#tagging her bc this whole thing mostly exists for her

[a-master-procrastinator]

So, I have a headcanon regarding Outlander and Valkorion

Spoiler territory for pretty much the whole game (mostly Jedi Knight and Sith Warrior class stories and all expansions from Shadows of Revan).

How does Outlander (especially non Force user) defeat Valkorion in KotET? This question bothered me (and I'm sure all of you) for quite some time. And frankly, the game doesn't answer it very well. So I did some thinking, searching and theorizing, and found a solution that I will bring in my personal stories. Just thought it would be interesting for others to see as well.

Explanations offered in the game:

Valkorion's power had become weaker at some point (as noted by Arcann in chapter 8 "Taking Flight", and indicated by events on Ziost, since Theron wasn't possessed, and by Valkorion in chapter 9 "Eternal Throne", when he said that he needed Vaylin's power to destroy Outlander's mind);

Arcann and Vaylin helped defeat him;

The holocron was the instrument of Valkorion's defeat (but it's never properly explained how exactly);

The "kneel before the dragon of Zakuul" phrase worked on Valkorion because the Outlander said so.

It doesn't sound too bad, but when I tried to go into details, it didn't make much sense. "My mind, my rules" was really out of nowhere, also kinda goes against the previous experience of Outlander not being able to do anything about Valkorion before that. And Arcann and Vaylin being on your side isn't the key either because even the three of them were still losing, it only changed after the main character said the key phrase. And why the heck does it even work like that? Because they said so? Gee, should've thought about it a few chapters before, no?

Now, what I came up with doesn't really go much different from that, I just made some adjustments to make it flow better (at least for myself). I'll talk through my thoughts in chronological order, so bear with me (I tried to summarize it at the end, so scroll if you want the short version).

Vitiate learned to transfer his spirit as one of the ways to be immortal. It can happen either through a ritual, which is preferable since it's easier, doesn't weaken him, and he doesn't need time to adjust, but it does require consent from a person, or killing the previous host, which does weaken him for some time. The longer he has possessed a host, the greater the loss of power will be upon the transfer. It's not to say that he isn't dangerous, quite the opposite, but perhaps he can't do some 'impossible' things (like consume a planet or shatter a mind) just like that.

He was at his full power before the events on Belsavis and Voss, timeline wise. Remember how easily he possessed the minds of the Jedi on the strike team? Yeah, Jedi Knight broke free, but that's bc they're super strong (and the main character in their storyline).

But because of Baras Vitiate had to be released from the body on Voss by being killed, which made him slightly weaker, just enough for the Hero of Tython to kill him again on Dromund Kaas. That made him lose more power (because he possessed this body for much longer than that Voss), and Vitiate tried to find a new host and regain his power (either by Revan reviving him or consuming all life on Ziost). His attempts were not successful, so he retreated to Zakuul.

That would explain why after being 'killed' yet again on Zakuul (thus losing two of his main hosts) Valkorion wasn't powerful enough to possess the Outlander's mind (regardless of their class). He was in a pretty vulnerable position, so he came up with a plan. We'll get to it. For now, Valkorion understands that if the Outlander dies, he'll be even weaker and probably won't be able to get a new host, so he protects the Outlander while pushing them to use his power.

Every time the Outlander agrees to do so gives Valkorion more control over their body, and even if they never agree, the bond grows stronger as time passes, it's just faster when Outlander uses his power. Eventually it would be just strong enough for Valkorion to use the main character's body without their permission (like in chapter 16). But he's still not powerful enough to break their mind, so he goes to the next part of the plan.

Valkorion manipulated the main character into killing Vaylin (and Arcann, if applicable) because he needed to consume her power to destroy Outlander's mind (which is what happens in chapter 9). But he made a couple mistakes in doing so. First, he underestimated how smart Commander is, and how the bond allowed them to take his form to survive. Second, by consuming Vaylin's spirit, Valkorion gained not just her strength, but also her weakness, which is the conditioning.

But wait, didn't Vaylin free herself from it? Sort of. I saw a suggestion from another player that Vaylin didn't get rid of conditioning itself, but rather the lever that triggers it. It's possible because the process on Nathema didn't exactly according to the plan. And because of that, Valkorion also gained her conditioning after consuming her spirit.

So, what does that mean? What does it do? Well, I think that when the key phrase is said in presence of Vaylin, she temporarily loses her connection to the Force (or it becomes so weak that she can't use it), thus isn't a threat. And the same happens to Valkorion when the main character attempts to use it on him in KotET chapter 9, at least for long enough for the Outlander to kill him. This way the victory isn't dependent on one's power in the Force, and it fits a non Force sensitive Commander as well.

What about the holocron? I explain this as it only binds, commands and releases spirits, as we see with lord Dramath. It's not the key to Valkorion's destruction, but it is still important because it is used to free Vaylin's spirit from Valkorion after her death (and Arcann's, if applicable), which gives Outlander a potential powerful ally.

[Just a little addition that has very little to do with my explanation, but wanted to mention - in the throne room, when Valkorion breaks Outlander's mind, he takes over the body and attacks your companions. They hold off long enough for Commander to put their mind back, and at that moment Valky loses control, and the body is unconscious.]

So, to sum it up:

Valkorion is weaker after being killed on Voss, Dromund Kaas and Zakuul, hence why the Outlander can resist him, regardless of theirconnection to the Force;

the holocron found on Nathema can bind, command and release spirits, which allows Outlander to free Vaylin (and Arcann, if applicable) from Valkorion;

the bond formed between Valkorion and Commander allowed the latter to survive after having their mind destroyed;

Vaylin didn't completely get rid of the conditioning on Nathema because the process didn't go as it should've, it just removed the trigger;

by consuming Vaylin's spirit Valkorion gained both her strength and her weakness - her conditioning, that's why it worked on him, and it temporarily weakened his connection to the Force.

I know this isn't perfect, there are probably plot holes that I haven't noticed or poorly explained, but I like it much more. Why do I even bother with this explanation?

I just love doing mental gymnastics around KotFE-ET, and this particular part was difficult yet entertaining to figure out.

But honestly, probably most important reason is that it works for every class (so even non Force-users are fitting here) because strength in the Force is not the key. Valkorion underestimated how observant and clever Outlander is, and I think it works better for their characters.

[cjhartley]

i have decided to just start calling cjscisci world egg theory* for now as a placeholder. lets hear it for 🍳 or 🥚 idk which . whatever

*not actually a trans joke but that also works . real connor oc fans remember my giant treatise abt eggs and the spirit and ghosts as basically the more mature form of a human and soul and the body as the egg and etc. and basically its just a big thing i wrote while high and then it changed the course of cj scisci story 4ever bc thats when i added in dilly and liza and ronnie (who ik i said i got rid of and i might still get rid of them but they were made with dilly originally) who were from a different half finished concept i had going on . but anyways they got transplanted and then abbie and sanctity got transplanted as well

[kalashtars]

venting in the tags yippeee

[scoobydoodean]

Hello<3

I was wondering if you had any thoughts on how fandom misconstrues Dean's relationship with alcohol?

There is so much emphasis on making him out to be a violent mean drunk, but I mostly remember that he drinks and like passes out when he's grieving or stressed (iirc) (s6 PTSD, Soulless sam, when Cas dies, etc.)? It's weird to me because Dean isn't the only character to go through this. Bobby relies on drinking too. He's exactly as gruff as Dean can be. He also had an abusive father. Yet I don't usually see people judging Bobby for that (if they exist, I haven't seen them at least thank God).

I get frustrated when people say things like the MoC was a direct metaphor for alcoholism just because it made Dean sooo violent and angry, etc. And, it's like an unrealistic understanding of alcoholism irl and also of Dean himself and his actual actions and context. I just get weirdly defensive of him over it lol.

