#tbh for the best though it does make it way too complicated to be a proper guide sheet

[avemstella]

I might edit the bios later, I went over them way too many times debating what to include etc and I just needed to post it or I never would lol. This was supposed to be simple, as u can tell I am not actually capable of such a task pfft

Oh yeah don't read this before chap 29

text typed out below (sorry meant to do this earlier)

Pierro the Jester #1 Cursed during the cataclysm for being Khaenri'ahian. Had ambitions to be a Sage (aka an elected politician) but was unable to achieve it for unknown reasons. Tutored Skirk at some point. In charge of the Harbs and recruited most personally. Colombina is his favorite and he is not afraid to show it. Pyro Delusion. Real name is Loge who is a Loki reference in the Wagner plays.

Capitano the Storm #2 Harbs resident Uber Driver. In charge of the Fatui Navy. Pyro Delusion that stings when he uses it, he likes the reminder. Before joining the Fatui he was from Fontaine and was part of their navy. So he's a bit of a stick in the mud for rules. However when his wife and young daughter died he became a total alcoholic drunk/suicidal. Weapon: Pistol. In his 50s

Pantalone the ??? #3 Money guy and unwilling Palace remodeler. Originally from Perežitok aka fake Siberia. Recruited covered in blood, Married to Signora to avoid gold diggers. They hate each other. Comes off emotionless and has a hard time feeling. But Scara claims under the surface he's filled with wrath. Hates Rich people

Colombina the ??? # 4 Makes the Delusions. Has uncontrollable fire powers, so has a Cryo Delusion. Gardens to calm down. Incredibly moody especially in the winter and has no filter. Burnt down the Palace and Dottore because she hates him. Not born in Snezhnaya. Names birds for dead people. B-day 4/4 because she doesn't know her real one, she doesn't understand time at all. Age Unknown, Loves pigeons.

Pulcinella the Rooster #5 Plans dude, in bureaucracy hell. Hydro Delusion though not a healer despite his desires. For some reason has a messy love life, Nika Volkov wants to marry him and is dating Sandy. Sort of adopts Childe at age 24, he joined the Fatui at age 14 himself by lying he was 16. Gets along well with Scara when Scara isn't self destructing. Grew up on a farm. Likes knives.

Scara the Balladeer #6 Only one whose backstory I mostly got right, so canon. Ignore the Dottore in said backstory lol, also he was created 400 years ago, woke up only 250 years ago. Electro Delusion that backfires on him constantly. Otherwise Catalyst healer. Likes kids so isn't the worst to Ajax, also views Bina as one too, is she one who knows? Dottore has promised to make him a god.

Dottore the Professor #7 Is not a clone, probably. Found in the Sumeru dessert under recommendation. Went to school with young Lisa. Currently 25ish. Causes problems for fun, especially for Scara. Was almost murdered by Bina for wanting to dissect her and other personal reasons. Hydro Delusion. Hand Constellation not Jesus[sidebar, what a line, without context is gibberish lol, I laughed writing this]. Travels about to avoid Bina. Involved in Crepus's death.

Signora the Fair Lady #8 Haven't really gotten into her job yet but its diplomacy/gnosis and some other spoilerly stuff. Cryo Delusion Catalyst canon. Not the Crimson Witch, maybe that will mean she'll live. Though is from Mondstadt and rich. Avoids family and married Pant. Currently has eyes, shame if something were to happen. Tbh she plays a much bigger role later in the fic so not too much to say here that's not a spoiler.

Sandrone the Strings #9 Human Resources, Adventurer's Guild, helps with graduation, takes on too much work because he's a zealot for the Tsaritsa. Also simps for Nella his bf. Born to Snezhnayan wealth and has known several harbs since he was young, not Nella though. Joined the Fatui at 18. Has messy feelings about Ajax and hates the Moth. Dendro Delusion Bow.

??? the Moth #10 The assassin and other under the table duties. Currently large betting pool for when Childe figures out her actual title, she is very dedicated to that bet. Mute and uses signs. Has a lot of snake imagery. Geo Delusion Bow. Has scars she hides. Also plays a larger role later so not much to say lol.

Skirk of the Abyss Did u think this was going to be Childe? he needs no introduction. Double Cursed Khaenri'ahian which allows her to not turn monstery, fights to protect the last city and her people. Was disowned from a high ranking family, used said family to steal the Imunlaukr King's sword before cataclysm. Terrible friends with Kaeya's parents.

Dantalion aka Tsaritsa and Hiyoko Volkov The Tsar is still grieving her dead spouse the last dendro god. She chooses the Harbs titles. Is a recluse after getting almost assassinated too many times. Hiyoko is one of the few to get her out of the Palace. Hiyoko is Kokomi's older cousin and probably killed her husband with her shiny new Cryo Vision. Wants her son Nika to marry Nella

#fic stuff #smfwtwd #my art #I got bored of drawing generic portraits almost instantly and went full foreshadowing/symbolism route #tbh for the best though it does make it way too complicated to be a proper guide sheet #also because they aren't generic pics I can't make early chap versions of this because their are spoilers in the pics #im a fool lol

[thechibilitwick]

As an honorary Shidou apologist, I am breaking my silence. I’ve finally decided to go on a rant on why I don't think Kirisaki Shidou is an organ harvester.

(fair warning I like absolutely suck ass at organizing my thoughts, so if some of this is incoherent or if it seems like i'm repeating myself my bad 😭 I mainly wrote this for fun)

So, I'm aware that this theory is the most popular consensus when it comes to Shidou (and tbh, I think part of it is because a lot of people kinda look over him? Like at least a tiny bit more than the others, considering a lot of people also don’t realize how his main victim was probably his son and not his wife, but I digress) (plus I think all milgram characters are looked over to a certain extent). While I do think parts of it are probably accurate in some way, I don't think he was a full-on organ harvester (as in he actively stole from patients through illegal means. emphasis on actively) and that the theory in and of itself is flimsy at best. He's morally questionable, yes, but it’s more in the sense that he’s a somewhat apathetic guy who lacked understanding on how his own set of morals and values (i.e. pushing for organ donation) could be seen as wrong. So if he were an organ harvester, wouldn’t he be aware that it’s illegal? That’s what confuses me whenever people bring it up. I don't actually doubt that he may have done something illegal for his family's sake, it’s just that I still highly doubt it was something he actively did. And that seems to be what a lot of people think when they refer to the theory. (if i’m wrong please forgive me, i just assume organ harvester shidou = people think he did it as a job)

Anyways, more under the cut for those interested (it's a bit lengthy my apologies)

It then kinda trickles down to how his guilt stems more from the consequences of his actions rather than the actual action of taking organs. The root of his guilt comes from the realization that basically asking families to pull the plug and use their loved ones' organs for donation is a very, very hard decision; one that he kept pressuring for. If he was an illegal organ harvester, and was aware that his actions were in fact illegal, why the hell would he feel so guilty to the point that he’d start having suicidal ideations? That’s the key difference between his profession and his possible criminal activities; one is a burden both emotionally and morally, the other is more or less a literal burden. And based off of Shidou's character, he seems to be much more emotionally affected. That's also why I think a lot of people jump to the conclusion that his guilt stems from his actual actions rather than their effects. (does that make sense oh lord i am going ☝️🤓 so hard rn)

I get that some parts of his MV or lyrics seem to be suggesting that, but also it’s important to note that Shidou has a very strong bias against himself and definitely painted himself in a negative light. I mean, that's why he thinks every single preceding patient before the final incident is a victim to him, why he shows himself staying professional in a professional setting as apathetic (minus the pressuring part), and why he literally equates his job to STEALING. Not only that but, imo, it's also a little too unrealistic and might not actually fit the criteria of Milgram. Milgram is for crimes that are in a morally grey area. So if it really was organ harvesting, is it really in a grey area? (though I guess you could say that doing it for family's sake would be, but that's only for his family. He'd have no reason to do it otherwise). Plus, it'd make more sense and fit the theme of touching upon social issues (i.e. abortion, bullying, societal standards, mental health, etc.) if shidou’s entire dilemma was in regards to (albeit questionably done) organ donation, a complicated ethical topic in Japan.

Throw Down actually gives a pretty good rough idea of Shidou's thoughts towards his crime and his feelings in regards to it. He felt like he was blinded by his own values, and that inadvertently caused him to be unaware of the suffering he caused through his job. It really does shock me that he somehow was able to pull-off getting a forgiven verdict in T1 because he certainly comes off as cold and uncaring in regards to his work.

I think the final bridge in Throw Down kinda summarizes his entire mindset, actually.

