#loyalty is very important to me

[fideidefenswhore]

reading alison weir's new novel; she's adapted and altered the primary source material she's clearly using in a way that is...um. something?

[nullians]

It’s actually insane how fandom in general has become so scared of making weird and dark and ugly works. Like I look at myself and see how I have also subconsciously adapted this instinct to self censor and make things “marketable” and it’s making me want to crawl out of my skin. I need to get weirder and worse and more off-putting hello

[entering--hyperspace]

Cannot imagine whatever is going on through Mr Leonard Echowatcher's head. You spend your life yearning for a world where you lived differently, where the day wasnt soaked in war, blood, and battle. Where you could envision a future where you have a partner and a family with friends to live gracefully with. But then you are given such opportunities only to find you were never taught to be gentle, you have a gentle, empathetic nature and yet the physicality of it is a stranger to you. You are expected to raise a child with gentle hands so that she saves the world, What does that even mean? How can you accept your growing love for your friend when you were never taught how to love, that intimate love is a luxury best left forgotten, there are no need for such things in war. He has to learn to become the things he wanted bc he grew too old to develop it naturally. He becomes a father to taimi fumbling his way into learning how to care and parent, he is defensive of Aurene bc he is from a culture where they arent expected to raise their own young and yet has to do so with a dragon. It feels like a test, He has to prove both to others and to himself he is capable of being a father, of nuturing, that calloused, stained hands can still be gentle. He has to accept that love is a terrifying leap of faith in vulnerability in order to gain a partnership that is considered a rarity. I love the idea that he spent 30 years yearning for things he thought he would never have and when he is actually given those opportunities (albeit admittedly through unusual circumstances) he has to learn how to actually live in them, becuase they were always just Concepts until now. Ohhhh my god Mr. Leo you are my everything

[suffarustuffaru]

Reading your tags about how people miss the very obvious "there's some fucked up shit boiling underneath" regarding Otto, just gave me a sudden realization. Otto is the only character I know in fiction where they act all innocent and drive up the "clumsy", "just in the side-lines" and "straight-man (heh)" persona. When. Like no one's in the EMT camp is buying it. They know he's way more capable than he let's on. Meanwhile, the tomfoolery is completely brought on by the Western audience.

Like Otto is failing miserably to make other characters believe that he's not up to mischief, Roswaal even thinks it can bring his downfall. But the audience, who even sometimes *sees* his fucked up thought process, is buying it.

*head in hands*

no u bring up so many good points bc ive been really thinking about this for a while T^T its such an interesting phenomenon in the difference in perception otto has between the japanese speaking half of the fandom vs the english speaking half which can be explained by—yeah. media illiteracy mainly. im also putting my head in my hands anon T^T

because—okay sorry wkdndn im gonna get into meta again but hear me out bc this pattern of the fandom underestimating otto is interesting bc i kind of sort of i cracked the code maybe??? o.o i think the nature of otto is a character is that youre SUPPOSED to underestimate him at first, just like what happens sometimes in universe. i mean wayyy back then i definitely wasnt expecting him to get more depth added to him in arc 4–which was a pleasant surprise—which is also the reaction the vast majority of people have to reading/watching arc 4, along with the other vast majority reaction which is being a bit endeared to ottosubas friendship and respecting otto for being a good friend. and then its easy to underestimate otto bc of 1. all the chaos going on in rezero at any given moment and 2. hes almost always overshadowed by other characters doing worse shit or being more insane than he is and 3. otto of course damn well knows hes easy to underestimate and counts on that. thats what he did against roswaal in arc 4. plus—i mean even aesthetics-wise hes 100% DESIGNED to be easy to underestimate. his outfit and physical features make him look either friendly or frazzled or soft. so i think that the point is that we were supposed to be kind of fooled—at first.

because yeah, we’re endeared to otto. we respect him for helping subaru the way he did. we think that hes a nice person and we now support his actions especially after feeling sympathetic towards him after learning his backstory. (or at least the average audience member will think this wjdndn.) but like—you dont even NEED to look at any side content at all for it to dawn on you that theres something Wrong. with him. like all you need is main route arcs 3-8 aka ottos entire screentime thus far, because at arc 4 its so easy to overlook otto unless youre thinking a bit deeper (for example—he gets violent with subaru. like yeah its entertaining, its played for laughs a bit, yeah subaru needed to be snapped out of his own head, but was it 100% necessary??? why did otto have this response??? bc if you just look at the main timeline otto really decided to beat up subaru first. and bc this tendency is now Less Funny in arc 8).

