#i'd also be very happy because i really like how it's structured

[chillllii]

why am i only now realizing most people running social media (like the CEOs and shit) are either antisemitic cunts or zionists?

[zosanbrainrot]

part 06!! and the end of Act 1

01 02 03 04 05 06

OK SO THAT'S THAT

I don't have anything else storyboarded right now, I have the dialogues for Act 3 written down, but for the 2nd Act I'm gonna have to rewatch parts of WCI. I'm also thinking of a different approach, more like a series of illustrations not a comic, but idk yet, I'll have to rewatch and see!

It's not like I'm actually using a 3 Act structure as in 'a method of writing a story', I don't know how to and I haven't tried learning that (YET). I just think its neat and reflects how I divided my artistic process. I've always seen this story in my head as 3 parts.

And before I delve into part 06, I can't stop myself from saying that....... part 05 really needed another closeup on Sanji's face. If I ever try and repost it to another site then maybe I'll add it (between the panels of Ichiji & Zoro and the closeup on the spear, it would help the rythym but also strengthen the emotional connection, before Sanji shuts himself off)

Anyhow part 06

Most panels were a breeze, but the last two, my god, I just couldn't get them right for the longest time. In the end my favourite panels are the closeups of Luffy and Nami, I should really draw them more.

Here's how this panel in particular went:

I did like how the pose was looking in my first rough pass, the face is scrunched, the shoulders are high with tension, the direction is consistent

Couldn't execute it though... I think in the first rough sketch the camera is looking at Luffy slightly from above? Like he's leaning into it. That's why the shoulders can be so high up, but I didn't realize what it was when trying to clean it. So when cleaning the sketch I drew the head on the same level as the camera which made the whole pose look flat, also in this weird angle, like it's not fully 3/4, but it's not facing forwards either.

I didn't know what wasn't working, so I doubled down and tried with the lineart, but it didn't magically help. It just looks like he's slouching.

4. so I tried to rethink the pose and commit to a 3/4 view. I like that more of the neck is visible now, you can feel that he's leaning forward with the scream, but I think I could have pushed it a bit more still

5. with linework I made some small changes, like a bit shorter hair, smaller nose and the eyes pushed back a bit. I also added the scratches and filled in the black parts

6. added flat colors & shading!

Last panel with Sanji was even harder to draw hehe

so I thought this would be easy bcs I wanted to basically redraw the panel from the anime

that's why my rough sketch was extremely rough, I didn't think about it much

and then I had so much trouble with it lmao You'd think that it would be easier when you're covering the character's face, but I was in this undecided space of on one hand wanting to show the pain on Sanji's face and staying truthful to the anime scene on the other. I also found it super diffucult to show the emotions without the eyes

4. The pose in 3. also wasn't working so I tried to make him more slouched, like he's curling in on himself more, it was definitely a better direction. I tried going into lineart from here but I didn't like how the fingers were turning out

5. So I decided to get a new ref and took a picture of how I'd make this gesture myself. With this pose I also changed the position and angle of the face slightly, bcs it would have created a very small space between the hand and the nose and I wanted the two shapes to connect

6. I really liked the hand, but was having trouble with the hair, it felt too short, still couldn't get the face right either

7. so I elongated the hair and worked on the face some more and was finally happy with what I had!

8. added colors! At first I had it colored like the other panels, color just on Sanji then gradient on the bottom helping it fade to black, but it wasn't sitting well with me. Maybe because the space above his head was too big and I didn't want to have a background here and also wasn't adding the little floating pieces to the carriage scene (these were reserved for the grass battlefield)

9. SO! I made Sanji's figure darker and also added a darker shade to the whole scene and I think it ended up working really nice. Like he's drowning in the darkness, the only element piercing through it are Luffy's words. It also just fills up the space better lmao, feels less empty visually

Its gonna be A WHILE, before I have updates for this, I'm gonna have to start with the rewatch anyway. Right now I'm gonna have to focus on finishing my extra pieces for the @rdtriozine !! If any of you read this far you may as well check it out lmao I have a full illustration spread there and gonna have spots for a fic too ❤️ I just need to draw them!!! AGHHHH

[alizalayne]

Hello! this will be a quick process post so that you can see how I needlefelted a fursuit head!

I began by following the "bucket head" tutorial by Matrices, then added a layer of polyfill so that I wouldn't use as much of my merino wool. This is how I typically make a doll head, my "core wool" is often polyfill because it really likes to clump together and fuse.

Overall, this project took about two months of my spare time. This is the first fursuit head I have made, but not my first needlefelt project.

I would really like to encourage other people to try making masks this way! You can do any kind of subtle color with wool and the wool fiber is very cheap. If you wanted to make a fursuit head with the entirety of starry night flowing over it, or a head with tons and tons of complex colors, I think wool might be the best material. I also did not need to know how to pattern or sew in order to make this-- it was sculpture rather than sewing, which I am bad at.

The rest under the cut!

Another angle where you can see that I am building up the structure of the head.

I then made the ears, which are translucent because they're felted, just like real ears!

I wasn't happy yet with the proportions at this point, so I spent a lot of time figuring that out and deciding where and how I'd be placing the eyes.

I made a pair of sculpey follow-me eyes by using a little soy sauce dish as a concave circular mold and tried a foam clay nose and teeth. The sculpey eyes could be more successful, they took a lot of shaving and adjusting to get right and they eventually cracked from the strain I'd put them through while making them more shallow. For a while, I intended to make wefts of white wool to use on the sides of the head, but I ended up preferring a domestic shorthair head shape because it reads the most clearly as a cat vs any other animal.

I originally intended to have the eyes behind clear plastic domes and used "shaker domes" that people use to make greeting cards to cover the eye, but in the end they made the eyes too dull. I made foam clay housing for the eyes and painted it pink with acrylic paint. I used stick-on car window tint to create the pupils. My visibility inside the head is really good!

Finally, after fiddling, one of the eyes was deeper than the other and I had to re-set both to account for it. I added spot glitter on top of the acrylic paint on the eye using some gold watercolor paint I had, which was silly because I'll need to wash the head at some point. I will probably seal the eyes before washing and hope for the best. I intend to spot clean the head until it absolutely needs to be washed, at which point I'll remove some pieces or find a way to protect them while soaking the head in a cool dr. bronner's bath.

I glued down a layer of felt fiber on top of the foam clay "tear ducts" and then felted new fiber over the tear duct skin and cheeks to blend them into the face. I also removed the teeth and closed her mouth because I didn't have time to adjust the teeth as much as I wanted before the con that my friends and I attended. I would like to modify this head so that she can open and close her mouth.

Lastly, I added wire whiskers with little glass beads looped onto the ends and paper eyelashes that I also watercolored and sealed, like the insides of the eyes. Like I said before, it's gonna be a problematic wash, but I'm confident I'll figure it out, and I can always repair her or replace her lashes if something goes wrong.

Last thing, to keep the inside of the head nice and cool and prevent fogging since in the end I closed the mouth and had sealed eyes, I made a snorkel out of a snorkel mouthpiece fitted into two collapsible auto funnels.

I would say that realistically this entire project cost me less than $150. I had some materials lying around, like the wire and the beads and the sculpey.

