#regarding the AU of course

[aur0raaura]

im still blown away from the support im having with the previous art I've done related to the AU! as thanks, I'll share a wip of what i'm doing next as a continuation to this piece...hehe!

[demaparbat-hp]

Oh, Lala...

[das-a-kirby-blog]

sad times; dark taranza is grape cough syrup flavored

[kris-performs-surgery]

What are your weaknesses

-to rudy

[baylardian-1]

im cringe but im free!!!!!!!!!!!! 🤪

uniquely in the First Splinter Timeline (book canon), i think kathryn would regain all of her lost/hazy memories from all that happens to her in the Q Continuum when she's brought back from death. which, GOOD OR BAD, would allow her to remember those three hyperevolved glory days. :)

(multiple timelines allows me to enjoy playing in both sandboxes of kathryn can/can't remember how the triplets came about haha)

also i think everyone just assumes she'd be fine and well-versed in having a baby but she actually isn't and she's terrified of the whole ordeal and it's way harder than laying eggs haha.

[merakiui]

Helloo i just came to your blog and found the whole apocalypes au interesting 👀

I dont understand much of the au concept tjo so mind enlightening me? ^^ i wanna see more of it akskaosn

The basic concept is that the world is in disarray and has fallen into an apocalypse due to the effects of blot on mages/magical creatures producing more Overblots than ever before, which has forced those living in this new world to adapt and evolve in order to survive. This means building strong, sturdy compounds and using any means necessary to stay afloat (moral compasses are very skewed and corrupt in this au). Additionally, since women are now seen as a precious resource, they are kept within the compounds for the sake of reproduction. There are seven major compounds: Heartslabyul, Savanaclaw, Octavinelle, Scarabia, Pomefiore, Ignihyde, and Diasomnia, all with their own sets of regulations, traditions, and ways of living. Noble Bell is technically a compound of its own, with Rollo as the leader, and RSA also counts as a compound. But we haven't touched much on both yet!

I will link all of the discussions that have taken place with this au so that you can read more! :D

✧ dorm compounds

✧ bride selection (idia & azul)

✧ information about the husband selection

✧ bride selection (jade)

✧ husband selection (floyd)

✧ husband selection (malleus)

✧ mute bride (azul)

✧ darling who avoids bride selections

✧ husband floyd

✧ gentle non-con with riddle

✧ riddle (un)willingly sharing darling with azul

[cantsayidont]

A couple of other common "no-homo" variations as applied in Popular Media Today:

ne'er-homo: Where a character is considered so important to a story or franchise that the publisher/network/studio/creators/rightsholders will never, ever, ever entertain the notion of canonically establishing them as LGBT, no matter how much homoerotic content or deliberate gay-baiting the canon may contain, and where even outing a related character (e.g., the offspring of a counterpart of the character from another dimension or timeline) may require tense meetings with corporate.

despair-homo: Where introducing or establishing an LGBT character becomes a pretense for torturing them unmercifully for being LGBT. This became very common in the 1980s, where the return or introduction of a gay character was frequently a cue for a Very Special Episode in which they die of AIDS and/or gay-bashing, but it continues to occur with distressing frequency, as with DC's deplorable, consistently ghoulish treatment of Alan Scott since 2012.

au-contraire-homo: Where a character in an ongoing series or franchise who was previously established as canonically LGBT is subsequently rebooted or recreated as Definitely Cishet, using some kind of narrative contrivance to wash the gay (or the trans) away, sometimes retroactively.

[anoddopal]

9 and 10 for the s/i ask game! (asking for both the regular timeline and the au timeline! 👀) -gideongrovel

[Link to ask game!!]

Main Timeline

9. Who are your self insert’s closest friends?

Bun’s very closest friends are Ni.co Robin, Tony Tony Cho.pper, and her ✨~flashy~✨ bestie, Bu.ggy the Clown!

The friendship bewteen Silva and Robin has been explained in more depth HERE; but as a whole, they are cut from a very similar cloth. Just your average duo of morbidly curious history buffs who in time- found their respective reasons to live. ❤️‍🩹

Ch.opper is Bun's preferred doctor. He took care of her when she briefly traveled with the St.raw Hats. Bun was rather unwell after the Ala.basta incident, and her pets communicated to the reindeer that she needed help. As a result she adores the little guy [+bonus points in his favor that he's an animal]! They both look up to each other; Bun admires his dedication to his craft, and respects the fact that he is a talented medical professional, despite some of his more childish mannerisms. Ch.opper outright thinks that Silva is cool, if not something of a badass- he always carefully regards the life advice she provides him with. Tony is always happy to translate what Silva's pets say to her! Even a ways off into the future, Bun still goes to him for her significant medical needs; or sometimes Ch.opper makes the trip to her. The little guy may be the only person that Bun earnestly listens to when he scolds her to take better care of herself.

