#shes not even a real character or fully fleshed out one

[aliveinacoffin]

Request

Hi I was thinking if you could do aizawa having a sibling or daughter. Like a younger sister or daughter who he teaches and do some type of angst with them. Like him not paying much attention to her or she’s caught doing something (like smoking,drugs). Something like that. Thank you☺️

Ofc! This seems so sad, idk if you wanted angst and comfort so I just made it angst/no comfort 😭

My Own Mirror

I don't know if you wanted this to be a reader insert so I decided to just make it third person and give the little guy a nickname. as always, should be around 1k words!

TW for w33d smoking, mention of eating problems, mentions of childhood abuse, mentions of parent death, and suicidal ideations.

The cold bitter air was a grounding feeling on the young woman's flesh. Her fingers curled around the blunt she had, the smoke disappearing into the night air. The pleasant haze was soon to take over her mind, something to finally take the stress away from her life.

The headache she had from her too tight ponytail or from the lack of water and food or from her classes.

Her life was already shit enough, with shit parents and an even shittier school experience. Her quirk gave her no physical advantages at all. Her strength, smarts, and speeds were purely human. The only thing she could rely on was her absolutely atomic quirk.

When she makes skin-to-skin contact with a quirk user, she can paralyze them for up to twenty minutes if she really tried. For non-quirk users, it was up to ten. Which was great since the victim had no option but to stay frozen in that same exact spot, but horrid when you realize that most heroes and villains had some sort of superhuman ability.

The raven haired girls spiraling thoughts stopped when her mind fully succumbed to the familiar haze of her old friend. Sighing, she put out the rest of her blunt and flicked off the tiny piece that was left. She watched it fling across U.A grounds, landing on the perfectly manicured lawn. She turned back to her room, locking the door behind her.

___________________________________________

"Now, I will make this clear since there was evidence of smoking on school grounds. Smoking, of any kind, is absolutely prohibited. If you are caught even within 50 feet of a cigarette butt, it's automatic expulsion." Aizawa Shouta's voice was clear and stern.

His dark eyes scanned the room of young future heros, spending equal time looking at each one. When his black eyes matched with golden ones, he quickly looked away.

The young woman had to keep the hair on her body from becoming hard points that gravitated towards the ground.

"Now, on with the assignment for the day." The cold teacher turned towards the chalkboard and started to write whatever hero ethics problems they had.

___________________________________________

"Aizawa-sensei, I was wondering if you could help me with this problem." Her voice rang out, just as monotone as his.

Shouta sighed, looking up at the younger version of him through tired eyes. Even though Aizawa was a common last name, it was hard to deny the fact that the young girl wasn't related to him. They had the same dark hair, the same dry humor, their looks were almost identical, and their quirks were only offshoots of the other. Even their eyes were the same, both of them turning a beautiful golden hue when they used their quirks.

Though, of course, many people were wrong in their assumptions. Most people thought that she was the older man's child. Thus, many affectionately gave her the title 'Little 'zawa' truly, a creative breakthough.

In truth, she was his younger sister. Way, younger sister. Even though both of them had been accidents, something both their parents had constantly reminded both, she was even more of a mistake than Shouta.

Still, his mini me shuffled closer to his desk, awkwardness filling her entire body. He had been thirteen when she was born, already going through puberty, and was ready to get out of the house when she had been born. To say they never had a good relationship was an understatement. The loss of his friend only estranged the two of them more.

"Make this quick, I have lots of papers to grade." Aizawa was blunt and to the point. Barely giving her a second glance as he went back to scratching off red marks on poor students' hard work.

Resentment filled her once again, anger curling up fast and hot in her. He had always made it clear that the two of them weren't close, that they had no personal relationship except matching parentage and had the unfortunate to end up in the same class.

"I was just struggling to understand question nine, and I needed further clarifying-" She started, trying to keep her brows from furrowing.

"I explained that in class, weren't you paying attention? I don't have the time to explain myself twice for everything I say." He was exasperated, simply put off by the entire interaction.

"It's just one question. Would it kill you to just talk to me?" Anger got the better of her, and the assignment she had crinkled under her fist. She moved to try and put herself in his line of vision and slammed her hands on top of his desk. "Are you that ashamed of me?"

In a quick movement, Shouta stood up to his towering height over the girl, eyes dark and mouth set in a harsh frown. "That's no way to speak to your teacher. Now you should leave before I give you detention." He had one hand on the armrest of his rolly chair, clenching the poor handle with all his might.

She glared at him, mirroring his expression before she started to blink away the rapidly forming hot tears. She made a quick turn on her heel, wadding up the assignment before chucking it into the trash bin by the door. "Thanks for the help, sensei!" Her angry voice yelled out to him as she disappeared down the hallway.

Aizawa sighed deeply, collapsing onto the chair and holding his aching head in his hands.

___________________________________________

Just as always, the sunset makes way for the moon to rise. The stars were no longer covered in the bright light of the sun, constellations, and milky ways soon were revealed in the dark night sky.

And just as always, little 'zawa found herself back on her balcony. She had some comfort with the makeshift overhead and the sheen blanket she had set up around it.

The remnants of her current activity lay around, little flakes of her weed staying untouched on her metal tray, her grinder next to it. Little sheets for her blunts gently swaying in the light breeze.

The only thing that gave herself away to anyone else was the smoke that occasionally bloomed up in the air.

Playing on her phone, her blunt fingernails tap tap tapping in the quiet night, sporadically inhaling her cure-all. She failed to notice the dark figure standing on her balcony.

Someone loudly cleared their throat, loudly and obnoxiously.

The sounds startled the girl, and panic seized her so badly that she dropped her phone and her blunt. Her head snapped with wide eyes finding the source of her interruption.

"Shit."

"That's all you have to say for yourself?" Aizawa said simply, face set in a disappointed scowl.

At those words, something in the girl's mind snapped, like a rubber band finally giving up after being stretched and forced too far.

"What else could I say? You won't listen to me either way, you hardly even spare a glance my way! When Mom died, you weren't even there. I had to sort her will all by myself, I had to plan her own funeral, and you left me to deal with Dad. You left me all alone, Shouta, do you even know who I am?" She sobbed, fat crocodile tears rolling down her face while her hands painfully clutched at her beating heart. Her hot face scrunched up at her older brother's form. "The only way I feel normal, where I don't want to just jump off a bridge is by getting fucked up."

There was a beat of silence, only the sounds of the youngest Aizawas crying could be heard.

"I'm sorry I was born and I'm sorry I ever came into your life." She said quietly, voice horse and barely above a whisper.

She looked up at her teacher, her older brother, a stranger through teary eyes.

The whole time Shouta had just been staring at her with an icy stare, "No, I have no idea who you are." He said, shoulders drooping, his eyes fluttering as he looked away.

Almost ashamed.

#my hero academia #aizawa shouta #shota aizawa #mha #mha fanfiction #mha angst #aizawa angst #im literally sobbing #shes not even a real character or fully fleshed out one #but i need them to be happy #shes just his little mini me

[beggars-opera]

Ok, so I live in one of the more liberal areas of the country. Our governor is a lesbian and I literally did not even know until after she got elected, because it was that much of a nonissue.

Lately, I'm seeing more and more local institutions doing things for Pride. Institutions that don't necessarily have to, or do so awkwardly, but they're trying to be good allies. And, even here, I see people foaming at the mouth. This thing is ruined. Unprofessional. Political. Sexual. Boycotting, disgusted, bye.

And a part of me is like, "Why would a random store, a museum, a restaurant, do this?" Part of my mind has been so corrupted by the idea of rainbow capitalism that the thought of someone just...trying to be an imperfect ally is a cash grab.

It's not. Every bit counts, and especially as we see pushback, and see some of those corporations beginning to rethink their rainbow capitalism, the places that continue to speak up are so, so important.

I'm reminded of a rant by Illustrious Old White Man Historian Gordon Wood a few years back where he lamented how fragmented modern history is. Why do we need ANOTHER book about women, about enslaved people, about the poor? Why are we focusing on these people instead of George Mount Rushmore Washington?

And it was an interesting framing, because he insinuated that these micro histories were bad not because they existed, but because they didn't give the whole story, which in Gordon's mind was a story in which they were the side characters instead of the mains. To that end a biography of G Wash that features the bare shadow of Billy Lee in the far distance is a complete history, all that needs to be said, because one of those figures is a God Amongst Men and the other does not deserve to be fully fleshed out as a full, autonomous human being with a family and a profession and a beating heart. And a biography of William Lee, war aid, professional valet, and person closest to the first president of the United States, with the shadow of George in the background, would consequently be Bad History, because no one is saying that this man didn't exist, but his story isn't the whole story. It's backwards; he should be a footnote, and if he's not, that's bias.

But for me, as a historian, I know that the reason these microhistories exist, and are so important, is that they didn't exist before. Before someone can be truly, purposefully, tactfully inserted into the historical narrative, you need to know who they are. Not just as a name, not just as an archetype. You have to get to the point where there are so many books flooding the market about women and children and immigrants that it's no longer controversial to be talking about them, where learning about them instead of someone else is normal.

THEN you can feel good about rewriting the more general narrative. THEN you can actually have the information you need in order to put things into their proper context, to rethink the most important figure in each story, to assess what the full milieu of the time is.

And that's where we're at with Pride. We are still very much living in a time where queer people are shadow characters in the background. They are people that many will admit exist, but for god's sake, don't make them important, don't make them real, don't make them normal. And until we can shove rainbows down everyone's throats to the point where being queer is no longer seen as a thing that is Other, until we convince people that we're not going away, we will never be able to fully assimilate queerness into society.

We can't just be normal about Pride, because normal isn't loud enough to not get drowned out.

#lgbtq #pride #history #oops I had an opinion

[breathlesswinds]

(Devlog) What We Learned Making A Trans Dating Game

Hello, Amelia here, the writer for Breathless Winds. It's been 250,000+ words, countless revisions, and three years since this game entered development, and I wanted to talk about what I've learned leading up to release.

The concept for Breathless Winds was actually sort of a joke between friends. I was talking with Doris about how there should be a dating game where you play as a trans woman and your dating options revolve around certain ‘tropes’ we’d both seen in trans fiction-- the totally accepting cishet guy who falls in love with the trans heroine before she even knows she’s a woman, the cool trans woman who the heroine doesn’t know if she wants to date or wants to be, and so on.

