#seeing it reflected like this in canon is actually pretty strange

[molinaskies]

An interesting “side effect” of the canonization of the “classic era” meaning “younger era” is that the classic era now reads as “cute fun times” before the core cast became teenagers/tweens and things got super, super complicated.

Because the characters are “younger,” there’s an air of “little rascal innocence” to everything they do now. The new releases like Mania and Superstars now feel like little throwbacks to the young heroes just learning how to work together and make a difference in the world.

I don’t think this is a bad thing at all.

[forcedhesitation]

that one bozo who made the gender swapped dame aylin mod: it's unrealistic for minorities to exist in this game because it's supposed to take place in medieval europe!!!!

aasimar, vampires, devils, and dragons aside....

bg3:

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hi! Do you think Armand was like ''Lestat Lestat Lestart' because he can see Louis hallucinating Lestat by reading his mind. It would be really awkward. Do you also think Louis can read Armand 's mind? As an old vampire he can probably block his thoughts but if I was Louis it would be weird for me to have my companion hiding his thoughts,like, do you have something to hide from me even after 77 years??

Sooooo....

Armand can definitely read Louis' mind, though it is debatable if he always does it. However, we have seen in the scene from August (at the Murder Mansion) that he does indeed do so, because he comments on Louis withholding and Claudia being able to mask her thoughts (contrary to Louis).

The thing about Armand and Lestat is... I mean you've seen the trailer. There's history. Armand... loves Lestat. Wants him. Desires him. Lestat rejected him, for reasons. Good reasons, and actually valid reasons. But... that hurt, of course. It's a complicated relationship.

(In the book Lestat goes to Armand to beg for Louis' life, and tells him about Louis, which makes Armand even more interested in Louis. We'll see how they spin it here.)

So along comes Louis, Lestat's lover (/partner / (arguably) husband) (and fledgling). But lover is way more significant here, because of the history Armand has with Lestat. Louis, and Claudia, who dared to hurt Lestat. (And which is ultimately why Claudia will die. Louis only does not because Armand (luckily) actually falls in love with him.)

Armand... is canonically into kinky shit. Not kidding. Cuck chairs, spanking. I believe "The Vampire Armand" is generally still listed as erotica.

So. With that in mind...

Armand didn't mind Louis envisioning / hallucinating imho. At first. He probably found it funny, stimulating, interesting, fascinating, arousing. Depending on the situation.

(For example here. That is in the bar. The bar we know Lestat "shows up in" as well from the BTS photo.)

He probably ... let's say supported those visions, too, given his gift to spellbind. Conjure illusions.

It must have been very entertaining - for a while. Even while having sex. (Can I have a vision-Lestat/Loumand threesome? Pretty please?!^^)

Eventually though... it must have started to grate. (Understandably so.)

That shot of him doing that "Lestat, Lestat, Lestat, Lestat" rant - that is in that apartment the interview was in. So we KNOW that Louis was still going on about Lestat at that time.

(credit to @virginiaisforvampires, sorry couldn't find it in the search)

Now, in the book there is this speech by Armand, and I can see that happening in the show, too:

"I used to believe you would get over it—that when the pain of all of it left you, you would grow warm again and filled with love, and filled with that wild and insatiable curiosity with which you first came to me, that inveterate conscience, and that hunger for knowledge that brought you all the way to Paris to my cell. I thought it was a part of you that couldn’t die. And I thought that when the pain was gone you would forgive me for what part I played in her death. She never loved you, you know. Not in the way that I loved you, and the way that you loved us both. I knew this! I understood it! And I believed I would gather you to me and hold you. And time would open to us, and we would be the teachers of one another. All the things that gave you happiness would give me happiness; and I would be the protector of your pain. My power would be your power. My strength the same. But you’re dead inside to me, you’re cold and beyond my reach! It is as if I’m not here, beside you. And, not being here with you, I have the dreadful feeling that I don’t exist at all. And you are as cold and distant from me as those strange modern paintings of lines and hard forms that I cannot love or comprehend, as alien as those hard mechanical sculptures of this age which have no human form. I shudder when I’m near you. I look into your eyes and my reflection isn’t there...."

He actually thought Louis would... get over it.

Over Claudia's death. Over what happened with Lestat.

In the books, Louis and Armand part then. We'll see how they spin it here. Louis says they've been together for 77 years, but that might be hyperbole - Jacob said that Louis chose that relationship "again", and that would then fit with canon once more.

(I personally think this is one of the good-byes, if not "the".)

But either way... it probably wasn't awkward at first. But it was beyond annoying eventually.

As per Louis reading Armand's mind: yes, if and when Armand permits. Armand is a very, very powerful mind and spell gift user. Louis would not be able to do so against his will.

[artsycrapfromsai]

I would like to say that I'm totally normal about Amaryllis and Astarion, but they're just so cute, and I can't get enough and I'm pretty much squeeeeeing every time. That little comic where she made an embroidery of his face was what pulled me in.

Aaaaaaa 🥺💕💕💕💕

I know i sound like a broken record, but hearing that always makes me so happy fjfjgd

Funny thing is, in the long run, I think that Amaryllis giving him the embroidered portrait is probably what immediately endeared her to him too fjfjhfhj Before that, while she was weird and... Strangely nice to him (which he just chalked up to her being a bleeding heart), she was still just something to use and manipulate for his safety

But the embroidery was completely unnecessary, no strings attached, no ultimatums, and clearly required hours of work, and probably prototypes. She didn't have to do that, just because he missed his reflection, but she did, because she thought he would like it. No one's ever just done something for him before, just because it might make him happy

And I think that's the point his inner conflict starts about what to do with her djgjgfjf

He's still trying to manipulate her, but he doesn't understand her- her actions confuse him

("She's willingly giving me blood because... She thinks its cruel to starve a vampire?"

"She's such a bleeding heart, almost disgustingly so, but she just casually says she dresses in red to hide blood stains after battle? How does that match up? Not that I mind such morbidity, but I just don't understand how that mind of her's works."

"I can't believe she would rather run and hide than discuss casual sex. Is she just a prude? But she doesn't mind nudity?? Either way, I can't just seduce her now, if I want to keep our good 'relationship' going... But how can I manipulate her if not with sex?")

Astarion wants to study her under a microscope bc, according to his personal experiences, she doesn't make any sort of sense to him and actively contradicts things he believed to be true gjhvjcc meanwhile Amaryllis is just existing and being herself

It's really confusing and frustrating for him, because he's genuinely starting to like her, and after her gift (probably the kindest thing he's ever received), he doesn't want to see her leave. but he has no experience with a real relationship and is relying on his 200 years of manipulation and betrayal to try and blindly find a way through to one

But if he uses what he knows, he might actually just scare her off instead, and that's the last thing he wants. So he doesn't really know what to do with her

Amaryllis has no idea about any other of this, and is getting confused and flustered by her own growing feelings akjdhfg she just enjoys talking and spending time with him, and she thinks he's dorky, and cute, and funny, and clever, and its fun to embroider with him

they're a pair of cute disasters

That's all why in the last comic, where she admits she likes him, he's startled but quickly goes back into flirty mode, bc that's natural for him and he's more confident with that sort of scenario (plus he really does enjoy getting compliments from her)

But if he asks her why she likes him and she answers honestly ("I think you are clever, and funny, and sweet, and I enjoy spending time with you") it would probably short circuit his brain right now, bc he's still got a lot of things to work through fjghjvcjv

As far as my canon goes, this is all still in act 1 bc we haven't moved from it yet in me n my friend's playthrough fifkhg

BUT YEAH AAAAAAA sorry i had to ramble dhdggdjf I'm so glad you enjoy their relationship & my art!!! Thank you so much!! 😭💕💕💕

[tleeaves]

The Fictional Crush Line-Up For 2023 and Beyond

Was going to do this sooner (as in a review on the year based on the new or resurfaced interests I picked up, with aforementioned fictional crushes along the way), but I wanted to collect art for them all too and then I also had to try and remember them all. But here we are. If I'm missing any, I'll either have to edit and or reblog to include them.

See if you can spot any common threads (it may get trickier as the list goes on, just be warned). This goes almost in chronological order. But order does not in any way reflect my level of brainrot and obsession with each.

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE FRAGILE THREADS OF POWER, BALDUR'S GATE III, AND ARCANE: LEAGUE OF LEGENDS (SPECIFICALLY REGARDING VIKTOR).

Consider yourself warned.

