#okay this is probably way off canon but i can't remember if there's any mention at all of the twinyards father

[doodlingstuff]

What if there was a Mr. Minyard?

Just imagine Tilda being an actual good religious woman who found an actual good man. They fell in love, got married and made plans of getting old together, until death do us part.

When she got pregnant, they celebrated. Their little family was getting bigger and even so after they find out that Tilda is carrying twins. They couldn't be happier to receive two babies instead of one, and Tilda wishes with all her heart, that they are as good as their father.

Months later, Mr. Minyard started feeling unwell. He hid it from Tilda because it must be nothing.

Tilda lost Mr. Minyard weeks before the twins were born.

Tilda couldn't stand it and how was she supposed to sustain three people when she didn't have a job or a career and she wasn't willing to let his brother meddle in her business because he'd never liked Mr. Minyard.

She promised to keep going for him but when the babies arrived and she finds that they look exactly like him, it breaks her.

Tilda gave up both of her babies, unwilling to see the face of the man she loved in their faces. They would be so disappointed when they found out that she couldn't do this without her husband. But then, Mr. Minyard would've been disappointed at her for giving up on their beloved babies.

The middle ground is keeping one. That much she can do, right? So she grabbed one of the bracelets without looking who was and returned for one of them.

The other baby would do fine, it would be just for a few years, while Tilda found a good job to sustain the three of them.

Except that she didn't and with every passing day she hated more the crying baby in her arms. Her husband would've know how to calm him but she couldn't and as weeks passed, she realized that she would never go back for the other baby.

We know how the rest goes...

[prismatoxic]

okay, shipping brainrot from my last post aside, i'm still thinking about the shapeshifter arc. the other sites i use don't have inline posting or do but it's clunky, so i guess i'm theorizing here. some of this may seem obvious; bear with me, i'm not trying to be patronizing, just working through things. this will probably be long.

(edit: i've since learned there's canon explanations for all of this. regrettably i don't like them. enjoy my ideas of what would be better maybe? but keep in mind i wrote this before i knew it had been explained anywhere else.)

laios reveals what he knows of shapeshifters, and that they function on memory:

no one ever really suggests in chapters 39 or 40 who thought of which fake except in the case of which ones laios must have thought of, but i want to posit who i think each one came from, and what it means narratively if i'm right. so, mostly a thought experiment/character study that i could be wrong about or that was never meant to be clearly defined in the first place. but maybe fun to think about? (i'm sure other people have done this before too, but i think it'll be fun to write up.)

from the outset, i think it's worth mentioning that chilchuck knows all three laios fakes are, in fact, fakes. two chilchucks say this, but the one on the right is the real one. senshi and marcille immediately corroborate this, though we can't tell which of them it is except that it's not any of the really obvious fakes.

what i think this suggests is that, brought to the surface, the warped perceptions of the rest of the party that chilchuck, senshi, and marcille have can be easily discerned when compared with the real thing. each of these laioses is from one of them, but they immediately figure out none of them are right with the real laios right there in the room. this is important.

as for who's who...

i think it's fair to assume that giant laios is from chilchuck. laios is the tallest member of their party, at six feet; while chilchuck sees marcille and senshi as their correct heights, laios is a giant to him, and his bulky armor doesn't help. that's why, even if this is his perception, it's glaringly obvious that it's wrong as soon as it's made physical. it's the only big one, and easily falls into the camp of "doesn't seem to know much about monsters" that the others also do.

stupid laios is, i think, from marcille. because the giant one is so likely chilchuck's and i don't think senshi sees laios as someone who stupidly wants to eat everything (even if senshi's opinion of him isn't stellar right now, "i have to eat it" wouldn't be paired with being an idiot to senshi), it tracks that marcille would be the one to remember him this way. to someone who doesn't appreciate their monster eating and otherwise thinks he's an idiot just as much as the others do, dumbly muttering about eating things seems like a reasonable portrayal of laios.

feminine laios, then, is from senshi. i think his physical perception of the other party members is the most off-base; this is likely because he's known them for the least amount of time, and his idea of what they look like is based more on their races than anything else. i think the resemblance to falin might not be intentional--someone suggested to me the other day that the dwarf perception of tall-men is probably more feminine in contrast to how Macho dwarfs are. i think that makes sense (if it ever comes up canonically, i haven't seen it yet). laios and falin do just... look like gender-swapped versions of each other, also. so if senshi sees laios as a feminine person, well... that just winds up looking like falin.

so this leaves us with only the real laios. confronted with their perceptions of him, his friends can immediately tell all three are incorrect.

moving on, we eliminate the three most obvious fakes from the rest of the party, starting with marcille:

if we take into account what i just said about senshi, i think this is his. racial stereotypes about elves being what they are, him not knowing the party as well as the other members do... she stands out, and that's why.

now this is where things start to get interesting.

the next two fakes to be eliminated aren't so blatantly incorrect that they can be struck right out at a glance, but it's not hard to notice the flaws when you look closer, and chilchucks A and B are the ones to point it out. chilchuck is naturally observant; most of his fakes seem to emulate this. (the one who addresses the fakes is A, the real one, but B is proving himself able to pick up on the things A notices. this is important.)

notably, chilchuck and senshi assume these must be laios's versions of them.

we can assume this is correct, if we want to. we can take the framing of this as being an intentional reflection of the truth.

or... or... we can look a little deeper. we can wonder if, perhaps, this isn't a reflection of laios, but a reflection of his friends and what they think of him. laios may not immediately notice the problems, but i don't think it's because he doesn't remember these details. i don't think laios sees much of anything in vague terms; he's observant in his own right, but in ways he doesn't really recognize, nor does anyone else. i think he was so focused on their faces and mannerisms that he didn't notice the bigger picture, glossing over something because so many other factors are at play.

senshi and chilchuck think laios doesn't take notice of things, but the vast majority of the shapeshifter arc is about them and marcille not trusting laios's judgement as it is, given how things went recently. is it possible there's more to their assumptions here than what the text explicitly says? i think so!

so then who do these two belong to? marcille, i think.

if we assume dumb laios is hers, then we can also assume her perceptions of the others are kind of broad and vague. she doesn't think poorly of them, necessarily (at least not in as obvious a way as she does with laios, who, i'll remind you, she's currently upset with), but she doesn't commit unimportant details to memory, like chilchuck's neck band or the damage to senshi's helmet.

we've got three more "obvious" fakes to get through, and laios offers another lore tidbit on how the shapeshifters work:

anyway, the first of the next round is marcille again, setting the stage for how these three next fakes are eliminated.

marcille changes her hairstyle all the time, so this isn't a surprise. the last one pictured here winds up being our next fake, as indicated by her grimoire:

so the fake marcille in this section is the one with the most visibly different hair texture (who even draws attention to this), and the spellbook that's woefully incompetent. i think she's from chilchuck.

he's observant, as i said before; even if he didn't commit her hair to memory, he did remember the stuff she's said about how important hair is to magic. maybe that's why the texture is so striking. more importantly, chilchuck isn't wary of magic quite the way senshi is, but he also doesn't understand it. the general tone of the low-quality grimoire also just... sounds like the way he'd frame something like that. (plus, the "how to turn back time" bit is a thing he specifically called her on when she suggested it a few chapters ago.)

so the next fake chilchuck and senshi are revealed via their tools:

i think the chubby-cheeked chilchuck with the simple lockpicks is from senshi, and i think the ordinary-looking senshi with the simple cookware is from chilchuck. the former speaks for itself--senshi sees chilchuck as a child, and knows absolutely nothing about picking locks. as for the fake senshi, chilchuck has a decent mental image of him but knows nothing about cookware.

so now we're down to the final three fakes, and there's only one person left who they could be from: laios. nobody thinks this, not even laios himself, but i want to explore the concept because i think it has extreme merit. the three remaining fakes have some key similarities between them, namely in that they're all close enough interpretations that making a distinction is difficult. they look a tiny bit different, but both the real people and their fakes make plausible cases for why they're the actual person. i want to talk about why i think laios is the one who made that so, and what that means about him.

chapter 39 ends with all his companions--real and fake--doubting his skills. seeing a pattern?

chapter 40 opens with laios determined to regain his friends' trust in him...

...while his friends (and their fakes) talk about how he's liable to like the fakes more, because they're monsters.

this is a needlessly cruel interpretation of laios, but after how things went post-falin-rescue, it's not a surprise. they see him as reckless and single-minded, more interested in the things he's weird about than in the people around him.

laios is really bad at talking about what he's thinking--not because he's hiding it, but because it doesn't occur to him that it's important. meeting the lunatic magician in the paintings is a prime example of this, but he does it a lot. they likely have no idea why he told toshiro about falin and the black magic; to them, laios was being flippant with sensitive information, not worrying about their safety. to laios? he was trying to get help. he trusted toshiro, and his perception of their friendship made him think the information would help them gain an ally who cared about falin as much as they do. he wasn't trying to put falin or marcille in danger--far from it, in fact. but he didn't tell his friends about his thought process. he didn't think it was important to share.

(he's autistic but we all know this. moving on)

so, we have laios's plan: the pairs cook together, while he watches for behavioral differences to discern who's who. it doesn't occur to him, or anyone else, that the people he's watching for mistakes are his own perceptions of his friends. and now we get into the meat of why i wanted to write this post.

assuming i'm correct... let's talk about laios's view of his friends, and how he challenges those perceptions.

starting with my favorite, chilchuck:

chilchuck A, of course, is in fact the real one. this is a pretty significant character moment for him too, in my opinion; we know he has difficulty expressing his emotions, and that a lot of his conflicts so far have stemmed from that. the fact that "chilchuck B asked for help with a menial task" is a gotcha moment to him is... telling. not only because it's so obvious to him, but because it's not obvious to any of his companions. he thinks they know this about him, but he's never openly expressed anything to make them think this is an issue he'd have, in addition to having sought help in the past.

his "convictions and pride and all that" seems to them like someone trying to convince them of something, not someone reminding them of facts he assumes they know.

anyway, back to laios. if we accept that chilchuck B is made from his memories, this suggests several things. first of all, chilchuck B is, despite his softer eyes and willingness to ask for help, still a fairly accurate portrayal of chilchuck. he's easily annoyed and he's observant, two traits chilchuck is known for. i think the reason chilchuck B has the kinder eyes and the more gentle disposition is because to laios, those things are indicative of someone being a good person, and he very much thinks chilchuck is a good person.

we know laios isn't especially good at reading people in general. thus, his idea of who his friends are is skewed in broad strokes, but not in the ways they think. he knows who chilchuck is, but he also associates chilchuck with his own ideas of what makes someone "good", which results in a chilchuck who's less rough around the edges. confronted with this--the real chilchuck asking him if he can tell--laios compares the two and thinks, reasonably speaking, the nicer one who trusts him has to be the friend he respects so much.

senshi and marcille also want to accept this chilchuck, likely for similar reasons. they also respect and care for him; they've seen him go through a lot. laios's ideal of him is just that, ideal. in a roundabout way, it's only their deep fondness for who chilchuck really is that makes them want to see him this way.

