#i love this bit of fanon it's gold

[alcego]

my hot take is that when the minyard-josten rivalry commences andrew creates a tumblr specifically to egg it on because he thinks it’s funny

[theminecraftbee]

minotaur Joe for the fanon swap prompts? i feel like he'd do something very philosophical and Joe(tm) about mythology. or butterfly/moth Joe?

After waking up with a headache and looking in the mirror to shave, Joe pauses. He stares at his reflection in the mirror. For the past several days, he hadn't thought anything of it; it's usual enough, for a hermit to start to get weird as the day of the start of a new project approaches. Why, if all that moon stuff hadn't happened, Joe can only imagine what growing snakes would have been like for Cleo.

He wonders if it was anything like this: Joe wakes up, stretches, hears weird clacking as he goes to the bathroom, goes to grab his razor, and rather abruptly realizes that he doesn't have a beard, or, rather, that since he now has a bull's head, he has far more beard than can possibly be reasonably shaved, and he should throw the whole concept of 'shaving a beard' out the window.

"Huh," he says. "I guess growing horns does give people a headache? Who knew?"

If his voice is wavering as he says it, well, no one's around to hear. They're between seasons, and while Joe is sharing a server with several hermits at the moment, his mountain lodge doesn't have much by way of neighbors. He's alone to have this horrible revelation.

"How will the bunny ears look with the bull head?" he asks himself. He tries to picture the result and, determining it a little less existentially terrifying than a sudden, unplanned change of species, decides to put them on. He nods. "I am a Playboy Minotaur," he mutters to himself. "I am confident! Composed! Perhaps even a sexyman? Eh, I'll workshop it. I wonder if there's better-matching armor for this..."

He hitches in his morning routine when he realizes the weird clacking he'd been hearing had been hooves. Realistically, he should now be wondering how well any of his boots will fit, now that he doesn't really have toes, and if he needs to be shoed, like a horse might, to protect the hooves from damage instead. Realistically, he should be contacting Iskall about whatever modifications need to be made for the remainder of his time hunting vaults before season 10 starts. Realistically, he should be hunting down one of the less-human hermits and asking if eating burgers to gain levels is now cannibalism. All of these things are realistic concerns that he can bother people about right now, if he wants to!

Unrealistically, he's thinking more about a conversation he'd had with Cub the other day as he stares at his hooves, hands shaking far, far more than he'd care to admit.

They'd been arguing about who Daedalus was.

It had started when they started planning together. Joe had mentioned wanting to build a labyrinth a little bit ago, and Cub, who apparently loved building mazes, was going to help out with the planning. With any luck, all of the hermits were going to help build it! He'd rambled about giving himself a bit of themeing about Theseus as a result, about conquering this whole labyrinth build, this project he'd designed not to really have an end. About having to guide himself in and out through twisting tunnels.

Cub had then pointed out that if Joe had been building it, that technically makes him Daedalus; the one guy who knew the layout, the genius inventor building the trap for the server, designing its hallways. Joe had argued that was who Cub would be; Cub is the expert madman inventor being brought on, and Joe just like, wanted to build a maze. Cub had said that that sort of made Joe Minos then, but given season seven, the guy who once got cursed to turn everything he touched to gold didn't feel very fitting. Joe had agreed it hadn't fit. Maybe they'd split Daedalus then, if Theseus was a little too thematically muddled?

They'd laughed about it. Joe hadn't really intended for the maze to be based on myth, anyway. That would be stealing Cleo's bit, and he knows better than to do that.

And yet.

"We didn't consider I might be the Minotaur," Joe says to no one in particular. "You know. Of the figures associated with the Labyrinth, we didn't consider the big bull trapped in the middle. I should tell Cub we forgot about that one. It'll be a real laugh."

He can't quite say out loud the thing he's really thinking, which is this:

Well, if the universe has decided the guy with the maze won't be the hero, or the inventor, or the king, but the bull it was designed to trap--well. What's that say about him, exactly, in symbology?

"Maybe it's just in reference to the vaults," he says, trying to hype himself up. It falls a little flat. He takes a deep breath. He realizes he's still holding his razor, even after crossing his house to get the bunny ears. He goes to put the razor down and catches sight of his head in the mirror once again.

Monstrous. He's friends with a lot of monsters, of course; he's known Cleo for more than a decade. And his mannerisms, they're still him. But right then, in that moment...

He pokes the bunny ears.

"I am the Playboy Minotaur," he says, more insistently. "Didn't Iskall have that dress he had covered in flowers? That's what's really important here. That, and the obligatory cannibalism if I want to reach the level 100 goal in time, of course. The Minotaur clearly ate meat, despite being a cow, and ate people, despite being half person, but we really know nothing about what cow would do to my diet. Hold on, I have a very confusing message I can write Iskall about this one."

He deliberately turns away from the mirror and goes to write Iskall something that will explain nothing at all, and then tell Cub about their oversight. It's not like he can change it now.

[glitter-stained]

My very personal rating of every lazarus pit fanon side effects I've ever read, ranked from favourite to least favourite :

Tapetum lucidum (the thing cats have that makes their eyes gleam in the dark): that's so creepy and cool, eery in a more discreet way than a full-on glow, idk who hced that first but they are a genius

Contaminated blood laced with the lazarus protein: because our blood renews itself pretty often, this implies the existence of either a lazarus organ that continues to pump the lazarus protein in the blood, or, more probably, the contamination of one of the blood producing organs, maybe of the bone marrow, by the Lazarus pit. Like imagine the Lazarus Pit changing you down to the inside of your bone... The implications are so fascinating I'd love to read more about it.

Altered dna: this doesn't make sense, how does the magical healing pit change your dna, I love it so much, tell me more about the magic gatorade that rewrites dna

Accelerated healing/enhancements: what's funnier, that the pit gave Jason metahuman abilities like being able to withstand a meteorite and going toe-to-toe with Deathstroke (the wiki's words, not mine) and it was just never discussed, or that nothing Jason went through gave him these abilities that he really shouldn't have and he still does and it was just never discussed? I don't know but still, that stuff is top-tier

Glowing green eyes: on the one hand, eyes that glow when the person is feeling intense negative emotions (even better it's not just rage, like, imagine having a flashback or nightmare or getting fear toxined and their eyes glow and people think they're about to attack but they just scream that'd be so cool) but on the other hand, I feel like the colour is too limiting. Sure, Ra's or Riddler can fuck with the glowing green but come on, my girl Cass deserves eyes that glow gold (like the gold from the Batgirl suit). Jason deserves to have glowing red eyes. Cicero says that eyes are the reflection of the soul and while I love the idea of the lazarus pit being toxic, contaminating a part of the person's soul, in comics, a character's colour scheme is an essential part of their graphic identity, and I think altering it to the point of giving it a totally different colour is too much for my taste personally. Like, you are still the same person that you were before the bad thing happened. Yes, it changed you irrevocably, but you are still yourself and you should still have the right to your name and to the colour of your soul.

