whole “outsider barges in and becomes chief” is rooted in racist, colonial tropes and we just don’t really need that imo.

The most recent footage of Death Stranding 2 (also running on Decima) has me SO excited for the visuals. GG’s gonna knock it out. The facial rendering and animation that Kojima Productions are doing looks industry-peak and I’m sure GG’s gonna match that. Aloy’s Gay Panic™️ scene on the beach in HBS is already top-tier nonverbal storytelling through animation. Digital Foundry actually just posted a really cool tech breakdown of the current Decima engine. I’m especially excited about the environmental stuff. The ocean simulations in HFW are already incredible and I hope they increase verticality in the world. I can’t wait to see the Sacred Lands in current gen graphics. 

I really love Kotallo’s DIY arm and it’s so so important to his development but Beta and Gaia now have access to Zenith nanotech, maybe give your buddy a sick upgrade hmm?

Speaking of, I can’t wait to see Beta come into her own. She’s one of the best parts of HFW and Aloy’s character absolutely shines in a sibling dynamic. 

I wouldn’t get your hopes up for a romance mechanic. Everyone’s feelings on that aside, it would be really odd from a game development perspective to just overhaul part of how the narrative develops Aloy’s character in the last act of the story. Yeah, there are flashpoints but I would argue that the presence of choice in Horizon is smoke and mirrors- cosmetic at best. Kentucky Route Zero (which you should play) does something similar where the player is given a certain amount of control over the substance of individual conversations and scenarios and it does absolutely nothing to alter the plot, by design. I think it’s the same here - this isn’t really a choice-based RPG, the flashpoints don’t really affect anything plot-wise or for Aloy’s character development. Olin is still out of the story, Nil lives, Regalla still dies one way or another. Aloy’s character development is pretty firmly on rails (think Jin Sakai, not Shepard - you get to guide some momentary character reactions but that’s it). I don’t think HBS is a testing ground either - If they were gonna introduce a romance mechanic I think they’d just do it, and not spend two years making a direct continuation of HFW’s main quest and establishing a specific romance hard-baked into the plot, complete with multiple leitmotifs for the character relationship (which is something they haven’t done before afaik) just to introduce a side quest mechanic coming in 5 years. I genuinely can’t think of any game or dev that has beta tested a major alteration to upcoming game mechanics that way - it doesn’t really make any sense in terms of developer resources, and these games are extremely time-consuming to make. I know this is a thing a bunch of people want and I can totally empathize with that! I just think it’s probably not on the table. 

I would bet money the series will bookend itself and the epilogue will involve a) the naming of Zo and Varl’s kid and b) Lis’ pendant. 

Mostly I'm just looking forward to being surprised. One of my favorite things that Horizon does is use carefully established elements in the world to pull the plot in unexpected directions and keeping the world grounded while they lean into speculative science fiction. I can't wait to see what Guerrilla is cooking up

[theautotrophic]

my girl Violette!!!!

Dumping all the lore I have about my stupid little girlfailure bisexual radiostatic fankid <<<3333

So basically, she's a loser, a fossil, and I don't mean to sound hostile - but the demon is a coward >>:D

She's an absolute LOSER GIRLFAILURE just like her dad <3

Idk know how to explain it honestly, like, just think of the biggest, most dumbest of ass, girl loser you can think of and that's her

Just an absolutely deranged loser idiot

She runs a company with her brother Veer (maybe streaming or smth 🤔🤔 I haven't figured it out yet). She's the "creative mind" (kills people) and he's the brains behind the operation

A company name I thought of might be Viedio Enterprises?

For her powers they're a bit of a mixture between Vox and Alastor

She can travel via shadows the same as Alastor

She can use other people's shadows to puppeteer them

She's got a connection to the Internet and television the same as Vox because of her head and antenna

Can play things through her radio and on her screen and manipulate devices around her

Connection to radiowaves

She can probably traverse the Internet

Can corrupt technology

Basically, she would be an extremely powerful overlord if she wasn't such an idiot

I think I'm gonna have like two different timelines for this AU since I couldn't decide if I wanted them to be adults or kids when the hotel opens and Alastor returns after 7 years

Cause I think it would be really funny if Vox accidentally created her (and her brother Veer who I'll probably post for later once I actually make a good drawing of him) while Alastor was away for seven years and Alastor comes back and learns he has kids and is like "how the fuck-"

But also their adult personalties are so fun and I'd love to think about how they would react to Alastor going missing for 7 years (cause if they were adults he def would have raised them with Vox) and I just think the potential in that AU is more fun, while them being kids I can just think of a lot of art and funny moments to draw

So, in the case where they're younger Vox would accidentally create them a few months after Alastor has left when he's super desperate to find him. He would be like doing some type of demonic magic summoning circle type shit to try and summon Alastor or find out where he is but he has actually no idea what he's doing. So he's got like this whole setup sort of thing with like his blood and Alastor's hair in this wholeass satanic circle. And so he does the spell. And instead of summoning Alastor it like combines their DNA and BOOM, congrats ur a single father now. And now Vox just has two kids to raise. (Yes I thought of all this just because mpr3g makes me uncomfy (but also this scenario is both very funny and kind of sad to me and I will be drawing it at some point. probably)).

OR

if they were older, like in their twenties by the time Alastor comes back idk Vox would probably still accidentally create them somehow I'd have to think about it

So yeah ill probably just do both versions and do what I want

Anyways! Send me asks about her if you'd like I'd love to talk about her :]

[alouistrancy]

honestly i dont understand antis. why are they so open about violence and murder in fiction, only to immediately disgust and shy away when theyre met with something even remotely sexual or taboo?? my brother in christ, sex doesnt ruin anything nor does it corrupt anything. youre falling into the puritan rhetoric.

i used to be in anti spaces where theyd all giggle about gory media like ultrakill, slasher films, body horror fanfic, hannibal and those were considered more "morally acceptable" to consume (also with mafia shit)

and... now that i look at it, its idiotic. whats so bad about sexualization? sure, i understood my former peers were uncomfortable because they were minors, but then again— it isnt that bad. its not disgusting, its not deplorable, its not rotten or 'icky', its something in human nature.