​​Now slowly close your eye, put your regret on display Wishing you for someone else's sake With the same expression no matter who comes I don’t feel scared because I don’t know

Shidou doesn't quite understand the feelings of his patient's families, and therefore he acts remorseful and sympathetic more than he actually feels. Why? Well, because he didn't know. Up until that point, he never understood the weight of his actions, and focused on his role as a doctor. "This is an upsetting subject, yes, but it's for the greater good, right?” A braindead person has little to no chances of living, so why not use this as an opportunity to donate their organs? Moreover, as a doctor I believe it’s typical to be "emotionally detached” (for lack of a better word) since I’d assume becoming emotionally connected with a patient would make things at least a bit messy.

His mindset comes crumbling down though, presumably because he experienced the same or a similar situation. This part remains muddy for me, since we don't know much about what the actual cause for Shidou's guilt is. There are several possibilities, with the most plausible ones being:

he lost his own family member and had to go through with the same decision,

he tried to save a family member using donated organs, but failed, making it seem like everything he has done as a doctor was in vain

(a secret third option would be him making someone he cares about make that decision but it's very unlikely and also requires too much mental gymnastics)

But no matter what exactly he did, it all trickles down to the validity of his morals. After realizing the pain of losing a loved one, the struggle of trying to save them, and the unfortunate failure which left all efforts practically pointless, Shidou would understand the actual weight of his actions and why all those families were so reluctant to let go of their own.

This is even more evident in his T2 voice drama, Asclepius.

"In order to save the life of someone you don't know, please let me kill your family," I told them. It doesn't even take much thinking to realize how cruel that is, but… I didn't realize it until the very end.

This is the gist of Shidou's crime, or at least part of it (considering he says "Well, about halfway" when Es asks if their judgment was right). Again, this tells us that Shidou's guilt comes from the act of the effects of organ donation rather than the literal action. And this also implies that his "murders" did in fact have to do with being in a medical situation, it's just the way he went about it was at the very least morally questionable.

I will also acknowledge that he says he killed for selfish reasons, which most likely relates to trying to save his own family member. Here he could possibly have actually done something illegal such as tampering with patients or illegally taking their organs (latter is a stretch imo). Plus, his distorted T2 voice trailer line is literally "You're in the way, hurry up and die" which would only make sense in the context of waiting for a patient to die. But it could also just be him continuing to pressure for organ donation, but now with his own selfish motives.

Going back to the "halfway" comment, while I personally believe it might have to do with how Shidou views his crime as more than just taking organs, it more likely implies that something else happened that Shidou would consider murder. That being the actual death of his family member. It's implied through Throw Down that he was trying to save someone but failed, which he was responsible for. Then from there it'd make sense to assume that he would feel some form of guilt for the rest of his patients, either for the reason of failing to actually utilize donated organs even with the opportunity of being able to save them, or for just realizing the what it actually feels like to have to give up on your loved one. (does. does that make any sense.)

So yeah, I don’t think he’s an organ harvester due to what’s known regarding his crime, the reasoning for his guilt, and with the way he is as a character. The most I’d personally believe is that he decided to harvest organs for the sake of his loved one, but even that seems like a stretch to me. Thus, that is why I believe Kirisaki Shidou is not an organ harvester.

Anyways I’ve rambled on long enough, thank you for reading if you did and remember to drink water and vote shidou innocent in trial 3 because i will shit my pants if he doesn't get inno

#milgram #shidou kirisaki #kirisaki shidou #milgram analysis #everyone point and laugh at me for writing so much #i am so terrified i said something wrong like if i did then strike me dead #kirisaki shidou DESTROYED MY LIFE #i love the pathetic failure doctor #i swear on my life he'll get 3 innos no matter what #shidou i am begging you do not pull out some bs that'll make you seem less favorable than you already are #chibi's ramblings

[ddlcbrainrot]

i’m just saying more people should make use of the angst factory that is sayori’s and mc’s friendship

Imagine you have a childhood best friend that you’ve lost touch with, and suddenly you two start hanging out again. You two start spending a lot of time together again, and things are like nothing has changed between you. All that time apart was not enough to strain your friendship, and you think to yourself “ wow even after all this time she still is the same sweet girl i’ve always known”.

Only for you to find out that she’s actually been suffering for as long as you’ve known her. And you didn’t realise a single thing until it was too late.

All the mixed emotions of concern for your friend, guilt of your ignorance (you’ve known her for forever, how couldn’t you tell?) but also the realisation that the person you’ve thought you knew better than anyone was more or less a facade. Now, i’m not saying that Sayori’s cheery personality is all fake, but i imagine MC would have to question where the facade starts and where it ends (did he even know her at all?).

All this and i’ve still haven’t said anything about Sayori’s POV of their friendship, which is just as - if not more - angst inducing.

I think the key factor to understand Sayori’s POV is the word indirect. Because most of the hurt she experiences from MC’s actions is in fact indirect. Even in the game she talks about how his actions were not actively malicious, but they indirectly caused her pain. And yeah, it is because of her feelings for him, but even if we ignore that their friendship alone still caused her indirect pain.

I see a lot of people be like “MC is so mean to her in their base game” which honestly? have you ever been in a long term friendship? idk if it’s just me but the way they interacted seemed like how any childhood friends would. Because no matter how mean your childhood friend is to you, you know they don’t mean any actual malice. It’s basic logic that the person who has been with you since childhood doesn’t actually think of you as just some dumb clutz. But depression isn’t logical. And that’s exactly why Sayori is actually affected by what on any other circumstance would be playful teasing between lifelong friends. It’s actually an issue that, while complicated, could easily be addressed if Sayori communicated to MC her feelings on the matter. But since Sayori is so focused to keeping things the same, how they’ve always been so he doesn’t worry, she doesn’t voice this at all.

I’d like to add that even though Sayori goes out of her way to make sure MC doesn’t find out about her depression, there must also be a part of her that is hurt by his lack of knowledge on the matter. MC in act 1 repeatedly says he knows Sayori better than anyone. Imagine you are Sayori, your friend insists he knows you, fully knows you, and yet he can’t seem to notice this very vital part of you. Again, he is hurting her indirectly, and frankly because Sayori is herself keeping this part of her hidden. It’s a double edged sword, really.

When Sayori does tell MC about her depression however, MC quite frankly responds in a pretty bad way.

I don’t think i need to explain how his response isn’t at all what you should say, i think enough people have done so already. But i will say it makes sense for him to respond that way. I think a lot of people, especially people who are online, have seen so many post or videos about how to handle these kind of situations, so it’s easy to forget that not everyone is that well educated on the subject of mental health (and it makes even more sense for MC in particular to be so clueless on the subject, since men’s knowledge on mental health is literally non existent bc of society’s own view of men as emotionless, but that’s a rant for another time). I think he reacts as a normal teenage guy would tbh. And that is he says the wrong thing.

And as he finds Sayori in the end of act 1, since he doesn’t know of Monika’s influence, he thinks his ignorance costs his best friend’s life.

#ddlc #ddlc sayori #ddlc mc #this was supposed to be just the first line btw #but i decided to explain myself a little #two hours later… #if something doesn’t make sense pls forgive me i’m not a writer :’)

[justanaspiringsomeone]

Parenthood

Disclaimer: none of these characters should have kids under any circumstances as they are. This is for fun. Also they’re not with anyone for this, they just find a child or the child finds them as sticks around.

Leander 

This can go two ways

On one hand, Leander feels like the perfect guy to take care of a kid

However, we also need to take into account the man is a workaholic, possibly a sexaholic and an alcoholic

Like he’s constantly moving

Does not realize he prob needs to slow down the slightest bit to pay attention to a kid

A being that needs A LOT of attention

But he means well, he really does

There's a lot of sweet moments, like he really shows to the kid the better parts of Eridia

Lots of playing pretend

Dad jokes galore to mess with the kid

Honestly in the kid is rebellious all Leander asks that they don’t get caught

Don’t argue a lot but when they do they can get pre bad

Punishments aren’t enforced much unless the kid REALLY PUSHED IT

Will actually cry at being called dad

Ais

Ok hear me out

Best option out of the group because he feels like he understands kids?

Like it might be because of his position in being a leader or what but he can gauge how to deal with a kid

It doesn’t help he likes it when there's fire to a kid

He’s def challenging as well

Teaches the kid how to fight, has princess play with them, doesn't even mind when they sleep on him

If the kid calls him ‘dad’ or ‘papa’ he will actually feel a neuron activation

Like his expression doesn’t change much but he does feel so much internally

Does not let them anywhere near the seaspring and even scares them from ever going near it

Too young to make such a decision

Kuras 

Finds out that watching a child and actually raising one are two different things REAL QUICK

Second best option ngl

Rip to the child BECAUSE KURAS CAN'T COOK

But they are taken care of def

Only smiles softly at being called dad

Super sweet with the kid but the scoldings and his disappointment has the kid sobbing more than anything else

Vere 

Not a kid person

Never was one, never will be

Also most complicated due to the senobium??