I added two ear vents on either side of the head so that I had options on where to feed the snorkel out. If you look at the other pictures on the blog of me wearing the head, you mostly can't even see the snorkel mouth. However, it was a little problematic to let go of the snorkel to talk. it would be perfect for a silent suiter, but I'm lucky that so many people wanted to talk to me. I'd like to try and replace the snorkel mouth with something I can talk in, but I'm not sure what to use. It should be something that can create a seal to keep my breath out of the head. it's possible that I will be able to make something with a painter's mask.

I hid the "seam" between the head and my body with two yards of tulle tied into a big bow and sewn down onto the neck so that it wouldn't move around.

I hope that if you try making something similar you'll show it to me!

[beatcroc]

a year!!! as of today i have now been drawing these funny little pizza freaks, to the exclusion of almost everything else, for!!! an entire year!!! i wanted to do a nice group shot/lineup of everybody to compare to when i first started trying to draw them because oh boy were they bad. i never even posted most of them anywhere because they were so bad. but im posting them here, now, to see how everything's changed/evolved.

this is probably the hardest time i've ever had trying to figure out how to work with a style, but we got there eventually; i'm pretty happy with the handle i've got on everybody now...dont let ur memes be dreams. lots of unimportant journaling and idle thoughts abt it below.

older pics

the first one is the VERY first time i drew them, before i thought i was going to actually have any interest in drawing them [lmao]; it was just the one isolated image, for my friendserver, to illustrate the funney message, so there was no attempt to make it Good or actually understand anything going on w/ the designs or style.

second is the original run of practices sketches to start trying to figure them out for real; done after i started having ideas for the comics and such and realized oh god maybe i am actually gonna draw fanart for this. [again, lol, and lmao.]

third one is the first pt art thing i posted on here. there were a couple weeks of sprite studies between this one and the previous image. the one on the top right wasn't part of that post i just threw it on as space filler; i'd intended to shift to doing Sprite Redraws But Stylized to explore tings more, but that was the only one i did. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

individual characters

peppino: by far the hardest dear god. bro what ARE your shapes how DOES your face work. jesus christ. everything i have trouble with this style for, peppino has it in excess. i draw in polygons! i need consistency! and that is the last thing this kind of style is concerned with. they are made of squarshy clay and i do not understand how to mold them. i was really hoping trying to learn this game's style would GIVE me that kind of flexibility for fun exaggerated facial expression but i don't think much came of it in the end 😔. anyway on the bright side all this means once i got peppino figured out a little bit everybody else clicked way easier.

fake peppino: honestly i never did anything with him on purpose except for how his eyes work + the perma-smile thing. i figured ok hes supposed to look weird and off model so whatever happens with him happens. and it did. and it kept happening. it is still, in fact, happening.

noise/ette: somehow, for every bit that peppino was the least natural thing i've ever tried, these two worked pretty much right off the bat. i still don't understand it, seeing as pretty much all the things at play for peppino are also at work for them. i think the new sketches are actually a little worse than older ones but not enough that i care.

gustavo: really funny bc i drew him on model twice and just went 'okay, cool nice, easy, um. he doesn't have any fucking legs?' fortunately he was the only one i had a strong idea for how to stylize him [square] and it worked exactly as i was hoping so wahoo.

brick: is an animal and therefore 5000x easier and more natural for me to draw/stylize than anything else in the cast. that is Just a rat bro. i can draw a rat.

gerome: i think the funniest one here. the most drastic and least necessary change imo. i was gonna have him be really small at first, like smaller than the noises, but then i just... didn't. he's just peppino-sized now. also i gave him like. actual human facial structure, which is funny bc in most cases i'd do anything to avoid, but it works well for his being A Rock to give him some angles and definition like that+ to differentiate his vibe from the rest of the cast who are all very squishy. also since he is essentially Just A Head it's good to emphasize that too ig.

john: i only drew john a couple times but he gets to be here because i like him. and because most of the stuff i applied to gerome was readily applicable to john, though i did try to keep him a little more uncanny because he is a Huge And Lanky Freak. i hate that he is barefoot btw but idk how to make his color balance look right with shoes.

pizzahead: i did not want to put him on here honestly but i Have drawn him a handful of times and more importantly i didn't know what i was gonna do with john's pose if i didn't have him there to be glared at. the only thing that's different with him is giving him wider-bottomed pants, which i got from when i tried to draw these guys in clone high style [i never posted that one either][i will eventually]

snick: he gets to be here because 1. he's like 6 lines 2. i like him and 3. ive scribbled him a few times offhand and it went pretty well

misc

there are some guys missing because those are guys i didn't draw enough [or at all] to have gotten comfortable with them. sorry

i would have Liked to shade these but for the time being i have accepted that my grasp of light/shadow has decayed to the point im not going to be happy with anything i try there, so For Now i am working on my presentation with flats i guess. gerome has a shadow only because he's shaded like that ingame and looks naked without it

anyway if you are still reading [hi?] i get to shamelessly plug now. i'm over the hill of my pizza run now, and while i still have plenty of things i want to make here, most of the bigger more in-depth ones have passed. pizza tower was the first thing in THREE YEARS to get me out of my oc groove to doing fanart, and once i am done with my ideas here i will be going right back to it. if you like my art or how i write characters/interactions you should check out my oc/webcomic blog @jamverse . i can't promise people who like pizza stuff will be terribly into my designs, but i can guarantee i treat my guys with the exact same sort of tone i handle the pt guys with. and hell, i've mentioned it a few times before, but like 70% of my characterization for fake pep is just copied off one of my characters, so if u are going to miss him... he will still be there in spirit >;p

and if you dont care about any of that and are still reading thank you anyway. actually making these comics + seeing how shockingly well-received they've been has done a lot for my confidence, and for seeing that my kind of stuff IS something people enjoy :')

[allthegothihopgirls]

i think most of the robins bit people in fights at some point. they never really talked about it but i think it’s almost a requirement because as much as they’re all very traumatized children they’re also very feral children, in spandex suits, fighting mentally ill people, so it had to have happened a few times.

also i think damian’s one of those kids who goes up the stairs on all fours when no one is looking. let him be a weird gremlin of a kid when no one’s around

i'm not sure that 'feral' is the exact term i'd use when describing the robins, except maybe young jason. i think they're a lot more unhinged than they are feral. as much as dick was a 'circus freak', and tim rarely had attentive parental figures, and damian was raised by the league, their upbringings were still all somewhat controlled + structured.

i think that with the biting, although it goes unmentioned, bruce would notice it (and maybe touch on it not being the ideal attack to make), but apart from that i just don't think it's something they really recognise as a 'thing'.

(i have a lot of thoughts about the headcanon of jason actually biting people as a defence mechanism, whether it be in combat or at the manor, but that's somewhat off-topic.)

i see a lot of people saying that they don't think damian would bite or engage in all that 'unsophisticated' behaviour because of his upbringing, but i just don't agree. at the end of the day he's still a kid, and slowly letting go of the negative practices enforced on him by the league. of course he's going to still have childish impulses, i think he just learns to give into them more the longer he stays at the manor.

i think if he were to get into hand-on-hand combat with any of his older brothers (even if it be over something stupid), he would sooooo resort to biting them if they had him in some kind of hold. he might even do it as robin. i've seen people who say he wouldn't diminish his training by resorting to that, but once again i don't agree. he's resourceful, biting is just another skill in his arsenal, and he's 100% aware that it adds to his little shit reputation™.

and he definitely just. acts like a kid sometimes, and is SO odd about it. whether it be by going up and down the stairs weirdly, meowing to alfred the cat, making race car tracks out of household items that span several rooms, getting overly excited about a certain tv show or book series, choosing outfits that clearly don't match but make him happy, etc etc (i have a post about how damian might act like a regular kid, in more detail)

[windvexer]

Sorry for the odd question but when you divine for results of baneful spell work do you want a negative card or would you want something positive? I can't really decide what would be better because positive could = you get good results or the spell didn't work because the outcome is happy? And negative could be = intended results or everything went to shit? Idk do you get what I mean?