Lazarus Rage/Pit Madness: so I've seen this one criticized pretty often, often because of how unnecessary, and honestly probably damaging, to the understanding of Jason's character after his resurrection. And like, I agree, but also I've found myself to enjoy the fanon version of the Batfam. Like, I don't like that it's murky and confusing sometimes to figure out which is fanon or canon and that that leads people to judging canon actions from a standard of fanon information, and parts of it can be sexist or racist or classist, but the same can be said from canon, you have to be critical with what you consume. Basically to me there are two batfams and I consume both differently and enjoy both, and in the context of fanon I enjoy Pit Madness. The idea of uncontrollable, alien rage is fun, is angsty, and as someone with intense anger issues I'm telling you writing a lazarus rage episode was one of the most cathartic things I've ever written and it felt so good. I also think part of the upset on the subject is a bit undeserved because I see people complain that "the lazarus doesn't work like that because it didn't do that to other people" as if the way the lazarus pit worked made any sense. You're telling me this stuff healed Jason's malnutrition but it didn't fix his trauma? That it healed the Riddler's brain cancer but couldn't be bothered to fuck with Jason's hypertrophied amygdala and the fucked up connections between his amygdala and hippocampus??! Obviously we can't expect dc to know or care about science that much , but I still have the right to be nerdy about it. Jason went into the pit resurrected by God and with brain damage and Ra's said it was a plague and that could make him crazy, I fully believe he could have gotten Pit Madness even if the others hadn't.

Eye-colour change: that's the same thing as the glowing part but without the fun part, really dislike it. I need to be able to listen to I know these eyes/this man is dead from the Count of MonteCristo Musical while making up Under the Red Hood edits in my head please and thank you

Lazarus Pit brings people back to life: I hate it so much dc stop treating life and death so inconsequentially oh my gosh characters fighting life and death situations should not have a source of immortality right in hand I hate that lazarus resin lazarus toxin stuff they have right now and the idea that the pits can bring back to life plays into that idea so I really dislike it. I understand the appeal, it's the basics of coming back wrong with a side of rebirth in the water but instead of being purified it's being poisoned, but I just can't get over how frustrating it is to see a beloved character die and only be able to say I hope he doesn't come back for his own sake and then he comes back. Urgh.

[therealvinelle]

From what I can tell, in the actual books there's just one line from Sirius saying Alphard left him some gold, and not much other canon mention of him. How did Alphard become such a big character in your fics/Tom Riddle's love interest?

You know, that's a very good question.

The true and full story behind how Alphard Black became an important character in our fics is laden with a lot of spoilers and back-and-forth, though I will say it wouldn't have happened at all if @theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin hadn't already used him in When Harry Met Tom. When we later then needed to add a character for The Man Who Would Be King, Alphard's name lent itself easily and on discussion we found he was the only that really fit the role we needed a character to play. He went on to become a surprisingly large part of secret fic, now we've imprinted on him like baby ducks and he's in everything.

So, what makes Alphard Black so fitting for what we need him to be?

We have little to go on from canon, but compared to some of the other characters fandom has decided on characterisation for, we at least have something to go on when we make stuff up. Oh, we have to conjecture, fabricate, and headcanon away, and for every possible Alphard Black we draft up someone could have used those same clues to create a different Alphard, but we would both be following certain constraints.

By contrast, characters like Alice Longbottom or Abraxas Malfoy have very strong fanon characterizations, a lot read into them, but I'd argue we have just as much, if not slightly more, to go on with Alphard Black.

With that said, here is the information we have on Alphard and how Muffin and I used every bit of it to make up as much as we could.

Teen pregnancy 1.0: Pollux edition

Alphard's sister was born when their father Pollux Black was twelve, and his father married her mother. Going by his young age, I assume this was so Walburga wouldn't be a bastard. Walburga, by her painting's ravings, appears to have spent all her life in 13 Grimmauld Place, she feels a connection to "the house of my fathers" and always had a strong sense of Black identity she tried to pass on to her sons: I think it's a very fair assumption that the Blacks raised the baby, and not her mother's family (as her mother would have been in Hogwarts as well or else a statutory rapist, either case spells a grim homelife for Walburga).

Now, Alphard's birthdate is unknown since he's struck off the family tree, but it was sometime between 1925 and 1938.

Muffin and I have decided that he was born the next year, since this gives Tom a dorm mate, and more importantly it gives Alphard a teen father, one who learned nothing from last year and assumed no responsibility. Tom now has a fucked up dorm mate, and we didn't have to (completely) invent a character.

You now have two kids raised by family members not their parents since their father is a literal thirteen-year-old, and the generational age gap is so narrow that when Walburga starts school her paternal aunt Dorea is canonically a fifth year. They want for nothing materially and the family does step up, but the complete parental absence in their life has an impact.

For the sake of funny, we thought Arcturus Black, who is already raising Lucretia and Orion, is our candidate for raising his cousin's spawn. Now Walburga's marriage to her second cousin is to someone who was raised alongside her, which is funny and so awful. Another feasible candidate is Cygnus Black, Pollux's father and currently raising four kids, but... not as funny.

Teen pregnancy 2.0: Cygnus edition

Cut to 1951. Alphard is a happy bachelor, his father has stopped having kids (legitimate ones anyhow), Walburga's happily married to their cousin, and then... their brother Cygnus does a booboo.

Bellatrix is born, Cygnus is thirteen. Andromeda's birthdate is unknown, but must have been while he was in Hogwarts because Narcissa is born in 1955, while he is still seventeen.

The same problem as with Pollux arises with Bellatrix: who wants baby? And, as with Walburga, I think a fair argument could be made that the Blacks took her in, not the Rosiers.

There are many options here (and can't rule out the Rosiers), but I think it's fair to assume Bellatrix went to live with close family.

Per the Black family, this gives us three options that I find feasible: Walburga, Alphard, and Pollux.

I don't think it was Walburga, I think that would inevitably have come up in canon, either as Walburga lost her shit when Andromeda eloped, handled her grief differently after Regulus died if she had surrogate daughters, or Sirius had a different dynamic with Bellatrix. The Orion-Walburga-Sirius-Regulus family unit doesn't come across at all as having had three nieces raised alongside the boys, so Walburga's a no.

Which leaves us with Alphard, Pollux, someone in the Rosier family, or extended Black family raising Bellatrix.

Pollux, per his wild youth, might not be topping the lists. One could posit that Pollux wants a second shot at parenting and would take in his granddaughter based on this, but he already has Cygnus if he wanted a second shot at parenting. Still, he's a candidate.

So is Alphard, however, who is living alone and has no wife to worry about, no children of his own, and a pile of gold. Per his choice to give Sirius gold after he ran away, one can also assume he's one to come through for family, which fits with taking in his much younger brother's daughter.

TL;DR: we can't prove Alphard Black didn't raise the Black sisters, or at least care for them in their early years, but someone must have and it might as well have been him.

Let there be no pregnancies and no marriages

We then enter the bit that had Muffin go "oh, gay. I will use him in my fic" long before any of the detective nonsense to come up with the above, which is that Alphard did not marry. Now, that could mean anything, perfectly straight people don't marry and gay people do marry.

However, from 1938 through 1960, no Black heirs are born. Which isn't necessarily a long time, on the contrary, Cygnus has been supplying the family with children for years now, luck just had it so they're all daughters who can't pass on the family name.

Still, taking a step back, Orion, Walburga, Alphard, and Lucretia (who married a Prewett) are all adults who are just not having any children. The Orion and Walburga are perhaps not even married, we don't know when they married, and it could be they married specifically because neither of them had found anyone else to marry and there were no sons. Alternatively, they married earlier but then did not have children until they were in their mid-thirties. Considering Lucretia's childless marriage, it might be some Blacks struggled with infertility.

