#probably because they're the ones that need the most FIXING because canon is MEAN

[longbobmckenzie]

Things I'd do...

... if I were a Fusebox writer. Fusebox, if you're reading this, feel free to take these into consideration. I know you won't though because it would require more work on your part.

(note: this ended up being a lot longer than I expected, but I probably should have expected that)

5 girls, 5 boys

Let's go back to the early seasons when we started off with a full lineup of 5 couples to start off with. Like I said, this means more work, more characters. But it also allows for...

More unromanceable characters

Hear me out. The last truly unromanceable male character was... Toby? I think? But for the most part, all the male characters from S6-S9 are available in some way (even if it's only at the finale/reunion, which is really just a copout from FB because they don't want to branch routes but still want to be able to say that everyone's romanceable).

Here's the thing. Everyone wants to romance their favourite characters, nobody wants to meet a character and really love them only to find out you can't have them. Trust me, I've been there. But it's also not the end of the world, and it means you can read/write fanfics for that character, pine for them from afar, etc etc. Maybe it's my sadism talking, but it kind of makes things more interesting in a way? To me it's kinda boring to have all these guys in the villa who would get with me at the drop of a hat (obviously excepting the slow burn LIs).

But the thing about unromanceable characters is that you NEED them in order to write a realistic season with distinct characters who aren't just interchangeable with one another based on MC's choices. Those characters can help drive the plot, they can have canon storylines, they can be friends, they don't have to share dialogue, etc etc.

First coupling

So with those first 2 points out of the way, here's what I'd like for the first coupling:

Of the 5 guys, 1 is completely unavailable to be chosen, and another is not an endgame LI. Think Noah and Rocco in S2 - one can't be coupled up with but is still a slow burn LI, the other CAN be coupled up with but is always going to be dumped. I think this formula from S2 works so well because it still means you have 3 OG guys to be endgame LIs but also allows for the other 2 to be part of fixed plots.

I want the boys to choose instead of the girls. HOW HAS THIS NOT BEEN DONE YET?!?!?! On the show, the girls only picked on day 1 for the first... 1 or 2 seasons? and then it was always boys choosing until they started messing around with other options. But this could work SO WELL for the game! MC has the choice for each guy to step forward or not. If she steps forward for the unromanceable guy, he picks someone else. If she doesn't step forward for someone, he won't pick her. If she steps forward, gets picked, and then steps forward again for someone else, that person steals her and it gets acknowledged throughout the game a bit (minor branching!) If she doesn't step forward for anyone, she ends up being the last picked. IT WOULD BE SO MUCH FUN

Couples/Sneaking around

You shouldn't be able to do bits with someone you're not coupled up with except under certain circumstances:

Casa Amor

You're developing a relationship with someone but not able to couple up with them (or one of you gets stolen) and you're upfront with your partners about going to the daybeds together

You're sneaking around behind people's backs but there WILL be consequences

Just honour the couples, that's the point of the game. Stop letting people go to the hideaway with people they're not coupled up with.

Consequences/Drama

Further to the above, there should be consequences for BOTH parties if you sleep with someone you're not coupled up with. Even if you go to the daybeds and your partners know about it, they should be able to say how disrespectful that is to them.

Sneaky kisses always have a way of coming out on the show, so the same thing should be done in the game. It's harder to branch because some players may choose not to kiss anyway, so those people shouldn't be attacked for something they haven't done. But if you kiss someone and your partner finds out and breaks up with you because of it? And the partner of the person you kissed also dumps them? That would be fun!

Female villains

Just stop with the whole thing where one girl constantly gets up in MC's face. Whether it's because the girl is gunning for the same guy or for other reasons, it's so tired and annoying. Or a girl being a bitch for absolutely no reason.

And especially stop making them WOC!

More filler scenes

This has been one of the big complaints over the last few seasons, and that's the lack of filler scenes. There needs to be a balance, obviously, because you don't want too much filler - but this is how we learn about the characters' personalities. Let us be involved in fun chats, give our MC a personality other than "everyone loves me except that one bitch who hates me for no apparent reason," let us chill with the other islanders instead of constantly being involved in drama, eavesdropping on conversations, investigating who slept with who, and doing a million challenges

(Slightly) Longer season

Season 2 is the only deviation from the typical 13-14 "day" season (S1 is technically 7 weeks squeezed into 14 days, later seasons use volumes instead of sticking to a morning/afternoon/evening format but they fit so much into them that they just feel chaotic). Adding a little filler and stretching the seasons out a bit (5-7 volumes seems reasonable?) should make them more enjoyable to play (and replay?)

Cliffhangers

I love cliffhangers (insert joke about all the LIs I like who do rock climbing), but not every episode/volume needs one. It's perfectly fine to find a natural ending to an episode (like going to bed at the end of the night, which was common in S2), and save the cliffhangers for when they really matter

Make the challenges make sense

I didn't play S8 and I'm not playing S9, but I've heard some complaints about the order of challenges - playing Mr & Mrs in Casa Amor, etc. And I saw that today's volume included the Excess Baggage challenge, which is fine, but that one should always be near the beginning

Have the 'get to know people' challenges (kissing challenges, truth/dare, never have I ever) in the first few volumes. Once people are coupled up and relationships are developing, hit 'em with the snogathon to maybe create some drama (and do it when new bombshells have just come in so you get a chance to kiss the new guy). After Casa Amor, you can do Mr & Mrs, any other couple compatibility challenges (or do one of these just before Casa Amor to create some drama just before splitting up the couples), and of course Snog, Marry, Pie.

Have a few of the random obstacle course challenges, food challenges, building tents/sandcastles/whatever challenges interspersed throughout, but make them mean something.

And for the love of donuts, make the challenges in Raunchy Races objective - none of this 'coolest person' or 'hottest person' or whatever, just stick to tallest/shortest/oldest/etc or 'one person must snog the person they fancy the most' or whatever like in S2

Casa Amor

I think CA is a great plot device, but there's a fine line between 'too long' and 'not long enough' that's hard to figure out. But either way, let's stop with the hideaway and sending couples on dates, because nobody's coupled up in CA. Give everyone a chance to get to know everyone. Have a couple guys who aren't interested in MC. If MC is wlw, give some scenes with her LI where they can talk about the future and wanting to couple up when they have a chance, etc.

WLW Routes

I don't do WLW routes in the game so I don't know exactly what the experience is like, but I know that it's not great - carrying on a romance with someone with no consequences but also not being able to couple up with them and sometimes watching them also be carrying on a relationship with whoever they're coupled up with.

I don't have any brilliant solutions, but why not spend every night on the daybeds together until being able to couple up? Why not have two guys who couple up together on these routes, like in S3? Or bring in another character like Sammi in S1 to even out the couples? Or an NB/bisexual character who could couple up with a girl or guy depending on what MC does?

Ultimately, the show and the game are extremely straight-coded, and it's not easy to account for players being able to couple up with female LIs early on, but every option should be explored instead of just doing what they're doing every season.

[tinytennisskirt]

TINYTENNISSKIRT PERSONAL FAVES & PERSONAL SUMMARIES (CHALLENGERS)

summarizing my favourite fics that I've written so maybe if you haven't read them, you find reason to. Not in any specific order.

More Than Anything- Art Donaldson

I love this one a lot personally. It was a request and although I had to stretch to make ends meet, I am a huge fan of friends to lovers. I love childhood best friend! Art so much. He's a cutie. But thats what this is, childhood best friends to lovers but the platonic doesn't change. It just alters. The miscommunication, the misunderstanding of Patrick's words to reader are hurtful and they change things but Art fixes it and brings it all back together? I was already in love. It's worse. A kiss ending with a HUG ending is a weakness for sure.

Cottage Culture- Art Donaldson

It's an Art fic but it definitely doesn't lack Patrick. I love the dynamic I wrote for reader and the boys- its very established that they are long time friends and are very comfortable with each other. There's a lot of casual touching which means a lot to me. I love it. But Art who has feelings ugh love him for it. It's that thing with the trio where the connection between reader and Art is just a little bit more intimate in the ways that matter. Just a hint, but it makes so much difference. Plus a kiss in the water? Need. This fic takes place at a cottage away from the world and takes place over the course of a few days, so there's so many instances of attraction and so many POVS. It's also very summery so if you're feeling like a cottage getaway with your two fav challengers boys, this is perfect.

Let It Linger- Art Donaldson

I think I'm probably most proud of this fic. It took forever to write and I actually gave up twice, but it got completed. It's like an AU of the movie itself, but it bounces back and forth like a tennis ball on a court from Art's time at MRTA to post-canon divorced! Art who is searching for his old best friend at their 15 year high school reunion. I really really love this one because it's very friendship and yearning oriented. How close reader and Art get to being together before they fall out and into no contact for fifteen years but he sees her again and talking to her again feels like no time has passed? Finding out that fifteen years ago, reader liked him too? I really like writing super non-romantic romantic scenes like the simple things and the simple conversations between reader and Art that are so specifically somehow intimate though they're trying to make it feel like it's not. It's friends to lovers but in a way that isn't exactly satisfied. It's honestly so fucking good, I loveeee this one.

Sweetheart- Patrick Zweig

an AU where Patrick is a girl dad is just the perfect universe. He's a single dad in a cluttered house with an absolute angel genius of a daughter and reader is considerably younger than him. She's twenty, he's nearing forty. It's not inherently romantic at first, it's just banter, but he's soooo dirty. He can't help but think about her in a way that isn't exactly holy. And she's got some semi-innocent crush on him. He goes on dates but every night he comes home and has his little bits of banter with her and things get increasingly harder to manage over time. He might actually like her which is crazy, but I never specifically wrote that he does like her in any way that isn't sexual because I wanted the reader to kind of be in the not-knowing because why would anyone expect his character in this to be ACTUALLY into the twenty-year-old babysitter? This one is a smut and it's honestly really tasty and rough, but the ending is what is supposed to get you like 'ah, I see. feelings.'