Bu.ggy and Bun were practically instant friends. They initially met when Bu.ggy made a trip to Ala.basta to search for THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE his on-agin-off-again partner, Jinx [@/mothlover69]. Bu.ggy quickly perceived Bun as a secret freak outcast, and Bun couldn't help but think he'd be a fascinating specimen to observe, er, a unique acquaintance to have! In any case, they got along decently well right off of the bat, so much so that Bu.ggy eagerly allowed Bun to live on his ship after she decided she didn't have the heart to keep traveling with the St.raw Hats. Actually, rumor has it that he just shot out his detached hands and scooped her + her pets onto the Big Top sometime before Lu.ffy's crew made it to Jaya!

It would be fair to say that B.uggy is a bad influence on her. It would also be fair to say that she’s as equally of a good influence on him. He’s learned how to be slightly better because of her. For example, the slack he cut for a frightened Transponder Snail at Mar.ineford was due in part to Bun’s impact. Most of the time Bun is the responsible one in their friendship, but in the event she’s not at her best, she has a tendency to feed into Bu.ggy’s nonsense. This was extremely evident when Bun was in a post-breakup[?] depression after Ala.basta, and Bu.ggy chose to enable all of Bun’s bad habits. What, what’s the harm in eating candy and cake for breakfast? Breakfast… three meals a day… HEY, he got her to eat, okay?! Psshh, he was only trying to comfort his friend! That’s what friends do, right? They cheer each other up? [Bless Jinx for rising up as the responsible adult in this specific situation!]

Bun respects Bu.ggy as her friend, but she also tends to call him out on his bullshit. [Nagging is one of her love languages!] Bu.ggy huffs at this tendency of hers, but deep down he knows that she wouldn’t do it if she didn’t really care about him. He very much enjoys the attention she gives him in any context. He furthermore appreciates her authenticity even though he doesn’t always know what to do with her… wholesomeness. Whereas Bun appreciates how she can ease up and laugh around him. In the future, Bun protects him from the wrath of her ill-tempered husbands.

Bu.ggy has been desperate to get his best bun to join his crew for a very long time. After she left with Cro.codile after the battle at Mar.ineford, he had a meltdown due the fact she was gone. [Actually he thought she was dead! They got separated during the battle and never regrouped. When Bun eventually came back a few weeks later to collect some of her belongings that were still on the ship, Bu.ggy legitimately thought he was being haunted by her ghost.] Though the two end up working within close proximity when Cross Gu.ild is formed, Bu.ggy still laments she still didn’t choose to join up with him. Listen, the guy is a better friend to her than most would think- however, that doesn’t mean that he still isn’t just a taaaad selfish. 🙄

Bu.ggy has since added some more pastels to his flashy wardrobe, while Bun can semi-frequently be seen wearing oddly clownish makeup [Bu.ggy uses her face as a canvas when she allows it].

[This answer really only included dynamics with canon characters but I simply must give shoutouts to @/mothlover69’s Jinx and @/jj-exe’s JJ!! They are also Bun’s beloved fwiends.]

10. How do the other characters feel about your self insert and f/o’s relationship?

Most folks are baffled as to why/how Bun and Cro.codile ended up together. They became even more confused when Mi.hawk also married Bun years down the line. Bun is very small and kind- her husbands seem like too harsh of people for somebody like her. [Little do they realize how ridiculously soft the are for bun-]

But given that the three seem outwardly content with their dynamic, the rest of the world can only assume that Bun is extremely powerful, having wrangled two former Warlords of the Sea and all! And that assumption is not wrong. uwu

Robin is glad for her friend. She saw Bun and Cro.codile together during their early days, and she knows firsthand how inseparable they are. Bu.ggy does NOT care for his business associates/his best bun's husbands. They eat up her TIME and ATTENTION!! >:o( And he also secretly worries that they're mean to her like how they are to him!! However, the flashy fool has nothing to worry about.

Somebody -> 🦩 may be not-so-secretly seething with jealousy about the relationship, but the details on that matter are better kept hush-hush.