A bit of nerding about why I think Walburga waiting so long to have children is odd

The tldr for Western European demographics is that if you can afford to have children and provide for your family, you will marry and have children early. The upper classes have historically married and had children much younger than the lower classes because of this. The mother's education will also impact when she has children - higher education means having children later.

I think we see this reflected in the wizarding world, in that education is both low (arguably nonexistent, considering the curriculum at Hogwarts) and in magic making material considerations Muggles must make obsolete. And we do see a lot of young parents - Lily and James are both 20 when they have Harry, Andromeda is maximum 24 when she has Nymphadora Tonks, Molly Weasley is 20 when she has Bill, Narcissa is 25 when she has Draco, Fleur would have been 23-25 when she had Victoire, Harry and Ginny are 26 and 25 when they have James Sirius, Hermione and Ron are 26-27 when they have Rose...

Young is the norm.

And with the Blacks, who were lineage obsessed, and where Walburga is never reported to have had a career keeping her busy, I find it very interesting that Walburga doesn't have children until she's 35.

There are three possible explanations I can see:

Walburga and Orion didn't want to have children, and waited for Alphard or Cygnus to get on with it, only for Cygnus to only have daughters and Alphard to have no children at all (bit unlikely since they had two sons, a couple who pointedly did not want children would have called it quits after the first)

They had fertility issues

Walburga and Orion did not instantly marry, but waited for years until it became clear Orion wasn't going to find anybody else, Alphard apparently not either, and Cygnus said "fuck you all, I've contributed three kids already", at which point Walburga and Orion were both single, both cared about the lineage, and went for it.

We've gone for option 2 since it's just funnier to have a pair of cousins all over each other at Hogwarts, "Aren't they-" "Yes and they're very happy together :)", but I think option 3 is pretty feasible too.

Either way, you can read into Walburga and Orion from the late births of their children and you also get free Alphard characterisation, because his choice not to marry starts to look rather pointed.

Back to Alphard

While the Blacks were not dying out at the time, they also weren't swimming in children. Only Cygnus was passing on the family name, and that was exclusively to daughters, and he went on to have no more (legitimate) children after leaving school. Pollux wasn't having any more (legitimate) children, and while there are and grandfathers uncles on the family tree who could do the deed they were quite old, many unmarried, and most importantly they canonically had no children.

We're down to Alphard, Orion, and Cygnus having to pass on the family name, with Orion and Walburga a decade into their marriage with no sons to show for it. Sure, Cygnus could have sons, but that would be placing all their dragon eggs in one dragon basket (and indeed, he had no sons).

Why doesn't Alphard marry?

The family must have brought it up, if not pressured him. Alphard not marrying in a world where arranging a match would have been the easiest thing in the world looks to me like a deliberate refusal.

The giving of the money to the Sirius

This all brings us to the one thing we know for sure that Alphard did in his life: he willed money to Sirius after he'd been disowned.

We know Alphard was not a blood traitor prior to this, or he'd have been burned off earlier.

I frankly take this to mean Alphard most likely subscribed to pureblood supremacy, or at least he did not mind it enough to do anything else to cross his family. Giving money to Sirius isn't a political act, it's an uncle providing for a family member who has suddenly lost everything.

(And, if we assume Alphard himself is gay: it's an uncle who sees his nephew run away from home to be with his best friend, and perhaps drawing a few conclusions of his own about the strength of Sirius's friendship to James. There are many ways to interpret his choice to support Sirius financially, is what I'm saying.)

It also seems a distinct overreaction to me that Walburga would burn him off the family tapestry for something like this, and... it seems very much like one angry, mourning, woman's way of hurting a brother she can no longer confront. If she had been hoping Sirius wouldn't make it out in the wild and be forced to return, then Alphard giving him money would be a betrayal of the highest order.

Walburga putting a cigarette to her wallpaper isn't the same as the entire Black family disowning Alphard posthumously, it's an act of grief and anger.

Where we make things up wholesale

I'll go ahead and assume Alphard was gay, had a good and stable but slightly fucked up family life, and got overly attached to his dorm mate Tom Riddle as a stranger to all of this who perhaps seemed above it all. I also vote he raised Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Andromeda, because it's a more interesting option than Pollux. (In case you didn't notice, Muffin and I subscribe to the Black family being as fucked up as we can reasonably make them.)

Vinelle, what was the point of this?

My point is that we may not have any canon appearances to go on with Alphard Black, but we do have dates, biographical facts, what he did with his will, a few statements from Walburga's insane painting and other characters, and a whole lot of imagination. And an obsessive tendency.

And a willingness to say "Mm, no. Can't read. Sorry, that fact's just wrong." when we don't like things (more specifically, Sirius's phrasing making it sound like Alphard died not too long after Sirius ran away from home, which would make him dead for The Man Who Would Be King, a fic that takes place in 1982. We will assume Sirius meant "gave", not "left".)

Wee.

[sad-scarred-sassy]

tamlin “trapped” feyre after all negotiations broke down with the certainty of knowing feyre would endanger herself and others temporarily

from the wu this fandom talks about it you’d think he’s mother gothel but like. it was only until he came back. it wasn’t like he had her isolated, restricting access to who got to see her. he offered to invite her sisters - she was the one who said no! i really don’t see how it’s comparable to feyre + the ic making nesta stay on a remote island for what it’s worth with two near strangers who she has little to no positive associations with if they can’t be considered the cause of all her trauma in the first place (in that they are fae etc)

whereas nesta’s sentence (bc let’s face it she was sent to azkaban as punishment with a fun caveat like “you’re free if you can cross the sea! and manage to maintain a sense of identity while around guards who remind you how terrible you are of course!”) is indefinite and it’s pretty obvious from everything that comes after that it’s just something she’s expected to make the best of as opposed to something that can get better with time.

and cassian being her jailer whose amicability she has to earn by performing rigorous physical activity she had no interest in even if she grew to love it.. i wonder if she’s had that experience before

sorry, i’m not disagreeing with you, i saw your post + i just die a little inside every time someone’s like “ew tampon” “wow i wish i had a cassian” like no. they’re not the same, you (not you, ily) just have the attention span of a gold fish on catnip

You know I restrained myself from posting more on this because I’m such a hater sometimes lol, gotta focus on more positive things sometimes but... I’ll get this out of my chest.

I wanna preface by saying I do not care if people like Cassian/Nessian, truly. I even like fanon Cassian and fanon Nessian. I also have seen very little people that like Cassian bashing Tamlin (probably bc of my filters and just the type of blogs I follow bc I do love them all) BUT☝🏼 what I do see is a lot of “Disclaimer: we know Tamlin is an abuser” on Tamlin neutral posts (when no other character gets that treatment) or using Tamlin as a cautionary tale of how he treated Feyre and then praise the other “mates” for being “the right ones” and treating them correctly or something, which does annoy me a bit, but alas.

In my opinion yes, you are right, what Cassian and the Inner Circle did to Nesta is a million times worse than what Tamlin did to Feyre, but nobody, nobody considers Cassian’s actions in Silver Flames as bad as they actually are. Nobody considers him an abuser like Abusive Tamlin™️. When talking about what Nesta has endured in SF people put all the blame on Rhys and Feyre (which yes of course) but they forget Cassian was also there, willingly.

