#i didn't see anyone talking about this!!! which was wild bc it was all i could think about lmao

[fryday]

dan doing 99.9% of the legwork in poppy playtime except for when there are actions he knows phil would be excited to do. then he asks/tells phil to take the controls. bye ❤️💥🔫⚰️

TRANSCRIPT.

Phil: Ooh! I like this. Dan: Fuck yeah. Dan: Do you wanna do it? Phil: I wanna do it! Phil: Yes! Dan: Had a ramp and everything. Phil: That was amazing. Dan: Fuck yeah.

Dan: Oh, you wanna do that, come on. Phil: Okay, here we go. Phil: We have light! Dan: Unlimited power. Phil: It's back. (laughs)

[oh-no-its-bird]

sorry but I genuinely need to know what the outside perspective of stoner Itama is- the ultimate weed supplier of Konoha?? At what point do they draw the line with this guy 😭

A wonderful question that makes me lose my mind a little bit to even consider actually

So we've already talked about how in this verse, Itama and Tobirama were trained to fight together as a duo, so they probably have at least a battle reputation that's tied pretty closely together

Actually hmm I'm thinking and that could cause problems for Izuna specifically, bc him and tobirama are on even ground and Itama would definatley tip the scales there

Ok so rewind -> they're trained to fight together and fucking terrifying, but for Reasons(tm) Itama tends to stick close to home base as a last line of defense / resident healer and clan poison master

When they send Tobirama and Itama out together it's to get shit DONE. Maybe Hashirama, in his desire for peace, actually specifically leaves him behind bc he knows if the twins go out on the battlefield together, certain pieces he doesn't want moved will certainly be doing some goddamn moving

As such, he doesn't have much of a reputation / maybe there's some sort of rumor ab him being sickly floating around

This also means he can do fun spy things bc no one knows what he looks like!! Which is even more reason to keep him off the battlefield, yayy

Funny bit where Itama and Izuna run into eachother in the wild and Itama totally knows who this guy is but Izuna has no idea who he is. Maybe they help eachother out a bit and Itama makes a joke about how he got separated from his brother, who's "tall and grumpy and acts like a cute little kitty cat <3"

And Izuna is like, haven't seen him, sorry

Then Tobirama shows up and Izuna is screeching "THATS Bibi-chan???" As Itama uwus and goes "I told you didn't I? My bibi-chan is tall and grumpy and acts like a cute kitty cat <333"

(Izuna feels like he's having an aneurysm)

Blah blah blah Konoha is made early yayy friendship peace and ninja drugs galore what a beautiful world we live in

The consensus on Itama inside Konoha is that he's very nice and the most reasonable / easy to work with of the 3 Senju brothers (HIGHLY debatable, they are all insane in very different ways)

Anyone who meets him personally within professional bounds finds him very charming and soft spoken, with the type of personality on the surface that'd make you think he isn't fit for shinobi work (which, to any shinobi worth their salt, is a red flag in itself)

Itama is very conscious of public opinions, and he's friends with Izuna who's like got spy master vibes going on for him— they probably collaborate together sometimes in that field. So he has a good grasp on what people think of him / how to manipulate that

OUTSIDE of the village, since Itama mostly avoided public eye for so long, he doesn't have too much of a reputation. Even after he started going out with Tobirama on public missions regularly, bc of Tobirama's own big reputation, whenever they do insane shit it tends to be attributed to him— not the harmless looking guy standing innocently behind him

Konoha's secret weapon,,

Anyways !! I don't think the fact that Itama is specifically the mind behind the really good konoha weed is public knowledge. It's definitely known that it's a Senju product, and a lot of people probably assume it's Hashirama

Itama IS however known as the guy who totally always has that good ninja weed, and he's totally always on staff as one of the first faces any visiting important people see. He's so disarming, he's great at charming dignitaries

He and Izuna probably get sent to the capital whenever they need court representation actually. Konoha's pretty politics duo here to smile nicely and feed you pretty lies

What the fuck was I talking about again

RIGHT OK SO

Outside of the village people don't really know Itama has as much importance / influence as he does, due to a mix of on purpose subterfuge and just everyone around him having really big reputations that he carefully allows to overshadow his own

It benefits him :)

They never see the Itama inquisition coming

<- This also means that when he does insane shit he never fails to get "oh what the fuck" reactions from anyone new around him (he finds the process of watching people realize he's just as bad / possibly even WORSE than his brothers very, very funny)

[cuephrase]

robin poll conduct notice

hey!! so i didn't want to have to make a post like this and i'm not really thrilled at having to do this but i really hit my bullshit threshold so i feel like i need to establish some stuff before i continue sharing any data from the Robin Poll. apologies in advance, i swear i am not typically this aggressive and this is not the kind of post i tend to make.

allow me to preface this by saying that this is not me saying that you cannot have different opinions than me, or anything like that, okay, if that's what you take away from this i don't know how to help you.

also, i'm not super familiar with tumblr etiquette, but i just want to say that i have their @'s removed bc i have them blocked.

first of all, please do not make bad faith assumptions about me as a person, i understand that i cannot ask you to make zero assumptions about me, and to an extent i do not care what you think about me but like idk think before you fucking speak?

i'm just going to brush over the fact that hey, maybe if you don't like any of the characters on the questionnaire directed to their fans, then maybe don't participate, wild thought, because that's beside the point frankly.

i did not include Duke as a Robin, (the only characters I included were Dick, Jason, Steph, Tim, and Damian, hereafter referred to as The Five), because he does not count as a Robin by the metrics i was using.

the five Robins i included are the core characters who have carried the mantle for a significant period of time since Dick's entrance to canon-present. Carrie was not included because she's Robin in canon-future. Duke was not included because the only time he has canonically been Robin is in Batwheels.

"No, because in We Are Robin-" I'm going to stop you right there. I have read that series. I know what the fuck I'm talking about. If you've also read that series and somehow come to the conclusion that Duke is Robin in the same way that the The Five are, i'm glad i don't have your reading comprehension skills. i can't understand this for you either. Furthermore, if i was going to count Duke as a Robin because he was part of the We Are Robin movement, i would also include Dax, Dre, Izzy, Riko- you get the picture, i hope.

also lemme just-

not that this will convince anyone who firmly believes Duke is Robin the same way The Five are, but like when i say Duke's skin color has fuck all to do with why i did not include him- i mean that wholeheartedly.

and if you headcanon Duke as Robin, cool!! if you think he should've been Robin, cool!! there's nothing wrong with Duke being Robin- he just has not been Robin in comics!canon. (do not play the semantics game with me, you will lose.)

if it had been a Batkid/Batfam poll, Duke would've been on there!!

also, the poll was not a "which two characters that have worn a Robin/Robin-inspired suit do you like the most" poll. if you want that data, cool!! go do your own research.

second!! i have zero tolerance for this data being used to shame other Robin fans, this is not being shared so y'all can hop on your wank soapbox and jack off.

this kind of bullshit is not going to fucking fly. besides the fact that there is just so much that is...blatantly incorrect about this statement, this is "obnoxious conduct". i'm not going to waste my time getting into the weeds on this comment, mainly bc they're blocked so they won't see this so there's no point.

and to be clear, this did not upset me bc it was negative towards Tim stans and I'm a Tim stan- this comment could've been about any Robin and I would've been pissed. Tim might be my fave, but I deeply love all the Robins.

actually briefly, i'm going to say that i think it is beyond fucking stupid to bitch at fanon!Tim fans bc you think they're ruining comic!Tim's success. people who are invested primarily in fanon are probably not reading comics, and if they are, they're almost definitely not buying them so they're not impacting sales. you know who is? comic readers. if they cannot separate fanon!Tim from canon!Tim, that's a skill issue on their part. but like seriously, you think Tim Drake: Robin flopped bc of fanon!Tim? you do realize that the art was not well received, right? and that a lot of comics-buying fans are homophobic? and that oh, idk, a lot of comic!Tim fans disliked the run for valid reasons that had nothing to do with the art or being homophobic?

OR, hear me out, people are allowed to dislike characters and fans of that character are better off respecting that??

obviously stan behavior can be off-putting af. i'm not saying that stans should be able to do whatever- there's a lot of behavior from all stans that is just exhausting and pointless and benefits no one. but it's like...you do understand rage bait and hate gets engagement and social media algorithms don't differentiate between positive and negative, they just push whatever's getting interacted with. if you don't make an effort to avoid wank, you're going to drown in it. and if you're only ever in a handful of bubbles cycling the same opinions, that's all you're going to know. that doesn't mean that it's a real reflection of reality.

generalizing is so...i literally made the questionnaire because i believe that you can't generalize stan opinions based off who their #1 Robin is. stans are not a monolith.

what are the comic!Tim stans supposed to "take to heart" here? do you think we like woobie!Tim? do you think commenting about how OOC fanon!Tim is on a fanfic accomplishes anything than upsetting a fanfic author? do you think our posts about comic!Tim tend to break out of comic!Tim bubbles and impact fanon!Tim in any kind of controllable way?

and that goes for all stans, like it is no one's job/responsibility (or place quite frankly) to be policing how others interpret/enjoy characters. write your character analysis posts, share the fact-check panels, whatever, i'm not saying you can't discuss how you think a character should be interpreted. but like damn. save your energy for the people who want to have a conversation/learn. and be fucking nice about it- istg the attitudes of comics fans is probably one of the biggest turn offs for people who might otherwise be interested in comics, that and the sheer volume of content.

