#this is backed up by canon too as per that one scene where he gets deancas to talk after hours of the silent treatment

[kaleirots]

the funniest thing about destiel fic is how sam is the agony aunt/counsellor/problem solver/wingman/emotional support moose in every universe

like sure sam winchester has anger issues and trauma galore but more importantly, he's an 🏳️‍🌈 ALLY 🏳️‍🌈

[cosmerelists]

Canon Cosmere Couples: Did They Have A Good First Kiss?

As requested by @cosmereplay

Now, as I said when I accepted this post, there is NO CHANCE that I will actually remember who has canon first kisses and who doesn't. So please don't get annoyed by that. Except for Painter/Yumi, who I know had a terrible first kiss! Because Cosmereplay said so when requesting this list. :)

Anyway, here's how I think the first kiss went with canon Cosmere couples.

[SPOILERS FOR CANON COUPLES THROUGH ALL PUBLICATIONS INCLUDING WAT PREVIEWS—but the WAT one is under a read more!]

1. Wax & Steris: Great First Kiss

I feel like this one might be canon. I feel like whether or not this happened in canon, their first kiss happened when they were flying, and that Steris was overcome by the Romanticism and the Danger as she is in canon, and then she and Wax shared their first kiss. And I think it was legitimately great for both of them.

2. Adolin & Shallan: Good First Kiss

I think Adolin had plenty of kissing experience (depending on how "Not Before Marriage" the Vorins are...but like Dalinar & Navani kiss so surely Adolin can too) and that Shallan had none. In my head, Adolin kissed Shallan in the Perfect Romantic Moment and then Shallan panicked afterwards and said something which most people would have found incredibly awkward but which Adolin vibed with so completely that it just made the moment better.

3. Tress & Charlie: Bad First Kiss

Think about the "pair of gloves" scene. Those kids are so sweet and so awkward. And it is based on the Princess Bride, where Buttercup & Wesley shared a truly perfect kiss, which had (in that book) only happened three times in all of history. But this is a Hoid retelling. I don't think Tress & Charlie had that magic, so I think their first kiss was more ordinary and real.

4. Raoden & Sarene: Adequate First Kiss

I think that's how Sarene described it. Raoden thought it was a bit better than "adequate," but he yielded to Sarene's judgement that they'd "definitely get better with practice, though."

5. MeLaan & Wayne: Insanely Good First Kiss

MeLaan said Wayne was the best lay she'd ever had. So somehow Wayne is good at all of that. And they were so distracted boning that they missed a whole ass train robbery. They were definitely eating each others' faces.

6. Navani & Dalinar: Great First Kiss

I think this one is canon--I think their first kiss really was in the room after one of Dalinar's visions, when Navani kissed Dalinar & then they couldn't stop kissing for a minute. This is assuming that back when they were young and Navani was deciding between Dalinar & his brother, that she and Dalinar never kissed. And I don't think they did. I think they have "never actually kissed before" energy in the flashbacks. So assuming the canon kiss was their first one, it seemed like it was good! They're older & they know what they liked, and they definitely both seemed caught up in it.

7. Siri & Susebron: Great First Kiss

This one is canon, although not described in like a ton of detail I don't think. I mainly remember something like "Susebron didn't know what to do but Siri did" and that they were so insanely horny for each other that they hooked up despite that being the one thing that they needed to avoid doing. So, like, I think it's fair to say that they were into it.

8. Vin & Elend: Okay First Kiss

I don't mean to make this all about "prior kissing experience" like I'm looking at some sort of Kissing Resume. But Elend must have a bit of kissing trauma, since his only sexual experience prior to Vin was with a skaa woman he was forced to sleep with and who he later found out was executed for it. And Vin just generally has Trauma and was constantly on alert against sexual violence in particular. The two of them trust each other and like each other and per WOB were hooking up even before marriage (gasp!) but I think they were vaguely relieved when that First Kiss was over with.

9. Breeze & Allrianne: Bad First Kiss

I mean given that their relationship was Breeze being like "uh I don't know if I want this" and Allrianne being like "yes you do"...I dunno. I can't imagine their first kiss was good.

10. Gavilar & Navani: Bad First Kiss

Gavilar was imagining kissing himself and Navani was imagining kissing Dalinar.

11. Dalinar & Evi: Bad First Kiss

Evi was imagining kissing a Dalinar who loved her and Dalinar was imagining kissing Navani.

12. Sadeas & Ialai: Amazing First Kiss

I think Sadeas & Ialai are ridiculously sexually compatible and that they knew that from the first kiss. I dunno. That's the vibe I get from them.

13. Kelsier & Mare: Great First Kiss

I think their backstory is too tragic for them not to have had a great first kiss on top of everything else. Just to make Kelsier that much more sad, you know?

14. Kaladin & Lyn: Did Not Kiss

Not going to lie. I'm just going off of the energy from @room-temperature-orange-juice's comment on my "Is Kaladin Good in Bed" post which was, and I quote, "Bold of you to assume Kaladin would get laid. I love him, I treasure him, but he’s dense. Someone could lie naked on his bed, and he would be pacing the room, worrying about the safety of the vents."

I kinda like the idea of Lyn setting up all these romantic moments for Kissing Purposes and Kaladin never once realizing that that's what she's going for.

Bonus WAT spoiler couple under cut!

15. Jasnah and Hoid

This is a spoiler couple, but Jasnah and Hoid? Terrible first kiss. I do not think there is a world in which Jasnah and Hoid's first kiss was objectively good. This is based entirely on the WAT preview where Hoid is like kissing Jasnah's hand to get her excited and Jasnah is like "Mmm I am not Into That." Like I think they both wanted different things from that kiss and that neither of them really got it.

[fyeahghosttrick]

Behold: the list! More than 150 prompts ripe for the taking! Now everyone can pick something cool (no need to claim it anywhere) and start drawing it or writing it or any other creative verb of your liking. Next stop: June 12th, when we'll all post together to celebrate GT's original anniversary (there will be a reminder with brief posting instructions).

Prompts are numbered for your convenience, in the order they came in.

Prompting remains open here for any newcomer and new prompts will be updated weeklyish. You can join in at the last minute! You can join in without prompting, too!

And now, without further ado:

BLOCK A (this distinction is just because of tumblr's character limitations per block)

dinner-rol - gt characters going on a hike!

dinner-rol - rock jailbird performing to pigeons in the park

okiroash - anything with trashmiel !!

okiroash - (AU) no betrayal and yomiel gains a robot body.. the rest is up to your imagination

doctor-yoshi-soul: Cabanela being addicted to some stimulant drug (Amphetamine, Cocaine, Nicotine, etc.). Caffeine counts if someone doesn't want to write about illicit substances so something like a coffee addiction is just as apt

doctor-yoshi-soul: Kamila and Amelie playdate (either timeline)

doctor-yoshi-soul: Movie Night (bonus: it's a mystery/thriller)

doctor-yoshi-soul: Yomiel desperately trying to feel something while he's still dead

doctor-yoshi-soul: Yomiel's jail time (and/or how other characters deal with it)

doctor-yoshi-soul: What does Jowd carry in that huge coat of his (bonus: same for Cabanela)

doctor-yoshi-soul: How Ray passes the time

Meowdyjac - Sissel picking up Kamila from school

Meowdyjac - Yomiel doing taxes

Meowdyjac - Sissel hiding in Lynne's bag

Meowdyjac - Jowd and Sissel getting reprimanded by Alma

alto-tenure: Ghost Trick x Zero Escape! I would especially appreciate interactions between Akane and Sissel (wink wink) but I'm cool with any crossover material between these two -- with one major caveat that I haven't played ZTD, so please avoid spoilers for it!

alto-tenure: AU where Cabanela adopts Kamila after Jowd's arrest instead of Lynne.

alto-tenure: Lynne and Memry swap with Jowd and Cabanela AU

alto-tenure: Re-prompt from last year -- Lynne, Cabanela, Kamila, and Missile, sometime between Alma's death/Jowd's arrest and canon events in the original timeline.

alto-tenure: Post-canon Sissel leads the effort to solve a case.

caravanlurker - Lynne just finished the last game YOU played and is /really/ trying to convince everyone else to try it --not that that kind of behavior resembles any fandom I know of.

caravanlurker - Yomiel is wearing merch of himself or some other character

caravanlurker - Jowd gets caught smuggling Sissel to a crime scene and has a not-strange-at-all time trying to explain himself.

caravanlurker - Sissel's first few interactions with a recently reborn Missile in the new timeline.

caravanluker - Keyposes of Lynne+Sissel as hypothetical characters in a fighting game

caravanlurker - A little exploration on why Yomiel even chose to rendezvous at Chicken Kitchen.

caravanlurker - Cabanela and Missile conversation teehee

caravanlurker - Something about Kamila's music taste

ihavenohotcocoa - Fiansissel and Memry having a meet up over coffee

ihavenohotcocoa - Fiansissel and Sissel having bonding time

ihavenohotcocoa - Fiansissel and Yomiel's wedding day <3

ihavenohotcocoa - Alma, Jowd, and Kamila going to an amusement park

ihavenohotcocoa - Tiny Lynne chilling in the police department with Cabanela

Post-game Yomiel and Kamila where Yomiel is acting as an uncle figure for Kamila. Could be hurt/comfort or fluffy

Pre-game Lynne taking care of a sick Kamila

Pre-game Jowd introducing baby Kamila to Cabanela

Pre-game Yomiel and Sissel celebrating their first New Years together

Post-game where Yomiel dies and Sissel has to bring him back to life

Apocalypse AU where Kamila is lost trying to find her father and Yomiel finds her and tries to take care of her/help her

Pre-game Kamila and Amelie having a sleepover at Lynne's apartment

Pre-game Lynne discovers Kamila is getting bullied at school and she takes care of it ASAP (maybe with the help of Cabanela as a bonus)

Sunnyaliceart - Sunny Alice - Old timeline Yomiel watching Sissel go nuts over a catnip toy he got him and smiling

Sunnyaliceart - Sunny Alice - Cabanela helping Jowd walk as he adjusts to using a cane in the new timeline (fluff shipping)

Sunnyaliceart - Sunny Alice - Pigeon Man being cute with Lovey Dove

Sunnyaliceart - Sunny Alice - Any character from my No Deal Yomiel AU - No Deal Yomiel looking sinister or Cabanela suffering at his hands. Anything edgy, cool or dramatic

Sunnyaliceart - Sunny Alice - Kitty Sissel and Missile cuddling Lynne and Kamila

Sunnyaliceart - Sunny Alice - New timeline Yomiel bonding with the Jowd family while in a wheelchair or using a cane with Sissel on his lap or shoulder

Sunnyaliceart - Sunny Alice - The interrogation scene between Yomiel and Cabanela

Sunnyaliceart - Sunny Alice - Sissel, Missile, Jowd and Yomiel talking together in the Ghost World in the new timeline (friendship, hope for the future)

samthecookielord - kamila and amelie hanging out together

sissel stuck in a tree

what memry is like when she's not undercover at the chicken kitchen

Genre swap AU! Fantasy, superheroes, classic pulp… how does the plot play out in a setting with different rules?

