#i have like... two very different conflicting versions of him in my head and they're duking it out in my brain at all times

[yazthebookish]

I loved all of what Sarah highlighted in her interview today and I'll elaborate a bit especially on the romance part:

In Maas’ fantasy worlds, love interests often exist as fated “mates,” with invisible strings between them that are powerful and often poetic. Readers can see the literary metaphors, like complementary powers between two characters. But other times, there are no metaphors, with their connection initially seeming random.

She's too attached to the mate trope and I like that she gives us different cases and scenarios for it, otherwise it'll be boring.

“Sometimes, I will write a scene with two characters that I’ve planned for them to get together, and then they have no …” She shakes her head slightly at me. “It’s like holding two dolls and being like, now kiss! And they won’t. … And then sometimes a different character will walk in and they will just” — she snaps.

I yelled at this part because it's as if she plucked the scene from Azriel's bonus chapter and used it as an example. Those parallels between Elain and Gwyn are intentional. It doesn't mean Elain is bad it's just their dynamic doesn't work as a couple and it was obvious to the author. I know she didn't specify who this was about but like, come on, who tried to kiss and which character showed up in a bonus chapter after that depressing scene and gave a glimmer of hope?

“It feels like magic in a way where, as much as I tried to plot out things years in advance, I let my characters guide a story. And they usually wind up with the people that they need to be with and who offer them the most growth and joy.”

I love this so much and allow me to speak about my favorite ship and its because the snippets we saw of Az and Gwyn together especially in the bonus chapter brought out a lighter version of Az. His scenes with Gwyn were light-hearted and the bonus chapter ends on a hopeful note for them. It's hard to deny that connection between them whether you theorize she's luring him or they're mates, those theories wouldn't exist if she had no ties to him (she's in his own chapter like come on).

I go the philosophical route with my next question: We’re talking about fate here, but at what point is a character the agent of their own fate? What happens if someone rejects their mate? (Listen, if I were Fae and I didn’t like my mate, whatever God chose for me is not my business.)

People are jumping the gun and assume this example is set to be Elucien but... we have Helion and Lady of Autumn likely being an example of a tragic rejected mates story (if you read ACOWAR and their history it's obvious they're mates). Maybe it's Mor and Eris and that's the secret that ties them to each other. We have other characters from other series too.

For a convincing mate rejection story in my opinion, it needs more than one book or it's a case that we see with side characters where we can see their history and the long-term implications of a rejected bond.

It's too easy of a story to have one person's central conflict be the words "no I reject you" and they're done. Again, this is not exclusive to ACOTAR but also her other series.

“That’s something I find to be very interesting,” she replies. “What if the forces that be put you with the wrong person? Or what if you just decide, eh, I’m not interested. … There’s a lot to explore within the concept of mates and your agency about it.

The concept of agency is something many readers in the fandom discussed especially when it comes to mating bonds and there were arguments on (would Rhys fell for Feyre if she wasn't his mate or would have Cassian fell for Nesta if she wasn't his mate). We know that some mates don't work out but stay together because their dynamic is unhealthy (Rhys's and Tamlin's parents). We got examples of a loveless mating bond already.

We also saw that Nesta didn't immediately accept the term "mate" because it would mean cutting off her last tether with humanity. It's not a matter of "you're my mate" "yes I'll be with you", the dynamic between the mated couple is important to explore.

“I’m not going to say if I am exploring it in future books or not,” she continues, “but it definitely offers a wealth of things to explore with this concept of freewill and what is true love. Is it something that’s destined? Or is it something that you make? Is it both?”

This part aligns with what I think about Elucien. We never had a mated pairing who knew they were mates but are not in love with each other. Every mated couple found out they're mates when they were already in love.

Can a destined love turn into true love? Or do you settle for a destined love without love being in the equation. Love wasn't in the equation for Rhys's parents, but love was the equation for Feysand and Nessian. Elucien was left unexplored for a reason and both Elain and Lucien view each other by label "mate", they didn't have a chance to get to know each other. So it's going to be very interesting to see them navigate their feelings for each other despite the mating bond.

I didn't expect her to elaborate a lot on this but I love that she did and I hope in future interviews she gives us more good bits about her writing and examples of the decisions she took for some characters and couples.

Didn't expect this post to be long but happy reading! I'm still reeling from HOFAS 🥲

[indigochromatic]

From @rayssyscourse (this post), two questions for general conversation: 1- Does your experience of plurality feel inherently disordered to you or not, independent of whether or not you have a CDD? 2- How do you think about personhood and identity, collectively and individually? (our answers under the cut)

Plurality and Disorderedness: We actually sort of have two different answers to this! The distinction between the two of us (e.g. me/L vs S), to us, doesn't feel inherently disordered at all. Sure, it's complicated, and there are aspects of the situation we'd change if we could (it would really be nice if S could have his own body back, for example), but the mere fact of us-being-two-of-us, of having two senses of self in one head instead of just one, feels no more or less disordered than being a singlet. It doesn't feel like the only reason we're separate is lingering trauma/emotional baggage pushing us apart, and there's no sense of wrongness in the feeling of each other being different--we're just different, and that's actually really neat in a lot of ways. However, for S's median facet subsystem thing, the answer is a little different. (Trying to paraphrase his emotions/wording for it secondhand here) To some extent, some of the ways in which his facets can get pushed apart/lose "collective cohesion" does feel inherently disordered to him. It's less that "having facets" feels inherently disordered, exactly, and more that the degree of estrangement and conflict between his facets (which fluctuates!) feels directly related to his mental health at the time, and whatever issues he's wrestling with. Being able to go in and single out and work with a facet that's having a hard time feels like a useful processing strategy, but needing to do it a lot, or having a facet get stuck 'out in the cold for too long' feels bad, and reflective of something Wrong. Personhood and Identity: Again, two different answers for our two different 'versions' of plurality! S and I feel like two different, closely connected people. Either of us could be a singlet alone, without the other--and in fact I was a singlet for a long time, at least as far as we know--although we do like each other a lot (<3) and like being able to be a team together. Calling either of us just "a part of the other" feels reductive and even a little demeaning--not to mention just...incorrect, at the base of it? One of the metaphors we like to use is "it's not that he has half the box of crayons and I have the other half; we each get to use the whole box of crayons, we just draw different things with them". With S's median facets, though, he/(they) very persistently and vehemently feel like they're all...part of the same overarching identity? They're all him even when they disagree or have differences (there's a line from a song he likes that he often points to for it: "We are the warriors who learned to love the pain/We come from different places but have the same name"), there's a core, unifying sense of self they all share even when their 'cohesion' gets disrupted by something difficult to process that he can't quite seamlessly internally reconcile. We have some internal nicknames for some facets/'themes' that show up a lot (because the number and nature of his facets isn't static, too), and internal headspace appearances can vary, but they don't have different names because, in his words, "I'm still me, there's just....sometimes a lot of me, who don't all agree".

(Several of our friends have joked that we're the actual IRL version of the system joke "I don't have DID, but my headmate does!", and honestly that's not a bad way to describe it X'D)

[saintsenara]

I know you responded with a meme, but if you're able I'd love to hear your thoughts on harry/hermione 👀

fine. i'll scream into a pillow periodically and get through this...

obviously, i don't actually find the concept of harmony sincerely upsetting - people shipping things is never that deep, and because, as i've said before, i subscribe to the principle that any pairing is possible if you just have enough nerve. i've been recommended some harmony fics by people who are fonder of the ship, and while i've not found them immediately compelling, i do appreciate that there are plenty of people who disagree.

but my feelings are basically the same for harmony as they are for dramione: that it's never done interestingly.

harmony is - like all hermione pairings except [broadly] romione - a breeding ground for fanon!hermione, who is perfect and flawless and so clever she can solve millennia-old mysteries in afternoon. i hate this version of the character because i find her boring - it's just standard self-insert stuff, which is fine but not something i have any interest in reading. i similarly dislike the version of harry who appears in these stories, who ends up - like all men in hermione pairings except [broadly] ron - being either this impossibly sophisticated and suave intellectual with the body of a greek god or a doormat who's happy to shut the fuck up forever and do whatever she says.