I’ve seen people use the argument that both Nesta and Cassian treated each other poorly in their relationship, but I have to ask… what did Nesta do to him that’s worse than what he did… intentionally. She was mean to him and called him bastard like four times? And only when he trespassed her boundaries. Somehow this is comparable to him being her jailer, taking her to train in the middle of Illyria, being a dick when he knew she was struggling, telling her everyone hates her and he cannot understand why her sisters love her, controlling her food intake as if she’s a gym bro or something when she clearly had an eating disorder, not telling her that Feyre was not mad at her and letting her BREAK while making her carry a huge backpack and forcing her on a hike not talking to her for days, to the point she fainted and fell on her face near a cliff?? (this because she made Rhys mad). Anyway the list goes on.

And you know what I don’t care if people like this guy after all this, but it is just funny how somehow Neris shippers are the “morally dubious” ones lol (and don’t get me started on Tamlin stans aka the devil worshippers), because Nesta said she “deserved Eris” (as a punishment), babygirl your WHOLE relationship with Cassian has been a punishment, for what sins you ask? Being mean (as she should) and spending the High Lord’s coin.

And what makes it worse is that the narrative will always favor the Inner circle, Cassian will never pay for what he’s done the way Tamlin has (and still is) he will never even apologize because he was “holding out his hand” or whatever bs that was. (Honestly if I get proven wrong and he does pay and apologize then I may give him a chance, but I highly doubt it)

I won’t even pretend that I think Neris will be canon as much as I wish it was, even if I know that if SJM wrote it, it still would have had its problems but at least Nesta wouldn’t have ended up with the people who treated her like a criminal just because she wouldn’t kiss their ass. And on top of all, with a mate that doesn’t even have the balls to stand up for her. Holy shit.

Okay I got it all out of my chest I think, I’ll try not to hate so much but this shit bro makes me seethe. I’ll go touch some grass.

[honey-minded-hivemind]

sorry for not interacting, I have no excuse, I forgot tumblr existed-

the creator reader sounds awesome, like sagau but your own, like imagine if reader was a YouTuber who made commentary and stuff and decided to go over X-men,how would they feel about that?

It's fine, @crowwithguns ! You don't have to reply or look if you don't want to! Just check in whenever you want!

If Reader was a YouTuber or MeeTuber or WeeTuber or whatever their world's version is, i imagine they'd be brutal yet sweet when mentioning the characters, especially if they have favorites. Examples being:

Mentioning Scott: "Laser light show going on here, but has a heart of gold. He's such a good guy, I mean, look at his little face! Who could stay mad at him?!"

Mentioning Rogue (plus Mystique): "Give this girl therapy! Let her have a boyfriend or girlfriend or someone! And Raven, start being a mom! Stop tossing people off of cliffs! Stop traumatizing this child and let her have happiness!"

Mentioning Logan: "Yes, YES! You are good at this parenting thing, for being born in the 1800s! I wish you were my dad, seriously, you probably are everyone's choice. Good job, little angry Canadian guy!"

Mentioning Charles Xavier: "Charles! Be a parent a bit more! You need to let them be kids! Take your adopted herd of teens to the beach! Or to Disney! You better be doing that! See, this is why you need to take a parenting class! Someone get this man a parenting book!"

Mentioning Magneto: "... I want to kick your *ss so hard right now... Why would you do ThAT TO YOUR CHILDREN?! CHARLES, WHERE ARE YOU?! MENTALLY SMACK SOKE SENSE INTO YOUR BOYFRIEND!"

Mentioning Hank: "He is perfect just the way he is and is a 10/10 on being a parent, good job, Hank, you are doing great🙂"

Mentioning Sabretooth (plus Logan): "... I really, really like you, and I don't know why... Why do you and Logan always fight when you see each other though? Seriously? Each and every time. Does it ever get boring? Is he your brother? Your friend? Your son? You two need to talk it out for once! And knowing the both of you, it will turn into a bloody fight in the snow and end with, yet again, another person being tossed off a cliff... Sweet pumpkin pie, why do I... Seriously, how do I like you two?"

Reader, mentioning the show (can be X-Men Evo or a fanon version of X-Men AU): "These guys have gotten me through some rough times. Even if they fight and argue, I love how they're a family. It's really nice to see that... Man, it's been, what, how long since I saw this show/made this au/read this book/helped create this universe... It was, and always will have, a place in my heart. And my mind. Heh... I hope they enjoy themselves. It's quite the adventure~!"

All of the X-Men characters: blushing, mumbling a little, then wondering if they just heard the Creator compliment them and say they loved them...

All of them when a long time of Reader not visiting (dreaming) has passed: Xavier, do something! They haven't responded to us! Where are they? We want them back!😖😣😫

Xavier: ... Have I ever mentioned my idea to bring them here? Where they can be our friend/child/student/sibling/loved one?

Everyone else: We're worried you even thought of that, but yes, please, continue-

[1-800-writersblock]

shinsou hitoshi with a golden retriever gf 🙏🏽 also i lob u s much 😞

Book Title: Shinso x Golden Retriever!Fem!Reader

Word Count: 1.3k

Book Format: headcanons

Summary: see request!

Prompt Used: none

Content Warnings: shinso is barely in this but I needed to get something out, you/your mainly used to reference reader, fem!reader, I gave reader an honestly pretty neat quirk, not canon compliant, I turned a couple points in the show into things for Shinso and reader instead of Izuku and whoever else, Shinso’s leg is hurt for a bit, reader has parents that support her but they’re barely talked about

Author’s Notes: huhuhuu I lob u too🥹 why’d u have to move SAUR FAR for stupid college😒 n e way, FIRST OFFICIAL FIC-ADJACENT THING ON THE NEW ACCOUNT WOOHOO‼️ Brought to you by none other than my totally legit wife irl. This is probably (definitely) gonna suck, especially since I’ve never written for Shinso but eh whatever. I’ll probably have to make a part 2 at some point because as far as I’ve gotten, he’s kinda barely in it BUT ENJOY IT ANYWAY

I’ll be so fr rn, most of what I know about Shinso is very fanon🧍

but that’s totally fine

still love mah boy

anyway, if anyone knows anything about me then they know grumpy x sunshine and any adjacent tropes is one of my favorites

Shinso and his golden retriever gf are the prime example of this

BRO IMAGINE A MIDAS TOUCH TYPE QUIRK

Like if you activate your quirk and touch someone with your hands, they basically freeze in time instantly and turn to gold. Then if you touch them a second time with your quirk activated they unfreeze. A drawback could be like if you start to overuse your quirk, your fingertips turn to gold and the longer you overuse the farther up your arms the good freezes you then you have to wait for it to creep back down.

So I like to think that you two met during the entrance exam, but not the fighting part, the written part

(We’re switching the order of the tests for plot purposes)

It was just after the written part had finished and the two of you were sat down next to each other

Lets say you didn’t do the best and kept turning your pencil to gold for a bit by accident, so you barely even managed to finish

So you’re grumbling to yourself as yall are all sitting there waiting for the tests to be collected and yall to be dismissed

He probably didn’t think it was that hard, so you grumbling is making him raise an eyebrow

He hears you muttering about your “stupid quirk” and he feels the need to ask you what you mean🤭😏

So you explain to him what went on and he decides to try and ease your worries a bit.

“This isn’t the biggest part of the test, so… don’t stress out over it too much. It’s the physical test you’ve got to worry about. From what you say about your quirk, you’re bound to get in.”

