#like i know the basic gist of every character

[atomicowboy]

ouuuug i’m having a good time getting into dc comics so far but oh my god the timeline is so hard to follow. how am i supposed to know what 2 read 😭 reading order lists have been very helpful so far but man i just wanna know what’s going on there’s So Much

[xxsinisterbunniexx]

✘ Ticci Toby ✘

General Characterization and headcanons

My general thoughts and characterization of Toby :3

I will DEFINITELY add to this because he is always on my mind and I just know I will think of more stuff, especially the general headcanons

Toby is loud, obnoxious, impulsive, and extreme. Basically, on every scale of anything ever he’s at the far end. He’s uninhibited in just about everything, so he’s not afraid to speak his mind. This also means he has no problem making vulgar comments 24/7. He has no memory of his life before, because Slenderman wiped his memory. “Toby Rogers” no longer exists, and honestly the original Toby would be horrified by the version of himself that exists now. My theory on this is that Slenderman will “amplify” traits that are useful to him when he makes someone a proxy. For example: Toby has ADHD, which would likely make him impulsive and act without thinking. This trait would be amplified once he became a proxy.

Let’s address Toby’s many disorders (also these are constantly getting changed on his wiki page). Let me just say: I have a background in psychology but I am by no means a professional. Nonetheless, here are my thoughts on how these would affect Toby.

Tourette’s and CIPA are both neurological disorders. I feel like a lot of people get the general gist of Tourette’s but I do want to clarify that Tourette’s does not cause a stutter. I know a lot of people write Toby having a stutter, and I think it’s become a headcanon itself at this point, but this would not be due to Tourette’s. I keep it pretty simple when it write his tics, just a few motor and verbal tics, like cracking his neck or cursing. CIPA stands for Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis. Basically, this disorder causes him to not be able to feel pain or temperature (which makes sense because both of these are conveyed on the same spinal tract). He also can’t sweat, because if you can’t feel temperature then your body doesn’t know when to produce sweat. Realistically, people with this disorder have a lot of issues with living daily life, mostly due to overheating since they can’t regulate their body temperature. Most people with CIPA do not live past age 25, but he’s a fictional character so we’ll let it go.

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder, and there is more than one type. Based on his behavior I’d guess Toby either has combination type or hyperactive type. He’s impulsive, easily distracted, and at times it can be hard to keep him focused. He will sometimes interrupt during conversations or speak at times when it’s not appropriate.

Amnesia is also listed which is Slenderman induced. Based off his original story, I would argue that the schizophrenia is also Slenderman induced. Nonetheless, I think his main symptoms would be hallucinations (so hearing voices) and disorganized speech. Basically, you’d ask him a question and he just would talk on and not really answer the question (Google patient interviews for Schizophrenia if you’re confused by what I mean by this). I also think Toby would be subject to delusions, mostly to do with illusions of grandeur or paranoia.

Toby also has bipolar disorder, though it’s not specified whether he has type one or type two. Honestly, this is where I have a qualm which is that I think instead of saying he has schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, it should just say he has schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type. But I DIGRESS!

I think Toby would be silly goofy to be around. He’s super uninhibited and speaks his mind. He’s always full of energy. He can be a lot to handle at time and he doesn’t often listen to reason. You could definitely get into some shenanigans with him.

I think it’s easy to interact with him, he’ll talk to pretty much anyone and act friendly with them, but it’s a whole other ballpark trying to get close to him. It would take extensive amount of time, and would have less to do with your behavior and more with you just pinging in his brain in just the right way to make him want to invest more into you.

My thoughts on Toby are never ending, and I’ll probably continue to update this post when I think of new things. However let me say this: this man is not medicated for ANY of these issues so they would all be present in some capacity if you interacted with Toby.

Random headcanons

✘Toby is like 6’1-6’2 (yes I know he was originally short let me live) and he’s somewhat lanky but he’s got that sleeper build

✘ TOBY SMELLS LIKE PINE AND CEDAR AND LIKE THE LOVE OF MY LIFE

✘ has snakebite piercings (meow)

✘ speaks German

✘ I like to think he’s second gen, like his parents were immigrants and thus he speaks German and English

✘ Toby, I need to know where ur grandparents were from 1939-1945

✘ lowkey would use his Tourette’s to get away with everything

✘ like would defo punch Jeff in the face and then be like “aw shit man sorry that was my Tourette’s”

✘ would also use it to get away with saying crazy bullshit

✘ covered in scars cuz CIPA

✘ Toby likes to go fishing and catch them with his BARE HANDS

✘ he can only be in the car if he’s the one driving, it really bugs him if he’s not in control of the car…. Though he doesn’t know why

✘ says crazy out of pocket bullshit 87% of the time

✘ but it would be funny as hell though

✘ like it would be the type of stuff where you know you shouldn’t laugh and you try to avoid laughing in front of him because you know it’ll make him do it more

[lvsrckk]

smells like you

pairings: jason grace x reader

summary: y/n accidentally takes home jason’s hoodie after a bonfire and now wears it pretty regularly. she debates giving it back to him before she receives an unexpected knock at her cabin late at night, and the culprit is none other than jason grace himself.

warnings: pretty cute, fem! reader, nothing crazy or out of the sorts, stalker-ish reader implied

A/N: my first fic on here! still testing the waters so i apologize if this is horrible lol! i love love love jason grace and unfortunately there is indefinitely not enough writing for him. i hope you enjoy and feel free to request more pjo/hoo/toa characters!

jason grace was undoubtedly the most perfect man you had ever laid your eyes upon.

i mean come on!

the son of zeus had every girl at camp fawning over him from the moment he first arrived at camp half blood.

so naturally of course you find yourself wound up in a sticky situation regarding stolen property of his (stolen by none other than yourself,) after a bonfire.

the scent of camp fire smoke and a gentle night breeze penetrated the air heavily. you and your fellow cabin mates, along with practically every other camper which currently resides at camp halfblood, were gathered around a bonfire sharing jokes, laughs, and songs together. it was a perfect night, the sky being clear and the breeze being warm. however your sights were currently set on the piercing blue eyes directly across from you.

jason grace.

he was laughing with his group of friends. you don’t know what could possibly be so funny that he was doubled over laughing, however you wished it was you envoking the sweet noise from him.

after a long hour and a half of staring hopelessly, with the fire being put out and your cabin mates scurrying off before curfew, everyone begins to disperse leaving you sitting on a log, freezing, and contemplating talking to the blond haired boy whom you had been staring at for the past two hours.

a chill runs down your spine as you stand up in search of something to quench the cold that is slowly overtaking you as the moon settles further into the deep night sky.

after aimlessly analyzing your surroundings, you come across a blue hoodie sprawled on the grass.

maybe you shouldn’t have practically stolen it, but i mean it was just sitting on the grass begging to be worn! and you were freezing!

this split second decision now leads to your current dilemma regarding who you had stolen it from.

after returning to your cabin in the hoodie, which was decidedly more comfortable than you had expected, you had begun to pretty regularly wear it as you slipped in and out of consciousness each night.

no one had even missed it.

or so you thought.

after a particularly challenging sparring session with one of your siblings, you come across none other than jason grace and percy jackson sparring themselves.

once you get the whole aimlessly staring out of your system, you overhear bits and pieces of their conversation.

his voice faded in and out but you had basically caught the gist of a missing hoodie of jason’s which had mysteriously dissappeared before he could retrieve it after the bonfire. the only thing he made out was a retreating figure with (y/h/c) hair he saw slip into your cabin.

cheeks flushed, your shirt suddenly felt unbearably tight as you tugged gently at the collar and stalked back to your cabin ever so embarassed that it had been his hoodie you had basically thieved.

you cursed the gods above. of course this would happen to you. there was the option of not telling him entirely, however it probably wouldn’t be hard for him to distinguish which of your cabin mates took it considering he had caught a glimpse of you walking away.

decidedly, it would spare you much less embarrassment if you simply returned it and came up with some half-assed excuse to save your behind from looking entirely like a stalker.

—

it was precisely 10pm. it was nearing curfew and you were the only one in your cabin as of now, trying to take advantage of the empty bathroom before your siblings came rolling in and consuming what little space it provided entirely.

you were brushing your hair in the mirror, plotting meticulously what excuse you would come up with tomorrow when you gave jason’s hoodie back when suddenly three knocks on your cabin’s door rang through to the bathroom.

surely it wasn’t one of your siblings. there would be no reason to knock when entering your own shared living space.

you made your way to the door, talking your time. still groggy and half asleep as you were getting ready for bed.

what stood outside the door when you gently opened it was definitely a wake up call.

none other than, you guessed it, jason. grace.

there he stood in all his glory, his messy blond hair, glasses, a t-shirt, presumably to sleep in along with casual sweatpants.

even in his leisure moments, he still resembled perfection.

his hand rested on the back of his neck and he flashed you a sheepish smile.

“i think you have something of mine?” he chucked lightly. you however, were frozen with panic.

there was no point in lying now, as his hoodie was very obviously neatly folded and resting on the chest in front of your bed, very obviously in his line of sight.

your plan now? profusely apologize!

“look, i’m really sorry. i promise i don’t normally steal! it was just really cold out, and i was shivering, and it was just sitting there-“

he cut you off with another laugh. there wasn’t any anger on his face and he honestly looked nearly as embarrassed as you.

“honestly, if it gives me an excuse to talk to you, feel free to steal another one.”

your lips parted in shock. you had never even seen him flash you a look before. let alone assume he had even given you a thought before.

you stammered before replying, “so, you’re not upset?”

“hmmm, no. i’m sure it looks better on you anyway.” he leaned against the door frame. his smile was quite literally dazzling. you felt as though you could barely move.

the familiar sound of footsteps approached from outside your cabin which was undoubtedly your siblings rolling in to go to bed.

“talk more tomorrow, yeah?” his voiced snapped you out of your daze.

you nodded your head lightly. “yeah.” finally returning his smiles with a grin of your own.

hopefully, this would be the start of a new beginning.

who knew stealing would get you a boyfriend?

[meo-eiru]

Do you have any tips on starting a VN is really wanna make one but have no idea how to actually start I have a few ideas but the writing and planning out is what overwhelms me and starting things is always a struggle how did start the process on your VN?

Well I'm no pro by any means so take everything I say with a grain of salt. I'm sure everyone has a style they find more productive but I'll talk about how I personally go about it as an artist who prefers drawing over writing (I'll be using the stuff I made for a now scrapped vn idea)

I usually like to draw a simple storyboard to get a gist of exactly where I'm planning to start and the story I have in my head. It's a very simple and quick step and don't be afraid to make some changes on the first version you drew.

For example here I have the start of the story and the 3 endings with the main diversion of the story line.

Then once I'm done with that I make a more detailed and longer storyboard of the actual game. I decide exactly where the options appear and where they lead to. This one is important, I usually go back to check what I decided on quite often, don't think "oh I can remember this no problem", you probably won't. Write down notes.

Once that's done I basically dive into writing the actual script, while following the story line I had decided on beforehand.

Visual novels are quite easy to code but they are very dialogue heavy, and dialogue writing is very different from writing normally. You can't just go "he said she said", you need them to come directly from the character. Don't be afraid to spend as much time here as you need.

As I said I'm not a pro, for example Sel is a writer and not an artist and I know she just immediately starts with the script after some planning, writes an overall script and adds in more details every time she goes over them.

