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crescentfool · 1 month

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i've been doing a bunch of tartarus runs in reload lately, and it got me thinking about how i miss certain ways FES's clunky gameplay can characterize minato… (ramble about the great clock mechanic + leveling up party members in reload vs fes under the cut)

when i got to yabbashah block in tartarus (block 3), i remember commending the developers for adding the great clock mechanic. it's a much more convenient way to keep party members at the protagonist's level- so when you think about p3 from the perspective of trying to make it easier for people to play, the mechanic succeeds in this respect.

but now that i'm in adamah block, and that i've done lots of my once-a-month tartarus runs… i think that i got a little too dependent on it, and the way that i played through reload feels like a vastly different experience from how i played FES.

in reload, my party's levels are very lopsided. minato, yukari, akihiko, mitsuru, and fuuka are all level 90+, meanwhile junpei and aigis are at level 79, and then… poor ken and koromaru are at 71 and 64 respectively. (i never got to have a great clock for them…)

meanwhile, in FES, my party's levels were much more evenly distributed and were at least level 90. i did all of this manually for every monthly tartarus run because i enjoyed having options available for the taratarus guardians and monthly operations.

with how i perceive minato, i feel that the way i played FES feels more in-line with his character than me dawdling around waiting for the great clocks in reload.

FES's gameplay loop left me with the very strong impression that minato has to work twice as hard as everyone else in SEES does. it makes sense because, yeah, he's the leader, but something about having minato run through tartarus multiple times with different groups of people just to make sure that they are adequately prepared speaks volumes about his character, to me.

and while the tired mechanic is present in reload to some degree, most notably with allowing you to freely raise your courage stat when you visit edogawa after school… the tiredness system doesn't hit the same way that FES does, i think.

the way your party members in FES will call it quits when they return to the entrance floor at tartarus when they're tired, versus minato, in spite of all his tiredness and sickness, still pushes through tartarus because it's his responsibility…. idk!!! i miss that! i feel like this really hammers home the difference between minato and the rest of SEES, how minato doesn't really see himself as a human with needs worth respecting as long as he's useful to someone.

i don't think that tartarus being tedious (in FES especially) is not what most people would describe as fun, and i can respect people thinking it's a slog. but, regardless of how it feels to play, it doesn't change that FES's gameplay loop is a fundamental building block in how i perceive minato…

of course, i do recognize that you can just opt to NOT use the great clock in reload (and it's great when players are offered the choice to not partake in mechanics)! i definitely think that if someone really wanted to, they could manually level up party members, but i do feel that kind of playstyle isn't necessarily "incentivized" to the type of people who are into playing games for Having a Good Time. it's kind of like… "why would you do that when there's a much more convenient option available to you."

in any case! despite my woes, i do want to emphasize that i'm glad that reload has a much more smoother gameplay loop than the original P3 did, because it does make the game more accessible to people. having played both FES and reload, it feels very strongly apparent to me how the core gameplay formula of persona has really been refined in the past 18 years (to think og p3 was 2006 and reload is 2024.. time flies!). and reload has made revisiting a story that i love so dearly much, much easier because the gameplay just bops!

at the same time, due to my "i miss characterization informed by weird and dated FES gameplay quirks" woes, i still think that playing FES is worthwhile. (really, i feel this way about all iterations of p3! i think it's worthwhile to see what each version and side media has to say even if it doesn't Land™ for you.) but i also understand why people wouldn't want to play it, so i will keep writing posts about things i liked from FES's gameplay because i'm still very fond of FES (especially in respects to minato. these mechanics are so telling about him!!!) 💪

#lizzy speaks #persona 3 #persona 3 reload #<- specifically mentions of mechanics. no added story content just tartarus talk #minato arisato #today on lizz life: lizz wakes up THINKING about minato for the NTH time and is compelled to write a tumblr post about it #tartarus in reload is excellent looking and fun but i keep thinking about what i liked about how FES characterizes minato so #here i am... LOL... with my 790 or so word ramble... im so normal about the blue boy #i needed to get my feelings out there somewhere i just could not stop thinking about HIM HE IS IN MY BRAIN 24/7 #me playing reload last night like 'minato would not fucking wait for a great clock to make sure that SEES is adequately prepared.'#and yet my sloth brain awaits the great clock... LOL gameplay convenience is not lost on me #i'm stuck in tartarus rn im grinding rubies and stuff trying to get equipment so i can throw hands with elizabeth its going to be fun #im still not done with this game i continue to be haunted by tartarus i fucking love that tower unironically #uh usually id ramble more in tags but. go read my post!! because i like analyzing FES gameplay mechanics!! i am full of passion and love!