This gets a lil smile out of you so you thank him and introduce yourself. He pretends to reluctantly give you his name, not wanting to seem too eager or smt idk

You basically talk his ear off the whole time yall are waiting to be dismissed and he just sits there and like. listens to every word

not even consciously, he just genuinely takes in every word you say

yapper (future) gf 🤝 listener (future) bf

Finally yall are dismissed and as you walk away, you turn back to him and give him a smile that he swears would’ve burned his corneas had yall been in the sun.

“Good luck on the physical exam, Shinso! I better see you in UA when I make it, too!”

He would take this to his GRAVE but his heart fluttered a bit

He nodded and gave an awkward and small smile back, wishing you luck quietly too before you practically skip off

Speaking of skip, jumping to the physical exam

You’re assigned to the same training ground as Shinso, and when you spot him in the waiting group you immediately get to his side and start yappin as per usual

”Oh my gosh! Shinso, you’re in this group too? That’s so cool! Maybe I’ll get to see your quirk in use! I hope my quirk doesn’t end up hurting someone somehow-” yappayappayappa

It’s finally time for yall to start and you don’t get to see him during the test

You’re doing pretty good, getting the bots into spots that they’ll tip over and break once you turn them to gold, but it’s nothing compared to some people

You start to get a bit nervous as you run around and find everyone else fighting bots but none are left for you to take down

That’s when the 0 point robot is released

Its insanely huge, and everyone else starts running away from it

You start to as well but that’s when you see Shinso hurt and in the robot’s way

At this point, you’ve already done enough at once to get your fingers gold up to the second knuckle so they can barely bend

You can’t just sit there and watch as he’s crushed by the robot so of course like the hero you’re going to be, you run forward and start to try and get one of his arms over your shoulder - which is a LOT harder than you might think it is without full articulation of your fingers

of course he’s over here like ⁉️⁉️⁉️ confused as to why you’re choosing to save him instead of just getting yourself to safety

Still, he takes the help and stands as best as he can on one leg with most of his weight on your shoulder

You help him get away as fast as the two of you can but the robot is faster

However, just before the robot gets too close to the two of you, the signal for the end of the test sounds and the robot freezes in place

Perfect timing too, because immediately after, the two of you don’t have enough strength to keep yourselves upright and you two fall side by side

Skip forward a little more again, probably a couple weeks later

You feel like you didn’t get enough points in the practical exam to get into UA, so when the letter finally comes to tell you whether or not you got in, you don’t have high hopes

you take out the small gadget, setting in on the living room table as you sit on the couch with your parents anxiously watching behind you

That’s when you’re surprised to see ALL MIGHT of all people announcing your rejection or acceptation

He tells you that your writing scores were just enough to pass that part of the exam, but you didn’t quite get enough points from bringing down robots to pass

Your heart and head drop as he tells you that and your parents start to console you, until he continues

“You may not have gotten quite enough points to pass the exam based on defeating robots. However-”

Your head shoots back up at that

“defeating robots wasn’t the only thing the judges were looking for. Rescue points were also involved.” The clip switches from All Might’s ever-smiling face to a recording from the exam ground. It shows everyone else start to run away, but zooms in on you running back to save Shinso. “This feat of bravery and pure heroism was enough to boost your scores up to passing, and exceeds many others who chose to ignore everyone else while defeating the robots.”

You start to get emotional as he continues once more.

“Congratulations, dear student. You are officially accepted into UA and will join other students in Class 1-A, the hero course! Go beyond Plus Ultra!”

As the hologram ends, the three of you sit in stunned silence before excitement overtakes you all and you celebrate your acceptance.

Your mind starts to drift towards Shinso. You barely saw him during the test, so you don’t even know how many points he got You really hope you get to see him in UA…

Skipping forward again, it’s the first day of the school year and you stand outside the door to your classroom

it already sounds like chaos as you walk in, but you see a lot of very impressive looking students in your class

One has motors in his legs, one has several arms, one is very very pink, etc

But you’re slightly disappointed as you look around and fail to see Shinso among the students. You feel a sinking feeling in your stomach, worried that he might not have gotten into UA at all.

But that feeling is squashed after the first few classes of the day are over, and it’s time for lunch!

When you walk in to the lunchroom talking to the very pink student — Mina, you’ve learned — you spot a messy head of purple hair sitting a table of students but looking disinterested

You tell Mina you’ll see her later as you make your way over to Shinso, smiling happily as you greet him…

Librarian’s Footnote: IT TOLD ME I RAN OUT OF SPACE FOR TEXT IN THE BLOCK??? It wouldn’t let me save my draft so I have to cut this short until I can figure this stuff out :( I’ll make a part two eventually! I’m sorry he’s barely in this 😭

[bittersweetresilience]

adrien often being referred to in fanon as “sunshine” and the sun and something about Felix having Moon symbolism. is this anything sunny?

sentitwin sun moon symbolism is absolutely ridiculous. i have thought about it before but never gotten anywhere. this time i consulted @ninadove about it and rotated it in my mind for many hours and i am still not sure about my verdict. therefore i'm just going to ramble a bit and then pass it over to nina. birthday teamwork!

i started out agreeing with the assignment of adrien as the sun and félix as the moon.

their personalities seem to fit the vibes. moreover, it ties into yin and yang.

adrien's miraculous is placed on the yang half of the miracle box, and ladybug's on the yin. his hair is parted to the right, which is the direction of yang, while félix's and ladybug's are parted to the left, yin.

a brief tangent here: even though the placement in the miracle box and adrien and marinette's civilian selves with their white and black outer garments respectively seem to indicate yang and yin, when they become heroes, they swap entirely. ladybug wears red, yang, and chat noir wears black, yin. their powers of creation and destruction are also yang and yin. my theory is that not only are adrien and marinette meant to be halves of a whole as partners, but their hero selves are also meant to halves of a whole with their civilian selves. yin and yang symbolism all around.

back to adrien as sunshine. before félix was introduced, adrien was established as the character in the show with the disney princess golden hair and golden smile, so it's easy to see where this fanon came from.

marinette describes her love for him as three suns in her heart.

then if we want to pair the sentitwins, and we think adrien is the sun, it makes sense for félix to be the moon.

some final evidence in support of this is mirror imagery. the same way the moon reflects the light of the sun, félix reflects adrien. both in his creation as a reflection of adrien's and in his behavior in the show. félix dresses as adrien in over half of his episodes.

but this picture is complicated by several factors. there's a fair amount of evidence that the twins are actually associated the other way around, with adrien as the moon and félix as the sun.

gold and silver color symbolism. one could easily think of gold as the sun and silver as the moon, but in the show, félix and the graham de vanilys are associated with gold and adrien and the agrestes are associated with silver. the wedding rings, the colors of their homes, their camouflaged miraculous, the lighting... anarchist gang talked about this a few months ago and i think nina may want to expand on what we discovered, so i will leave this to her.

another brief tangent here: white and black color symbolism. i have not fleshed out my thoughts on it but i am leaving notes here for future reference. adrien's civilian outfit features white, but this likely reflects gabriel's influence on him. his hero selves wear black. meanwhile, félix is introduced dressed in black and haloed in white as he enters gabriel's sphere. in the play, it's the opposite. at the diamonds' dance, he and marinette wear white and kagami, like lune rouge, wears red. obfuscation? femininity? yin and yang again?

and a third brief tangent here: when chat noir is unhealthy, he becomes chat blanc, who is white, and patte de velours, who is accented with gold. colors of entanglement? of influence? of inauthenticity? are félix's best parts adrien's idea of a perfect self? i am contemplating.