I feel like if he did have a kid That kid would be a complete diva like he is

Absolutely adores Vere

And while Vere will disembowel someone who says it

He will fight and kill gladly for this particular child

Though we have to be real, Vere is still Vere

The child just might be collateral

More protective uncle than dad vibes tbh

Mhin

Second worse option to Vere

Mostly due to their own issues and line of work

The kid spends most of the time with Kuras

A literal godsend

Bonding is hard and arguing is imminent and constant

Mhin cares very much about the kid and wants to protect the kid

But refuses to cave into the emotional aspect of raising a kid

However, a silver lining is when the kid becomes curious about Science due to Kuras

And cats

Which are small ways that Mhin and the kid bond and it’s super adorable 

Mhin feels themself soften a bunch when the kid falls asleep on them or calls them a parent

Too many emotions run through them

#ts headcanons #touchstarved headcanons #touchstarved vere #ais ts #ais touchstarved #touchstarved vn #touchstarved game #touchstarved leander #leander touchstarved #ts kuras #ts ais #ts #ts vere #mhin touchstarved #mhin #mhin ts #vere touchstarved #kuras #ais #vere #leander #kuras touchstarved

[everythingwritingg]

Writing from the Villain’s POV

@everything.writing on IG

Most stories are told from the hero’s POV, because it’s easier for the reader to relate to those characters. However, sometimes, you might want to spice it up more, so it might be practical to write from the villain’s POV.

Establish a reasonable motivation for why your POV character is evil. It’s essential that the reader relates to the main character, so you should try to create a believable motivation. Do the characters want money? To protect someone they love? Or are they misguided and do they truly believe they’re doing the right thing?

Your villain should have a moral code. Even if your character is a murderer, maybe they don’t kill children. Or they may steal and cheat, but they make sure no one gets hurt from their crimes. What is the line that your villain will not cross? This will make the readers emphasize with the villain further.

Put them in a “good person’s life.” Your character is a run of the mill office worker who pays his taxes and takes care of his family. But maybe, at his job, he steals from his boss or coworkers. Maybe his motivation is to bring more money into the family because he cares about them. This humanizes the character instead of only seeing the character for their crimes.

Is your villain a reliable or unreliable narrator? Nothing screams “unreliable narrator” more than the Spanish colonizers writing about their encounter with Native Americans. Does your villain narrate everything that happens, or do they omit important information?

Really flesh out the villain. No person is “just a monster.” Each villain has complicated backstories, personality, and goals. They also have likes and dislikes and special quirks too. Develop the villain as much as you would develop a regular character. Maybe your villain likes to murder people, but they leave a joke at the site of the dead body.

Make sure there’s something opposing the villain. This could be environmental factors or another person or group that’s trying to keep the villain from achieving their goals. In the example above, the villain is trying to run from the police. In their unreliable narration, the villain might vilify the police to make them look like they’re doing the same thing.

What is their environment like? Does your character work for a corrupt government, where their behavior is encouraged? Or is your character a serial killer on the fringe of society that can’t risk getting discovered? This will greatly influence the way the villain carries out their crimes, whether out in the open or in secret.

What happens to them at the end? Do you plan to write your story as a redemption arc, when your character sees the other side? Or do they get caught and stopped? Or do they keep themselves hidden and continue with their lifestyle of crime?

Researching this post really helped me with my current story, though I don’t think the MC was evil, but a product of a corrupt society. My MC is morally gray at best TBH. Anyway, I hope this post gave you some useful information, even if I felt like it was all disorganized and I just wrote down whatever I could think of next.

[spicyicymeloncat]

Okay it’s 4am and I bring you: Ninjago gamer hcs (in order of who plays the most)

Jay is the gamer. That’s what he spends most of his time doing. He prefers older games for the nostalgia and has a massive collection. He also is just really into computers and consoles and knows so many unnecessary things about computing history and what pc has the best performance and what not. Yknow he’s probably a twitch streamer. And he just generally loves all kinds of games, arcade, console, computer, mobile. And he’s played all of them. He’s also probably tried his hand at coding games but he’ll start a project and never finish it (yknow like everyone ever). Jay also probably makes let’s plays and game reviews lol.

Cole is almost as diverse in his game tastes as Jay but he gets rlly into specifically rp games, and will ramble on about the plot of a game to anyone listening. He’s usually Jay’s player 2 in any co op game, and can become quite competitive (there’s like two instances of Cole being someone who beats other people’s high scores - even though one of those times was a prank by Lloyd). He’s actually got better hand eye coordination than Jay but Jay has more knowledge on game mechanics.

Pixal usually plays borg games (because yes of course Cyrus borg makes games). Regardless of what genre it is, she supports her dad. Although her favourites are racing games bc zooom. I think she’d enjoy rpgs as well idk. She got into gaming as a way to have alone time, and isn’t a huge fan of co op with the ninja because they’re really loud lol. But she can be player 3 sometimes.

Lloyd plays whatever is new trendy and “soon to be considered cringe” (not to say they are cringe but just to address the games that other ppl tend to describe as cringe). So he was big into minecraft and Fortnite (or the Ninjago versions of those) when it was popular. I can see him being in to first person shooters just because a lot of people play those. Oh and Nintendo esque games. Like we all know he kinned link from any Zelda ever. I think he’s also a fan of sonic tbh (jay too). Oh but Lloyd scarcely ever plays older games. He only really plays games that have just come out and as soon as a new game comes out he’s abandoned the old one forever.

Zane doesn’t play games all that often (honestly he enjoys board games more) but he does enjoy incredibly hard or thought provoking games. He’s a rhythm game king and is scary good. He’s also a mobile gamer on top of that. Unlike Cole, Zane can’t really get into rpgs especially if the graphics are kinda old school. Also he usually gets high scores so beating him is usually seen as a great triumph. Also everyone on the team is prone get frustrated at losing games but Zane isn’t really a sore loser because he never loses. But on the off chance that he does struggle with a game and loses, he’ll sigh and lie down on the sofa and idk refuse to make dinner. He’ll sulk the longest out of anyone and it’s fair because RHYTHM GAMES ARE SO PERSONAL OKAYYY

Nya doesnt really like video games. But she’ll play them to make jay happy because she likes seeing him game. But mostly she’ll just watch and offer random commentary. However she love love loves the dance game at the arcade because romance and also she likes being active (maybe she’d like a wii sports lol). She’s got a soft spot for the arcade but that’s about it.

Kai only likes a select handful of games and it’s usually brawl streetfighter games that specifically came out when he was a kid, and it’s mostly because he was good at them. He used to like them a lot more but grew out of it. He just doesn’t understand how complicated newer games are, and barely remembers how they work anyways. He’s like and old man who just watches Lloyd gush about the new game he got for his birthday with barely any idea of what’s going on. He’s more of jock so.

Wu does not game it hurts his eyes. I’d say he’d like chess but I think wu would absolutely despise chess (and it’s because both Garmadon and Misako are chess pros and wu doesn’t even remember the names of the pieces)

Bonus: all the ninja love (hate) mariokart and it is chaos. Cole spends 30 minutes picking a character, Lloyd can only be green characters because he relates to them, Kai is screaming because he keeps falling off the map, jay is screaming because he just screams during games, Nya doesn’t even play properly she drives around backwards on the map, Zane will get blue shelled and Pixal will win and Zane’s just holding back tears repeating “I love my gf” over and over. And Wu will unplug the tv because he wants to go to bed.

#this took an hour to write #look it’s not angst #ninjago #lego ninjago #ninjago headcanons #Ninjago jay #Ninjago cole #Ninjago Pixal #Ninjago Lloyd #ninjago zane #Ninjago nya #Ninjago kai #Ninjago wu

[creampuffqueen]

okay done with homework time for more avatar oc lore!!!!