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tsururoach · 2 months

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The thing about Ryomina (mlm or mlf) is that I hesitate to say I "ship" it because I don't really consider them solely in the 'romantic' side of things.

Like, to me their whole deal is more on the conceptual scale of things. They exist on many planes, they can be romantic, they can be platonic, they can be the same person, but there is still emotions there regardless of what you do.

Death delivers all, death is all encompassing, death lived inside of them until one day, it leaves. Something that was in them for 10 years leaves him. It should've felt empty, like something wrong. And yet that thing, that concept, that person was no longer stagnant. It saw the world from you, and it grows. It becomes a person, it becomes human. (You also, learn to become human)

It starts off someone who knew only that single point of view, to someone who was able to change. Change themself- and change you- no longer restricted by that tie to you. And yet, the bond you have was strong enough that he was still led back to you.

I think the 'love' that would hypothetically exist between the two of them would be the 'love' someone could have for a concept. An Abstraction and mixed with simple human affection. The love of the life that lived next to the protag. The protag to me would love Ryoji, the way one would love life.

Funny how that is: Loving death like life.

V ADDING A DISCUSSION ON HAMUGIS AND RYOMINA SECTION HERE V

I consider Hamugis more generally romantic than Ryomina but thats also because they also have less fuckassery. But i still also do consider them in that nebulous relationship status area.

Don't get me wrong. I love love love hamugis. Actually let me add a sidetwt doodle here while I can.

Okay heres the thing about my preferences in Persona 3 ships. I'm actually okay with most of them tbh. Like generally I usually don't get other people's interpretations of certain ships, but i still on some level kind of like. Get it.

The only one is like. Junpei and anyone who isn't Chidori; or at the very least with anyone who redacts chidori entirely. I like jundori okay. I like Junpei. Junpei's #1 defender.

But I do on a level instinctively prefer the mlm ver of ryomina over mlf, and the flf ver of hamugis over mlm. (I do actually overall prefer aigis x protag over ryomina in general in the normal terms of 'ship' but we already talked about that)

Now I'm well aware technically I could make the protaganist's character whatever but we've come far enough that a lot of "insert" protagonists already have a general kind of personality okay. I do sometimes err away from canon portrayals, yeah but hey.

Anyways I feel like... Hamuko and Aigis form a stronger bond together. It's not just the difficulty of the love itself that changes things. It's the approach. Hamuko is generally portrayed as more headstrong and more outwardly optimistic, which, yeah.

I feel like... While Aigis benefits from someone reaching out to her, inversely, Ryoji benefits from reaching out to someone?

And then when Aigis is forced to reach out...

Anyways, what I'm trying to say is I feel like the bond overall has more meaning. Like I did say Aigis' relationship with the protagonist is also still in that conceptual air, I'm kind of rehashing what I said before. Aigis is coming to terms with her own humanity .

I lost the plot of this psot.

#ryomina #kind of #persona 3 #not my art #roach rambles #scuttles away #“What about aigis” i support aigis in every way conceivable. she could tell me the sky turns green and i'd pollute the environment. (JOKE)#However #the reason i kind of agree with the hamuko x aigis n ryoji x minato is because the general canon #like personality wise I feel like the natural development of those two are the most compelling #while I'm generally neutral to both versions of the ship #like aigis and minato is always wonderful and cute #and ryoji n hamuko is always silly and fun and still deeply tragic #i like the general interpretations i have of the protaganists and the impact that would have on those respective characters #actually fuck ryomina im adding hamgus to the post #*adds a read more again*#Hamugis