but even if youre just looking at rezero face value, when you get to arc 5 its starting to get even more clear that ottos weird in the head. like we already saw him being very good at scheming and planning in arc 4–in arc 5, we find out about otto hiding the tome for a year. we find out WHY hes been hiding the tome for a year. the tome then leads the witch cult into priestella, so like—in the sense, otto is RESPONSIBLE for arc 5. but theres STILL a tendency sometimes for the audience to continue underestimating him even though by this point we’re getting more clues and many characters around otto, like you said anon, KNOW hes very capable. i keep wondering why this is, but arc 5 is, again, FULL of chaos and different storylines happening at once, so its so easy to almost kind of forget otto there in the background until he occasionally pops up again. plus otto serves an additional role as comedic relief sometimes—he spends all of arc 5 being bitchy and whiny (i say this affectionately HAH) about his camp being full of disasters, for example, so i think the natural response from the audience tends to be “aw otto!! what a silly guy!!” sometimes. you know? so its like. i think at this point some people tend to be like “yeah fair that otto was wary of roswaal and thats why he saved the tome…. anyway ooooh whats going on with these other plot points” wobsbss. its so fascinating bc—ok this might be my own personal experience but anyone reading this pls tell me if you agree or not—i dont think ive seen a lot of people actually even MENTION otto bringing the tome into priestella attracting witch cultists. and the english speaking fandom LOVES to go into certain characters’ wrongdoings so why gloss over otto????

the only explanation i have for this is that from arcs 3-4 underestimating otto is. kind of the point of his character UNTIL you get to arc 5 and the clues in the main story start seeping in even more. and also the western audience DOES have media illiteracy a lot. theres that too. just look at rezero content on youtube or reddit or fanfic sites or other things of that sort T^T but no yeah i think ottos nature as a character exacerbates it. youre supposed to start asking questions about him. youre supposed to start connecting the dots and then SUDDENLY its now EXTREMELY obvious in arc 7-8 and even while theres so much chaos going on its basically shoved in your face. arc 7-8 is just delivering on all the leadup that was arcs 3-5.

and i think that youve gotta be media illiterate for sure to NOT get that otto is not squeaky clean and innocent BY ARC 8. i think that ottos the deconstruction of the loyal best friend trope, and also a mirror into what subaru couldve been like if he decided to be more ruthless instead of jumping right to forgiveness and saving everyone, except sometimes that flies right over the audience’s head wkdndnd. it confuses me bc ive seen some people completely miss the point or completely agree with otto and overlook the Bad Parts of it or, you know, STILL think ottos perfectly sane—like T^T please.

and yeah so back to what you said about otto Not being underestimated In Universe—its such an interesting detail bc hes ALWAYS been simultaneously pathetic and Very Competent wjdndnd. but yeah no all of his friends have seen various hints and clues and evidence of what hes capable of. like even though he hid the tome from them successfully and even though hes hiding info now its INEVITABLE that its gonna blow up in his face one day. like you got characters like garfiel who literally saw otto punch the wall and break his hand in an unhinged fit of rage, julius who got snapped at by otto and while julius is a Bit naive definitely knows somethings off there, anastasia whos smart as hell and definitely knows not to underestimate otto, and roswaal who, like you said anon, literally went out of his way to stop otto from breaking his hand in another unhinged fit of rage and warned otto that he will literally be destroying himself if he keeps going on like this. its this fascinating dichotomy bc otto is NOT fooling anyone around him but at the same time his current schemes are mostly unnoticed—for now—which yeah i havent seen that in a lot of media!!! its an interesting balancing act bc people around him realistically know hes competent after seeing the Proof of that for the past couple arcs, but otto is still finding ways to try and Win…

which—again, the anger and violence is an extension of arc 4 otto!! this is the same guy!! hes always been like this!! ottos kind of stayed the same, deep down, this whole time and as an audience its ONLY shoved in our face with a big gigantic spotlight on it FOUR ARCS LATER, but it was hinted to all this time. and like you said anon—we LITERALLY see ottos fucked up thought processes. literally what sane person thinks any of that shit. its spelled right out for the reader HAH T^T which—yeah. media illiteracy…. and also this whole ask was a longer way of just saying that otto is VERY easy to see at surface level if youre media illiterate. but at the same time it should be very easy to figure out otto is A Bit Fucked Up bc tappei underlines it in bright red print!!! i think people sometimes just hang onto soft awkward silly otto and forget about the rest T^T either that or they dont think he cares about subaru at all. which. that phenomenon of thinking characters that do care about subaru Dont Care is also interesting to me bc why????? we’re at arc 8 and you STILL dont get it??? o.ooooo