Best Friend Patrick Zweig who is Totally Not In Love With You

This was my second headcanons list and I somehow ended up giving it a plot, so it's not just headcanons. It's a list of things Patrick does as your best friend who has feelings for you. The list format is loose, it's a headcanon and then it's like... written dialogue underneath the headcanon to explain it so it's more engaging. I really enjoyed tapping into my autism like 'yeah, he'd do that'. It's got all the good stuff like some jealousy, some quiet yearning, He's repressing his feelings which I love because it's so him. He and reader have a good dynamic and it's NOT ONLY x reader but it's also NOT ONLY headcanons. It's a good mix!!!

Those Three Words- Patrick Zweig

I'm honestly a little unreasonably obsessed with this one. It was such a small but well-written request I just HAD TO make it extra. I honestly never really plan out the way my fics go other than knowing the basics. But the aspects are always just as I go. Patrick going from a player to set on ONE girl for the first time in his life is wild and crazy and he likes her and gets her number but they're friends for months before they start dating. Reader becomes one of his best friends and it's lovely and fun and he's so into her. Surprisingly so. Like even takes him by surprise but it's so fun to write Patrick who is actually IN LOVE for the first time WHAT SO CRAZY. I love domestic life kinds of romance and yeah he says I love you so soon, but he means it. And he gets a bit of a monologue and it's funny and he's soft with her which I love and adore.

Just some behind the scenes thoughts. All fics are linked at their titles! Also just a sly little reminder that I LOVEEEEE comments. Your thoughts and feedback mean the world to me. Also, requests are open always <3333

[lemotmo]

Ask box is still closed but they commented on the deleted scene. First activity from them in days.

Technically I'm still on blog sabbatical but that deleted clip was a wild choice. There's a lot to unpack in that very short scene and none of it is very flattering for Tommy. The medal comment when Hen and Karen asked about his intentions was immature and blatant deflection. It was also cringe, the wtf facial pout he added didn't help. What I don't know though is if the lines are meant to come across as cringey or if his delivery is what's off. And that was just the first cringe moment. He only made it worse after that. Saying they're going slow, and he's letting Buck set the pace was good, he should be following Buck's lead, but then he immediately made a sexual innuendo joke, and yet another wtf facial expression choice. I know the rule tends to be that since it was deleted we can't count it as canon, but knowing that he saw the way Hen and Karen reacted to that conversation, and still followed it up by turning another meaningful conversation attempt, this time by Buck, into another sex joke, an even more immature and gross one, is certainly a writing choice. And clearly a deliberate one.

That wasn't even the most alarming part of that scene though. The diet comment about Buck is a warning siren if ever there was one. That line was concerning because it is absolutely a call back to Buck 1.0 who believed the only thing he could offer anyone was his physical appeal and he was obsessed with keeping his body to a certain standard. The fact that we now have Tommy making multiple comments about their physical relationship, and Buck's appearance, is not good. Especially when you couple those comments with the other scenes of him dismissing Buck's excitement and overzealous personality. None of that spells a healthy relationship for Buck, the character the show cares about. It continues to show Buck's very unhealthy dating pattern of settling for people who are physically attracted to him but don't seem to genuinely like the person he actually is. It's actually kind of fascinating.

I genuinely liked the Tommy of episodes 1-4, probably not coincidentally the length of his originally planned arc. He was written well in those episodes, he worked. I'm also now pretty convinced that those first 4 scripts were kept pretty much intact to when Eddie was the plan. They clearly put effort into him originally. Everything that came after 7x4 went increasingly downhill, and that's because they hadn't actually planned anything for him after that episode. If they had been able to stick with the original Eddie plan he would have been gone after episode 4 because the kiss would have been all that was required to initiate Eddie's spiral. Once they had to swap Eddie for Buck they had to change their plan because Buck was already searching for something so the kiss wasn't going to be enough to make Buck spiral. Which means they still need to get Buck to whatever the plan for him was but now they have to do it through Tommy. They're not going to put effort into Tommy because after 7x4 he became a textbook plot device. His scenes and dialogue are now strictly to move the story forward, and nothing more. It's why he seems so different now. What's interesting is if Buck's spiral is now going to result from him back sliding from all the personel growth he has had since Buck 1.0. All the work Buck has put into growing himself as a person and working on himself. That's why the diet comment was so concerning. It's the old Buck. If he thought figuring out he was bi was the last piece of the puzzle and he should feel 'fixed' now, but Tommy and their relationship still feels mostly physical he may revert back to believing he really doesn't have anything else to offer. A return of Buck 1.0, and a version of himself that Buck has referenced frequently he believes Eddie wouldn't have liked. I'm probably giving the show way too much credit but this would work and it would be fascinating to watch.

Thank you so much for sending this and the next one to me Nonny! :)

A day after the first one, the anonymous OP made another post about the deleted scene. I will paste it here as well, so these two posts can be read together.

I put it under a cut to save all your dashboards from clogging up. :)

All right, so first of all, I agree on so many things in these two posts. In the beginning Tommy was 'okay'. I didn't love him, but he was an okay character and love interest for Buck. But as the show went on he just became worse and worse as a character. To the point where a lot of people who liked him in the beginning actively started disliking and hating him. And most of it is tied in with the way he treats Buck and talks about Buck.

And ultimately I do think this is the whole goal of the show. They are doing their absolute best to show us that Tommy is NOT a good guy and definitely not a good match for Buck. By posting this deleted scene they are once again trying to make that point.

Unfortunately this message just flies over some people's heads and all they see is a this fantasy headcanon Lou told them about. They aren't watching the show as it is, they are actively trying to mold the show and BT into something it isn't.

I can't possibly explain any of this better than the OP, especially the part about Buck's body image. So I'll let them speak, but I agree so much with what they say.

One last thing I personally want to add is this:

Whenever Tommy opens his mouth, everything gets reduced to sexual innuendo and/or a dumb sex joke. And when it isn't about sex, it's him being extremely dismissive and negative in anything he says to Buck or some of the other characters.

This is also a thing that got transferred to the BT fandom in general. Everything Tommy does or says is over sexualised by a lot of the fans, in posts, messages, pictures and fics it quite often boils down to sex.

Now, I have nothing against sex. I realise sex is a part of the human experience, even for fictional characters, but to make it so that all that ties this couple together is sex? That is not what Buck is about. We know that about him. He has canonically been established as someone who is looking for love, a connection, a family...

So, why don't they talk more about the real deep canon love connection BT have on screen? I'll tell you why. It's because there is no canon love connection between them whatsoever. Tommy has no depth as a character. He is there for a specific purpose, a plot device to help Buck navigate his way through a new phase in life. That's it. The only emotional connection Buck and Tommy have is fabricated in, yet again, a Lou cameo headcanon that probably cost 200 dollars.

In the deleted scene between Tommy and Henren we see him at his worst and it's clear that Henren do not like or trust him. And yes, I kinda get why the OP would have wanted that scene in the episode, because it would have shown us -once again- that Tommy's intentions for Buck are mostly just about sex. This isn't anything serious. This is about sex. He tried with Eddie, realised it didn't work so he moved on to Buck when he saw how confused Buck was about whose attention he was trying to get.

I have no doubt he probably likes Buck, but he has no deeper intention beyond the sexual aspect of the relationship.

I said what I said. Don't come at me. This is my blog and I can respectfully blog about my opinion here. No ship hate here. Just common sense.

Remember, no hate in comments or reblogs. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of the anonymous OP’s posts, you can find all of their posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

@grimharuspex in the comments of that @zoe-oneesama post said it the best; Butterfly should’ve been Emotion and Peacock should’ve been Desire. I know that Zoe has a limit on what canon she changes for her comic which I respect/appreciate given the thought she puts into it (even when canon’s various nonsensical magic rules are especially grating like this) but how do you think things would’ve gone in-show if this was the setup from the get-go? On that note, do you think it’s a good setup for canon in the first place? Why or why not?

This is going to be a rather long lecture on lore and world building and how the peacock fails on every level, so before we get into that, let's start with the positives. I saw a few people pointed out the Desire idea - that being that the peacock's associated Force should have been Desire while the butterfly got Emotions - and I think that they're absolutely right. That one tiny change does fix the surface level issues and make the peacock make sense for its larger role in the narrative.

It would complicate the whole magical slave thing and also mean that you probably have to rework a few of the minor sentimonsters, but generally speaking, it makes way more sense for Desire to birth a fully realized human being. The sentipeople being people while also coming from a single emotion will always be total BS in my eyes.

At the same time, I blame no one for just sticking to canon's lore. Reworking the lore is a serious thing and even I only do it when I'm telling a lore-heavy story. There are plenty of stories where I just stick to canon's nonsense because the lore isn't important.

Now that we've done our positives, let's getting into the negatives! The issue of the day is this: changing the Force from Emotions to Desire doesn't solve the larger problems with the peacock. Problems that we'll now get into. Buckle up, this is gonna be a long one.

Issue 1: Power Diversity

While I would not call myself a superhero expert, I have seen a good deal of superhero and magical girl team shows in my time. Most of you probably have. If you think about the power sets that we see in those shows, then you'll notice that one thing is pretty much always true: every power is unique OR the powers are all closely related in some way. You never do both because the two concepts don't mix. It makes no sense for half of the characters to have totally unique powers while the other half have copies unless there's some sort of special thematic reason for this like siblings sharing a power.