No, this is a great question! And you've given me an excuse to talk about my favorite thing in tarot, which is deriving answers from sources other than card meanings!

In all cases of troubleshooting vagueness, try to discover the stumbling block. You've already done this - it's hard to determine the portent of the card because we don't know who the card is referring to.

The problem here isn't interpreting the card, per se; the problem is the framework within which the card is placed. "Outcome" is a broken bridge of meaning because we don't know if it's leading us to our island, or our target's island. You've recognized that one bridge can't carry you to both places, so you're trying to figure out which island you're walking to.

The solution isn't to interpret the card harder, but rather to design new questions or spreads that have better frameworks to organize the information you seek.

Reading tarot isn't just the interpretation or memorization of a card, but also includes developing meta-structures to help frame and interpret the cards.

Those 'meta-structures' are the skills of learning how to phrase questions, how to build and modify spreads, and how to think about the flow of information itself so that you can build bridges from desired goal ("I want to know the outcome of this hex") to obtainable results ("I will clearly define that the outcome refers to the target and not to myself.")

As with many things in witchcraft, the solution in tarot is often to know exactly where you'd like to go.

So, to answer your question! (Finally, lol)

If I was trying to read on the spell's outcome for the target, I'd probably want to see a negative or dreary card; if I was reading on the spell's outcome for me, I'd like to see a very positive or triumphant card.

Troubleshooting ideas for when the portent of the card is unknown because it's not clear who the subject is:

Create new spreads that differentiates between you and the subject.

Use the question to clarify whom the card is referring to.

Anchor intent by using signifiers to demonstrate whom the subject is.

[erendur]

Crack Silm relationships I'd like to read about

It would completely ruin the story and Jirt’s intents, structure, motifs and characters, but at least I could read the Silm without going “No, not the ruin of Beleriand again ! Ah, no, please, not the third Kinslaying, I can’t !”.

Maedhros and Lúthien.

He has trauma, looks much the worse for wear after his captivity, and would definitely piss off her dad as a choice of boyfriend (rebel teenage Lúthien energy). She is the most beautiful (self-explanatory), a unique type of Elf-Maia being (Noldor like novelty and are curious), spends a lot of time singing which I guess would foster a sense of comforting familiarity in one wounded not just in body but also in mind ?

Anyway, they could have a great Wounded Beast who Swore a Stupid Oath and Committed Some Crimes and Eldricht Beauty I Can Fix Him dynamic.

They both hang out in forests enough that they could easily meet. She would take him of a stealth mission to steal the Silmarils. He would borrow his brother’s knives (one knife per Silmaril), and they would be successful. Huan could give a hand out of family solidarity. Morgoth would be to stunned/ashamed/doesn’t really like to move his ass from his throne anyway so nothing much would happen immediately. They would still be at war and Morgoth would make more monsters and bid his time.

Lúthien could wear the three Silmarils on a crown. Maedhros would be very happy and proud. She is canonically the prettiest Elf ever and he is “well formed” so they could have the prettiest babies. And actually, and I’m very aware that is not at all how genetics work, but they would have Lúthien’s canonical descendants as their babies. That’s 7 of them, which sounds like an adequate number of sprogs for a Fëanorian (no need to change the family sigil !).

Eärendil and Elwing would be the elder, a twin brother and sister. At some point in their teens (Elvish teens, they’re in their thirties), they decide to take a Silmaril from their mother’s jewellery box and to go on their own little stealth mission to save the world, after having spend too much time with their Uncle Fingon. Since Elwing is very eldrichty and can change into birds, and Eärendil can (check note) make boats, the missions is of course a total success. Guided by the light of the Silmaril, they eventually land on the shores of Valinor where they immediately start singing a moving song about the plight of Middle Earth. Eärendil accompanies the song by playing Fingon’s harp (he knows how stealth missions work and of course took Fingon’s silver great harp along with his mother’s jewellery), Elwing leads a chorus of seabirds at key moments.

The Valar are of course moved (have we mentioned how pretty they both look ???), they send an army to Middle-Earth, Eärendil and Elwing are given the right to spend their life travelling between Middle-Earth and Valinor by the Valar as a reward. Eärendil choses to do the trips in the sky on his boat (because he can), his mum’s Silmaril on his forehead, the shadow of Fingon's harp clearly visible against the light of the Silmaril. The Fëanorians are totally cool with it, since he is himself a Fëanorian.

Elwing eventually settles in Tol Eressëa where she becomes Queen of the returned Elves, and therefore beats her Aunt Galadriel to the post by about an age at being the first reigning female ruler among the Elves.

Dior would be kept well away from making any sort of political decision. Given his clearly incredible fighting talents though, he would either end up being Celegorms’ favourite nephew and heir, or, my favourite version, he would take over the cavalry and the Gap from Maglor, who would be able to finally go chill somewhere and write some music.

Elured and Elurin would eventually inherit Doriath, just because. Or they would go and live a wild life of hunting and hanging out in the forest with their uncles Ambarussa. They’re still twins.

Elros and Elrond are obviously still twins as well. They are born very shortly after Elured and Elurin, and since that’s a lot of eldricht peredhil twins to have under just one roof (just the weather is wild, people are begging Mae to do something about it), they are given to foster to another family member as per Victorian family traditions. This family member is, of course, Maglor, who doesn’t really get to chill for very long after all. Since he’s no longer in charge of the cavalry or a super-hard-to-defend position, he raises the twins.

Elros of course is now an Elf-Maia peredhel, and doesn’t have to die. He still founds Númenor and becomes their king, because someone with the gift of prescience finally used it for something useful and figured out that these guys could really do with a wise, immortal ruler, who wouldn’t, you know, suddenly decide to go and invade Valinor once he finds the burden of mortality too hard to bear. Elendil is his son. Isildur his grandson. He is kept well away from rings.

Elrond is pretty much the same, but with less people around him having died/disappeared/been killed. But he’s too awesome to be different. He’s still the same “kind as summer” dude. He becomes his father’s heir, because he’s just too awesome. Everybody thinks it’s a great choice, because he is too awesome. He’s bestie with his cousin Gil-Galad, the High King. 

That turned out to be a longer post than intended so I’ll post the rest later.