If you've already hashed this out I'm sry! At the end of the day, it's all just interpretation ig, but I wanted to know your take on it cause ik you'd look at dean with a good faith lens.

<3

One could say I have had thoughts on how fandom misconstrues Dean's relationship with alcohol. One could even say I have spawned extremely funny multi-day fandom-wide disk horses on this subject simply by giving my opinion on my own blog when an anon asked me to.

I'm tracking Dean's relationship with alcohol (and other substances bc I was too lazy to make two separate tags) through #dean and drugs during my rewatch if you care to peruse, but I think you and I are of a similar mind on this.

Prior to season 4, Dean has a very average relationship with alcohol. In season 4, Dean starts using alcohol as a coping tool to help him fall asleep because he's having nightmares about hell. By season 6, alcohol is also a coping tool for depression and stress. He drinks to deal with nightmares, he drinks to cope with hell trauma, he drinks after soulless Sam watches his sexual assault with a smile, he drinks after Cas swallows all the souls and Death blames Dean for everything, he drinks throughout season 7 to cope with Cas's death and Bobby's death. I'm up to 8.01 and have yet to see a single occasion where Dean drinking and Dean being violent co-occurred. What I do see is Dean drinking when he is sad, alone, or scared.

I'll continue tracking—I'll eventually get back into the MoC arc where Dean is drinking heavily again, and obviously Dean + drinking + anger + violence are all going to happen at the same time in MoC seasons. However, correlation does not equal causation, and while someone can choose to believe that Dean's drinking causes him to be angry, I think the literal answer in season 9/10 is that Dean's been cursed by the father of murder, and on a more metaphorical level, the Mark of Cain quite overtly represents Dean's resentment toward Sam which Carver spends his entire run laying out in great detail. This is why the whole Carver run culminates in Amara (a Dean parallel) being unleashed to take revenge on her brother, and why the MoC is a brother murderer curse to begin with. Alcohol is set dressing. It shows us—just as it did in the past—that Dean feels sad, alone, and scared (in this case, of what the MoC could lead him to do—which also isn't dissimilar from the original reason Dean started drinking—after hell to cope with the trauma of not just being tortured but torturing others—the fear that he'd been made into a monster).

Looking at the matter holistically, I don't personally see Dean as an angry drunk. I see him as a sad drunk. If anything, I think he hopes that alcohol will drown his anger and violent urges in the MoC arc, or at least slow him down, while also being the traditional tool he uses during boughts of depression (which he is very much experiencing during the MoC arc to the point of suicide). I also think outside the outlier of season 9/10, the narrative supports sad drunk Dean far better than angry drunk Dean.

[cursingtoji]

🎙️ just saw your post asking about blog recs…step up to the stage bc i need some!!!!

BLOGS RECOMMENDATION <3

— mostly jjk, but also chainsaw man and aot

*taping the mic* okay here are my nominees with some fics recomendations as well

disclaimers!

lemme start saying so plot is everything to me, pwp can be hot but i'll hardly remember it afterwards, that being said here's some writers that can do both great plots and hot scenes.

also while digging i realize i wasn’t following some of those and if you noticed im sorry im dumb but i truly love your writing.

i tried to tag every active blog i could remember but it’s possible i forgot a few since i’ve been reading more jjk recently. if i forgot you im so sorry please don’t take offense.

many blogs i loved were deactivated, rest in piece great works they had.

everything i read i reblog under the tag #recs

@thekillingmoonmoon ofc moon is the first one i think when the topic "best writers" come up, i freaking love her and everything she does its not even fair to pick one thing so im picking 3, this super passionate toji work that i re-read at an alarming frequency (which btw i consider my own personal gift). yakuza choso and yuki aka the hottest duo ever. the cherry on top is her kishibe series (just realized i gotta catch up on)

@rinhaler - luxe is def on my top 3, she comes up with very organic scenes. even if it's a simple plot she can develop it so originally. I recently read her underground fighter!sukuna and i'm still thinking about it.

@laudthingcat has the best headcanons in the jjk fandom hands down, it’s the perfect dose of hot funny and cute, pick anything from her masterlist it’s guaranteed you’ll have a good time reading it. when you moan their name in your sleep in particular gives me butterflies

@meownotgood is obviously the best aki writer out there, you can see the love for aki in their words and how they write him so well and so into character. arrival in tokyo is truly a masterpiece, they also have a +100k words series i've been wanting to read for a while but i want to rewatch chainsaw man first hehe, i'm 100% sure is fire tho.

@kentoangel roma writes choso like she's in love with him and you can tell. shes always on my for you and even her snippets are *chefs kiss* special kudos to stepbrother!choso

@kentopedia i just realized i'm assigning a writer per character and nanami is definitely rylie's. the domestic lovely way she writes him makes me forget canon.

@tojisun another blog that is very often on my for you page. cannot talk about toji fics without bringing up sun, everything she writes about him has me furiously nodding. not to mention simon and konig, just talking about them makes me wanna run to her blog and binge read everything

@chocochipsushi 's bodyguard toji is unforgetable to me, i wish i lost my memory so i could read it all again for the first time. bodyguard toji is the definition of living rent free in my mind, whenever i have to deal with annoying coworkers i immediately think “bodyguard toji would not allow them to talk to me like that”

@suget one of the greatest geto writers for sure, they have so many geto works, i was going through their blog to find the one i read more recently and there was so many others i haven’t seen! another writer i could very easily spend a whole day binge reading. btw this cult leader one was recommended to me and i fell in love with it <3

@staryukis has the cutest gojo drabbles

@tonycries brooklin baby was recommended to me by moon and it had me by the neck! also they have many other works im hoping to read soon as well

@mommypieck isayama created reiner but they created subby reiner

@titan-fodder ‘s the tinniest notion The Best Reiner fic in all the existence of the universe (tw: stepcest kinda?)

@nanaslutt mma!toji made feel every emotion possible so intensely

[fivewholeminutes]

Leaving this one here for whenever you wanna / are ready to talk about yesterday's show!!! |-/

Also hello, Doubt demo????? My favourite pre-Clancy TØP song ever???!!?!?!!? Good stuff 😌😌😌😌

HELLO HI YES i am finally back homeeeee (my friends were going straight after the concert to my house and now they're working while i'm chilling so i finally have time mehehehe) ty for the ask bby 🥺

So, under the cut, cause it's probably going to be a bit long, chaotic and with shitty photos

I AM FERALLLLLL I WASN'T FOLLOWING THE FANDOM SUPER CLOSELY SINCE AFTER TRENCH (mostly bc the tumblr side of it that i lurked in died) SO IT WAS THE FIRST TIME I WAS IN THE DARK ABOUT HOW THE SHOWS LOOK LIKE THIS ERA AND IT WAS SUCH A REFRESHING EXPERIENCE, BEING SURPRISED AT A GIG‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

On our way there i was wondering if they're still playing hoty. If we're still gonna get the backflip. What are they gonna finish with (after all this time i was afraid they're not finishing shows with trees anymore but THEY STILL DO AND IT MADE ME FEEL SO WARM AND HAPPY. IT WAS LIKE COMING HOME. DESPITE EVERYTHING WE STILL HAVE TREES PLAYED ON PLATFORMS HELD BY FANS‼️).

God, i am still so emotional, it was a good choice to Not Speedrun what i missed (i ALWAYS need to know everything beforehand, not only about gigs, but yeah. It's so nice to just Be Surprised).