Without that sort of explanation, it just feels weird and it also makes the characters feel redundant. You don't need two speedsters or two supermen! One is enough. Heck, Avatar the Last Airbender takes place in a world where whole civilizations have the same power and they STILL didn't duplicate powers for the core team because they understood that it's important to keep the characters unique.

Miraculous is pretty obviously supposed to be the type of show where the powers don't overlap. Every character gets a unique power that's uniquely suited to them. We even have this confirmed in universe during that confusing scene in the episode Destruction where Orikko - the rooster - tries to explain how his powers work:

Orikko: No, you're mistaken! Time travel is Fluff's power and I can't grant the power that already belongs to another Kwami!

This brings us to the problem with the peacock: it is not a unique power. It's derivative on multiple levels.

Derivation Level One: Akumas

The first and most obvious level is how similar sentimonsters are to akumas. In terms of how they're normally used in the narrative, they're pretty much the exact same power to the point that you literally can't tell which one you're dealing with until someone tells you. The narrative uses them interchangeably with some episodes using an akuma, some using a sentimonster, and some using both.

In fact, I thought that it was really weird that Gabriel didn't switch to maining sentimonsters back in season four. You had akumas breaking their bonds left and right, which is a thing that sentimonsters literally cannot do, making them the obvious fix to this new problem.

To really highlight the whole "indistinguishable power" issue, allow me to highlight some dialogue from Kuro Neko to show that this is very much an in-universe problem:

Cat Walker: You think that's Cat Noir? Ladybug: Of course it's Cat Noir! He must've been akumatized because he regrets having given up his Miraculous!

Ladybug: You'll see once we deakumatize him. (She runs towards Kuro Neko.) Cataclysm his bell, I'm sure that's where the akuma is! Cat Walker: Hang on! (follows her) Ladybug, what if that's a sentimonster? If I use my power on him, he'll lose control and become more dangerous!

Cat Walker: (cringes) What I mean is you're right to doubt, and I agree with you. Until we know for sure whether we're dealing with a sentimonster or someone who's been akumatized, we shouldn't make any brash decisions. (Kuro Neko leaps away.) Let's find out more.

This sort of confusion should be impossible unless it's the result of clever planning by the villain, but that's not what we're dealing with here. Kuro Neko was not about Gabriel tricking the heroes. He sent out a normal sentimonster having no idea that Chat Noir had just quit. And yet Ladybug had no idea that this was a sentimonster. She looked at it and saw an akuma.

Cat Walker also didn't know that it was a sentimonster. He just knew that it wasn't Chat Noir, which was probably the only reason that he thought to question Ladybug and warn her to be cautious. They only realize that it's a sentimonster once they learn that there's a child inside it.

This is canon accidentally telling us that akumas and sentimonster are just straight up indistinguishable unless you see then made or do some experiments to figure out what you're dealing with. That's not a good look if your claiming that each miraculous grants a unique power. It is, however, a great lead in to the second power that the peacock copies: the power of illusions.

Derivation Level Two: Illusions

I said above that it should take careful planning for a sentimonster to be confused with an akuma. While we never see that type of carefully planned setup, we do see sentimonsters used to successfully impersonate humans on several occasions. One example is the episode Optigami which gave us SentiNino and SentiAlec. Seemingly perfect clones of Nino and Alec who did whatever Shadow Moth told them to. We even see a scene where Shadow Moth is telling SentiAlec exactly what to say.

You know who else gives us this type of scene? Rena Furtive in Rocketear:

Ladybug: You said that if Nino could have heard what you were saying, there'd be no misunderstanding? Rena Furtive: Absolutely! Ladybug: How well do you remember what you guys said on the balcony? Rena Furtive: Every. Word. Ladybug: Do you think you could make... a sound illusion? Rena Furtive: Totally.

Is there any doubt in your mind that the peacock can do anything that the fox can do? What's even worse is that the peacock does illusions better than the fox! Fox illusion vanish in a puff of smoke if you touch them. SentiNino was real enough to wield a miraculous because he was a fully corporeal illusion that would have kept on going if he hadn't been snapped away. This brings us to derivation level three: the power of creation.

Derivation Level Three: Creation

The peacock doesn't just outshine the fox, it outshines the ladybug! Lucky charms vanish as soon as Ladybug detransforms. Sentimonsters last forever. The ladybug is only useful in battle as it requires a super villain to cast its cure (which is asinine, but let's not get into that here). The peacock can be used at any time. The ladybug doesn't give you what you want, it just gives you a puzzle to solve. The peacock can fulfill your deepest desires and even create life.

Outside of the extremely specific circumstances that the show gives us - aka an ongoing battle with a super villain - the ladybug is kind of useless. If you want the power of Creation, you're going to use the peacock. This brings us to our second main issue: power balancing.

Issue Two: Power Balancing

The ladybug and the black cat are supposed to be the two most powerful miraculous in existence, but it really doesn't feel like that's true. Sure, if you put them together they rewrite the universe, but that's not part of their individual base power sets. At an individual level, they don't actually feel all that powerful when compared to the butterfly and the peacock. It's more like Marinette and Adrien are smart enough to make their very limited powers work while Gabriel and Nathalie are dancing along easy street and making fools of themselves with every step.

I've mentioned before that I can forgive the butterfly's overpowered nature because this is an episodic show. They want each episode's fight to be unique and interesting and so we have to give them room to have one power set that should be an insta-win card, but isn't because plot.

I can give them that grace once. I cannot give it to them twice.

There is no reason why both the butterfly and the peacock need to feel more powerful than the supposed most powerful miraculous in existence. I've even talked to one person who is rewriting canon with the assumption that the peacock and the butterfly ARE the most powerful ones because they are! Nothing proves this better than the fact that they've both made creations that can copy the powers of the ladybug and the black cat (see: Copycat, Strikeback, Ladybug, Sandboy, Miraculer, and probably a few others that I'm forgetting).

They're also the only miraculous that don't require an active user. You can create a sentimonster or an akuma, then detransform and have a snack while your creation does whatever you need it to do. That's so incredibly broken and such a terrible move in terms of power balancing. Either have all of the powers require active users or, at the very least, have more of a mix of active and passive powers. Why do Mirage, Shelter, and Lucky Charm vanish when their caster's detransform while akumas and amoks stick around? There is no in-universe logic to explain this. It works this way because that's what the writers needed these miraculous to do. A fact that makes it impossible to get invested in the lore of this show.

When designing a complex magic system, you generally don't want "because plot" to be the only answer to why things work they way they do. You want your magic system to feel real and organic to the world. That's how fictional worlds come to life! If Miraculous' magic system was well designed, then you could take it and use it to tell a wildly different story set in the same universe, but you can't. Everything about it is designed around making canon's story work and not around making an immersive world that you can almost believe exists.

There are stories that I wouldn't hold to that standard, but they're mostly short form stories. Anything as big and complex as Miraculous needs to have a solid lore system backing it or else you lose all sense of stakes. A great example of this is the Bunnyx problem where you know that she can show up at any time and reset the timeline even if things are happening in her own past, so why do we need to worry about bad things happening? And how are the ladybug and the black cat the most powerful ones when you have nonsense like time travel and the power to create human-like creatures? Early canon lore was decently solid, but the longer the show goes, the more nonsense the lore gets and that makes me sad because I love good lore.

Some Final Thoughts

You may have noticed that I didn't really talk about the sentikid issue in this post. That's because my dislike of the peacock came long before that fun little twist. While sentiAdrien is yet another great reason to dislike the peacock, it didn't need to be a thing for the peacock to be a terrible idea. Take away the sentikids and you still have an incredibly derivative and lore-breaking power set that never should have made it into the show.

I actually completely redesigned the peacock for my own rewrite which I start plotting back when I was first watching season three, long before sentiAdrein was even on my radar. That's not something that I usually do in my fix it stuff. I usually try to stick close to canon and make more minor tweaks, but the peacock is so fundamentally world breaking that I had no choice but to do a total overhaul. This is already an incredibly long post, so I won't go into that here. I'll save it for another ask that's sitting in my inbox. I'll schedule them to post back to back.

For this post, I'll just end by pointing out that switching the peacock to Desire makes it derivative of and arguably better than the pig, too, since the pig can only tease you with what you want. The peacock actually gives it to you. In fact, I'd say that the peacock may be a better pig even without the switch!

You can also argue that the peacock is better than or at least equal to the rooster and the goat because they're also just variations of the butterfly and the ladybug's power. Like there is legitimatly potential in taking those miraculous and doing an AU where each Kwami's power is an aspect of creation because the powers are so awkwardly intertwined. Probably make the peacock the master and all others spawn from that one or something like that.

Anyway, this is why you can't design powers around characters if you want good lore and a large team! You have to start with the powers and go from there! It's why I edit Nino's character to be more of a protector since that's his supposed True Force! Also because I want him to be more narratively important but that is a rant for another day.

[tadc-harlequin-au]

I can't help but imagine a what-if scenario where all the characters join in to fight a raid boss. In a more serious plot, this would be a carefully planned job with multiple fail safes in play, as the fact that no one is at home base to fix anyone up, so if all of them fall, then they're just dead.

The thought that I had was a bit more comedic, however. The boss comes in, expecting things will go their way, or at least have a fair fight, but is then struck with the sight of eight combatants (counting bubble.) The tension breaks with a shout of "Get 'em!" (probably by Jax or Pomni) and gets dogged on. What do you do when you are surrounded, getting your gears kicked in, by eight competent killing machines? You die screaming, that's what.

HAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAH I'm not exactly sure if there are raiders

(I mean, I've thought about it, but what the hell are you going to raid in this world, when you don't even need necessities and supplies because you're a robot technically meant to be reusable, and self-sustainable without depleting finite consumables?)