Forbidden Fruit AU

9. Who are your self insert’s closest friends?

Why, Bun’s very best friend in this timeline is the good doctor, D.oc Q! Ca.tarina D.evon and Ku.zan are also quite close with her.

D.oc Q is her ride or die. They have that Horse Girl [or uh, Horse Boy in this case?] 🤝 Rabbit Girl connection. They are both chronically ill [ofc Doc's health issues are much more dire] and count on their prey animal pets to get by: he has his horse Stronger🐴 [mobility aid] and Silva has her lapin🐰 Stratus [ESA]. Doc has a way of knowing what's amiss with Bun before she even knows herself- he furthermore was able to pick up on some of her health issues that she didn't initially disclose to him. Bun assists him with his work when needed- D.oc Q has the MD degree and Bun has the bedside manner, lol. Though she mostly helps him take proper care of Stonger, which is something he is eternally grateful for.

It was Doc who first started referring to Silva as "lucky", which is a judgement that has stuck, though Bun denies it. Bun will sing with others, but Doc is the only person she will sing to. He insists that her low-toned warbles are soothing, that the sound helps him feel better when he's sick. The often have deep discussions about death and the fragility of life. If D.oc Q's mantra is "memento mori", then Bun-Bun Silva is soon to follow with a gentle "memento vivere".

When Ca.tarina Devon first joined the crew, Bun was ecstatic! Being surrounded by a bunch of men all the time was… a bit exhausting, so finally having a woman around was a nice change of pace. Of course, Devon is as rotten as the rest of them, but she found that she couldn’t possibly rain on Bun’s parade. Turns out it’s nice to have a platonic “gal pal” to share the AFAB experience with. They’re both LGBT+, they manifest ~queen~ energy together, and Devon continuously tries to teach Bun how to live the: Gaslight. Gatekeep. Girlboss 💅 way of life. However, Bun is a bit too kindhearted to really adapt that approach to herself. So Devon has to settle for engaging Bun in juicy gossip- which Bun is juuuuuust petty enough to indulge in. 💖💜💅✨

Ku.zan and Silva are alike in ways that set them apart from their other crew members. Both have a capacity for compromise and compassion. They are disenchanted with the World Government; they found they could seek their own freedom and fulfill their own needs by aligning themselves with Bla.ckbeard. Out of everyone else they’re the most socially acceptable out of the bunch. Ku.zan had his world turned on his head, which is a feeling of despair that Bun can relate to on a deep level. She’s always interested to hear what his life was like when he was a Marine, and she always chuckles bitterly when she relates to how his perspective was forced to change. Ku.zan enjoys her ability to match his dry humor- but the ice puns get a little repetitive. Overall they have a seemingly casual, yet actually rather close, friendship!

Oh! And Bun tends to give the latter two unwarranted relationship advice. "You know Devon, maybe you'd have a girlfriend if you didn't keep trying to behead every date you've landed since you've been a free woman! 💀 And Ku.zan! Please tell me you didn't try the 'big bazongas' cold opening on another poor woman again-"

10. How do the other characters feel about your self insert and f/o’s relationship?

The rest of the Bla.ckbeard Pirates wholly support Silva and La.ffitte as a couple! Their union was a product of destiny after all- the two were simply meant to be. None of them would ever deny that fact or attempt to get in the way of their relationship. They’re the crew’s resident lovebirds. [It helps that La.ffitte, in a terrifyingly cheerful manner, makes it clear to any potential newcomers he and his beloved wife are strictly exclusive… and any person who attempts to challenge that will be dealt with accordingly.]

… Though in the beginning, the crew were almost certain Bun would end up with D.oc Q, given how close they are. But it seems fate had other plans in store!

And as for the rest of the world; as for everyone that was close to Bun before she became involved with Te.ach's crew? They're very concerned. The Bun they knew would never associate with a person like that! Something must be wrong. Something must have gone horribly wrong.

... Sir Cr.ocodile is filled with so many regrets...

[transingthoseformers]

Megatron is attracted to the name for reasons. If he is Solus incarnate.

Also love that concept.

That'd just have so much meaning behind it yes yes

Even in this life, he has a connection to Megatronus Prime— just not in the way current him or Solus Prime could've ever known, because I severely doubt that Megs knows that he's Solus Prime 2.0.

now I'm wondering about all the little changes that can be made here thanks to the butterfly effect, because if aligned Oppy is any indicator, being the reincarnation of one of the Thirteen is one of those things that has cool consequences.