next up, we have marcille.

the fake, marcille A, is a radical departure from what makes chilchuck B a fake. laios notes that the real marcille is exactly the same as she always is. the reason, then, that marcille A confuses him--and the others--is that after everything they've been through, their perception of her has changed radically.

if we look back to senshi and chilchuck's marcilles, it's readily apparent when they're eliminated that both interpretations hinge on the knowledge that she performs black magic. senshi's tries to use it to prove herself; chilchuck's has a grimoire loudly proclaiming it's what she does. contrast this to marcille A: she doesn't mention black magic at all, and her grimoire looks strikingly similar to the real one.

that's because laios doesn't think her performing black magic changes anything about who she is. her doing so proved her to be just as dedicated to falin as he himself is, and the knowledge that her goals involve it doesn't faze him. (additionally, marcille has been teaching him magic, and falin had tried in the past. though his image of a grimoire is flawed to someone experienced, to anyone else it looks fine.) thus, marcille A isn't a flagrant black magic wielder; she's someone who's been fundamentally changed by what they--and falin--went through.

let's go back to chapter 27:

chilchuck and senshi are appalled, and will continue to be. while they ultimately don't prevent marcille from doing this, and care enough about both her and laios (and in chilchuck's case, falin as well) to be in tentative support, this changes their view of her in a negative way. she's dangerous now, in a way she wasn't before, but she's still marcille--goofy and a little reckless. thus, their views of her, and the illusions that result.

laios's opinion of her changes for the better.

she is, all at once, both competent and loyally dedicated. she will stop at nothing to help falin. whatever goofiness she exhibited before now is gone, replaced by the cold demeanor of someone who is doing something extremely dangerous for reasons that are inherently selfish, but ultimately too important to reject.

thus, we return to marcille A: cold, sharp, dedicated. not reckless or goofy, but methodical and haunted. she may have returned to "normal" since they left the castle town, but laios's opinion of her, and understanding of her love for falin, has been forever changed.

so faced with the real marcille--still silly, still whining, still frequently annoyed with him--he's confused, because that's deeply familiar, but it doesn't line up with what he knows about her now.

the truth, of course, is nuanced--these things are true about marcille, but only under duress; it's similar to how laios becomes a competent leader when the going gets tough. she has this within her, but it's not her default state of being. still, the shapeshifter picks up on the strongest memories laios has of her, this new interpretation of someone he thought he knew.

now then--onto senshi, the punchline of this particular joke about the differences between the copies. i still think it says a lot.

i think this one speaks for itself, though i find chilchuck's agreement interesting. senshi is the newest member of the team; little is known about him. laios happily notes that senshi "always looks cool" while chilchuck says he looks normal (and chilchuck B insults the real one). laios sees senshi this way because he thinks senshi is cool as hell, and this manifests in an idealized version of a face he's not as familiar with as he is with chilchuck and marcille.

this is clearly comedy, but it also speaks to the same desire to see the best in the rest of the party. marcille is the only one who notices likely because her opinion of senshi isn't so romanticized. chilchuck's senshi, of note, wasn't a perfect replica: we don't see much of him after the obvious fakes are hauled off, but he's a little squashed (he's the top one):

which indicates that chilchuck's visual memory of senshi is already flawed. if we compare this to giant laios and the marcille with the unique hair texture, it tells us chilchuck's attention to detail is more specific than the others'; he can remember the hole in the helmet, the importance of hair, but he doesn't quite see the bigger picture. giant laios is also surprisingly... rugged? which i imagine has to do with chilchuck's perception of him as a tall-man. (or maybe how he clearly has trouble seeing laios's face half the time, lmao...)

anyway. laios thinks senshi is super cool and chilchuck has an imperfect idea of what senshi look like as it is. (i wonder if chilchuck is some degree of faceblind? not enough to not recognize someone at all, but can't pinpoint specifics.)

and so, we arrive at the moment of truth.

so let's go over what i'm theorizing here... all the remaining fakes are illusions based on how laios sees his friends. the illusions manage to make mistakes that reveal the truth to him, but i think the reason for that harkens back to what laios said earlier... the illusions are being updated over time.

laios isn't considering any of the things that give the fakes away until this moment. if it had taken a little longer to resolve things, maybe they'd have started course-correcting, but they aren't given the chance. laios makes sure they aren't--he acts very quickly. even as he presents the three pairs with his findings, he's aware that everything will fall apart as soon as he does... and he's banking on that. while the shapeshifter illusions defend themselves from being killed, he gets right to the heart of the matter in the only way he knows how: confronting the actual monster involved.

when all's said and done, laios reveals how he figured it out:

potentially of note, all of these details happened before the red dragon fight. chilchuck fighting a mimic and revealing his history with them, senshi gushing about the dungeon's ecosystem, and marcille being attacked by the undine weren't super recent memories. when laios brought them forth in his mind, he had a delay before the shapeshifter updated its illusions.

well... except with marcille. marcille A actually didn't show her hand so easily; it was the real marcille's carelessness that proved her identity.

but what this suggests is that, when confronted with the realities of marcille versus his idealized version of her, laios had to make a choice: did it make more sense for her to have been radically changed by the revival and subsequent loss of falin, or was the presence of a marcille he knew so well proof of an illusion? she was the one who was the most different, and as such, the contrast was the same one that eliminated all three laioses at the start: with the real thing in the room, the fake became apparent.

so, to reach a conclusion: one again, laios has proven he's not as scatterbrained as his companions think, but this time he did so on a more personal level than usual. to them, he reveals that he knows their quirks enough to define them by such when they're otherwise faced with convincing copies. to us, the readers, if we accept what i've suggested here... he's revealed a lot more. he respects, admires, and idolizes his friends, all out of fondness: he wants to see them in an ideal way, whatever that means for each of them as individuals.

anyway thanks for coming to my TED talk

[nightwolf14292]

Dick Grayson Canon Lore Stuff:

(TW for Batman stuff, like spoilers and mention of injury/death) Hello, I know very little about the canon Batfamily because I can't exactly just read all of the comics (there's way too many, and they're very expensive T-T) so instead I spent like an hour reading the entire Fandom . com entry on Dick Grayson, and this is pretty much my timeline of important events that I got from that (I'm typing this in hopes that it'll help me remember it).

Dick Grayson Canon Lore Stuff:

•From a very young age Dick Grayson was trained as an acrobat, hence his job as a performer in his family's circus act.

•When he was eight years old, he overheard a well known crime boss threaten the circus performers if he wasn't paid by the circus owner. The owner didn't pay him, and that night Dick witnessed his parents high wire snap, leading to both of their deaths. (He felt responsible for not warning them)

•He was put into a juvenile service system, because social services in Gotham were full. In this system he was often beat up by the others, which led to him eventually being put into a Catholic orphanage instead.

•Bruce Wayne adopted him, but Dick didn't want to replace his deceased dad with a 'stuck up' billionaire, plus he felt like Bruce didn't give him enough attention (Probably because Bruce was still dealing with the trauma of his own parents death and didn't like getting attached to people in case he lost them as well), so he snuck out in hopes of solving his parents murder himself.

•He met Batman, also investigating the murder, which led to him finding out that Batman and Bruce Wayne are the same person.

•They find the crime boss, but he 'dies of a heart attack' before he can be arrested.

•Since Bruce saw so much of himself in Dick, he asked the boy if he wanted to become his sidekick and Dick decided to name himself 'Robin' after what his mother used to call him.

•He was trained for six long, hard months before he was allowed to do any real missions, and he had to go through one full night eluding Batman without help before he was allowed to officially become Robin.

•For the first year or so Dick had a lot of fun with his job, and treated it as a fun adventure he and Bruce participated in together.

•That was until he had a fight with Two-Face, in which Batman and the DA were both stuck in nooses. Dick cut the rope around the DA with a Batarang, but Two-Face had crafted a double trap and this made the floor fall out so the DA landed in a pit of water in which he drowned. This was Dick's first time witnessing an on-the-job death which would serve to haunt him for years to come, plus he got himself a beating from Two-Face (Okay but like, wouldn't he have been like 9 or 10 max Jeezums- 😭🖐).

•Bruce temporarily 'fired' Dick, not wanting to see him get hurt any more.

•Dick served as Robin for a while longer, still working with Bruce and also forming his own Titans team.

•When Dick was 17 he got shot in his shoulder by the Joker, which prompted Bruce to officially fire him out of fear for his safety. Dick decided that he didn't need Batman anymore, plus he had some issues with the way Bruce did things, so he moved from Gotham to New York to be more involved with the Titans, and he dropped out of highschool.

•Bruce didn't really like this, and told Dick that if he was no longer going to work with him he would have to retire the Robin title. Dick left Wayne Manor afterwards, and handed over leadership of the Titans to Wondergirl.

•Unsure of himself and what he should do now, yet not wanting to give up crime fighting now that it was such a big part of his life, he went to find Superman. For a brief while Dick stayed with Superman, and Superman told him of a Krypton hero who had been known as Nightwing. Because of this time with Clark, Dick decided to finally become his own hero free of Batman. He named himself Nightwing after the Krypton hero, and made himself a costume based off of something his father once wore back in the circus.

•Now as Nightwing he helped lead the Titans, though his relationship with Starfire was worsening over time.

•Jason's death was a bit of a turning point in his character. Even though originally he hadn't seemed to like Jason (mainly because Jason acted as his replacement, and because of his not so great relationship with Bruce) Dick seemed to grow into a kinder/gentler person after the event.

•A while after this, Dick discovered that the mob boss who had killed his parents was not actually dead but was in a coma instead. Dick went looking for him, but witnessed him being gunned down before he had a chance to do anything for himself. Bruce claimed that he was worried that Dick would seek revenge for his parents death if he knew the truth, so he told the young boy that the mod boss was dead instead. Dick was obviously upset because of this, and his relationship with Bruce stayed strained.

•While he was still serving with the Titans, Tim Drake sought him out and asked him to return to being Robin (Because after Jason's death Bruce was going crazy without a Robin by his side), but Dick refused because of his bad relationship with Bruce and his enjoyment for his current job. He did help Tim become Robin, though.

•A lot of bad things happened with the Titans, people passed, people left, people changed, but Dick fought to stay the heart and center of the team through it all.

•Despite their strained relationship, Dick tried to impulsively marry Starfire, but the ceremony was interrupted, which eventually led to Starfire leaving and returning to her home planet.

•Bruce was brutally injured by Bane, but because his relationship with Dick was so bad and he didn't want to 'force' his son to return, he temporarily gave the Batman title to the not-so-stable Jean Paul Valley, with Tim there to help him out. Jean proved too unstable, however, and Dick returned to Gotham to help Tim deal with him. Dick decided to step away from the Titans to focus on Gotham, and the still healing Bruce asked him to be Batman until he was alright again which Dick agreed to.