The only reason why Caine does all these things (and he tells everyone saved + Pomni to do the same) is because he just wants to feel like he has a purpose, a reason to live again.

Plus, canonically, there's not really much sane puppets left, most of them have already gone insane at this present moment in time, because no one was there to tell them how to break out of this terrible cycle of living. They don't know what to do, and without any proper guidance, they fall into the jaws of madness.

This is why I don't think there'll be a raid-type boss, unless.... You have Puppets that were pre-programmed to be "raiders" for entertainment... And they became obsessed with their jobs....

.... Can you give me a moment actually.

[animeomegas]

Soulmates: Okay, you must have telepathy or something, seriously! For a couple weeks now I've been working on a soulmate series with the fandoms in mind being Naruto and One Piece for right now. Getting ideas so things aren't the same across the board has been difficult.

As for the poll... I honestly had a few in mind as a general "who'd like the idea of having a soulmate." Since it wasn't multiple choice I put Itachi but Naruto, Gaara, Kakashi, and Lee, with Neji in a close position behind them, would be really high on my list. It all has to do with their life situations from canon.

So Itachi, if we stayed with canon, I could really see him hoping to meet them especially after being forced to kill his clan. I'm of the mind the Uchiha clan loves deeply, if not so much quickly. Knowing he has someone out there that would love him platonically or romantically without judging his past at least TOO harshly would be something I could see getting him through things. I don't think he'd want to find them because of what he's done and then with being ill, and having Sasuke coming after him...I just don't see him wanting to put them through that. If it was a non-massacre AU situation though, I still see him really loving the concept but in this scenario he'd want to find them. They'd be his safe haven, his quiet place, the one who really knows him behind the mask he wears for family and village. I can even see him actively looking for them depending on how the soulmate connection worked.

As for Naruto, I mean the boy really needs 100% on the poll. After all he's put through, sacrifices, and gives freely for loved ones and village, the boy deserves a soulmate and the sooner the better! Being called demon and monster and shunned as a kid could have really put him on a darker path and if we looked at it logically, he should have. I mean I can really see him being the ultimate villain in the story. However, with a soulmate - if someone explained it to him properly - I could see this being a dream right up there with wanting to be Hokage. To know someone will love him for him, Ramen obsession and all 🙂, would be something extra special to him and boy, don't let him hear you bad mouth them! Before he finds them or not. And then of course, the fluff!!!

Gaara, after his seal is fixed or whatever we want to say happens between the chunin exam invasion and when we see him next as a kage (I may have forgotten if they explained this or not it's been a hot minute since I've seen Shippuden), is kind of in the same situation as Naruto in a way. He'd probably be afraid of finding them at first because of Shukaku and not wanting to know someone who's his fears him. That'd break him, I think. But once he sees they aren't afraid of him and how tender they are with him it would be his most precious treasure.

There's a Part 2 to this! Look for it. 😆

OH MY GOSH! THIS ASK IS AMAZING! Okay, okay, okay, let me give me thoughts a section at a time, and then I'll get to the other ones ;)

ITACHI

With canon Itachi, I think you're so right in that his soulmate story is a tragic romance. He yearns for them, it brings him peace on his worst nights to know that there's someone out there who could love him, even after everything. But he will never, ever try to find them. If they found him, he'd run away so fast.

He feels cursed. His soulmate doesn't deserve to be dragged into this. They may be sad to never meet their soulmate, but whether they know it or not, Itachi thinks they'll be happier if he's dead.

Where this is complicated a bit, is what happens if Itachi has already found his soulmate before he massacre's his clan. But I still think that he'd run. He thinks it would hurt them less if he doesn't drag them into it. And if they're also an Uchiha? Well, I think he would rationalise that they'd be better off dead, give them a nice genjutsu life before killing them... and then he leaves Konoha with his soul quite literally broken.

Non-massacre Itachi is exactly as you said! His soulmate is his safe space! They would be so cute. Itachi would be so smitten. He pretends to be all logical about it whenever his teammates or Shisui would tease him about eventually finding his soulmate. Acting all mature like 'it's effort that makes a relationship succeed' and 'my first duty is to my clan'.

But then. Then! He meets his soulmate and boy is gone, he's a pile of love sick mush. Sasuke is incredibly judgemental about the whole thing lol.

NARUTO

So, Naruto is actually who I voted for, so safe to say I agree with you haha. But you summed it up so perfectly!

Child!Naruto wants to be loved. He wants someone to see him and love him, that's his biggest wish. Wanting to become Hokage is actually a step to achieving that, so actually being loved is his number one goal. So if he knew he had a soulmate out there somewhere? Oh boy. Meeting them is his dream, his ultimate life goal.

He dreams about them, he even talks to his imaginary version of his soulmate when he's sad. If he has some kind of mark, he caresses it all the time. He's keeps a sharp eye out for his soulmate.

But what I think is so cute about a soulmate AU with Naruto, is he talks about them constantly, he's desperate to find them, everyone around him is like lol, poor soulmate is going to be bombarded by him.

And then Naruto meets them, and he gets shy. He's all blushy and starry eyed and shy, and it's literally the cutest thing in the world!

GAARA

I think your idea is very realistic for Gaara, in the sense that he needs to be in the right place, as an adult, before he's anticipating his soulmate.

I do think that he's way more cautious than Naruto though. While he believes in soulmates, I think he doesn't quite fall in love with them until he meets them and gets to know them. He's not going to fall in love with a concept like Naruto.

But once he finds them, he's so pro soulmates. With his own children, he encourages them heavily to find their soulmate, and will give as many resources as they need to make it happen.

So in a weird way, Gaara is more in love with the concept of soulmates after he's already found his own.

(I will get to part 2 when I've given my elbow a break from typing haha! <3)

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

This person don't harass anyone in this post, so you are free to skip this ask if you find it against the rules of your blog. It's just that I find the arguments... bad, to say the least.

https://ok-boomerang.tumblr.com/post/702213312593772544/fanfiction-as-textual-analysis

If zutara fanfiction is a form of critique, then the alternatives they suggest should be better than the critisized ones? And yet:

Ambassador Katara - I don't know why but I suspect that the ambassador should not have any romantic affairs with the ruler of the country in which she represents the interests of her people. Because, you know, if these ineterests are opposite to the interests of the country, but the ambassador and the ruler are intimate... yeah, this will not end good. Such relationships are concidered unprofessional for a reason. It "gives Katara an important political role" - which she already has, being Avatar's waterbending master and one of the world heroes herself, as one of the previous asks already mentioned. So, what to fix here? Couldn't they just write fanfiction about Katara (without Aang in the plot, since they are too obsessed with their pathetic miserable Fantara whose will is paralyzed by Aang's sole presense) doing important political stuff? Or the real point is to wrap Katara in red silk, adorn her with gold and make her spread legs for Zuko in some fancy royal bedroom?

Bloodbending as healing - while the idea itself mmay have potential, Katara is not a suitable character for it (also was discussed here). Yes, her trauma probably limits her, closing some opportunities; hey, that is also an interesting idea, by the way! "That’s a critique of Katara seen as the paragon of goodness, especially by Aang." Hmm, as far as I know, Katara fans who don't ship zutara often admit that Katara can sometimes be wrong, mean, petty and enjoy how many-dimensional she is because of that. And where had Aang ever seen her as paragon of goodness? When he approved her stealing from pirates, while agreeing that it's dangerous for the group? I don't see what to critisize here in the first place. But I see some ignoring of Katara's canonical trauma.

Painted Lady/Blue Spirit. "it’s fun and symbolic that Zuko and Katara both had alter egos" - as well as Aang, Sokka, Toph... Also, the Blue Spirit never was a vigilante, which is obvious if you understand the complexity of Zuko's arc. Again, what is critique about? Katara and Zuko had worked as a team just enough, they had an episode with badass teamwork that zutarians love so much, they had a teamwork sequence in the training battle and a whole real final battle against one of the main villains. The show really doesn't need more (ahem, because it's not about zutara, ahem). Katara's empathy for people was shown multiple times (and she managed just great without any Zuko, btw), Zuko was not that empathetic most of the time to begin with. "their perseverance to do pretty much anything once they set their minds to it" was also developed really good - the only thing to "correct" is the fact that in the canon most of the time these things are different for Katara and Zuko and have nothing to do with the other character, but again, the show is not solely about them.

In conclusion, if fanfiction is a form of critique, it seems that from zutarians' perspective the major problem of AtLA is that it's not a love story about Katara and Zuko being always together, being similar in every little thing, being in love. Well, yes, it isn't? Because it shouldn't be?

Anyway, I myself am not a good critic, so I'd like to know your opinion.

"I myself am not a good critic" *proceeds to give excellent criticism* Anon, I think you should work on that self-esteem.

You really cut straight to the central issue with zutarians main "criticisms" of the show - they're all rooted on their bias that the story can ONLY be good if Zuko and Katara are in love and endgame. And somehow, that's objective to them, instead of a subjective preference. They can never admit "This isn't what I wanted, but it works" or even "This isn't perfect, but it doesn't ruin the story"

I very much wish we had seen Toph have a field-trip with Zuko, and that the writers had not given up on making an episode on Aang's parents. I still acknowledge that the show works fine without these, despite thinking it was a wasted oportunity.

I love Maiko. I think it perfects sense for them to be endgame, and I don't have much to criticize on how their relationship was handled in the show. Mai is still not my first choice of romantic pair for Zuko, Azula is. Yet I was not surprised or angry that my OTP didn't happen, because despite some bait moments (bedroom scene) it was very clear that the show was never going there - not just because it is a kids show, but also because they clearly didn't WANT to go there.

