#my headcanon is a bit more unwieldy

[lucabyte]

obligatory ramble about postcanon loop ask

also your art is amazing

Hiiiiiiiii :D thank you :)!!

and thank you for the excuse to post the. just absolute wall of text that i truncated down to form the tags of that post. (i did,,, hit the tag limit. i forgot tumblr had one of those...) so let me just paste that and tidy it up a bit...

I am putting this under a readmore because it's a bit long. but:

This is like. The General Context for all* of my postcanon doodles? (Except AUs obviously) Like this is the base idea I've been drawing them all in. So, feel free to backread with this in mind. I've basically had this 'postcanon' timeline set in my brain since finishing the game...

My general thoughts are that I like the idea of Loop (even if through dubiously ethical means) being able to slowly reintegrate with the party as a whole new person, because they are, in fact, their own person.

It's a muddle of thematic threads im pulling on and "wouldn't it be fucked up if", but. (at its core, it's powered by the fact that like, while narratively isat's theme of 'the only person who can truly take the first step to help you is yourself'. (wrt: loop helping the party help siffrin in act 5) which i LOVE AND IS GREAT NARRATIVELY…. would be super fucked up irl to learn that your friend 'learned as a lesson' while you stood by kinda uselessly. I know i'd be upset about it. but thats mostly background here. doesn't really come up. at least not until loop has to explain who they are and the party realises they had to fall back on literally themselves again for help, but i digress,)

The real core concept is: Occam's razor. It is like, inherently, a buckwild thing to accuse a person of being somehow a clone or copy of your friend. Even if they start vaguely alluding to a backstory it's far more likely they were some other person before all that. (I still think Odile has that theory in the back pocket but she's rational enough to know it's a really long shot without a solid explanation. and i think Loop deep down knows this, and would, if cornered into confessing, turn the situation around to go J'ACCUSE and make HER explain it instead. Ever longer dodging being direct with their emotions...)

And the party are nice! And if someone has changed and wants to keep stuff secret it's kind of not their business? (Though it's hard not to speculate… see: the main joke of the doodles) And they seem important to Siffrin so they just try to accept them abrasive quirks and all. And eventually the question of their prior identity just fades away since, well, they're Loop. Their friend Loop.

but yeah. personal headcanon is that a few months/weeks after picking up and getting aquainted with Nille** (since that was presumably the IMMEDIATE TASK postgame), Loop reappears (either after a literal period of nonexistance, or just spending a few months wandering the french countryside alone being attacked by wild dogs). Since Siffrin has had a while to be therapised by the party they're doing mostly okay, but Loop showing up and still being agitated/aggressive pulls them both into a bit of a backslide behaviourally and puts the party on the back foot again.

Hooowever, I do think that due to no longer being literally stewing in the worst pressure cooker of all time together, the two do mostly actually sort themselves out with productive conversation. (Via a cycle of: genuinely distressing argument -> weeeird lovebombing -> ok we're good -> repeat, that gets less intense over time)

Thus, allowing the party to just. Integrate loop as a new person. They and Siffrin shuffle into different ecological niches (Loop taking over stuff Siffrin is now too squeamish for, etc (see: hunting, mostly)), and while it's not exactly what Loop wanted they generally get that beggars can't be choosers and it's a pretty good deal. And the rest of the party does straight up just like them as a friend, especially when Loop quits trying to actively antagonise them after a few weeks of being around them, since they just can't keep up being mean to people they like forever.

As for how I think the truth eventually drags itself out. This is where I invoke The Isabeau Torment Nexus™. So its gonna get shippy here for a bit hold on.

Which is, I think giving them time before Loop reappears long enough that Siffrin and Iseabeau actually manage to become established, Isabeau has to be the one to nudge the pair of them and go. "Hey. You know we're in Vaugarde right. I'm okay with polyamory if we all communicate." Before Loop and Siffrin actually even acknowledge that whatever the fuck they have going on kinda looks a lot like a relationship of some kind. (or have already been agonising about that via fighting and arguing, depending) (Obviously this comes after Isa "Emotionally intelligent enough to keep a lid on the jealousy" Beau has managed to use that big brain of his to Not just go Scream somewhere on the daily because oh godddd they keep talking like theyre suicide-baiting each other jesus chriiist. is it overstepping his boundaries to bring that up?? god)

This, taking a bunch of the tension out of Loop and Isabeau's relationship (Since I imagine Loop is a. being weird for the obvious reasons and b. feeling kinda guilty about 'getting in the way of' Siffrin and Iseabeau), allows them to actually get close in a normal friend way. (I think an interesting turning point could be Isabeau actually taking Loop's side in an argument vs Siffrin, which would absolutely break Loop's brain. Especially if it's an argument that matters. Like what do you mean he isn't just going to play favourites. What?)

Then Isabeau, just actually open minded and charmed by Loop (and maybe even somewhat at Siffrin's suggestion?) tries to close the final open side on the polyamory triangle here and that's the final straw for Loop on "This lie by omission is too unethical to keep up, this is just actually sick and wrong. I can't do this while he doesn't know who I am." Though. Obviously it probably goes. Very poorly with emotions high like that. And the added element of several months of deceit. Getting dark here for a second but that dagger is going MISSING and so are THEY for a hot minute.

Then yaaay everything works out in the end 👍 yippieee!! all it took was maybe a lot of harrowed recontextualisation of all the weird shit your new friend said and did when it turns out they're your old friend. It's fine.

But yeah. this is basically the context all of my postcanon doodles have existed within? And those exist to give other people something to chew on. So this does too.

I suppose TL;DR: Imagine if sloopis almost fucking happens before isabeau knows who loop is. can you fucking imagine. can you imagine having to navigate that. nightmare.

*Yes this includes the implied cannibalism comic. Uhh. Comes part and parcel with headcanoning that Loop went way off the deep end similar to A5 Sif But Maybe Worse before giving in. Add weepy half-asleep confessions to murder wherever you see fit in your mind palace. 👍👍👍

**Re: Nille footnote. I don't have anywhere to put this besides here! I have some thoughts on Loop and Nille having an odd dynamic. I don't imagine Nille to be super gung-ho on trusting a bunch of adults (even if they are majority around her age) given their implied backstory. It's probably a big shock to the system, especially since Bambouche is a good couple hundred Kilometers up north from Dormont and these guys don't seem to have trains. She would've been unfrozen and without Bonnie for some time....

Which is to say: I think she's suspicious of them. I think she may be looking for excuses to distance herself, keep Bonnie safe. SO.... A new guy showing up? And antagonising the party? What do they know that I don't...? I should find out.

And since... Loop didn't ever know Nille, they have no ammunition or real reason to be cruel. Plus, if they're trying to stay on Bonnie's good side (SINCE... if Bonnie thought Loop was cringe they may as well kill themselves. In their mind.) they SUPER have no reason to antagonise Nille.

Mostly, they might be able to open up to each other easier than they can the rest of the party?

I feel like this resolves with Loop feeling compelled to apologise for what they and Siffrin let happen to Bonnie, though... Hmm... Depends on how you interpret Nille that they'd be glad nobody else had been told about that yet, or furious it had been secret this long. I lean toward the former.

[spacemagicandlaserswords]

Feral Hunter

I wrote most of this in a reblog but thought it deserved its own post as my unwieldy response took on a life of its own, which they have a tendency to do. I’ve added more to it as well so there’s some new extra ramblings on one of my favourite ideas/headcanons/theories for season 3 of The Bad Batch. 

Give me Feral Hunter. My kingdom for Feral Hunter. Completely unhinged, vengeance fueled, feral Hunter. He can go on his Joel Miller/The Mandalorian/John Wick/Liam Neeson in Taken/The Punisher arc, as a little treat.

I've been trying to figure out why I love this idea so much. I think it's because we never really see any of the Batch actually, properly unleash. Sure, they're unconventional and a bit bonkers in their approach but they're still a very well-oiled machine. When they're on a mission, they all know exactly what they're doing, what their roles are, and where their squad mates are. Even when they improvise on the fly, they all adapt fairly easily and smoothly. Everything is still all rather professional, smooth, and efficient. Like they're all operating on muscle memory, which they basically are given how many countless times I'm sure they've trained and done missions together.

Even when the Batch is fighting their way through Kamino, they still operate with that same smooth, efficient, hyper competent professionalism. Despite their unorthodox approach, there's still this sense that they're contained. Never throwing off the shackles and being completely unrestrained. The full unbridled force of their abilities and skills simmering just below the surface, waiting to be given free rein and just obliterate everything.

There's a little hint of this in the opening scene of episode 2x14 'Tipping Point', where the ARC Trooper in Echo comes out to play. But oh, how I would love to see more. From all of them, but especially Hunter. 

Look at his face. Look at that expression and all those emotions from Sergeant Stoic himself, who is usually fairly reserved and contained. Dorito Bod Bandana Space Dad on the warpath to get his ad'ika back, cutting a swathe through the Imperials, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake, and taking out anything and everything that even thinks about getting in his way. Hunter goes full Space Rambo mode, ruthlessly taking out Stormtroopers, blood dripping off his vibroblade, eyes wide and deranged, as he turns into a complete animal. His half tattooed skull now completed by the blood of his enemies covering the other side of his face. For extra angst, when he finds Omega, she doesn’t recognise him. The figure standing in the smoking remains of the door to her cell looks like Hunter. Is wearing Hunter’s armour. Is holding Hunter’s vibroknife. But that’s not Hunter. That’s not her buir. Not anymore. And she’s afraid of him. We get a little hint of this at the very end of season 2 and oh ho ho, I am so ready for more. I am so ready for Hunter’s descent into vengeance, revenge and rage. Not just Hunter either, I’d love to see the rest of the Batch unleash as well.

Can you just imagine Wrecker properly unleashing? All of that strength and power finally freed as he rips limbs off Stormtroopers, snapping necks and crushing skulls with his bare hands. The crumpled, pulverised bodies of his enemies discarded behind him as he rages down corridor after corridor of whatever Imperial base they’ve infiltrated. We got a hint of how damaging Wrecker can be when his chip activated but that was chip controlled. This would just be pure Wrecker. 

We see a little more of this in Crosshair's actions and you could also argue that this is chip controlled. Or if his chip has actually been removed, then Crosshair’s actions are definitely still clouded by his Imperial mindset and blind delusion that the Empire is right. Right up until it all goes horribly wrong on Barton-4 and he finally wakes up to the reality of his nightmare. Either way, that unrestrained part of him is still there. The amount of rage and anger that must be building up and festering inside Crosshair is eventually going to explode. When he snaps like he did at the end of 'The Outpost' then there isn’t going to be an Imperial left without a blaster bolt between their eyes. When Hemlock ends up dying (he better), my bet is on Crosshair taking him out and getting revenge. And it won't be pretty. He'd shoot him execution style at the very least. 

I'd love to see Tech (shut up he's alive) completely lose it and finally snap off every ounce of his carefully crafted control. I've written about this before but Tech's combat is exceptionally efficient and precise. He only ever uses the minimum number of shots or moves to take out an enemy because he doesn't need to expend anything beyond what is necessary. Complete economy of form. His combat style is very contained, almost like a mirror of his personality and character. Can you just imagine him snarling and growling like a beast, teeth bared, eyes dark, face distorted in rage, as he slams a Stormtrooper's head into a control panel desk with enough force to crack their helmet and shatter their visor. 

I mentioned above that we've seen a tiny bit of this slightly unhinged quality from Echo. There's another little hint of it when they're all in that training simulation on Kamino.