Your most self-indulgent crossover.

A serious take on Pigeon Man's research.

Characters with different hairstyles.

The inherent creepiness of puppeting your own corpse. Either serious, with Yomiel's time as a ghost, or silly, with Sissel post-game.

Another character gets ghost powers. What are they? If you want, how would they work in the game (or not work, and require a different type of gameplay?)

(Genshin & GT crossover) Kaeya and Yomiel go to a bar together.

Sissel (cat) dressed up in different outfits (ex: Cabanela's)

(CROB & GT crossover) Sissel breaks a ton of Langue de Chat's furniture due to cat + ghost shenanigans (LdC is not happy about it.)

Sissel doing basic cat things (Pushing stuff off, clawing furniture, etc)

Phoenix Wright gets a new case, and the police investigator he has to deal with is Cabanela

In the New Timeline, Sissel and Missile reunite

FianSissel finding out what happened at the park (new or old timeline)

Where did Sissel go in Ray's timeline, what did he do? (Fic)

Kamila has a nightmare, Sissel helps comfort her

Ghibli movie night with the family, Yomiel is forcibly added to the found family and FianSissel is just happy to be there

Jowd recovering from having his leg pierced by a piece of the Temsik meteorite

New Timeline, Lynne dies and Sissel is there to avert her fate

I wanna see a ghost trick/yakuza crossover. Send the cast of Ghost Trick to Hawaii to hang out with the yakuza squad. Let Cabanela chill on the beach with Kiryu. Let Jowd have a watermelon eating contest with Adachi. Let Ichiban show his crustacean friends to Lynne. Whatever. Anything.

post-canon Yomiel and Kamila friendship (Uncle Yomi my beloved)

post-canon Yomiel and Lynne friendship

Yomiel but he's dressed like Pearl in Side Order from Splatoon 3

Jowd giving a spine-shattering bear hug to character of your choice

Lynne drawn in a really old anime style with bishie sparkle

Sissel doing Normal Cat Things and being an absolute pain to deal with

that one mental health meme where it's like "you're not a burden" "it's ok to ask for help" with characters of your choice in the slots but either Yomiel or Cat Sissel are in the "murder is okay" slot

cat Sissel seen up-close through a fisheye lens

(Fic) What-if scenario where Yomiel got to Fiansissel in time before she died

BLOCK B

(Fic) Yomiel’s perspective during the Metro Police Department Siege Case

(Fic) Cabanela dies close enough to Yomiel to get Ghost Tricks. What would happen/change if he joined Sissel in the submarine chapter

(Art) Yomiel in TWEWY Shibuya just casually watching the Reaper’s Game go down from a distance

(Art or Fic) L from Death Note showing up out of nowhere to help Cabanela and Pigeon Man with the Manipulator Case

(Art) Yomiel in the Onceler’s clothes

Human!Sissel

Post canon Physical rehabilitation

Worst timeline

jowd/alma/cabs cooking in the kitchen… downright chaos or synchronized perfection? somewhere in the middle?

yomiel DIY sewing up the hole left in the back of his jacket from the meteor, whether that goes well or badly…

pigeon man and his collection of newspaper clippings about the meteor and related events…

lynne, kamila, and missile movie night!

rindge and memry's dynamic as agents

carnival activities with characters of your choice (carnival food competitions, carnival games [and cheating at them with certain powers], carousels and face painting and cotton candy etc etc!)

ocekhaz - The Ghost Trick cast but they all turned into cats, that's it, that's thre prompt. Preferably art but fanfiction is fine too !

ocekhaz - Yomiel angst….make whatever you want but please break that man…art or fic

ocekhaz- Post-Canon yomiel interacting with the cast during his recovery in the hospital, with the focus being cabanela and yomiel (platonic or romantic), mostly fluff, hurt/comfort is really good too ! Art of fic

ocekhaz - Yomiel teaching Kamila about coding, really wholesome! art of fic !

ocekhaz - Ghost trick but set into the 1930-40s ! Really getting into that noir detective vibes ! Fic or art…other than that do what you want…

ocekhaz - Post-canon yomiel slowly getting used to "life" again, with a strong emphasis on senses (smell, touch, taste etc) that he couldn't feel before, mostly positive but a side of angst is good too…art of fic !

ocekhaz - The ghost trick cast in formal wear, I'd love to see them in fancy suits and dresses, Art !

Cabanela babysitting Kamila, with optional assistance (or added chaos?) from cat.

Jowd and Cabanela, something emotional, hurt/comfort, hugs, tenderness, that kind of thing

Jowd family day out, just pure fluff

Art with Jowd/Alma/Kamila, can be just one or two, even, I just want to see more Jowd family art!

Yomiel attempting to re-integrate into society, getting used to just being alive again, and probably being a clumsy dork in the process

Lynne and Sissel hanging out together

Astrofiish- Sissel/Lynne/Missile/Cabs/Jowd/Yomiel crossover with whatever fandom you want! Choose whatever characters you want- have fun!

Astrofiish- Flat Jeego! Flatten that guy make him a metaphorical Pancake 🥞

Astrofiish- Missile and Sissel being the best of friends

ricketricket - Yomiel dwelling on the fact that Sissel has taken on his fate of being Temsik'd?

ricketricket - Final chapter gang (Sissel, Missile, Jowd, Yomiel) thinking about Ray? Either talking with each other, reflecting, etc.

ricketricket - In the fail sequence in chapter 15 where Yomiel notices Sissel, his dialogue implies that he knows this strange ghost is Sissel specifically, and yet chooses to taunt him and shoot Cabanela anyway. How does Sissel deal with that in the new timeline? Yomiel wouldn't remember that happening, does Sissel ever tell him? How does he react when he does?

ricketricket - Postgame Yomiel somehow meeting Sissel Prime (Ray's timeline), lost and alone and wearing the wrong face. Time travel shenanigans, probably.

ricketricket - Sissel bonding with his namesake after hearing so much about her from Yomiel?

ricketricket - Sissel in the far, far future. Is he still a ghost? Still a cat? Or has he changed into something else? A god? A youkai? Something entirely unique?

ricketricket - Postgame Sissel can manipulate his own corpse, which implies he has at least some of the manipulator's powerset. Can he manipulate people? Small animals? Just the dead? How does he feel about this aspect of his powers? How does Yomiel feel?

ricketricket - Alma and Yomiel interacting in the new future. Does Alma remember? If she doesn't, was she told? Does she forgive him? Does Yomiel forgive himself?

siverwrites - Alma/Jowd/Cabanela cuddle pile (nothing NSFW please)

siverwrites - Cabanela and Pigeon Man getting to know each other in the early days

siverwrites - Cabanela and Pigeon Man meeting in the new timeline

siverwrites - Jowd/Alma having a date night that's normal by their standards but weird to others (nothing NSFW please)

siverwrites - Alma knows about Sissel in the new timeline. Adjusting and learning to communicate with him takes some learning but it's something she's happy to work out with him

siverwrites - new timeline: Missile may not have Ghost Tricks anymore, but he can still help Sissel solve a mystery!

Jowd wants some alone time post-game and forgets that a man known to have literally gotten himself killed in the last timeline basically going missing may cause a panic (can include most everyone you want but if you could at least include cabanela that would be good)

Somehow post game cabanela and jowd get themselves killed and in saving them Sissel clues cabanela into the fact that jowd has died and possibly even teaches him about the og timeline

Yomiel and his fiancé :3

Yomiel and sissel hanging out post comet (can be post game or before the game takes place)

Jowd centered hurt/comfort

On a version of events where Sissle isn’t there, Emma learns of the justice minister’s fate

What if Yomiel, undead as he was, DID make it back to his fiancé in time to stop her from dying/how do they (and their new cat) deal with the fact that he’s not alive or dead?

Fiancé Sissle and Alma become friends and work together to try and figure out why their husbands have been acting so strange

Somehow post game Yomiel dies again and Cat Sissle finds it strange to bring him back to life like any other person but at least gets to make sure Yomiel and Fiancé Sissle don’t meet a tragic fate even though the one from ten years ago was avoided

loboazul - Cabanela and his 100 poses

loboazul - Yomiel figuring out new tech after getting out of jail.

loboazul - Outfit swaps! Whichever characters you want!

any number of characters in a trench coat :>

katecattus-Necrobarista AU

katecattus-What we do in the shadows AU

katecattus-Characters from GT as avatars of fears from The Magnus Archives (Art)

BLOCK C

katecattus-VTM AU, characters get assigned a vampire clan (Art)

katecattus-Kamila playing Minecraft. Bonus points for Yomiel teaching her redstone

katecattus-Someone from the human main cast as animals (Art)

fexiled - sissel and missile vs the bissell vacuum cleaner

fexiled - post-canon, someone having nightmares about dying / the original timeline and getting comforted by sissel. can be any character you want but i'd love to see yomiel or lynne the most :')

fexiled - kamila and yomiel building a contraption together

levitanias - (art heavily preferred!) yomiel and my yomiel-inspired oc hotshot (references: https://toyhou.se/24324062.hotshot/24939429.gijinkahuman) (his object form is also okay if you want something simple! available at: https://toyhou.se/24324062.hotshot) interacting with each other in whatever way you can think of, i'd just love to see one of my favorite guys interacting with the character that inspired him!! they could be getting along, absolutely hate each other, whatever you'd like!

levitanias - detective rindge on his stakeout at temsik park pre-death.

levitanias - something which parallels cabanela—spotless and "pure" with his white coat—and yomiel, full of mistakes, misgivings, and a moral compass that has been thoroughly driven into the ground.

levitanias - a family portrait consisting of jowd, alma, and kamila.