•During his time acting as Batman, Dick built a great brotherly relationship with Tim. In addition, Bruce admitted that he hadn't originally asked Dick to act as Batman for him because he didn't want to force him to come back, and the two finally began to fix their relationship.

•Dick pretends to be a villain working under Deathstroke for a while, until Deathstroke betrays him and kills at least 100,000 people with a bomb. Dick tries to find and help any survivors, but is unable to because of the radiation which weighs heavily on his mind. He also proposes to Barbara Gordon around this time.

•Dick recovers and Bruce asks him to join him and his current Robin in rediscovering his roots. Dick is hesitant, but Barbara insists that he helps, and suspends their engagement for the time being.

•Dick returns to the Titan's tower, because there's someone there pretending to be him. Turns out it's the revived Jason Todd!

•While on a case, he gets buried alive by a mysterious voice that tells him he's 'supposed to be dead'. He has a hard time finding work because he's in a cast, and is having some trouble due to his injuries.

•By this point his relationship with both Bruce and Tim have improved dramatically, and he's close with both of them.

•The Titans decide to reform their group.

•Okay I'm gonna try and put this as simply as possible… Bruce was targeted by a group called 'Black Glove', supposedly going insane and running away. Dick doesn't want Tim to have to deal with everything himself, so he returns. He gets kidnapped and drugged by the International Club of Villains and is scheduled for a lobotomy, but gets out of it because Bruce's 'insanity' was made up to expose the Black Glove. Batman fights with Doctor Hurt on a helicopter, but the helicopter explodes. Batman is fine and works with the Justice League, but then is seemingly killed in his confrontation with Darkseid. In his will, Bruce begs Dick not to become Batman. Because of his refusal to become Batman, someone else takes up the job instead, calling himself Batman but using lethal methods that Bruce would never allow. This 'Batman' is actually Jason Todd, who shoots Damian and almost kills Tim with a Batarang. Dick and Jason fight and Dick shoves Jason off of a speeding train, seemingly killing him though Jason says they'll 'Meet again soon'. Dick finally decides to become the official Batman, but refuses to make Tim his Robin because according to him, he sees Tim as his equal and not his sidekick. He instead makes Damian his new Robin, which of course pisses off Tim. Tim, believing Bruce to be alive, takes up Jason's old Red Robin mantle and goes searching for Bruce. Dick moves base because the Batcave reminds him too much of Bruce, and struggles because Damian is constantly reminding and taunting him over the fact that he will never truly be able to replace his father. When he next fights Jason, Jason remarks that if the Lazarus pit could revive him, it could revive Bruce too as he's being arrested.

There's quite a bit of stuff that happens in between here, most notably the death of a young boy called Baby D which influences Dick's future character, but since I've been typing for hours:

Thinking about what Jason said, Dick takes Bruce's body from his grave and takes him to the Lazarus Pit. While it does reanimate the corpse, the revived 'Bruce' is angry and violent. This is because it was never Bruce at all, it was actually a clone of him. This gives Dick, Damian, and Alfred a similar hope to Tim, that Bruce is actually still alive. Tim brings evidence that Bruce is actually lost in time, and after a bit of digging and more evidence finding, they manage to bring Bruce back.

•Dick finally becomes Nightwing again, now with red on his costume which reflects his darker and more grim outlook on life and humanity after his time as Batman.

•Nightwing gets stabbed on a mission.

•He also, on a different mission, momentarily dies but they manage to start his heart again.

•Dick puts down his Nightwing title for a while and becomes a secret agent for Bruce, but the wiki has no info on this.

•Dick goes back to being Nightwing, finally returning to his original black and blue suit instead of the black and red one. He reforms the titans, but after working with them for a bit, but ends up moving back to Blüdhaven soon after.

•Someone is sent to assassinate Dick, and he gets shot in the head. He manages to survive, though he has amnesia and for a brief while becomes 'Ric Grayson' until he gets his memories back. When Ric tries to restore his memories he is kidnapped by the Joker who brainwashes him into believing that he was the Joker's sidekick, though he's eventually rescued and gets his memories back. After this event, he officially rejoins the Batman Family as Nightwing.

•There's no info after this.

Extra fact: While not mentioned in the fandom wiki, Dick Grayson was r[😬]ed by a female villain named Tarantula. (As in yes, he has a nice ass, but he would canonically be very uncomfortable with how some parts of the fandom oversexualize him.)

[radioisntdead]

Good evening folks! Thank you tuning in!

I'm supposed to be finishing up a request right now but It's six am, I was missing my dog and this popped in my brain, Alastor who hates dogs and a reader who has one

and I can NOT write anything else until I get this out of my brain, I may be projecting a little bit here.

Alastor x reader with a dog headcanons + a drabble thing? in the middle [Romantic]

Warnings!

Brief mention of your dog passing on [it's implied from old age]

all dogs go to heaven but yours wanted to stay with you even if you ended up down below, Alastor being mean to dogs, also once again Alastor may be OOC or leaning into fanon, Apologies for any grammar mistakes!

Okay so it's pretty well known that Alastor doesn't like dogs because they were involved during his death [I think, I can't remember if that's canon or fanon but we're keeping it for this]

I don't think he's scared of them, he just thinks they're one of the worst things created, especially the hellborn ones, not hellhounds [to be fair he probably hates them too]

You know the dogs that fizzarolli has in Helluva boss? The tweaked out lookin' ones? Yeah Alastor hates em' if he saw one on the street he either moves away from em', moves them aside with his staff while giving the owners the stink eye, he doesn't go out of his way to do anything to them usually.

Point is dude doesn't like dogs and if he can help it doesn't interact with them, and I see him more as a cat person CURSED CAT ALASTOR

Unfortunately for him he somehow gained romantic intent for someone who ADORES their funky lil' dog.

You have no idea why your dog was in hell with you, they weren't a bad dog, they were a good one! The very best on fact!

Sure they had tried to murder your best friend by trying to suffocate em' in their sleep, several times, but they were a dog, a sweetheart and they knocked off the murderous intent if you gave em' a snack plus if anyone knew anything was that all pets, Dog, cat, raccoon, hamster they all went to heaven! So you had no idea why your lil' buddy was in eternal damnation with you!

You died so close together, it was maybe a month or so from their passing to yours, you couldn't wait to see your lil' elderly buddy again but you didn't think it'd be so soon! You still had a life to live and you knew that they'd want you to live on!

You woke up in hell alot nicer then other folks, with your dog sitting on your chest licking you awake,

A golden ring around their furry neck, they looked a little different then they did when they were alive with you, but you knew that this was your dog, there was just that feeling when you looked in their eyes.

Maybe everything wouldn't be too bad with them here, You could get through with them by your side after all.

It was hard the first few years but you managed, getting used to the chaos around, finding a decent job and having to carry around a weapon just in case some psycho decided they wanted to kill you that day, and respawning was a whole hassle and you had your lil' buddy waiting for you at home!

You got a Job at a local diner near your apartment complex, your manager sucked, as did some of your coworkers but the pay was decent and you got along well enough with the coworkers that didn't suck plus you got to take home meals and share with your lil' buddy, They didn't particularly like the hell dog food so it was a fair way to feed em' without breaking the bank

You had met Alastor there somehow, it was fuzzy in your memory, you think he came in for coffee or maybe it was to make a deal with some poor unfortunate soul, all you remember is that you had managed to catch the Radio's demon eye,

Looking back you were pretty sure he was trying to get your soul only for the two of you to end up courting.

You had neglected to tell him about your lil buddy until he came to your apartment for the first time, after maybe the fourth date for coffee,

it wasn't quite his style but it was nice, and he particularly liked the vintage radio that stood on your kitchen counter, he was having a pleasant time chatting with you before you went into the kitchen to make the two of you some coffee and some snacks, as you went into the kitchen he looked around your living room his smile straining slightly as he found a dog staring at him with the rage of twenty-five grown men, Alastor simply turned to the kitchen where you were making a charcuterie board for the two of you

"My dear, I fear you have a rat problem,"

Alastor said gesturing at your lil' buddy who continued staring at him, the murderous intent of 'who is this man and why is it in my home?' was clear

You looked up from your charcuterie board confused until you see your lil' buddy death glaring Alastor

"Pardon? What do you- Oh! Yeah that's my lil' buddy, I'm sure I mentioned them once or twice, don't mind em' they're mostly harmless."

"Ah."

And from there came a rivalry, Alastor came to your apartment? That lovely lil' pooch of yours would sit between you on the couch, Alastor would move them away with his staff thingy,

He wanted to dance with you with soft jazz playing in the background? Your lil' buddy lacking fear was running between your legs trying to grab your attention, only for it to backfire when you tripped and Alastor catched you effectively taking your attention

He straight up mocks your dog, your lil' buddy is too short to get on the couch? Bully time, doesn't matter how big your dog is they're getting called a rat, rodent or a mutt by Alastor, if your lil' buddy earned their wings they're getting called a winged rat,

I imagine he's probably more tolerant towards smaller breeds like Corgi's or Pomeranians for example and less inclined towards dogs typically breed for hunting.

He asked once if your willing to re-home the lil' buddy, and you probably almost stabbed him because the audacity of this man?

Definitely was a rough patch in the relationship.

He gets a lil' nervous now when your holding very very sharp knives outside of the kitchen and upset

Your lil' buddy definitely tries to bite off Alastor's ankles.

Later on in the relationship let's say when you and Alastor wed, your dog is your best man, maid of honor, flower girl, ring bearer whatever it's one of those and Alastor has to put up with it,

Rosie likes to tease about how Alastor gave your lil' buddy the stink eye as they waddled behind you as you walked around during your wedding activities,

Alastor specifically had Husk hold them during your dance, and the majority of your wedding after,

Husk thankfully was spared from the rage of your lil' buddy by giving them some of whatever dinner was served.

Now let's move on to house life once y'all are moved in and everything.

Alastor does NOT want them on the bed, he'd rather they be in a whole different room but if you truly desire it aka if it's the hill your willing to die on

He'll invest in a dog bed, or crate, and you can put it in the corner, FAR from the bed you share,

If Alastor falls asleep with you and your lil' buddy is in the room,

They are out for BLOOD, Alastor's in particular if he doesn't wake up immediately he will wake up with a dog on his face,

He can't do anything to harm the dog with you nearby but he can kick them out of the room, or pop's em' into doggy prison he locks them out of your shared room

He does somewhat agree to a truce with your lil' buddy after a few years

Alastor would take the lil' buddy on walks and make sure they stay safe and not attacked by any sinner with a death wish, after all you would probably go on a revenge filled bender and while he'd adore to see it because you know he's a murderous radio demon who likes despair,

he'd rather you not be upset over losing your beloved pet even if he thinks they're a disgrace.

Maybe if he's in a good mood he'll toss a piece of venison to your lil' buddy, and your lil' buddy would not try to smother Alastor in his sleep, or trip the two of you dancing as often as they did before.

Now when Alastor just dipped for 7 years your lil' buddy missed him,

For about three days at most

Your lil' buddy was happy to have ALL of your attention again and they got to sleep in the human bed! And had full reign of the house.