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yume-fanfare · 1 year

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top most romantic lines ever

#im sure i read a translation that was something like 'im more worried about you than any shooting star!'#but maybe that was my brain telephone-gaming itself #anyways. THE SHOOTING STARS. DO YOU UNDERSTANDDDDD #official eng is 'i'm not here for the stars i'm here for you!' which is also sooo #official spanish is 'i have no time for the stars. there's something i need to talk about with you!' which is the one i like the least #but its ok #mitsukou #adding the tag because i need people to think abt this more #it's !!!#seriously i think about it once a week #it indeed WAS a love confession kou. how do you not realize.#jbksh #aaaand shutting up fr for the next 45 mins at least i rly need to get things done #mar's midnight rambles

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oracleact · 1 year

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I need everyone to know that I never use the term ‘monster’ as a negative.

I’m a monster lover and see monsters as the most beautiful beings, in so many ways, that could ever form; that’s why I love them. ‘monster,’ to me, is used to explain the difference between that and human but never to determine their worth or state of acceptance - like the difference between red and blue in straight forward language, you know?

I see fellow monster lovers using it as a negative though and it confuses me. why do you refer to those beings in such a negative way when initially pointing them out? what is your purpose in using the paired ‘lover’ if you constantly identify that what you love is next to unloveable by certain (shallow and boring) standards?

all of this might sound so weird to a lot of people but like truly, why focus on the ‘disgusting’ and ‘horrid’ if you can easily find beauty and fondness in those things as a monster lover. should you not always point out the love first rather than “they look horrible, how cool!”

if your monsters existed many of them would be hurt by the use of the word in that context, they’d probably get confused by the double meaning, and that haunts me - does it not haunt you?

I don’t know…I’ve always felt immensely connected to this whole monster thing even as a kid, especially when it comes to romance/relationships because I do not understand humans, so joining an online community where things are talked about much differently and in more adult ways probably just hasn’t balanced out yet in my mind. it’s an odd struggle 🥲

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kikizoshi · 2 months

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Feeling discouraged, so here's a short, unfinished Godos piece that will never be realised. Nikolai's attempting (read: failing) to write his first draft of a play (an adaptation of Dead Souls, Part 2). Fyodor was going to cheer him up and inspire him, somehow, but I don't have any clue how, so this is all I could get out of that idea. (I do at least like how it turned out, though, unfinished as it is.)

---

The words on the page taunted Nikolai like so many Sufi dervishes. They blurred, swirled into characters half-formed, who jumped and jeered just out of Nikolai’s sight. ‘Find us,’ they seemed to say. ‘Come and see our beautiful lives! And then depict us, reveal us to everyone, that we may truly exist.’ They beckoned him to find them, invited him to view their marvelous exploits, to laugh along with their absurd adventures—and then just as he reached to meet them, they slipped away, laughing. Unendingly they tortured him with scenes just beyond grasp, a perfect story hidden in the periphery of a dense fog.

Nikolai groaned, leaned back, and pressed his palms against his eyes. It was a perfect picture of agony, well-practiced and endlessly rehearsed. ‘Yet all the acting in the world won’t save a lacking script,’ he thought. ‘Ah, why can’t you just write yourselves? Hop along, I’ll even guide the quill, so long as you do something, anything, oh please…’ His entreaties, of course, prompted naught but more formless tittering. Nikolai sighed, and contemplated how effective bashing his scull against the door-jam would be at shaking something loose.

“Is something the matter?” an irritatingly calm Fyodor asked from behind him. Nikolai swung around in his chair, resting his arms on the back, and stared pointedly at his relaxed friend who lounged so serenely on the green recliner, a book nestled under his folded palms. The question itself was preemptive, a set-up, a frivolous first line of a three-line script which always arrived at the same conclusion. Nikolai recognised the offer for friendly—and perhaps even needed—advice, but took it no less bitterly. He smiled mirthlessly. Nevertheless, he played his part.

“Whatever gave you that impression? Was it the willful suicide of the last of my creative expression? Or perhaps you hear them laughing too?”

