#this is how i decide her character but idk which option i like better for her or which one is more HER

[clonewarsahsoka]

Now before I sleep the question is do I think about dao or my world?

[waterghostype]

”i’ll give you two options. option a; i take lloyd with me, you do exactly as i say, and i won’t have to do anything you’ll regret. or option b…”

ik comparing ninjago and monkie kid is tired and annoying but harumi and macaque are so similar and as an avid fan of both i have to intervene (more rambling under the cut)

i wouldve LOVED if harumi’s arc in crystalized went the same way as macaque’s arc in s3; both of died and came back to life in very similar situations but harumi’s motivations wouldve been a lot clearer if it was presented like macaque’s

both characters died in a tragic and bad emotional state but were brought back to life to basically be omnipotent power person’s main man. bc of their blinding hatred for the “heroes” and also just bc they didnt want to die they decide to take up the offer and give up their soul (basically) to be brought back to life and destroy the world for their new “master” (idk a better word)

but where it diverges is that the narrative of s3 constantly emphasizes macaque in pain and how at his lowest point he doesnt even care about trying to get his “revenge” anymore, he just wants so desperately to stop being under lbd’s control and stop being in constant pain bc of it.

if harumi’s arc emphasized those things more it wouldve been really good and way more believable for if she would join the ninja in fighting mr overlord. i actually have wayyy more to say for this type of au but to summarize harumi and macaque (sinistershadow duo) FOREVER!!!!

also wouldnt this look have gone hard for harumi in crystalized. like ik she was originally gonna show up in a spider freakazoid thing but monkie kid already took that which is ironic but i mean the crystal stuff being what keeps her body together wouldve gone hard

[ravel-puzzlewell]

Hi! Do you mind elaborating on what you meant by "tiefling politics" on that wotr vs bg3 post? Just curious, ignore if you want

its about the fact that bg3 has a lot of tiefling characters, somehow more than wotr, and huge theme of like hells and connections to demons\devils and somehow manages to say absolutely nothing interesting about it.

in wotr we have examination of tieflings fitting into human society, ostracization and (literal) demonization of them, where even if some of them would want to help in war against hell, they are scared (frex, group of tieflings thieves you save which you can ask to help u and they are like are u kidding me, crusaders will torch us). woljif in particular is a deconstruction of selfish chaotic neutral tielfling rogue archetype, his story both exploring how both he was pushed into being a criminal bc he had no other options, but also interplay with how he then himself tends to dismiss his own agency in being able to decide for himself and choose better, forever excusing himself with "well this is a crappy hand dealt to me", his survivalist attitude of everyone for themselves vs desire for community, how when given a smidge of stability and access to decision making in council, he tries to awkwardly, but eagerly advocate for societal improvement for all tieflings, and this is one of his most sincere moments - and gets laughed at immediately, etc etc. and speaking of community, v interesting intersection between "good" and "bad" marginalized groups of mongrels vs tieflings, with Lann being self-righteous about both his moral superiority and how mongrels "have it worse", while ignoring that mongrels - and he himself specifically - are mistreated literally bc they are mistaken for tieflings.

btw if anyone wants me to talk more about mongrels vs tieflings thing, hit me up, i think there was a interesting stuff, even if not properly dramatized

meanwhile in bg3 being tiefling largely means nothing? like the refugees would sometimes like drop a line out loud about how tieflings should stick together bc humans won't help them, but like that's it. the refugees could literally be humans running from war or blue cat ppl from avatar running from capitalism and nothing in the plot or characters would need to be changed. tieflings is just cosmetics for them, like idk its cool to have colorful NPCs with fire eyes and sexy horns. And even companions wise, you know I love Karlach and tried to romance her, but being tiefling is just looks for her, its not meaningful. It doesn't matter for her backstory, she could have been a strong human from poor background who was sold out to idk, underdark. like it sucked bc she was forced to do violence and everyne was an asshole and she couldn't see sun, but otherwise it being Blood War specifically doesn't come into play. and like. Blood War has famously huge effects on ppl with hell heritage! I'm not saying she should have been Valen Shadowbreath with entire plotline about struggling with blood war calling, but like. idk, something?

my point is that tieflings and hell has a lot of lore and like, FLAVOUR in this setting, which were not explored at all. these are just ppl with horns and generic Bad Place.

and then like. devil essentialism. bg3 has central motive of how evil races are not ontologically evil, but like, devils are. sdfghjk. apparentely mind flayers can fight actual mind control if they are V Special, but all devils/demons are evil with no exceptions. karlach was in hell for 10 years and never met a single sympathetic devil. the closest one he had mocks IS Evil when we meet her in game. and I actually liked Raphael (transition could've saved her), but there is nothing particularily interesting about him, he's also straighforwardly evil. this severely limits how interesting interactions with hell are. in wotr there is a wide range from reformed succubus to most evil sadists, with every shade in between, which allows for complex stories, like that that fucked up love between that betrayer dwarf and demoness who seduced him. she's legit evil, but she also has actual twisted affection for him, and he knows she uses him, but he was pushed too far by humans and chooses her anyway. this background story is honestly has more depth than wyll's and mizora relationship, where shes just evil and he's straighforwardly martyr. when mizora offered to have fun wink wink, i immediately knew she's gonna Evil It. and she did. and she didn't even get anything out of it! it was just staining your soul to be evil:3 like ok, but boring tbh.

and like yeah war with hell is central plot of wotr, obviously it has a lot more to say and explore about it, but like. bg3 didn't HAVE to have to include so many tieflings and have us follow their stories through all acts. it didn't have to include hell in "no race essentialism" game if it didn't want to talk about it. it chose to, and when game has big chuncks of content about smth connected by a theme, i expect it to say smth about it? anything interesting? eh.

btw, this is not to say i think wotr's writing is perfect, far from it, i can talk for ages of my problems with that game's writing, but this initial phrase was from shitposts specifically comparng things in wotr to bg3, so

[ilyuan]

hello valentine! how are you? i hope life is being kind to you! i heard that your request is open, so i try to send something :D hopefully this isn't too much!

may i request haitham with inazuman fem!reader? let's say they met because she's pursuing education in akademiya. once she graduates, she spends some times working in sumeru. but of course, one day she need to go back to inazuma again. how are their long distant relationship look like? do he visit her sometimes? bonus point if she's the opposite of him, like emotional and sunshine type person (but not as loud as kaveh! no shade to him tho, i lobe him xD). of course you can adjust this request as much as you want~ no pressure at all xD

i think that's it! i'm sorry if i make grammarical mistakes or anything, english is not my mother tounge. but still, thanks in advance, dear valentine! 💖

a/n. so sorry this took a while to get to :') im trying my best to catch up with my inbox i promise, other than that,, thank you for the request anon! <3 i’m sick but i’m getting better !! :)

cw. fem!reader, reader is from inazuma, a bit of angst in the beginning (?), mentions of scara (my beloved), cyno, tighnari, kaveh and other characters, i got sorta lazy at the end LOL this was just supposed to be a little time after time fic ig? if that makes any sense like something happens then another thing happens i guess? idk LMAO

"you realize i won't be able to stay for long, right?" your weary voice catches onto his ears when you begin to speak.

with a facepalm, alhaitham replies, "of course, kaveh’s coming home soon so you’d have to go," alhaitham replies, to which you chuckled about.

"well," you pause, "that's not what i meant."

"haitham! stop rummaging through my papers!" you squeak when he attempts to help you, mentally face palming yourself.

"[name]," he looks at you, "people like to help each other, everyone's gotta help someone else some day."

ah, here he goes again.

you giggle.

"okay, okay," you roll your eyes in a playful manner, "well, go check up on kaveh, he's practically screaming your name at this point."

"i'd rather stay here with you," he interrupts.

does he know what will happen?

those words sent shivers down your spine.

yes, you two were in a healthy, established relationship, but what he does not know is that you took his words a completely different way.

all of a sudden, you hear someone walking over to the two of you, alhaitham right beside you instantly assuming it was kaveh.

"hey, you kids gotta go, the bell rang already."

...apparently not.

"stop thinking so hard about it [name]," alhaitham interrupts your train of thought.

"nothing's gonna happen either way, you do realize that if you don't get into [desired career], then there's multiple other options you have in here. we went here for a reason, right?"

...ah, his smart self always seemed to cheer you up, always enough to get rid of every thought in your brain possible, just like when he comforted you when you were panicking about what seemed like fifty different school assignments back in high school.

...

"let me help you," alhaitham spoke, instantly swiping the papers out of your hands.

"but-!?" you insist, but not quick enough since alhaitham was already looking for his glasses, the ones that kaveh gave him since he changed careers in high school.

"no 'but's," he interrupted you once more, your insists practically flying out of the already freezing cold window that was still going because of how hot it was inside your apartment.

...

back in the present time, he was tapping on the side of your head like it was a solid rock, but trying his best to be careful with you.

"you always zone out," alhaitham starts once more, interrupting your train of thought once more.