The full crew watching fireworks (Sissel, Yomiel, Missile, Kamila, Lynne, Jowd, Cabanela, even Alma and Fiansissel if you want)

azurefishnets - Alma/Cabanela/Jowd (or any /& subset therof, minus subsets including infidelity as a feature) - I think it would be fun to explore what each might plan if they were playfully trying to outdo each other in a specific category of shared date night. Like most romantic, weirdest, best restaurant experience…

azurefishnets - Cabanela & Jowd & Sissel - On-the-job situation where Cabanela knows Sissel's whole deal but still can't speak to him and so chooses to resort to increasingly bizarre attempts at communication; perhaps some kind of undercover work where they all have to pretend they don't know each other?

azurefishnets - Jowd & Pigeon Man - The first time Jowd has to ask Pigeon Man to consult on a case in the new timeline…how awkward can Jowd make it? So, so, so akward, even with a lovely dove there to be a distraction and talking point. You know this to be true. Lean in.

azurefishnets - Emma & Pigeon Man - New timeline Emma attempts to pull gossip from PM at a party, in service of gathering info for her new novel about a romance between rival police officers, but PM is nigh impossible to schmooze with Emma's usual tactics. (Bonus points for Emma getting so frustrated with him her hair blooms)

azurefishnets - Alma & Sissel - Always a sucker for these two finding their own ways to communicate and understand each other! Alma finds herself in the unenviable position of toddler-proofing a house--unlike other moms, she has a unique helper in this endeavour…

azurefishnets - any cast members - hair swap (but not palette swap!) Swap Emma's with Sissel's, switch Jowd's with Beauty's, trade Amelie's for the Bartender's, etc… the funnier and more inconvenient for the pair, the better!

azurefishnets - Pigeon Man & Lynne & Missile - Lynne's walking her dog. PM's feeding the pigeons. Missile recognizes an old acquaintance and doesn't care about a somewhat awkward encounter between a young detective and the irascible old medical examiner who far outranks her and has just been leapt upon by her dog; Missile hasn't done his duty as a top Pom until he can say, "Welcome!" properly.

azurefishnets - always gotta rep the FFVI/GT AU! For more info please see https://archiveofourown.org/series/1196335. Any addition welcome!

laughingmango - the duality of Cabanela, pack bonding with just about anyone in a split second UNLESS they're a nuisance on the job, in which case he's got a short fuse

laughingmango - Cabanela/Jowd hurt/comfort. either way. Physical hurt, emotional hurt, your pick. One of them's having a bad time and the other one's there for him.

laughingmango - What if Alma were more similar to Jowd than her appearance would suggest? Cosmic pessimism power couple? Can Cabanela handle both of them?

laughingmango - Any kind of what-if for the detectives. Timeline reset but it's Cabanela who keeps his memories and not Jowd? Cabanela dies in chapter 15 and his spirit can join the party on the submarine? Ghostly angst in the doomed timeline, where Jowd is executed and Cabanela presumably murdered by Yomiel? Completely different scenario and it's Jowd who must put in the work to prove Cabs' innocence somehow?

laughingmango - Anything Emma. Patron saint of trashy novels and also of doing what she feels is right. Did she know Jowd beforehand? Did she ever try to get through Cabanela? Is she friends with Alma in the new timeline? Who does she meet at a party? Is her new book based on sooomeone? What's her dynamic with her husband when things are good?

laughingmango - Memry as Cabanela's pupil in the way Lynne is Jowd's

laughingmango - Disco Elysium crossover/fusion. I just think Harry would look at Cabanela and get his brain rewired by the sheer power of bisexuality and disco. But what about our GT dancers and Egg Head+ravers, for example, or Sissel pulling off some wild ghost stunt in Revachol? "Ass up and amnesiac" is the name of the game… (I love Harry and Kim but please no other members of precinct 41)

laughingmango - Final Fantasy VI AU, always. any unexplored corner, or just reimagining any character in Yoshitaka Amano's fashion!

T052ther0b0t - (AU) Sissel, Missle and Yomiel become a ghost detective team

T052ther0b0t - Sissle and Yomiel sleeping

T052ther0b0t - Yomiel and Yomiel's wife (either anything wholesome or angsty is up to you!)

scarlette-foxx What is Sissel up to a hundred years later? What is it like to be an immortal Feline?

scarlette-foxx Ghost Trick/Danny Phantom crossover 👀

scarlette-foxx Someone is trying to teach Sissel how to read! I wonder who?

Jowd ball

Sci fi AU

Missile and Sissel character swap

Sissel (either one) meeting Yomiel post game

Sissel cat shenanigans

Amelie and Kamila being friends

Au where Lynne gets struck by the Temsik fragment and lives

The Sissels meeting each other

[fumifooms]

Namalin

Namari x Falin

Easy short rarepair spotlight post for prosperity~ This one I didn’t think of on my own for once, I don’t know if it’s just I forgot the decided-on ship name or what but I remember seeing really nice art and a couple posts about it that I can’t find again 💔 Namalin warrior you are out there and not forgotten ty for making me see the light

I like that Namari’s critical of Falin! I have a whole character analysis on Falin if you’re interested, but it’s generally well noticed that people around Falin idealize her a lot. Laios, Marcille and Toshiro all put her on a pedestral of ultimate goodness in the world, a saintess if nothing short of perfection. Sounds like Chilchuck felt sort of creeped out by her vibes, uncomfortable because he couldn’t read her, so unlike Namari it seems he preferred steering clear of her rather than debate opposed ideologies like he usually does. Makes sense if unlike Namari his issue is with her cryptic aura rather than the stances she does show. "… The dungeon is no place for soft hearts" my ultimate namalin scene <333 It’s fun because while this scene is there to show us a lot of things, mostly to establish Falin’s characters better as it’s the first flashback of her we get, the conflict in it is more than anything else Falin vs Namari in how they contrast and clash and approach situations differently. Namari wants security in swift effective violence and thinks Falin too soft for her own good when she prefers a pacifist approach and promotes compassion even for the "undeserving" in Namari’s eyes. Falin steps between the battle ready Namari and the ghost, fearless. Falin effortlessly gently exorcises the ghost without one step back, quickly. Falin proves someone wrong. Falin proves someone wrong.

I love thinking of Namari being surprised when she learns new aspects of Falin. I like Falin having the power to shape people’s views on her. With Falin ships the most fun part for me is usually that point where Falin/the relationship becomes a clean slate: the person realizes they haven’t been seeing all of her, realizes there’s more of her they hadn’t noticed or that she hadn’t shown, that there’s change, a shift in the views on each other and the dynamic a bit.

Namari often feels like an external view looking in to me… I need to make a proper analysis on her but like. I made a lamari post once (analytic more than personally invested rip sorry) and I go with the same Namari take here, I think she’s someone who tends to have an outsider view on people and relationships if that makes sense, she’s a coworker before anything else and she’s content staying at a distance, she’s not objective per se but she tries to keep feelings out of her choices and how she sees people (her lil arc on not staying to save Falin despite the existing camaderie but in the end asking to work for the Flokes more because she wants to stay with them). She’s serious no nonsense on the job but friendly off the job and likes having casual friends, but she’s not… She doesn’t really feel connected to the group. She’s so focused on doing her job, even if she does get impulsive and passionate and too assertive for her bosses’ tastes, so focused on working her reputation and life from the ground up that that professionalism and attitude limits her social life. It doesn’t help that her reputation makes her widely judged, so she probably enters social spaces on the derensive. The closest person she was to pre-canon as far as we knew was Chilchuck and even they have a very "coworker I get along with" dynamic more than friends, with a similar sense of boundaries, humor and world view. Also like canon says a few time, the party didn’t really try to get to know each other well pre-canon, didn’t hang out after work often no one knew where Marcille was from and no one thought that was weird (also how no one had the instinct to ask about Senshi’s past) etc, the notable exception is we’re shown Namari and Chilchuck hitting taverns together and having a grand time. Everyone’s fine with things as they are, they get along decent even if not everyone considers each other friends exactly. Where I’m getting at is that to me, it feels like she tries keeping emotional distance. Emotional distance from people in general being something which in my interpretation of Falin is also present, which would make it a theme and common thread interesting to explore imo. But yes like, Namari looking at Falin, and how everyone treats her, and being more skeptical, seeing her for what she is a little more, maybe even uncharitable. "Why is everyone treating her like she’s all that? She’s gentle sure but seems like a doormat to me" and then one day she comes running up with her mace ready to cave in someone’s face to protect Laios. So yeah… Keeping her distance but one day Falin offering her some gentleness that feels very too personal for someone who’s not used to being genuine and simply showing that they care… Them talking a bit which leaves her stumped and mindblown in a quiet way when Falin defies her expectations. Namari growing on Falin when she stays and decides to open herself up more, or when Falin ends up reading her really well like she’s shown to do with her parents and Marcille’s worries. She’s very attuned to worrying and why and when different people do it especially when it comes to when they worry for others, perhaps because she does a lot of that too, so I think she’d nail down how Namari does care for the rest of the party and it’d make Namari feel seen both in a warm validating way and in a scared naked way.

We see in the tentacles chapter that she’s someone’s who’s very protective and looks out for her peers in a tough love way. She’s overbearing but it’s because she wants everyone to have the best chances. I like that she’s very confrontational and somewhat pushy and rude, but it’s tough love, it’s protective care: asserting herself to better protect and defend. The opposite of Falin’s type of care, quiet and self-sacrificial devotion. They’re barbarian x healer but they’re also bodyguard x bodyguard in their attitude and role. … What I want for them is slow burn slice of life of being coworkers and slowly getting to know each other better, pretty fluffy, but god, put this way they’d have the potential to be such a hot layered mess of insanely mutually devoted codependence… Falin taking a hit for Namari and Namari being scarred by it forever, lots of arguments about it, my god.

I like that she’s the fighter to Falin’s healer. I looove thinking of scenes of Falin healing Namari, necessitating touch and like, a moment of slowing down and sitting together in silence, too intimate, the perfect opportunity to connect that neither truly want to take until one day they do. I love how onesided I imagine the relationship would be at first. Again, as per my interpretation of Falin, I think Namari would have all these little observations and opinions on Falin meanwhile Falin really doesn’t think of Namari much at first. So Namari thinks a lot about Falin and thinks she’s got her pinned down but hasn’t (not that she’s fully wrong, she’d have credit and confront Falin on some of her flaws like the doormat thing), while Falin is very passive about Namari and doesn’t think deeply about her or anything but she read Namari’s insecurities and logic well. Not unlike how Laios was the one who seemed to understand Namari’s way of care the best in the party in the tentacles episode, and how he was very understanding of her choice and reasons. In Falin’s case it’s more like, the objectivity of passivity… She cares about Namari less than Laios who generally seeks to form bonds, so her lack of investment allows her a neutral perspective. In that way another parallel with Namari that I’m drawing, except Namari lets feelings from her opinions seeps in more… Onesided beef my beloved. I’m going insane save me this post was a mistake. I think Falin takes the crumbs of friendship and love where she can without expecting or asking for anything more than what’s offered, and I think her relationship with Namari (or anyone really) would start out the way it did with Marcille: the other takes the initiative and they end up spending time together, Falin is friendly but unattached until the bond gets gradually and wordlessly strenghtened through regularly spending moments together. So! I think Namari would need to take a lot of the first steps, which since again she’s confrontational & argumentative and doesn’t hold herself back on that front that could spark a lot of conversations I think. Ooor since Falin cares about Namari less than Laios and Marcille she allows herself to be bolder herself lol. Or also circumstances force them to spend time together like dungeon party getting separated shenanigans.

I think their personalities match cutely, I think falin would try to protect namari like she does others but also Namari simply doesn’t need protection, just support. And I think they’re complementary in that way that Namari’s friendly but also won’t sugarcoat things, and I think if she takes an interest in Falin it could go from there and she could develop some understanding of her and idk like an intrigued crush….

Namari wants stability & security & to, like, not be judged and rejected and exiled lol, to find her nest her pack the place where she feels good and wanted in. I think having a fitting partner would help in that (similarly to how the found family with the Flokes seemed to. Oh another parallel, Falin’s top priority is protecting Laios her brother and what Namari are a family figure) and I think Falin would fulfill that cozy protection and that warm ‘being seen and not judged’ feeling. But also Namari would run up to her and yell about her trying to sacrifice herself ever.