(if you're like, "okay hypocrite" bc i just angrily laid out why i didn't include Duke as Robin- i am allowed to not tolerate being called racist on my own post. i'm not stepping into Duke is Robin truther spaces and shitting on their fun.)

finally, and this is not strictly a continuation of the previous comment, i've been made aware that this data is being discussed elsewhere, which is fine, but i really cannot stress enough that this data is not generalizable. that's not an "excuse", it's a mathematical fact. the data isn't even reflective of only the opinions of people who follow my tumblr- my tumblr is super small, we got wayyyy more responders than i have followers, by a lot!! this data cannot be used to support any claims about fandom at large, nor was it intended to.

as i've stated multiple times, this questionnaire was not made to measure if someone was a "real" fan. meaning, it doesn't exist to grade fans or shame fans or do literally anything other than help me find out if knowing someone's top two fave Robins is significantly more informative than simply knowing who their number one favorite Robin is.

that's it. i literally just want to know "are X stans basically alike, or does it change depending on this specific factor", that factor being who their second favorite is.

tl;dr- this data was not collected to be turned into wank, it is not being shared to cultivate wank, and anyone that attaches wank to my posts directly will be blocked. i want to share this data with everyone who is interested, but no one is entitled to the results.

sorry if this was your introduction to me, i swear i am usually much happier and more diplomatic, but i hit my personal limit and i wanted to be really fucking clear about the boundaries i'm drawing. i will be using my block button as i see fit bc i want to enjoy the time i spend on this platform and put into this project. and you can block me too!!

[softguarnere]

Hey. I'm really sorry if I came across pushy or impatient bc that was not my intention at all. Of course school is more important. I hope you like my ideas but if not that's totally fine.

Ok, so here's the first one. You have been a member of Easy co. through almost the whole war. Down in the mud with them and forced to wear the same uniform. Other than being the only girl in the company you just blended in with the guys. That is, until the end of the war came.

My request is a headcanon of the guys reaction to seeing you actually look like a girl for the first time. I mean the works; pin up hair, make up, killer dress, and heels. Also, if it's not too much trouble could you please make sure to include Doc Roe, Babe, Malarkey, and Liebgott? If you want to include any of the other boys please do. Thanks!

Hey hey! Me again sending in my second idea. Again you're the only girl in Easy co. and at some point during the war you took quite a bit of shrapnel; especially to your chest and abdomen.

This is another reaction headcanon request (of a more romantic nature) of the guys seeing all your scars for the first time during a more private moment. Again can you please include Doc Roe, Babe, Malarkey, and Liebgott? Thanks! ❤️

Since you sent two requests, I decided to combine them for the sake of ease and time.

Even though I'm a writer, I'm a historian by trade, and I've never been comfortable with the whole "unexplained sole female member of the company" because I could never stretch my imagination to come up with a proper explanation for why that would be, so I hope you don't mind that I had to change it slightly. I also don't write NSFW, so the second part had to be left pretty vague.

Because of the time crunch, these haven't been proof read or edited!

Reactions to seeing you dressed up for the first time, and later, your battle scars

Doc Roe

When a women's division was added to Easy Company, a lot of the men found themselves getting somewhat distracted

If he's being honest, then yes, Gene has spared a glance at some of the women. But he's been so busy with the constant work of being a combat medic that he hasn't noticed anyone in particular

Until the end of the war, that is

Everyone goes wild once Berchtesgaden is taken. People are looting the jewelry and clothes for themselves, for friends and family, for sweethearts back home

And you happen to take a dress and some jewelry that make you absolutely sparkle - when Gene sees you for the first time, it takes his breath away

Once he works up the courage to talk to you, the two of you take it slow

With everything that has happened and the fast pace of the war, he completely forgot that you took some shrapnel back in Bastogne

You seem so ashamed when you first show him the scars it left you with, but he thinks nothing of it

"We all got 'em," he assures you

"You don't."

"Yeah, I do." He places your hand over his heart. "You just can't see 'em."

Babe

Okay, I think he would actually take notice of you for the first time after the war

It's at an Easy reunion. He happens to look up from his drink as you walk in

He chokes, which draws Bill's attention

"Who the hell is that?"

Bill squints over at you. "Oh, I think it's (Y/L/N)."

"Who?"

"(Y/N)? From the women's division, remember?"

Babe tilts his head. "No."

"Well, she looks different outta uniform, I guess."

All this to say, Babe has taken an interest in you, and he has no qualms about telling you exactly that when he (re)introduces himself to you

You have a great time at the reunion, and although you and Babe keep in touch and become close, he's a little shocked to realize how many things he didn't know about you

Like about the scars that the war left you with

You're shy, almost timid, when you show him, even though you trust him by now

"I had no idea," he admits.

"I don't usually bring it up," you hesitate before continuing. "It, uh - some guys haven't liked it. It makes them uncomfortable."

Something about the way you say it is so open and honest that Babe can't help the rush of emotion that comes over him. He grabs your hand and squeezes it tight

"Then doll, they weren't good enough for you."

Malarkey

Unlike the others, he knows you got hit, because he was there

But it's not something that he thinks about. He's busy trying to forget the war, after all

And as the war draws to a close, he gets so used to seeing you in your Ike jacket and thinking about how it makes you look like some sort of goddess of war that it's distracting

It's not until your last night in Berchtesgaden, when your relationship becomes official, that he learns about the scars the shrapnel left you with

"Does it hurt?" he asks, immediately remembering that awful day back in Holland when he saw you go down as the shrapnel struck you.

"No." You only smirk. "You should see the other guy."

He knew there was a reason that he liked you so much.

Liebgott

Listen, he's such a flirt that I'm convinced he noticed you before and has been subtly throwing flirtations your way throughout the war

But once he sees you at the war's end in a dress and some bright red lipstick that you stole? WOW - you're a knock-out. The pin-ups back in the States have nothing on you, and he simply can't wait another second to make a move

"Hiya, your Highness." He kisses the back of your hand and gives you a deep bow. "My name is Joe. Have we met before?"

All the other women would be giggling while watching the interaction. You can only roll your eyes, trying to hide the heat rushing to your cheeks.

"Maybe once . . . in your dreams."

Joe has always thought you were pretty, and he'll think your gorgeous no matter what

Seeing your scars has a different effect on him.

The anger that would course through him at the realization that the war left its mark on you in the most literal sense? Unmatched.

"Joey," you have to tell him, hooking his chin with a finger and guiding his gaze back up to your eyes. "If it makes you uncomfortable I can - "

"No." He grabs your hands. "Sorry, doll. I didn't mean to make you self-conscious. I just - "

"I know," you assure him. "No use being angry now, though. The damage is done."

But he doesn't want you to see it as damage. And slowly, he comes to see it as character instead; one more piece of you that makes you who you are - and reminds him of why he fights.

[neverchecking]

That recent Sage fic u wrote was MUAH BELOVED But now we can't get enough 🧍‍♀️so if it isn't much of a hassle and u still have some room, may I request a oneshot (it can be HCs too if u want) exploring how much of a.. hawk Sage is guarding and protecting Reader? It's like a follow up fic of ur last one

Look. Look. Y'all are straight up feral for this man and I love feeding you guys.

It's no hassle at all darling, and I always have room! I went with HC's bc they're easier when it comes to spitballing like this.

Also, me and @eeveelutionqueen1995 have decided that Wild (Blue Nightshade), Calamity (Silent Princess) and Sage (Sundelion) are now the Flower Garden trio. The council has SPOKEN-

I was gonna wait to post this tomorrow, but y'all can thank @lovanmari because their art of Sage had me BARKING- so have this as a treat from me to you.

Sage, for those new here, is TotK Link! So spoilers below!

The 'last' one can be found here!

・❥・After resigning himself to your pitiful cause, Sage decides to get you to a stable first and foremost. He has no idea how old your injury is nor how well taken care of it, if at all, so he needed to get a grasp on that.

・❥・He couldn't risk losing his only support in this cruel world due to an infection caused by neglect by things far out of his control.

・❥・So, that was first. The stable hands greeted him with a smile-- shaky and unsure of his normally glowering features much less stiff as you babbled on about this group of yours.

・❥・They knew better than to push him though, simply giving you both a large berth after he snapped his glare at a stable boy that tried to offer you a water canteen.

・❥・He gave you his own while wordlessly daring anyone else to try that. He had no idea where that water came from. Whose to say this stablehand wasn't Yiga? What if it was poisoned?! He couldn't risk it.

・❥・He made sure your injury was wrapped and treated properly, before anything else, listening to you go on and on about something or another. He answered the questions you had ("What kind of flower is that?" "...Sundelion." "That's a huge Bokoblin! Do they all come that size?" "No, just the boss Bokoblins." "Those are thing? Are they tougher than regular Bokoblins?" "...Not anymore.") calmly and succinctly,

・❥・Just as he sat back to try and figure out the best route of action from this point on (His day to day life was so dangerous. He'd have to make some serious adjustments if he wanted to keep you within arms reach. There was no question after this that you were his- even if you didn't know it yet- and he couldn't very well just leave you at this stable. He did have a home on the outskirts of Tarrey town. No one would hear your screams or pleas for escape...) the sound of some sort of warbling caught his attention and yours.

・❥・He immediately jumped to action as he stepped in front of you, pulling out the Master Sword-- that he recently retrieved-- and holding out his shield. The Sage spirits echoed his stance as he allowed them to roam, your excited squeak making his ears twitch. He'd have to show them to you up close after the threat was disengaged.