"and you always interrupt me," you roll your eyes, scoffing at him.

"you didn't even say anything though."

after you and alhaitham’s graduation, you’d decided that you would work in sumeru, with the special occasions of helping out alhaitham too.

"cyno! stop kicking sand onto me!" you laughed, trying not to get sand in your eyes as you were cleaning up the eremites' base.

“where’s tighnari?” you suddenly ask.

"he's on his way, he was dehydrated not too long ago until scaramouche gave him water," he replied, thinking back to the time he had to hand over the water that scaramouche gave him to tighnari who could barely even stand, breathing heavier than usual.

after that, he knew tighnari would take longer than expected to come visit both of you.

scaramouche, having just obtained the crown and lost it, he was more unmotivated than usual so you all knew that he wasn't going to come, considering how stubborn he was and how he refused requests almost all the time.

...and of course, kaveh was stressed out again.

after months and months, here you were, wking on the streets of inazuma with none other than kaveh, alhaitham’s stubborn roommate.

“do you know when you’ll be able to go back to sumeru?” kaveh suddenly asks you, to which you whipped your head to the left to look at him.

“erm… well, i did tell him that i’d have to leave one day but,” you paused, “he didn’t… understand.”

“what do you mean?” kaveh questioned with a gasp to which you let out a small laugh about.

“well, i told him a year ago that one day i’d have to leave and he instantly thought it was about you coming over so i would have to leave,” you replied, trying your best to explain to alhaitham’s blonde friend.

“well i guess that’s just how life works,” kaveh sighed, trying to attempt an emotional facade.

you laughed again.

…

ever since that day, you’ve met some people along the way of your journey back in your hometown, inazuma.

the summer shade of inazuma under certain sakura trees caught your attention when you were walking with ayaka.

the sight reminded you of how things would go downhill but alhaitham was always there with you.

the shade representing your emotions, and the petals representing alhaitham being by your side.

you thought it was cheesy, letting out a small giggle from it to which ayaka questioned you about.

she was the girl who had always thought you were different from any other person in inazuma, since you’ve never told her that you were previously in sumeru for a long period of time.

you looked over to her, your view meeting her confused face.

“…ayaka, i’m fine,” your weary tone of voice spoke.

“…right.”

…

and ever since that day, you and alhaitham always called over any devices that ayaka and thoma made for you.

thoma, having always practiced forging with ayato, has taken a very long time trying to make certain souvenirs for you and other trinkets.

you could never thank him enough for the device that he made for you in order to call alhaitham.

however, you never told thoma that you were in a relationship with a man from sumeru.

…

so when you told him, he was shocked.

to say the least.

…

“AND YOU NEVER TOLD US THAT PART!?” he practically screamed.

“…”

“i knew you would act like this,” ayato came up from behind.

and well, so in conclusion, you and alhaitham’s relationship was… pretty much perfect!

the only downside was that you could never find ways to convince ayato to drive you back to sumeru, but you had your ways to convince him.

“alhaitham, hi!” thoma yelled, seeing his camera on screen from a few meters away behind you.

“THOMA—“

@sugarmouchie do not copy/translate/repost on other platforms please and thank uu 🤍

[ming-sik]

Could you tell us more about your thoughts on the orphanage and what you hate about Rozemyne doing to it and if you were writing an au or something, how would you gix it?

my problem with the orphanage is basically what i said-- it's a company town. the orphans all have to work and they are unable to leave, plus the fact that they can be bought and sold as property; myne's "those who don't work don't eat" slogan being the first thing she says to them is pretty notable. at multiple points in the story, rozemyne hears someone saying that the grey priests are being treated too well, and her first response is to correctly point out that being an orphan means being a slave, which always ends up getting treated like an epic burn and is never followed up with "you're the high bishop, why are orphans treated that way?"

the story excuses this in a few ways. way one is that rozemyne is a nice master who pays for their living expenses/stops individual instances of violence or sexual assault/lets one of them one time decide if they want to be sold because she's worried about him being pressured into a marriage, way two is that the orphans are so grateful for this that none of them disobey her or demand better conditions, and way three is that ferdinand convinces her that this is just how things work and there's no point trying to change it which she accepts. also it's i think established that after hasse comes under her control the orphans there are allowed to become citizens after coming of age, but like the orphans who live in the temple are still slaves.

my main problem is that the idea of the nice slave master is an excuse that was used in real life to excuse actual slavery and the fact that it's so common in isekai including aob sucks, especially when the story explicitly endorses and argues for this being the best possible option, including saying that it's reasonable that citizens are upset that orphans are being treated better than them when they don't pay taxes which is the thing that convinces our protagonist. now the vast majority of the actual pro-slavery rhetoric comes from everybody's favorite character ferdinand, and the fact that it's in-story characters saying it could've been used as a way to establish that this is yet another horrifying aspect of life under feudalism, but instead it's treated as actually a very good argument that wins over rozemyne with its logic and then the story just runs with it and never touches on whether or not the orphans might be better off being made into citizens even when the improvement of the temple's image is a huge plot point and idk i think someone "going to the temple" not meaning they were becoming a slave might help that possibly, and if she really wants nobles to stop mistreating grey priests it could possibly help for them to be normal attendants that are being hired instead of bought and are citizens who it's illegal to assault might be more effective than very sternly telling them to be nicer.

also it's part of the thing aob does in general where it touches on an incredibly serious issue with systemic causes that is exacerbated by YS's society with characters being rightfully horrified by it.... before getting really scared of portraying the consequences of that in a way that might paint the good noble characters in a bad light, so an explanation is quickly invented for why the thing itself is actually super ethical because of another thing we just made up that means that it's different when they do it. many such cases. very weird to make a series set in a world that's repeatedly established to be this dark fantasy where the irl reasons that feudalism was a brutal, abusive system are outlined in detail that dares to focus on the commoners who are almost always ignored in favor of the glittery nobles, only to decide halfway through that glittery nobles are way easier to write about so you just have the protagonist join the nobility and retcon a bunch of reasons the world is fine actually.

as for how i would rewrite it, the most obvious fix is to have her free them. maybe ferdinand initially strongarms her into accepting it, but despite the other nobles telling her that she's a saintlike figure, the actual orphans, after learning that in hasse they become citizens after coming of age or just when they're more regularly exposed to the outside world, start to agitate for better treatment, no longer satisfied with being treated well by their master for now. if she doesn't, eventually some of them start to turn against her. she has to choose-- will she try to force them back into line, or will she put her money where her mouth is and actually fight for the commoners? and if she does try to make them citizens at their baptism or give them the right to leave the temple whenever they want or remove the barrier between the temple and the common people entirely(maybe allowing other people with the devouring to help the temple without having to leave their families), she should meet resistance! her trying to keep the commoners from being uprooted by the entwickeln would be an appetizer for this main dish, a situation where rozemyne is completely, totally unable to frame this as a weird pet project and instead has to try and convince a sympathetic noble character that a fundamental thing they've accepted is incorrect. i would have this be her and ferdinand's first real conflict, and an extremely difficult fight for her. she's right, but she has to overcome the fact that ferdinand is more confident, more connected, more mature, supported by the rest of the nobility, and just generally stronger than she is to convince him to help her, and in the process she has to convince the archducal family, all of whom are also against her. maybe she wavers at multiple points over whether or not this is even worth it and feels the desire to accept ferdinand's suggestions that she just crush the orphans who are rebelling, only stopped by the orphans themselves. probably have a named character be part of the rebels, i would go for gil and have him believe that myne's a good enough person to do the right thing, forcing her to deal with the weight of betraying one of her first genuine allies in the temple and someone she explicitly promised she would treat well. likely this would need a volume or two of rozemyne agonizing and things getting worse until a breakthrough where she convinces a powerful ally, idk she convinces giebe illgner who tries making the orphans citizens in his own province and it turns out well enough that it proves that both nobles and commoners can eventually accept the arrangement, and after getting the other paper-making giebes on their side, she has enough leverage to bargain with evidence. you could either have her successfully convince ferdinand or not. she does need to convince sylvester for logistical reasons, and generally this would be a moment in his arc of widening the divide between him and the abuse feudalism necessitates, but whether or not she convinces ferdinand would probably decide if he's getting a redemption arc or becoming an eventual antagonist, both of which could be neat if handled right. regardless it's important that the orphans aren't just a mostly faceless crowd of worshippers and are instead a group of people with their own needs and interests.

[mikodrawnnarratives]

my redesign(s) for Kira! This webtoon has been on my mind so much lately and i couldn't not do anything for it

So much more in depth stuff is below for anyone who also read Antistalker and disliked anything about it

So, I don't actually mind many of the designs in canon, the biggest complaint I have being. Everyone looks the same. Like, EVERYONE has the same hairstyle and skintone. Which is white. Of course its white.

The uniforms don't help much with the samey look a lot of the characters have. I have my own redesign for Yulai in the works since he looks almost exactly like August but with blue hair, but I decided what if the uniforms in my version weren't actually uniforms. Like, the school had a couple colors that if you wore them u were fine.