Victor Vale (Vicious by V.E. Schwab)

Victor and his revenge story are kind of responsible for kick-starting my journey of self-rediscovery these past twelve months, in a strange and roundabout way. He made me want to stick up for myself and what I wanted out of life. Sure, he's extremely morally grey in a concerning way, and yeah, we don't normally encourage revenge, but I found him a comfort at a difficult time. But also, I could totally fix him (no one can and it's no one's responsibility, yet the sentiment is still there). I'm not usually one for blonds (I am a liar) but his cold aesthetic is oddly pleasing. There's nothing I understand more than an awe that rots into resentment and envy while maintaining the same thread of fascination with someone. "Victor Vale was not a fucking sidekick" is just a, mwah, chef's kiss line. Honestly, I have less of a crush on this guy, more of an understanding that I appreciate. Also, I haven't even mentioned the chronic pain implications and canon uses of his powers. But that might be for another time.

Viktor (Arcane: League of Legends)

Another Viktor with chronic illness themes and whose (in LoL lore) regard for a partner in science goes sour over time as they pursue different objectives (not seen in the Netflix series yet, of course, it's too early for glorious evolution). This guy always comes back to rot in my brain, and I cannot wait for season 2 later this year to see what comes of his arc. I'm planning a fanfic involving him, Jayce, and maybe/sort of Jinx, based on a dream I had months ago but still have swirling in the soup that is my consciousness. There is something so pretty about this guy. If I was more confident in my sketching abilities, he'd end up being my muse way too often. Viktor's character to me is kind of a tragedy personified, and I love a good tragedy. Oh, and his voice actor?? Amazing. There's some debate over how authentic he sounds to Eastern Europeans, but the accent aside still, he sounds sooo good. I want to sit in on a lecture where he speaks about literally anything for two hours.

Kell Maresh (A Darker Shade of Magic; The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab)

Usually, I don't talk about Kell because of how silly I feel like my crush on him is. I identify with Delilah "Lila" Bard throughout ADSOM and even Threads, so I hate further mentioning how much I actually think about Kell because I'd have to fist fight anyone who said I only relate to her because of Kell when that's not the truth. And yet, there's still enough differences between Lila and I for me to be like "if I had to pick a woman in the Schwabverse..." But also, MAYBE I JUST THINK KELL IS GORGEOUS, OKAY? 🫣 Maybe I like that he starts as a somewhat naive prince who's had things both easy and rough in life (wanting to be loved by the only family you know and not feel like you're only there to protect your adoptive brother whom your parents tried to tell you both was not actually your brother and you should stop treating each other as such is VALID, argue with the wall, also he's the bodyguard and eternal worrier (yes, worrying) for Rhy and he's taken lives way too young). Maybe I like that he fell first and fell hard for Lila (okay, but if we're getting into the nitty-gritty, she did flirt with him first multiple times, but she would never admit to actual feelings), that he's the male love interest without reservations for once, leaving it up to Lila and whether she's open to love for once in a story. And yeah, okay, maybe I like that he's actually some kind of a prince charming, the sort you always secretly dream about, you know? Shut up. I like his stupid magic coat too. He's clever, but occasionally actually unbelievably dumb, he's funny and witty yet he knows when to keep his mouth shut (and is usually the one hauling others out of a scrap because of their own smart mouths), he cares too much about his family, AND DID I MENTION HE ALSO HAS CHRONIC ILLNESS THEMES THAT BROKE MY DAMN CHRONICALLY ILL AND IN PAIN HEART? I've said too much already, but there. He's a guy.

Miguel O'Hara (Spider-Man: Across The SpiderVerse)

This is the one my sister teases me most about because she doesn't get it. To be honest with you all, even I don't know how to explain it. But this guy. Miguel. There is something about him that I just abdkjdjsdv, you know? Is it the tragedy? The moral greyness? The fangs? His insane height? Just his fanon self? The fucking muscles?? I don't know. But I will defend how interesting he is as an antagonist until the cows come home.

Elliott (Stardew Valley)

Oh... boy. Sometimes, I realise I have a type. It's pretty guys who are hopeless romantics that write novels and poetry. Maybe it's just this one guy. But wow, it works on me. I'm writing a fanfic about him because I need to. There's only 400-odd words to it so far. It was not long after I met him in the game that I decided I had to wife him up. I planted that pomegranate tree early, because it's his favourite fruit for those who don't know, and he loves receiving them as a gift. I got ducks so I could give him their stray feathers. I learned how and when to find lobsters and catch crabs because he loves those too. If I'm out of gifts, I go get a coffee for him because every writer needs their sustenance. Literally, by Spring of Year 2, we were married, and I wondered if perhaps I might have been a little too single-mindedly pursuing every one of those cut scenes when I should have been taking it a bit slower and making it less of a mission. Don't know what to tell you, I went crazy. I fully believe in the headcanon that he gets up early just to go through his haircare routine. Is he pretentious? Maybe. Does he lay it on a little too thick that he's scared of dying alone? Well, okay, yes. Does it bother me that as a househusband he doesn't help out more on the farm? Occasionally. But there's also no one else I'd rather be with (and I developed a sprinkler system specifically so there was less work for me anyway and so now I don't mind at all when he isn't helping). And I can't believe my sister ever introduced me to Stardew Valley because I am now mentally ill about a videogame character made of pixels. Yes, I make wine just for him too. Hush. I spoil him daily now that we're married. Our first child is a son named Ernest. I was debating between Ernest and Edgar, and honestly, I think I should have gone with the latter, but I chose the former. All the dialogue from Elliott is so frickin' cute.

Astarion Ancunín (Baldur's Gate III)

And do you know what the worst part about this one is? I still haven't actually played Baldur's Gate III. I know, I KNOW. A crime. I'm working on it. But you best believe I've watched every cutscene I can, every scrap of gameplay dialogue, all the choices, the different endings you can get with him (Ascended breaks my heart every time -- I don't care how hot he is, it's not what he would have wanted, he doesn't love you like he used to anymore, and he's not as happy as he could be), and I've listened to all the interviews with Neil Newbon and the writer for Astarion about him. This fruity traumatised vampire haunts me. I want to hold him gently and caress his face and tell him he's beautiful and what he looks like to me since he hasn't seen his reflection in centuries and I want to make sure he knows he's loved. I want him to bite me and drink my blood too, but that's not as important. Does it weird me out how much he reminds me of Prince Charming from the Shrek franchise and Preminger from Barbie: The Princess and the Pauper and then aesthetically Asra from The Arcana: A Mystic Romance? Yes. But Astarion's also his own character and I'm in love with his smile and goofy lines.

Settrigh "Sett" (Heartsteel; League of Legends)

This... might be the lowest point, actually 💀 My sister would agree. Because it's not enough to crush on book characters, show characters, and videogame characters -- while technically this guy is a videogame character and was part of League of Legends waaay before the music video, it was the PARANOIA music video that got me. So, even fictional characters made/involved in music videos are not safe from my heart. Because, as I understand it, OG Sett is a bit different from Heartsteel Sett, and I've found I usually prefer reading about the interpretation of the latter in fanfic more than the former. I mean, I still really, really enjoy fanfics where he's The Big Boss of the pits, and or his other background/lore is included, but I've read some where his old personality is a bit Yikes. The golden retriever energy is my favourite era of his if we can call it that (I still headcanon him as a part fox Vastayan, you can't convince me otherwise so go argue with someone else about it, not me). And honestly, I think I might have read more fics involving Sett in 2023 than I did any of the other characters on this list. Which is saying something since he's not as popular as a few of them. He's a pretty guy and I wish to bite him. Lovingly.

Mizu (Blue Eye Samurai)

Oh woman. Mizu is... is... she's basically my wife. I know she's all our wife, but like just let me dream a little here. As soon as I finished the series, I was opening up Tumblr, Pinterest, and AO3, my holy trinity of fandom. My platonic wife was sending me TikToks of our shared fictional wife. Mizu can wind up non-binary, male, female, I honestly do not mind because I am in love with any version she is/becomes (for now, I interpret her as a woman in disguise, but if that changes, I'll absolutely change how I refer to Mizu). She is a tragedy wrapped up in revenge because of a rotten love and unfortunate parentage and time period. I want her as much as I want to be her. Also? I go insane over her little smiles and smirks. I LOVE when we got to hear her laugh, even if it was mostly the flashbacks (do not mention Mikio near me; if he wasn't already dead, I would kill him). Also, who doesn't hate their British/white half, ahaha, oh my god, I know mixed ethnicity is a hot topic for people who do not want POC whitewashed in media, and I fully understand that, but I do appreciate seeing parts of myself in mixed characters like the conflict between trying to be more like one side than another. I'll also admit it: she does indeed look hot covered in blood and carrying a sword. I'll see myself out the door. I've been wanting to write a fanfic about her but I'm still stewing over ideas. Mizu is also probably my first truly major crush on a fictional woman (other than my childhood crush on Helga Sinclair from Atlantis: The Lost Empire). Vi from Arcane comes pretty close, but I see too much of myself in her that it gets weird.

We'll do some honourable mentions for characters from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim since I've gotten into that again.