[i also hate - obviously, since he's my king - the way harmony stories are often even more egregious than dramione ones in writing ron as a cruel and violent misogynist who is ontologically indistinct from your average death eater. and i think it somewhat proves my point that neither of these ships work particularly well that this character assassination has to take place in order to make them plausible...]

and i think the flattening of harry and hermione's personalities within most harmony is the main thing which keeps the ship from being interesting. because - while i certainly don't go in for the common anti-harmony argument that harry actively dislikes hermione - it's undeniable that there is a lot about the two of them which wouldn't be conducive to a harmonious [lol] relationship.

their communication styles - hermione works through problems by debating them, harry prefers not to be challenged - are the obvious one. their ways of expressing affection - hermione shows people she cares about them by nagging them and meddling in their lives, harry very much does not - are another. they have extremely different views about authority, they decompress in different ways [harry is someone who clearly needs to keep physically active to clear his head, hermione is much more of a homebody], and harry's impulsiveness is a poor match for hermione's fondness for planning.

they are also similar in ways which would cause them to butt heads. both have a tendency towards obsessiveness, which they rely in canon on ron pulling them out of. both have a significant capacity for cruelty and extremely black-and-white moral codes - harry has a tendency towards forming judgements on people and situations based on whether they are people he likes or things he benefits from [i.e. how he's appalled by dobby's treatment because his masters are the malfoys, but doesn't give a shit about kreacher's because his abusive master is sirius], while hermione tends to regard any rule-breaking she does as justified even if she'd regard it as outrageous from anyone else [i.e. her fury over harry appearing to use felix felicis to improve's ron's performance at quidditch when she herself confunded cormac mclaggen to get him onto the team...]. both have a tendency towards giving people the silent treatment when they're angry. both are incredibly stubborn...

and so on.

obviously, they also have positive qualities in common too - a shared loyalty, for one - but it always seems to me that the standard move in harmony is for authors to completely ignore these conflicting traits, either really over-egging what makes harry and hermione compatible platonically in the books or just inventing similarities [especially intellectual ones] to justify the pairing. whereas i would much prefer to see just how difficult it would be for harry and hermione to fall and sustain being in love with each other, and i've never seen that done compellingly.

but the conflict i'd love to see explored in harmony fics most of all, but which never seems to be acknowledged by fans of the pairing, is that [despite the fanon slander that ron is the person who behaves poorly towards her] harry is often horrible to hermione and hermione is often scared of harry.

this is at its most profound after ron leaves the horcrux hunt in deathly hallows, but we see several times throughout canon that - if ron isn't there to mediate between them - harry often treats hermione in a way which can be considered downright cruel. if she criticises him in a way he considers unjustifiable, he tends to side with other people against her [ron in prisoner of azkaban over the firebolt; ginny in half-blood prince over snape's textbook]. if she tries to reason with him he often beats her down with the force of his emotions [i.e. when she tries to get him to think about whether his vision of sirius in the department of mysteries might be a trick] or his convictions [i.e. when he lures her into near-death by being certain that nagini is really bathilda bagshot], and she often ends up having to soothe or appease him when he's the one who's screamed at her.

hermione is also scared more generally of harry's experiences - she's by far the least amenable of the trio to talking about voldemort [even though she says his name earlier than ron does] - and mission, which puts up a barrier between them which will be difficult to bring down post-war. i think there's something which could be really interesting there - the most interesting dynamic in hinny, after all, is when harry and ginny's tendency to not actually be honest with each other is explored - but unfortunately at the minute that sort of character work is drowning in a sea of "ron is so stupid and harry and i just love talking about classic literature, come darling, put on your leather trousers and let us solve world hunger; i look like emma watson" nonsense.

dull!

[kitsunefox1108]

Can I request 2003 turts reaction to meeting rise nb reader who's sweet, chill, friendly, and introverted?

Reader meets the turtles in a alleyway and when they saw the guys they say, "the gang's here?? Wait a damn minute, Y'all ain't my turtle dudes- no... You guys look alike-" realizing they're in another universe they panic

I wanna see the 2003 dudes and rise dudes reactions to each other when the rise guys go and fetch reader (Leo may or may not accidentally pushed reader in Donnie's new invention, hence the reader getting thrown to the 2003 universe)

God, I love the requests that I'm being asked, but it's a pity that there aren't enough ideas and time for everything.

TMNT! TEAM UP! 2003 AND 2018 X SWEET! RISE! READER

learning that you are from a different universe of turtles, they will not be completely surprised, because they met with their versions of the turtles before.

However, your appearance in their universe is still amazing.

Apparently, their 2018 versions behave quite differently.

you are surprised at how different the behavior of the brothers in 2003 is. You know that this is a different universe, everything is clearly different here, but to see how Leonardo does not joke at all as often as the 2018 version does, as Rafael is several times stricter than the 2018 version.

How Donnie and Mikey are different from their 2018 versions.

it seemed as if you were reacquainting yourself with the brothers, although in part you are.

- it is interesting. I would like to meet my version of your universe!- Mikey said, jumping for joy.

besides that, these brothers think you are incredibly cute. You are very gentle, calm and responsible, they could not help but like it.

Perhaps one of the turtles could have fallen in love with you. And who is a secret ;)

meanwhile Rise! the turtles were trying to find you.

If Leo accidentally did it, the rest of the brothers, including April, wanted to nail him on the head.

over time, after several sleepless nights Donnie, he found the universe in which you are stuck.

It remains to come up with a plan to save you and return back.

but what could not help but surprise him was your communication with other turtles.

having told the brothers about this, they were surprised, and only wanted to save you more. The universe seemed suspicious to them.

A few days later, you were found walking with one of the 2003 brothers (your choice).

There was a conflict, as a result of which, the brothers of 2018 met the turtles of 2003.

- "He's kind of boring!" - rise Leonardo hissed displeasedly, lightly jabbing one of the katanas at the other Leonardo.

- "and you're like a show off. I can't believe that I can act like this hotb..."

- "Wow, I didn't think you'd be so... impressive." - Donatello muttered 2003, looking at his "younger" version.

- "Yes, keep praising me and living up to my expectations." - Donnie 2018 confidently began to stretch.

And the two Rafaels looked at each other like killer cyborgs.

Most of all, you were worried that they might start a fight.

But, surprisingly, they had a fairly neutral attitude towards each other.

After the two Mikes were reunited, it was the beginning of a nightmare.

it was definitely one of your most enjoyable adventures.

[tailspinn]

phi gage infodump post

okay so because a phineas gage (Real Person) blog asked about my phineas gage catboy oc (thanks @phineasgage) im gonna write about him properly here

it kind of started with me thinking about the real guy. what's it like to have your entire personality suddenly change after an immense physical trauma? he was this mild mannered, very respectable upstanding guy who was beloved by all and then had this horrible accident happen to him and he suddenly became a totally different person. I couldn't help but wonder if the original Phineas Gage was in there somewhere, and how he felt about the impulsive and irreverent Phineas Gage that he had become.

the first known image of Phi Gage, pre-accident

Phineas "Phi" Gage (my oc) is an immortal catboy that got struck in the eye by lightning. before the accident, he was a generally chilled-out and levelheaded boy. he wasn't perfect by any means, or even very smart, but people viewed him as someone capable and stable when things got tense.

after he got struck by lightning, he became a lot more capricious and irritable. he's different now, and he can tell. he doesn't like how easily he gets frustrated, and the way people treat him tells him that they liked the old Phi better. He's trying to learn to be himself again, but the person that everyone remembers just doesn't feel like him anymore. He feels like everyone is expecting him to become a different person. There's a deep cognitive dissonance inside him between the person he is now and the voice in his head of the person he used to be.

Phi, post-accident

and then there's another accident.

he's in the hospital, where he's been convalescing after the lightning strike - relearning to use the left side of his body, dealing with memory issues and some other residual nerve damage. Luckily, all the damage is localized to the left side. He goes in for brain surgery to patch up his head when something really bad happens with the medical laser they're using. nobody's really quite sure what happened. maybe it's some kind of power surge, or maybe a hand slipped, but the laser cuts Phi right down the middle. Hot dog style, if you will.

It's okay. Phi is immortal, remember? each side regrows into a fully formed catboy in a sort of weird mitosis. the left side is the same phi he's been since he got struck by lightning, but the right side is free of the physical trauma, so the resulting person seems to be a picture-perfect copy of himself pre-accident. so now there's two Phis.

i understand this might be confusing. this handy "Phi chart" should help you keep track of the timeline.