You have the option to wear fancier stuff w suits an what not but thats only to show ur class. After all, in a school that puts humans, werewolves, and vampires in the same space, not everyone is gonna have the same economic status to allow purchasing a uniform, or multiple. Though that being said I do like the canon uniforms, they were very unique and you could TELL the same creativity just wasn't there when the main three went to Black Moon.

My version would have a looser dress code to really highlight the priviledge the school filled with elite Vampires has. I think their name was White Moon? Or smthn. But they could have been really exaggerated in how identical and eerie they are in comparison to the warmth at Red Moon.

Anyway were was I.. PANTS for kira. Get RID of the skirt RID OF IT I SAY and add some patches cuz that hints at her new financial situation. Can't afford new pants so when she gets tears she patches them up.

(i didn't bother changing her shoes cuz there really isn't anything wrong with them. I like a lot of the outfits in s1 even if i think the writing could be better. Though, i think it would be interesting if she had Good Shoes for school and changed into worse ones at home, so that she always has her best for when she's keeping order. In mine, she's being paid for her efforts to keep the school sane. That way, she has at least one income to explain living on her own as a sophomore.)

I also looked at a bunch of pics of wolf cuts bc I liked the idea of giving her more hints in her design that she isn't HUMAN.

She had a knife at the very beginning but then a bird took it and its no were to be seen for the rest of the series??? idk abt that chief. Let her keep her weapons! She's the president of the displinary committee for fucks sake!

I kept her hair pins bc of course i kept her pins. She's much more covered now since I wanted more references to the fact she's part vampire, and that includes having more parts of her hair white. I tried to keep it equal amounts white and black so that she has equal parts of her mom and dad.

I changed up her bangs mainly because everyone has them and I thought they were a cute style. The way I have her hair rn makes it really easy to subtly shift them into doggo ears

I drew my design as close as possible to canon's style and made a ver. with canon's colors. I switched were the eyepatch is cuz thats an uper important detail i have in my rewrite. In mine, ever since Kira discovered her powers allowing her to control werewolves, or however I change the mechanics of that power, she has that werewolf puberty awakening and one of her eyes reflects this.

She gets the orange eye and KEEPS IT. But from then on she hides it with an eye contact, even if she doesn't know why. It's just something she knows she should do and the reason came from her memories she's lost

If you pay attention, one eye is less saturated than the other when both eyes are red, in mine. I think it would have been just so much more clever to have had it be a secret she's kept up until the injury over her eye heals + her getting her memories back

She's removed the eye contact cuz with her eye covered up, theres no point in it. And by the time she doesn't need the eye patch anymore, she remembers enough to be like "well fuck this I'm not hiding anymore."

I ALSO redesigned her past self! Before she meets august. She purposefully dies her hair to avoid daily suspicion that she's a "half breed"

If she had her hair mostly white, it would be pretty obvious she's her mother's daughter, so its kept more black like her father's to avoid suspicion. But that doesn't mean she isn't still singled out.

When she meets August and befriends him, eventually she cuts her hair with his help, trying to get a layered hair cut without having to go to a salon, and it ends up very uneven.

The reason I wanted her past self to look different than her current is because in MINE there is/would be an emphasis on how much Kira has changed since August was last with her. He idolizes the idea of his childhood best friend that he saved but made the ULTIMATE SACRIFICE for by removing himself from her life, so she would be safe!! He was still manipulated by his father into that specific choice in mine, but the idea this was the best course of action still remains

August thinks that when Kira remembers again, she's gonna revert to how she was before the incident, before it all. But she's not really that girl anymore. She's picked up skills in fighting, become Punisher Volkov, she had to sell her family's house at 14 so she could get an affordable place farther away, she has to deal with her abusive grandfather's bullshit just so that she can keep his monthly checks she receives. She has had so much on her plate. And she's also made so many new friends, deep friendships, built a community, a strong support system, and gotten stronger.

And who she was before didn't have all that. I feel like canon could have easily gone this route in canon! Kira said she wanted to clarify the past so she could move forward! She wanted closure and she deserves it! But August's behavior never went corrected. He's back in her life again and she's back to her old crush. Season 2 tries to address Kira's life now, how different it is compared to her rich life before, but it tells us the solution is for her to MOVE IN WITH AUGUST oh HE'LL SAVE HER and EVERYTHING WILL BE BACK TO HOW IT WAS

No. Give August the lesson that things have changed. He can take that and either move forward with how Kira is now, or forget any romantic interest with her. She's not who he thinks she is.

anyway thank you for reading my info dump <3 I'm insane about kira and how much potential was lost in s2

just. vokivormok really flushed so much down the toilet. probably had too many plot points to figure out how to resolve BUT I HAD FAITH IN EMM they should have taken more time b4 season 2...

[thegamingcatmom]

Hullo! As always love your blog and the service you're doing for the un-holy trinity bc there's not enough content about them and that's sad. I'm pretty sure you will know who this is but oh well, i guess I'm just shy to actually ask without the anon-thingy option. Today i come seeking advice for writing, if you can provide it, if not that's perfectly fine. You see I write for myself, a coping mechanism of sorts and when i got back to the fandom after so many years and got struck with teh Denali obsession i used to write The sisters/OC, but as I became more obsessed with Irina I changed the relationship because I found it easier, we all have our versions of the characters in the end so of course MY version of the sisters will be different from anybody else (perhaps), in my story Tanya and Kate are more carefree, Tanya being the msot responable one since she's the leader while Kate is more on the playful side meanwhile Irina is the most cuddly, loving, affectionate and needy of them, even clingy, especially emotionally (Once you've reached her heart ofc bc is hard to get tehre XD), I think this version of her turned like this because as I mentioned writing is a coping mechanism so it is what I kind of needed to feel better at the time if that makes any sense and now I struggle to write the three of them with MC again because no matter how hard I try I always feel like MC gravitates towards Irina, like magnets yk and I feel bad for the other two bc I feel is not fair XD ANYWAY I would like to ask, any advice on how to balance that? The attention they recieve, the way they itneract without each other without feeling as if the others are left out? because i am frustrated that i want to write them all and it doesn't feel idk, natural? When I read your HCs, despite the tantrums thrown around their interactions with MC seem natural, effortless in a way that i am honestly jealous of because you make it look easy! (Totes adore your writing style btw <3) IDK if any of this made any sense? i struggle to put in words what I mean to say but I hope you can shine some light in my dilemma, thank you in advance and have a wonderful day/weekend <333

Heya!

First of all: Thank you, as always, for your lovely words. ❤️

I totally agree that there isn´t NEARLY enough content about them out there, so we all gotta change that! 💪

Also, I think I do know who this is. 😉🫶

Which: Anon asks are absolutely fine, really. Whatever you feel most comfortable with. 🫶🫶

We all have our ways to cope with things, and I totally get writing being one of those. I write to unwind after a long day or just to provide some new stimuli for those grey cells of mine. It´s immensely helpful with reducing stress or anxiety as well. ^^

My point is: You write whatever makes you feel good, what feels right for you. It´s your story, you decide how it´s gonna play out. 🫵

Tanya and Kate are more carefree, Tanya being the msot responable one since she's the leader while Kate is more on the playful side meanwhile Irina is the most cuddly, loving, affectionate and needy of them, even clingy, especially emotionally (Once you've reached her heart ofc bc is hard to get tehre XD)

Yknow, that´s kinda my view on them too. xD

(Except Tanya´s much more hornier, LMAO.)

Look, we all got our favorites, and I´m pretty sure mine shines through in some of my writing too. It´s only natural to have your MC / OC gravitate more towards the person that you yourself would rather spend time with irl. There´s always gonna be bits and pieces of ourselves flowing into our writing I think. 😅

...I mean, in my case (The Sisters), Tanya gets little to no luving because I really love making em work for it. The clingiest one gets the least attention, that´s the principle I go by here because I love watching em suffer. 🤷‍♀️

.

.

.

As for giving advice:

First off: ALSKNFLSAFNLF, tysm for your words. 😭❤️

I feel absolutely honored that someone would come to me, asking for writing advice. 🥺❤️

Right so, you already know how you view them, that´s good. Let that flow into their interactions with each other and with MC. Think of a scenario you´d like to see them in. Think about the different ways the sisters would react to that scenario, depending on their characteristics. Everything else builds on that.