・❥・In front of him, a portal of some sorts-- a dark purple with three straight edges--wavered in front of him, testing his patience as it remained frustratingly dormant.

・❥・"That's one of the portals I was talking about!" You called from behind him, running up to stand behind him with your hand, soft and free of blemishes, settling on his shoulder.

・❥・That meant either this supposed Dink (What a dumb name for a being of evil) or your damned group was making their grand (re)appearance.

・❥・He wasn't sure which option he loathed the idea of more.

・❥・The first one to pop through the portal was a tall blond adorned in armor and an eyesore of a scarf. Immediately, he could only see all of the weak points this...man showcased. (He had no protection anywhere near his thighs, nor his neck, meaning if he could fake a hit at either one he could quickly redirect a swipe at the other and hopefully nick an artery-)

・❥・He was just about to do just that when you stepped around him. "Wars!"

・❥・Ah. So you knew him. He was part of your disgraced group...Or was he?

・❥・Quickly grabbing your arm, he made sure you stayed close as you glanced back at him. He kept his gaze on the imposter. "Remember what I said about the puppets."

・❥・You thought for a second before frowning, stepping back behind him. He had warned you of Ganon being able to make lifelike puppets. So close to the real thing they almost fooled even him.

・❥・You took his warning in head even as the other turned to look at him. And you. Mostly you if the look of pure admiration written all over his features said anything.

・❥・"Oh, my precious Angel, you're safe!" He cried out, moving to step closer before Sidon's trident clanged noisily against Yunobo's Boulder breaker, creating an 'x' right in front of where he stood, pushing you behind him.

・❥・"Come no closer!" He barked at the startled man. "State your name and business, but come no further."

・❥・The man glowered at him, fingers twitching on the hilt of his weapon. The portal wavered behind him but it was forgotten as Link tightened his grip around the Master Sword.

・❥・"I am here for them. We were separated, but, as you can see, we've been reunited. Your...assistance is no longer needed." The other, Wars, growled out through ground teeth. "I'll take it from here."

・❥・"I'm sure you'd like that." He barked back, lowering his stance as his teeth bared themselves. He wasn't against charging teeth first and using his weapon as an afterthought.

・❥・Wars grimaced at the primal response. Then he seemed to remember himself, sending you a positively pitiful glance. "Angel, you have no idea how long we've been looking for you-"

・❥・"Y/n!" Another voice called, much younger and much closer than Link anticipated. A young boy, looking much like the other male-- same blond hair and blue eyes--ran right up to the Sage spirits. "It's me. Wind! You know me!" He cried, tears welling up in his wide eyes. "Don't tell me you forgot me!"

・❥・You broke free of his grasp before he could readjust it, running forward to cradle the youngest one to your chest. "I would never!"

・❥・Oh, this just wouldn't do at all.

・❥・"Y/n-" He hissed, stepping closer to retrieve you before a weapon was swung towards him. His own met it before it collided with his shoulder, pushing it off of him as he was met with an eerily familiar face. Riddled with scars and with hair too long to be practical, he realized he was met with another contender for your attention.

・❥・The scarred man snarled his own grimace, with his own teeth bared-- canines comparatively sharp to his own. His body language said everything he didn't. Back the fuck up.

・❥・He did not. He grew closer, getting up in the other's face. Not a chance in the fiery depths of hell.

・❥・"Move." Was all Link said, the other refusing to do so, before your hands were pushing against his chest. He followed the direction you pushed him in, as gentle and loving as you were with everything.

・❥・"They are not our enemies, Link." You whispered, eyes wide and pleading. He almost felt as if he had no choice but to listen.

・❥・And then there was a fucking small army behind you and he was on the offensive again. Who were these people, threatening to take you away from him?!

・❥・"Stand down!" A loud voice barked. The authority in it was present as he eyeballed the source. Tall. Blond haired and blue eyed with tattoos or markings of some sorts on his face. One eye was shut with a scar dragging over it with his own armor gleaming in the light. "We mean no harm." The gleam in his eye said otherwise.

・❥・He did not back down, but he did allow you to step in front of him. Even if he quickly wrapped an arm around your hips. That earned him a few glares. Good.

・❥・"He doesn't either!" You quickly reassured. "This is another Link!"

・❥・...I'm sorry, did you say another? Were these all...him? He sincerely hoped not. It seemed the rest of them agreed as another one, seemingly younger than that Wind character if his height was anything to go by, stepped up, pushing against Sidon's Trident, even if it didn't move. "My jewel, you know I would never doubt you, but...are you sure?"

・❥・You hurriedly explained everything to them, even going as far as to raise his hand that clutched the Master sword in front of them. He eyed their cautious expressions before another was stepping forward. He had some sort of white cape wrapped around him and was holding another version of the Master Sword, supposedly, in front of him. She didn't quite gleam like his did, but he supposed that was because his was fresh from a ten thousand year power nap.

・❥・"Then he wouldn't mind putting what you say to the test, would he, songbird?" The sword was offered.

・❥・In an act of pure spite, his own was sheathed as he kept his hand around your waist, reaching forward and wrapping his fingers around the blade. The blade let out a chime before an echo rung in his head.

・❥・'Welcome, Hero of the Zonai.'

・❥・...He was going to kill Hylia.

[nyaagolor]

SV Rivals Headcanons

I did it for team star so this feels only fair. Under the cut bc it's long

Arven:

He baby-talks to his pokemon but especially Mabosstiff. If anyone sees him doing it he will probably melt from embarrassment but it's Fine. He loves cooing at Mabosstiff and squishing its face and kissing its nose while making silly faces. "Who's a good boy" energy

He has dyslexia and is just so so so bad at traditional schoolwork. With all the work he missed he's failing all his classes, but is not really willing to ask for help because everyone knows how smart his parents are. That makes it hard for him because he thinks asking for help means disappointing them. This is especially bad with Clavell, since he's the one who talks about Sada and Turo the most (if Clavell realized this he would freak out tho, he cares about Arven a lot)

(points) inferiority complex. He's so used to being around overachievers that he's overly aware of his "shortcomings" and sees anything less than exceptional as a failure. Being compared to his parents all the time certainly doesn't help. He never gives himself credit for the things he's good at, and beats himself up too much over his mistakes. Boys who have low self-esteem to me

Related to the above points but oh man he NEVER admits when he's struggling. The cocktail of abandonment issues and low self-esteem means he feels the need to "prove himself" by never having visible issues and always working through things alone. He would rather die than cry in front of his friends. Luckily for him, everyone in Team Star is an expert at seeing through emotional facades and catches onto that pretty early so he has a support system that teases out all that buried nonsense and helps him work through it

You know those people who make food and share it with their dog? That's Arven. Mabosstiff is allowed to eat off Arven's plate whenever it wants, Arven spoils that dog rotten. They're rolling out of the Starbucks with a caramel frappe and a pup cup living their best life. Arven also bakes Mabosstiff a birthday cake every year, which is ironic because he doesn't make himself a birthday cake. Anything for Mabosstiff

I know canonically the 'raidon attacked wild pokemon but in my heart it attacked Arven, giving him a scar on his eye that he covers with his bangs. The reason the professor booked it to Area Zero without Arven is less because of the "oh they saw the 'raidon" part and more because 1. It hurt their son and they want to protect him and 2. If the League found out the professor was illegally keeping a mysterious pokemon who permanently scarred a child, they would definitely try and take it away which the professor is terrified of. They didn't explain this to Arven, however, who simply thought the professor abandoned him because they cared about the 'raidon more

Arven is very bulky and very strong. He can bench press more than anyone thinks, and is usually the guy to call if you need help lifting / carrying something. Despite his ability to snap your spine like a toothpick, however, she would much rather use his hands to help and not hurt. Boy who is so so sensitive and sweet

He loves to make cute little shapes with his food and has become absolutely enamored with the idea of bento boxes. Bunny shaped apple slices? Heart sandwiches? Sign him UP. His friends are more than happy to eat all the leftovers and scraps from his culinary experiments, so it's a win win for everyone

None of his pokemon are actually in pokeballs except for Mabosstiff, they're just free roaming. He'll call them when he needs them and they might stay in their balls for a short time, but overall they're more like work partners than pets like Penny's veevees. He managed to win all of them over with food, they just showed up at his picnics and followed him around. It's a good partnership, since Arven doesn't consider himself a traditional pokemon trainer anyway

He doesn't own any social media and is convinced all of Penny's terminally online speak is her trying to hex him. He's very content with this lifestyle and has no desire to learn anything about the web anytime soon. The benefit of this is that he hasn't seen most memes and subsequently finds them to be absolute goddamn riots. The "quieres" meme with a Maschiff was all he would talk about for days because he found it that funny

Nemona:

She is on the edge of her seat waiting for someone to send the "would you still love me if I were an Orthworm" meme to her. She figured out what her friends' natures would be based on their personalities and has a dozen page document detailing their new wormy battle strategy that she cannot wait to share

According to her, the reason she can't hit anything she's aiming for with a pokeball is because her family is descended from the King of Paldea. Because of that, they're subject to a multi-generational wizard curse where their arrows (and subsequently pokeballs) are destined to never hit their targets. No one can figure out if she's joking or not

I'm far from the first person to think this but this girl is autistic. Battling special interest, can't read the room, no volume control, relates everything to her special interest to understand it better, extremely bad at interpreting body language, fixates on tasks really easily, very often goes past her and others' limits without realizing, trouble relating to others, etc etc. Because of her obliviousness in social situations she often ends up being over-friendly to strangers and coming off far too strong, which scares people off