“Your characters won’t work with you?” (Here, the second phrase, to be replied with…)

“Oh, far beyond that. They won’t speak to me at all! I’m being shunned.”

“I see.” Fyodor concluded and stood, pulling the curtain on their impromptu play. Nikolai watched him go, mildly curious which remedy Fyodor would prescribe this time. “I need to visit the theatre,” he said finally. “Would you like to join me?”

Nikolai laughed flatly. “For what? The stage doesn’t—and I say this from great experience—do anything for one’s imagination. If anything, it’s worse, because you see everything that has been and none of what could be! Can you imagine that? I know, I know, you’re ‘not that way artistically inclined,’ but imagine for a moment that the sentences of your computer codes were jumping and jaunting about in front of your very eyes, and so to fix it, you decided to stare at someone else's pages. Well? Would that help you very much?”

“Most likely it wouldn’t.” Fyodor smiled. “But we won’t be going to the stage. I need to stop by the costuming department. Misha talked one of the women there into parting with an unused costume design for Verenka, but couldn’t pick it up himself.”

“And you just so happen to be free?”

“No,” Fyodor said, a bit dejected. “But I couldn’t stand to stare at my colleagues’ ‘pages’. As you say, it won’t do any good.” He sighed wearily. “Some fresh air and new scenery, tea, something else to think about… I need them greatly. And some company would be nice, too.”

Nikolai stood without ceremony (a shame, yes, but recall his lack of inspiration and forgive him), stretched, and said flatly, “Well then, what are we waiting for?”

---

As it turned out, Nikolai was quite quick to regret those words. A lovely stroll down the uncharacteristically sun-touched streets of St. Petersburg wound down into a bustling cafe.

---

Surprisingly, all went well at the theatre. The lady was quite nice, expressing her condolences and well-wishes for the ‘poor young woman’, and waved them on their way. Pattern safely secured, the two stopped by the next-door cafe, ‘The Stray Dog’, (home to aspiring and established artists alike), for a spot of tea. And thence all collapsed.

#writing #bsd #bsd fyodor #bsd nikolai #godos #fyolai #the projection is strong with this one #I wanted to try a story more from Nikolai's perspective #adding his way of viewing the world into the prose #because usually I do a more third-person omniscient style and Дом в котором inspired me #the Fyodor really wasn't Fyodoring in this one though...#by the way: 'The Stray Dog' isn't just a BSD reference #it's an actual cafe that was frequented by a lot of prominent silver age Soviet artists #and still exists today I believe after having been shut down for a while #it also happens to share a building with Mikhailovsky theatre. which is near-ish to the apartment they're in right now #(their apartment being on Grazhdanskaya street)#also to ramble a bit about Fyodor and Nikolai's living situation #they share a one-room apartment. which is why Fyodor was reading in the same room #Fyodor works on his laptop in the kitchen but prefers to read in the bedroom #Nikolai's writing desk is also in the bed/living room so it's often that he's writing/rehearsing while Fyodor's reading #which personally sounds like a living hell but they both grew up sharing rooms with siblings so ig they're already used to it

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firefly-jars · 1 month

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hi guys. amethio outfit board

#pokemon agere #sfw agere #agere #image description in alt #<- gonna try adding alt text more often :)#i want this blog to be as accessible as possible #at least image-wise #because i struggle to type when i’m regressed #and that can probably be hard for people with screenreaders to read #but!! i will do my best #sorry for the tag ramble.#please rb if you like this :) not forced but it’d be super appreciated!

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laugtherhyena · 1 month

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So, remember when i said i didn't think the -2+2 trial would reach 30K words?

I was wrong-

Nevertheless, i am so happy to say that the trial is finally done! Proof reading and all!

So stay tune because it will be posted on friday :]

#this is the first time where i added more stuff as i read through a whole chapter again #because usually when i do that i remove a few useless details #but i ended up adding 1000 more words to it as i proof read #fun #dra -2+2 #hyena ramblings

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obstinaterixatrix · 1 year

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the thing about story mediums is that I don’t consider myself having ‘control’ per se over the best medium for a story. if it comes out better in writing that’s how it’s meant to be, if it comes out better in visuals that’s how it’s meant to be. sometimes there’s overlap like drawing comics or writing scenes but there’s A Reason it ends up one way or another. that’s just how the story comes out.