There are no strict rules to making vns, there isn't a schedule you're forced to follow. See what feels easier to start with and go from there

[dictatortirah]

How are you so effective with your shape language? The poses and expressions are always so clear it's really cool

Shape language is more about the personality of your character through their design. I think you're referring to how I do my line of action!

You can make more dynamic poses with any design by using line of action, but the simpler the design a character has, the easier it is to implement it. Especially if the character has a distinct shape to move and manipulate (i sound like a huge nerd) , but thats why I made the entire cast to have simple shapes and try to avoid clutter, so that I can avoid tangents too!

The way I draw expressions is by forcing like almost every wrinkle on the face. So I designed my characters to have much spacious faces without much clutter so I can experiment with faces more. My rule for this is basically just: Dont be scared to make it look just a little bit ugly. Its okay to make faces ugly. If you know what youre doing, you can take advantage of it and it adds a lot more charm to your expression! More authentic or something. This stuff can take a lot of practice but I promise once you experiment and get out of your comfort zone a lot , you'll get it. I'm still trying to improbe too!

I love drawing Nero and Mallet the most because he is literally shaped to be the best in line of action, while Mallet is made to be the most expressive. I'm not very good at actually explaining how I do it but these pictures I found in Pinterest gave the good gist of it!

[pfffsfic]

okay. okay this is not a serious theory but every time I think about it I come up with new "evidence" for it. basically the gist of it is TAWOG'S SHAPE PEOPLE ARE EUCLYDIANS. maybe refugees? "but didn't everyone in eucyldia die?" ignore that. just pretend they skipped town before the fire or something, this is not airtight. it's not even close. it's basically a joke treated seriously. i know the shows are not in the same universe but

hear me out.

Part 1: At face value.

point numnber one: these guys are 2D. the gumball universe has 3D people and 2D people, and the Shape People are 2D, or drawn as opposed to modeled.

point number two: physical traits! other than the obvious 'they are shapes', some or all of the Shape People:

Lack visible mouths (mind you, these Shape People's mouths appear when they speak). Bill also lacks a visible mouth but very occasionally gets one (one page of the Book of Bill, a polaroid in the Weirdmageddon intro).

Can have one eye. the rectangle in the top image is a one-eyed shape person, but there's also this familiar-looking yellow one-eyed triangle Shape Person (who pre-dates Bill's first proper appearance, by the way):

They have noodle arms. little noodle arms

this one is hard to explain but the positions of their arms aren't fixed. this applies to all/most Gumball characters but not to all gravity falls characters. how do I explain this uhh

look at how one of his arms is attached to his bottom plane and one is attached to his side plane. sometimes both of them hang down at the bottom and sometimes both are on the sides. POINT IS-

look at that!

in the rightmost image above you can also see a tiny sliver of a 3D edge like Bill has.

Each Shape Person is also a single color.

Part two: Culture.

note: this one only really applies to the three shapeople i've been using as examples this whole post- Ed the triangle, and his black pentagon and rectangle friends? family members?

I know there are other shapes who look less like them and whom these things don't apply to, but we can blame that on interbreeding with Elmoreans/cultural assimilation or something. okay, let me begin.

point number three: Ed's group is implied to not be from Elmore. when we first see him he's mistaking a bus stop for another shape person:

he also-

point four: the Shapeople language includes one spoken(?) system with colorful squares representing it. on the TBOB website the words of Euclydians are written in colorful square substitution cipher. there are also other shapes for the shapeople, mind you.

back to point 3: not from Elmore. The next time Ed's group appears, they're framed like tourists and ARE HAVING TROUBLE MAKING SENSE OF A 3D (well, i guess 2d but in the other way) MAP.

Gumball tries and fails to talk to them in their language, and ends up making a cultural faux pas. and in Ed's final scene there's an interesting line...

my people? He could be talking about his species, but the existence of a culture implies to me that this line refers more to a homeland. in other words the shape people are from the same place, which we sort of knew because they speak the same language. also has bill ever been seen giving a thumbs up or down? i'm pretty sure he hasn't but maybe I'm wrong, someone correct me here.

point number five: grasping at even more straws.

Despite their origin, the one known named shape person's name is Ed, which falls into the same cultural sphere as Bill.

We know that Ed's type of shapeople are physically capable of speaking English because the black rectangle does so at one point.

one of the symbols in the shapeople language is a skull. we see that Bill's mind has a bill skeleton with a skull that also fits the humanoid-ish template.

final point that does not help the theory but is still weird: Bill's baby photo seems to have a live-action background?? and so does the image of teen/preteen bill? look at these. i'm not implying that elmore IS euclydia somehow, that makes very little sense to me as of writing (though i guess it was destroyed and now Bill has a fear of TV static, which, like, maybe I could phenagle a theory here if I really tried but it seems like even more of a reach than this existing theory.) I dunno, maybe Euclydians would have wanted another 'realistic' dimension to flee to.

(we also see this squishy rosy-cheeked shaperson baby at one point, make of it what you will).

[theriverbeyond]

how do we know in the books that john is indigenous? can you say more about how his indigeneity is important to his story?

hello! so there is a word of god post on race (doesn't mention John but mentions that Gideon is "mixed Maori"), BUT I frankly don't think word of god statements are worth any weight without actual in-text support (see: the "dumbledore is gay" situation). SO!

Specific evidence that John Gaius is Maori, as revealed in Nona the Ninth:

When he is listing his education, John mentions having gone to Dilworth School (John 20:8). Dilworth is an all boys boarding school in Auckland and accepts students based on financial need instead of academic or sporting achievements. Demographics appear to be about 70% low income Maori boys, indicating that it is highly likely that John is Maori

John reports that P- said he looked like a "Maori-TV pink panther" (John 15:23) when his eyes turned gold. Maori TV is a TV station that is focused primarily on Maori culture & language revitalization, with presumably all or mostly Maori hosts, and tbh I don't see why P- would say this unless John was himself Maori

John uses a te reo Māori phrase ("kia kaha, kia māia") (John 5:20) when he is saying goodbye to the corpses in the cryo lab before the power is shut off. Though it is possible he said this as a non-Maori kiwi, but in combination with the previous two points of evidence I think this all very strongly points to him being Maori

He also renames his daughter Kiriona Gaia, "Kiriona" being just literally the name "Gideon" in te reo Māori

TLT is not a series that hands you anything on a silver platter but to ME this is all pretty solid proof

Why is this relevant to The Locked Tomb?

In Nona the Ninth, we learn that before he completed apotheosis and ate the solar system, John was basically trying to save the earth from capitalism-caused climate change. Climate justice and the rights of indigenous people over their own land are deeply tied together, in the same way that climate catastrophe and capitalism/ imperialism/ colonialism are linked. disclaimer that this is NOT my area of study and others have definitely said it better; this is just the basic gist as I understand it, but on quick search I found some sources here and here if you want to do some reading.

TLT is not a series that hands you anything on a silver platter, but i don't think it is a stretch to see John as an indigenous man trying to save the earth and getting ignored and shut down at every turn by primarily western colonial powers (PanEuro, the USA) who declare him a terrorist and then as a reader thematically connecting that to the experience of indigenous climate activists IRL

there are absolutely TLT meta posts that have discussed this before me; tumblr search is nonfunctional and I have been looking for an hour and a half and cannot find anything specific even though i KNOW i reblogged multiple posts about this in the first few weeks following NTN's release. sad & I am sorry

I think that by the time the books take place, John is 10k years removed from the cultural context he grew up in, with the Nine Houses having become a genocidal colonial power in their own right (with more parallels to be made between John's forever war for the resources of literal life energy and like, oil wars), but I also think that John Gaius is a fictional character who can represent and symbolize multiple different things in service of telling a story. (not to mention the potential thematic parallels being made to how oppressed people sometimes are pressed into replicating the power dynamics of their oppressors and continuing the cycle--now that is a tumblr post i KNOW i read last year and definitely cannot find right now, once again sad & I am sorry)

How Radical Was John Gaius, Really is a forum thread that was locked by the moderators after 234534645674564 pages of heated debate

[shsl-hubris-guy]

In-Depth Analysis On All The DR Characters Because What, Are You Gonna Try And Stop Me? Who Are You, My Mom? Yeah, I Didn't Think So- Part 6: Hifumi Yamada

Finally, the 'analyses progressively getting longer' curse is broken! As excited as I am to do this next write-up, there's absolutely no chance Hifumi's analysis will hit anywhere near the length of Junko's. I estimate this'll fall closer into the length of Sayaka's if anything, but I'd love to be proven wrong and find more to his character than I anticipate.

I really do love making these. Each and every one so far has opened my eyes to new facets of these characters, and sharing my conclusions with you all and hearing your own thoughts brings me an indescribable amount of happiness. Truly, there is nothing like the hubris papers :D

As always, this analysis uses only official materials, primarily English localizations of the source material, and while I do my best to maintain objectivity, it is at its core an interpretation! If you aren't interested, keep scrolling, and if you don't like it, also keep scrolling

Part 1- Character Design

Hifumi sports a fairly typical looking and clean school uniform, neatly tucked in and collar folded. He wears with it an orange backpack that matches his tie in shade, and his tie and shoes have arrow imagery as well. His tie in particular has an double-headed arrow that points up and down over his torso. This is likely meant to reference his self-given nickname, The Beginning and the End, a biblical reference.

He keeps his hair slicked neatly into a small ahoge at the center of his head, wears round glasses, and has a cat lip and double chin. He's notably the only plus sized character in THH, and was given the title of SHSL Doujin Artist, or Ultimate Fanfic Creator. He's also noticeably very clean and neat, contrasting the otaku stereotype of being messy and disorganized.

Part 2- The Otaku Caricature: A Brief Summary

'Otakus' as they're commonly known are people that define themselves by their interest in stereotypically nerdy things to an almost obsessive degree. These people are often thought to be very good at subjects like math and science, and adore manga and/or anime. And when it comes to male otakus, they're often characterized as lonely perverts who can only find comfort and companionship in works of fiction because they're too pathetic and gross for any real person to like them, and/or because they're too obsessed with their beloved worlds of fiction to bother with making human connections. There's a lot more history behind how the otaku perception has shaped over time, but this is the basic gist of what you need to know if you're unfamiliar with otakus as a concept.

Hifumi in particular is meant to represent otaku culture as it appears in Japan, as many characters in THH are designed around subcultures themselves (Mondo with bosozoku, Chihiro with otokonoko, Junko with gyaru, etc.) and like these characters, he's designed to deconstruct what this culture represents and how people within this subculture are perceived. This is an idea that's present for most of the THH cast, but is especially noteworthy with Hifumi, because his story is one of the most immediately affected by his role within his subculture, to the point where his perception as a character is inextricably linked to public perception of this subculture.

Part 3- Character Introduction

Hifumi's first lines aren't directly known as his, but are swiftly revealed to be his once you connect the voice actor to the character. Notably, his first remark is to question the class size.

"So counting him, that makes fifteen. Seems like a good cut-off point, but I wonder if this is everyone..." -Hifumi Yamada, Prologue

When actually speaking directly to him, he introduces himself proudly, giving you his nickname- "The Alpha and the Omega", or The 'Beginning and the End' in its source language- and immediately bragging about his SHSL title and how many fancomics he's sold, even at his own school. Said works are self-described to be "about embracing our basest urges," something that immediately turns Makoto off the idea of even so much as looking at it.