Genuinely, unironically does not realize her parents dropping her off with house staff and never seeing her is supposed to be a bad thing. Her friends are mortified to find out that her parents didn't show up to the League Ceremony when she became the youngest ever champion ranked trainer, but she's unbothered by it. Overall she's less sensitive to being ignored or forgotten or left by herself than any of her friends; she can vibe with solitude

She has a chronic illness. I have not thought too hard about which one but one of them, prolly related to nerve damage of some kind hence the arm brace. It leads to easy fatigue and some dull pain in her arm and shoulder, but the school doesn't know about it because she keeps conveniently forgetting to bring in the paperwork to Miriam. Dendra has her suspicions though

Ngl she gives school mascot energy. She's super energetic, genuinely loves the academy, and is hella tall which is basically a requirement for being the mascot. If she doesn't have the stamina for competitive sports she sure as hell is gonna cheer them on. Cue her rolling up to the bleachers in the most terrifying Pawmi fursuit you've ever seen in your life

Nemona is very very bad at having frank and straightforward emotional conversations but is absolutely SUPREME at cheering people up. Distraction queen. She isn't going to be able to address and solve your problems, but she can turn any bad day into a good one with some ice cream, a smile, and a positive attitude

Nemona doesn't know this but Arven doesn't like her (dw they get better). They used to be neighbors and would hang out as kids. At the time, Nemona wanted to be a pokemon professor-- she was chronically ill / fatigued so her parents encouraged her to talk to the Professor who lived in the lighthouse and maybe become a professor herself. Loving pokemon and being naturally curious, Nemona would talk their ear off for hours, but Arven just saw that as encroaching on the professor's super limited off-work time. He was pretty bitter that this other girl was getting more attention from his own parent than he was, not that Nemona ever realized that. But when the professor got the 'raidon, they became more reclusive, and Arven simply starting ignoring Nemona when she would knock on the door. It took a while, but she eventually got the hint, assuming they had moved or something and simply forgot to say goodbye. Arven is still mad about it all and finds Nemona obnoxious and overbearing, but she still thinks of him as a fond childhood friend, being none the wiser to his distaste for her. Eventually they get better

Her Pawmi / Pawmot was originally a therapy pokemon, intended to loosen any muscle spasms and help with the nerve-related pain in her arm. He's the pokemon she had the longest, but she didn't bother to train him for battle until recently

She's really bad at remembering people's faces, so she acts really friendly to everyone she sees to save herself the awkwardness of treating an acquaintance like a stranger. She also genuinely loves meeting new people and pokemon, so it's not really an act

Penny:

Penny doesn't really have a strong Galarian accent until she's yelling. She sounds like a native Paldean and then gets pissed and hits you with an "OI MATE" with enough psychic damage to kill a man

Her favorite ice cream flavor is "eeveelution sorbet" which is this giant rainbow mashup of flavor. It's lemon for jolteon, lime for leafeon, peach for sylveon, blue raspberry for vaporeon, orange for flareon, vanilla for glaceon, blackberry for umbreon and grape for espeon. Arven feels personally offended by its existence because "it's an insult to good cooking" and tastes like preservatives

In Paldea, "jelly" refers to the fruit spead, but in Galar, "jam" is the fruit spread and "jelly" is gelatin. Penny has been hearing Arven talk about "peanut butter and jelly" for ages now and is dead convinced that Paldeans just have shit taste. No one is aware of this miscommunication and just thinks that Penny hates fruit

Penny hacked the future paradox pokemon. She jailbroke Miraidon and can play compressed midi files on it and change the color of its lights. Future pokemon use super compressed files because things are better in the future and they don't need as much space, so Penny is currently working on getting past that limitation so she can play Doom on the thing

Good luck getting her to show up for class. She'll come and take tests, but god forbid it's a class that cold calls? She will literally never show up. Girl whose participation grades are Zero. Clavell does talk to her and authorize her to have Sylveon out of its ball in class because it's certified as a therapy pokemon, so its usually napping under her desk to help her cope with the anxiety of Being In A Classroom

Penny managed to convince Arven that blue raspberry is a real, albeit rare, Galarian fruit. He actually fell for it before Saguaro explained that she was lying to him. He still hasn't forgiven her for this

This woman vapes u cannot convince me otherwise. She has an eevee-shaped pen and always smells like watermelon. Luckily for her, miss student council president actually paid attention to those D.A.R.E lectures and read her the riot act when she realized what was going on, so she's being forced to quit and is a little bit grumpy about it. Giacomo is likewise disappointed in Penny's choices and has suggested she just switch to weed instead. Penny thinks this is a much more suitable compromise

Her eevee backpack is endless. Penny has pulled out snacks, flashdrives, a first-aid kit, a CD player, a toothbrush, Veevee treats, a cat-ear headband, and a taser from that thing within an hour. Anything you might need is probably inside whether or not it should reasonably fit. Hammerspace type beat

Geeta somewhat regrets hiring her. She does good work and the rest of the staff loves her, but she's also far less willing to put up with office bureaucracy things than any of the other staff and it's gonna give Geeta a migraine. One time Geeta asked Penny to work on a Saturday and she threatened to unionize. Larry thought it was so funny he bought Penny dinner. They're homies now

She can pick locks. Clavell is genuinely and rightfully terrified of her because they both know she can pick the lock to his office and completely wreck the school's security and financial system if you gave her a motive and a half hour

[sisterofficerlucychen]

If you could only keep Chenford scenes from one season, which ones would you keep? And why? 🤭

the way i read the question wrong, not once, but twice lmao. and to think i was so excited because i thought it said "only keep a chenford scene from season one" bc that would have been pretty easy 😂 this is actually such a hard question!!!!!!! 🥺

i think i have to go with season 4 — it had so many good moments! i feel like it was peak chenford banter and i just loved how they were so shamelessly pulled toward one another? there were so many times they were acting like a married couple while there was nothing going on between them yet.

the moment in tim's living room and that split second where it looked like they were almost, maybe going to kiss??? then neither can sleep and lucy gets up to go to him??? top tier angst.

THE BABY BOOTIES. i swear pranks are their love language and this was the most perfect way for lucy to celebrate/congratulate tim on making sergeant. also, the fact that she ordered twice and instead of returning them, she was going to leave him more bootie lmao.

that little journey of lucy becoming his aid because she was so excited when nolan told her what he overheard and then so upset when he didn't pick her. like the fact that even nyla asked john what was up because it was that obvious. and how they're literally trying to one up the other with it? like lucy sabotaging webb and tim picking smitty in response. also, the whole "because i'm a girl and you're a boy?" " a very handsome boy?" 😂 subconsciously the feelings were already running wild lol.

talking about kids so freely and openly???? because we went from "i'm married, officer chen, and this isn't something you and i talk about" in season one to "uh, honestly? i, uh, thought i would've had some by now. isabel and i, we made all these plans — pop out three kids, watch them grow up, have kids of their own. but ..."

the competition to solve the case with the treasure hunt — i loved how it brought up the competitiveness between the two but also digging a little deeper, how it's in these type of moments that they can almost approach it with this childlike fun? because neither of them really had a childhood where they could do silly little things like this.

UC TIM HIT MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lucy's role in the entire plot around tim's dad from helping with the renovations (on her day off) to going with him to confront his dad and just being there for him.

THE DANCE AT JYLA'S WEDDING. also how tim decided to make her primary on the reports after she was upset about it like there's no way he would have done that with anyone else. he would have just kept pulling the rank card and let them stay mad.

the double date where tim and lucy forgot they had brought actual dates to dinner.

lucy giving tim so much shit about proposing to ashley throughout the day and tim getting back at her with the fake proposal that she goes to angela to curse him???? 💀

also how disappointed she was when she ask him if he could see himself married to ashley like this girl is a romantic, she was so excited when she nolan was thinking about proposing to bailey and yet with tim, she said nothing (girlie didn't even realize how down bad she was)

the chaos of the doppelgänger uc plot and how it led these fools to act on their feelings because i'm forever cackling at how they needed to "pda a little" to convince hajek and his crew that they were a couple??

THEIR FIRST KISS 😭😂 the way tim was so proud of himself for the peck and lucy was like "that's it?" and bbg went for it and they both got caught up in it. the way they both jumped away from each other when tamara opened the door and how absolutely awkward they were about trying to explain it.

TIM WAS SO SHOOK IN THE HALLWAY LIKE THE FOG LIFTED AND IT ALL CAME TOGETHER??? it also felt like a cool full circle to the premiere when lucy had a similar moment after they hugged.

... that may have gotten a little out of hand (and there's a few more i didn't include) lmao.

honorable mention to season 2 for dod and season 5 for pining era/canon chenford though because i was stuck between those three.

[h-eefic]

Would you possibly give us the cliffnotes for what the plan was for the rest of this fic? I've been following early on (like 2015??), it really truly has an important space in my heart. I even have it saved offline in case there was ever a time where it would be removed!! Even if it will never be finished, I still like to re-read it, maladaptive daydream about it, etc. I'd love to know where it would have gone in the end!! Or if you would release any drafts or whatever have you!!

I will write down what I remember! I think I've lost any outlines we had but:

Yes, Alistair was the shitty neighbor the entire time. It was so silly, we were obsessed with it.

After Liv leaves his hospital room, she spends days locked in her house, triggered bc of her parents and just generally shut down.