Brynjolf, Hadvar, and Nazir, I wish I could mod my gameplay so I could marry you. The developers hated their men-loving gamers (I know the women-lovers complain about Serana, but she will never be as heartbreaking as Brynjolf, I don't care if she recognises proposals only to decline them). I mean, Brynjolf is the Tamriel equivalent of Scottish, he calls you "lass/lad", has got a smoothass voice, supports you through so much of the Thieves Guild questline, has a wicked sense of humour, and then when you finish the questline, it's all "sorry, lass. Got important things to do. We'll speak another time" 😭 You can't even recruit him as a follower. He says nothing when you wear an amulet of Mara. I play on a fucking PS4, I can't do mods to marry him or get more dialogue.

(By the way, on my most recent playthrough, Lydia died when I fought the troll on the seven thousand steps, and I am still mad about it. It used to be difficult for Lydia to die, that was why I brought her everywhere, and now I have to become Batman "I work alone". ESPECIALLY after Benor then died on the way up to Paarthurnax. I still can't believe that happened, I should have told him to stay behind and wait for my return.)

Also, every time I play, Derkeethus is so bugged, I can't even rescue him let alone marry the guy, which was disappointing because he seemed nice.

Argis the Bulwark, Vilkas, Farkas, Rayya, Aela the Huntress, and Marcurio, you are all marriageable and live in my heart always. Marcurio was the first I ever married, I think. Three guesses why I chose him (it's the sarcasm, wisecracks, and general sense of humour) (maybe the long hair too). Has anyone noticed how there doesn't seem to be marriageable options among the Khajiit characters?? Why do you think that is? I just checked the Skyrim marriage wiki and this is what it has to say in the trivia: 'There are no Khajiit spouses, however; since the majority of Khajiit in Skyrim are traders or travelers from Elsweyr, they probably have families back home. Additionally, Khajiit characters talk about home a lot, stating how much they miss it and how cold Skyrim is; thus, they probably do not want to marry and settle down in Skyrim.'

Heart-breaking. Oh well.

And that's the end of the line-up. If you read through this, Divines bless your goddamn soul. Psycho-analyse me based on them, I dare you. Or just judge me. I'd like to see either. And if you can find something in common about them all (you don't need to consider the honourable Skyrim mentions), please let me know, because I am personally at a loss.

[outcasts-redeemer]

Alternate Ever After AU

So this AU is pretty rough so stay with me.

Everything is the same up until the Rusted Knight takes off his helmet only to show red hair and piercing green eyes. That's right its Pyrrha Nikos.

How you ask? She doesn't know. She just woke up here and is confused on everything except for the fact that she knew her friends were coming and that she needed to stay to help them.

RWBY makes some guesses and Ruby, seeing the second person she failed to save, now alive again. starts to visibly crack. Her team and Pyrrha see it happen but in the end they don't have time to talk because the Jabberclones are still out there.

Thus they begin walking to Pyrrha's village where she has lived for the past few years.

Over the course of the journey, holes in how Pyrrha acts start to take shape. How she's constantly perfect, how she says the right thing all the time, how good of a fighter she is despite RWBY having more real world combat experience than her. Weird things continue to build up when she looks at her reflection and sees Jaune looking back at her on the cloud bridge.

And when they come to the fork in the bridge they meet the cat again and Pyrrha instantly treats him like an enemy but states she has never met him. The CC on the other hand treats her like an old friend and says some cryptic stuff and uses they/them to talk about Pyrrha.

RWBY in the end decides to trust Pyrrha and continue on their journey.

Fast Forward to a few episodes as those stay the same, They finally reach Pyrrha's village where she presents Crecent Rose to Ruby. Ruby's confused on why she has it and Pyrrha admits that she doesn't know and that it was the one thing she had when she woke up in the Tree.

The events of the village happen the same as in canon and Ruby ends up still teaing herself due to Neo's actions and Neo ends up getting Catnapped.

Fast forward a few more episodes while WBY_P are fighting NeoCatt we see Ruby at the Blacksmith's workshop walking through the weapon vault and she sees Crocea Mors in its shattered form. The Blacksmith remarks that it was a good weapon and the owner of it knew what he wanted to be which made it one of the more easier molds to make.

Ruby goes wide eyed and asks what happened and the Blacksmith shows Ruby Crocea Mors's actual journey.

At the same time Pyrrha wearing her helmet gets hit by Weiss's attack and ends up getting tossed into the smoke of the tree and enters the hallucination dimension and she sees Alyx standing there holding Jaune's shield.

Back with Ruby, she watches horror struck as Jaune lands on the beach with Corcea Mors bloodied and broken, watches as he grabs the clock fruit, watches him as he waits years and ages until he finds Alyx and her brother, watches as he attempts to travel the fairy tail path only to get more and more unhinged until... She watches him die via poison, alone, reaching for Crescent Rose.

Back with Pyrrha we watch as Alyx steps forward and tells her what happened to her with the CC and tells her of her final wish being for Jaune to be given the chance she took from him before the two of them are engulfed by light

Ruby glances at Crocea Mors and grabs it before turning to the Blacksmith and starts to speak only for the Blacksmith to hold her hand and say that the debt for that blade is already paid for and the owner is waiting for it.

And then offers Ruby Crescent Rose with a smile.

Ruby takes it, looks into her reflection on the blade and nods.

Back at the Tree _WBY are fighting a losing battle and are struggling to fend of NeoCatt and her many clones until Ruby breaks free of her tree cocoon and attacks her from behind sending her flying only for her journey to be stopped by a shield bearing golden twin arcs sending her flying back into the middle of the two warriors.

Ruby and helmeted knight than go ape on NeoCatt beating the ever loving shit out of them but strangely the knight is only using Jaune's shield and his fists while Ruby is using a broken sword and Crescent Rose.

The fight ends with NeoCatt being killed by the newly freed Jabberwoky while _WBY watch on stern faced.

Ruby walks up to the knight and hands him Crocea Mors and smiles before reaching up and pulling off the helmet to show a bearded and tired looking Jaune with white streaks in his hair.

_WBY end up freaking out with Weiss grabbing Jaune's face and fretting about him because he's looking haggard and old and Mature.

Jaune than tells his story and they all look to Ruby as she doesn't really react and she shrugs and says that she already got the story from the Blacksmith and hugs herself before asking what really happened to Penny.

Jaune goes quiet and Weiss places her hand on his shoulder and nods to him which gives Jaune the strength to tell them what happened and how he was still amping her when he stabbed her which caused him to feel what she felt.

Ruby nods and then truly breaks down which causes Jaune to break down which ends with them all hugging and kneeling.

After that Little shows up ready for battle and Jaune gifts him Juniper and says thank you to her before watching the two walk off to fight the Jabberwoker.

RWBY and Older Jaune then step through the portal back to Remnant.

[lollytea]

Never thought about it that deeply when looking at Hunter grom outfit art but that s so sweet and heartwarming<33

Boi rarely takes off the mask and when he does it s around ppl who at least to some degree dislike him (beside belos/raine/steve who i doubt compliment his looks) always tired and in armour.

Looks at himself in pretty clothes and oh! He s pretty handsome he concludes.

Once he joins Emerald trio/entrails he s positively confused by how everyone compliments each other efortlessly

In human realm they go out picking outfits and is flooded with "oh this colour suits you" "you look so good in this" etc he Doesn t rlly know how to respond but tries to compliment his friends back (althought very awkwardly)

It makes me insane to think about cuz its too cute!!!

I always imagined that Hunter never exactly saw himself as ugly per say, and was never reluctant to remove his mask if necessary, but his opinion towards his appearance hasnt been the best either. He's just been stuck with this face for his whole life that he can't even critically assess it. Who knows if he's ugly or not? Certainly not Hunter. He's been looking at this face for too long to properly tell. He's indifferent at best and sick of it at worst. His face is dull, boring, underwhelming. So the privilege of hiding it around people he doesn't know really boosts his confidence. When he's wearing a mask, he can be anyone he wants.

I know the grom art isn't canon but it's so sweet to think about him really seeing how nice he can look all dressed up and being blown away by the final result. Like hey?? Hey?? He's actually not bad looking. Which he feels a little hesitant to even think cuz its not something he's used to feeling. But...he's kinda handsome. Maybe? He's really not a great judge of what good looks even are but being in a nice suit (something he's never worn before.) really rearranges his perception of his appearance as a whole, as though he's looking at someone new. Has he always looked like this? Would it be immature to hope that he has?

Hunter assumed he never cared about his looks much. So why are his feelings about his own reflection so BIG all of a sudden? He just....isn't used to this. Its nice. Handsome. He might go as far to describe what he's looking at as handsome. The idea fills him with an unfamiliar kind of giddiness. Handsome.