Doris wound up suggesting we make this game ourselves. We both like visual novels and want to tell LGBT stories. Still half-jokingly and half-seriously, we started fleshing out what the romance options would be and coming up with a setting-- and soon, we were fully committed to making this game real.

I was a fan of visual novels but had only ever written prose. I knew which visual novels I liked and which scenes stood out, but I didn’t know why they did or how to make my own. 

I read some great advice from visual novel developers, but a good amount of my knowledge came from just working on Breathless Winds. As our first project, this game has grown a lot with us and we’ve learned a lot while making it.

Learning How to Write Visual Novels

A bad habit I had to break out of was only using the ‘novel’ part of the game and not the ‘visual’ part. I would sometimes write “He smiled” or lines like that, and Doris informed me that we can convey this much more simply with a sprite change.

It sounds obvious in retrospect, but lines like that are often pretty invisible when you’re reading a non-visual novel. These lines change the sprite of the character inside your head (if that makes sense, haha). I realized that I’m so used to them being ‘invisible’ that I didn’t notice their absence in visual novels I liked, so I would accidentally include them while writing. 

I was also writing these routes in a word processor, so I didn’t have the visual portion to reference, myself. I wound up making a lot of ‘tone’ notes like, “Lantana should be smug here” so that the meaning would carry when revising and implementing these into Ren’py. 

So, while visual novels share a lot with prose, they’re an entirely different medium. On the subject of representing things visually, I’ve struggled trying to figure out how much can be visually represented and how much should be written. 

Every asset in the game has to be drawn by Doris, so if I want the characters to go to a new location for a scene, I have to keep in mind that’s another background that Doris has to draw. If I want a new character to show up, that’s another sprite she has to draw. I don’t want to overload her, but if I’m trying to avoid this entirely, characters sometimes wind up standing in one room talking for ages without anything significant changing on-screen.

I’ve learned that it’s recommended for something to almost always be changing on-screen, though, so sometimes I just have to ask Doris to make a new asset for a certain scene. I still try to stick to locations/characters that already exist more often than not.

Every single thing in a visual novel is deliberate. Another thing I’ve had to learn that I never even considered before is how to write each line so it fits in the text box. It sounds obvious, but when I’m playing a visual novel, I don’t usually think about how each line has to be carefully constructed so it doesn’t need to be split up into two or more text boxes. In my mind, if a visual novel is well-created, there’s not much that breaks a reader’s immersion.

Planning & Outlining

The previous section might sound really weird to some people, so let me elaborate.  I’m a lifelong ‘write by the seat of your pants’-er, so the biggest trial-and-error of creating Breathless Winds for me was planning out the game.

Initially, I created outlines for each of the four routes, and we agreed ahead of time on which CGs each route would have. That way, Doris could draw the necessary backgrounds and CGs while I was in the long process of drafting this game.  My original outlines weren’t great. I know a lot of people have different experiences with writing, but for me personally, a story is always shaping itself in my mind. When I started making the outlines for Breathless Winds, I knew the concepts we wanted to convey, but I didn’t know what each route (and the game as a whole) was really about yet. This might sound weird and unprofessional, but sometimes, I don’t know what a story is about until I finish the first draft.

So while I was writing, I would look at my outlines and I would think, “this doesn’t actually make sense, he wouldn’t say that” or “this plot point would work better if moved to this other section” or “there’s a plot hole here I didn’t notice”. The story wound up changing a lot in this way as I learned what it’s really ‘about’. 

And even after I finished the first draft, I’d get feedback from Doris and/or my editor and they would suggest fixes to problems that even I hadn’t noticed, and then I would revise the route some more, and later on I’d come back and need to redo part of the route to comply with something I wrote in a later route-- I haven’t really felt ‘finished’ with Breathless Winds at any point, and I think I’ll still feel this way after the game is released.

This means that sometimes, a background was created but would go unused because there was no space for the scene that would use it, or we’d need a new CG last-minute, or so on. 

When I’m figuring things out as I go while writing a non-VN, the only person that I can adversely affect is my own self… so I’m eternally grateful for all of Doris’s patience with me on this matter. I think Breathless Winds has come out a much better game for all the re-plotting and revision. 

I redid the outlines several times as I went. I think I’ve understood how to create outlines that personally work for me-- ‘living’ outlines that hit all the main points, but leave wiggle room for moments when a character does something unexpected, work the best for me.

Scope Creep

So, originally, each route was meant to be 40,000 words. “With four routes, that’s only 160,000 words!” I thought. “And some of my favorite visual novels are about that long, so I can write that much, too!” ← clueless

This is the most infamous mistake that new creators make, and I walked right into it. I should have known better since I’ve bitten off more than I can chew with past non-VN writing projects before, but I was starry-eyed and didn’t realize how much work it is to make a VN. Some of those favorite visual novels I referenced were made by much larger teams, writers whose full-time job was writing (I wrote all of these routes on the side while working at a day job). 

If I could have done it again, I would have asked Doris to start out with a really short VN. But, I don’t regret making Breathless Winds at all. It’s brought Doris and I a lot closer, for one. Every time I thought I wanted to give up on this, Doris would motivate me to continue. Without the two of us both and our strong friendship, Breathless Winds wouldn’t exist, and I think that’s beautiful. 

No matter what, we’re going to see it through to the end. (I hope people like it, though…)

Anyway, here I am talking about how much 40,000 words is. Each route now is about 60k to 70k words. The problem with having evolving outlines is that they can often evolve into double their original size.

We came up with the idea of the poachers really early in development, and then not addressing the poachers felt like a failing, but by that point it was too late to remove the poachers entirely… and so the game wound up a lot longer dealing with the poachers. 

I think that if we had an editor sooner on in the game’s development, then we might have had someone to tell us, “do you really need all of this in the game? Does this plot point really need to be there? Will you be able to write all of this in a reasonable amount of time?”, haha. But Doris and I were really excited about the possibilities of this game when we started creating it, and without anyone to reel us back in, we wound up coming up with more and more things we wanted to put in the game.

Did you know there was going to be an island full of talking rats who say things like “the big cheese” and stuff all the time in Breathless Winds? Yeah. 

The Core Design Philosophy of Breathless Winds

So, for anyone who’s read this far but doesn’t know yet-- the premise of Breathless Winds is that you play as a trans woman who doesn’t know she’s trans yet, and she finds love with one of four love interests as she discovers her gender identity. 

In real life, it can be a lot messier for a person to date when discovering their gender identity. To put it briefly and mildly, a trans person’s life and sense of personal identity can rapidly change during a gender crisis and the early stages of transition. 

However, we wanted to make this game a ‘wish-fulfillment’ type story-- a trans fantasy about acceptance, community, and love. During a gender crisis, it can be easy to feel as if one has lost touch with themselves and become isolated from others. A sincere wish shared by many trans people is to be accepted, loved, and even celebrated as their true gender, not just tolerated. 

Since many trans people don’t get love and acceptance in real life, especially with the ongoing transphobic moral panic, we wanted to create a game that would bring this feeling of trans joy and celebration to trans audiences. 

We also hope that cis players will still enjoy the story and characters, and maybe come away from the game with a new understanding about being transgender and other aspects of LGBT identity (although we never intended this game to be ‘educational’).

Making Characters that Celebrate Trans Identity

Although we went through several revisions, the core identities of each character stayed the same since the game was first ‘jokingly’ pitched. In another post, I discussed how each character is themed around a change in seasons. (I also wound up theming them around the four humors when I was initially concepting them-- I really wanted to avoid too much ‘overlap’ in the LI’s personalities, haha). 

Ultimately, characters are created to serve a role. The LIs in Breathless Winds were designed to be love interests, of course-- characters who would appeal to the hypothetical trans femme audience. As mentioned earlier, we modeled them after other trans fiction tropes because these types of characters have a certain tried-and-true appeal, but this left plenty of flexibility to put our own spin on it. 

A trans woman being loved as a woman by a cishet guy can feel like a high form of ‘passing’, ‘fitting in’ to the female gender role, and being validated by his orientation. He only likes women, and he likes you, so you’re undoubtedly a woman. As a cishet guy, he represents a sort of acceptance into a societal norm that trans women can desire to live to. (Lantana, as a cis lesbian, represents the sapphic counterpoint to this-- although there is of course a big gap between the ‘normalcy’ of a cishet man and a cis lesbian woman, and I don’t mean to say those two are equivalent.) 

But not all trans women want to live to that (cis) societal norm. Rue and Valerian, as a trans woman and a trans man respectively, are the t4t options. 

Rue’s route represents that trans/sapphic ‘envy’ (“do I want her or do I want to be her?”) as well as finding power in community aside from what society considers ‘normal’. We’ve always been pretty clear about what we wanted to do with Rue’s route.

We went back and forth a lot more on Valerian’s route. Initially, we were unsure if he should be trans. He and Rue are the two less-friendly love interests (at least initially), so I was afraid it would come across that t4t is a more hostile option, which is not true at all. But it also felt like a mistake to not have a trans man in the game-- but making Gallardia trans would have required a big overhaul of what we had in mind for him and his route. (Although, childhood friends t4t is a really good idea...)

Beyond that, Valerian takes a villainous role in any route that isn't his own. We were worried that it would be wrong to have a trans antagonist who represents unjust power. However, Breathless Winds is a queer game with other positive trans characters, and we've always approached Valerian as a hot anti-villain man that you can't help but like.

In the end, Valerian’s route is about breaking generational cycles and what it is that makes you a man, and I also managed to sneak in a scene where they dance at a ball in the royal palace, so in the end I think it all worked out great.

Wish Fulfillment and Catharsis

Doris and I both agreed that we wouldn’t depict on-screen transphobia in Breathless Winds. Poppy worries about not being accepted, but fear of acceptance can come with any change in identity. Rue was rejected by her family for being trans, but this doesn’t take place ‘on screen’ in the game. There exist certain metaphorical parallels for transness and transphobia, but every route has a happy ending. 

Following up on this-- it can be difficult to write about discovery of gender identity without writing about transphobia, considering how many trans people suffer from internalized transphobia during their period of repression.

Sometimes, repressed/closeted transgender people ‘hyper-perform’ their assigned gender as a form of denial. A trans woman might grow out a beard and join a gym, while a trans man might become very interested in makeup and feminine clothing. 

In Breathless Winds, Poppy often struggles with ‘strength’ and what it means to be a man. In several routes, she tries to prove her strength under the assumption that being stronger would make her happy. Afraid the world would reject her if she became who she really is, she preemptively rejects herself.