- avatar lusa’s name means ‘midnight’. you’ll never guess what time she was born at

- being from the southern water tribe, which has always been a bit more lax on letting women learn waterbending, she did learn how to fight. sort of. mostly defensive moves, though

- she was brought to the northern water tribe to learn healing

- her healing teacher was a woman named panninguaq, the chief’s eldest daughter

- the chief of the tribe also had twin sons, paruk and panuk

- the twins have a different mom. panninguaq’s mother gave birth to her and then was unable to conceive again. the tribe elders insisted the chief take another wife in order to produce a male heir. they rejoiced when she had two

- panuk is close with his older sister, paruk is not. paruk is the eldest by a few minutes, making him the heir. panuk and panninguaq both feel shirked by him, and so their relationship with him is best described as frosty. lol

- paruk is a decent guy though, and does his best to live up to his duties to the tribe. lusa finds this very admirable, hence why she started falling for him

- to learn earthbending, she was sent to ba sing se to live with the royals while she trained

- lusa kinda sucked at bending tbh. she found it really difficult and was also very hard on herself

- prince haoyu, a nonbender, helped her with her overall confidence, and also was always there to take her mind off bending with something intellectual, like reading or pai sho

- and oopsies he fell in love with her too

- lusa headed to the fire nation to learn firebending from the crown princess, nyzah

- hearing about the avatar’s… warm welcome in the other nations, the firelord’s only instruction to his daughter was: don’t fall in love with her

- nyzah, two weeks later: dad i fell in love with the avatar

- anyway lol

- lusa heads off to the eastern air temple to learn airbending. she meets with chesa, who is one of the youngest spiritual gurus the air nation has seen

- chesa sees that crooked avatar grin and knows she’s done for

- they’re all very funny to me

- so yeah that’s how avatar lusa got her politically complicated polycule

- as for the future

- lusa ends up officially marrying 3/4 of her partners

- people are like ‘can she do that?’ ‘i mean she’s the avatar i guess she can do what she wants’

- the only one she doesn’t marry is nyzah, simply due to the fact that nyzah is an only child and therefore must produce an heir for her country

- nyzah marries a very chill fire nation guy who’s a nice person and a good father, and they remain very friendly even if there’s no romantic love between them

- fun fact: asami and mako and bolin’s mothers can both trace their lineage back to firelord nyzah

- nyzah had a son who became the next firelord, and two younger daughters. one daughter is an ancestor of naoki, one daughter is an ancestor of yasuko

- not that this matters at all, or that they’d ever be able to trace their ancestry back that far. this is like ~1000 years before canon

- but it’s fun

- as for paruk and haoyu’s lines

- lusa did have a few kids

- but all were barred from the lines of succession because there was no accurate way to confirm who their father was. and no royalty was gonna put someone on the throne who they weren’t absolutely sure was supposed to be there

- so paruk’s siblings did in fact sort of get to rule, because one of their heirs got the throne after he died. who’s laughing now

- and haoyu had a younger brother whose kid took the throne. he and his brother were closer though, so he wasn’t nearly as bothered lol

overall though they all lived pretty chill and happy lives

so there you have it 👍

#mal's shitposts #atla #tlok #atla oc

[nott-another-sideblog]

blaise zabini headcanons because he’s my second favourite

his favourite colour is warm deep orange, like dark/burning honey

born in italy but his mother owns a home in england as well

spends most of his summers abroad in his family home, but he and his mother travel a lot

doesn’t really care about his many stepfathers bcs he’s used to them dying pretty quick

his mother doesn’t even directly kill most of them they’re just super old

everyone just assumes she did because. well. seven of them

she might like. not clean up water spills or leave random potions in the fridge or wtv but she’s just prompting chance tbh

it leaves them with a lot of money and blaise with complicated feelings about relationships

he’s never seen one last that long so he doesn’t really expect them to

lots of people flirt with him and people think he’s a womaniser because he doesn’t shut it down

he doesn’t actually sleep around or date that much though. dating seems like too much effort for something he doesn’t see as long-term, and he has exams n shit

tries hard to achieve but tries just as hard to keep that under wraps

does his best to make everything look effortless. like he’ll study but only alone in the dorms, and he’ll have a fancy skincare routine that he hides from everyone

like he’s arrogant but makes sure he can back it up, he will Not be caught doing worse than someone else

most of the people in his house r big name families from england who have their legacy and fortunes behind them. image is important to him because he has to prove himself and he doesn’t have the ties and influence his peers had before they could even talk. let’s be real basically everyone is cousins somehow in pure blood britain and he doesn’t have that connection with everyone

he still has the wealth and the legacy but not the recognition

doesn’t like draco that much bcs he thinks he can’t back his ego, he tries too hard very visibly and it irritates blaise

that absolute mass of hair gel in first year can be cited as an example. so much noticeable excess to seem professional with his slicked hair when it just looked like a helmet

really likes quidditch, but he prefers playing to watching. he likes watching it too but there’s something different about participating, being able to directly affect the outcome of something

extremely competitive

not above cheating but is subtle about it. no stealing chess pieces but he might look over your cards at poker, or shuffle a specific way if he’s the dealer

if he gets caught he gets defensive and denies denies denies, it’s like his least favourite thing ever because it’s like a show of intelligence to not get caught, and it just causes pointless annoying arguments

the majority of his housemates r cheating too so it’s not like anyone cares beyond ‘screw over whoever u like but you fucked over Me Specifically and i don’t like that’, but that’s still annoying to deal with

high standards for everything, from his food to his clothes to his stationary, especially to himself

has very neat handwriting and is proud of it

quite likes vertical stripes but doesn’t wear them often

HATESSS sudoku with a burning passion

likes crime novels and is pretty fond of romance, but he doesn’t tell anyone about the latter

judgemental in the ‘nice to ur face but will talk shit behind your back’ kind of way

it’s not that he won’t defend himself or be clear when he hates u, it’s just that he doesn’t see the value in isolating his peers by insulting them in front of them

that’s a very bad strategy for getting influence

ppl are never sure if he likes them or not

outwardly suave and works hard to look nonchalant, but if he’s close to someone he lets himself relax and be a bit more playful

surprisingly decent at divination but still refuses to go anywhere near the class

pretty good at charms

his hair was pretty long in fourth year but he had it cut short again for fifth

absolutely hates comc he would rather burn than deal with creatures

he loves his owl and that is it

his mother is nicknamed the black widow due to all the dead husbands. ironically blaise is terrified of spiders. and insects. and anything that scuttles

used to have a gap tooth and was very insecure until he got it magically fixed

#blaise >> tbh #blaise zabini #nott another sideblog #blaise zabini headcanons #blaise zabini hp

[tonariofjananda]

For the ask game: Tonari - 5, 7, and 12!

Heya Ray! Ok here goes

5) What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Honestly I’ve got a handful, most for maybe a line or two of association, but the first one that came to mind when reading this question that’s completely hers in my head was “The Moon Will Sing” by the Crane Wives. I love imagining the song as her reflecting on her dad, friends, Hayase, and Fushi, and how they’ve all contributed to the way she feels about herself and her legacy. Fun fact, the association came about from my mishearing of a line as “I shine only with the life you gave me,” the original word being “light” instead of “life.” But the more I reflected on the song, the more I felt her presence in it (I described this to my best friend as Tonari clawing her way to the surface lol), especially in the third verse. That one in particular draws a really vivid image to me of what Tonari’s headspace must have been right after Fushi pulled her away from the flames. I imagine she’s remorseful that she couldn’t give her friends a better life and is rallying to find her courage to kill them before Fushi steps in. “Instead you hoarded all that’s left of me” is a complicated little line too, filled with the bitterness and confusion at Fushi of keeping her from death. There’s not much left of her with the death of her friends, what Fushi did was selfish, but also implies Tonari didn’t realize Fushi cared if she lived or died. Then he takes the sword from her hands, “swallowing your doubt,” and she’s… grateful, angry, upset… but most of all, she acknowledges the mutual hesitance between herself and Fushi, even though they both know this is the only course of action. Even though it makes her feel like he’s taking the sword through her own body. He might as well be. The line “I want to feel the fire that you kept from me” is the most straightforward in my opinion, and what really solidified this song as being hers for me. It’s a little funny what I’ve done here tbh. The song probably meant the line as “i want to become the person you stopped me from being, I want to regain the life that was supposed to be mine,” but for this Tonari interpretation, I’ve given it the opposite implication… cough

Anyway, the chorus also kind of ties in with another song I somewhat associate with her, “Your Best American Girl” by Mitski, for the lines “Well I’m not the moon/I’m not even a star,” but I’ll spare you the analysis for that and “Goodbye My Danish Sweetheart” (also by Mitski) til… later 👀❗️

For now, I’ll leave you with the three following, lighter songs: Laufey called “Best Friend,” which I listen to as something directed towards the immortal army as a whole; “Wings,” by So!YoON! and Phum Viphruit as a song between her and Ligard and Fushi woah who said that; and “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri bc immortalism and the heartbreak of waiting to reunite with someone. Also please imagine the second verse as being from Fushi’s perspective on getting not just her but all of their friends back at the end of the past era arc with potentially rough implications for their thought process in the modern arc WHO SAID THAT

7) What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

(Lyn asked me this too so I’ll cover it here for the two of ya!)