[rathologic]

P1 Saburov and Viktor are so terribly underrated and it's such a shame because their characters are immensely interesting and way more developed beyond "evil corrupt politician" and "isolated and rich single father with much children cooler than him", which is how I've seen some people halk about them. You are doing god's work

Oh deeply... I do think there's an effect where an important part of both of their arcs as rulers is that they're rendered obsolete halfway through the game, as soon as the Inquisitor shows up and overtakes their authority. from that point on only their associated healer gets to interact with them at any depth, but both of them are also planning to die (...normal reaction to being rendered obsolete) so it's harder for their dialogue to stick outside what's most vital for quests. also since nobody plays changeling route :-(

I see victor reduced to 'wifeguy' more than 'guy with important kids' more often (and enjoy it, even partake!) but he stands out to me as having the most personal, even self-centered wants in the cast- repairing his relationships with (living) family, the wish to leave and finish his university degree; in fact I'd say victor is someone who's been deprived of the things most important to him for a long time, and is in a position where he could get them back, if he only abandoned the project of leading the Town towards utopia which the kains have devoted themselves to for the past 5 years / forever. and nina's soul is present in and tied to that project, but there is some level on which only victor remembers her as a person instead of a divine instrument- and that lends itself to the ability to grieve and move on. if victor kain walked out of pathologic I think he'd ultimately be happy, and I think he's unique among the rulers for that. but the tragedy of all of the families is that they're embedded in a town and traditions that Will Not Let Them Out

whereas saburov is like. he grew up in this town, his mother would've been a Mistress herself, the town's needs and impositions as a structure are so ingrained to him that he doesn't conceive of any selfhood or duty that Doesn't involve his role as The Saburov, putting himself on the line for everything that might befall the town. and the patterns are also so ingrained to him that he starts to think he can change or at least outsmart them. come to think of it, the whole first half of changeling route is his trying to find someone responsible for the plague, and ultimately when there is no such person he takes that responsibility onto himself but He Tries so hard first... clara's presence disrupts the balance and therefore taking her in might allow him to control the balance (and per recent discussion there's a masculinity in his need for control), except the conjectures he makes don't really apply to something completely new and unknown. and to his credit saburov loves changing his mind when presented with new information and there's a lot of guilt accumulating because of it and ultimately he gives up that control to clara, being one of few characters to genuinely grow over the course of the game. But in a way that's still symbolically equivalent with death 🙂

So they're two self-abnegating people who are the "less important" member of their ruling family and become surpassed by their daughters in the town to come, but from totally perpendicular backgrounds that cross just at this point... it's very fun that they don't get along as administrators when rulerhood is the one thing they kind of share

[futurequibblerjournalist]

Sorry if youve explained b4 but why did you name your shipes those names? :0

I don't think I've covered that so far? Not all of them were made up by me tbf, most of them came from @literallysleepy but I'd be happy to explain them! I've not mentioned them all on here I think, but I'll cover what I've got. Obviously there are some we didn't come up with you I figured I'd just include them all

Cosmiccreation/Xenophilius x Pandora: A reference to their hippie-ish attitudes (a common headcanon for them in general but especially in aus) and the creation is based off of Pandora's occupation as an inventor. I have seen quillseer for this two as well, the quill from Xenophilius's occupation as an editor for The Quibbler and seer because it's a popular headcanon that Pandora is one, but since I don't follow that headcanon it doesn't make sense for me to use that shipname. If I see a shipname with seer in it, I'll likely think it's for Sybill

Crownest/Severus x Igor: It originally started as Crow's Nest but obviously it doesn't fit with the way a shipname is usually written. A crow is a dark bird (obviously) and then a crow's nest is also a structure in the upper part of the main cast of a ship, so there's the dark bird for Severus and then there's the bird in reference to Igor as well and then the ship is a reference to Igor and him being from Durmstrang and the fact that they travel by ship and all that

Flowerpot/James x Lily: Just a fun name for jily, really, I know it's not used as much but yeah,,, Lily=flower, James=Pot(ter)

Ratseer/Peter x Sybill: Peter's animagus is a rat, Sybill is a seer.

Rosekiller/Barty x Evan: Rose comes from Rosier and killer is just,, well it's Barty and he's a murderer so like,, yeah rosekiller

Seabunny/Charity x Igor: Similar like how a crow's nest is a thing on a ship, the sea comes from Igor's connection to Durmstrang and their chosen mode of transportation aka a ship sailing the sea. The bunny part comes from Igor calling Charity "Bunny" as a nickname because she's bunny-like in his head. She scrunches her nose when she smiles and laughs (like a bunny nose twitching), she's very bouncy in general, and during sex she'll thump her foot in the air like a bunny

Starchaser/Sunseeker/James x Regulus: Regulus is a star, James is the sun, chaser and seeker are common headcanons for their quidditch positions. James is chasing the star aka Regulus and Regulus is searching for the sun aka James

Starrynight/Aurora x Severus: It feels a little self-explanatory, but the starry comes from Aurora and her fascination with the stars and night comes from Severus and him generally

Whitecastle/Lucius x Narcissa: It's a reference to their light palettes and their high status

Wiseprince/Edmund Jr x Severus: The Avery family is represented by Barn Owls and owls commonly symbolize wisdom, hence the wise and Severus's mother's name is Prince and it's been used for his half of a ship name in other ships. These two were also called emofaggot for a while lmaoooo cause,,, Edmund's a faggot and have you looked at Severus?

Wolfstar/Remus x Sirius: Wolf=Remus, star=Sirius

This was super fun to go through, I'm honestly surprised no one asked before! Cause like in my head they obviously make sense but yeah they might not to everyone else vfnbjgnbjg

[greenerteacups]

In future film adaptations of the HP series, DH is the one book I'm happy for future filmmakers to "mess around" with as much as they like to improve the visual / story experience for all the reasons you mentioned. I'm very happy for them to do a somewhat Twilight film Breaking Dawn-esque departure. Like, instead of focusing on the trio in the woods the whole time, let's get into what the Order are up to, let's show our friends keeping the DA alive at Hogwarts, let's show the other muggleborns having to go into hiding, let's flash over to Draco suffering the worst house guests ever... like we have this expansive cast of characters, let's not waste them for the extended camping trip from hell... also the best part of HP is the wizarding world itself, so many amazing magical set pieces in the world... and we spend the last book mostly in the forest...

Speaking of which, with there being a new series adaptation in the works (with rumours of potentially more HP series to come... perhaps even a Lily Potter / Marauders/ Snape based one...) is there anything you're excited about finally seeing adapted from canon or are terrified of potentially seeing butchered onscreen?

Yeah like and also it isn't even an INTERESTING forest. Like the "children wander into the enchanted forest and face [insert monstrous metaphor for adulthood]" is one of the oldest fairytales in recorded history, with a ton of creepy lore to draw on — you could have had the kids running through mystical haunted forests of ancient Britain! Running into the ghosts of Roman soldiers and Celtic ruins and magical creatures! Forest of Dean could have been COOL.

To your other point: I'd much prefer a Marauders series to a remake of the original. I'm of the not-unpopular opinion that the HP movies are as good as any adaptation of any book can get (save probably the Lord of the Rings movies) in terms of how they balance story structure, fidelity to the text, and onscreen pacing. The cinematography decreases sharply in energy and verve after Alfonso Cuarón, and the later movies unfortunately suffer from the mid-2000s trend of desaturating the frame, but they're solid movies and like — okay, in my heart of hearts, there's a little part of me that's like. Daniel Radcliffe will always be my Harry. I grew up with Rupert Grint and Emma Watson and Tom Felton, and seeing someone else in those roles will never hit me like it did to see eleven-year-old Hermione Granger alive for the first time on that screen. Which is not a real reason. But there you go.