When they started, literally everyone around us stood up and didn't sit their ass down till the very end and i got so excited to see them again i forgot i have my phone lying on my lap and i DROPPED IT AND BROKE THE BACK OF IT LMAO (the screen is okay though)

We had seated tickets, BUT!!!!!!! WE COULDN'T HAVE DREAMED OF A BETTER PLACE, THE SMALL PIANO PLATFORM WHERE TYLER WENT FOR HALF OF ROUTINES AND THE ENTIRETY OF THE LINE WAS LIKE. IDK, 15-20 M AWAY FROM US??? TWO SONGS WE AWAITED THE MOST. PLAYED RIGHT NEXT TO UUUUUUSSSSSSSS‼️‼️‼️

AND THE HELLO, THE TORCH BEARER JOSH APPEARED ON THE VERY STAIRS WE USED TO GET TO OUR PLACES???? THE PERFECT SPOT FR

I really love they keep going around the whole venue to be closer to the fans that are not by the stage 🥺

Tyler learned how to pronounce Łódź perfectly. He said that better than some Polish rappers we've had a displeasure to hear on a festival in this city once. (Displeasure not bc they're rappers, but bc they make very bad music.) I really wish they would stop coming to Łodź, though. WE HAVE BETTER CITIES, PLEASE STOP MAKING ME COME TO ŁÓDŹ, IT'S A CURSED PLACE (sorry if anyone's from there reading this. But also i hope you get better <3)

He has, however, fucked up a name of a little girl they invited to sing one refrain of ride with. IT WAS LAURA, TYLER. NAURA IS A NON-EXISTENT WORD, MATE (/lh, the girl was stressed and didn't pronounce her name very clearly. I mean, who can blame her). AND SHE WAS SO CUTEEEEEEEEEEE, SHE SUNG YAYAYAIDE INSTEAD OF PRONOUNCING THE R'S IN RIDE AND I WAS MELTING FROM HER CUTENESSSSSSSSSS

Also tyler got off the platform stage later for her to have the spotlight on her only 🥺

I'm sorry for crude blurryfacing(hehe) of the crowd

JOSH'S RED GRANDMA VEST WAS EVERYTHING TO MEEEEEE

Tyler got a few pokemon plushies thrown on stage, with a tag that said happy bday to his son!! He kept pikachu and KICKED charizard (or squirtle? Don't remember) back into the crowd. Rip pokemons. And then the crowd started singing happy birthday in polish, bc one thing polish crowds love to do is to confuse musicians with singing polish songs out of the blue. It's like my 2nd or 3rd happy birthday situation. Why are we like this. Are other crowds like this too?? (Side note. Looking at y'all at mystic festival at 21:37 before sleep token played. You Know What You Did)

TYLER CRIED DURING NAVIGATING. I DID NOT EXPECT THAT DURING NAVIGATING AND I ALMOST CRIED MYSELF IN THAT MOMENT.

One thing i didn't like is that tyler was straight up Not Singing A LOT of the parts. Like i get when you want the crowd to sing some lines, hell, i love that too, hearing how powerful everyone's voices sound. But mate, that was a bit too much of not singing!!!!!!!!!!

Then again. They played for over 2 hours (and i love them for that), that might strain the voice a bit. BUT STILL. NO EXCUSES, MR JOSEPH

Anyways. Have some extra photos

AND THAT DOUBT DEMO ANNOUNCEMENT??? HELLO???????????????????????????? I ALWAYS END UP ON THEIR GIGS WHERE THEY ANNOUNCE STH (last time tyler announced they're gonna have a baby with jenna and she came on stage 🥺) alex fivewholeminutes keeps winning 😌 AND THE DEMO ITSELF IS SO FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDD

But most importantly.

Tyler said we were better than the german crowds

(Again. Sorry for any germans reading this. But it's not my fault we're just better 😌💖) /lh again of course

EDIT: I FORGOR TO ADD I WAS SURPRISED THAT JOSH PLAYS THE KEYBOARD NOW. AND HE SINGS????????? THAT WAS DELIGHTFUL. THAT WAS EVERYTHING TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[mcytblrconfessions]

*sighs in sadness* Ocean Queen Lizzie you were too good a character to be released onto the masses who couldn't characterize you well in fanfiction to save your life :(

The joy your story brought me (self-proclaimed number one Ocean Queen fan /hj) is immense, but it does not cancel out the multitudes of fanfiction flattening you into a hollow shell of yourself who only exists as an extension of the men in your life, clogging the LDShadowLady fandom tag and making it nigh-impossible to fin the (rare) fic in which Lizzie is in-character

And trust me, I know. My experiences are born out of pain and sorrow. Deep in the clutches of hyperfixation, I checked the LDShadowLady tag several times every day for months, no filters. I looked at every fic in the tag, and the backlog of fics. I read every fic in the tag, with only a few exceptions for the most truly unstomachable fic. Even as my hyperfixation loosened, I still checked the LDShadowLady tag often, and scrolled through the backlog. I still read every Lizzie centric fic I can find, and a lot that isn't. I still am on a constant search for good Lizzie fic (please: anyone want to recommend any fics? I'm sure there's stuff I'm missing/missed/forgot to bookmark! she doesn't have to be the main character, just significant!)

I have gazed into the abyss. I have absorbed the scope of it. I have written fic on my own.

And yet: the problem is less with the lack of Lizzie fics, and more with the bad ones, the ones that don't actually feature her in any real capacity, which becomes easy to see once you've read a lot of them noticed the pattern, just a combination of sidelining, of mischaracterization, and mischaracterization by omission, that trap that is so easy to fall into.

I can forgive fandom for this to an extent. No fic writer is perfect, this is about the collective patterns. But after a certain point, it starts becoming harder to ignore: the way she is written into fics only to warp around c!Jimmy (sometimes other male characters) with zero regard for her interiority, her agency, her struggles, her potential, in fics that give male side characters these things.

The way she is ignored varies. Sometimes it is the most blatant examples: she is put in a situation in which multiple canon traits/opinions/experiences of hers would obviously be relevant, but all are ignored except supportive sister. Sometimes it is more subtle: it iisn't a plot hole that her being a supportive sister/caring/"strong woman girlboss" (in the way that doesn't actually give her any agency or depth or plot importance, she's still a flat character only there for support, but actually we only write her as a personw with no interior depth or anything interesting bc she's just so cool and competent and perfect there aren't any problems that give us reasons to focus on her or give her like, a character arc or something) is the only thing that comes up in the au, but the fact that the author didn't find anything else about her interesting or worthy of show, never considered showing her in more depth, giving her an arc, giving her choices to make, the fact that over and over again authors decide that the only reason to show her is if she's supporting a guy, grates a whole fucking lot. Mostly, it is more subtle but once you see it you will never stop unseeing it. I try to repeat it but I just sound like a broken record.

Am I going insane for noticing this when nobody else seems to? I worry that, even being mad mostly at the trend and not the individual writers, I am still somehow being too unfair to them. I check my line of thought over and over. Then, once again, I am reading a fic and I can't stop thinking about how it's another fic in the pattern, and I try to find something that isn't and it takes me pages and pages, and I am so angry again. Death by a thousand pinpricks. Driven insane by a thousand lackluster Lizzie portrayals.

It's hard not to feel crazy. People like the Ocean Queen! People don't dislike her character! She just slowly gets flattened, over and over. Never any interest in her depths. (yes I am ocean punning at a time like this)

I am awash in a sea of misery. Every day I think of her and I wish for a world where people liked her better. Where she was the character with a million fics exploring her potential. I think about it and I think about her and I think about my fic for her and the good fics I've read for her and I open another fic where Lizzie is tagged and I hope.

(The pain these fics bring me is immense but the joy I feel about the character is greater, at least. Mostly I think about that. Two sides to everything, how unfortunate/lucky)

Ocean Queen I love you.