Quite obviously, the implication here is smut, nudity, sex appeal, etc. "Basest urges" when referred to in the context of humans in fiction are commonly referring to sex, and coming from an otaku character, the stigma of horny, creepy anime lover is almost immediately set in place for our POV character by said comment, combined with the mention that his peers weren't all so excited to see his work in a school setting.

"Some of them didn't get it, of course, saying I'd 'tainted' the event. How stupid can you be!?" -Hifumi Yamada, Prologue

So our first given impression of him is that of a creepy otaku that draws and sells fanart of his waifus. Said impression relies on the player's prior exposure to otaku characters and their stereotypes, as well as a generalized amount of fatphobia(the fatphobia as a whole will be properly broken down at the end; stick with me until then bc it will be addressed properly) that lends itself into painting this early picture and setting up the building blocks for easy misperceptions of his future actions. Because while, yes, he does draw and sell fanart of his waifus, he's not the one-note pervert this initial impression would lead you to believe.

Part 4- Early-Game Events

Hifumi almost immediately takes a backseat in the first chapter, falling to the wayside in class discussions and only chiming in for the occasional joke. In fact, he speaks up twice in the class' breakdown of the first floor- once for a fat joke, and once for a vore joke. Neither of these are during the time where his 'investigation group' are reporting their findings.

"'But even with all that, there are 15 of us. How long can the food last?' 'Y-You can just eat sesame s-seeds or something...' 'Huh? What am I, a parakeet?'" -Hifumi Yamada & Toko Fukawa, ch 1

Later, if you choose to speak to him in the dorm hallway before going to the gym with Sayaka, he seems to be very interested in the relationship she and Makoto are developing. This noticeably makes Makoto uncomfortable, but the reason why he finds their relationship interesting is much less creepy than Makoto's unspoken assumption.

"'Mr. Naegi, Miss Maizono...! Wh-Where are the two of you off to!? A man and woman... growing closer...' 'H-Hey! What are you trying to say!?' .... 'There's really no other way to express it but to say... How very poetic!' '...'" -Hifumi Yamada & Makoto Naegi, ch 1

He sees their developing relationship as something poetic, something that has meaning to it. Speaking to him again clarifies that.

"And when he swears his love to her, there's a reason he swears that love! That's the feeling I'm getting!"

This is the first time we see Hifumi's intentions and beliefs to be more pure than his peers initially believe, and this misperception quickly becomes a theme. We see this again in the investigation, where Leon immediately assumes the worst of him for volunteering for trash duty.

"'Hey fatty! Why'd you want the cleaning gig, anyway!?' I-I just decided to volunteer for something I knew no one else would wanna do. What's the big deal!?' 'Liar! I know why you did it...'" -Leon Kuwata & Hifumi Yamada, ch 1

And, when he insists upon his innocence, it's not taken at all seriously. Instead, Byakuya suggests a new rule- for Sakura to go with any man that takes out the trash.

"'If you're as innocent as you claim, what's the harm in it?' 'Kh-! That's not how it's supposed to-!'" -Byakuya Togami & Hifumi Yamada, ch 1

This is, on a surface level, the boys calling Hifumi's bluff and proving that he 'really is' a pervert because he's upset about being accompanied. However, that's not the only reason why Hifumi could possibly be upset at this. Sakura is visibly the strongest, and therefore most threatening, member of their class. Hifumi's greatest strength is in his ability to hold a pen without cramping for a while. When trapped in a killing game, would you be hunky dory with your classmates deciding for you that you have to be alone with the most immediate threat in a killing game, all because they assume you're a pervert?

Essentially, Hifumi's role in the early chapters is wholly that of a comic relief character. He has geeky one-liners in response to serious moments, using nerd humor in an attempt to cope with the dire circumstances they've found themselves in. There are a few different examples of this.

But, simultaneously, he's one of the more empathetic characters in the early chapters. For example, in the opening of chapter 1, he's the only character to show actual concern for Mondo's safety when he threatens not to follow the regulations, in his own way.

He's also one of the ones to reassure Chihiro after the class trial when she blames herself for Leon's death, alongside Makoto and Hina.

It's also worth noting that he offers to help Hina get Toko back to her room after she faints upon seeing Chihiro's body, regardless of his own previously stated dislike of her. Regardless of his personal feelings, he offers a helping hand, even if it's ultimately ignored.

"You c-could've made some for the r-rest of us, you know...' 'I emphatically decline! You're not my type at all!'" -Toko Fukawa & Hifumi Yamada, ch 1 "'I don't mind taking her, but... could someone help me?' 'If you need help, I don't mind-' 'Taka, could you help me?'" -Aoi Asahina & Hifumi Yamada, ch 1

While on an overall, he doesn't do very much in the early game, we do get to see the two main points of his character start to come into focus: his nerdiness, and his empathy. We also get to see which half his peers pick up on, and which half they really, really don't.

Part 5- Relationships

Hifumi is a character whose story is defined by his relationships. Mainly which characters give him the time of day, which don't, and how that leads him to his eventual demise.

5.1- Leon Kuwata & Aoi Asahina

Due to both of them having a similar function for Hifumi, and having a small amount of crossover, I'm lumping Leon and Hina together. When it comes to Hifumi, both Leon and Hina are noticeably the two to visibly dislike Hifumi and assume the worst in him. This is a sort of demonstration of the group's general perception of him, as Leon is relatively active when it comes to the group conclusions in the first chapter, and Hina is consistently a voice of optimism in group discussion. For example, twice in the first chapter, Leon talks down to Hifumi, assuming the worst in him and calling him 'fatty' as an insult.

Hina, on the other hand, noticeably goes around Hifumi in conversation, brushing off his words more than once or straight up ignoring him, like when he tried to offer help to her dropping off Toko. Suffice to say, neither of them like him very much, though it's presented a bit differently. No one ever speaks in Hifumi's defense or agrees with him in group discussion, and seldom will you find Hifumi speaking one on one to anyone other than Celeste(when she's bossing him around, of course).

Leon dies relatively quick, so there's not any resolution on his end, but for Hina, she absolutely learns something from Hifumi's death, as Hifumi was someone she basically wrote off in life. So many people had already died, and when she was the one responsible for protecting Hifumi in the nurse's office, she failed him for her own sake. Her ignoring him is a point of guilt, and it leads her to be the only one to properly mourn him when everyone else is more focused on the mechanics of the murder itself. His death acts as a moment of growth for her, and hardens her to anyone who doesn't give the lonely a hand, the way she didn't to him.

5.2- Toko Fukawa

Hifumi doesn't like Toko. He sees her as a pretentious hypocrite, and says about as much when the two of them are in the library together.

"'They have all these books here, and not ONE copy of ANY of my works!' 'W-Well, yeah... Why would they have c-comics in a library? Plus, most 'fanfic' is j-just porn drawn by a bunch of a-amateurs...' 'You just don't get it. Not. At. All.'" -Hifumi Yamada & Toko Fukawa, ch 2

"'Comic b-books? Young adult? That stuff's a w-waste of time...' 'I've seen what you write, Miss Fukawa. Talented as you are, your stuff isn't any more 'worthwhile.'' 'My stories are filled with trues love and pure feelings! Don't compare them to that garbage of yours!'" -Toko Fukawa & Hifumi Yamada, ch 2

Toko is a novelist, while Hifumi specializes in fan comics. While they're both language artists, they write in very different ways, so it's expected that they wouldn't get along very well. That said, they do have a fair amount of chemistry, being equally petty and willing to criticize each others' works without hesitation. Interestingly, Toko seems to feed off of this banter, and is visibly disappointed when Hifumi later says he has no interest in her.

Despite having a verbal slapfight, their conversation in the library is unironically the closest either of these characters get to forming an actual friendship with anyone in the THH cast in-game.

5.3- Celestia Ludenberg (CW: SA Mention)

Celeste approaches Hifumi with one goal: to gain a servant. When trapped in a killing game and desperate to escape, one will use whatever resources available, and Hifumi immediately struck her as an easy target. This wasn't unfounded, as he almost immediately agreed to making her milk tea, allowing his own attraction to her to persuade him.

"'Hifumi, would you make me some tea?' '...Huh?' 'Milk tea, if you please.' 'Wh...why me?' 'Your roundish figure reminds me of the owner of the coffee shop I used to frequent.' 'That's your reason...?'" -Celestia Ludenberg, Hifumi Yamada, & Makoto Naegi, ch 2

Her approaching him is framed as both confusing and frivolous. Hifumi can't believe it, and neither can Makoto, our POV character. But regardless, Hifumi immediately falls in line, doing what Celeste asks to the best of his ability, specifically because he's attracted to her.

"Hmhm... It's all about the law of causality, basic instinct, act and react!" -Hifumi Yamada, ch 2

He does what Celeste asks because he's attracted to her, and thinks hse will, in turn, fuck him. She won't, but he doesn't need to know that. Other adaptations expand on his attraction to her, with the stageplay having him say that her Gothic lolita style akins her to horror characters in his mind, and that he wants to draw her.

Later, when Celeste plans her murder plot, Hifumi is the one she goes to, knowing he's more likely to bend to what she asks. But even though he's attracted to her, he's still at his core a decent guy. And she's not the girl at the forefront of his mind anymore, so she has to get more creative. So, in order to convince him that killing all their classmates is worth it, she comes up with a new web of lies, using both his connection with a certain AI and his own chivalry against him.

"'[Taka] came to my room last night unannounced, and then... It's hard for me to even say... He... abused me...' 'What!?' 'And he... he took pictures. He said if I did not do as he asked, he would show them to everyone... So I... I had no choice...' 'Th-that's a crime! An absolute crime!'" -Celestia Ludenberg & Hifumi Yamada, ch 3

Hifumi takes this seriously, believing what Celeste says for two reasons: because she has photographic evidence of Alter Ego in Taka's room, and because he has no reason not to trust her. She's one of the few members of the class who's spoken to him unprompted. On top of that, sexual assault is an incredibly serious accusation, and Hifumi treats it as such*.

"I'm about to say something I've never said before in my life... I'm going to kill him! I'm going to f...f...f-fucking kill him!" -Hifumi Yamada, ch 3

(*It's also worth noting that Hifumi believing Celeste doesn't make him 'stupid'. That's a sentiment I've seen very often thrown around when talking about this chapter, with the main point being 'how could he believe that the Ultimate Moral Compass would rape someone?' But not only is that sentiment at the mercy of a mistranslated SHSL title, it also implies that Celeste should've had more proof for her rape to be believable. You should always take victims seriously, and Hifumi knew that. The point of Celeste's lie isn't that Hifumi is dumb; the point is that Celeste is scum for lying about something so serious. Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk.)

Hifumi becomes a victim of Celeste's schemes because his empathy, which went unnoticed by everyone else, was weaponized against him. In this sense, both he and Taka fall to the lack of understanding their peers had for them, all to Celeste's whims, as Celeste was very involved with and friendly with the class but lied constantly. Hifumi wasn't the pervert people assumed him to be, and his chivalry became his downfall.

5.4- Chihiro Fujisaki & Alter Ego

While Hifumi's relationship with Chihiro was minor, it was still there, if only in the background. They bounce off of each other's thinking in the first trial, Hifumi comforts Chihiro after the first trial, and they stand together when summoned to the gym by Monokuma. It's subtle, but there, and Chihiro isn't uncomfortable with him, either. It's important enough of a detail that it carries over to adaptations, too.