Tbh… I just like it when anyone talks about her ówò Tonari tends to get overlooked- even tho I’d argue she’s something of a deuteragonist- so I really just love whenever people acknowledge her importance to the story and show some enthusiasm for her plotlines. In terms of stories and fan art, it’s always awesome to see all the different sides of her shine through! Tonari’s badass, bitchy, and a little judgmental, but she’s also fashionable, studious, and warm, especially toward March and Eko. It’s also nice to see the occasional silliness she used to show on Jananda shine through every now and then. She’s changed a lot by the next arc, for obvious reasons, but she was pretty silly to Hisame when she was inviting herself to dinner, I don’t think all that playfulness should just disappear! So it’s nice to see fans playing with Tonari without vilifying her ;w; Also without reducing her to her feelings for Fushi, because yeah she has some but that’s not the only thing she’s about (even tho…. I fixate a lot… on that particular subject……… cough). While I’m on the subject, I really love that most ToFu art is limited to things like gentle physical affection. A head on a shoulder (I spent hours running around my house when you sent me that pic Ray, HOURS), a meaningful hug, and touching hands- an absolute must if you like em. I’m definitely getting carried away now though…

12) What's a headcanon you have for this character?

(Limit yourself, limit yourself, limit yourself…!!!)

(Also Coop if you’re reading this, the green one is the only safe one lol)

Bisexual Tonari is an obvious one, I’m convinced she was attracted to Parona’s form (who isn’t in this show tho lmao), and I find those ship posts between Tonari and Mizuha to be so fun tbh. Enemies to lovers maybe, invited to hold hands with her and Hanna! That theory you had about Nagisa having a crush on Tonari lives in my head rent free too, absolutely canon to me. Actually the MizuNariHanna stuff would be extra funny in a world where Nagisa has a crush on Tonari bc now Mizuha’s a girl stealer too! Nagisa just can’t win!!!

Tonari loves writing! And she’s a woman in STEM! Not a headcanon just fact but it lays down the groundwork for my following headcanon: she probably went away to grad school or something. Bon asked if Tonari knew how to do surgery, implying to my insane head that she’s probably gone away for school or something, maybe even received a doctorate, but Bon doesn’t know what for. Her stitches look a bit spaced out and wonky tbh, so she probably doesn’t have the patience for things like needlepoint. I’d wager her calling probably isn’t physical art either haha.

She absolutely goes drinking with the immortal trio + Bon and maybe Gugu once she’s old enough to do so (… would Hairo drink? Designated driver Hairo Rich, but also it’d be so funny if he’s completely normal in the stupidest way while drunk. “Stands like perfectly normal but topples over the second he goes to take a step” typa drunk- BUT THIS ISNT ABOUT HIM SORRY). I think they’d love having Tonari around to pal around with! I imagine that old Jananda arc silliness comes out full force then, if her excitement at Mizuha’s birthday was anything to go off ✌️

(This one’s safe Coop!) Her hair’s been short and choppy since before she got to Jananda so I like to think she did that little kid thing where she tried cutting her own hair and it came out looking uneven. Instead of letting her parents fix it though, she just insisted it wasn’t a mistake and wore it out like that for years. Then when she got to Jananda all the scissors sucked so she just had to keep cutting her hair in the same shabby way. Mia and Oopa having long hair is so funny to me too cuz I imagine they wouldn’t let Tonari get anywhere near them with scissors in her hand (OK stop reading here Coop!)

While I’m here, i think Tonari probably sees a little bit of her old friends in the immortal army tbh. Like, @/alphaofdarkness made the connection that March probably reminded Tonari of Oopa ;; So I feel like Gugu could remind Tonari of Uroy in some ways too, like in the buff, blond, older brother figure kind of way. Eko could remind her of young Sandel in the same way both were kind of upbeat and cute, but quiet in a way that they faded a little in the group (my brother INSISTED Sandel had NOT been there the entire time we were watching the Jananda arc). Meanwhile Messar might remind her of the older Sandel, the kind who probably was more like a brotherly shithead to her after all their years of growing up together. And Mia… imma be honest Mia’s weird as hell, chair fighting, curly hair collecting? Ain’t nobody doing it like Mia 🫡 ACTUALLY ITS BON, BON TOTALLY REMINDS HER OF MIA LMAO

OK IM ENDING IT THERE (Believe it or not this is me limiting myself, I’d typed out an entire section on Tonari’s relationship with each of the members of the immortal army). Hope these were decent enough responses to your questions Ray!

If you- or anyone- has anymore questions on Tonari or literally anyone else please feel free to send them! I have thoughts on like literally everyone, no character too obscure ✌️

#Nova Rambles #Ask Game #Tonari #Tonari of Jananda #Tonari Dalton #Fumetsu no Anata e #To Your Eternity #To You The Immortal #long post #what a fun little exchange we had here Ray! #I never mentioned this but I’m the dumbass who sent the anonymous Kahaku question #sending asks anonymously is second nature to me but I didn’t realize it done it for your question so I do apologize 🤦‍♀️ #anyway I mean it when I say no character is too obscure I swear I’ll do it #for example my favorite Hayase descendant is Oumi for some fucking reason #I know everyone’s going wild for Doro rn (and I agree she’s cute as hell!!!) but so far she hasn’t outranked Oumi as number 1 for me yet lo #God I should include a ‘read more’ tab but I’m not sure after which one #I hope the long post tab is good enough for now #edit: I realized like just now I wrote Crane Sisters instead of Crane Wives idk why how misremembered so bad

[tamelee]

What do you think of Kishimoto as a writer?

Oh. Well.. allow me.

I'm not a writer myself so I feel like I am in no position to say anything regarding him as a writer specifically. But I'm studying to become a storyteller partly because of Kishimoto. As a writer your tools are limited no matter the amount of creativity you have. Imagine a blank page and a pencil. How do you get from an idea to the story that is 'Naruto'? A Manga where he for the most part had to be his own director, storyteller, storyboard-artist, artist, plotter, scriptwriter, character designer, researcher, special effects artist, tone worker- you name it.

But of course, that's not to discredit Kazisa, Takahashi, Yahagi and Ikemoto who assisted him. Or the editors at Weekly Shonen Jump who helped Kishimoto outline his story to what it is today.

Outlines often get rejected and many of Kishimoto's ideas/original plans did too.

I'm glad as well because some of them I don't think were as strong. Neither were some ideas for example a sketch of Sasuke's original introduction compared to what we have in Chapter 3 now. This fits his character way better and even though I'm often complaining about Naruto's ending (as we all should tbh,) the editors of SJ know their target audience best. That doesn't mean that every story or decision succeeds.. but it does mean there is a structure that generally works. A golden way for Shonen Manga. (Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu). One that Kishimoto often struggled with not just 'Naruto' but in general I think because he explained that no matter how many ideas he had for an adventurous story, he never got any green lights. He decided to go for a sports theme and sketched out a baseball Manga.

And it's very apparent in many excerpts when he says that the editors were pushing him a lot towards entertainment, that Kishimoto himself embraced elements of realism and more serious topics himself that weren't necessarily suited for Shonen.

(Side-note: Shonen is not really a 'genre'. Also, the difference between Shonen en Seinen depends on the way it's written. Rating or themes does not classify a story as either one by itself although Shonen is targeted at a younger audience and therefore its plot should generally be more easy to understand within a wider audience group. Often the stories are focussed on external conflicts while Seinen expands a lot on psychological struggles. Even if you were to tell the same story separately it can still be the same story- just executed differently, therefore it's not really a "genre" but a demographic. That's what I mean when I say "I wish 'Naruto' would've gotten a Seinen sequel." It's not about the story being more "mature" as some believe.)

But... even though that all is true for 'Naruto' and its world focusses a lot on external struggles of being a Ninja in it's incredibly adventurous Shinobi-world, Kishimoto didn't shy away from making it a very character-driven story as well. A story where partly, Naruto and Sasuke as our main-act, with their internal conflicts till this day, are somewhat hidden away from that very same demographic even though their feelings are in plain sight. Why? Because it isn't suited for them and certainly not that easy to understand. If you've come across posts here that say "omigod how can you not understand this simple thing? 🙄" regarding something in the story then I'm here to tell you that they probably also didn't the first time they read it, unless they have some media/literacy-experience or something similar. In which case I admire them, but also, don't worry- you're not alone and it's pretty normal.