[broken-exfaust-pipe]

i’m only here bc my colleagues wouldn’t shut up abt this hellhole 🫶🏽

————

‼️‼️GECS HIJACKS THE INTRO POST‼️‼️

I’ve never made an askblog before, omg! My only complaint, so far, is that my Tumblr doesn’t have an option to make text yellow : )

It’s okay— I’ll settle for weird orange.

Before I got started, I wanted to do a little ‘character summary’ type thing, since Fausta is an OC.

I’m just gonna write some basic lil bits of info, in this section, right here!

↓↓↓

F/N: Fausta Maria Stark

Alias: Cobalt Blue

Age: 17yrs

Height: 6’0”

Nationality: American (born in Malibu California, raised in NYC NY)

Ethnicity: Dominican

Defining features: Wine-stain birthmark (right collarbone), prosthetic left forearm (custom-built)

Languages: Spanish, English

Trivia: Undiagnosed autistic

・Artificial webbing

・Stark industries didn’t ‘exist’ in her universe. Instead, she had Stark International and they sold home appliances (like smart fridges!)

・The AI built into her suit is named Alexa. Alexa has been around since Tony designed Fausta’s first prosthetic arm, and Faust chose the name when she was 10 years old

・Since she took over designing her own tech, her arm has had a plethora of useless functions built into it— kind of like a multitool! A few of these include: a bottle opener, a box cutter, and a flashlight

It’s probably important to mention—

‼️Both Gecs and Fausta are minors‼️

So, hey, maybe don’t send in anything weird.

Oh, and, I cannot honestly tell you if this is more or less important than the previous thing but— I’m autistic. I have a lot of trouble interacting with people I’m unfamiliar with (this is a later edit because it is, in fact, causing issues). If I short-term-memory the hell out of one of your blog’s rules or if I do generally anything that makes you uncomfortable, PLEASE be gentle with me. Don’t automatically assume I’m trying to be antagonizing or whatever. Also, preferably send me a DM and I’ll apologise, reflect, delete whatever dumb thing I said, etc. I get hella anxious, I’ve discovered, when people make posts for me to find— even if they don’t mention me, by blog name.

Oh boy, that’s a long paragraph. : )

I’ll be using these tags to indicate certain content (or whatever—)

↓↓↓

#G— indicates that Gecs is speaking in the tags

#⚙️— indicates Fausta is speaking in the tags

#mod post - this one is pretty self-explanatory

#cobaltposting - posting or reblogging things as Fausta would

Fausta is a character that I made way back when I first watched the Iron Man movies— I was around 11 or 12, back then, and it still shows in some of her writing (mostly her cringefail backstory)… So, y’know, go easy on me.

Edit: I might be up for proper role-playing in the distant future but, for now, this just a casual sort of interaction/ask blog. I’m hoping that doesn’t always deter people, lol!

————

so hey i’m going 2 spare u ppl the whole gorey backstory mostly bc i don’t want 2 talk abt it

in summary:

I was adopted by Tony Stark when I was 8 years old. My bio parents lived in a condo not far from his mansion in Malibu. I made a run for it after they beat the shit out of me (for reasons—you know how it is) and ended up in Pá’s front yard. He took me in, during my recovery… and couldn’t get rid of me.

Good for me, I guess—not every day you get adopted by a billionaire who also fuels your engineering special interest.

When I was 14, I was bitten by a radioactive spider on a school excursion to Oscorp Labs. Since then, I’ve developed an insane allergy to most spiders… and wall-climbing, web-slinging superpowers.

I became the vigilante Cobalt Blue (named after the tarantula, not the metal!) and the rest is history.

Oh, and my universe was kind of, sort of destroyed by an anomaly… but we don’t talk about that.

I live and work full-time at Spider-Society HQ on Earth 928-B.

so y’know… ask me shit ig

[ocgram-central]

sorry if this question isn't answerable but im having a really hard time writing timeline conversations and just have no clue what I should even have the characters be doing and talking about and when I do it doesn't really actually add anything (if that makes sense) im wondering if there were any tips you or other people had?

Ocgram creators feel free to add your tips. I made an essay again sorr I talk a lot

I remembered I made an advice on TL convos before but I couldn't find it and was like did it happen in another timeline then it turns out I just gave it a wrong tag. Anyway here but I will elaborate on it. I will write about what comes to my mind generally and what I've been using to write timelines in my ocgram, it's the way I personally do things but I hope it can be a help.

If you feel lost in anything at all I recommend referencing the original project, so this is what I'll do. Generally speaking, I think in the original project, timeline conversations cover mostly three things: worldbuilding, characters' hobbies and habits, and characters' relationships.

Most of the timeline conversations in the very beginning, when they were yet published every day, served as an introduction to the worldbuilding (the prison rules, system, etc) and an introduction to the characters through their reactions to the prison. For example, we got to know that prisoners can request items, that they can smoke, that they get meals, that the writings in the prison are in an unknown language and the prison is located in an unknown place, etc. The characters also discussed what they think of the concept of the "mental images", interrogations with Es, written interrogations, and this whole situation with suddenly ending up in a prison, such as Mikoto saying he thinks it's a reality show. So, I think that for starters timeline conversations are a good way to introduce your audience to your ocgram's prison through the eyes of the characters. You can repeat it with future trials if any rules change with the trials or more lore is revealed.

We also get to know a lot about what characters naturally do when they have nothing to do basically. It can include hobbies, habits, coping mechanisms, etc. They naturally fall into what they've been doing every day before prison. Shidou and Kazui immediately smoke, Amane immediately searches for ways to continue studying, Kotoko requests protein to keep building her body and observes other prisoners to punish them later bc she needs to continue her "duty", Mahiru immediately starts conversations on traditionally girly topics and tries to befriend everyone, checking who is the most compatible with her/the most to her taste, etc., Fuuta is annoyed that he can't keep scrolling through the Internet/watching TV/playing games and that no one in the prison shares these hobbies. It's also revealed in Minigrams that Yuno/Mikoto/Mahiru often start group games to break the ice and pass the time. So it's also a good way to reveal what is the day-to-day behavior of your prisoners, and since this is a stressful environment what do they do to cope with stress.

As for the characters' relationships, generally I think that the written interrogation is for more personal, not crime-related information on the character, and the timeline conversations are for personal relationships between the characters. It's a way to reveal who is becoming closer to each other (for example we know that something is going on with Amane and Fuuta but we never have them looking directly into the camera and saying it), or just a way to hint at the parallels between the characters and elaborate on them both through it (for example the conversation where Yuno says that Mikoto is always pretending to smile). Among the forms of content that exist in the original project there are no other ways to reveal the relationships forming between the characters to the audience, everything else is either only about the particular character or only about their crime, so you could primarily use TL convos for establishing characters' relationships.

Mikoto kinda has a point with the reality show comment because really you can imagine a reality show where a bunch of strangers are forced to live together and are not allowed access to the outside world. How would they cope with the situation, pass the time, would they want to immediately find friends or isolate themselves until all of this ends, what conversation topics would they be interested in?

If you think that your TL convos "don't add anything" then I think focusing on these aspects (worldbuilding, hobbies and habits, relationships) could help you. Anything that seems like it lacks information can actually elaborate on your story. For example this conversation (source). Nothing really happens here but we get to know that Haruka is terribly scared of Kotoko, that Kotoko doesn't really get it (which is further supported by her interactions with Muu where she doesn't get it again), and that Es was calling Kotoko for something.