He also refuses to touch Chihiro's dead body, not wanting to violate her after death. This is again another instance of Hifumi's base morals and empathy, but could hypothetically speak to a friendship as well. He mourns her death and thought highly of her.

It's also worth noting that both Chihiro and Hifumi are the two characters in this game to show some hints of remembering their history, or at least having the feeling that something isn't quite right.

"Hey, it could just be my imagination, but... have we met before?" -Chihiro Fujisaki, prologue

"...Huh? Ahh... that's right... I remember now... Hope's Peak... .... I remember... everything... Before... I'd met you... all... I'd met... you all..." -Hifumi Yamada, ch 3

This associates the two characters together, though not to a major degree. So when Alter Ego is found, this connection combined with Hifumi's love of 2D makes it completely unsurprising that he's immediately interested in them.

"'Somehow I feel kinda... sorry for her...' ..... 'It is a simple computer program. It does not *have* feelings.' 'Are you sure about that...?'" -Hifumi Yamada & Celestia Ludenberg, ch 3

This very quickly devolves into him being sexually attracted to Alter Ego. Of that there's no question. He routinely breaks class rules specifically to interact with them on multiple occasions.

"He snuck into the dressing room in the middle of the night and accessed Alter Ego without permission. And when I caught him last night... he was hugging the laptop and breathing strangely." -Kyoko Kirigiri, ch 3

"'And that guy was seriously head over heels for a mannequin. He had a wedding and everything! And your eyes just now... I saw the same look in HIS eyes!' 'Shut up! She's not a mannequin! She's an ANGEL! .... What we have can't be described by your petty 'words'!'" -Yasuhiro Hagakure & Hifumi Yamada, ch 3

He all but admits to it, too, enjoying when they say 'Master' and the drooling sprite appearing when talking to or about them a significant amount. But despite that, he insists it's beyond just sexual attraction, and feels genuine affection for them as a person as well. Because of that, he's the first in their class to verbalize that he sees Alter Ego not as a program, but a person, a sentiment that's later shared by the rest of the class(save Celeste).

Hifumi doesn't judge Alter Ego as a program first. He loves 2D and fiction, so he's immediately more open to accepting Alter Ego right off the bat. And it's that openness that allows him to be the first one to acknowledge that despite their existence being a "2D" one, that they're still alive and matter.

5.5- Kiyondo Ishida

Hifumi never really knew Taka. They'd met, obviously, but the two of them weren't friends, or even acquaintances. When it comes to the story of THH, their paths intersect for the first time after Taka is reborn as Kiyondo, and it's not under friendly terms. Both Hifumi and Kiyondo have developed a codependency on Alter Ego, and find themselves pitted against each other because of it.

There's also a distinct difference in the way the two of them treat and view Alter Ego that sets them apart. Whereas Hifumi sees Alter Ego as their own conscious entity, one that admittedly caters to his preferences, Kiyondo's attachment to Alter Ego is to see them as the tool that reincarnated Mondo and rejoined the two of them, and is therefore Mondo's lifeline. The reason they view Alter Ego differently is because they represent the same thing for both men- the one person who connects with them.

Taka was perpetually lonely and had no friends until Mondo, while Hifumi never wanted anything more than for his favorite characters to love him the way he loved them. Alter Ego unintentionally fills that void for both of them, so they both develop a possessive codependency to them and are forced to be at odds with each other because of it, and leads both of them to their deaths.

Part 6- Hifumi Yamada: Comic Book Hero

"If murder is evidence of abnormality, then all of history's greatest heroes must have been abnormal." -Monokuma theater, ch 3

Like the characters he admired in his favorite works of fiction, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, Hifumi determined the start and end of chapter 3. Chapter 3's plot and how it unfolds is a bit ridiculous, which is fitting for putting a comic relief character like Hifumi in the hotseat. It's in this chapter that we learn more about Hifumi's interests directly, and that sets the tone for the more comical and outlandish plot we get in chapter 3.

Celeste's murder plan relies heavily on Hifumi's antics, with her entrusting him to make the costume and act the fool in her play, before killing him with his own weapon of choice. In this sense, he acts as a hidden vigilante, defending her honor and saving the princess (Alter Ego) using the Robo Justice mask.

Hifumi's supposed role makes much more sense when you take it as a comic book storyline. He, the hero, is brought to the edge of death by a villain that claims itself to be justice, only to just hold on against all odds (as heroes do) and escape the clutches of evil, murdering rapists and bringing the masked villains to justice. These kinds of stories are what Hifumi eats up, but he fails to see the true role he falls into- the poor manipulated fool, henchman to the vile villainness that tosses him aside when he's no longer useful.

Part 7- Hifumi's Memory

"If I've got one thing going for me, it's my memory!" -Hifumi Yamada, ch 1

Hifumi having a good head on his shoulders is immediately plot relevant. His memory is impeccable, and this makes a lot of sense for someone revered for their place in fandom. Being able to remember the source material you're making art of can be really useful.

But in his final moments, Hifumi's strong memory comes back to him, Celeste's attack both killling him and dislodging the memories Junko had buried. This serves as both a clue to the immediate trial for his and Taka's murder, and becomes a clue towards the truth of the entire killing game.

"Who... killed me...? That's right... I remember... their name... Y...Yasu...hi...ro...." -Hifumi Yamada, ch 3

While this reveals Celeste's real name, it doesn't explain how Hifumi would've known that, and it's a question that's never directly answered until the final trial- they were friends for 2 years, and had learned her real name in that timeframe beforehand. This, alongside the first photo of the class' past and Kyoko questioning her body having changed, is where the setup for the class' missing their school lives really takes off. It's a nice detail to include for Hifumi, and has its impact on the player when you realize that Celeste, who seemed to hate Hifumi, had once willingly shared such sensitive information with him, a trust that became his final words, and it calls into question just how different everyone's relationships were with each other before the game began.

Part 8- Fatphobia In Danganronpa (& Creator's Bias)

By now, I'm certain a fair chunk of people have rolled their eyes, refreshed the page, moved on with their lives, etc. because of this post's insistence that Hifumi isn't perverted. And that's mainly because of the content of his FTEs, in which he tells us in no uncertain terms how much he wants to embarrass and mature the teen girl character he loves most. And yes, that is pretty sexual of him, and he makes a few different out-of-place sex jokes throughout his time in the game, most of which were glossed over. Well, my main reason for doing this is that I think these moments and assertions exist not in tandem with Hifumi's character and story, but in contradiction of them.

I'll elaborate. Hifumi is a fictional character. As such, when written, the character choices and dialogue are subject to authorial intent. This is base information when analyzing a character that every fictional character in all of media history is subject to. But the question with Hifumi is, how much of Hifumi's intended arc and story is negatively affected by the creator's own biases? When it comes to Hifumi, my conclusion is, a fair bit.

Hifumi's intended impact is shared with most of the cast- the subversion of expectations. Sayaka wasn't the deuteragonist. Chihiro wasn't a (cis) girl. Junko wasn't dead. Et cetera. In the case of Hifumi, this subversion is undoubtedly, and without question, that he is not a pervert. He's set up to be assumed as a pervert, only for the rug to be pulled out when Celeste reveals that he agreed to help her because he believed he was saving a sexual assault victim. He's beyond disgusted by the mere notion; he respects her, and becomes a mourned victim because of it. There's no reason for the game to call attention to this in the post-trial if this wasn't the point. So why, then, do they include all these sexual jokes, all directed at the female cast members and told exclusively by Hifumi? Why is he the one to immediately agree to spy on the girls in the bathhouse without hesitation, and mourns it if you don't unlock the cutscene? Is it all part of the 'gotcha'? Was it even necessary for the 'gotcha'? Well, no, to both questions. Hifumi has this subversion, yes, but he's also comic relief, and these moments and jokes are given to him as a result, despite the immediate and obvious contradiction.

But why? Surely these jokes could've gone to another character, or even been spread across the cast. It didn't have to be Hifumi, but the author made it so that it was, and when looking seriously at what his character was meant to accomplish, you also have to look at it critically and acknowledge why. There's one very real and apparent reason that Hifumi would be the one given these moments above everyone else, and it's the same reason the game makes multiple passes at his figure, assigns him a comic role over others in the first place, and ultimately gets lumped in with the actual perverts of Danganronpa when people criticize the fanservice and horny pervert characters of the series. He's fat, plain and simple.

Fatphobia is unfortunately evident within Hifumi's character, and most of the rest of the series as well. For one thing, in a cast of nearly 100 characters, only three are fat, and of those three, he's the only one to make it past the first chapter. Similarly to the dark-skinned characters in this series, body diversity is not a priority in Danganronpa. On top of that, all 3 of these plus-sized characters are somewhat associated with food. It's more obvious with the other two, as the Ultimate Imposter has several gags and lines about how much food he eats and how important calories are to him, and Teruteru is the Ultimate Cook, but Hifumi's official art also has him pictured with greasy snacks like potato chips while working, and in his FTEs he tells you about his Diet Coke addiction. Individually, there's nothing wrong with any of these; they make sense for the characters, but when it's all of your plus-sized characters, and you barely have any, that's a pattern.

In the case of Hifumi, though, the much more noticeable aspect of fatphobia present is his hornier brand. Other characters are noticeably uncomfortable around him at multiple instances, but by the end of the first chapter, his being a pervert is accepted fact, and people stop reacting to it.

The above sprite in particular is used very often when Hifumi is speaking, and there are several instances in which the way the player may interpret his dialogue is directly affected by the use of this particular sprite. He's visibly sweaty and drooling as he talks, and it's often paired with the Junk Food track to emphasize that what he's saying is ridiculous. An example that immediately comes to mind is if you speak to him with Sayaka before going to the gym. The Junk Food 10 track cuts in when you click on him, and immediately ends and goes back to the previous track once you're done speaking to him. The game also makes a few passes at his weight, to the point where him being too heavy to lift unironically becomes a truth bullet in the chapter 3 investigation and trial. It's technically a good point to make, since he did fly up 2 flights of stairs in the span of a few minutes, but the way in which they emphasize his weight when collecting the bullet is... rude, to say the least.

"Hifumi's big, cold body is laying on the floor... His... *really* big body. I mean, how on Earth was the killer able to move someone so big?" -Makoto Naegi, ch 3

As I stated previously, despite Hifumi having a minor arc and purpose, he is very much a comic relief character. The presentation of his character is very much a reflection of this. And there's nothing wrong with having comic relief characters. By himself, Hifumi's not being a pervert being paired with an immature sense of humor isn't the worst thing in the world, and for the most part, the contradiction here could be meta-explained as him being overexposed to Internet humor and having his foot in his mouth on occasion as a result. But that doesn't change the fact that doing it with who, at the time of his creation, is your only fat character isn't a great choice to make, and is worth calling out and criticizing for that very reason. Admittedly, this is lessened a good bit when you remember that Toko, a much thinner character, is way worse about being perverted, and plenty of way more perverted characters that are both thinner and less sympathetic as characters are introduced later. (If anything, Hifumi being negatively affected by fatphobia is worse in the fandom than it is in the actual source material, but the source did set it up for that to happen, so again, it's still worth calling out in a full character analysis.)

Part 9- Value of a Geek (Why We Care)

So now we know who Hifumi is. The perceived Hifumi, the empathetic Hifumi, and the contradictory Hifumi. So many Hifumis, and only one character. Can we condense this into a solid conclusion?