There's a reason Kishimoto had to fight his own staff so hard to get certain scenes through. (For example his reverse Harem no Jutsu.) And seeing him say that he felt pressured a lot makes me sad but it's understandable because I think what mattered to him at some points through storytelling would've become too complicated for SJ's audience. I can't imagine his own internal battle having fought solitude and rejection himself but then hunching over a desk for 15+ years, immersed in doing what he loves only for him to most likely not be satisfied with the ending. In fact, I'm pretty sure as that last Chapter felt painful. Like a bucket of icy water slapped in your face on your way out.

Hehe. Well, he did.

As him being a Mangaka and creator of stories, I genuinely respect Kishimoto so much. There's a reason why people in the industry call him Kishimoto-sensei. A teacher and master of his craft. It shows in his work and most of all his art.

I mean.. how can you not respect that?? Honestly I could go on and on but I'd be writing entire essays. The writing process itself is complicated, people are involved, editors, but I think he was able to show very well why 'Naruto' at least meant a lot to him and why he wanted to create it. I'm glad he was able to push his ideas through.. despite SJ's demographics in his own way and I can only hope that one day he would have it in him to create a satisfying resolution regardless of anything else. He and the fandom deserve it. But I can only hope. Oh! I love his other stories too actually but, I'm not sure if you're asking about that.

#asktamelee #kishimoto #I'd be writing loveletters

[bonefall]

seeing all the neurodivergence/disability stuff in your inbox and it brought up a part of my (and @syrnaxi’s) rewrite:

Bluestar/yellowfang bond over autistic/adhd solidarity

how do you handle the silverstream “death in childbirth” thing? So far, we’ve been waffling back and forth between “this should happen a lot more” or “silverstream should have a reproductive disability- we’ve decided on endometriosis, something we both have personal experience with. Anyway, I’d love your input on how this could be handled, as well as what general medical care for reproductive issues would look like!!

Thanks!

People are starved for good Neurodivergence/Disability representation and I humbly provide

Blue and Yellow

I won't be doing very much with Bluestar/Yellowfang's possible bond because I find that TPB is already super packed, and Bonefall TPB in particular is extremely politically focused as the basis for what Thistle Law, Traditionalism, and Fire Alone look like in practice. There just isn't room in the story that I'm telling for Blue and Yellow to also get focus as a unit.

I do find them super compelling in the fandom, though. I think the way that, combined, they lost a full litter of kits (Blue lost 1 and Yellow lost 2) is an unexplored concept. Not to mention their complicated feelings towards StarClan, with Yellowfang accepting that she 'deserves' punishment where Bluestar scorns the stars completely.

(CW past this point: I'm talking about Silverstream's death in childbirth, cat reproduction, infection, and also I start ranting about how much human reproduction sucks)

Silverstream

Again since TPB is SO packed it's hard to work in the same kind of disability/neurodivergence exploration I'm so dedicated to for the arcs past TNP

It does make sense to me though that Silverstream's lineage has a medical history of birth complications. I know her mom died of Greencough but it always made more sense to me that it was death by childbirth tbh.

I generally try to avoid talking about reproductive issues the same way I try to avoid talking about surgery and alcohol without massive tagging here and back, but with reproductive issues, I'd also have to get into how fundamentally different cats are to humans with the way we reproduce... which includes cat heat

Humans are one of the very few mammals that are fertile year-round and renew the nutrients in our wombs monthly. Humans are a horror house of animal reproduction.

Replacing these nutrients monthly to the point where it's good growing ground for ONE OF THE MOST INTENSIVE INFANTS IN THE ENTIRE ANIMAL KINGDOM is disgustingly wasteful

Because this gross slop is growing every month, it's like there's a thousand more chances for SOMETHING to go wrong. It's like russian roulette with meat

OUR. PELVISES. SUCK. We made a hasty transition from ape to featherless biped and that meant that the Bone Cradle where we supposed to gestate something that is the size of a melon suddenly also had to BEAR ALL OF OUR WEIGHT AT THE SAME TIME.

Cats are NOT this bad in terms of childbirth. Yeah sure there's complications here and there, but those complications mostly affect the kittens, not the mother. Most uterus problems in cats have to do with mollies that have had a lot of heat cycles and never had kittens.

Heat cycles have their own completely unique set of biological problems though- the cat equivalent of endometriosis would be frequent development of pyometra, because the hormones associated with heat cycles cause the suppression of the immune system. So infections happen OFTEN in the WORST possible way

These are both pretty bad, so personally I just... try not to think about it too much for the rewrite. I take the best of both worlds-- their childbirth isn't as bad and dangerous as a human's, and also they don't get pyometra much.

If you want treatment plans for reproductive issues though, I'd recommend looking over at my HRT guide. The antigonadotropins (rosemary, wolf's foot) I mention there can be used for cats who have reproductive issues to prevent as much thickening of the uterus and generally limit the causes of both Endometriosis and Pyometra; bad hormones.

#Reproduction #Infection #cw childbirth #endometriosis #pyometra #Silverstream #Bonefall Rewrite

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

also the complicated interpersonal dynamics are so interesting sdfgd what was the darkling's reaction/thought process when the tsar stated that his son was to wed Alina? does the royal court suspect anything going on between alina and aleksander? bro is NOT being subtle 😭. he's doing this shit right in front of everyone's salad-

Re: this fic

I talked about both points a little bit in a previous ask. I was initially considering having that scene where he’s informed of it actually from his POV, but I liked the emphasis on how he told it to Alina and how she recounts it to Nikolai.

For reference, this is what she says:

I think he’s being pretty honest about what actually happened (gasp).

The way I picture the actual conversation going, I think the Darkling and a couple advisors, and the Apparat (who’s getting way too annoyingly ubiquitous) are trying to brief the Tsar on things he does not care about and get him to okay particular things that suit them etc. The Tsar gets impatient and shoos everyone off but singles the Darkling out like *you* stay. Side note, I think it’s really funny that he has no like natural sounding title or name to be called by a superior. The Tsar is obviously not going to call him “moi soverenyi” so… I can’t think of any alternative that isn’t mildly insulting??

Anyway the Darkling is fully braced for a very annoying time, and sure enough the Tsar opens with like how disappointing the long awaited sun summoner has been, and the lack of results. And how disappointing he has been. None of this is quite eyebrow raising yet, just white noise. The Tsar could have a particularly nice nap and suddenly decide that the Darkling is his best friend. He’s generally mercurial so the finer points of his mood don’t super matter to him. But then he gets into how Alina wouldn’t deserve an engagement to Vasily. And that is a record scratch moment lmao. The Darkling internally:

He’s of course already jumped two steps ahead, and assumes that the conclusion of opening with this, means that the Tsar intends Alina to marry Vasily despite all these caveats. Which imo says something about him, and it also says something about the Tsar that he means it very literally lmao.

Anyway it’s too absurd for the Darkling to feel like insulted about it in the moment. It’s more just bewildering and fucking crazy. He also just does not take the Tsar at all seriously, coup plans or no coup plans. He thinks it’s just as likely that he’ll change his mind the next day. (This is hm too much arrogance on his part tbh, I don’t think that’s actually plausible)

Then the Tsar’s finally like okay so all this is why she’s going to marry Nikolai instead. Which is itself I think hysterical to him that all this preamble about Vasily wasn’t even important. I do think that’s the point where he is starts to think strategically about the engagement though, both as something that might actually be happening, and that could be very advantageous.

But with the realization that maybe this isn’t just drunk rambling also comes the annoyance that the Tsar is very much encroaching on Grisha affairs, and also just Alina generally.

This isn’t in the text but I think there’s something of a power struggle happening where the Darkling tells the Tsar that the Apparat is too opportunistic and oversteps, while the Apparat says the exact same thing about him. The Apparat was more successful in the last round, so the Tsar’s more annoyed with the Darkling and wants to remind him who he answers to. That he can just make arbitrary choices like this, and also marrying Alina into his family does somewhat wrest her away from him as a pawn. (My arbitrary answer to “why was the Darkling planning a coup now, when he could have done so at literally any point in time in the centuries of Lantsov rule?” general is just that the Apparat was stirring things up. Even if they ended up working together by the end)

And the Darkling is very aware of all of this and will be more mad about it the longer he thinks about it lol.

As for what the court thinks, it varies to an extent. I think his reputation for keeping very separate from everyone else, and the fact that he’s ageless and immortal, has been doing a lot of heavy lifting, up until the start of the fic at least. And before all the drama began, he had been pretty careful to keep things secret (even if it was more motivated by keeping Alina at arms length than by actually caring about no one knowing). But yeah he is uh… not being that subtle anymore.