Luz would come bursting in, all done up for grom to see the number King has done on Hunter. And as soon as she's in the door, Hunter struggles not to shrink in on himself. He feels weird all of a sudden. Put under a spotlight. Someone is looking at this strange new version of himself and he feels silly for thinking too highly of it. Maybe he is just seeing things and he's just a dull boy in a passable outfit. His gaze tears away from the mirror cuz it would be mortifying to be caught admiring himself.

King hadn't said much about Hunter's appearance. Just an approving thumbs up and a "better!" An improvement from his own attempts, sure, but Hunter is probably blowing this WAY out of proportion.

But then Luz gasps dramatically. "Look at you!!!" She fawns and Hunter is just about ready to throw himself out the window.

"Don't you dare laugh." He snaps, jabbing a warning finger in her direction. His ears are steadily heating. "Titan help me if you laugh it's over for you."

"Why would I laugh?" Luz asks, sweeping across the room to get a better look at him. "Why, I was gonna say you look positively ✨️Dashing✨️" She announces with a broad beam, bracingly tugging at the lapels of his blazer.

Dashing.

That was an adjective Hunter never would have thought up on his own...but now that it's out in the open...

"Oh." Hunter blurts dumbly. She wasn't mocking him. She was complimenting him. "Thanks."

Being complimented on your appearance is a very strange and surreal thing so his brain needs a moment to process it.

"I like your...." He begins awkwardly, skimming his eyes up and down Luz's outfit. "Tutu...?"

Always with the loud and bright attire. But with Luz being so very....Luz, she has a knack for making these looks work. It suits her.

"You look good." Hunter comments. "Ridiculous." He emphasizes, to which Luz grins in response. "But good."

She thanks him with a theatrical little bow. "High praise coming from such a spiffy looking fellow."

Hunter snorts. "Shut up."

"I'm serious," Before he knows what's happening, Luz has swung an arm around Hunter's shoulder, reeling him in close. Her cheek smushes against his.

"And...from one Prince Charming to another..." Her teasing voice drops to a low murmur. "I think the girls are gonna love us."

Luz laughs at the embarrassed squeak that Hunter makes, turning to leave the room as he shoves her off him.

She calls out for him to follow her. They're gonna be leaving any minute now. Hunter nods and obediently troops after her.

At the last second, he pauses and takes one last look in the mirror.

Handsome.

Dashing.

It's so dumb but he watches himself smile stupidly as he makes one last adjustment to his collar. He's standing to his full height now, and as he leaves the house for the evening, he can be heard whistling, glowing with a new strange kind of pride that he's never experienced before.

I could absolutely see Viney and Skara jokingly calling Hunter "Hot Stuff" or something equally ridiculous. (They have similar nicknames for each other and Willow.) Especially after he scores them points during derby practise and they're gassing him up.

At first Hunter is a little confused. ("It's moderately cloudy?") There are definitely a few slang words that haven't yet reached his vocabulary, so this particular sentiment has to be explained to him.

Oh. Hot. Hot as in attractive. Okay. He gets it now. Interesting use of the word.

The explanation Viney and Skara gave him was so in-depth that he knows he's not going to be comfortable using that adjective in regards to anybody any time soon. Or well. He won't be saying it out loud at least.

Hot Stuff definitely sticks as Viney and Skara's default nickname for Hunter. He usually just scoffs and rolls his eyes in response to it. But Willow never fails to catch him look away and bite down a smile. She always teases him a little over it.

"You love being called that, I know you do~" She grins as Hunter blushes furiously.

Would be so cute if Gus and Hunter did most of their clothes shopping together while in the Human Realm and after they get home, Camila gets all the witch kids to show off their new outfits and parade around in the living room for her. Of course she goes "Ooooh don't you look cute?" At all of them. Which would make every single one of them blush. Camila would dote on the kids in their new clothes, I know this for certain.

Anyway Gus and Hunter helped each other pick out their respective clothes, which results in Gus NOT getting the shorts with the star shaped sequins ("It's October." Hunter insists. "You'll freeze.") And Hunter getting talked into the occasional loud and flashy garment cuz Gus told him that this one was his colour and THIS one would look so good on him and THIS ONE

Basically what I'm saying is Hunter being complimented on his appearance becomes a sure fire way to convince him to do anything.

Obviously when they do their little living room fashion show, Gus waits in the hallway with Hunter before they step in and prefaces it by announcing "Are y'all ready to see the best looking boys in Gravesfield??" Which is met with cheers and applause.

Gus takes to calling himself and Hunter "Best Looking Boys in Gravesfield" very often. Hunter still hasn't gotten used to it.

And ohhhhhh hubtlow...h tunltow....hfunmtlow....the brainworms this ask gave me because I started thinking about hutntntntlow....

I don't know if they're dating yet at this point. It's possible they're taking things slow. Maybe they both understand that the feeling is mutual but they're uncertain on what to do next.

But on one occasion, the atmosphere is just intimate enough that Willow is brave enough to reach out and touch Hunter's face.

She runs her fingertips across the cut of his jaw, a ticklish sensation that makes his breath hitch. Both hands cup his cheekbones, thumbs gliding just beneath his eye-bags.

The warmth of Willow's smile nearly knocks him unconsicous. "I like your face." She whispers, like she's sharing a secret. "It's pretty."

Pretty.

Hunter struggles not to melt into goo right then and there.

Pretty.

His face is pretty.

"You're smiling~" She singsongs, and Hunter knows she's correct, as he can feel the corners of his lips straining to reach his ears. He has to look away from her, because this is embarrassing. In a good way. Which is weird. Until he met Willow, he would never be able to fathom feeling embarrassed in a good way.

He has to pin his gaze at his criss-crossed legs for a moment, his hands squeezing his calves and he can feel it still. The big dumb elastic grin that is impossible to wipe away.

Willow proceeds to completely and utterly obliterate him by pressing the pad of her finger to the bridge of his nose and gently stroking down the hooked slope.

"I always thought your nose was very regal looking." Her lovely voice fills his ears.

She likes his nose.

He's helpless to the little squeak that escapes him.

Her knuckle have found the crook of his chin, which she uses to tip up his face a little.

His gaze meets hers and just like always, there's that electric jolt down his spine that she tends to give him.

It's only now that he realizes that she's blushing too. And he's not surprised. How in Titan's name could she say things like this without blushing?

If Hunter even tried anything like this on her, he'd go completely mute in his efforts to spit the words out.

"And you've got the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen in my life." Says Willow, like she has no intention of letting his heart catch a break.

Beautiful.

The neurons in Hunter's brain have devolved into fireworks.

Beautiful.

Okay. Okay. Fine. FINE. He is unable to take this anymore.

Hunter asks Willow to have mercy on him in the only way he can, in his flushed, speechless state. He tips forward and buries his face in her shoulder.

He hears her giggles, picking up the slight breathlessness.

"Okay, pretty boy~" She teases, her fingers taking to carding through his hair, which is not merciful in the slightest.

Pretty boy.

Pretty boy.

Pretty boy.

Hunter is going to explode.

[broken-clover]

So after rewatching with the director's commentary (yeah, technically I watched the movie twice in two days, but the second time I mostly had it in the background while doing other stuff) and having some more time to collect my thoughts, I think I'm just deciding to do a list of all the things I thought the movie did really well, expected or otherwise. Like, everyone knows about the bizarreness and the so-bad-it's-good memery but I want to highlight some stuff I thought was genuinely admirable

-In watching the director's commentary, it seemed that he had a pretty realistic and relatively grounded and familiar understanding of the source material, which is inherently more than the live action Mario movie did. Even if it didn't pan out like expected, it's cool to see that passion went into it and he had a sense of respect for the games instead of writing them off as childish and trying to 'improve' it

-Likewise appreciate the director sharing petty grievances with the film, it humanizes things quite a bit. In fairness I also want those swizzle sticks and Bison dollars and would've been bummed if I was the only one who didn't get any.

-100% will always respect practical effects and physical set design. There were a few areas where CGI was used but for the most part it's all tangible

-Also!! Practical fighting!! Yes it's easy to make jokes about Van Damme's accent when playing someone so cartoonishly American but in a movie like this that relies so heavily on fight scenes he's exactly the sort of person you'd want to cast.

-(Perhaps an odd aside but upon reflection and trying to see other peoples' opinions on the film I think @ninewheels makes a very solid point in that having an immigrant Guile subtly works in the narrative's favor while also downplaying the plot's 'white savior' element to a degree)

-Again, discarding the canon divergences, Honda and Balrog had some terrific moments as a comedic duo, and for as little screentime was they had they managed to make their characters compelling. It's made completely understandable that given all three having their lives ruined by Bison in some form that they and Chun-Li would gravitate towards and work together. Unironically would watch a whole side series just about the three of them they bounce off of each other in a strangely natural way

-Likewise, Dhalsim!! Was not expecting to find him so compelling. I know it's a steep deviation from canon but at the very least they gave him his own little character arc, and the desire to use his skills for the betterment of humanity does sound a lot like canon Dhalsim behavior so I'm fine with it.