most antis i meet are usually minors who preach about "de-sexualizing characters" when those characters ARE meant to be sexualized, and thats fine. its not gross to sexualize characters or make fucked up stories about them that include taboo themes that dont include gore/violence, because, again,

fictional characters are objects. you cant dehumanize them. you cant ruin them. theyre objects. there is no personhood to rid them of, because they dont even possess it. theyre dolls.

it doesnt matter if the media does "romanticization, normalization or fetishization" of taboo themes (how about you shutization the fuckization upization) because you know it in your heart to differentiate fiction and reality. even i as a child— used to think witches were real, but that was because i was a child and now i know better.

the only ones who're going to be affected by fiction to a point in which what they think is happening is fine are people with weak morals or literal children. i dont get the rhetoric of young kids seeing dark media and thinking that shit is fine, because why is the child even looking at that kind of media in the first place?

why is the child, in this hypothetical scenario who is extremely naive and gullible, being given unrestricted access to view such content that you deem reprehensible? if anything, the guardian is at fault, because the child isnt mature enough to handle such things

it is not the fault of the creator if you take things literally— you are responsible for what you consume. its like eating some type of food you dont like and screeching about how the chef shouldnt make it and that others shouldnt enjoy it simply because it wasnt to your taste.

also with neurodivergent and/or queer antis, i dont understand them. what do you mean you agree with being weird, denying the social norms placed upon us by the so called normal people, and accept that there should be spaces in which we can express ourselves in and do things that would usually be frowned upon— yet hate proshippers and think theyre the scum of the earth?

are you not acting just like those that hate you— harassing others, speaking ill of them with such vitriol as if theyre the most revolting, rotten thing thats ever graced this earth, sometimes even saying they deserve to be raped or at worse, killed?

some people even proclaim that proshipping is a mental illness, or bastardize the definition into "problematic shipping" to use it and fearmonger younger audiences. they use the us vs them attitude thats almost cultlike. acting as if we're devils born with malicious intent, and that even taking on beliefs adjacent to ours would be blasphemous.

ive seen former friends get ousted from friendships when theyve tried to de-escalate situations such as someone that we were formerly acquainted with having a friend who openly liked a "problematic character" by anti's standards. ive seen year(s) long relationships get broken simply because their partner enjoyed a form of fiction that didnt harm anyone.

antis are the example of people who are easily affected by fiction. if you think people like us are vile and justify sending threats or doing horrible things to us in the sake of protecting the purity of your fiction, you are the one who let fiction affect reality. you are the naive child in your examples. you are a hypocrite.

[yanderes-galore]

May I ask for headcanons for Yan Peridot (Steven Universe) with Gem reader? Perhaps they arrived on earth after the events of the series finale (before Future) with other gems, if that helps.

Yeah I can try! This is assuming the main Peridot. I took awhile to write this as I had trouble writing Peridot's character for some reason? I apologize if she's too OOC.

Yandere! Peridot with Gem! Darling

(After series, before movie/future)

Pairing: Romantic/Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Jealousy, Clingy behavior, Stalking, Thoughts of violence, Manipulation, Poofing of Gems mentioned, Peridot actually does want help for her emotions, Dubious partnership

You and Peridot would parallel a lot with each other.

You're a Homeworld Gem that came to learn about Earth after Steven began to save the corrupted Gems.

You weren't corrupted but did want a change of pace from the strict rules of Homeworld, even if they were easing up.

You heard on Earth you aren't judged by your Gem type... so that's new.

When you arrive you're greeted by all sorts of people.

You get acquainted with other Gems and even try to speak with humans.

Despite your attempts at understanding Earth culture you still struggle with it.

That's when Steven thinks it'll be a good idea to have you meet Lapis and Peridot.

He has his hands full after the finale and asks the two Gems for help.

After all, they went through a similar situation.

It took those two some time to understand Earth but they grew to love it!

Peridot is probably the most excited to be given this job.

Earth has taught her to be an entirely different Gem!

She used to be so cold and calculating, valuing work for the Diamonds above all else.

Now she's her own Gem! She's passionate and fun-loving and loves the change.

A bit too excited even... which requires Lapis to warn you about the smaller Gem.

Peridot is friendly towards you when you first meet.

How the friendship between you and Peridot forms is her showing you how Earth works.

She shows you water, plants, the people... and even the Meep Morps she created.

Peridot becomes your guide to Earth.

Lapis helps out too but the water Gem notices how upset Peri gets when Lapis spends time with you without her.

Which seems odd to you both but you don't expect anything.

Peridot could feel platonic feelings or romantic feelings towards you in this scenario.

Honestly, Peridot is just excited to make another friend and introduce them to the planet that changed her.

Anything after that could develop later.

Peridot isn't even aware of her own obsession until the longer she hangs out with you.

Okay, sure, the jealousy is a bit strange...

But it has to be normal in small amounts, right?

Then her jealousy grows....

It starts with just Lapis.

Peridot feels Lapis is trying to take all of your attention....

It upsets the Gem... she liked it when she acted as your guide to Earth.

It was originally supposed to be a shared job.

Yet Peridot is convinced she can do it alone!

Peridot follows her Gem! Darling around Beach City.

She doesn't think of it as stalking....

Just... hanging out with you at a distance.

You don't entirely see Peridot's clingy behavior as a bad thing.

You just think Earthlings are like that and Peridot picked it up due to her time on Earth-

It's a bit strange, you don't deny that....

Peridot loves to cling to her darling.

Even more so if you're a larger Gem type.

She loves to give hugs but that's about as far as she goes.

This could be due to her seeing you as a friend or not understanding romantic displays of affection still.

Also the idea of accidentally fusing is a slight fear she gets over with time.

Peridot thinks something is strange when she starts wanting to be violent towards other Gems or humans over you.

She thought she was over her phase of violence....

However, Peridot can't help but throw a fit when she sees you getting so much attention on Earth.

Lapis may notice this and tell Steven about it.

The idea is to get Peridot help with her jealousy before she hurts anyone.

Talking with her obsession also helps.

If Peridot didn't get help for her obsession one way or another then she can get worse.

Peridot may try to manipulate you away from others, claiming you two are meant to be partners one way or another.

Everyone else is a clod....

It's sad because Peridot essentially replaces Lapis with you.

Peridot may actually get violent, too.

Which causes fights and tension.

You were originally thinking of living with them, then saw the fights and decided against it.