Not every trans person suffers from prolonged denial, internalized transphobia, or even gender dysphoria. I don’t think it’s impossible to tell a purely-positive story about trans joy. 

While Poppy never gets rejected for being trans, faces transphobia, gets called a slur, etc, she faces both internal and external (metaphorical) obstacles to realizing and accepting her identity. 

Gallardia represents a societal norm that Poppy can’t live up to herself as a man.

Lantana suffers from certain aspects of her identity as a woman, which makes Poppy feel guilt for wanting to be a girl.

Rue is isolated from town at the start of her route, a ‘punishment’ for breaking this societal norm.

Valerian has to hyper-conform to his masculine gender role at first in toxic ways before finding acceptance from within and from his loved ones.

These struggles are real to a lot of people, but instead of pretending they don’t exist, I hoped to tell a story about catharsis. Poppy is able to live up to her truth as a woman and finds love with Gallardia, Poppy and Lantana redefine what being a woman should and does mean to them, Rue and Poppy find community in others who don’t fit the norm, Poppy and Valerian stop seeking gender validation from a society that was never made to serve them. 

Although these powerful forces of oppression exist, loving yourself as a trans person- and loving those around you, protecting the natural world, and standing up for what you believe in- can save the day. That’s the kind of story we wanted to tell.

Wrap-up

There’s a lot more I could write, but this has already gotten really long (sorry!) so I’ll wrap it up here. 

Learning how to write a visual novel in terms of technical skill (how to depict events on-screen, how long each line should be) as well as in terms of writing skill (how to outline the game, how to plan visual assets) has been a massive undertaking for me. 

Writing Breathless Winds has been a big challenge but also deeply rewarding, and all of your support has made the experience even more wonderful. Thank you for reading and thank you for supporting the game!

#visual novel #otome #dating sim #amare #trans #lgbt #breathless winds

[ellstronaut]

Going back to this debate

I know Ellle is a multifaceted individual that much is obvious she’s not one dimensional she has many elements to her personality. Additionally, it’s important to remember that even on the spectrum of masculine and feminine, Ellie isn’t completely one or the other. She exists in some sort of grey area between them, embodying both masculine and feminine traits. She’s not defined by one end of the spectrum, but rather by the interplay of these two extremes.

Yet at times the characterisation of Ellie is laced with internalised misogyny. And highlights the way “masc presenting” lesbians are treated in real life tied down to the “man” in the relationship why is Ellie mostly written as the dominant one especially when coupled with fem reader why do we head canon her as a top when it’s literally canon that she’s a switch? Why is there an infinite amount of “ellie taking care of the reader on her period” scenarios outnumber “Reader taking care of Ellie on her period” Ellie written as tall towering over fem reader and not like she’s literally 5’5

The fact is that there’s a heteronormative slant to the way people write her. Like I said almost never written as a switch, but a top. To some extent been portrayed as tall and dominating, never small or vulnerable. And Santa Barbara Ellie is often sexualized even though she is deeply traumatized and emotionally tormented. The problem is that people are viewing her through male-centric lenses, reducing her to an object of desire rather than a fully fleshed out woman with a complex, nuanced personality which includes many dimensions, some of which may be considered feminine.

There is no specific way to be a “masc lesbian” a woman nor feminine and express your femininity. Nor should that separate her from her womanhood/femininity. in a way it’s her way of showing how feminine she is. maybe not stereotypically through outward appearances, but her general identity. she’s a woman who experiences the same struggles that women do, Obviously she doesn’t waver just on the lines of black and white, she’s all rounded. In between. Grey area. The point I’m trying to make is that she’s all and above, you can be both masc and fem. I would add that Ellie's femininity is often overlooked or even belittled by people who only focus on traits that appeal to them. Not her emotional intelligence, her caring nature, her resilience, her dedication to her loved ones. Fuck she’s also a soft heart and a tender soul. These aspects of her are just as important to her character, she is a whole person ffs, exceptionally fleshed out

So fuck

“the hot wife and her hot boyfriend”

Why not

“The hot wife and her hot wife”

“She’s so boyfriend

Uh

“She’s so girlfriend”

Santa Barbara/Seattle is literally at her most vulnerable, disheveled state that girl is literally plagued with trauma, stuck in a limbo of “do I seek vengeance in the name of losing my family and absolutely everything or stay and suffer in silence (at who’s expense?? Hers) Yet we sexualise tf out of her, the most vulnerable pinnacle of existence—glorified and romanticised bc it’s “hot”

this is not a dig at anyone you’re free to write whatever tf you want bro it’s your platform but pls let’s not bs and pretend as of this doesn’t occur

#ellie williams #ellie williams x reader #tlouellie #pls feel free to add on this topic

[spookyghostbunny]

I missed your smile too

Alright everyone, come get your yummy bread crumbs!

Lucifer was pacing back and forth in his room full of rubber ducks. That fight with the hotel's busboy really got to him. What was his name again? Doesn't matter. He stops when he sees a duck that looks like Charlie. He picks it up, beginning to rant aloud.

"That busboy is insane! He really had the fucking nerve to call him your dad to my face! Me! Lucifer!The King of Hell! Your real dad! Your flesh and blood! Your kin! He can't possibly think he's a better dad than me!? No one in Hell is a better dad than me!" He paused, looking down at the Charlie duck. "Right?"

The duck of course didn't respond.

He lets out a pathetic sigh, holding the duck close and flopping on his bed. Who was he kidding? Anyone would be a better dad to Charlie than him. He was barely in her life! He doesn't know her favorite drink, her favorite color, anything! He didn't even know she had a girlfriend until today!

Lucifer rolled over, shoving his face into a pillow with a groan. He was the worst dad in the universe!

The sad little man looked up from his pity party when he heard a soft knock on the door. He quickly gets up, clumsy running around and fixing his appearance. "Uh- C-come in!" He answered once he looked mostly presentable.

Charlie opens the door, peaking around the messy room. She doesn't remember there being this many ducks.

Lucifer stared at her in complete shock. His daughter? Here? HIS DAUGHTER WAS HERE!!!

He coughs, trying to act cool. "Heeeey, Char-Char! What- what are you doing here? Couldn't get enough of your old man today, eh!" He rubs the back of his neck. What do you do in a situation like this? It's been years since Charlie came to visit him. Did she somehow know he was thinking about her?

Was the princess psychic this entire time!?

Charlie carefully steps into the room. "Hey, dad. Nice ducks?" She picks one up to examine. The ducky flipped in her hand before it suddenly started spitting fire. "AH!-" She yelps, dropping the duck and jumping away in fear.

Lucifer freaked out. "CHARLIE I'M SO SORRY THAT DUCK WAS A NEWER ONE I KNEW IT WAS STUPID PLEASE DON'T HATE ME-" He was cut off when Charlie placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Deep breaths, dad. It's ok. I don't hate you. I never hated you." She helps him get his breathing normal as she leads him to the bed.

They sit down, Charlie taking her dad's hands in hers. "I just wanted to thank you for... Everything. I know we were... Distant- But today was a huge step forward!" His daughter smiles, and Lucifer had to hold back tears. "You're an amazing dad. I wouldn't want anyone else."

That did it. That broke the camel's back. He choked on a sob, pulling the sweet princess into a tight hug. His daughter really was psychic!!

Charlie hugged back just as hard. She didn't like seeing her father cry. A frown wasn't a good look on him. Like Alastor says: You're never fully dressed without a smile!

And she knew just the trick to bring his back.

Without any warning Charlie pulls back and tackles her dad.

"Oof! Wha- Charlie! What are- Oh no. Nononono!" His eyes widen with panic from the mischievous smirk on her face.

"Who's this Charlie you speak of? I'm.... The Tickle Monster! Rawrrr!" She broke character for a second to giggle. Lucifer used to use this trick on her when she was sad, so now she's returning the favor! She formed her hands into claws and wiggled them above his stomach. "I'm here to feast!" She growled in a deep funny voice.

Lucifer panicked more, but he also felt a mixture of silliness and pride. It's been a long long time since him and Charlie played together. He thought she wouldn't remember this game. His smile turned wobbly, deciding to play along. "Pl-please, Miss T-tickle Monster! Have m-hehehercy!" He was already starting to giggle.

Charlie broke character again to squee in pure happiness. She didn't actually expect him to go along with this! She clears her throat, putting back on her scary tickle monster persona. "Silence! My meals don't talk!" She dives in, attacking his belly with many scribbles and pokes. "They laugh!"

Luci squealed, bursting into high-pitched giggles. He grabs onto Charlie's wrists, but he made no move to push them away. "Chahaharlie! Ihihit tihihickles!"

Charlie couldn't help but to coo at her dad. "That's the point, ya goober! And that's Miss Tickle Monster to you!" She moved up higher to pinch at his ribs.

The King of Hell's giggles turned into full on laughter. He kicked his feet and squirmed, still not trying to get away.

"My, these ribs give off some tasty laughter! I must have more!" With each pinch she made a nomming noise like she was actually eating his laughter.

Lucifer flushed at the silliness of it all. He had to admit, this was making him feel better. It's been so long since he had a good laugh, and the anxiety from earlier melted away with each "nom."

Charlie stopped to give her father a quick break. "Mmm! Those ribs were delicious! Now I'm craving something for dessert!"

Lucifer froze. He knew what that meant. Still, he didn't want to ruin the fun. He pretended to be curious. In reality, he was preparing himself for what's to come. "What would that be, Miss Tickle Monster?"

"Raspberries!" The Princess leaned down, blowing a huge raspberry on Lucifer's tummy.

Luci went absolutely crazy with laughter! He even let out a few snorts! "OHOHOHO GOHOHOHODNEHEHESS!!" He shook his head, covering his blushy face.

Charlie was delighted by his reaction and laughed along with him. She blew a few more raspberries before deciding he had enough and falling onto the bed next to him. "You alright there, dad?"

"Ihih'm fihihine!" Despite still being giggly he felt great!

Soon enough, they were both taking a well deserved nap.

"That's good. I really did miss your smile too, dad." She hugs him, snuggling into his side.

#roman writes things #lee!lucifer #ler!charlie #hazbin hotel tickles #soft silly father daughter bonding #how many of my fics end with the characters falling alseep #not important😌

[aeithalian]

Rick. Buddy. Amigo. Explain something to me. Real quick, I promise.

[The Trials of Apollo: The Tower of Nero, Chapter 4]

Good genetic package, Rick/Apollo? Are you sure about that?