Another fun thread to explore: post-canon guilt for not having gone to save her. Sure, they weren’t close, but they had some nice memories, didn’t they? Namari cares, and it stings despite herself when it feels like people think she doesn’t. Oh it wasn’t a lost cause after all, oh it’d have worked out, oh I could have stayed loyal and it wouldn’t have compromised myself in the end. Wanting to apologize to Falin, or just ahnging out with her and sharing a moment after she wakes up. And tangent but that’s interesting to think about… Narratively, I think the purpose of Namari and Toshiro in the story, beyond strenghtening the theme of "seek to understand what is different from you and promote unity despite them" and fleshing the cast and worldbuilding, is Toshiro’s purpose was being a foil & tool in Laios’ arc (trouble connecting with people) while Namari’s was being and a foil & tool in Marcille’s arc (standing up for ideals without being out of touch with harsh realities and needs). They are the conflict that push our protagonists to grow— and they explore different ways of dealing with a situation or topic, different ways of growing into themselves on that end: Laios needing to listen to others more and Toshiro needing to focus on voicing himself more to be able to connect, Marcille needing to learn ideals sometimes cost too much and Namari needing to internalize that ideals are sometimes worth risks (not only to be able to find a reasonable but fulfilling life balance, but also to get in touch with their compassion: Namari restricts her own too much and Marcille is too harsh on people she deems to be breaking values, like Namari not risking her life and career for a friend with no promise of success, or even like how Namari is harsh on Falin’s way of doing things : too gentle, too soft, too idealistic) (similarly to Chilchuck’s arc with Marcille too, and he also plays a hand in advancing that arc in the Namari chapters). We are getting far from namalin sorry ummm preview for future analyses like Toshiro’s contrasting approach to grief and accepting loss.

More post-canon namalin! Thinking about a timeline where… Namari is fond of Falin finding herself and going off to do her thing. "Finally!" she thinks. If she’s still for hire, maybe Falin would want her to come along, either as guide or bodyguard <3, she knows Namari has a lot of good avice on a lot of things to give, plus they’ve worked together before. She hires Namari and they travel for a bit. Travel would do Namari good too I think, even if her end goal is to settle and I think Falin’s would be too eventually. Seeing sights that light her wonder for the world and going places where people don’t know her story, don’t recognize her face or her name. Them, feeling free. Finding a companionship that feels uplifting instead of stifling or charged. Namari having been too in her head about reputation and social games and money that they hit the roads and spend time in nature and it’s like, woah. I’ve been living in a small world with made up rules.

Ahh yes romance, Namari and Falin kissing after 3 years of not really knowing each other despite seeing each other every day then 2 months of wanting to spend more and more time together until they’re an inseparable duo! Workwives. I want them to stand next to each other during campire time and Namari cracks little jokes and Namari laughs. I want Namari to gift Falin a bug caught in amber and for it to be their wedding/promised to each other thing.

TLDR

Rowdy but levelheaded barbarian x gentle healer that will also cave your face in with a mace I like it…… They’re an interesting duo of mixed stuff. Protection being your purpose and what you’re worth for, literally being a meat shield (Laios, Tansu), finding your individuality recognized and validated through a growing bond with the other. Sticking around as a love language. Also bug immortalized in amber and it being beautiful.

Nevermind this wasn’t short. Um! Anyways.

[kiradrabbles]

oh my god I really like your MH head canons, would you possibly write something on pre MH (I'm a sucker for that emo/scene kid hair) Alex X fem reader where Alex likes to document their sexual experiences together?

i am SO sorry this took me so long i've been having. some tough days. at some point i'll reblog this with a drabble!! i really love this idea

he actually didnt really know before you that that was.. something he was into.

the two of you recorded a silly video during the production of marble hornets where you'd kissed on camera and

holy shit

he had to pause the video to stare

good thing he was editing by himself, if you catch my drift. Not his proudest nut but seeing you do that on camera just did something to him.

He was ecstatic when you agreed to have him record!! and promised not to show anyone, obviously

He set up a camera in front of the bed and You've never seen him so enthusiastic

I imagine he'd be… not rougher, per se, on camera, but alot more excited and primal, pushing you into the position he wants, flipping you over, etc.

he'd take a lot more control, too, being more dominant. Probably praises you a ton, especially referencing the camera

"Smile for the camera" "Give us a wave, pretty girl" "good girl, gonna look so fucking hot…"

likes it when you make noises for him as well

especially when you moan his name on camera. He knows you're enjoying getting pounded by him, and its even hotter to look back on when he watches the tapes

which he does

type of mf to ask for a video of you masturbating if he leaves the house for longer than hour

will send one back (if you want)

[singaroundelay]

I just have one thing to say about the finale and where this all ended.

Yes, it's a bittersweet ending. Yes, Ted's smile is one that doesn't quite meet his eyes. But there's a sense of relief there, too. He's happy with the choice he made, even if he might not be fully happy right now. Even if we might not understand the choice he made.

It doesn't mean he'll never be happy.

But also — he left the UK.

He's not banned from re-entry.

Phones still work both ways.

He's not cut off from everyone.

Nothing says he is going to be in Kansas forever. He's in Kansas for now. And to quote Avenue Q: everything in life, is only for now.

The conversation he had with Trent in the office? I don't see it as a rejection or a shut down of Trent's affections. Ted's in a space of turmoil but something Trent wrote made him laugh. (I think screenshots show it's the night of the Indian date?). Ted doesn't push him away. Trent knows that Ted isn't actually going to give good feedback if he's constantly hovering. So he leaves him to his reading.

But it's not like they're never close again. There's still the Diamond Dog scene. Later on during the match, it's the first time that we actually see Trent is in the coach's dugout. There's still a closeness to them. (And he has a front row seat to Ted knowing the off-side rule.)

I always had my tongue in cheek with all my weekly Tedependent posts — I knew we'd never get to see a queer Ted on screen. We were never going to get the kiss. We were never going to get their relationship on screen. That's the thing with slashing characters. We were lucky to get Trent declared gay canonically. I only ever expected him to be coded as queer. I'll accept my bisexual-coded Ted.

Just because he went back to Kansas doesn't mean he's living in the closet forever.

What is it that Trent said in the last Diamond Dog meeting?

I don't think we change, per se, as much as we just learn to accept who we've always been, you know?

Maybe Ted isn't ready to accept that part of himself and it's why he goes back. Ted, single, in America? It's the best ending for those of us who want to create content and ship TedTrent together.

Nothing's stopping Ted from going back to London to find the man he finally realizes he loves and left behind after he reads the love letter Trent wrote to him in the form of The Richmond Way, right down to the dedication that reads Still love our chats.

Nothing's stopping Trent from coming to America to find the gaffer he's never been able to forget.

Nothing's stopping Michelle from realizing her ex-husband is miserable and — after plotting with Trent — figures out how to move everyone back to the UK.

Nothing's stopping Ted from finding his happiness in the end.

What that happiness is? Is up for Ted.

He's on the path to finding it. And it's okay that it wasn't on the screen.

Because whatever Ted's happiness ends up being... is just for him.

And I think we should be happy for Ted.

[stari-hun]

More No Storm but Vertin has a Time Traveling Arcanum Content

Inaccurately Named Modern AU

* Apeiron + Vilasong

I think with like knowledge and math becoming more accessible sooo many people in Apeiron would go to the outside world to share their knowledge because 77 (37s mom) showed that even the people most faithful to their school of thought are interested in calculation machines. Give them Mathway.com and people would lose their minds.

6 would be a professional gamer. In fact he’d take so well to modern society that he’d be one of those people thriving in the 2020 lockdown and being away from Apeiron. Afterwards he’d also recover fast and put daily walks into his schedule or something cause he knows how badly his physical would’ve gotten. 6 would have an Instagram that’s the weirdest thing ever. People use it as inspiration for arg characters because he unintentionally posts with the vibe of someone extremely inhuman, and even though with the internet most humans would be aware of nonhuman arcanist they’d still be like what… There’s several video essays breaking down theories on who or what he might be. On the other side his posts are all pictures of objects he sees on daily walks that he sees have interesting dimensions to them or placement in a scene. The issue is that he doesn’t give any preamble or context to his math like 210 who wants to share math with the world would, or 37 who genuinely wants to teach, he just drops it in the caption and closes the app. He’d also have a YouTube explaining how he wins matches with others and insane speedrun content and how he beats games in under three minutes in extremely stupid calculations and exploits. His uploads are once in a blue moon but he’s a really popular faceless YouTuber (unlike 37 he reads comments and thinks about the questions he gets a lot, and even answers them in other videos). Also his like daily wanderings until he wants to go back home and risk interaction with others.

37 would get ahold of the internet like fish to water. She’d be an early YouTuber on 6’s recommendation and get super popular without realizing it. Her upload schedule is a “think of something start recording it and post with little to no editing” kinda style that for her ends up being 6-12 videos per week. 37 probably wouldn’t even realize there’s a comment section but Sophia knows it. Sometimes she’ll relay the comments to her from fans if they’re questions or constructive, but she mostly keeps them for herself because she’s happy 37 is branching out even if she isn’t entirely meaning too. I think 37’s content is a personality type. She’s giving constructive lessons that are informative but her personality and voice made her gain an audience mostly there to listen to her as background noise while she does homework. She does have a very loyal core audience of economists and radiologists since the topic she circles back around to the most is patterns in the weather and how they can be applied to daily life. Her most viewed video would be a super complicated explanation on how to predict when the next storm will happen in your area, and the top comment is a link to a website where someone made it into a calculator (it works with like a 5% chance of error). Also fun fact Vertin tried to use it once and the website was down for a week after she tried it. Sophia would have more kids centered content. Her follower base would mostly be parents who sit their kids in front of an iPad during work, but heavily monitoring their internet use and want them to watch content that’s good for them. She’d be faceless but unintentionally blow up super hard for story reading content, and her process for making up original stories. Afterwards she’d take a huge social media break entirely, only helping 37 with hers before slowly going back to her usual audiobook content with locked comments.

On that note, it’s slightlyyyy canon based, but I also think 210 would become good friends with Sweetheart after the island opened up and he reached out to her through Pandora to be their liaison. They’d do a ton of promotions and fashion statements. 210 already has an established interest in beauty, arts, and how they tie to math, and Sweetheart as a person who’s mathematically perfect would be his best excuse to study arts. Then Sweetheart would enjoy the company of any asexual, especially if they’re good for her image, and 210 is genuinely there to vibe and enjoy the beauty of the world. I also feel like he’d have one of those instagrams where he’s super popular for his looks but vast majority of his posts are sky pics and pictures of flora he sees.

I think in the story Sweetheart and Pandora are already on pretty good terms but I think in a Modern!Twist AU Pandora would be even more active in her writing. I think she’d have a small but famous journalism company where she employs only those she deems have a fresh perspective in a way she can’t supply. I talk about it in my other post, but Marcus interns there after getting an associates degree journalism during her dual enrollment and finishing Highschool. 210 and her run top series in UTTU for numbers and art analysis in a way people hadn’t thought of before, and Marcus runs a deep dive on historical spaces and the hidden stories within them.