E.g.: Celebrating MC´s birthday

Tanya: carefree yet responsible

did most of the organizing (responsible)

which...she will let MC know

receives lots of praise for it because it does look amazing

much to the annoyance (and jealousy) of her sisters (🙄🙄)

the first to give MC a present because she´s the leader (🙄🙄)

the present is a lingerie set (🙄🙄)

(which is really more a present for herself)

entirely chill about it (carefree) whilst MC´s turned as red as a lobster

will take that as her cue to get reallll close and whisper into MC´s ear how good she´s gonna look in that

much to the annoyance (and jealousy) of her sisters (🙄🙄)

will perhaps even go so far and hold it up to get a first...impression (carefree)

...🙄🙄

Kate: carefree, playful

the only one to wear a party hat (playful)

much to the annoyance (and jealousy) of her sisters because, as it turns out, MC loves party hats

I mean it

Irina and Tanya can only watch in utter agony as she receives all those cheek-squishes and smooches for being the absolute cutest in the room

as soon as MC´s back is turned, she´s gonna turn to her sisters in utter smugness

her plan worked out

her present is a roboter (you decide which one)

MC fucking loves it

Kate fucking loves it

(whose present was it again?)

both of them end up spending most of their time with that thing (carefree, playful), together ofc ❤️

...🙄🙄

Irina: cuddly/loving/affectionate/clingy

immediately wraps MC in a hug

nose rubs

whispers b-day wishes into MC´s ear

the sweetest b-day kiss

and one more

and one more

and-

the coughing behind her reminds her that, ah yes-

presents MC her gift a lil sheepishly because she almost forgot about it since she was entirely focused on...other things

has the most hopeful/attentive look on her face when MC opens it

the present is a photo album containing all their adventures/special moments together, with date and all

MC tears up and throws herself at her

they stay like that for a while

and another while

and another-

🙄🙄

...

...🥹🥹

That´s kinda how I would do it. Just get a feel for how they would react first. What makes them different from one another? What´s something that makes you go "ahh ye, that´s totally them"? Their interaction comes more naturally then because it will feel more natural.

Well, I hope that made sense? I´m not sure if that´s the advice you were looking for, or if it´s any helpful at all. But that´s pretty much how I do it. 😅

If you have any more questions, I´d be happy to answer them to the best of my ability! ^^

Wonderful day/week to you as well &

Thanks a lot for that lovely ask! 💋

EDIT:

I mentioned it in the comments, but I´m putting it here as well because I think that´s also very good advice:

There doesn´t always have to be a balance.

Sometimes, good storytelling thrives on imbalance. It spices things up and encourages you to approach/view certain situations from a different perspective. It can also inspire new thoughts and ideas. 💡

There is no "right" or "wrong" when it comes to writing. ☝️ ^^

[alitgblog]

volume ix thoughts wooooo we're out of casa

first off, return of a legend: the beach hut

i was fully expecting the compatibility test to be more like the season 1 compatibility test with the zodiacs because that's fun but i guess that's less of a pot stirrer than a fun game to have. though the narrator poking fun at it i guess is making fun of the fandom for thinking it was gonna be horoscopes 🤣

so very obvious ass test though especially with the two answers only about the two guys you're pursuing, which I think is a missed opportunity to throw more lore about the guys in there. or at least make it not as obvious? really goes to show how surface level the characters are compared to, say, the Mr. and Mrs. Challenge towards the end of S2

I'm going for Jin and Max rn so I thought it was funny their personalities were boiled down to "funny" vs "extroverted" and my MC had to pick between the two as if they were mutually exclusive

anyway just nearly got Jin lmao

I'd like them to stop with the Claudia/Theo storyline because it feels like they've already decided they're done with each other and are ready to move on? However, Claudia being compatible with Theo on paper but like not really feeling it is an interesting idea. Like she feels she's got no other option to stay safe except for him and they like each other enough. Meanwhile Bea's settling for Liam because he's shown any interest in her at all. (Let them date each other if MC can't! They deserve better!!)

also I know that I joked about Theo being just some mildly attractive white guy to fawn over and settle for but the way that Claudia is just settling for him? actually upsetting like I'm so sorry, Theo 😟 I didn't mean it I thought he was fine after the first dates 😖

Hari mention! I was pretty sure the game forgot about him lmao

anyway the compatibility thing still doesn't make the most sense because like,,, why did all the guys get the Villa girls and none of the casa girls? I just think we should stir up some shit. I know it's annoying but it is the perfect opportunity to try to make Emel angry at Oakley again by saying he's most compatible with some casa girl. And she can show growth by not getting upset this time.

idk why but Kyle's poem to Emel is giving wannabe rap crew vibes (i.e. I'm missing S1 I'll take what I can get). Also, Claudia said he's giving game player vibes?? I'm actually so upset with how the LI's are all interchangeable because simply this cannot be the same Kyle y'all are fawning over (it's not 😭)

I'm kind of curious what it's like replaying on a straight route bc personally my heart hurts every time they show Claudia's little sad face but like I have to talk to Max it just makes more sense because MC can't couple with Claudia in stick or twist

Close your eyes and pick at random is actually hilarious as an option for stick or twist and I almost did it

i've already said my piece about Sienna, I love her design. I will admit though, her open mouth smile is a little stilted but people get botox so... not out of the ordinary lol. The bigger problem is how her hand on her hip is a little fucked up (color in between the lines, fusebox!)

as someone not on a Theo route, I really don't understand why he's sticking with Claudia unless he's got some personal turmoil he's working through and trying to actually reform his player ways. And I wish MC could talk to him as a friend and we'd see that. like in the way S2, you get to know Rocco's insecurity about never finishing university and Gary's anxiety even if you aren't on their routes

Anyway I'm still upset at the forcing MC to couple because she's single thing. They could've still had her coupled with Jin (or even with Hari it would work) and then she can either walk in single or with a casa boy. And then she's the main character: just say that the single islanders don't get dumped post casa (like it's SUPPOSED to be) because in that situation, she's the only one! Or if you need the numbers to be right, literally Emel is right there. She can come back to Oakley later if anything

still not the best stick or twist could've gone in terms of drama (or maybe that's just bc I've been looking at spoilers), but compared to S5-6, not too bad (I assume also s7 but tbh I did stop right at stick or twist for that season)

So fyi when I played Casa, I had my MC go for Shawn most of it, and then last minute switched to Max because I remembered she's a musician and I thought that would be cute. That being said, I wish it was like in the too hot to handle game where you unlock certain dialogue if you happen to have something in common with a character. Because why is Max explaining music stuff to my musician MC?

is Hari not an LI? Because they made him seem like one and then just all of a sudden we're not talking about him, it's only about Jin and Casa Boy. And I'm fine with not all the boys being LIs, but it is odd the way he's just shoved to the side in the story

Okay so I'm writing this as I'm playing and it seems like maybe he is. They just forget to mention him most of the time.

Hari and Hazel are a hot couple though. like I don't love Hari's design but like if he was drawn better?? I see it.

the swimming game is a fun idea but imagining everyone splashing around to get to MC is so funny. like I can hear it in my head and it's not the best game, but for the fictional game in the app it's fine.

although why tf is Theo suddenly interested in MC? I haven't been romancing him at all but for the chat at the pool I couldn't decide between any of the characters I'm actually kind of interested in so I had MC go talk to Theo and then he was also flirting? then the pool game he also thinks MC has the best chat?? sir I barely know you

omg not emel deflecting the drama to Claudia (and it's about her hookup with MC???) oof this is the drama I crave I think we're gonna need a movie night soon

so not too bad yet I just hope these storylines can come through!!

[cadybear420]

If HSS (both trilogies) were made by 2022-2024 Choices.

I've seen a couple of posts on the Reddit such as "If ILITW/TRR/ES/etc. were made today", and it got me wondering the same for HSS. So I've decided to do my own for both HSS trilogies.

Feel free to share your own speculations!

OG HSS

There would probably be only 1 or 2 LIs, both forced upon the MC, and both made race (and possibly gender) customizable. Michael would definitely be a LI, him and Caleb for duo GOC LI because I know PB would not be able to resist the "golden boy jock/bad boy rebel" LI duo. Though I can maybe see them having Michael and Maria. Emma I could see being a third (possibly race-customizable) token canon female LI. Aiden would certainly not be eligible as a LI because modern Choices (with the exception of maybe MAH) seems to hate LIs that are shy, awkward, or softies, especially if they're male or male-coded.

The book would probably still be GOC, thankfully. Then again, I wouldn't put it past modern Choices to want a genderlocked high school book where they default the MC into being a cheerleader. Speaking of which...

There's no WAY modern PB would have the activity choice system, quite simply because the multiple routes and dialogue accommodations would require putting in actual effort. Modern PB would definitely try to do a genderlocked default-cheerleader MC, but I also feel like they could default MC to being a jock since Book 1 was a bit jock centric. Or heck, they likely wouldn't even give MC an activity at all because god forbid we have proactive MCs.

Honestly, I feel like just about all of the different options and possible outcomes- the spirit stick heist, tryouts, junior captain, hoco/prom crowns- we have for the MC would be nerfed, because they would require putting in actual effort. So rather than having a MC where we can actively decide who they are and how they behave, they'd probably give the MC like one random set thing they're into and have all their dialogue choice options be lacking in variation and story impact.

Assuming Caleb is a (or the) LI, they'd make Zoe a full on straw loser villain woman who exists solely to have petty catfights with MC over Caleb and thus make MC seem like the better match for Caleb. They'd probably have her not be caught cheating until later on into Book 1, nerf her Book 3 redemption arc entirely, and instead have her be unable to move on from Caleb by then and hold resentment against MC for "ruining their relationship".