There's also the problem of the genre pivot — the first few movies are obviously children's films, and a whole generation of millennials got to grow up as they gradually changed to Y/A films. But how many children are going to be watching a full season of a HBO miniseries? And how many adults are going to watch that miniseries and then complain it was underwhelming because, again, it's a children's series? It would be better, in my opinion, to start over with the Marauders, whom you can write into adventures that more naturally fit the pacing of a TV show. You can also start with them at like, age 14, which would solve the problem of years 1-3 essentially being about kids in middle school. Unlike HP, nothing happens that we know of in the first 3 years of the Marauders Era that's plot-essential, so strong writing in the pilot and a carefully chosen flashback or two could easily set the stage for a series starting in Year 4.

What I'm nervous about is the contingent of fandom that would expect it to be essentially a TV adaptation of All the Young Dudes, which — while it's an all-time legendary work of fanfiction, like all-time, incredible, wonderful story — does not much resemble what I think HBO writers' room would come up with. ATYD is a slice-of-life bildungsroman about Remus Lupin, and most of its stakes come through emotional tension — you can really easily transplant it outside of a magical setting, and you lose almost nothing. A Marauders show would be an action-adventure series modeled after the Harry Potter books, and it would need an episode-by-episode plot. In ATYD, Remus's development is the engine powering the story. That's not enough in a television series pitching itself as an action-adventure fantasy story, and I don't think the HBO team would be bold enough to depart from genre in this respect. After the failure of Fantastic Beasts, the execs are probably going to clock "Harry Potter show without Harry Potter in it" as a major business risk. Sowhile I'm open-minded and eager to see what the creatives would come up with, I wouldn't envy them the job of having to build out new personalities and arcs for characters that fans have already grown quite attached to their self-designed interpretations of.

It strikes me, too, that Rowling has never gone back to the Marauders as a potential vein for more books, even though she easily could have. She clearly doesn't mind dabbling in the HP universe, and the Fantastic Beasts movies show she's happy to bring the audience back to Hogwarts when she wants to. But for some reason, Harry's parents has always been a little too close to the original series, and I think maybe there's something in her that's afraid of revisiting that period — like if she fucks it up, she's damaging something directly connected to the books that made her famous, cheapening them. Or maybe she just doesn't want to write those stories. Who knows!

I do know that the most important name in that show would be the writing credit, because JKR has demonstrated (1) she isn't great at writing original stories for the screen, and (2) it's really easy to fuck up the pacing of a TV show, and if you don't get the pacing of Harry Potter, then you're not going to adapt it well. The HP books are essentially mystery novels that turn into spy novels. If you don't have that — if you think you're writing a high-fantasy epic from the jump, as the Fantastic Beasts writers seemed to believe, and as the Cursed Child writers seemed to believe — then you're going to write something that doesn't feel like Harry Potter, and most people will notice, even if they don't understand why.

[uriekukistan]

hi i trust ur translations so i was wondering in 266 the first panel which is more accurate for what fushiguro says? “that's enough” or “you've done enough” ?

hi omg first of all thank you 🙏 actually i'm really glad to talk abt this bc it's such an interesting line. it's a very tricky translation honestly (megumi said the same thing in 251 and there were like 5 translations...), so this will be a bit long.

he says it twice in the chapter, but the meaning shifts due to context & a grammar structure that doesn't exist in english, even though he says the same thing. i'll put my translation first, and the explanation after bc idk who wants to read all that 😭

on page 1: "That's enough." on page 2: "But I've had enough."

also i HATE the "you've done enough" translation. i'll explain why in the rest of the post, but essentially, the focus of the sentence is megumi's feelings, not anything yuuji is doing...also the verb "to do" isn't even present here so,,,,,idk maybe that's just me.

basically what megumi says in japanese (もういいんだ), word for word translates something like "it's/i'm good already" or "it's/i'm good enough" (japanese omits pronouns often, so it's/i'm is up to context).

the thing that makes this translation tricky is the particle ん. it can be used for a few things, but in this case, it places an emphasis on how the speaker is feeling, which leaves the phrase up to interpretation a bit more, since it could be expressing a lot of different emotions. for megumi, i'd say it's defeat/resignation.

that's why there's so many discrepancies in translations, because translators are trying to find a way to carry that contextual emotion over into a language that isn't built to hold it. word for word translation here doesn't really do the phrase justice. it sounds very detached in english, comparatively

like megumi said the same phrase in 251, and it was translated several ways, but because of the very personal nature of the particle ん, i prefer "i've had enough," as a translation for this because it centers megumi and his feelings of defeat.

at the beginning of 266, i can see "that's enough," as a good translation because he's addressing yuuji directly and telling him that he can stop, basically. again, it's still very personal, so i don't really understand the "you've done enough" translation. the original sentence honestly doesn't have anything to do with yuuji. it's solely about megumi's feelings.

the second time, he actually says でも、もういいんだ (でも means "but" or "however" - not sure why it wasn't in the official translation 😀). the context has shifted to him talking about what he wants and what would make him happy, and the conjunction links the phrases together in contrast (then i'd be happy, but...), so personally, i'd go back to "but i've had enough."

hoping i didn't yap to much or that this wasn't boring.....i think things like this are a really interesting feature of the japanese language, and one of my favorite parts about it sjfkgh. unfortunately, it does mean a lot of things get lost in translation, or at least the full weight does.

thank you for asking tho omg i've been DYING to talk about this specific phrase

[prince-liest]

oh my god…. prince……. you can’t do this to me. you’re saying next fic has vox getting fucked, focuses on vox’s transness (AH), AND ALSO HES ON THE OFF SEE SAW OF HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH VAL?????? ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL MEE?!!?!!????? I THINK I MIGHT ACTUALLY COMBUST. and bc another anon asked abt how alastor views the violence in voxval’s relationship, i have Another thought on the matter. as much as alastor looks down on vox, they can be Very similar sometimes. they are both egomaniacs and very prideful. i don’t think vox, without outside interference, would ever ADMIT that the violence he faces is 1) something he truly hates AND 2) out of his control. he can’t admit he hates it, because then why isn’t he stopping it? that would be admitting to not being powerful enough or strong enough. and hello, 50’s toxic masculinity coming through, he CANT be a victim of domestic violence. he’s a powerful, rich, and important man. it all comes down to perceived weakness. so, the solution is to pretend he’s mostly fine with it. sure, he can act disgruntled and upset in the moment, but i don’t think he’d ever let himself take it seriously. because then he has to start drawing lines in the sand, and what happens then? will val look down on him? will he lose val? yeah, he is not risking that over a problem he mostly refuses to acknowledge exists. and as you said, this is all happening in the setting of hell, where ultra violence IS the norm, and vox himself is excessively violent. it’s the most delicious 50 layer cake of fucked up-ness.