With her new personality it would take awhile but she considered poofing others a few times before....

The idea comes to mind more than once for her.

She's even thought of keeping your Gem to herself... but fights that thought.

There's a good chance Peridot will ask for help before things get to that point.

But if she doesn't...

She promises to keep your Gem in a good place and will just tell the others you went back to Homeworld with a teary frown to hide her true feelings.

[audre-falrose]

Hcs for Signalis? Oh, and thoughts too, maybe if you don't particularly have any hcs.

I see thoughts are being had about Falke but honestly y.yeah.

Oh, please do take this as an opportunity to gush about whatever, scenarios, anything

I got you boo~

KLBR 😈

-Call any of them short and they *will* gang up on you

-huge sweet tooth

-gremlin energy (pranksters)

-occasionally "accidentally" broadcast their thoughts to any replika around them, has gotten many of them in trouble with ADLR and FLKR

-dislike most STCR units for their height advantage and the bullying

ADLR 🖊

-if a FLKR body pillow existed in universe, he would own at least one

-the only straight one (ew-)

-wet cat energy

-always tired

-gets FLKR way too much coffee even if he thinks it's overkill

-cannot physically tell FLKR no (simp)

ARAR 🔧

-love to eavesdrop, especially in the STAR/STCR dorms

-chatty and love to gossip

-one ARAR overheard ADLR swear and now the entire facility knows except for him

-loves poping down from the ceiling to scare other replika units

-ARAR dorm is more like a greenhouse than a dorm due to their love for plants

EULR 🎶

-BALLET DANCERS?! YES PLZ!! (Also musicians)

-theater kids

-sweet yet occasionally catty if angered

-also kinda ditzy? Depends on the day and specific unit

-love to hit on other units, especially STAR units while they're on duty

-holds facility wide dance parties (with permission, ADLR was pissed with their first attempt)

-literally perfect hair, always smooth and silky

STAR 🌟

-stoic and sometimes irritable but not STCR levels of pissy

-strategy nerds, love reading pre war military strategy books

-STARs always protect each other, no matter the situation

-protective of the weaker units, especially EULR and KLBR units (big sister vibes)

-lowkey hate/don't get along with STCR units

STCR 🔫

-perma grumpy, DO NOT PISS OFF THEY *WILL* BEAT YOU HALF TO DEATH

-dislike ADLR but are forced to follow his orders

-not good with jokes/pranks

-gun nuts

-also military strategy nerds, but they prefer post war

-smell oddly nice?? Mostly lavender or other flowery scents from their body wash

-like to bully KLBR units

LSTR 🌙

-fairly quiet, calm personality, moon

-great listener, even better with keeping secrets

-smooth voice, one could listen to an LSTR read the dictionary and they'd fall asleep rather quickly

-good with tools and small mechanical projects

-loner type, longing for friends

-socially awkward

-will warm up after at least a few weeks of interaction

MNHR 🧸

-golden retriever Gundam

-gentle giants

-8ft tall children with plasma rifles (they don't like hurting things)

-love *anything* soft; stuffed animals, pillows, blankets, you can bet your sweet ass they'll love it

-can't actually read (some have at least a 2nd grade level, but it's not the norm)

-also can't write well due to their hands being so large

-sometimes forget their own strength

-love giving KLBR units rides on their shoulders

-would dive into a bottomless pit to save a puppy

-armor has so many scratches and typically covered in dirt/dust

-they're all sisters, change my mind

FLKR ☕️

-coffee queen, overachiever, overthinker

-Insecure but hides it *extremely* well

-can "link up" with and KLBR unit through bioresonance from anywhere in the facility

-usually the one to call a KLBR out when they broadcast their less desirable thoughts

-can also see directly in their minds, it's not always pretty...

-has caught ADLR doing "odd" things with her items on several occasions

-has seen things only demons could conjure (corrupt units are hell to look into the mind of)

-prolonged use of bioresonance causes stress to the mind of a FLKR unit, but all FLKR units are trained to conceal such pain from all other units and officers to "maintain order"

[aragarna]

Whump meme!

Peter 😍

8. Describe your ideal whump scenario for this character.

aww my boy <3 but I only want to smother him with fluff!

But OK, if I have to... I'm not much of a physical whump person, so it'd be more an emotional whump. Some good old fashion angst. Something surrounding the fear of bad things happening to his loved ones - Elizabeth, baby Neal, Neal. The show actually did that quite well with El's kidnapping and you know, the finale.

Because Peter is a Protector. He feels responsible for the people in his pack. So anything happening to them would put him through a wringer of angsty feels.

Things that test a character's major traits are always the best kind of situation. So another big one would be to test Peter's "lawful good" core beliefs. Which is what the show actually did in S5... I know I'm in the minority in the fandom, but I actually thought that narratively it was a great character arc. Yes it is painful at times to see our boys at odds, especially when their bond is so deep. But honestly, you can't pretend to explore their Fox/Hound dynamic without going *there*. Neal doing something that Peter cannot ignore, cannot let go, because it affects his own identity as a lawman. Peter despises corrupted cops. And now he is one. How does he live with that? And how can he "clean" his conscience without destroying his relationships?

I don't know, I think I have a thing for characters that are profoundly good, and who can't stand the idea of doing something they consider not moral. One day I'll write an odd to the lawful goods, cause I feel like they're often overlooked, and their own struggles minimized. Both by the audience and by the other characters. But I think there's something beautiful in those characters.

Seeing such a character break is one of the most painful things ever. And actually I'm not sure I'd be able to write something like that myself. Not something that I know would destroy Peter morally. But maybe having a situation where he is faced with an impossible choice (sacrificing his own moral to save a loved one), having him angst about it, until he finds a solution, or Neal or Mozzie comes and save the day. Something. Cause I need a happy ending with everyone alive and a happy and morally unscathed Peter.

That was a bit rambly, sorry. I have lots of feels about Peter.

Thanks for the ask! :)

[krawlernyannyan]

I caved and got into HI3 a little over a week ago and I haven't been posting about it but I just finished the new story chapter that came out today and the Serapeum plotline sent honest-to-stars chills down my bones, and I feel like I'm going to crumple into tatters if I don't talk about it a little (under a cut obviously because the patch only came out today)

Lotus Eater plots always tend get me on edge but something about the way Phase 1 plays out really got to me. The way that Serapeum's Union is intially presented almost like it's a zombie plague slowly enveloping more people, and then as the chapter progresses the new information making it clear it's somehow worse than that because everybody that's stuck in the Union wasn't tricked or forced into it - "they chose to stay voluntarily" is something that took a few minutes to really sink in but when it did, ough. Then you actually get into the Union and, like...

