#the past - one that wouldn't be possible with the present development of a character. which would also bring into question

[datastate]

i really don't think people understand how entertaining it is writing characters you completely disagree with. or being invested in a story you understand but think is fallible on a philosophical level. it's genuinely fun to dig into these different perspectives and the reasoning of why...

[terrence-silver]

how do you think what Larusso's relationship would be like! beloved (daniel's oldest daughter in her twenties) and old man! Terry during the Cobra Kai timeline, especially if beloved, was extremely morally similar to Terry? let's say, they "match each others freak." ❤️ I love your blog, especially because I'm also a writer and I love your take on Terry, your in-depth character study of him is terrific, sorry for any mistakes, english is not my first language, I'm Brazilian, lots of love from here!

Hello, Brazil! ❤️

---

Frankly, I think Daniel would just feel downright haunted by one of his kid's proclivities and her character long before Terry ever returns into the picture --- years and years before he does, actually. This is an ongoing process that stems back to the time Mr. Miyagi was still alive; it's like Terry Silver never went away in the first place, notwithstanding the lingering trauma and bad memories that Daniel would have to live with on a daily basis, but that his own daughter is starting to resemble one of his demons from the past in worldviews, personality and behavior now too; it is literally the worst development imaginable. Nothing and nobody in his life is safe. Moving on is impossible when the battlefield is happening under your own roof. This whole city, the passing decades, The Valley itself as a whole and each passing generation feels like it has something of Terry Silver's in them and he's never truly gone. His darkness is stubbornly ever-present.

It's like Terry infected everything, even things and people he never actually touched.

Never came in contact with.

Never interacted with.

Nonetheless, it is there, finding ways to seep into every pore of his existence like an infection, possibly leading to Daniel being strictest precisely with his oldest daughter in the hopes that he'd steer her away from becoming the way she's becoming to overcompensate for her shortcomings and all the things he's expected of her but that she didn't live up to from his point of view. Something she might take to heart, because what child of their parent's wouldn't? Cause her to feel like she's far from her father's favorite. Like he cares for Sam, Antony and Louie a lot more and that he sees them as 'the good children he can feel proud of' because they're incarnations of everything Mr. Miyagi espoused...unlike her', which couldn't be further from the truth because Daniel would adore his estranged daughter too, but still, his stance towards her would be here causing her to wish to rebel, go against the mold even more and willfully embrace every bad impulse she has even more than ever before because it's hard to reconcile the fact that she's incompatible to her family. That she's distinct. Daniel takes a different approach with his problematic older daughter because he loves her and doesn't want her to grow into a morally questionable person, but is simply so afraid of what he's witnessing in her that his methods might be unbalanced, their root found in fear --- infinite parental concern. Meaning, he might snap, he might yell, he might be judgmental and not always be an exemplary, patient parent, because validly, it's hard to be exemplary when your own kid reminds you so much of a past abuser who messed you up for life. He might take some draconic measures with her too. His belief in pacifism and 'letting go' might just vane as well. What choice does he have? She's starting to resemble...someone he knew a long time ago. Someone he'd rather not speak of anymore. Jesus! He doesn't even want to think about it ever again! Hard not to! When she's right there, at the dinner table, in his own house, his own flesh and blood, someone he adores, someone he would do anything in the world for --- anything but accept that she's going down a negative path. What parent worth his penny would? Should he just allow that without doing anything?

So, when she befriends Terry, of all people?

Becomes a little too close for comfort with him?

It's a nightmare.

It's like watching his life's work and efforts at setting a good example literally collapse and history repeat itself except in an infinitely worse way than could ever be anticipated. Daniel would be convinced Terry Silver has perversely planned this for god knows how long and that getting under the skin of his daughter was premeditated, and heck, knowing Terry, maybe it was too and that this is revenge. Some sort of sick scheme. Grooming. The desire to continue ruining his life by hitting Daniel where it hurts most, even decades after everything that's went down and for the longest time, Daniel would feel like he's the only one who understands the unhinged gravitas of the situation, causing him to feel crazy and all alone in the world, with nobody to get his point of view and how eerie and harrowing Terry being with his daughter actually is, whereas Amanda, for example, wouldn't see the full picture for a good while, her concerns being limited solely to the age difference, but not the actual context under which any of this is happening seeing as how she's not entirely aware of what went down between Terry and Daniel because Daniel didn't tell her. In fact, she might even understand why their daughter likes Terry Silver. He's rich, he's handsome, he's charming, sure, a little sleazy, perhaps, but ultimately the harmless, inoffensive kind of sleazy (ultimately being too old for their daughter). She might even see Daniel freaking out as slightly overblown. He's overreacting. Of course, man's old enough to be her grandfather and it's a reason for concern and intervention but surely, not the amount of panic and crisis Daniel's exhibiting --- except, it makes the whole situation only feel the more dizzyingly infuriating, because that, that guy, right there, is also simultaneously the worst person Daniel knows and he knew quite a lot of those. And now, his own daughter is consorting with him. How does Amanda...just not get it!? He would feel like he's losing his damn mind. Terry Silver ruined so much of his late teenage years and the years that followed, influenced by the lingering trauma and trust issues; the last thing Daniel would allow for him to have his daughter's soul too. This whole discourse might just lead to the Larusso's marriage encountering shaky grounds.

Amanda could easily be taking her daughter's side, because ultimately, she'd see her daughter as a free person (and she'd critically misunderstand how awful this whole thing) is and Daniel would become more and more volatile seeing as how he wouldn't feel empathized with in the least bit. ''It's the man who tortured me when I was just eighteen!'' he'd yearn to scream out. ''He made me believe he was my friend. That he had his best intentions at heart. And then he tortured me and I trusted him, Amanda! He and John Kreese! They did it together! And now, Terry Silver's got his hooks in our daughter and she's letting him! You're telling me to calm down!? I can't calm down!''

Daniel would fight against the situation with all his might.

He'd argue.

He'd get his hands dirty.

He'd ironically show that bit of Cobra Kai he had in him all along.

He'd do things he'd do in no other situation if it meant changing his kid's perspective.

But, he'd under no circumstance accept his daughter being the way she is.

Just like he wouldn't accept her being with the enemy.

Terry Silver can't have his family.

Terry Silver, though? He'd manipulatively and very sweetly expertly exploit this pre-existing rift in the family to masterfully to divide the Larussos even further and get exactly what he wants by being the (seemingly) understanding, concerned supportive shoulder for Daniel's daughter and offering the camaraderie she doesn't feel she ever had at home. He becomes her support network. Her only support network, eliminating everyone else who isn't him because there's 'no matching the freak' of someone who has a couple of decades of experience in malice ahead of you, who fought in a war and who could, effectively, push came to shove, kill and die with relish. Daniel's daughter might think she can go toe to toe with Terry where being chaotic is concerned (and he'd fuel and enable her belief that this is true) but is there really anyone who actually can? Heck, he might even encourage her to keep a good relationship intact with her folks all while effectively sabotaging said relationship purely so he'd seem guiltless in the matter, playing good cop, bad cop accordingly. But, ultimately he's cool! He's awesome! He lovebombs! He lavishes! He's generous! He's seductive! He can give the spoiled Italian princess the life she's used to and so, so, so much more. He takes on whatever mask and personality is best suited for the situation to draw people in! He's older and by extension, probably makes a younger woman feel more mature and 'cool' by comparison too, appealing to whatever mommy and daddy issues are present! He's all about embracing instincts, impulses, holding nothing back which feels liberating to the otherwise Zen and possibly stifling teachings of Mr. Miyagi! He's rich! He's knowledgeable! And he's Terry Silver, which automatically could mean a world of damage. Never doubt the man's an influence that would entirely destroy what little stability's left in this family and turn Daniel's daughter against her father, mom, brothers, her sister and literally everyone she ever knew. In the end, she'd get more than she's ever bargained for. She thought she had control over the situation. She didn't, though.

Her dad would've been correct all along.

Terry Silver corrupts and devours.

Nothing's for free.

[pico-farad]

I've been watching Vrains for the first time, and I finished season 1

some thoughts below (a lot. a lot of thoughts below)

Setting & Setup

The setting is a very smart choice, and the highlight of Vrains in my opinion.

The aesthetic is relevant, it integrates well with Konami marketing its mobile games, and it neatly deals with the problem every Yugioh series has to address of how to make consequences for duels that can be safely broadcast on children's television (aka the shadow realm / sent to the stars problem)

The virtual world opens up so much possibility in how to present things. 

In the character and setting designs, obviously, but also, the duels have their own visual identity. They don't need to play cards on a duel disk or hold cards in their hand, cards will just appear and disappear in pixels (it also probably saves on their animation budget). The duel grid and other visualizations can show up as they're relevant. And seeing the character take gashes to their avatars is dramatic while still being kid-friendly.

Every Yugioh needs its peanut gallery to react to the duel and be explained to, and Vrains incorporates them the most easily of any series, since they don't need to be physically present.

Kill the frog and the pigeon though.

On the topic of duels, I like both link summoning and speed duels.