I think generally like everyone can tell that there’s some conflict happening between him and Alina.

Here’s a snippet from the next chapter actually

So yeah, the existence of drama is very very obvious. But the question of like what they’re fighting over or the exact nature of their dynamic is pretty open. I think he’s kind of been thought of as her de facto guardian almost? So people aren’t quite jumping to the conclusion that they’re having an affair. But they can only be so messy and dramatic before more people catch on.

#grishaverse #shadow and bone #i ramble sometimes #all the bendy punctuations #éminence grise #meta #of my own fic rip #long post #alarkling #darklina

[ursie]

genuine question: if devin wrote dick as romani in a hurtful way, why does fandom seem so intent to keeping him romani while decrying the writer that made him romani in the first place? like, if it came from such racist/hurtful archetypes then why cling to it so much? (in contrast, i've seen people say that headcanoning tim as asian is bad because of sterotypes, which is why i don't understand the difference.) i barely read past the 80s comics i grew up with, i just read a ton of fandom arguments and the contrast between "dick IS romani" vs "tim ISN'T asian" is like. i don't understand it? i know fandom isn't a monolith but there are trends overall. idk, i figured you seemed like a "safe" person to ask this question in good faith. hope it doesn't upset you! thanks for taking the time to read and/or answer this. <3

Ok so the thing is bad rep is worse than no rep-yes but erasure is worse too so the solution isn’t to erase but to fix it and there has been genuine effort in canon and by Romani people in the fandom to address Dicks rep. While it’s undeniably rooted in some stereotypes there’s also no denying how important Dicks character is. He’s undeniably the most popular Roma character of all time and that’s an issue when people won’t acknowledge he’s Roma. He’s multifaceted and smart and brave and complicated and undeniably good ect these are really good characteristics for any character let alone one to represent any group of people. The best thing dc could do is either hire Roma writers (or Roma editors/sensitivity readers/ect) they need Roma people in the workroom not less Roma characters in comics. Because at the end of the day If we wait for perfect rep before we acknowledge it we’re not going to get it and that goes for any marginalized identity. People cannot know other’s peoples lived experience-which is why we need to push for our voices in the room. Almost all the diverse characters in comics nowadays started as stereotypes and were stereotypes til someone said no and chose to do the work so they could write them better or at least try-that’s what needs to be done. I think it’s funny (and this isn’t at you) that with Dick given his importance given his cultural influence people push for erasure due to some writing flaws when that’s not and never been the case canon or fanon for other characters I mean have you read early black panther? It’s not good. I think people need to reflect if they actually have an issue with how he’s written or if they not only don’t want to view him as Roma but don’t want to put in their own work of looking past the stereotypes either. Also tbh while you’ll see people tote that Roma people don’t like his rep (which I’m not saying there’s none who don’t) the posts that are most commonly referenced are by non Romani people (and one is by a total freak so yeah). In current canon Dick is probably about 1/4th “ethnically” Roma (though that hardly matters he’s Roma hes roma like. Roma is a race he’s just not white) but also in preboot, dick's father was a kalderash-american rom, dick also spoke lovari dialect in preboot. as of post flashpoint, dick's mom is an american roma but her vitsa is not confirmed, so i just like to hc john was kalderash and mary was lovara personally 🥰 like again the best thing dc can do is actually talk about the Graysons, Mary’s family, ect and make them human. Make them more than stereotypes. Actually talk about his culture and his family and his people-not just brush it under a rug until they reference it for diversity points later

As for your other question/point to me the difference between hcing a character as a different race vs like Dick is the push to view white characters as non white instead of actually making fan content of canon non white characters? Like it’s almost a white guilt thing w Tim (this is not at fans of color) but like you want to feel good about stanning characters of color but you also. Don’t actually stan a character of color (like Tim or Jason for instance) so you just hc them as non white (and yes often stereotypically) instead of like reading a single comic w Duke in it. Like racebending is fine and I think it’s good but when done by white fans it’s often actually done to like justify their distance from actual canon characters of color. Like I’m glad you think Tim’s Asian but you still won’t draw fanart of the batfam w Duke in it in 2022 yknow? You still prioritize Jason over Cass but you think he’s Latine, you hc Steph as ambiguously brown but you still characterize Damian in a racist manner, ect. Does that make sense I’m not actually sure I’m explaining well. Oh and in the case you specified Dick is canonically non white wheras Tim isn’t-and it should be noted that white isn’t the baseline-While no one’s saying writers had any intentions he was never stated to be white before-him being “retconned” as Roma isn’t really fair or true he was simply revealed to be so as again white cannot be treated as the inherent norm (nor should heterosexuality and being cisgender or able bodied) I’m not saying you’re wrong but I think it’s important not to think about that kind of stuff in those terms if that makes sense. I hope I cleared this up. I certainly tried and should you have any more questions my inbox/dms are open

Edit : adding on an important response from @royharper : the bottom line is that people who aren't roma should not be speaking on his identity as a rom because they have no idea what roma identity fully entails. i've seen people claim "he's not culturally connected, therefore he can't be roma" or "he can be white and roma, he's not a person of color" when neither of these things are true. for one, while devin is inconsistent in her writing, dick is shown to be raised within the culture as far back as her titans run in the late 90's, in which he is shown to be speaking romanes with his father in a dream sequence that is heavily implied to be a flashback of sorts, and as well lian states that dick can speak romanes when discussing the various languages that her dad, aunts, and uncles can speak. language /is/ culture for us, it's not something that any outsider can just learn super easily. it was really strange that she retconned this herself by the time gotham knights was written a few years later through the character yoska, who attempts to speak romanes with dick and finds that he can't understand him, however using this, along with the orientalist stereotypes devin tried to impose on both dick and yoska when writing about roma identity, as an excuse to say that dick is not "really a rom" is racist. outsiders do not understand the nuances of roma identity enough to make that judgement, and no, wikipedia is not an accurate source for information about roma. touching on the idea that roma can be white, this is a misconception. while outsiders may be folded into the community by marriage or adoption, this is not very common because we don't tend to marry or adopt outside of our communities. furthermore, roma is not an ethnicity. roma is our race. our ethnicities are our clans. there are roma with pale skin, there are even roma that appear white, but they are still racially roma and are still subject to racial discrimination. in response to the idea that there is an outpouring of roma fans who don't want dick to be roma at all, this simply isn't true. that rumor was originally started by someone who was outed as a racefaker, and is perpetuated by white fans who seek to weaponize this perspective to justify their whitewashing and racism. i've known more roma who were, while still critical of devin's orientalism/antiromanyism, ecstatic to have a roma comic character who actually speaks the language, as in comparison to doctor doom and the maximoff twins, who are arguably just as popular, who do not speak romanes in comics, or have only spoken one or two words of the language. dick is important in terms of representation for this fact alone. i can't fathom the amount of people who are not roma who think that just because roma characters are often subject to stereotypical writing that it's somehow better to simply erase their racial identity all together rather than doing their own research to avoid stereotypes when portraying the characters and pushing for these companies to start hiring roma creatives as we do with /every other character of color because not a SINGLE character of color in comics history has been entirely free of racist, stereotypical writing or of colorism and whitewashing in official artwork/. and yet you don't see people pushing for other characters of color to be made white. it's really very telling to me. and just for the record, since i know this is for some reason a popular talking point, dick's race was not retconned after devin initially wrote him as roma. his race has been referenced across numerous other comics written by other writers over the years, most notably tim seeley in his run of nightwing rebirth. while i have issues with seeley's characterization of dick, and he tends to sexualize him just as much if not more than devin imo, dick's racial identity plays a big role in the raptor arc. stop acting like devin was the only writer to ever write dick as a rom and that it was never seen or heard of again in canon after she stopped working on nightwing.