This gifset from @starqueensthings shows this perfectly, especially the above gif. I love the line they wrote at the top of their post as well, which I'm going to quote in part here: "I’d like to introduce my scomp arm TO YOUR JUGULAR WIRE." This perfectly encapsulates the unhinged quality lurking in Echo. He just leaps onto the back of what looks like the Kaminoan version of a B2 super battle droid and then proceeds to flail and stab madly before plunging his scomp arm into the battle droid's chest and ripping out the droid version of its jugular. Absolutely unhinged behaviour. The absolute madlad.

Now picture Echo finally snapping and doing this to a bunch of Imperials and just absolutely annihilating them. There is so much in him that is screaming to be let out. The general batshittery that comes with being an ARC Trooper. The insanity and chaos of coming from the 501st and Torrent Company. The unconventional, yeet-the-reg-manual-out-the-airlock, bonkers existence of The Bad Batch. Plus all that trauma, fury and rage of what has happened to him, what was done to him, and everything that he’s seen, experienced, endured, suffered, and survived. When the last few frayed threads holding Echo back finally snap he is going to go completely postal.

Is it healthy? No. Is it "good"? Probably not. But my god, would I love to see it.

The Clone Wars has a history of tackling and portraying difficult, multilayered and nuanced topics and we've seen that in The Bad Batch as well. More recent Star Wars series, such as Andor and The Mandalorian, have also had a real interest in showing the murky areas that exist between the good (Republic) and the bad (Imperial). There's been a particular focus on showing that there's a lot more grey than we think, rather than the pure dichotomy between cliched black and white. That sometimes there is no right or wrong decision. That sometimes everything is awful and everyone is stuck in a shitty situation from which there is no way to escape unscathed. In order to make it out alive, lines are going to be crossed. The battle of good vs evil takes on a new edge and the line between good and bad gets very murky.

That quote about how “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” comes to mind. In this instance, the Batch are still fighting tooth and nail for each other but their sacrifices and actions are starting to take them to much darker places. It’s a classic example of good people being driven to do bad, awful, terrible things when those they love are in danger and they will do whatever it takes to save them.  

The whole 'deeply flawed parental figure seeking vengeance' is a popular trope at the moment as well so Feral Hunter would make sense narratively for a number of reasons.

Will we actually get it? Probably not. And even if we do, it'll probably still be a watered-down kid friendly version.

But oh, just imagine if we did.

[waters-and-the-wilde]

HEY @kyliebyelie I had a weird couplea weeks but I did say I would yell about Nureyev and Vespa some more so *launches enrichment pumpkins*

also OG post thread for anyone who wants context it was just getting a little unwieldy

First off! re: Nureyev still being willing to bet on the hope that Juno would still vouch for him – I’ve also been thinking about how he had to be willing to bet that it wouldn’t backfire on Juno. Like, ‘you have no idea how much I did to keep the Kanagawas off you’. The fact that tying Juno’s name to his own work could have very easily painted a target on him. Even if he couldn’t have known that Buddy and Jet were going to pull a ‘come with me if you want to live’, the fact that he put Juno on their radar suggests that he trusted Buddy to begin with. To not threaten Juno, or to use Juno to threaten Nureyev. Jet talks about how the criminal reputation informs a potential employer that their prospective is reliable, but it also must work in reverse – that a potential boss won’t screw you over.

re: Nureyev being a fan is something I think about A Normal Amount

You’ve absolutely nailed the whole vibe of their communication styles, the chain reaction of politeness/rudeness → perception of emotions and control → measurement of honesty → how that exacerbates the friction, like that is such a good breakdown goddamn.

to add to that since I am constantly frothing like the cappuccino about the concept of 'solid coping mechanisms that backfire in the wrong situations' so for your consideration: one of those pesky little first rules of thieving being 'don’t rise to the bait’. Oh it was intended for Being In Situations with weird rich people or standoffs with other criminals, but when it's his default setting for responding to things, it's just gonna just drive the wedge that much further every time Vespa questions his integrity and he doesn't show where he keeps his Give A Damn. (And it's probably even harder to untangle as a 'no that's for jobs not your personal life' thing when it still has its legitimate applications in his personal life, bc Juno’s own survival reflex MO is ‘how fast can I piss somebody off to find out what I need to know’ and that ability to stay focused and letting him know when that's uncalled for is probably extremely necessary for the both of them)

‘Vespa is terrifying’ – okay so funnily enough! i'd been telling @one-joe-spoopy (pssst hey come look I've got enrichment pumpkins!) about my headcanon of 'ranked order of members of the Carte Blanche crew by how much they scare him and why number one hands down goes to Rita,' which is a whole post in itself but long story short, I think out of everybody he gets the most sense of security around Vespa (though she probably still does terrify him, like, a normal amount and for the exact reasons you described, especially pre/during Man In Glass.)

Basically the concept I’ve been toying with (and I think moreso in a later, probably post-Cyberbots context given some time to settle in) is that her opinion of him is decided and earning her approval under the circumstances is What We Call A Non-Starter. When he's reflexively trying to manage everyone's expectations and invested in their approval, and realizes in no uncertain terms that he can't win Vespa over as long as the name thing is a going concern, the pressure’s off a bit there. Though not in the healthiest of ways, necessarily, if he’s just more comfortable with letting her believe what she wants about him because that’s how he usually deals with people.

And another aspect of this sense of security dovetails with your previous points about how Vespa and Juno are more reactive than performative, how they wear their principles on their sleeves and others recognize them as genuine. I bet Nureyev absolutely knows better than to make the comparison in her earshot, but I can see him just sorta unable to help liking her for the same reasons he’s drawn to Juno – he can brush off a little belligerence from someone whose integrity speaks for itself. Vespa abides by her own codes as well as visibly aligning herself with Buddy’s – she’s pissed about not knowing his name but won’t coerce it out of him even when the requisite leverage is right there – and like you said, she would be insulted by the idea of using underhanded means to get him fired. He knows where he stands and possibly figures that trying too hard to fix it is just going to piss her off further. And it's not like he's gonna stop being dramatic and making his gay little jokes and smooching Juno in the mess hall, he just needs to focus on comporting himself as a reliable crewmember and establishing himself the hard way with time and Buddy's family bonding activities (and yeag he wants to Get A Good Grade In Crewmate which is Normal To Want and Possible To Achieve).

oooh also I’m a little fucked up on the idea of him on bedrest with his broken leg and getting filled in on what he missed during Shadows, realizing that Vespa thinks he’s got it in for her right around the same time he’s having an epiphany that he trusts her to keep him alive and patched up even if she never likes him as a person and that the shapeshifting robot impostors don't stand a chance with her around. like not only is she not the thief she was twenty years ago, she's even tougher and smarter and cooler and doing it all with the brain horrors on top.

ALSO in light of Next Page I now think about ‘hey what if he’s Inherently Suspicious of Medical Personnel due to The Trauma and did he spend a bunch of his broken leg recovery time fretting that she was going to try to wring his name out of him while he was on painkillers only she never does??’ (god there’s this one fic where he and Juno get MacGuffined into kids and she’s like. ‘well shit. yeah I could find it out but goddamn. that’s a line I just can’t cross. Not Looking At It I Do Not See It’)

gah it's just. Nureyev's trust issues are so goddamn multifaceted, like. local baby boy too trusting, gets his only security ripped out from under him, tanks his shot at happiness bc the trauma gave him suspicion, becomes the suavest charlatan in the galaxy so he doesn't get taken advantage of again, craves genuine connection but hasn't actually had a chance in the last two decades to figure out what he's like around other people for any stretch of time, also still literally paying the price for the last time and can hardly bear the thought of confiding in his new connections because there's nowhere truly safe in the galaxy he's terrified of putting a target on them.

But I think about his little 'much more so than usual these days' to Juno's sarcastic 'happy now??' and that maybe he was a lot closer to an honest version of himself on the Carte Blanche. That he was getting places, that he was trusting them with as much as he could. something something 'Peter Ransom' wasn't intended for putting at least half the truth under their noses the whole time but he kinda let it turn into that the moment he let Buddy start calling him Pete.

Handful of miscellaneous thoughts on things they have in common:

- the debts thing. Vespa of all people is the most painfully, intimately aware of what it feels like to have a life that isn't one's own, so the way she approaches Nureyev being in massive scary debt with suspicion made me go huh. so I've been thinking about that one and tbh given how she internalizes shit and doesn't entirely trust herself (and god I have to imagine that she's really messed up about how close she came to killing Buddy in Time Gone By), I think seeing her situation in Nureyev's wouldn't engender sympathy because is that because she also knows exactly what she was prepared to do to get out from under it. and is just expected to tolerate the fact that they're taking their goddamn chances on him. there's this sense of 'even if he cares. even if he thinks this is real. even if he tells himself he wants to be a part of this. who's he gonna be when push comes to shove. probably not even Steel is safe.'

- They are both extremely functional under pressure and in more in their element in full on crisis mode, and are probably spending S3 figuring out what the hell to do now that they have access to things like reliable meals. privacy. affection. (pretty sure Juno is also experiencing a similar kind of 'things... getting better? after being. really bad all the time???' and having a lot of midmorning scuffles about it)

- Also they both have their shitty dads living in their brains rent-free!! and they are never ever going to talk about it but one (1) time Nureyev hears Vespa yell 'shut the hell up old man!' from another room and. sometimes thinks that very hard in her voice when Mag's advice is being unhelpful

re: feral kittens in towels - I want them to get into it that day after Heart of It All where Juno isn't getting out of bed and isn't there to get all protective, and for once she's in a half-decent place brainwise and he's riddled with eight kinds of guilt and half on the edge of a nervous breakdown and having all of his defenses shot is actually a good thing for him because she's not actually going to do anything with the upper hand except cuss him out a little bit. Like 'I was gonna cut your throat without hesitation yesterday and you're all fine and dandy about being in the wedding party? no shut up I'm not saying you can't. it's whatever. Bud thought it would be nice and I'm not against it. I am saying. the fuck is wrong with you.' hurt can sniff out hurt in-fucking-deed. I am dying inside like the fact that Nureyev himself would prevent any closure we might have gotten between him and the Lighthouse Crew after S4 is very him and also it hurts me and I need to pick it all apart with a seam ripper and see what spills out

likewise it’s hard to picture them ever reaching an actual rapport but I can’t even tell you how many times I pictured the prison break with all of them converging before Clean Break aired, where it’s like finally sunk in that he’s on their side and she goes ‘Ransom watch my goddamn back I need to kiss my wife’

also. does anybody want. some fic? I have some job interview/Man In Glass missing scenes where i am gnawing on this at all times

[tvitr]

So...

How did Grusha get into Pokémon training anyway?

I don't think there's actually a canon reason in the game so fuck it, have my headcanon.

(Also consider this a part one because man oh man did this get long and unwieldy)

Tl;dr he actually has friends and they're the ones who got him into it. Kind of.

More specifically, he has a group of friends he goes snowboarding with. He's known all of them since his pre-pro days, basically since they were all children, and though none of them ever reached the same heights he did in terms of their own respective careers, they've all just... stuck by each other.

Naturally, following his accident and subsequent retirement, Grusha was obviously... a bit upset. He'd still venture out onto the slopes every day to at least get some form of social interaction, but it was clear that he just... wasn't himself. He was quiet, less enthusiastic, seemingly always lost inside his own thoughts, and most worryingly, no longer confident in his abilities. His friends obviously knew why he'd changed, but as a bunch of emotionally stunted jocks who probably thought they'd all catch The Gay if they ever so much as thought about talking about their feelings, none of them were really equipped to engage in any meaningful or deep conversation with him. Not now, at least.