They might age everyone up to 18+ (with our MC being an incoming senior), but probably wouldn't include smut scenes considering the MTFL fiasco. I mean, ID had zero smut scenes despite its confirmed 18+ cast. If this was 2018-2020 Choices, they probably would have a couple of smut scenes, but 2022-2024 Choices would definitely not. Probably a hell of a lot more lap sitting though. But only MC sitting in LI's lap, except for Emma where it's reversed, because having a male LI sitting in female MC's lap might lose them those precious pennies from straight women.

Considering Prime getting sunset in August 2022 and PB having deleted the Twitter account for it, I'm seriously doubting how much modern PB cares about that game. This version probably would not have HSS Prime characters in it at all. Heck, they'd probably just not even make it "HSS".

HSS:CA

It would be single LI, Rory being that LI. Ajay and Skye become merely recurring side characters.

I feel like maybe PB would be more likely to genderlock this one. Or maybe not, IDK.

Danielle would be a lot more outwards and over-the-top of an antagonist. As in, we see all her behaviors up-front. She'd be a full-on straw-loser villain woman for MC to compete with over Rory.

The same thing about sex scenes for OG would apply here too. Instead of MC being freshly-graduated from middle school, they'd probably make them a incoming senior transfer student from a private school.

Assuming this continues from the Choicesified version of OG HSS and not from the one we actually have, the OG gang will have graduated by the time CA starts (given that they'd have all been made seniors in this version). In other words, we now have an actually valid reason for CA to throw out the OG gang instead of keeping them around for superficial nostalgia bait. That's one positive I guess.

[kingdoms-and-empires]

I chose the OP option (because I can't decide which stats I wanna focus on 😭) and I developed a little head canon to explain why my character is good at everything. In his former life he was less than OP. He was one of those people who have potential, but never applied himself, out of a mixture of laziness, procrastination, and a crippling fear of failure! When he died he was extremely disappointed in himself. He always figured that he'd pull himself together in the future, but now he's dead and he never achieved anything he wanted, other than gathering some useless facts (like maybe ancient technology such as the treadwheel crane perhaps 👀). When he got his second chance he decided he was gonna make full use of it. The instant he was able to comprehend the language of the world and was able to read, he'd sneak books and accelerate his education through reading things someone as young as him shouldn't understand. He also would go through physical training, again in secret, and watch the guards train in swordsmanship in hopes of picking something up. Since for years he had little to no responsibilities, and the mind of an adult, he has been able to devote almost all his time to developing his mind and body

TL;DR: my MC went from a procrastinator to a try hard and it payed off

Nice headcanon!

i think alot of people would be similar if they had their old memories and would give themselves a strong head start

Its really interesting to think about how you'd really act in a similar situation to the MC as you yourself.

The MC is canon to be "good" from the start, and its up to the player to choose how the MC progresses over time...honestly the best reincarnation works ive seen out there arent the traditional Isekai protag animes, its actually works that deal with a woman being reincarnated or isekai'd. Either a reincarnated villainess trope, or general isekai trope work, the ones with female leads are generally better in my opinion since it usually aint a power fantasy

Eh idk where i went with all this but it was fun to think about haha, so thanks!

Oh, some of my favorite anime that deal in reincarnation and isekai with female leads or kingdom simulators in general that do it well with male or female leads are these:

Fuuuuuck youre making me break out my old bookmarks and im seeing my mangas are now updated with new chapters...dozens of new chapters!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I WANNA STOP WRITING AND READ INSTEAD

This one has adorable art that I feel in love with as the MC starts as a baby lol, and the MC is competent, which is really nice

The MC is alright, she tries doing stuff to get out of shitty circumstances but the real highlight of the story are the titular Monster Duchess and her husband. Nooo idea how it is now but theres literally double the chapters now from where i left of and im so tempted to read lolololol

OMFGGGGG I FORGOT ABOUT THIS!! This is a fav of mine since it deals with the cinderella story! The MC is a reincarnated chick who plays as the evil stepmother in cinderella's story, but omfg its such a good twist on the trope and it really does alot of things well, and THERES SO MANY NEW CHAPTERSSSSSS

YOOOOOOOOOO I forgot this one too lmaoooo ima bad fan haha

Anyways, this is another great subversion of the reincarnating trope since the MC is on her THIRD reincarnated life, and she actually conquered EVERYTHING in her second life. But she got betrayed and killed by people and she said mannnnnn fuck this, ima get hitched with the dude who was nice to me in my old life and never asked for shit! And so begins a funny as romance story lol, GOD DAMN AND THEYRE ON THE SECOND SEASON NOOOOOOW

Someone either here or on Discord recommended this to me, and whoever did so, I love you! This is a weirdly realistic take on the historical figures of the Sengoku period having to deal with this weird girl who appears to have come out of nowhere but knows a bit of practical modern knowledge that helps Oda Nobunaga win some victories. Honestly, i really appreciate how grounded it is for a manga! The truth of the matter is, we really wouldnt be able to do that much if we were in her shoes either lol!

Bruhhhh when i tell you i squealed when i saw how many chapters this has now! Without a doubt, this is my favorite! The MC is hyper competent, she uses her femineity to her advantage and doesnt fight against it like other works do when they wanna show their female lead "isnt like other girls", and shes honestly such a joy to watch running circles around other people that screwed her over in her past life. Read this one for sure!!!!

Another competent female lead how got reincarnated and has to survive death flags by marrying one of the romance options, but the world system keeps screwing her over and its funny to see how she has to navigate trying to romance obviously shitty romance options who sound really hot (like the enemies to lovers trope would NOT be easy in real life lmao) or (the crazy mfer who makes you scared but horni)

Read this and then decide if you'd survive lol

AHGHGHGHHHH This is so good!!! Basically a girl has to become the stepmother to children how are close in age to her. She tries to do things her own way at first, but she dies. So she gets reincarnated and tries to do better the second time around. If you wanna read a good female lead doing introspection and learning from her past mistakes, read this. Its really good!

Alrighty. This is honestly a guilty pleasure, and should really be read after reading alot of villainess or female lead reincarnation manga to basically cleanse your palate with this funny ass story lol. Instead of playing by the rules of society like the previous stories, the main character does "not like other girls" very well and its enjoyable to watch lol! Use it once you get tired of the previously mentioned ones!

Annnnnnd that's it! Thank you for making me out myself lmaooooo

[honeyfizzly]

3-4-11-12 for SH asks

3- who is/are your favorite main characters?

My top 3 are kaneeka, tabitha, and reese!

Kaneeka because she's so relatable as someone else who also felt dissatisfied with their life and wished to escape into another world. Also she's very sweet and such a genuinely nice friend who won't push your boundaries. Plus she's a magical girl fan and I gotta respect that

Tabitha because I find her story so far very compelling and she's relatable as someone who's also had a Bad Mom (tm) because you can just see how many of pearlanne's "teachings"(abuse) followed tabitha through her life. Also tabitha has alot of flaws too and it's kinda refreshing to see someone so completed and flawed and still desire to see them get better.

Reese because we'll, it's a little embarrassing but when I first played the game my mind apparently forgot I was aro and decided promptly that he was now my husband. I'm not really into him as a romance option anymore (the aro lagged a bit but came back in the end) but I love stories about werewolves or werewolf adjacent monsters because it feels so relatable.

4- who is/are your least favorite main characters

Um this is hard. I don't hate stella but I find her boundary pushing uncomfortable especially as an introvert. I'm also very "meh" about Wayne, I think he's funny but I don't really have any thoughts or strong opinions about him. I'm sure that'd change but for now I'm very indifferent. Does sybil count as a main character? I definitely don't like her lol

11- what are your favorite ships? What are your least favorite ships?

Favorite has to be stabby for sure since I too had intimate female friendships that mightve ruined my life while also making it better somehow. Idk the childhood friends trope with wlw just hits different.

Least favorite is hard. Probably anything involving incest which I feel like is an obvious and easy answer.

Maybe Dr. Kelly x Mc? It's not that I dislike Dr. Kelly romancers (milf lovers go get your girl) but I just don't get the appeal of romancing someone who abused their kid for litteral years. Sybil x mc also falls into this category. Sorry gilf lovers.