Phi is resentful of this new version of his old self (who's now called Kai). He doesn't like how Kai is calm, agreeable, and conflict-averse. more than that, he's upset that Kai has no memory of the lightning strike or anything after that. Kai essentially got to skip the most horrible, traumatic time of Phi's life, and Phi envies the innocence that Kai has about it. But at the end of the day, they get along. They do have a lot in common, after all.

a rare moment of peace

is it kind of in bad taste to make a catboy oc based on a real person whose catastrophic physical trauma became a widely known medical miracle? i dunno. maybe. but i also think its more than Phineas Gage. its about nostalgia for the past. its about wishing you could go back to the person you used to be. its about our relationship to our past selves.

but most importantly. its about me getting to draw funny catboys thank you

P.S. i understand that a lot of the information we have about the Real Person Phineas Gage is in dispute. Some of the mental changes he experienced after his accident have been exaggerated over time, and there's not actually much information on what he was like pre-accident. This isn't really about the actual historical person - it's more about the folklore of Phineas Gage, a person who took a rod through the brain and became something other than himself.

[ms-lirio]

i love may she’s so pretty 💛🤏

i was wondering what’s her relationship with her neighbours? i know u have an oc for argentina (i’m not sure if the oficial one it’s the boy or the girl version tho) but idk if u have ocs for the other countries so sorry if the question it’s too much(?

Oh my, thank you so much! I am glad you like my girl 🇧🇷💞🥺

The canonical Argentina of my universe is Elvira (her nickname is Eva/Evita thanks to a mutual of mine) and I belive they have the best developed relationship from all my OCs.

Elvira and May are rivals and besties and yet they share some interest for each other 🤭 but they're not in a relationship. None of my characters are canonically in a relationship.

I just draw Diego/Nyo!Arg and Mayara for fun cuz he has a super silly dynamic with May, which I find fun to work with. But Diego is canonically from Kauã's (nyo!Brazil) universe. They have a totally different dynamic from May and Eva. They're just stupid fanatic football heads lol sorta... bromates. 😆

However, I like drawing my friend's Argentina OCs interacting with May. Personally; I like the different dynamics they can have.

There is a phrase made by an Argentine sociologist to describe their relations: "Argentines hate to love Brazil and Brazilians love to hate Argentina", which I find so funny. I disagree to agree. But I think they both hate loving each other and love hating each other.

I call their relationship "o Samba e o Tango". Thanks to this music ❤

Argentina and Brazil had a troubled past of historical conflicts and regional rivalry. And they're still rivals to this day, mostly in sports, mainly in football. Aha. But also Argentina was the 1st country to recognize the Brazilian Republic (I am not saying it was good or not, this is a fact) and during the visit of the President of Argentina to Brazil (1899), I like to think Mayara took Elvira to the Jardim Botânico of Rio de Janeiro. And they shared a nice girly time. 🥰

Also, I remember reading a funny article saying that Brazil and Argentina act like a divorced couple and it made me laugh for days.

Mayara and Elvira: (based ladies)

KAUÃ AND DIEGO BE LIKE: chaotic creatures

I do have a Paraguay and Uruguay OCs too, which are important for telling May's lore. But I haven't studied enough and further of these countries for elaborating more of them; neither I am satisfied with their designs. They had very complicated moments with Brazil.

I may work on them in the future because they're important pieces to the story. And also, Mercosur/Mercosul gang. 😎👍

I used to have a Colombia and Venezuela OCs, but I don't use them anymore.

SPOILER ALERT

I have a Chile OC too (I showed him already in two drawings)! I desire to write and draw a minicomic of Chile and Brazil. Based on a historical event named the "Last Ball of the Brazilian Empire". Yes, they had interactions together too.

Trivia: I do have a Peru OC. But she never made an official appearance on here, aha.

⚠️ My HC is that May has a complex of big sister towards the other South American countries. She enjoys taking the leadership of things. And she enjoys helping when she can. But I don't think that the other South Americans got this same vision of her. Let's also remember that due to idiom barriers, May is kinda isolated. So, idk. It is sad, aha. May is not always aware of the other Hispanic countries' stuff, for example. She may feel distant from them, to the point she doesn't even consider herself a "Latina" sometimes (will elaborate on this in the future). But she tries her best to approach them, due to her leadership complex. It is too complicated to explain.

EXTRA: beyond borders of South America:

I don't have an OC for Mexico, but I would like to use a Mexico OC to interact with Brazil. They had some interesting interactions during their times as Brazilian Empire and Mexican Empire.

(If you got a nice Mexico oc, tell me—)

About Haiti, Cuba and Jamaica : Link

[hidingoutbackstage]

so im coming to you, the leading scientist in ashley graham-ology, to say you are SO right. there is literally no difference between ashley in the original and the remakes. they didn't make improve on her characterization, they just gave her scenes that endear her to the player, and even though they're very sweet moments... they don't give us anything new? i mean, it's nice for her to have moments where she can express her feelings, i mean she's been kidnapped and taken to a foreign village so thats going to be at the forefront of her mind, but we get nothing deeper about her. frankly, we get more new characterization from the sorority sticker on her phone and her casual outfit than we do in most of the new scenes. everyone else gets retooled stories, and she is very much the same. and, imo, at best she is a slightly more polished version of her old self (which is not saying much because she was never given a lot to begin with), and at worst she feels like she falls into only being important when it comes to leons development. anyways srry 4 rambling but yes! I agree with you!

You’re right in every way ugh I hate it so much. Like they COULD have expanded upon her in a way that both fit the context and the narrative while still making her a more fleshed out character. Luis got a whole ass backstory and people keep drawing cutesy art of him with his old team of Umbrella researchers who we never knew and don’t matter, but people only talk about Ashley in the context of Leon.

And the problem is that the game does this too! It isn’t just fandom misogyny this time (though that’s obviously at play sometimes) but everything Ashley does is just her being a victim, or relating her to Leon. Even the funny and cute stuff brought over from the og doesn’t get to be about her! Ashley operating the wrecking ball is a setup for Leon to comment on “what they’re teaching kids these days” when in the og it’s unexplained and that kinda implies it’s just something she knows how to do. And it’s funny without context, but in the game the context they give just makes her look stupid for comparing it to driver’s ed.

She helps put out the fire on Leon after his fight with Mendez. See? She’s helpful now! She tries to hit Leon with a candelabra when he shows up instead of cowering in terror like in the og. See? She’s #girlboss now! She doesn’t flirt with him or call him a pervert for acting like a pervert. See? She’s mature now! She says “We can protect the U.S. from all threats!” See? She’s patriotic now! She’s mind controlled and holds a knife up to her throat instead of panicking and running in fear. See? She’s less of a crybaby now! She gets one (1) good outfit (that only came with preordered games) See? She has personality now! (except it’s entirely cosmetic and has no effect on how she is in game) She now has a slimmer face, blue eyes, obvious makeup on, and her hair covers her “dumbo ears.” See? She’s attractive now!

But she doesn’t get a motherfucking personality, when she’s the ONLY character who didn’t get one. Luis gets more backstory, Krauser gets more (incorrect/conflicting) backstory, motherfucking SALAZAR gets more backstory. But not Ashley! Not the g-d damn, entire focal point and center of the entire game, not the main female character, she gets g-d damn nothing!

Here, off the top of my head, here’s little bits of dialogue that could deepen her character yet still fit in the game

A: I can’t wait to see my dad again. I miss him so much.

L: You two close?

A: Yeah. He’s a great dad. He had to be, we’re the only family each other’s got

L: I promise I’ll get you home safe, Ashley.

or, alternatively

A: I’m so nervous to see my dad again. I hope he isn’t mad about the kidnapping

L: Mad? It’s not your fault

A: I know, but…it feels like it is. It feels like I did something wrong. I shouldn’t have been caught.

L: It isn’t your fault, Ashley, and I’m sure your dad won’t be upset. He’ll be happy to see you

A: I hope so

or, again alternatively

A: So, how’d you become an agent anyway? My bodyguards, [name and name] say you’re the best in the business.

L: It’s a long story

A: Tell me when we get back, then?

L: Sure. It’s not very fun, though

A: What’s that supposed to mean?

L: Nothing, don’t worry about it…let’s just say, it involves someone you remind me of

(there so all the fangirls can cry about how emo Leon is while Ashley gets confirmed to have relationships)

or,

A: I can’t believe I went to that party. I didn’t even want to go.