So, they did the next best thing they could think of; buying him a Pokéball. "You're the only one out of all of us who doesn't have a Pokémon," they told him,

He dismissed their concerns, obviously, telling them that he was fine (he wasn't) and that they were overreacting (they weren't), that only middle aged people stuck in jobs they hate and don't exercise get depression (wrong, also foreshadowing). He appreciated the gesture, sure, but he definitely wasn't going to ever need a Pokéball as he had no intention of using it.

Plus he wasn't entirely on board with the idea of abducting and attempting to tame a random wild animal anyway.

He puts the Pokéball in his coat pocket and forgets about it eventually, until one day he's returning home from another listless day on the slopes when he notices a Cetoddle following him. It's cute, and he stops to play with and talk to it, but knows it'll probably either lose interest in him eventually, or will stop following him once he descends to a lower, warmer altitude.

But it doesn't.

It follows him all the way home.

It seems uncomfortable with the balmy Medali heat, though despite him reassuring it it's okay to leave, and that he'll be back out on the mountain tomorrow, it still follows him to his flat. Part of him wonders if it's even a wild Pokémon at all. Though he knows Cetoddle are an exceptionally curious and friendly species, he's never seen one venture this far down the mountain.

He lets it into his flat.

It perks up once it enters, possibly due to the cool tiled floor offering it some respite from the evening heat, though it still seems tired and worn out. Grusha then realises he doesn't have the slightest idea on how to take care of one of these things.

He spends most of the evening on his phone, browsing various forums and websites on Cetoddle care, all the while the Cetoddle in question dozes peacefully next to him. He strokes it with his free hand, eventually coming to the conclusion that so long as he brings it to the mountain each day to graze in its natural habitat, he should be fine to feed it whatever. He gets up to check the fridge.

He remembers the Pokéball.

Cetoddle looks up at him curiously as he finally pulls it out of his coat pocket. He fumbles with it, almost dropping it in fright as it opens and pulls Cetoddle inside. It twitches.

It clicks.

A bit more fumbling and he releases it again, quietly vowing to only use the Pokéball to transport his new pal to and from the mountain to avoid it overheating like it did earlier. Sure it might require him to rearrange some of his furniture to make it easier for Cetoddle to move around his flat, but he's still not sold on the idea of keeping it in its ball 24/7. Plus, it is extremely cute. It feels stupid to admit it, but his heart does feel a little lighter just by looking at its bright smile.

He names the Cetoddle Persik, as per family tradition. Persik accompanies him to the slopes the next day; he is of course, lightly ribbed by his co-boarders for finally giving in and catching a Pokémon (despite his insistence that Persik literally followed him home), but they quickly warm to their new teammate. Despite all of them having Pokémon, they rarely battle, preferring to let them roam or chase them as they carve their way down the mountain.

That is, until, one day.

Grusha didn't know where the group came from or what their damage was, but they were all on skis, which was enough to make him dislike them from the offset. Coupled with the fact said group on skis were hogging his group's favourite slope, and he could tell this wasn't going to end well.

The skiers challenge his group to a Pokémon battle, their apparent leader singling Grusha out for a one-on-one battle. He tries to explain that he's no battler, he doesn't even know what moves his Pokémon has, but it's to no avail.

Of course, he loses. Spectacularly.

He feels a strong pang of guilt as he recalls Persik into the safety of his Pokéball, though that guilt is quickly swept away by anger as the skier returns to his herd, gloating loudly that he'd just taken out the great Grusha Ibáñez with hilarious ease. Grusha has a good mind to bend down, pack a hard snowball and peg it straight up the back of the skier's stupid head.

But he doesn't.

Just as quickly as his guilt gave way to anger, his anger gives way to something else.

Determination.

For the first time since his retirement, he feels a familiar spark ignite deep within. It's the same spark that drove him for years back in his glory days, it's his drive, his passion, it's...

It's like his old life returning to him, just in a different form.

He heads straight to the nearest Pokémon Centre, first healing Persik and then stocking up on Pokéballs, potions, antifreeze, everything he assumes a rookie trainer will need. That skier seemed to know how to battle competently after all. He'd need a lot of practice if he wanted to have a hope in Hell's chance of beating him. As well as more Pokémon. He couldn't bring himself to battle with Persik again.

He throws himself head first into learning how to battle; gregariously reading every book, magazine and website he can find about Pokémon battling, studying different forms and techniques he can apply to his own developing style, how to use each Pokémon he's been able to catch and train so far to its full potential. Admittedly his team stays quite small, still in part due to his reservations about catching wild animals unless they seem like they want to be caught, however eventually his team expands to include a Cubchoo (Arbuz), Snom (Klubnika) and a Sneasel (Yezhevika). He trains them all relentlessly, and to eventual evolution (even shedding a few tears when Klubnika evolved that one frigid night), getting to a point where sparring with his fellow snowboarding pals is no longer satisfying. They'd agree with him as well; though obviously it's great to see Grusha finally enthusiastic about something again, there's only so much getting their asses kicked repeatedly that they can handle.

He decides it's finally time to track down that skier again.

[rays-of-fire-and-ice]

I posted 2,272 times in 2022

That's 568 more posts than 2021!

151 posts created (7%)

2,121 posts reblogged (93%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@im-still-bleach

@bleachbleachbleach

@dont-look-up

@hitsugaya-toushirou

@canariie

I tagged 2,256 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#bleach - 313 posts

#hitsuhina - 230 posts

#toshiro hitsugaya - 227 posts

#ichigo kurosaki - 178 posts

#queue - 126 posts

#momo hinamori - 112 posts

#byakuya kuchiki - 103 posts

#rukia kuchiki - 96 posts

#asks - 95 posts

#shinji hirako - 93 posts

Longest Tag: 130 characters

#i think there was also a post here a long time ago where someone estimated how long (in hours) momo would've had to be interviewed

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Happy anniversary! After seeing your latest post, I'd like to request another gif dancing post!! Maybe with Grimmjow, Neliel, Orihime, Chad, Yamamoto, Kenpachi, Ikkaku, Shunsui, and Jushiro? 🙏

Thanks anon, this one just as fun to do as the last! Although for a few of these it was harder to find gifs that matched how I see them dancing XD Hope you enjoy it!

Grimmjow

Nel

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76 notes - Posted May 21, 2022

#4

For my request, could I ask for gifs for how Hitsugaya, Hinamori, Hirako, Mayuri, Renji, and Hisgai dance? Or maybe how each other react to seeing the other dance?

Oh my gosh anon, thank you for sending this one in! I hope you don't mind but I decided to add a few more characters to the ones mentioned above!

Hitsugaya

Hinamori

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78 notes - Posted May 7, 2022

#3

Looking Back: Analysis and Thoughts on Hitsugaya and Hinamori's Recovery

This was all originally going to be part of my headcanon post about how Hitsugaya and Hinamori reconciled after Aizen's defeat(which I will hopefully be posting sometime this weekend), but it became so long and unwieldy that in the end I decided this needed to be a separate post. Here I'll be analysing and giving my thoughts on:

If Hitsugaya and Hinamori reconciled in canon

Why Aizen hated Hitsugaya and Hinamori (looking at what he did to them, who he is, and why I think he treated them the way he did)

Hinamori's injuries and why it took her so long to recover

Hinamori's view of Aizen and how it's changed

Daiguren Hyourinmaru's Completed Form (the result of his training after Aizen's defeat) and how it relates to Hitsugaya's goal of protecting Hinamori

Why am I doing all this analysis in the first place? Well, aside from being for a bit of fun, these were the topics that just came up while I was thinking about how Hitsugaya and Hinamori reconciled. I feel like these all feed into how and when they would reconcile and where their character arcs go from after everything that happened in the Fake Karakura Town arc.

Also, I would like to thank@troius, who's insights have not only made me rethink my view on several characters but also was an inspiration for some of the analysis in this post. I will be mentioning this blog a few times in this post and including insights they have made, but please check out their content if you haven't already; their rereading of BLEACH is so enjoyable to have on the dashboard.

Final note before we get to it: I know I can absolutely go overboard with these kinds of posts, so if you're looking for short and sweet versions my analysis and throughts on the topics I'm covering here, skip to the end for the tl;dr versions.

So, with all of that out of the way, let's get started!

How do we know they’ve reconciled in the first place?

I’ve seen a few fans speculate that maybe Hitsugaya and Hinamori had yet to reconcile by the time the TYBW arc started, mostly based on the fact we don’t see them interacting at all in the last arc. However, the TYBW arc plot being what is was, there really weren't many opportunities for them to interact. With that said, for me there’s proof they have reconciled by then:

13 Blades: coming out in 2015, the databook has sections in the character profiles where a few other Shinigami characters make comments on each other’s profiles. On Hitsugaya’s, Hinamori says her and Hitsugaya have been close friends since they were young and even calls him by his nickname before correcting herself and calling him by his title; as far as I can tell, there’s no past tense used here, so it's not 'we used to be close' or something to that effect. On Hinamori’s, Hitsugaya acknowledges the impact Aizen’s action had on her, but says she’s much better now and asks the interviewer to tell her to refer to him as ‘Captain Hitsugaya’, indicating she still slips up with his name. For me, this means they’re interacting at least, with Hinamori feeling comfortable enough around him that she slips up and calls him by his nickname.

Maybe it's a stretch, but let’s also not forget that in chapter 659 she calls him ‘Shiro-chan’ and shows a great level of concern for him, and in return he gives her a softened look (I know there’s some debate about whether or not he really is looking at her, I must admit on my first reading I didn’t see it that way but on my second read it hit me).

Also, let's not forget she used this nickname during a traumatic moment for both of them, but for me the fact she continues to use it shows it doesn't hold any negative connotations for her.

For me these are indications that they’ve reconciled on some level. They’re interacting with each other, with Hinamori acknowledging they’re close friends and still falling back on old habits regarding how she refers to Hitsugaya. One could argue it might just be out of habit not an indication they've reconciled though, but as she still considers him a close friend, for me it indicates it's probably combination of habit and feeling okay with interacting with him.

It doesn’t indicate to what extent; they might just be good with talking about work-related matters but get uncomfortable when something about what happened in the Fake Karakura Town arises or one of them just can’t get the image of something they did against the other when they’re with them for too long. If this were the case, then it feels realistic. Recovery and reconciliation can take a really long time, and as I’ll be discussing later in the post, Hinamori’s recovery has taken and is still taking a long time, and I imagine on some level it was the same for Hitsugaya.

However, the main point here they have reconciled, and even it's only to a certain extent, it is a step forward to moving on from what they went through.

Why Aizen hated Hinamori and Hitsugaya

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78 notes - Posted March 19, 2022

#2

The Reconciliation of Hitsugaya and Hinamori: Headcanons

Okay, it’s time. I decided to finally sit down and write all the headcanons and ideas I have around how Toshiro and Momo reconciled after Aizen’s defeat. I’ve scattered a lot of these ideas across my fanfics, with some having come up more than once in different or similar forms.

You can read this as either as platonic Hitsuhina or a shipping post, I really don’t mind either way. There’s also some brotp moments here (Momo and Shinji, Rangiku and Toshiro, and a smattering of others).

However, what started as wanting to make a simple list of headcanons quickly turned into a mega post. Firstly, it turns out I had a lot more headcanons then I thought, and I think it's becomes more of an outline of the events that I headcanon took place in between the end of Fake Karakura Town arc and the Full Bringer arc.