I love Azula and want her to have a redemption arc - I still think that the ending of the show, with her simply being defeated but not redeemed, makes sense, as it would feel cheap and be a deep betrayal of her character to just make her have a change of heart at the last second (though I'll still die on the hill that Yang's comics were ableist as fuck and a disrespect to the original story).

It's REALLY easy to have your preferences and stick by your opinion that they are good while still acknowledging they are SUBJECTIVE.

Zutarians refuse to do that. They don't accept any position of power for Katara that doesn't involve her sleeping with Zuko." They don't accept any romantic endgame for her other than Zuko. They don't accept that bloodbending doesn't represent her power, or her as a character, because she did it in Zuko's presence. Don't accept any team work between her and anyone but Zuko.

This is clear ship bias and lack of interest in Katara herself, and instead of embracing it (after all, there's no rule that say you HAVE to like every character equally, or uncondionally), they make it into a "the narrative disrespected this female character" or "certain things are inherently sexist" debate - a debate they're doomed to lose and come accross as the ones that are truly sexist since they clearly don't care about Katara outside the context of a potential romance with Zuko because they think that's the ONLY way to enjoy a female character: as the object of affection of their prefered male character. Anything else is imposssible in their minds.

They're saying the quiet part out loud without even realizing it.

[seyaryminamoto]

If you could change anything in the original ATLA storyline (besides making Sokkla happen) what would it be?

Uhhhh well with all my complaints across the years pertaining ATLA I don't think there's just one (1) singular thing I'd change.

Off the top of my head, I immediately thought I'd make Zuko's character and story more coherent :'D but then there's ALSO Iroh, who also needs to be more coherent.

I'd make the White Lotus an active faction throughout the war rather than just being Iroh's connections, initially, only to become the Avengers at the last minute. Hell... I don't even think I'd make Iroh part of the White Lotus, a group that's fighting for what's right should not readily spread its arms and embrace Fire Lord Azulon's warmongering son, much less let him be their leader :'D If anything, they can be a mystery Iroh spends the whole show trying to reveal, and we'd watch him prove himself to them in order to ever be deemed worthy of joining the group because NOW he has the right beliefs and is hoping to do right by the world. His membership there would not be a done deal from the get-go.

I'd also gladly make Ozai a more complex character, far worthier of being a final villain.

I'd give Toph an actual, challenging arc.

I'd make Katara learn from her mistakes so much more than she ever did.

I'd make sure Mai and Ty Lee actually learn to question what needs to be questioned rather than redeeming them just because they sided with Zuko one time.

I'd flesh out Suki way more too.

I'd give Aang more respect when it comes to his tragedy, and make his morals more consistent (which is part of respecting him and his culture that the OG show just... did whenever it suited it).

I'd absolutely rewrite every romantic relationship (I mean, even if Sokkla is canon in this dream scenario here, Maiko and Kataang still would be canon too, right?) so that they're nowhere near as unbalanced as they feel in the OG.

I'd hint at energybending all along rather than just keeping it as a last minute secret.

I'd most likely not kill Jet nor imply I killed him. Just don't see the need for it.

Probably would either give Hama a different approach or not have her around at all.

Combustion Man would also need a full rework or be deleted.

Zhao would also get more depth and complexity rather than just being around to make Zuko look better.

Sooooo... there are a lot of things worth changing if you ask me :'D but as far as priorities go, I think I'd definitely fix Zuko first out of all these things. I haven't ranted about his character for so many years in vain, even if Iroh were to stay the same, I'd love to see a Zuko who learns to think for himself and doesn't just rely on Iroh's guidance and on doing whatever he thinks Iroh would want him to do. :'D

[tamelee]

Yes, I read it. It’s not for me personally either, but I respect the craft though. It’s admirable for sure. 

I get what you mean. It's why I don't usually read canon-compliant stories that are within the brt-timeline. I do think that it’s nearly impossible to write something that is truly believable because Naruto and Sasuke wouldn’t be in this position had the sequel actually been canon (story-wise). It's already not canon. And that’s not just about romance, in fact had they’ve just scraped the surface of ‘Naruto’, they could’ve focussed entirely on fixing a system… as they were going to. But you know, they needed babies so they all… collectively decided to make those right after the war because… well just because. And now we have some form of Naruto and Sasuke where you as a writer have to sorta justify how they got there in the first place or how they are going to remember their goals/feelings they’ve so conveniently seemed to “forget” which were (in Sasuke’s words) about something so much bigger than just them. 

To write it canon compliant… isn’t easy at all. 

The entire relationships are based on the one-sided feelings of Sakura and Hinata (and internet-polls/audience-research), so even if you completely wanted to ignore them, they’re going to play some sort of role. There’s no way either of them in-character would support SNS and now there are children involved as well. It's going to be really difficult to make a divorce believable and keep all your readers happy. No matter what you do or how you show it… Naruto and Sasuke in canon are going to be seen as “the assholes” for abandoning them and breaking their hearts despite them never giving actual romantic love in return. And how are you going to explore that balance so Sakura and Hinata don’t come out of it as the undeserved heroes? Most of these stories make it so they become “the bigger person” and very “bravely” accept their husbands leaving them. They become the victims of the love Naruto and Sasuke hold for each other even if they already acted like it during 'Naruto' and most of the time the narrative in these stories agree. Naruto and Sasuke become overly apologetic about it and feel guilty for not loving them? Did they seem guilty towards their wives at all in 'Gaiden'? For abandoning your supposed family for 10+ years, not thinking about your family when it's about the most important people in your life and completely ignoring them otherwise. Lol, no. Besides... responsibility for the role they're playing in society as shown in brt, also plays a huge part and is probably the main reason for these 'marriages' in the first place. Now how are you possibly going to get Naruto and Sasuke out of that? Well, that could be one hell of a story though.

Btw, It’s all fine for fan-stories, don't take me too seriously, it’s just not canon compliant is all. And I've thought a lot about this before because I wanted to write such a story... and then changed it to a blank-period one.

The only thing brt does that’s believable is Naruto and Sasuke being utterly miserable. 

Because that at least makes sense. 

[freetobeafcknriot]

Okay but hello! I saw your post about a Soulmate!AU for TUA and with season 4 coming I feel like I need to know more sooooo may I?

anon the way you made me screech and giggle and cry tears of joy because of course you may know more?? i've been waiting for this??? for reference, this is the post and this is how i'm tagging the au to keep track of it on my blog. because i may not have a title, but i'm an editor and sometimes a writer and almost always i just have an overreacting imagination. so i definitely needed a tag. anyway! i'll... idk i will give you a few details? hcs? this is the gist of it, buckle up !

the psa for this is that there are two kind of soulmarks: the ones you already have when you are born (if you're born with it; not everyone is and as a matter of fact the only two brellies to have a twin flame are allison and klaus) and the ones that appear through life (way more common). a case could be made to differentiate between these two categories, for which we either talk about twin flames—allegedly what once was one single soul now split in two perfect halves who are said to recognize and yearn for one another—or soulmates—two souls drawn to one another out of compatibility or remembrance who connect and form something.

this may vary from one culture to another, but there generally is no fixed standard regarding romantic or platonic bonds, as every soulmark and soul bond are unique in form and shape and meaning. this is the core of it all.

now. . . when they're little, reginald makes six of his seven children get the umbrella academy tattoo. in this universe, that tattoo is sort of a faux mark, because reginald had a strict and precise stance on soulmarks and at the time claimed that such things were foolish compared to the duty the academy had towards the world. the team should have formed a united front, be a unit, so that tattoo was a symbol that was to be seen as binding. marks and bonds can be made not just by fate, after all! at the time, little viktor was exempt from it because he wasn't part of the academy.

(little did they know that years down the line, in the sixties, an actual mark would appear on that same spot. this time though there would be seven of them.)

anyway, i don't know if you want a rundown of the soulmarks and whatnot? i have an in-depth list of bonds (both marked and not) with backstories and considerations and hcs regarding canon events that is quite lengthy because i imagine the au splitting in two branches at some point—one canon compliant up to season 4 when it's out and one canon divergent post-season 1 or 2—and  i'm also writing down a list of the soul bonds within the academy that is basically an abstract from viktor's book (because he would have included it too). i'll keep it short for starters because otherwise i'll end up unloading too much on you all and i'm afraid of being too all over the place, but basically. THE SOUL BONDS:

there's the tattoo of the series/faux mark and the actual soulmark that in my mind appears on top of it mid-season 2 and is shared by the brellies. team zero, hey? then from the oldest to the most recent to manifest we've got. . .

FIVE & VIKTOR, the rings ┈ because i nicknamed them all according to their soulmarks they have this small pigmented ring on the right ring finger that changes in shade depending on the physical distance between them. very subtle and cool and with much lore following canon, as you may guess. the only thing i'm gonna say for now is that five and vik's soul bond goes back to when they were four and it played a small role in the leaving lights on and sanwiches out situation.

LUTHER & ALLISON, the cryptolect ┈ it means that they can speak a language of their own. literally! it's impossible for anybody but them to understand it, reginald probably tried and failed to identify patterns or elements from various linguistic branches to make some sense of it but it just can't be picked up or taught as it's basically second nature. given how luther and allison were as kids it was such a big deal and so obvious that no one even remembers a time before and obviously due to recent events it's kinda cool to me to see it as a bit deteriorated but still ever-present bond.

FIVE & BEN, the wisps ┈ literally what five started calling the two flame-like little spirits that represent his and ben's soul bond after ben pointed out that they looked like the will-'o-the-wisp he'd read about in a book. but also because of the way they would appear and always lead the way to one another. that was their thing. nobody but five and ben has ever been able to see the wisps, not even klaus, so they had a theory that maybe they were an echoed apparition of their souls or something like that. there's a lot of lore/hcs here, too, especially regarding five's disappearance and time in the apocalypse and ben's afterlife as a ghost. all i can say is ‘so close yet far’ and ‘never truly gone’.