I like the spacial/positioning element of link summoning, it puts an additional layer on top of "little monsters make big monster."

And speed duels have all the advantages of turbo duels, allowing for dynamic action, visual metaphor for the tide of the duel, and the ability to change locations without sacrificing pacing, all while requiring less suspension of disbelief than card games on motorcycles. It's easy to take for granted, but the heist sequences wouldn't work at all if they had to be standing duels. 

I also liked this about season 1 of 5Ds, where there's two modes of dueling (turbo duels and ground duels). The contrast between speed duels and master duels is fun.

Skills are cool too, though I feel like they could have designed better ones. Seeing Yusaku drop below 1000 got kind of predictable.

And finally, there is rich thematic potential in this kind of virtual setting. Themes about our relationship with social media, video games, artificial intelligence, and tech corporations are very relevant and have depth. I don't have the highest of hopes for Yugioh tackling them, based on how this first season has gone, but I'll withhold judgment on this until I'm finished.

Yusaku

I like Yusaku. He's blunt, but he's not edgy like I thought he would be. He's actually kind of nice toward Naoki when they meet. The three things tic is charming. I like his hacker deck, it's probably my favorite protagonist deck theme after Elemental Heroes.

Yusaku's problem is not that he's boring per se, but he isn't really put in any interesting situations in S1. 

A lot of his duels are just him being challenged to a duel he has no interest in (Go, Blue Angel, Ghost Girl), he beats them, and they don't actually end up forming a relationship or establishing a dynamic. Because their characters don't have anything to do with each-other except mutually not wanting the bad guys to do bad things.

Yusaku gains allies, but he doesn't make friends. He starts off with his only real relationship being Kusanagi, and that doesn't really change by the end of the season (and his relationship with Kusanagi is not very developed either).

Now, there is a reason for this, which is I think the core of Yusaku's character in S1. It's that due to the traumatic event of his childhood, time has stopped for him. This is very real for victims of traumatic events, being unable to move forward in their lives, develop relationships or think about the future, because their minds are still stuck in the past. This is why Yusaku seeks his revenge. It's not revenge he's seeking, it's closure.

This is a theme that's worth exploring. The problem is that I don't really think they explore it, not sufficiently enough for me to give them credit. If they were exploring it, they could have shown Yusaku reckoning with the divide between him and others in a number of ways. 

Most chiefly, by forcing him to make friends anyway. This is Yugioh goddamnit. The opportunity was right there with Naoki, but it's just played as a joke. Instead, most of this theme is squeezed in at the end of the final duel vs. Revolver, and without the proper build-up, the moment of Yusaku renouncing his revenge and reaching out to be friends with Revolver doesn't land nearly as strong as it could have.

If there is one relationship that Yusaku maybe develops though, it's...

Ai

The relationship between Yusaku and Ai should be what the show hinges on, based on the premise, Ai's status as the "partner," and glimpses I've seen of them through fandom.

Ai is the inciting incident of the story, his existence drives the plot forward, because Hanoi wants him, but Yusaku has him, and Ai doesn't want anything to do with either of them. This premise is gold. It's rife with dramatic potential. Ai is forced to work together with his captor. Yusaku is forced to work together with this goddamn annoying AI. They are both just trying to use the other, but end up developing a bond.

Or at least... that's what I think should have happened...

Very little happens between them in season 1, and it either goes nowhere, or comes out of nowhere. Ai tries to escape, but that thread is just dropped and forgotten. Various Hanoi guys hint that the Ignis can't be trusted, but it doesn't really faze Yusaku because he already doesn't trust Ai. The same thing happens when Revolver reveals that Ai is his counterpart from the Lost Incident and has known it this whole time.

There's only one turning point in their dynamic, which is in the second to last duel vs. Revolver, where Ai uses his body as a shield so that Yusaku can use Storm Access. And even then, Ai says it's because if Yusaku loses, Revolver will kill him. But that's been their entire dynamic for the season anyway? Why is this positioned as the emotional moment where they become partners?

By the end of season 1, they're... allies. The same as the rest of the characters on Yusaku's side. But if there was one character Yusaku should have made friends with, it's Ai. Especially if they are positioning for a humans vs. AI conflict.

His design is cute though.

Go

Go's problem is that he needs to be integrated into the story and cast. Aoi at least has a relationship with her brother and Ghost Girl. Go is connected to... some nameless orphan children, a nameless manager, and a childhood orphan friend who shows up for 5 seconds, is put into a coma in order for Go to have a motivation to duel Genome, and never appears again.

Go isn't a best friend character, and he's not a rival either. He's not even a friend character, period. He really just seems there to be a third duelist.

Does he even know about the Lost Incident, or why Playmaker is even fighting Hanoi? Go has no clue what the plot even is, how can he be involved in it? My guy is living in a different story.

It's a shame, because Go does have some interesting bits to his character. Being a charisma duelist is central to his character (unlike Aoi, whose relationship to charisma dueling seems to end at being a cute idol girl), which could have been used to explore the culture of Link Vrains and the performativity of online spaces.

This is tied to some kind of theme he has going on of dueling for others vs. dueling for yourself. It's brought up in contrast to Yusaku, and why he initially dislikes Playmaker. All of that could have been interesting, but it doesn't really get a full treatment.

Revolver

Revolver is fine as a season 1 antagonist. He's not really a character yet, but I'm interested in where they take him from here. His backstory is sympathetic honestly. It's a pretty familiar and tragic situation, where a child narcs on their parent, who isn't even a good parent, but then comes to regret it.

I also think Revolver is sympathetic because I would nuke the internet in a heartbeat.

His Link Vrains design is cool. Mirror Force is funny, so are the gun dragons. The final duel vs. Yusaku was sick honestly, I loved the extra extra link.

Anyway, I still enjoyed season 1 and think there's room to take a turn for the better. In my experience, there's two kinds of yugiohs, the ones that start off strong, and the ones that end strong. My suspicion is that Vrains is the latter.

On to season 2! Time to meet everyone's favorite Salad king :^)

Hm? Was there someone I missed?

ha ha...... you get your own post, Aoi.

[nomaxart]

Happy Birthday, Conway!

Happy 1st Birthday to Conway!

Yep! It is the 1 year anniversary of the release of version 0.01 (or whatever the versions were called back then) Let's have a talk, shall we? February 8th is when I uploaded and released it on itch. Why February 8th you may ask? Well, I had only planned January as an experimental month for myself, with the oil painting and the VN test. So I'd release it on february 1st... And then it, naturally, took longer. But I guess it works out so that we don't have the anniversary right on update release days.

The past 

And yeah, what a year it's been! Thank you to all of you first of all for making this possible. Quite simply it wouldn't be possible without the support of all you generous peeps here. As it turns out, developing a game is a fuckton of work, and if I would need to pay the bills through commission work or what have you there would be no way I'd find the time and energy to work on Conway on the side. And I've mentioned it before in a few places, but for a while around May, June-ish it did look really dicey. The first half of the year I was bleeding about 500-700 bucks a month of my savings. The game didn't really pick up and a good amount of my walks were spent contemplating just when I'd have to see a sign before pulling the plug. End of June? Maybe it's worth to stretch it to July? At the lowest point, we were about a month away from pulling the plug on Conway. But right around that time, the trend in people subbing here started to pick up. While it's only in the past month or two that I've reached the point where I'm not actively bleeding money each month, the trend was the bit I needed to see that maybe people are interested after all!

The present

I've attached the itch stats of the past year. So those of you who would like to have a peek can do so. As you can see, Update 10 was a massive success at least in terms of numbers for the game. Update 9 was already the first one to break the record for downloads that the release day set, but Update 10 got picked up by the algorithms and sat in the most popular furry games for a while. Soooo, yeah, quite chuffed with that spike! We'll see what the long-term effects are, but for now I just enjoy the aesthetic of -BIG SPIKE-. And yeah, the game as a whole is just sitting in a good spot. We've had about 12k downloads in total, around 80k page visits, and a rating of 4.8/5 with 127 ratings (which btw, easy way to help, is to leave a juicy 5* rating on itch. Does wonders for the placement of the game in the different categories on the site, plus it gives me a fuzzy feeling in my tum tum.) It's also been such a joy to see that all characters end up having their share of fans judging by comments and that nobody is left in the dry. Of course, some of them have a bit of an easier time, like Samuel and Julian being the more sociable lot they are, and just the screen time they've had so far. While others like Raj or Arthur are slower burns and even they get some mentions as the favorites of some people, and that just makes me chuffed. Naturally, they're designed to cover different interests and preferences, but I'm always nervous if the characters are good, resonate with people and hope that they can be fun to be around. So any time someone mentions a character it just makes me so goddamn giddy. Some of them will be difficult to handle with grace, and I'm not perfect, so I'm sure for at least one of the main cast what I've planned will fall flat, or I mess it up in some fashion. But fuck it, I'll try. Not everything has been peaches and roses recently though, so I have to admit Updates 10 and 11 have been/are a bit of a struggle. I just messed up planning for my support writers, and it's been more or less just me handling everything for both updates 10 and 11. That's why art has been a bit sparse... Because most of my time is just taken up doing writing duty, and I'm not the fastest writer, unfortunately. Like, at this point, with the game having all the branches and 125k in total word count, the story for the characters and how they've interacted on the two initial days. It makes it a bit more difficult to actually get people on board in a timely manner. I can't just go and say, "Hey, write me a scene where this character and that character are involved, and they do that." Since a new writer knows absolutely zero about all the stuff that's been there before, all the stuff that's planned for the characters and all that jazz. So if one support writer is busy or just has writing block or whatever, it may be, my solution so far has just been going, "Well, shit." :') Not the fault of my writing buddies, of course. They've been absolutely invaluable and I can't offer nearly enough to expect to be the highest priority for them. I'm just happy they want to help out AT ALL for what I can pay them in return. I should have planned contingencies but didn't. Simple as that. So, I've made the decision to bring on another writer in Televassi, and also want to hopefully integrate Robert Baird more again going forward. With more of them willing to help out I will be able to assign things to people as they're available. Which hopefully will avoid me having to do whole updates on my own and take the pressure off of wonderful peeps like Rubric. So yeah, I learned my lesson there, but since it just takes time for people to get familiar with the Conway world and characters, it ended up with me being a bit swamped with EVERYTHING for Updates 10 and 11.