there are more significant reasons for moon adrien and sun félix. in important moments of the show, adrien is frequently associated with the moon. glaciator, chat blanc, kuro neko, new york special... and on the other hand, where does the sun play an important part of the story? in réplique, with félix.

narratively, sentitwins seem to have moon and sun roles. adrien is the one from whom things are hidden, while félix is the one who shines light on the truth. adrien spends most of his time as support, while félix is an active agent. adrien reacts to things, while félix makes them happen, for better or for worse.

nina has an entire essay on félix and the development of his sun associations from lune rouge to the sunrise in représentation, so i'll leave that to her to discuss.

all right. sentitwins are either sun and moon or moon and sun. what does this mean for them?

it intrigues me that adrien is viewed by fanon as the sun when he could be better described as the moon. adrien agreste enjoyers, please get on this.

here is a starting point for your thoughts. if adrien is the moon, it makes sense why he destroyed the moon in chat blanc when he was trying to destroy himself.

and if félix is the sun, it further puts into perspective why he felt guilty about réplique's fate. they were a sacrifice for his goals. he may has well have literally killed them.

role reversal and false impressions are prominent in sentitwins and this complicated picture adds to that.

frequently bought together. do not separate.

in conclusion, yes, autumn, this is most certainly something. fuck if i know what it is, but i love losing my mind about it.

[beanghostprincess]

Bughawk is soooo underrated and it makes me so sad. Please tell me you see how grand this vision is

I am personally more of a Shuggy/Crocobug shipper but that's mainly because Mihawk isn't doing it for me much?? I love him and his gold autistic eyes staring into my soul and his classy attitude and vampiric looking aesthetic, but I wish he had more screentime to figure out his personality better and enjoy him more. But I do like him! I swear! And tbh one of my favorite ships is Cross Guild, like, the three of them together, even if I have a bit of a preference inside of the trio. I do love them and tbh I think Mihawk and Buggy's relationship would be really funny to explore. Especially within the fanon portrayals of the characters because god forbid Oda gives the cool edgy swordsman more than three minutes of screentime and more than five words per episode.

Okay, so doing a mix between fanon and canon and "whatever the fuck I want to see these characters as because I am the princess of this blog and I can do whatever I want": I think their relationship is fucking hilarious.

Unlike with Crocodile, Buggy doesn't really know what to do with Mihawk. Crocodile at least is easy to read and he's usually the one to make the first move, but what the fuck is Buggy supposed to do with the swordsman sitting in front of him, legs crossed and staring into his soul like he's about to bite his neck and suck him dry. Scary. And also very hot. But mostly scary. But turns out Mihawk is like, way more peaceful than what he thought. He likes reading. And classical music. And swords in a very weird obsessive way that the clown should not speak about. And not much, honestly. Cooking, too, apparently. Buggy keeps learning new things about him every day and the guy opens up little by little, because even if he's quiet, the very few words he says speak a lot for himself. He's also a fucking sadist and loves teasing Buggy all the time to the point of making him cry of frustration, but, well, when he's good he's really nice to be around <3

They both have history with Shanks. You know the movie "The other woman"? The one about this girl who discovers her boyfriend is married and then becomes besties with the wife and start hating him together? That's the energy I'm getting from this triangle. Stop making Mihawk cry over Shanks not loving him and a past love!! Make him go "Oh. Yes. Red Hair and I had something. Pretty sure he still felt something for you, clown, so I am not happy about that" / "What?! Why would you be angry at me for Shanks' shitty feelings that have absolutely nothing to do with me, by the way, our thing ended years ago when his stupid-" / "No, no. I am referring to him. Moron. I like you" / "You do???'' / "Sometimes. Sort of. Maybe. Your existence confuses me". And then they start dating because nobody can tell me Cross Guild isn't just a poly relationship doing business together.

I think Mihawk likes Buggy because it gives excitement to his boring life and also he's fun to bully. Besides, he's more than what he looks like and he actually has a dream and pirate spirit, so maybe he's not as useless as he used to think. He's still annoying, yes, but oddly comforting. Mihawk can't quite figure out what he wants with this clown, so he just sticks around with him. Buggy is like a chihuahua. A very loud chihuahua. Mihawk is definitely a black cat. They don't match. At all. Not in the slightest. And yet, Mihawk likes his company. And Buggy actually loves seeing all the soft and interesting sides of Mihawk and realize that he's not as scary as he looks like. I mean, he could slice him in half if he wanted to and he's still scary and hot but, y'know, he has a very domestic side that Buggy likes.

Thinking about them being established is pretty sweet because I think Mihawk would like reading out loud to him and Buggy would make the funniest comments about the story. And they would cuddle. And it would be so uncharacteristically soft of them and it's something they only do in private. Crocodile stares at them from the corner of the room and,,, He likes having them there. He's not alone and it's kind of sweet.

Also overprotective Mihawk with Buggy my beloved. In the sense of: He cooks for him because his eating habits suck. He makes him go on walks and do a bit of exercise. He makes him read, too. Listen to music that it's not only commercial pop or circus music or musical/Broadway tunes. He takes care of the clown when he's not bullying him. I think Mihawk treats Buggy like Sharpay Evans treats her dog.

And following the Shanks thing to end this post: Bughawk is really cool because I think it would break Shanks' heart and I love angst.

[hrhwilliamfox]

mulciber names + snape gang help

im looking into snape gang, ive always been interested in them and never really sat down with them fully anything for beginners (omg it sounds like a lecture or smth) on mulciber or even group dynamics (fic recs welcome!!)

anyway point of this, is that mulciber dearest, commonly shipped with sev, does not have a first name? ive heard seth, aurum malvolio and wolfric all before,

so my questions are; which name is commonly used by fandom or which do you prefer and why?

my breakdown for it and potential headcanons incoming (lemme know how much this interferes with collective fanon or even your own personal reading of it, im always so happy to chat abt anything marauders, especially debates!!)

Seth, no personal collection to it a i've heard its from a fanfic of a sort that i ofc have not read. seth x sev sounds funny and a bit of a tongue twsiter. also as a pureblood mass believer this man would be stacked with latin names

aurum, meaning glowing dawn. ive heard this used because of its connection to vulcan (or hephaestus) with fire and armory. i like it for a few reasons lore wise and then just name wise. as a name, the dawn is associated (at least to me) with new beginnings a new rise, a new dawn. i also hear that lion king speech in dream's voice about the sun and kingdom. so very ethereal and kingly befitting for him i'd say. the more convoluted lore section is something you're going to have to trust me on for a bit. aurum and auora are such twin names, so sinistra and him as twins! different last names of course, either due to marriage after hogwarts or more interestingly for me, seperated at birth. with the second narrative i'd say its a sonya (lizzy) and newt situation from the maze runner, lost and never found. however them interacting in the same group and displaying twin behaviour without them knowing is terribly tragic and dramatically ironic.

malvio, wont stay here long because far too close to marvolo for my liking HOWEVER its a shakespeare name and william my dearest namesake deserves all the respect in the history of ever. so. it means ill will, irony at its finest. bonus points if theres a benvolio (good will) in the hogwarts scene at current. these are also italian names and thus mulciber must be italian i wont accept it otherwise.

wolfric. honestly the one im leaning most towards, the most simple the most funny and the most ironic. all because of dearest remus lupin. severus calling his beloved his bestfriend the one that dramatically pines over him while sev believes hes unlovable being called "wolf" as a nickname and remus flinching every god forsaken time it happens is comedy (tragedy?) gold. after 5th year he started calling remus by "wolf" too and mulciber is absolutely betrayed by this fact and will not buy into the "lupin is a werewolf" conspiracy whatsoever, so just very fun stuff with the name wolfric!!

give me your thoughts!!! give me them all!!! love my fandom love to chat <3

whilst writing tags: FUCKING BRUCE??? TUMBLR YOU CALL HIM BRUCE??????????