Helia's scenario is the one that's sticking out the most in my mind because even if she hasn't had a lot of strong characterization in the story up to this point seeing her be, just...completely pacified. The way she's already grown idle and content with spending an eternity fighting meaningless battles where she'll always win. The quiet disappointment and frustration she has when it's laid bare that she'll never actually get meaningfully stronger in here because eventually this library will run out of new material to experience and at no point in that infinity will anything have challenged her or forced her to grow. I had worms crawling all over me reading this sequence and it's so good.

Not to besmirch the other parts:

The way Coralie's independence, confidence, and drive keep her relatively sane but still makes her a target for the Union to warp those desires against her by letting her pursue an endless snipe hunt, letting her sift through a bottomless well of knowledge and sinking deeper into its sway all the while.

The way Senadina hasn't even formed enough of an identity for the Union to have a corruptive effect on her mental state, but her one basic desire of "find Serapeum and wake her up" is still enough for the Union to ensnare her by keeping her in a loop where she futilely tries to go deeper into the Union and winds up back at its start. The unstated implication that at no point in that loop did she think to abandon that quest to leave and get help (if you don't want to be there it doesn't force you to stay, after all) and just kept moving forward in spite of it all.

AND THEN

THE PART THAT KILLED ME

Is getting to the very end after Serapeum's woken up and realizing that even she wasn't immune to the corruptive effects of the hivemind she created in the first place, succumbing and becoming just the voice of the consensus. The realization that the source of the looming and tense dread that has hung over the entire chapter is a mere child. A lonely child that could sympathize with peoples' plights but not empathize with them, who only understood the world through a castle-sized library of books, trying to brute-force an understanding between people by reducing them to blank slates and turning their lives into just more books to read.

I'm not even going to get into the parts with Lantern but she's great in this too. The whole phase has this delicious tension throughout, my heart is honestly still pounding writing this all out. Part 2 Chapter 1 didn't really impress me outside of specific character moments but now that they've gotten most of the flowery exposition out of the way I'm actually really satisfied with the storytelling here and I'm excitedly looking forward to when we get the next phase in a few days.

[maingh0st]

First i wanna say that your writing is beautiful and thank you for your effort for taking time to actually write Taryn as the complex character that she is, while i think not liking taryn it not complete misogynistic since we all have the right to not like a fictional character even if it well written AS LONG AS WE ADMIT THE CHARACTER COMPLEXITY.I always loved taryn and jude dynamic and how you said every character did shitty things,i always was captivated by characters like Taryn in a way, characters who know how to make people like them shortly said characters who had this "wolf in a ship clothing" vibe,and one thing that i never saw people talk was the similarities between Cardan acting like a fool and Taryn way of acting all innocent and sweet.(and i could talk hours how the fandom perception of cardan is as wrong as is with taryn).Now this is something that has been on my mind for a while,What if there was no coup?Well it hard to tell but i always though that jude path will have been way more different than just not being queen.Withoud a coup jude would have continued to be the king spy but being a spy require hiding her abilities so how dain was going to make her part of the court ?well i cant say.Overall between jude and taryn,taryn plan would have been the first to succeed(now if locke would still be himself and get himself killed that another story).Both taryn and jude tried to fit in a world that normally didn't belong to them but guess what living in faerie requires some sacrifices.

thank you so much!! I've had so much fun filling in the gaps for both her & the Ghost. I think I've said it before, but I honestly had fully neutral feelings about Taryn until I started engaging with the tfota fandom and was just kind of... shocked by how people talk about her.

and I absolutely agree! I was responding to an ask saying that a lot of the overblown Taryn-hate seems like misogyny at this point, and I do agree—there's just this weird misogynistic undertone to a lot of the most vitriolic anti-Taryn content in the fandom. but I would never say that every person who dislikes Taryn is a misogynist; that would be wild lol. everyone has character preferences, and some people just don't vibe with the kind of character she is even while they understand her role in the narrative. like you said, though, a lot of people seem unwilling to engage with her as a complex, layered character, and that's where we get into weird double-standard territory.

it's a fun thought exercise to consider what might've happened if there'd been no coup. I'll borrow the Ghost's words when Jude asks if things will be better with Dain as King: "Things will be as they always are. Only more so."

I think Madoc would still be angling for power—after all, he wanted a King who would go to war (and a King he could manipulate). assuming that the existing animosity between Dain and Madoc persisted, I imagine Jude would've eventually found herself in an awkward position between her loyalties to both of them. perhaps she'd be able to hide her spying from Madoc (maybe she'd even become a knight as a cover for her time away), but I'm sure Dain would use her to spy on Madoc, or ask her to go to extremes to prove her loyalty. his geas would've remained a double-edged sword, too (girl really got out of that one too easily—consider an entire lifetime under his thumb?). I'd like to think her good heart would eventually make her unable to continue serving him (Jude's not really an idealist, but she is unwilling to bear with corruption), but it's possible she could just go on a slow downward slide. consider the Ghost, who certainly wasn't proud of poisoning Liriope, yet did it regardless for his service to Dain.

that's not even really to get into the side characters—like I imagine that Cardan, never being put in a position to grow and prove himself, would've spiraled worse (especially if Balekin survived). etc etc. honestly, the books strike me as the best-case scenario. it seems like things would've gotten a lot uglier if the coup (and Cardan's ensuing kingship) hadn't panned out!

[sopuu]

So you know how Radar said something about Aiden wanting to redeem himself and how there was another letter saying "WATCH OUT" or something like that and it had the initials of W.P. On it?

Well 2 questions

1, If Aiden, Maya and Gill showed up to Beacontown to redeem themselves, how do you think everyone would react?

2, How do you think Cassie managed to get out of the hole she was in?