but yeah apart from that….. i said this earlier but yeah sometimes some people agree with ottos realism in arc 8 which is. understandable, but the whole point is that he is EXTREME. with it. hes Not in the right here, but the same crowd that wants wanton revenge in rezero is gonna agree with that kind of stuff T^T ottos been lurking in the background so much so that tappei made it meta by doing the whole “walking in darkness” part of his character, so i guess people just. dont see ottos ACTUAL worst traits and instead think he would ditch subaru at the first opportunity or something. but at the point we are now, arc 8 ottos problem isnt that hed ditch subaru. his problem is that he would sacrifice the world for subaru. his problem is that he gets extremely angry at subaru for trying to do good. his problem is that hes trying to micromanage everything around him and is willing to sacrifice anything necessary to get what he wants. but sometimes people dont get that bc otto doesnt look sound or seem like a character thatd do that. the Underestimation part of his character is doing too well on. certain audiences. please T^T the soft and awkward and silly parts ARE part of his character just like all the Darker parts are!!!

additionally im also wondering if western audience perception of otto is also clouded by the fact that otto looks and sounds more feminine / androgynous and he doesnt have the appeal of Overt Power either……. he cant Really be waifu-ified… and he cant be used as a weird self insert like subaru…. and you Have to look at him closer to understand him…. and for some reason people dont tend to hate on him so aggressively, if anything people cant even see his actual canonical flaws half the time wkdndn so if youre not paying attention otto CANT be aggressively hated on bc theres nothing there if ur not looking at it….. and if youre not paying attention otto seems more “boring” compared to the others…… (not that people arent allowed to not have otto as a favorite character bc thats totally fair but im talking about the tendency to think hes Saner than he actually is.) but yeah these are just my guesses. i have no clue the western fandom is a little T^T some people unfortunately cannot read.

anyway. big thank you to the japanese fanbase for understanding ottos character more and making so much wonderful fancontent for him T^T also i think that we as a collective fanbase should stop underestimating otto in general bc its exactly what he wouldnt want and i think itd be really hilarious. <3333 make him explode with rage please

[artinandwritin]

live footage of mona plotting out niv's story:

[loiyaltie]

ONCE YOU'RE STRIPPED CLEAN, WHAT'S AT YOUR CORE?

ANIMAL INTUITION.

loyalty is the saint you pray to. if you ever were stabbed in the back by your beloved, you'd probably apologize. to your enemies, you're fierce. to your allies, even fiercer. you cultivate a thick inner circle built on promises and devotion, fit only for the best of the best. it's impossible for most to even begin to dissect the type of person you are, owing to your unbreakable emotional walls and confusing philosophies. dream careers? body guard, movie star, unwitting pawn. don't let people get the best of that loyalty.

tagged: @dupliciti tagging: @ddazzlingblds, @daybreakrising ( blade! ), @ruinvessel, @mythkiss ( argenti / your choice ), @furiaei, @avaere ( gui! ), @apocryphis ( aventurine! ) & you!

[no-1-rosalind-lang-apologist]

Oh damn I’m pretty sure Alisa and Silas both joined their sides at relatively the same age

[bungod-hearth]

The Lady Guuji extends her hand, and Kunikuzushi stays. Fast art of an au that’s been rotting in my brain these days, found family is my weakness

[stuckinanotherfandomohno]

My absolutely ludicrous and improbable Ahsoka theory to keep Thrawn in character with my interpretation of him in the ascendancy novels goes as follows:

Thrawn and Ezra end up wherever (not important)

They are found by Captain Pellaeon, causing Pellaeon to suggest his return in Mando S3

Thrawn takes up his position as Heir to the Empire as Palpatine had to hand it off to someone vaguely competent

Ezra is being held in the brig or another secure location

Thrawn maintains the appearance of being a Grand Admiral of the Empire but actually reckons that it's going to fall to the New Republic so tries to covertly end up back in the Ascendancy, taking Ezra with him

Hijinks ensue

Ultimately, at the end of the Ascendancy trilogy, Thrawn's goal (vaguely) is to gain allies to help the ascendancy eliminate the Grysk threat. Could he have gone on a tangent and decided building up the Empire for power would be better for him? Sure.

But let me hope

[hexados-on-a-string]

spectragus dont get enough credit for being a sun and moon ship but like. destructive sun and moon ship. sun and moon ship but they're the forces of nature the sun and moon actually are. the sun is harsh and relentless and unpredictable in its evil but also it's kindness, the moon is sharp and cold and cruel, a harsh light that doesn't allow you peace, but can also guide you, a light in the darkness. even on nights with a new moon, with no light in the sky, the moon is always reflecting the sun, and it'll be that way until they come to their end.