Also in the post I mentioned at the beginning, I said that Chekhov's guns are helpful in writing TL convos so I want to elaborate on it. Basically you can utilize foreshadowing a lot. Something I enjoy a lot about timeline conversations is that they look taken out of context. We don't know everything that is happening behind the scenes. So, any detail can be a foreshadowing, whether your audience notices it or not. Besides when I don't have more ideas for TL convos, or when I feel like they're too inconsistent/scattered, I look through the already written ones and pick up on what could be an idea for foreshadowing or an unfinished narrative, and make new TL convos to continue it. I put more emphasis on the TLs than the original project I think, but in my ocgram there are several batches of TLs that are connected by plot, like side-stories of sorts. I think it can also help you with the feeling that your TL convos aren't really informative. I'd say what matters most is whether there's a meaning for you as an author.

Also this is a way more general and vague advice but if you find writing timeline conversations genuinely too hard or boring then you can experiment with the forms of art that would be easier to you. It's hard to enjoy creation when you're struggling with it. I put a lot of emphasis on TL convos because I like writing dialogues/I find it easier to write and understand my characters through dialogues, but there are people who don't find it easy. If you prefer writing descriptions for example, or you want to write something more straightforward than out-of-context bits, the first idea that comes to my mind is making characters' have personal diaries and posting their diary entries where they tell us about the worldbuilding, their daily life in the prison, and their relationships with others the same it happens in TL convos. I hope that my advice can help you write your TL convos but most of all I hope you find a way to write your story the way it's enjoyable to you.

[queriesntheories]

how do you do?

I love to make Stuff: writing things, artsy things, music things, whole buncha things. I also post a lot of nonsense thoughts, and share the cool things I find around the web, especially artsy fun things and stuff that makes internet surfing a little easier.

You’ll see some swearing in the tags, but any jokes on the ruder side I keep tagged; block #not so family friendly if you don't want to see that.

I have a Good Omens sideblog on @bananafishgorillashoelace (with a dash of nutmeg) :D

I'm proudly queer and genderfluid! Not entirely out everywhere, still figuring myself out but generally just trying to do whatever feels fun. All of my trans/queer/questioning siblings out there; I see you, I hear you, and I love you /p (and to folks who are aspec in any form, you're the freakin coolest and I hope something nice happens to you this week! this is entirely unrelated to me, I just hope you have a great day!)

If you need anything tagged just shoot me a message, I’m easy going and don’t mind it. Actually just message me generally I like talking to people :>

More info about this blog and the stuff I do under the cut, but thank you for stopping by regardless of the reason why ^^

And remember folks: Don't like what you see? Blocking is free! (and constructive criticism is recieved gladly!)

I exist on YouTube as AychTooOh, making music shitposts, playlists, and the occasional fan edit! I try to upload when I can; if you have any playlist ideas send them my way :D

I have made a Wug Picrew, so you can make a cute creature from child linguistics (this is one of my favourite things)

Sometime I write fanfiction on AO3, on the rare occasion that a silly pairing or a scenario socks me in the face with inspiration

I exist on Themeplaza too, occasionally making silly fun 3DS system themes/splashes! (and if you have any requests, shoot me a DM and I'll see what I can do!)

I have some old art on Newgrounds; very very inactive over there, but that's where you might see art I post for collabs :P

Aside from my GO sideblog, I'm also working on turning my tag #q’s internet trinkets into a neocities page! Check back soon for updates, and please send me stuff you think might fit ^^

I also have a pretty hefty original project of my own that I've been chipping away at for the better part of two to three years! If the fates align, you might see it this year!! ;D

Here are some cool people I think are very neat that you should follow too

@paperoxalis - very skilled 2D and stop-motion animator, sculptor, artist, and writer too! They recently released an adorable animation you can watch here :)

@scottysee - artist, writer and animator working on so many projects; always amazed by their work! You can join their Discord server here :)

@unknown-is-aaaa - very talented artist with an interest in plenty of fandoms, and a heck of a cool-looking art style! They also have a Twitter you can check out here :)

@galandrielle - long-time writer with a heck of a story to tell! Check out her work here! (I’d recommend starting with Michael and John - A Story of Friendship)

@canceltheact - more like a group, but these guys on the theory team are the best and are such wonderful friends to have! &lt;3

@midnightnautilus - artist/animator/writer/squid, creator of the amazing Markiplier AU “A Bit of Madness”!

@backlitrabbit - ARG enthusiast, aspiring writer and all-round very cool human. Check out their YouTube channel here :D

#putting this in my pocket for later - stuff I save for future things

#things q thinks are cool - posts that make me go “:o” (I have many a subtag for this that usually starts with "and by cool i mean (adjective)")

#Q’s creations - the stuff I make :D (don't question the capital letter, i messed up)

#friends of q - things from my friends :)

#q’s internet trinkets - Fun/useful internet things I find that you can use (mostly free if I can help it, bc fun is essential to the human experience even if you’re tight on cash)

#q rambles - my funny little soapbox

#asks go brrr - asks :D please send me asks they're very fun

#not so family friendly - Not entirely PG-13 stuff I find interesting/funny, but still want to share. Block this tag if you want a clean dash, I won’t judge.

#bag of rainbow things - like the things I find cool tag, but LGBTQ+ community/education/history related. (and also probably personally related to me ahaha ^^;)

#yay recipes! - recipes from places! Some of these may also be in the pocket tag; I’ll work on sorting them eventually

#q’s crow obsession - for all your Corvid needs

#wiggly frequencies - the hills are alive with the sound of muse (yes I’m making a DaThings reference on my pinned post cause her stuff rocks. Anyway this is where the music stuff lives)

#because funni - *slams whiteboard* LAUGH!

(ps if you're wondering where I got these cool little gifs from they're from blinkies.cafe and they rule <3) (I also got this star divider from here!) (last updated 12/05/24)

[ted-calling-orson]

LONG ASK IM SO SORRY

ok im sorry to enter ur askbox but i cant just contain this to tags and like. you are SOOOO right for liking kermit !!! sad mf. love him. also can i just say- WHY is there NOT more fanfic im SORRY but. if we have so much crackfic of modern presidents or even actual fic/oneshots of other presidents, PLEASE give us TR / TR fam fic !!!! id eat that shit UP. i got so tired of it i published my own tr kiddos fic istg its either anon or on my acc i can find it

and im so confused on why NATM teddy aint got more fics that at least mention the kids OR siblings. sorry this is gonna be a long ask. but really !! like. theres maybe 5(?) max fics ive seen mention them. a few in the Treasured Collection NATM fic series, and maybe one or two loose ones around. im SOOOO close to writing a self indulgent fic for it. again srry for how long this is. but i never come across tr fans. rlly i swear. also so right for liking the muppets (Fozzie my beloved <3)

oh !! and the cartoon network idea??? YES. absolutely. id watch it. 10000%. i think presidential cartoons should exist more, beyond episodes in preexisting shows. itd be so cool!! ive watched possibly every documentary i can find on TR/show that features him (like The Alienist) i need some lighthearted stuff.

finally idk if youre big on reading books or trilogies but if you can id recommend reading Edmund Morris' trilogy on TR if you haven't yet. the final book ending had me crying at 7am december 2022 like 10 times.

p.s the erb rap battle was so silly and im so surprised i saw nobody in the comments mention quentin with the line churchill shot of TR's family dying prematurely. sorry for the length of this ask--and dino au is so cool and i wanna hear all abt it !!