They held very little loyalty to Alastor.

And for good reason!

They were very displeased when the two of you moved to the Hazbin hotel and they spotted Alastor just smiling there, like he didn't just leave for seven years, the audacity!

Let's hope you have a quick reaction time because your gonna have to stop your lil' buddy from chompin' off Alastor's ankles, because how dare he vanished for seven years? Who does he think he is?!

You and Angel dust probably bond over Fat nuggets and your lil' buddy, a very small Pet parent club was formed, Charlie's in it.

Vaggie was probably a lil' concerned about the fact that your dog has a whole adjusted halo as a collar but that's the least concerning thing in the hotel.

If your lil' buddy is big enough Niffty rides em' like a horse,

She has to be watched when she does so.

If you like to dress up your lil' buddy dress em' up as Alastor and he is either flattered by it or your pet is getting a outfit change immediately,

you and Angel have your lil' buddy and Fat nuggets dress up in different outfits sometimes matching if they get along well!

Imagine if we bring cursed cat Alastor into it, I can see it doing two ways

Either Cursed cat Alastor is 100% worse, like Alastor doesn't like your dog but he's not actively trying to eliminate them like Cursed cat Alastor is, radio noises and growls can be heard if you don't separate them, like they are both getting injured, both have murderous intent and just feral time, it is NOT fun.

OR

They team up, Alastor is just trying to eat his deer carcass? Not anymore they are double teaming to steal his breakfast, cursed cat Alastor just appears and starts vibrating while your lil' buddy is trying to drag the carcass off the table,

It never works and often ends with the both of them getting picked up by the scruff's of their necks and getting unleashed outside to wreck havoc on the others unless you find them first.

Thank you for tuning in and reading folks! Reader's lil' buddy is heavily inspired by my own dearly departed dog

hence the murderous intent your lil' buddy has and the tried to kill your best friend bit at the beginning

Also a little tidbit I was thinking was that your lil' buddy was your guardian angel for the time until you passed and then they just followed you down, their lil' doggy halo slipping from their head to around their neck like a really flexible collar, and the earned their wings comment, Alrighty goodnight folks!

[clambuoyance]

I know that you are a stalwart TimKon Shipper

But what are your opinions on other Kon ships?

KonCass

KonCassie

SuperMartian

KonBart

I am a firm KonCass Shipper through and through

even if i have my own personal hcs, i mean i don't mind any of these ships

koncass had a couple of cute issues and they very much feel like young teens trying to date kinda clumsily but i liked that they agreed to just be friends at the end of it T-T also given what cass says about how she's looked at and her relationships with other characters i cant really see her with a guy >_> they are definitely cute tho and glad you have a cute ship to enjoy!

i actually think koncassie are sweet to each other in tt03 but it's like very basic and surface level to me (that's just how johns wrote everyone there though so) and within canon, cassie had something of a celebrity crush for him at first, but there's the issue where cassie looks in the mirror and wishes she was beautiful and wishes kon would stop looking at her as if he only sees her as a sister and nothing more and then they kiss and i was like >_> okay i guess (if we had seen more of this romance from kon's pov i might have bought into it more) and later in tt03 johns writes cassie as if it was a flaw to act so boyish in her youth and while there's nothing wrong with characters growing up and changing it just felt cheap or whateverrr like at least write her realizing she doesn't need to be doing this for a man and only for herself. again, theyre okay to me as a ship on its own and are cute and i joke that kon got domesticated and learned to be a decentish boyfriend i guess (altho i think he was always going to be a loyal bf and the persona from his youth was more of an act). i could enjoy them more maybe in cases where they are presented in a way i find more interesting (such as both having similar journeys in exploring gender, making cassie's stories revolve less around kon or boy drama etc) or outside of canon but personally i also cannot see her with a man </3 koncassie really doesn't do it for me </3

supermartian really only exists within the yja show which i havent watched in over a decade so i can't say much except that i remember being obsessed with them in s1 and then i kinda lost interest and never finished s2

konbart is neat too even if i don't talk about them much either, they also have a lot of canon scenes showing their devotion and support to each other, not to mention the humor in all of yj and dynamic esp during the parts surrounding the apokolips-ish era(the guilt and worry kon felt, associating bart for a chick etc etc). they also have a lot in common origin/character wise (very sci-fi/experiment origins, inertia and match, interesting relationships with adult figures and expectations, both dying, being written off as stupid or immature, etc etc) so i can definitely see the appeal and think theyre also cute. honestly for me it probably just came down to preference and the order i read things in bc if i read yj2019 first or didn't tend towards tim drake/annabeth chase/rose lalonde coded characters i might've had a different main dc ship but theyre neat :)

ofc again these are just my personal opinions and hcs i have nothing against the people who like em (except maybe for the writers of some of these comics)

[wc-confessions]

There's a couple Warriors fanfics I was reading 10 years ago as a young teen which I deeply loved. I even remember printing one of them into a mock "book" with a cover made of google image pictures lovingly printed and pasted to resemble the old WC covers. Both were unfortunately unfinished, one of them I'm pretty sure disappeared with skyblogs and the other I have found again but the author has been inactive for years now.

I was wondering something and I'd love to hear other people's opinions !

Ever since I've found that the Warriors fandom even existed a couple years ago (grew up without social media) I started drawing and animating to join in on the fun.

Now that I'm starting to be satisfied with my skills, I'd love nothing more than to make fanarts/animations about these fanfics that I loved growing up, as a tribute but also because I still genuinely enjoy the stories now that I've skimmed through them again. They're pretty dated and edgy but in a really nostalgic way.

I would NOT claim the characters or stories as my own, just credit the original authors, but I also wonder if I were to make this kind of things, if that would be respectful considering the authors are not really around anymore ? From my perspective it's a love letter to them but it's not really like I can ask permission from long abandoned accounts...

There's also that I don't know if it would be prudent to leave links back to the story that is still up, as it's quite literally from 10 years ago, written by a teen, and by today's standards could be seen as a little dicey I guess (namely, the main character having kits a little young (think Ferncloud or Moth Flight-adjacent except her mate is the same age as her)). I don't want anyone to leave disparaging comments to someone's 10 year old edgy cat fanfic, even if the author probably won't see it.

By the way I forgot to mention but it's an OC story with some canon characters mixed in at some points. It's not in english but in my native language.

I haven't done anything yet because I'm still on the fence of if it would be okay or not. If the situations were reversed I'd be flattered that someone liked my story that much, maybe embarassed if I saw my past art as cringe... but I can't simply go off of my own feeling, especially since I'm new to the whole "community/fandom" thing and am still learning what's acceptable or not.

TL:DR : If everyone has any insight, I'd love to have second opinions on if doing fanarts of old abandoned fanfics is okay !

Anyway. I'm sorry for the long and peculiar question !! I wish everyone a good day !

.

[anotherrosesthatfell]

Crescent Canon facts that I am too lazy to write in the lore book

The way Crescent talked is kind of creepy, for example:

Crescent: I still remember ripping off my brother's arms because he was too heavy to be held.

Crescent: the orphanage appreciated those free meat a lot.

Crescent: Shall I do that again?

Dream: Please keep your distance from any corpse...

He hates talking about his family

Person: High Priest, do you have a brother?

Crescent: No

Person: really? Then why that guy called you his brother?

Merciless: 🤗

Crescent: that's a lunatic man. Call mental hospital.

He calls Killer by her real name (he rarely call her mother okay- Killer don't really like it...)

Crescent: Hello Amaris

Killer: *traumatized once again*

Crescent: *has no idea he triggered his mother trauma*

Is very savage and brutally honest

Crescent: what are you doing?

Drop: I am drawing a character for my newest game.

Crescent: why's the chest big...?

Drop: because idk

Crescent: yknow, I heard your mom draw big eyes into her arts because she's insecure about her small eyes.

Drop: That's kinda racist...-

Crescent: don't you think it's probably the same reason you made the chest big?

Drop: 😦

Crescent: not to mention you're also hitting on someone older than you, I can see why you're like this.

Drop: 😧😧

Crescent: grow up and face the reality. You can't have my brother and you will never have big chest.

He reads romance novels. Yes, dark romance novel

Crescent: I read a book that if I kidnapped you, you'll fall in love with me.

Charlotte: we're married.

Crescent: hmm, guess I should skip the manipulation

Charlotte: Give me that damn books—!

The Holy water he made is naptime.

Palette: this world is so miserable, what's the point of living if I am going to die over and over again?!

Crescent: *spray holy water*

Palette: *dead*

Crescent: I am going to call your father and tell him you do drugs.

[breakfastteatime]

Do you have any thoughts on young Cal possibly having training sessions with Quinlan Vos to control his psychometry? Since Vos was known for being skilled with psychometry and seems to have been the Jedi’s resident expert psychometry user before and during the Clone Wars.

I have thought about this and honestly? I think the Council didn't let them meet because of how convinced they were that anyone with psychometry was essentially one bad echo away from falling to the dark side. I also think that, given Quinlan's general reputation for being a bit of a loose canon, they probably wouldn't want to let a child anywhere near him... or, more accurately, a child with abilities identical to his.

I also think the Council was conservative in the extreme where, let's say, unusual Jedi were concerned, and they really, REALLY didn't like Jedi with psychometry no matter how useful the ability could be.

Oh, and they SENT THEIR CHILDREN TO WAR. I don't give a damn if Cal and others like him were nowhere near the frontline. They sent their young into war. Unforgiven, Jedi. UNFORGIVEN!!!!

Ahem. Okay, this is getting lengthy. Under a cut we gooooo!

The Council had Cal apprenticed SO young, and with someone as steadfast as Jaro Tapal, you have to think they were desperate to keep him very much on the Jedi Path by any means necessary... If I remember my lore right, they were losing a lot of Jedi in those final years. Cal was probably little more than a number to them at that point.

I really can't state enough that I really don't think Cal, unique and potentially powerful Jedi we know he is, really existed to the Council in that way. He was competent enough, if incapable of dealing with failure, so they packed him off aged NINE. Like, the Clone Wars kick off and the Council goes "HEY THERE, MASTER TAPAL, TAKE CARE OF THIS WEIRD KID FOR US!" Because of his psychometry, Cal's a bit of a threat from within (if, let's say, he picked up the wrong weapon, they've got a deadly threat on their hands), so I don't think they would've had him getting one-to-one tutoring outside of his apprenticeship...

...huh, I am not being very nice to the Council, am I?

And if I may get meta for a sec, I maintain that one of my favourite parts of Fallen Order is how disconnected its characters are to everyone we've met before. Finally, the Star Wars universe feels like a universe again. Without going off too much, one of the reasons I really fell out of the Star Wars fandom until Fallen Order is how small it had become. Let these characters breathe and be themselves without everyone knowing everyone else. And yeah, okay, if we got live action Cal, I'd watch it. But do I want him to appear in any of the current or upcoming shows we know about? Absolutely not.

(Uh, did I mention some of my Star Wars opinions are unpopular?????)