And second, while this post is specifically for headcanons and my ideas based on my interpretation of the source material (mainly the manga), I’ve also done some analysis over in this post (I couldn’t help myself!). The analysis was originally going to be part of this post before it got too long. You don't have to go read that post to know what's going on with the headcanons, but if you're interested and have some time, I would appreciate it if you could check it out!

With that said, let’s get to it!

CONTEXT

Before we go into how I think Toshiro and Momo reconciled, we need to cover a few things that will help with context for some of the headcanons and ideas. These will be short and sweet versions of the analysis I've done in the post I mentioned above, so for the full version you can go look at them over there. However, feel free to skip over this section if you feel like you don't need it:

When did Aizen switch places with Momo?: I’ve talked more about this over in this other post, but in short, I came to the conclusion that Aizen switched places with Momo when Soi Fon went to attack him a second time to activate her shikai ability. However, there’s also the possibility he actually switched places after Soi Fon made her second attack, and while she was shocked and confused by her shikai not working, Aizen put Momo in his illusion’s place on the ice for her to create a shadow and get injured by Kyoraku. This bring me to…

Momo’s injuries and recovery time: during the Fake Karakura Town arc, Momo sustained injuries from Ayon, [potentially] Soi Fon, Kyoraku, and Toshiro. According to Death Save the Strawberry, it took her 4 months after Aizen's defeat to recover in the Fourth Division. Her recovery is the longest amongst the BLEACH cast, with most of the characters who were at the fight against the Espada and Aizen having recovered and returned to their daily lives ten days after Aizen's defeat; at that time Momo was still in the Twelfth Division receiving treatment to repair her internal organs.

Despite what some summaries of Death Save the Strawberry say, I suspect what kept her in Fourth Division was not her physical injuries but the mental trauma she went through during Soul Society and the Fake Karakura Town arcs. I also imagine, certain facets of her personality would make her be hard on herself, like the part of her that's a hard worker and is generally organised and responsible. I can see her feeling pressured to recover, and she wonders why she just can't shake off the melancholy consuming her. There is no captain now, she is the only leadership Fifth Division has, but if she's like this, how can she lead her division to prosper again? Who will be their captain now that Aizen is not only gone but not who she thought he was? Is everyone moving on without her? Why cant she catch up to them?

Then exactly four months after Aizen's defeat, in comes Shinji who tells her what she needs to hear. He essentially says ‘You’re not useless, you’re still a good lieutenant and I think you can help the division prosper again. Your friends aren’t leaving you behind, and I’m not going to either, let’s work together.’ The future is suddenly a bit clearer, enough for her to want to return to her duties and forge a way forward to move on with everyone only a few days after speaking with Shinji. he gives her a goal, guidance if you will, and this sets her on the path to recovery. However, let's not forget that in 13 Blades she not only credit Shinji for her recovery, but also Rangiku, who I imagine had visited her often and helped her return to her lieutenant duties.

Why am I doing all of this?: mainly because over the years I’ve been reading/watching BLEACH, this is the one thing that I have never been able to shake off. I have always wanted to know how these two made up after everything they went through.

On one hand, Kubo not showing us allows fans to imagine whatever they like, creating their own scenarios and headcanons about how it happened (or in some cases, if it even happened at all). On the other, it almost feels like something is missing. Of course, BLEACH is not Momo or Toshiro’s story, they’re side characters who ‘compete’ with other characters for panel/screen time in most chapters/episodes; but as someone who loves both of these characters, seeing these two reconcile and move forward from what happened feels like a vital part of their character development. It’s such a shame we didn’t get to see it in canon.

Also, it’s just fun to write this sort of stuff, it’s what being in fandom is all about, right? :D Now, finally, on to the headcanons!

Side note: if you're someone who likes to listen to music while reading, I would recommend listen to this fantastic playlist of BLEACH songs that I listened to while writing this whole post. Otherwise, find something that's either calming, sad, or both to listen to.

HEADCANONS

PRE AIZEN'S DEFEAT (AKA, THE PAIN, THE PAIN! AKA, PRE FAKE KARAKURA TOWN ARC, THEN CHAPTERS 334-422)

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95 notes - Posted April 3, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Ok I've got one. Can I request gif reactions to 10 of the male characters reacting to the Women's Shinigami Association approaching them to do a calendar photo shoot?

Okay but seriously these gif reaction asks are so much fun, keep sending them in everyone!

Shinji

Hisagi

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107 notes - Posted May 14, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[anthropologicalhands]

ceg fic: impressionism (what completes this picture of me and you)

title: impressionism (what completes the picture of me and you) characters: heather & valencia, beth/valencia, heather/hector summary: Valencia admits that she once had a crush on Heather notes: not totally sure how happy i am with this fic, but at this point it has been sitting in my drafts for literal months now, so out it goes. Ao3 Link

~

In Heather’s opinion, one of Valencia’s best qualities is her willingness to throw herself wholeheartedly into her ventures.

Granted, Heather usually prefers to observe the hurricane from a comfortable distance, rather than letting herself get swept up in it all. But, on occasion, she doesn’t mind braving her way into the eye of the storm.

Like right now, when she is seven months pregnant and less chill than she has ever been in her life, Valencia showing up unannounced and armed with rose, apple juice, and her cosmetics bag is unequivocally a good thing. It’s been a while since they’ve been able to hang out, just the two of them. Hector is nice and Heather loves him and she’s happy he’s been here for her during the pregnancy, but sometimes his niceness is just too much, and almost as annoying as Rebecca’s casual thoughtlessness. In contrast, Valencia’s straight-shooting, take-no-prisoners determination is a gift.

Even better: unlike the people Heather is living with, Valencia is observant, and notices changes around her without Heather having to point them out.

 “What’s going on with Estrella?” Valencia pauses in front the aquarium on her way back to the sofa, bending down to get a closer look. “She looks different.”

 “That’s ‘cause she is different,” says Heather as she reclines on the sofa with her feet propped up, doesn’t bother to look up from her phone.

“What do you mean?” Valencia asks, perching on the ottoman to resume painting Heather’s nails. She’s been looking more relaxed recently, Heather finds herself thinking idly. Probably the result of a series of fortunate events—the small but tangible successes so necessary to building a business. Heather bets that taking on Beth as a partner has probably helped ease the stress.

And, well, also the fact that Valencia is now definitely getting some on the regular. There is no way that there isn’t a net positive effect of some kind.

“I mean that she’s a whole new starfish,” Heather explains, wincing as the Rebyl spawn punctuates her statement with a two-beat kick.

Valencia’s concentration doesn’t waver, but her eyebrows arch up high on her forehead in surprise, followed by a deep sigh of resignation. “Again? Seriously?”

“Yeah. At least this one looks more like the original Estrella, so I didn’t know it happened until this week, because last week was Rebecca’s turn to take care of her.”

Valencia purses her lips, shaking her head in disappointment at Rebecca’s carelessness. “Wow. I’m surprised you’re not more upset.”

Heather shrugs. “I probably should be, but I already got angry at the shower this morning for the wrong droplet-to-skin-volume ratio, so it’s not worth working up the extra energy.”

“That sucks,” says Valencia sympathetically, looking down at her handiwork, forehead wrinkling in concentration.

“It really does. These pregnancy hormones are sending my reactions totally out of whack. I am noticing, like, everything is too much, like this dress is super itchy and you still smell like Beth’s perfume from yesterday. I know that sounds creepy, sorry, but I can’t help it,” she adds, responding to Valencia’s weirded-out expression. “And to make things worse, now I’m missing other things. Like, stuff I actually care about.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I used to be able to tell things about people before they even know it. Like a wolf. I learned a lot about wolves before I dropped my wildlife biology class. Did you know that they can tell if a person is pregnant even before they know it themselves?”

“That must get awkward.”

“Right?” Heather asks, letting her head fall against the back of the sofa so that she is staring right up at the ceiling.  “But I’m not like that anymore – I used to be a wolf, and I knew things, but now I’m a pregnant wolf and I know nothing. Which doesn’t make any sense.”

Valencia’s eyes have gotten almost comically round as she follows this train of logic to its conclusion. “Oo-kay,” she says after a brief pause, setting down the bottle of violet nail polish and taking up the setting. “Speaking of Rebecca, you’re channeling her pretty hard right now.”

Heather rolls her eyes. “Yeah, that’s because she keeps texting me about the gestational periods for different mammals and it’s like, getting really annoying. I don’t care that elephant pregnancies last for two years, I’m human and I want it out now.”

Valencia’s head jerks up and she stares at Heather. “Two years?”

Heather gives a slow nod. “Yep.”

Valencia wrinkles her nose in distaste. “Ew.”

“Right? But it’s true.”

“Weird. Does Rebecca just know these things off the top of her head or is she Googling random animals every few days?”

“Who knows? But I’ll admit that she does follow up with cute videos of the respective baby animals, so that kind of helps, but only because my baby brain is really dumb and easy to please.”

“I mean, cute animal videos will do that,” agrees Valencia seriously.

Heather hums her assent.  “But seriously, my powers of observation are gone. I’m missing out on the subtle social cues that tell me about drama. And you know I love drama.”

Valencia hums her agreement, and they lapse into a comfortable silence. Heather texts Hector a non-negotiable request to pick up non-dairy milk and any bath products that might possibly have lavender in them.

“You’ll be back to normal and picking up drama in no time,” says Valencia soothingly. “It doesn’t matter if you miss a couple of things in the meantime.”

“It kind of does,” says Heather, looking up from her phone, peering over the swell of her abdomen down to Valencia. “It’s like missing an episode of The Nanny. It might not matter in the long run, but it’s still totally possible that a massive change happened while you weren’t looking and everyone is making references to an event that you don’t get and you have to piece it together without context, because streaming is not an option.”

“You’ve missed things before. No one is going to judge you for it.”

“No, I don’t miss things.”

Valencia’s responding hm is just judgmental enough to compel Heather to straighten up in her seat.

“I don’t,” she says, a hint of challenge entering her voice. “It was basically my superpower, before this parasite took it.”

“I’m not saying you don’t pick up stuff,” says Valencia, setting down the bottle of polish. “I’m just saying, that you can’t notice everything. It’s not possible.”

Heather’s eyebrows shoot high up her forehead; pregnancy might be messing with her senses, but Valencia’s carefully blank expression is radiating I have something on my mind loud and clear. “Okay, enough generalities – what did I miss?”

Valencia hesitates, but when she looks up to meet Heather’s eyes, she juts out her chin a little bit, firming up. “It’s nothing. And I’m going to tell you.”

“Good.”

“It might be weird.”

“Valencia, I am currently pregnant with Rebecca and Darryl’s baby. Is it that level of weird?”

“No, it’s not that weird,” says Valencia after a pause. “Right. Let me finish the varnish first.”

“Cool.” Heather opens up her phone and adds egg salad to the list. It’s not something she would normally eat, but whatever the Darryl baby wants, it’s gonna get. Maybe it will get bored by all the luxury and try to strike out faster.

Valencia screws the cap back on the bottle and travels back up to sit on the couch cushion besides Heather. “You’re going to love it –they have little white flowers on them.”

“Cool. I’d offer more specific compliments, except there is no way that I will be able to see them over my distended stomach and swollen ankles.”

“Which is why I uploaded the pictures on Instagram,” says Valencia breezily, waving her phone. “You can leave your comments there.”

“Right, exactly. Because that’s what Instagram is for, looking at things you can’t look at in your normal, day-to-day life.”

Valencia makes another noncommittal hum. Heather watches as Valencia continues to mess around with the bottles in her makeup bag, waiting patiently for her question.