-🦆

OH MY GOSH THIS IS LIKE A DREAM WHEUSHSUWJWKEKWKWKWJNWJWIXJWBWIDJISJEBDISJSISJSIS oooo we should be best friends ooooooo. Also dw about this being too long you are literally one of my favorite people of all time😭‼️🙏

on the Kermit thing: YIPPEEE‼️‼️‼️ finally another Kermit fan😭 the only other recognition he’d get was from some Indiana jones mini series. Id love to write Roosevelt fan fiction but I don’t like posting my stuff on tumblr (usually my fics are for me and my friends⁉️) but ey, maybe I’ll post something🙏

ALSO MUPPET FAN‼️‼️‼️ my favs are Dr. Teeth and Kermit

on the natm thing: YIPPEE- I wanna write about my au so bad cuz I’ve got so many ideas for it especially for Elliot and Theo’s relationship bc their rivalry was so bad it extended into their daughters. Evil Elliott seemed like an awesome concept and what if he dragged Corinne into it??? Wieihdjehsjs

the tv show: OK OK SO I had a HUGE concept of this show. First off: it’s like your avid 2000s sitcom but with art‼️ The Taft’s (and in later seasons, the Wilson’s) are their neighbors and T.R and W.H.T would have silly angry dad neighbor hijinks (and they both hate the Wilsons together), Alice is the popular girl and there was gonna be a whole episode on her affair with William Borah, Kermit is the shy kid that gets into scuffles with Ted jr, Quentin and Archibald are the spoiled younger sibs, Ethel is the neutral younger sister and Edith is the mostly annoyed mom. Also Quentin and Charles Taft are best friends and I’ll prolly write more ideas for it but I do have designs for Kermit, Ethel and Alice:

anyway, you don’t know how excited I got when I saw this in my inbox😭 but yeah I love your stuff man! Pls post more Teddy stuff I thrive off it im literally one of 5 Theodore Roosevelt fans

ALSO IM GLAD YOU MENTIONED THE RAP BATTLE CUZ- I think that line is about most of his family dying fairly young (Theodore sr., Quentin, Elliott etc) and not just his kids but I could be wrong the fandom wiki of erb is so 50/50

[forabeatofadrum]

Happy Out of Touch Thursday and remember the 21st of September yada yada. Thank you @artsyunderstudy, @larkral and @wellbelesbian for the tags yesterday. I didn't have time yesterday to post since I am super busy with my new degree and it's Not Going Well, but I do have something to say (partially regarding my degree, but more on that later.)

Remember my myosotis plant? The one who was thriving, but suddenly started dying? Well, a while ago I got rid of the dead parts so that the plant could focus on the new ones and this is her now:

It's nowhere as grandiose as before (the plants don't even grow that high so I had to make a photo from a bird's perspective), but she's alive and that's all that matters!

NOW. FIC STUFF. MY DEGREE. WHAT DO THEY HAVE IN COMMON? Time After Time, my MCD Snowbaz fic where Simon dies in the White Chapel and where an immortal Baz only sees him every 20 years when the Veil is lifted. I started a new philosophy master and again if we ignore the fact that I am terrible at it (so far), I actually have something that's on my mind and I have a question for people who've read it.

Spoilers for the ENDING of Time After Time under the cut. Do not read it if you haven't read Time After Time.

So first, the weather: @quizasvivamos @blurglesmurfklaine @coffeegleek @esperantoauthor @otherworldsivelivedin @caramelcoffeeaddict @sillyunicorn @bazzybelle @dragoneggos @raenestee @tectonicduck @nightimedreamersworld @urban-sith @thnxforknowingme @captain-aralias @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @justgleekout @cerriddwenluna @tea-brigade @ivelovedhimthroughworse @moodandmist @whogaveyoupermission @bookish-bogwitch @confused-bi-queer @aroace-genderfluid-sheep @ionlydrinkhotwater @1908jmd @special-bc-ur-part-of-it @chen-chen-chen-again-chen​ @cutestkilla ​ ​ @martsonmars​ @facewithoutheart ​ @shrekgogurt @boyinjeans @rockitmans @bitbybitwrites @blackberrysummerblog @whatevertheweather

Okay, I am not sure how many people will read this, but if you're here, hi! And if you're here, you know that Time After Time ends with the end of the universe.

Or maybe you didn't know that and you're just here for the philosophical ride, which is fine.

So, Baz is immortal, but again, without an universe to exist in, he perishes as well. But OH? What is this? The chapter continues with Baz... being somewhere.

I wrote all of this with only a very basic idea of Descartes' cogito (which is the fancy word for the "I think, therefore I am" quote). In fact, I mostly knew it from a Klaine fic, which isn't surprising, and this was a very, very obscure homage to a fic that has nothing to do with this one. But now that I am actually delving into Descartes' philosophy on substance dualism, I am looking at this passage in a complete new way.

A basic bitch explanation of (substance) dualism is that it's the philosophical belief that there's a separation between body and mind. Descartes questions everything, including the existence of reality, which includes his own existence. He realises that he has, in his opinion, reasons to doubt whether his physical body exists, but the fact that he doubts means that he has a mind, and therefore, he cannot doubt that his mind exists. Get it? Hence, "I think, therefore I am" refers to him being able to rationalise his thoughts about existence, whatever they might be.

The relation between his body and mind is causal. If he has a mind, he can imagine having a body. They are separate entities, hence the whole dualism thing, but they co-exist. But since it's causal, you can say that you need to be able to understand the existence of your body by thinking about it. After all, your body moves according to what you mentally want it to do. Or that is what Descartes says. Full disclosure, dualism no longer holds up due to neuroscience, but whatever. The idea still stands and philosophy is all about ideas!

If you wish, you can reread the passage I just added above. Freaky, right?

Given that Descartes was trying to rationalise existence in general, and I wrote into the fic that Baz thinks of the existence of his body... my question for readers is this: Do you think Baz and Simon still exist?

I have thought a lot about this second ending, and I asked a previous question. I didn't mean to write some philosophical shit, but here we are. Descartes would argue that Baz exists, since he thinks. Because what is existence? After all, Baz is very well aware of the fact that there's nothing.

If this is non-existence, then what does non-existence even entail? He and Simon can spend the rest of whatever this is wherever they are, but what are they?

But then again, isn't his awareness of nothing proof that there is something? Isn't his perception of non-existence the proof of existence? Or is this the perfect "proof" that dualism is real in the Carry On universe, namely that the mind can continue to exist as a separate entity? But then how does that relate to Baz "feeling" corporeal? He has shoulders, because he wants to have them? Or does he even have shoulders? Maybe he's just under the impression that he has them.

(For the story's sake, let's say that he does have them. Otherwise we can argue that Simon actually doesn't show up at the end, since nothing is real, and that makes me upsetti spaghetti. I mean, Baz says it at the end. He doesn't have time to ponder whether this is real.) (But for philosophy's sake: is Simon even real???? And if nothing is real, then how can Baz no have time???? PHILOSOPHY!)

I am aware I am going all over the place and I am also aware there might not be a clear cut answer. That is how philosophy works. I admit, I don't even know if Simon and Baz exist at that point. I purposefully left it up in the air. The idea of them reuniting is cathartic, but it is indeed just an idea. But all this dualism shit did make me appreciate this chapter more and I think I am free to appreciate my own stuff, so I am asking the question.

So: do you think Simon and Baz exist at the end of the fic? And follow-up question: does it even matter?

----

----

---

As an extra, this is Simon's POV from the last three chapters of Time After Time. I did come up with that while writing the fic, but I never found space to add it: basically, as Simon said before, time passes weirdly. So for him, no time has passed. He moved on. He disappeared from Baz's flat, where they danced and said goodbye, and the next thing he knows, he's at the spot where the second epilogue takes place. He's a bit confused, because "is this the next step?" and stuff, but then he sees Baz. Baz is there with him, so he reaches out and smiles when Baz turns towards him. The implication here is that whatever is next after the Veil is supposed to be paradise or whatever you want to call it. It's supposed to be the thing you want. And what Simon ultimately wants is to be with Baz. Awwww!