RANT ASIDE THO. i have a question. 2. do you ever plan on having vox interact with the hotel crew outside of angel? ANDDDD what would charlie’s reaction be to their friendship/situationship/ kinda love affair. i think she could add SOOOOO much hilarity and Intense Emotions to this series. not that the boys haven’t been doing their part in that so far. charlie just intensifies everything she does, god bless her. -🌓

The "getting fucked" bit and the trans conversation bit are directly related to and relevant to each other, and frankly I'm just very happy to be out here writing the specific flavors of deeply queer shenanigans that I'm writing, and to have people actively enjoy that. It genuinely means a lot to me that I've strayed so goddamn far out of the bounds of good old top/bottom yaoi archetypes that introduced me to fandom and yet have a wildly enthusiastic audience nonetheless. So, that was my long way of saying that you bring me a lot of fucking joy, anon, hahaha.

As for everything you're saying about Vox, power, and masculinity: YOU! points dramatically at you YOU GET IT! YOU GET IT!!!!!! Everyone just read this, this is it, this is the thing. I have no notes to add. There is a reason that the main point he raises the moment he actually says something vulnerable about it (before he immediately cuts himself off) is a complaint that he's an overlord, so why—?

And with regards to your questions: I'm not gonna lie, my actual planning for 666 is usually, like, extremely by the seat of my pants. I plan nothing except, "Oh, shit, had an idea for the next one. Lesgoooo—" and that's been the case for literally every single installment. It's all just been evolving naturally and building on top of itself. So! I can't say that I plan to have Vox interact with the hotel crew or Charlie, but I also will never say that I'm actively opposed to it.

That said, I do think a lot of this fic is kinda structured around hitting specific topics that come up in intimate settings between Vox and Alastor specifically, with occasional tag-ins from Angel Dust, so I don't really know if there's anything in particular I'd like to write that I think would work better in this series if more characters got involved. But, hey! Never say never!

[leletha-jann]

Headcanon in which I wake up and choose violence:

Kjarl Thotep is a very time-lost, very scrambled Barry Heterodyne.

Wait, wait. Put down the tomatoes until I can plead my case, such as it is.

Bad reasons for this:

It would be funny

It's how I'd do it, OK?

Skywriting reasons for this: (in which it looks pretty, but it's connecting probably nonexistent dots, and a stiff breeze will blow it away)

Where the hell is Barry after all this time?

There's a whole lot of time travel happening in the background of this story.

Lucrezia is, probably, very seriously time-lost.

Lucrezia has a history of pushing people through Mirrors to get rid of them.

Lucrezia did not like - was, in fact, scared of - Barry Heterodyne, and was worried about him coming back.

Lucrezia was very good at mind-swapping machines (I don't need a link to prove that, right?)

If Lucrezia didn't take out Barry, who did?

I'm sort of assuming that Barry is either time-lost or timestopped somewhere, because, again, there's a lot of unresolved background time travel.

Where did Barry go?

Why is Kjarl still around in this story?

...leads into plot structure reasons:

Why is Kjarl still around in this story? Is it just to know things about the creature coming through into Mechanicsburg, or about the Dreen?

He's not the key to the timestop, or the big quest for Prende's Lantern was a really long red herring. I don't know if the Foglios are making that much extra work for themselves, although I say this after "A Story with Franz", so...

Our triumvirate can generate technobabble about the timestop on their own.

He can't be here just to make jokes at Tarvek's expense, because we can do that all by ourselves.

Who is Kjarl?

"I don't know, I just have a feeling" reasons:

The impression I've gotten from what we've seen of Barry so far, in flashbacks and memories and things mentioned in passing, is the feeling of a gentle giant. Maybe that's because we mostly see him through Agatha's eyes, and Agatha was small. But when I think about Barry, I don't get the same, hmmm, fire that I get when I think about Bill. Bill was on a crusade. Bill was the older brother, the protector, the one trying to make things right. Barry...not so much, maybe. Barry built Franz's flying-assist machine, led the rescues and the cleanup in the wake of the attack on Castle Heterodyne, rescued Agatha and made sure she had a safe home when he left.

Kjarl gives me kind of the same "gentle giant" feeling. Yes, because he's large compared to everyone else, but also, he picks up Tarvek because he's happy to interact with him coherently, and then forgets to put him down. He wants to help, but he's very confused and struggling to communicate (even when he's fully in this dimension). Kjarl's very lost.

Picking up someone strange along the way and then they turn out to be the person who's been missing, but in disguise is very, very fantasy and/or pulp adventure.

We haven't had a screaming amnesia case yet, and that's a major trope.

The Foglios like "brick jokes" - the thing mentioned in passing that got thrown up in the air, and you forgot about it, and then it comes back down on your head real hard years later.

"What happened to Barry Heterodyne?" is an open question. And it can't be resolved post-canon, because that would be unsatisfying and messy.

What if he's Kjarl, and Kjarl doesn't know he's Barry? Because Lucrezia, or because whatever place he ended up in was so alien it scrambled his mind and memory all by itself? For example, does anyone expect Vapnoople to come back in the same shape and coherence in which he left?

It just feels right in my head, in a weird way. And wouldn't it be really narratively satisfying? If we'd found Barry Heterodyne already and didn't know? Until one day, we do, and it's a big reveal?

...and it's how I'd do it, OK?

[thedragonagebigbang]

Bang Creator Interview: Tumblr: @crabs-with-sticks  |  AO3: CrabsWithSticks

The Collaboration period has begun! In these quiet months before works are due, we want to foster a sense of excitement, camaraderie, and celebration among our participants. To that end, all participants were given the option of a formal interview by our mod, Dema, or an informal “ask-game” survey. We hope you enjoy getting to know our phenomenal creators as much as we have!

Found Family in Crisis!!!!!! How This Local Woman's Life Just Keeps Getting Worse!!!  

Jacs and Dema talk music, tragedy, DMing tabletop games, and OCs who won't follow the damn rules

Dema: Good morning! Happy Saturday. Are you writing today? 

Jacs: I'm hoping to! Though I might be taking a break from my actual project to do some fun oneshots. Give myself a bit of time away from the tragedy of my bang fic and write something happy haha

Dema: That is very fair! Especially with heavier fics. How do you get in the zone to write, regardless of the project? Or does it vary depending on the vibes of your fic?

Jacs: Normally it involves getting nice and cozy under a blanket on the couch with a good cup of tea. I'll sometimes put a playlist on to get into a particular vibe, I've got a bunch of character playlists which can help get into the perspective of whatever oc I'm writing that day.

Dema: I won't get too specific with this question but, if there is one song on your playlist that especially fits your bang fic, what would it be?

Jacs: Hmm, I'd say probably 'Sampson' by Regina Spektor. The song is based on a tragic biblical story and is all about what could have happened if things had worked out differently. If the love had been enough to save them, then they wouldn't have been remembered by history but they would have been happy.

Dema: Oh okay, arrow straight to the heart. I see, I see.

Jacs: Yeah, I'm a known tragedy enjoyer, just rolling around in the sadness like a dog in a puddle. In order to get optimal levels of tragedy you gotta have some happiness first just so that readers can really see that it didn't have to be this way (but they never could have changed it).

Dema: I can't wait to read it! I also love tragedy, and especially in that ratio. Is there a particular one-shot idea you have kicking around, to cleanse the palate?

Jacs: Not sure! Though probably something with my oc Luca Trevelyan with Dorian, though I haven't actually managed to get very far through that particular playthrough yet....I'm a bit of a serial oc creator who then never gets around to actually playing them in the game.

Dema: Do you always make your OCs in game? Even if you don't get around to the playthrough? 