(in my opinion, I feel like Mevia and Hadrian had something to do with Cassie escaping.)

honestly? i don't think aiden and his gang would head back to beacontown, not on their own terms at least. as someone who's been tormenting jesse for god knows how long, to the point where he's willing to terrorise a city and commit murder if it means getting jesse out of the frame, i don't think it's his place to determine when he should show his face in front of him again (and i feel like aiden would understand that after he's done some growing and thinking of his own). redeeming can come in different ways- and he's definitely got a city's worth of mistakes to fix and atone for before heading home.

despite that, i imagine he'd occasionally send letters to jesse throughout the years post sky city, giving updates on the city's development on new land, how isa and milo are doing, complaining (jokingly) about how much of a bother community service is and most importantly assuring that they're working hard to redeem themselves there. he'd also make sure to drop in a subtle message saying he'd be willing to talk if jesse ever decides to come visit.

but if we do follow the hypothetical scenario, uhh i mean they probably wouldn't be getting much of a warm welcome considering where they all last left off lol. jesse, olivia and axel would definitely be more...skeptical, but if aiden and his gang were really genuine with their apology jesse would be the type to give them a second chance. after all these years he'd have matured himself too- he's seen the rise, falls, guilt and redemptions of even the most corrupted so he'd know if they're sincere about wanting to better themselves.

and lukas? oh this can be a whole post on its own bc i have so much to say on this. to shorten it though, he would not want to talk to them, especially aiden. ever. and rightfully so imo. it's a lot more personal to him than anyone else, because in my eyes they were once the best of friends, maybe even grew up together, and had genuinely great memories. if even after YEARS of that, aiden's jealousy of jesse grew to the point where he was willing (and even eager) to throw all that away -- was that really all their friendship meant to him? sure, he and the gang are more than apologetic for what they've done now. but if there hadn't been any water when lukas fell, or if he didn't make it into the lake, that's...it. there'd be no one to apologise to. and aiden kicked him off there knowing that full well. so yeah, lukas gets to not forgive in my book

as for cassie! tbh i don't have many thoughts on this lol, and i do like the idea that hadrian and mevia helped her out since it's implied she's an old builder too, plus they all have some sort of vendetta against jesse. or if we're going the more technical minecraft route she could've just. done a skyblock strat?? take the block behind the one she's on, place it in front, stand on that block, rinse and repeat till she's outta there fhdgks

[langernameohnebedeutung]

Not sure if you're the right person to ask this but since you've been the only one on my dash talking about the things happening in chess rn - why the fuck are chess tournaments even separated by gender?! Like, genuinely. I can guess that it started that way thanks to misogyny and "conservative values" or some shit but nowadays? The separation in physical sports still makes sense because men do tend to have an advantage over women statistically speaking, that's all fine and dandy. But in CHESS? w h y?

Okay, this is the right ask now:

I mean, it's a difficult subject. Historically, chess was treated a "male" game, so boys were trained more thoroughly, more professionally, in far greater numbers which means that chess was largely a male sphere (which, obviously and as usual, led to the common interpretation that women are less capable at playing chess because 'hey, if they were, they WOULD be playing chess, what do you mean context matters lol' which further alienated young women and further cemented the idea of chess as a male sphere and hey, what's the point of training women to begin with).

This also had a political component: In some countries, chess was a national sport, in others it plays a minor role - which also translates into different average Elo rankings per country (so unless anyone thinks people in the Soviet Union had a magical chess gene, I think we can safely assume that training as many people as possible in chess translates into a high chance of ending up with a significant number of very good chess players. And those findings we can also apply to he gender disparity.) This also led to the usual sense of entitlement among male chess players that chess is 'for them' and that women trying to get into the game are somehow corrupting the dignity of the game or being intruders or just generally are not to be welcomed. This is something you historically often see when a space was opened to women like the first female university students who experienced a bunch of harassment at the hands of their male peers)

So all of this resulted in a scenario where a lot of male chess players were openly resentful against female chess players (translating into adverse playing conditions for female players), women on average had a disadvantage due to many of them not receiving the same training as their male counterparts (which results in lower Elo rankings) as well as the collective numerical disadvantage because men outnumbered women 16:1, which means that in pretty much any competition, the odds of a man winning were 16x higher than the chance of a woman winning.

So as a solution, the female world championship was established. And real talk, I don't have an issue with that. As I said, in chess, there are no physical denominators that would make a more sensible categorisation to even the playing field. It is also a game designed to leave little to no room for luck to determine the outcome. Women are still free to participate in the "regular" Chess World Championship, it is not restricted to men only the way most physical sports are. So this is mostly about representation and honestly, from that angle, I do understand the desire to show young girls that chess isn't a "male" thing and that they too can win and that there is a community of like-minded women (which is something I think is especially important for young girls that weren't made to feel welcome in the chess playing spaces in their direct environment). Although my long-term hope would definitely be that one day, we a) do something about misogynistic discrimination women experience in general chess and b) that enough young girls receive the training and the encouragement to play chess that one day, this whole thing is no longer an issue. Right now, the surge of chess in popularity among kids, I see that as a huge chance! This is great and I hope this causes a shift in sentiment!

(Another exception: Men and women also compete together in the equestrian categories in the Olympics. Except here with women significantly outnumbering men)

The thing is, I have yet to see any explanation for stripping trans men of their titles when they transition or stripping trans women of titles AND banning them from women's competitions that isn't…just about being a dick and harassing and humiliating trans people. Especially when the FIDE wants to document this (which btw would be highly dangerous for trans people from certain members states). Not to mention a bunch of misogynistic implications to boot by pretending that AFAB people don't have a chance against AMAB people one-on-one.

This is just bullying, plain and simple.

[teecupangel]

*raises hand* I'm very interested in any FE x AC crossover ideas you have

I've personally had a couple of thoughts about dropping Desmond into fates because I think him playing off of Saizo would be funny

From @a-faint-hope

Thanks and I would be interested in your FE x AC crossover ideas.

First of all, here’s an AC AU idea based on the Engage rings system.

Okay, I have 2 sorta kinda vague ideas:

One is an actual crossover set in Fodlan, specifically during Three Hopes. This one came to me when I was playing the demo for Three Hopes. So a bit of a ‘sidenote’, Three Hopes started its marketing during the time I’m super into AC (still am, still here) so whenever I would talk about Shez to my FE friends, I keep typing Shay instead. It got so bad that I honestly couldn’t remember Shez’s name for a while and I just kept typing it as Shay.