Thanks so much for the Ask, anon! Looks like you caught me in one of my spicier moods!!!

Wanna chat JFO headcanons? Drop me an Ask!

[recurring-polynya]

I have to say, I'm in awe at the level of detail you're including in your fics! I can't think of another author who seems to know their source material so well. Do you have any tips on researching/plotting fanfiction with lots of detail?

First off, thank you very much!

The first thing that popped into my head when I got this ask was the very flip answer of, "It's autism," and then I happened to mention to my husband that I had been asked for tips on writing with great detail and he instantly replied, "you mean, be autistic?"

As I said, that answer is very flip, but I do want to preface all of this by saying this is simply how I am. Everyone's autism is different, but this is how mine is, and I feel a little disingenuous giving tips when in fact, this is just how my brain freestyles. I think that at some level, you gotta write the way your brain tells you to. If reading these tips makes you feel deeply tired and discouraged, that's okay! Intricate, finely crafted writing is just one way to do it. If it doesn't work for you, find another style that does!

Anyway, even though all of this comes pretty naturally to me, I think there are definitely ways to build those detail-oriented creative muscles, which I will describe in nauseating detail below the cut.

Zooming in and zooming out To start! There are two ways to interpret the phrase "fanfic with lots of detail": 1) Stories that include a lot fine detail, which includes stuff like rich descriptions, settings you can feel, and interesting worldbuilding 2) Stories that are well-constructed, incorporating themes and symbolism, consistent characterization, subplots, and fitting well into canon or a larger series. I care a lot about both these topics, and the more I think about it, the more I think that you have to do both in concert.

This is an insane metaphor and if it means nothing to you, just ignore it, but I write like I program. (For the record, I am a basic bitch who loves object-orient programming) Your individual functions (the scenes of your stories) need to be well focused, do what they are supposed to do without scope-creep, and have well-defined dependencies on other functions. On the other hand, the higher-level parts of code (your overall plot) need to make good use of these scenes, to call the right things at the right time.

Put another way, the building block of your story is a scene. The scenes are the part your reader remembers. They should be interesting on their own, and but they also need to fit into the larger context of your story. You should know what each scene is intended to do, both in terms of advancing the plot (or for example, being a breather scene for pacing, but it should be doing *something*), and what it's doing emotionally-- is it funny? is it sad? is it foreshadowing a conflict? is it giving character information?

Then, on the other hand, you need to know how your scenes are fitting together, and that your various character and plot arcs are getting their beginning, middle and ends, and that you're devoting the time and space of your story to the things you care about.

Stay organized How do you do that, though? So, for me, writing individual scenes is an exercise in improvisation. I usually know the basis of the scene and, depending on how far along I am in the fanfic, I may or may not have a few things that "need to get done" in the scene. For all my fanfics above 5-10k words, I keep an ancillary outline/notes document. Some people like to outline before they start, and if that's you, that's great! If you hate outlining (that's me!), I still recommend outlining what you have already written. This will allow you to get a bird's eye view of your story. If you are dividing your fic into chapters, I strongly recommend having a chapter-based outline (you can have other outlines, too, you can have as many outlines as you want). Have a brief description, probably a phrase, about every scene of your story, on its own bullet. I also record the word count. This allows you to see how much "stuff" is in each chapter. You can also use color formatting or anything else you like to keep track of stuff like subplots or perspective changes, to make sure things are spaced properly throughout the overall fic. You can also do little "breakout" outlines, for individual plot threads, for example, if you find that easier to look at. If you do this as you go, you can also see where you might have too much heavy stuff in one part of the fic, and you might move something, or inject a lighter scene.

Basically, when I first come up with a fic, I have a few key scenes in mind. I made a real rough outline, then go write. Then I come back and fill in what I did on the outline. Looking at the outline helps me realize some more scenes that I need, and I go do those. Going back and forth helps flesh out the story.

Make any other kind of lists or diagrams that help you to visualize or think about your story as a whole. I will very frequently make a timeline for a fic. I've had some stories that take place over weeks or months, and this helps me figure out how long it's been since two characters last saw each other, or what day of the week things should be happening on, or what the weather should be like, or if there are any holidays that might pop up (I love incorporating holidays in my writing). If I have a story that takes place over a few days or a week, I'll make a list of what happens every day. You can't put too much stuff in a single day, and it also helps me fill out scenes because I can say "oh, they can talk about this over dinner" or "this character might think about everything that happened while they are trying to fall asleep."

You can also use any sort of organization aids you need for sub-parts of your fic, too! I have made family trees. I have a big spreadsheet of minor characters I use in my usual settings, including which stories they appear in, and any important facts I've dropped about them, or what the kanji of their name means (because I always spend a bunch of time making up names and then immediately forgetting what they mean).

Basically, you should make a chart/diagram/visual aid any time:

a) you're having trouble keeping track of something in your head, or b) because you want to.

Always lean into the urge to make an organizational aid. It is time you are thinking about your story in a new way, which can lead to inspiration, or just to a better understanding of this thing you are building.

Know your source material Revisit the canon material early and often. You gotta. I don't care if you don't like canon or you aren't planning to stick to canon. You should know canon. In fact, especially if you plan to diverge from canon, for whatever reason, read the part with care and think deeply about what it means to replace one character with another. If you don't like a part, think about why. It's possible it's "because the writer rushed it" or "the writer thinks differently than me about xyz topic", but take the time to consider the possibility that you have missed something. The most insight I have ever gotten about my characters comes from reading the parts where I don't understand why they do what they do over and over again and trying to make meaning out of it.

For Bleach in particular, whenever I am writing a story that takes place within a distinctive part of canon (which is to say, not a timeskip), I take the time upfront to re-read the relevant parts of the manga and usually to watch the anime episodes as well. I know a lot of people hate the anime and refuse to watch it, but for me, it's a brain exercise in perceiving the same story a different way. The anime has voice acting, it has movement, it has a soundtrack. Sometimes they'll add something that drives me nuts and it's helpful to think about why. Take, for example, episode 46, which is Renji/Momo/Izuru/Shuuhei's Academy Days Trauma Field Trip. In the manga, the purpose of the field trip is to practice konsou and there is one casualty. In the anime, they go to fight dummy Hollows, and a bunch of students get slaughtered. I like the manga better precisely because it's smaller scale. There is no expectation of combat. Seeing one classmate gruesomely murdered in front of you is more than enough to traumatize me, thanks! The anime slow-panning over a bunch of blood-soaked corpses is overkill. It cheapens and depersonalizes the scene. You're welcome to disagree with me on this, because that's not the point: the point is me closing in on what I want to focus on in my take on this scene.

Taking many, small visits to canon is generally more fruitful to me than re-reading/watching entire arcs. On the other hand, that is nice to do with less of a concrete goal in mind. A rewatch of a random part often spurs my creativity, or I'll notice some new thing that I hadn't noticed before or forgotten about.

Nurturing your relationship with canon really builds on itself. The more you have thought about, the more you can keep in your head, the more appreciation and understanding you will bring every time you revisit it. Now, for some people, reading and re-reading the same work of media may sound like an enormous drag and as I said before, if that's the case for you, don't torture yourself. This process of gaining a really deep understanding of a piece of literature is incredibly rewarding for me and the fact that it informs my fanfic is more of a side benefit. I would just do this for fun.

Going on deep dives So, one exercise you can do to help become more detail oriented is to go on little scavenger hunts in canon. I highly recommend doing this in Tumblr-post format, because it gives you some structure, and also, you can share it with your friends. I am telling you, people love this stuff.

Basically, pick some detail of canon that you're interested in, or ask yourself a question about a character or setting or object, and then try to find the answer. I have the full Bleach manga digitally on my iPad, which makes it very easy to take screenshots as I go. Here are some examples of ones I have done:

Lieutenants' Badges: What are they made of? Zanpakutou Open-Carry Laws Where did Rukia's TYBW scarf come from?

You can also do these as a mixture of canon and historical research, like the time I decided to design a winter Shin'ou uniform.

An extra cool thing about making these is that the other very cool people on Tumblr who care deeply about these things will reblog them, often with their own cool thoughts and ideas attached. Some of those people may end up becoming the eventual audience for your fanfic, OR you might see your idea showing up in *their* fanfic, and that's superfun, or at least it is, to me.

A little goes a long way You don't need to be super detailed about everything, because that would actually be incredibly tedious to read. What you want to do is to be detail oriented on a few things. And to that end, focus on the stuff you care about or the stuff you happen to know a lot about. I like to think about how cities work and how people live their daily lives and interact with each other, so I write about that a lot. Other people are very interested in geography and like to draw maps and design ecosystems and weather. This isn't really my jam and I don't mention it, and I doubt anyone has noticed. I go into a lot of detail on clothing and food, but not so much on music, because I like to listen to music but I don't know very much about it and don't really care to learn. Sometimes for plot purposes, you'll have to do some research on something you don't care that much about, and you don't need to go overboard, just put in what you need for the story's sake. On other hand, if you love monster biology, go ham on describing Hollows. I tell you, your joy will be infectious, and your reader will come away saying "that writer sure knows a lot about claws" and they will NOT notice if perhaps you skimped a bit on describing the Los Noches HVAC system.

Microdose on learning Speaking of friends, if you have social media that you check every day, find people to follow who post the sort of historic/cultural/science stuff you'd like to learn about, or who do interesting analysis of your favorite media. Find a dinosaur-a-day Twitter account. Watch YouTube videos about Victorian fashion. Instead of doing deep research on a particular topic, just add small doses of stuff you're interested in into your daily feeds. You'll learn stuff you didn't know you didn't know and it will give you a more well-rounded, organic understanding of certain topics. If you ever get particularly interested in a particular post, use it as a jumping off point to doing some of your own research.

Diversify your hobbies I write, but I also draw, which exercises a different part of my brain, and also requires me to pay attention to different things than writing does. I will give a very concrete example. When I was making banners for my story a little in love now and then, I didn't want to do just solid color kimono. I looked up some traditional kimono patterns, and it turns out that there's a lot of seasonality and symbolism to them, which I got really into. You can probably pinpoint exactly the time that happened in my fanfic, because afterward, I got really into describing what patterns people are wearing all the time. I also got into kanzashi (hair pins), because, again, when you're drawing headshots, you want to add a hair ornament, and once you know about it, you want to write it. Doing different hobbies that engage different senses forces you to think about things in different ways, which will show up in your writing.

Also, read/watch/listen to a diversity of stuff, and pay attention to what makes things feel a certain way. When something appeals to you, try to figure out exactly what it is that you like about it. What details stick out to you? I'm watching a period fantasy kdrama right now where one family has extremely characteristic eye make-up. I'm reading a novel that takes place during the Napoleonic wars that devotes a tremendous amount of energy to logistics and supply. I pay attention to the judges on Bake-Off because it helps give me better understanding of why flavors make you feel a certain way.