KLAUS & BEN, the timers ┈ it is as it says, only there were speculations about what the timers led to given that they weren't aligned (read: they were counting down to different dates) and not even made out of conventional numerals. the soulmark itself was a bit above the inner crook of the left elbow, no darker than a sunspot, regularly in motion and indicating years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds in roman numerals, which is part of the reason why it was a bit difficult to interpret with no previous familiarity. even more so if you're oblivious or in denial. again, lore and angst and delayed realization came with a row of light null characters in its stead. quite a bit of baggage because i love them and canon says so.

DIEGO & KLAUS, the compass ┈ more specifically, i have it jotted down as a moving indicator that appeared more or less when they were around thirteen or fourteen. it might have seemed out of the blue then, but all things considered it wasn't that unexpected, especially when you look at season one or if you too think that diego used to haul klaus from the streets or drag him to rehab if they ran into one another. anyway, their soulmark is kind of a compass if you go by its shape. it's embedded on the lower part of the palm of their right hand, towards the thumb (below klaus' hello tattoo), and it does move and spin, but instead of pointing north it points you towards the general direction of the other.

OG!BEN & VIKTOR, the blossoms ┈ the most subtle and late soul bond of them all. i like to think that the lowest numbers were close as kids, given the information we were given, so even though their relationship might have stilled a little in their teens it was still tender enough to grant viktor and ben a soul bond. they were never sure of when it happened because the only instance where the soulmark in on itself becomes visible is when they touch. physical contact equals a tiny luminescent outlined flower appearing near the knuckle of their left middle finger. to which i feel the need to remind you all of this:

so these are the soul bonds within the hargreeves siblings! without taking into account sparrow!ben (or the sparrows in general) because stars do i have something in store for pookie as well.

i was tempted to add more, but i also wanted to emphasize how there doesn't always need to be an actual, visible soulmark for a bond to be important plus i'm waiting to see if season 4 makes me add more lol. diego is a primary example of this because, without spoiling anything, he secretly craved that kind of bond as a child, even though his siblings love him just the same regardless. it's also the reason why i have a list of non-marked bonds as well as one for soul bonds featuring characters outside of the academy. there might also be a playlist somewhere, because each bond has a song in my mind, but i digress!

this has gotten super long already so for now, that's it that's all. but i'm tagging this au and working on it and my inbox is there if you uuh, wanna chat about it more? ngl it was hard not being able to rant about it with anybody, because there are some elements and facts and implications there that genuinely alter my brain chemistry daily. so thank you for the ask, nonnie! <3

[wherevenusholdssomeofficespace]

Phineas and Ferb are canonically, some of the luckiest people in the Universe. And that's cool or whatever, but like. We have repeatedly seen how dangerous some of their stuff is. It all works out because of course it does. These two do not consider the consequences of their actions because they rarely have to deal with them.

But between their Rollercoaster nearly crushing Melissa to death, and flinging them into space both times they did it, building a time machine that needed to be plugged in, not realizing the mummy they found was their sister, building a learning AI to try and trap them that eventually goes evil, a skate ramp of doom, having 0 common internet sense and breaking a bunch of aliens out of jail, and having 0 stranger danger sense and building Dr. D a portal to an alternate dimension, suffice to say the boys have dare I say, messed up at times, leaving others to deal with the fallout of their actions. Not to say its all their fault. It's not their fault the roller coaster went out of control, and they did realize their of doom skate ramp probably wasn't safe.

And it's not that Candace also can't be incredibly short sighted and reckless, because she is. It's just that she has to actually deal with the consequences of those actions, and usually she's the one to fix them. Like, she may have caused an alien invasion, but she also solved an alien invasion. May have nearly caused the collapse of space time, but also knew who to ask to solve the collapse of space time. Phineas and Ferb I think can be just as short sighted as their sister, just the universe lets them get away with it.

And its not that they can't think things through. They are well aware of what some of the worst consequences of their actions may be. It just does not occur to them to be concerned about it most of the time.

This isn't Phineas and Ferb hate by any means. They're good kids, who the universe specifically bends around but that's not their fault. But also they would be dead 10 times over if it wasn't for Candace saving their butts. (I'd say vice versa is also true, but Candace wouldn't be in danger nearly as often if it wasn't for them).

[shams-of-the-wild]

Cooking Prep with Wild.

———

| [Ao3 Link] |

The preparation of food, especially of breaking animal carcasses into edible meat for cooking, is something that is consistent across all the eras of Hyrule.

Time, as a farmer, is more than familiar with this process.

Wind is not.

Wild, is arguably, even more familiar with this process. What he considers edible meat, however, is not just limited to animals.

Time and Wind, have questions.

{Written during the hour long, first sprint prompt of the Linked Universe discord — Prompt: Cooking}

Word Count: 646.

Warnings: Non graphic descriptions of processing a (monster) carcass into meat for cooking/mentions of monsters being eaten as food, mentions of blood.

A/N: Honestly this was not going to be the first fic I was going to post for LU/LoZ but as soon as I saw the prompt for the sprint, I immediately knew I had to put my niche knowledge of unusual medieval—victorian era cooking knowledge to use. And since technically consuming monster parts is both canon and a viable option in BotW/TotK, I couldn't resist the urge to take some creative liberties and add a little dungeon meshi vibe to Wild.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this very short oneshot.

———

“Wild?” Time asked in a tone, that Wild had roughly worked out was meant to express resignation.

 Wild hummed in response, too busy focussing on carving into the bokoblin. Well carving off parts would be the more accurate description but waste not want not! It had been ages since he'd had the chance to do this since there hadn't been a chance to test the edibility of the monsters from the other eras yet. The fights had been far too efficient and destructive, sure part of that was his fault with his improvised time bomb arrows and whatnot but he was hardly the only one with bombs or bomb arrows!

 Wind scrambled over the broken monster fortifications to reach him and Time, immediately attempting to poke the bokoblin with a stick as soon as he was in range. “Whatcha doing?”

 Huffing, Wild finely sliced off the ears of the bokoblin, inspecting them in the dying light of the sun. “Harvesting.”

 “For your potions?” He eyed the monster parts curiously. “So you were telling the truth, potions are really made of monster parts?”

 “Elixirs. And no, this is for dinner.” Wild grunted, snapping his carving knife into its skull and cracking it like a palm fruit, before scooping out the brain.

 Time stared unimpressed at Wild.

 “The guts and horns are for elixirs because they contain higher quantities of malice which means they have to be boiled thoroughly before they're consumed, otherwise you risk getting minor gloom poisoning.” Wild explained, grinning slightly, as he chopped off the nose. “Nothing some sunshine or sunny foods can't fix, of course but it's inconvenient if you're regularly travelling, like us, and can't set up something like a Hunter's pot to stew them until they're safe to eat. Besides, usually these parts are kept for emergencies because elixirs can't use any old monster part so it's better to save them in case you need to whip up more elixirs, or if there's a particularly bad farming season and you have to make the most of what you've got. Which is usually when the community comes together with all their saved offal and bones, and whatever fruit or veg can be spared to build a perpetual stew.”

 Time pinched the bridge of his nose. “Usually people don't use monster offal or bones. They're not considered safe, or clean, to eat. It's only game or livestock that we use all the parts of.”

 “Well that's a waste!” Wild grunted, scooping out the bokoblin's eyes before eyeing the rest of the battered head as he crossed his arms and grumbled slightly. “Monsters are an excellent delicacy in my Hyrule, in fact since the end of both the Calamity and the Upheaval we've had flocks of visitors from our neighbouring countries eager to taste our unique cuisine.”

 Wind poked at the skull with the stick again. “Yeah but they're probably there for your recipes like pizza! Or the Goron curries! Or the weird purple monster foods you can make!”

 He paused, eyes lighting up. “So what do you do with the head? Do you use the skull as a goblet filled with blood?”

 Wild made a noise between a cough and snort. “Nah, blood's better used for making blood sausages but this guy's lost too much for me to get any worthwhile amounts from 'im. Better to let his blood fertilise the soil instead. Besides I'd need someone else to hold the cooking pot beneath the monster whilst I slit its throat.”

 “Ooh! Next time you find one with enough blood, can I help!” Wind pleaded, eyes widening as he pouted at Wild with his classic puppy dog eyes.

  Wild thrust his fist towards Wind for a fist bump. “Of course! It's been ages since I had a chance to make them!”

 Behind them, Time groaned, he hoped next time wouldn't be any time soon.

———

Thank you for reading! Hopefully you enjoyed this short oneshot!

Likes, reblogs, replies/reblog comments, and asks are all much appreciated!

I shouldn't have to say this but due to previous comments I've received in other fandoms: — Criticism and/or rude comments are not welcome regardless if you try to soften them with compliments/compliment sandwiches. I write and share my fics for fun. Not to be degraded or criticised as if this was homework or literature coursework.

Otherwise, I'll be over the moon to receive any comments, whether it's as short as <3, emojis/kaomojis/emoticons, extra kudos, or as long as a whole fic reaction comment! No matter the comment, you'll have my undying love and gratitude.

Also, if you'd like me to write some more cooking monsters with Wild fics, then just yell down in the comments!