UTTU would sometimes have interview segments where guest slots of an employee’s choosing (approved of by Pandora) will get a special feature. Windsong is the most reoccurring interviewee alongside Vila for research papers in ley lines and ecosystem observations respectively. Both are very popular features every time due to how they provide perspective on Marcus’ and 210’s segments.

[punkeropercyjackson]

Across the Spiderverse rewrite

Said i would do this in a few hours.ALMOST THREE MONTHS AGO.I am sorry,i'm so gods fuckdamn stupid💔💔💔

So a bit of Itsv first:It's an almost perfect movie so not much changed but i'm a firm believer in trans girl Miles so the franchise is called 'Spidergirl:Spiderverse' instead and Gwen cracked her egg in Into,Gwen is black/white mixed latina(dominican),Miles reveals her new name as 'Mirasol' as her last spoken line in it and Peni is shoujo themed instead of the moefication bullshit

The reason for Gwen and Mirasol's cosmic connection in Across is their transfemininity and being eachother's first ever trans girl friend and Mirasol is the reason Gwen managed to finally befriend other black girls in The Mary Janes and they're like sisters.Mirasol's been transitioning for 1 year but no meds were needed as her spider bite gave her her ideal apperance within a few months as it does all Spiderpeople and is pretty much radioactive gender affarming surgeries and hrt

The first few Ghostflower scenes play out mostly the same minus the romantic undertones but Hobie and Margo literally swing in on their city scene because they saw Gwen was gone and got worried so they sneaked off too so they could find her.Mirasol and Gwen nearly fall but Hobie and Margo catch them and then the roof talking scene is Mirasol getting to know the other two-they're The Core Four of the Spiderband and Hobie's first line is also the first thing he says to Mirasol:"Ay,Tinkerbell,you run out of faith and trust?You need a lil pixie dust?"

When they all go back to the Morales residence for Jefferson's party,it's revealed Mirasol did a small fib of Gwen being a 'friend from the web' i.e an online friend who she met and helped her realize she's trans,Margo is passed off as a school friend pretty easily and Hobie dosen't get a label put on him but Jefferson and Rio both think he's a secret boyfriend Mirasol's been hiding and this is why Jefferson dosen't like him rather than because he's a cop(househusband Jefferson au ftw)and why Rio DOES like him because she's so glad her Mija has taste instead of liking altie white boys.So she teases them about it and Hobie dosen't react too much and Mirasol is mostly just embarrased but subtly.There's a short montage of them demonstrating their powers to eachother as they take down random villains after sneaking off again and Gwen and Hobie show off to impress Margo and Mirasol

Straight after this,Peni arrives to tell them about the 50101 sitch and she's shifted to shonen like her world has-It's canon event(Spidergeddon)literally changed the and her structure.She went from sunshine to emo as per canon but it's explored in detail instead of a one-off shot and completely offscreen character development and i'll expand in a bit.When they're on Gayatri and Pavitr's dimension,there's actually no Spiderman yet and we're given a red herring that it's Pavitr but the one who gets bitten is Gayatri to reinforce 'Gwen Stacy dosen't have to be a fridged woman' and 'canon events are bullshit'.65 Gwen has a lot of feelings on this but tries to not make them Gayatri's problem and Pavitr is Spiderladdoo(Spiderwoman!Gayatri)'s guy in the chair.She calls him that after the mission is complete and he says 'I'm her guy in the chair' in a dreamy voice and with a goofy down bad grin on his face like she just called him her boyfriend

We then get to Earth 22191,Margo's dimension that's VR based and has secret post-apocalyptic origins like Hobie's only she knows about and it's a hidden trauma she carries that's revealed to the Spiderband who comfort her,but not before they have lots of gamer fun,including food and dressup game shenanigans,them playing as Gwen is so distracted flirting with Margo that she scores 0 points while Margo scores 200 flirting back and an Animal Crossing knockoff bit where Miausol(Meows)is confirmed and Hobie makes a quip about loving girls who're like cats.14512 is next up and things take a darker turn in tone as they work hard to bring it back to it's former glory with drop ins of japanese-american culture for representation and end up getting the first step to it and Peni violently glitches between artstyles as a magical girl transformation and shonen power up fusion and so she's a literal perfect inbetween inside AND out

And finally:Earth 138,Hobie's more or less home.We get to meet the comics Spiderband and there's lots of fun interactions between all of them as they get an adventure interesting enough to fill a 30 minute cartoon episode,including the reveal Hobie's dad is a deadbeat who bailed as soon as his mom divorced him but kept coming back to cause problems and Hobie dosen't care about him at all because his mom raised so well he dosen't need him but also believes she's been dead since he was 12 and it's revealed she's actually alive and this shocks him to his core with Mirasol being the only able to snap him out of it and he frantically says they have to find her and she promises him to while kissing him so close to his mouth you can't tell it's a cheek kiss at first look and he leans into while shaking as she says,"Hey,hey,hey,it's okay,Peter Pan-We'll get you your Neverland back."Both of Hobie's bands watch these scene wanting to join in but Riri tells them not to,saying 'I think Hobie's wants only one girl.Bout time,never thought he'd find more than zero'

At last:They arrive at Spider Society.Peter B(ft.Mayday)and Jessica greet them at the entrance after the grand reveal scene and there's a comical mix between scolding and wholesome moments and there were also some cutbacks to the Spiderparents between the Spiderkids to see what they got going on normally nowadays and included in this is an explanation of canon events and other Spiderlore that happens at the same time as the Spiderband's as intergenerational juxtaposition.Miguel's anger and reasonings have big buildup and we get to see more of Jessica and Peter B both by themselves,with eachother and with him and the Spiderman 2099 and Spiderwoman casts also get animated debuts in flashbacks.It's made clear Miguel dosen't hate Mirasol,he's just scared of all Anomalies she's causing and his words to her aren't nearly as harsh thanks to this but the fight still happens and he DOES use the word 'Anomaly' to describe her because it's too important in-universe and in a meta sense to the story's point to remove

Gwen also dosen't make up with George as character development but still 'betrays(not really)' Mirasol with the rest of the Spiderband not knowing about it either and that causes tension between her and them,Hobie the most but they still agree to follow her to Earth 42 because they love Mirasol that much.And a description given is 'This movie is for the forgotten Spiderpeople.This movie is also a love story between Mirasol and Hobie and i think that really brings it full circle'

[lucysarah-c]

What do you think about Levi not mentioning Farlan and Isabel throughout the anime? They were literally his first real friends and family. Even in their deaths he was frustrated. But strangely we don't see any flashback scenes about them or Levi talking about them. It's obviously disturbing to me.

I have an Oc an underground childhood friend that I ship with Levi in particular and I didn't write their story down, but it makes me think that if my character was in danger or if she died with Farlan and Isabel or if she ended up dying long after their deaths, Levi would never remember her or talk about her, just like Farlan and Isabel's deaths, and that bothers me.

I know it's a bit strange to get this kind of analysis-like question since you are a Levi writer's blog. But since I love your writings and I really liked and found comfort in your answer to anon's question about whether Levi likes weak people. Because I am also a person who gets caught up in rumors and doubts whether Levi will like us or not haha.

Anyway, I don't want to deviate too much from the subject and make it too weird. You can answer question if you want.

Hi, sweetie! Oh, I see. Yes, I understand where you're coming from. First of all, I'd like to thank you for saying that you love my writing, and I'm so happy you found comfort in my answer about Levi and a "weak person." It's alright that we get lost in what the fandom discusses too frequently; it has happened to me too. And do not worry, rest assured, I don't find these "analysis questions" weird at all. Though my analysis will never be as good as my close friends', like my friend Sushi who used to have a meta-analysis blog of SnK or Cosmic! They are beyond amazing.

But to answer your question, before I get lost in my thoughts, long story short, Isayama is extremely bad at writing emotional connections in my humble opinion. In my personal group chat with my SnK close friends, we discuss this in great detail at least twice per week haha. In my opinion, Isayama is a writer or a storyteller who struggles to find a balance between keeping the plot going and creating a cohesive society and interrelationships between characters. I personally think that the story was always advancing so fast, full gas, no stop, that we hardly got any real details about the characters that made them human beyond their mere roles in the story.

I always use as an example, if one chapter in the manga or anime started with different panels of the veterans getting ready and sitting down all together for a meeting, we could have seen how their personal chambers were, how their interactions were not only between them aside the presence of the cadets, but we could have also seen how they confront early mornings, if they had paintings of loved ones, flowers on their desks, etc. It would have taken ... 5-10 pages at most, and we could have learned so much. It's something I even keep in mind while planning my own stories; I have an entire notebook of "backstory" for all the characters of Holy Ground, canon or not. So when the time comes around, I can drop little details of their lives here and there because... Let's be honest, has someone ever sat down next to you and said "here, let me tell you my whole life"? No, usually, you get to know someone organically, and that's also what, in my opinion, should happen in stories.

Now, going back to why Levi doesn't talk about Farlan and Isabel. Well, my best answer to you is, sadly, another question. Tell me one scene in the whole anime or manga where Levi was having some quality time with someone he felt comfortable enough to open up and talk about fond memories, be vulnerable, or even crack a joke about some silly hormonal stuff he did as a young man with Farlan. Tell me, I will wait... Haha.

Levi doesn't talk about Farlan or Isabel because he doesn't have screen time to talk about almost anything besides the plot moving haha. I would put my hands on a burning fire and swear that Farlan and Isabel are still extremely important to Levi! And so would be your OC! Don't let Isayama's literary limitations fence your story. That's my best advice; explore feelings that he didn't have the production time for (perhaps he wasn't allowed to write about it because of financial stuff) or he simply wasn't good at it.

Hope that helps!

Love ya!

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV S2 Ep3 - Armand as Unreliable Narrator

I'm seeing a lot of posts defending AMC!Armand against fans thinking he's lying or untrustworthy or something. I've seen people point out valid things like AMC's deliberate twisting / reckless disregard of book canon; to bad takes stemming from shipping wars; to personal preferences & biases.

My reservations against AMC!Armand go all the way back to S1, when we saw those floating bookshelves and sliced pages in Claudia's diary. I've long since been of the suspicion that Armand's not necessarily forcing Louis against his will or anything THAT nefarious; but that he's definitely been taking advantage of Louis' need for someone to help stop him from going off the deep end--and more importantly, that he's been taking more than his fair share of autonomy over things Louis does/doesn't have access to--specifically: information/knowledge.

For me, GABRIELLE'S absence is the most telling red flag. Cuz the writers know good & well that they want S3/TVL; Rolin never shuts up about it. It's not that AMC isn't doing the books so we don't need to expect it to be 1:1--it's that THEY ARE doing the books! They're planting seeds through deliberate misdirection & omission.