#writing ramble #like night flowers had to be a novella #there was one person who was like ‘this would be great as a comic!!! you could totally do it!!!!’#and like. I appreciate the energy but it’s not meant to be a comic.#if it was meant to be a comic it would’ve been a comic.#and I don’t even mean in the *~mysterious whims of the craft~* way #1) ljh is a character who is reserved in dialogue and expression #so having prose is helpful for adding to her character through over the shoulder 3rd person pov #what she noticed and where her internal logic takes her #2) this provided a strong contrast to xj’s internal narration #3) the framing device of the prologue and the epilogue (implied to be yp) is stronger through prose rather than visials #the only alternate medium I would accept for night flowers. is a musical.#I am being entirely serious.#and I have specific reasons for that too.#anyway this is partially because someone left a tag about how they’d read a novel of ol isekai which I know is intended as a compliment #but like night flowers. it is what the way it is because the story is more effective in a visual format #(despite me not being. A Polished Manga Artist)#meihui is somewhat similar to ljh because they’re both more reserved #but because of their different characters and different situations meihui’s internal narration is easier to write as a monologue #and someone could argue that could work with first person light novel style writing #but the balance between writing the scene and meihui’s monologue would be way off #comedic beats too. night flowers has comedic beats that work well in prose. ol isekai has comedic beats that work well visually.#basically: IT’S LIKE THAT FOR A REASON!!!!!!#the only alternative I’d accept would be a visual novel #and like. if I was someone else I might be able to write it in a different medium in a satisfactory way #for anyone who might be going like ‘well I can think of how it’d work as a comic/a novel instead’#I’M NOT YOU!!!#DIFFERENT PEOPLE WILL TELL DIFFERENT STORIES!!!!#WRITE IT YOURSELF THEN!!!!!! ACCEPT MY PROCESS OR LEAVE ME ALONE #legit I’d prefer it if it did work better as a novel because I’m more comfortable writing than drawing

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reactionimagesdaily · 1 year

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pls ramble about something that isn't mentioned often enough in one of your interests

[slams hands down onto table] had to think a bit about this one (apologise for the delay) but buckle up; Imma go on a bit of a Warrior Cats rant because THE SECOND HALF OF THE NEW PROPECHY WAS NOT PLANNED. IT WAS ONLY GONNA BE A TRILOGY OF BOOKS AFTER THE OG SERIES WAS PUBLISHED AND THEN SALES OF THE FIRST SERIES EXPLODED SO HARPERCOLLINS COMMISSIONED ANOTHER SIX-BOOK SERIES.

This is something that's incredibly fascinating to me because I'm one of those readers who's of the opinion that the first six-book series is peak Warrior Cats and then it's all downhill from there (even if there's obviously stuff to enjoy in every series that's been written since!) - but those first three books of The New Prophecy (the second six-book series published) are some of my faves. They might not be as strong in terms of overarching plot, but there are some fantastic character dynamics and it feels like a very compelling continuation of the original series. But then, once they get to the lake and the second half of the new series begins, things just get,,, rough. Some of the character decisions are wild, the romance dynamics implemented at this point in the series remain controversial in the fandom to this day, and there's a lot more jank to be noticed in that plot (honestly, each book kinda has its own separate little plotline - there are lingering threats that still culminate at the end, but I'd argue it doesn't have the same cohesion of the first series). And that's because those latter three books were comparatively way unplanned! Initially, The New Prophecy was a trilogy that served as a next-generation/epilogue followup to the original series, and then it ended up getting stretched into a whole new series. As someone who never much enjoyed the back end of TNP (aside from the Hawkfrost-Brambleclaw confrontation in Dawn, because that shit slaps), it honestly felt kinda vindicating to find out years down the line that there was a meta reason why the vibe felt so different. xDD

In any case, the fact that these books weren't planned for in the way that their immediate predecessors were is something that I haven't really seen discussed in the fandom (not that I'm SUPER plugged into the fandom - maybe I just missed it? :P) which just strikes me as odd because it accounts for so many of the wacky shenanigans we're still discussing all this time down the line xD