L: Why’d you go, then?

A: My sorority sisters told me to come. I wasn’t gonna turn them down.

L: They good friends?

A: Not really. More like colleagues, I guess

or,

L: They took your jacket

A: Yeah. They can keep it, honestly. I never liked that thing

L: Why wear it, then?

A: Dad says it looks good for public appearances

See? Would it have been that hard?

[sometipsygnostalgic]

my guess is that BMO's death came about in part because the idea of them wandering around for eternity in a completely desolate world was itself pretty cruel? it's misjudged but I think AT is very prone to killing (or "killing") characters as an aside without really thinking things through (RBG in Something Big, Rattleballs in Reboot, plenty of other examples I'm not recalling off the top of my head). Also disliked these episodes but mostly because they were underwritten-- WK was tightly-written, had a core thematic concept with ramifications for all the "main" characters, these two were almost entirely devoid of any larger point and after WK the main plot impetus (IK needs to become Simon again?) is too obviously a bad idea to maintain plot interest

Ehh I'm with Jagm on this, "mercy killing" isn't the route AT usually goes. It's more of a brutal side character death like you said, but on a version of a beloved main character. And this wasn't close to a merciful BMO death (we saw 500 others in the show). BMO could've been taken offworld and gone with Fionna and Cake into their world like the baby finn and honestly, that would've made for some interesting plot. Like imagine if they go back to normal at the end but they have an actual BMO with them instead of the alarm clock we saw at the start of episode 1. Wouldn't that have tied things up in a perfect loop and been wholesome instead of horrible? Hire me HBO Max.

I agree that they do not come close to the standard of Winter King which was a very tight episode with lots of emotions happy and sad. I think we would've benefitted from more time in Vampire world with Marceline. I did like that the second ep shows Fionna growing more attached to Simon and then us hearing more about Betty's side of things, but if you're frustrated by the core premise of Simon trying to become Ice King, then you're going to be bored by these eps. You'll want them to move onto the next plot point rather than linger here.

A point I'll give big credit for is that Cake is rightfully conflicted with Fionna about altering their original world. After everything, Fionna is having second thoughts because their world is going to be changed by magic and she's going to become like a different person. But Cake had a shit life anyway because she was a house cat, and she can't stand living like that. The issue is to make their world magic they're going to have to sacrifice Simon's mind, and they very nearly did so in a dead world like this one. It would've been the only way for Ice King to live in Lich World, which is why Fionna even gave him the crown.

He also used it as the magic battery for the portal which is a nice touch.

[sea-of-dandelions]

Hiiii hello I saw your tags I'm climbing in here to ask about daisuke and okame ^^

i hold you. my most reliable mewtual. oblig spoilers for the entire series

Daisuke and Okame are two of the five main characters of the book trilogy Shadow of the Fox (written by Julie Kagawa, published 2019-2020)

Okay a little backstory on the plot itself. It's set in a fantasy version of Japan, Iwagoto, and heavily influenced by Japanese mythology. It follows a half-kitsune, Yumeko, and a demonslayer, Kage Tatsumi (and their group of friends that they pick up along the way. Mentioning Reika here. She's the head miko at this one really important shrine I can't remember the name of).

Essentially, there's this scroll that can summon a dragon and make a wish to alter reality every 1000 years or so. And after last time, it's been split up into three(?) pieces, to avoid. like. the possibility of someone being able to make said wish in 1000 years. Tatsumi has been sent by clan (the Kage/Shadow Clan, samurai iirc) to retrieve the pieces, and allies himself with Yumeko, who also wants to protect the pieces.

this is literally the best photo I can find of the map online. i cannot find a good photo of the english map. have fun.

Now. Taiyo Daisuke is a noble of the Sun Clan. Related to the Emperor of Iwagoto. An excellent swordsman. Refined, courteous, cultivated, etc etc etc, but disagrees with nobility's prejudices and way of life. And like. Tartaglia levels of bloodthirst here. iirc he went around Iwagoto as Oni no Mikoto and challenging people to duels for shits and giggles. One of the reasons he joins the group is specifically to fight Tatsumi. Has kinda a "neither of us can die until I get to duel you" relationship w him.

Hino Okame is a ronin. Snarky, sarcastic, annoying, loyal to a fault. Archer, gambler, alcoholic. I think some of his backstory was revealed in book 3 but that was the first book i read and it's been about two years since i've read it. I remember he has an older brother he feels very guilty towards. VERY important though, mentioning he refers to himself as an 'honourless ronin dog' several times throughout the series.

Initially, there's a lot of tension going on between the two. I mean. Nobility and ronin. See the above two paragraphs, their personalities conflict in several ways. It's mentioned several times that Wow nobles are dicks to everyone else. so like. what do you expect. Initially, Okame calls Daisuke by his last name (Taiyo). Eventually we see that Daisuke is Not Like Other Girls Nobles, and treats commoners as equals, even Okame.

HOWEVER there's a scene (in book 2, iirc) where the group is travelling to the Steel Feather temple (somewhere in the mountain range). The Confession Scene. Middle of the night. Daisuke and Okame are talking underneath a tree.

It's pretty blatantly stated that they're star-crossed. With like. The whole social status difference and everything. Okame (and likely several other people) would get killed if someone were to find out the Taiyo nobleman was kissing a ronin. being considered less than human and all. yk how it goes.

But they still kiss. Under the moonlight. Tada.

Unfortunately, since this is third person limited with a POV swap between Yumeko and Tatsumi (and Suki in the third book, who is, for all intents and purposes of this post, irrelevant) and you're just Aware that this private scene is being watched by Yumeko (foxed, thank god, but still).

BUT from this point on, Okame calls Daisuke by his first name. And idk when exactly this starts, but Okame starts referring to Daisuke as a peacock, and to himself as a dog. I think it might've came up in the confession scene

As I mentioned earlier, Daisuke is, well, Daisuke. In addition to wanting to fight Tatsumi, his preferred manner of death is to "die a glorious death in battle". Noting here that while Okame being as brash as he is, gets scared shitless and is very vocal about it.

etc etc their relationship progresses over the course of the series, beta couple to Yumeko and Tatsumi.

Nearing towards the climax of the story, they're going up a mountain (pointing to the map. territorio clan de la luna. moon clan territory.) and they're trying to stop the bbeg from summoning the dragon. They get ambushed halfway, Okame is incapacitated, Daisuke stays behind to fight the oni while Yumeko and Tatsumi continue forward.

Briefly. before i recount this entire chapter. Okame gets fatally wounded, Daisuke ends up having to stab himself to defeat the oni. They bleed out in each other's arms. Fully 1000% cuddling soaked in (mostly) their own blood. And depart to Meido together. And later say their goodbyes to Yumeko together. Daisuke gets his wish to die a glorious death and Okame keeps his promise to stay loyal to Daisuke.

And most importantly, by the end of book 3, Okame's petname for Daisuke was 'peacock'.

[roobylavender]

hi! idk if someone asked this already but who are your top skam couples :o

someone has not! there are three i feel particularly attached to though

incantava / i feel aaaaabsolutely crazy about these two. in my opinion they're the best couple out of every single skam adaptation combined. skam italia in general was a series which while it had a lot of issues somehow managed to strike gold with the execution of its version of noorhelm and i like to think giancarlo and bernadetta were instrumental to that. like giancarlo himself said “edoardo and eleonora are very mature characters. their relationship is mature. they dialogue with one other. there hasn’t been a love scene so far, precisely, to celebrate their relationship, their union. there’s love, maturity and so much respect" and i don't think any other pair of noorhelm actors ever verbalized that about their characters. noorhelm's narrative is a difficult one to execute without the wilhelm character looking like a piece of shit even if only briefly but there were these tiny nuances skam italia added bc there was so much emphasis on edoardo's respect for and reverence of eleonora even when he was upset with her. he's the only wilhelm who apologizes to eleonora for what happened to her before the grand reunion kiss and if memory serves the only one who actually dialogues with her at all when she's trying to win him back rather than him simply walking away without a word. it's that emphasis on dialogue between them that constantly drew me in and made me feel like i was watching a relationship between two people who actually grew with each other