Gab's arguably the most important/impactful person in Lestat's life b4 he meets Louis. She's Les' very first fledgling. She's there when Armand kidnaps Nicki; she's there when Alessandra explains the Devil's Road for the first time (a scene AMC was obvs inspired by with Daciana in 2x1); she's there when Les leaves the Theatre; she's everywhere.

And what's more:

Armand hates Gabrielle's GUTS.

Gabrielle's "useless" to Armand, but she was EVERYTHING to Les, and most of his emotional damage & abandonment issues come from her. Armand KNEW to weaponize Magnus' suicide & Gab's lackluster treatment of child!Les as the best way to seduce him!

Armand, like Claudia, is DESPERATE for someone to want & need him as their #1.

Louis is pretty good for this--if only he'd hurry up & get over Lestat (& Claudia) already.

In the book!IWTV/TVA, Armand dumped Louis when Lou gave up on being happy & got way too depressed for Armand to help him anymore. But Armand really wanted Lestat. Cuz Lestat is CLINGY--he doesn't pack & up leave (ie: give up) without a DARN good reason--and it's mighty sus that Armand didn't mention that Les & Gab left him to look for HIS MAKER, MARIUS, cuz Armand didn't know ISH, and doubted Marius was still alive--cuz if he was still alive, why had ARMAND been ABANDONED BY MARIUS for all those centuries, left for dead with the Children of Darkness/Satan? 👀💔

Lestat is a carbon copy of Marius, down to the blonde hair, blue eyes, and red velvet. Armand's Louis' rebound of Lestat, but Lestat's Armand's rebound of Marius.

Louis is not the only vampire who lives in a constant state of denial/delusion, running from his fears. They are both exact opposites of Lestat, who confronts his fears head-on.

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that if Lestat IS asleep in the penthouse, Louis doesn't know--or he doesn't have all the correct info. Cuz Armand's been isolating Louis this whole time in their weird cage/penthouse, with its jail bars and floating bookcases. He is ACTIVELY AGAINST this entire interview; and he encourages any & all contradictory talk of Lestat being "dead"--

--so it makes sense that he wouldn't want Louis to know anything about Gabrielle, as that would be someone who KNOWS Lestat, and would probably know where to find him (IF he's not comatose in the penthouse somewhere).

So for Armand to leave Gab out and make it seem like Mama's Boy Lestat was this cavalier playboy who cared about nothing & no one but himself (as per Louis' words to Daniel) just smacks of a highly slanted angle, that even LOUIS is ignorant of--I don't think AMC!Louis knows anything about Gabrielle's existence whatsoever. 👀 Yes, "Lestat never told me ish!;" but clearly ARMAND never told him the whole story, either. 😬🤫🤐

Then, there's Nickistat....

Plenty of interviews/reviewers already said Armand's petty, so I'm not surprised that the Nicki info doesn't add up. First off, it's a great way to garner sympathy from Louis, and create a connection, and act as an effective stimulus for Louis' own unpleasant experiences being cucked by Lestat. If Armand can convince Louis that Lestat did to Louis what Lestat did to Nicki, it just makes Lestat look worse; legitimizing why Loumand is oh-so-much-better; which they're actively tryna pitch to Daniel.

But it's a risky gamble though, cuz it also puts Armand in the same spot as Antoinette--and we see how that went. 😬💀🔥 Only this time it won't be Armand who ends up in flames, but Louis, if AMC pulls a Merrick.

It helps that "Lestat never told him ish," either, cuz Louis CLEARLY has no idea that Nicki died--AND HOW. Lestat admitted that he & Nicki "parted ways," but if that's all Louis knows, then ofc Armand can tack on that Nicki was abandoned & hung out to dry--that Lestat was giving Armand money through Roget, not NICKI; that the Theatre was Nicki's, NOT Armand's--and neatly omit everything about what really happened: that Nicki was mentally insane, thoroughly hated & resented Lestat by that point, and was eventually tortured & killed BY ARMAND and his coven when THEY couldn't handle him anymore--a la PAUL'S treatment by the DPDLs.

Armand NEEDS to come across as sympathetically as possible; otherwise he loses Louis AND Daniel to this interview--only this time he won't be the one sitting back letting it happen.

For me, Armand's unreliable not cuz cuz I hate him--on the contrary, I've said 1000 times that he's my fave character in TVC; and Assad's doing an excellent job with him so far. But I don't trust him cuz I KNOW HIM--the fandom calls him a GREMLIN for a reason. I know the stunts he pulled in TVL (telling Daniel the Children of Darkness/Satan killed themselves, when in the book Armand killed them all (except for Eleni, Felix, and like 2 others IDER--they're all Rhoshamandes' fledglings IIRC). He's reduced Nicki's role significantly; making him seem like some desperate twink, while not mentioning how Nicki was half mad before Armand chopped his hands off & forced him to kill himself when he couldn't play violin anymore.

Armand is a MENACE in the early books, and he was originally supposed to be a main TVC villain before Anne Rice realized how much she liked him in QotD and toned him TF down--same way she did with Lestat's transition from IWTV to TVL.

THAT'S why Armand is both lovable/likable and also SUS AF. At least for me. I can't speak for other fans, ofc, cuz I know some folks approach Armand from totally different angles.

[sl-vega]

✧Sticking to the Script✧-10

⋆｡°✩ 10-action!

"Take five everyone!" you heard Furina yell as you saw her walk by with an ice pack covering her head. Chiori quickly followed her escorting her out of the room.

"What happened?" you asked Lyney, who was helping you run lines. "Some freshman accidentally dropped a sword prop on her head. Thankfully it was one of the lighter ones." he replied.

You watched Furina hold back tears as she left the room, she didn't want to let a minor injury get in the way of the play. "The show must go on!" as per usual.

"So now that we have a break, do you wanna talk about that?" he asked, gesturing to your ring. He grabbed your wrist and inspected the piece of jewelry. "Archons, that's one hell of a ring." he was still admiring the intricate design, observing the way the gems shone in the light.

You giggled, "Yeah, I know." you caught yourself admiring the ring more times than you'd like to admit. "Must've cost your boyfriend a fortune." Lyney joked. "Trust me, it did." you responded.

"How much?"

"$30,000." you winced, not wanting to be too loud, you weren't risking getting robbed.

"30K?!" Lyney shouted, shocked. The two of you got some questioning looks from the other students, before quickly resuming their personal converstions.

"30K?!" Lyney repeated, whisper-shouting. You nodded. "Well it was more like 20k-25k, Xingqiu wasn't sure of the price." you explained fiddling with the piece of jewelry. Lyney's mouth was wide open. "It was more of a present from his dad than from him though." you added.

"Wait-how long have you two known each other?"

"Two and a half weeks..."

Lyney looked at you, his mouth agape.

"Where did you find this guy? He's smart, rich, AND he treats you really well? And he's managed to make sure you know all that in less than a month?" Lyney asked, bombarding you with questions that seemed more like statements.

You chuckled, blushing. "Yeah, he's pretty great." you were grinning like a fool. You forgot that Xingqiu wasn't actually your boyfriend for a moment.

Even if we aren't together-together, I can still like him as a friend. Can't I? You thought to yourself

"Attention everyone!" the whole crew turned to Chiori who returned to the auditorium. "Furina just needs to rest for a bit, so she put me in charge of you all. We're going to do a brief run through of the prologue, then skip over to Act 1, Scene 5." she explained. Everyone quickly moved to their places on stage.

You and Lyney sat in the front row together watching the chorus recite the prologue together. You glanced at your script a couple times, skimming over your lines.

"So how does Xingqiu feel about this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Us playing a couple on stage. He does know we have to get pretty touchy with each other right?" Lyney asked. You told him that Xingqiu was a great guy, but he wanted to make sure if there were any boundaries he shouldn't cross.

"He hasn't brought it up with me, plus he isn't the jealous type, so we should be fine." you explained. Another thing that reminded you about your actual relationship with Xingqiu. He wasn't your actual boyfriend so he didn't have a reason to be jealous of Lyney.

The prologue finished, Chiori called you and Lyney up to the stage.

This was just another part you needed to play

additional notes:

-yes that furina joke was intentional

-not gonna spoil anything for the canon game

-but if yk yk

-ALSO DOUBLE UPDATE LET'S GO

-not much else that i wanna say abt this chapter

-i'm proud of it

-y'all are gonna get some possessive xingqiu next chapter >:3

-be prepared

masterlist

<prev ll next>

✧Sticking to the Script✧

Pairing: Xingqiu x FEM! Reader

Genre: fake dating, strangers to lovers, slow burn, fluff, angst (?), high school smau, modern smau

⋆｡°✩-Synopsis: Xingqiu just got entered into a special writing contest, the type that's invite only, the theme this year is love, the only problem is that he has zero romantic experience. but he really wants to prove himself as a writer. meanwhile, you just found out that your boyfriend cheated on you, and you need to show him that you're 100% over him, the only problem is that there's no way you can get an actual boyfriend that quickly. clearly, the solution to both of your issues is to fake date each other. it shouldn't be hard for an actor such as yourself, all you need to do is stick to the script.

(OPEN) Taglist: @freyao7, @thatoneswordgirl, @sn1perz, @latay7, @willowcandletree, @nmriki0, @help-whatdoimakemyusername, @httpsrenren, @cupid-spams, @aixaingela, @kaitfae, @luvkvni, @danhenglovebot

[corishadowfang]

Fallen Stars Fic Notes

So, Fallen Stars has officially come to a close. It's been a pretty wild ride, haha; as per usual, it spiraled out of my control, length-wise (surpassing Dandelion Seeds...remember how I said I hoped I'd never write anything that long again? Yeah. That worked out.), but I'm happy (and pleasantly surprised) that so many people came on the journey with me.

So! As seems to be tradition now, I have some notes for the fic. Some behind-the-scenes stuff, some thoughts about post-canon--stuff like that! Putting it under a read more, because these tend to get long.

So as usual, we'll start with the playlist! This one I ended up doing a lot of playing around with, haha; there were several songs where it's like, "The vibes are right...but do they fit this moment/this character in the story? Does the order work? Should I use song x or song y?" I eventually ended up with something I'm relatively happy with, haha, even if not every song fits perfectly. There are actually a lot of honorable mentions for this one (since I, you know...played around with it so much) but probably the biggest are: Guilt by Nathan Wagner, Monster from Epic the Musical, Fight the Tide by Jonathan Young and Colm McGuinness, and Southern Star by Gregory Alan Isakov.

(Seriously, Fight the Tide was put on and taken off the playlist so many times--)

I know I've mentioned this places before, but: sometime circa summer 2021, I was thinking about doing a story following Brain through his time in Scala ad Caelum. Basically, it'd be a short (like--nine-ish chapters) series that explored Brain's grief and guilt and how he eventually adjusted to being in Scala. The story would've been called "May We Find Our Happiness," and was planned to be worked on once both On the Edge of Daybreak and Dandelion Seeds were finished. ...And then Missing Link was announced, and I went, "Oh! That's going to be explored in canon! I don't have to write it myself!" and the idea was shelved.