When she opens her door and sees Alistair standing there, she basically blue screens because he's a) real b) extremely good-looking and c) he's her what? I don't remember much about what comes next but I know they spend a few hours hashing things out, talking, putting together all the context of their friendship (discussing everyone they have in common, lmao).

Liv goes back to running away from her problems, tells him she's had all of her fears about being with him confirmed for her.

Ultimately, he talks her into giving him a chance to at least take her on a date. She walks him to her front door and he asks if he can kiss her. They do, and he's very convincing. :)

They spend a few days(?) flirting through windows at each other. For their date, he sets up a scavenger hunt for her to find the location for the date? And it was going to be so cute, he has her go to Andrastea to find a clue to the next location, which is Druffy's, and so on and so forth, he leaves clues at the places he's recommended to her. The final date I think was going to be at the beach. Liv ultimately realizes that she'd rather be with him and risk losing him than be alone and dreaming of police lights forever. It gets steamy. :)

After that, I mostly remember the two of them doing a tour around to all their friends and giving the update that they're a thing. Happy endings abound!

There was going to be an epilogue where they go on a road trip with Cullen and Lua, and we planned to commission different artists to make polaroids of them having a good time. Thedas Space Program 4 lyfe.

We really were at the finish line, and I'm so sad we didn't get to tell the rest of it. I have some small things like playlists, previously unposted sketches, and snippets that I'll leave in this Google Doc if you still want more. Emrys may have files I don't, so I welcome her to share them if she wants to.

I also welcome anyone who wants to play in the space to go buck wild, and if you do I would love to see them if you message me @bucket-fucker. I'm replaying Liv's canon as we speak, and I hope to write her again, I still had much more to say!

Thank you all for showing interest in my lil OC. And thank you for still caring. It's been a blast, and I appreciate you all.

-A.

[schizosupport]

hi glitch! no pressure about answering, but I don't have any other schizospec people I can talk to, and I need some support

recently I got diagnosed with Other Specified Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder/Psychotic Disorder, and I'm starting weekly therapy to get a specific diagnosis and treatment, and I have an evaluation with a psychiatrist to look at meds next week.

the thing is, I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around this. I've gone through my whole life up to this point trusting my sense of reality, and only had a brief period of time when I self diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder (never confirmed).

AND I've started to look into medication, and the one i'll probably be prescribed is Ablify, which seems to have a ton of scary side effects. I'm still in school, and while I'm almost certain I can get accommodations, I can't be sure, and adolescents can be cruel.

truth be told, I'm just scared. I see posts about the opportunities taken away from schizospec people, and I haven't been living under a rock, I know all the stigma that surrounds what I know now to be my community.

like I said, no pressure to answer, I just want some advice and support from a more experienced member of the community.

Hello there!

It's been a while since you sent this message. I hope you are feeling at least a bit more settled in the situation?

It's always wild to get a diagnosis that you didn't necessarily expect. For me, my initial "psychosis not otherwise specified" diagnosis also completely blindsided me, and so did the later schizophrenia diagnosis.

It's true that there's a lot of stigma and bullshit surrounding the schizo spec disorders, but I also want to highlight that schizo spec people are awesome, and we're strong and we got each other's backs. In my experience the psychotics and schizos are the underdogs of not only the psychiatric community but also the mental health community. But that also means that you get a unique opportunity to learn who's a true ally, and to practice your own understanding and acceptance of other marginalized experiences on the edges of life. In my experience our community is one of the most compassionate and accepting communities around, probably bc we know intimately what it's like to have weird experiences and be judged for it. Try to navigate towards a place in your head where you align yourself with other marginalized people and don't get caught up in bitterness about a uniquely fucked situation, but instead take it as a sign to be kind above all else and to think about who else in society might be in a similar position, to find your allies and take comfort in unity.

In terms of the stigma, I think something to keep in mind as a newly diagnosed person, is that to the extent that it's possible, you are the owner of the information about your mental health. And you don't owe anyone disclosure. I'm not saying to necessarily always try to be vague, there ARE safe places and safe people and there ARE situations where you might genuinely broaden someone's horizons by introducing them to the notion that "we are here. We're one of you". But there are also plenty of situations where you don't wanna share that information. You can let them assume, you can omit, you can even lie.

People frequently assume that I'm autistic, and I don't correct them. Maybe I'll respond with "something like that" if they ask. Especially in professional settings. Unless you want someone to know, it's none of their business what exactly is your deal.

In terms of medication, the important thing to keep in mind is that it helps some people, but it is also not (shouldn't be) mandatory to take meds because you're schizo spec. You can give it a try, but if it isn't doing anything helpful for you, you are not obligated to take it. The psych might act like you have to and like it would be completely irresponsible not to. Try to take it with a grain of salt. Think about your life so far, the symptoms that have led to this diagnosis. Can you live with that? Do the meds help with that? Are there side effects and are thet worth it?

I take a low dose of antipsychotics myself and I've tried without and with higher doses too. For me at this point in life, a low dose of antipsychotics are helpful to me.

I'm happy to hear that you've been offered therapy!! I hope that it's any good, and that it's been helpful. I definitely think that therapy (with a good therapist) can be instrumental in dealing with psychotic symptoms.

In the end I just wanna say.. it's gonna be ok. I know it's a big scary new thing, but it is also actually "just" a word that's descriptive of symptoms that you already had. This doesn't mean that you are bound to get worse. Try not to panic about looking for new symptoms or symptoms you might've missed. This can make you worse, as you start questioning all of your experiences and whether they are psychotic. It can be little things like questioning every little sensory input. Try to remember that hallucinations aren't inherently harmful and sometimes you don't have to know if it's real or not bc it literally doesn't matter.

It can often be tumultuous when you've just gotten this diagnosis, before you get used to the thought and reestablish your sense of identity and reality with this in mind. But there is a point of peace coming up. It does normally get easier, as you settle into this new understanding. And you can help yourself along by reminding yourself that the only thing that changed is that you were given a word to describe your existing experience.

I hope any of this is helpful. Best of luck, anon,, and welcome to (knowingly being a member of) the community!

[leikeliscomet]

Obviously if you know this page my race and Doctor Who Takes are very Martha-Martha-Bill-Martha but has anyone clocked how Ryan is just... never brought up in these convos? Like at all? When nuwho only had RTD and Moffat it was Martha and Bill-centred bc they were the only Black companions but we've had a whole extra era and its main Black companion is barely acknowledged? I never see anyone (minus the loudest parts of Chibnall-era stans but even then its mainly Yaz and Thirteen-focused tbh) talking about how he's the first dark-skinned disabled Black boy as a companion, how they liked Ryan's natural hair, how reaffirming it was to see the Doctor defend their Black companion (Thirteen did this in Rosa but its never spoken about like Twelve and Thin Ice?), how he's the first Black British companion in this British show to actually reference Black Brit culture (he speaks a lil Black British Vernacular and mentioned grime once but it's something lmao). Outside of hating him which is a bit wild bc how can u hate someone who u said didn't do anything in the first place nobody talks about Ryan Sinclair. And yh Chibnall is a lil bit to blame by leaving out his YT channel, his mum etc. but he is a Black companion and he does exist.

[kalolasfantasyworld]

Okay, ask game for you ☘️ Nozel x Vanessa, because I love them 💜 Nozel x Helena, because your OC ship is amazing ❤️ Nozel x Fuegoleon, because Nozel ship 😅 Yes, a bunch of Nozel ships 🥰🦅

Hi Vilandel!

Hah obviously I have some more specific thoughts for Nozel ships. I really hope I won't make anyone upset with these. They're just my opinions.

Nozel x Vanessa -> doesn’t make sense, compels me

Let’s start with saying this is my favourite canon x canon ship for Nozel. I’ve drawn them and read them, but let me explain why it doesn’t canonically make sense to me. 

Before I set up tumblr I didn’t even think to ship them together, because they never really interacted (correct me if I’m wrong). I only got to like them once I saw them here and read a bit about them. However it’s hard for me to picture the start of their interaction without some outside force to literally make them. Also long term relationship… but let me get to that later.

Firstly their types based on the assorted questions brigade:

Nozel: “Someone with dignified strength who can give their all for the prosperity of the House of Silva” 

I don’t think he’s saying this “just to be proper”. Nozel really cares about his house and I think that a quality of being able to take care of and represent it can make a person attractive in his eyes. 

I’m not saying that Vanessa couldn’t just that it would not really be her style. She got out of her cage and pushing her onto Royal customs would be cruel in my opinion. She could definitely not walk around in her underwear, or casually get drunk. She likes this part of herself and is happy being a Black Bull.

Vanessa: “Wild men with muscles <3” 

Yeah… That’s not Nozel (I admit I have drawn him with way more muscles than he has… It’s a hot art I’m not going to change it and yes a future Paper Hearts illustration, normally I draw him skinnier)

Why does it compel me? (Because it does a lot)

They are both one of my favourites BC characters.

Nozel is not a good boy (closeted perv let’s face it) and Vanessa is definitely up for some heated adventure. Both are very hot. She’s flirty, she’ll pull him out of his shell. They could support one another and emotionally I think they would work well. I enjoy them in fics and the stories are amazing. I love how she would flirt with him and he would get more and more bold as they grew closer. Also there is that spicy forbidden romance part.

There are actually quite a few similarities between Vanessa and Helena as they’re best friends and I enjoy how those qualities shine through her interactions with Nozel. 

I see Nozessa so much in a heated, passionate romance. It’s just long term that doesn’t sit right with me… I feel like they would need to sacrifice a part of themselves to be with the other and I wouldn’t want that. She needs to be free and Nozel is a Royal who takes pride in it, it’s not just his burden. 