-Like I mentioned before, I was quite shocked at how well done Vega's presence was in the film, being rather spot on visually and personality-wise. As I found out while looking up more info, apparently his actor was still learning English at the time, so it's understandable why he only had a few short lines. However, just about everything else makes up for it. The costume design was near-perfect, and even without dialogue his body language did a terrific job of having him come across as condescendingly smug and dismissive. I see a lot of (absolutely deserved) praise for Mr. Julia but Jay Tavare did a fantastic job and absolutely deserves more credit

-On that note in general a recurring sentiment I kept having was that the silent/gesture comedy in this was really, really sharp. Some of the funniest parts in this movie were ones with no dialogue whatsoever

-This movie was funny on purpose!! I've seen some people describe the memetic moments in this and make it sound as though the whole thing is a straightforward action flick, but there were a whole lot of actually intentionally comedic elements and most of them landed perfectly well!

-Zangief is another underratedly terrific performance. Even if he's much duller than he is canonically it's played with so much gusto and enthusiasm that it's so enjoyable to watch him in action.

-Raul Julia. No explanation needed.

-Ming-Na Wen. Slight explanation needed bc WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME SHE WAS SO GOOD IN THIS. Woman did her own stunts and gave the movie a dose of colder realism that worked excellently with the somewhat unsteady tone

-Bazooka Cammy. Also as iffy as I was initially at having a pop star acting in this Kylie turned in a pretty solid performance.

-Gun Ken. I don't have much elaboration for this one it was just funny. Super magical spirit karate from living in backwoods Japan for like a decade with some old guy and you just decide to use a gun. We brought back Neck Snap Cammy from the II OVA for 6 so we can totally bring back Gun Ken for SF6 too right?? Please?? Don't even have to do anything too fancy just take regular Ken and give him Gun.

[theclaravoyant]

Fluff prompt #15 + ineffable partners???

15. "I wouldn't trade you for all the stars in the sky"

AN ~ that's the thing I'm sensitive about !!! This is distinctly more hurt/comfort than fluff, but I swear it's heavy on the comfort. Set Post-S2/post-canon, established relationship. Read on AO3 (~800wd) prompt me

-

The planetarium show opens with what he has to assume the humans are using ironically: in the Beginning. Crowley leans over and whispers something about “having it on good authority…” and Aziraphale has to chuckle. He swats Crowley on the arm, and leaves his hand there, and if it gradually makes its way to being intertwined with his then well, that’s just a bonus isn’t it.

This is nice, he thinks, being an us.

But he has a feeling that’s not what causes Crowley’s running commentary to die on his ever-snarky lips as the humans weave their stories about the stars and the telescopes and rockets and the formation of the Earth and the heat death of the universe. Space dances around them in the highest definition and farthest-reaching images that have yet reached the human eye. By the time the show is wrapping up Crowley is staring, silent, reverent. Naked yellow eyes, positively enraptured.

“They’re bloody brilliant, aren’t they?” he murmurs.

Aziraphale longs to capture this moment. He could sit in it forever.

The house lights have other plans.

“We should-”

“Right. Yes.”

Crowley’s eyes snap away and hide as he clumsily shoves the dark lenses back onto his face and all but charges out of the room. Aziraphale’s heart seizes, and he can only follow, brushing through thank-yous and vague excuses for missing the impending canapes and he’s not sure what to say- not sure what to say- not sure what to say. He’s always been so clumsy with intimate moments and he’s quite sure it’ll kill him if he somehow makes this worse.

He catches up with Crowley, where else but the Bentley. He’s waiting outside of it, on a nearby bench, safely obscured behind his glasses even as the long stretch of a mirror-like water feature ahead of him reflects a black and blue and sparkling night.

“Sorry,” he says, barely looking as Aziraphale comes to take a seat. “Didn’t mean to leave you alone in there I just- I haven’t seen them like that in quite a while.”

Aziraphale frowns. “How long might that be?”

“Well.” Crowley waves a hand. “The light’s a little strange with these things, you know, and they’ve never been very good with distance.”

Aziraphale has a terrible feeling, a terrible knowing, that he’s not talking about the glasses.

“Oh, Crowley.”

“There’s no need for all that, angel,” Crowley insists. “Honestly. It’s a very old wound. It just took me a little bit by surprise.”

Part of Aziraphale wants to gush love and apologies and try and heal that innocent little angel with the tuft of red hair. Another firmly reminds him that he’s promised (himself, more so than Crowley) not to bring up who Crowley insists he isn’t and doesn’t want to be. Mostly though he’s more than a bit shocked, a bit hurt, a bit sorry that he somehow didn’t know that all this time. They’ve really got to stop doing this to each other.

But then Crowley smiles. It’s a smaller smile, but it brings a bit of sparkle back that had been temporarily chased away.

“Actually I can sort of see it in ultra-violet instead, which is pretty cool. Can I show you?”

He offers his hand and Crowley takes it. They take a deep breath together and a miracle works, and the world fades and changes around him. It looks mistier like this. A strange and beautiful blue. It reminds him of somehow standing under an ocean rather than a sky, the pinpoint lights don’t stand out so much but rather merge and combine and gently glow, swirling around them like the softest fabric.

They let the breath out, and it is gone. The sky rearranges itself to the way Aziraphale is more familiar with it. His chest aches a little, bittersweet.

“It’s beautiful,” he breathes.

“Yes.” Crowley still hasn’t let go of his hand, or his smile. “See? I told you. I’m alright.”

Aziraphale shifts in his seat so that he can lean a little more against Crowley’s chest. He rests his head back. Their breathing is the only sound for a long stretch, until some waterfowl alight in the reflection of the sky. He’s always been clumsy with intimate moments. But something - surely not The Spirit - compels him eventually to speak.

“I never meant to imply that you were not.” He swallows. “Or - I suppose I did, but I only ever wanted to help. But I understand now. I never meant to undo you or change you or… I mean, I never wanted you to go back to being them. I only wanted you to be happy. Safe, as much as I could make you.”

Alright.

It’s something that’s been understood between them better for a long while now but still, something heals putting the words to it. “I only ever wanted you, Crowley,” he vows. “I wouldn’t trade you for all the stars in the sky.”

[starry-blue-echoes]

So like kinda dark and inspired by standtaro

(Tw: drug abuse and OD mention, sorry if that is upsetting if it is just deleted this without reading)

So a giorno who before the events of part5 was an addict (which is one of the reasons its so important to him to get rid of drug trade) but about a year before part 5 takes place he overdoses.

Giorno had had gold for pretty much his whole life buts its wasnt at full power for various reasons and could barely appear but when gio is dying it goes into full gear trying to being him back to life and it works….. kinda. The process is what turns his hair gold and kinda fuses him with his stand. He can be scene by none stand users but thier is always this sorta off quality about him.

The ease at which he uses and understands his stands powers and abilities is unnatural even for veterans stand users. That he is never caught of guard because gio and gold are so intertwined (and i dont mean in the way how a stand user and thier stand are the same as in a stand is a reflection of thier soul. I mean thier fused like if you put two separate entities together)

Gio seems most human just kinda off to everyone around him. Especially stand users. If he were to ever loose his stand he would die, body unable to substain itself without gold.

Standtaro and gold Gio staring each other down like the spiderman meme

👀👀👀👀👀👀

Okay but honestly, if this was canon Part 5 would’ve been SO much cooler

Just. The dead “ghost” of a boy being given another shot and doing everything he can to stop others from succumbing to the same fate he did

And what if Giorno doesn’t repossess his body. It’s left behind in the alley, eventually found by someone and leads to Haruno Shiobana being legally pronounced dead, which eventually leads to him taking the name Giorno Giovanna

He looks different enough, plus he didn’t have an actual friends or anyone who knew him well enough who would notice his similarities. His mother and stepfather certainly wouldn’t care either

and what if he kinda. Drifts for a while. He doesn’t really need to worry about having a place to stay. He doesn’t need food, rest, or needed to keep clean. His strange Stand Ghost Body takes care of all of that by itself since by all means, he’s essentially just an illusion given form.