For that matter, if you're reading up on something that really catches your interest...try it? I started writing about pickles and then I went to the international grocery store and bought, like, twelve kinds of Asian pickles, and ate them? I took (1) trail aikido class once, and it turned out it was very Not For Me, but the experience gave me a lot to chew on. If you're writing some sort of Lord of the Rings journey through the wilderness thing, go for a hike, even a small one, and think about what you think and feel and notice?

Check when you're not sure... I don't know if it's because I have anxiety or if it's because I spent 15 years working in engineering and software where people will challenge you on anything and everything, but I double check things compulsively because I want to be sure. If I'm not 100% sure what a word means, I look it up before I use it. I'm usually right, but sometimes I'm not and I not-infrequently learn new stuff this way. I am constantly googling whether people habitually drink milk in Japan or how much a katana weighs.

This may seem like a pain, but it's honestly a good habit to get into. It sucks a little to find out you're wrong, but finding out on your own is such a low stakes, non-threatening way to find out you misunderstood something, as opposed to loudly showing off your ignorance in the middle of a party, say. Go back and re-read the chapter and make sure the character said what you thought they did. It's worth it.

...but don't sweat it too much I was very hesitant to get into writing anime fanfic because I am American and I don't speak Japanese or know much about Japanese culture. I jumped into it anyway, and I try to learn as much as I can and do my best to be respectful if nothing else, and overall, it's been a really rewarding experience. Part of what makes this process a little easier is that most of my writing takes place in Soul Society, a place that is similar to various historic eras of Japanese history, but also it's not. Sometimes, I'll find a bunch of interesting stuff about Edo-era lamps that slots right into what I'm writing, and other times, you just have to be like, fuck it, there's a treadmill in the Squad 10 gym, for some reason. Also, seriously, it's just fanfic, and you are not under obligation to be 100% accurate to history or to canon. One of the light novels, for some reason, goes to the length to tell us that there is no curry in Soul Society and I refuse to give up curry, even though it does cause me a small amount of psychic damage every time I write about it, knowing I am Technically Wrong.

Don't make your reader do as much work as you did Another caveat is that, in doing research, you are going to learn A Lot about a topic, but you need to avoid showing off. The point of learning stuff is to make your world feel real and accurate and lived in. Throwing around a bunch of new vocabulary words you just learned is going to do the opposite of that. Extra detail should go towards making the reader understand the story more, or to sharing cool facts that you learned. It should not be about upping the difficulty rating of reading your story.

Keep it in character One aspect of character-writing is how they interact with the world and what they notice and the way they speak. The characters I write more commonly are very detail-oriented. Byakuya, like me, is autistic, and will give far too much detail on any given topic, whether his listener wants it or not. Rukia and Renji are former street urchin/grifters and career soldiers, so they are ultra-observant by necessity. They don't always verbalize these things, although they do with each other, because they tend to think about things the same way and they used to run grifts together and it's a bonding thing they do. Akon, Kira, Momo, Hisagi: nerds who be nerding. Maybe this is a personal interpretation, but I think Ichigo has a bit of a poetic soul, and I often have him notice symbolism in things, or to see through to the heart of a person. Yumichika is obsessed with aesthetics and thinks about people's looks and presentation contantly. Ikkaku, on the other hand THINKS ABOUT NOTHING, except sometimes fighting. His head is almost completely empty at all times. If he notices a thing, it was probably by accident. You gotta dial your detail levels up and down, and focus in on different things depending on which character you're writing. Also, think about the voice of your narration, and try to avoid going into a scholarly or formal voice, unless your writing really calls for it.

That was so much. If anyone made it all the way down to the bottom of this, I hope it helped!

[kiribread]

Prototype Kamui Woods Analysis 🪵

I was thinking about this prototype when i realized "oh google translate is a thing!" While obviously not perfect it gets the general point acrossed i think!

Im going to disect this into chunks starting with his overall appearance!

One thing that automatically stands out to me is how villainous and rugged he looks! Ngl if i saw him irl with this design I'd probably cry 😭💀. With that being said, the rugged/villainous looking designs were a prevalent part of his style pre bnha.

But besides the whole style change, kamui's final design is pretty similar to his old one with a few minor changes!

First off, his shoes almost seem similar to deku's in this sense that they both have a covering over their normal shoe. Deku's being some sort of metal that i don't remember and kamui's being wood. His new shoes kept the same shape pretty much but instead of a wood cover the whole shoe is wood!

He as no knee pads in this one! I didn't notice it untill writing this lol.

He has a lil hook on the back of his belt that i don't believe he has in his bnha design! Idk what it's for though.

The string of roses he has leaves on it here! Cute touch but i can see why hori removed them.

The arm band things here also seem more detailed than the finished designs. Again, cool detail but i can see why it didn't make the final cut.

The shoulder strap things almost look like bookbag straps to me lol. I find it interesting that when kamui was first introduced in the series he didn't have said straps but come the hero rankings he brings them back! With a better design thankfully lol.

Also the branches onthe back of the straps don't look natural and are much bulkier than in the final! This was a good change lol.

And finally, we have his long ass thick ass neck 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀. Even with all that neck he still can't hold his head up straight 💀. Kamui walked so best jeanist could run 🏃.

I lied the actual last thing is that in the text it mentions that the suit is black and not the navy blue we see today. Im not sure why he changed the color but if i had to guess it could be that it made his overall character design too dark? I think he should've stayed with the black bc it looks better to me personally. In the anime we actually get a sneek peek at what it could look like when it was showing everyone injured.

Now for the truly jucy stuff 🫡

Honestly don't really understand what this is trying to say... i think it's something about his costume helping absorb energy? Idk if any one yall can read Japanese plese lemme know and translate this particular part for me 😭.

I thought this is pretty interesting since they're weeknesses that we don't see in the manga or anime (not yet atleast.) And they make sense too! I do have one particular question but I'll reserve it for later when it comes up in the text. Besides that i wonder if hori intended to keep these weeknesses but sonce we don't see him much we never got to see them? I hope he did bc the part of it where he can only control a certain amount of branches before he losses control sounds like hint lol.

Okay edge lord 💀. The wording in "i have never shown my face to anyone close to me" is kind interesting to me. From what im getting from this is that he's worried about getting close to someone, than showing his face to them, then the person being scared off. Maybe not in this way directly but we've seen other mutant characters that have, or have had a similar problem. (Shoji and gang orca are the ones who pop into my mind.)

When i looked this word up it kinda surprised me; i thought I've looked up the wrong word. But thinking about it, it does kinda fit. In the text it talks about his appearance being ostentatious which among the early cast i think it does! But i think it can also alludes to his personality a bit. In his first appearance in the show mt. Lady steals his spot light and he seems pretty upset about it. Then in bnha smash (which ik isn't canon but hey) i think deku asks for a autograph or something from kamui, death arms, mt. Lady and they all had tears streaming down their face bc of it. But for kamui in particular i can see being a result/form of "attracting admiration." Though, i could be reading this all wrong so feel free to put ur own imput 💀👀. But with that said it does lead into the next chunk of text!

Mom: "Welp good luck have fun and don't get eaten by a bare!" 👍🏻👋🏻

Kamui: 👁💧👄💧👁

Man i really wanna know why she just left him there! I feel like the most obvious reason is that kamui is a heteromorph and the mom wasn't for it. I also feel that it's the most probable answer considering it was immediately after birth. I would also like to point out that from the time he was dropped off till the time he was found he was able to survive completely on his own! That's pretty damn impressive especially considering how dependent human babies are on their parents. Due to his wooden skin though it probably provided good camouflage. Also ik he has to have some serious social skill problems 😭. Or atleast behind average lol.

Idk exactly what this means but it seems important and most likely a reference to the previous text.

So im assuming this means that kamui can eat normal food and photosynthesize. The question i was talking about earlier is if kamui goes without sunlight but eats nutritious food would his quirk still "wilt?"

So nishiya isn't is original last name. I mean, it's to be expected since his bio mom abandoned him. So W the nishiya family 🙏. Also his reason for being a hero is 🤎🤎🤎.

One thing i did notice that may just be the translation is that the text switches between he, i, and it. He and i are normal but the it is weird.

welp that's all i have for now may come up with a few more things later but we'll see!

[vote-gaara]

your by far the best Gaara blog around with the most realistic view imo. Some people take their favorite characters way too serous and think they can do no wrong or they can defeat any opponent or they get really mad about ships they don't like and it's exhausting. its just nice to see you aren't raging every time someone has something bad to say about Gaara and its funny when you agree with them lol. You the true fan

ohhhh anon! Anon! Anon you mentioned the power scalers! Oh no, please forgive me. Anon...I love that you love this blog, but now I gotta rant. I am so sorry.

For real this might be the most malicious opinion I have, but... I can't deal with the power scalers. This is probably because I personally am not super interested in the whole "who is the toughest opponent Gaara could 1v1 without Shukaku, pre Shippuden, post-Naruto, while he stands on one leg and he already has been in 7 other battles in the past 30 minutes and Temari and Kankuro are dead and the moon is full and btw he also doesn't have any sand."

Of course I'm exaggerating, but honestly, power scaling just invites so much room for fighting it's not even funny. It's why sometimes curiosity gets the best of me and I end up on the Naruto subreddit only to slowly back away because there's just....so many power scalers and they're all fighting about the same fights, day in and day out.

And I know. I KNOW this is a Shonen manga...A lot of people are in it for the fights, but I feel like a lot of the nuance and themes of the series are lost on "who can beat who in a fight with just brass knuckles?"

Naruto wouldn't be the series it is without the themes surrounding friendship, love, betrayal, destiny and hard work over natural talent. These are the reasons the characters fight in the first place. Plus, a lot of the canon fights were won because of plot armor or as plot devices. Not to mention Naruto used to be about actual ninjas doing ninja stuff rather than sheer power...Remember when Naruto fooled Kiba in the chunin exams? Blew my freaking mind how brilliant that was!

Anyways... I always see people ranting about the canon fights and it's just so banal to me. For example, "Lee should've beat Gaara in the Chunin Exams."

And that's okay...Fair enough, you could argue that, but like....Where does the rest of the series go, though? HOW DO WE PROGRESS IF LEE WON CAUSE OF POWER SCALING?

You wouldn't get Gaara's hospital scene so you would never really know his motive for why he is the way he is...Then Shukaku would just erupt during the Chunin exams, I guess, and that would be that...No fight between Gaara and Naruto, no redemption. Really there would just be no story at all at that point.

It's like people take character losses as personal slights, which I understand because Deidara will always get two massive thumbs down because of what he did to my boy, but also Gaara's defeat and kidnapping just needed to happen. It demonstrated that the series had high stakes cause Kishimoto could just lampoon my favourite character at any point in time, and I'd be like "that's it, I quit!" only to realize that he's actually ok in the end. Actually, Gaara's defeat made me love him more because I felt more empathy for him that he tried so hard to defend his village only to die in the end, and also because no matter how much he had changed he will always have to deal with the legacy of once being bonded to Shukaku.

It's just feels like a richer experience to have characters fall on their faces and lose sometimes.