Nozel x Helena -> makes sense, compels me (you said it yourself, how could own OC ship not)

Overall I talked a bit about them in my fic explanation post.

I created Helena to explore Nozel more. This is actually my first ever OC x canon ship that I've invested in, because I'm more of a canon x canon shipper. Just that I only knew of Dorothy x Nozel and Fuego x Nozel back then and they didn't really appeal to me as something to write for and have a fun story for.

Why do they make sense? 

Despite them being so different there are actually quite a few parallels between them. For example both had a situation in their youth, which somehow set them on a path. They’re both the eldest siblings. And there are few more.

Similar backgrounds for sure. Both of them are Royals and take pride in their houses. Helena will be a great lady of the house. She was prepared for this and knows how to perfectly manoeuvre in high society. She can be a great support and simply a partner to him in his duties. 

She’s his type from the assorted questions brigade. (yeah the pervy part as well xd)

Helena brings in the warmth and will provide a family atmosphere. Being the eldest of seven siblings taught her that. She “fits” in the Silva family with Noelle, Nebra and Solid. Over time she develops relationships with all of them, so it’s not just Nozel she makes sense with.

Why does it compel me?

Enemies to friends to lovers, Sunshine x grumpy, Blue x red relationship

They have so many imperfections and they mess up, but they get up and try to fix them. There's also quite a lot of plot ahead of us and I don't want to spoil anything, but what happens later is actually more determining in my opinion to how they are fit for and grow with one another.

There are also some parallels with how Nozel treated Noelle and how he treats Helena, so that’s interesting. 

Helena is a virgin, but very much not opposed to sexuality, so they have some spicy, heated moments.

I feel like they can really connect on a deeper level and I like how their story begins right with the beginning of BC. We see the whole development of Nozel and how they interact through it. For example how their relationship changed after Fuego fell in a coma. So it's not just Nozel after he went through a change and apologised to Noelle.

They compliment each other. Helena “makes Nozel have fun” and he can tone her down (this is needed at times).

The birdies… I love my next gen trio so much. I like how they have traits inherited after both Nozel and Helena. I love picturing them as parents.

I feel like there’s more, but I’ve talked about them enough here. 

Nozel x Fuegoleon -> makes sense, doesn’t greatly compel me

As you probably noticed I focus a lot on the “Royal aspects” in the makes sense part and Fuego fits this part. They are close, clearly trust each other and they have amazing dynamics. They’re childhood friends. I’ve seen some cute arts for them and I know they’re pretty popular.

However why it doesn’t greatly compel me? (Besides the fact that I ship both of them with some OCs)

I just think of them as good friends, more than lovers. And somehow I’m not the biggest fan of how Nozel is portrayed in this relationship. He somehow seems “weak” and “needs to be taken care off”. Maybe that’s just me, but it was the vibe I got from few works (not all of them, some were cute and amazing). Maybe I somehow don’t see him have “bottom” energy, but Fuego doesn’t have it either. 

However they would support and care for one another. I also love the hot and cold dynamics and childhood friends romance.

So I like some aspects of this ship and some don’t. 

I would still put it as my second canon x canon Nozel ship.

[smallnico]

I gotta know because I'm having a blast with her in my party: would Minthara and Esper get along well or would they hate each other?

🥺💕

asking me about esper.. on a random weekday..... oh i am so blessed thank u so much

to answer your question though!! it's complicated. i've played 2 full games as esper, one before you could save minthara without killing the tieflings and one after, because i wanted to find out the answer to this very question (among other things).

the short answer is that they hate each other, lol. but there's nuance to that, so! under the cut bc it's long!

from a character perspective, the most in-character thing for esper to do is kill her -- they're half-drow, so the first thing she said to them was a comment about their impure blood, which they did NOT care for, and then she immediately started talking about slaughtering those druids and putting those tieflings that our new allies wyll and karlach care about in harm's way. she gave them basically nothing but green lights that it was okay to kill her, and generally speaking, esper doesn't need much of an excuse (they struggled with recruiting karlach for a bit and they were disappointed they didn't get to kill kagha, for instance), so not only were they forced to kill her, they were pretty excited to kill her.

(sidenote: part of that excitement is a pavlovian response from their childhood. one thing their matron did to help esper channel their urges while she was training them to be an assassin was fully endorse them practicing their skills on anyone they caught questioning their half-human parentage or gender, so long as they could do it well enough to get away with it. this means they react to people being racist toward them with excitement, because it means This Is An Acceptable Murder And I Am Going To Do It Fuck Yes. they racked up a pretty extensive kill count after they got to baldur's gate for this reason, too.)

all this to say, the first time around i didn't get to know minthara and her dynamic with esper much. the second time around, she was a bit glitchy, since the ability to save her had only just been implemented -- a lot of her banter with other party members wouldn't trigger, she was completely naked for the entire span of time between meeting ketheric and rescuing her from the prison, and i think i only got to ask her like 2 questions to get to know her? -- so that didn't help much, but from what i did learn about her dynamic with esper was that oh my god they both hate each other so fucking much. they just cannot stand each other. they have so much in common but the things that are different are enormous dealbreakers for both of them and it's almost hilarious. esper couldn't get through one in character conversation with minthara without her disapproving of Something they said. she wants so badly to enable the behaviours they're actively working to stop cycling through. the funniest fucking glitch i got with her was after we saved her from orin, the narrator demanded on her behalf that i literally pay her so she wouldn't walk away, that was how bad their relationship was. i'm Sure that was a glitch but it was wild.

zooming out from the game though, i mean it when i say esper and minthara have a lot in common (even if esper doesn't quite remember a lot of it). they both grew up in menzoberranzan, both of their earliest childhood memories are of surviving murder attempts, they both trained in combat academies (minth in tier breche, probably melee-magthere, and esper in the hidden academy at house auvy'rae), they were both forced to abandon lolth and the underdark by the dead three, they were both mutilated by orin, they were both forced to live for a period committing atrocities on behalf of a quasi-deity who sapped them both of their will to resist. esper and minthara have similar approaches to violence -- seeing it as necessary and enjoyable, but something to be used sparingly to best effect -- though they disagree on when it should be used. they even have similar senses of humour -- minthara likes a bit of cruel irony, and we all know the line about the man who married a drider, while esper is deadpan with a secret love for stupid jokes and mischief.

where they differ the most is on the matter of power. minthara, as we all know, is a properly power-hungry person who takes great joy in accruing and showing off power. she's completely on board with using the tadpoles, she wants her allies to have the most power they could have, whatever the fallout is for them personally (thinking specifically about astarion's ascension, which she's totally on board with, and dj shadowheart, where she says something to the effect of "shadowheart absolutely shouldn't go through with this ritual, shar is a poisonous influence, but it would be better for Us if she did"). she encourages esper to take over the cult of the absolute -- something i know for a fact astarion does too, but for some reason that line never triggered for either esper game -- and she wants them to take back the cult of bhaal, too. all that runs pretty completely contrary to the way that esper wants to live. esper rejects the tadpoles outright because they find the idea of injecting another squirming alien consciousness into their brain (when they already have the urges and the voice of bhaal and the incomprehensible flashes of emotions and memories from a past they can't remember), especially one that lets other people poke around in their thoughts, completely revolting and terrifying. the power is Not worth it to them, they just want to be left alone for once in their life. they didn't even want to run the cult of bhaal when they actually were in charge of it -- they liked the menial aspects of it, things like bookkeeping and arranging rituals and planning murders and getting their hands dirty, but they hated being the center of attention. weird for a bard, but they were trained to work unseen and listen and manipulate subtly more than anything, so they're extremely out of their comfort zone when a lot of emphasis is put on them. as far as they're concerned, visible and showy power makes a person helpless and a target (one of the other reasons i decided to play again was because i accidentally let gale ascend in the first run, and esper also hated that and thought he was an idiot. and tara got mad at me and that made me sad. sorry tara i'll do anything for you).

minthara seeks power and esper rejects power. she respects shows of power, and they only show off their actual power to people who are about to die, so they can keep the element of surprise wherever possible. so many of their core conflicts would occur because she thinks they're weak-willed and they think she's foolish, and because she thinks they're weak, she tries to control them, which makes esper start snarling and biting, and the game didn't really let me resolve that. it only gets worse when you start getting into things like drow race and gender politics -- bhaal created esper to have as bad of a time as possible in menzoberranzan as both a half-human and a redundant male child that killed their mother in childbirth -- and especially class politics -- since minthara is a baenre, she is (or was) a member of menzo's top house, and esper is an auvy'rae, a member (born into, disowned, and adopted back into) of a house known for purposefully cultivating an uncompetitive and nonthreatening public reputation (so they can focus on hidden intrigue, information brokering, and pulling the strings away from public scrutiny). minthara may not be aligned with lolth anymore, but 300 years of drow politics is hard as fuck to unlearn, and every time she addresses esper like they're a surfacer (which she does, because in-game that's how half-drow are classified -- surfacer by underdark races, underdark by surfacer races) they feel the urge to kill her again, even though they don't have their Concrete memories to contradict her.

then of course there's the fact that they're trying so hard to resist the urge to do violence. esper has no problem with normal violence, but they try to manage their internal drive toward Cruelty by focusing those impulses on people who really deserve it. bhaal's influence makes them feel a deep and disorienting loss of control during moments of violence and cruelty, so they go from "yes violence good let's do violence" at the beginning of the game to "i'm really good at killing and it feels so fucking good to do but i can't, i don't want to be ruled by the drive to do harm just because i can justify my focus on it because i'm good at it, i want to learn how to be something else, something that hasn't been tainted by my terrible past. so i'll try very hard to kill only when it's appropriate and i'll try to rely on my friends to tell me when that is". smash cut to minthara telling them to cut off a child's hand for pickpocketing lmao,

so, yeah. i love minthara, but esper really doesn't lol. i think she just provokes the Old Esper to come out of them way too often for their comfort -- they want their memories back, but they'd like to be in control of the process. i've tried to write party banter between esper and minthara and it always comes out extremely hostile and unpleasant. unfortunately, the most in-character thing for esper to do is kill her and really enjoy doing it. if they had the ability to understand each other's core approaches to power and violence, though, i think they could be pretty good friends, especially seeing as astarion has a lot of the same issues as minthara does vis a vis power and violence in contrast to esper, and esper is closer to astarion than anyone else in the party.

i have another durge run going where i'm going to try and be evil to get to know a different side of minthara, though! i might change the answer depending on what i can learn there.