Jacs: Yep! It’s probably my favourite part of Dragon Age, or any CRPG. I really like thinking up characters, with their conflicts and histories. I'm a forever DM in real life, so I'm fairly used to making up characters and then never playing them, although at least with Dragon Age I already know the events of the game they'll be going through, so I have a better idea of their development arcs. I am trying to do a re-playthrough of the whole series before Veilguard comes out, but we'll see how successful that is haha.

Dema: Do you find that DMing has informed the way you structure your stories?

Jacs: I'd say that it probably has. When I DM I'm always keeping a hand on the pulse of all the characters, their emotions and where they're at in their arcs, because my aim is really to tell a good story. So I think it can help me to see things from the big picture as well as a more mechanical perspective. Though sometimes I do need to tell myself to stop looking at the big picture and just focus on what is at hand.

Dema: I'm a bit in awe of DMs. To me it seems like being the conductor of an orchestra, except all your musicians are improvising. Do your characters sometimes feel like players? Or do they tend to stay within the lines?

Jacs: They do end up getting away from me sometimes, or they'll do something that leaves me going 'huh, why did you just make that decision', because I know it's accurate but I'm not entirely sure why. Though sadly there's no actual player to ask...just my brain. I was intending to make quite a whimsical and happy Brosca, but she just keeps doing morally grey things!

Dema: HAHA ah yes, relatable. I find it's such an interesting balance, for me, between wanting everything in the story to feel a bit inevitable (especially in a tragedy!) and embracing the realism of some things just not having a clear explanation, especially character decisions.

Jacs: Yeah for sure! It's great when characters are messy and contradictory, I just wish it wasn't so hard...I had a character at one point who was making a whole bunch of decisions I wasn't expecting or had planned for, and I'd try to think 'ok why is this character doing this?' and all she supplied in return was 'I'm lactose intolerant'...which honestly was a very in character response; just straight up ignoring the question. 

Dema: A character in writing, or a character in a campaign you were DMing?

Jacs: A character I was writing.

Dema: Hahaha, incredible.

Jacs: I sometimes have, I guess little 'conversations' with my characters in my head where I tap into the section of my brain that they live in.

Dema: That's a great strategy! Is that how your characters first come to be?

Jacs: Hmm, I think the conversation part comes a bit later when I have some context for them, either in their history or in the game itself. It starts off as a lot of collaging together different ideas until it makes a full character. Often I start off from a particular theme or emotional angle I'm interested in exploring. So one started off as 'religious trauma', and another from 'idealism in a cruel society' and so on.

Dema: Has that first theme or idea ever come from a really unexpected source? And related to this, do you tend to be primarily inspired by the source material itself? I know that's a big reason so many of us love DA in particular.

Jacs: I think the themes are usually all ideas that I'm already interested in, but it's super fun seeing the way it can connect to the worldbuilding and lore. I think it's really important for characters to have specifics which tie them into the world around them, so thinking about how their family might have lived in the particular part of the world they're from, how they and the people around them either adhere to or go against it, and what impact that would have on their story. It's really fun looking at how a theme can change based on where the character comes from, like a character with conflict based around religious trauma is going to be different if they're human, Dalish or a city elf, and the world will react to them differently because of that.

Dema: Now I simply must ask you if you ever write AU fics.

Jacs: I haven't written many to be honest, though I do have some ideas for some. It can be hard translating a story that is really rooted in the specifics of one particular world and translating that to another. So I'm always really impressed to see when other people do it so well! I often find you can find a good parallel for one aspect of a character, but then you have to try to fit a second aspect or character conflict in and it doesn't fit the new world at all!

Dema: I feel the same!

Jacs: Writing; it's hard man.

Dema: It is! So why do you do it!? And a follow-up question: writing is hard, and you're signed up for a Big Bang! What made you interested? Is it your first one or have you done this before?

Jacs: It's like a wonderful little puzzle; except it can be all wibbly wobbly and just like real life it doesn't always need to make sense- it's lovely just to embrace the humanness of character writing!

So a bit of context, I recently finished postgraduate studies, and realised I didn't have any hobbies! I used to love creative writing of any sort when I was but a young whippersnapper (they say, in their mid 20s), so I decided to embrace the cringe and get back at it. I've never participated in any fandom events, or even written something this long that wasn't academic! But I'm really loving the community around this event and getting to chat to other writers as we all write (and suffer) together!

Dema: In the last minutes, and just for fun: can you come up with a click-bait title for your fic? Without giving anything major away, of course.

Jacs: Maybe something like 'Found Family in Crisis!!!!!! How This Local Woman's Life Just Keeps Getting Worse!!!’  (To quote the venerable Sir Terry Prattchet: And all those exclamation marks, you notice? Five? A sure sign of someone who wears his underpants on his head.)

Dema: Ten out of Ten, would click again. Thank you so much for setting aside this time to chat with me!

Jacs: No worries! I had a great time!

[transmascutena]

I have several questions about RGU, and despite my efforts (thinking and doing Google searches), I couldn't get anything solid. I hope you can share your perspective (they are about triggering topics):

I read somewhere that Anthy was always exhausted and sleepy during the Black Rose Arc because she was sl**ping with Mikage, is that really the reason???

Why after Utena found out about Anthy and Akio in Episode 36, she asked him out in Episode 37? I'm a little stumped on this

I read that many people have said the swords are like phallic structures, especially for Episode 39. Does that mean when Anthy was stabbed by those millions of swords, it represented how she suffered from Akio's abuse? Or is it something else?

These may be dumb questions, I apologize in advance :(

not dumb questions at all! but also not ones that i think have definitive correct answers to them. it's very much up to interpretation, but i'd be happy to give mine.

while it's possible that she did, i don't really think that's what's being implied. anthy's sleepiness in this arc is hinting at her playing the role of mamiya at night instead of sleeping. what "playing the role of mamiya" actually entails is questionable though. like i said, not impossible that what you read is true, but idk it's not really part of my interpretation of it

i think utena's behaviour at the start of episode 37 is meant to feel confusing and out of character. i'm sure she feels that way too. she's confused about what she witnessed and how she should feel about it. i think she feels hurt and betrayed and is angry at both of them, however unjustified you may think that is (i think it's understandable, considering everything, even if she really shouldn't be blaming anthy). her asking akio out reads to me like her desperately trying to act normal. she's doing what she thinks is expected of her, because she doesn't know what else to do. that's why it feels so out of character. she's playing a role, which is what anthy and akio are doing too all the time really, and i think there's a bit of spite there too. she's learning to play their game. (some people read jealousy and possesiveness into it, but i disagree)

you can absolutely interpret the swords that way. at the very least it's part of it. the swords are representations of humanity's hatred, all of which is (mis)directed at anthy. a lot of metaphor and allegory in that on its own. misogyny and victim-blaming is what i mostly see them as, and of course the abuse she's being victim-blamed for is part of that. there's so much you can say about swords in utena, but i guess i'll leave it there for now

[happyk44]

hiiii happy!!!! how do you feel abt jason's adhd? in my opinion, the books didn't really do a job illustrating it. how do you think it would manifest and affect him? i'd love to hear your opinion ☺️ i love you!!! 💖💓💗

Personally, I think of Jason as being autistic versus having ADHD. We know through Frank that having ADHD and dyslexia (both of which Frank does not have) is not an exclusive requirement to being a demigod. On top of that, Rick’s use of ADHD is not… great. My sister has been diagnosed with ADHD since she was five – she is very much the inattentive subtype, and I think Rick’s use of ADHD as a superpower of hypervigilance does sort of exclude people who primarily experience inattentive symptoms.