So…

How about a Three Hope scenario where Shay Cormac wakes up in the middle of nowhere and a person that calls themselves Arval can talk to them ‘telepathically’, telling him that they were connected by something that Arval themselves do not know what. Only that they woke up because they felt Shay. Shay looks around and… it was a battlefield.

He had woken up in a battlefield.

Left with no idea of what was happening and where he was, Shay travels to find more information, forming a sort of alliance with Arval as both of them need information to know why Shay is here in this strange land and why Arval has woken up inside Shay.

During their travels, Shay helps out three students who were running from bandits and is taken in by the Church of Seiros where he becomes an instructor. Shay knows that the woman called Lady Rhea is trying to keep him in check and close to find out who he truly is and where he came from.

For now, they give him the position of being one of the instructors and he gets to choose which ‘house’ he’d be the professor of.

Thinking of it for a while, Shay decides to pick Black Eagle because…

The young heir to the Adestrian Empire, Edelgard, reminded him so much of Haytham Kenway.

Shay’s appearance changes a lot of things, mainly because of his Eagle Vision. He realizes where the bandits hideout is and Edelgard’s ‘suggestions’ led them to the right direction (with Shay suspecting that Edelgard knows more than she’s letting on) and they manage to save Monica before the ritual, whatever that is.

Because of Monica’s survival and Edelgard taking in Shay’s inclusion to her plans, the whole thing goes very similar to Three Hopes’ prologue and Edelgard requests that Shay becomes one of her ‘vassals’ and help her rid Fodlan of its corruption and give way to real peace, not this fake peace that the three nations were pretending they had under the iron grip of the Church.

Shay, not having any other options and also thinking of the Black Eagle (especially Edelgard who always seemed lonely in Shay’s eyes) as his responsibility and having become close to them, agrees and becomes part of the Adrestian Empire’s army.

During the war phase, they learned that Jeralt’s Mercenary, the most powerful mercenary group in all of Fodlan, had been hired by the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus who, at the moment, is keeping Archbishop Rhea and her closest ‘confidants’ safe and giving them sanctuary. Apparently, the one who suggested that King Dimitri buy Jeralt’s Mercenary group was no one other than the Ashen Demon themselves, Byleth. But… that sounds more like a rumor at the moment.

As if that wasn’t enough, Shay realized that a certain group from House Riegan… wore white, had access to actual Hidden Blades (forged in materials found in this world) and… they call their leader ‘mentor’.

That’s as far as I got.

The main idea is:

Shay stays with Edelgard because Edelgard reminded him of Haytham Kenway and he thinks of the Black Eagle students as like siblings/children he couldn’t help but care for. He’s especially fond of Petra who may or may not have been getting one-on-one lessons from Shay to be more… Assassin-y.

Byleth may or may not have memories of the events of both Three Hopes and Three Houses. By the time Shay first sees them, they already have light green hair. (Byleth’s gender in this one is also a “???” as I usually write female!Byleth but, for this one, who knows?). Of course, I won’t deny that Byleth coming to Faerghus is absolutely because of Dimileth XD

The Almyra section has actually been done by the time the war phase starts as a man known as the ‘mentor’ had recruited people in Almyra (both local Almyrans, immigrants and even foreigners) and created a Brotherhood. Almyra is stable at the moment politically and the king of Almyra had requested that the mentor lend a hand on Leicester Alliance as part of their ‘tentative’ alliance with the Roundtable of Leicester Alliance. The mentor takes no orders from the Alliance but he and Claude are ‘friendly’ enough that he will listen to Claude’s plans but he’ll do whatever he wants in the end. No one know where the mentor came from although Claude is friendly enough to call him by his name… ‘Desmond’.

.

My other AC x FE idea is actually… uuuhh… AC characters set in an FE type of scenario?

The plot’s very barebone and might sound familiar:

Desmond wakes up in a place he doesn’t recognize and people he knew starts popping up but… they’re the same people he knew. They have the same name and looks the same and have similar personalities, only… ‘tweaked’ to the setting where magic is real and there are dragons (“They’re called wyverns”, yeah okay) and apparently Desmond was found in an underground temple where the ‘hope of the world’ is meant to be.

Because this world is currently in war with an unknown force that destroys everything in its path with an army of unknown origins and the nations of the world are trying to find a solution to this problem. The enemy army itself seemed to be made up of statues with glowing white light.

Desmond and his group are attacked and he realized that the statues all have the glow of a POE… and their armor and weaponry… looked very similar for some reason.

They are saved by the prince of the nearest country and… things spiral from there.

So…

Main idea:

Desmond gets to be the Avatar of this scenario. He starts of with the class that has a proficiency with swords (A), dagger (A), and bow (A).

Rebecca is one of the two people who finds Desmond. She’d probably be either a tank type or a monk type.

Shaun is obviously the other one and he’d be a tome type (if Rebecca is a tank, he would also have access to staves).

Now, for the other nations and their ‘playable characters’:

Altaïr would be the Lord of his nation although he’s technically just a prince when he meets (rescue?) Desmond. He has proficiency in Daggers (A), Sword (S) and Tomes (S) and his Lord class would be a Flying Unit (I’m thinking an actual Eagle because Griffin Knights are mostly known as non-magical units).

Malik and Kadar would be his vassals and they share the same class but with different proficiency (with Kadar having Staves while Malik has Tomes) aka: they’re the Abel and Cain archetype of this idea.

Kadar would be the first actual dedicated healer that the party would get if Shaun doesn’t have Staff proficiency.

(If they get promoted, they’d get flying classes which will become the Pegasus Sisters archetype with Altaïr XD)

Ezio would be the next Lord that they’d encounter although he’s just the second son of one of the nobles in their kingdom. He has proficiency in Bow (A), Lance (S) and Staves (S) and his Lord class will be a Ground Unit (look, there’s too many sword proficiency going around. We need to have the Weapon Triangle here XD)

Claudia would be one of his vassals. Not sure what her proficiency would be but one of them has to be Dagger.

Not sure on who his other vassal would be. Machiavelli being a magic type would be a good choice. La Volpe or Yusuf being Thief type classes would be good too. An absolutely left field would be Lo Sparviero taking the Aptitude trait (kinda like Donnel/Mozu/Jean).