“Well?” Heather prompts, when nothing juicy is forthcoming.

“Oh! Right.” Valencia startles a moment before composing herself, tucking her hair behind her ears. Interesting.

“Do you think you ever noticed anything about me that you don’t think that I was aware of?”

Sounds like Valencia is on another self-awareness kick. Well, Heather’s down to help. She tilts her head to one side, considering the question. “I doubt it. I mean, once you broke up with Josh, you’ve been pretty upfront about what you were thinking. Maybe when you and Beth were becoming a thing, but you figured that out pretty quickly, so it doesn’t count.”

“Okay but…”

“But what?”

“But what about me liking girls, specifically?”

“Specifically?” asks Heather, raising her eyebrows slightly.

Valencia takes a deep breath, setting her shoulders straight. “Yeah.”

Huh, interesting.

“Nothing specific,” says Heather thoughtfully, mentally flicking through their past hangouts for signs of Valencia’s interest in anyone beyond their direct social circle. “I mean, there was a distinct lack of interest in guys going on with you, like, even on our girls’ nights out, but when I saw you and Beth together I, like, knew that you had a vibe going on. I didn’t see that before with you and anyone else.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Okay, then you didn’t notice,” says Valencia, sounding vaguely offended.

“Notice what?”

Valencia takes a deep breath. “Beth might be the first girl I’ve dated, but she isn’t the first girl I liked.”

“That makes sense. Who were the others? Denise Martinez from high school? You’ve always complained about her. No, wait, it was Rebecca, right? I know she kissed you once—”

“She mentioned that?” demands Valencia, sitting up, spine ramrod straight, before she pauses and reconsiders. “Wait, no, I shouldn’t be surprised. But no. That was…something else. Which, in retrospect, might have helped me reconsider a couple of things, but that’s so not what I’m talking about right now.”

“Okay, so it’s not Rebecca. Cool. Then would it have—” she stops suddenly. “Oh.”

“Yes.”

“So—”

Valencia nods. “Yep. I think I liked you.”

Valencia says it casually, but it’s a bombshell all the same. Heather blinks as she considers this new information, comparing this new context to all the things she knows about Valencia, like pulling away a curtain for a clear view. Their ease with one another, how quickly Valencia started seeking out Heather’s advice and was willing to let her slouch on her couch when she needed time to refill her chill bar during the most hectic days of Rebecca’s hasty wedding planning storm. Valencia had been remarkably lax about Heather setting very close boundaries.

“Oh, huh. Okay, didn’t see that at the time, but okay. That tracks.”

Valencia stares, incredulous. “That’s it? That’s your reaction?”

Heather considers the facts, how she had only known Valencia tangentially as Josh’s girlfriend, with a general idea that they were unsuited, but not understanding just how much until Rebecca brought her to Sugar Face for the first time, beaming and declaring that, if it was all right with her, Valencia might hang out with them a few times while she got over her own post-break-up blues. And she was kind of basic, but also acidic, and very fun and a little clueless and then she just stuck around.

“I mean, I don’t think I totally missed it,” clarifies Heather. “I thought I got a vibe on you for a little while there when I met you, but like, I was trying to figure out if you knew that or if it was just getting into the groove of having a girl group, but there was also the stuff where we were both trying to figure out what to do with our lives and then everything went down with Josh and Rebecca and it just, like, kept going down.”

Valencia nods, grimacing at the memory. “Yeah, it was a lot to process.”

“So much processing,” says Heather with feeling, eyes rolling heavenwards. After a beat, intrigue overtakes her surprise and she sits back up again. “So: how long did you carry a torch for me?”

Valencia gives a dismissive wave. “Not that long. After you started dating Hector I had an epiphany.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I realized that our tastes were way too different to ever work out.”

Valencia pulls a face to punctuate her statement, startling a laugh out of Heather.

“That kinda sounds like an excuse,” teases Heather, a little relieved. Valencia’s shoulders ease, and it’s obvious from the way she’s speaking that there isn’t jealousy or some sort of anguished feeling behind her declaration, and that’s soothing in a very Valencia way. She doesn’t want to stir up drama – she just wants to make things clear and straightforward.

“It really isn’t,” says Valencia, in the same tone she uses when critiquing Josh’s taste in formalwear.

“Okay, it isn’t.”

“I genuinely believe that your interest in Hector cleaved our chances as a couple completely.”

“Sure,” concedes Heather with a smile, “I know you don’t like Hector. Is it because he knows all of the embarrassing stories about you from when you guys were kids?”

“No. Why?” Valencia’s eyes narrow and her body goes rigid. “Why do you mention it? Did he tell you something? Was it about the Sleeping Beauty thing, because he really should know better than that—”

“No, he hasn’t,” says Heather immediately, because it’s true and if the way that Valencia’s perfectly sharp eyebrows are starting to furrow in the middle, if Heather doesn’t clear up that point immediately, there is a nonzero chance that Hector’s demise will be imminent upon walking through the door.

“Good.” Valencia leans back on the sofa, her face still thunderous. “At least his sense of self-preservation is intact.”

“I’ll get that story out of you, then,” says Heather, amused. “You really have nothing good to say about him, do you?”

“Hector is very symmetrical,” says Valencia primly. “And I am willing to admit that he’s been handling your pregnancy very well despite not actually knocking you up.”

“Thank you, I know that cost you something.”

Valencia nods, looking faintly martyred before she shifts position on the sofa, leaning against the cushions, her chin propped up in her palm. “So, you didn’t know I had a crush on you at all?”

“No, I missed that. Which is unfortunate, because it really is flattering.”

“Yeah?”

“Oh, totally. You’re definitely a catch. So,” she drags out the word, starting to grin, her long-starved desire for gossip sniffing the air. “When did you know that you liked me?”

She’s pleased to see that Valencia relaxes completely at her teasing, whatever fears she has reassured by Heather’s reaction.

“I didn’t at the time,” admits Valencia. “It didn’t take that long to understand that I liked Beth, really, but I’ve been kind of unpacking stuff with her since we’ve started dating. You know what a good listener she is.”

“Right.”

“And I would keep talking, right, about times when I might have been attracted to other women, what I might have thought of them, and I would think about you and about how, when we first started hanging out, I was so giddy about having female friends for the first time in a long time, and you really helped me figure out what’s normal girl stuff and what wasn’t. And I was so excited to have such smart and attractive friends and I wanted to see you guys every day and your opinions really mattered to me—and I realized that there had been, like, two layers to how I was thinking about you, specifically.”

“Two layers, huh?”

“Yeah, both the core that, you were a cool person, but also like a filter on top of it that make things especially nice. Like the Amaro filter on Instagram. Which, incidentally, is the one I used when I posted your pedicure.”

“Got it.”

“Like, I wanted to be friends,” Valencia continues, insistent. “I absolutely wanted to hang out with you as a friend. But I also kind of wanted to impress you and…have you look at me in a certain way. Though, to be clear, that feeling isn’t really a part of our relationship now, that I was attracted to you. That is in the past. It’s important, but not, like, the defining thing about us. But it in our history and it was weird that you didn’t know about it.” Valencia deflates. “I’m sorry, is this making any sense? This isn’t meant to be a love declaration, or anything, and I’m worried it sounds like one, but it’s just—”

“Part of the history of our dynamic,” Heather finishes. “No, I get it. Human attraction is interesting and doesn’t really care about fitting neatly into romantic-platonic categories.”

“Exactly,” says Valencia, smiling. “Like, I just feel that it’s weird that you didn’t know that’s how I felt about you. You know everything.”

“Apparently not,” says Heather wryly. “But I’m glad you think so.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Thanks for telling me. For the record, though, we totally would have been a hot couple in a parallel universe,” Heather adds. “Totally objectively speaking.”

Valencia laughs, her shoulders loosening. “I’ll drink to that.”

 “Yeah. And while you might not think the same about me, I do think you have good taste – I’m glad you met Beth. She’s very cool.”

“Aw, thank you.” Valencia beams, pressing her hand over her heart. “That means a lot.”

Heather smiles, a rush of affection for her friend coursing through her, sweeping aside the discomforts of the day. “Come on, let’s have a toast to your good taste and behaving like mature adults. Now gimme my apple juice.”

Laughing, Valencia does as she asks.

[illusionsofdreaming]

Notes: Some random headcanons that have been floating around my mind for the longest time and they need to get out so that I can focus on writing these imagines smh-

Ft: NPC Fatui Agents

Pyro Agent

Severe tsundere syndrome

wants to be a loner but everyone drags him into their shenanigans

doesn’t know how to deal with affection and would either: scowl and be snappy about it or turn invisible and escape like a coward

hates being vulnerable and showing weakness

wears his ‘villainous’ persona diligently as a way to scare others away

quick to temper and say the wrong things in the heat of anger, when he cools he is also quick to regret 

bad at apologising, but give him some time, he’ll get to it - eventually

touch-starved

surprisingly does not have high alcohol tolerance

Anemoboxer

friendly big brother everyone wants in their lives

fist bumps YAY

tanker of the team and takes it upon himself to protect everyone

a bit of a himbo

is probably an older brother himself with tons of younger siblings back home

breaks up fights within the group

bakes. the. best. cakes.

all brawn no brain

the hugs this man gives is to die for - it’s those full-body, wrap you in warmth and thick arms, pillowed in nice pecs- *cough* I mean. Great. Amazing. Hugs. Yeah.

is a bit oblivious to signs - getting into a serious relationship with this guy is rollercoaster ride filled with plenty of misunderstandings (incredibly entertaining or frustrating for others to watch)

Pyroslinger

the life of the party

easygoing and a terminal flirt

gets punched a lot due to being a flirt

cheesiest lines that will make your toes curl with second-hand embarrassment

thrives with attention

easygoing, laidback because commitment scares him

thinks he’ll never ever settle down for one until he does- ohshit

a damn sap and loyal fool to his s/o

loves kids

unfortunately terrible at cooking despite his proficiency in handling pyro

Geochanter

The youngest in the group

is actually the strategist in the group and is incredibly good at it - although he does not see this himself 

a bit too humble to the point his self esteem is actually crap

wishes he can be of more help in a fight

is babied and protected by the rest of the group

soft and gentle temperament

affection makes him weak in the knees

quick to blush making him an easy target to tease

highest alcohol tolerance

Electrohammer Vanguard

tired af of watching over the team

migraines 24/7 from dealing with group shenanigans

no-nonsense, kind of stick-in-the-mud guy which unfortunately only makes the mischievous ones want to irritate him more

handling the team feels like being in charge of daycare

wants to retire

seems irritated by his teammates all the time but will send you to hell if you hurt them

noticeably soft against Cryo Cicin Mage

big hands that envelop yours in a very comfortable, safe way

startled by physical affection and is a bit awkward in receiving them but will reciprocate hesitantly

Hydrogunner 

a man of little words but incredibly skilled in his arts

tinkers with his tools when he has time hoping to improve the healing capabilities of his weapons

at down time he just wants to watch sunsets and sip tea

little critters are drawn to him when he’s alone

pets the little critters when he thinks no one is watching

takes care of the team in quiet, unnoticeable ways

little is known of his background

Cryogunner

sashimi > cooked food

fashionista - which is why the Fatui gear given to him is breaking his heart

absolutely hates the design and unwieldiness of it-

sent in many redesigns to HQ but received no response yet

this close to quitting if they don’t give him nicer gear

ripped from head to toe from carrying the heavy ass gear

bear hugs

Cryo Cicin Mage

second baby of the group

incredibly shy and always hides her face under the shadow of her cloak and shields

quick to scare - and quick to attack when scared

admires Mirror Maiden a lot and aspires to be as graceful and elegant as her

hopes she can grow taller soon

lover of pets

very scared of pain

any affection shown towards her makes her blush all the way down to her toes

sheds tears easily as well

cuddles - lots of them

physical contact reassures her - will always have her arm linked with yours or her tiny hand laced with yours

Electro Cicin Mage

alongside Pyroslinger they’re the pranksters of the group

she’s tries to incite Cryo Cicin Mage to be more daring - and sometimes goes a bit overboard in teasing

too much energy

bubbly and loves teasing those around her

snaps when those precious to her are hurt

only the touch of her s/o and closest friends will be able to snap her out of her bloodlust

Mirror Maiden

is the big sister of the group

graceful and mysterious and knows how to use it to her advantage

finds Electro Cicin Mage and Cryo Cicin Mage adorable and helps them in handling their elements

gets along best with Electrohammer Vanguard

always has a practiced smile on her face that makes her hard to read

her real smile could actually stop hearts

so used to caring for others, is a bit surprised when she’s on the receiving end

is the only one who can deal with Pyro Agent when he’s being an insufferable brat

[aueua]

nola, my fair champion, may your name ring true.