[beatcroc]

makes you think about Indivisible for that blorbo meme

gah.

fave/guy i think about most-Either Ajna or baozhai but the latter not for the reason you think. Don't get me wrong her explicit canon competent-disaster lesiban-ness is a godsend, but mostly I think about how she had like. SO much fucking lore that they absolutely never brought up ingame. Like not even her postgame quest touched on it? I seriously don't even know if half of it is still canon.

Ajna..Ajna... I just love her so much and love her as such a flawed protag. You don't ususally see the role of "guy who's earnestly trying to do good but is too small-minded and just makes everything worse" handed to the *hero*. And even less often there's such a mechanical, gameplay type focus on going back and actually fixing all the shit you fucked up. Possibly the only time I've seen metroidvania backtracking be plot-relevant gdxgfdhgdg.

Cute/baby guy- there's a lot of funky little dudes in this but i think i gotta give it to ginseng & honey.... they got the spunk + canon they/them is a treat :') kushi & altun, sangmu [rip], and phoebe [surprisingly] are the runners up. lanshi is disqualified on account of being a dog. that would be too easy.

Underrated-hmmm... probably quadira? i'm gonna be real i don't remember a lot of the minor characters and i had to consult the page to even remember she existed but i remember her being like. a very subtle but very strong presence. she never said much but wasn't she just like....super exasperated by everything going on bc she had her own quest to get back to? i think she was one of those ones i came to like a lot more after the fact

Obscure fave- there are seven posts in the angwu tag and the first four of them are mine. god I fucking love angwu. She is still life goals for me. rude ass little old science lady in 3 layers of cloaks who gets to be a reclusive hermit in her tower all day but is still beloved and respected the world over for her knowlege, accomplishments, and contributions? please god. also her design is objectively flawless.

Problematic fave/meow meow- i mean dhar is THE shoe-in answer here yeah? Like. Good god where do you start with him.

Plinko-....probably also dhar. He's such a little bitch it's so funny when he whines

Superhell- queen mary. Not even for the whole tyrannical dictator moloch thing either her design just pisses me the fuck off [and the slime thing is even worse]

i am ADDING a new one on here that im just going to call MVP, because i want to mention razmi because she was so so so good and well-written. not a lot of Notes on her per se, but god she was just. shes so fucking funny and had such a distinct/unique personality. shes a weird little freak who wound up pulling a SURPRISING amount of emotional weight without it feeling off, and even in being one of the most active/chatty characters every moment with her is a blast and she also almost made me cry.

[kindlythevoid]

For the talk about your fics game: 1, 2, 4 (OC of your choice), and 8!

Ohhh, thank you so much for asking!!! I really took this opportunity to lore dump about, well, basically everyone and everything I think, and it turned out to be a very long post. And as I myself hate scrolling and scrolling through posts that I've already seen (unless it's the color of the sky), I will put it under the keep reading for the sake of brevity.

Read at your own risk.

(But thank you very much for asking, seriously, I love lore dumping so so much)

1. What story (stories?) are you writing rn that you’ll most likely publish next?

Probably In Every Stitch and Seam, which mostly follows Season Two of my BBC Merlin rewrite where Arthur gets shot back to the beginning of the first season after he dies. I'm playing with some other stories that I'd like to publish at some point, but unless I manage to write a really well-written one shot, Stitch and Seam will probably be the next one.

2. What story (stories?) are you writing rn that will most likely linger in your head for an undetermined amount of time?

All of 'em? None of 'em? It really depends on the time, ha ha! A lot of them are in the in-my-head stage. I hope one day to publish them. Maybe one day, I'll even write them!

4. Lore dump about the OCs! (Author's choice)

So, originally I was going to try to pick one. But fuck it, I made the damn game, it says plural OCs in the question, I'm just gonna go off about all of them bc that's what the game is for. Thank you for asking!! I'm just gonna go down the list of tags I originally had.

So, Mara, is, actually, my Supernatural OC. Super cringe, yes, but I love her and I have a whole story more-or-less plotted out and everything. Like this thing spans so much time. But I'm here to talk about Mara. So, omgosh, Mara Deana Winchester is Sam's kid that he has with Amelia when Dean is stuck in Purgatory after Season Seven. So, like, obviously I make every change I've ever wanted for the show, but, like, it hinges on the existence of this girl. Sam has a kid, and immediately the whole universe changes. But because Supernatural is canonically part of a multiverse, there's a universe out there with the original Supernatural plotline, but we won't get into that. (I've never lore dumped about my characters, sorry for rambling on about the story instead, ha ha!) So, anyway, Amelia doesn't want the kid and her husband comes back, so Sam takes her and him and Dean and Cas have to raise this girl. In a bunker. Like, better than what John did. That's like, the lowest of bars. And Mara really takes after Sam, but she has all these random influences and is, like, taken on hunts?? As a child?? Or left with Jody and the girls or Charlie or something, so she very much has the childhood of a Hunter, but she still sees the Bunker as, like, her permanent childhood home, which does wonders for her, I'm sure. Anyway, so she grows up and becomes a therapist, because I am convinced that the Hunters need to have, like, benefits or something. So she's a licensed therapist, but she's also, like, 6'3, built like a lumberjack, with a bunch of anti-possession tattoos and scars and shit, so the first session always goes really interestingly. There's also a side story (several, probably) where I cross over with freaking Criminal Minds (bc ofc) and Mara ends up dating JJ's now-adult son, Henry, which just means chaos at the wedding because half of Mara's family is on the Most Wanted List and the other half probably doesn't legally exist, so. Yeah, idk if that's how you talk about OCs, but there's number one down.

Okay, next up is Kirsi. She is one of my two main Star Wars OCs. She's a Rexsoka kid, it's true, yeah, born about two or so years after the rise of the Empire, yeah, yeah. So Kirsi is Togrutan, like Ahsoka, but she looks exactly like Rex (and consequently like a bajillion other soldiers in the universe, funny how that works) and she isn't Force-sensitive. And since I made them before Bad Batch, I'm sticking with the reason that Rex and co. is retired is because he's staying behind to raise the kids (yes, kids, I'll get to that later), while Ahsoka goes around doing Ahsoka things (though she also picks them up and takes them for, like, half the year, because I couldn't bear the thought of Ahsoka not playing a part in their lives). So, anyway, when Ezra goes to pick up Rex, Kirsi and her sister (the next OC) go along with them, but as, like, equally side characters. Kirsi eventually goes off to properly join the Rebellion and shit and ends up running her own ship called Judgement Day.

Kirsi's older sister, Aay'han, is Force-sensitive. She's human, looks like Ahsoka, and is basically Ahsoka's padawan for all intents and purposes. Although, after her, Kirsi, and Rex end up in the same orbit as the Ghost crew, Aay'han does some training with Kanan and Ezra just bc Ahsoka is gone so often. But while Kirsi officially joins the Rebellion, Aay'han remains sort of anonymous. Like, she helps out, but she never has to take orders. She does, however, join the crew of the Judgement Day once that becomes a thing. (I guess she's more of a side OC as of right now, but it felt right to give her her own blurb)

Okay, okay, so my Sole Survivors I'm gonna do together, because I believe it's short. Ish. Nate and Nora are my take on Fallout 4's sole survivors, except, y'know, they both survive. I stick with the Army-Nate and Lawyer-Nora narrative, but Nate was a medic/doctor/nurse-person (I haven't solidified it yet, but he does the Medicine) and Nora's been diagnosed with ASPD, so she's actually one of the very, very few people that is both a sociopath and a psychopath! I basically assigned certain SPECIAL characteristics and the various paths to either Nate or Nora, so Nora's really good at, say, lockpicking and hacking from her misspent youth, while Nate has crazy good endurance and probably ends up as a ghoul at some point so he can deal with the radiation spots! They're both, like, eerily okay with murder and are on a mission to find Shaun. Nate just keeps adopting ppl on the way. And Nora's low-empathy, but she can still reason and shit, so she's not, like, a villain or anything. But yeah, power couple Nate & Nora. :)

Like Nate and Nora, I'm just gonna do the crew of Judgement Day all as one. The Judgement Day is the same ship that Kirsi pilots. Her co-pilot is Miikka, who's ginger, flies planes, and ends up with Kirsi. Their navigator is Solene (goes by Lena), a bubbly purple Twilek who really loves the stars and is the cinnamon roll of the ship (do ppl even still use that terminology anymore??). Their resident mechanic is a Chiss named Kres'ave'kleon (...Savek, he goes by Savek), who desperately needs an attitude check but is, unfortunately, very good with ships and doesn't really care that they're running Rebellion missions. They also have a live-in hacker who is their primary contact with the black market; she's a Mirialan who goes by Kalea and is the only one who gets their own room on the ship. Finally, they also have slicer, a human cyborg ex-smuggler from back in the war named Gene. Kalea gets them in, but Gene is the one that deals with sending codes and transmissions and shit to the Rebellion.