[horizon-verizon]

Do you really think that the realm will support Jacaerys's claim eventually? After all the rumors about his bastardy are really strong and most TG stans claim that since Jace is a bastard he can't inherit anything, Jace needs to be legitimized first. I really like Jacaerys character and I'm new in this fandom, so this matter is so confuse to me.

Btw your post are amazing ❤️

Thanks, anon!

Answer to Question #1

1)

I have many, many posts about bastardry and the boys' illegitimacy vs legitimacy: HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, & HERE. Basically, Jace is not really illegtimate bc illegtimacy must be "proven" and he was never proven to be. People have to argue/prove for it more than people having to argue whether or not one's hair is red or not. And

2)

Jace was actually respected outside of his family (A Son for a Son"):

3)

Several of those greens stans are not reading the damn text and refuse to see that Jacaerys was actually pretty admired by one of Rhaenyra's biggest supporters, Cregan Stark ("A Son for a Son"):

Also, Alicent had been, FOR YEARS, trying to get more people on her side and denounce or pressure either Viserys into removing Rhaenyra and her sons from the line of succession (both bk and show) or just get MOST of the lords at court and beyond to denounce Rhaenyra and her sons...and yet she had to resort to a usurpation, imprisoning courtiers and servants to withhold news of Viserys' death, pressured the council to crown Aegon after many lines of persuasion buttressed by Cole & Otto's input and wild accusations and assertions about Rhaenyra's sons, Daemon, and Rhaenyra not being actually the Queen...

I'd say that Alicent failed to convince anyone to really go against Rhaenyra by depending on the boys illegitimacy.

Answer to Question #2

Do you mean if Rhaenyra had ascended peacefully (no war at all, no usurpation) or had won the war with Jacaerys still alive when she did? Yes, he is her heir and the lords fought for her...they were a package deal. If you didn't want to have Jace as the next ruler, you would not fight for the person who names him as heir. Rhaenyra would have consolidated her reign and ensured her line's future better.

Now if we're talking about DURING THE WAR, Jace somehow survived but Rhaenyra did not/lost, I think there would have been a bit more difficulty without Cregan Stark, Jeyne Arryn, the Blackwoods, Vyprens, other lords who respected that their vows applying to Rhaenyra applied to her heir as well (bc again, they came as a package deal politically) and without as many dragons as the blacks had. Since most of the lords didn't swear to him but just to Rhaenyra, maybe some lords would use this as an excuse to defect or leave the war altogether because it stil costs them resources, some still will use this to justify how a male line goes before a woman's line, and/or they are just greedy AND cowardly and see this as they way to flagrantly ally themselves with the greens.

in the beginning. Bc the actual named heir/undoubtedly trueborn person is no longer there to enforce/support Jace's claim.

And once again, Cregan Stark made his Pact with Jace [2nd pictured quote above]...Cregan was a beast after the war and northerners are mad about their vow-taking, arguably more than "southern" folk. Cregan also liked Jacaerys very much from what's written about them--some fans theorize romantically, but whatever. He also had a higher emotional stake in it, which is an amplifying motive to the primary one about the Pact.

As for Jeyne Arryn, she was steadfastly loyal to Rhaenyra's cause because she was blood through Aemma, she would be helping to make sure her own position was securer from male relatives who already tried to oust her, and because Rhaenyra was a woman--like her. Women in a man's world an all that ("A Son for a Son"):

(Cregan also was interested bc he was having trouble with an uncle trying to oust him...succession things). Thus it could get easier for Jace to default back to him having been Rhaenyra's heir, he's never been "found out" to not be Laenor's , and he's a male dragonrider. again, this is if he loses most of Rhaenyra's supporters, bc it's still possible that he'd reatin the bigger and important ones.

Also, if Daemon somehow by some miracle managed to dispatch Aemond and come back...they'd likely fight with and for Jace anyway because Daemon is just loyal &--by reputation and action--brutal like that. Jace--less likely...key words--loses that many supporters of Rhaenyra's.

[silverstonesainz]

Oh my God! I am very excited about your history with the frat! and I would like to see as much history on this topic as possible! and also to find out about the other hero drivers in this story, can you have a couple of interesting facts?

i haven't really gone too deep into the history side of things in terms of what drivers were members an such but i mean i could state the obvious ones for now and if anyone wants to chime in then feel free.

michael schumacher– i think he would've served as president at least once. and then he'd do a second term bc the chapter was convinced that they'd go downhill if he wasn't. he was sooo charismatic in his time, smooth with the ladies, but was always faithful and loyal to one. he'll always go down in history as a great brother, a legend, and someone who personified the chapter values well.

lewis hamilton– contrary to what most people would think, he never actually had any interest in serving on e-board. but he was nominated as e.vp (which he lost to another brother) and new member educator (which he got). he also served as a representative of the chapter at a lot of events as well as the connect between the chapter & the advisor/nationals. he is the reason the chapter became as diverse as it is, and he advocated for his brothers when he needed them. now, he's one of the chapter advisors, and serves as a kind of elc for the fraternity.

sebastian vettel– this man was fucking WILD. he was soooo michael's little (his last little because you know damn well michael had a whole lineage). he was a menace in his freshman year, a party animal, just a wildcard. but he aside from the fraternity, he was focused, motivated, and did so well academically. he chose to stay single for the most part until the spring of his third year, thats when he kind of settled down. he definitely served as president in his senior year, and before that was new member ed, and ritual chair. and now, he is the chapter's current advisor. shows up to meetings every now and again, and has to talk them out of crazy ideas.

kimi raikkonen– a legend. A LEGEND. i think no one thought he would ever go greek but he did. he joined for the vibes, stayed because of the friendship. and sebastian being a menace to him. still holds the record for the longest keg stand, there is a photo of the moment up in their house. he didn't have any interest in doing exec, or doing positions. but he showed up if he had the time, participated if he felt like it.

fernando alonoso– a menace from the moment he got his bid to the second he became alum. he was so competitive, and it think was arguable one of the reasons the chapter would get in trouble during his time as an active member. was an absolute rager and was down for just about everything. he was also a pain in michael's ass. he's also still an alum brother that shows up randomly and fucks with the new pledges. tell me im wrong.

jenson button– what a fucking stunnnerrr this guy was. a charmer in his own right, i'd say he was what daniel is now for the chapter. he was i think someone daniel really looked up to. and id go as far to say that jenson was daniel's big. it makes so much sense to me. jenson served as i. vp, and was also the sweetheart to multiple sororities. he was loved, and appreciated. but also so respected because he has shown and proven time and time again, that he is not a person to fuck with. also-- was definitely alongside fernando a couple times making trouble. another pain in michael's ass i think

mark webber– he was sooo active during his time– and i mean active. like he was taking every opportunity offered, every position open. he was an all around kind of guy, and super reliable. i think that he ran for president but lost, but still served on e-board anyways. i also think he was broody in some ways, and sebastian used to tease him about it all the time. i think joining the fraternity really pulled him out of his shell.

nico rosberg– everyone soooo called him britney as a pledge. i think nico was like mark in a sense where he was active in every aspect. also super competitive and did everything in his power to make sure that phi gamma theta got the w in every philanthropy event. and he got heeeeaaated if they lost. also a super charismatic guy, and i sooo see him as the kind of guy to keep his relationship super lowkey. like so lowkey you would never know he actually had a girlfriend unless you saw it with you're own eyes.

this is as far as my brain will take me but if yall got some lore to add, pls do!!!