And as for Lee losing in the Chunin exams...Man...was that ever a battle because honestly I loved both characters. I didn't want either of them to lose, and I really felt for Lee. Yet, he was better off losing because we got the rest of the story surrounding Gaara, and we got that amazing poetic justice when Gaara comes and saves him from Kimimaru.

Plus, that fight humbled Gaara which is just great, cause he was a lil' brat in the beginning, which is fine cause I loved him anyways.

Thanks for this message...Sorry it literally turned into a raging rant though LOL

[artichow]

You know what I’m about to ask you

RyuGin!!!!

OOOOOUH BABY!!!!

hehehehee them :D

Ship It

I am mentally ill about them /pos

What made you ship it?

I... don't know,, can't think of a moment really, although that scene at the end of fury and gingka's little speech may have been a big sign :) what was that gingka :D Also I think like narratively the scene at the end of fusion where gingka catches ryuga while falling has done something to my brain forever, it is so precious and important to me like.... OUURGH my feelings about ryugin is very!!! arti. grhej can't find a better way to describe it, they are a specific idea of ship i have in my brain that i like as someone who is incredibly confused and lowkey scared of romantic relationships and dating in general, that's why to me they are both aroace (jus like me fr,,) and what they have?? complicated but also so simple somehow!! But honestly I think I liked this idea of ryugin pretty early into my rewatch but i was kind of scared voicing it at first because there can be really shitty interpretations of those characters and their dynamic. I also am a fellow ryuga enjoyer who lives in the magical land of delusion and canon rewrite so :')) that helps a lot. But they mean so much omg i love them so fucking much!! I hope I can write coherently about them because!!!!

What are your favorite things about the ship?

Omg so many things... I love how I think about them with the right song and it hits me right in the feels! I love how similar they are and also vastly different their upbringing (mainly hcs on ryuga's side but yk how it is) and destiny was. Like I'm still absolutely going feral over that post from last year I made about both of our first look of them in the show?? Tbf it's the second scene where we see Gingka but still,, where he's on top of a building seeing the whole sky above him, while when we first see ryuga outside of vague flashbacks or the opening, he's in a sort of coma in a weird coffin surrounded by machine? And the shots of their beys parallel each other?? Like gingka is holding pegasus, probably feeling comfort holding onto his companion and momento of his dad, of his village. Meanwhile Ryuga's hand is lose cause he's asleep but it seems L drago is wide awake and already feeding off of him, one was a bey given to Gingka with a heavy burden of a goal but representing hope and the other was stolen, in order to only bring destruction. I think their relationships to their bey evolving throughout the show is super interesting to compare (but that's also because I hc a lot of things about ryuga that aren't canon because sometimes i want to chew on canon and chug it in the "don't care" bin).

Okay I think I only gave one reason FUCK umm I like the similarities and differences in their designs a lot (scarf/coat, headband/crown, gloves/no gloves, rounder features/sharper). That's mostly to do with Mr Adachi's really cool designs but still I wanted to mention it.

I like the hope in it you know? Ryuga's such a broken person but he's also like,, in my au 14/15yo during fusion and still a kid during the series? And how he almost died at least once (i'm also counting fury because no he didnot i don't care) so young and all this time without any form of genuine care or love. Like I like thinking about him mainly because there's not much that can excuse his actions but it's so interesting too? Like i like explaining the path he takes after fusion. How he's stuck in a downward spiral, hungry for power still because to him power is the only way to feel safe and in control, never being used again. But that ultimately keeps him away from genuine connection still and it also drives him to an almost death and just makes him extra stupid during fury :D idk to me fury ryuga felt so much like character regression, they really saw his masters character and went "yeah but what if..." NYWAY I digrace. I like how they're both just kids and the moment Gingka remembers/realizes it during their final fight in fusion is the thing that saves the world, that for gingka to still be Gingka and to save beyblade, how can he not save this other kid in pain. It is in tune with his character but it's also such a huge accomplishment on his part? He went through so much, his friends, his village, his father got taken away because of Ryuga. It's not all because of Ryuga and Gingka probably knows that but still?? He absolutely hated his guts and for good reason too. But I find it just so!!!! I love the idea that despite it all, there can be love after all of that. However you define it, just compassion and understanding <3 It is so cheesy but maaaaannn what are we without the power of love. I just love ryugin so much, i always try very hard to not make it sound like i'm glossing over all the problems ryuga caused and the emotional and mental toll gingka suffered becaus it's here, but also I love to believe that Gingka is just such a beam of light and he truly empathize with people in general, and something in him will always reach out to Ryuga. And that moment when he stopped him from falling to his death is just so!! To me in my hcs and aus and everything it is just the thing that starts ryuga's growth and character developement, like yeah he's still a stupid guy with a lot of issues but he's going to try. At least in my book (i feel like i'm rambling about things that are so far from canon but whatever i'm vibing my brain is vibrating rn). I just keep thinking about that quote from the good place "the point is people improve when they get external love and support. How can we hold it against them when they don't" and i want to tear up a little.

okay i have a couple more i think that i can think of,, vhfdj this is getting so so long,, oopsie. Um anyway, I like to imagine Ryuga actually helps Gingka too (it's not all one sided i promise but look at this mess of a boy) especially in expressing his feelings and communicating, i feel like gingka would and just by nature still struggles with this but because they understand each other's intentions very well most of the time (and that's canon baby) ryuga helps pointing it out if that makes sense. I also love how they're both intelligent while very dumb at the same time like they maybe aren't beyblade geniuses like Yu but they understand that game so well and so quickly i love that a lot. And I like how they both acknowledge it and respect the other for it.

I like how I imagine them both being vagabonds in their young adult years (*cough* snufkin much *cough*) and valuing their time alone but also sharing adventures together and feeling very comfortable with the other and just vibing :)

It's so funny when i think about it like trying to simplify their dynamic in my head cause it's just: gingka to ryuga is the light, the guy that saved him, the thing that changed everything and he can never fully understands it frustrates him but he can't keep away very long evn though he thought he'd always belong in the dark. And Ryuga to Gingka is friend (extra plus edition) :) both so valid honestly gdfhjsdhj

I love that there is SO MUCH angst potential but also this ship just brings me a sense of peace and joy, like it's somehow cozy??? with these two in it?? but yeah :)

they both absolutely annoy and pester the crap out of each other <3 look at them they're so stupid >:) what is my life if every character in the world is not annoying and dunking on ryuga honestly

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

this has been such a long post holy shit and i feel like i still have stuff to say :') uuuh unpopular? I guess I hate most of the fanart i see of them unsurprisingly... But that's also just the pinterest side of the fandom like... between the straight up absolute weirdo stuff you never want to see ever again, the perpetual whitewashing of ryuga, the abusive/uncomfortable stuff you find it's just :') but again that's true of a lot of characters and ships in the fandom. Idk if me seeing them as aroace and in a more qpr relationship is unpopular, honestly I feel like we're just us two vibing in the ryugin sphere Hani ghfdjsk

btw now that i'm done writing this whole page i'm thinking "but honestly still i'm not really that big on shipping, i feel pretty normal about them even after putting this much effort into this silly ask :') Anywayy whatever the relationship nature is i just like these two characters a whole lot so yeah it's just such a wonderful dynamic and ship to think about <3

[automatonkisser]

LOOKS AT U INTENSELY. 👋👬😘💃 FOR DOTTORE

YAYAAYAY THANK U 💛

👋 - Do you like to hold hands? What are their hands like?

ough okay first thought is just. they are BIG. very very big compared to silvio's....HOWEVER i also kind of noticed that his fingers actually seem pretty slender in certain panels, especially compared to how his general stature is more broad....i'm not sure if this was a conscious choice regarding his character design or just a part of the drawing style but either way that's how i think of them!! anyway considering his size they are still a lot bigger than silvio's ://) i also imagine his gloves to feel very soft and velvety....i'm honestly still very undecided about what i think his "skin" feels like - at his point like to imagine it as fairly lifelike, but still recognizable as artificial in some ways. in my mind it's kinda like...somewhere between touching human skin and a wax figure lmao. maybe a bit uncanny if u're not used to it but not unpleasant. i can't remember if there's anything in canon proving me otherwise but i also kinda think he wouldn't have any internal body heat but i think his skin could be warmed up...by holding hands perhaps...

speaking of which i aactuaalllyyy don't think they'd be that big on holding hands whenever they're out and about, partially because silvio prefers to sit on dottore's shoulder or get carried by him hehe :') i do imagine that dottore enjoys just taking silvio's hands every once in a while whenever they're just sitting around to take them between his own just because he thinks it's kind of hilariously cute how small they are. also i think he doesn't do it often but the first time dottore took his gloves off to touch silvios hands was very special......

👬 - What kind of hugs do they give? (Do they lift you off your feet? Bear hug you? Softly cuddle you?)

HE DEFINITELY LIFTS SILVIO OFF HIS FEET AWUWHWUWH. i guess it kinda comes naturally w their height difference but as i've mentioned silvio also enjoys being carried by him and getting picked up so he can climb around on him lmao. i also like to imagine dottore just twirling him around or throwing him in the air a lil bit...juggling that little dude...idk i guess i just think their hugs would be very playful <3 I ALSO BELIEVE HIS CHEST AND BELLY WOULD BE VERY SOFT. i know he's made of metal and wood and whatever but this is my fantasy and i can do whatever i want forever. silvio DEMANDS to be given bear hugs so he can burry his face in there.

😘 - Do they kiss your hands, cheeks, forehead etc? What kind of not-on-the-lips kisses do they give most?

HAND KISSES I AM ACTUALLY THINKING SO MUCH ABOUT HAND KISSES AHEEM HEEM. i think sometimes he'd do it in a very gallant and intimate way, kneeling in front of silvio, looking up at him while he takes his time to press kisses to his palm and back of his hand, all the way up to his wrist.....sometimes it'd just be him casually taking silvio's hand to press a quick little kiss to it while they're sitting together somewhere....also silvio caressing dottore's face and him grabbing his hand so he can press a kiss to his palm AAAAAAHHHH (smashes a cup over my head) okay i'm fine

💃 - Do you ever dance together?

waah yeah :) i think dottore is definitely a good dancer and tries teaching silvio different styles of dancing (w varying degrees of success lmao)...some moves would probably prove to be a little difficult due to their height difference but it's fine they can improvise <3 i'm also so stupidly gay for the thought of dottore actually being so gentle during this...confidently but softly leading silvio along, making sure he can follow, holding him when he stumbles so he doesn't fall.......sometimes they do enjoy dancing slowly either for the intimacy of it or because they're genuinely practicing, but we're talking about dottore here so obviously i think he would also like to get a bit more bold and theatrical with it, which silvio also enjoys especially because he likes being thrown around, twirled, dipped....sometimes their dancing probably becomes a little acrobatic. dottore definitely likes putting on a show whether it's a more classical dance or they're just free-styling it :')

[sasukesun]

I hope this is okay to ask. But if you don't feel comfortable talking about such a topic, you certainly don't have to. So, here it goes...