[cyandreamz]

✧Miles Edgeworth sketches✧

Today I was in the city for a few hours and spent about half that time time drawing in my sketchbook and this is the first page I did :D

For this page I decided to draw a bunch of Edgeworth's (and a cat as a warm up) because not only is he my favourite AA character (like 80% of the fanbase lol) but also, because I hate the anime trope of characters having the exact same hairstyle from childhood to adulthood! So I wanted to try drawing the three main era's of Miles with slightly different versions of his hairstyle while trying to keep the iconic parts.

(rest of commentary has minor spoilers for AA1-5)

I enjoy the hairstyle results as I think the shorter bangs for YA Miles makes him look more bratty which fits his fanon nickname and, I've seen a few of people draw Chiefworth with a ponytail and I love that concept so much cuz, not only does it look cool af but, it also has him tie in with Simon Blackquill's design a bit which I like for DD plot reasons. So I stole the design >:-)

I also changed some minor things about Chiefworth design that I personally disliked, such as making the gold buttons sliver (it matches his hair better and, distance his design away from his young design/Manfred which I prefer personally) and his glasses to be full rimed (as a glasses wearer I hate his canon glasses! that man probably gotta rub his lenses clean multiple times a day! Also the full rimed look matches his late Father :D).

Lastly, I played around with making him look more tired/aged as he got older, this does seem to be canonish as Bratworth looks more open eyed (at least his HD trilogy sprite does) and in DD Phoenix does think to himself about Chiefworth having stronger frown lines.

I think both adult Edgeworth and Chiefworth ended up look a bit older than his canon age but I don't mind that as the man is such a workaholic and, had nightmares for a good chunk of his life so I buy him ageing faster than average physically, the faces still don't look as nice as I hoped but hopefully drawing more Miles will help fix the jankyness I see but can't quite describe lol.

[mintytealfox]

Hi! I'm super new to IDV and keep seeing a lot of art (official and fan) with Fools Gold and Alice! I love it all, but I was wondering is there a canon or fanon reason for their connection, or is it just a ship that developed based on their personalities? :)

EEYYYYYY~ I would LOVE for nortalice to be canon but I will be shocked if they make any coupling canon outside of psychologist (Ada Mesmer) and patient (Emil) and if they throw in Geisha's husbando and AKA mostly those who were already coupled before the manor games~

But I personally think there is potential there~ the Da Capo game (the one they are concentrating on in the main story) heavily leans on the Greek Lore of Orpheus and Eurydice~ with the cast consisting of The confirmed roles are these two: Orpheus: Novelist Eurydice: Alice/Journalist then the potential roles are as follows: Hades: Norton/Prospector/Fool's Gold Persephone: Melly/Entomologist not sure where Frederick goes, he will probably throw a wrench into this entire thing LOL

EDIT: So technically Melly and Norton could fall for each other cause of Hades and Persephone (I wouldn't be opposed to that either honestly cause that ship is my second love LOL I don't necessarily see them as romantic but I wouldn't be upset if they got together cause of the hades and persephone thing. plus whenever they are in anything together they are constantly memeing on the other and trying to get ahead at the cost of the other loool so I think they meme on each other a little too much for things to get romantical lol but who knows they could prove me wrong one day)

BUT WE AREN'T HERE TALKING ABOUT NORTMELLY RIGHT NOW LOL right now is NORTALICE TIME LOL

but I love em cause of their personalities and I feel like they would balance each other pretty well~

for example, Alice with her OCD would be calmed by Norton's matter of fact and 'it will be fine just work hard' view on things. ((that is what helps me with my OCD anyways lol is someone I trust taking my hands and saying its fine) I have an entire post about hand movements and I went into how Norton's movements are quick and precises and deliberate and Alice would need that for grounding 👀 While Norton needs a gentle touch cause that would be so unfamiliar to him that it would make him stop in his tracks I think~)) ANYWAY OFF TOPIC

Then vice versa with Norton and his gloom view on the world and Alice comes in with optimism and cheery-ness lol. She will protect her lil grumpy people LOL

Alice 👇 Norton👇

So I guess to answer your question, its definitely on their personalities and completely based on potential~ The potential and nuance is there with what we know about them so far and there is the hope that Norton will turncoat in the story, with Melly convincing him to help her save Alice 👏👏 I just like adding the little bit of spice of 'you two get together and heal together okay' I feel like they would balance each other out well~

Norton needing that softness and Alice needing that wall to lean on. And I think they would work so well together~

I hope I somewhat answered your question, I feel like I was all over the place LOL my baaaad

also I have no idea why they keep having Alice looking so down bad for Fool's Gold 🤣🤣🤣🤣BUT I LOVE IT SO DARN MUUCCHH LOOOOL (and added to the fuel for this raging fire that is my love for Nortalice)👏👏👏🤌🤌🤌🤌💞💞💞but it has me LAUGHING at the fact that on hallucinogens drugs she STILL sees Norton as a knock out BABE -WHEEEZZEEE-

[umahumahumah]

Argentina,,,,,,

argentina's done! i like how he turned out, especially the smugness of his face lol. i do think he looks a little plain though but... ehh, it's hetalia

honestly i think latintalia is the gold standard of hetalia ocs. reading a little bit into argentina's page on the fan characters wiki, i can tell that his creator and the community has given him a lot of depth and love. while i'm not that involved in the latintalia community, i think they're probably one of the most dedicated parts of the hetalia fandom. makes me even sadder that hima ignores latin america....

anyways while i really like fanon argentina, it seems like hima tries to stray away from fanon characterization and likes giving characters his own twist (philippines being the biggest example i can think of). which is understandable because 1. making a fans oc a character in your manga is blatantly stealing and 2. people want to see more interpretations of a country instead of just rehashing the same personality all over again. also i didnt just wanna draw latintalia argentina and call it a day thats just lazy

i can't imagine argentina without his arrogance, so i think i would keep that, but i like to think he'd be more well-intentioned than he comes across and unaware of his self-centeredness. his compliments would sound something like "wow you look almost as good as i do!" but he means it in a completely innocent way. that would cause so much chaos among everyone. as a result he has developed a high pain tolerance because everyone keeps beating him up in bars

[saintsenara]

For the Love Your Fandom Asks 3 and 4 please!

thank you very much for the ask, anon. lovely choices from the love your fandom ask game...