zoenne / the only other noorhelm i truly grew to love! albeit for slightly different reasons. where the maturity within incantava's relationship was focused in their dialogue with each other i think zoenne's maturity was focused in their accountability to each other. esp senne's accountability to zoe. every wilhelm tends to think with his heart before his head but beyond the gang fight incident there's not much they actually have to be accountable for and they still tend to come off a bit dickheaded. senne is someone who to me came off less so. similarly to edoardo (and alejandro albeit i'm not as attached to norandro personally) you could tell senne really listened to what zoe had to say and internalized it and acted upon it. so when he recognized what his brother had done to her it wasn't only about saying sorry but also about supporting her to file a case against him with the police. when he lived with zoe it wasn't only about living there for her but also about demonstrating a presence and compassion for her roommates and their problems as much as her own. when zoe broke up with him bc he pushed her too hard to fight the case it wasn't only about missing her but also about recognizing what his support of her actually needed to look like. he genuinely grew as a person rather than remaining stagnant and isn't that poignant considering what he pointed out about humans and their tendency to evolve at the end of season one? i realize i haven't talked as much about zoe here but ofc her holding him accountable to all of these things and standards of a relationship was what made them compelling to watch together. they were a great exercise in conflict resolution so despite there being road bumps those road bumps were undeniably worthwhile

virugo / almost every version of vilde and magnus is literally terrible. like some versions of skam do manage to do good by their noora and vilde's relationship with each other so you don't feel supremely peeved but maybe mildly annoyed by the fact that vilde ends up with a complete dunce who simply happened to crush on her long enough to where she could reciprocate when she got over wilhelm. but skam españa which fortunately happens to be probably the most healthy depiction of skam dynamics as a whole (next to druck) decides to actually do something with its vilde and magnus dynamic bc it makes the genius decision to instate viri as a main character. so you get to see in detail why and how viri has developed all of these insecurities and why she's so desperate to be recognized and loved and then on top of it we get to see how hugo in turn is that person who sees her and recognizes all that she does for everyone and who loves who she is beneath all of the glamour. like it's so simple and sweet and endearing and when she's telling the girls about how he makes her happy and his jokes are like paracetamol and he loves fish it literally makes me want to cry.. i love it when two people are the only ones to see each other in a room it's so good it's so achey

[negative-speedforce]

Hey! OC Art Asks for Siv please!

Paintbrush, Marker, Copics, Charcoal, Tortillon, and Eraser please!

Paintbrush: How often does your character "brush over" conflict instead of facing it head on? Is there something specific they don't like to face, or do they avoid conflict as a whole?

Siv has probably never missed a chance to face conflict head-on, especially if it involves physically fighting a person. She was a very scrappy teen, repeatedly getting suspension from their school, and would have probably been expelled if it wasn't for the fact that their dad is rich and influential.

Marker: what's one thing your character would never tattoo on their body, even if they were paid a million dollars for it?

Siv would literally rather die than have anything of or pertaining to their father tattooed on them. She hates his guts, and is actively trying to track him down and kill him.

Copics: what is this character's most expensive habit or hobby? Do they ever feel guilty about the money they spend on it?

Siv doesn't really have any expensive habits, mostly because she steals a lot. Being a speedster, they're able to go in and out of just about anywhere in a matter of seconds and snatch up whatever she wants. Though they do occasionally go clubbing, which usually involves spending copious amounts of their paycheck, and she goes to her local music store sometimes to get her guitar tuned up.

Charcoal: share any unique physical features about this character that are not scars or tattoos.

I mean this is kinda cheating but Siv has their septum, eyebrow, and cartilage pierced. They have an industrial piercing in one ear and two cartilage piercings in the other. Also, they can summon the full power of an eldritch god when they get really, really pissed, like, not just "you spit in my slurpee" but like "you murdered my girlfriend and then tried to kill me what the hell is wrong with you".

Tortillon: does your OC "blend in" with the people around them? Physically? Metaphorically?

Siv's always been a little different. Maybe it's because she's neurodivergent, and maybe it's because she's the result of a dark experiment that involved merging a cosmic force with human DNA. Either way, they're a little weird. Physically, however, yeah, she blends in. She looks fairly normal, minus the scars on her face, but those are usually covered with makeup so it doesn't really matter.

Eraser: what's one way this character has changed over time? Either over the course of their story, or over the course of designing them as an author.

In universe, Siv starts out as an oblivious, spunky teenager. They're sarcastic, social, and just a bit of a geek. Then, after witnessing their girlfriend's murder, she becomes a lot more quiet, preferring to be alone rather than going out with their friends. After her father is revealed as the killer, Siv gets angry. They devote their entire life to finding a way to kill him, despite the fact that he is much more powerful and competent than her. Then, after meeting Hailey, she starts to soften, her walls finally breaking when Hailey discovers the truth about her and she realizes that she's become just like her father.

As an author, in my first iteration of this character, I was afraid to let my protagonist go so far into "the dark side" ig. I kept Siv firmly on the light, only letting her slip a few times. Also, they were cis in that version, so there's that too.

[ratralsis]

Strings: Mini-Prequel and Mini-Sequel

In the time between my first attempt at writing the story I'm currently calling "Strings" and the version that I just posted, I took a couple of short-story-writing classes from the same school that I then took two longer novel-writing classes from.

Because I lack creativity, or possibly because I thought it would be fun, I decided to use characters from Kevin and Marigold's little story in a couple of the prompts.

One prompt was to write a 250-word story based on the phrase "Love Hurts." This is what I wrote.

Henry tilted his head from side to side, his neck cracking loudly. He yawned, alone in his car with his briefcase and a fast food bag, still slightly warm from holding the dinner he'd eaten while driving. He grabbed the briefcase and walked to the door of his house.

He knocked. After a moment, the door was opened by an older woman who looked almost as tired as he felt. "You can't keep doing this," she said.

"It won't be forever, ma," he sighed, raising his arms for a quick hug. The briefcase made the motion clumsy.

"Until when, then?" She asked. "Until the girls are old enough that you just leave 'em by themselves all day?"

His shoulders dropped. He looked past his mother at the curtains. Pale blue. Emily's idea, bought just over a year ago. Before the twins, when it was the two of them living here. Now it was the three of them. It had never been the four of them.

He swallowed that thought along with a piece of hamburger bun that had been stuck in his teeth. "What do you want me to do? I gotta work. I'm all they've got."

"No, for half the day, I'm all they've got," she said.

"And I appreciate it," he said. "But we're both too tired for this right now. Can we talk about it this weekend? Please?"

"Fine," she said. "They're asleep, God only knows how much longer."

"Alright, ma," Henry sighed. "Good night. Love you."

This is much of a prequel as I ever plan on writing for Marigold. 250 words, all of them very carefully chosen as I pared down a much longer piece until it fit that requirement, about Henry as a young man, and Marigold and Lily as tiny babies who don't even really appear.

Henry's struggling to get by. He's working overtime at the law firm, trying to establish himself as a lawyer or possibly still trying to pass the bar, I'm not really sure myself, at age 26 or so, while the girls are still too young to be left alone. In another year, he'll have remarried, and in a few more, he'll have divorced, and then a decade or so of peaceful days before one of his daughters dies in a car accident.

It's not worth writing more about him. I love Henry as a character, but his story, to be blunt, doesn't interest me much. As a character, he's fascinating, though. He's worked hard and found himself thrown about by fate and chance in a million different directions, and through it all, he's perservered, and worked hard, and done his best to keep his chin up. When we meet him in the main story, he's 47 or 48 years old, still working, making somewhere around $100,000-200,000/year in his day job (but not, like, millions), living in a big house with a big yard, but he's living by himself, and finds himself facing life as an empty nester while also knowing he's going to have to keep working for probably another decade or two before retiring. He's not sure he made the right decisions, but he did what he thought was right, and now things are the way they are and nothing can change the past.

But what's the conflict in his story? If I actually wrote it out, it would just be "Decent, hard-working guy keeps having bad things happen to him and his family," and that's not an interesting story.

So no prequel for Henry, but I absolutely love the 250 words I did write. "It had never been the four of them" is one of the best sentences I've ever written.

A while later, as a POV exercise, I wrote this three-part story. It's a sequel to the main story, and I really enjoy it, too.

Part 1. Marigold arrived home later than she had planned. There was no way to sneak into her apartment after the guests had already arrived. She tried to look on the bright side: this way, she could avoid the suspense of having to wait for them to show up.