* for reference, cloth dialogue

⠀

[QG: DREAM NAIL] “It's time! I'll face that fear. {Nola will be proud.}“

⠀

[QG: DEATH VS DM: ALIVE] “{Nola is waiting} and I'm done down here. // {Nola, I'm coming.} More challenging foes are out there, somewhere, but {none in this ruin could take me to you...}“

⠀

NOLA  HOURS AHAHA [/IMPLODES]

nola (person) - moth | because of a genus of them named “nola” (x) | (x) name origins: fair/white shoulder (x) | noble/famous (x) | champion (x) | blessed (x) town sub-note: italian, church bells (x) other note: “nola” as a word (??? see to: voice lines)   ⠀ HC: (she/they), works with either set of pronouns

⠀

⠀ ⠀ ◆︱origins

a moth not native to hallownest. though their progenitors may have been born from the radiance’s light, they were not devout—rather, they felt they could worship her without needing to idle in her sight (and/or truly did not wish to worship to begin with). they could settle elsewhere, develop their traditions and culture in other lands as peaceful as they may be. this was one of the seldom exceptions that they would wield a weapon: with purpose and with utmost reverence towards those they meet.

they thus left before the king ever arrived.

⠀

as this gives way for far too much potential, I will shorten it to a: they had integrated into a town of many faiths and peoples, their contribution falling into creative areas such as bells, chimes, stained glass, fabrics woven with history, and the like. there is an arguable peace, but they’ve also learned to pick up arms if at all necessary even if this was a bit... uncommon, to them for great reasons that breaches into a whole bag of other headcanon territory. once more though. it was with purpose and intent of respect.

⠀

something something though, it eventually involves a certain culture of fighting as well—warriors, to at least ensure that they would be able to safeguard themselves (and if possible, their home). they eventually hear about hallownest (how could they not? it was odd that such a kingdom was established allegedly around where they had used to live) and... well. moving on.

⠀

⠀

⠀ ⠀ ◆︱cloth⠀

oh, yes. I have entertained them—the thoughts that nola if a person could have been a former love. a friend. there are other dynamics involved as well, and yet I cannot shake the entertainment I enjoy that the two could have had a familial bond.

the bells on cloth’s shawl are nola’s own. cloth as a child was soft-spoken and usually kept to herself but more importantly—a klutz who’d often wandered off and manage to find herself in bizarre situations. (she was no crybaby though. not often, anyways.) ⠀ so they served a few purposes. one: to keep track of her; wherever she may be, she can be heard with the delicate noise. two: a symbol that not only will cloth always carry her home on her, but for her, to always have nola with her. (she’d always remarked how their voice was akin to the ring of bells. pleasant, and something she’d love hearing even if she did not understand the words at times.) ⠀

given the moths and their expertise in fabrics to a degree, cloth had grown a slight fascination of her own with the whole concept of... well. everything enough that when she was addressed as “cloth,” the name stuck. (and it was nice in its own way, to know that she had a family all cut from the same cloth! o-or so they say.) ⠀ she never minded showing her face; however, her clumsy nature as a child had led to the creation of a facemask fashioned out of... you guessed it. cloth! one that could endure rough-housing and burrowing, and if it did by chance tear, it was easy enough to mend or otherwise discard. this may or may not have led to her feeling incredibly off without the mask as she later grew up though. ⠀

with the others around her commonly using nails, pins, lances, or—overall, thin weapons—she had attempted to wield them herself. she found herself unwieldy with these however (including greatnails), but would eventually find that clubs fit right and perfectly in her claws, helped by nola’s light suggestion as they made it easier for her to use. ⠀ as the town had grown to accept other wanderers and saw the occasional fight (more of a consenting spar than not), she herself would eventually find those that wish to challenge her or at least remarked on how great her stature was for fighting so surely. she must be a “fearsome warrior?” (and when told otherwise, there were some who’d said her size was wasted on her, and more often than not, she agreed.) ⠀

⠀

⠀ ⠀ ◆︱nola gets an actual section in the nola section

I begin with saying that there is due chance that “nola” in itself is a town or a concept (such as the afterlife, where the latter may be gently disregarded with the dialogue “Nola will be proud”). thus, the town they’ve originated from—the one where a bit of their kind may have settled in. it was arguably pristine, but it was most importantly: home. ⠀ though not everyone worshiped any sort of higher being, that did not mean anyone would, well. try to get others to worship their said faith. there is possibility that the radiance even here is forgotten, but she is still kept alive to some degree in that they had grown to follow something more community based. something that involved a theme of bells—sound overall, where you could interpret a certain set of rings as a message. ⠀ nola held enough renown that she was titled a... well. she would never call herself by the full thing for how wordy it was, but it was along the lines of a “fair and blessed noble champion.” and she was, but mostly by merit. merit that she earned in enjoying the art of combat (as well as her less fight-centered culture simultaneously). ⠀ frequently she was challenged, and frequently, she won with pride. a hearty laugh, an offered claw. ⠀

we will say that cloth had at least one parent. a near lifelong friend of nola’s, both having gone through several encounters and experiences together, yet losing contact at some point and reconnecting a bit after cloth is born. they are made aware of this child, and had been there when said friend was on their deathbed to boot after they went up against a particularly mean beast. ⠀ so, inevitably. nola takes her under their wings and raises her. (they always enthuse on how cloth’d grown larger than them, at some point.) there is, of course, the chance that they may have coddled her—she was a moth. fighting is not inherently theirs even with nola as an exception. however, they were at the least capable of training cloth and helping her get used to her weapon. she was fine and confident in their bouts, yet attempting to apply them to actual circumstances would often result in her faltering. cowering, regardless of the pace they may take. ⠀

eventually the two would set off. their town had commonly exported to hallownest, and it was recently when they’d hear word that it’d turn into a labyrinth housing beasts of all sizes and strengths. (and, of course, that colosseum was a subject for discussion at ties, too.) ⠀ no need to linger on the idea of what could have happened to the moths there, haha... ⠀

I wrap this up by saying that nola died protecting cloth. they had fought together against a foe with large and sharp teeth; a foe that only fell with nola sustaining near lethal damage. their age had already been getting to them—and frankly, their stature wasn’t so great at enduring something so Whack anyways. ⠀ but, they would at least manage to share a few more parting graces with her. they’d note that cloth’d need a new club, the one they made her before was far too worn and it was about to crumble to dust. that despite everything, they were pretty darn proud of cloth and knowing her aspirations, would suggest that she kept challenging herself (in moderation assumed) so that she may be a better warrior like she so hoped to be. ⠀ (this is the note of acknowledgement of afterlife, at least for them. at least for cloth. and at least she’s over it, her strange fear/s at some point. <3) ⠀

bonus random doodle

(more bells! and a shoulder plate. and a monocle. sighs)

[druidx]

Writing Bucket List tag game

I was tagged by @writingonesdreams, TY! <3

Rules: list WIPs (and/or general story types/ genres) you would like to finish in your lifetime. Optionally, add reasons for what's stopping you and how far you want to get them (publish/post etc)

Tagging: @strosmkai-rum @spacetimewraithwrites @wildswrites @tetrodotoxincs @odysseywritings @ayzrules @morganwriteblr @my-writblr @bexminx @writingingraves @dreamwishing @aalinaaaaaa @wardenoftheabyss @pleaseloathemyveryexistence @jaguarthecat @catharticallysarcastic

WIPs I would Like to Finish (in no particular order)

The MOW Files Novel (Original Universe - The MOW Files)

I would like to Self-Publish this one, or at least post online. The problem with this one is it's very old now and would need to be completely re-plotted, re-written, re-everything-ed.

NaNoWriMo 2017 (modern-ish au) (Fighting Fantasy World of Titan)

As this is technically based on an existing IP with characters belonging to other people, simply posting online would be enough. My issue with this one is the central plot feels awkward, but it's too interwoven to remove it. Also, it needs heavy editing.

Elowyn Investigations (Fighting Fantasy World of Titan)

I would love to post this one, but again, it needs a lot of editing and maybe some re-writes and I don't feel like I have time.

Igazinyoka (Original Universe - The Cryptid series)

I would like to Self-Publish this one, or at least post online. Again, editing is my nemesis. There might also be some plotholes that need filling.

The Skinwalker (Original Universe - The Cryptid series)

I would like to Self-Publish this one, or at least post online. Again, editing is my nemesis. This one not only has sinkholes to eat a town but also needs some secondary plots to fill out the narrative a bit more.

Tales of the Starbound (Starbound)

This is a series of short stories and fanfic so online posting only. Some of the stories only need a spit-shine, but one of them could probably become a novella of its own.

Write-up/ Novelization of D&D adventures (Fighting Fantasy World of Titan)

I want to get these professionally bound for my friends (and maybe posted online too). This lot is a huge challenge - there's over 15 years worth of D&D notes that I want to write up as a novelization, but my notes are sparse, scattered, or generally incomplete. They're also told in a jumble of formats that need deciphering. I'd also want to try and consolidate things like travel time & distance, iron out plot wrinkles and nip & tuck any loose threads or plot holes.

What Alexis Did Next (Fighting Fantasy World of Titan)

I'd like to post this online. My block here is 1, editing; 2, plot holes; and 3, there is a huge chunk missing in the middle about a place that doesn't excite me, so I don't wanna write it.

The Ruby Falls (MOAU) (TES IV: Oblivion)

This is my current main WIP and will be posted online. It's just... huge. It needs so much work and I'm running out of steam with it.

Who watches the Watchman (Fighting Fantasy World of Titan)

Posted online. It needs a bit of editing, but mostly I just can't stick the landing. I have been stuck on the ending of this fic for a year and a bit now. I had an ending in mind... and IDK, I just can't make it work :(

mow files nano10 (Original Universe - The MOW Files)

Posted online or self-pub. TBH I'm on the verge of abandoning this one. It's 10 years old and so clunky. It's not finished and I've forgotten where I was going with the plot, exactly, and I'm not sure it's worth continuing with this one.

My Blade for Thee, Your Son to Be (TES IV: Oblivion)

Posting this one online. I underestimated the size of it, TBH, and it turned from a cute fun idea to a potential entire recharacterization of a main NPC, which is frankly incredibly daunting.