The future

Speaking of what's planned, then? Update 10 closes out day 2, and Update 11 starts after our first time skip. I don't know if you've ever looked at how slow these ships were, but if we ever want to make it to Cape Town, then we'll need those time skips. Not only that, but it also allows for characters to just develop in the meantime, and also their relationship towards the player character. While Characters like Nomax and Julian ended up having some raunchy scenes right away, it wouldn't exactly fit to have others throw themselves at you on day 2. So skipping ahead just keeps things moving, keeps things interesting because we can focus on specific parts more, and just show the development of characters at a more natural pace.

So the next sections are this first post-time skip section that subbed patrons already get a taste of in the WIP update, and then next up on the itinerary will be Morocco. Both sections I'm really stoked about! And I hope you are too. :)

Stretch goals? Patreon did away with them a while back, but we'll just make our own stretch goals, with blackjack and hookers. Just instead of blackjack and hookers, how about we talk Animations?! Hell yeah! I'm no animator, and it's not really a discipline I particularly enjoy either from the times I tried. So, since Patreon is currently about break-even, we can start thinking ahead a little, and I think the first point I want to tackle is some simple animations. Stuff like moving tails, ears, and eyes. Stuff like that.

So how about that, we're currently floating at around 1250 USD a month, and if we're crossing the 1500 USD mark, I'll be holding out my feelers to get these small animations into the game. If you like to contribute to making animations possible, consider supporting the Patreon over here: https://www.patreon.com/Nomax

Possibly animations, an exciting new section of the story, some more v2 character art, some more maritime menagerie characters. Sounds good for a year 2 plan?

I certainly hope so and hope that you all will be along for the ride, as it's been an absolute blast, and I can't thank you enough for making it possible. I just want this thing to be the best it can be for all of you. :)

[bluegekk0]

do you think the kids would have any specific hobbies? or maybe travel with grimm every once in a while when they're grown?

I'll answer the last part first since I have a lot of thoughts on the topic.

I've considered the possibility of the family occasionally joining Grimm when he travels, especially as I've explored more worldbuilding (for example, an aspect I want to tackle at some point is travel between different lands/kingdoms, the Silt Striders from Morrowind gave me a lot of inspiration for that). Not to mention, as Hallownest rises from the dead and becomes a much more popular point of interest for those living outside of it, the roads leading to it would become more frequently used and thus likely much safer. So Grimm wouldn't feel as afraid taking his family on his travels as he perhaps would in the past.

That being said, Vyrm still lacks the courage to do so, though he does want to, it's a topic that gets brought up every once in a while as they chat before sleep, Grimm wants to show his love a lot of places at some point, and Vyrm is admittedly very curious and wishes he could join him. But the thing keeping him from doing so is that he's scared. He finally found happiness, he finally belongs in a community which accepts him for who he is. The thought of leaving that behind, even if temporarily, terrifies him. What if something happens to it while he's gone? What if something happens to him and his family while they're traveling? All those paranoid thoughts cloud his mind the moment he gets anywhere close to maybe considering it.

And because of that, he's also paranoid about letting his kids leave without him. He even wishes that Grimm would stay in Dirtmouth at all times, but unfortunately Grimm's ritual cycle gets in the way. Plus Grimm is a god, even if something happens, he can get a new form and eventually come back, so that thought calms him down a bit. But his children, even if they stop aging past a certain point, don't have that ability. And if he stayed behind, he would be deathly afraid that something might happen to them and he wouldn't be there to do anything.

Perhaps as they're all grown up, he would also stop being as paranoid - maybe by then he would gain the courage to join Grimm himself, and that would certainly make him more open to the idea of taking the kids as well. It's hard to tell at this point, since I haven't really thought that much beyond the current point in the timeline. The reason for that being, the AU is kind of "frozen" at that point. Things happen constantly but at the same time the timeline doesn't move past the "10 years after hibernation" point. It's not something that actually is a thing in the AU, there is no stasis or anything, it's just how I view it as the writer. It is primarily slice of life, after all. But thinking about different possibilities can be fun, and in some cases helps me develop the characters and their personalities in the present (with the kids especially, thinking about the hypothetical paths they could take as they grow older helps me pick up themes and ideas for their characters in general).

---

Anyway, back to the topic of the ask. They kids would definitely pick up some hobbies. I'll start with Lewk since he already has one he found interest in, cooking. He grew up watching Hornet prepare meals in the kitchen since this is something she also enjoys doing, and after Grimm and Vyrm took him to Ogrim's diner for a family dinner one day, he became extremely interested in more professional cooking, even if he was but a small pup at the time. Now that he's a little older, he loves visiting Ogrim to get a behind the scenes look at his cooking, and even helping him with some easier tasks. As he grows up, I envision him becoming Ogrim's apprentice, and then eventually the cook. Maybe he'd even inherit the whole place, after all, Ogrim isn't immortal (even if he does age slower, which is a result of some bs soul magic Vyrm pulled back when he was a king to keep his knights alive). But that's thinking way too far into the future.

Asta, as I mentioned before, would definitely grow up to be very forward and confident, in the jobs ask I mentioned that she would try working at the Dirtmouth farm since she has the physical strength and the compassion to look after beasts of all sizes. Perhaps this is something she would find interest in, beasts (as in, animals). Of course, like her dads, she still eats them - Grimm may have a fondness for fruits but he still enjoys meat, and Vyrm hunts and eats animals raw on a regular basis, so the kids would be no different. But I don't think that would get in the way of her finding certain beast species fascinating. Maybe she would travel into the wilderness of Hallownest to study them, it would be a great bonding moment with Hornet, and her knowledge would be useful for Vyrm as well as the hunters of Dirtmouth.

Milo would keep things significantly more lowkey. He wouldn't be the type to go out much, not ever being able to keep up would discourage him from trying. Instead, he'd stay at home and find enjoyment in more introverted hobbies, without much interaction. I mentioned that he would help Vyrm in the workshop, and that would definitely be something of interest for him. I like the idea of him taking after Vyrm's passion in mechanical engineering, or maybe even different aspects of his workshop inventions (for instance, there are Charged Lumaflies, maybe they could be used for some primitive electricity?). But aside from that, another idea I just had is that perhaps he'd also try his hand at designing clothes. I'm imagining a scenario where he, still as a little baby, becomes really fascinated watching Divine and her crew working on costumes for the Troupe, whenever Grimm asks her to babysit the twins. This would then develop into actual interest, though perhaps one he would keep to himself for a long time (maybe some kids in Dirtmouth would tease him about having such a "girly" hobby, and he'd grow self-conscious about it). But he'd absolutely be encouraged to do it by his dads and Divine as soon as she found out, so he'd eventually have the chance to explore it. And I think he'd end up really enjoying it, plus Divine would certainly like having a little helper.

Those are just some ideas I had, hope this answers your questions! Thank you a lot for the ask :)

[a-slight-sweet-fiction]

More (incomplete, still-developing) thoughts on what happened in Father Kevin, in which I'm cautiously optimistic about this episode, despite its issues...? Spoilers ahead.

I've seen a lot of people VERY unhappy with this reveal, and especially the way Kevin TALKED about it. I didn't exactly love what he said, either, and from everything I'm seeing from everyONE, it did NOT hit most people in the way the writers may have wanted. The transcript isn't up yet, and I literally do not have it in me to re-listen to the episode yet, but in a way it did come off like he was saying, "my father wasn't that bad and I now understand why he was the way he was, and I'm now going to become exactly the same person in YOUR life and act the same ways, without any reservations." Which, if that's the way he meant it, is AWFUL. Kevin is in a loop with himself, and we know canonically his father poured boiling caramel into his hands and had him drink it, and he's sublimated the experience of that (and god knows what else) to the point where he remembers it as a happy memory, but then immediately launches into a story about watching a bird die, then solemnly says, "I still don’t know who killed that starling."