[arcxnumvitae]

Given the Tengmen Empire and Zhongyang's respect for "descendants of dragons", how do they feel about dragons (such as the dragonkin of Roderick's kingdom)?

@desiderium-eden // mentioning @sansloii || Unprompted!

Our Dragons Are Different. Basically that. Yes, there's other dragon-aligned people out there, but are they their divine dragons? Are they even dragons originating from the lands of Tengmen/Zhongyang? No? Then they're of a different inferior kind and not at all comparable.

[bandtrees]

its not like i dont agree with all those posts about how bsd season 5 finale is bad and stupid and was a big let-down and everything. cuz i do - but also... i'm not really upset with it in the way a lot of people are, tbh.

cuz if you're only now realizing bsd isn't a good mystery series and it has a lot of cheap shock value and forgoes interesting character development in favor of showing off how smart dazai or fyodor are... uh, welcome to the club? the season 5 finale is not really unique in this regard.

bsd, to me, though it has moments of compelling writing, and overall compelling characters (people Like its characters so much for a reason!), etc, has always been a low-expectations watch. it's always been the "oh what's kafka asagiri doing to his weird ocs now" show - from the start, it's done this. so much of season 1 reeks of the same "random out of nowhere twist to make the writing feel clever", and it's something the show's had a problem with, and continues to have a problem with. forever. to the point where to enjoy the series you just kinda have to meet it halfway and have fun with it.

when i first got into bsd in, like, 2017 or so, i hated dazai a lot. both because of personal reasons and because i just didn't like smug genius types who know everything. with him being such a major character, this led to a shallow perception of the show, as you'd expect. then, i rewatched it this year, and i went in with those same feelings - but i wanted to like bsd, and dazai by extension, so i just kinda... got used to him, because you can't fully appreciate this series and not. (that and i'd just matured as a person since 2017 and could look at him with more nuance lol)

like, i get being upset this season didn't end the way you anticipated. i loved the meursault arc, and season 5 episode 10 was one of my favorite episodes of the entire series i was genuinely excited to see a follow-up on. but also, if you know bsd does deathfaking and stupid silly plot twists that weren't telegraphed in the least, and you're genuinely mad every time they're pulled, then... maybe you should just watch a different show, yknow?

i don't say this to excuse the shitty writing, but rather, it's not really new, and buckling in for the absurd ride is part of the bsd experience, that it goes from a genuinely thrilling and gritty episode 10 to a completely batshit episode 11 that has the main antagonist quote jesus christ before dying in a helicopter explosion, is, like, really fucking funny. i can't even be mad. that episode is some of the most entertained i've been by this show, not even in its contents but laughing as i try to explain it to people and scream incredulously with my friend - it's a series where the good is good and the bad is, if nothing else, never boring. it's the series with the giant moby dick whale mech. it's the series that now has vampires in it for some reason. i think if you're looking for top tier character development and stimulating mysteries and peak fiction... you're looking in the wrong place, imo.

[abysskeeper]

*shrug* bored at work

[crowdsourcedloner]

stature: What's your OC's body type? How tall are they? Do they wear clothing to accentuate their look or do they try to mask it?

armor: What kind of armor does your OC wear? Is it well kept? Bonus: where does it come from? Is there a story behind it?

favorite: Does your OC have a favorite article of clothing or accessory? What is it? What's the meaning behind it? Do they wear it all the time or do they wear it sparingly to keep it safe?

hope you don't mind me asking one from each category, I couldn't decide!

stature

Nailah's body type is closest to a rectangle, with wiry limbs that look leaner than they should be. She doesn't have much in the way of curves either, and she's small for a female hrothgar at around six fulms tall. Her clothes make her look more frail than she actually is, with loose tatters or robes covering most of her body. She doesn't do this entirely intentionally, she just doesn't care much for her own appearance and tries to stay under the attention of people around her.

armor

As Nailah is the only one of the group that consistently fights, she has the closest thing to armor - her enchanted wrappings. She has protective spells woven into the strips of cloth that she wears that help protect her against strong magickal blasts, but they don't do anything against physical weapons. She redoes the enchantment each time she applies or removes them, and since the fabric itself isn't the key point of her protection they tend to be rather well worn.

favorite

Zezene is commonly seen wearing a pair of catoblepas horns. When asked why, Zen would say they already had a reputation as a scheming little devil so they'd figure they could lean into the reputation a bit. The truth of the matter is they started wearing them to help Yomi settle into their family more easily, as she felt out of place being the only au ra there and couldn't give affectionate horn bonks to people's squishy ears. Zen is very protective of the horns they wear because of this, and takes great offense to people outside their family touching them.