A Treatise on Woodlings (Fighting Fantasy World of Titan)

Post online. This is my glorified list of headcanons. It was supposed to be short! And it grew unwieldy and I ran out of steam. I might go back to this one and see if I can finish it off at least, now I've got a bit more experience with the fictional-non-fiction style.

[lyteupthelyfe]

y’know what? why not. fe3h reblog game time.

if you/your oc/a side character you are very passionate about was a unit/student at the start of the game, what would your/their skills and growths look like? what would be your/their strengths, weaknesses, budding talents, and why? Use your imagination, experiences, ideas (if oc) and headcanons (if side character) as much as you like!! you can also justify as much or as little as you want!

I’ll start:

Name: Lyte

Crest: None

Level: 1

Swords: E+ (Neutral) (they’re pointy and neat but a bit unwieldy for me, but i’ve worked with them a fair bit in martial arts classes)

Lances: D (Strength) (i figured out some of the logistics of using a broom as a polearm over several days while at work lmao—its all in momentum + weight lol)

Axes: E (Weakness) (they’re big and they’re heavy ;-;)

Bows: E (Neutral) (i’ve never really tried archery, and the couple times i did i wasn’t fantastic)

Brawling: D+ (Strength) (i’ve…uh, been doing martial arts for almost twelve years lol)

Reason: E+ (Neutral) (honestly i’m not even sure what counts as reason; maths? STEM? Music? all of them? anyway in school i was pretty decent at maths, so…e+ it is?)

Faith: D+ (Strength) (this can be faith in any religion or higher power, or even faith in human kindness, faith in destiny, faith in the heat death of the universe, whatever!) (anyway, i was raised religious, and have kept that going in my own way for a while now, and ultimately believe that the world can become a better place, thus, highest starting rank here we go!)

Authority: E (Weakness) (Budding Talent) (i was pretty introverted growing up + well into my teens, but my job, and being more online in recent months, has really helped me become more confident and outgoing—mutuals my beloved <3)

Heavy Armour: E (Weakness) (it just seems…uncomfortable)

Riding: E (Neutral) (horses are just…eh?)

Flying: E (Neutral) (I lowkey have/had a fear of heights, but i like plane rides, and while i find free-falling lowkey exhilarating, it’s also terrifying lmao)

(OPTIONAL)

my hp growth would be like uhhhhhh 40-ish, my strength growth would probably be slightly above medium, at like 50, magic slightly lower at perhaps 40, dex average at 45, speed would probably be my highest at 60, luck would probably be 35, def one of my lowest at 20, 25 or 30, res at 35 and charm at 25, 30 or 35 to round things out!

so that’s basically it—you can interpret each weapon/movement skill however you like, even including a magic list for reason and faith if you like, and if you want to be canonical; each unit usually has a few strengths, sometimes no weaknesses, and budding talents aren’t mandatory—as for growths, the % chance of a stat increasing by one on a level-up, they usually range from 30-50/60 in intervals of 5, with higher and lower exceptions (and obv if you have like an 80 growth in one stat you’ll probably have a 15 or even a 10 or 5 growth in another to balance out).

as for starting skill levels, most of them are usually E, but the stuff you/they have experience in/strengths in is usually higher at D or D+—but ofc these are only guidelines for if you're trying to make yourself/them a unit that could theoretically be in the game!

anyway, time to tag a few peeps to get started!; @sevarix-writes @umbralstars @femblem-emblem-throuses-houses @moonlitboar (hopefully this'll be fun, and i know some of y’all have hella thoughts on your ocs (cough cough emyr my beloved) and *ahem* certain canon characters and events war of the eagle and lion lambert egitte blaiddyd))

but of course anyone reading this can also participate if you want!

(oh and if you want specifics on what each crest does if you want to give you/your oc one, i’ve a post on that here)

[ammocharis]

2020 Wrap Up

Thanks for the tag @catalystcrisis​​!

New things I tried last year:

For one, I joined tumblr, twitter and instagram. When it comes to fandom spaces, I’m usually much more of a lurker than an active member, but there’s something about Dragon Age that pushed me to create some content and even share it with others.

It made me really happy to hear from a couple of people who said that they decided to pick up a needle after seeing my embroidery. I hope you’ll have a great time stitching all your beautiful projects!

I’ve been needlepainting since May of 2019. Last year, I tried a couple of new things.

1. Metallic thread

For those who don’t dabble in embroidery, metallic thread is a bit more unwieldy to work with than regular thread. It unravels and frays quite easily, it’s much more stiff so the stitches don’t lay as flat as they normally would. It may also cause puckering of the fabric. However, the metallic elements sparkle and glisten when they catch the light - in my opinion, the effect is very much worth the hassle. I found a couple of ways to make metallic thread more manageable so I continued incorporating it in my pieces.

2. Skin shading

My first few needlepaintings depicted only animals but last year I decided to take a shot and include some people in my embroidery. Shading skin and replicating facial features can be a bit tricky. I guess it’s because the human eye is trained for recognizing human-like features so every little mistake is much more visible - at least that has been my experience. There were several moments that made me go “ugh, this is going to look awful”. The first iteration of Solas’ face shall never see the light of day again - most of it got covered with a new layer of stitches and I deleted the pictures I took prior to that.

Total number of artworks: 8

Piece I spent the most time on: 

Solas Romance Tarot Card - I estimate it took me 100+ hours, in part due to all the metallic thread work. It was a real pain in the fingers. I’ve been joking that it was a retribution for the way one of my OCs treats Solas. What can I say - I just love golden aesthetic and I enjoy antagonistic relationships in fiction.

Piece I spent the least time on:

Vatna lineart - I decided to recreate a commission I got from Hanatsuki89 in a simple lineart style - featuring my Avvar Inquisitor, Vatna of Two Falcon Hold.

Aside from embroidery, I dabble in fic writing as well, so here’s a short recap:

- I continued working on my longfic, Watch the Skies, a story about a Sky Watcher’s apprentice who ventured into the Lowlands with a hold-beast at her side. I think I managed to write ~60k words this year and I formed a lot of new headcanons about the Avvar culture.

Tag list (for art or fic recap, or both, whichever you feel like doing):

@maythedreadwolftakeyou​ @curiousthimble​ @edenxrose​ @ohmypawsandwhiskers​ @tejaswrites​ @hanatsuki89​ @ayantiel​ @zuendwinkel​ @xqueen0fhellx​ and anyone who would like to share what they were up to during the last year.

[elizabethrobertajones]

Saw you've been sucked into the MMO life in the form of FFXIV and I was wondering if you had any input into the debate I've been having about what class archetypes tfw would play. I think Sam would be most likely to tank because it requires a reasonable amount of leadership and is also more of a quiet, backbone type role compared to dps. Dean seems more the type to be singularly focused on the big damage hits tbh. He also tends to take more of the charging in and fighting role in their normal life with Sam being the one reading up on everything more carefully and being his backup. Which leaves Cas as healer which may just be me projecting because I play healer/support at every opportunity but literal angel healing aside I think that sorta fits too, he cares a lot for them and tries to keep them safe and shield them as best he can in their adventures? Idk half formed thoughts please completely contradict me if you want I'm genuinely curious about other people's opinions here

Heyooo :D It is less sucked into and more like I’ve returned to the warm cushiony nest of MMOs lol

If you’d asked me back when I was a WoW player I’d have fully agreed because you could only have one class per character and these are definitely the snap decisions that the fam would make when on the character screen. Dean would grab the sexiest DPS, Sam the stoutest tank especially as he’s the one who has read into the classes and strats beforehand, and Cas would ask what to do and be given the healer role because the other two in this scenario would know better about the game and sort of lump it onto him like, oh, we need a healer and you can do this.

(In my own gaming journey, this is what my friends and brother did to me, as they needed a healer to round out their party... I took druid because it was spoopy, and discovered in WoW that while you can’t change classes you can pay gold to respec your character’s role within that class... Promptly re-specced to a melee dps/tank feral druid instead of the healer one, and had a lot more fun :D)  

In FFXIV you can take all the classes on your character (which I have done, natch) and it’s a much more interesting levelling approach, especially seeing how my friends playing the game have gone when it comes to taking classes as they level and why they claim to have tried and then rejected others. It’s an enormous personality test, even for peeps like me and my brother who have all the classes up at max level, which ones we prioritised and which ones we sort of struggled with or found a bit meh. 

Hm so in the scenario that Charlie comes bursting into the Bunker demanding that she needs some friends for dungeons and raids and they’re all sitting on their asses scrolling the internet between a case, they can bloody well play final fantasy with her for a bit, let’s go for some headcanons :D Long because FFXIV has become my current obsession and I have the same in-depth feels about it as I do about SPN but I just never get to write about them with anyone... 

First off, Sam of course has deep nerdery about it and will ask Charlie a ton of questions about what the right class to play is and do the same thing as we’ve already discussed and go for Paladin (which starts as gladiator), and also take all the crafting and gathering side classes because he’s a nerd and you learn nonsense lore while doing it. He’s also in the same starting zone as Thaumaturge which transitions to Black Mage and I BET he’d be tempted to have a little safe witch!Sam emotional release on the most un-Sam class. It’s the big unwieldy spell caster whose literal class quests and stuff make fun of how you’re small and squishy and will be standing in a very bad spot debating whether to finish a long-cast spell and get hit or stop DPS and run for safety. I think he could do with the perspective and learning to be selfish either way to blow off steam from tanking and also learn to prioritise himself IRL :’D Also the paladin quest is WEIRDLY pro-cop from 30 onwards for some reason until the writers saw sense and just. stopped. doing paladin stuff and went back to the Gladiator storyline for the class quests, so idk if he’d enjoy that or start to question other things. Whatever it is he’s getting challenged XD

At 60 he grabs Gunbreaker because it sounds more cool and is thankfully way less emotionally stressful tanking as it’s entirely about being a badass bodyguard and sick flips. This is far more aspirational for Sam, especially as he could just tie a knife to a sawn off shotgun and do these moves for real in his day job. He won’t, but like with black mage, the thought that he COULD is very emotionally satisfying to him.

He might also have decided to check out scholar to see how healing is but idk if he would be able to handle Dean teasing him for having a fairy follow him around so he’d only dabble with the nerd class on the side :P  

Now, Dean can’t take ninja until level 10 or machinist (gun shooty DPS class) until 50, so his start point as DPS would either be pugilist (eeeey brass knuckle class!) or the other DPS classes to start with are Thaumaturge/Black Mage, Arcanist/Summoner, Archer or Lancer. Now. He’d probably think the first two are sissy because magic is for girls/arcanists literally only have a book as a weapon. Archer becomes bard and I think is ultimately a place he’d be very happy as it is a very supportive class to the whole party and basically the mom friend class. But I would love if he went lancer/dragoon because the level 50 class weapon is (folklore inspired name) “Gae Bolg” and every time I equip it I can’t help giggling at the name even though I know it’s a real thing and I shouldn’t. But. Like. It’s the class about waving enormous lances around. It’s got Implications, and Dean is drawn to those. 

He’d probably, however, take rogue/ninja as soon as he could because stabbing things with knives, and the class trainer is the kinda guy who’d have wild gay tension with him while they both try to boast about women to each other, were they to meet irl. Ironically, the rogue trainer (a womanising charmer) and the ninja trainer (an intense, honourable guy bad at social cues even among his own people who ends up falling from grace and choosing to stay in the vicinity of said rogue trainer) are an interesting pair of NPCs to teach Dean about where to stick knives. :) 

He’d go back and power-level dragoon once he starts Heavensward though, because Aymeric is also super intense with messy dark hair and big blue eyes that see right through you. :D He’s getting that gae bolg for him, you know? 