If this is a stable time loop, and Older Kevin is STILL headed in the direction of repeating it...then I'll say it, even as like, the Kevin fan of all time: narratively, Boy Kevin straight up SHOULD have killed him with knives. Like, bye! BUT...this arc was so heavily about change. And I also think it's possible that this is the first time Kevin has been able to UNDERSTAND that he's in a horrible abuse loop with himself (a topic I want to make another more specific post about later, because I think there's a lot to explore there).

And there are (presumably) variables that weren't present last time, people who have given Kevin more emotional and physical tools to work with. He very likely wouldn't have had a Tamika last time this happened, or Carlos or Cecil giving their forms of advice and gentle parenting, or like, Harrison offering to each him how to use knives back in Fridge-worthy. ...Before I say this next point, please know that I see Lauren as a really complicated character, and someone who has also been victimized by the Smiling God and the beliefs of her society, regardless of how the cycle started. Like whether she opted into Smiling God stuff intentionally or got forced in like Kevin, you really can't live in that belief system without being harmed by it, even if you're almost at the top of the food chain. No Smiling God worshipper can really win, the way things are. But I think it's another good sign that Kevin has FINALLY extricated himself away from Lauren in a direct way. In the past, we see him almost always with her, and whenever he is, he seems more trapped in his worst ways. It's a deeply toxic relationship in his life, defined by fighting for control of her or to keep control of himself, where they're pitted against each other in competition for the love and favor of their god. And she has always been an agent and in some cases a representative of the Smiling God, as far as we've seen.

And in this episode, Boy Kevin stabbed her (a rejection of her control and manipulation of him), and wasn't strong enough to get away, but Older Kevin (with his understanding of gods and, I hope, newfound understanding of HIMSELF) was able to take that vulnerable piece of himself back from her, and told him HE would raise him (also a rejection! One the two of them agree on!).

And finally, the way Cecil said he still didn't like Kevin's smile, but noted that Kevin seemed like he was being gentle, also gives me a lot of hope.

TL;DR:

I still think Kevin has a chance to heal and grow and change. I definitely get the worry that this could loop into him just eternally being stuck. (Which...to be blunt, narratively that would SUCK. I would really like for Finknoriams NOT do that, at least not immediately after acknowledging it's possible for people to change and giving the audience hope that Kevin will figure out how.) But I think there's still a way Kevin can win, without looping again in the same horrible way OR killing his adult self with knives.

[human-psyche]

FORBIDDEN LOVE.

" he would burn the world but wouldn't let a spark touch her... "

characters: sasuke x hinata

genre: romance, angst, action

about: an unlikely bond forms between the kind hyuga hinata and the lone some uchiha sasuke at unexpected times, leading them to more than they could foresee: something that shouldn't happen but which does nonetheless, slowly.

PART I

THE FIRST TIME HINATA meets him outside the village after he left, it's at a motel when she's on a mission, alone.

The night finds her taking up temporary residence in a seedy little, traditional motel just off the coast of the Land of Tea. She doesn't care too much for the place, but it's late and she's exhausted, she has little money and so rents the cheapest room they have.

When she goes to check it, the owner's wife tells her that the only room left is a double room, which would mean that she'd have to share with someone else. Reluctantly, Hinata agrees and is given a key.

As she opens the door to the room, she's taken aback to see that it's already occupied…a lone figure looms there in the dark on his own. A boy, not much older than herself, sitting in a corner of the room cross-legged and with his sword at his side, silent and brooding, seeming lost in his own thoughts and unaware that she's present一 or so does Hinata think. She quietly assesses the situation and stays where she is, not wanting to draw attention to herself because it doesn't take her long to realize who he is: Uchiha Sasuke.

She has heard stories of him, how he's wanted by the Leaf's authorities and how he had become rogue in order to pursue his revenge.

She's certain he doesn't notice her yet and, hoping he would not recognize her in the lack of light inside the room and also given her almost non-existent interactions with him in the past when they were genin, the girl moves as silently as possible to the small bed in the opposite direction. She pleads to herself that he would not identify her or see her as a threat…then Hinata encourages herself to lay down and closes her eyes, trying to block out her fear.

The night goes by and still the boy doesn't move. Hinata begins to relax and eventually drifts off into a peaceful sleep that she can't fight against. She awakes early the next morning only to find the room empty. Where the boy had been sitting there's nothing but a discarded kunai, lodged in the wooden floor.

Hinata picks up the kunai and looks down: she's a tad bewildered to see that he carved something, a phrase. "What kind of person falls asleep in the same room with the enemy."

Suffice to say, she's both surprised and embarrased.

The dark haired female doesn't see him again soon but she would never forget that night at the motel and the unspoken, unexplained bond that developed between the two of them in utter silence…the plain, unadmitted comfort of staying in each other's company without a word or a sound. It had been a fragile, delicate thing一 one that had been shattered in the morning light.

. . .

The second time she meets him, she's assigned a mission to infiltrate a base of corrupt ninja in the Spring village, to steal a top secret document. She's incredibly successful so far, sneaking past guard after guard and making her way torwards her goal.

But as she nears the location of the document, Hinata gets caught off guard by a man who immediately recognizes her as a Leaf shinobi and thus she ends up forced into a fight she's not sure she could ever win…

Suddenly, the doors burst open and the boy she thought to be her enemy by association with Konoha walks in: again, Uchiha Sasuke. He quickly steps in front of her, simply clearing his way of useless burdens, though to her, it's like he's not willing to let the other guy hurt her. The guard gets taken by surprise and before she knows it or even has time to comprehend, he's fallen down to the ground, blood from Sasuke's sword splashing on the wall next to her.

Hinata stares at him in shock. She's convinced he would not spare her if she'd be an obstacle to whatever he's doing at the base coincidentally during her own mission, and yet here he is coming to her rescue. She's more conflicted when he grabs her by the arm and leads her out of the building just as it explodes on its own, never asking why she was there in the first place.

The two don't speak until they're far away from the foreign base and Sasuke finally stops to look at her. But before she can respond and say a "Thank you.", he cuts off any other communication by splitting the scroll with the document using his blade and disappearing with the other half.

That's how Hinata returns with only one half of the intended information and no solution to explain to herself why she continues to hesitate to raport him…

. . .

The third time Hinata meets him, their encounters become more and more complicated, as she witnesses him be wounded somewhere on her route back to Konoha from the Land of Water.

Sasuke feels the rain trickling down his face before he even opens his eyes, his body too weak from loss of blood. He doesn't know how he got there or how such a massive wound has appeared on him, he's too tired to recollect his last actions. But, he knows he has to get out of the storm.

At one distant point, he hears a delicate voice calling out to him. His eyes flutter open to find none other than the same Hyuga girl who's the only one naive enough to get close to somebody like him and not turn him in when this golden opportunity presents itself to her, standing before him with a look of concern and determination. Without asking any questions, she helps him up, and they begin searching for shelter.

Time passes and neither of them speak. They trudge through the forest and eventually find a cave hidden deep in the mountain range. The girl steps in first and makes sure it's safe before letting him in: he can barely hold his own weight and has to lean on her heavily as she guides him into the cave.

The Uchiha stumbles inside, dragging his broken body through the entrance to the cave untill he finally collapses down.

Hinata gasps and quickly runs to his side. Although she has limited medical knowledge and could never compare to Sakura, she's stubborn to help him. The shy girl quickly sets about gathering whatever she can find left useful amongst her essentials that she'd kept with her, hoping to treat his wounds.

"What are you doing." his voice's hoarse from pain, glaring at her as if she's joking with him. It's evident he does not like depending on others and is too prideful to show the extent of the damage.

She wrings her fingers, grasping at how to behave with him so as to not irritate him further. "I-I'm trying to help. You're injured."

"Why would you help me?"

"Why does that matter? N-No one should be suffering like this…I'm just trying to do what's right."

"…That's surprisingly noble of you, Hyuga." Sasuke nearly laughs, except his kind of insulting humour is bland, like he's merely making fun of her in that manner of his which lacks emotion.

Hinata works feverishly, tending to him the best she can. After a good interval of time, the task is complete and once that's over, she makes a fire.

Both of them sit together, eating and watching the storm outside…but Sasuke breaks out in fever due to the pain.

Hinata has some leftover herbs and a small jar of honey in her pack, which she uses with warm water to make a tea. After stirring, she adds a few drops of lavender oil and mixes again as she carries the brew back to the Uchiha. She urges the young man to drink it, promising the tea would make him feel better.

Although somewhat skeptical, he complies and she helps him sip the mixture until it's gone, however, an hour progresses on and no results…

In one of the more daring times of her life, Hinata embraces him in an effort to cool his fever.

As she holds his face in her hands while Sasuke deliriously calls out for his brother, something he would never do should he be awake and not semi-conscious, she brushes the sweat dampened hair from his forehead, finally allowing herself to acknowledge how handsome he is, for the first time; the Hyuga heiress touches his features with a kindness that only a timid but brave girl like herself could muster. His fever doesn’t relent, so she tries this method to alleviate his heat…nevermind that he would probably hurt her or push her away coldly if he were to be lucid given the fact they end up sharing the same blanket and he's so vulnerable in her hold.