[noel-levine-fan]

Witch's Heart Heights

So, I was playing Witch's Heart recently when I walked up to the the little thing in the fish fantasy space (the one where you go fishing with Monster Daniel) that is like... one of those boards with holes cut out so you can stick your head in them. One of the holes has you put your head into the face of a witch riding a broom, the other, a shorter one (probably meant for a kid) has you put your head in the face of a cat sitting on the broom with her. Hopefully you know what I'm talking about. I was playing as Claire, and her face fit pretty nicely into the hole for the witch's face. But when playing as Wilardo, I did it again and realize his head seemed a bit too high for it. Then I was like... Are the Witch's Heart character sprites different sizes?

That may seem like a silly question to ask, but I've played a fair share of games where all the sprites are the same size regardless of character height, and I hadn't looked closely enough at the ones in the game to tell whether or not it was the case, so I looked at all the sprites and found something interesting: there are 6 sprite sizes in Witch's Heart, ranging from 21-26 pixels tall (measured based on the character's front facing still sprite). (I wish I could demonstrate this to you, but I couldn't think of a way to show it without doing image editing...)

The other thing I noticed... is that it actually follows the canon height order. It made me wonder if perhaps I could use this 6 size system and their comparisons to the characters with canonical heights to determine a rough height range for characters we don't know the heights for, so that's what I'm going to do.

Note: I'm providing images of each character, and tumblr has a 30 image limit (when did they add that? I used to be able to post way more), meaning this post had to be split into two parts.

Disclaimer: Judging character heights by small pixel sprites like this isn't usually a good idea. Obviously, pixel sprites don't have much room to work with, so it can end up with various scenarios where the pixel heights don't line up with the real heights at all. As I said earlier, in some games, the sprites are all a fixed size so a character nearly a foot taller than another one has the same sprite size, sometimes the creator didn't compare sprites and didn't realize that the taller character ended up shorter than the shorter character in the sprite sheet (or maybe the shorter character needed more detail so their sprite was made slightly larger), and most importantly, sprite height differences just don't translate well to real height because they're so small. I've seen people judge fanartists for making a character much taller than another character just because that character is only 1 pixel taller in their mini-sprites, but like, there really would be no good way to represent a character being that much taller than another without making the sprite too big and messing up the way they play within the game (it depends on how big the sprites are, but in these cases they were fairly small). However, I find it appropriate to do here because we actually do have 9 canonical character heights and every single one of them does actually line up with the real height order of the characters, so we could at least determine a rough range.

With that out of the way, let's start with the heights we do know (from shortest to tallest) and which sprite size they adhere to.

Charlotte: 4'8" / 142cm - Size 2 (22px) Zizel: 4'9" / 146cm - Size 3 (23px) Rouge: 5'2" / 158cm - Size 3 (23px) Lime: 5'3" / 160cm - Size 4 (24px) Claire: 5'4" / 162cm - Size 4 (24px) Wilardo: 5'6" / 169cm - Size 5 (25px) Sirius: 5'7" / 171cm - Size 5 (25px) Ashe: 5'9" / 177cm - Size 6 (26px) Noel: 5'11" / 182cm - Size 6 (26px)

Okay, now onto the important part... The characters!!

Before we start, I just have to make a note: these measurements only work for human(-looking) characters with upright sprites. Nonhuman characters do not have a consistent sprite size and can't be included. I think the one I can't include that people will care about the most is Sheila, who as a mermaid has a sprite bigger than a lot of the human sprites despite (presumably) not being bigger than a human (at least I assume her head, torso, arms, etc are regular sized). Other than that, I've included every character that has the kind of sprite needed for this measurement, including ones that barely speak and nobody remembers. I also included past versions of characters, even if the past/present versions are the same height. Let's start!

(If you're wondering why some heights overlap in inches, for example, 4'9" being solidly a size 3 height but also within the range for size 2, it's because cm is a more precise measurement than inches. 145cm and 146cm are both 4'9", it's just that only 146cm and above are confirmed for size 3, 4'9" heights below 146cm are unknown. I hope this isn't too confusing... Some ranges that have cm just don't have inch equivalents for this same reason, 159cm is the only unaccounted for cm between Rouge's and Lime's heights, but 158cm, Rouge's height, and 159cm are both the same height in inches, 5'2", meaning there is an above range in cm but not in inches... Again, sorry if this is confusing, just trust me. Also worth noting that it seems like some heights in inches have been rounded up, Claire's height being 5'3".8 being rounded up to 5'4" and Charlotte's 4'7".9 being rounded up 4'8", so any height with a .8 or higher will be rounded up for the sake of consistency.)

Size 1: 21px

The shortest characters, and the only one that doesn't have any character with a canon height in this category. All that we know is that they are somewhere under 4'8" / 142cm because that is the maximum height of size 2.

Known range: None Possible range: 4'7" and under / 141cm and under

Characters: Child Claire & Child Noel.

Size 2: 22px

The second shortest! For characters with canonical heights, this category only includes Charlotte, who is 4'8" / 142cm.

Known range: 4'8" / 142cm Possible range: An unknown amount under 4'8" - 4'9" / An unknown amount under 142cm - 145cm

Characters: Charlotte, Past Charlotte, Child Wilardo, Child Sirius, & Lilia.

Size 3: 23px

Still on the shorter side, here we have two canonical characters, Zizel (4'9" / 146cm) and Rouge (5'2" / 158cm).

Known range: 4'9" - 5'2" / 146cm - 158cm Possible range: 4'8" - 5'2" / 143cm - 159cm

Characters: Zizel, Rouge, Young Thief, & Older Thief

Size 4: 24px

Onto more average heights, we have two here: Lime (5'3" / 160cm) and Claire (5'4" / 162cm).

Known range: 5'3" - 5'4" / 160cm - 162cm Possible range: 5'2" - 5'6" / 159cm - 168cm

Characters: Claire, Lime, Past Lime, Dorothy, Fiona, Ashe's Mom, Nicholas's Maid, Coco, & Lucy

Other characters that have no face sprite: Ashe's Classmates (Female), Nicholas's Maid (a different one from the brown haired one), Lime's Fellow Prisoners, Cinderella, Witch from Cinderella (her sprite is just slightly edited from Dorothy's), Cinderella's Stepsisters, & Cinderella's Stepmother.

Because of the tumblr image limit, sizes 5 and 6 had to be put into this post.

[lu-sn]

Pete adjusting to his new life post-canon

tortoise this isn't a prompt this is a freaking dissertation topic 😂 okay okay i can pick one thing and stick to it. i swear

i think post-canon pete is suddenly in a position where he doesn't have any friends.

hear me out. i don't mean that his friendships have completely eroded. he sure did burn some bridges, what with shooting that one main family guy to death, and i bet there are plenty of main family guards who used to be friendly with him and now would pay money to light him on fire. but his core relationships — with arm, or porsche, or even khun — are still there. they're just precariously off-kilter now.

pete is no longer who he was before. he wasn't outright lying, necessarily, but he was... hiding. his friends were only seeing one facet of him, and they've come to understand in a pretty brutal way how much of pete they weren't seeing. no matter what, this is going to affect their closeness with pete. it's going to destabilize the trust they have in him. i would put khun at the far end of the spectrum, aka the most destabilized thanks to pete's defection, and porsche perhaps the least, but it still leaves pete on uncertain terms with everyone who liked him in the before times.

and, like, vegas might love pete, but vegas isn't actually friends with pete yet. they've spent... two weeks of quality time together? most of which was straight up torture? sure, they Know each other, but they're probably going to need to work up to being casual around each other. macau and pete also don't know each other well, and it doesn't help that macau is a kid. that friendship isn't going to be equally balanced for a long time.

so pete's at a bit of a crossroads here. he can choose to let those old friendships go — to let the confusion and suspicion grow thick and gnarled between himself and the others — or he can try to actually fix them. and if he wants to do that, he's probably going to have to start being honest. he's going to have to be vulnerable. he needs to rebuild his friendships from a place of authenticity.

I THINK HE WILL BE REALLY BAD AT THIS. not just because pete would literally die instead of be emotionally vulnerable, but because a lot of the authenticity that porsche and arm and pol and khun are going to ask for right off the bat is going to pertain to pete's relationship with vegas. god knows pete has no idea how to talk about that, let alone the desire to discuss it. plus, vegas hates all of these people. should pete really be telling them anything about vegas? can he be honest with people who vegas probably sees as enemies?

it's going to be a long process. and some of it is going to depend on vegas's relationship with these people mellowing out. i have a feeling pete will be able to reach a place of personal honesty with arm fairly quickly, if he gets to see arm at any sort of regular frequency. porsche is harder because of the whole minor family ring thing, but i think porsche might be the only person who kind of understands why pete would have run away for vegas, and i just think pete needs that understanding from someone else real bad. that connection is going to keep them afloat until they can rekindle their friendship in calmer waters.

but. but pete and khun. oof. that one's hard. does khun have the capacity to see pete as his equal? is pete forever going to keep his former employer at arm's length? i don't think this will ever become a true friendship. perhaps they can reach a point of surface-level congeniality.

in the meantime, pete will hopefully make new friends! macau and pete friendship FOR LIFE. i like to think vegas only has a couple of loyal-to-the-death guards left, and i think it would be kind of cool if pete became friends with them. and maybe pete picks up some insane new hobby to fill up all of his unemployed free time and gets to make casual friends outside of the mafia, friends that are his only, that aren't also tied to vegas or pitted against vegas somehow.

but pete is going to have to work for these. no more empty smiles. fewer white lies. less deflecting. learning to offer up parts of himself to those around him — to weave them into bonds that are made stronger by the truths woven into them.