Listen.

Estelle's physical description *clap* makes *clap* no *clap* sense. Why on earth does one of the only fully human characters in this series have to have unique and weird physical traits? Also, it makes no sense in the larger scope of Rick's writing style to have chosen this unless he had some sort of larger intention behind it. Not to mention the theories by fans haven't really done much to fully flesh out any perceivable reason as to why this might be:

Poseidon blessed Sally when she was pregnant - By far, this is the most believable to me, but it's still eh, because this feels very weird and I don't get the vibes from Poseidon that he would have done so to the extent that it shows up in Estelle's physical traits. Also if that were true, it doesn't make sense for Rick to just fully drop it in the story without the intention to flesh it out further, because to my knowledge he doesn't have plans for another novel that takes place after ToA.

Paul isn't Estelle's father - Firstly, this is out of character for Sally, and this doesn't fully justify why Estelle has Percy's eyes. PLUS, salt-and-pepper hair still wouldn't be natural for a newborn

Paul is Poseidon in disguise - This explains her traits the best, but Paul's character is so much more satisfying if this isn't true. It's also total bullshit.

Enter me. I have a theory. Yay. But first, we must discuss.

Firstly, I want to talk about her eyes. Going back to the theories, and based on my fair amount of knowledge of genetics (clarification: I write this as I procrastinate studying for my final genetics exam), the eyes are mostly interesting because Apollo specifies that they are immediately similar Percy's. The thing about eye genetics, though, is that they are what we consider to be 'complex traits', meaning that they are influenced by the interactions of multiple genes from both parents. What I mean to point out here is that Sally could definitely have the genes to produce two children with 'sea-green' eyes, considering her canonical eye color is blue. We don't know what Paul's eye color is, which makes my job a whole lot easier because I can assume that it doesn't directly contradict the possibility that Sally just has really strong eye genes (?). ALSO, who's to say that Poseidon didn't just change his eye color to match Percy's when he was born? Ah, yes, the perks of having a shapeshifting dad who seemingly loves you and your eye color a lot (but is still absentee, WHOOPS).

But what I actually found the most interesting about Estelle was her hair color. More specifically, the fact that Apollo says he's never seen an infant with that color hair. And we know Apollo is somewhat of an unreliable narrator (although this rarely affects his descriptions of people other than himself, and has also mostly evolved into a more honest narration since the end of book 3), but I believe we're supposed to trust this dude who just so happens to have been alive for over four millennia. Based on Apollo's previous descriptions of his own powers (see his conversations with Percy in TTC, when he pulls a Mufasa and basically admits to seeing everything the light touches), we know that Apollo knows and has seen a lot of stuff. So, how is this the first time he's seemingly witnessed this type of hair mutation?

I did some research, as one does. To me, it seems as if Estelle has what's called Griscelli syndrome, which is a type of rare autosomal genetic mutation that typically results in phenotypic hypopigmentation of the skin and hair. (It can also result in neurological disorders and immunodeficiency, based on the type, but I digress.) It's also pretty rare, considering both parents have to be carriers, and even then the child still has a one in four chance of being affected. Current statistics from the NIH say that Griscelli syndrome currently presents in less than 1000 Americans, and is rapidly fatal in 1-4 years without aggressive treatment.

That sad note aside, it's weird to me that the way Rick wrote Estelle's physical description makes it seem as if Apollo had never seen anything similar. I feel like a god of both medicine and knowledge would probably be a bit more up to speed with rare genetic disorders, especially because he's so old. The only explanations are that Apollo, in his mortal state, can't make a diagnosis, OR what he's seeing isn't actually something he can diagnose.

FURTHERMORE, from the same chapter, Apollo says something that muddies the waters even further:

It doesn't make sense that Apollo thinks that Zeus would take such an interest in Estelle. Her nature alone doesn't make me think that the king of the gods would take a sudden interest in a literal newborn, regardless of how much Apollo loves her (and honestly, I don't blame him).

What I think? Rick pulled the strings just tight enough that he has a very interesting plot point to go off of if he ever decides to pick up the pen again and write a new book.

What I think? Estelle doesn't have Griscelli syndrome, she is in much more danger than anyone realizes, and Apollo's subconscious put this together from the second he saw her.

Actually, let's rewind. I'm in the process of writing a fic (stay tuned!) and I had a random thought: do the Greeks have an apocalypse story? You know, like Ragnarök in the Norse mythos, and the Revelation stories in the Bible.

The answer? They don't. I guess that's what you get when the Greco-Roman gods are fully immortal and literally can't be killed.

That didn't stop the rabbit hole, though, and what I found was actually very interesting and I couldn't believe what I was reading.

I give you: Hesiod. More specifically, his poem Works and Days. More more specifically, his 'ages of man'. More more more specifically, the iron age.

For context, Hesiod was an ancient Greek poet who lived in the 8th century BC, and was walking right along with Homer in terms of fame at the time. The poem Works and Days is actually more of a really long Facebook post where he complains about anything and everything, especially in his section on the ages of man.

In summary, Hesiod wrote about what he perceived to be the five stages of human life since the creation of mankind by Zeus' hand:

gold: perfect in every way, pious, and blessed by the gods

silver: real bitches, the ugly middle child, so Zeus killed them

bronze: were so violent they wiped each other out

heroic: golden child, contained the heroes of the Greek mythos

iron: middle-aged men still living in their mom's basement

Hesiod wrote his poem during what he perceived to be the Iron age (it's really just him complaining about being born in the wrong generation), but he ends up listing a lot of qualities: 'everyone works too hard, the gods hate us, nobody respects family values anymore', blah blah blah.

I know what you're thinking: Tia, what does this have to do with an apocalypse?

Well, dear reader, bear with me. You see, every time Zeus didn't like an age of mankind, or it became too violent, or it generally wasn't pious enough, Zeus wouldn't hesitate to destroy that race and start over. Basically, an apocalypse.

So, you may ask a new question: what is the criteria for Zeus to destroy the Iron age? And, assuming that this is the age we're currently in, what would it take for Zeus to destroy everything our beloved Riordanverse characters know and love?

My friend, that is where Estelle comes in. Yes, a baby.

Take this excerpt regarding the Iron age:

"And Zeus will destroy this race of mortal men also when they come to have grey hair on the temples at their birth."

I think you see where I'm going with this.

My theory? Estelle, in her unique position as a bridge between not just the mortals and the demigods (eg. her relationship with Percy), but also the mortals and the gods (eg. her great impression on Apollo), is a living, breathing prophecy. A prophecy that the end is nigh for this current age of mankind.

Furthermore, I also think that Apollo made this connection, somewhere in the back of his mind, the very second he realized that her hair was entirely unique. According to Hesiod (who Apollo also mentions later in the book, so we know he knows who Hesiod is), the day that babies are born with gray hair (or, salt-and-pepper for the sake of the theory) is the second Zeus basically get the go-ahead to commit genocide.

This also brilliantly explains why Apollo suddenly, and seemingly without reason, makes to keep Estelle's existence a secret from Zeus, because he knows that it might be the easiest way to get everyone he knows and loves killed by his own father for "the greater good" as I'm sure Zeus will put it. Plus, in his mortal state, Rick didn't have to explain why Apollo did what he did, since Apollo's been having memory issues since the beginning of the series: why would he remember one line from a poem written almost three thousand years ago?

Frankly, Zeus doesn't care about mortals: the only reason he really cares about anyone is if they have enough power to threaten his own, or if they have some sort of power he can benefit from. This, certainly, falls under the category of the latter. Wouldn't you want a chance to remake humanity into the perfect image that it used to be? You would, if you hadn't gone through a five book long grow-a-conscience speedrun like our lovely Apollo over here.

Fortunately for Rick, this is such an outrageous theory that if it never comes to fruition, I won't be surprised. If he ever writes something similar, though, know I called it first.

EDIT: here's the fic i mentioned i was (am) writing

EDIT: a masterlist of my other metas

#riordanverse #trials of apollo #apollogists #also that fic i mentioned will definitely be including this #estelle blofis #theory #fan theory #also if you were wondering my genetics exam went well thanks for asking

[casasupernovas]

series 3 of doctor who should have had the roles reversed. have martha kiss him to confuse the judoon. have martha say yes to joining the tardis but only one trip - she's got things to do. have the doctor learn from series 2, say what he means and mean what he says. tell martha the 'one trip' is fun and all, as was extending it, but the truth is, that most people travel with him full time. and he would like that. have an organic conversation with that because let's be real, there is no part in the show where it feels authentic for martha to request something that is specifically a character trope. we the audience know it's standard for companions to stay and travel in the tardis, but at no point does it feel natural within the show's narrative. anyway, reverse the roles. make martha's family realise that it's not fair to constantly put her in the middle, flesh out francine's betrayal arc more so it's fully realised, create more conflict with leo taking his dad's side, and tish taking her mothers and by the time of the end of the series, martha feels at ease with her family.

make the doctor to fall in love with martha just as he did with rose, and have martha return his feelings but not pursue it, because frankly the doctor keeps attatching himself to human companions and hasn't really figured who he is outside of the time war. he imprinted on rose. now he's doing it with martha. so, when he meets donna, have him find a dynamic to fully establish who he is. only...to rely on it a little too much and find himself even more lost than before when he loses donna too. then commence timelord victorious.

#i think i chewed here #tugged back rustles wig a lil bit #doctor who #headcannons #concepts #ideas #martha jones #donna noble #tenmartha #tenth doctor #10th doctor #timelord victorious #series 3 #series 4

[ghostboneswrites2]

I FINISHED TWD AGAIN AND 💔💔SPOILER 🚨 💔💔💔 daryls wife reader is rositas bestfriend everyone is content then rosita reveals to her that she got bit she crumbles screaming crying while daryl just holds her and later she goodbyes rosita

At Peace

Warnings: sad, grief, TWD typical content, character death, spoiler

Masterlist

  It was a long day full of death, carnage, and the not-so-rare running for your life shebang you had all grown used to in this new world. The dinner, though, that was nice. It was convivial and bright, even in the dimly lit dining room. People laughed, joked, conversed, passed happy grins between each other as if nothing could go wrong. 

        You were the first to notice something was off with Rosita. She masked it well, smiling and pitching in, planting sweet kisses on Gabriel’s cheek every so often. Still, something in her eyes was reserved, sad, sentimental. There was a peacefulness about her, though, like whatever it was, she accepted it. 