And THEN. Fast forward to winter 2023. It's...without going into too much detail, my mental state was Not Great. And I tend to process/cope with things by...well, writing. And...well, what better way to work out things than by using two of my favorite characters? The thought for this "proto-Fallen Stars" was that it would be a what-if AU for what would've happened if Skuld had ended up in Scala, and that it would follow Brain's and Skuld's entire lives through that time period. Despite the premise, this was also intended to be a relatively short series--roughly four to five chapters. It was intended to explore the idea that like--sometimes you don't heal fully from things, and your life doesn't turn out the way you wanted it to, but that doesn't mean you can't find happiness despite everything. ...And then I started writing the first chapter. And ran face first into Plot (i.e. the corrupt council). And very abruptly realized, "Oh, no. Oh, no, this is going to be LONG. And...probably not focus entirely on the time period I want it to." And so I shelved it. Again.

AND THEN. The Missing Link impatience was getting to me, haha. And there were a lot of ideas from both of the "proto" versions of the story that were genuinely very interesting to me from a writing perspective. And then I made this post (and a couple of follow-ups) with the hopes that it could satisfy the writing demons. ...It did not. So I went back, finished (and revamped) the original first chapter, and posted it. And, well--here we are!

The current iteration of Fallen Stars really does take a lot of inspiration from its predecessors. Darkling!Brain was actually the planned end for "May We Find Our Happiness" (though he wouldn't have died in that version; his new-found friends would've pulled him out of it, though he'd keep the gold eyes, like in Fallen Stars), the corrupt council's been a staple since the beginning, and obviously, the AU takes the same basic premise as proto-Fallen Stars.

I knew Fallen Stars was going to be longer than the initial ideas I had, but like...I still didn't expect it to be this long. Like--roughly 30 chapters, and about half the word count. Let it be known that I cannot accurately estimate a story (or chapter's) length, ever.

While there were certain Big Things that I had planned since the beginning (ex. Brain's death and resurrection), there were also things that ended up getting made up on the fly and/or cut because it seemed like it'd work better for the story. One of the big things is that, originally, Master's Defender was going to be used to help create the Land of Departure; essentially, during Darkness's attack, one of the abandoned islands would've split off from the world, and Brain would've used Master's Defender to chain it back together, so to speak, and give the Scalan refugees somewhere to go. That was cut because it felt like it would make Brain a little less desperate to make his sacrifice, and after that, it ended up feeling...kind of out of place? Plus, I felt like I hadn't done a good enough job foreshadowing that (though you can find some hints, if you're looking).

(The world they end up does still end up becoming the Land of Departure, though.)

Also, Luxu was originally going to be possessing Lodur. (Which is why time seems to slow down around him whenever things get intense! And also plays into the "narrator" thing--Lodur is a storykeeper, after all.) I'll leave it up to all of you guys to decide whether you want Lodur to be Sigurd's deceased brother, Sigurd to have been wrong about Luxu taking his brother's body, or for "Lodur is Luxu's vessel" to be non-canon.

While I finally decided to leave it out, I did think about doing an epilogue. I played around with a lot of different ideas for how that'd go, but it generally fell into three basic ideas: 1) Skuld, Brain, and the rest of the crew roughly a decade after the end of Fallen Stars, 2) Xehanort and Eraqus (as like...five-year-olds) interacting with the remaining crew, or 3) Ven and Lauriam finding stories about Skuld and Brain in the distant future. I do like all of these, but I ended up feeling like it kind of...glossed over how much time it'd take for them to repair Scala and heal, so I ended up going with the current ending instead--which is hopeful, but still leaves room for the struggles that may follow.

THAT SAID. There's a non-zero chance some of those epilogues may show up as one-shots. I like the idea of exploring some post-canon scenarios in the Fallen Stars-verse (in particular, the first year after everything, since there's...a lot that the main crew go through). That said, I'm also not going to promise anything on that front, since it'll largely depend on my time/energy levels/inspiration.

(Also, feel free to ask me about post-canon stuff, in case I never get around to writing things; a lot of stuff changes around, haha, but I do have Ideas.)

"Do you want to hear a story?" has been planned as the final lines for a long time, haha. One, because it acts as a nice book-end for the story. Two, because it's kind of like...symbolic. Skuld is the one who said it, and is the only character besides Luxu to (kind of) break the fourth wall, so this was like...representative of her taking control of her own story. (This is also, for the record, why the "Do you want to hear a story?" narrator parts don't show up again after chapter 40; Skuld is the narrator now.)

The title was actually going to be the name of the first chapter. I was struggling to find a title I liked (I didn't want to use "May We Find Our Happiness" since, uh...that ended up as a chapter title for On the Edge of Daybreak, when I still thought I wouldn't do a story in Scala), and ended up brainstorming ideas for the chapter title instead. I'd landed on "Fallen Stars" because like--Brain and Skuld were "fallen stars" in the sense that a lot of people who are displaced from fallen worlds in the KH series tend to, uh...fall out of the sky, but also in the sense that they were legends who were, very suddenly, being made human in the eyes of Scala. And then it hit me that, "Wait...that'd work great for a fic name." And then it was repurposed, haha.

And...I will probably cut off the notes there, haha. Fallen Stars has been fun to work on, and it's weird to think that it's finished (unless, of course, I end up doing those one-shots). Thank you for coming on this ride with me; I hope you've enjoyed it!

[ruinedsam]

Feeling kinda obsessed over Ruby telling Sam that sure he’s mad now when it comes out that Ruby’s been working to free Lucifer and manipulating him, and that Lucifer’s going to be grateful and repay Sam for freeing him, and Ruby showing Sam her back when Dean comes in; it really reads like Ruby expected expected Sam to forgive her and this just was a temporary fight. IDK if there’s a fic but I almost wish to write one now, where Dean does not arrive/does not enter in time to see Sam, so Sam is under the impression Dean wants to hunt him down per the voicemail and now Ruby is legit the only person Sam has (as he’s not really friends with Castiel at this point and Bobby held a gun to him not long ago so as far as Sam can tell, Bobby is down with hunting Sam), so it’s either be totally alone or find a way to live with demons as his only real allies. Somehow even more yet simultaneously less toxic than canon Samruby where Ruby is no longer actively manipulating Sam but Sam is so broken by the events of season 4 that he’s willing to accept Ruby in his life as the only person he has besides the archangel wishing to wear his body like a dress (more toxic because this thing cannot possibly be healthy in the aftermath yet also less toxic because at least Ruby is not lying to Sam any more, yet her previous lies cannot be forgotten or ignored). Dean is trying to get through to his brother, but Sam a) doesn’t know for sure his brother is looking for him and b) thinks Dean wants him dead and while Lucifer would just bring him back, it would still be annoying and Sam thinks it would break him beyond repair to die at Dean’s hands. Also Lucifer and the demons working for him are working to keep Dean far, far away from Sam so that there’s no chance of brotherly reconciliation and that’s part of why Sam doesn’t know Dean’s looking for him. I think it should either follow canon relatively well or be wildly canon divergent where everything goes very very wrong for the world (so maybe this is all taking place in Croatoan!world & this fic claims that world occurred because Dean was too slow and Sam had nobody but Ruby, which isn’t my actual hc but I’ve never thought too deeply about how all that started so it doesn’t really matter) (and if this is taking place there, I’d have the last scene be something like Sam saying yes to Lucifer/Lucifer doing what he does to that world or something, and then a flash forward of five years, to 2014, where we see the opening of canon!Dean arriving like he does in that episode), but if it’s roughly canon, then Bobby and Dean do not find out literally anything about why Sam killed Lilith until they team up with Crowley or meet Brady.

Crowley is the one to tell them that no, baby bro has no idea Dean’s looking because Lucifer is ensuring none of them get close but I think Brady should be the one to reveal, as a possibly high-ranking demon since he works directly under the Horsemen and is sent by Azazel to get Sam hunting again, that Sam heard a wildly different voicemail. Ruby here heard the voicemail and knew it was the angels, passed this onto Lucifer, and this also made its way through the Lucifer loyalists, so Brady knows exactly what Sam heard. Dean, who’d been thinking Sam heard the real voicemail and just didn’t care, is both deeply relieved to know otherwise and utterly horrified to discover his brother thinks Dean planned to hunt him. Brady makes things even worse by turning to Castiel and asking, faux-shocked, if Castiel hadn’t told his pet hunters that Dean’s voicemail was changed; maybe Castiel knew the plan, maybe not, just know Brady is attempting to drive a wedge between him and Dean. This succeeds, especially when Brady gleefully says Castiel also let Sam out do the panic room, ironically saving his life (“now that I’m thinking on it, it’s funny in a way. The only reason Sam even lived that night was so he could free Lucifer. He would’ve died in that detox otherwise. And you’re working with the guy who let him go to break the seal, all while claiming you want to stop the apocalypse”). Crowley left for not even 10 minutes and returns to their alliance in shambles, Brady grinning bloody teeth all the while. Dean is understandably having a bad day, and it only gets worse as Brady muses that from what he’d heard, Dean gave his brother so much grief over trusting the wrong person, yet Dean did that too. “At least Ruby admitted what she did, your angel here was happy to leave you ignorant of what he did.” If Brady is going to die, he’s dying making rude comments and breaking up the dream team

Enjoy my rambling thoughts on how I would make Samruby after killing Lilith even worse and ultimately cause everyone else to be even worse off as well. Also, voicemail fix-it but also voicemail “make it worse,” where only Dean finds out of the changed message and they never get to talk about it so Sam always thinks he hears Dean’s real message that fateful day.

I would love to read this fic! 👀👀👀

This is so interesting to think about! I think Ruby 100% thought what she was doing was for Sam’s good and that he would eventually realize that. Ruby’s death scene is one of those SPN scenes that make me insane. Forever thinking about the way Sam twisted his face in pain as if he was the one getting stabbed. Would he have been able to kill Ruby if Dean hadn’t arrived? Would he have tried?

You said in a way it would be less toxic bc Ruby is no longer manipulating Sam, but tbh I don’t really see how she’d get Sam to stay with her instead of going off alone without any manipulation, even if he has no one else. Or at least she’d have to foster some intense codependency between her and Sam...

Also a thing to ponder about is how does Ruby stand to Lucifer wanting to possess Sam? She is incredibly loyal to Lucifer and the cause but I also think she genuinely loves Sam in her own (demon) way. I’m pretty sure she had no idea about the vessel stuff so what does she think about it? Are her loyalties split? Does she still think this is a reward for Sam? Would she turn against Lucifer for Sam? 

Yess I love Brady spilling the beans!!! What wouldn’t I give for a scene like this being canon, everyone knowing about Cas and Dean realizing he’s just as guilty about trusting the wrong person!! Also someone else reminding Dean that he was going to let Sam die in the detox!! I love Brady <333

[ghostflowerhotpotch]

I feel like no one talks about the whole mumbattan sequence can you do a deep dive on that one

Oh Mumbattan, there is so much to unpack.