. . .

a/n: share / reblog if you like! you can also follow me for more sasuhina content and art / fanart.

[magmythedevil]

Do you have worries about either Envy or Nuzi being rushed and forced in the end to the audience to please certain fans? Would you be saddened if N and Uzi didn't get together in the end, despite all the development and growth the two have gotten over the season so far, especially with their friendship? I've honestly noticed lately that some Envy fans have said Nuzi is being shoved in our faces, but the same could be said for EP 5 "Envy" when they showed the past versions of N and V, and even EP 2 as well..it seems like kinda hypocritical, to me. Heck someone even went out and made an Nuzi hate account over on Twitter and it's laughable and dumb. But anyways, I wanted to ask are you worried about either ship being rushed and not given the amount of development?? I honestly feel bad that I can't like Envy as other fans do..I honestly DO wanna like it and I do kinda ship it, but I only ship and like their past versions, but it's just hard for me to really like N and V as a couple (especially present) In general when the show hasn't really given it the amount of development it deserves and the show also hasn't given me a reason to really root and make them seem believable, at least to me..maybe I'm missing something, idk. 🤷‍♀️🤔 It's sometimes scary and hard to be a Nuzi fan at times though when Envy fans and especially other fans in this fandom (at least when it comes to Tik Tok and Twitter, and even Reddit and Amino too) keep on calling Nuzi problematic and uncomfortable because of so much misinformation being spread and people thinking it's p*oship, EVEN THOUGH IT'S NOT!! PLEASE STOP SAYING THIS, BTW!

But some fans are theorizing and assuming that maybe Liam is just playing around with the audience and saying that N and V might end up being the endgame couple which I cannot say, none of us knows until Liam confirms and says anything! I honestly do think there needs to be proper closure with N and V no matter if they get together or not, especially with V's treatment of N. I honestly think that V's sacrifice will affect the characters, especially N..since he and V were close and had a bond with one another!

And one more thing I wanna add real quick is this, now I don't know if this is 100% true or not and I'm just going by from what I've heard, but apparently I've heard that during a live event screening that happened back for EP 2 of the show, Liam Vickers was talking and discussing about how much he loved and enjoyed N and Uzi's dynamic (they are also his favorite characters) and he doesn't like one over the other and was also apparently asked on what his favorite ship was which he didn't say and said we'd eventually find out...I wouldn't be surprised if he's referring to both N and Uzi, since not only do they have the most developed and strongest bond and friendship out of any of the other characters, but the show has hinted at them being a item so many times, it seems sooo obvious. (I know this trope is cliche of main characters being a thing and I'm not the biggest fan of this myself at times, but N and Uzi are an exception for me! ^-^) now I MIGHT be wrong and things may change and go differently we'll just have to wait and see afterall, but even if N and Uzi don't get together..I'll still ship them because they just have more chemistry to me. 💛💜✨ But in the end, shipping isn't everything to me and I'm just here for the story, world-building + angst and the characters as well, but I'm curious to see what Liam ends up doing with the relationships and dynamics, especially since with this show..since anything can happen, especially with how crazy and insane it can be, especially with all it's twists and turns, haha!

Yep, nuzi may be semi-canon right now but everything is possible. We cant be sure what will happen to them exactly. But if nuzi really ins't end-game i hope liam gives a satisfied conclusion to them and their relantioship at least, no matter If Its happy, Sad or bitter-sweet.

Now about envy, i agre with you, i cant really ship their present selfs because of their development and their fans (they are so weird about nuzi and uzi herself ughhh) .

And if envy is going to be the end game in the full series Liam has to like- FOCUS a lot on them since they have a some things to pack up before coming back to each other. But, he has to put Uzi a litte aside for that....and i think thats something quite controversial to do since shes such a beloved protagonist and her relantioship with N is extremely special for the show (and fans)

But now that V has got some development and doesn't really hate uzi that much, envy may still have a chance of end-game.

But If they arent going to be end-game, Liam surely will give a nice conclusion for their relantioship, most probally a bitter-sweet one. (I also still have some Hope for vizzy-)

Also V's death is OBVIOUSLY going to be a part of N's breakdown Togheter with Uzi Almost losing her control and having to save the whole universe thing, Thats the entire point. No matter If he has focused on Uzi more, and getting feelings for her. V still was someone special for him (even If she treated him poorly) not even in a romantic way, if a friend of my died i would go crazy too.

And i agree with you with the whole rest 👍 lets see what will happen

[persnicketypomelo]

Hey, if you like characters with very little fics about them like Norrington then I have a character you might like from the horror movie, Crimson Peak, Dr Alan McMichael.

The small amount of people who write for that movie only ever write for Thomas. I think Alan is underrated.

I haven't watched the movie, but I did my best to understand the characters and plot from clips and plot summaries.

spoilers for Crimson Peak, obsessive tendencies, manipulative behavior

Yandere Alan McMichael Headcanons

Alan seems a real sweetheart through and through

The kind of sweetheart to be by his dear childhood friend's side, even while she becomes the bride of someone else

I think an interesting scenario could be either where you take Edith's place as the victim of Sharpe siblings' schemes, or where you meet him in the aftermath

In the event where take Edith's place, his temperament will be far sweeter and more laidback

Its a crush he developed now that you two have blossomed into adults

In an ideal scenario, he would be by your side as your husband, and he will do his damn best to convince you of his vision as well

However, if you truly wish to marry this Thomas fellow over him, he is sound enough to respect your wishes

He will loyally and dutifully stay by your side as your best friend, content to watch you be happy

In this scenario, I surmise the plot would carry on much the same as in the original

Something about your husband and his sister disconcerts Alan, and when he learns of the truth, he makes haste to rescue you

I think, however, a scenario in which you nurture a relationship with him after the ordeal with the Sharpe family, is more interesting

His experience would harden him somewhat, making him more wary and cynical of the world and others

Your sweet and kind-hearted nature would appeal to him greatly, reminding him of something he lost in the traumatic evening he and Edith endured

McMichael knows the world to be full of people capable of vile things masked by kindly demeanors

Yet, you wear your innocence so openly that it simultaneously troubles and endears him

Someone could come along and hurt you, take advantage of your trusting nature, gain your love then leave you broken hearted

With the last possibility, his worry is tinged with jealousy

He can't let that happen to you

There's another aspect to his possessive nature as well

He's been the leftover, the cast-aside before when it came to his first love

It's a feeling he doesn't want to tolerate again

This time, he feels he can right the disappointments of the past, as well as protect you from ever having to endure the same heartbreak

His courtship is sweet, warm like sunshine, and oh-so protective

As a yandere, I don't see him doing anything particularly terrible, especially in comparison to the virility of some other yanderes

But he may or may not employ some underhanded tactics to ensure that other suitors are...unappealing to you

Or you may find that those too romantically intimate with you end up dropping their pursuit, deeming it not worth the strange and intimidating attention of the shadow by your side

I think, due to his protective sentiment towards you, he would be as close to you and occupy as much of a role in your life as you allow him to

And even when you do set boundaries with him, he may or may not be lurking just about the corner, present and aware of aspects of your life greater than what you share with him

He couldn't stand it if you needed his care or protection while he wasn't around

And should you need a guardian--someone to step in for you if you ever find yourself in a precarious situation--how fortunate then that he managed to be in just the right place at the right time

I think he is too well-intentioned to ever purposefully put you in dangerous situations to later rescue you

That doesn't mean, though, that he wouldn't ever abuse his power to...guide you in the right path (the one towards him)

Any mild symptoms of dis-ease: a headache, fatigue, or mild cold would have him fretting over you

You would think, with the way he treats you. that you were made of glass

Though his paranoia may be just be a symptom of that terrible happening at Allerdale Hall

He experienced his best friend being poisoned, and was unable to be there for her until it was almost too late

Alan will not make the same mistake again with you

If you do end up marrying him (due at least in part to his insistence) his protective and possessive nature would amplify to be even worse, since the two of you are no longer encumbered by the inhibitions of friendship or being acquaintances

It would never be his intention to cause you harm despite his questionable behavior, but it's as they say...

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

divider by saradika

[not-poignant]

Re: your - totally valid! - feelings on writing more Augus & Gwyn as MCs. Do you find still writing the Nascent Diplomat emotionally taxing bc of that? Like, I adore that story and would love to read more ofc, but if it doesn't bring you any joy that would dampen my own enjoyment too. Personally, I'd much rather you put TND on pause and maybe pick it up again in a few years, but just write the stories you are excited about for now! Idk, just, pls write what makes you happy, Pia💗

Hi anon!

Let's talk about this in more detail and hopefully you'll understand better at the end of it. :)

I can still write The Nascent Diplomat partly because it's not a conventional romance story (Gwyn is developing relationships not just with Augus, but also with Kimerrin and Temsen), partly because I started it before I burnt out on Gwyn/Augus as a couple, and partly because the feel of the story is so different to general stories where Gwyn and Augus are present.