12- what's your favorite non romantic relationship in the game

Oh it's mc and tabby no contest. I like getting tabby to open up to us and show that she cares for us. It's just really sweet for someone who's usually so cold. There's not really much that I can say that I'm sure others haven't already said so I'll just I'm tabitha's ride or die (except when it comes to strikes. Tabby pls stop breaking unions your better than this)

[rottentiger-art]

I’m a grown woman obsessed with Logan and Quinn suddenly again like a 12 year old after that trailer. And I have some thoughts. We have possible outcomes that I can see based on the limited scenes we got. The bad case: they get engaged off screen and announce it to Zoey over FaceTime like we saw in the trailer. Then Quinn does a runner on the wedding day (we do get a shot of her running in a wedding dress), and the wedding ends up being about chase and Zoey getting back together. We see Logan has a headset on in pretty much every shot, including when he’s standing at the alter (wtf Logan?). Maybe Quinn sees this, and panics, and thinks money and work will come before her so she runs. Eventually they end up back together, and we then get that shot of him proposing again and promising it won’t happen (with Zoey there, why 🙄) and we are left with the implication they’ll get married eventually. It’s also the 1 scene between the two of them where he isn’t wearing his headset which adds value to the whole he’s a workaholic thing and Quinn’s had enough. The thing that makes me confused is that Quinn is 100% already wearing her engagement ring in that shot, and Logan 100% has jewellery in that box. The better option: Logan is jokingly giving her some jewellery in a ring box, and her nodding is just a weird cut to something else he said (I.e., not accepting a proposal). That scene is weird as well because Zoey’s 2 best friends of almost 20 years are getting engaged, Quinn is nodding yes and Zoey looks confused and worried. The confusing thing about it is Quinn’s hair is short, but it is long for every other shot. Cause Quinn and Logan look different in that shot to the rest of the movie, I was hoping that perhaps it’s a flashback to when they got engaged many years ago and it has just been a really long engagement. So when they tell Zoey over FaceTime, it’s not about getting married it’s about them finally setting a date? But that doesn’t tie into why Quinn has an engagement ring on already. Regardless of how it happens I know they’ll 100% end up together but I don’t want them to be plot devices to Zoey and chase. I may be losing my mind over this. I need a break but had to share my obsessive thoughts with someone.

oh man, where do I start. I'm also a grown person obsessed with a ship from my childhood. I said it a lot of times heheh but Quogan was my first ship and the first fanfic I ever read was about them. I didn't know what a fanfic was and really thought that was some deleted scene or something XD.

I would hate to if they don't get married at the end, that would be so disappointing, but it would not ruin the ship for me, I'd simply not consider the movie canon and make/read a fic fixing that lol.

I am bothered by Zoey being there for the proposal/or whatever that was, because ugh can we, please, have something? without her? please? I never cared about her character (or anyone aside from Logan and Quinn, really) So I hope they don't make that moment about them.

I do hope it's a flashback, but like you said, the ring makes it not make sense.

I was also wondering about Logan's headset, I thought it was more of him being a bridezilla and controlling the whole wedding and making it all about himself, excluding Quinn unintentionaly lol.

I need to rewatch the show to refresh my memory about the characters, it's been years after all. I never saw Logan as the workaholic kind, but I could be wrong or he could have changed, idk.

Either way, all I hope right now is that they end up together. If they decide marriage is not for them, I'll accept it as long as they don't separate. God please don't let that happen. Tho I won't deny I would be pissed, since they are advertising this using their wedding as a bait and for them to not give us that at the end? very shady. We would be quoganbaited lol.

Speaking of that, I too don't want them to be a plot device for Zoey and Chase. I can't stress enough how much I don't care about them. And I understand the movie is about finally getting them together, but please, let us have Quogan in peace. The two ships can co-exist without overshadowing the other (despite one being clearly superior ehem)

feel free to keep sending asks or dm me if you wish, I love talking about quogan.

[hihopelessromantics]

The Learner Learns Nothing

In which the writing of Seven Deadly Sins expects us to believe that Merlin, the glutton for knowledge, is incapable of learning what really matters over the course of her 3,000 year journey. 

I wrote this inspired by @zeldriszezinho‘s comment on how Merlin was able to reactivate Elizabeth’s curse. The implication that Merlin at some point during the 3000 years gained the ability to break the curse and could have done it AT ANY TIME from that point forward absolutely blew my mind. 

If so canon Merlin is DEAD to me I swear that is so WRONG.

I've never seen a master manipulator character written like this before and I'm not even sure if this is a good way to write a trick villain or whatever the hell she was supposed to be. It sure is baffling so nakaba got that right. I was just as shocked and disbelieving as the sins were. Still am. Regardless of how well it fits her “canon” character and personality it is NOT consistent with the found family themes 😭 Plus it would make her RIDICULOUSLY overpowered... how would she have as much power as a god without serious consequences? And literately no one noticed, ever? Britannia started literately falling apart when Meliodas had that much magical power.

You know what I think I will jump on the hating canon Merlin bandwagon with you zeldriszezinho. I am stitching the Merlins from fanfictions together to make a better, healthier one as a present to the sins for all they've gone through together.

Merlin is just - ugh - it’s too sad. Everyone else gets to be, as the people who remember English class would say, a round character, including many of the antagonists! Tons of minor characters get memorable moments of growth, but Merlin, one of the major characters? She stays static for the most part. Trapped as a plot device until the very end. The narrative leaves her alone, torn away from her found family by an insane twist that I don’t quite understand.

 It’s like Merlin never gave a second thought to how the sins are acting. Ten years out of 3,000 isn’t a lot but someone as smart and observant as Merlin should have seen the way the other sins treat her. They knew close to nothing about her, and she constantly isolated herself emotionally and physically from them, but they never made a move to exclude her from the group, or pry too much, or question her origins. They just loved her unconditionally even though she wouldn’t let them in. There was so much raw potential for her character to have a unique and complicated bond with the sins as a group. Maybe it should have been the wakeup call she needed that the unhealed child inside of her could still learn to receive love. That it wasn’t too late to have a life outside her chaos obsession. Canon left us with a pretty unsatisfying answer as to why she acted the way she has. Like hmmm. Really?

Canon Merlin, you had 3,000 years to decide whether to seek help for your childhood trauma and learn how to love in a somewhat healthy manner and you want me to believe you didn't even try that route??? And that on top of that you effectively prolonged the torment of the only two people shown to love you unconditionally? Whom you supposedly loved in return?? Uhhh heyo! I don't believe you. And also I am holding a sword to your throat getting your shit together is no longer optional.

Sure Merlin can be seen as a character study of how obsession can cause someone to forsake all other aspects of life. We saw it in Frankenstein - saw what became of that whole spectacle and how quickly the perpetrator learned that they didn't actually want [insert here], they were just looking for that basic hierarchy of human needs and weren't ready for the responsibility that comes when using the pursuit of scientific advancement as a substitute for, idk, I think in Merlin's case it would be coming to terms with essentially being treated as a weapon due to her abilities. (meliodas and Elizabeth parallel anyone?? We were robbed of three child soldiers learning to love together and be a family smh thanks a lot gods ) anyway back on topic. What Merlin and Frankenstein have in common throughout their story there are a lot of opportunities that they didn't take, and friends that they kept brushing off, never confiding in them until it was crisis time. Frankenstein's story is a tragedy - he keeps abandoning the rational thought and commitment to ethics that make a good scientist. Any second during his story, while he was neglecting correspondence from friends, neglecting to sleep and eat and pay attention to his needs as a person that the obsession had tossed in the trash bin, he was free to say “hey actually I CAN spare a second from my neverending workload to breathe and think about what's important to me. Why I'm doing this? And how I could do it better. Have I learned anything in this latest deep dive into knowledge?” Instead he is ruled by his emotions, which in the end, keep him from properly emphasizing with other people and actually achieving what he wanted to do. I don't even remember if Frankenstein KNEW what he wanted to get out of his experiments. Probably not considering this the way he immediately freaked out when it actually WORKED. And then it was crisis time, so he goes to his friends, but does he confide in them what really happened? What part he had in it and how he feels about the whole thing? Don't think so. So they just think he's depressed as fuck and going a little crazy. They're completely unable to help him in any substantial way. 

We see this with Merlin. She has to have complete control of the situation at all times so she tells no one. If she can get this ONE THING right finally everything will fall into place. That must be what she thought. But what the hell? Knowledge is and has always been collaborative. We know she was never learning just to learn or for the love of it - it was a poor substitute for the love and attention a child needs to grow up with a good understanding of how to pursue fulfillment. So she was always aiming to accomplish something with her knowledge and all around her were people working together to accomplish something. Hell, she worked together with the sins to accomplish her goal. 3,000 years. She stopped her own time. Physically, right? Or was it mental too? The science there doesn't seem to work with the brain literately rewiring itself as it gets new experiences so. We're just meant to assume she spent 3,000 years trapped in the same mindset while traveling all over Britannia and interacting with God knows how many people. Just out of pure necessity to survive and obtain the information and tools she needs she would have to interact with a LOT of people. That's not even mentioning the people she did research on. And we're expected to believe she didn't learn anything that would make Merlin- smart, curious, motivated little Merlin who tricked two GODS on the OFF CHANCE that what they give her will satisfy the hole in her heart - didn't learn enough about human behavior to give abandoning love and true connection a second thought? Or even TRY to engage meaningfully with anyone? It's not like she had never made that connection with anyone before. What about Meliodas? What about 106 Elizabeths? 