Hifumi is an otaku. Hifumi is a creator. Hifumi is horny. Hifumi beats rapists over the head with a giant fucking hammer. Hifumi Yamada is many things, a contradiction of a character. He can't keep his inside thoughts inside, but that extends to his art, too. He's a teenage boy who built a career off his pent-up frustration, and who hasn't lost sight of where the line is. He's a man of passion, in more ways than one, and he's a kinder and more chivalrous man than he's given credit for.

Hifumi Yamada may just be the character from THH you're most likely to come across in the real world. He's not some hyper-competent secret genius who made the conscious choice to dedicate his life to something. He was just a bit of a geek that really liked his favorite show, and built a community from it. He fell into his passion, and that's something I think any creator of any kind can relate to. Hifumi never cared what people thought of him, not really. He just strived to do what made him happy. Maybe we should all be more like Hifumi. Enjoy the things you love, and share that. There is a community out there that will love it; you just have to find them.

Afterword

Final analysis of the year!!! Happy birthday, Hifumi!!!! 🥳

It's technically already 2025 and January 1st. However, it's still December 31st somewhere, so I'm considering this a victory lol. Damn, 6 analyses in a little over 6 months. That's like, 1 analysis a month. Pretty crazy

I worry this may be a tad rushed, but I've looked it over and I'm confident it holds up, even if I probably could've gone into more detail in some places or another.

Anywho, expect a larger gap between this analysis and the next, because next in line is Toko Fukawa, which means we have to go beyond THH once more. Catch ya later!

(Future Crane: Edits are due to formatting cleanup and one misattributed quote at the end of part 4. None of the information otherwise has been changed)

[botanphal]

THE VIVIBELLA BIBLE IS HERE AND IT’S QUEER

ENJOY

PREFACE

so you’re probably wondering. What is this weird sapphic tirade of 3K words? Well, this “note bible” was originally something I was going to keep for myself but figured others may want to see it too. This document is similar to a character bible, hence the name, except it’s more of a deep dive into two particular characters, strung out like notes. Please keep in mind that this document does not go into every idea I’ve had about these two but is more or less the basic ideas for the sake of consistency. This goes over canon and non-canon information which are separated so you know what’s true vs my own interpretations, though depending on which version of this post you’re reading, you may notice that there’s only canon information—which is more or less to let you have your own ideas from their purely canon-selves without the inspiration of my own non-canon ideas—the cut version of this document is also considerably smaller (1.7K). If you’re not on the canon cut version, then obviously the previous statement can be ignored. Regardless, I hope you have fun reading!

BOTANPHAL/PALIN’S VIVIBELLA BIBLE

LINKS

Just some links to their actual profiles for ease of access, as well as quotes and their theme music

Goombella:

https://www.mariowiki.com/Goombella

https://www.mariowiki.com/List_of_Goombella_quotes

https://youtu.be/1EmkKFaT7V4?si=erWshNwVBU5sfbo_

Vivian:

https://www.mariowiki.com/Vivian

https://www.mariowiki.com/List_of_Paper_Mario:_The_Thousand-Year_Door_quotes_by_character_(S–Z)

https://youtu.be/6WubRL1mPlQ?si=cY_tWs5TwyKZsr39

ESTABLISHING THE IDIOTS

let’s get down the gist of these sillies!

Goombella:

A junior at the university of Goom majoring in Archeology and seems to also consider herself a historian

- sassy, genuinely seems like she’d bite people’s fingers off sometimes

- nerd (but would backfire if you called her that given the note above)

- confident (of course, there are moments where she loses this but most of the time she seems rather self-actualized about things)

- kind, but does tend to poke fun at others (I can’t believe she called Koops cringe)

- curious

- knowledgeable (though she does make her mistakes regarding things like being fooled by Doopliss)

- excitable (after reading her dialogue over and over she uses a LOT of exclamation points. Girl calm down)

- kind of a hot head at times and jealous type, especially with how Ms. Mowz goes after Mario (Goombella definitely had a crush on him as well) and snaps back a lot though this could just be related to her mentioned sass

- this isn’t so much a character trait but she says “totally” a lot as well as “oh my gosh” which this one may be a catchphrase

Non-canon interpretations:

- has ADHD, needs meds or she loses her mind and becomes scrambled (top of the line “gifted” kid)

- possibly has a fear of heights given her comments at Hooktail’s castle making her nervous

- most Goombas seem to have two prominent fangs so I assume she’s missing one

- half Australian and half Maltese (has slightly an Australian accent but mostly sounds American)

- intersex, given Goombas are based off of mushrooms (and also chestnuts but I digress) and mushrooms are intersex, took estrogen to appear more feminine and identifies as a woman (this still applies to her gijinka, just that her species of demi-human is also all intersex)

- futch (femme/butch, will wear either or-or dress equal)

- has a lot of (unsuccessful) relationship experience which adds to her anxiety about her feelings for Vivian, specifically having dated three other people

- Full name is (Goom)Bellami Alessia Bones (Goom is a family title and not actually required to say, though she prefers to be called Bella than Bellami)

- 21 years old (while she has no confirmed age her being in her early 20s makes the most sense given she’s a Junior at university)

- has an earthy/dirt yet flowery scent

- has a cut on her right eyebrow

- loves savory flavors but occasionally enjoys spicy and sweet (Goombas have a main diet of meat so she tends to eat a lot of that)

- executive dysfunction sometimes causes her to not clean herself, but if someone complains then she will (she tends to carry around a perfume bottle)

- pansexual (possibly a coping lesbian)

- (gijinka) is missing the majority of her right forearm though she has a prosthetic for it (was born like that) and is missing almost all of her left arm aside for the shoulder (incidental)

- swears fairly often

Vivian:

Youngest of the three shadow sirens/sisters with the ability to use fire magic

- shy/somewhat reserved (opens up more later on, still shy but less reserved)

- cutesy (how the fuck did she speak with a heart symbol in one of her quotes)

- graceful

- polite

- sweet/kind (there should be no mistake to how far Vivian’s forgiveness goes considering she’s willing to forgive her own family that abused her for years—Vivian disowning them is not something Vivian herself would do)

- empathetic/sympathetic (I think about her random glitz pit dialogue a lot and how she worries if her and Mario did a bit too much on the enemies. But also she sometimes says “NO MERCY” she’s so silly)

- curious (moreso about most things being new to her due to being sheltered by her sisters for so long)

- submissive, though gains some confidence later on (this is just my own take but I feel like it’d take her longer than it does in-game to be more confident given the severity and length of abuse she experienced)

- struggles with an inferiority complex (this is actually a canon thing and made mention of) at the hands of her sisters abuse

- says “gee whiz” a lot, might be a catchphrase

- tends to stutter when nervous (possibly easy to fluster, especially considering she likely has not received a lot of compliments in her life)

Non-canon interpretations:

- possibly has athazagoraphobia (the fear of being forgotten) or just has general struggles with the concept

- given her trauma (mental/emotional abuse, unsure if there’s ever been physical though in one of the translations of the game Beldam apparently starved her, neglect from Marilyn), she probably would struggle with depression, anxiety and PTSD

- dysphoric, obviously feels better about herself the further into her transitioning (something about Vivian makes me feel like she’d struggle with dysphoria—it’s already a lesser discussed topic among fictional transwomen and given Vivian’s upbringing I think it’d make sense that she particularly has this and would make mention of it)

- she’s autistic and I can’t exactly explain why but someday I will (this very well could be projection uhhh. Anyway she probably doesn’t even know she has it or what it is, has had struggles to learn magic as the ways her sisters were trying to teach her weren’t working for her)

- demisexual-biromantic (I feel like it just makes sense for her to be this way given how she warms up to Mario and the same would apply to Goombella)

- has a beautiful singing voice partially learned from vocal training herself, however she is also called a shadow siren

- a piece of the Shadow Queen, her future

- has no exact ethnicity hc aside for being black as a gijinka, she’s something else entirely and can speak all languages (including sign language and braille) but mainly speaks English and Latin (if she were to be an actual human she’d be Eritrean and Sammarinese)

- femme (specifically loves to wear flowy things like dresses and skirts, the most “masculine” thing she’d wear is a suit)

- Has no full name, simply known as Vivian (if her and Goombella were to marry then she’d be Vivian Bones :flushed:)

- 20 years old

- has a smoldering lavender scent

- (gijinka) actually lost one of her legs while learning to veil, simply conjured up a convincing new one that she can freely remove

- can swear, refuses to do so (she’s too nice and polite the silly thing)

- is a pure-magical being so she requires frequent mana consumption to live, fire flowers are her favorite thing to use for this

- unaffected by fire and heat, can touch it without pain, body temperature is always high, only sweats when she’s sick, it’s very unusual for her to feel cold

- loves sweet, spicy and hot flavored things

- very clean, loves to shower or bathe (sometimes very atmospheric about it with hot water and candles)

- I like to think that she becomes a bookworm and wants to learn more about magic, but also reads up on psychology after the things she’s been put through

- shadow’s eyes are extremely sensitive to light, their hats have magical properties that keep them safe and shadow over them, without it she can only open her eyes in complete pitch-darkness, otherwise she keeps them closed (their gloves also work as buffers for their magic to make spells less intense, they’re sorta limiters in a way, Vivian especially has to wear them due to having fire powers and well… fire is commonly seen as destruction more than life)

- left handed, can use right okay

- knows how to cauterize wounds using her magic

- during new moons her appearance changes to more resemble the Shadow Queen, gaining more shades of purple and little stars speckling all over her, as well as having her eyes always shown

HOW THE FUCK DID WE GET HERE?

vivibella stems from Goombella’s tattle dialogue during the first battle with the three shadow sirens as shown:

note that this dialogue varies from the original GameCube version of the game compared to the Switch remake above:

unfortunate how the dialogue was nerfed compared to the original, making her seem jealous rather than having some kind of sapphic awakening but now I think of it as she’s deflecting what she’s feeling

DYNAMICS

- has a sort of opposites attract kinda thing going on, Goombella being the more open and expressive one while Vivian is the shy and reserved one

- enemies to friends to lovers

- love triangle (for the fact they both had a crush on Mario at one point but Goombella never seemed to be bothered by Vivian’s feelings for him unlike how she’s felt about the other women pining after him, she probably respects Vivian’s feelings for him given what he meant to her)

- the studier (Goombella) and one to be studied (Vivian) idk if there’s an actual name for this dynamic but I went into this concept a bit in this tweet:

- yapper x listener (I don’t think I have to explain who is who)

THAT ITALIAN GUY

Before we get into the meat of vivibella, it must be understood what Mario meant to these two. As it goes in TTYD, Mario for some reason is just a MAGNET for ladies and Goombella and Vivian are no exception to this, most of the female characters seem to express having a crush on him but let’s take a look at them individually:

Goombella particularly seems to fall under having a crush on him but she’s rather dismissive of it/acts like she doesn’t in a teasing way. She expresses jealousy whenever other female characters pursue him (think of Flurrie and Ms. Mowz, even speculates on Lady Bow post-game) but doesn’t with Vivian, likely due to the fact that Vivian doesn’t express her feelings for him around anyone (aside for the finale) considering during Chapter 4 it’s only her and Mario together when she kisses him—we don’t exactly know how Goombella would feel about Vivian’s feelings for Mario, but I think she’d probably be the most respectful to her given the things she’s been through and how Mario helped her open up and improve. During her letter to Mario at the end of the game, she talks about a “secret” which I imagine has to do with her crush on him, but she doesn’t follow through with it likely due to Mario’s pursuit of Peach