Augus' sadism has been muzzled by Gwyn's traumatic past, and putting Gwyn with the vench means he can't use his stoicism and his stubbornness in the same way anymore without literally disabling himself and suffering, so they've both had to become as much different people as they could possibly be within the scope of who they are.

I've found a lot of the time, the things most folks want from Augus and Gwyn is - understandably - when they are most 'themselves' in new stories. So Augus as a sadist, potentially taking Gwyn (or another character) down or taming him or being an incredible dominant. Or Gwyn being stoic and repressed and having a traumatic family background and needing to be hurt until he has no choice but to accept comfort and being a submissive in denial that he's a submissive. And I've now written versions of that narrative about 6 or 7 times. Gwyn being with Temsen would be a similar enough dynamic to classic Augus/Gwyn, that while it's fun to think about, I just can't write that same journey again with either of those characters any time soon?

And The Nascent Diplomat isn't that journey either, it's one of the reasons I do enjoy writing it still (though I don't think I could write more than one chapter a month, which is why I...only release one chapter a month, so I stay fresh with it and can stay present with the characters).

And one of the comments tND gets most as an AU, is that it's incredible how different this version of Augus and Gwyn are, compared to all the other versions, because of circumstance/s.

But any time a new AU idea or something similar comes up, what folks want most - say even with Gwyn/Temsen - is very classic Augus/Gwyn dynamics, and I'm just... not writing those with Augus/Gwyn because I've done it 6~ times now across over a million words, and I no longer feel fresh with it, with those characters specifically, as a concept. And I feel like if I kept forcing myself to write the dynamic people ask for the most from them, or expect from them, that's when I would really truly burn out. And tbh anon, I did just...stop writing them in that dynamic actually years ago. Even the epilogue that Augus/Gwyn are in, within Fae Tales, is very different from COFT and GT content. I had 'Gwyn is too traumatised for sex' to fall back on, but I deliberately could not write something similar to what they used to be. In some ways that was a win (we got to see a different kind of love between them, and a different way of coming together for them), but... *thinks* it's been years since I've written 'classic' Gwyn and Augus and my burnout hasn't gotten any better. To me, The Nascent Diplomat isn't very classic Gwyn and Augus at all. And it makes me happy to know that Augus will likely never be able to be truly sadistic to that version of Gwyn, because it means I can't be sort of...driven back into that version of that story for those two.

So while I appreciate your concern, anon, I wouldn't write a story I didn't want to write or didn't know how to write. I'm not that sacrificial and I care about my mental health too much to do it, which is why I constantly say I won't be (or will not likely to be) doing it anymore in new stories, lmao. Even if that risks the displeasure or dislike of other people.

The Nascent Diplomat gets to sit in its own window. It helps a lot that it only demands 12 chapters a year from me, so it never really trips off that burnout in the same way. I'm sure if I had to write more of it more often, I may have put it on hiatus, but I don't need to because I found the sweet spot for it.

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

hello i want to send some of those drawing prompts in but i know nothing about your ocs. would you mind telling me a little about them? general personality traits, theme song (if they had one), role, and whatever else you'd like :>

owo!!!!!! :D okay SO i have multiple different stories (many many many) but I'll elaborate on the two that are currently most in my mind (apart from the animal-centric one, #taira, which wouldn't work with those drawing prompts)

Um. Putting this under a read more because it's getting long. Gonna copy-paste the under-the-cut stuff into a reblog to my backup sideblog, tho, just in case. Trigger tags are for the second story, and only because they're mentioned as part of it but definitely not in detail.

#adira - the tag goes for both the story as a whole and the main character. in summary my beloved girl discovers the Bible (dystopia which has wiped out Christianity in that location and no internet so very localised an controlled) and has a crisis of faith while working everything out. that's the first book. it develops, but yeah. most of these characters start out in their early/mid teens. may be referencing later events because this series is likely to end up covering at minimum a decade of their lives to a greater or lesser degree.

Adira - has a temper (classic redhead), passionate and intense about many things, somewhat arrogant, very determined to figure out the truth of the world, somewhat a self insert (has ended up completely accidentally very visually similar to me xD ) . I don't know her theme song. She's the main character. I love her so much. I can talk endlessly about her but also I'm kinda mixed up atm with reading over past drafts and how she was portrayed then and how that'll change.

Tom - ALSO has a temper (ends up with significant anger issues/tendency to violence that require a lot of work to get over and nearly destroys his marriage), physically disabled (details to be worked out), has a bunch of health issues, significant self-hatred and attendant mental problems, tendency towards obsession, side B bi. Dunno if he has a theme song as I've found yet. He's a supporting/secondaryish/main character. Becomes one of Adira's closest friends and has a significant role in the first book. Has a nasty history that honestly has ended up more like grooming than anything else (he the victim). Is driven by determination and an iron will that will carry him almost beyond the point of endurance. I love this dude sm. Also he's possibly half Indian? Not certain yet tho. But yeah, I got a lot to figure out about his character. Incidentally he and Adira end up married (and yeah their relationship tips into toxic territory for a while before he gets pulled up short and forced to rebuild it; not entirely his fault but definitely mostly). Obviously I need to work on that bit too but since that's plenty beyond the first book I'm more working on setting up foreshadowing and his character so that he'll develop into that sort. (I love him but he Sure Has Issues.)

Emily - uhhhh she's not particularly fleshed out yet xD She's Adira's adopted sister, but they're not especially close anymore (they grow closer over the course of the books, and were friends as small children). I had an idea for her and then I kinda a) realised it didn't fit with the rest of it and b) yoinked the best bits of her character for a different story which I'll expand on once I've done with these ones xD Anyway, she is good and kind and sweet and gentle and I love her. Her only real faults are rather Jane-Bennet-ish at present, and also that she's too ready to agree unquestioningly with those she trusts. In later books she goes through a crisis of faith and quite literally nearly dies as a result (there's a fun bit in there where the other characters on the scene realise that they don't know if the danger she ended up in was accidental or deliberate (it was accidental) and others go through Many Emotions as a result; they're all in a hard spot at that point with varying mental challenges). I found a theme song for her once but I can't remember what it was. She's a side/secondary character.

Dorothy - Adira and Emily's mother. She's somewhat similar to her daughter, but without some of the emotion to drive her. Pretty cool and calculating, but with a great warmth underneath. She's repressed her emotion for years and years in a mildly abusive family situation (her husband Theo is horrible and I despise him). She helps Adira to figure things out, with the help of a friend she introduces Adira to (Mr Saunders). I feel like I don't have a great handle on her character specifically, just Vibes.

Mr Saunders - he's ended up being a main character of the short story collection I call on here #suh, because two of the five stories (including the longest, at 23k) deal with him as a main character. (That short story collection is to be self-published in ??? once I finish editing it. his stories are tagged #story:wcb and #story:preacher (tho I'm not sure the latter has anything tagged as yet.) Anyway I've got it professionally edited I just need to go through that and then one more round of edits and then it's formatting and printing timeee.) Anyway, he's old and slow and very very gentle and kind. Like Dorothy, there are depths to him. But he loves deeply and has been hurt and yet those hurts slip off him like water. I love him so much and wish I could meet him in real life. He's the only one at the start of the story who is already currently Christian (in secret tho, and his ending is... I have Thoughts on that), though he's introduced mid-story. He's v important to Adira's development.

Neil - this dude has been severely depressed for YEARS okay he's my darling even tho it's mostly his own fault. Originally heavily inspired by Loukanos from S. J. Knight's A Time To series (fantastic 10000/10 would recommend, especially the first book). He's a doctor. He's Emily's biological uncle, her only remaining biological family. He has terrible hurt in his past, and he dwells on it and grows rancid over it. Incredibly bitter and lashes out. Not sure when he's gonna be introduced in-story, I know by what time I need him in the book but I dunno when he'll be introduced. He also has trauma/resentment around Christianity that he has to work through. I need to flesh him out better.

Giselle - we only learn her name closer to the end, when she and the story part ways. Her tag is #the evil spychologist. Not a typo, and for a good reason. Anyway, I adore writing her scenes and interactions with Adira. Shows how much I love writing stories where the main character is aware that they're being manipulated. Her character as herself isn't particularly apparent (she may show up later in the books or she may not) she's more a front for the evil government.

Those are the only main characters I can think of at this instant, but other side characters include Rosalind (kind of love interest for Tom at one point, it's complicated), Elton (can i punch his face can i PLEASE punch his face), Merry (either Adira or Emily's friend from <extracurricular>), Sandra (Dorothy's friend w a family), Rick (the resident Good Atheist), [name] (I forgot her name rn but she was Adira's friend from IMI, becomes an archivist like Dorothy and later meets Adira again. looked conservative and quiet and happy and whatnot in school and when she meets her again she's sporting a smart blue haircut, incredible heels and long sleeves...), and not to forget the twins Adira and Tom unexpectedly adopt with zero notice in like the fifth book xD their names are Faith and Hope. There's also another Faith (hehe spoilers but I love her sm).

oh crumbs I forgot Tom's entire family. Anyway there are a bunch of them. Alison (mother), can't remember his dad's name, and the kidlings are in no particular order Norah, Elizabeth, Katy, Rufus, Andy (he's importanter), Rufus's twin uhhhh can't remember his name, I think that's all the kiddos. I named each of the girls after a character I love lol.