#also to clarify because I don’t want people thinking I think otherwise racebending is good just not when you do it to ignore other canon #characters of color yknow? #like that was my point. #asks #long post #dick grayson #ask to tag #anti Romani racism #Tim Drake #Jason Todd #Nightwing #Robin #Batman #I babble

[crippleprophet]

I have brain damage too. (Stroke in 2018, that counts right? Also im not old, just unlucky ig) and I've been dealing with dystonia and spasticity in my right side, do you have any way of coping with movement disorders when you've tried literally everything and nothings helped?

omg hiii yes that absolutely counts!! we are pretty sure my issue is vascular as well although not as severe as a stroke, it’s basically a series of mini or partial strokes (“incomplete infarctions”). so major solidarity!!

could you clarify what you mean by coping – like physically adapting to symptoms, or emotionally dealing with the fact that nothing has worked? honestly i wish i had more advice for you but i am not doing super well at either so far 😅

as far as physically, my pcp gave me a muscle relaxer (tizanidine) that like, doesn’t stop my dystonia & involuntary movements but does make it less painful / less likely to get muscle cramps, and honestly it’s a plus that it makes me so sleepy because often my movement stuff makes it really difficult to sleep, so it can knock me out when i get desperate. that might already be on the list of stuff you’ve tried though so i’m sorry if that’s unhelpful!

emotionally like, i am super lucky because my gf & roommate are really anti-ableist & supportive so they help me with a lot, but it’s still just. really overwhelming especially when there isn’t much representation in disability spaces especially among young people.

while in practice i’ve found it more beneficial to refrain from separating my body from my “self”, i’ve kinda been shoehorning my experiences into media narratives of loss of bodily control in other ways, especially demonic possession because the stereotypical representation of that really resembles the types of involuntary movements i have. it’s a mixed bag & i definitely have complicated feelings about it lol.

i’m also really fortunate to have a couple friends with cerebral palsy & we’ve related a lot to each other’s experiences – there’s probably even more of an overlap with yours because my dystonia is usually, like, “between” more flailing-type involuntary movements rather than consistent on its own & i don’t experience much if any spasticity. but being able to joke about being afraid of breaking plates or spasming when you’re trying to have sex has been a huge source of comfort for me.

if people would be interested i’d be happy to make a super informal discord just to have a place to be like “wow this fucking sucks”? full disclosure i am super not cut out for like intensive Official Moderation shit more like just, this is a group chat & i just happen to be the one who made it, we’ve mutually agreed to be respectful, etc. & regardless, as always my dms + inbox are super open & i’m happy to share my discord if you wanna chat.

i wish i had more coping mechanisms to offer that aren’t just “loud music, sex jokes, & projecting onto sam winchester” lmfao but that’s where i’m at right now, tbh it’s just really comforting to hear from people dealing with the same shit even if there isn’t much we can do about it. again i’d love to talk more if you want & i’m super wishing you the best 💓💓

#idontexistig #movements of the uncontrollable body #dystonia #asks

[bluesadansey]

karencamila is so insane I literally love them so bad. Karen really knows and gets Camila imo in a way really no one else in the book does, and I think that’s why when she talked about her in the book are the times Camila feels most like a real person and not other people’s idealized images of her yet the descriptions are so full of love like the Camila wanting pancakes for breakfast and then tricking everyone into having them for breakfast instead of what they actually wanted story being in Karen’s pov, and then so are the scenes where Camila’s strength and faith and love and acceptance are painted as admirable and specifically something Karen relied on to steady her most clearly in the scene where she takes her to the abortion clinic and the way she accepts Karen wanting such different things out of life than she does. 

At the same time, it’s so obvious that Karen looks at Camila and sees everything she would Never ever want to be and everything she would Not want out of life. Karen Camila and Daisy really are supposed to be representative of how very different women can get what they want out of life in different ways (while also not quite getting what all that they want because everyone’s endings are bittersweet which is a big part of what appeals to me about it so much tbh) I reblogged a post comparing them to Jo Meg and Amy March respectively with their roles and I think that 100% tracks and makes sense for the themes there. I enjoy how it’s done overall even though I don’t love that the only brown woman in the story is meant to be this ideal mother figure who has everything figured out and facilitates Karen and Daisy’s complicated arcs (which I do love) around what they want and how that’s different/similar, I liked that in the show it was a bit more obvious she had some bitterness around having to raise Julia on her own while Billy was in the band it felt realistic and did correspond with the part of the book where Karen remembers Camila starting to complain and then sort of backtracking and saying she loves and is totally happy with her life/marriage (which again adds to my Karen-had-the-most-clear-picture-of-Camila belief. or conversely I guess you could say maybe Karen is projecting some of her own baggage onto the memory but I prefer the former more). 

Also I said before that I think Graham very much wants Karen to be his Camila (because he wants Billy’s life) and to turn her into that (Billy writing the first version of honeycomb vs Graham writing the canyon which gets rejected by Billy and Karen is so happy/relieved to not have to sing about him wanting a white picket fence life with her teehee) so I think that would cause a change in how Karen views her too. I do think it’s so interesting even though the show gives us a clearer picture of Karen and the others complacency re: DB (and it does ring true to me that Karen would prioritize what’s good for her career over friendships. I saw someone praising Karen for being a really good friend to Camila and Daisy equally and not getting involved in the love triangle drama… she was not a good friend for that lmao.

And it’s not like she was choosing her friendship with Daisy over her friendship with Camila, and she certainly wasn’t choosing Billy who she has a good repair with and cares for but is not nearly as close with as the two women, I do think if it came down to who of those people/relationships was most important to her even with her respect and soft spot for Daisy it would be Camila… her ambition is top priority for her and that’s the choice she made (I love her so bad <333). And like, in the book there were pages and pages of everyone in the band saying how obvious especially Billy’s feelings for Daisy were (as Billy tried his best to beat the allegations and be all Iwon’tsayI’minlove:mp3 until he was worn down gradually then eventually did a 180 around the 80% mark. They knew what was going on at least most of them, definitely Karen and Graham and Teddy (going off secondhand from Rod) and Rod. I do like that the show muddied a lot of how far characters actually went with their mistakes or unsavory actions or activeness vs passiveness and the resulting harm, and I think it is so fascinating how differently audiences received those choices where they want to draw lines etc.

#djats #karencamila #Karen Sirko #Camila Dunne #Daisy jones and the six #s speaks

[brutalmasks]

how's her dynamic with tyler severin? is it platonic or romantic? idk much about them in the comics tbh but they look cool ♡

hello, @frostise! i'm so honored that you're interested in their dynamic and therefore, interested in bunny mask, too!! so with tyler... bunny mask and him have sort-of a complicated relationship. as you may know, she was freed from her centuries long imprisonment in a cave by him, so she is certainly grateful towards him for that. and bunny mask actually became interested in him beyond that shortly after since, as the saying goes, ' opposites attract. ' and tyler is very much bunny mask's opposite in the way that he could be seen as the more ' reasonable ' of the two, as well as seemed to want to have nothing to do with her at first, while bunny mask revels in strangeness + has this peculiar fascination with him from the start. and i mean to the point where she sought him out herself whenever she learned that people were coming to his home to kill him and protected him. therefore, you could say that their dynamic began pretty rocky as her interest in him was one-sided and he partially blamed her for his life getting... a lot more interesting very suddenly.

but as time went on, tyler seemed to warm up to her a bit, as bunny mask did demonstrate that her care for him was genuine and she didn't protect him just because she felt obligated to. this is the point in which tyler, albeit slightly reluctantly, began treating her just like anyone else rather than a frightening force that had killed multiple people in front of him and became civil towards her. thus, their relationship seemed to take a drastic shift; one forged with mutual respect and camaraderie. from then on, tyler's fear of him turned more into curiosity, as he still didn't know a lot about her at this point. with them essentially having formed a bond, bunny mask then revealed to him something that would also change the trajectory of their relationship: that, in order to remain healthy and keep her energy, she occasionally had to feed ( or 'ground herself,' as she called it ). this meant that bunny mask would have to establish a physical connection with someone and not steal their energy, per say, but they would have to share some of it with her.

and this marked the beginning of their romantic relationship. and of course, it is definitely a little bit out of the ordinary compared to other people's stories of how they became a couple, buttt bunny mask does try her best to make up for this by doing normal things with tyler. things like eating at the kitchen table together, laying in bed, taking walks, and playing games with each other; something a ''normal'' person would do with him. but due to the nature of bunny mask's character as a spirit who almost lives for avenging other's and seeking out retribution for them, this has put a rather vicious strain on their relationship sometimes. tyler does not want to see her get hurt, after all, but at the same time... bunny mask believes that this is her purpose, so nothing will be able to stop her from completing it.

and so their relationship has become an 'on-and-off' one, unfortunately. it's neither of their faults that it turned out this way, though, of course. bunny mask is simply very ambitious about her goals and tyler admittedly does feel a bit like there is a power imbalance within their relationship, so that does cause him to have some inner conflict related to it. but i believe that the both of them do truly love each other. there are just so many obstacles in their lives that bunny mask and tyler have somewhat of a strained relationship that is only 'on' sometimes.

#I AM HERE BECAUSE I AM BUNNY MASK: character study. #asks. #ayeee i hope you liked this answer my friend! i know it was a bit long but i just felt like i needed to explain things a bit lol #LET ME TEACH YOU: headcanons. #tw: brief mentions of a possible power imbalance within a relationship.