But those kinds of symptoms are not easily rewritten as “benefits” (which. yeah. It’s a disability), so I get why he didn’t include it. I remember reading a while back that when the books were first published, rewriting ADHD as a superpower/benefit to kids who had it was a common narrative, so, like, okay, but also. It’s been two decades.

But anyway. Jason. Yes! In general:

He gets easily distracted by different tasks, but to other people it just looks like he’s multitasking

He forgets to take care of himself a lot, forgets to eat, shower, drink water, sleep, talk to people and be social, etc

Auditory processing issues. During long speeches he starts to zone out because the sound eventually merges into all the other background noise he’s trying to filter out (wind powers and wolf vigilance amplifies the sound of everything) so he often encourages people to just get to the point and be upfront, and gets frustrated when people won’t. Also can’t stand people who talk in monotone (which is ironic because I think Jason doesn’t inflect or shift his voice very much)

Leo definitely uses his voice in various tones during conversation, so while Jason is like “oh my god, please stop talking in circles I have no idea what you’re saying”, it’s a lot easier for him to listen to Leo’s rambling monologues because he doesn’t speak in one or two tones

If it doesn’t interest him, the conversation can start to blur together as well because he struggles to focus on what’s being said. Fortunately, just because of how CJ and New Rome are structured, most topics at hand are things he likes (ancient Rome, gods, politics, etc). Unfortunately, Jason doesn’t really have strong human connections and his position as the golden boy of Camp Jupiter, champion of Juno, son of Jupiter, etc, etc, etc distances him from a lot of people so casual topics, like video games or TV shows, rarely get brought up to him in the first place

The onslaught of sensory issues makes it hard for him to focus. He’s taught himself how to filter things out, but it’s a constant practice to do and gets very tiring

Object impermanence – if he can’t see it, it doesn’t exist. Luckily for him, he doesn’t own a lot of things, but for things he has to keep tucked away in a drawer (like clothing), he slaps labels onto the container/drawer. Everything else, like the couple of misc trinkets he owns, he keeps out and obvious

One of things he does to help it avoid blending into the background is using sharp colour contrasts. So if its important – like medication or something, he might use a bright yellow basket on top of a black dresser or whatever because the yellow stands out so sharply it’s hard for the basket to blend into the background and so he remembers to take his meds.

Another thing is moving location. So he might move the basket from one side the dresser to the other and back again every so often

He’s pretty good at maintaining habits and routine (autism), but also if something happens that throws off the routine it takes months to get back on track and it is the worst thing ever, it is grueling and he hates it. Habits and routine are not innate, they are a constant active conscious choice he makes every day

Making plans can be difficult, even in battle or on quests when strategy is key. He can get tripped up on the small details and overlook the larger picture, or be so focused on the larger picture, he doesn’t see the small details. Because people have been so reliant on him for strategy, he’s more or less managed to get away with looking competent, but it’s always a competition with himself to remain on task, instead of narrowing into something that doesn’t matter

People will often comment on how fast he can get things done but its literally that he gets things done fast because sometimes he waits too long to do the thing (procrastination) and now he’s got like five seconds to the deadline, OR he has a burst of focus and gets that thing done as fast as he can before the executive function dips

He does get bored easily, so he'll flit between task to task, but it’s really that he needs stimulation, needs to be doing something, and if he’s not doing something, he’s losing his mind, and because he lacks a core sense of identity, he flits from task to task to find something that interests him (but there’s so little that does because he does not know who he is and he’s just mimicking people and it’s not the same)

Emotional dysregulation

He gets lost in his own head a lot. Part of it is just standard dissociation, but the other part is that his brain is always on, everything is firing at all cylinders, there is no quiet, it’s just noise and reminding himself of things he needs to get done on repeat, 24/7, loud as can be and he can't turn it off or lower the volume. His brain is full of bees and they won't stop buzzing

As a result, he probably has pretty bad insomnia

I think he has a lot of trouble getting stuff started. Body doubling encourages him to get started on stuff, and he’s never not been surrounded by at least one other person, so when he starts living alone in Cabin One after The Lost Hero, he is so confused that he can’t seem to force himself to pick up his shirt off the ground. And it just stays on the ground for days. Until he runs out of clean underwear and has no choice but to pick it up to get laundry started

He doesn’t own enough stuff to be fully disorganized, but if he does, he’ll have the most organized areas in his room ever, and then his closet is a mess because “well I don’t go in there a lot”

I think he tries to keep a spreadsheet/list of items he owns that he doesn’t use very often, but he still has doubles of a few things. Also so many batteries. He’s constantly like “I don’t think I have enough batteries” and then he buys the batteries and comes back, goes to update the list on the back of the door and it’ll be like “you have batteries. Stop buying batteries. There are too many batteries” and then he throws the batteries in the box that’s overflowing with batteries and forgets they exist again, but then, when he does need the batteries, it takes him so long to find the box

He would self-medicate on coffee if he didn’t hate the taste. He also doesn’t like soda. Or chocolate. So, you know, RIP to him. He’s rawdogging life. At least Leo can inhale caffeine like his life depends on it

He has the waiting mode problem, where if he has something scheduled at a certain time, it doesn’t matter how much time he has until that thing, he just. Waits. For the thing. Like he could get so much done in that time, but he can’t. Again, body doubling has helped, but living alone makes it so much harder

Reward systems don’t work with him. He doesn’t get the same sense of satisfaction that a neurotypical would after getting a reward after task completion. So when he absolutely needs to get something done but his brain is like “nah we gotta sit here and stare at this wall for seven hours while dissociating”, he just ends up screaming at himself a lot

Jason’s probably in a burnout so intense that if he took a minute to rest, his body and mind would shutdown for like three years.

He forces himself to get things done and screams at himself the entire time, and it hurts in a way he doesn’t understand but he has to do these things because there’s no other choice and people are relying on him.

Since he’s been groomed for leadership since day one, he’s never really had a chance to breathe that the other kids would get, so even when he finally has the chance to rest, it’s like his mind knows how unsafe that would be because shutting down completely would never be safe for him (trauma!!) so he just refuses to rest, which involves a lot of him getting lost in his own head or hyper-focusing on something (like spreading recognition of minor and forgotten gods) instead of. You know. Breathing

I think a lot of his issues with ADHD become more present after TLH when the quest is over and he’s alone. CHB has structure, but its not as narrow as Camp Jupiter’s routine and structure, and Jason lives alone, operates his own schedule, doesn’t really have other people to remind him of things, etc, etc, so the sudden shift makes him start to spiral a bit in his fears of incompetence.

It’s not that he’s incompetent, he’s very competent, but his problems were never as evident because other people had his back as he had theirs. He’s kind of like people w/ undiagnosed ADHD or autism who leave their support systems for university and suddenly school and life is the most difficult thing in the world, when before it was a lot easier

Timeblindness does affect him a lot, especially when he's doing something he enjoys. He wears a watch everywhere. And has a lot of backup watches

A lot of these probably overlap with autism but like, lol, I do primarily view him as autistic.