She had helped Kevin set up the Christmas decorations earlier in the week, so those were no surprise. The bright paper streamers along the walls were his idea, as was the tree in the corner that took up a bit more of the room than she would have preferred. It did look nice, though, she had to admit. Extra chairs had been placed at the table, but nobody was sitting at it.

She hadn't known what food he was going to be preparing, and the spicy smell of it hit her like a wall as she walked in, guitar on her back. Her heart in her throat, she scanned the front room, hoping to see Kevin first. She saw him, but he was standing near the kitchen, chatting happily with the guests of honor: his parents.

Part 2. "Oh, there you are," Kevin said, turning to face her when he heard the sound of the door. "I was just finishing up the grand tour, such as it is."

"Oh, great," she said, giving them her best stage smile. "Let me put my guitar away, and I'll be right back for introductions, okay?"

Kevin smiled back and nodded. His parents said nothing, staring almost blankly at her. She darted into her music room and placed the guitar case against the wall. She could fuss with it later. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and came back out. Kevin and his mother had disappeared back into the kitchen, leaving his father standing by himself. She walked over, stuck out her hand, and looked up at him. He was as tall as his son--nearly a foot taller than she was.

"So, I'm Marigold, and you must be Mister Stiles."

He took the offered hand and shook it. "Please, just Kevin," he said. "I think we can be on a first-name basis."

"Sure, but, that's also what I call, you know, Kevin Junior?" She kept smiling, though it felt a bit strained at this point.

Part 3. "I'm sure I can figure out which of us you mean from context clues," he said. "So, my son told me you're a musician. Tonight's performance ran late?"

"Um, well, sometimes that happens when I'm playing a reception," she said. "I'm paid by the hour, so when the family is willing to keep paying me to stick around, I… let them. Plus, they're more likely to leave me a good review if I'm a good sport, you know?"

He furrowed his brow slightly and looked closely at the petite woman in the pink dress in front of him. "Certainly. And that's what you wore to a wedding reception?" He asked.

She bobbed her head to one side and continued smiling. He wondered if this was her best dress. "Yep," she said, after a moment. "Sure did. I'll be right back, I'm just going to get a drink."

She was back in only a moment, full glass in hand.

"I like the decorations," he told her, gesturing.

"Thank you," she said. "They were Kevin's idea, actually."

"I know," he said. "I still thought you should know that I liked them."

"Okay," she said, and downed most of her glass.

I can't remember what all of the rules were, but I believe Part 1 was required to have no dialogue, part 2 to be from one character's point of view, and part 3 to be from another's. Part 3 is meant to be from the point of view of Kevin Stiles Sr., though it's not as obvious as I wish it were given how short the story is.

I loved writing this, because I loved showing Kevin's dad as this very uptight and stiff conservative sort of guy who looks down on Marigold's line of work and lack of education (she's a high-school dropout with a GED, remember), sees her as irresponsible (for showing up late to an event like this Christmas party), and wonders if the outfit she has on is really the best she has (maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but it's what she wore to a wedding reception where she played acoustic guitar for just as many hours as her client was willing to pay her to). He's not a bad guy, but he's not willing to meet Marigold at her level or engage with her as an equal. He doesn't accept that she's going to have trouble calling both him and his son "Kevin," because, even if this guy says he'll know who she means, when they're at the dinner table and she says "Say, Kevin," both Kevins are going to look at her and she's going to have to point at one of them.

Marigold also has a rough relationship with alcohol in the original story. After her car accident, she quit drinking. It's the real reason why she refused a drink from Kevin on the night they first met. Her "I don't drink while I'm working" excuse was a lie. She doesn't drink alcohol because the last time she did, she thought it was a good idea to get behind the wheel of a car and her twin sister died. It's based on a guy I knew whose drunk driving accident scared him sober, but I don't know how common it really is.

Yet, in this sequel story, she downs most of a glass of something that presumably has alcohol in it simply because Kevin Sr. is being kind of weird to her and she's having a hard time coping with it. So either

A) She's gotten over her fears of alcohol and now drinks on occasion, B) There's actually no alcohol in her drink and she just finds the act of drinking ANYTHING to be calming, or C) I thought it was funny and knew nobody else in my writing class could possibly have read her story and known she didn't drink.

Take your pick.

While I truly love the character of Kevin Sr. as seen here, as the guy from whom Kevin Jr. gets his serious and boring sides from, a stereotypical no-nonsense German dude (Kevin is 1/2 German, 1/4 English, and 1/4 Mexican, though only the 1/4 Mexican part is specifically mentioned in the story; Marigold's ethnicity was spelled out in an earlier draft as being equal parts South Korean, Syrian, Northern Indian, and Puerto Rican, but I decided for this draft that it was more fun to just leave her as "light brown" and never let the reader actually know), but going on from there, it's not the most interesting story. It would just be Marigold having a very awkward night, and while I did truly love writing from her POV after so long writing from Kevin's, and showing her fears and insecurities for once instead of Kevin's, as well as showing how Kevin appears to her from the outside for once, where does it go from here? Eventually, Kevin Sr. and Mary will leave, and Marigold will sigh heavily and say "Wow, that was rough" and Kevin will say "Haha what" and then they'll… live happily ever after, probably?

Again, there's not much conflict there. I don't want to bring back anything from Marigold's past to threaten the happiness that she and Kevin have together. No childhood friend is going to appear and threaten to get her canceled online. Her probation officer isn't going to show up and threaten to lock her up because she crossed state lines. Her career isn't going to fizzle out and force her to get a real job. Kevin's not going to lose interest in her and find solace in the arms of another woman. They're just going to be a boring couple like every other boring couple from here on out. They'll have ups and downs. Maybe Marigold will eventually be able to have kids, and maybe she won't. Maybe they'll adopt, and maybe they won't. Maybe they'll drift apart in ten years and get divorced, and maybe they won't.

I'm really and truly happier not knowing. I'm happier leaving them just as they are, a young couple starting their adult lives together, unsure of themselves but sure of each other, doing their best to face things one day at a time, just like everyone else.*

*I love this kind of ambiguity in storytelling sometimes. It's why the second chapter ends with Kevin saying that he isn't sure if five minutes will be enough time to make up for two months of not having kissed Marigold. What happens next? Does he give her a little peck on the lips? Does he shove his tongue into her mouth? Do they fuck right there on the loveseat?** It's whatever you want it to be. I'll never tell.

**They probably didn't fuck on the loveseat. They really did only have five minutes, after all. But given that Kevin reflects on how he's seen Marigold's spiderweb tattoo before when she shows it him a few months later, it's reasonable*** to assume that, at the very least, he's seen her in her underwear.

***My headcanon is that Kevin's social awkwardness and Marigold's fear of letting someone get too close to her mean that neither of them has as much experience with sex as they want the other to think they do (it's entirely possible that they began the story as a couple of virgins), but it's not on the page, so it really is just headcanon, and mine is no more valid than anyone else's if it's about things that didn't make it into the story.

So there won't be a prequel or a sequel, because I've already written them, and they were a lot of fun, and there's nothing else to say about Kevin Stiles and Marigold Spade that I want to say.

For now, at least. If I live long enough, I may change my mind.

This is already more of an afterword than I had planned. There won't be more.

[kallistcs]

what did paris think when he was first brought back to troy? what's his impression of everyone?

Going with my default of him being ten: Initially it all looked like an extremely big and intriguing adventure to get to go from the city of Dardanus to Troy (in the company of who might be Hektor or Aeneas and/or Anchises - I've vaguely started to think of the latter option as the 'default' one, but I do like the idea of it being Hektor he meets first). He barely has an idea here what's going on when they leave Dardanus; his (foster) father simply tells him to be brave. It isn't until he is in Troy and that it's really confirmed he's Hecuba and Priam's son that he has to actually start conceptualising what this means, both in terms of where he's going to live from now on and "who is his family".

-He adapts rather quickly to thinking/talking of Hecuba and Priam as his parents/mother and father, but it takes a lot longer before he, in the privacy of his own head, starts to append 'foster' parent(s) to Agelaus and his wife. (This one applies even for the older option.) He very briefly thinks about the fact that these are the people who had him exposed - but they're clearly upset/happy to have him back and Paris would rather focus on that, especially as a child.

-However he gets off on the wrong foot with Deiphobus, it starts here already. :) Paris is partially confused, partially deeply frustrated. Probably thinks Deiphobus is annoying and incomprehensibly mean lol

-He immediately latches on to Hektor (no matter what age), partly because he's among the first of his new family he meets and is a sibling somewhat close in age. But also especially because, this young, Hektor's outward personality becomes a bit of a steady rock and shelter. He feels safe.