        It seemed to go unnoticed by the others. For you, though, it was plain as daylight beaming down on you. That was the thing about best friends; nothing went unnoticed. Except, something had gone unnoticed, much earlier in the day. Something you could have never seen coming. Something you’d never stop grieving over for all your years of life to come.

       You were painfully aware of Gabriel squeezing her hand and mouthing to her, ‘What’s wrong?’

        You watched with scrutiny as she leaned in and whispered something to him, unable to read her lips regardless of how hard you concentrated on them. 

        Whatever it was, Gabriel was mortified. The worry that washed over his features quickly caught the attention of the others. That was when she announced it.

        “All things considered, I’ve had a good life. Kicked lots of ass. I’m glad I got that. Not a lot of people did, and they all deserved it just as much as any of us.” 

        Everyone looked confused at this sudden outburst of sentimentality, until she stood and revealed her bite. A hideously neat and perfect double crescent of teeth, already turning the flesh around it all sorts of unnatural hues. Time froze for you. Daryl was the only one to look your way and scan your features for a reaction. You were close to her. Real close. Inseparable. You were there for years by her side, during the birth of her children, through the losses she felt. And there you were, experiencing the loss of her, and it took you longer than most to allow that to set in. 

        From the moment you laid eyes on that horrible, rotten imprint of even more horrible and rotten teeth, time froze, but only for you. People moved and spoke around you, Rosita was taken to her bed, and the world kept spinning, while you sat frozen in place. Daryl saw all of that, and he understood it. Your eyes were empty and wide, glued to a random flaw in the fabric of the tablecloth.

        By the time it had really registered, you were outside, clutching your chest, hyperventilating.  You heard a door open and shut from behind you, but it felt too distant to pay it any mind. You collapsed, fully expecting the impact of the ground beneath you, but instead you were gripped tightly by a strong pair of arms. You didn’t care to see who it was. You just let it go, sobbing and coughing and wailing out inhumane sounds. You’d hear the occasional hush from behind you, soft and sweet like a mother cooing her child to sleep on a fussy night.

        You were overwhelmed, breaking down, falling apart. All these years by her side and you’d forgot how to function without you witty, sarcastic, drop-dead gorgeous, downright badass best friend. You admired her, went to her for guidance, centered a large part of your life around her. That’s what best friends did. 

        Somewhere along the way, in your sniffling, groveling mess, you did realize it was Daryl behind you. Your relationship with the man was complex and largely unspoken. A few drunken nights alone in the woods, naked against each other, sweaty and carefree. Otherwise, it was usually a passing glance or a lingering gaze, a simple nod communicating all that needed to be said. In that moment, though, he held you together and let you melt into him until you could control your heart a little bit. 

        Eventually you pushed yourself to your feet and dusted yourself off, wiping tears away from your flustered cheeks with haste. 

        “I have to say goodbye.” You reasoned. He agreed, silently, with the aforementioned nod. He led you inside to where she laid comfortably in white sheets with fluffy pillows underneath the cascade of her dark silky hair. Gabriel looked at you when you came in with dad, tired eyes. He smiled at you and squeezed her hand, needing to offer no explanation when he left the room to allow you your final moments alone with her. 

        At first it felt like your shoes had been welded to the floor. You had to break your legs out of the invisible steel bindings in order to move them forward and plant yourself in the chair beside her bed. She smiled at you with knowing eyes. Anything you came to say didn’t need to be said, at least, not for her to know the truth behind it. You needed to say it, though, for closure, if that was even a real thing anymore.

        “I’m gonna miss you.” You choked out. She reached over and took your hand in hers. 

        “Yeah. I’m hard to live without.” She joked. You uttered something like laughter and a sob. “You got this, girl. You’re too strong to fall apart.”

        “You make me strong.” You insisted. She shook her head. She still looked so beautiful, even as pale as she was, with those dark circles around her eyes and thin sheen of sweat caking her cheeks.

        “No, we all make each other strong. They’ll make you strong enough to get through this, just like we all have for each other all these years.” She assured you. You shook your head. 

        “Who the fuck am I gonna talk to every day? Nobody knows me like you.” Your lip quivered. 

        Rosita glanced to a looming figure in the doorway, stuff and awkward and brooding. Messy hair swept over his eyes, dark clothes, muddy boots. He smirked. 

        “I can think of somebody who wouldn’t mind listening to your voice all day, every day.” She soothed. In your state of grief, the comment flew over your head. Later, though, you’d surely figure it out, Rosita figured. 

        “I just can’t believe it.” You went on.

        “You can.” She insisted. “You have to. And you have to know that I’m okay. I’m at peace.”

        Her health seemed to drastically decline after that statement. It was like she had to say it, that she was at peace, before her soul was willing to let go of her body. Gabriel rushed in with her babies and made sure they got that last bit of time with her. Daryl gently ushered you out of the room, so that whoever had to make that final call wouldn’t be doing it in front of you. 

tags: @kissmeunicornbaobei @thesadcatt0 @clairealeehelsing @duckybird101 @tmntfixationxreader @ryoujoking @blackvelveteen1339 @yondus-girl @ladylincoln @sunshinebug9 @saylum559 @yoowhatthefuck @duffmckagansbandana @celtic-crossbow @virginsexgod69 @dazzling-roaring-20s @l0kilaufeys0n7 @uhnanix

#daryl dixon #daryl x reader #twd daryl #the walking dead daryl #daryl x female reader #daryl twd #daryl fanfiction #daryl dixon fanfic #daryl x you #daryl x y/n

[elderwisp]

The Creative Process ‧₊˚✩彡 

Because I love to be distracted

Hi! Ok, I wanted to share wif everyone my process in which I create a story post from conception to the final post. I would say I'm a very structured person when it comes to projects like these however, I've learned a lot and maybe someone could find something useful! We'll be referencing this scene. Oke, let's start!

✩ Rough Drafts

So, of course everything starts off with a vision. While I always say, write what feels authentic to you, I also know it makes things much more difficult if you don't have a solid ground to build from. I think I've scrapped this particular story about twice already and even reshot the first chunk of Tessellate so there was a better foundation. I like to start off with understanding a character before moving onto creating a plot, otherwise people start bleed into another. Greta Gerwig makes a really awesome statement about how characters come first to her before plot. OKE with that in mind, this particular scene, I wrote it well over a year ago, however there wasn't much flow in the initial draft. In fact, the two look nothing alike. This conversation was supposed to occur during France's concert, but I moved it to to this particular scene and I'm so glad. I felt like their current relationship was strong enough to have this conversation but also it allowed me to really focus in on the two. I am a huge advocate for jotting down dialogue even if things change because you can always expand on an idea. And if things don't work, scrapping is okay, but at least you gave it a shot! After that change, I didn't revisit that scene up until about a month and a half ago. I like to let things sit for a good while. In the initial draft, Taryn was reserved throughout a majority of the conversation. There was limitations in which how I wanted her to express things but things change in a year. When I looked at her as a character and how she's progressed throughout the story, the draft no longer aligned with her lack of response. And then that created the question of what the heck does one say? Because people aren't typically very graceful or eloquent when it comes to confrontation but also we're telling a story so how do I balance the two out? Since, I've followed these little blorbos for a while, knowing their characters and motives allowed me to flesh everything out. Atlas is much more cunning than he lets on and is excellent at painting a pretty picture for those around him if it means getting what he wants. Taryn on the other hand is perceptive and unwavering so being around someone like him, someone that she finds herself slowly falling for, is a complete, well, mind fuck. We can also see from this interaction that there's a hint of feeling inadequate and the lack of confidence to know that maybe he does like her. We also see that Atlas maybe isn't the most mature when it comes to developing something real so the two have plenty to work on just from this scene alone. Like Greta Gerwig says, writing is listening.

I also wanted to mention LocalScriptMan and this video all the time because it just about changed how I viewed dialogue in general. I think it's such a great tool! I've probably shared it a billion times.

✩ Blender & Posemaking

So I would like to preface this by saying, you do not need to use blender to achieve a vision. There are still scenes that I still use poses/animations from other creators! I wanted to list a few references! Rebouks, Rascgal and Simmireen have an amazing variety of poses to use! I literally use Becca's bumper packs RELIGOUSLY! However, if you need any suggestions, SurelySim's has an excellent breakdown on getting started with posemaking from tiny details, to SimRipper and using accessories! She also talks about Vyxated's Pose Helper which is a god send! For this scene I wanted to fully pose it. In my script, I italicize anything I want to pose, I'm such a sucker for the mannerisms that people have. When words fail, body language speaks. Are they fidget-y, or do I imagine them to be more composed? Taryn's stance is grounded, she doesn't move at all in the scene except for when she leaves and I think it's a great representation of her stubbornness. Whereas Atlas is watching every single move, up until he makes his incredibly bold (ridiculous!) statement. As for emotion when he made that statement, I wanted to go with shame but then I felt like his expression radiated ruthlessness. I personally enjoyed that 10x more because it represented two things for me, his character and that he felt comfortable enough to show that part of himself. When posing a scene from start to finish, it takes me about 1-3 days depending on how complex it is. I'm a huge advocate for using references! I love referencing hands, posture, how to grab a book ANYTHING! Because this was a conversation and not much action happened, it took me about a day.

✩ Taking Screenshots and Composition

I began taking photos for this scene on March 6th. I use to use this reshade preset by growfruit however, after tinkering with some settings I use like a mish-mash blorbo of a preset. Amobae and Sforz have some cool LUT's for download (I think of it like a filter? That's probably not what it is but MEH) and I love the qUINT's lightroom shader as well. Huge advocate of relight, I was today years old when I learn that you should load it at the top of your shaders order so you don't get like a weird whitecast. These spotlights though are super fun too if you don't use reshade! There are some photographers on instagram that even go over how to use lightroom and it can translate to game as well! For the most part, I try to keep screenshots pretty simple, editing-wise but there are moments when I doodle in little hairs, add in some texture and include shadows for, uh, DRAMAAA. Lately, I've been incorporating intricate fonts because idk sometimes my brain enjoys a little graphic design moment. Sometimes shooting conversation heavy scenes can get so repetitive so I like to look at film stills on pinterest or pay close attention to a film and how they present the camera work in a conversation. Rule of thirds is a great reference tool to use, I believe GShade has a shader for that. However it's okay to experiment, it's not an end all be all. I love looking at animators and how each frame is incredibly intentional, whether it's a shot from above or a really close frame. The beginning of this scene, I honestly didn't have a clue as to how I wanted to open it up since they were walking down a hall. Then I noticed the detail in the fencing and how the tiles were opposite. Using the TOOL mod, I was able to get them both in the center and it created a strong opening shot of how different these two are.