[daybreakrising]

this will be tagged and everything under a read more, but just to be extra clear:

THIS POST WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR 2.2 STORY.

if you haven't finished it, don't read this until you have. you have been warned.

so i am... underwhelmed by p.enacony as a story

and before i go further, i want to throw out a quick disclaimer bc otherwise i know there will be someone who comes at me for it: i am by no means saying p.enacony is bad. it isn't. there are some truly great elements to both the setting and the story. my issue with it is simply that i struggled to become invested in it, personally

i already touched on this a bit with my thoughts after catching up to 2.1, but i generally don't enjoy the intrigue kind of plots in stories. that's my personal preference, and that's why i'm not sitting here like: OMG IT'S SO BAD- bc it isn't, it's just a genre of plot that i'm never that interested in. we all have our preferences and that's okay

overall, p.enacony & the story has been interesting and engaging. a few too many lengthy dialogue sections where a lot of information is thrown at you in a short time, which i also don't like in anything, a few moments where the story completely lost my interest, but overall, enjoyable, creative, cleverly done

however

AND AGAIN. these are my OPINIONS (and i don't care if you disagree-)

i'm sorry, but i cannot bring myself to care about f.irefly. THAT'S NOT TO SAY i don't enjoy the portrayals the people i follow have, because i do - honestly, you guys are the only reason i have any interest in the character. but CANONICALLY? i do not care. there is just.... nothing there for me

and i'm talking specifically about f.irefly bc they are a key character in this part of the story (and by key, i mean features heavily) - there are other characters involved that i also care nothing about, for example, but are more background players. i don't know if it's the clearly forced romantic implications between f.irefly & MC (i hate the term usually, but, why are we simping so hard????), the fact we were supposed to have any kind of emotional attachment to a character we met for less than an hour before they were 'killed' in front of us, or the unresolved questions i have regarding their involvement in the story, but.... i just don't care

and before anyone dares to even think it: no, this is not just bc i am "salty" about sam. i am actually really intrigued about how the sam/f.irefly thing works, why it is the way it is, etc. "if f.irefly was a guy you wouldn't-" no, shut up, i absolutely would. if we were presented with a male character with the same plot, i would care equally as little for them. why? because there's no emotional investment

i'm not trying to shit on anybody who does love this character. again, this is just my views based on my preferences - if you developed that emotional attachment, then great, go wild with it. i'm sure i care intensely for characters that others don't (see: ratio-). but for me, some of the f.irefly elements of 2.2 just... didn't vibe with me. and maybe i'll have to watch a playthrough again to really get the nuances of the plot settled in my head, but i just. nah. i'm not feeling it at all. i'm going to just trust that the people i follow can continue to build on f.irefly and do better than the canon plot for me

and as for the flashback-type scenes we got between f.irefly and blade? i know what some parts of the fandom are reading from that and i don't agree. to me, there is nothing 'fatherly' about the way he chides f.irefly on trying to go against the script. please stop trying to cram him into a role that doesn't fit him. you can have a 'found family' dynamic without the members of such fitting into 'traditional' family roles. that's not the point. i think f.irefly using that particular model is feeding into this too much - people are only seeing the "cute girl" and nothing more. people need to remember that f.irefly is also sam, who is known for being a stone cold killer. sam, who once held blade down so he could be convinced to join the s.tellaron hunters. this is not a father-daughter relationship vibe at all. please, please get that the fuck away from me.

on a similar note, i really didn't care for that "oops, it was all just a dream!" thing (though i am glad we didn't actually call upon j.ing y.uan for help - that would have felt really cheap to me). i kinda figured something was up when the boss fight was so quick and... well, easy (not that the real one was hard for me - not a brag, i just have some decent fckn units at my disposal & could build harmony TB instantly), but i do really hate the 'it was just a dream' trope, even when it makes sense in the setting that is p.enacony & the dreamscape. it just felt unnecessary to me, almost like they wanted to drag the story out a bit longer and add in another layer to their 5D chess game

so yeah.... elements that i didn't care for, elements i didn't enjoy. p.enacony in general is a bit of a nightmare for me personally due to sensory overload from all the sounds and colours (and please, can we stop with that acid-trip border effect hyv, it's literally giving people migraines-), which also adds to it. it's not the vibe i typically enjoy so i do take that into consideration when expressing my opinions about it. i know a lot of people love p.enacony & i'm happy for everyone who has been invested in it from day one. that's me with the l.uofu, so, i get it

but as i said, overall, great. i loved the sunday reveal, the boss fight was fun to do (though i feel like a.venturine was better & harder-), and my only complaint about harmony TB is seeing that fucking clock in the ult animation every time. the mikhail & misha reveal was also great & confirmed theories i had & the tying-up of the loose 'nameless' ends was nice.

my final gripe is regarding g.allagher and that is entirely bc i have been building hcs based on a theory that proved to be wrong, and i'm like... really sad that there wasn't anything more to it than that. going forward, i'm definitely making him canon divergent here bc i don't like the way his story ended (if it has, though he did imply 'g.allagher' would cease to exist, so...)

but i did find it amusing that 'death' was just a silly little pet dog who got confused sometimes. he's just a lil guy

[stellarred]

REVISITING STAR TREK PICARD

In STP S2: 7 "Monsters" (Rewatching bc i can't help but torture myself in the name of Qcard), while he lies unconscious on a table in La Clinica Mariposa, Picard finds himself in a surprise therapy session with DS9's Dr. Bashir for some reason.

I honestly dont think that was Bashir he was talking to.

I strongly believe that Bashir was actually Q bc of some things he said, did, and the way he acted with Picard.

Bashir asked Picard if he was feeling closed in when he was squirming, as in "feeling claustrophobic?"

Picard confirmed he did, and Bashir said that "those who don't like feeling closed in want to be free in the "infinite cosmos."

Bashir draws a parallel between Picard and Q bc

Q is claustrophobic, too. Remember Dejà Q and Worf pushing him into a turbolift?

"Hey, I'm claustrophobic; I don't like it in here."--Q

Who lives to be free in the infinite cosmos? Q, of course.

And so does Picard.

Bashir also mentions "judge and jury" at some point and uses the name "Jean-Luc" a lot.

I didn't think he and Picard were on a first name basis. Q is, though.

Bashir also keeps talking about the Sun, which is a representation of Q. He even hands Picard the Sun, forcing him to look at it, reflect on it, appreciate it.

It's so interesting how Bashir almost mocks Picard's commitment to being ethical, too. He has this almost sneer when he throws a bit of shade at Starfleet even, and then goes on about Picard not embracing his more wild side. Tapestry Q anyone?

Is Q a fan of Starfleet? Not really. It fits that he'd mock and deride Starfleet and Picard's devotion to it, right?

Why would Bashir do that? Unless he wasn't Bashir....

I also found Bashir rather seductive in his tone with Picard. When he probes Picard about why he's always "holding others at arms length", I swear he looks sad.

Did anyone notice that?

I mean it. On DS9, Bashir is usually calm, cool, pragmatic, and reasonable. I don't recall seeing such intensity with Garak most of the time.

But this Bashir is very intense and almost pleading.

His face looks hurt.

Did anyone notice how Bashir even turns away from Picard when asking him about his apprehension to let others in (his heart), only to turn and ask with hurt eyes, "Why?"

Picard then realizes that he's stuck emotionally. He's stuck. Rios, Raffi, Seven, Agnes. Especially Q. They're all stuck in the past.

How interesting that Q has been trying to help heal Picard with his fear, and now "Bashir" "leads him" to this realization???

Man, he's quick. That's one uber talented therapist!

I just don't buy that Bashir did this. I think it was Q.

Same goes for when Bashir acts as a stand in for Picard's father. Picard said he was a monster, but Bashir shows him that his father wasn't out to really hurt Maman Picard. Again, this Bashir just showed and replayed a major key moment in Picard's traumatized past and then Picard suddenly understood???

How did Bashir know what to do? Q understands Picard better than anyone.

How is Bashir such a genius with Picard's pain?

Then, "Bashir" hands him the book with the Q Sun drawing.

Remember who loves you, Picard?

Another Sun reminder. Another reminder of Q.

Twice does Picard get handed a Q Sun, so why is Bashir doing this???

Then, Picard wakes up and tells the Laris lookalike therapist about his realization about Q wanting him to know him.

Why would Bashir help guide him to Q anyway?

Now, Q wants to help Picard heal his traumas and open his heart to others (to him, let's be honest here)

If Picard won't go to therapy, then let therapy come to Picard.

Q knows that Picard wouldn't give Q the time of day in listening to him, but Picard would listen to a familiar doctor, like Bashir.

I'm wondering if Q had enough strength and powers left to act as Bashir and create this therapy intervention.

His finger snaps didn't work, but we've seen Q focus his eyes and mind on things before to use his powers. Like at the end of Tapestry. Q is dying, yes.

But, what if this was Q's Hail Mary?

What if Q used the last of a different category of Q Powers? No to teleportation. Nada with telekinesis. No more finger snapping.

What if this was Q's final "disguise", "mind insertion"?

Because Q is desperate to reach Picard, this may have been his only shot at guiding Picard to that moment where he suddenly realizes that Q isn't the enemy.

Amazing how quickly Picard realizes and understands this!

Therapy can take years, and seeing a longtime "enemy" in a whole new light doesn't usually happen in 20 minutes.

This show absolutely sucks, but I think the only way to make any sense of it is to consider larger connections that aren't exactly spelled out.

Some of you reading this may write it off as fluffy headcanon.

You may be right.

But, considering how "intellectual" they wanted the show to be, I wouldn't be surprised at all if there were subtexts abound all over the place.

It's so satisfying when the oh-so subtle pieces fit together and it makes sense.

I 100% believe Q was behind this. He was running out of time, and with only three episodes left in the show (bc the show had to focus on all that Agnes Borg stuff, even though the show is supposed to be all about Picard 🙄), Q had to step it up.

We were running out of show episodes, so Q had to move things along with Picard.

As Q said to Picard in Episode 2: Penance, "Do you want me to cut to the chase?"

I say someone definitely cut to the chase with Picard in that therapy session and replay of his childhood. How efficient was all that?

That's the work of someone who knows exactly which points to highlight to Picard.

Shame the writers didn't know to highlight the best points of the season, which were Q/Picard-related.

Instead, we got prison busses, Borg drama, and cocktail parties.

Q, you got shortchanged.