Vivian and Mario have a much deeper relationship compared to all the female characters that fall for him. Vivian definitely has a crush on him but also seems to actually be in love with him given the events that transpire; Mario helping her through her trauma and accepting her without question and also being a lending hand to someone in need despite his own troubles at the time of having lost his name, body and trusted companions. Even after realizing who he is and leaving given that he was her enemy at a certain point, she comes back upon realizing what he showed her and valued that over everything else as being the first person to EVER be kind to her. She turned her back on her family for him. During the final battle Vivian attempts to confess to him as well as during the end of the game when he’s leaving, but hesitates again due to the fact that she knows that he’d choose Peach and even thinks that the two would make a great couple. I’m sure it would be hard for Vivian to move on from him, he’s probably the first person she’s ever loved in such a way and again, he’s the first person to show her real kindness

THINKING TOO HARD

Goombella is obviously the one to crush first given her tattle dialogue, she may be kinda sassy about her feelings for her when teased by others but when she’s actually around Vivian she’s more reserved and anxious due to her shy and gentle nature, in some ways I feel like she may fear possibly scaring Vivian away by being too forward and is also afraid of the possible rejection as she’s aware of Vivian’s feelings for Mario despite him eventually not being in the picture (and of course possibly being unaware to the fact that Vivian is bi). Goombella’s probably very likely a girlfail and a fumbler when it comes to flirting but god if she isn’t confident about it and Vivian finds it endearing. I think it makes the most sense for her to confess later on as I’m sure she probably reaches some form of boiling point and just drops all her words out after being unable to hide it anymore (Vivian doesn’t like to assume things about others typically so that’s why I don’t see her confessing first instead)

Goombella falls first but I feel like Vivian would fall harder as the two of them grow closer, Vivian already experienced rejection from Mario so in some ways she probably wasn’t expecting to find successful love anytime soon nor in a more similar way to how Mario was with her. Of course, Goombella isn’t exactly like him at all but the kindness and patience is still there, albeit with some attitude which Vivian doesn’t mind. I think it would take a bit for Vivian to catch onto Goombella and her own feelings given her experience with Mario. This being her second experience with love, she’s definitely very inexperienced regarding all of it which is why she holds back. With my hc of Goombella having been through her own form of transition, a lot of comfort is to be found there for Vivian as they’re somewhat similar due to that. I don’t think Vivian really knows how to flirt but she’d give lots of compliments and do gestures, she’s also a girlfail but in a graceful way and tries not to show it, she’s kinda a secret dork (and I mean. With the fact she stutters when nervous. There isn't anyway this girl isn't also a girlfail of her own like come on now)

Regarding my own lore, I like to think that these two live together in Goombella’s Uni dorm after the events of TTYD. Vivian switches on Fridays to live with her sisters then back with Goombella the following Friday so on and so forth to help rebuild a healthy connection with them while with Goombella she explores herself given she’s been stuck with her sisters for so long. Their situation isn’t helped by the fact that they have to share a bed due to the limitations of Goombella’s Uni dorm size, though it is fancier as it’s more like an apartment with separate rooms, (basically consists of two small bedrooms, the other bedroom being her roommate’s, a living space and kitchen combo as well as a bathroom) still small though

Goombella tends to go to Flurrie for advice regarding her feelings for Vivian, while Vivian goes to Lady Bow after forming a friendship sometime after TTYD’s events. I also like to think that Flurrie and Lady Bow end up coming together to scheme about the two of them (neither are aware of this until they start dating)

Their relationship builds off of living together and Vivian learning about herself, Goombella there to guide her as someone who already knows her own life and the steps she took to get to where she’s at—the two spend a lot of time together obviously and Goombella strives to try and get something out of the two of them than just a friendship given her own growing feelings, even if it takes being more patient

Even on the weeks when Vivian’s living with her sisters Goombella tends to visit her and hang out, sometimes sleeping over as well. Vivian along the way starts to realize how Goombella’s care for her is much deeper than she originally thinks it is—in some ways Vivian already feels inspired by someone like her who is so confident and self assured, she could use someone like her to give her a nudge in the right direction

They probably even go out on adventures together which further strengthens their bond, which of course may stir up trouble and that leaves room for needing to rely on each other or help each other in such times of need (who doesn’t love some hurt and comfort mmmm)

CLOSING STATEMENT

Anyway, that’s really all I have though I have a feeling that even AFTER publishing this I’ll be still tweaking this until the day I die. I love these two very much if that uh….. Isn’t obvious at all. uh huh. I hope you gained some kind of enjoyment and understanding out of all this gay nonsense from these strange little sapphic creatures that have been rotting my brain for months :3

the canon version of this post will come out soon! This just took so long to do I’m going to explode rn

[superscrub323]

A Little Elaboration on why a certain Animatic does the Lovers section of God Games the best

Alright if you've been following me you should know that one of my favorite tertiary characters in Epic the Musical is Ares and it's primarily because there's no reason for any version of the God of War to go harder on a verse than the God of Music yet Earle Gresham Jr. did so anyway and most of us, including those who write Warrior Penelope AU fanfics, thank him for it.

It's also a challenge for animators because while Apollo's and Hephaestus's verses and scenes are fairly straight forward, the primary challenge with Hera and Aphrodite is which glammed the fuck outfits they're going to be wearing, and Zeus needs to be depicted with all the pomp and grandiose we'd expect after hearing him proclaim his greatness and power in 'Thunder Bringer'; pretty every animatic artist universally agrees that Ares and Athena have to fight and flyte* at the same time and while all of them usually do a good job depicting the basic gist on how said fight usually goes, Ares temporarily having an edge over Athena, Athena emotionally rallying after Ares insults Telemachus, and Athena beating and/or intimidating Ares and Aphrodite into releasing him.**

But there is one animatic that does the Lovers section of God Games the best in fact it's the only part they've done and while I desperately hope they do the rest of the song they did the Lovers section so good it...sticks with me in ways that never leave my brain cavity and that's @sixofclovers's version of that part of a scene which...oh geez were do I start?

First off, one thing to notice is that while the character designs are simple but no less striking, it gives a chance to do things different from how animatics go, for example it opens with Athena having a lyre string and a hammer and giving it to her owl which is explained in the description stating that Athena in this version has to collect tokens from all the participants in Zeus's game, which in this case is Apollo's lyre string, Hephaestus's forge hammer, Aphrodite's pearl ear ring, (most likely) a peacock feather from Hera, and the golden ichor from Ares, which is already an interesting idea on it's own but that last one is pretty interesting in ways I'll get to later.

Then it cuts to Aphrodite and, unusually, she doesn't look seductive, flirty, or playful, she looks pissed at Athena and in tears while surrounded by a purple aura that is rapidly growing and when it comes in contact with Athena it compels her to cry and share her grief. Which also as a bonus forces Athena to be put on her back foot especially since as she weakly defends Odysseus with 'he was busy fighting' she has to wipe away her tears as Aphrodite sings 'more like busy spiting, the cyclops' she takes off her ear piercing and holds it to her eye in a striking visual way that references said Cyclops and begins to crush it in away that lets Athena know she finds her argument uncompelling until Athena in tears has to beg for Aphrodite to 'please reconsider this' while shapeshifting out of her armor symbolically making herself vulnerable before Aphrodite which causes her to loosen her grip on her pearl ear ring until...

'Really Athena? These old tricks?'

BAM

'Ares!'

And then Ares charges in and back hands her to the floor while Athena desperately barely gets time to magically summon her armor and shield to shield herself as Ares steps on her while Athena, and by proxy we the audience, get a good look at Ares and we see that he's crying along with Aphrodite and Athena which means that not only is Ares unaffected by Aphrodite's forced empathy making him cry, he shares it and is empowered by it. But as Ares gets to singing he kicks Athena away to give her a chance to get on her feet so Athena can prepare to get her grisly token Ares's of approval.

Another thing to note is that while the other 4 gods have personal objects they can give away as tokens, Ares's token is his ichor. Ares explicitly wants to clash spears with Athena and the only way he'll agree to release Odysseus is if she can draw ichor, not beat, just get a single cut of his blood which in turn paints a version of Ares that is confident in his ability to fight Athena under Aphrodite's forced empathy wave.

Said confidence is further backed up as while Athena is still on the back foot despite having her shield and spear already drawn, Ares doesn't even have his spear drawn yet and Athena is still on her back foot, and when Ares does draw his spear he draws it so fast it extinguishes 6 torches behind him which symbolizes the 6 men Odysseus sacrifices to Scylla as he calls out Odysseus unwillingness to even try to fight Scylla (didn't even try to kill her.)

And as Ares continues fighting Athena while he laments his cowardness, he beats her pretty evenly before throwing her to the ground while calling Telemachus pathetic and weak. Which in turn gives Athena a chance to channel the rage she feels at Ares for insulting her friend and to emotionally rally past Aphrodite's empathy wave but what is usual is that even when Athena is using her owl as a distraction to get Ares to turn his back for a surprise attack, she still can't get a clean cut on his neck...so instead she points to Aphrodite as she tells him 'And tell your lover that a broken heart can mend' and charges at her to force Ares to intercept Athena and catch the spear head.

And despite having the pointy end of a spear firmly in his hand it's still not enough to get him to draw blood and while Ares could probably kick Athena away and continue fighting, Aphrodite, who has been watching them fight, smiles in approval of Athena's willingness to protect her friends and Ares's protective nature (another thing that rarely gets shown) and hugs Ares from behind as if to tell him 'it's okay baby, you can let him go' and Ares grips the spear tighter and willingly draws his ichor thanks to Athena's urging to give Odysseus a chance to prove he isn't a coward and Aphrodite's approval of his release. Which is further demonstrated when Ares looks at Aphrodite who gives a smile not and they both say 'ugh...release them' as Ares gives Athena's owl Aphrodite's pearl earring covered in his blood so Athena can move on.

It's an amazing animatic that lets all 3 characters be more than how they're usually depicted in these animatic, Aphrodite doesn't get to be the sultry seductress, she gets to be aggrieved at Odysseus for letting his mom die, Athena gets a chance to show her ability to experience empathy and how dirty she can be in a fight, and Ares...gets to unironically (at least with Aphrodite helping him) be the martially superior God of War in a straight up fight and show emotions beyond rage and demonstrate his protective nature, and as an added bonus it's one of the few animatics where Athena does beat or intimidate Ares and Aphrodite into surrendering, they both give up of their own will which is...wow!

I hope the guys at Epic do that scene in a way that's something similar because...I can't get over how breathtaking it is and I once again shout out at sixcloveranimations for doing a fantastic job and doing it debatably the best.

*scold or in this case quarrel

**Special shout out to Neal the Illustrator, @anniflamma, and @gigizetz for having some of the best full animatics for God Games.

[returntosunder]

Oh boy- I've finnaly convinced myself to send my AU for the ramblings. Idk if I'd call it an au like the others, which is why I've been hesitant to send it but oh well, I adore it to bits and love any opportunity to talk about it so here I go.

It's called Monarchverse. And it's an alternate multiverse rather then just an AU. The story is a fic I'm working on, and it centers around this multiverses Ink.