So, that was a lot. But I only mostly regret typing it all out!

8. Fic that is near and dear to your heart?

Oh goodness, where do I start? Though I've only published a few, all of the ones I write occupy a little place in my heart. But as the longest fic I've ever written, one of the very few I've finished, and part of the handful that have made it onto Ao3... Love the Bright Sword. As of right now it's definitely one of my better, if not best, written pieces, and everything in Rewind I really feel is some of my best quality writing. I've definitely sunk a few years of my life into this fic, just sort of writing on and off, and I remember staying up late to rewatch episodes and studiously take down how dialogue is said or how a scene is played out, just over and over again. I still do, when I come across an episode I need to write out, but, oh, those were some days. That was my first time getting comments on a fic, real long comments, and I took every chance I could to talk about how a scene was written, or how much I love a certain character, or what I learned while researching, or analysis, so much analysis on my own damn fic. (Hell, I still do it when I can, ha ha!) I consider myself so lucky to have landed with the audience that I have, because it really made the experience so much better than I ever could have imagined.

Okay, so, maybe not what you were expecting, op, but than you anyway!! I really appreciated the opportunity to go off like this!! :)

Kindly,

The Void

[panneshirley]

@shehungthemoon OKAY. so i'm not like suuuuper familiar with tarot, but i did take some time for this set, and here's what i was thinking under the cut!

Milchick as the Magician: One of the big things was seeing the Magician described as "completing the circuit between heaven and earth." For this whole thing I was thinking of Lumon as a company being a religion/deity, so Milchick is absolutely like, the intermediary between heaven (higher ups) and earth (the office workers). Also just how, he's kinda the guy who Makes Things Happen. Reversed Magician seems to have to do with "trickery" and "being out of touch" and I was thinking how like, Milchick's final scene offering Dylan a freaking tea cozy is. The definition of out of touch.

Cobel as the High Priestess: This one was like one of the first I decided on, and if I'm using Lumon as Religion, it feels pretty obvious. There was stuff about reversed High Priestess that was like "lack of center, lost inner voice, repressed feelings" which I kinda related to how, I feel like Ms. Selvig is how Cobel would be had she not been so deeply into Lumon. Especially considering the hints that she went to some sort of Lumon-run school. Also saw like "calm exterior with inner passion" which is just, yeah.

Devon and Rickon as the Lovers: Okay this one has had the most responses like "shouldnt Burt and Irving have been the Lovers" but hear me out. Just because two people are lovers does not mean they're The Lovers. And the Hales felt more right for this for me bc they come across as like, a very equal healthy partnership. Also, a bit I saw was "A more personal Lovers meaning that can apply to individuals is the development of your own personal belief systems, regardless of what are the societal norms." I feel like both Devon and Rickon have very strong personal belief systems, no matter how silly you might think they are (well for one of them). If i was to give them each their own, I think I'd make Devon the Empress and Rickon the Wheel of Fortune.

Burt as the Fool: This one took me a while to figure out, but Burt fits with recklessness (being the one to initiate with Irving), adventure (taking the refiners to meet his people) and freedom (retiring and therefore escaping).

Irving as the Hierophant: Another one I knew from the start. Upright Hierophant being tradition and conformity? Reversed Hierophant being both ignorance and rebellion? do i even need to say anything else

Dylan as the Chariot: Upright Chariot having to do with ambition and determination immediately struck me as Dylan. He's the only one who really seems to have ambitions at work, specifically towards the waffle party. Reversed Chariot also has to do with aggression and powerlessness which are things Dylan develops later.

Ms. Casey/Gemma as the Hermit: Just like, on a definition scale, Ms. Casey is an actual Hermit. Despite her limited time, she's extremely introspective and clearly contemplates her own existence. Then y'know the isolation and being withdrawn.

Petey as the Hanged Man: The parts that stood out for me in regards to Petey as the Hanged Man were the ones to do with sacrifice. I saw something proposing that the man is hanging with his own free will and I was like ohhhhh. Also the idea of like, taking action and progressing from one state to another.

Helly as Death and Mark as the Tower: One tag said they wouldve switch Helly and Mark and tbh they're right, I'd go back and change that if I could. 'Cause Death has way more to do with overcoming resistance to change, and the Tower more to do with sudden upheaval and dramatic change. That mistake mostly came from me not actually knowing much about tarot im very sorry lol

severance + major arcana

[zayn-darkshadow]

OC TRANSFEMSWAGBRACKET POGOGANDA. :bangbang:

introducing teh girl ever :

filip quarzen!! (she did NOT change her name post transition LOL. luv her) 

she is trans in universe and out!! in the way where she was litterally originally a little gay boy and then i HIT HER WITH MY TRANSGENDERISM LAZERS!!!!! and now shes a little gay boy who is also a girl. 

personality wise, she’s a silly gal who loves puzzles, musicals, and puppets! on a cursory glance she may seem shy and unconfident in herself and her abilities- and while the later is true, she can actually be very outgoing and bold! mostly motivated by a love of theater, she can be /extremly/ melo dramatic (a famous quote of hers slash catchphrase being “darkest day, coldest night!” at licherly any minor inconveince. shes SO silly!!!!!!!) she also has a tendancy to be sarcastic and a bit rude- since she does NOT have ANY patience. 

unlike her (also ery transfem swagger having) friend luna, filip does NOT care abt rules. her fave thing to do is to CHEAT and BREAK THINGS and FIND LOOP HOLES!! which makes luna want to rip her head off. (they are best friends and also enemies they were not destined to meet and their distance cannot be blamed on fate but merely the poor actions they enacted in their youth that they will pay for in the blood of their own bond for the rest of their lives) and its FUNNY. 

if she existed irl she would’ve made 8 billion bots to vote for vriska on the tumblr woman poll and would be SO MAD when she lost. 

her backstory is also SO transgender coded if u think aboat it. like. her whole THING is that shes the bastard child of this really famous dude, and the famous dude has like. an actual son with his actual wife. so filip n his half brother end up going to the same prestigious school together n it gives filip SUCH horribke imposter syndrome. something something the horrible feeling of looking at the desk beside yours and seeing someone you could never be. seeing someone you wish you could be not because you want to be a man but because you wish you were cis bc then maybe. well maybe nothing would change at all, huh? but maybe you would be happier. he seems so much happier than you. why wouldnt he be? 

and if this sounds super sad and depressing it IS its SAD but she does get a happy ending i promise but it happens LATER and she goes thru SO MUCH furst and im so sorry filip. hopefully putting u in a tswag bracket will make u feel better abt the. uh. everyfin.....

@transfemswagbracket @thegirlever @eralite (i dont rlly kno who to tag el oh el)