ANYWAY I think that's all the summary of that particular series. moving on to the other which has a much smaller cast and is very character-driven

#vaniah - this tag goes for both the focal character and the story. Basically a story of healing from trauma, partly using the vehicle of an arranged marriage to handle it. It's very strongly Christian, both main characters are Christians and their faith is the only thing that holds them through everything, especially Vaniah.

Vaniah - my boy is Traumatised. Partly this is his own fault/perceived as his fault bc he was pressured into things and feels later that he should've said no, and he deals with incredible guilt and self-hatred. It's an extremely dark story with a lot of dark themes (graphic on-page self harm at least once as well as description of scarring, lots of discussion of suicidal ideation, potential suicide attempt, mentions of alcoholism and a couple of instances of my boy being Quite Drunk, some level of mentions of adult themes and slightly suggestive content, though that especially I will handle as carefully as I'm able). However! there is light hearted stuff in there too and ultimately it's a story of hope and rising from rock bottom. Vaniah loves butterflies and will infodump for as long as anyone wants about them (and other things). I dont really know how to talk about his character because for most of it he's SO consumed with self hatred to a greater or lesser extent. I don't know, I'm not selling this very well xD Alexandra has done fanart of a scene from this story and I'm still obsessed with it.

Emily - I know she has the same name as in Adira's story. These were originally connected, and now she's different. I'm still using this name but that will change in time (possibly to Amelie? idk). She deals with an eating disorder which Vaniah also helps her with. She's sweet and very gentle but has strong feelings. Vaniah perceives her as very pure and innocent, though this in fact is not quite true. She's been through somewhat herself, and her hope and faith are more out of determination than come easy.

I could ramble on about these two forever but I have somewhat done so before probably (you could check the tags. the tag #emily does cover both Emilies tho)

Side characters include: Ben (Emily's brother), Camilla (his wife), [name] (Vaniah's sister), uhhhhh there are probbably more I'm forgetting rn

Please ask me for any details or clarification or ask about anything to do with anything! :D

[imaginaryfriendcomic]

What I genuinely love about "Imaginary Friend" is the rather simple concept. With UT there are often deep and sometimes bloated themes and theories along with it since there is so much room for stuff in between the layers of the game (sometimes even layers when there aren’t any). They’re fine but sometimes I feel like less is more and better… (not to mention you don’t have to see and read any or too many credible sources for the theories to be on topic…) you need to know who Gaster is, his fate and his possible relationship with the Skeletons. The rest is explained in the fic itself.

I found the fic shortly after I finished my first play through (pacifist) and delving a little into the Gaster lore. Your fic really touched on the subjects I really enjoyed and it’s simple premise of Frisk befriending Gaster as they did with all the monsters was executed so well. The characters and topics in this flow rather naturally and the climax is interesting as it is rewarding!

It’s been a while since I read the fic but parts of it are still in my memory and I’m gonna reread the fic again soon.

To me, it’s natural for many people to be drawn into the fic and comic and I'm sure your dedication to see the comic through as long as you have definitely fills me (and so many others) with determination! ((Sorry I had to))

Thank you for your input! Yeah, it was a simple idea, after I wrote my first Undertale fic, which had a rather bittersweet ending, I really wanted Gaster to be saved. Originally, Imaginary Friend was going to be way shorter and his friendship with Frisk wouldn't have lasted so many chapters. But thanks to some other stories, I just really liked the idea of Gaster being Frisk's "imaginary friend", and then the characters slowly pick up the pieces.

And honestly I think this was one of the few long stories I actually finished. I gave up on many of them in the past. But Imaginary Friend made me feel so satisfied when it was over. Not only because of the positive reception, but it was a story I never wrote before. A story about a beautiful, platonic relationship that develops over time. It's a story about forgiveness and past trauma - which is also present in Sans' arc, as you'll see later in the comic.

I would say the comic adaptation is a love letter, really. I do try to improve a few things I didn't explore in the original story, mainly Frisk and Papyrus, the latter not receiving a lot of focus in comparison to Sans, but it's not to say the comic is "better". It's just me revisiting the original fic. And while I wish the updates weren't so slow, I think they also help me take some time to develop the changes I want to make.

Anyway, thanks again for your support! And yeah, knowing how much you guys love this story and how much it means to me certainly fills me with determination. I've been having a hard time lately so reading these kind words are like a hug to me. <3

[fandsart]

I find your evaluation of Nancy's reporter skills fascinating. Because I tend to see them as flaws of immaturity rather than inherent character flaws.

Like, she did this impressive bit of undercover journalism when she was 16 and just assumed that was what her whole career would be. She's at most 17 for her summer internship, and has broken a bigger story than anyone else in the office. Of course she thinks that means she has nothing to learn from the men working there (and their sexism just reinforces the point for her). She does seem to have a knack for knowing when a story is worth looking into (possibly that's just for plot reasons), and she does seem to have some research skills. What she lacks is the people skills and those develop from practice.

I do think that if she studies journalism in college, and doesn't quit in frustration when it's not exactly what she was picturing at 16, she could end up good at it. She's just not there yet.

I really can't see her as a cop, though. A detective, sure, but I don't see her putting up with the bureaucracy and old boys club of law enforcement any better than she did at her internship. Maybe she starts there, but she'd swiftly quit in favor of being her own boss as a private detective.

(As far as her criticism of Steve's essay, I thought that had less to do with her writing skills and was more about her feelings towards Steve. She found their relationship meaningless and frustrating, and not worth the effort of fixing. So that was how she treated his essay.)

I think it makes sense to view them as flaws due to immaturity. My perspective comes as a writer and viewing it from a meta perspective. Because the Duffers never present these as flaws, we can assume they wouldn't write her to ever grow past them. Plus when you peak young, you tend to stay kind of stuck at the age at which you peaked, and as you've mentioned, she happened to break a very big story at 16 or 17, so I'm willing to bet she won't mature past that. It doesn't help that at that point she seems to view herself as incredibly mature, above her peers. So I don't really see her maturing past these flaws, not in canon at least. I wouldn't decry a fic about her learning from her mistakes as ooc or anything

Good point about the cop thing. It's obviously a very masculine field, and that wouldn't be good for her, but it is different than reporting field. I do think that Nancy holds a lot of the same traits that come with toxic masculinity [which is a lot of the reason I call the duffers feminism first wave] so I do think that it's possible she'd be able to present herself as "one of the guys," but it would take a little while to establish herself this way before she gets the respect she wants. Basically what she was trying to do at her internship just might be more affective in this field than reporting. But maybe not idk. I think it could go either way, and you're absolutely right about how she'd prefer to work for herself, so she probably would prefer PI

Interesting note about the essay, and I do think that was the point of that scene narratively, but she does genuinely not seem to understand where the parallel comes from. I think we can conclude that she wouldn't be a good writer, or at least she may be able to make a good and cohesive piece of writing, her ability to analyze a piece of text being so low might indicate that her writing style is incredibly bland. Maybe she's good at it, but nothing that would really hook a reader, which is exactly the skill she would need. To be fair though, we don't get much perspective on this, so I'm working on very little to make this conclusion. Maybe she just think Steve is dumb, so she finds herself subconsciously looking for ways to criticize it, even if they aren't worth criticizing

[emilystheories]

I think you have some great theories but some require so much explanation to make it work and are buried in references and outside sources, we almost get away from what we know - SJM makes whatever lore she pulls from her own. Some are so complex and very specific to the way you analyze, we can't possibly expect SJM to have been on the same wavelength as you. Considering how often SJM retcons and contradicts herself in interviews, I just don't think she's putting in as much work as some fans do with some theories. Yes, she has plot twists and turns, but they aren't overly layered and she's not the best as creating two demensional villains either. She's also made some questionable writing decisions that so many fans never could've predicted. Like, I remember all the wild theories for KOA & ACOSF and none were remotely close to what she planned in terms of plot development aside from the obvious, Nessian as endgame. I think at best, the theories that do come to fruition are the simple ones even causal readers can pick up. I think you have some creative ideas, but I think we are expecting too much from SJM.I think she's a simple gal, who loves writing romance. Will you be disappointed if none of your theories come to be true? If none come true, I hope it doesn't stop you from expressing your thought and blogging, there's so many other fandoms who would appreciate you in their corner.

This is a valid point, so thank you for bringing it up!

I think first and foremost, it goes without saying that most SJM fan theories will (likely) be wrong in some capacity - my own included. I am definitely aware of this, which is why I am intentional with my wording (ie. I will never say "I figured it out!", or try and present my theories as canon facts). For me personally, theorising isn't about trying to be "right" (as that's pretty much impossible); instead, it's about pondering all the different possibilities that SJM could take in future books, and then sharing these possibilities within a community.