[dreamsgazer]

OK SO mine isn't really a request because I have ideas but I can't write so they go nowhere and stay in my head because I'm incapable!!! anyway, I was thinking about a situation where reader and tangerine met on the train and they hit off right away like there's something special between them eheh, like they like each other but turns out that they're both on a mission and have the same goal - so they fight because reader steals the WHATEVER IT IS IDK that's in both their interest and manages to get off the train right under tangerine's nose when he was about to stop them, doing so in a fight reader rips tangerine's necklace, and basically breaks it and ultimately keeps it (and fixes it) . just in case. because they like him. genuinely. in fact she's very sorry for ruining the mission of the twins but it's a matter of life or death sooo rip AND they're also indirectly but maybe directly? the cause of the nasty scar tangerine now has on his neck because he risked his life because of this failed mission. and then I mean we all know what happens canonically but we Dont Care do we.... it's all a scar and a memory in the end.

ANYWAY they finally meet again when they're forced to team up by their handlers for another mission and like tangerine and lemon are mad mad because everyone was about to die on that train!! because of reader!!!! duh. also R feels very guilty because all that has happened / could've happened. and tangerine of course is angry because he was losing his life but also because he kinda was disappointed in their behavior and maybe in himself for trusting so easily a person.. anddd idk maybe there could be some angst because I love it and that's it THIS IS SO DUMB AND LONG I'm sorry I know I'll probably look to this request in a while and cringe so bad. but I'm just curious to see how you would continue it, like what do you think would happen, what are the first things they say to each other, how does it evolve things like that 🥰

of course, if you don't feel like writing anything that's totally fine and don't worry at all❤️❤️

p. s. : im sure ive taken the prompt where reader steals / ruins tangerine's mission from other fics as well so kudos to whoever came up with the idea :)

Dear Anon, first of all, thank you so much for your patience. I’m usually slow to answer, and with things being very busy at work I’m even slower. Please, do not cringe, it was awesome to read your ideas, and I was so happy you sent this message. Thank you so much ❤️ , and I hope you enjoy how this turned out!

A Darling Mess

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" you groan, letting your head hit the wall behind you. The golden necklace glints between your fingers.

You didn't mean to steal it. You really didn't. You didn't mean to run into the Twins and most certainly didn't mean to hook up with the moustached one in one of the bathrooms on that cursed train either.

More accurately, you shouldn't have wanted to hook up with him, but as soon as the two of you had crossed paths in one of the carriages, you knew it was going to happen. And when it happened it was quick and glorious and earth-shaking, and you hoped you were going to see him again. 

Then everything went to shit, you two fought for that damned suitcase - his hands apparently were really good for many different things - and you barely ran away from that train with all your limbs.

Your smartphone buzzes incessantly. It's your handler.

"Where are you?"

It's not like him to sound so distressed.

"Not sure about the exact position, it's an alley near Nagoya station. I think I need a lift."

He tells you about a derailed bullet train and how it seems a lot of people - assassins like you, but still... people - died. One of the Twins as well, according to the info he got. The moustached one. You feel a pang of pain in your chest, which is stupid because he was just a stranger you fucked on a train.

A year has passed. Tokyo has slowly just started to become a mission you will remember with regret for a long time when you find yourself pointing your weapon at Moustache Guy again. While he's doing the same. And his brother is aiming a gun at you as well.

Shit.

You are more surprised to see him most definitely alive than to have him threatening you.

“You owe me a great deal,” he hisses, low and dangerous “You fucked up our mission, stole my fucking necklace, and almost got me killed. Almost got my brother killed as well! Why shouldn’t I murder you on the spot?”

You frown “First of all, the necklace got caught in my jacket while you were using me as a human punching ball. Second,” you add, eyes only quickly flickering on the huge, angry scar on his neck “one of you is going to kill me for sure, but I can guarantee you I will take the other down with me.”

Anger blazes in his eyes and you push further, adrenaline pumping in your veins “Third, asshole, you and your brother here screwed up since the moment you decided to leave the suitcase and the boy you were supposed to escort unguarded! What utterly morons do that?”

A pause and then you decide to further test your luck “Last but not least, I’m sorry you two almost got killed. I can apologize for my part in that, even if it’s a small one. But I won’t accept you blaming me for the rest, Moustache Boy!”

His nostrils flare, and he glares at you. It’s unfair that he looks even more ravishing with that savagery seeping from him in hot waves. Also, you probably shouldn’t get distracted by that, since the danger of being shot is a very real one.

Lemon’s laughter is short, and he nods at you, interrupting the impasse “This one got quite a temper, uh? I kind of see the fascination with the... situation.”

Tangerine snarls an insult at him, but it carries no real venom. 

In the end, after some calls from your handler and his reminders to the Twins that they have to collaborate with you on this mission and an offer to triple the pay for all of your messed up trio, guns are put away, hands tentatively shaken, and scowls mostly kept under control. 

You know they still blame you for your part in the train debacle. Yet, true to their professional reputation, they carry through the mission. It’s a long one.

Living in such proximity inevitably leads to some kind of tepid intimacy. Lemon is the first one to soften up a bit. He starts to ask you if you want some coffee. He asks you about your favourite book, once he spots you reading it to fight your insomnia. He thanks you after you retrieve a USB pen that will help with the job. And one day he gives you a sticker of some train and tells you that despite everything you are not a Diesel. You are not sure what it means, and Tangerine indeed scoffs at the words, but after that things are a little less tense, between the three of you.

Tangerine slowly stops glaring at you and once he almost compliments your ability in combat, after you knock out a goon that was going to stab him. 

The progress is little but steady, and one night, for a hilarious twist of the events, the moon finds you two looking outside the same window, in the little apartment you have been given as a base.

“I’m sorry you got shot.”

He nods at your words, slightly sniffing and making his moustache move over his very kissable lips. 

“Thanks,” he hesitates before quickly murmuring his own apology about blaming you and only you “I think my ego got a tad hurt realizing you shagged me just because of a honeypot mission.”

“I didn’t,” it's the quiet murmur that gently interrupts his gruff confession. 

He scoffs “I very much think we did it in that bathroom, love.”

“Not that,” you roll your eyes at him “I meant it wasn’t a honeypot mission. I- I did not hook up with you because of work. I didn’t even know you and Lemon were the ones having that cursed briefcase, at the time.”

Tangerine just looks at you, and you look back at him “I have your necklace. It got a bit damaged, but I had a jeweller fix it. I know it’s stupid, but I thought-”

Your voice dies down a bit and you are not really shocked to feel his calloused hand gently cupping your face, making you look at him “What did you think?”

You swallow “I thought I was going to find out where Lemon put your grave and bring the necklace there.”

You feel a tear roll down your cheek, and then another, and another. He kisses them, one by one, his lips lingering on your soft skin, and you sob “I’m so stupidly glad you didn’t die.”

He chuckles against your lips “So am I, my darling.”

You kiss him and he kisses you back, and the morning after Lemon is not surprised to catch you coming out from Tangerine’s bedroom.

Sensing your hesitation, he winks at you “Glad it happened. Be good to him, ya?”.

And of course, you nod back, with all your heart.

[sunny6677]

HERES OPPOSITE TOM!

( OPPOSITE AU IS CREATED BY @jacenotjason )

Tom, in this AU, has very little energy and usually has no time for fooling around. She lacks motivation, and is usually bored half the time. However, she tends to daydream a lot and often daydreams of becoming a female knight for some reason because she has the unhealthy mindset of 'I don't need anyone because I'm strong and if I need anyone to help me or protect me at all then I'm weak', and liked to imagine herself as a knight because that's what she thinks she should be like. Her dynamic with Kevin is kind of reversed here too lol. He thinks they're friends at first, while Tom is just someone who always comes in to finish her work in his store since it's usually quiet enough to do that—she isn't a full on asshole to him but does find him annoying, and just calls him 'Fish Man' for a while instead of his actual name. Her job here is also something to do with art, though she's very vague about it and usually avoids mentioning her job around people. She is I incredibly poor, her favorite food is garlic bread, and she likes to solve puzzles rather than making them. She's also very intelligent in this AU, kind of witty, and is also a bit sassy. But despite acting like she takes no nonsense, she is a real softie deep down. And she's also still a babysitter here, but is usually very fed up with the more energetic kids and struggles to keep up with them. She hides most genuine things about herself as well because she finds it embarrassing or feels like no one would care anyway.

Buque (her caregiver) wasn't neglectful of her and didn't verbally mistreat her, and did mean well—but would sometimes do things she shouldn't have or snap at Tom just because she couldn't control her stress. And no matter how much Buque tries to act like this was just a mistake, this is still effecting Tom and it always will. And also the reason why Tom is so intent on being strong is because Opposite Jeremy was the very same way, so she subconsciously thinks she must be that way in order to be worth something.

Her flaws with Kevin and hers relationship here is that she usually is very intent on not depending on anyone for anything, so she pretty much avoids help from him at all costs and pretty much anyone—she always tries to help him out even if whatever happened probably isn't her responsibility to fix. Tom also doesn't repress her emotions here and IS honest about how she feels, but she feels very embarrassed anytime someone dares ask about it or tries to comfort her. She also tends to avoid Kevin in general at first just because she finds him slightly annoying, but also doesn't wanna be a bother or come off as clingy due to a certain incident in the past making her afraid to actually be clingy with other people.

I'm unsure of what Kevin's flaws would be since I didn't create this version of him (his canon versions flaws or at least his flaws toward Tom in her actual canon au are being a bit of a jerk to her at first because of his stress, kinds dismissing her emotions at first due to being too wrapped up in his own problems to notice her own and also just being so used to her being dramatic that he usually thinks her being upset is just her being a drama queen again, etc etc). But I'm sure he'd have his own too since no relationship is perfect. /lh

Will defintely make sketches of her and Opposite Kevin at some point—just not tonight cuz I'm tired lol./lh

(Also rather than being possesed, she just owns a Haunted object—aka, the rather ancient/suspicious looking journal she got from a garage sale one time)