And when Bucciarati shows up Giorno finally gets his chance. His chance to change things, to fulfill his dream, everything

He probably wouldn’t tell Bucciarati about the whole I’m A Dead Child thing at first. He’d probably vaguely mention the fact that the wanting to stop drugs thing is personal, but not elaborate much beyond that

And honestly, I can see this lead to Giorno being much more reckless than canon. Specifically when it comes to his own health and safety since….. well, that isn’t really a concern now. He’s already dead after all. Why should he care about what happens to this body when he can’t even feel the injuries being inflected

(And for the Standtaro thing, GHDBFHDB Y E A H. They have a moment of Solid Eye Contact where they realize “oh shit this guy’s kinda like me”)

[james-p-sullivan]

I was hesitant when I first saw Yona, I'll be honest. She felt weird, and kinda shoehorned in when compared to the story in the game (and the fact that she's literally not mentioned in the botw), but the rest of totk kinda feels like that to me as well, so in a strange way, she fits! She's grown on me as a character, and I love the idea that there are other domains / Zora residences outside of Hyrule for us to explore or visit later

I know you didn't ask but have my opinion anyway lol

yes!! honestly i felt the same way when she was first introduced, i was like ‘WHO DIS’ but if we constantly reject new characters simply because they weren’t in botw, then we’re gonna have a pretty small cast. i will admit, i was a bit miffed that she was introduced as his fiancé and that we didn’t get to see the progression of their relationship, but at the same time, link was missing for quite a while; it makes total sense.

and don’t get me wrong, you are totally allowed not to like her character, im not saying that you *have* to like her. im just saying that hating her for the sole reason of getting in the way of sidon/link is a terrible take and you should do a lot of self reflection if that’s why you dislike her (not meaning YOU specifically, i mean the general ‘you’, i actually really enjoyed your take lol).

something that some of these asks are mentioning is, of course, representation, but honestly? i think people are getting hooked on this buzz word that makes their argument sound better than the virtue signalling that it actually is. you don’t actually care about representation you just want your ship to become canon. that’s not a bad thing in itself, but the degree that this fandom has taken it to is extremely disturbing.

[saturntheocto]

Nintendo direct splatoon 3 paid dlc Over view

Ok ok okayy, my overview might not be the same as others because i did not play the first game, so i will not find the nostalgia of it the same.

HOLLYYYY SHITTT!!!!

Okay so there is ALLOT to unpack here.

I will be starting with wave one of the DLC: Inkopolis

Then move to wave two: Side Order

Soo, inkopolis is back! You can now experience this nostalgic city on your Nintendo switch! There’s not much to unpack other than a few things

Lets start with probably (almost) everyone’s favorite news,

SHELDON HAS BEEN REPLACED BY THESE GUYS!!

I know there are some Sheldon fans out there but im pretty sure we can agree that its nice to have a change of a shopkeeper that has beeen the same since the first game. Makes sense canonically to how would Sheldon be able to run two shops in two separate city’s at the same time.

There also this guy:

He honestly looks terrifying, like this is something I would find climbing out of my little sister’s closet.

SQUIDD SISTERS ARE BACK IN THEIR PREFORMING DAYS!!

they said splatfests work the same here and that squid sisters will preform during splatfests. Im not sure what that means considering there are three teams and only two squid sisters, judging by this shot im starting to wonder if the zapfish represents the third team lol.

Another thing im wondering is if we will be able to go to octo valley in inkopolis, i dont see why not but it also seems very likely that we wont be able to, the only part of this expansion that contains story looks to be wave two but i could be completely wrong.

Okay next up we have wave two: side order

At firs5t glance this looks like a compleatly normal octoling in a strange white area. But if we take a closer look, this octoling appears to be agent eight? The promo hairstyle is the same and the outfit looks similar.

If we take another good look, their skin color appear to be the same as well.

Now unfourtunatly there is zero sign of agent four. Wait- what’s this?:

Another thing that happens when we take a good look is we can see that this ‘strange white place’ is actually SPLATOON 2’S INKOPOLIS

FOUR WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO!?!?

sadly we cannot assume that this is the doings of agent 4, but knowing that Nintendo likes to listen to their fans, we will likely be getting four back in this DLC.

Now what could have happened here?

Well, first off lets start with the pictures flashing across the screen during this scene.

Okay so first off we have uh- strange lights? I dunno theres not realy much to make of this picture

Next up is some kind of room. Now at first i thought this was an elevator or something. And i might be right, but it also might be a containment chamber according to the next pictures

Next we got some kind of fight science or something- i really dont know the only thing that caught my eye was the blue and green thing behind out octo friend that made me say: “SANITIZED OCTO” for some reason lol. But ig it looks like out octo is fighting someone with orange ink… FOUR???(hj)

Okayyyy now this im going to call hand, because uhh hand?or atleast thats what I thought at first, but now its starting to look like a cepholapod? The floor seems really reflective and we can see… AN INKLING?? HOLLY SHIT FOUR PLEASEEE TELL ME ITS YOU IM GOING TO EXPLODE. This inkling looks a bit.. difirent though,, its hard to see their ink color but it looks like a bit of a brownish color like the octo. Another thing that is off about this squid is its a normaly long arms, im not the only one seeIng how long their fucking arms are right?

uh void,, Thing?there are a bunch of spikes and out fave octo friend chillin in the center of it all. There seems to be a reoccurring theme of black and white even though splatoon is a colorful game.

Ooo glitchy marina! This one dosent have allot of info other than shes in her old outfit or the took her orange jacket off but it sure would make an awesome wallpaper!

this one seems to be of our octo buddy looking into glass. Now one of two things could be happening here.. or both, 1: this octo just came into existence and is seeing their own face for the first time, or 2: their looking at something out the window. Thwew is another person in the background as we can see a black shoe in the top left corner

I dont even fucking know what this is but it reminds me of those stress toys with the colored balls inside them that you try to push in

now THOSE are some LONG ASS TENTACLES. This seems to be another elevator of some sort, or just a big door. It seems to be surounded by plants and collums to.

This honestly looks like a splatoon 2 hero mode stage on anistetics (/pos). Our lil octo guy seems to be in the middle of it

what the fuck do i even call this?? It’s just s blur of gray back and white.

We got pearl in the fucked up inkopolis. Y’know, maybe we fell over and shes helpin us up :) this also explains her huge jacket because it must be freezing out there lol

This looks like something from breath of the wild. But the longer i look at it, the more it looks like a stegosaurus. That red pupil is scary tho ngl

now the ink may look back and a bit of red ink. But what if thats orange ink? Honestly im trying to find anny excuse i have to say agent 4 is back. But this placer looks strange, there is white plants everywhere and the pillars a weird.

That’s fucking bright. but the ink color is starting to look closer and closer to agent eight’s ink color

this reminds me of the splatoon2 hero mode art with all the octo weapons and callie at the top and four at the bottom of all of it and i feeling the refirence. I dont have the time to turn up the brightness right now but i will later and i will let you guys know what i find

Okay now were really getting close to agent eight’s hair color. This is most likely agent eight like there is almost no denial

oh shit now there are two of them. One of them looks like their saying something to the other. There is also a massive difference in brightness which is strange. Also where are they? This place looks strange with stuff just everywhere.

i cant add more so the last two will be in a rb of this

[wordsandrobots]

[The following is not an essay. It is the author's attempt to grapple with the despair at losing something important to him, presented in hopes someone in a similar situation may know such things are worth grappling with.]

Apropos of Doctor Who's triumphant return to having writing and direction I can actually care about again, I've been reflecting on how much casual 'Moffat-hate' irritates me.

Obviously, I need to unpack that a bit.

I'm talking about the reflexive antagonism towards Steven Moffat's era as show-runner, writing tics, writing in general, moment of centrality to British TV and so on that I am no doubt going to run into if I go anywhere near Doctor Who reviews and analysis again. A sneer about perceived sneering here, another repetition of a narrative-construction gripe there. The regurgitation of old arguments because there is a strong contingent of people who loathe that era and Moffat in general, who have every right to that opinion, and who can quite reasonably bring it up when talking about Russel T Davies' new, second era of running the show, however that shakes out.

The me-problem here is, I loved a lot of 'the Moffat era' of Doctor Who when it was being broadcast. For whatever reason, it hit lots of nice buttons in my head and I had a grand old time watching it unfold. The 11th and 12th Doctors provided some really excellent examples of the show doing its best at what it does best. Indeed, 'Listen' may be my favourite example of a story delving into what Doctor Who is all about, ever.

But there is a degree to which my enjoyment is now perpetually enmeshed in defensiveness. Because the fandom was/is wild tangle of very strong opinions, much of them to the contrary, and that isn't likely to change any time soon.

[And for me personally, my best friend hates that era, which threw into sharp relief a lot of hang-ups I have around needing to justify the things I like. Having an emotional breakdown kind of sharp relief. That's not the sort of thing you just shrug off, even after all this time.]

To be clear, I am not here to defend Steven Moffat. I do not give a rat's arse about Sherlock – it was enjoyable at the time but I can't say it registered beyond 'a thing it was fun to watch once' – and I actively despise Twice Upon A Time, the last 12th Doctor story, for pretty much the exact reasons I think most people rag on Moffat's other work. It is a story ostensibly in conversation with a piece of source material that instead only concerns itself with the refracted, pop-cultural version of said thing, for the sake of being constructed like a joke.