As for expecting too much from SJM - I am undecided. I do see where you are coming from, and I especially agree with KOA; a perfect example of this was Elide's character - SJM hinted several times that Elide had Blackbeak blood (which spurred on the creation of many incredible theories), but then it ultimately lead to nothing...? However, I also know that Merrill's hypothesis in ACOSF (about the 11 different dimensions, or as many as 26) is a direct reference to String Theory - and then the Harp, with the 26 strings, represents this. To me, this does indeed suggest that SJM is thinking about her worlds (and how they interact) beyond the surface level.

This is also why I often reference outside sources in my theories (such as mythology or folklore), because to me it is clear that SJM derives so much inspiration from these same sources. For example, Helion appears to be named after "Helios" (Greek god of the sun), and Thesan appears to be named after "Thesan" (Etruscan goddess of dawn). Knowing that SJM is connecting her characters in this way lends itself to questioning the other remaining characters - for example, why is Hunt named after Orion; a famous hunter in Greek mythology? Why is Mor named after The Morrigan; a famous war goddess/shapeshifter/banshee in Celtic mythology? Does it mean something? (Or, are you right, and SJM is just choosing names at random?)

So, I guess I can admit that I do have high expectations of SJM going forward, and that my theories reflect that. However, if SJM does indeed opt for more "basic" storylines in her future books (ie. much less of a crossover than we are anticipating), then it wouldn't be the first time that my theories have failed to account for that. In the past, I have actually posted theories for two well known TV/book series, and both went "viral" within those respective fandoms (I still remember when Reese Witherspoon posted a news article about my theory to her instagram story lmao). However, both times, the author went for a much more "obvious" ending, and as a result, I was on the receiving end of fandom backlash (that my thoughts were too "outlandish," or that my expectations were too high).

But, that's still part of the fun. Honestly, my one true goal is to write my own fantasy series - that way, I am free to include as many "outlandish" twists, turns, and ideas as I wish !! :)

[tabbi-mysteries]

Detective Conan Rewatch 471-486

Oops I forgot to write my thoughts down for a few days again

The uncontrollable rental car was actually top tier tho. I'm used to the single ep anime originals being fairly straightforward but this was unique and the characterization was great. We see Kogoro's best side and action hero dad Tagaki and a really smart trick pulled by Conan to save them all. I really liked this one.

Shinichi Kudo's childhood adventures is super cute! It's really nice to see babby Ran and of course Shiinichi. I almost wish we had more of their past and how they fell in love and the development part of all that but I get why we don't and the snippets we do get are cute. We get to see dad KID too which is fun (and babby Kaito too!) However as my friend pointed out this ep does feel like it confuses the nebulous timeline somewhat? Yukiko's been retired from acting for some time now so her still actively studying from Toichi is odd? Maybe? Maybe it's just her hobby now I dunno.

The love of lawyer Eri Kisaki is funny. It's super simple, especially for anyone who owns a cat but it manages to be great regardless. Ran really nearly assaulted a man 😅 well I'm sure Eri could have gotten her off the charges but still

Bad luck grand Prix is well it's an average episode, i certainly didn't think it was bad but it felt like a regular old episode with nothing super standout. I do like the occasional cases that are Kogoro and Conan hanging out all family like though it's sweet.

Genta's certain kill shot was fun! Mostly because my friend saw the title in advance and we've been choking about Genta's upcoming murder plan for a while XD the actual case is still pretty neat tho, although as usual the English is a little rough. I wouldn't say its common but you probably want imp or pixie to describe a mischievous kid not elf. I also kinda agree with Kogoro that it was mean to point at Genta and call him a murderer poor kid.

Real 30 minutes is an odd case. The time... didn't feel super relevant? The character designs were neat though and Conan and Haibara teaming up is always good.

Three days with Heiji Hattori! My boy was back for some more cases and they're fun ones. The first is neat because it feels like they reiterated Conan's trauma regarding cornering a culprit, almost feel like they could have focused on the impact of that ending and what that means to Conan and Heiji more but eh, it was neat to have it still. As for the detective Koushin I really enjoyed it! I've been looking forward to it a lot since reading that manga chapter and having a gathering of detectives is fun, the culprit is great too, I can see why she's so well liked. It's also great to have Hakuba here too although I gotta admit that yeah he seems pretty Sus of Conan, or perhaps just nice about it who knows. I liked the whole sequence at the beginning regarding the backstory too. And finally Heiji did really great! I like how they show how he differs from most other detectives we see who stand back and observe with methodical coldness by being emotionally invested, always having hope for possible best outcomes and willing to come across as wrong and act to gather the evidence he needs. I love him and this episode did a great job of showing why <3

Yellow Alibi is a sad case with a dumbass for a culprit. Who on earth murders someone on a beach and then tries to hide the fact the murder happened on a beach? Has this man never been to a beach before? You never get all the sand off my god.

Mountain Witch's cutlery is a simple little case but well presented, the weapon was neat and the kids were cute.

The vanished policeman was also a cute little simple case. Not much to say about it other than that tho.

Whereabouts of the dark photograph is fun because the crime differs which is neat every so often. Also those two guys will probably never commit a crime in their lives after that experience XD

Beckoning cat from left to right is simple but hey it has cats and Conan and Haibara teaming up which is nice.

[worldsentwined]

I set aside the Edgy OC ask meme you reblogged a bit ago knowing I'd definitely want to ask you about your Dual Citizenship OCs :3 Can I get 1 and 14 for Hel? (I'm *so* curious about this asshole (affectionate)'s backstory). Alternatively, tell us about 7. with Zephyr!

Oooooh yes amazing please always ask me about these characters! (Also hi I set this ask aside because I couldn't make my brain think about the answers but I just finished reading a book that had a diabetic character with a number of inaccuracies and it lit the spark of "annoyed by every piece of diabetes media" that got me writing this story in the first place).

What memory would your OC rather just forget? Hel probably has a LOT of these from its time as a HelperBot, honestly. I've shied away from thinking about specifics because like. The kind of things that happen to someone to leave it so bitter about everyone and everything? Probably not great. And the whole idea of HelperBots - beings created for the specific purpose of serving people rich enough to afford them - also points to a strong possibility of Very Bad Things Happened Here. I think some of those bad things happened to Hel specifically, but others happened to other bots it spent time around, and Hel wasn't able to help them. (Which leads to all kinds of interesting questions about how the robot revolution may have happened in the first place because the bots, designed to help but powerless to help each other, had to dismantle the whole system instead).

That said, as much as Hel's past is littered with memories that should come with a nuclear waste site warning, I don't think it would allow itself to forget the worst things. Hel emerged from its traumatic past with a strong sense of justice, and it wants to make sure its fellow bots won't be exploited again. Allowing itself to forget would make it complicit if history were to repeat itself.

How does your OC want to be seen by other characters? I think this varies a LOT depending on who is doing the perceiving. We see Hel through Tevin's eyes, and Tevin has more or less a human perspective despite being (technically speaking) a cyborg. Hel presents itself to Tevin and the other human roommates the way it wants humans to perceive it: enigmatic, angry, anything but helpful. It doesn't want anything to do with them, but since it has to, its goal is to make them uncomfortable. I think this bit from its introduction scene is a good example:

“Oh yes. That’s why we all exist, isn’t it? So we can be nice and helpful. Thank you for your feedback, Tevin!” Hel’s normal voice is a low, mechanical growl that it adopted specifically to make people uncomfortable, but the last sentence comes out in a perfect customer service cadence.

In the same way that Hel won't allow itself to forget the harsh history of humans and bots, it won't allow anyone around it to forget, either.

Other bots are a whole different story, and this is part of what I'm still trying to resolve with Hel's character arc. I don't think it's any less abrasive with them (assuming they even converse through means where tone is relevant) but it goes to greater lengths to make itself understood, because it actually cares about their opinions. It takes care to only do this in ways that the humans around it can't perceive, though - I imagine there have been many conversations between it and Lexie on private channels, even when they're also talking to each other out loud.

And because I love them, I'll also answer the Zephyr question:

What's one way your OC has changed since you first came up with them?

What a perfect question for Zephyr! They've probably changed the most since I first started spitballing characters onto the page for this. Originally they were meant to be like, a tech bro who was all about the scientific advances, someone who had never known actual hardship and is living their best life. But as the story developed it became clear that a person like that wouldn't still be on earth in this story - they'd have sided with the rest of the humans and gone to space. So they gradually turned into someone more nuanced - idealistic to the point of naivete, more hopeful than Tevin but not without their own baggage. I started thinking about what it would mean for someone privileged enough that they could have gone to space to just...decide to stay behind. What (or who) they might have given up, what they might feel about their personal losses even as the societal changes they supported are coming to pass. What happens if the dream they've worked so hard for isn't all they thought it would be? What if it takes more work than they expected? I also wanted to tap into the "just graduated college and gradually realized it's harder to find companionship than it used to be" thing. Zephyr's desire for connection stands in contrast to Tevin's reluctance to let anyone get close, which is part of what makes the two of them so fun to write together.

Anyway, thank you for asking and continuing to care about my blorbos even though I haven't worked on their story in a while!