-For the siblings in general, Paris is caught for a loop over how many of them there already are - he can't even count that high yet, so they're definitely pretty overwhelming.

Going with the alternate version of him being sixteen and thus using the funeral games option: He's much more Aware of Things in general, here. Depending on how full of a plot one makes this, that is, if including the murder attempt, he's going to spend the first couple days being torn between curiosity and extreme wariness. He definitely spends more time grappling immediately with "these are the people that exposed me", and asks his parents about it pretty soon after arrival. His reaction to the reveal isn't that much different in the end from finding it out after living in Troy since he was ten, partially because Priam and Hecuba's reaction to getting him back was of course the same. Paris would rather just leave the whole "they exposed me (even if it was for an 'understandable' reason)" behind.

I don't think he'd stop thinking of Agelaus and his wife as his parents - he just adds Hecuba and Priam to the list. At sixteen he is a lot less conflicted/confused over how to think of his two sets of parents. Would, even, be kind of pointed in calling all four of them as such.

-If going with the murder attempt, Paris' relationship to Hecuba will... not be rocky, as such, because her immediate grief and happiness and guilt (twice over! (': ) over what's happened will win him over. But still, it's kind of awkward, but that just means Paris would be making more of a concerted effort to get to know his birth mother.

-Which, alas, can't be said for Deiphobus lol. In the case of the murder attempt used, obviously there's nothing here to really rescue, and Paris wouldn't be interested in trying, compared to with his mother. If it's just Paris having won over him and the rest of his competing brothers in the athletic games, he'd mostly be deeply baffled at why this (still) is such a big problem afterwards. It was just SPORTS, even if it was a competition!

-Since this one can include Kassandra, but her involvement in which side she's on (either just announcing who he is or actively advocating for his death) will influence Paris' impression... For the simple announcement, it'd be a mix of gratitude and confusion, since she'd be part of the reason why his life has been thoroughly turned on its head. If she's been there literally calling for his death... it'd depend on how she was afterwards; he would forgive her if she seemed the least bit sorry, otherwise it'd be a similar situation as to Deiphobus in the case of the murder attempt being included.

[funnuraba]

Connie and the Duke: what exactly happened?

The Duke of Dunstable appears in three Blandings books, and his primary foothold in the Castle is the fact that Lady Constance is fond of him because they had a romantic relationship at one point. In trying to nail down the specifics, I've discovered that the Duke himself doesn't seem to ever reference this fact, even within his own mind?? I also haven't found any point at which a character mentions it out loud. Connie and the narrator appear to be our only source on this, and they both seem to forget for the entirety of Service With a Smile. This is added to the fact that her and the Duke's respective ages make literally no sense (but that's nothing new for Connie).

Also, here is the entirety of Connie's known dialogue with James Schoonmaker, her second husband, whose romance with her is a key plot point of SWaS: "Connie!" "Oh, James!" "Connie, darling, what's the matter?" (Reported secondhand by Schoonmaker in SWaS). "My darling:" (Beginning of Schoonmaker's letter to her in A Pelican At Blandings).

That is it. Ten words, two of which are 'darling', none of which happen on screen. For whatever reason, Wodehouse didn't want to write them interacting. Possibly for the same unknown reason Joe Keeble vanished, and we get such conflicting reports on her romance with Dunstable. Is she just not hot funny in a romantic relationship?

Anyway, here's the Dunstable rundown:

So, the circumstances actually change in every book Dunstable appears in, and since there are three books with three versions, nothing is more or less weighted than anything else. All we can say is, they had something, because that's what happened in two of the three books.

Uncle Fred in the Springtime: Here we learn that they had a vague romance that simply petered out, after which he was shipped to South Africa by his family after getting in some kind of trouble. We don't know when this happened. Connie is still very fond of him... which is odd, because him getting shipped overseas hints that he was somewhat similar to Galahad, whom she hates. But anyway. When we check in, she hasn't seen him for some time, and is alarmed by how eccentric he's become since then. She calls him one of her oldest friends, and we learn that Alaric is Lord Emsworth's age, which is 59, and Lord Emsworth has known and hated him for 47 years... which makes it very weird that Alaric could be one of Connie's oldest friends, because she's supposed to be in her mid-40s. But then she's also frequently said to have memories of her two older brothers in young childhood, when they're around the same age as the Duke, so this is just another such incident.

Service With a Smile: In this one, we're told that Connie has known the Duke some 40-odd years and has frequently wanted to bounce things off his head because he's so annoying. There is absolutely no mention, anywhere, of their romantic relationship, even though Connie is having another romance and you'd think one of them would be reminded. Nope. Oh, and the narration says that they've been acquainted since she wore pigtails and he wore a Little Lord Fauntleroy suit, heavily implying they were children at the same time, which is impossible, but never mind!

A Pelican At Blandings: 30 years after the Duke's first appearance, we now learn that he and Connie were actually formally engaged, but that he broke it off when her father refused to meet his demands on the dowry front. This happened "20 years ago", which is Wodehouse's standard number for a few different Blandings events like the death of Lord Emsworth's wife. So the Duke would've been in his late 30s, and she would've been mid-to-late 20s. (Despite all the time shenanigans, we're told here explicitly that Connie is still middle aged.) No mention is made of him getting shipped overseas by his family, as in Springtime--that would've been a little difficult to pull off with a man of nearly 40, even if his father was still the Duke then.

We don't know when the Duke was married to his late wife, but apparently it wasn't in his late 30s. She may have been dead, or he may not have met her yet. Galahad says they ran in almost the same circles in his dissolute youth, which was followed by the Duke's marriage to an heiress, which implies he was a widower when he and Connie were engaged, but we don't know because Galahad never mentions that this guy he hates was once engaged to his sister, and he doesn't mention or even think of it later when he and Connie are arguing about the Duke getting married, so what is going on here??? Why are Connie's thoughts and the narrator our only source? Was the romance a total secret from everyone else????

Anyway, in this one Connie is completely off her shits for some reason, so she just ping pongs back and forth from "my dear friend Alaric is here!" to "oh right, Alaric is the most annoying man on earth and I can't stand him" to "I need to get my good friend Alaric married well so he can be improved, because God knows he needs it, but he's an amazing catch FYI, but he sucks", so the whole thing is very inexplicable.

[colourful-void]

Let's Talk about Glasses for 1700 Words Straight - A Tiger and Bunny Analysis

And what those glasses represent!

So one of the things that stuck out to me in Episode 9 was Kotetsu's reaction. I think it's really interesting how it's like presented, because we see Kotetsu isolating himself from the rest of the team, not trying to get particularly close, his eyes hidden from the audience.

Now this is, of course, part of a set up. It's funny! Kotetsu lifts his head up, and he's wearing Bunny's glasses, joking about how he's never allowed to touch them. But the moment before is important.

At this point, we're viewing Kotetsu from an outside perspective, we can't judge whether his perceived upset is part of his joke or if its genuine, and the joke is a quick cover up. Here's my obligatory shout out to the dub because it's neat to see how things are interpreted by others. The dub takes the line "Bunny never lets me touch these." and adapts it to "Oh, just keeping an eye on Bunny's glasses." The dub version lends itself a bit better to an interpretation of a quick cover up, and the sub to the other side.

I think both of these make sense and have merit, so really lean towards whichever you want to go with is best.

Either way,

He's distracting himself. I believe this is part of how Kotetsu is coping.

When Bad Things Happen, people deal with them in all sorts of ways, I'm sure everyone reading this is already familiar with this idea. But how Kotetsu appears to cope, from my view, is a strategy of "I'll Fix Everything". It's a distraction, and a distraction that makes him feel somewhat more in control.

Time to bring up Tomoe! Direct parallels between what's happening now with Bunny and what happened with Tomoe are drawn explicitly in the show, with Antonio asking Kotetsu about it point blank. They are, very similar situations, and if you wanna take the dubs words for it, it's the same damn hospital too. No wonder Kotetsu's on edge.

But what's different about Tomoe and Bunny, beyond the obvious "one of them was his wife!" thing? Tomoe was dying of an illness. There was nothing that could've been done to prevent it, there is nothing Kotetsu can do now. Bunny is injured like this because of a conflict. This could've been prevented if he activated his power only a few seconds later, if someone had been there to catch him, if Vincent Carl hadn't become a villain, if, if, if. And what can Kotetsu do now?