Since I'm actively publishing the story, I won't give away ALL the secrets. But the main gist is that Ink, doesn't have the chance to destroy his soul. He manages to leave the dying sketches of his world before he's even grown into a toddler. Eventually, when hes seven in monster years, he's found by Nightmare. Nightmares intrigued by this strange little child that somehow psychically called out to him across worlds for "help". He doesn't know *how* but he's intrigued as to what this kid can do.

There's other reasons he takes the ink too, but for summaries sake. Basically he takes Ink to the others and Horror, Killer, Dust, and Cross now gotta deal with a very traumatized baby that Nightmare brought back.

Killer:....you want a beer?

Cross: you can't give that to him!? He's like- Four!!

Killer: WELL IDK WHAT DO WE DO WITH HIM!?!?

Horror: *silently picks up Ink while the others bicker and puts him to bed*

It's basically an exploration of Nightmare and his gang raising Ink. How that'd affect his personality along with having a soul. (Perfectly normal soul over here dw) exploring how the multiverse had functioned from its creation without Ink and the consequences. And then a bunch of other fun additional things. Like new characters, personal headcanons, and of course. Drama. So much. Everyomes gonna go through it, and when i say everyone i mean EVERYONE. I..am obsessed with this au you have no idea how badly I'm holding myself back from.dumping the entire story on my tumblr every day XD. I gotta write it all out first~

Or maybe it's just an excuse for me to write Ink driving these guys crazy? Both. Yeah it's both. Nightmare has glitter banned in the castle for a REASON. And for once that reason isn't Killer.

...Kay he's half the reason.

Edgy gloomy villian adopts rainbow hyper kid who wants to paint on his perfectly clean and dark walls. There's not enough color and goddammit Ink is gonna give this castle some.

Anyways. Here's some doodles of Ink as a bb and a wip of ink older when the main sorta big story and plot starts.

Inks magic is mainly pink bc...I said so. I love pink :3 also ignore the signature. Those are an old name.

Sorry if this sounds kinda self advertising-ey. I just rlly love chances to talk about and share this au.

ITS NOT SELF ADVERTISING AT ALL! ITS SO CUTE OMG (And even if it is, I dont mind it ^^)

YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH I LOVE WHEN VILLAINS OR BAD GUY GROUPS ADOPTED A KID, IM SUCH A SUCKER FOR THAT IN STORIES AND FICS OML

Also, I LOVE THAT VIDEO! Killer would totally offer beer lol, and thank god Horror took Ink away and put him to bed, very cute ^^

Nightmare banning glitter made me laugh omg

Omg i love Ink with the pink eyes! it looks so cool! (Lol thats so valid. Pink is such a pretty color ^^), and your doodles are so good! I really love the one with Nightmare and Ink looking threatening

I would love to read this! It's so cute, and i would love to see the chaos that would happen in the castle. And im very curious about how Ink being raised by Nightmare would affect the multiverse

[beigebeignette]

Sinners 2025 thoughts and review Pt 1.

Spoilers ahead

So I went the other day to watch Sinners at the movie theatre and it was amazing, 9/10 honestly. I went with pretty high expectations since I'd seen some very good reviews and also because vampire movie and it was safe to say that the actors did not disappoint.

The only reason why I'm not giving it a 10/10 is the fact that I think that they could have done something more with the Choctaw folks that just showed up at the beginning to warn the couple about the vampire? Thinking about it now I understand why they didn't show up later in the movie (because the sun had set and they didn't want to put themselves on unnecessary danger). So yes, I DO get why we didn't see them later but... I still kind of wish they had (?) So yes, that was basically why I'm not giving it a solid 10/10.

Onto other topics:

I've seen that some people mistook Annie for Smoke's mother/aunt and claimed that in every scene they're in she's kind of a mother figure to him (excluding obviously the more physically intimate ones, if you get my gist) and also showing promotional pictures of the couple and I? Don't get it?

The pictures I've seen look very much like old pictures of married couples I've seen on photography exhibitions. The look like mature adults and somewhat parental figures. Because that's what they are. Parents/parental figures. They both had a child they love and cherish even if she's gone. Annie obviously has a motherly air in her because she *is* a mother just like he is a father. They both cherish that child and mourn her, and if that's not what a parent is then I don't know what is. Also, Smoke acts throughout the film as an additional parental figure to Sammie, making sure that he is alright and taking care of him.

Idk, to me it was very obvious since the moment Smoke stopped in front of his child's grave, because who else but the mother of that child would live in a house near it? Who else would talk to Smoke with such proximity when none of the characters mentioned any aunts, any grandmothers?

Also, I have to say it. I loved their relationship. It was so full of love and respect. Did Smoke personally believe in hoodoo? No, and he says so. But he respects Annie, respects her craft, and believes in her; he fully trusts her. That's why in the end he honours her wishes and prevents her from becoming a vampire, from not meeting her ancestors.

On that topic: why didn't she save herself? I believe she could have objectively saved herself using hoodoo and all sorts of things to defy fate but that's the issue. Annie is shown to consult her fate and is shown to embrace it, not avoid it. Because I think that for her death is not the end. Death is not leaving your loved ones, abandoning them and ending in this bleak landscape of pain and suffering for eternity. Death means reuniting with your roots, with those who left a while or a little ago; death means closure. Annie is not afraid of death because she knows someone is waiting for her on the other side; and as a mother, there are very few things she wants to do aside from being able to see her baby again.

Annie doesn't mind going herself, but she cares about the others, about Smoke and Sammie; and that's why she makes sure to protect them until the very end. She knows that by protecting Smoke, he will protect Sammie until he is safe; and after that, she knows that she'll welcome him when he's ready.

[wolves-and-stars]

Beginner's Guide to Wolfstar (Long Fics)

(here's a list of my top 10 favorite long fics ranging from 259k to 59k words)

Momentum by children_of_the_shadows (ao3) 259k

If you have to ready any canon compliant (mostly) marauders through the years fic, this is the one, Children_of_the_shadows is one of the best writers ever, Top 3 fic authors.

2. Text Talk by merlywhirls (ao3) 141k

Everyone knows text talk, it's basically wolfstar bible, Non Magic AU where the boys meet by accidently texting the wrong number.

3. Time is a Fine Invention by bluepeony (ao3) 105k

Brilliant university non magic au, with the most imperfect and human characterization of both Remus and Sirius, read it if only to humanize the both of them and their relationship. Insecurity in a relationship and Coming of age and all the thoughts accompanying it are perfectly described in this. so much foreshadowing if you read it carefully enough.

It'll make you hate and simultaneously empathize with both characters.

4. Slughorn's Sanitarium for Troubled Boys by MelloPie 65k

TW: discussion of mental health, SA, institutionalization, ab*use, s*icide, self h*rm.

Non-Magic AU, set in a mental institution, where both noys have to share a room. Its one of the first long fics i ever read, so maybe i have a soft spot for this one, and every other fic on this list.

5. The Lad That Loved You. by MollyMaryMarie (ao3) 81k

I've said this once and I'll say it again, mollymarymarie is one of the best writers out there, another top 3 author for me, all of her fics are amazing, obviously including dear you holiness, we can pretend, the only living boy in new york, i might have to do a separate recs list for that.

But, if you had to read just one, i would say The lad that loved you is the perfect one, set in their 6th or 7th year? of hogwarts, they hide their new relationship by acting like they hate each other, and let me tell you, they are exactly, perfectly themselves in this fic, and by that i mean exactly how i imagine them.

There is not one single thing about this fic that i would change. Perfection.

6. Discards by picascribit (ao3) 76k words

I can't make a fic rec without picascribit. Cure for nightmares changed my life. Non-magic AU, Remus meets Sirius in the library he goes to study at, real love isn't always perfect and doesn't involve perfect people, is what i've take away from this fic.

7. ten reasons (to go to michigan) by greyeyedmonster18 (ao3) 59k

Top 3 Fics. If you had to read any wolfstar fic, it would be this one. I've read 100's spanning from 2016 - till date, and this is the best one ive ever read.

Remus is newly divorced, and he meets Sirius Black.

If you've ever lost someone one and had to re-learn how to live without someone you never thought you would have to live without, this fic will encapsulate the gist of it in words.

In one of their notes the authors says something close to 'the hardest thing about losing someone is finding out that the earth keeps spinning and you have to keep living'

8. Dating Remus Lupin by Children_of_the_Shadows (ao3) 83k

Top 3 fics. I can't explain this fic in any words, the writing style is brilliant, the characterizations are unique and wonderful and perfect. Everything about this fic is brilliant.

Set in Year 5, Sirius Black wants a boyfriend and James tells him about the only other openly gay boy in in their year, it just happens to be Remus Lupin. Much to his disdain.

9. Remus Lupin's Guide to Successful Courting by Children_of_the_Shadows (ao3) 87k

Non Magic AU, Remus Lupin finds harry in his yard having escaped from school and return him back to Dr. Sirius Black, who's new to town and coincidently doesn't have an inkling about Remus's past, his eyes clear of any judgement are what make Remus fall for him and pursue him, court if you will.

I again cannot explain this fic. Children_of_the_shadows is the most talented writer, i will make a separate fic list for their other brilliant work.

10. Sex Pistol by ArtificialAorta (ffnet) 86k

Musicians AU, Remus is punk rock, Sirius is akin to the prince of pop, how can they not fall in love?

[entelodante]

The MODERN MIRAN SCRIPT. Basically the continuation of the old school Chimeric that I covered in this post. That has most of the nitty gritty and this is more so about the branch of the language. The BIG info dump below the cut!

Chimeric is the original, a purely written language used by chimera when talking is unavailable. Written in a circle heading inwards with two defined lines of dialogue. The subject/action 'real' substance and the tonal, emotional intent of the writer and sometimes reader. Chimeric is still used by the remaining population to talk within their ranks, but nearly every chimera is at least bilingual depending on where they ended up. Back in Mirum the written language of Chimeric stayed behind but has been pretty heavily modified to better suit the reading style of the people that remained. Mainly Histin who cut out pretty much all the fluff and added a bit more structure.

So! As opposed to the radial style of Chimeric, Miran has double decker sentences. With the top row being the remnants of the Subject quarter and the bottom row being the Action quarter. Linkage of subjects and actions take place between the two lines. Plus there is a new form of linkage, the priority/influence links which show which subject is acting upon who, and define action sequences. While Chimeric is written inwards radially, Miran is written top to bottom, starting going from left to right then right to left and alternating down the page. Also circular paper is swapped for rectangular, think a standard 8x10. Still, you are expected to enclose sentences within two parentheses, lil hold over from the circular days. But to the outside perspective the largest difference between the two is their tones, or well overtonage of one and lack of tone in the other. Chimeric is the 3 paragraph overly detailed text, Miran is the single word response. Lest to say they do not mesh super well.

ANOTHER fun hold over I want to add but am still thinking over characters for is that for rare fancy words (poetry/music/heart speak) Miran can slide in a THIRD ROW in between the first and second. There the spoken tone quarter manages to eek out a meager Miran existence through a few dozen sets of characters to convey certain emotions and the like. Songs in Miran very often have multiple sets of lyrics overlaid in this fashion, the largest can have 5+ tonal rows.

Oh that reminds me! Miran DOES have a spoken equivalent. Or rather, the original shared Histin/Diagrevies language has been stretched over to fit better with the written word. That in itself has split the spoken word in Mirum in two once more, with spoken Miran and Draconic being the two main talkings. Histin typically only speak and read Miran, whilst Diagrevies will speak both; with their preference being draconic. A Diagrevies will typically have a Histin under their employ to read and write for them since ya know, they cannot see.