What I mean like that is that we have a lot of stuff going on not just on screen, but Miles and Gwen as well, which a lot of changes thanks to the circumstances and characters of screen. If it took me two posts to talk just about a portion of the Clock Tower scene, I am sure Mumbattan is going to be multiple.

They will probably be short since I think there are a lot of moments not necessarily connected to the ones before, that I think that deserve their own post, etc.

So let's start Mumbattan with the actual beginning, or at least the beginning of Gwen's and Miles interactions in Mumbattan.

As per custom, we start a little earlier since set up is important.

(Side note, I just lost half of the original post because Tumblr is a nightmare to use for post and I will probably fist fight whoever coded this if given the chance. So the writing and the screenshots may be a bit rough because I am pissed.)

Something that caught my attention while rewinding this scene, was Gwen's exchange and behaviour towards the spot here.

I think is good time to remember that Gwen is probably an internal mess right now.

She knew she blew up with The Spot, she got cocky, thought the guy was going to be easy, and focused on Miles more than in her mission.

Gwen is in a tough position right now, she is basically homeless, she needed to abandon her old life, her home and the people in her life; none of those things are easy, let alone when you are forced to and being a teen.

The Spidersociety seems kind of a like a dream come true at first, and she is happy to be in it; but we can see how she is still missing certain things the society just cannot give her. A company is not a replacement for family and friends. I honestly believe part of the reason she is hyped about it is because she wants to focus on the positives to avoid the negatives.

Seeing Miles was a gamble, one where she risked too much by refusing to leave his side, and she may pay the price for this; she earlier was looking extremely shaken at the idea of being sent home.

While she is having all of this, it didn't escape me the longing and the defeat in her face when she say goodbye to Miles without knowing he was there. That is also weighting on her.

Not gonna lie, is funny that a character that feels so entitled to people react the way he wants (like he asking the guy he was robbing to not make this a bad experience for him,) accidentally say something that for him is just a comment, but DAMN I can imagine how much it had to sting for Gwen.

The reason I brought up the other screenshots and this close up of Gwen, is to pay attention to her masks.

I had mentioned in other post, the masks are extremely expressive for what they are, which is a handy way to show expressions when you are character's face is hidden.

In multiple shots, Gwen looks angry; this isn't like the battle with Vulture when even after almost getting her face sliced she was just back to cracking jokes and not taking stuff too seriously, just the regular amount of a spidey.

This isn't a joke to her, this is important, and she isn't in a good mood already. So her doing a joke that feels tired isn't shocking.

But while The Spot was just talking about the joke, after letting down her mentor, underestimating what Lila determined as a canon killer for MULTIPLE universes, and having trouble getting a hold of the guy; hearing "That's the best you can do?" Had to suck.

(While going for Miles's frame, I realized Gwen just looks angrier before she hears him; which is to say. DAMN Miles you really picked a bad time.)

You know? Something I like to do in my writing, is bring scenarios that are different in context but the basics of it repeat as to carry a meaning behind it, reinforcing an idea either for the characters who are seeing the pattern (or think to see a pattern,) or the audience.

Some of it can be wishful thinking but this movie has much going on that I bet a lot of what I am picking up was meant to be that way.

This particular moment is interesting because Gwen is just dealing with a mess that happened because she was prioritizing Miles over her mission, and what happens shortly after?

Miles distracts her from the villain, which also gets him an opening to kick her and escape.

Damn.

You may be wondering why bring those frames of Gwen falling and Miles finally getting her, this is important for two things.

One, this will go to show something later about the importance of team and the tragedy of the spider people (that would be their own post because I had a lot to say, and a scene in particular during this sequence scared the living shit out of me, 3 times.)

But another factor is this is all quietly reinforcing in Gwen's mind, how she shouldn't had gotten to see Miles.

Not only did she lost her shot to capturing The Spot as his most vulnerable (because let's face it, if Gwen went to him without his ability to make holes it would had been done in less than 2 minutes,) she also lost track of him again thanks to Miles. And now she is having trouble with her footing.

Miles is lucky the circumstances kind of support his stance, and that he is cute.

In most movies I will see a guy following the girl he likes I say that's a red flag of the size of a house. But considering everything I can't really blame him.

He doesn't know how much is at stake, or how much can get worse; but he knows that The Spot is doing this partially thanks to him, and he may be filling guilty for assuming he was already done for when he wasn't. And now the girl he likes is in deep shit because of this, and he has more information than the rest.

(Or he should, Miguel seems to have eyes everywhere, no idea how much he knows about the Spot.)

It was still stupid? For sure, he really has no way home, has never done dimension hoping, and certainly didn't think about glitching before this.

But his heart is in a good place.

Yeah Gwen is still pissed regardless.

I think even if Miles has the best intentions she doesn't appreciate being followed, doesn't appreciate having him as is another thing she needs to be juggling in this situation, which is a lot already.

We will talk about the falling scene better, because that deserves it's own post, and also that scene made me suffer in theatres so I will get my compensation by rambling later about it.

This is something I will come back later, probably more than once. Not gonna lie the first time I saw this movie this hurt (And that was before getting as obsessed with this ship as I am now, mind you,) and it only got worse seeing it a second time when you know what will happen.

Regardless, is ties nicely to the rest of this post. Gwen is stress out, conflicted about her role as a spiderwoman and just being a teen, and in the heat of the moment, she does think that seeing him and trying to get that connection with the circumstances at hand is a bad idea.

Once again, heat of the moment, I think she would had probably continue being mad if the things that happened didn't happen; but I think this will come back later on by her realizing that she wasn't getting blindsided by Miles, but the organization.

[eskawrites]

[Director's commentary] Any crumbs you can throw my way about the Oh Death, Where Is Your Sting? series (aka Raise Dead series my absolute beloved) will be much appreciated! Few fics hurt as much and as good as this series does tbh lol <3

yes oh my gosh raise dead my beloved <3 a few fun facts:

the original working title was 'Revivify' because that is a much more common resurrection spell in modern D&D, but Revivify 1) has to be cast immediately after death, so it didnt work for the story and 2) didn't exist in original AD&D, so that's not what they'd be calling it anyway

Dustin talks a little bit about how the spell needs to be cast in a certain amount of time (one day per cleric level) or else it won't work. El obviously doesn't have actual levels as a spellcaster, but I did equate it to her age. She's 14, so they had 14 days to cast the spell or else it wouldn't work. They cut it pretty close. Dustin tells them all his theory 12 days after Robin dies, and they revive her on day 13

there's a lot of Critical Role inspiration in this tbh, to the point that I was tempted to write a Matthew Mercer style resurrection ceremony for Robin. El battling to free Robin from Vecna also took some vague inspiration from Percy and Orthax in the Vox Machina campaign. but by the time I started writing I strayed a bit away from that and turned into a good ol' fashioned demodog/vecna mind battle fight instead because that fit better

part 2 of this series, "what could've been, would've been," was written entirely just so I could write out Robin's happy memory of everyone hanging out by the pool

there is zero actual plot in my notes for the rest of this series, even though i do have a lot of notes and scenes written out. that's part of why i haven't returned to it yet--i don't really know what the deal is with vecna now that he no longer has robin, and tbh that i don't reallyyyy care all that much. but what i do want to explore is the impact that dying and resurrecting has on robin. it's an idea i love to think about in actual D&D--when resurrection is possible, what does that mean for the characters who experience it? how does it affect the natural cycle of life? in the "real world," aka stranger things canon, how does it affect the way el sees herself and her powers? or the way robin views herself and her place in the world? and what kind of impact does it have on her body? her mind? her emotions? her relationships with everyone around her?

there's a part of Robin that worries she's too broken to be loved, after she comes back. the more symptoms she has because of her death, the more she thinks she's not good enough for Nancy

there's also a scene with her and Erica, which tbh is the thing I'm most looking forward to writing in future parts of this series, where she steps between Erica and a demodog and it fucks them both up a little bit, the idea that Robin could die again protecting the people she loves, and the idea that Erica could lose her again because she's protecting her

Nancy develops a habit of feeling Robin's pulse anytime she gets stressed or scared. it gets to the point that Robin will grab Nancy's hand and place it over her heart as a way to calm her down or steady her. Nancy is embarrassed by it for a while, but it is the most effective way to comfort her

[kitkatt0430]

Okay so imagine S2 the Flash where Eddie didn't die so he and Iris are engaged and planning their wedding. Barry of course has a +1 for whenever the wedding is and here comes Patty who is clearly interested in him. So Iris is not so subtly pushing Barry in that direction and so is Cisco, leading to that scene at Jitters where Cisco's all 'see how easy it is to ask out someone you like' and then much deservedly crashes and burns for asking out a food service worker at her place of employment. (Sorry, Cisco, love him but asking out Kendra while she was at work was totally inappropriate.)

And Barry is just relieved that Cisco didn't get the date. Because Patty is nice and all, but she's not Cisco and Barry's started to realize that he's kinda head over heels for Cisco.

Except then Cisco does get the date with Kendra after all, so Barry makes his 'why breakfast?' joke (so many ace vibes there, I swear) but it's a bit more stilted than in canon and Barry heads off to be alone afterwards where he asks himself how he manages to get into these situations where he's interested in someone who isn't interested in him back.

Things with Kendra go as per canon, Cisco ditched for my least favorite version of bird-boy (give me the tortured soul who depends on Blockbuster for his pandemic social interactions, mmkay? I like him, he needs hugs but isn't condescending or controlling) and maybe feeling a bit upset about the whole thing. And perhaps a bit more invested in Barry/Patty happening because at least someone in their friend group deserves a successful romance and Caitlin is still grieving Ronnie (again). So it's gotta be Barry.

So Barry has his first date with Patty and it goes okay but he's just not... feeling that spark. And he doesn't want a repeat of Linda so he ends the date by admitting he'd just rather be friends. Patty takes this stoically, Cisco on the comms is like "Dude???" (because remember, Barry started the date blind with Cisco guiding him and his sight was restored by the adrenaline rush of Patty kissing him which here would just upset him over being kissed unexpectedly, contributing to the panicked 'no further dates please' reaction)

Barry avoids like a pro because he didn't spend 15 years avoiding telling Iris how he felt to start being chatty about his feelings to his crush now, but after the fake fight with E1 Linda fails, Cisco finally corners Barry and pushes the right buttons to get a confession that Barry didn't actually ask out the person he likes when he asked Patty on a date. He asked Patty because Cisco made it clear he wasn't interested in Barry when he asked out Kendra.

The mental gymnastics Barry's RSD goes through sometimes bewilders Cisco, but he does see how this one happened. Of course Cisco's still in 'did I hear correctly' and 'brain rebooting' mode when Zoom takes Linda hostage. So the last thing Barry says to Cisco before running off to save his ex is something along the lines of "the person I like most is you".

Cisco proceeds to spend the rest of the night in a low key panic over what he's going to say to Barry when he wakes up because does he acknowledge it now or later? Does he put it aside until Barry's recovered enough to be in a good headspace for relationship discussions and date planning?

Being Cisco, what happens is he rambles himself into a corner and Barry demands cuddles once he processes that yes, actually, Cisco does want to date Barry too.