Two things. First, his much more explicit of his quest to find Vincent Carl, which Agnes specifically calls out as a direct result of Bunny's injury. And second, in how he tries his hardest to comfort everyone around him.

Kotetsu's being optimistic, isn't he? Oddly optimistic, repeating out loud for the benefit of his teammates and daughter and likely himself, that he's certain Bunny will wake up soon. He's sure of it.

Something to keep in mind.

But of course, we're talking about the glasses here. They're used first as part of this joke, but they don't just vanish after this.

I think now is a good time to mention that most bits of symbolism, a lot of Good Symbolism too, can be explained away as "it doesn't mean anything, it's just practical, how things are done, its just convenient for the plot' etc etc etc. However this is a reading of this episode/scenes through a lens of symbolism, so keep that in mind.

Kotetsu puts the glasses away, into his breast pocket. The pocket over his heart.

By now I'm sure you've caught on. The glasses are a symbol. But for what? Glasses, conventionally, symbolize things like logic, wisdom. But what we see of how they're treated, as something Kotetsu clings to and "protects", the idea of wisdom doesn't really fit. In fact he's specifically noted as being 'irrational', bending rules and getting 'over emotional'. (to clarify i think his reaction makes perfect sense I'm giving points from the business side as presented in the show). For this we're going to have to look specifically inside the show. I'm not going to waste anymore time on this, the glasses represent Bunny. They're his glasses, they belong to him and Kotetsu's holding onto them because he can't hold on to Bunny right now. (and we know he wants to, as soon as Bunny wakes up his immediate goal is to hug him). But there's more to it. It's his glasses specifically, not any other object of his. What do we know about glasses? Glasses are breakable. Fragile. What do we know about Bunny's glasses in particular? He doesn't wear them in his suit. The screens and data mean he doesn't need them, his powers make his vision stronger than ever before. What do we know about Bunny's glasses? He wears them when he's not being a hero. He wears them when he's not invincible.

The glasses represent Bunny. Bunny as human, Bunny as breakable, Bunny and NOT Barnaby Brooks.

It's perhaps easier, at least visually speaking, to draw a line between Wild Tiger and Kaburagi Kotetsu. There's a clear difference between Pao-lin Huang and Dragon Kid. A lot of superhero media focuses on this divide between identities. Who you are in any given setting fluctuates, it's part of being human. This is especially true in the world of Tiger and Bunny, where Heroes are Celebrities, coated in advertisements. There's Blue Rose, sponsor for Pepsi/Coolish, adored hero and there's Karina Lyle, pretty normal girl in her late teens who wants to be a singer, not a hero. They're different, and they're the same person.

But Barnaby's lines are blurred. They're blurred by design, by his choice and Maverick's influence.

Bunny in season one devoted his life to finding his parents killer and avenging their deaths. Everything was secondary to that. Who he was as a person didn't matter, all of his being was simply a vessel to complete this goal. We can see it in how empty his apartment is, in his lack of motivation to socialize, etc etc.

But this is season 2. and we get to see Bunny grow.

Part of Bunny's growth comes from embracing more of himself. Letting himself have an identity outside heroism and revenge. Letting himself be a hero out of his own choice. Season two has a few examples of this, of how his plants and rekindled friendship with Mattia. Going with the plants metaphor; earlier his apartment was empty, the only things he needed were basic necessities, a bed to sleep, a chair to sit in, a computer to research. And now? The apartment is filled with plants, and life. Plants that Bunny clearly cares a lot about, watering them with a little spray bottle, talking to them, using special plant food. it's sweet and it shows how much he's changed since we last saw him.

These plants are private. This isn't part of Barnaby Brooks appeal as a hero. This isn't a selling point, this is just something he likes.

The differences between Bunny and Barnaby are growing.

When making the distinction between Tiger and Kotetsu, there's a mask, a physical eye mask, he wears. Blue Rose has blue hair, Karina is blonde. And Bunny? Bunny wears glasses. Barnaby does not.

The glasses represent Bunny. Bunny as a human, Bunny as breakable. Bunny's humanity in a sense, as opposed to him as a symbol.

It's Barnaby in the hospital. It's Barnaby who was injured. The glasses are off. It's not until he wakes up that the glasses come back on, he's back to being Bunny, a person, not a hero.

So what does it mean when Kotetsu is carrying them around?

Kotetsu carries Bunny with him. The idea of him as a human, breakable. He keeps that idea of him safe, putting it in the pocket against his heart. The only other time we see the glasses outside of the initial joke is here. When Kotetsu visits after the train crash, tells him to wake up soon, it's hard working alone.

And what's the next line directly following this shot?

"I thought we were supposed to go out for drinks."

Kotetsu is clutching onto Bunny as Bunny, onto his partner, in more than just hero work. The guy he wants to go out drinking with. The person he cares about so much. Not just as a partner in crime fighting. As a partner, full stop.

As I close this up I'll give my disclaimer reminder, this is just a little analysis for fun about symbols and stuff! and second, I'd like to wrap this up by speculating a bit!

After the scene holding them in his fist, the glasses aren't seen again. We see Bunny wearing glasses when he wakes up, but I believe these are a different pair of glasses. There's not a good place close to the bed in Bunny's room where Kotetsu could leave them. The last time we saw him with the glasses, the door was closed, so it's not like he even could've gotten in to leave them. The likelihood of Kotetsu passing them off to a nurse or doctor is extremely low. He was clearly attached to them by how he held onto them and wouldn't have given them up.

I believe that the glasses Kotetsu is holding were the pair that Bunny was wearing before he was blown up, and the pair Bunny wears in the scenes following him waking up are a separate pair. What happens to the pair Kotetsu carries around remains a mystery. Are they in his locker as seen in the intro? His house? Pocket?

There's lots of possibilities and I think they're all really intriguing.

After all, if the glasses represent Bunny as human, where do you think they should be?

...

Hey you made it to the end, I hope you enjoyed it! It was a lot of fun to write so I hope it was fun to read. Answer my questions or give thoughts in the tags if u want, I love to see em.

Thanks again for reading all this~!

[theminecraftbee]

Okay this is really specific but what's Wels' take on things?

...okay so like. the temptation to put wels in the shadow organization is REALLY STRONG now that you've brought him up, actually, because i have a Thing about welsknights with hangups about duty and morality and a welsknight that grew up in like, a particularly hardline sect of the shadow organization would be really interesting, actually.

maybe then is sent to the city when they hear about what's happening in order to infiltrate and figure out what's up but is also, by virtue of that happening, exposed to not only the slightly-less hardline sect of the shadow organization that is the main enemies, but also just like... normal life and the normal civilian view on everything that's happening. maybe he like, makes friends with xisuma after they meet, and maybe also ren, and makes friends with a few other people, and starts having Big Internal Conflict about whether what he'd been taught was actually a thing he wanted to do anymore, and who that left him as like... a person.

(yes i know we already have doc for a similar thing but listen doc's thing is more on the immoral science, leadership side; i think wels is one of the people who was never expected to be given power and was raised to think that's a good thing, whereas doc was one of the chosen few MEANT to get access to power, but only enough to use it for the leadership's benefit, and those are two very different roles they're expected to take under the shadow organization and leaves them with similar, but also very different hangups about the things they were raised to do.)

anyway i think it culminates with wels getting possessed by like... lets say the spirit of duty. and this resulting in this au's version of helsknight, basically. and he gets rescued and even though he knows he's SUPPOSED to use this as an opportunity, he just... doesn't. and has a bit of a breakdown about the fact that he did not successfully sacrifice himself for the betterment of the shadow organization like he was supposed to and also that he's like, he doesn't think he wants to either, but he was supposed to he literally had a spirit of duty and he failed,

and then i think he sort of stumbles out of it into the hands of xisuma who is mostly clueless with all of this emotional stuff but is, at least, a friend, and figures out where to go from there.

anyway i think in the imaginary show in my head wels would get like a two-episode arc for this that's meant to sort of show that the shadow organization is even hurting its own members and set things up before we get to people like doc and grian, who have done a lot more bad than wels had managed to but also have much different things to untangle.

and now i'm attached to this.

anyway my other option for wels was gonna be maybe a reporter so that's an option too,