(a long while ago i answered this for Yomi too so check it out!)

[phrynewrites]

thinking about the love letter au today 💕 you said jasmine sits in the room while bosco reads the manuscript, does she ever have to leave the room/physically react because of something bosco says while reading it?

Goodness it's been like 74 and a half years since I've been on here and boy it's given me a lot of time to think about the AUs and build some more content into them.

Of course, whenever Bosco reads about something shitty that Jasmine's ex has done, Jasmine feels uncomfortable, like she doesn't really need the reminder that her past relationship made her feel used and diminished. But what really gets her up and out of the room is whenever Bosco reads one of the happier entries with the ex, something like their anniversary dinner or how they said "I love you" to Jasmine first. Hearing about the good times only makes Jasmine feel this aching balloon of regret blow up in her chest, like she must have done something wrong to transform the relationship from that to how draining it was at the end.

[softgrungeprophet]

wrt my last reblog 'cause this is something I have been thinking about esp as my AU requires me to do things like close-reads for plot—

honestly my most major criticism of the 2012 Scarlet Spider comic so far, which is a comic I otherwise really like, is the way black men are portrayed throughout the series. It reeks of that kind of "scary black man"/"all black men are thugs" trope, stereotype, etc.

Like, if it went deeper i could see doing something w/ annabelle as a white punk doing that "dated a black boy to rebel" thing, especially with some of her other behavior in the series and her personality overall—I could definitely buy that. But like, as written? It's not that deep. It doesn't go anywhere near that, it's just exactly as shallow as it looks...

And honestly, as written, I feel like her ex doesn't really bring much (if anything) to the story in the end. tbh in some ways it detracts because it really kind of undercuts the entire beauty and the beast thing going on, like why are kaine and the both armadillo deserving of this thoughtfulness wrt to monstrosity and forgiveness and so on, but then annabelle's ex boyfriend is just this big mean scary muscular black man with absolutely no depth to his character? he's just angry and threatening?

And of course the answer is: Well, neither Kaine nor the Armadillo are black.

But like—and this is repeated throughout the series as part of Kaine's woes, right?—Kaine has killed people. Multiple people. And yes, we're to understand his motivation here has largely been survival, and a lot of the time he has been put into impossible situations, and has been abused and manipulated multiple times, and for all his jadedness is actually very naive—but like... In that case, are we to assume worse of Annabelle's ex, who is a regular human man?

(albeit apparently 7 feet tall, which, again see the post i just reblogged as far as dehumanization of black men goes. obviously there are 7 foot tall black men irl, like Shaq, but it's the specific way this character is presented, right? It's not just that he's tall or has dark skin. He is presented as an inherent threat, and as an unsympathetic character, and the visual design is part of that. He's not a real person, he was designed to evoke specific emotions and assumptions, and the fact that he's built like a concrete wall and towers over Kaine is part of that)

(and what irony in that Kaine was himself originally designed to be large and imposing and beast-like, partially as an inversion, partially to humanize him, by doing the opposite)

But Kaine is white, of course.

Anyway I genuinely almost expected some kind of twist to Annabelle's ex in that issue, and there was none, and i think that's a major failing on the series' part, esp since pretty much the only other black characters (whether good or bad or neutral) are mostly like... glock-toting gangsters...

My other main criticism is that I dislike the way Zoe is portrayed as simply "craaaaazy" w/ almost no nuance to that trait, though I think there are some interesting aspects of her relationship with Kaine and in the fact that she like... stalks him, and how that interplays with his arguably traumatic romantic/sexual history.

The stuff with Zoe is a more minor criticism by comparison but it's still something that bugs me because it has something to it but it's just not really there.

Anyway, it is a bummer because I really genuinely like Kaine's solo, but these two specific things are frustrating in their existence, especially because they really could have just... been avoided from the start? like there's not really a reason for these details to be this way...

but idk...

[sammydem0n64]

I say "lilyheart is a period piece (2020-2021) for no reason" as if it isn't great to have an exact date for events in the story. like 2001 for Nicholas' murder and 2014 for Plum's death. Y'know