This twist that Merlin might have been manipulating the Sins all along, rather than blowing the reader’s mind with the clues and clever foreshadowing that were there all along, blows a hole in the overarching themes in the story. Merlin’s betrayal is a catastrophe of the highest proportions because it calls into question EVERYTHING they learned up until that point. What she did would cause extensive trauma to everyone involved - all this time they believed that hey, maybe fate brought us together, wasn’t it so good that we finally found people that could understand us? And now they are questioning all of it. So yeah, emotionally, the twist does what it is supposed to. It hurts. But... it doesn’t make sense.  Being in the Seven Deadly Sins causes every other member to learn how to reconcile with themselves, their pasts, their feelings, and their relationships. Why is Merlin the exception? This feels like disappointing writing and a huge waste of character potential. 

It's not like abandoning all emotion and other desires was remotely necessary for Merlin to achieve her goal. She's had fun along the way and that's shown to us. Why are we given ‘i used to have a crush on Meliodas’ as a reason why she would give up on connection or whatever? Merlin that was literally 3,000 years ago when you were 12(?). You didn't talk to anyone about THEIR childhood crushes in all that time? And it's not like Meliodas ever stopped loving or caring about her. Even after getting his emotions stolen bit by bit he only abandons her and the rest of the sins out of necessity. Here she's got a good friend to confide in. And he's EXACTLY the kind of friend she needs if she wants to resurrect an old god! Meliodas is trusting, supportive, willing to Go the Distance for anything he believes in, AND desperate enough to consider extreme courses of action in order to break his and Elizabeth's curses.

All Merlin has to do to potentially get Mel on board is say, "Hey, some of my personal research has turned up something I think you might be interested in. The existence of an old god that the Supreme Deity and Demon King locked away because they feared her power and didn't want her to interfere with their goals.  I've been curious about rumors like these since I was a child, and now I have finally found enough solid evidence to confirm that this god exists. It stands to reason that such a god would be able and even willing to help with the curse on you and Sis-sis. Not a timely solution, but a good plan B or C. I'll be looking into it, and I'll let you know if I find anything that could help you."

What's Meliodas going to say to that? Probably, "Thanks, Merlin!"

He was not afraid of potentially starting an "age of Chaos" when his father told him that is what killing him would mean. Chaos is a mysterious entity of both darkness and light, good and evil, creation and destruction. Previously worshipped by goddesses and feared by the demons. Its agenda, if it even has one, is even more mysterious than Merlin's was before the big reveal. As far as I can infer, Chaos (without the influence of fantasy racism) seems just as likely to bring balance as it could bring upheaval. Something that Britannia desperately needs. And since Chaos is the mother of life in this universe, why would it destroy everything it has created?

It makes sense that if he had known, Meliodas would have been wary of this god, and warned Merlin to be careful, but in the end... wouldn't he have as much reason to help his friend as he would to stop her? Why continue on to release Chaos after the curse is already broken? Fair question. But why not?

Meliodas just wants to live in peace with his loved ones. If releasing Chaos means an "age of Chaos" will occur, well, that just means going back to the beginning, before the eternal game between the Supreme Deity and Demon King. So. The same unknowns that he's faced in his life thus far, except the two dictators manipulating everyone into an eternal war are replaced with the creator of life itself? That would actually sound pretty good to Meliodas, right?

Chaos is disappointed with the weakness of humanity but acknowledged it as, hehehe religious parallels my beloved, "the race most like itself, that embodies its values." Now, this could be 4+ years of religion classes talking but Chaos's previous goal before the Holy War seems to have been to create a race "in its own image." And it did. The question is, now what? I doubt this god is capable of being truly evil because why would evil create creatures with moral compasses? Evil cannot create good and vice versa. We the audience know what happened in Four Knights of the Apocolypse thus far regarding Chaos's preference to humans, but Meliodas and the other Sins have no reason to suspect the entity of chaos would ever go full genocide mode on its own creations. A god that creates all life according to a set of intricate rules (physics, etc.) tends to have patterns of behavior that make sense. Creating everything just to kill it all off doesn't really make sense.

Merlin could damn well have told the Sins, or even just Meliodas, that her goal is to resurrect the original god of their universe that was locked away by the Demon King and the Supreme Deity, who play with people's lives for fun and obviously freaking suck - without making herself look like she has a) gone off the deep end or b) working toward an evil goal that they should immediately put a stop to by any means necessary.

Instead, she just tricks Meliodas and the Sins outright in the most painful way possible. Wtf?

She doesn’t have a solid reason to hurt the people who love her like no one ever has. Who, in their own messy way, have treasured her like her own parents and her people never did.

The twist that her true goal all along was to release Chaos would still work, both as a plot mechanic and for shock value. What’s not shocking about your friend actually being serious about releasing an ancient god, and doing it so soon after Britannia was nearly destroyed by a Holy War? The Sins would have been shocked and hurt all the same with how she orchestrated them coming together, trained Arthur for this exact purpose, and prompted Meliodas to confront and kill his father - all things which were ultimately for the best for all of the races, but with Merlin’s questionable choices, involved a lot more trauma for everyone. Hell, if Merlin got a character arc like the others, the Chaos reveal would actually hurt the Sins MORE. Instead of realizing they didn’t really know her, they would be realizing that the sense of warmth and belonging and the bonds they had forged with each other hadn’t reached Merlin’s heart. That whatever effort they had put into bonding with her wasn’t enough, it didn’t help her the way she had - the way they thought she had helped them. That they had been oblivous to their friend’s suffering and emptiness, that she didn’t trust them the way they trusted her, etc, etc. A deeper and more cutting reveal if you asked me. 

As it is, the reveal makes it so that they didn’t lose a friend and member of their found family. They lost a person who was just... there. Forgotten until it was strictly neccessary for her to be there. Who never truly cared (?). While that’s sad, it’s... not what it could be if she had gotten the chance to genuinely be a part of the sins, physically and emotionally. 

It seems to me that in the moment, Meliodas doesn't seem overly concerned about Chaos. He's angry that Merlin would be willing to blindside and manipulate him, making light of a friendship that's spanned over 3,000 years, for the sake of something that might not even exist. He's angry she seems to value that over everything she already has. Is this the only thing she truly cared about? Was he and his loved ones nothing but pawns to her, just as he was a pawn to his father? Same with the other Sins - they don't know what's going on, but they are angry and hurt at the prospect that their friendship with Merlin was a lie.

THIS, Merlin could have avoided entirely! She is an intelligent, powerful woman - a genius according to some of the most powerful demons alive - and she has BETTER OPTIONS! Choices. By all means, she could have had wonderful, meaningful times with the Sins for all of their journey together, and kept them as friends afterward, maybe finding true fulfillment in the process. All without giving up her pursuit of releasing Chaos. 

She could have learned. Why didn’t she? 

[itskikanow]

In honor of the DLC coming out tomorrow I’ve replayed Error 143 to enjoy the adorable dork that is Micah Yujin. So let me gush about him will ya.

Micah Yujin is the main character and only love interest of the indie dating sim called Error 143 made by Jenny Vi Pham and her crew. The main premise is that you, the player, lost in a coding/hacking competition to your rival (Micah) and you as the sane level headed person as you are decided to troll him by hacking his computer and leaving a note “Ha, whose the better hacker now”. In response Micah hacks you back and puts you in his not discord server that he made and from then on comedy ensues.

The gameplay is pretty straightforward, it’s like every other dating sim. There’s the occasional hacking minigame that is just hangman which is neat, but the whole design of the whole game is so cool. I love pixel art and not discord looks fantastic with it. I also find it elegant that the parts without voice acting look like chat conversations, and the conversations with voice acting to be video calls is fucking great!

Also his voice actor goes hard!!! Corey Wilder is a talented va and I wish nothing but the best for them!^^

Micah himself is a funny playful cheeky guy with a shit eating grin on his face. His banter with the player is honestly hilarious and wholesome at times. He doesn’t hide the fact that he thinks you’re hot and he starts being flirty around day one or two. Him and the player have some good chemistry and they really match each other’s vibe. (Oh yeah forgot to mention but the player character actually have a personality in this game. They’re not a fully fleshed out character but it’s more than what the player character gets in these games. The only other time I can think something similar happened was in The Arcana [also a great dating sim I do recommend that])

The story spans out 5 days (well, 4 actually cuz day 4 is pretty short). In those 5 days the player and Micah get to know each other pretty quickly and it’s pretty obvious you both really like each other. And Micah puts his money where his mouth is because on day 5 he makes your dream first date come true. I find that so wholesome and sweet like on my first playthrough my first thought ‘I wanna hug him’ and ‘AAAAAAAAAA!!!!!’ (And that’s just one of the sweetest things he does in game, there’s like two other one which I both adore a ton.)

But I couldn’t because the game ended! 🥲🥲🥲🥲 (Thankfully the dlc is coming and will probably give me that option and I honestly cannot wait!^^) It is a short game but it’s definitely one of the best ones out there!