Which in general is an approach far better suited to Doctor Who – a series progressively layering 'canon' atop stories that could not be recalled as anything other than half-remembered versions of themselves for a very long time – than it would ever be for something like Sherlock Holmes. Even if I didn't like Twice Upon A Time, I can at least forgive it as a wider pattern and oh for goodness sake, I've started defending the man anyway, haven't I?

You see the problem. I can't make a critique with any teeth because I am braced for the whole to be dismissed even as I home in on the specific part I wish to unpack. Must I defend a writer in toto because I vibed with one piece of their corpus? I don't think I would for anyone else and yet here we are. This is probably why I count myself lucky to have never been deeply invested in Doctor Who fandom in the communal sense, online or off. This and the people who fawn over the racist giant rat story.

[Talons of Weng-Chiang is a Yellow Peril tale, straight up, nothing else. It also jobs Leela, rendering her forever 'the savage' despite the entire point of her introduction being a rejection of the superstitions imposed on her people and thereafter proving herself extremely capable in new and strange situations. It was also written in Britain in the 70s so this is almost self-explanatory. Just fucking own the fact you enjoy the production values and excellent cast while accepting it's indefensible to claim this is the best the classic series produced, you chronic dipsticks.]

See, I can do it with other examples of what I dislike, bare my teeth and go for the throat. But few people argue we should write off Robert Holmes' extensive contribution to the series because he did a massive racism on account of being a British writer in the 70s. Maybe they should. I don't know.

What I do know is, I understand why the 11th and 12th Doctor eras work for me. I am a white cis man who thought he was straight when they started airing and who is exactly the kind of Doctor Who fan who'd want to solve the regeneration limit with a Five Doctors reference. I never felt like Moffat's grand arcs were talking down to me because, I suspect, I was the kind of person most easily able to imagine I was in on the joke by the end. Then again, the writer who's done some of the most extensive analysis and defence of this era is a trans American woman, whose work did more for my appreciation of Doctor Who history than anyone else. So – yeah.

When I said 'irritate', I meant exactly that. This whole topic is a burr, making it difficult to revisit things I once enjoyed. Maybe this would be the case anyway. I have grown a lot since then. So did Steven Moffat, over the course of writing more Doctor Who than any other person ever. He gave us gender-flipping regeneration, tried colour-blind casting and when it failed to make a difference, specifically cast for a black lesbian. And he revisited Donna's ending with an eye on querying the moral failure of it long before RTD2 wrapped around to the same point. Why should I look kinder on his predecessor, who presided over the abusive shit-show that was the production of the 2005 revival season and yet gets to come back to save the programme again?

Oh, yes. The writing. But Russel T Davies annoys me just as much in some places as Moffat does other people. So it goes. Although I suppose Moffat did hire Toby Whithouse to write the central part of Bill's arc and it was a chauvinistic wet fart because it was Toby Whithouse. He also worked for ages with Mark Gattis, whose writing I could shred on similar grounds. And around and around we go, sniping and arguing which of the middle-aged British guys tried their best, or wrote the worst.

[I am still mourning what Chris Chibnall's era of Doctor Who turned out to be. I was so hyped for getting Jodi Whittaker as the Doctor and then we hit Kerblam! and the oldest, most foundational piece of my inner cultural map no longer felt like something I wanted to be a part of. So yeah, he's the worst, for allowing that story to go out, 'the system isn't the problem, it's the people' and all. That's my 'hot-take', years too late. The man wasted dozens of excellent, interesting, diverse writers and actors on what is ultimately, in my opinion, the most mediocre crap since the Saward Era and his big contribution to the series going forward is to fanwank in an explanation for the Morbius!Doctors that essentially makes the Doctor the specialest special whoever specialed.]

At least Moffat previously made some attempt to spork the god!Doctor approach, before deciding they should textually be the reason evil doesn't triumph in the universe. Sadly, that endpoint seems inevitable. We're long past the days of the Doctor being a university drop-out, bumbling around the universe, interfering from the edges. Pick your saccharine alternative, I guess.

What was I talking about before I dived into my own bitterness and angry fan-ranting? How much people deriding one sitcom writer for his faults and prominence within a particular era of big British TV that sparked vast swathes of internet discourse continues to be an aspect of Doctor Who meta? How that makes me feel? Hah. Who cares?

There's no widely applicable point here, just an emotional sore making me wonder if I'm ready to 'get back into' Doctor Who. Because yes, actively being revolted by the Chibnall Era is the real reason I fell out with the show. And yes, maybe I've just grown beyond the point where Doctor Who satisfies, full-stop (let's leave the political rant about The Zygon Inversion for another time; I'll only be repeating other people). But sitting here, being honestly, genuinely delighted by The Star Beast and Wild Blue Yonder in ways I'd frankly forgotten I could be by Doctor Who . . . there's a still part of me that doesn't want to risk going back and running into those same old arguments. I've seen them before. They're boring. They annoy me. I don't have the energy to deal with it. And I haven't yet worked out how to thicken my skin against them.

Someday, maybe, I will sort the love for Doctor Who I had since I was six and watching Peter Cushing romp around in glorious Technicolor from a factional fandom pissing match I didn't even play a part in. I never was someone who picked fights online over this or tried to make grand sweeping arguments about why X, Y or Z was better. I want to be mellow about differing tastes and just like what I like. I certainly don't want to be the kind of person who rags endlessly on things I didn't enjoy, which is why the emotional outburst above is about as far as I'm prepared to go in talking publicly about the 13th Doctor's run.

[I want to go back. I want to love Doctor Who again, flaws and all. I probably will regardless of this. I am not making a plea concerning fandom's nature. I am neither asking for grace nor extending it. The answer is undoubtedly to carry on along the sidelines, a skulking hermit-crab of a Whovian. Yet the burr remains, the grief sticks and the solid ground of a long-held interest remains cracked. Perhaps that is growth. Self-examination does not entitle one to set discoveries aside, job done, card stamped, and return to pleasures-as-were. Yet I can't deny the raw emotional urgh that comes of hearing the same punches struck over and over, about a portion of the show that at least tried.]

Ultimately, however, I like picking apart the things I enjoy and I enjoy watching others do likewise. And I don't get to do that here without cautiously curating my experience to avoid the ten billionth iteration of ten-year-old internet arguments.

I'll keep doing it, obviously.

But it is irritating.

[This post brought to you by listening to El Sandifer's podcast about The Star Beast. Eruditorum Press is a great site for fascinating media analysis and her TARDIS Eruditorum series is well worth a read if you're interested in the show's development.]

[cherryslyce]

Oh Cherry lovely you made me cry!!! I can’t believe it’s actually over, what are we all going to do with ourselves now?

I was so happy reading every word, I’m glad that everyone go the happy ending that they deserved. Including the Slytherins! They’re unfairly left out in a lot of fics so it’s really nice to see them get their happy ending, especially with how integral they were to the story.

The reader getting postcards from Anders is so sweet omg, and when the reader dedicated their research to the Fiskes it was so nice. Remembering how mad I was when Anders wanted to take all the credit for the findings to them refusing to be mentioned- that’s character growth! They definitely deserved that dedication note.

It’s also so sweet seeing Sirius living his domestic life of losing his mind over wardrobe instruction manuals, after all he’s been through he deserves a life where that’s his only problem! And the lion table cracked me up he is SUCH a Gryffindor.

And of course my babies! Reader and Regulus living the dream life! If Reggie deserves anything it’s to live a quiet life in a beach house with a pretty flower garden, and I’m glad he gets that! I’m also happy to see that the two are still so sickly in love with each other, we love to see it!

And oh- oh my god- Cherry you simultaneously broke and healed my heart in one go with that note. I remember having to stop reading for a few minutes when I first read Reggie’s diary entry asking what love felt like because I needed to cry but then he gets to fall in love! And he gets to tell his younger self ‘hey! It’s gonna be okay! You’ll get there one day!’ He’s just achieved so much and I’m so proud of him and omg I’m so in love with this fic.

I’ve said it a few times lately but I really do hope you’re proud of yourself for this fic, the time, effort and care that you put into it shines through every word you write and it’s created a truly beautiful and distinctive story that I and a lot of others will remember for a long time to come. Thank you for bringing us this incredible story and I really look forward to what you bring us next! <3

My dear!! My love!!

Thank you so much for everything <33. I can't believe that it's over either, and it is so strange that I no longer have to sit down and write a new chapter ! I really have such a soft spot for the Slytherin group, and they truly deserved their happy ending !