(Also this is only tangentially related but me and a friend workshopped how we'd rewrite the series from the second half of TNP onwards and BOY HOWDY is there a lot of stuff that we had cool ideas for. I really wish that the authors had had those ideas instead, yaknow? :P)

Anyways! That's my ramble. I really wish more people in fandom looked at the meta and context of their fave series sometimes, lmao

#tossed around the idea of adding a 'read more' but ultimately decided against it #partially bc it's not THAT long #partially because I Will Make Everyone Read My Ridiculous Rambles #thank you so much for this ask btw!! <3 #not a pic #someone asked me a thing!#7000 qna

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terrainofheartfelt · 1 year

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OH, OH, LIZ!!! any alison and dan hcs? both before and after she left?

stars I think you just get a kick out of putting me in my FEELINGS

(before we get too far along might I direct everyone to S's alison fic because it is IMPORTANT to me <333)

I think dan was a complete mama's boy in the beginning. rufus was still with the band when he was born so during his first few years alison was the parent who was always around. there's that throwaway line in one of the early season where rufus says he had to walk dan to school every day when he was seven -- I think two things happened then: 1) rufus had quit touring because he realized he was missing his kids growing up and 2) that age would have also been when jenny was going to school for an entire day, so that is when alison decided to go back to school, and so she was not around as much as she used to be, and dan was adjusting to that.

that big, oversized brown armchair in the loft living room? that was mom's chair, that's where she would curl up and sketch and listen to records in the evenings, and tiny dan would sit on her lap. she taught him how to read in that chair.

before rufus bought the gallery (with its attached studio space), alison did a lot of painting on the roof. it was a good place for the kids to paint too because making a mess didn't matter.

when the humphreys did buy the gallery and she moved into the studio upstairs, she still had the kids over there to make messes. that one scene in the princess diaries where they throw darts at water balloons that are full of paint? the humphreys soooooooo did that.

nads has put this in a fic and got me thinking about it, but I love the idea of bby dan being his mom's assistant, and taking pride in that, he loved helping her out with stuff.

both alison and rufus were big on letting their kids find their art and feeding it. alison was the first to clock that dan loved storytelling, so when he gravitated to writing she wasn't surprised. In middle school when he told his highschool/college prep counselor he wanted to be a writer, and she told him he should get an education degree instead. dan vented to his mom about it and she got so pissed she started researching prep schools that would make him more competitive in getting into college. and that's how the transfer to st jude's began.

after she left dan was cold for a WHILE. I rewatched the ep where she comes back just the other day and it always kills me how he tears into her because jenny needs her and dad needs her, but he never says what he needs (the eldest daughter jumped out), he tries for a long time not to need her, and finds out he doesn't really. (but, as I've said, the realization that he doesn't need her is one of the things that fuels her leaving. her baby is grown and who is she if she isn't a mom? she runs away to try and find that out)

so the show says dan actually spent his spring break in s1 hanging out with his mom, and jenny is taken to aspen with one of minions so it really is JUST them. so...I have to imagine that there was some sort of detente happening there.

And, canon says she stays the summer looking after the kids while rufus is touring, and I imagine that's the first prolonged time that they have to spend together, and dan is reeling from his breakup and so much has happened since she left that he doesn't really know how to be around her, and nothing is completely fixed by the end of the summer, but it's not as broken as it felt before. (it'll be a while before they find their footing, but this time is what really saves their relationship when things get tough later).

and then he and jenny go to hudson for christmas after jenny has been THROUGH it so she needs Mom more than he does and so dan the eldest daughter sort of just...lets that happen (even though he's broken up with serena like. two more times since he last saw his mom)

and then rufus and lily become a couple and that's AWKWARD bc the kids both really like lily but they know alison doesn't and once again dan doesn't know how to just talk to his mom. he used to have the easiest relationship with her and now he doesn't know what he can or can't say.

dan graduates from high school, and alison's ex-husband is dating his ex rock and roll sweetheart and her ex nemesis, but it's her son's graduation so she still goes, but sits in the back and leaves shortly after the ceremony.