All this taken into consideration though, Miran and Chimeric are still basically two ways of writing the same basal language. Not that modern speakers like to admit that. But small character additions and style changes aside, if you can read one you can get the gist of the other. Miran is by far the most spoken in modern times tho. Its a little more accessible for different species than Chimeric.

Want to get more into the modern Mirum dealings. The chimera may be absent but their influence is still very plain to see if you know where to look.

[daydreamer131313]

Heather

Summary: i suck at writing summaries so I’m gonna give you the gist of it. Basically inspired by Conan gray’s song ‘Heather’. Childhood best friends to strangers to lovers kinda stuff.

Draco Malfoy x oc

Esmeray moon is my original character, like it’s only the name really because every time I write her she’ll look different. You can pretend it x reader, but i just prefer using a name and i obviously can’t use mine so anyways enjoyyy.

no voldy au

Heather masterlist

——————————————————————————————————

Esmeray was enjoying her last year at Hogwarts, even though all the professors kept lecturing seventh years on the upcoming NEWTS,(keep in mind it had only been two months since the year started) Esmeray and her friends found ways to make their year memorable.

Most of the time Esmeray and her two best friends Pansy and Daphne, roamed around the castle exploring every nook and cranny. Each time they found a place never found before.

She savoured every meal there and could see that every seventh year was doing the same. Clearly everyone was terrified at the thought of making their own food.

So in between classes, amazing food and amazing friends her year was going pretty good.

Though there was a small shadow in all that light.

To ensure a good day Esmeray always made sure she never crossed paths with her childhood best friend and his girlfriend.

Let me tell you why.

Till fourth year Esmeray and Draco had been inseparable. Best friends since they were born everyone believed they would be together till death.

In all honesty, Esmeray believed they would be together till death.

She really hoped it to, for during fourth year she found herself fancying her best friend Draco. She really thought he had liked her to, that was until He asked the worst person in Hogwarts to go to the Yule ball.

Heather gold.

They called her angelic heather.

She was in hufflepuff, An O student, kind to everyone, and so so so pretty.

It wasn’t a surprise Draco had fallen for her. That was okay, Esmeray never expected anything to happen between her and Draco, she was content with being friends.

He only asked her to a ball, its not like she’s going to take Esmeray’s place, right?

Wrong

Everything went downhill from the ball. Draco and Heather were inseparable. He began bailing on Esmeray to hang out with Heather and after a while Esmeray saw angelic Heathers other side.

Jealous Heather

Draco had finally made time for Esmeray one week, and instead of expressing how much he missed her or was looking forward to spending time with her. He looked at her with guilt and said -

“Heather doesn’t like that you’re so close to me, she told me to choose between the two of you”

That’s all Esmeray had heard before she sprinted away. She didn’t hear Draco calling after her and trying to follow her. She locked herself in the girls lavatory and sobbed.

Of course anyone would choose angelic Heather over Slytherins outspoken Esmeray.

Heather had all the beauty in the world whereas Esmeray always had a gaunt look, sometimes described as snobbish. Heather always spoke soft and understood others whereas Esmeray always argued to prove her point and didn’t care about anyone’s opinion.

She only cared about Draco’s opinion.

Now he was gone. Maybe thats what made her befriend the two meanest girls in the school, who laughed at others hurt. She became one of them and unknowingly her targets were always hufflepuffs.

So that was that.

No Draco and Heather meant good day.

Today was not a good day. Pansy, Daphne and Esmeray were just minding their business when a hufflepuff prefect decided to tell them that they were making to much noise and it was disturbing the classes around them.

The girls ignored him, he was a fifth year and had never approached them before. The girls only attacked if provoked.

“You know I can take house points of you ” He looked less confident now.

“Oh dear, whatever will we do, loose the house up which was bound to be Gryffindor’s anyways” Daphne mocked.

Pansy and Esmeray laughed.

“Look, you slytherins might not take a hufflepuff seriously but I have more authority than you, I can give you detention”

Pansy smirked and said “I’m afraid you can’t, we’re booked with detentions till the next month”

The prefect frowned and before he could say more Draco and Heather came into view.

In Heathers eyes a frowning Hufflepuff standing stiff in front of three Slytherins girls lazily sitting on a window ledge meant trouble.

“What’s going on here” she approached them.

Esmeray rolled her eyes.

“I just told these three girls that they have to move due them causing disturbance for other classes” The hufflepuff said in a annoyed voice.

“You should listen to him, I’m head girl and I can give you detention” She tried to intimidate them with a stare.

Pansy giggled, she looked at the hufflepuff prefect “Are you going to tell angelic Heather here or should I?”

The prefect clenched his jaw and told Heather what Pansy had said earlier.

Heather threatened to make them booked for the next three months.

“Oh why does it matter the only class here is divination, who pays attention in that” Voiced Esmeray in a bored voice.

“I’ll have you know divination is my favourite subject” remarked Heather.

Esmeray grinned (by some muggleborn it was describe as a Cheshire Cat grin) “oh really, The only day I’ll believe in divination is the day you see the grim and die”

“Esmeray please, drop it”

Her grin dropped. She looked at the stunned faces of the prefect and Heather at what she had said and then turned to her friends. They looked like they would’ve laughed if he had not spoken.

Draco had said her name.

The way he used to say it.

It sounded so nice in his voice.

But he had said it in Heathers support.

She looked into his beautiful silver eyes grey eyes and put as much as bitterness she could conjure into her tone, “it’s Moon to you Malfoy”.

Draco flinched. He had no right to flinch Esmeray screamed in her head. She looked away and signalled her friends to leave.

While walking back Daphne had Pansy held Esmeray’s hands. She was glad for the support. She had told them everything one night when she was feeling really sad. After that she could always count on them to have her back and make sure Heather never picked on her(Which you might not believe it but had happened)by making her life hell.

Not a good coping mechanism but it was Heathers fault to, for some reason she always kept targeting them. They didn’t attack unless provoked and Heather kept provoking.

Afterwards, The girls did everything to avoid interactions like that. Pansy and Daphne knew it had affected Esmeray so they explored the castle all day, sat by the lake in shadowy place where it was clear that they didn’t want to be approached.

Esmeray did everything to ignore Draco more, but now somehow it was harder. Eye contact with him would occur more than she liked and in classes they didn’t share with Hufflepuff he was always sitting or standing closer than usual.

Potions was the worst. They were learning how to identify amortentia so the classroom reeked of Draco. Esmeray wasn’t stupid enough to say that so whenever the professor asked she would joke and say ‘herself’.

Whenever she did that she could always feel beautiful silver eyes grey eyes staring at her.

But overall she managed to avoid him enough to have good days.

One Friday night when she knew nobody would be awake till late due to there being a hogsmede trip the next day. She went down to the common room to read.

She curled up on a couch near the fireplace and read in silence.

“Wuthering heights, nice to see that part hasn’t changed about you Es- Moon”

The voice she loved hated spoke.

“What do you want” she asked in a crisp tone.

“Just here for some silence” He said sitting on the couch parallel to her.

She gave him silence and didn’t even look at him, which would’ve been easier if he stopped looking at her.

“You’ve changed so much,” he said breaking the silence.

“I thought you were here for some silence, Malfoy” Esmeray avoided his question.

“I never asked you to call me that,” He lowered his voice and said the next words with the hint of a plea. “Please say my name”.

Esmeray’s breath hitched, she knew if she looked at him she would come undone. So she focused her eyes on her book and pretended she hadn’t heard him.

He finally looked away from her her and leaned his head on the headrest while closing his eyes.

“I don’t really like your new friends” He broke the silence again.

“Unfortunately I don’t have boyfriend to tell me to choose between him and them” She regretted it the second she said it. Something shifted and Draco leaned forward abruptly.

“Esmeray, you didn’t even hear me out that da-“ his voice was desperate and fast. It hurt Esmeray’s soul to hear that ache is his voice but she knew she had to cut him off.

”Malfoy, forget I said anything .” She stood up and without facing him made way towards the girl dorms.

“Please come back Esmeray, I’ve missed you”

His voice echoed throughout the silent room.

Esmeray ceased and then pretended she hadn’t heard him.

——————————————————————————————————

part two is up!

btw if by chance anyone knows how put Part 2’s link here please tell me because the html format isn’t working.

A few things I haven’t described any features of Esmeray or Heather because I want to leave them up to you. Of course as i said you can read this as an ‘x reader’ and everyone has a heather in their life so you can imagine heather as her.

If you don’t have a heather in your life, you are the luckiest person alive.

I’m sorry if you don’t like Esmeray and her friends personality i promise theirs an explanation. I don’t know if its valid but i think its enough.

Tysm for reading this means a lot.

[voidofthevoidmv]

“Oh Dear! I’m a 40-something Elementary School Teacher Who Was Isekaied into a Magical World as a Foolish Knights Squire- And Must Keep Him Alive Long Enough to Kill the Demon King!!!!!!”

(A silly little original story I have a-brewin- That is NOT the official title, I just thought it was funny cuz isakai anime’s and mangas always have the longest titles ever that explain the whole plot for no reason.)

Oh look! Drawings!!!

EXPLAINATION:

The basic idea of this story is that this “foolish knight” happens to be a part of a very lofty prophecy- As he is destined to be the one to save his world from the evil demon king. However, the problem is if he lives long enough to do so. As this knight is so prone to trouble, that every moment is a possible death wish. The cosmic overseers of this world are forced to intervene. So, they start to send in folks from other worlds to stand by the knights side in order to keep him from accidentally killing himself- You know, before he can save the world.

The issue is that the people they send in to be this man’s “squires” don’t last very long- Either quite literally quitting the first few days as they can’t stand him, or dying in the process of protecting him. This won’t do, so the overseers are in desperate search of a soul that could handle the chaotic atmosphere that surrounds this knight- Someone with the patience and problem solving ability to balance it all out.

And who better than an elementary first grade teacher, whose entire career is built off of dealing with tiny maniacs?

Enter our main character, who has the patience of a saint and quite possibly the sweetest woman you will ever meet. Obviously exaggerating here, but she teaches first grade and her kids love her.

(Keep in mind, there is romance in this story, between the squire and knight, but it’s like the soft wholesome kind of falling in love you know? It’s been 10 years since the squires late husband died, and it’ll be heavily implied that the foolish knight is actually her late husband reincarnated in a different timeline, But they will never ever know that.)

So begins her adventures with the knight, and it’s very silly. The knight displays himself as cocky and full of himself, but in reality he barely knows what he’s doing half the time. Ever since that prophecy came around, it’s been some big shoes he’s been trying to fill. Meanwhile our mc is having a blast exploring this new world and having a more active role in helping people directly- Even if the Knight almost always takes the credit. (He doesn’t do it to be mean, he just got flaws- And she is perfectly content to let him do so.)

Yadda yadda, their party of 2 will later become a party of 3 when the squire stops the knight from slaying a little kid demon, and she takes the little creature under her wing cuz no kid deserves to be slain. (Oooh plot twist, the demon girl was the demon kings daughter- But it’s chill-) Probably a lot more stuff, but that’s the basic gist of it all. Just a silly Willy idea of mine.

I’ve got a lot of original ideas beyond just my fanart stuff, so yeah enjoy!