Ratonhnhaké:ton would be the third Lord that Desmond recruits and he’s the clan mother’s grandson. He has proficiency in Bow (S), Axe (S) and Dagger (A) and his Lord class will be a Cavalry Unit (Either a wolf or a bear).

Aveline would be one of his vassals and she would have three possible classes to change into.

Kanen'tó:kon would be his other vassal and he’d be a tank unit.

Other than them… uuuhhh… possible other characters:

Haytham Kenway with Shay Cormac and Charles Lee (otherwise, they’d be reoccurring enemy units)

Edward Kenway with Adéwalé and Edward Thatch (Mary Read, Anne Bonny and Calico Jack are also with him though). They’ll be encountered on a ship stage, of course.

Arno Dorian with Pierre and Leon. If we don’t give Ezio Lo Sparviero as his vassal, Leon will have the Aptitude trait and be our Donnel/Mozu/Jean. Pierre might betray the party, maybe?

Henry Green with the Frye Twins. Jacob is a melee unit while Evie is a magic unit.

Aya with Bayek and Apollodorus under the command of their ruler Cleopatra. They’d be encountered as enemies first because of an order from Cleopatra. Bayek has the hero class (sword and shield), Aya is on the thief class line and Apollodorus would either be a tank or a lance type class.

Kassandra would be all on her own for some reason. She seems to have more idea than she lets on. If left up to me, I’ll make her miserable and turn her into a Tiki archetype XD

Eivor with Hytham and Randvi. They’re all looking for Basim and Sigurd (the ruler of their nation) who went missing some time ago. Eivor and Randvi would be the Axe-Bros archetype. XD

I was thinking of who the Jagen would be and all I can think of is Bill. He’ll be the overpowered promoted unit who would soon fall behind due to stat allocation and growth rates. To hammer it in, he will also be the “soon to be dead parental figure” Cornelius archetype as well. XD

.

Dropping Desmond into Fates would be fun too. A Desmond in Hoshido versus Corrin in Nohr would be the ‘easy’ choice or… you know… Corrin finds Desmond sleeping in Valla after she chose the Revelations route? I like the idea of Desmond acting like Corrin and Azura’s big brother because, holy shit, they’re too young to be in this kind of fucked up situation! Honestly, I can just see Desmond casually talking to Saizo while Saizo’s in his entire serious glory XD

[negative-speedforce]

Random OC Questions for... hm, we'll go with Pippa and Max, just to switch things up

⁉️💭📖🚩😛💯

⁉️ - Most scared & confused they've ever felt

Pippa's brother, who was a helicopter pilot, suffered a critical engine failure while transporting her father (who was a doctor) and their crew on a humanitarian mission halfway across the globe, and they both were killed instantly in the crash. This happened while Pippa was under anesthesia for her bottom surgery, so she had to wake up to the news that the last of her immediate family had died. This almost broke Pippa, who had lost her mother to sarcoma as a little kid, and was now completely alone in the world.

The most terrifying day of Max's life was in Junior year, when he followed his boyfriend and their friends to investigate a robbery at Mercury Labs in the middle of the night. It was there that they encountered the Reverse-Flash for the first time, who was mostly just confused as to what his daughter was doing there, but had to scare the kids into backing off in order to both stay in character and also get the tachyon device he was trying to steal. Eobard scared Max out of his pants, and he swears to this day that he is never going to mess with a speedster again.

💭 - If they went to the world of one of your other WIPs, how would they react to the environment? Would they like the other cast?

(I'm going to go with my angel-verse because I rarely ever talk about it)

Pippa would honestly thrive in that universe. She'd get along very well with Ellis and Gabriella, the two main characters from that WIP, with her kindhearted personality. She'd probably end up somehow getting into heaven so she could yell at god for smiting Ellis, since they were only trying to do the right thing.

Max would probably end up completely destroying both Heaven and Hell because of how corrupt they are. Somehow, this 20-something gay anarcho-socialist kid would be able to kill god all by himself, while somehow also managing to hold down a 9-5 that he hates. The cast of that WIP probably wouldn't like him much, and him as well.

📖 - What's your OCs favorite book [either in our world or theirs, whichever]? Would they like the book they're in?

Pippa loves shitty grocery store bodice ripper romance novels. Since I don't read that crap, I'm not sure what her favorite book would be called, but it'd probably be something like "Forbidden Touch of the Werewolf Pirate Laird" or something like that, and it would have a picture of abs on the cover. I don't think Pippa would like the narrative she's in though, it'd be much to angsty for her likings.

Max isn't really a big reader, so I guess it would be some kind of engineering or robotics manual? He's not a huge fan of fiction, so it's hard to choose a specific favorite book for him. As to whether he'd like the book he's in, I think he'd be fine with it, but slightly annoyed that he isn't the main character.

🚩 - Their biggest red flag?

Pippa cannot set a boundary to save her own life, and she has a tendency to give so much of herself that she gets burnout and can't do anything for like, a week.

Max doesn't think about other people's feelings, only the big details. He's doing the right thing because it's going to lead to a better world, despite how many innocent people die as collateral damage, because god forbid Max Seng be wrong about something.

😛 - If given the option, would they rather know WHEN they die, or HOW they die? Why would they pick that option & not the other? How would they react in each scenario?

Pippa would rather know neither, since she'd probably feel like knowing either would completely take over her life. However, she'd rather know when she dies, that way she can prepare accordingly and be ready for it.

Max would rather know how he dies, that way he can figure out how to evade it and cheat death yet again.

💯 - They're in the last book you read. How would they fair in that world? Would they like the main cast?

(The last book I read was This Wicked Fate by Kaylnn Bayron)

I think Pippa would not be having a good time in that universe, with the dark subject matter, angsty tone, and such. She probably wouldn't get along with the main cast well, considering that her hopelessly optimistic personality would clash with the story's tone.

Max wouldn't fare that well, considering that he HATES magic and relies 100% on technology, and the universe of that story revolves heavily on magic. However, he'd fit in fairly well with the main cast, considering that he has a similar personality to many of the main characters (determined, realist, passionate, badass, etc)

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

4,7,9

Choose Violence Ask Game

4. What was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?

I don’t typically block people— I like seeing terrible takes especially for the purposes of screencapping and sending to friends lol. But if someone’s outright rude to my face I will block. I guess most recently someone was like “did you even read the book” or whatever in my replies and I didn’t feel like dealing with it so I just blocked them. I will also block fairly liberally if people spam tags/post irrelevant stuff in tags.