And yesss, the postcard!! I honestly was really debating on where I wanted the Fiske's to be, and somehow settled for the states LOL. Anders‘ character arc is something to behold, and I'm feeling a bit sad that we have to say goodbye to our grumpy mentor.

Sirius is kind of a mess, but at least he's trying!! Harry is definitely in charge of sifting through Sirius‘ questionable furniture choices, and he's right, where would they put a lion table??

Reggie and reader deserve their little beach home so much <333. They definitely lived happily ever after, and I perhaps am guilty of making their property a reflection of what I desire for myself. Sigh, I am going to miss those lovesick fools </3

Reggie's diary entry was heartbreaking to write, so I could not imagine how it must have felt to read it! I know it hurt everyone, so of course I had to make the ending super sweet with a sprinkle of poet!Regulus. Regulus‘ inner child is healing with every passing day, and I am going to pretend that this happy ending is canon for the actual HP universe.

You have truly been one of my greatest motivators on this blog, so I just want to thank YOU, because you are truly so amazing!! I am so happy with the final result of the story, but I am even more overjoyed with the connections and interactions I've had throughout the journey here! It has been my honor to write this story, and it has been the greatest gift to have you shower me with kind words. I hope that you will enjoy what's to come, lovely <333. Thank you!

[autisticandroids]

anyway SPEAKING! of wildly ooc shit from the carver era. i need to talk about goodbye stranger for a minute. anyway the thing about goodbye stranger is that it's kind of a tragedy of miscommunication that's no one's fault. we the audience see cas brainwashed and forced to murder hundreds of copies of dean, and how traumatic that was for him, and the devotion to dean it implies. because of that we understand that dean matters to him deeply, and when he says "i don't know" in response to dean's "what broke the connection?" he's lying to hide how much he cares from dean, because when dean said "i need you," cas interpreted that as being about usefulness, not affection. on the other hand, dean was just beaten for no reason by his best friend, and bared his soul to him on his knees in that crypt, and then that friend gives a rushed explanation about some kind of brainwashing dean had no idea was even possible, a few incomplete, avoidant answers, and leaves, while dean, though physically healed, is still feeling totally emotionally raw from both the violence and the vulnerability.

basically, it's a situation that's designed to cause maximum hurt feelings which is maximally no one's fault.

now, obviously, people who are bad at watching television find ways to make cas into a villain here anyway. one of the most common bitter deangirl refrains that i see, even from the more reasonable ones, is that cas sucks for leaving after goodbye stranger. to which i say, can't a man take a moment to think after receiving hundreds of lobotomies? can't be be forgiven if he does not immediately swallow his own issues and work on fixing dean's, especially since he has no way of knowing what dean's are?

but also like, that makes sense, because the lobotomy plot is one of the most dean-centric cas plots in the show. like, it's not really about cas' trauma, that's secondary. we never see cas process or reflect on it after the fact. it's not really relevant to cas' character. the main thread of the lobotomy plot is actually dean being hurt and confused that cas isn't there or it acting strange. it's about dean's feelings. even if you look at torn and frayed, which is about the most cas-centric episoode of the lobotomy arc, the beat the episode ends on is the winchesters being kinda like "hey what's up with that guy? he's acting weird. is he a potential threat?" rather than concern for his well-being or anything. like the main takeaway from the episode isn't supposed to be "oh no, cas is suffering!" it's supposed to be "oh no, cas is brainwashed and might be dangerous/Not Himself!" and this is highlighted even more because the angel we see cas kill is samandriel, an angel we care about not because of his relationship with cas - we never see them interact under non-brainwashed circumstances - but because of his relationship (or at least, previous conversation) with dean. it makes sense to just ignore the effect it might have on cas.

plus, if you're thinking about the original draft of goodbye stranger and the i love you, and a lot of people are and do, then cas comes off looking a lot worse. like, in the canon version of goodbye stranger, cas' "i don't know" is logical emotional self-protection. he's refusing to show dean the vulnerability of caring, which makes sense, given that cas has just been, you know, lobotomized hundreds of times for caring about dean, and he has no idea how dean will react (dean seems pretty mad!). but in the "i love you" version, dean has just shown cas extreme vulnerability in a way even cas can't misunderstand, and cas' refusal to show his own in return is somewhere between clueless and callous. that version of cas is fleeing from his own vulnerability, either lying to himself about it or trying to. and that's still fundamentally sympathetic and doesn't make cas some kind of villain. once again i must say, can't a man take a moment to think after receiving hundreds of lobotomies? but it's still way more on cas than the canon version. it's also not that believable, since cas is uh. pretty aware that dean is his weakness and vulnerability at the very least starting in season six.

okay so this has been kind of a long ramble because it's about eight posts rolled into one, but i needed that stuff as groundwork for my point, which is: it doesn't actually make a lot of sense that cas leaves at the end of goodbye stranger.

like, i was talking to @housewife-castiel about bitter deangirls who are soooooo mad about goodbye stranger and she was like "cas was justified in leaving with the tablet because dean hates angels and would have used it for ill" which is like. that's true. that's definitely true. however, i think it's out of character for cas, because one of cas' greatest and most tragic flaws is failing to recognize that dean is a danger to his other loved ones. he sees the best in dean, often to his detriment and the detriment of those he cares about.

and there's not really another good reason why you could see him leaving with the tablet. certainly there isn't one presented. like, when i first watched season eight, i assumed it meant that he had been like, brainwashed by the tablet into serving its own purposes, which isn't really a stretch given that the tablet seems integral to breaking naomi's brainwashing, but is also never brought up so like. i don't think that's what happened.

the only other reason i can think of for cas to leave with the tablet is because he needs some space due to he just got a bunch of lobotomies and was traumatically forced to nearly beat dean to death and now dean is standing in front of him. this, by the way, jives way better with the "i love you" version - if cas is running from his feelings, it makes sense for him to run. but even then, i don't think it's believable, because like... cas is not a skillful spontaneous liar. he does lie sometimes, but it's rehearsed, and he seems so suddenly certain about the tablet that it really scans as genuine.

the real reason cas leaves with the tablet, obviously, is that they don't want to pay misha collins for like the next four episodes, so they have to find some way to write him out. i'm sure that they were planning to justify it later and then never got around to it. but in-universe it just... doesn't make a ton of sense.

[kallistcs]

This is less a headcanon and more a meta rumination of a part of Paris' characterisation. I think it might be worth to touch on it, for myself, but also just to show my hand because this aspect can look flippant sometimes and I have actually thought about it.

So, this is about the very "standard" characterisation of Paris as "slutty". I have a bit of complicated relationship with this because the majority of people [on Tumblr especially, but I'm talking the fandom community in general, not just RP] obviously present this as both negative and "obvious" about him…

And like. Yes. I've ended up leaning into this, but I've tried to put some thought into how, who, and when.

For the culture of the time, it wouldn't be anything strange, yet the angle you often see from everyone is that Paris' sleeping around, especially, is made out to be something that reflects negatively on him.

And yet, if, say, I was to ignore the attitude of culture we do see reflected in the ancient myth-related works on what the male characters can and can't do wrt sleeping outside marriage and go strictly canon, we have like… three individuals that Paris has explicitly or implicitly slept with.

These are Helen, Oenone, and Antheus, a son of Antenor.

So what I have decided on when it comes to "how many and who" Paris has slept with, especially before Helen, it's come down to this;

Culture-wise, unless one would lean into the presence of prostitutes and exploitation of less privileged women (servants, peasant girls), Paris wouldn't have much opportunity to sleep with women. Not anything that isn't fraught considering the circumstances, cultural mores, and laws (sleeping with non-married young women of his own age, sleeping with married women, young or otherwise). What he has done is slept with a number of nymphs, aside from Oenone. Without these nymphs, men would vastly outnumber women of the people Paris has slept with.

I do have him having slept with one young woman he really shouldn't have (a bride-to-be who didn't want her future husband to be her only/first experience), and then the gray zone of a couple widows (pretty sure there's no specific laws about sleeping with widows, but... well). He was both into the bride-to-be and wanted to give her what she wanted, and the widows - well, if they were interested, why shouldn't they, and why shouldn't he?

Basically what I've been trying to do when it comes to the non-nymph women Paris have slept with is give some more reason to it, on top of "because he wanted to". He can be thoughtless and is driven by desire, yes, but I wanted something more than that considering all the cultural mores playing into this.

Obviously I am not touching the potential of more exploitative incidents, because I don't have to and maybe it's petty, but it's some way to lean into a characterisation angle that does fit him without having to accept the standard negative interpretation of "Paris sleeps around [with women*]" that most of fandom seems to have.

*Because of course it's always about women, never mind the cultural mores about sleeping with men, and the fact that, given most of what we see of Paris' characterisation in the Iliad and how pretty he is, he's very likely to have at least been under the threat of sexual violence himself.