I also remember when this game first came out it got really popular in just a few short days. And I also cannot forget how in just one night a bunch of twitter ghouls jumped on the creator and accused her of fetishizing black men, hiring a va who voiced in a pe** game and how her writing is actually very racist because….. she shared some old concept ideas for Micah’s parents that are not even canon. Back then I was pretty scared about those accusations because I myself am not white and thought “oh fuck what if actual black people found something actually problematic that I’ve missed”. In reality what actually happened was a bunch of racists didn’t like that there was a dating sim out there with the main love interest being a half Korean half African American. And they hurled shit on both Jenny and Corey. I even saw people whom I used to follow take those accusations seriously and write it of as “ah even when we get a dating sim with a black love interest there’s always a catch”. (I was honestly baffled by them cuz, ‘wha- you can’t be serious! There’s gotta be something more to this’.) Thankfully Jenny managed to resolve that drama in the end by explaining everything in a tweet longer? (idk the exact name of it but you know what that is) and addressing every main accusation while also addressing how the harassment has affected her. I’m honestly proud how she managed to still write on Twitter where most would’ve gone silent to take a break from that bullshit. But she and Corey shouldn’t have been subjected to that kind of harassment in the first fucking place.

Still, I’m so happy that things are better now. I don’t have Twitter anymore (and I’ve been much happier since) so I don’t know if anything similar happened since then (hopefully not).

Amidst all that bullshit tho there were some people who gave genuine constructive criticism, one I can remember is about Micah’s inconsistent hair texture. Since there are a lot of artists in the team they all drew his hair a little differently every time. Jenny responded to that critique apologizing and doing some research before deciding what Micah’s hair type is gonna be. Ever since then his hair has been consistent in official arts. The assets in game hadn’t been switched out but by the sneak peeks she posted on Instagram, it looks like they’re gonna be finally.

(Ok I originally wanted to write down his hair type but I’m actually not sure what she said cuz I forgor but comparing his hair to pictures on google, seems to his hair is either 4B, 4C or a mix between those two. I’m sorry I don’t remember 🥲)

My apologies for the detour there. My final thoughts about the game though is that it’s amazing, fun and I adore Micah a lot! If you like dating sims, fun and wholesome cheesy romance then I can recommend it to you wholeheartedly!^^

[osc-confessions]

About the Liy and Flower's eventual friendship, I even made an AU, where Flower was on Death P.A.C.T, and she was swapped with Pen as of being the last one being picked, because to be honest...

I do often question WHY she wasn't kicked out after she decided to "imma pick two options 'cause yes" by, idk Pencil or Match, 'cause remember Flower was heavily disliked by others and the way Snowball only said "What the flake", when she fused Snowball's team and Pencil's team. And that was all. She wasn't kicked out, she stayed.

But what if she WAS kicked out by Pencil? What if she had to find new team, but nobody wanted to pick her 'cause her past? That'd be way more interesting for her character than what we got.

Just imagine seeing how Flower struggles with finding a team that would accept her, just imagine how we could feel bad for Flower and slowly grow likeness for her.

And imagine Death P.A.C.T's reaction when the last person to be picked is Flower, the same Flower, who killed Bubble and destroyed recovery centers back in finale of BFDI. I imagine their reaction to be:

Tree: "Okay, so who is going to be our last member?"

Pie:... Tree: "Come on, Pie! They wouldn't be that b-", sees that the last person is Flower, "Uh oh" Flower: "Umm... Hi?" Liy: "Whispers to Remote: Is this the same person that caused lots of deaths?" Remote: "From what I remember, yes Flower is THAT person, who destroyed recovery centers" Liy: "I will keep eyes on her" And in that AU Bottle was swapped with Bubble ('cause honestly she kinda should have been on Death P.A.C.T) and Pillow is swapped with Donut. I kinda want to do a better version of that AU, maybe even the whole rewrite of BFB? Maybe, 'cause I have lots of things I don't like and I want to change them. But back to Flower and Liy's friendship - I imagine they wouldn't trust each other at first, and they would hate each other pretty much 'cause of what Liy heard about Flower, that she is THE monster, that she is the one, who killed some people during the BFDI finale (BFDI 25). And I imagine Flower would work even harder than she did in original. Just imagine how it could of been cool. Death P.A.C.T could have been some sort of BLEH in that universe, where they would lost last 'cause of that arc. But I think the arc could be finished in BFB 12, after Flower confronts Liy about her behaviour towards her, about her mistreating her a lot, about her being so cruel towards her. Liy would have been feeling regret and would apologise, saying Flower was right and that she was just a jerk. Flower would just leave Liy alone. In next episode Flower would try to talk to Liy to try to have with her a normal relationship, which would slowly work.

OMG I wrote an essay... Well, sometimes it happens, right?

Yeah, it does!!! You're an excellent writer - I had a great time reading this. I feel like I understand the thought process behind what Liy and Flower can do for each other characterwise much better now. Awesome AU. I'd love to see more of it if you're willing to share.

[4ssun]

not an ask but a "comment" because cas has me 🧍‍♀️.

firstly. yn is so irrational that i'm literally pulling strands of my hair out. but love is a strong emotion so i can understand to some extent? that doesn't excuse the amount of things she's done without proper consideration though..

uhh ok. the letter was probably about beomgyu leaving? (maybe quitting twitch and moving onto school studies) hence why chapter 26 is named "moving on".. and that's gonna be so hard to read bcs whenever i read anything ab recovery the tears FALL

27 being named "first love" is probably about felix because of the stems saying "still in love" (unless the chart was made on a website and the website didn't have a "still friends" option or something) or maybe it's a realization that though felix was an era of her life, beomgyu was her first true love?

i can guess 27-28 but don't want to put too much thought as twenty seven is most likely a reunion and twenty-eight is going more about that? the last chapter is more of what i wanted to focus on though because it's simply "cas" so i thinkk it's them dating again and just playing the sims together? like a timeskip? maybe there's a plot twist last second and the ghosts in the room they're playing the sims in go on stan twitter 🤨 (jokes but idk what to expect anymore)

something i was so mad at was yn completely skipping over the love confession and hating beomgyu... like yes that's understandable but PLEASE use empathy in this situation. you are no better than him, doing an impulsive stream because you think it's what's best.. both of them had better options yet decided to take the probably worst one and then yn completely looks past how she's just repeating in gyu's steps...

^^ seriously though because gyu let his love for yn take over and risked losing all his friends, lashed out on them, didn't let them see what he was thinking, and then runs away. yn closes up and is risking losing *everyone* because of love??

if the ending wasn't a happily ever after and my interpretation of 28 was wrong would i be mad? no... not really. if they did just leave each other as a past asset of their live and move on, i would accept that.. i feel like they both harmed each other without trying (excluding gyu being cold at the start) and both saw the major consequences. if they learn from their actions and 28 is just yn playing sims and reflecting on the times i would be okay because it's character development 👍👍

but if it was a happily ever after i would be happy too (as long as it's a timeskip because i can't imagine the ending being like 2 days after the implied unalive mention)

still would be okay with anything you write though 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

(this has got to be my favorite ask ever because you kind off?? read my mind?? in some ways!!)

i want to actually analyze a bit of what you said and offer you (and anyone else) some hints on the future chapters! to keep this from being a long paragraph of wall, i'll put a cut here!

yn and beomgyu are very alike in ways that you mentioned. both are impulsive, deeply feeling, and extremely irrational beings. but they are also different, yn is more openly emotional as we've seen with how she describes how she feels and shows her emotions outwardly. beomgyu, however, is not the same. he tends to not show his emotions (aka his initial coldness to yn) unless they're dragged out of him (keeho getting him to admit jealousy) and when he goes all out, he goes all out. hence his anger towards yeonjun. this will be touched on in chapter 28, which is a gyu-centric chapter.

the letter will also be touched on! but do keep in mind, in yn's emotional state and how she tends to be impulsive, her reaction to the letter might not make sense to someone who isn't irrational with how they respond when upset. also, it will be explained why yn doesn't react to beomgyu confessing that he loves her and how that ties in with his letter. (i can't wait hehe.)

i will say your theory for chapter 26 is spot on! however, i will say you're wrong about the character doing the tasks you mentioned. i don't want to give away too much but i literally was like 😲 when you said that bc that's exactly what happens hehe.

chapter 27 is about felix and yn! not gonna give spoilers on that one though... any ynlix shippers around?

chapters 28-29 are gyu-centric chapters, so if you wanna know why beomgyu decided to become dumb: those are the chapters for you!! can't wait to see how y'all react to that.

your views on yn and beomgyu are pretty much spot on. they both have made some very stupid decisions and are now reaping the consequences of those. however, i promise this story has a "happy" ending. will it be the traditional one of many smaus? probably not.

chapter 30 is also spot on in terms of plot with "someone" playing sims, but i don't wanna spoil it! my hint for you here is just to remember: everything comes full circle.

thank you so much for sending this ask! it's literally my favorite ever and i'm so flattered that you care about my smau enough to analyze and find theories!! <3 i hope these last 5 chapters do you justice.

(i gotta reblog this onto the writing blog though, so that hopefully everyone else can see it! this is my main hehe.)