[gothamcityneedsme]

It really is so intense whether your kaidens ex or like. Whatever the hell you are if you havent had another romance. They really make the beginning of the game just. Insane tbh.

Indoctrination theory is still real to me that kid is NOT real

[akkivee]

somewhere on this blog i pointed out that dice and kuukou have both said they’d die for their team (even if the vibe on their statements varied lol) and i think saburo’s equivalent of that would be requiem actually?? so now i’m once again wondering about the themes of self sacrifice between dice and kuukou lmao

[aftonrobotiics]

an idea i really like: rather than being another soul trapped inside the body of golden freddy, evan doubles as the entity shadow freddy. a nonviolent, reclusive spirit, wearing the twisted face of the animatronic that took his life; with no physical body simply because evan didn't die in the diner. he makes the active choice to help his father (to lure the animatronics to the safe room in the "follow me" minigames, so william can dismantle them) for the same reasons elizabeth does; that's their dad. they care about him. they want to make him proud. the only spirits haunting the fazbear name that don't hold any animosity towards william. and i'm sure, on some level, evan cares about the other children. but at the end of the day, michael is the only afton working against william.

[starchaserdreams]

I am bonkers in love with Starchaser/jegulus but it bothers me a bit in fanfic when James keeps it a secret from Sirius because I feel like James would never do that to Sirius. Regulus totally would, but James couldn't.

So I'm writing a fic where in the interest of hijinks, James and Regulus both separately think they have told Sirius what is happening and more or less have his blessing......

But Sirius "I do not know how to process emotions and I hate talking to my brother specifically about emotions" Black hears something completely different.

Because it's very important to me that James thinks he's doing right by Sirius, the best friend he's ever had. It is less important to me that things are communicated clearly. Just that JAMES thinks they are.

[isaacathom]

spent all day being completely unproductive but now i have a changeling paladin ready to go at a moments notice with a whole like. Vibe established in my head. they've got a whole thing going on

the basic gist of their life, in as far as what matters, is they live in some moderate size town, they've a member of the local church, everythings grand. they're an adult, like 20s+ easy. they've been in this community their whole life, they have the identity they use most frequently, and they will only sometimes swap to masks to fill little additional roles the church might need of them. everythings chill.

they get sent out on some small task or another with a close friend of theirs, and things go poorly. not quite sure how or what, SOMETHING happens to the friend. The paladin is fine. and obviously distraught about the whole thing.

So what prompts the paladin to adventure out is a desire for two things. the first are the means to support this friend of theirs and that friend's family, who had been relying on them prior to this incident. And the second, presumably, to find a way to actually help them? (this all depends on what that something is. if its a curse or some serious injury, there has to be a reason they cant just fix it easily - ie that the nature of it isolates the friend from the community if theyre still alive, that people are loathe to interact with them or smth, or theyre just straight up dead and the paladins going more That Route, which is difficult for a Paladin given. uh. they dont get high enough spell slots to do that themselves! whoops!)

but, but, changeling, right? whats up with that part? well, their intention is that they will gain no glory for anything they do. its hard to be anonymous when seeking adventure, but if theyre someone else, well... then it hardly matters. the deeds they commit, as this heroic paladin, will not reflect back on their life back home. They will tell their friend's family that they were sent away to another temple, yknow, work is like that and so on, and just bring the gifts. hell, bring the gifts anonymously, because the point isn't to be lauded. thats the opposite of the point. the point is to help. they want to see their friend heart and hale, they want to see their family endure and thrive, because they've naught much of their own. it's something to cling to.

so out on the road, they're someone else. still a knight of this religious order, still fiercely devoted to its tenets, because that is their centre. there may be physical traits which tie together their various masks and forms, but the loyalty is there. even pretending to be someone else, or BECOMING someone else, that's hard to break. that's important to them.

things of this nature. a whole thing. itd basically never come up, is the thing! its basically something just for me as a hypothetical player. That if the party were to ever return to their home town, they'd try and slip away quietly after setting the party up somewhere, with some thing (taking advantage of their religious connections, even) before heading to their friend's house to deliver gold and supplies they'd been accumulating. just something like 'well, i head to X's house and knock on the door. And when either [the partner] or the kids open the door, they'll see the familiar face of [completely different character name] smiling brightly at them'

itd be the characters little secret. :)

[mqfx]

was the RPF good? should i do the arduous work of copying and pasting to find out myself?

IT WAS IMPECCABLE but don't take my word for it, go read!!