✩ Editing

My god, I love editing but also this is usually the moment where I get so freaking distracted. This process takes me a day if I am focused.... But realistically it takes three days.... That's why I try to keep things to a minimum. I do use Photoshop. I like to use this sharpening action (the other actions are awesome too!) for story posts, I crop each photo (I use a 9:5 ratio and a 16:6 ratio if I need to focus on something specific idk why i picked those numbers yo), and add in text. Dafont has a lot of different free fonts. I like to use these little guidelines if sentences needs to be centered.

For adding umph to text, I like to use two things: The warped text option when using the type tool or just going to the distort panel and using the wave option!

Also bottom right of your layers channel is an fx layer. I like to use stroke and drop shadow on all text so it doesn't get lost within a photo!

✩ Finalization and My Schedule

That story post was uploaded on March 29th. As of right now, I like to stay three weeks ahead so I have three weeks worth of story posts marinating in my queue LMAO. I always reread things like a bajillion times, sometimes I'll go back and tweak conversations if they feel a bit stiff. Having that three week buffer also gives me time to really dedicate myself to details and focus on being present with a future scene. Another perk is, it allows me to work on cleaning up the script, plotting for future arcs, and having fun with edits. When I used to upload story videos on youtube, I didn't really plan ahead and it was so chaotic for me. Sometimes I didn't have enough time to actually create a solid episode so things felt rushed because on top of that I had a schedule I committed to. This isn't necessary but structure and patterns is something my little brain needs.

I hope this maybe provided some tips for people wanting to start out or it was just a fun little thing to read! One final OP tip is to write about something that you enjoy, something that matters to you. I'm one mf that loves a fleshed out character arc, that doesn't like linear plots and for fucks sake I love a good slow burn and I think all of that reflects a lot which helps me be engaged.

#damn me really talking about my hyperfixation with the fellow gamers #there might be hella run ons sorry my brain is a run on i don't control dat #u get one sneak peak too in the film roll #i wish i had rough drafts of dialogue but bc i use google docs i don't have any prior copies >.< #idk wtf to tag this #tessellate: extras #sims 4 story #sims 4 story tips

[gayboysteve]

Genuinely why do people think Steve can't be a fully actualized person and a love interest at the same time? Do you guys just passively consume media without, like, paying attention? Steve has been his own fully developed person since season two. We don't need to know ever detail of his life to know who he is as a person. We know the moral fiber of his character and the strength of his will. We know he loves passionately and will do anything to help. We know he's a catty bitch that doesn't get along with his dad.

Not... everything has to be shown to us for Steve to be a real fleshed out character. There are definitely places where things fall flat (letting him even feel pain after his many beatings or torture of being eaten) but being a love interest is not one of the things where the Duffers have fucked up on him. Besides Nancy, he has the most character development out of the teens and he has an actual character arc that's been percolating since season one.

You don't need to ship Stancy or like it. That's not necessary. I personally wasn't a shipper until recently (though I never hated it like some people, I've just always focused more on the Steve and the kids or Steve and Robin) and I have to say it makes a lot of sense in the scheme of things for the love triangle to be reignited. Steve and Jonathan are not just contenders for Nancy's love, they both represent something for her journey and her picking one of them will be indicative of the path she's taking. Steve's speech about learning to crawl forward wasn't just about him, that was a display of what Steve's character can offer to Nancy's character as a romantic partner. The ability to learn to MOVE ON. TO CRAWL FORWARD.

Nancy as we know is still trapped in her grief from Barb and while Jonathan has helped her get justice from that tragedy he never helped her move PAST the pain of it. One represents moving forward, and Jonathan sadly this last season, represented regression.

Personally, I think it's Jonathan more than anyone that needs to not be in a relationship. It hasn't ever seemed to make him happy. I don't think Jonathan will ever be happy until he's allowed to get away from his family a little bit. The parentification Joyce did to him really fucked that boy up and he needs, in my opinion, to focus on himself more than anyone.

Nancy has expressly stated before that she doesn't want to be alone! Steve has expressly stated he wants love and romance and a family! They're still young they can work out their future later, why can't they find some happiness in coming back together stronger and more fully self actualized? More mature and developed? I think it actually makes for a very fitting end from a narrative standpoint which is, honestly, what convinced me to switch over to the ship in the first place.

Neither Steve nor Nancy have ever been reduced to just love interests. Even in season one when Steve is explicitly introduced as only a love interest, he actually has his own character arc going on. All following seasons Steve and Nancy (whether dating, broken up, or flirting) have all had plots not related to their romance. No one is being reduced to just a romantic interest. Unfortunately, poor Jonathan is the one that got that treatment. He's the one that needs to have something devoted to just him; something that isn't just being a brother or a boyfriend. Giving him a friend was a step in the right direction. Let's give him a dream now and not just something that we hear from Joyce. A real dream from Jonathan's mouth. Because all we've heard from him are the things he DOESN'T want for the future.

Also Stoncy supremacy anyway. Let all three fuck nasty.

(Let's not bring up the whole six nuggets things. I highly doubt Steve is actually going to expect six children from his future partner. It was a reference to the party. It was him lightening the mood and trying to bring some levity to a serious, and frankly, terrifying, situation. It was him trying to make Nancy laugh while laying his heart on the line. He's not expect six literal children.)

#steve harrington #nancy wheeler #jonathan byers #stancy #stoncy #stranger things

[you-cant-fuck-megaman]

btw isn't the canon reason for the timeline split caused by Dr. Light having sex and later raising actual flesh-and-blood children? So if you wanted to fuck Dr. Light (which you elaborated isn't possible) you'd basically cause a butterfly effect

while that's popular fanon after a funny meme post on twitter, battle network is not the only timeline where light has children

Fully Charged has IMO the coolest incarnation of Light. he's an absolute hunky bear of a man, he can throw down hand-to-hand with robots himself, he's an actually-present father figure who looks after his children. like, not just father in the metaphorical sense, as in he spawned Suna Light from his loins and so had to have had sex with a lucky-ass woman (potentially multiple times).

i'm sorry you saw me and your mom fighting, sunshine, but she's got a long way to go before she can take on the Undertaker at Wrestlemania. now let both of us get back to training, please.

there's a lot to hate about Fully Charged, but Light ain't one of them.

and then there's Dr. Emilia Right from the pachislot, whom is the actual daughter of Dr. Ligh--pardon, Dr. RIGHT, which means at some point once again, Lright got down with someone and had a lot of fun with them.

Emilia Right owns, she found a busted robot and her first priority was to make her look cute again and then to make her combat ready after that. she's got a red hair like a squirrel and put gadgets into her clothes just for the #aesthetic, potentially implying that Light went best-of-5 at EVO with Street Fighter's C. Viper.

and then there's the archie AU with LaLinde. the archie run's got a lot of good shit about it, but Dr. LaLinde was originally intended to be a darker-skinned woman with a normal introduction, and then her first appearance is The Love Interest

heart backgrounds with dr. light going AHOOGA HOOGAAW AOOOOOOO HA-CHA-CHA-CHA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAA. i'm not about to say that there can't be love interests in media or that women can't be attractive, i too enjoy a nice pair of knockers whenever i can pull myself away from being correct on the internet. but this has the subtlety of a brick hammer hitting another brick hammer with a face drawn on it. two volumes down the line, i can guarantee you they fucked. nothing may have come from it, since ken penders fucked the entire universe, but i think that just means dr. light got pretty handily fucked by extension.

megaman's got a lot of AUs and a lot of split timelines, even oftentimes within the same subseries. capcom can't write a straight timeline to save their life. someone could be holding the NES hostage, holding their dick in the cartridge slot and yelling demands at bob capcom on the phone like "you write a coherent story or i'll blow this bastard's brains out", and then bob capcom still would insist on putting in 3 extremely important characters that are relevant for maybe 2 minutes of cutscenes. and would still conflict with the lore established in Stage 69 of Area 420 in Megaman Zero 0. megaman continuity would STILL be utterly fucked beyond repair.

whether or not Light fucked has no real bearing on it, as you can see--even the fuck timeline has a lot of splits completely unbearing of the simple binary "did/did not" switch. it's a little bit more complicated than that. see, the question is not so much whether the timeline split is caused by Dr. Light having sex, but rather whether he tops, bottoms, or takes it up the ass.

#Dr. Light #Doctor Light #megaman #mega man #rockman #worldbuilding #ask #kkhell

[starrylayle]

Marauders Fandom > "There is no canon !!" and other rhetorics

Guess who's back in their marauders phase after 2-3 years of being dormant lmao?? ((spoiler its me lol)). Anyways, a lot has changed since 2021 in this fandom so I just wanted to talk about the direction i think it's going.

I remember in 2020-21 the fandom started to boom in popularity on tiktok --> esp with the rise wolfstar + atyd. I remember people were so suprised with remus' characterization as 'rougher around the edges' instead of the 'soft boi' thing, and how that influenced the new wolfstar dynamic. [Just want to add that the atyd characterisation is much more complex than this and its one of my fave fics --> I'm more talking about the fandom at large's reaction to this)

And since fandom is incapable of having two nuanced and characters who are not stark opposites,, their roles were basically reversed and now Remus is the toxic dom alpha male and sirius is the cute girlyboy twink --- which um,,, the oc-ification is so real its embarrassing but whatever (omg don't even get me started on jegulus 💀)). I just assumed these would stay as headcanons. But now we have people saying, that 'we barely know anything abt the marauders in canon' or 'isn't the whole point of fandom to make shit up?' which i have sO many issues with so let me just try and compile my thoughts into dot points for the sake of coherency.

'we barely know anything abt the marauders in canon' ---> First of all, Remus, Sirius and Severus are fully fleshed out characters in the og series -- why do you think people would care enough to create an entire fandom based on their backstories if they were 2d flat characters in canon?? Like bffr. I saw a post on here (forgot who it was by, let me know if u know!) that said, 'I didn't cry over sirius' death in OotP just for ppl to say that we know nothing abt him in canon'. Like, its just mind-boggling to me lol.