3. who is a character that fandom has helped you appreciate?

sigh. i can hear @whinlatter cackling from here.

ginny weasley.

i've never found ginny a hugely interesting character in her canon form - nor hinny a hugely interesting canon ship - not because i think there's anything particularly wrong with either but because ginny feels so underdone within the narrative and i don't find the fact that all of her major character development happens offscreen particularly compelling.

and i've also always had a wee bit of beef with ginny's treatment in fan spaces - i don't like the way she's treated by lots of fics which want to break her and harry up [which just make her a sort of raving, gold-digging harpy], of course, but i also don't like the fact that so much writing about her turns her into either a #girlboss who hates her mam or into a bang-maid who exists only as a tool for harry's self-actualisation. but, y'know, in a twee way.

but there's - as there is with everyone in the books - some really interesting stuff which i have always been aware lurks in ginny's character arc - especially her slightly vindictive streak and, given my interests, what she actually thinks of tom riddle - but which i'd never taken the time to particularly care about.

enter whinlatter, who is a paid-up defender of ginny, but - crucially - a paid-up defender of ginny as a bit of a flop. her takes on her as a character - especially her inability to open up and her tendency to deflect questions about what she's feeling - and on her various relationships - especially the fact that she's one of the few hinny fans i've seen really dig into the fact that harry's "protection" of ginny isn't romantic but intensely paternalistic [and also her defence of the legend that is molly weasley] - are things i find really valuable to think and to talk about and to integrate into my own writing and worldbuilding.

she's also unfailingly generous intellectually - there's lots she and i continue to disagree on when it comes to her girl, but I've never found her anything other than delighted to bicker about these things - and i will never stop doing an evil little chuckle when i see myself quoted in the author's notes for beasts.

4. say something nice about a ship you don't ship

at their cores, every single ship - no matter how implausible; no matter how beholden to fanon; no matter how out-of-character - comes down to the same thing: that love [platonic or romantic] and desire [platonic or sexual] and human connection is strange and unpredictable, that it may look very different to very different people, and that it is universal.

i dislike numerous ships because i think they're rarely done in ways i find interesting - things like jegulus, wolfstar, dramione, and harmony chief among them - but i respect that they have this fundamental basis in the baffling power of love.

and that they also recognise that fandom is meant to be fun - and that making two hotties kiss in a way they wouldn't do in canon is a time-honoured way of having that fun. shipping really shouldn't be deep, and - despite the reputation the harry potter fandom has for endless beefing over shipping preferences - i am delighted by the sheer number of my fandom friends who think the same way.

[other answers from this ask game]

[infinity-or-oblivion]

so my loa batkids au has gained a little traction and i’ve hit a bit of a wall when it comes to writing new stuff so here’s an infodump to hopefully kill my writers block xoxoxo

first of all, jason. my forever number one blorbo. there’s a bit of a role reversal here because compared to all the rest of them, jason arguably had it the easiest. like we’re not going to compare traumas but an argument could be made. i honestly don’t remember if i mentioned it at all in the actual series yet, but the story i have for jason is that his childhood with willis and catherine was about the same as canon/commonly accepted fanon, meaning he was homeless around nine years old. however, instead of living on the streets for years, it was only a few months tops before meeting bruce.

and bruce! this is very fun to me, but basically i was thinking that if he didn’t raise dick, then why couldn’t this version of bruce be younger? so bruce becomes batman in his early twenties, which is also around the time that he visits the league of assassins for training and damian is conceived. (for a little more about that, here) and bruce is roughly 25 when he finds a tiny 9-10 year old jason trying to steal his tires. just imagine that it’s so fucking adorable and heartbreaking ANYWAYS bruce, despite being overall a disaster, doesn’t let a malnourished 10 year old out to fight crime right away, so there’s a couple years between when jason first meets bruce and when he becomes a child soldier yayyyy!!!! but legit, it makes a lot of difference to jason, because you know how canon!jason has some self-esteem issues (for lack of a better term) around bruce not really loving him/seeing him as a son because bruce started training him as robin (and as dick’s replacement) immediately after adopting him- you know that whole thing? yeah well here, despite jason actually offering to help bruce as a vigilante, this bruce is like hell nah you’re literally ten years old and the size of a six year old no way, and those few years in between really stick in jason’s mind as solid proof that bruce really does love him, not for what use he can provide, but simply as a son. also being the only child definitely helps with that

(that little detail of jason and bruce’s relationship is slightly inspired by minimum height requirement, which is absolute batfam gold btw)

okay so. slight pet peeve of mine is in aus where dick isn’t the first robin, the legacy is still called robin for whatever reason (lookin at you reverse robins aus) because!!!!! how dare you erase mary and john grayson’s importance!!!!! (look there’s more nuance to it than that i know but. to put it simply it feels like flying graysons erasure to me) so in this au, jason can’t possibly be called robin. the real robin has been missing for roughly seven years at this point

and listen. i tried to be creative and come up with something cool and original for jason’s vigilante name i really did, but apparently i used all of my naming talent on nighthawk (fucking love that name for dick it’s so fantastic) so we just have bluejay. womp womp

also! on my list of things to expand on: main timeline stephanie!!! i’ve had an absolute blast making myself cry while writing every heart sings a song, incomplete and those who wish to sing always find a song, but spoiler steph will always be my babygirl. and duke!!!! i have not written barely anything for duke in this universe but believe me i have some Thoughts. perhaps even Ideas. basically a lot of steph&duke and steph&babs and steph&duke&babs because i love my little underrated trio

also just more babs in general, because like. i’ve had so many tiny little snippets of cass and babs and their sweet little relationship just sitting in my notes for literal years now that i really just need to organize and expand into their own fic. and yet. i have not done that. but rest assured cass&babs are very very important to me

such is the curse of female fanfic writers: always destined to fixate more on the male poor little meow meows than the female bad bitches. seriously what the fuck is up with that guys i don’t get it why does this happen

[emo-hermit]

DR. RIVER

I figured I would revisit the design of our favourite resident teacher's pet (doctor's pet?). It's my internsona, Dr. River! Though he's definitely more of an OC, at this rate. He just has a lot of my Quirks.

This was mostly made after he seemed to get quite a bit of affection in the RDL fanon channels; so, if you're curious on who exactly this pattern-loving nerd is, look below!

Dr. O. River (he refuses to clarify what the 'O' stands for) is a member of the Rhythm Doctor Initiative within Middlesea Hospital. In some routes, he is the intern - who, after the events of 1-XN, lost faith within the remote feature of the project; and began to attend to patients in person. In others, and most commonly, he is an intern supervisor - a role given to him by Dr. Edega when one particular intern came under his wing.

Speaking of Edega, River is mostly known for his core feature: he's Edega's favourite.

To put in better words: River thrives off of overwork. The more you give him, the more energy he'll have - and, in turn, the more work he'll get done. In addition, he's professional to a fault, seeming almost robotic in the way he presents himself. Observant, efficient, and, most of all, apathetic.

Or, at least, that's how he presents himself to the lead doctor.

Truth be told, River is far friendlier as he looks. An absolute dork with a literature degree; he'll take any chance to ramble about language, formatting, prose and the like. One of his biggest features as a supervisor is that he knows stress when he sees it, and will take an intern's pager (claims its for "intern surveillance") entirely to mark half of their tasks as complete ("I've already treated this lot. Just stick to these four, and I'll handle the rest"). He also hates Edega's guts - more than you think. No, more than that.

He'll drop lore at the drop of a hat ("Want a fun fact? 'M Scottish. Don't sound like it, but I've got a whole lot o' siblings in the central highlands."), crack jokes on a whim and laugh at himself ("How do you get two whales in a red mini?"), and fake Edega's footsteps entirely to scare his first and favourite intern: Dr. Desert [owned by the lovely @fufupng].

In short: Dr. River is a monotonous nerd with a heart of gold. He can predict when patients need treating, and has an obsession with pattern recognition - but, if you need some help with that overwhelming list of tasks Edega has you doing, he'll gladly do 80% of the work for you. As long as you let him talk about words.

[Have any questions about him? Let me know! - Emo]