What kind of sexual experience do you think Naruto and Sasuke had in the original Naruto series (classic and shippuuden) and when/how did it start? I purposefully said "sexual experience" in general, including not only activities with others but only with one's self, too. I kinda thought about the series starting at both of them being 12yo and that's (depending on the personal development) at the start or in the middle of puberty. And it's not as if sexuality/ sexual desire /etc. isn't mentioned in the manga.

1. Naruto's sexy no jutsu didn't come out of nowhere, he must have thought about the sexy appearance of a woman beforehand, obviously, and knows exactly what effect it has on a lot of men.

2. Reactions to Naruto's sexy no jutsu from a lot of different men.

3. Jiraiya displaying his sexual desire more than openly:

- peeping on women in bathhouses

- enjoying himself in public with pretty women (when he spent all of Naruto's money on women and alcohol as they were searching for Tsunade)

- writing literal porn books

4. Kakashi reading said porn books shamelessly in public.

5. Karin always trying to seduce Sasuke in a very pushy way (she is out for more than just cuddles, that's for sure).

... and I'm probably forgetting a bunch, but you get the idea.

So, Naruto has a lot of canon occasions where he dealt with something sexual, that's why I can't imagine Naruto not being curious and trying out things on his own at some point. Sasuke on the other hand... I can't remember any situation in Naruto classic that implies him being in contact with any kind of sexual matter (did he even see Naruto's sexy no jutsu?), so I'm not sure about Sasuke having, like, a trigger or something that may give him the idea to explore himself before the time skip at least... but he's full of hormones nonetheless, therefore it may be that he just deals with the topic itself much more discreet than Naruto. BUT Sasuke liked Naruto's kiss, which could have been something that initiated thoughts/ desires in a sexual direction. And later, as I mentioned above, Karin confronted him with the topic with making him an object of her sexual desire. Yet he doesn't respond to that at all (except with rejection of course)... which doesn't necessarily mean that he isn't thinking of someone else in one way or the other... (having in mind that Naruto is the only one he likes to be physically close to - his family doesn't count for this topic).

Furthermore I don't think any of them had any experience with girls (or boys, doesn't matter) until the end of the war (and the manga itself, lol). Sasuke was occupied with his revenge/ revolution plans and trying to cut Naruto out, and Naruto himself could ever only think about Sasuke. Yet Naruto used the reverse harem no jutsu on Kaguya (this isn't talked about enough, I swear) and proved that he'd been thinking of handsome boys, obviously - he even said himself that he practiced this jutsu a lot more often than rasengan, and I highly doubt that he would do something like this without having obvious preferences for that gender in a sexual kind of way and therefore thinking about/ doing certain things.

I'm heavily interested in your opinion on this and would appreciate an answer. Sorry for my lengthy question, and thank you in advance! :)

it’s okay to ask and no need to be sorry. also no problem talking about normal sexual experiences, i only have a problem with discussing explicit graphic harassment/rape/abuse (and incest/pedophilia obviously but that counts as abuse). like- teenagers can explore their sexuality the way you’re asking when they hit puberty, it’s normal, and i know you’re asking to actually discuss it, not to get off to it. that’s an interesting question btw.

i think i agree with what you’ve said based on what you’ve brought. naruto does seem curious to explore his sexuality. he knows what men like, it does have some interest of his part though, out of all options, he chose to prank men that way. i guess this comes with research, magazines are more likely imo. he gets mad at jiraiya’s behaviour for peeping on women, so i don’t think it’s a habit of him. the only time he does that it’s after he’s trying to prove himself which is- so ironic (i don’t agree with this behaviour btw, but i also don’t think he’s some kind of pervert for it, especially for someone that didn’t have anyone to teach him and his whole model was- jiraiya… for 2 years). people really don’t talk enough about naruto finding men attractive. he finds haku pretty and sasuke good looking. he spends a lot of time practicing a jutsu with a bunch of naked men. and that doesn’t require a lot of research ig but it requires a lot of imagination and interest right? there’s also the whole “my lower abdomen is clenching in excitement” in the hospital roof scene and the “kyun”, used in hentai for sexual arousal (i’ve linked this post so many times already, it’s very long so if you just want to check what i’m talking about, you’ll find the discussion near panel in both the original post and reply). and it’s normal of closeted/repressed people to fantasise about the same gender even with internalised homophobia/biphobia… talking from experience here.

kizuna hikari is a popular fic in the fandom and i think it portrays their sexuality (both naruto and sasuke’s) accurately… as in naruto likes to masturbate and he tells sasuke it’s great and sasuke’s like so you do this often and naruto answers “all the time” lol it’s pretty light and funny and it shows that naruto has experimented by himself while sasuke hasn’t. i guess their relationships with sex was the most in character part i found of this fic.

it’s also hard to talk about sasuke because the manga is mostly written in naruto’s pov. of course we’re gonna know more about naruto, especially when sasuke is actively trying to suppress what he feels towards naruto. he has never showed interest in any women we can say for sure. he usually acts aloof when they hit on him because he’s not interested in them. he doesn’t even get why karin or sakura want so much physical contact with him. he doesn’t react to suigetsu’s weird approach… which honestly, why would he anyway? suigetsu is threatening him in that moment. but he did keep a memory of him kissing naruto, it could be related to his desire to be closer to naruto. he doesn’t like when people touch him, but he has no problem with getting really close to naruto to whisper in his ear, and that moment does have sexual tension, so i think the interest is there, kishimoto wanted to show it somehow. sexuality is also not something constant, there can be periods of low libido, people with depression, or other mental issues, can have periods with reduced libido, which could totally be sasuke’s case. i think he’s too focused on his revenge at the beginning to think of anything else, but naruto starts to get to him more and more, maybe it could have awaken something in him, but at the same time he tries to suppress it, so i really don’t know if he tried anything. i don’t think he would at orochimaru, the atmosphere there is just- and then he’s out looking for itachi, and dealing with his death after it, and with the truth about the massacre, like- he’s definitely with no other stuff on his mind during this period either.

they are totally inexperienced. sasuke really only shows interest in naruto and he’s trying to suppress it until chapter 698, and naruto, even if you think he shows mild interest in someone else, is much more interested in sasuke, i can’t see naruto looking for someone else’s company until his relationship with sasuke has a resolution, he wouldn’t be able to focus and would just start thinking of sasuke lol honestly- not even after the resolution either. both just have it really bad for the other.

[solesommerso]

B I R T H D A Y

|| jim street & zoe powell

summary ; when nobody else remembers streets birthday but Zoe things get kinda emotional (it’s just them hugging a lot)

notes ; ahaha @blathannabeaga remember that tik tok audio I texted about? Well I’m sorry but I’ve made the angst in fic form

warnings ; hurt/comfort, mentions of canon deaths (Karen & Nate)

-

It's said so casually, so nonchalantly, just a simple "happy birthday" as they all change to leave for the day, yet Street feels like crying. Correction, he almost does, his eyes are hot with tears as he stares to Zoe.

Of all people, the only one to say anything about today, is Zoe Powell. She hasn't even known Street a year but she's the only one who remembered. Not that there's many left to remember, Bucks off doing god knows what and stopped his ritualistic phone calls a few years ago, Chris and him aren't talking anymore, Nate's dead, Karen's dead, it leaves the team.

The team who Streets grown to expect nothing from on this day, they always seem to go all out for Chris or Lucas birthday, but somehow forget to say a thing on Streets. Which, is fine. He doesn't care.

But he does, as stares at Zoe's slightly confused face, he cares so much.

"Wh- what'd you say?" It's thick and probably sounds just as wet as it feels, he ignores it.

"Happy birthday, it's your birthday right? You're thirty now, old man." Powell teases lightheadedly and Street chokes on a sob. Yes, it is his birthday, November 6th, and he is thirty now.

He engulfs Zoe in a hug before a second thought. He usually checks in with the dark haired girl before any physical touch, she's not one for it and sometimes says no, but Street is already holding her. It's so tight the way his arms wrap around her waist and face stuffs into her neck, he's probably paining her a bit with the force, Zoe says nothing if he is.

She holds him back. Arms curled around Streets back with a softness he hasn't felt in years, she lays her forehead onto the side of his head, saying something but Street can't hear it, he's too focused on not crying right now. Not bursting into sobs. Not being a complete pathetic idiot in front of Zoe and the rest of the team.

They're probably looking at them weirdly, Luca will definitely tease Street about this, Hondo might take the five minutes to notice Streets not as okay as he seems, which should've been done months ago if Streets honest. He's not okay, not really at least.

That doesn't matter right now, he's hugging Zoe so hard her feet leave the ground, that's what matters. She smells of sugar cookie body wash and a rose scented perfume, it's nice, comforting even, and her hands are soft when they start to trail up and down Streets spine smoothly, her breathing is even when Street focuses on her chest rising and falling against his own, she's peaceful.

It shouldn't surprise him but it does, the absence of stress in Zoe's body, her shoulders aren't tense and hands not gripping his shirt the way his own are doing to hers. She's just there, steady and calm, holding on without a hint of wanting to force Street to stop or that it's been far too long for a normal hug; she doesn't care. Or Street doesn't think she cares.

"Hey, I got you." It's low, a whisper, the only words Street recognizes from Powell, she keeps talking but that's all he hears and it elicits a tear to fall down his cheek. Such simple words make such a swirl of emotions bubble in Streets chest.

It's his birthday, November 6th, he's thirty today, he's clinging to Zoe like his life depends on it, and for some reason, she has him, that seems to be all that matters in this moment.

[fawnnbinary]

Hey I'm vaguely remembering a post you made a while back about not wanting people to make fanworks of your stuff (can't find that post now so maybe I made it up???) so I'm wondering if that has changed? (Or if you even said anything to begin with?) Like for your OCs as well as your Witcher AUs

Thank you for your creations <3

Oh! I remember the post you're talking about, that was specifically for the streamer au Bumblebee and I have! That one is off limits, as we don't feel comfortable sharing that specific au and it's plot and specific details with the fandom at large so our specific au isn't poached the way others might have been in the past - or like the way some things become like, "fandom property" almost. I personally don't mind fanworks inspired by my general fan content, be it aus or art or what have you, and definitely don't mind fanart of my ocs, I love love love fanart of my ocs, I'll kiss you on the mouth for fanart/writing of them (though anyone with a tag starting with boc: or moc: is either Bumblebee's (@goodgoblinguy) or Mars's (@holocrypticocs) and they've both given me the green light to say it's okay with them too) and only ask you tag me so I can see/credit me!! (Bumblebee has also asked to be tagged, and since our ocs are usually a packaged deal we're giving you full permission for fan art/writing of any of them in any of the aus I've posted or their canon ^^)

for example, the fic Everybody Wants to Be Us (written by @tallfroggie) was made with a bunch of the outfit doodles of Jask I've done in mind, and Froggie mentioned/linked to them in it!!

if you're ever unsure if something is good with me you can always dm me to, but if it's mine, I'm probably down as long as I get to see the finished stuff!!! <3