If they’re going to bully Cas to be their healer, he’d probably get really dedicated to the discipline especially as he can stay up all night to play and doesn’t need to take breaks to pee so he’d probably level conjurer/white mage (nature healing) and scholar (ancient book lore with a class quest which mixes ancient curses on a whole people, family drama and a bit of interspeciesish love) and then also pick up astrologian, which is good because it’s spooky star and making your own fate magic. The storyline for that is garbage in the sense that it’s really weakly written, but my favourite character randomly picks up AST in the latest expansion, and has an absolutely fucking wild subtextual romance with another character, including SPN level adopting of a random child who matches Jack in many respects, with said character. And in many respects emotionally they’re Cas and Dean but without any of the personal baggage between them specifically so they really are just chill and married, whatever else they’re stressed about (I say, dreading the next patch is going to finally bring up some questions about what is going on with them as it’s getting weirdly conspicuous while still utterly unsaid). So I would hope if Cas started projecting onto an astrologian character it would be him :P 

Cas also would get into summoner as the other branch of scholar because honestly those two classes are about as close to the random sigil drawing and reading things from books etc analogy to his own occult magic, except you can summon cool dragons and elementals to fight for you. 

they’d buy Jack a boost to 60 and he’d pick up dark knight and white mage probably just to subtly fuck with Dean 

(I am still not over Dean trying to test him to see if he was evil or not by whether he chose devil or angel cake) 

[entrapdaknation]

Spacebat Music Headcanons

More daydreaming! For my other jibberings about spacebat culture, click here.

I like to imagine that Hordak, Wrong Hordak, Entrapta, and a small team of clones set out to explore space after Hordak paid his dues to Etheria. They discover the ruins of the now lost spacebat civilization on an uninhabited planet, and collect data on the spacebats that they later bring back to Etheria. Among these is music. Damaged recordings, tattered books, and murals help the clones reconstruct bits of spacebat musical culture, created by a species with sensitive ears and a larynx that can emit supersonic sounds.

- Spacebats had a wide array of string instruments and played them by plucking or scraping the strings with their large talons. Said instruments were designed to be played by someone the size of a spacebat (anywhere from 6′5″ to 8″ tall), and thus would be unwieldy in the hands of smaller species such as Etherians.

- The “ear-thrilling” genre of music surprises them. The clones are puzzled by murals, drawings, and photographs showing spacebats holding random objects as another sings. Damaged recordings reveal that they would tap or scratch different objects to accompany a whispering or gently growling vocalist, akin to ASMR. The spacebats devoted an entire genre to music meant to give listeners ear-thrills and chills.

- The lost spacebats had howling “lament songs” meant to express grief or rage. These songs can be sung alone or in a group, at a supersonic pitch outside of the range of humanoid hearing. Most Etherians who listen to these damaged recordings hear nothing. Etherian cat-folk can hear these songs, thanks to their sharp sense of hearing, and their assessments of the songs range from “creepy-ass wailing” to “haunting” and “otherworldly”.

- Some clones practice singing these lament songs to give voice to their pain. Some mourn the Galactic Horde’s demise, saddened that a world that made sense to them is gone. Others mourn their abuse and oppression under Horde Prime. Some mourn for lost brothers who died in Horde Prime’s wars of conquest, or were drained dry of life force. Still others lament the struggles of forging new lives on a strange planet, where the native Etherians are distrustful of them. Pickles, who loves poetic language and has a flare for the dramatic, composes his own lament songs.

[katatty]

Right so, that’s all for Desiderata Valley! Slightly updated character page can be found HERE and recap of the round will be posted shortly, then added to the uberhood’s recap page.

Not gonna lie, I lost motivation during this round a few times and really regretted adding Desiderata initially but now that I’ve finished playing it for the first time? It’s another group of playables I’m super invested in and now have really specific headcanons about, lol. It was really fun in the end!

I do worry about haivng such a big neighbourhood sometimes- it’s time consuming to play and even though I get invested in little stories here and there the seasonal rotation format makes it difficult to tell them the way I want. I compensate by doing staged/posed bits of storytelling but those end up even more time consuming, haha! Plus all the random stuff sims do that doesn’t fit the initial plan? In a way all those things add to the fun of playing/documenting but at the same time honestly? Having like 250 playables isn’t optimal! So I dunno, I may need to townify some of the families at some point if I want to keep enjoying the uberhood.

Anyway, next up will be another univiersity interlude! I’m gonna put Hollyhead on a bit of a hiatus in the meantime - I’m more inspired by premades recently and am enjoying playing them again a lot! Plus Hollyhead is also getting bigger and bigger so I haven’t really kept up with my usual seasonal rotations... the curse of playing a single hood for a long time period, haha. I get more and more attached while they get more and more unwieldy, lmao

This is turning into a bit of a ramble, but if you’ve been reading my blog thank you so much, I hope it’s been enjoyable and will continue being fun to follow!

[casuallyimagining]

hi, I love your writing! could you maybe do a Percy x reader where she’s clumsy and bad at fighting but he finds it adorable so he tries to teach her? if not that’s fine, and thank you! :)

Hi! First of all, thanks so much, that means a lot! Second, this has been sitting in my inbox for a couple days, and I wanted to get it done before I forgot, so I made it headcanons, but if you want it as a fic, just let me know. I can try to write something up when I have a wee bit more time :)

Percy thinks your clutziness is cute, but he also recognizes that a demigod being unable to fight is a recipe for certain death, so he does his best to give you lessons outside of the ones the camp already offers.

He’s super patient with you, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t get frustrated sometimes. When you trip over air, or you drop your sword in surprise for the 50th time that day, he just has to call a break. Sometimes, he thinks teaching you might be hopeless.

But then, sometimes, you surprise him. You’re surprisingly good with ranged weapons, despite not being a child of Apollo. You have reliable aim with a bow, and really, you weren’t bad with a slingshot. 

Javelins and spears were a little too heavy for you, but he talks to the Hephaestus cabin and they make you a super light spear that isn’t too unwieldy, and you’re quite good with it, too. 

And he teaches you how to use your clumsiness to your advantage. When you fall, he teaches you to sweep the leg of your opponent, or to stab from a different angle. He shows you how to recover when you’ve been surprised without dropping your weapon.

He finds that you’re surprisingly lucky, too. You drop things at just the right time to avoid getting decapitated. You stumble just in time to avoid strikes to your chest. It’s... interesting, to say the least.

You might not be the best in combat, but Percy knows that there’s almost always an advantage to being underestimated. And there’s no one he would rather fight beside. Partially so he can keep an eye on you.

Okay mostly so he can keep an eye on you.

But if you’re honest, there’s no one else you’d rather fight beside either.

[wannabecowpoke]

RDR2 Character Height Headcanons

The full post is below the cut, because it got somewhat unwieldy! I got a little too carried away when making this, but whatever. This is a reference for some of my headcanons about character heights, because there’s no absolute answer for exactly how tall the characters are, just their heights relative to the other characters. I added some elaboration on their heights, too, and put them in order of tallest to shortest.

Kieran Duffy — 6’4”, but he hunches over to make himself seem smaller. If only he wasn’t so gawky and skittish, he’d make good muscle, but he’s too anxious for that.

Reverend Swanson — 6’3”, but despite his height, he’s fairly willowy. Often runs into some of the shorter members of the gang by accident, simply because his head is literally up with the clouds.

Marion “Bill” Williamson — 6’3”, both tall and broad. Is definitely the type of man to smash his forehead into low doorways, then curse loudly about it being the doorway’s fault for being “so goddamn short!”

Arthur Morgan — 6’2”, although his presence and the way he carries himself makes him seem a lottaller. Men just seem to shrink around him.

Dutch van der Linde — 6’1”, just a little bit shorter than Arthur, and he’s pissed about it. When Arthur hit puberty for real and managed to overtake him in height, he felt personally slighted.

Simon Pearson — 6’1”, and built like a friend. He’s always willing to reach something on a high shelf, and loves picking up Jack to give him rides on his shoulders. Is good at hugging, because he just envelopsyou.

Charles Smith — 6’1”, but stands up straighter than most of the men at camp, so he seems a lot taller than them. He wouldn’t need his height to seem intimidating, but damn does it help.

Hosea Matthews — 5’11”, having lost height as he’s gotten older and wiser, although he’s handled it with grace and dignity. Him and Dutch used to be similar in height.

Lenny Summers — 5’11”, and at eighteen years old, he’s still growing. Hosea jokes that he’ll end up taller than Dutch, but Dutch thinks he couldn’t possibly have much growing left to do. Stands up straighter when given compliments.

John Marston — 5’11”, and pissy about it. Having met Arthur when he was twelve and Arthur was in his twenties, he was certain that he’d grow to be taller than him, but stopped a whole three inches short.

Josiah Trelawny — 5’11”, but skinny as a beanpole. When he was a teenager, he used to be lanky, but he’s gained enough muscle to look proportionate. His fancy hats and inserts in his shoes give him some extra height.

Micah Bell — 5’10”, but struts around lie he’s the tallest man in town. Let’s face it, he’d probably make jokes about what else tall men are gifted in. Leers over everyone shorter than himself.

Javier Escuella — 5’10”, and mostly made of compact muscle. Uses his height to his advantage in fights, not being small enough to throw around, but also being a nimble and difficult to hit target. Is one of the best hand-to-hand fighters in the gang because of this.

Sean MacGuire — 5’10”, and while he won’t voice it aloud, he wishes that he was as tall as Arthur. The man is his role model, and he thinks that if he stood as tall as him, then maybe he’d be taken more seriously.

Leopold Strauss — 5’8”, but has a severe hunch from both his age, and his tendency to lean over his ledgers and desk. Nonetheless, you would be hard pressed to intimidate him with height.

Susan Grimshaw — 5’7”, and one of the taller girls in camp. Utilizes her height when delivering lectures and verbal lashings, although her glare is so withering, she hardly needs it to be intimidating.

Sadie Adler — 5’7”, and proud of it. She likes standing close to the height of most men in the time period, and likes using her height to her advantage in fights. Favorite melee attack is to just smash her head into somebody’s forehead.

Uncle — 5’7, but was taller when he was younger. He doesn’t mind that he’s gotten shorter, as he’s pretty difficult to irritate in general. Uses his height as an excuse to not have to reach up for things on shelves.

Karen Jones — 5’7”, and just as strong as some of the other men. She’s athletic and muscular, good at grappling her opponents. Doesn’t lie being seen as a damsel in distress.

Tilly Jackson — 5’6”, and confident in her height. She’s got broad shoulders and slim, graceful limbs, giving her an elegant silhouette. Likes to pull Arthur in close by the side of his neck when whispering to him. Could’ve been taller if she was better fed as a child and teenager.

Molly O’Shea — 5’4”, and treated like royalty. She likes being picked up and placed onto horses, twirled around when dancing, and when her man or woman is tall enough to have to bend down to kiss her. Deserves to be pampered and catered to.

Abigail Roberts — 5’4”, but tries squaring her shoulders and puffing out her chest to seem taller. Will reach up and grab John’s ears to drag him around, but also will lay her head against his chest and wrap her arms around his waist, letting him rest his chin on her head.

Mary-Beth Gaskill — 5’3”, she has dreams of being quite literally swept off her feet by a tall, handsome man. When she first saw Kieran stand up straight, she almost swooned. Still fights like a hellion.

Bonus: Jack Marston — 6’2” as an adult, accomplishing what his father never did by growing as tall as Arthur was. As the last great gunslinger in the American west, he deserves it.