'isn't the whole point of fandom to make shit up?' --> Ok y'all. For a fandom to work, there have to be some guidelines, some kind of source material, some point of reference so people can build upon it and make content. I think we can all agree on that. One reason why HP is such a popular place for fandom is the world-building and potential plots/storylines. I see some people argue that jk rowling was a shit writer anyways so might as well contradict everything she says. Now, I don't disagree with that point in particular, Jo is a pretty mediocre writer and a terrible person. HOWEVERrr, I'd argue that it is a lot more fascinating when people expand or work on the concepts in HP. JK Rowling has a lot of great ideas but executes them terribly -- I love when fic writes do this, which prolly explain why I love atyd as it is still very much canon compliant but executes themes on class, disability and queerness that jkr could barely do in subtext. This doesn''t mean I only think canon compliant fics are valid. That's not the case! I think as long as the charcterization is consistent to the character and the particular circumstances/world they're in, its fine! In fact, I love seeing how the same character would function if in a different place! I also love seeing explorations of the magic and magic systems in aus or fix it fics (or even canon compliant ones) that still fit in with the canonnical system that we know.

I guess what I'm trying to say I wish the marauders fandom explored the world and charcterizations more deeply instead of creating shallow oc-fied version of the characters that fit into whatever's trending -- like just write your own book or smth lol -- booktok will eat it up i promise.

Also, kinda related kinda not but um,,, why are we romanticising fascists -- like babe no evan rosier is not your babygirl he canonnoically tortured multiple ppl and became a death eater soo... not saying that I wouldn't want an exploration of his character or even a relationship with barty -- (who's not some cool dairk-haired edgelord but a actually a cowardly fascist murderer with blond hair -- yes the blond hair is important) -- I'd just want them to be portrayed as the not morally good people they are. Like,, if u want to oc-ify a character like pick someone whos not a death eater or has little info on them like dirk cresswell or frank longbottom,,, or ya know,, one of the MANY female characters in the fandom ((This fandom also has a problem with women and sapphic ships in general but that's a whole other issue lol).

I know this 'babygirlification' of death eaters doesn't mean to do this, but it also ends up watering down the themes of oppression, bigotry, etc and leaves us with not nearly as complex characters. Also one of the issues I had with the og HP world is that JK will introduce concepts like wizard racism and slavery and then just like,, not really do anything about it or just have half-arsed redemption arcs whilst not ever actually exploring the root of the issue. And now i feel like the fandom is following in those footsteps unfortunately.

Anyways, i've been rambling for too long so I'll just leave it here. Sorry if this came off as mean spirited in anyway,, I just have a lot of thoughts™ and my family is sick of hearing them lol. These opinions are not set in stone however so I'd love to hear your thoughts on this subject! At the end of the day this is fandom and we're supposed to have fun -- so yeah !! thanks for reading if you made it this far!

#marauders #marauders era #the marauders era #sirius black #remus lupin #wolfstar #unpopular take #i think #evan rosier #barty crouch jr #rosekiller #marauder headcanons #marauders hcs #james potter #atyd #atyd fandom #lily evans #sorry yall i dont know how to tag #jegulus #?? #I mentioned it briefly #fun fact my first post on this app was a long post on how much i hated jegulus in choices #but then i deleted it coz it was a bit too mean spirited lol #anyways #I do love me some transfem/gender fuckery sirius #just don’t like cute little uwu sirius #femininity ≠ being weak or whatever #plus it’s not in sirius’ canon character to be uwu #so yeah

[g-kat423]

If Alcina being a lesbian is so important to you why does she have an ex husband in your fic

I’m going to assume this is a genuine question without malicious intent so I will provide a real answer.

This could actually apply to 2 of my fics, but I’m guessing you’re talking about Something Sweet since it’s the one that I update more frequently.

Gonna plop this under a read more since it’s gotten long

Alright, so, the reason for her having an ex husband has been stated throughout the fic. She felt she had to be closeted and to meet certain expectations set for her both by society and by her parents. Sure, people are more accepting now, not that there isn’t still bigotry or pressure to conform, but with the fic taking place in 2022(I started it in 2022 and only a few months have passed in fic time and while I never explicitly stated the year, that’s what everything is based off of, giving Alcina a 1978 birth year and the reader 2001) that means Alcina got married in 2008. Idk if you were around during that time, but homophobia was rampant, being gay was a punchline. It’s not something you would talk about, there’s no way to know if your friends would actually stay your friends and not spread vicious rumors about you. Marriage equality in most states, not a thing. Again, bigots still exist, but it’s generally not this life ruining thing for people to find out you’re queer. Alcina would have come of age in the 90’s which would make that even worse.

That aside, I tend to explore themes of coming out later and families not being being accepting because it’s all I know. I tend to process my trauma through my writing. That and I’m sure it’s no secret that I’ve taken heavy inspiration from Carol only with a sugar baby twist. I also wanted her to have younger, biological children since I felt that would be fitting of a 44 year old divorcee rather than having adopted adult children like she does in canon. Sure, they could have been adopted or older, but there needed to be a reason for her to stay with Kurt for the amount of time that she did. I needed her connected to Karl in someway too. Heisenberg was originally supposed to have a twin brother so I went off of that and now Alcina has her annoying ex brother-in-law(who actually isn’t so bad in this universe, but Alcina won’t hear of it)

As for The Fall of the House of Dimitrescu. I’m sure no one is asking, but in that case Alcina was weak from her hereditary blood disease and didn’t have the energy to be defiant the same way she was as a child. Her father had lost his wife and he had no desire to continue caring for Alcina so he set her up with somebody who she reluctantly went along with. In that case, Alcina wasn’t even aware of her attraction to women yet, she just didn’t understand why she didn’t feel a spark with her soon to be husband. She also assumed it was normal for sex to be an unpleasant “wifely duty.” Once she finally made the connection and had an affair with a woman, turns out she liked sex quite a bit lmao.

Idk, all this aside, I know I’m not the only one who has given Alcina a husband in some context yet still fully believes shes a lesbian. I also have plenty of fics where she’s never had one. The first multichapter fic I wrote she literally left her home and privileged life behind to struggle until she made it as musician rather than marry a man. I don’t think it’s a crime to explore other possibilities. I have so many different headcanons for Alcina and all are universe dependent whether that be modern AU, the canon compliant timeline where she never marries, the canon compliant timeline where she does, and all the other in between stuff that diverges from canon. She’s one of my favorite characters of all time and I love fleshing her out.

#ask #alcina dimitrescu #lady dimitrescu #anon

[mageknight14]

Shoka Had a Hard Life: A NEO TWEWY analysis post

Posting yet another analysis thread from Twitter into a Tumblr format.

In a cast full of interesting and fleshed-out characters, I find Shoka to be one of the most fascinating in how she's written and one thing I find really interesting about her character in NEO TWEWY is how her prickliness serves both to protect herself as a façade and also speaks to real genuine facets of herself and how it doesn’t fully go away like some people would claim.

Throughout NEO, it’s heavily implied that Shoka didn’t exactly have the best life before she had joined the UG, to the point that she would rather stay in the afterlife than go back to her old life. Based off of some of her comments, reactions to Rindo’s insinuations about how she must've hated being a Reaper and was forced into it, and her not being as broken up over Shinjuku compared to others, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that she came from a broken home, one where she was powerless when it came to the choices in her own life.

So much so to the point that she didn’t mind flat out erasure as opposed to going back. However, when she had gained actual control of her life for the first ever, she fully embraced it, going so overboard with her newfound power that she had become a Reaper due to her prowess. In a lot of ways, Shoka shares a lot in common with Joshua in this regard when you consider the backstory he told Neku, with both of them feeling trapped and powerless in their lives and being heavily implied to be suicidal. However, whereas Joshua came to know about the UG through outside means (Hanekoma) and actively chose to put himself into the Game, it’s implied that Shoka didn’t know anything about that life before she had lost her own and when she had come across actual power and the ability to have some actual agency, she jumped onto the opportunity.

The rules of the Shinjuku Games demand that in order to get ahead of life, you have to become brutal and ruthless just to stay alive, which is a mindset heavily inspired by Shinjuku’s focus on business culture and sociality. I think it’s pretty telling that one of the key rules in Shinjuku is that once you're out of being a Reaper, Erasure is your only choice. Not even playing to come back to life, like Beat did in the Shibuya Games, just flat-out Erasure. If you can’t keep up, tough. Much like the original TWEWY's Game, it's a dog-eat-dog world out there.

Because of this, it should come to no surprise that due to a combination of this harsh environment and her own home life, Shoka came to enjoy lording her power and taking out her frustrations on others. You can see this with how she thoroughly enjoys kicking the shit out of Motoi. Not just because she was aware of how he was manipulating Rindo, her best friend (though that’s certainly part of it) but because she was taking out her frustrations after having to deal with her feelings of being caught between said best friend and her found family.

When it comes to children with broken homes, they are prone to imprinting on any adult figure that interacts positively with them and in Shoka's case, this is exactly what she did with the Shinjuku Reapers. Note how the first thing she asks of Ayano after her first day of training with her is for her to never leave Shoka. And at this point, you can hardly blame her. Even with her newfound powers and lease at life (or un-life if you will), she's still a kid amongst adults with loads more experience than she has had at this point of time. And after this, she ends up becoming attached to the Shinjuku Reapers as her newfound family, and she even admits as such to Rindo (except for Kubo because he's a prick.)

This is a very big contrast to how the Shibuya Reapers from the previous game worked, with the majority of them, except for Uzuki, Kariya, and the Def March, all being prone towards stabbing each other in the back if the opportunity presented itself, like Konishi and Kitaniji, Sho and just about everyone, and Kitaniji and the Reapers in general. By comparison, the Shinjuku Reapers all care for one another and its' implied that the rules of Shinjuku's Reaper hierarchy allowed for the Reapers to become less emotionally detached and able to form genuine connections with one another.

You can also see from the way that she snaps at Rindo and Ayano and some of her battle quotes that Shoka has a LOT of pent-up aggression and anger issues bottled up inside, as well as some self-loathing and resentment for when she lets those aspects out.

Combine this with how Ayano likes to gaslight her in an misguided attempt to keep her safe, her friends/family more or less turning away from her to keep up the illusion of the Game, and it’s no wonder that the girl is an absolute mental wreck.

And that's not even getting into her passive suicidal ideation. She has little-to-no regard for her own life unless it concerns that people she cares about and even then, she’ll still toss it away for them. Ayano is possessed and is about to attack the party? Shoka throws caution to the wind, ignoring Rindo’s warnings, and almost gets herself killed. Her reaction to her inevitable Erasure at the end of the week due to her not being a Reaper anymore? She’s more concerned about how it will effect Rindo rather than how she’s going to, well, fade away from existence. Hell, when Shiba offers her a chance to become a Reaper again, she refuses, not wanting spend another moment of her unlife watching life around her pass by. And that's not even getting into how her Telewarp power transports her to high places, usually over the edge of a building...