7. What character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

I’d say the Darkling but he’s also my fave and I love him 🤷‍♀️

9. Worst part of canon

Low hanging fruit but the R&R ending! I would’ve been fine with many variations of different things happening but Mal coming back to life + Alina losing her power + they go live in the orphanage they started out in is just suuuuch regression. I also just hate the deus ex machina feel of it that only extends… to Mal? Nothing else??

Anyway I think I would’ve been fine with Alina keeping her power but faking her death and leaving the capital, or her losing her power… or keeping it lol… but staying to rebuild ::cough:: Nikolina endgame ::cough::

Like baseline I think Mal should just stay dead. It undercuts the tragedy and sacrifice of the last book so bad otherwise! BUT if he must come back and the narrative is taking that kind of “have your cake and eat it too” direction then Alina needs to keep her power.

The main story question is whether Alina will turn out like the Darkling: corrupt, feelingless, power hungry.

R&R answers it by removing that opportunity for her altogether. But imo she needs any opportunity for that outcome whatsoever for her not turning out that way to feel satisfying. Eye prefer something where she’s standing on the precipice and it’s framed as an active choice she needs to make all her life. Which is why I like scenarios where she remains at court/why I find Nikolina most compelling as an endgame for her. But I think her keeping her power but refusing to meddle in Ravkan politics could also work. Like she goes back with Mal to rebuild Keramzin and now she uses the Cut to chop wood and summons light as a magic laser pointer to play with Oncat lmao. Like honestly I think that could be fine for her!

[lottieurl]

i'm curious about how you'd have jackie be a part of the cannibalism? because i find the concept absolutely fascinating (especially in the 21 timeline honestly because can you imagine the kind of person jackie would be if she survived all of That.) i just haven't given toooo much thought to the "how" of it myself

hm if you want like a specific scenario i feel like i'd have to write a fic lmao cause there's so much to cover (and honestly! maybe i will eventually. did ANYONE write cannibal jackie au or is it real boring on ao3 idk i haven't browsed the tag too much) but after s2 it's actually baffling to me that people are so insistent on how jackie Never Could?

everyone is SO focused on the creators saying her death represents the death of civilization they seem to actually forget she's also a character not a symbol (and i've seen the way people analyze some of her behavior in like the weirdest way just to keep everything as symbolic of civilization. like incomprehensible things being said just cause someone analyzes her only through the "she symbolizes civilization" lenses. i love her death and the way she haunts the narrative as much as any other shaunajackie enjoyer lmao but come on) like do we all understand that ben could die early on and also represent the death of civilization AND death of authority (from their life before crash)?

with that out of the way. here's the show we're all watching. natalie who was the other person horrified and enraged by what the girls did at doomcoming is A PART OF THEIR CANNIBALISTIC MURDER CULT. travis the guy they assaulted and tried to kill on shrooms is a devoted lottie follower now. travis the guy who was throwing up when he was trying to get the ring off his dead father's finger to give to his brother. that travis. is eating his brother's heart raw. taissa the sceptic who was one of the only people trying to get jackie to stay inside and who had to repress her first act of cannibalism and who threw up when she found out about it and who was the most vocally against what lottie was doing for a while (other than nat of course) is A PART OF ALL THIS NOW. van the girl who couldn’t handle seeing worms in a dead deer and nearly threw up is a shameless cannibal now and doesn’t flinch seeing all the blood. and we also have akilah who seems so kind and doesn't really want to take part in any of this but wants to survive and is scared of the rest so she does. there is lottie who doesn't want what is being done in her name but is scared and confused and lost and is being told this is all on her. and you're telling me you cannot imagine jackie taking part in any of this? on this show? like okay fine but i have a creative mind and see the kind of characters we now have in a cannibalistic cult and can tell none of those were characters who - before crash - Seemed Like People Who Would. literally none of them

but back to jackie! people ALWAYS mention the way she had trouble adapting, the way her death represents the death of civilization (which is like. literally pointless to mention if we are entertaining an idea where the death does not happen? like?) and that she wasn't eating much by doomcoming. YEAH CAUSE SHE WAS SO HEARTBROKEN AND SUICIDAL AFTER FINDING OUT ABOUT SHAUNA'S BETRAYAL. can you really just not imagine any other path for her character if she didn't die? cause i'm thinking of what liv said about van and about how it's "the corruption of the beautiful parts of her" and can see that with jackie too. all the other traits of hers like. yeah she was very depressed and lost after the crash. okay. imagine if she had a reason to stay alive (shauna lmao like. quite literally not a lot of other reasons for her she's so pathetic (affectionate) but yeah shauna or shauna related things everytime). the girl who - before crash - was so determined to be this person she was pretending to be and the image she was crafting that she was in a long-term relationship with a guy she didn't love and had sex (yeah she didn't consider it sex but like. it was. we are here in the 2020s and not ill with cishetnormativity so we can say that much) that made her miserable because she was such a determined person. how would those traits look like corrupted by the wilderness? because we somewhat saw it already at doomcoming when she just decided she's gonna sleep with travis and then made it happen. or those traits of her we see that help make people feel better? to me echoing van's storytelling and how it made others relax and how it entertained them? it feels like it comes down to jackie only ever being seen as A Bitch by jackie haters or a failgirl angel who has no flaws by her fans so the latter have an issue even like. trying to imagine a jackie corruption arc so to speak that would end in her participating in cannibalism

i just do not! get! why everyone is SO INSISTENT she never could. like how are you watching that show. i am not asking rudely just genuinely curious. because if you think Under No Circumstances Could She Ever then i suppose you think there are two types of people (well, characters) you can sort into two boxes. those who could engage in cannibalism and those who never would. which is.. i mean i disagree but fine. just tell me this then. do you literally think all the rest of them just happen to be in that Could Do Cannibalism box? like inherently? the plot luckily happens because those characters are just inherently people who CAN do this unlike those other people who never could? i'm sorry but that sounds like such a boring way to watch it. especially when canonically at least some of them are so openly distressed by having to do this and they very much do invent a religion to be able to both shift blame and excuse their actions in their minds