the humphreys kick it in the hamptons at cece's house, but they spend a few days with their mom in hudson, and that's when she properly celebrates dan's graduation. but her kids have an impending rich stepmom, and like how vanessa reacts to the cash and the designer wallet and the hamptons summer plans alison feels WEIRD about it, but unlike vanessa she is not compelled to speak up because what could she even say?

dan we know goes to his mom's for christmas that year, and he's mopey about vanessa and jenny's further from him than ever and his dad just peaced out to telluride with the band? without lily? there was a time when he could talk through ANYTHING with his mom but he has no idea how to get back to that, and alison is too careful around dan now, so she never pushes anymore, but he keeps waiting for her to push :/

and then...the second half of s3 happens, and dan probably says something off hand about visiting jen after she settles in, but the whole summer passes and ~radio silence~ alison worries, but jenny needs her more right now, and she's focused on her.

this is the thing I WONDER about. how does alison hear the milo story? how does jenny? who tells them? certainly not dan. I would bet rufus gives her a call after it's all over, it happens to rufus so fast he probably hadn't worked out what alison did or didn't know until after georgina takes milo away, and then Dan is going through something COMPLETELY different.

interestingly enough, s4 is the first time dan doesn't see his mom at christmas. he decides to stay in new york. alone. maybe he's giving jenny space again? I like to think that alison takes jenny on a trip to florida to visit dan & jen's grandmother, so dan declines because, florida. but maybe also to avoid an interrogation about his summer as a teenage dad? all of 4a is basically about dan denying his grief, and if he had to tell his mom about it, he wouldn't be able to deny it anymore.

in the gap between s4 & s5, dan goes back to hudson mainly to help jenny pack to move to london. and once again, he can hide behind his sister pulling the attention, and mask all he's going through.

he sends her a copy of Inside, and she understands his work well enough not to take the off-handed, one-dimensional portrayal of Amy Hunter personally.

and since we all know canon ends 5 minutes into season 5 episode 22...let's go from there.

Jenny meets Dair the Couple before alison, they stop in in london on their way back from rome. when dan tells alison about his gf, alison calls jenny for the real scoop. jenny doesn't lie, but she tells alison that she should make up her own mind.

but, alison and blair are into like, many similar things. alison loves hitchcock, and art history, and debating the merits of the academy awards, so she starts to like blair almost in spite herself.

and it's that, combined with dan feeling settled in his life for the first time since she left, that lets them really connect again. it's gradual, at first, and never the same as it was, but he's comfortable telling her things now, and she's comfortable asking.

(the only thing they don't talk about is Dan's brother Scott, because that would just be rude. not that alison's the type to hate a kid for existing - she likes serena and eric as people after all, but it's just toooo awkward for all parties involved)

i waffle back and forth on this idea: alison goes back to her maiden name, because she doesn't want to share the same last name as lily. OR, on the other hand, she stubbornly holds on to humphrey even after lily marries rufus, because that's her kids' name damnit, and if it makes lily mad, that's just a bonus.

I don't think alison ever remarries. i think getting married sooo young and losing herself in that keeps her from ever wanting to do it again. (like this alex dude, i think he proposes and she says no). she gives jenny a speech once while she's living in hudson about not getting married too soon and staying in charge of her destiny (which jenny was already gonna but), but she knows that in this respect dan is too like his father to listen. her boy was destined to be a WIFE yk?

thanksgivings belong to the van der humphreys, but alison gets some event around the winter & summer holidays, usually planned around whenever jenny and her partner are in town.

alison makes all sorts of things for dan's babies when they're born (pettily she thinks she can't top lily's resources), but she makes print illustrations to hand and knits blankets and does those sorts of things.

she doesn't go to every book launch, but she's always at her local indie shop on dan's release days to buy a copy, even though he always sends her one anyway.

alison and harold and roman are besties. eleanor is team lily always and forever. but harold and roman find daniel's mother adorable, and she's a treat to talk to about art, even if her taste is, unfortunately, a lot like her son's. too modernist.

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