And even when she does join the Wicked Twisters, she still doesn’t tell Rindo the truth because of what will happen to her at the end of week 3. She didn’t want Rindo to go through the heartbreak of finding out that he got to be with his best friend before she inevitably dies at the end of the week and was content to die without him ever finding out. It was only when Erasure seemed inevitable for ALL of them (which isn’t helped by how the Noise gets stronger with each time jump) in the second-to-last timeline that she goes “fuck it” and tells him the truth.

So, with all of this in mind, it's no fucking wonder that she latches on so quickly to the Rindo and the Wicked Twisters, both as Swallow and her IRL self.

Imagine this; the small new life you've created for yourself after escaping your depressive old one implodes because your boss has seemingly lost his mind and helped blow up your city, one of your friends (Tsugumi) gets lobotomized into a robot and your boss tells you to fuck off instead of telling you why, another friend (Susukichi) gets conscripted to be a fake player all day every day, the boss's best friend (Hishima) has pulled away since he went crazy, the woman who you see as your big sister and has been taking care of you this whole time (Ayano) has to take his place instead, and then there's the creepy old guy (Kubo) you always hated.

You then have to spend every day for years on end supervising a BS game where nothing matters because your boss will just declare his own secret team the winner every time anyway and all you do is supervise the players you've been assigned to and make sure they keep marching into the meat grinder day after day by upholding the lie that they could win the game and escape. Over time, you start to realize you are complicit in the murder of probably hundreds of people all so you can blow up a city and murder millions more. You then lose faith in the mission but have to keep going along with it because no one is willing to betray their old friend even if he's nuts now. Your honeymoon phase with your powers is over because what's even the point when you can only use it on small fry players that can't challenge you at all and your friends have all been pulled away from you and so you probably spend most of your evenings alone.

And your one reprieve from all of this?

Talking to the one online friend that you met through a PokemonGo Clone and giving them some life advice.

Imagine spending some years of your life in a broken home TWICE and then coming across a group of people who not only accept you for who you are but also promise to be there for you no matter what and comfort/stand up for you however they can.

And it’s through their influence that you can see Shoka’s hidden kindness (which was previously hinted at with her interactions with Rindo as Swallow as well as the little ghost Shinjuku girl) shine on through when put into a positive reinforcement environment.

Hell, just compare how she initially reacts to sidequests, from begrudgingly helping out others when on pressed time to jumping onto the chance to help people out.

Of course, none of her issues just end up going away overnight. She still has a lot of she needs to work through but she’s actively trying to improve on herself.

I think the most impressive thing about all of this is that none of these traits feel contradictory. Like a lot of characters in NEO, Shoka is written like an actual human being whose certain personality traits manifest more prominently depending on the context of a situation. Like you and me, they aren't 100% consistent. Their personalities are steady but they react a little differently day to day depending on how they're feeling, in a way that feels genuine. Forgive me if I sound pretentious but the TWEWY devs just get people and how they act.

Shoka in particular is a great look at the effects a positive and/or toxic environment can have on a person and their outlook and I’m legitimately impressed by the level of nuance the writers had when it came to her (and this goes for the NEO cast in general, really) character.

#neo twewy #neo the world ends with you #twewy #the world ends with you #shoka sakurane #shoka twewy #analysis post

[flower-boi16]

Given how underdeveloped Vaggie (Why was she named that), Charlie, Millie, and the majority of the female characters are, I won’t be suprised if Lilith turns out to be a one dimensional bitch who only exists to make Lucifer more sympathetic (I like Lucifer’s character but still)

....I disagree, Lilith could actually be a good, or even great antagonist for the show, possibly being one of, if not THE best villain in all of Hellaverse...

...if she's not being written by Viv. I've already talked about Velvette and why she's on of Viv's best antagonists before but she's relevant to my main point; Velvette is a character with an actually cunning, entertaining and well-developed personality that stands out from other antagonists in Hellaverse, making her feel like a breath of fresh air compared to all of Viv's one-dimensional assholes, being an actually good villain...she's also a female character whose episode she got a major focus on...wasn't written by Viv.

We all know Viv is incapable of writing antagonists let alone female antagonists, so, the reason why Velvette ended up being so great compared to Viv's other antagonists is BECAUSE she wasn't being written by Viv or Adam. Viv can't write antagonists or women, so when one of her female antagonists ends up being so great, it's because she's not being written by Viv, but rather, someone who knows how to write female characters.

In episode 2, the episode that IS written by Viv, and where Velvette makes her first appearance, she has a more typical fashionista personality compared to episode 3 (though tbf that's still more of a personality than 99% of Viv's other antagonists), and episode 3, the episode not written by Viv, she has a fully fleshed out personality that makes her a fun antagonist. I really don't think that's just a coincidence.

An guess what? This same thing happened AGAIN in episode 6 with Sera. Sera is the head seraphim and leader of Heaven, she greenlit the exterminations in order to protect Heaven but you get the feeling that she doesn't WANT to do this, that she doesn't feel great about letting Adam and his army murder people bellow. But she feels like she HAS TO in order to protect Heaven...and her sister, Emily.

Initially, in my post about Emily, I said she has no purpose or point as a character, and removing her changes nothing. I was wrong. Emily DOES have a purpose within the show; it's to be a main motivator for Sera, and Emily's existence adds depth to her character. Sera lets the exterminations happen because she also wants to protect Emily and deeply cares about her, she holds her sister close to her and wants to keep her safe.

Sera is a character with real nuances to her actions, she's not just a one-dimensional villain, she's not exactly good either, she's...an actually nuanced and morally grey character that can't be put in either good or evil? In a VIVZIEPOP show???? Like, not saying that Sera is a super deep or compelling character or anything, but like, she's an actually nuanced antagonist with real depth to her...

...and that's because the episode she's in was not written by Viv, just like with Velvette. The reason why Sera is an actually nuanced character is because she's not in an episode written by Viv.

The fact that this happened twice does not seem like a coincidence to me. The reason why Velvette and Sera can be actually decent or even good characters is because they are in episodes that aren't written by Viv or Adam, both of which in all of the episodes they write show the many problems with HH and HB's antagonists. And, ultimately, Velvette and Sera ended up being two of the BEST antagonists in all of Hellaverse because they weren't being written by Viv or Adam.

So, there COULD be a possibility that Lilith can be a good or at least decent antagonist if the episodes she gets a significant spotlight in aren't written by Viv or Adam. If they are...then well, ya, Lilith will probably just be Stella 2.0 or something.

But if she's being written by either of the two guys who did episodes 3 & 6, then she could end up being a good or even great character. The bare is very low for antagonists in these shows, but when they aren't being written by Viv or Adam...they can be kinda good.

#vivziepop critical #hazbin hotel critical #hazbin hotel criticism #vivziepop criticism

[verytallfox]

Okay, first ever Tumblr post! Not sure if anyone will see this, but this is about the podcast The Sounds of Nightmares, set in the world of Little Nightmares. Specifically I’m looking at Chapter 3.

BIG SHIT

So to those of you who’ve listened or heard what happens, holy fuck right?! There’s some pretty big revelations (stuff theorized for a while certainly but never outright confirmed) in the episode. For one, it knocks the whole “it’s just a dream world” thing out of the park. Noone physically vanished from her world for a moment. I am certain that the Ferryman’s riddle is responsible for that.

Otto’s disgraced mentor published a paper in which he posited the existence of other worlds and other centers of reality. This professor suggests that their own world might be “secondary” in the cosmic hierarchy of existence. This is outright transdimensional or multiverse shit right here and I love it so much! It makes sense to me in that these children who are so alien to this world would end up there, though I also believe that there were regular people there too (and kids), at least formerly.

SMALL SHIT

Additionally, this is one of the first times we’ve heard the monsters of this other place speak, or at the very least coherently. Not just the Ferryman, who is called the Candleman predominantly, but also the shopping mall.

The shopping mall is the third location that we know if that’s suggested to be alive. The Maw is only indicated through reading Word of God stuff from Tarsier and the imagery that it must “feed” or must not perish. With the Signal Tower or Transmission or Flesh Walls or Black Tower, what have you, we see this evidence explicitly.

Back to the abandoned shopping mall, which is what they’ve named it on the wikia for Little Nightmares! It’s not clear if it feeds on anything at all or how. I will also say that I’m a sucker for a tragic beastie, which is the vibes that I’m getting from this being. However, I don’t think it would be good for Noone to have stayed there with it, even if it always treated her well.

The shopping mall appears to be suffering from serious mental health issues and is horribly lonely. It is desperate to have someone else stay with it, and also appears to be aware of the common fate that befalls children outside its walls.

So you know what, I’m gonna choose to believe that while it’s certainly dangerous the mall doesn’t mean children harm. It’s both incredibly lonely and entirely powerless to stop anyone who’d willingly stay with it (or be forced to stay) from being taken.

I’ve wondered if anyone else was somewhat hoping for least one friendly giant to appear in the Nowhere. Alas, this “friendly” giant is miserable, a little unstable, and totally powerless to save the company it desperately craves.

It actually reminds me of Six being trapped and warped within the Tower. There seemed to be no real benefit to that place in keeping her there other than maybe controlling Mono more easily. Maybe the Tower wanted her to stay too. Who knows!

The last thing I wanna cover is (drumroll) THE FERRYMAN! God I love this character. What’s so interesting to me about him is that he doesn’t appear to be running on a single base desire like most of the other adults. That suggests to me that he may never have been human in the first place and that he’s also directly working for the otherworldly entities of the Nowhere.

He’s definitely trying to draw Noone further in and I believe the riddle he told her is part of a ritual or incantation to lure her further in. Either she will continue out of curiosity, a desire to get better (not realizing it’s a trap), or if she resists she won’t a choice once it’s fully taken hold in her. The route I think this is going is that Noone will be pulled over physically for longer and longer, with the world becoming more and more clear, until she can no longer return. Her home reality may now be but a dream that she’s no longer on the same wavelength of to be able to return to.

Anyway, that was a lot of writing lol! Props to anyone who makes it to the end. Please feel to share your own ideas in here and thanks for listening!

#little nightmares #the ferryman little nightmares #the sounds of nightmares #little nightmares 2